Hurricane Florence is brewing up to be the “the storm of a lifetime” as it heads for the Carolina coast in the USA. Reckoned to be the worst storm for at least 25 years in the region it has led to nearly 2 million people being evacuated with fears of catastrophic impacts, from damaging winds to flash flooding to widespread power outages.

The recent 11^th August Solar Eclipse set for that location has the focal point Uranus on the midheaven squaring Node on the Ascendant opposition Mars – and that is an explosive energy.

South Carolina, 23 May 1788, looks more badly affected than North Carolina, with a swampy, devastating tr Pluto and Solar Arc Sun both square the SC Neptune this month and next. And the SC Pluto in Aquarius (opposition Mars) was also triggered by the August Leo Eclipse.  Solar Arc Saturn is also approaching within less than a degree to a jolting, high-tension square to the SC Uranus, so the aftermath will be long drawn out and troublesome.

The previous late July Lunar Eclipse has Neptune on the IC; and the 13 July Cancer Solar Eclipse has Neptune on the Ascendant.

Neptune, god of the ocean, on full throttle.

Ryanair’s pessimistically cautious outlook for the year appears to be accurate with 450 flights cancelled in August from strikes and more planned tomorrow in Germany. They are in a better position than some airlines, having reported record annual results with a 10% hike for last year. But they are running into headwinds with higher costs.

The Ryanair chart, 5 July 1985, is in a state of high nervous tension this year with tr Neptune square the Uranus plus a disruptive tr Uranus opposition Pluto. But 2019 looks worse. With an agitated, insecure and shocked Solar Arc Uranus opposition Mars; and Solar Arc financial Venus in a disappointing opposition to Neptune; plus tr Saturn opposition the aggressively go-ahead Sun Mars which hints at more setbacks.

Michael O’Leary, the mouthy CEO, 20 March 1961, similarly looks shell-shocked in 2019 with a dead-halt and acutely frustrating and enraging Solar Arc Mars conjunct Pluto; and a debilitating, panicky-failure Solar Arc Neptune opposition his Mars in late 2019/early 2020. He may buck up in 2020/21 with Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Sun.

His relationship with David Bonderman, non-exec chairman, looks jittered and jangled this year and next as well.

Brazil’s National Museum fire earlier this month was like “a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory” said a curator, as much of its archive of 20 million items of historical and scientific importance is believed to have been destroyed. Often when there is a disaster of this magnitude it precedes, with eerie syncronicity, a seismic change in the country.

The upcoming October elections are in chaos with the left-wing mired in corruption scandals and the right-wing candidate suffering life-threatening injuries last week from a stabbing while on the campaign trail. The Brazilian currency is on a fast downward slide and the economy at extreme risk.  There is even talk of a possible military takeover at some point.

The Brazil 7 September 1822 4.30pm Piranga chart has been undermined this year by tr Neptune opposition the Virgo Sun, which will be in place across the election (October 7 to 28) repeating till early 2019; as well as tr Saturn square the Pluto conjunct the Neptune Uranus, the latter also across the election first round.

2019 and 2020 look extremely unsettled with major confusion then a considerable jolt with Solar Arc Sun square the Brazil Neptune and then Uranus; and tr Uranus opposition the Mars in 2019 and then conjunct the Saturn in Taurus in 2020. That looks prone to violence and military interference.

The military coup of October 1930 also had tr Saturn in early Capricorn; and the coup of 1964 has Solar Arc Saturn square the Brazil Neptune Uranus. Conditions don’t look quite as severe at the moment as either earlier coup but the country won’t be finding its feet until at least the early 2020s.

Royal biographies are notoriously sanitised. The Quest for Queen Mary is a new book compiled from the unexpurgated interview notes from an earlier biography of the Queen’s grandmother. Max Hastings describes it as ‘arguably the most riotously funny volume published this year.’ ‘The book conveys, in a fashion that no republican could improve upon, the tedium, ghastliness and sheer battiness of life around monarchs.’

Ramrod straight and imperious, Queen Mary was a renowned kleptomaniac, demanding pieces she liked from the grand houses she visited. During the war she took over Badminton House with 55 servants, forcing the Beauforts who owned it to live in two rooms and watch aghast as she had their trees felled. She enjoyed being read to, sometimes for up to seven hours at a stretch by a hapless lady-in-waiting who was eventually sacked for lacking fortitude.

Engaged to be married to Queen Victoria’s eldest son, she stepped down a brother after he died of flu, and married George V whose main excitement in life was stamp collecting.

She treated her children with coldness, typical of the day, which sent the Duke of Windsor into the arms of Wallis Simpson and rendered King George V1 into debilitating nervousness. Prince George, Duke of Kent, had a drug problem and strings of affairs with men and women, including Barbara Cartland and the later Duchess of Argyll; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester had a scandalous affair with Beryl Markham. Three of her sons including the young epileptic Prince John predeceased her; and she died weeks before Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.

Born 26 May 1867 11.59pm London she was a Sun Gemini with Moon Jupiter in Pisces trine Uranus, which might have made her fun. What dominated her chart, however was Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto square Mars in Leo – and that is hard, unyielding, bound to a life of duty. Her Uranus in the 5th house of children does hint at the wayward bunch she produced. Her Venus in Taurus would give her a love of beautiful things.

Her husband George V, 3 June 1865 1.18am London, with whom by all accounts she had a steady marriage, was not dissimilar to her being a Sun Gemini with (also like her) Venus, Pluto, Mercury in Taurus. Though it was hardly a match of great passion since both their Saturns fell in the others 8^th house of intimacy.

Their relationship chart had a chained-together composite Saturn opposition Pluto Venus square Mars opposition Jupiter – an overload of duty, aggravation, the forced sacrifice of individual identity and a good deal of largesse.   Mars in the composite 5^th might also point to boisterous children who provoked anger.

Scraps from a bygone era. But she was a powerful influence in Queen Elizabeth’s childhood, perhaps re-enforcing the obsessively dutiful Saturn in Scorpio they both share. Though in HM Queen’s case it is conjunct her midheaven and devoted to work first and foremost.  The Queen’s Taurus Sun was conjunct Queen Mary’s Venus and the Queen’s Venus in Pisces was conjunct her grandmother’s Moon Jupiter so there would be affection.  But that relationship chart was tough going with a composite Sun, Uranus, Mars, Moon opposition Saturn square Jupiter – not exactly playful.

Another pop idol gone from a suspected drug overdose – Mac Miller, hugely successful but with a confessed drug and depression problem, which split his two year relationship with Ariane Grande recently.

Born 19 January 1992 in Pittsburgh (no birth time), he had a late Capricorn Sun with Neptune, Uranus Mercury conjunct and Mars North Node all in Capricorn as well; with most likely a Cancer Moon opposition his Sun. Uranus Neptune can give a touch of genius but also tends to be a touch on the edge, not so much prone to depression as to irrational thinking. One of the songs on his latest album has a line: “I’m just looking for a way out of my head’”

An unaspected Saturn would give him problems with self-discipline and make it tricky for him to put limits on himself. His Jupiter was trine Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune which would give him times of enthusiasm and confidence. But it was square his Mars/Pluto midpoint which also aspected his Sun, so he would have intense frustrations.

He had tr Neptune square his Mars/Pluto at the moment which would be exceptionally debilitating and confusing; as well as a trapped tr Pluto conjunct his Sun/Mars, which would be destructive/self-destructive.

He has a reasonably good cross-over with Ariane Grande with his Capricorn Sun trine her Venus in Taurus; and his Jupiter falling in her 8^th for a deep connection. But his inner turmoil would be disturbing for her since his Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Mercury fell in her 12^th with his Mars opposition her Cancer Sun. She said she had to leave because of the toxic nature of their relationship due to drugs.

Their relationship chart has the crazy-making Uranus Neptune highlighted – on the point of a composite T Square to Sun opposition Mercury, as well as trine Jupiter, sextile Pluto.

That early 1990s generation do live at extraordinarily high levels of mental frazzle.

Another noisy and headline-catching bust-up which ended in a brawl this week, between mega-successful rapper Nicki Minaj and rapper/Instagram celeb Cardi B at a Harpers Bazaar ICONS NY party. Whether it was brewed up for publicity and then got out of control isn’t clear. Both have form for volatile outbursts to keep them visible.

Minaj, 8 December 1982 8.25 am, Port of Spain, Trinidad, certainly has a titanium strength chart and a short fuse with Mars in Capricorn in her 1^st square an unyielding and control-freaky 10^th house Pluto Saturn. Her Virgo Moon is also trine her Mars – so both genders tend to rattle her cage.

Cardi B, 11 October 1992, New York is no slouch in the let-it-all-hang-out stakes with an excitable Mars in Cancer opposition Uranus Neptune square a Libra Sun – and that is quite a powder keg of ego-centricity, lack of control, irrationality and confusion.

Cardi’s Mars is exactly conjunct Nicki’s Descendant for an argumentative interface with Cardi’s high-wire Uranus Neptune conjunct Nicki’s Ascendant causing frissons.

Their relationship chart has a power-struggling composite Sun Pluto conjunction; an egging-each-other-on-unwisely Mars opposition Jupiter; and a tension-erupting Saturn Uranus.

They’ll stay at daggers’ drawn through 2019 with tr Pluto continuing to square the composite Mars – and no doubt both gaining from the extra street cred.

Cartoon: Andy Davey: @Cartoon4sale

Labour MP Chuka Umunna has accused leader Jeremy Corbyn of driving centre-left MPs like himself out of the party and he urged him to “call off the dogs” – hardline factions who are intent on changing selection procedures to run out moderate MPs. He said instead the party should be fighting the Tory Government over Brexit. Corbyn promised a kinder, gentler politics but appears to have opened the doors to a vicious, internal brawl instead.

Umanna, 17 October 1978, London, is an intense Sun Pluto in Libra with a determined Venus, Mars, Uranus in Scorpio; a hope-for-a-better-society Saturn square Neptune; and a Taurus Moon probably opposition Mercury in a confident and lucky square to Jupiter in Leo.

His beef is with Momentum, the grassroots, pro-Corbyn organisation founded 8 October 2015, which is exerting pressure to force the Labour Party further left.

Umanna’s relationship chart with Momentum has a power-struggle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter square Pluto; an argumentative, chilly and suspicious Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Mars with Neptune square Saturn Sun. Not a good mix and is under continued and undermining struggles for several years ahead.

Momentum has a revolutionary Uranus opposition Sun square a controlling Pluto so an odd mix of freedom-fighting and power hungry. With a scattered Mutable T Square of publicity-attracting Neptune opposition an exuberant Mars Jupiter square Saturn in Sagittarius. Such a focal point Saturn tends to be pessimistic, overly critical, cynical; and in Sagittarius can be self-righteous about imposing its views on others. Saturn Neptune can be paranoid; Saturn Mars self-defeating or unlucky.

Both T Squares are being triggered in 16 months’ time with the Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Jupiter for an enthusiastic, crusading pitch with a might-makes-right push; and Solar Arc Pluto will at the same time square the Uranus exactly which will be a total turnaround either a change of leadership, an internal coup or a change of direction. So a critical turning point.

The chemistry between both Labour charts and Momentum suggests the Labour Party feels undermined by the organisation. The Pisces Sun on the 1900 LP chart has Momentum’s Neptune conjunct and Mom’s Saturn square; and its enthusiastic Jupiter is also squelched by Mom’s Saturn. And the 1906 LP chart has its Saturn conjunct Mom’s Neptune with Mom’s Mars in opposition so arousing great suspicion and concern. Relations between Momentum and both the Party charts are on a slide through 2019/2020 with tr Neptune square the composite Saturn on one and the composite Sun and Mars, the latter from 2019 across 2020/21.

The founder Jon Lansman, 9 July 1957, a former Tony Bennite, is a Sun Cancer with Mercury in Cancer in a vague square to Neptune; and Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus, Venus, Mars in Leo. He looks successful in 2021/2022 with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter in Virgo. Though with a fairly rocky ride before then.

Umanna’s relationship chart with Corbyn has a competitive composite Sun Mars; and a chilly, constantly-changing Venus, Saturn, Uranus conjunction which will jolt and jangle from next spring onwards with some feelings of relief along the way – so one way or the other they may be free of each other.

Barack Obama’s elastic finally snapped and he took the unusual step of issuing a full-throated indictment of his successor. He called Trump a “threat to our democracy” and a demagogue practicing the “politics of fear and resentment.”  He likened him to Roman Caesars who placated the mob with  bread and circuses. He said “demagogues promise simple fixes to complicated problems. They’ll promise to fight for the little guy…. They’ll promise to clean up corruption even as they plunder away.”

His relationship with Trump always was a major clash, with Trump’s bombastic, ego-centric Mars in Leo conjunct Obama’s reformist Uranus and North Node; and Trump’s under-hand, manipulative and contemptuous Pluto conjunct Obama’s Leo Sun.

Their relationship chart has a suspicious composite Saturn opposition Neptune in a can-be-fanatical and high-tension square to Uranus, North Node, Mercury, Sun; with an irritable composite Mars opposition Moon square Jupiter. The composite Uranus and Neptune are picking up challenging and pressured tr Pluto hard aspects from mid January 2019 onwards throughout the year, moving onto the square to the composite Saturn in 2020/21 which is bulldozer-meets-brickwall time – so it’ll be a long-drawn out, disruptive tussle.

Obama’s personal chart, time being absolutely accurate, looks heartened as the Mid Term results come in with tr Uranus trine his Jupiter/Midheaven midpoint. Jupiter is moving across his 10^th house for twelve months from early November this year, which will see him taking a higher profile and successful role through 2019. Though he is facing an aggravating and frustrating battle from February 2019 onwards for two years with tr Pluto trine his 8^th house Mars. He looks mighty relieved with a sudden lucky turn of events in July 2019 and again in spring 2020 with tr Uranus opposition his Sun/Jupiter.

What’ll be interesting to see is what happens when his Solar Arc Midheaven conjuncts his Saturn in a year’s time – Saturn either accompanies setbacks or consolidates past efforts to bring in a harvest, with a boosted reputation and increased respect. He doesn’t look too happy after the next Inauguration with tr Pluto conjunct his Saturn for two years.

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John Steinbeck, one of the titans of American literature for his novels The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, a Nobel and Pulitzer winner, is described as a ‘sadistic womanizer’ in a new memoir. A manuscript written by his second wife Glyn was recently discovered, in which she says he spent their wedding night on the phone to his mistress. He scolded her for ‘complicating’ his life while he was writing a book during her difficult labour with their first son; and when their premature second son suffered fits of screaming in his first days, he ‘burst through the door and said, “I wish to Christ he’d die, he’s taking up too much of your f***ing time.”   They divorced two years later.

Born 27 February 1902 3pm Salinas, California, he had an intensely emotional and secretive 8^th house Pisces Sun and Mars trine a 4^th house Scorpio Moon, doubling up his emotional wilfulness. His afflicted Mars was on the focal point of a T Square to Pluto opposition Uranus in the 5^th – so he would be ruthless, angry, volatile and keen to have an unfettered romantic life with rebellious Uranus in the 5th. He did have Jupiter and Venus Mercury in Aquarius in his 7^th so no doubt he could turn on the charm when it suited him. But otherwise he looks frighteningly explosive.

His second son John Jr was born two days before Donald Trump with a similar chart though with a Scorpio Moon; and the first son Thomas born on 2 August 1944 has a controlling and inflammatory-father Sun Pluto and Mars square Uranus.

His third wife Elaine Anderson, 14 August 1914,  was a Sun Leo which connected to his Venus in Aquarius, though it wouldn’t be an easy marriage with their relationship chart having a fairly brutal and suppressive composite Mars opposition Pluto; and a highly-strung and duty-bound Neptune opposition Uranus square Saturn. Talent comes at a price.