Kendrick Lamar and Drake, two of the most acclaimed rappers of their generation, have been offloading a string of long-held resentments, insinuations and innuendo, in the way they know best by releasing a series of diss tracks. Drake denies allegations by Kendrick Lamar of underage sex and harbouring a secret child.
Since Friday, both have released songs “aimed at each other at a rapid clip, igniting pro-sports levels of spectating and driving hip-hop media personalities into overtime,” according to the Washington Post.
The feud dates back to the March release of a Lamar track boasting of his superiority to Drake which reached No 1 in the US. Whatever the ins and outs there is no doubt the spat is good for business as a pair of alpha rappers fight it out for dominance.
Drake, 24 October 1986 2.31 am Toronto, Canda, is a Sun Pluto in Scorpio square Mars in Aquarius – super-determined, not about to let slights go unchecked and a bit of a bulldozer. He also has Venus Mercury in Scorpio and a 5th house Neptune. A creative though not always realistic Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in Pisces trine a Cancer Moon trine Pluto and Venus will make him self-protective.
Kendrick Lamar, 17 June 1987 3.04 pm Compton, California, is a completely different temperament with a Gemini Sun opposition Uranus and Saturn in Sagittarius square a Pisces Moon. With Jupiter in Aries square Mars in Cancer.
Lamar’s Mars clashes with Drake’s Cancer Moon; and Drake’s Sun Pluto square Mars will make cooperation tricky no matter what the circumstances. Their relationship chart is volatile and competitive with a composite Sun Venus trine Mars trine Uranus, opposition Midheaven – but there is a sense of the aggravation being played up for reasons of ambition rather than genuine dislike. A cynic might say it is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth) But maybe I am just too old to tune into the deeper ramifications
Mama Cass Elliot who died fifty years ago had a clear, earthy voice that turned her into one of the central figures of the 1960s music scene with hits that still resonate – Dream a Little Dream of Me, Make Your Own Kind of Music, Lovin’ Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic, Summer in the City, California Dreaming. As an overweight Jewish girl she didn’t fit the usual mould but she was talented and determined.
Her daughter has written a memoir about her life, dispelling the myth that her mother died from choking on a ham sandwich when in reality she died of a heart attack at 32.
Born 19 September 1941 9pm Baltimore, MD, Cass battled obesity from a young age and as a teenager she was prescribed amphetamines to speed up her metabolism. Crash dieting and drug taking would feature over the course of the rest of Cass’s life though she had no drugs in her system when she died – spookily in the same London hotel bedroom Keith Moon died in four years later.
Cass Elliott had two brief marriages and produced one child, who did not learn of her paternity until she was 19 and has gone on to become a singer. “When she was in town, she was very involved,” is how she diplomatically sums up Cass’s mothering style.
Which fits with Cass Elliott’s 5th house Sun, Neptune in Virgo – musically talented, a performer, produced a creative child, but less than hands-on because of her touring and performing career. She also had Venus in Scorpio in her 6th which would be prone to over-weight, especially since it squared Pluto. Her Moon in Virgo was in her 4th, unaspected apart from a mild sextile to Venus – she would be hyper-anxious with a Moon Sun in Virgo and would have difficulty integrating a home and family existence into her lifestyle.
Her Sun Neptune were trine Saturn in Taurus conjunct Uranus close to her Ascendant from the 12th – inventive, inspired, earthy, stubborn. With an upfront, outspoken Mercury opposition Mars in Aries.
When she died on 29 July 1974, tr Uranus was opposition her Mars (which can be a heart attack signature for some) with tr Mars also exactly square her Uranus. Her Solar Arc Sun Neptune conjunction were also just moving into her 6th house of health.
Her daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, 26 April 1967, who was brought up by Cass’s sister from aged 7, is a Sun North Node in Taurus (a favoured singer’s sign since it rules the throat). She also has a yod of Mercury in Aries inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune; with Mercury opposing Mars (like her mother but in reverse signs). A yod apex planet Mercury starts life scattered but can become a good communicator and teacher. Owen’s Taurus Sun homes in on her mother’s 6th house Venus, which may be why the rumours of the ham-sandwich death have bothered her so much. Happily her Mercury opposition Mars squares onto Jupiter in Cancer giving her luck, optimism and enthusiasm.
ADD ON: I forgot to mention at the time her Chiron sitting on her IC in Leo seems significant. It would attract her to unattainable men – and she never seemed able to forge a meaningful commitment to a partner. Plus it may point to the wound her weight struggle played, damaging her Leonine wish to be the fairest of them all and spontaneous in her self-expression.
Big Tory losses in the local elections in England but no Labour landslide seems to be the consensus about what is undoubtedly a resounding defeat for the Tories, the worst since 1998. The political statisticians have been number crunching pointing to a near ten percentage-point swing from the Tories to Labour since December 2019 which repeated at a general election on a uniform swing would lead to a hung parliament with Labour as comfortably the largest party but still short of a majority.
Keir Starmer’s Leadership chart, 4 April 2020 10.45am does have tr Uranus square the Moon now for an emotional result but there is not exactly a celebratory feel about this chart this year with the slog-on Pluto conjunct the Saturn, worse through 2025 when tr Pluto is in a frustrating conjunction to the Mars and then tr Pluto makes a topple-off-perch square to the Uranus in 2026. This reflects his own personal chart, 2 September 1962, which looks unsettled in 2025 and grid-locked by 2026. Though this could be personal circumstances not necessarily reflecting the destiny of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party, 12 February 1906, has a liberating tr Uranus square the Sun Venus exactly now. With a lucky, upbeat, confident and successful tr Uranus conjunct the Jupiter from this August/September, repeating May 2025 and January to March 2026. But 2026 is when its problems really kick in with a blocked Solar Arc Sun Venus conjunct Pluto; and major-setbacks tr Saturn in hard aspect to its Cardinal Mars square Uranus opposition Neptune T square. That runs through 2027/28 as tr Neptune follows to undermine the T square.
The Conservative Party, 9 May 1912, is jangled and prone to internal eruptions with tr Uranus conjunct the Saturn now and SA Uranus conjunct the Saturn by 2026. Tr Neptune through this year into 2025 is ebbing away its influence; with a significant upheaval coming through 2025/2026 with tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus, hinting at a total turnaround – of a back-to-the-drawing board variety perhaps.
The LibDems, 3 March 1988, being of the early triple conjunction generation with Mars in the middle won’t enjoy success when tr Saturn Neptune move into and through Aries – with mid 2025/26 being panicky and there is not much cheer thereafter for several years as tr Neptune squares the Uranus, Saturn, Mars, Neptune.
The Reform Party, which is talking up a good win, in reality did not collect too many votes. But their leader Richard Tice, 13 September 1964, does look to be on the receiving end of a fair amount of good fortune from this July onwards till May 2025 and will stay buoyant despite a few setbacks. The Reform Party may benefit from tr Uranus moving into Gemini through 2026/27 with tr Uranus opposition the Sun and Jupiter in Sagittarius but alongside that will also face losses.
There is much water to flow under the bridge between now and the next election (before early 2025 at the latest) with tr Uranus square the UK Saturn in the 11th house (ruling the legislature) from next week to late May and again late December to mid March 2025 – that will see high tensions and a push for change within Westminster. 2025 will also see the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the UK 8th Mars. While not a political pointer it may have financial or other ramifications since it will give the UK a tremendous jolt. And by 2026 tr Uranus in Gemini will be square the UK Pluto for more upheavals and change.
Nothing too settled for a while.
ADD ON:
Rishi Sunak’s Term chart of 25 October 2022 11.15 am is certainly under pressure with tr Pluto square the Sun, Moon and Venus this year into 2025. It has lost the panicky-failure tr Neptune square the Mars and SA Mars which was around all last year until recently. And will be partially buoyed up by tr Pluto sextile the Jupiter mid July to early September and again late November through December – though alongside that is tr Pluto sextile the Saturn/North Node midpoint which is a discouraging slog. And an outright-failure Solar Arc Neptune is moving to close the square to Mars to exact before the end of the year and into early 2025.
His own chart, 12 May 1980, (maybe 2.40pm) Hampshire, England, had tr Uranus conjunct His Taurus Mercury and Sun recently for the final time but with the tr Uranus opposition his Uranus in place through the second half of this month and again late December to mid March 2025 – which suggests a major upheaval with old ambitions still to fulfil. Which may lie far sway from Westminster or maybe he just has a’ sod-it’ moment and decides life is too short for the hassle of the political whirlpool. From July 2025 he has tr Uranus square his Jupiter -maybe for a sign of relief as he bales and heads for California.
He will have a stroke of luck this August and September and again May 2025 with tr Uranus square his Jupiter/Node midpoint. His Term chart won’t overcome the SA Neptune Mars but he will have a few upbeat moments.
Actor Tom Selleck, best known for Magnum PI and Blue Bloods and still going strong at 79 has written his memoir. He’s had a long and prolific career playing cowboys early on before his breakout role in the long running Hawaii Magnum series. His membership of the NRA and right wing politics have raised a few eyebrows.
Born 29 January 1945 8.22am Detroit, Michigan, he does have a powerful and charismatic chart with an Air Grand Trine of an Aquarius Sun trine an 8th house Neptune trine Uranus in Gemini in his 5th house of entertainment; formed into a talented Kite by Sun opposition a 7th house Pluto. He also has a wide yod of Mercury in Capricorn (Mars and South Node) sextile Venus in Pisces inconjunct a 7th house Leo Moon.
A yod focal point Moon tends to be private and emotionally vulnerable as well as disorganized initially though will present an ability to connect with the public. UK Actor John Nettles of TV Bergerac and Midsomer Murders renown also has a Yod focal point Moon.
It may be significant that Selleck escapes the madness of Hollywood to plant trees on his ranch – hinting as gardeners did (see post Piet Oudolf) that finding harmony in nature helps overcome the troublesome nature of the yod in his emotional life.
When he got his breakout role in 1980 tr Uranus was conjunct his Midheaven and more pertinently square his Moon nudging his yod onto a different track.
Neptune, the shape shifter, creative, compassionate, idealistic, ethereal, escapist, evasive, downright dishonest, chillingly cruel, addictive-prone and commitment-phobic is a complex, multi-faceted energy and tricky to pin down. Its’ artistic repertoire tends to focus on music but also the image – photography and films.
On the Ascendant Neptune can give ‘bedroom eyes’, an attractive, appealing appearance which draws bystanders in with a magnetic power though may hide a ragbag of self delusion and confusion. Sensitive, impressionable, easily led.
Neptune in the 2nd house of personal finances at best gives the ability to earn money through creative or helpful ventures, can be idealistic and humanitarian about resources, but tends to be unrealistic, impractical and careless when it comes to money management.
Neptune in the 3rd house of siblings and everyday communications, tends to make for muddled and/or disappointing relationships with brothers, sisters and cousins, as well as workmates and neighbours in adult life. A tendency to trip into misunderstandings through mixed messages, not concentrating on details or stopping to check what was intended. Generally head-in-the-clouds. Finds it difficult to give straight answers.
Neptune in the 4th house of family and roots produces dreams and delusions of a perfect home and family, preferably near water as a compensation for a chaotic childhood family life. It can bring an idealized view of father in particular, which overlooks his weaknesses. The father is often unable through incapacity or temperament to be a solid, sensible presence. The family often demands sacrifices of the individual so there is a sense of having to choose between personal identity and belonging to the family. It is one or the other, not both.
Neptune in the 5th house of children, romance and creativity. Musicians and singers abound, as do romantic dreams and illusions but emotional staying power and commitment is often absent. Yearning for the perfect love leads to disappointment as reality falls a short. Children, as with Paul Auster below who had a drug addict son and a singer daughter, can be creative or prone to Neptune’s failings. Often there is confusion around children, sometimes a lack of responsibility in caring for them. The 5th house also rules speculation and Neptune can be intuitive though taking risks with money can backfire.
Neptune in the 6th house of work and health – can be good for those in the healing and helping professions though suggests slightly delicate physical constitution. Not ill health so much as needing to take care and not over push excesses, whether with overwork or eating/drinking too much. There can be unreliability where work is concerned.
Neptune in 7th house of one-to-one relationships can give a telepathic understanding of partner’s needs and unspoken thoughts, though can lack commitment and responsibility in cooperative ventures and in relationships. Will tend to attract Neptunian partners who can be spiritual, creative or evasive and unreliable.
Neptune in the 8th house of joint finances and sexuality. Caution needed when handling business finances or taxes, credit cards etc since there may be confusion about responsibilities and paying back loans. Partners will tend to be equally lax when it comes to practical financial matters. Secrets will tend to slide out into the open, financial and other, at inopportune moments. Film stars often have Neptune in the 8th since it seems to bestow an ability to project an aura, probably unconsciously. Gives an interest in the occult, clairvoyance and psychic matters. Suggests a psychic grandparent.
Neptune in the 9th house of religious and spiritual beliefs, higher education, knowledge and legal affairs. Inclines the individual towards mystical beliefs rather than organized religion. Creative with words though not always good at concentrating so education can suffer.
Neptune in 10th house of career and reputation. Good for caring and healing professions and creative ones. Personal glory is less important than following the vision. Can bring confusion about direction, indecision or irresponsibility at work. Mother will be Neptunian – and the child may be the carer, forced into adult responsibilities too young. Lack of psychological boundaries with mother can carry over into adult life which can be helpful vis a vis intuition but can also bring confusion.
Neptune in 11th house of friends and future plans. Idealistic, spiritual and/or creative friends, humanitarian group activities. Can also be unreliability in friendships either because of lack of commitment to the responsibilities involved or because Neptunian friends prove to be evasive.
Neptune in the 12th house of the unconscious and secrets. Escapist, dreamy, intuitive, can be addictive-prone. Mystical beliefs, creative sensitivity Not good psychic boundaries so need to protect self. Peace and seclusion needed along the way to clear out psychological clutter soaked in from other people.
University students voicing displeasure with authorities and the status quo is practically a rite of passage from the anti-Vietnam uprisings in the mid 1960s alongside anti-apartheid and pro-civil rights demos when the revolutionary transiting Uranus Pluto conjunction was in place. French students staging mass protests in 1968, involving street fights, demanded democratic and educational reforms, cultural liberation, social justice, and better working conditions. The protests had a lasting impact on French society and politics and also on a global level, inspiring similar movements in other countries.
There are armed clashes at the moment at Columbia University in New York and UCLA over the Palestine situation, with some blaming outside agitators. The 1960s protests had the advantage of being fought on simpler issues – apartheid is wrong, the Vietnam War is a disaster and should be stopped, freedom of speech should be inviolable.
That Gaza and the Palestinians have been badly treated by successive Israel governments with the complicit (and inexplicable) support of USA governments over the years is not in question. But as Janet Daley argued, the pro-Palestine demonstrators are putting their bodies on the line for – an alignment with forces supported by the most illiberal, authoritarian, repressive regime in the world.
I’m not sure I have much that is illuminating apart from a few pointers. Assuming the students who are demanding their right to be heard are around 20 at the moment they were born, some of them, with the Uranus in Pisces square Pluto in dogmatic Sagittarius so will be rebels by nature; with the added turmoil of the North Node in Taurus.
Columbia University, 25 May 1754, oddly enough also has Uranus in Pisces square Pluto in Sagittarius, so echoes of the past have come back to set off a few firecrackers of resistance. If this chart is anything to go by the disruptions will continue for another two years at least, if not five.
UCLA has had a muddled history since the start, with the earliest version being founded 2 May 1862, which has a determined Taurus Sun and Pluto square Mars and trine Jupiter Saturn in Virgo; with Saturn Jupiter square Uranus. The Mercury is conjunct the can-be-fanatical Uranus Neptune midpoint.
Perhaps the USA 4 July 1776 11 am chart with the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the 9th house (= higher education) Mars almost exactly now is stoking up some of the destructive, fractious, irritable energy.
The students may be embroiled in a more complicated issue than they know but if they could exert enough pressure to persuade the US government to insist on a civilized solution to the Palestinians’ seventy five year ordeal, then it may not all be wasted effort.
ADD ON: A later date for UCLA is 23 May 1919. This certainly shows up a propensity for ructions, disruptions and violent protests with its Sun in Gemini conjunct Mars in Taurus conjunction square Saturn in Leo. Tr Uranus is square the Saturn exactly now and moving on to conjunct the Mars and Sun in 2025 – so it won’t settle anytime soon. This chart in particular clashes with Israel’s Taurus Sun square Mars in Leo.
Paul Auster, author of The New York Trilogy and The Music of Chance has died. He acquired a cult-life following from his Kafkaesque novels in which ‘his protagonists would battle their way through surreal events to be confronted by the realisation that life is meaningless, motivation impossible to fathom and human beings’ sense of their own identity a fragile illusion’, according to one review.
His main thesis was of how chance events can derail or rehabilitate a life. Which is not so surprising since he escaped death by inches in his teens when the boy in front of him was killed by a lightning strike; wrote his first successful novel on the basis of a wrong number phone call which sparked a plot – and later discovered his paternal grandmother had shot his grandfather, with his six year old father within earshot. Auster’s own drug addict estranged son died of an overdose while awaiting trial for the manslaughter through negligence of his 10 month old baby, Auster’s granddaughter.
At which point an astrologer heads for his chart to extract clues as to why his life was so knife-edge, high-stress and catastrophe-prone.
He was born 3 February 1947 12.20am Newark, New Jersey, with his Sun in Aquarius conjunct his IC conjunct Mars and opposition Pluto Saturn in Leo. Sun Mars and Saturn Pluto is heavy-duty, a walk on the dark side, deprived, challenging but giving him grit and perseverance. His Mars Saturn may be an echo of the father who was a bystander at his own father’s death. Luckily Paul Auster had his Mercury square Jupiter in Scorpio in his 1st to give him a streak of optimism.
What intrigued me was his son Daniel, 12 June 1977, who had his Sun Jupiter in Gemini conjunct father Paul Auster’s 8th house Uranus – the drug addict son connected back into his father’s generational trauma of the murdered grandfather with the grandmother later being acquitted on a plea of insanity.
Paul Auster did have Neptune ruling his 5th house of children, with Pisces on the cusp with one drug addict son and a daughter who is musician.
His life may have seemed arbitrary, a series of surreal coincidences but his chart does have crucial clues as to a life pattern that did give even the extreme events which befell and surrounded him a meaningful context. He would not have appreciated astrology.
ADD ON: When Paul Auster had his lucky escape from a lightning strike at 14, Jupiter was highlighted – tr Jupiter conjunct his Sun Mars; SA Jupiter conjunct his South Node; and SA Pluto square his Jupiter. His first breakout publishing success came in the early 1980s on his Jupiter return and perhaps more significantly with his Solar Arc Pluto square SA Sun square his 8th house Uranus – the curse and the blessing of his intergenerational legacy.
And his own son Daniel walked on the dark side, being a witness to a brutal drug killing involving his associates in the 1990s. He had Mars Venus Chiron Moon in Taurus opposition Uranus square Saturn in Leo – which collided unhappily with his father’s Saturn Pluto opposition Mars Sun. The sins of the past generations all piling up to implode in this one.
The writer C J Sansom, creator of the character Matthew Shardlake, the hunchbacked lawyer who solved murder mysteries against the backdrop of the melodramatic turmoil of faith, heresy, high treason and political intrigue of Tudor England, Henry V111 and Thomas Cromwell, has died. His obituaries say he invented the genre of a crime series set against the great sweep of political history.
“There are no modern spy writers who do not define themselves against John le Carré, or fantasy writers untouched by JRR Tolkien. The same is true of Sansom. If you pick up a novel tomorrow that ties a murder to a king, or a serial killer to a pope, there is a small, hunchbacked lawyer lurking in that book’s genesis.”
He started from unlikely beginnings in Edinburgh on 9 December 1952, no birth time, growing up in a traditional Presbyterian family and bullied at school with undiagnosed ADHD. He escaped into books and attempted suicide at 15, ending up in a mental hospital for a year.
“For the first time in my life, I was not treated as a pariah, and I owe more than I can say to the devotedly caring staff. They saved my life. My mind came to life and I found interests in literature, history and politics.”
After a hiatus he studied history at University, taking a PhD, and trained as a solicitor, mainly working on legal aid cases so that he could “act on behalf of the underdog”.
In his late forties an inheritance enabled him to take a sabbatical to write fiction and “see what happened”. Seven best sellers followed.
‘Sansom’s novels made him rich, but living alone he continued to struggle with intermittent depression: “If you keep kicking a dog, it expects to be kicked. All my life I have had the feelings of worthlessness, inferiority and self-blame characteristic of abused children.”
A Disney+ series based on his novels, starring Arthur Hughes as Shardlake and Sean Bean as Cromwell, airs this week, which sadly he did not live to see broadcast.
He had a knowledgeable, communicative Sagittarius Sun trine Pluto and sextile a hope-for-a-better-society Saturn Neptune in Libra. Significantly his Sun was also on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Uranus sextile Jupiter. A quincunx to his Sun would make him socially-awkward and self-conscious but would also give him the ability to switch track into a new field of activity that would give him confidence, resulting in recognition. He could have mismanaged such an aspect, as some do, into becoming overbearing but he clearly found a way to balance out his ego drives in a way that found appreciation out in society even if he never fully embraced his success. He had a Virgo Moon which is good for detail plus his determined Mars in Aquarius was conjunct his North Node giving him a passionate drive for a cause which perhaps tied into his Saturn Neptune fight for the underdog.
His Mercury in Sagittarius was unaspected apart from a mild sextile to Venus which initially may have scattered his attention but clearly had its other attribute of being one-tracked with an extraordinary ability in one narrow area of life.
When he embarked on his life-changing second career in fiction his yod apex planet his Sun was being triggered by tr Pluto conjunct and Solar Arc Saturn Neptune also conjunct in the immediate aftermath. Yods usually need a sharp nudge which comes not as a willed effort but as a result of a series of outside circumstances which conspire to bring it to life and carve out a meant path ahead.
And his earlier shift at 15 in mental hospital came when transiting Pluto Uranus in Virgo were square his Sun.
Arab astrologers believed the greatest use of astrology came from insights it gave on the past, putting into context what had gone before. Predictive astrology tends to shine a light ahead and worry about what comes next. The oft repeated self-help mantra ‘Forget the Past, Live in the Present & Ignore the Future’ contains a nugget of truth, but is not feasible when there are ephemeris to be poured over (celestial-railway timetables) and both before and after become of all consuming interest.
[When in a terminal catastropherian meltdown about the End of Times coming think crocodile. It has paddled on largely unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. Life goes on.]
At present the great celestial gear change with Pluto moving into Aquarius, tentatively in 2023 and decisively in 2025 remaining till 2043, Neptune and Saturn moving into Aries in 2025/26 and Uranus into Gemini in 2025/26 – is causing a greater than usual level of uncertainty about what comes next. There won’t be such a close coincidence of four outer planets changing sign in such a short space of time for decades to come.
Taking it year by year;
2025/26 Neptune Saturn conjunction in Pisces/Aries – hope for a better society, women’s and workers’ issues to the fore, some uncertainty, and health issues, both medical advances or panics.
2026 has Uranus just into Gemini (for seven years) trine Pluto sextile Neptune in Air and Fire which should be interesting in changing outlooks and advances.
2028 Saturn in Taurus square Pluto – tough-going, could see a war somewhere (plus ca change), deprivation.
2030/31 Saturn in Gemini trine Pluto sextile Neptune – could see social improvements, could bring confusion.
2032 Saturn conjunct Uranus in Gemini – social reform, historically saw the rise of Golden Ages.
2035/36 Saturn in Leo opposition Pluto in Aquarius – deprivation, tough conditions, war.
2038 Neptune in Taurus – maybe art and nature combining. Constantin Brancusi the sculptor was born in 1876 as Neptune entered Taurus the previous time – a lovely combination of creativity with tangible form in sculptures.
2039 Uranus into Leo square Neptune in Taurus – highly strung, inspired, whacky ideas, fanaticism.
2042 Saturn in Scorpio opposition Neptune square Uranus in Leo – creative, though also great uncertainty, line between fantasy and reality blurred.
2043 Pluto into Pisces.
Nothing as tricky as the present four years between 2023 and 2026 but life’s winding path will continue to throw up mayhem as well as advances and advantages.
