Harry Dunn – the tug of war for closure

The long running battle to force American Anne Sacoolas to face UK justice over the road accident resulting in the death of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn seemed to have reached a turning point. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced she would be giving evidence by video link only to be contradicted by her lawyer who said nothing had been agreed.

  She was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road and was given diplomatic immunity after the event due, presumably owing to her or her husband’s CIA work. The CPS charged her two years ago with causing death by dangerous driving. US officials rejected an extradition request submitted from the Home Office in January last year and they have described their refusal to extradite her as “final” on a number of occasions. The extradition process with the US is very one-sided, skewed badly in favour of the US.

  Harry Dunn was killed around 8.25pm on 27 August 2019 near Brackley, England, which puts the Cancer North Node exactly opposition Saturn and Pluto, on the midpoint – a pointer to the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to getting justice. There was also an elusive, evasive Neptune on the Ascendant.

  The CPS give Anne Sacoolas birth date as 28 August 1977 – and I imagine they have seen her passport.  This makes her a Sun Virgo, and it was one day after her birthday when it happened. Her Solar Arc Mars was square her Uranus exactly at the time which makes sense of a collision and a shock, with tr Uranus moving to oppose her Uranus and square her Solar Arc Mars in the aftermath.

  At the moment, assuming the date is sound, she has tr Saturn square her Ascendant and moving to square her Solar Arc Mars. This month looks panic-stricken and calamitous with significant disruptions through 2022/23.   

Lewis Hamilton – the slings and arrows of outrage

Lewis Hamilton, the Formula 1 racing driver, had the momentum to win the recent Abu Dhabi championship race and was closing in on his eighth title, which would have made him the most decorated F1 driver in history. Instead there was what was described as “a capricious decision by race stewards to allow five lapped cars to overtake the safety car on the penultimate lap. Their intervention ensured that Hamilton’s lead was overhauled by Max Verstappen, driving with fresh tyres. It transformed a thrilling contest into farce.”

  Instead of throwing a tantrum, he graciously congratulated Max Verstappen, though the decision is being appealed. At present Hamilton is signed up to Mercedes until 2023.

  He was born 7 January 1985 at 3.30am (biography) in Stevenage, England and grew up with divorced parents, started racing early and as the only black competitor suffered a good deal of racist abuse.

  He has an ambitious and successful Sun Jupiter in Capricorn and was born at the time of the Full Moon in Cancer (split parents) and the opposition is sextile/trine an obsessively conscientious Saturn in Scorpio. He’s also got a 12th house Pluto in an ultra-determined and courageous trine to a passionately enthusiastic Mars Venus in Pisces; with Mars in a high-octane square to Uranus.

  Those who have raced beside him for years say they don’t really know what makes him tick and one commentator described him as “an outlier amongst outliers” so his tricky childhood would have given him a defensive shell. His Saturn on the Ascendant will also make him seem shut off.

  He has lost the super-successful tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter and before that Sun/Jupiter midpoint which made his recent years so fortunate. Next year looks the usual muddle of highs and glitches. Though tr Jupiter moving into his 4th might suggest (birth time being accurate) that he’ll want to slow down and relax more ahead.

 Max Verstappen, 30 September 1997 1.20pm Hasselt, Belgium, the present Formula One champion, is the son of a racing driver and the youngest to compete in formula one races.  He has an ambitious 10th house Libra Sun trine an adventurous and lucky Jupiter Uranus, in a wide sextile to a ruthlessly determined Mars Pluto in Sagittarius. His Virgo Moon Mercury are trine Neptune, sextile Venus in Scorpio – practical and charming.

  His Mars Pluto square Hamilton’s Venus Mars in Pisces so not much love lost there but it is a highly competitive sport so no surprises there.  

Julian Assange – a judicial football ++ Martian yod

  The Promethean torment of Julian Assange continues with UK judges now deeming he can be extradited to the USA, which will lead to lengthy appeals and a longer stay at Belmarsh Prison where he has been since 2019. His travails started in 2010 with allegations of rape and molestation in Sweden, leading to him seeking asylum in the London Ecuadorian Embassy in 2012 where he stayed for seven years until they kicked him out. That cost the Metropolitan police around £12 million to guard the embassy.

  His lawyers argue that extradition to the US where he could face 175 years in a maximum security prison could endanger his health and he has already reportedly suffered a mini-stroke recently.

  Whatever you think of Assange – and I don’t think much of his morals, decency or careless disregard in some of what he published – he did expose uncomfortable truths and official crimes and cover-ups which would otherwise have stayed hidden. Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said “Virtually no one responsible for alleged US war crimes committed in the course of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars has been held accountable, let alone prosecuted, and yet a publisher who exposed such crimes is potentially facing a lifetime in jail.”

No public interest defence is permissible under the Espionage Act.

Assange was born 3 July 1971 3pm (biography) Townsville, Australia with an 8th house Cancer Sun in a rebellious, revolutionary square to Uranus. He’s also got a mutinous-about-authority- father-figures Mars in Aquarius in his 4th. His angry, headstrong Mars is further emphasised/afflicted by being on the focal point of a wide-ish Yod inconjunct Pluto sextile Mercury – no surprises he channelled his rage into widespread communication. Plus an emotionally intense Venus in wayward Gemini square Pluto.  And a head-in-the-clouds Jupiter Neptune conjunction in an unrealistic can-be-paranoid opposition to Saturn. His judgement isn’t too sound.

  As he launched his high-risk wikileaks information flood in 2010 tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Jupiter for a burst of supreme confidence. Then the ceiling fell in as tr Saturn was conjunct his Solar Arc Midheaven with both conjunct his Pluto for a dead halt. And his over hopeful natal Jupiter Neptune had its enthusiasm well and truly dented as tr Pluto then moved across his Solar Arc Neptune and opposition his Solar Arc Pluto in the years that followed. That exemplifies Jupiter Neptune’s ‘false happiness’ streak with the fantasy-bubble bursting as cold reality breaks through.

   When he had his mini stroke earlier this year tr Saturn was square his Scorpio Moon and tr Pluto was in an intense and exasperated opposition to his Mercury. 

  He’ll stay bullish at times through 2022/23 with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint but that runs alongside high levels of nervous strain and mental confusion and nothing much that looks remotely cheering thereafter.

 Relocating his chart to London is bad news with Mars in the 8th, a hidden 12th house Sun and a domestically-trapped and unsettled Pluto Uranus in the 4th. If he’d not been so arrogant he’d have skipped off somewhere safer.

Pete Duel – another shooting star died young

Inner – birth chart, middle progressions at death, outer transits at death

Pete Duel, an American actor best known for the 1970 TV western comedy ‘Alias Smith and Jones’ was according to Quentin Tarantino one of the inspirations behind the character Rick Dalton, a washed up actor played by Di Caprio in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. Duel was found shot on New Year’s Eve 1971, reportedly suicide though as ever conspiracy theories pointed to murder.

  He had evidently been depressed about his excess drinking which had led to a road accident with a DUI court case pending and had talked about suicide early on in his adult life. Tarantino described him as an undiagnosed bi-polar.

  He was born 24 February 1940 7.59 am Penfield, New York with a creative, hidden 12 house Sun Pisces and an exuberant Jupiter Venus in Aries on his Ascendant. His Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries was conjunct Mars in Taurus with both square Pluto – which would give rise to intense frustrations. He did have a dark streak.

  When he died there was a transiting Pluto opposition Mars which would resonate with his deeper angst. His Progressed Moon was opposition his Progressed Mars and his Progressed Saturn was square his Progressed Pluto. All of which would contribute to a mood of black melancholy.  Tr Neptune was also square his Moon which wouldn’t clarify his thinking.

  The astrology won’t give definitive answers but it looks less of a brutal assault than was showing on the Hendrix chart, more a descent into deep gloom.

Ioan and Alice – two Yods don’t make a perfect pair

Ioan Gruffudd, a recognizable but not A-list actor (Hornblower, Australian TV Harrow etc), has split from his actress wife to hook up with his co-star. So far, so uninteresting. Except the Daily Mail has helpfully aired the wife’s chagrin at the split with a series of raging social media posts. All appears to be settling down now presumably the lawyers have got a grip to settle details of custody battles and alimony.

  The only fact of astro-intrigue in the scenario is that the about-to-be-former and humiliated wife Alive Evans was born on 2 August 1968 only three days before Marine Le Pen, the far-right French politician. She has the same bleak and fated Yod focal point Saturn as Le Pen and it squares her volatile Mars in Cancer. So she will have a short fuse. She’s also a Sun Leo so will feel the public dent to her ego more sharply than most. Her Sun is being elbowed by the tr Saturn opposition and tr Uranus square at the moment into early 2022.

  Not that he is exactly a slouch when it comes to heated discussions, 6 October 1973, with his Mercury in Scorpio opposition Mars in Taurus square Jupiter (Moon) in Aquarius. Though he has sensibly decided to keep his head down in public over this spat. He also has a Yod onto his Mars inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto so will be impulsive and self-willed. He’s also got an unbudgeable Sun Pluto in Libra square Saturn.

  His Sun is conjunct her South Node so he will tend to pull her back in a less helpful direction. To develop she needs to stand on her own two feet – with an Aries North Node.

  It will always have been an argumentative chemistry between them with a composite Sun Mercury square Mars in their relationship chart and a needs-space Venus Uranus.

Their Wedding chart of 14 September 2007 contained more than a hint of a turbulent, exciting and unpredictable liaison. The Virgo Sun was in opposition to Uranus square Mars and opposition Pluto and Jupiter. A roller coaster all the way through.

Crumbleys in the dock for junior’s rampage

Inner chart Ethan, middle chart father, outer chart mother

Ethan Crumbley, 15, the latest in a long line of school shooters, ended four young lives and wounded another seven of his peers, some of them seriously, on November 30th in Michigan. What is unusual in his case is his parents have been arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter. He used his father’s new 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, which he had claimed was his own in troubling Instagram posts beforehand, to which his parents had been alerted by the school.

  Born 28 April 2006 (wiki) he is a Sun and Moon in Taurus opposition Jupiter in Scorpio square Neptune – stubborn, over confident and delusional. With his Sun in a contradictory low self-esteem square to Saturn. And his Jupiter in a Water Grand Trine to Mars in volatile Cancer trine Uranus – Water Grand Trine types can be detached from reality, living in their own bubble. He would get double messages from his father which are always confusing for children – both spoilt and punished.

  It isn’t a particular brutal chart though his self-defeating 10th Harmonic is ruthless and over-pushy;  and his ‘serial killer’ 18H is also heavily aspected and stressed.

  His father James Crumbley, 25 July 1976, a Sun Saturn in Leo with Venus Mercury also in Leo seems to have been the main influence on him – though not clearly all in the right direction with Junior’s Taurus Sun exactly conjunct his father’s South Node and trine his father’s Mars and opposition his father’s Uranus.

  Their relationship chart has a power-couple/tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter square Pluto; and an unkind/cruel composite Mars Saturn – quite a mix.

  His mother Jennifer, 1 April 1978, a Sun Aries opposition Pluto trine Neptune had an even more fractious relationship with him – their relationship chart has a composite T square of Mars opposition Neptune Uranus square Sun; and a resentful, chained-together Saturn square Pluto. An elder half-brother (same father, different mother) left the family home last year because of difficulties with his stepmother/Ethan’s mother.

  Nothing much to conclude apart from the usual – the gun-toting genie is out of the bottle in the USA and there’ll be no stuffing it back in. That argument is well and truly lost. But holding parents’ responsible might just make a small dent in the problem.    

France – needing a steady hand on the tiller ahead + Jupiter Neptune

The France presidential elections due in April 2022 are hotting up with the four front runners spotlighted – Emmanuel Macron, the centrist president, centre-right Valerie Pecresse, far-right Eric Zemmour and equally far-right Marine Le Pen.

What’s clear from the France chart is that there will be widespread confusion, turbulence and upset which may not all be connected to the election but will have a bearing on it. Tr Pluto will square the France Neptune from March onwards bringing a widespread sense of devastation. With the France revolutionary and angry T Square of Uranus opposition Pluto square Mars being triggered from two directions. The Solar Arc position of the Fr Uranus opposition Pluto will sit directly on top of France’s Venus, which could be a considerable financial upset, though the economic news at present is relatively promising. The other is tr Saturn throwing cold water on the revolutionary T square from March 2022, on and off into 2023. It will be particularly noticeable in May just after the  new President takes up the reins from 13th May.

  France will be shaken to its core either by external events or – it it isn’t a stretch – by having made a quirky election choice and having panicky second thoughts after the event.

  Macron, 21 December 1977 10.40 am Amiens – a Sun and three planets in Sagittarius with a flamboyant Mars in Leo in his 7th and Taurus Moon –  was a surprise winner last time round with his reforming, upbeat approach which ran into the usual intransigence about changing the sclerotic top-heavy state sector. He has tr Saturn now moving below his Ascendant into his lower-profile, less successful quadrant. Which doesn’t mean he won’t win since that can take a while to kick in but he will be sailing into the wind. He’s feeling unloved running into the elections and nerve-shattered over the result.

  Valerie Pecresse, 14 July 1967, 12.10am Neuilly Sur Seine is a Sun Cancer sextile Uranus Pluto in Virgo and trine Neptune, widely square Mars in Libra in her 7th. Tr Pluto is in a frustratingly blocked square to her Mars through February to mid March so she’ll have a tough run up. Tr Saturn is better placed for her than Macron. But her Solar Arc Neptune is opposition her Mercury which will not give her a clear head for campaigning or laying out a strategy.

 Marine Le Pen, 5 August 1968 11.20am Neuilly Sur Seine – a Sun Venus in Leo with an ambitious 10th house Mars in Cancer in a publicity-attracting trine to Neptune, sextile a chaotic Uranus Pluto in her 12th; and a Saturnine Yod onto Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune with her Saturn square Mars. She’s a complicated, hard-edged, erratic personality who keeps trying and keeps running into setbacks. Tr Pluto is square her Saturn this month which is discouraging and moving on to oppose her Mars in 2023/24 which is very stuck. Her Solar Arc Pluto is also in a blocked square to her Sun now and her Solar Arc Mars in an even more trapped and irritating conjunction to her Pluto now and still in effect over the election – presumably downcast and enfuriated with Eric Zemmour stealing her thunder.

  Eric Zemmour, 31 August 1958 6.45 am Montreuil – is a controlling Sun Pluto in Virgo with an argumentative Mars in Taurus in his 9th and Saturn in Sagittarius in his 4th – not an easy man to warm to. Just to be difficult he has tr Pluto square his Jupiter over the election from March onwards which can be successful and is certainly confident. But at the same time tr Pluto is square his Sun/Saturn midpoint which can be depressing and sometimes coincides with health issues  Plus a couple of Neptunian enthusiasm-dampers.

  The usual muddle and ambivalence in all the charts. What is for sure is it will be a pivotal election.

ADD ON: Tr Neptune Jupiter in Pisces are also conjunct the France South Node. Jupiter Neptune in mundane terms often  coincides with financial bubbles bursting, which fits its standard meaning of ‘false happiness’ – overly inflated expectations. Ebertin has it as – poor speculation, a scandal caused through one’s own instability, losses, political conflicts. Visionaries, dreamers, hypocrites.

Thanks to Candy for: ‘The last time there was a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in Pisces was in 1856.

Late May- early June 1856 was marked in France by a sudden and massive rise in the water levels of major French rivers. The flood of 1856 went down as one of the major floods in the history of France.

There was also a boom in France (including a massive stock market bubble where stocks rose by 50% in 1855-1856) and then a crash and recession in 1857-1858.’

Jimi Hendrix – his flame still burns

A brief shooting star in the musical firmament, Jimi Hendrix’s legacy lives on as the greatest instrumentalist of all time for his innovative electric guitar playing. There is a new  collection of rare, unreleased Hendrix recordings now available from an official “bootleg” record label (whatever that is?)

  Hendrix was born 27 November 1942 10.15 am Seattle, Washington with his father initially away in the war and he had a fractured, poor childhood in and out of foster care with both parents drinkers. He was a shy, reclusive child who came alive when he got first a ukulele and then a guitar. After a brief and unhappy stint in the military, he backed other singers and eventually made his breakthrough in 1966. By 1969 he was the highest paid rock star in the business and was regularly using cannabis, hashish, amphetamines, LSD and alcohol.

  In September 1970 aged 27 he was found dead in London in mysterious circumstances which led to rumours of foul play though the coroner, while recording an open verdict, deemed it death by asphyxiation after taking barbiturates and alcohol.

 He had a creative and hidden 12th house Sun Venus Mercury in Sagittarius in a talented, super-ambitious, though highly-strung and scattered Half Grand Sextile with his Sun and Sagittarius planets opposition Saturn Uranus in Gemini trine an 8th house Pluto and sextile Neptune. His Moon Jupiter in Cancer were also in his 8th, hinting at supportive grandparents who were probably his saving grace.  A complex, self-doubting and troubled soul, driven by demons he didn’t understand.

   When he died tr Neptune was exactly square his Aquarius North Node and tr Uranus was square his Solar Arc Saturn, shaking up the central configuration of his chart. Tr Saturn was opposition his Solar Arc Midheaven and his Progressed Mars was opposing his SP Saturn. Most significantly three of his Mars midpoints were under brutal assault at the time.  

  A former roadie who worked for Mike Jeffrey, Hendrix’s manager (now dead) claims Hendrix was killed for a $2m life-insurance policy taken out amid concerns about his increased drug-taking, and that the manager told him Hendrix was “worth more to him dead than alive”. Wright’s version is that Hendrix was killed on Jeffrey’s orders by a gang who forced wine and painkillers down his throat until he drowned. The doctor on-call at the time said in an interview that the patient seemed to have “drowned” in a large amount of red wine.

  Tr Neptune was exactly square his Mars/Saturn midpoint = a mysterious death according to Ebertin, undermining of the vitality thro’ poison, gas or epidemic. Tr Pluto was also exactly conjunct Mars/Pluto = misfortune to suffer violent assaults.  And tr Uranus was conjunct Mars/NNode – quarrels, upsets within co-operative associations.

  Was he murdered? With these influences it is possible, but not definitive proof. A mystery that will never be solved.

Bob Dole – an alter-ego for the USA

The former GOP Senator Bob Dole’s death has brought a flood of ovations about his bravery, statesmanship and patriotism. He was badly wounded in WW11 but recovered to collect a law degree and enter politics, become a prominent player in the Republican Party, standing as potential VP and nominee in several presidential elections. He was regarded as bipartisan, one of the last figures from an era when Congress functioned well.

   What is less highlighted in the reverential  obituaries is his post-Senate career from 1996 lobbying for a range of shady and kleptocratic foreign figures. One commentator wrote: ‘In many ways, Dole helped open the floodgates to an explosion of sleazy lobbying that has drenched Washington in the past few decades.’

  He was the only former GOP nominee to endorse Donald Trump (and who continued praising the former president) and his own 1996 nomination was overseen by Paul Manafort (Trump’s erstwhile campaign manager, condemned by the Senate Intelligence Committee for his ties to Russian intelligence.)

  Dole was born 22 July 1923 12.10am Russell, Kansas, and had a patriotic 4th house Sun Cancer. His 3rd house persuasively and powerfully charming Pluto Venus in Cancer fitted the USA chart well and he even had the USA’s Saturn in Libra.  His Venus Pluto were in a Water Grand Trine to Uranus in Pisces trine Moon Jupiter in Scorpio, which would give him a healing presence for others though would also lock him in his own interior world. He looked a very private, secretive man from the chart. Hard-working, determined, quite seductive in a political sense and good at selling arguments to the other side with Moon Jupiter in the 7th.

  His Mars in flamboyant Leo close to his Sun and in an opportunistic square to Jupiter might give a pointer to his less than shining-white tendencies.