The genocide of the Yazidi people by ISIL in Iraq in 2014 was only the latest in an estimated 72 such persecutions by Arabs and Turks over millenia. They are a minority group, indigenous to Kurdistan, with a monotheistic religion. The 2014 atrocity  saw over 5,000 Yazidis killed and thousands of Yazidi women and girls forced into sexual slavery, as well as the flight of more than 500,000 Yazidi refugees.

Nadia Murad, 10 March 1993, who now lives in Germany, was kidnapped from her hometown and held by the Islamic State for three months until she escaped. She is the founder of Nadia’s Initiative, an organization dedicated to “helping women and children victimized by genocides, mass atrocities, and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities” . She and Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, 1 March 1955, who works with rape victims, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”

 Both are Sun Pisces and both have a strong Jupiter which latter would be essential to keep hope and optimism high when facing the worst of human nature.

  Her Sun Mercury are in a can-be-influential trine to Pluto and sextile and innovative Uranus Neptune in Capricorn. With a resourceful Jupiter Moon in Libra opposition Venus square Uranus Neptune. Her Mars in Cancer is trine the Sun and in an adventurous square to Jupiter and she has a tough, persevering Pluto square Saturn.

 Denis Mukwege, a doctor and pastor, who specialises in treating women raped by armed rebels and has faced assassination attempts for his work, is a Sun Pisces, with Saturn in conscientious Scorpio in an unyielding square to Pluto. Like Nadia he has a Cardinal T square involving Jupiter with his Venus in Capricorn opposition Uranus Jupiter in Cancer square Neptune and an adventurous trine to Jupiter Uranus in Cancer.

   His ‘healing’ 12^th Harmonic chart is strong.

Compassionate Pisces plus tough-minded Saturn Pluto and an idealistic, upbeat Jupiter.

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Nancy Pelosi has been accused of grandstanding and china-baiting in her swansong tour of the far east including Taiwan. The White House raised concerns about the visit and even Taiwanese locals are wary that she’ll cause unnecessary trouble. She has been incensed about authoritarian China since the Tiananmen Square riots were brutally suppressed in 1989.

  Nothing much budges her when she has set her plans with a substantially Fixed chart. She was born 26 March 1940 in Baltimore, MD, with a biography time of 3.10pm, which puts a formidable collection of Mars, Venus and Uranus in Taurus on her Midheaven opposition a Scorpio Moon. She also has Pluto in Leo square Saturn in Taurus and and 8^th house Aries Sun.

  Her Mars is conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol so she’s a determined fighter and her Mars Venus Uranus are conjunct the China 1912 Mars Moon in Taurus with the China Saturn conjunction her Uranus. So not an amiable connection. Two formidable opponents.

  Her relationship chart with China 1912 is under discouraging, separating influences this year. The already fraught, suspicious composite T Square of Sun Venus opposition Neptune Moon square Mars is catching tr Saturn hard aspects this year and next with worse in 2023/24 as tr Uranus catches up to rock their boat further.

  The China/USA relationship chart is uncertain this year, scratchy in 2023 and still in bulldozer-meets-brick-wall gear – depressing and neither side compromising.

Her relations with Joe Biden are never easy at the best of times since her heavyweight Taurus planets clash with his Scorpio stellium. Her unyielding Saturn square Pluto sit on his Moon square Jupiter so she’ll douse his enthusiasm. Her Sun opposes his 10^th house Neptune so she’ll find him evasive and indecisive.

 Their relationship chart has a New Moon opposition Pluto = power-struggling. With an aggravated composite Mars opposition Venus square Saturn Uranus which is being chilled by tr Saturn hard aspects this year and next.

  If the Republicans take Congress at the Mid Terms she is expected to retire. And given her age that may happen whatever the outcome.  Pluto moving into Aquarius will shift the trajectory of her life as it opposes her Pluto and squares her Saturn in 2023/24 and moves out of her ‘performing’ 5^th house. 2023 is also the year of her Uranus Return.

PS. I use the 1 January 1912 China chart because it works better than the 1949 one.

See previous post on Taiwan 19 July 2022

Bernard Cribbins, a much-loved, and very funny, character actor has died aged 93, after an astonishingly full and varied career on stage and screen, with awards for his work in children’s television on Jackanory, The Wombles and more recently CBeebies as well as The Railway Children. He did vaudeville, knockabout comedy with Peter Sellers, West End farce and even found success in the pop charts, with two Top 10 novelty songs.

  He was born 29 December 1928 12.35am in Oldham, England into a poor family who suffered during the depression years so he left school at 13 and was pleased to be offered a job as assistant stage manager at the local theatre, which set him off on his 75 year career. He worked right through to his late eighties.

   He was an earthy, practical and ambitious Sun Capricorn in the communicative 3^rd house with an influential Pluto in his 10^th. His Sun was in a mischievous square to Uranus and a confident, lucky, talented Earth Grand Trine to an amiable 7^th house Jupiter trine Neptune. He had affectionate Venus in his 5^th house of children and entertainment, though he didn’t have any of his own, and it was in an enthusiastic trine to Mars in chatty Gemini in his vocal 9^th house. His Mars was opposition Saturn which would give him grit and discipline from a tough childhood.

  A wonderful mix of soft and hard, hard-driving and creative, friendly and controlling.

Pic: Mattbuck

The killing of the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan has been met with jubilation in the USA. He was Bin Laden’s second in command and is believed to have plotted the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US service members, was an architect of the 9/11 and was indicted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

   How relevant an event it is in the greater schemes of things isn’t clear, given that Al Quaeda is no longer the force it was and Zawahiri has been ill for some time, his duties undertaken by other younger members of the terrorist group.

Zawahiri, 19 June 1951, was a Sun, Mars, Mercury in Gemini square Saturn in Virgo so being undermined by tr Neptune hard aspects last year and this; with tr Uranus square his Pluto when he was killed.

  What is of marginal interest is that the Al Quaeda chart has an 18 degree Leo Sun, exactly in line for the explosive Mars Uranus North Node conjunction of the moment – whether that signals its death knell or a shift in a different direction isn’t clear. Though it will have dented morale, there’s no doubt.

  I’m searching around for a history-changing moment to accompany the rare Mars Uranus North Node coming together this week and the above may not be it. See post June 17 June 2022 – construction of the Berlin Wall, death of Mao, 1947 bombing of King David Hotel, Jerusalem, 1871 Germany unification.  

  The USA/Al Quaeda relationship chart is being triggered this year by the Eclipses and under immense pressure in 2023/2024. It’s difficult to see Al Quaeda rising from the grave but there may be other ripple effects yet to be seen.

The England Lionesses victory over Germany in the EURO 2022 final has sent fans into a delirium of joy with hopes that women’s football is finally becoming established as a force to be reckoned with. Encouraging more schools to offer equal access to football and pressure for more Premier League clubs to allow their women’s teams to play in their main stadia will be key aims.

  The first women’s football league was established in 1969 so the foundations have been laid over the past fifty years.

   Looking across a few key players and coaches what is significant is a constant smattering of determined Scorpio planets and in three of them Sun Neptune conjunctions. Neptune often occurs in top athletics though it seems counter-intuitive.

   Chloe Kelly, 15 January 1998, the forward who scored the winning goal, is a Sun, Venus, Neptune in Capricorn, with an energetic and upbeat Mars Jupiter in stubborn Aquarius. She is the youngest of seven siblings and honed her game playing against five older brothers in the local caged pitch.

Hope Powell, the former coach who progressed the game for women, 8 November 1966, is a Sun, Venus, Neptune in Scorpio.

 Baroness Sue Campbell, 10 October 1948, former chairman of UK sport is also credited  with the advancement of the women’s league. She is a Sun conjunct Neptune in Libra with a super-determined Mars in Scorpio and mercury also in Scorpio.

  The present coach, Sarina Wiegman, 26 October 1969, is a Sun Scorpio opposition Saturn in Taurus with a do-or-die determined Pluto trine Mars, sextile Neptune.

 Ella Toone, 2 September 1999, a forward, a confident and controlled Sun Virgo trine Jupiter, square Pluto with Mars in Scorpio. She comes from a sporting family and at school excelled at every team sport – table tennis, tennis, netball, hockey, cross country athletics.

Leah Williamson, 29 March 1997, the team captain, is a self-reliant Sun, Saturn, Venus in Aries trine Pluto, sextile Uranus Jupiter in Aquarius. She started football very young, and is now studying accountancy part-time.

A ray of sunshine to uplift gloomy spirits. Nothing like a sports victory to blow away cares.

Two trailblazers for equality and civil rights in the USA have died. Bill Russell, the NBA great who marched with Martin Luther King Jr, and in 1966 became the first Black man to hold the role of head coach in a major US sport. And actress Nichelle Nichols, one of the first black women to be featured on American television in a non-subservient role when she played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek series.

 Both were motivated by the rebellious, status-quo-upsetting and progressive Uranus square Pluto of the early 1930s in their charts.

  Bill Russell, 12 February 1934 11.15am Monroe, Louisiana,  was born in the racist, segregated south but moved to California when he was 8. His parents were supportive and taught him not to respond to racist taunts which were the norm throughout his life. He had an ambitious chart with a 10^th house well-organised Sun, Saturn and North Node in Aquarius trine an enthusiastic Jupiter; with a charming Venus conjunct his Midheaven and Moon, as well as an ambitious Mars in ‘dancing’ Pisces. His Mars Mercury in Pisces opposed Neptune in his sporting 5^th house. Just as significant was a super-confident and extra-lucky Jupiter opposition Uranus square Pluto in his 3^rd. A focal point Pluto is often ahead of its time and can attract resistance and hostility.

  In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour, for his athletic accomplishments and his advocacy for human rights.

Nichelle Nichols, 28 December 1932, no time, Robbins, Illinois, was a creative Sun Capricorn trine Neptune with her Neptune in a showbizzy conjunction to Mars and square her Venus and Mercury. She initially wanted to be a singer and dancer but was given the  Star Trek role. She considered leaving at the end of the first run but a chance meeting with Martin Luther King changed her mind. He said ‘You simply cannot abdicate. This is an important role. This is why we are marching. We never thought we’d see this on TV.’ She later saw it as a role model for black people, but also for women with ambitions to become astronauts or scientists.

  She had the Pluto square Uranus perhaps tied into her Capricorn Moon so was destined to be a catalyst for change.

  Her Pluto was sextile an exuberantly confident, energetic and lucky Mars Jupiter in Virgo.

It still staggers me reading about what they had to live through and the unimaginable and ingrained prejudice they faced, which has not exactly disappeared.

Crazed fans, fawning critics and unhinged lawsuits – welcome to the whacky world of mega-music stars like Beyonce. Her 15.5 million twitter followers ensure that reviews in the music press err on the side of adulation to avoid being deluged with hate mail. Which hasn’t stopped a former band mate alleging that Beyonce practised  “dark magic”, effectively wrecking her life. It might sound like sad paranoid ravings except it has rung a chord with a chunk of social media obsessives. They soaked up the occult and Illuminati conspiracy blarney which Beyonce and Jay-Z evidently put about early on in what many believe to be a cynical effort to boost traffic.

  Opening Pandora’s Box not wise in these credulous and deranged times.  

   Even allowing for self-protective flattery, reviews of her first solo album in six years have been largely upbeat. “A joyous soundtrack to a hot girl summer”. The Telegraph predicted it “will be filling dance floors for years to come”. The Guardian said it was “unapologetically escapist”. Pitchfork’s Dylan Green claims it’s “the most unabashedly fun new Beyoncé record since 2006’s B-Day”. The Times says “This is an album about letting go and having a good time. It doesn’t seem like a bad way of dealing with the age of anxiety.”

  Beyonce said it came out of the pandemic – “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving”.

  Two points of interest in her chart. One is that the tr Uranus Mars North Node are exactly in opposition to her 4^th house Scorpio Moon now. Drat it – having looked up, the birth time is unverified and no idea where this one came from. But as it happens it is spot on so I’ll stick with it. So she will be facing emotional or domestic upheavals at some point – and tr Pluto sextile her Uranus also hints at a transition into a different space this year as well.

  What will be more concerning is her Solar Arc Mars conjunct her Sun, exact around now; and her Progressed Mars square her Uranus again around now. Neither of which sound restful or indeed good for for self-esteem since they tend to induce upsets. Her Solar Arc Sun will also conjunct her Pluto over coming months which is blocked. Tr Pluto moving into Aquarius in 2023 which start by being conjunct her South Node and then opposing her Mars in 2024/2025 which will be infuriating and aggravatingly stuck.

Even music goddesses have to suffer occasionally.

Diana Kennedy, who found her spiritual and culinary homeland in Mexico has died aged 99. She became a “culinary anthropologist” after a series of happy coincidences that transformed her itinerant lifestyle into a national treasure. Born 3 March 1923 into a quiet English family, her education disrupted by WW11, she emigrated to Canada and on a vacation to Haiti met a New York journalist who was Bureau Chief in Mexico, married him and moved there.

  He died of cancer ten years later and through his contacts she started publishing  nearly a dozen books, which transformed American views on Mexican food. Her first book, The Cuisines of Mexico, published in 1972, became a bestseller. Along the way she joined an elite group of cookery writers like Elizabeth David who sparked a deep interest in the food of other cultures.

  She made repeated voyages round the Mexican countryside, by bus, train, later by her own campervan (sometimes with a pistol in the glove compartment), and was in constant demand in cookery schools of America. She moved permanently to Mexico in 1976, purchasing a few acres, where she set up a smallholding of pigs, goats, chickens and fierce dogs and  established a centre of research, teaching and sustainable living.

 She had an innovative Sun Uranus in Pisces in a creative and healing Water Grand Trine to Pluto and Jupiter in Scorpio; which may have been formed into a Kite by Sun Uranus opposition Moon (North Node) in Virgo, making the Moon the driving planet (depending on birth time). It would make sense to have a Virgo Moon so prominent.

  Since there’s no birth time sadly the astrocartography is missing. But her Sun Uranus in Pisces are conjunct the Mexico 10^th house Pluto with her Jupiter trine the Mex Pluto so her discoveries would help to spread the country’s influence. And her Moon North Node falling in Mexico’s 4^th house of roots and home/domestic matters also makes sense.

  Her relationship chart with Mexico also had a fated Yod of Neptune sextile Venus inconjunct Pluto – tied together in mysterious ways.

The most offensive waste of money since the Beckham Peltz wedding or indeed the upcoming Boris Carrie country-pile splurge has ended with Rebekah Vardy losing her court case against Coleen Rooney. Two waste-of-space famous-for-nothing types squalling over leaked gossip of the sort which garners headlines on which both depend to bolster their vanity always seemed a pointless exercise.

  Running true to form, Rebekah Vardy is stamping her feet, blaming a flawed judgement and insisting she wasn’t wrong in her muddled testimony.

  Born 17 February 1982, she has a troubled, even harsh chart with an angry, anguished and aggravated Pluto Saturn Mars conjunction in Libra trine her Aquarius Sun and square her Venus and North Node in Cancer. Her Sagittarius Moon may even be sextile Mars Saturn and either conjunct Uranus or Neptune.

  Her life until she married footballer Jamie Vardy in 2016 appears to have been a train-wreck.  

Her parents divorced when she was 11 and she moved from city to city, was sexually assaulted by a family friend on a weekly basis for three years, which was dismissed by her mother leading to a rift, which left her homeless at 15. “I was made to feel like it was my fault.” She attempted suicide with pills and vodka.

She married first at 17, which fell apart after six months when she slept with singer Peter Andre, whom she later disparaged because of the size of his genitalia. A six year relationship with a footballer followed which ended acrimoniously, with him claiming she dumped him to upgrade to a wealthier type. He said as his parting shot that he showered her with expensive gifts, took out an “extortionate mortgage” on their Nottinghamshire home and lent her his Mercedes but nothing was good enough. “Becky liked the finer things in life. She wanted the biggest house on the street, expensive handbags,” he said.

  When she married Jamie Vardy neither his parents or Becky’s mum and stepdad attended. The groom’s family blamed Becky for causing the rift and mum Lisa said: “I don’t have anything directly to do with my son any more. It’s a shame and very sad.”

 She now lives with him in an eight-bedroom farmhouse, worth £3million, with an indoor pool, sauna, tennis court and gym, in between Dubai holidays staying at the Atlantis (a suite costs £1,800) and the Four Seasons (suites up to £14,000 a night.)

  Two psychological thoughts. One is that bad experiences don’t necessarily produce good people or result in a well-rounded, pleasant, compassionate temperament with a sense of decency and perspective.  The other is that abusive and dysfunctional nurturing in childhood produces individuals over-sensitive to criticism, even where it is legitimate, since it taps into their deep well of inner shame.

  She now has five children from various liaisons.

  Her present husband, Jamie, 11 January 1987, is a Sun, Mercury in Capricorn which squares her Mars, Saturn and Pluto which does not sound easy or harmonious; with her Jupiter in likes-money-Scorpio conjunct his Pluto – so hints of a wannabe power-couple ambition. Admittedly her Venus is conjunct his Sun which will help slightly.

  Their relationship chart has a possessive, controlling composite Sun square Pluto with an enthusiastic Mars Jupiter conjunction and an illusory Venus Neptune. He’s very welcome to her, frankly.

She will bounce back in 2023/2024 with tr Pluto square a Jupiter midpoint – she has a titanium-strength protective shield which will deflect anything that feels threatening. Kind of like Trump/BJ etc.