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French football success in the world cup (so far) comes with a twist since many of their players, including the star Kylian Mbappe, are banlieue boys. The banlieues are effectively ghetto areas with large, working-class (or more often unemployed), non-white communities, synonymous with riots and social strife, thought of as breeding grounds for crime and terrorism. Yet 8 out of the 23 possible players come from these blights on France’s social conscience to which Macron has still found no answer.

Mbappe was born 20 December 1998 1.47am Paris, with a Cameroon-born, football-coach/agent father and a former handball-playing Algerian mother. He has a sharp-witted 3^rd house sporty Sagittarius Sun in an inspirational Fire Grand Trine to Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries trine a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo. His Mars in Libra on his Ascendant (Libra is often an athletic sign) is in a high-adrenaline trine to Uranus on the cusp of his sporting 5^th, sextile an influential Pluto Mercury. His Sun is in a confident and lucky square to Jupiter and his Mars squares Moon Venus in ambitious Capricorn. He’s certainly got drive, high energy and a unique talent which was obvious to those who saw him play early on. He’s now a French champion and the world’s second-most expensive player and still a teenager.

I hope I’m wrong but he’s got tr Pluto conjunct his accident-prone Mars/Saturn midpoint from today for a few weeks ahead; having had tr Pluto in a lucky and successful sextile to his Jupiter up until today. So maybe hope the Jupiter hangs around and the Mars/Saturn is just World Cup stress.

Pic by Кирилл Венедиктов

Katie Price, a sort of UK answer to the Kardashians, started life as a glamour model and became a television personality, author, singer, designer and businesswoman and is now worth many millions.  She’s had a complicated and lurid love life, lived out through the tabloids with an illegitimate disabled child, three former husbands and four other children. And is now romancing a much younger fitness instructor. Her two middle children are now reportedly living with her ex and their father, Peter Andre; and she’s making a new show Katie Price: My Crazy Life in which she slags off husband No 3.

Born 22 May 1978 in Brighton, with divorced parents, she’s a Sun Gemini opposition a Scorpio/Sagittarius Moon and has a volatile Uranus square Mars, with Mars in a hard conjunction to Saturn in wannabe-important Leo. Her Mars is also in a showbizzy mini-Grand Trine to Neptune, sextiling onto a controlling and determined Pluto; with Pluto in a pushily confident square to Jupiter. And her Jupiter is in a frivolous/fashion conjunction to Venus. Last but not least her Mercury in Taurus opposes Uranus giving her an outspoken streak.

All power to her for having made a small fortune out of unlikely beginnings and she looks pretty good for a mother of five, even given surgical help. But her chart describes a thoroughly aggravated and aggravating personality. Relationships won’t be her strong point with a North Node in Libra, never mind her Moon opposition her Sun and perhaps square Saturn, maybe Mars if an early birth time.

Her mother is evidently suffering from an incurable lung disorder and may die soon, which will be an immense worry for her at the moment. She does have tr Neptune opposition her Mars/Pluto midpoint at the moment and repeating till late 2019 which will feel disastrous, plus another couple of undermining Neptune transits to two Saturn midpoints.

Tom Cruise appears to be unstoppable with his sixth Mission Impossible just out garnering rave reviews and a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. He returns as US agent Ethan Hunt, battling a global catastrophe while defying death with alarming regularity and doing his own stunts. Which in this one led to a broken ankle during shooting when a leap off a building went wrong.

Born 3 July 1962 in Syracuse, New York at maybe 3.06pm, he’s a Sun Cancer but with an incredibly Fixed chart. His Mars in ultra-determined Taurus makes a high-adrenaline square to Uranus in Leo. His Venus in showy Leo and Leo North Node oppose Saturn in Aquarius square Neptune in Scorpio – leading to a complicated love life, an ability to lead the field, and an inclination to odd beliefs. He’s also got a self-protective, emotional and creative, though not always realistic Water Grand Trine of Sun to Jupiter in Pisces trine Neptune, formed into a Kite with a pushily confident Jupiter opposition Pluto, making influential and controlling Pluto the driving planet. His Moon is probably in Leo.

He’s certainly looking enthusiastic at the moment with tr Pluto square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint running till later in the year. A few dips in 2019/2020 and then back hitting the heights again. Fixed charts have the endurance factor and tend to like ploughing the same furrow.

Deep state, fake news and #metoo are being bandied about in the increasingly heated debate about what Jim Jordan, Republican congressman in Ohio knew about widespread sexual abuse by a team doctor when he was assistant wrestling coach at the university. First he flatly denied knowing anything, then he said he might have heard locker room rumours – to date nine former wrestlers and a former coach said they knew and three allege Jordan knew and did nothing. He and his supporters claim he’s being smeared because he has been grilling federal investigators, probing alleged collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians and has been put forward as a potential speaker by the House Freedom Caucus if the GOP retain the majority.

I caught a few headlines and didn’t read further since it seemed like an internal US political brouhaha. But having been asked, I had a look, and does he have an interesting chart?

Jordan was born 17 February 1964 – three days after John Gotti Jnr, (the convicted former mobster’s son), six days after Sarah Palin and 7 days after Glen Beck (right-wing conspiracy theorist jock.) All of them have similar charts – a ferociously hard-edged and aggressive Sun Mars Saturn in Aquarius with Neptune in Scorpio in square. Plus a Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Jupiter (Moon) in Aries. An apex Jupiter can have an effect on social affairs but tends to be undone by self-aggrandisement. He has another Yod of Mercury in Aquarius sextile Venus in Aries inconjunct Uranus – can be a trailblazer but is also divisive and tends to cause rifts.

His apex Uranus has moved by Solar Arc to catch the tr Uranus opposition, shaking it up at the moment and into early 2019; and his Sun, Mars, Saturn has moved to catch the tr Pluto square this year and on till 2021.He looks unnerved as of this month; but will be in better spirits (in a minor way) in 2019/2020.

John Cleese, the Monty Python comedian, appears to have lost his sense of humour about the UK and is baling out to live in the Caribbean. He said he had become disappointed over the “lying and triviality” of UK newspapers; and the standard of debate around Brexit which he was for. He always was a grump and has spent relatively little time in the country, so it’ll hardly make a difference.

Born 27 October 1939 3.15am Weston Super Mare, England, he has a Scorpio Sun square Pluto, which suited him for the role of uptight and bitter Basil in Fawlty Towers. His Mercury Venus also in obsessive Scorpio oppose Uranus and square Mars in contrary Aquarius, which will give him a penchant for speaking sharply, getting volcanically angry and leading a complicated romantic life. His Aries Moon is conjunct Saturn in his 8^th with Saturn opposition a Libra North Node square Pluto – emotionally bleak.  Saturn squares his Sun/Moon midpoint so close relationships will always have been difficult for him – he’s now on his fourth marriage.

Tr Saturn and tr Pluto are both moving through his 4^th house of home and family so a move was likely. And with tr Uranus now opposition his Sun and square his Pluto for the next few months he will have the urge to cut the chains that bind and throw everything up in the air. Tr Pluto is also trine his Uranus for more upheavals.

Relocating his chart to the Caribbean puts Jupiter on his midheaven, so he’ll feel respected and admired there; with a fun-loving Venus Mercury in the 5^th. Though whether he’ll turn from being a tortured soul to a happy man is questionable.

His creative 7^th harmonic is strongly aspected – describing a seeking soul who needs peace, also a perfectionist; can be too sceptical, critical, sarcastic, cold, self-centred.

His 13^th harmonic is also notable, which was the case for Peter Sellers – genius and breaking with the orthodox. In Cleese’s case it has a malcontent Pluto as well as luck and talent.

Kylie Jenner, half-sister to the KKK phenomenon and daughter of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, is reckoned at 20 years of age to have made nearly one billion dollars in three years running her cosmetic company. Trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire aged 23. She posts selfies with her cosmetics almost hourly to her 110 million Instagram followers and millions more on Snapchat; plus the 16.4 million who follow her company directly, or the 25.6 million Twitter fans.  friends. And she had a baby earlier this year.

Born 10 August 1997 5.25 pm Los Angeles, she has an intense Leo Sun in the business-finances 8^th house in an expansive opposition to lucky Jupiter in her personal-finances 2^nd square an ambitious, good-in-the-public-eye 10^th house Scorpio Moon. Fixed energy is good at accumulating, not so great at letting go. She’s also got an assertively-ambitious Mars on her midheaven in a hard-driving opposition to Saturn in self-reliant Aries in a showbizzy square to Neptune. She’s got initiative and sticking power.

Her get-it-together 5^th harmonic is strongly aspected tying in fashionable Venus Jupiter to Mars and Neptune; and both Sun and Moon to innovative Uranus. Her creative 7H is entrepreneurial and fairly ruthless.

For all her success she doesn’t look overly happy at the moment with an emotionally uptight Solar Arc Moon conjunct Pluto and a ‘shock’ Solar Arc Mars square Sun, both exact in coming months. Though alternatively it could be as her financially-loaded Fixed T Square moves by Solar Arc to connect with her influencer Pluto in the 11^th that’s what shot her up Forbes’ rankings. Whichever it’s certainly a hugely significant time in her life.

It does look hard going over the next three or four years with some setbacks and losses, so perhaps keeping up the relentless pace will tell – or fashions will change. Maybe also a baby will slow her down and with tr Saturn moving below her Capricorn Ascendant she’ll want more private time and less public profile for a few years ahead.

Targeting Germany has become a Trump delight as he complains about too many German cars on US streets; the cost of US troops based there; making false claims that crime is spiking in Germany because of immigration and relishes seeing “the people of Germany … turning against their leadership.” Now he’s turned his divide-and-rule tactics onto the German-Russian gas pipeline, as well as NATO spending.

Germany derives under 20% of its energy from gas of which 60-70% comes from Russia, the rest from Norway; their use of gas will go up in future as they reduce dependence on coal and cut out nuclear altogether. Poland and other eastern European countries strongly object to the Russia pipeline since they see it as running the risk of destabilising their region and giving Russia too much influence. Stage two of the pipeline project would allow Russia to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine and disrupt many east European countries, while preserving Germany’s energy supply.

Part of Trump’s German bugbear may be Merkel’s obvious distaste for his policies plus his mother issues being triggered by a stalwart Mutti. Though, heaven knows, he should be grateful to Deutsche Bank who hauled him out of financial trouble when he was blacklisted on Wall Street in the 1990s. Which may or may not become part of the Mueller investigation since Russian money laundering landed the bank in the soup with the US Justice Department.

What will make a significant difference is Trump’s Pluto Midheaven running directly through Germany, which will bring out his desire to dominate, sneer, put down and equally will run him into resistance and resentment. That’s true for most of Europe and the UK but Germany is on the bullseye, especially Frankfurt where Deutsche Bank is situated. The Pluto MC line is usually regarded as risky either physically or in terms of undermining reputation – interesting to see if the money angle (more below) is his downfall (should it occur).

There’s also hugely difficult chemistry between himself and Merkel personally with her 8^th house Sun Uranus in Cancer conjunct his Saturn Venus; and her determined Pluto conjunct his Mars.

His relationship chart with her is no better than his with Germany (1871) with strongly aspected Uranus (= no compromise) in both. November/December this year look like lowering the temperature still further.

Trump’s Pluto Descendant runs through China making for a hostile relationship and struggle for the upper hand; and his successful Jupiter midheaven line runs through – no surprise – Russia, to the east of Moscow. Below isn’t astrological but gives context.

There have been a couple of media pieces this week (URLs below) on his past business links with Russians over several decades. From Politico: “The litany of direct and indirect contacts with the Kremlin exceeds all possible exculpatory explanations. It is impossible to see the total picture and reach the conclusion that there is an innocent explanation behind it all. There’s simply too much to explain away.”

A Financial Times investigation into the Trump Toronto quotes a former Trump Organisation executive as saying “Donald doesn’t do due diligence.” So no checks would have been done in the post-Soviet rush to stash money abroad. Where Russia is concerned oligarchs, mobsters and the Kremlin are all intertwined and the likelihood of Putin having compromising information means he won’t even have to issue orders. Trump will proactively be doing whatever he believes will keep him in Putin’s good graces.

The general view is that Putin didn’t directly plan to put Trump in the White House, nor did Trump expect to win which is why there’s been such a panic to cover tracks. And one day his DC vacation will end and he’ll want to keep his family’s business model intact for the what-comes-after. Follow the money.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/10/trump-russia-jonathan-chait-218966

https://www.ft.com/trumptoronto

Charles Sobhraj, known as the Bikini Killer, the Splitting Killer and the Serpent, is a French serial killer of Vietnamese and Indian origin who preyed on Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia during the 1970s as well as having an extensive career as a thief. Reckoned to be a psychopath he’s now finally in a Nepalese prison doing life.

Born 4 April 1944 10pm? Saigon, Vietnam, from a broken home, he started down a criminal path early, was skilled at deception, evasion – ‘a cunning and cultured personality’ – and bribing prison guards to give him a luxurious life during one term inside and allegedly committed at least a dozen murders to sustain his adventurous lifestyle. At one point he was a celebrity in Paris, charging large amounts of money for interviews and film rights; and has been the subject of four books and three documentaries. Overconfidence led to his final downfall in returning to Nepal and getting nabbed.

At first glance his chart doesn’t look overly brutal. He has an attention-seeking 5^th house Aries Sun trine Pluto, North Node and Jupiter in Leo – so has self-confidence aplenty and determination. His Neptune in the 10th fitted him for a slippery career as a scam merchant and squaring Mars would give him a taste of publicity and pzazz.

His midpoints are fairly bleak and unfeeling with a hint of violence from Uranus = Mars/Pluto and Pluto = Mars/Uranus. And his Sun and Moon both aspect Saturn and Pluto, so he probably lacked empathy from a tough early start in life. Though psychopaths aren’t just about nurture deficiencies. There has to be a genetic or wiring malfunction which blots out the ability to relate.

His 18^th Harmonic, usually aspected with serial killers has Saturn Pluto amplified. His self-destructive 16H and appearing -in-the-history-books 17H are strong. His none-too-well-balanced 7H and obsessive 11H both have afflicted Mars.

He was as much a conman and fraudster as he was a murderer, and the killings seemed to be more a means to an end than for sadistic pleasure.  In one case he poisoned his victims – a Neptunian tactic.

The harmonics usually show up a potential for going bad when it isn’t obvious from the natal chart; those plus midpoints.

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