Month: July 2017

Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron have been pomp and circumstancing their way through Bastille Day in France. Both have Mars in Leo and Macron has Sun Venus Neptune Mercury in Sagittarius to chime with DT’s Moon. They revel in flamboyance, military parades and gaudy shows.

Bastille Day celebrates the first storming in 1789 of the hated mediaeval fortress and political prison in Paris, a symbol of royal tyranny. It was the flashpoint of the blood-drenched French Revolution, which led to the Republic being formed in 1792.

When the Bastille fell on 14^th July there was a risk-taking, lucky-breakthrough Jupiter Uranus conjunction which usually helps those who act against the established order. And the North Node was at 26 Scorpio, which was the exact degree of the midheaven three years later for the moment the French Republic was established on 21 September 1792 at 3.30pm; and only one degree away from the Republic Mars. A harbinger of what was to come. In the intervening three years tr Uranus had moved to form the exact revolutionary opposition to Pluto squaring onto Mars. During these years of the Reign of Terror, an estimated 20 to 40,000 civilians were executed.

The Macron/Trump relationship chart does have a composite Mars Jupiter in Leo which will energise them when together, though could push them into rash actions if they allow their enthusiasm to run away with them. There are other less favourable aspects – a suspicious Saturn square Neptune; and tr Saturn will throw a chill on their wilder schemes when it squares the composite Sun this November and then Mercury Venus in 2018.

Trump has his Pluto exactly conjunct his MC located to Paris, which is usually a line that is best avoided, since it brings up heavy issues, inner turmoil and can be high-risk. Grandstanding around the Elysee Palace is unlikely to bring much jeopardy but his visit does coincide with an escalating furore about Don Jnr and Jared K’s meet with a Russian lawyer last year and now it emerges a suspected, former Russian intelligence operative was there as well.

Macron is throwing out his opinions with great vigour having already upset the east European countries like Poland by denigrating their contribution to the EU; and is certainly setting Merkel’s teeth on edge by continually pressing home his point that the German economy thrives from the “weakness” and dysfunction of others. His Pluto sits on her midheaven so she will feel he’s trying to manipulate and control her; and his Sun Mercury are conjunct her Mars, so she’ll not be backwards about batting back. Their relationship chart certainly looks fraught till late 2018 with tr Pluto square the composite Mars; and increasingly separated from tr Saturn square the composite Moon late this year, then tr Saturn opposition Jupiter in 2018; and square Sun, Mars, Venus in 2019. She’s making any moves towards more economic convergence, which would effectively put Germany on the hook for the poorer EU countries’ debts, conditional on Macron getting economic reforms in France in place.  Which is probably her way of politely saying no, since it’s by no means clear, how he is going to achieve that.

‘Truly thrilling from first to last second’ is one of the early reviews of the movie Dunkirk which has just launched, starring Harry Styles, Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy.

It’s the story of the evacuation at Dunkirk in northern France in 1940 when 340,000 British, Belgian, French and Canadian troops, surrounded by the German army, were evacuated under fire to the UK in the few days after May 26 by a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and lifeboats as well as destroyers. Winston Churchill called it ‘a miracle of deliverance’ in one of his most rousing oratorical performances in Westminster. “We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

At that point on the UK chart tr Mars and Venus in Cancer was conjunct the UK MC, giving rise to high enthusiasm; with a jolting tr Uranus square Saturn; and a relationship-undermining Solar Arc Neptune exactly on the UK Descendant.

Winston Churchill 30 Nov 1874 1.30am Woodstock, England, did have a colourful, ever-optimistic (despite his black dog depressions) Sun in Sagittarius in his communicative 3^rd house. And an energy-and-enthusiasm-generating and patriotic Mars Jupiter in his 1^st. His Solar Arc Saturn was exactly opposition his Mars at Dunkirk for a major setback and another shock from the approaching Solar Arc Sun opposition his Uranus. But his Solar Arc Uranus was moving to conjunct his Jupiter two years later as the tide of the war started to turn.

This movie is directed by Christopher Nolan, 30 July 1970 – the Dark Knight trilogy etc – whose movies have taken over $4 billion worldwide and earned 26 Oscar nominations and he is being talked about as a possible Bond director. He’s a Sun Mars in Leo sextile Uranus, so well designed for the entertainment business; with a creative Saturn in Taurus opposition Neptune square Mercury again in flamboyant Leo. He’s got a raft of good Jupiterian aspects this year – tr Uranus opposition his Jupiter in Libra, and tr Pluto trine Sun/Jupiter, Mars/Jupiter and square Jupiter/Uranus – so he’s on a roll.

Harry Styles, an unusual choice for lead, been given ‘great’ reviews for his performance. Born 1 Feb 1994, he’s Aquarius where Nolan is Leo. Styles has a Sun Mars, Venus and Mercury spread out; with his Sun Mars square Jupiter, giving him bountiful energy and confidence; plus a tough Pluto square Mercury Saturn.

Principal photography started on 23 May 2016 with an Earth Grand Trine of Jupiter Node trine Pluto trine Mercury, which certainly augurs well for a good box office.

Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese Nobel Laureate, democracy activist and political prisoner has died in custody from liver cancer. [See post June 27 2017.]

His campaigning sent him to jail for almost a quarter of his life and has condemned his wife, the poet, Liu Xia to house arrest. She has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world, to prevent her speaking out about her husband since 2010. There is growing concern that her invisible prison will endure long after his death. Initially she was an abrasive young intellectual, always effervescent, but a friend said, “She has been physically and mentally destroyed”. “Xiaobo chose his work. Liu Xia chose Xiaobo. And they have taken revenge on her, which is absolutely terrible.” She married him when he was serving three years in a labour camp and they never had children because they thought it would be unfair. Her telephone and internet connections were cut off but a journalist did manage to visit her two years ago. “I don’t keep track of the days anymore,” she said, looking frail, trembling uncontrollably and crying. “I think Kafka could not have written anything more absurd and unbelievable than this.”

She was born 1 April 1961 and is a Sun Aries opposition a Libra Moon square a feisty Mars in Cancer; with a creative Water Grand Trine of Mars trine Neptune trine Mercury in Pisces, with Mercury opposition Pluto. During these last years of his imprisonment she’ll have had the tr Uranus square tr Pluto in hard aspect to her Sun, Mars and Moon, so a time of severe stress which has left her with a heart condition, with both her parents dying during this time as well.

His Capricorn Sun was square her Sun and opposition her Mars, so it would be a sparky connection; with her Jupiter in Aquarius conjunct his Venus and opposition his Uranus to smooth a few rough edges and bring a sense of adventure.

Their relationship chart has a passionately enthusiastic Venus opposition Mars, which trines/sextiles the composite Jupiter and Jupiter is also on the focal point of an opposition of Uranus (Moon) to Mercury and the composite Sun – so very supportive and inspired by the same ideals.

And all he did was write a pamphlet asking for democracy and an end to China’s one-party rule. The west may be in chaos but it does have enormous privileges which we all too easily take for granted.

The US isn’t the only polarised country with a rudderless ship of state. The poor Brits are getting increasingly perplexed watching a motionless government murmuring hopeful platitudes about Brexit while the doomsayers are getting louder. The UK’s spending watchdog has warned the post-Brexit IT system for customs is heading for a “horror show” that could risk £34bn of public income and potentially plunging the UK’s ports into chaos.

There are two views of David Davis, the UK chief negotiator, who is a possible PM if May topples off her perch. One view says he is a pragmatic Leaver who can get the necessary compromises. The other says he is a deluded buccaneering optimist. His rosy view is it will be simple to complete an EU deal by March 2019, with almost all the trading benefits we currently enjoy and then we would be free to sign glorious trade agreements with the rest of the world. His cohort Liam Fox chips in that Brexit will cement our status as a great trading nation.

The Times (admittedly pro-Remain) did a hatchet job on Davis recently, quoting those who had worked with him – “hates to listen to advice”, “delusions of grandeur”, ”vain and quixotic”, “all noise and bluster”, “no practical sense of the realities he’s about to confront”. Businesses that have come to see Davis have been left aghast at the lack of detailed understanding. An ambassador from a senior member state, who has been briefed on how Davis is viewed by the EU now, has a crushing verdict: “He is part of the problem. He doesn’t know the dossiers well. His style is arrogant, he is full of bluster.” A European insider says Davis appears to have an inflated, jingoistic faith in Britain’s influence which is not going to play out well. “He’s going to be humiliated again and again by the EU, as he was in the first week.

And given that David Davis has the trapped, enraged, powerless tr Pluto conjunct his Mars from early 2018 to late 2019; as well as a discouraging tr Saturn conjunct his Capricorn Sun, Jupiter, Mercury from this coming New Year for several months – he will find his bubble of high hopes firmly burst.

Whereas the chancellor, Philip Hammond, is much more alarmed by the danger of a bad Brexit, and has a different vision of where we should be heading and how long it will take to get there. He’s got the final undermining transit of Neptune square his Sun from early October to early January 2018, so in the short term won’t be feeling upbeat. Though he’ll be more confident and enthusiastic through 2018/19 with tr Uranus trine his Jupiter and tr Pluto square his Sun/Jupiter. Though he’s completely squelched and seriously shaken in 2019 with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Mars with tr Uranus opposition both.

Boris Johnson hasn’t much going for him over the next three years and a fair amount against. Though if his birth time of 2pm is about accurate he’ll bounce again from 2023 onwards and is young enough to reinvent himself.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd does have the confidence for a push in 2017/18 with tr Pluto square her Jupiter in Aries; although will have a career car-crash few months from this October across the New Year.

Theresa May, tightly-lipped and overly-controlled as usual, will find her enigmatic mask paying fewer dividends as voters ask whether there is much behind the brittle shell. Her chart is awash with Neptune – tr Neptune conjunct her Mars in 2017/18 and then opposition her Jupiter in 2019/2020. Tr Pluto square her Sun/Neptune midpoint through 2017/18 which is devastating and confused; and an uncertain Solar Arc Saturn square her Neptune this year. She does have tr Pluto trine her Jupiter till late 2017, giving her a lift but when that disappears she’s into a raft of blocked, failure ridden Pluto transits to two Mars midpoints in 2018/2019.

The UK chart is veering between hostile argument and outright panic this year; more emotional angst next; with some surging confidence in 2018/19 from two Jupiter midpoints; into a highly confused 2019 with tr Neptune square Mercury.

So the fog of not knowing who to believe will roll on.

Barnier, the EU negotiator, is playing a game of chicken in his arrogance. But a disorderly Brexit will impact Europe, whether for Flemish industrialists, French fromagiers or German car-makers. He forgets the rest of the EU runs a €120 billion-a-year trade surplus with the UK and that three times as many EU workers are resident in Britain than British workers are resident in the EU. Plus the UK flouncing off would blow a huge hole in the EU budget. All of those considerations are tossed aside to in order to prop up the Brussels technocracy. If the UK were to exist as friends outside of the creaky EU superstructure, then his ilk would have little raison d’etre. His Capricorn Sun square Neptune is picking up the tr Pluto hard aspects in 2017/18, so he’s not seeing too clearly either.

Pluto in Capricorn as part of its deconstruction and reconstruction of government systems should toss the whole lot out and start again. But alas and alack, not much chance of that.

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Donald Trump’s admin is making slow-to-no progress on major campaign promises – repeal Obamacare to allow for tax cuts and substantial infrastructure investment to name but three – as it gets increasingly snarled up in the Russia imbroglio. Some politicians are now murmuring about Don Jnr’s Russia meeting, that cooperating with a foreign nation to influence an American election especially one deemed by the military to be a primary state adversary, if proven, is treason.

Dominating the Trump Term chart is the Jupiter opposition Uranus which Sakoian & Acker describe as a ‘soap bubble that breaks at the slightest prick’, promises more than can produce, unwise financial expansion which can lead to ruin, unbridled flights of imagination with no basis in reality. That opposition squares onto Pluto in the 9^th, hence rolling legal tangles as well as bile and bitterness about foreign affairs. A Cardinal Pluto on the point of a T Square tends to be bullying, forceful, manipulative, not good at sharing power or integrating with others, chip-on-the-shoulder defensive when threatened, contemptuous. It can have its uses but always tends to run into hostile resistance. That chart picks up the tr Pluto square Uranus from February 2018, which will start to seriously destabilise it – and that runs till late 2019.

There’s also an 8^th house Saturn square Mars, which does suggest an administration beset by setbacks and frustrations, and that is picking up the tr Saturn square to Mars again late Oct/early Nov this year.

The Term Sun is unaspected which gives an intense yet erratic quality, creating a virtual island unto itself mentality which can be isolated, self-important, unable to relate outwardly to prevailing circumstances.

The other chart, in some ways more interesting, is the moment Trump accepted the GOP nomination – 22 July 2016 12.13 am, Cleveland, Ohio – since at some point the Republicans may decide enough is enough and President Pence would be preferable.

That chart is being seriously rattled by this August’s Lunar Eclipse hitting the Venus Mercury for an emotional shock and crisis; and the Leo Solar Eclipse opposing the Moon which will put an additional strain on relationships. It is in any event a highly strained chart with two Yods of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus Mercury and Mars sextile Jupiter inconjunct Uranus. With the Sun inconjunct the Moon – so that’s five quincunxes. Plus Node opposition Neptune square Saturn.

Uranus on the focal point of a Yod is disruptive, lawless, intolerant of convention. Mercury on the focal point is scattered, can’t think straight. Where this chart starts to stand on its head is from late April 2018 onwards.

The relationship charts between Trump and the two Republican charts – 28 Feb 1854 and 22 Feb 1856 – are both stressed this year with the possibility of blasting apart in 2018. The 1856/DT relationship chart looks up in arms at the moment and ready to walk away with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and Venus, but those influences run on and off into 2018 and it is rarely the first hit which causes the split, since the critical mass has to build; with enfuriated and discouraging Saturn transits to Pluto, Mars and Neptune over coming months. The 1854 relationship chart has tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and trine the composite Mars from May 2018 onwards, running into early 2019. So the aggravation is not going to go away.

The murder of four year old Gregory Villemin in 1984 has haunted France for more than three decades, and is a gothic tale of family rivalries, poison-pen letters and false leads. Now the judge who botched the initial investigation has reportedly committed suicide. At the time, an uncle was arrested, then released, only to be shot by the boy’s father, who ended up in prison. New DNA evidence has now led to more relatives being arrested. Before Gregory’s death, anonymous letters were sent to his father threatening revenge from someone who knew details of the extended family and became known as ‘the Crow’. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be novelesque.

Gregory was born 24 August 1980 10.50pm St Die, France and his body was found, hands and feet tied in a river on 16 October 1984.

He had a lively 5^th house Sun Mercury in Virgo, with Jupiter Saturn also in Virgo; and a fearful Mars Pluto conjunction in Libra. His North Node in Leo is very tied into his Moon Uranus in a T Square, and Neptune Pluto in a mini-Grand Trine – which is perhaps why he so resonated in public interest. His Saturn is not well-aspected being square Neptune, sextile Uranus and semi-sextile Mars.

When he died tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Mars which makes sense of a brutal act of vengeance; and the transiting Sun was conjunct his Solar Arc Pluto. So very much a Mars Pluto event.

His victim 12^th Harmonic was highly stressed with a Yod tying together Mars Saturn (traditionally associated with assassinations) and Sun and Moon; and a destructive Mars square Pluto Neptune. His get-it-together-to-create-a-life 5^th Harmonic was also strong, which makes less sense. Except for the waste of what could have been a productive life.

I’ve just finished reading Mark Billingham’s ‘Love like Blood’ about honour killings. This is just another version of the destructive passions that run through dysfunctional families.

Rebecca West in her day was described as one of the greats, “a novelist of note… a distinguished literary critic… above all… one of the greatest of living journalists.” Her Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941) on the history and culture of Yugoslavia was called “this century’s greatest travel book”. She wrote on the Nuremburg Trials and the trial of British fascist Lord Haw Haw who was executed and several novels as well as countless newspaper and magazine pieces, in particular for The New Yorker.

Born 21 December 1892 8.15am London, she grew up in an intellectual home but left school early when money ran out; became an outspoken suffragette, feminist and socialist and later become concerned about social injustice in South Africa and other countries she travelled to constantly. When she was 20 she had an affair with 47 year old HG Wells, which produced a son, and reportedly had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and Lord Beaverbrook. She did marry, not very happily in her late 30s, earned a great deal and kept an active social life with the thinkers and influential figures of the day until she died aged 91 in 1983.

Her Sun was within one minute of a degree (one sixtieth) away from Capricorn (assuming her birth time is accurate) square Mars in Pisces, so assertive; with a hard-working Capricorn Moon; and the signature Neptune Pluto in Gemini of her generation opposition Mercury in Sagittarius, so both idealistic and dogmatic, a dreamer and a deep-thinker. Her Jupiter in pro-active Aries opposed Saturn in fair-minded Libra, so she would veer between highs and lows. Both her Mars and Jupiter fell in her 3^rd house, which is a journalistic placing. Her Mars was in a passionately enthusiastic trine to Venus in seductive Scorpio.

HG Wells’ Jupiter was conjunct her Moon for a resonant connection, but his volatile Mars Uranus fell in her 7^th square her Saturn and Jupiter so it would be fraught and not destined to last a lifetime. He also had Venus in Scorpio, which for a time would make for an intense attraction.

Her son with whom she had a very public falling out after he wrote a novel about the relationship between an illegitimate son and his two world-famous, unmarried parents, in which he portrayed the mother in unflattering terms as a poor caregiver. He never forgave her for being absent while she built her career in the US.

Like her he had a Capricorn Moon and his Saturn in Gemini conjunct Pluto in Cancer sat squarely on her Descendant, so not a good mix. He did have his Leo Moon on his IC and evidently idealised his father, although HG Wells was also an absent parent.

Elon Musk is a man with gargantuan ambitions and apocalyptic worries about the future. A billionaire green evangelist, he talks of colonising Mars, frets that the earth is facing collapse through population explosion and thinks Artificial Intelligence will destroy mankind eventually. He has made himself a bete noire of the fossil fuels industry who have launched an extraordinary barrage of attacks, mainly from rightwing thinktanks, lobbyists, websites and commentators. A business magnate, engineer and inventor, he spouts out an endless stream of super-tech ideas – for electric cars, batteries powered by solar energy, ultra-high speed trains, space tourism, under-city tunnels to ease traffic problems. In spite of his high enthusiasm for all things new,  he says: “we are the first species capable of self-annihilation.”

Born 28 June 1971, Pretoria, South Africa, he has a Sun Cancer in an inventive, think-out-of-the-box square to Uranus; a creative, hoping-for-a-better-society but can-be paranoid Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune and Jupiter in money-attracting Scorpio, which is trine/sextile Pluto. So he’ll find it tricky to balance his power-hungry Pluto, too much or too little. When on target, his Pluto will give him insights into the future, but when off-beam, it’ll make him overly controlling and prone to negative thinking.  His Jupiter opposition Saturn will also make him up and down, optimistic and pessimistic in turn. His Mars in uncompromising Aquarius is square Jupiter, so keen on risk.

It’s a pity there’s no birth time, since his chart isn’t that well integrated without a chart axis. He does have a marked leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H, so he won’t fizzle out without a trace. Though he’ll take a couple of hefty knocks within a year or so as his Solar Arc Mars squares his Sun and his Solar Arc Sun opposes his Mars. But he’ll bounce again into the 2020s.

He’s not the easiest husband, having divorced his first wife after she’d produced 5 children, and divorced his second wife twice. Justine No 1 wife, is a Sun Mars in Virgo which is conjunct his Virgo Moon; and Talulah No 2 wife, whom he remarried after their first divorce and then went for a second divorce, has Venus Mars in Virgo again around the conjunction to his Moon. His Moon may be square the Saturn opposition Neptune which would suggest an unstable emotional life. After his parents divorced when he was 9, he lived mainly with his father.

Donald Trump Jnr now says he did meet with a Russian lawyer, closely associated with the Kremlin, who had promised compromising material on Hillary Clinton, which flies in the face of a stream of earlier denials from himself and others in the Trump campaign. Media and political circles are in a furore though how much it will impact on Trump’s fan base is questionable.

Trump Jnr was born 31 Dec 1977 in New York, was regarded as a loose cannon through his father’s campaign and beyond with highly questionable tweets about refugees and gas chambers. He criticized the London Mayor after the Grenfell Tower fire; applauded the man who promoted the false Pizzagate conspiracy; and some years back was slammed for an African hunting trip after photographs appeared of him holding a dead leopard and beside a slaughtered elephant. He appears to be far right in politics; and has continued, according to insiders, to have a strong sense of entitlement.

He’s an ambitious Sun Venus in Capricorn, with his Sun square Pluto, so under a controlling father, which will breed contempt in his attitudes to others; with his Sun quincunx Mars in Leo which in turn squares onto Uranus – so he will have problems with impulsivity and anger.

His Sun Venus fall in his father’s 5^th house – so a good father-child bond; though his Pluto is conjunct senior’s Jupiter, so they probably egg each other on unwisely into overly ambitious schemes. And his Mars is conjunct senior’s Pluto which does suggest some aggravation. Junior’s Saturn is conjunct senior’s Ascendant and Mars, so again a friction point which could impact on senior’s image.

Their relationship chart is by no means without problems with a cruel or unfair composite Mars Saturn, suggesting one side of the relationship discounts the other’s needs which will breed resentment. Saturn Mars squares Neptune, so there will be doubts and suspicions between them; and an overly confident composite Mars Jupiter, again suggesting they’ll tempt each other to go sailing into unwise ventures together.

Junior does have some Neptunian sinkers through the rest of this years; but is also suspiciously gung ho till late 2018. So it’ll be water off a duck’s back.