Astrology of Today’s News

In mythology Mars was the god of war, known for his direct action and lack of sentimentality. In astrology, the hallmarks of a prominent Mars are high vitality, impulsiveness, courage and foolhardiness, argumentativeness and lack of tact.

  Two recent obituaries caught my eye which highlight the dramatic effect of a ramped up Mars.

 Simone Segouin, French Resistance fighter born 3 October 1925 1am Chartres, France, became a symbol of female defiance when photographs for Life magazine showed her in shorts, brandishing her machine gun at the end of World War 11. She was born into a farming family, a tomboyish only daughter with three brothers, and was largely brought up by her father, a decorated veteran of the First World War. In 1943, aged 18 she joined the partisan FTP, an alliance of militant communists and nationalists, took part in combat missions, helping to derail a train and blow up bridges. After the war she became a paediatric nurse and had six children out of wedlock with another resistance fighter, all of whom bore her name.  

 She was a Sun Libra conjunct Mars, Mercury with her Sun in an ultra-confident square to Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto in Cancer – a double dose of high-octane confidence and assertiveness.  Plus an excitable Aries Moon and a Water Grand Trine of Pluto trine Uranus trine Venus Saturn in Scorpio – she’d be a curious mix of a dreamer and a doer.

  The other Mars warrior, recently deceased, who challenged the fates and careered through a reckless life is Paddy Macklin, 18 February 1957. He set out in 2009 from Cornwall, determined to sail single-handedly, nonstop around the world in a wooden, engineless yacht. He had a school atlas, food for 600 days, a supply of whisky and other essentials, but no high-tech gadgets. “I wanted to recapture the spirit of true amateurism in sailing,” he declared. He ran into several hair-raising, near terminal disasters, lost several teeth, broke a handful of ribs and suffered from severe loneliness. And consumed a sizeable quantity of recreational drugs. Being stoned he explained was one of the pleasures of life.

  His father, Lance, was a racing driver, who caused the initial reaction setting off the worst disaster in racing history in 1955 when 83 spectators and another driver were killed.

  After Paddy’s odyssey on the high seas, he resumed plastering and decorating while living on the boat and succumbed to cirrhosis of the liver a few weeks back in his mid sixties. A rumbunctious life which broke all the rules and was hardly sensible, but in an odd way he evoked respect for his foolhardy bravado.

  He had his Virgo Sun conjunct Mars, neither of which were well-integrated into his chart – so he’d be a high-wire, over-reactive,  island-unto-himself type. He had an adventurous and lucky Uranus trine Saturn sextile Jupiter which would give him a helpful guardian angel. His Venus, like SimoneS above, was in persuasive and determined Scorpio, in his case conjunct Neptune.

  In both cases their Mars was handed down from Martian fathers. LanceM had his Mars in flamboyant Leo conjunct Jupiter Neptune. Though he was also a Sun Saturn in Virgo so would have some practical sense. He died aged 83.

  Paddy Maclin’s 7^th harmonic was strong which is associated with a ‘seeking soul’ and an inclination to a drug habit.

Add On: Another Mars type gone. Bernard Ingham, Maggie Thatcher’s Press Secretary and known as her ‘personal rottweiler’ was born 21 June 1923. His Mars in Cancer was conjunct Pluto square Saturn and trine Uranus and Jupiter – an explosive mix.

The Banshees of Inisherin won four Baftas on Sunday, including best supporting actor for Barry Keoghan, but the star Colin Farrell lost out on the leading actor award to Austin Butler’s Elvis. There is still hope for Farrell with his nomination for the Oscars on March 23^rd though losing the home-grown gong is a blow.

  Inisherin is a dark tragicomedy set at the end of the Irish civil war in 1923 on a remote Irish island and despite being accused by one Irish critic of ‘maudlin sentimentality mixed with self-obsession, self-harm, child abuse, wanton violence, dead pets and suicidal ideation,’ appears to be engaging audiences and critics.  Horse and Hound readers were enchanted by the miniature donkey. Rotten Tomatoes give it 96%.

  Barry Keoghan, 18 October 1992, Dublin, renowned in recent times for blockbusters as well as Dunkirk and the Green Knight amongst others, had a hair-raising childhood growing up in 13 different foster homes from age 5 onwards and his mother later dying of heroin addiction. He and his brother were eventually taken in by his grandmother.

  He is a Sun Libra with the highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn of that generation opposition Mars (Moon) in Cancer – for a turbulent relationship with his mother and reflecting also his own volatile attitude to school rules and regulations. His Mars is also in an argumentative and ultra-determined trine to Mercury and Pluto in Scorpio; with his Pluto also conjunct Venus. A troubled chart though also talented – Uranus Neptune can be creative. His actor’s 15h Harmonic is his strongest. He has edgy, accident-prone and nerve-stretched transits to midpoints though by the Oscars has tr Pluto square his Venus/Jupiter midpoint – so win or lose, he’ll revel in the glitter.

Colin Farrell, 31 May 1976, maybe 11.45pm Dublin, has had a prolific career for the past two decades with a Golden Globe for his performance in In Bruges, another for this movie and a critics award.

  He is a Sun Venus in Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Pluto, sextile Mars in Leo – a talented and ambitious Half Grand Sextile. His Jupiter in Taurus opposes Uranus North Node in Scorpio square his Mars – he has endurance, luck and a risk-taking flair. His stars are mixed with a discouraging slog from tr Pluto opposition his Saturn until just after the Oscars. But also tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter for a lucky break and new opportunities coming his way.

Jimmy Carter, regarded as a below-average President when in the White House between 1976 and 1980, came into his own in the aftermath with an exceptional career as a global mediator and promoter of human rights which won him the the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He travelled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections and further the eradication of infectious diseases, writing numerous books including two on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which he criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid.

  Now nearing 99 he is receiving hospice care at home.

  He was born 1 October 1924 7am Plains, Georgia, served in the navy after World War 11, took over the family peanut farm and rose from political obscurity as a dark horse candidate to defeat Gerald Ford in 1976. He instantly pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders; put in place progressive energy policies and pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He lost the next election to Ronald Reagan.

  He has a 12^th house Libra Sun square a 9th house Pluto; with his Pluto in a ‘healing’ Water Grand Trine to a Scorpio Moon trine Uranus in the 5^th – emotionally intense and his global influencer and persuader would come from his emphasised 9^th house Pluto. He was outspoken with his Mercury in Virgo opposition his Uranus but the harder-edges would be softened as both squared onto an enthusiastic and optimistic Jupiter. His compassionate, helpful Neptune in his career 10^th conjunct his ‘leadership’ Leo North Node and Venus are what fuelled his ambitions. It is in a publicity-attracting opposition to a determined Mars in Aquarius.  

  His Inauguration chart, 20 January 1977 12pm Washington, DC, is interesting. There is an unaspected Sun, a stressed Yod of Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct Venus; and a frustratingly stuck Mars square Pluto inconjunct Saturn. The unintegrated Sun suggested a Term that never developed its full potential. And a badly aspected Mars would be blocked and unlucky. A focal point Yod Venus is well-intentioned and easy-going but again not able to fully connect. 

  Hindsight helps in these interpretations but useful to see how the aspects played out.

 There’s a curious snarl-up on the hustings to replace Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland First Minister and SNP leader with the two main contenders at odds over LGBT+ rights. Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary, despite being a practising Muslim is pro, saying “I don’t legislate on the basis of my faith.” Whereas Kate Forbes, heretofore the favourite, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, lost prominent supporters and Green Party backing by stating firmly she was against gender self-identification and would have voted against equal marriage legislation. [The Free Church – the Wee Frees – is a socially conservative, evangelical Calvinist denomination which is against abortion and same sex marriage.]

  Nicola Sturgeon will be a hard act to follow having won three general elections and two for the Scottish parliament. But she leaves behind ‘a torrid sequence of troubles, from a costly fiasco over ferry contracts which has become emblematic of SNP misgovernance to swelling criticism of the party’s failures in delivering public services.’

  The likelihood is that whoever takes over immediately will prove no more effective than Sturgeon in tackling the moribund economy, drug and health problems and may not last.

  Both Yousaf and Forbes have their Sun in mid Aries close to the SNP Sun Mars in Aries – so they fit the ethos of the party.

 Yousaf, 7 April 1985, Glasgow, looks the more likely at the moment. He has a lively and charming Sun Venus in Aries trine Uranus and sextile Jupiter in Aquarius; with his Jupiter in a confident square to Pluto and an ultra-determined Mars North Node in Taurus also square Jupiter. He looks rattled and insecure from mid March with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars but does have a touch of uplift from late March with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter/North Node midpoint. If he does take over, it’ll be rocky, not to say disaster-prone after June this year and sagging into 2025.

 Kate Forbes, 6 April 1990, is a highly strung Sun Aries square Neptune Uranus in Capricorn with her Uranus in a lucky opposition to Jupiter; and a do-or-die-determined Mars in Aquarius conjunct North Node square Pluto. Without a birth time there isn’t much of cheer showing up on her chart – jolts, jangles and confusion.

  Though both do have tr Jupiter conjunct their Sun in late March which is usually upbeat.

  Ash Regan, 8 March 1974, is generally regarded as an outlier – she is a Sun Pisces with an ideologue’s Air Grand Trine of Mars in Gemini trine Pluto trine Venus; and another Air Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine Jupiter Mercury in Aquarius. Tr Saturn will dampen her enthusiasm in March as it crosses her Mercury and Jupiter. Her time may come in later years and this will give her name recognition.

 Humza Yousaf in relation to the SNP holds out a promise of success; whereas Kate Forbes’s relationship chart with the SNP hints at an underlying hostility and doubt.

An ‘Indian spring’ in the shape of a democratic revival is being mooted after the backlash over prime minister Narendra Modi’s involvement with billionaire Guatam Adani, accused recently of “the largest con in corporate history”. Their friendship is inextricably linked to the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat when Modi was chief minister of the state with open slaughter and mass rape of Muslims staged by vigilante Hindu mobs.

  A two part BBC documentary last month on the Gujarat Massacre, when uploaded onto You tube in India, pulled out police in riot gear to stop college students watching, with electricity being switched off on campuses. The government then raided the India BBC offices on the pretext of a tax investigation.

  Arundhati Roy, the Indian writer, in a descriptive and critical piece – ‘Modi’s model is at last revealed for what it is: violent Hindu nationalism underwritten by big business’ (URL below and worth a read) – points to ‘the dangerous divisiveness and deep fault lines Modi has cultivated during his tenure as prime minister.’

  In the nine years of Modi’s tenure, Adani’s wealth grew from $8bn to $137bn. In 2022 alone, he made $72bn. The Adani Group now controls a dozen shipping ports that account for the movement of 30% of India’s freight, seven airports that handle 23% of India’s airline passengers, and warehouses that collectively hold 30% of India’s grain. It owns and operates power plants that are the biggest generators of the country’s private electricity.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/18/narendra-modi-hindu-nationalism-india-gautam-adani

  See previous post on Adani and Jo Johnson – 3 February 2023.

  Narendra Modi, 17 September 1950, has undermining and uncertain Neptune oppositions to his Virgo Sun, Mercury and Sun/Saturn midpoint all through 2023. With a high-risk and disruptive tr Uranus square his Pluto in late April/early Mars moving on in 2024 to oppose his Mars in Scorpio for an ego-denting collision of sorts. His Mars square Pluto natally would point to a ruthless streak and with Mars in vengeful Scorpio involved, he would make a dangerous enemy. But that power base will be seriously shaken in 2023/24.

  There is nothing on his 2019 Term chart, 30 May 2019 7.04pm, to suggest a speedy exit though that odd 18 degree Fixed turns up again with tr Uranus conjunct the Venus in late April/early May which does suggest a considerable financial, maybe also emotional, upset.

  The India country chart, 15 August 1947, also has 18 degree Fixed flagged up with its Jupiter in Scorpio line for the tr Uranus opposition. On its own that might suggest a lucky break; but with the India Jupiter square the Leo Sun, Venus, Saturn and Pluto it will pull out a range of possibilities – from clashes with authority figures due to overstepping the mark to over-confidence leading to problems.

Modi’s relationship with India is certainly tied into wealth and expansion with his Pluto square Mars in Scorpio hitting on the India Jupiter, and his Jupiter falling in the India 10^th house.  But his Pluto falling in the India 4^th also hints at an iron fist approach when it comes to domestic affairs. Pluto in its bully, dominating gear.  

  His relationship chart with India is due for a serious of shocks from early March (next month) onwards throughout this year and 2024 with tr Uranus opposes the composite Sun, then Mars and Mercury. 2024/25 could see it upended altogether. It’s a relationship built on an illusory, over-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune square Venus – putting him on a pedestal and idealized, leading to enraged responses from his supporters when his faults are highlighted.  

There are cracks appearing all over the place as the celestial tectonic plates start to shift.

South Park, the US take-no-hostages animated satire show has skewered the Sussexes. ‘The Dumb Prince and His Stupid Wife’, represented as nightmare celebrity neighbours, are on a Worldwide Privacy Tour, featuring his autobiography Waaagh.

 Not only are their faux pleas for privacy mocked so are the audience who proclaim them boring while demanding more information constantly.

 South Park launched in 1997 and responds ‘at speed to gossip and global events with timely filth and fury.’ Everything from  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which essentially argues that an ageing Putin declared war over his failure to get an erection; to Kanye West’s newfound anti-Semitism. Celebrities by the yard are insulted and torn apart. Religious faiths of all shades targeted.  The Tom Cruise episode Trapped in the Closet sees Cruise, John Travolta and R Kelly spend much of the show in the closet. Cruise threatened to sue. Russell Crowe on the other hand took his pasting with good humour.

  The show launched on 13 August 1997 with a Leo Sun opposition Jupiter in Aquarius; with a showbizzy Mars in last degree Libra square Neptune and Neptune square Saturn – to give it an edge of cruelty and sting to the barbs.

  The creators, Trey Parker, 19 October 1969, and Matt Stone 26 May 1971, are predominantly Air sign types – sharp thinkers, quick witted and good communicators.  Trey Parker is a Sun Jupiter in Libra trine an Aquarius Moon with Mercury, Venus, Uranus also in Libra.  Matt Stone is a Sun Gemini conjunct Saturn in late Taurus trine Uranus trine Mars in contrary Aquarius, with his Sun Saturn opposition Jupiter Neptune. Very little Water in either chart and none in the South Park chart.

  Of the pair, Prince Harry looks most rattled by the onslaught. Meghan is having a rough ride through the year but tr Jupiter moving across her Midheaven into 2024 looks successful. Being a publicity-addict she may be flattered that she is up there with Tom Cruise, Oprah and Russell Crowe. If anything her relations with Parker and Stone look more fraught in 2024 – though if it did come to a lawsuit that might also take time.

 But Harry looks incensed now with Matt Stone, aggravated by Parker and enraged by South Park. There will be a few blips of fallout this year between himself and South Park. Harry has only one Air sign in his chart so won’t be remotely on their wavelength.

Nothing like well-done satire to deflate hot air balloons.

Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter, has set off a firestorm by alleging the CIA acting on Joe Biden’s orders blew up the Nord 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany last year. The White House denies it hotly and other sources have pointed to glaring holes in Hersh’s story. His original claim to fame was in exposing the Vietnam My Lai massacre and he subsequently wrote about Watergate and more recently Abu Ghraib. His claims that Assad did not chemically bomb his own people and his queries about the killing of Bin Laden attracted criticism from other journalists. His tendency to rely on unverifiable sources lays his claims open to question.

  In an interview (below) Hersh seems outraged that bombing the pipeline would leave Germany cold over the winter in furtherance of a war he clearly thinks the USA government wants to win to improve their chances at the next election. ??  He has in the past been accused of conspiracy theories. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) have been picking holes in Hersh’s evidence, which was based on a single, unnamed source.

https://thewire.in/world/seymour-hersh-us-destroyed-nord-stream-pipeline-interview

https://unherd.com/thepost/osint-picks-holes-in-seymour-hershs-nord-stream-claims/

  Born 8 April 1937 8.05am Chicago, Illinois, Hersh has an ego-centric 11^th house Aries Sun squaring onto a super-confident, rules-don’t-always-apply-to-me Pluto opposition Jupiter with his Sun also quincunx Neptune. His Pluto is in the communicative 3^rd house making him intense, keen to dig into the darkness, so good for research, though also overly suspicious and inclined to see conspiracies where they don’t exist. And his Jupiter then amplifies both the positive and the negative side of his attitudes, leading to arrogance in some cases and an obsession about getting one over authority figures.

His Pisces Moon in his career 10^th opposes Neptune and squares North Node in Sagittarius – emotionally tending to get sidetracked.

  His Midheaven is taking a battering at the moment with tr Uranus in square during April with a mish mash of unfavourable midpoints in the next three years. Though he does have a lucky, successful Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Sun to give him a boost soon.

  I would not be inclined to dismiss his claims out of hand but there are huge questionmarks over his journalism and this one may come apart at the seams.  Time will tell.

Labour have a clear lead in the polls to beat the Conservatives at a next election with Keir Starmer ahead of Rishi Sunak on most questions. Given the mess the government and Tory Party is in the result looks like a foregone conclusion – except except a week is a long time in politics and life is churning chaos ahead which could throw up black swan events with surprising consequences for the leadership – and Keir Starmer is not heading into fortunate times. The next general election at the latest will be January 2025.

  Not that the leader’s personal chart necessarily spells disaster for the party since he may fall by the wayside for other reasons. His determined, lucky and controlling  opposition of Jupiter in Pisces opposition Uranus Sun Pluto in Virgo catches the tr Saturn hard aspects over 2023/24, which may just be exceptionally hard work. But it is his Solar Arc Sun Pluto conjunct his Neptune in 2025 which looks devastating and confused, followed by a dead-halt Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Sun and Pluto in 2026 – with a Progressed Mars square Neptune somewhere in the middle of that as well which is panicky failure. That looks like a good-going, life-changing period of rolling crisis.

  At a stretch – a very long stretch – he could win the poisoned chalice and then be overwhelmed by chaos. But that would be the most positive interpretation.

  His Leadership chart, 4 April 2020 10.45am, with a tricky 8th house Mars Saturn conjunction square Uranus has overcome one hurdle recently but echoes his own chart with a disruptive 2025 as the SA Saturn squares Uranus; and worse in 2026 when the SA Pluto is conjunct the Saturn.

  The Labour Party 27 February 1900 chart has in the past not been all that illuminating about wins and losses though Blair’s 1997 win did flag up as positive. It looks slightly downbeat in 2023/24 with Saturn transits to its Sun, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto; facing a fair few major obstacles in 2024/25 as disasters litter its path; and will be jolted by a significant shock and ego-dent in 2025; uncertainty in 2026.

  Nothing is clear cut.

  Though looking at the UK chart it would be surprising if any sailor wanted to chance his/her/their luck steering HMS UK over the next three years. In addition to tr Uranus rattling up the UK financial 8^th house and hard aspecting the UK Venus, Neptune and Saturn over the next two years which will make for an exceptionally bumpy financial ride there is the problematic UK Yod.

  With Pluto on the focal point inconjunct Jupiter sextile Uranus, the UK is a buccaneering nation with serious issues around the handling of power – at a negative end, coercive, manipulative and uncooperative. The Yod has moved by Solar Arc to have the SA Pluto square the UK Sun exactly now for a defining moment – blocked but key to future destruction or reconstruction. And just as pivotal will be when the SA Uranus on one leg of the Yod is conjunct the 8^th house Mars in 2025 for a financial/economic upheaval of considerable proportions. This whole period from 2014 right through to 2026, when the UK Yod is being triggered is a transformational and perilous phase when the country is being prompted by the fates to find a new direction. Cast off the old, stand vulnerable for a while – Broken Britain – before, hopefully, finding a new purpose and role in the world.

 Bil Tierney suggests a Yod focal point Pluto can suit the individual for a high-level authority position; or as an agent exploring unknown resources available to humanity, capable of ushering in a new order of things. If mismanaged it may de-elevate the individual to a more frustrating level of obscurity and isolation, brought on by self-destructive passions. Pluto is make or break; and transformational processes can collapse as the old is taken away and the new does not get established. So not always chrysalis through to butterfly.

  It’ll be a brave and resourceful soul who hangs onto the UK tiller through these tempestuous waters and comes up smelling of roses.

Actress Raquel Welch has died, one of the old Hollywood superstars, brought to fame in One Million Years BC in 1966 which turned her into an instant international sex symbol. Though she always insisted her public image was completely opposite her private personality. She did portray strong female characters which helped break the traditional mould of submissive women in movies.

  Born 5 September 1940 2.04pm Chicago, Illinois, with a Bolivian father, she had an enduring, robust and stubborn-to-the-nth degree temperament. Her quick-witted 9^th house Sun, Mars, Mercury in Virgo was trine Saturn Jupiter in Taurus in her performing 5^th house. Her Uranus was also in her 5^th house in a creative trine to Neptune and sextile an 8^th house Venus in Cancer. She had a public-career intense Scorpio Moon in the 10^th square an influential and subtly controlling 8^th house Pluto.

 She starred in the title role of Myra Breckenridge (1970), based on the Gore Vidal novel about a transgender woman who has undergone a sex change operation, which was badly reviewed but has since attracted a cult following. It also starred John Huston, Mae West and Farrah Fawcett, and was a notoriously troubled shoot with particularly bad relations between Raquel and Mae. That was hardly surprisingly since Mae West, 17 August 1892 10.30 pm New York, had a prickly, competitive Mars in Aquarius on her Midheaven in a volatile square to Uranus which clashed with Raquel’s controlling Pluto and Saturn Jupiter as well as her Scorpio Moon.

  Not that John Huston was much better with Sun, Mars, Mercury in Leo. Or indeed Farah Fawcett with her Mars, Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, and Saturn Pluto in Leo. What a pile up that must have been.

  Raquel Welch was married four times – relatively briefly in each case. In addition to film, stage and television work she also launched a successful beauty business.

New Zealand reeling from the onslaught of Cyclone Gabrielle is facing fresh storm warnings as there is grave concern for those swept away by flood waters, with fatalities likely to rise.  Chris Hipkins, the new Prime Minister, described it as an event on the scale of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

 The recent Scorpio Solar Eclipse which fell opposite the NZ Uranus in Taurus (and Pluto), when located to Gisborne, NZ, had Mars in Gemini on the Ascendant so flagging it up as a potential crisis location. Double trouble from that.

  In addition the New Zealand chart is in the midst of a gruelling run of tr Pluto conjunct the Capricorn Sun in 2021/22 and then conjunct the NZ Mars till late 2023; and square Pluto 2023/24 – forced change, huge frustrations, high-risk – and it will continue after mid decade with tr Pluto square the NZ Uranus and then Saturn.

  At the moment also the NZ Saturn has moved by Solar Arc to square the NZ 4^th house Mars.

  It always did look like a time of heightened risk from natural disasters.

 Chris Hipkins, the Jacinda Ardern replacement, born 5 September 1978, is a serious Sun Saturn in Virgo in a socially-progressive and sometimes indecisive square to Neptune with a ferociously determined and courageous Mars Pluto conjunct in Libra – quite a mix of soft and hard. Better than most at coping in crisis situations.

  He’ll be pushing confidently ahead this year and next with tr Pluto opposing his Jupiter but will be slipping, sliding and tripping over problems as he goes.