Astrology of Today’s News

Harry Truman is the forgotten piece of the narrative when it comes to the nuclear bomb. Oppenheimer may have created it (along with others) but Truman was the one to give the order to use it, described by one commentator as “the most history-altering executive decision since Pontius Pilate”. He took on the presidency on April 12 1945 after Franklin D Roosevelt’s death.

  Although he retired unpopular in 1953 and his presidential reputation languished for decades, he was eventually resurrected to the top 10. And he did have a fair number of credits including staying in Europe after 1945, implementing the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and establishing NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. He decolonised the Philippines, desegregated the military and put the Atomic Energy Commission under civilian not military control. The Korean War was a failure; but appalling as Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, some argue the nuclear bombing can be seen as preventing a third world war in later years.

 He was born 8 May 1884 4pm Lamar, Missouri, into a livestock and farming family. Two things are intriguing about his chart. One is he has both Neptune and Pluto in his 8^th house like Winston Churchill and Hitler. It wasn’t conjunct but it would give him an innate ability to influence events. His Taurus Sun was conjunct his Neptune in the 8^th. The other key factor was his Pluto conjunct not only Mercury but also Chiron. Pluto on Chiron in the 8^th certainly conveys the darkness, depth and intensity of the ‘destroyer of worlds’. He appeared not to have had any qualms about the order to bomb but the 8^th house is deeply unconscious and projected into the world it would bring an earth-shaking howl of pain and horror.

  His relationship chart with Japan has a composite Mars Pluto square Moon North Node which in a different way echoes the utter ruthlessness of their connection and the bitterness left behind.

  When the Hiroshima bomb was dropped tr Saturn was conjunct his Solar Arc Sun Neptune in his 10^th so it must have given him a tremor of concern even if it did not show; with tr Pluto conjunct his SA Saturn adding to the gravitas of the moment.    

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Israel is galloping towards the point where it will lose the unique status of being the only democracy in the Middle East as the ultra-right wing parliament voted to strip the country’s supreme court of its powers to block government decisions. The opposition walked out, joining a huge crowd of protesters, with reservists, the Israeli security establishment as well as labor unions threatening action, with strong concerns also being raised by Jewish lobby groups in the USA.

  Critics argue it will become a sham democracy with no check on the power of the executive. Israel has no written constitution, nor a second parliamentary chamber to balance the Knesset. The supreme court has been the backstop on issues deemed to threaten the rights of citizens and democracy, including long-running arguments over the role of religion in a secular society, the definition of a Jew, the treatment of Israel’s Arab minority and Palestinians in the occupied territories.

 Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said:  “We are governed today by a bunch of militants, nationalists, chauvinists, [and] radicals. Reckless, irresponsible, and totally inexperienced people.” He said if US administrations present and past had taken far tougher lines against Netanayhu’s policies — and placed Israel’s special relationship with the United States in the balance — it would have had positive effects.

  Biden has been mildly disapproving but no more with no indication on the astrology that he will toughen his stance.  The Israel/USA relationship chart is not flagging up much movement until next year when a confused tr Pluto trine the delusional Jupiter Neptune conjunction picks up, running for two years. That will bring a reality check as old illusions get demolished. The process will intensify in 2025/26 with tr Neptune Saturn square the composite Mercury Venus.

   Inside Israel, confidence is being undermined by tr Neptune square the Jupiter exactly now and that runs on and off till early 2025. But the key detonator for the turbulence to come is tr Uranus conjunct the 8^th house Taurus Sun from this August on and off into 2024 and then an explosive, violent, insecure tr Uranus square the Israel Mars by 2025 into early 2026. This year and next there are also a run of catastrophic, high-risk transits to Mars midpoints; and a devastating Pluto square the Sun/Neptune midpoint through 2024/25.

  There is more detail in a previous post: Israel – on a dark road backwards 30th December 2022.

  One explanation for the state of Israel now  is the rapid rise in the population of ultra-orthodox Jews and the consequent decline in the influence of the largely secular Ashkenazi community which has resulted in the growth of religious fundamentalism and conflict with the liberal mainstream in society. The right-wingers are pushing for more settlements and outright annexation of lands under military rule since 1967.

 Shades of Modi in India and to a similar degree the stranglehold of the GOP in the USA.

  On a petty personal note there is an odd resonance at the moment of schadenfreude – that’s the wrong word – more an irritated ‘I told you so’ about several political screw-ups. Nicola Sturgeon for one and Boris Johnson for two who rose to prominence despite it being glaringly obvious they were not fit for any kind of constructive purpose. Israel at a different level should have had international policing put in when it was established in 1948, to protect the indigenous Palestinians as per the Balfour Declaration – except post WW11 the USA/UK had too much on their plate elsewhere. Israel has been steadily marching up the wrong road since it was established, content to bask in the support of big brother USA.  It is difficult to see where this ends.  

Sigourney Weaver, veteran of some of the biggest blockbuster franchises of all time – Alien, Ghostbusters and Avatar – and a statuesque 5 foot 11+ tall, is still going strong and largely flying under the radar of Hollywood hype by living quietly in New York. She’s back on TV screens next month in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, based on Holly Ringland’s book, which is a ‘harrowing but engrossing and exquisitely rendered tale about grief, domestic abuse and trauma; how a group of women come together to heal through the lushness and language of flowers.’

  She was born 8 October 1949 6.15 pm Manhattan, NY, with an English mother and TV executive father. Told repeatedly she had no talent in her twenties, she persevered and landed Alien as only her third movie. Oscar nominations followed and she won a Golden Globe best actress for Gorillas in the Mist and commendations for playing the alpha boss in Working Girl. She has been married to Jim Simpson, a theatre director, since 1984 with one non-binary child in their 30s.

  She has an understated and hard-working Sun Neptune in Libra in her 6^th house square a successful Jupiter in Capricorn on her Midheaven and sextile a do-or-die-determined Mars Pluto in Leo in her performing 5^th house. Venus in Scorpio in her 7^th endows her with great charm and will attract affectionate partners in life. Her Taurus Moon sits on her Ascendant giving her a down-to-earth image – it is sparsely aspected barring a sextile to a quick-witted Uranus in her 3^rd, which will increase her vulnerability though it is not at first obvious. Her Saturn in Virgo also in her 5^th will give her organising ability in the entertainment field.

 Her husband Jim Simpson, 21 February 1956, Hawaii, is a Sun Pisces trine Neptune and square Saturn – both are highly Neptunian though it is also a high-octane mix with his Jupiter Pluto in Leo sitting close beside her Mars Pluto. His Cancer Moon is somewhere around her independent-minded Uranus so two constantly changing careers will help. His Neptune opposes her Moon so he will be tricky to pin down at times. It won’t all have been smooth sailing with their relationship chart having a composite Mars, Neptune, Saturn conjunction square Uranus for high tension and sacrifices demanded of one partner.  But a composite Sun trine Pluto will bring closeness and a Jupiter square Venus adds a sparkle of frivolity to smooth round rough edges.  Their wedding chart had an easy going Sun Mercury square Jupiter with a passionate Venus Pluto and a showbusiness Mars Neptune so it did get off to an auspicious start.

  With Jupiter moving through her 1^st house this year she’s into a lucky patch and tr Saturn is moving through her high profile, hard-working 4^th Quadrant till the end of this decade so she won’t be retiring any time soon.

“The Father of Capitalism”, Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, propagated his ideas about the wealth of nations during the last Pluto in Capricorn in the 18^th Century.  He laid the foundations of a free market economy replacing Mercantilism, based on restrictive trade practices, which had started on the previous Pluto in Capricorn in the 16^th Century.

  Pluto in Capricorn is the great tracker of all matters economic on a macro-level. You could write a history of money through the times of its appearance, roughly every 250 years.  Charlemagne in the 8^th Century had an important role in determining the immediate economic future of Europe and founded banking. He standardised the monetary system which unified the complex array of currencies in use at the start of his reign, so simplifying trade.

Kublai Khan two Pluto in Capricorns later: is considered to be the first of fiat money makers (i.e. paper money not gold or silver). The paper bills made collecting taxes and administering the huge empire much easier while reducing cost of transporting coins.

  This present Pluto in Capricorn picked up in 2008 with the resounding global financial crash. But as yet no real indication of what the inevitable coming changes will be in trade and global finances.

  Smith, born 5 June 1723 JC/OS in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, was a Sun Gemini opposition a serious, knowledgeable Saturn in Sagittarius in a controlling, determined (ahead of his time) square to Pluto. He also had a risk-taking, no-compromise Mars in Aries opposition Uranus square Mercury in Cancer so would not be backwards about expressing his views which for the time were controversial and unpopular. 

   His ideas did gradually come to be accepted in the late 18^th century as the Industrial Revolution got underway and free trade spread via the British Empire round the globe. Though it was not an overnight switch but more the sowing of the seed of a theory, boosted by other thinkers which took time to germinate.

The smoke signals continue to float above the US Supreme Court indicating all is not well in the halls of justice with political, financial and religious interference ongoing. Athena, goddess of justice had Medusa’s head on her shield to scare off those who would transgress against the scales of integrity, honesty, righteousness, impartiality, rectitude. Quite where any of those fit in with Clarence Thomas’s shenanigans is mystifying. The latest revelations are of an astute and expensive PR campaign to defend Clarence Thomas when the 25^th anniversary of his appointment came round a few years back with reruns of Anita Hill’s story of his alleged sexual harassment of her.

  It continues to this day as he is sanctified and she is smeared. And all this when Thomas is also exposed along with his wife as being on the receiving end of generous support from benefactors. There have been other revelations recently about wealthy conservative donors gaining access to justices outside the public eye.

  SCOTUS, 2 February 1790, has a controlling (and secretive) Sun Pluto in Aquarius with Pluto in an ambitious trine to Neptune and a ruthless opposition to Mars conjunct Jupiter. It is sailing through stormy seas with tr Uranus last year square the Sun, this year square the Pluto and in 2024 square the Mars.  Plus an undermining tr Neptune conjunct the Venus. Quite whether that is enough to put it back onto the paths of righteousness is questionable. But there may be more murk to emerge.

  There are two names mentioned most frequently as string pullers. One is  Leonard Leo, a staunch Roman Catholic and longtime executive of the Federalist Society, an influential nonprofit organization for conservative lawyers. He has led advocacy campaigns to help confirm every conservative Supreme Court justice over the past two decades.

  The other is Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and GOP donor who ProPublica revealed this year has taken Thomas on luxury vacations, has made donations to dedicate a library wing to him in Savannah, Ga etc.

 Neither have verified birth dates other than net sources so what follows needs to be regarded with caution. Leo, 1 November 1965 Long Island, if accurate, is a slippery Sun and Neptune in Scorpio with Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn and in a ruthless square to Mars (Venus) in Sagittarius. Which looks feasible. This chart is very entangled with the SCOTUS chart though the puppet master’s grip may be loosening through this year and next.

 Harlan Crow, 10 October 1949, a billionaire in real estate Texas, has a collection of Nazi memorabilia and has been more than generous to Thomas over the years. On this birth date he is a Sun Neptune in Libra square Jupiter in Capricorn with a hard-nosed and ruthless Mars Pluto in Leo which taps into certain elements of Hitler’s chart so is also feasible.

  Clarence Thomas is on a slide from 2025 onwards with tr Neptune and Saturn square his Cancer Sun, Mercury, Venus.  More on Clarence and Virginia Thomas in previous post 7 April 2023.

  But what it says about the state of the US nation is more to the point. This week ‘the Democratic-led Senate judiciary committee voted to advance a supreme court ethics reform bill that would tighten financial disclosures and bolster recusal requirements for justices. The vote was 11-10 along party lines, with Republicans adamantly opposed.’ That really is the rot at the heart of the US -both the justice system and politics.

“It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.” Aristotle

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” Montesquieu

Josephine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, who starred in many French films has died.  She was the sixth of 11 children fathered by the comic screen legend and the third of eight with O’Neill, daughter of the Nobel prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill.

   It is a mind-boggling prospect being part of such a vast Chaplin tribe, the child of a world renowned screen star on one side and the grandchild of a Nobel winning playwright on the other.

 [Detail on Chaplin and Oona O’Neill, who married when she was 18 and he 53, in previous post February 18 2022.] 

  Josephine, 28 March 1949 12.10am Santa Monica, CA, was a Sun Aries on the cusp of her 4^th house opposition Neptune on her Midheaven with Pluto in her 8^th – anchored in the family, a creative legacy but trapped. 

   What is a recurring pattern through several of the family charts is a last decan Aries or Libra marker – of either Chiron, Sun or North Node. In her case her North Node was at 25 degrees Aries conjunct her mother’s Chiron Mercury in Aries. Her father Charles Chaplin had a 27 degree Aries Sun.

 The half siblings from an earlier marriage born around the time of Oona O’Neill – Charles (1925) had Chiron Mercury at 25/22 Aries; Sydney (1926) had Chiron at 26 Aries; and Maurice (1927) had his Sun at 22 Aries conjunct Chiron at 1 Taurus.

  Her full brother Michael (1946) had Jupiter Chiron in last decan Libra.  Eugene O’Neill had his Sun at 23 Libra.

  Tied together by fame (Nodes), plagued by issues of identity (Aries) and struggling with the wounds and vagaries of fate (Chiron).

  Chiron close to Mercury is interesting for Oona O’Neill since it would give her a sense of being wounded in her intelligence and way with words, not surprising with such a notable father.   

  Josephine’s North Node conjunct her mother’s Chiron suggests that Josephine’s development lay through connecting with her mother’s pain.  

  What is also significant is the Aries energy especially in a North Node which suggests a need to stand alone and/or take the lead. Tricky in a family with such powerful connections in the zeitgeist that they could never completely escape.

  All quite a fated tangle as is probably true in a great many families.

Singer Tony Bennett has died. Called “the best in the business” by Frank Sinatra, he had a career spanning seven decades and was still performing in his mid nineties on stage with Lady Gaga when suffering from Alzheimers.  He released 61 studio albums between his debut, Because of You, in 1952, and his second album of Lady Gaga duets, Love For Sale in 2021. One of the original crooners, he held onto his sophisticated, emotionally understated style of jazz music through the merry go round of fashions in pop. His fortunes did slump when the Beatles appeared but after overcoming a cocaine addiction he reinvented himself, his popularity stronger than ever.

  He was born 3 August 1926 in New York, no birth time, into a poor Italian immigrant family with his father dying when he was 10. Drafted into WW11, he faced racism from officers because of his ethnicity and witnessed discrimination against fellow black soldiers; and had the horror of being present at the liberation of a sub-Dachau concentration camp. It turned him into a pacifist and an activist for civil rights, marching with Martin Luther King in the 1960s.

  He had started singing early in the family, then as a singing teenage waiter and after the war was spotted by Bob Hope and broke into the professional circuit.    

He became known as the torchbearer for the Great American Songbook with hits including The Way You Look Tonight, Body and Soul, and (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco.

  He was a Sun Leo but what probably marked him out as one of a generation of outstanding singers was his Neptune in Leo conjunct his Mercury opposition Jupiter square Saturn in Scorpio. Burt Bacharach born two years later was another Neptune in Leo square his Taurus Sun; and Frank Sinatra born in 1915 had Neptune in early Leo.

  In Tony Bennett’s case his Mercury Neptune Jupiter would give him his deceptively easy-listening style which only came about through the obsessively hard work of Saturn. He also had a seductive Venus Pluto North Node in Cancer and a Gemini Moon.

During his damaging time in the forces during World War 11 as a late teenager he had the pressured, challenging tr Pluto conjunct his Sun; and a disruptive tr Uranus opposition his Solar Arc focal point Saturn; as well as a high-risk, scary and horrifying Solar Arc Venus Pluto square his Mars in Taurus. He said the experiences scarred him for life though he did not let it show. Except he did have a cocaine addiction and near suicide attempt in the late 1970s which was career-related but may also have been when old terrors resurfaced. That was when tr Uranus was conjunct his Saturn and tr Saturn was conjunct his Solar Arc Venus Pluto.

  What would keep his darker feelings under control was his Venus Pluto conjunction and his obsessively conscientious Saturn in Scorpio.

The marshmallow-pink utopia of Barbie Land may well outsell Oppenheimer at the box office when both open this week. A frothy toyland satire versus the real destroyer of worlds – a surreal Hollywood juxtaposition.

   Reviews for Barbie have been mixed though Robbie Collin, usually sound, describes it as “deeply bizarre, conceptually slippery and often roar-out-loud hilarious”. Rolling Stone said Barbie “may be the most subversive blockbuster of the 21st Century.” Margot Robbie, as a stereotypical Barbie one day starts malfunctioning and is despatched to the human world to find out why, accompanied by Ken (Ryan Gosling). Sarah Vine of the Mail was unimpressed and wrote: “It’s a deeply anti-man movie – every male character is either an idiot, a bigot or a sad, rather pathetic loser.”

 The real – plastic – Barbie was launched on 9 March 1959 on a Pisces New Moon which fits with a frothy dream – though that apart the chart reflects a hard sell and an aggressive approach.  Ruth Handler, 4 November 1916, the toy manufacturer who launched Barbie, likewise was a determined Sun Scorpio trine Pluto and square an innovative Uranus. The only hint of frivolity in her chart came from Mercury opposition Jupiter square Saturn Neptune in Leo. A hard headed marketing brand.

 Barbie’s Principal Photography started 22 March 2022 which is imaginative with Jupiter Mercury Neptune in Pisces but otherwise light on the essence of pink with a hard-edged Mars Venus in Aquarius square Uranus.

 Greta Gerwig, the director, 4 August 1983 Sacramento, CA, is a Leo trine an adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Sagittarius but is not made of candyfloss with a Saturn Pluto conjunct square Mars which is solid titanium.

  Margot Robbie, 2 July 1990 7.45am Dalby, AU, is a Sun Jupiter in Cancer opposition the triple conjunction in Capricorn with a Scorpio Moon and a heavy-duty childhood from Pluto in her 4^th and her Mars square Saturn.

  Ryan Gosling, 12 November 1980 2.34pm London, Ontario, Canada, who gets top reviews, has an intense, deeply buried 8^th house Sun Uranus in Scorpio with a charming Venus, Jupiter, Saturn in Libra in his 7^th plus a hard working Capricorn Moon.

  Not one of the associated charts hints at an overdose of Jupiter Venus which is quintessence of the plastic fantastic image of feminine perfection of the 1960s. Understandable maybe in a movie that is a satire but the originators were hardly mirroring their inner child either.

The pendulum swing of ‘progressive’ condemnation of disbelievers in their cause has run into another buffer over the backlash against banks closing accounts because they dislike the political views of a client. A highly critical No 10 has put in motion legislation to impose on banks free speech duties otherwise they could lose their licence.

  Though the government is hardly blameless either in the arena of free speech following last year’s Cabinet Office rules banning speakers who have criticised government policy from addressing civil servants.  

   It has been a weird few years for free speech in the UK including the ‘coercive control of language’ element to the trans debate. Andrew Neil described it as “a new form of McCarthyism. In woke companies, as well as in media, public bodies, charities and academia, people are being fired, sidelined, marginalised or generally penalised because they won’t kowtow to the latest fashionable views.”

   Is it the great bleeding heart of Neptune in Pisces which howls in pain over one slighted group being victimized (or not given centre stage) and demands the greater majority give up its rights to salve their wound?

  There is a fanatical streak in Neptune – Joseph McCarthy had a Scorpio Sun trine Neptune with Neptune opposition Uranus. When McCarthyism got under way in the US, the SA North Node was conjunct the USA Pluto (opposition Mercury) which is more than prone to obsessive thinking and bullying debate. But laissez-faire UK has never much gone in for fads and fetishes where opinions were concerned (I don’t think).

 Neptune in Pisces has not had an obviously outsize effect on the UK chart except at the start when it was conjunct the UK Pluto on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Uranus in 2012/13. This is when David Cameron decided to hold the Brexit Referendum. (And because I am floundering around trying to find a pattern – the UK Pluto was activated years earlier in 1997 at Princess Diana’s death when the UK lost its wits in an outpouring of atypical national mourning. So the UK Pluto does have a powerful effect.) Along the way of the past few years tr Neptune has been sextile the UK Sun and Mars was well as trine the Midheaven, Moon and Neptune. With this year the Solar Arc Sun square the 2^nd house financial Neptune, keyed up by the recent Lunar Eclipse which may explain the banking connection – and tr Uranus was also opposition that 2^nd house Neptune earlier this year in the 18 degree spotlight.

  I’m still no wiser about quite what has sparked up this supposedly liberal intolerance in the UK.

  This year on the UK chart there is a deadlocked Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun which is waning now; and an approaching Solar Arc Saturn opposition the UK Uranus, exact in a few months – which will set up a conflict between the old versus the new, the forces of repression colliding with the forces for progress. Though in this topsy turvy situation with the ‘progressives’ turning totalitarian it’s tricky to see who is in which camp.

 Tr Pluto in Aquarius trine the UK Uranus from early 2024 for two years might be expected to activate a robust free speech debate – and more so when Uranus moves into Gemini in 2025.

  I faintly remember from philosophy lectures a concept about the social contract  – that in a fair and decent society there should be a ring fence of freedom around every individual which extends only in so far as it does not impinge on the rights of others. With the emergence of identity politics,  the loudest voices are clamouring for supremacy for their special interests at the expense of others who hold different views. They want society to be created in their image with non-believers banished into the desert as non-persons.

   Against everything that Uranus holds dear. What is weirder is that it is a total contradiction of essence of diversity. Putting value on difference.

  It may or may not be relevant that Farage’s Saturn is conjunct the UK’s Pluto and JK Rowling’s Mercury is in opposition. They tap into the UK’s cultural power issues.

Comments welcome.