Royal scandals and tragedies are drawing an unwelcome spotlight with the louche lifestyle of Louis and Edwina Mountbatten now being exposed as the fortieth anniversary of his death at the hands of the IRA comes round. And that’s all on top of Prince Andrew’s Epstein sinkhole.

A new book – The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves lays bare bedhopping, gay affairs and dangerous liaisons. She had multiple affairs, including with Douglas Fairbanks, pianist Leslie Hutchinson, actor Paul Robeson and probably Indian PM Nehru, and was named as a co-respondent in a society divorce. He was bisexual having affairs with women, including maybe Shirley MacLaine. But there are also tales of him procuring boys from aged 8 to 12 years old, and some from the infamous Kincora Children’s Home in Belfast in the mid 1970s, as well as trawling the Life Guards Barracks in London for young soldiers.

What’s intriguing astrologically about Louis and Edwina is that both had see-saw charts, indicating a constant search for ANother opposite to make themselves feel whole.

Louis, born 25 June 1900 6am, Windsor, England was the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle and the Queen’s second cousin. His Cancer Sun in the hidden 12^th conjunct Neptune opposed a downbeat Saturn in Capricorn; and his sensual Mars in Taurus opposed Jupiter with his Gemini Moon and Pluto opposing Uranus. He also had Venus Mercury in Cancer in his 12^th. Not much love going around or stability in his aristocratic childhood. He would like to party with Jupiter Uranus in his 5^th and would definitely be unconcerned about transgressing norms of behaviour with such a strong Uranus.

Edwina born 28 November 1901 7am Romsey, England was the granddaughter and heiress to a millionaire magnate with her mother dying when she was 11. She had a 1^st house Sun Sagittarius so would be a live-wire personality; with an intense 8^th house Moon Neptune in Cancer opposition Mars, Jupiter, Saturn in Capricorn, and Uranus opposition Pluto. Not too much of an even keel in her childhood either despite lashings of money.

Their relationship chart was chaotic and constantly changing but very tied together. There was a composite Sun Mercury in an argumentative opposition to Mars square an adventurous Uranus and Jupiter opposition a possessive Pluto Moon. There would be a constant fight for control and the upper hand with aggravation and anger spilling out. Yet with Moon Neptune straddling the composite Midheaven trine Venus they would manage to maintain an ethereal aura in public.

They did have some positive astro-crossovers since his Cancer Sun and her Cancer Moon were conjunct and his Jupiter was conjunct her Sun. But his Saturn on her Mars and opposition her Neptune was never going to make for harmony and bliss.

Another astrological curiosity was the Solar Eclipse which occurred five days before he was blown up in late August 1979 while on holiday in Ireland along with his grandson. This particular eclipse in the 18 North Saros cycle came back round 18 years later for the death of Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, one day before that eclipse. 18 North is usually interpreted as illness or accident-prone and given to obsessive worry. And going back to 1961, the August solar eclipse was the closest to the birth of Lady Diana Spencer in July.

Billionaire and Republican donor David Koch has died, having suffered from prostate cancer for many years. He was born 3 May 1940 and along with his older brother Charles, 1 November 1935, is credited with funding the rise of the right in the Republican Party. They disliked Trump but others in the present administration – Mike Pence, Betty DeVos, Mike Pompeo, Scott Pruitt – are either friends or owe their careers to the Koch Bros. They were/are for small government, a free economy and against environmental protection.

Their father was a self-made oil man and tough.

David was a downbeat Sun Saturn in Taurus with his Sun conjunct Uranus as well – tight with money despite being a philanthropist of note; with his Jupiter in pro-active Aries in a pushily confident square to Pluto; and a passionately enthusiastic Mars Venus in Gemini square Neptune; and Saturn in an unyielding square to Pluto. Tough-minded and not exactly a bundle of laughs or sentimental or sensitive.

His brother Charles is equally fixed having a Scorpio Sun opposition Uranus which is sextile/trine Mars in money-minded Capricorn. His Jupiter in money-attracting Scorpio is in a hates-failure square to Saturn.

They wouldn’t always see eye to eye but their relationship chart had an affectionate composite Sun Venus opposition Jupiter square Uranus which would rub off a good many rough edges. Together their determination was unstoppable with a composite Mars Saturn trine Pluto. Together they certainly made a force for change – for good or for ill.

Charles, now 84 years old, looks shaken up at his brother’s death with tr Uranus hitting on his Uranus this year and next year his Sun; and is not too cheerful over the election if he sticks around for it with a disappointed-hopes tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Neptune midpoint.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/27/death-destruction-david-koch-legacy

Pic: Greg Skidmore.

Another creative  duo to hit the screens this year is actor Antonio Banderas in director Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory. ‘Part biopic, part bizarre personality fusion’, it features Banderas playing a Spanish film-maker looking back on his life. Their famously tempestuous creative partnership has brought them together in eight films over the past three decades.

Banderas, born 10 August 1960 9pm Malaga, Spain, is in the enviable position of having one foot in successful Hollywood movies and the other firmly planted in Spain, doing art house. He was married to Melanie Griffiths but they divorced in 2015.

He has a hard-working 6^th house Sun Uranus in entertaining Leo trine a lucky, talented Jupiter in his 10^th. Just as significantly he has a Yod onto apex planet filmic Neptune in the 8^th house, allowing him to project a powerful aura, from a Moon sextile Mars – he was clearly always destined to be a breakout star. He has an ultra-determined and charming Pluto Venus in Virgo square Mars and trine Saturn, so is highly disciplined and not one to give way easily.

Pedro Almodovar, 25 September 1949, is a maverick, innovative Sun Libra square Uranus, with a hard-working Saturn in Virgo; and a megaton Mars Pluto in Leo square Venus and Moon in Scorpio – passionate, high-energy and a steam roller when it comes to getting what he wants.

His Mars Pluto is conjunct Banderas’ Sun and Uranus so no surprises that sparks fly at times. But their relationship chart is well knit together with a Half Grand Sextile from a composite high-enthusiasm Mars opposition Jupiter which is sextile/trine Saturn as well as Sun Mercury. And there may be a composite T Square of Moon Uranus onto Neptune. Banderas caught Almodovar’s eye when in his early twenties and just starting out and they have worked together on and off since.

Charlie Chaplin was born within days of Adolf Hitler so will have certain similar markers on his chart. What does the loveable little tramp have in common with a murderous monster?

There are different ways of living out a chart’s energy and while it’s not a concept I’m comfortable with it can be partly explained in terms of the evolution of the soul that incarnates into that particular chart – more primitive or more advanced. There is also a mysterious ‘something’ which the astrology doesn’t pinpoint which will raise one individual to prominence and leave another in obscurity. There are likely to be several born with Picasso’s birth chart who may well have been creative but they never became world famous.

But in this particular example there may be more temperamental similarities than the public image suggests, with the caveat that Chaplin’s birth date wasn’t recorded – reckoned to be around April 16 1889. So it’s likely that Chaplin had a late Aries Sun to Hitler’s Taurus Sun, born 20 April 1889, which would make a difference. However they both almost certainly shared the earthy, sexually-driven, insensitive  Venus Mars in Taurus in a cruel/heartless square to Saturn in wannabe-important Leo.

Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Chaplin draws a few parallels – both men had drunken fathers and nervous mothers. There were patterns of madness and illegitimacy in the family tree. They were short and sported an identical moustache. They had marked histrionic skills, each man ‘appealing to millions of people with an almost mesmeric magic’. They were despotic towards underlings.

That Chaplin was a monster isn’t in doubt. He was a predatory sex offender, constantly bedding underage girls and had a frighteningly out-of-control temper. The sweetness of his screen image wasn’t borne out in the reality of his life. One assistant director described him as ‘a tyrannical, wounding, authoritative, mean, despotic man.’ His fourth wife Oona, who was nearly thirty six years younger than him, took to drink to escape his rages.

Chaplin did have an unthinkable childhood bouncing between an insane mother, the workhouse and home for destitute children and when his mother was despatched to the lunatic asylum suffering from the effects of untreated syphilis, he was handed over to his alcoholic father who died two years later of cirrhosis. A Dickensian nightmare. Instead of crushing him it seemed to have developed a megalomaniac desire to become famous – which he duly did.

Hitler’s childhood wasn’t as gothic though he did clash with his father. He also followed his dream with astonishing self-belief given his background.

Brazil’s rainforest is being burnt at an increasingly worrying rate, up 84% on last year, as the new Government under Jair Bolsonaro has made it clear their sympathies are with loggers rather than the indigenous groups who live in the forest. Farmers are clearing land for crop fields and cattle ranches because the new regime is keen to open up the region to economic activity. After an international outcry Bolsonaro ludicrously blamed NGOs for setting the fires.

He took over as President on 1 January 2019 at 4.50pm which puts Sun, Saturn, Pluto in the 8^th suggesting dirty-dealings in secret as well as major financial problems. Plus a slippery and ineffectual Neptune in the 10^th.

Born 21 March 1955,2.45pm Sao Paulo, Brazil, he’s a former Army officer, infamous for his racist, homophobic and misogynistic remarks and has a brutal and unbudgeable chart with Mars in Taurus opposition Saturn square Pluto opposition Moon Venus in Aquarius. He will be fairly impervious to pressure.   Though financial considerations may pull him back to some degree if international pressure keeps up.

See previous post January 2 2019.

Batshit crazy was one description of Trump after his latest series of unhinged ramblings. The Guardian remarked that his impromptu speech on the White House driveway had “swept away all previous Trumpian benchmarks for incoherence, self-aggrandizement, prevarication and rancor in a presidency that has seemed before to veer loosely along the rails of reason but may never have come quite so close to spectacularly jumping the tracks.”

His Messiah complex reached new heights with the ‘I am the Chosen One’ as he referred to himself as the King of Israel; he insulted the Danish PM, denied starting a trade war with China, praised Putin, blamed everyone in sight for anything that was going wrong and generally flew in the face of rational facts and reality. In a subsequent speech he was also slurring words badly even relatively simple ones.

The 25th Amendment hashtag went viral – Presidents unfit for office. Andrew Johnson, POTUS 1865 to 1869, was cited, whose impeachment related his “intemperate, inflammatory and scandalous harangues.” Though his chart, 29 December 1808, is not remotely similar to Trump’s with a pushily confident Jupiter Pluto in Pisces and a Capricorn Sun in an aggressive square to Mars.

Trump’s Solar Return for this year from June onwards does have Saturn Pluto in the 10^th which does point to a complete career roadblock and damage to reputation, especially since it is in an infuriated and trapped opposition to a 4^th house Mars and Mercury; plus a head-in-the-clouds Sun opposition Jupiter square a 12^th house Neptune. So completely boxed in and retreating off into fantasyland would be one reasonable interpretation.

His Term chart is now swimming around in a sea of unpopularity and confusion with tr Neptune conjunct the Venus until late September, which can have financial implications as well in a mundane chart. From August 25^th tr Pluto returns to square the Uranus which will make for more instability until mid November. And the Solar Arc Pluto will square the Uranus exactly in six months’ time. So it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he topples off his perch.

His relationship chart with the USA is back at teeth-gritting stage from late January 2020, on and off till late year. But even before then from mid November there’ll be a fair few hiccups running into mid December; and again in February 2020.

The Republican Party who appear incapable of facing up to the problem they foisted on the country will be more exercised about their huge headache in 2020 from early on, their concerns mounting as campaigning goes on. They are pretty locked into him and a separation would not be easy, bar inescapable health issues.

Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, is looking more than somewhat agitated about him late December into January 2020; and at breaking point come May 2020 onwards.

The next six months will clearly be critical and could be the make or break phase.

Martin Scorsese’s mob epic, The Irishman, his most expensive movie so far, about the crossover between organized crime and American politics, is due out late September. It’s the 9^th feature on which Scorsese and Robert De Niro have worked together – Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino etc; and also stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. Financed by Netflix, it is caught up in the streaming wars, since cinema chains are insisting on a three-month theatrical run while Netflix want it over exclusively onto their channel sooner.

Scorsese, 17 November 1942 12.24 am New York, has a charming and private 4^th house Sun Venus in Scorpio trine a 7^th house Pisces Moon trine Jupiter in Cancer – a healing, creative Water Grand Trine. He’s also got a much darker Mars in Scorpio square Pluto where his fascination for crime and violence will come from. He has a well-organized and innovative Uranus Saturn in Gemini in his 10^th trine a filmic Neptune.

Regarded as one of the most influential film makers of the 20^th century he does have a strongly aspected leaving-a-legacy 17^th Harmonic and a superstar 22H; as well as creative 5 and 7^th harmonics.

Robert De Niro 17 August 1943 3 am New York, has his entertaining Leo Sun conjunct Scorsese’s Ascendant and both have Pisces Moons, with De Niro’s ambitious Mars in Taurus falling in Scorsese’s 10^th opposition his Sun Venus – it’s a high-octane partnership.

De Niro looks energised over the premiere and at the moment with Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Jupiter; though also unsettled with a disruptive Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Sun. Like Scorsese his chart shows early 2020 as more upbeat and successful so the movie may gain traction once it has streamed for a few weeks.

Al Pacino, 25 April 1940 11.02 am New York, a heavyweight Sun Saturn in Taurus with a Sagittarius Moon looks jangled and jolted before, during and after the premiere with tr Uranus conjunct his Sun and Saturn; and will be in much better fettle from late January 2020 onwards as tr Pluto is square his Jupiter.

Joe Pesci, 9 February 1943 11.45 am New Jersey, an Aquarius with an Aries Moon and a gung-ho Mars in Capricorn opposition Jupiter, was hauled out of semi-retirement after much pleading to do the movie. With a late Capricorn Midheaven about to collect tr Saturn and Jupiter, it doesn’t look like he’ll be bowing out again too soon.

Please add below.  Older posts under News on top bar.

Escape to the Chateau isn’t quite the Truman Show but it’s a documentary series that followed Dick Strawbridge and Angie Adoree through their three-year renovation of a 45 room French castle, which hadn’t been lived in for forty years. Running water, heating and electricity had to be installed in time for their wedding and they continued after to build an events and wedding business there.

He’s an ex-Army officer, engineer and environmentalist, born 3 September 1959 in Burma; while she runs a Vintage fashion/hospitality business, born 7 April 1978.

He has his Sun, Moon, Pluto and two other planets in Virgo so is very earthy and meticulous; while she has her Sun, Moon and Mercury in Aries, so is fiery and inspirational. Aries and Virgo are not an intuitively good mix. But both are New Moon babies so relatively self-sufficient; he has a controlling Sun Pluto, while she has a Sun opposition Pluto; both have their Saturn in aspect to the other’s Jupiter which is probably a balancing factor; and both have their Venus in an earth sign. So in a way they have markedly similar character traits despite being different sun signs which will help them understand each other.

Their relationship chart has a well-integrated composite Sun in a sensible and enduring trine to Saturn and dynamic sextile to Mars; as well as being in a possessive square to Pluto; and an affectionate conjunction to Venus. Depending on birth times it’s also possible that there is a composite New Moon which makes for a complementary relationship in which both feel more whole when together.