Marjorie

The versatile Alan Cumming has added yet another award from the recent Emmys to join his previous BAFTA Award, previous Emmy, Tonys and an Olivier. This recent accolade was for his hosting of the reality show Traitors, which is a tense psychological adventure competition where 22 strangers in a castle in the Scottish Highlands aim to complete a series of challenges as a team. Though within their ranks are three traitors secretly sabotaging their efforts.

 His career has had an extraordinary range from light-hearted comedy and musicals to heavy drama and Shakespeare in theatre and on Broadway, with a string of well-received movies and television series where he is best known for The Good Wife. He also sings, writes drama and has published several books including two memoirs – Not My Father’s Son and Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life. A presenter, screenwriter, producer, director, cabaret performer, novelist and gay-rights campaigner.

  He was born 27 January 1965 8.20 am Aberfeldy, Scotland, with a tyrannical and abusive father, head forester on a Scottish estate, who did not believe he or his brother were his sons. Though a DNA test in recent years proved they were. He said that his difficult childhood taught him how to act by “needing to suppress my own emotions and feelings around him [his father] when I was a little boy”.

  What pulled him out of the damaging effects of a “feudal” childhood were firstly an upfront and boisterous Aquarius Sun is on his Ascendant giving him a bouncy, chatty image with his Sun in an optimistic and enthusiastic square to a communicative Jupiter in the 3^rd house in money-magnet Taurus. He also has a look-on-the-bright-side Sagittarius Moon exactly on his Midheaven suiting him for a colourful and wide ranging public career.

 He does have Uranus Pluto and Mars in Virgo all in his 8^th house suggesting a challenging psychological inheritance from previous generations, controlling and angry. Luckily his Uranus Pluto sits in a practical, business-building Earth Grand Trine to Jupiter and to Venus Mercury in Capricorn in his 12^th, formed into a Kite with Jupiter opposition Neptune – giving him talent, a practical approach to life and enough dreams from Jupiter Neptune to carry him away from his abusive childhood.

  For all his outer success he has not had it easy emotionally with a hidden Venus and a Moon square Saturn, a legacy from his early home life where his mother was unable to give him what he needed since she was as trapped as her children were.  

  His creative 5^th Harmonic is strong; and his victim 12^th even more so. What is intriguing is his 13^th Harmonic which is confident, enthusiastic, exuberant. That is the one which indicates “Upheaval, change and rebirth. Breaking with the orthodox. It requires adaptation to change to be successful.” Peter Sellers, the comedian had a strong 13^th harmonic giving him an ability like Alan Cumming to inhabit a variety of dramatic characters with authenticity.  

His 8^th house Mars in late Virgo is catching this week’s Lunar Eclipse revving up his engine and putting him into overdrive which will continue on throughout 2025 with the following eclipses at similar degree. He may need to keep himself in check or he’ll overdo the running around.

Another day and the tit-for-tat atrocities pile up. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the death of nine people after the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers used by the terror group in Lebanon yesterday.  Thousands were injured in the attack, with 200 people said to be in a critical condition. Hezbollah said Israel would get its “fair punishment”.

  Previous posts lay out the detail: Israel & Hezbollah – the unhealable wound 25th August 2024 and Israel and Hezbollah – hope of peace receding fast – 1st August 2024.

 What was always mystifying, given the rolling carnage causing internal Israeli outrage and unease as well as international consternation was/is how undescriptive Netanyahu’s 29 December 2022 4.30pm Term chart is. A confused, indecisive Neptune on the Midheaven alongside an admittedly successful Jupiter Moon in the 10^th sextile Pluto Venus on the cusp of the 8^th with a hidden 12^th house Mars inconjunct the Sun in the partnership-dependent 7^th. It doesn’t immediately leap out as a crisis Term, nor indeed was there ever any obvious exit point.

 His own personal chart shares Mars at 26 degrees Leo with Trump, with the latter recovering from his second assassination attempt; and Netanyhau is now on war footing with Hezbollah and the Lebanon. Tr Uranus is now back squaring their respective Mars for a moment of high insecurity running on for several weeks and repeating next spring. Netanyahu also has his Virgo Midheaven triggered by yesterday’s Lunar Eclipses and next year’s early Lunar and later Solar Eclipses. And if his birth time is exactly accurate he has his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Midheaven in 2026, hinting at a change of career direction.

 Netanyahu’s relationship chart with Israel looks rattled in the extreme at the moment and undermined. Tr Neptune is square the composite Uranus now till early 2026; and tr Uranus is square the composite Mars, then the calamitous Mars/Saturn midpoint and the composite Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026.

 His Term chart has the tr Neptune Saturn conjunct the 10^th house Jupiter Moon from April 2025 on into 2026/27 which will undermine high hopes and confidence.

  There is nothing in the country/Hezbollah charts to suggest peace any time soon (see previous posts).

  Netanyahu’s continued political future which is vital to stave off corruption charges is dependent on a far-right coalition. A key figure is Bezazel Smotrich, the Israeli Minister for Finance – a hard-line, far-right zealot, a settler in occupied West Bank, illegal under international law, who supports expansion of Israeli settlements and opposes Palestinian statehood. Born 27 February 1980, he is a Sun Pisces opposition Mars Jupiter with a passionate Venus opposition Pluto. Those two oppositions are colliding by 2026 with the SA Mars Jupiter being conjunct his Pluto which looks unnervingly over confident. Indeed it may trigger in 2025 since that is when his Venus is being aspected. 

 His relationship with both Netanyahu and Israel look severely stressed as tr Uranus moves into Gemini mid 2025 onwards. He is a rabble rouser and won’t be easy to control.

The Afghanistan Taliban government’s increasingly repressive measures, described by one woman living there as Islamic fascism, are causing growing dissatisfaction among the Afghan population and continuing international isolation. Despite promises to the contrary when the USA withdrew in 2021, stricter morality laws have been enforced with girls and women banned from attending secondary school and university plus plus plus.

  An Afghanee woman anonymously described the government there: “It controls everything from what we wear and where we go and most importantly, what we are allowed to think. Women are denied education – removed from all areas of life, our voices and presence erased from society. Democracy and human rights are completely ignored. Thousands of innocent children are being educated in Taliban’s schools to become adversaries of women’s rights, democracy, progress and freedom. Through extreme religious indoctrination, they are being shaped into a serious threat to the entire world.”

  There are hints of rebellions and disruptions ahead with transiting Uranus upending the Afghanistan 19 August 1919 12am Kabul chart at the moment and more so through 2025 with tr Uranus square the Sun, conjunct the Moon and square Uranus. The population (Moon) may well have reached its tolerance limits. The Venus in Virgo is also catching the running Pisces/Virgo Lunar and Solar Eclipses right through into early 2026. And the Solar Arc Neptune will be in an undermining square to the Sun by 2025; at the same time as tr Uranus is square the Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada who took over as Taliban Supreme Leader on 15 August 2021 also has Venus in late Virgo on his Term chart being triggered by the eclipses running on for nearly two years. His Term chart has a yod onto the Sun from Neptune sextile Pluto hinting at an erratic approach to stamping its authority and identity – and that is being jolted by tr Uranus square the Solar Arc Sun now and into 2025. Though it is a chart with a strong Jupiter which can bring undeserved good luck.

 The original Taliban Afghanistan government of 4 April 1996 is also showing signs of uncertainty and considerable unrest ahead with tr Neptune (Scheat) conjunct the Saturn in final degree Pisces with Solar Arc Uranus square the Pluto in 2024/25 and tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus in 2026/27.

It’s tempting though not always helpful to be optimistic about positive changes lying ahead. But with the Afghanistan chart having a yod of Mars sextile Venus inconjunct Uranus – and the Uranus getting a sharp elbow from transiting Uranus from mid 2025 onwards there is no doubt the country will be shifted force majeure onto a new path.

I have never understood religious fundamentalists’ fear of women rolling right back to the mediaeval Vatican. Extreme Neptune misogynists.

Disaster by water is being experienced with a vengeance in eastern Europe with several deaths from flooding and an entire Polish city being told to evacuate. With transiting Neptune and the Fixed star Scheat both falling close to this week’s Lunar Eclipse in Pisces it highlights the nature of Scheat associated with misfortune, floods, shipwrecks and drowning.

For some, Scheat can bring increased creativity https://shorturl.at/uB0XE but the downside is notably evident at the moment with the Bayesian sinking still being investigated and now devastating weather.

 The Lunar Eclipse set for Nysa, the evacuated Poland town, has Uranus closely conjunct the Midheaven suggesting jolting changes – with the Moon Neptune in the 8^th. [You are evidently not supposed to use houses for eclipse charts but very often disaster eclipses have strong 8^th house planets.]

  The Poland 24 August 1989 1.05pm Warsaw chart has Mercury in Virgo close to the Eclipse causing mental strain and chaos.

  Natural disasters sometimes are the forerunner to a stressful period of transition in the years following and the Poland chart hints at a tricky time ahead with tr Uranus square the Virgo Sun from mid 2025 as the same time as tr Neptune Saturn start to square the Uranus – and in future years square the Saturn, Neptune.

 The Poland 10 November 1918 chart has its Mars in final degree Sagittarius being undermined by tr Neptune square now till early 2026; with a disruptive tr Uranus square the Saturn opposition Uranus, also through till early 2026.

 Donald Tusk’s prime ministerial chart of 13 December 2023 10 am Warsaw had a lacklustre Sagittarius Sun and Moon square Neptune – which are catching not only this week’s Lunar Eclipse but also next March’s Lunar Eclipse and the October Solar Eclipse for a crises-strewn term.

France’s European commissioner, Thierry Breton, has resigned, citing “questionable governance” at the EU executive led by Ursula von der Leyen. His hissy fit comes after she had asked Paris to withdraw his name for reasons unknown. None of which amounts to a hill of beans but the astrology is fun.

 He was born 15 January 1955 8.45am Paris and has a Capricorn Sun exactly on his Ascendant opposition Uranus Jupiter in Cancer on his Descendant so he will be an upfront personality, confident and uncompromising, not good at cooperation Added to that he has Pluto on the cusp of his 8th sextile Neptune and inconjunct a focal point rip roaring Mars in Aries. Not a man to keep his comments to himself when riled.  His Pluto is also in an unbudgeable square to Saturn.

 Ursula von der Leyen’s Uranus Moon falls in his 7^th and her Pluto in his 8^th so she triggers all his hot buttons (and not in a good way); with her Mars falling in his 4th for additional underlying irritations.

 Their relationship chart has a business-like but cool composite Sun Saturn Mercury conjunction. And a composite Mars opposition Neptune Venus square Uranus leading to ego-clashes, insensitive treatment and a determination to walk separate paths. Tr Pluto square the composite Neptune through last month would not help, returning in December and in an enraging square to Mars in January – and on.  It would not a happy 2025 ahead if they were stuck in the same space.  

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Richard Gadd, creator of the hit Netflix, black-comedy TV series Baby Reindeer about his experiences with a stalker has been showered with awards at the Emmys. There was no mention of the defamation lawsuit filed against Netflix by the real-life woman who allegedly inspired the stalker character which was billed as  “a true story” though has subsequently been claimed to be a fictional representation. Internet sleuths tracked down Fiona Harvey, a former Scottish lawyer as the person who inspired the show’s character Martha, and she appeared on a Piers Morgan show.

 A federal judge has set a 6 May 2025 start date for Harvey’s action against Netflix, and Gadd has filed court documents testifying about thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters he received, with examples included.

 Richard Gadd was born 11 May 1989 1.39 am Dundee, Scotland, and has an intense 3^rd house Taurus Sun opposition a 9^th house Pluto; with the triple conjunction of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn in Capricorn all hidden in his 12^th house opposition Mars in Cancer His 7^th house Leo Moon is inconjunct Uranus and sextile Mercury and Venus. His strong Pluto could arguably lead him into situations where power and dominance were a key issue. His highly-strung, fairly chaotic 12^th house planets would also make him vulnerable.

  What is surprising in his chart through probably also his saving grace, is a yod from Saturn Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Jupiter. Such an apex planet could lead to over-confidence but can also have an impact on society, often in surprising ways.

  When his stalking experience started in 2014 tr Pluto was opposition his Neptune Saturn; his Solar Arc Mars was moving to conjunct his Moon; tr Uranus was on the cusp of his 3^rd house; and his SA Uranus was opposition his Moon two years after.  A high stress time.

  Fiona Harvey, 28 July 1965 9.15pm Fyvie, Scotland (Frank Clifford source) who is suing Netflix for defamation is the alleged stalker. [Please by wary with comments in light of the ongoing legal battle.] She was born 3 days before J.K.Rowling.

  She has a 7^th house New Moon in Leo with an 8^th house Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo opposition Saturn square Jupiter in her attention-seeking 5^th house and Mars also in her 8^th. Her intense 8^th house will give her a tendency towards entanglements and impulsive behaviour.

Some comments from a past post on 8^th house –  “The eighth house is associated with entanglements, power games, boundary crossings, or dealing with taboos.” “Unhappy with the present, traumatized by the past, daunted by the future… Everything is defined by others.”

See The hidden 8th house – pulling back the veil 16th November 2023

  Her Leo New Moon falls in Gadd’s 7th conjunct his Leo Moon so there would feel as if there was a connection. Her 7^th house Venus is conjunct his South Node and her Gemini North Node is conjunct his Jupiter – so their coming-together, no matter how uneasy, is connected into the zeitgeist out in society as well as to each other’s respective destiny and development. Her Venus, Mercury, Pluto, Uranus all fall in his 8^th so she would have a strong impact on him making him feel trapped and edgy. Her Neptune is conjunct his Pluto and opposition his Sun for a disorientating, undermining effect which was difficult to pin down.

 Their relationship chart has an Air Grand Trine of Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter, formed into a Kite by Jupiter opposition Neptune – hinting at a communication overload, difficulty in disengaging (Saturn Pluto) and a power play for the upper hand (Jupiter Pluto) all focused through an evasive, smoke-screening Neptune. Not surprisingly there is also a fated composite yod  of Saturn sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus and Mercury. The composite Mars at 26 Leo will be rattled up exactly when the defamation trial starts next year; and also picking up late this month and through October no doubt in response to the Emmy Awards.

  Odd how certain stories catch the mood of the moment and have an impact.  

The unthinkable crimes of Dominique Pelicot against his wife being paraded in a French courtroom take on an added frisson of revulsion with the knowledge that the village of Mazan where it took place contains a chateaux that once belonged to the Marquis De Sade’s family. Pelicot is charged with drugging his wife for a decade, inviting strangers – more than 80 local men – to enter the family home and rape her while he filmed them. The police have identified and detained 50 of the men whose images appeared on his hard drive, while another 30 suspects remain at large.

   The Marquis de Sade, 2 June 1740 5pm Paris, France, was a French writer, political activist best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography. A series of sex scandals led to his detention in various prisons and insane asylums for most of his adult life. His major works combine graphic descriptions of sex acts, rape, torture, murder, and child abuse with discourses on religion, politics, sexuality, and philosophy. The word sadism derives from his fictional characters who take pleasure in inflicting pain on others.

 De Sade had an 8^th house Sun, Jupiter, Chiron in Gemini which would give him a manic need to promote his beliefs and opinions, both on religious (Jupiter) and sexual (8^th house) topics. His Uranus conjunct his South Node in Capricorn is probably also significant, allying him with views which ran counter to society’s mores with his defiance pulling him away from his road to fulfilment in living out his Cancer North Node.

  His Mars in Aries was square Saturn Venus in Cancer – Mars Saturn can given an inclination towards cruelty and Venus in hard aspect to Mars can be insensitive in relationships. His Virgo Moon is in an Earth Grand Trine to Uranus and South Node trine Mercury in Taurus accentuating his interest in physicality in life. It is not an especially brutal chart and there is some controversy about whether he actually lived out his sadism in the kind of graphic detail that brought his writings to fame.

  At the moment on De Sade’s chart the Solar Arc North Node has been rattling up the Mars square Saturn since these crimes came to light. At the moment De Sade’s Solar Arc Chiron Jupiter in late Pisces is catching the transiting Neptune conjunction and Scheat.

 Dominique Pelicot’s birth data has only started to appear on the net so should be treated with caution. 27 November 1952 Quincy sous Senart, France, if accurate makes him a Sun Sagittarius sextile Mars in obstinate Aquarius. He also has Saturn Neptune in Libra square Uranus possibly tied into an Aries Moon – with Uranus opposition his Venus and Chiron. Creative, imaginative, neurotic, can-be-autocratic, fanatical. His pleasure-seeking 9^th harmonic is ruthless with afflicted Moon links. His doubly unpleasant 18^th harmonic is also notably stressed.

 The chart crossovers are interesting. Pelicot’s Venus is conjunct De Sade’s South Node exactly and his Uranus which may be significant – attracted to De Sade’s primitive tendencies. Even more intriguing is Pelicot’s Pluto conjunct De Sade’s Midheaven and his Jupiter in De Sade’s 7^th conjunct his Descendant – trying to outdo De Sade or take control in similar ways? 

  Pelicot’s relationship chart with his ghostly forbear (no relation) has a fated yod of a composite Mercury sextile North Node inconjunct Pluto Chiron – with that stressed Pluto Chiron being swamped by tr Neptune conjunct at the moment.

  A horrific (in the extreme) spider’s web of fated connections.

Michaela DePrince, the trailblazing ballet star, who overcame massive hardship in her early years has died unexpectedly at 29. She lost both parents during Sierra Leone’s civil war and was sent to an orphanage at three, where she was mistreated due to her vitiligo. She said “We were ranked as numbers, and number 27 was the least favorite and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes and whatnot.”

  After receiving word that the orphanage would be bombed, she described walking shoeless for miles to reach a refugee camp. Her new mother, who adopted DePrince and two other girls, from the orphanage after meeting them in Ghana in 1999, said Michaela was “sick and traumatized by the war”, with tonsillitis, fever, mononucleosis and swollen joints. She was four when she was adopted and moved to the United States, where her adoptive mother nurtured her love for ballet. She went on to become the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and performed in Beyonce’s Lemonade.

 Born 6 January 1995 in Kenema, Sierra Leone, she had a stellium in earthy, ambitious Capricorn ranging from her Sun to Neptune Uranus and Mercury. She had a confident, exuberant and determined Jupiter in Sagittarius conjunct Pluto Venus in last degree Scorpio. Her harsh start in life is echoed in her Saturn in Pisces opposition Mars in Virgo square her upbeat Jupiter – it would give her the discipline for strenuous ballet training and performance – and Jupiter in Sagittarius would keep her optimism and morale afloat. But she would be up and down with mood swings as her Saturn squared Jupiter. Her creativity would not be in doubt with a Sun Neptune conjunction and her Venus Pluto.

  There has been no cause of death given.  She did have tr Pluto conjunct her Mercury for an intense mood and had just been through her First Saturn Return – but these are hardly red flags.

 What a tragedy.

Solar Returns are an astrological staple though can be mystifyingly vague at times and spot on at others. With an added layer of complication depending on which location to choose to set the Solar Return – birth or present home.

  Prince Harry poised on his 40^th is a good test case since the birth time is accurate and every last minute detail of his life is on record.

 He was born 15 September 1984 4.20pm London which gives him an intense, secretive, determined 8^th house Virgo Sun in a volatile square to Mars in his 11^th house of friends and square a dreamy, addiction-prone 12^th house Neptune. His Taurus Moon is in the 4^th house of family and roots; and his Ascendant is traditional Capricorn.

 Relocating his birth chart to Montecito, California, puts his Sun in the hidden 12^th and his Moon in the deeply buried 8^th; with his Venus just below a sociable Libra Ascendant. Saturn is in the chart area of finances hinting at a need to be sensible about money. His 3^rd house of siblings is confused and argumentative with Mars, Neptune, Jupiter there and Uranus on the cusp.

  One problem with relocating charts is ‘you take you with you’ wherever you go and while the chart may highlight and improve one area of life it can make another area of life trickier. Eg. Career good, but relationships or health more stressed.

  His Solar Returns in previous years marked his exit from Royal life with a Solar Return that had Uranus in the SR 10^th and Moon in the SR 9^th which indicates a career change and home abroad. The success of his Spare misery memoir was marked with a jubilant Jupiter Uranus in his 10^th.

  Solar Return headlines can be descriptive though it won’t tell the whole story and needs to be added to by other predictive methods to get a rounded picture.

His natal Solar Return for 2024/25 set to London, gives a sociable Libra Ascendant with Venus in the 1^st close to his natal Venus. The Sun is in the withdrawn 12^th trine Pluto in the 4^th for a trapped feeling where family and domestic matters are concerned. Both trine Uranus in the 8^th which may reflect his sudden inheritance from his grandmother the Queen Mother. An Earth Grand Trine will be stabilizing though it is all behind–the-scenes. His Moon in the 5^th suggests nurturing from children. Saturn and Neptune in his 6^th – lacklustre energy and low motivation. Jupiter and Mars in his 9^th house of travel and communication.  There is also an Air Grand Trine of Venus, Jupiter, Moon which will get him in crusading mood to boost his favourite causes.

  A Montecito Solar Return for 2024 puts the Sun in the rooted, home-loving 4^th trine an 8^th house financial though stuck Pluto trine Uranus in the 11^th. Saturn Neptune in the 10^th – hard working but confused about direction. Mars on a Cancer Ascendant will make him assertive if not argumentative.

  In an odd way it strikes me that in landing in California he has shifted certain elements of his life but in certain respects kept similar house emphasis – 8^th/12^th/4^th.

 And the Solar Returns in both locations echo the same preoccupations with money, privacy and decision making about career.

 I would never use Solar Returns as standalone guides. On transits, he has another year plus of tr Saturn moving through the nadir of his low profile 1^st quadrant where money and psychological issues loom large. He won’t really hit his stride in terms of fulfilment about the direction of his life until almost the end of this decade. He’s downbeat at the moment with his Solar Arc Saturn moving to square his Sun exactly in 8 months but in effect throughout the next year. His relationships with friends and intentions as to future plans are in a state of upheaval as his Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct his Uranus now. Late January and March 2025 will be a sobering time though impatient with tr Saturn square his Mars and opposing his Sun.