Month: October 2021

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Michael Caine despite headlines to the contrary may not be retiring after all as scripts continue to roll in, albeit slower than in his heyday.  Now 88 he’s written successful books recently and had back problems which have kept him anchored for a while. But he’s clearly still keen to see what is on offer.

  Born 14 March 1933 at 10.10am in London with a Billingsgate-porter father and a cleaner mother, the family lived in a house with no electricity in a slum. He dreamed of becoming an actor to give him another life and played bit parts on stage and TV through his twenties before hitting it big in Zulu and then The Ipcress File when he had turned 30. And never looked back with 130 movies now to his credit.

  He has a 10^th house Sun and Venus in Pisces, making him ideally suited to a filmic career; with his Sun in a confident opposition to Jupiter in Virgo and a determined trine to Pluto; and his Venus is opposition a showbizzy Mars Neptune and Jupiter. His Libra Moon is in the entertaining/performing 5^th house opposition Uranus square a 2^nd house Pluto – so a tumultuous domestic and emotional life and a tendency to over-control financially and in other ways.

  He may drift a little through 2022 with tr Neptune conjunct his Sun but that could suit movie-land as well.

  His actor’s 15^th harmonic is exceptionally well aspected, linking an influential Pluto to an easy-going Jupiter Venus and the Moon, which last rules the public.  His 22^nd Harmonic hinting at global success is also emphasised.

He does come across occasionally as resentful – which will be his focal point Pluto. But I met him once and he was extremely charming and supremely professional. Turned up on time, did everything he was asked courteously, spoke fluently, smiled and left. Most impressive.

  His 1933 generation did produce some notables, see Jean Paul Belmondo see post 7 September 2021.

“The — exuberant and attention-attracting, and hard-working Mars, Neptune and Jupiter in Virgo which was around from late November 1932 till July 1933 produced a considerable number of names – Yoko Ono, Kim Novak, Nina Simone, James Brown, Carol Burnett, Ruth Ginsburg, Quincy Jones, Philip Roth, Michael Caine, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jayne Mansfield, Willie Nelson, Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers, Joan Collins. That plus the determined-to-be-different Uranus Pluto would make them stand out.”

Colin Powell, Secretary of State during GW Bush’s first term has died of covid complications. He was a professional soldier for 35 years before moving into politics and was known as ‘the reluctant warrior’ for his generally non-interventionist stance. Though his support of the UK Blair/Campbell ‘dodgy dossier’ justifying the Iraq attack did for his political career.  He came across as sensible and warm-hearted though his career had various questionable blips – whitewashing the My Lai massacre for one, serving under Nixon and others (see wiki).

  He was born 5 April 1937 in New York, no birth time, and had an Aries Sun and Moon in Capricorn/Aquarius. He had a pushily-confident Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto square Mercury in Aries so would be a communicator. Though he also had a wide Neptune opposition Saturn in Pisces which would undercut his decisiveness at times.

  An interesting man and the first African-American to be Secretary of State, followed by Condoleeza Rice. But I always thought he lacked the ‘killer’ instinct needed for high level political survival.  

Madonna’s first-born Lourdes Leon, a 25 year old model, actress, singer and influencer, has been holding forth about what a control freak her mother is. Isn’t that a surprise? Lourdes said: “She has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.” She reportedly paid her own college tuition and rented her own Brooklyn apartment. Though she softened the criticism by saying she admires her mother for being “empowering to other women”, “ahead of her time” and being an exceptionally hard worker.

  Lourdes was born 14 October 1996 4.01 pm Los Angeles, the daughter of fitness trainer Carlos Leon, whose relationship with Madonna broke up a few months after her birth.

   She has an intense 8^th house Libra Sun in a creative though vague square to Neptune; a charming actressy Venus in Virgo in her 7^th; and a confident, lucky Cardinal T Square of Mercury in Libra opposition Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries square Jupiter in Capricorn. She won’t be short of initiative or resourcefulness. She has an intense Scorpio Moon in an impatient-with-mother square to Mars in Leo. Her Moon is in the 9^th suggesting she’ll live abroad at some point and her opinionated Pluto is also in her 9^th in a tough-minded trine to Saturn.

  She won’t be a slouch when it comes to hard work herself.

  The synastry with her mother is quite tricky with Madonna’s self-righteous, overly rigid Saturn in Sagittarius in Lourdes’s 10^th house of career, so mom would teach her discipline. Madonna’s controlling Pluto is also exactly conjunct Lourdes’s Descendant which won’t make room for much compromise; and even less so given Madonna’s Leo Sun being conjunct Lourdes’ Mars – combustible and liable to erupt at any point.

 But there are all manner of plus points as well – Madonna’s Jupiter conjunct L’s Sun, Madonna’s Moon in L’s 7^th and Madonna’s Venus softening Lourdes’ Saturn trine Pluto.

  One of these can’t live with them can’t live without them family dynamics.

  The relationship chart has a possessive composite Moon Pluto conjunction; a volatile Mars trine Uranus; and a high-tension Saturn square Uranus.  Not a disaster but not a recipe for 24/7 harmony.

Veteran actor William Shatner came full circle today launching across the final frontier as the oldest space traveller yet in the footsteps of his fictional alter-ego, Captain James T Kirk of Star Trek. He was on board a rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company and returned safely to earth.

Born 22 March 1931 4am Montreal, Canada, he’s had a full and illustrious career starting in classical Shakespearean theatre in his twenties before moving onto a variety of roles in film and television before landing Star Trek in his thirties. His version oddly enough only lasted three years and at the time was not too successful but it later became a cult hit and stuck with him for the rest of his career. He later played T.J. Hooker and then winning awards in the legal dramas The Practice and Boston Legal as well as appearing in advertisements, games, TV shows and music albums. He’s always had a reputation for accepting any work that came his way.

  He’s been married and divorced four times and famously had a falling out with Leonard Nimoy who played Mr Spock opposite him after a long friendship though he never knew why.  

  He is part of that tough-minded, resourceful, constantly on-the-go Depression generation with Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars, Pluto, Jupiter in Cancer square an innovative Uranus North Node in Aries. He’s spilling over with initiative and restlessness with so many Cardinal planets including an Aries Sun and Mercury. Though I’d hazard a guess he leaves a fair amount of chaos in his wake.  His Neptune in the 7^th hints at commitment issues in marriage. His Taurus Moon will be indulgent and give him some anchoring.

  Oddly enough Leonard Nimoy was born only four days after him so has a remarkably similar chart, apart from a Cancer Moon. Neither would be especially easy personalities to get on with, however appealing Shatner’s boisterous approach to life appears.

  Shatner has, felicitously, his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Midheaven at the moment, giving him a genuinely cosmic crown. Though life looks more boxed in through 2022/23 with tr Pluto opposition his 6^th house Mars, which may tie him down.    

The horrors and misery of a gambling addiction have been laid bare by former footballer and manager Paul Merson in a memoir, who has wrestled with alcohol and cocaine as well. A documentary showed his brain patterns light up when shown gambling images but not looking at happy families.  His habit has cost him £7 million and he hopes by talking of his problems to shine a light on a condition which causes one suicide a day at the moment. “This is a hideous disease, cunning, baffling. It’s just constantly waiting all the time,” he said.

  He was born 20 March 1968 in London and has a complicated chart. His final degree Pisces Sun sits on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Jupiter in flamboyant Leo sextile Neptune. With a Yod focal point Sun he will be an odd mix of low self-esteem and over-confidence and will have found moderating his will power tricky.

  One of Jupiter Neptune’s meanings, according to Ebertin, is a scandal or losses through one’s own instability and he has it in spades.

 The late November Lunar Eclipse and the May 2022 Lunar will affect his Neptune so will shake up his central Yod.

  He also has an unaspected Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries so will lack structure and boundaries in certain areas of his life. Self-discipline and self-preservation can be lacking; and he will find it tricky to order and organise his life.

 

 

  

 

Judge Judy, the stratospherically successful reality courtroom tv series, which has run for 25 seasons and surpassed Oprah in ratings, is being replaced with a new Judy Justice series from November 1^st. Judith Sheindin, who presides on the arbitrations, is a former prosecutor and family court judge, renowned as being tough.

  She is a clear cut Sun Mars Venus in Libra in a confident and opportunistic square to Jupiter; with Neptune Mercury in Libra trine Uranus Saturn sextile Pluto. Lots of Libra for the scales of justice; and an accentuated Pluto for influence, a liking for control and penetrating comments.

  Her original show launched on 16 September 1996 with a successful, money-generating Jupiter in Capricorn; a hard-edged and not always compassionate Mars Saturn Pluto.  This new show starting on November 1^st looks less vibrant with Saturn in Aquarius on the point of a T Square; though the approach may be softer with Venus highlighted.

  Her own chart is buoyant exactly now with tr Pluto opposition her Jupiter; but she is generally in an uphill climb ahead until late 2023 with tr Pluto square her Sun and a Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Sun.

Petri Hawkins-Byrd who played her stalwart bailiff on the show for 25 years was not asked to audition for the new show which left him, he said ‘confused and dismayed.’

 Born 29 November 1957 in New York he is a Sun Saturn in Sagittarius with his confident and enthusiastic Jupiter in Libra conjunct Judy’s Venus, Mars, Sun – so it was a good and successful combination. His Venus opposes her Jupiter for a superficially friendly interface; but there would have been an undertow of darker feelings with his Mars North Node in Scorpio square Judy’s emphasised Pluto.

  The relationship chart points to a relationship where control was an element with a composite Sun Mercury square Pluto – possessive and dominating. With again a veneer of icing sugar from a Jupiter Venus aspect along with edgier aspects.

The war of words over the unresolved Northern Ireland trade screw up post-Brexit is escalating with David Frost, negotiator on the UK side, threatening the nuclear option of suspending the protocol about the land border between north and south if the EU doesn’t budge by the end of the month – which would breach international law. The EU in return say they are at the end of their tether with the perfidious Brits. Pro-Brexiteers say the EU is being mulish. Others say Frost’s fight with the EU is “political thuggery.” Matthew Parris remarks that Frost and Boris are “like two delinquents on a spree with spray-paint guns, they’re careless of consequence.”

 There’s also a fishing and immigrant dispute with France just to keep tempers flaring.

   While it is true the EU has a history of cobbling together last-minute compromises, it hardly seems the time to be rubbing them the wrong way with empty supermarket shelves and lorry driver shortages worse in the UK than elsewhere.

The Protocol is the compromise struck as part of Brexit talks – and agreed to by Johnson and Frost –  which kept Northern Ireland aligned to key bits of EU law but the two sides disagree on its implementation. The EU now accepts the U.K. is likely to unilaterally suspend parts of the protocol before Christmas.

  David Frost’s Term 1 March 2021, as UK negotiator with the EU has Mars in late Taurus in the 7^th house of close relationships conjunct Algol which will be triggered by the last November Lunar Eclipse. This suggests a major collision of sorts and considerable aggravation.  Through this month and next there is a dashed-hopes Mars/Neptune midpoint being squared by tr Pluto which usually means plans don’t work out.

  His personal chart, 21 February 1965, is stonewalled now till mid November and on a sharp downhill slide of failure in 2022 and 2023 with tr Neptune opposition his Mars.  

  He does have Boris’s bovver-boy tendencies (as Parris puts it) with his Mars conjunction Pluto Uranus in Virgo, which is a bullying combination, not dissimilar to Boris’s Mars Pluto Saturn Uranus T Square; plus Boris’s poor-judgement, overly-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune.

  His relationship with the EU negotiator Maroš Šefčovič will be under a dark and angry cloud next February and exploding from May 2022 onwards. His relationship with Boris is ramped up in emotional excitement now till late November but again is deflating into glooms from next February and seriously trapped, frustrated and enraged, either together or descending into animosity from mid next March onwards, on and off till late 2023.

  The EU/UK relationship is riddled in suspicion and doubt through December, followed by evasions and muddles and then eruptions of strong feeling from May. Plus ca change.  Ditto the UK with the French, except even more rancorous through early spring 2022 and onwards. 2023 doesn’t look too settled either.

  Boris and the EU show no signs of reaching a friendly accommodation over the next two years plus either.

  The UK is being held hostage to the whims of a teenage tearaway, much as was the USA with Trump.   

See previous posts: June 8 2021 and February 2 2021

The strange tale of Newcastle United, a lacklustre English football club that hasn’t won a major domestic title since 1955, being bought after a determined hassle by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund raises many questions. It is no simple commercial deal with political pressure being brought to bear on Boris Johnson to persuade the football league to drop its objections; a rapprochement with Qatar after Trump’s exit, whose football TV rights were being undercut by a pirate Saudi broadcasting station.

  Activists criticise the strategy as “sportswashing”, using the world’s favourite sport to distract from poor human rights records with the United Arab Emirates (Manchester United) and Qatar (Paris St Germain) leading the way.

  The Saudi Public Investment Fund has embarked on a multibillion-dollar spending spree to develop the kingdom’s sports and entertainment sector and promote a new image for the conservative nation. According to communications first reported by the Daily Mail, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) sent text messages to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2020 arguing Anglo-Saudi relations would be damaged unless the Newcastle deal was approved and that “we expect the English Premier League to reconsider and correct its wrong conclusion”. Expect??  There’s an autocracy for you.

 Newcastle fans are utterly delighted at the prospect of money being poured in but as Rod Liddle points out in today’s Sunday Times the football league has been riddled with hair-raisingly appalling owners over the years, many with outright criminal associations. In a delightfully scurrilous piece which lists many of them he remarks, “Newcastle fans couldn’t care less. They’d have been cheering Pol Pot if he had a few bob to spend.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dont-blame-newcastle-the-entire-game-is-built-on-dirty-cash-and-blood-money-dx2wh9qg8

 Newcastle United was founded 9 December 1892 with a Sun in Sagittarius opposition Neptune Pluto in Gemini and square Mars in Pisces and trine Jupiter in Aries – a lucky though scattered chart, having difficulty in finding a clear focus. There is certainly a jolt showing up this year with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Mars but nothing much ahead indicating instant success.

  The relationship between MBS of Saudi Arabia, keen to cosmeticize his image after the Khashoggi killing, and Newcastle United hints at financial disappointment in 2023 and a cooling of good feelings with considerable turbulence into 2024.

  His personal chart is also rock n’ rolling at that point with tr Uranus opposing his Saturn and square his Mars; with 2023/24 being exceedingly testing times for him. Newcastle United will be the least of his concerns. And his relationship with Saudi Arabia will also be aggravated and stormy with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the composite Sun Mars square Pluto picking up in 2022 and running on into 2024.

Amanda Staveley, the Brit businesswoman, who punted and negotiated the deal is notable for her connections with Middle Eastern investors. In 2008 she played a prominent role in the investment of £7.3 billion in Barclays by the ruling families of Abu Dhabi and Qatar and was involved in the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi’s purchase of Manchester City Football Club in 2008.

  Born 11 April 1973, she is married to a British-Iranian financier and lives in Dubai and Park Lane, London. She’s a charming and go-ahead Sun Venus in Aries opposition Uranus, so marked out for an unconventional lifestyle. She also has a confident and successful Pluto trine Jupiter and an enthsuiastic risk-taking Jupiter Mars conjunction in Aquarius.  Plus she has an Air Grand Trine of Mars trine Saturn in Gemini trine Uranus – a communicator, hard-edged and used to associating with demanding clients.  Her enthusiastic Mars Jupiter is being squashed by tr Saturn conjunct now till the turn of the year so she may be weighed down by work or facing problems elsewhere. She will face muddles and miscommunications now till early 2023 with tr Neptune conjunct her Mercury in Pisces.

  Her relationship with Mohammed bin Salman is financially ambitious and superficially friendly, but is really a tinderbox with a composite Mars Uranus conjunction which is being rattled around in 2022 by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus. Not everything in that rose garden will stay pretty especially towards mid 2024 when tr Neptune is in a disappointing opposition to the composite Sun.

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has resigned after he was named as a suspect in a corruption investigation into a conspiracy that illicitly channelled taxpayers’ money from the ministry of finance in 2016 and 2017, when Kurz was still foreign minister, towards friendly media organisations in order to buy positive coverage, and help lever him into the chancellorship. All of which he strenuously denies.

  He has handed over his role to a close ally in his own party and intends to lead the party’s parliamentary faction. A commentator remarked: “Kurz is not really stepping down, he is stepping back. Make no mistake, he remains in charge of the party. He will be thinking about a comeback.”

 Kurz is a polished presenter and was once a poster boy for the resurgence of European conservative politics. His first 2017 government collapsed over a scandal by his coalition partners to solicit Russian influence in the Austrian media. Despite these allegations, Kurz has been one of Austria’s most popular chancellors in decades and recent polling suggests he is, by far, most Austrians’ preferred choice as premier. Though his political support is falling away.

  Born 27 August 1986 maybe circa 4.30 am Wien, Austria – he said in an interview he was Virgo with Leo rising but that might need taken with a pinch of political salt.

 His Virgo Sun is square Saturn in Sagittarius opposition a Gemini or late Taurus Moon – so hard-working, practical and a curious mix of low self-esteem and ego-centric. His Sun is also trine Neptune sextile Pluto ramping up his ambition. Three planets in Fire plus an Aries North Node will give him inspiration and self-belief; and a risk-taking and lucky Jupiter square Uranus won’t be a drawback either.

   Without an accurate birth time there’s not much showing except on his midpoints which indicate setbacks now, high anxiety till the end of the year and career losses and calamities throughout 2022 with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint and tr Neptune square his Mars/Saturn.  

  He will have moments of luck in June, November 2022 and early 2023 but it won’t be his shining hour.