In my mind I associate Reading with Virgo, but it is actually written down Rex E. Bill's 'Rulership Book'. I'm not sure whether Mercury is happy. Birmingham also tend to do well when Virgo is fortified.

Blackburn play Villa in the Carling Cup this evening. These two teams just can't get enough of each other.

Taurean, you are right, the alternative method using colours and the above/below approach didn't work in the Liverpool/Reading game. Your suggestions re Mercury and Reading are interesting. Mercury also fits using name association (reading-books-Mercury). Also Jupiter for Liverpool (the 'liver' part anyway!).

Taurean wrote:Newcastle ...... won 3:0 - I didn't expect them to be such comfortable winners. Actually I expected that from Pool - luckily, no bet.

My expectations were the same as yours and, like you, I didn't bet. I try to avoid betting on domestic cup matches because they are not 'normal' with teams across divisions playing each other. Even when the teams are from the same division, they often seem to play differently in cup games compared with regular league games. Therefore I tend not to be too concerned if a particular method or approach doesn't always work on these occasions.

I watched the Liverpool game on TV and Reading deserved their win. Things are looking very bad for Liverpool though.

Carling Cup Semi-final, 1st leg
Blackburn v Aston Villa 8pm GMT, Asc 3?50' Virgo
Odds: 3.00, 3.25, 2.37

I've completely confused myself as to who is who in this chart, but here are my thoughts anyway.

Jupiter is day ruler and hour ruler. Chart is non-radical. Jupiter is L7 (Villa) but is on 29?. Mercury L1 (Blackburn) is virtually stationary.

But using the alternative method + colours, Blackburn (blue) are Jupiter and Villa (claret/blue) are Mercury Both planets below horizon.

Name association: Blackburn - possibly Sun in Capricorn which has minor dignity by face and is trine MC. Villa is a smart house - Saturn in Libra with plenty of essential dignity. Both planets below horizon.

I'm tending towards a draw.

Hour changes to Mars at 8.15pm, then to Sun at 9.37pm.

Villa goal at 8.24

Just as the MC was about to change from Taurus to Gemini. If Villa are Mercury, that would make sense.

No goal on the first hour change though. Perhaps Blackburn can get one back on the second hour change. My 0-0 bet is down the pan anyway

John wrote:I agree about the point that planetary hours and planets crossing angles shouldn't always mean goals being scored. It would be nice to have a few 1-0 scorelines on games being monitored for a change, to test this.

Well, here's one example then. Villa won the game 1-0.

It was interesting that McCarthy came on as a sub for Blackburn just before the second hour change. I thought that might be an indicator for a Blackburn goal since he is a striker but all he managed to achieve was a booking!

No planets crossed angles during the game which was partly why I went for a 0-0 draw. I also thought the imminent eclipse might indicate a blank. Oh well, I was half right

I'll have to be careful what I wish for when I mention 1-0 results

Goal scored-
Planetary hour had changed 9 minutes earlier, MC about to change signs

Kick off time
The Part of Triumph was at 4 degrees Pisces, sat on the descendant

Observations for the Saturday 3pm kick offs

Planetary hour sun, to mercury at 3.36 and then early in the 2nd half to Venus at 4.16

During match time North Node (injury time first half), Sun and Venus (second half)cross the descendant and Saturn crosses the IC shortly before the final whistle.

Part of Triumph opposes Mars at the 3pm chart. Lets see if this influences the red teams!

Kick off time
The Part of Triumph was at 4 degrees Pisces, sat on the descendant

Well spotted. I've generally found Arabic parts conjunct angles to be unreliable but, given yesterday's result, I shall start monitoring them again.

Part of Triumph opposes Mars at the 3pm chart. Lets see if this influences the red teams!

Yes, I'd noticed that. In fact it's applying virtually throughout and Mars is below the horizon too. I'm ok with Sunderland losing at Chelsea, but ManU losing or even drawing at home to Burnley sounds extremely unlikely!

Stoke v Liverpool 12.45pm GMT, Asc 8?34' Gemini
Odds: 3.50, 3.10, 2.20

Liverpool are the bookies' faves but the experts are going for a 2-1 win to Stoke. Moon starts off as hour-ruler - non-radical. The chart doesn't say much to me so I'm having a look at timings. I won't list them all here but just to summarise what happens during the game:

Planetary hour changes 3 times
4 planets (including Pluto but not Neptune) cross angles
Asc and MC both change signs

The 2nd half starts with Jupiter as hour-ruler. The end of the game looks interesting with Mercury and Jupiter both crossing angles and the MC changing from Aquarius to Pisces. Liverpool to win 2-1? Rather optimistic (even unlikely) with three of their strikers out injured but we shall see. It will be interesting to observe how/if the timings work anyway.

Stoke 1 - 1 Liverpool

No goals in the 1st half. Liverpool scored at 2.03, just before the Asc changed signs. Stoke equalised at 2.34, exactly as the MC changed signs.

With so much 'astrological' action taking place in the 2nd half, I put a bet on a half-time scoreline of 0-0 which gave a return of 2.65. This more than covered my other bet (2-1 Liverpool), producing a small profit on the game overall.

Hindsight
1. Mercury L1 and Jupiter L7 both crossed angles - one goal each.
2. Alternative method: Stoke-red-Mars; Liverpool-black-Saturn. Both planets below horizon = draw.

Initial thoughts on the 3pm games.

Wolves-(gold-sun); Sun sets, 1 minute later Wigan score and go on to win.

Chelsea first half 4-0 -planetary hour sun. Part of Triumph opposite Mars saw off Sunderland. Final score 7-2 (second half 3-2). Sundeland score their first goal at 16.24-same time as ManU.

ManU-also red; until 16.24 they were being held and from the reports should have been losing to Burnley.
Burnley played in white, as did Tottenham who also didn't have much luck today against Hull. Not sure about this- Moon opposed Mars?
16.24 Planetary hour had changed 9 minutes earlier. POF had recently perfected opposition to Moon and was applying to Mars. About 3 degrees between Mars and Moon, with POF seconds from being at the mid way position between the two! MC also due to change from Pisces to Aries, about 1 minute in time away.

Am I learning anything from this? The MC appears to have been relevant today, noting Ficina's post on the Liverpool game.
Planets crossing angles keep coming up
The ManU game appeared to have enough of a "'sea change' in the planetary atmosphere" for the game to turn in their favour.
Not a day for the white teams.
There seems to be some requirement for judgement in the relative strengths of the teams to assess results by this method.

And on to the next games