My attention was grabbed recently by the chart of the British politician (retired), Ann Widdecombe. I found my way to it as her name caught my attention and I remembered her fun participation in Strictly Come Dancing a few years ago.

What comes into my sphere of attention always has some additional interest for me as, since we live in a vibrational world, everything is about attraction, so events tell me something about myself through what I am attracting. It should have been no surprise to see what I saw in Ann’s birth chart (which I am pleased to say has an A rating – meaning the time of birth is quite secure). I saw a person with some of the same dynamics in her personality as Esther Hicks.

Born 6 months before Esther, Ann has some of the same placements, while the time of birth in October accidentally gives her (probably) almost identical house cusps (according to my way of casting a chart by using the Placidus system). House cusps tell us about the 12 different areas of our lives. The similarities here are the 3 planets in Leo in the 10^th showing a high-profile ‘performer’ (Leo) and the trine between Mercury and Uranus giving the brilliant, fluent, quick-thinking mind.

For Ann, Mercury rules the cusp of the 9^th house (of beliefs) from Scorpio; she also has Uranus occupying the 9^th. Whereas for Esther, Uranus (planet of the higher mind) is (probably) in the 8^th house. * (Esther’s chart is X rated as far as I know, so I have compiled the one on this blog from her personal narrative and personal observations). Note also that in this post I have added the larger asteroids into the chart and we see Juno in Esther’s chart conjunct her Mercury in Aquarius, bringing the theme of ‘relating’ into her mental processing, as it also is with her Ascendant/Descendant axis having Venus represented on both ends. For Ann, using her mind is the dominant force, despite (and partly due to) the 3 planets in Libra on the Ascendant, including Venus.

For Esther the Pisces, relationships are conversational; for Ann the Libra they are a matter of debate.

I was initially surprised by Venus rising in Ann’s chart as it usually bestows beauty, elegance and harmony in this position. But in this unique line-up we have the sun and Neptune tightly conjunct each other, as well as conjunct Venus, reflecting a strong vein of idealism and spirituality, and perhaps a little confusion or delusion which when mixed with a high intelligence has to constantly work to separate the two. So we have someone with a spirituality that has a strong set of rules to help guide them (see Capricorn at the bottom of the chart) and which needs  a religion: first Anglican, now Catholicism. In Ann’s home there are photos of her meeting both Mother Teresa and the Pope.

With Ann Widdecombe I am always impressed by what to me seems to be a lack of self-awareness. Or could it be an overriding belief in her own intellectual nature. Whatever it is, it has apparently relegated intimate relationships to a lower position in her life than walking her own talk. This has in part caused her culture to give her the label ‘eccentric’ and turned her into a politician who is also a celebrity by virtue of her initial outspoken-ness which led to her coming to the attention of the media, which she used later as a platform for the other strong dynamic in her life: the performer (Leo). Ann enjoys dressing up and drawing attention blurring the line a little between politics and pantomime. For Esther I would say performance rather than pantomime (Esther has said she enjoys politics in her down time.) but the performing vibe is likewise dominant. Uranus and Neptune, strong in both charts, both reach out to the collective.

We are each a large mix of dynamics and one strand of Ann’s mix is caring or compassion; her spirituality runs deep. Perhaps this is the relationship that has been and that is the most dominant in her life.

Both Esther and Ann have Chiron in Scorpio, Ann’s perhaps being the more compelling by its conjunction with Mercury; Esther’s being the more challenging on the sharp point of the T-square. Esther recoils somewhat by all things Scorpio, like ‘demons’ and horror films, while Ann squeams at the exchange of body fluids. But Ann has woven the darker parts of life into her scheme of beliefs helped along by Jupiter in Scorpio. This particular Jupiter is the alchemist. In Esther’s chart, her Jupiter in Sagittarius is the comic, the person who will not dwell on the darker half of life but will turn everything into a positive. When Ann made a comment about fellow politician, Michael Howard saying that he had ‘something of the night about him’, I suspect this was not entirely criticism but a well hidden innuendo-style compliment.. subliminal, of course.

*Wherever we have Uranus in our charts it suggests ‘freedom from’ the situation or arena. Wherever we have Neptune we usually ‘don’t see it’ ourselves, though others might. Ann has Uranus in Taurus also ruled by her chart-ruler, Venus – making it as strong as Venus in Esther’s chart but Taurus is, to cut a long story short, about what the self has including self-esteem as well as awareness. Uranus in Taurus for Ann gives her a certain freedom in this department – she does not worry about it because she knows she has it. For Esther, Uranus is in Gemini which is about communication  – all kinds. For Esther then, there are no boundaries in this area.