Bill Shorten’s horoscope

Note: This blog post was slightly revised on July 5th, 2016.
The leader of the Opposition in Australian federal politics is currently Labor’s Bill Shorten. What does Bill Shorten’s horoscope reveal about him? What are some of the things that make him ‘tick’?

We don’t know Bill’s exact birth time, so astrologers in this situation typically set a horoscope for noon for the day and place of birth. We can tell quite a bit from doing this, but miss some of the detail offered by a more exact birth time.

According to Wikipedia, Shorten was born on May 12th, 1967 in Melbourne, Australia. If a horoscope is set for noon at this location and date, the horoscope (or ‘chart’) looks like this:

Let’s look at a couple of key points shown in Shorten’s horoscope.

Shorten’s notable aspects include two important connections to his Sun. First, the Sun forms an opposition (180°) aspect with Neptune. And secondly, his Sun is in trine aspect (120°) to Pluto and Uranus.

Sun opposite Neptune

This is a defining aspect (red arrows, above). The Sun is our ego, will and self-expression – how we ‘shine’. In Shorten’s horoscope it is in an opposition aspect to dreamy, mysterious Neptune. This can indicate vagueness and uncertainty, someone difficult to pin down; a chameleon.  More positively, he is likely to be sensitive, compassionate, empathetic and a humanitarian. No surprises that his background is in the Union movement.

This is not the signature of an overtly ‘tough’ political animal. Which means Shorten will struggle to get ‘cut-through’ in the media, because he is a lot less dramatic than his opponent, Prime Minister Abbott.

In the longer term, there is scope for him to win wide public attention and recognition. He could be a worthy antidote to the current government (perhaps in the same way Steve Bracks provided a appealing ‘everyman’ alternative to brash Jeff Kennett in 1990s Victorian politics).

Sun trine Pluto and Uranus

A trine is one of the ‘soft’ aspects (along wth the sextile, of about 60°). This means the planetary energies involved are somewhat dormant. It’s not permanently switched-on, as the ‘hard’ aspects (multiples of 45°), such as the abovementioned Sun-Neptune.

Shorten’s political opponent is the Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Abbott has a Sun-Uranus square in his horoscope. So for him this energy is active and ‘on’. Which is why Abbott is visibly Uranian in behaviour: erratic, disruptive, contradictory and changeable.

Shorten on the other hand has a quiet (trine) connection to powerful Pluto and the disrupting energy of Uranus (blue arrows, above). He just needs to activate it. And that activation is most likely to occur (i.e. the aspect is ‘woken up’) when he is provoked. These energies are certainly ‘on tap’, but only now and then – not ‘all the time’.

So while this seemingly mild-mannered idealist has powerful energies at his disposal, they are rarely  visible and operate sporadically. In terms of winning the hearts and minds of the public, this might be a disadvantage. A forceful and noticeable leader is better at commanding attention and headlines (as Abbott can).

Shorten on the other hand is currently less well-known, is less ‘defined,’ These are Neptunian characteristics. Still, with the polls currently swinging in Labor’s direction, Shorten could be on track to step up and be a viable future Prime Minister.