Stephen Colbert, the US comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host, best known recently for The Late Show has been retired by CBS network. They say despite its success the show lost heavily financially. There was speculation that it was tied to a settlement agreement which gave Donald Trump $16 million over a lawsuit with the CBS network parent Paramount Global, then involved in a merger that required approval. “Bribe” was the description bandied about.
Stephen Colbert, born 13 May 1964, no birth time, Washington, DC is an enduring Sun Taurus in a creative opposition to Neptune; with a talented Half Grand Sextile from Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto, sextile/trine Venus North Node in Cancer and a high vitality Mercury, Mars, Jupiter conjunction in Taurus. He does look rattled this year with tr Uranus square his Saturn and then Uranus this July to end of November and again in 2027. Plus tr Pluto square his Mars this year which could be trapped and infuriating but since his Jupiter is close by it may spur him on to make more waves. Though he will also face setbacks in late 2027 from Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mars.
What is less important than his personal chart – since television is a rough business and careers come and go – is his relationship to the USA given the Trump Administration’s war on the media and indeed corrupt judicial tactics of late – which presenters like Colbert would have pointed up.
He shares Venus at 2 degrees Cancer with the USA 1776 chart with his North Node exactly conjunct. Venus in one of its meanings produces a desire for fairness and social justice. His relationship chart with the USA is highly strung and combative but very locked together in a ‘fated’ yod of Uranus sextile Mars inconjunct Saturn, hinting that there is a necessary connection which will not be easily broken.
Oddly enough or maybe not his Taurus Sun is exactly conjunct the 1st house Uranus on the 2025 Inauguration chart which latter can point to a lawless streak. One of the less edifying sides of Uranus.
Without a birth time it is difficult to assess whither in terms of Colbert’s career but with his temperament it is unlikely he will fade out of sight.
Enduring star Kylie, initially written off as a two-dimensional “singing budgie” is still going strong with 80 million records sold and is now subject of a Netflix documentary.
Her projected image of bright and eternally cheerful, described by Nick Cave as “the definition of joy”, made her seem shallow. But like many Geminians she had a darker side to balance the light, as she partnered professionally with Cave, rock’s Prince of Darkness, and fell for the tragic Michael Hutchence, INXS lead singer. Her “refreshingly raw” documentary also reveals her two bouts of cancer which prevented her having children as well as the misery she endured in a decade of misogyny in the 1990s.
Born 28 May 1968 11am Melbourne, Australia, she became known in the TV series Neighbours before moving into music.
She has a social-butterfly Sun Venus conjunction in Gemini backed up by an energetic Mars Moon also in Gemini square Pluto (Uranus) in Virgo. A self-reliant Saturn in Aries is in a helpful trine to Jupiter in Leo and on the apex of a yod inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune. Such a Saturnine yod brings its problems and demands discipline and maturity to work well.
Michael Hutchence seemed an odd choice although his Aquarius Sun did fall in Kylie’s 7th house of partnership. And his North Node was conjunct Kylie’s Uranus so he clearly appealed to her rebellious side. But his Saturn Mars in Capricorn trine Pluto, sextile Moon Neptune in Scorpio would make him a walk on the wild side. He eventually moved onto Paula Yates who subsequently died of an accidental heroin overdose and he died by suicide.
Kylie talks of a connection to him which she has never found again. Their relationship chart had a fated yod of Jupiter sextile Moon inconjunct Mars which may explain why it felt so ‘meant’ though their liaison did not survive for long.
Kylie’s career has had its highs and lows, which may be hinted at with Procyon on her Cancer Ascendant which can accompany rise and fall – as does her 10th harmonic which is marked. But her Saturn in Aries has a dogged tenacity especially falling close to her independent-minded North Node in Aries helping her to survive the troughs to rise again.
At 93 Joan Collins was the belle of the ball at the Cannes Film Festival, strutting her stuff in an eye-catching white ballgown. Still working, she is promoting her latest film opposite Isabella Rossellini, in the upcoming biographical film, The Bitter End. She plays Wallis Simpson in the latter days of her life after the Duke of Windsor died when she fell into the clutches of lawyer Suzanne Blum.
Joan Collins, born 23 May 1933 3am (?) London, with a dance teacher mother and talent agent father, has a sociable, light-hearted Sun Venus in Gemini square an upbeat and showbizzy Neptune, Mars, Jupiter in her 6th. She has an indulgent and hard-working Moon Mercury in Taurus square Saturn; and the generational unsettled and disruptive Uranus in Aries square Pluto.
She has performed throughout a long career starting at 17, with Dynasty being her most notable part and more recently The Royals.
Collins has been married five times, has three children and four grandchildren. She has been married to her fifth husband Percy Gibson, who is 32 years her junior, since 17 February 2002.
She is a good match for Wallis Simpson, 19 June 1898 10.30pm Blue Ridge, PA, who was also a social butterfly Sun Venus in Gemini. Though she in addition had Pluto, Mercury, Neptune also in Gemini – more controlling domestically and quite fey as with most of that Neptune Pluto generation.
When Wallis fell under the control of the malevolent control of the lawyer Suzanne Blum after the Duke’s death, she was frail and eventually succumbed to dementia, living her final years as a recluse. Blum assumed power of attorney, sold her possessions and exploited her. Royal biographer Hugo Vickers called Blum a “Satanic figure … wearing the mantle of good intention to disguise her inner malevolence”.
Blum, 24 November 1898 Niort France, had a stellium in Sagittarius with Sun, Uranus, Saturn, Venus and Mercury sitting in Wallis Simpson’s 10th house and opposing WS’s Pluto, Mercury, Neptune, Sun in Gemini. Wallis Simpson came full circle back to a childhood where she felt restricted and disempowered. Their relationship chart had a horrific Sun Venus Jupiter opposition Mercury square Mars Pluto Neptune. Venus Jupiter for sugary sweetness on the surface and Mars Pluto Neptune for terrifying domination.
Saturn Neptune conjunctions come round three times every century and have a past association with epidemics, some more damaging than others. Anxiety about hantavirus on board a cruise ship and now ebola in the Congo spreading to Uganda is causing unease with the Saturn Neptune conjunction having moved from Pisces into Aries, still in orb.
Not all Saturn Neptune conjunctions coincide with outbreaks of illness and the recent covid epidemic occurred with Saturn conjunct Pluto not Neptune. But on odd occasions through the ages it has been devastating.
Spanish flu after World War 1 killed off, on rough estimates, anywhere between 1 and 6 per cent of the global population – perhaps 25 to 50 million people. It was exacerbated and spread by troop movements at the end of the war and killed more in 24 weeks than HIV/AIDS did in 24 years.
In contrast the early 1950s Saturn Neptune conjunction coincided with one minor flu outbreak and was more notable for the setting up of The Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) by WHO to monitor the evolution of influenza viruses.
Below from my Astrological History of the World.
Saturn Neptune: Health and medicine
The dual face of Saturn–Neptune in providing practical care for the suffering and in the insidious undermining of the body’s health both find a place in world history. An epidemic of St Vitus Dance (chorea) broke out in Europe in 1021 when Saturn and Neptune were together in Aquarius; the disease causes involuntary jerky movements and leads to brain deterioration, and was so called because victims prayed to St Vitus, the patron saint of dance.
The plague that devastated Europe and Asia during the 1340s was marked by the Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Aquarius of 1344, and the Uranus–Pluto conjunction at the same time. The outbreak of bubonic plague in London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London a year later both took place when Saturn and Neptune were together in Capricorn.
By the Saturn Neptune conjunction of the late 1980s in Capricorn, the AIDS virus was running amok, causing countless deaths in Africa, Europe and the United States.
Medical advances are also highlighted under Saturn–Neptune, with the physicians’ meeting place in Rome, the Schola Medicorum, being set up in ad 17 in Sagittarius; in 1739 in Cancer, the London Foundling Hospital was established; and by 1881 in Taurus, Louis Pasteur had discovered the anthrax vaccine.
Magpies were a common sight in my childhood garden hopping round the lawn and were never given a second thought. Only in my twenties did a superstitious friend start to make me wary. One day the unusual sight of a magpie sitting on the back of a sheep (like a tick bird on a rhino) was followed by news of the death of a pet sheep I had hand-reared. Thereafter I became alert to sightings.
Riding exercise on a friend’s horse one morning I caught sight of a magpie sitting on a tree above the track looking directly at me and later passed a dead cow carcass on the road (not unusual in faming country since they are left out to be uplifted.) The horse a couple of days later fell on the road with its owner riding, caught cattle gangrene from its injuries and died. The vet said he hadn’t seen a horse with that in thirty years. That focussed my interest on a parallel universe.
Not that magpies are always unlucky though in years following, a magpie flying across the road usually meant delays or accidents ahead.
The old magpie rhyme – one for sorrow, two for joy, five for silver, six for gold – flitted through my head when I was selling my first flat. On Hampstead Heath as I was dog walking, a congregation (mischief) of magpies was gathered, all six of them. Hmm, I thought and hey presto the sale went through at a much better price than expected. Gold indeed.
On the good news front as well, my first ever sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker, a sparkling red, white and black dandy, coincided the same day an exceptional career opportunity came in.
Having become focused on bird meanings I drooped when I saw Green Finches (= illness), beamed with enthusiasm when I saw Herons (= new beginnings) and Hawks (= fly highest so blessings from above, except if you are a rabbit of course).
Three trips to St Kilda one year, the furthest north-west of Scotland’s islands, next stop North America, would have defeated even Asbolus. Tens of thousands of gannets, fulmars, guillemots, kittiwakes and puffins did not stir up any messages from beyond though I did wonder about the meaning behind being attacked by an enormous Great Skua (known as pirates of the sea) as I crossed its breeding ground.
Back on the mainland, I embarked on a new relationship. The first Scilly Isles holiday together was blighted by the devastation from a recent storm of hurricane proportions. The second in France was littered with roadkill (I joke not). The roads were awash with squashed badgers, foxes, hedgehogs and rabbits. Passing a pond whereon swam a white swan and a black one I decided that was it – an incompatible if not downright unlucky association.
Retreating to an alternative healing spa in Big Sur, California to recover my balance, Pelicans were a welcoming sight on the way down. Known as Spirit Animals they represent overcoming heavy emotional burdens. Which about covered that.
In recent years there have not been many ornithological incidents of note apart from a wonderful velvet brown eagle which flew low across in front of my car the day I bought a house in the South of France.
Though there was one meaningful happening from nature. A friend dying of cancer wanted to chase a magnificent, luminous double rainbow up in the mountains so she could see both ends disappearing into the earth. I drove her up and it was a breathtaking sight. She died soon after. It came to mind a year or so later when I caught sight of another double rainbow. News of the death of a Hawaiian friend was delivered shortly after. His wife later told me in their culture the rainbow bridge was the journey to a happier life on the other side.
At present I have an office window which looks out onto bird feeders and a garden with a gaggle of magpies, crows, jays, myriad small birds and the occasional red kite flying over. And the odd roe deer ambling around. Nothing untoward or other worldly.
Sceptics will point to coincidence or even hallucinations in the above stories. But most people if they are honest will admit to happenings in their lives which they could not explain but seemed deeply meaningful.
In a way I don’t care what the explanation is beyond accepting that the world is an odder place than science would have us believe.
“Science is still only a candle glimmering in a great pitch-dark cavern.” Mario Vargas Llosa
“Theory is all very well, but it doesn’t prevent things from existing.” Freud
“The rise of modern science has brought with it increasing acceptance among intellectual elites of a picture of reality that conflicts sharply both with everyday human experience and with beliefs widely shared among the world’s great cultures.” Edward F Kelly: Beyond Physicalism.
“Each science has a sort of attic into which things are almost automatically pushed that cannot be used at the moment, that do not quite fit …We are constantly putting aside, unused, a wealth of valuable material [which leads to] blocking of scientific progress.” Kohler:
Asbolus in Greek mythology was a seer who could read omens and portents in the flights and calls of birds. He is said to have led a stampede of centaurs which caused the death of Pholus, and the fatal wounding of the immortal Chiron as Hercules defended himself by firing off poisoned arrows.
The minor planet which bears its name, orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune, was discovered on 5 April 1995.
Asbolus, Divination and Alternative Realities is the latest in a fascinating series of books by Ben Belinsky, on the astrological influence of the centaurs in which he lays out lucidly the meaning of their mythological narratives.
“In Chiron’s case it is – wounding and healing. Nessus – violation and betrayal. Pholus – the ecstasy of intoxication and helps deprogram from abusive cults. Chariklo – from unbearable situations to eventual transcendence.” Asbolus – augury and divination, the world of alternative realities and probabilities.
In the first third of the book the author, a practising astrologer with a Jungian background and a degree in Comparative Religion, explores theories of divination. How the ability to forecast ahead can be related to findings in quantum mechanics where reality is seen as a wave of probabilities; and to our experience of time and timelines.
I would have to confess I gave up a long time ago trying to fathom out the whys of divination whether astrological, or psychic or sensing a parallel between natural sightings and future events. But there is a good deal of reassuring backup about a notion of multiple probable realities from quantum mechanics which makes sense of the underpinnings of astrology. Asbolus, the seer, has ‘a particular state of consciousness that can read symbolic realities. And how that symbol will manifest in physical reality.’
Seers in the traditional sense do not figure in the impressive array of chart examples in the book from the worlds of:
Science fiction – Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mary Woolstonecraft Shelley, Ursula Le Guin, Jorge Luis Borges, Douglas Adams, William Burroughs.
Creative writers and composers – Richard Strauss, T.S. Eliot, Erik Satie, Salvador Dali, Stravinsky, Frida Kahlo.
Film – Alfred Hitchcock, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan.
Philosophy – Marquis de Sade, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Foucault.
Quantum Physics – Max Planck, Einstein, Schrodinger, Heisenberg.
Chess – Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Karpov.
Asbolus appears to lend an ability to think symbolically, to imagine different realities.
This e-book is a thought-provoking dip into a complex new character in the astrological lexicon. The heightened intuition that Asbolus gives may well be a factor behind the illustrious creative names above who changed the culture in different ways by plugging into the zeitgeist to predict what would catch the public interest. And to the physicists, chess players and philosophers who successfully juggled with uncertainty and multiple possibilities to sense the underlying pattern.
I must confess to a slight sense of disappointment since although I am not psychic there were periods in my life when bird sightings did appear to coincide with outer happenings . Asbolus is not prominent in my chart apart from being in my 9th house of communication. Though on the Solar Arc Directions for this year, Asbolus does conjunct my Sun and it appears notably in my 21st writer’s Harmonic. And at its discovery was sitting on my Ascendant – but that is all a stretch. Next post for fun I will run through past bird sightings and related/synchronous events.
Available on Amazon or from Ben’s website – https://moonletter.co.uk/e-books/#asbolus
Middlemarch by George Eliot has been voted the best novel of all time in a Guardian poll of writers, academics and critics. A 900-page portrait of 19th-century provincial life it is not embraced with the same enthusiasm as Austen, Bronte or Dickens but Virgina Woolf declared it “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people”; and Martin Amis called it “a novel without weaknesses”.
Unlike Austen it does not lead up the golden staircase to an enchanted marriage, indeed it focuses on two unhappy ones. Dorothea, an intellectual 19 year old, a passionate reformer, hitches herself to a dull and wizened scholarly clergyman only to fall in love with a young writer. An equally idealistic young doctor is seduced into marriage by a frivolous, spendthrift wife and sees his research dreams crumble. Plus myriad other sub-plots. It was published in instalments in 1871 and 1872.
A reviewer said: “ This is a novel about what it means to be good. It is a celebration of the quiet heroism of unremarkable lives, all those who “rest in unvisited tombs” as the melancholy last line has it.”
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans, 22 November 1819 5am Nuneaton, England, was not considered attractive as a child and therefore unlikely to marry so was better educated than most girls; latterly she soaked in classical literature in the library of the grand house where her father was estate manager. She wrote under a masculine pseudonym to escape the taint of ‘silly women’ novelists and to avoid focus on her unconventional (in Victorian times) open relationship with a married man.
As an adult she mixed in London in literary and social reformist circles being anti-orthodox religion and keenly aware of the split between the haves and the have-nots. In her late thirties she started to write popular fiction as opposed to philosophical and political essays and became a favourite of Queen Victoria’s despite her scandalous reputation.
She had an intense Scorpio Sun trine a formidably strong and determined if bleak Saturn Pluto, Chiron, Scheat conjunction in Pisces in her creative 5th house. Her Mercury in Sagittarius was conjunct an inventive and highly strung Uranus Neptune also in Sagittarius all three square Saturn Pluto so she must have had bouts of melancholy. What would keep her optimism afloat was a lively opinionated Mars in Leo in her communication/publishing 9th house opposition Jupiter in humanitarian Aquarius, and trine Venus in Sagittarius. She also had an inspirational Fire Grand Trine of Mars trine Venus trine an independent-minded Aries North Node.
Her Sun/Moon midpoint was conjunct Neptune and square Saturn Pluto Chiron Scheat so she was hardly designed for a conventional marriage. Latterly after her long time partner died, she did marry a man 21 years younger than himself, who attempted suicide on their honeymoon and she died some months later from kidney disease.
Middlemarch, her second last novel came out in the first instalment on 1 December 1871 when tr Uranus Jupiter were moving through her 9th house of publishing; and oddly tr Pluto was exactly conjunct her Solar Arc Pluto and square her Solar Arc Neptune Uranus. Despite being inordinately difficult, her Pluto Saturn Chiron Scheat square Neptune Uranus must have been what made her great and enduring.
Her Harmonic charts are notable with marked creative 5th and 7th and humanitarian 9th harmonics; as well as the masterly 11H, writers 21H and world-wide reputation 22H.
Kevin Warsh has been confirmed by the US Senate as chair of the Federal Reserve, one of the most powerful roles in the federal government that holds enormous sway over the economy.
At a 54-45 Senate vote it was most divisive confirmation vote for the position in history. He will officially step into the role on 14 May, when the term of outgoing Fed chair, Jerome Powell ends, taking over as the central bank faces immense pressure from the Trump administration to lower rates, even as inflation climbs and war in the Middle East continues. Analysts say he faces “a hellishly difficult task” to protect the independence of the Bank from political pressure.
Born 13 April 1970 in New York, he has a determined though stressed Sun Aries inconjunct Pluto which in turn is trine a redoubtable Mars in Taurus. He also has an up-and-down Jupiter in Scorpio opposition Saturn in Taurus with Mercury Venus also in Taurus. Plus an edgy Uranus inconjunct Saturn. A Taurus stellium will suit him for a financial career and he’ll certainly be stubborn. But he’ll find problems settling into a steady direction with two central inconjuncts.
He is an odd playmate for Trump since KW’s Pluto squares DT’s Sun and Moon so he may resist some of the pressure; KW’s Uranus is conjunct DT’s Neptune and square his Mercury for miscommunications; KW’s Saturn squares DT’s Pluto for cooperation on major issues but also given to obduracy on both sides; and KW’s Mars squares DT’s Mars and sits on DT’s Midheaven which could help him progress Trump’s ambitions but it could just as easily turn competitive.
Their relationship chart has an unstable composite Sun inconjunct an enthusiastic Jupiter and is showing signs of disturbance through early this June and again mid December to spring 2027 as tr Uranus squares the composite Pluto. Plus a phase of panicky confusion August to late December this year with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune.
The US Federal Reserve chart, 16 November 1914 9am Washington, DC, is in a worrisome droop at the moment with the SA Neptune exactly conjunct the Sun; with jolting shocks and insecurity mid June to early July and again late this year with tr Uranus square the Mars. With a final disappointing and disorientating tr Neptune square the Saturn Pluto early November 2026 to late January 2027. Major arguments will brew through 2027/28 with tr Pluto square the Mercury and Moon.
Chiron moving into Taurus on June 19th to stay until 2033 will shift the culture though in subtle ways which may not be immediately obvious.
The recent Chiron in Aries since 2018 would turn a focus on problems of identity with a compensatory emphasis/over-emphasis on “I am”. Which fits both Donald Trump in his 1st Term and Boris Johnson dancing to the “I am the greatest” fanfare, which is a cover up for “I am an empty shell with no idea who I am inside” pseudo-identity. The aftermath and ongoing divorce from the EU over Brexit as the UK faced up to going-it-alone could also be part of it. The rise of populism which is essentially a selfish movement. #MeToo Movement = I will not be overlooked. At a stretch, the echo chamber/divisive syndrome also can be put down to people clinging desperately to the like-me tribe in order to shore up a shaky sense of self-esteem and identity.
It could also have contributed to the focus on wounds around masculinity and concepts like the “manosphere”, “toxic masculinity.”
Melanie Reinhart also mentions ‘life changing initiatory illness, which includes sickness in our sense of self.’
Chiron in Taurus has a tendency to undermine a sense of feeling solid or safe. Issues around wealth and money. Tendency to take everything literally not symbolically. Identify with our wounded instincts which would have the advantage of making our mistreatment of the earth be taken personally and acted on. Healthy relationship with the body. Live by our own values. Creative transformation of emotional energy which would otherwise to be turned to vengeance. Helps others in their creative endeavours.
One problem looking back on earlier instances of Chiron in Taurus is extrapolating what can be ascribed to Chiron rather than other influences of the time.
Chiron in Aries 1968 to 1976
It started with booming post-war expansion but into the early 1970s there was a shift into high inflation and high unemployment. The collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system in 1971 and the 1973 oil crisis, led to Western economies faced severe industrial unrest and stagnant growth.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. First Human Heart Transplant. The precursor to the modern internet sent its first message.
The early 1970s saw the wind-down of the Vietnam War, and Nixon Visits China ending decades of Sino-American isolation and reshaping the Cold War.
There were pioneering environmental campaigns.
Watergate, Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland and Munich Olympics Massacre.
Chiron in Taurus 1976 to 1983
The late 1970s saw increased geopolitical tensions and energy crises. The Camp David Accords were signed, brokering peace between Egypt and Israel. In Guyana, over 900 members of the Peoples Temple cult died in the Jonestown massacre.
The Iranian Revolution began, leading to the hostage crisis. Margaret Thatcher became the first female UK Prime Minister. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred in the US.
The first Apple Computer was sold.
The early 1980s saw the intensification of the Cold War, the birth of the PC and MTV era, the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and major political shifts under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Chiron in Taurus 1927 to 1933
The peak and sudden collapse of post-WWI economic prosperity, Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression.
Penicillin Discovered, the world’s first antibiotic. The first electronic television. Aviation firsts. Pluto Discovered. Neutron discovered (reshaping nuclear physics.
Independence for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Stalin consolidates power. Political extremism in Europe, and massive infrastructure achievements. Japan invaded Manchuria.
The previous Chiron in Taurus 1876 to 1883 fell in the middle of the two decade Long Depression from 1870 to 1890.
History is constantly churning no matter what is going on in the celestial sphere though from the above there seems to be a pattern of economic peaks and then troughs; plus significant scientific advances especially in medicine. And in the recent two Chiron in Taurus increasing campaigns for environmental protection.
