Gene & Gilda – a tragic love affair

gw-gr-syngw-gild-comp

 

 

Gene Wilder’s great and sad romance was comedian and actress Gilda Radnar, whom he met in 1981, married three years later, and then in 1986 she was diagnosed with cancer from which she died in 1989.

Born 28 June 1946, she was a Sun Cancer with Moon Gemini/Cancer with a charming Venus Pluto in Leo; while he was a Sun Gemini, Moon Aquarius so it wasn’t an intuitively good match. Though his Venus in Cancer was conjunct her Sun which would be affectionate. Her Pluto was opposition his Moon and in her memoir she said she made it her full-time job to talk him into marrying her, so that would fit with her seducing him into staying close. Her Jupiter was in his 5th so she would lift his confidence and be a bright spark for him. But her Saturn in Cancer squared his Uranus and her Uranus was conjunct his Sun – so there would be some tensions since both were highly individualistic personalities. Though a fast-moving, varied lifestyle would soak some of that up. His Saturn in Aquarius opposed her Venus Pluto, which would, without the crisis of her health, have proved problematic at some point.

Their relationship chart had an illusory composite Sun square Neptune but the Sun also squared Jupiter, so it would enable them to live within a positive dream bubble. Neptune was also sextile the composite Venus which in turn was probably square the composite Moon which says much the same. Neptune was trine Uranus, sextiling onto Venus – so it would be a creative and quirky love affair.

The composite Saturn was trine Mars which can suggest an unequal balance, one gives more than the other. Though again her illness would demand sacrifice.

It wouldn’t be seamless unless Neptune enveloped them in a haze of bliss. It’s difficult to extrapolate how much the relationship chart somehow ‘knew’ about her illness. Without it, there would have been problems in the longer term. The wedding chart of 18 September 1984 was very Neptunian as well – Neptune sextile Venus, square Sun and opposition Moon.

His two great working partnerships were with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor. Mel Brooks had the same birthday as Gilda so his Cancer Sun was conjunct Gene’s Venus and Mel’s Jupiter Moon were conjunct Gene’s MC and in his 10th – so a good career fit. Richard Pryor’s Sagittarius Sun was on Gene’s Descendant so a good partnership.

Mel Gibson – back into the fray

mgddag

 

 

Just as Mel Gibson attempts to claw back his tarnished reputation with a well-received new movie, Hacksaw Ridge, another story emerges from radio jock Glenn Beck that he recently blamed ‘Jewish people’ for stealing an early copy of his previous film, The Passion of Christ, to smear him as an anti-Semite. If true, he never learns, even 10 years sober.

This movie about Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive a Medal of Honour for helping wounded soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa in WW11 releases first in Australia on 3rd November, which has the tr Mars in Capricorn conjunct tr Pluto and square tr Uranus on the run up, so it may be fraught if this story gains traction.

Gibson, 3 January 1956 3.45pm Peakskill, New York, has a very angry, none-too-pleasant and certainly mouthy chart. Notably he has a 5th house Mars Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto Jupiter in the 2nd – the Mars Saturn Pluto will be where he gets his liking for extreme violence and gore even in his Christ movie, plus a vengeful streak that can’t let go old resentments. His Mercury opposes Uranus squaring onto Neptune, which will make him fanatical. His Mercury is also sextile Saturn Mars and inconjunct Pluto – so not surprising he tends to let his anger rip verbally. At the moment he’s got his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Neptune, exact in three months, which is devastating and tr Pluto is conjunct his Descendant moving into his 7th which will make his relationships in general with the public, media as well as partners, overly intense.

Desmond Doss, 7 Feb 1919 Virginia, was a Seventh Day Adventist with an abusive alcoholic father, so the story must have rung a few bells for Gibson. Doss was a Sun Uranus in Aquarius opposition Saturn in Leo and a Taurus Moon, so certainly Fixed and good at sticking to his principles. He also had a confident Jupiter Pluto in Cancer trine Venus Mars in Pisces so would be quite a live wire.

In the movie he’s played by Andrew Garfield, 20 Aug 1983 8.40pm Los Angeles, who has a Leo Sun conjunct Venus in Virgo trine Neptune MC, sextile Saturn Pluto in Libra. With Saturn Pluto also on the point of a T square to an Aquarius Moon opposition Mars in Leo – he’s not as bland and boyish as his photographs look. He’ll be charming and filmic with Sun Venus Neptune MC, but also has a dark side – very stubborn, given to depression, angry. He looks relatively upbeat this month but then is confused and uncertain through October/November. And has his Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Jupiter within weeks, which will be dampening. Though he is moving into his peak success time from next year for seven years, so whatever is bugging him will pass.

It wouldn’t be the easiest of relationships with Gibson, since Garfield’s Sun is conjunct Gibson’s Pluto and square Gibson’s Mars Saturn. With AG’s Moon opposition Mars square Neptune sitting on top of MG’s Mercury opposition Uranus square Neptune.

Neptune – fighting a duel with the real world

Nep3pisces-symbol

 

Neptune has an over-idealised image in astrology. Yes, it is known to be slippery and evasive, impractical and low energy, but really it’s all about dreams and visions, kindness and compassion, is what I absorbed early on. Yet it doesn’t stack up in practice. Top athletes who need exceptional physical endurance often have strong Neptune aspects to their Suns. Successful businessmen and explorers are often Pisces, which is ruled by Neptune. The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele was a Pisces Sun trine Neptune. John Gacy, who raped and killed at least 33 teenage boys, was a New Moon in Pisces opposition Neptune. When astrologers were asked to do a cold reading on Gacy’s chart, they waxed eloquent about what a nice man he would be.

To go back to basics, in mythology Neptune ruled the watery oceans and waged war on Athena, who ruled the land. As an act of aggression he raped Medusa (who was then very beautiful) in Athena’s temple, in revenge for which Athena turned her ugly and banished her to the far wildernesses. So there’s a decidedly unpleasant streak about Neptune. The sea can be cruel, is certainly cold, changeable, liable to brew up into monstrous storms, can chip away relentlessly at rocky land until it collapses.

Christianity according to Carl Jung was the iconic symbol for the two thousand year Age of Pisces, ruled by Neptune. Yet Christianity, despite its love and tolerance motif, has at its heart an image of gruesomely bloody torture and the acute physical suffering of a forsaken son. Neptune has a dissolving action so physical dismemberment is part of his lexicon. And in certain modes Neptune is anti-life. This ‘vale of tears’ was the old Christian outlook for getting through a life of suffering and mishaps, until you reached the happy land beyond St Peter’s Gates. It’s not that different from the Muslim belief in 70 virgins in paradise in the afterlife. And Islam is also very Piscean/Neptunean.

Neptune rules religion and when you think of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of all that is holy from the Crusades, the Inquisition, the murderous Protestant versus Roman Catholic centuries, to what’s going on at the moment it throws a different slant on Neptune, the spiritual dreamer. Being wrapped up in an all-encompassing Neptunian vision can obliterate everything around that is human and it can be insensitive, often to a staggering degree.

To go back to mythology: Creativity, which is one of Neptune’s talents, was born when Medusa was beheaded and Pegasus, the winged horse, was set free. So there is this paradox about Neptune – revelling in brutality of the bloodiest variety in order to set free the ideal. An eternal war between the physical world and the spirit. But both are true of Neptune, not just the sanitised reaching-for-nirvana half. You don’t get one without the other.

Merged with other planets Neptune can be a powerful force and not always for the good. Neptune Pluto is scandal prone and megalomaniac. Neptune Uranus can be fanatical as well as inspired. Neptune Saturn is associated with epidemics, paranoia, mental instability as well as social reform. Neptune Jupiter rules high-finance, bankers and the like, as well as dodgy gurus.

At the moment we have a Neptune square Saturn. They are polar opposites since Saturn rules the earthly material world, the body, organizations, rules and regulations, practicality, sanity. Neptune hates it all. It tries and usually succeeds in undermining our security in the real world, dissolves the boundary between what is fact and what is fiction, so we start to doubt our sanity. It also undermines the body so you get illnesses, often difficult to diagnose, or epidemics.

On a more positive note it also undermines the patriarchy (I hate the term but Saturn is very much the masculine authority) so women’s rights come to the fore. And Saturn Neptune does have a creditable record in moving social reforms ahead in general. Neptune’s healing energy brought to bear on the rigid status quo.

Neptune brings its duality to bear on the financial sphere (Saturn) as well, since it is associated with conmen and trickery, bringing financial scandals out into the open and overall undermining confidence in economic security.

It starts to fade in influence in a couple of months and won’t be back till the mid 2020s.

Tom & Taylor – star-crossed lovers

TH TS synTH TS comp

 

As expected, the fizz, sparkle, pop of the Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift romance has spluttered down rapidly, with murmurings from her camp that he wanted to drag her onto the red carpet and was too keen on publicity. ??!!

The astro-reasons are more believable. His Aries Moon certainly spooned with her Sagittarius Sun; and both have Venus in Aquarius. But her Mars in intensely emotional Scorpio is conjunct his Uranus; and her Mars and Pluto both square his detached Aquarius Sun. That was never going to make a long term match.

Their relationship chart has an instant-passion composite Venus square Pluto; but also a cold (and too much work) Moon opposition Saturn; and an up-and-down Saturn square Jupiter; plus an argumentative composite Sun Mars which is being assaulted this month by tr Pluto conjunct Mars; and throughout this year by tr Uranus square the composite Sun.

A chemical mix that was never going to be compatible and bumpy transits. He looks marginally more upset than her. If his birth time is accurate, then he may be in for a few less successful years from 2018 for a while.

Keith Vaz – an impolitic politician

KV

 

UK Labour MP Keith Vaz has stepped down from his hugely influential position as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee which oversees policy on drugs, crime and sexual exploitation, after a media story about him paying for the services of two male sex workers. What he did was not illegal and he initially tried to blame the newspaper for scandal-mongering; but ultimately resigned because of conflict of interest issues.

Controversy has dogged him throughout his parliamentary career, not the least of which was on the expenses issue, but he has slid through until now without scandals impeding his upward trajectory.

Born 26 November 1956 in Aden to Indian-Goan parents, he came to England aged nine, was educated at a Catholic School and thence on to Cambridge. His father committed suicide when he was 14.

He’s a Sun Saturn (Mercury) in Sagittarius square Pluto in Virgo – so he had a tough start in life which has left him with a very determined (and brass-necked) streak. His Sun Saturn is also trine Uranus, so innovative. He’s got a charmingly evasive Venus Neptune in Scorpio square Uranus; and Mars in Pisces opposition Jupiter (Moon) in Virgo – extravagant, opinionated, a tendency to exaggerate, hint of mercenary motives.

He does have a high-tension/sudden change Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Uranus this year; as well as the meltdown Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his natal Venus Neptune. Plus the September Solar Eclipse is square his Sun Saturn which tends to be a time of chickens coming home to roost; and the mid September Lunar Eclipse is sitting almost exactly on his Mars opposition Jupiter (Moon). A game-changing moment of crisis in his life.

His 10th Harmonic (of self-undoing) is strongly aspected with a ruthless Grand Trine of Pluto trine Mars Neptune (loves publicity) trine Uranus.

Great Fire of London – Jupiter at his worst

Aries IngressCancer IngressSolar EclipsefirepicFire London

 

 

The Great Fire of London started around 12.15 am on September 2 1666, destroying nearly 90% of the houses. It followed on from a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague the year before.

As per usual, with a superstitious population, it was deemed that someone had to be to blame – French and Dutch immigrants being high on the list. Astrologer William Lilly was hauled in for questioning since he had predicted it 12 years earlier in a heavily disguised, codified drawing which according to interpretation pointed to the day in question though timed five hours later. See: http://www.skyscript.co.uk/fire.html

It isn’t known how he arrived at his conclusion.

The actual chart has Jupiter exactly conjunct a Pisces Midheaven opposition Sun square Pluto in Gemini – so undoubtedly a huge upsurge of energy. 9/11 also had Jupiter conjunct the MC, so clearly Jupiter not in its beneficial mode. And 9/11 also had a Virgo Sun square Pluto (tied into Saturn) suggesting a powerful event.

The Mars in Scorpio of the Great Fire was heavily aspected in trine to Jupiter and sextiling onto a paranoid Saturn Neptune in Capricorn, as well as being square Uranus – so destructive and explosive, causing panic and confusion. With an Air Grand Trine of Uranus trine Pluto trine Venus in Libra. 9/11 also had an Air Grand Trine of Uranus, Mercury, Saturn, as did the Iraq War of Saturn, Moon, Venus. Both of them were more obviously Air-borne disasters, but I suppose Fire does need air to spread. There are no Fire planets at all in the Great Fire chart.

Lilly probably worked with Eclipse and Ingress charts. The Aries Ingress for 1966 had a brutal Mars (28 Virgo) Moon opposition Venus square Pluto (25 Gemini). The Capricorn 1965 Ingress had an exact Mars square Pluto at 26 degrees – so it would raise flags for the months following. And the Cancer 1666 Ingress had the Mars square Pluto tied into Jupiter and the Sun.

The July 1666 Solar Eclipse had Uranus closely conjunct the Descendant/chart axis, making it a powerful significator of a disruptive event’ and the Cancer New Moon was square Mars and opposition Saturn (conjunct Neptune) – accident prone; and the Lunar Eclipse of June 1666 had the Full Moon at 25 Sag/Gemini with Pluto at 26 Gemini squaring onto Jupiter. Ebertin says of Jupiter Pluto in its most negative mode : “ Loss of social standing and one’s wealth. The misfortune to lose everything.”

Lilly evidently took London to be a 14 degree Gemini place. Looking at London crisis events I’m not sure I wouldn’t make it a later degree Gemini. The London Blitz of 1940 started with Neptune at 24 Virgo; the Brixton Riots of 1981 had Neptune at 24 Sagittarius. The 2008 Lehman collapse which caused a meltdown in the City of London had Sun 23 Virgo opposition Uranus 20 Pisces square Pluto at 28 Sagittarius. The Great Fire had Pluto at 28 Gemini. So last decan of Gemini seems more likely.

Mother Teresa – cold charity

MTh

Mother Teresa, the saint of the poor, will become a Vatican-stamped saint on Sunday, which has resurrected the old complaints about her harsh approach to suffering. One critic said “Standing firm against planned parenthood, modernisation of equipment, and a myriad of other solution-based initiatives, Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor but rather a promoter of poverty.” One doctor was outraged about the appalling lack of hygiene he uncovered – reuse of hypodermic needles, the shortage of medical care, systematic diagnosis, and necessary nutrition, as well as the scarcity of analgesics for those in pain. She seemed to think that suffering was a noble end in itself – a ‘Gift from God’, she said, so did little to alleviate it amongst those she supposedly cared for.

Born 26 August 1910 2.25pm? Skopje, Macedonia, she was a Sun Mars in Virgo trine Saturn in Taurus; Saturn square Venus and a Taurus Moon trine Mars, which I must say did give me pause for thought when I first saw her chart. It seemed hard for a figure of compassion. She had an Earth Grand Trine of Mars trine Uranus trine Moon, which would make her good with money although perhaps limited in imagination. That was formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Neptune which can be fanatical. So visionary Neptune was the leading planet, fuelled by that tough, uncompromising earthy energy.

Her healer 12th Harmonic is pretty potent tying together Mars Pluto Neptune, which would certainly suit her for working amongst the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. But also has hints of ruthlessness hiding behind religiosity.

Neptune can be a cosmically cold planet.

Tom Wolfe – a literary arsonist

Tom wolfe

 

Even at 85, writer Tom Wolfe – Bonfire of the Vanities and literary journalism with devastating insights into social mores – doesn’t seem to have lost his bite. He once said: “If you are not having a fight with somebody then you are not sure whether you are alive when you wake up in the morning.” His latest provocative book, Kingdom of Speech, takes scud-missile-force pot shots at Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and linguist Noam Chomsky. He’s an atheist not a creationist but thinks scientists have a nasty habit of cobbling ideas together and calling them truth, only to find they are not standing on solid ground.

Born 2 March 1931 2.12am Richmond, Virginia (astrotheme), he has a quick-witted 3rd house Pisces Sun and Mercury in Aquarius also in the 3rd which is the journalistic house. His Sun is trine Jupiter in Cancer and opposition a 9th house Neptune – so he’s not short of confidence or creativity. He’s from the focal point Uranus in Aries generation, so innovative and destabilising. His Uranus North Node square Jupiter Pluto and widely square Saturn (Venus) in Capricorn. His Pluto is 8th house conjunct Mars in Cancer – so he’s certainly sitting on a volcano of anger. That Pluto also has the potential to give him great influence.

His writers’ 21st Harmonic is very strongly aspected – with a Fixed Grand Cross; a Grand Trine formed into two Kites; and a Yod. A great deal of talent and several of his bon motes have made it into currency – radical chic, The Me Decade, the Right Stuff, Master of the Universe, statusphere.

Rufus Sewell – brooding good looks

Rufus Sewell picRufus

(Photo: ITV)

 

Poldark and Tom Hiddleston have slumped in the twitter lust polls since ITV’s Victoria launched Rufus Sewell back into the spotlight as the tragic but charming Lord Melbourne, who mentors the young queen before her marriage.

His best work has been done on stage and in BBC costume dramas – Middlemarch and Charles 11: The Power and the Glory and now he’s back with another winner.

Born 29 October 1967 he has five planets spread out through Virgo – Jupiter, Moon, Venus conjunct Pluto conjunct Uranus – so very earthy, rebellious, slightly chaotic. His Sun and Mercury are in intense Scorpio sextile Mars in Capricorn, which in turn squares Saturn in self-reliant Aries. Plus a wide-ish Yod of Jupiter sextile Sun inconjunct Saturn which is difficult to handle well. He’ll always have felt like an outsider.

He’s quite a mix of seductive, restless and adaptable, tough, used to hard conditions. He said once: “My favourite things are just wandering from place to place, going to cafés, taking photographs. My favourite day is a happy accident.”  Both of his marriages were very brief.

He looks in good spirits this month with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Uranus as good crits roll in. With more good news through Dec/Jan with tr Uranus opposition his Solar Arc Jupiter.