“Britain is staring down the barrel of a self-inflicted economic catastrophe.”

“We are now watching the real-time implosion of the governing party.”

  As commentators and economists across the globe look on  aghast and EU leaders permit themselves a sour smile of schadenfreude, UK voters stand frozen as yet another thunderbolt descends after Brexit, Ukraine, the Queen’s departure and this one wilfully wreaked.

  What were they thinking? A FU gesture from free-marketeer  Tories listening only to those they already agree with and arrogantly ignoring the requirement for the budget to be appraised by Office for Budget Responsibility.

 First things first. The Conservative Party 10 May 1912 chart has worked well through Brexit and is now right on the money with the Solar Arc Uranus now conjunct the Taurus Sun for a mighty disruption covering several months with a further battering from this November Lunar Eclipse in Taurus. Plus a discouraging tr Saturn square the Sun exactly now, returning late this November and followed in 2023 by tr Uranus conjunct the Tory Sun. A Westminster insider who described the budget farrago as ‘existential’ wasn’t wrong. See previous post September 24^th.  

  I’ve been puzzling over Liz Truss’s Term chart which in one way seemed solid enough with a business-like Earth Grand Trine though  too much emphasis on Earth can lead to a blinkered outlook and a lack of perspective.  There is also a focal point Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus North Node which is immensely unyielding, compulsively driven to hang onto a chosen path of action, unwilling to bend. Plus Saturn square Uranus is autocratic. And the Pluto sits on the Sun/Mars midpoint which is fanatical, unscrupulous, ruthless and destructive.

  Robert Shrimsley in today’s FT traced the rot back to what he describes as “Brexit absolutism”. “Kwarteng’s statement last week was just one manifestation of the elevation of ideology over economics. The desperate pursuit of unorthodox growth strategies was driven in part by the 4 per cent hit to productivity over 15 years that has been consistently ascribed to the Brexit deal.”

“Lost market access, continued confrontations with the EU, overhyped trade deals that add little to GDP, the sustained assault on British institutions and prime minister Liz Truss’s onslaught on economic orthodoxy. Investors have got the message. Britain is not the bet it once was.”

“The past week has made voters –  more than receptive to the argument that the Tories have mismanaged the economy. The botching of Brexit should be central to that critique. (Many will say it could only be botched, but some versions are clearly worse than others.)” 

  The Brexit referendum of 24 June 2016 was held under the cloud-cuckoo-land Jupiter opposition Neptune, made worse by squaring onto Saturn in self-righteous Sagittarius and Mercury in Gemini forming a Mutable Grand Cross. Plus a disruptive Pluto square Uranus and a resentful, uncompromising Uranus inconjunct Mars in Scorpio. A Mutable Grand Square tends to be scattered, inconsistent, indecisive and suggestible.

  The final Brexit deal pushed through by Boris Johnson exiting the UK from the single market on 31 December 2020 at 11 pm London time has an acutely frustrating Mars in the financial 8^th square a 4^th house Pluto so was never going to be easy financially or in domestic satisfaction – to understate it by a mile. Plus there was a T Square of Jupiter Saturn in Aquarius in the 5^th house, which rules speculation and the financial markets, opposition Moon and square an 8^th house Uranus – so pointing towards financial turbulence and instability. Uranus on the point of a Fixed T Square hints at a determined law-unto-himself approach which eventually after being battered by reality tends to break down.

 There’s nothing much to add from the UK chart that is not in the previous post – though that 2^nd house UK Neptune in Scorpio catching the last and final exact tr Uranus square tr Saturn in early this October is certainly living up to its economically unstable label.  Tr Uranus is already on the highly-strung, nervy opposition to the Neptune and returns in early 2023. Tr Saturn stays on the high-uncertainty aspect into mid this November. Plus the Lunar Eclipse in November will also rattle it up, in effect before and for some months after.

Shell-shocked and exhausting, as well as heart-rending for those already overstretched and under-funded.

ADD ON: 3 October 2022. Martin Wolf, highly regarded as an economic journalist, has made a savage attack on Truss/Kwarteng in the FT.

“The only sort of leader more dangerous than the rogue the UK used to have is the zealot it has now. The dominant characteristic of zealots is their conviction that reality must adapt to their desires, rather than the other way around.”

 He then reeled off government lies of the past decade –  that fiscal austerity after the 2008 crash and Brexit would bring prosperity; that the Northern Ireland protocol had solved the Brexit conundrum; that levelling up was a serious policy. Of the promised jump in productivity growth it is estimated that  output might be 0.4 per cent higher in five years. “The mountain labours and brings forth a mouse.

“The party has been captured by zealots indifferent to reality or simple decency.”

“These people are mad, bad and dangerous. They have to go.”

Roger Waters, musician, singer-songwriter, co-founder of Pink Floyd, has been blowing off his mouth about Ukraine blaming “extreme nationalists” there as well as Washington and the west for provoking Putin into “this disastrous war” and then demonizing Russia for doing so. Olena Zelenska, the resident’s wife, put him in his place and Poland has cancelled two of his concerts, declaring him persona non grata.

  He has a track record as a contrarian, criticising a Live Aid-style concert to raise funds for Venezuelan humanitarian aid claiming it was a US-backed effort to tarnish the socialist government at a time the Venezuelan security forces under Maduro were executing dozens of people and arbitrarily detaining hundreds of others. He bounced the other way in lambasting rightwing Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro. Then he supported the Chinese in their attitude to Taiwan saying. “Taiwan is part of China.” He has been accused of antisemitism in his support of the Palestinians. Every US President since Ronald Reagan, including Joe Biden, he has labelled as a war criminal.

 He’s all over the place and driven as much by his visceral dislike of the USA as anything. There is an odd mindset nowadays afflicting those to whom the USA is like a red rag to a bull so they immediately embrace the opposite. Shades of the 1930s – pro-communist because the fascists are unsupportable. With no sense there’s an inbetween.  

  Except he celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall with a huge concert – he’s not exactly consistent.

  He was born 6 September 1943 Cambridge, England, no time sadly, with his father, a Labour Party activist, devout Christian and a Communist Party member killed in the war when he was five months old. At school he was active in Nuclear Disarmament.

  Waters is a Sun Venus in Virgo square an excitable, volatile Mars Uranus in argumentative Gemini which in turn is trine Mercury in Libra, sextile a super-confident Pluto Jupiter in Leo. His Moon is Scorpio or Sagittarius. Tr Neptune is square his Saturn earlier this year in June/July and again throughout 2023 which will be uncertain and marginally panicky, with more confusion in 2024/25. But his Jupiter will keep him afloat and he probably enjoys being in the centre of a ruckus. His Mercury is square his Uranus/Pluto and his Mars/Pluto midpoints for fanatical and extreme thinking and speaking; and his Mercury/Pluto midpoint is square both Mars and Uranus. A diplomat he is not.

   His Saturn is conjunct the USA Mars for a ratchety interface and square the USA Neptune. Even more significantly his Pluto is conjunct the USA leadership North Node so he will be keen to control/dent America’s claim to greatness.

  The Ukraine 22 January 1918 9.54am Kharkov chart is also a bad fit with his Mars Uranus conjunct the Ascendant and his pushily-confident Jupiter Pluto conjunct the Ukraine Neptune Saturn. The Ukraine 1991 chart like the USA has its Mars colliding with his Saturn for a bad-tempered chemistry.

  He sounds like an old-school Corbynite who never quite took on board what Stalin and his successors were really like.

Moon Jupiter mothers or childhoods evoke an image of supportive cushioning echoed in Ronald Reagan’s thoughts about his mother who “always expected to find the best in people”.  A regular and involved church goer she instilled her religious beliefs in her son and left him with a strong faith in the goodness of people. He had a Taurus Moon opposition Jupiter.

  George W Bush with a Moon Jupiter conjunction in Libra was similarly closer to his mother than his otherwise-occupied father but ended up with a Jupiterian indulgence problem in drug addiction escapism.

  But of the other notable examples I could find most had hair-raising and fractured childhoods as the shadow side of Jupiter came to the fore – or perhaps looked at another way, their Jupiterian optimism was what pulled them through. There’s a risk in finding patterns from celebrity charts since many if not most come from dysfunctional background which will not all be connected to their Moon aspects. But still there are astonishingly dark examples – Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Marquis de Sade, Joseph Goebbels, Jim Jones.

  Jim Jones, leader of the suicide cult, had an impoverished unstable childhood, and a neglectful, often absent mother with “no natural maternal instincts” , leaving him to be cared for by neighbours, including the wife of the local pastor. Like several other Moon Jupiter types he had an early desire to become a preacher though he was also a devotee of Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong and Mahatma Gandhi, all of whom oddly had Moon Jupiter hard aspects. Jones had a Moon (Uranus) in Aries square Jupiter (Pluto) in Cancer.

Joseph Goebbels, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, close to Hitler and a virulent antisemite was destined for the priesthood in childhood. He had a deformed foot, which historians, speculated may have fuelled his lifelong pursuit of women. He had a Capricorn Moon square Jupiter in Libra.

 The Marquis de Sade is best known for his erotic works filled with violent sexual fantasies. He preached absolute freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion, or law. His family was abandoned early by father and he was raised by servants who indulged his every whim. His cold, distant mother abandoned him, joining a convent. At a Jesuit college, he subjected to “severe corporal punishment.” He had a a Virgo Moon square Jupiter in Gemini.

Alfred Hitchcock, genius film director, who excelled at frightening women in particular. Friendless childhood with disciplinarian, remote parents, Jesuit school with the standard corporal punishment. He suffered from glandular obesity. He had a Moon Jupiter conjunct in Scorpio in his 4^th house.

Charles Manson, responsible for the Sharon Tate gruesome murder, never knew his biological father and his mother went on drinking sprees, leaving him with multiple babysitters before landing in prison. When she was paroled he said the first weeks after she returned were the happiest time in his life. She kept drinking. He landed in a strict school for male delinquents run by Catholic priests, where punishment was severe. More petty crime, more incarceration. Sent to strict reform school, where gang raped, made multiple escapes. He had a 10^th house Aquarius Moon square Jupiter in Scorpio.

 Adolf Hitler, refused to conform to the strict discipline of his school. His father beat him, although his mother tried to protect him. Considered becoming a priest. Moon Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.

Rudy Giuliani’s father was convicted of felony assault and robbery, served prison time in Sing Sing; worked as an enforcer for an organized crime-affiliated loan sharking and gambling ring. Giuliani considered becoming a priest but shifted to law. A Moon Jupiter conjunction in Leo.

Jimi Hendrix, father trapped in military till he was three, mother struggled and he was cared for by family members and friends. Father returns, impoverished, alcohol and violence,  in and out of foster care. Parents divorced when he was 9 and father got custody. Close to a grandmother. Moon Jupiter conjunction in Cancer in the 8^th.

Johnny Depp, volatile and violent mother with the family moving frequently due to her restless nature. Beatings and outbursts, father a ‘kind man’, non-confrontational who left when Depp was 15. His mother then attempted suicide. He has a Capricorn Moon square Jupiter in Aries.

Another unsettled childhood for Cher, whose parents divorced when she was ten months old. Mother remarried and divorced several times, constant moves and often little money, left at an orphanage for several weeks. Capricorn Moon square Jupiter in Libra.

Leona Helmsley nicknamed Queen of Mean had a constantly moving childhood. Was a businesswoman, flamboyant and tyrannical. Federal income tax evasion. Prison.  Chainsmoker. Aquarius Moon opposition Jupiter Neptune in Leo.

Jodie Foster, parents’ marriage split before she was born, no relationship with her father. Mother raised the children with her female partner in Los Angeles, and managed her acting career from aged 3 onwards. Attracted criticism for allowing her to play a child prostitute when 13 for Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Virgo Moon opposition Jupiter in Pisces.

  Other child stars also had Moon Jupiter mothers – Liz Taylor, Russell Crowe, Charlie Sheen. As does Kim Kardashian with the steamroller Kris Jenner for a mother.

  My shorthand for Moon Jupiter was a mother who offered marshmallows rather than genuine closeness. A sugar coating, not the real thing, which is a touch harsh but contains a nugget of truth. And those who have Moon Jupiter in return sugar-coat mother and only see the best in her.  Though clearly that is more difficult when she is playing out Jupiter’s drama queen performance, or soaking up Jupiter’s excessive (addictive) tendencies herself.  The religious theme runs through many of them even if it didn’t hold into adult life.

  While many of the above can hardly be described as spoilt children which would be another Moon Jupiter thought, a few like De Sade and possibly George W Bush can be.

  Pitch in with any thoughts. The list surprised me I must admit.   

Roger Federer having faced up to the ravages of time and the realities of a chronic knee injury has waved goodbye to professional tennis after a final doubles match with Rafael Nadal. Federer has has played 1,750th competitive matches and won 20 Grand Slam singles titles. He is considered one of the best and most popular players in tennis history. ‘His style of play – described as balletic, graceful and fluent – has endeared him to millions of fans across the world. So too has his polite and charming personality.’

“This is not the end-end, you know, life goes on”, he said “I’m healthy, I’m happy, everything’s great, and this is just a moment in time.” 

  Born 8 August 1981 8.40 am Bale, Switzerland, four days after Meghan Markle, he has a 12^th house Sun Mercury in Leo with a secretive, determined Moon Uranus in Scorpio, a charming Venus in understated Virgo near his Ascendant and a do-or-die determined Pluto square Mars in Cancer. His Mars is conjunct the Fixed star Sirius, bringer of honour and sometimes riches.

 The tr Saturn square tr Uranus is tugging on his Leo Sun and his Moon this year as his life moves into a new era.  Tr Saturn is pulling him away from the past as it squares his Moon and tr Uranus does the same squaring his Sun.  His Progressed Moon is also at the moment opposition his Moon Uranus conjunction for an emotional parting of the ways.

  His 17^th harmonic is the strongest = victory, enlightenment, making a mark on history.

A shock-and-awe, tax-cutting budget from new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng may have favoured the wealthy but it has seriously spooked the markets and sent the pound plummeting. Even the Financial Times describes it as a ‘gamble with economic stability’ with tax cuts amounting to 2% of GDP and no concern for the impact on public finance debt.  “This government may be indifferent to painful reality. But reality usually wins in the end.”

  Inside Westminster there is equally obvious alarm. One supporter of the previous chancellor Rishi Sunak said “she has just taken one of the biggest political gambles since the Second World War – and she is doing it without the support of a lot of MPs who backed others for leader, and even without the support of some of her own people. The fact is that if this plan fails it will burn the Conservatives’ reputation for economic competence for an entire generation. It feels existential.”

 Parallels are being drawn with the early 1970s when Anthony Barber, then Chancellor, promoted  “dash for growth” policies with significant tax cuts and did did it mostly on borrowed money: government borrowing rose from £1 billion in 1970-71 to £4.5 billion in 1972-73. There was a temporary upward blip in the economy then sterling slumped by 15 per cent, inflation shot up to more than 20 per cent, unemployment rose and the Heath Tory government was voted out in 1974. By 1976 Jim Callaghan, the next PM had to go cap in hand to the IMF begging for a loan.

 [ See previous posts on astrological parallels with the 1970s – 24 September 2021 and May 14 2020.]

Kwasi Kwarteng, 26 May 1975, London, is a super-ambitious Sun Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Pluto which in turn forms a ruthlessly determined opposition to Mars in impulsive Aries. The two stark oppositions in his chart will find him struggling to find balance. He’s certainly resourceful and overflowing with initiative with Saturn Venus in Cancer square Jupiter in Aries and Uranus in Libra to add to his two other Cardinal planets. What he lacks are practical, grounded Earth planets and Fixed enduring ones to give him staying power.

 His relationship chart with Liz Truss is odd for a chosen partner with a composite Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus – volatile, bad-tempered, unstable and liable to blow a fuse, which it may do from January 2023 onwards when tr Pluto upends the composite Uranus. There’s also a controlling composite Sun square Pluto – not a match made in heaven.

  His popularity with the UK in general will sag from November onwards. His own chart is slipping and slithering through tricky Neptune transits to midpoints and Uranian jolts as well over coming months; with a wake-up-call disruption from tr Pluto square his Uranus from February 2023 onwards.

  The Bank of England chart, 27 July 1694 JC, is under stress in 2023/2024 with tr Pluto trine the Mars = trapped, fearful, frustrated, no choices. By 2024 problems will escalate with the Solar Arc Pluto in a ‘blocked’ opposition to the BoE Saturn; and tr Neptune square the BoE Saturn into 2025 for high uncertainty and lack of will-power/choices.

 That fits with the general astrological trends:

UK economy in summary. Tr Uranus is opposition the UK 2^nd house Neptune now till mid October and repeating in the spring of 2023 = high anxiety about personal finances. Tr Uranus is also square the 5^th house Venus ruling stock markets, speculation and new projects for jolts and jangles. It’ll be early 2025 before tr Uranus is clear of hard aspects to the UK’s Fixed planets which is making this such a turbulent, uncertain period of rapid change. And 2025 also when there is an economic super-whammy of the wrong variety as the Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct the 8^th house Mars. Once that clears, from 2026 onward tr Uranus is out of the UK 8^th house.

Liz Truss may yet live up to Dominic Cummings’ ‘human hand grenade’ jibe. Her Term chart with a loaded Mars in the 8^th house of finance and debt; and a divisive Uranus in the 7^th is making sense. See post September 6 2022.

Add On; While there is a thought that the markets may have over-reacted to the ‘kamikaze’ mini-budget there have been acerbic comments from prominent economists, never mind an unprecedented slap down from the IMF.

  Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary, said it made the UK appear “a bit like an emerging market turning itself into a submerging market”. Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist at the IMF, said the statement had been a “textbook example of how not to design and not to sell a fiscal expansion”.

  The FT says “Truss learns the hard way that Britain isn’t America. Reaganism is a good idea, but Reaganism without the dollar isn’t.”  And suggests – in different words – that arrogance is behind the Tory right’s policies in recent years, Brexit included. Not an out-of-date imperial arrogance, but a delusional superpower arrogance nonetheless.

 What is downright astonishing astrologically speaking is her relationship chart with Kwasi Kwarteng – rumours are of disagreements now but if it holds together December is when it will blow a real fuse.

Hilary Mantel, the only British author to win the Booker prize twice for her Thomas Cromwell trilogy has died.  She was extraordinarily prolific by any standards but more so because of the ill-health that plagued her throughout her life.

   She was born 6 July 1952, sadly no birth time, and had a fractured childhood with her mother’s lover, Jack Mantel, moving in with the family when she was seven. He shared a bedroom with her mother while her father moved to another room. They moved when she was 11 to escape the local gossip and disapproval and her father left, never to meet up with her again.

  She married her childhood sweetheart, a geologist, when she was 20, worked as a social worker after university with her debilitating illness — pain, vomiting, fatigue — dubbed psychosomatic by doctors. Eventually she diagnosed herself with endometriosis, a disorder of the cells that line the womb, which required surgery and left her unable to have children. Hormone replacement therapy saw her develop “a steroid moon face” and balloon from her previous size eight to a size 20: “I went to live in a body I didn’t recognise,” she said.

  She had visions as a child, firstly of the Devil when she was seven and again later. Ghosts were natural to her: “I am used to ‘seeing’ things that aren’t there,” she wrote. “Or — to put it in a way more acceptable to me — I am used to seeing things that ‘aren’t there’.”

  She was a Sun Cancer conjunct Venus and Uranus so destined for a unique path in life and marked by the rupture in her relationship with her father. Her Cancer planets were square a creative Neptune and an austere Saturn, as well as being widely trine a determined Mars in Scorpio. Her Jupiter in Taurus was in a confident square to Pluto and her South Node which was merciful given the difficulties of her life. Her Moon may have been Sagittarius or Capricorn.

  Her Mercury in flamboyant Leo was sextile a well-organised Saturn, in an acerbic/argumentative square to Mars and a confident square to Jupiter.

 Her writers’ 21^st Harmonic and her creative 7^th Harmonic were the strongest, marking her out as an exceptional talent when it came to words and communication.

 An extraordinary life – I imagine there would be strong 8^th house and 6^th house planets if a birth time was known for ghosts and visions and health.

Voter gloom about the Biden presidency with inflation rising and an economic recession approaching, and no sign of immigration or crime being tackled effectively pointed to a sure-fire loss in the November midterms. But the polling gap is closing after the unpopular anti-abortion rulings and the Trump classified-document farrago at Mar-a-Lago and now the New York corruption allegations.

 Biden is still unpopular but there may – perhaps – be a calculation that the alternative is worse. Though since the Second World War, only two midterm contests have gone the sitting president’s way – 1998 with Bill Clinton sitting on a strong economy; and 2002 GW Bush in the aftermath of 9/11.

   Biden is bedevilled by the present run of Eclipses with the October Solar opposition his Moon, bringing relationship upsets and a pressing dilemma about future plans; and the Lunar Eclipse on the day of the Mid Term Elections rattling his Mars and Mercury so it will be aggravated and stressful.  He does have a mildly positive tr Pluto trine his successful Sun/Jupiter midpoint now until early December which may help. Though he also has a stuck tr Saturn opposition his Pluto/NN midpoint which isn’t constructive.

   That apart he looks confused, has difficulty concentrating and that will continue in amplified form through 2023/24. He looks poleaxed in the month before the presidential election in 2024. He can’t possibly stand again. The Democrats need to find a competent, functioning substitute.

Nancy Pelosi, the Dem Speaker in Congress, is being coy about whether she’ll retire soon. Born 26 March 1940 3.10 pm, she does have the transiting Saturn square tr Uranus tugging at her Taurus Midheaven over coming months so a change of direction does look more than likely through 2023.

  Tr Saturn will square her Scorpio Moon exactly over early this November and then square her Uranus from mid November onwards, so there will be a degree of disruption and upheaval with tensions running high. There’s nothing that looks triumphant.

  2023 will be an uphill slog and fractious with acute frustrations and calamities in 2024 – but that could be personal issues. What will help is tr Jupiter moving through her 10^th in 2024 which should keep her morale high and her reputation intact.

Adam Schiff, who might replace her if/when she goes, 22 June 1960 6.13am Framingham, Massachusetts, has more indications of enthusiasm and good luck with tr Jupiter moving across his 10^th now till after mid 2023, with Jupiterian midpoints buoying him up as well from early 2023 onwards, with 2024/25 looking even more upbeat. He’ll have ups and downs and some setbacks at the same time but has more going for him than the others.

 Chuck Schumer, 23 November 1050 11am (from memory) New York, the Dem Senate Majority Leader, overseeing a 50-50 split at the moment, has the tr Saturn square tr Uranus tugging on his Pluto and one of his Mars midpoints in the aftermath of the election from mid November and through 2023, which looks bad-tempered, turbulent and not upbeat. 2023 will be a dreary slog; 2024 more so. If his birth time is sound then he’s not in a successful, progressive phase of his life.

Mitch McConnell, 20 February 1942 no birth time, Rep Senate Minority Leader, could be satisfied with the result with his Solar Arc Jupiter opposition his Sun around this year but the timing of that depends on his birth time which we don’t know. This December he’s oozing confidence and successful and that repeats in October 2023. Apart from those patches 2023 looks a fractious, aggravated and high-stress year with  2024 worse and calamitous for him across the November 2024 Presidential election.

 Kevin McCarthy, 26 January 1965 12.40pm Bakersfield, CA, Rep Minority Leader in Congress, has the tr Saturn square tr Uranus rattling up his cloud-cuckoo-land Jupiter opposition Neptune across the next few months which will bring him down to earth with a bump. Though he does have a mildly successful/positive tr Pluto sextile his Sun/Jupiter midpoint up to early this December. 2023 is a slog; 2024 a panicky failure.

To be remembered the influences on the chart may be about personal matters, individual professional concerns and not necessarily point to the state of the party.

Trump troubles are not coming singly, with a battalion of woes being landed at his feet. The Mar-a-Lago classified document scrap has been kicked firmly in touch by the special master judge who opined Trump couldn’t have it all ways and he needed to face the music. Now the New York AG Letitia James,  after a three-year civil investigation, has landed Donald Trump, his three children and two Trump Organisation executives with a fraud lawsuit. It alleges that they lied “by billions” about the value of real estate in order to get loans and pay less tax. The 222-page complaint alleges they accrued an estimated $250 million in unwarranted benefits between 2011 and 2021. James’s suit seeks to recover that money from the firm — and to limit the ability of Trump et al to do business in the state of New York.

Her office does not have the power to file criminal charges, but is referring allegations of criminal wrongdoing to federal prosecutors and to the IRS.

  This is in addition to the DoJ investigation into the January 6 riot last year and a 2020 election interference case in Georgia. Plus an old rape allegation from EJ Carroll may be heading for another civil lawsuit.

 What is clear from the fraud allegations is quite how delusional Trump and those around him are. To take an example, the size of his New York apartment was exaggerated by three times and ditto the value, both of which were easily checkable and could have been disputed. His grandiosity is way beyond the bounds of sanity with – until now – no one facing him with a hard reality check.

 The legal net is closing around him which it was always going to do late this year. His chart is facing a mountain of grief. Tr Uranus is in a catastrophic square to his Mars/Pluto midpoint now till mid October, with tr Saturn adding its sorrows in hard aspect to the same midpoint through this  October to mid November. From the end of October through till early January 2023 tr Neptune is retrograding back to the undermining square to his Sun and opposition his Mars/Jupiter midpoint, undercutting his enthusiasm.

  His Solar Arc Mars will square his Pluto, exact this coming December but in effect beforehand which will see him trapped, fearful and enraged. His Solar Arc Pluto moves to square his Saturn by March 2023, which will be a road-block of considerable proportions, discouraging and burdensome, with the effect building up beforehand. Being Trump he will have glimmerings of luck mid October to early November, but that won’t outweigh the massive pressures bearing down on him.

His CFO Allen Weisselberg has already pleaded guilty to tax violations and accepting off-the-books compensation from the former president’s company, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition. As part of a plea deal which cut his prison sentence from a possible 15 years to a probable five months, he has agreed to testify against the Trump Organisation but has refused to testify against Trump himself. His relationship with Donald Trump is under massive strain in 2022/23 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars – cornered and infuriated and it won’t settle back to amiability any time soon with dark clouds looming over their connection for several years ahead.

  Of the children (all without birth times) Eric looks the most unnerved and shattered with tr Pluto square his Mars in 2022/23; the October Eclipse catching his Pluto in Scorpio; and tr Neptune undermining his confidence as it squares his Jupiter.  Plus a massive upheaval from Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Uranus at the moment.  

 Don Jnr is in his mid life crisis with tr Uranus opposition his Uranus across this year and early next with this November Lunar Eclipse also in opposition – so a changing-of-the-guard moment when key decisions get made. Not that he’ll have open options ahead with a blocked and depressing Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Pluto in 2023 plus a raft of disastrous, disruptive and career-denting transits to midpoints.

  Ivanka, who is coping with husband Jared’s second operation for thyroid cancer, may have her mind elsewhere but she’s due quite a shake up by 2024 when her Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct her Uranus, putting a few limits on her freedom. Before then her midpoints look dismaying and undermining.

  Donald Trump’s relationship chart with the USA has the composite Pluto in Scorpio catching this October’s Solar Eclipse which looks like a decisive moment in the liaison – with a hint of criminality from Pluto and a realisation (hopefully) that changes have to be put in place.

  If the Republican Party 12 October 1853 chart holds good it has its Pluto in Taurus opposition the October Solar Eclipse. Trump’s relationship with the Party based on this chart is sagging and sinking as well as jolting and jangling through 2023 into 2024.

As with all things Trumpian, as well not to get over hopeful that this is IT. But even he can’t defy the laws of gravity forever.

  “When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!”  William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Mahsa Amini killed by Iranian morality police for allegedly failing to properly observe the Islamic dress code, despite wearing a long black coat and scarf, has set off a wave of protests. At least seven people have been killed as thousands of people have demonstrated in anger at her death. Women took to the streets for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, burning their scarves to protest the compulsory hijab in towns and cities across the country.

 She was not a political activist and had no record of speaking out against social and political restrictions and was preparing to start university this month. The regime is now reckoned to have overstretched its enforcement of the Islamic dress code in an effort to hold back the tide of secular modernity. While there is general awareness that the street protests will not succeed in overturning the hijab obligation, there is increasing pressure to rein in the Ershad patrols,  now nicknamed death traps. Some conservative and hardline members of parliament even believe that apprehending women in the street should end for good.

     There isn’t a dramatic amount showing on the Iran 1979 Revolutionary charts except that they have Uranus in Scorpio catching the tr Saturn square this year and tr Uranus opposition in 2023. They’ve hit a mid-life crisis in the midst of a battle between the forces of regression and the forces of reform. Tr Neptune is also lurking around undermining morale.

  The Iran 7 October 1906 chart is showing more visible signs of unrest with the Solar Arc Mars opposing the Neptune and moving soon to square the Sun, all of which adds up to confusion and a shock.

  Ebraham Raisi, the current President’s Term, 5 August 2021, started on a Sun opposition Saturn square Uranus so was always going to be a tightrope act and subject to sudden swings between extremes. None of which will settle over the next two years with the Solar Arc Sun square the Uranus this year into next and Solar Arc Saturn opposing the Sun in 2024.  

  Ayatollah Khameini, the Supreme leader, now 83 and suffering from prostate cancer, has seen off several public demonstrations during his 30 year reign since 4 June 1989. The Pluto in Scorpio in his leadership chart has been rattled last year, this year and next by the Eclipses but there is nothing (without a birth time) that looks like a major hiccup anytime soon.

The third Carolean era begins on a high note with respect for the late Queen and her glorious send off touching the heart of even the most ardent republican. But whether Charles, basking in her glow and without a guiding hand from an experienced and esteemed prime minister as she had, will glide easily into his new role is questionable.

  Massive change is visible on his personal chart with tr Uranus square his 1^st house Pluto until early 2023, which always accompanies a revolution in lifestyle and in his case image as well. And tr Pluto squaring his 10^th house Moon  throughout 2023 and 2024, will bring immense challenges and pressures in his career with power struggles ongoing which always ensue with Pluto around. Perhaps in part due to his intention to slim down the monarchy and institute far-reaching changes. And all at a time of high anxiety for him with Neptune bearing down heavily on his freedom-loving Uranus Jupiter.

 His relationship chart with the UK is chained-together but strained with a composite Saturn opposition Mars square Pluto opposition Mercury likely to cause divisive and hostile arguments which will reverberate through the first three or four years as tr Saturn and tr Uranus wend their way round that Grand Cross. There is affection for him but he’s likely to cause great irritation as well. And confusion through 2023/24.

  His relationship with Liz Truss is distrustful and suspicion-ridden on both sides with a composite Saturn square Neptune; as well as implacably and explosively opposed on certain issues with composite Mars opposition Pluto and Uranus. With  sprinkling of friendliness added to cover a few cracks. But it will get ratchety in January next with tr Uranus square the Saturn with more discord in April and on and off into early 2024. With disappointment and evasions undermining confidence with tr Neptune opposition the composite Sun and Venus in 2023/24.

 Relations with other Royals:-. To be remembered there are always undercurrents in all families which the astrology pinpoints which individuals may not be aware of. And the Royals are more of a pressure cooker tribe than most. Plus some are knocking on in years and despite longevity in both parents there is no saying that certain influences of separation may point to a physical not an emotional experience.

 Charles’ relationship with William which has a complicated push-pull composite Sun, Uranus, Pluto conjunction has been through many changes but is clearly more settled than in the past. There will be moments of uncertainty and worry throughout 2023 with tr Neptune opposition the composite Saturn; and a few rocky moments over New Year as tr Uranus opposes the composite Mars Neptune conjunction. Charles’ vulnerability to being upstaged may be a problem as Will and Kate prove a more photogenic attraction. But it won’t last long.

  Charles gets on well with Princess Anne as long as both can lead their independent lives. Their composite Sun square Moon Uranus  suggests that close confinement would be a mistake. There’ll be a few blips in early 2023 and a business-like coolness throughout the year; with the possibility of a more enthusiastic joint push in 2024/25.

  What intrigues me is his relations with Edward and Sophie, since she has stepped recently into high prominence and seems a capable pair of Royal hands. Charles’ relationship with Edwards will be labouring under considerable confusion in 2023/24 and will be seriously aggravated in 2025/26. With a damper on good feeling with Sophie in 2023 and muddles and disappointments in 2024/25.

  Charles’ relations with Harry always were fraught and bitter with a composite Mars square Uranus Pluto which will make both feel trapped. It has been sagging under disappointing Neptune transits for the past two years and will continue to be so till February 2023. What is crucial ahead will be how both handle tr Pluto conjunct the composite Midheaven, dictating the path ahead for their togetherness. Tr Pluto conjunct the composite MC from late March 2023 on and off till late 2024 could transform their relationship path in a positive way after a long struggle or break it up altogether.

  He’s not overly enamoured of Meghan with aggro and frustration stretching ahead over the next three to four years.

  Prince Andrew is the blot on the landscape that needs bulldozed out of sight permanently. C’s relationship with him was always cool and argumentative/competitive with a composite Moon square Saturn and a Sun Mars conjunction. This year confusion reigns between them; in 2023 a chill will descend and by 2024 there will be a further upheaval. Charles is no fan of Sarah Ferguson, even less so ahead than before.

  Andrew’s personal chart indicates a life-changing fork in the road now with his Yod focal point Uranus at 18 degrees Leo catching the tr Uranus square now until early 2023. Pluto pressures from tr Pluto conjunct his Mars Venus in late Capricorn which is Solar Arc Moon is also conjunct which will make this year and next emotionally anguished and bitter. Plus a good deal of activity around his 8^th house Mercury with his Progressed Mars approaching and exact in 2024, which could detonate a few more unsavoury financial scandals into the open. 2024 will also see tr Uranus opposition his Scorpio Moon which can coincide with a house move – so it may be he moves out of Windsor Park.

  Andrew’s relationship with William has never been good with a mistrustful and exasperated composite Saturn, Neptune, Mars conjunction. It is forcibly pulling apart at the seams through 2023/24 with tr Pluto square the composite Sun; tr Neptune undermining the Venus Pluto, and then tr Uranus elbowing the Saturn, Neptune, Mars conjunction in 2025/26– it looks unlikely he’d keep any doors open for a come back.

Add On: Charles’ bro-romance with French President Emmanuel Macron forged at last year’s climate change conference may make France the surprise choice for his first state visit ahead of a Commonwealth trip. The Foreign Office is understood to be keen to utilise the diplomatic power of the monarchy to build bridges with major European neighbours post-Brexit.  Charles and Macron have a friendly link with Macron’s Sagittarius Sun conjunct C’s Jupiter and Macron’s Venus conjunct C’s Mars. Both have Saturn in Virgo and Moon in Taurus; and Macron’s Pluto is conjunct C’s Venus for a shared passion in environmentalism. There will be scratchy moments as well but overall they are singing off the same hymn sheet. Though whether that falls foul of Truss’s hardline policies against the EU remains to be seen.

  A bombshell revelation from – yet another – Royal book, this one by Angela Levin, suggests that Andrew lobbied his mother to forbid Charles’s proposed marriage to Camilla. ‘A senior insider told me, he had a treacherous request. “He tried to persuade the Queen to block Charles marrying Camilla by being quite poisonous, mean, unhelpful and very nasty about Camilla.” His claims included that she was insufficiently aristocratic and that she was not to be trusted. The same individual went on to say that “when Diana was alive, through her friendship with Andrew’s wife Sarah, [Duchess of York] she plotted with Andrew to try to push Prince Charles aside so Prince Andrew could become Regent to Prince William, who was then a teenager.’

“Andrew lobbied very hard with the hope that Charles would not become king when his mother died, and that William would wear the crown. His behaviour was very, very negative and extremely unpleasant to Queen [Elizabeth], who disagreed. I was told it was one of the rare occasions he didn’t get his way. Nonetheless, he was apparently very angry that he couldn’t rule the country in some way. He remained so hostile to Camilla’s emergence and acceptance that it’s doubtful it has ever been forgiven.”

  If a smidgeon of that is true it is mind-boggling. It certainly spotlights Charles and Andrew’s composite highly competitive Sun Mars conjunction in their relationship chart. Around that time tr Saturn in Cancer was opposing the composite Sun Mars. And Saturn was also casting a freeze on the Queen and Andrew’s relationship in hard aspect to the delusional Sun opposition Moon Neptune on their composite chart – bringing a reality check. Pity the Queen never quite woke up to his true colours.

   Around this time Camilla was not invited to a Royal family Windsor do but Andrew turned up with his special guests – Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Nuff said.