Astrology of Today’s News

Unloved and incompetent leaders, no obvious successor and uninspiring opposition – sound familiar? Pluto in Capricorn is waging a scorched earth strategy before it exits in 2023/24 as the UK, USA and France, never mind Germany and elsewhere, survey the wreckage of their political landscape populated with fifth-rate dramatis personae.

  Boris Johnson has, as expected face-planted, in yesterday’s ballots, with the worst bye-election result in history in one seat which wiped out a 24,000 Tory majority in favour of the Lib Dems; and Labour regained the ‘red wall’ Wakefield seat.  Also as expected, BJ is blithely brushing aside notions of resigning from a sunny swimming pool in Rwanda, whence he has escaped to brew up a diversion and duck the fallout.

 This is all a rehash but useful to draw it together. BJ’s personal chart has a trapped, running-scared tr Pluto opposition the Solar Arc Mars exactly now; and Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Scorpio Moon, exact within weeks, but in full effect now. The Pluto Mars restrictions and frustrations will run on through the next three years. 2023 will be discouraging and heavy-going with tr Saturn in Pisces square his Mars and then hitting his Saturn Return as well as Uranus, Pluto. But it is 2024 when his chart shows most upset with tr Neptune squaring his Sun Venus in Gemini; tr Pluto starting to hammer two key Sun midpoints; and if his birth time is accurate – a career-blocking Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Pluto.

 His relations with the Tory Party will continue to plummet with a sinking-failure tr Neptune square the composite Mars now and into 2023; and tr Saturn square the composite Sun Venus in 2023 also – which might suggest an earlier exit.

  But his First PM chart, 24 July 2019 3.12 pm flags up 2024 as the key disaster zone for him as well. So best guesses is he may stick around like an unwelcome house guest for longer than seems possible.

 The Opposition leader Keir Starmer’s crunch point on his leadership chart, 4 April 2020 10.45am London, is coming within weeks as the Solar Arc Saturn closes the conjunction to Mars to exact. There’s nothing to suggest he’ll pick up traction any time soon with 2023/24 looking discouraging on his Leadership chart. His personal chart without a birth time is gloomy at the moment, downbeat with heavy Saturn transits in 2023 though with a few hints of luck as well – and by late 2024 he’s completely flummoxed and worse through to 2026 and beyond.

  [I wonder whether he’s in the same boat as Neil Kinnock who prayed for Maggie Thatcher’s exit as he faced her weekly across the despatch box. She went in late 1990 and he stayed for only eighteen months, lost an election to John Major and departed. John Smith stepped up briefly to the Labour leadership and on his death was replaced by Tony Blair who swept to victory in 1997.]

  The Liberal Democrats did exceptionally well – and for once a political party chart appears to work well. The Liberal Democrats 3 March 1988 – has its Jupiter picking up the confidence-surge tr Pluto square through 2022/23 so they should continue to prosper in the short term. Though 2024 looks like a dead-halt year. Ed Davey, 25 December 1965, is buoyed up by ambitious dreams with tr Neptune square his Jupiter now but he likewise will not find 2024 to his liking with a frustratingly trapped tr Pluto conjunct his Mars.

  The odd couple are reported to be splitting up. Nonagenarian, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and model Jerry Hall, formerly of the Mick Jagger tribe, raised eyebrows when they were hitched six years back, but now according to reports have decided to call it quits.

  There were some positives about the match with her Cancer Sun sitting in his relationship 7^th house conjunct his Jupiter and her social-butterfly Venus in Gemini opposition his Sagittarius Moon, plus her Pisces Moon probably conjunct his Pisces Sun. But it was always going to be an argumentative combination with a composite, can-be-competitive Sun Mars conjunction. Plus there’s a power-couple composite Jupiter Pluto conjunction giving them both a morale boost initially at the prospect of an attention-grabbing relationship. But once the shine wears off what brought them together would start to rankle and they’d both be fighting for the upper hand and last word.

  She was born 2 July 1956, Texas, no time and he 11 March 1931 11.55pm Melbourne, Australia.

Both are strong, unbudgeable personalities – she has a super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio and doesn’t give way easily. He has Pluto and an 8th house Mars opposition Saturn in Capricorn square Uranus – so hard-driving, and do-or-die determined.

  Tr Uranus has been upsetting their apple-cart since 2020 as it moved through early to mid Taurus hitting the composite Jupiter Pluto and then Sun – with more upheavals in 2023.

 The wedding chart of 4 March 2016 hinted at an excess of confidence and indulgence from Sun opposition Jupiter sextile/trine Pluto Moon; along with a constant-bickering Mercury square Mars.

  Both of them look downbeat this year. She has tr Saturn dampening her usual high-spirits as it opposes her Jupiter Pluto and squares her Saturn into early 2023; with a confused tr Pluto square her Neptune in 2022/23 and a romantically  disappointing tr Neptune square her Venus this year as well.

  Similarly he has tr Neptune square his Moon and a frustrated and impatient tr Pluto opposition his Mars. Both of them have a complicated relationship past and she’ll be well used to emotional hitches and glitches having had four children with the notoriously wayward Jagger. Murdoch has been married four times and an Australian newspaper quoted Andrew Neil, a former editor of Murdoch’s Sunday Times, as saying advice to wannabe brides was – “Don’t fall in love with Rupert. He turns against lovers and chops them off.”

Add ON: It’s a great pity there is no birth time for her which might explain a lot. She’s clearly always gone for difficult relationships.

 With Mick Jagger, 26 July 1943 2.30am Dartford, England, her Saturn opposed his Taurus Moon with her Jupiter Pluto in square and her Venus Mercury was conjunct his Saturn.  Saturn in relationships gives longevity and endurance but cuts down on warmth. Her Pluto square his Moon would make her possessive but her Uranus was conjunct his Leo, Sun, Pluto in Leo which would not make for a settled mix. Her Sun falls in his 2^nd so money would be an important element in the mix.

  Their relationship chart has a composite showbizzy Mars opposition Neptune square Mercury Sun which would be argumentative and not mutually supportive – egos would loom large. There was also the classic power-couple Jupiter Pluto conjunction so togetherness offered great influence. But the internal dynamic especially with an ego-maniac like Jagger wouldn’t be pretty.  Especially since there was also a dominating composite Mars trine Pluto.

 There was less Saturn in her relationship with Brian Ferry but dollops of Mars with her Cancer Sun conjunct his Mars and her Mars square his Uranus – plenty of hot attraction to start with which turned into running competition to win arguments.  Their relationship chart has a seriously aggravated composite Sun Pluto square Mars (Moon). He evidently wanted to marry her but a even more successful rock star turned up in the shape of Jagger so he was dropped.   

Her Jupiter Pluto in Leo will crave flamboyance and gold glitter. She’s not a lady of simple tastes.

A charismatic entrepreneur and brilliant showman as well as a a psychopathic gambler, an unscrupulous conman, and possibly a murderer, Colonel Tom Parker left an indelible mark on the 20^th Century.  He masterminded Elvis’s meteoric rise to fame as the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, turning a boy from poor white stock in Tupelo, Mississippi into the most popular entertainer on Earth. Having discovered Presley as a 20 year old in 1955, he ruthlessly controlled his life and pocketed up to half of his income until the “Heartbreak Hotel” singer’s death in 1977.

 A new movie starring Tom Hanks has garnered bad early reviews – ‘deliriously awful’, ‘a nightmare’ – but it does spotlight an intriguing personality. Hanks said: “There would have been no Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker; there would have been no Colonel Tom Parker without Elvis. A symbiotic relationship.” “He saw Elvis’ effect on an audience … realized that guy was forbidden fruit, and you can make an awful lot of money on forbidden fruit.”

Parker was born 26 June 1909 in the Netherlands as Andreas van Kuijk, became a showground and carnival huckster and a docker with criminal tendencies, who fled to the USA after the brutal murder of a woman, possibly in a burglary gone wrong. He adopted a new name and a fictitious military title and made history, all the while lying seamlessly and treating people like dirt, sticking to the old maxim, ‘You don’t have to be nice to people on the way up if you’re not coming back down’.

  Parker was a Sun Cancer with a creative Venus Neptune also in Cancer opposition Uranus square Saturn in Aries. He would be a good organiser with a focal point Saturn and not a sentimentalist with it being in Aries – autocratic with Uranus square Saturn, and a good illusionist from Neptune. Cancer is a sign with a nose for public taste. Tom Hanks is also a Sun Cancer trine Mars in Pisces giving him a resonance with Parker despite his ‘good guy’ image as an actor.

  But Parker also had his Mars in a ruthless, can-be-criminal square to Pluto. His controlling Pluto fell in Elvis’s 7^th house of partnership so there would be a possessive, one-sided connection between them.

  Elvis, 8 January 1935 4.35 am Tupelo, MS, was a Sun, Mercury and Venus in Capricorn opposition an 8^th house Pluto. Such a Pluto can occur with individuals who have a powerful, unseen influence, an aura they project onto the public. Though at a personal level it also goes along with a sense of being trapped by circumstances or people outwith their control. His Venus in Capricorn opposition Pluto squared onto a maverick Uranus in his performing 5^th house making him a mould-breaker in the entertainment business. Rock singers often have Uranus in the 5^th.

He had an ambitious Mars in the 10^th and a money-magnet Jupiter in Scorpio trine his Pluto – so he would have become a success without Parker though not on the same scale. Elvis’s leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17^th harmonic and his global superstar 22^nd harmonic are notably striking.

  Parker’s hard-driving and potentially duplicitous T Square of Saturn square Uranus opposition Neptune Venus keyed into Elvis’s financial Capricorn planets, his ambitious Mars in the 10^th and his influential/trapped Pluto in the 8^th – with Parker’s Neptune in Elvis’s 8^th house of business finances, not a good augury for straight dealing. Parker’s Uranus was conjunct Elvis’s Sun for a life-changing connection; and Parker’s executive/organising Saturn was in Elvis’s performing 5^th which is classic for a behind-the-scenes, entertainment businessman. It was a complicated, gritty, deceptive, power and money hungry bond largely tilted in Parker’s direction.

 Their relationship chart had a super-charged, power-couple T square of Sun opposition Jupiter square Pluto  – which together would see them change the face of a global culture but would demand obedience to a joint strategy. Once individuals with such a connection start to seek independence it causes major aggravation with a constant battle for the upper hand. In this case it never came to that.   

A fractured France is surveying the political chaos of a shock result in the parliamentary elections. Emmanuel Macron, voted President only two months back as the least worst option, lost his majority. Both left and right surged to new highs with Marine Le Pen improving her seat count by ten-fold. His power as executive head of state remains intact but he could be condemned to lame duck status for five years in all but foreign policy and security, which are under the direct control of the presidency. He could seek a coalition alliance though none of the other parties are keen or call new elections. His health, environment and maritime ministers all failed to win seats in the election.

  Election predictions are always a nightmare with only rare occasions when a win is clearly signposted. What this one showed was Macron moving into a low-profile, less successful, banana-skin strewn few years which isn’t going to get easier.

   His bombastic Fixed T Square of a Taurus Moon opposition Uranus square Mars in Leo was being rattled by transiting Uranus over the Presidential election (again in January 2023). Even more damaging and disruptive its Solar Arc positions are hitting his Sagittarius Sun for the first time this year and buffeting him severely up to 2025 and that always presages a life-changing crisis period of several years. By 2024 tr Neptune will square his Sun into 2025 which is undermining and confused.

 His wife Brigitte, a political partner, has a car-crash setback on her chart from Solar Arc Mars square Saturn exactly now covering a few months; plus an insecurity-inducing shock from tr Uranus conjunct her Mars over this second election. Which repeats October/November this year and April 2023. She’s also sagging badly in 2024/5.

  Marine Le Pen and left-wing Jean-Luc Melenchon may be rubbing their hands in glee at the moment but they are running into the buffers in a serious way through 2023/2024 with both having tr Pluto opposition their Mars, which is trapped and frustrated. Le Pen also looks seriously blocked around 2026/27 when the next election may be due.

  The really interesting question always was – what is happening to France? The country’s bull-headed, contrary, rebellious Pluto in Aquarius opposition Uranus square Mars in Scorpio on the Midheaven is under dark Saturnine clouds this year and then gets a dose of Uranian lightning strikes and thunderbolts through 2023/2024. Which could suggest the old born-in-a-revolution spirit will resurface in street demonstrations. Tr Pluto is square the France Neptune in 2022/23 for widespread confusion and disillusionment and then moves to square the Saturn in 2023/24 for a discouraging and deprived slog through difficult times with low morale. By which time in 2024 there is an undermining tr Neptune opposes the France Virgo Sun. Whether Macron stays the course or not the next three years will go down as one of France’s least enjoyable chapters. By 2024 there will be glimmerings of revived confidence from an upbeat tr Pluto square the France Jupiter extending through 2025.

  Macron’s First Presidency chart 14 May 2017 which might give pointers to an exit date – point to this August to December as being particularly destabilizing; with more upheavals and potential fall-off-perch moments by 2024. It’ll shake even his titanium-coated amour propre.

  Be interesting to contemplate the EU minus its two leading players – Merkel gone and Macron tripping over domestic horrors.

See previous post April 2 2022

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Prince William is 40 today, looking every bit the fulfilled father, husband, son and settled into his role as heir to the heir to the throne. He has overcome his initial reluctance to pick up the Royal reins, mended his once uncomfortable relationship with Prince Charles and appears to be increasingly making his views count in key discussions about the future shape of the monarchy.

  He was born 21 June 1982 9.03pm London on the day of a Solar Eclipse in a Saros cycle that ends in 2036, leading some astrologers to say he would be the last king. Though I’m not sure anyone knows exactly what an Eclipse birth means in this context.

  His New Moon in Cancer and his North Node in Cancer fall in his 7^th house so relationships – with a partner, the public and socially – will be the key to his purpose in life. The Cancer North Node is about a journey through life learning to be the feeding hands (metaphorically speaking) for others. But it hasn’t come easily. His Venus in Taurus on the focal point of a Yod would initially make him awkward and uneasy in social situations until he found his purpose in improving the lives of others.

His Venus conjunct Algol and Chiron suggests an emotional woundedness and low self-esteem which does ultimately lead to an empathy with those less fortunate. Venus Chiron would make him see himself as “secondary” in any relationship, feeling he was not worthy of love. Children would make a significant difference to his feelings about himself with Venus Chiron Algol falling in his 5^th.

  His mother’s death would obviously contribute to his woundedness but she also leant heavily on him through the divorce years, treating him as a confidante, which would do damage to a growing boy, since he would feel it was his role to make her happy. Self-sacrifice is associated with Chiron conjunct Venus – and that is echoed in his Mars Saturn conjunction which like Sharron Davies gives him self-discipline stemming from tough conditions of emotional deprivation and restrictions.

  He has a lucky, successful Jupiter in Scorpio on his Midheaven pointing to growing popularity and respect the older he gets and it trines his Sun and Moon. Jupiter on the midheaven also suggests a mother who was over the top in some way or a drama queen.

  His Mercury opposition Uranus will give him a tendency to be outspoken and Mars Saturn can be short-tempered so when he’s rattled he’ll let fly verbally. And he does have strong opinions with Pluto, Saturn, Mars in the 9^th.  

   He’s been slowly revisioning his life since 2017 as his children arrived with tr Saturn moving through his low profile First Quadrant, starting with several years of focusing more on his personal life. He’s starting to emerge from that with tr Saturn about to move into his 3^rd from early 2023. He’s also had his Progressed Moon moving through his 12^th house picking up in early 2021 just before Prince Philip’s death which is a time of endings and introspection – that finishes this October.

  He looks to be on a confident roll this year and next with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint and that will be consolidated by an assertive and determined tr Pluto square his Jupiter in 2023/24 and then his Midheaven in 2024/2025, which will alter the trajectory of his career/life.  Tr Uranus conjunct his focal point Venus Chiron from mid 2024 will also trigger a significant change emotionally and in his public role.

 The tr Neptune Saturn conjunction in Aries in 2025/26 will square his Sun and move in square to his Moon thereafter for three years which will be a time of confusion as he adjusts to new circumstances.

  His Solar Return is similar to the Cancer Ingress but makes the most of the upbeat Moon Jupiter square Sun putting them in the sociable/diplomatic 7^th and career-marker 10^th. Hard work, travel, a few surprises from Uranus in the 8^th but generally not a disaster.

Sharron Davies, former Olympic swimmer, is a woman driven by a sense of injustice. It haunted her as top level Olympic competitor when East Germany was sweeping the boards for gold medals with drug-enhanced entrants and the IOC did nothing. At the Moscow Olympics, where she won her silver, East Germany claimed 90 per cent of the women’s swimming medals. Her coach father was banned from international sport for speaking out against the doping cheats. In later years the gold medal winners offered to return their fradulent medals and the IOC refused.

  Recently she has also campaigned vociferously for transgender women to be prevented from joining female competition and applauded the Fina (water sports world governing body) ban for women’s elite events for any who have undergone male puberty. There will be a separate event for transgender swimmers. Davies now wants this extended to cover all sporting categories. “I think we have got to a point now where the female athletes need to stand up together to say: ‘We want fair sport.” She said she empathised with anyone who has gender dysphoria but “we have to find better ways of being inclusive rather than throwing women’s sport under the bus.”

  All of which is context for an interesting but difficult chart.

  She was born 1 November 1962 in Plymouth and is a super-determined Scorpio Sun conjunct Neptune – Neptune being a surprisingly common highlight in athlete’s charts. And her Sun Neptune squares a disciplined, hard-edged Saturn in Aquarius opposition Mars North Node in Leo. There’s a wealth of description in there of leadership ability from the Leo North Node. Resentment and anger about unfair treatment from Mars Saturn, which tends to attract negative experiences of unfairness in life but would also give her the ability to withstand the punishing training required for top level sport.

   Scorpio for determination beyond the norm. A showbizzy, publicity-attracting Mars Neptune for a later media career. She also has a super-confident and adventurous Jupiter opposition Pluto Uranus. And an unaspected Mercury in Libra and Venus in Scorpio which will make her single minded and obsessive.

 Not an easy personality and she has been married three times. But a born fighter against injustice.     

The Cancer Ingress tomorrow is one of the four marking points in the year as the Sun moves into one of the Cardinal signs – and also welcomes in the Solstice, peak summer in the northern hemisphere and winter down south.

  The Cancer Sun will square an Aries Moon Jupiter and Neptune which will make for a restless and possibly overly optimistic mood with a few dreams and delusions thrown in for good measure. But it is at least a hint of cheer to balance out the Saturnine square to Venus (conjunct Algol) opposition the Scorpio North Node. Feelings will be running high especially with Venus trine Pluto though the sextile to Neptune will soften a few rough edges. Pluto square Mars will lead to frustrations and high-risk incidents; and Saturn square Uranus, as per normal for the past eighteen months, will be irritable and tension-erupting. Much of a muchness of what has been in the recent past.

  If the astrocartography holds good:

UK has Uranus on the Midheaven hinting at a change of direction.

Central North America has Pluto on the Midheaven always a tricky placing, can be risky or overly intense.

Pluto on the IC and Saturn IC – in western India, Afghanistan to Bangkok look unsettled.   

The law of opposites in astrology doesn’t only work with planets across the zodiac wheel from each other. It can throw an intriguing light on each Sun sign itself. The rule of thumb used to be that each sign fears the one before – e.g. Sagittarius fears Scorpio’s emotional intensity; Virgo fears Leo’s attention-seeking; Gemini fears Taurus’ fixedness.

  A new book by psychological astrologer Clare Martin, Star-crossed, Personality Theory and the Meeting of Opposites suggests that there is also a complicated relationship between the Sun signs and their opposite number. E.g. Cancer/Capricorn – child/parent, home/world, the tribe/the hermit.

Virgo/Pisces – order/chaos, self-sufficiency/co-dependency.

Aries/Libra – Self/Not-self, Me/You.

Gemini/Sagittarius – learning/teaching, near/far.

Taurus/Scorpio – Mine/Yours, incorporation/elimination.

Leo/Aquarius – Self/Society, the Heart/the Head.

  She sets out to show the link between psychological Personality Theory and the astrological division into signs.  Personally I am not fond of trying to overlay one system on top of another. Both will have their validity within their own context but along the way of her argument she shines a light on a new facet of sign energy.

  Thinking about your Sun sign or any other planet in a particular sign in terms of an instinctive defence against the opposite can be productive.

  Psychologists and therapist are fascinated by the development of the infant from birth onwards and she relates each of the sign dyads to a particular phase and the reaction to damage – though not in normal order.

Cancer/Capricorn – mother/safety, terror/the hated child. The Moon versus Saturn.

Taurus/Scorpio – voracious hunger leading to over control,  rage. Deprivation versus the Provider.

Gemini/Sagittarius – Fear of freedom versus fear of being trapped.                                                            

Leo/Aquarius – Subjectivity v objectivity. Grandiosity v worthlessness.

Virgo/Pisces – practical efficiency v escapism. Self-definition v undifferentiation. Perfectionist v merging. Dependent or rescuer. Host v parasite.

Aries/Libra – Autonomy v compromise. Awareness of others v competitiveness.  

  I’m not sure it all works and may not interest those other than the psychologically oriented but it made me stop and think about certain signs in a different way.

Clare Martin is also the author of – Alchemy: The Soul of Astrology.

The upcoming pivotal and turbulent Mars Uranus North Node conjunction in early August will be a crisis point for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister. Both his Term charts and his personal one will be in the line of fire with planets at that degree so it will cause an upset of considerable proportions.

  Although his birth date is marginally suspect, most fix him at 17 September 1950 which gives a rigid Sun Saturn in Virgo. And more significantly a ruthless Mars in vengeful Scorpio square Pluto which fits his divisive, rabble-rousing, violence-inducing rhetoric. His Pluto is catching the full brunt of the August hard aspect – for forced change under extreme pressure.

 His First PM term from 2014 has Saturn in Scorpio at the same degree; and his 2^nd Term 2019 chart has Venus in Taurus also in line for a severe shake up.

For more on the Mars Uranus North Node fall out see post June 17^th 2022 below.

For more detail on India see post  December 26 2021.

 The India chart itself with Venus at 15 and Sun at 21 Leo is undergoing major changes as it is from tr Uranus in square both – and the early August combo will pick up the Sun/Venus conjunction as well as oppose the Jupiter in Scorpio. Indications are the economy is expanding though the Reserve Bank of India chart is seriously blocked for a few months.

  Be interesting to see how it plays out. There’s nothing definitely indicating that Modi will be exiting stage left anytime soon. Though tr Neptune opposing his Saturn Sun this year and tr Uranus upending his Pluto and Mars from this July  through to 2025 will make for an exceptionally stormy passage.