Harry Potter publication date announced

2 February 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows publication date

http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,,2003639,00.html
http://www.jkrowling.com/

On Thursday, 1st February J.K.Rowling announced the date that the next and last Harry Potter book will be published. That’s at 0.01 BST on 21st July. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be published ten years after the first book, published in July 1997. There are several interesting cycles involved here and some interesting features in the publication chart.

The chart has 0° Taurus on the ascendant and Venus, its ruler, is in Virgo in the sixth house. Its other sign, Libra, is intercepted in the sixth house. Mercury, ruler of Venus, is in Cancer in the third house and close to the IC while ruling the second and third house and the Moon, ruler of Mercury, is in the sixth, ruling the IC. You can see a chain of despositors and receptions here.

Venus in Virgo => Mercury in Cancer => Moon in Libra =>Venus

Mars is in Taurus which leads us back to Venus. Saturn is in Leo which leads us to the Sun, which is in Cancer so leading us back to the Moon. This chain locks in all the planets with the exception of Jupiter who, being in Sagittarius, rules himself.

So what does any of this mean? This chain pulls in the first (Venus), second (Mercury), third (Mercury), fourth (Moon) and sixth (Mercury) houses: product, money, communication/distribution, location and production/organisation. That sounds like everything you need to make a book. You can also see that this is the last book in a series: Moon ruled by ruler of the product (Venus) rules the IC – the end of the matter.

With any type of product you want the people who’re aiming it at, shown by the seventh house, to be interested in the product, first house, and we certainly have that. Not only do we have the ruler of the seventh in the first house but it’s also in the sign on the cusp of the first house – they adore the product and are totally enthralled by it. Aries, Mars’ other sign, is intercepted in the twelfth house reinforcing the idea that they’re not thinking about what they’re doing, also backed up by a Moon ruled Mercury – this is instinct not intellect. You could push the Mars symbolism a bit and suggest that Scorpio also describes the hoards of children who will be dressed up as witches and wizards – they are the primary consumers – for the launch event.

This Mars is in an extremely tight sextile to Uranus in Pisces in the twelfth. This is Uranus’s only aspect so I don’t think it’s going to turn into a riot, I think it simply describes the anticipation of the event and the magic – in every sense of the word – which is involved.

Jupiter rules eighth, ninth and twelfth houses bringing together other people’s money, ideas about g/God and philosophy and self undoing. You can almost see the money running into the publisher’s bank account. I wonder how many readers believe the magic is real? I know many wish it is.

Saturn rules the MC and eleventh house showing achievement in the world and the results of that achievement – the resources of our success 2nd from 10th – and is applying to trine Pluto bringing in vast wealth to the equation. The Sun rules Saturn and it rules the fifth house and is close to the fifth house cusp. This is, after all, a leisure activity.

Pluto is nearing the end of Sagittarius which is fitting and Rowling’s deal with Bloomsbury was made in August 1996 when Pluto was at 0° Sagittarius; it had entered Sagittarius for the first time in 1995. Uranus was also at 0° Aquarius and Neptune was still in late Capricorn. Many publishers rejected Rowling before this and one could speculate that the time was not yet ripe for this. Uranus and Pluto had to move into the signs of mass communication – the sales for the Potter books have revolutionised the way children’s books are treated – before they could be published. Jupiter was in early Capricorn so it is possible that this in not the end of the story and that something else will happen at the end of this year – after Jupiter has moved into Capricorn (mid December) but before Pluto leaves Sagittarius (mid Jan). The publication of the first book was in July 1997.

The last two books have been published on the same day that Saturn changed signs. Saturn will not enter Virgo until 2nd September so they’ve had to go a bit early.

You’d have to have some powers of persuasion to convince a publisher to loose all those summer sales to fit an elected chart.