Bianca Censori, the sad-faced, supposed wife of Kanye West who is paraded around in a degrading public spectacle virtually naked is remarkably an architect with two degrees from the University of Melbourne.

  Born 5 January 1995 in Australia, she does have a chart and a half with a Capricorn Sun as well as Neptune, Uranus Mercury conjunct in Capricorn – very much one of her generation. She also has a ramped up, seductive Venus Pluto in Scorpio in a super-confident conjunction to Pluto but that squares onto a less than comfortable Mars in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces (maybe Moon in Pisces). Her Jupiter square Saturn will make for up and down moods which added onto the highly strung Uranus Neptune will be tricky to keep in balance. Mars Saturn will make her susceptible to ill treatment and pull her into unfair situations and may even give her a masochistic streak.

 Tr Uranus will be rattling up her complicated T square first by opposing her Venus this July onwards and more so in 2025 and on – her life will change radically ahead.

  Kanye West, 8 June 1977 maybe 8.45am Atlanta, Georgia, has his own mental problems. A Sun Jupiter in Gemini opposition Neptune trine Pluto he is stratospherically ambitious. His can-be-excessive Mars Venus in Taurus hints at a ramped up sex life and over indulgence. And that is opposition Uranus and square Saturn in Leo. He’ll not put up with any interference to his plans and can be autocratic.

  There’s not much linking them on the synastry.  Their relationship chart does have a publicity-attracting composite Neptune opposition Mars square Sun which will be undermined when tr Neptune Saturn move into Aries in 2025/26. There is a hint of attraction from a wide composite Pluto square Venus. The composite Saturn which is unaspected will get rattled through this June/July.

  Her family are seemingly worried for her and I am not surprised.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Formula One principal having just been cleared after an internal investigation into his behaviour towards a female colleague has been blindsided as a series of alleged messages were leaked. They were sent to 149 people involved in the sport. His wife, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is reportedly furious.

 He was born 16 November 1973 and Geri 6 August 1972 2.30pm Watford, England. It is an odd match since she is a Sun, Mercury and Mars in Leo while he is a Sun and Mercury in Scorpio. Though his Leo Moon will help as will her Venus Moon in Cancer. His Saturn sitting on her Venus Moon will be a damper.

 Their relationship chart has a possessive, passionate and controlling composite Sun Pluto opposition Venus and an irritable composite Mars Saturn conjunction which usually ends up with one partner gritting their teeth to make it work. There is an adventurous Jupiter square Uranus and the Venus, Sun, Pluto will make for a strong attraction. But it won’t all be plain sailing. Tr Neptune is just off the undermining square to the Saturn Mars conjunction and is aiming to square the Pluto Sun and Venus over the next two/three years so hints of disappointment abound.

  He will be strong minded and stubborn with his Pluto square Saturn and trine Jupiter; with a high-adrenaline Mars opposition Uranus. But he is in charge in a super-speed sport so what can you expect?

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”  Discuss individual instances without resorting to violence, intemperate language or stomping off in the huff. Why is it so difficult to admit that fanatical zealots, however unpleasant and destructive, might have a reason for their actions?

Trans activists are mutilating/brainwashing gullible children and undermining vulnerable women. Anti-trans activists are inflaming hatred and putting vulnerable transgenders at risk of attack. Why is there no middle ground? Have we lost the ability for complex thinking? There is only one truth and it is OURS.

 This is a thinking-in-process ramble so bear with me – or skip to the next post.

  If control of one rigid viewpoint is the issue it must involve Pluto? Maybe.

 Psychologically speaking, complex thinking emerges as the child realises that neither parent is perfect which is a shattering blow as the idealized idol is toppled off his/her pedestal which accompanies an inner realization that I am both good and bad myself, can be nice and can be nasty all in the one personality. For some, a mature realization is not possible so they split – one parent (support system) stays shining white and the other is all negative.  In parallel, the child (even in middle age) retains an overly positive self-image which admits to no shadow – I am great and you are NOT. Projection a la Trump is the coping mechanism. I.e. blame others for that of which I am most guilty. I’m all good so any bad (shadow) must belong to you. Life is always divisive, no shades of grey.  Defending a fragile ego becomes a desperate and thus violent life and death struggle to stave off psychological implosion. No quarter can be given, no admission of any chinks in the argument to allow the opposing forces to gain the upper hand.  

  Part of the present inability to cope with nuance might be put down to a culture in regression, not just socially but psychologically, reverting to early immature patterns. But it has probably always been thus. Peasants have been notoriously prone to conspiracy theories throughout the ages. Mob rule flared up and dominated at various times.

  In societal terms, one view imposed on everyone is fascist or totalitarian. Psychoanalysts have written about its mindset as did George Orwell with his chilling insights into truth twisting and totalitarian thinking.

From a previous post

  ‘Underlying the trans furore of recent years is a mind control battle over language – what is allowed to be said and what will be obliterated under an avalanche of hostility if it deviates from the proscribed party line.

   Pure George Orwell. He says of the Ministry of Truth in 1984 “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”  The influence of language on people’s ability to think is one of the book’s most enduring themes as it focuses on the techniques of totalitarianism.

   The Trumpian phenomenon of distorting reality and brain-washing true believers into the dictator’s version of ‘the truth’ was where this trend of abusing language became most noticeable. What it led to was a similarly virulent battle-to-the-death between not just opinions but two opposing mindsets, where victory for one means psychic implosion for the other. Ditto the Brexit argument – a complete inability to tolerate the other view.

  So much of the transgender firefight is an argument at cross purposes. No sane or sensible person is anything other than sympathetic to people with gender dysphoria, but what appears to be at issue is the use of language. Those who have been hounded out of jobs have made statements about biology which would hardly seem inflammatory except in the present climate.’

  One thought struck me contemplating psychoanalytic writings on the fascist state of mind, which seems like a leap, but bear with me. Christopher Bollas, a London analyst writes that such a state of mind “entertains no doubt or uncertainty”. Distortion of the views of opponents to render them less intelligible and credible is the first move. They have to be discredited because no separation of view is possible from the accepted one.

   Janine Chasseguet Smirgel, a French analyst, echoed this thought “he who does not think as the group does is excluded, harassed, killed or declared insane.”  She extended her argument, linking perversion (as in group sexual abuse of children) to such a state of mind. It is not to hand but my recollection is she talks of the regressed state of mind of such abusive perverts to involve an inversion of reality. Adults become children and children adults; and the sexes are interchangeable –  girls become boys or boys girls or there is no distinction.  

  In the fascist state of mind the past is destroyed with a future entirely of the narcissist’s own creation.  Similarly the argument that the birth sex can be wiped out and that a future is possible of the individual’s own choice might be seen as a parallel – a narcissistic grandiose delusion. And given that it is a consequence of an absolutist mindset, it is difficult/well nigh impossible to budge. Which is not to say that those with genuine gender dysphoria are deluded – I am talking of the cultural mania for 47 genders etc. A narcissistic culture (the consequence of a self-obsessed psychology in the west since Freud etc) giving wing to its arrogance and detachment from reality.

  What astrology might match such a mindset?  In a previous discussion Uranus Neptune was mentioned as a possible factor in the present state of intractable arguments. In particular the 1990s generation, now in their thirties, who have Uranus Neptune conjunct in Capricorn. It is a feasible argument since Uranus Neptune was in place conjunct the North Node for the birth of the worldwideweb in 1991, which has undoubtedly played a part in the ramped up, howl-round debates on various subjects, allowing group-think to run rampant. Mermaids, the UK group aggressively promoting support for transgender children and Stonewall both emerged during the Uranus Neptune conjunction in the 1990s.

   George Orwell himself had a wide Neptune opposition Uranus but also a rebellious Uranus opposition Pluto so arguably he might understand its risks more than most and rebel against them. The CIA’s Mind Control obsession in the 1950s/60s ran through Uranus square Neptune. Trump has his Uranus/Neptune midpoint conjunct his Pluto and the Brexit referendum has its Uranus/Neptune midpoint square the Sun.  

  Uranus combined with creative, spiritual Neptune has a positive side being inspirational in art, science and social thinking, with high ideals and soaring vision. What the combination can lack is common sense. With no Earth grounding and thus no limits, it can rise to magnificent achievements; or it can foster irrational fanatical thinking, so extreme that it misleads.

   Fanatical repression is part of its story with the Spanish Inquisition set up in 1478 when Uranus Neptune were conjunct in Scorpio. During the most recent conjunction, fervent beliefs leading to fanaticism were clear in the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa (death threat) against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, in 1989. In 1993 and 1994 two extremist cults hit the headlines: the David Koresh fundamentalist cult at Waco in Texas was besieged by the FBI, and deaths ensued; and there were multiple suicides and murders among Solar Temple cult members in Switzerland and Canada, who believed they would be reincarnated on Sirius.

   Ebertin has Uranus Neptune as visionary and creative on the positive side – but also confusion, wrong ideas, onesidedness, peculiar psychic states, lack of emotional balance.

  Uranus Neptune was not around for the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 30s so the absolutism of the present mindset may be more to do with a highly strung mental balance which will cling to its opinions even in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.

  Apologies for an extended ramble and jumble – Uranus Neptune fits. The psychology of a narcissistic culture fits. Chasseguet Smirgel’s notion of the inversion of sexes allied to perversion or a narcissistic grandiose attempt to become self-created won’t be popular – but there might be a smidgeon of an explanation in there for some of those who have leapt on the bandwagon. .  

 Reading Jane’s comments on Neptune in Pisces below previous post. It won’t have helped in its tendency to dissolve boundaries – and spawn surreal beliefs.  It strikes me, to add a further messy thought – that fighting against a male female labelling to be free to ‘create’ one’s own gender has in contrary fashion led to an even greater proliferation of dogmatic labelling.

Below additional comments, added onto text for ease of finding later.

Add On: More on Uranus Neptune:

From Hugh: “In the period 1907-1909 Germany was shaken by a series of scandals involving cross dressing Prussian Generals and senior figures in the Kaiser’s government. This included the trials surrounding the Eulenberg-Harden affair and the bizarre death of General Dietrich Graf von Hülsen-Haeseler on 14 November 1908 who died of a heart attack while dancing in a pink tutu in front of Kaiser Wilhelm II and assembled guests. All this happened while Neptune in Cancer was forming an opposition to Uranus in Capricorn. The fall out from the scandals is thought by some historians to have impacted the way the German military was run and ultimately to have played a role in the run up to the outbreak of the First World War.”

From Jane: “Uranus-Neptune dynamics are interesting in all this. I looked up the famous, scandalous trial of “Fanny and Stella”, or Boulton and Park, who were arrested after a secret Met Police operation, as cross-dressing gay men. They were prosecuted for enticing others to commit sodomy, and the prosecution failed.

” As the trial of ‘the Young Men in Women’s Clothes’ unfolded, Fanny and Stella’s extraordinary lives as wives and daughters, actresses and whores were revealed to an incredulous public.

With a cast of peers, politicians and prostitutes, drag queens, doctors and detectives, Fanny and Stella is a Victorian peepshow, exposing the startling underbelly of nineteenth-century London.” (Fanny and Stella, the Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England by Neil McKenna).

Uranus in Cancer was square Neptune in Aries when the trial began, 9th May, 1871. Sun conjunct Pluto , trine Mars in Virgo suggests the event’s power over the general public at the time.

By the time of a trine between Uranus in Virgo and Neptune in Taurus, the Cross-Dressing Ball, at Temperance Hall, Manchester caused a huge scandal in the autumn of 1880 – with police raids, numerous arrests, but in the end the participants were simply bound over to keep the peace, rather than going to prison as some critics would have preferred.” 

NEPTUNE IN PISCES:

 Reading Jane’s comments on Neptune in Pisces below previous post. It won’t have helped in its tendency to dissolve boundaries – and spawn surreal beliefs.  It strikes me, to add a further messy thought – that fighting against a male female labelling to be free to ‘create’ one’s own gender has in contrary fashion led to an even greater proliferation of dogmatic labelling.

Jane: Wrestling with Neptune in Pisces here – yes, I’m nailing jelly to the wall!  However, musing on what Hugh said about Mercury I thought of Dionysus – androgynous, shape shifting, and called ‘twice born’ because in the myths he is born from his mother, who was killed, and then Zeus, his father – sewn into his father’s thigh during gestation. An Eastern god (foreign to the Greeks) of theatre, wine, and ecstasy, he was brought up as female. His mythic female followers, the Maenads, tore men and animals to pieces in fabled frenzies of worship that symbolised the adult Dionysus’ own dismemberment and subsequent rebirth at Eleusis. Dionysus is one of the dying and resurrected gods in various myths. He was worshipped in the Middle East, and according to Tacitus was once god of Jerusalem.

There is an interesting (long and dense) article by Gary Crawford (garycrawford.net) on Dionysus and Pisces which cites a number of authors who have explored the Dionysus theme – including Joseph Campbell, Liz Greene, Richard Tarnas and others.

 “The many layers of duality found in Pisces can also be found in Dionysus, as Liz Greene and others have noted how he embodies concepts such as redeemer/victim, savior/devourer, yin/yang, intuition/reason, sacred/profane, creative genius/madness, and passionate love/passionate anger.  Yet instead of trying to rationalize this duality, separate the concepts into a bi-polar analysis, we can remember that Dionysus is whole and embodies these concepts integrated together within his holistic self, not separated.  To Liz Greene, the idea that Dionysus embodies an “ecstatic unity with natural, undying life” and a “seeking of union with the divine” that paradoxically mixes “the holy with the vicious and sadistic,” can be explained through his connection to Pisces because in the sign of the fish “these two opposites live side by side” and “each generates the other,” much like the interplay between good and evil.”

VirgoFlake:

“Jane, fascinating about Dionysus. The deity was portrayed by the Ancient artists as feminine, youthful, long-haired and beardless unlike the other Olympian Gods who, with the exception of Apollo are depicted as muscular with full beard. In Euripides’s ‘Bacchae’, the deity appears as a feminine stranger, a kind of priest as the straight-laced patriarch Pentheus, a stickler for law, order and logic interrogates the god who he sees as a dangerous threat to the state. Attempts to imprison the god are futile, since Dionysus is a god and has the power to shapeshift.

Pentheus’ outlook is particularly rigid, but at the same time, there is part of him that is intrigued and fascinated by these women who are able to abandon themselves through wine, ecstasy and mania. Dionysus devises a plan in orderthat Pentheus can climb a pine tree and spy on the Bacchae and persuades Pentheus to dress as a woman, with long skirts and a wig. In fact in the play, Pentheus is quite entranced and engrossed at his own transformation, even delighted. But henceforth, Pentheus is an unknowing sacrifice. While the Bacchantes are in a state of wine-induced mania, his own mother mistakes him for a young mountain lion and the women tear his body limb from limb, decapitate him and his mother brings his head back to the palace, while still hallucinating and under the influence of the god’s power.

The shapeshifting, the mania, the ecstasy, the taking of wine as ritual as well as the fluidity of gender and the abandonment of gender roles in this myth is essentially and undoubtedly Piscean and Neptunian. As you say, it’s worth re-reading Liz Greene’s chapter on Pisces in her ‘Astrology of Fate’. But it’s also interesting that a strictly patriarchal society such as Ancient Greece was fascinated by the female experience. In the myth of the prophet Tiresias for instance: he is on Mount Cylene when he comes across two serpents copulating. He strikes the snakes with his stick and in the process offended Hera (which, let’s face it wasn’t difficult – she was rather thin-skinned!) and she turned him into a woman. As a woman Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, but after seven years of service, Hera changed Tiresias back into a man. Both the Greeks and the Romans embellished Tiresias’s time as a woman and Tiresias becomes a kind of liminal figure, a link between man and gods, male and female, blindness and sight, the earth and the underworld, the present and the future.”

Monica Lewinsky, emblematic of the pre-#MeToo victim-blaming era is stepping out boldly to be the face of a fashion promotion linked to a “get out to vote” campaign. After the personal vilification and slut-shaming she went through as a young intern after her liaison with Bill Clinton was exposed in 1998 she became suicidal, was landed with huge legal debts and then went underground for a decade. She re-emerged having taken a Masters degree at the London School of Economics and started her fight back first with a Vanity Fair interview and then a Ted talk in 2015. She said she had been the most shamed girl that ever lived, “patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously”, pointing a finger at the internet’s power to hold public hangings by humiliation.

  She was born 23 July 1973 12.21 pm San Francisco, and has a 10^th house Leo Sun and Mercury in Cancer with Mercury square  an excitable Uranus Ascendant opposition Mars in Aries. She is a fighter by nature which will have helped her in her comeback. She shares a Taurus Moon with Bill Clinton, which in her case is square a 4^th house Jupiter and widely her Leo Sun. Her emphasized Moon may have been one factor in her becoming a public target. She wrote: “my trauma has been a microcosm of a larger, national one. Both clinically and observationally, something fundamental changed in our society in 1998 … the scandal had an epigenetic quality, as if our cultural DNA has slowly been altered.”

  Clinton’s Saturn in Leo is conjunct her Sun, a hint of his seniority in age and his Mars Neptune is conjunct her 12^th house Pluto – so he would have a pull of glamour but was also a dominating force. Their relationship chart has an aggravated/unfair treatment Mars Saturn conjunction sextile Venus with the composite Uranus conjunct the Sun and square the composite Moon – on different agendas, disruptive.

  When the scandal broke in 1998 her Progressed Mars was opposition her Sun for a collision-like shock; with tr Uranus square her Moon and about to crash into her SA Mars opposition SA Uranus – an upset on an epic scale.

   She does have tr Pluto opposing her Sun this year and next as she sets out on her next phase. Tr Jupiter through her 8^th at the moment points to a successful transition into better times with success ahead. She deserves it.  Europeans scratched their heads over the whole fandango wondering what all the fuss was about. Only in sanctimonious, hypocritical US did it become an impeachable offence – and the end result was to nearly bury a 22 year old who was hardly the instigator. There are several women from that time including the one who snitched on her who should hang their heads in shame.

Add On: Linda Tripp, a White House secretary became friendly with Lewinsky and then set her up by wearing a wire to record what she said about her sex life. According to co-workers Tripp was not well liked or trusted, was a gossip and keen to be in the know.  Upset by comments about her appearance after the furore attracted press attention Tripp went for cosmetic surgery funded by an anonymous benefactor and later bought a home in upmarket Virginia.

 Born 24 November 1949 8am Jersey City, NJ, she had a 12^th house Sun Mercury in Sagittarius with Neptune in her 10^th and a troublesome combination of a bad-tempered, can-be-destructive Mars Saturn in Virgo and an opinionated Pluto in her 9^th. Plus a likes-money Venus, Moon, Jupiter in Capricorn in her 2^nd house.

  Lewinsky’s Pluto was conjunct her Midheaven so she would perceive her as a threat. Their relationship chart had a competitive composite Sun square Mars and a distrustful Saturn square Venus Neptune.

Add On: Hillary’s relationship chart with Monica has a competitive composite Sun square Mars and a oneupmanship tussle from Jupiter trine Pluto with the composite Pluto being conjunct the Sun and South Node. So an underlying struggle for control. One might wonder about Monica’s mother issues with her focal point Moon. And her Moon is square Hillary’s Mars Pluto which is a toxic crossover.

  Hillary, of course, has father issues with a truly mind- boggling collection of Saturn Pluto Mars in Leo on her IC. She is more than used to high tensions in her home life.  Bill’s glitzy collection of Mars, Neptune, Venus and Jupiter in Libra fall in Hill’s 5^th house so he would bring an element of fun into her lifeas well as a child. His Moon is conjunct her North Node in Taurus in the 12^th – so there will be a deep, hidden connection. She’s not a lady for letting go with six Fixed planets and her relationship chart with Bill has a chained-together Saturn Pluto conjunction square Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio. There would be compensations though the composite Sun square Uranus does point to a need to lead fairly independent lives.

Posie Parker has made a name for herself travelling round the world promoting her gender-critical views (defined by birth sex) and lobbying against trans activists. She has faced criticism since her talks have attracted racist, white supremacist, neo-Nazi and far-right anti-LGBT groups.

  Born 13 June 1974 12.40pm Taunton, England, she has a 10^th house Gemini Sun conjunct South Node trine Uranus and square Jupiter in Pisces (and probably Pisces Moon). With an influential and ultra-determined Pluto square Saturn Mercury in Cancer and on the midpoint of a Mars in Leo trine Neptune mini Grand Trine.

  If I was being negative (never having heard of her before) I would say over confident, attention-grabbing with a hard streak.

  What did intrigue me though I don’t know what it means is her Sun at 22 Gemini, the same as Donald Trump, which is hardly inspiring. But it matches JK Rowling’s Jupiter at 22 Gemini and Suzanne More, another gender-critical journalist, with Venus at 24 Gemini.

  JK Rowling and Suzanne Moore’s views seem more than reasonable where Posie Parker has a feel of a ramped-up zealot without much discrimination. Or maybe she found herself a bandwagon because she liked attracting publicity.  

What is it about the toxic arguments in vogue these days which exaggerates the difference and creates extreme caricatures of the other side? JK Rowling as I understand it has never voiced anything other than sympathy for people who are genuinely gender dysphoric and has merely argued for defending women’s safe spaces.

ADD ON: Magnis Hirschfeld, 14 May 1868, Kolberg, Germany/Poland and Havelock Ellis, 2 February 1859 8.15am Croydon, England – were early sex researchers who stimulated discussion and controversies at the turn of the 19^th into 20^th century up and the two decades thereafter.

  Hirschfeld, like Freud was a Sun Taurus with an Aquarius Moon and Ellis a New Moon in Aquarius. They launched their theories when the febrile Neptune Pluto in Gemini was in full spate, stimulating new ideas, not all of them overly sane. And continued on through Pluto in Cancer (1914 onwards) which transformed the face of the feminine, released women from domestic servitude to some degree because of WW1 but also had an emotionally destructive effect. Ellis’s work was picked up by Freud. And in later years sex researcher John Money pushed the term ‘gender identity’ and argued that sexual identity is socially constructed which he set out to prove by mutilating two patients who in adult life committed suicide.

  See John Money – manipulating gender boosted his career post June 26 2023. He was a peculiarly unpleasant Sun, Mars, Pluto in Cancer trine Uranus.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/

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Jennifer Lopez’s latest offering has reviewers scratching their heads. “This Is Me … Now: A Love Story review – JLo’s bombastic ode to love and herself” says one. “The bonkers, star-studded musical-biopic-fantasia-mess proves Jennifer Lopez can do whatever she wants,” says another. “JLo’s musical tribute to Ben Affleck was wildly overblown. But this behind-the-scenes documentary is an engrossing insight into their introvert-extrovert romance.”

A self-funded $20 million dollar celebration of the rekindling of her romance with Ben Affleck is stratospherically ego-centric (from her point of view) as well at times evidently as surprisingly self-effacing.

  “It is a film that bristles with the occasionally unbearable tension that exists between her demands as an exhibitionist and his needs as an introvert.” “We’re just two people learning how to compromise,” he says on camera, veering between overwhelming happiness and extreme discomfort. All the more bizarre since the reason for their first split was “the massive amount of scrutiny around our private life.”

  That she is a Leo is hardly surprising though so is he – so clearly they are sun sprites cut from a different cloth.  She was born 24 July 1969 New York, no birth time. Though midday would give her a 10^th house Sun Mercury square Saturn in Taurus on one side and trine a colourfully exuberant Mars (Moon) in Sagittarius sextile Uranus Jupiter in Libra. She has a passionate Venus in social butterfly Gemini square Pluto with possibly a Scorpio Moon conjunct Neptune. Maybe her Sun Saturn are what give her this seemingly desperate need to be in the headlines constantly.

 He was born 15 August 1972 2.53 am Berkeley, California and has a 2/3^rd house Leo Sun in an upbeat trine to Jupiter in Sagittarius. But his Saturn in the 12^th with Pluto and Uranus in his 4^th may be what put the brakes on his attention-grabbing Leo Sun. He also has a Scorpio Moon.

  She is going through a challenging phase with tr Pluto opposition her Leo Sun and then Mercury this year and on till 2026; with tr Neptune Saturn opposition her Uranus Neptune in 2025/26 as well.

  Their relationship chart has a strong Jupiter which always helps to bring mutual support, optimism and smooths round rough edges; plus a passionate Venus square Pluto. But there is also a composite Saturn opposition Neptune which sets up worries, making for a constant fear the connection is not doing well. Pluses and minuses – it will sag a touch this year with tr Neptune hitting on the composite Venus Pluto and tr Uranus colliding with the Saturn Neptune in 2025 – there will be anxieties ahead. Ben Affleck’s Sun/Moon midpoint, his close relationship signifier, will be less than delirious this year with tr Neptune in opposition through into 2025 with this autumn’s Lunar Eclipse rattling it as well.

 Their wedding chart from 16 July 2022 has a Cancer Sun conjunct Procyon (rise and fall) opposition Pluto, inconjunct Saturn, trine Neptune and sextile Uranus North Node – so it was always going to be a complicated whirl. Their composite Jupiter may save them. But if her birth time is circa midday which seems likely then her Sun/Moon midpoint is square her erratic, unpredictable, constantly changing Uranus Jupiter and also catching tr Neptune oppositions come 2025/26.

  I never trust overblown declarations of everlasting love from celebrities. A touch like Hello weddings it can put a blight on what follows.  

Add On: The rapper Sean Combs known as Diddy has been landed with yet another lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault – all of which he hotly denies, though he did pay off a former girlfriend.

 For two years around 1999, he and Jennifer Lopez were an item, breaking up eventually because of his infidelity. She has never alleged any physical abuse during her time with him.

  Born 4 November 1969 New York, he is a determined Scorpio Sun Mercury opposition Saturn in Taurus with a can-be-ruthless Mars on the cusp of Capricorn/Aquarius trine Pluto and Uranus. It would be a stormy and tricky mix with JLo with his Mars opposition her Sun and his Sun opposition her Saturn. Their relationship chart has a controlling/dominating composite Sun Pluto square Mars with an inflammatory Mars square Uranus; plus an unkind, one-sided Mars trine Saturn.  Not a healthy mix.

  He’ll stay bullish over the next two years but will nonetheless be trapped, infuriated and seriously rattled in 2025 and beyond.

  The dizzying bedhopping and entangled romantic liaisons that were standard for rock stars are brought into focus as Pattie Boyd sells heartfelt and revealing letters from Eric Clapton who pursued her while she was married to Beatle George Harrison. Despite being obsessed and desperately in love with Pattie, Clapton was dating her sister Paula while ostensibly in a relationship with aristocrat Alice Ormsby-Gore.

  Pattie eventually split from Harrison after reportedly finding him in bed with bandmate Ringo Starr’s then-wife Maureen. Before going on to marry Clapton she had a fling with Rolling Stone Ronnie Woods whose first wife, Krissy Findlay, had dated Clapton, married Wood, then had an affair with Harrison.

 She stayed married to Clapton for 10 years until his infidelity broke them up as his mistress got pregnant.  All too exhausting. Though both Boyd and Clapton are now seemingly in long term established relationships with other partners since 1991 and 1998 respectively.

  Pattie Boyd was born 17 March 1944 4am Taunton, England and became a model and photographer. She inspired Harrison’s songs “I Need You”, “If I Needed Someone”, “Something” and “For You Blue”, and Clapton’s songs “Layla”, “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Wonderful Tonight”.

  She has a 3^rd house Sun Mercury in creative Pisces, a sign suited to photography, at home with images rather than words. Her Pisces Sun Mercury is square a troubled and angry Mars Saturn in Gemini hinting at a tough childhood with divorced parents. Most noticeably she had a powerful and confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo in her 8^th, perhaps a hint of why she attracted successful men.

  She was probably better suited to Harrison, 24 February 1943 11.42pm Liverpool, for all his infidelity since his Jupiter in Cancer fell in her 7^th and his Venus in Pisces was conjunct her Sun. His Pisces Sun was conjunct her Venus. But his erratic, unpredictable Saturn Uranus in the 8^th square a fun-loving Pisces Sun in his 5^th would not make for a settled emotional life.

 Clapton, 30 March 1945 8.45pm Ripley, England, also has Uranus in his 8^th for a changeable emotional life and erratic temperament, especially since it forms a volatile square to his 5^th house Mars. His hard-working Aries Sun in his 6^th opposes Neptune and forms a talented Half Grand Sextile to Uranus and an influential/controlling 10^th house Pluto. His marriage to Boyd was marred by his infidelities and domestic violence. In a  1999 interview with The Sunday Times, he admitted to raping and abusing her while they were married and he was a “full-blown” alcoholic who felt entitled to sex.

  Both Harrison and Claton had intense Scorpio Moons and both had dominating Pluto in their 10^th.  In both relationship charts there were Mars Pluto combinations, leading to anger issues and resentment.

  It is interesting that all three have 8^th house planets emphasizing Martin Mortiz’s point –

  “The eighth house is associated with entanglements, power games, boundary crossings, or dealing with taboos.”

And despite it all she was bemoaning recently that there are no ”’proper men’ around nowadays. She clearly liked it rough and stormy.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, is under attack from a variety of angles – accused of being under the control of “Islamists” by going soft on pro-Palestinian marchers; renaming the underground lines at a cost of £6.3 million – Suffragette, Windrush, Lioness, Mildmay, Weaver and Liberty lines –  which is a ‘multicoloured nod to the capital’s diversity and some obscure elements of history’.  And is now facing questions about spending £117,000-a-year on a ‘night tsar’ in charge of rejuvenating night culture in the city, who has been jetting around the world as London’s nightlife declined.

 Khan, a former MP and lawyer, from a Pakistan immigrant family was born in London 8 October 1970 and is an independent-minded Sun Uranus in Libra with a ferociously determined Mars Pluto conjunction in Virgo and an equally determined Saturn in Taurus opposition Venus Neptune in Scorpio. He probably has an Earth Grand Trine of Mars Pluto trine Saturn trine his Capricorn Moon. His work ethic will be strong.

  He’ll sag a touch through March with tr Neptune opposition his Pluto and be jolted and jangled by and jangled by tr Uranus conjunct his Saturn in April and opposition his Venus in May across the next Mayoral election, as well as his SA Pluto being opposition his Saturn – which could suggest a less than happy phase for him. Though tr Jupiter also in Taurus close to tr Uranus could save the day for him.

 The chart for his first swearing in 7 May 2016 hints at considerable setbacks later this year into 2025 which may or may not be connected to the results of the forthcoming election.

Geroge Galloway is not exactly connected but he is standing in the Rochdale byelection waving the Palestine flag for all he is worth in the hope of rallying support from the Muslims who are a substantial chunk of the electorate.  Born 16 August 1954 6am Dundee, he was a Labour MP ousted for his criticism of the Iraq War, who went independent, and has had an on off ‘colourful’ career in politics since, is pro-Corbyn and blames the Ukraine invasion on NATO.  A flamboyant, ultra-determined, attention-grabbing Sun Pluto in Leo on his Ascendant is trine Mars in Sagittarius; and his lucky Jupiter Uranus in Cancer is in a can-be-fanatical square to Neptune.

  He does not look overly hopeful in March into early April with a failure-strewn tr Neptune square his Mars, but that does not pick up until the election is over. Depending on the accuracy of his birth time he may have his SA MC nearing a conjunction to his Jupiter which will give him a boost if not now then in the next year or so.

 In many ways Rochdale is emblematic of the total dysfunction of UK politics. The Labour and Green parties have ditched their candidates, the Conservative is on a long-planned family holiday, the Lib Dem remains, but pulled out of the most high-profile political event, a local BBC radio debate. ‘The most energetic campaigning last week came instead from the political fringe: George Galloway, serial byelection winner and founder of the Workers Party of Britain, and Simon Danczuk, the town’s former Labour MP who was suspended by the party for sexting a 17-year-old girl and is now standing for Reform UK.’

  “We don’t deserve this,” said a voter. “This town does not deserve to be this short of anybody decent to vote for.”

  Rochdale itself has an uncomfortable reputation having been Cyril Smith’s constituency when he was an MP for two decades, outed as a serial child sex abuser only after his death. More recently it was the focus of outrage after the failures of the police to protect teenage victims of grooming gangs emerged.

 The town which has an ancient history was incorporated in 1856 and given a coat of arms on 20 February 1857 – which gives it Uranus in last decan Taurus so now on its Second Uranus Return.

It must sit on some very odd ley lines

ADD ON:  Lee Anderson who accused Sadiq Khan of being under the sway of “Islamists” was described by the Daily Mail as “not one of life’s diplomats. A brash ex-Nottinghamshire miner, the Tory MP for Ashfield wades into sensitive debates with all the subtlety of a flying mallet.” However clumsy his words there appears to be a good deal of support for what he was trying to express –  that pro-Palestinian demonstrators are spreading hate and division freely in demonstrations.

  Born January 1967 he is a Sun Mercury in Capricorn in an argumentative square to Mars; with Uranus Pluto in Virgo trine Virgo and opposition Saturn in Pisces. Mouthy and excitable.

  He was never going to get on with Sadiq Khan no matter what the point at issue since SK’s Sun Uranus clashes with LA’s Mars. And SK’s Mars Pluto is conjunct LA’s Uranus Pluto and opposition his Saturn. Their relationship chart has a power-struggling (for the upper hand) Jupiter Pluto conjunction tied into a distrustful yod and an explosive Mars Uranus conjunction plus an evasive Sun Neptune. Not a happy twosome.

  I am as critical as any about successive Israeli government policies of ill-treatment of Palestinians which have stoked up trouble. That does not mean I appreciate the anti-Semitic hatred that is displayed by a thuggish element of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Nor am I anything but condemnatory about fundamentalist religious efforts to impose Sharia law, tramp over women’s and gay rights or facilitate the abuse of children. The UK has always been appallingly lax about saying THIS WILL NOT DO. They pussy foot around trying not to upset the sensibilities of those with different values and in the end devalue the culture of the country. The German newspaper Bild’s list of suggestions for immigrants see 3^rd December 2023 post was not far off the mark.

  The French (who admittedly are racist) are also admirably firm about upholding the secular values of their country.  They recently tossed an immigrant who had been resident for some decades back to his birth country because he ranted against the values of France. And it did not go through expensive years of appeal courts. Decision and off he went.

  Bitter unhealable divisions, conspiracy theories, loss of faith in leaders and the emergence of down-the-rabbit-holers issuing messianic calls to their gullible followers make for a a feverish and scary atmosphere.

  In the USA an increasingly unhinged Trump soars ever onwards. In the UK the latest byelection in Rochdale which should have been a shoe-in for Keir Starmer has ended up a toxic mess with the Labour candidate ousted because of anti-Semitic remarks, creating a vacuum for George Galloway who has made Gaza his rallying cry. The House of Commons this week collapsed into shambles with fears that MPs are at risk of their lives if their vote upsets fanatics.

 UK’s failed PM Liz Truss is in the US murmuring about the dark, deep state while cosying up to MAGA election deniers. And Richard Tice of the UK Reform party, climbing into double digits in the polls, proclaims at the party conference: “The sun shines on the righteous. And we are the righteous. We are the reformers.” Hallelujah.

  Matthew Syed in The Times remarks today: “Psychologists tell us that conspiracies tend to emerge when people cannot face up to empirical reality.” “Blaming shadowy forces isn’t just convenient for these political chancers; it is a comforting distraction for the rest of us, too — the bread and circuses of the social media age.”

  I’ve been trying to work out whether the mental disintegration and chaos is down specific USA and/or UK astrology or is a global phenomenon triggered by Pluto moving into Aquarius and the dying days of Neptune in Pisces and Uranus in Taurus before shifting on. Though Russia/Ukraine and the Middle East powder keg would suggest otherwise. 

 It sparked a thought about psychological transitions which are not a smooth process from yesterday to tomorrow. The old ego shell/mindset needs to be dismantled and thrown away before a new interface with sanity emerges. Pluto at work deconstructing and reconstructing. Without the old certainties there is fear, vulnerability, a risk of collapse into madness before new solid ground emerges in future.

 “The world has always gone through periods of madness so as to advance a bit on the road to reason.” Hermann Broch

  The USA is in meltdown about the possibility of the increasingly deranged and demented Trump being voted in by his deluded fan club. The UK in 2022 went through three prime ministers, four chancellors of the exchequer, three home secretaries, three health secretaries and five education secretaries. Plus a catalogue of abysmal failures by various public bodies. And Queen Elizabeth 11 died who had been a beacon of stability for so long.

   The old certainties are gone. Reasoned argument is drowned out by too much divisive noise megaphoned by social media.

  On the UK chart, the four Fixed planets forming a wide Grand Cross have been under assault from transiting Uranus for several years, culminating this spring to early 2025 in a square to the 11^th house Saturn, ruling the legislature. It was always going to be a few years which shook the UK to its foundations.  Plus tr Uranus moving through the 8^th house until 2027 which apart from financial effects was going to cause psychological disturbance/change at a deep level. Not to mention Solar Arc Uranus also moving through the UK 8^th for the past five years and aiming to collide with the UK 8^th house Mars on the same degree this July/August and exact in mid 2025. That may bring a financial shock of considerable proportions or a major accident, but at a deeper level will jolt the national psyche, possibly bringing up more anger and rancour before it moves on.

 And last but not least Pluto in Aquarius will trine the UK Uranus at one degree Libra for an upheaval (and enlightenment?) and make a confident opposition to the UK Jupiter at one degree Leo this year and next with a disruptive (and liberating) tr Uranus square the UK Pluto in 2025. And a Progressed Moon through a season of endings in the 12^th until October 2025.  

  None of this solves any problems but it does make it obvious that the UK is undergoing a seismic change which was not going to happen without collateral damage.

  The USA lacking a settled start time is trickier to compare. Though the Pluto Return of the past two/three years would bring to the surface a fanatical intensity. The Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the USA Mars this July which will produce a collision-like setback is still to show its hand. Running on in 2025 ther SA Saturn will square the US Neptune – which will bring uncertainty and confusion. The Solar Arc Sun will also square the US Mars by 2026 and oppose the US Neptune in 2027 – so whatever that USA Mars square Neptune represents will be brought sharply into focus for several years from 2024 to 2027. And Neptune into Aries (along with Saturn) will start to square the US Venus and Jupiter through till late 2027 which is likely to be financially disappointing and enthusiasm/confidence-denting.

  All countries will react differently to the celestial transitions between 2023 and 2026 and it may be that it is both global and particular.

Previous Pluto into an Air sign Libra in 1971/72 oversaw the Munich massacre when Israeli athletes at the Olympics were murdered by the Arab terrorist group Black September. The Troubles started in Northern Ireland with Bloody Sunday with the seemingly intractable Roman Catholic v Protestant, Republican v Unionist schism.  The seeds of Watergate were sown and the UK joined the EEC.  

Air rules ideas, ideologies and communication. Pluto clearly stoked up intense and fanatical differences of viewpoint with, in certain cases, a violent outcome.

“You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” Thomas Sankara

“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”  Akira Kurosawa

“The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it, but it can’t wake up.” D. H. Lawrence

“Genocide is not just a murderous madness; it is, more deeply, a politics that promises a utopia beyond politics – one people, one land, one truth, the end of difference. Since genocide is a form of political utopia, it remains an enduring temptation in any multiethnic and multicultural society in crisis.” Michael Ignatieff

[PS This is not what I started to write, really intending to focus on the Rochdale byelection but that is only a symptom of a larger malaise.]