A truly terrifying expose of the chaos, incompetence, ignorant and wilfully uncaring transition into Trump’s shambolic administration comes in Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk out in October. He’s the author of The Big Short, made into a Brad Pitt film, which managed to make understandable the impenetrable complexities of the over-leveraged banking derivatives which led to the 2008 crash.

Transition preparations are mandatory for both presidential nominees in the months before the election to ensure the machinery of government with 2 million employees runs smoothly. When this was explained to Trump, according to Lewis, he responded ‘Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law.’ At one point he turned to Chris Christie and said: “Chris, you and I are so smart that we can leave the victory party two hours early and do the transition ourselves.”

“Trump was going to handle the transition more or less by himself. Not even Bannon thought this was a good idea. “I was fucking nervous as shit,” Bannon later told friends. “I go, ‘Holy fuck, this guy [Trump] doesn’t know anything. And he doesn’t give a shit.’”

“The election happened,” remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. “And then there was radio silence.”

Lewis was born 15 October 1960, New Orleans, the son of a corporate lawyer and a community activist, started out studying art, then economics, worked for the investment bank Salomon Brothers and became finally a financial journalist. He is a Sun Libra sextile Jupiter in crusading Sagittarius; with a Half Grand Sextile of a tough Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars, sextile/trine Neptune and Pluto – not short of discipline, determination or ambition. He also has in addition to Neptune, Mercury and Venus in Scorpio (good for research) square Uranus (outspoken).

His relationship chart with Trump has a composite power-struggling Sun Pluto; with a suspicious composite Neptune Saturn in a can-be-fanatical square to Uranus. It’s under heavy pressure now with tr Pluto square the Saturn and rocking n’ rolling through 2019 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Uranus and square Neptune. Plus an explosive tr Uranus square the composite Mars Node from April 2019 onwards.

Worth a read of the excerpt below, which includes an intriguing nugget about the Pences.

Excerpt: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/27/this-guy-doesnt-know-anything-the-inside-story-of-trumps-shambolic-transition-team

Add on 2 October 2018: An interview with Lewis in The Times says he can imagine two ways in which the Trump era ends in calamity. One is he defaults on US sovereign debt, as he often walked away from his company’s debts in business. “He could precipitate a financial crisis that would make the 2008 crisis seem trivial.” And a run on the dollar. “We have $20 trillion in debt and he’s jacking up the deficit in ways that we haven’t seen in a long time and he has no compunction about stiffing creditors.”

The second stems from his disinterest in how the US government works and its ability to cope with major crises, so if one arose he would be exposed. He has “a lot of strange mental deficiencies, and one of them is he really doesn’t learn. He’s intimidated by any kind of complexity.”

‘I think that he’s not that interesting. I think he’s a very simple character. I think there’s not much there. This isn’t an electronic device, it’s a mechanical device. It’s an on-off switch kind of thing. You can understand it pretty easily.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/times2/michael-lewis-trump-could-trigger-a-financial-crisis-b3lqbw0ks

Canada is getting the full brunt Trump’s venting over their dairy and auto industry tariffs. The US made a Nafta deal with Mexico last month and is under pressure to make it three-way to include Canada. But Trump appears to have taken a dislike to the Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has been leading the negotiations and has turned down a meeting with PM Justin Trudeau. He also said he is still willing to put a “motherlode” tariff on Canadian auto parts, which could affect $200bn of Canadian exports to the US – and deeply upset parts of the US auto industry who depend on them.

The Canada chart does look on tenterhooks and discouraged with tr Saturn opposition their Cancer Sun Uranus and conjunct their midheaven before the end of the year and square Neptune on and off through 2019, which will be panicky and uncertain; plus their resolutely stubborn Saturn opposition Pluto has moved by Solar Arc to sit squarely on their Neptune and Ascendant/Descendant, picking up in 2017 and running on for another three years. Saturn Pluto is associated with hardship and difficult conditions; on top of Neptune it’ll bring major confusion and concern.

The Canada/USA relationship chart is being sharply elbowed for the next six months or so from tr Uranus opposition the composite Saturn; with angry outbursts November till next April.  And a definite gulf in this December.

Trump’s relationship with Justin Trudeau will hit a further low late this October till the New Year; and is anyway never going to be a bro-romance – quite the opposite.

Trump’s relationship with Canada is also aggravated at best (did they turn down one of his hotels?) and is split and bumpy into 2019.

The Bank of Canada chart, 11 March 1935, is moving into an acutely challenging, frustrating and scary few years from early 2019 with tr Pluto square the Mars and opposition the Pluto and then on to square the Uranus.

Chrystia Freeland, 2 August 1968, has her Leo Sun exactly conjunct Trump’s 12^th house Pluto so he’ll enjoy pulling her strings. Her Mars in Cancer is conjunct his Saturn for more aggro; and she has one of these tricky Yods of Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio inconjunct Saturn in Aries which will make her self-reliant to the nth degree, which possibly presses his female-issues buttons as well as whatever beef he has with Canada.

There doesn’t seem much hope of a rapprochement any time soon.

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The second Royal wedding of the year on October 12^th will have a mother-of-the-bride of a different order to the last one. Rumbustious, overly-excitable with a tendency to trip over social niceties, Sarah, Duchess of York, will be given more of a spotlight than she’s had in years.

What’s always been puzzling about her relationship with both her daughters is how she’s turned them into best buddies, going off clubbing together. Her 5^th house Moon, which both Eugenie and Beatrice also have, suggests that children are there to mother mother. So one escaping off into marriage may cause a ripple of unease, perhaps why Sarah has tr Saturn square her Aries Moon in the aftermath, making her feel under-nurtured.

Oddly enough neither daughter has an easy relationship chart with their mother, despite the social smiles. Eugenie’s relationship chart with her has a cool, dutiful Sun Saturn; with a complicated composite Moon opposition Jupiter square Mars Neptune – superficially affectionate, good for showbizzy outings but essentially not mutually supportive. With Beatrice, there’s a composite Mars trine Moon and Sun for an irritable, competitive streak, kept well hidden.

Sarah’s relationship with Tequila Brand manager Jack Brooksbank, the groom, is again friendly on the surface, but with undertones of an ego-clash.

On the day itself Sarah looks very gung-ho which might be a worry with a super-confident tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Pluto midpoint; and an equally upbeat tr Jupiter through her 1^st house. The aftermath looks less chirpy with a nervous crisis through December and January; and much the same late October till the New Year with tr Uranus and tr Neptune criss crossing against Sun midpoints.

She is in general moving through a very pressured few years, just through her Second Saturn Return which faces her up to what she’s going to be doing with the next phase of her older years.  Plus a challenging tr Pluto square her Libra Sun in 2018/2019, then even more strained square to her Sun/Mars in 2019/2020 and square her Mars in 2021/2022 which looks trapped and frustrated.

The wedding itself, starting at 11 am, looks confidently exuberant and expensive with Jupiter Moon on the Ascendant; though pressured with Sun square Pluto; and prone to arguments and disruption from Uranus opposition Mercury square Mars in the 3^rd.Not surprising for a wedding of that magnitude but it will be edgy.

Trump was at his favourite sport at the UN, blowing his own trumpet, praising autocratic rulers apart from Iran and China, and slamming into anything that smelt like global co-operation. All the old John Birch Society fears of the UN being a “One World Government” came tumbling out as he lauded patriotism and slammed globalism.

The UN formed four months after he was born shares some similarities in its chart. Both have Uranus in Gemini at the same degree, both have Neptune and Jupiter in Libra; the UN’s Gemini Moon is conjunct his Sun; but the real problem comes from the UN’s Mars Saturn in Cancer colliding with his Venus Saturn for a gritty interface. The relationship chart is bitterly hostile with a composite Mars Pluto.

There’ll be high wire and undermining moments between them in 2019 from April onwards through 2020 as tr Neptune squares the Uranus on both charts and the relationship chart; moving on to oppose the composite Moon in 2021. If Trump (!??!) sticks around for a 2^nd Term, 2021/2022 is when the sh** really hits the fan as tr Uranus squares the composite Mars Pluto.

The USA/UN relationship chart is fairly stressed at the best of times with a composite Mars trine Pluto, sextile Saturn – and that is in for a fair pummeling from tr Uranus in 2019/2020.

The UN chart itself looks on edge exactly now and in early 2019 with tr Uranus opposition the Scorpio Sun; with disheartening moments late November through December this year. But it’s 2020/21 when it really has to face considerable challenges with tr Pluto opposition the 4^th house Mars Saturn. That looks like a forced rethink of its direction and status with massive internal changes.

US comedian Bill Cosby, formerly ‘America’s Dad’ has been sentenced to three to 10 years for sexual assault and categorised as a sexually violent predator, meaning he must undergo counselling for life and be listed on the sex offender registry. A former university basketball administrator described how Cosby, whom she had viewed as a “mentor”, had given her pills that left her “frozen” and unable to stop his assault. “After the assault, the shame was overwhelming. Self-doubt and confusion kept me from turning to my family or friends as I normally did.’ She wrote that she had stopped eating, sleeping and socialising. Tormented by nightmares, she finally told her mother the truth about what had happened. She said “Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it. He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others.”

Born 12 July 1937 12.30am Philadelphia, he has a controlling 4^th house Sun, Mercury, Pluto in Cancer in a pushily confident opposition to a successful 10^th house Jupiter. With Sun, Mercury, Pluto is in a determined trine to Mars in ultra-determined and vengeful Scorpio which in turn is in a high-octane opposition to Uranus, which would make him erupt if anyone defied him. He’s also got an Earth Grand Trine of Uranus trine Neptune Moon in Scorpio trine a Capricorn MC and Jupiter – with Mars in Scorpio the driving planet of a Kite from that Grand Trine. It’s a heavyweight chart and then some.

He’s also got a sparsely aspected 12^th house Saturn in self-reliant Aries which can be hard and unsympathetic. In the 12^th it also suggests the lack of a strong male role model and lack of brakes. His father was away in Navy service during his early childhood. Interesting his Moon Neptune given his MO of drugging before assaulting. An almost unaspected Venus, apart from a sextile to Saturn, hints at a lack of perspective, and an inability to consider others’ needs, tending to act compulsively without restraint or moderation.

His reputation came crashing down as tr Pluto crossed his midheaven a few years back, though allegations had been circulating for years. Tr Saturn is now joining Pluto from later this year to put the final nail in the coffin of his career. Saturn moving through the 10^th can consolidate success but it can also have the opposite effect of bringing chickens home to roost. Tr Saturn was crossing Nixon’s 10^th as Watergate raged.

The trickster in his chart is his Jupiter which gives him confidence despite all and it is picking up the tr Pluto conjunction from early 2019 for two years, so he’s likely to be bullish in the face of his disgrace and incarceration. He’s not looking too happy at the moment and considerably edgy and accident-prone in this December and January 2019; with more serious setbacks next year.

He’s now 81 and legally blind and will probably go to his grave swearing he’s been badly done by.

Add on: His 5th Harmonic is exceptionally heavily aspected – it’s the get-it-together one, but can be dominating as the individual tries to remake the world according to their wishes. He’s also got an emotionally intense and manipulative Venus Pluto Sun T Square in his Wheel of Fortune, rise-and-fall 10th Harmonic. And interestingly a marked 18H which is often found with serial killers, so maybe it points to psychopathic traits.

Andrea Bocelli, who has brought pop levels of success to classical singing, has another album out which includes a duet with Ed Sheeran. Despite his blindness he lives an active life, riding his favourite horses, despite a fall last year which hospitalised him, and has been seen windsurfing, skiing and rollerblading in the past and travels extensively.

Born 22 September 1958 5.15am Pisa, Italy, he had congenital glaucoma at birth and lost his sight totally after a football accident when he was 12. He started musical interests early aged six, learnt braille to read music, played the piano and other instruments and started to sing. After he finished law school, he was mentored by Pavarotti and his career took off.

He has a larger-than-life 1^st house Sun Virgo trine a Capricorn Moon in his performing 5^th. With a powerfully aspected 12^th house Pluto in a do-or-die-determined square to Mars in Gemini in the international 9^th; and sextile a financially successful Jupiter Neptune in Scorpio in his 2^nd. His 4^th house Saturn is in a hard-working square to his Sun, Mercury and Venus, and trines Uranus.

It’s one of those charts that doesn’t instantly leap out as special. But down into the higher octave aspects it really stands out. Especially his ‘superstar’ 22^nd harmonic which has a Fire Grand Trine and a Grand Cross; as well as his creative 5^th and 7^th harmonics.

Yayoi Kusama, deemed one of the most influential living artists to come out of Japan, worked mainly with installations and conceptual art but has talents across a range of genre.

Born 22 March 1929 in Matsumo, Japan, she had an abusive mother who sent her to spy on her father’s illicit affairs which gave her a lifelong fear of sex. When she was 10 she started having vivid hallucinations – flashes of lights, dense fields of dots, flowers that spoke to her – which became a source of inspiration for her later, in a process she called ‘self-obliteration’ – and in one instance when she painted her mother the dots obliterated her as well. When she was 13 she was sent to work in a factory sewing parachutes for the war, in ‘enclosed darkness.’

In her late twenties she moved to the USA to gain freedom, was befriended by Georgia O’Keefe and became one of the leaders of the artistic avant garde movement. She organised ‘happenings’ in public parks involving nudity to protest the Vietnam War. In her forties she returned to Japan in ill health and began writing ‘shockingly visceral and surrealistic novels, short stories, and poetry.’ Then entered a mental asylum where she has been by choice ever since.

She is a maverick Sun Uranus in Aries on the focal point of a Cardinal T Square to Mars in Cancer opposition Saturn in Capricorn.  Certainly an innovator, rebel and drawn to anarchic expression, fueled by a cruel-treatment Mars Saturn. She’d spill over with initiative and restlessness, always driven to start new projects.  Her Moon is in flamboyant Leo perhaps conjunct Neptune and she has Jupiter Venus in earthy Taurus. Sculptors often have Taurus in their charts. Those Fixed signs would give her some grounding. But she has no Air signs to give her perspective on her life; and only one Mutable – Mercury in Pisces – so would find adaptability tricky.

Her ‘super-star’ 22^nd Harmonic is well-aspected, marking her out as special. As is her get-it-together and creative 5^th Harmonic; and her obsessive-dream 11H.

Thank you for this. What an interesting woman. It reminded me of a comment by Donald Kalsched in his book Trauma and Soul where he talks of trauma survivors being pushed, because their unbearable experiences, into a non-ordinary reality. Life drives some people mad and she turned her madness into art.

I hate new dates for country charts.  Often they are thrown into the mix by people who are either: a) obsessive compulsive and just like to fiddle and be different from the crowd; b) get focussed on minor shifts in the country’s history, in this instance a name change – after a divorce you don’t get a new birth chart; c) or think because the chart in accepted usage doesn’t always throw up exact predictive timings it has to be wrong, rather than accepting that astrology is highly complex. What proves to be a tipping point is the consequence of multiple influences exerting (or accompanying) pressure as they move backwards and forwards on different cycles. So an actual event can be the ‘result’ of several influences happening just before and sometimes just after. Also astrology has a different mindset. I’m not convinced it particularly cares about Derby or even election winners at times. In the grand cosmic scheme of things, these are trivia. Also a bit like divorce, most often the key events happen beforehand and sometimes after. The actual date itself isn’t always the most relevant.

That being said, all that matters is which chart throws up the best info. And against much grudging, gritting-of-teeth having tested the UK 12 April 1927 chart (when the UK changed name to add Northern Ireland) against the start of WW11, 1973 join-EEC and Brexit 2016, it isn’t bad.  Oddly enough it shows up the start of World War 1 best of all – which is into minus mathematics since UK 1927 didn’t exist then. Another astrological conundrum.

The UK 1801 chart was spot on for WW11 and not bad for WW1, showing the early aftermath clearly; reasonable for EEC 1973 with outer planet Solar Arc and transits bringing jolting changes, challenges, gloom and some panic. Brexit coincided with a shocking change of direction, with a surge of empowerment and emotional angst.

The UK 1927 chart was so-so for WW11. Spot on for 1973 EEC with tr Pluto conjunct the MC and conjunct Solar Arc North Node exactly for a moment of destiny, a radical rethink of direction and ambitions with power struggles ahead. Tr Neptune was exactly conjunct the Ascendant for confusion about identity. For the 2016 Brexit vote Solar Arc Mars was exactly conjunct the Mars for a massive shock, bringing insecurity and inflamed tempers; with the Solar Arc MC opposition the Node exact, so a significant point in history.

The UK 1927/EU relationship chart is massively complex – a chained-together-and-resenting it Saturn trine Pluto but in a Fire Grand Trine it’s also entrepreneurial (good for trade); with a hard-to-balance Mystic Rectangle of an autocratic Saturn opposition Uranus sextile/trine a bitterly argumentative and stubborn Pluto opposition Mercury. There’s an unfair-treatment Mars square Saturn; and a sugary-sweet Jupiter opposition Moon square Venus.  And a Half Grand Sextile Pluto opposition Mercury, sextile Uranus sextile Venus. Lots of advantages and lots of aggro.

This year is panic-stations on that chart with tr Neptune opposition Mars, extending through 2019; with an uncertain and tormented November and December this year as tr Neptune square Saturn brings neurotic fears of a total disaster. Plus tr Saturn dampening good feelings through till December as well. Where it really starts to rock on its foundations is from May 2020 as tr Uranus squares the Pluto.

The UK 1927 chart itself has a 4^th house/cusp of 5^th Aries Sun trine an exact Moon Neptune in Leo in the 9^th, sextile Mars in Gemini – pro-active and go-ahead with dreams-of-empire from Moon Neptune in the 9^th. There’s also a controlling, power-hungry Pluto in the financial 8^th house in a confident trine to Jupiter. With a defensive Saturn on the Ascendant in self-righteous Sagittarius.

At the moment tr Saturn is moving through the low profile First Quadrant as it was after Suez Crisis in 1956 when the UK faced up to its loss of status as the world’s superpower; and decolonisation kicked in as tr Uranus was conjunct the 9^th house Moon Neptune towards the 1960s which makes sense.

2020 hints at dashed-hopes from tr Neptune conjunct Jupiter.

In summary not bad for 1927 UK, though working with too many charts creates a muddle of too much data. All significant moments in a country’s history will have some similarities to each other and the main chart. At the end of the day you’re better to settle for one. But UK 1927 is worth keeping an eye on.

The Labour leadership, Corbyn and McDonnell, are in a double-bind pulled between their longstanding dislike of the EU and their membership which favours a People’s Vote by nine to one with 90% wanting to remain according to David Lammy MP.

Corbyn’s relationship chart with the EU has a bitterly hostile composite Mars opposition Pluto; plus a deeply suspicious Saturn Neptune square Uranus. McDonnell isn’t much better with a critical Sun Saturn; a power-struggling Pluto Jupiter; plus a few extra crossed stars.

Keir Starmer, the Labour Brexit spokesman is rowing back on McDonnell’s odd claim that any people’s vote wouldn’t include a remain option. McDonnell isn’t winning much through this year and next with tr Neptune opposition his Mars and square his Jupiter/Pluto. Neither is union leader Len McLuskey in good shape with similar. Both pick up momentum somewhat from, 2021/22 onwards.

Keir Starmer, 2 September 1962, looks on better form than most, despite some grind and groan and setbacks through this year and next. He has tr Uranus conjunct his Solar Arc Jupiter from April 2019 for a few weeks; plus a confidently successful tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Node also from April 2019, on and off till late 2020; and picking up another couple of Jupiters in 2020.

Angela Rayner, 28 March 1980, will get some uplift this December to mid February 2019; and another boost late March; but thereafter she’s into a tangle of setbacks, aggravations, frustrations and disappointments right through till early 2021.

David Lammy, 18 July 1972, will be relieved with lucky breaks mid this October till early November and again in March and will have moments of high hopes and success through 2019/20. But he’s also got uncertainties and then major disasters picking up from mid 2019 with a dead-halt in 2020/21 as his Solar Arc Mars is conjunct his Pluto.

Add on: Keir Starmer’s relationship with both Corbyn and McDonnell is under strain over the time ahead. With Corbyn there’s an evasive and disappointing composite Sun square Neptune which will be under maximum pressure from mid February 2019 onwards for two years; with a real dip before then as well from the final week of October till the New Year over the critical Brexit period with tr Neptune square the composite Mars; with high-tension mid October to early November and again in early 2019 with tr Uranus square the composite Uranus.

Starmer’s interface with McDonnell is much of a muchness with the above with disruptions and upheavals mid October to early November (and early next year) with tr Uranus trine the composite Pluto. And nerves at twanging point early November to early December, again in February 2019 with tr Neptune opposition the composite Neptune.

In both relationships with Starmer there’s an ego-clash –  a struggle for the upper hand (with Corbyn) with a Jupiter square Pluto; or only-one-can-win (with McDonnell) with Mars square Neptune.

It’s not just a fight for the soul of the Tory Party going on. Labour as well.

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