A short while ago I wrote a piece on today's Court of Appeal decision confirming that Shamima Begum’s UK citizenship was not unlawfully removed from her. To me, the chart clearly shows that her appeal was not going to succeed. https://leenachauhan.com/blog/court-sha ... hip-appeal

Next Wednesday, both Mercury and Saturn are cazimi. Mercury in the morning and then over 12 hours later it's Saturn's turn (in UK time zone).

Could this be what Lilly calls a ‘wondrous strong’ moment when Shamima (Mercury) and her legal team (Saturn) find a new angle to challenge today’s decision ahead of next Friday’s deadline? Pluto on the MC to me says that her UK citizenship has been permanently removed but that same day dual cazimi has got me wondering. Perhaps that is more likely when they confirm that they won't appeal today's decision? Today, the lawyers sound pretty defiant and ready to pursue the case.

We'll find out soon enough but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

And this is my first post on this Skyscript forum.

Hi Leena - Welcome to the forum! Nice to see you here.

I know this goes against much of the popular 'cazimi' hype that makes the rounds on social media, but I'm not so sure that we can call the upcoming conjunctions 'true' cazimis if we consider latitude. It depends on how one interprets what factors qualify a planet as being cazimi. You might find this 2021 post from Tony Louis' blog worth checking out: When is a planet really ‘cazimi’

The upcoming conjunctions aren't fully overlapped ('in the heart of') the Sun:

Mercury: Saturn: Personally, I'd consider these conjunctions to bring damage rather than something 'wondrous strong.' It will be interesting to test this theory against the chart/situation, I suppose.

If it is the case that the conjunctions are damaging, I'd expect the fact that the Moon, separating from the south node and being in antisica to Sun-Mercury at the time they perfect their conjunction, would be a further indication that things don't work out in Begum's favor. At that time, the Moon will be transiting the trial commencement chart's 6th house - stress, weakness, and tedious tasks that don't garner the native any credit.

Keep us updated? And thanks for sharing!

Hi Jason,

Thank you for the warm welcome! I'm glad to finally be here.

I hadn't thought about cazimi requiring alignment with the Sun by latitude as well as longitude so thanks for flagging that, and for sharing Tony Louis' article. This tighter definition makes sense also in that 'wondrous strong' is a special state and so it seems a bit much that it would happen at the start of every synodic cycle. Checking where the Moon is at the time of the solar conjunctions is another helpful tip to assess the direction of travel which I hadn't considered. I'm glad I asked this question in this forum now.

Before I read your post, I was also coming to the conclusion that the combustions are damaging rather than helpful but for reasons of context rather than technique. Apart from the firm negative testimony of the chart itself, the case raises hugely contentious policy questions. Begum and her legal team are effectively asking the judiciary to resolve political problems. In yesterday's judgement, the court made it clear that they are sticking to their much narrower legal remit i.e. did the Home Secretary make a procedurally (versus substantively) fair decision when he stripped Begum of her British citizenship? The court held that he did. The UK Supreme Court will not want to be seen to pronounce on political matters either. Begum's lawyers know that. Now they have to find a way to stop taking the case any further without looking like they're giving in to the government.

Combustion indicates the inevitable if deeply uncomfortable surrender by Begum and her lawyers to the truth of their situation. Saturn is not just representing her lawyers but the judges as well. They too are disposed by Jupiter so the Home Office have the ultimate say in this matter, as noted in the article. Elevated Pluto also makes yesterday's judgement irreversible.

I'm curious to see what happens next week and will post an update here after Begum's team announce their decision.

Leena wrote: Before I read your post, I was also coming to the conclusion that the combustions are damaging rather than helpful but for reasons of context rather than technique. Apart from the firm negative testimony of the chart itself, the case raises hugely contentious policy questions. Begum and her legal team are effectively asking the judiciary to resolve political problems. In yesterday's judgement, the court made it clear that they are sticking to their much narrower legal remit i.e. did the Home Secretary make a procedurally (versus substantively) fair decision when he stripped Begum of her British citizenship? The court held that he did. The UK Supreme Court will not want to be seen to pronounce on political matters either. Begum's lawyers know that. Now they have to find a way to stop taking the case any further without looking like they're giving in to the government.

I think I might recall hearing the story about Bergum in the news some years back, or, it could have been a similar story involving a woman from over here in America, not exactly sure. I wasn't aware of the trial happening this week, though.

Your posting here about it sparked the insight for me that there were a number of high profile "defector" type cases making headlines recently: Bergum, Assange, Navalny, and here in the US, an ex FBI informant (Alexander Smirnov) was accused of ties to Russia and targeting the Biden campaign. It seems to me there has to be some common astrologically-based signature setting all of this off. Perhaps the co-presence of so many planets with Pluto in Aquarius was one factor, and that's interesting to consider as it would seem to give some basis to the idea that Pluto has a correspondence with political undergrounds, espionage, terrorists, anarchists, and totalitarian states (Barbara Watters). In another, classical planet based scenario - the incoming (now past) full moon had Mercury (information, reports, orators) combust and applying to the Sun (authorities, leaders) while both changed signs (crossed borders) and applied to Saturn (grave situations, losses, corruption, suffering). Hmm.

I see the conclusion you're drawing here except I would not include Begum in the same category as Navalny, Assange or Smirnov, all of whom are confirmed adult dissidents.

Begum's lawyers contend that she was groomed to join Isis group as a minor. She was fifteen when she ran away from London with two other schoolgirls who have never been found. Her lawyers also argued that the government had failed to consider legal duties owed to a potential victim of trafficking.

Ms Begum, described previously as a straight-A student, arrived in the city of Raqqa in Syria and married a Dutchman and Muslim convert named Yago Riedijk 10 days later. They had three children - a one-year-old girl, a three-month-old boy and a newborn son - who all died from malnourishment or disease.

https://news.sky.com/story/shamima-begu ... 20disease.

Begum now lives in the al-Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria, where she is likely to stay for the foreseeable future since she is effectively stateless.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/2 ... itizenship

I see your point, sure. Don't get me wrong. I was speaking very broadly - in themes. Each case is going to have its particulars, of course.

For instance, symbolically, Mercury can signify young people as well as those who handle documents and/or speak up/out on something.

We also had a Venus/Mars conjunction recently, disposited by Saturn. That could highlight something that looks like young women being groomed/trafficked by older men - or/and - wives/mothers/women meeting stress/grief in regard to their rebel/military sons/husbands.

I hear you Jason.

It's just that in this particular scenario, Begum's situation is distinctly different to Navalny's et al. My short article is narrowly focused on the court case's chart symbolism and has limited context so I added a bit more background.

The Venus-Mars conjunction perfected at 6 Aquarius the day before the Court of Appeal judgement was delivered. I like how you've weaved the Persephone myth into this terrorism themed story. I find this Plutonic angle more persuasive given the facts of the case. Some might consider Pluto at 1 Aquarius too far away to connect to the conjunction but I'm fine with including it in the mix.

I like your take on Mercury too although I I'm not sure Begum could ever be considered a credible spokesperson for Isis. This is where the context becomes relevant again.

A correction: I've just read in the news that the two girls whom Begum travelled to Syria with are dead. In my earlier post I said they were never found.

Our exchange is making me reflect on the optimum combination of technique and context more generally. Thanks again for your thoughtful response to my first STA Forum post.

Leena wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 1:17 pm The Venus-Mars conjunction perfected at 6 Aquarius the day before the Court of Appeal judgement was delivered. I like how you've weaved the Persephone myth into this terrorism themed story. I find this Plutonic angle more persuasive given the facts of the case. Some might consider Pluto at 1 Aquarius too far away to connect to the conjunction but I'm fine with including it in the mix.

I wasn't even thinking about any myths being invoked, or Pluto, just looking at the particulars of the case as you noted, but that's an interesting point you make. Additional testimony!

Leena wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 1:17 pm I like your take on Mercury too although I I'm not sure Begum could ever be considered a credible spokesperson for Isis. This is where the context becomes relevant again.

Yeah, again, I was just looking at the period in a more general, holistic, world-news sense. I mentioned the different Mercury significations not because I wanted to apply them all to Begum, but speaking in terms of Begum as a young person and/or Assange as associated with documents and/or Navalny being associated as a voice of opposition, etc. - And the Venus/Mars disposited by Saturn config with Begum's situation and/or Navalny's or Assange's wives, etc.

Leena wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 1:17 pm Our exchange is making me reflect on the optimum combination of technique and context more generally. Thanks again for your thoughtful response to my first STA Forum post.

Same here! Thanks for posting! :)

Sorry, Jason for ascribing my thoughts on Venus-Mars-Pluto to you when you were talking about Venus-Mars being disposited by Saturn. I agree that both are mutually complimentary testimony.

Leena wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 3:09 pm Sorry, Jason for ascribing my thoughts on Venus-Mars-Pluto to you when you were talking about Venus-Mars being disposited by Saturn. I agree that both are mutually complimentary testimony.

No worries! Nothing to apologize for! I didn't even think of it as you ascribing words to me I hadn't said. Rather, I was just clarifying my own base of reasoning in order to show you'd teased out additional, complimentary insight of your own. I hope you didn't take that as me being "How dare she!" lol no no not at all my intentions - we're just talking shop, tossing ideas around.

Not at all. To me, there's nothing 'how dare she!' in your post. Tone can be so easily misread online. Just acknowledging that I was confusing who said what.

So we're good then? Good! :)

Leena wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 3:25 pm Tone can be so easily misread online.

Tell me about it! Makes me want to throw my computer or phone out the window (or just become a ghost who only reads things and never replies) almost every single day! lmao