Saturn In Virgo In The News

The symbol of Virgo depicts the only female figure of the Zodiac, so now that Saturn is in Virgo we'll be seeing plenty of women making headlines that embody the principles of this aspect; kicking off with Germaine Greer's new book, which aims to get the story straight about Shakespeare's wife, Ann Hathaway, who according to accepted opinion was so hated by The Bard that he spent most of his time in London to escape her, and at his death bequeathed only his second best bed in revenge for her being such a lousy wife. But it turns out there might not be much evidence for this after all, according to Greer, just a load of criticism and blame (the dark side of Virgo) built up over the years that ripped her reputation (Saturn) to shreds. Read more here.

And in a very Saturn In Virgo style, Greer remarked in a tv interview today that it's a book she could only have written at retirement age, as any earlier the academic circles would have slated her for writing about something so 'soap opera-ish'. Seems she's not the feather ruffler she likes to think she is, being so motivated by approval from the academic establishment that she'd set aside something she herself considers important, just to appease those potential critics, but anyhoo, she's done it right in 'their' eyes, (the extreme Saturn way to do anything), and has eventually got round to writing about Anne in a way that presents her as the love of Shakespeare's life, and devoted supporter of his work... interestingly, the main star of the Virgo constellation, Spica, was known as 'the most dedicated wife' by the Egyptians (article here).

Elsewhere, the first full day of Saturn In Virgo was also Moira Cameron's first day at work as the first ever female Beefeater to guard the Tower of London, since it all began back in 1485 (link). You can't just sign up to be a Beefeater either, you have to have served 22 years in the armed forces - very Saturn - and up to now you had to be a bloke, which is old-fashioned enough to come under Saturn's love for maintaining traditions of the past well after their sell by date.

And both stories have a rather nice but ever so tenuous trivia thread connecting them, in that the Tudor Age, started along with the Beefeaters in 1485 and ended at the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Elizabeth was a Virgo and uber symbol of the sign, being writer, poet, and aka The Virgin Queen. She was also imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months, which means the Beefeaters were once her prison guards. Shakespeare was of course around at that time, and wrote all kinds of stuff with her in mind, including apparently this poem, published for the first time this year, written in worship of his Virgo Queen... no doubt while wife Ann was home alone with the kids...