Los Angeles is in a state of emergency as a raging wildfire exploded from 10 acres to more than 2,900 acres in hours with worse forecast to come as the winds stay high. More than 30,000 people have been evacuated with many celebrity homes at risk.
The fire broke out at 10.30am on the 7th with Neptune Scheat on the Ascendant. In astrology Scheat is associated with unfortunate events and disasters, often involving violent storms.
The previous October Solar Eclipse also had Neptune Scheat on the IC with the Libra New Moon in the 7th. The previous September Lunar Eclipse had Mars in Cancer conjunct the IC.
Most telling is the Los Angeles incorporated chart of 4 April 1850 which has a Sun Saturn conjunction in Aries square Mars in Cancer with the LA Saturn catching last October’s and next March’s Libra/Aries Solar Eclipses. Eclipses on Saturn usually point to a time of facing grave responsibilities and being realistic. Since the LA Saturn is in Aries it may emphasis the need to be self-reliant.
Add On: The Hollywood chart, 1 February 1887 is also showing high stress. The Solar Arc Saturn is opposition the Hollywood Pluto (which squares Mars so is a danger point). The SA Uranus is in an emotionally upsetting conjunction to Venus; and the SA Venus is square Uranus. Plus the Uranus at 12 Libra is in line of the previous Libra Solar eclipse for a major jolt.
Wildfires are becoming more frequent in many areas including the south of France where I lived and are extremely scary and fast-moving with high winds. As a result there is now mandatory débroussaillage – which is clearing of all brush, dead vegetation and burnable material within fifty metres of any house. Pine trees need to be spaced out. Water is scooped up from the sea and dropped by helicopter, as well as fire hydrants.
There is a description today of how the Getty Museum protected itself against the fire which destroyed surrounding buildings – partly with an irrigation system, partly fire resistant building materials and brush clearing. There are ways of mitigating what is becoming a major problem in various regions.
Jerry Springer, the man who ruined a culture and fronted a tawdry, outrage-inducing and popular talk show for three decades, is given the netflix documentary treatment 18 months after his death. Fights, Camera, Action according to a review is a damning insight into TV’s most notorious show. One insider said ‘It really was the modern version of the Roman Colosseum.’ They pitted warring families against each other, got guests drunk, abused their confidence, coached them to perform onstage and offered no duty of care to clearly mentally vulnerable people. After an on-air altercation, one woman was killed by her ex-husband, who hours previously had appeared together on the show. It didn’t hurt the ratings.
After a slow start in 1991, With clean-cut Springer harbouring aspirations of a senate run, The Jerry Springer Show collected a new producer, a former tabloid journalist Richard Dominick, variously described as a Svengali, a mob boss and an evil genius. Outrageous behaviour and sleaze on the show turned Springer into an international superstar and a pariah.
Another review raises an interesting point about what the show’s popularity says about human society and psychology and whether Springer paved the way for the sensationalisation of US politics.
When it launched on 30 September 1991, admittedly low key at the start, tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn were opposing the USA Cancer Sun; with the US Solar Arc Uranus moving to oppose the US Sun. All were conspiring to throw a hand grenade at the white-picket-fence family-togetherness Cancerian image of old.
Springer himself, 13 February 1944 11.45pm London, England, keyed into the USA chart in an intriguingly pointed way. He was a Sun Aquarius (conjunct the USA Moon) in a confident opposition to Jupiter. But even more significant he had a communicative Air Grand Trine of Neptune trine Mercury South Node in Aquarius trine Uranus, formed into a Kite by Mercury South Node opposition Pluto North Node in Leo in his 10th. He was destined to be hugely influential and with his ‘leadership’ North Node being conjunct the USA’s North Node exactly he would become the man of the moment, at one level the face of USA.
Springer did have an unsettled Mars Uranus conjunct in his 8th house and Saturn conjunct Mars – so he would carry a good deal of inner turmoil, externalised into the wild and wayout stories of his show guests.
Richard Dominick, 21 May 1952, NJ, has his Sun Gemini with Algol sitting between his Sun and Venus which in turn squared Pluto. Emotionally ramped up and manipulative. Dominick’s Pluto fell in Springer’s career 10th conjunct his Jupiter, making Springer a mega-success by controlling him; and RD’s North Node was conjunct JS’s Sun for a fated coming together. RD’s Moon, Jupiter, Mercury were in JS’s 7th for a good partnership. Though it would be an uneasy combo with RD’s Sun conjunct JS’s 8th house Uranus and RD’s Saturn Neptune in JS’s 12th; plus RD’s Mars in Scorpio square RS’s Pluto.
The relationship chart is illuminating with a composite Sun trine a chained-together (and resenting it) Saturn Pluto; with Saturn Pluto conjunct Mars for additional aggravation which they coped with by projecting it out onto their show guests. Plus a lucky Jupiter Uranus square Venus. Pluses and minuses writ large.
In later years Springer showed his embarrassment and contrition by trying to project a more serious, cultured image.
Javier Milei has begun wrenching opening Argentina’s protectionist economy, slashing tariffs in a bid to beat down high prices. Argentines are ordering from Amazon for the first time. On December 22, the government stopped charging a blanket tax of 7.5 per cent on all imported goods. The changes put Argentina on the opposite course to much of the rest of the world. In recent years European countries and the US have erected new trade barriers to protect domestic industries from cheap imports from China and elsewhere.
Argentina has been battling deep-seated economic problems for decades – it has contended with some of the world’s highest inflation rates and is the biggest debtor to the International Monetary Fund. In response, last year almost 56% of the electorate voted for the wildcard candidate Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” and libertarian economist, for president. Since his inauguration he has implemented a major austerity drive, slashing government spending, firing thousands of public employees and freezing budgets. Argentina emerged from a severe recession in the third quarter of 2023, marking a milestone for him. Inflation decreased to 166 percent in November from 193 percent in October of 2024.
Milei has won glowing endorsements from Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Analysts have warned that Milei must deliver lasting growth that begins to boost living standards if he wants to prevail at mid-term elections in late 2025.
His Administration chart, 10 December 2023 11.56 am Buenos Aires, has an enthusiastic, confident and probably lucky Jupiter in Taurus opposition Venus square Pluto, alongside a less than favourable Sun square Neptune. Tr Uranus square the Saturn from this August onwards into 2026 will create tensions and upheavals as his innovations fall foul of those who profited from the old ways.
His own chart, 22 October 1970, will not appreciate tr Neptune and tr Saturn opposing his Pluto Mars conjunction from early 2025 throughout the year, inducing a degree of panic as the failure of certain plans looms large. Even his determined approach may wilt. 2026/27 look similarly lacklustre and not progressive but his luck will turn in 2028.
The Bank of Argentina, 28 May 1935, will be under pressure from tr Uranus in Gemini from 2026 till the end of the decade with the Gemini Sun square Saturn in Pisces opposition Neptune being severely rattled.
Argentina, 25 May 1810 with its Gemini Sun Mars opposition Neptune Saturn square Pluto in Pisces will also be moving through a tumultuous few years till the turn of the decade.
Milei’s relationship with Argentina will be jangled after mid 2025 and under extreme stress through 2026/27. His relationship with Trump is wreathed in illusion and will have a bumpy ride into 2025 and beyond.
Iran having watched the weakening of its proxy fighters Hamas, Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime in 2024 is sending more weapons to the Houthis in Yemen. They have given the militia group enough supplies to keep up its strikes on Israel and attacks on global shipping for “years to come” it is claimed.
The Iran 1 February 1979 9am Islamic Republic chart with its Mercury, Mars, Sun in Aquarius will be feeling the winds of change with Pluto heading their way, though exact aspects won’t come till later in the decade. There is confusion at the moment with SA Neptune conjunct the Mercury and an undermining tr Saturn Neptune conjunct the SA Sun through 2025. But there will also be a resurgence of confidence with tr Pluto opposition the Jupiter starting in March and running till late 2026.
The Iran 7 October 1906 chart is moving through an uncertain few years with its SA Saturn damping down the high hopes of Jupiter Neptune; with more obvious worries in 2026/2027 from tr Neptune Saturn square the Uranus.
The Bank of Iran chart is also pointing to 2026 to 2028 as peak crises years.
The Ayatollah Khameini’s Supreme Leader chart, 4 June 1989, with its ego-centric, overly confident yod onto Sun and Jupiter may be over-estimating its strength with the SA Pluto opposing Jupiter in coming months.
The present President Massoud Pezeshkian sworn in 30 July 2024 at 1pm has a turbulent year ahead with a mutinous domestic population as well as economic, employment and health problems.
On the relationship charts nothing looks to be settling anytime soon. The Iran 1906 with USA and Israelis under huge and aggravated pressure in 2025 with considerable worries and the Iran 1979 relationship charts are much the same.
The Yemen Republic (22 March 1990)/Israel relationship chart is stressed in 2025 and discouraging through 2026/27.
The Middle Eastern melting pot will continue to boil and bubble.
The EU will struggle mightily against headwinds in the coming year which won’t ease thereafter financially or otherwise with the years running into late decade being equally fraught.
At present the Midheaven and Ascendant being final degree Gemini and Virgo respectively will have the undermining tr Neptune in hard aspect throughout 2025 bringing indecision over direction and image with confusion rife. The Solar Arc Pluto will oppose the EU 8th house Moon and square Uranus over the next few months for a deadlocked phase with heavy economic challenges. It won’t ease up in 2026 either with tr Pluto starting the square the 2nd house Neptune for financial devastation and confusion – and scandals, which may emerge sooner as tr Pluto squares the Jupiter/Neptune midpoint through this coming year.
In 2026 tr Uranus will start to square the EU 12th house Pluto for upheavals and turmoil – with more dark secrets emerging and a loss of control – and that extends on to 2028 with tr Uranus opposition the EU Mars for jolts, jangles and high insecurity. By 2029 tr Pluto will oppose the 8th house Moon and square Uranus for an almighty upheaval – which could see a split or a collapse. The 2004 enlargement countries, mainly eastern European, could well move away.
The Maastricht Treaty chart, 1 November 1993, is pointing to major ruptures, fractures and bitter arguments through this year with tr Uranus square the Saturn and opposition Mars Pluto till mid 2025. 2028/2029 also look critical years of momentous change and challenges.
The European Central Bank, 3 April 1973, is showing a discouraging mood through 2026, and much worse in 2028/29.
The Euro, 1 January 1999 chart is suffering under tr Pluto conjunct the Neptune throughout this year; with blockages and immense pressures in 2029/30.
Ursula van der Leyen, 8 October 1958, Brussels, Belgium in for a second term as president will face muddle and mayhem this coming year with tr Pluto square her Neptune and similar continuing on thereafter. Her worst year will be 2026 with tr Uranus in a tumultuous and high-risk conjunction to her Mars in Gemini and square her Pluto, rattling even her iron self-control.
The euro is already sagging against the dollar and the imponderable is what effect Trump will have given his America-first approach to trade and the likelihood of him unsettling global economic stability with increasing debt, rising inflation etc. His relationship chart with the EU will be undermined right through his next term with tr Neptune Saturn conjunct the composite Sun and opposition Mercury and later Saturn.
Relocating his chart to Brussels puts Pluto on the Midheaven. According to Jim Lewis this is the ‘Looking out for Number One’ placing. Power struggles are inevitable and can often backfire. It will trigger his (one of many) obsessive streaks.
Add On: World Economic Forum. 24 January 1971, is an international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, with a mission statement about “improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas”. Its annual Davos meetings for investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists and its practices have attracted criticism from anti-globalization campaigners and others.
The WEF is in for a poleaxing amount of pressure from this year and on to 2027. The early Aquarius Sun is in the line of fire of the tr Pluto conjunction in 2026/27. Tr Uranus into Gemini will oppose its Mars, Jupiter, Neptune from mid 2025 onwards for a highly unsettled two years. And tr Neptune is opposing its final degree Virgo Pluto throughout 2025 with the Eclipses adding their challenging crises as well and perhaps eroding its influence.
The relationship chart with the EU points to 2026/27 being years of high stress as tr Uranus will square the composite Saturn and oppose the Mars.
The reluctance of authorities to tackle child sexual abuse is not limited to the most recent horrors emerging from the north of England with mainly “Pakistani men” preying on young girls, many in social care. Fear of embarrassing Muslim sensitivities with concern about the political impact may have been part of the problem. But it is all too sadly a common occurrence across the field, no matter who the perpetrators are.
Priest abuse was ignored forever until groups of adults abused as children got together, starting in the 1990s, and filed lawsuits in the face of an unrepentant RC church. To date $5 to $6 billion has been paid out by churches in the USA over the past two decades. Private school teacher abuse has been outed again because groups of adults came together and the multiple allegations were less easy to rubbish through weight of numbers.
Child sexual abuse in general started to be exposed in the 1980s as Pluto moved into Scorpio. Ellen Bass’s 1988 Courage to Heal which offered self-help to abuse survivors ran into a savage backlash as the ‘false memory’ (denial) movement went on the counter attack. Because of the toxic debate which followed, a considerable quantity of therapy research was initiated which eventually buried the notion of ‘false memory’ as a get-out-of-jail free excuse. Ellen Bass, 16 June 1947, is a Sun Uranus in Gemini with a determined Saturn Pluto in Leo with a Taurus Mars and Moon; and Jupiter in Scorpio.
In England the Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry 1987/88 led by Lady Butler Sloss produced a botched report suggesting that the doctors had got their diagnosis of abuse wrong. This misconception is still widely held today despite Beatrix Campbell’s heroic research efforts which provided evidence from The National Archives that the government in 1988 had been advised that “at least 80%” of the diagnoses of sexual abuse were, in fact, correct – and Margaret Thatcher knew that. Bea Campbell, 3 February 1947, is a redoubtable Sun Mars in Aquarius opposition Saturn Pluto in Leo with Jupiter in Scorpio.
Pluto exited Scorpio in 1995 as the Rose West trial in the UK was sickening the country with tales of serial killing and torture of young girls and women. The Solar Eclipse which oversaw her conviction fittingly was a New Moon in Scorpio with a brutal Mars Pluto conjunction.
The latest UK Child Abuse Inquiry instigated in 2015 went through three chairman in short order at the start, one of them being Butler-Sloss, which indicates a carelessness beyond the norm even for politics. Eventually Alexis Jay was pulled in because of her prior work in the Rotherham, Yorkshire abuse cases. She came out with a report in 2022 which has been largely ignored. She said that mandatory reporting was her “most important” recommendation and the UK was now “an outlier” in terms of international best practice, but a “watered-down” version proposed by the last Conservative government had been scrapped when the general election was called.
Alexis Jay, 25 April 1949, a Sun Taurus in a determined square to Pluto in Leo, Mars in go-ahead Aries in a tough-minded trine to Saturn in Leo and a Jupiter in early Aquarius.
Interesting that Ellen Bass, Bea Campbell have Jupiter in Scorpio and come out of the stubborn late 1940s generation..
The North Wales child abuse scandal was the subject of a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes. The 2000 report by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, resulted in changes in policy and to the settling of 140 compensation claims on behalf of victims of child abuse. When it reported, Waterhouse was interviewed on BBC TV Newsnight and Jeremy Paxman to his shame led with the question of whether some had ‘invented’ their stories to claim compensation.
What puzzled me through the 1990s as I was knee deep in the ‘false memory’ wars was the oddity of how quickly buried the knowledge of child sexual abuse incidents was in the public mind. Lies, smears, distortions of the truth were more palatable and easier to believe. I watched one multiple abuse scandal emerge in real time during which abusive adults got decades in prison and by the end of it there was still a general/media belief that nothing had happened. As one child therapist put it – the event just got ‘sealed over’ as if it had never existed.
Not an astrological thought – but there is a hint in psychiatrist Dori Laub’s words “The fight against the obliteration of the story could only be won at the cost of the obliteration of the audience.” So terrible we can’t bear to look at it – until dragged kicking and screaming by the threat of massive, expensive lawsuits.
Maybe Pluto in Aquarius will start to make headway into righting a few social ills.
This is a ramble and not too astrological but the present north of England rape gang horror sees an unhealthy coming together of political cowardice over Asian perpetrators added on top of the standard see-no-evil approach to child sexual abuse. Prison sentences are sometimes handed out but the public turns away its gaze and the authorities are never brought to pay the price for their dereliction of responsibility.
In terms of the Muslim sensitivities I am always reminded of Joan Bakewell’s words at the time of the Ayatollah’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie – “it is the problem for a basically tolerant society when it takes in intolerant elements. It doesn’t know what to do with them.” I reckon that is where the rot started. My hope for Pluto in Aquarius is that it is fiercely intolerant of intolerance.
Additional random thoughts.
Belgium held a huge White March on 20 March 1996 to demand better protection for children and a better functioning justice system after the Marcel Dutroux affair, when a serial killer and torturer of young girls with associations to politicians was exposed. Has much changed since? All countries have a convulsive moment which then sinks back into torpor.
Good piece in today’s Times by Matthew Syed who allies hyperliberalism with fascist right wingers – “two equal and opposite forces that are feeding off each other.”
He says about the gang rapes we should bin euphemisms. This was — ethnic violence of a shocking and sustained kind: predominantly Pakistani men targeting predominantly white girls. Children were drugged, trafficked, gang-raped and tortured, a scandal that shakes one to the core.”
“And all this took place in plain sight, in no small part because of the capture of our institutions by the virus of ultra-progressivism, the fear that to investigate these crimes might “undermine community cohesion” or — worst of all — appear racist.”
“Isn’t this what we saw with the trans issue, when a tiny group of activists “won” support by threatening anyone who disagreed with cancellation, leading to a backlash that ensured Trump’s most potent campaign slogan was not about the economy or anything else that once represented the bread and butter of politics. Instead, it was: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you. That’s right: a man who pathologically denies the result of the 2020 election, a serial lawbreaker who flutters his eyelashes at the QAnon conspiracy, was given wings by trans extremists and their (one hopes temporary) capture of American institutions.”
Add ON: After a great deal of soul searching at the end of a gruelling five years in the 1990s to find out why child abuse is such an intractable problem to tackle I eventually concluded:
That the perpetrators and their close perverse supporters (whether personally involved or incapable of believing their friend/relative was this monster) as a problem could probably be cracked.
What was not possible to shift was the great congealed mass of ‘nice’ people (neither abusers nor abused) who did not want to know and often hostilely did not want to know since it disturbed their idealized view of the world. Their need to hang onto a delusional sanitized world view was the overwhelming obstacle to progress.
Every so often an atrocity so horrific breaks through which they have to face but – as soon as possible it seals over and they delete it from mind. And life goes on as before.
It may be a faint hope but Martin Luther King’s thought – “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” has a mite of truth about it. CSA can be talked about nowadays which it couldn’t be prior to the 1980s. And progress tends to go in pendulum swings from one extreme to the opposite but out of the process incremental change of a positive nature usually results over the long term.
Institutional cover ups – from the Vatican, to school boards, care home management, to police and the judiciary – are a whole other problem. And are either complicit in the abuse or share the mainstream distaste for being forced to open their eyes to an unsavoury truth.
Add On: Nick Timothy (with whom I do not always agree politically ) has a trenchant piece in the Telegraph.
“The rape gangs are a massive social and state failure.”
“The machinery of the state failed in their most elementary duties – driven by its core ideologies of ultra-liberalism and multiculturalism – not only looked the other way. In some cases it was an active participant in the racially aggravated mass rape of children.” “We still do not know, for example, the truth about allegations of police collusion, social workers facilitating abuse, and senior councillors cutting deals outside the criminal justice system.”
“We are witnessing not the strength of an arrogant state, but the weakness and fear of an ideological dynasty that sees its empire collapsing and lacks the power to stop it. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/06/grooming-gangs-scandal-is-shattering-the-woke-worldview/
Add ON: Compiled from police forces in England and Wales. Foreign national males living in Britain commit sex crimes at a far higher rate (3.5 times more likely) than do British men.
The number of rapes soared from about 15,000 a year a decade ago towards its current level of almost 70,000 a year. “That coincided with a sharp increase in immigration by young men from countries and cultures that have not experienced women’s emancipation.”
Data coming from Germany, Denmark and Sweden point towards the same thing too: foreign males are over-represented in their rape statistics and those from countries with a backwards record on women’s rights were hugely so.
“The recent enormous “Boriswave” of immigrants was skewed heavily towards people from culturally non-aligned countries of origin. In other words, we can expect to see British women pay a heavy price for Johnson’s recklessness in the years to come.”
Luke Littler, the youngest world champion in darts history beat one of the greatest players in a match which has sent fans and sports writers into meltdown. He had to produce a birth certificate recently to prove that he is indeed only 17, born 21 January 2007 in Warrington, England. He started at 18 months old when his father bought him a magnetic board and he hasn’t looked back since.
He has a stellium in Aquarius, ranging from the Sun to Mercury and Venus Neptune conjunct. He has an upbeat Jupiter in Sagittarius in an adventurous square to Uranus; and a do-or-die-determined Mars Pluto conjunction with Pluto in a tough-minded trine to Saturn in wannabe-important Leo.
Would I have predicted such a spectacular win? Hmm I would have looked at tr Pluto conjunct his Sun exactly for a hugely pressured moment – not always a winning combo; with the tr Saturn square tr Jupiter pushing and pulling his natal Jupiter; and a jolting tr Uranus square his Saturn. On that basis probably not. He does admittedly have his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Mars/Pluto midpoint which would give him a distinct lift and will continue on for another three years as his SA Jupiter moves to conjunct his Mars exactly.
It is one of the problems of sports predictions – without birth times especially – that what shows is the stress and exertion as much as the relief or jubilation at a win.
Sometimes prodigies fade but his 22nd harmonic hinting at global fame has a Sun Jupiter opposition Uranus square Venus – so he may stay at the top.
Total Lunar Eclipse on March 14 at 24 degrees Virgo – the Pisces Sun will conjunct Saturn and Neptune opposing the Sun so the mood will be of uncertainty, with a need for determined effort in the face of difficulties or danger with Mars trine Sun and Saturn.
Partial Solar Eclipse on 29 March at 9 degrees Aries in Saros Series 9 New North. This Saros series is, according to Bernadette Brady, physically expressive so requires effort and may accompany accidents or violent events. The advice is to undertake physical activity but with caution. Around before in 2007, 1989, 1971, 1953, 1935, 1917. The Aries New Moon will sextile Pluto on one side and Jupiter on the other for a smidgeon of confidence and cheer. Though the hard-edged Saturn trine Mars is still in place with Uranus midway between which won’t be too settled.
Total Lunar Eclipse on September 2 at 15 degrees Pisces for the first time will have Uranus in Gemini trine Pluto and sextile Neptune Saturn so evocative of the new era. The Full Moon in Pisces is trine Jupiter for a hint of luck with Jupiter in turn square Mars for impulsive action.
Partial Solar Eclipse 21 September 29 degrees Virgo in 9 New South Saros series. This Saros series brings to the surface long term worries whether over loved ones, health or to do with paperwork. ‘Any news will have a sense of destiny or fatedness about it.’ Before in 2007, 1989, 1971, 1953, 1935, 1917.
The final degree Virgo New Moon will trine Pluto and trine Uranus, forming a kite in the opposition to Saturn and Neptune, making a powerful statement so momentous events will happen on its watch. The Saturn Neptune are inconjunct Mars for disagreements and maybe conflicts.
The eclipses will keep pace with the changing of the celestial guard so it will be a year to stay alert and be flexible. Last year’s October 2nd Solar Eclipse at 10 degrees Libra will still be in effect until March – it heralded a time of endings and closure or completion. And the 26 degree Pisces Lunar eclipse also of last September will linger on as well.
The IS (Islamic State) flag on the truck which drove into a crowded New Orleans street at 3 am on January 1st killing 15 revellers and injuring dozens more is an ominous sign. If it proves to be more than a disturbed perpetrator, then it will give Trump a serious headache from the start. He may yodel on about immigrants but incoming refugees from South America are a totally different problem from an IS (Middle East) threat on his home turf.
The killings started around 3.15am in New Orleans unsurprisingly on the Mars opposition Pluto which often accompanies acts of brutality. It also gives a late Leo Midheaven conjunct Trump’s Mars.
The USA chart is on high alert at the moment anyway with the high-risk Solar Arc Saturn conjunct Mars still in effect and moving on to a worrisome SA Saturn square the Neptune through 2025.
There is no exact date for the foundation of IS, a transnational Salafi jihadist group, but there was a declaration of intent made on 29 June 2014 5pm Baghdad, Iraq. IS gained global prominence in 2014 when its militants conquered large territories in Iraq and Syria and by 2015, its self-declared caliphate ruled an area with a population of about 12 million. After a grinding conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019, reverting to insurgency from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts.
The IS Declaration chart does show a ‘lucky’ break Solar Arc Uranus square Jupiter at the moment as well as a forceful SA Sun square Mars – with indications of a more confident push by 2028. The chart has a Cardinal Grand Cross so it is not short of initiative or the ability to reinvent itself.
The Trump/IS relationship chart which flags up deep dislike and suspicion will be rattled in the early months of the new administration and will be undercut by tr Saturn Neptune square the composite Sun, Venus, Mercury from before mid 2025 into 2026. Not indicative of conflict but a confusing situation causing concern.
The USA/IS relationship chart similarly does not look aggravated in terms of acts of violence but tr Saturn in Aries in 2026/27 will see a standoff with the tussle of the upper hand running into a stalemate.
The Paris Bataclan shooting of 13 November 2015 with 130 dead and 350 wounded was claimed as an IS atrocity. It happened with the North Node conjunct Mars at zero degrees Libra. This New Orleans killing occurred exactly half a cycle later with the North Node at zero Aries, trine/sextile the Mars opposition Pluto.
IS have not yet claimed responsibility and there are no neon lights flashing red on the charts but the undercurrents are concerning. Especially given the USA’s unwavering support in supplying arms to Israel. Not that IS will particularly care about the Palestinians but the Israeli carnage in Gaza can only inflame the mood in the Middle East and give hostages to fortune.
ADD ON: Shamsud-Din Jabbar, named as the New Orleans perpetrator, was born 26 October 1982 in Beaumont, Texas (source: MSN). This made him a Sun Venus conjunct in Scorpio with Jupiter also in Scorpio with a determined and bleak Saturn Pluto in Libra sextile Mars Neptune in Sagittarius.
If accurate, he had been through a turbulent emotional patch with tr Pluto square his Venus and at the moment his Sun/Venus midpoint – plus an intense Progressed Mars square his Pluto bringing acute frustrations and turbulent dark feelings.
The Vegas cybertruck bomber if it is Matthew Livelsberger, though his remains are yet to be identified, according to his passport was born 22 July 1987 in Colorado Springs, making him a final degree Sun Cancer with a determined, courageous (and desperate) Mars square Pluto. Tr Pluto was just finished two years of opposing his Sun which is a punishing process of forced change.
I am reminded often with these murder-suicides of Ernest Becker’s thought that what many fear is not death itself but death with insignificance. The prospect of a failed marriage or other existential crisis bringing feelings of intense inner worthlessness spark a last desperate need to gain attention by going out with a bang. The tragedy is that bystanders become the unwitting victim of a perverted howl for validation.
