Brad and Jen – the beautiful dream

The beautiful couple came together briefly at the recent SAG awards which sent the celebrity magazines into a frenzy. Will Jennifer and Brad get back together? One of the most adored couples in Hollywood left fans bereft when they split in 2005 as Brad sailed off into the sunset with Angelina Jolie, from whom he has now de-coupled.

All froth and glitter but a curiously persistent fan-dream.

They should have been the perfect match with his Sagittarius Sun conjunct her Moon and his Moon Venus in Capricorn trine her Pluto. And his Jupiter in Aries conjunct her Venus. There are a few less helpful crossovers with her Yod focal point Saturn in Aries squaring his Moon Venus and blocking his emotional needs, perhaps with too many work commitments. His Saturn in Aquarius is conjunct her Sun and square her Mars (Neptune) in Scorpio which also suggests defensive barriers and obstacles to emotional warmth from heavy workloads. Her Pluto on his Midheaven would tempt her to be overly controlling. And his Mars is in a volatile, disruptive square to her Uranus Jupiter and Venus which would bring pluses and minuses – adventure and fun though it’d be erratic and unstable as well.

What wouldn’t help was that both their Sun/Moon midpoints, the significator for close partnerships, aren’t wonderfully aspected. His is square a competitive and argumentative Mars; and hers is in a downbeat square Saturn. It goes back to the old rule of thumb about astro-relationships. No matter how positive certain planetary connections are if the individuals are not designed or minded to relate then it won’t work.

Their synastry, all things considered, is reasonably positive. But their composite chart is in the never-in-a-month-of-Sundays-will-this-last category. On the upside there’s a mild but amiable composite Jupiter opposition Moon trine Venus – and an impossible, volcanic and unfixable composite Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars. When they split in early 2005 tr Pluto has been grinding its way in hard aspect to Uranus, Pluto, Saturn and Mars, really since early on in the marriage.

Tr Neptune is now dissolving its way round Mars at the moment and then Pluto, Saturn later this year and Uranus in 2021. It could soften the deep-seated anger issues but more likely will bring disappointment. So I fear a rapprochement won’t happen any time soon or ever.

Fred Rogers & Tom Hanks – ‘the nicest men’

A schmaltzy feel-good movie starring Tom Hanks has been an unlikely critical and box office success. ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ about American children’s TV presenter of yesteryear Fred Rogers has been described as “a really entertaining and touching film” with “a powerfully affecting message about acceptance and understanding.” It pits a hard-bitten reporter from a dysfunctional family against Rogers, who was a national treasure in the US, admired for the way he encouraged children and adults to talk and think about their feelings using puppets. All attempts to dig dirt on Rogers fails with his antagonist finally admitting “he’s just about the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Rogers’ show ran from 1968 to 2001.

Born 20 March 1928 8.20am Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with a businessman father and a charitably-oriented mother, Fred Rogers was a shy, introverted, overweight and bullied child who isolated himself and played with puppets. He emerged to take a degree in musical composition and was ordained as a minister. He went into television since he thought he could use the medium to help nurture young children. His show emphasized young children’s social and emotional needs, unlike Sesame Street, which focused on cognitive learning and it continued unchanged for over thirty years.

He had his Sun in final degree Pisces conjunct Uranus in Aries with Moon, Venus, Mercury also in Pisces and all in the 11th house of friends and the wider society. He was clearly innovative with Uranus there, but in a softly Piscean way – and musical. His Jupiter in the 12th would give him an inner peace that others would envy. He also had a fated Yod of an ambitious and uncompromising Mars in Aquarius in the 10th sextile a reserved 8th house Saturn inconjunct Pluto in the communication 3rd. A focal point Pluto would give him an intensity and depth awareness of others but also an ability to withdraw into himself. Handled well such a Pluto can help bring in a new order of things, though its downside is a tendency to manipulate. His Pluto was also in a pushily confident square to Jupiter and trine his Moon. His Saturn in the 8th squared his Moon and widely his Sun, making him emotionally reserved and a workaholic. Saturn in the 8th also points to a grandfather prominent in his childhood. His ‘niceness’ was backed by a powerful personality.

Tom Hanks, born 9 July 1956 5.17 pm Concord, California, would have some empathy for Rogers since he was also a shy and unpopular child at school with religious leanings. He is also Watery, with a Cancer Sun and Mercury, Mars in Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio – and Hanks also has Jupiter in his 12th. Not precisely the same but reasonably similar.

Boris Johnson – can he make Brexit work?

 

All is going spiffingly well in Boris-land as the long-dangled carrot of Brexit is finally within reach. A right-wing commentator remarked after Davos that Britain is the most stable country in Europe. Other bystanders remark more sourly that having won the prize Boris has no idea of what to do next, either internally or EU-wise.

His personal chart is about to lose the panic-struck tr Neptune square his Mars/Node which greeted his election and has been around since so there’s no doubt his victory induced a degree of high anxiety. His central T square of Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Mars has moved by Solar Arc to catch downbeat tr Saturn hard aspects off and on all year; with a discouraging tr Saturn square his Moon in late March/early April, again in the second half of June. That may be partly due to family problems given that his divorce is (I think) still not finalised. He certainly looks sombre in these two phases.

He will get a lift from tr Pluto trine his Mars/Jupiter midpoint, now through February and again later in the year; though there’ll also be upsets and relationship separations in March, April and across the next New Year. Plus, if his birth time is accurate, a jolting Solar Arc conjunct his Uranus, exact within six months. Again birth time being accurate his Progressed Moon is now moving through his 2nd house of finances for two years ahead, perhaps an indication he is feeling the pinch having had to give up his lucrative journalistic contracts.

What may be more significant are the influences on his Government chart, 13 December 2019 11am London, which point to a run of losses and waning powers, exactly now through February; and worsening in March and October to late January 2021. These may coincide with disasters which will cause major confusion. But also suggests a less than decisive grip on sorting problems, with a tendency to act deviously.

Where his Government chart and indeed the UK chart show up most muddle and trepidation is in 2021 and 2022. His Government chart has tr Neptune square the Sun from late March 2021 onwards running till early 2022 which will be lacklustre and indecisive. The tough Saturn Venus Pluto conjunction will move to exact by Solar Arc in 2021/22 which will be exceptionally challenging and not a little depressing with mountains to climb. Tr Uranus opposes the Mars for high insecurity and a shocking jolt in 2022 when tr Uranus is also in hard aspect to Boris’s over-hopeful, head-in-the-clouds Neptune opposition Jupiter.

The UK chart is muddling through this year with a few dips in late March/early April and the second half of June as tr Saturn squares the 10th house Jupiter; and seriously bad-tempered and argumentative as the Solar Arc Mars is conjunct the 3rd house Mercury exact in late year. But again it is 2021/22 when a much less appealing scenario starts to unfold. Tr Neptune will square the Mars/Jupiter midpoint from late March 2021 for a confidence dent and bubble bursting phase running into early 2022; with losses from tr Uranus square Jupiter/Saturn midpoint from mid year onwards till early 2022. Though it’s the potentially catastrophic tr Uranus conjunct the 8th house UK Mars from May 2021 onwards into 2022 which could cause most aggro – this is likely to be to do with international trade as well as being prone to disasters and major accidents. Plus tr Pluto squares the Uranus/Neptune midpoints which Ebertin describes as “At the mercy of external circumstances, unable to make a firm stand, calamities and great losses.’ Even give Ebertin’s somewhat overly melodramatic interpretations it doesn’t look calm and productive through 2021/22.

John Bolton – threatening to blow up the impeachment trial

 

John Bolton’s book disclosure that the president tied military aid to Ukraine to investigations of Democrats, undercutting Trump’s denial defence, has been described as a “bombshell with political shrapnel going in all directions.” Before it was leaked, the Senate impeachment trial was speeding to an acquittal. Now Trump lawyers and Senate Republicans are preparing for the possibility that witnesses will be summoned — dragging out the trial for days or weeks.

Bolton, born 20 November 1948 in Baltimore, a foreign policy hawk, replaced HR McMaster (who replaced Michael Flynn) as National Security Adviser in 2018. He lasted sixteen months before exiting – Trump said fired, Bolton said resigned.

He’s a late Sun Scorpio inconjunct Uranus with Mercury also in Scorpio in an argumentative and unyielding square to Pluto.

His Mars in Sagittarius in a volatile, uncompromising opposition to Uranus clashes with Trump’s Sun and Moon so it was always going to be a competitive, combative relationship with volcanic flare-ups.

Bolton looks geared up and in confident forward-gear through February and again later in the year with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. Though he will have setbacks late March/early April and late June.

What is more significant is his relationship chart with Trump which indicates distinct aggravation February 11 to 19, repeating late August and again late October to November 12th over the election, with tr Saturn square the composite Mars. There’s also a disastrous and panicky mood in their relations from late March until late August and repeating late January to March 2021 with tr Neptune opposing the composite Mars/Pluto and Mars/Saturn midpoints. So Bolton could do real damage.

Bolton’s interface with Mitch McConnell is chilly, suspicious and unstable to start with having a composite Sun opposition Saturn square Neptune; and Uranus (Moon) opposition Venus square Mars. And there are a raft of separating tr Saturn hard aspects to four composite midpoints throughout the year with a flare up in late May; recurring late October to mid November across the election.

Interesting turn of events and could throw a real spanner in the works.

If responding and you’re more than welcome I’d be grateful if you’d restrict comments to either astrological ones; and/or brief informative AND dispassionate political ones. If you’re feeling enraged, aggravated or overly excited, please take several deep breaths and go for a nature walk.

Kobe Bryant – a Virgo superstar

Kobe Bryant, considered one of the greatest basketball players ever, who over twenty seasons with the Lakers racked up multiple wins and championships, has been killed in a helicopter crash in fog. His 13 year old daughter Gianna and seven others were also killed.

He was born 23 August 1978 5pm Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (time unverified) with a professional basketball father and uncle, and grew up partly in Italy, where his father played latterly. He started playing basketball at 3 and studied videos of games his grandfather sent him.

He was a serious Sun Saturn in Virgo – in the 8th if this birth time is correct which would fit with a goal-oriented grandfather. He had a do-or-die determined and intensely charming Mars Pluto Venus in Libra in the 9th house of foreign countries and communication. With a maverick Uranus in the 10th, marking out a career away from the ordinary for him, in an emotionally unpredictably opposition to an indulgent and possessive 4th house Taurus Moon. He certainly had the drive and discipline to mark out his own path.

While there is never any reliable way of predicting death he did have his Solar Arc Sun Saturn crossing his Mars Pluto over several years around now – so whatever happened he would have been at a critical turning point. These are the two main aspects in his chart and when they come together it usually points to a phase of rolling crises.

Billie Eilish – dark star shines bright

Teenage pop star Billie Eilish swept the board at the 2020 Grammys, winning five awards, including best new artist and song of the year. Her elder brother, Finneas O’Connell picked up producer of the year for his work on her album. She appeared overwhelmed by her wins and said earlier that she felt like an impostor. “I feel like I’m not supposed to be here,” she joked. “I feel like they accidentally let in a fan.”

“We didn’t make this album to win a Grammy,” said her brother, “We wrote an album about depression and suicidal thoughts and climate change and being a bad guy, whatever that means.”

She has tr Jupiter conjunct her Solar Arc Midheaven around now and conjunct her Solar Arc Sun in February, so she’ll be on a high but also almost certainly confused since she has an extraordinarily heavy and conflicted chart with her Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars in Pisces.

From a previous post: JULY 3 2019

Billie Eilish was another standout at Glastonbury. Despite being only 17 she’s been around on the scene for three years and has seven gold and two platinum singles to her name.

Suzanne Moore in the Guardian described her as ‘ a dark star. In control, but slightly out of it. Scarily good at tapping into the angsty teenage girl in all of us.’ She wears baggy clothes she says to attract attention and not be body-shamed.

Born 18 December 2001 at 11.30 am Los Angeles, with two entertainment business parents, she was home schooled and began singing and writing songs early, following in her older brother’s footsteps. She has said she suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome and depression.

She has a 10th house ambitious Sagittarius Sun and Venus sextile a quirky Uranus and Mercury in Capricorn also in the 10th – so is designed to communicate and be in the public eye. Her difficulties will stem in part from a 3rd house Saturn opposition Pluto square a 12th house Mars in musical Pisces – that carries a considerable amount of rage and inner conflict. Saturn Pluto can be prone to discouragement and Mars Pluto can get both scared and deeply frustrated. Not an easy burden to carry.

She will be charming with Venus on her midheaven and rather ethereal with her Aquarius Moon conjunct Neptune; as well as confident with her Jupiter opposition Mercury and trine Mars. But that Mutable Pluto Saturn Mars T Square is quite a cross to carry.

With Jupiter moving through her 10th now for another year, she should be on a high, and will probably stay prominent for another few years. But may take a break a la Kate Bush to recuperate at some point.

Add On: Her brother Finneas O’Connell, 30 July 1997, also has a highly stressed Mars which is opposition Saturn square Neptune, which points like his sister to deep-seated anger issues and a sense of an under-nurturing childhood. The parents Patrick O’Connell and Maggie Baird are both minor actor/musicians who decided to home school them having seen a successful musical act of kids who had also been brought up away from mainstream education. In what sounds like a hot house environment one report has them sharing a four person bed until Finneas was 10 and Billie would be six. If true that is definitely not recommended in the psych books and would certainly skew their Mars which rules the libido and fuels anger.

Dates are from the net but if sound, Patrick is 7 July 1977, a controlling Sun Cancer square Pluto, with a hard-edged Mars in Taurus square Saturn. His relationship with Maggie, 30 March 1977, is hugely fraught with a composite Mars trine Saturn trine Neptune with Mars opposition Pluto; ditto with Billie and Finneas.

Maggie is also controlling with her Aries Sun opposition Pluto and trine Saturn and Neptune; with has an even more stressed Mars which is on the focal point of a Yod to Saturn sextile Pluto. Her relationship charts with both children, especially Billie, reflect all that churning conflict.

These kids will need a lot of healing as they move into adulthood and it’s not easy to move away from these ‘tight’, enmeshed families since the only way of coping early on is to sugar-coat the pill and see the parents as supportive and kind. Facing the reality is acutely painful and scar.

Billie and her brother have a much more enthusiastic and less stressed relationship.

Gwyneth Paltrow – the powerhouse behind the parody

 

The weird, wonderful, much parodied as well as hugely successful whacko pseudo-health trip that is Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop has made it via Netflix onto television. It started as a newsletter more than a decade ago and morphed into a substantial ecommerce business. A health researcher described it as the “the wellness version of fake news”. One TV review said: ‘This programme is mesmerising in its fakeness and emptiness’; another called it ‘a demented paean to self-indulgence.’ Camilla Long in the Times remarks: ‘My undying hatred of her shallow world of new-age falafel and vacant crystal capitalism is far outweighed by my sheer admiration for anyone who can persuade other unhappy, scared women in their forties that they will feel much better if they buy a $244 toothpaste squeezer.’ The medical profession are up in arms at some of Goop’s suggested life and fitness-enhancing remedies. Perhaps why each episode includes a disclaimer: The show is meant to “entertain and inform, not provide medical advice.”

She was born, 27 September 1972 5.25pm Los Angeles, California, into a showbusiness family and has had a spectacularly successful, award-strewn acting career – Shakespeare in Love, The Talented My Ripley – and more recently in Marvel movies. She dated Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, married musician Chris Martin from whom she ‘consciously uncoupled’ and then hitched to producer Brad Falchuk. She is an intense and controlling Sun Pluto in Libra in her 7th conjunct Mars in late Virgo, so not easy when it comes to close relationships.

Her restless Gemini Moon is widely conjunct Saturn in the 4th and trine an 8th house Uranus Mercury in Libra – highly-strung, fairly unpredictable mood-wise. Saturn in the 4th suggests a childhood where work took precedence and that will have extended into her adult life. She has a lucky, successful 10th house Jupiter in a pushily confident square to her Sun, Pluto, Mars – so she’s not short of chutzpah though I imagine difficult to warm to at close quarters. When she launched Goop tr Pluto would be conjunct her 10th house Jupiter which would provide an auspicious start.

An oddity but she seems to sail blithely on ignoring all the nay-sayers and raking in the profits.

Gene Hackman – least likely to long lasting

 

Gene Hackman is 90 this week and was a Hollywood stalwart for decades, despite being voted ‘least likely to succeed’ by his acting school peers along with Dustin Hoffman. He had a tough start in life with an abusive, angry father who walked out on the family when he was 13 and was a troubled youth. He volunteered at 16 for the marines for adventure and ran into problems with authority figures there. His early twenties were rootless but he stuck at acting until he broke through in Bonnie and Clyde in a supporting role, going on to the successful French Connection and Mississippi Burning amongst others.

Friends describe him variously as “a tormented guy, always into his own space, his own thing”; full of “great joie de vivre”; an inveterate “loner”. His volatile bust-ups with directors prompted the nickname “Vesuvius” – although he was forgiven for his temper tantrums. One said: “There’s something very charismatic in him, even when he’s being his worst.” Kevin Costner said: “Gene was simply the best actor I worked with.” He retired some years ago.

Born 30 January 1930 7.45 am San Bernadino, California, he has a charmingly stubborn 12th house Sun Venus and Moon in Aquarius, making him creative and reclusive at times; with his Sun Venus in an amiable and lucky trine to Jupiter. His argumentative Mars Mercury in Capricorn opposes a 5th house Pluto which will give him a volcanic temper, a legacy of his dominating father. Pluto in the performing 5th would prompt him towards an audience-attracting career. His Saturn square Uranus will make him fairly autocratic. He’s quite a mass of contradictions.

His actor’s 15th Harmonic is notable, as his leaving-a-legacy 17H and his superstar 22H.

China coronavirus – stirring dystopian fears

 

The coronavirus lockdown in China has extended to more cities affecting 56 million inhabitants. Confirmed cases in China are officially given as 1250 with 41 deaths, though that is assumed to be an under estimate; with further cases in other countries. The Daily Mail is, naturally, on an alarmist kick with headlines about a possible 65 million deaths.

The previous SARS epidemic in 2003 was contracted by 8000 people with 775 dying, mainly old and very young.

There is remarkably little showing on the China 1 October 1949 chart apart from tr Saturn Pluto moving through the 12th conjunct Jupiter as the outbreak started; and Progressed Moon conjunct the 7th house Pluto (Mars) which will pass by reasonably quickly.

The China 1 January 1912 chart for the creation of the Republic (Nick Campion) is more illuminating. The tr Saturn Pluto conjunction was opposition the Neptune earlier this month which suggests devastation and confusion; with a disruptive Solar Arc Sun square Uranus approaching within a few months to exact; preceded by a jolting tr Saturn conjunct the Uranus in late February and on and off all year. Plus a high-risk tr Pluto trine Mars picking up late February running till late 2021.

When the similar SARS epidemic occurred in 2003 there was a Saturn opposition Pluto and a very wide Saturn trine Neptune. Traditionally major epidemics were connected to Saturn Neptune conjunctions of which there is one up and coming in 2026 in Aries. But it isn’t around at the moment. This year certainly looks high stress with Saturn Pluto and Mars crashing around in Aries but not Saturn Neptune. So cross fingers it may be like SARS and peter out eventually.

Below excerpt from The Astrological History of the World:

The dual face of Saturn–Neptune in providing practical care for the suffering and in the insidious undermining of the body’s health both find a place in world history. An epidemic of St Vitus Dance (chorea) broke out in Europe in 1021 when Saturn and Neptune were together in Aquarius; the disease causes involuntary jerky movements and leads to brain deterioration, and was so called because victims prayed to St Vitus, the patron saint of dance.

The plague that devastated Europe and Asia during the 1340s was marked by the Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Aquarius of 1344, and the Uranus–Pluto conjunction at the same time. The outbreak of bubonic plague in London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London a year later both took place when Saturn and Neptune were together in Capricorn.

In 1846 in Aquarius, widespread famine in Ireland followed the failure of the potato crop. During the 1917 and 1918 conjunction in Leo, there were massive casualties in the First World War, especially at Passchendaele, and the Spanish ‘flu epidemic of 1918 killed 20 million in Europe, the United States and India. By the conjunction of the late 1980s in Capricorn, the AIDS virus was running amok, causing countless deaths in Africa, Europe and the United States.

Medical advances are also highlighted under Saturn–Neptune, with the physicians’ meeting place in Rome, the Schola Medicorum, being set up in ad 17 in Sagittarius; in 1739 in Cancer, the London Foundling Hospital was established; and by 1881 in Taurus, Louis Pasteur had discovered the anthrax vaccine.