Marjorie

The tragic, tawdry, off-the-grid lifestyle of aristocrat Constance Marten and her convicted rapist boyfriend Mark Gordon which lead to their four children being taken into care and adopted because of a domestic violence incident and a fifth baby dying of hypothermia while they were on the run has finally been brought to a halt.  After two trials which reporters called ‘jaw dropping’ and the judge accused them of sabotaging the process, they have been found guilty of the manslaughter of their baby by gross negligence

From her first appearance at the Old Bailey, in March 2023, to the end of the second trial, more than two years later, Constance Marten had been represented by 14 barristers. “Because she thinks she’s entitled and doesn’t listen to instructions,” it was said. Gordon ended up representing himself.

  The court heard that Gordon had been convicted of raping a woman in the US when he was 14, for which he had served 22 years in prison. And in 2017 he was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales where Marten had given birth to their first child under a fake identity.

 The best background piece is in the Times (paywall)

“The events that conspired to bring Marten to this point include a father who she believes abandoned her aged nine, a mother she blames for pushing her towards a cult as a teenager and years of turbulence with a violent older man.”

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/constance-marten-mark-gordon-baby-aristocrat-family-9bxbrc6c6

 She was born 16 May 1987 and has a late Taurus Sun conjunct Algol with a headstrong, excitable and uncompromising Mars in Gemini opposition Uranus and Saturn with her Mars in a pleasure-seeking sextile to Venus in Aries; and a disorganized yod onto Mercury in Gemini inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune. Her Moon probably in Capricorn is conjunct Neptune. Her Black Moon is exactly conjunct her Mars; and her Saturn is exactly opposition Chiron. That last seems significant since it ties into the two key male figures in her adult life who sent her off track.

  The first was TB Joshua, a charismatic pastor in Nigeria, later accused of being a predator who committed atrocities on followers at his church compound including rape and forced abortions and insisted they call him “Daddy”. She blamed her mother for having introduced her to a world of evangelical Christianity that would lead her down this path.

A friend of Marten said: “I believe she got brainwashed while she was over there. She was not the same person when she came back. She always used to be wild, but also happy, kind and buoyant. She was darker when she came back and she found things more difficult.”

  Joshua, 12 June 1963, Nigeria, had his Gemini Sun conjunct her Chiron and opposition her Saturn; with his bullying Mars in Virgo (conj Uranus Pluto) square her Mercury and his Venus Mercury in Taurus conjunct her Sun; with his Saturn square her Sun.  A very Saturn Chiron connection. At the point she met Joshua she had her Solar Arc Saturn conjunct her Neptune and her Solar Arc Pluto opposition her Sun – uncertain, panicky and trapped.

 Mark Gordon, 8 June 1974, also had a Sun Gemini beside his South Node which was conjunct her Chiron and opposition her Saturn.  He also had a Mars trine Neptune sextile Pluto and Pluto square Saturn Mercury; and Neptune on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Venus sextile Saturn. Hard-edged, determined, quite perverse and slippery.

 Their relationship chart had a dominating, control-freak composite Mars square Pluto; and curious yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Algol Chiron, which last was opposition defiant, lawless Uranus as the reaction point.

  The wound that never heals tied into the destructive Fixed Star Algol.   

  With her Chiron in close opposition to her Saturn she would have self-esteem issues due to feeling abandoned when her father left her at nine. At that point “he experienced what he described as an “awakening”. Realising that “everything in my life materially was a completely empty shell”, he obeyed the voice that told him to abandon Constance and the rest of his family, and his inheritance, to begin a new life in Australia.”

  Her North Node in Aries hints at the need to walk an independent path in life, not one permanently attached to a partner. If she slides back into her ‘togetherness’ Libra South Node, she meets Vindemiatrix, the widow maker.

  What a tangled web. Tragic for a baby who never had a chance.

Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, known as the enfant terrible of the European Right and ‘Mussolini in high heels’, much feted by Donald Trump, has managed against all expectations to stay in power for three years. No mean feat given her country’s carnival politics – 69 governments in power over the past 79 years.

  An English translation of her  memoir ‘I Am Giorgia’ runs through her early life relating the tale of her mother amidst money worries and a failing marriage, planning to abort her but changing her mind outside the clinic. She maintains she was an outsider from a young age with a father who abandoned her when she was a year old and a grandmother scarred by wartime food shortages, overfed her, making her a target for bullies at school who nicknamed her “Fatso”.  Her father, a communist-sympathising tax official is credited by her with instilling her  combative spirit and steeliness of nature because of his lack of love.

 Her unlikely rise in popularity from the fringe hard-right was helped along the way as two DJs released a satirical dance video intended to poke fun at politicians which featured her railing against identity politics. “They want to call us parent 1, parent 2, gender LGBT, citizen X, with code numbers. But I am Giorgia. I am a woman. I am a mother. I am Italian. I am Christian!” Suddenly she was an unexpected pop phenomenon.

  Once seen as the unacceptable face of the Right she is now charming European leaders with a mix of humour and bluntness and has a good working relationship with Ursula von der Leyen. Her successful immigration clampdown on Mediterranean trafficking boats won praise from Keir Starmer. And she’s regarded as one of Europe’s top Trump Whisperers.

  Born 15 January 1977 6.30pm Rome, Italy, she has a hard-working 6^th house Capricorn Sun trine a lucky, successful Jupiter in Taurus in her 10^th. But what is most noticeable is a heavily aspected Mars in Capricorn in her entertaining 5^th house conjunct Mercury which sits midway between a Venus in Pisces trine Uranus, and is thus sextile both, square Pluto and inconjunct Saturn in Leo on her Ascendant. So she is not  short on dynamic drive, direct speaking and ruthlessness.

 She also has a yod of Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct an 8^th house Venus in Pisces which fits with her start in life feeling out of place in ordinary situations but giving her ultimately the ability to push forward with a singular goal affecting society.

 Her Term chart 22 October 2022 9.30am Rome, has an equally strong Mars (in the 8^th) square a Libra Sun Venus, inconjunct Pluto and square Neptune Jupiter – so a pro-active administration.

 What intrigues me are the father relationships of other female world leaders. All of the below have emphasised Mars giving them courage and drive.

Indira Gandhi to a degree like Meloni had an unhappy childhood with her politician father Nehru often away or in prison. Her Mars in Virgo was on the focal point of a Mutable T Square to a Jupiter opposition Mercury, with her Mars also trine Venus and sextile Pluto.

Golda Meir had a scary childhood in Ukraine with a pogrom brewing and the family moved to the US when she was 3. Her Mars was trine Saturn, sextile Pluto Venus.

Maggie Thatcher idolized her father and perhaps tried to emulate his domineering tactics with her Mars in Libra on the focal point of a Cardinal T square to Jupiter opposition Pluto.  

Ursula von der Leyen had a European civil servant father and her chart has (like Meloni and Thatcher) a Mars square Pluto with her Mars also trine Venus and inconjunct Neptune Jupiter in Scorpio. Ultra-determined, charming, over hopeful.

Meloni and Trump have an odd relationship chart with a composite Jupiter Saturn conjunction which will be under pressure from tr Pluto in opposition in 2026/27. In itself it can be the sign of a steady bond that lasts over time. But transformational Pluto bearing down won’t make it easy. Even before then from November through to April 2026 tr Uranus will square the composite Uranus for upheavals and turmoil; plus tr Pluto will continue to square the composite Mars through 2025/2026 for frustrations and possibly diverging objectives.

ADD ON: Francesca Albanese, 30 March 1977 Italy, the fiery UN rapporteur for the Palestinian territories is a controversial and divisive figure. The USA has sanctioned her for her anti-Israel stance while she is a leading light in an upcoming Colombia conference which includes Qatar, Spain and China which aims to progress the implementation of a UN general assembly motion demanding an end to the occupation of Palestine.

 She has been accused of anti-Semitism and support for Hamas but is feted by Left-wingers.  On October 7, the day of the Hamas attacks in Israel, she tweeted: “Today’s violence must be put in context.” A year earlier she said that “Palestinians have no other room for dissent than violence”.

 She has a pro-active Aries Sun in an intense and controlling opposition to Pluto. More significantly she has a tough-minded Saturn in wannabe-important Leo (and Moon) sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars in Pisces. A yod apex Mars, even in softer Pisces, is headstrong, overly assertive, can be self-defeating, rash, disruptive and courageous. Her Mars is also in a publicity-attracting square to Neptune and an excitable trine to Uranus. A force to be reckoned with.

  Researching past times of Pluto in Aquarius which next picks up from 2023 till 2042 it caught my eye that the original Jewish diaspora occurred under the Pluto in Aquarius in 60 to 84 AD when the first of the Jewish Wars against the Romans took place.  The Romans laid siege to Jerusalem crucifying tens of thousands of escapees whose bodies encircled the city at the end. According to historical records the stockpiles of food inside were intentionally burned by Jewish leaders to induce the defenders to fight against the siege instead of negotiating peace; as a result many city dwellers and soldiers died of starvation during the siege. “Six hundred thousand engaged in armed resistance – both sexes showed equal determination, preferring death to a life that involved expulsion from their country.”

  The final Jewish stronghold to fall was Masada. When the Roman soldiers finally broke through into the city they discovered that the 967 defenders had all committed suicide, preferring death over defeat.

  There were a further two Jewish-Roman Wars in the decades following in which between 500,000 and half a million Jews were killed.

  Under Pluto in Aquarius in the 13^th Century Jews were expelled from England although that was for a complex set of reasons to do with the King’s finances and Jewish usury.

  Under the next Pluto in Aquarius 2023/2043 transitting Pluto will be opposing the Israel midheaven, Saturn, Pluto, squaring the Sun latterly and then opposing Mars. So Israel looks under escalating pressure of quite staggering proportions. [From old post 2009].

Additional Thoughts:

From The Astrological History of the World

Certain key dates in Jewish history, and indeed the history of Jerusalem, fall under Uranus–Pluto conjunctions, starting with the Jewish revolt against the Romans in ad 70. The Romans then sacked Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, the ancient centre of Jewish religious life and traditionally the site of Jacob’s dream of angels ascending a ladder to heaven. This was the beginning of the Jewish diaspora, or dispersal; the oral laws of Moses were added to the Pentateuch to form the Torah which would bind future Jews together. The winning of the Six Day War by the Israelis under the latest conjunction in 1967 saw the Jews occupy the old city of Jerusalem for the first time since they had been expelled.

  In ad 70, the Romans also destroyed the Qu’mran Essene Jewish community. They left behind the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew and Aramaic texts that were not rediscovered until the Saturn–Pluto conjunction of 1947. Under another Uranus–Pluto conjunction, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the great mosque, was built on the Temple Mount in 691 by the Umayyad Caliph to commemorate the Muslim tradition that Mohammed ascended to Paradise from this spot, making it the third most holy place of Islam after Mecca and Medina. Jerusalem was also occupied by the First Crusade in 1099.

   There were also two major Jewish massacres under Uranus–Pluto, one sparked by religious differences, the other by anti-semitism. The first took place in the Rhineland in 1095 when Pope Urban II called for a crusade to free the holy places in Jerusalem; the second in 1348 in the wake of the 25 million deaths from the ‘Black Death’ plague in Europe, for which Jews were blamed.

“The Jewish diaspora and persecution are connected to Uranus–Pluto, but two major destructive episodes in the Jewish story do occur under Saturn–Uranus conjunctions. One took place in 1306 when Philip IV expelled Jews from France during Saturn–Uranus in Scorpio. More significantly and catastrophically this century, when Saturn–Uranus occurred in Taurus (Hitler’s sign) in 1942, the Nazis met to discuss the ‘final solution to the Jewish question’, the genocide of the European Jews. Six death camps were set up: Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Madjanek, Chelmo, Sobibor and Treblinka; in the USSR, half a million Jews were killed by the Germans. The call for a Jewish national home, made under Saturn–Uranus in Scorpio in 1896, was not fulfilled until the Saturn–Pluto conjunction of 1947–48.

   Nothing can adequately describe the Holocaust, but the Neptune–Pluto conjunction in Hitler’s chart (as with Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Attila the Hun) was obviously a key factor in the delusional megalomania that had such destructively inhumane consequences. But the 1942 Saturn–Uranus conjunction may be a hint of the misuse to which Uranus’s scientific knowledge can be put when in the hands of repressive Saturn, which in its highly negative aspects is connected both to death and to Satan.”

N.B: Uranus Pluto also was significant in the slave trade and colonisation of Africa and its independence.

Jeffrey Epstein, ‘the man who never dies’ has arisen from his sarcophagus again to cause a bitter split between Trump and his biggest MAGA fans. They have complained vociferously about Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, closing the book on Epstein’s files saying there is nothing to see, having previously hinted at a big reveal earlier in the year. He died apparently by suicide in jail six years ago while facing trial for sex trafficking and minors.

 FBI director Kash Patel has denied swirling resignation rumours over his reported unhappiness and the Deputy Director Dan Bongino according to one report is hopping mad.

 The FBI-DoJ did discover “a significant amount of material”, including more than 300GB of data including images and videos of victims who appear to be minors plus illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. But significantly no client list.

 The MAGA zealots – Laura Loomer, Steven Bannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene etc – are obsessed with the notion of a powerful cabal of paedophiles protected by “the deep state”.  You don’t have to buy into their fanaticism to be sceptical about the blanket official denials, given Epstein’s financial dealings and modus operandi.

 Epstein’s sidekick and helper Ghislaine Maxwell is also back in the spotlight for a ‘do or die’ moment tomorrow when the US government seeks to block her bid for a retrial with their lawyers arguing her case is meritless. Musk retorted on X that without a client list it makes no sense that she is in prison.

 Round and round it goes.

  Two points of interest that can be tracked astrologically.

One: – is Epstein’s relationship chart with the USA which has a composite Mars, North Node Venus opposition Pluto. If this was a married couple, the interpretation would be a long, bitter and toxic split, acrimonious, aggravated and frustrated in 2025/26 and extending on till the end of this decade. This one is not going to lie down and die anytime soon.

Two: Cracks amongst the faithful. The fanbase leaders already on edge with the Iran attack and no Israel/Ukraine peace after blowhard promises about no foreign wars and the certainty of an immediate Nobel prize; and trepidation over financial/debt problems ahead, are clearly in no mood to hold back on criticism.

Trump’s relationship chart with

Laura Loomer: Undermined exactly now, nerve stretched over the winter and worse in 2026/27.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: Deflated at the moment and more so in 2026, devastated by 2027.

Steve Bannon: 2026/27 will not bring peace and contentment between the two.

  Trump’s relationship with Pam Bondi, 17 November 1965, Florida, is in a state of running turmoil and upheaval now and throughout the winter and across 2026 as well with tr Uranus square the composite Pluto ands tr Pluto opposition the Uranus.

 With Kash Patel, FBI head, and Trump there is a rattled and fractious mood this August with tr Uranus square the composite Mars, repeating in 2026.

 Trump’s relationship with with Epstein looked close with a composite Sun trine Pluto and sociable with composite Venus square Pluto; as well as slippery with a composite Sun opposition Neptune; and a streak-of-cruelty Mars square Saturn. There is nothing much coming up until 2027/2029 when tr Uranus will blast the Mars square Saturn.

  Trump’s relationship chart with Ghislaine Maxwell in many ways is more tortuous and interlocked with a composite Sun and Scheat trine Pluto and Alphard; composite Saturn opposition Neptune Mars square Uranus North Node. And most significantly of all –  a yod of Pluto sextile Mars Neptune inconjunct Sun and Scheat. A relationship bound together by fate which will affect the destiny of both.  Most of the heavy activity on this chart has been over the past three years with not much showing as of now. Though if birth times are accurate then tr Neptune Saturn will conjunct the Midheaven at the moment and through 2026 suggesting disappointment and discouragement.

ADD ON: Ghislaine Maxwell is willing to speak in front of Congress about The Epstein Files, sources tell Daily Mail. Maxwell, 63, is the only person behind bars – serving 20 years on child sex trafficking charges – despite the fact that paedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly controlled a web of underage girls. Additionally, Epstein’s victims alleged they were passed around as sex toys to his wealthy friends and billionaire business associates who regularly visited his homes including his private island, Little Saint James.

Now a source said: ‘Despite the rumors, Ghislaine was never offered any kind of plea deal. She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.
President Trump’s former ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk sensationally claimed there is a cover-up because Trump is mentioned in the Epstein Files, something sources close to Maxwell say ‘is a false flag.’

‘President Trump was photographed with Epstein several times and they ran in the same circles but Trump was one of the first to break all contact with Epstein because they fell out over a business deal and Epstein’s treatment of women,’ the informed source said.
‘There are no big shocks about President Trump in the Epstein Files. But there are a lot of powerful men involved and a lot of money and it will come down to following the money.

The four elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water; plus triplicities of Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable; plus 12 houses; plus 10 planets (and North Node and Fixed stars) all in different houses and in varying aspects to each other and the chart axis – and it adds up to a great deal of information to be gleaned from a birth chart. 2500 pieces of insight someone once worked out.

  Trying to prioritise out of a blizzard of facts and pull together a coherent portrait of a personality and its potential is not easy. So in the learning stages of astrology it helps to separate the different strands and treat them in isolation. Remembering that not everything is as straightforward as it seems.

 At a super-simple level:

Air = thinking and communicating, emotionally detached, ideologues. Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.

Earth = grounded in the material world, the body, nature, pragmatists and realists, builders in life. Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn.

Fire = inspirational, confident, strong belief in luck and their guardian angel being there, not always realistic, entrepreneurial. Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.

Water = self-protective to guard against being emotionally swamped, creative, dreamers. Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.

 Carl Jung believed the element we lack is not an irrevocable deficiency but our gateway to transformation.

  Which may go a way to explaining why strongmen/bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Steve Reeves and Charles Atlas have either 1 or no Earth in their charts which seems counter-intuitive. Likewise the great protagonists for emotional health, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung had less emphasis on Water in their charts than the other elements.

 Others follow their main element. Henry Ford, the initiator of mass production with his automobiles, had 4 Fire signs as befits an entrepreneur. Only 2 Earth and 4 Air for enthusiasm and marketing.

  Jeremy Corbyn, the UK left-wing politician has 6 Air signs which fits an advocate for a dedicated ideology. Though Jorg Haider, the late Austrian very far-right politician, was also awash with Air, so it need not necessarily dictate the content of the ideology.

 Oddly the ‘thinkers’ who promoted communism – Marx, Lenin and Stalin had Earth tilted charts. Marx had no Air in his chart.

  Most birth charts have a mix of elements usually with two predominating.

Fire Air – a hot air balloon, inspirational, over talkative,  unrealistic.

Fire Earth – a bulldozer, super-charged energy and determination.

Fire Water – excitable, combustible, creative – fire makes water boil, while water puts fire out. Tricky balance to strike.

Earth Air – cool, detached, sensible.

Earth Water – creative and practical, can make dreams come true.

Air Water – a tricky balance to strike between head and heart, between thinking and feeling. Tends to wobble from one to the other.  

  What also has to be taken into account are the chart houses which themselves can be labelled according to the elements.

Fire houses – 1^st, 5^th and 9^th

Earth houses – 2^nd, 6^th, 10th

Air houses – 3^rd, 7^th, 11^th

Water houses – 4th, 8th, 12^th

 A Fire Sun will operate differently for example in a Water house than it would in a Fire or Air house. So an 8th house Leo Sun will not have the same exuberance as a 5th house one.

  So the elemental balance of a chart can give a ready rule-of-thumb description of the personality. But like everything else in astrology it is not the end of the story.

  Once all 2500 piece of insight are gauged it then depends – to a degree  – on intuition as to what stands out as most significant. Or at least with practice what seems like intuition is really experience of what works.

A touching story about the once-split now reconciled marriage of Pam Shriver, former tennis pro, and actor George Lazenby. What brought them back together after a bitter split was his advancing dementia (and their three children).  She said they had a turbulent relationship: sometimes tender, sometimes toxic. “There were times, after our divorce, when we could not bear speaking to each other.” He is in an assisted living facility but she says they have rediscovered the mutual admiration that originally drew them together and talk every day. He has become a softer version of himself and has mellowed. “There was a moment, earlier this year, when he was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfires and only made it out by a whisker. That day, I realised how much he still means to me.”

  She was born 4 July 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland; he on 5 September 1939 in New South Wales, Australia.

 She is a Sun Cancer in a Water Grand Trine to Jupiter in Pisces trine Neptune in Scorpio, formed into a Kite by a super-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto. She also has Uranus conjunct Alphard square a Taurus Mars and Algol – so a strong minded personality.

  While he has an Earth Grand Trine of Mars in Capricorn trine Uranus (Moon) in Taurus trine Neptune in Virgo – and a Virgo Sun Venus, with Saturn in Taurus conjunct his South Node square Pluto. She described him as super-critical which will be his Virgo Sun but his heavily aspected Pluto and hair-trigger Mars trine Uranus would not help.

 A Water Earth combo is in itself helpful though he lacks Water altogether so would have problems empathizing with her point of view. Her Mars square Uranus also collided with his Uranus Moon square Mercury for running flare-ups.

 Their relationship chart has a truly difficult composite Saturn, Jupiter, Mars conjunction trine Mercury and inconjunct Pluto – and reports at the time of the divorce suggest each gave as good as they got.

  When they split in 2008 in the run up the tr Pluto in late Sagittarius square tr Uranus in late Pisces were both bearing down on their composite Saturn, Jupiter, Mars which would put their relationship under intolerable pressure.

 What I had never realized was that after his Bond movie he turned down a contract to do six more. He was on his Saturn Return then and found the pressure of the movie overwhelming. His decision did considerable damage to his later career.

 For good or for ill Donald Trump’s bond with the USA is a close one, not easily pulled apart. But all political careers end in failure runs the saying. He too will pass one way or another though it is difficult to predict when his time at the top will give way to the ravages of time and fate.

 There is a composite Sun trine Pluto sextile Saturn in his relationship chart with the USA which is chained together. Although tr Saturn Neptune in Aries will make a concerted effort in 2026 (and 2027) to undermine solidarity and support; with a jolting, tension-erupting tr Uranus square the composite Saturn in 2026/27 and tr Pluto square the Pluto in 2025/6 – so there will be heavy pressures and strong headwinds which will make even the most faithful of fans wilt.

 Looking across the country relationship charts of other politicians who eventually gave into gravity – Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, General Franco, Richard Nixon, Pinochet, Videla of Argentina – there was a mix of Uranus influences (= freedom) and South Node aspects when they departed.  Apart from tr Uranus rattling up the composite Saturn for Trump in 2026/27, what is notable is that the Lunar Eclipse of autumn 2028 will catch Trump’s composite South Node with the USA which may well be significant.

  The key aspects affecting the USA national chart ahead.

1. Tr Neptune will square the USA financial Venus from this month onwards joined in 2026 by tr Saturn – which suggests a downbeat mood on the money front. Tr Saturn in 2026 will also dent confidence in square to the USA Jupiter, joined in 2027/28 by the bubble bursting tr Neptune square Jupiter which will undermine unrealistic optimism. By 2031/32 tr Neptune will square the USA Cancer Sun for a slipping, sliding, indecisive and not confident phase.
2. The history-changing collision between the USA Cancer Sun square Saturn in Libra in its Solar Arc positions and the USA Mars in Gemini square Neptune in Virgo picked up last year and will run on into early 2027. After which the setbacks and anxieties thrown up by it should fade.
3. However the USA Saturn in Libra and Cancer Sun will remain under pressure for some years. A stuck Solar Arc Pluto will square the Sun in 2033 and bring hardship in conjunction to the USA Saturn in 2034. With major setbacks from the Progressed Mars conjunct the USA Saturn in 2032.  Which could be a future government trying to pick up the pieces of previous bad government, financial and judicial, or it could be external events.
4.  And the next two elections in the 2030s will be contending with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the USA Venus and Jupiter which will be downbeat – or at least forcing a few realities into the foreground.

As to similarities to the Mcarthy era: From an old post. There certainly were when Trump was first elected in 2016 when tr Uranus was impacting the USA’s obsessive, paranoid and hostile Mercury opposition Pluto – but the mood lingers on with the Solar Arc Mercury opposition Solar Arc Pluto catching the changing of the celestial guard with tr Saturn Neptune in hard aspect and tr Uranus and tr Pluto in sextile/trine for several years ahead.

2016 post:

“Remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists,” tweeted former KKK leader David Duke in response to Donald Trump’s half-hearted attempt to blame both sides for the white supremacist violence against peaceful protesters in Charlottesville. And the Washington Post is now directly comparing Trump’s modus operandi to Joseph McCarthy (URL below).

  Both of which lock in to the key astrological transit on the USA chart from 2016 to early 2018. Transiting Uranus is squaring the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto, as it was in 1953/54 when McCarthy, having lied, smeared and ramped up hatred through his anti-Communist hearings, was finally tumbled. When he finally crashed and burned tr Uranus was exactly square the US Pluto.   

  Mercury opposition Pluto does exacerbate suspicion, paranoia, is associated with demagogues and those guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation, promotes over-intense debates with a drive for domination and little latitude for compromise, can teeter on the brink of nervous collapse through strain. Uranus is on an 84-year cycle of transits, so hard aspects come round every 21 years.

  Trump, of course, learnt his McCarthy playbook from his mentor Roy Cohn (See post: March 7 2017). At the time, former president Harry Truman lamented “the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spread of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of our society.” A Post reporter Murray Marder described “a period of national turmoil. It was the closest we ever came to a real totalitarian atmosphere.” It wasn’t the media who brought McCarthy down since they’d been exposing his lies in the preceding years. In rural and low-income areas, he was deemed to have been unfairly vilified and gained support. Ultimately it was when the politicians turned against him and there was sufficient of an upswell of public opinion that his platform was demolished.

During another tr Uranus square the US Mercury opposition Pluto in 1973/4, Watergate was raging, escalating and ended with Richard Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment charges, as tr Uranus squared the US Mercury for the final time. VP Spiro Agnew had previously resigned faced with tax evasion charges.

Nixon died under the next tr Uranus hard aspect to the US Pluto opposition Mercury in 1994, then in Capricorn conjunct Neptune, so a very high-tension mood, as the Whitewater Investigation into Clinton financial dealings got underway, which although it fizzled out, did prepare the ground for the later impeachment of Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky affair. Jackie Kennedy also died, Superman Chris Reeves was paralysed, the Oklahoma bombing killed 169; and Newt Gingrich as Republican leader took over both houses, under a Democrat president.

   Oct 1973 to Oct 1974 – VP Spiro Agnew resigns faced with tax evasion charges. Watergate is raging, escalating and ends with Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment charges, as tr Uranus squares the US Mercury for the final time in August 1974, tugging on the US Pluto.

On a previous occasion – April 1933 to April 1933 – President Franklin D Roosevelt declares a national emergency to come off the Gold Standard; and the Business Plot was uncovered which was an attempted coup d’etat against the government and Roosevelt’s progressive policies, by a group of fascist veterans and wealthy businessmen, wanting to ally themselves to Hitler’s Germany and Italy. At the time it was written off as a hoax but there did seem to be some wild scheme in place.

So this influence definitely attacks both the government and US democracy, either by dragging scandals into the open or letting loose hard right-wing fanatics.

  So it has always been a significant and risky time in the US for presidents and the national morale, with the Republicans centre-stage.  Back it comes round again and Trump is under multiple investigations which could lead to Federal indictments or impeachment ultimately; and the US is seeing an upsurge in far-right vitriol. 

www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-approach-to-the-press-mirrors-another-politicians-joe-mccarthy/2017/08/11/80186b0e-7c6f-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.943fec294de9

Christian Horner has been dropped by Red Bull as CEO  a year after allegations surfaced of him sending texts to a female member of staff of which he was cleared at the time. But patience at the top has finally snapped. A sports reporter wrote: “While he has achieved success and clearly has many qualities, I am not sure there has been a leader in any sport who has alienated so many people, both within the ecosystem and beyond it.”  Any time in the past he has been criticised even with good cause he has lashed back or played the victim however ludicrous his claims.

 Born 16 November 1973, he has a Scorpio Sun and Mercury with a confident, super-ambitious Pluto trine Jupiter in Aquarius, sextile Neptune. What probably causes the lash backs are two aspects. One is an explosive Mars in Aries opposition Uranus making him short-fused, uncompromising and drawn to a high-adrenaline sport. Added to that (and a Scorpio Sun Mercury) is a focal point Pluto square Saturn opposition Venus. Such a Pluto never lets go, has a chip on the shoulder, can be resentful and contemptuous, confrontational and tends to attract resistance.

Oddly enough Geri Halliwell, 6 August 1972 2.30pm Watford, a Sun, Mercury, Mars (and Alphard) in Leo also has Pluto on the focal point of a T square to Venus opposition Jupiter. But she’s obvious learned to suppress her need to control.

 Their relationship chart has a composite controlling Sun Pluto conjunction with a Mars Saturn conjunction which usually suggests a fractious relationship where one partner has to bite their tongue and suppress their identity to keep it together.

 Their togetherness looks to be rattled by arguments late this October to the end of the year and undermined through 2026/27 – first by tr Saturn square the Mars Saturn and then tr Neptune Saturn opposing the composite Sun Pluto. I would be surprised if that held together.

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The Texas flash floods in the early hours of the 4^th July have claimed over a hundred dead, including a number of children at summer camp, with more than 160 people still missing and numbers rising.

 The previous Lunar Eclipse of March set for Texas has Neptune and (shipwrecking) Scheat on the IC with Moon close to the Midheaven, all of which make sense of a devastating watery disaster close to home. With a regretful Sun Saturn in Pisces trine an 8^th house Mars. [Houses are not supposed to matter for eclipses but my experience is the 8^th house often crops up for disasters.]

 The upcoming September Lunar Eclipse set for Texas has the Sun Mercury close to the Midheaven with Moon on the IC and an exact Uranus on the Descendant – with hard questions being asked in the aftermath about whether cuts to government agencies had led to damaging delays in alerting residents.

 The flood happened with the two aggravated Pluto and Mars yods still in place; and Venus Uranus conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol as well.