Andrea Leadsom is one of the gang of five Cabinet Brexiteers insisting that the Brexit deal must be renegotiated despite Barnier and Merkel saying it can’t be. They have (according to the Daily Mail) given her two weeks to fix it or they resign.

Born 13 May 1963 in Aylesbury, England, she worked in the banks and investment companies before becoming an MP, though there were questions about whether her experience was strictly in the financial sphere. She became Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister in 2014. According to the Financial Times, her period as City Minister was seen by departmental officials as “a disaster”, “the worst minister we ever had. … She found it difficult to understand issues or take decisions. She was monomaniacal, seeing the EU as the source of every problem.” She stood for the Tory leadership when Cameron resigned but withdrew when support wasn’t there for her.

She has a ferociously determined chart, hard-edged and aggravated/ing, with a Taurus Sun and Mercury in a Fixed Grand Cross opposition Neptune square Mars in Leo opposition Saturn in Scorpio, so unyielding to the nth degree. She also has a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Jupiter in pro-active Aries – such a Jupiterian Yod can have an effect on mass consciousness but can also be undone by its own grandiosity.

She’s not looking cheerful at the moment with setbacks immediately now; and an enthusiasm-denting tr Saturn square her apex Jupiter in early December. January/February will be fairly catastrophic for her with the risk of a job loss in February. She has a minor lift in March, but it’s all slipping and sliding thereafter into 2020 when she gets her Solar Arc Neptune square her apex Jupiter, which might burst her bubble for good career-wise.

Theresa May’s implacable Pluto and Venus both in Leo, clash mightily with Leadsom’s Fixed Grand Cross; May’s Mars opposes Leadsom’s Pluto. And May’s Sun opposes Leadsom’s Jupiter – so sparking off Leadsom’s desire for supremacy.

Their relationship chart has a bitter power-struggling and active-dislike composite Mars square Pluto; an a chained-together-and-resenting-it Saturn trine Pluto, sextiling a suspicious Neptune. Not a dream pairing.

    

For history buffs looking for a pattern in Pluto Returns, which is what the USA is facing in the early 2020s. Not actual events on the exact aspects but the broad shifts which separate before from after. They only occur every 250 years approximately so few countries have old enough dates to test out. But the England 11 May 973 JC AD chart does work well.

The Pluto Returns were 1956; 1709/10; 1463/64; and 1217/18.

The Suez Crisis in 1956 was the consummate humiliation for Great Britain, signalling its fall from world super-power with the empire crumbling fast in the years before and after.

Thanks to historian Hugh for the below:

The 1217-18 Pluto conjunction is interesting. In the previous century the Angevin Kings of England ruled more of France than the Capetian French kings. King John (died 1216) managed to lose nearly all of it (Normandy, Britany, Maine, Anjou) apart from Aquitaine which became Edward III base over a century later when the English crown again revived its claims to its French lands. It is the holding of continental land that tied England to France for over 400 years since it was not just the Crown that possessed overseas domains it but also much of the English ruling class. It also shaped English commerce through cities like Bordeaux. When the land and trade ties were slowly cut England and ultimately the rest of Britain drifted into new political, religious, trade and cultural patterns. The final link Calais was lost under Mary I in 1558. The future British Empire had its origins under her successor Elizabeth I, the term ironically being first used by the astrologer John Dee.

The early 1460s would have been the middle years of the Wars of the Roses. The battle of Towton which was the bloodiest in English history was fought in 1461. It was a period in which much of England’s ancient Norman aristocracy wiped itself out in the civil war, eventually leaving the way open for the upstart Tudors. However, the really significant change in the latter half of the 15th Century was the fact that as a result of the One Hundred Yeas War the English crown had lost nearly all of its European continental possessions by 1453 apart from the Pas De Calais. This brought to an end a relationship that has started in the 11th Century with the Norman Conquest and had been developed by the Angevin dynasty in the central Middle Ages. Much is made of the English Reformation under Henry VIII as marking a shift of England’s focus away from Europe towards the Atlantic and eventually a world-wide Empire but the reality is that this development was in some way forced on the country by its physical expulsion of the English crown and aristocracy from its continental lands over 80 years before.

The period 1709-10 falls slap bang in the middle of the Wars of the Spanish Succession. It was preceded by the 1707 Union of England and Scotland and the beginning of the Hanoverian dynasty. The wars against Louis XIV were the time when Britain first became a major world power, linked to the development of its navy and the financial system that helped to pay for it.

Thanks also to UNMYSTIC MUM for further thoughts:

There is a pattern to the Pluto Returns, at least as regards England.

1217: a) Parliament (and its predecessor the Magnum Concilium/Great Council, now the House of Lords) rises in prominence & plays a role in the selection of the monarch.

1. b) There is a physical change in the membership of the Establishment.
2. c) The French played a direct role in English politics.

1217-18 – Just before, the barons (whose statues still adorn the House of Lords, looking down on their successors) had forced King John to concede the Magna Carta. Henry III comes to the Throne and swears to abide by the Great Charter (Magna Carta) issued by his father three years ago. The barons are prominent and some of them are in rebellion against the new king. Their leader is the later Louis VIII of France.

1460s:– The War of the Roses led to a physical destruction of the nobility in the battles. Almost the entire ancient nobility that traced its ancestry to the Normans was wiped out, with the later kings creating newer nobility that was more loyal to them. The principle that it is Parliament that decides who the monarch is dates from this period. Henry VI is the only King of England to also have been crowned King of France at Reims and he was deposed in England in 1461. Edward IV of York claimed the throne (was also the last King of England to have married a commoner before Prince Charles). His daughter married Henry VII of Lancaster and was mother to Henry VIII (he of the six wives).

1710s – Parliament again in the foreground, passing the Act of Settlement in 1701, which defined the current succession to the English throne, followed by the Act of Union with Scotland 1707. The arrival of William III (of Orange) from the Netherlands brought many Dutch followers, some of whom were raised to the nobility. George I’s accession to the throne led to the first Prime Minister (initially a term of abuse, as all ministers were supposed to equal) because the new King couldn’t speak English. The King and his Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole communicated in broken Latin apparently.

There has been a long-term change in power at each Pluto Return (1217-18, from the king to the barons; 1460s, broadly towards Parliament as we know it now, with a Commons; 1709-10, the executive power starts moving towards the Prime Minister).

Other examples: Spain – 19 January 1479 JC. The most recent Pluto Return around 1972 saw the dictator Franco gradually relinquishing power, nominating a monarch as successor to his regency in 1969; and handing over the Prime Ministership by 1973. He died in 1975.

Russia 28 March 1462 JC – the most recent Pluto Return was exact when Stalin died in early 1953. Previous Pluto Return was 1706.

France 19 August 843 JC – most recent Pluto Return in 1821 saw the death of Napoleon on the exact aspect. Previous Pluto Returns: 1577, 1332, 1088

Switzerland 26 May 1231 JC – most recent Pluto Return joined the Council of Europe. Before that 1726.

Austria 18 October 1221 JC – was angling to join the EEC on the most recent Pluto Return, managed it 6 years later. Before that 1714, 1468.

Scotland March 25 1005 JC – the second Pluto Return in 1745 saw the Jacobite Rebellion crushed by the English with savage repercussions. The next Pluto Return in 1991/2 saw Alex Salmond take over leadership of the Scottish National Party which led later to its rise to power. The Pluto Return first was 1252.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Scots comedian Billy Connolly who has stopped touring after contracting Parkinson’s says art is now his life as he opens a new collection of his drawings in Glasgow. Originally a folk singer he moved with great success into stand-up comedy,  touring all over the globe and has performed in several films, notably Mrs Brown with Judi Dench.

Born 24 November 1942 4.30am Glasgow, Scotland, he had an appalling childhood with his mother abandoning the family when he was four, unkind aunts who were forced to act as caretaker parents; and an abusive father after he returned from the war.

He has a charmingly outspoken Sun Venus in Sagittarius in an erratic opposition to Uranus Saturn in Gemini in a talented Half Grand Sextile to Neptune and Pluto in his 10^th – so he would become, as often happens with Pluto in the 10^th, something of a legend. He’s also got the blessing of Jupiter in his 10^th which would help his progress towards success.

He was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2013 along with prostate cancer though the latter has now cleared. That was when his Solar Arc Midheaven was conjunct his Neptune, making his direction uncertain. Tr Saturn was then moving downwards through his First Quadrant which would pull him back from an overly busy, high profile lifestyle. He’s got tr Neptune moving through his 6^th now along with his Progressed Moon, so he takes it easy living in Florida with his second wife Pamela Stephenson and sketching which he says he finds very liberating.

His creative, ‘seeking soul’ 7^th harmonic is strong. Even more so is his genius/breakthrough 13H which as I recollect Peter Sellers also had. And his super-star 22H is challenging, angry and highly communicative. Not an easy start but he made the most of his abilities.

    

 

Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming is out to sparkling reviews which talk of its ‘refreshing candor’ being ‘humbling and affirming’. She writes of her solid family upbringing, her drive to succeed, her miscarriage and pregnancy struggles with IVF; and the early difficulties of marriage to Barack for whom politics was the driving obsession.

Born 17 January 1964 in Chicago, she’s a feisty Sun Capricorn conjunct Mars in Aquarius; with a sensitive Venus in Pisces conjunct Moon in Aquarius/Pisces and widely conjunct Saturn in Aquarius. So she’s fairly Saturnine, practical, cautious and ambitious. What helps to mellow her is an apex Jupiter in pro-active Aries inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto Uranus. A Jupiterian Yod will give her social influence, which comes through a twist of fate, allowing her to have a beneficial effect on the masses. That twist came in 2009 when Barack was elected and her Solar Arc Sun was opposition Pluto on one leg of the Yod sending her life on a different trajectory.

Their marriage is not the easiest match. He has Uranus in his 7^th so needed an unconventional partner who’d let him be independent. Though he’s also got Pluto in his 7^th which says the opposite. So quite a contradictory mix of possessiveness and free spirit.

Her Sun is conjunct Barack’s Saturn and trine his 8^th house Mars; and her Saturn is conjunct his Ascendant.  She’d find his ambitions blocked her out and he would at times find her restrictive as she prompted him to become more mature and responsible. But her Mars and Sun are also conjunct his Jupiter, so however maddening she found him at times, he’d also inspire and enthuse her.  Her Venus (Moon) in Pisces trines his Venus in Cancer which is lovely and she’d soften his image since her Venus falls in his 1^st.

Their relationship chart repeats the same themes with an affectionate composite Sun opposition Venus but squaring onto duty-bound Saturn. With a mutually-supportive composite Sun trine Jupiter; an adventurous Jupiter opposition Uranus and power-couple Jupiter opposition Pluto. There’s also a potentially volatile Uranus square Mars, so tensions would erupt along the way.

      

 

‘Politics is not the art of the possible. It’s the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.’ John Kenneth Galbraith.

A few more random and rambled thoughts on Brexit sparked off by this morning’s papers. Background first, then the astrology.

‘The mass hysteria that now grips our political class, with die-hard Remainers reduced to the same state of apoplectic rage as spittle flecked Brexiteers, united in their theological dismay. Everywhere, you hear cries of heresy and betrayal. Ideology and conviction have triumphed over realism.’ (Jeremy Warner, Telegraph, URL below)).

One cogent explanation for the impasse is offered by Fintan O’Toole in his book: Heroic Failures: Brexit and the Politics of Pain (excerpt URL below). ‘The crucial idea here is the vertiginous fall from “heart of Empire” to “occupied colony”. In the imperial imagination, there are only two states: dominant and submissive, coloniser and colonised.’ So Brexit becomes ‘the imaginary existential struggle between the gallant English Resistance and the Euroreich.’ He quotes  Anthony Barnett (THE LURE OF GREATNESS: England’s Brexit and America’s Trump) –  “Britishness is now Brexitness.”  “Europe “moved on from the second world war and Britain didn’t.”

What the above screams is Pluto – dominate or submit, puppetmaster or hapless puppet-on-a-string. The UK 1801 chart doesn’t have an overly strong Pluto except for one key aspect which is the UK Capricorn Sun sits exactly on the megalomaniac and none-too-rational Neptune/Pluto midpoint.

Pluto is much more obvious on the England 11 May 973 AD chart which has a ferocious do-or-die, unyielding Sun Mars Mercury in Taurus square Pluto (trine Jupiter, inconjunct Neptune). And it was England who voted for Brexit not the rest of the UK. So it’s more ‘Englishness is now Brexitness.’  And the England 973/EU relationship chart has a struggle-to-the-death, implacably hostile composite Mars opposition Pluto. And that battle is going to rage for many more years to come.

On the argument that England remains stuck in a World War 11 mentality – in psychological parlance that’s when a complex constellated.  On the UK 1801 chart there are some similarities in mood to the outbreak of WW11. Having just watched Darkest Hour, the excellent film about Churchill’s unexpected elevation to Prime Minister in early 1940 with the country split about Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler, what was clear was how close in the early days it came to total surrender and annihilation.  Until Churchill’s Pluto in Taurus stepped in to achieve the near impossible. (Which I should have known but my history lessons rather glossed over it and fixated on the victory.)

On the UK 1801 chart at the start of WW11 the Solar Arc Saturn had just moved across the conjunction to the UK Sun and Neptune/Pluto midpoint during Chamberlain’s desperate efforts to seek peace. At the same time the Solar Arc Pluto was conjunct the UK 10^th house Moon. Tr Uranus was well into the UK 8^th by that time. And the Progressed Moon was conjunct the UK legislative Saturn when Churchill took over.

At the moment tr Pluto is opposing the 10^th house UK Moon, tr Saturn is aiming to conjunct the Sun this December; the Solar Arc Moon will oppose the UK Saturn soon and tr Uranus is heading for the UK 8^th house. Not that I’m suggesting a war will ensue this time round but it’s perhaps not surprising that similar feelings erupted especially amongst the older generation.

During WW11 on the England 973 chart tr Uranus was conjunct the England Mars Sun during the July 1940 Battle of Britain when the UK came under assault from large scale attacks by the Nazi Germany air force. Tr Jupiter and Saturn in Taurus followed along behind, so it was a punishing time.

None of which is an excuse for the maelstrom of Brexit. I’m an internationalist at heart, though I dislike the way the EU is run both in terms of the Brussels bloat and the economic lopsidedness of North/South inequality. But it’s always easier to handle when there’s some explanation for the madness.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/16/brexit-paranoid-fantasy-fintan-otoole

https://unbound.com/books/brexit/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/16/mays-deal-dead-arrival-britain-dump-pragmatism-exchange-revolution/

 

 

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Michael Gove, a Euro-sceptic, might step in to replace Dominic Raab if he can renegotiate the deal, otherwise he may leave the Cabinet. Though Barnier says no renegotiation is possible.

Born 26 August 1967, Gove is a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Virgo with Uranus Pluto also in Virgo sextile a tricky, slippery and vengeful Mars Neptune in Scorpio. He’s looking trapped, enraged, stuck and depressed mid December to mid January 2019 and mighty confused at the same time; grumpy over the New Year; facing losses in February and will be spinning like a top at the same time with nervous anxiety. He’ll start to pick up from  April 2019 onwards as tr Uranus starts to trine his Sun and then his Jupiter/Pluto and Jupiter/Uranus, on and off till early 2020.

Another Cabinet possible as a May replacement if she does fold or gets pushed is Jeremy Hunt, 1 November 1966, a charming, smarmy Sun Venus in Scorpio square Jupiter in Leo.  He’s facing a setback late this December and despite a couple of Jupiterian lucky blessings in 2019 is facing a run of crises and catastrophes from February onwards.

Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, 5 December 1969, is a Sagittarius with a hates-failure Jupiter in Libra opposition Saturn in Taurus; and a publicity-attracting Neptune square Mars in determinedly independent Aquarius. He’s feeling undermined and disappointed till late December with tr Neptune square his Sun. However he also has tr Uranus square his Jupiter in December/January 2019 which could give him a lucky break. But he’ll be bumping along a rocky road through 2019 with much discouragement and high tension.

Brexit is a poisoned chalice that no one sensible would want to pick up.

    

 

Melania Trump took the extraordinary step of issuing a press statement attacking Mira Ricardel, Deputy National Security Advisor, John Bolton’s assistant, and demanding her resignation. Normally a First Lady sticks the dagger in behind the scenes. The beef appeared to come from Melania’s Africa trip though Mira Ricardel has a long history of falling out with almost everyone and was suspected of leaking as well as being abrasive.

Born 5 July 1960, Ricardel comes, like Melania, from a Yugoslav immigrant family, which probably didn’t help. She has a Cancer Sun Venus opposition Saturn square Uranus – so has a tendency to be autocratic. But what really ramps her up is her Mars in Taurus opposition Neptune, square Uranus, trine Pluto and trine Saturn, sextile Sun Venus – ambitious, hyper-determined, volatile, dislikes interference, ruthless, hard-edged. And she may have a Scorpio Moon.

Ricardel’s afflicted Mars is conjunct Melania’s Saturn which makes for a bad-tempered interface.

Their relationship chart is very unstable with a composite Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square the composite Sun, opposition North Node and maybe Moon, The composite Mars opposes Neptune for an ego-clash; with the composite Mars opposition Jupiter and widely trine Pluto which makes for a high-energy interface which can spill over into competitiveness.

If Melania is starting to throw her weight around with White House/Cabinet aides she thinks are a problem for Trump then John Kelly looks first on the list through this December/January 2019.

John Bolton can’t have been pleased at the intervention which saw his handpicked assistant depart – and he and Melania look further separated come February 2019.

James Mattis is increasingly at a distance with a freeze picking up late this December through January/February 2019.

Her relationship with Ivanka, never easy at the best of times, will see aggravations mounting from mid this December and tensions erupting in December/January. Melania dislikes Jared even more which will bring increasing criticism from her now and through December, with a definite sinking feeling between them.

Her relationship with Donald looks on edge and explosive/insecure this December/January; with a decided dip with uncertainty and a degree of panic come April 2019 (repeating on and off into 2020).

Melania does  have her Taurus Sun opposition Jupiter in Scorpio picking up the tr Uranus hard aspects now and through 2019 which will boost her confidence, prompting her to take more risks. Perhaps as his troubles mount from now onwards she’ll try to act more openly as a prop and protector. He is, amongst many other things, hopelessly impractical with no Earth signs, while she has four Taurus planets, Pluto in Virgo and probably a Capricorn Moon, so she’s much more grounded and certainly more than capable of standing her ground.

    

 

Jacob Rees Mogg is spearheading the Brexiteer attack on Theresa May’s  plan as the wrangling goes on in Cabinet. He’s an MP on the far-right of the Tory Party with an Eton, Oxford University and hedge fund background (he and wife deemed worth £100 million in 2016). A Roman Catholic he’s against abortion even in cases of rape, incest and foetal abnormality. He has said it could take a very long time to reap Brexit benefits, over the next fifty years.

Born 24 May 1969, he has a Gemini Sun opposition Neptune in late Scorpio and Mars in Sagittarius – communicative, scattered, idealistic but not always realistic, impulsive. His Sun opposition Neptune perhaps forming a T Square onto a late Leo/Virgo Moon. Plus a powerhouse Pluto, Jupiter, Uranus in Virgo.

He looks energised at the moment with tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint till early this December and again in February 2019.  December/January 2019 look nerve-stretched and confused. He’ll continue jangled and jittered through late March to mid April 2019 and in full catastrophe-mode in the second half of April. The rest of the year will jolt between confidence in June and high insecurity thereafter. With a car-crash Secondary Progressed Mars opposition his Sun in about 18 months from now.

He will get into top gear will be from February 2020 onwards for two or three years with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint and then trine his Jupiter in 2021/22.

Boris Johnson looks very deflated over late this December, hugely frustrated mid January to mid February 2019, facing failure in February and March, but picking up again in April/May; then sagging badly in the second half of the year.

    

 

Matthew Whitaker, Trump’s bizarre pick to replace the ousted Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, effectively putting him in as overseer of the Mueller Investigation, is causing consternation. Not just because his appointment without confirmation may not be constitutional, but because he is in the Washington Post’s description, a crackpot.

He was involved in a company (WPM) that scammed US military veterans out of their life savings, for which fraud they were ordered to pay authorities $26m. During his time on the company’s advisory board, WPM claimed that “DNA evidence collected in 2013 proves that Bigfoot does exist,” had a website selling Bigfoot paraphernalia and planned a celebrity event called “You Have Been Squatched!” They tried to raise money using bitcoin for time-travel research – “relive moments from your past” or “visit your future.” And punted an extra-deep “masculine toilet” for the well-endowed.

He joins a long list of gruesomely unqualified Trump appointments – his adulatory WH doctor in to run the Department of Veterans Affairs; chief scientist at the Agriculture Department who isn’t a scientist; others include  a Mar-a-Lago member, a Car Care manager, a bartender, a cabana attendant, a truck driver and Eric Trump’s wedding planner.

Born 29 October 1969 in Iowa, Whitaker is a Sun Scorpio opposition Saturn in Taurus ; with an opportunistic Mars in money-minded Capricorn square Jupiter Mercury; and Mars also in an ultra- determined and fairly slippery trine to Pluto sextile Neptune.

He has one minor up ahead and everything else suggests a downward trajectory with a blocked Solar Arc Sun square his Pluto now-ish or into 2019; plus some Neptunian sinkers; and worse in 2020.

He’s not a good match with Trump since his Mars opposes Trump’s Saturn Venus and his Pluto squares Trump’s Sun – could be quite a damaging connection.  His relationship chart with Trump is sagging badly in January and bumping uncomfortably along from late March onwards.