Daniel Barenboim, the celebrated conductor and musical director of Berlin’s premier opera house, long considered untouchable, is the subject of allegations of bullying.  Former employees describe him as a leader “who can be inspiring and generous, but also authoritarian, mercurial and frightening.”

He follows in a line of harsh taskmaster prima-donna conductors like Italian Arturo Toscanini and Hungarian George Solti, the latter being nicknamed was “The Screaming Skull,” because of his bald head and temper.

Barenboim was born 15 November 1942 at 11.35 am Buenos Aires, Argentina and has four planets in ultra-determined and intense Scorpio in his 10^th house of career and ambition. His Mars in Scorpio conjunct his Midheaven and Mercury all square Pluto, so he’ll have an exceptionally sharp tongue and high levels of frustrations which will explode.

His Scorpio Sun conjunct a charming Venus is in a lucky trine to Jupiter and square an Aquarius Moon – so lots of pluses but also some high-octane tendencies as well.

Georg Solti, 21 October 1912, Budapest had certain similarities to Barenboim in his chart with his Mars in penetrating and vengeful Scorpio conjunct Mercury and sextile Pluto; with his Mars and Sun being square a Neptune Uranus opposition – ego-centric and explosive.

Toscanini, 25 March 1867 3 am Parma, Italy; had his Mars in volatile Cancer sextile Pluto and trine Saturn in obsessive Scorpio plus a Scorpio Moon –  not exactly amiable and calm.

All of them have super-charged Mars in their charts, so prone to laying down the law with a hefty thump.

Barenboim who is negotiating a contract extension from 2022 looks very unsettled, jittered, jangled and aggravated in 2020 with tr Uranus square his Pluto and opposition his Mars, so  beginning to understand perhaps that the old ways won’t wash anymore.

Tensions between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, have escalated sharply with Pakistan saying it has shot down two Indian military jets over Kashmir and captured a pilot. India and Pakistan each claim all of Kashmir, but control only parts of it. Two out of the three wars they have fought since independence from Britain and partition in 1947 have been over Kashmir.

All three wars – 1965, 1971 and 1999 – occurred under Saturn Pluto aspects – an opposition, a trine and an inconjunct respectively. But there have been other Saturn Pluto aspects where wars didn’t occur so it needn’t mean this Saturn Pluto conjunction necessarily will bring extended ongoing military action. And on all three previous occasions there was a strong Mutable influence which there isn’t at the moment.

However there’s no doubt that tempers will be flaring with the Secondary Progressed Mars having moved to sit exactly conjunct the natal India and Pakistan Saturn Pluto now for the first time since independence. So it was always going to be a conflagration point.  That will stay in effect all this year.

Tr Pluto Saturn is also in opposition to several Mars midpoints on both country charts on and off all year bringing more tensions and bad-temper.  The 1947 independence and partition with its bloody aftermath happened on the Saturn Pluto conjunct in Leo and that has moved by Solar Arc to last decan Libra at the moment and will pick up the tr Saturn Pluto square in 2019/2020 which will again bring considerable strains and pressures.

It will be knife edge for several months in to 2020. Imran Khan, the Pakistani PM’s leadership chart looks very jangled from mid April onwards. Hopefully wiser heads will prevail.

See also post February 16 2019

Another groundhog moment as Trump touches down in Asia for a second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, a rerun of the previous one 8 months ago. That one ended with triumphalist noises from Trump and little to show in terms of any change from Kim’s standpoint. And no pressure exerted on human rights issues.

Kim Jong-un is “dancing rings” around Trump and may win new concessions without any meaningful commitments, Britain’s former ambassador to North Korea has warned. His concern is that Trump will go for a ‘shining object’, what appears to be a win to calm his domestic audience and may give away too much without securing the denuclearization of North Korea which is almost certainly never going to happen.

The one chart which is definite is Kim’s Accession, 29 December 2011 11.57am P’yonggang. That was at its most insecure and unstable a year ago when insults were flying backwards and forwards with Washington. At that point the Solar Arc Uranus had moved to close the square to Sun Pluto to exact. That has now moved on and the jolting tr Uranus square the Saturn finished earlier this month. What remains is an evasive, slippery-speak tr Neptune square the Mercury on and off all this year; plus a relief-at-good-news tr Uranus conjunct Jupiter from early March for a few weeks.  Into 2020 there’s a panicky and undermining tr Neptune opposition Mars running from April for a year thereafter.

The USA/North Korea relationship chart is under a discouraging amount of pressure this year (and last) from tr Pluto trine the composite Saturn. There’ll be a considerable upheaval from this July onwards with tr Uranus opposition the composite Pluto which runs into 2020. Through 2020 there will be a mood of heightened anxiety and that’s also reflected in the South Korea chart which is showing up as dashed hopes.

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Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper set celeb fans’ tongues wagging with their sexual chemistry at the Oscars, performing Shallow which won the Best Song. According to the Daily Mail, their loved-up act continued at an after-show party with his girlfriend sitting close by looking unimpressed.  Lady Gaga has recently split from her fiancée.

His ex-Jennifer Esposito has in the past obliquely referred to him as a ‘master manipulator’ which with Pluto in his 10^th sounds spot on.  His Pluto opposes Lady Gaga’s Aries Sun so he will be tempted to control her; and his Jupiter is trine her Scorpio Moon and Pluto so he will boost her morale.

But on the whole it’s not a good relationship.  His Saturn falls in her 8^th square her Sun which will put a damper on intimacy and good feelings – fine for a business connection but not for a romantic one.

Their relationship chart has two positives – composite Sun trine Pluto and composite Jupiter Venus trine Moon. But otherwise it’s all negative, with a needs-space Sun square Uranus, a stressed Sun inconjunct Saturn; and a showbizzy Sun trine Pluto, sextile a Mars Neptune conjunction – good for publicity but not mutually supportive.

His girlfriend Irina Shayk, 6 January 1986, is, like him, a Sun Venus in Capricorn which will help bond them. There is a passionate composite Sun Venus square Pluto which will also add a frisson of intensity, though it’s not without its problems at the moment and will be under some pressures over the next two years.

All a manufactured moment of bliss for the cameras which would help in personal and film publicity.   Never believe the red carpet cameos.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and the Church’s third most powerful official, has been found guilty of sexual offences in Australia. He abused two choir boys in the rooms of a Melbourne cathedral in 1996, a jury found; he pled not guilty. He will face sentencing hearings this week and has lodged an appeal.

He was born three days after billionaire Robert Kraft caught in a Florida prostitution bust (see post below 23 February) on 8 June 1941 and has the same Gemini Sun square Mars in Pisces in his case with Mars opposition Neptune, forming an ego-centric and scattered T Square.

Pell’s Sun is on the same degree as the Vatican’s Gemini Sun so he’s a good fit; with the Vatican’s indulgent Jupiter in Taurus conjunct his Uranus.

Tr Neptune is in a panicky-failure conjunction to his Mars exactly now, moving on to an undermining square to his and the Vatican Gemini Sun in March and again into January 2020.

Pope Francis’s Saturn in Pisces is exactly square Pell and the Vatican’s Sun so he will be critical but apparently incapable of making a credible dent in the abusive-priest problem.

See post on Pope Francis February 7 2019

Odd how similar charts always seem to turn up together.

Geniuses rarely make for amiable human beings and Leo Tolstoy, whose towering achievements in writing War and Peace and Anna Karenina, which remain two of the world’s best-known novels, was no exception. His wife’s diaries published a few years back tell of a cruel and difficult man, indifferent to his family, endlessly critical, who forced his wife to breastfeed all 13 of their children despite the agony it caused her.

Despite being suicidal (and homicidal) at times, she helped him with his novels, copying out War and Peace several times. Indeed it has been said she was pivotal to his success as a novelist. She wrote: “If he had one iota of the psychological understanding which fills his books, he would have understood the pain and despair I was going through. I am to gratify his pleasure and nurse his child, I am a piece of household furniture.”  She loved his talent and loathed the man.

When he married aged 34, he presented his 16 year old bride with his diaries, recording his multiple past sexual liaisons with prostitutes and servants.

Born 9 September 1828 GC 10.52 pm(unverified) Tula, Russia, he had a New Moon and Mercury in Virgo in his 4^th house, so was a communicator though also self-sufficient with all of Virgo’s nit-picky tendencies at home.  He also had ambitious and argumentative Mars conjunct Neptune in his 7^th house of marriage which was trine his Sun and more significantly square a control-freak 10^th house Pluto, suggesting a need to dominate and possibly also a need to undermine a marriage partner to whom he was not fully committed. He would be driven by anger and frustration. His Venus was conjunct a cold Saturn both in wannabe-important Leo and both in an unyielding, bleak trine to Pluto. Venus combined with Saturn Pluto can have leanings to perversion, which would be amplified by his Uranus in the 8^th, giving him a need for sexual experimentation.  His Uranus was also in a can-be-domineering and autocratic opposition to Saturn and Venus. A very complicated man emotionally. His mother died when he was two and his father at nine and he was brought up by relatives.

Sophia Tolstoya 22 August 1844 JC (OS) Moscow, was also a Sun Virgo, in her case conjunct Mars, with a Taurus Moon. Her Uranus Jupiter were conjunct his 10^th house Pluto so her vitality would be instrumental in helping in his career. Though her Saturn was in his 8^th conjunct his Uranus. Her Venus in Cancer was conjunct his Saturn. So they blocked each other out emotionally and sexually.

Their relationship chart was eye-blinkingly difficult with a cruel-treatment composite Mars opposition Saturn square Venus opposition Neptune – very one sided, with one partner being used as a doormat plus all the uncommitted Neptunian stuff plus an insensitive Mars Venus. There was also a Yod of composite Sun sextile Node inconjunct Pluto – suggesting a transformative and important relationship which changed both of their lives irrevocably.

There were no choices in those days for women but it sounds like the narcissist trap – too exciting to leave, too bad to stay.

Doreen Virtue, a hugely lucrative brand name in the angel and tarot cards publishing market had an epiphany at a church service in 2017, saw Jesus and gave up the New Age in favour of religious teachings.

She was born 29 April 1958 1am? Burbank, California, into a Christian Scientist family, had clairvoyant experiences from childhood, speaking to spirits; and has been married and divorced four times.

She has a Taurus Sun opposition Neptune conjunct her Scorpio MC square Uranus in her 7^th.  Uranus Neptune can be fairly fanatical in beliefs which are not always conventional. Uranus in the 7^th is a pointer to multiple relationships. Her 8^th house Pluto and Virgo Moon would put her in touch with the realms beyond surface reality.

Neptune in the 9^th conjunct Midheaven makes sense of a psychic/spiritual career. She’s also got an entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine of Pluto in the hidden 8^th trine Saturn in can-be-religious Sagittarius trine Mercury in Aries, with Mercury opposition Jupiter in the 9th, forming  into a talented Kite.  So all that heavyweight Saturn Pluto fiery energy is being pushed into publishing (9^th) and communication (3^rd). She’s also got an ambitious-for-money Mars in her 2^nd house of personal finances opposition Pluto in the business chart area. Her chart is a curious mix of deeply hidden and materialistic.

When she had her revelation on 7 January 2017, there was a strong Jupiter opposition Uranus square an exact Sun Pluto conjunction which would be both uplifting and heavily pressured. She was coming up to her Second Saturn Return which is a challenging time. More significantly her Solar Arc Pluto was just over the conjunction to her 9^th house Jupiter which could have prompted an outpouring of belief; with tr Jupiter moving through her religious 9^th about to conjunct both. And tr Saturn was conjunct her Solar Arc Jupiter pointing her in a more serious and/or conventional direction. Though she is continuing to market – with religious tracts and cards.

She’ll have more major changes to negotiate in 2020 with tr Uranus conjunct her Sun and square her Uranus.

Her birth time is questionable or at least not accurate to the minute so there may have been transits to the axis as well at the time.

The new BBC Scotland channel launches tonight at 7pm with plans for a nightly news hour and Question Time style series, a raft of new documentaries and hundreds of hours of newly-commissioned shows, including drama. It will have an initial budget of £32m with a plan for 50% original content and 50% repeats in a channel that reflects modern Scotland.

The Director of Programmes says it isn’t about numbers (audience) but success over time. Although it’ll be difficult to justify it if the numbers aren’t there long term.

The chart has a hard-working, low key 6^th house Pisces Sun, with a creative though overly-hopeful, indecisive and scattered T Square onto a focal point Neptune and Mercury in Pisces. Venus Pluto in the 5^th will help with the drama output; though an explosive and frustrated Uranus Mars in the financial/emotional 8^th does suggest a fair few problems ahead. With Pluto square Uranus indicating rolling changes (crises).

It’s an ambitious project with plenty of goodwill behind it, but it may take a fair while before it settles into a confident run.

Billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of NFL New England Patriots and long-time buddy of Donald Trump has been caught in a prostitution bust as part of a human-trafficking sting operation. Also nabbed were a former Citigroup president, a president of a Florida Boys and Girls Club, and three former law enforcement officers. Kraft was named on on a list of 25 men facing charges of soliciting prostitution at a Jupiter, Florida massage parlour called Orchids of Asia. The spa was among 10 closed by authorities after a months-long investigation found women there were in “sexual servitude”.

What a very weird story. With his money you’d think he’d have better protection and more sense. Though his lawyers are firmly denying any illegal activity on his part.

Born 5 June 1941 7.14 pm Brookline, Massachusetts, he has a partnership-oriented 7^th house Gemini Sun in a feisty square to Mars in Pisces. His Jupiter in Gemini is conjunct his Descendant giving him social charm and confidence and is in an upbeat sextile to Pluto. An imaginative sand philanthropic Neptune on his midheaven is in an innovative trine to Uranus Saturn in money-minded Taurus. His Libra Moon in the friendly 11^th is trine Venus in social-butterfly Gemini.

He looks on edge and insecure at the moment, though there’s some relief showing up into March; but thereafter it’s a bumpy year with panic and uncertainty extending into and worsening 2020.

His what-brings-pleasure 9^th Harmonic is strongly aspected.  And even more so is his rise-and-fall 10^th Harmonic.