Another obscenely over-done wedding extravaganza bites the dust as Petra Ecclestone files for divorce six years after marrying businessman James Stunt at the 15^th Century Italian fort where Tom Cruise made his ill-fated match with Katie Holmes. It cost an estimated £12 million, with an £80,000 Vera Wang bride’s dress. The 350 guests were served Cristal champagne and £4000 a bottle Chateau Petrus; Eric Clapton played for free; was followed by The Black Eyed Peas, paid a reported £1.5 million fee, and the DJ was believed to have received £500,000 for a night’s work. A midnight fireworks display cost £100,000. She’s the daughter of F1 Supremo and business magnate Bernie Ecclestone, himself no stranger to financial tangles (see wiki).

The divorce will be messy with billions at stake, high-profile lawyers on both sides and James Stunt obviously intending to fight his corner.

What is astonishing about these marriages is why they ever thought it would work in the first place.

Petra, 19 Dec 1988, is a late Sun Sagittarius with her Sun conjunct Uranus Saturn in Capricorn, which in turn are conjunct Mercury Neptune in Capricorn. Her Jupiter in indulgent Taurus is in a frivolous opposition to Venus in Sagittarius; and she has an upfront Mars in Aries quincunx Pluto. So quite highly strung with a complicated father, which will have coloured her relationship choices.

Stunt, 21 January 1982, was reputedly worth billions though no one seems to know where his money comes from. He’s a Sun Venus in Aquarius square Pluto in late Libra; with Pluto conjunct Saturn and Saturn conjunct Mars in Libra; so controlling and tough.

His Sagittarius Moon will chime with her Sun; but with his Neptune conjunct her Sun she’d find him evasive; and his Uranus is conjunct her Venus so he’d be an unpredictable and erratic romantic partner. Their relationship chart has an argumentative, ego-clashing composite Sun Mars; with a disappointment-when-the-glitter-wears-off composite Venus Neptune. There would be mounting dislike, hostility and volatility when the tr Pluto square tr Uranus was hitting on the Sun Mars two or three years ago.

The wedding chart, 27 Aug 2011, has a sociable Sun Venus in a materialistic Earth Grand Trine to a superpower-couple Jupiter in Taurus trine Pluto. But there’s was also a disruptive Uranus square Pluto in a wide-ish hard aspect to an unkind, irritable Saturn square Mars – so the omens were all there from the start.

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the third-ranking official in the Vatican, has been charged with multiple sexual offences by police. It represents the biggest crisis of Pope Francis’s papacy. Pell says he is returning to Australia to clear his name. Last year he refused to return to give evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in person and instead gave evidence by videolink from Rome, citing ill health.

Pell, born 8 June 1941, Ballarat, Australia, has a Gemini Sun at the same degree as the Vatican (7 June 1929 11 am Rome). Pell’s Sun squares onto a Mars in Pisces opposition Neptune in Virgo; and he has the heavyweight Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune. The next two or three years look swampy and tough going with tr Neptune in an undermining conjunction to his Mars in 2018, and then square his Sun in 2019; and tr Pluto in a discouraging trine to his Saturn in 2018/19. This year the August Leo Eclipse will conjunct his Solar Arc Sun exactly and tr Saturn is square his Neptune – so a crisis with high anxiety.

Pope Francis’s Election chart, 13 March 2013 7.06pm Rome, is at its least stable this year with the Solar Arc Uranus exactly square the 4^th house Pluto, detonating deep fears. Tr Saturn is now also exactly in a discouraging square to  the Pisces Sun, repeating until late autumn. Tr Saturn then proceeds to conjunct Mars Uranus from early 2018 till late in the year; with worse shocks in 2019 from Solar Arc Mars conjunct Uranus.

Pell’s Jupiter Uranus are conjunct the Vatican’s MC so he is a key figure. His Solar Arc Sun is now conjunct the Vatican’s 12^th house Neptune in Leo which is also catching the full effect of the Leo Solar Eclipse. Neptune in the 12^th in a mundane chart points to secret delusions, confusion and is associated with scandals. The Eclipse conjunct Neptune offers a choice to the Vatican  between continuing self-deceit or greater spiritual understanding. At the moment the Vatican chart is being dissolved at the foundations by tr Neptune square the Gemini Moon this year; moving on to square the Sun/Moon midpoint, then the Sun by 2019. Lack of will power, indecision and drift are more likely than direct action.

It’s not been a good week for high clergy in the UK either, with George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury forced to resign from his post in the Church of England over a report that he was amongst senior figures who colluded with paedophile bishop Peter Ball.

Lord Carey held the most senior role in the Church of England in 1993, when Ball’s abuse of a young man, an aspirant monk, Neil Todd, initially came to light. Mr Todd killed himself in 2012. The Gibb report found that Lord Carey was aware of six letters sent by members of the public making further allegations, but did not pass them on to police. He also wrote a letter to Ball’s twin brother, Bishop Michael Ball, saying he believed he was “basically innocent”. A major independent review found the Church of England “concealed” evidence of child abuse against Ball for more than 20 years. He was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after admitting to a string of historical sex offences against teenage boys and young men between the 1970s and the 1990s. Lord Carey said last week: “I believed Peter Ball’s protestations and gave too little credence to the vulnerable young men and boys behind those allegations.”

Ball, 14 Feb 1932, is a Sun Mars in Aquarius opposition Jupiter in Leo, which squared onto a Taurus Moon – so obstinate, uncompromising, over-confident; with a tough Saturn opposition Pluto. He was evidently charismatic and specialised in ministry to young people, especially boys; and used his connections with the Royal Family, especially Prince Charles, to deflect criticism. He appeared to have been introduced to Prince Charles by Jimmy Savile; was a mentor through the breakdown of the marriage to Diana; and gave the address at the funeral of Camilla’s father, Major Bruce Shand.

Carey, 13 Nov 1935, is a Sun Scorpio which sits oddly with Ball’s Sun Mars in Aquarius; but their relationship chart had a friendly composite Sun Venus conjunction square Jupiter – so superficial charm won the argument.

My tuppence worth is there should be a criminal offence in the UK and elsewhere, as there is in the USA, of ‘depraved indifference’. Where those in positions of high office who looked the other way are held culpable, especially  when deaths occur due to lack of direct action.

Wonder Woman has turned out to be a surprise success, grossing $650 million since it opened recently, the biggest domestic opening of all-time for a female director, Patty Jenkins, and she also becomes the first female director of a studio superhero movie. Rotten Tomatoes says it succeeds in spectacular fashion, buoyed by new star Gal Gadot’s charismatic performance.

Both the start of principal photography have the premiere have prominent Jupiter aspects willing it on its way.

Patty Jenkins, born 24 July 1971 in California into an air-force family, is a Sun Leo trine Jupiter in Scorpio, sextile Pluto – so not short of confidence, talent, luck and determination. Her Jupiter is also tied into a T Square, conjunct Neptune opposition Saturn square Mercury (Moon) in Leo – so good at attracting money, big ideas, a flamboyant talent for communication and entertainment, very creative. She’s got even more ahead of her with a stroke of good luck in 2019 with her Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Jupiter; and more so in the 2020s when tr Pluto is sextile her Jupiter.

Gal Gadot, 30 April 1985, Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel, served for two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a combat trainer and was Miss Israel 2004. She is a determined and earthy Sun Taurus opposition Pluto, with her Sun square Jupiter in Aquarius. She has a tough, hard-edged Saturn in Scorpio opposition Mars and an upfront Venus in Aries. Her Solar Arc Jupiter was picking up the transiting Pluto sextile this year for her first lead success.

Dark conspiracy theories (which may well be true) are swirling around the involvement of US hedge-funder and computer scientist, Robert Mercer, in funding and strategising Trump’s win and Brexit – the two great astonishments of 2016 – by, amongst other things, targeting voters via social media analytics. One commentator said: “Artificial Intelligence won it for Leave.”

Mercer is one of the owners of Breitbart news, buddies with Steve Bannon and a long-time friend of UKIP’s Nigel Farage. There are legal writs flying but plenty of info on the net if you google Mercer and the DUP, for instance, as well as Mercer/Trump/Farage etc. Open Democracy has details as well.

Mercer born 11 July 1946 is a Sun and Saturn in Cancer, with his Sun square Jupiter in Libra. He was certainly on top of the world in 2016 with his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Jupiter – a resounding triumph (or two). Tr Pluto continues to square his Jupiter in till late 2018; though he’s not feeling quite so chipper with tr Neptune opposition his Mars this year; and a couple of tricky Solar Arcs bringing a shock or two and uncertainty.

His relationship charts with Trump, Bannon and Farage – all show varying ruptures, aggravations and splits this year and more so next. So perhaps the Make America Great and titanium-strength Brexit plans aren’t running too smoothly. Though Cambridge Analytics, the company, supposedly responsible in part for the magic wins, founded on 30 July 2014, looks on a successful roll in 2018.

Definitely one to watch, since there are moves afoot to investigate whether electoral laws on donations were broken in the UK.

John McEnroe, former top-ranking tennis champion, having managed to leave his ‘bad boy’ reputation behind, has reversed himself with remarkably silly remarks about Serena Williams. He suggested that compared to male tennis players she’d rank about 700; which isn’t that different to Williams’ comments in the past about there being a massive physical difference between men and women, in terms of the velocity of the balls being hit and the power behind players’ shots. But he still comes off sounding like a jerk.

Born 16 February 1959 10.30pm Wiesbaden, Germany, he has a flamboyant 5^th house Sun Mercury in Aquarius which opposes Pluto and squares an 8^th house Mars (conjunct Moon) opposition Jupiter – so driven by anger, a need to control and super-confident. And his Mars Moon square Pluto certainly indicates the potential for issues and aggravation where women are concerned.

Serena’s Mars in Leo is conjunct his 10^th house Uranus and her Uranus squares his Sun – so a chemistry that is likely to spark into a lively firework display at the drop of a hat. Her super-confident Jupiter Pluto also sits on his Ascendant so he will feel overwhelmed by her.

His Sun is opposed by the upcoming Leo Solar Eclipse, which hints that facing up to the fact that he’s not always right will be unavoidable and he needs to rethink his perspective. Mercury is also in opposition which seems equally apt – he’ll be running around trying to straighten things that have gone off track because someone has misunderstood what he said. Communications get garbled and have to be disentangled. Though his Mars Pluto will make it difficult for him to back down.

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There are fears that Liu Xiaobo, the renowned democracy activist and Nobel laureate, is close to death after being moved from a Chinese prison into hospital. He has served seven years of an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion of state power, after penning a democracy manifesto calling for an end to one-party rule in China and for the Communist party to uphold the constitution. He also served two years in prison after the Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent massacre.

He has late stage liver cancer and questions are being asked about why he wasn’t given treatment sooner in the notoriously punitive Chinese prison system, which has seen other activists die while still incarcerated. Republican senator Marco Rubio, has asked Donald trump to intervene and said, “Liu Xiaobo, and countless others like him who courageously seek peaceful change in China, are heroes worthy of honour, not criminals deserving to be tortured or unjustly punished.”

Since coming to power in 2012, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has launched a series of crackdowns on civil society in an attempt to silence feminist activists, human rights lawyers and book publishers.

Liu Xiaobo, 28 Dec 1955, is a Sun Capricorn trine Jupiter Pluto, with Jupiter Pluto square Saturn in Scorpio and Mars also in Scorpio – so confident, determined, courageous; plus a Venus opposition Uranus square Neptune making him idealistic and unhshakeable in his beliefs. His Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct that emphasised Neptune at the moment, which is devastating.

It’s unlikely that criticism will have any effect on Xi Jinping, though his Presidency chart, 14 March 2013 14 March 2013 11.51 am, does look undermined and directionless with tr Neptune conjunct the MC now and on and off till late 2018. There will be major and intense public discontent in 2018/19 with tr Pluto square the Pres Moon; and a high-voltage shock in 2019 from Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Pres Uranus.

A tainted jury pool is causing problems at the start of the Federal securities fraud trial of Martin Shkreli, infamous for raising the cost of a life-saving drug by 5000%. Comments from potential jurors who were excused included: “the face of corporate greed”; “the most hated man in America”; ”a snake”.

He’s American born of Albanian parents, 1 April 1983, and appears to be his own worst enemy, calling members of Congress ‘imbeciles’ on twitter, who had objected to his price rise; and spraying Trumpian bile over others who had objected to his methods.

He’s a Sun Aries with Mercury and Mars also in Aries, so no surprises he’s impulsive and reckless; with his Mars in a ruthless opposition to Pluto and a can-be-cruel opposition to Saturn in obstinate Scorpio. His Sun is also trine a risk-taking, relies-on-luck trine to Uranus Jupiter. With druggy Neptune opposition the North Node in a wedge/sextile/trine to Saturn Pluto and the same to Mars. Looks a hard, unpleasant and quite unbalanced man.

His luck is running out with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars, opposition his Pluto and then Saturn in 2017/18; with more discouragement in 2019/2021 with his Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Uranus Jupiter; a huge upheaval in 2023 and then (sadly) probably reinventing himself and getting a boost by 2025 from Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Jupiter.

Forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for the debts of failed banks was supposed to have been outlawed in the EU after the 2008 cataclysm. So no surprises there are grumbling of discontent, especially in Germany, when Italy was allowed to do just that to mop up the mess after two regional banks threatened to implode. “Hedge funds have just made a lot of money, and the taxpayers are the big losers,” said one Italian banker.

The furore over Brexit and some encouraging economic signs, have obscured the fact that the EU continues to struggle with intractable and probably insoluble fiscal problems.

The European Central Bank 1 Jan 1999 12 am chart, has tr Pluto in a trapped square to Mars exact now and repeating till late 2018; with tr Uranus in a jolting conjunction to Saturn and square the financial Venus in 2017 until early 2018. 2018 sees tr Saturn in a discouraging conjunction to the Sun and tr Uranus in a high-anxiety square to Neptune; with insecurity and crisis in 2019 and worse in 2020 from Solar Arc Mars square Uranus.

The Bank of Italy chart, 10 Aug 1893, looks unstable and undermined in 2017/18 with tr Neptune square the 8^th house Pluto Neptune and opposition the financial Venus; with a major destabilising upheaval in 2018 from Solar Arc Uranus square Pluto; which will continue to cause headaches as the Solar Arc continues to square the Pluto/Neptune midpoint, then Neptune into the early 2020s, which will bring outright panic and confusion. Plus tr Uranus opposition Uranus for more disruptions in 2019/2020.

Italy has not flourished in the EU’s fiscal strait-jacket with its GDP down 8% since 2008 partly the result of EU policies. The relationship between Italy and the EU, always uncertain with a composite Pluto Uranus opposition Neptune, and a ratchety Mars trine Saturn, will worsen over the next two years.

The key player in all this is Germany which is regarding Macron’s vision for closer financial ties between the EU 27 as tantamount to making them the deep pocket for other countries’ debts. That relationship, between Germany and the EU, is rocking and rolling ferociously through 2018/19 with tr Uranus in hard aspect to the composite Grand Cross of Venus opposition Uranus square Mars opposition Moon; plus a discouraging/separating tr Saturn conjunct the composite Sun and opposition Pluto in 2018.

The DUP/Conservative Minority Government deal was signed around 11am this morning. It doesn’t augur too well with a slippery Neptune in the house of commitments and agreements; and the enraged/trapped Mars opposition Pluto squaring onto Jupiter. So it will create hostility – already brewing with Wales and Scotland angry that they aren’t getting the same massive £1 billion handout as North Ireland. There’ll be a good deal of game-playing, which the Northern Irish are much more experienced at; and they are not renowned for their discipline, so keeping them present and voting in support may not be that easy.

The Deal Sun is square the Mars/Saturn midpoint which Ebertin describes as: “weak vitality, the inability to meet all demands or to master all situations,” amongst other things. The Sun also opposes Saturn/Pluto – which is bleak, tough, deprived, cold-hearted. With Mercury conjunct the Sun/Mars midpoint and indeed conjunct Mars and opposition Pluto – so toxic arguments.

The relationship between Theresa May and DUP leader Arlene Foster is riddled with outright dislike with a composite Sun Venus opposition Saturn square Mars. And tr Pluto is trine the composite Mars from the 16^th of this month till early September and again late October to early December, so there will be a more than normally poisonous atmosphere between them then. With September being a real low. Though there’s no saying how long Theresa May will stick around, since she’s friendless in her own party at the moment with her advisers baling out or being pushed at a rate of knots.