Dominic Cummings has become the transatlantic equivalent of Steve Bannon – the scary and unelected puppet-master who stands behind the political throne. There are various mysteries about him and his speedy elevation to the centre of power, not the least of which is his disjointed and fractious relationship with Boris, who appears to give him free rein.

Cummings’ Saturn in Gemini is conjunct Boris’s focal point Mars with DC’s Sun Neptune opposition Boris’s Mars; and square his Uranus with Cummings Pluto trine Boris’s Mars. Cummings’ Mars in Pisces is conjunct Boris’s Saturn and opposition his Uranus Pluto – and that is some heap of aggravation and potential for resentment.

The relationship chart does little to clear up the puzzle – there is admittedly a controlling composite Sun Pluto; but there’s also a highly stressed and over-heated Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars Saturn. It looks an exceptionally masochistic connection.

Tr Neptune is wending its way in opposition to the composite Sun (2019) and this year opposition the Sun/Pluto midpoint and then Pluto in 2021 – which would normally put the skids under a co-operative partnership. But then tr Pluto was bearing down heavily on the focal point Mars Saturn in 2018/19 and that didn’t blow them apart.

Cummings’ Mutable T Square of Sun Neptune opposition Saturn square Mars (Moon) has moved by Solar Arc to last decan Cardinal signs and is picking up the pressured tr Pluto hard aspects through this year but that was also true last year – so again plus ca change.

Cummings will have some setbacks and some successes this year with a mega-nervy few weeks in June and again in October and early 2021. But it’s 2021 when he faces his greatest jeopardy as tr Neptune starts to oppose his catastrophe-prone Mars/Pluto midpoint from March onwards.

Cummings does have a North Node in Aquarius tied into an Air Grand Trine of Saturn to Pluto. An Aquarius Node can be wedded to a cause; Saturn Pluto is unyielding, and a surfeit of Air can lead to a rigid ideology. If Uranus is his vocational indicator, since it rises before his Sun, then he will have a tendency to tear down established structures. Though with no Earth in his chart and an afflicted Saturn he’s unlikely to build a solid replacement.

Similarities have been drawn between Cummings and Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey, political advisers to the king of historic note, neither of whom have definite birthday dates – but all three do have Jupiter in Sagittarius. As does Robespierre of the French Revolution. One of Cummings’ University tutors said of Cummings that he was “something like a Robespierre – someone determined to bring down things that don’t work”. That wouldn’t come from Jupiter in Sagittarius though it does give a self-righteous certainty about beliefs.

Evidently Machiavelli is one of his heroes who encouraged politicians to engage in evil when it would be necessary for political expediency. Machiavelli doesn’t have Jupiter in Sagittarius but he does have a Mutable T Square of Pluto opposition Mars in Pisces square Mercury and a Saturn opposition Neptune. So there are echoes of similarity. Though there’s more ruthlessness in Machiavelli.

One slight thought I have is Cummings’ Saturn Neptune – it’s usually thought of with a variety of meanings – hope for a better society, supporter of the underdog, as well as creative, neurotic and paranoid.

It is the central plank also of one of his other heroes, management guru, Andrew Grove, 2 September 1936, author of amongst other books ‘Only the Paranoid survive’. He had Sun Neptune opposition Saturn square Jupiter in Sagittarius – so a close parallel to Cummings. Saturn Neptune also appears in Peter Mandelson’s chart and Putin’s (birthdate being accurate). There is a deviousness about it.

Cummings’ harmonics are interesting. His get-it-together 5^th which can be dominating and try to impose the individual world-plan on others, pulls together Jupiter and Pluto into a pushily-confident conjunction; though it also recurs in his self-defeating, highs-and-lows 10H. Push too hard and it backfires.

One person he doesn’t get on well with is Carrie Symmonds, Boris’s present squeeze, whose six earth planets – four in Capricorn, two in Taurus – will be perplexed by all the hot air and dogmatism. That relationship chart is sliding downhill this year with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Saturn and tr Saturn square the Sun Mercury.

Cummings’ relationship with the UK is also sagging more than somewhat with tr Neptune square the control-freak composite Sun, Pluto, Mercury in 2020/21.

See also post July 24 2019.

The Boris Cabinet reshuffle has brought in even more malleable, jitterbug Mutable types. Like attracts like. From the Latin mutabilis “changeable,” from mutare “to change. Of which Boris is the walking example with a Sun Venus Mercury in Gemini and a T square to Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces square Mars in Gemini. Such an imbalance leads to extreme restlessness, an inconsistent and unmethodical approach, poor concentration, indecision, nervous strain. A focal point Mutable Mars is even more so – scattered, disorganised, easily bored, overly impulsive, taking no heed of consequences.

[Mutable signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. As opposed to Fixed Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius. And Cardinal (initiative) Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn.]

Boris’s Rasputin sidekick Dominic Cummings is a Sun Neptune in Sagittarius opposition Saturn square Mars (Moon) in Pisces – and he appears to thrive on destructive chaos for its own sake. What anchors him is a fanatical ideologue’s Air Grand Trine of Pluto trine Saturn trine Node.

Michael Gove is a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Virgo with Uranus Pluto also in Virgo.

Priti Patel, Secretary of State is a Mars Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune, with her Aries Sun in a Cardinal T Square.

Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, is a Sun Mercury in Pisces square Neptune.

And last but not least is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Risha Sunak, 12 May 1980, of the billionaire father-in-law, who stepped into the effectively downgraded Treasury job when Sajid Javid refused to bow the knee to Cummings. He has Jupiter Mars in Virgo with a Mutable T Square of Neptune opposition Venus square Saturn in Virgo plus a stalwart and steadier Taurus Sun opposition Uranus.

He looks uncertain, discontented and panicked from late April onwards, on and off till late 2021 with tr Neptune opposition his Saturn with exceptionally tricky relationships with both Boris and Cummings, so conflict between No 10 and No 11 may not have been resolved with a change of cast.

It just seems strange to have so many chameleon, ‘windmill in a storm’ Mutable types in charge of a Fixed UK. Though what they all home into since their Mutable planets tend to be in early degrees is the UK Pluto at 2 Pisces which was elbowed by tr Uranus sextile as Brexit got underway in earnest this last New Year. The Mutable ‘going with the flow’ can be helpful in times of rapid change but is not helpful for building strong, stable foundations once the transition is accomplished.

It’s perhaps also indicative of their over adaptability and susceptibility to being pushed around by a strong figure, which the unelected PM adviser Dominic Cummings appears to be. He’s a man on a mission to turn everything on its head no matter how much he has to lie and deceive to achieve his aims. His Pluto (on one leg of his wedded-to-a-cause, true believer Air Grand Trine) sits on the UK Uranus and his Uranus squares the UK Moon opposition Sun and opposes the UK Node. Change for change’s sake appears to be his motto – which is the negative face of Uranus. Collapse the old structure with no ability to put better in its place.

Add on: A quick scan round another nine Cabinet members, some old and some new. Some like Robert Buckland, Grant Shapps and Brandon Lewis have five or six Mutable planets – the first two in Virgo, Lewis mainly Gemini. Ben Wallace and Stephen Barclay have Venus Mars in Gemini square Pluto in Virgo. Barclay, Lewis and Matt Hancock also have Saturn in hard aspect to Neptune in Mutables. Suella Braverman, the new Attorney General for England and Wales, 3 April 1980, has a Mutable T Square of Saturn in Virgo opposition Mercury square Neptune in Sagittarius.

Open the Cabinet doors and windows to let in a Force Nine Gale and they’d scatter to the four winds.

The 2021 Inauguration chart has an explosive and disruptive Moon Mars Uranus conjunction in the hidden 12^th house square a Sun Saturn Jupiter conjunction (assuming 12 noon swearing in). The theme of these administration start charts can indicate internal political challenges or external events.

George W Bush’s First Term, 20 January 2001, which kicked off after a deeply flawed election result, and led into 9/11, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars had a dirty-dealings behind-the-scenes 8^th house Moon Pluto; with an explosive Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus Mercury – so reflecting internal and external events.

Abraham Lincoln’s Term chart, 4 March 1861 which led into the Civil War and then his assassination had a brutal Mars Pluto in Taurus trine Saturn; with a Saturn square Uranus reflecting the conflict between conservative and progressive.

Franklin D Roosevelt’s 3rd Term, 20 January 1941, leading into Pearl Harbour and World War 11, had a stark Sun opposition Pluto square Jupiter Saturn in Taurus; with Mars trine Pluto, which is warlike enough.

George H Bush, 20 January 1989, oversaw the first Gulf War, and that inauguration chart had an argumentative Sun square Mars, with a volatile and disruptive Mars trine Uranus Saturn.

John F Kennedy, 20 January 1961 12.45pm was another Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Capricorn with a stressed Yod of Mars sextile Pluto inconjunct Midheaven. Though was a good deal less challenging than any of the above.

Ronald Reagan’s First Term, 20 January 1981, which was followed by an assassination attempt from which he nearly died, has yet another Jupiter Saturn conjunction this time in Libra – with a potent Mars Mercury trine Pluto as well as trine Saturn Jupiter.

Jupiter Saturn conjunctions have a bad reputation for US Presidents. Every American president in the past 200 years who has been inaugurated on a Jupiter–Saturn conjunction has either been assassinated or survived an assassination attempt or died in office with only two exceptions, Thomas Jefferson and James Munroe. See post 3 January 2019, Tecsumeh’s Curse.

Richard Nixon’s Presidency, 20 January 1969, which ended in his resignation after Watergate is curiously free of aggravating aspects; with a lucky Sun trine Uranus Jupiter and Pluto and an unengaged Mars and little aspected Saturn. Though the Sun is conjunct the Mars/Saturn and Neptune/Node midpoints suggesting setbacks and deception; with Saturn opposition the Mars/Pluto midpoint which is catastrophe-prone.

Add On: In fact his 2nd Term chart (above) 20 January 1973 is more illuminating with an 8th house Mars opposition Saturn, always a sure sign of a setback and ill-luck – which also figures in Trump’s Term chart from 8th to 11th houses.  In Nixon’s case there is also an unstable Uranus square Midheaven (assuming 12 noon))

From the above I’d kind of assume that not all of the stressed aspects of the 2021 Inauguration chart will come from internal political strains. There could well be global events involved as well. The 2021 Uranus square Saturn is redolent of the 1861 Civil War  in the conflict between conservative and radical, and although angry and potentially violent nowhere near as destructive as 1861. Also if the swearing in time is not noon for any reason then the Mars Uranus may not be 12^th house.

Some of the above charts have 12 noon start times since there was no information to suggest otherwise.

From Lincoln Inaugural Speech 1861: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

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This is only a flying look at the near future of some of the Democratic top candidates as they trail round the endless and stultifyingly tedious campaign trail.

Bernie Sanders appears to be leading just at the moment. Tr Neptune square his Jupiter from late March and through April may puncture his enthusiasm since it tends to deflate over confidence. He’ll have some ups late April but he’s struggling against tr Pluto square his Mars all year and indeed his Solar Arc Pluto opposing his Mars on the same degree within weeks – both of which are blocked.

Peter Buttigieg has the usual swings and roundabouts of a long and punishing campaign with a disappointing tr Neptune square his Sun/Jupiter from late February to late March at the same time as tr Saturn is conjunct his Capricorn Sun. He’ll get some lift from tr Uranus opposition his Jupiter (on his Midheaven) in late May/early June and across the election.

Mike Bloomberg, has one sparkler of success and that comes in July with tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter/Midheaven midpoint (birth time being absolutely accurate). But he’s also got a failed-plans tr Pluto opposition his Mars/Neptune midpoint on and off all year which isn’t great.

Amy Klobuchar may spring a surprise or two as she picks up a ‘lucky break’ tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint late February to early July. Though she also has less useful influences as well.

Joe Biden isn’t in a happy situation and has a raft of unsupportive influences ahead including tr Neptune opposition his Midheaven from the spring onwards which look ominous for any recovery.

Elizabeth Warren is also falling back in the polls and is limping badly through late March to late August with various stuck and unsuccessful transits ahead.

 

The US Department of Justice appears to be heading deeper into the White House sink hole with interference in the sentencing of former Trump adviser Roger Stone, causing four federal prosecutors to resign. They had requested a sentence of seven to nine years in prison which evoked a stream of hysterically condemnatory tweets from Trump after which the DOJ sought to lessen the sentence. The Stone case was one of the most high-profile criminal prosecutions emerging from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller.

Barr’s downhill trajectory picks up a head of steam from later this month. From February 27^th to March 24^th, and again October 3^rd to late January 2021 tr Neptune opposes his Mars/Saturn midpoint which Ebertin describes as: ‘a grievous loss, waning powers, self-torment, weak vitality.’ This coincides with a period when his relationship with Trump is at its most nerve-stretched. Never a moment to soon.

See longer post on Barr see post January 17 2020 on separation of Church and state.

 

Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson, is splitting from his wife Canadian Autumn Kelly after she announced she was leaving. Although the media are making a great fuss he comes from divorced parents – Princess Anne and Mark Phillips – and there have been a handful of marital splits close to the Queen from Princess Margaret onwards and two of her other children as well.

Peter Phillips was born 15 November 1977 10.46 am London and doesn’t have an easy chart. He’s a Sun Scorpio square an 8^th house wannabe-important Saturn in Leo; with an uncompromising and not always co-operative 10^th house Uranus in a volatile square to an 8^th house Mars. Although he has a helpful Jupiter on his Descendant attracting supportive partners, he would not find intimacy or flexibility easy in a close relationship.

Autumn, born 3 May 1978 in Canada, is equally stubborn with a Taurus Sun opposition Uranus square Mars in Leo, which is quite a bulldozer of determination with an independent-minded streak. She has a Pisces/Aries Moon and Venus in Gemini; while he has a Capricorn Moon square Pluto and Venus in Scorpio – in many ways both are too similar and too different.

Their relationship chart does have an affectionate composite Sun (maybe Moon) opposition Venus and Saturn; with a disruptive and argumentative Mars opposition Mercury square Uranus. Pluses and minuses. Tr Saturn in Scorpio in 2014/15 would put a damper on affection as it squared the composite Sun and Venus; with the tr Uranus square Pluto tugging vigorously as the composite Pluto. From this June onwards for a year tr Uranus squares the composite Mars which will bring outbursts and noisy arguments with a rocky patch thereafter with tr Uranus opposition the composite Uranus and square the Mercury and then Sun over the next few years – so it won’t be a quick n’ easy process.

He has tr Neptune square his Sun/Moon midpoint in 2021/2022 for a disheartening and disappointing marital experience; with a soul-searching and anguished Progressed Moon through his 8^th from exactly now for the next three years. He’s also moving into his low profile phase with tr Saturn now in his 1^st house and staying in his First Quadrant for several years ahead. He’ll have a few emotional issues to sort out during this time.

He’s always been involved in financial wheelings and dealings which don’t always come off from the splashy Hello wedding which raised eyebrows to more recently promoting Chinese milk.

Bong Jong-Ho, the South Korean film director, achieved the first non-English language film Best Picture Academy Award ever at the Oscars last night for Parasite which also took Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The BBC described it as: “a vicious social satire about two families from different classes in Seoul – one who live in poverty in a semi-basement, and another rich family residing in a large home.”

Bong Joon-Ho, born in Daegu, South Korea on 14 September 1969, comes from a cultured family of designers, writers and academics. Although unknown in the west he came up through a long film training, making his name over the past twenty years with increasingly commercially successful films. His last two movies were entered at Cannes and Parasite last year won the Palme D’Or.

He’s a tough Sun Pluto in Virgo sextile Neptune, opposition a Pisces North Node square Mars in Sagittarius – so a powerhouse of high energy. He has Venus in flashy Leo and Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and Moon in more equable Libra.

Without a birth time there’s not much of note showing in his chart though the Capricorn planets trining his Sun Pluto may be helping. Tr Jupiter is square his Mercury for a confident lift; and all his midpoints are showing is Neptunian fog – which clearly plugs into his startled reaction to a highly unexpected Hollywood accolade.

Pic: Georges Biard

 

Talented actor Christopher Eccleston has written a moving and tortured autobiography about his struggle with anorexia, depression and his hero-worship of his father. What’s intriguing astrologically is that he was born three days after Sarah Palin and has the same Sun, Mars, Saturn in Aquarius widely square Neptune. His father was clearly an angry man, tough and overly exacting in his expectations of his son.

Born 16 February 1964 6.58 pm Salford, England, his Sun, Mars, Saturn fall in his 6^th house of health which has resulted in a lifelong struggle with dysmorphia, feeling that his bulky figure needed to be fined down. His Aries Moon is conjunct Venus hinting at an easier relationship with his mother though it is on one leg of a Yod sextile Mercury in Aquarius in his performing 5^th inconjunct a 12^th house Uranus (conjunct Pluto). His supportive 8^th house Jupiter is also in an inconjunct to Neptune, so no surprises he has experienced a fair amount of strain in his life.

His Solar Arc Saturn was conjunct his 8^th house Jupiter when he had a mental collapse and went into the Priory Clinic with the worst case of depression the doctor had seen. His Progressed Moon is going through his 8^th at the moment but will emerge in a year’s time when he’ll bounce with more enthusiasm and a stronger sense of where he is going.

A complicated man who hasn’t had his troubles to seek. And while one shouldn’t diagnose off a chart without being asked, I have a sneaking feeling that if he peeled away his idealisation of his father he might shed some of his psychological burden.

Intriguing also to see how roughly the same chart can be lived in different ways viz the rootin’ tootin’ Alaskan cowboy Sarah Palin.

 

Rumours about the mysterious disappearance of Jean Spangler, an American dancer, model, and actress in 1949 have surfaced again with the death of Kirk Douglas. Her most recent work beforehand had been in a film in which he starred. He claimed he was in Palm Springs at the time and nothing further was ever discovered about her. She had been pregnant and intending to have an abortion, illegal in those days. and it could have gone wrong. Another theory was her connection to Los Angeles gangsters, another of whom vanished in the same week.

Born 2 September 1923, she was a Sun, Venus, Mars in Virgo; with a tumultuous Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in Scorpio trine Pluto trine Uranus in Pisces, with her Uranus opposition her North Node Sun in Virgo. When she disappeared on 7 October 1949 there was a brutal and ruthless Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo conjunct her Neptune; with an enthusiasm-denting Solar Arc Saturn conjunct her Jupiter and a jolting tr Uranus square her Solar Arc Sun and a high-anxiety tr Saturn conjunct her Solar Arc Neptune. For her it looked extremely scary, depressing and panicky.

Kirk Douglas only admitted to kidding around with her on set and there’s no proof – though persistent allegations – that he had any further contact with her. Their relationship chart has an accentuated Mars which is conjunct the composite Sun, trine Pluto and sextile Saturn; as well as on the focal point of a composite T Square of Jupiter opposition Neptune. Mars in relationship charts starts off with sparky passion but tends to lead to arguments, sometimes violent. And that is a pretty heavy chemistry.

Her Sun, Venus, Mars fell in his 8^th house which would provide an initial attraction, hooking by trine and sextile into his dominating Mars opposition Pluto.

He was undoubtedly rattled around the time of her death with the transiting Mars Pluto moving through his 7^th house of relationship opposition his Uranus and trine his Sun; and tr Neptune hitting on two of his darker midpoints. Which doesn’t prove anything since there could be other reasons. Unless anyone spills the beans, if there are any, it’ll remain a mystery and a question mark.

Catherine Zeta Jones, 25 September 1969 2.40 pm Swansea, Wales, Kirk Douglas’s daughter-in-law, has a tough chart with an Earth Grand Trine of Mars in Capricorn trine Saturn trine Venus; with her Mars square a Libra Sun, Uranus – so quite volatile and used to difficult men. Her love life before Michael Douglas was peppered with tricky boyfriends – John Leslie, TV presenter who has a Mars Pluto Uranus in Virgo and seems to attract unproven rape allegations; Jon Peters, Mick Hucknall, before she landed with Michael, who had a reputed sex addiction.

She wouldn’t find Kirk Douglas remotely easy since his Mars opposition Pluto squared her Sun Uranus; and his disturbing Neptune Saturn fell in her 8^th – not a warm connection. She’d find him teeth-grittingly irritating and a touch scary even at his advanced age.