Marjorie

  At what point does do-goodery turn totalitarian? An American movement to persuade businesses to follow higher social and environmental standards and to be both transparent and accountable sounds innocuous enough. B Corp started in 2006 and signed up small companies and later multinationals which can prove they  follow guidelines to make the world a better place. It has only caught public attention now as it appeared in the Coutts Bank dossier which led to the debanking of Nigel Farage, because his views on climate and race did not align with ‘inclusive values’.

  The media storm that Farage subsequently brewed up saw two top brass in Coutts depart and offers to have his account restored – as well as starting a campaign for bank transparency on other closed accounts.  

   B Corp was started in 2006 by three businessmen who had sold their socially-responsible sportswear company and discovered the new owners had stripped away employees’ and overseas workers’ rights. They set about trying to motivate businesses to be ethically responsible by handing them a certificate. They started on the Saturn in Leo opposition Neptune in Aquarius in 2006 – which is an aspect keen to establish a fairer and better society. There was also a status-quo-upsetting, revolutionary Uranus in Pisces moving to square Pluto as they handed out the first certificates in 2007.

  The UK branch, B Lab UK, was registered as a charity (which does not take donations) on 14 January 2015 – when again there was a Saturn square Neptune and a Uranus square Pluto.  So a mix of idealism with a degree of hyper-sensitive neurosis plus a desire to collapse the old order. Both aspects can bring positive change; but both can also be overly rigid, and in negative mode lead to confusion and chaos respectively.

  I thoroughly dislike Farage for his views and the damage he has done but when did agree-to-differ become forbidden territory? Especially in a banking group which is part owned by the taxpayer. This has all the feel of the Stonewall mission creep which started from laudable beginnings to do real damage.  

Why Things Bite Back: the Revenge of Unintended Consequences

Hawaii is facing the largest natural disaster in recent times as Hurricane Dora fuelled wildfires which have left 53 dead so far and 1000 missing. Tourists were forced to jump into the sea and tread water for hours.

  The recent Aries Solar Eclipse conjunct Jupiter is sitting on the Descendant axis located to Hawaii. Planets close to the axis usually suggest a country in line for a crisis of sorts and while Jupiter is traditionally regarded as benign if not lucky, it often appears around disaster events.

  In negative mode Jupiter leads to intemperance and over abundance, an over-the-top excessiveness which knows no limits. In mythology Zeus, usually aligned with Jupiter, is known for his powerful temper. When angry, he became destructive, hurling lightning bolts with such ferocity that they caused violent storms, wreaking havoc across the earth. Jupiter was close to the Midheaven from the 9^th when 9/11 started and close to the USA Cancer Sun as well.

  Hawaii became a USA state on 21 August 1959 at 10.10am Honolulu which gives a 29 degree Libra Ascendant, exactly the same as the  April Eclipse New Moon. So significant changes to its image were to be expected.

 Previous Hawaii history is chequered although 11 June 1810 is a key marker as is the constitution of 6 July 1887, which did hand power to some westerners but also stripped the monarch of his absolute powers.

  All three charts have prominent Jupiters – the 1957 chart with a Leo Sun square Jupiter. The 1810 chart has Jupiter opposition Uranus, which has moved by Solar Arc to have SA Jupiter square Pluto this year and oppose Sun Mars in the next three/four years. The 1887 chart has Jupiter in Libra square Saturn and trine Mars sextile Venus – and its Jupiter was triggered by the recent Aries Eclipse.

  Jupiter could also point to Hawaii’s sun-drenched, sociable, laid-back image as a tourist destination.

  But it is clearly susceptible to excess running rampant as well.

  On the 1959 state chart the next two to four years look tricky as Hawaii faces a mammoth reconstruction effort. Tr Saturn opposes the Pluto this year and Venus Mars in 2024. With uncertainty in 2025 as tr Neptune Saturn squares the Saturn and tr Uranus squares the Sun for forced changes.

   The combination of drought and hurricane force winds is lethal.   

A disastrous security breach has left 10,000 police officers in Northern Ireland fearing for their lives after a ‘monumental blunder’ published their names on the internet. The list included intelligence, undercover, counter-terrorism and surveillance officers as well as MI5 who could be targeted by paramilitaries. Working for the police remains so sensitive many have never told family or friends and regularly check under their cars for explosive devices despite the “Troubles” having ended 25 years ago. An officer has already been shot and seriously wounded earlier this year.

  The Good Friday Agreement which brought an uneasy end to  conflict was signed 10 April 1998 5pm Belfast and has been labouring through tough times in the recent five years with tr Pluto square the Sun, Saturn and Mars which extends on to the end of this year. Then tr Pluto will conjunct the Neptune in 2024/25 for confusion and losses.

 Northern Ireland itself is politically logjammed despite the recent Brexit  adjustment. And assuming the start date/time of 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast is accurate, it is poised at a particularly difficult transition point. Not only is the Solar Arc Saturn exactly conjunct the Midheaven, tr Pluto is also conjunct SA Saturn and the Midheaven. Tr Pluto starting to move through the 10^th does suggest the need for a significant and radical rethink about the path ahead. The answers may not come quickly, indeed it usually takes years before a meaningful path is found. Pluto Saturn this year and next won’t make it easier – a discouraging slog which could include violence, especially in 2024 when tr Uranus squares the Mars after mid year into 2025.

  Earlier this year the NI Solar Arc Sun was conjunct the South Node threatening to pull Northern Ireland back into the past. But that influence is now waning.

 The Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) was formed on 4 November 2001, to replace the Royal Ulster Constabulary, 1 June 1922.

  Both charts have a tough, gritty Saturn Pluto hard aspect as does the Northern Ireland chart.  The RUC was Sun Gemini square Uranus, and trine Jupiter Saturn North Node in Libra with a yod of Neptune sextile Jupiter inconjunct a wilful Uranus. Not easily held under control.

  The PSNI is Sun Scorpio square Uranus and Mars Neptune in Aquarius with the tenacious, unsentimental Saturn opposition Pluto. The recent Lunar Eclipse caught the Scorpio Sun as this crisis blows up. And tr Uranus is square the Uranus this year into early 2024 for a bumpy ride.

  What a strain to live under – not even being able to tell your family what you do for a living.

The condition of a frail and ageing Dalai Lama has turned attention to what happens after he goes, with Xi Jinping showing no signs of winding down his totalitarian tendencies. In the 72 years since the invasion Beijing has destroyed more than 50,000 monasteries and shrines in Tibet, following Mao’s maxim that religion is poison, and set up a ruthless policing system with mass surveillance and re-education units. Across the border in northern India, the Dalai Lama oversees an expatriate community with monasteries, museums, schools and libraries that contain 100,000 Tibetan-language volumes on Buddhist teachings, medicine and astronomy; and a government in exile sitting side by side.

   International support for the uprooted Tibetans has faded in recent years after retaliation from the Chinese in blocking visas and cancelling contracts, and buying up chunks of Hollywood which silenced many of the celebrity supporters. But there is anxiety that the Dalai Lama’s death may bring a flash point between China and either the USA or India or both.

  There is no country chart for Tibet since it has such a long history but there is a chart for the national uprising, symbolising the Tibetans hope for independence on 10 March 1959, eight years after the Chinese invasion. It has a confident Jupiter square Pluto but that is running into a collision with the Neptune by Solar Arc Directions in 2024 which won’t be constructive.

The Dalai Lama, 6 July 1935 4.19 am Takster, China, is a warm-hearted Sun Cancer in a healing Water Grand Trine to a regretful Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Scorpio, formed into a Kite by Saturn opposition Moon Neptune in Virgo.  He also has a trapped Pluto square a 4^th house Mars, a hint of the brutal suppression of his homeland.

  His relationship chart with China 1 January 1912 is bleakly descriptive with a chained-together-and- resenting-it composite Sun Venus opposition Saturn square Pluto Moon. There is some movement on this chart from mid 2024 as tr Uranus opposes the Jupiter which could lessen tension though it seems unlikely to be a positive relief. The major pressures will come in 2026/27 when tr Saturn is in Aries and tr Pluto opposes the composite Mars. The likelihood is the Dalai Lama will have chosen his successor before he goes which will rile the Chinese.

  Relations between China and India which are already fraught with cross-border incidents look to be worsening in 2024/25. Tr Pluto is already square the composite Sun and that extends through 2024. With an uncertain, high-anxiety tr Neptune square Saturn in 2024/25 and more jangles in 2025/26. Which may have nothing to do with Tibet but any interference from the Chinese will not be greeted warmly.

 Relations between China and the USA are discouraging and stuck in thick mud this year and next; with a serious chill approaching in 2026/27 as tr Saturn in Aries assails the composite Sun, Mercury opposition Uranus, Moon, Pluto.

The motor neuron disease ALS is back in the headlines after actress Sandra Bullock’s partner died from it three years after being diagnosed.   There is no known cure for the condition which degrades and then kills nerve cells in the brain and spine, though a few have survived long term like physicist Stephen Hawking and US Gestalt therapist Mariah Fenton Gladis.

  Hawking, born 8 January 1942, with sadly no birth time, Oxford, UK, was a Capricorn Sun with two Earth Grand Trines of Mercury in Capricorn trine Neptune in Virgo trine Uranus in Taurus; and Sun trine Saturn in Taurus trine Virgo Moon North Node.  He had an out-of-element T square of Pluto opposition Mercury square Mars hinting at the cruelty of his restrictive condition as well as his absolute determination not to give in.

 Mariah Fenton Gladis, who lived, worked and inspired through 37 years of ALS was born 4 February 1948, a few weeks before Howard Sasportas and had the same mix as him of lively, adventurous, upbeat with Jupiter in Sagittarius opposition Uranus square Venus in Pisces; and challenging with an Aquarius Sun opposition Pluto Saturn in Leo square a Taurus North Node.

  She was diagnosed in 1981 and given a 10% chance of surviving more than ten years.  She married soon after, had two children and carried on with a busy working life. She was Founder and Director of the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training, giving workshops and motivational talks across the globe, including at Esalen – and died sadly in 2018.

  I took several of her workshops at Esalen and she was rock-solid, totally lacking in self-pity and a tower of strength in the face of mind-numbingly appalling tales of childhood trauma. Nothing phased her. ‘Her will was iron, but it was balanced by her soft heart,’ as one of her students later wrote.

  I did her chart at the time and my clear recollection was that her Saturn Pluto and probably Mars were in her 6^th house of health.

  Jaqueline du Pre, the cellist, who died from Multiple Sclerosis, had a slightly similar chart. Born 26 January 1945 11.30am Oxford, UK, she had an Aquarius Sun opposition Pluto in her performing 5^th house. She had Jupiter and Neptune in her 6^th with Neptune square Saturn and square her Midheaven. With her Moon North Node in Cancer quincunx Mars in her 10^th.

  Both Mariah and Jaqueline has Air Grand Trines but Hawking had Earth Grand Trines – so nothing much to be gleaned from that.

 Bryan Randall, the photographer, 10 April 1966 Portland, Oregon, Sandra Bullock’s partner, had a pro-active Sun Mars in Aries on the focal point of a yod to Neptune sextile Uranus Pluto; with Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn square Jupiter – a mix of hyper-active, optimistic/lucky and sombre.

  There’s not much to be gleaned astrologically since it is not a good medical diagnostic tool, especially with variable birth time availability.

  Sandra Bullock, 26 July 1964, 3.15 am Washington, DC, took time out of her career to nurse him in the last eighteen months. She is a Sun Leo with Saturn in Pisces on her Midheaven opposition Uranus Pluto in her 4^th so will always have found career easier than establishing a settled home life. She also has her South Node and Black Moon in her 7^th house of relationships. Her development lies towards her 1^st house North Node in finding a strong sense of independent identity.  He was a good match for her with his Jupiter falling on her Ascendant and Venus Mars in Gemini but sadly not to be. The patterns of life are not always kind.    

Mariah Fenton Gladis: “People often ask me how I do it, listening to people’s problems all day long. I tell them that I don’t hear problems. I hear people wanting to change, wanting to be better human beings, wanting to create happier families. From every continent and all walks of life I hear people wanting to love and be loved more effectively. I hear people wanting to remove barriers in their lives and provide a healthier environment for their loved ones. This is a privileged position that I have, sharing so many compelling and heartwarming moments of laughter and tears with people working toward healing.”

Miraculously still in operation, Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun. Voyager 2 flew by Neptune and Uranus, while Voyager 1 is now nearly 15 billion miles away from Earth, making it humanity’s most distant spacecraft.

  The two space probes are a marvel of 1970s science and engineering, launched when Jimmy Carter was president and Fleetwood Mac was chart topping. Both spacecraft will run out of power sometime after 2025, nearly half a century after they were launched.

  A mistaken command recently lost contact with Voyager 2 but an “interstellar shout”, a powerful command signal, got the probe to turn its antenna back towards Earth and reconnect.

 Voyager 2, 20 August 1977 2.29 pm Cape Canaveral, Florida launched first. Followed by Voyager 1 on 5 September 1977 at 12.56 pm, Cape Canaveral.

  Both charts have Pluto conjunct North Node on the Ascendant square the Cancer Midheaven; with Uranus trine MC and trine Jupiter – innovation rules and good luck.

  There is a prominent Saturn in wannabe-important Leo.

  I’m not sure I am any wiser as to why they have stayed successfully robust for so long.  But if 2025 or thereabouts is the cut off date that will be when tr Neptune is square the Jupiter – which can bring high hopes down to earth – though the probes will stay way out/up there cruising on into eternal darkness, having exhausted their radioisotope generators.

 Reassuring to know that something in the universe still works.

William Friedkin, the film director, revered for his early successes in The French Connection and The Exorcist in the 1970s, has died.

  In The French Connection, brutal cops, Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider track a French heroin smuggler in a  raw, violent, and cynical documentary-style movie which won five Academy Awards.

  Two years later The Exorcist about a 12-year-old girl, who undergoes a harrowing Roman Catholic exorcism to free her from possession by a demon earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director. News media reported cinemagoers fainting and vomiting in their seats, and people leaving the theatre shaking and screaming. A cultural phenomenon and one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, it was hailed by some as the greatest horror movie ever made. He continued working for the next several decades up to his death but none ever reached the heights of his early success.

  Friedkin was born 29 August 1935 6.40 am Chicago, IL, and had a 12^th house Sun, Moon, Neptune conjunction in Virgo opposition Saturn and trine an 8^th house Uranus. His 12^th house would be good for creativity, as would his Saturn opposition Neptune and suit him for a behind-the-camera career. The Virgo emphasis making him focused, finicky and hard-working though there’s a regretful, discontented quality to that combination of planets. He also had Pluto trine Mars Jupiter in Scorpio which makes more sense of the ruthlessness in his movies and the fear. Uranus in his 8^th would give him the urge to shine light on the occult or what lies deep down in the darkness.

 His personal life was mixed with three short-lived marriages before he struck it lucky with his 4th to Sherry Lansing, former film studio executive and philanthropist, whom he married in 1991 and was with him to the end. She’s a stalwart Sun Pluto in Leo with an upbeat Jupiter in Virgo which would lift his gloomier tendencies – and her Chiron was conjunct his Neptune.

He had a marked 17^th harmonic chart indicating he would leave a  legacy behind which makes sense since he is reckoned to have revolutionized the horror genre. It links together brutality/fear with Mars Pluto – and high-grade neurosis with Saturn Neptune.  But his strongest harmonic was his 10^th indicating an individual who would be thrown high by the gods of fate and as the wheel of fortune turned would sink low again.

Pic: GuillemMedina

ADD ON: William Peter Blatty, author of the original novel The Exorcist was born 7 January 1928 4am New York, had a 2^nd house Sun Mercury in Capricorn opposition and 8^th house Moon Pluto in Cancer – which would make sense of his obsession with a dark interior world. Though oddly his earlier writing were comic perhaps due to his Mars in Sagittarius square Jupiter Uranus in Pisces. He was brought up in abject poverty by a single mother who was deeply religious.  

Roman Polanski, 18 August 1933 10.30am Paris, France, director of Rosemary’s Baby, was left on his own as a child in Nazi-occupied Poland to which the family had returned, after both his parents were captured.   He also has a starkly emphasised Pluto Moon in Cancer in his 10^th square Mars opposition Uranus – controlling, influential, a life riven with crises and catastrophes, including his conviction for under-age sexual assault.

  Stephen King, the author best known for horror fiction, 21 September 1947 1.30am Portland ME, a Virgo Sun square Uranus, with Saturn Pluto in Leo in his 1^st and Mars in Cancer conjunct his Ascendant from the 12^th. He was also brought up in poverty by a single mother.  It does not seem such a scary chart as the two above.

Mickey Mouseland is struggling to make headway with falling revenues from streaming TV and movies as well as Disneyland fun parks. Bog Iger, the go-getting boss who built up the empire on his first run as CEO buying in Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and most of 21st Century Fox in 2019, then retired garlanded in success. Only to be hauled back in as Disney’s star faded and promptly doubled his projected stay up to 2026. The Hollywood strike is not improving matters nor are aggressively high prices at the fun parks.

  Iger, 10 February 1951 New York, has a turbo-charged chart with an Aquarius Sun opposition Pluto and trine Neptune giving him dizzying levels of ambition. His Neptune sextile Pluto are also on the legs of a Yod onto a high-vitality, super-enthusiastic Mars, North Node, Jupiter, Venus in Pisces – confidence, competitiveness, creativity aplenty all tied into the zeitgeist and public trends.  

  But even his grit and magical luck may not be enough to pull a rabbit out of the hat. He has tr Uranus rattling up his Sun Pluto opposition this year and next. With 2024 seeing tr Saturn damp his enthusiasm as it is conjunct his focal point Mars, Jupiter, Venus, into 2025.  And tr Pluto will trine his Saturn and conjunct his Mercury for a tough slog and considerable strain in 2024/25.   

 His Second Stint chart, 20 November 2022, is jangled and jolted this year, disappointed in 2024 and may be forced into a sharp change of direction or decision in 2025.

Disney, 16 October 1923, a Sun Saturn in Libra with a creative, money-making Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in Scorpio trine Uranus trine Pluto – will have some luck over coming months but is in for a panicky 2024 as failures loom large with tr Neptune opposition the Mars; and a dead-halt Solar Arc Mars opposition Pluto in 2025.

  Bob Iger may wish he had stayed retired.  

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Direction and Destiny in the Birth Chart sounds profound and portentous. Yet Howard Sasportas’s wide-ranging spiritual and psychological insights presented in a down-to-earth and sympathetic way make light of the patterns laid down at birth which provide a template for the life ahead.

  His death in 1992 aged 45 was a tragedy for his friends and for the astrological community who lost an original thinker and a bright light. His books The Twelve Houses and The Gods of Change remain along with his seminars from the Centre for Psychological Astrology which he co-founded with Liz Greene.

   This book draws together three seminar strands of lectures and discussions on Vocation, the Moon’s Nodes and Helpers.

  On Vocation – a summons from the deeper self, he impresses that we are not born expressing our sun sign, which is the heart of the chart, but need to reach out for it. “Your sun sign is given to you but also demanded of you.  We are here to become what we are meant to be.”  The First Saturn Return and the Mid-life crisis are points of adjustment along the way of becoming ourselves.  On vocation there are perceptive comments on the 10th, 6^th, 5^th houses as well as Sun conjunctions with outer planets. With a recurring theme of the usefulness of Saturn – ‘you can’t get growth with it.’

  The Moon’s Node – the path of destiny.  He remarks they are often the key to the chart, which would be my experience also.  “Usually the whole chart confirms or reiterates their theme.” He has a helpful link between the South Node and lunar energy – the pull from the past, acting instinctively, what comes naturally. As opposed to the North Node’s challenge to act rather than react, to be aware and make an effort.  And he reiterates Tracy Mark’s point that both have to be taken together and it is helpful to rework the South Node energy rather than try to delete it.

Helpers:  Moon aspects are highlighted stemming from mother/nurturing issues.

  On Chiron – an archetype that comes in pairs.  The victim is also the healer, including the one who comes looking for guidance. ‘If someone comes for help, the answers are there in the person. Something in them knows what they have to do.’ The astrologer can ‘enliven that part which already knows what to do, rather than telling what you think they should do.’

Which would also be my take – if an individual has an existential crisis the answer usually lies in the Node.

  Howard was born 12 April 1948 1.46 am Hartford, Connecticut, took a Humanistic Psychology degree, moved to the UK, won a Gold Medal on the Faculty of Astrology diploma, graduated in Psychosynthesis, studied Transpersonal Psychology, set up the CPA with Liz Greene, edited a Penguin series of Astrology Books, had a consultation practice and travelled extensively for international lectures.

  In his later years he suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory arthritis that caused some of the bones in his spine to fuse which crippled him and he contracted AIDs from which he ultimately died.

  He had a chart with an extraordinary mix of inspired, adventurous, risk-taking, fun-loving energy sitting alongside punishingly difficult aspects. He had an uplifting Fire Grand Trine of a quick-witted 3^rd house Aries Sun trine a friendly 11^th house Jupiter trine Mars in Leo with his Jupiter opposition Uranus – making his astrological Uranus the driving planet in the performing, entertaining 5th house. His Uranus was sextile his Sun and both were inconjunct a Yod focal point Chiron and Midheaven, giving him not just the ability to be a healer and helper but also the necessity. He said: ‘I was led by an instinct, a feeling of being pushed along by the Yod formation of the Sun and Uranus to the MC – and it affected my choice of work. It drove me. I didn’t have to make a lot of conscious choices.’

 His 4^th house Taurus Moon conjunct a nurturing Ceres opposed his Midheaven and Chiron and squared onto a truly difficult combination of Mars, Saturn, Pluto in Leo in his 7^th. His personal relationships would always present more problems than his professional life. His Fixed sign Moon square Mars, Saturn, Pluto also ruled his 6^th house of health, giving a hint of the rigidity of his spinal condition which afflicted his later years.

  My memory of meeting him was of a good-natured, charming, kindly temperament with little indication of the challenges he faced.

  When he died on 12 May 1992 5.11pm London, the astrological influences were unusually very precise.  Pluto was exactly conjunct his Midheaven, Jupiter was just into his 8^th, the Sun was only a degree into his 4^th and the North Node exactly on the cusp of his 12^th.  It would feel like a relief.

A lovely man, much missed.

www.wessexastrologer.com

Add On: Richard Idemon, another departed-too-soon astrologer, whose books The Magic Thread and Through the Looking Glass: A Search for the Self in the Mirror of Relationships were republished last year, was a contemporary of Howard Sasportas. He saw the birth chart as a labyrinth made up of a single magic thread leading through a maze to the heart of the chart. His relationship book uses astrology, mythology and Jungian psychology as ways to break free of old restrictive attitudes.

  He was born 8 February 1938 9.37 pm Akron, Ohio and lectured on psychotherapy and psychology to astrologers, he gave talks and seminars extensively and internationally and was also a part-time actor. He contracted AIDs in 1985 and died by suicide two years later.

  He had an exuberant and showy 5^th house Sun, Venus, Jupiter in Aquarius so would delight in having an appreciative audience. He had a knowledgeable, much travelled and restless 9^th house Gemini Moon; and an influential 10^th house Pluto. His Uranus deeply buried in his 8^th house was heavily aspected, being square his Mercury, Jupiter and widely Sun; as well as being on one leg of a yod sextile his Midheaven inconjunct the North Node.

  Like Howard he had complicated relationship planets with a hard-edged, can-be-victimised, can-be-destructive Mars Saturn in Aries on his Descendant trine Pluto and sextile his Moon. He had another wide yod from Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus Sun.

  I attended a memorable six day seminar in Italy that he gave with Liz Greene, when he had just been diagnosed with AIDs. The lectures were riveting but the undercurrents, not surprisingly, were very unsettling. When he died two years later tr Jupiter was trine his Pluto as he took control of his destiny. Tr Saturn was square his 12^th house Neptune; tr Neptune was just into his 4^th and tr Mars was on the cusp of his 8^th.