Eris: Sacred Feminine Force of Evolutionary Astrology is the latest contribution to burgeoning field of astrological insights gleaned from beyond the standard natal planets. Eris is a dwarf planet situated in the Kuiper Belt recognized for its similarities to Pluto.

   The author Daniel Fiverson with a background in Tarot, Hermeticism, and the I Ching, takes a soul-centered approach to astrology and writes lyrically and persuasively of the goddess of chaos and discord in action. Due its highly elliptical orbit it spends 20% of its  557 year orbit in Aries, most recently from 1928 to 2048.

   Although Eris is a force that disrupts, provokes and shatters illusions, here it is presented here as a potent force for personal evolution and for understanding global historical cycles.  Both conflict and catalyst, it highlights fractures that already exist.

 House positions are key for personal interpretations since it stays for so long in Aries as are aspects to natal planets. In a chart it is where we are called to disrupt, challenge and resist compliance with falsehoods, confront uncomfortable truths, face distortions and say ‘No More’.

 The mythological background to Eris is extensively explored and there are a wealth of detailed chart analyses focused on the house positions of well-known creative and political celebrities.

 Eris as a historical marker is highlighted with its last entry into Aries in the late 15^th early 16^th century which accompanied the Fall of Constantinole, Italian Renaissance and the Guttenberg printing press – a time of ‘upheaval, revelation, irreversible change.’ It returned in 1927 as the world was gearing up for a financial collapse.

 Eris in square to transiting Pluto in 2020 is pinpointed with the covid outbreak.

   Eris square the USA Pluto 2026 – 2030, the author suggests will continue following the Pluto Return exposing the fault lines in American’s notion of exceptionalism.  Beneath the collapse lies opportunity.

  Expanding one’s astrological repertoire takes time, reflection and continued study to select what is of value and how the new knowledge can be used to deepen insight. Familiarity with the old ways where grasping the range of possibilities from signs, planets and aspects is automatic, makes grappling with the nuances of new concepts an effort.

  Some of Eris placings make a good deal of sense being in hard aspect to Uranus in the charts of Julian Assange, Malcolm X, Allen Ginsberg, Ariel Sharon even Marilyn Monroe. Charles Manson had Eris in his hidden unconscious 12^th house. The USA Civil War started on Eris opposition Saturn square Mars.  The 2015 Inauguration had Eris conjunct Uranus. The 2025 Inauguration had Eris square Mars.

  Jeffrey Epstein had his Moon exactly conjunct Eric in his 3^rd house. Daniel Fiverson explains Moon Eris as –  themes of survival, alienation, deep instinctual responses to feelings of exclusion and betrayal. Childhood marked by emotional turmoil, a strong desire for autonomy in emotional connections. Eris is described as a rogue and outsider which would certainly fit him. But it is also associated with the feminine warrior which certainly does not.

  My jury is still out on Eris since it did not crop up in charts where I thought it might. But it may be that further study will nail down its usefulness.  This book is certainly a delight to read, uplifting and compelling, a ground breaker in the astrological study of a planet that was only first sighted in 2003 and named in 2005.   

www.wessexastrologer.com

Nuremberg, the latest film about the Nazi war crime trials after World War 11, stars Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring, once Hitler’s chosen successor. He embodied the spirit of the Third Reich and became the most senior surviving Nazi official to stand trial. His intelligence, arrogance and courtroom performances made him the defining symbol of the proceedings.

   Described as ‘an ambitious opportunist, whose charm and vanity’  carried him to the heart of new Reich, he was ‘gregarious and theatrical, but also impulsive, vain and manipulative.’ In WW1 he was a celebrated fighter ace in the air force, who became disillusioned with Germany’s defeat and joined the Nazi Party in 1922. Wounded in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch when Hitler tried to seize power, he became addicted to morphine.  The 1930s saw him established as president of Reichstag in 1932, going on to found the Gestapo and begin a systematic purge of political opponents.

 He was an important instrument of the Nazification of the state, ensuring that Germany’s civil institutions fell into line behind the new regime. And was one of the few who could speak to Hitler on equal terms. By 1938 he had amassed immense wealth, acquired vast estates and became a prolific collector of looted art.  As the war drew to a close Göring sent a telegram to Hitler suggesting that he should assume leadership if the Führer were incapacitated. In response, a paranoid Hitler branded him a traitor, stripped him of office and ordered his arrest. Instead he was captured by American troops at which point he was overweight and suffering from high blood pressure, heart problems, and morphine addiction.

 He was assessed by psychiatrists in prison, who found his ‘normality’ and love for his children chilling given the contrast with the evil he personified. His IQ was tested at 138, one of the highest, with  extroversion and dominance notable on personality scales. Sentenced to be hung he committed suicide the night before the execution using a cyanide capsule.

 Born 12 January 1893 4am Rosenheim, Germany, he had a Capricorn Sun on the cusp of his quick-witted 3^rd house though with one foot in his financial 2^nd along with Mercury and Venus so indulgence and the acquisition of beautiful things would be a passion. He also had a high-vitality and upfront Mars Jupiter in Aries in his performing 5^th house (also of children) with Jupiter square his Sun and both Mars and Jupiter opposition his Saturn so he would wobble between highs and lows. His Mars sat on one leg of a yod sextile Neptune Pluto in Gemini inconjunct Uranus. Neptune Pluto as ever a marker for that generation some of whom wreaked great damage.

 His inherent cruelty would come from Mars opposition Saturn and sextile Pluto Neptune.  His lawless defiance from a focal point Uranus which can be a trailblazer and a catalyst though also divisive and a disruptor.  Tr Pluto was square his Uranus as the war ended in 1944/45 prodding his yod onto a radically different track. His relationship chart with Hitler suggested a degree of unease with an explosive composite Mars opposition Uranus; and a suspicious and blocked Saturn opposition Sun square Neptune Pluto – war and megalomaniac ambitions made it hold together for a while.  

 Russell Crowe who plays him, 7 April 1964 Wellington, New Zealand, maybe 2am (unverified) fits the role remarkably well since he has Mars, Sun and Jupiter spread out throughout Aries, Venus in Gemini to connect to Goring’s Neptune Pluto and Goring’s Scorpio Moon Uranus conjunct Crowe’s 10^th house filmic Neptune and Midheaven. He also has a yod of a 12^th house Moon Aquarius sextile Mars inconjunct Uranus – quite a few points of contact and similarity.

 The Nuremberg Trials started on 20 November 1945 with an approaching Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo; and the Scorpio Sun trine Saturn and Procyon, the Fixed star of the rise and fall on the wheel of fortune.  

A glum-looking Prince Harry was wheeled out for a gaudy Kardashian Beverley Hills bash as the UK Royals were paying their respects to the dead of two world wars. Not a good look. The family freeze shows no signs of thawing out and there are hints certainly from the astrology of stresses and strains ahead in Montecito.

  Harry and Meghan’s relationship chart is labouring under a panicky tr Neptune opposition Mars from late this October to end of January 2026; with transiting Saturn adding its few days of aggravation in the second week of next February. What will be decisive is Uranus moving in June 2026 to square the composite Sun and oppose both the Uranus and composite Descendant – all of which are separating influences.

  The wedding chart, 19 May 2018 is also under considerable pressure with tr Pluto making its final conjunction to the Mars at the moment till early December; tr Neptune square the wedding Venus now till  late January 2026; and tr Uranus conjunct the late Taurus Sun through this December and mid next March to early April 2026 = frustrations, aggravations, disappointment and upheavals.

 King Charles’ relationship with Meghan continues on a downhill slide with tr Neptune Saturn opposition the composite Sun Mars till February 2027. With Harry and his father there is more a sense of disappointment at the moment and communications continuing to be at cross purposes for another two or three years.

 William’s differences with his younger brother may head into a phase of opportunity for lowering tensions as tr Uranus opposes the Jupiter from mid 2026 and then Uranus till 2027. But the hard-edged competitive stand-off is likely to worsen in the years across the turn of the decade as tr Pluto opposes the Sun and squares the composite Mars. 

  Meghan’s various forays into Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow territory don’t seem to be rooting themselves into a workable business plan. Her lack of Earth in an Air Fire chart may be a pointer – lots of inspiration but not enough grounding.

 She will bounce with more confidence after Jupiter crosses her Ascendant from June 2026 on for a year. But tr Neptune opposition her Moon, Saturn, Jupiter from June 2026 through till early 2029 look to be undermining domestically, in terms of family and confidence. Late 2027/28 looks like a collision-type series of calamities with a Solar Arc Mars square her Uranus; with even more impact from her Progressed Mars conjunct her Sun. Tr Uranus is square her Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage significator, from mid 2027 into 2028, which again hints at a separation or at the very least a significant reappraisal of their togetherness.

 Harry’s Sun/Moon midpoint is also under a separating chill by 2027 as tr Saturn is conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint. Before then he seems rudderless and adrift with tr Neptune Saturn square his 12^th house Neptune Jupiter through 2026 with his Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Neptune late 2026 as well. He’s got a series of unsettled and disastrous midpoint aspects across this winter and will be frustrated and stuck through 2026/27 with tr Pluto square his Sun/Mars midpoint.

 Jupiter through his 8^th from August 2026 for a year may bring money in but more usefully it could open him up to insights that will point a better way ahead.

 He is a lost soul who may take to the end of this decade to find his feet.  

Tim Davie, the BBC director General has resigned over criticism about biased reporting, most significantly splicing together footage about Trump which misrepresented what he actually said. Though Gaza and transgender biases were also an issue.

  BBC devotees are crying foul that he (and the Head of News)  were forced out by rightwing members of the BBC’s board (which will ultimately appoint the new director-general). Critics of the BBC say they have been penalized for their own mistakes.

 Astrologically two things could not be clearer. One is that the BBC for all its strengths is an insular, arrogant organization, bad at admitting and sorting out mistakes. Secondly that Term charts are the most helpful.

 In reverse order, Tim Davie took up office on 1 September 2020, which warned of an exceptionally testing five years to come with Mars in Aries square Saturn Pluto (Jupiter) in Capricorn.  The Solar Arc Pluto has moved to square the Mars exactly now which is usually train-hits-the-buffers time. Davie has had an unusually challenging term with the Huw Edwards scandal, Gary Lineker, Glastonbury ‘Death to the IDF’ footage not being removed etc etc. Mercury opposition Neptune would also not help when it came to mounting sensible defences to criticism, justified or otherwise.

 The BBC chart itself, 14 November 1922 6pm London, has a determined Scorpio Sun square an evasive Neptune so as an organization is unlikely to respond well to criticism. Even more so because of its Water Grand Trine of Pluto in Cancer trine Uranus trine Mercury in Scorpio. Water Grand Trines are creative and imaginative but can be detached from reality since they live in their own dream world. Made even more so in this case since there are no oppositions from the Grand Trine legs to channel the energy outwards.

   Plus an emphasized Mars in Aquarius which is opposition Neptune, trine Saturn, square Mercury and on one leg of a yod sextile Venus inconjunct Pluto.  In my experience Mars in Aquarius can be one of the trickier ones – its obstinacy and inherent intolerance magnified by its opinionated 9^th house position. A Pluto focal point yod also has a tendency to misuse power.

  For all the inflated predictions that the BBC is finished there is little to show instantly that looks terminal. Indeed in 2026/27 tr Pluto square the 5^th house Jupiter hints at a revival of confidence.  Towards the end of the decade looks a good deal more turbulent.

 Tim Davie, 25 April 1967 London, a stalwart Sun Taurus with a self-reliant Saturn in Aries has his Neptune in Scorpio conjunct the BBC’s Sun which does not suggest a robust grip on the organization. He may have his Solar Arc Uranus Pluto conjunct his Scorpio Moon at the moment for an upset though without a birth time it is not certain.  Oddly enough he is on his Jupiter Return, perhaps hinting at relief at no longer having to be carrying the burden – with no doubt lucrative offers for easier jobs to come.

  His Solar Return from this April has a pole-axing Mars opposition Pluto square Sun which seems descriptive.

  The BBC chart Solar Return also has Mars opposition Pluto and Sun opposition Uranus plus a yod onto Sun pointing to a fork in the road.

Two final thoughts – the Solar Returns are lucidly clear which I have not always found to be the case.

The BBC for whom I have a certain fondness really does have a talent for shooting themselves in the foot. Maybe shipwrecking Scheat on their Pisces South Node is another pointer. It was rattled by the recent Virgo Solar Eclipse which may have triggered the inherent obstinacy of triple Scorpio plus Mars in Aquarius plus unrealistic Water Grand Trine plus Neptune – into an unholy mess.

Huey Long was a left-wing populist Democrat politician in Louisiana, prominent during the Great Depression until his assassination in 1935. A controversial figure, he is celebrated as a populist champion of the poor or denounced as a fascist demagogue, accused of being unconstitutional and authoritarian. His biographer Thomas O. Harris saw him as “neither saint nor devil, he was a complex and heterogenous mixture of good and bad, genius and craft, hypocrisy and candor, buffoonery and seriousness”.  After his death Roosevelt adopted many of his proposals in the Second New Deal.

 He was born 30 August 1893 4.15 am, worked as a traveling salesman, he ultimately became an attorney, often representing poor plaintiffs and prosecuting large corporations such as Standard Oil. Chief Justice William Howard Taft praised him as “the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced before the United States Supreme Court”. He went on to become Governor of Louisiana and then Senator. His regime there was described as “the closest thing to a dictatorship that America has ever known”. He was impeached in 1929 for abuses of power, but the proceedings collapsed in the State Senate. His assassin was the son of a political rival.

 His policies included Share Our Wealth plan, advocating massive federal spending, a wealth tax, and wealth redistribution.

  He had a hard-working, go-ahead 1^st house Sun Mars in Virgo below a flashy, attention-attracting Leo Ascendant square a lucky, successful Jupiter in his career 10^th. But what stamped his personality was the generational Neptune Pluto conjunct in Gemini, often a signature of megalomaniacs. It was heavily aspected being square his Sun Mars and trine Venus Saturn in Libra as well as sextile his Aries Moon in the 9^th house of legal matters and widescale communication.  His Moon opposed Saturn and Venus and trine Mercury in flamboyant Leo on his Ascendant.

 With Mercury in Leo leading the way he was never going to be understated and backed up by an uber-determined and ruthless Mars Sun square Pluto Neptune he would crash through niceties to get what he wanted.

After his death Roosevelt’s close economic advisor Rexford Tugwell wrote that, “When he was gone it seemed that a beneficent peace had fallen on the land” and said that Roosevelt regarded Long’s assassination as a “providential occurrence”.

Diane Arbus, the late renowned photographer, is presently featured in a  London exhibition which reveals her ‘grotesquely bleak but brutally truthful vision of humanity’. The cultural critic Susan Sontag condemned Arbus for dwelling on misery and ugliness, calling her work anti-humanist. Her defenders say that Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud and Velázquez, all shared her disenchanted eye. She was deemed to have transformed photography by helping to normalize marginalized groups – cross-dressers, strippers, nudists, sideshow performers, tattooed men.

 She was born 14 March 1923 1.30am New York, with wealthy Jewish immigrant parents from Russia who owned a Fifth Avenue fashion department store though all the family including her siblings were creative. At 18 she married Allan Arbus who later acted as the psychiatrist in the tv series MASH. She committed suicide at 48, which as one critic pointed out is reflected in her photography – ‘someone trying to make sense of a life that can’t be made sense of. Her photography is not so much tragic as utterly alienated from the human species.’ She had experienced “depressive episodes” during her life, similar to those experienced by her mother; the episodes may have been made worse by symptoms of hepatitis.

  A year after her suicide, she became the first photographer to be included in the Venice Biennale  where her photographs were “the overwhelming sensation of the American Pavilion” and “extremely powerful and very strange”.

  She had a Pisces Sun, the favoured sign for photographers since they incline towards the image and not words. Her  Neptune was powerfully aspected in her 8^th opposition her Aquarius Moon and Venus square Mars in Taurus. And on one leg of a yod sextile a 10^th house Saturn and inconjunct Uranus and South Node (and widely Sun). She also had a creative and confident Water Grand Trine of Pluto in her 7^th trine Jupiter in Scorpio trine Uranus which would tend to enclose her in her own bubble of reality.

 Her yod focal point Uranus would give her the capacity to be a creative trailblazer and independent-spirited, tending to cut across conventional norms. She would be both divisive in effect as well as a catalyst for change.

  What an interesting and desolate woman, swamped in Piscean energy – visionary, expressive, yet imbued with Neptune’s cosmic chilliness and detachment.

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James Watson, Nobel Prize-winning biologist who discovered the structure of DNA with Francis Crick, has died. He chronicled the search for ‘the secret of life’ in his bestseller The Double Helix but damaged his career with his scathing judgments of colleagues and comments about race and genetics.

  Born 6 April 1928 1.23 am Chicago, Illinois, he was unpopular at school because of his fondness for speaking his mind and his precocious intellect.  He entered Chicago University at 15, studied zoology, then took a doctorate on viruses before moving over to work with Francis Crick on genetics.

Watson did not attempt to make himself popular. The French geneticist François Jacob recalled his quirky and arrogant manner: “Tall, gawky, scraggly, he had an inimitable style. Inimitable in his dress: shirt tails flying, knees in the air, socks down to his ankles. Inimitable in his bewildering manner, his mannerisms: his eyes always bulging. His mouth always open. He uttered short choppy sentences punctuated by ‘ah, ah!’ Inimitable also in his way of entering a room, cocking his head like a rooster looking for the finest hen, to locate the most important scientist present and charging over to his side.”

  He had a quick-witted, confident and outspoken 3^rd house Sun Jupiter in Aries in sensible trine to Saturn in can-be-self-righteous Sagittarius and in an over-confident square to a 7^th house Pluto, so he would be arrogant. He also had an inventive Uranus in Aries in his 3^rd. What is most striking is his 8^th house Neptune opposition Mars. Neptune is a frequent marker in the charts of top level mathematicians and theoretical physicists and in the 8^th would allow him to use his intuition to explore beyond the rational known to find new discoveries.  His Neptune was also on one leg of a yod sextile a Libra Moon inconjunct Venus Mercury in Pisces.

  Neptune in the 8^th has a kaleidoscope of meanings one of which is film stars who project a Neptunian aura in movies.

 Watson’s portrayal of the crystallographer Rosalind Franklin (who had done much of the experimental work on which their discovery was based) as dour, dowdy and uncooperative attracted criticism from other writers who deemed him a sexist monster and ambitious credit stealer.

 Though admittedly she was not an easy temperament. Born 25 July 1920, two weeks before P.D.James, the crime writer, with the same tough Grand Trine of Pluto trine Mars trine Uranus formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Saturn. Her Mars in Scorpio was conjunct Watson’s Midheaven so she would both help and compete with him.

Kim Kardashian’s new legal TV drama has been savaged with reviews which run from “so awful, it feels almost contemptuous” to “may be the worst TV drama ever”.  “The glossy sheen of the show and its stacked cast might make you think it’s verging on ‘so bad it’s good’ territory, but it’s really just a boring dud.” One fan commented: “We have legendary actresses here giving the worst performances of their careers, it takes a special kind of talent to pull that inability of them. Amazeballs.” Another fan said: “Some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen in my life alongside the most predictable storylines and the most ridiculous styling. I’m obsessed. I need 14 seasons.”

The show scores 5% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics in contrast to 66% score from audiences. Her 354 million Instagram followers may be helping since the show is currently the most watched title on Disney+ around the world, ranking first in 28 countries including the US. Sigh.

 Kim Kardashian, 21 October 1980 10.46 am Los Angeles, may be putting on a brave face but with her Solar Arc Saturn conjunct her Mercury – and a whole tranche of pressure on her Midheaven Jupiter opposition Pisces Moon IC from the recent Solar Eclipse as well as tr Neptune Saturn in hard aspect she will be sensing foundations shifting under her feet (eclipse on Moon and career-setback tr Saturn square MC ). Her Progressed Moon moving through her hidden 12^th about to conjunct her Uranus next month will also keep her on edge.

 She’s had a deeply frustrating time running into the launch with her Solar Arc Mars square her Pluto and her Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Mars as well – so early warning signals will have been flashing as she faced the fact that it was not all she was hoping for.

  But the Kardashians are made of tough stuff. She has Jupiter moving through her 8^th till September 2026 which will keep money rolling in. Saturn crossing her IC moving her out of a lower profile career phase of several years. Plus she has her Solar Arc Sun on her Ascendant at the moment putting her back in the spotlight which is what she lives for.

 She has an intense and controlling Sun Pluto in Libra with a Pisces Moon on her IC, drawing her to family support. Her Moon opposes a successful and confident Jupiter on her Midheaven with fashionable Venus close by; and an executive-ability, well-organised Saturn also in her 10^th. Neptune just below her Sagittarius Ascendant will give her a certain sheen. Though her packed 12^th house with Uranus Mercury in Scorpio and Mars in Sagittarius hints at turbulence behind the scenes.

Actress Pauline Collins best known for the escapist mid-life comedy Shirley Valentine which made her the toast of London’s West End and Broadway followed by the the smash-hit film version, has died. She won an Olivier and a Tony as well as an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a bored middle aged wife who finds a new life and lover on a Greek island holiday. It was a  ‘liberating, naughty-but-nice adventure that paved the way for Calendar Girls and the Mamma Mia! movies: a buoyant, funny, sunshine-y comedy with a wonderful role for a mature female lead, broaching the subject of female sexuality that was not governed by the usual male ideas about demure youth.’  

  Valentine was the pinnacle of her career though she  continued to have a busy career on the stage and on TV.

 Born 3 September 1940 7.40 pm Exmouth, England, with two teachers as parents, she became noticed in the long running tv series Upstairs Downstairs in the 1970s. She was married to John Alderton with whom she had three children, and a fourth born illegitimate was adopted when she was in her twenties and reunited years later.

 Pauline had an upbeat, go-getting Sun, Mercury, Mars in Virgo in her 7^th; with an excitable and outspoken Uranus in her communicative 3^rd in an inventive trine to Neptune, sextile a charming Venus in Cancer conjunct Chiron in her performing 5^th house. Her 7^th house Libra Moon was sextile Pluto in her hard working 6^th and trine Uranus – she would need a supportive partner in life but would not be overly invested in domesticity.

 Her three Virgo planets were trine Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Taurus in her financial 2^nd so security with money would be important to her.

 As befits a Virgo, she said writing was a passion, especially poetry, and she read voraciously  – Goethe and Jung were favourites.

 Her husband actor John Alderton 22 November 1940 is a Sun Sagittarius trine Pluto with four planets including his Moon falling in her 8^th making for a deep if not always easy connection. Their relationship chart probably had a composite New Moon suggesting they felt more whole when together.  

 She died after suffering for several years from Parkinsons.

Other Virgo actresses come in a range of temperaments – from the reclusive Greta Garbo, the sophisticated, elegant Ingrid Bergman, workmanlike Suranne Jones, sadly addicted Amy Winehouse, sharp tongued Blake Lively and Sydney Sweeney.