The life sentence in the UAE for spying on behalf of the UK government handed out to Durham University student Matthew Hedges came as an unpleasant shock. And is all the more peculiar given the close ties between the UK and UAE (United Arab Emirates), both economically and militarily.

He spent five months in solitary confinement during the first six weeks of which he was interrogated without a lawyer or consular access and signed a document in Arabic which has described as a confession, despite neither speaking nor writing Arabic. Middle Eastern justice systems are back in the dark ages and should give people serious thought before they jaunt off for exotic holidays and/or fun work experience.

The UAE, a former UK protectorate home to around 100,000 Britons, is the UK’s largest export market in the Middle East. And the UAE is a major investor in the British economy and London with many of its leaders being Sandhurst trained.

Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, issued a blunt statement saying it “is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom and runs contrary to earlier assurances”.

The UAE was formed 2 December 1971. The relationship chart with the UK looks stressed over the next few weeks into early 2019 with tr Saturn square the composite Jupiter Uranus and Mars, putting a damper on good feelings and raising aggravation; and will limp on through 2019/2020. There must be a leverage behind this – perhaps Saudi pressure in a sulk over UK criticism of the Khashoggi murder?  Though Hedges was detained way before. Who knows?  It will no doubt emerge at some point.

The UAE is not looking too chipper and hasn’t been for a while with tr Neptune squaring its Sun Jupiter in Sagittarius square Mars in Pisces, running on till late 2019.

Jeremy Hunt (thank heavens it isn’t still Boris as FCO chef) looks undermined and less than pleased with the UAE until the New Year.

Add on: More is emerging about possible reasons behind Hedges’ conviction. He may have been naïve in exploring security issues for his doctoral thesis, however openly, in a country which has become, like others in the region, increasingly averse to any questioning by outsiders.

The Emirati crown prince Prince Mohammed, known as MbZ, the defacto ruler, 11 March 1961, it is thought has a ‘scratchy’ relationship with the present British government, despite being trained at the UK Sandhurst Military Academy. He has acted as a mentor for Saudi’s Mohammed bin Salman. Donald Trump’s explicit statement that ME allies would no longer hear US officials complaining about human rights, governance or corruption has been warmly received. And equally Emirati and Saudi leaders have bristled at allies, like Theresa May, who have not followed Trump’s lead.

MbZ is a Pisces sextile Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn; with his Mars in Cancer square Theresa May’s Sun. Their relationship chart has a cold composite Sun Saturn being rattled till early March 2019; and a mutually unsupportive, volatile and uncompromising (on both sides) composite Mars opposition Neptune square Uranus.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/23/hedges-case-a-sign-of-uae-kickback-against-western-criticism

    

 

Businessman Carlos Ghosn, who rose to super-hero status as head honcho of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, appears to have stumbled from his elevated pedestal charged with false accounting and under reporting his earnings and now detained in Japan.  He turned Renault’s fortunes round as ‘le cost killer’; and rescued Nissan from near bankruptcy as ‘Mr Fix It.’

Born 12 March 1954 in Brazil, he’s Lebanese-Brazilian-French, multi-lingual and from an entrepreneurial family. He has a Pisces Sun on the focal point of a Mutable T Square to a risk-taking, adventurous (and opportunistic) Mars in Sagittarius opposition Jupiter. Such a Sun can have a good deal to offer but is often arrogant, know-it-all and headstrong, and is very driven.

He has a strong get-it-together 5^th harmonic; and a rise-and-fall 10H. His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H is also marked so he’s not all bad.

Tr Neptune is proving his downfall now as it forms a panicky-failure square to his Mars in 2018/19 and then bursting his happiness bubble and denting his confidence square to his Jupiter in 2019 as well as making an undermining conjunction to his Sun – and all that trails into 2020. Tr Pluto is also opposing his Uranus exactly now for the final time for a major upheaval; as well as hard-aspecting his trapped and enraged Mars/Pluto midpoint.

He’ll probably bounce back by 2021 as his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto; though he’ll be muddled at the same time with tr Pluto square his Neptune. At that level, handling and generating multi-billions, they all get tinged with megalomania and think themselves untouchable.

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

      

 

A speed read round the rest of the Brexiteer gang of five in the Cabinet.

Penny Mordaunt, 4 March 1973, a Sun Pisces square Saturn and square Neptune, sextile Mars – on a losing streak and very off balance till the New Year. A major turnaround into 2019 and she will pick up steam and enthusiasm from April 2019 till late 2020, which is when Boris looks to be marginally revitalised as well.

Liam Fox, 22 September 1961, a Sun Virgo trine Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn – nothing going right now and jammed up and aggravated through 2019/2020.

Chris Grayling, 1 April 1962, an Aries Sun sextile Saturn, with Mars in Pisces opposition Pluto – devastated till New Year and beyond with tr Neptune conjunct his Mars till late 2019

  

 

The People’s Vote was launched on 15 April 2018 in London mid afternoon. This gives a hugely determined and hugely frustrated Mars Pluto. With Mars conjunct Saturn and sitting exactly on the Saturn/Pluto midpoint which can be self-destructive or feel cruelly treated. With Pluto square Sun, Moon, Uranus – which is rebellious, but hemmed in.

There’s a highly persuasive Jupiter opposition Venus, sextile Pluto, trine Neptune – so the enthusiasm will be there but maybe not enough to push through to a satisfactory finish.

If it holds together, there’ll be even more aggro in 2021/22.

        

 

The USA’s First Pluto Return will happen on the next President’s watch (2022/23). While there may be symbolic events which carry the significance of the epochal shift in the power balance of the country’s style of government and status that comes with Pluto’s return to its natal position, it is often only with the perspective of hindsight that a clear pattern can be seen.

Some hints can be seen in the examples in the post below (November 18^th). For England the humiliation of Suez in 1956 and loss of empire; and previous occurrences also came with failure in one area followed later by successful development in a different direction; as well as the gradual shift towards more democratic government from the 13^th century onwards. The deaths of Napoleon, Stalin and Franco were also clear Pluto Return markers in the old France, Russia and Spain charts of a break with one style of government.

The 2021 USA Inauguration chart itself is stark enough with a 12^th house explosive Mars Uranus in Taurus exactly square the USA 1776 leadership North Node in Leo; and square Saturn, Sun, Jupiter on the day. With a control-freak, autocratic Pluto on the midheaven. Throughout 2020 tr Pluto will be in a bitterly stubborn opposition to the USA 1776 Mercury from early in 2020, exact over January 2021 and running on till late 2021. The latter tends to bring hostile, fanatical debates and can feel like a collective nervous breakdown.

So it’s not just a Pluto Return for the USA, but Pluto battering on Mercury as well which rules the rational and mental functions.

Inauguration charts set the tone for the Presidency. Abraham Lincoln’s First Term through the civil war had a brutal Mars Pluto trine Saturn. His Second Term, which saw his assassination had Uranus Mars conjunct with Mars square the Sun – sudden acts of violence. Garfield and McKinley who were also assassinated also had Jupiter Saturn conjunctions over their start; with both having stressed Uranus and Mars in Aquarius.  Ronald Reagan’s First Term during which he was shot had Jupiter Saturn conjunct and Mars in Aquarius trine Saturn Jupiter and Pluto. Oddly enough JFK’s Inauguration although it had a Jupiter Saturn conjunction didn’t have an afflicted Mars, though it did have a Yod apex Uranus, which can be divisive and disruptive.  GW Bush’s First Term in 2001 had an exceptionally afflicted Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus and a Jupiter Saturn conjunction. But the violence of this was obviously soaked up by 9/11 and the subsequent Afghanistan/Iraq wars.

Bill Clinton’s 2^nd Term, during which he was impeached but found innocent, was very tough with a Half Grand Sextile from Mars opposition Saturn, sextile Pluto and Uranus.

On impeachments: Andrew Johnson in 1868 – tr Neptune was square the USA 1776 Sun. Richard Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment had tr Uranus square the USA 1776 Mercury and tr Saturn conjunct the Cancer Sun. Bill Clinton’s attempted impeachment came when tr Saturn was square the USA Mercury opposition Pluto.  All three had Jupiter in Pisces then, which recurs in the first half of 2022.

On the USA First President chart, 30 April 1789 12.45pm New York, all the three above impeachments  are clearly highlighted in transits. When Bill Clinton’s near miss happened tr Uranus was in hard aspect to the Taurus Sun and that is back round even more strongly as tr Uranus conjuncts the Sun in 2020 and early 2021. Though that may just be coincidence since previous tr Uranus hard aspects didn’t seem to have a cataclysmic effect. Tr Pluto is also squaring the First President Neptune in 2019/2020 which indicates devastating confusion; with the trigger-point 8th house Mars which was keyed up for Andrew Johnson’s impeachment and Nixon’s resignation,  also being hammered in the third week of January 2019, and again in September 2019.

The USA Constitution chart, 17 September 1787 11.29 am Philadelphia, does show signs of major challenges coming up. Tr Pluto will trine the Sun in 2020/2021; and there looks to be a major upheaval around 2022/23 with the Solar Arc Uranus opposition the Sun and tr Pluto opposition the Uranus. Tr Pluto was conjunct the Constitution Uranus in 1936/37 –

Andre writes: ‘There was a major constitutional event in the US in 1937. The Supreme Court had been blocking many of FDR’s initiatives under the New Deal which had been meant to fight the Great Depression in his first term. The President was re-elected in 1936 with what was known as the Court-packing plan, by which he threatened to pass a law (he controlled both houses of Congress) to add seats to the highest court and force early retirement of the sitting judges. They backed down in 1937 with a famous footnote where they basically raised the white flag and overturned a long line of previous cases to finally allow such measures as Medicare. This is known in law schools as «the switch in time that saved nine». It was in effect a bloodless constitutional revolution.’

Apologies for the amount of astro-info above but I was trying to clear my thinking about the likely outcomes. Definitely a defining and possibly violent moment in the country’s destiny with a constitutional battle and long term ramifications is the best I can do in the meantime.

 

      

 

The leaked CIA conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month has caught Trump in a double-bind given his and Jared’s bro-romance with MbS. It was promptly downplayed by the State Department which suggests that Gina Haspel (CIA) and Mike Pompeo (State) aren’t quite on the same page, assuming she knew about the leak. It certainly contradicts the Saudi government’s claims that MbS was not involved in the killing.

Gina Haspel, born delightfully on the same day as Theresa May, 1 October 1956, certainly does not get on with Pompeo. Their relationship chart has a volatile composite Mars opposition Uranus square Mercury Sun Venus.

And she’s no better with Trump since her Pluto is conjunct Trump’s Mars and Ascendant with her Saturn in Scorpio on his IC is in square – which looks like trouble in waiting.

It also gives the Saudis a headache since removing MbS from his chief-of-everything role would look like a failure of judgement by his father King Salman. His elevation to Crown Prince on 21 June 2017, announced at 6.19am in Riyadh, has tr Saturn square the midheaven exactly now for a considerable setback; and will jitter and jangle through the next few months with tr Saturn opposition Mars in December and then square Jupiter in January and finally conjunct the Descendant by February and Pluto in March 2019 which sounds like restrictions coming firmly down on him. This chart has a ruthless Mars opposition Pluto and more pointedly a Jupiterian Yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Venus, which can be self-defeating through wild over-confidence. So January 15^th to 23^rd might be a time to watch when tr Saturn puts the brakes on his recklessness.

MbS’s relationship with Trump is sagging badly through this month and December with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter; as it is thrown off course at the same time by tr Uranus square the composite Venus Mercury, repeating in February; and worse squaring the composite Sun in March for further ruptures. With discouraging pressures continuing through 2019/2020.

    

 

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.