Japan has been making strides forward in the past five years since Shinzo Abe took over as PM, almost entirely making up the ground it lost during the long 1990s slump. That started on a crash which wiped out more wealth as a share of its economy than the United States did in 1929.

What interesting about Shinzo Abe’s Term chart, 26 December 2012 is that it has – in addition to an innovative and controlling Sun Pluto square Uranus – an expansive Yod of Pluto sextile Saturn in Scorpio inconjunct Jupiter with Jupiter opposition a financial Venus. Well handled, an apex Jupiter can effect great social change.

His own personal chart, 21 September 1954, has a lucky Uranus Jupiter conjunction which trines the Japan Mars and his Virgo Sun opposes the Mars so he’ll be a great motivator for the country. Plus his Pluto opposes the Japan Sun for extra push and transformation.

It won’t be plain sailing ahead for him with a major setback coming in 2019 from Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mars. In many ways he’s through his lucky phase when his Solar Arc Uranus Jupiter crossed his Sun, so maybe into more troubled times ahead personally or politically.

The Japan 11 February 1889 chart is being rattled by the Leo Eclipses this year and next; and has a Solar Arc Uranus square the Neptune for high anxiety in 2019. And a fair amount of upheaval from tr Pluto square the Uranus in 2018/2019. Followed by a considerable setback with Solar Arc Saturn square Mars in 2020. There is a rectified time of 10.44 am though how useful it is I’m not sure.

Disaster day for the Don –  or business as usual with the lock-her-up mantra ramping up the faithful to deflect attention from the guilt of Trump lawyer/fixer Cohen and Trump campaign manager Manafort. Never mind the two earliest congressional supporters of Trump now up on charges of insider trading and misuse of campaign funds respectively. Swampier and swampier.

When does middle America finally fall out of love with their errant President? The cracks are widening this year with tr Saturn opposition the composite Sun on the USA/Trump relationship chart, returning for the finally time this October; the bond fading into deeper confusion late this October to late December. Where the sh** really hits the fan is the last day of March 2019 across April and May, on and off for two years thereafter, as tr Pluto opposes the composite Mars which will bring enraged frustration and a bitter struggle. That composite USA/Trump Mars has already been elbowed by the recent July Cancer Eclipse, bringing an upsurge of anger.

The GOP as to be expected, protecting their own backs, are keeping their heads down and refusing to comment on the Manafort/Cohen backlash.  Where both Republican charts in relationship to Trump are showing more obvious strain is mid September to mid October this year (repeating April 2019) with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and trine Mars for signs of a split and aggravation on one. The other shows up serious strains mid October across the Mid Terms, and December/January 2019 and March 2019. So the ties that bind, and they are strong, will start to be yanked apart or at least seriously disrupted by a series of jolts (chart data being sound).

Trump’s own chart had the July Cancer Eclipse, in effect for a few months thereafter, conjunct his Saturn which usually means chickens are coming home to roost. The most recent Leo Eclipse hit his 12^th house Mars/Pluto midpoint, which is both threatening and likely to evoke strong counter-attacks.

His Progressed Moon, moving through his 12^th house for two years plus which tends to be discouraging, will conjunct his Mars by next April for a major explosion and yet another shock.

He is seriously bad-tempered at the moment with tr Uranus square his Mercury/Mars midpoint which runs to mid September; he has the uncertain, neurotic tr Saturn square his Neptune across the Mid Terms in November; along with the loss-making and enthusiasm-denting tr Neptune opposition his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint from late this October till late December.

Where his real aggro kicks in is from mid February 2019 with a catastrophe-prone tr Pluto opposition his Mars/Uranus, which Ebertin describes as ‘force, violent interventions.’ Though he also has tr Pluto trine his Mars/Jupiter at the same time so will no doubt respond bullishly. That confidence will run out from the last day of March till after mid May when he hits tr Pluto opposition his Saturn and his Mars/Node midpoint, which latter Ebertin describes as a ‘forced separation.’ Not that anything usually gets resolved on the first hit of aspects. These repeat on and off till late 2020; with more trapped, aggravated midpoints joining in by 2020. And his Solar Return from June 2018 to June 2019 isn’t that bad; where it hits the skids is from June 2019 onwards.

From March 2019 as well tr Neptune will square his 10^th house Uranus on and off till early 2020, which will mire his administration and career in even more confusion than usual.

To be remembered – his Term chart does have a strongly placed Jupiter opposition Uranus square Pluto, which will bring undeserved luck.  And outside events could always swoop in and save his bacon. Tr Pluto is square the Uranus in 2018/19 for a major upheaval and ditto tr Uranus square the Sun; but tr Pluto also squares Jupiter in 2019/2020 for a confident push. This chart does have a focal point Pluto in the 9^th as well as Mercury and I recollect someone remarking at the time it could indicate an administration plagued with legal problems so the astrology was spot on for that.

Fictionalised misery memoirs are all the rage and two more have been added to the pile with Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard finishing his gargantuan six parter The Struggle, and French Edouard Louis on his third best-selling autobiographical novel about his tormented life, now adapted for the stage at the Edinburgh Festival.

Knausgaard, 6 December 1968 in Oslo, has become Norway’s most famous living writer on the strength of his epic trawl through the minutiae of his life, amounting to 3,500 pages over six volumes. The Telegraph critic remarks: ‘he recounts incidents in his life both dramatic and banal, and tells us what he thinks about them, and what he thinks about what he thinks about them, and as often as not, what he thinks about that, too.’ He says: “This novel has hurt everyone around me, it has hurt me, and in a few years, when they are old enough to read it, it will hurt my children. But if you want to describe reality as it is, for the individual […] you can’t be considerate.”

He’s a Sun Mercury in Sagittarius is trine a self-reliant Saturn in Aries, with Saturn opposition Mars widely square Venus – almost certainly pedantic from Sagittarius, hard-edged, angry, resentful, emotionally damaged and none too sensitive. His Venus is trine Pluto sextile Neptune which will give him creative talent but also make him a touch manipulative.

Édouard Louis, 30 October 1991 3.15pm Abbeville, France, had a tough start as a brilliant homosexual child in a small impoverished village in northern France. His family, and the people around him, he describes as brutish and brutalised — violent, racist, homophobic and culturally backward. His father would kill unwanted kittens by putting them in a bag and smashing them against a wall, and would regularly get into fights at the local bar when drunk. Some publishers rejected his first novel because they didn’t believe that modern France could harbour such horrors. It became a best seller. His second novel, History of Violence, is based on his experience of having been raped and nearly murdered by a casual lover.

He has a stark chart which fairly bears out his story with an 8^th house Sun Mars in Scorpio on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to Uranus trine Jupiter; and also probably on the focal point of a T square to Saturn opposition a Leo Moon. That is one heavy chart.

His Neptune Uranus trine Jupiter Venus, sextile Pluto Mercury in the communication/publishing 9^th house would give him talent, inspiration and determination to counter-balance the cruelty and  madness which resides in his family. He said being gay saved him since it forced him to leave his peasant village home while 40 of his cousins (out of a population of 500) remain stuck there.

Apart from an afflicted Mars there’s not much similarity between the charts though Knausgaard’s time of birth would help.

Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels, recently televised, were also autobiographical about his abusive childhood – he’s also got an afflicted Mars trine Pluto, with Pluto trine Saturn. (See Post May 14 2018). Though why they decided to cleanse their souls in public views isn’t clear – all three have their Mercury in different signs – Sagittarius, Scorpio and Capricorn.

Actress Asia Argento, one of the best known #MeToo activists after she told the New Yorker that Weinstein had raped when she was 21, is being looked at for the sexual assault of a young actor, Jimmy Bennett in 2013. He was 17 at the time, which is underage under California law and she’d have been around 38. The New York Times alleges she settled a legal notice of intent to sue for $380,000 shortly after she said that Harvey Weinstein raped her.

They co-starred in 2004 in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things in which Argento played Bennett’s prostitute mother. Bennett claimed he had been traumatised by the encounter and it had hurt his career; no police report was filed at the time. Weinstein has been indicted on sex crime accusations involving three women, but not including Argento – all of which he denies.

Born 20 September 1975 8.07am Rome, Italy, with a film director father known for horror and slasher movies and actress mother, Asia started on screen aged nine, she said to get her distant father’s attention. She had her first child to an Italian rock and roll musician, married a film director and divorced him, and was involved with the celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who committed suicide recently.

She has a creative 12^th house Sun Virgo opposition a Pisces Moon square an impulsive Mars in Gemini, so she’ll be highly-strung and very scattered. She has a talented Half Grand Sextile of Mercury in Libra opposition an upfront Jupiter in Aries, sextile Venus in flamboyant Leo and trine Mars.

Her 10th house Saturn in Leo is in an out-of-element Grand Trine to her Moon trine North Node in Scorpio; and square Uranus in her 1^st.  Saturn square Uranus tends not to practice what it preaches. Saturn is also trine Neptune, sextile Pluto on her Ascendant – controlling, determined, secretive.

It’s not a malevolent chart but over-confident, prone to snap decisions, running on high-octane fuel, constantly looking for an adrenaline-rush.

Jimmy Bennett, 9 February 1996, is a go-ahead Sun Mars in Aquarius and his Mars square Pluto; and a Libra Moon.

His Venus opposes her Pluto so there would be an attraction; with his Sun Mars in her romantic 5^th opposition her Venus for ditto; though his Saturn was conjunct her Moon opposition her Sun and square her Mars which would be fractious connection.

Their relationship chart has a sparky composite Venus opposition Uranus Sun, with a risk-taking Uranus trine Mars; and a confident Pluto trine Jupiter. It’s nothing like her relationship chart with Weinstein which has a cruel and  unpleasant composite Mars, Uranus, Saturn, Pluto. Which is still no excuse for that age disparity with Bennett for what is probably classed as statutory rape (shades of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron).

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Actress Robin Wright – Claire Underwood in House of Cards, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Blade Runner and Forrest Gump – married Clement Giraudet, a St Laurent fashion executive, in the South of France recently around the Leo Solar Eclipse on August 11^th.  She was previously married to Sean Penn with whom she has two children.

Born 8 April 1966 in Dallas, Texas, she’s a feisty Sun Mars in Aries with the tough-minded and changeable Saturn Mercury in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto in an expansive square to Jupiter in Gemini. Her Moon is Scorpio or Sagittarius perhaps square Venus in Pisces. She also has a Yod of Uranus Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Sun Mars making her impulsive, alternately attention-seeking and then retiring.

A yod does suggest fated changes of direction and tr Pluto has been squaring her apex Sun over Kevin Spacey’s departure in disgrace from House of Cards, allowing her to step into the lead.

Her new husband, born 17 June 1984 in Provence, (net sources) is a charming Sun Venus in Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Pluto, so will have considerable ambition and influence and is well suited to the ever-changing fashion business and public relations. He’s also got a ferociously disciplined and hard-edged Saturn Mars in Scorpio sextile Jupiter in money-magnet Capricorn; with his Mars Saturn square an Aquarius Moon.

His Sun Venus are conjunct her Jupiter which will make for fun and support; and as for his formidably strong Mars Saturn, she clearly is attracted to intense, forceful personalities – Sean Penn has a Venus Pluto square Mars, and Saturn trine Pluto.

Her relationship chart with Clement has a sparky composite Sun opposition Uranus square Mars which usually accompanies strong attraction and a fair number of fireworks. Though it will survive better with two busy partners able to give each other space. There’s also a calming composite Sun trine Saturn which will help.  It’ll have its ups and down into 2019 with tr Uranus pulling on the Venus, Uranus and Mars till early in the year. Then hopefully tr Pluto trine the Sun will stabilise things through 2019/2020.

Though she will be under stress personally with tr Pluto square her Mars and sextile her Saturn in 2019/2020, so not an easy time.

Greece has entered “a new chapter” Jean-Claude Juncker cheerily said as banners in Brussels were raised for the ending of the country’s 8 year bail-out programme. In Greece there is less jubilation with a fifth of the working-age population out of work, youth unemployment running at 43.6% – the worst in the EU; the level of output remains 25 per cent below where it was a decade ago; the banks still carry significant bad loans; hundreds of thousands of Greeks have emigrated; and there is deep ill will towards the EU and other member states over their handling of the emergency.

Larry Elliot said: ‘Greece has been a colossal failure. It is a tale of incompetence, of dogma, of needless delay and of the interests of banks being put before the needs of people.’ The IMF are less optimistic about the long-term future given the level of debt, though GDP is rising again.

The Greece 24 July 1974 4am chart is showing signs of change this year with tr Uranus square the Sun; but is facing a challenging, rebellious and deprived 2019 with the tr Pluto Saturn conjunction square the 4^th house Uranus indicating a population who’ve had enough. Tr Neptune will conjunct the Jupiter all year and into 2020 – suggesting high hopes will be dashed; and there’s a major setback Solar Arc Mars square Saturn, exact in the autumn of 2019. A global recession could hit the country badly given its fragile state.

The Greece 25 March 1821 5pm chart, if sound, will be similarly undermined in 2019 into 2020 with tr Neptune square the MC, with financial panics in 2021 as Solar Arc Venus squares the Neptune Uranus; and by 2020 tr Neptune squares the 4^th house Moon hinting at a highly discontented population.

The chart for Greece joining the EU, 1 January 1981, looks to be under considerable pressure with the Pluto Saturn conjunction squaring the natal Pluto, following on from a downbeat 2018 with tr Saturn casting gloom over the Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter. Tr Uranus is square the Mars this year into 2019 which is insecure, angry and disruptive. By 2020 the Solar Arc Uranus will square the Saturn for more tensions erupting.

Not that Greece is likely to exit since they need EU money. And a no-deal Brexit could make a difference to them with less funds available. Both the Greece country relationship charts with the EU look under acute pressure for the next three years.

It may have largely been their fault but the EU and European banks, especially German, also have a good deal to answer for.

Comments by Yanis Varoufakis:- Greece was never bailed out – it remains a debtor’s prison and the EU won’t let go of the keys.

‘In summary, after having bailed out French and German banks at the expense of Europe’s poorest citizens, and after having turned Greece into a debtor’s prison, last week Greece’s creditors decided to declare victory. Having put Greece into a coma, they made it permanent and declared it “stability”: they pushed our people off a cliff and celebrated their bounce off the hard rock of a great depression as proof of “recovery”. To quote Tacitus, they made a desert and called it peace.’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/26/greece-was-never-bailed-out—it-remains-a-debtors-prison-and-the-eu-still-holds-the-keys

Elon Musk appears to be teetering on the brink of, or is in the middle of, an epic meltdown. First he sent out on off-the-cuff and against-SEC-regulations tweet about taking Tesla private to get back at financiers who were shorting his company’s stock and then gave a tearful interview where he admitted working 120 hour weeks and surviving on ambien sleeping pills. He has multiple problems with a possible insider trading investigation, plunging shares and allegations that Tesla knowingly shipped cars with battery flaws. Never mind other peripheral idiocies.

He was born on 28 June 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, five days before Julian Assange and has a Sun, Mercury in Cancer square Uranus in Libra – creative and uncompromising; with his Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio in a high-finance conjunction to Neptune and more crucially in a wobbly opposition to Saturn, and a powerfully confident and successful sextile to Pluto, and an impulsive square to Mars in determined Aquarius. His Saturn is also trine Pluto and Uranus giving him a tough-edge as he pushes ahead with innovations. His Moon is in hard-working and worrying Virgo and his Venus in Gemini.

He’s been described as “an iconoclast not bound by normal rules and conventions; a dreamer and risk taker.” And like all geniuses, which he probably is, he lives near the edge.

His Jupiter Saturn opposition is on a see-saw between crazy optimism and deep pessimism, stoking up an acute reaction to failure. He also has a strongly aspected 7^th harmonic (septiles) which is highly creative and can also go along with a fine mental balance.

He does have a car-crash Solar Arc Mars square his Sun around now; as well as a discouraging tr Saturn opposition his Sun and square his Uranus this year; plus a dashed-high-hopes tr Neptune opposition his Sun/Jupiter midpoint in 2018/2019. On top of that tr Uranus is opposition his Saturn/Pluto and Neptune/Pluto midpoints this year into early 2019 which are high-stress and crazy-making. 2019/2020 look not much better and it’ll be 2022 before he really gets his mojo back as tr Pluto sextiles his Jupiter and picks up his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint.

Imran Khan was sworn in as Pakistan’s new PM at 10.15 am this morning in Islamabad. Two things leap out – one is an aggravated Mars on the IC suggesting a fractious populace and internal argument. All the more so since Mars opposes the Node and squares onto a divisive 7^th house Uranus. Uranus will make him keen to push through reforms especially since it trines Saturn – taking the best of the old and mixing it with the news – though it’ll be a bumpy ride and relations with neighbours may be fraught.

Mercury squares Jupiter for enthusiastic talk and promises; and Jupiter is sextile Pluto so there will be determination and confidence. But there’s a Yod onto Neptune from Venus sextile Mercury which hints at impracticality – high ideals with not enough will power to make them stick.

There are positives in it and quite a few negatives. It’ll be especially troubled in 2021 when Mars close the square to Uranus to exact by Solar Arc. Even this year into early 2019 tr Uranus square the Mars will make for high insecurity, raised tempers and unrest.

There’s doubt about his birth date. Though most opt for October 1952. See post July 26 2018.

Kofi Annan, Nobel prize-winning head of the UN for two terms, has died. The descendant of generations of Ghanaian tribal chiefs, he rose up through the ranks at the UN to become one of its most powerful leaders, pushing through reforms, although running into controversies as well, especially over Iraq and Abu Ghraib.

Born 8 April 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana, he was a cautious and practical Sun Saturn in Aries; with a risk-taking and determined Mars Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune, and opposition North Node square Jupiter in Aquarius. An accentuated Jupiter would make him humanitarian, idealistic with an ability to push through visionary schemes.

His 11^th and 22^nd Harmonics were strong – both are master numbers and difficult to live up to but if well-handled do produce considerable results. Plus a notable leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H.

His Sun was conjunct the UN Ascendant with his Venus Mercury and Uranus Mars also in the UN 1^st – so a significant figure for them. Though his Pluto conjunct the UN 4^th house Mars Saturn would run his internal reforms up against severe resistance.

His relationship chart with the UN had a practical Earth Grand Trine of composite Sun trine Uranus Sun trine Neptune formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Venus – vision, realism and great charm.