Iron Lady
Photographed by Helmut Newton
Margaret Thatcher was a colossus of eighties politics. Her name has become a byword for evil among socialists and left wingers, and her spectre haunts the political landscape to this day.
Dubbed the ‘Iron Lady’ by a soviet journalist, the name has stuck famously to her ever since. A film of her life was released recently under the same title.
It was that name that flicked on my curiosity about her, knowing that iron has an association with the planet Saturn.
In India, iron rings are a common ‘remedial’ measure for problems with Saturn. I’ve been experimenting with an iron nutritional supplement for symptoms of my own weak Saturn.
Obviously Mrs. Thatcher had no such problems. In fact, she has iron to spare:
Astro-Databank Entry, A rating.
Looking at her chart, the first thing I notice is her Sasa Yoga; Saturn in its sign of exaltation (Libra) and smack on the ascendant in her first house (marked in light red). So that explains the nickname.
Saturn stands for powerful and strict disposition. It also signifies the position of authority.
Duties, responsibilities, obligations, laws, conformity
A strong Saturn in a Libra rising chart is very powerful ‘Yogakaraka’. A planet forms a so called Raja Yoga (great combination) by ruling a Kendra (angular) house and a Trikona house (1,5 and 9). Saturn rules the 4th and 5th house in every Libra rising chart. This gives Margaret a rock solid foundation (4th) and strong political intelligence (5th).
Mrs. Thatcher’s chart also provides a rich opportunity for a study in fixed star conjunctions. Her Moon is conjunct ‘royal’ star Regulus (the ‘heart’ of the Leo constellation); Mercury is conjunct Spica; Saturn and her Ascendant conjunct Zuben Elgenubi, Jupiter with Vega, and the IC conjunct Fomalhault. I don’t want to pad this post out too much, but probably worth investigating.
Her reign at the top of the top seems to have begun to build steam during her Rahu mahadasa, the period of her life presided over by ‘shadow planet’ Rahu. Rahu is positioned in the 10th house of career. It was also around this time that she caught the attention of the soviet press and received her nickname.
As secretary of education, she gained countrywide infamy and unpopularity during her Rahu antardasa for cutting school milk from education budgets, earning herself another memorable title as ‘Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher’. Jupiter rules the 6th house of conflict.
Her ascension to Prime Minister came some time into her Rahu/Saturn antardasa and there she remained for a whopping 11 years and 209 days, a duration that roughly correlates with the closing of her Rahu mahadasa. End of an era.
