The Facebook parent platform is changing its name to Meta from 1 December, reflecting the company’s push to build an avatar-filled virtual world known as the metaverse – the “successor to the mobile internet” – where users can shop, game and socialise in a shared virtual space. Zuckerburg hopes to attract 1bn more users and “hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce a day” in the next decade. The existing individual brands — Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Oculus — will not change.

 The timing is unfortunate given the bad publicity from recent whistleblower testimony but it can be a successful business strategy, as with google and Alphabet.

 The 1 December launch date has an ultra-ruthlessly determined Mars in Scorpio in a publicity-attracting trine to Neptune and sextile an influential/controlling and seductive Venus Pluto in Capricorn. Plus a risk-taking, opportunistic Jupiter square Mars. It’s a strong chart for a go-getting enterprise.

 Below is a rerun of an earlier October 5 2021 post on Facebook and Zuckerburg.

The fates have conspired to give Facebook the week from hell with a prolonged outage yesterday, wiping billions off share prices and a whistleblower accusing the company of placing “profit over safety” on primetime TV in advance of a hearing before US senators today. The six hour break in service was deemed to be an internal configuration fault which shut down not just the internet feed but also entry into the building for engineers trying to fix it.

     Francis Haugen, a former product manager, hired to help protect against election interference, leaked a trove of internal company documents to the Wall Street Journal which have created its deepest crisis since the Cambridge Analytica scandal – and has now stepped into the open. She said FB had lied to the public, exaggerating the progress it had made tackling hate, violence, and misinformation on its platform.

“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. Over and over again, [it] chose to optimise for its own interests, like making more money.” FB’s shares have dipped 13 per cent since the WSJ began publishing its series in mid-September.

  Mark Zuckerburg, 14 May 1984 2.39pm White Plains New York, whose Taurus Sun is conjunct Algol, with Venus close by, opposing Mars Moon Saturn in Scorpio isn’t one to panic or over-react to pressure. But he’s in a long run of tr Uranus hard aspects to his Scorpio/Taurus planets, jangling him this year, more so in 2022/23/24. Even he will have to budge. The Eclipses from this November’s Taurus Lunar Eclipse and on through 2022 into 2023 will rattle up a good going series of crises, so he’ll have to change whether he likes it or not. His Progressed Mars will conjunct his 2nd house Saturn in 2022 which could see a major financial setback.

  What is odd about the FB IPO chart, 18 May 2012 11.31am is the Jupiter in Taurus which tr Pluto is trine at the moment and should be instilling confidence not the reverse. Though admittedly tr Saturn square the Midheaven won’t help and there will be disappointments with tr Neptune hitting the financial Venus and Mars/Uranus midpoint earlier this year and throughout 2022.

  There’s also a further calamity from 2^nd to 10^th December this year which shows up on Zuckerburg and the IPO chart.

 The original FB chart, 4 February 2004, is jolted, jangled and nerve-stretched this year and next with the disruptive and uncertain tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the Neptune Sun in Aquarius; with financial woes in 2022/23 from tr Neptune conjunct the Venus; and worse problems in 2023/24 as the dead-halt tr Pluto squares the Mars in Taurus.

Rishi Sunak, the UK Chancellor, despite all media rumours that he and Boris did not see eye to eye has indulged in a lavish budget. It has alarmed ‘small government’ Tories and stirred up criticism for those affected by tax rises, with gloomy prognostications about financial pain to come with inflation, rising mortgage rates and the Brexit effect.

  In fact he never looked overly out of sorts with Boris on the astrology, though there’s a degree of suspicion and doubt written into their relationship chart. There’ll be some discouraging moments between them over the next fifteen months but it looks as if 2023 is when the cracks begin to show.

   Sunak, 12 May 1980, is a stalwart Sun Mercury in Taurus trine Saturn; though with his Sun on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Pluto – mega-ambitious but not always sure of himself. Though he’s had a golden run of Winchester, Oxford, Stanford University as a Fulbright scholar, Goldman Sachs and marrying a billionaire’s daughter before moving into politics. He’ll be bullish this December though behind the smiles he will have sinking moments of uncertainty with tr Neptune opposition his Saturn until mid January; followed by a run of dashed-hopes/failed-plans and confidence-undermining Neptune transits to two Pluto midpoints through 2022. He’ll have a high late in 2022 – or at least will be making a determined push to speed ahead with his Solar Arc Pluto square his Jupiter. 2023 will be disruptive and a year of sudden change with tr Uranus starting to conjunct his Sun.

  His Chancellor’s chart, 13 February 2020, is blocked and frustrated till the New Year, under discouraging stars in 2022; but it is 2023 which will see his applecart being tipped up.   

Trailblazing standup comedian Mort Sahl has died at 94. He is credited with revolutionising American comedy in the 1950s with his acerbic political satire. He was described as a cross between Lenny Bruce and Bob Hope and though he never shocked with obscenities, he aimed like a ‘heat seeking missile’ on his target, who would be a public figure of any political inclination.  One tribute said ‘pound-for-pound, [he was] the funniest, most innovative comedian of them all, throughout his entire career.’

  One of his comments was “Washington couldn’t tell a lie. Nixon couldn’t tell the truth and Reagan couldn’t tell the difference.”

  Born 11 May 1927 8.30am Montreal, Canada, he was a Sun Taurus in a creative square to Neptune in Leo, oddly enough in his communicative 3^rd. He had a lucky, successful Jupiter in his career 10^th in an adventurous conjunction to Uranus square a charming Venus in Gemini. Where he got his acid-edge was a ruthless and enraged Mars Pluto in Cancer in his 1^st sextile Mercury and his Sun.

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David Beckham is under attack for taking on a multi-million pound ambassadorial role with the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Qatar is an absolute monarchy with an appalling record for human and women’s rights, for mistreating migrant workers, more than 6500 of whom have died since Qatar was granted the World Cup. It punishes homosexuality with imprisonment and runs secret gay conversion programmes; and it won the right to host the tournament after allegations of corruption in the voting process.

  Beckham who has had close ties with key figures in Qatar since his time playing at Paris St-Germain insists he was working with the nation because he believes in the “power of football to inspire positive change”.

  Alternatively the rulers believe in the efficacy of ‘sportswashing’ – cosmeticising their mediaeval regimes with a western facelift.

   Beckham, 2 May 1975 6.17 am London, does look rattled with the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting his Taurus Sun into early 2022; and a confusing tr Pluto conjunct his Solar Arc Neptune this December. Then tr Pluto will conjunct his Midheaven through next year (birth time being accurate) which could dent his image. Plus a disappointing tr Neptune square his Venus, making him feel less than loved. He does have his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Mercury now which will lift his spirits and no doubt his bank account. 2022 looks insecure and rattled with his Solar Arc Uranus square his Mars – and his Solar Arc Moon conjunct his Mars. So it’ll be arguments all the way.

 The World Cup chart, 21 November 2022, doesn’t look like anything much with the jolting Saturn square Uranus still in place; a delusional, expensive Jupiter Neptune in a showbizzy square to Mars – but nothing much joining together.

  However the Qatar country chart, 1 September 1971 looks on a confident roll with tr Pluto sextile its Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio through 2022/23; and tr Jupiter opposition its Pluto for the World Cup. They – or at least the rulers – will be pleased enough.

 The present Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 3 June 1980, is another Sun Gemini, widely trine Pluto opposition Neptune – and Jupiter Mars and Saturn in Virgo, which fits the present ‘whirlwind-in-a-storm’ leaders of elsewhere.  

Poland’s prime minister – a cross between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump – has been using inflammatory language about ‘guns to head’ and starting a third World War as the EU put its foot down about internal Polish moves to threaten the independence of the judiciary. The stand-off has already delayed approval of Poland’s €36bn Covid-19 economic recovery package from Brussels and further tens of billions of euros in annual EU funds paid to Warsaw could be at risk. The ruling conservative party with strong ties to the influential Catholic Church has also moved to curb independent journalism, with Poland down from 18th to 62nd place in the World Press Freedom Index — below Niger and Armenia – in the last six years.

 Despite murmurings about a Polexit it is unlikely, with nearly ninety percent of the electorate wanting to stay in the EU.

  What is clear is that the 2004 enlargement intake including Poland, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia etc is moving through a discontented and disillusioning phase with the 2004 tussle-for-the-upper-hand Pluto opposition Venus Mars being chipped away at by tr Neptune in square over the next three years. It was always going to be an intake which pressed heavy demands on the newcomers and made them feel dominated. At the moment as well – which could come to a head at New Year and through January – is the disruptive tr Uranus conjunct the 2004 Enlargement Taurus Sun.

  The PM Mateusz Morawiecki on his 2^nd term since 15 November 2019 is facing an enraging, trapped 2022/23 with tr Pluto square the Mars.

  The Poland 24 August 1989 1.05 pm chart, if the start time is accurate, has tr Uranus moving across the Descendant in 202/23 which can be a relationship severing influence in the years following.  The UK had similar for Brexit. There’s also a devastating Solar Arc Neptune square the Poland Pluto hitting late 2022 into 2023, followed by discouraging Solar Arc Saturn square Pluto in 2024.

Pluto in the 12^th suggests a fair amount of dirty-dealing and power-hungry manipulation behind the scenes – so it may be the shadowy forces who are causing problems will be to some degree stonewalled. Plus at the moment the tr Uranus square tr Saturn is also bouncing off the Poland hidden Pluto – until early 2022. And that Pluto is opposition the EU Moon and square its Uranus so there was always going to be a standoff.

From an earlier post on February 22 2021

  And there are Geminis as far as the eye can see. Orban (of Hungary) has a Gemini Sun; as does Mateusz Morawiecki – a Boris-like collection of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars in Gemini square Uranus Pluto in Virgo; as does Jaroslaw Kaczynski, firebrand founder and leader of PiS and now Deputy PM with his Sun and Mars in Gemini. Who’d have thought Geminis would turn out – in some cases – to have such a dictatorial, narrow-minded, retrograde mindset. Mind you the Vatican 1929 chart has a New Moon and Mercury in Gemini which always struck me as odd.

  The modern Poland 24 August 1989 1.05pm Warsaw chart, is in a confusing phase – upheavals, disruptions, rebellions, logjammed.

The EU Accession chart of 1 May 2004 looks equally rattled with a separating tr Saturn square the Taurus Sun and tr Uranus conjunct, picking up next month and continuing on throughout the year. A totally blocked Solar Arc Pluto opposition the Saturn late 2021. And there’s an undermining tr Neptune square the Pluto and Venus before moving onto an even more panicky-failure square to the Mars in 2022/23.

  Diplomatic relations won’t be getting any easier anytime soon with the EU already threatening to withhold funds if community values are not upheld. In 2018 Poland was a net recipient of EU funds to the tune of twelve and a half billion euros.

At the risk of overkill on Algol there is a pertinent example from the rarefied world of covetous and cosseted celebrities. Robert De Niro has been fighting a bitter divorce battle with his ex-wife Grace Hightower, with both accusing the other of extravagant spending habits. His lawyer described her demands as “rich with indulgences and waste and greed”. A judge has now ruled she is not entitled to half of his income though she’ll get $1 million a year alimony plus a $6 million house so she won’t be out on the sidewalk.

  Both have Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol – in his case square a 2^nd house (financial) Leo Sun. In her case without a birth time on a 12 noon chart, she has her Mars Algol in a ferocious T square opposition Saturn square a controlling Pluto in her financial 2^nd house – which seems plausible. Why they ever married is a mystery but they almost certainly deserve each other.

 Money is not much mentioned around Algol which is odd given its position in Taurus though in Arab and Chinese systems the constellation of Perseus does govern the finding of treasure and accumulation of wealth.

Below is a rerun of an April 23 2021 post on the witless de Niros.

Robert De Niro, one of the all-time Hollywood greats with a string of awards for his nine Martin Scorsese movies including The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, The Unotuchables as well as Wag the Dog, Silver Linings Playbook etc has gone noticeably off track over the past two decades with a string of clunkers – Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents, Dirty Grandpa  – and lame TV adverts for a breadmaker and a car company. His lawyer now claims he is “working at an unsustainable pace” in order to support his about-to-be-ex-wife Grace Hightower and pay off all his back taxes.  Her lawyer retaliated that he had been “unfairly decreasing” the agreed-upon payments including cutting her credit-card expenses from $461,000 a month to “just” $127,000 from January.

  He hooked up with Hightower in the late 1990s with a two year marriage which split and got together again in 2004 which more or less coincides with his downturn and bad career choices.

  He was born 17 August 1943 3am New York and has a 2^nd house Leo Sun square Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol; with Jupiter Pluto and his North Node in Leo in his 2^nd. Money will always have been a driving force in his life with a strong tendency to profligacy and gross indulgence when it comes to spending with no limits and, on the evidence, less inclination to save for tax.

  What is astro-intriguing is his ex-Grace, born 7 April 1955, also has Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol in an extraordinarily difficult, stubborn-to the-nth-degree, and hard edged opposition to Saturn square Pluto. Her Pluto is conjunct his 2^nd house Sun so she will be drawn to controlling him financially. But if ever two people should never have got hitched they are it. Their relationship chart does have an affectionate composite Sun opposition Venus with a passionate Venus trine Pluto so there would have been an attraction which ended in disappointment with a composite Sun trine Neptune. But it’s that stand out Mars Algol which has obviously wreaked destruction on their relationship and his judgement.

  When the couple finally split four years ago tr Neptune was conjunct his Pisces Moon and starting to move round his T Square of Mercury Venus squaring onto Saturn and that won’t clear till early 2024 after an uncertain tr Neptune square his Saturn is finished. In 2018 as well tr Uranus just into Taurus was aiming to square his Pluto and Jupiter which he’s not in the midst of. Tr Saturn is just into his 8^th till April 2023 which will be tight financially (comparatively speaking) – and tr Saturn square tr Uranus is also tugging on his extravagant Jupiter Pluto in Leo this year.

  It’s an unedifying divorce spat which has left the judge unimpressed. He said: “I want to get these parties divorced – to go their separate ways. They will still come out of this richer than almost any human being who walks this earth. There is nothing ordinary about these expenses. For 99.9999 per cent of the world, these are extraordinary to an almost unimaginable degree.”

  It’s not clear that De Niro can untarnish his legacy any time soon with tr Neptune heading to conjunct his Midheaven between now and 2024.

  Hollywood at its worst.

Another flare up in Sweden’s gang problem as Einar, a 19 year old rapper was shot dead in the street, days before he was due to testify in a case against the so-called Vårby gang. Last April he was kidnapped, beaten up and blackmailed by members of the Vårby gang, whose members have been convicted of murder, attempted murder, robbery, extortion, abduction and drug and firearm offences. It is led by a Tunisian man and populated by first- and second-generation immigrants from Finland, the Balkans and Africa.

 The police say there are two problems, the first of which is lack of integration with a recent study of a street gang indicating a quarter of the members were ethnic Swedes and 40 percent had been born in Sweden.  The other is the supply of surplus weapons from Serbia and Bosnia after the end of the war, and the ease with which they can cross the borders – the Denmark Sweden bridge getting some of the blame. Sweden is the only European country where fatal shootings have risen significantly since 2000, going from one of the lowest rates of gun violence to one of the highest in less than a decade.

  Einar, 5 September 2002, fits the Mars Pluto profile of the moment having Pluto square his Virgo Sun and widely his Mars; and the tr Pluto being exactly square his Mars/Pluto midpoint now.

  As to why Sweden has fallen down a sinkhole of violence and crime in recent times? 

  The Sweden 7 December 1865 3.30pm chart has three separate strands. The first is a vibrant, enthusiastic Sun Mars in Sagittarius. The second is a resourceful, restless, idealistic though not always realistic Cardinal T Square of Mercury Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Uranus square Neptune in Aries. The third is a tough-minded and battened-down Pluto in Taurus opposition Saturn in obsessive Scorpio. A complex mix of adventurous and opinionated, utopian visionary and repressed – with a free-floating unaspected sexy Venus in Scorpio thrown in for good measure.

  When separate chart configurations come together by Solar Arc directions there is usually a life-changing crisis stretching over an extended period of time. The Solar Arc Sun and Mars started to impact the Saturn opposition Pluto 13 years ago, peaked a year ago and will still be in effect.

The Solar Arc Pluto opposition Saturn collided with the Cardinal T Square of Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury and Neptune 16 and 11 years ago throwing the idealistic Sweden Neptune into a tailspin – a tolerant, laissez-faire country having to cope with having taken in intolerant and amoral elements.  That arguably is what set off this decade of mayhem. It would also be exacerbated by the tr Pluto square tr Uranus bouncing off the Neptune etc early last decade. Whether a reversal is possible is moot, though events like this one may jolt the government/police into a higher level of activity – and at some point they will get a grip. New York got cleaned up as did Glasgow over time with steady pressure being brought to bear on crime.

  The late November Lunar Eclipse will shake up the Sweden Venus in Scorpio and next year the Saturn opposition Pluto will also catch the Solar Eclipses – so old patterns will be challenged.

  If the start time is accurate tr Pluto will also move out of the trapped 8^th house, which rules the underworld, after this year which may also help.  

The Sun Mars square Pluto which has been building up a head of steam since mid October claimed its first headline on the 15^th with the slaughter of Tory MP Sir David Amess in his Essex surgery by Ali Harbi Ali, who is the son of a former Somali political aide and was evidently affiliated to Islamic State organisations. He was also possibly motivated by anger at David Amess’s political connections to Qatar seeking investment for the UK. Qatar has been criticised for interfering in Somali politics, supporting the present President and for pushing the country towards civil war.

Sir David, 26 March 1952 had his Sun, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter in Aries. His Jupiter Mercury opposed Saturn Neptune in Libra and was trine Pluto; with his Pluto square Mars in ultra-determined Scorpio. He wasn’t short of initiative and would have been constantly on the go.  He also had a Water Grand Trine of Venus in Pisces trine Mars trine Uranus, which was healing but not always realistic. His views were very right wing which may in part be a result of his less than sentimental Mars square Pluto.

  Ali Harbi Ali, 1 February 1996 (CPS charge sheet), now in prison awaiting trial, is a Sun Aquarius with a Cancer Moon. His two points of contact with David Amess’s chart are his Mars in Aquarius which opposed Amess’ Pluto and squared his Mars in Scorpio – so an inflammatory interface. And Ali’s Libra North Node was conjunction Amess’s Neptune and opposition his Mercury Jupiter. There is often a Nodal connection between victim and perpetrator.

  Their relationship chart has a composite Mars Saturn conjunction, associated in traditional astrology with assassination, and also aggravation – with the composite North Node conjunct as well.  

Veteran actor Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock, several Mission Impossibles and Saturday Night Live – has been involved in a fatal shooting on the film set of RUST in New Mexico. He discharged a prop gun killing the director of photography and injuring the movie director. No charges have been filed to date.

  The shooting happened at 1.50pm yesterday when transiting Mars had moved to the exact square with tr Pluto, which has dominated the mood this week and figured in the Full Moon on Tuesday. Mars Pluto is usually accident-prone and associated with destructive events and sometimes intentional brutality.

 Baldwin, born 3 April 1958 (no birth time) has had a long, glittering, award strewn career with scandals along the way from his tendency to lose his cool.  He’s a Sun Aries possibly opposition a Libra Moon. Where his volcanic temper comes from will be his Mars in stubborn Aquarius in a no-compromise opposition to Uranus. His Uranus is also in an outspoken square to Mercury and his South Node and in a can-be-fanatical square to Neptune.

  He understandably looks rattled by the tragedy – with a disruptive tr Saturn exactly opposition his Uranus; and his Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct his Venus for an emotionally discouraging time. His Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct his North Node this year as well for a destiny-changing moment. Both tr Saturn and tr Uranus are also rattling up his Mars through this year – so it was always going to be a knife-edge and insecure time for him, when shocks were to be expected. He has a batch of enthusiasm-denting Neptune influences around for a couple of years ahead; with 2022/23 being a particular slog as tr Pluto squares his Saturn/Pluto midpoint. Though he’ll respond with typical bullish determination as tr Pluto squares his Jupiter as well.

  The Eclipses in 2022 will impact his Neptune and North Node in Scorpio and his Mercury which will also bring confusion, communication glitches and stress.

  The director Joel Souza, 14 June 1973 California, also has an aggravated Mars in his chart opposition Pluto and square a Sun Saturn in Gemini. His T Square is beset in a Neptunian swamp for two years ahead and the Solar Arc positions of it are catching the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hard aspects at the moment until early next year.

What is odd but a typical occurrence is that heavyweight, disaster influences pick up one headline example when they are in place. Everyone individually will have been feeling the strain of Mars Pluto in different ways this week though not as gothically as this. Almost as if the most negative end of the energy has one focus and then it passes on.