Josephine Baker, the American Folie Bergere dancer, who started life as a street kid in segregated Missouri and went on to become a World War II spy for France and resistance fighter; as well, later, as a civil rights activist in the USA, is being given an honoured spot in the Pantheon, a monument to national heroes. She is the first black woman to receive the honour and will lie alongside  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo and scientists Pierre and Marie Curie.

  Born 3 June 1906 St Louis, Missouri, 11 am (biography?) she never knew her father, started work at 8 as a live-in domestic for white families where she was abused and eventually ran away to marry twice in her teens, at 13 and 15, before moving to Paris. There she became an icon of the city’s Jazz Age in the Roaring Twenties (Neptune in Leo), accentuating many African stereotypes of the colonial time in a banana skirt and little else. She became a French citizen after her marriage in 1937 to Jewish industrialist Jean Lion, who suffered from anti-Semitic laws; and at the outbreak of war offered her services to French counter-intelligence services and De Gaulle, working as an informant.  

  After the war, she became involved in USA anti-racist politics, fought against segregation during a 1951 performance tour of the US, causing her to be targeted by the FBI, labelled a communist and banned from her homeland for a decade. She spoke at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Baker adopted 12 children from all over the world as part of a “Rainbow tribe”, living in a castle in the southwest of France.

  What a life.

  She had five planets in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces – her Sun, Mercury and upbeat Jupiter with her Jupiter conjunct a formidably courageous and attracted-to-danger Mars Pluto conjunction. The Saturn square would give her problems early on with low self-esteem and setbacks but would also instill a work ethic. She emerged from a brutal childhood to become her own woman.

  She also had a creative and idealistic Venus Neptune in Cancer in the signature opposition to Uranus of the time. Significantly she also had a ‘leadership; North Node in Leo so was never destined to spend a life like her mother in poverty.

  While I am not entirely convinced by the birth time since it doesn’t show France as a key location for her, it would put tr Pluto going through her 12^th during WW11 which would make sense. And even without an accurate birth time, her Solar Arc Neptune Venus opposition Uranus were crossing her leadership Leo North Node in the hidden 12^th then which would also fit.

  Her creative 5^th and especially her musical 7^th Harmonic charts were well aspected. But it was her victim/healer 12^th which is outstandingly strong, linking the Sun and Moon to a revolutionary Uranus Pluto and confident/lucky Jupiter.

  The kind of person who should make all of us shut up and stop complaining about our tough lives and making excuses.

The stranger-than-fiction and horrifying tale of how a rape that produced a best-selling book also led to an innocent man having his life ruined has finally been told. Student Alice Sebold was raped in 1981, thought she saw her rapist months later but didn’t identify him at a lineup. The prosecutor then coached her into saying she had got it wrong and rehabilitated her misidentification and a guilty conviction was cemented on the basis of a faulty analysis of a piece of hair. Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years inside, was denied parole five times because he wouldn’t admit to a crime he didn’t commit and passed two lie detector tests. He was released in 1999 the year Sebold wrote her  memoir ‘Lucky’ which sold one million copies. She went on to write the Lovely Bones, another best seller which became a film and a stage play.

  Even once released he had no life since he was on the sex offenders register, and although married decided not to have children because of the stigma.

 He was exonerated this week in court because of the efforts of a film producer, working on a Netflix adaptation of the book, who became suspicious of the facts presented and investigated further after he parted company from the project.

  What is striking about the crossover between Alice Sebold, 6 September 1963, and Anthony Broadwater, 16 November 1960, are the Nodes. Her Virgo Sun Pluto Venus is conjunct his North Node.  And his Mars is conjunct her Cancer North Node with his Saturn conjunct her South Node.

   They had never met before and indeed may never meet in future since she seems to have gone to ground as the demand for a public apology grows. But they were bound together by a strange and perverse fate.

  He has a Mars opposition Saturn perhaps square a Libra Moon – which does suggest a harsh experience of life. His Scorpio Sun square Uranus was being triggered by tr Mars square tr Uranus in the year when his life fell to bits.  

  Their relationship chart has a composite Mars Pluto Uranus conjunction sextile Venus Neptune which certainly suggests a destructive interface with deceptive Neptunian overtones.

   Sebold has a scattered Virgo Sun conjunct Venus, Pluto and Uranus; with a lucky and adventurous Jupiter in Aries opposition Mars with Mars in a hard-edged trine to Saturn. She’s looking very hemmed in and trapped through 2022 as she has been in 2021 as the legal process got under way with more panics in 2022 – and the next several years look exceptionally uncertain, stressed and nervy so the fall out may weigh heavily on her.

No judicial system is without its flaws but the USA record is shameful in terms of wrongful convictions especially involving black defendants.

Cancerian Prince William took the full brunt of the recent Taurus Algol Lunar Eclipse sitting on top of his Venus in Taurus. He has gone to war on the BBC, fully supported by the other senior Royals, to object to Amol Rajan’s two part documentary on The Princes and the Press. Part One last week gave air time to the Sussexes’ lawyer and hagiographer Omar Scobie but did not give equal access to the other side of the story. As a result Prince William and Kate took their live carol concert away from the BBC and gave it to ITV instead.

  An Eclipse on Venus is emotionally upsetting and can accompany a painful crisis. He’ll get a rerun from next May with the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse doing similar. Royal feelings are still raw after the recent Martin Bashir climbdown over the Diana Panorama interview.

   Amol Rajan, the BBC’s ubiquitous new hot talent, a Republican by inclination from past twitter form, was born 4 July 1983 and is a resourceful and excitable Sun, Mercury, Mars in Cancer with a tough-minded and persevering Saturn Pluto in Libra and an adventurous, lucky Jupiter Uranus in Sagittarius.

  He was always going to have a provocative not to say incendiary effect on William.  Rajan’s Mars in conjunct Will’s Cancer Sun Moon and Will’s Mars Saturn are square Rajan’s Sun. Cancer and Mars do tend to work on the simplistic rule of thumb – water makes fire boil.

 Rajan’s Sun is also conjunct Will’s North Node, which latter has an undertone of pride; and Will’s Neptune Ascendant are opposition Rajan’s bull-in-a-china-shop Gemini North Node. That and an interwoven relationship chart with a composite Sun North Node, and the composite Mercury tied into Neptune, Mars, Saturn Pluto suggests a ‘fated’ encounter which might have wider ramifications.

  Will’s relationship with the BBC chart has this December’s Sagittarius Solar Eclipse conjunct the composite Mars which is likely to cause further aggravation.

  The fraternal relationship between William and Harry was always due to have a bust up around now with the combative, argumentative composite Sun square Mars catching the tr Uranus square Sun exactly now, with a further bucket of ice water through December/January with the tr Saturn hard aspects to both the Sun and Mars; and more rifts come April 2022 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars.

  Amol Rajan has a raft of uncomfortable, undermining and less than ecstatic transits to midpoints in 2022 with only one stroke of luck, so the fall-out may slow his rapid progress up the BBC ladder. Or not. Since the BBC can be remarkably tin-eared and inclined to dig its heels in hard when criticized, whether justified or not.

See previous post 11 September 2021 Royals rising their legacy with thoughts on the 2036 Eclipse.    

Neptune, planet of spirituality, illusion, delusion, deception, creativity and vision moves out of its own sign Pisces, where it has been since 2011, into Aries in 2025 staying till 2038. Looking back on historical events linked to its stay in upfront and pro-active Aries, not an easy combination, there are some constants but there will be additional cultural or psychological effects which the history books don’t describe. Aries Fire won’t always sit comfortably with Neptune’s Water. Though ‘Neptune in Aries may be about individuals submitting themselves to a bigger cause than themselves. It does seem to coincide, in the Western world at least with an increase in individual rights and was one of advancements for formally disenfranchised people.’

1861 – 1874: Most notably this covered the American Civil War, which arose after the abolition of slavery, which had been banned in Europe decades earlier.

  Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head (ruled by Aries) and died.

In Russia Alexander 11 signed the Emancipation Act liberating serfs in 1861.

The Bahai faith was founded as was the forerunner to the Salvation Army and the Geneva Convention established the Red Cross.

The first UK trade union was legalised in 1872 and in the U.S. the “Knights of Labor” was set up. The U.K. Education Act of 1870 brought in elementary schooling for all children and legislation on child labour. The USA gave voting rights to all ethnicities. The UK Married Women’s Property Act allowed married women to retain their earnings and inherit.

Italy was unified in 1860 and Canada came into being.

Prince Albert dies, Victoria’s consort and the ‘uncrowned king of GB.’

Famines in Finland, Sweden and India – of greater magnitude than usual.

1697 – 1710: The ill-fated Darien Scheme, which lost 20% of Scotland’s money, led to the Act of Union with England in 1707.

The Act of Settlement in 1701 establishing the succession to the English throne, put the childless protestant Queen Anne on the throne, leading on her death to the establishment of the Hanoverian Monarchy in 1714.

Peter 1 Great regenerated Russian society and started expansion westward.

Famines of greater magnitude than usual in Estonia, Sweden and Finland, the last wiping out almost a third of the population. Two million die of famine in India; 250,000 die in East Prussia and 600,000 in France.

1533 to 1547: Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII and the split from Rome establishes the Anglican Church.

Wales becomes part of the Kingdom of England.

Henry declares himself and his heirs as Kings of Ireland, replacing the Lordship of Ireland with the Kingdom of Ireland.

1370 to 1383: In England, the ‘Good Parliament’ attempted to highlight the corruption of the Royal court and to reform the government. John of Gaunt, the effective ruler, replaced it the next year with a ‘Bad Parliament’ which undid the advances.  

1206 to 1219: The English Barons force King John to sign the Magna Carta, in an attempt to curb the power of the monarch.

1042 to 1056: Westminster Abbey built, 1050. East-West schism in Catholic Church.

Edward the Confessor became King of England and restored the Saxon line after the Danes had conquered England under Cnut. As in 1533 England took a break from the European continent though it did not last long.

878 to 892: England has become unified for the first time under Alfred the Great a few years before (871).

551 to 564: ?

PS. Thanks to those who commented last time and added thoughts which I have incorporated.

Andre Barbault writes of the 2026 Saturn Neptune conjunction: “It is the most benefic configuration of the century and the interplanetary partnership will work for the best in a splendid relaunch of civilization. It contains a harmonious relationships between primordial polar opposites, the coming together of the external and internal, rational and spiritual, mind and soul …. human beings surpassing themselves while experiencing life on a higher level. “

  I hope he’s right – previous Neptune Saturn in Aries – 878 AD and 1381.

From Speedy:

551 – 564 This period came after the plague of Justinian (541-549) devastated the Mediterranean area and Western europe weakening the Roman Empire which became susceptible to invasions. The Abbey of Iona was founded in 563, an important focal point for the spread of Christian religion.

878-898 Alfred the Great was at his greatest during this period uniting an English force to beat off the Norse invaders. He also concluded a treaty in 878 which established spheres of influence and the Danelaw north of Watling Street.

1206- 1219 Apart from Magna Carta we had a child king on the throne (Henry III) whose advisers fought off a French invasion. Henry III’s reign was long and peppered with divers tumults and civil disturbances but the King was notable for enhancing Westminster Abbey.

1370- 1383 We have the aftermath of the Great Plague, a child king (Richard II) and a peasants’ revolt.

Stephen Sondheim, the composer and lyricist, who elevated stage musicals to a new level has died aged 91. Over a celebrated 60 year career he co-created Broadway theatre classics such as West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, all of which also became hit movies.

  He was born 22 March 1930 9pm New York, and grew up an isolated neglected child with his parents divorcing when he was 10. He was left with a psychologically abusive mother he detested; and was estranged from her for many years until her death.

 His saving grace was a close childhood friendship with James Hammerstein, son of lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II, who became his surrogate father.  The legacy of his emotionally stunted childhood was a reclusive, solitary adult life. He came out as gay when he was 40 and went on to have a few long lasting relationships.

 He was one  of the resourceful, highly innovative and tough-minded Great Depression Saturn Pluto generation with his Capricorn Moon conjunct his Saturn opposition Pluto and squaring Venus Uranus in Aries – restless, prolific, creative, with a cold, controlling mother. She evidently blamed him for the breakdown of her marriage – Moon Saturn suggests a mother who landed a guilt trip on, and Saturn Pluto is a chained-together relationship seething with resentment on both sides.

 He also had musical Neptune in the 10^th opposition Mars in the 4^th square a lucky Jupiter in the 8^th. So along with his depression went a sense of a life more fortunate than most.

  His creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics are strong are as his global-renown 22^nd H.  

  His mother, Etta “Foxy” Sondheim, 13 March 1898, had her Pisces Sun, Mercury, Venus all in his 5^th house so in some odd way she would be a motivating force in his life despite her cruelty – and his 10^th house Neptune does point to a creative Neptunian mother. But her unstable Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius opposition Pluto (Neptune) in Gemini crashed into his 4th house Mars (argumentative childhood home life) and his 8^th house Jupiter, in a discouraging way.

  Their relationship chart echoes his own with a composite Saturn (Moon) opposition Pluto square composite Sun; with the composite Mars sextile Saturn and trine Pluto.

  So often talent comes along with emotional deprivation.

The astrological crossovers with Oscar Hammerstein who nurtured his creative abilities and saved him from his emotionally damaging childhood are fascinating.

  Hammerstein, 12 July 1895 4.30am New York had his Pluto conjunct Sondheim’s Jupiter and his Sun Jupiter in Cancer conjunct Sondheim’s stressed Pluto. Together they created a success.  Hammerstein’s Midheaven was also conjunct Sondheim’s Sun.

  Fate stepped in to give him the lifeline and jet-propelled boost he needed.

Saturn Neptune conjunctions come round roughly three times a century – in 1989 in Capricorn, in 1953 in Libra and in 1917/18 in Leo. The next one falls in Aries in 2025/26.

  Historically they have been associated with the fight for womens’ and workers’ rights, epidemics, religious events and collapsing empires.

From The Astrological History of the World.

‘Neptune’s compassion for the victim meets Saturn’s ability to organize in a constructive way. If the balance is wrong, however, then Saturn’s authoritarian need to exert order and maintain the status quo can completely crush the Neptunian dream.

   The English Peasants’ Revolt during the Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Aries in 1381, demanding an end to serfdom was suppressed and its leader, Wat Tyler, beheaded. Two conjunctions later, in Virgo, Irish rebel Jack Cade leading the Kent and Essex peasants’ revolt, was also killed. Another two conjunctions further on, in Pisces in 1524, there were extensive peasants’ revolts in Germany.

   By 1845 with Saturn–Neptune in tolerant Aquarius, Engels was writing The Condition of the Working Class in England. Still under the same influence, the Irish potato-crop failure of the following year drew attention to the plight of the starving and the suffering. By the next conjunction in Taurus in 1881, British prime minister William Gladstone had passed the Irish Land Act to prevent excessively high rents, although the outrages of 1882, when 10,500 Irish farming families were evicted, gave every indication that Saturnine rigidity and greed still held sway. In the United States, the American Federation of Labor was founded in Pittsburgh in 1881.

   One conjunction on, in 1917 in Leo, striking Russian workers rose up, and were joined by soldiers to overthrow the last feudal tsardom.

   During the last Saturn–Neptune conjunction of the 20th century, in Capricorn in 1989, Solidarity, the Polish workers’ party, came to power in democratic elections. The fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe freed workers to control their own lives and government. There was also mass rehabilitation of Russian citizens who were victims of Stalin’s brutal purges, Stalin himself having succumbed on the Saturn–Neptune conjunction of 1953. Also in 1989, the Tiananmen Square demonstration in China, staged by students and workers, was brutally suppressed, resulting in 2000 deaths. In Britain just a year later there were the violent Poll Tax Riots, the first serious mass revolt against the government in decades.’

  There’s always a dual nature to this conjunction, more so than most since they are diametrically opposed energies – Neptune dissolves and undermines while Saturn aims to build and maintain boundaries.

  Although Saturn Neptune doesn’t sound rebellious it tends to bring the state and the status quo (Saturn) into conflict with spiritual movements or the underdogs (Neptune). The flower power, hippie movement was very much a Saturn Neptune in Libra phenomenon in the 1950s. 

  The 20^th Century ones aren’t necessarily a good guide since the 1989 one was a triple conjunction with Uranus; and the 1953 had Saturn Neptune square Uranus.

  The 1917/18 Saturn Neptune oversaw the Spanish flu epidemic which wiped out more people in a single year than the Middle Ages black death plague had done.   

  It doesn’t happen in isolation, of course. In 2025 Neptune moves into Aries along with Saturn and Pluto two years earlier has made the shift into into Aquarius and Uranus is poised to move into Gemini – so quite a shift of the outer planets. At one point there will be a Pluto sextile Uranus with Saturn Neptune as the midpoint. At best that could be a reforming movement that leads to a fairer society. Though that’s probably wildly optimistic.

   Saturn in Aries tends to be tough and hard, producing circumstances that require self-reliance; Saturn Pluto is war-like and deprived; Neptune Pluto fosters megalomania. But there’ll be enough good in there to produce positive changes (Saturn Uranus), creative inspiration (Uranus Neptune) and the perseverance to make at least some benefits of new thinking stick.

I hope Andre Barbault is right about this upcoming Neptune Saturn in Aries though it did sound a touch hopeful. I’ll look tomorrow at previous Neptune in Aries back through history.

Saturn has an undeservedly malefic reputation. Death, disaster, failure, depression, delays, lack of self-worth. The reality is it induces a strong work ethic, instils a sense of discipline over time, is practical, realistic and provides a backbone when mush threatens to take over. Where Saturn is marked in a chart, it gets easier the older you get. The negative side reigns over the first third of life; it mellows through the middle third; and the final third becomes everything that wasn’t there at the start – warmer, more supportive, consolidated.

 In Roman mythology, he was a god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. Saturn’s mythological reign was depicted as a Golden Age of plenty and peace.

  Saturn is essentially about structure in earthly terms. It plans, prepares, thinks long term to a feasible goal, then gets foundations laid, builds slowly and securely so its achievements stand the test of time. The end result of its endeavours is not necessarily aesthetic, since it isn’t concerned with cosmetic fripperies, but it is enduring.

  Ruling Capricorn, it has the same steady ambition, which is willing to forego instant gratification for long term goals. Like the symbolic mountain goat, it starts in the foothills and works its way up to the peak, along a winding path if necessary. 

 Saturn restricts, so oversees limits and boundaries which may not feel like fun but are essential, psychologically as well as practically, in life. Neptune dissolves boundaries, Pluto invades across them to grab all the territory, Uranus blows them up, but Saturn stands firm for order, delineation, marked borders. In action, it is like a gardener who prunes plants back, lopping off overgrown branches, to stimulate fresh growth and produce a more manageable shape.

Often called a money-grubbing scrooge, Saturn is concerned with material security and can be less than generous and open-hearted.  Again that’s down to its earthly nature and liking for boundaries. ‘Me and mine’ come first.

  Not that Saturn is a delight at close quarters in intimate relationships. It can be cold, putting up a defensive wall against any encroachment, tending to put things above feelings, and is better at ‘doing’ than ‘being’.

  The myth of Saturn eating his children depicted in a horrific Goya painting is apt, since it ties into his obsessions with time and mortality. Saturn was scared of being overthrown by his sons so he ate them at birth. Deep down he knows he is going to die and his children represent a future that he can never possess, since his is limited by his mortal span. He both loves and loathes the boundaries of his life, so he tries to over-ride them and stop time.

  Having Saturnine parents means facing two things – their envy and their ability to induce misplaced guilt on their child. The Saturnine father pushes and pushes his children to be a success, being excessively critical of any failures, making them feel they never achieve enough to satisfy him, so damaging the child’s self-esteem though it can helpfully induce a driving need to be a success. But deep down the father’s fear is that they might outdo him, become more successful and outlive him. It’s difficult to cope with since if the child grown to adult became stratospherically successful, the father would shrivel, feel worthless himself and be consumed with envy.  So it’s a no win situation, until the child/adult separates enough to understand it’s the father’s issue, not theirs.

The Saturnine mother on the other hand insinuates into the child a sense that they are responsible for her depression; and their role in life is to look after her and make her happy. She makes an under-nurturing mother but expects her offspring to give her the caring she never gave them.

The mythological Saturn showed his other face at the autumn festivals of the harvest, when the agricultural bounty of the year was brought in and drunken celebrations ensued after the hard work was done. Earthly delights are also his preserve and his reign was seen as one of peace and plenty. Despite the devouring father, he’s associated with the flow of the seasons, especially winter when everything dies back to be reborn in spring.

  Capricorn as a sign is unfairly dubbed as the cold, materialistic workaholic, but in fact has a highly creative and (indulgent) side.  The old Capricorn symbol was half goat half fish. He operates in two realms – in the watery realm of ideas and visions and then makes them real on dry land. He is the stander on the threshold between the unconscious and the conscious; just as Capricorn stands on the cusp of the year that has past and the year that is about to come, looking both ways. He both mourns and celebrates.

Pic Robert Lowe.

 

  The 29 year Saturn cycle of transits round a chart can be split in a simplistic way into four sections which are seven years roughly each, sometimes less or more depending on the axis. The peak in terms of career and outer ambition is Saturn through the 4^th Quadrant (10^th to 12^th houses) which is a time of hard work and consolidation of the preparations of the 21 years before.  Where the groundwork has been laid, then respect and recognition as well as heavier responsibilities come through this phase.

  When Saturn moves below the Ascendant and even slightly before, old ambitions become less important and there is need for a re-evaluation. People find they don’t want to work 80 hour weeks anymore which is the psyche’s hint to wind down and step back slightly for a rethink.

  Hyper-ambitious ego-maniacs find Saturn into the first quadrant (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd houses) difficult to handle since they live totally for outer achievement and approbation. So they keep pushing on as before, start making mistakes as their psyche short circuits their actions and they find success doesn’t come as easily as it had done in the previous 7 years, no matter how hard they push. Eg. Maggie Thatcher started to slide with Saturn here, as Emmanuel Macron has now as well.

  What Saturn really wants is for you to re-balance your life – to come off the ego and into the centre – to find time for play and emotional matters as well as work. Often people get married and have kids when Saturn is moving through the first quadrant since it fulfils more personal needs.

  It needn’t mean that life grinds to a halt. Shirley MacLaine stopped movies for a while when her Saturn was in her first quadrant and wrote her books. Saturn here is a time to find what is really important for you, not for other people.

  The last time I had Saturn into my 1^st and onwards, I stopped a pole-axing schedule of producing live TV shows and then documentaries, took time out, wrote a novel and started doing astrology.

  You do usually have to get your finances in order to make do with slightly less when Saturn moves through the 2^nd which is a time of getting priorities straight and realising that money isn’t the be all and end all it may have seemed before. But clearly you do need enough to get by so getting organised in advance is usually a good idea.

  Sometimes Saturn through the middle of the First Quadrant, usually at the start of the 2^nd house brings up old unresolved psychologically issues. This isn’t a negative. More the psyche trying to plumb the depths to find parts which have been left lying on dusty shelves of the unconscious. So when you start gradually emerging usually with Saturn into the 3^rd, you move ahead as a slightly different person, hopefully more rounded, with different ambitions. Then you’re into the planning phase of the next great Saturn sweep out and upwards in your chart.

  When Saturn reaches the nadir/IC at the base of the chart to move into the Second Quadrant (4^th to 6^th houses) you’re ready to go out and engage more fully with the outside world again. First requirement with Saturn through the 4^th is to reorganise at home to create a solid base of operations for the future which may involve moving house, renovating as well as sorting out family tensions. The 2^nd Quadrant Saturn isn’t necessarily a spectacular success but it is a vital and unglamorous stage of laying foundations for the future. Saturn through the 6^th usually means extra hard work with less appreciation than seems fair but rewards come in later years. Also a time to get real about health and physical needs, learning where your limits are.

   Saturn through the Third Quadrant (7^th to 9^th house) is rising upwards in terms of outer activities, which requires sorting out and strengthening close relationships or abandoning those that don’t work. Then a hard lesson through the 8^th of developing resilience and resourcefulness where money and emotional support are concerned. The universe can feel less than generous since this is a time of standing on your own two feet and often being responsible for others. Saturn through the 9^th – rethinking beliefs and attitudes, testing out ideas, being intellectually challenged.  

  Then Saturn moves across the peak upper Fourth Quadrant (10^th to 12^th houses).

  To be remembered, the transits will only bring out what is already in potential or implicit in the chart. And Saturn does have tough lessons to teach about shirking the effort and discipline required to lay foundations. Like a house built on swampy ground with substandard materials and workmanship, it won’t turn out to be a success.

  There are always other outer planet influences in play which may distract Saturn from producing the results it might otherwise have done. Fate is not always kind – and there are missed opportunities in timing which are the result of random mischance.

Taylor Swift’s fan obsessives are at fever pitch with the rerecorded reissue of her 2012 album Red out this month which appears to have references to her short-lived relationship to Jake Gylenhaal more than a decade ago. One celeb magazine said: ‘It has received obsessive levels of textual analysis that would make a Talmudic scholar blush.’

  She’s had a stream of extremely speedy and very public liaisons through the years – all good publicity –  though her present beau Joe Alwyn has stuck around longer than most. The smooch with Gyllenhaal lasted three months but seems to have become embedded in fan mythology like Brad and Jen. He evidently baled because he didn’t like the media attention.

  Taylor, 13 December 1989 8.36am Reading, Pennsylvania, is a Sagittarius but has a controlling and possessive Pluto (in Scorpio) in the 10^th so she won’t let go easy; as well as Mars in Scorpio and a Cancer Moon.

  She’s not remotely easy on the emotional front with her Moon opposition a changeable Uranus, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn in Capricorn.

  Jake Gyllenhaal, 19 December 1980 8.08 pm Los Angeles, is also a Sun Sagittarius conjunct Neptune with a restless Gemini Moon. It was never destined to last since his Uranus in Scorpio is conjunct her Mars for a tinderbox chemistry – fiery, then explosive.

  Their relationship chart has a wildly enthusiastic, upbeat composite Sun Mars Uranus trine Jupiter and opposition the composite Moon so it would be a rip-roaring adventure at the start. It would transition into running arguments and a definite need for space on his side. But her Pluto wouldn’t be keen to let go control.

  Their relationship chart is sagging under Neptunian influences now and through next year. With last week’s Lunar Eclipse and next May’s rattling up the composite Saturn for less than romantic vibes.  

I suppose it beats politics for water cooler gossip.

Priti Patel, the UK Home Secretary, is having a worse month than usual, being brickbatted for not getting on top of migrants crossing the channel and is now facing serious questions about her department’s handling of Windrush compensation. Just 5% of the victims formerly from the Caribbean who were mistakenly written off as illegal immigrants have received any recompense and some have died in the interim. No doubt she’ll blame her civil servants which is her typical response. The media have her written off as one of the least able of Boris’s right-wing, anti-Eu lieutenants which is saying something.

Matthew Parris said of her in the Times: “Priti Patel’s record of abusive and undisciplined behaviour is as long as your arm, the people who ought to know this know it, and she should never have been allowed anywhere near a ministerial red box.” She was forced to resign from Theresa May’s cabinet for unauthorised meetings with Israeli politicians and officials; and more recently faced bullying allegations from senior staff, which were found to have breached the ministerial code again. Boris refused to take action against her. And on she marched.

  She was born 29 March 1972 in London and has a forcefully confident, pushy and super-resourceful chart with her Aries Sun and Mercury opposition Pluto (Moon) Uranus in Libra square Jupiter in Capricorn.

   There are slight chart similarities to Tiger Woods who has Jupiter in Aries opposition Pluto square a Capricorn Sun but he channels his driving obsession to win at all costs into competitive sport.

  She also has a (Boris special) scattered, argumentative Mars Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune making her short-tempered, hard-edged, suspicious.

  Last week she had the Lunar Eclipse conjunct her Venus in Taurus and Algo and also triggering her Solar Arc Sun in late Taurus.

 Her relationship chart with Boris is riddled with illusion, delusion and deceit with a composite Sun opposition Neptune – which has a separating tr Saturn square from late February 2022 and continue throughout the year. This New Year through to February looks riddled with yet more crises and it won’t let up thereafter. So they won’t rub happily along together, for sure.

 There is also a ‘karmic’ composite yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Saturn suggesting their fates are intertwined for good or for ill.

 Her own chart (without a definite birth time though 6.30 to 6.48am is floating about) isn’t showing much strain until 2023/24 – but with a chart axis there might be midheaven challenges which we don’t know.