No sooner over one hurdle than another appears. The USA Mid Term elections on November 6 2018 will be more fraught than usual with the world watching to see whether Trump’s chaotic presidency will affect the GOP’s standing. There’s nothing pass remarkable about the day though Jupiter is poised to move out of Scorpio into Sagittarius for the result. Uranus is back at zero Taurus exactly square the Leo North Node, with the Node also about to shift sign, into Cancer that day. Both Saturn and Pluto are in Capricorn, though not conjunct.

The two party chairpersons – Ronna McDaniels (GOP), 19 Jan 1973; and Tom Perez (Dem), 7 Oct 1961, if still in place, might be a hint of what the result is likely to be.

Neither look exactly delirious with joy. Oddly enough both have tr Neptune in hard aspect to their Mars/Saturn midpoint which Ebertin describes as ‘waning powers, inner torment, losses’. Both also have tr Saturn hitting on a Mars midpoint immediately after which is usually a setback.

Of the two, McDaniels looks marginally more upbeat with tr Pluto conjunct her Jupiter/Node which usually brings advantages. But on the other hand she also has tr Uranus square her Solar Arc Saturn and square her Solar Arc Mars, both of which could see a major upset.

There are no birth times so information is missing which could be more of an indication. The flesh-tearing is likely to continue.

The power to win will be unleashed in London in April as the money-making phenomenon that is Tony Robbins comes to town. His blurb describes him as a world authority in the psychology of leadership and from unlikely beginnings, over 38 years, he has amassed a vast fortune from a portfolio of companies that generate $5 billion a year from best-selling books, consultations and workshops.

Born 29 February 1960 8.10pm Los Angeles, his parents divorced when he was young and he had ‘a chaotic and abusive childhood’ with his much-married mother. He left home at 17, worked as a janitor and also for a motivational speaker and stepped up from there.

He’s a creative Sun Pisces in the hard-working 6^th in a determined opposition to Pluto. He has planets in all three inspirational and entrepreneurial Fire signs – a hyper-communicative, enthusiastic Jupiter in crusading Sagittarius in his 3^rd trine a go-ahead Aries Moon which is trine an innovative Uranus. His Jupiter is also on the focal point of a Mercury in Pisces opposition North Node in Virgo – such a Mutable Jupiter is inclined towards instant wisdom and speedy enlightenment and tends to be overly scattered. His Saturn in Capricorn on his IC, a hint of his cold childhood, possibly anchors him in earthier concerns of gaining material security.

His Neptune in Scorpio on the cusp of his 2^nd is also a focal point planet to Uranus opposition Venus – giving him an intense need to fill an inner loneliness. It can be intuitive and idealistic but he will rely a great deal of his inner visions which can sometimes veer towards the fanatical (Uranus Neptune).

His actors/orators’ 15^th Harmonic is strongly marked; as is his get-it-together 5H; and his pleasure-seeking and can-be-humanitarian 9H is also powerful.

Actor/singer Mark Salling, best known for Glee, has committed suicide while facing sentencing for gross child pornography charges which would likely have sent him to jail for seven years.

Born 17 August 1982 Dallas Texas, he was a Sun Leo trine Neptune, sextile Pluto Saturn in Libra – creative, flamboyant and hard. He also had an exuberantly determined Mars Jupiter in Scorpio square his Venus in Leo and maybe square a Leo Moon; with his Venus (Moon) trine Uranus. Venus square Mars can be insensitive to the needs of partners and he had faced two sexual assault charges previously. Mars in Scorpio can be sexually obsessed and vengeful. It’s not an especially brutal chart but much will depend on houses which we don’t know without a birth time.

He was brought up in a strictly religious home, home-schooled in the early stages. These kinds of inclinations almost always stem from early damage and dysfunction in relation to the primary caregiver.

His birth chart midpoints show inherent illusions and delusions with his Sun square his Neptune/Pluto midpoint and his Pluto conjunct his Sun/Neptune – so a huge amount of inner confusion. And tr Uranus had been on the opposition to his Sun/Neptune from early December through this month.

Child pornography, while it appears less heinous than actual abuse, is not a victimless crime. Either he was stuck in a repetition compulsion from his own inner fantasies; or he lacked empathy which can be a Neptunian failing.

Bruno Mars winning run at the Grammys appeared to be a surprise, except to Rolling Stone who pointed out most of the voters were old and he had cross-generational appeal. ‘Academy Members are people with long careers in the music biz. Lifers. Fans who cherish their memories of Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, but can’t recall their Netflix password.’ Unkind.

Bruno Mars’ early influencers were Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Freddie Mercury and Jimi Hendrix. He has a three octave tenor vocal range and sings across a wide repertoire from R&B, pop, rock, soul and hip hop. The NY Times critic said he was the most “versatile and accessible singers in pop, with a light, soul-influenced voice that’s an easy fit in a range of styles, a universal donor.” He’s known for his old-school showmanship and dynamic performance.

Born into a musical family on 8 October 1985 3.56pm Waikiki, Hawaii (astrotheme)  he is a Sun Libra in a confident, lucky trine to Jupiter in multi-cultural Aquarius; with a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Virgo in a volatile square to Uranus. If his birth time is sound, he also has an intense Pluto in Scorpio opposition North Node squaring onto a flamboyant Leo Moon opposition Jupiter. A Fixed Grand Cross will give him staying power and endurance and a single-minded sense of where he is going, not allowing distractions to get in his way.

Eclipses are about challenges since they link into the North Node, a so-called karmic point, which lays out a path of development each individual hopefully follows in life – becoming more at the end than the beginning. It prompts us to move away from a line of least resistance. The test is to see whether we can find the courage to learn from our weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Avoidance tactics can lead to crisis later which force us into actions we would have been better to volunteer for. So it’s about getting ahead of the game and to some degree trying out the unknown, finding a new mindset.

The Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday is an especially powerful Full Moon – with the Aquarius Sun on the opposite side of the zodiac to the Leo Moon, both at 11 degrees. Here the lesson is to find a balance between head and heart, not being too single-minded. If you’re a workaholic then you need to find time for home and emotional life. If you’re a rugged individualist, you need to find a way of co-operating in partnership as well as maintaining your independence. If you drown in details and trivia, then you need also to stand back and see a broader picture. If loved ones are your mainstay then you need to find time for friends as well.

The Solar Eclipse in late Aquarius which follows in two weeks’ time, is focussed on one area. But for this week it’s about balancing opposites. Life shouldn’t be a conflicted choice of Either Or. There is a third way, which requires maturity to rise above the ambivalence, and become more whole, better rounded.

It will have more effect on people who are Sun Aquarius or Leo, born 11 days after the sign change. Or where planets in a chart fall around this degree.

The Lunar Eclipse itself is not badly aspected only being tied into Venus, but it may be more emotional than some – overly excitable, passionate and mystical.

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Can Trump get the better of his inner demons? This is the week we’ll get a hint. The Leo Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday,  only a day after his State of the Union speech, is conjunct his 12^th house Pluto and so is his Progressed Moon, which is a double whammy. Pluto rules the shadow, especially in the 12^th – rage, jealousy, greed, fear, envy, selfishness, the need for power and control, the seven deadly sins. When it is triggered people can go over to the dark side and wallow in their baser nature or become crippled by shame and feelings of unworthiness. The Eclipse effect lasts for six months so he will be challenged to overcome his compulsions and obsessions in the time ahead and indeed it’ll be stoked up again by the July Lunar eclipse.

Pluto is, of course, the planet of transformation so there is a faint possibility he’ll finally start to grapple with a lifetime of bad habits and semi-pathological behaviour. He didn’t disgrace himself at Davos, but they were his kind of people. The speech to Congress on Tuesday will be a tougher test. Worth watching for signs.

The drum roll for Theresa May’s departure is growing louder as the Tory Party grows ever more exasperated and desperate about her lack-lustre performance. A new leader need not mean another general election, but there’s no obvious unifying or even half-decent candidate. Given that the party has been in meltdown conflict over the Brexit issue, the 12 Nov 1867 CP chart never seemed to be that informative. My thanks, therefore to Astrologyresearch.co.uk (url below), who have come up with another date for a manifesto which set the party policies of midnight 18 December 1834.

It certainly shows up the turmoil at the heart of the party with tr Pluto square tr Uranus hitting on the Cancer Moon Mars over the recent past; and dragging on for with tr Pluto squaring the Saturn in 2018/19. I would have to confess I wouldn’t have immediately leapt to predict Maggie Thatcher’s win in 1979 from it, but that’s only on a cursory look.

What’s for sure is that Theresa May is now putting her foot onto the longest and worst banana skin of her career from early February onwards with tr Neptune conjunct her Mars and tr Pluto aiming to make a catastrophic conjunction to her Mars/Saturn midpoint from March onwards till late 2019. In mid-April there’s a separating tr Uranus opposition on her relationship chart with both the CP 1867 and 1834, to Venus and Sun respectively. So if the charts have some validity that might be a crucial turning point, returning in Dec/Jan 2019.

Of the main contenders: Michael Gove looks seriously aggravated and frustrated from March onwards, maybe even suffering a job loss in April. That last influence repeats on and off into 2019.

Boris Johnson equally looks to be infuriated, restricted and stuck and won’t recover his mojo until 2019.

Jacob Rees Mogg is less afflicted, with a lucky break in May but will suffer badly after mid year as tr Uranus opposes his Mars/Pluto. Though he’s on a high in 2020/2021.

The Conservative Party – A Cancer at the Heart of British Politics

IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, has died aged nearly 92. Born 30 March 1926 in Sweden, he started retailing early aged five selling matches, the moved into fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils. IKEA was founded when he was just 17. Despite his great wealth, he seemed to live simply.

He had a pro-active Sun, Mercury in Aries in a dynamic sextile to Mars in innovative Aquarius, and a determined square to Pluto. Added to that was a fixed, enduring, stubborn T Square of Neptune in Leo opposition Jupiter Venus in Aquarius square an obsessively conscientious Saturn in Scorpio. Saturn gave him executive ability though not much inclination to share the driving seat; Aquarius is multi-cultural; Jupiter Neptune tuned him into high finance.

Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ingvar_Kamprad_Haparanda_June_2010.jpg#/media/File:Ingvar_Kamprad_Haparanda_June_2010.jpg

Joseph Kennedy 111, grandson of Robert, a Massachusetts Congressman, will give the Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union speech this coming week. It’ll be the first time Trump has spoken in front of the full Congress and it is expected he will unveil his immigration and $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan.

Kennedy, was born 4 October 1980 9.42pm Boston, Massachusetts, grew up steeped in politics; after college he joined the Peace Corps, working in the Dominican Republic, speaks fluent Spanish, then studied law at Harvard, working pro bono in legal aid, became an attorney and was elected to Congress in 2012. He’s teetotal, married to a lawyer with two children.

Hs chart is tightly knitted together with a Half Grand Sextile from a 4^th house Leo Moon opposition his Aquarius Midheaven, sextile Pluto in Libra, trine Neptune in Sagittarius. Sextiles and trines give free flow of energy and talent – and Neptune Pluto appears in the charts of those with far-reaching ambitions. His Libra Sun and Pluto as well as Mercury in Scorpio are all in his ‘performing’ 5^th house so he revels in being on a public platform, though is essentially fairly private.

His Moon opposition MC also squares Mars Uranus in Scorpio in the hard-working 6^th house which will make him self-willed, a law-unto-himself type, who is an innovator though not a rebel. He will be headstrong with dogged persistence, not too adaptable, harbouring vengeful thoughts at times, but with strong executive ability. His ‘family’ 4^th house is not surprisingly marked with Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn there, so his roots and family background have been a principal influence on shaping who he is.

Tr Saturn is now just over his Descendant rising upwards which will push him into more prominence; and he’ll reach his first career peak in time for the 2024 election with tr Saturn hitting his midheaven. Though his natal Saturn isn’t strong so he may not resonate to that quite as much as some.

He looks excited and pleased by his lucky break at the moment being chosen for a high-profile speech; and even more energised in February in the aftermath.

He’s certainly one to watch for.