Andy Murray has just been knighted – unusually, while he’s still playing and winning – which caps a remarkable life on and off the tennis court. He has overcome experiences few people are called on to deal with, and is a walking advert for triumph over adversity. Murray entered his Sun mahadasha in November 2016 while also in the throes of Sade-Sati (him and Donald Trump... who says this is a hard time?) and at the key astrological age of 29, sits at the very top of his game.
Murray was a pupil at Dunblane School in March 1996 where a deranged gunman invaded and killed sixteen children and a teacher. Aged eight, Murray was then in Ketu-Mercury dasha, with Saturn transiting his Eighth house, and who knows what mark the incident has left. He has spoken about it since, very emotionally, though he claims few specific memories (he hid in a classroom and emerged physically unhurt). His mother Judy spoke of her own survivor guilt after the attack, and while Andy’s strong Jupiter-Rahu in the 8th is a lifesaver, it is in the context of an unimaginable experience. Eighth lord in the Eighth house is Saral Yoga, which according to Mantreshwara means:
“He will be long-lived resolute, fearless, prosperous, and will be endowed with learning, children and riches. He will achieve success in his undertakings, be victorious over his enemies, pure and widely celebrated”. (Phaladeepika, sloka 65)
There is controversy over what exactly constitutes Viparita (reverse) Raj Yoga, which gives success after great trials or from others’ misfortune, and in Murray’s case specifically, Rahu also in the Eighth may deny this condition. In itself, however, Rahu associating with any planet in its own sign in is a powerful amplifier, and Murray’s strength of will in battling adversity is testimony to this.
His Venus mahadasha 1996-2016 covers his career to date, but began with Murray’s parents’ divorcing, when Andy was ten. Venus in the Ninth house, in combative Aries, rules his Tenth and is strong in the navamsha, though in the Bhava chart sits in the Eighth. Even the positive qualities of the Eighth may entail a trial or crisis: a car accident wakes us up, a financial windfall comes only after the death of a relative, while a traumatic divorce and childhood near-death experience marks us out with a sense of having something to prove. His early experience of this divorce - on top of everything else - is said to be where Murray gets his will to win.
Saturn-Moon in Scorpio in his fourth house also describes his deep emotions, and the prominent role his mother has played in shaping his career. Murray was British Champion by 2006, but he threatened to be another home-grown nearly man after failing to get across the line in his early tournaments. He seemed to live in his Moon-Saturn; morose and ill at ease on and off the court, to the extent even many British fans were cool about him. Yet the watershed came (literally) with his public display of feeling after losing the 2012 Wimbledon final – Venus-Saturn antardasha - which revealed another side to his dour image, and finally got people rooting for him. More reverse Raja Yoga.
Andy Murray 15/5/1987, 14:10, Glasgow, UK
His playing fortunes also turned around very quickly, wining gold at the London Olympics in 2012, followed by victory in the US Masters in September 2012, and finally, during Venus-Mercury antardasha in 2013 laying the British hoodoo to rest by winning Wimbledon. He added another Olympic gold and a second Wimbledon title in 2016, and finished the year ranked world number one, another British first. He also became a father in 2015, all of which occurred in the arc of Sade-Sati, an amazingly successful period so far.
It’s unlikely Murray will simply live on his laurels, but in Sun dasha, wealthy, titled, and not yet thirty, he has very little still to prove. Lagna lord Sun in Taurus, with dig bala in the 10th (only just) has a certain aristocratic air, even if Murray says he will not use his title while playing. Will his knighthood at this crossover-point in his career be a curse? Saturn hovers around his Moon – peak sade-Sati – through the middle of 2017 (in Sun-Moon antardasha, from late February 2017), and it also stations opposite his natal Mars from late March to early May. Murray is known for being super-fit, but he will need all his physical and mental powers to cope with this kind of test. On past form, he’ll probably do it.
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