Family and finances are the two vexations of Charles’ early reign, apart from his health scare. Calls for brother Andrew to be held accountable before the law for his enmeshed relationship with Epstein over women and in many ways more seriously – handing over inside financial information from his time as trade envoy are a new low for the Royals.  It is hardly Charles’ fault since most of the blame lies with the late Queen Elizabeth 11’s unaccountably indulgent treatment of Andrew, but it is the king’s responsibility now.

  The proclamation of Charles as king, 10 September 2022 10.04am London, does have Pluto in the 3^rd house of siblings; Saturn and Chariklo (endless suffering) in the 4^th house of family; and Moon Nessus (= the bad boy centaur) in the 5^th house of children.

 His Coronation, 6 May 2023 12.02pm London has a 4^th house Scorpio Moon opposition Uranus Sun in the 10^th so was always going to be a push and pull affair between head and heart. The Solar Arc Sun is moving to conjunct the 10^th house Uranus exact in 4 months, which does suggest a change of direction, of which throwing Andrew into the long arm of justice may be part.

 Charles’ personal chart, 14 November 1948 9.14pm London, was last year labouring under the discouraging Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Sun as his cancer treatment got under way.  More recently tr Neptune and tr Saturn were denting his joie de vivre as they squared his Jupiter opposition Uranus. That is now out of the way but he is heading for tr Uranus in a jangled, high-tension square to his Saturn in his 2^nd house of personal finances from this August onwards into 2027.

 His second headache will be increased focus on Royal finances – grace and favour houses, Royal wills protected from public view and the like. Not only is Uranus going to upset his applecart but his Progressed Moon moving through his 8^th house now and for the next 18 months may well add to the pressure (amongst other effects). The August solar eclipse falls in his 1^st relatively close to his Pluto which may be a prompt to be more open or at least move away from the old status quo.  

  His midpoints this year look messy though Jupiter moving across his Ascendant from this August for a year ahead may lift his spirits and to a degree offset the financial wrangles.  2027 will be immersed in intense at times bitter family arguments with his SA Pluto conjunct his 4^th house Mercury. 2028 looks like an explosive year with collision-type shocks, not literally but the mood will be jagged as his SA Uranus squares his Mars and his Progressed Mars squares his Sun. The Proclamation chart also looks on high alert at that point with tr Uranus conjunct the 8^th house Mars for a considerable jolt, financial or other.

  Prince William, 21 June 1982 9.03 am London, is on his midlife crisis with tr Uranus opposing his Uranus in 2026, so maybe hankering back to old unfulfilled ambitions. But he will be drifting a little with tr Neptune (and briefly tr Saturn) square his Sun Moon in Cancer on and off until late 2027. Neptune squares his Moon this year for the first time late May to mid August. That may be balanced out by his Progressed Mars moving closer to his Midheaven over the next year (and conjunct his Prog Jupiter) which will give him an ambitious lift.

  There is nothing much to suggest dramatic changes in his life over the next two years.

  His relationship with his father will have a few ups and downs but noting too dramatic until 2028/29.

 His dislike of Andrew will not abate through this year, if anything he’ll be more incensed from June onwards. 

  The Princess of Wales, 9 January 1982 7pm? Berkshire, having been through the upset of the past two years will be cheered by tr Pluto square her Jupiter in 2027/28. Though her Solar Arc Uranus may opposition her Moon in 2027 and will conjunct her Sun in 2028 which does suggest fairly significant changes.

 Andrew, for the life of me I cannot see being persuaded to give evidence. He is as thick as a brick, shameless and I doubt is capable of admitting fault. He does admittedly have a tumultuous tr Uranus square his Pisces Sun opposition Pluto in Virgo from late April and ramping up in August onwards. But his Solar Arc Jupiter is also slowly edging towards the opposition to Pluto over the coming 18 months – and he is one of those greasers who always manages to wriggle out of trouble. But on the other hand SA Jupiter opposition Pluto could bring about a conflict with authorities and tr Neptune Saturn are now both moving through his 9^th house of legal affairs – Saturn for two years and Neptune for a decade plus.

 The worry is that his errant, shameless and unstable ex-wife Sarah, will sell her memoirs for many millions now that she is broke and homeless – and bring more family secrets out into the open.  Born 15 October 1959 9.03 am London, she does look in financial meltdown with tr Neptune square er 2^nd house Saturn this year and her Solar Arc Sun conjunct her Saturn by 2028/29. Tr Uranus will also square her Pluto from this August for yet more upheavals with a meltdown 2027/28 as tr Pluto squares her 12^th house Neptune. She is clearly a psychological mess though it is difficult to feel sympathy for her.  She does seem to be worrying Charles ahead this year and in 2027/28, and Andrew.

  The days of entitlement and sweeping questionable behaviour under the carpet is long gone. But one wonders why no one put their foot down at the time since it was well known much of it.

Does Jeff Bezos have a sense of irony? Democracy Dies in Darkness proudly proclaims the Washington Post masthead as he takes a machete to the staff, culling hundreds of journalists, axing half its foreign bureau (including the war reporter in Ukraine). It has been described as “the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation”.

 Since Bezos with his $260 billion wealth would not notice the cost of keeping the WP afloat even in these straitened times, fingers are being pointed at his “sickening” efforts to curry favour with Donald Trump because of “external economic interests” such as Amazon and his space technology company Blue Origin.  Bezos earned Trump’s rancour in his first term due to the Post’s output leading to the loss of an Amazon $10bn government computing contract. In 2024 Bezos pulled the Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris which led to almost 250,000 subscribers deserting the paper.

  The Washington Post, 6 December 1877, with a Sagittarius Sun, Mercury and maybe Moon, has a potential for widescale communication, an interest in the global world, how society works and culture. Mercury square Mars and trine Uranus will give added punch to its views; Uranus square Pluto an inclination to upset the status quo and push forward with reforms.

 Tr Uranus at the moment is heading to square the final degree WP Uranus with this week’s solar eclipse in opposition to the WP Uranus as well, for another turbulent staging post in the WP’s long history. Tr Pluto will square the Neptune from late this March onwards through 2027 as well for confusion and more losses.

 Bezos was never a good fit with the WP with his Saturn Venus conjunct the Aquarius North Node and his Neptune square hinting at uncertainty and distrust; with his Pluto (Uranus) in a road-blocked opposition to the WP Saturn.

 His relationship chart with the WP is being severely rattled unsurprisingly at the moment with tr Uranus square the composite Mars and moving to square the composite Saturn and Uranus through this year with the Aquarius eclipse also conjunct the composite Mars ; at the same time as tr Neptune Saturn is square the composite Sun Mercury. He’ll either sell or run it into the ground completely.

 Bezos’ relationship with Trump is moving into a new unsettled phase at the moment with tr Uranus square their composite Pluto with the Aquarius solar eclipse in opposition to the Pluto as well – a test of alpha’s power battle? Where it runs into real trouble is by 2027 with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Sun and opposition Mercury and tr Pluto square the composite Saturn.

  One bleakly fun suggestion is that the ex-wives of Bezos and Bill Gates team up to support journalism.  

  The rich and powerful have always had a malign influence throughout millenia but is it just me that thinks in recent decades the rise of the money men has had a significantly damaging effect on culture and society in the west. The old newspaper barons were black hearted souls many of them but they had a smidgeon of respect for the purpose of the papers they owned. Ditto Hollywood. The old moguls actually liked films. Publishing. Even vets for heaven’s sake. The hedge funds move in and it turns into a rip-off industry.  Mind you the US health industry is no better.

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed two years ago in a Siberian penal colony using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin, UK and European allies have said. There is no innocent explanation for the toxin, called epibatidine, being found in samples taken from Navalny’s body, the UK Foreign Office said.

  He was Putin’s most prominent political opponent convicted this final time on what are described as trumped up charges. For many years he was a lawyer and an anti-corruption activist, with six million YouTube subscribers in 2021. He described Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, as a “party of crooks and thieves.” He was poisoned a few years ago by, it is thought, Russian security agents and went to Germany for treatment. He returned against advice and was imprisoned for breaking his parole, latterly in an Arctic penal colony nicknamed “Polar Wolf”, where the temperature can drop to minus 22C.

  I have been puzzling over his motivations since his return meant almost certain death.

  Born 4 June 1976 1.30 pm Moscow, Russia, he had a 9th house (legal affairs) Gemini Sun conjunct Venus opposition Neptune and trine Pluto – a communicator and supremely ambitious. His Mars in flamboyant Leo was in an uncompromising and risk-seeking square to Uranus and in an impulsive square to an 8th house Jupiter in Taurus and South Node.

 He had one yod onto an apex Neptune from Sun Venus sextile Mars; and another wide yod onto his 8^th house Jupiter South Node from Pluto sextile Neptune.

 Neptune echoes throughout his chart – opposition his Sun, leading a yod, tied into Pluto and appearing in his midpoints especially his Neptune/Pluto midpoint. Not Neptune the timid, but Neptune the visionary, capable of ignoring physical danger and privation.  It evokes T.E.Lawrence’s memorable phrase about ‘the dreamers of the day’ being dangerous men – Lawrence was born with Neptune Pluto conjunct in Gemini.

  An 8^th house Jupiter would also be a motivator for Navalny, giving him a profound (if misplaced) sense of having the luck of the gods behind him. His Chiron in Taurus on the cusp of his 8^th and even more so his Scorpio North Node in his 2nd point to an obsessive intensity. The Scorpio North Node and the 8^th house can suggest the road to enlightenment or transformation comes through giving up everything and starting again. Though not usually in quite as dramatic or tragic a fashion as his circumstances. His Scorpio North Node was conjunct the Russia 1917 chart Sun – so he might well have seen his salvation lay through rescuing his motherland.

  And he would be keen to leave his mark on history with a strong 17th harmonic which links Saturn to Mars, Neptune and Pluto indicating extreme hardship and brutality as his way through to immortality.

 His 8^th harmonic is also notable which gives bad luck but also ‘an abundance of strength and stubbornness in the face of difficulties.’ His sacrificial victim 12^th harmonic is not marked except by Jupiter on the focal point of a yod which might suggest he did not see himself as a martyr, more a messenger with a mission.

   Navalny also had the asteroid Nessus close to his midheaven which may also be significant in its positive role of pointing out conmen and alerting his countrymen to the dangers they were facing.

 An extraordinary man.

Chariklo

Psyche

Nessus

Eris

Juno

  Cuba, already on its knees after decades of communist rule, is facing collapse as Trump has cut off vital Venezuelan oil supplies and strong-armed the Mexican government to do likewise.

  According to reports, people are starving, many living in extreme poverty without even one meal a day. Daily power cuts commonly last 20 hours a day, with disastrous results for sanitation and medical care. Rubbish is strewn on the streets. There is no petrol for cars and no aviation fuel for planes. Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading fast with many young Cubans fleeing abroad. The Cuban economy is 15 per cent smaller than it was in 2018 — and cumulative inflation has been 450 per cent since then.

  The Cuba 20 May 1902 12 am Havana chart, has its 29 degree Scorpio Midheaven and 28 degree Taurus Sun both catching the tr Uranus (and Solar Eclipse) square over coming weeks – a change of direction is inevitable. Tr Saturn is also just off the worrisome, uncertain square to their Neptune at 29 Gemini.

 Start time being accurate, the August Leo Solar Eclipse will be conjunct the Cuba Descendant hinting at a crisis in diplomatic relationships with close neighbours requiring adjustment. There could be a surge of confidence by 2028 as the Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct the Pluto though that happens alongside a bleak SA Saturn conjunct Sun – any rebuilding will be a long, slow task.

 President Miguel-Diaz Canel, 20 April 1960, a Sun Taurus in an Earth Grand Trine to a confident Pluto trine Jupiter, formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Neptune is in a storm-tossed celestial phase. This year tr Saturn Neptune will square his Jupiter undercutting his self-assurance and luck, with a turbulent, destabilising tr Uranus square Pluto from June. And worst of all his Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct his driving planet Neptune throughout this year which usually comes along with devastation and confusion.

  Both of his term charts, 19 April 2018 and 19 April 2021 have final degree Aries Suns – with his first presidency chart having a topple-of-perch moment through this year.

  Standing on the edge of change.

For Whom the Bell Tolls By John Donne 

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend’s were.

Each man’s death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.”

Another Neptune in Pisces dream dies as former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell and husband of Nicola Sturgeon faces a charge of embezzling £459,000 from the party over 12 years. He is accused of illicitly purchasing items including luxury goods, jewellery, cosmetics, two cars and a motorhome. He made no plea during an initial appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last year after which he was granted bail.

  The initial push for a Scottish independence referendum was made in 2012 as Neptune entered Pisces with the revolutionary, rebellious Uranus square Pluto in place. The SNP’s star rose through the decade with Alex Salmond and then Nicola Sturgeon at the helm of a resurgent Scottish National Party. And is now on the slide with question marks over their competence in government, never mind this scandal.  

 The SNP, 7 April 1934, was determined and vociferous during the years of tr Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn from 2011 onwards – since it ramped up the SNP’s pugnacious Sun Mars in Aries opposition Jupiter square Pluto. When that moved on in recent years and the financial ramifications of a split from the UK became clearer the heat went out of the fight.

With this week’s Aquarius eclipse and the August Leo eclipse both impacting on the SNP Saturn, there will be a rueful face-reality mood.

 Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16pm Irvine, Scotland, now separated from her husband, stepping down as an MSP and not facing any charges, is nerve-stretched at the moment with her Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Neptune and tr Uranus about to oppose her Neptune in March. She looks trapped and frustrated in 2027 with her Solar Arc Mars conjunct her Pluto; and discouraged by 2028. Not an easy few years ahead as she steps down from a period of glittering acclaim.

What is intriguing is the Scotland Act of Union chart with England, 1 May 1707, which has a Jupiter Pluto in Leo conjunction square a Taurus Sun which will be highlighted by the coming August solar eclipse. Interesting to see what if anything transpires.  That chart looks unsettled, uncertain and discouraged this year and for the next two.

 Both the Scotland 16 March 842 and 25 March 1005 have an Aries Sun with other Aries planets so will not find tr Neptune Saturn does much for their fighting spirit. Time to regroup and rethink.

  Indulging in schadenfreude is not a good look (= triumphing over others misfortune) but there is a hint of karma about what was once top of the heap (and contemptuous with it) coming down to ground level again. In the words of the I Ching ‘what goes up must come down.’ Is in the nature of things. In this case a Neptunian delusion – an inspirational dream lacking practicality.

Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer known as the “father of modern science”, stood trial for the second time on 13 February 1633 for the heresy of proclaiming that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He had revolutionized astronomy using an improved telescope to discover Jupiter’s moons, Venus’s phases, and lunar craters but his support for heliocentrism led to life imprisonment by the Catholic Church. 

  His birth date varies by a day but on 16 February 1564 JC 3.41pm in Pisa, Italy, it gives a Pisces Sun conjunct Pluto and Mercury in a rebellious, revolutionary square to Uranus square which is in an innovative (eureka moment) opposition to Neptune in Gemini. His Taurus Moon, here in the 10^th would bring him into the public eye.

 Birth time being accurate – a focal point Pluto is often ahead of its time in terms of insight and has a tendency to run into hostile resistance. In the 8^th would double up the reactions he stirred up from the authorities of the day. Pisces is also a sign not only connected to Neptune but also to explorers as well as mathematicians.

His Mars in final degree Taurus was conjunct Neptune and square his Sun – so he was a force to be reckoned with.  He had a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Cancer (in certain cases an indication of a high flyer) trine Venus in Pisces. He was sentenced to indefinite house arrest where he remained until he died in 1642.

The 13^th February (thanks AI) does appear to be a significant date with the Lindbergh kidnapping and Dresden bombing also falling on February 13 in 1935 and 1945 respectively.

  The grip the destructive Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church had between the 13^th Century (Pluto in Virgo?) and the 19^th Century (Pluto in Pisces?) when it was dissolved is sobering to reflect on. Western civilization has moved on apace since then but it is a damning indictment of what happens when narrow minded and arrogant religious fanaticism is allowed the upper hand.

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte’s classic novel has been given a ‘hyper-sexualised’ makeover in a new Jacob Elordi/Margot Robbie film. The provocative scenes in question are erotic, with much moaning and writhing though they are not explicit. One reviewer pointed out the passionate Heathcliff Cathy love affair had been interpreted in different ways at different times, which say more about the era in which they were produced — its expectations, prejudices, and neuroses — than about the work itself.

  The devoted lover. The toxic narcissist. The sex symbol. The chaste beloved. The perverted necrophile. The proto‑Marxist rebel. The idealistic lunatic. The unscrupulous psychopath. The victim of the powerful.

 The story is about Heathcliff, a street boy taken in by a rural landowner and brought into his home, where he becomes part of the family, hated by son Hindley, and adored by Cathy. He eventually leaves the family, and Cathy marries a neighbouring landowner, Edgar Linton. Heathcliffe returns as a wealthy man, consumed by resentment, determined to corrupt and destroy the family, while still trapped by his indestructible love for Cathy. She dies in childbirth and he dies much later, being buried beside her decomposing corpse in her coffin.

 Despite its reputation as a story about soaring passion, in reality as another reviewer pointed out is a novel about violence, powered by rage, alcohol and fear with much child beating, temper tantrums and blood. Undoubtedly it was a reflection of Emily Bronte’s curate father who was prone to violent rages, as was Emily. In her biography of Charlotte Brontë, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell describes how Emily once lost her temper with her bulldog, Keeper, and repeatedly punched it in the face with her “bare clenched fist” until its eyes were swollen and “half blind”.

 Its publication in 1847 met a muted response, unlike her sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre and only became a success well into the 20th century, thanks to champions like Virginia Woolf and to the impact it had on the Surrealists.

 Emily Bronte, born 30 July 1818 2.49pm Thornton, England, had a Leo Sun and Mercury in the 9^th house of communication and writing and a Cancer Moon deeply buried in the 8th. But what marked out her subject matter was a volatile, Mutable T square of a passionate Venus Mars conjunction in Virgo in the 9th opposition a regretful Saturn in Pisces square Uranus in Sagittarius.  Venus Mars can give an inclination to strong sexual yearnings. Mars Saturn can be cruel. Mars Venus square Uranus – a need for constant excitement without ties. It is quite a perverse chart. She had the destructive Fixed Star Algol conjunct her Descendant. A controlling Pluto in her 4^th hinted at a tricky father and dark undercurrents running through the family home.  There are some theories that she was autistic.  She died a year after publication of her novel, on her First Saturn Return, possibly from tuberculosis, never having married.

 The novel was published on 24 November 1847 with a rage-filled and frustrated Sun inconjunct Mars Pluto; and maybe on the point of a yod with Mars Pluto sextile a late Gemini/Cancer Moon which would make sense of the content.

I am eternally fascinated by what catches the mood of the moment and in some cases continues to do so over decades and centuries.

The Solar Eclipse on 17 February 2026 at 28 degrees Aquarius is square Uranus so will bring sudden surprises, perhaps opportunities but certainly a change of direction. Uranus also square Mars for an uncompromising mood and over-reactions. A positive Mercury trine Jupiter. And the exact Saturn Neptune conjunction in Aries sextile Pluto.

 The path of the eclipse is across Antarctica – Argentina, Chile and southern Africa region.

  The Eclipsed New Moon falls on the Midheaven for London which might suggest key events there.

  In Saros Series 10 North which occurred before in 2008, 1990, 1972, 1954, 1935, 1917, it brings an emphasis on communication with frustrating or inhibiting circumstances. The general mood will be tired or drained and difficulties need to be worked through one at a time (Bernadette Brady).

 The Total Lunar Eclipse of 3 March 2026 at 12 degrees Virgo/Pisces is in an upbeat sextile/trine to Jupiter though it again features the edgy, explosive Mars square Uranus. Plus Saturn Neptune in Aries sextile Pluto.

The eclipse will be completely visible over northeast Asia, northwestern North America, and the central Pacific Ocean, seen rising over much of Asia and Australia and setting over North and South America.

The Total Solar Eclipse of 12 August 2026 has the New Moon at 20 degrees Leo in a steady trine to Saturn in Aries. For the first time it has Uranus in Gemini trine Pluto sextile Neptune as the mood music of the new era. Venus in Libra opposes Neptune and squares Mars in Cancer for a go-head and (argumentative) mood.

 In Saros Series 10 South, it brings a time of breaking out of a negative, hopeless situation into positive phase with more options. A worry will disappear as solutions appear that need to be grasped. (Bernadette Brady).

Around before in this Saros Series 2008, 1990, 1972, 1954, 1936, 1918, 1900. 

    The total eclipse will pass over the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, northern Spain and northeastern Portugal. The first part of the total eclipse path will pass from east to west from Russia to Greenland. A partial eclipse will cover more than 90% of the Sun in Ireland, Britain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans and North Africa and to a lesser extent in most of Europe, West Africa and northern North America.

  The Lunar Eclipse of 28 August 2026 at 4 degrees Pisces/Virgo will square Uranus so will be highly strung and uncompromising, although also innovative. The Virgo Sun will be on the point of an ambitious, ego-centred yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto.  With an accident-prone and aggravated Saturn square Mars, though Saturn trine Jupiter will soften the harder edges of the mood.

  The eclipse will be visible over North and South America, rising over the central Pacific Ocean and setting over Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.