Northern Ireland – facing double trouble

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Northern Ireland is in political crisis with Martin McGuinness resigning as deputy first minister in protest against the handling of a botched energy scheme that could cost taxpayers £490m. It’ll most likely force an early election and given the set-up of the power-sharing government it means First Minister Arlene Foster goes as well – she was responsible for the renewable energy scheme which has been open to widescale abuse.

The Northern Ireland chart 7 Dec 1922 3.28pm Belfast, was already facing a difficult time ahead with the uncertainties of Brexit and the unpleasant possibility of a hard border being re-instituted with Southern Ireland which will stay in the EU, stoking up the old problems.

Tr Pluto will continue to square Saturn, exact at the moment, and on and off through 2017 which is discouraging, bleak, tough-going. With an undermining tr Neptune square the Sagittarius Sun from mid May 2017 till the end of 2018.

Exactly at the moment as this unwanted impasse blows up the Solar Arc Uranus is exactly opposition Mercury; and Solar Arc Saturn opposes the NIreland Moon – so a shock surprise which will dampen public morale.

Tr Uranus will square the Moon at 23 Capricorn for a final time mid March to early April, which suggests a divided electorate with tensions running high and more revelations to come.

As Brexit draws closer it won’t get easier for a few years, with the Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the NIreland Saturn, exact in late 2018; with a financially undermining Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Venus in 2019. And with tr Pluto opposition the Moon in 2019/2020 feelings will be running very high.

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle – Virgo Virgo, Libra Libra and some cross aspects

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All the signs are that Prince Harry is moving towards a committed relationship with actress Meghan Markle. She’ll certainly connect with him at a deep level since her Leo Sun falls in his 8th, as does her Venus in Virgo widely conjunct his Virgo Sun and trine his Taurus Moon. She also has a Libra Moon which chimes with his Venus in Libra. That’s all the upside.

The downside is that her independent-minded Uranus opposes his 4th house Moon which could pull him away from his family and roots; and her Sun squares his duty-bound Saturn in Scorpio and Midheaven, so she’ll feel constrained by his role in life.

Her Mars falls on his Descendant which is often a sign of a relationship in which sexual attraction plays a large part but it can also be argumentative. Since her Mars squares her Saturn (and Jupiter) she’s likely to be fairly volatile and impulsive. They’ll share a love of travel since four of her planets fall in his 9th and a generally similar philosophical approach to the world.

Their relationship chart has a passionate and enthusiastic composite Venus Mars conjunction but it squares onto Neptune which does suggest an ethereal romance, which when the glitter wears off will prove to be a disappointment. And one or the other will need to suppress their ego needs for it to survive. A Mars square Neptune generally doesn’t allow for two successful careers running simultaneously. The composite Moon (not known exactly without her birth time) may be trine Jupiter which is supportive; but it also squares Saturn Pluto, so the heavy hand of duty will damp good feelings. The composite Sun is also square Uranus, which suggests a 24/7, stuck-in-a-box relationship wouldn’t work well. It might not matter so much with an out-of-the-ordinary life of constant travel and separation but it isn’t ideal.

There will be some hitches and glitches this year when tr Uranus opposes their composite Saturn Pluto in April/May this year and repeating on and off till 2018. With perhaps tr Uranus square the composite Moon as well.

He’s clearly very keen to settle down and start a family, with his Progressed Moon going through his 7th; and he’s also got a very romantic tr Pluto square his Venus all year. He’s also got in March tr Uranus square his Sun/Moon midpoint for the final time which tends to suggest separation rather than commitment. Though I have seen people marry on it. He’s also got tr Saturn square his Virgo Sun on and off through the year. He does look to be making domestic moves in 2018/19 with tr Pluto trine his Moon.

Her life certainly seems to be in an upheaval with tr Uranus opposing her Pluto in 2016/17. Though I’d worry about tr Neptune opposing her Venus in Virgo from early April to mid May, and on and off till late 2018, which generally brings romantic disappointment after a time of wonderful dreams. On the whole she looks marginally panicked and confused through this year, which would be understandable, since it’d mean an enormous lifestyle change for her, almost certainly giving up her career ambitions. For all the flak she came in for, the Duchess of Cambridge only had one ambition – to become a princess – and she didn’t give up anything in pursuing her goal. Meghan Markle would find it much more of a challenge.

Donald Trump – planetary influences ahead

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Tr Saturn is just over the conjunction to his Sagittarius Moon and exactly opposition his Sun and square his Sun/Moon midpoint, until January 15th. These two transits repeat in a continuous run from July to early October 2017. Saturn tends to be discouraging and is a reality check. The Sun/Moon midpoint in a politicians’ chart does point to public popularity as well as marriage partners.

He’s facing disastrous approval ratings of 41% compared to Obama’s 72%; George W. Bush’s 50% after a disputed election; Bill Clinton’s 62%; George H.W. Bush’s 65% all at the start of their run. Approval ratings normally drop as time goes on.

He’s also been forced to face the combined intelligence report on Russian anti-Clinton interference in the election. And was forced to give a sworn, videotaped deposition this week for a court case; of which there are evidently a tranche of pending lawsuits involving his companies to follow. He has still to make clear how he intends to settle conflicts of interest between his businesses and the presidency; and many of his millionaire/billionaire nominees haven’t cleared their ethics declarations yet either.

What is worth noting about Saturn transits is that they can have a delayed effect. For example: Former UK Chancellor George Osborne had tr Saturn opposition his Sun and conjunct his Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius in October 2015 when nothing noticeable dented his confidence. Only by the following June 2016 did his star sink disastrously with the Brexit vote.

Despite these depressing Saturn transits this month Trump does have the bullishly confident tr Pluto square his Jupiter till Feb 1st, repeating mid-July to early September, late October to early December 2017. This will make him disinclined to pay heed to the rules and regulations that bind ordinary people to society’s norms and courtesies.

In late February to just after mid March, he picks up the tr Uranus square Mars/Uranus which is argumentative, intolerant, self-willed, nervy, prone to macho gestures to prop self-esteem against attacks – so exacerbating his tendencies in that direction.

20th March to 4th April tr Uranus squares his Saturn which is irritable, self-willed, kicking against restrictions; with at the same time tr Uranus square his Moon/Mars and Mars/Node midpoints – quarrelsome, quick-tempered, hitting back under provocation, angry women around.

Then tr Uranus squares his Venus/Saturn midpoint and then his Venus 8th April to 9th May, bringing emotional shocks and upsets; with tr Uranus returning to square his Venus in Nov 2017 and Feb 2018.

Tr Uranus is also trine his Moon in February 2017, sextile his Sun in March and then trine his Mars in May – so a good deal of change, domestic and career and excitement. Tr Uranus trine Mars repeats in Oct 2017 and Feb 2018.

From April 6th to mid May tr Neptune opposes his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint, repeating mid July to end August, February, Nov/Dec 2018, which will bring disappointments, damage and loss, a deceptive mood around, undermining his enthusiasm and social standing.

His Secondary Progressed Moon goes into his 12th house in June 2017 staying there till mid 2019. This tends to be a time of endings, introspective, escapist, can produce new behavioural problems if insights about self aren’t taken on board.

The August late Leo Eclipse, of course, is conjunct his Mars Ascendant so will be a significant shake up to his image, sparking his aggressive, combative tendencies. Around August as well his Solar Arc Uranus moves onto the same degree in conjunct to his Mars, though it’s not exact until 2018. This will bring a considerable shock to his system and could lead to even wilder reactions than usual.

In Sept/Oct tr Pluto returns from Dec 2016 to oppose his Sun/Pluto and Mercury/Saturn midpoints as well as hit the composite Mars in his relationship chart with Melania – so an aggravated, highly pressured, frustrating time.

On house transits: tr Jupiter going into his 3rd from late Sept 2017 for a year should make his everyday working relations easier. Tr Saturn moves into his 5th for three years in early 2018 which will damp his exuberance a touch, making everything feel like a slog.

In a job as tough as President there are always bound to be stressful influences on a running basis. Some of the above will get soaked up in the day to day rolling crises he encounters. But with the exception of that tr Pluto square Jupiter, there’s little of real encouragement or any suggestion that his popularity will rise through 2017. The Progressed Moon through the 12th is one to watch out for, as is the August Eclipse and that Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Mars.

 

 

 

James Mattis – wrong-footed before he starts

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James Mattis, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, is reportedly unhappy about selection for other positions in his arena being made without his input. Billionaire Wall Street businessman Vincent Viola had been named as the pick for secretary of the army. Viola’s high-frequency trading firm has a record of violating the rules of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act, the Nasdaq Stock Market, the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges.

Mattis, 8 September 1950, who despite his nickname of Mad Dog, and forthright comments about fighting, was the one nominee whom the Democrats and Republicans alike deemed a sensible pair of hands, likely to rein in Trump’s wilder impulses. He never did look remotely happy moving ahead. A serious Sun Saturn in Virgo, with his Saturn square Trump’s Gemini Sun opposition Sagittarius Moon and trine DT’s midheaven, he’d certainly act as a check on the President’s scattergun, off-beam and provocative approach to foreign policy. Though whether that would be welcome is a different matter.

Mattis’s Venus in Leo is conjunct DT’s Ascendant which will help to soften relations – but both are getting elbowed sharply by the August 2017 Leo Eclipse.

Mattis looks enfuriated this month with tr Pluto square his Sun/Mars and highly agitated as he contemplates disaster with tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Saturn. The former repeats until January 2018. He’s also got a depressed, uphill-slog tr Pluto trine his Sun/Saturn and sextile his determined Mars in Scorpio in 2017/18 from this February onwards. Plus a loss-making tr Neptune square his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint which sometimes undermines careers through 2017. What will rattle his cage significantly is Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Sun late in 2017 or early 2018. Plus an even tougher and discouraging two years of challenge with tr Pluto trine his Saturn in 2018/19. Not a happy camper.

His relationship chart with Trump has an intense composite Pluto conjunct Venus on one side, Mercury Saturn on the other, so lashed together by circumstances which tends to cause resentment, though is fitting for a war-partnership; but there’s also one-wins-the-other loses composite Mars Neptune conjunction, so not an easy match.

Obamacare – Cardinal Grand Cross attracting crises

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Obamacare was signed into being at 11.56am 23 March 2010 in Washington, DC. It has a crisis-ridden Aries Sun Mercury in a Cardinal Grand Square in opposition Saturn square Pluto opposition Moon Ascendant – so was never going to have a smooth transition into everyday operations. What’s showing this year is tr Neptune conjunct the Pisces Midheaven from mid February on till January 2018 which will undermine its forward trajectory.

But a growing number of Senate Republicans are evidently resisting the idea of repealing it without a concrete replacement proposal, which would leave 20 million without health cover, complicating GOP plans to undo the health care law immediately. Sen. Rand Paul on Friday said Donald Trump “fully supports” his plan to simultaneously repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

There’s nothing that looks terminal on this chart this year, but it’ll be a bumpy and uncertain ride through 2017.  2018/19 has tr Saturn square the Sun and starting to move round the Grand Cross which could bring it to a halt, though with a good deal of angst as tr Pluto is also square the Venus. Two years from now looks its least stable time with the Solar Arc square Moon and Pluto.

Angelina Jolie – Moon Mars Pluto + Saturn

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Angelina Jolie, 4 June 1975 9.09 am Los Angeles, had a wreckage of a childhood, with her parents splitting when she was one; a mother who abandoned her to babysitters, then in her early teens gave her the master bedroom to share with her live-in boyfriend and used her daughter to live out her own dreams of stardom. Not surprisingly Angelina got into hard drugs, lived as a goth, self-harmed and attempted suicide, and in later years proclaimed her mother as wonderful, blaming all ills on her father Jon Voight.

It’s well-accepted in psychology, that those who don’t face the reality of their early years are more likely to repeat the cycle of damage.Self-harming can be the loathing and anger which the child turns against itself and its body rather than place it where it belongs on the errant parent.

Her chart certainly indicates an evasive, uncommitted father with a Gemini Sun opposition Neptune; who wasn’t available as a male role model with her 12th house Saturn; and was unpredictable with a 4th house Uranus. But it is her mother who comes out worst with an angry Moon Mars in Aries in a controlling and destructive opposition to Pluto; with Moon square Saturn which is cold and unemotional and trine Neptune which is a shape-shifter, tricky to pin down. Plus a drama-queen mother with Jupiter exactly on her midheaven.

Angelina lives an extraordinarily bizarre lifestyle – ‘ rarely stays in one place for more than a week, travels with a huge staff, because of her six children, five of whom joined her family in only three years. While the family was staying in France, Morton lists “nannies from Vietnam, the Congo, and the U.S.; four nurses; a doctor on permanent call; two personal assistants; a cook; a maid; six French former army guards”. URL – goo.gl/LrFN.

Brad Pitt may not be an angel but she’d be next to impossible to live with.

Joli Pitt – Pluto’s love turned to hate

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Angelina Joli or her lawyers have been letting fly again in the war of words with Brad Pitt over their divorce and custody agreements for the children, which are supposed to be sealed. His lawyers accused her of having ‘no self-regulation mechanism to preclude sensitive information from being placed in the public record’. She retaliated by saying he was terrified the truth would harm his career. And in the middle are the poor children, she has full custody of.

The Pitt Joli relationship chart has a composite Sun opposition Pluto; with Pluto quincunx Mars. Plutonic relationships which are obsessive, possessive, life-transforming at the start, are also a nightmare of hostility and resentment when they split, usually slowly, painfully and with maximum damage being inflicted. Pluto can never let go easily or amiably, even when the Pluto individual has instigated it.

Her Pluto falls in his 10th so she’ll want to control him and is certainly capable of damaging his career. Her Pluto opposes Mars which falls in his 4th so she’d be an argumentative presence domestically. There was a lot good about the relationship – her Sun falls in his 7th; and his Moon Venus are conjunct her Descendant. But he’d struggle to make an intimate connection with her Saturn in his 8th.

She’s in a bullish mood this year with tr Pluto square her Jupiter, exact at the moment; but tr Neptune will square her Gemini Sun from April onwards, on and off till late 2018 which won’t boost her morale.

He’s got tr Saturn now below his Ascendant and aiming to conjunct his Sagittarius Sun through this year, so definitely a lower profile time for him. With emotional and financial jolts from tr Uranus square his 2nd house Moon Venus in Capricorn. Plus an intense, high-pressure tr Pluto conjunct his Mercury. So the hostile ping-pong battle is likely to continue.

RD Laing – Sanity, Madness & the Family

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Mad to be Normal is a new film, starring David Tennant, on the life of innovative thinker, best-selling author and psychiatrist to the stars, RD Laing. He was a counter-culture cult figure in the 1960s, followed by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Morrison, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. He promoted a controversial approach to mental illness based on a concern for the rights of patients. He thought schizophrenia wasn’t biochemical or genetic but a reaction to a hopeless emotional situation. His book The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness, written when he was just 28, was a best-seller.

Born 7 October 1927 5.15pm Glasgow, Scotland, with an army engineer father, he studied medicine and, during a stint in the Army, became fascinated with psychiatry. Instead of medicating patients with the “chemical cosh” anti-psychotics of the time, Laing proposed caring for them in a community of equals, though he also dabbled in treating them with mescaline and LSD.

He had six sons and four daughters by four different mothers and although he wrote insightfully about the effect of defective parenting on children, appeared to have been a bad father himself. Latterly he descended into alcohol and drug abuse.

He had a 7th house Sun Mars in Libra square Pluto in the 5th – so was undoubtedly a highly stressed individual, forceful in his approach, attention-seeking with Pluto in the 5th; though with a double Libra effect capable of understanding one-to-one relationships. Psychanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung also had 7th house Suns (Taurus & Leo respectively). Like Freud also, Laing had an 8th house Saturn, which isn’t wonderful at forming intimate relationships but clearly made them both serious about what went on in deeper personality dynamics.

Laing’s 12th house Aquarius Moon opposed Neptune. Freud’s Moon was square Neptune; and Jung’s widely conjunct. This gives a peculiar psychic sensitivity to mother’s and others’ feelings. Laing had rebellious Uranus and Jupiter in Pisces on his Ascendant, the latter making him enthusiastic, sociable and self-confident, which coupled with a charismatic Pluto in the 5th would push him out to make a stir on the party and entertainment circuit.

His creative, get-it-together 5th Harmonic was focussed on communicative Mercury and argumentative Mars. His 7th Harmonic, a seeking soul, was even stronger with an entrepreneurial and innovative Fire Grand Trine, formed into three Kites, and another Mars focal point T Square. The 7H can be addictive and prone to mental imbalance. His obsessive 11H; and breakthrough/genius 13H are also notable.

He had some brilliant ideas, which were before their time and ran into heavy resistance from an overly conservative profession, but are now filtering into the mainstream. Sadly the demons which drove him to early success finally ate him. Not a happy man, but he did push back boundaries in thinking about the human condition. And prompted social workers not just to treat the child but also to treat the family.

North Korea – out twittered

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Twit-in-chief has been taking to the airwaves to sneer at North Korea’s claim to have a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the US. Experts believe N Korea hasn’t the technology to get most missiles off the ground never mind across 6,500 miles to the US. Not content with tramping Kim Jong Un underfoot, Trump took a sideswipe at China for not reining in North Korea. In turn, China warned the President-elect about not escalating the situation by provoking Kim Jong Un, a loose cannon at the best of times.

Trump has Mars on his Descendant relocated to North Korea so it is a region that will stoke his aggression. With both his Mars and Pluto in his relationship 7th house through China, matching the China natal Mars Pluto in the 7th – so a combustible combo.

Kim Jong Un’s birth date is questionable, ranging over 1983/84 with maybe different months. However his Leadership chart of 29 December 2011 11.57 am P’yonggang is sound. That chart is struggling through stormy seas in 2017/2018 from this March onwards with tr Pluto trine the Mars – enraged, frustrated and high-risk. Where he may come a cropper altogether is in 2018 with the Solar Arc Uranus square the Leadership Sun Pluto. That could tip him off his perch, with tr Uranus also opposition the Saturn in Libra.

He is facing internal problems from poverty and more so from the possibility of an assassination and coup. His brutal executions of reams of high level officials, including relatives, makes it more likely a last-resort retaliation comes at some point.

The North Korea, 9 September 1948 5.27pm? P’yonggang chart is deflated over coming months with the Solar Arc Mars squaring Neptune, so facing failure; with some change possible with an element of risk come 2018/19 as tr Saturn is conjunct the NK Uranus; and tr Uranus is trine the NK Saturn and opposition the Mars in Scorpio. It’ll be a time of change and insecurity.

The USA/NK relationship chart is intense and spitting teeth this year with tr Pluto opposition the composite Venus; but not really getting agitated until 2018 with tr Uranus trine the composite Mars; and tr Pluto trine Saturn.

South Korea on the other hand looks on high alert this year vis a vis NK, especially March, April, May. China looks frosty in the extreme with tr Saturn square the composite Sun, Mars, Venus late this month and through February, as well as twice more before the end of this year.