Giorgia Meloni, a right-wing adherent of pro-Mussolini politics, is riding high in the polls for the September 25^th election. Pundits say if she fulfils the predictions she should have enough to form a coalition to  become Italy’s first female prime minister. Her next hope would be to transform Italy from a parliamentary republic, ruled since the war by a series of short-lived, unstable coalitions, into a directly elected presidency, similar to France.

 In Italy Mussolini is not regarded as repellent as Hitler, and Meloni insists her policies are not pro-fascist but centre-right. Her party’s policies include a tougher line on immigration, opposition to gay adoption and abolition of the “citizenship wage” — a guaranteed basic income.

  Born 15 January 1977 6pm Rome (from  memory), she is a hard-working, ambitious 6^th house Capricorn Sun trine a lucky, successful Jupiter in Taurus in her 10^th. She has a Yod of Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct an 8^th house Venus in Pisces; and another sort-of Yod from Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct the Black Moon. With the Black Moon also tied into a T square opposition Uranus square Saturn in Leo.  And her Chiron is conjunct her South Node in Aries – a complicated lady with fated path in life. Ultimately successful but with twists and turns and setbacks along the way.

 She’s looking marginally deflated across the election until late October and indeed beyond with tr Neptune conjunct her Sun/Jupiter midpoint and then opposition her Saturn/North Node midpoint. She will hit a patch of good fortune from 8^th November till December 3^rd – so coalition wrangles may prove successful. Though she’ll have to have it done and dusted before early December since thereafter she’s into a run of catastrophes and calamities.

 Jupiter crosses her Midheaven from May 2023 onwards till late 2024 which should see her forging ahead triumphantly. 2024/25 will be years of surging confidence. And Saturn is heading for her peak from 2027 lasting for several years thereafter.

  She’s certainly ambitious though there’s no saying she would win a presidential election even if she did manage to get the two thirds majority to push it through.    

Charles 111 was proclaimed King at 10.04 am this morning in London on the exact Full Moon conjunct Neptune. This sounds indecisive, unstable, overly dewy-eyed. Except that the Full Moon is the fulcrum of a determinedly practical and business-like Earth Grand Trine of Virgo Sun trine Uranus (North Node) in Taurus trine Pluto. It won’t be easy to integrate two such divergent energies and Moon Neptune in Pisces as the driving planets are not instantly obvious as helpful or constructive.

  There will be arguments with Mars in Gemini in the 8^th over money amongst other things with Mars square Venus and trine Mercury.

 Uranus Node in the 7^th doesn’t leap out as cooperative or supportive of relationships, quite the opposite. Uranus Saturn can be autocratic and with Saturn in the 4^th it may point to family tensions.

  The other point of interest is the Black Moon conjunct the Midheaven in the 10^th which could give him the ‘ desire to accomplish great things in order to prove to a parent that he is worthy of love.’ It can lead to an obsession with living up to expectations by making a difference, so driven and ambitious, not wanting to settle for mediocrity. Making an impact will be important to him, stemming from a fear of failure in the public eye, scared of what others might think. Wanting to be an influential person and in control.

  It is a very different chart to the Queen’s Accession at 5 pm on 6 February 1952 which had an unbudgeable – and unfathomable – Pluto on the Ascendant opposition an Aquarius Sun. Plus a lucky and highly active Jupiter tied into a resourceful Cardinal Grand Square. Her Coronation chart of the following year has relatively similar traits with a prominent Jupiter and plenty of Cardinal signs for initiative.

  It’ll be quite a baptism of upheavals for him over the next two years which he won’t find easy with a Scorpio Sun square a 1^st house Pluto and a Taurus Moon.  He’s Fixed in a different way to his mother and lacks her ramrod straight devotion to duty and responsibility. His Saturn falls in his 2^nd house of personal finances which I have never quite understood since traditionally it means caution around money and he seems to be profligate at a personal level and less than rigorous when it comes to eliciting charitable donations. [Mind you Sarah Ferguson also has Saturn in her 2^nd and is a complete klutz when it comes to money, reckless and irresponsible.]

  Tr Uranus is tugging at his Pluto, turning his life upside down this year and early in 2023; with a sense of cutting away from the past as tr Saturn squares his Sun this year as well. Tr Uranus follows behind to oppose his Sun from July 2023 on into 2024 which will involve another set of disruptions. Plus a run of calamities from January 2023 onwards, on and off till late 2024, as tr Pluto squares his Mars/Saturn midpoint and last but not least tr Pluto will square his 10^th house Moon from late March 2023, on and off till late 2024, which will bring immense professional and personal pressures and challenges, prompting/forcing him to change.

  But for all that Jupiter will move across his Midheaven from March 2023 onwards for a year which may coincide with his coronation and will bring success in the months following. And tr Saturn is aiming for his peak from late 2026 onwards for several years – so if he overcomes the hurdles he should move steadily ahead after that.

  His relationship chart with the UK is a good deal trickier than his mother’s. There’s Pluto on the Midheaven opposition Mercury square Saturn which does suggest arguments over control and direction and a good deal of stubbornness – plus an affectionate Sun Venus conjunction. His determined Scorpio Sun squares the UK’s 11^th house Saturn which suggests he and parliament may be at cross purposes – which was always the fear expressed in Michael Dobbs’ House of Cards sequel To Play the King.  

A trooper to the end, the Queen lived up to her Saturnine Midheaven by swearing in a new Prime Minister two days before she died. An unrelenting sense of old-fashioned duty saw her through seven decades on the throne. She was described as the ‘keystone’ for the UK which gives a pointer to the void she leaves between for a country already in a turmoil of uncertainty.

The time of death was given as 2.37pm by Lady Colin Campbell but is yet to be confirmed.

  At the moment her obsessively conscientious Saturn in Scorpio on her Midheaven which gave her cast-iron resolve was being softened and undermined by Solar Arc Neptune conjunct to within minutes of a degree with Solar Arc Jupiter in opposition. Her Progressed Moon was exactly conjunct her Mars, perhaps a hint of the suddenness of her passing.

  Her Coronation chart, 2 June 1953 11.20 am London, was also being undermined this year by tr Neptune square the Mars Mercury. And the Solar Arc Pluto was opposition the Venus for an emotional ending. The Midheaven around 18 Taurus was also in the line of fire of the history-changing tr Uranus Node Node in Taurus which picked up in early August.   

  Prince Charles, 14 November 1948 9.14 pm London, was always due for a challenging crisis in a crossroads year with the approaching October Scorpio Solar Eclipse opposing his 10^th house Moon North Node in Taurus. The 10^th house Moon fits him for a public career. An eclipse opposing the Moon will bring emotional shocks and relationship tensions. The astrologer Robert Jansky writes: ‘Under this transit mama’s boys suddenly find their manhood’. He also has his Solar Arc Mars opposition Saturn, which can often accompany a death.

  Tr Saturn is also squaring his Sun this year and tr Uranus opposing it in 2023 and squaring his Pluto this year and next – so his life is in an upheaval. With a fair amount of panic ongoing as his Solar Arc Neptune opposition his Solar Arc Midheaven is sitting on top of his Jupiter opposition Uranus – a hint of not only his anxiety about whether he is man enough for the job, given his 4^th house Neptunian father; but also the effect his new role will have in squelching his adventurous streak. Tr Saturn is heading for his 8^th house from February 2023 for two years which will throw him back on his own emotional resources and could be a testing time.   Even more significantly tr Pluto will square his 10th house Moon from late March 2023, on and off till late 2024, which will be emotionally anguished and very pressured career-wise and in his personal life.

 The UK chart has a Solar Arc Pluto square the Capricorn Sun at the moment, a hint of the paralysis that comes as old structures are dismantled and before the new structures can be put in place. The last time there was a hard Solar Arc Pluto to the Sun was in 1929 during the Stock Market Crash; and the time before was over the Coronation of Queen Victoria, still in her late teens.

  When Queen Elizabeth 1 died in 1603, having reigned for 45 years, tr Uranus was in Taurus as now and the North Node was in late Scorpio. When Victoria died in 1901 after 63 years on the throne the North Node was also in late Scorpio. Now as Elizabeth 11 goes the North Node is in mid Taurus.   

All a bit astro-heavy but covers the basics and no doubt there will be much more anon as the ripples spread out.

The Duchess of Cambridge sails serenely on, wreathed in smiles, always elegant, a fulfilled mother and wife, morphing effortlessly into the challenging role of future consort. Yet she has a beyond-difficult chart.

  Born 9 January 1982 7pm (from memory) Berkshire, she has a sociable and ambitious 5^th house Capricorn Sun which opposes a friendly and family-oriented 11^th house Cancer Moon. So she was born at the time of the Full Moon, usually an indication of temperamentally incompatible parents which leaves the offspring constantly pulled between their head and their heart, unable to decide what they want.

  However in her case the Full Moon is pulled together by a formidable collection of Mars, Saturn, Pluto in Libra. That would leave precious little leeway for young Kate to express or even know what either her head or her heart wanted for herself. Her mother Carole from all accounts was hellbent on producing perfect daughters and ones who would have a chance of elevation through a marriage of rank and money.

 Carole Middleton is a Sun Aquarius with a beyond-stubborn Pluto opposition Mercury square Saturn in Scorpio. But she and Kate do get on well with Carole’s Sun conjunct Kate’s Venus, Carole’s Jupiter conjunct Kate’s Moon and opposition her Sun and their relationship chart isn’t too alarming.

  There’s no doubt a backbone of reinforced steel is needed to withstand a Royal lifestyle and the capability of suppressing personal needs in favour of public smiles – which Kate’s Venus Mercury in Aquarius square Jupiter in Scorpio is custom built for.  So a stamina-building, selfless childhood was probably a necessity.

  She’s moving into a hard-working and responsible fourteen years ahead with tr Saturn rising above her Descendant, hitting her eight year peak from 2028 onwards. Even before then Jupiter moving across her Midheaven from June 2023 for a year will see her glowing with confidence and attracting praise and success. She’s out of what has been an exceptionally tough few years with first tr Uranus in Aries and then tr Pluto in Capricorn hammering at her Mars, Sun, Moon, Saturn and Pluto and marriage significator Sun/Moon midpoint since 2012/13 – starting with the birth of Prince George. The last and final push is on till early this December with tr Pluto square her Pluto – and after that it will be less pressured.

 Though she is running into her midlife crisis (38 to 42) with the Neptune square Neptune at the moment and tr Uranus opposing her Uranus in 2026. In her case this may be more significant, since my experience of women with Sun Pluto hard aspects, is that often they don’t come into their own and empower themselves until into their forties. They pull away from their younger submissive selves and take control. So a different facet of Kate may emerge.

  Though what may pull against that marginally is her Progressed Mars going retrograde in January 2024 which often coincides with a time when there is less ability or motivation to be assertive. It can accompany a setback or a drop in vitality but could also be the walls of the monarchy closing in on her as she buckles down for the marathon ahead.

  She will have to look after her health with Pluto moving through her 6^th and crossing her Mercury and Venus ahead.  

  There is a great deal more to her than meets the eye and indeed possibly more in her than she is conscious of since she learned early on to bury a good deal of her individuality.

 In marrying Prince William she found a partner with a similar emotional background since his Cancer Moon squares Mars and his Mars is conjunct Saturn is conjunct Pluto. Their relationship would go through a few trials with the disruptive tr Uranus square tr Pluto of last decade but that has now cleared. Though neither are easy personalities.

  Her relationship with Meghan Markle is not going to improve, indeed the tensions will intensify with tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2023/24 and tr Uranus will cause major upset as it hard aspects the volcanic Moon Mars square Venus Uranus in 2024/25.   

Actress and film maker Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling which she directs and co-stars in premiered at Venice to mixed reviews. A famously troubled production it started with star Shia Labeouf exiting reportedly because of poor behaviour of set, which he denied. He was replaced by Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde’s boyfriend, but tensions continued to rumble with reports of clashes between actress co-star Florence Pugh and Wilde.  Critics praised Pugh’s performance but criticized the screenplay, Styles’s performance, and Wilde’s direction.

  Principal photography kicked off in LA on October 26 2020 when Mars in Aries was square Jupiter Pluto Saturn in Capricorn which is an aggravated, combustible mix.

  Neither Olivia Wilde nor Florence Push are easy personalities. Wilde. 10 March 1984, New York, has a Sun Mercury in Pisces trine a determined, stubborn and short-fused Mars Saturn in Scorpio.

Florence Pugh, 3 January 1996, has a highly-strung and uncompromising Uranus, Mars, Neptune in Capricorn and her Saturn in Pisces is conjunct Wilde’s Sun.

 Their relationship chart has a power-struggling composite Sun Venus square Pluto.

  Chris Pine, 26 August 1980 8.25am LA,  a Sun Virgo with Jupiter and Saturn (not conjunct) also in Virgo managed to sail through with a smile on his face. He wouldn’t find Oliva Wilde easy with her Mars Saturn square his Uranus though their relationship chart has a bouncy, enthusiastic Mars Jupiter which would help. With Harry Styles the relationship chart is edgy and irritable. With Florence Pugh there’s a real power-couple dynamic, with a composite Sun, Jupiter Pluto conjunction which if they pull together will produce a definite result

Politics may be showbiz for ugly people. But luvvies while prettier get into equally rancorous turf and ego wars.

The Truss cabinet may be diverse ethnically but it follows Boris’s mantra of rewarding supporters and banishing divergent thinkers which hardly bodes well.

 Therese Coffey, Deputy PM and Health Secretary, overweight and a smoker, RC and anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. She’s a Sun Scorpio with Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune square Mars in Pisces (shades of Dom Cummings) – stubborn and scattergun at the same time, running into a dead-halt in a year plus with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Sun. Relations with Truss OK until 2024 when uncertainty and disappointment loom.

 Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor, a Sun Gemini opposition Neptune, will be marginally down in 2023. A volatile relationship with Truss which will rock n’ roll this year and next, which is standard for PMs and Chancellors, never an easy partnership.  

James Cleverly, Foreign Secretary, a sensible Virgo Sun trine Saturn in Taurus, is undermined in 2023. The most troubled relationship with Truss of all the Cabinet – through 2023 into 2024.

Suella Braverman, Home Secretary, an Aries Sun opposition Pluto, with a bombastic Mars in Leo square Uranus and Venus. Not a good reputation for competence or sound judgement. Uncertain later this year; disappointment between herself and Truss in 2023 with jolts and jangles.  

Ben Wallace, stays as Defence Secretary, a Taurus trine Pluto, stays on a lucky roll till late 2023. Scratchy moments with Truss from early 2023, worse in 2024.

Kemi Badenoch, International Trade, a Capricorn Sun with Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in Virgo. Losing traction from May 2023 onwards into 2024. Relationship with Truss oddly hostile though may all be buried between politic smiles. 2024 is a trouble spot between them.

Jacob Reese Mogg, Business Secretary, Sun Mercury in Gemini opposition Mars with Jupiter Pluto Uranus in late Virgo. Steam rolling ahead till early this December and although bullishly confident through 2023/24 is beginning to lose his mojo with disappointments and disasters looming from mid 2023 onwards. His relationship with Truss has fraught undertones with both jockeying for position and power. Will wobble in 2023, more obviously in 2024.

  Truss’s relationship with Opposition Leader Keir Starmer is possibly softened by her Venus in Virgo being conjunct his Sun Pluto. If he survives the course as Labour leader it may run into a few hiccups after mid 2023.

  Where she will have steely opponents are in Mick Lynch, the Rail Union leader, and Frances O’Grady, the TUC leader, The relationship chart with Mick Lynch suggests deteriorating relations this year and next and next with a hostile, argumentative tr Pluto square Saturn and Mercury with undermining Neptune brewing up confusion and scandal through till 2025.

  Frances O’Grady, head of the Trades Union Congress, has already been voicing concern about the effect of Truss’s economic policies. She’s a stalwart Sun, Mars in Scorpio square Uranus and her relationship chart with Truss is fraught at the best of times with a composite Sun, Pluto, Uranus conjunction and Mars opposition Jupiter square Neptune – all of which is being upended one way and another through the next two years.

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Liz Truss took up the reins at Balmoral at around 12.27 pm today to return immediately to London as the new prime minister on the votes of less than 100,000 older, mainly male, middle-class Tory voters.

  Looking on the bright side of the Term chart there is an Earth Grand Trine of a Virgo Sun trine Capricorn Moon trine Uranus North Node. Earth Grand Trines tend to be security-conscious, business-minded, keen to maintain the status quo and focused on materialistic ambitions. Can lack imagination, be stuck in a rut and overly conservative. Reasonably talented.

 The worry is the Uranus North Node close to the Descendant square Saturn. Uranus is divisive, uncompromising, uncooperative, defiant, unpredictable, prone to sudden changes in alliances, dislikes restrictions. Not good for stable relationships, for sure. That is doubled in effect by having the North Node on the Descendant which suggests that being considerate to the needs of others is not a priority. South Node on the Ascendant could suggest following old patterns (dogma) unquestioningly.

  The Uranus North Node square Saturn will make for a ratchety, jangled, high-tension term with ill-feeling erupting along the way. Saturn in Aquarius can be cold, unfeeling, overly rigid. The 3^rd house is heavy and challenging with Moon Pluto and Saturn there which in mundane astrology rules communication, internal travel within a country (rail system/strikes?), sometimes education.

  Mars in the 8^th house of debt and joint finances will arouse arguments since it is square the Sun and trine Mercury, partly a result of over-promising with Mercury opposition a grandstanding and over-hopeful Jupiter in the 5^th.

 Neptune in the 4^th – a confused, disillusioned electorate.

  I’ve seen administration charts a good deal worse though it will be a bumpy ride – coming to a crunch point in eighteen months when the Solar Arc Uranus closes to exact the square to Saturn. Tr Uranus square the Saturn from late May 2023 will also cause a few significant upheavals and bouts of rebellion.

   Liz Truss’s own chart has the upbeat, successful tr Pluto conjunct her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint which carried her to victory staying in place until early December but once that has gone she’ll have less luck coming her way. Indeed even before then tr Uranus conjunct her Mars from 11 October for a month will bring a shock or two and could provoke her into hasty misjudgements. That returns next April. After the first week in December she will run into a series of calamities and disasters until January 10^th and that influence returns late September/October 2023. Plus a panicky-failure tr Neptune square Sun/Mars from March 2023 till early 2024; plus a discouraging slog from tr Pluto opposition her Sun/Saturn midpoint and square her Uranus throughout 2023 as well.

  Hanging on grimly looks like 2023’s motto.

  Her personal chart looks nothing like Maggie Thatcher’s which had a super-confident, resourceful Jupiter opposition Pluto square Mars and Sun in Libra. She may have been a pain but she had initiative and conviction.  Maggie’s First Government chart was exceptionally tough, ambitious and ruthless. Getting results was her motto.   

See previous Liz Truss post August 29 2022. Also 21 July 2022 and 20 December 2021.

The Times said: “The Queen’s schedule on Tuesday involved Johnson arriving at 11.16am and leaving 39 minutes later. Truss arrived at 12.22pm and stayed for 33 minutes.

Both the Moon and Pluto crave closeness but of a different order. The Moon wants nurtured like a baby with unconditional love. Pluto demands ownership, dominates and controls. The Plutonic mother disregards the needs and wishes of the possessed child and assumes the right to be invasive even into adult life.

   One analogy which fits the Moon Pluto mother is the psychological quirk of not experiencing the child as a separate being but as being similar to their own arm – a lifelong extension of themselves. There is no mine and thine, it’s all me and me. In extremis a Moon Pluto mother is felt as death-dealing because she tries to suppress all separation and attempts to deny the child’s developing identity.

  Individuals with a Moon Pluto mother learn to protect themselves by shutting their emotions away and becoming defensive in other relationships. They fear being smothered, suffocated and controlled if they open up.

  It creates in adult life an intense and dramatic emotional life with a tendency toward dark moods and fears. It can bring psychic experiences as well since there is a pull towards what lies beyond reality or what comes from deep in the unconscious.

  As with all difficulties it can be overcome with psychotherapy – and it does seem to be more obviously burdensome for women than for men.

 Jennifer Aniston, 11 February 1969 10.22pm Los Angeles,  has a Moon square Pluto and had a famously difficult relationship from her late mother from whom she was estranged for 15 years after her mother wrote a tell-all book in 1999 called Mother to Daughter to Friends: A Memoir. Which is a classic taking-ownership of my daughter and invading her privacy.

  In an interview Aniston said: “She was very critical of me. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”

 Karen Carpenter, the tragic singer, who died young from anorexia, 2 March 1950 11.45am New Haven, CT had a Moon Pluto conjunction in Leo and a difficult relationship with her parents who invested their hopes in her elder brother’s success but were unprepared for her ambitions and achievements.

  John Lennon, 9 October 1940, 6.30pm Liverpool, England, had a Moon opposition Pluto and fell into that odd category (which happens with Sun Pluto fathers as well) of not having a strong connection with his mother. He was effectively abandoned by her and largely brought up by his aunt Mimi – which left him with a constant sense of not quite belonging anywhere, or to anyone. He ended up hitched to Yoko Ono, seven years his senior, who was herself a controlling type with Pluto in her 10^th.

  So Pluto isn’t just about extreme possessiveness; it can also accompany abandonment and indifference to the child’s needs.

  Anne Heche, the troubled actress who killed herself recently in a car crash recently, with a religious mother from hell had a Moon Pluto conjunct in her 12^th. See posts 6 and 14^th August 2022.

 Skipping down famous examples what stood out were three children of high profile mothers/parents – Lisa Marie-Presley, Athina Roussel (daughter of Christina Onassis) and Suri Cruise. All of whom have hard Moon Pluto aspects – in part a reflection of an over-exposed or over-protected childhood.

  Suri Cruise has a Moon conjunct Pluto trine Sun – and part of that may stem from a sense of being a pawn in a tense stand off between parents.

Princess Margaret with a 5^th house Moon Pluto conjunction lived out the drama of her Moon Pluto to the full but she led a self-destructive life which took its toll on her health. And neither she nor her rigidly dutiful elder sister the Queen ever escaped from the clutches of the Queen Mother. The Queen evidently phoned her everyday in life and noticeably relaxed after her mother died.

  These are extreme examples and there will be those who manage to resolve the problems to live a reasonably balanced emotional life.