‘Crushing prison terms’ of thirteen years apiece were handed out to Catalonia separatist leaders for organising a referendum on self-determination in 2017. It has brought violent protestors back onto the street in Girona and Barcelona, still aggrieved at the punitive response from Madrid’s heavy-handed suppression when they were first arrested. Other separatist leaders are in exile to escape prison. A UN inquiry deemed that the pre-trial imprisonment and any subsequent sentences would be in violation of international law.

“This is the old Spain reasserting itself”, said Carles Puigdemont, former Catalonia president, at present in Belgium. Far-right nationalists think the sentences were not severe enough.

Spain, 22 November 1975 12.45 Madrid, is in upheaval with another election due in early November when tr Uranus will be exactly on the opposition to the Uranus, moving to square the Saturn late December and through January 2020 – that will bring an authoritarian streak to the fore to clash mightily with forces of rebellion. There are also hard aspect crossovers between Solar Arc Pluto to the Spain Mercury; and Solar Arc Mercury to the Spain Pluto – which suggests a hardening of attitudes, bitter and vengeful debate and high tension.

The old reunification of Spain 19 January 1479 JC chart works remarkably well and also suggests a mood of panicky failure running throughout 2019 and heightening mid November to mid December, with another highly uncertain patch in February 2020.

Assuming the start time for the 1975 chart is accurate, then tr Saturn and tr Pluto are both wading through the 12^th – so whatever light is waiting at the end of the tunnel won’t become obvious until the shift over to Aquarius picks up gradually in 2021 and with more bite two years later as tr Saturn Jupiter and then Pluto cross the Spain Ascendant for an image makeover and a revisioning of identity.

Gemini Man directed by Oscar-winning Ang Lee, starring the world’s most bankable actor Will Smith and produced by the super-successful Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Pirates, Enemy of the State, CSI etc) should have been a soar-away triumph. Instead critics have savaged “a silly sci-fi thriller about a cloned hitman”, called it a “witlessly hackneyed setup” drowning “in endless spy cliches, half-heartedly generic twists, forgettable dialogue and non-existent characterization.” Oops.

Rotten Tomatoes have it at 26%, Metacritic at 39% and opening box office was a disappointing $7.5 million against the hoped for $20 to $30 million. It’s questionable whether it can rescue the $140 million costs from foreign box office.

Will Smith, 25 September 1968 9.47pm (from memory) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has an entertainers’ 5^th house Libra Sun in a quirky conjunction to Uranus in final degree Virgo; with Mercury and Venus in Libra also in the performing 5^th. But what really dominates his chart is one of those odd Saturn focal point Yods from a pushily confident Jupiter Pluto sextile an intense Moon Neptune in Scorpio.

Yods always have a fated quality and especially so with Saturn prominent. He started out of school in rap music with considerable success but ended up with a nearly $3 million tax debt in the late 1980s. He was struggling financially when he was picked up by NBC for a sit com and within six years by the mid 1990s was a prime box office draw. At that point the triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune in Capricorn had all been in hard aspect to his focal point Saturn. It usually takes a major shift to get Yods onto the right track.

He’s in the middle of another one at the moment with tr Pluto square his Saturn in 2019/2020 which will be tough going, requiring considerable effort to move ahead – pushing boulders uphill and can be discouraging. Tr Pluto is also moving in sextile to both legs of the Yod until late 2021 which will add another layer of pressure; and his Solar Arc Sun Uranus will conjunct his Neptune and Moon also for another three years ahead. All of which will prompt him to shift him onto a different track.

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Jeopardy is rising for Trump’s hash-and-crash personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who once had hopes unbelievably of becoming Secretary of State. He’s now entangled in the attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden over unfounded allegations of corruption involving his son which are driving the impeachment process. And two Soviet-born US citizens, both associates of Giuliani, were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of campaign finance violations, while trying to leave the US on one-way tickets, with Giuliani also under federal investigation. Trump advisers have long been pressing the president to distance himself from Giuliani and he now appears to be wavering on whether to let him go or not.

Giuliani, 28 May 1944 2.31pm New York, a wayward Sun Uranus in Gemini with a ruthless, do-or-die-determined Mars Pluto in Leo was never that great a fit with Trump since G’s Saturn in Gemini sits on top of Trump’s Sun and opposition his Moon; and G’s Mars Pluto plus Moon Jupiter in Leo give him as expansive an ego as Trump’s.

Their relationship chart has been sagging at points through this year with tr Neptune square the composite Sun and opposition Jupiter. And those come back to exact from mid this November to mid December and again throughout 2020 over the election. And there will be a huge upset between them from mid 2020 as tr Uranus squares the composite Pluto.

Giuliani’s personal chart is mixed ahead – with a major hiccup late December and through January 2020; with career losses from late January 2020 onwards; and a disastrous calamity late March into early April; with hitches, glitches and major bumps along the way from tr Uranus square his Mars Pluto from this November till spring 2020 plus some Neptunian sinkers. But he does have his Solar Arc Sun conjunct Jupiter, exact in 11 months’ time which will bring him a lift as will his Solar Arc Jupiter square his Mars in late 2020.

In addition to Trump and other political turmoil, he’s also involved in a messy divorce and has obviously a complicated business life – so it’s impossible to disentangle what influences will affect which part of his life. He lives, like Trump, amidst constant drama and also like his master has a strong self-destructive 10^th Harmonic.

See previous posts: September 13 and January 28 2019.

The tragic tale of the murdered Dupont de Ligonnes family took another twist with news that the father on the run since killing his wife and four children in 2011 had been arrested in Scotland. That turned out to be a case of mistaken identity after early media stories brewed up a fanciful drama of plastic surgery and false passports. Although there have been sightings in the past eight years it is thought that father Xavier could have killed himself after dispatching and burying his family.

Xavier Dupont was born 9 January 1961 11.15 am Versailles, France into an aristocratic family and considered himself part of a Roman Catholic elite. Around the time of the murders, he sounds as if his narcissism had slid into semi-psychosis; although he had made preparations for some months before, buying a gun, quick lime and tools for the burial – and had serious financial problems.

He was/is a Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury in Capricorn so status-conscious, socially ambitious, materialistic. Even more significantly he had a Water Grand Trine of Mars in Cancer trine Venus in Pisces trine Neptune, formed into a Kite by Venus opposition Pluto North Node – making controlling Pluto the driving planet. Water Grand Trine individuals can live in their own bubble and become divorced from reality.

Around the time of the killings his Solar Arc Jupiter was exactly in opposition to his Pluto which would exaggerate his already overwheening sense of superiority and push him to step across the boundaries of the law. His Solar Arc Mars was also conjunct his Uranus in the run up which would have been explosive, impulsive and uncompromising. His Mars had also been under assault from tr Pluto in opposition with tr Uranus about to move to the square.

His wife, Agnes, born 9 Nov 1962, was a stalwart Sun Neptune Venus in Scorpio square a flamboyant Mars in Leo with a pushy Jupiter in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto.

Son 1, 7 July 1990, was a Sun Jupiter in Cancer trine Pluto, opposition Saturn, Neptune (Moon Uranus) in Capricorn with Jupiter opposition Saturn square Mars in Aries.

Son 2, 28 Sept 1992, was a Libra Sun square Mars with Mars opposition Uranus Neptune in Capricorn and Jupiter sextile Pluto with a Scorpio Moon.

Son 3, 29 May 1997, was a Gemini Sun opposition Pluto sextile/trine Uranus. With Mars square Venus and trine Neptune. A Pisces Moon.

Daughter, 2 Aug 1994, was a Leo Sun square Jupiter with Mars (Moon) square Venus in Virgo and square Saturn in Pisces; and Venus trine Neptune Uranus, sextile Pluto.

All of them had emphasised/stressed Mars so it was an angry family and emotionally intense since most had Venus in aspect to outer planets.

All in all a strange and unsettling story since if he had intended to kill himself after the event it isn’t clear why he went to all the trouble of burying their bodies so methodically. Nor indeed does his trenchant Roman Catholicism fit with his actions.

His self-destructive 10^th Harmonic is exceptionally strong and ruthless with a Mars opposition Neptune square Pluto; and his can-be-unbalanced 7H linked a pushily confident Jupiter to Pluto to a fanatical Neptune Uranus.

Japan’s worst storm for sixty years with torrential rain and tornado-like winds have led to 7.5 million people being advised to evacuate. There are wind speeds of 225km/h (140mph) with half a metre of rain expected and to add to the misery there was a magnitude 5.7 earthquake as well.

The recent July Lunar Eclipse in last decan Capricorn, located to Tokyo, had Uranus on the Midheaven square Mars on the Ascendant – which is a pointer towards significant disruptive events over the next few months. With the July Solar Eclipse having the Cancer New Moon conjunct the Ascendant with a watery Neptune on the Midheaven. Eclipses with planets on the axis usually indicate major events following for that location.

On the Japan country chart tr Pluto is moving to make another disruptive square to the Japan Uranus within weeks; with Solar Arc Saturn approaching less than a degree of being exactly square the Mars for a major accident/setback; and an upsetting Solar Arc Uranus square the Japan Neptune and conjunct Mercury. There’s a loss/mourning Solar Arc Venus conjunct Saturn; and oddly – a Solar Arc Sun opposition Jupiter. Uranus Neptune often accompanies nerve-stretching events, sometimes earthquakes and other natural disasters. Jupiter, with its amplifying effect, is also often present.

Utterly terrifying. There are videos on twitter of lorries being blown around like toys.  The force of nature on the rampage is truly scary.

Eliud Kipchoge, the Kenyan distance runner, has become the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours, beating the mark by 20 seconds. His triumph this morning in Vienna this morning won’t be recognised as the official world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers. He currently holds the world record at 2 hours 1.39 minutes. He said, “Now I’ve done it, I am expecting more people to do it after me.” He compared the feat to being the first man on the moon in the build-up to the event and said he had made history just as Britain’s Sir Roger Bannister did in running the first sub four-minute mile in 1954. After Bannister the four-minute mile became the standard, being achieved to date by 1400 runners and the present record is 3.43.

Kipchoge, 5 November 1984, was brought up by a single mother, ran two miles every day to school but didn’t take up running seriously until his late teens.

He has a Scorpio Sun conjunct Saturn with Pluto and Mercury at either end of Scorpio as well – not short of determination, for sure. His Mars in disciplined and ambitious Capricorn is sextile his Saturn for more grit. Plus three planets in sporting Sagittarius and a fiery Aries Moon.

There are good things happening in the universe away from the political mayhem.

Pic: Denis Barthel

Howls of outrage have greeted Peter Handke’s Nobel Literature Prize for 2019. The Austrian novelist and playwright of Slovenian heritage is a highly controversial figure for his support for the Serbs during the 1990s Yugoslav war and his friendship with former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. Handke once denied the Serbian massacre at Srebrenica and publicly suggested that Sarajevo’s Muslims had massacred themselves and blamed the Serbs, and denied the Srebrenica genocide.

In 1999 Salman Rushdie named him the runner-up for “International moron of the year” in the Guardian, for his “impassioned apologias for the genocidal regime of Slobodan Milošević”. (The winner was actor Charlton Heston, for being a gun lobbyist.)

The Swedish Academy which oversees the award said he had been recognised for “an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience”. Doesn’t sound an enticing read though he is evidently a talented writer.

Born 6 December 1942 6.45 am Griffen, Austria, he has an upfront and enthusiastic Sun, Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius in his 1^st house with his Sun opposition a downbeat Saturn in Gemini. His Saturn Uranus on his Descendant trine a creative 10^th house Neptune, and sextile an opinionated and influential 9^th house Pluto. His has Jupiter in patriotic Cancer deeply buried in his 8^th which would give him a connection to his roots. His mother who suicided when he was 30 came from Slovenia. His Jupiter is trine a bitter, emotionally intense and vengeful Moon Mars in Scorpio in his 12th.

Milosevic, whose funeral he attended, after he died during his War Crimes trial in The Hague, 20 August 1941 10 pm Pozarevac, Serbia, did have Jupiter in Gemini which fell in Handke’s 7^th;  and Milosevic’s Sun and three other planets in Leo plus his Mars in Aries would chime with Handke’s fiery Sagittarius emphasis. Though in reality it would have been a gritty partnership with Milosevic’s Saturn in Taurus opposition Handke’s Mars.

The composite was intensely emotional and warped with a composite Mars opposition Pluto square Venus which – with hindsight – would suggest revelling in brutality, death and hatred. If that energy had ever turned inwards they’d have killed each other.

On Handke’s personal chart his Solar Arc Midheaven is exactly conjunct his Sun at the moment; with tr Jupiter just over his Sun and other Sag planets. Into 2020 tr Pluto will trine his Midheaven and oppose his Jupiter so the criticism may not do him much damage.

You would have thought after the sex scandal last year which deleted the 2018 Literature prize at the time, they’d have been more sensible.

“This has been a burden on my life for several years” tweets Coleen Rooney, wife of footballing bad-boy Wayne. Nope, not his straying, drinking etc or even the world meltdown but a friend she suspected of giving stories to the press, gleaned from her private Instagram account. She set a trap over five months blocking all but one friend from her account and then planting false stories to see if they appeared. She then announced it was Rebekah Vardy’s Instagram account that was the guilty one. Leading to a raft of WAGatha Christie jokes. Vardy, another footballer’s wife, has denied the allegation saying several people had access to her account and promised to set up a forensic investigation to track down the culprit. She has cut short her Dubai holiday because of the crisis.

Less a storm in a teacup, more a typhoon in a teaspoon – involving two entirely forgettable women. What the Daily Mail described as “ the spat of the decade; two WAGS at war on social media, with millions tuning in”

Coleen Rooney, 3 April 1986, is a feisty Sun Aries square a publicity-loving Mars Neptune and trine a canny Saturn in Sagittarius; She has an emotionally possessive Venus in Taurus opposition Pluto perhaps square an Aquarius Moon.

Rebekah, 17 February 1982, is expecting her third child with her present top-notch footballer husband, having gone through two husbands before and acquired another two children. One of her ex-boyfriends said she ditched him to ‘upgrade’ to seriously wealthy Vardy. She’s a late Sun in Aquarius trine a formidable Pluto Saturn conjunction in Libra with her Saturn conjunct Mars – a stormy lady whose life will have been filled with drama. Her Venus in Capricorn is also square Pluto, Saturn, Mars – so she’ll be emotionally very intense. Her Moon is Sagittarius. By all accounts she had a tough start in life with a poor childhood and abuse.

There’s not much crossover with Coleen, without birth times, except for Rebekah’s Jupiter conjunct Coleen’s Pluto which will lead to a touch of one-upmanship jousting. Their relationship chart has a composite Sun trine Mars and Saturn which wouldn’t foster cosy friendship; and a needs-space composite Sun Venus square Uranus. It’s definitely on a downhill slide with tr Neptune dissolving the foundations through the recent past and 2020.

Coleen looks edgy at the moment, perhaps even obsessed, with her Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Saturn; but 2020 will bring a definite bounce with her Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct her Sun.

Rebekah on the other hand isn’t in a good place with a significant upset now with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Uranus; and Solar Arc Saturn Mars creaking across the square to her Sun for a couple of years; plus tr Pluto square her Saturn and then Pluto at the same time. But she’ll recover some of her mojo after mid 2020 with tr Uranus opposition her Jupiter.

All a nonsense about nothing at all – and nobodies. Worse than the Kardashians.

Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish strongholds in northern Syria began around 4pm on October 9^th – this puts the Sun in square to the war-like Saturn Pluto conjunction opposition North Node; and the Sun in an unrealistic inconjunct to Neptune which is turn is in an over-hopeful square to Jupiter. Uranus in Taurus is in an impulsive opposition to Venus Mercury in Scorpio. The late Aquarius Moon is on the Ascendant. Mars in early Libra will head for a high-stress quincunx to Uranus within days and a dangerous, threatening square to Saturn Pluto over the end of the month into early November.

Recep Erdogan, the increasingly autocratic Turkish leader for the past sixteen years, is facing financial and electoral problems which may well be why he decided on a potentially vote-catching attack on the Kurds. The country is going through a currency and debt crisis, high inflation, rising borrowing costs, and rising loan defaults.

The Turkey chart, 29 October 1923 8.30pm Ankara, is labouring through heavy seas from early 2020 to late 2021 with tr Pluto square the 4^th house Saturn Mercury, which suggests austerity, hardship, cutbacks and deprivation. There’s also tr Uranus opposition the Scorpio Sun making a final exact and unsettling hit in April 2020. If the start time is accurate then there’s a disappointing and directionless tr Neptune conjunct the Midheaven as well now and into early 2020 and then a wandering few years thereafter with tr Neptune through the 10^th. Mid this November to mid December look risky and frustratingly stuck with tr Pluto square the Sun/Mars midpoint. Tr Pluto sextile the Turkey Jupiter in 2020/21 will bring some upbeat news but there’s also an enthusiasm-denting tr Neptune opposition the Jupiter/Pluto midpoint.

Recep Erdogan’s 4^th Term chart is running into blockages, obstacles and disruptions with the Solar Arc Sun opposition Pluto, exact in 18 months’ time and an insecure, over-reactive tr Uranus square Mars from mid 2020 on for a year.