Marjorie

Ratan Tata, a much revered and respected Indian businessman and philanthropist, who turned his family’s Tata Group into a global player, and invested heavily in British industry – Land Rover and British Steel – has died. He was a major figure in the international business community, close to US politicians as well as the Indian government, advising the former prime ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

 ‘A softly spoken man, renowned for his courtesy, he never married, although he described himself as having come close four times. He was known for living modestly —- and noted for his love of dogs.’ Under Ratan Tata’s leadership, 65% of Tata Group’s profits were directed to charitable causes, supporting education, healthcare, scientific research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tata Steel announced that the families of employees who died from the virus would continue to receive their salaries and benefits until the worker would have turned 60.

  Born 28 December 1937 6.30am Mumbai, India, he had an ambitious and practical 1^st house Capricorn Sun and Mercury sextile Mars in Pisces and trine an innovative Uranus in Taurus in his 5^th house. His also had a super-confident Jupiter in his 2^nd house of finances opposition an 8^th house Pluto tying him irrevocably into business/financial environment.

  What marked his chart out as different from your run-of-the-mill capitalist financier was Neptune in Virgo in his 9^th in a hope-for-a-better-society opposition to Saturn square a softly charming Venus on his Ascendant opposition Chiron on his Descendant.

  Chiron on his Descendant points to a woundedness in close relationships which added to a freedom-loving Uranus in his 5^th opposition an 11^th house Scorpio Moon; and Saturn close to his IC all probably contributed to his unmarried state. His Sun/Moon midpoint was conjunct his Black Moon which might also be a pointer.

Angela Rippon, one of UK TV’s best known faces who broke through several glass ceilings early in a long and illustrious career by becoming a BBC female news reader and presenting Top Gear for petrolheads has been celebrating her 80^th birthday in style.  A BBC4 programme at the weekend marked her extraordinary career over the past 58 years. At the moment she co-hosts the weekly Rip Off Britain show and was an unforgettable, oldest-competitor-ever on Strictly Come Dancing with Kai Waddrington last season. Over the years she has also presented many Royal events for UK, USA and Australian networks.

  Born 12 October 1944 5.50pm (from memory) Plymouth, England, she has a social and diplomatic 7^th house Libra Sun and Mars squaring onto the North/South Node axis so has an attention-attracting personality which draws her into the national culture. Her 8^th house Venus in Scorpio trines Saturn and sextiles a 6^th house Jupiter in Virgo giving her a sophisticated charm as well as an enthusiasm for work and staying healthy.

  Added to that is an emphasised Pluto in her performing 5^th house which is on the focal point of a mini Grand Trine to Uranus trine Neptune, giving her creative and social influence.

  Her 3^rd house Uranus is also in a lucky square to Jupiter and trine her Mercury and Sun, suiting her for television which is ruled by Uranus.

  Relating the mainly ups and a few downs in her career, she alluded to her firing in 1982 from TV AM, the much heralded-in-advance commercial TV breakfast show which launched with the Famous Five presenters – Angela, Anna Ford, David Frost, Michael Parkinson, Robert Kee. After a disastrous start, mainly due to confusion off screen and management chaos, she and Anna Ford (another Libra) were let go. At that point the tr Saturn Pluto conjunction in Libra was crossing Angela’s Sun and Mars which would have been devastatingly stuck and she also had an undermining tr Neptune was sitting on her Midheaven.

   She did not work for a year thereafter she said and then accepted a job in Boston, USA for a year where she won an Emmy. Her astrocartography points to the USA as being a successful zone for her with her Sun, Mars Midheaven lines being down the east coast and her Sun Midheaven down the west coast.

 Her harmonics include a strong get-it-together 5^th, designed for a glamorous business with super-confidence, giving her the drive to keep going. Her leaving-a-legacy 17H is also marked; as is her global renown 22H.

Alex Salmond, a towering figure in UK politics who very nearly split apart four hundred years of a union between Scotland and England, has died. Whatever his detractors said he was a great orator and a shrewd politician whose rallying cry was ‘Scotland is a country not a county’. His reputation in recent years was sullied by his association with the Russia Today channel on which he had a show and his rancorous split with Nicola Sturgeon after sexual assault charges were laid against him of which he was found not guilty. There were suggestions that a political conspiracy from within the Scottish National Party lay behind some of the charges. Though even his own defence barrister admitted “I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions.”

 Born 31 December 1954 4.30pm Linlithgow, Scotland, he had a  Water Grand Trine of Mars Moon (Midheaven) in Pisces trine Uranus Jupiter Ascendant in Cancer trine Saturn Venus in Scorpio. Water Grand Trine individuals are creative, healing for others, very private and self protective, can be escapist, can have an exaggerated need for dependency. They can be emotionally sensitive and need periods of quiet to re-centre.

 He had a yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct his Moon which points to a degree of emotional disorganization which found its outlet in a political career (10^th house Moon). His hard-working 6^th house Capricorn Sun was less integrated into his chart than the rest of his planets.

 He leaves behind his wife Moira, always a background figure, who is 17 years older than him.

  Recent photographs show him overweight and it was evidently a heart attack which caused his death after giving a speech in North Macedonia.

 At the moment tr Uranus was in a disruptive square to his Pluto tugging on one leg of his yod and his Solar Arc Neptune was approaching a conjunction to his 6^th house Sun within coming months.

 Whatever his personal failings he did make his mark.

Add On: Relocating his chart to Northern Macedonia puts his Jupiter Uranus exactly on the Ascendant as his image is burnished by highly complimentary obituaries. The IC of the relocated chart, the lowest point which hints at roots and belonging, is exactly conjunct Vindemiatrix, the widowmaker, and was also exactly in line of the recent Libra Solar Eclipse. His Chiron was also conjunct the Descendant there.  All close connections though with the exception of  Jupiter Uranus on the Ascendant tricky to interpret. Any comments gratefully received. The Eclipse on the IC could be seen as a challenge to move away from old familiar connections. Looking back the two recent ones I have had on my IC coincided with house moves. So a general sense of an upheaval and moving away from familiar roots.

Two Jewish writers who used words to make sense of their war-time experiences have died.

 Lore Segal, 29 December 1923, Austria, was one of the lucky 10,000 children selected for Kindertransport, in 1938, a humanitarian initiative to foster endangered Jewish children in Nazi territories into British homes. She was later reunited with her parents. She started to write when she was ten to make sense of what she had been through and continued writing everyday of her life thereafter, producing five novels and many short stories.  “It was the novelist’s impulse not to explain or persuade but to force the reader’s vision: see what I saw, feel what it felt like,” she wrote in the preface to her first novel. In 2007, she published Shakespeare’s Kitchen, a collection of stories set in a think-tank in Connecticut which was nominated for the Pulitzer. 

 She was a Sun Pisces trine Pluto and square Saturn which could have given her a depressive streak but she was blessed with a lucky, adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Aries with her Jupiter in a confident square to Pluto and sextile a determined Mars in Aquarius – and two other planets in Aquarius including Mercury which gave her the detachment to stand back and observe. She also had a powerful yod of Venus sextile Saturn inconjunct Pluto giving her a singular sense of purpose.

Lily Ebert, 29 December 1923, a Hungarian-born Auschwitz survivor who devoted herself to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, including on TikTok, where she drew millions of viewers with her testimonials, lost her mother and two youngest siblings to the gas chambers. Initially she could not speak of her experiences but as she aged and her family grew – ultimately to 10 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson, she found the strength to speak out.

  She had a stark and exceptionally tough Water Grand Trine of Mars in Scorpio trine Pluto trine Uranus formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition a Capricorn Sun which gave her determination and courage to overcome appalling experiences; and a flicker of optimism from Jupiter in Sagittarius square Uranus.

With less than a month to go, here is a reprise of what has gone before with, I fear, no more clarity. What the astrology shows is a description of the individual’s reactions from which can be extrapolated a reasonable assumption of a win or loss – though not with 100% certainty.

  Both Trump and J.D. Vance have transiting Jupiter moving through their 10^th house as well as tr Uranus which simplistically suggests success and a change in career or life’s direction.  But as ever there are  negatives as well as positives.

 Trump has the nerve-wracking tr Uranus square his Mars throughout this month which coincided earlier with the near miss of his shooting – it will test his sense of security and tend to lead to excitable over-reactions to prove his bravado. His 12^th house Pluto is being pressured by his Progressed Moon in square late November and his Solar Arc Midheaven approaching a conjunction within coming months which will tend to brew up an inner storm as he feels boxed in. His Solar Arc Pluto is also square his Venus, on the degree now and strengthening into 2025, which again will magnify his emotional reactions as he feels emotionally under great stress.

  His Solar Arc Neptune is exactly conjunct his South Node at the moment and moving to conjunct his Moon into 2025. According to Sakoian & Acker, ‘Neptune conjunct South Node does not make for popularity. Their habits are out of harmony with current social trends. There is a danger of what they have worked hard will be stolen from them.’

 Late December to early January looks downbeat and stuck with tr Saturn opposition his Jupiter/Pluto at a point where Kamala Harris is in receipt of a minor lucky break. Throughout January over the Inauguration he looks deprived and under huge pressure.

 He also has tr Neptune moving in his 8^th house of business finances and tr Pluto moving into his 6^th house of health – so this is a time of transition which won’t improve his physical stamina, or his mental acuity or his cash situation.

J.D.Vance, 2 August 1984 8.11am Middletown, Ohio, (birth certificate) has the same mixter maxter of influences. Tr Jupiter and Uranus moving across his 10th, tr Neptune into his 8^th and tr Pluto into his 6^th. He looks in good spirits through this month; less upbeat late November to mid December; emotionally on edge late December to mid March with tr Uranus square his Venus; deflated for a few days over New Year; and both confident and frustrated through January..

Kamala Harris, 20 October 1964 9.28 pm Oakland, California (birth certificate) has tr Neptune off her Sun/Saturn midpoint which made September and early October a downer. But she’ll be edgy, quick tempered and tending to act impulsively when she runs into setbacks through this month till just before the election.

  The great imponderables in her chart are her Jupiter tied into a Fixed Grand Cross. It catches the tr Uranus conjunction 24 November to 13 December which on its own would produce luck and success. But given that her Jupiter is tied into Neptune, Mars and Saturn, the tr Uranus also tugs on them – in particular it is conjunct her Mars/Saturn midpoint late November to mid December which usually brings a test of nervous strength and can be accident-prone and very aggravated.

 The other complication is her Uranus Pluto in Virgo which is being tossed up and down by tr Saturn in Pisces square tr Jupiter in Gemini. She looks blocked in January 7 to 18^th across the electoral college as tr Saturn opposes her Pluto.

  Relocating her chart to Washington DC does bring success her way since it puts her Moon and Jupiter in her 10^th; but her Solar Return for either location looks acutely frustrated and trapped with Mars opposition Pluto squaring her Sun on both Solar Return locations.

 Mind you Trump’s Solar Return does not look like a winning combo either.

  Tim Walz, 6 April 1964, no birth time, has very little that is illuminating on his chart.

  The relationship chart between Kamala Harris and the USA is essentially stressed and distrustful with a composite Mars Uranus trine Pluto, square Neptune and inconjunct Saturn. The relationship chart between the USA and Trump has disappointment running alongside delusions and illusions, plus a chained-together inevitability. Neither of these point to a result since Tony Blair’s relationship chart with the UK reflected extreme dislike which did not stop him winning three times.

  Even more of a minestrone mix than most elections. Make of it what you may.

Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert, has died. She was by his side when he was shot in 1968 and six months later gave birth to their 11^th child. Her life ‘veered between exuberance and tragedy’ and was a mass of contradictions. Both her parents, who were alcoholics, died in one plane crash, her brother in another. Her husband and her brother-in-law, the president, were both assassinated. Of her 11 children, one son died from a drug overdose, another in a skiing accident. A daughter-in-law took her own life. A nephew was convicted of murder.

  She was praised for her pious religiosity and ‘lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights’ despite having a reputation for slapping and berating immigrant household workers, cheating them out of money, and screaming at them like a ‘mad woman,’ causing them to flee in tears, or be fired,’ sources recalled. ‘I really don’t think Ethel liked Hispanics or blacks,’ said her one-time secretary, Noelle Fell.

 She remained devoted to Robert Kennedy throughout their marriage and to the end of her life  despite his many affairs to amongst others Kim Novak, Lee Remick, and his sister-in-law Jackie.

  Born 11 April 1928 3.30 am Chicago, Illinois, Ethel was the sixth of seven children in a rags-to-riches family which made millions in the coal industry.   She had a pro-active, exuberant and lucky 2^nd house Aries Sun conjunct Jupiter trine Saturn in Sagittarius on her Midheaven and trine a Sagittarius Moon trine Neptune in Leo conjunct her Descendant.  So much Fire would make her inspirational as well as attention-demanding, rarely doubting the rightness of her views. She had Mars on her Ascendant, a hint of her tendency to throw tantrums despite being in Pisces.  Her Sun Jupiter were in a pushily-confident square to a Pluto in the 5^th which would add to her sense of entitlement and dominating tendencies.

 Neptune conjunct her Descendant and opposition her Sun/Moon midpoint (the marriage significator) point to dissatisfaction and disappointment when it came to close relationships. She may have shrugged off her husband’s dalliances but marriage was never going to bring her fulfilment as a relationship.

  Her chart was Fire and Water with no Air or Earth giving her an excitable and impulsive temperament with mood swings, a tendency to being explosively unpredictable. Though also refreshingly straightforward.

 Her synastry with Robert Kennedy had one hint of passionate attraction with his Venus opposition her Pluto; and a helpful amount of friendliness. But was not swimming in sentiment or affection.  His Chiron was conjunct her Sun and her Chiron opposition his Mars so there was a curious symbiosis of linking in to each other’s sense of woundedness. His Sun Saturn in Scorpio was not an obvious match for her Sun Jupiter in Aries.

 Her relationship with Jackie was competitive, covered over by a veneer of faux smiles. And her relationship with JFK was simmering with deep dislike though again covered over with icing sugar for public consumption.

  Life in a dynastic family eh??

Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storms at 8.30pm last night with Pluto close to the Midheaven in Sarasota, Florida and tore through the state bringing tornadoes, floods, and the risk of storm surges. More than three million homes and businesses are without power, and there have been “a number of deaths” reported on the Atlantic coast. It comes two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed at least 225 people in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. Milton was a category five hurricane and downgraded to category one as it crossed the state.

  The landfall chart has a Water Grand Trine of Venus in Scorpio trine Saturn and Neptune in Pisces trine Mars in Cancer. Venus is further challenged being on the point of a yod inconjunct Jupiter sextile Chiron with Uranus and Algol in opposition to Venus being the reaction point.

 The recent 2 October Solar Eclipse located to Sarasota, has Mars within a degree of the Descendant, indicating it as a high-risk zone.

 A previous destructive hurricane Michael in 2018 which was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the USA since 1992 which impacted on the Florida Panhandle was also marked up by a heavily stressed Mars on the Descendant of the previous Solar Eclipse in August 2018 – conjunct the South Node and square a 10^th house Uranus.

  The Florida state chart, 2 March 1845, does have Jupiter in Aries which is catching the recent Libra Solar Eclipse pointing to Jupiter’s less helpful presence in disasters. Apart from that more obvious signs of concern are flagged up from late November to late December with tr Uranus square the high-risk Mars/Pluto midpoint and square the Florida Neptune Mercury as well.

The Brighton bombing on 12 October 1984 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), an attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher and other members of the British government,  at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, is marked by a well-reviewed BBC documentary. In the event five people were killed and 30 injured. Thatcher was uninjured and  decided to continue the Tory Party conference as normal, and was given a standing ovation by delegates as she entered the stage six and a half hours after the explosion. It was an act of revenge for the stance the British government had taken over the 1981 Irish hunger strike and became a key moment in the Northern Ireland Troubles, starting in the late 1960s which was eventually settled in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

 The bomb exploded at 2:54 am when most guests were in bed and came five days after Maggie’s 59^th birthday. There was a yod of a Taurus Moon inconjunct Uranus sextile Vindemiatrix (the widow maker). Saturn in Scorpio opposing the apex Moon – known as the reaction point of the yod is highly sensitive. Pluto has just moved into Scorpio  and tr Neptune was approaching the end of its stay in Sagittarius.

 Transiting Saturn at 15 Scorpio is significant since it marked Maggie’s Second Saturn Return a few weeks earlier and was crossing her Ascendant. That hardly sounds explosive but Saturn always marked her career passage closely – rising above her Descendant when she joined the cabinet, then becoming prime minister when it reached her Midheaven. The Brighton bombing could be seen as the start of her trajectory downwards though she did not exit No 10 for another six years.

  What was always slightly odd about Maggie Thatcher was how little her chart seemed to reflect danger of which Brighton was the most glaring example but there were others. On this occasion tr Neptune was trine her Moon; and tr Pluto was close to her Solar Arc Midheaven. As if she was so de-realized/ puffed up with hubris she sailed through assuming the dangers of the world would not touch her.

  There were smatterings of pressures on her midpoints along with good luck. Tr Pluto was conjunct her Sun/Saturn midpoint which is discouraging, stuck, requiring immense effort to move ahead. Plus tr Neptune was just passed the trine to her high-risk Mars/Pluto midpoint but that was all. Tr Jupiter in Capricorn was conjunct her Sun/Uranus midpoint would give her a fortunate escape.

    The UK chart most notably had tr Pluto just into Scorpio square the 10th house Jupiter which can bring super-charged confidence and displays of power as well as clashes with authority figures. The Irish problem does appear to be flagged up on two previous occasions of tr Pluto in hard aspect to the UK Jupiter. With Protestant Catholic riots in Southport in 1852 with Pluto just into Taurus; and the August 1939 Coventry bombing by an Irish Republican Army group with Pluto just into Leo.

  But the most glaring example of tr Pluto in hard aspect to the UK Jupiter was from late 1938 on and off till mid 1940 which oversaw the whole tortuous process into World War 11 from Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler on the first station of Pluto at 1 degrees Leo with his famous Peace for our Time speech peace to a declaration of war a year later in 1939 with Pluto just onto 2 degrees Leo.  And retrograding back onto 1 degree in the early stages into 1940 and overseeing the Battle of Britain in June 1940.

  Pluto in aspect to the UK Jupiter is clearly a phase to watch since there is a hard aspect running at the moment late February 2024 on and off till early December 2025. Though it is without the war-mongering Saturn square Pluto in place in 1939 so unlikely to have as destructive an effect.

 There were other explosive influences on the UK chart’s midpoints over the Brighton bombing – tr Uranus square the Sun/Mars midpoint and tr Uranus opposition the Mars/MC midpoint which could have given cause for concern given the risk of IRA bombings ongoing.

  On more minor aspects the transiting Moon in Taurus was exactly conjunct the UK’s 8^th house Mars was a faint breath of wind in the circumstances but interesting. There was a transiting yod of tr Uranus inconjunct Mars sextile the UK midheaven and Solar Arc Sun – obscure but obviously a pivotal moment – adding fuel to the fire.

  The spring eclipses of 1984 did have a Mars Saturn conjunction in Scorpio – Mars Saturn being the traditional astrology signature for assassination.

  Vindemiatrix, the mischief making Fixed Star, being prominent in the bombing chart tied into a yod is also significant. Astrology King remarks that it ‘figures strongly and regularly in deaths that are in some way dramatic, newsworthy or are resented in much more than the usual degree by those left behind (assassinations, common criminal murders, executions, airline disasters etc.’

  Given how prominent Vindemiatrix is conjunct the recent Libra Solar Eclipse and opposition the March 2025 Aries Solar Eclipse it is worth keeping an eye on. [While not panicking.]

Apologies for having overlooked Pluto square the UK Jupiter first time round. Makes more sense now.

A riotous bonkbuster and a splash of retro-escapism to the 1980s before political correctness set in is the entertainment in the long awaited TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.

 ‘Everyone commits adultery and smokes like a chimney. They hunt and shoot. People tell off-colour jokes and nobody pulls them up on it with a po-faced lecture about human rights.’ All a reflection of what one reviewer called ‘naughty Jilly’s obsession with bonking, boozing, groping and relentless political incorrectness’.

  In her day with hugely popular pieces in the Sunday Times on marriage, sex and housework, she became an icon for the 1970s and 1980s before moving on to write international best sellers in a series called The Rutshire Chronicles set in a glamorous and wealthy milieu, such as show jumping and polo, heavily featuring sexual infidelity and general betrayal, melodramatic misunderstandings and emotions, money worries and domestic upheavals.

 Jilly Cooper, 21 February 1937 12 noon (memory) Brentwood, England, is a Sun Pisces sextile Uranus, but what dominates her chart is a creative Water Grand Trine of Saturn in Pisces trine Pluto trine Mars in Scorpio, formed into two Kites by Pluto in a confident and lucky opposition to Jupiter and Saturn opposition Neptune. The Grand Trine is heavy duty, darker and more troubled than her devil-may-care novels might suggest. Though she does have a yod onto a focal point Venus in Aries which might be a clue to her ‘adventurous romances.’

 What is puzzling is how similar her chart is to that of P.D. James, the crime writer, who had a tough life with a mentally ill mother and after the war an institutionalised husband. She was born 3 August 1920 7.59 am Oxford, England. She was a Sun Neptune in Leo square Mars in Scorpio. Her Mars was on one leg of a Water Grand Trine to Uranus trine Pluto, formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Saturn. Her life and the murderous content of her novels make more sense of that Grand Trine than do Jilly Cooper’s with her exuberantly indulgent schtick.  

 Water Grand Trines tend to give the individual a fertile imagination and prolific inner fantasy life, hence the creativity, but for that reason can sometimes make it difficult to interface with reality outside their own self-constructed bubble.

Grand Trines bring a confident flow of energy, are usually associated with talent, luck and ease, though they have a tendency to stick individuals in a comfortable rut and don’t encourage resilience or resourcefulness – life comes too easily so problem-solving is not a learnt skill. What helps is to have an opposition to at least one leg of the Grand Trine forming a Kite. That opposition gives drive, determination and a constructive outlet for the Grand Trine energy.

 Recent examples of an Earth Grand Trine is Lee Miller (see below) which always brings a sense of physicality – the tangible universe being all too prominent a feature of the individual life.

  Fire Grand Trines are inspirational, attention-demanding with high self-belief and feature heavily in the ranks of entrepreneurs, some politicians and actors – Marlon Brando, Trump’s grandfather Fred, and Henry Ford.

Air Grand Trines are thinkers and communicators, live in their heads, can be ideologues and obsessed with their worldview, and can come across as emotionally chilly. Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader is one example.

 Another is the late Rutger Hauer, (best Dutch actor of the 20^th century), 23 January 1944 6.18pm Breukelen, Netherlands, who for some reason is back in the news. He played chillingly bad guys, none more so than in the gruesome horror thriller The Hitcher, playing the hitch-hiker who terrorises and butchers those rash enough to pick him up. In the aftermath it was said Hauer single-handedly ended hitch-hiking as a commonplace travel option for young people in the United States. He became a hall-of-famer with his ‘tears in rain’ monologue in Blade Runner.

 He had an Aquarius Sun trine Mars Uranus in Gemini trine Neptune in Libra, formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Pluto North Node in Leo in his 12^th. Which is a perfect recipe for an unemotional sociopath with a subversively power-hungry outlet.    He also had a Capricorn Moon in his performing 5^th house on the focal point of a yod inconjunct his Mars Uranus and inconjunct Pluto North Node.

  Fascinating chart.

Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow, described by one inmate as “Glasgow’s Guantanamo Bay”, which over the decades housed violent criminals is to close. Opened initially in July 1882 it has a starkly descriptive chart with a tough, unyielding stellium in Taurus with Saturn in Taurus conjunct Neptune on one side and Algol, Chiron, Pluto and South Node on the other all square Venus in Leo.

  What transformed Barlinnie’s reputation was an experimental Special Unit with an art therapist introduced in 1973 to house intractable prisoners whom a harsh and often brutal prison system could not handle. Prisoners were offered freedom within the unit and access to creative hobbies. Jimmy Boyle incarcerated for murder with a violent past became the unit’s success story writing the best-seller A Sense of Freedom and becoming an acclaimed sculptor.

  Born 9 May 1944 3.35pm Lennoxtown, Scotland, he was brought up by a single mother after his father a well-known robber and local criminal died young. He joined a local gang when barely into his teens and graduated from shoplifting to stealing safes, doing time in young offenders’ institutes when caught. By 20, he was a feared enforcer for moneylenders. He was eventually convicted of murder, having stood trial on two previous occasions for other murders and not being convicted.

 His early years in prison saw him lashing out at prison staff and being beaten up in return, resorting to ‘dirty protests’ covering himself in faeces in order to protect himself and spending years in solitary confinement.

 The Special Unit transformed him from an irredeemable street thug and an ‘animalised’ prisoner to a well-read, articulate and talented artist and writer.   A film version of his book A Sense of Freedom was released to critical acclaim and nominated for a BAFTA. After his release he set up a project offering art therapy workshops to recovering drug addicts and ex-convicts, which became a  resource for HIV and Aids suffers.

  He has a far-travelled, knowledgeable 9^th house Taurus Sun in a confident square to Jupiter in Leo. An unconventional and uncompromising Uranus sits on his midheaven trine Neptune and sextile Puto North Node in Leo – giving him leadership abilities, a talent for influencing society and a tendency to be controlling. Saturn in his 10^th gives him organizing abilities.

 When he was first convicted for murder in 1967 tr Uranus Pluto were moving through his 1^st house which would fuel his drive to tilt against the system and refuse to cooperate.

  When he was transferred into the Barlinnie Special Unit in 1973 tr Pluto was trine his Uranus and Midheaven, which is often a pivotal moment of deep insight and transformation; with a jolting tr Uranus square his Mars.

 At that point the Barlinnie chart was 90 years on from its opening so the Solar Arc Pluto  was exactly square its natal position and conjunct the Venus highlighting the creative project.

  Sadly the unit was not well-disciplined with press reports of alcohol and drug-fuelled parties and it eventually closed in 1994. But whatever its failings 36 of Scotland’s most violent and difficult offenders were there in its 21 years of operation. Of those, only four reoffended. One inmate took his own life and one other suffered a prescription drug overdose. No staff were ever harmed during the unit’s lifespan.