Marjorie

Trump says he won’t fire Mueller, but his allies in the media and GOP are pushing hard to discredit the Russia probe as improper and politically motivated. Mueller has been accused of wrongfully obtaining thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his campaign; but other legal experts say they were acquired under the normal rules for a criminal investigation.

Nixon, of course, fired his special counsel prior to Watergate and his resignation. What is different this time round according to political historian, Julian Zelizer, is the massive propaganda effort on Trump’s behalf, via cable television, websites and Twitter. He said: “whatever Mueller does, Trump’s allies have a huge bully pulpit, where the message from his perspective is constantly circulating, regardless of what the investigators do. Nixon never had anything comparable to that.”

Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel on 17 May 2107 when the Sun was conjunct Algol, the destructive planet of painful confrontation, with a hard-edged Saturn opposition Mars which was always going to arouse bad-temper. It looks a mix of confident and confused through 2018/19, the latter stemming from tr Pluto square the Sun/Neptune midpoint, which suggests the smears and lies will continue.

Mueller himself, 7 August 1944 is a Sun Pluto in Leo; with a high-adrenaline Mars Mercury in hard-working Virgo square Uranus. He’s no-one’s push-over, though he looks less than confident in May/June/July 2018 with tr Neptune opposition his Mars, returning into 2019. Before then January/February look nerve-stretched and uncertain for him; with some major jangles in February and May. But he’ll catch a break after mid year from tr Uranus trine his Jupiter.

His relationship chart with Trump has a cool composite Sun Saturn conjunction which is under pressure from tr Pluto square till late 2018; and a stubborn composite Mercury Pluto.

Part of the worry is that Trump will blow his circuit board, since his close circle keep telling him ‘don’t worry. It’ll be fine and all go away soon.’ Mollifying the infant with platitudes may stop working at some point.

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The wonderful Mo Farah has won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year much to his surprise, since he was trailing in the polls.

From an earlier post: He is the most successful British athlete ever, with gold medals for the 10,000 and 5000 metres at two Olympics and ten global titles in all. He is now considering moving onto marathon running.

Born 23 March 1983 in Somalia, he came to the UK aged 8 with his father and family leaving his sick twin brother behind who wasn’t fit to travel. In recent years he has trained in Portland, Oregon where he has a house, with coach Alberto Salazar. Doping allegations against Salazar have never been proved and have left Farah bitter about the media damaging his legacy.

He has an Aries Sun square Neptune (very common amongst top sportsmen that Neptune); with his Sun trine a lucky Uranus Jupiter in Sagittarius and inconjunct an obsessive Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Pluto, so perseverance is what he thrives on. On top of that he has Mars in Aries opposition Pluto which has enabled him to undergo the most brutal training and challenging lifestyle to reach and stay at the top in distance running.

His switch to longer distances may not be that easy since his tr Pluto will pick up the frustrating, blocked square to his Mars from early 2018 for two years. Plus some accident-prone Uranus transits to two Mars midpoints into spring 2018. He will get a confidence lift from tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Node midpoint in 2018/19. But he’s got a tough chart, is not short of determination and will certainly hit a high in about five years time, when he may have changed tack.

The smash-hit musical Hamilton about a nation built by immigrants seen through the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton has come to London after a rollicking success in the US, with a movie version in process. It’s a mix of rap with overtones of Sondheim and Rodgers & Hammerstein, all created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, who played the lead. Vanity Fair – “Hamilton, famous for its fabulous music, its modern-day hip-hop vernacular, its diverse cast, and its very real interest in portraying the blood and sweat and bold decisions behind America’s messy, tumultuous history, is a theater experience which was made for our very own messy, tumultuous moment.”

Miranda was born 16 January 1980 and is an earthy and ambitious Sun Mercury (and Moon) in Capricorn in a determined to square Pluto and trine a hard-working Saturn and Mars in Virgo. His Mars is also in an exuberant, super-confident conjunction to Jupiter in Virgo. I’m not surprised he wrote the lyrics, songs, book and took the starring role, he’s obviously not short of energy or talent. His Saturn is in a creative square to Neptune; and his Saturn trine Sun Mercury focusses onto an innovative Uranus in Scorpio. His Venus in musical Pisces isn’t heavily aspected but his Sun sits midway between Venus and Neptune which will add a dash of the lyrical to his temperament.

His stratospheric success came as his Solar Arc Mars Jupiter moved to conjunct his Pluto and square his Mercury Sun, which would pile heavy pressure on him initially but since Jupiter follows there will be even more triumphs to come over the next three or four years.

Alexander Hamilton, was born on 11 January either 1755 or 1757, which makes him a Capricorn to match Miranda’s Sun. 1755 would be perfect since it also gives Hamilton Jupiter in Virgo and Venus Saturn also in Capricorn. But we’ll never know. He was illegitimate, born in the Caribbean and rose to great heights, being an influential promoter of the US Constitution and the founder of the financial system.

Priyanka Chopra is maybe in line to be a Meghan bridesmaid for the wedding of the year, since they are good friends. She’s a former Miss World, a leading light in the Indian film industry, plays the lead in ABC’s Quantico now heading for its third season, and has for 10 years been a UNICEF ambassadress for children’s rights.

Born 18 July 1982 at 1.05am Jamshedpur, India, with two army physician parents, she has a quick-witted 3^rd house Cancer Sun square a formidably determined Pluto Mars Saturn in Libra. Her Moon and Venus in Gemini give her a lighter-hearted side; and with a quirky Uranus in her 7^th, she’s her own person. A film-star Neptune in the 8^th gives her quite an aura and it opposes her Venus and is inconjunct her Sun.

There are clear connections with Meghan Markle since Priyanka’s Cancer Sun is exactly conjunct Meghan’s Ascendant; and Meghan’s Leo Sun is exactly conjunct Priyanka’s IC.

Their relationship chart has a friendly and affectionate composite Sun Venus Moon conjunction so a solid connection.

She’s also got a good link to Prince Harry with her Sun falling in his 7^th; and their relationship chart also has an affectionate composite Sun Venus.

‘Only the Lonely’ shot him to fame, then ‘Crying’ and ‘Running Scared’ – all heart-rending, dark emotional ballads in the country style, sung in his trademark quirky, three octave voice. And along with his success in the 1960s, Roy Orbison was hit by enough tragedies to fill several lifetimes.

A BBC music documentary this week followed his short life through the eyes of two of his sons. His wife was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966, followed two years later by a house fire which killed two of his children. The remaining son was left with grandparents while he remarried to produce two more children and despite a serious heart condition he was driven to keep working and tour, dying aged 52.

He was born 23 April 1936 3.50pm Vernon, Texas, with his parents often out of work and constantly moving, spending some years with grandparents. A present of a guitar when he was six became his passion.

He had a hugely complicated chart with an intense 8^th house Sun Uranus in Taurus with Mars Mercury also in Taurus in the 8^th. Strong 8^th house charts often go along with a dramatic life, full of unforeseen events. He also had a restless Mutable Grand Cross of a creative, though neurotic Neptune opposition Saturn square Jupiter opposition his Gemini (= pop singer) midheaven, so his life would often feel like a windmill in a storm. His Pluto was in a bleak trine to Saturn; and his Mars Mercury in a showbizzy trine to Neptune. For all the celebrity attached to his success, he was reclusive and shy. With planets in all three hidden Water houses, he’d want to retreat whenever he could.

His creative, musical 7th Harmonic was well aspected; as was his leaving-his-mark 17H. Not surprisingly his victim 12H was also notable.

John Boyega, the young British-Nigerian actor, who plays Finn, the stormtrooper, in the latest Star Wars, has been soaring the heights since his late teens. Born 17 March 1992 in London with a Penetecostal preacher father, he started studying for the stage aged nine and hasn’t looked back. Now at 25 he’s world famous and a producer as well as a thespian with two Star Wars under his belt.

He’s a filmic Sun in Pisces in a robust trine to Pluto; with his Pluto in an even more determined square to Mars Saturn in Aquarius. Custom-built to play tough roles and not a personality to be overlooked. His creative Venus in Pisces is in a charming opposition to Jupiter (Moon) in Virgo, softening down his hard-man approach. With his upfront Mercury in Aries square an inspired Uranus Neptune in Capricorn.

His next film Pacific Rim Rising, a sci-fi monster movie, in which he stars and co-produces, due out spring 2018, may not live up to Star Wars heights since his Solar Arc Neptune is conjunct his Saturn, with Solar Arc Uranus following 18 months later. So perhaps a regroup and rethink phase for his career.

His 7^th Harmonic is notable which is spiritual with artistic skills. Though it needs peace to flourish.

Is the USA in terminal decline? Or will the hysterical uncertainty created by Trump’s misrule along with the emergence of hate politics turn out to be a passing blip?

This is a potted rehash of previous posts from March 2017 and late December 2016.

There are two key astrological sign posts, both connected to the USA foundation chart of 1776, specifically to the USA Pluto in Capricorn opposition Mercury, which does harbour a dark, fanatical streak. Ebertin associates Mercury Pluto with: demagogues, plagiarists, those who fraudulently misrepresent, slyness and cunning, irritability, and psychological pressure. Kept under control it can be persuasive and insightful.

Tr Uranus is squaring this opposition through 2017, finishing mid April 2018. Previous occurrences oversaw VP Spiro Agnew resigning over tax fraud, followed by Watergate and Nixon’s fall; and one before that McCarthy was spitting venom in his catch-a-commie terror campaign, before being discredited. [See post December 26 2016]. It tends to bring out extreme right-wing elements and political scandals.

Tr Pluto will then start to oppose Mercury and make its First Pluto Return from 2020 till 2023 which will bring a longish period of intensity, fierce debate and mental strain.

Previous times of tr Pluto in hard aspect to Pluto Mercury saw bitter anti-slavery fights under a Democratic President, 1845 to 1851. The Great Depression, 1933 to 1938, Roosevelt’s New Deal and J. Edgar Hoover in the FBI.  The most recent – President Reagan’s swingeing tax cuts lead to a soaring budget deficit and high unemployment; a recession and he gets shot.

Much astro-talk has focused on Pluto’s conjunction to the natal US Pluto as bringing to an end the country’s superpower status. But looking to other countries, which have early enough start dates to have undergone Pluto Returns, roughly every 250 years, that wouldn’t be the case.

For example: Spain, 19 January 1479, – had certainly hit its peak power prior to the Pluto Return in 1724 but in the aftermath reached its greatest territorial extent. Next Pluto return in 1971 was four years before the dictator Franco died and Spain became a democracy thereafter.

England, 11 May 973, has had three Pluto Returns – 1216 saw the Magna Carta, supposedly the start of democracy with the king ceding power to the Barons. 1462 – War of the Roses saw a breakdown in the authority and power of the throne. 1708 – the Union with Scotland, leading ultimately a century later to the UK and the burgeoning British Empire.

Major turning points to be sure but not lethal.

The next US Presidential election will fall right in the middle of the above and occurs on the triple Jupiter Saturn Pluto in Capricorn conjunction. It will be fraught with strong-arm tactics, violence, ruthless and bullying. The Inauguration chart, assuming normal start dates/times, will be (hopefully) a mix of high idealism from Jupiter Saturn Sun in Aquarius, control-freaky with Pluto on the MC, and explosive with a 12^th house Mars Uranus square Saturn Jupiter Sun, with hints of subversion. To ne noted: Aquarius can be humanitarian, but it does appear regularly in the charts of fascists or extreme ideologues. Tr Neptune is also rapidly heading to square the US Mars from March 2021 for two years which usually accompanies a sense of panicky failure and plummeting morale.

Specifically on the Republican Party charts: 28 Feb 1854 9pm Ripon, Wisconsin and 22 Feb 1856 5pm Pittsburgh, PA – there are indications of a seismic upheaval from mid 2018 to late 2019 with tr Uranus conjunct the Pluto in Taurus. Both charts’ relationship with Trump will be undergoing upsetting and separating influences in 2018/19 and outright hostility by 2020.

Definitely a  page-turning moment in America’s history over the coming few years, with turmoil, angst and bitterness along the way. But it will settle – eventually.

Bashar Assad is being blamed for the failure of the Syria peace talks to bring an end to the civil war this week. He is accused of being unwilling to meet anyone who has a different opinion. The UN envoy in charge said: “a golden big opportunity” had been missed. With Putin, his main supporter, now withdrawing Russian troops, saying his job is done, and all western pressure for Assad to go having been dropped, it might seems as if he has won hands down.

Yet what his Presidency chart, 17 July 2000, indicates is that the worst is yet to come. Tr Pluto will oppose the Presidency Mars from February 2018 till late 2019, joined in 2019 by tr Saturn opposition Mars and then Sun. And tr Pluto will grind on in opposition to the Sun/Mars midpoint before reaching the exact hard aspect to the Sun in 2021/22.  All of that will find him trapped, enraged, completely devastated, at high-risk.

His own personal chart, 11 September 1965, looks no better with undermining Neptune transits conjunct his Saturn early and late 2018; and opposing his Uranus, Pluto, Sun from 2018 to late 2020.

Pressures are clearly coming in to weaken him further, perhaps catastrophically.

The rapper Eminem’s Revival album just out has had a mauling from the critics. “A mistake, a random mash of immaturity, vanilla attempts at atonement and random, sprinkles of magnificence.” “Witless beats and puns in a total rejection of hip-hop with acres of bad gags, filler and formulaic fury.” “He veers from sassy to self-deprecating, dependent to dismissive, murderous to politically conscious, uncontrollably lusty to borderline repentant, sometimes all within the same song. The album concludes with a new day dawning, and the sound of a toilet flushing.”

Which doesn’t mean his fans won’t buy it, but it can’t be doing his ego much good.

Born 17 October 1972 maybe 11.04 am Kansas City, MO, he had a fractured childhood with an absent father, constant moves and was bullied at school. He went on to perform the best-selling albums of the 2000s in the US, was known as the king of hip-hop and has continued to reach high sales and garner musical awards since.

He’s a Sun Uranus in Libra trine Saturn trine Moon in Aquarius, with Mars Pluto also in Libra; and a pushily confident Jupiter in money-magnet Capricorn square his Pluto. Not an easy chart, with a fairly blighted emotional life, though lots of drive and anger.

Tr Uranus is exactly opposition his Sun at the moment and tr Pluto is square his Uranus in 2017/2018, so a time of upheaval and change in his life. Which heaven knows has gone through enough already with a drug habit, court cases galore and on off relationships plus his mother suing him for slander. Tr Saturn moving through Capricorn will conjunct his Jupiter and square his Pluto in early January 2018 and in 2019 square his Uranus Sun, so a fair amount of coming-down-to-earth and facing reality in front of him. If his birth time is accurate then he’s moving into a less successful few years.