BP: What Percent Crude PR?

 

There are two important versions of BP's chart. The first is its original incorporation chart:

  

 Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Ltd (BP) - Incorporation chart

Founded as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (Ltd.), the company we now know as BP's Descendant - what it would have put out as messages to the public (and shareholders, one assumes) is represented by 12 Aquarius.

Aquarius being the sign of the marketplace, corporations and income and 12 being a 2nd (emotional) decanate degree, we know that BP would always put out a message that was slightly fervent. With this position modified by Pelion - the great mountain one must climb? Make that fervent and long-suffering, even in anticipatory mode.

With Aquarius ruled first by Saturn (representing the foundations upon which the corporation's fortunes are built) then Uranus (its success), we then look to these two planets to see what else may be seen.

What we see first is a 14 Aries Saturn conjunct Mercury (at 15 Aries) and Sedna at 10 Aries. Sedna being all about the struggle to let go of security and reach one's actual potential being conjunct Saturn - which never mind being the signature for BP's Descendant is the premier symbol of business - this combination in and of itself is wonderfully descriptive. Founded in 1909, BP (then the Angle-Persian Oil Company) was one of the first oil producers and the first to go into Persia. It pioneered much of what we now think of as 'standard oil operations.' And it did all this in Persia - the place we now call Iran.

Obviously, to British would-be oil tycoons, Persia was a very foreign country, and the 9th house is the house of foreigners and foreign places. So that this fledgling British Company had to risk letting go of dear old England and travel abroad to found its fortune is right in keeping with the chart.

Once it was established that the Masjed Soleiman field held sufficient promise to justify same, an oil lease was negotiated with Shah Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia. This is Orcus at 10 Aries. Orcus describing things done which cannot be changed, the fledgling BP had to invest enough money to find the oil before they could negotiate the lease.

Industria at 12 Aries and Rhadamanthus (fairness) at 13 conjunct Mercury (thought, organization) at 15 tells a tale of the enormity of effort it would have taken to get temperate climate English workers out into the deserts of Persia and the training of locals to partake in what must have been a grueling effort to tap those first wells.

And that grueling part? That we would know not simply from knowing that its hot in Iran, but because Mercury in the 9th house would make anywhere where BP tends to work a harder-than-usual place to work. Hence Iran, the North Sea, Alaska, the middle of the Gulf of Mexico...

...it's a corporate thing with this Anglo-Persian company which grew up to be BP. This just isn't a 'take the easy way out' company. Which means - yes - that this is a company which even when it doesn't intend to can make things very, very difficult for itself.

And that Mercury reaches out just far enough to conjunct Pandora (and her famous box) at 20 Aries? That doesn't just reinforce BP's 'strenuous efforts' of all types but also speaks volumes to the repercussion oil was to have not merely on BP's fortunes, but on the world as a commodity. Ruled by an Aquarian Mars in the employee and work-standard 6th house conjunct Psyche (the mind) and an early Aquarian Moon however...that lays the groundwork for BP to have issues with cost cutting.

With Uranus, the secondary ruler of Aquarius also in this 6th house but in the last third of Capricorn, we see the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as a founding industrial giant. It did the (Uranus) job of literally breaking ground as it broke through all the Uranian/Aquarian geological, technical, distribution and marketing problems in turning oil into a commodity then a baseline necessity upon which the whole world has been running on for heading towards a hundred years now.

That same 9th house which represented the 'foreign interest' is also the house which rules dissemination of information. Ruled by Jupiter in Virgo in the 2nd house we get our second indication that everything which comes out of BP's corporate mouth isn't the whole truth and nothing but the corporate truth.

Why would that be? Well, because Jupiter in Virgo tends to over-scrutinize either the information or what it chooses to say. Ruled by that Mercury in the 9th which here being conjunct ultra-fair Rhadamanthus and Pandora's plethora of ills which one must endure in order to find hope...this is the picture of a company which will generally stick its oil boot in its corporate mouth before it loses the oil slick and comes clean.

Oh yes - Medusa and Ixion are also in the 2nd and also conjunct Jupiter, as is Thuban, a fixed star known for imparting struggle. Medusa is a fascinating entity - it's fear, yes. But also fear of the truth (link to article on Medusa)...and even fear of self. Ixion, meanwhile is about ingratitude, particularly of the 'I should be able to simply because I can or have the opportunity right here' type (article on Ixion). So this is greatly about corporate fear of what people think - no matter what the news is. Are they making enough money? Too much - do they look like gluttons? Will they undermine their own position by people knowing too much? Not enough?

Love the company or hate it, this is an entity almost to pity for its inability to take a stand and go with it.

I said almost.

Saying all that, now we come to the most recent major merger, that committed to as of December 31, 1998 with Amoco. The chart for BP/Amoco (later renamed simply  BP) looks like this:

 

BP/Amoco merger chart

Going back to the prime PR spots of any chart (the Descendant and 9th house) at the Descendant we have fixed star Spica -  the gift of knowledge and brilliance - sitting with Deucalion, signature of 'finding the moral path.' So far, so good.

But then we look at the Venus ruling this 22 Libra Descendant; said Venus is in Capricorn (sign of business structures) in the very worldly 10th house of leadership. Still not bad at all! Venus here is conjunct two pairs of symbols (with Venus at the midpoint, the pairs don't connect). On one side we have Atlantis/Bali, which in 3 decan degrees are without question the desire to have everything be good and as ruler of the Descendant, to look and sound good too.

The other pair would make is even more skeptical: Child and Hebe (the servant) at Capricorn's critical 29th degree tells us the worse the situation is for the business or world opinion (i.e., anyone outside the BP fold), the more they are likely to serve up something dumbed down to 'not scare the Child.'

But this is a classic astrological mistake: the Child we are referring to is BP asteroid Child, not yours or mine. They are projecting it on us and thus they are acting as though we are children better off without the real facts. But the real fact is that it's BP which is scared: wherever the symbol appears (by house) is the 'department of life' where that energy will manifest. So when it gets to the executive running-BP-as-a-world-entity level of the company, if/when BP runs into trouble it...acts like a child! (No mommy, I didn't break it - it broke itself!)

And since the Saturn ruling this 10th and the Venus (et al) in said 10th...

...Since that Saturn is a 3rd decanate Aries Saturn unhappily placed in the first house, we know BP dislikes outsiders and doesn't like anyone having input or the ability to comment or discuss what it is doing. Conjunct Circe, Sphinx and Sisyphus (sounds like a very bad law firm)...this is more about BP as a company which will do its best to wait out public furor (Sphinx) or transform  situations/information to serves its own purpose (Circe). And if necessary - which is to say if you disagree with BP while "on its turf" (which one would have to assume at least means working with or for BP) then BP will have to simply do away with you somehow (Sisyphus).

This kind of determination serves BP well as an oil explorer. It serves them very badly as a real life corporate entity in an increasingly interactive world.

For all the mergers along the way (BP has had a barrel full of them from inception until now)...this company hasn't and has changed. The Ascendant/Descendant of today's BP is only one degree off the original chart's prime vertical - the Midheaven/Nadir 'who are we as a corporation?' - with that original vertical axis now turned into the horizontal axis.

What would that say? That would say that who BP started out to be, they now use as the face of who today's BP wants you to think they are. They want the world to think they're that same pioneering company.

But they aren't. The vertical axis of this new chart is 8 Capricorn (Midheaven)/8 Cancer at the Nadir or IC - the foundational point of the chart. Looking to Cancer's ruling Moon we find it in the 2nd (emotional) decanate of Gemini (thoughts, communications, choices) in what would be the modern company's 2nd house of corporate coffers.

Through chains of rulership, the Mercury which rules the 2nd (value/values) and 3rd (organizational concept) house of this chart points to Jupiter - which rules both the 8th house of investment and 9th house of foreigners/foreign things. This says a lot, especially in this international world where BP has to work outside its native UK with less rather than more world power now being part of its national identity.

That the Jupiter which ends up ruling this 8th and 9th (the 9th house part including 'information disseminated and thus PR') being intercepted in the 12th house conjunct Pallas (wisdom) and Sabine (forced imprisonment) tells us two things.

One is that BP is in a sense hostage to its stockholders. BP knows that an enormous number of real live people - that their pension funds are invested in BP on the London Exchange, and that part of BP's financial power has come of its ability to be a premier source of dividends.

The second part of this is BP feeling that it can simply hold knowledge hostage. Niobe (pride) and Amphitrite (overwhelm) conjunct the 26 Aquarius 12th house cusp tells us that this company's overwhelming pride is a good thing when its about how they can indeed take care of others but a total detriment when they are focused on their own reputation and income.

With all this said, we each have to decide for ourselves exactly what percentage of BP's PR is simply crude which has bubbled up to the top. What is for sure however is that unlike oil, what BP says only ever partly dispersed by means natural or artificial.

That the modern chart was hit by the January 2010 solar eclipse on their Venus/Child/Hebe in advance of the Deepwater Horizon debacle speaks volumes to the financial hit BP is going to take coming out of this disaster. It may be worth looking ahead to incoming solars and eclipses to see where the company's going to go (vote with your blog comments - if you want more information, you'll get more information!).

There is no question but that BP is going to try to evade/avoid full payouts. That started as soon as the well blew out with BP trying to 'fudge' or cover up exactly how many barrels of oil have flowed out of the Deepwater well because of their agreement with the sovereign nation involved (the US). The US has every right to not merely make BP pay for every barrel 'extracted' from its mineral rights reserves, but fine BP for every barrel allowed to pollute the Gulf of Mexico.

And that ain't just chump change.

Lay on top of that physical/ecological damages and loss-of-livelihood lawsuits and BP will have more than just a pond of fiscal goo on its hands.

Oil is a dirty business, unquestionably. But protecting the current corporate structure at the expense of public opinion is probably the most karmic thing BP can ever do. For one, it will erode the public trust. And secondly, it will cause people to see that there really does need to be an alternative to oil.

That's literally driving consumers away - which in the end is not merely the most costly form of PR possible, but BP having crudely undercut the very legs of the platforms their corporation stands on. Literally.

 

   

 

 

 

Is Obama Eclipsed by BP?

President Obama is having a hard time dealing with this BP matter. Do we know why? Or what it represents in his chart? 

Yes, we do. 

So let's start with the basics: unless you're a 'Birther' you're using a chart for August 4, 1961 at 10am (AHST/+10) set for Honolulu, Hawaii. That horoscope has Amphitrite at 3 Capricorn in the 11th house and 19 Cancer on the cusp of the 6th house.

The importance of that? That would be about this summer's eclipses, the first of which (the lunar) occurs at 4 Capricorn on June 26, with the solar eclipse being at 19 Cancer on July 11.

So how "far out" (i.e. prior to the actual time) we can expect to begin feeling eclipse effects? With lunar eclipses, it's usually a couple of weeks - which would put its effects as beginning just as June got into gear people. But solar eclipses? They last longer (3 years) in the unraveling to 'final results' and they start much farther out.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred back on April 20th and there's no question but that Obama was duly and swiftly told it had happened. But he didn't start getting focused on as a prime 'player' in the drama until the early days of May, which would be about 2 months out from the July 11th solar eclipse at 19 Cancer.

As a solar eclipse begins being 'felt,' the general effect is one of breaking down existing status quos. Things we have relied on no longer prove reliable. The old simply doesn't work...and yet people being people, do you think they get wise to that fact the minute something goes wrong? 

Absolutely not! People are people. And let's face it, as head of a giant government dealing with a foreign company, Obama tackling the structure of BP isn't as easy as going to get a fresh pencil from his pencil cup.

The June 26 lunar eclipse at 4 Capricorn will hit Obama's Amphitrite (his 'overwhelm point') in the 11th house, a house which typifies social matters, income and corporations. Ruled by his quirky if innovative Aquarian Jupiter (conjunct a strong and structural Saturn) we do know Obama is never out of ideas. With this pair situated in his 12th house, he's very big at working behind the scenes and yet will respond to public need: the 12th house is the house of universal connections, so what his people need, he will do.

This 'common chord' exaltation is also part of what tells us Obama is such a talented orator, too.

Some will say this means he's just 'playing the part'? And let's not kid ourselves, Obama is capable of playing a part, but with his Sun being in the 6th house of civil service and employees opposition a 12th house Damocles (the perils of power) he is highly, highly unlikely to do anything which he thinks is against the greater, universal good.

Another nice point about this Damocles/Sun opposition: Obama knows the value in working and working and working to avoid the disaster. So he won't goof off. And when it comes to the bottom line, he has what it takes to cut through the garbage and issue the hard-core order.

But let's be real: Obama has a fixed Sun and Ascendant - he is disinclined to be hasty or lead by assertion. Obama has a built-in 'quease-meter' which causes him to dread  missteps, too - which isn't all that bad considering he's the guy with the war codes.

So back to the point...lunar eclipses tend to manifest right on schedule and produce sudden 'realizations.' Often the cold water thrown in the face of expectation, for a whole slew of astrological reasons...(North Node=necessity + Uranus/innovation +  Kassandra/'I SO Don't Believe You!' + Pelion/Facing a really BIG Mountain + Industria/Work Needs Doing)....all of which are in a Leo 7th house? Well, let's just say BP is likely to hear words from The Obama Quadrant (no matter who gets to say them) about this time. And let's be real - one of the reasons why Obama will step up (or send someone to do the job if he thinks it makes a better point) is because Obama will be sick of taking flack about the time the lunar eclipse rolls around.

The degree of said eclipse (4 Capricorn) is rather known for warm hospitality. But it's also the tofu of zodiac degrees in that it tends to take on the coloration of any transiting effect - such as an eclipse.

Natally having Amphitrite at 3 Capricorn (conjunct the eclipse) tells us there's an understanding of 'a system overwhelmed' in Obama's brain. And lunar eclipses being notorious for either complete bliss or wet blanketing reality, if BP hasn't got the well under control (the 'bliss' thing) they can expect a big splash as Obama's verbal foot hits the Gulf - and he won't just be puddling Dixie.

Maybe more to the overarching point however is the July 11 solar eclipse at 19 Cancer. If we give that a 2-month 'breakdown window,' that takes us back to May 11, which is when everybody really started focusing hard on the office door leading to the Oval Office. Okay...but given that this is the 6th house of Obama's chart we're talking about, it would be natural for him to start out using and not seeing the failings of anything or anybody which could even vaguely be referred to as a 6th house "employee." That would include his own staff, the US military, the general American civil service as a whole - and of course the entirety of BP and its hired PR gurus.

With Echo standing right before this 6th house cusp we would expect Obama to start this 'breakdown period' out by 'echoing' what he's been told - which is exactly what he did. But then we get to the crux of it: asteroid Lilith at 20 Cancer, Sabine at 21 Cancer, Icarus at 22 Cancer and Atropos at 24 Cancer.

Lilith is maybe the hardest symbol in this entire sequence: it's literally the thing you don't want to see about or in yourself. Add to that Sabine (forced rape/enslavement), Icarus (foolish overstepping of safe limits) and Atropos (cut offs, ends) this is a picture of many things.

Considering this is all in the sign of Cancer and therefore ruled by the Moon, we need to look at Obama's Moon to delineate it. And we find said Gemini Moon in the 4th house of family, homeland and national populations. Exactly conjunct Lust, looking at this as Obama AS a civil servant (which as President, he technically is), he's not just fixated on what his country needs, but his country's fixations. With Polyhymnia and Nessus standing right nearby he understands how happy the people are with their way of life and that they jealously guard their right to have what the want.

And no, that's not always good. Nessus is a legacy of poison which says a lot about the oil spill. Fortunately for Obama (and the country) this Nessus of his is not at his Descendant - which in the long run says this oil spill will not be the focus of his legacy. Unfortunately for Obama, it being at his IC/Nadir (the bottom of the chart) does mean it's a problem he's going to have to deal with. And keep dealing with. And deal with some more...the 'more and more quality' of this not coming just from the IC (and the fact that he's going to be President yet for a while) but because Gemini is ruled by Mercury and Mercury is in Obama's 6th house - the house of work, effort, continuing to try.

With his Mercury opposition the Aquarius Jupiter, we can guess that new safeguards and innovations are going to come out of this oil spill disaster. We are also likely to learn a lot about oil as a toxin.

Apart from all that, this Mercury also marks part of Obama's job as President to be a  bearer of bad news to the people of the United States. And with Mercury opposition an Aquarian Jupiter, one of his messages is things cannot go on as they have - we can't keep doing things as we've been doing them. 

Remember that campaign all about 'change'? That was Obama in sync with his chart and hence, astrologically, part of why he won the election - his people didn't 'feel' internal contradiction.

Just as obvious, however, is the fact that he doesn't like having to play the stern daddy (Moon in 4th house is always, always, always a family issue!). And as Obama was being elected, he certainly never knew the scope or arenas he would be facing which all needed serious change.

Unfortunately for him, the firm and if necessary stern daddy thing is part of the  territory of the job so long as he's the guy IN said job.

The good news is that once Obama reaches the point where he sees the real 'blackout' of the eclipse (replete with its nauseatingly apt parallel to an oil slick)...then he'll actually find the answer, part of which lies in part in making the American people SO angry that they become willing to make all the necessary changes.

All things happen when they happen. He can't rush things vis-a-vis BP or the American people...or himself.

You think this is just about an oil spill? It's not just about an oil spill. BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster is literally and figuratively barely offshore. The really deep water is about sustainability of life as people know it - the totality of that life. Obama having Vesta (service) conjunct Algol (male aggression) at the bottom of his chart makes him an interesting figure serving in a powerful position at a crucial moment in time; he would seem tailor made for the combination of assertiveness and supportiveness people need to hear from and feel is on their side.

What Obama probably knows without liking that he knows (Lilith) is that there are yet harder days to come.He also knows that we can all survive this - but that there are huge prices yet to be paid. Where we are now, the water is truly deep - but we have not yet plumbed the abyss.

Looking ahead, the January 2011 eclipse will hit Obama's Kalypso/Vega-the ability to care about others no matter how different their priorities or concerns. You think he's got it hard now? Wait! Fortunately the harder things get, the better Obama sees in the dark...like the rest of us, he just has problems getting out of his own way, which everyone defends when it's a private issue and which we seem to totally forget when it's a CEO or head of state.

Oh yeah....right. They're a person too?

Yes, they are.

Things aren't going to be easy and we may all stub or toes, but Americans chose a capable guy when they elected Barack Obama. He won't like doing it, but if he has to he'll drag the entire country through its stinking valley of darkness and denial, and that's what a country really needs from a national daddy.

In the meantime, just don't stay out after curfew.

And forget getting the keys to the White House limo.

.

BP's Top Kill Attempt

BP announced that it's 'Top Kill' attempt began at 13:00 CDT today.

The chart for this event show fixed star Thuban and asteroid Echo at 7 Virgo, right behind the 8 Virgo Ascendant. Thuban's lore is all about difficult processes which have to be worked through. Echo is about 'echoing' what you've been told. 

The combination of these signals in Virgo's proactive first decanate (degrees 0 through 9) tells us that BP is doing (Ascendant) what they have been told will work (Thuban/Echo).

The foundation of this chart is represented as being 7 Sagittarius - another first decan point (therefore about "doing")...and a degree with an interesting lore as pertains to this attempt. Known as a degree which is 'quite' and 'materialistic' and capable of turning enemies into friends, perhaps the most important note about this degree is that it wants to be 'undisturbed' or 'left alone.'

Given that Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, we look to Jupiter in this chart - conjunct Uranus/Scheat (a combination which speaks either to nastiness or innovation) and asteroids Byblis (that 'long known') and Klotho (beginnings) the image seems to be that this is a lesson. BP will learn better about what it does - and like as not (given that Jupiter is in the 7th position of "the audience") the world is going to reconsider the true 'cost' of using oil. 


Is this really - astrologically - about oil? Yes. Oil as a substance is astrologically Piscean - the drilling part? That's Scorpio.

So here we have Uranus, Jupiter (et al) all in Pisces: the matter is clearly about the oil itself and oil as subject. Yet since all Piscean outcomes are Neptunian, we need to look at the Neptune in this chart.

And where is Neptune? Conjunct Athena and (calculated) Lilith (that we didn't want to look at) in the 6th house of employees. It's a cinch we don't know everything that's going on - nor are we ever likely to know all or exactly what actually took place. Or whether BP (Transocean, Halliburton, etc.) are going to find out who did what, or if they discipline anyone even if they do find out. 

At least not at this point. 

There is a whole section of astrological theory which is horary and rather 'progression-oriented' which astrologers routinely use for 'time-telling' when it comes to doing certain kinds of predictions. Using this chart, with the Moon at 20 Scorpio and Uranus (the "last" aspect to be made by said Moon) ... the trine between Moon and Uranus which is eventually to be struck says this is not so simple a problem as everyone is thinking, but it can be solved. At some point in the process signified by the number seven (hours? days? weeks? months? years?) there will be a turn in the process. One tick later (at "eight" after commencement of this process at 1pm CDT) information will surface. Then we'll get to the solution...and maybe a few more actual facts.

A note more on this sort of progressive/horary theory: all such 'time slots' often apply. So while it may be only hours (or maybe days or...) until we know whether this 'top kill' method works to seal the blowout, we can also expect to see repercussions (ecological, financial, legal, etc.) echoing off this event chart in terms of what it says about timing.

Last item for the moment...the Scorpio Moon of this chart is in the 3rd house of communications in a degree which is "public" by nature. But Scorpio as a sign is very controlling. Do we think we're getting the whole story? With this Moon ruling the South Node (the "easy way out") in the publicity/marketplace 11th house and conjunct charismatic dog-star Sirius, BP could probably do itself some long-term good by being totally open about everything going on. 

But will it?  

With Icarus (flights of fancy/reckless actions) conjunct Fomalhaut (dreams and intuitions) just under the 'here's what we're telling you' 7th house cusp with the rather domineering symbol of Hera (the overseeing wife) sitting atop said cusp, it's a pretty good bet we're not getting the whole story. 

Will update this blog saga as soon as something else happens...more soon! 

Uranus and BP's Blowout

For those of you following what seems an interminable series of 'we're getting there' announcements coming out of British Petroleum (BP), when they started delays late last week it occurred to me that it might just be a very good thing if the delay took them all the way to that magical moment when Uranus will leave 29 Pisces and enter Aries.

Adjusting for time (to the site of the oil change), this event will occur on Thursday, May 27 at 8:44 in the evening. What does this mean if the attempt is made prior to this time? Obviously in terms of environmental effects, this leak can't be stopped a moment too soon. But does this timing of the shift into Aries and out of Sheat-occupied critical degree 29 Pisces tell us that anything done prior to this time is doomed not to work.

Pulling transits to the chart for the discovery of Uranus (a move made simply out of curiosity) reveals the transit North Node (propriety of necessity) conjunct Eris (discord) on Wednesday, May 26th at 6:09 in the evening, Deepwater time. 

It will be interesting to see how that manifests. 

Whatever happens at that point, there is a clear sign of 'shifting management' which shows on the BP corporate chart come Saturday morning (UK time). For those of the astro-techy tribe, the transit is Juno conjunct Pluto with Juno being in BP's natal 9th house and Pluto being in BP's natal 11th, just conjunct its North Node - which among other things speaks to corporate income. This may indicate an actual change of management, a shift of management with regards to this blow out or something else which will affect BP's income - and let's face it, if the US decides to send in military assets to fix what BP isn't fixing, that's going to be a very expensive bill hitting BP's bottom line.

Think the US won't do that? They do. Back when I was working in motion pictures, one of the films I worked on got permission to film aboard an aircraft carrier. There's a whole hairy story which goes with this, but the part which applies to this discussion is that when the film crew left, the carrier's captain had a survey done of everywhere the crew had been. The production company was summarily served with a bill covering the cost of repainting not just walls and railings, but a large section of the flight deck... and that's very special (and very expensive) paint they use on those decks, since it has to provide landing and take-off traction for fighter jets. 

Last note here...having secured the actual date of incorporation for BP (from the company itself) somewhere in the next couple of weeks I will undertake to write an article on same. It may get posted here, or it may get posted at Daykeeper Journal  (www.daykeeperjournal.com) ...I will at the very leave a message here to let everyone know.