Marjorie

The Moon and Saturn are not comfortable companions with the Moon yearning for nurturing, support and comfort while chilly Saturn cuts down on warmth, raises defences and puts duty before pleasure.

  A Saturnine mother – whether through her own rigid, unempathic temperament or harsh circumstances – is not a recipe for easy relationships in adult life, though as in all things to do with the planet of time it mellows through and after the middle years.

 Elvis Presley, 8 January 1935 4.35 am  Tupelo, MS, had a poor childhood, a famously close tie to his mother Grace and problems forming mature adult emotional commitments. Perhaps even more significant than his bond with his mother, he lost a stillborn twin at his birth. His Moon Saturn conjunct fell in his 3rd house of siblings and though it seems too far back to remember, recent evidence is that losing a twin, even in utero, has a lasting effect in later life to the surviving sibling. Stillborn is full term, so he had developed side by side with a twin for nine months and the loss would have left an indelible mark.

 His mother was not the an easy temperament being a Sun Taurus square Uranus and her Leo Moon may have been opposition his Saturn and square her own Saturn. Whatever her mothering deficiencies, they would come from her own emotionally deprived childhood.

 See previous post February 3 2019 – Elvis and mom.

‘The family lived in chaotic poverty with his feckless father, an abusive drunk, in prison at one point for forging a check and Elvis becoming his mother’s protector when young. Gladys’ appeared to have been obsessed with her son, wanting absolute closeness yet she was also keen he find a wife to settle down with, and interviewed girlfriends, even very young ones to gauge their suitability. At 19 he became the family breadwinner, which unsettled her since he was more often away so despite her religious leanings she turned to drink for support. The richer he became, the more unhappy she was, effectively locked away in grand mansions. She died at 46 of alcohol related damage.’ He married 8 years after her death, having started a friendship with Priscilla when she was 14, seven years previously.

  George Clooney, 6 May 1961 2.58am Lexington, KY, also rollicked through a string of relationships before settling to marriage when he was 53. He has a Moon Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars, so quite a fraught relationship with his beauty queen/city councilwoman mother. Her ambitious Mars in Capricorn in an utterly determined opposition to Pluto sat on top of his Moon Saturn, which is a scary combination.

 An extreme example is the Norwegian mass shooter Anders Brevik, 13 February 1979 12.50pm Oslo, Norway, who has Moon Saturn conjunct in Virgo in his 4^th. His mother with an abusive background herself, had mental problems, wanted to abort him,  ‘sexualised’ him and frequently told him that she wished that he were dead. Psychiatrists thought he should be removed from his mother for him to develop normally – he had little emotional engagement, did not show joy, made no attempts to play with other children. His mother showed negative reactions when he displayed any emotion. She described him as “clingy and demanding.” See wiki.

  She was a Sun Scorpio with Mars also in Scorpio which clashed badly with his Sun, Mercury and Mars in Aquarius.

  Obviously there was a great deal more than just Saturn going on or at least it was off-the-Richter scale Saturn but it describes the broad brush strokes of the dynamic.

  Another very extreme example is Lisa Minnelli, 12 March 1948 7.58 am Los Angeles, who has a Moon, Mars, Saturn conjunction in Cancer. She grew up with a troubled, alcohol and drug-addicted mother in Judy Garland in a chaotic showbusiness childhood. Those are harsh mothering influences which left her with her own addiction problems and four divorces in adult life. The Mars would add a layer of unkindness (perceived as cruelty) and extra anger issues into the mix which wouldn’t help.

Add On: Another classic example is Princess Anne with a Moon Saturn conjunction in Virgo but without such disastrous consequences – a dutiful, workaholic, emotionally-damped-down mother, paid nannies. The princess famously said she didn’t particularly like playing with children but thought they deserved protection which was why she has devoted a good deal of her time over fifty years to Save the Children.

 Marilyn Monroe had a Moon opposition Neptune square Saturn and a famously troubled childhood.

Carole Thatcher, Maggie’s daughter, had a mixed relationship with her workaholic, brother-favouring mother and she has a Libra Moon conjunct Saturn Neptune square Uranus.

Add On: One key effect of Moon Saturn is the mother’s ability to land a guilt trip on the child/adult-child as if it was their responsibility to care for her. The mother’s unhappiness and depression is an implicit criticism of the offspring. Their duty in life is to ease mother’s suffering with an implied blame for having been the cause of it. Saturn also carries with it a good deal of corrosive envy. So the Saturnine parent is determined that no one else is allowed to be happy or successful around them.   

Charlie Wilson, one of the last of the old-style Scottish newspapermen has died. One of his successors at the Times, which he edited, described him as  “one of the toughest, sharpest and most all-round newspaper men in London, maybe the world”. He started his career at 16 as a copy runner in Fleet Street and progressed to the editorship of seven newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.

 Born 18 August 1935 at 3.20am Glasgow, he was known to Private Eye as “Gorbals” Wilson and he leant on his background to convey an image as a hard-nosed, ruthless and irascible tabloid news editor. His father was a miner turned steelworker, occasionally violent, and his mother left the marriage taking him away from a working-class grammar school to London when he was 16, disrupting his hopes of going to university. He moved up the ladder from office boy into a job at the Daily Mail where he met and married Anne Robinson, eventually divorcing her as her drinking got out of control giving him sole custody of their daughter.

  He was eventually enticed to The Times by Rupert Murdoch to improve its circulation and broaden its appeal, as well as steering it through a vicious battle with the print unions at Wapping. During his time there he fired Boris Johnson for making up a quote. After a couple more moves to Chicago and back he ended up overseeing The Sporting Life which appealed to his enthusiasm for racing. He married twice more, once to magazine editor Sally O’Sullivan and finally to Rachel Pitkeathley with whom he established a National Hunt Stud in Leicestershire, breeding horses.

  Two things are intriguing about his chart.  One is a volatile, explosive 4^th house Mars in Scorpio opposition a 10^th house Uranus in Taurus which would make him uncompromising and impatient. Which sat side by side with a kinder, sentimental Neptune opposition Saturn. But more than that he had a Yod of a 3^rd house Neptune sextile Mars Jupiter inconjunct a 10^th house Moon.  A 10^th house Moon would fit him for a public career, since the Moon rules the masses. And while at an emotional level an apex Moon can be disorganised, it clearly gave him a ‘nose’ for public trends, indispensable for a newspaper editor.

Individuals with Yods in their chart tend to feel they do not fit into their environment initially but when the Yod clicks into place they get onto their own unique track to live out their special talent. When he was 16 and hauled away from home and education tr Jupiter in Aries was opposition to Neptune in Libra square Uranus in Cancer – all impacting on his Yod focal point Moon pointing him in the direction he was designed to go.

 Andrew Neil, another working-class Scot who edited the Sunday Times, at the time Charlie Wilson was heading The Times, also has a Moon apex yod – of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct a Pisces Moon. 21 May 1949 9.45am Paisley, Scotland. Both had a stubborn Mars in a Fixed sign, in Neil’s case in Taurus square Pluto; and in Wilson’s case in Scorpio opposition Uranus. Both had Pluto on the Ascendant or in their 1^st so heavyweight personalities. Both had Mercury in the sign of its rulership, Wilson in Virgo and Neil in Gemini.

  This is fairly self-indulgent since I knew him but interesting astrologically about the lunar yod. Of his wives – Anne Robinson is a strong-minded Libra and the next two were more than capable Leos which was his own sun sign – so he enjoyed the company of lively women.

Pic: JULIAN HERBERT

  American politics grows more mystifying, toxic and divisive with Trump’s loony-toon supporters demanding he be granted immunity from the laws of mankind and he offers the same in return and Joe Biden bemoans the near death of US democracy.

 Two states at the heart of the extremist GOP rhetoric, at least as far as political leaders go – anti-vaccination, anti-gun control, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion  – are Florida and Texas.

 Florida is normally a swing state but Governor Ron DeSantis has imposed a swingeing right-wing radicalization on policies which haven’t made him as popular with residents as his shouty proclamations might suggest.

 He was born 14 September 1978 in Jacksonville, no time, with a Virgo Sun square Neptune and Saturn Mercury also in Virgo with an Aquarius Moon maybe trine Pluto and Mars in Libra.

  He’s not looking overly cheerful across this year’s Midterms with tr Pluto in a frustrating square to his Mars; and a disappointing tr Neptune opposition his Jupiter/Uranus midpoint.  But is looking luckier come the 2024 when he may overtake Trump as the GOP nominee. His relationship with Trump is on a fast downward slide from April 2023 onwards.

Florida, 3 March 1845, for whatever reasons which may not all be political, is having a less than progressive year in 2023 with an undermining, panicky, failure-ridden tr Neptune square Mars from April 2023 onwards. Into 2024 tr Uranus square the Tx Neptune Venus will make for overwrought nerves and emotional upsets.

  DeSantis is not a good fit with the Florida state chart with an angry, resentful composite Saturn Mars in the relationship chart which will be upended in 2024; and a disruptive Neptune, Uranus opposition Pluto. He is a catalyst for change but not of the popular variety.

[More nearer the time, but Democrat Charlie Crist, 24 July 1956, up against De Santis this November does have a couple of Jupiterian lifts around then then so could well be successful. Democrat Val Demings, 12 March 1957, up for the US Senate in November, is looking successful from early December – perhaps after a recount?]

 Texas is a more obvious right-wing state from the deep south with Greg Abbott, the governor, 13 November 1957, pushing the  ultra-conservative line on guns, abortion, covid etc. He’s a Sun Scorpio with Mars, Neptune, North Node also in Scorpio square Uranus in Leo. He’s got mixed influences running into this November midterms with upbeat and successful Mars/Jupiter and Jupiter/Pluto midpoints; as well as career-losses from Jupiter/Saturn and panic from Mars/Uranus. He’ll win some, lose some.  The October Solar Eclipse in Scorpio will catch his Mars Neptune for a crisis or two and some very public arguments. 2023 is not a good year for him; nor is 2024 to 2025.

Beto O’Rourke, 26 September 1972, no birth time, running against Greg Abbott, has a couple of successful midpoint transits over the Midterms – but is facing a failed-plans run of influences in 2023/24.

 Texas, 29 December 1845, an uncompromising and ambitious Capricorn Sun in a volatile square to Mars Uranus in Aries, will have a few hitches and glitches in early 2023, but from late March onwards till late 2024 the state will be going full-steam ahead with tr Pluto square the Jupiter in Taurus; with some ups and downs from tr Uranus square Neptune Venus from mid 2023 to late 2024. 2026 to the end of the decade will undercut the Texan bravado with tr Neptune undermining the Mercury, Sun and Mars Uranus.

  Oddly enough Abbott isn’t too popular there either according to the relationship chart with another aggravated Mars Saturn conjunction (like DeSantis and Florida).     

Leonardo di Caprio’s repetition compulsion for losing girl friends when they turn 25 is still in operation as yet another one exits on cue. Quite what he is re-enacting isn’t entirely obvious.

  He was born 11 November 1974 2.47am Los Angeles which gives him a charming and seductive Sun Venus in Scorpio in his financial 2^nd house with Mars in Scorpio also in his 2^nd in an enthusiastic trine to a 6^th house Jupiter and a 10th house Saturn. Money and work are his priorities.

   His Libra Moon sits just below his Ascendant conjunct Pluto and square Saturn which hints at an emotionally bleak childhood and a controlling and disciplinarian mother. Though his relationship with his mother in publicity photos appears close and he describes her as the driving force in nurturing his talent. His parents split when he was one but continued to live in neighbouring houses to be able to co-parent and he talks of it as a happy time.

 Not to be overly Freudian about it, the younger-girlfriend syndrome will be tied somehow into his relationship with his mother. Immelin Indenbirken, 14 February 1943, born in Germany during the war, is an Aquarius with a Gemini Moon and Venus in Pisces. Her Jupiter sits in Leo’s 10th conjunct his Saturn and trine his Scorpio planets so her enthusiasm would spur him on. Her Venus is trine his Scorpio planets for good feelings. What does stand out is her Pluto square his Mars which suggests a power imbalance and underlying fear.

  That Mars Pluto theme repeats in several of his relationships with past girlfriends. The submissive one gets a chance to dominate perhaps? He also appears to pick girl friends who are unlikely to stick around to eternity.

 Gisele Bundchen had her Uranus conjunct his Sun Venus. Bar Refaeli had her Venus opposition his Uranus. Camila Morrone, the latest to leave, has her Saturn opposition his Moon and their relationship chart has a composite Venus square Uranus.

  His relationship chart with his mother is strong on the power-couple energy and possessiveness with a composite Jupiter trine Pluto trine Sun. Plus a dominating Mars square Pluto. There’s a constant oneupmanship battle going on which is clearly never spoken nor even possibly conscious.

  He will have a fear of being trapped with a Moon conjunct Pluto as he was by his mother so when girlfriends get to the stage of being obviously adult or starting to flex their muscles in the relationship it’ll trigger his defences.

  His chart is Water Air – with a Water Grand Trine and a stellium in Libra – which is a difficult combination and a tight-rope act balancing emotions with thinking. He’ll veer between being immersed in feelings or being overly detached – and constantly pulled between the opposites.

  He does have hints of significant emotional change coming up. Tr Uranus will oppose his Venus Sun in 2023; tr Jupiter will move through his 8^th from May 2023 for a year which brings positive emotional changes, fewer defences and maybe insight as he pulls away from the past. Tr Pluto will square his Sun/Moon midpoint in 2024/25 which will force him to face what he wants out of close commitment – it won’t be easy but the end result may bring better connections – and last but not least Uranus moves out of his 8^th in 2025 which will be more settled emotionally thereafter.  

Mikhail Gorbachev described as a “one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history” has died. Celebrated in the west for playing a critical role in ending the Cold War, he was blamed in Russia for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed – glasnost (“openness”) allowing for freedom of speech and perestroika (“restructuring decentralizing economic decision-making “) –  and the sharp drop in the standard of living domestically.

BBC broadcaster John Simpson paid tribute to “a decent, well intentioned, principled man who tried to rescue the unrescuable”. His biographer William Taubman said his main issue was that Russia simply had no real experience with the freedom it was being offered. “He gave us all freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it,” said liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg.

  He was the first and the last president of the Soviet Union, from March 1990 till December 25, 1991 and as Yeltsin and other hardliners took over after a coup he retreated away from front line politics.

  He was born 2 March 1931 in Stavropol with a questionable birth time of 8.30pm and was one of the innovative Depression generation, like Rupert Murdoch born eight days later.  Gorbachev had a confident and lucky Pisces Sun trine Jupiter in Cancer, but his chart was dominated by the signature tough-minded Pluto Mars in Cancer opposition Saturn and Venus in Capricorn square a revolutionary, status-quo-upsetting Uranus in Aries conjunct North Node. His early years were blighted by Stalin’s worst excesses with various relatives being imprisoned, tortured and starved which would make sense of his Mars Pluto Saturn aspects. His Moon in Leo was trine Uranus but otherwise not well integrated into his chart.  

  When the collapse of the USSR came with the fall of the Berlin Wall on 1989, the triple conjunction in Capricorn was in place, with tr Saturn Neptune exactly opposition his Jupiter and then moving in to upend the rest of his Cardinal T square in the years following. His relationship chart with Russia 1917 has a potentially ‘transformational’ composite Sun opposition Pluto and a reforming Pluto trine Uranus. But the power struggle he unleased with Russia’s hardliners saw him defeated.

  His chart is substantially Cardinal giving him initiative and resourcefulness but he was up against Russia’s Fixed energy which tends towards stasis and inertia and resists change.

His get-it-together 5^th harmonic is strongly aspected; as is his rise-and-fall, wheel-of-fortune 10H. His leaving-a-legacy 17H is stressed but his global-eminence 22H is highly positive.

   It can be a problem with an over-active Uranus that it aims to disrupt stuck situations without giving sufficient thought about how to bring about stability on the far side.

  Rupert Sheldrake who has a background in botany once said to me that plant development is a question of the balance between creativity and structure. Which seemed a useful analogy.

  Uranus is creative in introducing change but situations also need stability. Too much change or too fast and it ends in anarchy or chaos, lacking in solidity. Reconstruction needs to follow deconstruction otherwise the phoenix won’t arise from the ashes of the old.      

Add ON: It would have to be said I don’t see what the strong astrological connection between Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan was – though confirmed birth times might help. There were faint traces of amiable feelings with MK’s Sun conjunct RR’s Venus and both trine RR’s Jupiter – and maybe MK’s Jupiter in RR’s 7^th (though birth times are iffy). If anything Gorbachev and Maggie Thatcher, though poles apart politically, had more resonance together. 

  Gorbachev did fit well with the USA chart with his Leo Moon conjunct the USA ‘leadership’ North Node and his reforming Uranus Node square the USA Sun and opposition the USA Saturn.  

Liz Truss, affectionately dubbed ‘the human hand grenade’ by the ever acerbic Dominic Cummings is lurching her way towards No 10, despite misgivings about her erratic and absurd economic policies.

 He reckoned she blew up everything she touched and she’s wasted no time in casting aspersions over Emmanuel Macron, throwing poison darts at the Chinese and Russians and heading for an explosive relationship with Joe Biden and the US. Ukraine and the Northern Ireland Protocol being the initial areas of conflict.

  Born 26 July 1975 Oxford, no birth time, she’s a Sun Leo with two T squares – a Cardinal T Square of Jupiter in confident Aries opposition an adventurous Uranus square a rigid Saturn Mercury in excitable Cancer – and a Mutable T Square of Venus opposition a Pisces Moon square Neptune in Sagittarius.  She’s an odd mid of an executive with organising ability though a tendency to be domineering and overbearing; and a head-in-the-clouds disorganised daydreamer. Plus she has Mars in ultra-stubborn Taurus which I might suspect from her belligerent, combative approach is on the chart axis.

 The USA will be in the firing line of her ire. Her Saturn is conjunct Joe Biden’s Jupiter so she squelches his enthusiasm; her Mars opposes his Scorpio Mars Mercury; and his Saturn is opposition her Neptune and square her Venus – not much love in there.

  Their relationship chart is incendiary and volatile with a composite Mars Uranus conjunction, suggesting two individuals, neither of whom will be happy to compromise. That will blow a fuse this December to mid January and again February to mid March.  At a time when the USA/UK relationship chart is also being upended. Not so much an ice shower falling on the special relationship as light-the-touch-paper and stand back.

  Her connection with Biden also has a tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter square Pluto which suggests a constant jousting for power. There’ll be no room for a win-win in their relations.

 Her relationship chart with the USA is equally stark and hostile with a composite Mars Jupiter opposition Pluto square Saturn, which is under discouraging Saturn transits from early 2023 right through next year.  

  The Conservative Party (1912) is looking less than enthusiastic about her progress with their composite Sun, Saturn, Mars catching an undermining run of Neptune squares until 2024.

  The UK will be having anxious moments about her across the New Year into January and it is essentially a ratchety, irritable, strained relationship.

 What is intriguing is that all of her composite charts – with Biden, the USA, UK, Conservative Party – all have Jupiter Pluto hard aspects. That suggests a thirst for personal power is ingrained in all her relationships. Not even Maggie Thatcher and Tony Blair, both of them micromanaging control-freaks, had such Jupiter Pluto aspects. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

  She is tied into the UK chart with her Sun conjunct the 10^th house UK Jupiter; her Mars in the UK 8^th not far from the UK Mars and in hard aspect to the UK’s financial Neptune and Venus. Most significantly of all her Pluto is conjunct the UK’s Ascendant so she will attempt to railroad changes through which will affect the UK’s image abroad and be felt as coercive and bullying.

  What is floating her boat at the moment against all odds is tr Pluto conjunct her lucky Jupiter/Uranus midpoint which runs out early this December – with a catastrophic tr Pluto opposition her Mars/Pluto picking up on December 9^th running till mid January 2023, and repeating late year; and a depressed slog from mid January, also on and off till late year. Plus a failure-strewn tr Neptune square her Sun/Mars midpoint throughout 2023.

  What is odd is that the two central T squares in her chart – the Cardinal Uranus Jupiter Saturn Mercury and the Mutable Venus, Neptune Moon are colliding at the moment and for the next several years as their Solar Arc positions sit on top of the other T Square. Usually this presages a life-changing crisis – again interesting to watch.

  The November 8^th Lunar Eclipse in Taurus will conjunct her Mars – which will bring a shock, an over hasty reactions and arguments running on for months thereafter.

   She is volunteering for a poisoned chalice given the economic calamity the UK and elsewhere are facing but her approach won’t bring too many remedies. Making relations with the USA and the EU worse is hardly helpful in these troubled times.

Add On: The major thorn in her side in domestic politics is likely to be not the leader of the Opposition but Mick Lynch, spokesman for the Rail Union, who is speaking up for struggling workers in every industry. Not even Maggie Thatcher’s relationship with miners’ leader Arthur Scargill was as bad.

 Lynch’s Saturn in Aquarius opposes her Leo Sun and her Saturn in Cancer opposes his Capricorn Sun. His Neptune opposes her Mars and his Pluto is conjunct her Venus, square her Neptune opposition her Moon. Saturn criticises and sets up barriers. Neptune undermines. Pluto controls. If the outcome wasn’t so serious, it would be good spectator sport.

 That translates into an astoundingly difficult relationship chart. With a locked together, fated, deeply frustrating and self-defeating Yod onto Saturn inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune, with Saturn opposition Sun.  For good or for ill, individuals with a Yodal relationship chart have their destiny intertwined.  

  Tr Pluto is bearing inexorably down on the composite Yod, squaring the Sun and Saturn through this year till late 2023 – depressing, discouraging and an unrelenting battle. With a worrisome tr Saturn square Neptune on one leg of the Yod in early 2023; and tr Uranus in a highly-strung opposition in 2024. The other leg of the Yod is catching the undermining tr Neptune opposition to Pluto and Uranus now till 2025. As if that wasn’t enough tr Pluto will square the composite Mercury from March 2023 till late 2024 for bitter arguments and hostile discussions.

  See previous Mick Lynch post 15 August 2022. He does have a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo as Maggie Thatcher did – born to be out front.  Liz Truss’s North Node is Scorpio – born to be embroiled in endless arguments until she learns to let go.  

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Leaving a legacy that dominates a culture for decades is a rare talent. Nearly fifty years after his death the genius of J.R.R.Tolkien is still capturing attention with a new Amazon TV series The Rings of Power out.

  Tolkien’s achievement in The Lord of the Rings was to create a mythology, a high fantasy world with a detailed history for Middle-earth, a complete language for his elves and a set of archetypes for a whole range of fantastical creatures. His books went on to generate a vast sub-culture of fans for other-worldly mediaeval fiction, films and video games and inspired later writers.

 Tolkien was born 3 January 1892 10 pm Bloemfontein, South Africa, and moved to England when he was three after his father died. His mother died when he was 12 and he was put under the guardianship of a Roman Catholic priest. WW1 interrupted his studies and he returned from the front line with trench fever, which cut short his military career. He became a philologist and professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford. Along with serious academic writings, he started work on The Lord of the Rings and eventually became successful and almost a cult figure.

  He had a serious Capricorn Sun in his entertaining 5^th house which was sextile Mars in Scorpio and, if the birth time is accurate, that was inconjunct the Midheaven and widely inconjunct Pluto Neptune in Gemini.  His prominent Neptune Pluto in the 9^th house which rules higher education and publishing fits an academic and a fantasy writer – and his Neptune Pluto was in a communicative Air Grand Trine to Venus in Aquarius and Saturn in Libra.  

  His Jupiter and Moon in Pisces were square his Pluto Neptune giving him confidence and an active imagination. Jupiter trine his Mars gave him vitality and an appetite for adventure.

  His 4^th house Mercury in Capricorn gave him an interest in his roots and lineage and no doubt spurred on his interest in creating a mythology for England. His Mercury was sextile Uranus and inconjunct Neptune Pluto, channelling even more energy through that iconic and supernaturally-inclined combination.

  Not surprisingly his leaving-a-legacy for history 17^th harmonic is strong; as was his writer’s 21H; and even more so his global reputation 22^nd harmonic.

  A fascinating man.  

Twenty five years on the memory of Princess Diana burns brightly and still raises strong reactions. She died on 31 August 1997 in Paris, causing worldwide shock and an outpouring of grief in the UK. 2 billion people watched her funeral on television.

  She died two days before an 18 North Solar Eclipse in the same Saros cycle as the previous one which oversaw the death of the Queen’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, killed by an IRA bomb while holidaying in Ireland. This Saros cycle usually accompanies illness or accidents and is given to obsessive worry. Eclipses repeat in the same cycle every 18.5 years approximately and this one has particular relevance for the Royal Family.  It was the closest to the birth of Lady Diana Spencer in 1961.

  Eclipses marked her life as she was married two days before an eclipse on 31 July 1981, a service watched by a global audience of 700 million people. This cycle, not seen as a luck-bringer, puts pressure on personal relationships, with the caution that hasty decisions are not wise since information is distorted and possibly false. Tiredness or health problems are also associated with it.

  Prince William, the eldest son and heir to the throne in succession to his father, was born on the day of a solar eclipse in June 1982. This series is challenging in effect, dealing with separations or the ending of a union, although the long-term outcome is hopeful.

  Born 1 July 1961 7.45pm (memory) Sandringham, England, Diana had a charming and people-oriented 7^th house Cancer Sun and Mercury so was adept at making everyone she met feel special; and in trine to Neptune would give her a healing presence. Her 5^th house Venus would also give her a radiant and entertaining glow. She needed a stabilising partner in life but she would be conflicted and contradictory emotionally. Her yearning for Watery togetherness sat uneasily with a maverick Aquarius Moon in a freedom-loving opposition to Uranus square Venus conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol. And she had an angry, argumentative 9^th house Mars Pluto in Virgo. On the one hand this gave her the ability to spread a message to a wide audience about the tragedy of AIDS and landmines, dark subjects the public would otherwise have turned away from. But it would also give her considerable inner turmoil, resentment and hostility.

 She was also born with a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn/Aquarius, which for a very few individuals ties them into the spirit of the age and whose lives seem marked out by destiny. Messiahs in their own sphere, they carry the hopes of their era. John Lennon was born in 1940 with Jupiter–Saturn in Taurus and became the unlikely hero of a generation. The Beatles’ debut occurred on the 1960 Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Capricorn, and his death on the conjunction in Libra in 1980.

  Similarly, Diana, born on a waning Jupiter–Saturn conjunction, was married in 1980 during the exact Jupiter–Saturn conjunction but never quite made it to the next one in 2000.

  What appears to happen is their Jupiterian fame pitches them too high into the realm of the gods and Saturn, the grim reaper, comes into play to cut them down to size as mere mortals. Most US presidents in the past 200 years who were inaugurated on a Jupiter Saturn conjunctions were either assassinated, survived an assassination attempt or died while in office.

  When Diana died, most significantly tr Pluto was putting pressure on her natal Mars Pluto conjunction – building up from the previous year, so she would be amped up, feeling trapped and not thinking clearly, driven by her demons. She also had tr Neptune conjunct her Saturn which brings great uncertainty; and an accident-prone tr Uranus opposition her Sun/Mars midpoint. Strangely she also had tr Uranus conjunct her Jupiter which is usually associated with luck and relief from tension though it may also have stoked her high-spirited streak into taking risks.  

 On her astrocartography, the United States would be where her Cancerian sun shone at its brightest. A glittering public career would have been guaranteed and her Jupiter (easy) on the I. C. (home) line runs through New York and down to the Bahamas, both places where she was happy to relax and feel accepted. Her Venus (love, affection, indulgence) on the I. C. (home) line, and the Jupiter ascendant (confidence-bringer) line both run through Egypt, the home of Dodi Al Fayed. Her Sun I. C. line (spiritual home) runs through India where she frequently visited Mother Teresa, and which was also the home of one close friend, an Indian heart doctor, after her separation from Prince Charles. Her Neptune (sacrifice, pity for the suffering) midheaven line runs through Africa, as does her Jupiter ascendant, giving her confidence to raise her land-mine campaign to international notice. Her other Jupiter midheaven and Neptune descendant lines, with much the same meaning, run through the Far East, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, suggesting she had much to do in future in this mine-strewn area before her life was cut short. She had Pluto cross lines (‘parans’) through Paris, northern France, and significantly through the Mediterranean, the scene of sailing holidays a few weeks before her death, hinting that this was not a safe area for her. Jupiter in the midheaven crossing her Venus ascendant also in the Mediterranean zone perhaps distracted her, suggesting as it does glittering acclaim, a glitzy lifestyle and a good deal of lavish indulgence.

Her Sun fell on the UK midheaven so she was a guiding star for her time.

Add On: Penny Thornton wrote to me suggesting a 2.10pm birth time which she resourced from Diana’s personal comment to her that she was born just before a Wimbledon match.

https://www.astrolutely.com/the-princess-of-wales-time-of-birth/

It would give her a charming Libra Ascendant and put her passionate Venus in the 8^th; with her Moon on the cusp of the 5^th house ruling parties and children. A much-travelled Sun in the 9^th’ influential-out-in-society Mars Pluto in the 11^th though also difficult friendships.

 When she died tr Neptune would have been crossing the IC and tr Saturn crossing the Descendant. When she married tr Uranus would have been trine the MC and Solar Arc Pluto sextile the MC – certainly feasible.  

  The high-tension, unsettled and economically challenging Saturn Uranus square which haunted last year has another few months to run. The final exact aspect falls this October and by January 2023 it is out of orb. Though the Eclipse effect will carry resonances of it further ahead.

 Ebertin describes Saturn Uranus as irritability and inhibition, tensions, kicking against limitations on freedom and separations. But also the power to endure and cope; growth of strength through overcoming difficulties and dangerous situations.

  Levels of anxiety are peaking globally at the moment which will come from a mix of Astro-influences, some of which affect individual countries more than others. The shift of Pluto into another sign will be part of the high uncertainty as the celestial tectonic plates prepare for a move. The June 2022 Cancer Ingress chart also had a Mars square Pluto to add to Saturn Uranus, adding another layer of fear and desperation.

 The upcoming Cardinal Ingress charts from 23 September for Libra and 21 December 2022 for Capricorn will still have the Saturn Uranus stamp but without Mars Pluto and will have the addition of easy-going, lucky Sun Jupiter contacts so should be marginally less stressful. [Caveat: I don’t put much store by Ingress charts which can be so-so in terms of useful information.]

  Eclipse charts tend to make more sense. The previous late April 2022 Taurus Solar Eclipse was in a series which highlighted the unreliability of authority figures. The upcoming late October Solar Eclipse at 2 degrees Scorpio is in a Saros Series hinting at forceful even manic activity intent on taking power – and huge efforts in group activity. Which might, in the UK’s case, be when public tolerance snaps over energy prices and inept government. The tr Uranus opposition the 2^nd house UK Neptune picking up this July, running on exactly now and repeating in early 2023, certainly mirrors the extreme concern over impossibly high living costs.

  The October Solar Eclipse has the almost exact Saturn square Uranus plus two quincunxes of Mars to Pluto and Jupiter to the New Moon – a mix of extreme aggravation and grandstanding on the part of some.

  The October Scorpio Eclipse will have an impact on the Royal Family since the Queen’s Taurus Sun, Prince Charles’ Taurus Moon and Prince William’s Scorpio Midheaven Jupiter (and Prince Harry’s Pluto) will all be in close aspect and triggered by it.  Boris Johnson’s Zero degree Scorpio Moon will also be shaken up.

  The Lunar Eclipse of 8 November at 16 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus and square Saturn may well be the more powerful of the two. The Mars quincunx Pluto is still in place, along with Saturn square Uranus emphasized by the Lunar Eclipse closely entangled, with a financial-bubble-bursting Jupiter Neptune conjunction.

  It will have a considerable impact on various countries – Ukraine with its 10^th house Pluto catching it and Russia’s Scorpio Sun (with Moscow sitting under part of the Eclipse path). China will get a sobering reality check as its Saturn is elbowed. The EU and UK will catch both the Solar and Lunar Eclipses in its financial houses; and Germany, and Italy will be particularly aware of the Lunar Eclipse.

  No greatly reassuring conclusions except that the April 2022 Solar Eclipse’s focus on unreliable leaders was all too accurate. There will clearly be a few more humps and bumps before we clear this phase.