‘In truth, she (Theresa May) may be a haunting premonition for Britain. Having wrecked all options that rival her own, she has probably condemned the country to live out her own personal fate. That is to endure Brexit as a burden, to the bitter end through gritted teeth.’ (Sherelle Jacobs, Telegraph).

Despite losing three votes in Westminster, including one on contempt, and facing a swingeing defeat next week, she continues to battle resolutely onwards with her ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ face set in a rictus smile – or is it a rabbit-in-the-headlights paralysis? An emergency meeting with Cabinet supporters had them shifting their schedule in a hurry expecting to hear their leader’s mind. Instead of which she asked them for ideas and it finished rapidly.

Her odd temperament comes from her Saturn in obsessive Scorpio square Pluto Venus in Leo which is utterly unyielding; juxtaposed with her Libra Sun which is indecisive; her Mars opposition Jupiter which is flaky; and her Mercury midpoints which are rife with confusion. And she has three outer planets in the last anaretic degree, which will tend to make her evaluate and re-evaluate situations and then act impulsively without regard to common sense. The anaretic individual tends towards poor choices and overcompensation. She certainly overcompensates on her Fixed quality of stubbornness. When in doubt, just stonewall.

Ignoring her for a moment, the UK chart has tr Saturn moving in hard aspect to the Ascendant, the Midheaven next week after the vote and the Capricorn Sun over Christmas – so generally under a dark cloud of gloom, with undertones of flat panic as tr Saturn is also conjunct the Neptune/Pluto midpoint. All of which point to the UK’s image and direction taking a battering and running into setbacks. Luckily it won’t last beyond the New Year. And there are some glimmerings of Jupiter through 2019.

Which is more than can be said for TMay who looks to be failing this month, with tr Neptune conjunct her Mars and tr Saturn square her Sun and Solar Arc Uranus exactly now; and in catastrophe-mode from mid January onwards. Her Government chart has one piece of relief from mid December onwards, though running alongside that is a disastrous few days over New Year; and if it survives that long is into a swamp from May. Her own chart picks up career-loss influences from April 2019 onwards.

Jeremy Corbyn, who seems curiously detached from the whole debacle, is logjammed every which way in the days after the vote, highly agitated and lacklustre in January; and his Leadership chart gets a massive turn-upside-down jolt from April onwards.

He may in some odd way be part of the Theresa May Laurel and Hardy act. When Maggie Thatcher went Neil Kinnock followed soon after.

Keir Starmer, the Opposition Brexit spokesman, looks beyond horrified over Christmas; blocked and enraged mid January to mid February; but picking up more successful influences from April onwards.

A monumental cluster****.

See previous posts November 12 and October 18 2018.

Comedian Kevin Hart says he is over the moon having been landed with the ‘least wanted job in Hollywood’ – hosting the 2019 Oscars. He’s had an illustrious career as a stand up and in films and television but this may be his toughest gig yet.

Born 13 July 1979 at 10.13 am Philadelphia, he has a Sun Cancer trine innovative, quirky Uranus in the 3^rd; a Sagittarius Moon (often a comic’s sign) trine Mercury and Jupiter in entertaining Leo; and an ambitious, loquacious Mars in Gemini on his Midheaven in a determined trine to Pluto.

It looks like a heavy-duty night starting with Saturn Pluto in the 4^th and Mars in the 8^th. During the evening both argumentative Mars and divisive Uranus will move down through the 7^th for some flare ups. Luckily it also starts with Jupiter in Sagittarius in the communicative 3^rd which will keep enthusiasm levels high.

He’s looking nerve-stretched beforehand and on the night itself with an uphill battle to maintain composure. So it won’t all be singing and dancing.

Alan Dershowitz, the long-time Harvard Law professor, was once thought of as a civil liberties lion. He has been a Clinton supporter and on Mia Farrow’s side in the child custody dispute with Woody Allen amongst other high profile trials. So his constant defence of Trump on Fox and attacks on Mueller have startled his old supporters. He was also on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s defence team, which dug ‘dirt on the victims and their parents, as well as police and prosecutors, according to sources on the receiving end of this harassment.‘ This was then landed on Acosta, the prosecutor, who caved in and handed Epstein a scandalously mild sentence  (See post below November 30th).  During an interview with The Post, Dershowitz said, “We outlawyered him.” Straight out of the Trump play book.

According to the Post, Dershowitz was an acknowledged visitor to the Epstein home which former employees said was decorated with child pornography. He was also a Mar-a-Lago regular and has since 2016 been in and out of the White House.

Born 1 September 1938 11.38pm New York, he has a 4^th house Virgo Sun; but more notably Jupiter in Aquarius in his 10^th opposition Mars in Leo – which is successful as well as opinionated, aggressive and opportunistic. Sakoian & Acker relate it to ‘the soldier of fortune.’ That opposition squares onto North Node in Scorpio opposition Uranus forming an unyielding Fixed Grand Cross, which certainly gives him staying power though can also be dictatorial and intolerant.

He’s also got a Yod onto Saturn in Aries quincunx Neptune sextile his Scorpio North Node which requires great discipline and decency to handle well. His dogmatic 3^rd house Pluto is square a fun-loving and sociable 5^th house Venus.

Dershowitz is now 80 so the astrology may reflect his age amongst other things. Tr Uranus is square his Pluto, until early 2019 for a major upheaval; with an undermining tr Neptune square his Moon till this New Year.  He’s looking deflated and confused this month so obviously has worries on his mind.

The first case this week involving Epstein has been settled out of court but there’s still another pending.

Dershowitz’s relationship chart with Epstein is ploughing through heavy seas and a good deal of discouragement from mid February on till late 2020 with tr Pluto conjunct the composite Saturn; and has been very edgy in recent weeks.

His relationship chart with Trump is very tied together with a controlling, possessive composite Sun, Mercury, Pluto – and that is being turned upside down in early 2019 through into 2020.

Dershowitz was also brought in onto Weinstein’s defence team – he’s clearly drawn to celebrity and celebrity cases like a wasp to a jam jar. Another icon off their pedestal. Reading over his CV, it may be less that he’s changed, more that I never noticed his unsavoury connections in the past.

‘Soldier of fortune’ may well be the best epitaph.

Please add below. Older posts under News on top bar.

The protest movement in France by the gilet jaunes (yellow vests) is escalating. There has been significant violence in Paris, and more peaceful anti-government demonstrations at barricades on roads and at fuel depots across France, with students now joining in to blockade their schools. An opinion poll found 72% of French people still support the protest movement that began in response to a rise in fuel taxes but is rapidly becoming a full-on challenge to President Emmanuel Macron, seen as favouring the rich.

Comparisons are being made with the student revolt of 1968 when civil unrest not only at the universities but also in the factories effectively brought the economy of France to a halt. The protests reached a point where political leaders feared civil war or revolution; and President Charles de Gaulle secretly fled France for a few hours. It started as a protest against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism and traditional institutions, values and order and then spread to involve almost 22 million workers. As today there were no leaders, just a widespread series of wildcat strikes.

France was born out of a bloody revolution by the proletariat and the spirit of Robespierre and the later Les Miserables runs deep in their veins. The problem for Macron is that every previous president succumbed to public pressure and retreated from much-needed reforms. Which is why the economy remains sclerotic and the state-sector with its eye-poppingly generous benefits schemes stays as is.

The France chart has a fearsome T square in Fixed signs of a rebellious Uranus opposition Pluto square Mars and Midheaven in vengeful Scorpio (opposition Algol). An odd mix of revolutionary and utterly immoveable. That T Square has moved by Solar Arc to catch tr Saturn in hard aspect through December/January 2019; and tr Saturn will also square the 8^th house Venus over the New Year – so a discouraging cloud will hang around for a while.

Paris is seeing a sharp downturn in business with shops and restaurants suffering badly and as the protests spread that will be repeated elsewhere damaging an economy struggling to grow even in miniscule amounts.

The central Bank of France chart, 18 January 1800, is being severely jangled through December to mid February 2019, and pretty much sinking till late 2019 with tr Neptune square its Mars.

Macron’s personal chart, 21 December 1977 10.40 am Amiens, France, has Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Ascendant now with tr Uranus square both for the next two and a half month as his image takes a pounding. On midpoint transits he’s also in crisis through December to mid February, worsening from mid December till mid January. There’s a minor uptick then, but he looks fairly crushed moving ahead from the spring 2019 onwards.

His relationship chart with France has an explosive Mars Uranus square Saturn to start with and that’s catching the early January Solar Eclipse to mark this confrontation. With nothing that looks like a détente thereafter. Like Hollande, he may limp towards the end of his term.

This protest is not as serious as the 1968 one which occurred when Uranus Pluto in Virgo were conjunct the France North Node and moving to conjunct the France Sun; and tr Neptune was conjunct the Midheaven for a paralysing few weeks. But Macron’s image is unlikely to recover.

His Presidency chart, 14 May 2017 11.25am Paris, was launched on a reform platform with Uranus in the 10^th trine Saturn; but has a questionable Neptune in the financial 8^th in an over-hopeful quincunx to Jupiter and a publicity-seeking but can-be-paralysed square to Mars.

It’s another outburst from the ‘forgotten many’ which is becoming an epidemic in Europe (and beyond). But one to which the EU has no answer. And France especially appears incapable of overcoming truculent public sentiment to enforce the kind of root-and-branch reform which long term would improve the economic situation for all.

Actress Priyanka Chopra married singer, songwriter Nick Jonas in a three day extravaganza in India over this weekend.

She’s one of India’s highest-paid and most popular celebrities, best known in the US for playing the lead in Quantico, also acts as a producer and is a UNICEF ambassadress for children’s rights.

His father conducted a Christian ceremony on Saturday in Jodhpur, India with an enthusiastic and colourful Sun Jupiter in Sagittarius in place square a glitzy, showbiz Mars Neptune in Pisces. Venus in sociable Libra was opposition Uranus and square the North Node – so it’ll be a quirky, unconventional and adventurous match.

She was born 18 July 1982 at 1.05am Jamshedpur, India, (astrotheme) with two army physician parents and has a quick-witted 3^rd house Cancer Sun square a formidably determined Pluto Mars Saturn in Libra. Her Moon and Venus in Gemini give her a lighter-hearted side; and with an independent-minded Uranus in her 7^th, she’s her own person. A film-star Neptune in the 8^th gives her an aura as it opposes her Venus and is inconjunct her Sun.

Nick Jonas, 16 September 1992 3.39am Dallas, Texas, formerly of the teen band the Jonas Brothers, is an enthusiastic and hard-working Sun, Mercury, Jupiter in Virgo in the financial 2^nd; with a 10^th house Taurus Moon, good for a public career, widely opposition Pluto in the 4^th square a 7^th house Saturn in Aquarius. He has a 6^th house Uranus Neptune in Capricorn and suffers from diabetes.

Both of their 7^th house and Moon aspects are tough – her Moon is in an overly-disciplined and angry trine to Saturn Mars, and his Moon is tied into bleak Saturn Pluto. To some extent they’ll understand each other’s backgrounds and emotional glitches but it won’t be all sunshine and roses. She has a needs-independence Uranus in her 7^th house of close relationships; while he has Saturn in his 7^th, maybe why he’s opted for an older partner but partnerships will mean hard work for him. His Venus in Libra is conjunct her Saturn, Mars, Pluto which looks fairly downtrodden.

Their relationship chart, however has a wonderfully exuberant and affectionate composite Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars conjunction trine Uranus; with a happy-home Jupiter in the 4th.  Admittedly the composite Moon is hidden and squaring Mars which will make for some heated moments, but overall it could be fun.

This is thinking in progress about the swings and roundabouts of fate which seem (to me) to dance Theresa May and Donald Trump’s respective fortunes to the same rhythm, despite them being massively different personalities with widely divergent agendas.

Both profited from the Saturn square Neptune in 2016. She, by serendipity and neat footwork slid into No 10; and he by megaphone promises to the forgotten many who felt ignored by the political elite. That both were and are duplicitous is a tragedy but nonetheless their presence on the global stage was the consequence of a deeper seismic shift of which they became the unwitting agents.

Jeremy Warner in a cogent Telegraph piece argues that Brexit: ‘was a popular rebellion that united elites and “left behinds” in grievance against a system seen to be failing on multiple fronts.’  ‘It was never about trade. It was about the need to belong and for people to have some sense of control over their own lives.’ A scream of despair and a massive protest vote ‘over the failure of political leaders to in any way challenge the status quo and make fundamental changes to people’s lives.’

Saturn Neptune, amongst other attributes, crops up for peasant uprisings, workers’ revolts and accompanies rumbles of discontent from the underdogs of society, including women. On the back of the revolutionary Uranus square Pluto running since 2012, it fostered the populist movements which have been burgeoning elsewhere in Europe. And where Brexit is concerned, it eroded the old left-right political split, bringing together those of different ideological beliefs.

Even more significantly, running powerfully in parallel is Pluto in Capricorn, battling since 2008 to transform old systems of government and collapse structures that were past their sell-by date to clear the ground for better to rise from the ashes. For this brief pivotal moment in 2016 the Saturn Neptune square turned up to edge the process along since Neptune dissolves and undermines the status quo which Saturn rules.

Standing back to see Trump, not as the deformed personality he undoubtedly is, but as a necessary instrument to fuel the changes that are ongoing isn’t easy but is revealing. He is, ironically, for example fostering the entry of many more women into political office; and the #metoo movement gained from the outrage about his pussy-grabbing comments. A million miles from his intention but a definite result.

He is also in his narcissistic rage running roughshod over the USA political system and constitution, with different results to the UK/EU, but the damage he is doing may well be irreparable.  Looked at one way that is a catastrophe. Looked at another way, his wrecking-ball presidency may be what was needed to kick-start the reduce-to-ground-zero-and-rebuild process. I go back to Kissinger’s thought that Trump is the sort of personality who unknowingly turns up at the end of a phase. In his words ‘an accident’ or put another way a necessary evil. May is much the same given her wobbly pedestal overlooking the most important moment in UK politics for more than half a century.

Pluto still has five or six years to run in Capricorn, with what is effectively a triple conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in 2020. So wide-ranging shifts are likely – politically and financially/economically – of more than the usual run-of-the-mill variety.

To go back to May and Trump – both are opportunists, one politically, the other in business. Chancers whom fate tossed up on the crest of a wave against all the odds. Both are incredibly stubborn and secretive. Trump is certainly paranoid and therefore untrusting, which is also a facet of Saturn Neptune. And May is as well otherwise she wouldn’t withhold information from her Cabinet never mind the electorate. In different ways both are control freaks. [As an aside I’m starting to get seriously irritated by her autocratic approach to any possible Plan Bs. A flat NO to any other option isn’t in her gift as minority leader. And refusing to publish the full legal advice on Brexit is beginning to smell like Blair and Iraq.]

There’s a risk on this line of argument in assuming their blundering will ultimately turn out for the best. It may not. The astrological influences have no moral intent, nor do they always end in a satisfactory closure. Uranus Pluto rebellions can end up in anarchic chaos, or with savage repression as power-hungry Pluto regains its grip. Peasant revolts most often ended with total defeat and executions. On which note I heartily recommend CJ Sansom’s Tombland, just out, a historical novel set against Ketts Revolt of 1549, which is too long but excellent. Over the centuries English society did become more civilized. But it was a teeth-grindingly slow process with no defining moment of enlightenment for the elites.

Trump may outlast May but both are in the mire at the moment and facing increasing setbacks and failures in 2019.  A victory won on the back of Neptune was always going to run the risk of turning into a mirage; or put another way have foundations built on a swamp. That’s especially true of May since her 2017 Term chart has a Full Moon square Neptune.   On her personal chart her Mercury is conjunct her Neptune/Pluto midpoint – unable to think independently, plans incapable of realisation. And her Neptune is conjunct her Mercury/Saturn midpoint which says much the same.

Yet both are pivotal to their country’s destiny. May’s Libra Sun is conjunct the UK 1801 Ascendant. Trump’s midheaven is conjunct the USA First President MC, with his Mars exactly conjunct the USA First President Ascendant. And Trump’s Saturn Venus in Cancer sits on top of the USA 1776 Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto – which latter will be key to the tumultuous events in the USA around 2020 and on to the Pluto Return in 2022/23. He’ll either be a central player or his actions now will be the trigger for what will happen then.

Plucked out of obscurity to strut and fret their role as puppets of the influences which will dictate their country’s destiny.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/30/brexit-has-completely-failed-left-behinds-angry-dismal-status/

Aftershocks are still shaking Anchorage in Alaska after the major 7.0 magnitude earthquake which was reported yesterday November 30 at 8.29am local time.

The Quake chart had the destructive Fixed planet Algol conjunct the Descendant with Uranus square the North Node and opposition Venus for a shock and upheaval. The Sun Jupiter was also in a panicky square to Mars Neptune in the 3^rd house of transport, roads and communication.

The August 11 Leo Solar Eclipse located to Anchorage had Saturn on the Descendant and Mercury New Moon on the IC – so the angles very marked, suggesting unforeseen events. The upcoming 5 January 2019 Solar Eclipse has Pluto on the Descendant and Neptune on the MC – so there may be more problems to come or a difficult aftermath.

The Alaska 18 October 1867 chart is under assault from tr Pluto conjunct Sun/Neptune which is a classic natural disaster indicator; tr Uranus square Mars/Neptune suggesting crisis/collapse and high anxiety; and tr Pluto sextile the Mars/Saturn midpoint which is catastrophic though milder since a soft aspect – there appear to be no casualties at the moment. January 2019 looks very edgy with tr Saturn opposition the Alaska Uranus and square Neptune.

The Great Alaska Earthquake of March 27 1964 of 9.2 magnitude, the most powerful ever recorded in North America and second in the world, happened on the spring Full Moon tide, with the Sun and Moon almost exactly square the Nodes. Over 100 died in Alaska, some from the tsunami which followed.  The preceding January Solar Eclipse had the disruptive Uranus Pluto straddling the Ascendant located to Anchorage. The allied Lunar Eclipse had the Full Moon on the MC/IC axis square Jupiter on the Ascendant for an amplified effect.

The Alaska 1867 chart has an exact natal Mars opposition Pluto and in 1964 it had moved by Solar Arc to square the Alaska Saturn for a destructive and dangerous event.  The Lunar and Solar Eclipses were also rattling the Alaska Uranus Moon in Cancer and the Solar Arc Uranus. The astrology certainly flagged it up though nothing would have stopped it.

George HW Bush has died aged 94, less than eight months after Barbara, his wife for almost 75 years. He once described himself as ‘not a very articulate emotionalist’ which is a fair description of a Gemini Sun in an Air Grand Trine to Moon Saturn in Libra trine Mars in Aquarius; formed into a talented Kite by Mars opposition a leadership Leo North Node and Neptune.

He was born 12 June 1924 10.30am Milton, Massachusetts, into a WASP family of East Coast achievers with a banker/Senator father and married the daughter of the Chairman of MacMillan’s Publishing. He volunteered at 18 in 1942 to become a navy pilot, was badly shot up and returned a war hero, eventually taking a Yale economics degree and then moving into the oil business. He tried unsuccessfully to move into politics and was eventually made US Ambassador to the UN by Nixon. On his return he skated round Watergate; and went as liaison to China, returning to head the CIA with a remit to clean up its dirty tricks ethos. He became VP under Reagan, managed to steer clear of the Iran-Contra scandal; and stood successfully for President in 1988 on a ‘no-tax rise’ ticket. He oversaw the end of the Cold War, liberated Kuwait from Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War and prudently refused to invade Iraq but was knee-capped politically by the tax increases he was forced to put in place, losing out to Clinton in 1992.

His Mercury in steady Taurus was in his 10^th square Mars and square his Ascendant, so he would be stubborn though his mental endurance would be marked especially in long term planning and organizational matters.

He had an extraordinarily varied career with more extensive foreign experience than most; and a fair few political failures and setbacks. His Gemini Sun would give him a wide range of interests and his Fixed T Square the staying power to keep on going. His Venus Pluto square Moon and 4^th house Jupiter inclined him towards a strong wife and a stable home life, though his marriage to Barbara would not always be easy.   See post April 16 2018.

His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic was tough-minded; his ‘perfectionist’ 7^th Harmonic determined and unyielding; even more so his ‘obsessive’ 11H. His global-figure 22H was confidently successful as well.

His Term chart as President, 20 January 1989, started on the tumultuous triple conjunction of Uranus, Saturn, Neptune – and Venus – in Capricorn in the 9^th so was always going to be a significant time especially for foreign policy. Mars was trine Uranus Saturn and square the Sun for two military excursions, one against Panama to depose Noriega and the other in the Middle East.

George W Bush, who carried on the dynasty, shared his Libra Moon and Leo Ascendant, but was a different type altogether – with a 12^th house Cancer Sun and 12^th house Saturn – which slightly suggests lack of a good male role model in his childhood. George, the younger, leant more towards his mother, the formidable Barbara.

Update:  Isaac Starkman has rectified a from-memory birth time to 11.31 am (chart above). Makes more sense for him to have a Virgo Ascendant and an emphasised Mercury in the 9th, given his interest in foreign policy and time spent abroad.  [Thanks Morris for the info]

Glowing reviews have greeted the movie Green Book, a comedy-drama about a tour of the Deep South in the 1960s by African-American classical pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) who ropes in Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a white Italian-American bouncer as driver and security. Box office is slowish but talk of possible Oscars will probably lift it.

Viggo Mortensen, 20 October 1958, New York, – Lord of the Rings, Captain Fantastic – is a Sun Libra conjunct Neptune in Scorpio and sextile Saturn in Sagittarius; with a tough-minded Mars in Gemini square Pluto. He has some minor lift around the Oscars but also a setback, so unlikely to be a major winner.

Mahershala Ali, 16 February 1974, Oakland, CA, – Hunger Games, Remy Danton in House of Cards, Moonlight – has a very Airy chart with a Sun Jupiter in Aquarius trine Uranus trine Saturn, formed into a Kite by Saturn opposition Node and maybe Moon in Sagittarius – talented and communicative.  He doesn’t look too enthusiastic around the Oscars.

Director Peter Farrelly, 17 December 1956, PA, is a Sun Sagittarius opposition a Gemini Moon with a disciplined, determined and innovative Saturn trine Mars, square Pluto and trine Uranus.

The filming must have been fun with all that Air and Fire.

Farrelly is marginally disappointed and marginally cheered up at the Oscars so maybe gets some nominations or wins in other categories.