Month: August 2019

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Richard Gere once dubbed ‘the sexiest man alive’ is now a revered silver fox celebrating his 70^th birthday today. Renowned for An Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman, he’s had a run of successful movies (and a few turkeys) in a long career. He seems unfazed by being blackballed by major Hollywood studios in recent times because of his support for the Dalai Lama and Tibet, given their reliance on Chinese money. He has moved over to independent films like Arbitrage which earned him high praise and a Golden Globe nomination in 2012.

His marital life is Hollywood complicated – various high-profile affairs, a four year marriage to Cindy Crawford, an 11 year marriage to actress Carey Lowell which ended in a long drawn out acrimonious three year divorce and he is now hitched to an Spanish publicist and activist which whom he has a child.

He was born 31 August 1949 4.36pm Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (rectified from approximate time). This gives him a serious Sun Saturn in Virgo in his 8^th with Pluto also in his 8^th. It’s amazing how many superstars have 8^th house planets, giving them the ability to project a powerful aura. He has idealistic Neptune, Venus and Mercury in the religious 9^th with his Mercury in an outspoken square to Uranus. Plus a high-energy and high-enthusiasm Jupiter in Capricorn in his 1^st opposition Mars. His Pluto trines a 12^th house Sagittarius Moon.

He’s not an easy man emotionally which is perhaps why he opted in his twenties for Buddhism, Zen first and then, after meeting the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama’s Cancer Sun is exactly conjunct Gere’s Descendant for a good partnership, with the Dalai Lama’s Moon Neptune in Virgo conjunct Gere’s Sun Saturn in the 8^th for a deep and healing connection; and the Dalai Lama’s Jupiter in Gere’s 10^th for a positive direction. It won’t all be bliss and peace since the Dalai Lama’s Pluto is conjunct Gere’s Mars which translates in the relationship chart into a controlling though ultimately transformative Sun Pluto conjunction.

Relocating his chart to Dharamsala in India where the Dali Lama now lives, it puts his Venus Neptune in the 4^th with Jupiter in his 7^th – so really where he is happiest.

He seems to be easing back on the work front with only a short TV series recently which he has said he won’t repeat. With tr Saturn aiming into his first quadrant he may want more time to smell the roses and put his feet up.  Though tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter this year and next will attract some success his way.

Actress Valerie Harper, best known for The Mary Tyler Show and Rhoda as well as her own sitcom Valerie has died after a long battle with cancer.

She was born 22 August 1939 at 4.30am Suffern, New York, and had an extraordinarily exuberant, resilient and talented chart. She started as a Broadway dancer before graduating to television and then latterly moved back into the theatre with a Tony nomination in 2010 for her performance as Tallulah Bankhead in Looped. Diagnosed with lung cancer, she was given months to live in 2013 but struggled on with heavy treatment to defy the odds and managed to fit in a short film along the way.

She was a charming Sun Venus in Leo in a maverick square to a 10^th house Uranus. What makes her chart notable were two Grand Trines – one Fire with Pluto trine a Sagittarius Moon trine Jupiter in upfront Aries; and the other Earth with Uranus trine Neptune trine Mars in Capricorn. Fire Earth is a steamroller personality with the energy to plough ahead when everyone else is falling by the wayside. Her confidence wouldn’t be in doubt with Jupiter trine Pluto, nor her courage and need for excitement with Mars Uranus. She also had a tough, controlling Saturn in Taurus opposition a Scorpio Node square Pluto which would make her exceptionally stubborn.

She was quite a lady.

Pic: Maggiejumps

Freemasonry has had a bad press in modern times associated with an inner back-slapping police network and more extreme illuminati-type conspiracy theories. And has throughout the centuries raised suspicion because of its secrecy, weird rituals and hotch potch of semi-religious and occult beliefs. Two of America’s early presidents, George Washington and James Monroe, were Freemasons, as were Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and Paul Revere. But many were not; of the 56 figures who signed the Declaration of Independence, only nine were confirmed Masons.

Part of its roots lie in the old craft societies like stonemasons, though there is some evidence of a connection with the persecuted Templars who went underground in the early 14^th Century after their leader was burnt alive as a heretic. And the museum in their London HQ, which I’ve visited, is certainly stuffed full of old alchemical and Templar artefacts, the significance of which most members are totally unaware.

The first Masonic Lodge in the world convened in Edinburgh on July 31st 1599 (JC). That makes it a Sun Neptune in Leo trine Pluto in Aries, sextile Mars in Gemini – so a mix of idealistic and flamboyant, controlling and ruthlessly determined. With Uranus just into Taurus square Jupiter. The gory nature of some of the rituals reinforced by the Sun sitting on the cruel Mars/Saturn midpoint and Mars conjunct the ultra-determined Sun/Pluto.

The first Grand Lodge of England was held on 24 June 1717 (JC) in London with a chart surprisingly similar to the 1776 USA chart – Sun, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Cancer square Saturn in Libra; with the Sun and other clannish Cancer planets on the midpoint of a stratospherically ambitious Neptune trine Pluto. And two Yods – Neptune sextile Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury inconjunct Mars in Sagittarius and Mars sextile Saturn inconjunct Neptune – putting it out of step with its environment.

Both charts have Neptune Pluto strongly integrated which is associated with odd beliefs, as well as megalomaniac ambitions and scandals.

Jean Seberg died forty years ago today. She was the darling of the French New Wave cinema after Jean-Luc Godard immortalized her in Breathless, went on to a stream of Hollywood hits including Otto Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse. But she became increasingly tormented by FBI counter intelligence retaliation for her support of the Black Panthers in the 1960s which included smears and untrue stories about her. And she was found dead from an overdose in her car aged 40, supposedly by suicide though there were questions about whether she’d been helped – and she wasn’t discovered for about ten days so her body was partially decomposed. Her second husband Romain Gary said her mental state had been badly affected by the FBI’s stalking and surveillance over years.

She was born 13 November 1938 5.15 am Marshalltown, Iowa and started acting in her late teens. Her emotional life was complicated with an early, brief abusive marriage, then she hitched up with novelist Romain Gary and had a son, then she had a daughter who died by a student revolutionary, followed by a third husband whom she left for an Algerian who persuaded her to cash in her flat and give him the money before she died. There were stories of multiple failed suicide attempts before.

She was a Sun Scorpio opposition a 7^th house Uranus, which would go a long way to explain her constantly revolving partners. That opposition squared onto Jupiter in Aquarius so she did have confidence but would have felt no inclination to put limits on what she wanted. She also has a harsh, hard-edged Mars opposition Saturn, perhaps why she kept attracting herself into abusive relationships. She also had an intensely possessive and controlling Moon Pluto in Leo on her Midheaven.

When she died tr Uranus in Scorpio was hovering around the opposition to her natal Uranus and moving to conjunct her Sun which would make her excessively restless. But more than that it was emotionally a very stressed and depressing time with her Solar Arc Venus square her destructive Mars and Saturn; and tr Saturn exactly conjunct her Solar Arc Moon (and Pluto).

Such a muddled life with a gothically tragic end.

Brad Pitt is at the top of his game this year, giving the best performances of his career. He was rightfully lauded for his role as the washed-up stuntman in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Leo Di Caprio. And early reviews of James Gray’s Ad Astra in which he stars solo are even more adulatory. It premiered at Venice Film Festival and goes on release late September. Although set in space, it echoes Apocalypse Now themes and stripped of sci-fi it becomes a family melodrama of a man’s search for his renegade father.

He’s also managed to settled the long and acrimonious custody battle with Angelina Jolie over their six kids which has been running for three years.

Born 18 December 1963 6.31am Shawnee, Oklahoma, he’s an adventurous Sun Sagittarius with Mars, Mercury, Moon and Venus spread out through ambitious, creative and materialistic Capricorn. His Mars opposes a Cancer North Node square a 4^th house Jupiter so he’s confident and idealistic. His Mars is also trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo giving him a volatile, ultra-determined streak with some anger issues in early life.

He has tr Saturn and Pluto moving through his 2^nd house and First Quadrant at the moment which isn’t generally a hugely successful time but will get him in touch with deeper inner issues – as well as reorganising his finances. Jupiter moving into his 2^nd from early 2020 will bring him in more cash though he most likely doesn’t need it. The triple conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto will trine his Midheaven in 2020 to 2023 so he should be making steady progress with his multifarious projects, some of them as producer. It’s an emotionally intense time for him with tr Pluto conjunct his Moon and Venus in 2019/2020 which could mean a new relationship – or just getting his kids back.

His relationship with Angelina was an incredibly Plutonic one with a composite Sun opposition Pluto – and these are powerfully possessive bonds which are there to transform both partners. Once that work is finished they pull apart, but not without a great deal of pain, mess and difficulty. Interestingly in the relationship chart the argumentative composite Moon Mars falls in the 5^th house of children, who became the focus of the aggravation but really weren’t what all that fuss was about.

Gina Miller, a Guyanese-British business owner and activist has again set sail down the judicial route to oppose the decision to suspend Parliament in the courts. It is not possible to mount a legal challenge to the Queen’s approval of the suspension but she believes she can legally challenge the advice the Queen’s prime minister gives her. She has been joined by former Tory PM Sir John Major and is backed by Lib Dem Jo Swinson and Labour deputy leader Tom Watson. The High Court will hold a preliminary hearing next Thursday and, if it agrees, a full hearing will take place the next day.

She’s already made herself exceedingly unpopular with Brexiteers by mounting previous challenges; and indeed is much disliked in the City of London for her True and Fair Campaign, which aims to “limit the possibility of future mis-selling or financial scandals through greater transparency.”

Born on Guyana, then a British colony, on 19 April 1965, she is a last degree Aries Sun conjunct Venus in Taurus with Jupiter in last degree Taurus, neither heaily aspected or well integrated in her chart. More notably she has a firebrand Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn possibly square a Sagittarius Moon, which would certainly suit her for a public career with an emphasised Moon, as well as for fighting constant battles.

She’s on confident fighting form right through from now till mid December with tr Pluto triggering too of her Jupiter midpoints. Which doesn’t necessarily means she’s winning but she won’t give up.

John Major, 29 March 1943 3.15 am London, another Sun Aries is looking more rattled, less sanguine about the way things are going through the autumn with tr Saturn opposing his Jupiter in October, lowering his enthusiasm; and seriously jangled by Uranus transits to midpoints mid October into November and on.

Pic: Keith Edkins.

Andrew Yang, the internet’s favourite democratic candidate in an over-crowded field has pulled up strongly in polling recently, coming in from behind. Born 13 January 1975 in New York to immigrant Taiwanese parents, he’s an entrepreneur and philanthropist, keen on setting up jobs in struggling cities amongst other projects.

He’s a Sun Capricorn opposition Saturn in Cancer with Saturn in a tough-minded square to Pluto. His Moon Mercury Venus are in Aquarius and his Jupiter is in charitable Pisces. He’s very energised and enthusiastic this year with Solar Arc Venus square his Mars and his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Venus; but it’s also a considerable struggle with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun till late 2020. More significant for his run in the near future he’s got a run of Neptune hard aspects to two Mars midpoints and his Jupiter right picking up steam from late September through till early 2020 which doesn’t bode well.

Pic: Gage Skidmore

Jessi Coombs known as the “fastest woman on four wheels” was killed in a high-speed crash in a dry lake bed in south-eastern Oregon while trying to set a new land-speed record. In 2013 she broke the women’s four-wheeled speed record with a speed of 398mph; and last October set a speed record of 483mph. She was attempting to beat the 512mph women’s land-speed record set in 1976 by American Kitty O’Neil.

Born 27 July 1980 she was an entertaining Sun Leo sextile Mars in Libra with her Mars in a wide, ultra-determined conjunction with Pluto; and a hard-working Saturn in Virgo on the focal point of a T Square. She appeared on various auto tv programmes including All Girls Garage, featuring women repairing and upgrading new and classic automobiles.

At the moment she had her Progressed Mars square her Sun, which does indicate a shock or collision of sorts. Plus tr Saturn was in an accident-prone square to her Mars/Pluto; and tr Neptune was in a loss-making opposition to her Jupiter/Saturn midpoint. Not good timing for the attempt.

She had a well-aspected practical and get-it-together 5^th Harmonic, a very strong can-be-perfectionist 7^th harmonic; a tough, obsessive 11H; and a breaking-with-the-orthodox 13H.

This is an astro-maze post more for my benefit as I struggle to grasp what is actually going on with Brexit. Question – what is a lying chancer and the manic spinning-top that is Boris Johnson doing as the catalyst for change in a country as fixed as the UK? Partly it touches on Kissinger’s thought about Trump that such people turn up at the end of a cycle, effectively as wreckers of the old ways, but without much sense of what any alternative plan might be. Pluto in Capricorn’s final revenge before it exits, tearing down the pillars of the old temple.

The UK is strong, enduring, resourceful, capable of surviving through tough times, but not good at adaptability or embracing change with what is effectively a Fixed Grand Cross in the 1801 chart. Along comes Boris and his sidekick Dominic Cummings who lack almost totally the UK’s astro-strengths since they have manically scattergun Mutable charts – Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius. Staying-power is not their forte to put it mildly as they get blown hither and thither by their excitable need for constant action and desperate need for a windmill to tilt at.

What caught my eye and attention on the UK 1801 chart is Pluto in Pisces, one of only two Mutable (adaptable) planets, which is picking up the tr Uranus sextile late this December and through January 2020 for the third and final time. In country charts, even soft transits appear to act much like hard, so it is likely to be a more major jolt than it appears.

The UK Pluto natally is on the apex of a Yod to Jupiter sextile Uranus and was amplified at Brexit in 2016 by Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct, exact in the months before. What Pluto on a yod says about the UK temperament is that it has all of the aloof Plutonic power-hungry tendencies, usually along with a lack of understanding the Other, being better suited for an authoritarian position than equal co-operation. Such a Yod can undergo periods of frustration and isolation before being reborn with different values and ambitions.

When the UK finally joined the European Economic Community with the hope of rebuilding the economy after two punishingly expensive wars tr Pluto was conjunct the UK Ascendant; and the natal Pluto had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct the 11^th house legislative Saturn which is the final leg of the Fixed Grand Cross. Solar Arc Pluto had started round the Fixed Grand Cross around 1960/1 as the old Empire disappeared. Solar Arc Pluto is now poised almost exactly to cross the UK Ascendant – for another major staging post in the country’s history.

On the synastry comparing the UK to the EU chart, the UK’s authoritarian Pluto at 2 degrees Pisces natally it is exactly opposition the EU’s ruthlessly determined and unco-operative Pluto square Mars – so it was never going to be a comfortable match. The UK’s Uranus is conjunct the EU’s Ascendant making the UK the maverick rebel, with the UK likes-to-be-in-financial-control Mars conjunct the EU Moon and square the EU Uranus for a combustible and inflammatory chemistry.

The key events of the 20^th Century – WW1 and 11, loss of colonies, joining the EEC – were all marked up by that UK Pluto in its Solar Arc position at the time. And here we are again with another significant marker on the UK’s timeline.

It kind of makes sense of the clown that is Johnson who is not remotely Churchillian for all his vanity preening. [ Churchill despite being a Sagittarius had a preponderantly Fixed chart to give him endurance and bottom; and his enthusiastic, morale-boosting Mars Jupiter fell in the UK’s 1^st house which was the saving grace in WW11.]

I wasn’t remotely pro Brexit for pragmatic reasons since the gigantic economic hiccup that it’ll cause in trade will hit the poorest worst – with no clear indication of what will fill the void. And divorce from the EU with its vengeful, dirty-dealing Mars square Pluto wasn’t ever going to be easy-peasy or without jeopardy.

But we are where we are – and my sense is that a good many people are so fed up with the topic, they’d be happy to just get it done and dusted and if we step into a void then the country will cope somehow, since it always has – jollied along by Boris et al’s delusional optimism that it’ll be alright on the day – though that wouldn’t include Scots or Irish. And since the EU’s beyond-parody Juncker and bloated technocrats etc have made themselves even more unpopular, even with remainers, there is probably no way back. And just to add another layer of snarl-up, no one is going to vote even a rubber duck like Boris out and put an incompetent, old Trot like Corbyn in. It is very Plutonic – a titanium spun spider’s web which traps you no matter which way you try to turn.

Boris as a puppet on the fates’ string makes more sense as Pluto in Capricorn moves into its final third, fulfilling the promise of tearing down old governmental (and financial) structures – reducing to ashes to clear the ground for rebuilding. As with all matters Plutonic nothing moves fast and the destruction phase is unpleasant and often painful.  Economically the UK is now into a very turbulent few years with tr Uranus in Taurus moving through the 8th until 2025 bouncing off all the UK’s Fixed planets.