Month: July 2024

Saturn weighs heavily in two headline crime stories. Jeremy Bamber in prison for shooting five members of his family since 1985 could be freed after allegations of police malpractice. He says the incident was a murder-suicide carried out by his sister, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.  His girlfriend of the time said he had been planning the killings for more than a year. He has Sun, Saturn conjunct in Capricorn in his 8^th.

  The other is William Calley, the only US soldier convicted for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, a Sun Saturn in Gemini who has just died.

 Bamber, born 13 January 1961 2.09 pm London, had a packed, intense and deeply secretive 8^th house with Mercury, Sun, Saturn and Jupiter there. He also had a living-in-his-own-bubble Water Grand Trine of Mars in Cancer in his 1^st trine a charming 10^th house Venus in Pisces trine Neptune in Scorpio, formed into a Kite by Venus opposition Pluto North Node in his 4^th – making controlling Pluto the driving planet, magnifying his tendency to live in his own reality and be compelled to control his domestic and family environment. More so since his Venus opposition Pluto squared onto an excitable Sagittarius Moon.  He also had unsettled Uranus in his family 4^th inconjunct his Sun, Saturn, Mercury in Capricorn.

 When the shooting occurred his Solar Arc Neptune was conjunct his Moon, his SA Mars was just past the opposition to his 8th house Mercury and tr Pluto was trine his Mars – emotionally undermining, angry, aggravated for a shattering event, whether instigated by him or not.

Other family member details in Skyscript discussion. See https://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9644

William Calley, 8 Jun 1943 6.12pm Miami, Florida, became the public face and only scapegoat for a Vietnam War atrocity, in which American troops killed hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese men, women and children and gang raped some. Initially it was covered up and only after Seymour Hersh, the journalist exposed the details was a court martial held. Calley had an uninspiring background and became a junior officer with minimal vetting. His company sustained heavy losses in the early months of 1968, losing men to sniper fire, land mines and booby traps. Under orders to flush out Viet Cong, he and his men destroyed a village, searching for guerrillas and sympathizers. They shot and bayoneted women, children and elderly men. An Army investigation later concluded that 347 men, women and children had been killed. A Vietnamese estimate placed the death toll at 504.

 The WP writes: “Calley polarized Americans who variously deemed him a war criminal or a scapegoat, a mass murderer or an inexperienced officer made to take the fall for the actions of his superiors. Defenders argued that he had been forced into a brutal conflict with an often invisible enemy, then blamed for the horrors of the war.” He was convicted of murdering at least 22 noncombatants and sentenced to life at hard labor. His life sentence was reduced to 20 years, then 10 years. Ultimately he served three years, most of it under house arrest, and disappeared into obscurity thereafter.

  He was a Sun Saturn in Gemini on the cusp of the 8^th sextile North Node, Moon, Chiron in Leo. His Mars in pro-active Aries was in a can-be-ruthless trine to an intensely emotional Pluto Venus in Leo. His Neptune was in final degree Virgo. When the My Lai massacre occurred on 16 March 1968, tr Uranus was conjunct his Neptune and his SA Uranus square his Neptune – so his nerves would be shredded and his judgement awry.

  His Solar Arc Saturn was exactly square his Mars, triggering his ruthless streak, with tr Saturn just over the conjunction to his Mars – both of which point to a high-risk and volatile phase of his life. And notably tr Jupiter was conjunct his Midheaven and his SA Pluto sending his confidence and desire for power into overdrive.

  No great conclusions except that a strong Saturn is supposed to bring benefits in the latter stages of life which does not seem to have happened.

   Guilt always clings to Saturn – retribution for wrongs committed. There is a Saturnine rule about sticking to the straight and narrow since transgressions will be found out – Saturn ruling laws and ethics in society.

Sun Saturn suggests a father who dumps guilt on his son because of his own failings. So the son is hyper-sensitive to any suggestion of not coming up to expectations. And with an 8^th house Sun that is compounded by intergenerational pressures.

  Feeling guilty does not prove any wrong doing but it may be has a tendency to attract situations where accusations will be made, accurate or not. Which in both Bamber and Calley may have been compounded by having Chiron conjunct their respective Midheavens – which emphasizes their sense of failure in not coming up to parental expectations. Calley was swayed by his superiors which does not exonerate him but he may have been more suggestible than most. Bamber who knows?

NB. All militaries have had their shameful episodes- Brits in Kenya, India and elsewhere. The French in Algeria. Germany, Belgium etc etc.  But My Lai did, like Abu Ghraib, undermine  the American tendency to project a holier-than-though image.

Add On:  The My Lai massacre occurred on 16 March 1968 near Quang-Ngai, Vietnam, when tr Pluto was exactly square the USA Mars and tr Saturn in Aries was square the US Sun. A sobering moment.

 Hugh Clowers Thompson was an army aviator who went in with colleagues and stopped the massacre, rescuing some who were left alive, and was initially given a medal but then vilified when he blew the army cover up and tried to get the truth into the open. He was eventually recognized by Bill Clinton with the Soldier’s Medal in 1998. He suffered PTSD and alcoholism in later years.

  Born 15 April 1943 in Atlanta, Georgia, he was a Sun Aries square Jupiter in Cancer and sextile Mars in uncompromising Aquarius; with a Fixed T Square of Chiron, North Node, maybe Moon in Leo opposition Mars square Venus in Taurus. With a pulled together, influential Pluto on the focal point of a Neptune trine Uranus Saturn.  Very determined when he got going.

 When he stumbled into the My Lai massacre his Solar Arc Pluto was opposition his Mars, with tr Jupiter conjunct his SA Pluto giving him the courage to stand up to authorities.

  Captain Ernest Medina, 27 August 1936, whom Thompson saw shoot unarmed civilians, was eventually put on trial but cleared along with many others involved, leaving Calley the only one punished. Medina, a Sun Virgo, had a prominent Jupiter on the focal point of a T square and trine his Mars – he was unfairly lucky, where Calley with his strong Saturn became the fall guy.

Add On 2: The judge has lifted restriction on naming the Southport killer who is 17 year old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, born 7 August 2006, Cardiff Wales. He has extraordinarily enough – in the way of coincidences – an exact Sun Saturn conjunction opposition Neptune.

ADD ON 3: Yet another Sun Saturn conjunction is preoccupying the tabloids as a wealthy footballer’s former mistress and mother of two of his children has been criticised in court for treating him like an “open-ended chequebook”.

Lauryn Goodman, 18 January 1991, in court to claim money for her children is revealed after her daughter’s birth to have demanded a £33,000 lump sum to install air conditioning in her Sussex residence, a new car worth £70,000 every four years, and a £31,200 astroturf football pitch since she hoped her daughter could become a Lioness. The judge criticised her for not having a “good track record of telling the truth”.

  She shares a Sun Saturn in Capricorn conjunction with Jeremy Bamber though of a more recent vintage. Her Sun Saturn on Capricorn is trine a determined Mars in Taurus widely opposition Pluto.

  Richard Burton, the actor, husband of Liz Taylor, 10 November 1925, was another Sun Saturn in his case in Scorpio which was in a Water Grand Trine to Uranus and Pluto, formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Jupiter.

The wondrous Simone Biles has recovered from her wobbles at the Tokyo Olympics to triumph in Paris with an astonishing display of gymnastic prowess and grace. A commentator said, “What is gymnastics exactly? Performance art? Hard-edge competitive sport? At one point in her balance beam routine Biles did an insane triple backflip (repeat: on a thin, square bar) like a wheel rolling down an incline, one of those moments where she seems to turn the entire event into something else, movements that are strange, liquid, and basically unlike any other human on the planet.”

 This is her fifth gold medal and only the start of her “redemption tour” with more events to come in this Olympics.

  In 2021 she pulled out of several events in Tokyo three years ago with the ‘twisties’ – a disorientating mental block; and took two years out before returning last year with the Olympics in her sights.

 What is all the more extraordinary about this 4ft 8 inches athlete/dancer is her background.

 She was born 14 March 1997 6.02am Columbus, Ohio, with a drug and alcohol addicted mother whose four children went into care. Simone and one sibling were rescued by her grandparents, who despite their modest circumstances indulged her drive to succeed. The two other siblings were taken in by other relatives.

 She has a 1^st house Sun, Mercury, Venus and South Node in Pisces in her 1^st house opposition an assertive Mars in Virgo in her 7^th. She also has a talented Half Grand Sextile of Pluto opposition a 3^rd house Gemini Moon sextile/trine a self-reliant Saturn in Aries and an adventurous, risk-taking, lucky Jupiter Uranus in Aquarius. His Mars is in a publicity-attracting trine to a final degree Neptune in Capricorn.

  Pisces will give her grace and fluidity and with Mars added in a dash of zest. Her Half Grand Sextile is intense with Moon Pluto, gritty and persevering/used to tough conditions with Pluto trine Saturn,  with a positive-thinking-streak from Jupiter Uranus. It is worth noting that her Mars is retrograde and will stay that way for another 17 years by progression.

 When her mental block occurred at Tokyo  tr Neptune in Pisces was conjunct her Sun and worse tr Saturn in Aquarius was conjunct her upbeat Jupiter – both undermining the crucial elements of her success.

  A good news story.

 Her get-it-together 5^th harmonic shows immense ambition. Her ultra-determined 16^th harmonic is marked. Her global superstar 22^nd harmonic emphasises Jupiter and Uranus.  

Saturn and Neptune have been a pervasive and often conflicting influence over the past fifteen years plus with Pluto moving through Saturn-ruled Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces doubling up its reality-twisting tendencies. They will come together from mid 2025 in a conjunction in Aries which French astrologer Andre Barbault, envisaged as bringing about a ‘new world civilization’ taking off with a ‘new age of humanity’ – ‘a significant rise in the standard of living of the underprivileged, of a victory over misery won in an unprecedented solidarity.’

  Barbault’s soaring rhetoric focuses on the best of Saturn Neptune aided by being central to the Pluto in Aquarius Uranus in Gemini trine. “ We are faced with the possibility of a change such as to make it seem too weak the terms “change” or the same “upheaval” to define the breadth of what could transform the known world.”

  While I am not convinced that the promised land is approaching in quite such lyrical terms, it is true that the present hyper-anxiety and gloom will shift in 2025.

   Understanding the nature – pluses and minuses – of Saturn and Neptune, both in individual charts and out in the universe can be helpful. The below is a pull together of two old posts.

SATURN

  Saturn has had an undeservedly malefic reputation. Death, disaster, failure, depression, delays, lack of self-worth. All gloom, doom and misery.

  I’ve always been very grateful for my Saturn – it induces a strong work ethic, instils a sense of discipline over time, is practical, realistic and provides a backbone when the mush threatens to take over. Even better, where Saturn is marked in a chart, it gets easier the older you get. The negative side reigns over the first third of life; it mellows through the middle third; and the final third becomes everything that wasn’t there at the start – warmer, more supportive, consolidated.

  Saturn is essentially about structure in earthly terms. It plans, prepares, thinks long term to a feasible goal, then gets foundations laid, builds slowly and securely so its achievements stand the test of time. The end result of its endeavours is not necessarily aesthetic, since it isn’t concerned with cosmetic fripperies, but it is enduring.

  Ruling Capricorn, it has the same steady ambition, which is willing to forego instant gratification for long term goals. Like the symbolic mountain goat, it starts in the foothills and works its way up to the peak, along a winding path if necessary. 

 Saturn restricts, so oversees limits and boundaries which may not feel like fun but are essential, psychologically as well as practically, in life. Neptune dissolves boundaries, Pluto invades across them to grab all the territory, Uranus blows them up, but Saturn stands firm for order, delineation, marked borders. In action, it is like a gardener who prunes plants back, lopping off overgrown branches, to stimulate fresh growth and produce a more manageable shape.

Often called a money-grubbing scrooge, Saturn is concerned with material security and can be less than generous and open-hearted.  Again that’s down to its earthly nature and liking for boundaries. ‘Me and mine’ come first.

  Not that Saturn is a delight at close quarters in intimate relationships. It can be cold, putting up a defensive wall against any encroachment, tending to put things above feelings, and is better at ‘doing’ than ‘being’.

  The myth of Saturn eating his children depicted in a horrific Goya painting is apt, since it ties into his obsessions with time and mortality. Saturn was scared of being overthrown by his sons so he ate them at birth. Deep down he knows he is going to die and his children represent a future that he can never possess, since his is limited by his mortal span. He both loves and loathes the boundaries of his life, so he tries to over-ride them and stop time.

  Having Saturnine parents means facing two things – their envy and their ability to induce misplaced guilt on their child. The Saturnine father pushes and pushes his children to be a success, being excessively critical of any failures, making them feel they never achieve enough to satisfy him, so damaging the child’s self-esteem though it can helpfully induce a driving need to be a success. But deep down the father’s fear is that they might outdo him, become more successful and outlive him. It’s difficult to cope with since if the child grown to adult became stratospherically successful, the father would shrivel, feel worthless himself and be consumed with envy.  So it’s a no win situation, until the child/adult separates enough to understand it’s the father’s issue, not theirs.

The Saturnine mother on the other hand insinuates into the child a sense that they are responsible for her depression; and their role in life is to look after her and make her happy. She makes a bad, under-nurturing mother but expects her offspring to give her the caring she never gave them.

The mythological Saturn showed his other face at the autumn festivals of the harvest, when the agricultural bounty of the year was brought in and drunken celebrations ensued after the hard work was done. Earthly delights are also his preserve and his reign was seen as one of peace and plenty. Despite the devouring father, he’s associated with the flow of the seasons, especially winter when everything dies back to be reborn in spring.

  Capricorn as a sign is unfairly dubbed as the cold, materialistic workaholic, but in fact has a highly creative and (indulgent) side.  The old Capricorn symbol was half goat half fish. He operates in two realms – in the watery realm of ideas and visions and then makes them real on dry land. He is the stander on the threshold between the unconscious and the conscious; just as Capricorn stands on the cusp of the year that has past and the year that is about to come. He both mourns and celebrates.

   Successful people tend to operate in a Saturnine way. Maggie Thatcher’s career moved to the transits of Saturn – into the Cabinet when tr Saturn moved up across her Descendant into her third quadrant, became PM when tr Saturn moved across her midheaven. Then she ignored its hints in the latter years of her tenure as it moved into her lower-profile first quadrant, when she should have been winding down, but given her temperament couldn’t do it. She was summarily ejected when her Solar Arc Saturn was exactly square her focal point Sun. Saturn can raise to great heights through excessively hard work, but it is a hard taskmaster when lessons are not learned.

   Richard Nixon on the other hand was forced to resign facing impeachment charges when tr Saturn was moving through his 10^th (supposedly the peak). That was when Saturn’s iron rule ‘you reap what you sow’ came into play, and Nixon’s chickens came home to roost. The god of the harvest knows that only careful preparation at the right time, clearing the ground, sowing seeds, tending to the growing crops, sticking to the rules, will provide the cornucopia. If you don’t put in the sweat and planning and try to bend the rules, it brings retribution.

Neptune:  

  Neptune as befits its mysterious nature has had a confused image in astrology. Describing it as slippery and evasive, impractical and low energy, as well as fostering dreams and visions, kindness and compassion, the traditional write-ups miss vital characteristics both positive and negative. Top athletes who need exceptional physical endurance often have strong Neptune aspects to their Suns. Successful businessmen and explorers are often Pisces, which is ruled by Neptune. It can also be inhumanely cruel – viz. the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele was a Pisces Sun trine Neptune. John Gacy, who raped and killed at least 33 teenage boys, was a New Moon in Pisces opposition Neptune.

 In mythology Neptune ruled the watery oceans and waged war on Athena, who ruled the land. As an act of aggression he raped Medusa in Athena’s temple, in revenge for which she was banished to the far wilderness. Sacrifice and victimhood falls in Neptune’s realm. The sea can be cruel, certainly cold, changeable, is liable to brew up into monstrous storms, can chip away relentlessly at rocky coastlines until they collapse.

  Christianity according to Carl Jung was the iconic symbol for the two thousand year Age of Pisces, ruled by Neptune. Yet Christianity, despite its love and tolerance motif, has at its heart an image of gruesomely bloody torture and the acute physical suffering of a forsaken son.  Neptune has a dissolving action so physical dismemberment is part of his lexicon.

  Neptune rules religion, associated with endless examples of atrocities, from the Crusades, the Inquisition, the murderous Protestant versus Roman Catholic centuries, more recently Al Quada and fundamentalist Islam. Being obsessed by an all-encompassing Neptunian vision can obliterate everything that is human.

  Creativity, which is also one of Neptune’s talents, was born out of Medusa’s beheading when Pegasus, the winged horse, was set free. Again there is a paradox about Neptune – revelling in brutality of the bloodiest variety in order to set free the ideal. An eternal war between the physical world and the spirit. You can’t get one without the other.

  Merged with other planets Neptune can be a powerful force and not always for the good. Neptune Pluto is super-ambitious, scandal prone and megalomaniac. Neptune Uranus can be fanatical as well as inspired. Neptune Saturn is associated with epidemics, paranoia, mental instability as well as social reform. Neptune Jupiter rules high-finance, bankers and the like, as well as dodgy gurus. Dualistic to the end.

  Where Neptune can move mountains is in the minds and hands of a few who are capable of focusing so much determination and practical application on their vision they can make it real. Together with Saturn and backed up by an inspired Pluto trine Uranus, who knows?

  “Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.” T.E. Lawrence.

Thinkers and communicators, chameleons, shape-shifters, adept at adapting, Mutables crave variety and novelty. An overload in Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces tends to bring high nervous tension, quick thinking and hyper-alertness along with restlessness and a tendency to scatter attention in too many directions. Concentration may be lacking, indecision can a problem along with suggestibility, given Mutable’s tendency to bend in the prevailing breeze. Finding ways of calming the mind is crucial. A touch like Mercury on steroids.

  Mutable heavy charts were standard through several years in the 1960s with Uranus Pluto in Virgo and Saturn in Pisces with some like J.K.Rowling having Jupiter and North Node in Gemini plus Moon Venus and Mercury in Virgo as well.

 Charlie Sheen 3 September 1965, is of the same vintage with Sun Uranus Pluto in Virgo, Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Gemini opposition a Sagittarius Sun – he has been open about his struggles with substance abuse and erratic behaviour.

 Stephen Fry, 24 August 1957, was part of the Saturn in Sagittarius square Pluto in Virgo year with his Virgo Sun, Mars all tied together plus Mercury in Virgo. He has been open about his struggles with his mental health and in his Bi-polar documentary interviewed another sufferer Carrie Fisher, 21 October 1956, who also has Pluto in Virgo square Saturn in Sagittarius, plus Venus Jupiter in Virgo opposition Mars in Pisces.

  It is too simplistic to say that an overdose of Mutable leads to mental imbalance. Richard Dreyfuss, 29 October 1947, whom Fry also interviewed in his bi-polar doc has a staggeringly fixed chart with Mars Saturn Pluto in Leo and Sun, Mercury Venus in Scorpio with a Taurus Moon.

 But there is no doubt that Mutable is a nervy energy, constantly on mental alert and if the neurons go into overdrive and can’t be calmed down then it could lead to mental stress. Tennis player, Andy Murray, 15 May 1987, is a classic example of a high stress Mutable type with Moon, Saturn, Uranus in Sagittarius opposition Mars in Gemini and Mercury also in Gemini – luckily his Taurus Sun will help ground him.

 Writer Edna O’Brien, whose early novels so outraged her  native Ireland they were banned, moved ultimately from outcast to icon as her work was celebrated even in her homeland. She has died aged 93.

Her early novels focused on love and the lot of young women in an unforgiving world and her views on sex were much quoted. “The explorer in woman is as deep and as true as in man”, she once said. “Woman’s longing to stray is more persistent because man’s possibilities are so much wider. … Man is able to mollify his restlessness with other activities, hunting, shooting, fishing. With women it is all poured into the sexual aspect”. She wrote about freethinking, sensual young women who dare to break society’s conventions, to “craven” women who did not dare to make the leap and, later, she wrote about female victims of male violence in war time.

  She was born 15 December 1930 10.30pm (from memory) Tuam, Ireland with a drunk, violent father and overly religious mother, and as a baby was deemed too ugly to be seen. She moved from an unhappy childhood into a bad marriage from which she finally escaped to exile in England where she developed into a glamorous international literary star. But Ireland remained her touchstone – “a land of shame, a land of murder and a land of strange sacrificial women.”

 She had a 4^th house Sagittarius Sun giving her the urge to travel yet stay firmly rooted at the same time. A super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Cancer would help lift her out of the unhappiness of her childhood, as would three planets in inspirational Fire signs – Sun trine an 12^th house Mars in Leo trine an Aries North Node (and Uranus) in her 8^th house. Her rebellious Uranus was deeply buried yet powerful, squaring onto Jupiter opposition Saturn Mercury in Capricorn helping her to lob a hand grenade into repressive Irish attitudes to sexuality and the status of women. She was a trailblazer for the changes which came later.

  Her intensely determined Scorpio Moon in her communicative 3^rd house was sparsely aspected with only a sextile to Neptune on her Ascendant. Though it was square her Mars/Pluto midpoint, hinting at the damaging relationship with her mother.  Her Chiron in the 9^th is described by Melanie Rhinehart as ‘wounded by God’ and often appears where a religious upbringing had a lifelong effect. Neptune on the Ascendant can give a mesmerizing appearance which she certainly had in adult life.

 Her seductive and sensual Venus in Scorpio was square her Mars and trine her Jupiter Pluto so she more than made up for her austere childhood in romantic escapades and fun.

 Her global influencer 22^nd harmonic was strong, as was her writers 21^st and leaving-a-legacy 17^th. Her victim/healer 12^th harmonic hinted at finding an outlet through communication. Her get-it-together 5^th harmonic which builds a substantial life was the strongest. It can also indicate – always on-the-go, inventive, freedom-loving, fast-thinking – sometimes  sensationalistic, self-indulgent, “the player”.

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 Fixed signs dominated in July’s disruptions and with Pluto moving into Aquarius there will be a culture shift ahead from the restless, go-getting Pluto in Cardinal Capricorn years since 2008.

   Fixed energy can be enduring, steadfast, unchanging but also inordinately stubborn and inflexible. It was most notable in the case of Queen Elizabeth 11 with a Fixed T Square dominating her chart of Moon Neptune in Leo opposition Mars Jupiter in Aquarius square a Saturn Midheaven in Scorpio. Never was a chart better designed to plough the same (and often excruciatingly boring) furrow for decade after decade. Joe Biden also comes to mind with four planets in Scorpio with Mars square Pluto and a Taurus Moon,  good for the long haul but obdurate when it came to accepting that change is inevitable.

  An old astro-axiom comes to mind that in a hopeless situation, Cardinal will up-sticks and be off elsewhere to start again. Mutable will bend in the breeze and sigh regretfully as they adapt to new and unwanted circumstances. Fixed will dig in its heels and expects the world to change in their favour and won’t budge until it does. Although even they have to give in to reality at some point.

  On the extreme negative end of fixed, is wilfulness and possessiveness, the latter acting in emotional relationships and in the acquisition of material goods and money. ‘Bull-headed and absolute in demands’. Mars and Pluto are particularly awkward in Fixed signs.

 Recent examples in the news of the worst of the worst of Fixed energy include Gavin Plumb, 25 February 1987, who plotted the kidnap, rape, and grisly murder of tv presenter Holly Willoughby and targeted four other women and teenage girls. He was a Sun Pisces trine Pluto, sextile Neptune but his chart was dominated by Mars in Taurus opposition Pluto in Scorpio almost certainly square an Aquarius Moon.

Another is Hongchi Xiao, 5 February 1963, convicted of gross negligence manslaughter when a 71-year-old diabetic woman at his ‘slapping therapy’ workshop died, having been persuaded to come off insulin. He had assured that her condition could be healed by a method of self-healing which is said to expel ‘poisonous waste’ from the body through slapping and stretching. He is a Sun Saturn in Aquarius opposition Mars square Neptune – an overdose of Fixed, with a punitive streak from Mars Saturn and inclined to off-the-wall notions with a focal point Neptune. Tom Cruise born the previous year with a proliferation of Fixed signs, North Node, Venus and Uranus in Leo, Saturn in Aquarius, Neptune in Scorpio and Mars in late Taurus has some similarities – certainly enduring but holding  unorthodox beliefs.

 Another (minor) example which caught my eye is former tv presenter Jan Leeming, looking good at 82, but complaining she has had ‘such bad luck’ with men, having five failed marriages behind her. Lack of self-awareness – of being able to learn from life – also seems to be a negative Fixed characteristic. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. She is a Sun Capricorn, but has Venus in Aquarius opposition a Leo Moon square Saturn Uranus in Taurus, with Pluto in Leo square Mars in late Aries.

  In the hothouse atmosphere of family relationships an overdose of Fixed can cause problems. Tv presenter Nadia Sawalha, 18 November 1964, has a famously stormy relationship with her younger sister Nadia, 9 September 1968. Admittedly both were born in the tumultuous Uranus Pluto marked in their charts which would not help. But both have strong Fixed qualities about their charts. Nadia has a Scorpio Saturn and Neptune square Saturn in Aquarius; and Julia has Mars in Leo square Neptune in Scorpio. When stubborn meets stubborn head on, finding a compromise is not easy.

  The greatest strength of Fixed is also its greatest weakness. Bamboos bend in the breeze. Oak trees, which can’t bend, fall over if the wind is strong enough.

This is a bit of a stretch (above) but I am feeling satiated with US political shenanigans and with the endless repetition of the world’s woes – Gaza, on and on and on, financial cliff edges, climate change/net zero.

  Though come to think of it Israel has the Fixed chart to end all Fixed charts with an 8^th house Taurus Sun and Mars plus Saturn Pluto in Leo in the 10^th.  As admittedly has the UK but maybe two world wars and loss of empire finally let in some daylight.

Making Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030 is the new UK Labour Government’s impressive mission put into the hands of Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Great British Energy (GBE) is being set up, to be headquartered in Scotland and the founding statement was unveiled on 25 July 2024.

  GBE has a tied-together Half Grand Sextile of Sun opposition Pluto sextile Mars in Gemini sextile Neptune in final degree Pisces (and Scheat). Ambitious but an uphill battle which given Miliband’s lacklustre previous track record is worrisome.

  Born 24 December 1969 (2pm?) London, he has a Capricorn Sun square Uranus in Libra and Pluto in late Virgo – keen on leading edge technology certainly. He has an up-and-down Jupiter in Scorpio opposition Saturn in Taurus which won’t give him great judgement; and neither will his impulsive, scattergun Mars in Pisces inconjunct Uranus. Now that I look he has a yod of Mars sextile Sun inconjunct Uranus – that could make him an agent for enlightened change or a fringe activist who flies ahead regardless on his pet crusade. He has a last degree Neptune in Scorpio.

 Oddly enough despite his elevation he has an aggravated Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Saturn this year which usually accompanies setbacks – and he has tr Pluto leaning on his unstable Jupiter opposition Saturn this year and next so will be on highs and lows. But his real test is 2026/27 which is when Keir Starmer’s chart is showing maximum stress. In Miliband’s case he has tr Uranus in an insecure square to his Mars alongside tr Neptune and tr Saturn square his Sun. His relationship chart with Starmer is sagging in 2025 and catastrophically bad through 2026/27.

  Juergen Maier, 12 January 1964, a former Siemens UK chief executive, is to spearhead Great British Energy. He has an ambitious Sun Mars in Capricorn, with his Mars road-blocked by a tr Pluto conjunction till this December. But again it is 2026/27 which look devastating for him with SA Pluto conjunct his Neptune and SA Neptune conjunct his Sun.

 Of the other Labour Cabinet members: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is struggling through this year with her final degree Pisces Sun sagging under Neptune; and again her 2026 with the exception of one ray of sunshine is noticeably panicky.

 Health Secretary Wes Streeting is likewise penned down by negative events in 2026/27, though admittedly he has an impossible job.

  I wonder what the future brings? The poisoned chalice of a decade plus of Tory rule with no money in the kitty, nothing working as it should plus outside events, do seem to be taking their toll.

John Mayall known as the godfather of British blues has died. His influential band the Bluesbreakers was a springboard for stars including Eric Clapton, as well as bassist John McVie and the drummer Mick Fleetwood, on their way to found Fleetwood Mac. He remained a “musician’s musician” for most of his career, eclipsed in name recognition by artists who had graduated from his famed blues academy.

 The years of the mid-1960s, he said, “were a special period in British music history” – the foundation of all today’s rock. “Our source was all the American black music that Americans weren’t listening to,” he said. “People mention Eric Clapton, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Animals, the Rolling Stones: all these people came out of a small time period – four years. We were all so dedicated to where this music came from and the injustice of the fact that the blues was not appreciated in America. We were damned if we were going to let it go on being unnoticed.”

 He was born 29 November 1933 7.30am Macclesfield, England, with a father who played the guitar in pubs. After army service in Korea and four years at Art college in Manchester he formed his first band and worked as a graphic designer.

  He had an extraordinary chart with a restless and bubbling-with-initiative Cardinal Grand Cross of Uranus in his performing 5^th (often found with rock musicians) opposition Jupiter square Pluto opposition Venus. Not short of confidence, drive – and charm. He also had an Earth Grand Trine of a Taurus Moon also in his performing 5^th trine Mars in Capricorn trine Neptune; with creative, musical Neptune square his 1^st house Sagittarius Sun. He was certainly a go-getter, and well grounded.

 His two marriages ended in divorce and he is survived by six children, Gaz, Jason, Red, Ben, Zak and Samson, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

 His creative 5^th and 7^th harmonics were strong not surprisingly, as was his giving-pleasure 9H; and his global influencer 22H.

Panic is in the air everywhere and economic journalists tend to see catastrophes beyond every bend in the road. But there are worrying indicators beginning to flash red. One is government debt which is massively up everywhere. Biden probably spent more even than Trump. In the UK, newly-arrived Starmer is discovering there is no wiggle room for spending on welfare improvement since the cupboards are bare with public debt already over stretched. France is heading for a knuckle-rapping from Brussels for the scale of its overspend.

  There is evidently another worry which to economic illiterates (like me) sounds like the pre 2008 financial leveraged jiggery pokery.

 Trying to simplify (what I don’t entirely understand) is the insertion of private equity into  –  everywhere – family homes to supermarkets and cosmetics companies — even hospitals. Think about veterinarians being bought over by finance companies. Think about the Royal Mail being bought on debt.

An analyst cautioned in April there were “natural questions about the risks of these financing arrangements, and the growth in kinds and quantity of leverage, or ‘leverage on leverage’, throughout the ecosystem”. The debt that ties private equity in with the banks, insurance companies and other groups means that any stress in the industry could ripple across the wider financial system. “The opacity, complexity, and interconnectedness of the sector have made assessing its developments difficult.” “There should not be a pocket of the market that touches on so much of the economy in such a sizeable way.”

  The US Federal Reserve Bank, 16 November 1914, is under severe pressure and panic as tr Saturn Neptune move into Aries from May 2025 onwards to square the Saturn Pluto in Cancer; with a further layer of panic in 2026 with Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the Fed Res Sun and tr Uranus in an insecure square to the Mars.

 The Bank of China, 1 December 1948, is also heading for 2026 as a crisis time, building up from this year onwards as tr Neptune squares the Uranus and peaking when tr Saturn Neptune square the Mars Jupiter at the same time as a tr Uranus square the Pluto in 2026 as well.

 Bank of Australia is in serious trouble in 2025/26. Bank of Canada ditto in 2026/27. Bank of Switzerland is into calamity zone by and through 2025. France hits high stress from mid 2025, worsening through into 2027/28.

 The European Central Bank, depending on whether the original 1973 chart or the later 1 January 1999, or even 1 June 1998, is showing extreme stress from mid 2025 right through for several years.

  All of the central banks will be coping with additional turbulence as they face the csonequences of having borrowed too much when the going was cheap.

  The huge private equity firms which are behind much of the other worry are tricky to pin down astrologically since they often start as private firms without dates and then sell multiple times over the years.

 But the Carlyle Group launched on Nasdaq on 3 May 2012 will not respond favourably to Uranus moving into Gemini from mid 2025 and will be more stressed in 2026 and by 2027 is looking blocked and deprived.

Blackstone, 1 October 1985, is heading for the buffers in 2025 as its Solar Arc Pluto squares its Mars, which if accurate will grind it to  a halt. Followed by hugely disruptive 2026 as SA Pluto is conjunct the Uranus.

 Dyal Capital which merged into Blue Owl, 19 May 2001, is feeling a chill wind at the moment with tr Neptune square the Mars; with major jolts and upsets in 2026/27.

 Whether it is political leaders or greedy financiers leading the way, the end result never seems to be helpful.

See previous posts: Banks at Risk 17 March 2023; Debt levels 26 October 2023.