Wikileaks' organizational logo
Organized in 2006 under the auspices of Sunshine Press, Wikileaks has become an independent, international force. Described as a group of ‘Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up technologists’ from the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Europe and South Africa and no longer any sort of public/user editable “wiki,” Wikileaks’ aim is to ‘expose oppressive regimes’ and ‘reveal unethical behaviors’ of corporations and governments around the world.
Basically, Wikileaks intends to operate as a “digital intermediary” for those wanting to blow the whistle on someone without exposing themselves. The whistleblower provides Wikileaks with documentation of the problem, Wikileaks checks it out, then Wikileaks releases the documents to the public.
As recent events have proven, whistleblowers don’t always walk away scot-free. But that they’re caught for theft of documentation is probably entirely separate from Wikileaks as an operation; while Wikileaks may be interested in given subjects, no one says they’re hiring anyone to go steal stuff!
Of course, that Wikileaks publishes “stolen” information instead of holding it confidential…? That Wikileaks could be said to be in receipt of ‘stolen property’? That’s what Wikileaks has been and is being taken to task about.
In the end, this amounts to a global scale question about freedom of information and freedom of the press. And that question points in many different directions. It’s not just about freedom versus control, but whether everything a government or corporation may stamp “Top Secret” should really be labeled a ‘top secret’? If a government, corporation, highly placed official or executive stamps something “secret” because they want to protect themselves from embarrassment or being found functioning outside the law, should they be able to use a ‘top secret’ designation to protect their personal and possibly totally unethical interests?
That seems to be what the Wikileaks ethos is questioning.
But we’re not debating politics or legalities or even the pros or cons of Wikileaks here. All we’re going to do is look at see what the Wikileaks chart says about Wikileaks, its ‘members’ and its future – which we know may be in question. After all, just recently, PayPal suspended Wikileaks’ donation/income account on January 22, 2010, only to reinstate same on January 25, 2010. And most of us have heard about Wikileaks’ spokesman/editor-in-chief Julian Assange’s troubles too. When asked, United States Attorneys General Eric Holder has already confirmed how there’s an ‘ongoing investigation’ of Wikileaks.
With all that now dutifully recounted, here’s the chart:
Wikileaks organizational chart - Placidus houses
The first thing to say about this chart is that it’s ‘located’ to Stockholm. When we talk about a confederation of people who organize using the Internet as there platform, this would be a question: where did this organization originate? Where was/is it “born”?
Here are my ideas on that. As an Internet-based company, Wikileaks operates from an ISP. The original ISP of record (PRQ) is Stockholm-based. Since that time, Wikileaks has been hosted on various sites including Bahnhof and (surprise!) Amazon. Reports currently have the Wikileaks site being hosted by Sweden’s ‘Pirate Party’ from their ultra-protected/protective bunkers.
So Wikileaks the internet entity does seem to have been ‘born’ in Stockholm, Sweden.
One other technical note: there’s a whole astrological school of thought which says when you work with a chart located in high latitudes (north or south) the Koch, not Placidus house system should be used.
Therefore! For all you Koch fans:
Wikileaks organizational natal chart - Koch houses
Under Koch, instead of intercepting one sign in the 2/8 axis and one across the 3/9 axis, there are two signs intercepted across the 3rd/9th house axis.
Against all this I am merely going to put my thirty plus years of working with charts. (How time flies!)Koch is a personal experience of life and Placidus seems to be how life “works.” So especially with a corporate (not to mention internet-based) entity, I’m going with Placidus!
So saying, back to that 3rd house/9th house axis concept. It’s a great place to start because Wikileaks is all about informational documents (3rd house) and dissemination of information/knowledge (9th house).
Oh…and just one other thing on that Koch/Placidus thing. For those who into astrology but who aren’t astrologers, the basic thing to understand about this switch of systems doesn’t change the prime horizontal (Ascendant/Descendant) axis, nor the vertical (Midheaven/Nadir) axis. Changing from Placidus to Koch (or Koch to Placidus) only changes intermediary houses.
Okay?
Now! The 3rd house being all about communication and paperwork (including documents), that there’s an interception across the 3/9 house polarity (in either version of the chart) gives us a couple of interesting things to consider. For one, interceptions tend to refer to things which operate ‘behind the scenes.’ Another way they function is as a descriptor of energies which are used to ‘power’ something for others – the ‘being of service’ thing.
This particular 3rd/9th house axis has cusps at 19 Aquarius/19 Leo. Aquarius having a great reputation for freedom versus anarchy (or elitism versus equality), we immediately begin to see the point of Wikileaks’ and what detractors think of Wikileaks!
As for Leo – Leo tends to be either supportive or critical. With the 9th house being the natural house of not just information dissemination but the teaching process (that which one learns from), it is pretty easy to guess that Wikileaks feels it’s supporting the rights of others (‘the children and fellow citizens of the world’). And just as certainly, those who the documents pertain to feel criticized!
(That would be rather the point, yes.)
That 19 Aquarius is the last of Aquarius’ emotional degrees adds a fervent, urgent quality to what Wikileaks learns and reveals to others – and the energy others do/will bring to trying to deal with/shut down/discredit Wikileaks.
With Damocles at 20 Aquarius, we have a wonderfully apt picture of Wikileaks saying ‘we have seen the danger and here it is!’ And yes, those being talked about probably think everything which comes out of Wikileaks’ digital mouth is dangerous too – for many a variable reason.
On the 9th house side we have Pandora and Mnemosyne united at 22 Leo, a degree all about wanting to be of service. And yet, the efforts to serve as expressed through this degree are often far from appreciated. It’s sort of one of those you go to all that trouble and you not only don’t get told ‘thank you’ but you get a kick in the labonza….?
Yeah, that would be 22 Leo.
Plus – and here Wikileaks will do well to be really really careful! – 22 Leo is a degree which also speaks of possibilities of being duped. Here, too much involvement brings problems, and with Pandora at this degree, those problems could be an entire box of ills!
Pandora by John William Waterhouse (1896)
It’s a balancing act: while Wikileaks has to believe in what it is doing (and the necessity thereof), it’s important that perspective and a dispassionate ‘hands off’ quality be maintained; too much ‘personal investment’ may well spell Pandora-type problems!
Also interesting with this chart is that the Midheaven is positioned at 1 Libra, a degree which puts Wikileaks’ aims (the Midheaven is always one’s goal) right smack dab atop the biggest Black Hole currently known to science – M87.
Given that Black Holes have an incredible draw (ask any astrophysicist!) we would say that with the Wikileaks ‘aim’ – the Midheaven – pretty much guarantees Wikileaks won’t die for lack of attention!
It has organizational magnetism, one might say. Of course, magnetism can attract and repel…..!
Moving on! Astrologically, Black Holes produce an ‘alternative reality.’ And indeed, while Wikileaks seeks to do just that (create an alternative reality) the alternative reality they end up participating in the creation of may often end up being something very different from what even Wikileaks imagines may happen!
What this points out is how, like all astrological figures, this Midheaven/Black Hole works both ways. The 1 Libra/M87 Midheaven will draw attention. But it’s also a ‘lightning rod,’ which may turn all of Wikileaks into a digital Ben Franklin standing there holding not just a key, but a key tied to the lightning-struck kite with the string being made of high-grade electro-conductive material!
Like, ouch! That could hurt!
With Sun, Venus and Mars all in Libra in the 10th house, the intent of Wikileaks is very public. The Venus here being conjunct Nemesis and Amor says that the public (10th house) intention is to warn people of the truth, however unpopular that may be (Nemesis) – and that Wikileaks is doing this as something of a friendly (Amor) gesture. This isn’t basically about manipulation or personal gain.
Yet with Venus in its own sign of rulership and ruling both the Midheaven/Black Hole and the societal-systemic-income producing 11th house, let’s be real: there is a need to be financed through donations front door, back door, PayPal, carrier pigeon…
…and as long as Wikileaks actually does what it does for reasons of whistleblowing, it will have the support of some, if not many. (Yes, you too can ‘friend’ Wikileaks on Facebook!)
Many will stand with Wikileaks. Many though will always, always, always be suspicious of it. This we know from Mercury being positioned in that societal/income-oriented 11th house not in Libra, but at a Mercurially rather suspicious 3 Scorpio.
Yet providing Wikileaks minds its moral/ethical/legal P’s and Q’s, all should be well.
How do we know that? Well, this starts with Mercury being conjunct TNO Deucalion and TNO/Plutino Huya. The ‘up’ side of this combination is the very description of Wikileaks as just what it says – an outlet for whistleblowers. With both these objects being TNOs, we also know Wikileaks is not your morning paper – if it ever was to try to become one, we’d ‘know’ (which is to say we would think we know) that Wikileaks has sold out or become some corporate mouthpiece.
Deucalion is a philosophical and celestial Greek Noah: all about the choice/chance to choose a ‘right’ (and yes, ‘correct’) path. Against (or with) that we have Huya, a Trans Neptunian Object which embodies the idea of ‘the rainmaker.’ One of the best examples of a great Huya we have is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah came from a hard background herself and wants to make life better for others. In making their lives better, she has succeeded for herself. This is the concept of the celestial ‘rainmaker’: when we make rain (create fertile circumstances for growth) in the lives of others, they feed our needs. That’s Huya.
The two-way ‘door’ here is that Wikileaks must operate from choosing a moral path and in doing so only point others to a path which is “Scorpio honorable.” What does “Scorpio honorable” mean? It means minus manipulations, underhanded dealings and back room payoffs. ‘Honorable’ in Scorpio means power is shared equally with everyone being treated as having an equal interest and equal viability of opinion.
In the 11th house, this makes Wikileaks an organization which believes that the world (society) needs to know how it’s being run. The 11th is the house of systems and organizations, so this Mercury is perfectly placed providing Wikileaks never does whatever it does out of a sense of ‘vendetta’ or some such similar concept.
Another aspect about this Scorpio Mercury has to do with it’s relationship to the Libra Mars in highly public 10th house. The 10th is the house of governments, the business of business, commerce and social status or achievement and Mars is the first/primary ruler of Scorpio – the energy which defines what we choose to get involved in.
Mars in Libra, on the other hand, is at least subdued, and often weak. And yet the combination gives us the image of Wikileaks trying to represent those who are “in a weak position” - perhaps the whistleblowers, or perhaps those Wikileaks believes are being deceived by those not living up to those Scorpio Mercury-Deucalion-Huya standards.
Mars in 10 is a position which tends to say ‘shout it to the world!’ So Wikileaks does. In that sense, the ‘weakened’ Libra Mars (Libra being the sign of “the other”) has Wikileaks saying ‘we didn’t say this – we’re merely providing you with what has been said!’
But at the same time…even though this Mars stands conjunct with heroic (I’ll rescue you, fair maiden!) Hidalgo, it’s also conjunct fixed star Spica. And Spica is the signature of ‘a little thing can make a big difference.’ So no doubt those who have tried to hide things which Wikileaks exposes will protest that it was just a ‘little’ matter – a detail they didn’t know about, perhaps?
At the same time, Wikileaks needs to stay on the right side of this Spica in not just what they do, but how they go about doing it. Considering this Spica is opposition to Eris and in the 4th house of ‘nation, native population or nationality,’ all such details can trip up Wikileaks, and/or any member of Wikileaks.
Always remember: astrological symbols swing both ways. So here, as in any chart, the object is to own the totality of the concept and from there, to choose to take the high road. Denial puts all the energy offshore to be used against you, avarice brings the worst of the aspect against you.
In the end, the object is to remember you’re a member of the human race – or in this case, a corporate entity which is run by humans and which is about humans and meant to connect with humans.
Will Wikileaks have legal problems? The Leo Saturn in 9 makes that seem more than likely…although the more ‘legality’ (and legal eagles) they have on board and in the group, the more Wikileaks ‘owns’ this aspect. However this works out, arrogance – a primary Leo Saturn danger – remains a corporate menace; the very arrogance Wikileaks is against, it needs not to embody…which brings us back to that Pandora/Mnemosyne thing.
With Mnemosyne being the ability to reflect and learn from past behavior (or outcomes) – which is itself a very 9th house thing to do - Wikileaks might in time become the watchdog who only has to growl to remind others to behave. But since nothing’s ever easy in this cosmos, that sort of ‘flip of the cosmic coin’ would suggest that at that point, Wikileaks might well stand in danger of becoming the back room dealer it was created to expose.
Oh, what to do…what to do?
Answer: take every challenge as it comes and for what it is, without connecting the dots. As for challenges, with Wikileaks there will be many – that we would suspect form the Grand Cross in the chart.
The basic nature of any Grand Cross involves a series of conflicts, conflicting questions, moments of being conflicted or choices which are sometimes between two things you really, really want (but can’t have both of)…or otherwise, between the better of several very not likeable choices.
This particular Grand Cross being presented in fixed signs (Taurus-Leo-Scorpio-Aquarius) certainly validates Wikileaks as an organization which is itself all about confronting others with things to give them pause in their ‘business as usual’ aims and methods. Yet the turn of the tide here will have Wikileaks questioned too – yes, it’s the old celestial what we put out comes back to us.
The thing about a Grand Cross is that it’s virtually impossible to own all four positions at once – hence, the boomerang effect. So as Wikileaks questions others, so it will be questioned and like as not, so it will question itself. In all things Wikileaks must weigh the value of what they aim to do against the cost of doing it – and whether they like it, not only to others.
Why not?
Because ultimately, Wikileaks lives in this world and we don’t bite the world which feeds us!
Oh yes – and there’s also a little issue of what might be loosely termed as ‘the cost of doing business’…you know, in every sense of the term.
As we ponder all of this, we should consider the Gemini on Wikileaks’ 8th house against Scorpio on it’s 12th and 1st.
Why?
Because the 8th is the house of power, control and ‘occulted’ (hidden) things being exposed (or ‘made naked,’ as we would associate with the 8th in its sexual role). So to have Gemini, native sign of information gathering, writing and communications-oriented 3rd house is on Wikileaks’ ‘power card’ 8th house makes communiqués and documents entirely apt.
As for Scorpio on the 12th and 1st, any ‘double sign’ chart signature (one sign falling on two successive houses) tells us that ‘business’ which ‘starts’ in the first house of the pair resolves/finalizes in the second of the pair.
The 12th house has many meanings, among which would be fear and ‘things kept secret’ (or done ‘out of sight’). Scorpio, which we know so well as a sign of sex, is also the great sign of interactive money. Remembering that Scorpio is the native sign of the power-control interactive 8th, Scorpio’s interactive money can be investments. Or bribes, loans or debts. And all of this can pertain to ‘above board’ issues like…say, real estate or running a war here and there, or it could pertain to things like drugs, prostitutes and illicit trades of a zillion different kinds.
However! Because we have Scorpio here beginning its work on the 12th house, while Scorpio here retains it’s ‘interactive’ quality, it also tend to be at least as much about emotional interactions and ‘the fantasy of power’ as anything “purely” Scorpio.
Taken en ensemble, we have the Wikileaks business of using documents and information (Gemini on the 8th) to unearth or reveal things which have been hidden or done behind the scenes: Scorpio arising on the 12th and ‘finishing’ its business in the open, action-oriented ‘here it is’ 1st house.
The glitch here would probably be the Scorpio Jupiter in the 12th house, because this Scorpio is part of this chart’s Grand Cross. That makes Wikileaks’ ‘business’ particularly prone to interruption and/or distraction through various means symbolized by this 19 Scorpio Jupiter and by the Jupiter opposition to Sedna at 20 Taurus.
Scorpio being often known as ‘other people’s money’ here reminds us of the PayPal stoppage – and whatever other kinds of financial issues Wikileaks may have. The opposition to Sedna combined with the Jupiter – with the Jupiter first ruled by Mars in 10 and Sedna ruled by the Libra Venus in 10…it’s a perfect picture of the charges currently being levied against Julian Assange.
Whether the charges would be true or not wouldn't be read through this chart. But considering that this all came up as Pluto moved over Medusa (fearful information) conjunct Pallas (wisdom)/Orpheus (talent hindered by insecurity) with this trio square to the Libra Venus at the top of the chart seems entirely apt. The Pluto in this Wikileaks' chart is conjunct Kassandra – she who is never believed even when she tells the truth. Both in Sagittarius, they are ruled by the Scorpio Jupiter.
Whatever else this situation is, it’s a “distraction” in the life of Wikileaks.
Two other items not yet discussed but obvious in this chart...
Number One: The very nature of the chart as it’s pictured with a hundred or so ‘extra’ points (meaning beyond the standard astrological symbols). Lookie here -
Wikileaks - natal chart with extra points
Even without your being able to see all the details in the chart (believe me, it’s hard enough when you have a full screen copy with all that data!) you can see that there’s a pattern. The chart is highly concentrated in houses 1, 2 and 3 (lower left) and then houses 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 with Jupiter/Sedna (part of that Grand Cross) forming a bit of a ‘fence’ from the 12th to the 6th house.
The first quadrant (houses 1, 2 and 3) are the basics of being. Everything above the prime horizontal of the chart is public or worldly: the right side being interactive, the left side being social-societal-and systemic.
It’s a great picture of what Wikileaks is about. Sure, it has to go about being what it is and taking care of its own business. But in the end, it’s about “putting things out into the world.”
Those two ‘gaps’ are about what Wikileaks isn’t about.
It isn’t about itself.
Something to think about, no?
Number Two: a planetary opposition between Saturn in the 9th house to Neptune in the 2nd. Put simply, Saturn/Neptune connections are notoriously indicative of substance abuse.
Will this issue surface with regards to a major Wikileaks player? Will Wikileaks expose some major world player’s addiction, abuse of self or others?
We just don’t know.
Any Grand Cross requires not just knowing what you’re doing, but knowing what can possibly happen as a result of what you do. With Saturn currently transiting Wikileaks’ 10th house (going into station/retrograde atop Wikileaks’ 10th house Mars during the PayPal stoppage-reinstatement), we can be assured we haven’t heard the last of Wikileaks, it's challenges to the world or how it's going to be challenged by that world yet.
As a matter of fact....seeing as the Sun of this chart stands at 11 Libra and how Saturn will be retrograding all the way back to 10 Libra as of early June, this gives us a whole May, June and July period of Saturn slowly moving back over that Sun, doing a turn and picking up speed as in direct motion it moves forward again.
What does that mean? That means that whatever Wikileaks is as an organization now, it will be change during that period. If you're Wikileaks, "developments" are a-coming.
So stay tuned - we'll just see what comes of all this 'leaking as we get on down the 2011 timeline!
As a matter of fact....seeing as the Sun of this chart stands at 11 Libra and how Saturn will be retrograding all the way back to 10 Libra as of early June, this gives us a whole May, June and July period of Saturn slowly moving back over that Sun, doing a turn and picking up speed as in direct motion it moves forward again.
What does that mean? That means that whatever Wikileaks is as an organization now, it will be change during that period. If you're Wikileaks, "developments" are a-coming.
So stay tuned - we'll just see what comes of all this 'leaking as we get on down the 2011 timeline!
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