Mad, the satirical magazine, is winding down after 67 years having been losing circulation from its 1970s high of nearly 3 million readers. It started a tradition that spawned “Saturday Night Live,” “The Simpsons,” “South Park” and The Onion and influenced many comedians. One cartoonist said “For baby boomers, it was like the Bible. To my mind, it was where you found reality.”

The publisher who oversaw Mad for 40 years was William Gaines, 1 March 1922, who inherited a comic business from his father. He was a creative and quirky Sun Pisces conjunct Venus and Uranus in a defiant square to Mars in fiery Sagittarius. He may have had an entrepreneurial, inspirational Fire Grand Trine from Mars in a showbizzy trine to Neptune trine an Aries Moon. His communicative Mercury was in Aquarius which next to Sagittarius is a favourite comedian’s sign. His Mercury was in a confident trine to Jupiter and an artistic opposition to Neptune.

The first issue of MAD came out in August 1952 with no date but it was a momentous month with Jupiter in Taurus opposition Mars in Scorpio square Pluto (maybe Sun) in Leo opposition a North Node in Aquarius – definitely designed for the long haul and for sharp satire.

The first editor was Harry Kurtzman, 3 October 1924. He was a Sun Libra with Mercury in communicative Virgo in a rebellious and outspoken opposition to Uranus. He had creative Venus Neptune in flamboyant Leo in a showbizzy and enthusiastic opposition to Mars in contrary Aquarius.

It was a good partnership for four years with a composite creative and successful Water Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Pluto trine Uranus, formed into a Kite with Pluto in a ruthlessly determined opposition to Mars and square Saturn – it wouldn’t all be sweetness and light and Kurtzman did leave but it kicked it off in good style.

Al Feldstein who went on to edit MAD for twenty years, 24 Oct 1925, was a Sun Scorpio with a creative Water Grand Trine Pluto trine Uranus trine Saturn formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Jupiter which squared onto Mars – talented, confident and didn’t pull his punches.

A second larger 7.1 earthquake has struck southern California causing damage and injuries but no fatalities so far. The fear is that other quakes will follow which if they occur in heavily built up areas will do more damage. The 1994 6.7 Los Angeles quake killed 57 and cost many billions of dollars.

Earthquake prediction is an inexact science but notably the two largest 20th Century ones – the 1906 San Francisco quake and the 1994 LA one – happened with strong almost exact Uranus Neptune aspects, the first in opposition, the second in conjunction. There’s nothing like that astrologically around for many years to come.

On the California chart, 9 September 1850, both the 1906 and 1994 quakes had Solar Arc Neptune in hard aspect to the Uranus Pluto on the CA chart – the first conjunct and the second square. In both cases also the California Neptune in early Pisces was also badly rattled, in 1906 by tr Saturn in  Pisces and the Solar Eclipse conjunct; and in 1994 by Solar Arc Mars conjunct the CA Neptune. Neptune often crops up with natural disasters because of the confusion they cause; and in aspect to Pluto especially for devastation. Again there is nothing similar. And it may also ‘require’ more than one aspect to show up at the same time when the quake is activated.

On the Los Angeles chart, 4 September 1781, at the 1994 earthquake the Solar Eclipse three months previously was in Scorpio with the Eclipsed New Moon close to Pluto and all three conjunct the LA Jupiter. Again Jupiter often shows up at disasters – the amplification effect. There was also a Solar Arc Uranus just over the conjunction to the LA Pluto by a few months. The Solar Arc Saturn was moving towards the opposition to Mars which is accident prone.

The 1906 San Francisco 7.9 quake which killed 3000 people and destroyed 80% of the city, happened on the tr Neptune opposition Uranus in Capricorn which was sitting exactly on the San Fran Cancer Sun, 29 June 1776. Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct the SF Saturn for a massive jolt; and the Solar Arc Neptune was a year past the conjunction to the SF Pluto. The previous Solar Eclipse in early Pisces conjunct Saturn was square the SF Uranus and Solar Arc Pluto.

The California chart has Solar Arc Pluto Uranus opposition Saturn now; and Solar Arc Sun conjunct its Neptune in 15 months’ time. But its most tumultuous patch looks around 2023 when the late Aries Solar Eclipse will conjunct its Uranus Pluto with tr Pluto square and tr Neptune trine; and tr Saturn conjunct the Neptune; with Solar Arc Saturn moving from a hard aspect to Mars to Mercury. It may, of course, not be an earthquake, but it will be an exceptionally turbulent time.

The Los Angeles chart has a rebellious and unsettled tr Uranus square its Pluto this year and early in 2020; with Solar Arc Pluto in a confusing and devastating conjunction its Neptune in two years’ time. But nothing like as tricky as the early 1994 influences ahead.

The San Francisco chart has its Cancer Sun very close to the week’s Solar Eclipse with angular planets on the eclipse chart located there for a crisis or two. With tr Pluto trine Neptune this year and next; and an accident prone Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the SF Mars in 2021. But again not as strong as the 1906 influences.

The rotund and rather bizarre MEP for the Brexit Party Ann Widdecombe has bewed up a fuss remarking that leaving the EU is akin to slaves rising up against owners. She was a Tory MP for many years with trenchant right-wing views – against the legality of abortion, against various issues of LGBT rights such as an equal age of consent, supported the re-introduction of the death penalty and the retention of blasphemy laws. When she stepped down from Westminster she became more famous for various television appearances including Strictly Dancing. She is unmarried with no children, likes cats and lived with her mother until she died 12 years ago.

Born 4 October 1947 8am (from memory) Bath, England, she is a Sun Neptune and Venus in Libra with the unyielding Saturn Pluto in Leo in her 10^th house of career along with an ambitious and entertaining Mars in Leo. Her Mars is in an outspoken and argumentative square to an intense Mercury in Scorpio. She has a deeply buried 8^th house Taurus Moon in an indulgent opposition to Jupiter in Scorpio. Uranus in the 9^th hints at views which run against the mainstream.

She looks as if she is in for a major setback over the next few months with her Solar Arc Saturn square her Mars and tr Pluto opposing her Saturn/Uranus and Uranus/Pluto midpoints as well as being in opposition to her midheaven (birth time being accurate). She’ll get a shot of enthusiasm in November but will generally feel unloved with tr Saturn square her Venus until December.

Surprisingly enough she has some reasonable crossovers with Nigel Farage with his Venus in Taurus conjunct her Moon and opposition her Jupiter; and his Jupiter falling in her 7^th – though they make an unlikely pair.

If and when the UK exits the EU she’ll be back into retirement again. But is unlikely to go quietly into the night.

Meghan and Harry have blundered into a right Royal PR disaster with large KEEP OUT signs erected round the christening of baby Archie just as news of the £3 million taxpayer-funded revamp of their country cottage emerged. You can’t have one without the other. Take public funds and you have to play the publicity game.

Although Meghan is getting much of the flak for not understanding the rules, it’s just as likely that Harry with his visceral dislike of the media is behind it. He does have tr Saturn now moving through his first house and staying in his lower-profile first quadrant till almost the end of this decade, so he will feel the urge to retreat into relative anonymity.   Meghan won’t feel the same. She has tr Saturn moving soon into her 7^th which will push her more out into the world, with higher visibility and more ambition.

He’s been through an exceptionally bumpy patch within the last few weeks with his Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mars, with both being undermined by tr Neptune in square till late this year. Plus he’s got tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Moon midpoint this year and next as he struggles to adjust to married life, not always easily; and that aspect can also indicate strains on his popularity.

2020 to 2023 do look stressful years for them as a couple with tr Pluto square the composite Saturn Pluto and then opposition Moon on their relationship chart. That was always the oddity of that chart suggesting significant family problems which have clearly cropped up on both sides.

They are due to go to Africa in the autumn and relocating Meghan’s chart there puts Venus on her midheaven on the eastern side and Sun and Mercury/Midheaven on the western – so it is a region that allows her to use her public relations skills and will bring her to prominence; as indeed will the UK. For Harry, Africa puts his Sun in the Descendant in the east which will bring out his ability to relate one-to-one with others; and Uranus and Mars on the Midheaven central to eastern half bringing an ambitious need to make a difference. Moon on the IC for a settled home life in west Africa along with well-organised Saturn Midheaven though these two latter also run through Europe/UK.

Overall Africa is important to both, for marginally different reasons.

The Queen looks less than enchanted with Harry with tr Saturn conjunct their composite Mars and the Eclipse conjunct the composite Sun at the moment. And Charles isn’t looking over thrilled either with tr Saturn square the composite Venus and tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2019/2020 plus undermining Neptune transits – so a tricky transition for the family. Relations with William continue out of step with an intense and stubborn tr Pluto opposition the composite Mercury now and until late 2020, as well as an upsetting tr Uranus square the Venus at the moment and repeating in 2020. With Kate and Harry there’s a gentle downhill drift with a decidedly edgy end of the year.

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A messy, possibly vicious custody and divorce trial in London is about to shine a hard light on Middle Eastern attitudes to wives and daughters. Sheikh Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, already under suspicion for kidnapping two daughters who fled for freedom in recent years, is now suing his youngest wife Princess Haya of Jordan who has absconded with their two children to London. She discovered recently (according to the Daily Mail) that sanitised stories about his eldest daughter Latifa who was forcibly captured last year and returned home were obscuring the fact that she was imprisoned when back in Dubai, as her sister had been some years previously.

Sheikh Maktoum is a billionaire racehorse owner who owns various properties in the UK and worldwide. Born 15 July 1949 he is a Sun Cancer opposition Jupiter in materialistic Capricorn – family-oriented, patriotic, lucky with money; with a passionate, possessive and manipulative Venus Pluto in flamboyant Leo. He looks road-blocked at the moment with tr Pluto opposition his Sun till late 2020 and Solar Arc Pluto also square his Sun this year. Then there’s a disastrous-setbacks Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Saturn in about 18 months’ time. By 2022 he has an odd mix of a panicky-failure tr Neptune square his Mars; at the same time as a confident and financially successful tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter.

Princess Haya, 3 May 1974, the youngest of his six? wives and mother of two of his maybe 23 children, is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, so well used to a Middle Eastern Royal lifestyle. She’s an Oxford graduate and was a prominent showjumper. She’s a Sun Mercury in Taurus which sits on the focal point of a Jupiter in Pisces trine Mars – adventurous, well-designed for equestrian interests. Her Mars conjunct Saturn in Cancer squares Pluto (Moon) in Libra so she’ll have had tough experiences in her life already – her mother died when she was three in a helicopter crash – and Royal life especially in the Middle East is not without its dangers.

Her Taurus Sun and Mercury square the Sheikh’s Venus Pluto so there would have been a spark of passion initially. Though her Mars Saturn square Pluto colliding with his Uranus Mercury wouldn’t make for easy communication. She would have been submissive – up to a point – but her Uranus squares his Sun, so no surprises that she has staged a rebellion. Their relationship chart has a possessive and controlling composite Pluto square Sun, Mercury and Venus; with a paranoid Saturn square Neptune; and an enthusiastic Jupiter trine Sun. It would have been fine for a while but tr Neptune has been chipping away at the Venus, Pluto and Mercury and now composite Sun so the foundations have been dissolving over the past several years.

She has been stressed over the past two years perhaps when the truth about Latifa became obvious with her Solar Arc Saturn square her Sun. She looks in line for an emotionally significant relationship next year though it could have started already with her Solar Arc Venus moving to conjunct her Sun. And although it’ll be bumpy ahead for two or three years with tr Uranus conjunct her Mercury and Sun, she’s not nearly as unhappy as Latifa, 5 December 1985, who looks undermined as she has done since she was captured with tr Neptune square her Uranus and Sun/Uranus midpoint; and frankly scared and completely trapped with tr Pluto square her Mars in 2020/21.

It’s roll-back-the-clock-for-three-hundred-years as far as the west is concerned. Women and children as property.

Billie Eilish was another standout at Glastonbury. Despite being only 17 she’s been around on the scene for three years and has seven gold and two platinum singles to her name.

Suzanne Moore in the Guardian described her as ‘ a dark star. In control, but slightly out of it. Scarily good at tapping into the angsty teenage girl in all of us.’ She wears baggy clothes she says to attract attention and not be body-shamed.

Born 18 December 2001 at 11.30 am Los Angeles, with two entertainment business parents, she was home schooled and began singing and writing songs early, following in her older brother’s footsteps. She has said she suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome and depression.

She has a 10^th house ambitious Sagittarius Sun and Venus sextile a quirky Uranus and Mercury in Capricorn also in the 10^th – so is designed to communicate and be in the public eye. Her difficulties will stem in part from a 3^rd house Saturn opposition Pluto square a 12^th house Mars in musical Pisces – that carries a considerable amount of rage and inner conflict. Saturn Pluto can be prone to discouragement and Mars Pluto can get both scared and deeply frustrated. Not an easy burden to carry.

She will be charming with Venus on her midheaven and rather ethereal with her Aquarius Moon conjunct Neptune; as well as confident with her Jupiter opposition Mercury and trine Mars. But that Mutable Pluto Saturn Mars T Square will be quite a weight in her life.

With Jupiter moving through her 10^th now for another year, she should be on a high, and will probably stay prominent for another few years. But may take a break a la Kate Bush to recuperate at some point.

Pic: © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com

Add On: Her brother Fineas O’Connell, 30 July 1997, also has a highly stressed Mars which is opposition Saturn square Neptune, which points like his sister to deep-seated anger issues and a sense of an under-nurturing childhood. The parents Patrick O’Connell and Maggie Baird are both minor actor/musicians who decided to home school them having seen a successful musical act of kids who had also been brought up away from mainstream education. In what sounds like a hot house environment one report has them sharing a four person bed until Fineas was 10 and Billie would be six. If true that is definitely not recommended in the psych books and would certainly skew their Mars which rules the libido and fuels anger.

Dates are from the net but if sound, father Patrick is 7 July 1977,  a controlling Sun Cancer square Pluto, with a hard-edged Mars in Taurus square Saturn. His relationship with Maggie, 30 March 1977, is hugely fraught with a composite Mars trine Saturn trine Neptune with Mars opposition Pluto; ditto with Billie and Fineas.

Mother Maggie is also controlling with her Aries Sun opposition Pluto and trine Saturn and Neptune; with has an even more stressed Mars which is on the focal point of a Yod to Saturn sextile Pluto. Her relationship charts with both children, especially Billie, reflect all that churning conflict.

These kids will need a lot of healing as they move into adulthood and it’s not easy to move away from these ‘tight’, enmeshed families since the only way of coping early on is to sugar-coat the pill and see the parents as supportive and kind. Facing the reality is acutely painful and scar.

Billie and her brother have a much more enthusiastic and less stressed relationship.

Leo Iacocca, a legend in the US automobile industry designing and leading in Ford in the 1960s and later reviving Chrysler, has died.

He was born 15 October 1924 5pm Allentown, Pennsylvania, into a family of Italian immigrants and took a degree in industrial engineering. He was married three times but only his first lasted until his wife died. He wrote a best-selling biography and at one point contemplated going into politics and running for president but decided against it.

He had a 7^th house Libra Sun which was in a dynamic trine to Mars in uncompromising Aquarius and an idealistic sextile to Neptune. His enthusiastic, communicative Jupiter in Sagittarius in the 9^th was in a risk-taking square to Uranus which was in turn in a revolutionary trine to Pluto. He clearly wasn’t destined for an ordinary life. His publicity-attracting Mars opposition Neptune was square an indulgent, money-making 2^nd house Taurus Moon – focal point Moon charts are often prominent in the public eye.

His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic; philanthropic 9^th harmonic; ultra-determined 11H; and both of his making-a-difference 17H and 22H – were all strongly aspected.

An interesting man.

Compromise candidates have been nominated for the top EU jobs, who will require ratification by the EU Parliament on July 15^th. None are from eastern Europe which may prove a problem.

Ursula von der Leyen, a staunch Merkel ally, stepped out of the shadows to be aimed for the Juncker role as Commission President. If agreed she would be the first woman to take on the role, with responsibilities for proposing new EU laws, enforcing the bloc’s rules and handling trade deals.

Born 8 October 1958, she studied economics and medicine, has seven children, has been German Minister for Defence recently and is a staunch integrationist, backing closer military co-operation in the EU. Her nomination has raised eyebrows in her home country. The FT writes: ‘ Mistrusted by her fellow Christian Democrats, pilloried by the opposition and disliked by many of the generals under her command, she cuts a lonely figure in Berlin. Few ministries have generated as many negative headlines as hers over the years.’

She is a Sun, Mercury and Venus in Libra with her Sun Mercury on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to a can-be-constructive Uranus trine Saturn; plus a ferociously determined and ruthless Mars in Gemini square Pluto; and a head-in-the-clouds Jupiter Neptune.

Although she might seem a good fit with the EU since her Libra planets sit in the EU 1^st house and many of her planets are the same being born 9 months after it was founded, she’s probably an even worse match than Juncker. On the relationship chart there’s a control-freaky and hostility-inducing composite Mars opposition Pluto square Venus which is trine/sextile a slippery, ambitious and scandal-attracting Jupiter Neptune.

Her own chart looks upbeat at the moment till late this September with tr Uranus in a ‘surprise lucky break’ opposition to her Jupiter, and again in early 2020. But there’s also a build up of Neptune first in a highly-strung and confused opposition to her Sun/Uranus late this year; and more of the same tripled from tr Pluto square her Sun/Neptune in 2020/2021 at the same time as a highly uncertain tr Neptune square her dogmatic Saturn in Sagittarius. Sinkholes galore.

Christine Lagarde, 1 January 1956 1.40 pm Paris, France, the present head of the IMF, is proposed to replace Draghi at the European Central Bank (ECB). She’s an ambitious Capricorn with a formidably determined and tough Mars Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto Jupiter. She will have her sagging moments but is in better fettle with a confident tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Node midpoint in 2020/2021. And she also has the hard-driving and can-be-influential tr Saturn Pluto moving across her midheaven and her 10^th followed in late 2020 by tr Jupiter for a successful year.

Background on Lagarde isn’t overly cheerful (URL below) so maybe I might rethink that tr Saturn Pluto through her 10th, given that the EU chart itself has a seriously unstable three years 2020 to 2023 especially on the financial front with tr Uranus bouncing off the 8th house Moon, Uranus and Venus. She’s sailed through disasters before and emerged unscathed personally though leaving a trail of wreckage behind

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/07/03/putting-lagarde-charge-will-lead-eurozone-catastrophe/

Charles Michel, 21 December 1975, Belgian PM, is nominated as a replacement for European Council President Donald Tusk. Born 21 December 1975 he’s a late Sun Sagittarius in a lively and argumentative opposition to Mars in Gemini. He’s looking unnerved this year and paralysed in 2020/21 though will pick up thereafter.

His relationship with the EU is friendly but fractious with a composite Sun Mercury Venus trine Mars and square Saturn; and an enthusiastic though explosive Mars Uranus Pluto trine Jupiter. He’ll be living through a rolling series of changes in the EU fairly unhappily over the next several years.

The new President of the European Parliament (and no I haven’t the foggiest why there are so many presidents and distinctions without difference all tangled up in the Brussels bureaucracy) is Italian centre-left, former journalist David-Maria Sassoli, 30 May 1956. He’s a Sun Gemini with a megaton heavyweight Mars in Aquarius opposition Jupiter Pluto in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio – super-confident and very stubborn. It’ll be a white-knuckle ride until he gets to 2021 with his Solar Arc Mars and Saturn colliding with his Neptune and Uranus. He is a key figure for the EU with a composite New Moon in the relationship chart – so a complementary fit. But he’ll be increasingly disillusioned through 2022 to 2024 with the direction it is taking.

Facebook’s work-in-progress cryptocurrency due for launch next year may be called Libra, which may or may not symbolically be helpful given Libras propensity for chucking money around extravagantly. Or maybe that’s the hope.

It could unlock a new era of commerce offering low or no-fee payments between friends or remittance of earnings to families from migrant workers abroad who are often gouged by money transfer services. If it sidestepped credit card transaction fees it would be a cheaper way to pay merchants for traditional ecommerce, or facilitate microtransactions for a la carte news articles or tipping of content creators.

Not everyone is enamoured of the idea. US economist Joseph Stiglitz writing in the Guardian today says: “Only a fool would trust Facebook with their financial wellbeing.” And he says it could prove problematic over money laundering.

The Facebook IPO chart, 18 May 2012 11.31am New York, does look on buoyant form in 2020/2021 with tr Pluto trine the Jupiter, moving on to trine the Sun/Jupiter midpoint the two years after that. Though it won’t be an easy run-up with Neptune and Pluto in transit blocking progress on several fronts this year till late 2020.

The original Facebook chart, 4 February 2004, is in a curious phase – stuck at the moment with Solar Arc Pluto opposition the Saturn; in the start of a long run of Neptunian high-hopes not all of which will pay dividends as it moves round the T Square of Jupiter opposition Venus square Pluto from 2019 till late 2023. With a major upheaval in 2020 from Solar Arc Sun conjunct Uranus; and a disruptive, total turnaround Solar Arc Uranus square Pluto in 2023.

Mark Zuckerburg, 14 May 1984 (time unverified) is a stalwartly determined Sun Venus in Taurus opposition Mars (Moon) and Saturn in Scorpio. He’s also moving into an oddly unsettled phase with tr Neptune square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint and conjunct his Sun/Jupiter midpoint this year and next – both of which suggest dented enthusiasm and dashed hopes. With a catastrophic tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint from mid 2020 into 2021 when he picks up a longish run of jangled tr Uranus hard aspects first in opposition to his Saturn, then conjunct his Venus, opposition Mars and finally conjunct his Sun all before Uranus moves into Gemini in late 2025. In 2022 as well he has his Solar Arc Sun opposition his Neptune which will make him untypically confused or distracted.

Charts as fixed as his don’t appreciate Uranian transits on the whole since they require adaptation to change, though they do favour IT and high technology.

Whatever happens Facebook and Zuckerburg look to be having their existence turned upside down in the first half of the 2020s.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/02/why-facebook-libra-currency-gets-the-thumbs-down