The Sun moves into Libra today, the third Cardinal Ingress of the year, regarded by some traditional astrologers as the key ingress of the year.

  How useful they are for guidance is disputed but for ingress fans here are three different locations to check out as events unfold.

  Set for Delhi, India the Libra Sun is at the midheaven, giving India prominence although the Sun opposes Neptune conjunct the IC, hinting that domestic issues may undermine their glittering moment. An ambitious 10^th house Mars is sextile an 8^th house Venus and inconjunct Jupiter so there will be no shortage of confidence or financial ambition. Pluto in the 2^nd hints at a driving need to stay in control of money matters.

  Set for Washington, DC, it puts the Libra Sun in the communicative 3^rd opposition a 9^th house Neptune pointing to confusion in international affairs. Jupiter and Uranus in the 10^th look successful with changes being pushed through. Arguments are likely with a 3^rd house Mars and some financial restraints with an 8^th house Saturn.

 Set for London, UK, a hidden 12^th house Sun and a mutinous 4^th house Pluto suggest that anchors will continue to drag despite a pro-active and noisy 1^st house Mars.  And 8^th house Jupiter Uranus could suggest better financial news and positive changes.

  But as I say hit and miss results from Ingress charts.  Eclipse charts are more descriptive usually – to follow in coming days.  

Rupert Murdoch has resigned and allegedly retired (though maybe not from backseat driving) to hand over Fox and News Corp to his son, Lachlan, a ruthless promoter of the right-wing zealots who made Fox a consummate money-spinner until recently. Lachlan takes over with defamation lawsuits over reporting of Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories likely costing Fox toe-curling amounts of money. One is a damages claim pending for $2.7bn and the whole imbroglio has left Fox’s reputation severely dented.

  Onlookers are uncertain whether he can hold the empire together. Murdoch senior structured the ownership of his companies in a four-way split amongst his children so sibling rivalry could bring down the edifice at some point. ‘Lachlan is Right-wing, while James and Elisabeth are more liberal. James wants to hold onto Fox News and turn it into a centrist “force for good”, while Elisabeth wants to sell it.’ All three might sell off the Times and Sunday Times and The Sun which don’t appear to interest them.

Lachlan, 8 September 1971 9pm (rectified) London is not a chip of the old titanium-spined block having a Virgo Sun and Venus with a nervy and overly-hopeful Saturn opposition Neptune Jupiter conjunction. He has an ideologically-fixed Air Grand Trine of Mars in ornery Aquarius conjunct North Node trine Saturn trine Uranus, formed into a Kite by Saturn opposition Neptune Jupiter making Neptune Jupiter the driving planets. Jup Nep as well as being wildly optimistic can also be scandal-prone due to the bearer’s instability. He also has a fixed Taurus Moon.

  This October’s Lunar Eclipse will catch his Moon, creating a crisis or two, and next October the Solar Eclipse in Libra will rattle up his Uranus. Not a smooth run in, for sure.

  Fox News, 7 October 1996, is in turmoil with tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus in 2023/24 and the October 2024 Solar Eclipse hitting its Libra Sun exactly which will bring a fork in its road ahead.

  News Corp, 5 October 1979, amongst whose assets are the Dow Jones & Company (publisher of The Wall Street Journal), News UK (publisher of The Sun and The Times), News Corp Australia, and book publisher HarperCollins, will run into serious setbacks almost immediately with SA Mars conjunct the Saturn within a few months and SA Saturn square the Mars in 2025. Both Solar Eclipses in 2024 will catch the News Corp Libra Sun, Pluto, Venus for upsets, financial and otherwise, and forced changes.

  The fall out between the squabbling siblings will be a spectacle in itself. See previous post 14 April 2023. James and Lachlan are at daggers drawn at the best of times with a composite Mars square Pluto in their composite chart – this year looks unsettled but 2025/26 will be when the real tug of war sets in.

  Ditto Elisabeth who has a bad tempered Mars Saturn conjunction in her relationship chart with Lachlan and nothing looks settled on that front for several years ahead.  Mind you her relationship with brother James, if anything, is worse and that is moving into a hostile swamp for two or three years ahead.

  Families. Not a good business mix.

Also see previous posts – 24 February 2023 and 11 December 2022.

A tangled web of claims and counter-claims has erupted in a surprising diplomatic clash between Canada and India over the murder in British Columbia in June of a Sikh separatist leader, wanted as a terrorist in India. Justin Trudeau has pointed a finger at Narendra Modi’s government as being behind the assassination.

  Canada’s support for Sikh secessionists – who want a homeland in the disputed Punjab region which was cut in half during the bodged partition of 1947 – goes back to Pierre Trudeau who refused to hand over a Sikh militant to India, who then went on  to be responsible for the Air India bomb on 23 June 1985 which killed 329 people.

 Canada is home to the largest Sikh population outside India, with about 770,000 people. Open incitement to violence against Indians has flourished in recent years with extremists, parading floats celebrating the assassination of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was killed by Sikh extremists. Trudeau says he respects freedom of expression and other constitutional rights and the rule of law.

  Given that India is Canada’s 10th-biggest trading partner in 2022 and growing;  and Canada’s top source of migrants practical politics will take over at some point.

  What is of interest is that the Canada/India relationship chart while superficially friendly at one level is also deeply suspicious and aggravated. When the 1985 Air India bomb exploded tr Pluto in early Scorpio was square the composite Mars. And that will repeat in 2024/2025 with tr Pluto in Aquarius opposition the Mars – with, as before, a high-tension run up as tr Pluto opposes the composite Sun this year. Relations won’t get back to anything resembling equanimity until 2026 – and will worsen before that happens.

Add On: With more emerging about Sikh supporters of the separatist movement abroad being targeted, it will put Western countries in a bind. India is becoming one of America’s most important foreign partners as a bulwark against China, with a raft of new deals on defence, high-tech manufacturing, artificial intelligence. The UK also is in advanced stages of negotiating one of its biggest post-Brexit free trade agreements with New Delhi. France is now India’s second-largest arms supplier and India is a member of the Quad strategic security initiative, which also includes Australia, the US, and Japan.

  If there is evidence of Delhi-backed assassinations abroad, there will be diplomatic and commercial challenges ahead.

  The USA/India relationship chart is faltering through this October to mid November and again in early 2024 with a disappointing tr Neptune square the composite Mars. And under immense pressure from this year through till 2026 with tr Pluto trine the composite Neptune and opposition the Mercury Sun and then square Pluto. There may well be a reset in relations but perhaps not the one that was first mooted.

  The UK relationship chart with India is confused through late this year with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune and then undergoing a total turnaround under pressure with tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2023/24.  Australia ditto.

  Change was always expected of the positive variety but this looks more aggravated.  The India chart always hinted that financial worries would mount with tr Neptune square the 2^nd house Uranus Mars this year and worsening in 2025/26.

A diplomatic minefield.

Folk singer Roger Whittaker, best known for his baritone singing voice, trademark whistling ability and guitar skills, has died. His popular numbers were Durham Town, I Don’t Believe in If Anymore, New World in the Morning and The Last Farewell. He had his greatest successes and fan base latterly in Germany.

 He was born in Nairobi, Kenya on 22 March 1936 at 7.45 am and initially studied medicine, trained as a teacher and completed his National Service in the Kenya Regiment which he said sorted him out. He married in 1964 and had five children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

  He had a 12^th house Aries Sun with Mars in Aries conjunct his Ascendant from the 12^th and a rebellious and unconventional Uranus conjunct from the 1^st. The creative Neptune in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces of the mid 1930s falls across his performing 5^th and 11^th houses, with his Saturn conjunct Mercury and a Pisces Moon squaring onto an amiable, optimistic, laid-back Jupiter in Sagittarius in his much travelled 9^th house.  His Sun/Moon midpoint which is his marriage significator was exactly square his Jupiter which would make for a contented relationship and shared happiness.

  His Mars was square a 4^th house Pluto hinting at tensions in his childhood and a reservoir of anger which he said the army sorted out. In 1989, his parents still living in Kenya, were subjected to a brutal attack by a robbery gang in which his mother was tortured and his father was murdered. He  said of the incident: “It will affect me for the rest of my life, but I believe we should all live without hate if we can”.

Will the unthinkable happen and Trump get re-elected? Not only are sensible Americans agitated at the prospect so are the reasonables of the rest of the world. Only the dictators elsewhere are adjusting their plans in the hope of a fellow-traveller back in the White House. Putin may drag out the Ukraine campaign for that reason.

 This is not a detailed look at election fortunes since previous posts have covered Trump and Biden ad nauseam and will no doubt be reprised in future.

  But there are two factors of Astro-note. One of which is the Republican Convention on 15 July 2024 which looks fraught in the extreme with a Sun trine Saturn Neptune in Pisces sextile an exact, explosive Mars Uranus conjunction in Taurus  – edgy, uncertain with a clash of no-compromise attitudes.  Trump also has tr Uranus exactly square his Mars in Leo then – which can be a shock to self-esteem and tends to provoke an extreme reaction. In some older types it can also be health related (heart) but he seems to be immune to the vagaries that affect normal people.

  Exactly then on the USA chart the Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct the Mars to within a minute of a degree which usually accompanies a setback of considerable proportions. The Solar Arc Saturn then moves on to square the USA Neptune for high-anxiety and uncertainty in 2025.

  Also exactly in July 2024 Trump’s relationship chart with the USA has the composite Jupiter at 26 Leo which tr Uranus will be square – which is impossible to say which way it will go. Great relief that he is out of the running – or a lucky break for him.

  I fear the dread will continue on right through 2024 until and unless the GOP regain their sanity. But that may not happen. Not fun for worried Americans and global onlookers, but the astrology will be worth watching.

  William Hague in The Times yesterday;

“For British people, it is unthinkable that anyone indicted in relation to fraud, conspiracy, taking classified documents, paying hush money and attempting to overturn a legitimate election could ever be a serious candidate again. But to Americans — living in two separate worlds of their own newsfeeds, bitterly divided by race, wokeness, abortion and many other issues, using a system of primary elections in which name recognition is a huge advantage — it has become thinkable. Indeed, it is on the verge of becoming probable.”

Coco Chanel who initiated a revolutionary shift in women’s fashion away from the tyranny of the corset to become a leading light in couture, perfume and accessories had an extraordinary if not altogether edifying life. She rose from extreme poverty, slept with wealthy men who bankrolled her start in business, slid through the beds of British nobility which allowed her to duck out of accusations of spying for the Germans during World War 11 which earned her the protection of Churchill concerned she might expose the pro-nazi sympathies of Royals and others. She was according to French intelligence a ‘vicious anti-semite’ and a regular morphine user.   Though there is some documentation suggesting she might have also worked with the French Resistance.

  She was born 19 August 1883 4pm in Saumur in a poor house hospice with a laundrywoman mother and an itinerant street vendor father. Her mother died when she was 11 and she was sent to a convent orphanage where she learned to sew.

   She had a secretive 8^th house flamboyant Sun Venus in Leo square a creative 5^th house Neptune and also square Pluto in the attention-demanding 5^th. She had Mars in Gemini conjunct her Descendant so would attract fiery partners. She was the mistress of some of the most influential men of her time, including the Duke of Westminster, but never married.

  Her sensitive, self-protective Pisces Moon opposed Mercury and squared a hard-working Saturn in her 6^th house of work so she would be emotionally battened down. Her Sun/Moon midpoint was exactly conjunct her Chiron and close to both Pluto and Saturn – so a bleak relationship life despite the money and the luxury – or maybe one in which she was a habitual user of the men she attracted. Her Jupiter in the 7^th nearing the cusp of her 8^th would give her an ability to charm men of high standing and wealth.

  Her Uranus trine Neptune like her two 5^th house planets was creative, giving her ‘eureka’ moments of inspiration.  

  Her Scorpio North Node in the 10^th would push her on to succeed and acquire possessions but they would not offer satisfaction unless she was able to let go what she had built up and move away from the past which would have been painful and clearly did not happen. She evidently became tyrannical and lonely towards the end of her life.

 Her creative 5^th harmonic, breakthrough 13H; leaving-a-legacy 17h and global-fame 22^nd harmonic were all strong.

  All credit to her for having pulled herself up from unlikely beginnings but not, I fear, a pleasant woman.

Add ON: The other rags to riches French story was Edith Piaf, though she seemed a nicer sort. Like Chanel she had a strong get-it-together 5^th harmonic and an even stronger global-superstar 22^nd. Both harmonics with a strongly marked Venus.

 Coco Chanel’s 5^th and 22^nd both had an afflicted Mars – the 5H tied into Saturn Neptune which is fairly perverse. In the 22^nd a yod of Mars inconjunct Pluto sextile Jupiter – ruthlessly ambitious.

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Australia’s showbusiness power-couple Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have announced a surprise separation in their 27 year marriage after years of proclaiming eternal bliss. They met in 1995 on the set of the Australian TV series Corelli, with Deb, already an established actress, and Hugh, then an actor fresh out of drama school and married less than a year later. They have two adopted children.

 He was born 12 October 1968 and she 30 November 1955, both in Australia neither with birth times.

  He is an amiable though downbeat and hard-working Libra Sun opposition Saturn in Aries, while she is a confident, upbeat and independent-minded Sun Sagittarius trine square Jupiter with an ultra-determined Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto.

  Various matters of Astro-interest. Both have a pushily confident Jupiter Pluto conjunction which then reappears in their relationship chart – classic for a power couple. Togetherness they exude self-assurance and success.  Both have a Gemini Moon and both have Jupiter in Virgo – so have certain similar traits and will understand where the other is coming from.

  Less helpful is her Saturn conjunct his dreamy Venus Neptune conjunction in Scorpio – she will bring him down to earth and will be the stronger of the pair. Her Mars Neptune is conjunct his Mercury so there will be at times an argumentative mood.

  Like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell their relationship chart has a ‘finger of destiny’ yod in their case from a  composite Sun Neptune sextile Jupiter Pluto inconjunct Saturn.  Sun Neptune does suggest a relationship designed for a creative business but can suggest lack of commitment at some level, wanting perfection and feeling the reality doesn’t match up.  Jupiter Pluto works well while there is togetherness, less well when they start to follow individual agendas. The yod would make their relationship feel ‘meant’ though would involve hard work and take maturity for it to hold together.

  She has tr Pluto square her Mars in Scorpio this year and next as well as tr Saturn square her Sun, Mercury and opposition her Jupiter so not entirely contented. He’s been through tough times recently with tr Pluto and Uranus rattling up his Sun opposition Saturn – with several surgeries for skin cancer. His North Node in Aries which is being triggered by the Solar Eclipses through into 2025 hints that independence and even a time in isolation is what he needs for spiritual development.

Russell Brand, the anti-establishment comedian and hugely successful alt-right podcaster with a troubled past has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse. All of which he firmly denies and is being supported by Andrew Tate and Elon Musk.

  He was born 4 June 1975 12.01 am Basildon, England, with his parents separating when he was six and his mother becoming seriously ill with cancer when he was eight. In his teens he struggled with bulimia and started taking drugs. He has been open about his fraught relationship with his father whom he claims took him to visit a prostitute during a trip to Thailand. His autobiography My Booky Wook, details his drug abuse, promiscuity and sex addiction. His comedy career moved from the fringes to mainstream until he disgraced himself leaving lewd messages for Andrew Sachs which got him suspended from the BBC.

  He featured on a Royal Variety Show, later moved to Hollywood and is now an online influencer, wellness guru and conspiracy theorist, with six million subscribers. He shares Covid-19 misinformation, anti-vaccine talking points and pro-Russian conspiracies in relation to Ukraine.

  What is intriguing is he was born on the same day as Angelina Jolie, who had a similarly turbulent childhood with drug issues.

  Like her, Brand has a Gemini Sun with an Aries Moon conjunct Mars and opposition Pluto – which suggests an underground reservoir of volcanic anger. His Sun is trine an 8^th house Pluto and opposition a 10^th house shapeshifting Neptune, making him mega-ambitious and giving him the potential to exert unseen influence. His Saturn in the hard-working 6^th is square his Jupiter, with his Jupiter conjunct Mars – so he’s a curious mix of exuberantly confident and downbeat. He’ll be very up and down in mood, swinging from highs to lows. His Venus in Cancer square Uranus which will make his feelings changeable. 

  At the moment tr Pluto is exactly square his Uranus and opposition his Solar Arc Sun for a hugely disruptive event. And tr Pluto is also exactly conjunct his Capricorn Ascendant hinting at Pluto’s destructive powers being brought to bear on his image. His Progressed Moon is also exactly conjunct his SA Midheaven and both are exactly opposition his Saturn for a discouraging setback of considerable proportions. [12.07 am looks remarkably spot on for a birth time.]

  The recent April Solar Eclipse at 30 Aries was opposition his Uranus and the two 2024 Solar Eclipses will rattle his Jupiter and Mars – the October 2024 one being the most aggravating.

   As ever caution is advised in commenting since the allegations have not gone to court or produced a conviction.  Though I can’t imagine the papers would go to town the way they have without rock solid evidence.

Ukraine has launched the biggest attack of the war on the home of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet in the Crimean city of Sevastopol damaging two Russian naval ships beyond repair. “The demilitarisation of the Russian Black Sea fleet is a real long-term guarantee of security for regional trade routes and the ‘grain corridor’” said a Ukrainian adviser. Putin recently said he would not renew a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea until the west met Moscow’s demands concerning its own agricultural exports. Another key objective is to weaken Russian logistical supplies for their defence lines in the south. Re-taking Crimea may also be a hope down the line but with Russia having turned Crimea into a fortress that prospect may be a long way off – unless Putin or a successor gives up and withdraws.

   The Crimea Invasion started on 20 February 2014 with an Annexation Declaration on 18 March 2014.

  One line of argument might be that the Ukraine Invasion which kicked off on 23 February 2022 spelled the eventual death knell for the Russia Crimea snatch. The 2022 Pluto in Capricorn in place over the Ukraine Invasion was square the earlier Crimea Invasion Mars.  The two Crimea grab charts from 2014 also have Saturn in Scorpio at 23 degrees which is being severely rattled at the moment by tr Uranus in opposition, running into early 2024. The Annexation chart also has an undermining tr Neptune conjunct the Sun now so it may not hold long term. Though any collapse of the Russian stranglehold may not be immediate – with 2026 looking like a possibility.

  The Ukraine chart, 24 August 1991 2.31pm Kiev, has the edgy, uncertain, debilitating tr Neptune opposition Mars on and off until mid February 2024. There is Pluto conjunct the Saturn through 2024/25 which will be a hard slog with deprivation. Though there will be higher hopes and a stroke of luck from June 2024 onwards as tr Uranus squares the Jupiter, boosting national morale into early 2025.

  Zelensky’s Swearing In chart, 20 May 2019 will face its/his greatest challenging in 2025 with tr Uranus conjunct the Sun and tr Neptune square the Mars as well as tr Saturn square the Jupiter.  Though he will be beyond exhausted and that may coincide with a Winston Churchill type departure to recharge his batteries.  His personal chart, 25 January 1978, looks frustrated and blocked in 2023/24 with tr Pluto opposition the Mars with more challenges in the two years thereafter with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun Venus. But his destiny and Ukraine’s may not always be so intertwined.

Footnote: Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen warlord and Putin ally, is according to reports critically ill. If he goes Putin’s position gets even draughtier with Prigozhin gone as well.  If his birthdate is sound, 5 October 1976, his Mars in late Libra has been taking a fair pounding from tr Pluto in square and Solar Arc Neptune in square last year. So it may well be true.

  For Putin see previous posts 24 August 2023, 12 April 2023.

 Add On: The Crimean War starting in 1853 pitted the Russian Empire (who lost) against the UK, France and the Ottoman Empire. It marked a turning point for the Russian Empire, weakening the Russian Army, draining the treasury and undermined Russia’s influence in Europe. ‘The empire would take decades to recover. Russia’s humiliation forced its educated elites to identify its problems and to recognise the need for fundamental reforms. They saw rapid modernisation as the sole way to recover the empire’s status as a European power. The war thus became a catalyst for reforms of Russia’s social institutions, including the abolition of serfdom and overhauls in the justice system, local self-government, education and military service.’

  When The Crimea War finished in 1856, Pluto was in early Taurus and Uranus in mid Taurus with Jupiter Neptune in Pisces square Saturn in Gemini. The chart I have for old Russia, 28 March 1462 did have key nodal influences. The transiting South Node in Libra was exactly conjunct the Russia Neptune as it ended. There is similar at the moment with the Solar Eclipses this October and next April being in Libra/Aries and triggering the Russia Neptune.  In 1856 tr Saturn was also conjunct the Russia North Node in Gemini. Again a slight similarity at the moment with tr Neptune square the Russia North Node.