The Affair meets Downton Abbey in a bizarre luvvie-land headline-grabber with Dominic West canoodling more than openly with actress Lily James in Rome over the weekend. This resulted in friends saying his wife and mother of his four children, Catherine Fitzgerald, was devastated since she thought they were still happily together. Next photo-op is West plus a hesitant lady wife appearing together, with forced smiles and kisses to say their ten year marriage is strong.
West, 15 October 1969, is a laid back Sun Jupiter in Libra with a seductive, manipulative Venus Pluto in Virgo; a Sagittarius Moon; and a hard-edged Mars in Capricorn trine Saturn in Taurus.
His wife Irish landscape gardener and aristocrat Catherine Fitzgerald, 18 May 1971, is an odd mix with him, being a stalwart and serious Sun Saturn in Taurus trine Pluto; with a Moon in Aquarius/Pisces. Her Sun Saturn opposes his elusive Neptune and her Venus in Aries/Taurus is conjunct his Saturn. Their relationship chart has an expansive and optimistic composite Sun square Jupiter; with Jupiter in a superficially affectionate trine to Venus; with Venus in a needs-space square to Uranus.
It’s not exactly overflowing with affection and is moving through turbulent times with tr Uranus square the composite Sun and opposition the Jupiter through this year till spring 2021; and tr Saturn is conjunct the composite Mars and trine the Pluto later this month into early November, which will be downbeat and angry. Even worse from late February 2021 onwards there is a seriously aggravated tr Pluto conjunct the composite Mars (maybe Moon). Methinks it may not survive the pounding. Though Mars trine Pluto relationships do not split easily or without a great deal of rancour since one partner will always have exerted control and won’t appreciate being forced to let go.
In many ways he finds Lily James, 5 April 1989, easier for light hearted companionship since she is a Sun Venus in Aries which sits well with his Libra Sun and Jupiter. Though she’s also of the triple conjunction of Saturn Neptune Uranus in Capricorn generation so will be unpredictable and chaotic, unlike his more sensible wife. Their relationship chart isn’t too inspiring with only a flash of initial attraction from composite Mars square Venus; though there is a possessive composite Sun square Pluto which can exert a pull at the start.
Lily James has just split from The Crown’s Matt Smith, 28 October 1982, a Sun, Jupiter, Venus in Scorpio. Her relationship with Smith looks a good deal cosier than with West with an affectionate composite Sun Venus sextile Mars. But tr Saturn conjunct the composite Sun clearly did for that – but who knows? It has been on and off for the past five years. It could even flare up again. Musical chairs in celeb relationships move at dizzying speed.
Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State and before that US Ambassador to the UN, under Bill Clinton, has an excoriating piece in the FT about Trump whom she describes as “a president born with both a silver spoon and a forked tongue in his mouth” who has debased American democracy. His message that no one should fear the virus, she points out is “rebutted by the bones and ashes of 1m dead.” Her fear is that his allegations that the election will be rigged against him will incite chaos and the possibility of violent confrontations. “Should the outcome be close, the verdict may not be known for weeks and will likely be rejected as fraudulent by one side or the other.”
She was born 15 May 1937, sadly with no birth time in the Czech Republic and has a stalwart Taurus Sun opposition and uber-determined Mars in Scorpio square Saturn in early Aries with Uranus Mercury also in Taurus. She also has a pushily-confident Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto in Cancer which sits sextile/trine her Sun Mars opposition. A formidable lady, who has lived through dangerous and dramatic times.
She’s not looking exactly upbeat for a few months ahead with two undermining Neptune transits to midpoints running now until late January; a downbeat November with tr Saturn in hard aspect to her bullish Jupiter and Pluto; and a confused, plans-not-working-out tr Pluto square her Mars/Neptune midpoint late November to late December. She will pick up tr Pluto in aspect to her Pluto Jupiter from late next February onwards which will give her a boost.
If the above are reactions to the election then she may be right about delays. Though there could be other factors in her personal life which are involved.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, had a good run early in the covid wars but is losing the battle to keep numbers down despite draconian lockdowns of pubs and restaurants. And she is additionally entangled in a Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government’s botched handling of complaints against Alex Salmond who was cleared in court of sexual harassment charges. Salmond supporters claim it was a conspiracy ‘to get Salmond’ who had been Sturgeon’s mentor in the early days – all hotly denied.
Her Cancer Sun square Jupiter in Libra is under a dark, damp cloud through November with tr Saturn in hard aspect; plus an emotionally upsetting tr Uranus square her Moon mid November to mid December.
But Alex Salmond looks no more cheerful with tr Saturn opposition his lucky Jupiter Uranus conjunction and square his Neptune also through November. He’s also got a scary, trapped, enraging Solar Arc Mars square his Pluto exact in three to four month’s time but in effect earlier which does not look successful. Plus a panicky-failure sinker of tr Neptune conjunct his 10th house Mars late January to late February 2021.
Their relationship always was an edgy one – part friendly with a composite Sun Venus; highly ambitious as a duo with a composite Jupiter Pluto conjunct but that can turn into a struggle for the upper hand when it goes sour; and a seriously aggravated Moon opposition Uranus square Mars – which last tr Pluto will be leaning heavily on from late January 2021 for two years. And before then for obvious reasons their connection is on a downhill slide at the moment till late January 2021; with an additionally explosive jolt late December to early February 2021.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Administration chart, 12 May 2016 9.35am always hinted at a muddled term ahead with an over-hopeful Neptune opposition Jupiter square an accident-prone Mars and Saturn in Sagittarius; plus the crisis-ridden Uranus square Pluto. The first half of November looks testing and high-tension with late December to early February moving through emotional upsets. Pluto moves by Solar Arc to square the Uranus, exact in nine months, which is often a destabilising influence – which is around the time of the next Scottish election in May 2021, when the term finishes anyway. But it could suggest the result might not be quite the foregone conclusion is seemed earlier this year.
Airnb, the vacation rental San Fran company, which has until this year been a runaway success, privately valued at $31 billion, is moving into uncharted territory. With Covid showing no signs of slowing down and air travel becoming less attractive possibly for several years ahead their commission-based business is certain to be less lucrative.
Founded 11 August 2008, it has a Leo Sun opposition Neptune; with a hard-driving Mars in Virgo opposition Uranus square Pluto. That latter T Square is moving into a swampy three years with undermining Neptune transits first conjunct the Uranus in 2021, then in a panicky-failure opposition to Mars in 2022, then on to square the Pluto undercutting its power base. 2021 looks additionally disaster-strewn from April onwards with the Mars/Pluto midpoint getting elbowed by tr Saturn and tr Uranus; plus a jolting Solar Arc Saturn opposition the Uranus. There’s perhaps a momentary lift in 2023 but then a car-crash setback in 2025. Not looking great.
Two of the founders were born within days of each other. Brian Chesky, 29 August 1981, is a New Moon Virgo with the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Libra and a ruthless, uber-determined Mars square Pluto. He’s looking shell-shocked at the moment with upheavals and disruptions in 2021 and a mountainous uphill struggle by 2022/23 with the trapped and enraged tr Pluto opposition his Mars.
Joe Gubbia, 21 August 1981 is a Sun Leo trine Neptune, sextile Pluto and square Uranus with Jupiter Saturn together in Libra and another do-or-die-determined Mars square Pluto. He’s aggravated now, facing obstacles in 2021 and seriously jangled by 2023.
They may have to put their clearly inventive thinking caps on and dream up a new project for a new age.
Louise Gluck, the American poet, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature to add to her Pulitzer, various other awards and her former Poet Laureate status. Regarded as one of the pre-eminent poets of the age, her poems rooted in myth and nature, are “dreamlike, chilly, enigmatic”, “relying on mood, suggestion and atmosphere and scene setting, which settings are usually dark”. In her first collection — “Firstborn” – there is a tortured array of thwarted lovers, widows, cripples and angst-ridden families. Even the robins are woebegone. Her widely anthologized “The Drowned Children” is alarmingly matter of fact. And the poems written after the death of her father were described as “brutal and sorrow-filled.”
Born 22 April 1943 in New York (no birth time sadly) she became anorexic in her late teens, an effort she said to become independent from her mother and connected to the death of an elder sister before her birth and the illness dominated her twenties. She described her decision to forgo higher education in favour of therapy as necessary: “…my emotional condition, my extreme rigidity of behaviour and frantic dependence on ritual made other forms of education impossible”. She was also obsessed with death.
She married twice but neither lasted.
She is a Sun Taurus square Pluto with her Sun quincunx Neptune; with a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars in Pisces with her Mars square Saturn, Venus, Uranus. That is a truly tricky mix. With a battened-down, over-controlled Sun and surges of anger and assertiveness from a stressed and volatile Mars. The nature connection would come from her Sun and Mercury in Taurus – the darkness and obsession with death from an afflicted Pluto tied into Mars and Saturn. Luckily Neptune is there to soak up the angst and channel it in creative directions.
Her Moon is either late Scorpio or early Sagittarius and may be square her Mars and opposition her Uranus and maybe Saturn – emotionally overwrought and agitated.
She doesn’t look overly enchanted exactly now with a high-stress set of transits to midpoints into early 2021. But in general she’s in an upbeat phase with tr Uranus conjunct her lucky Mars/Jupiter midpoint across probably this summer/autumn and repeating next spring; when she picks up a super-confident and successful tr Pluto opposition her Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. And she has her Solar Arc Sun moving to conjunct her Jupiter probably in 2021 as well which will bring her good fortune and acclaim. Her Solar Arc Venus is also exactly conjunct her ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo now. So ups and downs with no doubt personal travails from age and general world collapse with rays of sunshine into next year.
“A Village Life”: A later poem:
In the window, the moon is hanging over the earth, meaningless but full of messages. It’s dead, it’s always been dead, but it pretends to be something else, burning like a star, and convincingly, so that you feel sometimes it could actually make something grow on earth.
Another country with Pluto in the 8th which moved towards historic changes as transiting Uranus in Taurus approached and then crossed the Pluto, was India. Unification occurred under Queen Victoria on 1 January 1877 and the long push for independence from colonial rule built up through the 1920s and 30s. Tr Uranus in Aries had moved through the India 7th house of relationships in the 1920s as Gandhi’s protests made an impact. In 1940 when tr Uranus was conjunct the India Pluto the Jinnah-Muslim League in Pakistan demanded a separate homeland for Indian Muslims openly for the first time. This was in opposition to Gandhi’s aim of an India based on religious pluralism.
Independence which became a three-way split – away from Britain and old India split into two – didn’t happen until 1947 but the winds of change had been exerting pressure steadily.
Old India no longer exists so the return of tr Uranus in Taurus to the 1877 chart over the years in 2023/24 may not have much direct effect. Though the 1947 India independence chart does have tr Uranus squaring the Mercury, Pluto, Saturn, Venus and Sun from this year right through till 2023 so it will be a bumpy ride, probably economically in 2021 with tr Saturn in square to tr Uranus and opposition Saturn Pluto Venus.
If Germany were to follow suit, it would be split from the EU towards the late 2020s and split internally as well. Though nothing ever happens exactly the same.
Virtuoso guitarist Eddie Van Halen, whose squealing, pealing guitar sound almost single-handedly recharged and reshaped heavy metal in the late 1970s has died. He was renowned for the remarkable rapidity of his playing, complex harmonics and innovative fingerings which led to his standing comparison with Jimi Hendrix and helped his band to become one of the bestselling acts in the history of rock.
His rock band was known for their flamboyant stage performances and their orgiastic, drug-taking, rock’n’roll wild men image.
Born 26 January 1955 1.05am Amsterdam, Netherlands to a musician father who played saxophone and clarinet, he started with his brother on classical piano at six. He died of throat cancer after a number of health worries in recent years including diverticulitis, tongue cancer and a hip replacement. He struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse and had started smoking aged 12. Not a healthy lifestyle.
He had a Sun Aquarius near his IC sextile a high-energy Mars in Aries in his 6th. He also had a complex mix of lucky and tough influences. His influential, controlling 10th house Pluto opposed an Aquarius Moon and Mercury squaring Saturn in Scorpio exactly conjunct Black Moon), giving him a life of some hardship and depression despite his success – some of it self-destructive since he was obstinate to the nth degree. He also had a fortunate, adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Cancer trine Saturn and in a can-be fanatical square to musical Neptune on his Ascendant. His Neptune was also trine his Moon Mercury.
A crazy, chaotic life. But talented in his way – with a notable creative 5th harmonic, a leaving-a-legacy 17H; and a heavily aspected though stressed superstar 22H.
Following on from the Germany post below – seismic changes ahead.
Tapping into ‘archaic energy’, rooted in the far distant past always involves a perilous journey into the depths of the 8th house, going way beyond the boundaries of the conscious mind. What the Germany country chart and Hitler’s shared was Pluto in the 8th. Amongst its many meanings is an interest in the occult and a temptation to use magic forces selfishly to dominate others. Pluto is about power and in the 8th uses unseen methods (magic amongst others) to gain control and to manipulate, sometimes over financial matters. It need not be as overt as it was with Hitler, since it can operate unconsciously.
In Hitler’s case it was especially strong since his Pluto was conjunct Neptune which added a megalomaniac strand to his ambitions and doubled up his leaning towards the supernatural. He is known to have been fascinated by magic and occult practices (even stripping out the fabricated nonsense written about him). A favourite book of his on magic by Ernst Schertel was underlined by him – “He who does not have the demonic seed within himself will never give birth to a magical world”. And his mentor Dietrich Eckhart claims to have been the one calling the tune. “We have given him the ‘means of communication’ with Them. I shall have influenced history more than any other German.”
Hitler was empowering himself through the 1930s as tr Uranus moved across the conjunction to the Germany Pluto stirring up deeply buried archetypal energies (see previous post 5 October 2020) which repeats in 2022. In an individual chart, 8th house planets connect directly into the ancestral line in a way that others who don’t share this placing lack. It’s a blessing and a curse. Being deeply unconscious, 8th house planets can attract circumstances seemingly out of the native’s control and lead to a life filled with more drama than most.
What makes Germany perhaps more susceptible than other countries to being caught up in fantastical or mythic beliefs is Uranus square Neptune in the 10th/7th houses. This tends to bring emotional and psychic confusion, a highly-strung temperament and fixed opinions which are impervious to rational argument. So extremism, fanaticism, rigid and unreasonable attitudes. When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 tr Uranus in Aries was conjunct the Germany Neptune and moving to square the Uranus.
Carl Jung believed that the mythic figure of Wotan or Odin was personified in Hitler who carried/lived out unconscious “psychic forces” that moved through the German people. Hitler’s 7th house Venus Mars in Taurus was conjunct the Germany Uranus so he was tied into the German psyche at a subterranean level.
Of Wotan Jung said: “He is the god of storm and frenzy, the unleasher of passions and the lust of battle; moreover he is a superlative magician and artist in illusion who is versed in all secrets of an occult nature.” The storm, passion, frenzy and lust are redolent of Dionysius the nature god of death and rebirth and sexuality – which equates well with Pluto. Though the magician/artist in illusion has overtones of Hermes, Mercury and Uranus, the trickster gods.
The Magician has a gift for miracle and deception and is a “maze of contradictions”, an incorporation of many disparate elements (as portrayed in the Tarot figure). He has the magic sun power as well as Medusa’s snaky locks – an ability to remain ambiguous and carry the polar opposites. To be and not be at the same time.
Fascism lives out the death and rebirth myth, centred on the ego of the god-like leader, who destroys the past (Mao?) to create a new order entirely to his command and credit. So is destructive and creative. Inherent in fascism is absolute obedience amongst the followers – “He who does not think as the group does is excluded, harassed, killed or declared insane.” (Chasseguet-Smirgel.) And London analyst Christopher Bollas says of the fascist state of mind that it “entertains no doubt or uncertainty”. The modus operandi is a process of denigration, character assassination, caricaturing, all of which distorts the views of opponents to render them less intelligible and credible. They have to be discredited because no separation of view is possible from the accepted one. Sound familiar?
All of the above sound very Plutonic.
Sakoian & Acker connect the Saturn Pluto conjunction to the magician, with its ability to channel occult powers through structured systems. The power urge of Pluto plus the status urge of Saturn.
The other facet of the magician is revelation which links back to Uranus and Mercury.
There will be no one astrological signature for an archetype as complex as the magician.
Winston Churchill also had Pluto in the 8th opposition Mercury and square Uranus; with Neptune on the cusp of the 8th – so he also had the power to wield unseen power and sway the masses. Not that there’s any suggestion he practised occult powers – often 8th house abilities are unconscious. Movie superstars who fairly often have Pluto or Neptune in the 8th are unaware of why they have an uncanny ability to project an aura that rings a chord with millions of fans.
It remains to be seen what will stir in the German psyche – and part of the tr Uranus effect will be financial. As it will be for the UK and EU since it is moving through their financial 8th houses respectively at the same time. When the UK 8th house Mars is triggered as it will be in 2021 it often coincides with destructive accidents – ferry sinkings, train crashes etc if past experience is anything to go by. What will uncoil from deep within the national psyche remains to be seen. But worth watching out for.
A “cruel and incompetent” administration guilty of “institutional obstinacy” is the conclusion about the UK Post Office fiasco which saw almost 3000 employees and hundreds of postmasters mistakenly blamed for losses and bankrupted, sacked or jailed. In reality the financial discrepancies were due to a faulty IT system. To date £58 million has been paid out in compensation for false prosecutions with the judge remarking that the evidence he heard from the Post Office side were akin to ‘flat earth’ assertions.
The CEO at the time Paula Vennells, who pushed for prosecutions over the alleged shortfalls, has since been awarded a CBE, resigned form the Post Office and been appointed chairperson of a healthcare trust and a non-executive board member of the Cabinet Office. She is also an Anglican priest.
And she has a chart and a half!
Born 21 February 1959, she has a Pisces Sun opposition Pluto square Jupiter in Sagittarius opposition Mars in Gemini – that’s Boris on steroids. Sun Pluto = controlling, not good at backing down and admitting mistakes. Mars Pluto = uber-determined, ruthless. Mars Jupiter = opportunistic. Jupiter Pluto = pushily confident. All in Mutable signs – scattergun, a whirlwind in a storm.
Her Mars in Gemini is further highlighted/afflicted by being on the focal point of a Yod to Saturn sextile Neptune – has problems modulating anger and assertiveness, too much or too little leading to self-defeating behaviour. Bil Tierney remarks: “A mismanaged yod with Mars as an apex planet, can result in fateful consequences of a crucial nature due to rash or disruptive actions on the individual’s part.”
Her future happily enough looks panicked, undermined and a swamp for several years ahead.
It’s not often I feel sympathy for militant, paranoid anti-government arguments. But in this case I’ll make an exception. There were suicides and some have died before this got sorted. And it shouldn’t just be Vennells that takes the rap. All the decision makers inside the Post Office should be named and shamed.
But really – rising from failure to failure. Shades of Dido Harding, another Boris luvvie.
