Harry Leslie Smith shot to an unlikely social media stardom in his 90s after publishing his bestselling memoir-cum-polemic in defence of the welfare state, Harry’s Last Stand four years ago. He won a mass following in Britain’s left, became a regular commentator in newspapers and a fixture at speaking events in Britain and Canada. He sent more than 80,000 tweets and had over quarter of a million followers, sharing his views on fighting austerity and privatisation, opposing western military interventions, and challenging racism and fascism. He became known as the conscience of the Labour Party.

Born on 25 February 1923 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, into acute poverty, he had a troubled childhood, fought in WW11, saw the misery and carnage of Hamburg, and took a German wife, with whom he emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s, where he worked selling and designing Oriental rugs. After she died in 1999, he backpacked around Europe, visiting places he had known during the war.

He was a Sun Pisces conjunct Uranus with a ‘healing’ and creative Water Grand Trine of Uranus in a revolutionary trine to Pluto in a confident and adventurous trine to Jupiter in Scorpio; with an enduring Fixed T Square of Mercury in Aquarius opposition Neptune square Jupiter. Such an accentuated Jupiter would make him idealistic and give him the ability to have an impact on thinking out in society. His Mars in pro-active Aries was in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn square Venus in Capricorn – Mars Saturn describing his punishingly difficult childhood. His humanitarian 9^th Harmonic was exceptionally strong; as was his ‘obsessive dream’ 11H; and his leaving-a-legacy 17H.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/28/harry-leslie-smith-obituary

Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, already convicted on 10 felony counts including financial fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, was facing a second trial on different counts that might land him in prison for life. He was hoping to gain a lighter sentence by co-operating with Robert Mueller but is now accused of breaching his plea agreement and that he “committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters.“ More on Manafort’s unsavoury past in the URL below.

Trump has hinted he may pardon him.

Born 1 April 1949 in Connecticut, Manafort is a go-getting Sun Mars Venus in Aries opposition Neptune and trine Pluto – not short of ambition, the art of smokescreening or determination. His stars are mixed with tr Saturn square his Aries planets and Neptune in December/January 2019; though he also has some relief from tr Uranus square his Jupiter through December to early February 2019. Further ahead and over 2020/21 he looks crushed.

His relationship with Trump is panicked in the middle week of this December and is on a fast downhill slide from April 2019 onwards as tr Neptune opposes the composite Mars, then Mars/Uranus, then Uranus into the early 2020s. Though there are hints Manafort may rise again as his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Mars and then Sun into the early 2020s.

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/mueller-is-not-after-manafort-he-is-after-trump/

Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, 25 August 1966, has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in relation to the Russia inquiry, misleading lawmakers about talks over a Trump property deal in Moscow during the presidential race. Trump said he was “lying” to seek a reduced sentence. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating finance laws during the 2016 presidential election by handling hush money for Mr Trump’s alleged lovers.

Cohen looks discouraged over the next three months, suffering a shock in March and generally feeling dis-empowered and overwrought through 2019/2020 though he may pick up a head of steam again from 2020. His relationship with Trump looks jangled till February and more disrupted come May 2019.

There’s no indication yet that the new Deutsche Bank investigation for money laundering will involve Trump, but it was the one bank which stuck with him through his troubled times. The bank was fined $600 million last year for laundering $10 billion in Russian currency,

Steve Bannon said in early 2018 that Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s campaign will largely deal with the president’s finances with the bank. The probe, he said “goes through Deutsche Bank and all the Kushner shit. They’re going to go right through that.”

Deutsche Bank has two dates  – 22 January 1870 and 10 March 1870. The relationship charts with Trump on both of these highlight upsets through this December to mid February 2019; with major anxiety in the days surrounding this New Year.

Trump’s personal chart is slipping and sliding through till the New Year with his confidence undermined. But where he plunges into a variety of sinkholes will be from mid February 2019 onwards for two years, which he’ll no doubt respond to with his usual bullish bravado but it won’t last.

See post Trump Timeline August 22 2018.

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More odds and sods to chuck into the whither Brexit pot. David Lidington 30 June 1956, is Theresa May’s de facto Deputy PM. He’s looking crushed from now right through till mid January with a panicky-failure tr Neptune conjunct his Mars; and a catastrophic tr Pluto conjunct his Mars/Saturn midpoint. He does have some uplift from tr Uranus trine his Jupiter now till early February 2019 – but I doubt that’ll be enough to balance out the negatives.  He’s also got a career-loss tr Saturn square his Jupiter/Saturn in January week two.

Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland DUP, 3 July 1970 is looking hemmed in and enraged mid this December to mid January 2019 with tr Pluto opposing her Mars (repeating till late November 2019); with a downer over this Christmas; and panic and uncertainty in February 2019 (again later in the year.) Her relationship chart with Theresa May, not in harmony at best, isn’t showing up much without birth times apart from bad tempered blips late December and January.

Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16pm Irvine, Scotland, is on high alert, in fighting form and at screeching point early this December till mid February with tr Uranus square her Sun/Mars; feeling hopeless with her enthusiasm dented now till late this December; depressed by setbacks over the New Year; and facing a discouraging slog through 2019/2020.

Her relationship with TMay has terrible chemistry with a composite Saturn opposition Venus Sun square Mars – and will worsen considerably from mid February 2019 onwards for two years with tr Pluto trine the composite Mars.

Both she and Arlene Foster look  disappointed in Jeremy Corbyn in January.

The 2019 Capricorn Solar Eclipses in January and December and the Cancer one in July will have a direct and critical effect on both the UK and USA country charts with their respective Capricorn and Cancer Suns.

The 5^th January 2019 Solar Eclipse at 15 degrees Capricorn conjunct Saturn on one side and Pluto on the other will be heavy going in general with Pluto still in the unsettled square to Uranus. There’s nothing much on the angles except Venus IC for Washington, which isn’t always a placing of peace. The Saturn will be conjunct the UK Sun and IC and opposition the USA Sun – for a reality check.

A Solar Eclipse conjunct an individual or country Sun suggests reaching a fork in the road, and having to take responsibility for decisions about which road to take since there’ll be no turning back. An Eclipse in opposition to the Sun means facing up to the fact that you’re not always right and having to take a different perspective. There’s usually a crisis which precipitates some soul searching either at the time or in the months after.

The 2 July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse at 10 degrees Cancer is more fearsome for the UK with the Eclipse opposing the Sun for a good going crisis; and an argumentative, disruptive and maybe violent Mars Mercury is conjunct the MC square Uranus conjunct the Descendant. It will have some effect on the USA Cancer Sun but seems less event-filled over there. The theme is obsessive thinking.

The 25 December 2019 Solar Eclipse at 4 degrees Capricorn conjunct Jupiter is within 7 degrees of the IC for London so could be highlighting a major happening. Jupiter isn’t always lucky in Eclipse charts since it amplifies bad as well as good – and there is a harsh Saturn Pluto sextile Mars. This Eclipse is even closer to the IC for Washington with the Node conjunct the MC so could be more critical there.   The theme is sudden endings.

Lunar Eclipses can have just as strong if not stronger an effect.

Total Lunar Eclipse 21 January 2019 at zero degrees Leo/Aquarius will conjunct the UK Jupiter and has Uranus on the IC located to London for an upheaval. An Eclipse on Jupiter can be expansive but can also point to over optimism. It’s very keyed up for Washington with the Eclipse Moon conjunct the MC opposition Sun on the IC square Uranus on the Descendant – that looks very divisive.

The 16 July 2019 Lunar Eclipse at 24 Capricorn/Cancer has the Moon conjunct Pluto and Saturn. This will be critical for the USA since it hits the USA Mercury in Cancer exactly (in a fanatical opposition to Pluto) so will exacerbate nervous strain and increase dogmatic opinions. Jupiter sits on the Ascendant located to Washington; and Neptune on the Ascendant for London.

The January 2020 Lunar Eclipse has the Moon at 19 Cancer opposition Sun Saturn Pluto, which hits the UK 10^th House Moon exactly, so a crisis and emotional shock affecting the rulership of the country, including monarch.

These latter two Lunar Eclipses will also be critical for Saudi Arabia since it shakes up their Sun Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn.

Two feisty Mars Jupiter Libran women are in the news today. First is Carole Cadwalldr, the Observer/Guardian journalist, who has won the Foreign Press Association media award for her reporting on the links between Cambridge Analytica, the UK’s pro-Brexit campaigners and Donald Trump presidential election team. This on top of several previous awards, including the Orwell journalism prize.

Born 10 October 1969 in Wales, she has an exact Sun Jupiter in Libra – confident, communicative – and square Mars in Capricorn, adding high-octane fuel to her pronouncements. Her Uranus and probably Mercury and Moon are in Libra; with her Mercury in a forcefully persuasive conjunction with Pluto, which is excellent for deep research.

All that go-getting impulsiveness can have its uses since it has the energy and initiative to start new projects and take the risks needed to achieve success. Though it can over step the mark at times with too much enthusiasm and too little forethought.

The other – sadly – is Baroness Trumpington, a grande dame of the House of Lords who has died at 96. Born 23 October 1922, she had a similar last degree Sun Jupiter conjunction square Mars in Capricorn; with her Mercury Saturn in Libra square Pluto, so not one to hold back when making her opinions known.

The Telegraph obituary says: ‘Built to last, forthright and formidable, Jean Trumpington made up for any lack of intellectual brilliance with a capacity for hard work combined with down-to-earth common sense and an engaging habit of telling jokes against herself.’

She grew up in an upper-class family, worked in Bletchley Park during WW11, married a schoolmaster and worked in local politics. She was a stately six foot tall with a deep voice matured by cigarettes which she smoked from aged 10 to 79.

Stories about her are legion and funny if you read her obits in the Guardian and Telegraph.

Maggie Thatcher also has a Mars in Libra square Jupiter tied into Pluto – so it clearly gets you places.

Others with Mars Jupiter squares are/were: Henry VIII Of England, Helmut Kohl, Julia Gillard, Indira Gandhi, Marie Curie, Edwin Hubble, Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Burt Reynolds, Mae West, Johnny Carson, Robbie Williams, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry, Madeleine’ McCann’s Abduction. The last of these highlights Mars Jupiter’s opportunistic side and was tied into Uranus for a sudden shock as well.

Three of Ukraine’s naval vessels were seized by Russia for sailing in Crimea waters in the first

Ukraine’s parliament is to decide whether to bring in martial law, after Sunday’s capture of three of its naval vessels and 23 crew members by Russia while sailing in Crimea waters. This is the first display of overt aggression by the Kremlin since Putin annexed Crimea in early 2014 and is likely to result in more western sanctions which Russia’s struggling economy could well do without. The rouble slumped sharply today.

But Kremlin critics have been warning recently that Putin could be seeking a new military adventure to distract attention from economic woes at home as his popularity sinks. It probably won’t harm Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, either since he hasn’t lived up to expectation with Government critics and opposition journalists being attacked and killed with impunity and little economic benefits coming to the people.

The Ukraine 24 August 1991 2.31pm Kiev chart isn’t as stressed as it was in 2014 when Russia swooped in. That was when the tr Uranus square tr Pluto was pushing tensions up to high-do as it hit the Ukraine Neptune Uranus conjunction; and Solar Arc Saturn was opposition the Moon for an unhappy populace. At the moment Solar Arc Saturn is opposing the Ukraine Venus for discouragement and gloom; with some jolts ahead from tr Uranus trine the Virgo Sun and square the Saturn in Aquarius late March into April 2019.

Poroshenko’s Presidency chart, 7 June 2014 10.20am Kiev, was always going to be crises-ridden with Uranus opposition Mars square Pluto with a wide opposition to Jupiter. This year and next tr Neptune is in an undermining square to the Gemini Sun, exact again in March 2019 when the next elections should be held, if martial law doesn’t get in the way. He’s expected to lose if it’s a free and fair vote.

Putin’s 4^th Term chart, 7 May 2018 11.05 am Moscow, looks equally volatile with Uranus Mercury square a ruthless and brutal Mars Pluto; and the Taurus Sun trine Pluto and Saturn, opposition Jupiter.  Tr Neptune will square the Venus again through 2019 which could suggest further economic decline and also unpopularity.

Putin’s own personal chart, 7 October 1952, is still labouring mightily with high uncertainty as tr Pluto squares the Saturn/Neptune midpoint exactly now, moving on to square the gloomy Mercury/Saturn until after New Year; and 2019 has a clutch of unhelpful, devastating, confusing and frustrating transits to midpoints as well as tr Pluto square his Neptune and Mercury, worsening in 2020/2021.

Bernardo Bertolucci, the acclaimed Italian film director and screenwriter, has died. His stunning The Last Emperor won all nine Oscars in which it was nominated; The Sheltering Sky was also rapturously received. Less so his earlier controversial erotic Last Tango in Paris with Brando, though after the initial furore it became a classic – with questionmarks because of his treatment of Maria Schneider who later had a breakdown.

He was born 16 March 1941 7.25 pm Parma, Italy, with an artistic and film critic father. Initially he wanted to be a poet and writer but was taken on by film director Pier Paulo Pasolini as an assistant and continued on from there.

He has an exceptionally talented chart with an Earth Grand Trine of Neptune on his Virgo Ascendant in an innovative trine to Uranus in a dynamic trine to Mars in Capricorn, formed into a Kite with Neptune opposition Sun Venus in Pisces – custom designed for the movie business – and poetry.

His Scorpio Moon opposed Jupiter Saturn in Taurus and squared Pluto – very enduring and very earthy.

His Mercury in Pisces is unaspected apart from a quincunx to Pluto, suggesting a single-track mind, capable of brilliance, but not always good at considering alternatives.

His Harmonics are prolific – with strongly aspected creative 5^th, 7^th and the writers’ 21^st Harmonics. His ‘obsessive dream’ 11H is marked; as is his ‘genius/breakthrough’ 13H and leaving-a-legacy 17H. And his global ‘super-star’ 22H.

An exceptional talent.

Another great director also died this week. Nicolas Roeg whose Don’t Look Now and Performance have gone down in the annals of best of British movie-making, shared similar interests to Bertolucci. Ryan Gilbey in the Guardian writes: ‘Their reputations were forged at the forefront of a new kind of transgressive cinema in the 1960s and 70s, in which explicit depictions of sex and desire were a driving dramatic force, rather than X-rated window dressing. Sex in these films isn’t gratuitous titillation but a way of expressing character, motivation and meaning.’

Born 15 August 1928 in London, Roeg started as a teaboy and worked as a cinematographer under David Lean, John Schlesinger and Truffaut before starting to direct.

Like Bertolucci he had a strongly Neptunian chart with his Leo Sun, Mercury, maybe Moon in Leo conjunct Neptune. Both also shared Mars Saturn Venus aspects. Roeg had Mars Node in Gemini opposition Saturn square Venus in Virgo; while Bertolucci had a milder Mars trine Saturn Jupiter, sextile Venus. These three planets together do indicate a hard-edged approach to sexuality and desire, which landed both in trouble with the censors and would not have gone down well in today’s different culture.

The Brexit ‘deal’ was agreed by the EU this morning around 10.30 am – for what it’s worth since no one seems to think it can get through Parliament, given the outraged howls in the UK about Gibraltar, fishing rights, Irish border backstop, never mind the whole customs union fadaddle, EU laws etc.

Brexit Fatigue was skewered this week in the Times by Deborah Ross. ‘Also known as “sick to death of Brexit”, “Brexit is doing my head in” and “I can’t take any more of this shit show, seriously”. “Until it does get itself sorted, there is no way I could listen to another single word.”

“Full-blown BF, characterised by not wanting to know about this conjecture or that speculation because it’ll only add up to diddly-squat anyhow.” “Oh please, God, make it all go away.”

The only thing of note in this chart is Sun Jupiter square Mars – apologies to anyone who has Mars square Jupiter in their charts since I’m sure it has a positive side – but it does hint at biting off more than can be chewed, rushing blindly ahead, over confidence. Sakoian & Acker are fairly damning about its propensity for using collective power for self-aggrandisement. (See John Chau post below).

The Westminster vote will be on December 11^th after five days of debate. Tr Saturn will be square Theresa May’s Libra Sun and square her Solar Arc Uranus from, December 2^nd to the 11^th with Saturn always hanging around for a hangover few days after the exact aspect. Tr Saturn is conjunct the UK Sun for a week from December 20^th and the EU/UK Sun – so gloom and discouragement all round.

The vote chart, no time, isn’t too inspiring with Sun square a Mars Neptune conjunction which Ebertin describes as ‘paralysed activity’; ‘failure through lack of plans and energy.’ With Jupiter also square Neptune associated with a ‘poor speculation’ and ‘a scandal through instability.’  Mercury in late Scorpio is inconjunct Uranus in late Aries which is nervy, with excitement and upsets and bitter words.

Harry and Meghan are moving house to Windsor in preparation for the baby with hints of grandma Doria moving in. The media rumour mill is atwitter, pointing to a rift between Harry and William, followed up by – no – it’s between Kate and Meghan.

The two brothers were always close, more so after the death of their mother. Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction in an adventurous trine to Jupiter Uranus and a competitive square to Mars.  But it has been sagging since May 2017 when Harry’s relationship became more serious as tr Neptune squared the composite Moon.  At the same time tr Uranus was starting to oppose their composite Pluto turning their relationship upside down and is now opposing the composite Saturn into early 2019 for high tensions. One might surmise William didn’t approve of Harry’s choice of bride. No doubt they’ll come back round in time but it may be a few years before it settles.

Meghan and Kate aren’t an easy match since Meghan’s Moon Saturn Jupiter is conjunct Kate’s Mars and Meghan’s Mars is conjunct Kate’s Cancer Moon and opposition her Sun which will make it scratchy and competitive. Their relationship chart reflects the synastry with an irritable Moon Mars in an undermining trine to Neptune sextile Pluto; a controlling Sun Pluto; and a one-upmanship Jupiter Pluto.

Prince Charles almost certainly finds Meghan easier company than Kate with a composite Sun Mars Venus in their relationship chart. But Harry and Meghan are further from the throne and less likely to trigger his sensitivities about being upstaged, which bedevils his relationship with Will and Kate.