Despite anxious rhetoric about Iran’s aggressive intentions towards the west, the state of their crumbling economy doesn’t suggest they are in any position to gear up their war machine. The inflation rate is running at a staggering 35% by last month and that is down on earlier in the year. Food prices are up by 70% on last year. But with a new hardline president Ebrahim Raisi in place, there seems little hope of compromising with the USA to remove economic sanctions.

  Both the Revolutionary Iran 1 February 1979 chart and the democracy 7 October 1906 chart have significant Neptune transits indicating a lacklustre, worrisome, non-progressive 2022 and 2023. The 1979 chart points to a consistently undermining few years from 2024 to the end of the decade.  The 1906 chart will slump in 2022, run into major obstacles into 2023 and financial losses by 2025.

  The Bank of Iran, 18 August 1960, follows the same pattern with tr Neptune square the Jupiter which usually flags financial and economic hopes collapsing; with worse in 2023 though there will be a concerted push to turn the situation round in 2023/24, which will only have partial success.

  Ebrahim Raisi, a frontrunner to replace the 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was sworn in on August 5^th this year as President, replacing the more moderate two-term Hassan Rouhani. His inauguration completes hard-liners’ dominance of all branches of government.

  His Sagittarius Sun is catching the tr Neptune square throughout 2022 which doesn’t suggest a firm grip on Iran’s problems. By 2024 his Solar Arc Saturn and then Mars will square his Sun for major setbacks running on for two or three years.

  His Term chart will be shaken and rattled this year with the Fixed T square of Sun Mercury opposition Saturn square Uranus being detonated by tr Uranus – for a bumpy ride where forced change will be the order of the day. With a calamity or several from later April onwards and more serious disruptions in 2023.

  Joe Biden’s chart relocated to Teheran puts his determined Mars in Scorpio exactly on his Descendant and square his Pluto in the 4^th – so he won’t be budging. The USA relationship chart with Iran 1979 will be pressured in 2022/23 with tr Pluto square the composite Sun and sagging badly in 2024.  The EU also looks discontented with Iran in 2022 and re-setting diplomatic relations altogether in 2023/24 with a considerable upset.

Such a shame for a wonderfully cultured, civilized and highly educated country – as it was despite the Shah’s secret police etc.

As 2022 gets under way China’s dream of becoming the global economy’s No 1 is fading. “The east is rising, the west is declining” is the communist party mantra but the regime’s commitment to zero Covid, plus a property market bust are putting a spanner in the dragon’s works. The USA is expected by economists to out-grow China in 2022, reversing the order of the past two decades. India also outgrew China in 2021. Doomsayers have been prophesying a China dip for years but analysts says ‘this time is different’ with the risk of a deeper and longer slowdown there. The result could be “a China-related negative shock to global activity.”

   The China 1 January 1912 chart, (which works better than the 1949 one on events) has a worrisome Solar Arc Neptune opposition Saturn exactly now so there’s a high-anxiety start to the year with restrictions chafing and causing unrest as tr Uranus is conjunct the Saturn. More concerning for the authorities will be the tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus from March on and off till late 2023, which will be disruptive, suggesting a significant change of direction and even rebellious protests.  There will be a few lucky breaks in June but followed by disastrous setbacks in July onwards. Where the real trouble kicks in will be 2023 to 2025 with a series of Neptunian sinkers and financial upsets; with the possibility of destructive quakes by 2025 and in the few years following.

  The China 1 October 1949 3.15pm chart, is just as jumpy this year with setbacks from tr Saturn opposition the Mars Pluto this month and next; and aggravations and upheavals from tr Uranus square the Mars Pluto in Leo from late this April on and off for a year. It could be trouble with neighbours, such as Taiwan or the downward drag of tr Saturn moving through its lower profile First Quadrant which picked up last year and sticks around for years to come. It also tugs on the China financial Venus which will make this year and next edgy on the economic as well as foreign relations fronts.

  The Bank of China chart 1 December 1948 looks stressed at the moment and in a state of upset with tr Uranus square its Pluto; though it is 2023 when mounting disadvantages and losses show up with the years between 2024 and 2026 being calamitous.

  Xi Jinping’s Term chart, 24 October 2017 12.30 pm has luck on its side with a Sun Jupiter conjunction but it will still find 2022 tormented and undermining with tr Neptune square the Saturn in addition to loss-making disruptions from two badly affected Jupiter midpoints. It will feel plagued by instability with tr Pluto square the Uranus through January and again late year; and be under considerable pressure in 2023 with plans failing and extreme frustration as obstacles mount. There will be an ebullient push in 2024/25 but over-confidence may cause its own problems.

  His own personal chart, 15 June 1953,  follows much the same pattern with a lacklustre, indecisive 2022 from tr Neptune square his Gemini Sun; and jolts in 2023 from Solar Arc Uranus square his Sun as well. But it is 2025/26 which will test his grip with Solar Arc Saturn Neptune opposition his Mars and tr Saturn Neptune square.

  Interesting times indeed.

Jupiter, the expansive planet of high ideals, enthusiasm, confidence and luck moves through Pisces, sign of compassion, creativity and dreams every twelve years.  It was around earlier in 2021 from late May through June and July in Pisces, returned on the last days of December to stay until early May 2022, returning finally in November and December 2022.  It’s a more disjointed stay than usual with retrogrades on the cusp.

  The lazy interpretation would be soggy sentimentality, charitable largesse and spiritual growth though looking back on past occurrences it has coincided with less beneficent events – not all of which admittedly could be ascribed to this relatively minor influence.

1950:  Apartheid legislation was enacted in South Africa. Korean War starts, several avalanches in Europe kill 240.

1962: Cuban Missile crisis. 440 dead in Barcelona floods. Big Freeze in England for 3 months.

1986: Iran-Contra exposed.

1998: Andrew Wakefield’s medical hoax anti-vaxx paper.

2010: Iceland volcano. Deepwater Oil Spill. Stock Market crash.

  There were significant deaths –  Marilyn Monroe and Patsy Kline in 1962, Duke Ellington 1974.

  And positive new beginnings – Robert Schumann’s declaration sowing the seeds of the EU 1950; Coventry Cathedral consecrated 1962. Desmond Tutu became the first black Anglican bishop in South Africa, 1986. The Good Friday Agreement and the European Central Bank and euro currency 1998.

  There are also smatterings of spying scandals – from the Rosenbergs to wikileaks. The Argyll divorce and the Prince Andrew/Sarah Ferguson marriage were also Jupiter in Pisces events.

  The more obvious factor were memorable showbusiness starts, which makes sense of artistic, filmic and musical Pisces.

  In 1950 the Archers, the world’s longest running drama, piloted on BBC radio and is still running.

   In 1962 West Side Story wins the Oscar, the Rolling Stones make their debut, Johnny Carson takes over the Tonight Show for a 30 year stint. That Was The Week That Was, the hugely influential UK satirical TV comedy with David Frost launched.

In 1974 People magazine launches. Abba win Eurovision to launch their stratospheric career.

In 1986 Pixar animation was founded going on to win multiple awards in later years. Lorimar Pictures also launches to great success – Being There etc. Phantom of the Opera opens and later becomes Broadway’s longest running show.

1998 – Titanic becomes first $1 billion grossing movie. The first ipad is launched.

  Here’s looking forward to starry new beginnings.

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New Zealand gave 2022 a cautious welcome with Covid restrictions easing, having moved through a sombre few months recently with the Solar Arc Saturn squaring the Sun.

  That has now passed on but the country will still be facing significant challenges ahead which are not too obvious at the moment with the economy giving every indication of bouncing back. Tr Pluto will continue the pressured conjunction to the NZ Capricorn Sun through this month and again later in the year, but more portentously tr Pluto will conjunct the high-stress Sun/Mars midpoint in February and from March the frustrating, trapped Mars for a tough two years ahead. Indeed this is followed in 2023/2024 by tr Pluto square the NZ Pluto and then the NZ Uranus – so the whole phase from 2021 right through till 2026 will be ones of momentous change and disruption.

  The NZ Saturn will be rattled around by tr Uranus conjunct early February to mid March this year which will bring tensions to the surface, but that will be fairly minor disruption. Not all plans will work out as hoped this year and next with tr Pluto conjunct the Jupiter/Neptune midpoint; and 2023 will have an accident-prone or other setbacks from Solar Arc Saturn square the NZ Mars.  Since the 4^th house Mars is being targeted from several directions it will trigger a fair amount of domestic aggravation and anger.

  The Bank of New Zealand chart, 1 August 1934, points to a regressive year in 2021 with the Solar Arc square the Sun but that has now passed. The transiting Saturn will oppose the Sun and conjunct the Saturn from this March on and off till early 2023 which will have its moments of discouragement though this influence comes round not infrequently. The next significant astrological influences will be 2023/24 with tr Uranus square the Sun and Saturn; with a heavily restrictive tr Pluto square the Mars/North Node midpoint in 2023/24. Which fits the pattern of other central banks all showing strain as we move towards mid decade.

  Jacinda Ardern’s popularity rating is sliding but not disastrously so. Her Term chart from 6 November 2020 11 am will be jolted and jangled by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the Sun in January and then April this year; and there will be a dreary slog from tr Pluto conjunct the Saturn continuing on from last year through to the year end.

  Her own personal chart, 26 July 1980, has the uncertain, undermining tr Neptune opposition her hard-working Saturn in Virgo throughout 2022 till early 2023. 2023 will also be lack lustre with her Solar Arc Neptune opposition her Sun and 2024 being a year of sudden upheavals for her.

  I’m sorry to be dramatic about the country’s transits ahead but they do point to a disruptive phase of considerable magnitude.  The previous times transiting Pluto was in hard aspect to the same planets were:

1938 and through WW11 with tr Pluto in Cancer in opposition. And in 1983 to 1988 with tr Pluto in Libra in square – though not much happened then that was overly obvious apart from a stock market crash at the end.  Part of this time round may be battling climate change.

The legendary Betty White whose TV career spanned eight decades, the longest uninterrupted career of any actor in television history which scooped her eight Emmy awards, has died just two weeks short of her 100^th birthday. She is best known for The Golden Girls but she moved from one groundbreaking performance to the next from early on, becoming one of the first women producers in Hollywood with the 1950s TV sitcom Life with Elizabeth which broke with convention in including a black performer at her insistence.

  She honed her image as a ditzy blonde through talkshows, gameshows, sitcoms and multiple autobiographies but the reality was a tough, savvy operator in the LA shark pond. She was cast in the The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a character who was sweetness and light in public but “vicious as a barracuda in private”. She played it to perfection.

  One commentator said: ‘While not an obvious trailblazer like Joan Rivers, White was a quiet revolutionary in her way – a gloved knife rather than a Rivers-like axe smashing down walls, whose onscreen jibes came with a sweet smile instead of a sneer.’

 She was born 17 January 1922 at 6.38 pm Oak Park, Illinois, was married three times, the last one a keeper, had no children and was a keen animal activist.

  Her practical and ambitious Capricorn Sun in the hard-working 6^th was conjunct a charming Venus and trine a Virgo Moon so keeping busy was what she did best. Her Sun Venus were also square Jupiter in fair-minded Libra in her 3^rd so she’d communicate easily and have an upbeat, enthusiastic approach. Where she got her grit and tenacity was a Water Grand Trine of Pluto trine a determined Mars in Scorpio trine Uranus. Water Grand Trines are creative and can be healing for others.

  Oddly enough PD James, the crime writer, born two years earlier had the same Grand Trine and she had a dark streak which isn’t as obvious in Betty White’s bouncy performances but she would need a core of titanium to survive as long as she did in television.

  Betty White’s Uranus was in her 7^th house of close relationships so she would find one-to-one commitment in marriage cramped her style and her first two attempts were short lived. Her North Node was also in Libra so her development would depend on her becoming less independent and self-sufficient. Her third husband, Allen Ludden, 5 October 1917 4pm Mineral Point, Wisconsin, felicitously had his Libra Sun conjunct her North Node so was able to make an enduring match. She described him as the love of her life. He did have an Air Grand Trine of his Libra Sun trine Jupiter Moon in Gemini trine Uranus which would key into her Jupiter which would smooth round problems. It was by no means an easy combination but there was enough Jupiter and Neptune in their relationship chart to swirl it in good feelings.

The Royals won’t put on as united a public front for Prince Andrew as the Maxwell siblings have done for Ghislaine. Even the Queen may be belatedly facing up to the fact that she’s reached, if not a point of no return, certainly a fork in the road where her allegedly favourite son is concerned.

  Her relationship chart with him is heavily Neptunian with the composite Sun opposition a Moon Neptune conjunction, so swirled in illusory hopes and unrealistic expectations. It took a hit when he was forced to exit his trade envoy job in 2011 after his dodgy Middle and Far Eastern political and financial connections were exposed as well as his friendship with Epstein. At that point tr Pluto was squaring the composite Moon and tugging on the composite Sun and Neptune.

   The tr Uranus square tr Saturn has recently been chipping away at their composite Midheaven Mars opposition Pluto  – with tr Saturn exactly conjunct the Midheaven at the moment. A serious reality check.

  Her own Moon at 12 degrees Leo is also being pounded by tr Saturn in opposition in early January and tr Uranus square in March, so she will feel under-supported and distressed.

  Prince Charles and Andrew were never bosom buddies with a competitive composite Sun Mars in their relationship chart; and a chilly composite Moon square Saturn. That latter is being walloped around by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus exactly now through till March as well.

  Prince William who harbours a strong dislike of his uncle Andrew will be involved in intense and perhaps bitter discussions from March onwards as he makes his view clear, presumably on the damage that having Andrew visible at Windsor is doing to the monarchy. The years between 2023 and 2026 will see William at his most determinedly hostile.

  Sarah Ferguson, the divorced but still financially supported/housed and 150% cheer-leading former wife, will find the sands shifting under her feet. Her relationship with Andrew is sagging badly from May this year onwards, with upsets mid year and on in similar fashion into 2023. A Royal watcher remarked recently that they are each other’s only support. And what lies ahead for her through 2023 to 2025 looks fairly dire with a poleaxing series of blocked, discouraging and aggravated Solar Arcs.

It’s sad to think of the Queen having to cope with this mess at her age, though perhaps if she’d sent him into exile years back, or been stricter about his dodgy connections, it would never have reached this point. And heaven knows she lived through Princess Margaret’s eye-curling loves and dissolute habits, never mind a couple of her uncles whose behaviour would have felled the monarchy decades back if there had been a more invasive media then.

The Australian economic contraction caused by Covid has been less severe than feared. The signs are that the economy is primed for a rebound with expansion through 2022 and full employment by late in the year. The financial hit from the decoupling with China over political differences and criticism of the Wuhan origins of Covid, has also been lower than feared with alternative markets found for exports.

  There will be a federal election in 2022, before late May, with PM Scott Morrison’s popularity rating way down over vaccine bungles, taxpayer funded grants, parliament’s #MeToo reckoning and the government response to devastating bushfires. But the opposition leader remains an unknown quantity.

  The first seven months look fraught with the Australia country chart’s Mars/Uranus and Mars/Pluto midpoints being triggered which are catastrophe-prone so there may be natural as well as other disasters to contend with and the same goes for New Year into January 2023. Tr Neptune is also square the AU Jupiter from mid May onwards, on and off into 2023, which usually means high-hopes don’t produce the expected results and it can accompany financial bubbles deflating.  The Taurus Sun and maybe Taurus Solar Arc Midheaven will also catch the eclipses so there will be challenges prompting a rethink of past attitudes and actions.

  But really it is 2023 where red flags go up when there will be a slipping and sliding series of Neptune transits to key midpoints undermining confidence.

  The Bank of Australia chart, 14 January 1960, will stay bullishly confident from March 2022 till late 2023, which isn’t to say there won’t be sizeable hiccups along the way in April and May; and deflated hopes in May to early August 2022; with a degree of panic in six months.  But like the other central banks, where the real trouble shows up in 2024/25 with considerable angst as major blockages crop up financially with a pervasive sense of failure.

  Scott Morrison’s Term chart, 24 August 2018 6.15pm, will run into severe head winds slowing progress to a halt, and causing aggravation from March onwards as tr Pluto is conjunct the Mars and that runs right through the election.

  His own personal chart, 13 May 1968, with a Taurus Sun opposition Neptune, square Jupiter and trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo will be buffeted by the Eclipses. His Venus in Taurus catches the 30 April Solar Eclipse which can bring an emotional upset; and the Lunar Eclipse a fortnight later in Scorpio will catch his Neptune and Sun so it will be a time of rolling challenges and crises, with the likelihood that he’ll be evasive and try to smokescreen his way out of tight corners.

Canada heads into 2022 with an economy roared back to pre-pandemic levels and a full recovery with 5.4% growth in the  third quarter. Hopes are that this will continue though there is uncertainty about the impact of the Omnicron variant.

  The key factor astrologically is what will happen when transiting Uranus crosses the Canada Pluto in Taurus and opposes the Saturn which picks up from May 2022 onwards for a year thereafter.  The only previous time this has occurred was in 1938 to 1940 over the outbreak of World War 11 which is not helpful as a comparison, since it is unlikely to repeat in the same way.

   Saturn opposition Pluto is a stubborn streak in the national temperament, the ability to withstand tough conditions and an extreme resistance to change.  Uranus will arrive with a thunderbolt, intent on unsettling the status quo. Tensions will rise and there will be a disruptive and unsettled mood at the very least.

 The Bank of Canada chart, 11 March 1935 is showing signs of a change of direction at the moment with the the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct its Pluto now and even more so in 2023/24 with tr Pluto square the Uranus so there will be an economic shift but with Uranus involved, the trickster planet, it can go up or down.  The significant problems show up for the central bank by 2026.

  The recent surprise unpopular election for which Trudeau was roundly criticized and as a result lost his majority, emerged with no political party happy. A commentator said: “There wasn’t really a winner. There was just a whole bunch of losers.”

  His latest term chart from 26 October 2021 has a deadlocked and scary Mars square Pluto and Sun square Saturn so is not too uplifting. Though Mars trine Jupiter sextile Venus will help in rolling out a morale-boosting charm offensive.

  Where Canada starts to really want space from Trudeau will be 2023/2024.

  His personal chart indicates 2024 as the change-of-direction year with tr Uranus conjunct his Midheaven and a panicky-failure tr Neptune conjunct his Mars into 2025. Even before then he will be under considerable pressure from 2023 with tr Pluto starting to trine his Saturn.

  The crucial factor for Canada in the near future will be what tr Uranus square its incredibly Fixed Pluto in Taurus opposition Saturn in Scorpio brings a few months’ hence. And indeed the effect the Eclipses will have on it.

Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty on five of the six counts of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor. It means she could spend the rest of her life in prison. A date for sentencing has not yet been set. There is speculation she may name names of Epstein friends who visited his establishments to shorten her sentence and she is also appealing.

  What is most noticeable about her chart is tr Pluto conjunct her 9^th house Saturn from March 9^th onwards, on and off till late 2023 which is discouraging and tough-going. Her delusional and arrogant Jupiter Midheaven in Aquarius opposition a 4^th house Leo Moon square Neptune is being rattled by tr Saturn square her Neptune and then opposition her Moon in January, followed by tr Uranus hard aspects which will bring high anxiety and some glimmerings of hope.

  Her Solar Returns look less challenging ahead but that may be because the lower security prison she will be sent to will be ‘Disneyland’ compared to the tough New York facility she has been incarcerated in for 500 days.

  The verdict does not bode well for Prince Andrew though his name did not crop up, nor that of his civil case accuser Virginia Guiffre. He visibly flaunted Maxwell as a friend, inviting her into the inner Royal circle so can hardly escape contamination. His own court case is becoming increasingly desperate with his lawyers’ attempts to get it thrown out on technicalities.  

  He has his Mars Venus in Capricorn at 27 and 28 degrees so it will pick up the tr Pluto conjunction from the 3^rd February, running off and on till late 2023 – trapped, scary, enraging, emotionally ramped-up – which could bring on health issues since they are in the 6^th. Plus his Solar Arc Moon is conjunct his Mars within a few months which will be testing. His Progressed Moon is moving through his 8^th house, from three months back, and staying there for another 18 months which can feel like purgatory (where the spirits of the dead go to suffer for their sins). Or at the very least it feels torn by inner conflict – made worse in his case because his secretive 8^th house Mercury in Pisces will catch the Progressed Moon conjunction just after it has collided with his Progressed Mars – all around the middle of this coming year; followed by a downbeat Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mercury.  It won’t be a fun year for him.

  Mind you Virginia Giuffre is not looking overly pleased either with tr Pluto opposition her Mars and square her Pluto Saturn in 2022/23. That court case may come to a stalemate.

   Of those who have been named as high-profile Epstein friends, the relationship charts with Maxwell indicate:-

 Donald Trump – there is a discouraging tr Pluto square the composite Saturn from January 2^nd on their relationship chart at the same time as it squares the panicky Mars/Neptune midpoint; followed by a trapped, high-risk, enraging tr Pluto square Mars from March onwards for two years. And by 2024 tr Neptune will conjunct their composite Sun – so all in all bad feelings are running high.

Alan Dershowitz –also has tr Pluto square the Maxwell composite Mars from this March till late 2023.

 Bill Clinton will be rattled from July this year on and off into 2023 with tr Uranus opposition their composite Venus Mars conjunction; with worse in 2023/24.

Andrew’s relationship chart with Maxwell will be edgy now till April, but won’t get seriously pressured until 2024/25 when tr Pluto is conjunct the composite Sun.

  The ripples spread out.