Bashar Assad of Syria’s fortunes are running on track with the astrology. It was always puzzling when he was generally deemed to be the victor of the brutal civil war, aided and abetted by Russia and Iran. Yet what his Presidency chart, 17 July 2000, showed was escalating pressure, fear and devastation from 2019 for several years therafter. Tr Pluto has been in a dead-halt opposition to the Mars, then Sun/Mars midpoint and is now aiming to oppose the Cancer Sun (conjunct Procyon, lord of rises and falls) in 2021/22.

In his desperation to stay on top and quell dissension he has almost destroyed the country and its economy. In recent months there has been hyperinflation, mass business closures, food shortages and widespread unemployment. Not only is coronavirus a major threat but there could also be a famine coming. Assad has already started targeting his own wealthy relatives and seizing their assets. His popularity out on the street and amongst the elite is sagging and there are even suggestions he may be ousted altogether.

It Pluto opposing his Administration Sun in 2021/22 could be the turning point – transform or implode – and its difficult to see what options there are for rebooting a destroyed Syria. Though if he does go he’s likely to be replaced by another establishment figure.

His personal chart, 11 September 1965, has a panicky, undermining tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun till January next year; but much worse is a catastrophic run of Solar Arcs stretching from 2022 to 2027 which will collide his central configuration of Sun, Uranus, Pluto opposition Saturn in its Solar Arc position with his Mars Neptune in Scorpio. Shocks, collisions, setbacks, high insecurity, violence – it will be the crisis of his life, worse than anything he has lived through over the past decade. Difficult to see how he will come out of it intact. See previous post October 8 2019

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/11/assad-syria-collapse-313276

Cristiano Ronaldo is on track to become football’s first billionaire, about to join golfer Tiger Woods and boxer Floyd Mayweather in the sports super-wealthy club. Ronaldo has been a shrewd marketer of his brand as well stratospherically well-paid for his on-field talent.

He was born 5 February 1985 Funchal, Portugal at 10.20 am according to his mother. This puts his Aquarius Sun and Mercury in the 11^th house; with a serious-about-business Saturn in obsessive Scorpio in his financial 8^th; with his North Node in money-minded Taurus in his 2^nd house. Not a sharer, that’s for sure. If the birth time was a few minutes out it might even put his Pluto in the 8^th as well. His Jupiter in ambitious Capricorn is also inclined towards money and status; and oddly enough Aquarius does appear in the lists of the world’s most wealth.

His Pluto is in a successful and pushily-confident square to his Jupiter. His Sun is square his tenacious and tough-minded Saturn/Pluto midpoint; his Uranus is conjunct his Jupiter/Pluto for a lucky streak; and his Jupiter is conjunct his Mars/Saturn midpoint so he revels in the discipline required to get to and stay at the top. He’ll do even better by 2023 when tr Pluto is conjunct his Jupiter.

Tiger Woods, 30 December 1975 10.50pm Long Beach, California, is a Sun Capricorn on the point of a T Square to a confident and successful Jupiter in Aries opposition Pluto. With his Sun opposition his Mars/Saturn midpoint.

Floyd Mayweather, 24 February 1977 Grand Beach, MI, is a Sun Pisces with a hard-edged Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus; and a talented Half Grand Sextile from Venus opposition Pluto, sextile Neptune sextile Mars. His Jupiter (and Moon) are in indulgent, materialistic Taurus. His Pluto is square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint; his Jupiter is conjunct his Sun/Saturn and square his Sun/Mars; and his Uranus is opposition his Mars/Saturn.

So he has the same mix as the other two of luck along with the ability to succeed and very hard-driving aspects which push them on through pain, injury, exhaustion and the sacrifice of fun to reach the sporting heights.

I’m never convinced that these guys are good role models. While it may be motivating to see someone succeeding despite coming from a poor background in the case of Ronaldo and Mayweather, it does give ordinary mortals over-inflated expectations of what’s possible. I worked a fair amount in India and used to be continually asked by clients when they were going to earn or win their billion. To which my response was – try to be satisfied with what you achieve, whether it’s ten, fifty or a hundred thousand. But none of them wanted to be a millionaire, it was only ever billionaire. For 99.99% of the population it’s never going to happen. The unattainable makes people feel like a failure which is a shame.

Spike Lee’s latest movie Da 5 Bloods about four African American veterans returning to Vietnam in search of the remains of their team leader, releasing this week on Netflix, couldn’t be more timely. Peter Bradshaw described it as “an explosion of satire and emotional agony about … the fact that black deaths count.” “It’s a rip-roaring adventure yarn, a modern-day remake of The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and a deeply heartfelt tribute to the black men who risked their lives for their country overseas, only to find their country barely valued theirs once they returned home.”

African-Americans at the time complained they were disproportionately drafted, assigned to combat units and killed in Vietnam. In the early years of the war African-Americans, approximately 11 percent of the civilian population, made up 16.3 percent of draftees and 23 percent of combat troops. Yet few Vietnam War movies reflect their experience.

Spike Lee has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump describing him as Agent Orange and “that Klansman in the Oval office”. He says: He will “go down in history as the worst president of the United States Of America”. “If this guy wins (in 2020), the world is in peril. Not just the United States Of America. The world.”

Spike Lee was born 20 March 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, his mother a teacher of arts and black literature and his father a jazz musician and composer. He was making films in college and never stopped with his company producing 35 films since 1983, earning multiple awards.

He’s (probably) a final degree Sun Pisces in an expansive opposition to Jupiter in Virgo and trine an innovative Uranus and sextile Mars in argumentative, outspoken Gemini. His Mars is also in a frustrated and do-or-die determined square to Pluto. He’s got a couple of Yods of Sun sextile Mars inconjunct Neptune; and Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Sun Mercury – a unique individual, who uses his outsider status to good effect.

Spike Lee’s Pluto is conjunct Trump’s Mars for an inflammatory chemistry of hostility and dislike; with his Saturn opposition Trump’s Uranus for more tension.

He looks aggravated this year with his Solar Arc Sun Mercury conjunct his Mars, and his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Uranus. Though that may be more social and political than responses to his career. He’s on a good roll ahead with tr Pluto in a successful trine to his Jupiter from March 2021 through to late 2022 and beyond since tr Pluto moves onto a super-confident opposition to his Sun/Jupiter midpoint in 2022/23 and then forms an influential sextile to his Mercury Sun in 2023/24.

PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS

Possible Joe Biden VP choices – limited to women – are deemed to be five possibles but won’t be chosen for several more weeks. This is a speed read through what info is available in the near future from the charts, most without birth times.

Of the three showing Jupiterian bounty: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor of Atlanta, 18 January 1970, a Sun Venus in Aquarius, has a lucky-break tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint from mid August and through till after mid-November.

Stacey Abrams, 9 December 1973, a Sun Neptune Sagittarius, has tr Uranus square her Jupiter in Aquarius from today through to early July, though quite a raft of downbeat influences thereafter into 2021 and beyond.

Kamala Harris, 20 October 1964, a Sun Libra, picks up a lucky-break tr Uranus square her Sun/Jupiter midpoint in early July running to late September and again in early 2021; though she looks very blocked over the election itself.

Susan Rice, 17 November 1964, Sun Neptune in Scorpio, hasn’t much of note showing in either direction. Val Demings, 12 March 1957, a Sun Pisces opposition Jupiter, has been pushing hard against serious resistance and looks in for a setback at the election and trapped through 2021.

Prince Philip is 99 today, locked-down in semi-isolation with the Queen at Windsor. Since his retirement from public life three years ago he has lived mainly at Sandringham, 100 miles away, and this is the longest they have spent together in years.

He was born 10 June 1921 (with an unverified birth time) in Corfu, Greece, into a European Royal family, his father Prince Andrew having claims to the thrones of Greece and Denmark and his mother, Princess Alice, being a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Having been exiled in the aftermath of WW1 the family settled in France, his older sisters married pro-Nazi Germans, his mother was hospitalised with schizophrenia and his father retired to Monte Carlo. Philip was educated partly in England, then in Gordonstoun, Scotland at a school, whose Jewish founder Kurt Hahn had fled Nazi persecution. After which he went into the British navy and served during World War 11.

Elizabeth fell in love with him when she met him aged 13, he proposed when she was 20 and they married a year later in 1947.

Philip is a feisty, assertive and none-too-patient Sun Mars in Gemini square Saturn in hard-working Virgo. His tendency to speak too abruptly comes also from Mercury conjunct Pluto trine Uranus. Pluto adds intensity and Uranus has a reputation of being outspoken.

In some ways he is not unlike his mother Princess Alice, 25 February 1885, who was a Sun Mars in Pisces opposition Jupiter in Virgo square Pluto in Gemini with Saturn also in Gemini – so highly Mutable and scattered.

Queen Elizabeth is the exact opposite with an incredibly Fixed and enduring chart. She would offer stability and his Venus in Taurus in an affectionate conjunction to her Sun and both sharing Moon Neptune in Leo, there would be resonances. Though it wasn’t always the easiest of matches with his Sun Mars square her Uranus for differing agendas. On the other hand his Sun Mars falls in her 5^th so children will be a strong connection, as well as sport; and he’d liven her up to have fun and play more than she might otherwise.

His father Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark was a Sun Venus in Aquarius, with a stellium in Taurus of Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto and perhaps a Leo Moon – so in many ways Philip’s parents had the same kind of marriage – one partner incredibly Fixed and the other incredibly Mutable.

Philip and the Queen’s relationship chart has a passionate composite Venus trine Pluto and a smoothing-rough-edges Venus trine Jupiter which would bring a strong bond. Though there’s also a bad-tempered, restrictive composite Mars opposition Saturn indicating a one-sided relationship where one partner has to sacrifice a good deal of their identity to make it work.

Their wedding chart was in part delightful with Venus and Jupiter both trine Pluto and sextile Neptune; and the other part quite horrific with a composite Mars Saturn opposition Moon square Sun so considerable amounts of aggravation and resentment ahead.

Philip’s relationship with Princess Anne was always easier than with Charles. Philip’s Leo Moon is conjunct Anne’s Sun and his Jupiter in conjunct her Moon and his Venus falls in her 7^th – good cross overs. With Charles there is a connection with Philip’s Venus conjunct Charles 10^th house Moon but otherwise it’s not so harmonious. Their composite chart has a Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune and a Moon square Mars – so suspicious, undermining and irritable.

Though admittedly it would be an impossible relationship for Philip who had already had to step back and down because of the Queen’s position; and an eldest son, who would assume prime importance would be another sacrifice for him to make.

The toppling of the statue of English merchant, slave trader, Tory Member of Parliament and philanthropist Edward Colston in Bristol is dividing attitudes. There has been pressure since the 1990s to have his statue removed and a museum might have been a better place for it.

Born 2 November 1636 JC in Bristol, he came from a wealthy merchant family, initially traded in wine, fruits and cloth and became involved in the slave trade through his membership of the Royal African Company, which held a monopoly of the English trade in African slaves. He used his wealth to support and endow schools, hospitals, almshouses and churches in Bristol, London and elsewhere and his name is commemorated by several Bristol landmarks, streets, schools.

The Times: “Colston was a leading official of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692, when it was responsible for the enslavement and transportation of 84,000 Africans, of whom more than 19,000 died en route to the Caribbean and America. He also invested in the Spanish slave trade and in slave-produced sugar. As Tory MP for Bristol he defended the city’s right to trade in enslaved Africans. At the time slavery was generally condoned in England and Europe by the church, intellectuals and the educated classes. John Locke, the celebrated philosopher of liberty, was a shareholder in the Royal African Company.”

He was a determined Sun Neptune in Scorpio with Pluto Moon in Taurus so not one to budge easily and clearly well-designed for money-making enterprises. His Pluto was in a confident and lucky trine to Jupiter in Virgo. He also had a hard-edged Saturn Mars in Capricorn in a brooks-no-interference and autocratic square to Uranus. Despite his charitable good works he wasn’t exactly dripping in sentiment.

Bristol has been around for aeons though it was given a Royal Charter in 1155 (no date) and then another charter to mark it out as a county on 8 August 1373 JC which gives it a stellium in Leo from a final degree Sun plus Uranus, Mercury, Venus with Mars Moon and Neptune spread out through Aries; and Pluto in Taurus widely square Saturn in Aquarius. At the moment Solar Arc Saturn is opposing its Pluto as protests have risen about the slave-trading money used to improve the city.

In Antwerp a statue of King Leopold the former Belgian monarch and colonial ruler was set on fire in protest at his oppressive rule of Congo and then removed. His rule from 1865 to 1909 involved a reign of terror in the Congo, which he ran as his personal property before it became a Belgian colony. In recent days, his statues in Brussels, Ostend, Ghent and other cities have been defaced, set on fire, covered in paint and daubed with the words “I can’t breathe,” the last words of George Floyd.

King Leopold, 9 April 1835 1.30 am Brussels, had a brutal chart with a control-freak Sun Pluto in Aries in an unyielding opposition to Saturn in a cruel and ruthless square to Mars in Cancer. Not a charmer. His Solar Arc Saturn is now exactly conjunct his Sun for a karmic and long delayed moment of reckoning. For more detail on Leopold and the Congo – and Ben Affleck see post November 25 2019.

J.K. Rowling appears to have tramped on the trans-lobby’s hyper-sensitive corns by suggesting that sex is real and that ‘persons who menstruate’ are actually called women. That brought the howling dervishes around her ears on twitter and elsewhere and she was accused of being an ‘aggressive biological existentialist’. In return she accused her accusers of being misogynist. Martina Navratilova pitched in with support for her, mentioning the importance of defending a level playing field in women’s sport.

Her latest children’s book has been less of a sensation than the Harry Potters leading to suggestions that she’s now out of favour. Not that she’ll worry too much given her reputed £750 million wealth though it may dent her ego.

She was born 31 July 1965 at 9.10pm (rectified from approximate time), Liverpool, England. She is an entertaining Sun Leo in a creative square to Neptune in her 9^th house which rules publishing and communication. With her Sun in a helpful trine to her Midheaven. She also has a stellium in communicative Virgo of Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Pluto and Moon. Her Uranus, Pluto and Moon oppose Saturn squaring onto a lucky, confident and scattered Jupiter in Gemini. Her Moon on the cusp of her 8^th and Mars in her 8^th give her added intensity.

She has tr Uranus on the cusp of her outspoken 3^rd house exactly square her Sun at the moment, and that will be around for almost another year – so expect more blunt opinions. She’s on her Progressed Moon Return so will be rethinking her life and maybe her public relations for the next cycle head. It’ll have a bumpy start with tricky Solar Arcs over the next four or five years – a blocked Solar Arc Pluto square her Sun in 8 months’ time; then Solar Arc Uranus square her Sun in late 2022; followed by Solar Arc Mars square Uranus, Pluto, then Saturn between 2022 and 2025. Tr Neptune will square her Jupiter bringing a few disappointments, perhaps financial or domestic in 2022/23; and tr Neptune will then oppose her Moon in 2023. During this next phase as well tr Saturn will move below her Ascendant into a lower profile few years from 2022 onwards. So time to step back, return to the drawing board and revision.

PS: I’m too old for this trans-terf argument and watch the whole screeching and screaming farrago with disbelief. My hackles go straight up anyway with all the acronymic jargon. Trans exclusionary radical feminist, for heaven’s sake = “a brand of ‘radical feminism’ that is so rooted in sex essentialism and its resulting biologism, it actively campaigns against the existence, equality, and/or inclusion of trans people.”

Not sure what astrology it reflects – or should that be the other way round. Aquarius is androgynous, against the biology, but it hasn’t got into gear yet. And the Terf term evidently popped up in 2008. Doesn’t sound remotely Pluto in Capricorn. Though maybe the Pluto square Uranus from 2012 onwards stirred up support for the marginalised members of society. Though doesn’t feel like the answer. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Add ON: Thinking of this less in terms of present day astro-influences, but more as a generational divide might make sense. Through the 1990s Uranus and Neptune were conjunct, or in orb, and after 1995 Uranus was in Aquarius until 2003 with Neptune belatedly catching up. Uranus Neptune together can be inspired but can also be fanatical and frankly off-the-wall, hanging onto opinions in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong.

“In terms of awareness and language, there is definitely a generational shift going on,” says Finn Mackay, a sociology lecturer at the University of the West of England and author of a forthcoming book on female masculinities and the gender wars.  “We know that Generation Zers, a marketing term used to define those born roughly between 1995 and 2003, are most likely to use different pronouns like they/them, or to identify as non-binary, and they see these terms as a lot more fluid.”

Uranus in Aquarius it is with a smidgeon of Neptune for good measure.

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Prince Andrew’s spat with the US Department of Justice has escalated with a formal DOJ request to the UK Home Office for legal assistance to quiz him over the Epstein affair, sidestepping Buckingham Palace. Such requests are used only in criminal cases and could mean Andrew is forced to appear in a British court as a witness within months. He denies all culpability. His lawyers have hit back with claims that he has been co-operating and saying they will publish a full account of their dealings with the DOJ.

This was always when Andrew’s relationship to his principal protector, his inexplicably devoted mother, the Queen was going to flash red alert (see previous post November 16 2019). Their relationship chart has a loaded composite Pluto opposition Mars Midheaven. Mars Pluto in a relationship chart usually describes a relationship in which one side dominates – and it appears in many of HMQ’s family relationships. Exactly now tr Uranus is square the Pluto and by the middle of this week will square the Mars, and in July the Midheaven. So it’ll rock their connection considerably and those influences crash on till spring 2021.

His relationship with his brother Charles, never great at the best of times, has been rattled recently with tr Pluto opposition the composite Uranus from earlier this year; and will move into a tension-erupting phase from early this July with tr Uranus opposition the composite Saturn which will continue on and off into 2021 with a further rupture from tr Uranus square the composite Moon from mid 2021 to 2022.

Andrew’s own chart has this year picked up the tr Pluto square Midheaven running to late 2021 which is the classic fall-from-grace, destroyed-reputation, career-blocking influence. Exactly now his Progressed Moon is opposition his 1^st house Uranus for an emotional shock. That will pass by within weeks though tr Uranus in a nerve-stretched opposition to his 4^th house Neptune picking up mid this week and running to early July, and again on and off into 2021 won’t disappear so quickly. Uranus on Neptune can provoke irrational and obdurately stubborn responses.

It’s difficult to see how he can make a comeback from this point and all of his official duties have evidently been terminated in perpetuity. But he has a curiously upbeat Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Jupiter, exact in 2022 and his Solar Return for 2021 has Jupiter in his 10^th – so who knows quite what that will bring? Though 2022/23 also see a deeply frustrating and trapped tr Pluto conjunct his Mars and then Venus – so not all picnics and champagne ahead.

His close family all look seriously rattled at the moment and for months ahead. His not-quite-ex-wife Sarah Ferguson has tr Uranus opposition her Mercury this month which will make her agitated; the Cancer Eclipse, also this month, is opposition her 2^nd house Saturn (bringing financial chickens home to roost as their Swiss chalet fails to sell to pay off debts); and into 2021/22 tr Pluto is in a scary, trapped square to her Mars.

Princess Beatrice, whose wedding has been delayed, has a disruptive tr Uranus opposition her Pluto this month and on into 2021; with the June Cancer Solar Eclipse causing a considerable emotional upset as it is conjunct her Venus Moon; and the December Sagittarius Eclipse will rattle her Uranus Saturn – so not a good time.

Princess Eugenie has tr Uranus in a shocking and insecure square to her Mars now and into early 2021; and a discouraging tr Pluto conjunct her Saturn till late this year. None of them look sanguine about life getting easier. (See previous post on family November 22 2019.)

Operation Overlord, the successful World War 11 invasion of German-occupied Europe, by allied forces started with landings in Normandy, France on 6^th June 1944. It was an extraordinary logistical exercise with 1,200-planes bombing in advance of 160,000 troops being landed having crossed the English Channel in an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. By late August more than two million Allied troops were in France with German forces in retreat. General Dwight Eisenhower was in overall charge with General Montgomery overseeing land forces – there were possibly around half a million casualties in all.

The chart for the initial landing was stark, with a brutal, do-or-die determined Mars Pluto in Leo on the focal point of a Neptune trine Uranus Venus – so no doubting its magnitude or intent. It had been keyed up by the previous January 1944 Solar Eclipse which had a heavily-loaded Air Grand Trine of New Moon in Aquarius trine an explosive Mars Uranus trine Neptune, with the New Moon opposition Pluto. Tr Jupiter in Leo was then exactly conjunct the France Uranus in Leo with freedom in sight.

The Solar Eclipse of July 1944 which occurred during the two-month campaign fell at 27 degrees Cancer, exactly opposition the USA Pluto and conjunct the Germany 10^th house Uranus. That was in a Saros Cycle which repeated in September 2016 just before Trump’s election; in August 1998 as the Lewinsky scandal broke leading to Clinton’s impeachment; in August 1980 preceding Reagan’s election; and more significantly in July 1962 which in the aftermath saw the Cuban Missile Crisis erupt (and the death of Marilyn Monroe.) Clearly that Solar Eclipse is in a cycle of major importance for the USA but it won’t repeat in that cycle again until 2034.

What does repeat this year is the Capricorn Lunar Eclipse which in July 1944 fell at exactly the degree of this July’s Lunar Eclipse.

There were Lunar Eclipses at this degree in Capricorn in July 2007 when what was described as the most prominent funeral of all time occurred for Michael Jackson who died in the June.

The preceding one in July 2001 fell just before 9/11 and the Afghanistan War – and Enron bankruptcy.

Before that a same degree Lunar Eclipse in July 1982 oversaw the Falklands War and the Lebanon War.

Another in July 1963 preceded the Martin Luther King ‘I Have a Dream’ speech a few weeks later to a crowd of 250,000, then the largest protest ever seen in Washington, DC.

That it should have a significant and dramatic effect on USA is not surprising given that it is conjunct the US Cancer Sun. The massive Black Lives Matter protests will be part of it.

All marginally complicated but intriguing – eclipses are generally thought to have an effect over several months following.