Sex and the BBC has a decidedly sleazy feel with yet another alleged entanglement between a presenter and a teen over torrid online encounters and shedloads of money for porno pics which supposedly fuelled the boy’s cocaine addiction. Nothing is established in hard fact as yet and the BBC’s excuse for leaving it to stew for seven weeks until The Sun (tabloid paper) spilled the beans was they could not get any contact with the boy, only his mother. That may not hold up when the whole imbroglio unravels but it feels like a familiar BBC playbook – when accused, stall, stonewall, refuse to engage until forced at gunpoint. A stupendously top heavy and stratospherically expensive management is almost impossible to manoeuvre into decisive action.

  The BBC chart, 14 November 1922 6pm London, is Scorpio so ultra-determined and not inclined to give in without a fight even when blatantly wrong. Jupiter Mercury also in Scorpio beside Sun the 5^th adds a Leonine feel plus the Sun is in an evasive square to Neptune. Mercury Jupiter also square Mars in Aquarius which last in my experience is self-righteously aggressive and unwilling to admit being wrong. There is also a Water Grand Trine of a 10^th house Uranus trine Pluto trine Mercury – which has a tendency to create its own bubble of reality, thereby cutting out signals from the outside world.

  Now that is all negative – and much of the above has a positive, creative and entertaining side as well. But the BBC has always been a law unto itself and gets offended at being criticized which stems in part from arrogance and entitlement.

 Over the past year they have lurched from chairman Richard Sharp going over conflicts of financial interest involving Boris Johnson, Philip Scofield and some dreary DJ whose come-down over allegations of sexual misconduct followed the same BBC scenario of obfuscate, deny, until forced to come clear.

  Tr Uranus square the BBC Neptune at 18 degrees Leo earlier this year would not help and now tr Uranus is opposing the Scorpio Sun for another serious jolt, having just moved from the square to the Midheaven – both of these last two repeat into early 2024. It will continue to rock on its axis.

 Tim Davie’s Director General Term, 1 September 2020, was always going to be a series of catastrophic crises, some of them carnal – most apposite. There was a Saturn Pluto in Capricorn opposition Venus square Mars in late Aries as he started. The Solar Arc Pluto is now conjunct the Saturn (which is more or less what saw Boris out of No 10). The Solar Arc Venus is square the Mars also now for a sexual scandal with overtones of insensitivity in the handling thereof which fits Venus square Mars.  Tr Pluto makes a paralysed, trapped square to the Mars till late this year – and if he survives, 2025 looks terminal for his BBC career with Solar Arc Pluto square Mars – though he may not make it that far.

 Born 25 April 1967, he is a Sun Taurus conjunct North Node with Moon Neptune in Scorpio so reasonably good at toughing it out. But he has some poleaxing midpoint transits all this year which will make even him wilt.

 His relationship chart with the BBC is fairly tied together with a controlling composite Sun opposition Pluto but also an explosive, volatile Mars Uranus. It looks heavy on the discussion front this year but not necessarily parting company.

Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders renown is portraying another morally ambiguous character in Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster out this month about the ‘father of the atomic bomb.’

  The real question for Murphy plumbing the soul of theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer was what combination – ambition, madness, delusion and/or deep hatred of the Nazis allowed him to agree to an experiment which could obliterate humankind. “He was dancing between the raindrops morally. He was complex, contradictory  – but ultimately unknowable.”

 Early reports indicate it is a powerfully affecting film.

   Oppenheimer, 22 October 1904 8.15am? New York, did have worrisome aspects to his character with an incident in his student days at Cambridge when he left a poisoned apple on the desk of a tutor he was jealous of who had made him feel inadequate. His parents pulled him out of a charge of attempted murder by placing him under psychiatric care where he was diagnosed as perhaps schizophrenic.

  His affair with Communist sympathizer American psychiatrist Jean Tatlock is highlighted in the film, though they had split before he took over the Manhattan Project in 1942. She suicided from depression in 1944.

 Apologies for not noticing the time was marked DD (dirty data) by ADB. There are a variety of suggested times and the one which makes most sense is around 8pm, which was Ebertin’s pick (see above). This puts Opp’s Taurus Sun and Mars in his 6^th square Saturn in scientific Aquarius in his 3^rd – undoubtedly intelligent, hard-working and chillingly unsentimental. His Pluto and Neptune on this time would be in his 8^th – as was the case with Churchill and Hitler. Hidden powers of great magnitude for good or ill.  Opp’s Pluto was also in an experimental, innovative, pushing-back-the-boundaries opposition to Uranus squaring onto a Virgo North Node.  His 9^th house Moon opposed Chiron exactly. His Uranus and Sun were both trine a last degree Leo Midheaven.   

 His comments at the time of the first test in mid July 1945 from the Hindu sacred text the Bhagavad-Gita – “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.  “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one” – give a hint of his spiritual struggle to reconcile his hubris with the devastation it brought.

Cillian Murphy, 25 May 1976 Cork, Ireland, has Jupiter, South Node, Mercury, Venus in Taurus so he would have some resonances with Oppenheimer; but Murphy’s critical Saturn Mars and Uranus clashing with Oppenheimer’s Moon points to equally strong reservations about him.  Murphy’s South Node conjunct Opp’s Mars is intriguing – suggesting it pulls the actor back into his primitive urges, good for the role but not so much for his peace of mind.

  Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote and produced the movie, has his Pluto conjunct Opp’s North Node.

  Oppenheimer’s doomed liaison with Jean Tatlock, 21 February 1914, was a tortured affair, On the upside her Sun Venus in Pisces fell on his IC on the cusp of his 4^th which would give an illusion of comfort. But her Mars was conjunct his 8^th house Neptune and her Pluto sat in his 8^th as well opposition his Uranus.

  His wife Kitty Oppenheimer, 8 August 1910, a Sun Leo square Saturn in Taurus with a highly strung Uranus opposition Neptune had her Saturn conjunct his Sun and Mars which was not auspicious – an aggravated chemistry. Her Mars on his midheaven would add a competitive element to their connection. After the war she became alcoholic and after his death in 1967 took up with a partner whose wife had just suicided and she died five years later.

  Blighted lives.

Looking for a ‘nuclear’ signature: – at the Hiroshima bomb in 1945 Pluto was sitting exactly on the Uranus/Neptune midpoint. Neptune Pluto is the key aspect I’d expect to see around nuclear incidents or Neptunian variations thereof. Chernobyl had Uranus conjunct the Saturn/Neptune midpoint exactly with a disastrous-accident Saturn conjunct the Mars/Pluto and square the Sun/Mars midpoints; and Sun opposition Pluto trine Neptune.

  At the moment for those worrying about Putin’s itchy finger on the button – we have moved through and survived without incident tr Pluto hitting the Uranus/Neptune midpoint in 2021/22. Though there is still tr Neptune conjunct Uranus/Pluto running this year till early 2024; and tr Uranus square the Neptune/Pluto midpoint in 2025. But all of these aspects have occurred once in a while in the past without a nuclear incident. 

 

Bruce Springsteen is yet another ageing rocker putting the youngsters to shame with a three hour tour-de-force in front of 65,000 fans in Hyde Park  starting with ‘No Surrender’. Rumoured to be his last tour he has another London outing tonight. A reviewer said: “he played with fire in his belly, a twinkle in his eye, and the energy of a man half his age.”

  He was born 23 September 1949 10.50pm Freehold, New Jersey and now in his eighth decade he has produced 21 albums over a career spanning sixty years.

  His Libra Sun sits in his 4^th house of home and family as does his Saturn in Virgo. In his childhood his father had mental problems and his mother was the breadwinner. His Sun is square a rebellious and unconventional 1^st house Uranus which did not make his school years easy.  He has a full performing/entertaining 5^th house  with musical Neptune, Mercury and Moon in Libra and Venus in Scorpio there. Plus a lucky financial Jupiter in his 8^th – and perhaps most important of all to tie up his power-packed life a do-or-die- determined Mars Pluto in Leo in his 3^rd house.

  He married singer Patti Scialfi, 29 July 1953 Deal, New Jersey, after his first marriage failed and they have three children together, spending their time between a New Jersey horse ranch and homes in Florida and Los Angeles.

  She is a Sun Leo which sits close to his Mars with her light-hearted Jupiter Venus in Gemini sitting on his Ascendant and her Pisces Moon in his 10^th. Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction.

  He has a powerfully successful get-it-together 5^th harmonic, a musical 7H; and leaving-a-legacy 17H and superstar 22H.

  From unlikely beginnings he made it to the top and stays there. His chart does not indicate a halt to his career and with Jagger still going strong at 80 and Elton John at 76 he may keep going, though 2025 may be lacklustre with his Solar Arc Neptune square his Sun.

Jim Caviezel, a talented actor with strong religious convictions which include advocating QAnon conspiracy theories, is an unexpected success with his latest movie about child sex traffickers, outselling Indiana Jones at the box office. “Sound of Freedom” is an action thriller based on the real-life exploits of a crusading former Homeland Security agent. The film was completed in 2018 and rejected by major studios, including Disney but was saved by Angel Studios, based in Utah, the most religious state in America, and partially crowd funded.

  The producers deny any connection with QAnon’s  false belief that a highly organized network of global elites are kidnapping children, having sex with them and harvesting their blood. But critics accuse the movie of warping the truth about the reality of child exploitation.

  Caviezel, born 26 September 1968 11.14am Mount Vernon, Washington, is interesting astrologically since he was born with a tricky Saturnine yod in place and in a year which produced many acting notables. Will Smith was born one day earlier, with Helen McCrory, Hugh Jackman, Gillian Anderson, Timothy Oliphant (Justified), Guy Ritchie, Marine Le Pen and Pauley Perrette (late of NCIS) all having that emphasized/afflicted Saturn in Aries inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto.

 Caviezel has an 11^th house Libra Sun conjunct Uranus sextile a 1^st house Sagittarius Moon which is conjunct Neptune – his Sun inclines to unconventional ideas; his Moon is wreathed in fantasies and visions.  Saturn inconjunct Neptune can be prone to neurotic fixations though is also creative. His Mars in Virgo on his midheaven fuels his ambitions along with a powerfully confident Jupiter, Pluto, Uranus stellium in Virgo in his 10^th house of career.

 He’s had an oddly patchy career in terms of public prominence with notable highlights starting in a breakthrough role early on in 1998 in Terence Malick’s The Thin Red Line about Vietnam. Thence onto Mel Gibson’s controversial, blood-soaked The Passion of Christ in 2004 which he was warned might harm his career. The TV series Person of Interest on the perils and benefits of an Artificial Intelligence machine with a mind of its own had consistently high ratings (2011 – 2016). In it he played an ex-CIA assassin turned good guy while still indulging in copious violence with fists and guns. He evidently won’t do hot romance in movies because of his religious beliefs but has that odd American predilection which allows for righteous brutality but forbids sex.

  Another Mel Gibson tortured Christ movie may be in the making with him back in the lead though nothing has yet been seen of progress. Gibson’s successful/confident Jupiter Pluto is conjunct Caviezel’s Mars Midheaven so good for career ambitions. Except for the Saturnine element creeping in which will have a dampening effect.

  Strange beliefs never held Tom Cruise back but at least he doesn’t inject them into his movies.  

Women’s rights are a relatively recent phenomenon in historical terms even in the west. Full voting rights were established in many countries only in the early 20^th Century. The UK took several steps towards equality in voting starting in 1918 with a final completion in 1928. The USA adopted full suffrage for women in 1920, having seen a previous attempt in 1848 struck down by the Supreme Court.

  Saturn Neptune conjunctions have been present at several of the landmark women’s equality markers. The UK Married Women’s Property Act of August 1882 which allowed married women to own and control property in their own right occurred with Neptune and Saturn in Taurus.   The UK Representation of the People Act February 1918 on a Saturn Neptune in Leo – and this was when the push for full voting rights for women in the USA was underway.  

   Both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne to exert tremendous feminine influence over matters of state on Saturn–Neptune conjunctions — in 1558 in Taurus and in 1953 in Libra. Both Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years have Saturn–Neptune squares in their birth charts.   Benazir Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of Pakistan on the conjunction in Capricorn in 1988, though it proved a short-lived triumph. Around the same time, Margaret Thatcher, the first British woman prime minister, handed in her staff of power and resigned.

  Afghanistan has a chequered history towards women with the then king issuing legislation in 1919 to abolish slavery, guarantee secular education, and institute equal rights for men and women. In  1929 the king was overthrown and all voting rights were removed. It wasn’t until after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that people regained the right to vote in 2004.

The Taliban who arrived in 1996 are notorious for their misogyny and violence against women. Since their appearance on the scene, women have been forced to wear the burqa at all times in public, not allowed to work, or be educated after the age of eight. Not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. Under 16 years of age marriage encouraged.  80 per cent of Afghan marriages are forced.

 Recent hardening of anti-women decrees, banned them from university education, gyms, public baths, public parks, and amusement parks. The education ban was condemned by Islamic scholars inside Afghanistan, and by the Muslim World League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and by Muslim-majority countries including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. This year the Taliban began to restrict access to contraceptives. They stated that “family planning is a western agenda”.

  Taking the founder of Taliban, Mullah Omar’s investiture as First Taliban Emir on 27 September 1996, as a putative chart for the Taliban it gives Sun Libra conjunct North Node opposition Saturn (Moon) in Aries square Jupiter – with Pluto at zero degrees Sagittarius. It is undergoing massive force changes at the moment with tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus and the Solar Arc Sun opposition Saturn squaring the Uranus. The present ruler has issued a statement recently backtracking on recent restrictions on women but whether that is to be believed and a ploy to gain international recognition or not is questionable. Perhaps Pluto having moved on two signs might indicate a shift up and coming.

 The Afghanistan 19 August 1919 12 am country chart, is inherently unsettled and very fixed at the same time. There is a Leo Sun conjunct Saturn opposition Uranus square a Taurus Moon conjunct the South Node.  A focal point Taurus Moon on the South Node might suggest obsessive and regressive views of mother/women.  Uranus ‘should’ be tolerant but can in negative mode be lawless or law-unto-itself type of entity  – and opposition Saturn can also be authoritarian.  The Afghanistan chart is due for a fair amount of turmoil before tr Uranus exits Taurus as it will square the Sun in 2024 and conjunct the Moon and then in 2025 square the Uranus, before moving to square the Saturn – a three year patch of jolts, jangles and turbulence which may undermine the Taliban and assist the women (maybe).

  Afghanistan under the Taliban feels a touch like North Korea under Kim Jung Un – a surreal and dystopian nightmare.

  To wrap up Saturn Neptune:

  Saturn Neptune conjunctions were also around for key points of interest in works about or by women. Jane Austen’s first novel Sense and Sensibility emerged in 1811 under the conjunction in Sagittarius. Next conjunction around, in Aquarius and Pisces in 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights met with public acclaim.

   In the previous century, on the conjunction in Virgo in 1773, Oliver Goldsmith’s play She Stoops to Conquer and Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses looked archly at women’s behaviour. In 1665 under Saturn–Neptune in Aquarius, Molière produced The Misanthrope and The Dumb Lady. In similar vein during the last conjunction in 1989 in Capricorn the sculptor Anish Kapoor picked up the mood of the moment with his Mother as Void work; and Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish film-maker, produced his cult movie Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Cary Grant, one of Hollywood’s golden agers, is about to be introduced to a new generation 37 years after his death, with an ITVX series ‘Archie’ about his life.  A handsome, suave, debonair, light-hearted actor with a sense of comic timing, he was everyone’s idea of a polished gentleman. But his beginnings in extreme poverty in England, with an institutionalized mother he thought was dead and a father who abandoned him, throw his later life into stark relief. He once said: “I have something to confess. You see, I’ve always been someone else.  I made up Cary Grant as I went along.”

  After joining a vaudeville troupe in his teens which toured in the USA, he relocated permanently, made many acclaimed films, worked with Hitchcock, married five times, including to heiress Barbara Hutton, and when he finally belatedly had a child in his early sixties with actress Dyan Cannon, he retired from acting to focus on bringing up his daughter, giving her the childhood he never had – and exploiting his shrewd business abilities with Faberge and MGM Grand Hotels.  

  He frequently called his daughter Jennifer his “best production”. He said of fatherhood: “My life changed the day Jennifer was born. I don’t think my films will last very long once I’m gone. But another human being. That’s what’s important.”

  He was born 18 January 1904 1.07am (from biography?) Bristol, England, And had a Capricorn Sun conjunct Mercury and Chiron as well as a zero degree Aquarius Moon – with his Moon widely conjunct Saturn in the 4^th.  That is quite a collection of an ambitious Capricorn Sun entangled with emotional wounds from childhood with Chiron’s sense of being an outsider, an enduring sense of isolation and low-self-esteem, both damaged and chosen.

  He also had a strong ‘influencer’ Pluto in the 8^th tied into a Mutable T Square in opposition to Venus and Uranus square Jupiter in his performing 5^th house which also rules children. His 4^th house Mars trine his Pluto, gave him unshakeable determination.

  His daughter Jennifer, 26 February 1966 7.41 pm Burbank, CA, has her Pisces Sun falling in her father’s 5^th house and her Chiron is closely conjunct his 5^th house Jupiter – so through her he could live out a fulfilled childhood at last.  Her Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto, so each would boost the other’s morale.  It wouldn’t always be the easiest mix since she was of the Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn generation with Mars Mercury thrown into a complicated mix and that clashed with his Uranus opposition Pluto. And his determined Mars in Aquarius squared her Taurus Moon opposition Neptune for a few clashes. But it was a tied-together bond with their relationship chart having a composition Jupiter opposition Uranus square Pluto North Node; with a sugary-sweet Venus trine Jupiter sextile Mars to cover over the rougher edges.

 Earlier in his Hollywood days Grant lived in a beach house with Randolph Scott, 23 January 1898, for 12 years which led to rumours of a homosexual liaison though his daughter thought not. They would certainly be friendly with Scott’s Venus in Capricorn and early Aquarius Sun sitting comfortably with Grant’s Capricorn Sun and Aquarius Moon. But the relationship chart looks turbulent and competitive.

  His relationship with the much-married Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, though short-lived as a marriage, continued for years after as a friendship. Born 14 November 1912 2.25 pm New York, she had a tricky chart with an 8^th house Sun Mars in Scorpio and Pluto on her IC – not custom built for cooperation for sure. Her Uranus was conjunct his Moon Sun so not destined to be stable.  But their relationship chart had an affectionate and close composite Sun Venus opposition Pluto – so there was a lasting connection.

His chart relocated to Los Angeles does move his Sun Moon onto the Descendant but it isn’t as successful as I might have expected – not in the way that Sean Connery’s relocated chart from Edinburgh to LA is, putting his Pluto Jupiter on his midheaven. Grant’s chart relocated to New York does have influential Pluto in his 10th and his New Moon in his performing 5th house which might have seemed a more bountiful location for him. But that is assuming his birth time is accurate.

Into Elon Musk’s twitter chaos steps his arch-rival Mark Zuckerburg intent on launching a tweeting challenger in the form of ‘Threads’ this Thursday. Described as a ‘text-based conversation app… where communities come together’, it is linked to Instagram, which has 500 million daily users worldwide. Experts say it could be the biggest threat that Musk has faced so far. It has been nicknamed the ‘Twitter-killer.’

  Just what we need – more social media shriek-arenas.

  The launch chart, if it sticks to this Thursday, is reasonably OK in effectiveness terms with a half Grand Sextile from Mercury opposition Pluto (= fanatical and divisive discussion and disinformation) and that ties in by sextile/trine to Uranus and Neptune. There’s also a steady Sun trine Saturn sextile a money-making Jupiter in Taurus; plus an excitable, mouthy Venus Mars in Taurus square Uranus.

  Twitter, 21 March 2006, was always aiming for major problems with a disempowering and undermining tr Neptune square its Pluto this year as well as a stuck Solar Arc Pluto square the Midheaven (assuming 1.02pm start time); with worse approaching when tr Neptune Saturn move into Aries in 2025 to conjunct the Twitter Aries Sun which won’t be good commercially or practically. At the same time the Solar Arc Uranus will conjunct the Twitter Sun for a forced jolting change.

  The two billionaires are both, not surprisingly, strong personalities. Musk’s Pluto is trine and his Mars in Aquarius is square MK’s Taurus Sun for a clash of Titans. MK’s Mars (Moon), Saturn and Pluto in Scorpio make him virtually immoveable.

  Their relationship chart looks rattled at the moment with tr Uranus square the composite Saturn and this year’s Eclipses spotlight the bitter, power-struggling, hostile-dislike composite Mars square Pluto. There will be increasing chill over their chemistry in 2024 as tr Saturn squares the composite Neptune and Sun.

 Add ON: Threads launched according to reports at 12am BST today which puts flashy, ambitious/competitive Mars in Leo on the Midheaven conjunct Venus and square a 7^th house ‘unneighbourly’ and uncooperative Uranus. The Mars is on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune – certainly ambitious and then some, but also headstrong and not always subtle or tactful. Though there is also a well-knit together Cancer Sun in the communicative and international 9^th house trine Saturn sextile Jupiter in Taurus. Plus a fanatical, argumentative Mercury opposition Pluto.

  It’ll have a few jolts and jangles as tr Uranus squares the Venus from this August and then the Mars in 2024/25.

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Cricket – a bat-and-ball game played between two teams – is to the uninitiated a leisurely amble across well-cut grass where gentlemen play for the enjoyment of playing and the win is of secondary importance. Except when it turns into a culture clash between nations. There has been outrage over some obscure misdemeanour by the Australian team in the UK for the Ashes, who have been condemned for going against the spirit of the game by their overly competitive approach. Cries of ‘cheat, cheat, cheat’ regaled the Aussies as they walked through the pavilion. One Australian newspaper responded by dressing England captain Ben Stokes up in a nappy and declaring that the “Poms take whingeing to a new level with ‘cheating’ drivel”.

 The Aussie captain Pat Cummins is being blamed for his out-to-win approach. Born 8 May 1993, he is a tough Sun Taurus opposition Pluto with his Pluto square Saturn in Aquarius so he’s no pussy cat. His Fixed planets do collide with the UK’s 8^th house Mars and sporting 5^th house Venus in Aquarius so he was bound to ruffle a few feathers. He also has a sporting Sagittarius Moon and Mars in flamboyant Leo.

  He does fit more comfortably with the Australian chart and ethos with his Sun conjunct the AU Taurus Moon and his Sag Moon conjunct the AU Venus, Uranus, Jupiter; and his Jupiter in Libra opposition Venus square the AU Sun.

  The relationship chart between Australia and the UK has a competitive, argumentative composite Sun Venus opposition Mars square Jupiter – a high-octane mix of (sometimes) friendly rivalry and oneupmanship jousting. Plus a chained together (and resenting it) Pluto opposition Saturn. And an evasive Sun trine Neptune.

  Even the respective Prime Ministers – Sunak and Albanese  – waded in with opposing takes on the huffing hurricane.

 Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, devoted its front page to the row with the headline: “Our message to the hypocritical, sanctimonious, whinging poms who can’t accept they were beaten fair and square . . . “We’re 2 up, baby!”

Over two pages inside, headlined “The poms always bleating”, the newspaper’s cricket writer, Dean Ritchie said: “The protesting poms can have a two-finger salute — which could also double as the series score. That’s right, it’s two-nil.”

The gathering storm that will blight Israel’s path over the coming years broke on cue as Uranus moves to explode the destructive Israel Saturn/Mars midpoint, heading to conjunct the deeply buried Israel Sun in Taurus from mid August onwards. A  major aerial and ground offensive into the West Bank city of Jenin was launched early today, the biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years. 

  The UN spokesman said  “airstrikes were used in the densely populated refugee camp.”  This is part of a year-long spike in violence, resulting in some of the worst bloodshed in that area in nearly two decades.

   An Israeli official described the camp as “ a hornets nest”. A ghetto-like area, home to about 11,000 people, it has  long been viewed as a hotbed of what Palestinians see as armed resistance, and Israelis see as terrorism. Hundreds of armed fighters from militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah are based there, and the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority has next to no presence. The incursion came at a time of growing pressure within Israel for a tough response to a series of attacks on settlers – including a shooting last week that killed four people. It was unclear whether the operation would trigger a wider response from Palestinian factions, drawing in militant groups in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Israel’s far-right government has fanned the flames of vigilante settler violence.

See previous post December 30 2022. “Israel facing a historic moment on its path with a Nodal Return and a liberating Uranus conjunction to its Taurus Sun has turned its face against progress and doubled down on the worst of the past.”

  What effect tr Uranus conjunct the Israel 8^th house Taurus Sun will have immediately is unclear since it is an obdurately stubborn country, seemingly incapable of compromise or change. It would take a massive jolt to get them to see how self-defeating their actions over more than half a century have been. The oppressed Palestinians living under occupation have little to lose – and as with the Brit experience in Northern Ireland when you leave this kind of situation to fester, the hotheads, violent freedom fighters, thugs and gangsters race in to raise the heat.  

  Tr Neptune is square the Israel Uranus opposition Jupiter through 2023/24 to early 2025, which will dent high hopes and bring disappointment, financial and other. Tr Uranus squares the high-risk Mars/Pluto midpoint in 2023/early 24. And tr Uranus continues on to square the Israel Mars come 2025 which will see an escalation of violence and insecurity. There is a dangerous and paralysed Solar Arc Mars square Pluto for Israel 2025/26, moving to square the Saturn by 2028. With a directionless SA Midheaven conjunct Neptune also by 2027. At that point tr Pluto will oppose the Israel 10^th house Moon causing maximum duress not only on the population but also the country’s direction. From 2023 tr Pluto will oppose the Saturn Pluto and eventually oppose the Israel Mars in early 2040s for a dead halt. Pluto in Aquarius will be doing Israel no favours

The Palestine Independence Declaration, 15 November 1988, looks rattled exactly now with tr Uranus opposing the Scorpio Sun, and that runs into early 2024; with losses and high anxiety come tr Neptune Saturn moving into Aries in 2025 when both will conjunct the Mars and square the Saturn.

  The Gaza chart, 9 November 1917, has been badly rattled over the past two or more years with tr Uranus starting to move round its Neptune Saturn opposition Uranus square Scorpio Sun Mercury Fixed T square – with the reverberations extending into 2024. Tr Neptune Saturn in Aries in 2025 will square the Gaza Venus North Node in Cancer opposition Pluto for losses and disappointment.

  What sorted Northern Ireland was the US getting a grip but that is unlikely to happen with a depressing prospect of Palestinians going the way of Tibetans, Yazidis, Uyghurs etc.

Pluto sticks a toe into Aquarius and goodly chunks of the world go up in flames.