The ultimate ditzy blonde, accessorised with handbag chihuahua and towering stiletto heels, doesn’t sound a likely jumping off ground for a turbo-fuelled Hollywood power figure. Yet Reese Witherspoon despite her goofish smile and girlish demeanour has bulldozed a highway through tinsel town’s macho culture to produce a string of hit TV shows with female-driven plots, glossy aesthetics and A-list casts – The Morning Show,  Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, Where The Crawdads Sing and the recent Daisy Jones & The Six.

  She had admittedly won a Best Actress Oscar for her gritty 2006 portrayal of a steely June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, before embarking on Legally Blonde. But became disheartened by arm candy roles and started her own production company in 2012, kicking off with two box office hits in Wild and Gone Girl. Her company Hello Sunshine sold a majority stake to private equity firm Blackstone for a reported $900 million in 2021 though she continues to oversee operations day-to-day. And continues to act, commanding top fees.

  She was born 22 March 1976 in New Orleans, LA (maybe birth time of 2pm) with a medical/military father, a voracious appetite for reading books, a type A personality and landed her first film role at 14. She clearly hit the deck running.  She has a go-getting Aries Sun in a determined and controlling opposition to Pluto widely square a competitive/assertive Mars in Cancer maybe opposition a Capricorn Moon (which sounds likely). She has a creative and healing Water Grand Trine of Mars trine Venus in Pisces trine Uranus in Scorpio.  Her lucky Jupiter in final degree pro-active Aries squares Saturn in Cancer.

   She’s on a roll at the moment with tr Pluto square her Jupiter in 23/24, having come through a tricky two years of tr Pluto opposition her Saturn.  Tr Neptune Saturn in Aries in 2025 won’t suit her high-octane Sun, Mars, Pluto T square but Aries has amazing resilience and no doubt she will bounce back.

  She recently announced she is divorcing from her second husband, top talent agent Jim Toth, 27 July 1970. It was always an odd match with his Sun Mars in Leo square her Uranus and his Uranus opposition her Sun, conjunct her Pluto and square her Mars. Their relationship chart has an illusory composite Sun opposition Neptune and trine Pluto, which suits the film business, but can be disappointing when the shine wears off. Plus a volatile composite Uranus square Mars which would bring thrills initially and tensions later.    

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The final degree Aries Solar Eclipse this Thursday is in an unsubtle, sensual and passionate Saros series. Deep hidden feelings will emerge to the surprise of those who were unaware they had them.

Pluto in Aquarius will square the New Moon and Taurus North Node to magnify the intensity Although the challenges will be softened by Jupiter also in late Aries adding an upbeat and expansive note to proceedings. Mars in excitable Cancer has edgy aspects to Mercury Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Pisces – so sharp words and arguments are likely. Gritting teeth and saying less will be advisable. Venus square Saturn hints that a few sad moments will prevail. Around in this series before in 2005, 1987, 1969, 1951, 1933, 1915

 The 14 degree Taurus Lunar Eclipse of 5 May opposition Uranus will be changeable, highly-strung, rebellious. Pluto squares Jupiter for a sense of pushy confidence which may cross the line of what is allowed; with an equally exuberant and opportunistic Mars square Jupiter in a publicity attracting trine to Neptune. It won’t pass by without comment, for sure.

The 14 October 21 degree Libra Solar Eclipse is of a different order with a challenging, high-risk, ruthless Pluto square Mars as well as square the New Moon. Pluto is also trine Uranus and sextile Neptune which will fuel high ambition and a revolutionary fervour.  The Saros Series, according to Bernadette Brady is one of immense power, anger and force. Huge obstacles will suddenly clear or a potential crisis will surface and events will move at great speed. All of which sounds all too exhausting. Around before in 2005, 1987, 1969, 1951, 1922, 1915.

 The 28 October Lunar Eclipse at 5 degrees Taurus is tied into Mars and Mercury in Scorpio opposition Jupiter in Taurus – when push comes to shove it could be over the top though not as tricky as the Solar Eclipse.

Commit murder, on prison release write successful murder mysteries. Almost a cliché of truth stranger than —. But the background story of Anne Perry’s folie a deux with her childhood friend, Pauline Parker, which ended in the brutal death of Parker’s mother when both were fifteen is even stranger.

   Living in New Zealand, the two school girls formed an intense bond which included an elaborate fantasy life about which they wrote plays and books. They invented their own personal religion, with their own ideas on morality, rejected Christianity and worshipped their own saints, envisioning a parallel dimension called The Fourth World, essentially their version of Heaven, which offered spiritual enlightenment. By their account, they achieved this spiritual enlightenment because of their friendship. Perry would become ill and withdrawn if Parker was not with her.

  Perry’s parents ran into difficulties and decided to leave New Zealand. Heartbroken at the prospect of being separated, the teenagers decided that killing Parker’s mother would allow them to be together. Their long term plan was to head to Hollywood or New York City, where they would publish their writing and work in film.

  They bludgeoned her over the head with a brick twenty times, were caught and sentenced to five years imprisonment and never saw each other again. Perry lived in the USA, became a Mormon, moved to Scotland, started publishing award-winning murder mysteries in her forties and her background only became known when Peter Jackson’s 1994 well-received film Heavenly Creatures was released in 1994 when she was in her late fifties.

  Anne Perry born 28 October 1938 was a Sun Scorpio square Pluto; with Mercury, North Node also in Scorpio opposition Uranus conjunct the South Node square Jupiter in Aquarius. Certainly intense and controlling/possessive but not short of confidence with a focal point Jupiter.

   When the murder was committed on 22 June 1954, tr Pluto was on the opposition to her Jupiter pumping up her boldness to a degree where she felt she couldn’t lose; with her Solar Arc Pluto square her North Node exactly (tugging on her Mercury opposition Uranus).

  Pauline Parker, 28 May 1938, was a Sun Gemini with Mercury, Moon, Uranus in Taurus and her South Node also in Taurus was conjunct Algol. When the murder took place her Mars in Gemini was being stoked up by tr Neptune trine and tr Pluto sextile; with an exact head-in the-clouds Solar Arc Jupiter opposition Neptune. And tr Pluto heading to square her North Node in the aftermath.

  Their synastry, without birth times, is not noteworthy. But their relationship chart is. There was an over-confident composite Sun opposition Jupiter square North Node, which was being ramped up to boundless proportions in 1954 by tr Pluto magnifying the effect. The composite Sun was was in a competitive, over-excitable conjunction to Mars and square Uranus, provoking them to seek thrills and excitement. Venus was in an illusory, can-be-delusional, spiritual-yearnings conjunction to Neptune in a wide yod to Saturn sextile Mercury. A fated connection.

  Pluto in hard aspect to the North Node either by transit or Solar Arc repeats in these instances – dark Lord of the underworld clashing with the spirit of the age.  It also recurs in a recent modern murder case – but that is still on trial so will have to wait a dissection.

  Gemini and Scorpio seem an odd combination but is often found in thrill-seeking partnerships, where Gemini’s wish to walk on the dark side chimes with Scorpio’s depths.  

A local violent squabble in Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country, between the president and his vice-president, leaders of the transitional government after a 2019 coup that ousted long-term dictator Omar al-Bashir, could have wider ramifications. Both Egypt and Saudi Araba have a stake in the game, as well as the Russians through Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group.

 Inside Sudan, it pits the armed forces against a paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) originally known as the infamous Janjaweed for its atrocities and genocide in Darfur, resulting in 400,000 deaths. Although Saudi Arabia is calling for peace it has heavily supported the RSF financially in recent years and hired RSF troops to fight against Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war. The outcome may eventually depend on which of the rival generals can secure financial backing from either Cairo or Riyadh.

  The RSF has also been linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, brought into Sudan by Bashir to help shore up his faltering regime in 2017. Following a meeting with Putin Bashir promised to make the country Russia’s “key to Africa”. Ever since, Wagner has supplied large quantities of weapons and equipment and it continues to operate a gold mining company, reportedly smuggling vast quantities of gold out of the country, amongst other things helping to fuel the war in Ukraine.

  Gulf states are concerned about instability on the Red Sea — a key trade route — and fear the rise of Islamists in the region as does Egypt who supports the non-RSF side. The concern is that it could spiral out of control at which point Egypt might assert itself and Ethiopia.  One commentator said: “If it is possible, my wish is for the two military sides to be defeated. Sudan would be much better without either of them.”

Chad, Eritrea and South Sudan could face a deluge of refugees, adding to their own internal struggles. A power vacuum could enable extremist groups across the region to take advantage of what is happening, as Al Quaeda did in the early 1990s, which would obviously undermine British and American security.

  Richard Kemp in the Telegraph suggests: “Sudan may be just the first African nation to implode under Russian influence. In the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Libya and Mali, Russian mercenaries have worked to reinforce existing conflicts, prop up despotic regimes, suppress efforts towards democracy, loot natural resources, secure strategic advantage for Moscow and drive out Western influence. The forces unleashed by their efforts will not be easily contained.”

   Sudan, 1 January 1956, does have the devastating and confused tr Pluto square Neptune exactly now and throughout 2024, with tr Pluto moving on in 2024/25 to upend the Uranus as well. Plus an explosive tr Uranus opposition Mars from this June, running on in a highly disruptive opposition to the Saturn and square Pluto in 2025/26.  There’s nothing to suggest a peaceful truce anytime soon.

  18 degrees fixed at the moment for these few significant days until May 11^th are highlighted in:

Egyptian President Al-Sisi’s relationship chart with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia has tr Uranus in a high-tension, eruptive opposition to the Saturn, moving on to oppose the composite Mars in June onwards. It is also sending a high-voltage jolt through Al Sisi’s Presidency chart, 8 June 2014, as tr Uranus opposes the Saturn. In his own chart as well, 19 November 1954, tr Uranus is heading to square the Mars in Aquarius  from early May onwards which could light a fuse, is certainly bad tempered, insecure leading to rash decisions.

  MBS, 31 August 1985, could also be tempted into reckless over-reactions come this August with tr Uranus opposition his Saturn and through 2024 squaring his Mars.

  The Egypt/USA chart looks rattled with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun at 18 Taurus.

 Yevgeny Prigozhin, 1 June 1961, has a volatile, explosive Mars Uranus in Leo of which the midpoint is catching the 18 degree tr Uranus square exactly now, so he will be on red alert.

 This decade is turning out to be an absolute horror.

The UK’s flagship and beloved National Health Service (NHS) is in chaos with junior doctors on strike and now nurses voting to down tools on April 30^th, leaving A&E and intensive care departments under-staffed. Rounds of applause during the pandemic have been replaced by a disgruntled stamping of feet out the door.

  Finding a solution to the entirely free NHS is not easy. France pays for its (probably) superior health service with eye-wateringly high levels of general taxation plus a dual system with mandatory private insurance paying for a portion of patient costs. Any suggestions in the UK of moving from a free health service to a more continental system evokes yowls of outrage and doom-laden hints about ending up down the impossibly expensive, over-commercialised USA road.

  The NHS was set up on 5 July 1948 with a caring Cancer Sun square Neptune, plus an enduring and resistant to change Saturn Pluto in Leo; and a liberally minded Moon, Venus, Uranus, Mercury in Gemini opposition Jupiter square Mars in Virgo. That latter Mutable T Square onto Mars hints at an overly scattered outfit, going in all directions at once. But lacking focus and needing a firm hand on organization.

  The Solar Arc Sun was conjunct the Mars during the crisis of the pandemic – and an undermining transiting Neptune has been trailing round Jupiter, Mars recently and continues on to square Venus, Uranus, Mercury between now and 2025. Solar Arc Neptune is also heading for a panicky-failure square to the NHS Mars in 2024 and the other Venus, Uranus, Mercury 2026 to 2028.  Neptune can be healing, or undermining or indecisive so it may be that the old British muddle-along-somehow approach stays in place. There will be a few jolts from tr Uranus square the Saturn come this June onwards for a few months with the status quo being challenged but whether that leads to a breakthrough is questionable. Tr Saturn in Pisces won’t help into 2025 throwing up more setbacks. and a dose of hard reality.

  The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) 27 March 2016, has a devastated and confused tr Pluto opposition Neptune this year and next which might suggest they have reached the end of their tether. With tr Uranus square the Uranus exactly over the proposed strike dates – as they stage a rebellion.  2025 looks bleak for them with tr Neptune Saturn in Aries square the Pluto and then moving to conjunct the Son and square Saturn.

  Their relationship chart with the NHS suggests a long-drawn out and miserable struggle with tr Pluto opposition the composite Saturn now and throughout 2024. With more disruptions through 2024 as tr Uranus is conjunct the composite Sun.

  The NHS does boost the UK’s reputation with its Cancer Sun conjunct the UK Midheaven. But the NHS North Node is also conjunct the UK’s 8^th house Mars in Taurus – so money is the stumbling block.

 The infamous 1993 WACO siege which ended in a cataclysmic tank assault of a religious cult compound by the FBI leaving 70 people dead, including many children, is blamed by many for the rise of the American right wing. The 51 day siege and its explosive end has become a rallying war-cry, warning of a  brutal federal government attacking God-loving, gun-owning folk, and destroying them.’ Private gun ownership in the US has doubled since 1993.

  Donald Trump staged the first rally of his second presidential campaign at Waco, on the anniversary of the first day of the siege. His inflammatory rhetoric bull-horned out that “They’re coming after you, and I’m going to be standing in their way . . . 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one.” The extremist conspiracy theorist Alex Jones came to prominence with a campaign to build a new chapel on the ruins of the Branch Davidian compound. The white supremacist gun fanatic Timothy McVeigh visited Waco during the siege, and on the second anniversary of the day it ended he bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing at least 168 people in the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.

  The anti-government militia movement gained huge momentum in the wake of Waco

   What is noteworthy is that when WACO disaster occurred the overly-excitable and can-be-fanatical tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was approaching the USA’s demagogic, dogmatic Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto in Capricorn – with a combustible Mars in Cancer in play over the tragic end. In the aftermath it is not difficult to see how it would stoke up the negative energy of that US Mercury Pluto, which was in play before over the McCarthy reign of terror amongst others. The USA Mercury opposition Pluto has been on high alert since 2016, first with tr Uranus in square and now with the tail end of the Pluto Return which disappears after this coming October. Although it won’t be a switch off, more a slow winding down.

  WACO became a collective embarrassment for the USA and not the FBI’s finest moment by a long shot. The FBI was founded 26 July 1908 though oddly the chart that shows up the WACO fiasco more obviously is the name-change-to-FBI date of 22 March 1935, which has an impulsive, crises-attracting Cardinal Grand Cross of Pluto in Cancer opposition North Node square Uranus opposition Mars  – and that was being triggered by the 1993 tr Neptune Uranus opposition Mars = overly-reactive, short fused.

  What was also in play was tr Pluto conjunct the FBI Jupiter bringing a mood of over confident, might-makes-right stubbornness.  That oddly was also the case with David Koresh, a high school dropout, rock musician and polygamist cult leader who thought he was Christ. Born 17 August 1959 8.49 am Houston, Texas, he had a maverick Sun Uranus in Leo in an over-confident square to Jupiter; and a packed 12^th house with Pluto in Virgo trine Saturn in Capricorn sextile Neptune; as well as a can-be-promiscuous Venus Mars in Virgo.  When the siege occurred, tr Pluto was conjunct his Jupiter boosting his messianic arrogance. A real oneupmanship tussle with the FBI.

  Indications from those on the ground were that a few more days might have solved the siege. Instead of which the FBI’s heavy-handed error of judgment set in train a ripple of unwanted and destructive effects – Timothy McVeigh, Alex Jones and Trump – a testament to the paranoia that lurks in the American psyche.  

Add On: The ATF were also involved (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), 1 July 1972. The initial reason for going into the compound was to investigate illegal weapons. In the initial raid on February 28 1993 four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed in a shootout and the FBI took over.

  The ATF has a Cancer Sun in a confident opposition to Jupiter with the Sun also square Uranus and Jupiter square Pluto – so it will tend to be impulsive and arrogant as an organization and not always concerned with sticking to the rules (Jup Pl). Plus a publicity-attracting Neptune trine a flamboyant Mars Mercury in Leo sextiling onto a controlling Pluto.

  When the siege occurred tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was conjunct the ATF Solar Arc Jupiter, inflaming the over-pushy, power-hungry Jupiter square Pluto. Tr Mars in Cancer (opposition tr Neptune Uranus) was exactly conjunct the ATF South Node over the explosive finish to the siege – anger/competitiveness triggering the ATF’s baser instincts.

  Both sides seem bedevilled by Jupiter Pluto – Ebertin describes it in various ways – leading an uprising, desire for power and conflicts with authorities/governmental power. Plus the misfortune to lose everything.   

What do hyena pups and children of dynastic families have in common? They savage each other in a bid for dominance. Even in the bird kingdom, owlets will cannibalise their smaller siblings in order to fatten up and survive. Such primal instincts run rampant in the supposed elites of the human kingdom, not only amongst the Royals but also in the Murdoch clan where the juniors wait to see if/when senior is about to do a Logan Roy, dashing his hopes of immortality.

  A Vanity Fair piece has suggested that son James was pitching plot lines to the TV series Succession, creating a surreal spectacle of the Murdoch family’s lives imitating art that imitates their lives.

  Three cogent thoughts come out of the article about Murdoch’s succession plans, having long wanted one of his three children from his second marriage – Elisabeth, 54, Lachlan, 51, and James, 50 – to take over the reins.

A family source said: “He pitted his kids against each other their entire lives.” He believed a Darwinian struggle would produce the most capable heir.

A journalist wrote: “I was struck by how sad all the Murdochs seem.”

Rupert Murdoch is convinced he will live forever, despite having recently broken his back, had seizures, two bouts of pneumonia and atrial fibrillation. His mother lived to 103.

 At present Lachlan is in control although the Fox/Dominion debacle and recent investor rebellion may spell trouble for him ahead. People close to liberally-inclined James Murdoch say he is biding his time until he and his sisters can wrest control from Lachlan, purge Fox News and transform it into a centre-right alternative to CNN. Elisabeth seems to be the sharpest, but lucked out being a woman, despite having launched her own phenomenally successful television production company – and would probably be the one to bring her father greater glory with her Jupiter sitting on his midheaven.

  Lachlan, 8 September 1971, is a charming Sun Venus in Virgo, with Sun square Saturn; and a committed ideologue with an Air Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine an ultra-stubborn Mars North Node in Aquarius, formed into a Kite with Saturn opposition Neptune Jupiter.  He is supportive of Fox’s embrace of climate denialism, white nationalism, and stolen election conspiracies. Tr Saturn in Pisces may damp his enthusiasm more than slightly in 2023/24.

  The relationship chart between himself and James has a power-struggling, hostile-dislike composite Mars square Pluto and a suspicious Saturn opposition Neptune. The fault lines between them will open up sharply in 2025/2026 when tr Pluto is square the composite Sun and tr Neptune Saturn in Aries tug at the Mars Pluto square.

James, 13 December 1972, is a downbeat Sun Sagittarius opposition Saturn possibly/probably square a sensitive Pisces Moon – although with a pushily-confident Jupiter square Pluto to balance out his self-doubts. Plus a passionately enthusiastic, can-be-vengeful and determined Mars Venus in Scorpio.

Elisabeth, 22 August 1968, a last degree Leo Sun square Neptune, with a five- planet stellium in Virgo of Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Pluto, Uranus is another Saturnine child. She has a tricky Yod onto a forced-to-be-self-reliant Saturn in Aries inconjunct Uranus sextile Neptune.

  Which brother she supports after the old man finally lets go is moot since she doesn’t sync well with either. With James there is a power-struggling composite Mars Pluto conjunction which is being seriously undermined in 2024/25. And with Lachlan there is an aggravated, unkind composite Mars Saturn and no indication of anything other than chills, dips and disruptions in the next few years between them.

  Oddly enough their relationship with their father is marginally easier than with each other, despite all of them having strongly Saturnine charts  = desperate to gain father’s approval. Rupert’s 4^th house focal point Uranus in Aries (which rules his 5^th house of children )squaring onto a Saturn opposition Pluto has surely done its thing spreading chaos and anarchy round the family.

  He’s not having a great year personally with a frustrating, trapped tr Pluto opposition his 8^th house Mars continuing on from 2022 – financial mainly. Plus tr Neptune square his Sagittarius Moon pulling the plug on his emotional life.

  Tensions simmer in all families – in these tribes they are blown up on a monumental scale.

Taiwan remains a danger zone despite China ending several days of military drills though some activity continues and Xi Jinping has called on the armed forces to “strengthen military training oriented towards actual combat”. This last round of sabre-rattling was provoked by the visit of USA House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Taiwan last week. Beijing has not ruled out taking Taiwan by force, and is working to isolate it from the international community. Only 13 countries now recognise Taiwan as a country, after Honduras decided to switch ties to Beijing after financial and commercial inducements.

  There is no there is no clear chart for Taiwan though the China country 1 January 1912 chart did show up the three Taiwan Straits Crises with China in 1954/58/95, as well as the Second Sino-Japan War in 1927.

  The sensitive (war -like) points on the China chart appear to be its can-be-fanatical Uranus at 28 degrees Capricorn (opposition Neptune); Mars at 24 degrees in ultra determined Taurus (conjunct Moon, Saturn) and its Pluto at 27 Gemini – and its North Node at 28 degrees Aries.

  The First Taiwan Strait spat starting 3 September 1954 had tr Pluto square the Mars; tr Uranus opposing the Uranus with tr Neptune square.

The Second Taiwan Strait crisis, starting 23 August 1958 had tr Jupiter North Node conjunct the South Node with tr Saturn moving to oppose the Pluto. Tr Uranus was square the Saturn.

  The Third Taiwan Strait spat, 21 July 1995, had the tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn rattling up its Uranus opposition Neptune, tr Saturn aiming to square the Pluto; and the North Node was on a Half Return.

At the moment tr Pluto is square the China 1912 Uranus; tr Neptune is moving to square the Pluto along with tr Saturn in 2024/25. And the Eclipses in 2024 will be back to their 1995 positions. Plus tr Uranus will conjunct the China Mars from late May 2024 on and off into early 2025 which will be a time when risky over reactions could occur.

  The China/Japan relationship chart is also under extreme pressure this year and on until late 2025 with tr Pluto conjunct the composite Sun, Mercury and then Venus; with 2024 being especially uncertain as tr Neptune squares the composite Saturn.

  The US/China relationship chart looks under dark and discouraging clouds with tr Pluto opposition the composite Saturn but that need not indicate overt action – it could be a dragging stalemate. Though Biden’s Term is moving into a riskier phase from now onwards – and both his Term chart and Xi Jinping’s Third Term do hint at a jangle late April into early May this year.

  As ever nothing conclusive, but there are Astro-similarities to previous flare-ups.

Mary Quant, the trailblazing British fashion designer who became the “godmother” of youthful fashion in the 1960s, has died at the age of 93. The mini-skirt became her emblem, along with hot pants and colourful leggings, all designed to give women a “feeling of freedom and liberation”. Bazaar her boutique on the King’s Road in Chelsea became the go-to shop for a new generation of young women with jobs and  disposable income to spend on clothes.  Her designs were popularised by Jean Shrimpton, Pattie Boyd, Cilla Black and Twiggy.

She was born 11 February 1930, no birth time, in London and had a maverick Aquarius Sun conjunct Venus also in rainbow-tinted Aquarius. Her Mars in determined and contrarian Aquarius was in a risk-taking sextile to Uranus and an exuberant trine to Jupiter. She had an Earth Grand Trine of Saturn in Capricorn trine Neptune trine North Node in Taurus which is good for business and practical skills. With her Saturn in tough-minded opposition to Pluto and squaring onto an inventive, trail blazing Uranus in Aries. That Cardinal T square would make her restless, ambitious and give her a surplus of initiative.

  Her global reputation is well noted in a well-aspected 22^nd Harmonic.