Australian Prime Minister John Winston Howard

Australian Prime Minister John Winston Howard was Prime Minister for over a decade and was born on 26th July 1939, in the sign of Leo, in Sydney.

His horoscope shows a strong Leo/Capricorn thread. He has the Sun conjunct Pluto in the sign of Leo which is the ultimate power aphrodisiac and Mars, planet of energy and drive is exalted in the sign of Capricorn.

John Howard also has a stellium encompassing, Mars/Vertex/Saturn/Pluto/Sun/Moons Node which gives him strength and stability, confirming that he was destined to be numero uno in his quest to reach the top of his political aspirations.

Adding to strength of his horoscope is the Moon in the sign of Scorpio which bestows a great temperament, full of energy and passion. This position also produces a strong and determined person and gives the ability to stay cool, calm and collected in any crisis. Once all this strength was controlled and directed into a framework of vision and values for the people of Australia, the scene was set for him to become a truly great person.

For most Leo’s, “all the world’s a stage,” and of all the players, John Howard is the most important. He is vigilant, perceptive, intense and inspiring, and is prepared to stand by his principles at all cost. The Australian people may not always agree with his policies, or his rhetoric, but in the end they admire his ability to stand up for what he believes in.

There is no doubt that he is willing to accept the old cliché, “he who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword.” John Howard became the 25th Prime Minister of Australia after defeating Labour’s Paul Keating on 2nd March 1996. He has since weathered many storms including September 11th and the Bali bombings. He has subsequently been re-elected three times, making him the longest serving Prime Minister since Sir Robert Menzies.

Looking at his chart on the 2006 Cancer ingress, we see that the Sun/Moon’s Node is to the Mid Heaven/East Point of his natal chart, indicates a disharmonious attitude towards working with others and having to fight a battle or two. Earlier this month, this very public aspect was triggered off when information about a promised leadership role was leaked to the press. This set up a show down between Prime Minister Howard and his deputy leader, Peter Costello.

Mr Costello has made no secret of his burning desire to lead the country and with an election eminent next year, he felt it was time for the PM to step down and give him a go. According to the newspapers, Mr Howard had promised Mr Costello over twelve years ago that if he were elected he would stand for no more than two terms and then hand the reins over to his deputy. However, two terms are a long time in politics and no one counted on September 11th and the Bali bombings shaking our faith in life to the very core.

During these tense and very upsetting periods, Prime Mister Howard stood tall and galvanised our country together. We saw that he was a man with a sense of justice and extremely capable of making hard decisions. Under his leadership despite difficult times, our country has thrived and prospered. We have very little inflation, low interest rates and a small percentage of people unemployed.

There are several charts around with various times of birth for Prime Minister Howard but I have always used the 3.45 am chart with reasonable success. A birth time can often be confirmed when the slow moving planets activate the degree of the Ascendant/Mid Heaven and here we see with this birth time, the Mid Heaven – East Point, on zero degree Aries and zero degree Cancer, thus highlighting the potential for a public disagreement. The Aries Mid Heaven also would indicate his love of power walking.

We have all seen those famous pictures of him in his green and gold track suit out and about all over the world. The Mid Heaven/East Point connection would indicate leadership abilities and the power and strength in activities surrounding one’s domain.

In this case it would be home and family and the country he rules. In business one would enjoy working from one’s home base. This is an interesting point as John Howard is one of the few Prime Minister’s to work from his home base in Sydney, rather than move full time, to the Lodge in Canberra. Ironically, Costello has a very nice Jupiter/Moon aspect that links into this same point, so with Howard’s position secure, eventually after locking horns, the two protagonists had no other course than agree to disagree and move on. When I first looked at the aspects it appeared to be, a “storm in a tea cup.”

Due to Howard’s outstanding role as Prime Minister it was no surprise that the news polls were 75 per cent in his favour as staying on. Mr Howard has said for a long time that, “if the party want me I will stay on.” At the time that the issue of leadership was bought up, Howard had transiting Mercury to the Saturn/Pluto of his natal chart.

Ebertin’s interpretation of this aspect is brooding over ones own destiny. People still ponder the question, when will Howard retire and hand the reigns over to Mr Costello? Usually during an election campaign it is the Jupiter/Saturn aspect which indicates a change so until we get a confirmed date it is a bit hard to make a prediction.

However, by Solar Arc movement in three years time, John Howard has the Saturn aspect to Jupiter so maybe, just maybe he will be willing to let go or be voted out of office. He has seen good times and bad times and “like Lazarus” has risen from the depths of hopelessness to shine like a beacon in the night. During the 2001 election campaign it looked as if he may suffer defeat but then no one counted on September 11th and the fact that he was in Washington on that horrific day.

So one can see it is not always easy to predict with accuracy which way the cards will fall but for the moment and for some time to come, it is still Howard’s way.