Marjorie

There are the usual (or more so) panics about the approaching Olympics in Brazil with behind-schedule construction, sewage-contaminated waterways for rowing events and street gun crime. Yet somehow the games almost always manage to get through without too many mishaps (apart from Munich).

It is due to start on August 5^th which gives a Neptune opposition Venus Mercury square Saturn Mars in Sagittarius  – so paranoia will be running high, and Saturn Mars can be accident-prone and bad tempered. What is helpful is the Leo Sun in a stable trine to Saturn and there will be a confident Jupiter in Virgo trine Pluto.

Brazil, in an economic downturn, is probably cursing the day it took on the Olympics. The 7 September 1822 chart has the Solar Arc Sun within a degree of being conjunct its’ Pluto, come August, which suggests it will be shuddering to some kind of an economic halt in the months thereafter. With a high tension tr Uranus inconjunct the Solar Arc Saturn. Happily it also has tr Jupiter conjunct Mercury at the Games opening so will put on a confident face.

The 15 Nov 1899 chart also indicates a sharp reversal following the Olympics with Solar Arc Sun opposition Mars. But again it has tr Jupiter coming to the rescue with a sextile to the Scorpio Sun, which is weak but will manage to raise the odd smile.

Leo Tolstoy wrote two of the world’s best known novels -the epic War and Peace and Anna Karenina.  He was a towering talent though a truly terrible husband. Aged 34 he married the 16 year old Sophia and as a wedding gift presented her with his diaries, recording his multiple past sexual liaisons with prostitutes and servants.

He proceeded to father 13 children on her and she wrote bleakly in her diaries: ‘I am to gratify his pleasure and nurse his child, I am a piece of household furniture.’

Despite being suicidal (and homicidal) at times, she helped him with his novels, copying out War and Peace several times. Indeed it has been said she was pivotal to his success as a novelist.

Latterly he became an austere Christian-socialist and left all of the running of the finances, estate and children to her. She wrote: “If he had one iota of the psychological understanding which fills his books, he would have understood the pain and despair I was going through.”  She loved his genius and loathed the man.

Born 9 September 1828 10.52pm(?) Tula, Russia, he had a New Moon and Mercury in Virgo in his 4^th house, so was a communicator though also self-sufficient and critical at a domestic level. He had Uranus in the 8^th, which would drive his early need for sexual experimentation opposition Saturn Venus in Leo – making him autocratic, with a desire to be grand.

A 7^th house Mars Neptune in Capricorn squared a 10^th house Pluto – suggesting a need to dominate and possibly also a need to undermine a marriage partner to whom he was not fully committed.

Luckily for him, his wife had a backbone of steel. Born 22 August 1844 in Moscow, Sophia was a Sun Mars in Leo trine Pluto so brave and enduring. Her Sun Mars opposed Neptune so she’d enjoy the publicity his novels brought. Her Uranus Jupiter in Aries were conjunct his 10^th house Pluto so she would bring luck to his ambitions and would be a catalyst. Her Venus in home-loving Cancer opposed his 8^th house Uranus – so he would not provide her with the emotional support she needed.

Their relationship chart lays out graphically what AN Wilson described as one of the unhappiest marriages in literary history. A composite Moon Mars opposed Saturn which points to unkindness and downright cruelty at an emotional level. That opposition squared onto Neptune – so in many ways quite perverse, though finding an outlet in creativity. The composite Sun also opposed Uranus – so not well designed for intimacy.

His creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics are strong (quintiles and septiles) and his writers’ 21^st Harmonic is especially marked.

Lili Elbe was a Danish painter and transgender woman, probably the first to have sex reassignment surgery from male to female, from which she died in 1931. The Eddie Redmayne film The Danish Girl is loosely based on her story.

Lili was born Einar Wegener, 28 December 1882, and had the truly difficult Neptune Saturn and Pluto in Taurus opposition North Node in Scorpio square a Leo Moon –  so he would be conflicted emotionally.  Uranus in Virgo was also trine Neptune Saturn and Pluto – creative, though highly strung and changeable. His Sun Mercury and Mars were in Capricorn with Mars square Uranus – restless, ambitious, keen to take the initiative, volatile.

He married Gerda Gottlieb, another painter, 15 March 1886, who was a Sun Pisces opposition Jupiter in Libra square Saturn in Cancer – quite a mix of artistic, optimistic and pessimistic. The marriage was dissolved when Einar became Lili. Gerda’s focal point Saturn was opposition Lili’s Mars Sun – so not an ideal mix.

Their relationship chart hints at mutual support and an adventurous streak; though was also destined to disappointment with a composite Sun opposition Jupiter square Mars on one side and Neptune on the other.

At the time he decided on gender reassignment surgery his Solar Arc Sun Mars were moving square to his Neptune Saturn in Taurus planets in the run up.

There are concerns that the fire on New Year’s Eve in Dubai in a high-rise hotel near the Burj Khalifa (largest skyscraper in the world) may have spread more rapidly because of flammable building materials. If so it will be a headache for the other towering blocks which are the Emirates pride and joy.

The Address Hotel which went up, was opened on 9 September 2009, on the Saturn in Virgo opposition Uranus square Pluto. Saturn had moved by Solar Arc to close the square to Pluto to exact when the fire struck; with Solar Arc Uranus less than a degree away from the exact square on the other side of Pluto. So a critical point for the hotel.

The Marina Torch which went up in flames early in 2015, was opened in May 2011 and had more or less the same with Solar Arc Pluto exactly square Saturn; and Solar Arc Uranus approaching the square to Pluto on the other side.

The Burj Khalifa, opened on 4 January 2010, also has similar in four/five years’ time when Solar Arc Uranus moves to square the BK Pluto and then oppose the BK Saturn. And in three/four years’ time the Solar Arc Saturn will square and Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the BK Sun as well.

Dubai, 8 January 1820 chart, does have Solar Arc Sun conjunct its Mars now which is a shock or collision of sorts. And tr Uranus is set for its final square to the Capricorn Sun from later this month with tr Pluto conjunct the Dubai Sun picking up late February, running till late 2017. So it is facing a very challenging time, perhaps for other reasons, but perhaps symbolised by these scary fires.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and all the best for 2016.

Welcome to the new website. The old familiar one had been clunking along for nearly twenty years and regrettably no longer spoke to the new technology. So needs must.

Like all babies the new site won’t come into the world without a few hiccups. There are still sections to be added and fine tuning to come. so I hope you’ll bear with us. And email me (on contact) with any suggestions.

First week in January looks challenging (sigh) with a Capricorn Sun conjunct Pluto and square Uranus. But Mars is moving into super-determined Scorpio from the 3rd which will help to squash any problems underfoot. By mid-month Jupiter should (and it had better!!) spread its magic around.

There is a box for comments under the individual Astrology of Today’s News posts; scroll down to the bottom of the page. At present only the posts to the left have a comment box. Otherwise Contact on the top bar comes through to me. Heavenly Headlines is under News, also top bar.

Amicalement   Marjorie

Nasa has said that the effects of the current El Nino weather phenomenon could be as bad as those of 1998, the strongest on record. El Nino is a naturally occurring weather system which happens every two to seven years, bringing severe droughts and devastating flooding in different parts of the world.

Looking back to 1998, there was a Saturn square Neptune as there is now. Other particularly severe E Ninos:-  in 1972 there a Saturn opposition Neptune. In 1925 and 1891 there was also a Saturn square Neptune.

In two other years recorded as strong El Ninos, 1982 and 1875/6 there was a Saturn sextile Neptune which is weaker – so a less obvious connection. Though 1875 which oversaw droughts and great famine in India and China for three years after also had Saturn square Pluto at the start and Uranus square Pluto as well.

So the Saturn square Neptune uncertainty which is hanging around now, and continues until after mid 2016, may well in part be connected to the extreme weather patterns.