In a classic Trump distract-and-divert-attention from bad news elsewhere (Cohen, Manafort, Flynn) he has put his long suffering chief of staff John Kelly out of his misery and ended his contract.

Kelly, 11 May 1950, a steady, disciplined Sun Mercury in Taurus trine Saturn and Mars in Virgo, was brought in to restore order to the chaos in the White House but fell foul of Trump’s need for constant turmoil and dislike of being hemmed in. Kelly’s Sun Mercury are conjunct Trump’s MC so he could have made a difference; but his Mars squared Trump’s Sun so it was always going to be a fractious interface.

Kelly looks frustrated and down-hearted at the moment, more so through 2019, so he’s clearly a glutton for punishment, or is unhappy at what he’s being forced to spectate as the year rolls on.

The next question is will James Mattis go? Trump has been muttering grumpily about him for months and has just appointed a new Chief of Joint Staffs who was not Mattis’ preference.

Born 8 September 1950, he’s a serious Sun Saturn in Virgo sextile Mars in Scorpio. His Saturn squares Trump’s Sun and Moon and will make Potus feel put down which is guaranteed to put his hackles up. Mattis has been looking terminally gloomy through this year with tr Neptune opposition his Sun and tr Pluto trine his Saturn and those influences run through 2019 as well.  He’s looking peculiarly irked and discontented now till January and on through the year he’ll be getting more frustrated and blocked in. His relationship chart with Trump has a composite Mars Neptune which is not mutually ego-supportive – one wins the other feels they lose. And in Trump’s kingdom only one ego is allowed.  That aspect is being drenched by Saturn right through this month. If Mattis survives that long in situ,  late May 2019 looks like crockery-flying time.

Running around like headless chickens, their wits fraying, the British political panjandrums across the spectrum are an embarrassment. Brexit alliances, such as they are, have fractured the left/right norms – with none of them having a coherent plan of how to resolve the most significant decision in decades.

The populace are bored, confused and just want it done and dusted. No one relishes a second referendum which would drag the agony out further and might well end up with the same result, the EU top brass having not exactly covered themselves in glory with their performance.  If no deal was always an option then civil service preparations should have been made from square one. Shades of Tony Blair not letting the military prepare before Iraq in case it gave the game away and then left them at risk because they weren’t up to speed on armoury.

What strikes me about the UK chart, apart from all the before mentioned in earlier posts, is the 3^rd house Mercury and Solar Arc Mars, both of which are catching the tr Neptune square from February 2019 onwards – the all pervading fog and muddle, misspeaks and evasions will continue on till early 2020; with major aggravation and arguments and perhaps transport problems with the Solar Arc Mars conjunct the UK Mercury, exact in late 2020.

The Conservative Party 10 May 1912 chart, which is the one which works best, has a deeply-frustrated tr Pluto opposition Mars till the middle of this week; then tr Pluto opposes the Mars/Neptune midpoint – panic, paralysed activity, lack of will – until mid January; after that tr Pluto square the Neptune till mid February (repeating later in the year) – for devastation and more chaos. From mid February there’s a grim slog tr Pluto trine the Saturn in Taurus which runs on and off till late 2020. With a few emotional shocks and upheavals from May 2019 onwards into early 2020. So they’re not dragging themselves out of the mire.

Neither of the Labour Party charts looks any better. The 27 February 1900 has a panicky-failure Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Neptune now and tr Neptune is in a disempowering square to Pluto in January 2019. The late December 2019 Solar Eclipse crashes into the Saturn in Capricorn in this chart for a sharp reality check.

The 12 February 1906 LP chart looks highly-strung, maybe irrational, from now till mid February; and fairly logjammed until 2022. Which is not too surprising with an executive whose sentiments have always been anti-EU and their voters who are largely pro.

For all that the old Brit blitz spirit will manage a few blips of cheer in 2019 as they wish their politicians to perdition.

The UK/EU relationship chart will sag and struggle onwards with less and less enthusiasm through 2019 with tr Neptune square the composite Moon and opposition Jupiter; and tr Pluto square the composite Saturn.

I may be entirely wrong but I kind of stick to my earlier assessment of a crash-out in 2020.

Theresa May’s inner workings mystify most people. Rock-solid, not a lady for turning, yet she seems to lack a coherent vision that drives her actions, leaving the impression, in Matthew Parris’ memorable phrase, of ‘an enigma without a secret’.

Her strongest Harmonic is the 16^th – putting the 16H Sun square Uranus Saturn; and linking an uncompromising and adrenaline-rush combination of Mars Uranus.

David Hamblin describes the 16H as the ‘chart of conflict’ – in which the individual is drawn to conflict as a way of resolving internal dilemmas.

Charles Harvey talks of the 16H (and 4H, 8H etc) being will-driven with a goal of personal power and backs this up by pointing to dictators for whom hard Sun Uranus aspects are the norm in their 16th harmonic charts – Mussolini, Franco, Tito, Churchill, Louis XIV and Hitler.  The 16H gives super-human endurance and stubbornness but tends to be self-destructive; can attract catastrophes, disappointments, humiliation.

May’s 8^th Harmonic, (one down in the same series) is even more stark with Saturn Pluto trine Mercury trine Neptune Mars, formed into a Kite by Saturn opposition opposition Uranus. In numerology 8 is a fated number, giving an abundance of strength and stubbornness in the face of difficulties; but is generally thought unlucky, with a bumpy road to success, if it comes, which doesn’t bring happiness.

I can’t find the reference but I recollect reading (from I think Michael Harding) about a Scandanavian fisherman who survived hours in freezing waters, way beyond normal human capability. He had a strongly aspected 16^th Harmonic so it does have its uses. Though I have a sense May attracts herself to – and creates – symbolically similar situations in order to work out some internal conflict as Hamblin says.

All of that sounds a million miles from the douce, church-going, grammar school, vicar’s daughter image she projects. But she was born on the same day as Gina Haspel, now head of the CIA, who has clearly also been drawn to extreme circumstances.

May’s stonewalling, no other option, no Plan B, could be seen as almost pathological – the only way to not drown is to become totally tunnel-visioned. So she’s eternally locked into unwinnable arguments which is the way she likes it.

Even Maggie Thatcher didn’t have as strong or afflicted 8/16^th harmonics and she was excessively will-driven.

Additional thought: Her Mercury is conjunct the Fixed Star Scheat which can give intellectual ability though was always thought of as a malefic, related to Mars Mercury. And (thanks Hugh) her Progressed Mars is now conjunct her Mercury – and Scheat, which is associated with drowning amongst other disasters – presumably symbolically as well as literally.

Add on: Some descriptive comments after the Westminster meltdown, all from Telegraph journalists, who are Tory supporters, to flesh out the picture.

Allison Pearson: ‘a mule flogging a dead horse.’ ‘What kind of person is it who can do the most amazingly humiliating thing yet manage to show not one iota of humility? Theresa May, that’s who. “Does she not GET IT by now?’ demanded the DUP’s Nigel Dodds on Monday, expressing the widespread incredulity at the full-blown fiasco the PM had got herself – and us – into.

No, Nigel, she will never get it because she can’t. The notes on the keyboard are missing. Over the past few weeks, Mrs May has attracted supportive headlines for her formidable work rate and resilience. Fair enough, you might say, but there comes a point when the, “You have to admire her tenacity” argument gives way to, “There’s something really not right there.” To be so weirdly oblivious to how you are perceived, to stand up in Parliament and claim credit for publishing the full legal advice on the Irish backstop when you personally fought a bitter rearguard action to suppress that advice goes beyond politics into the realms of the pathological.’

Tim Stanley: “It was Mrs May’s mistakes and bad choices that led her to standing at the Dispatch box before a House largely stacked against her, rambling on about clarity like a high-operating Scientologist.“

Sherelle Jacobs: ‘The PM’s attitude to Brexit – the pathological procrastinating, the soviet-like surreptitiousness, the disgraceful lack of ambition.’ ‘For two years she has clung, white-knuckled at the coal face, committed to a mediocre deal, and for it been praised as “resilient”. ‘She has spent two years vacillating, capitulating and trying to cover up her mistakes. Her deal is 585 pages of passive resignation. It is Brexit without an active verb, change without the doing word; decline, debilitation, drift.’

William Barr has been nominated as Attorney General and will face confirmation hearings in January. He’s a respected Republican lawyer who served as AG under GW Bush and worked in the Reagan Administration. He’ll oversee the Mueller Investigation.

Born 23 May 1950, 11 days after Chief of Staff (for now) John Kelly, he’s a Sun Gemini with Saturn and Mars in diligent Virgo; a determined and practical Mercury in Taurus square Pluto, trine Saturn and Mars – capable of expressing himself forcefully.

For someone who’s been offered a top job, he’s not looking overly happy with an edgy, insecure tr Uranus square his Sun/Mars midpoint now till early February; and a sagging tr Neptune square his Mars/Jupiter in January eroding his self-confidence. A discouraging February into March; and into rolling catastrophes from May onwards.

His relationship chart with Trump isn’t quite as tricky as Trump with John Kelly, but there’s still an irritable, argumentative composite Sun square Mars. Which is hardly surprising since Barr’s Mars in Virgo squares Trump’s Sun Uranus and Moon. Won’t all be sweetness and light.

His relationship with Robert Mueller is volatile with a composite Mars square Uranus, which is likely to flare up at times; and not always trusting with a composite Sun square Neptune.

‘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.