Astrology - Polar exploration

Will I succed in winning the race to the North Pole?

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This chart is cast upon my first conversation with Børge Ousland who told me of his preparations for a journey so challenging and full of hazard and danger, it was hard to imagine. He intended to contest to become the first person in the World to reach the North Pole, single-handed and unaided, with a departure from Sredny on Severnaja Semlja (79N20, 90E10) some day in March of 1994. Look at the map - the first part of his journey involves covering drift-ice and open sea. There is the continuous danger of screw-ice and underway the danger of being overcome by polar bears. Time is in the shortage. If he departs too late, then the ice will break up due to the oncoming Spring. And besides, he was not alone in the race to succeed in this quest. Among competitors were Mitsuro Obha from Japan who, when the time came, departed from Sredny toward the North Pole a few days ahead of Børge Ousland. From a departure point on the Canadian side of the Pole point there was the Scottish Rupert Hadow, who had the same ambitions as Børge Ousland. Ouslands question was: "Will I succeed in winning the race to the North Pole?"

The question occurs on the Day of Mars and in the Hour of Mercury. The Ascendant is in Sagittarius and ruled by his Lord, Jupiter. I observed that the lord of the hour was in a perfect semi-sextile of the radical Ascendant, wherein he had dignities by term. This aspect is cast through signs of long ascension and I noted that Mercurys aspect was cast from the 10th unto the ascendant. I therefore took the chart to be radical and fit to be judged.

The querent is represented by the Ascendant that is in Sagittarius and its Lord, Jupiter, who is in his own face in a late degree of Libra in the 9th house. This is the house of long distant journeys and Jupiter is in his hayiz in a sign that complements his own powers, so the outlook may be good. The dispositor of the significator of the querent, viz. Venus, is also located in the 9th and possesses the dignities of her placement in her own domicile. She applies to the ruler of the 2nd house, Saturn, who has exaltation in her own place and who enjoys the preference of his location in his own Joy.

Luna is co-significator of any question and in Gemini and in a cadent house. Gemini is the sign of Børges natal Sun, but the Moons cadency indicates that the matter in hand is remote and obscure, as if in deep water and hard to obtain. However, the Moon applies to the trine of the Lady of the 9th, who is Venus, and is strong in her own sign, before making a trine to Saturn in his joy, and who has exaltation in the sign on the cusp of the 9th, before performing a trine to the true signicator of the querent, who is Jupiter. It therefore seemed sound judgement to ensure the accomplishment of his journey. The Moon needs 5 1/2 degrees to reach the cusp of the 7th house. The 7th house is often connected with building bridges, or reaching out into the world through journey and objective. 5 1/2 degrees agreed with the anticipated time that would pass before he would reach the his chosen destination, the North Pole, as 5 1/2 months from the time of the question would lead to the latter half of April 1994.

Regarding the success of his competitors and whether they should beat him in the race to the North Pole, I cast judgement on this question for the state of the Lord of the 7th house, who is Mercury. Although his was the Lord of the hour, I noted that he was in no preferable astrological state. He was located in the 19th degree of Scorpio, which is reputed to be jinx-ridden. He was retrograde, made no favourable applications in the chart and entered into combustion of the Sun. Thus I judge that Ousland would get the better of both Obha and Hadow and succeed in the ambitions of his unmatched expedition to the North Pole.

On March 3. 1994 Ousland departed from Sredny with 977 km ahead of him of ruthless challenge before he would known whether he had succeeded in accomplishing the mission he had set out for. Obha and Ousland raced one another from the same starting point and were many times not far apart in the terrain, although there was no contact between the two. After one week of travel through the ice and snow, the Japanese is still 70 km ahead of Ousland. By early April reports came by radio that the Hadow had given up the race, having had an unwanted fall into the icy sea on his way. But the Obha and Ouslaud continued to compete and were not far apart. But at the latitude of 89 degrees North or roughly 100km from the Pole point the Japanese had to give up due running out of food supplies. On April 23. 1994, which was 51 days since he departed from Sredny, or 5 months and 21 days from when he posed his question, the North Pole was His to claim. The accomplishment of this feat represented an important milestone in Ouslands career, but then when you have travelled all the way to the North Pole to achieve it, the word looses its meaning. The story of Børge Ousland does not stop at the North Pole because he then moves on to many other new feats of Mans survival and prevalence in nature.