Paul Manafort has been handed a controversially short sentence of four years on charges of financial fraud – a prison term that amounts to one-fifth of the lightest punishment recommended in the guidelines. But he’s also due for sentencing next week on separate charges under a different judge which could carry a term of 10 years.

There’s nothing much showing on Manafort’s chart (without a birth time) until May when he looks depressed and uncertain. He’ll get an uplift in June and a more major piece of good news in July and across the summer. Though 2020 is catastrophic from his point of view; 2021 may have a stroke of luck as his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Mars – pardon?

White collar crime always gets more lenient sentences than others; and the judge is known for his pro-Trump views and contrary court decisions. Born 15 May 1940 Judge TS Ellis 111 is a stalwart and stubborn Sun Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune; with his Sun exactly conjunct Trump’s midheaven. What is more than clear astrologically speaking is his dislike of Mueller. Their relationship chart has a hostile Mars Pluto Venus sextile Saturn Uranus; which is getting jittered and jangled by tr Uranus in square last year and this.

Ellis’s relationship chart with Trump isn’t exactly warm with a composite Sun Saturn but it isn’t anyways near as bad as with Mueller.

See post August 17 2018

The fight to unseal court documents involved in the charges against billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein for his alleged sex-trafficking ring is hotting up. He faced life behind bars for his alleged sex acts with minors but walked away with a slap on the wrist, pleading guilty to two state charges: solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution. The 66-year-old financier served 13 months of his 18-month sentence in a private wing of a Palm Beach jail and was allowed to leave on “work release” for 16 hours each day. A recent Miami Herald investigation identified more than 80 women who claim they were molested by Epstein via a “sex pyramid scheme” from 2001 to 2006, at his Palm Beach mansion and elsewhere, though the number of victims is likely in the hundreds. See post November 30 2018.

Other names of Epstein friends have been bandied about including Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, Bill Clinton and others. Alan Dershowitz was one of Epstein’s lawyers. One of the attorneys has been making astonishing accusations which I’m not clear I’m safe to repeat given UK libel laws so will refer you to the URL below.

This hearing comes days after a Florida judge ruled federal prosecutors violated the law for the non-prosecution deal with Epstein in 2007 — and concealed that agreement from more than 30 of Epstein’s victims. The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the secret deal, which was handled by Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, who was U.S. Attorney in Miami at the time.

Epstein, 20 January 1953, New York, has his Sun at zero Aquarius so is picking up the tr Uranus in Taurus square exactly now. Plus a scary, cornered, dead-halt Solar Arc Mars square his Pluto; an undermining tr Neptune conjunct his Mars Venus in Pisces till the year end; and a devastating tr Pluto square his Neptune from this April for two years, followed by square Saturn/Neptune and then Saturn – so several years of bad news.

Alan Dershowitz, 1 September 1936 11.28 pm New York, is insisting he’s done nothing wrong and is keen for documents to be unsealed. Tr Uranus is square his 3^rd house Pluto exactly now, so he’ll be on edge and inclined to erupt. Tr Uranus then moves to conjunct his Solar Arc Midheaven come May/June which will send his life in a different trajectory.

Ghislaine Maxwell is evidently the one blocking the unsealing of documents. Born 25 December 1961 London, she’s a money-minded Sun, Mars, Mercury in Capricorn trine the rebellious Uranus Pluto in Virgo. She looks jolted at the moment by Solar Arc Uranus square her Saturn in late Capricorn; and has several Uranus transits in hard aspect to midpoints through this year, with June showing up as a disaster zone, repeating into 2020 when she’ll get a scary, trapped Pluto transit to a Mars midpoint running through 2021 as well.

Will do any others if and when they turn up in any reveal.

Wonder if Uranus into Taurus will spill more child abuse beans – to date Michael Jackson, Cardinal Pell and this.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-alan-dershowitz-and-pals-accused-of-sex-trafficking-ring?ref=home

Alex Trebek, the Canadian-American Jeopardy gameshow host for 35 years has announced he has stage four pancreatic cancer.  He’s hosted more than 7000 episodes of the popular show and won six daytime Emmys and is known for ‘his droll wit, the professorial pronunciation of obscure operas and animals, the dad-like disappointment when contestants whiff on an easy one’.

Born 22 July 1940 11.15 am Sudbury, Ontario, he has a last degree Cancer Sun conjunct Mercury – Cancer is often a sign that tunes into public taste. He’s also got a megaton collection of Fixed planets giving him endurance and longevity – his Mars in Leo is widely conjunct Pluto and square a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Taurus; and his Uranus in Taurus is in an inspired trine to Neptune. A light-hearted and charming Venus in Gemini is conjunct his midheaven and square Neptune.

It’s a chart with an enormous amount of grit which doesn’t come out in the descriptions of his persona, but he’d need to be tough to keep up that schedule for as long as he has.

He’s had a run of health issues, heart and other, through since the early 2000s. Tr Uranus is now moving into his 8^th which always come with an emotional jolt and has been square his Mercury Sun recently; moving to square his Pluto within weeks. So he’ll be considering altering his plans.

His Solar Arc Saturn is also conjunct his Sun now which is a setback followed by a morale boost within months as his Solar Arc Jupiter crosses his Sun.

Magenta Devine, who has just died, was a well-dressed rebel with a cause in the 1980s,  a counter-culture figure on television, talking to young people in a dynamic way with a substance and style far removed from the laddish 1990s.

Once her time in the spotlight was over she became a heroin addict and eventually went bankrupt.

Born 4 November 1957, outside London, she had her Sun in Scorpio as well as Neptune and Mercury, all squaring onto Uranus so she was suited for an outsider, status-quo-upsetter role. Her Uranus was also in an innovative trine to Saturn and both sextiled an enthusiastic Jupiter in Libra.

She may also have had an inspirational Fire Grand Trine of an Aries Moon trine Saturn trine Uranus, with Jupiter as the driving planet of a Kite, which would make sense.

News that the ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to stand for re-election in April has sparked the largest demonstrations seen in decades in Algeria. He suffered a stroke six years ago and can hardly walk or talk and the population fear he is being used as a façade by an opaque group of power brokers to maintain control and protect their political and economic interests. Though cracks are beginning to show with some leading entrepreneurs speaking out against the status quo.

Algeria gained independence on 3 July 1962 10.38 am Algiers. There are more indications of sudden changes in 2020 than in this year. After mid 2020 tr Uranus will be square the Algeria Saturn and opposition the Neptune which will bring jolts, jangles and rising paranoia; with muddles and miscommunications from tr Neptune square the 10^th house Mercury, so the rulers won’t be clear in their intentions or communiques.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been re-elected four times since 1999 with claims of fraud being made by the opposition.

His First Term 27 April 1999 has a cruel Sun Saturn opposition Mars in Scorpio, and it indicates severe disruptions from May this year onwards with tr Uranus opposition Mars and then continuing on to a jolting conjunction to the Sun Saturn from July, running on and off into 2020. Tr Saturn is also square the Jupiter for lowered confidence till late 2019 and tr Neptune squares the Venus for unpopularity, picking up in April over the election.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s personal chart, 2 March 1937, won’t be too informative, given his age and infirmity. He is a Sun in Pisces; with Saturn also in Pisces in an unpleasant and ruthless Grand Trine to Pluto and Mars in Scorpio; with Pluto opposition Jupiter – confidence and luck aplenty to prop up a brutal regime.  The Solar Arc Uranus is somewhere around the conjunction to his Pluto, which can sometimes bring health issues for the elderly.

Vaslav Nijinsky was, prior to Nureyev, deemed the greatest male ballet dancer, celebrated for his virtuosity, for the intensity of his characterizations and his seemingly gravity-defying leaps- and his modernist choreography.

Born 12 March 1890 10.30 pm Kiev, Ukraine (Rodden B) to parents in the ballet world, he was a Sun Venus in creative Pisces; with his artistic Venus and Sun highlighted on the focal point of a Yod to an innovative Uranus sextile Saturn. He also had an emotionally troublesome Moon Mars in Sagittarius opposition Pluto Neptune in Gemini square Mercury in Pisces. He’d be very highly strung and on a fine mental balance which sadly became increasingly less stable after he was interned during World War 1. He initially became the lover of the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, though he later married and had two children, but was still under Diaghilev’s thumb. His marriage broke down and eventually he succumbed to depression and dementia with alternating rages and catatonic withdrawals, being diagnosed eventually as a hopeless schizophrenic – and spent the last thirty years of his life institutionalised.

His Moon aspects to Mars, Neptune and Pluto would account for some of his symptoms, especially the rage and all focussed onto a Mutable Mercury putting intolerable pressure on his rational functions.

Like Nureyev he had a Pisces Sun but in his case it lacked a firm anchoring and would be stressed being in a Yod, giving him a fluctuating sense of his identity. Like Nureyev as well he had Jupiter in Aquarius, which can have an appeal across people of many backgrounds.   But Nureyev was a much harder personality and although a volatile personality with a Mars Uranus conjunction, that didn’t impact on his Moon, as it did for poor Nijinsky.

“There are growing signs of a potentially destabilising rift between the king of Saudi Arabia and his heir,” according to the Guardian. There are evidently disagreements between the aged King Salman’s camp and the brash young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over Khashogghi’s death in Turkey, the Yemen War and MbS’s hard line against activists amongst others. A few days ago in late February the elderly king’s security entourage was hastily changed during a visit to Egypt after a warning that there might be a move against him.

King Salman acceded to the throne on 23 January 2015 at 1 am and that chart shows a major upheaval from mid this April with tr Uranus square the Aquarius Sun, which repeats into early 2020; followed by a destructive Solar Arc Saturn square Mars around this time in 2020.

MBS was elevated to Crown Prince on 21 June 2017, announced at 6.19 am Riyadh, which puts a reformist/innovative and divisive Uranus in the 10^th; with a ruthless Mars opposition Pluto in a pushily-confident square to Jupiter opposition Midheaven. There is an entrepreneurial and attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine a leadership Leo North Node; with Saturn opposition a Sun Mercury in Gemini. So it’s a strong and lucky chart and won’t be easily suppressed. Though tr Saturn opposition the Pluto and square Jupiter on and off till this December will damp some of his enthusiasm and produce a few setbacks. 2020 looks to be a year of risk-taking and impetuous decisions.

The Saudi Arabia 15 January 1902 3.45 am chart is undergoing massive changes with tr Saturn Pluto conjunction moving across its Saturn, Sun, Jupiter in Capricorn. While the eventual outcome should bring benefits as tr Pluto is conjunct the Jupiter in 2020/2021 they will only come after massive and painful changes. There’ll be high anxiety and concern from this April onwards for two or three years as tr Neptune squares the Pluto opposition Uranus. Then the Uranus opposition Pluto moves by Solar Arc to crash into the Saturn between 2023 to 2025; and following that the Saudi Sun in the late 2020s. So a long run of destiny-changing events in this coming decade.

The 23 September 1932 chart shows much the same influences with tr Uranus in an explosive and insecure square to the Mars  from late this month; and a long grinding series of jolting changes from tr Pluto in hard aspect to the Saudi Saturn opposition Pluto square Uranus till the mid 2020s – and a disruptive series of Solar Arcs from 2023 till the early 2030s.

Brexit? Urgh. Supposedly crucial, life-changing votes are expected next week on the 12th but I have my doubts. There is a get-it-together Pisces Sun sextile Pluto on the 13^th but that’s mild enough, followed on the 14^th by a mixed bag of over-promising Jupiter square the Sun; and a teeth-grinding Mars trine Saturn.

Theresa May looks limp, aiming towards yet more difficulties from March 31^st as the dashed-hopes tr Neptune opposes her Jupiter; and she has the career-loss-making tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Saturn midpoint throughout April as well.

Her relationship with the mouthy, overly ebullient Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, now over in Brussels supposedly to fix the Irish backstop guarantees, looks deflated in April as well.

If MPs reject the withdrawal agreement for a second time, they will have the opportunity to vote on whether to go ahead in just over three weeks’ time without any kind of negotiated deal. If they decide against, they will then have a vote on whether to extend negotiations and push the date of departure back by several months.

Jacob Rees Mogg, chief of the Brexiteer gang, is facing a major catastrophe from mid April for two weeks; and again for three months over the end of the year; so he’s not exactly singing and dancing either.

The UK chart has odd ripples of confusion from tr Neptune square Mercury in April; a minor upheaval also from mid April; with tr Uranus sextile the UK Pluto; and relief from a couple of Uranus transits to Jupiter and a Jupiter midpoint from late March into April.  There’ll be more uncertainty in May but by and large my sense is the UK is sooo bored/exhausted/confused by the whole debacle they just want it over and done with one way or the other. Which may or may not happen, of course, since if T May does get her deal then another aeon of trade negotiations with the EU will follow. The woman needs her head examined agreeing to this split and giving away any future bargaining power thereby allowing the EU to hold the whip hand.

Her Government chart looks very undermined by May and in a state of upheaval.

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“A wild provocateur”, “both human pogo and giddy rottweiler”, “the neon demon” – none of the descriptions of Keith Flint, lead vocalist with the band Prodigy, who has just been found dead, are soothing for an older generation. But for his myriad fans he was the godfather of rave, ‘a true pioneer, innovator and legend.’ His Firestarter video in the 1990s had Flint, covered in Satanic tattoos, eyes bulging wildly and his hair teased into Beelzebub-like horns snarling into the camera about being a “trouble starter”. He was banned by Tops of the Pops.

Born 17 September 1969 in London, he was seriously dyslexic and hyper-active as a child, became a roofer before moving onto the music scene. He was a tightly controlled and edgy Sun Pluto in Virgo square Mars in Sagittarius, so quite a powder keg of anger issues. He also had Uranus Jupiter Mercury in Libra and by all accounts behind the carefully manufactured public image was a helpful and kindly personality, who cared about wild animals and was a bird-watcher.

He evidently always said when he got to a certain point he’d go.  His Solar Arc Saturn was exactly opposition his Mars at the moment, having been square his Sun Pluto in 2015/16 so he would have been depressed and feeling hemmed in for a while. It may have been building for a while and Mars Saturn can be destructive.   And his Solar Arc Neptune is on the square to his Mercury also now which wouldn’t improve the clarity of his thinking.