An excoriating FT expose of Asma Assad, wife of the Syrian president, once hailed by western media as a ‘rose of the desert’, turns the spotlight back onto the chilling picture of a greedy profiteer who has amassed billions for herself and her family out of the bloodied ruins of starving country. She appears to control the economic levers consolidating the Assad’s grip on Syria, shaking down the rich merchant class (imprison in hotel and extort a la MBS in Saudi) and even – horrifyingly – crafting a corrupt humanitarian assistance system, monetising NGOs and the aid sector which takes in international money.

  The economy is teetering on the brink of collapse and what little still exists appears to be controlled by Asma Assad and family across multiple sectors, including real estate, banking and telecommunications. “For any new business to get done today, Asma [and her people] take a cut,” says a relative. 

  The other revenue stream to keep the family afloat evidently comes from Bashar’s younger brother Maher, head of the army’s notoriously brutal fourth division, who runs weapons, oil smuggling, alcohol and sales of the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

     Asma was born 11 August 1975 in London to Syrian parents, and after graduating in computer science worked with Deutsche Bank as an economic analyst and then JP Morgan. She is a Sun Mercury in Leo square Mars conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol and conjunct her South Node. Algol on Mars and the South Node does sound terrifyingly brutal and primitive. She also has Saturn in Cancer on the focal point of a T Square to a ‘lucky’ Jupiter opposition Uranus – such a Saturn gives her executive, organising ability but a dislike of sharing the driving seat.

  Tr Uranus will square her 18 degree Leo Sun late April/early May for an upset though the heftier jolt will come after mid year 2024 when tr Uranus is conjunct her Mars, North Node – and on Solar Arcs she met hit the buffers come 2027.

  The Assad Presidency, 17 July 2000,  looks rattled this year with tr Uranus square the Uranus and tr Saturn in Pisces will dent a few high hopes in 2023/24. SA Neptune will square the Saturn in 2024 for uncertainty and instability; with a disruptive 2025 with tr Uranus conjunct the Saturn and more so with SA Sun opposition Uranus in 2026.

  [I had hoped it might collapse when tr Pluto was opposing the 25 degree Cancer Sun and Mars 2018 to 2021 but alas not.]

  Brother Maher Assad, 8 December 1967, a key player in the family mafia,  Sun Sagittarius with Saturn in Aries sextile Mars in Aquarius, is running into the reefs come 2027.

  Bashar Assad, 11 September 1965, a Sun, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo is also heading into a load of trouble in coming years as his Solar Arc Sun Uranus Pluto cross over his Mars Neptune in Scorpio with his Solar Arc Saturn in opposition – and that could be terminal for his ambitions and regime.

  The most recent modern Syria chart of 1 January 1944 does hint at a degree of relief in 2024/2025 as its Jupiter is activated but it will be a long haul to rebuild the wreck left behind by a brutal civil war and a mafioso regime.  Both Asma and Bashar’s relationship charts with Syria have control-freak, destructive Mars Pluto composite aspects. No surprise there.

  A spate of negative publicity in 2021 about Asma Assad, describing her as a ‘cheerleader for evil’ led to calls for her to be stripped on British citizenship. She herself was sanctioned in 2020 for accumulating “ill-gotten riches at the expense of the Syrian people”.

  Algol has a lot to answer for in its negative manifestation – and hers also squares the Black Moon.  

The apocalypse is coming or the Day of Judgement – or not. Donald Trump has been indicted over the Stormy Daniel payments and will be the first former US president to face criminal charges, to be fingerprinted, taken for a mugshot and compelled to stand as an accused defendant before a judge and maybe a jury.

He is screaming witch hunt and rousting up his followers, who manage to ignore his lifetime of grift, malfeasance and bad behaviour – none of which have ever come home to roost. After accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, two impeachments, a refusal to participate in a peaceful transfer of power and even the deadly January insurrection it hardly seems pass remarkable. Yet it seems to have come as an explosive surprise.

     The sealed indictment will be released by the court on Friday or several days later.

  After Mueller (and several high profile political UK inquiries on unrelated topics) all of which turned out to be total damp squibs I am not inclined to get overly hopeful about karma doing its thing.

  What is worth watching however is that late April/early May patch when Trump has tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint which Ebertin describes as ‘calamities of great consequence’. It is also marked in his relationship chart with porn star Stormy Daniels with transiting Saturn opposing the composite Uranus just before and then square the Mars exactly then – so his irritability at her will erupt. He’ll have some luck early to late April and again mid to late May as two Jupiter midpoints come to his rescue. As someone remarked he’s like a sci-fi entity that is dissolved and then recreates itself. Another version of Teflon.

  Alvin Bragg, 21 October 1973, the NY DA, is an inventive and reforming Sun Uranus in Libra with a stalwart Pluto trine Jupiter, sextile Neptune, inconjunct Mars and square Saturn. He looks logjammed and frustrated ahead with tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Mars midpoint and that runs on through 2024. He’ll recover his mojo by 2025.

  What is interesting is that his Pluto is conjunct DT’s 2^nd house Neptune exactly, so he has gone for Trump’s Achilles’ Heel – which is money. Though it is a weak and legally complex case on which to pin retribution for a lifetime of wrongdoing.

 Stormy Daniels also hits Trump in his financial 2^nd house with her Pluto conjunct his Jupiter, with his wealth/profligacy drawing her in.  Her Neptune is conjunct his Moon and South Node – appealing to his lower nature. Her Uranus is close to his IC so she could have the potential to shake his foundations and send his career off track.

   One can but hope.

Pope Francis has cancelled engagements after being hospitalized with a bout of pneumonia and breathing problems. Now 86 and facing internal dissension in the Vatican he must be wondering whether taking the Pope Benedict route to resigning might not be a relief.

  His election chart, 13 March 2013 7.06pm, is heading into a road block with the Solar Arc Mars closing the square to the 4^th house Pluto within weeks. Tr Uranus will also oppose the North Node at 18 Scorpio late April into early May; and there’s an energy-sinking tr Neptune conjunct the Sun/Mars midpoint from May on and off into 2024. Which sounds as if his time in office is running to a close.

  His own personal chart, 17 December 1936 9 pm Buenos Aires, Argentina, has tr Pluto square the zero degree Taurus Midheaven exactly now till mid June and again in 2024 which would sound like a forced change of direction. Plus tr Neptune is square his 6^th house Sagittarius Sun mid March to early next month and on and off to January 2024, which will pull his energy down.  Plus his Solar Arc Midheaven is conjunct his Pluto round about now.

  All of which would suggest a winding down of his papacy. It is a shame since his heart always seemed to be in the right place though sweeping the Augean stables of the Vatican clean of muck was one labour of Hercules he could not quite complete.

See previous post January 27 2023.

The USA’s obsession with guns has always felt like a lost cause. An evil jinn that has been allowed to flourish with no hope of corking it back in a bottle. Another school shooting evokes local grief and general sighs of disbelief, outrage and despair but no solution.

  Barack Obama said it was his biggest regret after the Sandy Hook 2012 shooting was not being able to push through change. He called on Congress to pass extensive reforms to the country’s gun laws, including banning assault weapons and guns with high-capacity magazines, and ramping up background checks on those buying guns.  But ran into a resounding NO.

  The National Rifle Association (NRA) 17 November 1871, which has kept the John Wayne spirit alive, is an inordinately stubborn Scorpio Sun opposition Pluto; with a harsh Mars Saturn conjunction (in traditional astrology associated with assassinations/the military).  There are the faintest signs of a – maybe – forced shift in attitude with tr Uranus moving to conjunct the Pluto at 18 Taurus late this April into early May, before moving in 2024 to oppose the Sun. So there will be pressure exerted though it’ll need a monumental push to make much headway against all that Fixed energy. The Solar Arc Pluto is also opposing the Neptune now for a tremor of deep uncertainty. Plus tr Pluto is opposing the NRA Uranus in 2024/25 for another elbow in the ribs to prod it onto a different trajectory.

  The relationship chart between the USA and the NRA is on a fast downhill slide at the moment, worsening in 2024/25. Though there’s less indication with the Republican Party of any great diplomatic fallout.

  I wouldn’t hold my breath about the USA moving into a more rational mindset but there are hints of the NRA losing its grip to a degree.

  The Nashville shooter had three guns, two of them AR-style weapons. She had bought seven weapons at five different stores, legally and locally, despite being under medical supervision for an emotional disorder. Her parents did not think she should own a weapon.

Paul O’Grady, comedian, TV presenter, animal lover and drag artist, has died unexpectedly aged 67. He rose to fame in the 1990s with his drag queen persona Lily Savage, going on to present BBC One game show Blankety Blank, other light entertainment and celebrity chat programmes.

  In the 1990s he brought drag culture into the mainstream and campaigned for the LGBT community with sharp-tongued and mischievous glee.

 He was born 14 June 1955 at 7.30am in Birkenhead, brought up in a working class family and was an altar boy. He left school at 16, had a daughter following a brief relationship, and worked initially as a care officer for older people. He put the spikey, caustic Lily Savage alter ego out to pasture in 2004, banishing her to a “a convent in Brittany” and proceeded to forge a successful, multifarious career in television. He won a Bafta for the Paul O’Grady Show, became an advocate for animal rights and having left a long-running BBC Radio show recently was appearing in a new touring production of Annie.

  He had a maverick, unconventional and trailblazing Uranus on his Cancer Ascendant conjunct Jupiter in flamboyant Leo trine an Aries Moon conjunct his Midheaven, sextiling onto Mercury in Gemini – he had flair, a gift for words and a comedian’s quirky talent for seeing the humour in bleak places. His Gemini Sun was trine Neptune and sextile Pluto giving his talent weight and influence as well as money-making potential.

  Though unexpected, he had a truly Jupiterian exit with tr Jupiter moving through his 10^th house at the moment and tr Pluto exactly opposition his Jupiter.

  He had been under considerable pressure with acute frustration through 2021/22 with his Progressed Mars conjunct his focal point Pluto, which may have left a mark.

  Jupiter through the 10^th is not uncommon when people die especially celebrities since there tends to be a celebration of their lives with much publicity.   

Humza Yousaf won the leadership of the SNP in the second round with 52.1% of the 50,000 member votes after Ash Regan had been knocked out. Kate Forbes who had lambasted his record saying when he was transport secretary, the trains were always late; when he was justice secretary the police were in crisis; as health secretary he oversaw record NHS waiting lists, came second. A senior Tory was equally blunt. “He keeps saying he’s been in government for ten and a half years.  No one can think of a single thing he has got right. He’s anti-business, anti-monarchy and he’s very strongly anti the UK state.”

  He was the continuity candidate supported by Sturgeon which may tell against him since a recent poll found found half of adults north of the border felt things in Scotland were going in the wrong direction and the Scottish Government had done a bad job in various areas from the NHS to managing the economy.

  One columnist wrote that he ‘has been thrown in at the deep end before he’s shown he can swim. He’ll need more than armbands to avoid the shortest tenure in the party’s history.’

  His election will retain the support of the Green’s which is vital for the SNP’s power-sharing agreement and their input was one reason for the trans tangle which embroiled Sturgeon before she left.

  The election has been keenly watched in Westminster since the SNP is the third largest group of MPs in the Commons with 45 of Scotland’s 59 seats.

 Yousaf, born 7 April 1985 in Glasgow into a Punjab, Pakistan immigrant family, has a charming Sun Venus in Aries in a lively trine Uranus and sextile Jupiter in Aquarius.  This sparkling side to his personality is somewhat over shadowed by a heavier set of three Scorpio planets, ranging from Pluto, Moon to Saturn sitting across from Mars in Taurus conjunct the North Node. Mars square Jupiter can be an opportunist or at least given to rash choices. If his Moon is opposition Mars square Jupiter he may also be prone to over-confidence, a tendency to expect results without too much effort. His Mercury in Capricorn is also in an evasive square to Neptune. 

  Neptune is his only earth planet so he won’t be overly realistic or practical.  Tr Pluto is sextile his Jupiter/Node midpoint which will give him a lift for a couple of months. Though he also looks unnerved with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars at the moment and then late April/early May conjunct his North Node at 18 degrees Taurus.

  His midpoints are not cheering ahead with disasters mid July onwards, on and off into 2024.  What will have more impact is his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Jupiter mid to late 2024 which will dent his self-confidence and bring disappointment.

  Nicola Sturgeon was known for her iron grip on party discipline which is well reflected in her first Term chart of 20 November 2014 – with its ruthless Mars Pluto in Capricorn and rigid Sun Saturn in Scorpio.  Yousaf will not have the same firm hand on the tiller of a party already riven by divisions, facing a questionable past record in government, failing public services and an unclear future strategy.

 Yousaf’s relationship with Sunak will be superficially diplomatic with an underlying resentment at the power imbalance and intense discussions which won’t produce much progress over the next two or three years.

He was voted in as First Minister at 3.03pm today and will be sworn in tomorrow.

  His Win chart has a change-of-direction or unpredictable Uranus in the 10^th with high enthusiasm from Jupiter Mercury in Aries in the 9^th. An unrealistic, evasive or indecisive Neptune in the financial 8^th along with the Sun suggests a lacklustre struggle to balance the books. Pluto in the 6^th usually indicates a drive to regenerate what has become broken down but inconjunct Mars Moon in the 11^th hints that progress will be slow with a restive and irritable population, especially amongst women.  

Child actress Brooke Shields miraculously survived an alcoholic stage mother who turned her into the family breadwinner from aged 11 months onwards as an advertising star. Then agreed for her to pose nude for Playboy aged 10 and signed up for her role as a child prostitute a year later in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby. Mother Teri, a single working class mom, was portrayed in the media as a pimp as she pushed on with Brooke appearing as teenager in other sexualized roles in The Blue Lagoon and Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love (1981).

  Throughout, Brooke defended her mother in what she later described as an enmeshed relationship, but broke free to go to Princeton University and more so when she married tennis star Andre Agassi – who was as controlling as her mother and had a meth habit to match her mother’s alcohol addiction. Finally she married happily a TV writer/producer, has two teenage daughters and still works as an actress. From being one of the most famous faces in the world, best friends with Michael Jackson, she gives every indication of being happy with who she is as she publicizes a new documentary about her extraordinary life, titled Pretty Baby.

  She was born 31 May 1965 1.45pm New York into distressed circumstances, with her wealthy father’s Italian family paying for a termination – mom took the money but had her anyway, There was a marriage but it split when Brooke was five months old, though she did have the stability of her conservative father’s home for regular visits growing up. She was exploited as a child and raped at 22. It’s a miracle she didn’t go the way of her mother.

  Brooke has a Gemini Moon exactly on her Midheaven and Venus in her career 10^th. With a Gemini Sun, Jupiter, North Node in the 9^th. Her Gemini planets are square a volatile and tumultuous Mars, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo in her 12^th house opposition Saturn.

 The 10^th house is the one I relate to mother’s influence and the Moon there does have a sense of a physical identification with mother or vice versa. Mother’s body image is a factor. Venus in the 10^th does describe a beauty or charm-offensive career – though the square to Mars opposition Saturn hints at a degree of force, unfair/cruel treatment and underlying irritation and resentment.

  Brooke’s Sun Jupiter would keep her optimism/Pollyanna spirit high and four planets in detached Gemini including her Moon would make it easier for her to stand back from her feelings. Her mother’s Jupiter fell on her Ascendant so she would be there as a cheerleader and morale-booster and accentuate the positive in her daughter’s life at least on the surface. Born 1 August 1933 Teri Shields was a Sun Leo opposition Saturn so would have self-esteem issues.

 Andre Agassi, 29 April 1970, was also a Saturnine type with a Sun Saturn conjunction in Taurus so would have similar self-doubts. Brooke said she married her mother first time round and then seems to have moved out of the old patterns with her second husband – a Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Aries.

  Good on her having struggled through to stability. There’s no doubt that a strong Jupiter works wonders when it comes to overcoming childhood horrors.

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Turmoil in Israel with 600,000 on the streets protesting, the military up in arms and threats from the largest union to paralyze the economy by striking, look likely to force Benjamin Netanyahu to back down on his controversial judicial reforms. The Israeli government, the most right-wing ever, wants to take full control over the committee which appoints judges which critics say they will help him as Netanyahu faces an ongoing trial for corruption.

 There are also protests from Middle Eastern neighbours, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan about plans to push ahead with more settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, despite a recent promise not to. Estimates indicate about 650,000 settlers are living in the occupied West Bank. Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal. Fewer internal protests from Israelis about these.

  Last year saw Israel on its Nodal Return, a moment of destiny when the opportunity to take a new path is on offer. What was clear with the election of Benjamin Netanyahu was that the country had “turned its face against progress and doubled down on the worst of the past.” (see previous post 30 December 2022)

  What lies ahead through the Pluto in Aquarius years will be a grim battle against forced change. Israel with its 8^th house Taurus Sun and 10^th house Moon, Saturn, Pluto in Leo and 11^th house Mars in Leo is built to withstand gargantuan pressures. But even it will have to give way as first tr Pluto opposes its Moon in 2026/2027, then throughout the 2030s tr Pluto opposes Saturn Pluto and then squares its Sun in the late 2030s and then opposes its Mars in early 2040s. Whatever is left will be a radically different country.  

   There are other Fixed planet countries that will be going through the mill in the 2030s – India/Pakistan with their Saturn, Pluto, Venus, Sun in Leo all being ground down but they do have Jupiter in Scorpio to add some mellowing luck. The UK also with a Fixed Grand Cross running from 9 to 23 degrees will find 2030 to 2040 heavy going. Ditto Russia and China. France will catch the brunt of it in the late 2030s as the Fr Uranus opposition Pluto square Mars is under pressure.

 Pluto in Aquarius won’t just bring new ideas, inventions, discoveries and enlightened thinking, it will bring about a deconstruction and reconstruction decade. The previous time there were similar Pluto transits to the UK (and other similar charts) was 1945 to 1956 – when a battered, weakened and impoverished UK crawled out of a ‘victorious’ World War 11 and divested itself of the empire.

   During the last Pluto in Aquarius (1778 to 1799) the American colonies revolted against Britain, the military and economic superpower of the time. Despite the loss in the aftermath the UK was increasingly prosperous with the Industrial revolution ongoing. In France the agricultural and climatic problems of the 1770s and 1780s caused great poverty which led directly to the French Revolution. In China the height of Qing glory and power had been reached and was slowly sinking into decline with. What rises on one Pluto can fall on the next and vice versa. See September 11 2021. The USA will be less affected having only one Fixed planet – and the North Node.

  Back to present day Israel – tr Neptune will square the Israel Uranus this year and Jupiter in 2024, undermining the adventurous, risk-taking spirit – the domestic mood will be nerve-stretched and highly strung. From this August tr Uranus will conjunct the Israel Sun on and off till early 2025. Uranus normally brings about sudden change but even it will be hard pressed to make a dent on an 8^th house Taurus Sun. Though there will be an economic effect as tr Uranus starts a seven year trek through Israel’s financial 8^th house.

  Netanyahu’s latest government, 29 December 2022 4.30pm kicked off with unrealistic Neptune close to the Midheaven which is never a good sign for a government administration with an emotionally intense, bitterly argumentative and manipulative Pluto, Venus, Mercury in Capricorn. Tr Pluto is now poised to move into the administration 8^th house which will either bring secret, dirty dealings ahead or heavy restrictions. Or both.

  Netanyahu himself is insignificant in the greater scheme of things though his relationship chart with Israel does have the composite North Node at zero degrees Taurus – so he is a pivotal figure for Israel on the brink of the Pluto in Aquarius era – and clearly one who leads down the wrong path.

ADD ON: In lock step with Israel, the fate of the Palestinians looks not less stressed.

The Palestine Independence Declaration, 15 November 1988, with its three Scorpio planets ranging from Pluto at 12 degrees to the Sun at 22 will be put through the mill with tr Pluto squares throughout the 2030s. Before then tr Neptune is in a highly-strung, nerve-stretched square this year to the Uranus moving on to an uncertain and panicky tr Neptune and tr Saturn square the Saturn and conjunct the Mars by 2025. That looks like a considerable defeat.

   Gaza, 9 November 1917, with a Scorpio Sun Mercury square Saturn Neptune in Leo and Uranus in Aquarius will be under the Pluto cosh from 2027 onwards throughout the 2030s.

  Hamas, 14 December 1987, is not much different with Mars Pluto in Scorpio at 11 to 13 degree. Like Palestine it looks edgy and undermined this year.

  Whether the Palestinians ultimately prevail which seems unlikely, or end up in resigned submission like the Tibetans, there may well be an end of times battle raging through the 2030s. Israel won’t come out smelling of roses but in what form it survives is tricky to say. Even South Africa finally caved and gave up apartheid – but that was after international leverage. Ditto Northern Ireland – an uneasy peace but it did come together after the US stepped in and exerted pressure for the Good Friday Agreement.

   There should have been international policing put in when Israel was formed in 1948 to protect the rights of the Palestinians but the US and Europe had their hands full sorting out post-WW11 damage and looked the other way.  

“Cantankerous. Opinionated. Big mouth”  is the description actor Brain Cox, born a few days earlier than Donald Trump, applies to himself, though his politics do lean leftwards. He has had a late career resurgence as the Murdochian media patriarch in the dynastic family drama ‘Succession’ which starts its final season.

  Cox was born 1 June 1946 2.15pm Dundee, Scotland, and brought up by his sisters after his father died when he was 8 and his mother was hospitalised several times with nervous breakdowns. He has had a long and notable career on stage in Shakespeare and in numerous successful movies.

  Cox’s Mercury is in Gemini close to outspoken Uranus in his communicative 9^th and sextile his Pluto and widely Mars in flamboyant Leo which explains his tendency to go off like a sky rocket when prompted about his political views. He has a Cancer Moon conjunct Venus in his career 10th alongside a well-organised Saturn. His Jupiter Neptune in Libra in his 1^st trine his Sun, Mercury and Uranus will bring luck to his creative and imaginative talents – with considerable heft since it sextiles onto Pluto and Mars.

  An interesting and talented man – his actor’s 15^th harmonic is super-strong with a T square of Venus, Saturn, Sun and Moon tied into Pluto; Pluto on the focal point of a Yod to Mercury and Mars; and another T square of Neptune Jupiter Mercury.  Born to act.

  Succession launched 3 June 2018 and became an instant hit with critics though less so with audiences. It has been drenched in nominations and awards.  The start chart has a creative Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio in a high-finance trine to Neptune trine Venus with Venus opposition Pluto in Capricorn, making influential, power-hungry Pluto the driving planet. So it had the celestial powers behind it.

  On a personal note – I found the first season dreary, dull clothes and colours and unlikeable characters across the board. I only kept watching since the critics raved about it and I assumed I had missed something. Have not seen it since.  It did get me pondering – Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders and Damien Lewis in Billions are playing hardly likeable characters and yet they engage the audience’s interest and  sympathy. The Succession lot did not, apart from Cox to a degree. Not quite sure what the difference is.