Princess Latifa al-Maktoum, daughter of the absolute ruler of the playboy tourist kingdom of Dubai, has smuggled out a distressing video saying she is being held prisoner and fears for her life. The UN has said they will start an investigation. Three years ago she made a bid for freedom in an escape that had all the hallmarks of a Hollywood thriller but was illegally captured in the Indian Ocean and returned home. Last year the London High Court ruled that her father had ‘ordered and orchestrated’ her abduction and also that of a second daughter, Princess Shamsa, who was snatched outside a pub in Cambridgeshire in 2000 and hasn’t been seen since; and further found he had waged a campaign of fear against his sixth wife, Princess Haya, 45, who fled to the UK last year. Princess Latifa was last seen in public in December 2018, in a stage-managed photo call with former Irish president Mary Robinson who has since said she was tricked into believing Latifa suffered from a mental illness.

  Sheik Maktoum, 15 July 1949, is one of the richest heads of state in the world, the ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the UAE and has 30 children by six different wives. He has been a close friend of the Queen through his extensive racing interests in the UK though his horses have been dogged by doping concerns. He was also criticised heavily over the enslavement of young boys acting as camel jockeys; and for the conditions of immigrant workers in construction in Dubai.

He is a Sun Cancer in an expansive opposition to Jupiter; with a possessive Venus Pluto in Leo. It’s not a particularly hard chart – though houses will make a difference which we don’t know without a birth time. But the lifestyle and judicial system in Dubai, despite pretensions to being a Western tourist hotspot, is about four hundred years behind the times.

   He was always in for a shock this year with Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Saturn which accompanies a major setback of car-crash proportions – though the pandemic won’t be helping as tourist income sinks. 2022 has his Solar Arc Sun square his Uranus for a serious jolt; and by 2023/24 he has a discouraging, stuck Solar Arc Saturn square his Pluto and then square his Venus – blocked in several ways, financially and emotionally. That latter is a time when the Dubai chart is under major strain as well.

  Latifa, 5 December 1985, is a rebellious and adventurous Sun Uranus in Sagittarius sextile Jupiter; with Saturn Venus also in Uranus; and a Virgo Moon which will square her Sagittarius planets. There is nothing cheerful in her chart over the next three years, quite the contrary. She has a ‘shocking’ Solar Arc Uranus square her Mars this year; and two stuck, trapped, high-risk Solar Arcs in 2022/23 – SA Mars conjunct her Saturn and SA Pluto conjunct Sun.

   In addition to legitimate outrage over her distressing individual plight, there may be other knock on effects for the UK.

1. It – yet again – brings questionable Royal associations into the spotlight.

2. It also turns attention on UK arms’ sales to the UAE which have been used to bolster the indefensible, destructive and inhumane war on Yemen.

3. It could longer-term persuade footballers, celebrity influencers and tourists that there is a taint in being associated with the ‘City of Gold’. Maybe.

See previous posts: 6 March 2020. 4 July 2019. 28 August 2018.

Kim Novak, the veteran Hollywood star, has joined the long list of celebrities, prompted by their own experiences to become mental health activists. Her 1958 Hitchcock movie Vertigo was last year voted the greatest film ever and she worked opposite many of the great male leads of the time – Sinatra, William Holden, James Stewart, Dean Martin. But in the late 1960s she effectively retired, in part because of the recurrent depressions she suffered though she was not diagnosed as bi-polar until 2000. After she withdrew from showbusiness to marry an equine vet, she became a painter, helped her husband, enjoyed nature.

  She was born 13 February 1933 6.13 am Chicago, Illinois, with an Aquarius Sun in her first house sextile Uranus and inconjunct Pluto. Her Uranus was inconjunct an 8^th house Jupiter Mars in Virgo and square Pluto. Her coolly sophisticated Venus Saturn in Aquarius conjunct her Ascendant is trine an 8^th house Libra Moon and inconjunct Neptune. Three quincunxes would lead to strain and she wouldn’t be well supported emotionally in childhood. But she’s clearly a fighter. When Trump ridiculed her appearance at the 2014 Oscars, she went back two weeks later to do a live interview talking about bullies and has since campaigned on the subject.

  Her husband died recently and she’s bringing out an art book in his memory.

Kim Novak: Her Art and Life can be bought at kimnovakartist.com

Nicky Campbell, a UK TV and radio presenter, has also been talking about his bi-polar story, with a new book out One of the Family in which he talks of being adopted and the devastating effect it had on him, despite having supportive adoptive parents. He discovered along the way that his biological mother had also been a bi-polar sufferer.

  He was born 10 April 1961 8am Edinburgh, Scotland, and has an upbeat Sun Venus in Aries square Mars on one side and square Saturn on the other; and trine Uranus so he’ll be inclined to mood swings with such volatile aspects to his Sun – all systems-go then grinding to a halt with self-doubt. His 10^th house Moon opposes Uranus and is inconjunct Neptune. And he has a Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto North Node inconjunct Jupiter giving him more mood swings, at times towards grandiosity. He’s also got the expanding and contracting Saturn conjunct Jupiter of that year.

  No great conclusions come out of this and I’m no believer is using astrology for diagnostic purposes. They both have very different planets and houses. The strained quincunxes are the only common factor which won’t necessarily lead to mental illness though they do tend to produce strain and a sense of being different from others. What both share is a sense that animals are life and sanity savers.     

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 sit comfortably with Neptune’s Water.

Neptune in Aries 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.

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

Italy was unified in 1860 and Canada came into being.

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

In the UK parliament, the inspired leadership of Benjamin Disraeli pushed forward with parliamentary reform.

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, still in existence today.

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

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.

  Looking briefly at the above Neptune in Aries clearly marked key times for the English/UK monarchy and parliament.

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The grifter who fooled Manhattan has been let out of prison early because of Covid. Anna Sorokin pretended she was a German heiress worth billions, convinced banks to give her loans and overdrafts, stayed for months in five star Manhattan hotels without paying and stole money from friends by stiffing them with the bill for expensive trips and meals. She pleaded not guilty and maintained her innocence throughout trial, insisting it was all a misunderstanding. The judge remarked she was “stunned by the depth of the defendant’s deception.” On her release she promptly set up a new Twitter, which she used to troll the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and to ask for money.

 She was born in Russia on 23 January 1991, with a truck driver father and the family moved to Germany when she was in her teens.

  She has an Aquarius Sun conjunct Saturn North Node in Capricorn with her Sun trine Mars and opposition Jupiter in flamboyant Leo – a curious mix of Saturnine low self-esteem with Jupiterian aspirations. She has her Venus in Aquarius square Pluto in Scorpio which can turn on the charm to order and can have a deeply manipulative streak. She also has the highly strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn conjunct Mercury and an Aries/Taurus Moon.

Aquarius leaning heavily towards its Saturnine co-ruler – I’ve known several Aquarians who were out and out hustlers, belying the humanitarian-saint image of old style astrology.

  Her 9^th harmonic chart which seeks pleasure is the strongest – same as Ponzi-scheme crook Bernie Madoff. In her case it has a ruthless and innovative connection between Mars, Pluto and Uranus. Next strongest is her 11^th harmonic – ‘a so called Master Number, which means that it is difficult to live up to. The positive aspect is idealistic and inspired imagination. The negative aspects are fanaticism and unreasonableness, also dishonesty, greed, self-indulgence.’

 The future isn’t as bleak for her as she deserves with a lucky-break tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint on and off through this year; plus another lucky-break tr Uranus square her Jupiter next month; though she’s also got a couple of Neptune dips to negotiate as well in 2021. 2022/23 will be discouraging and deprived with tr Pluto conjunct her Saturn and then her Sun/Saturn midpoint into 2024. Though 2023/24 will have their confident moments at the same time.

  It is truly astonishing how far brass neck and zero sense of shame can get you. Her story is now being turned into a Netflix series produced by Shonda Rhimes, of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and Bridgerton fame.  Sorokin evidently used most of the $320,000 fee she was paid for the show to pay restitution to banks and other fines.  

Down the rabbit hole into the government’s never-never land fantasy, all will be spiffing in ten years’ time according to the Dominic Raab, the UK Foreign Secretary. Which is scant comfort, if not outrageously insulting, to businesses facing bankruptcy or having to relocate part of their operations inside the EU to survive. The right-wing media lie at the behest of their masters in No 10, unwilling to inform their readers they might just have made a glaring mistake; and Opposition leader Keir Starmer appears to be struck dumb, as the ‘teething troubles’ morph into permanent problems.  It’s a touch like the Republicans in the US who are terrified of upsetting their base with few seemingly capable of telling the electorate that – a) they were lied to; and b) they credulously swallowed it.

  However it is what it is. The question becomes – whither the UK this coming decade.

  There are two significant planets and houses on the UK 1801 chart being spotlighted in the near future.

   One is the financial 8^th house Mars in Taurus, ruling international and business finance – it is being battered by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus this year on and off till March 2022 with setbacks, shocks and high insecurity, plus perhaps a few disastrous accidents since that UK Mars is a crisis/disaster-magnet. Tr Uranus will move through the UK 8^th until 2026, making for an unstable, inconsistent financial phase – not necessarily all negative, but an exceptionally bumpy ride. It’ll be made more stressful on the money front because tr Uranus will square the 5^th house speculative Venus in 2022 along with tr Saturn conjunct; and moving on to hard aspect the 2^nd house Neptune thereafter.

   The other highlighted astro-area is the 5^th house Venus in Aquarius which picks up the Solar Arc Sun in opposition by late 2021 and the Solar Arc Midheaven conjunction in late 2022. Both of these sound superficially good news but I wonder whether Venus like Jupiter carries an undertow of negative energy?  Especially in the UK’s case since the Venus is badly aspected being square Mars on one side and square Neptune on the other as well as opposition Saturn.

Venus in mundane astrology is connected with national resources and finances through bankers, financial institutions and farming; and is associated with both peace and with war and negotiations leading to peace. More generally it rules recreational events, sporting events and celebratory gatherings, fashion, entertainment, cultural areas and children. Negative indicators are emotional upsets for the country and setbacks to the financial markets.

  2023 looks road-blocked with Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun though at the same time tr Pluto will square the UK 10^th house Jupiter for a confident push and tr Jupiter also moves through the 8^th in 2023 for an easing of financial problems.

  2025 has a fairly cataclysmic Solar Arc conjunct the Mars for a major financial upset (and other disasters). But thereafter tr Uranus moves out of the 8^th in 2026 which should also help to stabilise the economy. At that point Jupiter is moving through the 10^th for a year which will help to boost prospects and national reputation.

  Tr Neptune moves out of the employment 6^th house in 2027 and tr Pluto moves into the ambitious 5^th from 2029.  It may be marginally less than a decade for better results to come through but it will be an exceedingly painful transition.

  Looking back on previous Solar Arc midheavens to the UK Venus in 1927 and 1836:

1836 – the Solar Arc Midheaven in Leo was opposition the UK Venus. After 1840, Britain committed its economy to free trade, with few barriers or tariffs, prompted by the view that the economy if left unfettered was poised to dominate world trade which it did by the 1850s. Though it failed in its broader goal of ‘regenerating’ societies and as an ideal it owed much to the misplaced optimism of British policy-makers and their partial views of the world than to an understanding of the realities of the globe.

 1927 – the Solar Arc Midheaven in Scorpio was square the UK Venus, moving on two years later to conjunct the UK Neptune over the Crash. The late 1920s in the UK, following the General Strike of 1926, saw growth become erratic, with brief periods of stagnation and then sinking with the Wall Street crash in 1929. In the US market returns on the stock market shot up in 1927/28 before collapsing.

  Stock market charts are often unreliable as indicators – and the markets anyway often bear no relation to the economy itself as it affects ordinary people. But for what its worth and since the UK Venus sits in the chart area of speculation – the FTSE First Trade 3 January 1984 10am London chart, is trapped and scary (presumably with losses) through 2021/22; with further jolts and jangles from this July onwards; with late 2022/early 2023 looking the most discouraging time with two downbeat Solar Arcs and a ‘financial bubble bursting’ or at least high-hopes-dashed tr Neptune square the FTSE Jupiter.

Mario Draghi has been sworn in as Italy’s 30^th prime minister since 1946 to head the 67^th government as the country struggles to emerge from the pandemic. He is tasked with rescuing the economy from the worst recession since the second world war. He won the backing of almost every large political party and will lead a mixed government of technocrats and politicians. The main priority will be to work out how to spend over €200bn (£175bn; $240bn) of EU recovery funds to rebuild from the pandemic. He is being welcomed as a miracle worker and saviour though it’s not clear how long his “Super Mario” nickname will hold given the considerable challenges facing Italy until mid decade.  See previous posts: Draghi – 7 February 2021; and Italy January 27 2021.

  His Administration chart is set for today at approximately 12 noon (anyone with an accurate oath-taking time do please say).

  The stellium of planets in Aquarius are 9^th and 10^th house which suits a technocratic government, charming, good PR, strong opinions, intellectual and keen to communicate – or reach out internationally, being 9^th house. Most of the Aquarius planets are either square a 12^th house Mars or Uranus – which also suggests a fairly explosive term, with a refusal to compromise, which may be internal argy-bargy between the warring parties. There’s a lacklustre, indecisive Moon Neptune square the Nodes which will foster illusions, delusions and won’t always produce practical results. Plus a stuck by circumstances-beyond-control Pluto in the financial 8^th – and that can also point to dirty dealings behinds the scenes.

  Quite a mixed bag.

The Trump impeachment proceedings are almost certain to end with a not guilty verdict despite horrifying video footage of the Capital invasion. But there is nothing indicating cheer on his chart ahead, quite the reverse.

   Last December’s Sagittarius Solar Eclipse knocked him for six as it hit his Full Moon amidships; and will repeat the process come June of this year with the Gemini Solar Eclipse conjunct his Sun, North Node, Uranus and opposition his Moon. He also has two nerve-shaking Solar Arcs, exact in six months’ time but in effect in the months before and after then. One is the financially undermining and panicked Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his 2^nd house Neptune; and Solar Arc Neptune opposition his 10^th house Uranus. Money and career direction will both go off track. These may well trigger late April into early May when he has a catastrophic tr Uranus square his Mars/Saturn midpoint and that last influence repeats this coming New Year and through January 2022.

   Plus he has tr Neptune square his Moon and Sun from March this year onwards running on and off till January 2023: and various swampy, disappointing additional Neptune transits to midpoints from late this month throughout the year and a trapped, enraged pair of Pluto assaults on midpoints this August through November. 2023 will be his nadir with totally blocked, scary and angry Solar Arc Mars square his Pluto and discouragingly stuck Solar Arc Pluto square his Saturn.

  Of his enablers: Ted Cruz, 22 December 1970, will have his moments of cheer this year interspersed with nerve-stretching drama. Even more so in 2022 when his Saturn in Taurus opposition Venus will be knocked sideways by tr Uranus square tr Saturn which may hit him financially; but he’ll be in a mood of bullish confidence all the same in 2022/2023 in patches with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint.

  Mike Lee, 4 June 1971, a Sun Gemini in an ideologue’s Air Grand Trine is questioning his path with the Eclipses, Lunar and Solar, stirring up his Sun and Jupiter Neptune this coming year; and has a shock/dose of high insecurity in July onwards, with likely over reactions on his part as tr Uranus squares his Mars. Like Cruz he’s in for a hard push in 2022/23 but it’ll be an uphill struggle with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto and opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoints.

  Lindsey Graham, 9 July 1955, looks confused if not devastated now and in turmoil in 2022/23 with tr Pluto square his Neptune this year and then moving on to oppose his Uranus Mars. He’ll get some uplift later this month and through March but from late March he’ll slide back down the ladder into a disaster he won’t have the motivation to tackle.  In general this year is logjammed for him with Solar Arc Pluto square his Mars; with tense jolts from July onwards.

Josh Hawley, 31 December 1979, is having ups and downs this year with some light relief and a few successes spread out through just as many disasters and failures. Late February to late March this year and mid October to mid January 2022 look especially dire.

Meghan has won her preliminary privacy battle with the Daily Mail over publication of part of a letter to her father (so far, pending an appeal which may or may not happen.) This judicial decision saves a trial in which Meghan, her friends, her biographer, former Royal aides and her father would have been expected to appear – not a prospect the Palace would have viewed with enthusiasm. It was an unexpected ruling with some legal experts unhappy. Mark Stephens, a libel lawyer, described it as “a good day for PR men”. “You are putting manacles on the media.” he said. He pointed to a future scenario in which advantage falls to rich and powerful people who can afford sophisticated PR companies.

  The timeline as I understand it was: – Meghan’s friends, allegedly without her knowledge, gave an interview to a US news magazine in support of her and referring to a letter she wrote to her father. Her father, Thomas Markle did not accept the letter was as positive as described and wanted to balance his side by handing over the letter to the Daily Mail to publish.  The Mail’s case was in part based on the argument that Meghan knowingly supplied information to the media via friends; and had written the letter with the assistance of Palace aides, indicating she knew it would be published.

  Thomas Markle looks unsettled and pressured at the moment with tr Uranus square his Pluto and tr Saturn in opposition to his Pluto this month, in addition to the start of a two year haul of tr Pluto opposition his Cancer Sun.

  His relationship chart with Meghan also looks agitated, aggravated and tense this month with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the composite Mars and then the composite Mercury in March and April, so there could be a kick back. And their connection continues to be mired in suspicion and disappointment as the year wears on.

   Meghan’s own chart looks mainly challenging this year with the odd stroke of luck and money rolling in. Tr Pluto will oppose her Sun/Mars midpoint from later this month, one and off till late 2022; with confusion and tensions mid year onwards. Tr Uranus square tr Saturn will be battering her Leo Sun all this year from late March onwards into 2022 for setbacks and disruptions. And into 2022 Saturn moves through her 8^th tightening the money supply.

  Her relationship with the Queen is in a state of upheaval from late this month onwards and hitting more disappointment during the year with first tr Pluto conjunct the composite Uranus and then tr Neptune square the composite Sun. It’s not much better between herself and Prince Charles .

   Harry is having a sinking year with tr Neptune moving to oppose his Virgo Sun from late April onwards, on and off till January 2023. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn will hit his Saturn from mid this year and more pointedly his Midheaven in 2022, knocking him this way and that in terms of career and life’s direction. From mid 2022 tr Uranus moves across his IC and into his 4^th house of family which usually coincides with a house move or relocation and it can also bring upsets in the family. And poor soul, he has a raft of difficult and blocked Solar Arcs between 2023 and 2025.

  His relationship with Meghan has that truly difficult composite Saturn Pluto square Moon which is under pressure now but will amplify with tr Pluto opposition the composite Moon in 2022/23. His relationship with his brother William will worsen this year from April onwards so there’ll be no rapprochement any time soon.

  All very sad. More so if her father dies before she sees him again. The whole scenario was hideously badly handled pre the wedding, even given the obviously tricky family relationships.

  It’s not that the tabloids can’t be rancid – the Daily Mail online gets more like a Victorian freak and horror show by the day. But picking a fight with them is usually unwise especially if you want to use them for your own ends for ‘good’ publicity. You sign a pact with the devil and the devil will have his due.   

   Meghan does appear to have added clean-up-the-media to her mission statement of do-goodery causes. It remains to be seen how much that blows back on her.

PS Additional thought. Part of the offending letter was published in the judge’s ruling and it did read as ‘manufactured’, not the kind of private letter you’d dash off to a parent. And her thoughts on her recent miscarriage read oddly as well. Despite the sad nature of the event she was describing, her language was almost novelesque.

  The jinxed Berlin Brandenburg Airport has continued its run of bad luck with the pandemic cutting passenger numbers to a tenth of the expected. Originally planned for opening in 2011, it was set to become one of Germany’s busiest, but became a national embarrassment with delays caused by poor construction planning, execution, management, and corruption. It finally opened for commercial traffic on 31 October 2020 and has now announced the closure of one of the terminals and runways.

  Construction started on 5 September 2006 when the Virgo Sun was in an exact opposition to Uranus; and it welcomed its first plane on 31 October 2020 when the Scorpio Sun was in an exact opposition to Uranus. So disruption is written into its destiny.

   The start chart also has a wannabe-grand Saturn in Leo in an undermining opposition to Neptune and square an overly- hopeful Jupiter.  The Mars in Virgo is conjunct a South Node and both are in a ruthless and frustratingly stuck square to Pluto. Mars will be rattled in 2023 by the Solar Arc Sun opposition Uranus; with more ructions in 2022 from tr Uranus square the Saturn and Neptune.

   The opening chart apart from the Sun Uranus, has the Jupiter Saturn Pluto conjunction with Mars in Aries in square – not a great time to kick start a new project into gear. There’s also a focal point Neptune squaring onto the North/South Node access for dither, delay and dashed hopes.