What’s fun about the Olympics (apart from the Brits doing so astonishingly well much to our surprise, thanks to former PM, Sir John Major, who pushed for funding) is that niche sports get exposure.

Taekwondo, which seems at core to be kick boxing, is a Korean martial art with elements of karate, which depends on speed and agility. Size matters less than speed, which is just as well for Jade Jones, yesterday’s gold medal winner, who is only 5ft 1 (155 cms).

Born 21 March 1993 in Rhyl, Wales, she got into scrapes as a child – not surprisingly since she’s an Aries Sun with Venus in Aries opposition Jupiter square Mars in mid Cancer opposition Neptune Uranus in Capricorn – which will give her a whole bundle of explosive energy.

What is intriguing is her accentuated mid Cancer Mars, which one of the early proponents of taekwondo, Haeng Ung Lee, also had. His Mars in Cancer was trine Saturn, and on the focal point of Uranus trine Neptune; with Sun Pluto conjunct in Cancer as well.

Jhoon Goo Rhee, 7 Jan 1932, another expert, also had a heavily emphasised Cardinal Mars in Capricorn, conjunct Saturn Sun and opposition Pluto, as well as being square Uranus.

Jean Claude van Damme, the martial movie star, 18 Oct 1960, also has his Mars just before mid Cancer in opposition to Saturn; in a mini-Grand Trine to Neptune sextile Pluto.

An afflicted Mars, especially in excitable Cancer,  clearly works well if you find the right sport.

The media have got all revved up about 23 March birthday for several top UK sportsmen – Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Mo Farah, as well as the first four-minute miler Roger Bannister. All have an early Aries Sun, so not an astonishment they are all fast off the mark.

Ryan Lochte, the talented US swimmer has had the misfortune to be competing during Michael Phelps’ unassailable years, but has still garnered a more than respectable six Olympic Golds and 48 from other championships. All tarnished in a night of youthful idiocy (except he’s 32) when a drunken incident with three other swimmers turned into a robbery allegation, which tale cctv promptly demolished, indicating they had vandalised a petrol station. The Rio police were quite rightly outraged at the insinuation that it was crime-ridden Rio at fault. His sponsorships and prancing on reality TV are likely to come to a sudden halt, though he’s still sticking to his story. (Has since issued a statement saying he should have been more “candid, careful and responsible” which is a weaselly kind of apology, saying he was waiting until all the swimmers were out of Brazil before saying anything.)

Born 3 Aug 1984, he’s a Sun Leo square Saturn (Moon) in Scorpio and trine Uranus. Leo hates to be exposed and a Scorpio Moon doubly so. His Venus in flamboyant Leo is in a seductive trine to Neptune, sextile Pluto, so he likes to charm and schmooze. Though with his Venus square Mars in Scorpio, won’t be over sensitive to others.

His Uranus, Solar Arc Saturn, Solar Arc Sun and a couple of midpoints are picking up hard aspects from the panicky, neurotic, undermining tr Neptune square tr Saturn, amplified and aggravated by tr Mars conjunct tr Saturn, at the moment and for the next few weeks, no doubt as the repercussions filter through. He’s also got his Solar Arc Neptune square his Pluto this year which tends to be fairly devastating.

Jimmy Feigen, another Gold winning swimmer from this year, has agreed to pay nearly $11,000 to a Brazilian charity over his involvement in the incident. The United States Olympic Committee has since apologised to Brazil.

Feigen, 26 Sept 1989, Hilo, Hawaii, has a feisty Sun Mars in Libra on the point of a chaotic T square to Uranus Saturn Neptune opposition Jupiter – definitely excitable, impulsive, with a short fuse. He’s also got a seductive Venus Pluto in Scorpio.

Like Lochte, it’s the tr Saturn square tr Neptune which has caught him out as it hard aspects five of his midpoints now and for the rest of the year.

Boys will be boys, but it was the cover-up that done the damage. If they’d paid for the breakages at the time and kept their mouths shut they might have got away with it.

Billionaire George Soros, one of Hillary Clinton’s major donors and a supporter of liberal causes, became known as the man who ‘broke the Bank of England’ after his bets against the pound were instrumental in ejecting it from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in the 1990s and made him $1 billion.

A leak of documents from his philanthropic network has sparked a fairly muted row in the media about:- 1) his support for the Palestininians to challenge “Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies in the international arena”; 2) his interference in East European country elections; 3) giving financial help which supported groups that fuelled the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri after a young black man was shot by a white policeman; 4) him benefitting from Clinton’s push for the Panama Free Trade Agreement, which opened the country up as a tax haven; 5) giving former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental group millions of dollars to create a “political space for aggressive U.S. action” on global warming. He’s also had a business relationship with Donald Trump lending him money for hotel construction.

He was born in Budapest, Hungary on 12 Aug 1930, and has the super-confident Jupiter Pluto conjunction in Cancer; with Jupiter opposition Saturn square Venus on one side and square Uranus on the other – so part of that innovative, utterly-determined, bubbling-with-initiative Depression generation. His Leo Sun is trine Uranus in Aries, sextiling onto a focal point Mars in Gemini.

His Leo Sun is conjunct Hillary’s Mars Pluto Saturn, so not the easiest of relationships for close co-operation. Though if her birth time of 8.01am is accurate then his Jupiter falls in her 8^th house of joint finances which will no doubt be an attraction. His Neptune is conjunct her MC, so something unclear about his influence on her career, slippery, maybe scandal-prone.

Their relationship chart again has a Neptunian flavour with high-finance Jupiter Neptune conjunct the composite Sun trine Uranus, sextiling onto a pro-active Mars. Though there’s also an argumentative Mars square Mercury; and an emotionally cool Venus Saturn conjunction. Definitely money-oriented.

The relationship looks tense and stressed from Dec 2016 and through 2017 with tr Pluto opposition Mars and square Mercury; with tr Uranus opposition the composite Venus at the moment and again early in 2017. But they’ll definitely be on a roll together by 2018 with tr Pluto trine the composite Jupiter and Uranus. Though with a hint of disappointment following that. High financial hopes which peter out.

Lee Stocker, was a pioneer and trail-blazer with a powerfully determined chart. Born in London on 31 January 1943, he had an Aquarius Sun in an Air Grand Trine to Uranus Saturn in Gemini trine Neptune, formed into perhaps two Kites; one Sun opposition Pluto and the other Uranus Saturn perhaps opposition Moon. So he had talent, influence (Pluto) and struck a chord in the public imagination (Moon).

He also had a Yod of Uranus Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars – which tends in early life to mis-direct energy, until a new life direction is found which uses all of Mars’ courage, vigour and decisiveness. Plus he had his North Lode in Leo which gives leadership ability.

None of which was obvious when he trained as an accountant and started a small electrical business. Aged 40, he was bored and chucked it all in. At that point he was in his midlife crisis with tr Uranus (and Jupiter) opposition his Uranus Saturn, shaking his Grand Trine – this is when old, unfulfilled ambitions become much more pressing. Tr Jupiter was conjunct his Node, giving him a nudge about developing his potential; and the tr Saturn Pluto conjunction was moving to trigger his Yod, sextile his Mars and conjunct his Solar Arc Neptune in the years following.

His turning point came when he found an injured hedgehog that vets were unwilling to treat. It sparked his childhood interest in wildlife and he went on to found the St Tiggywinkles Hospital which has grown to the size of a small NHS medical facility, the largest such in Europe. It cares for 1500 inpatient animals – deer, badgers, foxes, squirrels, toads, multifarious birds. They are treated, sometimes with keyhole surgery in operating theatres, using many techniques developed by him through trial and error over the years.

He was awarded an MBE for his work and became an honorary member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; and his last project, nearing completion, is a new college to teach vets about British wildlife. He died recently and his son remains as CEO.

He followed his dream and turned it into a national treasure.

Please post below ……………

Kellyanne Conway, 20 Jan 1967, a Republican strategist, pollster and political commentator, has moved in as Donald Trump’s campaign manager, effectively demoting Paul Manafort. Steve Bannon of Breitbart News becomes CEO (no birth date). He’s right-wing, anti-establishment and was quoted as saying of his Breitbart staff “we call ourselves the Fight Club. You don’t come to us for warm and fuzzy”. 

And doesn’t astrology have an odd knack of turning up running themes in the same week?

KellyAnne was born two days after Anjem Choudary (see post below) – so is a Capricorn Sun (maybe Aquarius for later day birth) and Mercury, opposition Jupiter square Mars. With the same Mystic Rectangle of Sun Jupiter opposition and Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto in sextile/trine to each other; with Neptune in a Water Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Saturn and formed into a three-quarter Grand Sextile by Uranus Pluto and Sun Mercury. So a whirlwind of activity, aggressive, determined, lucky, talented, creative, not always realistic, thrives on crises.

Her Taurus Moon may be conjunct Trump’s Midheaven which would make sense of her offering political expertise with a nose for the public mood; though her Neptune opposes his MC and squares his Mars in Leo, which may not be so helpful. Her Jupiter is conjunct his Venus Saturn, so she’ll cheer him up; and her focal point Mars trines his Sun and sextiles his Moon, so she’ll give a shot of adrenaline to his campaign.

Their relationship chart has a tough, extra-hard-working composite Mars trine Saturn; a confident Jupiter Pluto; and an innovative Sun trine Uranus.

She doesn’t look too cheerful in the immediate future with tr Saturn conjunct her Sun/Mars and square her Mars/Jupiter midpoints from mid Sept to early Oct; and conjunct her Solar Arc Mars thereafter till mid October. And she has an insecure, explosive tr Uranus opposition her Mars from Oct 4^th till later in the month. Plus tr Pluto is trine her Solar Arc Saturn now and in October; and conjunct her Solar Arc Neptune in September – so an unrelenting slog, which is to be expected but not exactly brimful of optimism. Her Solar Arc Sun is also somewhere around the opposition to her Pluto this year which is stuck.

Barack Obama’s attempt to fulfil his promise to close Guantanamo Bay has moved a small step forward with 15 detainees going to the United Arab Emirates. It leaves 61 there but with the Republican Senate and Congress against closure and transfer of prisoners to US prisons, he may not manage it. Since 2002, 779 have been held there with the majority being released in GWB’s time, of whom a definite 21% went back to terrorism, with another 14% probables. Of releases under Obama, 5% were confirmed to have returned to militant activity and 8% suspected of having done so. Obama says it is  contrary to US values, undermining the nation’s standing in the world and it fuels the recruitment of jihadists; as well as being expensive – $445m annually.

Guantanamo Bay was established by executive order on 12 December 2001 under the war-conditions Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto, with Pluto conjunct Sun and Venus – so repressive, controlling, bleak. Saturn opposition Venus square Mars in Pisces – gave it a military flavour, along with a cruel streak.

The Guantanamo Sun Pluto squares onto Obama’s 8^th house Mars so will stir up deep feelings of anger; with the Guan Saturn square his Pluto; and the Guan Mars opposition his Pluto – so a matter of huge frustration, an obstacle that maybe can’t be overcome.

He’ll keep pushing mightily with tr Pluto squaring the composite Pluto on the relationship between him and Guan through this December.

The Guantanamo Bay chart, has tr Neptune square to Saturn chipping away at the Venus Pluto Saturn from now till November; with tr Saturn conjunct the Sagittarius Sun in December – so who knows? He might just make it; or close enough to ease his conscience.

Radical UK cleric Anjem Choudary has finally been convicted and may face a 10 year jail sentence for inviting others to support ISIS, under the Terrorism Act. Counter-terrorism chiefs have spent two decades trying to bring Choudary, to trial, blaming him, and the organisations he helped to run, for radicalising young men and women. The killers of soldier Lee Rigby were amongst his supporters. He is a Salafi Wahabi Islamist, who preached that the Muslim faith should “dominate the whole world”.

Born 18 January 1967 in London, from a family of Pakistani origin, he partied and drugged his way through a year of Med school, before switching to law.

He does have an extraordinary chart with a three-quarter Grand Sextile, a Mystic Rectangle and a Cardinal Grand Cross – so undoubtedly has abilities, though clearly channeled in the wrong directions. His Sun Mercury in Capricorn opposes Jupiter squaring onto Mars and probably opposing an Aries Moon. He has two oppositions Sun Jupiter as well as Saturn in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto which are trine/sextile each other; with a sextile/trine to Neptune making up the other leg of the almost Grand Sextile. His Venus in Aquarius is trine Mars and may be sextile his Moon – for a hugely complicated chart. Overflowing with restless initiative, a chancer with an emphasised Mars Jupiter; controlling, rebellious and determined.

His Neptune aspects almost every other planet, exacerbating his visionary tendencies, which are fuelled by his aggressive and power-hungry drives to destructive ends. His Neptune is also conjunct the ISIS focal point Jupiter; and his Venus in Aquarius is conjunct the ISIS Neptune. The ISIS Sun Mars in Libra is conjunct his Mars and in hard aspect to the rest of his Grand Cross, triggering his urge to aggressive action. A cross-over of perverted spirituality and blood lust.

Worryingly, his chart looks remarkably cheerful, lucky and go ahead over the next three or more years with tr Uranus squaring his Jupiter in 2018 along with a super-confident Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct Pluto. Either what’s going on out in the world pleases him or he’s busy brewing up more trouble inside.

Superlatives were being heaped on Charlotte Dujardin for her flawless display in the esoteric sport of equestrian dressage, winning her a third Olympic Gold on Valegro (known around the stable as Blueberry).

“She is the Simone Biles of the parade ring, the Usain Bolt of horse disco, the Michael Phelps of the piaffe. She is less a sports person than an artist show woman of finesse, dexterity and absolute, total control.”

“She has raised the bar for the sport and confirmed her status as its great innovator and current all-round superstar.” She’s the most successful British dressage rider in the history of the sport and the winner of all major titles and world records in the sport.

Born 13 July 1985 just outside London, she grew up in a pony-mad though not rich family, joined a dressage stable as a groom and went on from there.

She’s got an enormously determined, disciplined and obsessively conscientious chart as befits this most exacting of sports. Her Sun Mars in Cancer are trine Saturn in Scorpio; with Saturn in a Fixed Grand Cross opposition North Node (Moon) in earthy Taurus square Mercury opposition Jupiter in Aquarius.

Valegro was foaled in the Netherlands on 5 July 2002, so has a Cancer Sun like Charlotte, and, even more helpful, his exuberant Jupiter Mars in Cancer are conjunct her Sun Mars. Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunct pro-active Mars, all in a controlled, possessive trine to Pluto and opposition a creative Uranus Neptune conjunction. There may also be a composite Moon Jupiter trine Saturn – a great mix of closeness and discipline in a sport that relies on a working partnership.

Another success story from unlikely beginnings is Brit Laura Trott, 24 April 1992, a track and road cyclist, with three Olympic Golds to her credit and 20 golds in all. She was born prematurely with a collapsed lung and later developed asthma which stopped her trampolining but not, for some reason, scaling the heights in cycling.

She’s an earthy Sun Taurus trine Jupiter in Virgo; with a formidable mini-Grand Trine of Pluto trine Mars in Pisces sextiling onto Uranus Neptune in Capricorn; and a tough-minded Pluto square Saturn in Aquarius.

Just goes to show there’s little to stop those with drive and talent from getting to the top.

An unwelcome distraction for Donald Trump, with polls already falling, is a New York Times story which turns the focus on his campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business dealing with the deposed pro-Russian Ukrainian President Yanukovych. Ukrainian government investigators say Yanukovych ran a corrupt network which looted Ukrainian assets and influenced elections. Manafort’s name appears in a ledger of an illegal off-the-books cash system, though he denies ever receiving the $12 million which was itemised. Manafort has done business with Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch and close friend of Putin. And he helped Yanukovych’s administration draft a report defending its prosecution of his chief rival, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, in 2012, who spent nearly three years in prison on charges most thought trumped up.

Manafort, 1 April 1949, was an adviser to Gerald Ford, Reagan, GHW Bush, as well as a lobbyist for Congo’s Mobutu and Angola’s Savimbi (both African anti-communist leaders supported by the US); and Ferdinand Marcos, the corrupt and kleptocratic (= rule by thieves) dictator in the Philippines. Mobutu was also notorious for corruption, nepotism and embezzlement. Charming clients.

Manafort is a go-ahead Sun Mars Venus in Aries opposition Neptune and trine Pluto – so definitely ambitious on a stratospheric scale; with his Jupiter in money-minded Capricorn on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Uranus sextile Saturn in Virgo, so an erratic risk-taker. Such a Yod focal point Jupiter can have a significant influence on society but can also be brought down by Jupiter’s Icarus tendencies to fly too high and then come crashing down.

He’s got nothing too catastrophic on his chart at the moment (without birth time) but does have a fair few mid-points as well as Solar Arc Venus, Mars, Sun picking up the tr Saturn opposition from late September and through the election, which will be deflating.

His relationship chart with Trump has a tough, bull-dozing composite Sun square Saturn Pluto – good for moving huge enterprises ahead, but not friendly, with the potential for strain and resentment. With a fairly explosive composite Mars Uranus conjunction though that’s not being much affected until next year. The composite midpoints look aggravated in September and downbeat in October.

Manafort’s Sun Mars Venus fall in Trump’s 8^th house so a very secretive relationship with the focus on joint finances; and Manafort’s Uranus is conjunct Trump’s Sun so not ideal for co-operation. With Manafort’s Saturn on Trump’s Ascendant, he’ll certainly try to damp down Trump’s impulsiveness tho’ it could work the other way as well – with Trump feel his image is being diminished by him.