The Lebanon has had an illustrious history stretching back several millenia being a major centre under the Byzantine Empire and ultimately under the Ottoman Empire. In the colonial carve up after World War 1 it was handed as a mandate along with Syria to France, who made a botch of their ultimate withdrawal with 22 November 1943 being celebrated as the symbolic moment of independence though officially it happened on 1 January 1944.

   Subsequently this state, no bigger than Wales that has become “battleground for one of the defining conflicts of twentieth-century history. Throughout its short existence, it has been attacked, invaded, occupied or interfered with to serve the political interests of foreign powers, resulting a series of devastating wars and crises. To understand Lebanon’s history is to understand the history of the entire region – and, with the rise of Hezbullah, it has come to assume a disproportionate, dangerous power of its own. Iran and Israel now face each other in the hills of south Lebanon.” (Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East by David Hirst. Amazon).

 During the Civil War (1975-1990) there were invasions and military occupations by Syria from 1976 to 2005 and by Israel from 1985 to 2000.

 Hezbollah was established by Lebanese clerics primarily to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Close ties have developed between Iran and Hezbollah. During the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah’s 1985 manifesto listed its objectives as the expulsion of “the Americans, the French and their allies definitely from Lebanon, putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land”.

 Both the Lebanon 1 January 1944 chart with its Uranus Mars in Gemini sextile Pluto inconjunct a Capricorn Sun; and the 22 November 1943 with its final degree Scorpio Sun and late Virgo Moon work reasonably well against subsequent events.

   The previous Israel war with Lebanon from 13 April 1975 with Uranus at zero degrees Scorpio and a Pluto in Libra opposition Jupiter square Saturn has no real parallels instantly with the next warlike Saturn square Pluto not turning up until 2028. Though Israel’s future does look on high stress well into the next decade so it may come.

 There is a depressing sense of an unwinnable, ongoing and fundamental schism with deep historical roots that flares up from time to time, dies down but never goes away.

See previous post October 10 2023 on James Cameron’s book The creation of the state of Israel.

“The introduction of the Jewish State into the Arab heartland exalted many hearts and broke many more. More than anything in this century it was a triumph and a desolation. Full of high hopes it produced the most intractable conflict of our times.”   So wrote journalist and world affairs commentator James Cameron, in 1976. What follows comes from his excellent, dispassionate, lucid and brief book ‘The Making of Israel.’ The quotes are his.

Where it began.  Theodor Herzl a cultivated Viennese journalist outraged by the Dreyfus scandal when  a Jewish officer in the French army was framed on a treason charge lit a flame under the idea of a Promised Land where Jewish people could live free of persecution and hostility, funded by rich Jewish interests. Zionism was born with the First Zionist Congress held in Basel 29 August 1897.

   Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first President of Israel, joined. He was an eminent biochemist who gave great service to the British government during World War One. ‘It was he who extracted from the then British  Foreign Minister  through gratitude,  expediency, absent-mindedness, not one will ever know – the famous Balfour Declaration.’

 ‘It was ambiguous, elusive, provocative, but it was the springboard.’  To the Arabs it was an act of outright imperialism to wilfully dispose of the future of a territory to which Britain had had no rightful claim, without any consultation with the 92% non-Jewish part of the population. ‘To the British it was an afterthought, to Jewish people a green light.’

  During the British Palestine Mandate (1920 to 1948) the indigenous Arabs were constantly dispossessed from their land as the Jewish communities burgeoned. Conflicts grew and ‘Palestine becomes an arena of endless guerilla warfare.’ ‘The aspirations of the Jews and Arabs are irreconcilable.’

  Along comes World War 11 and the Holocaust. Jewish immigration is still strictly limited by the British to 1500 a month. In desperation illegal ships bring in more, including the Exodus carrying 4500 survivors of the death-camps, which the British Navy inexplicably rammed and returned to Germany on the orders of Ernest Bevin, the Labour Foreign Minister, whose dislike to the Jews was well known backed by the traditionally Arabist UK Foreign Office.

‘Almost every independent newspaper in the world  reported the Exodus with incredulous horror. Much of what happened in the Mandate must be considered against this dismal betrayal.’

  In Palestine sections of the Jewish community have decided violence is the only way to make a difference to their cause. The British Mandatory Authority are now exasperated. ‘No conceivable proposal that  suits the Arabs can possibly mollify the Jews.’ In 1947 the British government decides to toss Palestine back to the United Nations. The UN tries for partition which is turned down flat by the Arabs. ‘By now it is abundantly clear that no compromise any mortal man can devise is going to reconcile the Arabs to the legal existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East.’

  There are attacks and counter-attacks inside Israel, roads are blockaded and the massacre at Deir Yassin follows. Mass panic sends Palestinian refugees fleeing from their villages – 6000 from Tiberias, 40,000 from Haifa.

‘The stage is now ready for the culmination of the story, of a sick and sorrowful conflict, not between right and wrong, but between two forms of right and, maybe two forms of wrong.’

  In spring of 1948 there is no government and no mandate authority, the country was ‘a shifting mosaic of overlordships.’ ‘It is possible that there was no specific British intention to leave chaos behind them but is is sure that no particular effort was made to prevent it.’

  In the US the partition principle was accepted but with diminishing enthusiasm. The State and Defence department were against it because it could open the Middle East to Russian interference and jeopardise Arab oil. While President Harry Truman wanted to conciliate the domestic Jewish vote.

  As time wore on Harry Truman, like the British before him, became exasperated at being pounded by constant pressure from the Zionists. ‘The Jews are so emotional ,’ he wrote, ‘and the Arabs so difficult to talk with that it is impossible to get anything done.’

  Truman dithered, his underlings put out conflicting messages, until eventually a school friend introduced him to Weizmann and he decided that he would look foolish to abandon his earlier acceptance of partition.

  A week before the British mandate ended there was still no certainty of a dominantly Jewish state although many Arabs had fled by this time. Various Arab armies stood at the ready including a Jordanian one backed by the British aiming to capture the areas laid down in the Partition for the Arabs.  There was a massacre at Etzion killed 70 Jewish settlers in retaliation for Deir Yassin. Two days before the mandate ended another Arab attack on a medical convoy killed 77 Jewish doctors, nurses and helpers. The British refused to intervene pointing to Deir Yassin.  At this point Jerusalem was under siege so the administration of the new country was moved to Tel Aviv.  On the day itself the British moved out and the Jewish government, under David Ben Gurion, declared itself in charge.

‘And no one lived happily ever after.’

James Cameron’s epilogue from 1976

“Three times in the last quarter century I have personally seen the endless tensions of the Middle East build up their content of hate and fear until it burst across the Israel-Arab borders, in one direction or another, leaving its predictable residue of triumph and defeat and sorrow and recrimination and solving nothing. Each time the world knew uneasily that the next time would be worse, and it was.  Each times the wounds were deeper and the scars more brutal. Each time the world protested this could not go on, while perpetuating the factors that made it inevitable.

 By and by a new generation will grow up in the Middle East, both Arab and Israeli, which will reject the role of pawns in the Power Game, refuse the importunities and persuasions of the strong and cynical, and recognize, as many voiceless patriots already recognize, that what is done is done, and that both sides must make a future together, if there is to be one at all. Amen.”

The versatile Alan Cumming has added yet another award from the recent Emmys to join his previous BAFTA Award, previous Emmy, Tonys and an Olivier. This recent accolade was for his hosting of the reality show Traitors, which is a tense psychological adventure competition where 22 strangers in a castle in the Scottish Highlands aim to complete a series of challenges as a team. Though within their ranks are three traitors secretly sabotaging their efforts.

 His career has had an extraordinary range from light-hearted comedy and musicals to heavy drama and Shakespeare in theatre and on Broadway, with a string of well-received movies and television series where he is best known for The Good Wife. He also sings, writes drama and has published several books including two memoirs – Not My Father’s Son and Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life. A presenter, screenwriter, producer, director, cabaret performer, novelist and gay-rights campaigner.

  He was born 27 January 1965 8.20 am Aberfeldy, Scotland, with a tyrannical and abusive father, head forester on a Scottish estate, who did not believe he or his brother were his sons. Though a DNA test in recent years proved they were. He said that his difficult childhood taught him how to act by “needing to suppress my own emotions and feelings around him [his father] when I was a little boy”.

  What pulled him out of the damaging effects of a “feudal” childhood were firstly an upfront and boisterous Aquarius Sun is on his Ascendant giving him a bouncy, chatty image with his Sun in an optimistic and enthusiastic square to a communicative Jupiter in the 3^rd house in money-magnet Taurus. He also has a look-on-the-bright-side Sagittarius Moon exactly on his Midheaven suiting him for a colourful and wide ranging public career.

 He does have Uranus Pluto and Mars in Virgo all in his 8^th house suggesting a challenging psychological inheritance from previous generations, controlling and angry. Luckily his Uranus Pluto sits in a practical, business-building Earth Grand Trine to Jupiter and to Venus Mercury in Capricorn in his 12^th, formed into a Kite with Jupiter opposition Neptune – giving him talent, a practical approach to life and enough dreams from Jupiter Neptune to carry him away from his abusive childhood.

  For all his outer success he has not had it easy emotionally with a hidden Venus and a Moon square Saturn, a legacy from his early home life where his mother was unable to give him what he needed since she was as trapped as her children were.  

  His creative 5^th Harmonic is strong; and his victim 12^th even more so. What is intriguing is his 13^th Harmonic which is confident, enthusiastic, exuberant. That is the one which indicates “Upheaval, change and rebirth. Breaking with the orthodox. It requires adaptation to change to be successful.” Peter Sellers, the comedian had a strong 13^th harmonic giving him an ability like Alan Cumming to inhabit a variety of dramatic characters with authenticity.  

His 8^th house Mars in late Virgo is catching this week’s Lunar Eclipse revving up his engine and putting him into overdrive which will continue on throughout 2025 with the following eclipses at similar degree. He may need to keep himself in check or he’ll overdo the running around.

Another day and the tit-for-tat atrocities pile up. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the death of nine people after the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers used by the terror group in Lebanon yesterday.  Thousands were injured in the attack, with 200 people said to be in a critical condition. Hezbollah said Israel would get its “fair punishment”.

  Previous posts lay out the detail: Israel & Hezbollah – the unhealable wound 25th August 2024 and Israel and Hezbollah – hope of peace receding fast – 1st August 2024.

 What was always mystifying, given the rolling carnage causing internal Israeli outrage and unease as well as international consternation was/is how undescriptive Netanyahu’s 29 December 2022 4.30pm Term chart is. A confused, indecisive Neptune on the Midheaven alongside an admittedly successful Jupiter Moon in the 10^th sextile Pluto Venus on the cusp of the 8^th with a hidden 12^th house Mars inconjunct the Sun in the partnership-dependent 7^th. It doesn’t immediately leap out as a crisis Term, nor indeed was there ever any obvious exit point.

 His own personal chart shares Mars at 26 degrees Leo with Trump, with the latter recovering from his second assassination attempt; and Netanyhau is now on war footing with Hezbollah and the Lebanon. Tr Uranus is now back squaring their respective Mars for a moment of high insecurity running on for several weeks and repeating next spring. Netanyahu also has his Virgo Midheaven triggered by yesterday’s Lunar Eclipses and next year’s early Lunar and later Solar Eclipses. And if his birth time is exactly accurate he has his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Midheaven in 2026, hinting at a change of career direction.

 Netanyahu’s relationship chart with Israel looks rattled in the extreme at the moment and undermined. Tr Neptune is square the composite Uranus now till early 2026; and tr Uranus is square the composite Mars, then the calamitous Mars/Saturn midpoint and the composite Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026.

 His Term chart has the tr Neptune Saturn conjunct the 10^th house Jupiter Moon from April 2025 on into 2026/27 which will undermine high hopes and confidence.

  There is nothing in the country/Hezbollah charts to suggest peace any time soon (see previous posts).

  Netanyahu’s continued political future which is vital to stave off corruption charges is dependent on a far-right coalition. A key figure is Bezazel Smotrich, the Israeli Minister for Finance – a hard-line, far-right zealot, a settler in occupied West Bank, illegal under international law, who supports expansion of Israeli settlements and opposes Palestinian statehood. Born 27 February 1980, he is a Sun Pisces opposition Mars Jupiter with a passionate Venus opposition Pluto. Those two oppositions are colliding by 2026 with the SA Mars Jupiter being conjunct his Pluto which looks unnervingly over confident. Indeed it may trigger in 2025 since that is when his Venus is being aspected. 

 His relationship with both Netanyahu and Israel look severely stressed as tr Uranus moves into Gemini mid 2025 onwards. He is a rabble rouser and won’t be easy to control.

The Afghanistan Taliban government’s increasingly repressive measures, described by one woman living there as Islamic fascism, are causing growing dissatisfaction among the Afghan population and continuing international isolation. Despite promises to the contrary when the USA withdrew in 2021, stricter morality laws have been enforced with girls and women banned from attending secondary school and university plus plus plus.

  An Afghanee woman anonymously described the government there: “It controls everything from what we wear and where we go and most importantly, what we are allowed to think. Women are denied education – removed from all areas of life, our voices and presence erased from society. Democracy and human rights are completely ignored. Thousands of innocent children are being educated in Taliban’s schools to become adversaries of women’s rights, democracy, progress and freedom. Through extreme religious indoctrination, they are being shaped into a serious threat to the entire world.”

  There are hints of rebellions and disruptions ahead with transiting Uranus upending the Afghanistan 19 August 1919 12am Kabul chart at the moment and more so through 2025 with tr Uranus square the Sun, conjunct the Moon and square Uranus. The population (Moon) may well have reached its tolerance limits. The Venus in Virgo is also catching the running Pisces/Virgo Lunar and Solar Eclipses right through into early 2026. And the Solar Arc Neptune will be in an undermining square to the Sun by 2025; at the same time as tr Uranus is square the Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada who took over as Taliban Supreme Leader on 15 August 2021 also has Venus in late Virgo on his Term chart being triggered by the eclipses running on for nearly two years. His Term chart has a yod onto the Sun from Neptune sextile Pluto hinting at an erratic approach to stamping its authority and identity – and that is being jolted by tr Uranus square the Solar Arc Sun now and into 2025. Though it is a chart with a strong Jupiter which can bring undeserved good luck.

 The original Taliban Afghanistan government of 4 April 1996 is also showing signs of uncertainty and considerable unrest ahead with tr Neptune (Scheat) conjunct the Saturn in final degree Pisces with Solar Arc Uranus square the Pluto in 2024/25 and tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus in 2026/27.

It’s tempting though not always helpful to be optimistic about positive changes lying ahead. But with the Afghanistan chart having a yod of Mars sextile Venus inconjunct Uranus – and the Uranus getting a sharp elbow from transiting Uranus from mid 2025 onwards there is no doubt the country will be shifted force majeure onto a new path.

I have never understood religious fundamentalists’ fear of women rolling right back to the mediaeval Vatican. Extreme Neptune misogynists.

Disaster by water is being experienced with a vengeance in eastern Europe with several deaths from flooding and an entire Polish city being told to evacuate. With transiting Neptune and the Fixed star Scheat both falling close to this week’s Lunar Eclipse in Pisces it highlights the nature of Scheat associated with misfortune, floods, shipwrecks and drowning.

For some, Scheat can bring increased creativity https://shorturl.at/uB0XE but the downside is notably evident at the moment with the Bayesian sinking still being investigated and now devastating weather.

 The Lunar Eclipse set for Nysa, the evacuated Poland town, has Uranus closely conjunct the Midheaven suggesting jolting changes – with the Moon Neptune in the 8^th. [You are evidently not supposed to use houses for eclipse charts but very often disaster eclipses have strong 8^th house planets.]

  The Poland 24 August 1989 1.05pm Warsaw chart has Mercury in Virgo close to the Eclipse causing mental strain and chaos.

  Natural disasters sometimes are the forerunner to a stressful period of transition in the years following and the Poland chart hints at a tricky time ahead with tr Uranus square the Virgo Sun from mid 2025 as the same time as tr Neptune Saturn start to square the Uranus – and in future years square the Saturn, Neptune.

 The Poland 10 November 1918 chart has its Mars in final degree Sagittarius being undermined by tr Neptune square now till early 2026; with a disruptive tr Uranus square the Saturn opposition Uranus, also through till early 2026.

 Donald Tusk’s prime ministerial chart of 13 December 2023 10 am Warsaw had a lacklustre Sagittarius Sun and Moon square Neptune – which are catching not only this week’s Lunar Eclipse but also next March’s Lunar Eclipse and the October Solar Eclipse for a crises-strewn term.

France’s European commissioner, Thierry Breton, has resigned, citing “questionable governance” at the EU executive led by Ursula von der Leyen. His hissy fit comes after she had asked Paris to withdraw his name for reasons unknown. None of which amounts to a hill of beans but the astrology is fun.

 He was born 15 January 1955 8.45am Paris and has a Capricorn Sun exactly on his Ascendant opposition Uranus Jupiter in Cancer on his Descendant so he will be an upfront personality, confident and uncompromising, not good at cooperation Added to that he has Pluto on the cusp of his 8th sextile Neptune and inconjunct a focal point rip roaring Mars in Aries. Not a man to keep his comments to himself when riled.  His Pluto is also in an unbudgeable square to Saturn.

 Ursula von der Leyen’s Uranus Moon falls in his 7^th and her Pluto in his 8^th so she triggers all his hot buttons (and not in a good way); with her Mars falling in his 4th for additional underlying irritations.

 Their relationship chart has a business-like but cool composite Sun Saturn Mercury conjunction. And a composite Mars opposition Neptune Venus square Uranus leading to ego-clashes, insensitive treatment and a determination to walk separate paths. Tr Pluto square the composite Neptune through last month would not help, returning in December and in an enraging square to Mars in January – and on.  It would not a happy 2025 ahead if they were stuck in the same space.  

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Richard Gadd, creator of the hit Netflix, black-comedy TV series Baby Reindeer about his experiences with a stalker has been showered with awards at the Emmys. There was no mention of the defamation lawsuit filed against Netflix by the real-life woman who allegedly inspired the stalker character which was billed as  “a true story” though has subsequently been claimed to be a fictional representation. Internet sleuths tracked down Fiona Harvey, a former Scottish lawyer as the person who inspired the show’s character Martha, and she appeared on a Piers Morgan show.

 A federal judge has set a 6 May 2025 start date for Harvey’s action against Netflix, and Gadd has filed court documents testifying about thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters he received, with examples included.

 Richard Gadd was born 11 May 1989 1.39 am Dundee, Scotland, and has an intense 3^rd house Taurus Sun opposition a 9^th house Pluto; with the triple conjunction of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn in Capricorn all hidden in his 12^th house opposition Mars in Cancer His 7^th house Leo Moon is inconjunct Uranus and sextile Mercury and Venus. His strong Pluto could arguably lead him into situations where power and dominance were a key issue. His highly-strung, fairly chaotic 12^th house planets would also make him vulnerable.

  What is surprising in his chart through probably also his saving grace, is a yod from Saturn Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Jupiter. Such an apex planet could lead to over-confidence but can also have an impact on society, often in surprising ways.

  When his stalking experience started in 2014 tr Pluto was opposition his Neptune Saturn; his Solar Arc Mars was moving to conjunct his Moon; tr Uranus was on the cusp of his 3^rd house; and his SA Uranus was opposition his Moon two years after.  A high stress time.

  Fiona Harvey, 28 July 1965 9.15pm Fyvie, Scotland (Frank Clifford source) who is suing Netflix for defamation is the alleged stalker. [Please by wary with comments in light of the ongoing legal battle.] She was born 3 days before J.K.Rowling.

  She has a 7^th house New Moon in Leo with an 8^th house Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo opposition Saturn square Jupiter in her attention-seeking 5^th house and Mars also in her 8^th. Her intense 8^th house will give her a tendency towards entanglements and impulsive behaviour.

Some comments from a past post on 8^th house –  “The eighth house is associated with entanglements, power games, boundary crossings, or dealing with taboos.” “Unhappy with the present, traumatized by the past, daunted by the future… Everything is defined by others.”

See The hidden 8th house – pulling back the veil 16th November 2023

  Her Leo New Moon falls in Gadd’s 7th conjunct his Leo Moon so there would feel as if there was a connection. Her 7^th house Venus is conjunct his South Node and her Gemini North Node is conjunct his Jupiter – so their coming-together, no matter how uneasy, is connected into the zeitgeist out in society as well as to each other’s respective destiny and development. Her Venus, Mercury, Pluto, Uranus all fall in his 8^th so she would have a strong impact on him making him feel trapped and edgy. Her Neptune is conjunct his Pluto and opposition his Sun for a disorientating, undermining effect which was difficult to pin down.

 Their relationship chart has an Air Grand Trine of Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter, formed into a Kite by Jupiter opposition Neptune – hinting at a communication overload, difficulty in disengaging (Saturn Pluto) and a power play for the upper hand (Jupiter Pluto) all focused through an evasive, smoke-screening Neptune. Not surprisingly there is also a fated composite yod  of Saturn sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus and Mercury. The composite Mars at 26 Leo will be rattled up exactly when the defamation trial starts next year; and also picking up late this month and through October no doubt in response to the Emmy Awards.

  Odd how certain stories catch the mood of the moment and have an impact.  

The unthinkable crimes of Dominique Pelicot against his wife being paraded in a French courtroom take on an added frisson of revulsion with the knowledge that the village of Mazan where it took place contains a chateaux that once belonged to the Marquis De Sade’s family. Pelicot is charged with drugging his wife for a decade, inviting strangers – more than 80 local men – to enter the family home and rape her while he filmed them. The police have identified and detained 50 of the men whose images appeared on his hard drive, while another 30 suspects remain at large.

   The Marquis de Sade, 2 June 1740 5pm Paris, France, was a French writer, political activist best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography. A series of sex scandals led to his detention in various prisons and insane asylums for most of his adult life. His major works combine graphic descriptions of sex acts, rape, torture, murder, and child abuse with discourses on religion, politics, sexuality, and philosophy. The word sadism derives from his fictional characters who take pleasure in inflicting pain on others.

 De Sade had an 8^th house Sun, Jupiter, Chiron in Gemini which would give him a manic need to promote his beliefs and opinions, both on religious (Jupiter) and sexual (8^th house) topics. His Uranus conjunct his South Node in Capricorn is probably also significant, allying him with views which ran counter to society’s mores with his defiance pulling him away from his road to fulfilment in living out his Cancer North Node.

  His Mars in Aries was square Saturn Venus in Cancer – Mars Saturn can given an inclination towards cruelty and Venus in hard aspect to Mars can be insensitive in relationships. His Virgo Moon is in an Earth Grand Trine to Uranus and South Node trine Mercury in Taurus accentuating his interest in physicality in life. It is not an especially brutal chart and there is some controversy about whether he actually lived out his sadism in the kind of graphic detail that brought his writings to fame.

  At the moment on De Sade’s chart the Solar Arc North Node has been rattling up the Mars square Saturn since these crimes came to light. At the moment De Sade’s Solar Arc Chiron Jupiter in late Pisces is catching the transiting Neptune conjunction and Scheat.

 Dominique Pelicot’s birth data has only started to appear on the net so should be treated with caution. 27 November 1952 Quincy sous Senart, France, if accurate makes him a Sun Sagittarius sextile Mars in obstinate Aquarius. He also has Saturn Neptune in Libra square Uranus possibly tied into an Aries Moon – with Uranus opposition his Venus and Chiron. Creative, imaginative, neurotic, can-be-autocratic, fanatical. His pleasure-seeking 9^th harmonic is ruthless with afflicted Moon links. His doubly unpleasant 18^th harmonic is also notably stressed.

 The chart crossovers are interesting. Pelicot’s Venus is conjunct De Sade’s South Node exactly and his Uranus which may be significant – attracted to De Sade’s primitive tendencies. Even more intriguing is Pelicot’s Pluto conjunct De Sade’s Midheaven and his Jupiter in De Sade’s 7^th conjunct his Descendant – trying to outdo De Sade or take control in similar ways? 

  Pelicot’s relationship chart with his ghostly forbear (no relation) has a fated yod of a composite Mercury sextile North Node inconjunct Pluto Chiron – with that stressed Pluto Chiron being swamped by tr Neptune conjunct at the moment.

  A horrific (in the extreme) spider’s web of fated connections.

Michaela DePrince, the trailblazing ballet star, who overcame massive hardship in her early years has died unexpectedly at 29. She lost both parents during Sierra Leone’s civil war and was sent to an orphanage at three, where she was mistreated due to her vitiligo. She said “We were ranked as numbers, and number 27 was the least favorite and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes and whatnot.”

  After receiving word that the orphanage would be bombed, she described walking shoeless for miles to reach a refugee camp. Her new mother, who adopted DePrince and two other girls, from the orphanage after meeting them in Ghana in 1999, said Michaela was “sick and traumatized by the war”, with tonsillitis, fever, mononucleosis and swollen joints. She was four when she was adopted and moved to the United States, where her adoptive mother nurtured her love for ballet. She went on to become the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and performed in Beyonce’s Lemonade.

 Born 6 January 1995 in Kenema, Sierra Leone, she had a stellium in earthy, ambitious Capricorn ranging from her Sun to Neptune Uranus and Mercury. She had a confident, exuberant and determined Jupiter in Sagittarius conjunct Pluto Venus in last degree Scorpio. Her harsh start in life is echoed in her Saturn in Pisces opposition Mars in Virgo square her upbeat Jupiter – it would give her the discipline for strenuous ballet training and performance – and Jupiter in Sagittarius would keep her optimism and morale afloat. But she would be up and down with mood swings as her Saturn squared Jupiter. Her creativity would not be in doubt with a Sun Neptune conjunction and her Venus Pluto.

  There has been no cause of death given.  She did have tr Pluto conjunct her Mercury for an intense mood and had just been through her First Saturn Return – but these are hardly red flags.

 What a tragedy.