Weisselberg, Trump’s CFO – follow the money

    

 

Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s chief financial officer looks likely to be in for a congressional grilling after Cohen’s testimony in which he named his former colleague as a co-conspirator in a long list of possible crimes. Weisselberg has been among the longest lasting employees to Trump’s company, where he began working for the president’s father, Fred, in 1973. He has negotiated Trump’s loans, co-signed his accounts and helped complete his personal taxes.

His loyalty has always been beyond question but there do look to be rifts in the relationship in the near future; or at least major strains.

Weisselberg, 15 August 1947, was born oddly enough on the same day as India/Pakistan so shares similar planet placings – and present challenges. He’s a charming Sun Venus in Leo, often a financier’s sign, with Saturn, Pluto, Moon and Mercury also in Leo so fairly immoveable and lucky with Jupiter in Scorpio in square to most of his Leo planets.

He looks fairly poleaxed this year mid February to late March, and again later in the year and on and off till late 2020 with tr Pluto in the catastrophe and crisis-prone opposition to his Mars/Saturn midpoint; and major upheavals and restrictions from tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Uranus midpoint from this April, till late 2020 as well.

His relationship chart with Trump was majorly stressed with high insecurity through this January to mid February with tr Uranus square the composite Mars. And starting now tr Pluto is bearing down in opposition to the composite Sun and Mercury till late 2020 which will stretch their connection to breaking point or at least put it under intolerable pressure. Plus a major jolt come May this year with tr Uranus square the composite Saturn, and another in July to September as tr Uranus squares the composite Venus and both of these repeat into 2020 as well.

It’s not that easy a crossover with Trump since W’s Uranus is conjunct Trump’s Sun. But W’s Leo planets fall in Trump’s 12th for confidential dealings and Weisselberg is pretty immoveable. Interesting to see what shakes out of the tree.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/28/trump-allen-weisselberg-1197070

Justin Trudeau – a toxic political scandal

      

 

Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau has denied wrongdoing after he tried to shield one of the country’s biggest firms from a corruption trial, which he said was done to protect jobs. Opposition Conservatives are calling on him to resign and demanding a public inquiry.

His popularity ratings had already tanked by late last year and this will do nothing to improve his 35% approval rating. He’s had high profile spats with Saudi Arabia and China, as well as with Trump over NAFTA.

This April looks to be a distinct dip lower – showing up on his personal chart, his PM-ship chart and his relationship chart with Canada.

He was born 25 December 1971 9.27pm Ottawa, and has a determined and ambitious Capricorn Sun square Pluto. He’s got a sharp-witted and communicative Air Grand Trine of a well organised Saturn conjunct his Midheaven trine Pluto trine Venus North Node in Aquarius; with his Pluto in an ultra-determined opposition to Mars in last degree Pisces. So his impulsive, scattered Mutable Mars is the driving planet. He’s also got two other oppositions – Saturn in a hope-for-a-better-society to Neptune; and an excitable Aries Moon opposition Uranus. His Midheaven is conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol.

He looks to be facing disasters and catastrophes as tr Uranus moves into Taurus on March 6th and conjuncts his Mars/Saturn midpoint for three weeks; that’s followed by more uncertainty, crises which he doesn’t handle well and disappointment through April. Mid August to mid September look to be more of the same so it won’t disappear in a hurry.

His PM-ship chart has a jolting tr Uranus opposition the Solar Arc Midheaven exactly now; and an undermining tr Neptune opposition Jupiter at 17 Virgo in April and August/September, so he won’t recover his early popularity. And his relationship chart with Canada has the composite Mars also at 17 degrees in Gemini which will also catch the undermining tr Neptune square in April and August/September.

There’s nothing much showing up on the axis of his chart – although if his birth time was out by five minutes or so, he is due a Solar Arc MC square his natal Uranus and Moon at some point over the next year or so, which would suggest a sudden change of career direction.

The Canada chart does have the Solar Arc Pluto opposition Neptune on the Ascendant – Neptune Pluto is scandal-prone. Tr Saturn is also square the Ascendant this year which suggests a more downbeat image.

 

Chloe and Jeremy – the heiress and the felon

    

 

There’s been a rift in paparazzi-land with Topshop heiress Chloe Green reportedly at odds with her hot-felon turned model boyfriend and father of her daughter, Jeremy Meeks.

It always was the oddest match though their relationship chart does have an affectionate Sun Venus conjunction in a sizzling opposition to Mars; though the seeds of arguments are also in there courtesy of Mars. And Mars does trine the composite Saturn Uranus for an explosive and lopsided relationship. Though he appears to be the one who’s raving it up.

She was born 2 March 1991 and is a Sun Pisces in an impulsive square to Mars in Gemini; with a highly-strung Neptune Uranus in Capricorn square Venus in Aries – emotionally changeable and erratic.

He’s a different kettle of fish, born 7 February 1984 and is a Sun Aquarius in a tough-minded and none-too-sensitive square to Saturn Mars in Scorpio. His Venus in socially ambitious Capricorn is conjunct her Neptune Uranus for an awkward interface. His Pluto squares her Jupiter and her Saturn, so there will be a jostling for the upper hand.

It may all be a storm in a small teacup given her wealth and the cracks look likely to paper over. At present tr Uranus is sextile the composite Sun having just moved in aspect to Venus and Mars which would cause a few ripples. But it doesn’t look terminal – to the relationship – without birth times.

Daniel Barenboim – prima donna maestros out of fashion

      

 

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 10th 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.

India and Pakistan – tempers flaring

    

 

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

Trump being jerked around by Kim

    

 

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.

Lady Gaga and Bradley – feeling and faking

    

 

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 10th 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 8th 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.

 

 

 

 

George Pell, Vatican CFO, guilty of abuse – a Kraft astro-twin

    

 

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.

Leo Tolstoy – gifted and flawed

    

 

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 4th 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 7th house of marriage which was trine his Sun and more significantly square a control-freak 10th 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 8th, 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 10th house Pluto so her vitality would be instrumental in helping in his career. Though her Saturn was in his 8th 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.