The SNP were the clear winners in the local elections in Scotland, collecting 453 seats, a gain of 23 on the 2017 result with Labour trailing behind on 282. Tories were down 63. Despite which a recent poll showed that less than a third of Scots voters want an independence referendum next year. The polls in general on an Indyref are running neck and neck, though the economic indicators are worse than in 2014.
Scotland received £1,633 per person more in public spending than the UK average in 2019-20 and generated £308 less in tax revenue per person than the UK average. This leaves a large funding shortfall for an independent Scotland that was not there in 2014. It would face a persistent deficit of almost 10 per cent of GDP — well ahead of international norms. Borders costs would rise, leading to lower levels of trade – the rest of the UK accounts for over 60% of Scotland’s exports, four times more than with the EU.
It would impose many years of spending restraint or higher taxes. Most economists think an advanced economy of Scotland’s size would be viable on a standalone basis in the longer term, but the short and medium term would be painful.
Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16 pm Irvine, Scotland, is fired up and raring to go with tr Pluto square her Jupiter in 2022/2023. Tr Pluto will finish opposing her Cancer Sun this August to December and is catching the frustrating, trapped opposition to her Sun/Mars midpoint this year and next before moving to oppose her Mars in Leo in 2023/2024 – so despite her Jupiterian confidence surge, she is running into mountainous obstacles and setbacks. Definitely not on a winning streak and with tr Neptune opposition her Pluto from the middle of this month on and off into early 2023 she will sense her power being undermined.
The Scotland England Act of Union, 1 May 1707, would be the one to split asunder if independence came. The chart indicates an exceptionally strong though not easy bond with an over-controlling Sun Pluto square and a tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter Pluto also square Sun.
When the 2014 IndyRef was held tr Saturn in Scorpio was in hard-aspect to the Sun and Jupiter Pluto and there was a rebellious, underdog-uprising Uranus square Pluto. Tr Saturn this year is back in hard aspect to those key planets; and more significantly tr Uranus will conjunct the Sun and square the Pluto Jupiter. The last time tr Uranus was in Taurus in the 1930s the SNP was founded and rose to prominence.
It may be there is a move towards more devolution while holding back from an outright divorce. The Act chart does look exceptionally troubled for several years ahead especially in 2025 but it has held firm for over 300 years so it will have lived through multiple Astro-challenges in that time.
Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the IRA, is on course for a historic victory in the Northern Ireland Assembly election – the first time a party wanting a united Ireland has won the elections for the executive. The result could plunge the power-sharing deal into uncertainty, with the DUP warning that it may not agree to power-sharing in Stormont, and complicate talks on post-Brexit trade checks.
Both the partition 3 May 2021 chart and the Northern Ireland 7 December 1922 chart are indicating a radical shift in direction under pressure over the next three years; with the Midheaven on the 1922 and Solar Arc MC on the 1921 both being in late Capricorn which will be transformed – with difficulty – with a transiting Pluto conjunction running. Both charts also have Mars at 27 degree Fixed so will catch the tr Uranus hard aspect in 2024 for aggravation, outbursts and perhaps violence.
It would not be an easy decision with the RC versus Protestant blood feuds of the Troubles still raw. Though it would make economic sense given the pig’s breakfast that Boris et al left behind after Brexit, having forgotten or blithely ignored the Northern Ireland/EU border.
Neither the 1921 or the 1922 chart sits comfortably with the Republic of Ireland 1949 chart – it would be an uneasy mix. Both show high levels of doubt and suspicion, aggravation and sharp differences of outlook.
What does stick in mind is the UK 1801 chart’s 11th house Saturn in Leo which rules the legislature and is due for a Uranian shock and jolt in 2023/24. It would be too soon for a unification referendum splitting North Ireland away from the UK but it might be stimulating a heated debate. And it kicks off as the road-blocked Solar Arc Pluto squares the UK Sun in about six months. So the UK may look less of an attractive partner.
The Republic 1949 chart shows 20023/24 as confident, successful go-ahead years with tr Pluto conjunct the Jupiter though with considerable pressure for change as well from tr Pluto square the Aries Sun Venus in 2022/23.
The Sinn Fein chart, 26 November 1905, also looks upbeat in 2023/24 with tr Pluto trine the Jupiter.
Michelle O’Neill, poised to become First Minister if all goes to plan, 10 January 1977 is a Sun Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus trine a Virgo Moon with an ultra-determined Mars in Capricorn square Pluto. She was born into a prominent republican family at the height of the Troubles. Her father was an IRA prisoner, an uncle raised funds for the IRA in the US. Two of her cousins, IRA members, were shot by security forces, one fatally. She was formerly Mayor of Dungannon and more recently Deputy First Minister.
She looks upbeat now and through 2023. Not surprisingly she’s at odds with the UK, wanting to be free and will be in a constant tussle for the upper hand with relations deteriorating over the next three years.
She’s a difficult mix with Northern Ireland as well with her Mars opposition the 1922 Pluto, her elusive Neptune conjunct the Sun; and her Pluto conjunct the Saturn. Neither side will give way easily.
Mariupol, a strategic city on the coast whose seizure would allow Russian forces to travel between Donbas region and Crimea has been a key target in Putin’s assault. Despite the overwhelming superiority of the encircling Russian forces, Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steel mill, the last outpost of Ukrainian resistance, have refused to surrender. They are living in appalling conditions in the basement, along with a number of civilians. A medical worker in the plant said on a video. “We are out of time. I don’t know if I have a tomorrow. People are dying in my hands from infected wounds because there are no antibiotics, some from hunger.”
It is assumed Putin wants his forces to secure Mariupol in time for Victory Day on May 9th when Russia celebrates the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.
Some civilians have been evacuated but Russian forces targeted Ukrainian troops helping to rescue them. And the defenders have so far refused several ultimatums to surrender, saying they do not trust the Russians to respect their rights as prisoners of war.
The steel works were founded on 2 February 1930 and unsurprisingly both the Mars and Solar Arc Mars are under extreme pressure this year. The natal Mars at 26 Capricorn will be back under a trapped, high-risk, cornered conjunction from tr Pluto from this August but it effectively overshadows this year. Plus the Solar Arc Mars at 28 Aries is catching the tr Pluto square exactly now till June and on and off till late 2024. Plus tr Uranus is conjunct the Solar Arc Sun exactly now and on and off into early 2023.
Which doesn’t tell us much since even if Putin dematerialised overnight the damage would be considerable and take years to repair.
The local elections were a mixter maxter result with Tories losing to Labour in London but holding up elsewhere with gains for the Lib Dems which is not unexpected for an election with voters disillusioned with both main leaders.
Given the state of the Boris Government, Keir Starmer should have ratcheted up the wins but his lacklustre leadership chart, 4 April 2020 10.45am with a dithery Neptune on the Midheaven says it all. What’s worse he was elected with a Mars Saturn conjunction square Uranus, guaranteed to cause setbacks, road blocks and aggravation. That is coming to a head over the next two to three months as it moves to exact by Solar Arc so there may be fall out from less than sterling results.
His own chart is downbeat in 2023 with tr Saturn in Pisces opposition his Sun Pluto in Virgo and conjunct his Jupiter; with disastrous Solar Arcs in 2025/26.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, was voted on on 27 August 2020 when again there was a setback Mars square Saturn and Pluto in place which never augured well and will cause headaches from August this year and on. His own personal chart looks disappointed this year and discouraged by failures in 2023, worse in 2024.
Boris Johnson’s Term chart, 13 December 2019 11 am, was always due for a shocking setback from the 10th of this month as tr Uranus opposes the Mars running till the 27th and returning throughout December and across the New Year and mid February to mid March 2023. It does feel as if the walls are closing in with the Solar Arc Saturn closing the conjunction to the Pluto exactly now. Though whether it will be enough to oust him is another question since his bravado appears impenetrable.
His own chart has the coming-down-to-earth-with-a-bump tr Uranus hitting on his Jupiter Neptune opposition, same dates as above – now, December/NY and Feb/March. His Solar Arc Saturn opposes his Moon exactly in a few weeks which can affect a politician’s public approval; and tr Pluto squares his Moon from March 2023 on for two year.
Emmanuel Macron is hardly a shining example of anything but he slid through on a not-right, not-left ticket which appealed to an electorate fed up with warring politicians. Toss them all out and start again might be a thought.
The classic Civil War break-up signature is Pluto conjunct Sun which was in place when the USSR split (along with the triple conjunction in Capricorn). And for the Syria 2015 civil war with Pluto moving to conjunct their Capricorn Sun with Uranus square. But the USA had similar in the 1920s, as did the UK in the last decade and they both remained intact.
When India underwent the messy and murderous partition in 1947 tr Neptune was square the Unified India 1871 Sun and on the Ascendant; with the brutal Mars opposition Pluto square Uranus having moved by Solar Arc to collide with the Neptune which was a fair description of the slaughter that followed.
The English Civil War of 1642 isn’t that easy to pin on any of the old England charts in any starkly obvious way – on the 1066 chart there was a Solar Arc Mars in a brutal opposition to the England Pluto and some activity around the Saturn Jupiter conjunction but nothing that would have leapt out as a major rupture.
The American Civil War (1861 to 1865) broke out on a Uranus Return in the 1776 chart with tr Pluto square the Leo North Node. Again nothing too indicative. Though it does make sense on the USA First President chart, 30 April 1789 12.45pm, New York, with tr Pluto moving to conjunct the Taurus Sun, having in the build-up been in the high-tension, disruptive square to the Uranus.
My slight sense with the USA and the UK is that the North Node is involved when there are major challenges. 9/11 occurred with tr Neptune in opposition to and undermining the USA ‘Leadership’ Leo North Node as American pride was badly dented. The UK 1801 chart had the 7th house uncooperative, ‘independent’ Aries Node triggered over Brexit.
Where the USA has slightly similar influences will be for the next Uranus Return in 2027/28 when coincidentally tr Pluto in Aquarius will be square the 1776 North Node also in 2027/28.
Tr Pluto into Aquarius will be putting pressure on the USA First President chart from 2023 onwards as it opposes the Uranus for two years and then moves on to square the Taurus Sun in 2029/2030. By 2032 tr Neptune in Aries will meet the undermining square to the 1776 USA Cancer Sun.
None of this means a rerun of the 1861 Civil War – but the USA Pluto Return will take its toll.
Previous times of tr Pluto in hard aspect to the USA Pluto Mercury saw bitter anti-slavery fights under a Democratic President, 1845 to 1851; the Great Depression, 1933 to 1938, Roosevelt’s New Deal and J. Edgar Hoover in the FBI; Reagan was elected on tr Pluto square the USA Mercury in 1981 and during his term, there were swingeing tax cuts leading to a soaring budget deficit and high unemployment, a recession and his attempted assassination.
Usually it takes more than one influence to catapult a country into civil breakdown. The USSR break up happened at the time of the triple conjunction in Capricorn. The 1848/1850s upheavals all over Europe and elsewhere also occurred on a triple conjunction of Uranus Pluto Saturn in Aries, then moving together into Taurus, so quite a whammy. Indian partition happened around the bleak Saturn Pluto in Leo; the Syrian Civil War on Uranus square Pluto. There is nothing too similar late this decade.
For what it is worth – and I do so reluctantly since the American obsession with elections becomes wearisome – the 2029 Inauguration looks the most troubled with a Sun Pluto conjunction and Pluto trine Uranus trine Mars and Sun Pluto square Saturn. But it is nothing like as stressed or destructive as the 1861 pre-Civil War Inauguration which had a Mars Pluto conjunction in Taurus trine Saturn with Saturn square Uranus.
From a previous post on Pluto Returns:
What goes up must come down. In the rollercoaster of history empires and superpowers rise and ultimately fall, sometimes to rise again, sometimes not. Nothing lasts for ever. Spain, France and England/Britain once had empires of unimaginable size – and now they don’t. But they still exist and in varying ways attempt to reconcile themselves to the loss of their former status. Pluto Returns occurring roughly every 250 years can be one indicator of rises and falls. The USA is moving into its First Return in 2022/23. Below are examples from countries which have old enough charts to have experienced Pluto Returns. Thanks to Hugh for a detailed looked at the Roman Empire’s turbulent history over many centuries through the lens of its Pluto Returns.
England 11 May 973 JC AD chart – Pluto 27 Leo. Pluto Returns in 1956; 1709/10; 1463/64; and 1217/18. The Pluto Return of 1709/10 propelled the British Empire into existence after the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707 – at its height it was the largest empire in history. The Suez Crisis in 1956 was the consummate humiliation for Great Britain, signalling its fall from world super-power with the empire crumbling fast in the years before and after.
Spain 19 January 1479 JC – Pluto 1 Libra. The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. From the late 15th century to the early 19th, Spain controlled vast overseas territories. One of the superpowers of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was known as “the empire on which the sun never sets” and reached its maximum extent in the 18th century. It moved through its first Pluto Return around 1724; and began a slow decline at a Pluto half Return in the 19th Century. The most recent Pluto Return around 1972 saw the dictator Franco gradually relinquishing power, nominating a monarch as successor and handing over the Prime Ministership by 1973.
France 19 August 843 JC – Pluto 29 Pisces. Previous Pluto Returns: 1577, 1332, 1088. Around the second Pluto Return in 1337 and the start of the Hundred Years War, France was at the height of its mediaeval glory. The most recent Pluto Return in 1821 saw the death of Napoleon on the exact aspect and the government of France moved into instability thereafter, though the Second French Colonial Empire built up post-1830 became one of the largest empires in history.
Russia 28 March 1462 JC – Pluto 22 Leo. Previous Return 1708/9. The most recent Pluto Return was exact when Stalin died in early 1953. Previous Pluto Return was 1706.
Switzerland 26 May 1231 JC – most recent Pluto Return joined the Council of Europe. Before that 1726.
Austria 18 October 1221 JC – was angling to join the EEC on the most recent Pluto Return, managed it 6 years later. Before that 1714, 1468.
Scotland March 25 1005 JC – the second Pluto Return in 1745 saw the Jacobite Rebellion crushed by the English with savage repercussions. The next Pluto Return in 1991/2 saw Alex Salmond take over leadership of the Scottish National Party which led later to its rise to power. The Pluto Return first was 1252.
Sweden 1523 – Pluto 14 Capricorn. In the 17th Century Sweden became a great power but had started to lose land and status fifty years before the next Pluto Return in 1768/9. The latest Pluto return of 2015/16 was during European refugee crisis.
Thanks to Hugh for the Roman Empire ups and downs of Pluto:
Rome – the traditional founding date is 753 BCE – Pluto 17 Leo.
The first Pluto Return in 509 BCE the Roman Republic was founded.
The Second Pluto Return coincided with the start of the Punic Wars circa 269 BCE.
The Third Pluto Return oversaw the second settlement of the Augustan Principate around 23 BCE.
The Fourth Pluto Return – 220s CE – the end of the Severan dynasty and the beginning of the 3rd Century Crisis of the Roman Empire which saw near constant civil wars.
The Fifth Pluto Return – 470 CE which saw the end of the Western Empire.
The Sixth Pluto Return – 717-718 CE oversaw the failed Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in (one of the most important events in European History).
9th Pluto Return – 1204 – the Sack of Constantinople by Latin armies in 1204 (an event that fatally weakened the Byzantine world).
10th Pluto Return – 1453 CE when the former Christian capital Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.
Hugh: “I find that a remarkable set of repeated major turning points stretching over 2000 years I would say those run of events indicate that Pluto Returns played a not insignificant role in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.”
Neptune in Pisces (2011 – 2025) = barbarity. Neptune in Aries (2025 – 2038) = increase in individual rights and advances for the disenfranchised (with the caveat that it also coincided with deadly famines.) That’s a sweeping generalization but from past experience contains a nugget of truth.
The chilling savagery of ISIL -‘hysterical death cult’ – was a feature of early Neptune in Pisces with Putin’s mad brutality stamping its dying days.
The previous Neptune in Pisces from 1848 (along with a triple conjunction) oversaw the Taiping rebellion which ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, with estimates of war dead ranging from 20 to 70 million.
The Crimean War of Russia versus France, UK, Ottoman Empire which was described as having a “great confusion of purpose” and a war noted for its incompetent international butchery, including the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Other Neptune in Pisces, occurring roughly every 165 years, saw two great famines in France. One of largest naval battles in history in China. The Sack of Rome – end of Italian renaissance. Henry V111 breaks with Rome.
Previous Neptune in Aries –
1861 – 1874: The American Civil War, which arose over the status of slavery, which was later abolished.
In Russia Alexander 11 signed the Emancipation Act liberating serfs in 1861.
The Bahai faith was founded, as was the forerunner to the Salvation Army and the Geneva Convention established the Red Cross.
‘Neptune in Aries may be about individuals submitting themselves to a bigger cause than themselves. It does seem to coincide, in the Western world at least with an increase in individual rights and was one of advancements for formally disenfranchised people.’
The first UK trade union was legalised in 1872 and in the U.S. the “Knights of Labor” was set up. The U.K. Education Act of 1870 bringing in elementary schooling for all children and legislation on child labour. The USA gave voting rights to all ethnicities. The UK Married Women’s Property Act allowed married women to retain their earnings and inherit.
Famines in Finland, Sweden and India – of greater magnitude than usual.
1697 – 1710: Famines of greater magnitude than usual in Estonia, Sweden and Finland, the last wiping out almost a third of the population. Two million die of famine in India; 250,000 die in East Prussia and 600,000 in France.
1533 to 1547: Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII and the split from Rome establishes the Anglican Church.
1206 to 1219: The English Barons force King John to sign the Magna Carta, in an attempt to curb the power of the monarch.
See previous post on Neptune in Aries November 27 2021.
The Pluto Return for the USA was always going to infuse key debates with harsh rhetoric and the desire to dominate. With extreme opinions being adhered to with a fanatical zeal resulting in bitter and resentful reactions. All courtesy of the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto, which in the past has spewed up fundamentalist rabble-rousing like McCarthyism.
The pro-choice Roe V Wade ruling on abortion was always going to be in the cross-hairs with the Republican Party lurching ever further towards the lunatic fringe and the Supreme Court overweighted to the political right. As well as its astrology.
From a previous post September 24 2020.
‘Roe v Wade was signed 22 January 1973 at 10 am Washington, DC which gives a stalwart Aquarius Sun trine Pluto sextile Neptune in Sagittarius; with an optimistic Uranus square Jupiter Mercury; and a destructive Mars opposition Saturn. Where the major debate comes is 2023/24 with tr Pluto conjunct the Mercury with a seriously rattled and insecure Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Mars in 2024/25. Tr Pluto will also be conjunct the Sun in 2024 so that looks the most challenging time.’
Now an unprecedented leak of a first draft, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, suggests SCOTUS might well reverse Roe v Wade, following on from a couple of Southern States banning abortions recently.
The decision puts the Supreme Court firmly at odds with the overwhelming majority of Americans and could torpedo the GOP’s hopes of gaining sizeable majorities in Congress this November.
Recent polling suggests as many as 70 per cent oppose overturning Roe v Wade.
The USA Pluto Return runs on till late 2023, but 2024 looks fractious and intemperate as well especially over the election with the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Mars – so it could well still be an issue then.
SCOTUS has already sunk to its lowest public approval over the perception that it is overly politicised. John Roberts, the Supreme Justice, despite being appointed by GW Bush is a centrist, and was alarmed by the recent Mississippi anti-abortion ruling. He looks confused if not downright devastated this year and next with tr Pluto square his Neptune and his Solar Arc Saturn square his Neptune.
SCOTUS, 2 February 1790, has its North Node in Scorpio which tr Uranus is opposing exactly now, and into early 2023, as well as the recent Solar Eclipse – so these events will strike at the heart of its raison d’etre and future path. Tr Uranus is also square the Aquarius Sun and later this year the Pluto, on and off into 2023. It’ll be a tempestuous time in the hallowed chambers. Tr Neptune is also – from last year – conjunct the Saturn then Venus in Pisces through till late 2023, suggesting the popularity of SCOTUS will be further undermined.
Samuel Alito, the justice appointed by GW Bush, who signed this first draft of an opinion to overturn Roe v Wade, 1 April 1950, is a Sun Mercury in Aries trine Pluto and opposition Neptune. He’ll be pushing confidently ahead with some success for the next two years mixed with uncertainty; but will run into a major failure come 2024.
The other right-wingers show a relatively similar timeline. Amy Barrett, some ups but a tough, discouraging slog in 2023/24 and dashed hopes by 2024.
Neil Gorsuch, uncertainty this year, mixed 2023; and disastrous 2024/25.
Clarence Thomas, hints of confidence alongside disruptions, soaring anxieties in 2023, failures in 2024 and in a swamp in 2025.
Brett Kavanaugh, over estimating his luck this year, with a tough slog and failures in 2023/24.
In a joint statement the Democrats’ leaders in Congress, Senator Chuck Schumer and congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, denounced the Supreme Court’s draft ruling as “one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history”. “The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower,” they added, “has now completely devolved into the party of Trump.”
The twittersphere is alight with anomalies.
“Banning abortion before banning assault rifles.”
“The penalty for abortion after rape is more severe than the penalty for rape.”
“If you are upset that #RoeVWade is about to be overturned by the Supreme Court but you didn’t vote in 2016 or you voted for Trump because you didn’t like the smart lady. YOU did this with your apathy or your decision to choose an imp for President. YOU gave him THREE SCOTUS seats.”
A haunted life of fear, betrayal, louche behaviour, imagined victimhood, callous insensitivity and heavy drinking was the backdrop to Jean Rhys’s highly acclaimed novel Wide Sargasso Sea – a transplanted rendition of Bronte’s ‘mad wife in the attic’ in Jane Eyre. Although started 30 years earlier, it was only published in her 70s when she was living in a Devon shack in poor health.
Her astrology gives a clue as to why this character struck a chord with her. She was born in Dominica on 24 August 1890, no birth time sadly, when there was a horrifically difficult Neptune Pluto in Gemini opposition Mars (Moon) in Sagittarius square Saturn and Sun in Virgo. Cruelty, acute frustration, ill-treatment, low self-esteem as well as unyielding determination and a hunger for attention/publicity drove her on. Her revved-up, indulgent Venus in Libra was conjunct Uranus, trine Pluto and sextile Mars.
As a child on the Caribbean island she was terrified by her nursemaid regaling her with stories of red-eyed women creeping into children’s bedrooms at night to suck their blood. Her mother whipped her until she was 12 telling her she was ugly and her father’s male friends were abusive. Sent to London in her late teens she dreamt of becoming a great actress but ended up as a chorus girl with a litany of rich gentlemen supporters. She married three times, firstly to a Belgian spy, embezzler, bigamist and jailbird; then No 2, a literary agent, gave her a home and did the chores while she wrote novels as well as drinking heavily and physically assaulting him. No 3 wound up in prison for attempted fraud. Along the way she had an abortion, abandoned two children in clinics and had multiple affairs. She died at 89 after a car-crash of a life.
A biographer remarked “her belief in her own victimhood was largely a myth. There were always Samaritans who helped her -. She repaid kindness with abuse and distrust because her faith in people had been poisoned. But the paranoid sensitivity and sharp eye for insults that destroyed her as a person also made her a writer.”
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Naomi Judd, the country singer, half of a successful duo with her daughter Wynonna, and mother also of actress and #MeToo activist Ashley Judd, has died. The family story is a smorgasbord of talent, triumph, sexual abuse, broken relationships, drugs and mental illness. Naomi herself underwent years of psychiatric hospital treatments, pharmaceutical drug poisoning, and overcame ‘incurable’ Hepatitis C at one point.
Naomi was born 11 January 1946 6.45pm Ashland, Kentucky, had a traumatic childhood with little emotional support, was abused by a relative, lost a young sibling, got pregnant at 17 with Wynonna and abandoned by the father. By 21 she had two children, had been beaten, raped and abandoned by her husband without financial support. She trained as a nurse before embarking on her singing career in the late 1970s with Wynonna. The Judds sold more than 20 million records and won six Grammys.
Wynonna Judd, 30 May 1964 8.52am Ashland, Kentucky, has a troubled relationship with food, describing herself as having a severe dependence; has been married three times. Her second husband was arrested for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and she filed for divorce five days later. Her third husband was involved in a serious road accident two months after their wedding, resulting in a leg being amputated. Her daughter Grace was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2018 for violating her probation period, having pleaded guilty to possession, manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamines.
Ashley Judd, 19 April 1968 1.12 pm Sylmar, California, attended 13 schools during a peripatetic childhood after her father left when she was four; and has described being raped three times in her life, once during a modelling stint in Japan on a school break when she was 15. She has had a reasonably successful film career and was a main speaker against Harvey Weinstein when the #MeToo movement got under way. In February 2021, while hiking in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she shattered her leg and spent 55 hours journeying with the help of African porters to get to surgery in a hospital in South Africa.
Mother Naomi had a hard-working and ambitious 6th house Sun Venus in Capricorn opposition a truly difficult, accident-prone and unfair-treatment Mars Saturn in Cancer in her 12th square Jupiter on her IC. She also had a 10th house Taurus Moon – connecting her to the public via Taurus’s singing abilities. But it was square Pluto on her Ascendant and inconjunct Neptune for an intense and complicated emotional life, adding to the stresses of Venus in hard aspect to a harsh Mars Saturn.
Wynonna has a friendly 11th house Gemini Sun (a common sign for popular singers) with a lucky, successful and enthusiastic Jupiter Mercury Mars in Taurus in her career 10th. Her Sun is on the focal point of a scattered Mutable T Square onto Saturn in her 8th opposition Uranus Pluto which isn’t an easy house placing for this can-be-depressing and chaotic aspect. She’ll wobble between low self-esteem from Saturn to turbulent, conflicting impulses from Uranus Pluto.
Added on to which her Pluto trines her Mars, Mercury, Jupiter which is equal parts positive from high-octane determination and negative with acute frustrations. Her Neptune also opposes a showbizzy Neptune in the 4th attracting her to a glamour industry – though its house position hints at family confusion. Her Capricorn Moon trines Mars for a scratchy relationship with her mother.
Ashley has a far-travelled and communicative 9th house Aries Sun and Mercury on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Uranus (Pluto) – so she will wobble between over and under confidence. She has an ambitious Mars in Taurus conjunct her Midheaven from the 9th; and trine her Pluto Uranus and opposition her 4th house Neptune – so in this respect not unlike her sister.
Her Sun is trine a super-confident and enthusiastic Jupiter in Taurus on her Ascendant and square an Aquarius Moon. Plus a self-reliant Saturn, North Node, Venus in Aries. Although she is tied into her family background in a nebulous way through her Neptune she is resolutely independent and will become more so as she grows older.
What a family – the fates blessed them with creative gifts and good fortune – but at a considerable cost.
