Madonna – never scared to bank on outrage

Tasteless, vulgar, sexually provocative at an age where it looks tacky and 17 years passed her last hit, Madonna’s fortieth anniversary tour had the appearance of a desperate cry for attention from a has been. Until she had the last laugh with the tickets selling out in minutes with 600,000 bought in one day. 23 concerts have been added to the 37 dates already announced for The Celebration Tour thanks to massive fan demand. The tour of North America and Europe, kicking off on July 1st and finishing 1 December, is 98% sold out.

  Never underestimate the public taste for shock.

 She was born 16 August 1958 in Bay City, MI, maybe 7.05 am, and what is floating her boat this year is her Solar Arc Sun conjunct her Jupiter all year, peaking mid year onwards. Tr Pluto opposing her Venus will ratchet up her emotional/seductive appeal between now and June and again in 2024.

Not everything will go entirely to plan with tr Pluto square her Jupiter/Neptune midpoint mid June to late July which Ebertin describes as ‘plans unreasonable beyond measure.’ Though she has a minorly buoyant Jupiter/Pluto at the same time. August will see an upsetting tr Uranus square her Sun.  August and September also look confused and fraught on the relationship front – which is understandable with that kind of tour since working relationship tensions will run very high. Late September and October will be downbeat.

  Tr Saturn will also oppose her Pluto and Mercury on and off through these months which will also be downbeat.

  But her SA Sun on Jupiter will keep her buoyant even with aggravation behind the scenes. Though she may find the physical strain of that much performing too much given her previous creaks and groans – it will be a punishing schedule. 

Brett Kavanaugh – justice cannot sleep forever ++ Christine Blaisey Ford

Brett Kavanaugh nominated by Trump for the Supreme Court and voted in after an explosive hearing when accusations of sexual misconduct in his Yale college days were swept aside is in for a second going over. A last-minute addition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival is called “Justice” which probes the allegations and conducts the investigation which the FBI failed to do at the time, talking to other witnesses and victims.  The  documentary is directed by Doug Liman, (Swingers and The Bourne Identity) and produced by Amy Herdy, an ex-journalist and key researcher for the documentaries Allen v. Farrow.

 Rolling Stone Magazine writes: “More than anything Justice feels like a signal flare for future accusers and witnesses of Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct to come forward. The press was informed that the 83-minute version screened at Sundance was not a final cut —- and their investigation — is not yet finished.”

The Daily Beast says “outrage is stoked by the numerous clips of Kavanaugh refuting these accusations with unconvincing fury and falsehoods.”

“Justice reveals the many lies advanced by the judge in order to both sway public opinion and to give Republicans enough reasonable-doubt cover to vote in favor of his confirmation.”

“The effect is to paint the entire affair as a charade and a rigged game in which accusatory women were unfairly and maliciously put on the defensive, and powerful men were allowed to skate by on suspect evasions and flimsy denials.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault-allegations-in-secret-sundance-doc-justice?ref=home

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/inside-justice-sundance-top-secret-brett-kavanaugh-documentary-doug-liman-deborah-ramirez-1234665450/

  Kavanaugh, 12 February 1965, is a Sun, Mercury in Aquarius squaring onto (whaddya know?) Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune = at its most negative prone to attracting scandals due to instability, over-optimism leading to an evasion of reality. And that overblown T Square is being assaulted by tr Saturn conjunct his Sun through the middle of this month and moving to his Second (time to grow up and face reality) Saturn Return by May. Tr Uranus is also heading to bring him down to earth with a bump as it collides with his Jupiter Neptune in April/May this year and early 2024. Add onto that tr Neptune opposing his Mars in Virgo from mid April this year, on and off till March 2024 which is usually accompanied by failure and sagging morale, it won’t be his shining hour.

  His relationship with SCOTUS and Chief John Roberts look fraught this year though I don’t think there is any mechanism for removing errant members? Surely there must be?

   One to watch.   

Add On: A reader wrote in to suggest the astrology around the time of Christine Blaisey Ford’s alleged assault hinted she was happy and carefree – and thus her accusation was a liberal set up. Sigh. What are people so desperate to brush inconvenient truths under the carpet?

  It evidently happened in the summer of 1982 when there was a ruthless bullying and brutal transiting Saturn, Mars, Pluto conjunction of which tr Saturn was possibly conjunct her Solar Arc Mars. Plus tr Neptune and her Solar Arc Neptune were both undermining her Sun/Venus midpoint. And tr Neptune was moving to square her Mars for a panicky aftermath in the year following. Not absolute proof but certainly a strong indication.

Alec Baldwin – from tragedy to repercussions

Actor producer Alec Baldwin is to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of “Rust”. The young armorer who handed Baldwin the gun also faces charges.  If convicted, they could each face five years in prison though legal experts say it feels like over-charging and will be a tough sell to a jury.

  Baldwin’s attorney said he “had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds.”

 Nonetheless Baldwin looks more than concerned ahead. Tr Pluto square his Mercury in Taurus from late March on and off till late 2024 will stir up bitter arguments. Also from mid March tr Neptune square his Saturn will bring high levels of uncertainty and worry, on and off into early 2024. Plus his Solar Arc Pluto will conjunct his Neptune this year which can feel devastating and massively confused.

  He will attack the situation with his usual bravado but it will be a discouraging year with more than a few catastrophes lurking from mid June onwards for a few months.

  The accident happened on a Mars square Pluto on 21 October 2021 when Baldwin’s Solar Arc Mars was in a collision with his Sun and his Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Venus. The assistant director who admitted he should have but did not check the gun beforehand has signed a plea deal with no jail time which makes this charge even more peculiar.

David Crosby – a turbulent talent

David Crosby of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, one of the most influential rock singers of the sixties, has died at 81. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as “rock’s unlikeliest survivor” after heavy cocaine and alcohol abuse led to a liver transplant in 1994, he was revered for his creative talent despite the running conflicts his lifestyle and tempestuous nature stirred up.

  He was born 14 August 1941 9.02 am Hollywood with a cinematographer father and was a Sun, Mercury in Leo trine a high-octane, argumentative Mars in Aries in his 7th house of relationships, sextile Jupiter – bubbling over with high vitality and lucky with it. He had an influential though also controlling 10th house Pluto; and a troubled and turbulent collection of an 8th house Taurus Moon and Saturn and Uranus.

  His Uranus was in a creative trine to Neptune sextiling onto Pluto. His deeply buried Saturn was square his Sun and trine a hidden Venus, North Node and Neptune in his 12th – which latter would tilt him towards addictions. He seemed to have strong ancestral/family connections back several generations hinted at by his 8th house planets.

 Off-stage, he had multiple run-ins with US law enforcement, including an arrest in 1982 on drug and weapons charges and five months inside.

 His creative 5th and 7th Harmonics were strong especially the 7th as was his global superstar 22H.

Jacinda Ardern – a high-flying career come down to earth

 Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister since 2017, once revered as a progressive and a breed apart, a counter to populist, reactionary politics of Trump, Brexit, Boris et al, is to step down saying she has run out of steam.  In recent times she has been increasingly criticised for her hard-line Covid policies as New Zealand grapples with a cost of living crisis, a sharp rise in interest rates, lower house prices and a rise in crime.

  She was born 26 July 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand with a rectified birth time of 1.59 pm. Her father was a police officer and she was raised in the Mormon faith. She has an entertaining and knowledgeable Sun Leo with a hard-working Capricorn Moon. Her Saturn in conscientious Virgo is on the focal point of a T square to a Venus opposition Neptune, so she will have had a tendency to over work and over worry – Saturn square Neptune also suggests a hope for a fairer society.  But she’s also go-ahead and assertive with her Moon opposition Mercury square Mars and Pluto so has a steely backbone.

  Tr Saturn on this birth time is now moving across her IC into her 4th house which makes sense of a change in her career and house move. She’ll also have been undermined and racked with uncertainty as tr Neptune opposed her Saturn through last year and as she exits. She’s unlikely to disappear into domestic retreat though the next two years look edgy.

  Her First Term 26 October 2017 chart with a Sun Jupiter conjunction was confident and lucky – though it indicates her departure with tr Pluto square the Uranus through till late 2022 when she made her decision. Her Second Term, 6 November 2020, was beset with difficulties from Saturn Pluto but if anything was a touch overly confident in laying down draconian Covid policies with a Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn conjunction.

  Her connection with New Zealand is a powerful one with their relationship chart having Pluto opposition Neptune square Sun Jupiter – and she did propel New Zealand onto the world stage but Jupiter Pluto relationships do have a habit of going wrong down the road.

  New Zealand is moving through one of the more difficult periods in its history with tr Pluto moving across the massively frustrating conjunction to its Capricorn Sun Mars from 2021 till late 2023; with the additional setback of Solar Arc Saturn square the Mars through 2023 and further compounded by a challenging tr Pluto square Pluto in 2023/24. Tr Neptune is also in an undermining square to the financial Venus through this year. With further hurdles to overcome as tr Pluto is in a destabilising square to the NZ Uranus in 2026 and then square the NZ Saturn. Into the 2030s New Zealand will be a transformed country though the process of getting there won’t be easy.  

Messina Denaro – Cosa Nostra on the run

Italy’s most-wanted fugitive mafia gangster Matteo Messina Denaro who had been on the run for thirty years has been captured at a health clinic. He was one of Sicily’s most ruthless crime bosses in the 1990s, convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms in absentia. He was a protégé of the Cosa Nostra “boss of bosses” Salvatore “Toto” Riina, who declared all-out war on the Italian state. Denaro holds the key to some of the most heinous crimes perpetrated by the Sicilian mafia, including the bomb attacks in 1992 that killed the anti-mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and the killing in 1996 of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a mobster-turned state witness who was strangled and dissolved in acid. He once claimed, “I filled a cemetery, all by myself”.

  Born 26 April 1962 in Castelvetrano, Italy, he is a Sun Taurus opposition Neptune square Saturn in Aquarius opposition a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo.  Taurus at its most negative features amongst dictators and brutal criminals. He also has a rules-don’t-apply-to-me, super-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto, which is sextile/trine his Sun. And it was that Jupiter opposition Pluto having moved by Solar Arc to impact his Sun which marked his final take down just now. Jupiter Pluto can bring success but it can also bring conflict with authorities.

  Salvatore Riina, had like him, been a fugitive for decades before he was picked up in 1993. He was an even nastier piece of work if possible than Denaro, advocating the killing of women and children, and blameless members of the public as a distraction. Hit man Giovanni Brusca estimated he murdered between 100 and 200 people on behalf of Riina.

  Riina was born 16 November 1930 4pm Palermo and was a Sun Scorpio trine Jupiter Pluto in Cancer. When he was finally captured tr Pluto was conjunct his Sun with tr Saturn approaching a square; and the tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was approaching the opposition to his Jupiter Pluto – his luck ran out. Because of his lack of repentance he was imprisoned under punitive conditions until his death in 2017.

Like bad fiction.

Metropolitan Police – institutional rot

One of the UK’s worst sex offenders turns out to be a Metropolitan police officer, who has admitted 51 charges of rape and domestic abuse over 18 years. David Carrick was allowed to keep working even after he had been arrested on a rape charge days after Wayne Couzens, another serving Met police officer was sentenced for rape and murder recently. Multiple criminal complaints about Carrick were routinely ignored. It turns out 800 Met officers are now being investigated for over 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims.  More than half of Met officers found guilty of sexual misconduct over a four-year period to 2020 remained in their jobs.

  The media and political response has been one of outraged disbelief.

  It was always clear from the Metropolitan Police chart of 29 September 1829 that there would be a massive, catastrophic setback coming with the Solar Arc Mars moving to conjunct the Met Police Libra Sun now and, worse, conjunct the Pluto over coming months into 2024. And both Carrick and Wayne Couzens, born in the 1970s, have their Pluto in early Libra fitting into the Met controlling, power-hungry Sun opposition Pluto. Not just rotten apples in the barrel but fitting in with a corrupt, misogynistic ethos.

 Carrick, 4 January 1977 has a peculiarly bleak and hard chart with a Capricorn Sun opposition Saturn square Pluto (Moon) in Libra – unyielding, un-empathic to put it mildly especially towards women. His Neptune in Sagittarius is conjunct the Met Jupiter to allow him to slither around as he pleased and his Sun is conjunct the Met Neptune allowing him to evade scrutiny.

  Couzens, 20 December 1972, convicted of the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, had his Jupiter conjunct the Met Neptune compounding the look-the-other-way Met mentality.

  Their respective relationship charts with the Met indicted they fitted in comfortably to the force. Carrick had a composite Sun sextile Jupiter and Mars square Neptune.  While Couzens had a composite friendly Sun Venus conjunction and an over-optimistic Jupiter Neptune.

  Sir Mark Rowley, the new Commissioner, has his work cut out ahead to sluice out the Augean stables. His Term chart from 12 September 2022 does have a reforming, practical Grand Trine with Uranus to Pluto to the Sun but since it all focuses onto Neptune it may turn out to be a damp squib.

  The Met ahead has tr Uranus square the wannabe-important Saturn in Leo, shaking its amour propre now and into next month. With tr Pluto square the Mercury from late March bringing bitter discussions and arguments for two years ahead and more as tr Pluto is conjunct the Uranus in 2024/25. That last might suggest a major clear out but there is a sense of drift in the last few years of this decade as tr Neptune squares opposes the Sun and is conjunct the Pluto.   

  Though I suppose looking on the bright side tr Uranus giving a mighty tug to one leg of the Met Grand Trine of Pluto trine Saturn trine Jupiter exactly now might be expected to see some shift in direction and that plus tr Pluto conjunct Uranus in 2024/25 could also upend the status quo and bring in new practices.

Whatever happened to the trusted Brit bobby? Scary in London with trust completely broken. And given that overall in England and Wales there is a 1% conviction rate for rape with the police being the initial gatekeepers after the event, it is beyond imperative that attitudes within the force are forcibly hauled into modern times.

Gina Lollobrigida – a tempestuous temptress

Gina Lollobrigida, sultry and prolific actress, a post-war international sex symbol acclaimed as one of the world’s most beautiful women has died at 95. Known as “La Lollo”, the “temptress of the Tiber”, she made a film a month in the 1950s and by the 1970s was setting up a second career as a highly-thought-of photographer.

  She did not respond well to criticism and became litigious at the drop of a hat, which didn’t stop her insulting her compatriot Sophia Loren as they conducted a public feud. “We are as different,” she said, “as a fine racehorse and a goat.”

 Latterly she ran unsuccessfully for the European Parliament and for the Italian Senate.

 She was born 4 July 1927 3am Subiaco, Italy and was an intense Sun Pluto in Cancer with an attention-demanding and inspirational Fire Grand Trine of an adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Aries trine Mercury in Leo trine Saturn in Sagittarius (which last can be prickly when criticised). She also had Mars, Neptune, Venus in Leo as well – flamboyant and entertaining.

  Sophia Loren, 20 September 1934 2.10pm Rome, also had Mars in Leo – entertaining, passionate and ego-centric; with her Mars in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn Moon in Aquarius so was just as steely as La Lollo. Their relationship chart has an explosive and competitive composite Sun Mars trine Uranus which would not make for harmony and peace.

From old post on women/stars dying as Neptune exits sign.

1901: Neptune leaving Gemini – Queen Victoria dies.

1915: Neptune leaving Cancer – Mary Baker Eddy and Emily Davidson (suffragette who suicided by horse at the Derby). Florence Nightingale also died with Neptune in late Cancer (1911)

1929: Neptune leaving Leo – Emmeline Pankhurst (the great suffragette), Ellen Terry, Isadora Duncan.

1943 – Neptune leaving Virgo – aviator Amy Johnson, writer Beatrix Potter.

1957 – Neptune leaving Libra – Laura Wilder (Little House on the Prairie), scientist Irene Curie

1968 – Neptune leaving Scorpio – Helen Keller, Enid Blyton, Dorothy Parker, Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Little Mo, Sonja Henie, Gypsy Rose Lee, Sharon Tate.

1983 – Neptune leaving Sagittarius – Nathalie Wood, Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Anna Freud, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Gloria Swanson, Ethel Merman, Lillian Hellman, Indira Gandhi.

1998 – Neptune leaving Capricorn – Princess Diana, Mother Theresa, Ella Fitzgerald, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Evelyn Laye, Dorothy Lamour, Claudette Colbert, Margueurite Duras, Patricia Highsmith, Mary Leakey.

2011 Neptune into Pisces 2011/12.

Liz Taylor – March 2011

Amy Winehouse – July 2011

Jane Russell – Feb 2011

Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston Feb 2012

Esther Williams 2013

Shakira – no longer a woman scorned

Revenge served piping hot has topped the global Spotify chart and racked up a staggering 111 million-plus views on YouTube as Latin-American songbird Shakira lets fly at her ex-husband –footballer Gerald Pique footballer. They parted after 11 years and two children and he has taken a younger girlfriend much to her fury.

  In the new song, she says she is worth “two 22-year-olds” and likens herself to a Ferrari while her replacement, she sneers, is a Renault Twingo, one of the cheapest cars on the market. For good measure, she describes herself as a Rolex watch to the other’s Casio. Pique seems to have taken it in good humour by turning up to work in a Twingo and persuading watchmakers Casio to sponsor his new venture. Though his chart hints otherwise so it may have been an astute PR strategy not dreamed up by him.

 It will help her pay off a huge tax bill for which she blames him and perhaps allow her to move house. She has also let fly at her mother-in-law who lives next door and has placed  a life-size witch doll on her balcony overlooking her MIL’s home.

  She says: “I never thought what for me was a catharsis and a release would go straight to number one in the world in Spanish at my age of 45.”

  Shakira was born 2 February 1977 9.30 am or 10.08 am Colombia, which gives her a Fixed Grand Cross of a Sun Aquarius opposition Saturn in Leo square Uranus opposition Jupiter – beyond-stubborn, enduring and changeable. Plus she has an emotional Cancer Moon opposition Mars making her inclined to fly off the handle. And an intense and possessive Pluto in the 7th.

He was born 2 February 1987 4.22 am Barcelona, Spain, and is also a Sun Aquarius in a controlling square to Pluto; with a Moon and Mars both in Aries and his Venus, Uranus and Saturn in Sagittarius – excitable and restless.

  The miracle is they lasted together as long as they did. Her Pluto opposes his 4th house Mars which would set up a bitter power struggle; her argumentative, short-fused Moon opposition Mars falls across his 8th/2nd intensifying the effect with financial implications;  her Uranus is conjunct his Pluto for constant turmoil; and her Neptune is conjunct his Ascendant Saturn which would damp his enthusiasm and make him uncertain.

Her Venus is conjunct his Moon would help slightly and the relationship chart did have an affectionate composite Sun Venus. But that apart it sets the scene for a running oneupmanship battle with composite Jupiter opposition Pluto; an explosive Mars square Uranus; and a strained Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Moon. That last has overtones of a fated connection that was meant to be but impossible to live with.

  He looks more rattled than he is letting on with his Progressed Moon square his 4th house Mars exactly at the moment and his Progressed Mars squaring his Sun in the months to come. So he is uptight and seething.

  Shakira may be about to meet the love of her life this year with her Progressed Sun about to conjunct her Venus and is certainly in for good luck when tr Uranus is conjunct her Jupiter from mid 2023 into 2024 which may help her tax problem.

An amusing distraction from the woes of the universe.