Marjorie

The declaration to invade Ukraine was made at 9pm  in Moscow by Putin last night.

   That puts a less-than-practical Neptune in the 6^th house which rules armed forces, though there’s also a lucky Sun Jupiter conjunction. Unpredictable Uranus is in the 8^th house of finances and costs; the high-risk Mars Pluto Mercury conjunction is in the 4^th which might suggests a less than thrilled Russian population.

 Relocating the chart to Washington DC puts the indecisive Neptune in the 10^th conjunct the Midheaven, though Jupiter is also conjunct the MC from the 9^th but overall it doesn’t suggest an effective response. Plenty of aggravation from Pluto, Mars, Venus in the 7^th; and financial implications from Saturn Mercury in the 8^th.

  The EU take has a slippery and uncommitted Neptune in the 7th with a grandstanding Mars Pluto Venus in the 5^th.

[Relocating these declaration or start of war charts does work – the difference between the US and the UK take on the Iraq Attack in 2003 was strikingly close in descriptive terms to what transpired.]

  Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, a former actor/comedian who played the role of president in a popular TV series before stepping into the political arena, was sworn in on 20 May 2019 at 10am. This puts the warlike Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn in the 6^th house trine a 10^th house Mercury Sun Algol in Taurus – so it was never going to be an easy term. The Saturn has moved by Solar Arc to conjunct the Pluto almost exactly now as he declared martial law and exhorted his countrymen to stand firm.

  His own chart, 25 January 1978 2pm Krivoj Rog, Ukraine, has the devastating tr Neptune opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoint now and through March, on and off till after New Year 2023; with high-risk calamities mid April to mid May and repeating into early 2023. Through 2023 till 2026 tr Pluto first opposes his Mars (23/24) which is trapped, scary and infuriated; and then tr Pluto is conjunct his Sun Venus in Aquarius – so a long haul.

  The countries, which along with Ukraine, border onto Russia  are Belarus, Latvia (EU), Estonia (EU), Finland (EU) and nearby Lithuania (EU). On a quick sweep what stands out are several with Pluto at 17 degrees Scorpio which will catch the destabilizing tr Uranus opposition from mid this June, on and off into 2023 ; and Germany, of course which has a 17 degree Taurus Pluto in the 8th. which will get a severe shake up as well. Several of the East Europeaners also have other fixed signs being rattled from now onwards, through this year.

  The Russia 1917 chart also has a 14 degree Scorpio Sun square Saturn in Leo which will be jolted, jarred and rocked on its axis after mid April this year with tr Uranus lightning strikes and thunderbolts and that returns early 2023.

  The EU 2004 enlargement of 1 May 2004 took in three countries from the former Soviet Union –  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. That intake chart always did look to be having its roughest year, building up from 2021, with tr Neptune square the Pluto opposition Venus Mars, worsening from this late May onwards for a year; with tr Uranus conjunct the Sun North Node now and square the Neptune from May onwards. It looks in complete meltdown so the EU responses may prove to be a disappointment or won’t be sufficient.

Ukraine’s rich and turbulent history stretches back into the beginnings of human civilization. During the 10th and 11th centuries, it became the largest and most powerful state in Europe and was, contrary to Putin’s claims, the precursor to Russia rather than the other way round. But because of its central location it has been invaded and split up countless times.

  What is marginally odd astrologically speaking at the moment is that the recent attacks on Ukraine – in the 1932/33 Holdomor, Stalin’s political famine which killed 4 million, and in 2014 in Putin’s Crimea steal, there was a Cardinal Uranus square Pluto. In 1932 Uranus in Aries was square Pluto in Cancer with Saturn in Capricorn/Aquarius and Neptune in early Virgo. In 2014 Uranus again in Aries was square Pluto, with Neptune in early Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio. Even way back in 1240 when the Mongol invasion destroyed Kiev there was a Uranus in Capricorn opposition Saturn square Pluto in Libra with Neptune in Mutable Gemini.  

   There is nothing similar at present. Nor is there a Saturn Pluto aspect as there was for the start of World War 1 and 11.

   Modern Ukraine, 24 August 1991 6pm Kiev, is certainly not looking confident this year with a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn opposition the Sun exactly now; a panicky-failure tr Neptune opposition the Mars from mid May onwards and a disruptive tr Uranus opposition the 8^th house Pluto from mid June onwards, both influences running into 2023.

   Joseph Stalin, who instigated the political famine in Ukraine, which killed many millions, blamed Ukrainians themselves for starving and his propaganda called anyone who mentioned the famine a Nazi. Another big lie merchant. Power and the truth were never comfortable bedfellows. Putin has been resurrecting his reputation in recent years attempting to elevate him back to hero status.

 Stalin, 6 December 1878 JC Gori, Georgia, (unverified) was a Sun Sagittarius with his Pluto exactly conjunct Alogol in a brutal opposition to Mars in vengeful Scorpio, sextile/trine Saturn which was an unpleasant combination. Plus an Earth Grand Trine to Neptune (Moon) in Taurus trine Uranus trine Mercury in Capricorn. Too much earth can be gross.  

   Modern Russia was born out of a revolution in 1917 and there were two coups in the early 1990s, but the only hint of an upheaval or popular revolt which might unsettle Putin comes from tr Uranus square the 4^th house Pluto in the 1991 chart – which picks up from mid 2023 onwards – and may accompany street protests from a disgruntled populace. Despite Putin’s bombastic claims about supersonic military power, Russian troops, according to one report, are having to buy their own food and living under cramped conditions.

  The run up to the Mars Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, exact on March 3^rd, was always going to be fraught and high risk. There was also a Mars Pluto conjunction in Capricorn (conjunct a New Moon) when Israel invaded Gaza in 2008.

   An earlier Ukraine chart, 8 May 882 JC 6.50am Kiev, showed up the 1932/33 famine clearly and clashed badly with Stalin’s chart. It is similarly looking uncertain and agitated now with the Solar Arc Neptune opposition Uranus tugging on the Ukraine Sun Saturn, now and for two years ahead.

This is all odds and ends and puzzling from an astrological viewpoint. More will no doubt emerge.

PS An entirely trivial point given the jeopardy the poor Ukrainians face but irksome all the same. The turn of events has handed Boris Johnson a diversion from his corruption and lying scandals and given him a platform to attempt to emulate his Churchill schtick which is truly stomach churning. Especially given the zero possibility of him or the Tories cleansing the London stables of oligarch gzillions.

Putin has wrong-footed Western leaders hoping to build political capital by brokering a retreat of Russian forces from Ukraine. He has ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine, after recognising them as independent states. In doing so he appears to have ridden roughshod over his own advisers and ignored China’s reservations about destabilizing the region and interfering with Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

  China opposes Nato expansion, but is wary of large-scale war in Ukraine which will hurt its commercials interests there.

     Putin on the other hand appears to have gone full tonto, holding an extraordinary meeting with his top security officials in the Kremlin’s ornate Hall of the Order of St Catherine, designed by the tsars to show off the glories of Russia’s empire. His subordinates according to commentators looked terrified and even the foreign intelligence chief stumbled his acquiescence. “They looked less like a sounding board than an imperial court.” The Moscow correspondent for the FT noted that the session was “like the finale of the Sopranos.” Retired Russian generals have criticized the invasion plan; prominent Russian intellectuals have publicly challenged Putin and public opinion polls have suggested limited support for war.

At the UN Security Council he was accused of seeking to return to “a time when empires ruled the world”.

  Normally lucid, Putin gave a rambling and bizarre speech reinforcing queries about his health and mental stability. His self-induced isolation during the pandemic in his country residence, earning him the nickname “the old man in the bunker”.

  There’s not a huge amount of astrology to add to the two previous posts on Lunar Eclipses February 12 2022 which pointed up March and April as even more turbulent and risky.  And the post of January 19 2022.

Putin’s 4th Term chart would appear to have it nailed down with a brutal (and desperate) Pluto Mars conjunction in last decan Capricorn in a subversive, disruptive and violent square to Uranus. Pluto Mars at its worst can be murderous but also carries an underlying message about being trapped and infuriated beyond reason. Tr Pluto was conjunct the Mars through this January as the troop movement to the borders escalated; and returns to the exact aspect August to early December. From early 2023 tr Pluto will square the Term Uranus which is the classic topple-off-perch moment for leaders. That influences runs on and off till late 2024.

 The US attitude is that Putin has put himself far out on a limb which looks extremely shaky.

   The other key chart for Putin’s 22 year increasingly autocratic reign is the original Presidency chart of 31 December 1999, which also flags up next year, from late on into 2024, as being undermined and confused.

   The Russian Stock Market indices are highly stressed this year and next and the Bank of Russia chart, 13 July 1990, looks in turmoil this year with tr Uranus opposition the Pluto and then grinding to a fiscal halt in 2023 and 2024 with tr Pluto square the Mars and opposition Mercury.

  Both China charts, 1 October 1949 3.15 pm and 1 January 1912, look considerably unsettled from this March onwards. The 1949 has tr Uranus square the 7^th house Mars Pluto from April on and off all year suggesting aggravation with neighbours. And the 1912 chart has tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus from next month onwards till late 2023, which suggests a significant turnaround in terms of direction.

   Joe Biden’s Mars in Scorpio which is a key trigger point where Moscow is concerned on his astrocartography will be jolted badly from mid March onwards.

PS. Putin’s disputed birth date of October 1952 actually works not badly looking through past events and if so his relationship with Russia may well be stretched beyond breaking point in the next two years.

Final thought for this post. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was during the reign of Catherine The Great, when Russia grew to be a great world power. She was a determined Sun Mars in Taurus sextile Saturn inconjunct Pluto – not given to subtlety when it came to wielding control but she did foster culture. This may be a dying or deranged Putin making a frenzied bid to put his stamp on Russian history.

The shock death of young music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards at 31 has brought a flood of tributes. He was still a teenager when he launched the youth broadcasting and production film channel SBTV to upload clips he had recorded of his friends performing on the estate where he lived in Acton, west London, which later helped launch the careers of Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Stormzy. He was an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, a charity headed by the Prince of Wales, and in 2014 he was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He was also a director, author, DJ and designer, and undertook extensive philanthropic work, including in mental health and the funding of youth centres when he became a success.

  He was born 24 August 1990 in Luton, England, no time sadly, and had a Virgo Sun conjunct Regulus and the highly-strung and talented triple stellium in Capricorn of Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. He also had Mars conjunct Algol in Taurus which has just been labouring under the tr Pluto trine; and a Fixed T Square of Venus in Leo opposition North Node in Aquarius square Pluto. Pluto brings influence, can be ahead of its time in a T square, piles on the charm in aspect to Venus and the North Node gave him a mission in life. His Earth Grand Trine of Mercury trine Mars trine Saturn gave him practical and business skills and discipline.

  The only cause of death was a ‘sudden illness’ and the day before he was DJ-ing.

All the problems and potential for chaos of the Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo opposition Saturn plus Mars in Scorpio are laid bare in the raucous and tumultuous life of Abby Lee Miller. Her eight-season reality show Dance Moms featured children she tutored for a showbiz career along with their bickering stage mothers, with a violent and combative atmosphere being actively encouraged. She was then given prison time for financial fraud and declared bankrupt with a whopping IRS bill unpaid in 2016. Once out of prison she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and after a spinal operation ended up in a wheelchair, with therapy ongoing to get her back on her feet. Allegations of past racist comments and discriminatory behaviour led to possible shows being cancelled in 2020. Though last year she appeared to be punting other possibilities.

  She was born 21 September 1965, no birth time, with a Virgo Sun and Mercury; with her Mercury in an intense, can-be-domineering and outspoken conjunction to Pluto Uranus and all three Virgo planets sextile a hard Mars Neptune in Scorpio. That echoes the chart of Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s Russian political sidekick and Bashar Assad of Syria, so she does have a vengeful streak. Her Saturn in Pisces is trine Venus in Scorpio as well as Neptune Mars adding an aggravated edge. Plus a bull-in-a-china-shop Gemini North Node.

   When Miller’s life started to hit the skids, her Virgo Sun had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct her Neptune in Scorpio and her other Virgo planets were following along behind for an exceptionally bumpy few years which isn’t over yet. And won’t be for a good long while ahead. There’ll be a stalemate with unpopularity in 2023, flaming arguments two years on, and into a complete swamp by 2026.

  Usually when two stelliums or configurations of planets in a chart coincide by Solar Arc it flags up a life-changing crisis running over several or many years depending on the planets.

  It’s not that 1965 did not produce some notables with the same Uranus Pluto Saturn  – amongst them Shania Twain, Cheryl Hines (also September 21), Charlie Sheen, Sam Mendes, Jeremy Kyle and JK Rowling, but along with talent tends to go a roller-coaster temperament and life.

What an unutterably ghastly woman. I pray we are moving out of the era of scream TV and turgid reality shows.

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Satirist and journalist P.J. O’Rourke, regarded “one of the major voices of his generation”, has died. He was, unusually for a scurrilous wit, right wing but with no compunction about causing offence even to his own side, as he sought out  political irony, absurdity and hypocrisy. He was a Republican who mocked Republicans. “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work,” he wrote, “and then they get elected and prove it.”

 Like many with an acerbic turn of mind, he had a difficult, high-tension, frustrated and angry chart. He was born 14 November 1947 in Toledo, Ohio, sadly with no birth time, into what he described as “a family so normal as to be almost a statistical anomaly”, with a housewife mother and car salesman father. He joked that he was the eldest of 2.5 children since “my sisters are identical twins and no one noticed they had separate identities until they married different men”.

  His Scorpio Sun was in a heavy-duty square to Mars, Saturn and Pluto in attention-seeking Leo. However normal he thought his childhood, he must have felt singled out for mistreatment by life if not by his father. His Mercury was also in Scorpio, a sign renowned for its ability to cut through to the core. What lifted him out of the glooms and gave him a comedians’ quirky take were three planets in Sagittarius – Jupiter, Venus and his Moon.  

  There was no situation so bleak he couldn’t find the humour. His best book was reputed to be Holidays From Hell, written from war zones.

  “Wherever there’s injustice, oppression and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it’s happening.”

  Though his Parliament of Whores about US politics also became a favourite. “Although this is a conservative book,” O’Rourke explained in the opening pages, “it is not informed by any very elaborate political theory. I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.”

 He wrote for National Lampoon and Rolling Stone and latterly for more serious outlets – and always with a knack for a devastating one-liner. He described Rush Limbaugh’s echo-chamber fans as “ditto heads.”

  In his 2016 book of election coverage How the Hell Did This Happen? he endorsed Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that he thought “she’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters”. He thought Trump was unstable.

 Some of his other bon mots.

On Europe: “I’ve had it with these dopey little countries and all their poky borders. You can’t swing a cat without sending it through customs.”

In his 1983 book Modern Manners, he argued that traditionalists should encourage the young to do drugs because drugs had “taught an entire generation of English kids the metric system”.

“Every kitchen should be equipped with a dishwasher, preferably a cute one wearing her apron and nothing else”.

“In general, life is better than it ever has been, and if you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, transport yourself, let me say one single word: ‘dentistry’.”

On a more serious note in 1988 he wrote:- “We are fools when we fail to defend civilisation. So-called Western civilisation, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western civilisation not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it’s also the only thing that’s ever tried to. Our civilisation is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.”

 He will be missed.

Charlie Chaplin, the Little Tramp, sometimes the Great Dictator, with the questionable sex life, is the focus of yet another film. The Real Charlie Chaplin sets out to lay bare his private life, with four of his children with his final wife Oona O’Neill sharing their experiences of him.  

  Born probably 16 April 1889 with an unregistered birth in London, he started life in dire poverty and the workhouse, vaudevilled his way to the US to become ultimately the inventor of cinema, celebrity and modernity. His success made him a target of the red-scare conspiracists in power in the American 1940s/50s and he eventually upped sticks for Switzerland where he remained with his fourth wife Oona O’Neill.

  He is alleged to have slept with over 2,000 women, and had a penchant for underage girls.

  His son Michael says in the documentary: ‘I was kind of frightened of my father. He was so powerful, you couldn’t argue with him, because he couldn’t be wrong.’

  Assuming his birth date is about accurate, he had a late Aries Sun with  with a high-enthusiasm, not always sensitive, passionate Venus Mars in Taurus. This he shares with Adolf Hitler born four days later. In Chaplin’s case, his Mars Venus opposed an intense Scorpio Moon squaring onto wannabe-important Saturn in Leo. He didn’t share easily, for sure. His Sun was in a maverick opposition to Uranus. If his birth time is accurate, then his Uranus fell in his creative 12^th and even more significantly his Neptune Pluto in Gemini, the emblem of his generation, fell in is 8^th – as was also the case with Hitler and Winston Churchill. Both Pluto and Neptune in the 8^th have an ability to project an aura out into the zeitgeist for the few who can utilise the energy. Though it does not make for an easy temperament or contentment.

  Oona O’Neill, his fourth and final wife who was 18 when he married her and 36 years younger than him, was born 14 May 1925, and was a Sun Taurus which sat close to his Venus Mars for a firecracker attraction. Her Venus in Taurus was conjunct his Neptune Pluto as well so she’d be drawn like a moth to a flame by the image and the power he projected. Though her creative/neurotic and obsessional Aquarius Moon opposition Neptune square Saturn in Scorpio clashed uncomfortably with his Scorpio Moon and Venus Mars and Saturn so it was not an easy match.

  Michael Chaplin, 6 March 1946 10.25 pm Santa Monica, CA,  did find his father scary and tricky with his Pisces Sun and Venus square Uranus and trine a Saturn Mars conjunction so the relationship would feel unfair.  

  Geraldine Chaplin, 31 July 1944 11.14 pm Santa Monica, also experienced their childhood home as a tense, potentially dread-filled place with a controlling-father Sun Pluto in Leo in her 4^th.

  Josephine Chaplin, 28 March 1949 12.10 am Santa Monica, has her Aries Sun conjunct Mars Venus in Aries on one side and trine an 8^th house Pluto on the other – trapped by heated emotional undercurrents.

Creative talent and the ability to change the world does not go along with a peaceful, harmonious family life or a balanced temperament.

The indomitable Joan Collins sashayed through a glittering celebration of her 88^th birthday and 20^th wedding anniversary last night at Claridge’s in London surrounded by showbiz friends in full regalia. In an event-filled life she’s been married five times, mainly short-lived and ending badly, with one notable fling with Warren Beatty before settling with Hollywood producer Percy Gibson in 2002, who is more than thirty years her junior. She’s had a long on-screen career since her late teens, is known best for Dynasty and is still appearing on TV and in independent films.

  She was born 23 May 1933 at maybe 3am London and he 14 October 1965 7.12pm Abancay, Peru (birth certificate). 

  Her social butterfly Sun Venus in Gemini are good with his Gemini Moon and his Libra Sun, which may sit in her 7^th house of one-to-one relationships. Her Sun Venus also oppose his passionate Venus Mars in Sagittarius for a crackle of passion, affection and fun. There are other less easy cross-overs with her Uranus opposition his Sun and her Pluto square his Sun, which will make her an unpredictable match. But since he is of the Uranus Pluto conjunction generation of the 1960s it may be a turbulent energy he is acclimatised to.  His Saturn in Pisces is also opposition her Neptune Mars which will be scratchy and confused at times; and her Taurus Moon square Saturn in Aquarius catches his Neptune awkwardly – she’ll be down to earth where he may be more evasive.

   Her Sun Venus are also conjunct his North Node for a ‘fated’ connection or one that feels ‘meant’ and will lead to his development. Her Saturn falls in his career 10^th so it will make for a good working partnership or a marriage where career matters take precedence. She will make him better organised.

  Their relationship chart has a composite Sun conjunct a lucky, supportive Jupiter on one side and a possessive Pluto on the other; with Pluto in a wide welded-together opposition to Saturn which in turn is trine Mars. So mainly pluses from that with a scratchy minus from the control factor.

  It won’t all have been the cakewalk of seamless bliss it appears in HELLO magazine.  He has a focal point Gemini Moon onto a Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn so will be emotionally changeable, at times hyper-sensitive, inclined to avoid handling relationship conflict – and his Neptune in the 7^th hints at a tendency to shy away from deep commitment. But they may be similar in that regard and maturing years plus long experience of troubled relationships on her side may have ironed out a few wrinkles.

Peter Thiel, a German-American billionaire, co-founder of PayPal and first outside investor in Facebook, is combining his right-wing political activism with his tech talents. He is behind a new conservative ‘Dating app’, about to launch which sounds remarkably like an echo chamber for those who dislike the censorship of politically motivated misinformation.

  He has been backing Republican candidates who traffic in Trump conspiracy theories and see themselves as rebels determined to overthrow the Republican establishment and even the broader American political order. In 2009 he wrote in an essay, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

  A commentator cautioned: “When you have a funder who is actively elevating candidates who are denying the legitimacy of elections, that is a direct assault on the foundation of democracy.”

  Thiel was born in Germany on 11 October 1967, no birth time, and had an itinerant childhood, with his parents moving to the USA when he was one, and thence to South Africa and Namibia and back to the US. He excelled in maths, graduated law and then fell into Silicon Valley.

  He’s a Sun Libra opposition Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries; with a Mars in Sagittarius in a ruthless, tough-minded and no-compromise square to Pluto Uranus and trine Jupiter in flamboyant Leo. He’s clearly a risk-taker. His Jupiter is also in a high-finance, not-always-realistic square to Neptune. His Moon is Capricorn or Aquarius.

  His control-freak, ferocious Mars square Pluto (Uranus) clashes with the USA’s free-thinking Mars in Gemini square Neptune, so he will be an uncomfortable presence, trying to strong-arm public opinion.

  His relationship to Trump isn’t oddly enough too cosy either with Trump’s Gemini Sun opposition Sagittarius Moon also colliding with Thiel’s Mars square Pluto Uranus. And it looks to be on a disappointing slide through this year with various upsets which continue into 2023.

  On Thiel’s personal chart he’s been undermined through January/early February this year; will be emotionally revved up March to June and again on and off till late 2023; with a few hitches glitches and catastrophes late April/early May this year. 2023/2024 sees tr Pluto conjunct his Saturn/Neptune midpoint so he’ll be devastated, depressed, perhaps with health issues.

  He looks marginally unsettled by the 2022 Mid Terms; and so-so over the 2024 elections with a few minor Jupiterian ups. But he looks as if he could be a force to be reckoned – in the awkward squad – through 2025/26.

   Maybe he’s a manifestation of the darker energies in the  USA Pluto Return. Power is good, as long as I have it; people-power is bad. The swan song (hopefully) of Pluto in Capricorn.