Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has finally been let out of an Iranian jail where she had been held for five years on trumped up spying charges and is on a flight back to her husband and young daughter in the UK. The UK government said it had settled a debt owed to Iran from the 1970s, which was thought to be behind her seizure.
She was born 26 December 1978 in Teheran, and is a Sun Mars in Capricorn; with a hard-working Saturn in Virgo in a creative/compassionate square to Neptune Mercury in Sagittarius.
Her midpoints clearly show a surge of confidence and good luck from the 8th of this month, on and off till late 2023 as tr Pluto is trine her lucky-break Jupiter/Uranus midpoint and her sociable Venus/Jupiter. And from April 2nd she collects another Jupiter midpoint uplift from tr Uranus.
Realpolitik often leads to dirty deals as harsh pragmatism demands solutions to intractable problems. Which is Boris Johnson’s excuse as he bowls along like a ball of tumbleweed across the international stage to the Middle Eastern oil producing kingdoms to persuade them to increase oil production to lower prices which have rocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine. Opposition leader Keir Starmer acidly remarked that “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator is not an energy strategy”. This visit comes two days after 81 Saudi state executions; and Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince, with whom Boris evidently has a personal relationship, is still on the pariah list after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Even if successful his request is unlikely to have a significant impact this year and may anyway be unlikely given that an agreement which lowers oil prices would mean risking Saudi’s own budget, now heading towards surplus again after years of deficits.
While relocating Boris’s chart to Riyadh does put a ‘relaxing’ Jupiter on the IC and his social butterfly Sun Venus in Gemini in the fun-loving 5th, it is not a great place for him. Good for the high life, bad for finances.
His ‘personal’ relationship with Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), 31 August 1985, is equally suspect with MBS’s Virgo Sun conjunct Boris’s Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars which is a load of aggravation and disruption; MBS’s controlling Pluto is conjunct Boris’s Moon; and MBS’s Saturn in Scorpio squelching Boris’s Neptune opposition Jupiter. Now that I look more closely – MBS does have a superficially charming Venus in Leo opposition Jupiter square Pluto – so all of those impact Boris’s Moon which must have hooked him in. Only Boris could be hoodwinked into imagining MBS is a protective mother hen.
Their relationship chart is worse with a bad-tempered, cruel, chilly, one-sided Saturn opposition Mars Venus in a controlling square to Pluto. There’s nothing cooperative about that.
Saudi Arabia has been going through tough times with the 15 January 1902 chart catching the tr Pluto conjunct Saturn, Sun, Jupiter in the past three years or so. If this chart is accurate with a 3.45am start time, then Saudi will not return to being the force it was at the height of the oil boom in coming years. The Saudi 23 September 1932 chart is going through a discouraging slog with hardship rather than largesse in 2022/23 and a fair few wobbles of instability.
MBS’s Crown Prince chart, 21 June 2017 (which only holds good until his father dies and he steps up) is moving through a destabilizing and uncertain two years with tr Pluto square the Uranus and tr Neptune square the Saturn.
At least the USA is heading for an energy self-sufficient policy with fracking. There must be a UK answer that doesn’t involve snuggling up to these dictators.
The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola’s epic gangster movie, considered one of the greatest artworks made about the US, is being re-released 50 years after its premiere. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning three, and on its $6 million budget grossed $101 million for Paramount within 18 weeks of release.
In hindsight it seems like a slamdunk, in expectation not at all. Of all the tall tales from the chaotic lunacy and pinball crapshoots of Hollywood film making, it must top the list. The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo, a middle-ranking, mid-forties writer with a bad gambling habit and debts was passed over by by eight publishers and could easily not have been written. Its 67 weeks topping the New York Times best-seller list surprised everyone.
Paramount studios nearly didn’t buy the film rights with Burt Lancaster angling to find a vehicle for himself as the Don. Ten other directors were approached and refused, with Coppola way down the list of desirables. He wasn’t too intrigued by the novel but his company was broke. He wanted Marlon Brando, whose name was then dirt with the studios due to unreliability and a string of flops. But Coppola persisted and Brando came good and it saved Brando’s career. Coppola also pushed for Al Pacino when no one else did and it turned him into a major star. It was a miserable shoot with Coppola constantly convinced he was about to be fired and initially no one liked the picture in the first viewings. And then it took off.
It premiered on 14 March 1972 with a tough, cold-hearted Air Grand Trine in place of Saturn in Gemini trine Pluto trine North Node, with Saturn opposition a driving-planet filmic Neptune, and Pluto opposition a filmic Pisces Sun. Which is fairly descriptive of an overly masculine, violent theme. Pluto was in a confident square to Jupiter in money-magnet Capricorn – and Mars was in final decan Taurus.
Francis Ford Coppola, 7 April 1939 1.38am Detroit, Michigan, has a pro-active and quick-witted Sun and self-reliant Saturn in Aries in his 3rd; with his Sun square Mars in Capricorn on his Ascendant so combative when it comes to getting his views across. His intense Pluto in his 7th is in a creative/healing Water Grand Trine trine Jupiter and trine his Scorpio Moon; with his Jupiter opposing Neptune, making Neptune the driving planet as it is in the Godfather chart.
When Coppola was hired in late 1970 tr Jupiter in Scorpio was conjunct his 10th house North Node and when it launched to great success tr Jupiter was crossing his Ascendant, with tr Uranus opposition his Sun.
Mario Puzo, the novelist, 15 October 1920, never regarded The Godfather as his best work, being a pot-boiler written to pay off his debts. He was a Sun Libra with a Water Grand Trine like Coppola, in his case of Pluto trine Uranus trine North Node in Scorpio. He also had tr Jupiter conjunct his Scorpio North Node when he sold the film rights for what turned out to be a meagre amount at the time. But said he never resented missing out on a huge payday after its success.
The capricious fates making mischief in all directions.
Godfather quotes:
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.
Take The Gun, Leave The Cannoli.
My Father Assured Him That Either His Brains Or His Signature Would Be On The Contract.”
Olena Zelenska, wife of the Ukraine president, has moved from the “nonpublic person” she was previously to centre stage with two and a half million Instagram followers. She posts pictures of young cancer patients being evacuated for treatment, and of babies being born on bomb shelters. She has accused Russia of the “mass murder of civilians”.
“Because of Putin’s attack, Ukrainians have to take their children to basements every night. Ukraine is a peaceful country. We are against the war. But we are not going to give up.”
“I will not have panic and tears,” she wrote on Instagram shortly after the Russian invasion. “I will be calm and confident. My children are looking at me, I will be next to them and next to my husband and with you. I love you! I love Ukraine!”
Despite being born less than two weeks after her husband Volodymyr, she is a totally different personality. “I prefer staying backstage. My husband is always at the forefront, while I feel more comfortable in the shade.”
She was born 6 February 1978, and attended the same school, but they didn’t get together until university where she studied architecture and he law. They shared an interest in amateur dramatics, dated for eight years and married in September 2003. Olena worked as a writer including on scripts for Servant of the People, the 2015 political satire — in which Zelensky played the president of Ukraine. They have two children, a daughter aged 17 and a 13 year old son, who both stay with them.
Like Volodymyr, she is a Sun Venus in Aquarius – in her case with later degrees square Uranus, trine Pluto and widely trine Jupiter. His Moon is in Leo and hers either Capricorn or Aquarius.
Her chart shows high-risk and great uncertainty, not surprisingly through February till after mid this month. Tr Uranus will square her Sun from mid-June onwards which will bring some changes; with tr Saturn conjunct her Venus late August into September. She might even get good news late May to mid June with tr Uranus square her Jupiter/Node midpoint. There’s no birth time so nothing is totally clear but it doesn’t look too high-risk for a while. Though there will be upheavals August to November; and November/December to mid January 2023 don’t look great.
Their relationship chart is more fraught with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars which runs now till June and on and off through 2023 as well. And his chart looks a good deal edgier and more disrupted this year. See Post February 26 2022.
Her Sun Venus sits on his Midheaven so she will be a great asset.
Brash, trashy, over exposed and obscenely rich – as an icon for the spirit of the recent Pluto-in-Capricorn age the Kardashian tribe is truly dispiriting. In ancient Greece the populace thrilled to Aeschylus, Euripedes, Aristophanes; in 17th century England they flocked to Shakespeare and Marlowe. Now the plebs sit riveted to the antics of a bunch of exploitative, flesh and soul-baring profiteers selling a tasteless fantasy designed to arouse envy in the under-privileged. A modern-day ‘bread and circuses’ entertainment brewed up to distract from the grind and grievances of ordinary life.
Just as their 20 season reality TV Keeping up with the Kardashians, launched in 2007 on the tail end of Pluto in Sagittarius, grinds to a halt there is much excitement about new ventures on another channel. And Kim K, having split with bipolar, mega-rap-superstar Kanye West, has taken up with an-all-too-public comedian Pete Davidson. She appears to be in dispute with Kanye over visitation issues with their children. Kanye has been making hostile attacks in songs and on videos recently, to which Davidson has now responded in texts to him, one of which said he was in bed with Kim. Classy.
Kim, born 21 October 1980 10.48 am Los Angeles, is a Sun Pluto in Libra, (like Gwyneth Paltrow, though different houses) and she has a lucky Jupiter on her Midheaven with a well-organised Saturn also in her career 10th. And a Pisces Moon on her IC, hinting at close family relations and a need for a protected domestic life.
Kanye, 8 June 1977 8.45am Atlanta, Georgia, was a better fit for her, despite his mental problems, with his confident, upbeat Sun Jupiter in Gemini sitting on her Descendant; and his super-enthusiastic Venus Mars opposition her Sun. Though his controlling Pluto also falls in her 10th so he will not find it easy to let go.
Pete Davidson, 16 November 1993, who lost his firefighter father on 9/11 when he was 7 years old, is an intense Sun Pluto in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius. He will be beyond stubborn and unyielding, though covers it over with a superficially charming Venus, Mercury, Jupiter in Scorpio. His Jupiter is conjunct her Sun which is supportive but his Sun Pluto falls in her 12th conjunct her Uranus with his Saturn square which is a whole lot of unsettled energy. Their relationship chart has a composite Sun, Pluto, Mercury conjunction maybe square Moon – and that is very suffocating and possessive. And won’t part company when the time comes with friendly agreement.
Pete’s spat with Kanye will ramp up in July or even a few weeks before with their relationship chart erupting then into angry exchanges which run on into 2023. And Kanye’s relationship with Kim also looks likely to rock n roll from late May. So their streaming-live agony aunt reality show will run on in the public prints.
She took a step backwards after the high-profile robbery in Paris in 2016 as tr Saturn moved into her lower profile First Quadrant and had two more children during what is traditionally a phase more focused on personal life than ambitions. It runs on for another two years. She’s got the challenging and transforming tr Pluto square her Sun this year and next; with Neptunian disappointments at work and at home around 2024 and a dead-halt in 2025.
Her recent remarks about people lacking a work ethic and needing to get off their butts is classic Libra – not a sign who appreciates the idle, unemployed or the great unwashed.
The Kardashians may be a peculiarly American phenomenon but the UK’s cosmetically-altered, former glamour model Katie Price with a train-crash, much-publicised personal life is just a shrunken version. She’s a Sun Gemini – so another Air sign for another flesh-exposing flaunter.
I’ve no idea whether the Kardashians will fade into a bad memory or not. But if they are symptoms of the under-belly of Pluto in Capricorn, with some luck Aquarius will dash their chances of prominence ahead.
Actor William Hurt has died aged 71 of cancer after a glittering career marked with four Oscar nominations for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News and Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Reviewers rave about his nuanced and often dark performances including Body Heat with Katherine Turner. He worked until recently in Marvel movies as well as television dramas like Damages. His image was blighted after Marlee Matlin, his deaf co-star in a Lesser God with whom he had a two year relationship, accused him of drug and physical abuse in the mid 1980s.
He was born 20 March 1950 and had a final degree Pisces Sun opposition Mars square Uranus so he would be explosive and inclined to flare up. He also had his Pluto in an emotionally intense opposition to Venus and a pushy opposition to Jupiter. It’s a more revved up chart than I would have expected, so much of it may have been hidden in houses we don’t know without a birth time.
When his relationship with Marlee Matlin exploded in the mid 1980s his volatile Sun, Mars, Uranus T square had moved to catch tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc Mars, which would pump up his aggravation levels; and tr Uranus was square his Solar Arc Venus and Pluto. So his two hair-trigger configurations were being activated. Which isn’t to excuse his behaviour but it pin points where his problems lay.
His actors’ 15th Harmonic is strong as is his 7H which is described as spiritual number, endowed with a different kind of imagination, often artistic skills. A perfectionist and a seeking soul. Can be sceptical, critical, sarcastic, cold, self-centered, attracted to alcohol/ drugs and occultism.
John Bercow, former Speaker of the House of Commons, has been deemed a “serial bully” and a “serial liar” following a two-year investigation into his conduct during his ten-year tenure at Westminster which will see him banned from the parliamentary estate. Last night his wife Sally called the police over a domestic assault. He left the house and has not been charged. Not his best week.
He was born 19 January 1963 in London, the same date as Martin Bashir, the BBC reporter of the infamous Princess Diana Panorama. Both have a late Capricorn Sun which is labouring under a tr Pluto conjunction from now onwards until late 2023. There is also a pushily-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto and Uranus in Virgo; and a hard-edged, short-tempered Saturn in Aquarius opposition Mars in flamboyant Leo square Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio. Slippery and forceful.
Bercow’s wife, Sally, 22 November 1969, has a penchant for catching headlines not always for the right reason and is certainly no shrinking violet. They are married with three children, though nearly split six years ago when she had an affair with his cousin. But they reconciled.
She has a determined and evasive Sun Neptune in Scorpio with a passionate Venus in Scorpio in a not-always-sensitive square to Mars in Aquarius, with her Mars widely square Saturn (Moon) in Taurus. Her Jupiter is trine his square his Sun and her Pluto trine his Sun so there is a strong connection. But her Venus is conjunct his Neptune so he’ll be evasive; and worse her Mars is conjunct his Saturn – so there will be gritty moments of impatience about unfair treatment, probably on both sides. Their relationship chart has Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Sun so it will always have been roller-coaster. There’s also a composite Neptune Mars perhaps square Moon which suggests an ego-clash with neither supportive of their other’s ambitions.
He’s in a very ratchety year even apart from Pluto bearing down on his Sun with his Saturn and Mars/Saturn midpoint being triggered explosively by tr Uranus and tr Saturn hard aspects, now and again from mid May onwards; with more jolts and self-esteem dents through 2023 when tr Uranus squares his Mars. Exactly now tr Saturn is square his Mars which is often a flare-up time when tensions erupt into tantrums. That runs on and off into 2023.
Their relationship chart is sending up red flares in May and on and off into 2023 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars and then Neptune; with tr Neptune is an uncertain, undermining conjunction to the composite Saturn all year.
Not their high point, either of them, for sure.
Why these bad behaviour complaints take for ever to reach a conclusion is depressing. The allegations against him have been known about for years.
Tucker Carlson, Fox News host, long a promoter of conspiracy theories favouring Trump and the far right, and recently accused of echoing Russian propaganda about the Ukraine invasion, has garnered favour with Putin. Evidently Moscow has instructed friendly media outlets to use clips of Carlson’s show.
Late last year Carlson’s three-part series on Fox “Patriot Purge”, suggested the January 6 Capitol attack was a government false flag operation to implicate the right wing. Fact-checkers found the series contained numerous falsehoods and conspiracy theories. Two Conservative writers severed their ties to Fox News, declaring that the series was “a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions”. A prominent Fox news anchors later resigned as well.
He was born 16 May 1969 10.07 am San Francisco, with a media business/ambassador father who brought him up after his mother left the family when he was six. In the past he has worked for CNN and MSNBC before moving to Fox in 2009 and rising to become “the most powerful conservative in America” often driving the media agenda. He was pro-Trump, influencing some of his decisions. He’s accused of being racist and sexist, against immigration, protectionist, against foreign interventions, against abortion.
He has a focused, stubborn, uber-confident and stratospherically ambitious New Moon in Taurus opposition Neptune and trine a Jupiter Pluto in Virgo conjunction in his communication 3rd house – journalists often have strong 3rd house emphasis. He’s built to last. He also has a well-organised 10th house Saturn in Taurus; and a good-at-public-relations Venus in Aries on his Midheaven in an enthusiastic trine to Mars in opinionated Sagittarius in his performing 5th house. His Mercury in talkative Gemini is in an argumentative opposition to Mars. It’s quite a chart and he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Tr Pluto is this year crossing his Descendant to move through his 7th for years to come which will make him even more dogmatic and likely to attract hostile resistance. Saturn moving through his 8th for two years ahead, is OK on the career-front but can be under-supported financially and emotionally, so he may end up feeling a touch isolated at points. 2023 he has tr Jupiter across his career 10th which is usually successful and attention-attracting. He also has a confidence-boosting tr Pluto trine his Jupiter this year returning from August across the midterms. But his midpoints are less uplifting with confusion, evasions, disappointments, worsening in 2023 with calamities after mid year. 2024 looks discouraging and his 2025 trapped and infuriated. He’s unlikely to disappear since tr Saturn is rising towards a peak from 2026 for eight years thereafter. But it will be an immensely bumpy ride across tr Uranus conjunct his Sun Moon in 2025/6.
On his astrocartography relocating his chart to Moscow puts his forcefully confident Jupiter Pluto in his 10th, bringing him to prominence. Being in the Putin fan club is a good career move.
He is evidently a good writer and there’s some regret amongst other media types that he’s ended up so far out on the end of the branch.
Boris Johnson’s surreal ability to survive any scandal, egregious failure or semi-criminal act is a wonder to behold. But even Mephistophele’s Faustian pact came with a price tag attached. The devil will demand his due and the fates cut down to mortal size when the time is right. A Sun god he is not.
The next lurches on his personal chart pick up from May 9th to 26th (and again late year) after the council elections when tr Uranus is conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Neptune. One on its own could bring luck, the other not so much. The combination according to Ebertin suggests coming down to earth with a bump and being forced to face the gap between fantasy and reality.
His Term chart has the self-esteem-denting tr Uranus opposition the Mars at the same time which will deliver a shock and often triggers an impulsive, over-reaction.
His Progressed Moon which has been goose-stepping its way round his firecracker, chaotic Mutable T Square since last year causing mayhem and muddle for him, all of which he somehow slid past, has one last collision as it squares his Uranus, exact late June; with his Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Moon, exact in five months but in effect now. The Moon in a politician’s chart often refers to the public and popularity as well as mother/domestic/family concerns. Tr Pluto will square his Moon from late March 2023 on and off till late 2024.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, 29 March 1972, has been making a hash of the Ukrainian refugee crisis but there’s not much showing on her supremely confident Aries Sun opposition Pluto square Jupiter chart. Water off a ducks’ back. Her relationship with Boris will flutter with anxiety now till mid April and is showing signs of a radical shake up from mid May, peaking in July onwards when it is severely challenged.
She has Boris’s Road-Runner ability to smash into the deck and bounce back unscathed, but that will not work so well in 2024/25 when she will labour under mountainous challenges.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, having had a reasonable pandemic until the Covid contract fraud emerged, is now facing a horrendous economic blitz with Covid recovery, plus Brexit, plus plus oil, energy, food prices, inflation. Oddly enough he was born on 12 May 1980, four days after Eugeny Lebedev. He’s sinking in self-esteem and morale from mid May onwards and worse late year and through 2023. The upsets and upheavals in his chart will come in 2023 when tr Uranus is conjunct his Mercury Sun and opposition his Uranus.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Minister, looks most upbeat of the Cabinet through this year and next though I gather he might get the top NATO job. Liz Truss will bounce up marginally August to November.
