Month: March 2024

 Harnessing destructive powers to do good is one of the redeeming characteristics of Algol. In mythology, the ghoul/gorgon’s head so hideous it would kill all who looked at it, was later used as a protective device on Athena’s shield and by Perseus against the sea monster when rescuing Andromeda.

  Given Algol’s pervasive presence this year, conjunct Jupiter just before the middle of May and conjunct Mars Uranus in mid July, it is worth exploring its deeper meaning.

  The key association of Algol is the sight that is so terrible it is beyond human capacity to experience. Looking at the gorgon’s head turns the onlooker to stone. Yet if a strategy can be found whereby the destructive entity can be utilized it can do good. Perseus decapitated the gorgon by using his shield as a mirror. He struck at the reflection and did not face it directly.

  Algol has produced brutal leaders with few redeeming features such as Stalin with his Pluto conjunct Algol and Mao Tse Tung with his Mars opposition Algol, who seemed to glory in destruction for its own sake.

   The dual nature of Algol is personified in the physicists intimately involved in atomic research which led ultimately to the bomb and later more helpful nuclear advances. Oppenheimer with his Venus opposition Algol –  “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”; and Niels Bohr with his Neptune conjunct Algol.

 At the positive end there are those who have a lesson for ordinary living in embodying the capacity of Algol to face suffering and horror and not brush it aside.  All the more relevant in today’s climate of ignoring inconvenient realities.

  “Is the truth destroyed because it distresses you?” Euripides.

 What is so terrible that it cannot be faced?  Death, war trauma, torture, rape, abuse.  The UK’s first Rape Crisis centre was set up in November 1974 when the Sun Venus were opposition Algol. Esther Rantzen who set up Childline for abuse survivors has her Uranus conjunct Algol.

Medusa, the gorgon, herself a rape victim at the hands of Neptune, was turned petrifyingly ugly by the rage and envy of Athena.

 R.J. Lifton is an American psychiatrist who has studied and written numerous books on war trauma and the worst aspects of the 20^th Century: Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima; The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide; Surviving Our Catastrophes: The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation; Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

  Lifton was born 16 May 1926 and has his Sun conjunct Algol and his Saturn in opposition.  His Algol has given him a strength to lead the way into studying atrocities and not burn out as happens with many trauma researchers. 

   The blurb for his book is worth reading: “Proteanism”,or the protean self, describes a psychological phenomenon integral to our times. We live in a world marked by breathtaking historical change and instantaneous global communication. Our lives seem utterly unpredictable: there are few absolutes. Rather than collapsing under these threats and pulls, Robert Jay Lifton tells us, the self turns out to be remarkably resilient. Like the Greek god Proteaus, who was able to change shape in response to crisis, we create new psychological combinations, immersing ourselves in fresh and surprising endeavours over our lifetimes.”

  Dori Laub, 8 June 1937, another psychiatrist, an American-Israeli, a Holocaust survivor and later expert in the area of testimony methodology, and a trauma researcher, had his Mercury conjunct Algol and his Mars in opposition to Algol. In one of his memorable observations about witnessing trauma and the holocaust he wrote “The fight against the obliteration of the story could only be won at the cost of the obliteration of the audience.”

   The challenge of Algol is to face up to the unbearable and not sidestep. The gift it offers, or more accurately one strategy it suggests as a way of approaching the unbearable is creativity. Art becomes the reflective shield represented by Pegasus, the winged horse, which flies free once Medusa, the gorgon, is decapitated.

Not everyone has the capacity of Lifton or Laub for walking into the heart of darkness and not be destroyed by it. Having Algol emphasised in a chart gives almost superhuman strength – which can be turned to good use.

 Other thoughts:

Algol makes the wearer bold and magnanimous, preserves the body, protects against witchcraft, and turns evil and spells back upon those who work them. Rules diamond, black hellebore.

ADD ON: One stray thought is that astrology itself may be a mirror reflection allowing the ugliness of reality to be faced.

   Other non-astro background.

 Two things are true:

“Man lives by lying to himself about himself and about his world. * The individual  has to protect himself against the world, and he can do this only as any other animal would; by narrowing down the world, shutting off experience, developing an obliviousness to the terrors of the world and to his own anxieties…..* Ernest Becker.

AND

“All truths that are kept silent become poisonous”.  Nietzsche.

Elie Wiesel: “Without memory there is no ethics.”

  In the field of trauma which came together in the 1990s in response to the backlash against child abuse being acknowledged, there was knowledge-sharing between professionals who worked with war-induced PTSD; with Holocaust survivors and their children blighted by intergenerational trauma; and with child abuse survivors. Two notable facts emerged.

  Firstly in the immediate aftermath of conflict, war trauma is studied. But as time goes on, it fades into the background and the research disappears into the archives, to be forgotten until the next outbreak of hostilities. And it is not because former soldiers get cured. More the thought that extreme experiences can drive people mad appears to be too toxic to handle.

In related vein, one of the principal problems in the field of child abuse is the unwillingness/inability of the great mass of the general public to face head on the fact that children can be sexually or physically abused. Hence the scramble for denial scenarios – they lied, invented it, were brainwashed etc.  

“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” T.S. Elliot.

  Yet all the indications are that those who can face what actually happened/happens are much less likely to repeat old destructive patterns. Those who insist on erecting a Pollyannish smokescreen over the way things never were will do more damage in the long run.

  Not everyone has Algol’s strength and even those who do are aware there are limits. Burnout in the trauma field is an accepted fact – too much darkness can eat you.

  I never quite got to grips with Freud’s death instinct and life instinct theory – but he may have had a point.

 Years ago I spoke to a women who had worked for years with Rape Crisis in one of London’s tougher districts and she surprised me by saying she was giving up, clearly worn out. She said “All I want to do is go off and grow roses.”  No one seemed less likely to be a gardener than her and yet her instincts had it right. She need new life, regeneration, healthy growth not sucked into the black whirlpool.

  There are risks in facing the starker faces of reality but equally great risks in avoidance. We should be grateful to the Algolites who have the constitution to cope with what many can’t.

Actor Greg Wise has been revisiting the subject of death as he continues campaigning with Marie Curie Hospices for open discussions about end of life especially for men.  “This idea that men don’t grieve is rubbish. The problem is that guys are still brought up with the cultural tropes of, ‘Man up, don’t cry, stay strong.’ But without witnessing and accepting our own pain, we can’t have empathy – proper empathy. I don’t think we can see someone else’s suffering until we can see our own.”

He has more experience than most with his close friend Simon drowning when he was in his 20s, and he spent time with both of his parents in their final months. But the key experience for him was his sister Clare, who died in 2016 aged 51 from breast and bone cancer. For the final few months of her life when she refused to see anybody else, he became her sole carer, and moved into the flat so he could bathe her, reposition her and dose her up with strong opiates for the extreme pain she was suffering. Throughout her illness she kept a blog which he continued when she became too ill and that became the book Not That Kind Of Love. 

  What seems relevant is that his Sun conjunct North Node and Mars in Taurus is also conjunct Algol. Despite Algol’s malevolent reputation for destruction it has another purpose which is to force us to face suffering and horror and not brush it aside. Not surprisingly Dignitas, the Swiss clinic for assisted dying also has a Sun, Mars, Algol in Taurus and Ludwig Minelli who started Dignitas has his Chiron conjunct Algol.  Not that Greg Wise is pro-assisted dying but he is now fearless in tackling the subject of dying head on. (See Dignitas post 10 May 2023.}

  Although Marie Curie’s name is associated with hospices nowadays her career was as a physicist researching radioactivity. She was born 7 November 1867 10.36am Warsaw, Poland and she did have her Venus Saturn in Scorpio opposition Algol, so worked with destructive forces which could do good. Although too much exposure eventually killed her.

 The two most associated with death and dying are Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the Hospice movement, 22 June 1916. And Elizabeth Kubler Ross, a psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, author of best-selling On Death and Dying, about the five stages of grief – 8 July 1926 10.45 pm Zurich, Switzerland.

  Neither had Algol highlighted in their charts but they both had Sun conjunct Pluto in Cancer square Mars, giving them first hand experiences of the dark, destructive side of life which would provoke fundamental questions. Such a strong Pluto would give both a sense of the ultimate powerlessness which a realistic acceptance of mortality brings.

  Greg Wise has been married to actress/writer Emma Thompson, which seemed an unlikely match at the time but it works. Born 15 April 1959, London, she is a Sun Aries with a Cancer Moon and a talented Half Grand Sextile from a hard-edged Saturn opposition Mars sextile Pluto sextile Neptune. He more or less stays at home while she works constantly and often elsewhere. Their relationship chart does have an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction opposition Neptune and trine both Pluto and Jupiter as well as squaring Saturn.  A complicated mix but they fit together as a complementary pair.

In the world of high finance, fantasy reigns as Trump’s Truth Social, a poor cousin of Twitter and Facebook, which has apparently made a cumulative loss of at least $31.5 million since its inception on 21 February 2022, is due to be floated. It will net Trump a paper fortune of $3bn though he won’t be able to cash in his shares for six months (theoretically) though he could borrow against his stash. A financial analyst said  Truth Social “hasn’t really taken off”. At this point, it’s a meme stock. It’s really just a betting tool on the probability of Trump winning the election.”

  Another commentator tried to explain further: “Trump Media & Technology, the firm behind his minnow social network Truth Social, has spent years fighting to land on the stock market via a so-called “blank check” merger with a shell company.” [If anyone understands what that means I don’t want to know.]

  Truth Social has a Sun Jupiter conjunction in Pisces with Neptune also in visionary, slippery, illusionary Pisces. Plus a hard-headed, ultra-determined and ruthless Mars Venus Pluto conjunction in Capricorn.

  With tr Saturn opposition the Truth Social Jupiter at the moment and again throughout this November across the election dampening enthusiasm and confidence it does not look to be overly jubilant at the result.

  Trump does have one more stroke of good luck this year from mid March to early April with tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint but thereafter the fates may be less kind to him. In particular with tr Neptune heading into his 8^th house from April-ish onwards for many years which is not normally a supportive financial influence to put it mildly. Though it will amplify his finagling tendencies. The Lunar Eclipse on Monday hits his 2^nd house Neptune which also hints at financial foot shuffling and the Solar Eclipse will conjunct his Jupiter boosting his confidence (maybe over the top).

 Trumps’ relationship chart with Truth Social has an overly-optimistic, head-in-the-clouds composite Jupiter Neptune which tr Neptune is undermining from April onwards; with a hugely aggravated composite Saturn opposition Mars Pluto – not a happy alliance.

  Just for fun I had a skip round Star aspects, given that the Taurus North Node of Truth Social is exactly conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol.

  The Pisces Sun is conjunct Sadalmelik – often associated with lawyers and complicated lawsuits. Sometimes warns of sudden misfortune.

Jupiter in Pisces opposition Zosma is associated with selfishness, immorality and a tendency to calculatingly use other people.

Saturn opposition Merak associated with the love of command and domination.

Neptune opposition Denebola warns of misfortune and disasters.  Risk of loss of position or a fall from grace.

Pluto opposition Procyon – hasty and single-minded. Changeable and unpredictable, Procyon can take people to great heights and bring them crashing down.

Pluto conjunct Terebellium  – brings good fortune followed by regret or disgrace. Sometimes shows cunning and selfishness.

  We watch, we wait and pray the gods of decency are paying attention.

ADD ON: Devin Nunes, former Congressman and now CEO of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) was described by the LA  Times as “one of Trump’s most ardent and outlandish defenders in Congress” who “parroted the president’s conspiracy theories” and used his position “to try to undermine [the] investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.”  Trump awarded Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is highly litigious.

 Born 1 October 1973 7.07 am Tulare, California, he has a controlling, hard-edged Sun Pluto in Libra square Saturn in Cancer conjunct South Node. With a confident (and lucky) Jupiter in Aquarius trine his Sun Pluto and in an opportunistic square to his Mars in money-magnet, determined Taurus. He has a yod of Neptune Moon sextile Jupiter inconjunct Saturn – which has a tough reputation bringing karmic payback if Saturn’s strictures on maturity and self-discipline are not strictly adhered to – which generally don’t include shifty get-rich-quick-schemes. His Solar Arc Saturn will get elbowed through this June, late November to mid December and spring 2025 which will put his morals to the test.

  Not that his confidence will completely disappear since he will be on a roll through 2024/25 with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter and tr Jupiter moving through his 8^th bringing shoals of money in.

  However he will have a few gulps of panic through this April with tr Uranus square his Mars/Neptune and Saturn/Saturn midpoints = sudden disadvantages, crisis, restrictions. And tr Pluto will oppose his Mars/Uranus midpoint for violent interventions, a test of nerves, struggle for survival mid July to early September, after mid November to end of December 2024. Hmm maybe??  GOP convention not going his way or the election. He’ll stay bullish with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter through 2025. But tr Neptune starting to square his Capricorn North Node in 2025 followed in 2026 by tr Neptune and Saturn undermining his Saturn square Sun (Pluto) – and on till late decade will undermine his progress and then some.

 His relationship with Trump will be jangled mightily come July and is under discouraging pressure right through from this September to late November.

The hundred-headed hydra that is ISIS has apparently struck again with 133 dead in an attack on a Moscow concert. Some reports pointed a finger at Ukraine, others at a Putin false flag attack to bolster his position (which seems unlikely) while Isis-K, a regional affiliate of the Islamic State (Isis) wider movement has claimed credit. Based in Afghanistan and central Asia, it has become increasingly focused on Russia, which it sees as equivalent to the US in its “hatred” for Islam, after Russia’s 2015 intervention in Syria in support of the Assad regime.

  The original Isis chart, 15 October 2006, has a Sun, Mars, Venus in Libra with all three catching the April Solar Eclipse by conjunction. When Isis was supposedly crushed in March 2019 tr Pluto and tr Saturn were square those three Libra planets – so it looks a feasible chart. Tr Uranus will oppose the Jupiter for a stroke of luck through this April, though that will be followed by a high-tension disruptive tr Uranus square the Saturn late April to mid May.

 The relationship charts with Isis 2006 and both Russian country charts are starkly hostile. With Russia 1917 there is a ruthless, brutal composite Mars Pluto being triggered this year by tr Pluto in trine; and this year and next by tr Neptune and tr Saturn in opposition the Mars Pluto.  The relationship chart with Russia December 1991 is equally aggravated and destructive with a composite Saturn, Mars, Sun and it is moving through devastating confusion exactly now and on till late 2025.

 Isis-K was formally announced on 26 January 2015 on the revolutionary Uranus square Pluto.

 It is Russia’s worst terrorist outrage in 20 years and has been described as “the Kremlin’s worst nightmare: a jihadist attack originating from central Asia at the very time that it is focused on Ukraine. With Vladimir Putin having staked his legitimacy on his role as the tough defender of the Motherland, his inability to prevent such an attack inevitably weakens him.”  Isis-K was behind the bombing of the St Petersburg metro in 2017, which left 15 dead, as well as a string of smaller and often unsuccessful attacks. Most recently, it tried to launch an armed attack on a synagogue in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow this month, which was foiled by the Federal Security Service (FSB).

  What is significant is the Russia 8 November 1917 2.12 am Leningrad chart which has a 12^th house Mars at 2 degrees Virgo which is being opposed exactly at the moment (to within four minutes of a degree) by the Solar Arc Sun suggesting a shock/collision; with an even greater violent setback sometime in the next 10 months or slightly beyond from Solar Arc Saturn square the Mars. And more explosive, insecure-making disruptions in 2026/27 as tr Uranus in Gemini squares the Mars. Being 12^th house it could well point to action by subversive groups.

Add On:  Background on ISIS hostility to Russia

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/25/putin-russia-moscow-attack-isis-k-islamist-jihadi-ukraine/

Russian military campaigns in Syria, Dagestan and Chechnia and Wagner Group actions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger (as well as Mozambique and many other places) have positioned Russia as an enemy of these militant Islamists. 

The Russian war with the Islamists goes way back to the breakup of the Soviet Union, which sparked several civil wars across former Soviet republics including Tajikistan. The commander of the Tajikistan police special forces defected to ISIS in 2015.

  The intent is, as always, to goad the Russians into a disproportionate response against Muslims with the intent of further radicalising the sizable Russian Muslim minority – which will soon make up a third of Russia’s population.

Pressure is mounting on Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza with the USA for the first time  fielding a resolution at the UN. In the UK David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, has been sharply critical about aid into Gaza being blocked and there have been protests and blockades at UK arms factories which supply weaponry to Israel.

  A crucial problem is that both Netanyahu and Hamas seem to have an interest in prolonging the war. Netanyahu to protect his position and Hamas hopes continuing loss of life will erode international support for Israel. 

  Netanyahu, 21 October 1949 10.15am has his Libra Moon catching this April’s Solar Eclipse exactly which will test the foundations on which he has built his life and shake him to the core and bring his public image under scrutiny. Criticism is likely to be sustained. He’s running into a major calamity late April to mid May with tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint; but his greatest test will come from mid July to early September when tr Pluto is opposition his Mars/Uranus midpoint and tr Uranus squares his Mars in Leo.

   The chart for the Hamas attack, 7 October 2023 6.30am does show late April/early May as critical with a significant jolt. It may be stretching a point but it could be a deliberate disturbance aimed at ending the stalemate. Certainly the Progressed Moon hitting an exact square to Mars and then opposition the Pluto through April/May/June which hardly suggest a peaceful ceasefire.

   Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State,  is meeting with Netanyahu today, which seems unlikely to go well since tr Saturn is exactly square their composite Mars for a fractious mood. Blinken, 16 April 1962 2.56 am New York, is coming to prominence over this dispute which fits with his Aries Sun in the 10^th relocated to Israel – and notably his pro-active Mars is exactly on the Midheaven there.  His relationship with Netanyahu is gridlocked at the best of times and heading for a major disruption but not until July/August this year.

  David Cameron, recently hauled out of seclusion by Sunak,  is also coming into his own over the Israel/Gaza conflict as it puts his Jupiter conjunct the Midheaven there. His relationship with Netanyahu which is hostile at best is in the deep freeze now with tr Saturn opposition the composite Moon now and heading for a major blow out come August.

   And so it rolls on.

An inspirational life has ended at 78 as Paul Alexander, “the man in the iron lung”, who contracted polio when he was six, leaving him paralysed from the neck down, has died. He went on to earn a law degree, practice law, become a campaigner for disability rights and publish a memoir, written by tapping the letters on a keyboard with a pen glued to a stick clenched between his teeth. After years, he eventually learned to breathe by himself, having been promised a puppy if he did, so that he was able to leave the lung for short periods of time. Ventilators replaced the lung but he kept living in the cylinder because, he said, he was used to it.

  A polio vaccine developed in the 1950s saw a dramatic fall in cases – from around 350,000 worldwide in 1988 to just 30 confirmed cases in 2022.

  He was homeschooled and went out with friends who took him in his wheelchair to the local cinema and diner; eventually attended college and law school.

Later he formed a platonic, but essential, relationship with his caregiver Kathy Gaines. He said latterly: “I wanted to accomplish the things I was told I couldn’t accomplish and to achieve the dreams I dreamed. You can truly do anything. You just have to set your mind to it, and work hard.”

  Born 30 January 1946 in Dallas, Texas, no birth time, he did have a robust chart with an Air Grand Trine of a Sun Venus in Aquarius trine Uranus trine Neptune – custom built as a thinker and communicator. Formed into a talented and influential Kite by Sun Venus opposition Pluto, making determined Pluto the driving planet. He had a Capricorn Moon which may have opposed a tenacious Mars Saturn conjunction in Cancer. Ebertin describes Mars Saturn as – energetic people able to overcome the greatest difficulty.

  His get-it-together and build-a-life 5^th harmonic was strong, as was his victim/healer 12H, his breakthrough 13H, and strongest of all was his leaving-a-legacy 17H.

Wunderkind of the crypto currency universe Sam Bankman-Fried is about to be sentenced next week on what is described as a colossal fraud and could be facing a forty to fifty year jail stretch.

  This is just an astro-quickie with all details in previous post November 14 2022.

 What is intriguing is a collision of his Solar Arcs with his natal chart which invariably accompanies a major life crisis.  Born 6 March 1992 in California he is a visionary and inventive Sun Pisces trine Pluto, sextile Uranus Neptune; with a manipulative Venus square Pluto as well as a Mars Saturn conjunction in Aquarius widely square his Pluto. Controlling, influential, with an inventive streak as well as hard-edged and chillingly single minded.

  His Solar Arc Mars Saturn are now about to conjunct his Sun for a massive setback. With his Solar Arc Sun square his high-wire Uranus Neptune conjunction. And his Solar Arc Neptune Uranus approaching the square to his Pluto. A perfect astrological storm that does not augur well.

Solar Arcs colliding with major configurations in a chart are worth looking out for.

ADD ON: Accurate birth time/date from birth certificate now puts him as born on 5 March 1992 at 9.51am Stanford, CA.

  His Sun and Moon (not conjunct) are in his 11^th house with his Moon conjunct Mercury in Aries. His hard-edged, unsentimental Mars Saturn Venus conjunction are in his career 10^th – giving him a charming veneer covering over ruthless ambition. His Pluto in Scorpio was in his 6^th house nearly on the cusp of his 7^th trine his Sun and Moon, and sextile Uranus Neptune in Capricorn as well as square Venus, Mars, Saturn. That is some Pluto – if in the 6^th relentless about getting his own way at work. If in the 7^th would impose his will on others. Pluto Venus is manipulative. Pluto square Saturn Mars is cold-hearted and merciless.

 His Solar Arc Pluto has just moved into his 8^th house of joint finances to stay for the next 22 years. Tr Saturn is making him serious/discouraged about his long term plans as it heads to his 11^th and aiming to conjunct his Sun Moon for a prune-back of optimism and confidence; along with transiting Neptune in an undermining, confusing conjunction to his Moon,

Odd enough his Solar Arc Midheaven is exactly opposition his Jupiter which may have amplified his extremist tendencies. What seems more apt is his Progressed Mars  moving to conjunct his SA Midheaven over coming months which does suggest a collision of sorts. The Solar Arcs detailed above still hold even with a day’s difference since they cover a span of several years.   If his birth time is accurate, it is surprising that tr Pluto conjunct his Midheaven did not show up – which won’t come until 2027/28 which is usually the fall-from-grace influence. With worse to follow as tr Pluto then crosses his Mars, Saturn and Venus through into the next decade which will be punishing.

Leo Varadkar, who became a surprisingly progressive Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland, has announced his resignation. He was the first openly gay Irish leader, and the first of half-Indian heritage. He saw through a referendum overturning Ireland’s abortion ban, and helped steer the country out of the pandemic to a healthy budget surplus. On the downside he suffered a humiliating loss recently with a referendum on family life and leaves with a housing crisis, a divisive debate over immigration, and his party Fine Gael facing defeat in a general election with Sinn Fein in the ascendant.

 In Brexit negotiations, he won acclaim at home and resentment in London by mobilising the EU behind the border backstop that rebalanced Ireland’s historically subservient relationship with Britain. It paved Johnson’s path to Downing Street and the Northern Ireland protocol that appalled unionists by putting a trade border in the Irish Sea.

A commentator said:  ‘Varadkar’s critics felt he was essentially a political lightweight without deep convictions, driven by fashion and the urge to show Ireland as a determinedly progressive little country.’

  Born 18 January 1979 5.30am (from memory) Dublin, he has an ambitious Sun Mars conjunct in Capricorn trine a Virgo Moon and sextile Uranus – hard-working, money-minded, a reformer and with Pluto in his 10^th influential.

  It will have been an uphill struggle for him recently with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun Mars in 2022/23 and a major setback from SA Saturn square his Mars also in 2023. Plus he has tr Saturn moving through the middle of his 1^st quadrant, making him question whether he was doing what best suited his essential self. At the moment he has the approaching April Solar Eclipse opposition his 10^th house Pluto exactly which will have put pressure on him to change.

 His Solar Arc Sun is also exactly opposition his Saturn for a separation from the past. And his midlife crisis is in play with his tr Uranus opposition his natal Uranus, starting last year and with a final aspect exactly now. There is an urge to change over the midlife crisis with old unfulfilled ambitions becoming  urgent. At the same time he looks relieved and keen for a new start. His Progressed Moon and tr Uranus moving through his 6^th may also have given him pause for thought on the health front.

 His initial term as Taoiseach, 14 June 2017 3.30pm Dublin, also has the Solar Eclipse square the Pluto and Midheaven and opposition the Ascendant, for a wrench away from the past.

  He was a surprising political leader for a country still enmeshed in its religious past but his Sun Mars was conjunct the Ireland Moon and opposition Neptune so he would clear away some of the old confusion. His Uranus in the Ireland 4^th would create a minor domestic revolution and his Jupiter conjunct the Ireland South Node made for a partnership that moulded social trends.

 Whatever his political failings, he was an astonishing leader in troubled times. There is a great deal ahead for him on the career front whatever he chooses to do. At present he says he intends to stay in the Ireland parliament.

 His partner, another doctor, Matthew Barrett has preferred to stay low key. He possibly has the same birthday or thereabouts in 1987. If accurate that would make both Sun Capricorns, both have Venus in Sagittarius and both have a Virgo Moon.

  The first of this year’s eclipses comes next Monday with a Lunar Eclipse at 5 degrees Libra/Aries. Pluto will trine/sextile the Full Moon to provide a degree of get-it-together energy. Though Neptune widely conjunct the Sun opposition Moon may cast an air of dither and drift into proceedings. Jupiter Uranus conjunct will produce a dash of adventure and luck. It’s not a well-integrated chart so unless planets are on the axis it may not have much impact – Moon MC mid North America. Argumentative Mars MC Moscow, Saudi and Irag; and Pluto MC Germany.

  The Total Solar Eclipse on 8 April at 19 degrees Aries – the great American eclipse – has its path across the USA.   In addition to the lucky Jupiter Uranus there is a less cheerful Mars Saturn conjunction in Pisces which can be accident-prone or bring setbacks. Like the Lunar Eclipse it is not especially well integrated as a chart.  The New Moon/Midheaven line runs through the USA east and centre. The Mars Saturn Midheaven which is less helpful through the western USA. Jupiter Uranus through South America. Mars Saturn IC through Iran. Pluto IC through Germany.

  Bernadette Brady says of this Saros series that it is inventive, with flashes of genius, insights, good ideas, vivid dreams and an urge for freedom which may pull the individual away from relationships temporarily causing strain. Around before in 2006, 1988, 1970, 1952, 1934, 1916.

The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton. The eclipse will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NDT. For those lucky enough to be in the ‘path of totality’, daytime will turn into darkness for a short time.

  The 18 September 2024 Lunar Eclipse at 25 degrees Pisces/Virgo is conjunct Neptune and square Jupiter for a hint of over-optimism and delusion. There is an Earth Grand Trine of Uranus in Taurus trine Sun trine Pluto which is practical and good for crafting solid achievements. Except in this case it also forms a Kite with Sun opposition Neptune so there will be a degree of indecisiveness and confusion. As well as high hopes and enthusiasm.

The Solar Eclipse of 2 October 2024 at 10 degrees Libra has the New Moon in a hyper-active and argumentative square to Mars. And Jupiter square Neptune and Saturn so prone to mood swings, up and down.

 Bernadette Brady says of this Saros Series it is about separation and loss, to finish or complete a process. With sadness at the end or closure. Not good for strenuous physical activities. Around before 2006, 1988, 1970, 1952, 1934, 1916.  

 New Moon Midheaven through central USA. Pluto Midheaven Germany, Italy. Saturn MC Iran. Neptune MC Pakistan. Uranus MC Hong Kong and Philippines.  Jupiter Ascendant through Ukraine.

China’s grip on Hong Kong has tightened with a draconian new security law which has attracted international condemnation.

Officials say the law is essential for stability but opponents called it a “nail in the city’s coffin”. The new law allows for closed-door trials, gives the police rights to detain suspects for up to 16 days without charge and penalties including life sentences, among other things.

Hong Kong’s leader John Lee defended the law which was fast-tracked through its final phase on Tuesday saying the legislation would help the city “effectively prevent, suppress and punish espionage activities, conspiracies and traps from foreign intelligence agencies, and infiltration and sabotage by hostile forces”. Commentators fear the law could also be used to target HongKongers overseas, or their families and friends back home. The city has previously offered bounties for information on activists who fled overseas, and arrested four people in Hong Kong for supporting people abroad who “endanger national security”.

   The Hong Kong 1 July 1997 chart has had a ruinous tr Pluto conjunct the Neptune through 2023 till late this year, which extends on as tr Pluto opposes the 5^th house Venus this year and next putting a damper on self-expression and spontaneity. There is also a Solar Arc Uranus square the Pluto exactly now pointing to jarring changes and disruption. The second half of this decade does not offer much hope of positive change with tr Neptune Saturn in Aries impacting on the Capricorn Sun square Mars and tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus.

 The relationship chart between HK and China 1912 has similar astro-challenges with a hostile/trapped tr Pluto opposition Mars till late this year and conjunct the Uranus in 2025/26 and square the composite Saturn as well which looks discouraging and agitated.

 The present HK chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, a hardline former HK policeman, is under investigation by the EU as to  whether he should be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. His Term chart, 1 July 2022 10.20 am,  with a ruthless, domineering Mars square Pluto will undoubtedly follow Beijing’s party line. The mood last year and this has been punitive with some jolts and tensions erupting this June onwards.

   You can say what you like about the old empire and colonialism but in a toss up it was a million times better than this.