Month: January 2017

Veteran war photographer Don McCullin has been awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. Described as one of our greatest living photographers and a photojournalist without equal, he spent 60 years documenting the poverty of London’s East End, and the horrors of wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Congo, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Iran. Last month, aged 81, he travelled to Iraq to photograph the Battle of Mosul and took another trip to Palmyra in Syria in early 2016. He has vowed to continue with his work until he “can’t press that button any more”.

Born 9 October 1935 in London he had a tough upbringing with a violent mother, a sick father, evacuation during the war, frequent truancy and a youth of street fighting and local gangs. He described Finsbury Park in north London where he grew up as a place of ignorance, bigotry, poverty and violence. During his National Service he became a cameraman but couldn’t pass the theory exams (he’s dyslexic). A commission from the Observer picture editor when he was 23 got him started on his long and distinguished career more by accident than design. He covered wars in Vietnam, Biafra, Cyprus and Northern Ireland but focused on its terrible effects on people rather than on the fighting.

He says: “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

Actor Tom Hardy will reportedly play him in a film, based on McCullin’s autobiography, Unreasonable Behavior.

He’s a Sun Libra sextile Mars in adventurous Sagittarius; with a confident Jupiter in Scorpio trine Pluto in Cancer; and a Mystic Rectangle of Venus in Virgo opposition Saturn (Moon) in Pisces which is trine/sextile Uranus opposition Mercury in Scorpio. His Neptune is in a publicity-seeking square to Mars. Mercury in Scorpio is often found in research journalist’s charts and has the ability to dig deep and see below the surface.

His chart is replete with creative quintiles and septiles. His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic is focussed on Mercury and the war-signature Saturn Pluto. His 7^th Harmonic is pulled to military/situations of cruelty, with Mars Saturn prominent focussing onto filmic Neptune. His enduring, endless-struggle 8^th Harmonic is enormously strong; as is his ‘breakthrough’, genius 13H.

From unlikely beginnings he pulled himself away from his roots with a world-class talent and a mix of determination and luck. Though admittedly Jupiter Pluto has a reputation for creating its own good fortune.

The Queen is to miss the New Year’s Day church service at Sandringham, having already missed the Christmas Day one for the first time in forever, due to a lingering cold which has kept her indoors throughout the festivities.

There’s remarkably little showing on her chart except for an irritable tr Pluto trine Sun/Mars through December which disappears tomorrow late to be replaced by a much more upbeat tr Pluto trine Moon/Jupiter. She does have three Neptune transits to midpoints – Mars/Uranus, Jupiter/Uranus and Uranus/Neptune – but they’ve been running from late September and will go on till January 10^th. Plus a marginally edgy tr Uranus sextile her Mars, running through Dec/Jan 2017.

Her Sun/Moon midpoint does have the tr Saturn opposition for the last few days of 2016 until Jan 5^th which for a public figure can mean separation from their audience, and perhaps from other family members if she’s been out of the party spirit. And she’s recently lost two of her oldest childhood friends which will also be part of this.

Her Solar Return for the year from April 2016 does have Sun and Uranus in the 6^th house of health; and an accident-prone Jupiter opposition Neptune square Mars Saturn; but it’s also fairly robust with an Earth Grand Trine onto Jupiter in the 10^th. Nothing on the Lunar Return.

She is handing over more of her charity duties to younger Royals as tr Saturn approaches the cusp of her 12^th late in 2017. Tr Pluto is already in her 12^th as she has cut back on far flung travels, though with Uranus through her 3^rd for many years ahead, she won’t sit still easily.

Her Coronation chart of 2 June 1953 has been stressed over the past couple of years and continues to be so with some setbacks in the next six months, and greater challenges and confusion in 2018 to 2020.

Prince Charles’ 10^th house Taurus Moon gets the tr Uranus conjunction in 2018/early 2019 which would suggest a definite change in direction/status.

The Queen will never abdicate but as she progresses into her 90s she’ll undoubtedly hand over more of the reins to Charles. The UK’s 10^th house Moon in Cancer at 19 degrees is certainly stressed by tr Pluto opposition from this March on till late 2018, which is associated with rulership and the Monarchy.

Urgh, the uncertainty of Brexit is bad enough, if the Queen is forced into retirement, the country will feel rudderless.