Jean Seberg died forty years ago today. She was the darling of the French New Wave cinema after Jean-Luc Godard immortalized her in Breathless, went on to a stream of Hollywood hits including Otto Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse. But she became increasingly tormented by FBI counter intelligence retaliation for her support of the Black Panthers in the 1960s which included smears and untrue stories about her. And she was found dead from an overdose in her car aged 40, supposedly by suicide though there were questions about whether she’d been helped – and she wasn’t discovered for about ten days so her body was partially decomposed. Her second husband Romain Gary said her mental state had been badly affected by the FBI’s stalking and surveillance over years.

She was born 13 November 1938 5.15 am Marshalltown, Iowa and started acting in her late teens. Her emotional life was complicated with an early, brief abusive marriage, then she hitched up with novelist Romain Gary and had a son, then she had a daughter who died by a student revolutionary, followed by a third husband whom she left for an Algerian who persuaded her to cash in her flat and give him the money before she died. There were stories of multiple failed suicide attempts before.

She was a Sun Scorpio opposition a 7^th house Uranus, which would go a long way to explain her constantly revolving partners. That opposition squared onto Jupiter in Aquarius so she did have confidence but would have felt no inclination to put limits on what she wanted. She also has a harsh, hard-edged Mars opposition Saturn, perhaps why she kept attracting herself into abusive relationships. She also had an intensely possessive and controlling Moon Pluto in Leo on her Midheaven.

When she died tr Uranus in Scorpio was hovering around the opposition to her natal Uranus and moving to conjunct her Sun which would make her excessively restless. But more than that it was emotionally a very stressed and depressing time with her Solar Arc Venus square her destructive Mars and Saturn; and tr Saturn exactly conjunct her Solar Arc Moon (and Pluto).

Such a muddled life with a gothically tragic end.

 

Brad Pitt is at the top of his game this year, giving the best performances of his career. He was rightfully lauded for his role as the washed-up stuntman in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Leo Di Caprio. And early reviews of James Gray’s Ad Astra in which he stars solo are even more adulatory. It premiered at Venice Film Festival and goes on release late September. Although set in space, it echoes Apocalypse Now themes and stripped of sci-fi it becomes a family melodrama of a man’s search for his renegade father.

He’s also managed to settled the long and acrimonious custody battle with Angelina Jolie over their six kids which has been running for three years.

Born 18 December 1963 6.31am Shawnee, Oklahoma, he’s an adventurous Sun Sagittarius with Mars, Mercury, Moon and Venus spread out through ambitious, creative and materialistic Capricorn. His Mars opposes a Cancer North Node square a 4^th house Jupiter so he’s confident and idealistic. His Mars is also trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo giving him a volatile, ultra-determined streak with some anger issues in early life.

He has tr Saturn and Pluto moving through his 2^nd house and First Quadrant at the moment which isn’t generally a hugely successful time but will get him in touch with deeper inner issues – as well as reorganising his finances. Jupiter moving into his 2^nd from early 2020 will bring him in more cash though he most likely doesn’t need it. The triple conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto will trine his Midheaven in 2020 to 2023 so he should be making steady progress with his multifarious projects, some of them as producer. It’s an emotionally intense time for him with tr Pluto conjunct his Moon and Venus in 2019/2020 which could mean a new relationship – or just getting his kids back.

His relationship with Angelina was an incredibly Plutonic one with a composite Sun opposition Pluto – and these are powerfully possessive bonds which are there to transform both partners. Once that work is finished they pull apart, but not without a great deal of pain, mess and difficulty. Interestingly in the relationship chart the argumentative composite Moon Mars falls in the 5^th house of children, who became the focus of the aggravation but really weren’t what all that fuss was about.

Gina Miller, a Guyanese-British business owner and activist has again set sail down the judicial route to oppose the decision to suspend Parliament in the courts. It is not possible to mount a legal challenge to the Queen’s approval of the suspension but she believes she can legally challenge the advice the Queen’s prime minister gives her. She has been joined by former Tory PM Sir John Major and is backed by Lib Dem Jo Swinson and Labour deputy leader Tom Watson. The High Court will hold a preliminary hearing next Thursday and, if it agrees, a full hearing will take place the next day.

She’s already made herself exceedingly unpopular with Brexiteers by mounting previous challenges; and indeed is much disliked in the City of London for her True and Fair Campaign, which aims to “limit the possibility of future mis-selling or financial scandals through greater transparency.”

Born on Guyana, then a British colony, on 19 April 1965, she is a last degree Aries Sun conjunct Venus in Taurus with Jupiter in last degree Taurus, neither heaily aspected or well integrated in her chart. More notably she has a firebrand Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn possibly square a Sagittarius Moon, which would certainly suit her for a public career with an emphasised Moon, as well as for fighting constant battles.

She’s on confident fighting form right through from now till mid December with tr Pluto triggering too of her Jupiter midpoints. Which doesn’t necessarily means she’s winning but she won’t give up.

John Major, 29 March 1943 3.15 am London, another Sun Aries is looking more rattled, less sanguine about the way things are going through the autumn with tr Saturn opposing his Jupiter in October, lowering his enthusiasm; and seriously jangled by Uranus transits to midpoints mid October into November and on.

Pic: Keith Edkins.

 

Andrew Yang, the internet’s favourite democratic candidate in an over-crowded field has pulled up strongly in polling recently, coming in from behind. Born 13 January 1975 in New York to immigrant Taiwanese parents, he’s an entrepreneur and philanthropist, keen on setting up jobs in struggling cities amongst other projects.

He’s a Sun Capricorn opposition Saturn in Cancer with Saturn in a tough-minded square to Pluto. His Moon Mercury Venus are in Aquarius and his Jupiter is in charitable Pisces. He’s very energised and enthusiastic this year with Solar Arc Venus square his Mars and his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Venus; but it’s also a considerable struggle with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun till late 2020. More significant for his run in the near future he’s got a run of Neptune hard aspects to two Mars midpoints and his Jupiter right picking up steam from late September through till early 2020 which doesn’t bode well.

Pic: Gage Skidmore

 

Jessi Coombs known as the “fastest woman on four wheels” was killed in a high-speed crash in a dry lake bed in south-eastern Oregon while trying to set a new land-speed record. In 2013 she broke the women’s four-wheeled speed record with a speed of 398mph; and last October set a speed record of 483mph. She was attempting to beat the 512mph women’s land-speed record set in 1976 by American Kitty O’Neil.

Born 27 July 1980 she was an entertaining Sun Leo sextile Mars in Libra with her Mars in a wide, ultra-determined conjunction with Pluto; and a hard-working Saturn in Virgo on the focal point of a T Square. She appeared on various auto tv programmes including All Girls Garage, featuring women repairing and upgrading new and classic automobiles.

At the moment she had her Progressed Mars square her Sun, which does indicate a shock or collision of sorts. Plus tr Saturn was in an accident-prone square to her Mars/Pluto; and tr Neptune was in a loss-making opposition to her Jupiter/Saturn midpoint. Not good timing for the attempt.

She had a well-aspected practical and get-it-together 5^th Harmonic, a very strong can-be-perfectionist 7^th harmonic; a tough, obsessive 11H; and a breaking-with-the-orthodox 13H.

This is an astro-maze post more for my benefit as I struggle to grasp what is actually going on with Brexit. Question – what is a lying chancer and the manic spinning-top that is Boris Johnson doing as the catalyst for change in a country as fixed as the UK? Partly it touches on Kissinger’s thought about Trump that such people turn up at the end of a cycle, effectively as wreckers of the old ways, but without much sense of what any alternative plan might be. Pluto in Capricorn’s final revenge before it exits, tearing down the pillars of the old temple.

The UK is strong, enduring, resourceful, capable of surviving through tough times, but not good at adaptability or embracing change with what is effectively a Fixed Grand Cross in the 1801 chart. Along comes Boris and his sidekick Dominic Cummings who lack almost totally the UK’s astro-strengths since they have manically scattergun Mutable charts – Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius. Staying-power is not their forte to put it mildly as they get blown hither and thither by their excitable need for constant action and desperate need for a windmill to tilt at.

What caught my eye and attention on the UK 1801 chart is Pluto in Pisces, one of only two Mutable (adaptable) planets, which is picking up the tr Uranus sextile late this December and through January 2020 for the third and final time. In country charts, even soft transits appear to act much like hard, so it is likely to be a more major jolt than it appears.

The UK Pluto natally is on the apex of a Yod to Jupiter sextile Uranus and was amplified at Brexit in 2016 by Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct, exact in the months before. What Pluto on a yod says about the UK temperament is that it has all of the aloof Plutonic power-hungry tendencies, usually along with a lack of understanding the Other, being better suited for an authoritarian position than equal co-operation. Such a Yod can undergo periods of frustration and isolation before being reborn with different values and ambitions.

When the UK finally joined the European Economic Community with the hope of rebuilding the economy after two punishingly expensive wars tr Pluto was conjunct the UK Ascendant; and the natal Pluto had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct the 11^th house legislative Saturn which is the final leg of the Fixed Grand Cross. Solar Arc Pluto had started round the Fixed Grand Cross around 1960/1 as the old Empire disappeared. Solar Arc Pluto is now poised almost exactly to cross the UK Ascendant – for another major staging post in the country’s history.

On the synastry comparing the UK to the EU chart, the UK’s authoritarian Pluto at 2 degrees Pisces natally it is exactly opposition the EU’s ruthlessly determined and unco-operative Pluto square Mars – so it was never going to be a comfortable match. The UK’s Uranus is conjunct the EU’s Ascendant making the UK the maverick rebel, with the UK likes-to-be-in-financial-control Mars conjunct the EU Moon and square the EU Uranus for a combustible and inflammatory chemistry.

The key events of the 20^th Century – WW1 and 11, loss of colonies, joining the EEC – were all marked up by that UK Pluto in its Solar Arc position at the time. And here we are again with another significant marker on the UK’s timeline.

It kind of makes sense of the clown that is Johnson who is not remotely Churchillian for all his vanity preening. [ Churchill despite being a Sagittarius had a preponderantly Fixed chart to give him endurance and bottom; and his enthusiastic, morale-boosting Mars Jupiter fell in the UK’s 1^st house which was the saving grace in WW11.]

I wasn’t remotely pro Brexit for pragmatic reasons since the gigantic economic hiccup that it’ll cause in trade will hit the poorest worst – with no clear indication of what will fill the void. And divorce from the EU with its vengeful, dirty-dealing Mars square Pluto wasn’t ever going to be easy-peasy or without jeopardy.

But we are where we are – and my sense is that a good many people are so fed up with the topic, they’d be happy to just get it done and dusted and if we step into a void then the country will cope somehow, since it always has – jollied along by Boris et al’s delusional optimism that it’ll be alright on the day – though that wouldn’t include Scots or Irish. And since the EU’s beyond-parody Juncker and bloated technocrats etc have made themselves even more unpopular, even with remainers, there is probably no way back. And just to add another layer of snarl-up, no one is going to vote even a rubber duck like Boris out and put an incompetent, old Trot like Corbyn in. It is very Plutonic – a titanium spun spider’s web which traps you no matter which way you try to turn.

Boris as a puppet on the fates’ string makes more sense as Pluto in Capricorn moves into its final third, fulfilling the promise of tearing down old governmental (and financial) structures – reducing to ashes to clear the ground for rebuilding. As with all matters Plutonic nothing moves fast and the destruction phase is unpleasant and often painful.  Economically the UK is now into a very turbulent few years with tr Uranus in Taurus moving through the 8th until 2025 bouncing off all the UK’s Fixed planets.

 

Red lights are flashing in Westminster with tempers ratcheting up to defcon level as Boris Johnson, fuelled no doubt by his aide the ‘psychopathic’ careerist Dominic Cummings, forces parliament into the longest suspension since 1945. It was all done on the specious excuse of preparing for new government strategies on a range of non-Brexit issues to be prepared for a Queen’s Speech on October 14^th. Normally that takes one to two weeks. The manoeuvre has been described as an “affront to parliamentary democracy” and is clearly designed to help the government avoid scrutiny for its Brexit plans. Scotland and North Ireland are up in arms as are many Tories and Remainers.

The Queen who was dragged into the mess and had little choice but to sign it off is not amused. The country who are on their knees with Brexit boredom and exhaustion are bemused and befuddled.

It is hardly surprising since both Johnson and Cummings have focal point Mutable Mars in their charts, Gemini and Pisces respectively, which gives a tendency to leap first and think second – harum scarum, dashing headlong into action in an ill-considered way. And the government chart, 24 July 2019 3.12pm, also has an afflicted Mars on the apex of a Yod – which equally points to reckless action, plunging ahead without necessarily having a clear plan to follow so it can often backfire. It can be courageous and daring but more often foolhardy.

Mid-November to mid-December is when dashed-hopes and significant calamities assail the government chart. With Boris’s own chart panicking at the prospect of failure from September 22^nd to late January 2020 with a run of tr Neptune hard aspects to various Mars midpoints. September 22^nd to October 19 point to leadership upsets, martyrdom, suffering and being forced to adjust to new circumstances. November 11 to December 18 looks high-risk, blocked and powerless.

Dominic Cummings, 25 November 1971, is also hemmed in every which way and completely poleaxed by events from mid November to mid December.

Senior civil servant David Frost, 21 February 1965, Boris’s knight-in-shining-armour, despatched off the Brussels to accomplish the impossible, is more or less admitting defeat from mid November for a few weeks, his enthusiasm dented, though with one upbeat influence giving him a straw to clutch at. But even that will have sunk by late December into January when he sees plans dissolving in a puff of smoke.

The UK chart has the confused tr Neptune square the 3^rd house Mercury now till late September; and then the panicky-failure tr Neptune square the Solar Arc Mars until November 12^th; with a depressed tr Pluto square the Mercury/Saturn also till early November. That bizarrely is followed by an upbeat, enthusiastic tr Pluto square the Sun/Jupiter till December 18^th though running concurrently with another nerve-stretching influence. Mid December tr Saturn is in a donwbeat opposition to the 10^th house (ruling classes) Moon for a few days. Then from mid January 2020 tr Jupiter moves into the UK 4^th house for a year which can bring a period of quiet contentment which seems unlikely but maybe in the background there’ll be an acceptance of the way thing are.  Maybe even an extension of the exiting process allowing it to become less of a foreground panic.

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Neptune moves out of Pisces into Aries in 2025 to stay until 2038 which is an odd contradiction of religious/creative and self-assertive energy.

Looking back to past occurrences: (I have incorporated suggestions from comments below for ease of finding later.)

1044 to 1056 AD – Westminster Abbey was founded, The Great Schism between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Edward the Confessor was King of England.

1208 to 1221 – the Magna Carta was signed, University of Cambridge founded.

1372 to 1383 – The Western Schism with two men both claiming to be Pope, the Bible was translated into English, England Peasants’ Revolt.

   There are some interesting synchronicities. In 1216 Henry III came to the throne and in 1377 Richard II came to the throne. Both were children and had to deal with unrest one fermented by a French invasion sponsored by the City of London, the other by the Peasant’s revolt.

1525 to 1547 – Anne Boleyn was Queen of England just before, then beheaded. Elizabeth Tudor was born. Anabaptist rebellion in Germany.  The rebellion Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 was the most serious Tudor uprising against Henry V111’s break with Rome.

1699 to 1712 – War of Spanish Succession, Union of Scotland and England. Huguenot Rebellion. 1702-3 Quebec epidemic, where smallpox killed thousands. 1702 King William III of England died from a fall off a horse, and his sister-in-law Anne become Queen (The Favorite).

1703: Middle Italy had three killer earthquakes, on the Mercalli scale of VIII (severe), X and XI (extreme), with great loss of life.

1863 to 1875 – US Civil War. Unification of Germany and Italy. Red Cross founded and Yellowstone Park opened. 1865 to 1869 advanced the rights of African-Americans, being granted freedom in ’65, citizenship in ‘68 and in 1870 the right to vote. This led to an ugly backlash with the Opelousas Massacre in 1868 and the formation of the KKK in ‘65 to ‘71.

Canada was founded in 1867. [Neptune was in Aries or Libra for every US Uranus in Gemini return, which coincided each time so far with major armed conflict (the War of Independence, the Civil War, D-Day). The next one is in 2027-2028. Canada was deeply affected by all three.]

  Neptune in Aries certainly seems pivotal for English history, as well as for the Vatican; and also appears to produce iconic national symbols like the Magna Carta, Westminster Abbey and Yellowstone Park.

  On only two occasions was Saturn in Aries at the same time as we have in 2025.  They were running concurrently in Aries from June 1379 to May 1380 with the Peasants Revolt coming in 1381 as it was waning.  And again June 1702 to December 1703.

  Any historian comments gratefully received. Usually Saturn Neptune conjunctions or hard aspects support the underdogs – so women and workers issues come to the forefront, and it can also accompany epidemics. 

Important time periods in Nordic History, too. I – or we in general – do not have that much information on the first two periods, although 1040s and 1050s were the tailend of Viking Period, considered to have finished with Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.

From Solaia on Nordic history:

But 1370s and 1380s were some of the most turbulant times in Nordic History, with very weak monarchies and strong nobility feuding, and eventually leading to formation of Kalmar Union in 1397. This was not all bad, since possibly the wealthiest man in Nordic Countries before Modern Times Bo Jonsson Grip was at the peak of his power and very forward thinking.

Kalmar Union, of course, collapsed in the 1520’s, but resulted to almost constant state of war between established Danish and newly founded Swedish Monarchies during this Neptune in Aries. Ironically, both Danish and Swedish Monarchies decided to adopt new Lutheran faith during this time, Sweden first in 1527, Denmark after the death of Fredrick II, who remained Catholic until his death.

1699 to 1712 was the beginning of Great Northern War, and initially successful under “Warrior King” Charles XII. There was a fortune in Battle of Poltava disfortune, though, since Charles XII fled to Ottoman Empire, where his chefs were introduced to köfte and those became Swedish Meatballs (seriously, someone traced this and concluded meatballs first appeared in Sweden only after Charles’ adventures). On a not so delightful not, there was a wide spread plague epidemic in Nordic Countries around 1710, spread by refugees from Baltics.

1860’s and 1870’s were, in many ways, when Nordic Societies as we would know them were established. Many Astrologers prefer to use the 1866 Chart for Sweden, and it definitely does explain the shift from what had been the most belligerent state in Europe to the one that has enjoyed longest continues time of peace in the continent. 1860’s also saw Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland establishing many of the institutions that carried all the way to Independence and to this day. Most importantly, Language Diet of 1863, which required introduction of Finnish Language to public business and later to state offices within 20 years. Downside, The Last Peace Time Famine Disaster in Europe, 1867 and particularly early in 1868, which killed tenth of the population in Finland.

A secretive fundamentalist religious organisation wielding enormous power at the heart of American politics is the scary conspiracy story, much of it based on fact, which is highlighted in a Netflix five-part documentary series. It’s based on the 2008 book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by American journalist Jeff Sharlet. In it he says the Family or Fellowship fetishizes power by comparing Jesus to “Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Bin Laden” as examples of leaders who change the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their “brothers.

A year after the book’s publication, sex scandals of prominent political members of the Family and accusations that it was illegally subsidizing the rent of members of Congress and involved in the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would have imposed the death penalty for homosexuality in Uganda, pushed it into the national spotlight.

What is noteworthy astrologically is that it was started in 1935 by a Norwegian preacher who held breakfast prayer meetings, which spread across the US and later presidents took up. At that point tr Uranus had just moved into Taurus to which it has only recently returned for the first time; and tr Pluto was in last decan Cancer so not dissimilar to now with Pluto half a zodiac on and in hard aspect to the fanatical, demagogic (rabble-rousing) US Mercury opposition Pluto. There was also the neurotic, creative Saturn opposition Neptune which Ebertin describes as a struggle between the lower and higher nature.

The founder Abraham Vereide claimed to have been directed in a vision by God to shift his Christian ministry away from the “down and out” and toward the “up and out.” He then evangelized among wealthy and politically powerful individuals who shared his concerns about socialism and other “subversive” forces. In The Family’s eccentric theology, the world is run by “key men” who have been chosen by God to rule over the rest of us, in imitation of Jesus, who they believe to have been a muscular leader interested only in power.

Doug Coe took over and was for decades the highly discreet almost invisible driver of the early vision until he died in 2017. He is on videotape idolizing fascist rulers of the twentieth century and spreading a “covenant” in which Christian fundamentalism is popular because of its similarity to the Nazi brotherhood.

Coe was born 20 October 1928 in Oregon, and was a late Sun Libra with a Half Grand Sextile of Mercury in Scorpio opposition Jupiter, sextile/trine Neptune and Mars – a persuasive speaker. He also had a Yod of Mercury sextile Neptune inconjunct Uranus – suggesting a catalyst for change, a trailblazer, who was intolerant of convention, even lawless at times. He also had a seductive Venus in Scorpio opposition Node square Neptune in Virgo hinting at a shapeshifter, with a chameleon-like tendency to insert himself into situations without causing waves.

Abraham Vereide was born 7 October 1886 so was another Sun Libra conjunct Jupiter Mercury square Saturn in Cancer; with the signature Neptune Pluto of his generation trine Venus with Pluto in an innovative trine to Uranus – he’d also be seductively charming with a Libra Sun and Venus trine Pluto Neptune. More significantly he has a ruthlessly ambitious Mars opposition Pluto square North Node – tying him into the zeitgeist.

Seriously scary stuff – there’s nothing worse than religious zealotry being twisted to cosmeticize power-hungry greed and elitism, never mind condoning private sexual misbehaviour while preaching morality in public.

https://newrepublic.com/article/154763/familys-big-secret-hiding-plain-sight