Women in Charge: Comparing May and Thatcher

I have some sympathy with the sentiments expressed in this brief piece:

Voter wishes we could just once have woman leader who didn’t openly despise us.

SNIP: “Unfortunately here in England we’re once again faced with a step forward for feminism being three to four steps back for humanity, whose rights Theresa May is actively campaigning on stripping away.”

I don't recall Theresa May from my time in the UK, though she must have been around. It's looking highly likely that she will succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister, but we won't know for sure for a few weeks, there are various stages of voting to be completed.

British astrologer Marjorie Orr took a quick look at Ms May's natal chart, along with those of other bright sparks hoping for "a leg-up the political ladder" during this oddly chaotic political season.

I'm inclined to compare Theresa May's natal chart to that of Margaret Thatcher - just because...

Margaret Thatcher: born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, at 9 a.m. according to Astrodatabank (A rating)..
Thatcher ought to have been more of a charmer, except for her Saturn in Scorpio rising - that is if 9.00am exact is really 100% accurate, if so with Pluto in trine to Saturn, from Cancer, the lady was likely to exude both power and....sexiness - really....Maggie Thatcher? (I do recall, though, reading that in her youth Maggie was something of a charmer among her male colleagues - pity it didn't extend to her "subjects!)

Moon at 28 Leo, if time were not 100% accurate could have been in Virgo, and I see that as not unlikely. She had only one planet in Earth - if born at 9 am on the dot: Jupiter in Capricorn, which is a good fit.

Theresa May born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, England. No time of birth available - chart set for noon.
This lady is more earthy workhorse than charmer, I suspect. Without time of birth ascendant can't be known but, what a coincidence that at noon Saturn was in much the same position as in Thatcher's chart! Saturn would be in Scorpio whatever time May were born, but not necessarily on the ascendant, so the two have that in common, as well as natal Suns in Libra.

Astrologer Jane Harrison at always Astrology begins a piece on Saturn in Scorpio thus:

Saturn in Scorpio is impatient. They demand a lot from themselves and from those around them. They can be so intense that it can be overwhelming to those who are not as directed as they are. Full of willpower and energy, they are so determined to meet their goals it is hard for them to remain calm. They are not the type to stop and smell the roses. Instead of going gung ho for their goals, however, they are usually more subtle and calculating. Saturn in Scorpio can be secretive. When hurt, they can be unforgiving. They don't like to be treated unfairly. They may be cunning, resentful, jealous, or possessive. They are shrewd and like to come out on top of any type of deal............

May's Saturn is square Pluto in Leo, rather than in trine as in Thatcher's case, so still linked but not as harmoniously. Venus conjoins Pluto, perhaps even Moon too, but without time of birth it's not possible to know. Venus conjunct Pluto, in some charts might indicate a sex-goddess type, but here, because of the square to Saturn, I wonder if it reflects more her limitation in not being able to have children "for health reasons". Don't know. She has been married to her husband, a banker, since 1980.

I guess one could make a trio here and compare Hillary Clinton's natal chart - it's at Astrodatabank HERE should anyone wish to take a look. It might be a tad apples and oranges though, as life, customs, environment and political systems in the USA and the UK are not fully comparable. I'm not sure that, had Hillary Clinton been born in England, with the same natal chart, without connection to any of her US history, she'd have risen to a political position comparable to that of Thatcher and May. (Just speculation!)

THATCHER

 Margaret Thatcher has died at the age of 87.

That's for today - I said THIS in January 2012.

THE THATCHER

The Iron Lady movie is going the rounds just now, and Margaret Thatcher has, unfortunately, crept back into the public consciousness....just when I thought we'd all but forgotten the horror that was The Thatcher.

I cannot bring myself to attempt any kind of useful astro-profile on this woman. My prejudice against her is too far gone. I will, though, link to a piece by astrologer Joyce Hopewell. She makes an interesting comparison of the natal charts of Margaret Thatcher and Meryl Streep, who plays the former British Prime minister in the movie.

My only comment on Thatcher's natal chart: she was a total disgrace to Libra, and proof, if proof were needed, that you cannot judge a person by their Sun sign.

I lived thoughout Thatcher's reign in the north of England. She was the single British PM or politician that I hated outright. Many Brits share my feelings about her, many, for some uncanny reason, do not.

I read a long thread of comment about Thatcher on a British Ex-Pats forum the other day; it brought back to the surface much of the hatred I used to feel about the woman. I've copied four of the comments which explain, and resonate with my own feelings.

By "Jon77"

I always remember Frankie Boyles bit on Thatcher.
'give every person in Scotland a spade and they will dig a hole deep enough to deliver her to Satan personally'

No one else can divide the nation like Thatcher because Thatcher divided a nation.

To those living down in the home counties and London the North of England in the 1980's must have seemed like another country. I grew up in Middlesbrough in the 1980's and watched the male members of my family thrown out of their jobs in the factories and the resultant loss of pride and esteem and the decline in to depression. My Grandfather worked in a steel plant that was knocked down in the early 80's, this is the same place that Thatcher took her famous walk in the wilderness on Teesside in the mid 80's promising that new business would follow, that place is still a wilderness to this day.

It was hard to take watching all the money pour in and out of London in the 80's when so many were in such a desperate state in the North. The mines in the North East of England sustained whole communities still, everything revolved around the mine. I hear the arguments about coal extraction not being financially viable any longer, but the way the hearts were ripped out of these communities and the sense of devastation that was felt across the region.

Some from the South of England use the argument that these old industries in the North needed modernising and the region brining up to date as those industries couldn't last. I can actually see the reasoning behind that, but the way it was all dealt with still leaves a bitter taste to this very day in many places up North.

Some towns in the North still have the scars from Thatcher, holes left in the landscape where factories once stood providing employment have never been replaced to this day and if they have been replaced it is with a call centre, if they are still open these days.

From iamthecreaturefromuranus

I lived in East Manchester, never exactly a rich place, but at the time I left school in 1977 it was still a major manufacturing area of heavy industry.

My very first job was at Johnsons Wireworks. I lost it almost before I got started. Within 18 months Thatchers revolution swung into action and my chances of finding work seemed to vanish overnight.. so I joined the forces.

I was away from Manchester for a year or so and when I came back all the industry had gone. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. In the area I had had my job I was told 30,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost.... in seven months.

The area NEVER recovered. The land where all those factories stood remained derelict for a generation and was finally turned into the Commonwealth Games stadium in 2002.

Thatcher and her party, can rot in Hell.

From sheene

I lived in Leyland, Lancashire from 1973 - 1993 and watched the industries collapse. Forget British Leyland - in Leyland itself they made the trucks and buses, which were among the best in the world. Successive buyouts by Volvo and DAF ended a century old manufacturing base, along with the loss of thousands of highly skilled workers. Thatcher thought we didn't need dirty engineering and manufacturing, and replaced them by creating an illusion of wealth from service industries. Well done, very well done. Thatcher? I wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire.

There were many activists with 'different' agendas in the Unions in those times - not least of which was Jack Jones, leader of the T&GWU, who was outed as leaking secrets to the KGB in 2009. By the mid seventies, Jones was regarded as the most powerful political figure Britain, and gave Thatcher all the ammunition she needed to smash the Unions.

From scossie

I went to see 'The Iron Lady' yesterday. Good film... Excellent performance by Meryl Streep.

Could have made more though of what an evil uncaring bitch Thatcher was. Especially the fact that she gleefully assigned a whole generation of people to the scrapheap, (including my Dad) who had worked every day since the end of the Second World War to re-build the country, only to find that in their 50's, they were no longer required...

She killed my Dad, and I will hate and detest her for as long as I live...
In the engineering firm he worked for for over 20 years, my dad started as a tradesman and worked his way up to senior management. We were never particularly well off, but we did ok, and had a holiday every year etc. Life was good. Then Thatcher came along with her policies that decimated the engineering industry in Scotland in a matter of months. All of a sudden my dad found himself both unemployed and unemployable at the age of 53. I then had to watch a once proud family man descend into depression and heavy drinking because he felt he had no self worth, and then ultimately, and early grave...