There’s a curious snarl-up on the hustings to replace Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland First Minister and SNP leader with the two main contenders at odds over LGBT+ rights. Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary, despite being a practising Muslim is pro, saying “I don’t legislate on the basis of my faith.” Whereas Kate Forbes, heretofore the favourite, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, lost prominent supporters and Green Party backing by stating firmly she was against gender self-identification and would have voted against equal marriage legislation. [The Free Church – the Wee Frees – is a socially conservative, evangelical Calvinist denomination which is against abortion and same sex marriage.]

  Nicola Sturgeon will be a hard act to follow having won three general elections and two for the Scottish parliament. But she leaves behind ‘a torrid sequence of troubles, from a costly fiasco over ferry contracts which has become emblematic of SNP misgovernance to swelling criticism of the party’s failures in delivering public services.’

  The likelihood is that whoever takes over immediately will prove no more effective than Sturgeon in tackling the moribund economy, drug and health problems and may not last.

  Both Yousaf and Forbes have their Sun in mid Aries close to the SNP Sun Mars in Aries – so they fit the ethos of the party.

 Yousaf, 7 April 1985, Glasgow, looks the more likely at the moment. He has a lively and charming Sun Venus in Aries trine Uranus and sextile Jupiter in Aquarius; with his Jupiter in a confident square to Pluto and an ultra-determined Mars North Node in Taurus also square Jupiter. He looks rattled and insecure from mid March with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars but does have a touch of uplift from late March with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter/North Node midpoint. If he does take over, it’ll be rocky, not to say disaster-prone after June this year and sagging into 2025.

 Kate Forbes, 6 April 1990, is a highly strung Sun Aries square Neptune Uranus in Capricorn with her Uranus in a lucky opposition to Jupiter; and a do-or-die-determined Mars in Aquarius conjunct North Node square Pluto. Without a birth time there isn’t much of cheer showing up on her chart – jolts, jangles and confusion.

  Though both do have tr Jupiter conjunct their Sun in late March which is usually upbeat.

  Ash Regan, 8 March 1974, is generally regarded as an outlier – she is a Sun Pisces with an ideologue’s Air Grand Trine of Mars in Gemini trine Pluto trine Venus; and another Air Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine Jupiter Mercury in Aquarius. Tr Saturn will dampen her enthusiasm in March as it crosses her Mercury and Jupiter. Her time may come in later years and this will give her name recognition.

 Humza Yousaf in relation to the SNP holds out a promise of success; whereas Kate Forbes’s relationship chart with the SNP hints at an underlying hostility and doubt.

An ‘Indian spring’ in the shape of a democratic revival is being mooted after the backlash over prime minister Narendra Modi’s involvement with billionaire Guatam Adani, accused recently of “the largest con in corporate history”. Their friendship is inextricably linked to the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat when Modi was chief minister of the state with open slaughter and mass rape of Muslims staged by vigilante Hindu mobs.

  A two part BBC documentary last month on the Gujarat Massacre, when uploaded onto You tube in India, pulled out police in riot gear to stop college students watching, with electricity being switched off on campuses. The government then raided the India BBC offices on the pretext of a tax investigation.

  Arundhati Roy, the Indian writer, in a descriptive and critical piece – ‘Modi’s model is at last revealed for what it is: violent Hindu nationalism underwritten by big business’ (URL below and worth a read) – points to ‘the dangerous divisiveness and deep fault lines Modi has cultivated during his tenure as prime minister.’

  In the nine years of Modi’s tenure, Adani’s wealth grew from $8bn to $137bn. In 2022 alone, he made $72bn. The Adani Group now controls a dozen shipping ports that account for the movement of 30% of India’s freight, seven airports that handle 23% of India’s airline passengers, and warehouses that collectively hold 30% of India’s grain. It owns and operates power plants that are the biggest generators of the country’s private electricity.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/18/narendra-modi-hindu-nationalism-india-gautam-adani

  See previous post on Adani and Jo Johnson – 3 February 2023.

  Narendra Modi, 17 September 1950, has undermining and uncertain Neptune oppositions to his Virgo Sun, Mercury and Sun/Saturn midpoint all through 2023. With a high-risk and disruptive tr Uranus square his Pluto in late April/early Mars moving on in 2024 to oppose his Mars in Scorpio for an ego-denting collision of sorts. His Mars square Pluto natally would point to a ruthless streak and with Mars in vengeful Scorpio involved, he would make a dangerous enemy. But that power base will be seriously shaken in 2023/24.

  There is nothing on his 2019 Term chart, 30 May 2019 7.04pm, to suggest a speedy exit though that odd 18 degree Fixed turns up again with tr Uranus conjunct the Venus in late April/early May which does suggest a considerable financial, maybe also emotional, upset.

  The India country chart, 15 August 1947, also has 18 degree Fixed flagged up with its Jupiter in Scorpio line for the tr Uranus opposition. On its own that might suggest a lucky break; but with the India Jupiter square the Leo Sun, Venus, Saturn and Pluto it will pull out a range of possibilities – from clashes with authority figures due to overstepping the mark to over-confidence leading to problems.

Modi’s relationship with India is certainly tied into wealth and expansion with his Pluto square Mars in Scorpio hitting on the India Jupiter, and his Jupiter falling in the India 10^th house.  But his Pluto falling in the India 4^th also hints at an iron fist approach when it comes to domestic affairs. Pluto in its bully, dominating gear.  

  His relationship chart with India is due for a serious of shocks from early March (next month) onwards throughout this year and 2024 with tr Uranus opposes the composite Sun, then Mars and Mercury. 2024/25 could see it upended altogether. It’s a relationship built on an illusory, over-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune square Venus – putting him on a pedestal and idealized, leading to enraged responses from his supporters when his faults are highlighted.  

There are cracks appearing all over the place as the celestial tectonic plates start to shift.

South Park, the US take-no-hostages animated satire show has skewered the Sussexes. ‘The Dumb Prince and His Stupid Wife’, represented as nightmare celebrity neighbours, are on a Worldwide Privacy Tour, featuring his autobiography Waaagh.

 Not only are their faux pleas for privacy mocked so are the audience who proclaim them boring while demanding more information constantly.

 South Park launched in 1997 and responds ‘at speed to gossip and global events with timely filth and fury.’ Everything from  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which essentially argues that an ageing Putin declared war over his failure to get an erection; to Kanye West’s newfound anti-Semitism. Celebrities by the yard are insulted and torn apart. Religious faiths of all shades targeted.  The Tom Cruise episode Trapped in the Closet sees Cruise, John Travolta and R Kelly spend much of the show in the closet. Cruise threatened to sue. Russell Crowe on the other hand took his pasting with good humour.

  The show launched on 13 August 1997 with a Leo Sun opposition Jupiter in Aquarius; with a showbizzy Mars in last degree Libra square Neptune and Neptune square Saturn – to give it an edge of cruelty and sting to the barbs.

  The creators, Trey Parker, 19 October 1969, and Matt Stone 26 May 1971, are predominantly Air sign types – sharp thinkers, quick witted and good communicators.  Trey Parker is a Sun Jupiter in Libra trine an Aquarius Moon with Mercury, Venus, Uranus also in Libra.  Matt Stone is a Sun Gemini conjunct Saturn in late Taurus trine Uranus trine Mars in contrary Aquarius, with his Sun Saturn opposition Jupiter Neptune. Very little Water in either chart and none in the South Park chart.

  Of the pair, Prince Harry looks most rattled by the onslaught. Meghan is having a rough ride through the year but tr Jupiter moving across her Midheaven into 2024 looks successful. Being a publicity-addict she may be flattered that she is up there with Tom Cruise, Oprah and Russell Crowe. If anything her relations with Parker and Stone look more fraught in 2024 – though if it did come to a lawsuit that might also take time.

 But Harry looks incensed now with Matt Stone, aggravated by Parker and enraged by South Park. There will be a few blips of fallout this year between himself and South Park. Harry has only one Air sign in his chart so won’t be remotely on their wavelength.

Nothing like well-done satire to deflate hot air balloons.

Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter, has set off a firestorm by alleging the CIA acting on Joe Biden’s orders blew up the Nord 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany last year. The White House denies it hotly and other sources have pointed to glaring holes in Hersh’s story. His original claim to fame was in exposing the Vietnam My Lai massacre and he subsequently wrote about Watergate and more recently Abu Ghraib. His claims that Assad did not chemically bomb his own people and his queries about the killing of Bin Laden attracted criticism from other journalists. His tendency to rely on unverifiable sources lays his claims open to question.

  In an interview (below) Hersh seems outraged that bombing the pipeline would leave Germany cold over the winter in furtherance of a war he clearly thinks the USA government wants to win to improve their chances at the next election. ??  He has in the past been accused of conspiracy theories. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) have been picking holes in Hersh’s evidence, which was based on a single, unnamed source.

https://thewire.in/world/seymour-hersh-us-destroyed-nord-stream-pipeline-interview

https://unherd.com/thepost/osint-picks-holes-in-seymour-hershs-nord-stream-claims/

  Born 8 April 1937 8.05am Chicago, Illinois, Hersh has an ego-centric 11^th house Aries Sun squaring onto a super-confident, rules-don’t-always-apply-to-me Pluto opposition Jupiter with his Sun also quincunx Neptune. His Pluto is in the communicative 3^rd house making him intense, keen to dig into the darkness, so good for research, though also overly suspicious and inclined to see conspiracies where they don’t exist. And his Jupiter then amplifies both the positive and the negative side of his attitudes, leading to arrogance in some cases and an obsession about getting one over authority figures.

His Pisces Moon in his career 10^th opposes Neptune and squares North Node in Sagittarius – emotionally tending to get sidetracked.

  His Midheaven is taking a battering at the moment with tr Uranus in square during April with a mish mash of unfavourable midpoints in the next three years. Though he does have a lucky, successful Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Sun to give him a boost soon.

  I would not be inclined to dismiss his claims out of hand but there are huge questionmarks over his journalism and this one may come apart at the seams.  Time will tell.

Labour have a clear lead in the polls to beat the Conservatives at a next election with Keir Starmer ahead of Rishi Sunak on most questions. Given the mess the government and Tory Party is in the result looks like a foregone conclusion – except except a week is a long time in politics and life is churning chaos ahead which could throw up black swan events with surprising consequences for the leadership – and Keir Starmer is not heading into fortunate times. The next general election at the latest will be January 2025.

  Not that the leader’s personal chart necessarily spells disaster for the party since he may fall by the wayside for other reasons. His determined, lucky and controlling  opposition of Jupiter in Pisces opposition Uranus Sun Pluto in Virgo catches the tr Saturn hard aspects over 2023/24, which may just be exceptionally hard work. But it is his Solar Arc Sun Pluto conjunct his Neptune in 2025 which looks devastating and confused, followed by a dead-halt Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Sun and Pluto in 2026 – with a Progressed Mars square Neptune somewhere in the middle of that as well which is panicky failure. That looks like a good-going, life-changing period of rolling crisis.

  At a stretch – a very long stretch – he could win the poisoned chalice and then be overwhelmed by chaos. But that would be the most positive interpretation.

  His Leadership chart, 4 April 2020 10.45am, with a tricky 8th house Mars Saturn conjunction square Uranus has overcome one hurdle recently but echoes his own chart with a disruptive 2025 as the SA Saturn squares Uranus; and worse in 2026 when the SA Pluto is conjunct the Saturn.

  The Labour Party 27 February 1900 chart has in the past not been all that illuminating about wins and losses though Blair’s 1997 win did flag up as positive. It looks slightly downbeat in 2023/24 with Saturn transits to its Sun, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto; facing a fair few major obstacles in 2024/25 as disasters litter its path; and will be jolted by a significant shock and ego-dent in 2025; uncertainty in 2026.

  Nothing is clear cut.

  Though looking at the UK chart it would be surprising if any sailor wanted to chance his/her/their luck steering HMS UK over the next three years. In addition to tr Uranus rattling up the UK financial 8^th house and hard aspecting the UK Venus, Neptune and Saturn over the next two years which will make for an exceptionally bumpy financial ride there is the problematic UK Yod.

  With Pluto on the focal point inconjunct Jupiter sextile Uranus, the UK is a buccaneering nation with serious issues around the handling of power – at a negative end, coercive, manipulative and uncooperative. The Yod has moved by Solar Arc to have the SA Pluto square the UK Sun exactly now for a defining moment – blocked but key to future destruction or reconstruction. And just as pivotal will be when the SA Uranus on one leg of the Yod is conjunct the 8^th house Mars in 2025 for a financial/economic upheaval of considerable proportions. This whole period from 2014 right through to 2026, when the UK Yod is being triggered is a transformational and perilous phase when the country is being prompted by the fates to find a new direction. Cast off the old, stand vulnerable for a while – Broken Britain – before, hopefully, finding a new purpose and role in the world.

 Bil Tierney suggests a Yod focal point Pluto can suit the individual for a high-level authority position; or as an agent exploring unknown resources available to humanity, capable of ushering in a new order of things. If mismanaged it may de-elevate the individual to a more frustrating level of obscurity and isolation, brought on by self-destructive passions. Pluto is make or break; and transformational processes can collapse as the old is taken away and the new does not get established. So not always chrysalis through to butterfly.

  It’ll be a brave and resourceful soul who hangs onto the UK tiller through these tempestuous waters and comes up smelling of roses.

Actress Raquel Welch has died, one of the old Hollywood superstars, brought to fame in One Million Years BC in 1966 which turned her into an instant international sex symbol. Though she always insisted her public image was completely opposite her private personality. She did portray strong female characters which helped break the traditional mould of submissive women in movies.

  Born 5 September 1940 2.04pm Chicago, Illinois, with a Bolivian father, she had an enduring, robust and stubborn-to-the-nth degree temperament. Her quick-witted 9^th house Sun, Mars, Mercury in Virgo was trine Saturn Jupiter in Taurus in her performing 5^th house. Her Uranus was also in her 5^th house in a creative trine to Neptune and sextile an 8^th house Venus in Cancer. She had a public-career intense Scorpio Moon in the 10^th square an influential and subtly controlling 8^th house Pluto.

 She starred in the title role of Myra Breckenridge (1970), based on the Gore Vidal novel about a transgender woman who has undergone a sex change operation, which was badly reviewed but has since attracted a cult following. It also starred John Huston, Mae West and Farrah Fawcett, and was a notoriously troubled shoot with particularly bad relations between Raquel and Mae. That was hardly surprisingly since Mae West, 17 August 1892 10.30 pm New York, had a prickly, competitive Mars in Aquarius on her Midheaven in a volatile square to Uranus which clashed with Raquel’s controlling Pluto and Saturn Jupiter as well as her Scorpio Moon.

  Not that John Huston was much better with Sun, Mars, Mercury in Leo. Or indeed Farah Fawcett with her Mars, Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, and Saturn Pluto in Leo. What a pile up that must have been.

  Raquel Welch was married four times – relatively briefly in each case. In addition to film, stage and television work she also launched a successful beauty business.

New Zealand reeling from the onslaught of Cyclone Gabrielle is facing fresh storm warnings as there is grave concern for those swept away by flood waters, with fatalities likely to rise.  Chris Hipkins, the new Prime Minister, described it as an event on the scale of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

 The recent Scorpio Solar Eclipse which fell opposite the NZ Uranus in Taurus (and Pluto), when located to Gisborne, NZ, had Mars in Gemini on the Ascendant so flagging it up as a potential crisis location. Double trouble from that.

  In addition the New Zealand chart is in the midst of a gruelling run of tr Pluto conjunct the Capricorn Sun in 2021/22 and then conjunct the NZ Mars till late 2023; and square Pluto 2023/24 – forced change, huge frustrations, high-risk – and it will continue after mid decade with tr Pluto square the NZ Uranus and then Saturn.

  At the moment also the NZ Saturn has moved by Solar Arc to square the NZ 4^th house Mars.

  It always did look like a time of heightened risk from natural disasters.

 Chris Hipkins, the Jacinda Ardern replacement, born 5 September 1978, is a serious Sun Saturn in Virgo in a socially-progressive and sometimes indecisive square to Neptune with a ferociously determined and courageous Mars Pluto conjunct in Libra – quite a mix of soft and hard. Better than most at coping in crisis situations.

  He’ll be pushing confidently ahead this year and next with tr Pluto opposing his Jupiter but will be slipping, sliding and tripping over problems as he goes.   

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Resurrecting dinosaurs is rarely a good idea in showbusiness but John Cleese appears undaunted as he sets sail on reviving the iconic and very un-pc ‘Fawlty Towers’ comedy series. He is using none of the original cast bar himself since Manuel, Andrew Sachs, has died and Prunella Scales, the long suffering wife, has dementia – and is transplanting it from coastal England to the Caribbean.

  Cleese, 27 October 1939 3.15am Weston Super Mare, is a talented man who has had a troubled relationship life. He performed in the Footlights when at Cambridge University, co-founded the surreal Monty Python shows, co-wrote and starred in Fawlty Towers which became a staggering success despite only running for 12 episodes and went on to write and act in movies A Fish Called Wanda, and Fierce Creatures as well as other notable films. He also had a highly publicised divorce from his second American wife, which was so expensive he went on an Alimony Tour to raise money for it. He blamed his mother for his emotional problems.

  He has a Scorpio Sun conjunct the North Node opposition an 8^th house Saturn square Pluto; with his Saturn conjunct an Aries Moon, also in his 8^th. It is a bleak chart where emotional relationships are concerned with lurking self-doubts, a fear of intimacy and a defensive need to over-control.  He also has a volatile Venus and Mercury in Scorpio opposition Uranus in his 9^th square Mars in Aquarius – overly blunt, irascible, stubborn, quite a bulldozer. Plus a confident Jupiter in Aries in his 7^th trine Pluto; and an inspired Neptune trine Uranus. A complicated and difficult man.

  He’s not in an easy patch with tr Uranus rattling up his Mars and Venus, Uranus T square now and through this year which will lead to outbursts and irritability. Plus a real drag from not only tr Pluto square his 8^th house Saturn all this year; but also his Solar Arc Pluto opposition his Saturn and his Solar Arc Sun in square to his Saturn. He will have tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter for mild uplift.

  His strongest harmonic is his 13^th – sometimes described as breakthrough-genius. It was also comedian Peter Sellers’ most notable.

In a semi-surprise resignation Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, has called it a day as pressures on her mounted. Independence was no closer as a dream, there are problems with health, education and other areas under SNP government oversight, and she inexplicably landed herself in a mire over the housing of a trans rapist in a woman’s prison. She says the reasons for her leaving were nothing immediate but had built up over time. She has been at the top since 2014 and in politics for three decades.

   Tr Pluto has been opposing her Cancer Sun since 2021 and then opposing her Sun/Mars midpoint and aiming to oppose her Mars from late next month. Which is a punishing run of deeply frustrating, trapped energies, running on till late 2024. Tr Saturn is just over the opposition to her Leo Midheaven last month with tr Uranus aiming to square her MC from this July onwards so this was always going to be a time of career setbacks followed by a significant change of direction.  And with tr Neptune opposing her Pluto from mid March this year a diminution of her power and influence.

  Her first swearing in chart from 20 November 2014 has two downbeat and separating Saturnine Solar Arc aspects at the moment – of SA Saturn conjunct Venus and square Neptune; and SA Mercury conjunct Saturn. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with. But her last Term chart, 13 May 2021 9am had a lacklustre Neptune at the Midheaven with a hidden 12^th house Mars inconjunct an equally hidden 8^th house Saturn which hinted at setbacks and blocked progress.

 The SNP 7 April 1934 chart with its formidably determined Sun Mars in Aries opposition Jupiter square Pluto is being rattled at the moment by Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Pluto exactly now. And is also facing a sobering Saturn Return exactly now. So a key moment in its history. The revved-up push that has been obvious in recent years may well start to fade now that tr Pluto has moved away from the hard aspects to the central configuration.

  What is still intriguing is the Scotland Act of Union chart, 1 May 1707, which will be undergoing quite a shake up from this May/June onwards with the Taurus Sun square Jupiter Pluto being up-ended by tr Uranus in hard aspect.

See previous post February 3 2023.