Marjorie

A trooper to the end, the Queen lived up to her Saturnine Midheaven by swearing in a new Prime Minister two days before she died. An unrelenting sense of old-fashioned duty saw her through seven decades on the throne. She was described as the ‘keystone’ for the UK which gives a pointer to the void she leaves between for a country already in a turmoil of uncertainty.

The time of death was given as 2.37pm by Lady Colin Campbell but is yet to be confirmed.

  At the moment her obsessively conscientious Saturn in Scorpio on her Midheaven which gave her cast-iron resolve was being softened and undermined by Solar Arc Neptune conjunct to within minutes of a degree with Solar Arc Jupiter in opposition. Her Progressed Moon was exactly conjunct her Mars, perhaps a hint of the suddenness of her passing.

  Her Coronation chart, 2 June 1953 11.20 am London, was also being undermined this year by tr Neptune square the Mars Mercury. And the Solar Arc Pluto was opposition the Venus for an emotional ending. The Midheaven around 18 Taurus was also in the line of fire of the history-changing tr Uranus Node Node in Taurus which picked up in early August.   

  Prince Charles, 14 November 1948 9.14 pm London, was always due for a challenging crisis in a crossroads year with the approaching October Scorpio Solar Eclipse opposing his 10^th house Moon North Node in Taurus. The 10^th house Moon fits him for a public career. An eclipse opposing the Moon will bring emotional shocks and relationship tensions. The astrologer Robert Jansky writes: ‘Under this transit mama’s boys suddenly find their manhood’. He also has his Solar Arc Mars opposition Saturn, which can often accompany a death.

  Tr Saturn is also squaring his Sun this year and tr Uranus opposing it in 2023 and squaring his Pluto this year and next – so his life is in an upheaval. With a fair amount of panic ongoing as his Solar Arc Neptune opposition his Solar Arc Midheaven is sitting on top of his Jupiter opposition Uranus – a hint of not only his anxiety about whether he is man enough for the job, given his 4^th house Neptunian father; but also the effect his new role will have in squelching his adventurous streak. Tr Saturn is heading for his 8^th house from February 2023 for two years which will throw him back on his own emotional resources and could be a testing time.   Even more significantly tr Pluto will square his 10th house Moon from late March 2023, on and off till late 2024, which will be emotionally anguished and very pressured career-wise and in his personal life.

 The UK chart has a Solar Arc Pluto square the Capricorn Sun at the moment, a hint of the paralysis that comes as old structures are dismantled and before the new structures can be put in place. The last time there was a hard Solar Arc Pluto to the Sun was in 1929 during the Stock Market Crash; and the time before was over the Coronation of Queen Victoria, still in her late teens.

  When Queen Elizabeth 1 died in 1603, having reigned for 45 years, tr Uranus was in Taurus as now and the North Node was in late Scorpio. When Victoria died in 1901 after 63 years on the throne the North Node was also in late Scorpio. Now as Elizabeth 11 goes the North Node is in mid Taurus.   

All a bit astro-heavy but covers the basics and no doubt there will be much more anon as the ripples spread out.

The Duchess of Cambridge sails serenely on, wreathed in smiles, always elegant, a fulfilled mother and wife, morphing effortlessly into the challenging role of future consort. Yet she has a beyond-difficult chart.

  Born 9 January 1982 7pm (from memory) Berkshire, she has a sociable and ambitious 5^th house Capricorn Sun which opposes a friendly and family-oriented 11^th house Cancer Moon. So she was born at the time of the Full Moon, usually an indication of temperamentally incompatible parents which leaves the offspring constantly pulled between their head and their heart, unable to decide what they want.

  However in her case the Full Moon is pulled together by a formidable collection of Mars, Saturn, Pluto in Libra. That would leave precious little leeway for young Kate to express or even know what either her head or her heart wanted for herself. Her mother Carole from all accounts was hellbent on producing perfect daughters and ones who would have a chance of elevation through a marriage of rank and money.

 Carole Middleton is a Sun Aquarius with a beyond-stubborn Pluto opposition Mercury square Saturn in Scorpio. But she and Kate do get on well with Carole’s Sun conjunct Kate’s Venus, Carole’s Jupiter conjunct Kate’s Moon and opposition her Sun and their relationship chart isn’t too alarming.

  There’s no doubt a backbone of reinforced steel is needed to withstand a Royal lifestyle and the capability of suppressing personal needs in favour of public smiles – which Kate’s Venus Mercury in Aquarius square Jupiter in Scorpio is custom built for.  So a stamina-building, selfless childhood was probably a necessity.

  She’s moving into a hard-working and responsible fourteen years ahead with tr Saturn rising above her Descendant, hitting her eight year peak from 2028 onwards. Even before then Jupiter moving across her Midheaven from June 2023 for a year will see her glowing with confidence and attracting praise and success. She’s out of what has been an exceptionally tough few years with first tr Uranus in Aries and then tr Pluto in Capricorn hammering at her Mars, Sun, Moon, Saturn and Pluto and marriage significator Sun/Moon midpoint since 2012/13 – starting with the birth of Prince George. The last and final push is on till early this December with tr Pluto square her Pluto – and after that it will be less pressured.

 Though she is running into her midlife crisis (38 to 42) with the Neptune square Neptune at the moment and tr Uranus opposing her Uranus in 2026. In her case this may be more significant, since my experience of women with Sun Pluto hard aspects, is that often they don’t come into their own and empower themselves until into their forties. They pull away from their younger submissive selves and take control. So a different facet of Kate may emerge.

  Though what may pull against that marginally is her Progressed Mars going retrograde in January 2024 which often coincides with a time when there is less ability or motivation to be assertive. It can accompany a setback or a drop in vitality but could also be the walls of the monarchy closing in on her as she buckles down for the marathon ahead.

  She will have to look after her health with Pluto moving through her 6^th and crossing her Mercury and Venus ahead.  

  There is a great deal more to her than meets the eye and indeed possibly more in her than she is conscious of since she learned early on to bury a good deal of her individuality.

 In marrying Prince William she found a partner with a similar emotional background since his Cancer Moon squares Mars and his Mars is conjunct Saturn is conjunct Pluto. Their relationship would go through a few trials with the disruptive tr Uranus square tr Pluto of last decade but that has now cleared. Though neither are easy personalities.

  Her relationship with Meghan Markle is not going to improve, indeed the tensions will intensify with tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2023/24 and tr Uranus will cause major upset as it hard aspects the volcanic Moon Mars square Venus Uranus in 2024/25.   

Actress and film maker Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling which she directs and co-stars in premiered at Venice to mixed reviews. A famously troubled production it started with star Shia Labeouf exiting reportedly because of poor behaviour of set, which he denied. He was replaced by Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde’s boyfriend, but tensions continued to rumble with reports of clashes between actress co-star Florence Pugh and Wilde.  Critics praised Pugh’s performance but criticized the screenplay, Styles’s performance, and Wilde’s direction.

  Principal photography kicked off in LA on October 26 2020 when Mars in Aries was square Jupiter Pluto Saturn in Capricorn which is an aggravated, combustible mix.

  Neither Olivia Wilde nor Florence Push are easy personalities. Wilde. 10 March 1984, New York, has a Sun Mercury in Pisces trine a determined, stubborn and short-fused Mars Saturn in Scorpio.

Florence Pugh, 3 January 1996, has a highly-strung and uncompromising Uranus, Mars, Neptune in Capricorn and her Saturn in Pisces is conjunct Wilde’s Sun.

 Their relationship chart has a power-struggling composite Sun Venus square Pluto.

  Chris Pine, 26 August 1980 8.25am LA,  a Sun Virgo with Jupiter and Saturn (not conjunct) also in Virgo managed to sail through with a smile on his face. He wouldn’t find Oliva Wilde easy with her Mars Saturn square his Uranus though their relationship chart has a bouncy, enthusiastic Mars Jupiter which would help. With Harry Styles the relationship chart is edgy and irritable. With Florence Pugh there’s a real power-couple dynamic, with a composite Sun, Jupiter Pluto conjunction which if they pull together will produce a definite result

Politics may be showbiz for ugly people. But luvvies while prettier get into equally rancorous turf and ego wars.

The Truss cabinet may be diverse ethnically but it follows Boris’s mantra of rewarding supporters and banishing divergent thinkers which hardly bodes well.

 Therese Coffey, Deputy PM and Health Secretary, overweight and a smoker, RC and anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. She’s a Sun Scorpio with Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune square Mars in Pisces (shades of Dom Cummings) – stubborn and scattergun at the same time, running into a dead-halt in a year plus with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Sun. Relations with Truss OK until 2024 when uncertainty and disappointment loom.

 Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor, a Sun Gemini opposition Neptune, will be marginally down in 2023. A volatile relationship with Truss which will rock n’ roll this year and next, which is standard for PMs and Chancellors, never an easy partnership.  

James Cleverly, Foreign Secretary, a sensible Virgo Sun trine Saturn in Taurus, is undermined in 2023. The most troubled relationship with Truss of all the Cabinet – through 2023 into 2024.

Suella Braverman, Home Secretary, an Aries Sun opposition Pluto, with a bombastic Mars in Leo square Uranus and Venus. Not a good reputation for competence or sound judgement. Uncertain later this year; disappointment between herself and Truss in 2023 with jolts and jangles.  

Ben Wallace, stays as Defence Secretary, a Taurus trine Pluto, stays on a lucky roll till late 2023. Scratchy moments with Truss from early 2023, worse in 2024.

Kemi Badenoch, International Trade, a Capricorn Sun with Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in Virgo. Losing traction from May 2023 onwards into 2024. Relationship with Truss oddly hostile though may all be buried between politic smiles. 2024 is a trouble spot between them.

Jacob Reese Mogg, Business Secretary, Sun Mercury in Gemini opposition Mars with Jupiter Pluto Uranus in late Virgo. Steam rolling ahead till early this December and although bullishly confident through 2023/24 is beginning to lose his mojo with disappointments and disasters looming from mid 2023 onwards. His relationship with Truss has fraught undertones with both jockeying for position and power. Will wobble in 2023, more obviously in 2024.

  Truss’s relationship with Opposition Leader Keir Starmer is possibly softened by her Venus in Virgo being conjunct his Sun Pluto. If he survives the course as Labour leader it may run into a few hiccups after mid 2023.

  Where she will have steely opponents are in Mick Lynch, the Rail Union leader, and Frances O’Grady, the TUC leader, The relationship chart with Mick Lynch suggests deteriorating relations this year and next and next with a hostile, argumentative tr Pluto square Saturn and Mercury with undermining Neptune brewing up confusion and scandal through till 2025.

  Frances O’Grady, head of the Trades Union Congress, has already been voicing concern about the effect of Truss’s economic policies. She’s a stalwart Sun, Mars in Scorpio square Uranus and her relationship chart with Truss is fraught at the best of times with a composite Sun, Pluto, Uranus conjunction and Mars opposition Jupiter square Neptune – all of which is being upended one way and another through the next two years.

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Liz Truss took up the reins at Balmoral at around 12.27 pm today to return immediately to London as the new prime minister on the votes of less than 100,000 older, mainly male, middle-class Tory voters.

  Looking on the bright side of the Term chart there is an Earth Grand Trine of a Virgo Sun trine Capricorn Moon trine Uranus North Node. Earth Grand Trines tend to be security-conscious, business-minded, keen to maintain the status quo and focused on materialistic ambitions. Can lack imagination, be stuck in a rut and overly conservative. Reasonably talented.

 The worry is the Uranus North Node close to the Descendant square Saturn. Uranus is divisive, uncompromising, uncooperative, defiant, unpredictable, prone to sudden changes in alliances, dislikes restrictions. Not good for stable relationships, for sure. That is doubled in effect by having the North Node on the Descendant which suggests that being considerate to the needs of others is not a priority. South Node on the Ascendant could suggest following old patterns (dogma) unquestioningly.

  The Uranus North Node square Saturn will make for a ratchety, jangled, high-tension term with ill-feeling erupting along the way. Saturn in Aquarius can be cold, unfeeling, overly rigid. The 3^rd house is heavy and challenging with Moon Pluto and Saturn there which in mundane astrology rules communication, internal travel within a country (rail system/strikes?), sometimes education.

  Mars in the 8^th house of debt and joint finances will arouse arguments since it is square the Sun and trine Mercury, partly a result of over-promising with Mercury opposition a grandstanding and over-hopeful Jupiter in the 5^th.

 Neptune in the 4^th – a confused, disillusioned electorate.

  I’ve seen administration charts a good deal worse though it will be a bumpy ride – coming to a crunch point in eighteen months when the Solar Arc Uranus closes to exact the square to Saturn. Tr Uranus square the Saturn from late May 2023 will also cause a few significant upheavals and bouts of rebellion.

   Liz Truss’s own chart has the upbeat, successful tr Pluto conjunct her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint which carried her to victory staying in place until early December but once that has gone she’ll have less luck coming her way. Indeed even before then tr Uranus conjunct her Mars from 11 October for a month will bring a shock or two and could provoke her into hasty misjudgements. That returns next April. After the first week in December she will run into a series of calamities and disasters until January 10^th and that influence returns late September/October 2023. Plus a panicky-failure tr Neptune square Sun/Mars from March 2023 till early 2024; plus a discouraging slog from tr Pluto opposition her Sun/Saturn midpoint and square her Uranus throughout 2023 as well.

  Hanging on grimly looks like 2023’s motto.

  Her personal chart looks nothing like Maggie Thatcher’s which had a super-confident, resourceful Jupiter opposition Pluto square Mars and Sun in Libra. She may have been a pain but she had initiative and conviction.  Maggie’s First Government chart was exceptionally tough, ambitious and ruthless. Getting results was her motto.   

See previous Liz Truss post August 29 2022. Also 21 July 2022 and 20 December 2021.

The Times said: “The Queen’s schedule on Tuesday involved Johnson arriving at 11.16am and leaving 39 minutes later. Truss arrived at 12.22pm and stayed for 33 minutes.

Both the Moon and Pluto crave closeness but of a different order. The Moon wants nurtured like a baby with unconditional love. Pluto demands ownership, dominates and controls. The Plutonic mother disregards the needs and wishes of the possessed child and assumes the right to be invasive even into adult life.

   One analogy which fits the Moon Pluto mother is the psychological quirk of not experiencing the child as a separate being but as being similar to their own arm – a lifelong extension of themselves. There is no mine and thine, it’s all me and me. In extremis a Moon Pluto mother is felt as death-dealing because she tries to suppress all separation and attempts to deny the child’s developing identity.

  Individuals with a Moon Pluto mother learn to protect themselves by shutting their emotions away and becoming defensive in other relationships. They fear being smothered, suffocated and controlled if they open up.

  It creates in adult life an intense and dramatic emotional life with a tendency toward dark moods and fears. It can bring psychic experiences as well since there is a pull towards what lies beyond reality or what comes from deep in the unconscious.

  As with all difficulties it can be overcome with psychotherapy – and it does seem to be more obviously burdensome for women than for men.

 Jennifer Aniston, 11 February 1969 10.22pm Los Angeles,  has a Moon square Pluto and had a famously difficult relationship from her late mother from whom she was estranged for 15 years after her mother wrote a tell-all book in 1999 called Mother to Daughter to Friends: A Memoir. Which is a classic taking-ownership of my daughter and invading her privacy.

  In an interview Aniston said: “She was very critical of me. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”

 Karen Carpenter, the tragic singer, who died young from anorexia, 2 March 1950 11.45am New Haven, CT had a Moon Pluto conjunction in Leo and a difficult relationship with her parents who invested their hopes in her elder brother’s success but were unprepared for her ambitions and achievements.

  John Lennon, 9 October 1940, 6.30pm Liverpool, England, had a Moon opposition Pluto and fell into that odd category (which happens with Sun Pluto fathers as well) of not having a strong connection with his mother. He was effectively abandoned by her and largely brought up by his aunt Mimi – which left him with a constant sense of not quite belonging anywhere, or to anyone. He ended up hitched to Yoko Ono, seven years his senior, who was herself a controlling type with Pluto in her 10^th.

  So Pluto isn’t just about extreme possessiveness; it can also accompany abandonment and indifference to the child’s needs.

  Anne Heche, the troubled actress who killed herself recently in a car crash recently, with a religious mother from hell had a Moon Pluto conjunct in her 12^th. See posts 6 and 14^th August 2022.

 Skipping down famous examples what stood out were three children of high profile mothers/parents – Lisa Marie-Presley, Athina Roussel (daughter of Christina Onassis) and Suri Cruise. All of whom have hard Moon Pluto aspects – in part a reflection of an over-exposed or over-protected childhood.

  Suri Cruise has a Moon conjunct Pluto trine Sun – and part of that may stem from a sense of being a pawn in a tense stand off between parents.

Princess Margaret with a 5^th house Moon Pluto conjunction lived out the drama of her Moon Pluto to the full but she led a self-destructive life which took its toll on her health. And neither she nor her rigidly dutiful elder sister the Queen ever escaped from the clutches of the Queen Mother. The Queen evidently phoned her everyday in life and noticeably relaxed after her mother died.

  These are extreme examples and there will be those who manage to resolve the problems to live a reasonably balanced emotional life.

Liz Truss has won the Tory leadership battle with Rishi Sunak though with a less than resounding 57%+ to his 42%+. She goes to Balmoral tomorrow for her premiership to start officially with a meet time thought to be around mid day.  I’ll do a longer piece when the time is definite.

  If it is midday tomorrow, then both charts have a divisive Uranus in the 7^th which could point to explosive differences with neighbours, ie. the EU and even the USA, which seems likely, as well as internally.  Uranus square Saturn is jangled, high-tension can-be autocratic. Mid day tomorrow puts Mars in the financial 8^th for one arena of aggravation.

  She doesn’t look too chummy with the new Met Police chief Mark Rowley, due to take up the reins later this year. More tomorrow.

The impressionable Moon and fiery Mars do not make for amiable companions anymore than Saturn though in a different way. The Martian mother is angry, forceful, competitive, not sensitive – and most importantly blocks her child’s will. Mars says ‘I want’, ‘I intend’, ‘I am’ so is integral to a sense of identity. Pushed out of sight by a mother’s narcissism or in some cases the mother’s extreme vulnerability that can’t handle anger in any form, the child becomes a boiling cauldron of unlived assertion, stored up to become compacted anger. Mars is also the god of passion, so sexuality can get blocked as well.

  Traditional astrology always said Moon Mars types should avoid alcohol since it takes the inhibitors off and their aggravation explodes likely causing damage to relationships or the furniture. It tends to leave a prickly defensiveness since it is tricky to modulate assertive responses – and they are either resentfully submissive or explosively assertive.  

  Two Moon square Mars children from fiery mothers who won’t come as a surprise in this context are Lourdes, Madonna’s daughter, with a Scorpio Moon square Mars; and North West Kardashian (Kim’s daughter) with Virgo Moon square Mars.

  Shouty, provocative men who equally come as no surprise with Moon Mars are comedian Russell Brand 4 June 1975, with a Moon Mars in Aries conjunction opposition Pluto. And two Moon Mars hard aspects also crop up with argumentative Piers Morgan, and Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s erstwhile rottweiler chief aide.

  Prince William who has (had) a famously explosive temper has his Cancer Moon square Mars as well admittedly a short-tempered Mars Saturn conjunction. His needy mother used him as a prop when the Royal marriage was in trouble and no doubt expected him to be calm and caring rather than attend to his own needs and give full expression to what suited him.

  The classic Aries Moon Mars, along with Russell Brand, is Angelina Jolie born the same day, complicated by having both their Moons also opposition Pluto – a volcanic, emotional shambles.

  Lisa Minnelli, see Moon Saturn post below, also has a jumble of emotional turmoil from a Moon Saturn Mars conjunction. In some ways her chart is not dissimilar to Meghan Markle’s with MM’s Moon Saturn square Mars, softened a touch by Jupiter, as indeed is Lisa Minnelli’s.  Clearly they had very different upbringing though in both cases it left its mark.

Mother and son as a saga continues down a different track with headlines about Victoria Beckham’s edgy relationship with her newly acquired daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz. Son Brooklyn was evidently a favourite with mum Victoria and there for her when husband David was off on his jaunts, sporting and otherwise. She wasn’t invited to design the wedding dress for the highly publicised Palm Beach extravaganza of an April wedding and according to reports then upstaged the bride at the wedding.  A chill has descended since.

  Both Victoria and Nicola Peltz have prominent Mars Saturn aspects in their charts so will be prickly, defensive and liable to over react. And the Nicola/Victoria relationship chart has a composite resentful and highly aggravated Saturn opposition Pluto square Mars with a needs-space Sun square Uranus all covered over by an insincere veneer of marshmallow from Venus Jupiter. It was never going to be sweetness and light and if anything will worsen through 2023 to 2026 with grievances, spoken and unspoken, mounting.

 Brooklyn, 4 March 1999 7.48pm London, has a First House Libra Moon so will be close to his mother and his Moon opposes affectionate Venus, forming a Half Grand Sextile to Uranus and Pluto. Astrologer Richard Idemon once described Moon Venus as the ‘poisoned apple’ – motherly love mixed in with a hint of sexual attraction.

  Victoria, 17 April 1974, unverified birth time, is an Aries Sun opposition Uranus, sextile a hard-edged Mars Saturn in Gemini which in turn squares Pluto and trines Uranus. That volcanic and aggravated mix sits side by side with a frivolous, superficially sweet Venus Jupiter in Pisces square Neptune.

  What is intriguing though marginally complicated – is that Victoria’s chart with a Mars Saturn conjunction in Gemini square Pluto mirrors her relationship chart with Nicola.  And Brooklyn’s Sun/Moon midpoint, which is his marriage significator, is exactly opposition his mother’s Mars Saturn conjunction. So whatever Victoria’s personality and history problem is, it is irrevocably intertwined with the Brooklyn marriage. A hand grenade handed down a generation.

  Nicola, 9 January 1995, New York, is a highly-strung Capricorn Sun, Uranus Neptune which squares Victoria’s Aries Sun and squares V’s Uranus so they start out at cross-purposes. But what may be most significant is that Nicola’s Saturn in Pisces opposition Mars in Virgo collides with and completely squelches Victoria’s sugary-sweet Jupiter Venus. For all Nicola’s vastly expensive upbringing, her childhood had its destructive and harmful elements as well. She probably sniffed out V’s bull**** and exposed the darker underside of her temperament.  Brooklyn’s relationship chart with his mother has two ‘fated’ Yods tying their destinies together – Sun Mars Pluto, and Pluto Neptune Saturn.

  His relationship chart with Nicola has a composite Saturn opposition Mars, trine Pluto sextile Uranus. And indeed the wedding chart has a Pluto opposition Moon square Sun with Sun sextile a Saturn Mars conjunction – so despite the expensive froth it would be a fraught and gruesome affair.

  Fascinating all these repeating patterns of Mars Saturn Pluto which is not a comforting trio – brutal, ruthless, destructive. Victoria has tr Neptune aiming to undermine her Mars Saturn from 2024 to 2026 which is when Brooklyn’s Sun/Moon midpoint catches the Neptune square as well.

  What a tangled web.   

Having taken a quick look the same pattern repeats in Victoria and David’s relationship chart – a composite Sun Mars inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune, and Sun Mars sextile Saturn inconjunct Neptune. Complication on complication.