Trying to disentangle the freewill versus determinism argument from an astrological perspective isn’t simple.

Country charts from my experience tend to act in a more concrete way than individual charts – which is to say there is less leeway for choice. That isn’t to say it’s always clear how the influences will work out, since my view is that astrology plumbs into an underlying strata of possibilities and potentials. But there does seem to be more room for choice for individuals – if they are (I hate the word) evolved enough. Maybe more conscious is better – they have insight into their behaviour and motivations. Perhaps a country ‘mentality’ is more primitive since it is encased/rooted in a mass of people, most of whom will be ‘unconscious’.

It all goes back to Carl Jung’s thought – ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” In an odd way, a society’s glue only holds together if most people are sunk below the median line of consciousness. Too many ‘enlightened’ individualists would rip the social order apart.

We all cling onto astrology since it puts a pattern on life to help us along the way. Yet what astrology also tells us is that life is random and unfair. Bad things happen to good people and vice versa. From square one, some people are handed a more beneficial hand of cards, with a helpful chart. That is partly family inheritance but it is also a matter of chance of the influences around when they were born. And also where. If you’re born in a famine in the Ethiopian desert and died of starvation, you’ll have the same chart as a westerner who went on to have a decent-ish life. The astrology won’t tell you everything.

The human psyche is mysteriously complicated and interfaces with the outer world in ways which we really don’t understand. To go back to Jung’s thought – I’ve known people in therapy struggling to become conscious which is no easy process, and hitting a block when the pull back into unconsciousness becomes too strong. The outer world obliges and causes train strikes and delays so they miss therapy appointments. Utterly nothing that is their direct responsibility and yet it coincides precisely with their inner conflict and state of mind.

We all know people whose lives have repeating disasters, minor or major, which appear to be nothing over which they have any control or indeed ‘cause’. Yet they keep happening. ‘Fate’ keeps hitting them over the head. It’s easy enough to say, they need to become more conscious so they can internalise the conflicts that are happening to them in the outer world. But that isn’t possible for many. Psychological transformation is too difficult since it risks pulling down the entire psychic structure.

What the astrology tells us is there are different levels to all the influences. Transformational transiting Pluto in hard aspect to someone’s Moon – the Moon equals house, body, women, childhood, mother. It can have a concrete effect and their house has starts to crumble and the drains back up. Some people somatise and get ill. The emotional effect will brew up fights with female friends/bosses or older female relatives. Or psychologically they can go back to their inner roots, become more conscious of and experience early feelings and clear out old resentments. For most of us there will be several of these effects running concurrently.

But the more conscious an individual is, the less the outer, concrete events will occur. Which isn’t to say that getting ill or having your house fall down is your fault in any direct way. None of us ever get fully conscious and for some it’s a more impossible task than for others.

Other thought from Carl Jung – ‘Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do.’ So you’re landed with your birth chart – part family legacy, part the zeitgeist when you were born. You don’t have a choice about the template itself – you’re a Gemini Sun square Uranus Pluto, not a Leo Sun trine Jupiter Neptune. So you have to work within that framework and live it out to its fullest potential. In the first example, there’s no sense in trying to stick yourself into a humdrum box, because your unlived energies will continually tip your life upside down. There’s no choice about who you are, the choice is whether you opt to be yourself.

Whether this answers the initial question about the astrology string-pulling, I don’t know. In many ways it was easier in ye olden pagan days when everything was thought to be ‘fated’ and people accepted they were marionettes of the god’s. But it doesn’t sit comfortably nowadays and anyway isn’t true.

One other thought is attempting to struggle out of my muddled brain. You can be born with a reasonable chart, yet if, decades later, you happen to live through a longish period of continuing tumult in the outer world (as now) it can send your life off track. Would that be obvious from the original birth chart’s energies? Not necessarily, since it shows the time you were born and how you will react to whatever comes your way. What I’m trying to say (I think) is that life is, in part, random which is difficult and scary to grasp. The astrological cycles churn on with little regard for right or wrong, fair or unfair. There is a pattern but no moral content to the influences. It’s not always about progress or the path to enlightenment, often it’s the reverse. And we just have to muddle along as best we can, clinging onto what makes sense and refusing to be swept along by the chaos.

Please post below ——–

Joshua Wong, 13 Oct 1996, a social and democracy activist in Hong Kong, who has been arrested several times after demonstrations, was listed by Fortune as one of the world’s greatest leaders in 2015. And he’s not yet 20.

Born with dyslexia, he was raised as a Protestant Christian, became active in church and student protest groups and this year launched Demosisto, a movement stressing Hong Kong’s right to self determination.

He’s a Sun, probably Moon in Libra, square Neptune in Capricorn, and sextile Mars in Leo – idealistic, keen on justice, pro-active and good at publicity. With Mercury North Node also in Libra opposition Saturn in self-reliant Aries square Jupiter in Capricorn – Jupiter has a socially aware drive which can produce enlightened spokesmen. His Mercury is also heavily aspected being trine Uranus, sextile Pluto as well as in the T Square to Jupiter and Saturn so definitely a communicator.

He’s in an excitable insecure phase at the moment with his Solar Arc Uranus opposing his Mars; and his Venus in Virgo and Solar Arc Mars in Virgo picking up the swampy, worrisome tr Neptune square tr Saturn now and into early 2017. In Jan 2017  tr Uranus opposes his Sun for the final time and from 2018 tr Pluto starts to square his Sun – so a longish period of considerable challenge. Though along the way he does have his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Uranus which should produce relief, a lucky break and good news.

His chart does collide with China’s with his influential Pluto falling in the China 10^th and his Mars in their 7^th conjunct their ferocious Mars Pluto. The China Libra Sun is conjunct his Mercury North Node and opposition his Saturn –  all in all he won’t sit comfortably with the Beijing government.

The relationship chart does indicate a continuing struggle for the upper hand through 2016/17 and a major upheaval next year.

His emphasised Jupiter falls in the Hong Kong 1997 chart 10^th house, so he’s an important beacon of hope for the country. Though there looks to be concern and reversals over the next eighteen months. With better news coming 2018/2019 as tr Uranus squares the composite Jupiter Uranus.

He’s a brave lad since facing the might of China is no small undertaking.

UK cyclist Chris Froome has won the Tour de France for the third time. Born 20 May 1985 in Kenya, he was brought up in South Africa and now lives in Monaco. But Great Britain is still claiming him as one of their own for a much needed morale boost.

Like Bradley Wiggins, another Tour winner and Olympic medallist, Froome is a Sun Taurus. His Sun opposes an obsessively determined Saturn in Scorpio, with Saturn square Jupiter in Aquarius (at that mid degree which crops up regularly in top athletes’ charts). He’s also got Mercury in Taurus in an intense opposition to Pluto. Plus an adrenaline-junkie Mars opposition Uranus; and a sociable and adventurous Uranus trine Venus in Aries, sextile Jupiter.

He comes across as controlled, rather understated, but his chart has a great deal of oomph and sparkle. His Solar Arc Jupiter is square his exact Mars opposition Uranus this year; with tr Pluto sextile his Solar Arc Jupiter – so it all came together to give him a record-beating run.

David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, is one of more than 20 candidates seeking a Senate seat in Louisiana. He is a white nationalist, anti-semitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier and has been an outspoken supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has finally distanced himself from Duke, after appearing to fudge the issue recently. Duke pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2002 and spent a year in federal prison. According to The New York Times: “Mr. Duke was accused of telling supporters that he was in financial straits, then misusing the money they sent him from 1993 to 1999….. for personal investments and gambling trips….”

Born 1 July 1950 11.37am in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he’s a Sun Uranus in Cancer square Mars Neptune in Libra and trine Jupiter in Pisces, so a maverick, publicity-hungry and confident. With (probably) an Aquarius Moon in an Air Grand Trine to Venus in Gemini trine Mars – ideologues often have a heavy Air emphasis and in his case it is an Air Water chart, so he won’t find it easy to find psychological balance, since he fluctuates between feelings and thoughts.

Mercifully he looks to be sinking in 2017 with tr Neptune opposition his Saturn; with confusion this month and across Oct/Nov as tr Pluto squares his Neptune. With worse in 2018 as his Solar Arc Sun is conjunct his Saturn. Though tr Jupiter crossing his Ascendant from this August will no doubt give him a confidence lift to step out into the spotlight briefly.

Germany is reeling from an epidemic of shootings and knifings by immigrants – nothing like as destructive, in terms of lives lost, as Kabul or Baghdad etc – but being closer to home it resonates more. It will pile yet more pressure on Angela Merkel’s open door policy.

What is pertinent about the Germany 1 Jan 1871 12 am chart is the Solar Arc Moon now within less than a degree of being conjunct the 12^th house Mars which suggests a shocked and angry population; and in a year’s time the Solar Arc Moon squares the Germany Saturn – so a longish run of metaphorical collisions and setbacks, sparking heated responses and despair.

Tr Pluto is moving through the Germany 4^th for another decade, bringing internal domestic tension and resentment. In addition tr Pluto is trine the Germany 8^th house Pluto in 2016/17 which is more difficult to interpret since it’s a very subterranean shift, pulling away from an old approach to power and influence.

What will be worth looking out for is tr Pluto square the Germany 7^th house Neptune at 19 Aries from March 2017 for two years. With tr Uranus square the 10^th house Uranus from May 2017 till early 2018. The latter will bring a sharp change of direction. But the former suggests a longish phase of total confusion, mis-judgements and agitated questioning about one close relationship; and indeed about Germany’s commitment to committed relationships in general with other countries. Certainly the UK/Germany relationship chart is very fraught over the next three years. There’s a disappointing tr Saturn square tr Neptune in hard aspect to the composite Moon this year, trailing into next; with an insecure, bad-tempered tr Uranus square the composite Mars in Feb 2017; with 2018 being even more stressed with a trapped/enraged tr Pluto opposition Mars and tr Uranus opposition Saturn – so it’s not going to be an amicable split, not remotely.

Even the Germany/France relationship which has never been as mutually supportive as it appeared, is on edge in 2017 and explosive in 2018.

The Germany/EU relationship will meet its sternest test by 2018/19 as tr Uranus in Taurus starts to square the composite Venus, and then in 2019/2020 square Uranus, oppose Mars and then conjunct the Moon. With tr Saturn crossing the conjunction to the composite Sun during this phase of extreme strain, jolts and multiple aggravations  – and perhaps a debate about whether it’s all worth it.

Lloyd’s insurance market, is likely to be an early loser from the UK’s Brexit vote as insurers prepare to shift some of their operations out of the country, if, as seems likely, the UK loses passporting rights of direct access to the EU. One insider described the vote as “seismic” for the insurance market and two-thirds of people who work there thought Brexit would hurt or severely damage Lloyd’s.

The Lloyds London chart, 28 May 1871, certainly shows a massive setback at the moment with Solar Arc Pluto square Saturn, Solar Arc Sun square Uranus and Solar Arc Sun opposition Neptune which is a perfect storm of negativity and shocks. Tr Uranus will square Uranus and conjunct Neptune until April 2017 so the high-wire, strained and edgy mood will run on. And there’ll be worse in 2019/20/21 when tr Pluto opposes Uranus for a massive upheaval and makes a frustrated, trapped trine to Mars.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, 31 May 1727 JC (OS), looks shocked this year and next; is facing a meltdown in 2018; and much worse in 2019/20 with tr Pluto trine Mars and tr Neptune square the Sun.

Barclays Bank, 20 July 1896, is exhibiting much the same pattern – panic now and in 2017 from tr Saturn hitting on the Pluto Neptune in 2016/17; and tr Neptune following behind right through till 2020. 2019/2020 look horrific with Solar Arc Mars square Pluto and Solar Arc Saturn square Pluto.

Lloyds Bank, 3 June 1765, ditto ditto and ditto. Undermined in 2016/17 with tr Saturn opposing and tr Neptune square the Sun Venus; with a major collision of sorts in 2019/2020 as Solar Arc Mars square Venus Sun; and tr Pluto squares the Uranus.

HSBC, 2 January 1990, is ploughing through thick mud and discouraged till late 2016 with tr Pluto conjunct Saturn; and tr Neptune square Mars till early 2017. With a coach-crash of Solar Arc Mars conjunct Sun in 2020.

That may not all be Brexit, since the Saturn Pluto conjunction of 2019 will bring a recession, so could be other factors, though it won’t help.

Anti-government forces in Armenia who seized a police station, demanding the release of their leader imprisoned for possessing weapons and allegedly planning a coup, have released their final hostages but remain inside. President Serzh Sargsyan has been criticised over his handling of a conflict involving the ethnic Armenian majority in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. A bloody war erupted after the end of Soviet rule in 1988, and there has been frequent unrest since.

Serzh Sargsyan, 30 June 1954, was elected for his second term and sworn in on 9 April 2013. His presidency chart is volatile and risky with a Sun Mars Venus in Aries picking up the tr Uranus (and Eris) conjunction until April 2017. It was always going to be a high-stress term with two Yods of Jupiter sextile Uranus inconjunct Saturn, and Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct Jupiter – so requiring maturity, practicality and humility for it to work. Tr Neptune is also square the Presidency Jupiter through 2017 which will bring disappointment and perhaps financial problems.

He’s a Sun Jupiter (Moon) in Cancer opposition Mars in Capricorn and trine Saturn in Scorpio; with Uranus Mercury also in Cancer square Neptune – so a gambler, risk-taker, adventurous, stubborn and quite fanatical as well as evasive at times. Solar Arc Pluto is squaring his Uranus about now causing a significant upheaval in his life; with a highly strung and impulsive tr Uranus square Uranus and opposition Neptune through 2016 till almost mid 2017.

Armenia has had a complicated history but the two dates which seem sound are 28 May 1918 and 21 September 1991. The 1918 charts shows high uncertainty in 2017; and a panicky sense of failure in 2020 when tr Neptune opposes its Mars and squares Jupiter.

The 1991 chart for post-Soviet Armenia has been through a highly challenging few years with the tr Uranus square tr Pluto hitting on its Mars in Libra square Uranus Neptune Node in Capricorn – those influences are nearly coming to a finish, with the exception of tr Pluto conjunct the Node till late 2017 and tr Pluto trine Mercury and sextile Pluto till late 2018 – so pressures and conflicted discussions will continue; with a major jolt in 2018 from Solar Arc Uranus square Saturn. Though there should be good news in 2017 with Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct the Sun.

Greg Louganis has a life story that is a real triumph of determination over adversity. Born 29 January 1960 in California, to a Samoan father and American mother, he was adopted as a baby, ended up with a physically abusive, adoptive father, was bullied because of his mixed race, was raped as a teenager and became the greatest diver of all time, winning golds at two consecutive Olympics in ‘84 and ‘88. Just before Seoul in 1988 he was diagnosed with HIV, went onto heavy medication and still won despite banging and gashing his head on the board in the preliminary rounds. He came out as gay in the 1990s and lost all of his sponsorships apart from Speedo – and is still alive and fit nearly 30 years on.

He’s a Sun Aquarius in a close square to Neptune, which often turns up in athletes’ charts, belying Neptune’s reputation as vague and low energy. His Uranus is in an adventurous trine to Jupiter in enthusiastic Sagittarius; with Jupiter semi-square the Sun. He’s also got a truly difficult Pluto trine Venus Mars Saturn in Capricorn – a deprived, cruel childhood, which left its scars, but toughened him up.

His Sun is square his ultra-determined and ill-treated Mars/Pluto midpoint and his bleak/deprived Saturn/Pluto, both of which also aspect his Neptune and Jupiter. So quite a mix of hardship and luck.

When he was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, his Solar Arc Saturn Mars were conjunct his Sun Mercury, so a time of huge stress and shock, when he thought he was going to die. Tr Uranus was also conjunct his Sun and Mercury. But despite that six months later he went on to sweep the boards of medals.

Tim Kaine, a centrist senator from Virginia, a fluent Spanish speaker who opposes abortion but supports abortion rights, is pro-trade and has never lost an election – has been chosen as Hillary Clinton’s running mate. He describes himself as boring and HC says he’s the eternal optimist.

Born Feb 26 1958 7.59am St Paul, in Minnesota, he has a 12^th house Sun Mercury in Pisces opposition a hard-working 6^th house Pluto and trine an upbeat, sociable 7^th house Jupiter Neptune North Node in Scorpio – so controlled, enthusiastic, content to work behind the scenes but also good at diplomatic glad-handing. His Jupiter Neptune Node is on the focal point of a Fixed T Square to a friendly 11^th house Venus in Aquarius opposition Uranus – so idealistic and upbeat. Such a Fixed Jupiter can be philanthropic and an enlightened political spokesman, though it can also suffer from Jupiter’s downside of impracticality especially tied into Neptune. His ambitious, pragmatic Mars in Capricorn is in his 10^th, not much aspected.

His Gemini Moon is on the point of a Yod to Neptune sextile a Capricorn MC, which, at best, means he has the capacity to soothe others. His Pluto is on the focal point of another Yod to Venus sextile his Aries Asc which can bring high-level authority and organizational control. It’s downside is a tendency to manipulate.

His Jupiter Neptune is conjunct HC’s 12^th house Scorpio Sun which makes for a good morale-boosting duo with his Venus square her Sun which is also sociable. There will be differences of approach since his Uranus squares her Sun and his Saturn in Sagittarius opposes her Uranus – so on some issues he’ll be more reformist and on others less so. His Pluto is conjunct her MC (8.01am birth time being sound) – which can make for an influential couple though it could descend into power-struggling along the way if he tries to exert control.

His Moon is in her 7^th, his Sun conjunct her IC which should both be reassuring for HC.

HC’s Sun falls in his 7^th, which is good for a partnership, her Pisces Moon falls in his 12^th, in the same sign though not conjunct his Sun – good for behind-the-scenes contacts. Her MC is trine his MC – so supportive careers.

Their relationship chart has an emotionally close, complementary, composite Venus trine Pluto; with a pro-active Sun sextile Mars. There’s a more problematic Neptune Saturn maybe opposition Moon square Uranus but that could get soaked up in managing crises if they happen to get to the White House.

Barack Obama’s relationship chart with Joe Biden wasn’t ideal, though JB’s Sun Venus are conjunct BO’s MC with JB’s Jupiter trine BO’s MC as well.

There’s nothing much of help on Kaine’s birth chart apart from a mildly successful tr Jupiter sextile his Sun/Mars in the days before the election. He looks exceptionally pressured in December with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars in Capricorn, which runs on through 2017; and he’s less than delirious over coming months with the tr Neptune square tr Saturn hitting on his Mars/Node and Mars/Neptune midpoints right through till February 2017. But the relationship chart with HC does have a helpful, morale-boosting tr Pluto sextile Jupiter over the election which looks successful. Tr Saturn is heading upwards in his chart through his 9^th, reaching his MC by 2018 when he’ll hit his peak for seven years thereafter. With tr Jupiter going through his 7^th for the next year and his Progressed Moon going through his 5^th for the next two plus years, he looks in for an enjoyable, sociable time. His Solar Arc Jupiter will conjunct his MC by mid 2019, so he could be aiming for the next Presidential round in 2020.