Veteran war photographer Don McCullin has been awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. Described as one of our greatest living photographers and a photojournalist without equal, he spent 60 years documenting the poverty of London’s East End, and the horrors of wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Congo, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Iran. Last month, aged 81, he travelled to Iraq to photograph the Battle of Mosul and took another trip to Palmyra in Syria in early 2016. He has vowed to continue with his work until he “can’t press that button any more”.

Born 9 October 1935 in London he had a tough upbringing with a violent mother, a sick father, evacuation during the war, frequent truancy and a youth of street fighting and local gangs. He described Finsbury Park in north London where he grew up as a place of ignorance, bigotry, poverty and violence. During his National Service he became a cameraman but couldn’t pass the theory exams (he’s dyslexic). A commission from the Observer picture editor when he was 23 got him started on his long and distinguished career more by accident than design. He covered wars in Vietnam, Biafra, Cyprus and Northern Ireland but focused on its terrible effects on people rather than on the fighting.

He says: “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

Actor Tom Hardy will reportedly play him in a film, based on McCullin’s autobiography, Unreasonable Behavior.

He’s a Sun Libra sextile Mars in adventurous Sagittarius; with a confident Jupiter in Scorpio trine Pluto in Cancer; and a Mystic Rectangle of Venus in Virgo opposition Saturn (Moon) in Pisces which is trine/sextile Uranus opposition Mercury in Scorpio. His Neptune is in a publicity-seeking square to Mars. Mercury in Scorpio is often found in research journalist’s charts and has the ability to dig deep and see below the surface.

His chart is replete with creative quintiles and septiles. His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic is focussed on Mercury and the war-signature Saturn Pluto. His 7^th Harmonic is pulled to military/situations of cruelty, with Mars Saturn prominent focussing onto filmic Neptune. His enduring, endless-struggle 8^th Harmonic is enormously strong; as is his ‘breakthrough’, genius 13H.

From unlikely beginnings he pulled himself away from his roots with a world-class talent and a mix of determination and luck. Though admittedly Jupiter Pluto has a reputation for creating its own good fortune.

The Queen is to miss the New Year’s Day church service at Sandringham, having already missed the Christmas Day one for the first time in forever, due to a lingering cold which has kept her indoors throughout the festivities.

There’s remarkably little showing on her chart except for an irritable tr Pluto trine Sun/Mars through December which disappears tomorrow late to be replaced by a much more upbeat tr Pluto trine Moon/Jupiter. She does have three Neptune transits to midpoints – Mars/Uranus, Jupiter/Uranus and Uranus/Neptune – but they’ve been running from late September and will go on till January 10^th. Plus a marginally edgy tr Uranus sextile her Mars, running through Dec/Jan 2017.

Her Sun/Moon midpoint does have the tr Saturn opposition for the last few days of 2016 until Jan 5^th which for a public figure can mean separation from their audience, and perhaps from other family members if she’s been out of the party spirit. And she’s recently lost two of her oldest childhood friends which will also be part of this.

Her Solar Return for the year from April 2016 does have Sun and Uranus in the 6^th house of health; and an accident-prone Jupiter opposition Neptune square Mars Saturn; but it’s also fairly robust with an Earth Grand Trine onto Jupiter in the 10^th. Nothing on the Lunar Return.

She is handing over more of her charity duties to younger Royals as tr Saturn approaches the cusp of her 12^th late in 2017. Tr Pluto is already in her 12^th as she has cut back on far flung travels, though with Uranus through her 3^rd for many years ahead, she won’t sit still easily.

Her Coronation chart of 2 June 1953 has been stressed over the past couple of years and continues to be so with some setbacks in the next six months, and greater challenges and confusion in 2018 to 2020.

Prince Charles’ 10^th house Taurus Moon gets the tr Uranus conjunction in 2018/early 2019 which would suggest a definite change in direction/status.

The Queen will never abdicate but as she progresses into her 90s she’ll undoubtedly hand over more of the reins to Charles. The UK’s 10^th house Moon in Cancer at 19 degrees is certainly stressed by tr Pluto opposition from this March on till late 2018, which is associated with rulership and the Monarchy.

Urgh, the uncertainty of Brexit is bad enough, if the Queen is forced into retirement, the country will feel rudderless.

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The much loved and revered actress Judi Dench is still going strong having just celebrated her eighty second birthday. For decades she played Shakespeare on stage to much acclaim and multiple awards. Only the movie Mrs Brown (Queen Victoria) in her mid sixties brought her to international recognition, and she then proceeded on to become M in Bond films for 17 years, was a seven time Oscar nominee for Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth 1, Chocolat, Philomena etc. Harvey Weinstein, the US producer, who ‘discovered’ her with Mrs Brown asked what she’d been doing before! Such is the cachet of film roles and the oblivion of careers not paraded on the red carpet.

Born 9 December 1934 with a putative time of 7.55pm (astrotheme), she has a lively, adventurous and witty Sun Venus in Sagittarius in the performing 5^th house trine Uranus on her Aries Midheaven. With Jupiter in Scorpio in her 4^th, a testament to her happy childhood with a General Practitioner father who was interested in amateur dramatics, and her subsequent long and happy marriage to actor Michael Williams.

But it is not an easy chart. Theatre director Richard Eyre remarked in a documentary celebrating her career that, beneath the jokes and immense talent of her craft, she had a ‘troubled soul’. She has three Yods which do suggest strain, focussing on to Pluto, Mars and Saturn – and that is a great deal to live up to. A focal point 12^th house Pluto allows her to tap in great depths psychologically. A focal point Saturn requires great dedication to work and responsibilities. Mars tends to be overly scattered but a fast-changing, varied career would soak that up, and she admits to not being good at sitting still and being passive.

A hard-working Capricorn Moon opposes Pluto squaring onto her Uranus, so she’ll be emotionally changeable, able to connect to a wide range of feelings, dark and light. Her Mars in earthy Virgo is square her Venus, trine her Moon, sextile her Pluto and inconjunct Uranus – so very get-up-and-go with a huge reservoir of restless energy. Without a peripatetic actor’s lifestyle , allowing her to live out quite destructive emotions on stage, it’s difficult to see how she could have handled that fairly explosive chart. But her home life would always be underpinned by that contented Jupiter in the 4^th.

Her actors’ 15^th Harmonic is marked; as is her hope-and-faith, destined-for-immortality 17H. Next to her 15H, her stamina-and-stubbornness 8^th harmonic is the strongest. Long may she continue.

Vera Rubin, the astronomer whose tireless stargazing provided the first confirmation for the existence of dark matter and paved the way for women in science, has died aged 88.

She was born in Philadelphia on 23 July 1928 with an electrical engineer father, also an amateur astrologer, who constructed her first telescope when she was 14. Despite great resistance from male-dominated science faculties, she persevered to become one of the foremost astronomers of her generation.

Her ground breaking discovery came from observing that the stars in the outer regions of a spiral galaxy were moving just as fast as the ones closer to the centre, apparently in defiance of Newton’s laws of motion, which predicted that the inner stars would be moving faster, just as the inner planets of the solar system are moving faster around the Sun than the outer planets. She and her partner concluded that the effect was real and must be the result of some inexplicable extra gravity, the only force that could account for such an observation. And wherever there is gravity, there must be mass. It was this missing mass — and its gravity — that was keeping these spinning galaxies glued together. [Times obit.]

She was a Sun Venus in Leo square Jupiter in Taurus, trine Uranus, so charming, stubborn, innovative. Her Mars in determined Taurus was also sextile Pluto (Mercury) in Cancer which would give her the grit to stand up to attacks within her profession. Her Mercury was in an inventive square to Uranus.

As expected her two strongest harmonics were the 13H, known for genius, exploration and breakthrough; and her leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H. The harmonics do add an invaluable dimension to a chart, which on the surface might not look too unique.

President Obama’s belated move against Russian interference in the USA election by expelling diplomats is deemed to have been undercut by Putin’s oily and scathing non-retaliation in anticipation of Trump’s coming. In reality it has thrown a spanner into the heart of the Republican Party, traditionally very anti-Russian, which it’ll be more than interesting to watch play out.

Everyone is playing games. Putin wants a Trump friendship since Trump is perceived to be anti-NATO/EU and thus won’t kick up a fuss if Putin makes further moves in eastern Europe and consolidates gains in the Ukraine/Crimea. Trump can’t admit the Russians interfered with the election since it would tarnish his glorious personal victory. But it’ll be harder to deny given that the Germans are now on high alert with evidence of Russian cyber interference in preparation for their forthcoming elections.

Obama has pushed Trump into a corner since any moves to forge closer ties with Russia is likely to meet fierce resistance from a bipartisan coalition in Congress, who have promised even tougher measures against Russia, with or without the President’s approval. Republican senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio would certainly go for an all-out confrontation with Trump. One commentator even went so far as to say that if Trump went too far off message that the Republican leadership (Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell) could get him impeached (no shortage of smoking guns), which would put the more traditionally conservative Mike Pence in situ in the White House. So it wouldn’t even need a Democratic majority after the 2018 elections.

Trump’s relationships with senior Republicans:

Paul Ryan – an irritable relationship at best with a composite Mars Saturn, it is sagging disastrously through 2017 with tr Neptune square the composite Saturn Mars from April 2017 to late 2019; with indications of a stand-off in 2018 as tr Uranus is conjunct the composite Venus, and opposing Neptune in 2019.

Mitch McConnell – marginally friendlier than Ryan, but power-struggling and not on a common agenda. Again 2018 looks like cutlery-in-the-air time with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and then Venus; with a spat earlier in late April/May, November 2017.

Mike Pence, VP – simmering hostility with a composite Mars Pluto; suspicion and doubt from composite Sun trine Saturn Neptune; differing agendas from Uranus square Saturn Neptune. A high-anxiety, confused 2017 with tr Pluto square the composite Saturn/Neptune midpoint, worsening in 2018 with perhaps scandals emerging into an even more chaotic phase between them; with emotional outbursts and distancing from tr Uranus square the composite Venus.

John McCain – outright dislike and power-struggling with a Saturn (Uranus) opposition Jupiter square Mars Mercury Venus; and a controlling Sun Pluto conjunction. Will be jousting through 2017 with tr Pluto sextile the game-playing Jupiter; with some low blows from tr Saturn square the composite Neptune. And worsening dramatically in 2018 with tr Pluto trine Saturn and tr Uranus square the composite Sun.

Lindsey Graham – again active dislike and hostility from a composite Mars Pluto; and a disruptive Uranus conjunct Sun, Venus and square Neptune. Will sag through 2017, becoming even more pessimistic about damage in 2018.

Marco Rubio – aggravated through 2017/18 with tr Pluto sextile the composite Mars; and undermined with tr Neptune square their composite Sun through 2017/18.

Mitt Romney – again 2018 is highlighted as high-noon time; with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Venus (which is conjunct Sun square Pluto) and tr Uranus square Saturn.

A President at war with his own party? In politics there are always egos clashing but the Republicans have landed themselves with an enormous problem in Trump. And the Democrats won’t be shy about pointing out that the GOP own him and his nominees – and all their back stories. If it wasn’t so important it would be blackly funny and good spectator sport.

Child prodigy composer Alma Deutscher, 11 years old, has been given a standing ovation in Vienna for the premiere of her two-and-a-half hour long opera Cinderella. She scored her first piano sonata at 6, followed by a short opera, then a violin concerto. She was born in England in February 2005 (no date unfortunately) to two amateur musician parents and she plays piano and violin herself as well. Not surprisingly she’s being hailed as a wunderkind and the new Mozart – he started composing when he was 5 years old.

I’ll do her more fully when someone comes up with a birthday. But just for fun I had a look and if she’s born mid February she has Sun, Mercury, Venus, Neptune in Aquarius, Uranus in Pisces, Pluto in Sagittarius and Jupiter in Libra.

Mozart, 27 Jan 1756 8pm Salzburg, had four planets in Aquarius – Saturn Sun, Mercury Venus; Uranus in Pisces, Pluto in Sagittarius and Jupiter in Libra. So strong similarities.  What fun.

Serena Williams, the tennis superstar, 22 times Grand Slam winner, has announced her engagement to Alexis Ohanian, the American-Armenian co-founder of Reddit. She was born 26 September 1981 8.28pm Saginaw, Michigan and he 24 April 1983 New York.

She has her Sun and Saturn Jupiter Pluto Mercury in Libra with a Virgo Moon and Venus in Scorpio. While he is a Sun in Taurus opposition Saturn Pluto, with Mars also in Taurus; a Virgo/Libra Moon, Venus in Gemini and a lucky Uranus Jupiter in Sagittarius. It’s not intuitively that strong a mix. On the upside his Venus does trine her Libra Sun Saturn Jupiter which is affectionate; his Moon is around her Moon Sun which gives a shared resonance; his Sun is on her Ascendant which can be good though also competitive. Her Venus in Scorpio opposes his Mars in Taurus which is hot, passionate and sexy but not overly sensitive. And his Saturn Pluto is conjunct her Descendant which isn’t too emotional, better suited to a business relationship.

The relationship chart has a morale-boosting composite Sun trine Jupiter; but the Sun is also square a cold, overly hard-working Saturn and trapped Pluto; with Saturn Pluto trine Mars which will create aggro down the line. Plus an ego-clashing, mutually unsupportive composite Mars opposition Neptune squaring onto the composite Moon. Plus a needs-space composite Venus square Uranus.

Possibly more minuses than pluses. And it will go through a fair number of ups and downs in 2017 with tr Saturn in hard aspect to the composite Moon, Neptune, Mars; and tr Uranus opposition Saturn Pluto; and tr Pluto square Sun.

He’s got a very see-saw chart with his Sun opposition Saturn Pluto; Venus opposition Uranus Jupiter; and Neptune opposition Node – all planets sitting together in two groups on opposite sides of his chart, so he won’t find relationships easy to maintain. She on the other hand has a very bunched together chart with all planets within a trine, so will be fairly self sufficient – and certainly very work-oriented.

Actor Michael Fassbender is aiming for some downtime after a making a dozen movies over the past five years. He garnered Oscar nominations and multiple awards for several – 12 Years a Slave, Shame, Steve Jobs and MacBeth and has three in post-production for 2017. He even mentioned perhaps giving up acting in future.

All of which fits with tr Saturn moving below his Sagittarius Ascendant. 2 April 1977 12.30am Heidelberg, Germany.

This is a time when old ambitions lose their enthusiasm and there is no longer the physical or mental energy to carry on at the full tilt of the previous few years. It’s a time to stop and re-think a future path, which may take a year or two.

He’s also had a debilitating, morale-sagging tr Saturn square tr Neptune hitting on his Virgo Moon opposition Mars square Neptune T Square through 2016. The Light Between Oceans this year got mixed reviews and not great box office; and his previous Steve Jobs movie was a commercial disappointment as well.

Having said all that, he has a powerfully confident and influential chart so he’s not going to disappear down a rabbit hole. His Aries Sun Venus are in an inspirational, entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine to filmic Neptune on his Ascendant trine Saturn in Leo, formed into an even more talented and hard-driving Kite with Sun Venus opposition Pluto exactly on his Midheaven. I’d imagine he may focus on his production company for a while and perhaps more so as he gets older. Pluto on the MC likes to be in control.

Through 2017/18 he does have tr Pluto square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint which should fuel his fertile imagination and channel his energy into new projects. There’s lots ahead for him though he may wind down some acting commitments for a while.

Screen and stage actress, singer and dancer Debbie Reynolds has died, a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher, of a stroke aged 84. She had a bright, bubbly image which hit the big time when she was 19 in Singing in the Rain and she went on to have a long and enduring career in films, television and on Broadway. Though her emotional life was a train wreck. Her first husband Eddie Fisher left her for a newly-widowed Elizabeth Taylor, when Debbie, already unhappy in the marriage, was pregnant with her second child. Her next husband gambled away her fortune and was serially unfaithful; and she went bankrupt after her third marriage ended.

Born 1 April 1932 5.49pm El Paso, Texas, she had a 7^th house Sun Uranus Mercury in Aries which squared onto a 10^th house Pluto – so she was very contradictory in relationships, needing support and independence at the same time; would be controlling and possessive while staging rebellions and insisting on freedom.

Her Aquarius Moon in the performing 5^th was opposition Neptune and square an 8^th house Venus in Taurus. The 8^th house often appears in movie stars’ charts and appears to have the ability to project an aura for the public. Doris Day, another effervescent blonde actress, had Venus in the 8^th; and with a disastrous marriage track record much like Debbie Reynolds, she also shared a 7^th house Aries Sun square a 10^th house Pluto.

Debbie Reynolds’ relationship with her daughter Carrie went through phases of separation, was turned into an acidly funny book and movie in Postcards from the Edge, but ultimately grew close. Debbie’s Venus in Taurus was conjunct Carrie’s Moon so there would be a streak of real affection; but Debbie’s controlling Pluto was conjunct Carrie’s Descendant and trine Carrie’s Mars; and Carrie’s Pluto was opposition Debbie’s Moon – so there would be aggravations and power struggles.

Their relationship chart had a similarly complicated mix with an affectionate composite Sun opposition Venus; and a muddled composite Moon which was opposition a vague Neptune, square a defensive and cool Saturn, trine possessive Pluto, and sextile needs-space Uranus.

Debbie recently had been living through a very challenging phase with the tr Uranus square tr Pluto in hard aspect to her Sun; with tr Uranus opposition her Pluto and square her Uranus; and tr Neptune moving into her 6h house of health.