Marjorie

 

 

Stephen Hawking the theoretical physicist and cosmologist who became one of the best-known scientists in the world has died. He suffered from a rare, early onset variety of Lou Gehrig’s disease but despite loss of physical functions and his voice he continued working till the end. His fame came from his work tying Einstein’s theory of gravity and relativity, with quantum mechanics. He was fascinated by black holes that could boil themselves out of existence, and equations that described the entire history of the Universe.

Born 8 January 1942, he had a very earthy, practical and ambitious chart with a Capricorn Sun and Mercury in an Earth Grand Trine to Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine North Node, Moon and Neptune in Virgo. An over-weighting of earth is supposed to lead to a limited imagination but clearly not in his case with the inspirational Uranus trine Neptune, often associated with ‘eureka’ moments. His Mercury was in a deep-thinking opposition to Pluto, as well as being trine Neptune and Uranus. It forms a wide Kite with influential Pluto being the driving planet.

His 13^th Harmonic – genius, breaking with the orthodox – was exceptionally well-aspected; as was his creative, get-it-together 5H. His 12H associated with sacrifice and healing was also strong.

 

 

Tiger Woods is fighting his way back to top level golf since recovering from fusion surgery, his fourth back operation since 2008, which many thought would end his career permanently. BBC Sport writes: ‘his astonishing resurgence has sent a bolt of electricity through the game.” Attendance and viewing figures have shot up.

He’s nothing if not determined with an ambitious Capricorn Sun square a pushily-confident Pluto opposition Jupiter; and his Pluto trine Mars in Gemini.

With tr Saturn now just out of his low-profile first quadrant and his Progressed Moon into his 10^th, he should be due a boost in visibility and achievements. But he’s got a couple of problematic influences coming up – Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Saturn, exact in six months’ time, which is accident or injury-prone. Into 2019 tr Neptune picks up the square to his Mars for 18 months which looks lack lustre and not too helpful for major wins.

 

 

Gina Haspel is to be nominated as the first female director of the CIA though there are question marks over whether she’ll get through the Senate hearings. She joined the CIA in 1985, was a foreign chief of station at CIA outposts, spent much of her career undercover and once ran a secret prison in Thailand which used harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding. Video tapes of the interrogations were destroyed in 2005 under an order with her name on it which led to a long investigation by the US Justice Department which ended with no charges being brought.

Born 1 October 1956 (blissfully the same day as Theresa May, UK PM). She’s a Sun Libra sextile Uranus; with Venus Pluto in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio; and Mars in Pisces opposition Jupiter. Cool, detached, strong opinions, obsessively conscientious and incredibly stubborn; and has the can-be-opportunistic Mars Jupiter hard aspect.

Not looking too good ahead with tr Saturn square her Sun now as well as tr Neptune conjunct her Mars; with a catastrophic tr Pluto conjunct her Mars/Saturn from later this month, on and off till late 2019. Plus an enthusiasm and confidence-denting tr Neptune square her Mars/Jupiter in April.

   

 

The rolling musical chairs continues. Mike Pompeo of the CIA is expected to be nominated as the new US Secretary of State as Rex Tillerson, long seen as an irritant to the President, is summoned back from Africa.

Pompeo, 30 December 1963, is more hawkish than Tillerson on Iran which appears to please Trump. But it won’t be an easy partnership. Pompeo is a Sun Mercury Mars in Capricorn square Jupiter and trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo – not short of ambition, robust opinions and determination. But his Mars Mercury opposes Trumps Saturn Venus so he’ll not always make the president feel loved or be too tactful. His well-organised though not overly-sensitive Saturn in Aquarius opposes Trump’s Mars and widely Pluto, with Pompeo’s Neptune square which will bring suspicions and doubts along the way. And Trump’s slippery 2^nd house Neptune squares Pompeo’s Sun.

Their relationship chart has a gritty, cold, aggravated composite Venus Saturn opposition Mars; with a needs-space Sun trine Uranus. It will get seriously rattled from this July onwards with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Venus; with a few high-tension moments before then with tr Uranus square the Uranus in April.

Pompeo’s chart shows a teeth-gritting year with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars and Mercury; career losses in April; and jolts through the spring and later in the year.

My impression was that James Mattis and Tillerson were tight. Mattis looks less than enthusiastic now with tr Saturn opposition his Uranus and a disastrous tr Pluto square Mars/Saturn;  tr Neptune is in an undermining opposition to his Virgo Sun in April, along with a dreary-slog tr Pluto trine Saturn plus plus and much of that repeats on and off into 2019. His Swearing In chart, gets a jolt from May onwards.

His relationship chart with Trump is infuriated at the moment, worsening considerably through April, on and off into 2019.

   

 

The Kremlin is “highly likely” to be behind the attack on a former Russian spy in the UK, PM Theresa May has confirmed. She revealed that the nerve agent used on Sergei Skripal and his daughter was a “military-grade” gas almost certainly created in Russia, part of a group of nerve agents known as ‘Novichok’. Russia’s ambassador had been asked to explain whether it was “direct action” by the state or due to it “losing control” of its nerve agent stock. And she insisted Moscow must provide “full and complete disclosure” of the Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons by the end of Tuesday.

And good luck with that, but at least she is trying, given her dismal performance over Litvinenko’s death, which even David Cameron admitted he wished he’d been more robust about.

The worms are beginning to turn. Even John McDonnell, the Marxist/Trotskyist Shadow Chancellor, has said he won’t be making any more appearances on Kremlin-sponsored TV station Russia Today (RT). He said RT’s coverage “goes beyond objective journalism” and it was “right”, after events in Salisbury, that Labour MPs did not appear on it; and he also backed visa sanctions against Russians suspected of corruption.

What is alarming some football fans is how it will affect the World Cup in Russia in June. Official UK representatives won’t go, which won’t be noticed; but fans may be at risk if they go and Boris Johnson is even  suggesting the UK team may pull out.

The first match will be played in Moscow 14 June 2018 at 6pm which gives a very hidden chart with Sun, Moon, Mercury in the 8^th, Jupiter in the 12^th and undermining Neptune in the domestic 4^th; with a pressured and angry 3rd house Pluto and Mars with Mars in a volatile square to Uranus.

Vladimir Putin himself looks less than ecstatic at that point with the panicky-failure Solar Arc Neptune still conjunct his Mars; and tr Saturn opposition his Jupiter/Pluto, curbing his sense of power. Though he will get some relief from tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter.

Russia Today, 15 September 2005, an international TV network funded by the Russian government, looks more than aggravated and boxed-in from later this month onwards with tr Pluto trine the Mars in Taurus, running on till late 2019; with the loss-making tr Neptune opposition Jupiter/Saturn this month, and till early 2019.

Much will depend on how much support the UK can rally in the EU to make any impact. Relations between Putin and the EU are certainly stressed, more so than usual in 2018/19; and the Russia/EU relationship chart is angry, undermined and under more pressure than usual, extending and worsening in 2019.

The USA/Russia relationship chart is hitting another low dip of suspicion and uncertainty this month, following on from the slump mid 2017 – with tr Neptune opposition the composite Sun Saturn, repeating September/October and across the New Year till February 2019.

    

 

Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister has been robustly rejecting claims of state involvement in the attempted assassination of the Skripals. “This is dishonest, this is pure propaganda, pure fanning of hysterics and hysteria.”

Born 21 March 1950, he was formerly at the UN for 10 years as Russian representative, and since 2004 has been the face of Russian diplomacy in the foreign ministry.

He’s a Sun Aries or last degree Pisces opposition Mars in Libra square Uranus, so resourceful in high-tension crises; with a confidently, charming Pluto opposition Venus and Jupiter in Aquarius.

What is clear from his relationship chart with Vladimir Putin is that both are shaken by recent events and criticism – either because they feel aggrieved at being attacked, or because of a botched-job which should have been carried out in a less public manner. Their relationship chart has a composite, enthusiastic Sun Mercury opposition Uranus square Jupiter – all of which is being dented by tr Saturn conjunct Sun and square Jupiter at the moment, then moving on to conjunct Mercury and oppose Uranus – all of that runs on until early June, repeating in the autumn. So this or other difficulties will continue. It may stretch cordiality between the pair to breaking point.

Lavrov has a fiery relationship with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson with their composite Mars Uranus being triggered by tr Uranus in square from this July, into a through 2019.

   

 

Xi Jinping is now able to stay president of China for life after constitutional changes were passed, elevating his status to the level of the founder, Chairman Mao.

There’s nothing too specific showing on the China country chart. But he’s a very different temperament to Mao. Xi Jinping is a Sun, Jupiter in Gemini with Mars, Mercury, Uranus in Cancer; with Mercury Uranus square Saturn Neptune in Libra – adaptable, restless, bubbling over with initiative.

Mao, a Sun Capricorn had a much more Fixed and enduring chart with Mars Uranus in ultra-determined and vengeful Scorpio opposition Jupiter square Venus opposition a Leo Moon. And he had the signature can-be-megalomaniac Neptune Pluto in Gemini, shared by many of the 20^th Century dictators.

The only thing of note is Xi Jinping’s First Presidency chart – 14 March 2013 11.51am Beijing, which has a Yod of Pluto sextile Saturn inconjunct Jupiter – definitely pointing to grandiose ambitions, with the ability to have a considerable impact on the masses – though with the downside of a tendency to get carried away by grandiosity.

XJ isn’t especially tied into the China chart on synastry, except in a relatively benign way. But his relationship chart has a composite controlling Sun Pluto conjunction; with a wide reforming Saturn opposition Jupiter square Uranus.

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An all-female directing crew hit the #timesup mark for the latest Marvel TV series of Jessica Jones, launched on International Women’s Day. Krysten Ritter plays a former superhero turned private investigator in New York.

Born 16 December 1981 noon in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, Ritter started as a model and moved into films and appears to have super-charged energy. She filmed Jessica Jones and The Defenders for 12 months straight, wrote a debut novel Bonfire; runs her own production company Silent Machine; and is a professional knitter with an Instagram following.

She has a Sun, Neptune, Mercury all in Sagittarius on her midheaven sextile the determined and tough Saturn Pluto in Libra, with her Pluto conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio. She describes herself as ‘hard-core’. Suited to the film business with Neptune on her MC, she’ll be ambitious with the Sun there as well and is well-designed for a public career with an audience.

Her Mars in Libra is sextile Uranus and trine Venus in Aquarius which will give her hyper-energy. Her hard-working Virgo Moon squares onto Uranus making her restless.

Tr Saturn is moving across her midheaven now and staying in her upper quadrant for the next seven years, so there’ll be a good deal ahead for her. With a real lift in 2019 as tr Uranus opposes her 8^th house Jupiter. Though she’ll be under fairly relentless pressure with tr Pluto square her Saturn then Pluto over the next four years.

Her creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics are well aspected as is her acting 15H.

   

 

The Skripal attempted assassinations have brought the Sergei Magnitsky affair back into the headlines, as well as Deutsche Bank scandal, money-laundering suspect Russian funds into the New York property market, which may impact on the Mueller Investigation.

Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer, imprisoned after reporting officials for major fraud and died as a result of a beating. (More Magnitsky details in old post below.)

His former employer financier Bill Browder is still fighting his corner, relentlessly lobbying governments to sanction corrupt Russians laundering their money in the West. His book Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s Number 1 Enemy is being made into a film – Amal Clooney is his lawyer.

Browder, who was deported and had his Moscow investment fund expropriated by corrupt officials, said in an interview (below): ‘The reality is that the entire Russian government is the mafia.’ He describes it as a ‘gangster state.’ And he gave evidence this week to a UK Commons select committee and said: “I believe they want to kill me. They haven’t figured out a way yet where they can kill me and get away with it.”

His Magnitsky Act, intended to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on corrupt officials, has now been introduced in seven countries including Britain, the US and Canada. As a result he lives in a “warzone”, receiving numerous death threats: text messages and voicemails from unregistered Moscow numbers.

A few years ago the Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev told reporters in a briefing: ‘it is a shame Sergei Magnitsky is dead and Bill Browder is still alive and running around’. In 2015, he says, US intelligence authorities alerted him to an illegal rendition plot being formulated against him.

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/bill-browder-interview/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/bill-browder-putins-no1-enemy-live-life-assuming-want-kill/

Browder, born 23 April 1964 Chicago, Illinois, is a Sun, Jupiter, Mercury in Taurus trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo – suited to the money business, stubborn, rebellious, not one to budge easily; especially with Saturn in Pisces opposing his Uranus Pluto. His Mars in pro-active Aries is under assault from a tr Pluto square, 2017/18, finishing this September/October, which is not only frustrating but also high-risk.

His relationship chart with Putin is stressed and aggravated with a Yod of Mars sextile Saturn inconjunct Sun. And it will be under extraordinary pressure in 2018/19 with tr Pluto square the composite Sun. Browder’s Mars opposes Putin’s Saturn Neptune in Libra and squares Putin’s Uranus – so he will be a thorn in Putin’s flesh.

Despite Putin being a walkover for this election he does not look remotely happy or clear headed with tr Pluto moving to square his Neptune from late March till late 2019 – which tends to be devastating and scandal-prone.

The Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the home affairs select committee has pressed this week for police to reopen investigations into 14 suspicious deaths in Britain linked to Russia in recent years. This would include Russian financier Alexander Perepilichnyy, who died while jogging in the UK in 2012, after handing information to Browder’s firm with information on the people behind Magnitsky’s murder. Despite US intelligence agencies saying there was Russian involvement in his death, the Surrey Police ruled out murder.

July 25 2017 Post.   The drip drip of toxic info keeps coming about the Trump dynasty’s Russia connection. This is just background about one, now deceased, piece of a jigsaw that is slowly coming together, involving Russian money-laundering through the New York property market and through the German Deustche Bank, already under investigation for same, whom certain Trumps had significant dealings with and loans therefrom.

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer/accountant, arrested after accusing Russian officials of tax fraud. He died a year later in custody after beatings in 2009. As a result of his death, the Magnitsky Act came into being which put banking restrictions on Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses. It’s those sanctions which Putin is keen/desperate to get lifted. The lawyer involved in last year’s meet with Don Jnr and Jared Kushner is heavily involved with the main players in the above.

Magnitsky, born 8 April 1972 in Odessa, Ukraine, was an Aries Sun in a rebellious/activist opposition to Uranus. He also had a communicative Air Grand Trine of Pluto trine Saturn Venus Mars trine North Node (Moon) in Aquarius with Pluto opposition Mercury – so a crusader (NNode in Aquarius), gutsy with Pluto Saturn Mars, though maybe not too practical. He also had Neptune opposition Saturn Mars Venus which formed the boundary of his Half Grand Sextile – idealistic, slightly fanatical or head in the clouds, but talented.

When he died tr Neptune was squaring his Solar Arc Uranus opposition Sun; tr Saturn was just over the conjunction to his Pluto and trine his North Node.

His reforming Uranus was conjunct Vladimir Putin’s rigid authoritarian Saturn (Sun Neptune) with Magnitsky’s Saturn Venus Mars falling in Putin’s secret 8^th conjunct his Gemini Moon so arousing anger.

This year the Magnitsky family lawyer fell/was pushed from a 4^th storey window and seriously injured.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/24/jared-kushner-new-york-russia-money-laundering.

Add on: As ever with any story involving Russia, high finance and money-laundering the waters get exceeding muddy.

A slightly different view from: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/13/how-russia-gate-met-the-magnitsky-myth/

https://newrepublic.com/article/126760/fighting-putin-doesnt-make-saint

There are however undisputed facts.

1. Magnitsky was beaten in prison, denied medical treatment and died.
2. Russian money-laundering through US and indeed UK property deals is an accepted fact.
3. Deutsche Bank in May 2017 agreed to pay $41 million to settle Federal Reserve allegations that its U.S. operations failed to maintain adequate protections against money laundering, the latest in a string of fines that have cost the German lender billions of dollars. Deutsche Bank has recently reached settlements with the U.K. and New York State’s Department of Financial Services over trades that allegedly helped wealthy Russians move some $10 billion out of the country.