Fighting tooth and nail for Assange’s freedom and release is his wife, Stella. Originally part of his legal team, the two found they had more in common than just civil liberties and began their relationship while Assange was taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy, London.
Expressing his ability to circumvent the watchful eye of his enemies, they conceived two children without authorities knowing (Jupiter ruling 5th from the 12th), and later married in 2022 while Assange was imprisoned in Belmarsh.
I became curious about Stella after watching several interviews with her. What initially prompted me to look at her chart was just how poised she was under exceptionally stressful circumstances; she regularly pauses to collect her thoughts, edits and corrects herself to say what she really means, and is well versed in civil rights when difficult questions are posed. She’s who you’d want in your corner if multiple governments had plotted your assassination.
This footage of their wedding day illustrates Stella’s poise. When the interviewer asks if she’s excited, she pauses and quietly says, ‘Yes.” with a developing smile that suggests she’s withholding more than she’s sharing.
STELLA: The mourning star
The name, Stella, is a feminine noun in Latin meaning Star; a celestial body appearing as a luminous point.1 Its derivatives mean bright, luminous, easily seen, and in modern terms a star also speaks to rank (5 stars) and being exceptionally good at something (“She’s a star!”).
There is currently no precise birth time for Stella, but it’s no surprise that there is an emphasis on fixed placements in her chart. This can speak to someone who is resilient, dedicated and loyal, refusing to back down when there is pressure, a purpose and a desired goal. Born on the day of a full moon in Taurus at 27°, her fixed nature presents as if she is in no hurry, even though what she is fighting for could ultimately be fatal, and imminent.
MERCURY’S LAMENT: Funerary rituals
While she may appear calm, her external reticence is potentially in contrast to her interiority. Mercury and Uranus tightly conjunct in mutable Sagittarius make for an active mental adventure, requiring pause to sort out which cross-firing neuron's go where.
Mercury in a fire sign is typically enthusiastic, prone to volume increase and speaking out of turn, or interrupting. For Stella, the broad scope that Mercury in Sagittarius is able to encompass receives some welcome exacting precision from Uranus to help direct her fight for truth. This fiery conjunction at 8-9° Sagittarius is further fuelled by proximity to the ecliptic degree of the fixed star, Antares2.
Fixed stars aligned with personal planets can be a big energy to carry. Traditionally known for its association with the military, courage and strategic ability, Antares' western orientation and position as the red star in the heart of the Scorpion draw close associations with death and transitions. Older associations align Antares with Lisi, a Sumerian goddess who sings lamentations; a formal display of grief as a funerary ritual.3
“Lisi could then be thought of as mourning the sun as he travels through the underworld, and of appeasing the gods of judgment that will set his future destiny.”
- Lisi, the Sumerian Goddess, by Gavin White4
The looming threat of death is very real for the Assange’s. Their fight for truth and justice is not a flippant one. With Mercury being the messenger in her chart, this combination allows Stella to voice uncomfortable truths and lamentations in advance, offering us a forward vision and an opportunity for those with power to steer the outcome.
DETRIMENT: Exiled in a benefic playground
Planets in detriment are often indicative of someone who has to work extra hard to establish how the planet can function in a productive and constructive manner. Once this is established, the planet has potential to offer unexpected gifts, or solutions, from outside the orthodox paradigm. Stella has Mercury in Sagittarius and Mars in Libra. Both planets are in their domiciles of exile and estrangement.
While Mercury is fuelled by Antares, Mars in Libra is the driving force behind Stella’s Scorpio Sun. This combination is akin to a military tank designed to be aerodynamic. Being a lawyer, fighting for human rights, and specifically fighting for someone you love, is a great use of this energy!
Mars in Libra can round the sharp edges of the fixed tenacity inherent in Scorpio, pointing out with exacting precision where justice should be, but is sorely lacking. In the sign of Saturn’s exaltation, within the bounds of Saturn, there is a mutual exchange between the two malefics that allows Stella’s actions to be delivered without wavering. It concurrently offers her the grace of patience and deliberate weighing up of both sides so that the execution of words and actions create change that will be just and lasting.
Find Stella on Substack:
The difficulty with Stella’s Mars in Libra lies in its lack of aspects to other planets. When considering all sides, or attempting to please everyone as Libra does so well, ill used or misdirected it can lead to inaction, apathy and accidents going awry. Up against enormous institutional power, Stella may have to continually re-assess the target to be able to consciously steer her fight.
The benefics in her chart and the exalted Moon carry what is otherwise a peregrine playground; as a stranger in foreign land, she is potentially well looked after. When tracing the origins of each planet in Stella’s chart, everything originates from both benefics in their domicile: her Sagittarius stellium is ruled by Jupiter in Sagittarius. The Taurus Moon is ruled by Venus in Libra. Her Scorpio placements are ruled by Mars in Libra’s domicile, receiving support from Venus in Libra; this all speaks to fortuitous foundations that can offer optimism, luck, trust and blind faith; a blessing in extreme circumstances.
HIS PLIGHT = HER FIGHT
When looking at connections between Stella and Julian’s charts, it’s clear that they have a sincere connection. It’s also interesting to look at her chart when considering what might come of Julian’s case, as personal events can sometimes show up clearer in the partner’s chart.
The first thing I noticed when combining their charts was Stella’s 27° Scorpio Sun illuminating Julian’s Jupiter by degree (Stella’s 27° Sun partile conjunct Julian’s Jupiter at 27° Scorpio). It’s fitting in multiple regards that she is fighting for his freedom.
To receive the Sun’s light from another can feel, and be, incredibly supportive. Of the same sect, this luminary-benefic combination is a blessing; bountiful, generous, and optimistic through hardship. It indicates shared philosophies with regard to truth and freedom, and bestows constant growth and learning. With this combination companionship is often laced with joviality, or simple joy and levity in being in each others’ company. Julian’s fight for freedom potentially ignites Stella’s life purpose and gives direction to her fight. This is a positive combination for both parties and has no doubt buoyed Julian through the depths of isolation most of us can’t even imagine.
I found it intimidating and difficult. I had had an insight into what Julian was up against – the nastiness of it all. But it has become easier as I see more goodwill. What Julian faces is very dark, but I am constantly met with people who are committed to fighting for him. It’s hard not to feel strengthened by it. ~ Stella Assange
If his birth time is near correct, this 27° Jupiter in Scorpio rules Julian’s Sagittarius ascendant (the place of life) from the imprisoned 12th house. Assange’s ruling planet is in Mars’ domicile, averse and peregrine in the 12th house, unfortunately leaving much of his fate in the hands of his enemies. Jupiter here illustrates how Assange has pissed off more than a few people along the way on a grand scale, but pissing someone off shouldn’t amount to solitary confinement. Elvis Presley had the same placement. While he was ‘King’ and appeared to have it all, he was also a prisoner of his own fame and controlled by external forces who conspired against him.
Two water signs, Julian born with the Sun in Cancer & Stella with the Sun in Scorpio, suggests a natural emotional affinity and ease with one another, complementing their already advantageous Sun-Jupiter connection.
Julian’s Moon in Scorpio, ruling his Cancer Sun, only deepens and intensifies this connection and need for loyalty. A fallen Moon in the 12th house, these exceptionally harsh circumstances allow a normally difficult alignment of his Moon with Stella’s Saturn to be put to use in practical ways (Stella’s Saturn 9° Scorpio conjunct Julian’s Moon in Scorpio 7°, 12th house). Saturn can feel oppressive when hovering over the Moon in a relationship dynamic, but in this situation Stella’s Saturn rejoices in Julian’s 12th house. It allows Saturn to express as a steady companion while extracting teeth from Julian’s hidden enemies and adversaries (12th house). This joining forces of Julian and Stella is very likely a royal pain in the ass for those trying to end Assange’s life.
Saturn-Moon combinations can also indicate difficulty, separation or loss. This narrative is further supported by Julian’s Uranus aligned with Stella’s Venus in Libra (Julian’s Uranus 9° Libra conjunct Stella’s Venus 11° Libra). They fell in love under unusual circumstances and continue to live separate lives while committed to one another. The need for freedom, that would ordinarily present in synastry as requiring a lot of space and unorthodoxy within the relationship dynamic, is here channelled into fighting for Julian’s release from prison and cessation of the persistent pursuit of him by the United States government. Stella is clearly a boon to Julian, and this relationship simliarly gives cause to her fight for truth.
MOUNTING PRESSURE: Without the Sun there is no life.
Eclipses are traditionally seen as malevolent because the light of the life-giving Sun is temporarily blotted out. The shadow cast upon the Earth, or produced by the Earth and projected onto our nearest celestial neighbour, the Moon, creates a quality of time whereby uncomfortable truths can be exposed, and human will is made redundant to larger, or higher, forces. It is often ill-advised to begin anything under an eclipse for this reason, unless you’re a seasoned hiker in the underworld realms of shadow work and projection.
Eclipses activating personal points can produce life changing events and circumstances. Often described as points of fate, or destiny, the Nodes of the Moon become markers of great change. One only has to think about what transpired in October 2023 to understand the power of eclipses and the magnitude of energy they can release.
For Julian Assange, the current eclipses across the Aries-Libra axis are activating his natal Uranus-Chiron opposition, bringing home the pain inflicted in fighting for what he believed to be just, resulting in unfair treatment and significant curtailing of his freedom and liberty (Uranus 9° Libra opposite Chiron 13° Aries).
For Stella, the draining and devitalising South Node will produce an eclipse on her significator of relationships, Venus at 11° Libra, in October 2024, and again in March 2025 (Solar Eclipse 10° Libra, October 2nd, 2024, partial Solar Eclipse 9° Aries, March 29th, 2025). See this piece on Julian Assange for more. Within this time frame there will be an election in the US and a possible change of administration.
With malefics Mars and Saturn approaching a weighty conjunction in March 2024 at 14° Pisces, activating Stella’s nodal axis by square, it suggests her optimistic Sagittarius stellium will be impacted by a sobering and stressful blow.
Like Julian, with planets in the last decan of Taurus and Scorpio, they are both approaching a Uranus transit characterised by sudden and unexpected change. Whichever way you slice this, the coming years have significant change transpiring for this couple.
UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS
Stella said in a podcast interview that Julian has recently been given a typewriter. Prior to this, he has had no means of communicating - a sure torture for someone so intellectual and invested in communication.
In the wake of the recent death of Alexei Navalny, Russian activist Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot revealed what Navalny was reading before he died. It begs the question, what is Julian writing? Is he writing his last words, and will we have access to them, or will what he writes now also be censored?
People on death row have an altogether different view on life and are forced to live in extraordinary circumstances. If you’re reading this, you have internet access and are not confined to Belmarsh prison. You have a high level of freedom and access to information that prisoners everywhere do not. To hear directly from people impacted by incarceration, and the injustices facilitating the prison industrial complex, this podcast, Abolition X, is worth every listen:
FREE ASSANGE
History loves a hero, but when the myth is playing out in real time it can be harder to grasp the full impact of what’s unfolding. This case exposes the hidden institutional power underpinning censorship, and the ineffectual power of treaties and legal protections when a superpower with economic, political, military, and cultural influence wants you silenced, or dead. Assange’s case is a significant pin-drop on our info-tech trajectory, threatening all publishers and journalists with the death penalty.
At the time of writing, the US government has until April 16th, 2024 to agree to the assurances of First Amendment & death penalty protections for Assange. If they refuse, Assange’s legal team can mount an appeal, all of which will be before the courts again in May:
Assange, Wikileaks and a growing number of whistleblowers everywhere are demonstrating how stepping outside of the system can expose the limits imposed to protect us as a facade that conceals corruption and elite entitlement. To truly live in a peaceful world we need a free press and freedom to distribute the truth without fear of retribution. This cannot be attained however when governments rely on the media to peddle propaganda to maintain power, keeping us in a perpetual cycle of wars and suffering.
Support for Stella Assange can be expressed via her website, YouTube and by organising your own demonstrations of support.
“Julian’s imprisonment today is not a consequence of a failure on the part of Wikileaks, it’s a consequence of its success, of it’s impact, of its importance. It’s no coincidence that we are in a free speech & free press crisis today. If we weren’t, Julian would not have spent a day in prison. Julian’s imprisonment is a symptom of the dire information environment that we find ourselves in, and the censorship climate, and we do not have free speech as long as Julian is not free.” - Stella Assange
Following are some interviews, presentations and insights into the Assange’s:
REFERENCES
White, Gavin. Babylonian Star-lore. Solaria Publications. 2014. p 235-236
White, Gavin. Babylonian Star-lore. Solaria Publications. 2014. p 235-236