VS Naipaul, one of the giants of 20^th Century writing, a Booker and Nobel Literature Prize winner, has died. He was born to descendants of indentured Indians in colonial Trinidad on 17 August 1932 with a journalist father, won a scholarship to Oxford and went on to write 30 books from comic novels set in his homeland to memoir and travel writing.

He was known as ‘independent, cussed, contrary’; ‘paying no attention to what was considered fashionable.’ His descriptions of life in the colonial world wasn’t always popular with those he left behind, especially his depictions of disintegration and hypocrisy of the third world. His private life was complicated with a mistress of 24 years he kept during his first marriage and when his wife died he moved relationships to marry someone else.

He was born with the generational bleak, tough-minded Pluto opposition Saturn in Capricorn square Uranus in place making him a trail-blazer but also disruptive, defiant and impatient.  His Leo Sun Mercury were trine Uranus so he’d enjoy the attention he received by being an outsider and idiosyncratic. He also had a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Cancer sextile a head-in-the-clouds Neptune Jupiter in Virgo. His Moon was in Pisces.

He had  strong creative 5^th and especially 7^th harmonics chart and a hard-edged writers 21H.

Monsanto, the agrochemical corporation which is a major producer of genetically modified crops, has lost their case against a claim that their weedkiller Roundup caused cancer. A San Francisco jury awarded $289 million to a terminally ill groundsman. They found that Monsanto failed to warn him of the health hazards from exposure and “acted with malice or oppression”. During the lengthy trial, the plaintiff’s attorneys brought forward internal emails from Monsanto executives they said demonstrated how the corporation repeatedly ignored experts’ warnings, sought favourable scientific analyses and helped to “ghost-write” research that encouraged continued usage. This is the first Roundup case with another 4,000 similar expected to follow.

Monsanto was founded on 29 November 1901 when Uranus in Sagittarius was in an innovative, experimental opposition to Pluto – both of which are being undermined by tr Neptune square exactly now and through till 2020. There’s also a materially-ambitious collection of Mars, a Saturn Jupiter conjunction and Venus in Capricorn. Tr Saturn is conjunct the Mars this year for a major setback, once more in the fall; and then moves onto the Saturn Return and tr Saturn conjunct Jupiter in 2019 which looks sobering and belt-tightening financially. This year there’s also a shock/collision Solar Arc Sun square Mars as their first trial started. The early 2020s don’t look too progressive either with tr Neptune again dissolving and panicking several of the Sun midpoints.

Monsanto executives are still denying Roundup is carcinogenic.

Monsanto is owned by Bayer, founded 1 August 1853, who will have to foot the bills. Their Pluto in Taurus square a Leo Sun is being upended exactly at the moment by tr Uranus in hard aspect and that will run on to 2020/21 so shaking the company considerably. Tr Neptune is in a sinking square to their Jupiter and conjunct Neptune (for a Return) until early 2019. And there’s a panicky-failure Solar Arc Mars square Neptune around 2021 – so not in the most illustrious times of their existence.

Astrid Holleeder’s memoir, Judas: How a Sister’s Testimony Brought Down a Criminal Mastermind, has just been released in the US and UK with Steven Spielberg creating a TV series on her life.  Her book tells of her life as an unwilling confidante to her brother, Willem Holleeder, a notorious Dutch crime boss, both children of an alcoholic and abusive father. She turned against her brother after the attempted murder of his best childhood friend and brother-in-law, shot multiple times while their sister, Sonja and 2-year-old son were beside him in the car. They all survived, but he was later gunned down in the street.

In 2013 she decided to testify against her brother having secretly recorded hundreds of hours of conversations with him, including confessions about various killings.  She has been in hiding since 2017, when she discovered that her brother had put a contract out on her life, and wears a bulletproof helmet, neck guard and vest when she leaves her secret apartment. The trial is ongoing in the Netherlands with Astrid the key witness for the Justice Department, which hopes to convict him on six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

She was born 4 December 1965 and Willem 29 May 1958.

She’s a Sun Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces and Uranus Pluto in Virgo; with her Mars in Capricorn trine Uranus Pluto – all the hallmarks of an aggressive and unpredictable father are there.  She’s highly-strung, outspoken, perhaps drawn to a more respectable profession by her Mars and Venus in socially-ambitious Capricorn.

Her brother Willem is a more obvious toughie with a bleak and entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine of Saturn trine Pluto trine Venus with his Mars in a can-be cruel square to Saturn and inconjunct Jupiter; and a can-be-fanatical Neptune square Uranus.

Her Saturn squares his Gemini Sun; and his Mars opposes her Uranus Pluto for an explosive and hostile interface.

Their relationship chart echoes what she describes in her book of the conflicting emotions of both hating and loving, wanting to protect and then turning against, her brother. There is an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction in a power-struggling opposition to Pluto; with an adventurous Jupiter Uranus; and a suspicious/doubting Neptune square Saturn and an undermining Neptune square Mars. She’s looking understandably nerve-wracked this year and next; more upbeat in 2020; then decidedly depressed in 2021/2022. That latter period is when her brother looks very upbeat and successful which doesn’t bode well.

It’s the classic example of how criminal lawyers and criminals can share similar charts – both operate in the same arena, just on different sides of the fence.

A bizarre spat has brewed up between Canada and Saudi Arabia after Canada’s foreign ministry expressed its concern over the arrest of Saudi civil society and women’s rights activists, which echoed what had already been said by the UN.

Saudi Arabia then threw a tantrum, expelling Canada’s ambassador, suspending new trade and investment with Ottawa, making plans to remove thousands of Saudi students and medical patients from Canada, and suspending the state airline’s flights to and from Canada. Analysts said the spat had little to do with Canada, but was a broader warning to western governments that any criticism of Saudi domestic policies is unacceptable.

While it may be true that Canada has been the fall guy set up as the example, there are obvious fault lines between the two country and both leaders’ charts.

Canada’s stalwart Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto falls across the Saudi 1902 10^th/4^th houses and squares the Saudi Mars – indicating that CA’s criticism of the Saudi government would bite. The Saudi chart also has a grandstanding 5^th house Pluto which Canada’s Uranus opposes, which would also elbow their pride.

Justin Trudeau’s liberally-inclined Saturn opposition Neptune squares the Crown Prince MbS’s Virgo Sun, so the latter would feel put down. MbS’s Neptune is square JT’s Capricorn Sun and squares JT’s 2^nd house Pluto, so MbS will be slippery in regard to Trudeau and attempt to undermine him financially.

Their relationship chart has a power-struggling-for-the-upper-hand composite Jupiter square Pluto; and an only-one-can-win Mars opposition Neptune. As does the Canada/Saudi relationship chart. Basically an ego-spat.

MbS does have the start of tr Uranus moving in hard aspect round his Fixed and pushily confident T Square of Pluto, Venus, Jupiter, which started a few weeks back and runs into 2020, so he’s likely to be over reacting and charging ahead regardless in several directions.

Neither side is suffering significant costs in the dispute so it may drag on. The USA typically has said nothing to help Canada, and even more typically neither has the UK, no doubt mindful of the money its defence contracts bring in.

It’s all the odder since MbS is supposed to be opening up Saudi Arabia and releasing women from their black laundry bags.

Robert Redford has decided to hang up his spurs with his final movie The Old Man & The Gun playing career criminal and escape artist Forrest Tucker, due out late September. He said “I’ve been doing it (acting) since I was 21. I thought why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”

He made his mark in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men and Out of Africa; as well as with his Sundance Film Festival and his advocacy of environmental causes.

Born 18 August 1936 8.02 pm Santa Monica, CA, he didn’t excel in school, fell out of college and ended up in New York, starting to act on Broadway and in television before moving into films.

He has a hard-working 6^th house Leo Sun with Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Moon in Virgo also in his 6^th; and his Moon, Mercury, Neptune opposition Saturn in Pisces and square Jupiter in Sagittarius in the 9^th.

The Virgo planets plus Saturn plus 6^th house would make him fairly understated and he was known as “the cool guy”, with one director remarking “The young Redford’s ambition was as hot as his personality was chilly.”

Jupiter in the 9^th has an idealistic and philosophical slant  as well as being a luck-bringer as the focal planet on a T Square. His entertainment 5^th house has a mega-ton Pluto in late Cancer conjunct Mars in Leo, so when he performed he made a powerful impact. His Uranus in Taurus is in a creative trine to Neptune and trine his Capricorn North Node for an Earth Grand Trine hence his interests in the natural world.

Why now for retirement? He’s on a Progressed Moon Return which is a staging post in life; has had Jupiter moving through his 8^th recently which often accompanies a transition. Plus his Solar Arc MC is almost exactly conjunct his Saturn  drawing a line; and his Solar Arc Mars is moving to square his Pluto which will block his 5^th house activities.

Although never say never. Actors often retire until tempted by another juicy project. And with tr Saturn now moving through his upper quadrant for a few years he’s unlikely to put his feet up altogether.

Angelina Jolie has been scrapping with her not-quite-ex Brad Pitt over child support, which she insists hasn’t been paid. He retorted he’d handed over $1.3 million plus an $8 million loan for a house. So back to court it goes.

Their relationship chart does have a composite Sun opposition Pluto which will be part of the problem. Plutonic relationships are transformational for both, so superglues them together when they are together. Which makes separation a gruelling process when the time comes. It ends up in bitterness, hostility and long-dragged out fights, with money often being a proxy for other resentments.

It hardly seems likely that either are short of a buck though superstars do have stratospherically expensive lifestyles with a multitude of agents, managers, staff, multiple houses, private tutors and private jets eating into income.

Angelina Jolie does have an over-reactive chart with a Mars Moon opposition Pluto widely square Saturn in Cancer – and won’t let go of perceived humiliations easily. Her Saturn does fall in his 8^th house of finances and intimacy and opposes his batch of 2^nd house Capricorn planets – Mars, Mercury, Moon and Venus – so money would always be a bone of contention, which would deflect attention away from deeper issues of emotional dysfunction in the relationship. Her Pluto falls in his 10^th so she’d want to be in control. His chaotic and unpredictable Uranus Pluto falls in her 2^nd which is probably what’s riling her at the moment.

He does have tr Saturn moving through his 2^nd at the moment, so not at his peak earning power or success – and will undoubtedly be facing a few setbacks which will hit him in the wallet from later this year and through 2019.

Their relationship chart hints this may run and run one way and another until the mid 2020s. There is a composite Mars square Neptune in their relationship chart as well as Sun Pluto, which suggests neither can bear for the other to win.

Not just a first world problem but a Hollywood-style tizzy beyond most ordinary comprehension.

Just for fun. The old enmity between England and France stretches back a millennium, with wiki listing 22 wars between the two countries and that was only from 1200 onwards till the early 19^th Century; so not including the Norman invasion of 1066.

The England 11 May 973 JC AD chart probably works best. That has a Taurus Sun Mars square Pluto in Leo which collides mightily with the France 21 September 1792 chart with its Uranus in Leo opposition Pluto in Aquarius square Mars in Scorpio – both fixed, utterly unyielding and vengeful nations. The England 973 AD chart also has Saturn in Gemini which squares the France 1792 Virgo Sun.

That relationship chart is even worse than the France/UK one with a composite Pluto trine Sun and square Neptune; as well as Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars – they don’t come much worse than that. Implacable hostility.

Even the France 10 August 843 chart with its Leo Sun hitting the England Sun Mars and Pluto; and the France Mars in Gemini square Pluto crashing into the England Saturn in Gemini is no better and makes obvious why there were centuries of fighting. That relationship chart has a bitter, power-struggling Mars Pluto sextile Mars, trine Uranus and opposition Neptune.

The surprise is that hostilities ceased on the battlefield at all; and that the UK laid itself on the line in two world wars in the 20^th Century in an alliance with France against invasions from Germany.

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Boris Johnson, erstwhile UK Foreign Secretary has not gone quietly into the night. But instead of amping up his anti-EU rhetoric he’s stirred the pot with comments on burkas. He doesn’t think they should be banned as in Denmark but likened them to letter-boxes and bank-robber gear. This stirred up the usual faux-outrage storm about Islamaphobia and cultural insensitivity and has led to calls from his expulsion from the Tory Party.

Happily Maajid Nawaz, the reformist Muslim has come to his rescue, suggesting the burka deserves to be “ridiculed”. He said: “This is the uniform of medieval patriarchal tyranny. It victim-blames women for their beauty. Where this is enforced it symbolises violent misogyny. I refuse to defend it.”

And an Oxford Imam, Dr Taj Hargey gave him full support in a letter to the Times. “he is justified in reminding everyone that the Wahhabi/Salafi-inspired fad of female facial masking has no Koranic legitimacy. It is, however, a nefarious component of a trendy gateway theology for religious extremism and militant Islam. The burka and niqab are hideous tribal ninja-like garments that are pre-Islamic, non-Koranic and therefore un-Muslim. Although this deliberate identity-concealing contraption is banned at the Kaaba in Mecca it is permitted in Britain, thus precipitating security risks, accelerating vitamin D deficiency, endorsing gender-inequality and inhibiting community cohesion.” He thinks they should be banned.

A Sky News poll, found 60% didn’t find Johnson’s remarks racist and 60% would ban the burka.

In the Westminster cock-fighting arena, it’s muttered darkly, that his intervention was a deliberate act to further his political ambitions and the responses are a proxy attack by Remainers hoping to undermine his credibility.

Born 19 June 1964 2pm New York, he has an extraordinarily Mutable chart with a communicative 9^th house Sun, Venus, Mercury in Gemini, with a volcanic 8^th house Mars in Gemini on the focal point of a T Square to Saturn in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto in Virgo. He’s vibrant, stimulating and runs on very high levels of nervous tension, tending to scatter his energy and aggression in all directions at once, getting easily bored. He needs periods of rest to re-centre and certainly needs to learn to focus.

He may have miscalculated in the short-term since he’s got tr Neptune square his Sun/Mars midpoint in August which isn’t good for confidence or career (repeating Feb and Nov/Dec 2019); and even worse tr Pluto square his Mars/Saturn midpoint for the final time this September and October which is a full-on catastrophe. And November doesn’t look much better. Basically he’s pretty teeth-gritted right through till early 2020. Though he will recover some of his mojo from April 2019 with tr Pluto trine his Mars/Jupiter midpoint and that runs till late 2020.

His determined Scorpio Moon is picking up the tr Uranus opposition later this autumn and in early 2019; with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct in 2020 – so he will be even more emotional than usual.

His birth time being sound he’ll be moving into a higher-profile phase from early 2019 onwards with a dynamic change in his career in two years’ time after a setback or two with his Solar Arc MC conjunct his Uranus, having opposed his Saturn just before.

He is relatively popular in the UK despite his endless stream of mishaps though it’s an odd mix with his Mars square the UK Pluto with his Saturn conjunct and Uranus Pluto in opposition. So he’ll stir up the nation’s sense of empowerment and cause aggravation in equal measures.  His Jupiter falls in the UK 8th aspecting all four UK Fixed planets so he does have an ability to rouse enthusiasm. Though his delusions of grandeur from his Jupiter opposition Neptune natally could have dire results. His midheaven falls close to the UK’s MC which will give him a sense of being in step with the country’s direction and destiny.

His relationship chart with the UK repeats the adventurous chemistry; with a controlling composite Sun trine Pluto and superficial friendliness from Jupiter sextile Venus. What is significant is a composite Mars opposition Neptune which suggests the ego-ambitions of one runs against the other’s interests. Total honesty is needed otherwise both end up weakened. And here we are.

His Solar Return from mid 2019 is dire with Mars opposition Saturn Pluto Moon; but his Return from birthday 2020 looks very successful.

Harlan Ellison – “one of the great living American short story writers” – has died. Staggeringly prolific he wrote 1700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic book scripts and essays, mainly in speculative new fiction, which included science fiction. Notorious as a firebrand, he once described himself as “a yapping dog with mean little teeth;” “a street urchin and a clown.”  He was litigious and argumentative and turned his zeal to good use in fighting for civil rights and writers’ right in the internet.

One of his obituaries said his “style was made up of equal parts insight, invective, absurdity, candor, charm, passion and biting wit.”

He was born 27 May 1934 2.20pm Cleveland, Ohio, with his father dying young and he was bullied at school as the only Jewish kid there. He ran away frequently, took odd jobs, spent some time in college and joined the army where he published his first novel and moved to Hollywood in his late 20s. He had four brief marriages, only his fifth in 1986 lasted to his death.

He had some chart. His ever-chatty Gemini Sun was in his 9^th house of publishing and communication in a creative square to Neptune and trine Jupiter in Libra in his 1st, so blessed with confidence, talent and luck. A fearsome Fixed T square of Mars in Taurus in the 8^th opposition a Scorpio Moon square Saturn suggests a turbulent emotional life with deep-seated anger issues and a dislike of cooperation and compromise. Added on to that his influential and controlling Pluto in the 10^th was trine his Moon and square Venus Uranus in Aries in his 7^th – so no surprises that his marital life was in constant churn.

His relationship with his mother looks highly stressed from his chart. One of his favourite remarks was “No one gets out of childhood alive” – and he clearly bore the scars of his troubled upbringing.

His creative 5^th Harmonic was strong; as was his obsessive 11H; and his breaking-with-the-orthodox, genius 13H.