Marjorie

  The slight 4.8 earthquake that rattled New York on Friday did little physical damage but following the Baltimore Bridge disaster ten days ago and the approaching Great American Total Eclipse on Monday, tit brought a sense of unease.

  The accident-prone Mars Saturn conjunction in Pisces has been drawing closer since late March and becomes exact this coming Wednesday. On the earthquake chart it fell close to the Midheaven in the 10^th.

  What is curious is that the Baltimore Bridge collapse occurred with the Moon at 16 Libra conjunct the South Node at 15 Libra – and this earthquake happened with the Sun at 16 degrees Aries conjunct the North Node. Both of which impact on the USA natal Saturn at 14 Libra. The USA natal Saturn has moved by Solar Arc to conjunct the Mars, exact in three months but in effect now which is likely to bring a significant setback/accident/misfortune for the United States.

  Quite how much this has relevance remains to be seen. Saturn being opposed by a Solar Eclipse usually suggests a need to take responsibility, often for the actions of others – but there is always a sense of chickens coming home to roost and a price to be paid either for past actions or past associations.

  Mars Saturn sits on the angles of Solar Eclipse charts located in different locations – on the Midheaven on the west coast of USA/Canada. On the IC of Iran. On the Ascendant through central/east Australia and on the Descendent for the tip of Brazil.

 The Iran 1979 Islamic Republic chart has its Pluto conjunct this Eclipse which could bring strong reactions for the recent Damascus attack by Israel.

   The Jupiter Uranus conjunction which is the subject of much internet astro-chatter falls in the earthquake 11^th house and the Eclipse 10^th house set for New York. I am not sure why it is causing so much interest since these conjunctions come round every fourteen years or so. The 1941 conjunction in Taurus was certainly fairly horrific since it coincided with the Luftwaffe blitz on London, Liverpool and Greenock but that also had Saturn in Taurus nearby which would not help.  The other instances did not seem to throw up pass remarkable events.

  On its own Jupiter Uranus should be lucky, bringing new opportunities, relief from tension and optimism.

  All straws in the wind at the moment. But worth paying attention – without getting panicked.

ADD ON:  California is in for a troubled year with the April Solar Eclipse conjunct its Saturn in Aries and tr Pluto continuing to upend its Uranus Pluto in last degree Aries till late November.    It does not have similar Uranus Neptune aspects to the 1994 quake or the 1906 one – so it may be political upheavals or other natural or man made disasters.

Damian Hurley, model, actor and now film producer, son of Liz, celebrated his 22^nd birthday amid a hullabaloo over him directing his mother in lesbian sex scenes in a film he wrote himself. Both say it is a fuss about nothing. He commented ‘For most people it would be inconceivable for their perfectly normal moms to do the scene, but for us it’s business.’ She said it “felt totally normal”.

 They have had an unusually close relationship with his father businessman Steve Bing denying paternity until forced to take a DNA test and his childhood spent partly with his mother’s partners, Indian businessman Arun Nayar and then the Australian former cricketer Steve Warne. He said his mother taught him about sex at a “ludicrously young” age, and was more like a sibling to him than a parent. He often takes her bikini shots which feature on her Instagram page; and they often borrow each other’s clothes.

 Damian was born 4 April 2002 12.22pm London, with a 10^th house Sun Mercury in Aries as well as Venus and Mars (not conjunct) in Taurus. The 10^th house refers to mother; and the Sun there, according to Liz Greene, suggests an individual destined to live out their mother’s ambitions, not necessarily their own, with an underlying emptiness about what they want for themselves. It often occurs in showbiz personalities or those destined to live a ‘public’ life.  Venus in the 10^th is charming, good at public relations.

  His Mars in earthy, determined Taurus is in a volatile square to Uranus in the 8th house of sexuality and joint finances.

  His Saturn in the 11^th is in an unyielding opposition to an attention-demanding 5^th house Pluto conjunct South Node. His Venus in indulgent Taurus is in a fashion-biz sextile to Jupiter and square to a filmic though uncommitted relationship-wise Neptune in his 7^th.

  His hard working 6^th house Capricorn Moon is conjunct Chiron square his Sun, trine Venus, inconjunct Saturn, opposition Jupiter. Which is a complex set of Moon aspects.

  Moon Chiron hints at mother being a significant issue with the individual feeling compelled to mother the mother to make her happy and comfort her. In some cases to become like a substitute husband. Moon square Sun – split parents. Moon trine Venus – what Richard Idemon called ‘the poisoned apple’ of  sexual attraction being muddled up with the maternal bond. Moon inconjunct Saturn and opposition Jupiter – lacking warmth and compensated by over indulging.

  His Sun/Moon midpoint, the close partner significator, is conjunct his 8^th house Uranus so he is likely to follow his mother’s pattern of revolving-door relationships.

 Their synastry is not as cosy as the publicity pics suggest with her Gemini Sun, Mercury, Jupiter square Uranus, Pluto, Mars in Virgo squaring his Pluto opposition Saturn. Her chaotic, over excitable temperament undoubtedly stiffened his spine, making him develop strength and endurance to cope. But left its mark.

 Their relationship chart is even starker. There is an over-hopeful composite Jupiter opposition Neptune which will help to sweep grittier feelings under the carpet. But the composite Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars hints at a one sided relationship which has an undertow of anger and resentment.

 In an interview he said he and his mother are “extraordinarily alike” in general and “apart from having the same face, we are really, really in tune”. “We are very, very similar.” “We are twin-like.” 

  Hmm.

 He’s got a tr Uranus about to conjunct his Mars this May and then square his Uranus come August onwards – so a jangled, risky year ahead and a tough three or four years to follow with a blocked, frustrating Solar Arc Mars opposition his Pluto in 2026; an intense SA Pluto conjunct his 6^th house Moon in 2027 and a lacklustre SA Sun square his Neptune in 2028.

Lionel Shriver has written a bitingly satirical novel about the ‘social contagion’ she says has been raging since 2011, which allows ‘psychic epidemics’ to run riot and wreck society. It focuses on the Mental Parity movement – “the last great civil rights fight” – which maintains that “stupidity is a fiction” and that it’s “discriminatory” to suggest that anyone is more intelligent than anyone else.

 “Smartist” slurs such as “dumb” are banned in all contexts. Uttering any words that suggest otherwise leads to public rebuke – calling something “dumb” can mean losing your job or having your children taken away. There’s a re-education course, in which participants learn never to refer to a room as “dim” and that because people cannot be “thick”, nor can planks of wood. Gooseberry fool is off the menu.’

  As a sharp political dig, Obama is deposed after one term because “by 2012 … having a leader who was outstandingly astute, eloquent, and well informed” was “electoral death”. (Instead, the party picks his vice-president, Joe Biden.)

  The novel is about the phenomenon of cultural revolution rather than an attack on the less intelligent. “If there’s any single social mania that this book is based on, it’s really transgenderism,” she says. “I’m close to a free speech absolutist, and that absolutism is partly reactive. But I would scrap all hate speech legislation.”

 Interestingly she says 2011 is when “things started really going to s—”. Which was precisely when Neptune moved into Pisces, only exiting in 2025/26.

  She was born 18 May 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, no birth time, and came to prominence with her best-seller We Need to Talk about Kevin in 2005. She has a late Taurus Sun conjunct Algol in an Earth Grand Trine to Jupiter in Virgo and probably trine a Capricorn Moon; with her Sun in a controlling and determined square to to Pluto. Her Mercury in Taurus opposes Neptune and squares onto Uranus in Leo. Such a Uranus makes for a willfully determined and uncompromisingly individualistic temperament. Hence the no restrictions on free speech.

  Her Pluto sits on the focal point of another T square to the North/South Node axis which will give her penetrating insights into social trends which won’t always make her popular – though she’ll probably be proved right in the end.

 With all that Earth she will be practical, keen on security and comfort, and curiously down-to-earth for a creative writer.

  Neptune in Pisces with its woo woo mental confusion and neurotic trips won’t sit comfortably with her refreshingly no-nonsense personality. Maybe Neptune into Aries next year will see an end to the raft of cultural manias of recent invention.

 The Paris Olympics getting underway on 26 July 2024 will be on high alert, more so than usual, because of the troubled global situation at that point. The Opening Ceremony starting at 7.30pm has an 8^th house Sun opposition Pluto, sextile/trine Mars in the sporting 5^th with a muddled 3^rd house of communications and transport with Saturn, Neptune and the Moon there. It is not particularly explosive, disruptive or violent but then neither was the start of the Munich Olympics where the Palestinian Black September militia massacred Israeli athletes.  And I have seen Olympic charts which hinted at major aggravations where nothing much happened  barring the usual spats.

  What is maybe more significant is the France chart, 21 September 1792 3.30 pm Paris. French public sector workers, as per usual, are up in arms at losing their summer vacation, regarded as sacrosanct, and there will no doubt be pitchforks at the ready for any other government gripes at the time. Transiting Neptune is exactly opposition the France Virgo Sun at that time through till early September so the country won’t be feeling confident or upbeat.

 Tr Uranus will be opposition the France focal point Mars in Scorpio mid June to early July which will be disruptive if not high risk. The Progressed Mars somewhat alarmingly will be conjunct the SA Sun exactly and square the revolutionary, explosive Uranus opposition Pluto across the summer. And on this start time tr Uranus will be just into the France domestic 4^th house – so there could be local unrest. France’s substantial Muslim population will be involved in whatever Middle East aggravation is going on.   

  Emmanuel Macron, 21 December 1977 10.40am Paris, is also not feeling too chipper with tr Neptune square his Sagittarius Sun and Mercury which will make him feel undermined and less than confident.

  Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy became manifest on April Fools’ Day causing a gynormous furore in Scotland as the Hate Crime Act intended to tackle the harm caused by prejudice based on age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, became law. The fear is it will stifle free speech and anyway ignores women, a group who receive more abuse, violence and threats of violence than any other. The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents has raised serious concerns about the pressure it will put on an already overstretched force, warning that there is “enough anger and hateful bile online to occupy every police officer in Scotland”, given that current guidelines state that all hate crime complaints should be investigated.

   A commentator describes the act as “ one of the most confused, ill-drafted and unnecessary pieces of legislation enacted by the Scottish National Party government in a long list of badly prepared SNP laws.

  It was passed on 11 March 2021 though only put into force this week. The Act has a muddled Sun Neptune conjunction in Pisces with an autocratic, willful, quarrelsome Saturn square Uranus and an aggravated Saturn trine Mars. As it came into force there was an approaching, bad-tempered, prone-to-setbacks Saturn Mars conjunction.  

  More complaints have been raised about First Minister Humza Yousaf than about JK Rowling, whom police say will not be prosecuted for her gender-critical (born a woman stays a woman) tweets and comments.

 Humza Yousaf’s term as First Minister kicked off on 28 March 2023 at 3.03pm with a changeable Uranus in the 10^th and an afflicted, argumentative Mars in Cancer conjunct Moon, square Sun and an 8^th house Neptune, trine Saturn and inconjunct Pluto – so was never going to be a walk in the park on a sunny day. The approaching Aries Eclipse will conjunct the Mercury Jupiter on this chart, clearly amplifying communications, discussions and extreme views.

His personal chart, 7 April 1985, Glasgow, has a 17 degree Aries Sun in line for the approaching Solar Eclipse crisis. His year will jinx and jangle with tr Uranus in a high-tension opposition to his Saturn and the October Libra Eclipse exactly conjunct his Mercury for muddled thinking and another communication kerfuffle.

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  In Israel, demonstrators are out on the streets demonstrating their anger against Netanyahu and the lack of a deal to free the remaining Hamas hostages. This against a backdrop of Israel’s strike against Iran’s consulate in Damascus on Monday, killing Tehran’s top generals in the country, which threatens to escalate into a regional war. This was always the fear since the war in Gaza erupted, putting Israel in a conflict with Iranian allied militias.

  Iran will now be forced to respond but may hesitate to embark on a direct confrontation.

Several related charts are on high alert with danger-zone, red-flags waving in the months ahead.  Netanyahu has a catastrophic tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint from late this month to mid May. A nerve-stretched and highly-strung, prone-to-misjudgments June with Neptune Uranus midpoint aspects triggered will be the fore runner to an explosive tr Uranus square his Mars picking up through July and running on and off into mid 2025. His Libra Moon is catching the upcoming April Aries Solar Eclipse so he will be standing on shaky ground politically and finding his image further dented. He will be undermined and failing mid October to February 2025 with tr Neptune opposition his Sun/Mars and Mercury/Saturn midpoints.

 Israel, of course, has its 8^th house Taurus Sun at 23 degrees catching the disruptive tr Uranus conjunction for the second time this May, repeating New Year to mid March 2025 plus the possibility of more violence in 2025 from tr Uranus square the Mars. This October’s Libra Solar Eclipse will conjunct the 12^th house Neptune which does not give much hope for realistic decisions.

 The Israel/Iran 1906 relationship chart points to July/August as flash points; as does the Israel/Iran Islamic Republic 1979 relationship chart. The Iran 22 December 1501 chart which worked well against the 2017 earthquake, is also showing high stress June onwards with tr Uranus conjunct the Mars and square the Mars/Pluto midpoint into 2025. The Iran 1 April 1979 chart is catching this Aries Solar Eclipse opposition its Pluto and the September Lunar Eclipse conjunct its Mars Mercury.

  All of which will impact on Joe Biden who looks edgy in the extreme on more or less the same timeline. Tr Uranus opposes his Sun/Mars midpoint exactly now; then hits his Mars/Uranus midpoint late April to mid May; and his disaster-zone Mars/Saturn by July and beyond – all of which have potential military as well as other associations. Tr Uranus will also oppose his Scorpio Sun picking up in July this year.

ADD ON:  Will USA be dragged into the fight? There is a Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the US Mars exact this July which does have military associations – or can be a setback of a different order. On the US Sibley 5.10pm chart, the Moon at 27 Aquarius catches a conjunction from the SA Mars in August as well as tr Uranus in square which will bring a shock/collision of sorts.

  The Iran Islamic Republic April 1979 chart in relation both to Biden and the USA shows July/August as flare-up points. The Iran 1906 and 150 charts in relation to Biden and the USA have a marginally different timeline but also show significant unrest this year.

  Worrisome times.  It could, of course, be triggered by an attack on American soil which was a scenario mentioned after the Moscow bomb attack – not that an Iran militia was behind it but the Islamic ISIS-K probably also inflamed by US policies.

Two strongman rulers in eastern Europe are in trouble  with Turkey’s Recep Erdogan facing losses in elections; and Hungary’s Viktor Orban besieged by corruption allegations affecting his party and government.

 The Turkish President Erdogan has just experienced what analysts deem his worst political setback in more than two decades with overwhelming losses in local elections.   The economy is the biggest gripe with runaway inflation remaining at 70 percent and the collapsing value of the currency.

 Erdogan, 26 February 1954, has tr Uranus upending his Pluto continuing from last year, repeating this May and again New Year through to March 2025 – so a highly unstable phase. Made worse as Solar Arc Saturn opposes his Uranus in 2025. Plus tr Saturn in Pisces square conjunct his Pisces Sun, Mercury and Venus and square his Jupiter – a confidence-denting year.

 His original Presidency chart, 28 August 2014 has the April Solar Eclipse opposition the North Node – so a definite fork in the road. It may not be enough to unseat him altogether but the rot is setting in. The relationship between himself and Turkey is chained together and steeped in resentment and under increasing pressure in the next three years but it will take time for the ties-that-bind to part company – and it will be messy when they do.

Viktor Orban, the thorn in the EU’s flesh with his autocratic demands, is under assault from a former inner circle ally. Peter Magyar, a senior but obscure Hungarian official, who has come from nowhere to promise to oust Orban with corruption allegations against his government. Magyar, 16 March 1981, for all he is being talked up, won’t win much over the next year with tr Neptune conjunct his Mars.  But the damage may stick.

 Orban, 31 May 1963, is certainly being rocked by the arguments and allegations with his Fixed T Square of Mercury in Taurus square Saturn opposition Mars being upended by tr Uranus escalating from this month, jolting through May, and again New Year till March 2025 and worsening into 2025. His security will be severely rattled.

 His initial PMship chart, 29 May 2010, is showing similar signs of unease with tr Neptune in an high-uncertainty opposition to the Saturn, picking up in 2023 and running off and on to early 2025. Plus tr Uranus square the Mars in Leo opposition Neptune from mid this June, on and off through an extremely nervy 2025.

 Two swallows don’t make a summer and two demagogues on the slide may not make a trend but it is hopeful.  

Headline-grabbing Kim Mulkey, a successful college basketball coach and Olympic gold medallist, is in a brawl with two US newspapers over their comments about her controversial approach and her team.  Known for her exuberant choice of clothes worn during games, she was hardly going to be an understated personality with her Taurus Sun exactly conjunct Algol and exactly square Uranus. Her Uranus is also in a high-vitality, uncompromising and volatile trine to Mars in upfront Aries, sextile Venus.

  According to the Washington Post she is ‘known to hold grudges and clash with players, including about their appearances and displays of their sexuality’. Described as “one of college basketball’s most colourful personalities, she is viewed by some as an almost cartoonishly ornery supervillain.”  She has not spoken to her father for 37 years, after his infidelity and eventual divorce from her mother. She wrote about it in her 2007 autobiography, “Won’t Back Down.” She walked alone down the aisle at her wedding, and returned notes from her father unread as he pleaded for reconciliation.

  Born 17 May 1962 in Louisiana, she has a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo opposition Saturn in Aquarius square Neptune (and probably Moon) in Scorpio – emotionally intense, though often misreading the signals from others and her own feelings, can be misled by delusions, acutely lonely at an inner level, though capable of being supportive. Plus a super-confident and over-pushy Jupiter opposition Pluto. A curious mix of a bulldozing warrior and an idealist/dreamer.

  This year will rattle her up with tr Uranus heading to conjunct her Sun and square her Uranus in that over-heated July meeting of Uranus Algol and Mars – and tr Uranus continues on and  off into 2024 trying to jolt her onto a new path.

 Coaches can’t be retiring mice and she certainly lives her chart out to the full.  

A rare retrospective of Constantin Brâncuși who revolutionised sculpture in the early 20th century opens in Paris this week. Considered as one of the fathers of abstract art, a pioneer of modernism and the patriarch of modern sculpture, he came from unlikely beginnings.

  Born on 19 February 1876 in Romania to poor peasants he herded the family’s flock of sheep aged 7 and often ran away from home to escape the bullying of his father and older brothers. Aged nine he left the village to work in the nearest large town, in the service of a grocer, then as a domestic servant. An industrialist who spotted his talent for carving enrolled him in an Arts and Crafts school where he graduated with honors. The Bucharest School of Fine Arts then gave him  academic training in sculpture where he distinguished himself as talented. Aged 28 he moved to Paris to join the workshop of Auguste Rodin, though he soon moved out to work independently.

 In addition to abstract sculptures he is also renowned for his 1938 memorials to the Romanian First War Dead – the Table of Silence and the Infinity Column.

  Fittingly he was born as Neptune had just entered Taurus, the sign of the sculptor, which was sextile his creative Pisces Sun and Saturn in late Aquarius. His Pluto also in Taurus was emphasised as well, being in a used-to-hardship square to Saturn and Mercury and square a revolutionary, original, mould-breaking square to Uranus. He probably also had an inspirational, attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine of Mars in Aries trine Uranus trine a Sagittarius Moon. Jupiter in Sagittarius was square his Sun, trine his creative Venus in Aries and inconjunct Neptune. He was blessed with luck, self-belief and determination as well as talent.

  His emphasised Pluto on the focal point of a Fixed T square would make him stubborn to the nth degree, ultra-determined, ahead of his time, inclined to arouse resistance – some of his works were banned as obscene early on. But destined ultimately to lead the way.

  I saw an exhibition of his at MOMA in New York in the 1990s and it was mesmerising.