An undersea volcano has erupted in Tonga, triggering a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, so large it was visible from space and sent tsunami waves crashing into the coast. The Pacific island was left covered in ash and cut off from aid with all communications down.
An expert in Tonga eruptions said: ‘This is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years. We could be in for several weeks or even years of major volcanic unrest. Tsunamis generated by volcanoes rather than earthquakes are relatively rare. The powerful waves registered in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, with a thunderous sonic boom heard 6,000 miles away in Alaska.
Tonga gained independence on 4 June 1970 and the 12 degree Gemini Sun was exactly opposition last December’s Sagittarius Solar Eclipse, which would have pointed to an approaching crisis of some sort. Tr Pluto is also exactly square the Tonga 8th house Jupiter at the moment, which isn’t a bad description of a massively amplified below-the-surface event.
The recent November 2021 Lunar Eclipse has Venus sitting on the Descendant; and tr Saturn is exactly square the Eclipse Mars as the volcano was triggered. The Eclipse had a formidably tricky and explosive T Square of Mars opposition Uranus square Saturn and it is this which was rattled.
Denzel Washington, called the greatest actor of the 21st century by the New York Times recently, with Tom Hanks gushing: “He is our Brando. Nicholson. Olivier” has gone back to his roots. His early success off-Broadway was in Shakespeare and now he is starring in The Tragedy Of Macbeth along with Frances McDormand which is directed by her husband Joel Coen. It has a limited release and is available to stream on Apple TV+. Filmed in black and white, it is a stripped-down rendition of the play, and is tipped for Oscars.
Washington born 28 December 1954 12.09 am New York, with a preacher father and grew up with split parents. He was sent to military school in his teens which he said saved him from the streets and prison where many of his childhood friends ended up.
He’s had an illustrious and award-strewn career on stage and in movies with a settled near forty-year marriage and four children.
He has a sharp-witted, intelligent and communicative 3rd house Capricorn Sun conjunct the North Node and Mercury and his Aquarius Moon falls in the performing 5th house. Both his Sun and Moon are sparsely aspected. What dominates his chart is a creative Water Grand Trine of a lucky and adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Cancer in his career 10th house trine Venus Saturn in Scorpio trine Mars in Pisces. Such a Grand Trine will allow him to live in his own bubble giving him a detached feel. An unintegrated Sun can also be an island-unto-himself type, standing aloof; and an unaspected Moon can be disconnected from what’s going on around him.
His Jupiter Uranus is square Neptune which threw up a fair few successful types from 1954; and his Venus is in an intense and seductive square to Pluto – but with his Venus conjunct Saturn, he’s cool rather than passionate.
He’s on an upswing with tr Pluto opposing his Jupiter this year and next; and has a hurdle or two to climb in the next year or so with his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Sun and his Solar Arc Mars square his Pluto – but he’s not going to be retiring for a long while yet.
Nicola Sturgeon should be profiting from Boris Johnson’s plummeting reputation but her popularity is down from the height of the pandemic last year. Polls show that independence has slid down voters’ priorities and is seen as less important than health and education. Though signs are she will use the coming May elections for another referendum push.
Her personal chart, 19 July 1970 3.16pm Irvine, Scotland, shows nothing but brick walls ahead until 2024 and calamities in 2025. Although she has a confident tr Pluto square her Jupiter from this February, on and off till late 2023 which will put the wind in her sails, she’s running into a frustrating, enraging tr Pluto opposition her Sun/Mars midpoint from this March onwards which runs right through the election till June; and then repeats till late 2023.
From May 18th this year as well across the election she has the catastrophic/not-coping-well tr Neptune square her Mars/Saturn midpoint, which runs on and off until early 2024. Into 2023 to add to her woes tr Pluto opposes her Mars which is even more blocked and deadlocked, running until late 2024; with a disaster-prone tr Uranus square Mars/Pluto in 2025. By 2026 when she is up for re-election her Solar Arc Mars is conjunct her Pluto which points to a dead-halt.
Her Term chart, 13 May 2021 9am Edinburgh, is equally beleaguered with a destructive tr Pluto square the Mars/Saturn midpoint February to early March this year; followed by tr Neptune conjunct the Sun/Pluto midpoint mid April to mid May across the elections – both of these influences repeat on into 2023.
The 1707 Act of Union chart does indicate 2023/24 to be years of a shake-up as tr Uranus is conjunct the Sun and square the Jupiter Pluto – and that coincides with tr Uranus square the UK 11th house Saturn – so there may be legislative changes of some variety, though clearly not of the magnitude that Nicola Sturgeon would like.
Ronnie Spector, lead singer of the Ronettes in 1957, the girl band which shot to stardom under the producing talents of Phil Spector has died. Their string of hits in the early-to-mid–1960s, included “Be My Baby”, “Baby, I Love You”, “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain”. She was referred to as the original “bad girl of rock and roll but found her marriage to the whacko and prodigiously jealous Phil Spector a risk too far.
After their marriage in 1968, he subjected her to years of psychological torment, surrounding their house with barbed wire and guard dogs, and confiscated her shoes to prevent her from leaving. He sabotaged her career and promised he would kill her if she ever left him. She began drinking and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to escape the house and fled four years later barefoot and without any belongings with the help of her mother. In their 1974 divorce settlement, she forfeited all future record earnings after Phil threatened to have a hit man kill her. It took her a decade to get the coercive contract rescinded.
He was found guilty in 2009 of killing actress Lana Clarkson and died in prison last year. Ronnie was remarkably forgiving of him merely saying he was a great record producer but a lousy husband.
She was born 10 August 1943 in New York, no birth time, and was a Sun close to a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo square a determined Mars in Taurus. She had a talented and creative Uranus trine Neptune, sextile a super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo – which may have been tied into an even more successful Half Grand Sextile off an eternally optimistic Sagittarius Moon opposition Uranus. Plus a low emotional self-esteem Venus square Saturn.
The connection with Spector was very fated – obvious from the wedding chart, 14 April 1968, and the relationship chart, less so from the synastry. Her Venus in Virgo square Saturn tangled with his showbizzy Neptune opposition Mars Jupiter so she’d be attracted to his artistic abilities. But her Sun was square his Uranus and her Mars conjunct which was a volcanic interface.
The wedding chart had a strained Yod of Uranus (Pluto) sextile Neptune inconjunct Sun. Their relationship chart had an even trickier Yod of Neptune sextile Venus inconjunct Mars with Mars opposition Sun and Mercury. Such a Mars would be highly volatile not to say aggressive. The composite Sun Mercury were also inconjunct Saturn Uranus.
Phil Spector, 26 December 1939 2.55pm New York, had an 8th house Capricorn Sun opposition a Cancer Moon square Jupiter in Aries. His 12th house Uranus was in a creative trine to Neptune which in turn opposed a super-confident Mars Jupiter conjunction. His Neptune was also inconjunct Saturn which would make him neurotic; and his Venus was in a passionate, possessive opposition to Pluto. It’s not an especially brutal chart though he would be disorganized psychologically, and over confident, reckoning he could get away with anything.
Tone deaf or doesn’t care? Washington watchers are mystified by Melania Trump’s brazen attempt to make money out of her husband’s presidency by auctioning off a white hat she wore for the 2018 state visit of the French President. It is part of her “Head of State” collection, with a letter of authenticity from Trump, a watercolor of her wearing the hat and an NFT of the painting with an opening minimum bid of $250,000.
CNN spoke to insiders who thought she was out for her own personal gain, at the expense of tradition and respect for her former role; and a valuer said it was way over-priced – and $5000 would be a more sensible figure. She appears to be driven by the need to make an income unrelated to her husband, whether out of a general insecurity or as the preliminary to an exit plan. The small print indicates a portion will go to charity.
She does have a Taurus Sun opposition Jupiter in Scorpio which will make her rooted in the material world, not just indulgent but quite avaricious. Plus Saturn in Taurus is tight-fisted; and her indulgent Venus Mercury also in Taurus trine Pluto in Virgo will make security, possessions and money a priority in her life. On top of that she has a Pisces North Node whose challenge is to learn to let go an attachment to the physical plane. Out of laziness or inertia the tendency will be to slide backwards into old set habit patterns.
Her 9th harmonic is exceptionally marked which also points to a love of pleasure and money.
The marriage to Trump appears to have been one of convenience on both sides – he got arm candy and she got sumptuous houses/clothes, green cards for her parents and wasn’t too crowded by Trump, allowing her to live in her own separate space. Her Venus Mars conjunction in Taurus/Gemini fall in Trump’s 10th so she would have a dynamic effect on his career; and her Pluto sits square his Sun and Moon and his Pluto is square her Sun Saturn so there would be possessiveness on both sides, not necessarily born of passion or jealousy, but of insecurity perhaps on her side.
Their relationship chart has been rattled recently with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the composite Uranus – with one more hit from tr Uranus from early February to mid March 2022. The composite Moon’s position isn’t known but it is probably opposition the Venus which catches an undermining tr Neptune square from May 2023 onwards. Even before then in February 2023 tr Saturn is square the composite Sun; and tr Saturn moving into Pisces thereafter may be conjunct Melania’s Sun/Moon midpoint; and will oppose Trump’s in 2024.
She does look exceptionally blocked and frustrated at the moment with her Solar Arc Sun square her Pluto and tr Pluto just over the opposition to her Solar Arc Mars – so maybe having her husband home 24/7 through recent months has been a strain. As tr Pluto moves into Aquarius in 2023 tr Pluto will square Melania’s Jupiter for an almighty push on her part running into 2024; but running her at the same time into major and risky obstacles.
There are any number of scenarios possible and a split is certainly one of them but she’d have to be assured of a decent pay off otherwise she wouldn’t go.
The waiting begins – unfit to lead, dead man walking, the party is over – as Boris finally appears to have crossed the line of no return. The penny may not have dropped with him but the general feeling is that even he cannot survive the cumulative damage of the mountain of bad behaviour that has emerged. Though like Tony Blair or indeed Margaret Thatcher he’s unlikely to go easy. In the run up to the Blair exit, astrologers were angst-ing over astro-straws in the wind for months trying to predict a final date.
In hindsight Margaret Thatcher’s final curtain and forced exit was easier to predict. By the time of her resignation on 22 November 1990 the chart for her entry into No 10, 4 May 1979, had a car-crash setback tr Saturn square the Mars and tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus which is a classic topple-off-perch indicator in Administration charts.
Her relationship chart with the Conservative Party 1912 chart had tr Uranus in an applecart-upsetting opposition to the composite Pluto; and a blocked tr Pluto square the Saturn. And tr Jupiter square the Sun as her over-confidence prevented her seeing the writing on the wall. Her relationship chart with the UK had tr Uranus trine the Pluto – so the tumultuous, revolutionary Uranus Pluto were all over her departure.
Tony Blair was heartily disliked in the UK for a good while before he handed the keys over to Gordon Brown and went off in search of ill-gotten gains elsewhere. When he finally let go on 27 June 2007, tr Neptune in Aquarius exactly opposition tr Saturn in Leo were exactly square the Solar Arc Sun of his First Government chart; tr Pluto was in a dead-halt square to the Govt Solar Arc Mars; and tr Uranus was hovering around the opposition to the Govt Mars.
His relationship chart with the UK, which was hostile and divisive had the tr Neptune opposition tr Saturn hitting on the aggravated composite T square of Mercury opposition Uranus square Mars Pluto. Different energies at play but still clear signs of considerable unrest.
Boris on his personal chart has his Progressed Moon plotting a fairly accurate course through recent calamities as it first opposed his Mars last August through the Afghanistan retreat disaster and he erupted in fury at Rishi Sunak over an alleged disloyal leak. In September his Progressed Moon squared his Saturn as his mother died (with his Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Scorpio Moon at the same time). Now his Progressed Moon is exactly square his Uranus for more fire and brimstone overflowing – and it won’t clear his overly-volatile T Square until it squares his Pluto this coming June.
Tr Saturn will also deflate his eternally, unrealistically optimistic and unstable Jupiter opposition Neptune in the final days of this month into early February. With tr Uranus upending it through May and again December and early 2023.
His First Government chart, 24 July 2019, does have the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hammering on the Mars in Leo with setbacks this month; and again from mid April throughout the year. Plus a good deal of stress and raised emotions from March onwards.
His relationship chart with the Conservative Party 1912, is sagging badly from late May onwards, into 2023 with tr Neptune square the composite Mars. His relationship chart with the UK is also on a slide of disappointment, which started last June, when his polls started to dip, and will peak again from mid March onwards into 2023 with tr Neptune square the Jupiter. This February and March will give rise to much electorate grumbling and discontent with the composite Neptune opposition Mars catching the tr Saturn squares. But the first sign of a real upheaval comes from mid June onwards with tr Uranus opposition the composite Neptune and tugging on the Mars in opposition into 2023. The Eclipses are also triggering that composite Mars North Node opposition Neptune this year – that aspect in a relationship chart indicates the each partner puts their own personal glory above the other’s success.
There is nothing quite as definitive with Johnson as there was with Thatcher and Blair and it is easy enough to become cynical about the greased piglet’s ability to slide out of tight corners. He’s had a lifetime’s experience of feeling no shame.
The Tories may wait till the May local elections to see which way the wind is blowing before dumping him.
Wait and see.
Add On: Much as I distrust political party charts the Conservative Party 10 May 1912 one does appear to work reasonably well.
The Tories moment of truth will arrive in 2023 but even before then from 18 January (this month) to 15th February they’ll be tripping through a minefield of catastrophes from tr Neptune square the Mars/Saturn midpoint – at the same time as tr Pluto this month squares the Mars/Uranus midpoint (= struggle for survival, test of nerves) and next month tr Pluto squares Uranus/Neptune midpoint (= pessimism, losses) and those repeat from late June to mid January 2023. Plus a sobering tr Saturn square the Taurus Sun this March, repeating on and off till November this year.
But the triple whammy plus extras of 2023 is what may really upset their applecart. The Solar Arc Uranus will conjunct the Sun and tr Uranus will also conjunct the Sun and then Saturn from May 2023 into the summer and beyond; with power and influence fading away from tr Neptune square the Pluto.
Boris may well be fulfilling a Trumpian function as a catalyst (wrecking ball) at the end of an era forcing significant changes to come – in time.
Concern about the increasingly precarious situation in Bosnia has led the USA to impose sanctions last week on the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of threatening to create a breakaway Serb army and undermining the country’s territorial integrity through a combination of corruption and “divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric.” In addition to his subversive actions, “Dodik has used his official position to accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption.” The fear is that the 1995 Dayton Peace Accord, which brought an end to the savage fighting on the break up of the former Yugoslavia, doesn’t hold, risking wider regional instability.
In December, the EU, U.S., U.K., Germany, France and Italy condemned a move by lawmakers in the Bosnian Serbs’ autonomous republic to start a process of withdrawal from key national institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warning it threatened stability in the whole Balkan region.
The 1995 agreement does look under severe pressure with tr Pluto moving to form a disruptive conjunction with the Uranus from this March onwards, on and off till late 2023. This follows on from the last two years of tr Pluto conjunct the Bosnia Neptune bringing high anxiety, scandal and corruption. Tr Neptune is also square the Bosnia Sagittarius Sun and Jupiter at the moment and on into 2023, which will bring disappointment and deflate high hopes. The Sagittarius Midheaven also caught the recent December Solar Eclipse for a good going crisis.
Milorad Dodik, 12 March 1959, is a Sun Pisces with a pushily confident Pluto square Jupiter, trine Saturn and sextile Neptune – tough and ambitious. He’ll be determined this month with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun/Jupiter midpoint but also less bullish than he sounds with tr Neptune conjunct his Sun; and much worse tr Neptune conjunct his calamitous Mars/Saturn midpoint from this May onwards. August to early December will see him steam-rollering ahead.
From previous post: November 2 2021
Bosnia could be in imminent danger of breaking apart as Serb separatists carry out their threat to recreate their own army. The international representative warned that the country was facing “the greatest existential threat of the postwar period”. Recent Bosnian Serb police “counter-terrorist” exercises last month were, he said “tantamount to secession without proclaiming it.” There is a “very real” prospect of a return to conflict, he said. With Russia and Serbia supporting the breakaway factions.
The Dayton Agreement which brought an end to the bloody Bosnia War of the early 1990s has been criticized for creating an ineffective and unwieldy political structure, with the single sovereign state known as Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of two parts, a largely Serb-populated area and another mainly Croat-Bosniak-populated one.
The Bosnia independence chart, 3 March 1992, is exhibiting more than the usual degree of jitters with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the Mars, Saturn, Venus in Aquarius this year and next. With the New Year to mid February 2022 especially disruptive and explosive as tr Uranus squares the Mars. The discouraging Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Sun also hits exact in six months; with collisions and shocks in 2024 as the Solar Arc Mars is conjunct the Sun. In 2023 there is rebellious and turbulent tr Uranus opposition Pluto.
The treaty which ended the war, signed in Paris on 14 December 1995 at 11.48am, shows disappointment writ large with tr Neptune square the Sun Jupiter over the next three years and tr Pluto in an upsetting conjunction to the Uranus through 2022/23. So the predictions may not be far off the mark.
Lizzo, the US rapper, singer, songwriter, and poster girl for fat-positivism has celebrated her recent weight gain on Instagram.
She was born in Detroit on 27 April 1988 at 2.30pm (rectified) and is eight days younger than Adele so has the same Sun Jupiter in Taurus opposition Pluto square Mars. In Lizzo’s case the Mars falls in her 6th house of health.
Skipping across actresses’ charts who have talked about their weight issues in the past and been fat-shamed, two similarities stand out – one is a proliferation of Taurus. Roseanne Barr has Jupiter in Taurus, like Lizzo and Adele, which is notoriously indulgent. Gabourey has Sun, Mars, Mercury in Taurus.
The other common astro-pattern oddly enough is Mars Pluto hard aspects, or a stressed Mars.
Adele and Lizzo have Mars square Pluto; Kirstie Alley has Mars opposition Pluto; Oprah Winfrey has Mars square Pluto; Roseanne Barr has Mars in hard aspect to Uranus as well as Neptune and Saturn. An afflicted Mars especially in relation to Pluto suggests a tough upbringing with dominant and/or aggressive men creating fear. Gaining weight is often a defence against fear either because being light in bulk is experienced as a vulnerability, or in some cases because becoming unattractive is felt as safer.
The fashion business and movies went too far the other way painting an ideal of feminine beauty as synonymous with slenderness – and the camera does add pounds so those in the public eye have to pitch under to get the look they think desirable. It is slowly shifting with the pushback against anorexic models and the glorious Kate Winslet showing she doesn’t care about bulges and still looking great.
But the answer can’t be too applaud unhealthy lifestyles – morbid obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, joint problems, breathing issues etc etc etc. Doctors have to tread lightly or be accused of prejudice, which is another modern insanity.
Having struggled with weight issues most of my life and food addictions I sympathise with the problems of adopting a healthier lifestyle. No amount of well meant advice sinks in until you make a personal decision – which is fair enough. Everyone chooses their own road to perdition. But an influencer flaunting it as desirable and to be admired is downright dangerous.
Tr Saturn is moving through her 6th house of health until early 2023, followed by tr Pluto moving in from 2024 onwards for many years – both of which usually bring lessons about attending to health issues. And she has a debilitating Solar Arc Neptune conjunct her focal point 6th house Mars in 15 months. I wouldn’t wish problems on anyone but it’ll be interesting to see what the next several years bring for her.
Golda Meir, the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics who was one of the signatories of the 1948 declaration of independence and prime Minister over the Yom Kippur War is the subject of a bio pic, controversially starring Helen Mirren. The casting seemed an odd choice but the photos on the net indicate Mirren has managed her usual miraculous transformation this time into a grey-haired grandmother.
Meir was born 14 May 1898 (NS) with a questionable birth time of 11.58pm in Kiev, Ukraine. The family fled persecution to the US in 1906, and Meir honed her political ideas at debates on Zionism, literature, women’s suffrage and trade unionism when living with her married sister. She moved to Palestine in 1921 with her husband to live in a kibbutz and became involved in politics, going to the USA pre-independence to raise $50 million from Jewish Americans to buy arms.
Although she was a fervent Zionist she called the mass exodus of Arabs before the 1948 War of Independence “dreadful”, and likened it to what had befallen the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. She travelled widely during her years as labour and Foreign minister, taking over as the first female prime minister of Israel in 1969. She had to deal with the fallout of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes and the Yom Kippur War, when Egypt, Syria and Jordan attacked, which is the focus of the film. After it was over she resigned. Most historians agree she was a success as Secretary of Labour and Housing, but a failure as prime minister.
She was born with her Taurus Sun within a degree of the Israel 1948 8th house Sun so had a deep connection to the country she helped found. She also had the signature idealistic though often confused and obsessed Neptune Pluto in Gemini of that generation in her case in a tough-minded opposition to Saturn. Her Mars in pro-active Aries was trine her Saturn and sextile Pluto so she was tenacious, courageous, stubborn and used to hardship.
There’s never much point in matching actors to the characters they play since their talent is in being not-themselves. But Mirren’s Jupiter in Virgo is exactly trine Golda Meir’s Sun which will help. Mirren was born 26 July 1946 2am London with a Russian émigré father and a maternal grandfather who was a London East End butcher, so she’s multi-cultural enough to understand a multiplicity of backgrounds.
She also has Venus and Uranus in Gemini to match Golda Meir’s Venus, Pluto, Neptune in Gemini.
Mind you actress Maureen Lipman, 10 May 1946, who first raised the criticism about a non-Jewish actress being given the role, also has Venus Uranus and North Node in Gemini. Like Golda Meir she is a Sun Taurus, with a ferociously determined Mars Pluto in Leo – which latter clashes with Mirren’s Leo Sun Pluto.
The suggestion that a player has to mirror the part exactly is a nonsensical argument as comments to all the newspaper stories indicate. Actors act and novelists use their imagination to brew up characters different from themselves.
Was Tony Blair the key trailblazer of Britain’s future path, pulling the country irrevocably away from the past? It’s not a question I would linger on except for one intriguing astro-pointer.
When he was first elected in 1997 and handed the prime ministerial remit by the Queen on 2 May around 11am, there was a Taurus Sun square a 7th house Uranus which is a double dose of divisiveness and status-quo upending. And his natal reforming, rebellious Uranus falls in the UK’s 10th house of direction.
What is more interesting is that tr Saturn was in 1997 exactly conjunct the UK’s 7th house Aries North Node which was also conjunct Solar Arc Uranus sitting at the same degree.
That UK North Node does seem hyper-sensitive and was one of the driving factors in Brexit. Tr Uranus square tr Pluto were both in hard aspect to it in 2015 when David Cameron was rebuffed by the EU leading on to the 2016 Referendum.
Tony Blair was a Remainer but the astrology might point to a possibility that the damaging changes he made, especially in allowing large scale immigration from both non-EU and EU countries without thought of the consequences, unwittingly paved the way for the rupture with Europe.
His relationship chart with the UK deflects his deep unpopularity with a hostile Mars Pluto sitting square both the composite Mercury and Uranus, and points to a destructive outcome to the connection. His control-freak Pluto was conjunct the UK 11th house Saturn (=legislature) which fits with his changes to the House of Lords.
This is all fairly abstruse and more a question for the astrologers.
A 7th house Aries North Node which the UK has, is a contradiction. An Aries North Node needs to build inner strength to be independent and develop leadership qualities. Whereas falling in the 7th it needs to be less self-sufficient, more adaptable, cooperative and able to compromise in relationships with neighbours. The conundrum is how to be a strong individual and capable of relating as well.
Tr Saturn will come round every 29 years to conjunct the UK NN but 1997 was the first time that the Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct which does suggest a significant shift. Uranus is a trickster planet and the result is not always positive as it upends old structures and doesn’t always replace them with better but leaves chaos in its wake. It can shake stagnant situations into growth but needs other factors to give stability on the far side.
The North Node is a point of spiritual development and tricky to pin down but often encapsulates the meaning of the rest of the chart so can be extraordinarily useful to understand.
