Marjorie

Jacinda Ardern’s election as opposition leader in New Zealand, caused a gender ruckus when she was repeatedly asked in interviews about her child-bearing plans. Male politicians are rarely asked their parenthood plans; and Julia Gillard, the former Australian PM’s choice not to have children was used by her political opponents to paint her as unemotional and lacking in empathy. So she’d have been caught both ways, whatever the answer. My recollection is that Maggie Thatcher lay on her delivery bed with newly-arrived twins at her side and filled in her bar-exam application forms. And I doubt if anyone thinks less well of Angela Merkel for not being a mother.

Jacinda Ardern, 26 July 1980, Hamilton, NZ, is a Sun Leo sextile Mars in Libra; with both Mars and Pluto square Mercury in Cancer perhaps opposition a Capricorn Moon; and Venus in Gemini opposition Neptune square Saturn in Virgo – so a mix of flamboyant, good in debate, determined, socially light-hearted and idealistic as well as exceptionally hard working.

She’ll have some slipping and sliding moments for eighteen months; then she’ll hit a roll of Jupiters through till 2022. Her Solar Arc Sun is conjunct her Jupiter possibly in 2019; followed by Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct her Pluto for a major triumph in 2020, at the same time as a lucky tr Uranus trine her Jupiter in Virgo and tr Pluto trine her Mars/Jupiter (2020/2021). She could be in for a major win.

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John Kasich, Ohio Republican Governor, former Congressman, Fox News TV host, investment banker, has not ruled out standing in the 2020 Presidential election, though he’s twice lost the GOP nomination in 2000 and 2016. He refused to back Trump in 2016 and has been described as a solid conservative with an independent streak.

Born 13 May 1952, he has a solidly Fixed chart with a Taurus Sun on the focal point of a T Square to Pluto opposition North Node in Aquarius; with Venus Jupiter also in Taurus opposition an ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio; a hard-working Capricorn Moon; and an autocratic Uranus square Saturn and Neptune in Libra. Enduring, stubborn, controlling, ego-centric, can turn on the charm when necessary but can also be vengeful, doesn’t budge easily from his opinions.

His Governorship is up in 2019, when he has tr Pluto trine his Sun (2019/2020) which is usually progressive; with a lucky-break tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter in 2019 though also opposition his Mars so he’s likely to be overly impulsive.

He doesn’t look too happy over the election itself in November 2020 from a variety of blocking Saturn and Pluto transits to midpoints. But will get a real lift in 2022 from Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Uranus. He’s the sort who’ll never be short of work no matter what happens.

Net neutrality – “the First Amendment of the Internet” – is under threat as the USA FCC (Federal Communications Commission) gears up to prioritize dollars over the little guy. (Now there’s a surprise under a Trump administration.) It could mean giving big cable companies leeway to charge extra fees, block, and censor users. It has sparked intense criticism from congressional Democrats, consumer groups, a record 15 million public users on the comment board; and an uncharacteristic display of unity from Amazon, Google and Facebook along with Reddit, Netflix, Vimeo and Etsy, and activist groups like the ACLU.

Wiki: ‘Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments regulating the Internet must treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.  A widely-cited example of a violation of net neutrality principles was when the Internet service provider Comcast was secretly slowing (“throttling”) uploads from peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) applications by using forged packets. Comcast didn’t stop blocking these protocols like BitTorrent until the FCC ordered them to do so.’

The man who could destroy the open internet is Ajit Pai, 10 January 1973, chairman of the FCC, though his reconfirmation has been delayed till the year end. He’s a Sun Jupiter in Capricorn square Uranus, so he certainly fits the overly pushy, ambitious, materialistic mood of the moment; with a publicity-attracting Mars Neptune in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn. He’s not feeling too popular this December with tr Saturn conjunct his Venus; and tr Neptune is undermining him through till April 2018 and beyond as it squares his Saturn – so not all going to plan. Though it won’t stop him making an almighty push as tr Pluto is conjunct his Jupiter Sun from early 2018 till late 2019. And by 2019 tr Pluto will be square his Uranus. That could all combine to throw him high and then bring him crashing down.

The World Wide Web launched on 6 August 1991 (a week after Yair Netanyahu & Faryal Khan, see posts below). Clearly a crisis week for all three. The WWW has a showy Leo Sun Jupiter, and an excitable, passionately enthusiastic Mercury Venus Mars in Virgo trine the highly-strung, super-inventive Uranus Neptune North Node in Capricorn. It does look panicked this year with tr Neptune opposition Mars until late 2018; and seriously stressed and insecure by 2019.

Ajit Pai’s Saturn opposition Mars Neptune squares the WWW’s Mars Venus Mercury; and his Pluto squares the WWW Uranus (Neptune); with his Sun Jupiter conjunct the WWW North Node and his Uranus square – so he’s definitely an aggravating, blocking and undermining factor (Mars Saturn Neptune); wanting to control (Pluto) what the WWW wants to be free (Uranus); and the Nodal connection will push the WWW into standing up for its ideals.

The Pai/WWW relationship chart has a bitterly hostile composite Mars Pluto conjunction which is being upended by tr Uranus in opposition in 2017 till March 2018; with tr Uranus then moving to oppose the composite Sun Venus in 2018/19. So it’ll be a battle royal – assuming he stays.

Professional boxer Amir Khan has announced on twitter (where else?) that he is splitting from his wife the volatile Faryal, alleging she had been cheating on him with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (who denies it). The back story involves a loud and very public battle between Faryal and Amir’s family, who had accused her of being a gold-digger and dressing in an unIslamic fashion – he’s worth £23 million and she bares a lot of flesh. She gave him an ultimatum to choose between her or his family. Oh and there’s a sex tape of Khan performing a sex act on a webcam while chatting with a model which was leaked to a US porn site. All very 21^st Century.

Amir, 8 Dec 1986, England, is a Sun Sagittarius sitting midway between Saturn and Uranus; with his Saturn Sun square Mars Jupiter (Moon) in Pisces; and a seductively charming Venus Pluto in Scorpio trine his Mars Jupiter. So he’s quite unpredictable, swinging between low self-esteem and rebelliousness, highs and low, scared of failure and yet a risk-taker.

What’s interesting is that Faryal, 27 July 1991, NY, is born just one day after Yair Netanyahu [see post 3 Aug 2017 below], who also seems to have trouble controlling his temper. She has a highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn trine a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Virgo; and a showy Sun and Jupiter in Leo. Her Sun opposition Saturn squares onto his Venus Pluto – so equal amounts of attraction and blocks. Her Venus Mars squares his Saturn and opposes his Mars Jupiter – again great stuff and some real problems.

Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus which trines Mars Jupiter – lots of fun and adventure; but the Sun Venus also square composite Neptune Saturn Uranus which is – chaos. Delusions and disappointment, need space from each other, major barriers.

The wedding took place in 31 May 2013 in an exotic ceremony at an historic New York building, turned for the occasion into a scene from the Arabian Nights. That chart has a frivolously indulgent Venus Jupiter conjunction; as well as a showbizzy Mars square Neptune; but Neptune also squares the Sun, echoing their relationship chart; plus there’s an unstable exact Uranus square Pluto. The Sun has now moved by Solar Arc to catch the tr Neptune square; and tr Saturn is opposing the Jupiter Venus, bringing down a meringue-coated dream.

The fallacy that history is progress is very seductive. Past conflicts are done and dusted, tied up with a ribbon and peace reigns into the future. World War 11 was won and lost and out of the ashes of the conflict grew a united Europe. The Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall came down and Russia was no longer enemy number one. The Irish Troubles were finally put to rest with handshakes across the aisle.

We now appear on the brink of upending all that progress. Relations with Russia have reversed to their lowest ebb in decades. Brexit runs the risk of stirring up the old aggro in Ireland, with an unsolvable dilemma about keeping an open border. And Europe is creaking mightily, not just with the perfidious Albions (treacherous Brits) deciding to bale, and the Mediterranean south labouring under an economic system that favours the north, but with other fault lines appearing from the eastern European countries. Old anti-German resentments are bubbling to the surface.

Now Poland is considering asking Germany for more compensation for the destruction caused by the Nazis. Six million Poles, half of them Jews, died during World War 11 which amounted to nearly a fifth of the population; a greater proportion than any other country. In Warsaw up to 90 per cent of buildings were destroyed and the cultural heritage demolished or stolen; estimated at a total cost of $45.3 billion. Any claims were written off in 1953 but Poland was then under the Soviet thumb so can reasonably say it was a coerced agreement.

Poland is already unpopular with the EU [post 22 July 2017] over the nationalist government’s curbs on courts, media and civil society groups and its refusal to take in refugees from Syria and elsewhere. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and himself a former Polish PM, is now making ominous noises about Poland’s future within the EU being uncertain.

Poland’s relations with Germany, with whom they share a long border, look to be worsening considerably to the point of rupture in 2019 with tr Uranus opposing the composite Sun on the Poland 1989/Germany relationship chart; and even the two older Poland charts from 1916 and 1918 in relation to Germany have massive upheavals writ large through 2019/2020.

It may be that the passage of Pluto through Capricorn following in the steps of the late 1980s/early 1990s triple conjunction of Saturn Uranus Neptune in Capricorn, is what is bringing a kind of reversal. Certainly that was when the USSR collapsed and the satellite countries split away into what they hoped was freedom. Ireland in the early 1990s was looking for a negotiated settlement to the conflict, with a ceasefire in 1994 and an eventual agreement in 1998.

Quite why Europe is threatening to fragment isn’t as clear, astrologically speaking. Though its Capricorn Sun did take a terrible pounding from the 1990s triple conjunction and then after 2008 from tr Pluto – maybe just building up a critical mass of pressure which is shifting the tectonic plates underneath so the old cohesion is now threatening to become unsustainable.

Another two thespian stalwarts gone.

Robert Hardy, 29 October 1925, had a long and illustrious career in theatre, television and film spanning 70 years – his most notable roles were in All Creatures Great and Small, Churchill and Harry Potter.

His father was a public-school headmaster and at Oxford he studied under CS Lewis and Tolkien. He was married twice and clearly had an eye for his leading ladies along the way.

He was a Sun Scorpio, born just 12 days before his great friend Richard Burton. Though in Hardy’s case his Saturn in Scorpio was more separated from his Sun than the depressive Burton who had the conjunction. Hardy had a super confident Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto square Mars in Libra, so he would be vibrant, communicative and fairly argumentative as well as impulsive. His lucky Jupiter Pluto was further emphasised being the driving rod of a Kite, from a creative Water Grand Trine of Uranus trine Mercury Saturn trine Pluto. So Jupiter would be the key factor in his expansive personality. But with his Scorpio Sun and Aries Moon not being entirely compatible, he’d find balancing his ambitions with his personal relationships tricky.

He had wide interests including mediaeval warfare, perhaps a result of his research-oriented Yod of Uranus inconjunct a Mars sextile Neptune. His filmic Neptune was also trine Venus in Sagittarius. A colourful character.

Hywel Bennett, 8 April 1944, best known for Shelley and EastEnders, The Family Way, The Virgin Soldiers, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Pennies from Heaven, has also died.

He was a Sun Aries trine Jupiter in Leo, sextile Saturn in Gemini – so a helpful mix of luck and discipline. His Uranus was in a creative trine to Uranus, sextile Pluto North Node in Leo, so quietly influential.

Tesla Motors which specialises in electric cars and battery storage, co-founded by Elon Musk, hit an all-time high in share values in June and then tumbled 20% on a string of bad news – delivery numbers that missed expectations, competition, a set of bearish forecasts, and poor results in a vehicle safety test.

It was founded on 1 July 2003 and had its IPO on 29 June 2010.

The IPO chart is definitely lucky – luckier than it deserves clearly – with a Sun Mercury opposition Pluto square Jupiter Uranus in Aries. Very innovative, pushing back the boundaries with a focal point Uranus; risk-taking; ultra-confident. But Uranus tends to be erratic and unpredictable so up and down. Tr Neptune opposing the Mars later this year will be a downer; and tr Saturn square Uranus Jupiter, square Pluto and opposition Sun Mercury from this New Year till early 2019 will prune back overly high expectations and bring a reality check. Maybe a restructure in 2019 with tr Uranus trine Pluto.

The 2003 chart is also Cancerian with Sun Mercury Saturn trine Uranus Mars – so very experimental especially in machines (Mars Uranus) and aimed at the consumer market (Cancer’s public touch). Jupiter in flamboyant Leo is in a high-finance (delusional) opposition to Neptune; and a confident trine to Pluto. There’ll be a definite upheaval and reorganisation come 2019 under heavy pressure, with shortage of finances; but also luck sprinkled copiously along the way in 2018 and 2021. So very much on a roller coaster ride. Not an easy trajectory.

The whiff of corruption in high places is everywhere.

In the Trump camp the Mueller investigation into their campaign’s possible collusion with Russia is escalating with a Grand Jury being called. Son Eric Trump is fending off suggestions that the costs of using a Trump golf course for a kids cancer charity-do diverted money into the organization, despite claiming the venue was free. Etc etc etc in the Trump dynasty.

In Israel it is now openly said that the police suspect PM Netanyahu of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

In Pakistan the prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified from public office for failing to disclose financial interests, a breach which could see half the current politicians there also disqualified. A purge of an entire political class would create a vacuum that would likely open the door to an army takeover.

In France, former president Nicolas Sarkozy is embroiled in the criminal investigation into Qatar’s World Cup bid amid suggestions he may have benefited from multi-million-pound business deals linked to the Gulf state.

There’s no real connection to past occurrences of this upcoming I North Leo Eclipses. Though the Eclipse does impact on the Israel 10^th house, and the USA’s Moon, and on Pakistan’s clutch of Leo planets. But I wonder whether it is just part and parcel of Pluto grinding its way through Capricorn, the sign which rules governments, business and finance (2008 to 2024).  Cleaning out the sewers for a fresh start (ever hopeful).  Why it should be specific to this year isn’t clear. It could just be coincidence – corruption isn’t exactly unknown in Asia, or indeed France or Israel. But it does seem to be one of the defining characteristics of 2017.

Perhaps Pluto picking up with Jupiter and Uranus this year – Jupiter Uranus does have a tendency to get-rich-quick schemes; and Jupiter Pluto never worries about rules and regulations or the normal moralities which bind ordinary people.

If it is Pluto in Capricorn, then the pendulum will swing to the other extreme, from laxity of behaviour with Jupiterian overtones this year, to the opposite as Saturn – the giver of laws and order, and rigorous structure – comes into play from 2018 to 2020. Maybe the Jupiter Saturn conjunction of 2020 will find a better balance. Though it will still be very money and business-oriented being in Capricorn.  The shift of both Jupiter and Saturn into Aquarius in early 2021 will undoubtedly help.

PS: Wonderfully funny piece by Marina Hyde in the Guardian on Eric Trump’s wife and the whole farrago.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2017/aug/03/move-over-sean-hannity-meet-lara-trump-the-president-keeps-the-propaganda-in-the-family

www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/06/06/how-donald-trump-shifted-kids-cancer-charity-money-into-his-business/#6295be76b4a3

An explosively argumentative and bombastic leader, with a family whose sense of arrogant entitlement has risen to imperial levels, fending off a truckload of legal problems. Sound familiar? Another Mars in Leo is living out a similar narrative to Trump. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been skirting the edges of a corruption investigation, and word now is that a former top aide will turn state’s evidence against him. The probe is into allegations Mr Netanyahu accepted lavish gifts and made an illegal deal with a newspaper publisher. Then just to pile on his woes, his son Yair, having been ticked off for not picking up dog poop went off on a facebook rant attacking his critics and hurling slanders in all directions, including against former Israeli political leaders.

Netanyahu senior has Mars in Leo conjunct Pluto with the Solar Eclipse rattling up his Mars over coming months. He looks exceptionally stuck and panicked in 2018 with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Libra Sun; tr Pluto square his Sun/Neptune midpoint and tr Neptune opposition Saturn; with 2019 continuing the bad news with jolts and undermining jangles.

His son Yair, 26 July 1991, is a Sun Leo, with Jupiter and Mercury also in Leo – Mercury being triggered also by the Eclipse as well as an opposition in 2018 by Solar Arc Saturn in opposition to his Mercury. So a crisis of communication followed by a depression. He’s also got Mars Venus in Virgo in a volatile, highly-strung trine to Uranus Neptune in Capricorn, which has evidently in the past led to outbursts of rage. And he’s got a pushily-confident, ignores-social-niceties Jupiter square Pluto. So not given to humility or sensitivity. He’s got a confused, uncertain and fairly devastated set of midpoint transits over the next three to four years.

His mother Sara, no stranger to controversy either, 5 Nov 1958, is a super-determined and impulsive Sun Jupiter Venus in Scorpio square Uranus; with Mars in heavyweight Taurus opposition Mercury, so not backwards about expressing herself. She’s also running into a period of devastation next year.

They should try reading some Roman history or even the I Ching – “what goes up must come down.”