Marjorie

A powerful vehicle bomb has hit the diplomatic area of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least 80 people and injuring 350, the deadliest attack to hit the city in recent years. It is a highly fortified zone with the explosion coming close to the German embassy with many other key embassy buildings in the area, including the presidential palace. Civilians are said to be the main casualties.

For a potted precis of the present mess in Afghanistan with tensions between the US and regional players like Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan complicating what was already a fraught situation, see: www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38582323

The Fire Grand Trine is still in place, with the Moon close to the North Node in Leo trine Uranus Venus in Aries trine Saturn in Sagittarius, formed into a Kite with Saturn opposition Mars – so the overwhelming and destructive power which oversaw the Manchester bomb is still in effect, if anything stronger, since the Moon and Venus have moved up to join in.

The Afghanistan 19 August 1919 12am chart, has an explosive and insecure tr Uranus square Mars in Cancer exactly now, and returning into early 2018. The approaching August Solar Eclipse will oppose the Afghan Uranus and conjunct the Leo Sun and Saturn, so it will be a critical time. 2019 looks highly uncertain, disorientating and confused; and with tr Neptune moving through the 10^th there looks little chance of a fixed direction any time soon.

The 17 July 1973 12 am chart is also in a state of crisis in 2017 with tr Pluto square the Mars and tr Uranus square the Cancer Sun; with continuing upheaval from tr Pluto square Uranus in 2017/18; followed by tr Pluto opposition the Sun in 2020/21. So no quick n easy solutions appearing there either.

Afghanistan has an illustrious and ancient history, going back 6000 years, as a place of great culture, civilization and trade, and whose warlike mountains tribes and difficult terrain saw off quite a few aggressors. Alexander the Great, who made a brief foray in, said it was “easy to march into, hard to march out of”. In the 19^th Century the British Empire and Russia used it as a pawn in their power games; which now seems to be repeating in a different guise. It is thought likely that the Sumerians brought early astrological wisdom with them from the Indus Valley around Afghanistan when they moved west to the Tigris-Euphrates basin around present day Baghdad. And thence it moved into Europe.

Richard Gere, once the toast of Hollywood for An Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman, is now content to do small indie movies, which are all that is on offer since the Chinese took over controlling interests in movieland. As a Buddhist and personal friend of the Dalai Llama he has campaigned tirelessly for the cause of Tibet, so has been effectively blackballed from blockbusters.

Born 31 August 1949 in Philadelphia, with various birth times suggested. Astro.com has plumped for 4.36pm which puts his Venus Neptune in Libra conjunct his IC if his chart is relocated to Dharamsala, India where the Dalai Llama lives, so it is feasible.

He’s a Sun Saturn in Virgo, so definitely hard-working; with an adventurous Mars in Cancer opposition Jupiter in Capricorn; with a Sagittarius Moon trine Pluto; and Mercury Venus Neptune in Libra – so he’s serious, wishing to be of service,  probably studious, risk-taking, defensive and charming.

If the birth time is accurate it puts Pluto and Saturn Sun in his 8^th which would certainly make sense of him as a movie superstar. With three planets in his spiritual 9^th, and an enthusiastic Jupiter in his 1^st.

In an odd way he’s not that dissimilar to China with Mars also in its 7^th and Saturn in Virgo in the 8^th, plus a Libra Sun, Mercury, Neptune in the 8^th as well. And both have Jupiter in Capricorn at the same degree.

His Jupiter is exactly conjunct the Dalai Lama’s North Node in Capricorn so quite a karmic connection; with the Dalai Lama’s Pluto conjunct his Mars, so a very intense link. Their relationship chart has a transformational composite Sun Pluto; and a spiritual composite Venus Neptune in a sociable square to Jupiter. There will be rough edges and sacrifices demanded since the composite Mars is square Uranus Saturn.

At present Gere is squiring a Spanish publicist three decades younger than him, after the break up of his second marriage. Both his marriages were to models.

He looks in for a considerable success in 2019/2020 with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter.

Tiger Woods has been arrested for drink driving and was released a few hours later under his own recognizance. A seriously unflattering felon mugshot is on display which can only add to his woes, having undergone multiple back surgeries in recent years, the last one a month ago. He hopes to return to professional golf at some point, though he’s out of action until cleared by his doctors.

Although he’ll have a high in September/October this year from tr Pluto trine his Mars/Jupiter midpoint; and (birth time being absolutely accurate) others with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/MC in 2017/18, it doesn’t look great for him. His Solar Arc MC is in a jolting square to his Uranus, within three months. And tr Saturn is opposition his MC  late June/early July and October which is usually a career-setback. Plus an unhappy tr Saturn conjunct his Moon across the summer. 2018/2019 sees a discouraging tr Pluto square his Sun/Saturn midpoint. And worse, he’ll also have a smash-up, crash-up Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Saturn, exact in 17 months’ time; and a decidedly not-succeeding tr Neptune square his Mars in 2019/2020.

Where he’ll start to bounce is in 2021/2022 with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter/Uranus midpoint bringing him some much needed luck.

Donald Trump, having cosied up to the Saudis, changed tack and put the cat amongst the pigeons at last week’s hostile meetings with European leaders, which prompted the normally reticent Merkel to say they could no longer rely on the USA (or the UK). He railed at them for defence underspending, for Germany making money out of the US and refused to commit to backing the climate change treaty.

While there is some merit in what he says about the US having to pull too much weight in NATO, what his stance effectively means is that if Putin decided to push into eastern Europe, the US most likely wouldn’t support NATO in any action. Which must delight Putin, and scare the Baltic countries witless.

There is certainly a nasty sinking feeling in the relationship chart between the USA and the EU with tr Neptune opposing the composite Mars in 2017/18; and more separation in 2019, with tr Saturn square the composite Mercury, Sun, Neptune and square Uranus.

Trump’s relationship with the EU is not mutually supportive at best; and showing extreme stress this September/October with tr Pluto square the composite Mars; and heading into a devastatingly confused 2018/19 with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune.

Trump’s relationship chart with Merkel, who will most likely stay on has much the same with tr Neptune opposition the composite Saturn in 2017/18 for high uncertainty and a degree of panic; plus an insecure, disruptive tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars now and around till early 2018; and tr Saturn opposition the composite Sun Uranus Mercury and square Neptune in 2019.

Trump’s relationship with NATO indicates outright dislike with a composite Mars Pluto Saturn Mercury; and it’s being rattled severely this year into 2018 by tr Uranus square the composite Sun; and tr Saturn square Uranus.

Whatever he intends doing with the array of generals on his cabinet staff and boosted military, standing up against Putin and for the EU certainly isn’t high on his to-do list.

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The polls are narrowing between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn since the early Tory euphoria about a slam dunk win on June 8^th. The crucial factor from her viewpoint is not just a simple win but sufficient of a majority to be able to railroad the hard-liners in her party when the Brexit negotiations come down to the wire.

What will probably save her bacon are two positives picking up from June 2^nd – tr Uranus trine her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint and tr Pluto sextile her Solar Arc Jupiter. Though with a muddled tr Pluto square her Sun/Neptune (could be now or in June depending on birth time); and an irritable-at-setbacks tr Saturn conjunct her Sun/Mars (again could be now or into early June though definitely disappearing on the 8^th) it will be a high-anxiety run up. Where her relationship with the UK runs into real problems is by 2019.

Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have much positive on his chart (without a birth time) apart from an enthusiasm denting tr Saturn square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint, again disappearing after the 8^th. Certainly he’s got a bumpy road ahead with tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Saturn midpoint from mid July which is discouraging and a ‘shocking’ change of direction with Solar Arc conjunct his Sun later this year or early 2018.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Solar Return (without houses) from May 26 for a year has the Fire Grand Trine which is inspirational and confident, but all focussed into a Kite by the Saturn opposition Mars, which is usually unlucky.

Theresa May’s Solar Return (again without houses) has a New Moon conjunct Jupiter square Mars and Pluto, with the Sun square the Mars/Pluto midpoint – so confident, risk taking and acutely frustrating.

Arsene Wenger, supremely successful manager of the winning Arsenal football club seems to be in some doubt as to whether he’ll be asked to stay on. He was born 22 October 1949 11am Strasbourg, France and is a Sun Libra in an expansive square to money-attracting Jupiter in Capricorn in the 2^nd, sextile a flamboyant Mars in Leo. He has a charming Venus in sporting Sagittarius on his Ascendant which fits, but he’s strongly opinionated and appears to attract equally strong reactions from the public. Perhaps due to his Pluto, Mars and Saturn in his 9^th.

He looks a touch insecure and prone to over-reactions from early June with tr Uranus trine his Mars; with two jolting and bad-tempered Solar Arcs, exact within three months, but in effect now – Solar Arc Uranus square his Venus and Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Moon. He’s also got tr Neptune square his Venus this year and opposition his Saturn in 2018, which is uncertain and confused; plus Solar Arc Moon square his 10^th house Neptune by late 2018. Where he’ll pick up is by 2020/21 with tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter which should bring a spectacular boost to his finances and confidence.

This is a rerun of a previous post  Neptune is such a slippery influence it’s always tricky to pin down, so interesting to see how it worked out in action.

November 16 2015 post:

I’ve been pondering on ISIL and the chaos they are inflicting both in the Middle East where it has carved out an empire the size of the UK, and the more recent Russian plane and Paris atrocities. The rise of Al Quaeda through the 1990s culminating in 9/11 felt like a Pluto in Sagittarius phenomenon – rigidity of religious ideology. ISIL/Daesh seem to be of a different order, their barbarity criticised even by Al Quaeda hardliners.

What keeps niggling at me is Neptune in Pisces (2011 to 2025). The standard view is that it should be dreamy, poetic, spiritual. Yet Neptune has a cosmically chilling side which can be so detached from reality that empathy doesn’t exist. To give just two examples – Josef Mengele was a Sun Pisces trine Neptune in Cancer; John Gacy, serial rapist and killer of at least 33 young men and boys, was a New Moon in Virgo opposition Neptune.

Janet Daley in today’s Telegraph described ISIL as a ‘hysterical death cult’ with whom there is no reasoning. There can be a brutal logic where Pluto is concerned, but none with Neptune doubled up in its own sign.

Both Al Quaeda 11 Aug 1988 and ISIL 15 Oct 2006 have the North Node in Pisces and ISIL also has Uranus in Pisces. Both charts are violent and ruthless. Al Quaeda has Mars in Aries inconjunct Pluto and widely trine Sun, square Neptune, Venus and sextile Jupiter.

The ISIL chart is much better tied together with a warlike Saturn in Leo trine Pluto, sextile Sun Mars. With Saturn opposition Neptune square Jupiter Mercury in Scorpio. All that anger and hostility hijacking Pisces’ supposed religious leanings to cosmeticise their actions.

ISIL has no Earth signs; Al Quaeda only Neptune in Capricorn – and yet they inflict the most physical of damage, their weakest element out of control.  ISIL also has its Sun square the delusional, megalomaniac Neptune/Pluto.

Looking back over previous Neptune in Pisces, keeping in mind that planets never act in isolation, there are always other astrological factors in play: Great dynasties were begun and in historical times they never came without bloodshed. Suleiman the Magnificent, the zenith of Ottoman Empire. The Ming Dynasty started in China; and Genghis Khan was crowned the Great Khan, in whose wake came the largest land empire in history.

The previous Neptune in Pisces from 1848 (along with a triple conjunction) oversaw the Taiping rebellion which ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, with estimates of war dead ranging from 20 to 70 million.

The Crimean War of Russia versus France, UK, Ottoman Empire which was described as having a “great confusion of purpose” and a war noted for its incompetent international butchery, including the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Other Neptune in Pisces, occurring roughly every 165 years, saw two great famines in France on separate occasions. One of largest naval battles in history in China. The Sack of Rome – end of Italian renaissance. Henry V111 breaks with Rome. First Muslim Empire in India. Third crusade under way. Richard 1 of England defeats Saladin. Christian Queen of Jerusalem tho’ also open to Muslims. And last but not least MacBeth succeeded to the Scottish Throne after King Duncan’s death.

Whether tr Uranus opposition the ISIL Sun Mars in 2016/17 will be enough to dislodge it is questionable. It’ll damage but not destroy it. It may have to wait for tr Pluto square the ISIL Sun Mars, 2018 to 2021, to halt it in its tracks.

Comments by the Manchester suicide bomber’s sister that his deadly attack was in revenge for western military attacks in the Middle East are being shouted down as ‘abhorrent’. But it is undeniable that stamping out terrorism demands a two pronged counter-attack of a) in the short term, preventing it by whatever means necessary and b) in the longer term, understanding the root causes and removing them.

Abedi was Libyan, a country since Gaddafi’s toppling in 2011, mainly as a result of NATO, French, Brit and US action, which has fallen into anarchy in a multi-front civil war. Patrick Cockburn writes: ‘The Libyan uprising was reported as a simple-minded clash between good and evil. Gaddafi and his regime were demonised and his opponents treated with a naïve lack of scepticism and enquiry. The foreign media have dealt with the subsequent collapse of the Libyan state since 2011 mostly by ignoring it.’  Libya holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa so should be a prosperous country, instead of which it is in chaotic ruins – a breeding ground for ISIS and other jihadists and is forcing many millions of refugees into exile, some of them heading Europe-wards.

Libra was given independence on 24 December 1951 12am Tripoli. Tr Uranus, just into Aries, was square the Capricorn Sun in 2011; and what followed saw the tr Uranus square tr Pluto in hard aspect to the 10^th house Uranus, as well as Saturn and Mars, so disruptive, explosive, destructive. Tr Pluto has another square to the Libya Mars this Sept/Oct and by 2018 tr Pluto square the Libya Neptune for two years, which is simplistically devastation, though it’s difficult to see how it could get much worse. Tr Neptune will also square the midheaven for a directionless 2018/19. Solar Arc Pluto is also conjunct the Libya Moon in 16 months’ time which will bring violent emotional reactions and shocks. So no sense of any sensible government forming any time soon.

These are older posts on Saturn Pluto.

‘Stray thoughts on Saturn and Pluto which come together as a conjunction in 2019. But also dominate the US Presidential Election 2016 chart, with each planet sitting on the point of a T Square.

* Two tough, essentially masculine energies.

* Saturn’s great strength in stability and structure is also a weakness when faced with situations demanding flexibility and compromise. Pluto in a slightly different way is also incapable of giving way gracefully. A world view based solely on power sees only the victorious or the oppressed. There can be no quarter given when compromise is seen as a sign of weakness, a lowering of defences as potentially life-threatening.

* Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order, come under pressure.’

‘The only Saturn Pluto Jupiter conjunction, as we have coming up in 2020, that I could find over the past 300 years was in 1819/20. In fact it never came together as all three since the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Pisces of 19189 had separated before Jupiter caught up in 1820. When I have a moment I’ll try to delve further back in history. But of note (from wiki):-

‘The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. The Panic announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward a dynamic economy, increasingly characterized by the financial and industrial imperatives of laissez-faire capitalism. Though driven by global market adjustments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the severity of the downturn was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns.’

Interesting that the financial collapse – Saturn Pluto = deprivation – was followed by a resurgence from Jupiter. It was certainly a major turning point at least for the USA.’

Also broader background on Saturn Pluto : December 17 2016