A Fairytale Ending for Milibands

Once upon a time there was a miller who had three sons. When he died his oldest son took the mill, his middle son took the donkey, and that left the youngest son with nothing but the cat.

Well, we know who got the better deal in the end.

Puss-in-boots helps the youngest son to get the princess, the gold and the deluxe property with some land attached. And that's how it always is in fairytales; in the end, usually after being dismissed as a fool or a wastrel, the younger son gets the prize.

So it comes as no huge surprise (to those of us outside the Westminster Village) that Ed Miliband beat his older brother David in the Labour Party leadership contest.
Fairytales teach us lessons about real life. And one of those lessons is: being the eldest son is not all it's cracked up to be.

I expect is was David's air of smug entitlement that put off the Labour party voters.

What is surprising is that the pool of talent in the Labour party is apparently so small.

Neither Miliband has exactly had much experience of life. Born: North London. School: North London. University: Corpus Christi, Oxford (a teeny tiny college, so not exactly a huge pond). Work: Labour Party Researcher, North London; MP living in North London. I don't mean to be cruel, but this makes even David Cameron look like he's really experienced life in all its rich variety.

These meerkats are in Battersea Park Children's Zoo,
 only just south of the river.

I wonder if they ever do an occasional safari to South London.

Anyway, the astrology's funny, even without exact birth times.

Ed's a Sun Capricorn. David's a Sun Cancer. Yup, they are exactly opposite on the old Zodiac wheel, so I expect the two brothers - knowingly or not - have always been in competition, especially since both are Cardinal signs. These Sun signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn - like to be in charge. These are two executive signs - responsible, bossy, controlling.

In astrology, Cancer is the sign of the mother, and Capricorn is the sign of the father. Hmm…

David's Cancer Sun is an ur-water sign, ruled by the emotional Moon. He is going to take this badly; his whole idea of who he is has been dealt a wallop. It must have been a shock when his brother decided to stand against him. Cancers have a long memories and he isn't going to find it easy to forgive. Right now, he's asking himself this question: "Who's the daddy?" Because for most of his life, he's assumed that he is.

Ed's the daddy now - and he's always wanted to be. His ambitious Sun is in earthy Capricorn, ruled by steadfast, hard-working Saturn. He's the kind of person who isn't going to give up. Capricorn Suns are supremely practical. It's the sign of the CEO. With Saturn itself in another earth sign, Taurus, exactly supporting his Sun, Ed has a kind of bulldozer determination, but his practical side means he wants to get the job done, not just talk and theorise about it - interesting. His Sun is not far from Labour's Uranus, the planet of change and innovation, so it could be that he'll be able to make real, longlasting changes in the Labour Party. What's more he has the planet of expansion, Jupiter, exactly opposite Saturn in Scorpio. That's kind of scary. His ambition knows no boundaries. But this also gives him the ability to concentrate and focus.

(I think he'd better move his focus to getting married quick or the Daily Mail will make a meal of him.)

This water v. earth set up has echoes of Gordon (watery Pisces) v. Tony (earthy Taurus) all over again. Clearly, the Labour Party has to relive that fratricide pattern one more time. Which makes me ask this question: can you see this pattern in the Labour Party's natal chart?

I think it's there. Mercury is in Aquarius, the planet of brotherhood in the sign of humanity, very nice. But it's conjunct the South Node (patterns and habits which we find easy) and that is exactly trine Pluto, Darth Vader to you and me, which is, you guessed it, in the sign of siblings, Gemini. Now a trine is an "easy" aspect, which sometimes can be translated as all-too-easy. It's a place we can get stuck.

Labour needs to move on, which means Ed needs to stop feeling guilty about David and send him off to Harvard or Yale or something.

You can always get a lot out of charts without the exact birth time, but in the case of the Miliboys, the exact time would be doubly interesting because both boys were born on a Full Moon, which means it is possible that they have a Sun/Moon reversal. In other words, David has Cancer Sun and Capricorn Moon and Ed may has Capricorn Sun and Cancer Moon. (Again this suggests a certain amount of limitation in the Labour vision.) This truly is a very close family. The death of their father when both men were still in their 20s must also have ensured they stay close.

Thumbelina got a happy ending,
but will the Miliboys?

So what's the next chapter in the fairy tale?

Sorry, I don't think it's going to be "They all lived happily ever after." Except, perhaps, for David. If he decides to be shot of the whole thing. David doesn't know it yet, but he'll be much happier in the bosom of an understanding institution such as a university. The Labour Party was a kind of mother for him, and mummy has let him down. He'll be able to advise his brother without getting involved in the practicalities.

The chart that's really been smacked by the Cardinal Climx is Ed's, which suggests another fairy tale maxim: "Be careful what you wish for."

I'd keep an eye on that other professor's son, brainy Ed Balls, for the next round of stab-your-best-friend-in-the- back, oops sorry Labour Party politics. In his case, of course, this has an added piquancy: his best friend is also his wife, Labour shooting star Yvette Cooper.