Marjorie

 The USA’s Pluto Return rolls on until October 2023, heightening some tensions and bitter divisions because of the Mercury opposition but nothing more than in recent years. What is not clear since epochal changes don’t always/usually happen in a blinding flash is the trajectory for the USA in the next historical phase. Pluto Returns often bring a fall from superpower status though occasionally they usher in a revival. Pluto deconstructs and reconstructs. See post 17 October 2020.

  In the immediate future on the USA 4 July 1776 chart there will be high anxiety and a few disastrous setbacks this coming April. But the real mishaps and significant misfortune come when Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct the USA Mars and squares the Neptune which won’t kick in till early through mid 2024.

  What does flag up earlier is Pluto putting a toe into into Aquarius in late March till mid June 2023. That opposes the USA Uranus/Neptune midpoint, described by Ebertin as: “losses, calamities, inability to make a firm stand and at the mercy of circumstances.” Ebertin can be overly dramatic but it looks like a worrisome time.

  Pluto into Aquarius shows up in starker form in Joe Biden’s Term chart and the USA Federal Reserve chart. The Sun was at zero degrees Aquarius for the 2021 Inauguration and that will be under considerable pressure on and off till late 2024. Tr Pluto square Sun usually brings major challenges, can feel blocked or disastrous as old structures are pulled down. The past two years may seem easy in comparison for Biden as Pluto bulldozes on.

  The high-risk nature of Biden’s term of office, indicated by the Sun Saturn Jupiter square Mars Uranus, (20 January 2021 11.48am), when he was inaugurated will come to boiling point with the Solar Arc Saturn closing the explosive square to Mars to exact in 8 months and square Uranus in 10 months, though could be in effect sooner.  By 2024 Solar Arc Saturn will conjunct the Jupiter exactly for a downbeat, enthusiasm-denting time.  

   The US Federal Reserve, 16 November 1914 9am chart, has an 8^th house Neptune at zero degrees Leo which will catch the tr Pluto opposition exactly later March to mid June 2023, and again through 2024. This usually coincides with a sense of devastation and loss, at the very least massive confusion. Late August 2023 tr Uranus opposes the FedRes Scorpio Sun for a jolt and a forced change of direction, continuing into 2024.  By 2025 tr Neptune Saturn in Aries will square the FedRes Saturn Pluto in Cancer which will see more financial worries and grave uncertainty.

  No country will escape unscathed over the next three years so this can’t be seen as a solely USA time of trial. But the outer planet changeover will undoubtedly make its presence felt stateside.

  Joe Biden personally will have his sinking moments mid February to mid March and late November through December 2023 when he will be facing a run of catastrophes with tr Neptune opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint. He’ll also be knocked sideways July to October by his Mars/Uranus midpoint. And be having a fairly bad-tempered year in general with outbursts as he gets triggered. He’ll have moments of confusion March to June 2023. But it is 2024 when his problems mount. He’ll face them head on with bullish confidence but tr Pluto in an undermining trine to his 10^th house Neptune and an emotionally-conflicted square to his Taurus Moon will be hard to overcome.

  Poor Kamala Harris is still – indeed more so than before – labouring under tr Pluto square her Libra Sun and Aries Moon till late 2023 which is tough going, with the additional weight of her Solar Arc Saturn sitting on top of her Moon and opposition her Sun for nine months into 2023. Nothing easy and 2024 looks hugely uncertain and undermining for her.

Police have seized more than €1 million in cash in sixteen raids as part of an inquiry into alleged corruption in the European Union. The scandal, described as one of the biggest corruption investigations in the history of the European parliament is linked, said sources, to World Cup host Qatar, before a key vote on a deal for fast track travel and visa liberalisation with the Arab emirate.

  Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, told a meeting of MEPs in Strasbourg that “malign actors linked to autocratic third countries had allegedly weaponised” a series of entities including unions, NGOs and MEPs in their efforts to undermine democracy”.

  Greek MEP Eva Kaili, one of 14 vice-presidents at the parliament with responsibilities for the Middle East, has not been named but she has been stripped of her position. As a socialist she raised eyebrows by calling Qatar a “front-runner in labour rights” amid concerns over deaths and poor working conditions for construction workers.

  Michiel van Hulten, a former Dutch Socialist MEP, now director of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International in Brussels, warned that the new scandal “is not an isolated incident”. “Over many decades, the parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent — or indeed any — ethics oversight. “In many ways it has become a law unto itself.”

  Doha has rejected any allegations of misconduct.

  The EU chart is slanted towards money which is understandable for what is in large part a trading entity. But an overly-optimistic, slap-happy, none-too-rigorous Jupiter Neptune in the 2^nd house of finances, Venus in the speculative 5^th and a hidden (secret dealings) Pluto in the 8^th trine another hidden planet, the financial 8^th house Moon in Taurus, might suggest there was an opportunity for clandestine financial goings-on and a laxity in oversight.

   The October Scorpio Solar Eclipse was conjunct the EU 2^nd house Neptune to drag underhand activities into the open with tr Uranus squaring the 5^th house Venus exactly now till mid January and returning Feb/March 2023 for financial jolts.  Plus tr Saturn opposing the 12^th house Pluto from late March 2023 on and off throughout the rest of the year which might arguably put a block on behind-the-scenes and out-of-sight trickery. There’s also an undermining Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the EU Sun exactly now – which may have additional causes in the general global mayhem than this scandal but it won’t help morale.

 Eva Kaili, 26 October 1978, Thessaloniki, Greece, is a Sun Scorpio (conjunct the EU’s 2^nd house Neptune) square Jupiter in flamboyant Leo, with Uranus Mercury as well as Venus Mars in Scorpio – an overdose of determined, can-be-acquisitive and can-be-less-than-straightforward Scorpio, whose natural home is the financial 8^th. The October Solar Eclipse was conjunct her Sun for a crisis point; and Uranus was opposition the November Lunar Eclipse turning her life upside down. If she was an early morning birth her Solar Arc Sun is also conjunct her Neptune at the moment for a downward slide.

  Her relationship chart with the EU has a power-couple composite Jupiter Pluto conjunction which can be successful but can also go badly wrong when power and money become the driving issues on one side.  Her relationship chart with Qatar is even more intriguing with a super-successful composite Jupiter, Sun, Pluto, Mercury square Mars – producing a tendency to egg each other on to unwise and overly-ambitious schemes.  

The New York Times is back at its Brit-bashing, having made crassly tasteless and misleading comments recently about the Queen when she died blaming her for the sins of empire. A NYT podcast on the Birmingham Schools spat now suggests concerns about a Muslim extremist takeover of children’s education in the UK were just a cover up for Islamaphobia. Inspections in several schools found explicit homophobia and racism (anti-Jewish, anti-American), pressure to increase segregation and a move to impose radical Islamic views.   Michael Gove, then Education Secretary, and Nick Timothy, then an advisor to Theresa May, said the podcast was full of errors and omissions and was part of a “concerted attempt to muddy the waters.”

   None of which amounts to a hill of beans but is part of a general drift in the wind, pumped up by the Meghan harangue on racism. I am attempting not to get defensive about people in glass houses, ie. Americans lecturing others about racial intolerance, but there is an oddity about it.

  Rakib Ehsan, UK founder of Don’t Divide Us wrote recently: “For all of its flaws, Britain remains one of the most successful examples of a post-WWII multi-racial democracy. It — comfortably outperforms white-majority, multi-ethnic European countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands when it comes to the provision of anti-discrimination protections on the grounds of race, ethnicity, and religion.”

Today he wrote: “In Britain, a remarkably broad section of society has now succumbed to the empty language of Critical Race Theory (CRT), and this, in a twisted irony, threatens to roll back the meaningful progress of race relations in the post-war era. The rhetoric of CRT had in the mid-2010s begun to circulate American universities, fuelled by that country’s particularly contentious race politics.” He argues the importation of Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing Harry and Meghan saga recently is having an adverse effect. “We are on the verge of replicating the vicious American model.” 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/11/sussexes-wrong-side-race-debate/

   None of which excuses the UK from heavy criticism over Windrush, present day ongoing instances of intolerance and colonial atrocities, but it is a thought worth pondering especially since there is no redemption in CRT for past sins.

  “If this is the specific accusation being levelled at Buckingham Palace, then we should evaluate it on the basis of evidence. And if no evidence is provided, I will struggle to see the [Meghan Harry] documentary as much more than a cynical ploy to exploit racial division for personal gain.”

Getting round to astrology what is of interest, if it isn’t coincidental – is that AG Sulzberger, owner of the NYT (5 August 1980) and Joseph Kahn, editor (19 August 1964) and Meghan – are all Sun Leos. Kahn and Meghan have Mars in Cancer opposition the UK Capricorn Sun while Sulzberger has a hostile Mars Pluto in Libra square the UK Sun. For all three, the UK for some reason brings down the red mists.

  All of their relationship charts with the UK are explosive. Sulzberger/UK has a never-cooperate, different-agendas Sun conjunct Uranus in an explosive square to Mars. Kahn/UK has an implacably-hostile composite Mars opposition Pluto. While Meghan/UK has, like Sulzberger, a composite Sun Uranus which suggests a relationship that stifles individuality (on both sides) and needs space; plus an ego-clashing Mars opposition Neptune in an irritation-inducing Saturn.

  The New York Times, 18 September 1851, oddly enough has Mars in Cancer on the same degree as Meghan’s and close to Kahn’s. It also has Pluto at zero degree Taurus exactly conjunct King Charles’s Moon which doesn’t bode well for the future with Saturn Uranus in Taurus close by.

  The paper itself will be under heavy pressure over the next four or five years with media finances in general being under strain. Tr Neptune opposes their Venus Sun in Virgo in 2023 into 2024 and tr Pluto will square Pluto and then Saturn Uranus which will be exceptionally heavy going.

  What gives with all the anti-Brit aggro – are they still fighting the Boston Tea Party? Or indulging in Trumpian projection, blaming out that of which they are more guilty? There are undercurrents of a loaded agenda.

 See previous post 17 September 2022.

Colonel Joseph Kittinger Jr, a decorated fighter pilot, a prisoner of war who survived eleven months in the “Hanoi Hilton” and a balloonist who set a world record by flying 2,000 miles across America while ditching all his ballast, has died. But his best known daredevil exploit was making a parachute jump in 1960 from an aircraft 20 miles above the earth on the edge of space. He was the long-time record holder for such a jump until overtaken by Felix Baumgarten in 2012.

  Kittinger’s jump was from a helium balloon above New Mexico and he almost reached the speed of sound before he could open his chute, falling 102,800ft in all. It was his third attempt – on the first the chute became tangled round his neck as he fell and he passed out. He woke again when a reserve chute opened a mile above the ground. On the final attempt his pressurization suit failed to inflate around one hand but he ignored it. He said later: “I was struck with the beauty of it. But I was also struck by how hostile it is: more than 100 degrees below zero, no air. If my protection suit failed, I would be dead in a few seconds. Blood actually boils above 62,000 feet.”

  He was born 27 July 1928 Tampa, Florida, and had a predominantly Fire chart with a Leo Sun Venus trine Uranus in Aries trine Saturn (Moon) in Sagittarius with Neptune also in Leo. His Sun was in a confident, lucky square to Jupiter in Taurus and his Mars in Taurus was square Neptune.

  Fire is inspirational and has an unshakeable self-confidence, partly driven by a sense that their guardian angel will rescue them from danger. Bil Tierney says: “His faith in himself as well as his sense of personal protection from harm is so ingrained that he may be willing to attempt anything disregarding impossible odds.”

 When he made his jump on 16 August 1960 his Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct his Jupiter; his Solar Arc Jupiter was conjunct his Gemini North Node and tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Sun. Hugely challenging but the fates were willing him on.

  His ‘searching and seeking’ 7^th harmonic was strong and lucky.  His breakthrough-genius 13H was marked out for dangerous exploits. And his extreme-stamina 16H was also well aspected.

   Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian skydiver, who broke his record with a jump of 127,852ft on 14 October 2012 had  Kittinger as an adviser. He was born 20 April 1969 and is a completely different temperament. He has a Sun Taurus (or final degree Aries) conjunct Saturn in Aries on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune in Scorpio sextile Jupiter (Pluto) in Virgo. He does have a chunk of Fire from Venus in Aries trine Mars in Sagittarius – and his Mars is in a do-or-die determined, risk-taking square to Pluto. His abundance of confidence would come mainly from his Jupiter Pluto conjunction as well as an ego-driven Sun Yod focal point conjunct a tough Saturn in Aries.

  When he jumped in 2012 tr Jupiter was exactly opposition his Mars with his Solar Arc Mars exactly square his Saturn and tr Neptune square his Uranus – some luck, real jeopardy and high anxiety.

I am in awe of the courage/idiocy of such men – which isn’t envy since the whole notion makes me feel ill.

Even Rupert Murdoch must quake in the face of a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems over repeated claims on Fox News that it rigged its voting machines as part of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump. Dominion lawyers have also obtained rafts of internal messages that are “evidence that Fox knew the lies it was broadcasting about Dominion were false” and that without Fox, “these fictions” about electoral fraud would never have gained the same traction among large number of Americans. “Fox took a small flame and turned it into a forest fire,” the company claims in its lawsuit.

  Rupert Murdoch himself will be in the hot seat under oath this week either having to deny he has control over what happens at Fox or defend its campaign to promote the biggest lie in US electoral history. Whether or not Fox goes the way of the Murdoch-owned UK tabloid News of the World which broke under the phone hacking scandal which has cost Murdoch’s company more than £1bn ($1.2bn) over the past decade, it looks to be facing a turbulent few years ahead.

  It started transmissions on 7 October 1996 with a Libra Sun in an expansive square to a successful 10^th house Jupiter. There’s a flamboyant Mars in Leo (to match Trump’s) in its performing 5^th house; sitting alongside a power-behind-the-throne, can-be-shady 8^th house Pluto which is in an unyielding trine to Saturn sextile Uranus in Aquarius.  Tr Pluto moves to conjunct the Uranus from late March 2023 on and off till late 2024 which will cause a massive disruption and upheaval which will run on into 2025/26.

  Rupert Murdoch, 11 March 1931 11.55pm, does have tr Pluto in a trapped, frustrating and enraging opposition to his 8^th house financial Mars exactly now running into January 2023 and repeating in later 2023. He’s so old there is no saying what that refers to but it could certainly include massive irritation at being faced with his hugely profitable baby being hammered in court.    

Jan Morris, the celebrated travel writer and author, well known as a transgender pioneer, received glowing obituaries when she died in 2020 aged 94. She led an extraordinary life, a cavalry officer during WW11, marrying and having five children, climbing three-quarters way up Everest to witness Hillary conquer it in 1953, and reporting in Egypt on the Suez crisis with details that led ultimately to Anthony Eden’s resignation as prime minister. And went on to be an acclaimed writer and historian. All this despite having been aware since she was three or four that she’d been born into the wrong body.

   Her only daughter Suki Morys has now written a sharply critical remembering of the reality of life at home. “She told the world we were fine, yet she never actually asked us whether we were. She may have been a wonderful writer, but, much though I loved her, she was a lousy parent who damaged all four of her living children one way or another.”

  It brings to mind the German phrase – street angel and house devil.

  Suki remarks that much of Jan’s memoir Conundrum was fantasy. “She romanticises anything that is remotely emotional, because she never talked about anything emotional.” Talking of the early death of her sister as an infant Jan had described a tear-filled sojourn with her in hospital.  Whereas Jan’s wife said when their child was dying Jan refused to visit her and lacked sympathy afterwards.

  Suki also suggests that Jan had a sexist view of women, relegating them to house mothers. Suki’s brothers were sent to top schools while she, the only daughter, was constantly moved around and deemed never good enough.

  “As I grew older, I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Jan wanted to be a “woman” when her view of “women” was totally the opposite of what she was. She wasn’t at all maternal; she struggled to even give her own children a hug, stiffening to a board when we tried. She couldn’t cook, I never saw her clean anything and she certainly didn’t want to stay at home and be with her family. She disliked the very idea of “family”. The honest fact is that she didn’t want to be a woman, at least not the way she saw women.”

  What stands out from Jan’s chart is a Fixed Grand Square of Mars in Taurus opposition Saturn in Scorpio square Neptune Moon in Leo opposition Jupiter. Mars Saturn suggests a tough childhood which can produce a hard-edged temperament, impatient and unsentimental. That squaring onto Moon Neptune might indicate an idealised view of mother but can also be deceptive and fantasy prone. Jan also had an afflicted Saturn in Scorpio squaring onto Moon Neptune and Jupiter so was completely unbudgeable, over-controlling and obsessive to the nth degree.

  Suki suggests Jan’s problems came from a father who never recovered from being gassed during WW1 and his subsequent closeness with his mother – which would make sense of his boundaryless Moon Neptune.

  Given her sick father I have given her a 10.15pm birth time though one is not known. It is plausible with Neptune in the 4^th and a traveller/writer’s Jupiter in the 9^th and a cold Saturn in the 5^th house of children. Unfortunately there are no birth dates for any of the children.

Previous Post: 21 November 2020

Jan only started to transition in her forties and eventually underwent reassignment surgery, after which she wrote a well-received book about her experience Conundrum.  She remained attached to her wife and although they divorced they remained together and formed a civil partnership. 

  Born 2 October 1926, no birth time sadly, in Clevedon, England, she was a Sun and Mercury Libra trine Jupiter in Aquarius and square Pluto – so not lacking in confidence or the ability to communicate with insight. What is most striking about her chart is a Fixed Grand Cross of Saturn in obsessively conscientious Scorpio opposition Mars in Taurus square Jupiter opposition Neptune and perhaps Moon in Leo. Mars Saturn has a military connotation and gives discipline and the ability to cope with tough conditions but also suggests an element of unfairness, even cruelty, in childhood. The Jupiter and Neptune would soften the effect. If it was an after noon time birth with the Moon is tied in, it would certainly make the feminine a major issue in life.

  Her Venus in workaholic Virgo also opposed Uranus forming a Mystic Rectangle with the Saturn opposition Mars – and having three oppositions in the chart she would have a constant struggle to balance the opposites in her temperament.

  Her transition started fittingly enough on the Uranus Pluto in Virgo conjunction of the 1960s – Uranus Pluto pushes the boundaries back, and in Virgo, in particular in the area of health and medicine. But the time of her surgery Pluto had just moved into Libra and tr Uranus was just over the conjunction to her Sun – both bringing profound changes to her identity and life.

Ulysses S Grant, the 18^th US President from 1869 to 1877, was an effective civil rights executive who created the Justice Department, prosecuted the Klan, worked to protect African Americans civil rights and promoted an innovative Native American policy. He also campaigned against polygamy and pornographers. Before his political career, he had been a military officer and Commanding General, who led led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865. His term of office was tainted by scandals which led later historians to write him off as a sub-standard president but in recent times his achievements have marked him out as notable.

  He was born 27 April 1822 5.47am Point Pleasant, Ohio, grew up with an ability to manage horses and joined the army. After a hiatus when he left his military career to pursue business ventures which failed, the family lived in poverty for some years. On Lincoln’s call to arms in 1861 he re-enlisted and eventually was appointed as commander by Lincoln.

  He was a Sun Taurus conjunct Saturn on one side and Jupiter on the other which were all trine Uranus Neptune in Capricorn – so he would be inventive, determined, practical. His Pluto at zero degrees Aries was square Uranus Neptune giving him a rebellious streak and an inclination to upset the old mould.  His ’crusading’ Aquarius North Node opposed Mars in flamboyant Leo, tying him into the mood and events of the moment. His Venus in Pisces was trine a patriotic Cancer Moon, giving him a sentimental streak.

  In the final year of his life, in dire financial straits and  dying of throat cancer, he wrote his memoirs, with his friend Mark Twain offering financial assistance, which were a major success. He lived for only five more days after finishing it. His wife received about $450,000 in royalties (equivalent to $13,600,000 in 2021.

  His inspired and idealistic 11^th harmonic was strong, as was his humanitarian 9H; and his breakthrough-genius 13H.

A manic urge to take power in the area of relationship was the thrust of the recent Solar Eclipse in Scorpio. Applying it to something as inconsequential as the sentimental gushing and whingeing from the Montecito pair might seem over the top were it not for the resonance it has in the zeitgeist – albeit as a  momentary distraction from the horrors of Ukraine, the plight of the underfed and frost-bitten poor and general nerve-wracked uncertainty about the state of the world in general.

  Meghan clearly sees the Netflix docuseries as a way of empowering herself by ‘telling her story’ her own way.

  Everything has been pretty much covered in previous posts. But odd thoughts.

 Meghan clearly craved Princess Diana’s global superstar status but would they have got on? Hmm, doubt it. Meghan’s 12^th house Mars is conjunct Diana’s Cancer Sun and that is a competitive interface. Meghan’s wayward 5^th house Uranus in Scorpio collides with Diana’s Aquarius Moon opposition Uranus square Venus in Taurus which would have led to more fireworks. And Meghan’s 4^th house Pluto falls conjunct Diana’s Midheaven  so there is something about that over-controlled, powerless childhood of Meghan’s that leads her to want to grab hold of and take over Diana’s reputation and mantle.

   Prince Harry, despite his stalwart efforts to look upbeat is not in a good place emotionally or mentally with tr Saturn at the nadir of his First Quadrant.  See previous posts, 28 October, 12 September, 21 April 2022 – and in search.

  Is Meghan feeling the love from reams of public attention? Hmm. Her Solar Arc Uranus is square her Saturn exactly now which suggests a high level of tension, tugging on her Moon, Saturn, Jupiter square Mars  – there’s a great deal of her childhood unhappiness seeping out – or exploding out. Three of her Mars midpoints look blocked and bad tempered with setbacks in January 2023 and more so after mid 2023 onwards.

  Harry is not looking altogether content in his relationship with Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix, across this New Year and through January and on till late 2023. Ditto Meghan – so the post mortem on the series or the general state of Netflix finances may not be to the young couple’s liking.

  Prince Charles has a downbeat tr Saturn square his 4^th house Scorpio Sun across the New Year; and before that is irritated with Harry, though from the looks of the astrology he may be more upset by the memoir Spare due out on January 10^th. And of course he does have tr Pluto square his Taurus Moon from the end of March which – in part – may be more family tensions.

  William is seething with Harry over the next three months and generally depressed about their fractured relationship with no light at the end of the tunnel over the next two years.

Add On: What has always puzzled me given mother Doria’s dignified and steadying presence at the Royal Wedding and after, are Meghan’s Moon aspects – a harsh, unkind conjunction of her Moon with Saturn square Mars even with a gloss of Jupiter to smooth a few edges does not describe your ideal mother or early supportive nurturing.

  Doria, 2 September 1956, is a Sun Jupiter in Virgo which is conjunct Meghan’s Venus for an affectionate connection. Though Doria’s Water Grand Trine of Mars in Pisces trine Venus in Cancer trine Saturn in Scorpio collides with Meghan’s maverick 5^th house Uranus. Water Grand Trines can be healing but they tend to live inside their own bubble of reality and are difficult to pin down. Added to that Doria’s Neptune falls in Meghan’s 4^th so there would be an evasiveness or inability to offer solid domestic support for whatever reason. In their relationship chart there is a composite Sun square Neptune which repeats the theme.

  Father Thomas would be a more dominant presence in her childhood with his Pluto conjunct Meghan’s Sun as opposed to Doria’s erratic Uranus in Leo.

  What intrigues me is the repetition of Jupiter Pluto amongst the three charts. Doria’s Pluto is conjunct Thomas’s Jupiter and both of those fall in Meghan’s 2^nd house of finances. And there is a composite Jupiter Pluto in Meghan’s charts with each respective parent.

  Jupiter Pluto fuels ambitious plans to succeed at the highest levels and can be ruthless. Both of them inculcated in young Meghan a driving urge to make it big in the world.

  Meghan’s Jupiter/Pluto midpoint was being triggered when she met Harry in 2016.  It has the potential to bring great success as long as individuals act ‘morally and ethically and not let your power and success go to your head. This aspect has the potential to make you very powerful very quickly before you have the wisdom and humility to use it safely. Wide knowledge and spiritual development are needed before you amass power and wealth.’  Just so. Use it badly and it backfires.

“Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.”  Arthur Miller.

  The treachery at the heart of a lifelong friendship which brought together two men who in reality were enemies but only one knew it, is the theme of a new drama about Cold War Soviet spy Kim Philby and his MI6 buddy Nicholas Elliott. Starring Damien Lewis as Elliott.

  They met during the Blitz in London in the early 1940s and their MI6 intelligence careers progressed in tandem. Except that Philby, recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1934, passed secrets to Moscow that sent hundreds — perhaps thousands — to their deaths. For nearly three decades he deceived colleagues, family, friends, wives, lovers and his country. When he came under suspicion Elliott leapt to his defence, convinced it was a witch hunt. After being cleared the first time, Elliott helped him to find work as a journalist in Beirut, where he resumed working for MI6 and the KGB.

   Philby is described as duplicitous but also generous, funny and intelligent. When Elliott finally faced the truth he insisted on going to Beirut to confront Philby in early 1963. A few days later Philby left a message for his wife saying he would be late for dinner and fled to Moscow. She had no inkling of her adored husband’s double life.

A lethal charmer, ‘he was also a ruthless dissembler, one of the greatest liars this country has ever produced. He started out as a committed communist but became addicted to the drug of secrecy, the thrill of infidelity, political and personal.’

  Philby was born 1 January 1912 2.30pm Ambala, India with an Arabist explorer father, was educated in England ending up at Cambridge University. He had a deeply-buried 8^th house Capricorn Sun and secretive 8^th house Mercury in Sagittarius in a opposition Pluto which would make him a convincing speaker but also capable of fraudulent misrepresentation. He had an ultra-charming Venus in Scorpio close to expansive Jupiter in his 7th so he would be extremely personable. And it opposed a dynamic Moon Mars on his Ascendant. Plus he had a highly-strung, can-be-fanatical Uranus opposition Neptune squaring a 12^th house Aries North Node.

  What is striking is the juxtaposition of that ramped up, sugary charm sitting alongside (and covering up) his hidden depths from his 8^th.

 George Blake another MI6 Soviet agent who fled in 1961 also had strong hidden house emphasis in his chart – Scorpio Sun in the 8^th, Uranus in 12^th and Pluto in 4^th. See post 26 December 2020. Like Philby his early roots were not British – born in the Netherlands, part childhood in Egypt and eventually landed in Cambridge University. (Where else? – it really is a cess pit that place or was for a variety of reasons.)

  Nicholas Elliott, 15 November 1916, was a Sun Scorpio with his Sun conjunct Philby’s seductive Venus and his Jupiter was conjunct Philby’s North Node and square his Uranus opposition Neptune, arguably offering him enthusiastic cover. Elliott’s Pluto opposed Philby’s 8^th house Sun, with the 8^th house clearly having the upper hand, dangling Elliott on a string.  What may have been Elliott’s Achilles heel was his Saturn Venus conjunction in Leo, maybe close to his Moon square his Jupiter which might have given him an over-rosy view of certain situations – not helpful in a spy. And his South Node was conjunct Philby’s slippery Neptune

  Their relationship chart had a business-like composite Sun opposition Saturn and an adventurous Uranus Jupiter square Venus. With underlying hostility creeping in from the composite Mars conjunct North Node trine Pluto – though that would also have been soaked up in their respective clandestine careers. But it was that aspect which exploded when Elliott finally faced the truth as tr Pluto was conjunct the composite South Node and opposition Mars, with tr Uranus moving along behind. Tr Saturn also then in Aquarius was about to cast a chill as it squared the composite Venus and crossed the adventurous Uranus Jupiter.  

 Philby’s third wife Eleanor, 15 September 1913, was a Sun Virgo which fell in Philby’s sociable 5^th house with her Jupiter conjunct his Sun. Their relationship chart had tr Neptune conjunct the composite Sun when he walked out leaving her to face the truth of his betrayal. Tr Saturn was also conjunct the composite Uranus for a major shake up and tr Pluto was moving in square to the composite Mars for a devastating blow. She had a Mars Pluto conjunction in Cancer in her natal chart which would attract her to dramatic and damaging situations and relationships.

  It’s difficult to imagine the kind of energy that would have to go into leading such a double life and lying to everyone close.  

A Spy Among Friends is on ITVX from December 8 based on the novel by Ben McIntyre.

See also post November 2 2021

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