“reliable, honest, intellectually precise and friendly in a natural way.’ Obama on Merkel.[i]
Cancer, the Cardinal water sign is a deceptively strong sign, in fact it might be argued that Water signs, for all their reticence and emotional sensitivity are the strongest of all the signs in the zodiac. Their flexibility and patience gives them great strength.Angela Merkel is a case in point.
Angela has Venus, Jupiter, Sun and Uranus in Cancer showing her motivation and life’s work, caring for her people. All these planets are in her 7th house of other people, that is her focus, outwards to the other. Her Sun, Uranus conjunction is very close, one degree separates them. Sun Uranus gives a brilliance to the native, but also in Cancer, it shows a break from their roots (Cancer) and a radicality which is gentle but also ruthless (Uranus). Uranus in Cancer represents the post-war generation who were keen to revolutionise their world, particularly the domestic sphere and redefine home, the tribe and the mother role.
Her father a pastor, ran a home for disabled people. Kindness was instilled in her from an early age.
‘To grow up in the neighbourhood of handicapped people was an important experience for me. I learned back then to treat them in a very normal way.’[ii]
Merkel who gained a PhD in Quantum chemistry, uses her scientific rigour (Moon in Aquarius) to approach problems and make decisions. We see her brilliance not only in her Sun Uranus but also that Aquarian Moon, which seeks the truth and is forensic in their search for meaning and order and has no problem pointing out other people’s errors.
‘Before you contradict her, you would think twice—she has the authority of somebody who knows that she’s right,’[ii]
Angela grew up in Communist East Germany. East Germany was a deeply paranoid police state, people were recruited or blackmailed into spying on each other. Angela took a risk averse position to survive, self-protection is central to a Cancerian.
‘I decided that if the system became too terrible, I would have to try to escape. But if it wasn’t too bad then I wouldn’t lead my life in opposition to the system, because I was scared of the damage that would do to me.’[iii]
Cancer dislikes conflict and will do anything to avoid it. They feel things so strongly that compromise and silence is a price worth paying for peace and harmony.
Even when Angela reached a decision, she would sit with it until it felt like the time to act. She once told a story from her childhood of standing on a diving board for the full hour of a swimming lesson until, at the bell, she finally jumped.[iii]
Family is important to her. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
‘She stayed not out of loyalty to the state but because she had her network there, her family.’[iv]
Sagittarius is also the philosopher of the zodiac, a truth seeker like Aquarius, their interests are wide and inclusive. Fire also gives a great deal of fearlessness. She was not intimidated by the male leaders she met. I am reminded of the classic picture of her trying to get a message across to Trump (not the greatest mind)1 she is leaning forwards dominating him while the other men (and they were all men) stand around exasperated with him.
Angela recounts another instance when, meeting Putin of Russia, he brought a large fierce looking dog into the meeting. Putin had discovered Angela was afraid of dogs, which were used in East Germany to terrorise people. Putin’s intention was doubtless to frighten her. She recounts the incident with contempt. She may have been afraid but she was not intimidated. 2
The state has to assist and must not constrict. In this spirit it has to be the gardener and not the fence. We should be confident that the people want to get [socially] involved and want to assume responsibility’. Süddeutsche Zeitung (sueddeutsche.de) May 20, 2006[i]
Angela entered politics, a token woman, an ‘Eastie’ who was patronised by the macho men in the Christian Democratic party. Once in government, with her assistant Beate Baumann, she took on the male politicians. Fed up with Kohl’s smug bullying, the two women covertly fought and resisted. Angela later took down Kohl following a corruption scandal. Kohl later remarked,
‘I brought my killer…I put the snake on my arm.’[vi]
They went for their enemies but didn’t celebrate their victories publicly to avoid making further enemies. In 1996, during negotiations over a nuclear-waste law, Gerhard Schröder, two years away from becoming Chancellor, called her performance as environment minister “pitiful.” In an interview with Herlinde Koelbl that year, Merkel said,
‘I will put him in the corner, just like he did with me. I still need time, but one day the time will come for this, and I am already looking forward.’ It took nine years but she succeeded.[v]
Angela has Saturn in Scorpio in the tenth house of career and government. Scorpio plays the long game and never, ever forgets a slight. Merkel took her time to deliver her deadly revenge. It is interesting Kohl used the symbol of a snake, which is associated with Scorpio. Her Aquarius Moon would hate corruption of any kind, honesty is incredibly important to them. So the combination of Scorpio, Mars the warrior in her first house and her Aquarius Moon demanded she expose the shady dealing of these men. All the while hiding behind the soft exterior of her Sun and the easy going nature of her Ascendant.
‘If you cross her, you end up dead. There’s nothing cushy about her. There’s a whole list of alpha males who thought they would get her out of the way, and they’re all now in other walks of life.’ Former US Ambassador the Germany John Kornblum. [vii]
Germans called the Chancellor Mutti, or Mother. It was first used by her competitors in her party, to insult her. But the name stuck and the public responded to her as their mother figure so she grew to like the nickname.
The careful, non-aggressive tactics of Angela, her signature plodding pace that so tried the patience of Germans that they made it into a verb: Merkeling.[viii]
The goddess of Cancer, Hestia dislikes confrontation and was happy to leave Olympus when brash Dionysus came along. Angela’s attack method is classic Cancer territory, you take away someone’s foundation and they crumble. Taking away what is no longer deserved. Cancer is protective, but when she withdraws that protection, her adversaries fall. Cancerians feel things deeply and they are often underestimated, and seen as dim and sweet, but as Angela shows they can have great ambition and still be modest, they will never forget a slight, and sitting by the riverbank watching the bodies of your enemies’ float by, is their excellent strategy for success.
‘Careful: un-pretentiousness can be a weapon! . . . One of the secrets of the success of Angela Merkel is that she knows how to deal with vain men. She knows you shoot a mountain cock best when it’s courting a hen. Angela Merkel is a patient hunter of courting mountain cocks. With the patience of an angel, she waits for her moment.’ [ix]
Her Sagittarian Ascendant and Mars in Sagittarius gives her a cheerful, optimistic character.
‘I have a relatively sunny spirit, and I always had the expectation that my path through life would be relatively sunny, no matter what happened. I have never allowed myself to be bitter.’[i]
Privately, Angela is warm and funny, ‘I think most of the time I’ve spent with her she is smiling,’ says Robert Kimmitt, a former ambassador who has known her since 1991.[xi]
Shy and awkward, Cancer dislikes being in the limelight. Her inner circle (family) is close knit, consisting of just six or seven key aides, two of whom have been with her throughout her political career. She lives in a humble flat with her partner and does the shopping on a Friday accompanied by her security men.
‘She’s very difficult to know, and that is a reason for her success…It seems she is not from this world. Psychologically, she gives everybody the feeling of ‘I will take care of you.’[x]
Her caring came to the fore in summer 2015 when over a million refugees, mainly from Syria, claimed asylum in Germany, after Hungary closed its borders. Angela was warned it would prove to be a disaster for the country. Phlegmatic Angela said ‘we can handle this’ and it appears (in 2021) that she was right. Her policy has been seen as a success.[xii] Safety, home freedom from repression and non-violence are all characteristic of her fifteen year career as Chancellor of Germany, and arguably the most powerful woman in the world.
Next week on my Substack I will be talking about the Goddess of Cancer.
This is an expanded extract from my book, Goddess Astrology. You can buy it here
[i] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[ii] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[iii] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[iv] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[v] Vick, Karl. Shuster, Simon. 2015. Chancellor of the Free World. Time magazine. https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ accessed 15.3.2021.
[vi] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[vii] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[viii] Vick, Karl. Shuster, Simon. 2015. Chancellor of the Free World. Time magazine. https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ accessed 15.3.2021.
[ix] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[x] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[xi] Vick, Karl. Shuster, Simon. 2015. Chancellor of the Free World. Time magazine. https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ accessed 15.3.2021.
[xii] Oltermann, Philip. 30.8.2020. How Angela Merkel’s Great Migrant Gamble Paid off. The Guardian Newspaper. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/30/angela-merkel-great-migrant-gamble-paid-off accessed 16.3.2021.
[i] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel accessed 15.3.2021.
[ii] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[iii] Packer, George. 24.11.2014. The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world. New Yorker Magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german accessed 13.3.2021.
[i] https://www.dw.com/en/barack-obama-angela-merkel-a-promised-land-memoir/a-55623587 accessed 14.3.2021.
Elisabeth Brooke 
Thanks Elisabeth enjoyed reading gives me hope xx 👏💝
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thank you Grace, there is always hope! x
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