John Steinbeck, one of the titans of American literature for his novels The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, a Nobel and Pulitzer winner, is described as a ‘sadistic womanizer’ in a new memoir. A manuscript written by his second wife Glyn was recently discovered, in which she says he spent their wedding night on the phone to his mistress. He scolded her for ‘complicating’ his life while he was writing a book during her difficult labour with their first son; and when their premature second son suffered fits of screaming in his first days, he ‘burst through the door and said, “I wish to Christ he’d die, he’s taking up too much of your f***ing time.”   They divorced two years later.

Born 27 February 1902 3pm Salinas, California, he had an intensely emotional and secretive 8^th house Pisces Sun and Mars trine a 4^th house Scorpio Moon, doubling up his emotional wilfulness. His afflicted Mars was on the focal point of a T Square to Pluto opposition Uranus in the 5^th – so he would be ruthless, angry, volatile and keen to have an unfettered romantic life with rebellious Uranus in the 5th. He did have Jupiter and Venus Mercury in Aquarius in his 7^th so no doubt he could turn on the charm when it suited him. But otherwise he looks frighteningly explosive.

His second son John Jr was born two days before Donald Trump with a similar chart though with a Scorpio Moon; and the first son Thomas born on 2 August 1944 has a controlling and inflammatory-father Sun Pluto and Mars square Uranus.

His third wife Elaine Anderson, 14 August 1914,  was a Sun Leo which connected to his Venus in Aquarius, though it wouldn’t be an easy marriage with their relationship chart having a fairly brutal and suppressive composite Mars opposition Pluto; and a highly-strung and duty-bound Neptune opposition Uranus square Saturn. Talent comes at a price.

 

 

  

 

Boris Johnson instead of gearing up for a Brexit fight and push for No 10 is now embroiled in a divorce. He announced today he had separated some months ago from his wife of 25 years, a barrister, with claims that he’d been cheating again. He was thrown out twice before over affairs, in one of which he fathered a child.

He does have tr Uranus opposition his Scorpio Moon this year which suggests radical domestic changes; with tr Uranus having been moving through his 7^th house of one-to-one relationships since 2013, so it’ll have been on the cards since then. His Solar Return for June 2018 also has a separating Uranus in the 7^th on the focal point of a T Square to a heated Mars in the domestic 4^th opposition a sugary charming Venus Node in the ambitious 10^th.

His supporters say he’s just clearing the decks before rebooting his ambitions. But he always did look in for a catastrophic two months this September and October with tr Pluto square his Mars/Saturn midpoint, moving on to oppose his Mars/Uranus November to nid December which will also be fraught; and log-jammed every which way from mid January to mid February 2019. He’ll recover some bounce from April onwards, but woes will come in from all sides right through the year.

  

 

Burt Reynolds, a Hollywood mega-star, matinee idol of his day, who never fully realised his acting talents, has died. His performance in Deliverance in 1972 gave chilling testament to his real abilities but he said in his biography “ I wasn’t interested in challenging myself as an actor. I was interested in having a good time.”  He was a relentless womaniser, constantly in the gossip columns, poured his money into ruinous financial schemes, turned down leading roles most actors would kill for – Han Solo in Star Wars, One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Endearment, Die Hard, Pretty Woman and Bond. And wrecked what little credibility he had by doing a nude Cosmo spread. His star crashed and burned and he ended up in minor roles.

He was born 11 February 1936 12.10pm Lansing, Michigan with a military/police chief father and went to college on a football scholarship, which ended due to injuries.

He had a 10^th house Aquarius Sun, well-designed for a career in the public eye; with his Moon in Libra in his performing 5^th house; and his Venus in Capricorn in a seductive opposition to Pluto was in the sultry 8^th house, so he’d have powerful and mesmerising appeal. What was his undoing was a Mutable T square of Neptune opposition Mars Saturn in Pisces squaring onto a 7^th house Jupiter in Sagittarius.

A focal point Jupiter can be irresponsible, a wanderer, easily distracted with all of Jupiter’s downside of not wanting to make any effort.

The Mars Saturn stemming from his ex-forces father would make him more accident prone than usual with a game injury and car crash ending his football career; and an accident on set broke his jaw in the 1980s, causing him to lose weight which erupted false rumours he had AIDs and that accelerated his career slide.

His creative 5^th Harmonic and actors’ 15H were strong; but most notable of all was his pleasure-seeking 9^th harmonic.

    

 

Martin Selmayr’s fast-track appointment as EU Secretary-General, a post for which he was not qualified and will hold for many years to come, has been harshly criticised by the EU ombudsman who said it “stretched and possibly even overstretched the limits of the law”. The report listed four acts of “maladministration” which shoe-horned Selmayr, Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief of staff, into the EU’s most senior civil service post. Thereby giving the lie to the EU’s lofty ideals of democracy and transparency.

Selmayr, a devout federalist, masterminded Juncker’s campaign for the presidency, has since been described as the most powerful man in Brussels, known variously as The Monster or Frank Underwood (dodgy House of Cards politician). He will suffer no consequences from this condemnation of his smash-and-grab promotion but lessons will be learnt for next time. Isn’t that reassuring?

The EU chart does have a dirty-dealings-and power-play-in-secret with a 12^th house Pluto in a ruthless square to Mars, some of which will be exposed, with luck, in 2020 when the Solar Arc MC is conjunct the Pluto.

Selmayr, 5 December 1970 (no birth time), has his Pluto exactly conjunct the EU Ascendant and exactly square the EU Midheaven so a very powerful not to say coercive figure in the organisation, who will arouse resentment over his tendency to meddle. His Mars is conjunct the EU’s Jupiter which on the one hand could mean he energises the EU’s ideals. But there’s always a risk with Mars Jupiter of egging each other into overly confident schemes, in this case financial since it is the EU’s 2^nd house.

His Term chart, 1 March 2018 12 am, is nothing if not entrepreneurial, breathing fire and inspiration with  a Fire Grand Trine of Mars trine Uranus trine Moon Midheaven; with an ultra-confident Jupiter trine Venus Mercury, sextile Pluto. Though it’ll sag badly with tr Neptune square the composite Mars in 2020/21; be rocking on its axis with the highly unstable tr Pluto square Uranus in 2021/22; and facing worse upheavals in 2023.

For all that, his personal chart along with some ructions  has a raft of Jupiters keeping him buoyant right through till 2022/23.   He will be seriously set-back on his heels from early this November to early December and again in February 2019 with tr Uranus opposition his Mars and his Saturn/Uranus midpoints which may well see him over-reacting in a reckless and irritated way.  But there’s enough luck to keep him sailing through, piling up his golden pension pot for a fair while.

Juncker’s way of keeping his stamp firmly on the EU – the king is dead, long live the king – Juncker retires to his wine cellar and his apparatchik holds the reins.

    

 

General James Mattis is now the last man standing amongst the initial three forces top brass who felt it their patriotic duty to protect the nation from the president. McMaster is gone, Kelly is nearly gone; and Tillerson’s ‘moron’ moment saw him out the door.

However much Trump loves pomp, ceremony and military might, he constantly rejects advice from those who served. He’s ignored Mattis’s views against tearing up the Iran nuclear deal; pulling out of the Paris climate change accord; moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; dealing with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un; banning transgender service personnel and sending the National Guard to the Mexican border.

Now Bob Woodward’s book quotes sources saying that Mattis regards Trump as having the knowledge of a “fifth or sixth grader” on matters of foreign affairs.

Mattis’s chart, 8 September 1950, is in terminal gloom ahead which may be because he’s staying or because he’s unlashing himself from the mast and watching aghast from afar. He looks undermined, aggravated, frustrated, really till late 2020. Though with one high spot from May 2019 onwards with tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter/Uranus which will bring a huge sigh of relief. That runs into 2020 as well.

It also shows up in his relationship chart with Trump with tr Uranus square their composite Sun from May 2019, on and off till early 2020 – which could be a parting of the ways – from one side or the other.  Even before then late November/early December this year looks irritated and chilly.

And his Swearing In chart, 20 January 2017 4.25pm is in a state of upheaval from mid September to mid October (and again early 2019) with tr Uranus square the Sun; and blocked this October with tr Saturn square the midheaven.

He’ll be on much better form in 2020/2021 with a successful tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint.

    

 

A disruptive start yesterday for Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court with the Democrats enraged by the blocking of hundreds of thousands of pages of relevant documents and the late delivery of 40,000 more the night before.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said “Any claim that this has been a thorough, transparent process is downright Orwellian. This is the most incomplete, most partisan, least transparent vetting for any Supreme Court nominee I have ever seen, and I have seen more of those than any person serving in the Senate today.”

Presuming it started at 9.30 am, there was a Cancer Moon opposition Saturn, a muddled Sun opposition Neptune and a mutinous Pluto Mars in the 4^th; with an explosive Mars opposition North Node square Uranus.

It’s expected he’ll be confirmed later this month though he’s not looking altogether happy.

He’s got tr Neptune opposing his Uranus until next week which can be disempowering; then opposing his Uranus/Pluto in September/October which is insecure and uncertain and opposing his Uranus thereafter. Plus he has his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Neptune this year which is generally not favourable for ambitions. But he may have transits to his chart’s axis which isn’t known without a birth time.

His relationship chart with the Supreme Court, 2 February 1790, is reasonably tight and knitted together with a secretive Water Grand Trine of Neptune trine Jupiter trine Venus Saturn, formed into a Kite by Venus Saturn opposition Mars square Pluto. Not easy but fairly together.

What’s more interesting is his relationship with Trump, who presumably selected him because of his previously stated views that presidents should not be indicted while in office. It’s not a natural fit with Kavanaugh’s Aquarius Sun opposition Trump’s Mars in Leo; K’s Uranus Pluto square Trump’s Uranus and K’s Mars square Trump’s Sun and Moon.

Their relationship chart is quite a mix –  controlling and evasive with a composite Sun trine Pluto and opposition Neptune; with a hard-edged, irritable Mars trine Saturn; and a lucky Jupiter Uranus square Venus. It’ll be up and down this autumn with tr Uranus square the Uranus; and under immense pressure from April 2019 for two years with tr Pluto square the composite Sun. Supreme Court picks, if he gets through, don’t always deliver the verdicts their patrons’ expect.

    

 

The unexplained deaths of two Brit holidaymakers in an Egyptian hotel, with further incidents of food poisoning badly affecting others, may or may not dent the tourist trade in Egypt which is seeing a resurgence this year. It had slumped after 2010 given the political upheavals, and a Russian airliner bombed by ISIS in 2015 as it left Sharm-el-Sheikh didn’t help. An improved security situation under Al Sisi’s repressive regime seems to have helped. And the economy is growing fast after severe austerity measures imposed as part of an IMF loan programme.

But the deteriorating human rights situation has been roundly condemned by international agencies and described as a ‘pressure cooker waiting to blow’ – with an effective ban on protests and freedom of expression, opponents imprisoned, usually after unfair trials, torture, forced disappearances, deaths in custody, persecution of NGOs and journalists; with women and members of religious minorities discriminated against.

Neither the Egypt 14 May 1922 10.43 pm GMT Cairo chart, or the 19 June 1953 1.30 am chart, give any indication of any kind of major disruption ahead.

Although Al Sisi’s Presidency chart, 8 June 2014 11.18 am does show up a period of violence in six months’ time as the Solar Arc Mars opposes the Uranus. There’ll be a slump in confidence with tr Neptune square the Pres Sun from April 2019 running till early 2020; with either growing unpopularity or a financial crisis in 2020 as the Solar Arc Venus opposes Saturn, or both. His presidency kicked off on a Cardinal Grand Square which includes Jupiter, so will be luckier than it deserves.

The Bank of Egypt chart, 1 January 1961 does show up eighteen months ahead for a year or so as majorly problematic on the economic front.

Al Sisi himself, 19 November 1954 has a formidably strong, controlling and ruthless chart with Mars in uncompromising Aquarius opposition Pluto square a Scorpio Sun Venus; with Saturn and mercury in Scorpio as well. Plus a lucky Uranus Jupiter in Cancer trine his Sun. He looks rattled in 2021 with Solar Arc Mars square his Uranus. But nothing short of an Act of God will shift him.

    

 

Two TV soap stars on Celebrity Big Brother have, for reasons beyond my ken, ended up as a headline story even in the sensible media. Roxanne Pallett, ex-Emmerdale, alleged Ryan Thomas of Coronation Street punched her deliberately. He ended up chastised by the powers that be and in tears while she left the house. When  video footage emerged showing he made no physical contact, she apologised on television and is sinking under a sea of hostile tweets from her ex-colleagues who clearly thought she had form on this kind of thing.

[Confession: I’d never heard of them and don’t watch soaps or reality shows.]

Roxanne who did Dancing on Ice and has acted on stage and in various horror films was born 26 December 1982 and is a tough-minded Sun Capricorn sextile Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Pluto in late Libra; with a stubborn Taurus Moon in a flammable square to Mars in Aquarius. Her Moon may be opposition Saturn square Mars. She never knew her Iranian father and was brought up by her mother and maternal grandmother. They lost their house in a fire when she was 16 and she had a serious car accident two years back – all of which would fit Mars Saturn.

Ryan Thomas born 10 June 1984 is on the surface a light-hearted and charming Sun Venus in Gemini but he has a formidably difficult Mars Saturn Moon in Scorpio with perhaps Moon conjunct Pluto, so he won’t have an easy relationship with women. He filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and was once charged with being drunk and disorderly.

Neither of them are exactly happy individuals, so the vibes would be at cross purposes, though clearly she brewed a something out of nothing.

Their relationship chart has a composite Sun Mercury square Mars Neptune which would result in an ego-clash – one wins the other loses.

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The USA took a step back in time at John McCain’s funeral to reiterate the cherished American values of honour, courage and decency with barely disguised digs at lowered standards under Trump.

The USA First President chart, 30 April 1789 12.45pm New York, which mercifully has a start time, did look conflicted over Trump’s election and inauguration with tr Pluto opposition the Cancer Moon – which could simplistically be reduced to power versus patriotism. At that time also the Solar Arc Saturn was opposition Venus, so a morale sag.

2018/2019 has tr Pluto square the Presidency Neptune on the apex of a Yod – for confusion, delusion, torment and devastation, continuing on through 2020/21 with tr Neptune conjunct Saturn in Pisces on one leg of the Presidential Yod. So integrity doesn’t look like returning quickly to the White House.  The Presidency Sun Venus in Taurus square Uranus is also being disrupted in jolts from 2018 through to early 2022 – with the most major upheavals kicking in from April 2021 into 2022 as tr Uranus is conjunct the Pres Sun. And there’s another Uranian mini-thunderbolt coming in late 2019 with Solar Arc Uranus trine the Moon.

The focal point Neptune opposition Mercury is a key point in this chart. When Nixon resigned rather than being impeached tr Uranus was conjunct the Solar Arc Pres Mercury and natal Neptune and opposition the natal Mercury. When JFK was assassinated the Solar Arc Venus was conjunct the Pres Neptune pulling on the Mercury. 2001 saw tr Uranus trine the Pres Neptune.

That critically sensitive opposition is being challenged mightily from 2018 onwards as tr Pluto squares Neptune and more so in 2020/2021 as Pluto squares the Pres Mercury. So it will be a crucial turning point in presidential history, which won’t have cleared before the next Inauguration.

Of the recent notable presidents Barack Obama was far and away the best fit with the original presidential chart with a composite New Moon sextile Jupiter.