Marjorie

A school shooting in Texas has left between eight and ten dead as at least one student went on a rampage, with explosive devices also found in and around the school.

The attack happened just before 8am in Santa Fe, Texas. This puts the Taurus Sun conjunct Algol, the destructive Fixed Star, in a high-tension trine to both Pluto and Mars. With a Fixed T square of Mars in Aquarius opposition a Leo North Node square Uranus Mercury in Taurus – explosive, disruptive, violent, wanting to grab attention. And a Cancer Moon exactly opposition Saturn – cold-hearted also loss. There’s also a mini-Grand Trine of Neptune trine Jupiter sextile Pluto, with Pluto sitting midway between Mars and Saturn – which is a mix of warped megalomaniac ideas and a strong urge for control.

Jupiter squares the Neptune/Pluto midpoint which Ebertin associates with (among other things) mania, obsession, self-torment and loss.

Uranus is making its presence felt in Taurus squaring Mars – first Gaza, now yet another USA horror.

A ‘bloodbath’ and a massacre’ were two of the diplomatic responses to the 58 Palestinian dead and more than 1000 injured, most of them unarmed, as they protested inside the Gaza border fence with Israel yesterday. They were demonstrating about the US shift of the embassy to Jerusalem and also marking Nakba (catastrophe) Day – in May 1948 when 700,000 Palestinians were cleared out of their homes and off their land as Israel came into being. Hamas is being blamed but the Gazans are a people without hope, so hardly surprising they felt the need to make their presence felt even if it meant risking their lives.

Israel spent most of the day looking the other way, applauding the Eurovision win and discussing Ivanka Trump’s outfit.

The Israel chart isn’t showing much; though the February and August Eclipses in Aquarius/Leo impact on their 10^th house Mars in Leo, so it is a combative year. The late July Lunar Eclipse will also rattle their 10^th house Moon, unsettling the leadership and population. Ahead in 2019 tr Uranus will square the Israel Moon for a major jolt with outbursts from voters as well as rulers. Late 2019 as well tr Saturn will square the MC for a setback and rethink about the country’s direction.

The warlike status and image is unlikely to disappear anytime soon with the Solar Arc Saturn on the Ascendant now, followed by Solar Arc Pluto in three years plus. 2021 sees tr Uranus square the 10^th house Pluto and then Saturn the following year, so it’ll be upheavals, disruptions and jolts all the way.

Where the Israel/Hamas and Israel/Palestine Declaration 1988 charts show most radical shifts are 2021 to 2024 with tr Pluto hitting on the Uranus opposition Pluto on both.

The Gaza 9 November 1917 9am chart looks stuck and blocked this year with tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc MC; on high alert in 2020 and not making much headway into any major changes until into the 2020s.  The Gaza/Israel relationship chart has the explosively insecure tr Uranus trine Mars at the moment, having just cleared the trine to Mercury on the run up, through the seven weeks of demos. That repeats later in the year and into early 2019. There is likely to be more serious disruptions through 2019/2020 with tr Pluto square the composite Uranus and opposition Pluto – along with disappointments.

Israel has an infinitely stubborn, martial and bleak natal chart with an 8^th house Taurus Sun square Mars; and a 10^th house Leo Moon, Saturn, Pluto. There’s not much insight or empathy in there.

Palestine and Gaza charts are both Scorpio Sun with several fixed planets so it’s an unyielding face-off on both sides.

High family drama, intense feelings, jealousy and unwelcome surprises were written in the stars for Meghan and Harry’s wedding this Saturday. The Mars Uranus square exact tomorrow did hint at explosive upsets, insecurity and over-reactions. And on the day itself the Cancer Moon opposes Pluto for emotional tensions. Her father is stressed out over media attention and apparently in the throes of a heart attack, so is ambivalent about coming or may not be allowed to by the medics. Even worse, her estranged half-siblings have arrived in London mob-handed, clearly paid for by the vultures, and although uninvited to the event will make their presence felt in interviews.

Family problems do loom large in Meghan’s chart this year with tr Pluto squaring her 4^th house Pluto as she attempts to pull away from her childhood past; plus tr Saturn in a separating square to her Moon, Saturn, Jupiter in Libra. Those run on for a few months and she does look unnerved (not surprisingly) over the main event with tr Neptune opposition her Sun/Pluto, as well as trapped.  She has a close Jupiter Saturn conjunction with Jupiter leading, so she’ll always experience the highs followed by setbacks and problems. It’ll be a tough introduction to the strictures of married Royal life.

Harry looks deflated and panicky with tr Neptune square his Mars through this month; as he copes with the upheaval of tr Uranus opposing his Pluto exactly now as well.

The Royals were never good at coping with in-laws. Prince Anne’s first parents-in-law, the Phillips, were fairly frozen out.  The only reason the Duchess of Cambridge’s parents were so omnipresent is down to her determined mother. But at least to date most commoner relatives had the sense to keep out of the media’s clutches.

If her mother does walk her down the aisle it won’t be setting a precedent since Queen Victoria walked two of her daughters to the altar after the death of Prince Albert.

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Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities and instigator of the more subjective and literary New Journalism, has died. He was a chronicler of the “Me Decade” and satirized the greed, ambition, racism and social class of New York in the 1980s. He supported GWB but denied he was conservative, writing about a wide spectrum of American society.

Born 2 March 1930 2.21am Richmond, VA, he had a full 3^rd house as befits a journalist with a Pisces Sun and Venus there as well as an Aries Moon. He would be quick-witted, keen to be admired for his intelligence and ability to communicate. His Sun was in a confident and expansive square to Jupiter in chatty Gemini.

He also had the signature generational Saturn in Capricorn opposition Pluto square Uranus in Aries, which would give him a resilience as well as innovative tendencies, always keen to push back the boundaries. His Mercury in outspoken Aquarius was in a combative conjunction to Mars and inconjunct Pluto, which would give his writing a sarcastic, at times bitter edge and he never shied away from controversy.

His creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics were strong as was his writers’ 21^st H.

Melania Trump is in hospital having undergone surgery for what the White House describe as a benign kidney condition.

She does look fairly stressed this year though living in the DC goldfish bowl with scandals swirling that’s hardly surprising. She does have tr Uranus square her Mars/Pluto midpoint exactly now which is a considerable challenge and scary, repeating on and off into 2019 – though there could be other reasons for it when it returns. Oddly enough she also has tr Uranus opposition her Jupiter which normally provides a welcome break. Though since her Jupiter is tied into her Sun, it may have a jolting effect as well. Her Moon may be in early Capricorn with her Progressed Moon in Libra, which tr Saturn is hard-aspecting this year. The Moon can be about the body as well as home and family life. Plus she has a really tough Solar Arc Pluto opposition her Saturn in Taurus. So life will feel it is weighing down on her for a variety of reasons. She should bounce more enthusiastically in September and October.

Margot Kidder, who played reporter Lois Lane in four Superman movies has died aged 69. Born 17 October 1948 in Yellowknife, Canada, she grew up in remote locations, moving frequently through childhood. After Superman she played in The Amityville Horror, but suffered from bi-polar disorder and had a highly publicized breakdown in the 1990s. She latterly became an outspoken environmental and anti-war activist.

She had her Sun in Libra on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to Jupiter in Sagittarius trine Pluto so she would have confidence, also supplied by Uranus in an adventurous opposition to Jupiter.

But she had an ‘unloved’ Venus Saturn in Virgo with her Saturn square Mars with Mars inconjunct Uranus – not an easy life, especially emotionally. She had three marriages, one lasting only a few days.  Her Sun was probably opposition an Aries Moon which wouldn’t help on that score either.

Christopher Reeve who played Superman, 25 September 1952 3.30am New York, was also a Sun Libra with Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Venus stretched out through Libra. His Venus Neptune was conjunct her Sun Mercury and her Jupiter was conjunct his Mars, so it was a reasonable though not necessarily close match.

Edward St Aubyn’s much lauded and harrowing Patrick Melrose novels have been turned into a tour-de-force tv drama series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. St Aubyn fictionalised the poisoned legacy of his upbringing in a highly dysfunctional upper-class family. He was raped by his father very young for three years, either with the complicity or wilful ignorance of his mother. By the time he reached Oxford University he was a heroin addict, alcoholic and a user of every drug on the black market barring LSD. Only after he went into psychoanalysis in his mid 20s did he start to clean up and become a successful professional writer.

Although the subject matter is grim, he has a caustic wit about the futility of the very rich and his out-of-control addictions, which it’s a miracle he survived.

Born 14 January 1960 in Cornwall, he’s a Sun Capricorn with Mercury Saturn and Mars spread out through Capricorn as well; and Saturn Mars trine Pluto, sextile Neptune in Scorpio. He’s got ambition and initiative which would help to haul him out of that grim combination of Saturn Mars and Pluto. What probably saved his sanity (or allowed him to recover it) is Jupiter and Venus in Sagittarius trine Uranus, which would give him optimism.  His Moon is late Cancer or early Leo, probably opposition his Sun.

His father Roger, son of an alcoholic Brigadier (friend of the Duke of Windsor who drank himself to death in Monte Carlo) was born 9 June 1906 and had his Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and a Mars Pluto conjunction strung out through Gemini; with his Sun, Mercury, Jupiter square Saturn – so cruel, ruthless, with his own demons.

The relationship chart between Edward and his father had a highly stressed Mars trine Pluto and inconjunct Uranus. Which isn’t dissimilar to the relationship chart between Roger (father) and his father Edward Geoffrey St Aubyn, with a composite Mars Venus sextile Pluto Neptune and trine Saturn, and Mars square Uranus.   These patterns of violence and abuse tend to roll down the generations until one individual steps out of their role, usually in therapy, and breaks the chain.

When Edward St Aubyn went into analysis in his mid twenties  his chart was awash with Uranus – his Solar Arc Sun opposing his natal Uranus; his Solar Arc Uranus square his Venus and then Jupiter which also had tr Uranus conjunct his Venus Jupiter. Uranus is traditionally the torcher-bearer, shining a light into the unknown and bringing light to darkness. It would be a very long haul but he’s held up as an example of someone who managed through mental health care to extricate himself from a damaged childhood.

Benedict Cumberbatch says it was the one role he always wanted to play (apart from Hamlet). His Sun Cancer is possibly conjunct St Aubyn’s Moon; with his Jupiter trine St Aubyn’s Sun so a good connection.

Edward St Aubyn has a strong though strained writers’ 21^st Harmonic; several quintiles and septiles from the creative 5H and 7H; an aggravated victim/healer 12H; and a tough-struggle breakthrough 13H.

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who killed at least 15, mainly homeless young gay men in the 1970s and 1980s, has died in prison. He was arrested when human remains were found in blocked drains at his London home. He was serving a life sentence after his conviction in 1983.

Born 23 November 1945 4am Fraserburgh, Scotland, with an alcoholic, largely absent Norwegian father and a strictly religious mother, who favoured his siblings, he gained most support from his grandfather who died when he was six. He was involved in a near fatal drowning when he was an older child. He spent 11 years in the army in catering, and latterly became a civil servant working in job centres.

He was a Sun Sagittarius trine Mars in Leo, sextiling onto a 12^th house Neptune. He did drink heavily to cover his shyness and to hide his homosexuality, which fits with an escapist/addictive Neptune in the 12th. But what is most striking about his chart is a difficult combination of a Cancer Moon conjunct Saturn, with Saturn conjunct MC and Mars, and Mars conjunct Pluto, both in the 10^th. It suggests a childhood with little love, a rigidly disciplinarian mother who was bossy and controlling. The Mars Saturn conjunction is cruel; Mars Pluto ruthless. He also had a passionate Venus in Scorpio square Pluto and widely square Mars, which would make him a) possessive and b) insensitive.

It’s thought his first victim met his death in late 1978 when tr Pluto was moving across Nilsen’s Ascendant, exacerbating his need for control; and his Solar Arc Pluto was moving to square his Uranus as he moved into a new phase of his life. His Solar Arc Neptune was also exactly square his Pluto, moving to conjunct his Venus, so amplifying megalomaniac and sexually perverse tendencies. He would enjoy the power. There was one theory that he was in part replaying the death of his grandfather whom he saw in an open coffin after his death, after which he became a more withdrawn child.

Ted Bundy was another Sun Sagittarius with Venus in Scorpio square Pluto.

On Tuesday Uranus moves into Taurus for the first time in 84 years. It spends seven years per sign and we’ve recently been through Uranus in fiery Aries, an explosive and rebellious combination.

The detailed post below is from October 2017. But I wondered whether looking back to the mythology might help to shed light on possible outcomes.

Uranus was the sky god married to the earth mother Gaia. He came down every night to mate with her and produced a huge brood of children, none of whom he liked – too brutish, too earthy. There were the twelve Titans of whom Saturn (Cronus) was one; the Cyclops (ugly one-eyed monsters); and the hundred-handed Giants (even uglier). Uranus so disliked the Cyclops and Giants that he imprisoned them underground and in revenge Gaia persuaded Saturn to castrate his father. Out of his blood spilled on earth sprang the avenging Furies and his genitals landing in the sea were transformed into Aphrodite (Venus). As an addendum Saturn re-imprisoned his younger brethren and was then cursed by his mother.

Not all sweetness and light, which is borne out by the below examples of previous Uranus in Taurus. It’s an odd mix since Uranus is light, airy, not comfortable with nature, the body, the earthy material realm. And Taurus is the most rooted of signs in all things physical and material. There will be innovations, since Uranus is nothing if not inspired and experimental. Trade will be a primary and possibly hot topic as the money-gatherers put profit before humanity.

October 2017 post:

Uranus, on its 84 year cycle, moves into Taurus May 15^th 2018 staying for 7 years, the first time since 1934 to 1941.   Uranus is inventive and experimental and Taurus is earthy and practical, so no surprises that on previous occurrences there were new discoveries. In the later 1930s there were major advances in technology in aviation, radio, and film. On a previous occasion, in the late 17^th Century, street lighting was introduced in London. There was also widespread exploration across the globe and major advances in astronomy, including the first sighting of Uranus (which was mis-named). Taurus being earthy and quite anal, no surprises either that sewage systems and toilets came to the fore.

Taurus is also acquisitive for money and possessions so from past experience trade became a pressing and not always compassionate drive. During the Uranus in Taurus of 1600 England starts trade with Asia; two Uranus in Taurus later it moves into Bengal with catastrophic results for the population; 2 million die in a famine and the East India Company raises their taxes and ships the revenues out of the country. The same Brit company then takes over the North American tea trade, which leads, due to their punitive taxation, to the American Revolution.

The Bengal famine narrative repeated in a different location during the mid 19^th Century Uranus in Taurus in Ireland. The potato crop failed, which starved a million to death and a million emigrated, with the British overlords, who were partly the cause of the population’s reliance on one crop, continuing to send foodstuffs to the UK. And that is a wound which has never healed.

Although it isn’t easy to extrapolate the effect of Uranus in Taurus from other influences ongoing. The mid 19^th Century Uranus in Taurus came on the back of a Saturn Pluto Uranus conjunction in late Aries/Taurus, so was always going to be a time of upheaval and devastation.

The most similar to this one would be the 1767 Uranus in Taurus with Pluto in Capricorn about to oppose Saturn in Cancer, with Neptune in Virgo. Apart from the horrors of the Bengal famine, James Watts’ steam-engine inventions drove the Industrial Revolution into being; and the first mechanical spinning frame for fabric weaving also appeared.

The most recent 1935 to 1941 Uranus in Taurus came on the back of the Great Depression of the decade following 1929, with widespread poverty and unemployment leading to authoritarian regimes emerging in several countries, most notably German with Hitler rising to power from 1933; and Stalin’s Great Purge of 1936-38 with 600,000 being executed in Russia by the state.

In 1935 Uranus was just over the square to Pluto in Cancer, so not dissimilar to now – and it ended with a Saturn Uranus conjunction trine Neptune in Virgo in 1941. Territorial greed is clearly also one of its manifestations; as well as inhumane methods in the pursuit of power.

So the overall conclusion would be good and bad. Innovative yes. Power and money hungry also.