Marjorie

English adventurer and endurance athlete Ross Edgley has become the first person to swim 1,780-miles around Great Britain. He left Margate on 1 June, and has not set foot on land since, swimming for up to 12 hours a day and eating more than 500 bananas. He has battled strong tides and currents in cold water, braved storms and jellyfish, leaving him with shoulder pain, wetsuit chafing and a tongue partially disintegrated from salt water exposure.

He is already in the Guinness Book of World Records after completing a rope climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest in 19 hours in April 2016, two months after doing a marathon while pulling a car.

He prepared by eating 15,000 calories a day to bulk up and swimming 30-50 km a day. All his food on the journey will be liquidised and fed to him in a piping bag because his tongue and throat are likely to swell in reaction to the salt water; and the temperature of the water could give him acute jaw-lock.  He swam for six hours, slept for six hours on the support boat and then swim for six again; and seemed sanguine about the dangers of the trip. ‘Inevitably, the body is going to break down after a so many days at sea. I’m making peace with that. I’m probably going to return a broken man.’

Born 13 October 1985, he’s a Sun Libra, a sign surprisingly often found in athletes, giving the lie to the ‘lazy Libra’ tag. His maverick Uranus is sextile his Sun and square a high-octane and passionately enthusiastic Mars and Venus in Virgo.  His Mars Venus are also sextile an obsessive Saturn in Scorpio. And an ultra-determined Pluto Mercury in Scorpio is in a confident and rules-don’t-apply-to-me square to Jupiter.  His get-it-together 5^th harmonic is well aspected and innovative; as is his can-be-fanatical 11H. His stamina-giving 16^th harmonic is also marked.

He started out with the challenging tr Pluto square his Sun and finished up with tr Jupiter conjunct his successful-enterprise Mars/Jupiter midpoint.

When he set out on June 1^st (no time that I can find) Uranus was opposition the North Node squaring onto Mars in Aquarius which has caused so much disruption out in the world during his swim. He just found a better way of handling it to set a new record. Plus fittingly enough a Water Grand Trine which could have been delusional with Jupiter trine Neptune, but it was tied into a Kite with Pluto the driving planet, so determination turned a dream into reality.

Pic: Red Bull.

Jupiter moves into Sagittarius this coming Thursday November 8^th to stay for a year. Given that Jupiter’s shift into Scorpio last October coincided to the day with Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker expose of Weinstein, kicking the #metoo campaign into gear, it’s worth looking out for a zeitgeist moment.

Jupiter in mythology is Zeus, King of the Gods who sits on top of Mount Olympus.  As an astrological influence it is idealistic, expansive, a bringer of knowledge, emphasises morality and honour – can also be self-righteous, narrow minded or overly confident. Scorpio, of course, rules sexuality and money.

Sagittarius, Jupiter’s natural home, is a different energy, concerned with legality, social order, widescale communication, international affairs.

Looking back to the two previous times of Jupiter in Sagittarius – keep in mind there will have been other planetary influences running as well. November 23 2006 to late 2007. In the UK it started badly with Alexander Litvinenko’s death from Kremlin-orchestrated polonium poisoning; a bomb attempt at the North Ireland Assembly; and a run of prostitute murders by the Ipswich killer; with the cash-for-honours scandal in 2007 and Tony Blair standing down. In the USA in the Mid Terms the Democrats took control of both houses. The USA housing bubble burst leading to the great 2008 crash. Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker; Obama announced his candidacy.

The previous time: December 1994 to December 1995. There was a major LA earthquake (though that was more likely connected to a Uranus Neptune conjunction and Saturn square Pluto). Nicole Brown was murdered leading to the subsequent OJ Simpson trial in October 1994, known as the trial of the century.  In the UK, Barings Bank collapsed because of a rogue trader. Princess Diana shocked the nation with her Panorama interview. And the UK had its own grisly trial of Rosemary West for sexual abuse and murder of girls, after the suicide in prison of her equally culpable husband Fred (again that was at least as much connected to a virulent Mars Pluto conjunction in late Scorpio).

Anyways, interesting to see what Zeus’ thunderbolt will produce.

David Cameron, former PM who pressed the button on the Brexit referendum then resigned in the aftermath of a result he hadn’t expected, has let it be known that he’s bored witless and would like to return to front line politics – to loud guffaws from the media and cartoonists.

I would have to confess I never quite ‘got’ Cameron either in the political flesh or astrologically. The charm and smarm is obvious from a Sun Venus in Libra and a Moon Jupiter in Leo in an over-promising square to Mercury in Scorpio. What runs across that grain is a leading-edge, revolutionary Uranus Pluto in Virgo is a persevering and depressive opposition to Saturn, sextile/trine Neptune – and if his birth time of 5.30am is accurate, square a Gemini midheaven. With Neptune opposition an 8^th house Node in Taurus widely square a 12^th house Mars in Leo.  It’s almost as if he has three completely different strands to his character which have never quite integrated – all that showed was the outer shell with no real inner substance.

What certainly didn’t help him, birth time being sound, is he was elected PM when tr Saturn was on his Ascendant moving downwards through his First Quadrant which is usually a time of mis-steps on the ambition front and ego-dents.  He’s out of that from late last year so will want to be more visible in the outside world in the years ahead.

But feeding his ego isn’t where it’s at until tr Neptune heads out of Pisces in the mid 2020s since it’s moving through his 6^th and opposing his Pluto, Uranus, conjunct his Saturn and square his midheaven from 2020 till 2024. He be better advised to go down the David Milliband route onto an international humanitarian track.

Cameron looks discouraged and nervy this year and next; seriously jangled in 2020. He’ll get some lift from tr Uranus square his Jupiter in early 2019 but that’s about it.

He isn’t quite as disliked by the UK as Tony Blair – Blair’s relationship chart with the UK makes you wonder how he ever got elected with a composite Uranus opposition Mercury square Mars Pluto. Cameron’s relationship with the UK show some positives and a resentful stuck-with-him-for-now but there’s no indication of a shit there. His relationship charts with the Conservative Party 1912 and 1867 are definitely in the never-again category.

It’s not that he doesn’t have talent with a strong 5^th and 17^th Harmonic; though he’s also got an equally strong self-defeating 10H.

Add on: Two things of astrological note:-

His 2^nd Term chart 8 May 2015 12.30pm had bulldozer Mars in Taurus in the 10^th conjunct Algol, the destructive Fixed Star, which makes sense of Brexit. Plus a Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Jupiter in Leo, of which Tierney says: ‘Allows a strong impact on mass consciousness but ultimately with fateful consequences often brought by the individual’s self-aggrandizement.’ Plus the uncertain Saturn square Neptune; and disruptive Uranus square Pluto Moon. And a very accentuated 7^th house Neptune hinting at lack of commitment to agreements.

His personal chart was odd at the time of Brexit with his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his 12^th house Uranus exactly and tr Jupiter in the aftermath conjunct his Pluto Uranus. That usually suggests a release of tension – ‘thank heavens that’s over.’ Which I rather took at the time for being a sign he’d got the result he wanted. But looking at it now, it’s arguable he actually wanted to give up. Tr Pluto had been squaring his Sun in the previous 18 months putting him under immense pressure to change. And at Brexit in June 2016 tr Pluto was also exactly trine his 8^th house North Node in Taurus, which is obscure but there were undoubtedly tectonic shifts going on deep in his unconscious.

I go back to my earlier point of him not having integrated his Uranus Pluto Saturn into his life. And that’s his challenge now. He’s like an addict having a relapse wanting to go back to what was familiar rather than striking out in a direction that would release his full potential. He’s got talent, but he became PM too young with not enough experience of life.

Liev Schreiber, star of Ray Donovan, is set to make his debut as host of Saturday Night Live next week. Ray Donovan is now into its sixth season, having broken viewership records for its pilot in 2013 and garnering Schreiber continuing acclaim for his role as a fixer who arranges bribes, payoffs, threats, and other shady activities for his clients. He’s had an extraordinary career, juggling roles in horror movies, blockbusters and indie films alongside highly praised performances on stage in classical drama; as well as directing and producing.

He was born on 4 October 1967 10.30am San Francisco, with a far-left hippie mother, a friend of William Burroughs, who after a bad acid trip was hospitalized and when threatened with being institutionalised, fled with him. His father kidnapped him but his mother got full custody and he grew up in poverty, having to adapt to her eccentricities. Her mother (his maternal grandmother) had been lobotomized. He lived in an ashram in his teens.

He has a friendly 11^th house Libra Sun and Libra Moon on the cusp of the 12^th. His Sun opposes Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries in the 5^th. He has Jupiter Venus on his Midheaven, which will give him great charm and also can be an indication of a drama-queen mother. The rebellious, chaotic Pluto Uranus in Virgo is in his 10^th, again a hint of an unpredictable mother and suiting him for a constantly changing career. Uranus Pluto square Mars in Sagittarius in his 2nd, which has channelled his angst into making money.

A New Yorker profile of him said: ‘To a large extent, Schreiber’s professional shape-shifting and his uncanny instinct for isolating the frightened, frail, goofy parts of his characters are a result of being forced to adapt to his mother’s eccentricities. It’s both his grief and his gift.’

His long-term-relationship with Naomi Watts, mother of his two children, broke up two years back as the tr Uranus square tr Pluto was battering on his Sun/Moon midpoint. And he’s gradually easing out of a lower-profile phase which often brings up personal issues with tr Saturn now heading for his 3^rd house – and a good deal ahead for him. He looks upbeat and confident at the moment; with a few rocky moments as well as success in 2019/2020. With Saturn in the 5th the likelihood is he will more and more veer to the organizational side of the entertainment business.

His artistic and ‘seeking soul’ 7^th harmonic is strong; and his actor’s 15H very confident.

The rift between UK Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, which has been growing in recent months, widened post the Budget. McDonnell, despite being even further left, didn’t oppose Hammond’s tax cuts with his eye on the road to power; while Corbyn stuck to his ideological guns. Corbyn avoids what his aides contemptuously call “the MSM” (mainstream media) and bristles about criticism of anti-Semitism. McDonnell on the other hand has gone on a media blitz recently and has been frank about his doubts about how the anti-Semitism allegations were handled.

They stuck together through the wilderness years with a common enemy but nearly winning the last election has sent them off on different trajectories.

McDonnell’s ultra-determined Mars Pluto in flamboyant Leo is conjunct Corbyn’s Pluto and square Corbyn’s equally do-or-die Mars in Taurus. Those are powerful energies and useful when focussed outwards; but once they start to creep into a relationship it ends in a bitter power struggle.

Their relationship chart is volatile at best with a composite Mars Uranus conjunction and that is getting knocked sideways this year with tr Saturn in opposition. Plus tr Neptune is undermining the composite Saturn till late 2019 for suspicion and doubts between them; and the pressures will increase probably to breaking point in 2020/2021 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Sun Mercury. It’s almost more conflicted than the Tony Blair/Gordon Brown relationship which did so much damage to the Labour Party.

McDonnell, 8 September 1951, looks seriously jangled this December and January 2019, and undermined till late 2019.

So close yet tantalisingly so far.

See Jeremy Corbyn post: August 15 2018

Former footballer Rio Ferdinand, now a TV pundit, is to marry again after his first wife died tragically of cancer in 2015 leaving behind three children. His subsequent book and documentary Being a Mum and Dad were widely praised for his honesty about his emotional turmoil at the loss. His new fiancé, proposed to on a Dubai rooftop and headlined in the Daily Mail, is Kate Wright, a former reality soap star with a bikini-filled Instagram.

He was born 7 November 1978 in London and took classes while growing up in gymnastics, theatre and ballet as well as football. During his long career on the field he came to be regarded by many to be one of England’s greatest ever players. Though he did have a few tabloid controversies along the way (see wiki).

He’s got a strong chart with Sun, Venus, Uranus in Scorpio – an intensely charming maverick; that squares onto a confident Jupiter in flamboyant Leo perhaps opposition an Aquarius Moon.

His wife-to-be, born 3 June 1991, is a Sun Gemini with an Aquarius Moon, Jupiter also in Leo and Venus in late Cancer.

Gemini and Scorpio aren’t an intuitively easy match though he’s betwixt and between having an Aquarius Moon as she has which will help, as will her Venus in home-loving Cancer. They have strong Saturn crossovers – her Saturn maybe conjunct his Moon and certainly opposition his Jupiter; and his Saturn square her Sun – duty and career will come first. The relationship chart has a close-knit composite Sun sextile Pluto and square Saturn; with an exciting but needs-space Venus square Uranus; and an only-one-can-win Neptune square Mars. She’s already given up her career to look after his children. Won’t all be a walk in the park.

Arron Banks, a principal donor to the campaign to leave the EU, is facing a criminal inquiry after the Electoral Commission referred him and others to The National Crime Agency over suspected offences in the referendum campaign. The watchdog said it suspected Mr Banks was not the “true source” of loans to the campaign and the money had come “from impermissible sources”. Under UK law, loans and donations to registered campaigners can only come from permissible sources, which essentially excludes overseas or foreign funding. There are hot and supercilious denials from the Banks’ camp; and a twitter storm from Remainers who say Brexit should be delayed until the matter is fully investigated.

Banks born 22 March 1966 in Norwich, England, with his father a sugar-plantation manager in Africa largely absent, was expelled as a teenager from two schools, once for “an accumulation of offences”, including the sale of lead stolen from the roofs of school buildings and “high-spirited bad behaviour.” He’s been married twice, the second time to a Russian. His financial and commercial career has accrued him around £100 million, though it’s been littered with litigation and allegations of tax avoidance (see Wiki). In the run up to the Brexit referendum and Trump’s election he had several meetings with high-level Russians.

He has a go-ahead, combative and impulsive Aries Sun conjunct Mars and probably Moon also in Aries; with Saturn in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto square Jupiter in Gemini – innovative, chaotic, determined, lucky, scattered. His Neptune is opposition the North Node in Taurus which often gets embroiled in financial tangles and is trine Saturn. His Sun and Mercury are both conjunct his hard-edged Mars/Saturn midpoint.

For all his bravado in the face of a criminal inquiry he does have tr Pluto picking up the exact square to his Uranus/Neptune now till mid-December which is calamitous, loss-making and suggests he’ll have to give way. And a setback tr Saturn square his Sun/Mars exactly now, moving on to square his Mars in mid this December, so generally bad-tempered and confused. Tr Pluto is ploughing through heavy seas in 2019/20 as it hits two of his Saturn and one Uranus midpoint. With moments of high insecurity in May 2019 and then great relief a month later. Tr Neptune is also opposing his Uranus Pluto on and off till late 2019, before moving on to square two of his heavier Saturn midpoints in 2020/21 which doesn’t look reassuring.

He’s wriggled out of a fair few tight corners in his life and is no doubt gambling that this time round won’t be any different. On the other hand his 10^th Harmonic – the rise and fall fickle-finger-of-fate-one is strongly aspected.

His relationship charts with both Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage look v strained at the moment.

Trump who clearly prefers campaigning to actually running the USA has already indicated he is gearing up for another go in 2020. If America spent a hundredth of the money that is thrown in obscene quantities at elections on sensible domestic projects, it’d be a better country. And we’d all get less bored lurching from one political frenzy to the next before you can draw breath.

He’s named Brad Parscale as his campaign manager (for now) who was the Digital Director running into 2016 and has worked for the Trump Organization since 2011.

Born 3 January 1976 in Topeka, KS, he’s got a Capricorn Sun on the focal point of a T Square to a pushily-confident Pluto opposition Jupiter in Capricorn; plus a publicity-seeking Mars in Gemini opposition Neptune; and a wannabe-important Saturn in Leo opposition Mercury (Moon) in Aquarius square Uranus in Scorpio – well-suited to high tech and all matters innovative.

Tr Saturn will dent his enthusiasm as it hits his Sun, Jupiter, Pluto through 2019 though that could just be excessively hard work. But tr Neptune square his Mars till late 2019 doesn’t look successful. Plus major upheavals from tr Uranus hitting on his Saturn, Mercury and Uranus in early and later 2019. Plus he has a ‘shocking setback’ Solar Arc Mars conjunct Saturn in 2019; and a rerun of the same from Solar Arc Saturn square his Mars in 2020.

It’s not the greatest of matches with Trump with Parscale’s Mars conjunct Trump’s Uranus; and Parscale’s Uranus square Trump’s Pluto – though that latter could be his IT-input.

The relationship chart has a wildly over-enthusiastic and risk-taking composite Mars opposition Jupiter square Mercury, which will be under considerable pressure in 2019. The composite Mars is also in a ratchety conjunction with Saturn, which will be stretched to breaking point in terms of temper in 2020/2021.

Trump went through several campaign managers as I recollect last time so he may not stay the course.

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Whitey Bulger, the infamous Irish-American mob boss has been found dead in prison with some reports talking of another prisoner heing questioned over his death.

His reign in the Boston underworld was aided by crooked FBI agents in the 1980s for whom he was an informant, and he later went on the run for 16 years, living incognito by the California. Once captured he was charged with 32 counts of racketeering and firearms possession including allegations that he was complicit in 19 murders and was given two life sentences.

Born 3 September 1929, he grew up in poverty and took to street crime early, though two of his brothers excelled at school and one became President of the Massachusetts Senate.

He was a New Moon and Neptune in Virgo. With an explosive Mars opposition Uranus, widely square Pluto in Cancer, and also sextile/trine Venus in flamboyant Leo.  His Uranus was on the apex of a Yod inconjunct his Sun sextile the South Node in Scorpio – not a natural fitter-in to society. Plus an unaspected Saturn in self-righteous Sagittarius which would make it difficult for him to integrate rules and social order into his life.

His 18^th Harmonic is heavily aspected – a risk-taker, rebellious, and emotionally bleak. Latterly he thought of his life as wasted.