Welsh ex-International footballer Ched Evans has had his conviction for rape quashed on appeal and will stand for a retrial.

Born 28 December 1988, he’s a Sun Capricorn conjunct the triple conjunction of Uranus Saturn Neptune with a Virgo Moon; his Mercury also in Capricorn is trine Jupiter in Taurus – so a very Earthy chart.

He looks cheered obviously at this news with tr Uranus trine his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint; but 2017/2018 look very aggravating and stuck with tr Pluto square his Mars in Aries.

Another day, another celebrity dies. Quite a year with the illness-prone Saturn square Neptune around. In the past it has accompanied epidemics but it also leads to heightened worries, paranoid thoughts, an undermining of certainties as Neptune dissolves Saturn’s grip on reality.

Prince, the eccentric and talented singer, who sold 100 million records, has died with suggestions of a recent drug overdose. He had a style that managed to be both highly sexual and androgynous at the same time.

Born 7 June 1958 6.17pm Minneapolis, Minnesota into a musical family, he had epilepsy as a child, claimed he needed very little sleep as an adult, and became a Jehovah’s Witness. He had various publicised romances, two brief marriages from one of which he had a child who died within days of a skull deformity.

He had an 8^th house Sun Gemini (as befits a popular singer) opposition Saturn in Sagittarius. So he would be intense and prone to depression though his Sun trine Jupiter in Libra would help to bounce him up.

There was considerable stress in his chart from a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune North Node inconjunct a 5^th house (performing) Mars at zero Aries. That overly impulsive Mars would be one of the reasons he could survive without much sleep, since he would be constantly hyped-up. Plus his Pluto MC opposition a Pisces Moon squared onto Mercury in Gemini – which again would give him high nervous tension and a mind which could never settle. As well as a fear of being trapped and dark thoughts from Mercury Pluto.

And he had Venus in indulgent Taurus opposition Neptune Node square Uranus – making him experimental and innovative, slightly fanatical.

His Yod focal point Mars had moved by Secondary Progression to exactly square his Fixed T-Square focal point Uranus when he died – and that usually involves a considerable shock. Mars was ruler of his 6^th.  Plus tr Uranus was just on the cusp of his 6^th house of health.

When two configurations in a chart collide either through Solar Arcs or Progressions there is always a significant crisis.

I hate elections. You’d think they’d be straightforward with whoopees of glee from winners and tears from losers. But no such luck. Sometimes there is total panic on winners’ charts or utter exhaustion after the marathon process, which are difficult to distinguish astrologically from failure.

My recollection is that both Bill and Chelsea Clinton looked remarkably upbeat at the last election/ inauguration which was misleading. But presumably meant sighs of relief all round.

Bill has all manner of ups and downs through this year – losses in June, rather crushed mid July to early September; then bouncing again Sept to mid Oct; and dashed hopes mid Oct across the election. He’s also got tr Neptune opposition Mars/Pluto across the election which is bad news. Though could be health issues rather than Hillary’s chances.  However he does look very exuberant and cheerful over the Inauguration, with his Jupiter return days after it.

Chelsea Clinton, expecting a second baby in the summer, is certainly in for an emotional time with tr Uranus conjunct her Venus and opposition her Pluto exactly on the election – so sudden changes, surprises, could be good or not so great. Though she’s also got tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Uranus then which is usually good for elections. And in early January just before the Inauguration she has tr Jupiter conjunct Pluto, opposition Venus which looks like social success and confidence.

Hillary’s relationship with Chelsea looks very enthusiastic around the inauguration, and through chunks of this year.

Bill’s relationship with Hillary looks downbeat late Aug to late Sept with tr Neptune opposition the composite Mars; and separated in 2017 with tr Saturn opposition Uranus and square the composite Sun Mercury. But that could just be pressures of an exceptionally busy schedule.

Quite what conclusions to draw from the above I wouldn’t know.

Victoria Wood, the hugely popular, respected and talented English comedian, actress, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and director, has died suddenly of cancer.

Born 19 May 1953, a week after David Gest and two weeks after Tony Blair (see Gest post below), she shared their Sun Taurus square Pluto; and Venus in Aries opposition Saturn Neptune square Uranus. Plus Mars Jupiter in Gemini.  In her case she turned all that determination, maverick innovation and bubbly joie-de-vivre into a long and successful entertainment career. Her Moon was in Leo.

She had, as did David Gest, Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Saturn Neptune which is devastating; and a very disruptive tr Pluto opposition her focal point Uranus and tr Uranus conjunct her Venus as she died.

Three headline-grabbing personalities with largely similar energies all put to different uses. House positions would have made a major difference, of course, to health issues as well as how the planets were lived out.

The Jungle Book has hit the cinemas, a remake from the old Rudyard Kipling short stories about Mowgli, the man-cub reared by wolves in India. Kipling was a prolific writer,– The Man who would be King, Gunga Din etc – a Nobel Prize winner aged 41, and exceptionally popular in his day. His poem IF -‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs’ – is much quoted.

His reputation has risen and fallen depending on the times since he was so quintessentially a symbol of British imperial rule in India during the Raj.

Born 30 December 1865 in Bombay/Mumbai, India at 10pm, he was sent, as was the custom, to England aged five to be fostered out and educated. He was bullied and mistreated for six years before being removed. He returned to India for a decade as an adult.

His Sun Jupiter in Capricorn opposed a 10^th house Uranus squaring onto Neptune on the cusp of the 8^th – so traditionally patriotic, but also a maverick and creative, with the capacity to project a powerful image out into the world. His Sun Jupiter was conjunct the UK and the India 1877 unification charts so he was close to both countries.

His 10^th house Gemini Moon opposed a 4^th house Mercury Mars Venus in Sagittarius – so again attached to home and family but also conflicted. He also had a tough Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto. His daughter died aged six and he lost his son in WW1, after which he became reclusive.

His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17^th Harmonic was strong.

Another dramatized version of naturalist, zookeeper and conservationist Gerald Durrell’s books and family, is now on television. He was the younger brother of the novelist Lawrence Durrell, so a talented family.

Gerald Durrell, 7 Jan 1925, in India, lost his engineer father at 3, moved to the UK and then to Corfu when he was 10 when he started collecting local animals as pets. He was a Capricorn Sun opposition Pluto square Mars in Aries – so ultra-determined, fearless, short-tempered and overflowing with initiative. He had a tough Water Grand Trine of Saturn in Scorpio trine Pluto trine Uranus in Pisces, formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Sun – so quite a powerful and private personality. He also had a Gemini Moon opposition Venus (Mercury) in Sagittarius square Uranus giving him a restless and adventurous spirit.

There’s no birth time but his chart has striking similarities to Rudyard Kipling’s.

His brother Lawrence Durrell, 27 Feb 1912 1am Jullundur, India was similarly strong-minded though in a different way. He had a Pisces Sun (Mercury) on the point of a T Square to Mars in Gemini opposition Jupiter in Sagittarius – so creative, ego-centric, acutely restless.

He had Neptune in the 8^th and Pluto on the cusp of the 8^th conjunct a 7^th house Gemini Moon.

He became friendly with Henry Miller and his seminal work was the Alexandrian Quartet, especially Justine, a dark and erotic picture of Egypt during World War 11, which was shortlisted for a Nobel Prize.

His emotional life not surprisingly with Mars Moon Pluto in the 7^th and a Venus Uranus conjunct in Aquarius was tumultuous; and he married four times, all of them parting company. His only daughter committed suicide five years before his death in 1990.

Barack Obama goes to Saudi Arabia at a time when relations between the two countries are at a low. A bill before Congress, if passed, would allow relatives of victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia directly for its complicity in the attack. Even before that, the Saudis were sore at the USA-Iran deal and Obama’s Middle East policies in general which focus more on eliminating ISIS than toppling Assad. And the USA have been critical of the Saudi’s destructive and non-productive war in the Yemen. All of this against a backdrop of Saudi Arabia for the first time facing an unfamiliar economic crisis.

In the past it’s been an important relationship, not the least because of oil and arms sales. The SArabia 1902 Sun Jupiter in Capricorn are conjunct the USA Pluto – so commercially an important connection. But the uncompromising SArabia Pluto in Gemini opposition Uranus sits very uncomfortably on top of the USA Mars in Gemini square Neptune in Virgo – so there were always undercurrents of animosity and divergent agendas which were kept under wraps.

As tr Saturn moves to hard aspect all these Mutable planets – SArabia’s Uranus Pluto and the USA’s Mars Neptune in 2017 the gulf will grow wider. So a replacement President won’t make much difference.

The USA/SArabia relationship chart has a gungho, adventurous, mutually supportive composite Sun Mars Jupiter conjunction; with en entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine – so when all was going well, it went very well indeed. But there’s also a composite Moon Uranus with Moon square Saturn which points to an emotional disjunct of two very different cultures.

Tr Uranus has been hopping its way uncomfortably across the conjunction to the composite Pluto, Jupiter, Mars in the recent past and last/this year the composite Sun. Pressures on the relationship will increase in 2017/2018 with tr Pluto square the Sun. So whatever the relationship becomes in future it will differ greatly from the auld alliance.

This year as well tr Saturn will square the composite Moon Uranus; and tr Neptune will conjunct the Moon (depending on start times) and in 2017 conjunct Uranus – so all unstable, suspicious, and highly strung.

OJ Simpson’s trial replayed in a television drama series has turn the focus again on the hullabaloo of ‘racism, sexism, police corruption and celebrity dazzle’ which proved so distracting it led to a Not Guilty verdict.

OJ Simpson is residing at present in prison at least until 2017 for armed robbery.

Born 9 July 1947 8.08am San Francisco, California, he has a Sun Venus in Cancer square Neptune; with his 16 degree Sun under pressure in 2016/2017 from the tr Pluto opposition, having just gone through the tr Uranus square till earlier this year. So a time of considerable challenge and strain. What’s worse even than that at the moment he has Solar Arc Mars conjunct his 12^th house Pluto which is scary, frustrated, enraged and totally stuck. So not a happy camper over the series transmission.

He’s not exactly delirious in 2017 either with a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn square his Sun and Solar Arc Sun square Uranus – nothing will go to plan.

At the time of the trial Judge Lance Ito came in for criticism over his handling of evidence that was allowed and his courting of the media. Born 2 August 1950, he’s a controlling Sun Pluto in Leo with an Aries Moon. He’s now retired and not looking cheerful at all. His Solar Arc Venus is conjunct his Saturn so he’s feeling unloved and unpopular; tr Pluto is trine his Saturn in Virgo in 2016/17 which is a tough haul. Tr Pluto has another square to his Neptune which tr Uranus opposed last year which is highly strung and devastated. Into 2017 his Solar Arc Sun is in a droopy conjunction Neptune

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HM Queen is coming up for her 90^th birthday on April 21^st and is in startlingly good physical form, buzzing around doing what she’s always done.

Her Solar Return for this birthday on for a year has a successful Jupiter in the 10^th so she’ll obviously enjoy the enthusiasm and attention coming her way. She will have a 6^th house Sun for the Solar Return which is either hard-working or health issues. But she seems to have got over tr Uranus square and tr Pluto opposition his 6^th house Pluto of the past two years without noticeable effect. And that is now passed over.

Her Solar Arcs have moved on obviously by 90 degrees so her Solar Arc Saturn will conjunct her Mars very soon, before moving on to conjunct Jupiter and oppose Neptune in 2018. But whether that will have much effect is questionable. If it does it’s marginally accident prone.

She has an extraordinarily Fixed chart with Saturn MC in Scorpio square Mars Jupiter in Aquarius opposition Neptune (Moon) in Leo which will be why she has had the discipline to withstand a marathon of a working life. Duty was stamped into her bone marrow by her mother and she’s never deviated.  David Attenborough, the naturalist and broadcaster, who is also still going strong, was born a week after her and has a similarly Fixed chart with his Taurus Sun opposition Saturn square Jupiter opposition Neptune. Built to last.

She has a strong sacrifice/healer 12^th Harmonic; obsessive determination 11H; humanitarian 9H; and super-star 22H.

Her relationship with Prince Charles has never been easy – monarch first, mother second. There’s a cool composite Sun trine Saturn; and a dominating Pluto opposition Mars Jupiter. That relationship will be undergoing considerable changes and tensions from now onwards as tr Uranus squares Mars at the moment, moving on in 2017/18 to square Jupiter and then Pluto. So a reallocation of the power balance.

His Progressed Moon will be in his 4^th till 2019 which suggests he might have a while longer to wait. In 2018/2019 tr Uranus will conjunct his 10^th house Moon which will certainly alter his working public life. And by then both tr Pluto and tr Saturn will be moving through his 6^th which will be challenging in terms of workload and health.