Leslie Phillips, the comic actor, has died after an eight decade career during which he starred in 200 films. Known for Carry On and Doctor in the House films and the long-running BBC radio The Navy Lark. He latterly provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films and had a sterling career in classical theatre though he never shook off the leering roles of his popular successes.
Born 20 April 1924 he lost his father when he was 10 to illness and his mother then sent him to a drama, dance and elocution academy. His first stage appearance aged 12 was playing a wolf in Peter Pan at the London Palladium with Anna Neagle. From the age of 14, he was the family’s main breadwinner, and on tour more or less permanently. Actors such as John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Rex Harrison became his surrogate uncles. “They were my family. Very kind. They encouraged me to read books and educate myself.”
He was married five times, the last at 89 and had a tragedy- ridden life with his mother dying after being mugged at 93, and his first two wives dying in unfortunate circumstances.
He was a Sun Taurus or last degree Aries opposition Saturn in Libra square Mars in Capricorn – like most comedians he had a difficult temperament and background. Mars Saturn makes for a short temper and is often seen with a parent dying early. He also probably has a creative Water Grand Trine of Uranus trine Pluto trine a Scorpio Moon. His Venus in social-butterfly Gemini was in a charming and indulgent opposition to Jupiter square Uranus and trine Neptune so he would be outgoing and fairly changeable emotionally.
Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s president is smirking publicly about his success in persuading Putin not to pull out of a deal to allow Ukraine’s grain exports through the Black Sea. Erdogan’s approach may appear to dent the west’s united front against the war in Ukraine but he could prove useful in maintaining a dialogue between the two sides. It is an alliance born out of desperation since international isolation has left Russia increasingly reliant on Turkey which stepped into the breach created by the withdrawal of western companies and the impact of sanctions. And for its part, Turkey has this year received billions of dollars of Russian cash helping it to manage a ballooning current account deficit. Both leaders need each other.
Turkey’s inflation rate has reached eye-watering proportions with official figures putting it at 85.5%, while outsiders point to around 200% – largely a result of Erdogan’s mismanagement.
The Turkey chart, 29 October 1923 8.30 pm Ankara, has the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the country’s indulgent/expansionist Venus Jupiter in Scorpio over the next 18 months. There will be some luck rolled up in that but it won’t last with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Saturn for hardship and deprivation in 2024. And if the start time is right a financially restrictive tr Pluto is moving into the 8th house of economic prospects for many years to come from mid 2023 onwards.
Erdogan’s 4th Term chart shows a similar trajectory of luck followed by a major shock in late 2024. Erdogan may think he has a tiger by the tail but it may prove a short lived triumph.
A fresh faced 27 year old is the unlikely successor to Marine Le Pen as President of France’s far-right National Rally party. Jordan Bardella was elected by 85% at the party conference, after Le Pen said it was time for her to stand down to concentrate on directing its actions in the national assembly, where the party has a record 89 seats, which robbed Macron of his parliamentary majority. She is widely expected to make another presidential bid in 2027.
Born 13 September 1995 3.42pm Drancy, France, he has a good-at-PR Sun Venus in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces and sextile Pluto trine the generational, highly-strung Neptune Uranus in Capricorn. He’s certainly got the makings of a successful player. His Virgo Sun and Venus fit well with France’s Virgo Sun and he shares France’s do-or-die-determined and vengeful Mars in Scorpio in his career 10th.
Tr Pluto conjunct his Uranus at the moment will be upending his life and tr Uranus opposing his Pluto will do the same in 2025 and there’s certainly a great deal ahead for him in career terms though he’ll hit a setback or two in 2026/27 as tr Pluto squares his Mars.
He is said to be Marine Le Pen’s protégé though his Uranus Neptune opposition her Mars and square her afflicted Saturn will make for a few outbursts and awkward moments. Her Pluto is conjunct his Sun so as long as she holds the power it may be OK but that may not be the case for ever.
Their relationship chart has a power-couple Jupiter Pluto conjunction which again can be successful as long as they direct their joint energies to an outside goal but there’s also an ego-clashing Neptune square Mars so it could go wrong and will be damped down by tr Saturn through Pisces in 2023/24 and then tr Uranus square the composite Sun after mid 2025.
The party chart looks very deflated around the next presidential election in 2025 with tr Neptune Saturn opposition the Mars Pluto. And she is looking trapped and frustrated in 2023/24 with tr Pluto opposition her Mars.
Greenwashing and sportswashing have their downside as Qatar has been learning recently. Egypt is now the target of unwanted publicity about its dire human rights record on the eve of the COP27 climate change conference. Thousands of political prisoners have been detained since Al-Sisi took over in a military coup in 2013 and although 800 have been released this year because of outside pressure that is a small number relative to the overall population of political prisoners and there is no indication of new arrests slowing down.
Despite his human rights record, Al-Sisi has enjoyed sound relations with western capitals who regard him as vital to regional stability.
Abdel Al-Sisi, a Sun, Venus, Saturn (and Mercury) in Scorpio square Mars in Aquarius which is opposition Pluto has a dominating and ruthless autocrat’s chart. He has been rattled by the Eclipses this year though, with a fixed and extremely controlling temperament, change is not in his lexicon. However tr Saturn square tr Uranus is also hammering away at his Mars, Venus, Pluto Sun over the next two years so even he will find it a challenge to hang onto the tiller through a stormy passage ahead.
Egypt, 14 March 1922 10.43pm Cairo, has tr Neptune undermining its Pisces Sun until early 2023 but then has a high-confidence Solar Arc Pluto conjunct its Jupiter exact in late 2023. This is echoed in both Al-Sisi’s personal chart and his Presidency chart so a major push of one sort or another is to be expected. The combination of Pluto and Jupiter leads to a might-makes-right attitude and a sense that even wildly ambitious plans can succeed, so it can boomerang.
His birth chart, 19 November 1954, has tr Pluto square his Jupiter in 2023/24 and his Presidency chart 8 June 2014, has his Solar Arc Pluto opposition Jupiter exact in late 2023; followed in 2024 by Solar Arc Neptune square the Sun. Whatever forceful steps he takes are likely to end with him in quicksand.
Astrology doesn’t do climate predictions. But as an interesting thought: ‘about a quarter of all greenhouse gas pollution produced by humans comes from the United States. More than 80 percent of planet-warming emissions comes from the world’s 20 largest economies.’ By contrast, Pakistan is the source of less than 0.4 percent of historic carbon pollution and after the blistering heat wave this summer — an event made 30 times more likely by climate change, according to scientists — there were dozens of deaths, huge crop losses and a massive flood from a melting glacier in Pakistan. The country suffered again after record rainfall during monsoon season caused catastrophic flooding. At least 1,700 people were killed and 2 million homes were demolished by the floodwaters. A scientific analysis of the disaster found the rainfall was made 50 to 75 percent more intense by human-caused climate change.
There is pressure from the most affected countries for the climate polluters in the north to pay for damage. Which given the present economic and energy crunch is likely to lead to fractious and ultimately unwinnable arguments.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, oligarch, close ally of Putin and founder of the Wagner mercenary group, has stepped away from the Kremlin line to praise Zelensky as a strong leader. He and the Chechen Kadyrov have both been critic s of the Russian military tactics in Ukraine.
Born 1 June 1961 he is a Sun Gemini square Pluto, maybe on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Neptune sextile a Capricorn Moon – controlling, ego-centric. He also has a volatile, no-compromise Mars conjunct Uranus in Leo and Saturn in final degree Capricorn conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius.
He looks rattled in January 2023 with tr Uranus square his Mars and before then with tr Saturn opposition his Uranus. He looks stuck in 2023 and facing a discouraging slog with tr Saturn opposition his Pluto and tr Pluto conjunct his Saturn into 2024.
He will have some successes but looks nerve-stretched for the next two years.
The Wagner group first saw action in 2014 in Crimea which kicked off with a pushy Jupiter opposition Pluto square Uranus.
Red lights are flashing as tension rises and rifts widen over the EU’s response to the credit crunch. Eurozone inflation jumped to 10.7pc in October with Germany at 11.4pc which puts it in much the same boat as the UK. The difference being that a single currency necessitates a focused response, impossible when it services disparate economies. Italy with huge debts objects to credit tightening backed by France which has an even bigger debt burden while Germany with its historic fear of inflation demands it.
Thomas Mayer, Deutsche Bank’s ex-chief economist and author of Europe’s Unfinished Currency, said the ECB has already gone beyond the point of no return. He predicts that the EMU experiment will end in much the same way as the Latin Monetary Union in the 19th century. Switzerland eventually pulled out because it lost patience with chronic debasement. The eurozone is a sturdier beast but the pressures are the same. “It can’t survive,” he said.
Germany and France always were about to head into stormier seas in their relationship with an exasperated stalemate continuing on from this year till late 2023; with even more serious rifts and upheavals now and across the New Year, worsening from May 2023 onwards for the following three years. Macron and Scholz are in a bad place as far as agreement is concerned right through till 2024.
Though France is not, despite the comments above, getting on well with Italy for two years ahead; with Macron and Meloni increasingly at odds.
Italy elected far-right, EU-sceptic Giorgia Meloni just as the history-changing tr Uranus Mars North Node was square the composite Sun of the Italy/EU relationship chart. At the very least that will make the next few months disruptive and will continue to generate bad feelings through till 2025.
Germany will harbour grave uncertainties about EU policy through 2023 and is entering a longish spell of aggravated relations with Brussels, worsening in 2025/26.
France and the EU are not faring much better with an exceptionally bumpy ride through the next few months and massive upheavals from May 2023 onwards and worse in 2024.
See previous post: Italy & Germany – EU’s early warning signals (16th July 2022) which suggests that the EU pressure cooker will blow around 2025.
Michel Moore, the documentary maker and left-wing activist, is convinced against the general consensus that the Democrats will win big in the midterms. He predicts there will be a record turnout of younger voters whose views pundits and commentators often miss, who have been riled by the SCOTUS anti-abortion vote. He says the biggest political grouping in the US is not Republicans or Democrats, but non-voters and this is the group he wants to reach before November 8. He correctly called Trump’s win in 2016 but that is no guarantee he can repeat his winning bet this time round.
Born 23 April 1954 12.45pm Flint, Michigan, he has a Taurus Sun conjunct his Midheaven from the 9th opposition Saturn in Scorpio on his IC – practical, serious, ultra-determined. He also has a charming Venus in his 10th and a dynamic Moon Mars in Capricorn in his performing 5th house – so not a shrinking violet.
He does have a prominent Neptune in the 3rd opposition Mercury in Aries and square a revolutionary, outspoken Uranus, trine Jupiter and sextile Pluto, so he will be idealistic and creative but not always easy to pin down.
His chart does show mild uplift from transiting Jupiter trines and sextiles to various midpoints – and one ‘unusual success’ indicator from tr Jupiter square his Pluto/MC midpoint but that is heavily dependent on his birth time being accurate to the minute. Otherwise he has tr Pluto conjunct his Mercury/Saturn midpoint running into early December which will make him gloomy or overly-serious. Not exactly conclusive.
Barack Obama’s chart is much the same over the election period with a hotch potch of pluses and minuses. On the positive side he has a successful tr Jupiter trine his Midheaven and sextile his Solar Arc Midheaven and a mildly upbeat tr Pluto sextile his Mars/Jupiter midpoint till December. But those are running at the same time as an undermining, panicky tr Neptune opposition his Mars running through till January. Tr Saturn opposition his Sun/Uranus midpoint making him highly impatient about restrictions. And a nerve-stretched, high-risk tr Uranus opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoint.
Tr Saturn is also sitting on his Ascendant which won’t have him singing and dancing and is then moving him into a less ambitious and less visible few years ahead. 2024 look less than ecstatic for him with his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Neptune.
The radiantly handsome Paul Newman with the flawless marriage, an object of envy to most, is an exquisite example of how astrology gives the lie to a well-polished image, revealing the dark secrets that lie behind.
When celebrities are alive it is often not possible to be blunt about what the chart says; and even astrologers get bamboozled by an ethereal aura and tone down their suspicions.
Only after his death has it emerged what a tortured life Paul Newman had with a mother he described as a ‘monster’, who alternately cooed over his looks and then for no reason beat him. His parents were in constant conflict and his weak, alcoholic father an emotional dead space. Not surprisingly Newman himself developed a serious drinking problem which ruined his first marriage. His inadequacies as a parent to his first three children haunted him with guilt in later life.
Newman, 26 January 1925 6.30am Cleveland Heights, Ohio, had a hard-working, conscientious Saturn in Scorpio in his career 10th in a creative Water Grand Trine to Pluto Descendant trine Uranus, with Pluto opposition Venus, Mercury, Jupiter in Capricorn on his Ascendant. Venus Jupiter on the Ascendant would exude enthusiasm and give him an upbeat and clearly false persona. But Saturn Pluto is bleak. Add in Uranus for instability and it would send his Water Grand Trines into an alternative bubble of reality since the one on offer was too desolate. His Sun was square Saturn for the unsupportive father.
His unaspected Pisces Moon suggests dysfunctional nurturing, making him vulnerable and traumatized. It was conjunct his enthusiastic Mars/Jupiter midpoint and square his Mars/Pluto and Uranus/Node which encapsulates the confusing, double-messaging mother – one moment all over him, the next savagely cruel and unstable. Saturn in Scorpio in the 10th also represents the cold, ungiving, spine-straightening mother – which can occur with also with Moon Saturn.
Theresa Garth Feltzer, 25 July 1894, was a Sun Leo with a hard-edged and can-be-cruel, short-tempered Mars in Aries opposition Saturn in Libra square his Pluto and his Venus. So all of her pent-up resentment at the injustices of her own life would be acted out on him.
It is a miracle he stayed upright and as good looking as he did for so long. When he threw his mother out of his life at one point during his marriage to Joanne Woodward he said he felt a weight had been lifted from him. After she died in 1982 he started to record his memoir tapes and his daughter Clea said he he evolved immensely in the last quarter of his life, freed by his mother’s death. In 1982 tr Uranus just into Sagittarius was square his Moon which is classic transit for emotional changes concerning mother figures and a freeing up of old emotions trapped in the past.
In later life after he gave up drinking he took to racing cars which fitted with his 3rd house Mars in Aries but also suggests a need to flirt with death, and for the adrenaline kick that would waken dead emotions.
Another example of the gap between public adulation and the private reality is Jan Morris, the journalist and travel writer, lauded for her writing talent and courage as an early trans woman. She has been described after her death as “selfish, self-serving and unkind”. With a Sun Libra square Pluto; and Mars in Taurus opposition Saturn in Scorpio square Neptune (Moon) opposition Jupiter – there’s every reason to believe the description holds water.
Always reassuring to have the mysteries of charts illuminated after death.
See previous posts: Saturn mothers – 3 September 2022
153 people have died in a crush in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, with another 82 injured as huge crowds gathered in a popular nightlife area for Halloween. Most victims were teenagers and adults in their 20s and the crush began in a narrow alley when people in a crowd fell over.
The upcoming Lunar Eclipse located to Seoul has Mars in Gemini on the Ascendant suggesting an accident. The Mars is emphasised/afflicted being inconjunct Pluto sextile Venus in Scorpio.
These kinds of disasters occur all over but often they are advance (synchronous) warnings of more major events and upheavals to follow. The South Korea chart, 15 August 1948 12am, is being seriously rattled by tr Uranus square the 4th house Pluto just after this New Year with tr Saturn opposition the Sun before New Year and then the Mercury, Saturn, which tr Uranus moves to upend from June 2023 onwards into 2024 – so a bumpy eighteen months ahead. At the moment the Solar Arc Mars is opposition the Uranus for high tension and possible accidents plus Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct the SK South Node.
What is causing great alarm in the region are indications that North Korea may be about to launch a nuclear test, the first in five years. Recent US, South Korea and Japanese large-scale military exercises have antagonised Kim Jong Un. Over the past month the North has fired a missile over Japan, launched several other ballistic missiles, flown warplanes close to its border and fired hundreds of shells of artillery into the sea, which have landed in a military buffer zone.
An analyst said: “We have never seen this audacity and aggression before, it is different. It is the North acting like a nuclear state.” On Thursday, the US Department of Defense warned that a nuclear attack by North Korea would result in the destruction of its regime. “There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive,” it said.
Kim Jong Un’s motivations are, as usual, opaque but it could be a gesture to prove NK’s readiness to stave off invasion; or a ploy to get the US to negotiate on sanctions.
Kim Jong Un’s Leadership chart, 29 December 2011 11.57am P’yonggang is on red alert over coming months with the explosive Solar Arc Mars opposition the Uranus, exact in 3 months but in effect for several more. It also, worryingly, has an over-confident, power-hungry tr Pluto square the Jupiter from late March 2023 on and off till late 2024 so he could go rampaging across the line of common sense and caution, believing he can’t lose.
