Meat Loaf whose rock operas catapulted him to the status of musical icon has died. His 1977 album Bat Out of Hell spent nearly 500 weeks in the British pop charts and became one of the biggest selling records of all time. ‘Combining roaring guitars, strong melodies and Meat Loaf’s powerful vocals ranging over three octaves, Bat Out of Hell created a genre entirely its own.’ Overall he sold more than 100 million albums in an incredible six decade career. He performed in Broadway musicals and starred in several movies including Rocky Horror, Spiceworld and Fight Club.

  He was born 27 September 1947 4.23pm Dallas, Texas with gospel singer parents, his father also being an alcoholic and violent.

  The demands of overnight celebrity and continuous touring in the late 1970s sent him into a cocaine and alcohol-fuelled breakdown. His career had ups and downs but he staged a strong comeback and continued touring in recent years despite a litany of health complaints.

  He had an intensely emotional and influential 8^th house Sun, Neptune, Venus conjunction; with his Pisces Moon inconjunct in his 1^st. His 6^th house of health had Mars in Cancer as well as Pluto Saturn in Leo – throughout his life he struggled with his weight, addictions and latterly heart problems.

 Exactly now he had his Solar Arc Pluto square his 6^th house Mars and his Progressed Moon exactly square his Progressed Mars; with both tr Pluto and tr Saturn moving through his hidden, trapped 12^th. He died of covid and gave interviews saying he was scared to death of the virus but wouldn’t be dictated to over masks. He never admitted whether he had been vaccinated.

 His soul-mate and creative, musical, songwriting partner Jim Steinman tragically died last April. In an interview Meat Loaf said of their at times rocky five decade road together – “he was the centerpiece of my life.  We belonged heart and soul to each other. We didn’t know each other. We were each other.”

 Steinman, 1 November 1947 New York, had a super-intense chart with a Sun, Mercury and Venus spread out through Scorpio; and Pluto, Mars, Saturn conjunct in Leo. He did have a Gemini Moon to lighten up his load but he would clash at times with Meat Loaf, since they were alike. Steinman’s Jupiter in upbeat Sagittarius was conjunct Meat Loaf’s Midheaven which would make career success more likely when they were together.

 Just as a Sussex-free week or two in the headlines induces a false sense of calm up they pop again. Prince Harry is kvetching about returning to visit the UK without full police protection, because photographers chased him last time he was here. And Meghan kicked up about the BBC getting it wrong in stating she had apologized for misleading the court in her privacy case. Splitting hairs, she insisted, au contraire, she only issued the sorry word for forgetting about vital emails, which by their omission did in veritas, ipso facto, mislead the court.

  Staff at the time they were resident in the UK did murmur as a pair they were hypersensitive, ultra-touchy and quick to take offence. Part of the problem may be that both have prominent Mars squares in their charts. Meghan has Mars in watery Cancer which has a tendency to boil over and it squares her Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, which will be ratchety.

  Harry has an 8^th house Virgo Sun square Mars in outspoken Sagittarius; and an intense 8^th house Mercury in a speak-first, think-second square to his Uranus. His request to pay for-hire police protection didn’t consider the precedent it would set, with every passing celeb and billionaire wanting the same. Nor indeed how other Royals manage without a 24/7 blue wall.

  What is puzzling is how both of them seem to be on a sanctimonious mission amounting almost to a mania to – cleanse the media, save the earth, abolish racism etc etc etc – all worthy causes but without seemingly having an ounce of personal insight into their own double standards.

  This year brings the Queen’s Jubilee, Prince Philip’s memorial, Prince Andrew’s sordid saga – and Harry’s dreaded memoir, the timing of which is typically ill-chosen. Given that Harry still appears obsessed with an idealized vision of his mother, he’s unlikely to be writing a balanced account of his upbringing.

  He’s in an unfortunate phase of his life with transiting Saturn heading downhill through his 1^st quadrant, which is less successful, a time to retire quietly into the background and sort out unresolved psychological issues. Tr Neptune is in an undermining opposition to his Sun throughout this year and also squares his Solar Arc Midheaven – dithering and indecisive about what comes next. Plus his Solar Arc Moon opposes his 12^th house Neptune, exact in six months, for more drift and discontentment. Tr Uranus moves across his IC from mid June this year onwards which will bring an urge to move house, and indeed he may move several times in the next few years. Uranus here can also bring insight into early childhood issues and cause family upsets and upheavals. By late 2022 into 2023 his Solar Arc Sun will conjunct his Pluto for a blocked stalemate. Tr Uranus is then conjunct his 4^th house Moon from mid 2023.

A turbulent few years emotionally and in terms of family relationships.

  His relationship with Prince Charles will be rattled this month in particular; with William it isn’t great this month, but it is February to late April this year which will light a fuse with their argumentative composite Sun square Mars being triggered. And their stand-off will trail on for several years so the rifts won’t heal easily. Even Princess Eugenie who has been a supporter will gradually lose heart – though admittedly she has other problems on her plate.

  Meghan is on a completely different trajectory to Harry, getting more ambitious over coming years – and she doesn’t have the raft of difficult influences he has. This month and after August to late year look argumentative and irritable with tr Pluto opposition her Sun/Mars midpoint. And tr Uranus will square her Leo Sun this February for the final time. Her relationships with close partners, business colleagues and the general public will continue to be intense with rolling wrangles as tr Pluto slowly moves through her 7th for years to come.

  Her relationships don’t look good with any of the Royals – Camilla, Kate, Anne, Edward, Charles and the Queen – so she won’t be coming back into the fold with equanimity anytime soon.

  What will be worth watching is her relationship with Harry since tr Pluto opposes the composite Moon from March 10^th this year running to late June, and repeating on and off in 2023. Part of that may be moving house but it also suggests family issues will loom even larger than usual.

The Johnson tribe have certainly made their mark on the UK scene and establishment with all four of the siblings making their pitch in different ways for attention.

Boris is the eldest born in 1964 and Rachel came next, 3 September 1965 – Oxford University, financial and feature journalist, editor of The Lady, TV presenter and writer, with at present a regular Daily Mail column. She’s a fairly chaotic Sun Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn; with a tricky, slippery and can-be-vengeful Mars Neptune in Scorpio. Her Jupiter in Geminis is conjunct Boris’s Sun Venus which will make for a friendly connection though neither are good at controlling their wilder impulses.  

Leo Johnson, 26 September 1967 (companies house) – describes himself as ‘the invisible’ Johnson, non-political, not blond, not Tory, determinedly private. After Oxford, he worked with the World Bank and is now in environmental sustainability; with an Afghani wife who works in post-conflict reconstruction. He’s a Sun Libra opposition Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Saturn; with his Saturn in a disciplined trine to Mars. He also has a charming and flashy Venus Jupiter in Leo square Neptune.

Jo Johnson 23 December 1971 – Oxford University, investment banking, financial journalist, MP, Cabinet Minister under Cameron and May, a Remainer and now in House of Lords. He has a Capricorn Sun on the focal point of a pressured T Square to a Mars opposition Pluto; with his Mars in an adventurous square to Jupiter; and his Saturn in a can-be-uncertain opposition to Neptune.  His Mars clashes with Boris’s Sun Venus so there will be a competitive conflict between them; and his Saturn Neptune opposition sits uncomfortably with Boris’s scattergun Mutable T square of Mars, Pluto Uranus and Saturn.

  What is clear is that all of them in different ways reacted badly to their father Stanley’s influence/genes and their stressed childhood. Stanley is a bombastic and ultra-stubborn Sun Mars in Leo in a willful square to Uranus with quadruply obstinate Jupiter Saturn in Taurus square Mercury Pluto in Leo. Boris and Jo caught the full force of his personality highlighted in their afflicted Mars. Leo to a slightly lesser extent but he still has a tricky Sun Saturn Mars. In Rachel it shows in her disorganized, whirlwind-in-a-storm approach to life. I recollect reading somewhere that Stanley (when he was around) deliberately set them up against each other to foster a competitive attitude.

 Rachel’s relationship with Boris hints at wild over-enthusiasm when together, though also a tendency to stoke each other on to unwise decisions and to tussle for the upper hand and last word. With Leo there’s a stuck-together-by-circumstances but vague and evasive connection.  With Jo there is more overt power struggling and aggravation with a composite Sun opposition Pluto Uranus; and a wide Yod of Neptune sextile Uranus onto Mars, so not entirely sympatico.

  All go-getters in their way, argumentative, intelligent and well-educated. Just goes to show a dysfunctional childhood can be a driver for future success if not for happiness – nor indeed always for the benefit of those around them.  

Kanye West, super-star rapper and former spouse to Kim Kardashian, is getting rattled by access issues over their children, with both sides claiming the other has misunderstood the situation.

  He has had mental health issues in the past with spells of hallucinations and paranoia and he claimed recently to be bi-polar.

  Their marriage was exploited ad nauseam for publicity purposes by both and their divorce is clearly going the same way.

  He was born 8 June 1977 8.45am Atlanta, Georgia making him a Sun Jupiter in Gemini, favourite sign for popular singers; with his Sun Venus in a musical, creative and not-too-well-grounded opposition to Neptune square a hyper-sensitive Pisces Moon. A scattered Air Sun and even more disorganized Water Moon with nebulous Neptune thrown in for good measure is not a well-balanced combination. Air rules the thinking functions and Water the emotions. Throw them together and it is a tricky balancing act.

 Kim Kardashian, 21 October 1980 10.46am Los Angeles, is also an Air Libra Sun with a Pisces Water Moon but isn’t quite as precariously balanced since her Moon is not on the point of a Mutable T square.

  Kanye also has a pumped-up Venus Mars in Taurus in a volatile opposition to Uranus with his Uranus in a can-be-dictatorial square to Saturn in wannabe important Leo – all of which may have helped him on the way to the top but won’t make him easy to live with or even easy in his own skin.

  He’s sinking into uncertainty and confused thinking at points this year and into next; with highs as well. Though with tr Pluto moving through his 7^th house of relationships for the foreseeable future he’s likely to be bitter about losing control of partners.

  Their relationship will bump along uncomfortably for the next two years with tr Saturn this year dampening good feelings and tr Uranus causing tensions and eruptions to their composite Mars opposition Sun Mercury square Uranus this year and next.  

A touch like the Sussexes – can you just give us a break and hibernate for a year or decade or two.

Brazil appears to be in a state of paralysis with weaker post-virus growth than elsewhere, high unemployment and high inflation. All of which will deal a blow to Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign for re-election later this year. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has surged to its highest level since 2008, and has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since he took office in January 2019.

  There are various charts for Brazil – 7 September 1822 4.08pm Piranga or 5 October 1988 3.49pm Rio de Janeiro. The 1822 isn’t showing much apart from an emotionally upsetting tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the financial Venus throughout the year; and a confused tr Neptune opposition the Mercury over the election. The years between 2025 and the end of the decade look punishing.

  The 1988 chart is showing signs of a more overt crisis with the December Sagittarius Eclipse falling on the Midheaven – and the financial 8^th house Pluto being battered around by tr Saturn square and tr Uranus in opposition last year and onto March this year.  

  The Bank of Brazil chart, 31 December 1964 is showing signs of panic throughout this year, as well as misjudgements from an over hopeful and unrealistic approach.

 Jair Bolsonaro, 21 March 1955 2.45pm Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a far-right and populist, polarizing and controversial politician. During his presidency, he rolled back protections for Indigenous groups in the Amazon rainforest and facilitated deforestation in favour of mining interests. He downplayed the pandemic and its effects and opposed quarantine measures, while the death toll increased rapidly.

  He is a pro-active Sun Aries with an ambitious and determined 10^th house Mars in Taurus in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn which in turn squares Pluto opposition Venus. That last is an unbudgeable and cruel Fixed Grand Cross which won’t change course easily. Tr Pluto is in a confused square to his Neptune from next month on and off till late 2023. And tr Uranus will conjunct his Mars from late May onwards for a severe shock to his self-esteem, likely triggering an over-reaction. That runs on; and over the election itself he has tr Uranus square his Mars/Saturn midpoint which is fairly catastrophic. He’ll fight back for sure but it doesn’t look good for him with the exception of tr Jupiter in Aries moving across his Sun then.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former president who was imprisoned for corruption and then had the charges annulled, has indicated he is running and will seek a broad alliance. His birthdate is a touch iffy with a different date for registration though 27 October 1945 seems to be accepted. He’s a determined Sun Scorpio square Pluto with a charming Jupiter Venus in Libra and another hard-edged Saturn Mars aspects in his case conjunct in Cancer.

  He will have some triumphs this year in May though there’s nothing much showing on his chart (without birth time) over the election itself.    

The heat is rising on both sides over a possible Russian invasion in Ukraine. Moscow has already stationed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border and more are heading for military exercises in Belarus. Biden is weighing up options, none of them attractive. One suggestion was to hit Russia with bank sanctions but that would damage Germany and other EU countries that trade with Russia.

The UK Foreign Office is in “crisis mode” as weapons are being flown from Britain to Ukraine to defend it from a Russian invasion. Though Germany has refused such help saying it would inflame the situation. Ukraine says it has evidence that Russia was responsible for a cyberattack that paralysed government websites, defence, education, emergencies and foreign ministries, among others, recently as part of a “hybrid war” aimed at destabilising the country before a possible invasion.

The Kremlin is demanding that Nato withdraw forces from former Warsaw Pact and Soviet countries, as well as guarantee that Ukraine will never become a member of the western military alliance. It is considering a number of potential responses, including the possible deployment of unspecified military infrastructure to Cuba or Venezuela.

  When Putin moved in to grab Crimea in February 2014, the Ukraine 24 August 1991 2.30pm chart, was showing signs of consternation with tr Pluto sitting on the Uranus/Neptune midpoint and moving to the devastating conjunction with the Ukraine Neptune shortly after; plus Solar Arc Uranus opposition Saturn; Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Moon; and tr Uranus square the Uranus exactly, moving on to square the Neptune after. So a deal of upset, losses and panic.

  There is nothing as stark at the moment though the Solar Arc Midheaven was rattled by the December Sagittarius Solar Eclipse – and the Midheaven at 13 degrees Scorpio is catching a discouraging tr Saturn square exactly now for a few days, followed in April by an all-systems-change tr Uranus opposition midheaven. From May onwards there is a panicky-failure tr Neptune opposition the Ukraine Mars; and then  major disruption from June onwards as tr Uranus opposes the 10^th house Pluto, with the likelihood that power will change hands – and maybe rebellions will break out. Those influences run on into 2023.

  The two recent Eclipses located to Kiev both have Uranus on or near the IC so domestic upheavals were on the cards. The Lunar Eclipse in particular was disruptive and risky for Ukraine with Mars on the Midheaven opposition Uranus square Saturn.  

   Putin’s 4^th Term chart, 7 May 2018 11.05am Moscow, does have the aggressive and ruthless tr Pluto conjunct Mars exact this month and returning August to December this year.

  The NATO chart, 24 August 1949 11.42am looks rattled over the next few months and having to rethink its future direction from late May onwards with tr Uranus square the 10^th house Pluto, on and off into 2023.

  Troubling but not as pointed as 2014.

See previous post December 22 2021

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The BBC has become collateral damage in the government’s deflect-and-distract desperation to direct attention away from ‘partygate’ with a two-year licence freeze and a bombshell about removing funding altogether by the charter renewal in 2027.  The latter is being rowed back since it would depend on every household having access to high-speed broadband for alternative streaming options which won’t happen in time.

  The BBC chart, 14 November 2022 6pm London, does look shocked by the ‘collision’ of Solar Arc Mars opposition the Scorpio Sun this year, exact in four months; and tr Uranus in an equally shocking and self-esteem-denting square to the BBC Mars this month into early February.  Tr Neptune is also in an undermining opposition to the BBC Virgo Moon across this year into early 2023 – and the Taurus/Scorpio Eclipses this year will rattle up the BBC’s Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Scorpio. As if that wasn’t enough tr Saturn and tr Uranus will both make a high-anxiety hit on the BBC Neptune; and finally tr Saturn will make a discouraging square to the BBC Sun this year with tr Uranus opposition in 2023.  All in all, not a fun time.

  The BBC are arrogant, their own worst enemy, self-defeatingly stubborn when faced with legitimate criticism and needed a sharp wake up call to scythe through their overweighted and stratospherically expensive management amongst other things. The pro-Brexit and Tory government have had it out for them with accusations of left-wing Remainer bias so political motives are partially suspect. But a day of reckoning was overdue.

   The Royal Charter renewal theoretically goes into effect, no doubt after aggravated discussions beforehand, on 1 January 2028. But it is 2029 and 2030 which show up as the face-reality and forced-change period with the Solar Arc Sun conjunct the 10^th house Uranus; the Solar Arc Moon opposition Pluto; and Solar Arc Saturn square the BBC Jupiter. New technology will force through a radical rethink about programme delivery.

   The BBC chart does have a talented and creative Water Grand Trine of a confident Pluto trine Jupiter in a risk-taking trine to Uranus, which has a good many plus points but its downside is a tendency to live within its own bubble detached from outside realities.

 The corporation is important to the UK with the BBC Pluto sitting on the UK Midheaven with the BBC Grand Trine  in favourable aspect from Uranus and Jupiter; plus the BBC’s dynamic Mars falling in the UK’s entertainment 5^th.  But there will be a few dips in the road ahead.  

Add ON: Boris’s sister Rachel related that Rupert Murdoch had asked the prime minister (on a Chequers visit when he dandled baby son on his knee) to get rid of the BBC – and then she had to hastily withdraw the claim saying it was a joke. Murdoch has made multiple visits to top Tory ministers recently and has a long standing connection with Michael Gove.

  Murdoch’s Jupiter is conjunct the BBC’s Pluto so there will be a tussle for the upper hand. But it is Murdoch’s relationship with Boris which is interesting.  Boris’s Pluto Uranus are conjunct Murdoch’s Midheaven for an influential, if chaotic, career connection. Boris’s Venus Sun fall on Murdoch’s Descendant which will make for a friendly interface.  Their relationship chart is even more intriguing with a chained-together-by- circumstance and unbreakable composite Pluto Midheaven opposition Saturn square Sun – that is being battered every which way by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus through coming months and on into 2023. With an unnerving tr Neptune square the volatile composite Uranus from May onwards – and it isn’t improving thereafter. 

To be remembered Murdoch is very old and Boris is on his last and final warning. But even if both stay the course for a while, it will be a less than amiable chemistry between them.

  The Tory Party 1912 chart isn’t too specific via a vis Murdoch and what there is of a link is sliding downhill this coming year.

Credit Suisse proudly proclaims itself as the ‘World’s Best Bank Winner 2020’ as yet another top brass, chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio, is tossed overboard and that is only the latest in a long line of scandals. The recent history of the bank on wiki reads like a Gordon Gekko script, running back through Greensill, Malaysian IMDB,  Mozambique secret loans, Archegos, forex manipulation, a US Foreign Corrupt Practices fine for Chinese involvement; and that is in the last decade. Before that the Swiss bank was at the centre of multiple international investigations for tax avoidance to which it pled guilty and paid US$2.6 billion in fines from 2008 to 2012.

  The previous CEO Tidjane Thiam survived five years before being ousted after allegations of spying on a staff member though he claims it wasn’t done with his knowledge. Antonio Horta-Osorio, brought in to clean up the stable, and the first ever non-Swiss chairman, has only made it through eight months before being shown the door for covid breaches and overuse of the company’s private jet. He did appear to have acted badly though there are murmurs of internal resistance to his attempts at pushing through changes.

  Credit Suisse was founded 5 July 1856 in Zurich with a Cancer Sun and Venus square Mars opposition North Node and widely Jupiter; and both Pluto and Uranus are in Taurus (not conjunct). Both its Taurus planets have been triggered in the recent past with tr Pluto trine the Uranus; tr Uranus conjunct the Pluto over Thiam’s exit; Solar Arc Pluto in a blocked conjunction to the Mars in 2020 and an apple-cart upsetting Solar Arc Uranus opposition the Pluto in 2021. So it is in a turbulent and game-changing few years which will run on through its Uranus Return in 2023 and the Solar Arc Pluto opposing its Aries North Node in 2024.

 Antonio Horta-Osorio was born 28 January 1964, four days after Novak Djovic’s excitable mother, and two weeks before Sarah Palin. He has a determined and stubborn Sun Mars in Aquarius as well as Saturn in Aquarius and all square onto Neptune. In Palin’s case it is a tighter square but is still not an indication of much common sense. He also has Mercury in Capricorn in an over-confident square to Jupiter in Aries. Most significantly he has a Yod of Jupiter sextile Mars inconjunct Pluto, which can throw up difficulties in handling power.

 Tidjane Thiam, 29 July 1962, is a Sun and North Node in Leo opposition Saturn square Neptune; with a powerhouse Jupiter opposition Pluto square Mars in Gemini.

  Neither of them lack confidence but what is intriguing is the emphasised Neptune in both charts – not quite what you’d expect in a global banker.

  They won’t be short of cash with vast salaries when in situ and pay offs.  

The entire bank culture is well beyond the pale – and regrettably Pluto in Capricorn doesn’t seem to have done much to sweep out the Augean stables.

A northern cold war is hotting up with Russia ratcheting up “hybrid” operations of cyberattacks and signal-jamming in Norway affecting military, government and commercial operations. The fear is that conflict in Ukraine could spill over to the north.

  Sweden has sent hundreds of extra troops to the Baltic island of Gotland after Russia deployed more landing craft to the region and unidentified drones were seen above Swedish nuclear power stations. Over the past year Russia has reactivated Soviet-era military bases in the Arctic region and built new airstrips on islands in the high north. US and UK forces have also been gearing up for the possibility of conflict in the Arctic.

  Norway’s close alignment with the US and its allies has put it in Moscow’s sights. Part of the reason for Russia’s hectic burst of military activity in the far north is that it feels global warming and the melting of the Arctic ice is turning its northern coast — once an all but impenetrable natural barrier — into a 20,000-mile vulnerability. It is also trying to exploit the retreat of the ice sheets for commercial purposes as the northern sea passage becomes viable, which by some estimates could be  iceberg free in the summers by 2050.

  The Norway, 7 June 1905 11am Oslo chart, is showing distinct signs of disruptions and a turnaround in its relations with Russia this year with tr Pluto conjunct the composite Uranus. The tensions started mounting in 2019 and have been escalating since. The relationship between Norway and modern Russia 1991 is no better with tensions erupting mid this year and worsening through an aggravated 2023.

  The Norway country chart does look stressed exactly now into February with tr Neptune square the Pluto; with a ‘shock’ of sorts or a setback which could have military associations in 2023 with the Solar Arc Mars conjunct Saturn.  The Norwegian economy appears to be doing better than most as the pandemic wanes.

   The Sweden 6 June 1523 JC chart has an undermining tr Neptune square the Gemini Sun this year into early 2023. The Sweden 7 December 1865 3.30pm Stockholm chart, is labouring under tr Saturn square tr Pluto upending its Pluto in Taurus opposition Saturn which won’t clear until after the final disruptive tr Uranus conjunct Pluto this coming March.

   Relations with both old and new Russia on both Sweden charts are fraught and turbulent over the next three years. So nothing calming down too soon.

 See previous post Russia flexing its muscles  December 22 2021.