Astrology of Today’s News

Breath-taking courage or foolhardy indifference to risk was the hallmark of intrepid travel writer Dervla Murphy’s life. She survived decades of trips on her bicycle to remote and untouched corners of the earth the world, many of them accompanied by her young daughter and wrote 20 books about her experiences. She fought off wolves, battled treacherous black ice in the mountains of eastern Europe, winds that blew her off her bike, debilitating dust storms in Pakistan, was forced to tie herself to a cow to get across a raging river, had her ribs cracked by the butt of a gun during a fracas on an Afghan bus. Nothing stopped her.

 She was born on 28 November 1931 in Waterford, Ireland and decided at 10 to cycle to India. But looking after her sick mother since she was pulled out of school at 14 tied her down for 16 years during which she smoked and drank heavily. Only in her thirties could she escape and the initial six-month journey, took her from deepest winter in northern France, across communist eastern Europe and the wilds of Iran and Afghanistan to monsoon-drenched India. She estimated she covered 3,000 miles, cycling an average of 70 to 80 miles a day.

  When she was 37, she had a daughter out of wedlock and stayed put for a few years, only starting to travel again when Rachel was 5, buying a retired polo pony to carry her along with camping gear for trips to the inhospitable regions of northern India. Her travelling was ceaseless and in her late seventies, accompanied by her daughter and three granddaughters, she was still on the move to Cuba and elsewhere. She died this week aged 90.

  What is delightful is how apt her chart is – could not be more descriptive.

  She has a traveller’s Sagittarius Sun square a visionary Neptune in Virgo – Neptune/Pisces oddly enough often being found with explorers. Even more significantly she has a passionately enthusiastic Venus, Mercury, Mars in Sagittarius in a Fire Grand Trine to Jupiter in Leo trine Uranus in Aries.  

  A Fire Grand Trine is inspirational and prone to launch wholeheartedly into exciting adventures with little fear. Tierney says: “A natural adventurous streak is found plus an appealing sense of innocence which allows this individual to take risks and gambles without much forethought.” “His faith in himself as well as his sense of personal protection from harm is so ingrained he may be willing and eager to attempt anything, disregarding impossible odds, to fulfil goals and objectives.”

  Along with a blind sense of luck which clearly paid off from an overdose of Fire, she had a tough-minded Pluto opposition Saturn in Capricorn square Uranus. She was designed for harsh conditions, deprivation and had grit and perseverance to spare. The emphasised Uranus made her a trailblazer, careless of the conventions of society and keen to strike out on her own independent path.  

  She lacked Air in her chart which may have helped since she wouldn’t stand back to reflect on the what ifs and what might have beens.

  An amazing woman and astonishing life – a moment of cheer in a dismal world for an eccentric who challenged the gods and stayed afloat.

Robert Graves was a towering figure in 20^th Century literature with his WW1 war memoirs (Goodbye to All That), poetry, historical novels (I, Claudius, The Golden Ass) and writing on mythology (The White Goddess). Yet he was irrevocably scarred by his experiences in World War One, where he was wounded at the Somme. He knew Siegfried Sassoon well and another writer Edmund Blunden, though both fell out with him over his recollections of the war in Goodbye to All That.

  Grave was physically fragile and mentally troubled after the war and embarked on a messy affair and menage a trois with his secretary and his wife. Laura Riding his secretary was none too stable either and she at one point threw herself off the balcony of the four-storey flat. Graves had to foot the bill for her hospital stay which prompted him to write his best-selling war memoir which he regarded as a pot-boiler.

  He was born 24 July 1895 4.26am Wimbledon, England, and had the signature generational Neptune Pluto in Gemini square his Venus which would not make for a settled or conventional emotional life. His ‘shell shock’ made him hyper-active sexually and his relentlessly prolific output suggests he was driven to write and create as well. The world got the benefit but he was not a contented man. He had a Leo Sun on his Ascendant square a 4^th house rigidly conscientious Saturn in Scorpio and he had an impatient Moon Mars in Leo.  

  That generation were marked by the Neptune Pluto conjunction which together creates a fey, mystical mix of energies, wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Historically the combination is connected with the rise of great powers with epically brutal leaders; with art, especially erotic literature; with scientific advances in such intangibles as electricity, radio and telephone; with religious events; and with scandals.

   His 12^th Harmonic chart of the sacrificial victim is marked with a Grand Trine, T Square and the brutal Mars opposition Pluto.  

 Edmund Blunden, 1 November 1896, was a writer and poet, who survived two years on the front through Ypres, Somme and Passchendaele without injury though he was gassed and suffered mentally for the rest of his life.

 He had his Sun in Scorpio with Uranus Saturn conjunct in Scorpio as well and probably his Virgo Moon square Neptune Pluto which opposed his Venus. His victim 12^th harmonic is also strongly aspected with a Neptunian Grand Trine and a stark Saturn opposition Jupiter square Pluto.  

Sassoon’s 12^th harmonic is similarly prominent with a Grand Trine, formed into a Kite by a war-like Saturn opposition Pluto and destructive Pluto square Mars.

  What is clear from Graves’ chart was the effect of tr Neptune moving into Leo which was moving to conjunct his Sun and and Ascendant and square his Saturn as the war got underway. And both Blunden and Sassoon were debilitated by tr Neptune in the immediate aftermath of the war when their psychological damage hit home. Neptune in Leo is traditionally associated with the Roaring Twenties and the giddy inflation and flamboyance which followed the carnage of WW1 but less so with its insidious effects on those with front line experience.

Church cover-up of sexual abuse is hardly new given the relentless stream of accusations against RC priests and others in recent decades. What is noteworthy about the ‘apocalypse’, as one former adherent described it, which has hit the Southern Baptist Church this week as a report was published describing the mishandling of sexual abuse allegations, is that it is the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the USA. So a not insignificant part of American culture.

  It may be the USA Pluto Return is upending the sewers, triggered for some reason by the recent Lunar Eclipse. The Eclipse was certainly activating the Southern Baptist chart, 12 May 1845, with its Taurus Sun Venus South Node (conjunct Algol) and square Neptune Saturn in Aquarius. And it is on its Saturn Return.

 The report detailed charges of deception, stonewalling, and intimidation and vilification of victims and those calling for reform. The leaders of the denomination used the Bible and spiritual language as weapons against the innocent victims. One leader said the claims of abuse survivors were a “satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.” Two survivors of sexual abuse who became advocates for victims were written off as “the devil being temporarily successful.”

 One survivor said her experiences ‘left a legacy of hate’ and she referred to it as ‘soul murder.’

 Southern Baptist churches are evangelical in doctrine and practice, emphasizing the significance of the individual conversion experience, which is affirmed by the person having complete immersion in water.

  The SBC chart is facing the shocking disclosures as tr Uranus is conjunct the Mercury in Taurus exactly now and moving on to conjunct the Taurus Venus Sun in 2023 plus the Eclipse effect – another organisation in for a rocky ride, and not before time.

America’s gun addiction problem has hit another new low with nineteen Texas primary school children shot dead by a disturbed adolescent wielding military style rifles. The usual howls of outrage greeted the news but whether anything will or indeed can be done to deal with the problem is questionable.

  The recent May 16 Lunar Eclipse at 25 Scorpio opposition Algol square Saturn in Aquarius always did look troublesome. And indeed it clashes mightily with the National Rifle Association (NRA) Scorpio Sun opposition Pluto in Taurus; as well as the Texas state Mars Mercury in Aquarius. As well as the USA 1776 chart’s Solar Arc Mars in Aquarius.

 The NRA founded 17 November 1871 has been in turmoil in the recent two years with a welter of legal suits, attracting accusations of “abuse and fraud” with CEO Wayne LaPierre accused of excessive compensation and exorbitant spending of NRA funds on himself and his wife.

  Not only will this year’s Eclipses be rattling up the NRA Scorpio Sun and Pluto; tr Uranus will also upend the Pluto by conjunction from this July onwards with more disruptions and forced change through 2023/24 as tr Uranus opposes the Sun. One way and another they’ll have to shift ground.

  Evidently Trump is due to address them within days and as per usual no guns will be allowed at this meeting – it’s beyond parody.

  Texas became a state on 2 March 1856 and the Taurus North Node square Mars Mercury in Aquarius are being thrust under the Eclipse spotlight this year as well as catching the tr Uranus hard aspects in 2023/24.

  The shooter, Salvador Rolando Ramos, 16 May 2004 (net sources) shot dead by police, had his Taurus Sun closely conjunct Algol and being shaken up by this recent eclipse. He had a hard-edged, volatile Mars Saturn in Cancer trine Uranus – and had been bullied for a speech defect, so he wouldn’t be even tempered.

Every country has their area of madness but the insanity of modern USA is beyond thought – especially given the overwheening US pride in their ‘exceptionalism’, morality and global leadership qualities.

The US ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpasses that of other countries around the world. Other stats below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41488081

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Dylan Thomas.

At 89 actress Sheila Hancock has earned the right to strutt her stuff and toss around her opinions on life, love and politics. Her latest memoir Old Rage was intended as an inspirational guide to growing old for those who aren’t Joan Collins but she rampages off down divergent paths as the whim takes her.

  She was born 22 February 1933 on the Isle of Wight into a working class family, a surprising background for a later Royal Shakespeare Company classical actress, and migrated from there into television over a long and prolific career. She has been married to two actors, who both died of oesophageal cancer. Her second husband the talented John Thaw best known for The Sweeney, Morse and Kavanaugh QC was an intense relationship which they took a break at one point since they both felt smothered but came back together again.

  She’s a Sun Pisces opposition Neptune in Virgo, good for a film and creative career, though by all rights it should have made her dreamy and vague. It is her Mars and Jupiter in Virgo opposition Mercury in Pisces which will fire up her tendency to straight speaking. That plus a rock-the-boat Uranus square Pluto. She has two Yods in her chart – one onto Venus and the other onto Jupiter which will give her the potential for making a major contribution to culture.

 John Thaw to whom she was married for 29 years was born 3 January 1942 in Manchester and was a Sun Capricorn with an Earth Grand Trine of Mercury in Capricorn trine Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune in Virgo – a heavy weight personality, renowned for his grumpiness, a heavy drinker and smoker.

 Their relationship would not be all plain sailing with his Mars in Aries in a firecracker conjunction to her Uranus. The over possessiveness which both admitted to came from his Cancer Moon conjunct her Pluto and his Pluto opposition her Aquarius Moon. Their relationship chart had a needs-space composite Sun square Uranus; an irritable and one -sided Mars square Saturn, hinting that one had to bite their tongue more than the other; and a successful-together Pluto Jupiter

  Their wedding chart of 24 December 1973 was also an indication of a close but not easy connection with a New Moon opposition Saturn square Pluto; with the New Moon trine Mars and Mars opposition Uranus. It was probably as well that both had busy and constantly changing acting careers to soak up the grittier side of their chemistry.

  She is on a third Saturn Return this year so reflecting deeply on life and what comes next.

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain

“Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.” Helen Hayes  

Coercive control has come into the relationship lexicon in recent years and onto the criminal statute book as controlling and threatening behaviour has become an offence. More women are coming forward to be open about their experiences which has a knock-on effect as it alerts other sufferers that their marital experiences are neither normal nor acceptable.

Ruth Dodsworth, a Welsh broadcaster and weather presenter, has been talking of her fears as her bullying ex-husband is about to be released from a three year prison sentence for coercive control and stalking. They were married for 18 years with two children and he conducted a campaign of domination, verbal and physical abuse which so eroded her self-esteem she didn’t recognize what was happening. It was her teenage children who eventually made her see sense and leave.

  She was born 21 May 1975 in Worthing, England, and has a Yod of a final degree Taurus Sun conjunct South Node sextile Mars inconjunct Uranus. Such a Uranus should have made her rebellious and a trailblazer but her Mars opposes Pluto Moon in Libra; and her Pluto Moon are square Venus in Cancer conjunct Pluto – so her childhood experience would make her battened down and fearful. Lack of emotional nurturing and subsequent low self-worth would make her susceptible to the ’love bombing’ that went on in the courtship to persuade her to get hitched.

  Her ex-husband, a former nightclub owner Jonathan Wignall, 17 May 1966 (Companies House), is also a late Taurus Sun. In his case his Sun is closely conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol and the North Node and Mars in ultra-determined Taurus as well, all of which are in a hard-edged sextile to Saturn, a slippery opposition to Neptune. His Mars is also in an angry and controlling trine to Uranus Pluto. That is some chart –  massively stubborn, relentlessly obsessive, possessive and volcanic. His childhood background which isn’t known would also be hair-raising.

  Their relationship chart is also a wonder to behold with an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction also conjunct an up-and-down Jupiter Saturn conjunction – all trine Pluto. What was worse is a composite Yod onto Mars inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune.  Locked together in a maelstrom of love and hate, high enthusiasm, harsh criticism and over control.

  Sally Challen who was initially was given a life sentence for murdering her over controlling and philandering husband in 2010 but eventually released after an appeal on the grounds of his coercive control, was born 27 July 1964. She has a Leo Sun square Saturn and Mars trine Pluto – so two of the same markers as Ruth Dodsworth – a Saturnine dented self-esteem and a childhood experience from Mars Pluto of dominating masculinity. Her father, a soldier died when she was young. She still insisted she loved and missed her husband even after she killed him.

  These relationships are not simple.

Add ON: Both Ruth Dodsworth and Sally Challen have strong 12th Harmonic charts – 12 being the number of sacrifice. Being sacrificed or becoming a victim to other persons’ (or entities’) plans, ambitions or intrigues. 12 warns against being a victim of circumstances, or dragged into other people’s affairs where you will be the one suffering the consequences. 12 may also make a conscious sacrifice. It can ultimately become the healer.

Anthony Albanese has been sworn in quickly as the new Australian prime minister to allow him to attend talks with Joe Biden and the India and Japan premiers in Tokyo. It is not yet known whether his centre-left Labor party will reach the 76-seat majority needed to govern in its own right but he has the guarantees for a coalition if not. He has promised to tackle climate change, rising living costs and inequality.

  He became AU PM at 9am in Canberra which gives a charming, good-for-PR 10^th house Venus though with a financially blocked and deprived 8^th house Pluto and Saturn with Pluto trine a 12^th house Sun Mercury. Economic circumstances beyond the government’s control will hem it in. A full 9^th house of a Pisces Moon as well as Mars Neptune conjunct in Pisces conjunct Jupiter in Aries indicate foreign affairs will be a major focus though muddled plans and over optimism will prove stumbling blocks.

 His personal chart, 2 March 1963, a Sun Pisces opposition Pluto Uranus, looks rattled and confused exactly now till mid June and in better spirits for a few weeks after that.  Certain high hopes will get dashed this year; 2023/2024 look frustrating and stuck; with more luck/confidence in 2024/25.

  His relationship chart with the Australia country chart has an extraordinary composite Saturn opposition Pluto square Uranus – which could suggest a connection that needs tough conditions of deprivation to thrive with crises inevitable though also a drive for reform and revolutionary change. It will be an uphill struggle for two years ahead with massive jolts in 2023.

 The Bank of Australia, 14 January 1960 chart, like other global central banks is ploughing through exceptionally stormy seas over coming years. There’s a devastating and confused Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Neptune now; losses and some disappointments this year which will trigger a confident and determined response. Then on through challenges peaking around 2024/25/26 – so there won’t be any quick n’ easy fixes.

  The Albanese government chart looks ground to a halt, trapped and panicky in three years time which fits the timeline. He’s taken over at a truly difficult transition.

See previous post May 12 2022.

Add On: His father was a cruise ship steward who took no part in his upbringing and he was told had died, only finding out recently that he was alive. That certainly fits with a Sun opposition Uranus. But oddly enough also with a Sun opposition Pluto which frequently occurs in the charts of individuals whose fathers died young or disappeared from their lives. Traditionally Sun Pluto suggests a controlling and possessive father but it can also clearly indicate a literally ‘out-of-their-control’ father. Sun trine Neptune also suggests confusion or evasion around father.

 He is on record as being Republican and his relationship charts with the UK and the Queen indicate an inherent suspicion and uncertainty with marked composite Saturn Neptune influences. His relationship with the UK will sag from now onwards and through 2023 with jolts and hiccups. His relationship with the Queen also shows dislike of the power imbalance. With Prince Charles 2023 to 2026 look devastated, undermined and jangled – so a push for change is coming though whether it succeeds isn’t clear.

 The Australia/UK chart is under a dark cloud in 2023/24 but it’ll be after mid decade before there is a clear cut indication of a possible split.   

The haunting and haunted life of leading World War One poet Siegfried Sassoon is being re-examined in Terence Davies’ Benediction, a biopic about personal loss, wasted life and talent unfulfilled – a man betrayed by himself. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front and described as recklessly  courageous, Sassoon turned against the war, writing poetry about the horror of the trenches and his 1917 Soldier’s Declaration against the continuation of the war became a cause celebre. Though also earned him a stint in the Craiglockhart psychiatric hospital, engineered by a friend to avoid charges of treason, dramatized in Pat Barker’s Regeneration novels and films.  There he met Robert Graves  and another leading war poet shell-shocked Wilfred Owen with whom he shared a strong bond.

Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” became even more poignant when he was killed within a week of the Armistice in 1918.

 After the war in the 1920s Sassoon wrote the Sherston Trilogy of novels, really a fictionalised autobiography  – Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man etc – and conducted a series of homosexual affairs including one with Ivor Novello. He married when he was forty and had a son though the marriage split after 12 years.

   An earlier biographer remarked of him that he had lived posthumously since the war.

  He was born 8 September 1886 Tunbridge Wells with a rectified time of 5.22am.  He was a Sun Virgo sextile Saturn in Cancer on one side and sextile Mars in Scorpio on the other, with his Sun sitting on his Mars/Saturn midpoint – which suited him for a military career but would also be inclined to depression. His parents split when he was four and his father died five years later. His hard-working Capricorn Moon opposed his Saturn which would exacerbate his tendency to the glooms though a lucky, adventurous Uranus Jupiter in a confident trine to Pluto would help to add a counter-balance. His Venus Mercury square Neptune would foster his creative talents.

  I must admit to struggling to pinpoint the effects of the war on him astrologically-speaking. The two outermost planets Pluto and Neptune were both on the cusp of a sign shift as the war began and in the early stages – Pluto at zero Cancer as war broke out and Neptune into Leo shortly after. One partial clue may be his North Node in Virgo, maybe in the 12^th, which would make him unusually open to others’ pain. He was on a  Half Nodal Return in 1914 when the war began with the Eclipses in Pisces.

By 1917 when his tolerance for the horror had gone the transiting Node was conjunct his Moon and opposition his Saturn.  He did seem to be unduly sensitive to his Node. His Progressed Mars did oppose his Pluto which is more suggestive of a catastrophic and soul-searing phase but that was not until 1919/20. Though it may have been a delayed reaction.

  His friendship with Wilfred Owen, 18 March 1893, was close though probably not sexual. Owen was born two months after Ivor Novello, a later liaison, 15 January 1893, with both having the Neptune Pluto in Gemini on Sassoon’s Midheaven. And Owen like his wife Hester Gatty, 16 March 1906, had a Pisces Sun in Sassoon’s relationship 7^th house.

   All a muddle – as if each relationship offered him part of what he needed but it was never enough.

  His wife, Hester Gatty, had her Saturn conjunct his Pisces South Node which suggests at some level she may have pulled him back into the past. Though (his birth time being accurate) her Sun Venus in his 7^th would help to give him an uplift.

Not sure I am much the wiser.

Add ON:

Sassoon’s 12^th harmonic of the victim is prominent with a Grand Trine, formed into a Kite by a war-like Saturn opposition Pluto and destructive Pluto square Mars.

 Sassoon quotes:

“Sneak home and pray you’ll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go.

Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.”

“I died in hell. They called it Passchendaele.”

“Soldiers are citizens of death’s grey land, drawing no dividend from time’s tomorrows.”

“For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;

And I am rich in all that I have lost.”

“I know that he is lost among the stars,

And may return no more but in their light.”

Whatever fairy godmother or wizardess stood over Boris Johnson’s crib, she’s had her work cut out through decades of disgraces, scandals, lies, indolence, irresponsibility, negligence, unprincipled and dishonourable behaviour. Teachers at school complained of his sense of entitlement in expecting results with no effort, which continued later through a car-crash journalistic career, rife with complaints from colleagues about his delinquent conduct and on in similar vein through his subsequent roller coaster political stint. (See wiki)

  Despite all of which, with egregious missteps every inch of the way which would have sunk ordinary mortals, he has continued to rise and survive – and so it goes on.

  This is grinding old axes astrologically speaking but since the local elections have clearly not put a stake through his premiership and Partygate looks to be going the way of his previous 10,000 misdeeds, it probably requires an update.

  His relationship chart with the Conservative Party 1912 is on a steady downward slide from now (mid May), till early August, most likely as a result over the cavalier declaration about ditching the Northern Ireland Protocol – and that tr Neptune square the composite Mars returns in April 2023, as well as late in the year.  2023 will also see relations under a dark cloud with a ‘separating’ tr Saturn square the composite Venus and Sun.

  His relationship chart with the UK is similarly into swampy territory this year with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter and aggravated and disrupted through 2023/24.

  If the past experience with Maggie Thatcher and Tony Blair holds good then the original PM chart is the one that holds clues about the exit.

  Boris became prime minister on 24 July 2019 at 3.12pm and that chart while rattled and facing hostile criticism this year isn’t terminally challenged until 2024 when tr Pluto starts to oppose the Sun and the Solar Arc Sun squares the Uranus.

  His personal chart is not showing much on the midheaven or Solar Arc Midheaven which tells about career and life’s direction. Though if his birth chart is relocated from New York to the UK it puts the Midheaven in line for an undermining tr Neptune opposition in 2023 and a tr Uranus square the Solar Arc Midheaven in 2023 as well.

  In 2023 tr Saturn in Pisces will make a ratchety, bad tempered trip in hard aspect round his Mutable T Square – square his Mars in March and then conjunct his Saturn and opposition his Uranus. Saturn Returns are always heavy years.

   And in his case his Scorpio Moon is also taking a pounding. It was keyed up when his mother died last year; and will be facing considerable pressure from Solar Arc Saturn opposition exact in three months but in effect now. For a politician the Moon represents not only women in his life but also the public and thus approval or popularity. Into 2023 from March onwards tr Pluto will square his Moon on and off till late 2024 which will be extremely challenging emotionally, domestically and even physically.

  Like Blair he may drag on and on despite the country’s exasperation.

See previous post January 13 2022 on Maggie Thatcher and Blair’s exit from No 10.

Add On: May 27

Peter Hennessy, the political historian in the FT on Boris:

“ British politics is reduced to the psychology of one man. For Johnson, the state is “an adventure playground”. On any given issue, “the overwhelmingly important prism for him is: what does it do for me and my reputation?”  

“Britain’s political system depends on the acceptance that “good chaps of both sexes don’t do certain things”. “If the prime minister is the number one wrong ’un, you’re in deep, deep trouble.”

“Boris does it (lies), you get the impression in the bad weeks, almost daily.” It has led to “a bonfire of the decencies”.

“The one thing I’m sure is whoever replaces Boris, whatever the circs, he or she will make great play of being anybody but Boris in terms of due process and care and attention.”  

‘It took Britain 12 years to get into Europe in 1973, it will take a similar time to get out. “The curse of Brexit will be with us for a long time.”

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