Month: October 2023

Princess Martha Louise of Norway, whose alternative therapy school taught clairvoyance and communication with angels seems determined to marry her shaman fiance Durek Verrett. This despite the hair-raising stories of his life – imprisoned, bisexual, conspiracy theorist, multiple factual claims about his life that don’t check out, as well as comments from previous relationships which describe him as controlling and manipulative. See his wiki page.

  She was born 22 September 1971 5.07 pm Oslo, Norway and has a difficult and challenging chart with a packed 8^th house containing a Virgo Sun, Pluto conjunction conjunct Venus in Libra which in turn is conjunct Uranus with her Scorpio Moon also in her 8^th.

  Her clairvoyant and occult interests will stem from her 8^th house and she will be driven by unconscious forces she does not understand and will not have control over.

Martin Sebastian Moritz in his book Pandora’s Box, The Mysterious 8^th House, points to entanglement as being an 8^th house phenomenon – as well as it being a gateway to another world.

  Her previous husband Ari Behn, 30 September 1972, father of her three children, who committed suicide in 2019, had his Mars in Virgo conjunct Pluto falling in her 8^th as well as his Libra Sun, Mercury, Uranus.

  Durek Verrett, 17 November 1974 11.25 am Sacramento, California, a 10^th house Sun, Venus in Scorpio with his ambitious Mars in Scorpio conjunct his Midheaven from the 9^th, has his Pluto, Uranus, Mercury, Mars all falling in her 8^th.  Such subterranean connections will feel fated and meant but can also be trapped, conflict-ridden and obsessive.

  Her relationship chart with Durek echoes the 8^th house theme with the composite Pluto, Mercury, Uranus and Sun as well as Venus all deeply buried there. There is a 10^th house Moon Neptune which will be soaked up by their spiritual therapy interests. But what is damaging and destructive is a composite Mars opposition Saturn square Pluto. Mars Saturn is unkind, can be cruel and suggests a relationship where one partner has to grit their teeth and suppress their identity and needs to make it work. And that is before it locks onto the 8^th house compulsively controlling Pluto. Tr Neptune will be chiselling away at the Mars opposition Saturn in 2023/24 and opposing the Pluto in 2025/26.

  I never thought this relationship was workable though 8^th house individuals can be exceedingly stubborn and impervious to either advice, argument or evidence.

 I’d be interested in any 8^th houser’s comments since I don’t have any planets there and it has always been a mystery to me.

Kevin McCarthy has been removed as House Speaker on a little-used technicality by fellow Republican Matt Gaetz on a personal-spite and attention-grabbing mission. Gaetz is so disliked within the GOP that even Newt Gingrich thinks he should be expelled. The short-sighted Democrats, gleeful about McCarthy’s downfall, hastened his exit by voting with Gaetz, ignoring the possibility they may end up with worse.

  Gaetz, 7 May 1982 Hollywood, Florida, is a Sun Taurus with a self-aggrandising, arrogant yod of Venus sextile Mercury in Gemini inconjunct Jupiter in Scorpio; with Venus in an insensitive opposition to Mars in Libra. His Mars is catching the transiting Pluto trine in 2023/24 which will be blocked and frustrating. Alongside that, he does have a bullish tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto so he won’t disappear down a foxhole without a fight. He’ll zip up in confidence and luck in 2025/26 with tr Pluto square his yod focal point Jupiter but that could bring poor judgement and self-defeating actions through his overwheening confidence. Self-doubt is not in his repertoire.

  He certain dislikes McCarthy with a vengeance with their relationship chart having a composite Sun Mercury opposition Mars square Saturn which will bring extreme aggravation and hostility.

 McCarthy, 26 January 1965 12.40 pm Bakersfield, CA, only emerged as Speaker after multiple rounds, so was never regarded by either side as inspiring. He is a Sun Aquarius with a Boris-Johnson-type scandal-prone Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune which is the driving rod of an Earth Grand Trine. Gaetz Taurus Sun is exactly conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Neptune – bringing about his downfall.

 What next?  ‘It is not clear who in the House G.O.P. can earn the majority of votes needed to win a speaker’s race. Until someone can win 218 votes or more, the House will continue to hold elections in an ongoing speaker’s race. In the meantime, essentially all other action in the House will be halted.

One deadline is looming. The government will shut down in mid-November after the expiration of a temporary funding measure that Congress approved over the weekend. That’s unless Congress can pass all 12 of its yearlong spending bills or another stopgap funding bill — a tall task made even more challenging by the chaos of a speaker’s race.’

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Barcelona’s famously unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi is nearing completion, 141 years after the first stone was laid. When the final tower is finished in 2026 it will be the world’s tallest church, at 172.5 metres. Gaudí’s works are individualized not to say eccentric art nouveau in appearance, influenced by his passion for nature and religion.

  The first stone was laid on 9 March 1882 when there was a super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Taurus with Jupiter in a spiritual (over-hopeful) conjunction with Neptune all square Mercury in Aquarius.  A creative Sun Venus in Pisces opposed a maverick, innovative Uranus which in turn was trine the Taurus planets. At the moment tr Uranus is just over the lucky (what a relief) conjunction to the Jupiter and in 2025 the Pluto as the finishing touches are put in place.  

 Gaudi, 25 June 1852 9.30am Reus, Spain, had a Cancer Sun conjunct North Node in a Water Grand Trine to Neptune in Pisces trine Jupiter in Scorpio with his Neptune opposition Mars in earthy Virgo and his Jupiter opposition Saturn – highly creative, lived in his own bubble of fantasy reality and would be healing for others if not himself – and up and down with Jupiter Saturn opposing. He had Pluto, Uranus, Saturn in Taurus in his religious 9^th house which made his fixed beliefs central to his life and increasingly an obsession. His 7^th house Neptune was also highlighted being on the focal point of a yod to a Libra Moon sextile Venus which would lead him to seek seclusion and an ideal of beauty.

  At the moment his posthumous Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto so wherever he is, he’ll be feeling pleased.

   He never married or had a relationship as far as is known. A complicated and unhappy man with health problems, some self-inflicted because of his odd food fads.  Latterly he lived like a tramp and when killed in a tram accident and taken to the mortuary he was first thought to be a vagrant. Sagrada was only a quarter built at that point.

  I went years ago on a week long Gaudi tour of Barcelona and I would have to confess by the end of it if I never saw another Gaudi building I would not be bothered. Not my taste.

Melania Trump now reportedly in possession of a renegotiated pre-nup (her third) is clearly hedging her bets and protecting her son Barron’s future in case the family supertanker keels over – or maybe it is her payoff for agreeing to stay in situ as the devoted wife should Trump re-enter the White House. Or both.

 She’ll be one to watch through October since the late month Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio catches her Taurus Sun exactly by opposition. Since the Eclipsed Full Moon is also conjunct an exact Jupiter in Taurus opposition Mars in Scorpio, her pre-nup could be an early effect of an opportunistic Jupiter Mars. But it can backfire. She also has an uncertain, worrisome tr Saturn square her Neptune and panicked tr Neptune opposition her Pluto in October. Plus a tormented, obsessive Neptune/Pluto midpoint being triggered as well. 2024 looks blocked, frustrated and powerless with a disaster or two in May. Though tr Pluto square her Jupiter this year and next will give her the confidence to successfully push to protect her position and assets – being a Sun Saturn in Taurus.

  She is not a happy lady from mid November through December 2024 – but that could be ‘quelle horreur’ at being stuck in the goldfish bowl again or the opposite.

 Her relationship chart with Donald has been sagging through this year with tr Neptune square the composite Venus and that runs through 2024 as well. Where it gets to upheaval-time is by 2025 with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun. That is when his Sun/Moon midpoint, his marriage significator, is catching the tr Saturn opposition which can be a separating aspect.

  The Trump tribe are worth keeping an eye on since Ivanka has the mid October Libra Solar Eclipse this year hitting her Jupiter, Pluto, Mercury in Libra. All three Trump kids have a run of fairly disastrous midpoints now into early next spring.

 I don’t normally write about Barron since he has been too young but he is now nearing 18. Born 20 March 2006 5.30am New York, he has a 1^st house Pisces Sun square a 10^th house Pluto which suggests he experiences both parents as controlling or possessive, leaving him with no sense of being able to make his own choices. Tr Neptune is squaring his Pluto this year and conjunct his Sun in 2024/25 for a confusing time ahead, which will be exacerbated by his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Sun, exactly in six months – which will be quite a turnaround for his life.

   His relationship chart with his father has a mix of lavish affection and fear-inducing domination.

Describing the newly appointed UK Defence Secretary as a “newly minted moron”  Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian security council, said if British troops were sent to Ukraine they would be “ruthlessly eliminated”. Shapps had taken it upon himself on the first day of the Tory Conference to grandstand about Brit Army instructors being sent into Ukraine, provoking Rishi Sunak into issuing an embarrassing retraction.

  Shapps, 14 September 1968, took over Defence of which he has zero experience in late August, his fifth cabinet position in the past year. He has been elevated by four out of the past five prime ministers despite a series of scandals. The DM in a scathing piece some years ago said he made up for “lack of talent in braggadocio, vanity and vainglorious self-promotion.” He earned the nickname Duracell Bunny, for his dogged ability to keep going despite countless scandals.

  Having blundered over Ukraine he then proceeded to praise Saudi Arabia on women’s rights! https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/grant-shapps-praises-saudi-arabia-on-womens-rights-t9r3xf3d7

 The UK is lobbying to sell Saudi Arabia 48 Typhoon fighter jets in a £5 billion deal though Germany could scupper it over  human rights issues and the civil war in Yemen. As one commenter remarked ‘Remember the Golden Rule – whoever has the gold makes the rules.’

  Shapps is a scattered Sun, Jupiter, Uranus Pluto in Virgo with a bombastic Mars in Leo; and a tricky yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Saturn. His life underwent an upheaval when he moved to Defence with tr Pluto trine his Uranus but it will continue to do that for another fifteen months so it will be turbulent and nerve-stretching road ahead. Slightly worrisome is the proliferation of Uranus Neptune aspects by Solar Arc and transit which could suggest a fanatical stubbornness or just extreme worry. But it would not point to good judgement, for sure. Plus a shock come June 2024 as tr Uranus squares his Mars.

   His Defence Term chart, 31 August 2023, has a Water Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Uranus trine Pluto formed into a Kite with Sun opposition Uranus. And Uranus further highlighted being on the focal point of a yod to Saturn sextile Neptune. Water Grand Trines can live in an unrealistic bubble – and an overdose of Uranus can be destabilizing, pointing to an obsession with rocking the boat and upending the status quo. Which is not what Defence needs.

  The UK/Russia 8 November 1991 relationship chart shows considerable stress at the moment with tr Uranus opposition the composite Uranus and that will extend through 2024 with tr Uranus square the composite Mars as well. With disappointment and bad feeling running through till 2025. The UK/Russia 1917 relationship chart also shows aggravation.

  It isn’t that Ukraine should not be supported but a throwing a loose cannon like Shapps into the mix is a considerable mistake.

Skewering a politician or a public figure with one freeze-framed image in a cartoon takes a particular set of skills and mindset. Peter Brookes is at the top of the pinnacle, contributing to The Times for three decades, and now at 80 has produced another collection of his latest work entitled Torrid Times.  

  He says that cartoonists are “the permanent opposition”. “In other words whoever’s in power, you administer a good kicking when it’s deserved.” “I’m a columnist, a visual columnist. I have to make an argument in a cartoon that is cut and dried. You don’t have room for much ambiguity.”

  He was born 28 September 1943 Liverpool, England, and is a Sun conjunct Neptune in Libra trine Uranus, sextile Pluto. His Neptune is conjunct Mercury in late Virgo square Saturn with a Mars Uranus conjunct in Gemini.

Libra is concerned with fairness. Moon, Mercury, Venus in writerly Virgo; and Saturn, Mars, Uranus in Gemini – he was designed to communicate. Mars Uranus is unconventional, uncompromising and rebellious, inclined to challenge authority figures and to take the outsider’s view. Uranus trine Neptune is creative and inspired; as is Sun Neptune – and Mercury Neptune thinks and communicates in images. He also had his Saturn square Neptune (and Mercury) making him wish for a fairer society.

  James Gillray, 13 August 1756, the Georgian era caricaturist, went for biting satire as well. His most famous work: The Plumb-pudding in Danger  depicts Napoleon Bonaparte and British PM William Pitt carving up the globe.

  He was a Sun Venus in Leo trine Pluto; with Mercury in Leo conjunct Neptune; and a heavily aspected Uranus which was on the focal point of a yod to Jupiter sextile Sun, square Pluto and in a wide opposition to Mars. With his Neptune opposition Saturn.

  He did have similarities to Brookes – strong Neptune for creative images; strong Uranus for a mischievous twist; and an influential and stinging Pluto.