An unscripted joke in bad taste which earned a hard slap across the face rescued an inconsequential Academy Awards from oblivion. In the headlines for all the wrong reasons last night’s Oscars has become a battle ground of argument between those who think Will Smith’s defence of his wife was heroic and those who condemned him for over-reacting to host comedian Chris Rock’s off-colour jibe.

  Rock who appears to have form on disliking Jada Smith, joked about her hairless state (due to an auto-immune alpoecia). Smith then galloped to her defence before later collecting Best Actor for King Richard about Venus and Serena Williams’ father.

 Richard Madeley, a UK morning show presenter said in his long career that Rock was the most unpleasant celebrity he’d met. ‘He was the most unpleasant, rude, aggressive, unlikeable human being I’ve ever interviewed on camera, without question.’ 

  Rock, born 7 February 1965 10am Andrews, SC, has a confident, ego-centric Aquarius Sun on the point of a T Square to an ever-optimistic Jupiter opposition Neptune. He also has a powerful collection of Uranus, Pluto and Mars in Virgo trine Jupiter which will give him confidence but will be volatile.

   His Aries Moon sits below his Ascendant and is unaspected except for a quincunx to Mars, and an out-of-sign square to Venus, which will make him scratchy in relationship to women.  A sparsely aspected Moon can make for a sense of disconnection and immaturity. A not-well integrated Mercury can be hyperactive and one-track minded but again will lack a sense of real connection.

 Where he and the Smiths clash is his Mars in Virgo which is conjunct Jada Smith’s 10^th house controlling and influential Sun Pluto in Virgo; and Will Smith’s Uranus Pluto in Virgo.

  Rock’s relationship chart with Will Smith is an explosive cache waiting to ignite with a composite Mars, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo square Venus, Mercury, and Sun.

  With Jada, there’s a fated Yod of Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune Mercury inconjunct Saturn so there are obviously undertones of drawn-together-for-a-reason chemistry. Plus a competitive, argumentative composite Sun Mars conjunction.

  All a typhoon in a teacup of no account.

And in an entertainment business that thrives and banks richly on violence, getting vaporous over a slap is a touch tiresome and sanctimonious. I doubt it will affect any of them too badly though they all have undermining Neptune transits in opposition to their Virgo stelliums in the next two/three years so there will be some slipping and sliding.

See:https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2022/mar/29/will-smiths-oscars-slap-created-a-storm-of-increasingly-irrelevant-internet-hot-takes

Add ON: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have been together since 1994 with two children and a recent tendency to overshare in public – often misleadingly about their open or otherwise marriage.

They live in a 27,000 square feet Malibu house that sits on 100 acres.

  There are good connections between them with her Venus conjunct his Libra Sun and his Jupiter conjunct her Virgo Moon; as well as less helpful ones given that both have fairly turbulent temperaments from the Uranus Pluto of that period.

  Their relationship chart is exceptionally close – not necessarily bound by affection – but by unconscious ties. The possessive composite Sun Pluto conjunction sits in the composite 8^th house along with five other planets. Sun Pluto on its own makes for a transformational though not easy, bound-by-fate connection. The Venus Moon Jupiter conjunction will smooth round rough edges and give mutual support.  Seven planets in the 8^th will bind them together in ways they don’t understand. The composite Mars Neptune is OK-ish for showbusiness and a publicity-attracting duo but it suggests an underlying ego clash with each rooting for their own and not their partner’s success. And the Mars opposition Saturn hints at unfairness.

  It doesn’t mean it will last till eternity though it survived a tempestuous patch from 2007 for a decade after. It will sag over the next couple of years.

Add On: Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which runs the Oscars with copious apologies for his behaviour. Quite what that means isn’t clear and the decision about whether or not to rescind his recent award for King William hasn’t been made yet.

  He has tr Saturn just across his Midheaven moving through his 10^th for two years and his upper quadrant until 2030 which should be a time of consolidating his reputation.  Though he is beset by Neptunian confusion as tr Pluto squares his Sun/Neptune midpoint util late 2023. And tr Neptune opposes his Pluto on one leg of his Yod, which can be disempowering this year into 2023.

  I still think the whole thing has been seriously overblown with faux outrage from the Academy – I know they totted up the murders and corpses, running into hundreds, in Game of Thrones which won multiple BAFTAs and I’m sure the Oscars total over the years won’t be miniscule either. The industry thrives on gun and fist violence – and the audiences lap it up otherwise it wouldn’t be made.

Prince Albert of Monaco is claiming that a shadowy group is seeking to undermine his tiny, ultra-rich country with bogus corruption allegations. The accusations centre on property developments, involving some of his closest allies. Recently he changed five of most senior advisers, in an apparent attempt to counter criticism that he had allowed property companies to take control of his country. He said the allegations surfaced after he tried to introduce more transparency into property dealings.

  Whatever emerges from the fog of claims and denials, he is in possibly the worst year of his reign. His Pisces Sun is sinking under a swampy conjunction from Neptune all year. And worse tr Pluto labouring through his hidden, financial 8^th house from last month conjunct his Mars through this year and next – is trapped, scary, high-risk and impossible to avoid – financially and emotionally in crisis. Plus a calamitous tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint from late April to early May this year and repeating in January 2023. As if that wasn’t enough tr Neptune will move to square his Saturn from late this May, on and off into 2023, which will induce extreme uncertainty if not paranoia.

  Tr Saturn has reached his midheaven this year and will be moving through his 10^th until 2026 which for some can be successful and a consolidation of the preparation of previous years. But for others it is when chickens come home to roost and mistakes have to be faced. Saturnine justice.

  His Progressed Moon is also poised to move into his 12^th house within months to stay for two years plus which is a time of endings, clearing out old baggage and old attitudes and can be discouraging.

  His marriage, of course, has been in trouble for some time with the sad Princess Charlene away with health problems for a year. French magazines report that she has not moved back into the palace with her husband and children, preferring the calm of a house in the hills.

  Their relationship will not improve with the harsh composite Saturn Mars conjunction in their relationship chart catching the tr Pluto square until late 2024 and Uranian hitches, glitches and jolts right through till 2026.

  It may be that she has already made the split in her mind since her Sun/Moon midpoint has been under assault from the transiting Saturn square tr Uranus last year and this. His Sun/Moon midpoint is catching the tr Saturn conjunction this year and the tr Uranus square next, so he’s lagging slightly behind, as if often the case.

   She’s in an impossible bind since bolting would mean leaving her children behind. They will be his lifeline for the future and he won’t let go. Without heirs Monaco would revert to France.

  His Coronation, 12 July 2005, when he formally took over, brushing aside paternity claims and swearing he’d clean up Monaco’s money-laundering and corruption image, took place with less than auspicious aspects in place. Saturn was conjunct Sun square Mars and Mars was in a can-have-criminal-associations trine to Pluto, with Venus in Leo opposition Neptune.

 The tr Saturn square tr Uranus is jolting the showy, illusory Venus Mercury opposition Neptune this year into 2023; tr Neptune is in a disempowering square to Pluto this year; and tr Pluto is in a discouraging, deprived opposition to Saturn in 2023/24. With his popularity sagging further in 2024 with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Venus.

Monaco is a sovereign city state which sits on 2 square kilometres of ground, with under 40,000 inhabitants, many millionaires, there as tax exiles. Claustrophobic and truly depressing.

See previous post Charlene: 19 November 2021

Hungary unlike Poland is attempting to maintain an ambivalent stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin Prime Minister Orban  has supported EU sanctions against Russia and condemned the war, but banned the shipment of weapons to Kyiv and is against stopping natural gas and oil from Russia, on which Hungary is heavily reliant. For the forthcoming April 3 elections as he aims for a fourth term, he is proclaiming himself the peace and security candidate. His party still leads but the polls are the tightest they have ever been for him.

  His multi-billion spending spree ahead of the election next week of tax rebates, tax cuts, pension and wage hikes has left a budget hole that will spell trouble ahead for whoever wins. With Hungary’s public debt ratio surging to the highest in Central Europe, its credit ratings are likely to drop given rising interest rates, surging inflation and energy prices, the cost of helping 200,000 refugees, exacerbated by Hungary’s lack of access to EU pandemic recovery funds due to a row over democratic standards.

  The election on April 3^rd is likely to be bad tempered with a tr Saturn Mars conjunction in Aquarius. If the modern Hungary chart of 23 October 1989 is accurate at 12pm then those two planets will collide with the Hungary Leo Moon which suggests a stressed and unhappy electorate. Even without that the Hungary Pluto at 14 Scorpio catches a disruptive tr Uranus opposition from late April into May, repeating January 2023 which suggests major changes in leadership. August to November this year look frustrated, cornered and undermined. The Eclipses this year will also rattle the Hungary Scorpio Sun and Pluto.

  In 2023/2024 tr Pluto squares the Hungary Scorpio Sun bringing relentless and irrevocable pressure for change.

Viktor Orban, 31 May 1963 2pm, is on his second Saturn Return with the tr Saturn Mars square his Mercury in Taurus over the election, so irritable and argumentative, inclined to erupt. Tr Uranus is opposing his Neptune exactly which is highly strung and anxious and moves on to an upsetting conjunction to his Venus from early May.

In general it’s a year when his hopes don’t pan out especially now till June, and again on and off till late 2023. The opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay, 9 May 1972, looks devastated over the election but is recovering his mojo by July with a striking success – so much may change in the aftermath.

Sean Penn, the actor, director, writer with a mercurial  personal life, is stomping the boards in support of the Ukrainians threatening to smelt his Oscars if President Zelensky isn’t allowed to speak at the Academy Awards.

  Luvvies at full trumpet on behalf of humanitarian issues is hardly a surprise but Penn is emerging as a substantial player in the activist world, having been hands-on after Hurricane Katrina, more so after the Haiti earthquake. He was in Ukraine filming a documentary, in preparation late 2021, when the invasion started and had to walk to the Polish border to escape.

  He won two Oscars for Mystic River and Milk, before moving to directing and latterly to novel writing.

  Born 17 August 1960 3.17pm Burbank, California, with film business parents and his father the son of Russian immigrants, he started early making short films at school with his friends Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. He’s been married at least three times to – Madonna, Robin Wright (on, off, on, off) and another actress – all brief, plus flings with Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Jewel.

  He has a talented, tough-minded, forceful and determined chart.  His communication/far-travelled 9^th house is noticeable with a flamboyant Sun close to revolutionary/outspoken Uranus and in a lucky trine to an enthusiastic, confident Jupiter in his 1st. There’s also in his spread-the-word 9^th house, an opinionated, charming and intense Venus Pluto in Virgo which is on one leg of an accomplished Half Grand Sextile formed from a Cancer Moon opposition Saturn trine/sextile Neptune. Plus he has a heated, argumentative Mars on his Descendant square Pluto Venus, making him hell-bent on getting what he wants.    

 He’s also got a ‘karmic’ Yod onto Saturn inconjunct Mars sextile Mercury – which is difficult to live up to and handle well. Can be self defeating.

  It’s not an easy chart for relationships with a chilly Moon Saturn and that can-be-overly-forceful Mars Pluto.

  Relocating his chart to Ukraine puts his caring Cancer Moon on the Ascendant and his Sun and Pluto straddling the IC so it will resonate at a core level for him. Haiti and New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina) have his healing Neptune Midheaven line running through.  Moscow has his vehement Venus Pluto conjunction on the IC and Beijing has Venus Pluto on the Ascendant so both will ramp up his emotional responses.  

  At the moment he’s coming out of a low profile several years and winding up steam for his next life’s phase. He’s considerably aggravated this year and next with his Progressed Mars opposition his Saturn which fits with being in a war-zone; with his high hopes not working out as quickly as he’d like. 2023 is a mix of some confusion and high confidence success which runs into 2024.

 His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic is strongly aspected, confident and defiant and his humanitarian 9^th is marked. His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H is also featured with Saturn Pluto aspects suggesting his work in disaster areas will be his gift for posterity.   

The confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson nominated for the Supreme Court have been ‘rife with racism, sexism, feigned outrage and general ugliness’ according to the Washington Post. Despite which she is expected to be voted through in early April, assuming enough Democratic senators are healthy and present.

 She was born 14 September 1970 in Washington into a family of academics, lawyers and police officers; edited the Harvard Law review at college and has worked her way up steadily through  the ranks to become a Federal Judge.

  She has a hard-working, determined and controlling Mercury, Sun, Pluto in Virgo which is trine/sextile a stalwart, idealistic Saturn in Taurus opposition Neptune. Her Mars also in Virgo is sextile a charming Jupiter Neptune in Scorpio; and she has a Pisces Moon. Half her chart is Mutable = flexible, scattered, multi-tasking and the other half Fixed = enduring, stubborn. She’s also Earth Water which is not a bad combination of practicality and empathy.

Her midpoints which had a Jupiterian lift when her nomination was announced, have been rattled through these confirmation hearings with disappointment and confusion showing up. Tr Jupiter in Pisces will oppose her Sun in early April and then Pluto which may help in a minor way. Mid May and more so mid June onwards look undermining and disruptive. Her Solar Arc Venus Jupiter is moving in square to her Pluto this year and next which will help. But it won’t have been a life-affirming process.

 Assuming the general view holds good and she is confirmed, she’ll get on well with Chief Justice John Roberts; will meet hostility from Amy Barrett and Clarence Thomas, and worse from Brett Kavanaugh. Sonia Sotomayor may be cool. Her interface with the Supreme Court chart itself hints at a disruptive relationship as it moves through a period of some turmoil ahead.

  The politicking of Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia is raising more than eyebrows at the moment see post 30 January 2022. And the partisan nature of the judges and decisions are causing public concern and lowering public respect for the institution. See post 30 October 2021.

A stolid Taurus Chancellor with a meticulous Saturn in Virgo is not a great match for a harum-scarum Prime Minister with the attention-span of a gnat and less interest in economics except when it comes to handing out largesse from the money-tree.

  Yesterday’s budget seems to have pleased no one with sensational headlines about a historic plummeting of standard of living in the coming months and several years ahead. Which fits the astrology – see previous post of December 19 2021. This is a reprise with not much of cheer to add.

[Post-budget headlines have been damning. The worst fall in the standard of living since records began. The highest level of taxation since the 1940s. More than a million people to fall into absolute poverty. Nothing for the out-of-work and disabled. Food and energy prices spiralling out of control.]

  Transiting Uranus is rattling through the financial 8^th house until 2027 which will be erratic and unpredictable, not necessarily all negative but unstable economically. This year Uranus squares the financial Venus and opposes the financial Neptune for high anxiety and upsets.

 The blocked Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun, exact in 8 months, will not add to the cheer of the nation. Though it may not be financial. That is followed by a Solar Arc Saturn opposition the UK Uranus, exact in 18 months which will bring disruptions, and tensions, again not necessarily focussed on economics. And the Solar Arc Sun will square the 2^nd house financial Neptune late 2023/into 2024 which will bring financial disappointment.

  Tr Uranus will square the 11^th house UK Saturn from July 2023 to early 2025 which will shake up the legislature and may bring pressure for significant changes.

  Tr Pluto square opposition the UK Jupiter in 2023/24 will bring a confident push but there’s still the biggest financial jolt to come in 2025 with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the 8^th house Mars.

 It won’t be the end of the universe but will be a rocky and swampy ride. Not that any country looks exactly cheerful through the same period but it will be a notable time of historical change for the UK.

   The Bank of England chart shows up 2023 to 2025 as the road-blocked and high-stress years.

  Rishi Sunak, 12 May 1980, will find his hopes won’t work out this year and next with tr Pluto square his Mars/Neptune midpoint; with gloom through 2023 from tr Saturn in Pisces opposition his Jupiter Mars and upheavals also in 2023 from tr Uranus conjunct his Sun Mercury and opposition his Uranus. He may decide discretion is the better part of ambition and bale out to a financial institution.

  Much is made in the media of his embattled relationship with the PM  – which is certainly riddled with doubt and suspicion with a composite Sun Mercury opposition Neptune Saturn. But there’s not too much showing in the near future without Sunak’s birth time.

Add On: Brexit chickens coming home to roost.

UK goods exports have underperformed the rest of the world – as Brexit limits UK trade performance. UK goods exports fell 14 per cent in the three months to January compared with the same period in 2020, in contrast to the global average of an 8.2 per cent rise over the same period.

“While most other advanced economies have seen a strong recovery in trade, UK exports remain below pre-pandemic levels.”

The OBR noted that “none of the new free trade agreements or other regulatory changes announced so far would be sufficient” to have a material impact on its forecasts for UK trade. It has estimated that leaving the EU would result in the total UK imports and exports being 15 per cent lower than if Britain had remained part of the EU.

UK exporters will continue “to be slowly cut out of global supply chains, due to the extra administrative burden for EU firms of sourcing goods from Britain”.

https://www.ft.com/content/021c629d-5853-4111-9600-ab5f0eb65a35

Please add below. Older charts under news on top bar.

Madeleine Albright, a Czech refugee, who became the first female US Secretary of State under Bill Clinton has died aged 84. Her early life was challenging as her diplomat father took the family to London months before World War 11, only to live through the blitz, and returned to Czechoslovakia briefly after the war before fleeing the communist regime to seek asylum in the US. By the age of 11 Albright had already lived in several countries and spoke four languages. She was brought up Roman Catholic and only discovered in the 1990s that she was born Jewish, with three grandparents killed in the holocaust.  

  Her father taught at the University of Denver, where one of his later students was Condoleezza Rice, the second female Secretary of State under GW Bush. Madeleine Albright married a philandering publishing executive, had three daughters moved into academic life and then when her marriage split into politics. Her reputation as a tough operator followed her into the UN where she was US Ambassador, constantly championing US power.

In a later interview, Albright said the US had a problem with women in politics. “I don’t understand it, frankly,” she said. “We are very good at being No 1 in many things and yet we are not in this and I don’t know the answer. Because there are certainly very qualified women.” When she was professor of International Relations she made a point of putting women into the male-dominated roles, teaching them the importance of speaking up and interrupting to have their voices heard.

Because of her familiarity with communism and fascism, she was a fierce proponent of human rights and opposition to authoritarianism on the international stage, even if it meant military intervention. Though she was against the Iraq invasion.

  She used her jewellery to diplomatic effect, wearing an antique snake pin after she was called an “unparalleled serpent” by the Iraqi media after the first Gulf war. A giant insect brooch came out when the Russians were embroiled in a “bugging” scandal; and her monkey broach was worn to a frosty encounter with Putin in a subliminal “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” reprimand over Russia’s activities in Chechnya. 

   She was born 15 May 1937 in Prague (no birth time) and had a dogged, enduring, stubborn chart, which reflected the dangers and stresses of her formative years. It’s the kind of chart that could easily have gone bad but she used her toughness to good use. She had a Taurus Sun conjunct Algol and conjunct Mercury with her Sun opposition a formidable Mars in late Scorpio; with her Mars was in an even more redoubtable Grand Trine involving Pluto and Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries. Her Sun was trine a lucky Jupiter in Capricorn on one side and Neptune on the other. Her Pluto was in a pushily confident opposition to Jupiter tempered by being square a diplomatic Venus. Complicated, talented, courageous and massively strong-willed.    

   Her spiritual-seeker 7th Harmonic was strong as was her ‘master number’ 11H and most marked was her breakthrough/exploration 13H.

Putin’s close family will be on high alert given the pressure he is under and the risk of him being deposed or dispatched out of a window. They may not like him but their own position, financial and otherwise, may be jeopardized and undermined if he were toppled.

Maria Putin, 28 April 1985, St Petersburg, his eldest daughter, a paediatric endocrinologist, is according to reports splitting from her husband, a Dutch businessman. She is a stubborn, controlling Sun Taurus opposition Pluto trine Neptune. Her Neptune sextile Pluto is on the base of a Yod inconjunct Mars in Gemini. Such a Yod is overly forceful and impulsive. Certainly she’ll have had major power and anger issues – both doing and been done to.  Father comes across as dominating.

  Mid June onwards looks especially hazardous for her with tr Uranus square her Mars/Pluto midpoint, with her standing being diminished as tr Neptune squares her Jupiter/Pluto midpoint – 2023 will see her on high alert. Though her greatest challenges will come after mid decade with tr Pluto in Aquarius bearing down on her Sun opposition Pluto.

 Katerina Putin, 31 August 1986, a scientist and former acrobatic dancer, his second daughter, is a Sun Mercury in Virgo sextile Pluto, square Saturn in Sagittarius and trine Neptune Mars in Capricorn – controlling in her own way and forceful. She looked rattled and unsettled in January when the Ukraine build up started; and is in a flat panic at the moment until mid April with tr Neptune square her Mars/Saturn midpoint, repeating later in the year into early 2023. Her Progressed Mars in late Capricorn is catching the tr Pluto conjunction, which will be scared and trapped into 2023.

  Putin’s reported mistress and maybe mother of further children, a former Olympic gymnast, Alina Kabaeva, 12 May 1983, is a New Moon Mercury in Taurus with an alarming, hair-raising Mars in Taurus exactly conjunct Algol on the focal point of a Yod to a bleak, unyielding Saturn Pluto in Libra sextile Neptune. That is one tough and angry chart.

   February (last month) saw her in calamity territory and this month till mid April is no better. The rest of the year has one upbeat influence and several knocked-sideways ones. But it is 2023 which shows up as the major enthusiasm dampener. At that point her lucky Jupiter Uranus in Sagittarius is under a dark Saturnine cloud. In 2023 as well tr Uranus will conjunct her Sun and Mercury for forced changes against heavy resistance; and 2024 will be worse as tr Uranus is conjunct her Yod focal point Mars giving her a considerable shock and forcing her life onto a different trajectory.

 Lyudmila Putina (as was), his former wife and mother of Maria and Katerina, 6 January 1958, has gone on to marry a younger husband. She’s a Sun Capricorn with a stressed Mars in Sagittarius square Pluto, trine Uranus with her Uranus opposition Venus. She would have attracted herself to a domineering husband with Mars Pluto though may, as she has matured, turned it round to become the one holding the reins. Her fortunes are mixed ahead with hostile arguments and discouraging challenges this year; but more confidence and luck in 2023/24 interspersed with a few setbacks.

  Kiril Shamalov, ex-husband of Maria, a billionaire, former economic adviser to the government and son of a Russian bank owner, confidante of Putin, was born 22 March 1982. He’s a Sun Aries with a formidable collection of Mars, Saturn and Pluto spread through Libra. His Progressed Mars is exactly square his Sun at the moment for a setback and shock; and his Solar Arc Uranus is also square his Mars now for much the same effect in a double whammy of unwished for thunderbolts.

   He looks suspiciously upbeat this August to November with tr Pluto square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint. 2023 will be so-so. 2024 he will find his mojo again with more confidence and luck though 2025 with tr Saturn Neptune conjunct his Sun won’t do his prospects much good.

  Not all the influences on these charts will relate to the evil overlord’s prospects but the ripples are bound to be felt.

Ingress charts erected for the moment the Sun enters one of the four Cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn – were once deemed important in traditional astrology. But are not much used nowadays since they are not altogether enlightening. Opinions varied as to which was the important one for giving an overview of the year ahead. Some thought Cancer, others Libra and some Capricorn.

  The recent Aries ingress located to Kyiv puts a disappointing Neptune on the Descendant square the Midheaven, suggesting a deceptive neighbour, lack of support, and uncertain direction. There is also an explosive Mars in Aquarius square Uranus but it doesn’t leap out as a harbinger of war.

 The previous Capricorn Ingress last December does have a power-struggling neighbour with Pluto on the descendant opposition Moon for Kyiv, but again not much that is too hair-raising. Although digging deeper the Sun is sitting conjunct the ruthless/brutal Mars/Pluto midpoint.

 The coming Cancer Ingress looks more destructive with Mars square Pluto and sextile Saturn; with again an unsupportive, slippery Neptune in the 7^th.

 The Libra Ingress has Uranus on the Midheaven for Kyiv – pointing to a sharp change of direction if it means anything.

  I would have to confess I don’t find Ingresses useful.  Eclipses are usually more indicative of what’s happening and where.  See post Eclipses March 5 2022.