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David Frost, the UK Brexit negotiator, said the government underestimated the impact Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol would have on businesses and that the disruption to trade between the UK and Northern Ireland had been greater than expected. He said talks so far had not been “hugely productive” and the government would “have to see how far we can take it”, accusing the EU of being “purist”, indulging in point-scoring and lacking in sense about the issue. He threatened that the UK could soon take drastic action over concerns about violence and disruption. Breaching international law by tearing up the protocol was understood not to be under consideration, though there are hints of triggering Article 16 to suspend checks being an option.

  At the time of Frost’s controversial promotion into the Cabinet, which breached the constitutional principle that a government adviser should not have a seat in legislature, he was described as a nightclub bouncer not a diplomat. His bully-boy tactics seem to be winning as few friends as before, indeed creating problems with his abrasive approach.

  Born 21 February 1965, he’s a Sun Saturn in Pisces with a volatile collection of Uranus, Pluto and Mars in Virgo; with Boris’s Teflon-coated, none-too-practical, overly-hopeful Neptune opposition Jupiter which in his case squares onto Venus in Aquarius.

   He’s not exactly thriving this year with a variety of Neptunian sinkers hitting various midpoints this year but it will be 2022 which expose his failures from April onwards, with a discouraging run up of several weeks.

  His relationship with Boris will be under strain from mid this August till late November and moving into enraged, trapped and high-risk territory from March 2022 onwards for two years as tr Pluto opposes the composite Mars.

  Frost’s Term chart, 1 March 2021, has a destructive and combative 7^th house Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol trine Pluto in the 3^rd – which is as far removed from diplomatic as you can get. It is sagging badly in morale from the middle of this August, discouraged in early 2022 and road-blocked from March 2022 onwards for two years.

See previous post: 21 February 2021

Singer Ariane Grande has finally taken the plunge after a series of relationships and one short-lived engagement, and married real estate agent Dalton Gomez. 

  Born 26 June 1993 9.15 pm Boca Raton, Florida, she has a hard-working 6^th house Cancer Sun trine Saturn in her financial 2^nd and square a sociable and light-hearted Moon Jupiter in Libra. She also has the highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn on her Ascendant opposition Mercury and a passionately intense Venus in Taurus opposition a controlling and influential Pluto in her 10^th. Her Saturn is also opposition an 8^th house Mars in Virgo – a complicated lady, strong in some ways but also prone to getting over stressed.

  Her previous engagement to comedian Pete Davidson, 16 November 1993, a Sun Pluto in Scorpio square Saturn was never designed to be a long-term prospect and split after a few months. See post June 13 2018.

  Dalton Gomez, 7 August 1995, in California, has a charming Sun Venus in Leo which falls in her 7^th house of marriage which is ideal. His Sun Venus are sextile Mars in Libra and trine Jupiter in Sagittarius – he’s definitely a looker on the bright side.

  Their relationship chart has the composite Sun opposition Neptune Uranus in Capricorn so it will be changeable, muddled at times and both will need their own space. Though a possible Moon Pluto conjunction hints at possessiveness and a Sun trine Pluto, sextile Mars will make for some high voltage moments. A Jupiter trine Venus will smooth a few rough edges but it will be a drama-filled partnership.

Pic: Cosmopolitan UK

Savage ironies are writ large in the intractable, never-ending Dante’s Inferno of the Israel/Palestine saga. The Jewish people never forgot the homeland they had been ejected from two millenia ago and yet the Israelis set their faces obdurately against any suggestion that the 700,000 indigenous Palestinians who were forcibly severed from their homes after the creation of Israel should be allowed to return.  The 1948 order to expel an entire population “without attention to age” was signed by Yitzhak Rabin, a future prime minister. The lone voice of an opposition politician Meir Ya’ari spoke out against it. He noted “how easily” Israel’s leaders spoke of how it was “possible and permissible to take women, children and old men and to fill the road with them because such is the imperative of strategy. And this we say . . . who remember who used this means against our people during the [Second World] War . . . I am appalled.”

  The other mystery is how a people traumatised and brutalised by the Holocaust can justify acting in such a callous way towards victimised Palestinians. Well it’s not exactly mystifying – bad experiences do not necessarily make good people – but the hypocrisy rankles.

   Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister, recently boosted by Trump’s support, is getting the blame for leading the country towards this latest bloody impasse. He has been courting the far-right and stoking up settlers in his efforts to stay in power and signing treaties with other Middle Eastern countries with the hope that the Palestinians would lose the will to resist. He has been proved spectacularly wrong as this clash has brought the conflict inside the borders of Israel itself. It involves not only Hamas in Gaza but also Israeli-Arabs, who make up 20 per cent of the population, who have been clashing with Jewish demonstrators, with talks of an impending civil war.

  Looking at the Israel chart, it’s difficult to see how it will ever shift. An 8^th house Taurus Sun conjunct Algol is square not only the unyielding Saturn Pluto in Leo but also Mars in Leo – it is stubborn to the nth degree. Endurance up to a point can be an advantage but there are times when flexibility is called for and an ability to change with the times, which Israel lacks.  There’s also a Yod of Uranus sextile Mars inconjunct Jupiter, which can be influential but does require tolerance to work well. Arrogance and grandiosity can bring about a downfall.

  At the moment the Solar Arc Saturn Pluto is moving across the Ascendant – which brings tough conditions, deprivation and has associations with war. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn is colliding with the 10^th house Israel Pluto shifting the balance of power in the country and threatening to unleash turmoil. That runs into early 2022 when tr Saturn in Aquarius is in downbeat hard aspects to all the Fixed Israel planets including the Sun throughout the year and tr Uranus increases tension in square to the Saturn, before moving on in 2023 to conjunct the Sun until early 2025 and thence on to an explosive, insecure square to the Israel Mars in 2025/26.

  As if that wasn’t enough battering there will be further disappointments in 2022/23/24 as tr Neptune moves to square the Yod apex Jupiter and its super-sensitive opposition Uranus, which will bring into question Israel’s pretensions to superiority.  Plus the Eclipses are shifting from this late November’s Lunar Eclipse to an emphasis on Taurus/Scorpio which will bring rolling crises into 2023 and a good deal of soul searching.

   Almost all of the charts of those involved are incredibly Fixed. Theodor Herzl, the initial proponent of a homeland for a persecuted Jewish people, was a Sun Pluto in Taurus square Saturn in Leo. The British mandate of Palestine in 1920 is a Sun Taurus square Jupiter Neptune in Leo. Gaza 9 November 1917 is a Sun Mercury in Scorpio square Uranus in Aquarius and square Saturn Neptune in Leo. The Palestine Declaration of Independence 1988 is a Sun Mercury Pluto in Scorpio. Hamas has Mars Pluto in Scorpio. Netanyahu has Mars Pluto in Leo. Not much give anywhere. Oddly enough the start of the Jewish-Roman wars in 66 CE which led to the initial expulsion started with Pluto in early Aquarius. The Arab Revolt of 1936 which led to the three years war of Palestinian Arabs against the British authorities for allowing open-ended Jewish immigration in preparation for a Jewish national home started with Uranus in early Taurus.

  Netanyahu’s relationship chart with Israel is under serious stress from now on, despite this conflict having saved him from an ignominious departure to face corruption charges, at least initially. The composite Sun Mercury are being battered this year by tr Uranus square tr Saturn; and more so the composite Pluto in 2022, which should loosen the ties that bind.

  Joe Biden having just signed an arms deal with Israel is under increasing pressure from within the Democratic Party to be more pro-active in his condemnations of the violence but is clearly reluctant to be dragged in. He won’t avoid it from next week with tr Uranus turning the Biden/Netanyahu composite Sun square Pluto on its head.

See previous post: 11 May 2021.

Edwin Poots, who believes the earth was created by God in about 4,000 BC is the newly elected leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland. From the Paisleyite wing of the DUP he was instrumental in toppling Arlene Foster over social issues including her support for a ban on gay conversion therapy.  Poots is a fundamentalist Christian with the usual panoply of antediluvian views. Though he was also angry at the Brexit deal and threatens to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol – though quite how isn’t clear. He has said he won’t take the position of First Minster.

 He is a divisive choice at a time when Northern Ireland is clinging on to peace amid fears of a return to violence and is unlikely to form the same kind of working relationship with Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein and current deputy first minister, as Ian Paisley did with Martin McGuinness after many years of bitter hostility.

Poots, 27 May 1965, Lisburn, is Sun, Jupiter Venus in Gemini with an explosive collection of Uranus Pluto Mars in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces. His Mercury in unbudgeable Taurus is in a slippery (delusional) opposition to Neptune, trine Mars Pluto Uranus and sextile Saturn – so not your ideal negotiator or mediator. He’s on a confidence roll this year and throughout 2022, though running into obstacles as well.

  His relationship with Northern Ireland is volatile and inflammatory with a composite Mars Uranus square Sun Mercury and trine Pluto. The Eclipses in May and December will rattle it up considerably.  His relationship with the EU is also at daggers drawn this year and next.

 His Gemini Sun is conjunct Boris Johnson’s short-fused Mars so it won’t be an amiable combination.

  His relationship with Michelle O’Neill, 10 Jan 1977, is fraught, power-struggling and not likely to lead to co-operation.

  Words defy me – Ian Paisley was bad enough with his anti-Christ ravings but this?  Beyond thought.

See previous posts on Good Friday – 8 April 2021

5^th March and 2 February 2021.  

Liz Cheney is out for refusing to swallow Trump’s lies about a stolen election – supported by 70% of GOP-ers – and Elise Stefanik is in as the third ranking Republican in Congress.

   Stefanik has made false claims of voter fraud and opposed suggestions that Trump be impeached for his part in stoking up the January 6 Capitol assault.

  Born 2 July 1984 in New York she is a Sun Venus Mercury in Cancer; with her Mercury square Pluto, which gives her harsh opinions, a generally suspicious outlook and a tendency to bully others into agreeing with her outlook. Her Sun Venus are also trine a hard-edged, vengeful Mars Saturn in Scorpio. Not a chart I warm to, I’d have to admit.

  Her Mars Saturn will be buffeted this year into early 2022 by tr Uranus in opposition and tr Saturn square – so not everything will be rolling her way with setbacks, failures and aggro. This year’s May Lunar and December Solar Eclipses also catch her Uranus. She’s then got a run of undermining Neptune transits to various midpoints through this year as well as 2022/23 so she will sag – though her rhetoric is likely to roll on till 2024 with tr Pluto squaring her Pluto towards and over the next election.  Without a birth time there’s not much that looks upbeat.

Kevin McCarthy, 26 January 1965, the Congress Minority Leader, is a Sun Aquarius with an Earth Grand Trine of Jupiter in Taurus trine Uranus Pluto trine Mercury Venus in Capricorn, formed into a Kite by a slippery Jupiter opposition Neptune in Scorpio. The 2022 Midterms will be critical for him but with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn colliding with his Jupiter opposition Neptune it’s tricky to say quite what the outcome will be. Partly he’ll be lucky with tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter and partly downcast with tr Saturn square both Jupiter and Neptune. 2024 is more obvious with a sinking-failure tr Neptune opposition his Mars either over the election or immediately after. And this year he’s tripping into some calamities and major sink holes mid September to mid October this year and again mid January to mid February 2022.

  Mitch McConnell, 20 February 1942, whether politically or personally is facing an exceptionally bumpy ride through 2022/3/24 with his Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Venus, Mercury and his Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Mars and Saturn; as well as tr Uranus moving across his Mars Saturn Uranus in 2023/24 which looks acutely stressful.   But that could be for all manner of reasons separate from the Republican Party’s fortunes.

  Liz Cheney is pushing confidently ahead this year and next with a couple of Jupiterian midpoints boosting her morale. 2023 looks more downbeat. 2024 nerve stretched and argumentative and not altogether content.  Her fortunes pick up in 2026/27. See post 5 May 2021.

   Her relationship charts with both the GOP 1854 and 1856 do show maybe a break up of sorts between herself and her party in 2023 with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Suns of both. She’s certainly out of sorts with both this year and vice versa with tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting the Mars square Venus on one and Saturn conjunct Mercury on the other.

  Both the Republican charts have Sun Neptune in Pisces which tr Saturn will make a downbeat conjunction to in 2024 – though that’s minor enough. Both are ploughing through thick mud through this Biden Term.

   The GOP 22 February 1856 chart has Solar Arc Saturn square the Sun for this election loss which might suggest it’s the more informative of the two charts. On this one, 2022/23 look deeply frustrated and aggravated; with 2024 not well starred.

Nailing Trump’s flag to their mainmast is a questionable tactic since his astro indicates a litany of woes ahead from later this year onwards. If he goes down so do they. See post on Giuliani etc 29 April 2021.  

How similar is Prince Harry to the comic genius Peter Sellers, star of Dr Strangelove, The Pink Panther, Being There and many other hits?  On the face of it not remotely. And yet there are fascinating parallels in their lives and astrology.

 Sellers, born 8 September 1925 6am (from memory) Southsea, England, was a Sun Mars in Virgo opposition Uranus. Harry is a Sun Virgo square Mars which is conjunct Uranus. Both have Moon in Taurus and Venus in Libra as well as Saturn in Scorpio. Both have Neptune in the 12^th. Different houses from different birth times obviously but there is a striking likeness in their charts.

  Sellers was born into a variety theatre family and carried on stage at two weeks old. Constant touring and upheaval throughout his childhood caused him much unhappiness and he was often left alone.  He maintained a very close relationship with his mother, which his friend Spike Milligan later considered unhealthy for a grown man. One biographer portrayed him as a childish, neurotic, mother’s-boy bully who abused drugs and sex as he struggled to cope with fame. On screen he was hilarious but on set when filming and off screen he was an unfunny, volatile, grudge-bearing obsessive who threatened to alienate even his most loyal friends and admirers.

  Sellers was a deeply unhappy man whom friends reckoned was certifiably unbalanced in his latter years as he careered from one bad relationship/marriage to the next eventually dying at 54 of a heart attack. He never sought psychological help which is a pity since it could have relieved some of his stress.

Quotes from him are hauntingly anguished: “If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am.”

 “A person can destroy me with two words. It can just be the way they say them, the inflection.”

  Not only are the astrological correspondences fascinating so is the fact that both were born into families with a constricting and unsettled lifestyle and both had strong attachment to their mothers.

PS. Non-astro thoughts about Harry’s soul-baring. There is a stage during therapy when most become quite evangelical and want to spread the word. Their proselytizing tends to sound forced or even manic and while therapy can for some be a godsend a sanctimonious lecture from someone who has seen the light does grate. There is also a stage of blaming everything on early environment/parenting, which in the consulting room gives a necessary expression to buried resentment. But that is not where the process ends and is not helped by public shaming sessions. If therapy does its job then a more mature personality emerges, who accepts an imperfect life and imperfect parents, and takes responsibility for getting their own act and life together. Endless blaming backwards is childish. It’s also not unusual in split families for children to idealise one parent and hate the other. It’s easier seeing a good-cop bad-cop set up than accepting that both parents will have had their flaws.  

Ellen Degeneres is making light of her show finishing at the end of this her 19^th season after allegations that it was a toxic place to work and ratings falling. She has said the accusations of bullying had nothing to do with her decision to go and that the show was no longer a challenge to do.

   What was always fascinating about her chart is the chasm between the two sides of her personality.  One is the charming, sugary-sweet Sun Venus squaring onto Jupiter Neptune, which she used to great effect in constructing a brand image of ‘niceness’. That contrasts with a sharp-edged, short-tempered, supremely ambitious Saturn Mars in the 10^th trine an Aries Moon, which has its virtues in self-discipline and focus but is short on the marshmallow factor.

  In some odd ways she’s not dissimilar to Boris Johnson who has a Jupiter opposition Neptune and a Sun Venus conjunction, both of which he uses to project a picture of a jovial chap, effectively camouflaging his ruthlessly assertive and competitive Mars Saturn Pluto Uranus T square.

  There’s no doubt she’ll take the retreat from the spotlight badly with tr Neptune square her 10^th house Saturn exactly now and through 2022 where she picks up the even more undermining tr Neptune square her Mars – with her Solar Arc Moon jangling its way in opposition to both her Saturn and Mars, since this furore blew up, until late 2022.

   Her Solar Arc Pluto was in a devastating and confused conjunction to her Neptune when the allegations blew a hole in her image last year and moves to a blocked square to her Sun next year. Her Progressed Mars is exactly conjunct her Venus and opposition her Uranus at the moment for an emotionally explosive time; and tr Saturn will be rolling backwards and forwards in discouraging hard aspects to her Uranus and Sun Venus this year.

See previous post July 30 2020

  Trepidation about rising inflation is spooking the markets but there’s nothing much on the astrology to back up the panic at least instantly.   Looking back over times of high inflation, in 1975 for UK and USA and 1923 for Germany, the key factor appeared to be Neptune.

  In 1975 with inflation hitting 24% in the UK – on the UK 1801 chart, Solar Arc Neptune moving through the UK financial 8^th was about the conjunct the Mars and Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the speculative 5^th house Venus.  The Bank of England 27 July 1694 JC chart had Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the North Node and opposition the financial Venus; with tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc Saturn.

  In the USA in 1975 inflation was running at 13.5%. On the US Fed Reserve chart, 16 November 2014 9am, tr Uranus was square the 8^th house Neptune, the Solar Arc Neptune was square Saturn Pluto and tr Neptune was conjunct the financial Venus – so a super-whammy of panic.

  In Germany in 1923 when hyperinflation struck tr Neptune was square the Germany 8^th house Pluto; tr Neptune was opposition the Germany Neptune with tr Pluto conjunct the MC North Node and opposition the Sun.

The USA Federal Reserve Neptune will certainly be under considerable pressure from tr Pluto in opposition to the FedRes Neptune in 2023/24 and Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the Sun in 2026, but there’s nothing immediate flagging up concern.

  On the UK chart tr Uranus will oppose the financial Neptune in 2022 and tr Saturn will square Neptune. This is one staging post of a longish disruptive trail of tr Uranus round the three UK financial planets of 8^th house Mars and 5^th house Venus starting this year and extending on till 2024. And the Solar Arc Midheaven will square the Neptune in 2024 as well; plus Solar Arc Pluto squares the UK Sun in late 2022 which will be blocked. Whether it is inflation or just financial travails of a different variety it will be a bumpy ride at times. Uranus, of course, being the trickster planet, will bring ups as well as downs.

  Germany, if anything, looks even more tossed around by the celestial influences with a bubble-bursting and disappointing Solar Arc Neptune square the Jupiter later this year alongside the status-quo-upsetting tr Pluto opposition the 10^th house Uranus extending into 2023. In 2023 tr Uranus will conjunct the 8^th house financial Pluto for yet more forced change with tr Saturn pitching in its tuppence worth of woe as well. And the Bundesbank chart, 26 July 1957, will have a good deal of downward pressure from tr Saturn opposition its Mars, Mercury, Pluto in 2022 and tr Uranus in square the following years. But there’s nothing like the problems there were in 1923.

Adele’s life has been through the wringer in recent times with a split marriage followed by considerable weight loss and now the death of her estranged father. Although she has said she’ll regard it as a liberation, it will have shaken her.

  The markers on her chart which indicate the links to a father/male models in her life are intense with her Sun Jupiter in Taurus opposition Pluto squaring onto Mars in Aquarius – which harbours a good deal of anger, bitterness, even hatred and ambivalence. It drew her into an unhappy marriage with Simon Konecki – with his sharp-edged Mars Saturn conjunct her Venus and opposition her Moon. See previous post January 8 2020.

  At the moment tr Uranus is exactly opposition her Pluto, which starts a two year phase of change, turmoil and disruption as it moves in hard aspect round her Fixed T Square. Her tendency will always be to resist change but with this amount of pressure she won’t have much option. Her Solar Arc Neptune is also square her Pluto – so it is a key marker for her father.

 Tr Pluto is also poised on the cusp of her 8^th house and will stay there for many years ahead. The start of this can often coincide with the passing of an older relative or friend, and will prompt a reflective phase of thinking about deeper issues. It can also be financially restrictive though that would seem less of a problem.

  Losing an estranged or disliked parent can often be more difficult than it sounds, since there will be a confusion of feelings, including mourning for what was never there. And there can be regret that there had not been at least a coming-to-terms with the fractured relationship or some sort of rapprochement, though with a wealthy celebrity it is more difficult.