Rarely a week goes by without a Meh Again story hitting the papers. Part of which can be attributed to the total idiocy of suing the Daily Mail which was never going to end well – or indeed ever end at all. And the rest to a jack-in-the-box tendency of the Sussexes to pitch in on whatever the trendy topic of the moment is.

  The Mail first – founded in 1896 on 3 May it has a stalwart Taurus Sun opposition Saturn in Scorpio which sits squarely across from Meghan’s Leo Sun; and its ferociously-determined and can-be-malicious Neptune Pluto in Gemini square Mars in Pisces is in hard aspect to her Venus. The relationship chart has a bitter, power-struggling-to-the-death composite Mars square Pluto – and it looks upended at the moment, under a dark cloud this December; jolted, jangled and high-tension through 2022 with tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the Mars Pluto; and sagging badly for two years after.

  The latest kerfuffle comes from an admission that the ‘private’ letter to her father, the subject of her copyright lawsuit, was crafted with an eye to possible publication and that the Royal pair had sanctioned communication with the authors of the supportive Finding Freedom. New information released suggests the Royal pair, despite past piteous claims of being under-supported, were given a good deal of help and advice from staff. Meghan seems, extraordinarily, to have taken umbrage at the suggestion that someone, Harry or a staff member, should fly out to see her father before the wedding. Which at the time seemed like common sense .

  Her father is an important component of her life with his Cancer Sun on her Ascendant although he will be controlling with his Pluto conjunct her Sun. And she has Pluto in her 4^th so she will bridle at any hint of not being in control of family matters. He was a successful and respected Lighting Director in his career and paid for a good deal of her education. While she may have been concerned about him elbowing in on her moment in the limelight, it was all so badly handled it ended in a total mess.

  Harry wouldn’t help since his relationship with Thomas Markle is, if anything, more difficult. Not that he has ever met him which doesn’t help. Markle Snr’s Pluto Mercury square Harry’s Saturn for a communication block and Markle Snr’s Saturn opposes Harry’s Jupiter Neptune so he would have an enthusiasm-dampening effect – at least the idea of him would, since the reality was never tested.

  The Lunar Eclipse in Taurus conjunct Algol next week does hit Meghan’s 5^th house Uranus so will already have rattled her Don Quixote inclination to charge every windmill she comes across or dreams up. In the Royal household she was reputed, like Harry, to be extremely thin-skinned. She’s recently had to apologize to the court for misleading them in previous evidence which could well be part of the Eclipse effect.

[Don Quixote was a 17^th Century Spanish literary character who decides to take up his lance and sword to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked. In one memorable episode, he attacks a row of windmills, believing them to be gigantic knights. (This is the source of the common phrase “tilting at windmills” to mean attacking imagined enemies.) His delusions of grandeur make him the butt of many practical jokes.]

  She’s on an upward trajectory in terms of career ambition for years ahead. Though will be running into a few setbacks immediately as tr Uranus squares her Sun from late this month throughout December and is amplified and buffeted by tr Saturn opposing her Sun in the final week of this December.

  Harry will drift along with tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun continuing from this year through 2022. Their relationship chart is ploughing through heavy seas this month with the final tr Pluto square the composite Saturn; but December won’t be much better and next year has tr Pluto square the Pluto and then more significantly opposition the composite Moon from March 2022, on and off till late 2023, which will be extremely challenging in terms of family matters. And the pressures won’t lift with tr Pluto trine the composite Mars Venus in 2023/24. It won’t be a honeymoon.

  Difficult to see this whole farrago ending well. Such a shame for Harry who was doing sterling work with Invictus – but he’s got bees in his bonnet about the media and a lopsided view of his mother, neither of which make him think clearly.

See previous post: August 5 2021

A sensational story of murder, madness, glamour and greed – and all true – is a perfect movie scenario. Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, released later this month, stars Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, former wife of Mauricio Gucci from the Italian fashion house, who hired a hitman to kill him to prevent his remarriage, protect her alimony payments and ensure his fortune went to her daughters.  The daughters knew nothing of the plot and have distanced themselves from their mother since her release from a long prison sentence.

Patrizia Reggiani was born poor on 2 December 1948 7.30am Vignola, Italy with no knowledge of her biological father. She married Mauricio Gucci against his father’s wishes, who thought she was a gold digger.

  She has an upfront, exuberant, fiery Sagittarius Sun on her Ascendant, helping her become a fixture on the New York socialite scene for some years, friendly with Jackie Onassis.  She more significantly has an ambitious, go-getting Mars Jupiter in Capricorn on the cusp of her 2^nd house of money opposition a risk-taking and volatile Uranus.

  When he was bumped off in 1995 her Solar Arc Pluto was exactly square her Jupiter Mars, ramping up her greed. Her Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct her Pluto, turning her life upside down but not quite in the way she had though; and tr Pluto was in a devastating conjunction to her Solar Arc Neptune in the aftermath.

  Her husband Mauricio, 26 September 1948 1.10 am Florence, Italy, had Sun Neptune in Libra but he was no pussycat having also an ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio square Pluto Venus in Leo. Mars Pluto appears to be a family signature handed down from the original founder Guccio Gucci born in 1881 which tends to breed hostility and bitterness and no surprises that later generations were all at loggerheads.

  Patrizia’s Sun was in his 5^th house so a good companion for an active social life and for children but her Pluto, like his, falls in his 2^nd house so tussles over money were to be expected.  Her Venus in seductive Scorpio was conjunct his South Node and indeed her own – so a relationship that played to a less evolved tune.   

  Their relationship chart had the composite Sun conjunct South Node as well; with the tr North Node conjunct when he was killed. Karma at work.  On his personal chart his Solar Arc Moon was exactly conjunct his Pluto and square his Mars – the family curse came back to bite him.

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F.W. de Klerk has died who was the South African President who brought an end to apartheid and freed Nelson Mandela. Throughout his political career he had supported racial segregation but finally reckoned it would lead to civil war if it wasn’t dismantled. After the 1994 election put Mandela in as president he served as Deputy in the coalition government but resigned after two years.

  He was born 18 March 1936 11.30pm in Johannesburg, and had a 4^th house Pisces Sun square Jupiter in the 12^th and trine an influential 8^th house Pluto. He also had a resourceful and implacable Mars in Aries square Pluto and in an adventurous trine to Jupiter. And he had the signature Neptune opposition Saturn in Pisces of the day across his Midheaven/IC axis. Neptune can be caring; Saturn Neptune hopes for a better society. In the event he was unpopular both for his lack of fulsome apologies for the evils of apartheid and with the entrenched whites for having dismantled their power base.

  When Mandela was elected in 1994 the tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was opposition his Pluto, altering his life in a radical way.

 His relations with Mandela were strained which is hardly surprising given that Mandela’s Cancer Sun was conjunct de Klerk’s 8^th house Pluto for a deep and uncomfortably tense cross-over and power struggle which manifested as a hostile composite Mars Pluto in their relationship chart.  

  De Klerk’s connection to the South Africa 1910 chart is strong with a composite Jupiter trine Pluto trine Uranus North Node in the relationship chart. And that earlier South Africa chart was on its first Uranus Return when it transformed into a non-apartheid state.  

Whatever his failings he was strong enough to see which way the winds of change were blowing and adjusted his sails accordingly. 

Russian troops are massing on the Ukrainian border with warnings of a possible invasion. Belarus (a Russian client state) has engineered a migrant crisis on its border with Poland that could spiral into violence with most of the migrants want to get to Germany. And Russia has cut gas supplies to Europe, sending prices soaring with winter looming. The theory is that Putin is testing Western resolve in a world without Angela Merkel. She has long been seen as the only western leader with any influence on Putin and she’ll soon be gone.

  Putin’s 4^th Term chart, 7 May 2018 11.05am Moscow is brutal and crises-ridden with a Mars Pluto conjunction square Uranus. The Solar Arc Midheaven is conjunct the Uranus now and for several weeks ahead which could suggest a decisive shift of direction. Tr Pluto will conjunct the Mars through 2022 as it has done this year which can be frustratingly trapped or ruthless as he seeks to ride roughshod over obstacles.

Internally Russia is facing a a triple threat of rising coronavirus cases, new lockdown measures and surging inflation, veering towards 8%. The Solar Arc Pluto will conjunct the Mars exactly in 16 months but will be in effect before then which doubles up on the logjammed mood. This could stem from a myriad of problems not all foreign relations – though desperate leaders can make desperate decisions to divert attention from domestic problems. Tr Pluto is also square the 10^th house Uranus in 2023/2024 which will be unstable in the extreme.

 Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus President, first installed on 20 July 1994 and sworn in for a 6^th term after a disputed election on 23 September 2020. Both these charts are under extreme stress through this December and across 2022. So if he hangs on it’ll be by the skin of his teeth.

  Joe Biden’s Mars in Scorpio is close to his Descendant when his chart is relocated to Moscow, so it is a toxic hotspot for him. For Warsaw, Poland he has an indecisive Neptune on his Descendant.  He’ll be irked certainly. Whether he takes radical action is less sure.

See previous Post on Ukraine 13 April 2021.   

Geoffrey Cox MP is giving fat-cat politicians a bad name, appearing only twice in Westminster to vote in 13 months and reportedly using his Commons office for his £1m-a-year legal sideline which takes him off to the sunny tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. He evidently offered the Islands legal advice recently in a corruption probe by the UK Foreign office.

 He was also Boris Johnson’s legal cheerleader as Attorney General over one of Bojo’s early dirty tricks in shutting down parliament in late 2019 to avoid discussion of Brexit. Cox’s advice which greenlit the dodgy deal was firmly quashed by 11 Supreme Court Judges, at which point Cox went off in a Shakespearean rant/toddlers’ tantrum in the House lambasting Brexiteers. See post September 26 2019.

   None of which should be a surprise and he’s a bit player in the UK-down-a-sink-hole saga but his chart is so apt it seemed a shame to waste the example.

  Born 30 April 1960, he has a classic money man and businessman’s chart. His acquisitive Taurus Sun is in an Earth Grand Trine to Pluto in Virgo trine Jupiter in Capricorn. Earth Grand Trines have organizational ability especially when it comes to material achievements. His Sun is also in a practical trine to Saturn in Capricorn, square an innovative Uranus and opposition an elusive Neptune.

  The fates handed his career to him on a platter.

  But for all that he is rattled at the moment by tr Saturn square his Neptune exactly now and then both tr Saturn and tr Uranus battering on his Sun into early 2022; with a panicky-failure tr Neptune conjunct his Mars continuing on from this year throughout 2022.

  His impassioned support for Boris in 2019 hasn’t earned him any support in this fiasco as his situation has thrown fuel on the ire about sleazy MPs. And he has fallen victim to Boris’ lifelong tendency to dump erstwhile friends who are no longer of use.

  Their relationship chart has a pushily-confident, power-couple composite Pluto opposition Jupiter which can often joust about rules and regulations as being only applicable to others. That opposition squares onto the composite Sun so is all the stronger. Jupiter Pluto relationships fly high as long as both sides’ agenda coincides. When they diverge it can turn nasty.

There is also a focal point slippery Neptune squaring Saturn opposition the NN. The composite Venus is conjunct Algol so catching this month’s Lunar Eclipse for an emotional crisis. The composite Mars is also getting hammered in 2021/22 by a tr Pluto square which will make both feel trapped and enraged.

A passing kerfuffle but maybe symbolic in the greater scheme of things about the present downward chute.

As a cartoonist pointed out recently – it’s not one rule for everyone else and a different one for us, according to those in power. It’s more that there are rules for others and no rules at all for the elevated ones.

Ghislaine Maxwell has lost key rulings ahead of her 29^th November trial on charges of procuring underage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein. The judge ruled that prosecutors can refer to her accusers as “victims” and can have their identities kept anonymous.

 On a list of potential expert witnesses for the defence is Elizabeth Loftus who testified at Harvey Weinstein trial that victims’ memories of sexual abuse are unreliable. But she  failed to convince the jury that Annabella Sciorra’s memory of a 1990s rape by him was defective. Loftus appeared for the defence in the Ted Bundy case, trying to throw doubt on the only victim left alive who could identify him; as well as giving evidence in the OJ Simpson and Bill Cosby’s cases. Time’s Up has called Loftus’ ‘false memory’ work a ‘tool that has been used to try to discredit survivors of sexual assault for decades.’ False memory syndrome has not been ratified by the American Psychological Association and is labeled ‘controversial’ and is ‘not [an] accepted diagnostic term.’

   Maxwell, 25 December 1961 3.20pm Maisons Lafitte, France, has tr Saturn poised to conjunct her Midheaven and her 10^th house ‘lucky’ Jupiter as the trial opens. Saturn can begin a consolidated, hard-working peak period of several years – but it can oddly have the opposite effect of bring home chickens to roost as Saturn’s karmic kickback goes into operation. If you don’t work diligently and prepare well in the years before, hey presto you get landed with a harsh lesson. Jupiter in the 10^th can be lucky but is also entitled and Saturn gives a sharp reality check when Jupiter has flown too high. Her 4^th house Leo Moon is also taking a fair battering from tr Saturn in opposition and tr Uranus square until early 2022.

More significantly tr Pluto will conjunct her 9^th house Saturn in Capricorn from March 2022 to late 2023 which will be a discouraging and depressing slog. In which she is not alone since Prince Andrew’s Venus Mars in late Capricorn also catch the tr Pluto conjunction in 2022/23; as does Virginia Guiffre, his accuser in the civil suit. None of them look remotely cheerful.

 Loftus, 16 October 1944, is a Sun Libra with a complicated tangle of Uranus trine Neptune sextile Pluto, Saturn square Neptune and trine Mars in Scorpio; with Mars square Pluto. Influential, innovative, impatient, angry, super-determined. She looks blocked in December; in turmoil through January and worse from mid January onwards. Trapped and powerless through 2022/23.

  She’s an odd match with Maxwell with Loftus Sun square Maxwell’S Saturn; and Loftus’ Saturn opposition Maxwell’s Mercury Sun. Plus a game-playing Pluto opposition Jupiter.

  No one is any doubt that memory is fallible but I would have thought hauling Loftus in, given her track record of defending the indefensible could well backfire badly if she is called.

US rappers Travis Scott and Drake are being sued for having “incited mayhem” after eight people were killed and dozens injured in a crush during a Texas concert. About 50,000 people were in the audience in Houston when the crowd started pushing towards the stage as Scott, whose company had organised it,  was performing, triggering chaotic scenes. They continued to perform the suit said even as the “crowd became out of control”.

 Drake was born 24 October 1986 2.31 am Toronto, Canada and brought up by his mother with his father imprisoned for drug offences. He certainly looks poleaxed by the tragedy with tr Saturn exactly square his Pluto when it started and conjunct her Mars from this weekend for two weeks – and even more panic-inducing his Solar Arc Neptune is conjunct his Mars as well, almost exactly now.

  He is, at the best of times, a ramped-up individual, with an intense Sun Pluto in Scorpio square Mars. He’s also got a creative Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in Pisces trine a Cancer Moon trine Pluto maybe Venus in Scorpio.

 Travis Scott, born 30 April 1991 in Houston, was brought up by his grandmother in a high-crime area, which he said gave him the edge to succeed and get out of that lifestyle. He’s a Sun Taurus with Pluto widely in opposition and a volatile, overly excitable Mars in Cancer opposition Uranus Neptune in Capricorn square Mercury in Aries. Not a calm temperament. And a chart fairly similar to Chris Brown, with whom Drake had a famous falling out – who has a Taurus Sun opposition Pluto and Mars in Cancer opposition Uranus Neptune – all combustible high-wire individuals.

  Travis Scott’s year of birth was in doubt, though seems to have settled at 91 rather than 92. He looks less shaken than Drake instantly but his December looks like a sinker with uncertainty stretching through 2022.  

Lou Taylor, Britney Spears’ former manager, has filed legal documents to halt Spears’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart asking for full accounting over the last 13 years of Taylor’s involvement in the conservatorship, after he claimed he believes the star’s money had been mishandled. Allegations and hot denials are flying in all directions and Taylor has already issued a defamation suit against a Britney fan. So as well to tread lightly until a court clarification. Taylor denies being involved with the alleged bugging of the star’s bedroom or controlling her medical treatment.

 Taylor’s company Tri-Star parted ways with Spears in August 2020 amid allegations that she and others were getting death threats. A recent CNN documentary reported that Spears blames Taylor for many conservatorship-related issues. Taylor has a Rolodex of celebrity clients, including Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, Priyanka Chopra, Mary J. Blige and several Kardashians. She appears to be a devout Christian with a pastor husband.

 The potential termination of the singer’s conservatorship is expected to be addressed in court on November 12 midway between Mars square Saturn and Mars opposition Uranus so it will be high tension and aggravated.

  Lou Taylor, born 30 October 1965 in New York, is a Sun Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer and trine Saturn in Pisces – capable, private, creative, not always realistic. She has a passionate Venus Mars in Sagittarius in a relentlessly determined and volatile square to Pluto Uranus in Virgo, so when push comes to shove she won’t budge easy. She has a steely core.

At the moment she has her Solar Arc Saturn opposing her Sun for a discouraging setback; early this December looks deflating and unlucky; 2022 will be enthusiasm-denting; but her major problems pick up in a calamitous 2023/24.

  Her Sun and Neptune Mercury in Scorpio all fall in Britney’s financial 2^nd house so money would be the main draw with some confusion arising (Neptune). Taylor’s Uranus Pluto is also conjunct Britney’s Mars in Virgo and square Britney’s Sun and Neptune which is a damaging connection with Taylor wielding the power but in a chaotic way. Taylor’s Jupiter is also on Britney’s Midheaven which could suggest a profitable career partnership or Taylor’s status being raised by her position on the Spears bandwagon.

  Their relationship chart has been wobbling badly since 2020 with tr Pluto upending the composite Uranus, with aggravations this year – but the more telling problems will come in 2023/24.

  Britney’s own chart has that tr Neptune opposition her Mars right through till early 2023 so she may lose a few battles along the way before clearing her feet of this mess.

See previous posts: September 13 2021

Pic: Mike Maguire

Spooks, politicos and lawyers collide to throw more questions than answers around the Steele Dossier which purported to show Trump’s Kremlin connection before the 2016 election. A Russian analyst has been arrested by US authorities for lying.  He was the source for the most incendiary allegation that Trump was compromised during a trip to Moscow in November 2013 for the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Trump has denied the claim however, a report by the Senate intelligence committee said that the FSB spy agency presided over a network of secret cameras inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel where Trump stayed, including in guest bedrooms.

  In 2019, special counsel Robert Mueller said no criminal wrongdoing had taken place between the Trump campaign and Moscow but he noted there were multiple contacts in 2016 between Russian spies and Trump aides. The Kremlin had run a “sweeping and systemic” operation to help Trump win, Mueller said. The bipartisan report by the Senate intelligence committee was dismissive of Steele’s dossier, but corroborated key elements in it.

  Former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, 24 June 1964 was born five days after Boris Johnson so has a similar Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Mars in Gemini – scattergun and uber-excitable. With the Jupiter opposition Neptune adding a streak of over optimism – all of which may have sent him jumping to conclusions and relying on his unreliable judgement. His Cancer Sun does trine Saturn which might give him some anchoring.

 His relationship chart with Trump is all over the place through this December and more so in 2022/23, so more may emerge to clear the fog.

  But who’d know? Some of the dossier appears to be on the money and intelligence is often straws in the wind, which sometimes prove to be accurate and sometimes not. And sometimes the truth only emerges fifty years down the line, if then.