Marjorie

A Gustav Klimt painting, nearly destroyed in a fire in WW11 when looted by the Nazis, has sold for a record-breaking $236.4m. Latterly it had been owned by the Estee Lauder heir.

 Klimt born 14 July 1862, Vienna, Austria, after a conventional start painting murals, became famous as a “painter of women”. ‘Eros, sexuality and femininity were variously interpreted by him as alluring danger. Life, love, and death can be determined as the important themes of his work.’ His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe.

 In real life he had many relationships with women and fathered at least fourteen children.

 He grew up in poverty with a gold engraver father, one of seven children. One sister died young, another became mentally disturbed leaving their mother depressed and three brothers had artistic talents though, Ernst, the closest to Gustav, died in his late twenties.

 Gustav Klimt was a creative Sun Cancer with an Aquarius/Pisces Moon. He had two conjunctions forming a Mutable T square with Uranus Venus in Gemini opposition a Sagittarius North Node square Saturn Jupiter in Virgo – light-hearted, lucky, hard-working, tuned into the cultural mood of the moment. Plus a publicity-attracting Neptune Mars conjunction in Aries.  His Pluto was sparsely aspected being only sextile Mercury and maybe conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint. An unaspected Pluto can be intense, fuelled by compulsive urges of great power but over time does need to be held in check.

The most expensive artwork ever sold at auction was Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, which sold in 2017 for US$450.3m.

  There is little that connects the two painters, one born 400 years after the other, apart from talent and luck – talent on its own not always being enough to bring success in life or the hereafter.

 Leonardo da Vinci, 23 April 1452 (Gregorian Calendar) 9.40 pm Vinci, Italy, was a Sun Taurus in his creative and audience-attracting 5^th house in a determined square to Pluto. His Moon conjunct Jupiter in Pisces was on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune on his Midheaven. With a second yod from his Jupiter Moon sextile Sun inconjunct his 10^th house Neptune.  Neptune, the dream-weaver and image-creator was highlighted as was confident, expansive, fortunate Jupiter. In some ways a more obvious super-star artist chart.

Dick van Dyke, the legendary entertainer and comedian, will be 100 years old in less than a month. His performances on screen and stage over seven decades won him numerous awards and made him a household name with the Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins and Diagnosis Murder. He has been married twice, with a long affair in between and most recently at 86 married a make-up artist 46 years his junior.

 He has an upbeat Sagittarius Sun conjunct Mercury sitting in his performing 5^th house. But there are stand out features in his chart. One is a heavily aspected Neptune in Leo on his Ascendant which is trine his Sun and on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Uranus sextile Jupiter. His Neptune is also square Mars Saturn and Moon in Scorpio in his 4^th hinting at a turbulent childhood. His Mars Saturn are also in a creative though stressed Water Grand Trine to Pluto trine Uranus. His spaced-out Neptune probably protected him from the difficulties of his childhood and his ever-optimistic Sagittarius Sun would also help.

Comedians often come out of difficult backgrounds which are at odds with their light hearted banter.

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‘Nessus, is considered by many as the bad boy of the centaurs, but he also has a positive role, to use William Burroughs’ expression of “wising up the marks” and making us better equipped to deal with the risks and dangers we inevitably face.’ Ben Belinsky’s new ebook gives the lowdown on “Nessus”, the  third centaur 1993 HA2, which runs in an elliptical orbit between Saturn and Pluto, so carries a dark energy.

Key words for Nessus: ruthless, manipulation, lying, confidence trick, double-dealing, revenge, rape, sexual abuse, poison (including emotional poison),curses /removes curses.

  It is no surprise to see Nessus on Harvey Weinstein’s Descendant opposition his Mars in Scorpio square Pluto – a bully in relationships.  His elevated status started to collapse in 2014 when tr Nessus was conjunct his North Node. Karma.

 Two other intriguing examples from Ben Belinsky’s research are Tony Blair whose Nessus is conjunct his Taurus Sun which does fit with Teflon Tone. But even more so when the Iraq attack took place as tr Nessus was square his Mercury opposition Neptune Saturn focusing attention on the ‘dodgy dossier’ which was his excuse for supporting GW Bush.

  Winston Churchill was another with his Sagittarius Sun conjunct Nessus which the author puts down to his intuitive sense that Hitler could not be trusted.    In addition, Churchill’s Moon was conjunct Chariklo with its ability endure the unendurable – “Never, never, never give up!”

 Meghan Markle has Nessus exactly conjunct her Ascendant and her Procyon – perhaps hinting at the untrustworthy reputation she has attracted. With Procyon, the Fixed star of the wheel of fortune, the rise and fall.

Nessus quotes

“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.” Voltaire

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

“A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on.” William Burroughs

“One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom.” African Proverb

https://moonletter.co.uk/e-books/#nessus

Robert Jay Lifton, the psychiatrist who shed light on the darkest chapters in modern history including Chinese brainwashing, Hiroshima, the Holocaust and the Vietnam War, has died aged 99.

  His later investigations into war crimes and the experiences of Vietnam veterans in the early 1970s led him to formulate his theory of the “atrocity-producing situation” in which he believed ordinary people could commit acts of such extraordinary cruelty as the My Lai massacre.

  His book The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide was based on interviews with both perpetrators and victims. He argued the Nazi doctors committed their crimes using a process of personality “doubling”, whereby the moral medical practitioner was psychologically divided from the immoral “killing self”. The book drew criticism from those who felt Lifton’s approach was too forgiving. Lifton responded that humanity best serves the future when it confronts its own potential for evil rather than dismissing it as “unexaminable”.

The research for Nazi Doctors took an emotional toll, and he had frequent nightmares in which he or his family were imprisoned in camps. On hearing this, a friend and Auschwitz survivor remarked: “Good, now you can do the study.” It remained an important lesson for Lifton. “One has to offer the self to the suffering in some degree,” he said.

He was born 16 May 1926, no birth time, in New York, a week after |David Attenborough and three weeks after Queen Elizabeth 11, so he shared their stalwartly enduring Fixed chart. In his case his Taurus Sun exactly conjunct Algol was opposition Saturn square Neptune opposition Jupiter.

 His Pluto exactly conjunct Sirius (the brightest star in the sky) was in a courageous and determined trine to Mars in Pisces with Mercury sextile Mars which fits with writing about the darkest of subjects.

See previous post on Algol: Greg Wise – an Algol that breeds empathy 24th March 2024 by Marjorie

‘Despite Algol’s malevolent reputation for destruction it has another purpose which is to force us to face suffering and horror and not brush it aside.’

Glenn Close is the ‘standout role’ in the new Benoit Blanc Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery with Daniel Craig according to early reviews. She plays  a righteous woman quivering with religious fervour – or “a sad character with no life outside the church”, as Close puts it – with the creepy habit of materialising behind people and making them jump. The movie opens in cinemas on November 26 and Netflix in early December.

  It’s a far cry from Fatal Attraction, but she has a rare talent for a star of being a prolific character actor as well – Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians, The Wife, five seasons of the tv legal drama Damages, The Hunger Games, All’s Fair, and on.

 Born 19 March 1947 2.12 pm she had a fractured childhood with her doctor father who had worked in the Congo, serving as personal physician to the corrupt ruler, the kleptocrat Mobutu, joining the Moral Rearmament cult when she was seven. She lived in communal centres for fifteen years before breaking away at 22 to become an actress.

  She has described it as “a kind of psychological abuse couched in underlying misogyny”. Buchman’s Moral Rearmament movement posited what he called a “God‑controlled Fascist dictatorship” as a countermeasure to communism. She later said “I have long forgiven my parents for any of this. They had their reasons for doing what they did, and I understand them. It had terrible effects on their kids, but that’s the way it is.”

 She has been married three times, with various other relationships and has a daughter.

 She has an 8^th house Pisces Sun in a mixed element Water/Fire Grand Trine to a 12^th house Saturn in Leo trine Jupiter in Scorpio.  Her Saturn is in a determined but bleak conjunction to Pluto on her Ascendant; with her emotionally intense Pluto opposition Venus in Aquarius in her 7^th house of relationships and on one leg of a yod sextile Neptune inconjunct Mercury Mars in Pisces in her 8^th. She is immensely complex, deep, defensive, difficult to get to know and tied into her grandparents’ generation with three planets in the 8^th. As if that was not enough she has an Air Grand Trine of Venus (Moon) in Aquarius trine Neptune trine Uranus – with Pluto as the driving planet off the opposition to Venus giving her a powerful personality and image.

 It is a  miracle she is not more troubled than she appears though her relationship life a la Hollywood has been a constantly moving carnival. Her Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage significator, is conjunct her 8th house Mars so togetherness would always be a fraught affair.

 Mars on the focal point of a yod can be overly assertive/aggressive though being in the 8^th will mask its more obvious effects. She has a reputation for insisting for or asking for auditions when roles were not offered to her – so that driving determination may come from her yod apex Mars Mercury.

  Her Jupiter in the 4^th may refer to her first happy 7 years of life as a child when she was close to her grandparents out in the country.

The BBC already wilting under the Trump faked-misspeak brouhaha is facing another deluge of righteous criticism with the publication of Dianarama by Andy Webb, a former BBC TV reporter. Uncovering the truth about Martin Bashir’s tactics in persuading Princess Diana to speak out on Panorama in 1995 has taken decades. It triggered her divorce from Prince Charles, stoked her paranoia and left her isolated, propelling her towards the events which would ultimately kill her in Paris two years later.  Webb describes it as, “a story more lurid, more fantastical, than anything that happened at the Tudor court of Henry VIII”. An estimated 200 million people worldwide watched the programme.

   Twenty-five years later, the BBC commissioned an investigation by Lord Dyson which found that Bashir had won Diana’s trust through “deceitful behaviour”, having seriously breached the BBC’s editorial rules. His inquiry concluded that the BBC’s initial internal investigation in 1996 had been “woefully ineffective” and that the corporation had “covered up” any wrongdoing.

Bashir first approached Earl Spencer, providing forged bank statements which suggested an associate was spying on his sister. He also, the book claims, told Diana that Prince Edward had Aids and that Tiggy Legge-Bourke, William and Harry’s former nanny, had been having an affair with Charles, had aborted his baby and would marry him when the Queen abdicated in the near future.

Sir Richard Eyre, the theatre director who was a BBC governor at the time of the initial investigation in 1996, told the author that the board “would have insisted on a full-scale inquiry” had they not been kept in the dark about Bashir’s deceit.

For Prince William, the BBC cover-up meant that his mother went to her death without ever knowing the truth. “She was failed not just by a rogue reporter but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.”

Bashir, 19 January 1963 12.30pm London, has an ambitious Capricorn Sun in his 9^th house of widescale communication with Mercury in Aquarius on his Midheaven. More notably he has two tricky T squares Saturn in his 10^th (= transgressions will be punished) is in a hard-edged opposition to Mars in flamboyant Leo in a publicity-attracting square to a slippery Neptune and intense Moon in Scorpio in his 6^th. There is a queasy feel about that one. Plus an overly confident, rules-don’t-apply-to-me  Jupiter opposition Pluto in a square to a sugar sweet Venus. Using charm and duplicity to get his own way whatever it took.

  His Jupiter falls in the BBC’s 10^th house hinting that they saw him as a success bringer. Though his Saturn conjunct the BBC Mars, his Mars on the BBC IC and his Moon Neptune in Scorpio falling close to the BBC Mercury and Sun hints at a fractious interface with his Neptune working its smokescreening magic for a while.

 His synastry with Diana was hardly inspiring with his Capricorn Sun conjunct her Saturn sparking off her feelings of guilt/unworthiness; with his Mars conjunct her Uranus for explosive revelations; and his Uranus conjunct her Mars Pluto in Virgo which would tap into her fears.

 The Panorama was transmitted on 20 November 1995. If it was 8pm there was serendipitously the shiwpwrecking Scheat exactly conjunct the Midheaven and Procyon (wheel of fortune, rise and falls) on the Ascendant. There was a, intense and determined Scorpio Sun conjunct Pluto; with a wildly exuberant Jupiter Venus Mars in Sagittarius blocked by a square to Saturn in the legal/fair minded 9^th. With a highly strung Uranus Neptune on the Descendant.  

 The over-the-top Jupiter Venus Mars fell in Diana’s 1^st house as she attracted a stratospheric audience for an iconic interview; though Sun Pluto on the cusp of her 12th suggested behind-the-scenes-dirty-dealings.

   As the Vatican and Richard Nixon’s Administration learned to their cost – it’s not only the original sin it’s also the cover up that does the damage.

 The relentless drip drip feed of potentially toxic information from the undead Jeffrey Epstein’s web of contacts continues. More than 20,000 files were released yesterday, including several that mention the US president and other prominent figures. The White House dismissed the significance of the files, saying they prove nothing. The House of Representatives is set to vote next week on forcing the justice department to release more files related to the investigation into Epstein. But they are likely to need Trump’s signature before being produced which seems unlikely to be forthcoming.

 Epstein’s chart,  20 January 1953 6.15 am Brooklyn, NY, interestingly had the Venus Mars conjunction in Pisces, (often associated with sex addiction) triggered by the recent September Lunar Eclipse as the pressure for transparency became more challenging. 2027 shows up as a significant marker for his legacy and repeats in several relationship charts with him as well.

 [It may seem odd to use posthumous charts but they do work after death. Maybe they refer to the stamp the individual left on those around or on the culture.

 Donald Trump’s relationship chart with Epstein has been indicating heightened anxiety with tr Neptune square the composite Uranus earlier this year and returning in March 2026 and again November 2026 across the Mid Terms till late January 2027. Assuming birth times are accurate then tr Uranus is now hovering on the cusp of the Epstein/DT composite 8^th house cusp moving in decisively mid May 2026 onwards – which may detonate a few 8^th house secrets into the open.

And where the action and perhaps risk ramps up is June 2027 onwards with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Mars. This point shows up on several Epstein relationships charts including (Prince) Andrew and below.

 The 2025 Inauguration chart of the Trump administration is road blocked at the moment and the Progressed Moon is exactly square the Mars/Pluto midpoint also exactly now as well which is even more trapped and enraged (though failures in Israel/Gaza, Ukraine and falling approval ratings may also be part of that).  The Progressed Moon moving to square the Pluto in three months will also be critical. Also exactly now till early December two Neptune midpoints are being jangled by tr Uranus so the administration will be nerve-stretched, at times talking nonsense and that repeats next April. There will be some successes in 2026/27 but alongside a definite feeling of luck ebbing away.

 Others mentioned in the released files (which is not evidence of any wrongdoing) in their relationship charts to Epstein –

Bill Clinton – New Year to early February 2026, edgy and irritable. The early March Lunar Eclipse is exactly conjunct the composite Sun hinting at a crisis that will run on; with high anxiety through 2026.

Bill Gates – similar stresses vis a vis Epstein over this winter and through 2026 – with a discouraging drag on till late decade.

Larry Summers and Alan Dershowitz are both less than delighted with 2026 vis a vis Epstein and like Trump will be considerably jangled through 2027.

Financier Peter Thiel, ditto and ditto as per timeline with pressures through 2026 and worse in 2027/28.

From previous post: July 13 2025.

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

Eris: Sacred Feminine Force of Evolutionary Astrology is the latest contribution to burgeoning field of astrological insights gleaned from beyond the standard natal planets. Eris is a dwarf planet situated in the Kuiper Belt recognized for its similarities to Pluto.

   The author Daniel Fiverson with a background in Tarot, Hermeticism, and the I Ching, takes a soul-centered approach to astrology and writes lyrically and persuasively of the goddess of chaos and discord in action. Due its highly elliptical orbit it spends 20% of its  557 year orbit in Aries, most recently from 1928 to 2048.

   Although Eris is a force that disrupts, provokes and shatters illusions, here it is presented here as a potent force for personal evolution and for understanding global historical cycles.  Both conflict and catalyst, it highlights fractures that already exist.

 House positions are key for personal interpretations since it stays for so long in Aries as are aspects to natal planets. In a chart it is where we are called to disrupt, challenge and resist compliance with falsehoods, confront uncomfortable truths, face distortions and say ‘No More’.

 The mythological background to Eris is extensively explored and there are a wealth of detailed chart analyses focused on the house positions of well-known creative and political celebrities.

 Eris as a historical marker is highlighted with its last entry into Aries in the late 15^th early 16^th century which accompanied the Fall of Constantinole, Italian Renaissance and the Guttenberg printing press – a time of ‘upheaval, revelation, irreversible change.’ It returned in 1927 as the world was gearing up for a financial collapse.

 Eris in square to transiting Pluto in 2020 is pinpointed with the covid outbreak.

   Eris square the USA Pluto 2026 – 2030, the author suggests will continue following the Pluto Return exposing the fault lines in American’s notion of exceptionalism.  Beneath the collapse lies opportunity.

  Expanding one’s astrological repertoire takes time, reflection and continued study to select what is of value and how the new knowledge can be used to deepen insight. Familiarity with the old ways where grasping the range of possibilities from signs, planets and aspects is automatic, makes grappling with the nuances of new concepts an effort.

  Some of Eris placings make a good deal of sense being in hard aspect to Uranus in the charts of Julian Assange, Malcolm X, Allen Ginsberg, Ariel Sharon even Marilyn Monroe. Charles Manson had Eris in his hidden unconscious 12^th house. The USA Civil War started on Eris opposition Saturn square Mars.  The 2015 Inauguration had Eris conjunct Uranus. The 2025 Inauguration had Eris square Mars.

  Jeffrey Epstein had his Moon exactly conjunct Eric in his 3^rd house. Daniel Fiverson explains Moon Eris as –  themes of survival, alienation, deep instinctual responses to feelings of exclusion and betrayal. Childhood marked by emotional turmoil, a strong desire for autonomy in emotional connections. Eris is described as a rogue and outsider which would certainly fit him. But it is also associated with the feminine warrior which certainly does not.

  My jury is still out on Eris since it did not crop up in charts where I thought it might. But it may be that further study will nail down its usefulness.  This book is certainly a delight to read, uplifting and compelling, a ground breaker in the astrological study of a planet that was only first sighted in 2003 and named in 2005.   

www.wessexastrologer.com

Nuremberg, the latest film about the Nazi war crime trials after World War 11, stars Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring, once Hitler’s chosen successor. He embodied the spirit of the Third Reich and became the most senior surviving Nazi official to stand trial. His intelligence, arrogance and courtroom performances made him the defining symbol of the proceedings.

   Described as ‘an ambitious opportunist, whose charm and vanity’  carried him to the heart of new Reich, he was ‘gregarious and theatrical, but also impulsive, vain and manipulative.’ In WW1 he was a celebrated fighter ace in the air force, who became disillusioned with Germany’s defeat and joined the Nazi Party in 1922. Wounded in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch when Hitler tried to seize power, he became addicted to morphine.  The 1930s saw him established as president of Reichstag in 1932, going on to found the Gestapo and begin a systematic purge of political opponents.

 He was an important instrument of the Nazification of the state, ensuring that Germany’s civil institutions fell into line behind the new regime. And was one of the few who could speak to Hitler on equal terms. By 1938 he had amassed immense wealth, acquired vast estates and became a prolific collector of looted art.  As the war drew to a close Göring sent a telegram to Hitler suggesting that he should assume leadership if the Führer were incapacitated. In response, a paranoid Hitler branded him a traitor, stripped him of office and ordered his arrest. Instead he was captured by American troops at which point he was overweight and suffering from high blood pressure, heart problems, and morphine addiction.

 He was assessed by psychiatrists in prison, who found his ‘normality’ and love for his children chilling given the contrast with the evil he personified. His IQ was tested at 138, one of the highest, with  extroversion and dominance notable on personality scales. Sentenced to be hung he committed suicide the night before the execution using a cyanide capsule.

 Born 12 January 1893 4am Rosenheim, Germany, he had a Capricorn Sun on the cusp of his quick-witted 3^rd house though with one foot in his financial 2^nd along with Mercury and Venus so indulgence and the acquisition of beautiful things would be a passion. He also had a high-vitality and upfront Mars Jupiter in Aries in his performing 5^th house (also of children) with Jupiter square his Sun and both Mars and Jupiter opposition his Saturn so he would wobble between highs and lows. His Mars sat on one leg of a yod sextile Neptune Pluto in Gemini inconjunct Uranus. Neptune Pluto as ever a marker for that generation some of whom wreaked great damage.

 His inherent cruelty would come from Mars opposition Saturn and sextile Pluto Neptune.  His lawless defiance from a focal point Uranus which can be a trailblazer and a catalyst though also divisive and a disruptor.  Tr Pluto was square his Uranus as the war ended in 1944/45 prodding his yod onto a radically different track. His relationship chart with Hitler suggested a degree of unease with an explosive composite Mars opposition Uranus; and a suspicious and blocked Saturn opposition Sun square Neptune Pluto – war and megalomaniac ambitions made it hold together for a while.  

 Russell Crowe who plays him, 7 April 1964 Wellington, New Zealand, maybe 2am (unverified) fits the role remarkably well since he has Mars, Sun and Jupiter spread out throughout Aries, Venus in Gemini to connect to Goring’s Neptune Pluto and Goring’s Scorpio Moon Uranus conjunct Crowe’s 10^th house filmic Neptune and Midheaven. He also has a yod of a 12^th house Moon Aquarius sextile Mars inconjunct Uranus – quite a few points of contact and similarity.

 The Nuremberg Trials started on 20 November 1945 with an approaching Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo; and the Scorpio Sun trine Saturn and Procyon, the Fixed star of the rise and fall on the wheel of fortune.