An unwelcome blast from the past hove into view this week with Tony Blair winding up a head of steam to step back into the UK political arena. Probably not to become a party leader or candidate but to play puppet-master and king maker for a centre-left and centre amalgam to replace the shambles of Johnson, given that Keir Starmer is unlikely to win a majority for Labour.

  The scars of Iraq are too deep to allow for his personal re-entry, never mind his government’s woefully misconceived deregulation of EU immigration after 2004, which set the stage for voter resentment and thence for Brexit. But according to Andrew Neil, Blair was anchored at home during the lockdown and turned his messianic gaze on home politics, clearly reckoning he was the one chosen to bring about a transformation.

  Born 6 May 1953 6.10 am Edinburgh, Scotland, Blair has a politician’s 10^th house Moon, in his case in Aquarius conjunct a wedded-to-a-cause North Node also in Aquarius. He has an enduring Taurus Sun in his 12^th square Pluto, so he will be controlling, dogged, stubborn and not good at letting go or owning up to mistakes – see Prince Andrew and Amber Heard with Sun opposition Pluto (below).

   His Sun is also square his Moon opposition Pluto, thus sitting on the focal point of a Fixed T Square – giving him strong willpower which can be overpowering and making him arrogant, ego-centric and self-seeking, wilfully resistant to outside influences.  He sees himself as a natural born leader.

  He also has a hopes-for-a-better-society Saturn Neptune in Libra opposition Mercury Venus in Aries squaring onto an innovative, rebellious and obsessively-status-quo-upsetting Uranus. It can be a disruptive placing, even lawless; but if handled correctly can also be a catalyst for change and a trailblazer.

  Finally he has a high-octane, exuberantly enthusiastic Jupiter in indulgent Taurus conjunct Mars, which can turn him at times into a ‘holy warrior’, justifying his anger/ambitions with a moralising veneer.

   Saturn has moved an entire cycle since his rise to prominence as Opposition Leader in 1994; and he has just finished several years of pressure and confusion with his Solar Arc Pluto in hard aspect to his Neptune Saturn and Mercury T Square. Though his Solar Arc Sun has still to square his Saturn which will throw a few setbacks across 2023.

  He also has tr Pluto crossing his Midheaven this year which usually begins a longish career-phase of many years, searching for renewed purpose and can coincide with an upsurge in ruthless ambition. Tr Pluto will trine his Jupiter in 2023/24 which will boost his confidence and probably bring success. And by 2025 tr Uranus will conjunct his Jupiter for lucky breaks. His Solar Return from birthday May 2024 for a year thereafter is certainly super-busy on the career front with Moon, Mars and Venus and Sun, Uranus, Jupiter in the 10^th.

  But he’ll have a few lurches before then from tr Uranus conjunct his Sun and square his Pluto over the next eighteen months and disappointments from Neptune transits to midpoints. Plus some upbeat good luck. His Sun/Moon midpoint the indicator not only of his marriage but also political popularity will be undermined in 2024/25.  

 His relationship chart with the UK which was always hair-raisingly bad, making his initial success mystifying has a T Square of Mercury opposition Uranus square Mars, Algol and Pluto. Certainly an agent of change through destruction who aroused intense reactions of extreme dislike. Tr Saturn will square those planets now into early 2023; and tr Uranus will upend them in 2023/24. What happens is anyone’s guess but he’ll be on the move, for sure, rocking a few boats.   

President Meg Mountbatten-Windsor is being punted as a future prospect if the Duchess of Sussex heads for Washington as she has hinted she’d like. The Royal title would have to be ditched or would be swiftly withdrawn, which may happen in any event, depending on behaviour ahead.

 She’s undoubtedly in a more ambitious phase of her life than Prince Harry with tr Saturn moving upwards towards her midheaven at the moment, hitting her high-visibility peak phase from 2026 till 2034. Not that it means a political career is guaranteed to happen but she does have a lucky, successful 22^nd Harmonic which will bring her a global reputation – though it sits side by side with a strong, self-defeating 10^th harmonic which can bring low what it initially boosted.

   Her chart is lower hemisphere with the exception of Mars in the 12^th so she will tend to be subjective in her interests which might well count against an ‘outer’ political career working for the good of society.

  But her Jupiter Saturn conjunction does have the potential to amplify her ambitions and as a Leo Sun she’ll delight in being on a public stage.

  I’d have been inclined to dismiss it as a grandiose delusion on the part of a personality who loves to leap onto any liberal bandwagon going – a ‘rent-an-opinion’ to use a DM term. But her 22H is an eye-opener and she does have a ‘leadership; Leo North Node. And in the USA anything is possible.

  She will be pushing confidently ahead in 2027/2028 when tr Pluto is trine her Jupiter. Though tr Neptune in Aries is being less helpful in opposing her Saturn Jupiter conjunction and moving on to square her Mars and conjunct her Midheaven by 2030 which will undercut her forward gear.  

  As an avid Royal watcher I’ve been pondering on the bullying investigation triggered by staff complaints about her behaviour when in situ in the UK, which is now to be buried. All allegations were hotly denied by the Sussexes as smears or a misunderstanding about the American work ethic.

    One probable explanation came recently from a psychologist. “One of the great mysteries about dominating people is how big an asymmetry there is between how they experience themselves and how everyone around them does.”

  Too true. I once knew someone who was a control-freak and a bully as far as others were concerned, while she insisted on seeing herself as this poor downtrodden little worm inside. It was bizarre and she was utterly astonished to hear that others perceived her as a strong pushy personality. The inner and the outer – a gulf apart.

  Meghan does have Pluto in the 4^th which will make her insecure and grab for control as a defence, a legacy from a high-tension childhood. She also has a volatile Mars in emotional Cancer square Saturn and Moon which will make her ratchety and inclined to snap.

 The media is up in arms about the independent bullying investigation not being published but I wonder if there isn’t an ulterior motive – apart from not wishing to inflame an already aggravated family situation. The Sussexes’ Jubilee visit which in advance I thought would be a mistake turned out to have been cleverly handled. There were no photo ops for later use by Netflix etc which I half suspected was the only reason they turned up. And as far as reports suggest they had limited contact with the wider family including William and Kate who were busy glad-handing round the country.

  The bullying investigation now hangs like a Sword of Damocles over the Sussexes’ heads. Harry’s shock-horror, no doubt ghost-written, memoirs and further Oprah type grievance-airing may well risk it being published. There may be an attempt at a – “we’ll shut up if you shut up” – deal.

 Relations between Meghan and the Royal are not improving. It’s tricky with the Queen’s chart since she is the age she is, but assuming she stays as bright as she is, then their relationship is deteriorating over this year and the next two. Will is aggravated with her and vice versa right through till 2024/25. Prince Charles, never happy with confrontations, will have glimmers of hope this July but 2023/24/25 look tense and frustrated between them. Princess Anne is not amused also over the next three years.

  This psycho-family drama will run and run and the mystery is how a Netflix et al funded career will survive if the Royal connection is is muted down to a faint whisper. Royal courtiers have centuries of experience at putting parvenus in their place. You cross or try to upstage the monarch at your peril.

See previous post for detail on Prince Harry – April 15 2022.

Bill Gates, the Microsoft nerd-genius turned ruthless tycoon, the richest man on the planet for several years, was transformed into a saintly philanthropist until his philandering ways brought a divorce, with increasing and damaging publicity about his connection with Jeffrey Epstein.

  Gates was born 28 October 1955 at 10 pm (from memory) Seattle, Washington, and has a packed 4^th house with his Scorpio Sun there conjunct Neptune and square a maverick and innovative 1^st house Uranus. His Mars Mercury in Libra are also there opposition a 10^th house public-career Aries Moon; and he has an intense, secretive, emotionally self-contained Venus Saturn in Scorpio which squares a financial 2^nd house way-over-the-top Jupiter Pluto in Leo.

  Assuming his birth time is about accurate, that means the driving impetus of his life came from his childhood home and his attorney father who was evidently over-keen on winners and disliked losers. Bill Gates Sr, November 30 1925, had a cruel streak with Mars Saturn in Scorpio trine Pluto in Cancer. Both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell also had bullying and dominating fathers – one father with a Mars opposition Pluto and the other with Mars Pluto conjunct.

  A 4^th house is simplistically seen as family-focused but many mega-successful people have it including Rupert Murdoch, Marlon Brando and Jennifer Aniston. All are private but not necessarily warm-hearted sentimentalists.

  Gates’ irritable Moon opposition Mars does suggest mother-issues and problems with women in general; and three planets in Scorpio would ramp up his sensual nature, not always in a healthy direction with Venus tied into Saturn and square Pluto Jupiter. His mother Mary Gates, 5 July 1929, was a tough bird with a Sun Pluto in Cancer square Uranus – so that wouldn’t be a warm or easy relationship.

  He was not soul-mates with Epstein, though they shared an Aries Moon. Gates Chiron at zero degrees Aquarius was conjunct Epstein’s Sun and Gates’ Uranus in opposition. No idea what that Chiron cross-over signifies.

   Their relationship chart had a power-dynamic composite Mars trine Pluto; with a needs-space composite Venus opposition Uranus square Neptune. I could see how both the Mars Pluto and Uranus Venus Neptune might lead to a flirting-with-danger and perverse-thrills kind of tie. But it certainly wasn’t a friendship bond.

  What is much more emotional and passionate is Gates’ relationship chart with Ghislaine Maxwell which has a composite strong-attraction Sun Venus square Pluto; and an adventurous and risk-taking Jupiter Mars square Uranus. Her role as a mythological Siren (luring sailors with her enchantments into shipwrecks on rocky shores) enticed wealthy men into Epstein’s orbit as well as vulnerable young women.

  That relationship chart is on tenterhooks with high uncertainty and a few jolts through the next two years as various people wonder whether Maxwell spill the beans for a lesser sentence. She may not but the worry will remain.

  Her relationship chart with Donald Trump is also aggravated in the extreme through 2022/23 and undermined in 2024. Though that latter could be her hope of a pardon from a newly installed Trump getting dashed by his political exit.

  Gates’s chart and life will take a battering and shaking up between now and 2025 with the confused tr Pluto square his Neptune in 2022/23; as well as tr Saturn squelching his self-confidence squaring his Venus Saturn this year and worse opposing his Jupiter Pluto in early 2023; followed by tr Uranus shaking up that super-self-assured square in his chart in the two years following. He will have been on a relative high recently with his Solar Arc Jupiter Pluto conjunct his Sun but that is moving on. He’ll get a shock of considerable proportions within the next three months as his Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct his Mars.  In 2024/25 he has tr Pluto opposition his 1^st house Uranus for a major turnaround in his image and an upheaval in his life; with more jolts from his Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Uranus by 2025. It’ll be a stormy ride, for sure, extending beyond that as tr Pluto heads to square his Sun in 2026/27.   Though he won’t disappear, go bankrupt or stop striving.

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A downbeat Hong Kong marked the 25^th anniversary of its handover to the Chinese by swearing in John Lee Ka-chiu, a hardline former HK policeman, as chief executive. He is one of several top HK officials sanctioned by the US over the Chinese territory’s declining autonomy and freedoms; and the European Parliament has recently begun to investigate whether he should  sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. As Hong Kong’s former security chief, Lee has been instrumental in the crackdown on opposition figures. His upcoming cabinet includes four other high-ranking officials under sanctions.

   To add weight to his elevation the ceremony was attended by Xi Jinping, who spoke about Hong Kong’s future as a city run by “patriots”. Hong Kong was ceded to the British in 1842 after the Chinese lost the First Opium War – so it would always rankle amongst nationalists but when it was handed back in 1997 there were promises, now broken, of maintaining HK’s political independence.

  His Swearing In took place on this morning July 1 at 10.20 am (I think, any corrections gratefully received). That gives an alarmingly ruthless and oppressive chart with a Pluto opposition Moon square Mars; with Mars in Aries on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine of Saturn to Mercury. No quarter will be given to democracy activities. There’s also an evasive Mercury square Neptune and the autocratic, high-tension Uranus square Saturn is tied into the North and South Node by hard aspect. The next two years will be do-or-die determined when it comes to imposing his will and if the time is right the populace will be up in arms in 2023/2024 with tr Pluto opposition the Moon. But no guesses who’ll win that battle.

 He was born 7 December 1957 and is a rigid Sun Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus with a can-be-fanatical Uranus square Neptune tied into the North and South Nodes; plus a vengeful Mars in Scorpio.

 The Hong Kong 1 July 1997 chart is devastated and dismayed with its Solar Arc Mars square the Neptune exactly now inducing a feeling of panicky failure. With more to follow as tr Pluto is conjunct the Neptune in 2023/24 for demolished hopes for the future. There are vestiges of a fight back after mid decade but it may be a faint hope given Xi Jinping’s Presidency chart for 24 October 2017 having a confident surge, putting in place major changes between now until late 2025. It has a lucky Jupiter Sun conjunction opposition Uranus – so underserved good fortune.  Admittedly with a few uncertainties as well along the way but generally the fates will be kinder than he deserves.

Ghislaine Maxwell appeared unbowed as she faced a 20 year sentence over sex trafficking and listened to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse give harrowing testimony. As the judge noted she evinced sympathy but ducked responsibility. That will be partly because she hopes to appeal, though, as a lawyer noted, she is also a narcissist, who thinks of herself as the victim. Much was made in her plea of litigation about the damaging effect of her father, Robert Maxwell.

  She was born 26 December 1961 3.20pm Maisons Lafitte, France which puts her ambitious Capricorn Sun, Mercury and Mars in her intense 8^th house and a lucky, confident Jupiter conjunct her Midheaven. Both would contribute to her need for status and wealth. Sakoian & Acker remark of a 10th house Jupiter – if afflicted there may be ‘hypocrisy and vainglory, leading to disgrace and reversals of fortune.

   In her case the Jupiter effect is magnified being opposition a flamboyant, life-in-the-five-star-lane Leo Moon which even worse squares onto Neptune. Her Neptune will give her a distorted view of reality, prone to delusions, tending to over-idealise some people and ignore unpleasantness.  A Fixed focal point Neptune can accentuate sensuality and cravings as a need to escape inner loneliness and pain.

  She seems to have veered towards the negative end of the energies in her chart – since all of them could have been utilised in a constructive way.

  Although she tried to blame her father Robert Maxwell, who was undoubtedly a brute, for sending her off-course what in reality she took from him was an insatiable need to be fed excessive quantities of money. She was his favourite and saw that she lacked nothing in the way of material indulgence. When he died and his fraudulent empire collapsed, she had a desperate need to replace her sugar daddy.

  Robert Maxwell, 10 June 1923, Ukraine, a Sun Gemini had a do-or-die-determined and ruthless Mars Pluto in Cancer trine Jupiter trine Uranus – adventurous, lucky, good at attracting money and cruel – a bulldozer.  His Venus in Taurus was conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol. Where he connected with Ghislaine’s chart was his money-magnet Jupiter conjunct her Neptune and square her Moon and Jupiter Midheaven; and his Neptune conjunct her wannabe-prominent Leo North Node. Plus his bullying Mars Pluto was opposition her Capricorn planets. An extreme mix of good and bad.

  Jeffrey Epstein, 20 January 1953, a late Capricorn/Aquarius Sun, had his Jupiter in indulgent Taurus opposition her Neptune – so much of a muchness with daddy’s largesse. And Epstein’s Pluto was conjunct her 4^th house North Node so he would exert control over her though he was nothing like the dominating monster her father was, at least as far as she was concerned.

There is an Astro-oddity I can’t get my head round – in both cases her composite relationship chart with both men highlights a close Chiron connection – which doesn’t on the face of it make sense. With her father there’s a composite Sun Chiron and with Epstein there’s a composite Venus Mars Chiron opposition Uranus square Neptune. Though I suppose taking Chiron as representing her core wound – neither of them did her any good.

  When the sentence was handed down tr Uranus was square her Progressed Mars for a shock and Solar Arc Saturn is in a car-crash-setback square to her Mars exactly now as well. The discouraging, deprived and depressing tr Pluto conjunct her Saturn is dragging on through this year and next. By 2024 she has a sobering, face-reality Solar Arc Saturn square her Sun with an emotionally intense Solar Arc Pluto square her Moon in late 2024/25. By tr Neptune Saturn will start to square first her Mars and in the three years following square her Sun and then Mercury. Nothing to suggest an appeal will produce results.

  Relocating her chart to New York where the trial was held and Connecticut federal prison which will be home ahead, it puts a trapped Pluto in the 8^th which makes sense. It’s a low-security though not a minimum-security prison and was evidently the inspiration behind the TV series Orange is the New Black.

Joe Biden’s passivity in the face of the Roe V Wade reversal has riled activists who say he should be doing more than prompting voters to take action at the Mid Terms. Frustrated Democrats say the responses by party leaders have been inadequate and they aren’t fighting or willing to push boundaries.

Progressive lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have suggested building abortion clinics on federal land, funding people to seek abortions out of state, limiting the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction or expanding its membership and ending the filibuster. Warren called on Biden to declare a national medical emergency. White House officials say the administration has moved to protect access to the abortion pill and the president has pledged to protect women who seek to travel across state lines to get an abortion.

  Abortion rights supporters say Republicans have routinely broken the rules in recent years for example, by blocking Obama’s Supreme Court pick — and that for Democrats to continue observing the niceties amounts to unilateral disarmament.

 The Moon, ruler of the feminine realm, is badly aspected in the Biden Administration chart. Hidden in the 12^th house it is conjunct the explosive Mars Uranus conjunction and square Pluto, Midheaven, Sun and Saturn. So perhaps it isn’t surprising that a woman’s issue has become one of the key trigger points for aggravation. The Term Moon is stressed this year and next by tr Pluto square and really won’t be settled throughout his run.

  The Moon on his personal chart is not well situated or integrated either. In Taurus, it is on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Venus, Sun and is also square Pluto. Tierney describes a Yod-al Moon as overly defensive, habitually self-defeating. It can be transformed (in some cases) to become caring – but it will always be an overly-sensitive and vulnerable area of his chart. It picks up the transiting Pluto square in 2024/2025 putting more pressure on his weak spot (which will also include children aka Hunter).

  His relationship with Elizabeth Warren is fraught and bad tempered exactly now as tr Saturn opposes their composite Mars through till later this month; and a disappointing tr Neptune opposition the composite Venus throughout this year into early 2023. Relations between them will blow up altogether with tr Uranus square the Mars come 2024.

 He’s not popular with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez either with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Saturn and opposition Pluto this year and next; worsening through 2023/24 with tr Pluto square the composite Mars.

  Solar Arc Saturn will move to close the aggravated square on Biden’s Administration chart  by mid 2023 which will stress the already strained Term Moon – which could be other Presidential complications as well – but doesn’t bode well for this issue.

  There is a dispiriting sense in the US, echoing the UK, of having voted in the wrong leaders who are incapable or unwilling to face up to problems.  Voters’ remorse doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

   

Nora Ephron, writer, and filmmaker, cut a swathe through popular culture for decades with her iconic screenplays for When Harry Met Sally (1989), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and even earlier Silkwood (1983). Her quirky take on life hewn out of a childhood with two alcoholic parents proved a liferaft when her second marriage to Watergate Carl Bernstein collapsed over his infidelity. She wrote the semi-autobiographical novel Heartburn based on her marriage, later turned into a Meryl Streep/Jack Nicholson movie. As well as writing 14 screenplays and directing 8 films she also wrote 3 plays, the last of which Lucky Guy won a posthumous Tony Award nomination after she died of leukaemia in 2012.

  A new biography by Kristin Marguerite Doidge charts her life from a glittering journalistic start to directing in her 50s and beyond. She was famed for her fierce intellect and unsparing sense of humour, which often alienated those on the receiving end and constantly plundered her friends’ lives for her fiction which caused resentment. A flinty personality she was unconcerned with what other people thought about her and yet despite it all she was the doyenne of rom-coms and foodie movies (Julie and Julia).

Her Heartburn was seen as a classic scorned wife’s revenge describing the husband as “capable of having sex with a Venetian blind;” and describing the mistress (Margaret Jay) as looking like a giraffe with “big feet”.

  Ephron was born 19 May 1941 New York, no birth time, and had a larger-than-life, lucky and creative Sun, Jupiter, Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune; with Saturn also in Taurus. Enduring and stubborn to the nth degree. She also had a Yod onto Mars in Pisces inconjunct Pluto sextile a North Node in needing-to-work-at-relationships Libra. A Yod would give her an outsider’s view of life with a barbed edge from Mars inconjunct Pluto but also lend her, once she found her track, dynamic focused energy.

  Her Moon was in surprisingly sensitive Pisces which would be where she got her romantic yearnings from.

  An interesting woman who carved her own path through life.

Pluto Returns are not a passing distraction but a crossroads that comes around every 250 years. A country’s move away from the past into what comes next takes years to settle.

  Looking ahead through the USA 2024 and 2028 elections they coincide with the turmoil of the massive outer planet shift into new signs. And the 2028 election will be in the midst of the directionless, disappointing transiting Neptune in Aries square the USA Venus, Jupiter and Sun in Cancer. It’ll be 2032 before anything looks back to relative stability.  

 The present extreme divisiveness won’t disappear in a puff of smoke so it isn’t surprising it’ll take that long. Roe v Wade came in on early Pluto in Libra so maybe Pluto’s entry into Aquarius might restore its security. Other liberal legislation, for instance for same-sex marriage, was only enacted in individual states since 2012 – when tr Pluto in Capricorn was around the opposition to the USA Sun.  

  [Just as an aside I always wondered about that late 2012 period which coincided with Obama’s re-election, as well as same-sex marriage progress and oddly the devastating Sandy Hook shooting. Not only was tr Pluto heading for the USA Sun opposition. But there was a poleaxing and confidence-destroying Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the USA Neptune and square Mars – which at the time I couldn’t quite nail down an event or mood significant enough to explain it. But it did shaft a spear through USA morale and the sense of national identity, for sure.]

  This Biden Term was always going to be fractious, explosive and aggravated with the worst of the jolts coming in 2023/2024.

  The 2024 election will be held on a do-or-die-determined Mars opposition Pluto for extreme rhetoric, bile and venom – with a Sun opposition Uranus in place which could suggest a swing in a different direction. Neptune lingers in the final stages of Pisces.

  The 2025 Inauguration chart has a controlling Sun Pluto conjunct the Midheaven opposition Mars on the IC – so a discontented population and power-hungry administration. Three planets in directionless Pisces in the 11^th don’t suggest a solid future strategy. Uranus in the 1st will be defiant and unconventional. [To be noted the Biden Term has Pluto conjunct the MC so it doesn’t necessarily point in either political direction.]

  The 2028 election will be even more fraught than the 2024 with a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars on the focal point, with a downbeat Sun opposition Saturn; and a hope-for-change Uranus Trine Pluto.  The USA will have just undergone a Uranus Return, the first since 1943/44.

The 2029 Inauguration again has controlling Sun Pluto in the 10th with an edgy, disruptive and ruthless Sun Pluto square Saturn and trine Uranus trine Mars – either hardship and tough conditions, or a war somewhere out in the globe to contend with.

  The 2032 election will be tense with a Sun square Pluto and Pluto trine Mars around election day. Tr Uranus Saturn conjunct in early Cancer will be starting to conjunct the USA Venus, Jupiter in Cancer. By this election tr Neptune in Aries has finally cleared the square to the USA Sun and opposition to the USA Saturn which brings to an end a discontented and undermining few years since 2025.

  The 2033 Inauguration is the first to look upbeat with the Sun, Mercury and a confident/successful Jupiter Pluto in the 10^th. That’s reminiscent of Obama’s First Term with Sun Jupiter in the 10^th.

  On similarities to the USA Civil War (1861 – 1865) see previous post May 6 2022. There are some repeat influences around 2027/28 when there is a Uranus Return on the USA chart and tr Pluto in hard aspect to the Leo North Node.

  The late decade period also looks challenging on the USA First President chart, 30 April 1789 12.45pm New York. Tr Pluto in Aquarius will square the Taurus Sun in 2027/28. Even before then tr Pluto will be opposition to the Uranus as it enters Aquarius in 2023/2024 – so a highly-changeable phase of several years.

   Pluto in Aquarius had best get its act together to bring back the age of enlightenment and kick loony-tunes Neptune in Pisces into the kerb.   

Periods of rabid nationalism and institutional lunacy often follow times of national humiliation. Fascism in Germany grew out of the punitive measures meted out at Versailles in 1919 after their defeat in World War One. Russia’s present day macho chest-beating stems from the morale-crushing collapse of the old USSR empire in 1989. China emerged from a century of humiliation in the 1940s to foist the madness of Mao on the poor Chinese.

  The astrology for both Germany and Russia were similar with transiting Pluto opposition or conjunct their respective Suns as they sank to their nadir. The UK had tr Pluto conjunct its Sun in 2012/13 as it set sail down the ‘Take-Back-Control’ Brexit road .

   On the face of it the USA hasn’t faced any similar identity-crushing moments. Except for 9/11 which was a considerable dent to national pride, followed by an obviously botched Middle Eastern intervention, and then the 2007/8 sub-prime mortgage fiasco leading to the financial crash.  Tr Pluto opposition the USA Sun was around 2013/2014, during Obama’s 2^nd Term which had seen the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage/affirmative action pushed forward (and blocked). In the November 2014 midterms Republicans secured a Senate majority and expanded their control in Congress to a level not seen since World War II.

  This is a stretch – but I wonder if having surprised themselves mightily by voting in Obama (twice), (Heaven’s to Betsy a Person of Colour) and seeing liberal legislation passed wasn’t a blow to the rednecks and other fledgling MAGA types. Their ideal USA isn’t the military power-house that Germany and Russia wanted (although it once was). But their dream country shares similarities in crushing any internal dissent of their totalitarian and xenophobic mindset; and in parallel with Nazi Germany puts a strong emphasis on racial purity.

   There are slight similarities between the Germany 1871 chart and the USA chart in that both have an afflicted Mercury with can-be-fanatical aspects, in the US case to Pluto and for Germany Uranus and Neptune. So the national temperaments are prone to fixed, obsessive ideas.

  When Hitler was made Chancellor in 1933, tr Uranus in Aries was conjunct the Germany 7^th house Neptune (square the Mercury opposition Uranus) so it would be a moment of high excitement and delusion. Hitler’s leadership of the Nazi Party starting in 1921 to his death in 1945 coincided with tr Pluto moving through the Germany 10^th house of career, which can be a time of ruthless power seeking. As he suicided, it exited – on a Nodal Return.

  Not sure what all this proves vis a vis the lunatics taking over the asylum in the USA.  Apart from the fact that the propensity for extreme ideologies has to be there in the first place to be triggered. But it might spark off a few other thoughts so do pitch in.

  My personal view is that religion is the source of a good deal of evil and misogyny in the world and appears to be embedded in the USA mindset, despite being exposed again and again as egregiously hypocritical, money-grubbing and fraudulently pious on matters of sexual behaviour.

Other thought is it has always struck me that the USA more than most countries needs a hated ‘other’ in order to maintain internal cohesion. If all the inhabitants are psychologically focused against – first all all the feared Commies and then the Arabs, there is less energy for domestic fighting. But once those external enemies are vanquished the anger comes home to roost and it creates aggravation on home turf. A strong need for ‘those like Us’ and revulsion against ‘those that are not Us’ is behind a good deal of the present divisiveness.

  In the next post I’ll look at the USA ahead through the next three elections for clues on when the daylight will dawn again.