Paralysis has gripped Northern Ireland as the impasse in restoring power-sharing government continues and there is anxiety close to horror about the prospect of a hard border with the Republic returning post-Brexit.

The Northern Ireland 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast chart looks discouraged now with little sign of improvement over the next three years. The Solar Arc Uranus was opposing the NI Mercury Sun in the run-up to Brexit for an almighty shock; and this year there’s a depressed Solar Arc Saturn opposition the NI Moon, as the population grows steadily more disenchanted with politicians of all stripes. And as if that wasn’t gloomy and stuck enough there’s a Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Saturn, exact within weeks. Ahead in 2018/19 tr Uranus squares the MC in April 2018 and February 2019 for a forced change of direction. During which there’s a downhill slide as tr Neptune squares the NI Sun Mercury, undermining security and trust further.

Only by 2020 is there a sign of relief and a lucky break as tr Uranus opposes the NI Jupiter and tr Saturn moves out of NI’s financial 8^th after a couple of years of shortages. By 2021 Solar Arc Mars crosses the NI Ascendant which will produce a roar of determination and high energy.

Not a good phase but into the 2020s there’ll be more bounce and enthusiasm.

Royal romance fans are enraptured by tales of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s ‘perfect love affair’ as they celebrate their 70^th anniversary. But this was no easy marriage.

The Queen is a Taurus and Philip a Gemini, which isn’t an intuitively good match, yet in Gunther Sachs’ astrological study this was the most long lasting of all unions. Taurus is enduring, loves ploughing the same furrow for ever, is possessive, stubborn and a Fixed sign. Gemini has a reputation for wandering especially in the male of the species, but is flexible. That is mirrored into the rest of their charts. The Queen is incredibly fixed with Mars Jupiter in Aquarius opposition Moon Neptune in Leo squaring onto an obsessively dutiful Saturn on her midheaven. Philip has Sun Mars in Gemini, Saturn Jupiter in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces so is essentially Mutable, which means adaptable. She stands like an oak tree while he bends round her, though almost certainly keeping his escape routes open to suit himself.

He does have three Fixed planets for some staying power  – a Moon Neptune in Leo like her, giving them both a liking for pomp and flamboyance, as well as tendency to gloss over unpleasantness in their emotional lives. And he has Venus in Taurus which is conjunct her 3rd house Sun, bringing affection and also an ability to communicate well. His Sun Mars fall in the Queen’s 5^th house of fun, romance, playfulness and children, which is what he brings to the match. Her Taurus Sun is conjunct his IC (on a 9.46pm birth time) bringing a settled and sumptuous home life, important to him because of his erratic, largely penniless childhood. He would feel shut out by her conscientious need to carry out her responsibilities since her Saturn squares his Moon but was clearly able  over time to build his own life and interests while staying within the Royal Family. His North Node is in Libra so close relationships would not come naturally to him. Oddly enough a relationship that had to withstand separations of career and travel would not always be a hardship.

Their relationship chart does have an easy-going composite Sun Mercury opposition Jupiter, which would help enormously to smooth round the inevitable rough edges in a goldfish bowl existence. But there is also a starkly difficult composite Mars opposition Saturn, which usually occurs where there is unkindness within a relationship or where one partner has to supress their needs to please the other. Philip certainly had to grit his teeth as he lost his career and his name when she acceded to the throne unexpectedly early, only five years into their marriage. That Mars Saturn would give rise to great aggravation and resentment at times, especially around the time of Prince Charles’ marriage to Diana, when tr Pluto was in Libra building up the pressure between them considerably.

Circumstances would also help to glue them together through the bumpy patches since divorce was unthinkable in those circles until relatively recently. Prince Margaret’s divorce in 1978 was the first royal divorce since Henry V111. By that time the Queen and Philip had been married for over 30 years and had no doubt found an equilibrium, which has mellowed in old age into a redoubtable partnership.

Angela Merkel is facing her biggest challenge in 12 years as chancellor as talks on forming a coalition government collapse. For Germany it is an unprecedented political crisis which could spell the end of the Merkel era; and as she is distracted by a domestic struggle for political survival, her role as chief stabiliser for the EU will be seriously undermined. It isn’t even clear if a fresh election is called whether she will be her party’s choice as leader.

She should have followed her earlier instincts and resigned after her third term when still on a high. Tr Saturn has been moving below her Ascendant since late 2016 for several years ahead, which for politicians and ambitious types usually leads to failures, misjudgements as well as decreasing energy and enthusiasm. Exactly now tr Saturn is conjunct her Mars for a setback; and the more powerful block of Solar Arc Pluto square her Cancer Sun is also in place, not disappearing for several months. Tr Pluto is also square her Libra midheaven now which suggests damage to reputation and another roadblock.

December this year and January 2018 see tr Uranus square her Sun for jolts, changes of direction and high-tension over restrictions. Though tr Pluto opposition her Sun/Jupiter midpoint also in December will see her in bullish mood. There won’t be much improvement ahead for her with a disastrous February 2018 ahead; and more serious upsets after mid year.

Her relationship chart with Germany is moving into a time of confusion and dissolution with tr Pluto pounding down on the composite Sun opposition Mercury square Neptune. And even the successful-together composite Jupiter Pluto conjunction is being damaged by tr Saturn in opposition from late in December and on and off through 2018.

Germany is facing troubled times domestically with tr Pluto already moving through its 4^th house, to be joined in 2019 by tr Saturn. Before then from late this December tr Saturn will square the Germany Mars and conjunct Saturn, bringing high irritation over setbacks. With uncertainty over close relationships with neighbouring countries from February 2018 onwards as the country makes a radical change of direction as tr Uranus squares the 10^th house Uranus.

There will be increasing unrest between Germany and the EU, building up from mid 2018 and worsening dramatically in 2019 with both tr Saturn and tr Uranus knocking away the props that held the alliance together in its present form.

Charles Manson, the notorious leader of a death cult who directed his followers to commit a string of brutal murders, in the late 1960s has died aged 83 in prison.

Born 12 November 1934 4.40pm Cincinnati, Ohio, he had a powerfully persuasive Sun Venus in Scorpio in his 7^th house, so would be able to exert a mesmerising charm over those he met, especially with his Sun Venus being trine a 4^th house Pluto.

He convinced a number of his followers that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, using a combination of drugs and charisma to bring the “family” – mainly young, middle-class women – under his control. He believed in a coming race war in America and planned to hasten the war and emerge as the leader of a new social order, hoping that black Americans would be blamed for the killings, heightening racial tensions.

His own childhood was a car-crash with a 16 year old single mother, a heavy drinker who did prison time for theft, and a father he never knew, being farmed out to relatives and care homes as he grew up. So his need for a family would be obsessive.

His Sun Venus squared onto Saturn instilling in him a sense he was never good enough for his rejecting parents. His rebellious, status-quo-upsetting Uranus was strongly marked being conjunct his Ascendant and squaring onto Pluto opposition his midheaven. His impulse was towards anarchy and chaos. His Moon was in likes-to-shock Aquarius and being in his 10^th house drove him to find a public audience for his life’s work. His Moon exactly conjunct the North Node in Aquarius gave him zeal for a cause which he followed compulsively  since both were opposition his Pluto and square Mercury in vengeful Scorpio.

His later childhood and early adult life saw him in and out of prison for theft, and pimping for prostitution, at one point being incarcerated as dangerous in a criminal psychiatric unit. In the late 1960s in his mid 30s he started assembling his cult. His followers killed nine people, among them the heavily pregnant Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski. Manson was not at the scene of the killings, but was convicted of murder for ordering them, and spent 40 years in custody.

When Sharon Tate and others were killed in 1969 tr Pluto in Virgo was trine his midheaven – giving him a sense of achievement and power. Though tr Saturn in Taurus opposition his lucky Jupiter and moving into his low-profile 1^st quadrant for several years suggested his spree was at an end. At the moment Pluto has moved by a third of a zodiac to conjunct his midheaven, exposing his brutally twisted reputation to more scrutiny.

He does not have a strong 18^th Harmonic, common amongst serial killers, since he never actually murdered anyone (that is known of). His most notable harmonic is the 11^th which is a a difficult one to live up to. The positive side can be idealistic and inspired. But lived on the downside it leads to fanaticism, irrationality, dishonesty, greed and even perversion. His ‘victim’ 12 H is also marked, as can be the case where those who were brutalised as children, turn brutal as a defence against their inner feelings of powerlessness.

Some of his quotes are worth reading : http://www.azquotes.com/author/9412-Charles_Manson

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Elon Musk has been talking about his distress at the split up from actress Amber Heard, Johnny Depp’s ex (after a brief match), and with a headlined bi-sexual romantic life prior to that. Musk is a business magnate, engineer and inventor with apocalyptic fears about the future of humanity (see post July 11 2017).

Musk, born 28 June 1971 in South Africa is a Sun, Mercury in Cancer square Uranus in Libra – creative and uncompromising; with his Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio in a high-finance conjunction to Neptune, a powerfully confident and successful sextile to Pluto, and an impulsive square to Mars in determined Aquarius. His Moon is in hard-working and worrying Virgo and his Venus in Gemini.

Amber Heard, 22 April 1986, Austin, Tx, is a Sun and Venus in Taurus with a Libra Moon and her Sun in a controlling opposition to Pluto. Her Sun chimes with his Virgo Moon and her Venus opposes his Jupiter and trines his Pluto, which would give a dash of passion and a good deal of indulgent fun. But her Moon is conjunct his Uranus which isn’t great, since she’d find him unpredictable emotionally. And in return her Uranus opposes his Venus which does much the same in reverse. Plus her Mars Neptune opposes his Sun Mercury so he would find her argumentative.

Their relationship chart has an affectionate Sun Venus conjunction though that squares Saturn, which usually occurs when there are barriers to commitment, whether work or emotional blocks or other circumstances. Plus the composite Jupiter is square Pluto, which usually ends up in struggles for the upper hand and last word. Fun while it lasted but not designed to last a lifetime.

Kevin Neal, the California gunmen, who killed five people including his wife was according to his sister ‘irrational, irate and uncontrollable’ as his mental health deteriorated. He had no business having guns, she said after he went on a revenge shooting spree which also wounded at least a dozen adults and children before authorities shot him dead on Tuesday.

Born 28 March 1973 in Los Angeles, he had Sun Venus in Aries opposition Pluto which was sextile/trine Mars Jupiter in Aquarius – pro-active, impulsive, determined, stubborn – though all of that could have been put to good use. The problems probably came from his Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune square Mercury in Pisces, which would make him neurotic, highly-strung, prone to mental strain with a tendency to paranoia.

His emphasised Solar Arc Mars was conjunct that focal point Mercury as the two central configurations in his chart collided and he went off the rails. He was at maximum danger point for a meltdown and should have been in a facility.

His 18th Harmonic, often marked with serial killers, has a Sun square Pluto as well as Sun trine Mars Uranus, sextile Venus – emotionally volatile, angry, overly sensitive to being pushed around (or imagining he was).

“I know Roy Moore. He’s always been a con artist” – is a headline in today’s Washington Post as the Republican candidate, Roy Moore, running for the Alabama Senator’s position in December faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, some against underage girls. (URL: goo.gl/bN5bKa)

He has been widely condemned by many top Republican politicians who say they believe the accusers stories over Moore’s denials and he should drop out of the Senate race. But he appears to have always run his battle-scarred career on Trump’s motto of never apologise and hit back harder. What’s worse he stands on a platform of religious sanctimony. And what’s even worse than that, local Alabama voters in goodly numbers support him, brushing off the stories as fabrications or with even more confabulated excuses.

Born 11 February 1947 he has a Sun Aquarius in an overly confident square to Jupiter in Scorpio; while his Mars in contrary, uncompromising Aquarius is in a thoroughly unpleasant opposition to Pluto Saturn in Leo maybe squaring on to a Scorpio Moon – ruthless, bullying and if tied into his vengeful Scorpio Moon, an eye-curling emotional life. Plus a volatile Air Grand Trine of Uranus North Node in Gemini trine Mars trine Neptune – often fanatical political ideologues have a heavy weighting toward Air in their charts.

His chart is relatively similar to Wes Goodman’s 14 February 1984, an Ohio lawmaker who has resigned having been witnessed having sex with a man inside his office, which is neither illegal or immoral. The problem being that he ran on a “family values” ticket, routinely touted his Christian faith and his anti-LGBT views. It’s the hypocrisy which is staggering.

Goodman is a Sun Aquarius square Saturn Mars in Scorpio, with Pluto in Scorpio square Mercury in Aquarius. So like Moore he has a heavy Mars Saturn Pluto streak in his temperament which does not sit easily with a clean-cut, clean-living, holier-than-thou moralist.

At the election on December 12^th Moore has nothing much noteworthy on his chart (with no birth time), apart from tr Jupiter in hard aspect to his Mars opposition Pluto, which might give him a slight lift or let loose a blast of pure rage. His opponent Doug Jones will be on a lucky roll come December with tr Uranus square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint; and his life is certainly due for a radical change come 2018.

Moore will face one setback after another from Saturn’s entry into Capricorn on December 21 as it hits his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint (often career losses) and then damp his enthusiasm through 2018 hitting on two Jupiter midpoints; and even more punishing tr Pluto square his Sun/Saturn from February 2018 onwards till late 2019 which is immensely discouraging and can accompany illness.

Moore once described as ‘a deranged theocrat’, is virulently anti-gay, fanatically anti-Muslim and was a leading voice in the anti-Obama birther movement. He is supported by an unusually silent Trump, and Steve Bannon

Pondering on whether we are truly at a page-turning moment in history and where it fits the astrology, especially the momentous once-in-250-year Pluto in Capricorn, a thought suddenly struck me about where the world wide web fitted into all of this. Pluto in Capricorn’s thrust is to transform government (and finances) – collapse the old structures and hopefully (though not always) construct better in their place.

Out of the creative and chaotic turmoil of the triple conjunction in Capricorn on the late 1980s/early 1990s, the internet was born which has consequences good and bad. On the upside, it has given ordinary people a voice; and activist groups are able to connect with others of like mind to build up a critical mass that makes a difference. Twitter is now invaluable in revolutions and disasters for spreading the word. So a political force for good.

Though as Edward Tenner points out in his book: “Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences” there is usually an unwanted reaction to any action. For example, design a super-antibiotic and a super-resistant bug follows.

The downside to the internet is that the monolithic social media giants designed to harvest gargantuan sums of money in advertising revenues have been hi-jacked by those of ill-intent wishing to deliver ideological and political messages to voters. In the USA two thirds get their news from Facebook and other social media platforms. News including the fake stuff now goes viral along with pandemic fads driven by mob zeal.

The WWW was launched on 6 August 1991 as an information-sharing system initially useful for academics and scientists. It was born with Uranus Neptune North Node in Capricorn sextile Pluto in Scorpio and Saturn in geeky Aquarius – Uranus Neptune is inspired, tinged with genius and prone to fanaticism. Once an idea takes hold, Uranus Neptune won’t let go, no matter what evidence is produced to the contrary, so at times detached from reality. As a footnote, the Black Moon Lilith sits conjunct the WWW Uranus Neptune. She represents female rage against domination.

There are two ways in which the internet impacts forcefully on politics. One is the spread of false information. The other, and I tread delicately here, is the question of whether giving the common man/woman a stronger voice always leads to better results.

We in the west are wedded to the notion that democracy is a good thing and the internet initially seemed to offer a golden opportunity for a more inclusive politics. Yet Plato’s aphorism, from 2500 years back, that “the problem with democracy is that it elevates opinion above knowledge” does have an uncomfortable ring of truth for today. He also thought that political systems which followed citizens’ impulses rather than pursuing the common good, mistook anarchy for freedom and were typically run by fools. The Romans gave the mob bread and circuses to keep them happy; politicians telling voters what they want to hear – Trump (MAGA) and Brexit (£350 million for the NHS) spring to mind – aren’t much different.

So a mix of lies which pander to the voters’ selfish interests, or suit the malign agenda of those seeking to destabilise, sit on one side of Pluto’s battle for better government. The other side is a genuine opportunity to make ordinary people better informed in the choices they make and give a voice to the silent majority. Previous experiences of Pluto in Capricorn from the past do suggest it promotes justice, culture and learning rather than chaos. Getting its act together this time round still seems a ways off.

The inestimable Cillian Murphy is back in the fourth series of BBC TV’s Peaky Blinders, playing the gypsy gangster, Tommy Shelby, head of a Birmingham mafioso family with menacing charisma. The production has created its own sumptuously dark and corrupt world with dynastic anti-heroes at the heart of it. Murphy carries the series with a quiet, brooding and murderous presence.

He’s had a sterling, award-strewn career since giving up his first love of music, appearing in all three of the Dark Night movies, most recently in Dunkirk and continued working on stage.

Born 25 May 1976 in Cork (no birth time sadly) he is a Sun Gemini opposition filmic Neptune; and his Sun is trine Pluto, sextiling onto Mars in Leo conjunct Saturn in late Cancer; and his Mars is in a high-adrenaline square to Uranus – definitely creative from Neptune but with enough sharp-edged aggravation from Pluto Mars Saturn Uranus to pack a punch on screen. Plus he has Jupiter, Mercury, Venus in Taurus adding heft and charm to his airy Gemini Sun. Taurus also helps to give him a compelling voice and liking for music.

His actor’s 15^th Harmonic is very marked with a Grand Trine tying together Pluto Neptune and Mars, focussing through a Kite onto Mercury – more than usual success from Pluto Neptune, showbizzy from Mars Neptune, danger from Pluto Mars – and all channelled through his voice.

Peaky Blinders launched on 13 September 2013 when Mars was in Leo square Saturn Venus in Scorpio, inconjunct Pluto and trine Uranus – so carrying the themes of his chart. There was also a successful Cardinal Grand Cross of Pluto opposition Jupiter square Uranus opposition Mercury.

Cillian Murphy has executive produced this fourth but not final series so is widening his repertoire further. Across 2020 and the years following, he’ll be due another run of successes, though with a few bumps before then as tr Uranus hits on his Saturn Mars and Uranus.