Astrology of Today’s News

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A federal investigation into Hunter Biden has concluded there is enough evidence to criminally charge him with tax crimes and lying about his drug use when he bought a handgun in 2018 according to reports. The US attorney in Delaware, a Trump appointee, has not yet decided whether to file criminal charges in the case.

  Biden’s lawyers believe the leak about a possible prosecution was motivated by “frustration inside the FBI over the time it is taking prosecutors to deliberate over this case.”  Hunter Biden confirmed he was under investigation for tax-related issues in 2020. His business dealings and consultancies in Ukraine and China have attracted political scrutiny and questions about the ethics of his connections to foreign businesses given his father’s political influence.

 See previous post June 4 2022.

  What is of key interest astrologically is that the Scorpio Solar Eclipse late this month will oppose Joe Biden’s Taurus Moon in his 5^th house of children. The timing is uncanny. Eclipses opposing the Moon usher in a testing few months where personal relationships are concerned, with heavy emotional involvement. Pulling away from old patterns is essential and if not volunteered for tends to be forced on the individual through an external crisis. In 2024/25 tr Pluto will square Joe B’s Moon for a challenging and can-be-anguished time.

 Hunter is clearly a blind spot for Joe. Hunter’s Neptune is conjunct Joe’s Ascendant so he’ll smokescreen his father and with H’s Pluto in Joe’s 10^th he’ll control him. But the potential for Hunter to undermine Joe’s image and cause damage in his career is built into their relationship.

  Their relationship chart has Neptunian overtones (shades of the Queen and Andrew); in this case with a composite Sun Venus sextile Neptune trine Pluto.   

  Jill Biden is less persuaded by Hunter with her Pluto opposition his Aquarius Sun and Venus; and her Saturn conjunct his Pluto. Their relationship chart is cool and edgy.

  Hunter, 4 February 1970 no birth time, has the tr Saturn square tr Uranus exactly in hard aspect to is Venus in Aquarius now; with a panicky-failure Solar Arc Mars opposition his Neptune; and a Progressed Mars in a car-crash-collision with his Sun around now as well. Quite an upset with more jolts and jangles through till early 2023 and Neptunian  swamps through 2023 and 2024.

The risk of a nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis according to Joe Biden after Russia suffered continuing setbacks in Ukraine. Despite Moscow’s nuclear hints, there have been no signs of an imminent preparation to use a nuclear weapon. But the red flags are going up of future risks if Putin keeps failing.

 The Cuban missile crisis ended on 28 October 1962 after a standoff between Nikita Krushchev and JFK. It sparked off on October 16^th when tr Jupiter in Pisces opposed Uranus Pluto in Virgo (not exact) and Mars and North Node in Leo opposed Saturn in Aquarius. Jupiter Pluto is power-struggling and into oneupmanship, who-blinks-first strategies – and Mars Saturn is military and destructive.

  There was little showing on the USA/Russia 1917 relationship chart. The previous Lunar Eclipse of August 1962 had the Jupiter opposition Pluto exact.

  The Hiroshima nuclear bomb, 8 August 1945 8.15 am Japan happened with an explosive Mars Uranus in Gemini in a heavy sextile to Pluto Sun in Leo and trine Neptune. Neptune Pluto would be what I expect and Uranus Neptune is also devastation/disaster prone. Despite the easy aspects the three outer planets were aspecting Mars which does point (none too clearly admittedly) to an event of considerable magnitude.

  This time round the USA/Russia 1917 chart is showing signs of aggravation through till late 2023. The USA/Russia 8 December 1991 relationship chart is agitated at the moment into early 2023 with the paranoid/high-anxiety tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting the composite Neptune at 18 degrees Scorpio. And further on is sinking under mistrust, panic and confusion until 2025.

  Both Solar Eclipses in 2023 in April and October have Pluto overtones, especially the October one – ‘immense power, anger and force’. The May 2023 Lunar Eclipse set for Kiev has the brutal, ruthless Pluto widely opposition Mars square Jupiter so could see an event of considerable potency; with Uranus back at 18 degrees conjunct the Sun on the Descendant.

  All straws in the wind and inconclusive but the Eclipses in 2023 look discouragingly stressful as does this month’s.

Oprah Winfrey never stops. A TV phenomenon, she moved seamlessly from her 25 years of a hit talk show, creating the confession culture along the way, into a media and business entrepreneur overseeing a $2.5 billion empire. From movies to owning a cable channel to weight watchers to an Apple TV+ interview series with celebs and on mental health issues.

  Assuming her birth time of 4.30am is sound, 29 January 1954, Kosciusko, MS, she has been stepping back slightly though not too noticeably since tr Saturn moved below her Ascendant circa 2017 onwards. She’s probably more selective at the moment about what she does and doesn’t do.

  The Meghan Harry interview happened when her Solar Arc Jupiter was conjunct her Pluto giving her a mighty boost – but in general this phase of several years isn’t a peak for her.

  Indeed with tr Pluto square her 10^th house Neptune last year and this up to early this December, she’ll be confused and indecisive about ambitions and direction. Pluto is poised on the brink of her 2^nd house of finances which usually coincides with a radical overhaul of approaches to money.

  Where she’ll get a considerable shake up is in 2024 when tr Uranus opposes her do-or-die-determined Mars in Scorpio and squares her Pluto – into 2025. She doesn’t budge easily if at all but that will shake her a touch.

  She lives in Montecito beside the Sussexes but the connection was never as easy going at the interview and PR looked. Her relationship with Harry in particular will be undermined going ahead. Oprah’s bulldozer Mars square Pluto clashes with Meghan’s freedom loving 5^th house Uranus and Harry’s Taurus Moon. And both Meghan and Harry’s Pluto falls in Oprah’s 10^th which has the potential to bring Oprah more influence or damage her reputation.

   Which may or may not be connected to Harry and Meghan trying to row back on their previous inflammatory comments to calm family tensions after the Queen’s funeral. Moves are allegedly afoot to fillet the whinge-and-gripe out of the upcoming scheduled Netflix documentary and his also fast-approaching publication of his nothing-but-the-truth memoirs. If true any such attempts will run headlong into commercial considerations with massive advances having already been paid.  

  Again Harry’s relationship with both Netflix and the CEO Ted Sarandos is the most troubled in the near future and through 2023, extending on into 2024. Meghan seems more unsettled with Netflix in 2024.

  Getting into mega-million dollar business deals takes a hard-head and clear sight about what is being signed up for. A change of mind this far down the road to water down family bombshells which were what made it sellable in the first place is not going to be popular with the money men who care only about ratings.

Mermaids, the transgender charity, is facing yet more criticism as it emerges (via a Times investigation) that one of their trustees, an academic in gender and sexuality studies at LSE, spoke at a B4U-Act pro-paedophilia conference in the USA years ago. Mermaids says the organisation is “completely at odds” with its values and has accepted his resignation. It follows on from a Charity Commission investigation into Mermaids launched last week after claims that it was handing out chest binders to children as young as 13 and 14.  

  The Times also revealed parents’ concerns last week after it emerged that children on Mermaids’ online forum were arranging to move conversations about experimental drug treatments and medical transition onto less closely supervised platforms.

  I can’t track down a birth date for Susie Green, Mermaid CEO, who took her child to Thailand for transition surgery when they were sixteen.

  Mermaids itself was started by a small group of concerned parents in 1995 – and what is intriguing astrologically-speaking – is that Uranus was then on the cusp of Aquarius.

  Two pro-paedophilia groups were also started when Uranus changed sign. The UK Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in 1975 as Uranus went into Scorpio. And the US pro-paedophilia B4U-Act founded in 2003 by convicted child molester Michael Melsheimer, as Uranus moved into Pisces.

  I am not remotely trying to collate transgender with MAP (minor attracted persons)/pro-paedophilia organisations but both are counter-culture outliers in the area of sexuality. Uranus can be an enlightened trailblazer and catalyst for social reform or a lawless contrarian intent on upsetting the status quo and revelling in causing outrage.

  Skipping across the charts of high profile pro-paedophilia spokesman like Tom O’Carroll, the convicted ex-head of the PIE, 8 August 1945 and Ian Dunn, the PIE co-founder, 1 May 1943 what stands out are a smattering of Gemini planets and an afflicted Mars. O’Carroll has Mars Uranus in Gemini sextile Sun Pluto in Leo and Dunn has Uranus Saturn in Gemini square Mars.

 Ralph Underwager, co-founder of the ‘False Memory’ (FMSF) movement in the US and reputedly the creator of the ‘false memory’ concept which sought to undercut allegations of child abuse, was also pro-paedophilia, 28 July 1929. He was a Leo with a T square of Saturn opposition Venus in Gemini square Mars in Virgo. He likened paedophiles to Christ on the way to Calvary and claimed it was a feminist conspiracy that condemned underage sex.

 Richard Green, an American psychiatrist, a vocal advocate of ‘false memory’ of child abuse, who worked in a London transgender Clinic in the 1990s, 6 June 1936, was a Sun Mars Venus in Gemini opposition Jupiter square Saturn opposition Neptune. He was in addition friendly with O’Carroll and wrote a foreword to his 2010 Michael Jackson book. Green hosted pro-pornography conferences in the US as well.

Michael Melsheimer, 21 August 1942, founder of B4U-Act, another Sun Leo with, more significantly, Saturn Uranus in Gemini square Mars Mercury in Virgo.

  There’s a whole messy hinterland in the ‘alternative’ sexualities universe. Not all are connected or support each other. But they do all share a rich seam of anger at being outside the established order and a law-unto-themselves determination to upset the status quo. They are driven by a conviction that their cause is righteous and everyone else is wrong.

   Uranus, the castrated god, is ruler, amongst other things, of what goes against the biology. It is an intriguing marker of organisations that pop up to proudly (at first) proclaim their courage in standing against accepted cultural values.  Uranus is also associated with Prometheus, who brought the gift of fire and scientific knowledge to humanity and was punished by the gods by having his liver pecked out daily by a vulture as his body lay imprisoned on a rock.

  Gemini despite being an Air sign and supposedly emotionally detached has an almost Scorpionic side. Mars Saturn can refer to damaged sexuality.     

Elon Musk has climbed down on his attempt to back out of his offer to buy Twitter in the face of legal rulings against his excuses for pulling out.  According to headlines it is a big pill to swallow, an embarrassing surrender and his least bad option.  Though it is still not a done deal and if it goes ahead he faces a difficult task in repairing the damage he’s done and rebuilding employee trust. Recent ill-judged (to put it mildly) comments about Ukraine won’t have endeared the user base either.

  Initially he appeared to have done minimal due diligence before leaping in with an impulsive $44bn bid and since then his lawyer made it clear that Twitter was a chaotically managed business. Although Musk is a self-confessed free speech “absolutist” and was expected to water down moderation guidelines if he took over, he has rowed back on his original statements of intent.

 Born 28 June 1971, a few days before Julian Assange, he’s a Sun Mercury in Cancer square Uranus – impulsive, inventive, defiant, rebellious. He’s also got the can-be-inspired, though also unstable-judgement and scandal-prone Saturn opposition Jupiter Neptune plus a contrary and wilful Mars in Aquarius.

Back in July 20 2022 I wrote:

He’s in a mixed phase with bullishly-confident tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint and sextile his Jupiter through 2022/23. Though at the moment his Solar Arc Mars opposition his Uranus will brew up a few ‘collisions’ to knock his self-esteem, derail his plans and may lead to wild reactions.

 What is also noteworthy is his Mars in Aquarius at 20 degrees (conjunct his NN).  My experience of this placing of Mars is it can be bloody minded in pursuit of its own freedom, contrary, and delights in being obstructive or causing trouble. It is being blocked this year by tr Saturn conjunct late August to mid September and in early December.

   Across the trial throughout October to mid November tr Saturn will oppose his Mars/NN midpoint for disadvantages and setbacks. Though admittedly Twitter won’t be too overjoyed either with tr Saturn conjunct their Neptune and square Jupiter.

 It wouldn’t remotely surprise me if Twitter imploded in 2025 when the transiting Neptune and Saturn will conjunct its Sun and the Solar Arc Uranus will also conjunct the Sun.

 Musk won’t enjoy the same success from 2024 onwards through the second half of the decade with tr Pluto trine his Saturn and then tr Neptune chipping away at his Sun and Uranus.  

Only two points of interest emerge from the latest of a very long line of  Trump books – his anxiety about Ghislaine Maxwell talking and his urge at one point to fire Ivanka and Jared.  Maggie Haberman’s Confidence Man is touted as “the book Trump fears most”. A reviewer says it “gives Trump and those close to him plenty of voice – and rope. The result is a cacophonous symphony. Confidence Man informs and entertains but is simultaneously absolutely not funny. Trumpworld presents a reptilian tableau – reality TV does Lord of the Flies.” Though it is questionable whether it will have much impact given that public interest is way beyond saturation point.

  Trump has not been mentioned much in connection to Jeffrey Epstein whom he fell out with years back but is clearly anxious about old tales surfacing.  His relationship with Maxwell has been under high stress over the past eighteen moths throughout her trial and continues to be so until late 2023. The story doing the rounds was that she had a little black book filled with influential names who would step in to protect her.

  Their relationship chart has a composite Saturn opposition Mars Neptune square Uranus and Saturn trine Pluto – so simultaneously chained together and explosive. Very high stress. And it could well erupt at some point over the next two/three years.

  Ivanka’s relationship with him has always been a source of astrological wonder since to outward appearances they seemed a devoted, admiring father-daughter duo, if with a few sleazy overtones. But their relationship chart has a composite Mercury, Sun, Mars, Saturn, Uranus conjunction with Uranus conjunct Pluto possibly square the Moon – a pressure cooker of resentment.

  Mars Saturn suggests a one-sided relationship where one partner has to suppress their needs and identity for togetherness to continue. Grit your teeth and say nothing. Around the time he thought about tossing them out but was talked down by chief of staff John Kelly, tr Uranus just into Taurus and tr Saturn just into Capricorn and both were in aspect to the Ivanka/Donald composite Sun, Mars, Saturn, Uranus setting up considerable strain.

  His relationship chart with Jared has that fated Yod of Mercury inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune Mars – and tr Pluto in Capricorn was at that point square the Mercury which would set up tensions.

  Jared has Mars in Aquarius and Ivanka a Scorpio Moon, both of which hard aspect Trump’s 12^th house Pluto, so senior would be a constant irritant, pulling strings and heaping contempt on them. But both the young couple also have a sweet-smiles, spaced-out Venus Neptune conjunction in Sagittarius close to his Moon so would be good at covering over the cracks and making nice, while seething behind the scenes. And naturally enough money would always be a factor since all three have Jupiter in Libra which fall in Trump’s 2nd house. His moneytree was there for the plucking.

Michelle and Barack Obama have hit the Pearl 30 year anniversary in their marriage with him saying he couldn’t have found a better life partner and she describing it as an adventure she wanted to continue for a lifetime.

   She has in the past been candid about stresses in their togetherness in an effort to let others know that a successful marriage takes hard work and will hit rough patches. In a 2020 podcast she said ‘There were times that I wanted to push Barack out of the window. But that doesn’t mean you quit. And these periods can last a long time. They can last years.’

   Barack was born 4 August 1961 7.24pm Honolulu, and has a contradictory and complicated 7^th house suggesting close relationships would be less than smooth running. A Uranus there makes him independent; North Node will also slide him back to doing his own thing rather than considering a partner’s needs so cooperation does not come naturally to him. Yet his Pluto in the 7^th is intense and possessive especially since it squares his 4^th house Moon. A Gemini Moon is restless but he always wanted a settled home and family life.

He’s all over the place emotionally, wanting one thing and the opposite.

  Michelle, 17 January 1964, Chicago, no birth time, is an ambitious, go ahead Sun Capricorn conjunct Mars in independent-minded and stubborn Aquarius.

  Her soft-hearted Venus in Pisces conjunct Moon sits in his 1^st house and opposes his Pluto so she stirs up an intense attraction in him and her Venus also trines his Venus in Cancer – a good romantic mix.

  But she shares his contrary and ambivalent approach with her Uranus Pluto falling in his 7^th – the urge for freedom fights a battle with a need for closeness.

  Her Sun Mars is conjunct his 12th house Saturn Jupiter and trine his 8^th house Mars; and her Saturn is conjunct his Ascendant which won’t add to warmth but will bring common sense to bear as she adds gravitas to his image and her Mars conjunct his Jupiter will boost his morale. Her Jupiter is trine his Sun for mutual support and enthusiasm. She’s also tapped into what runs below the surface in him with his 12th/8^th emphasis, and maybe understands him better than he understands himself.

  Their relationship chart is every bit as complex with an affectionate composite Sun opposition Venus in an enduring, business-like square to Saturn. The Saturn is square Neptune which will give rise to anxieties in the relationship. There’s an adventurous, power-couple, super-successful composite Jupiter opposition Uranus Pluto. As long as they pull together and don’t get into oneupmanship struggles between themselves they make a strong and fortunate couple.

  The composite Mars sits exactly on Barack’s Midheaven so the vitality in their marriage would aid his career ambitions.

  They were married in Chicago on 3 October 1992, when there was a sensible Libra Sun trine Saturn but the Sun was also in an argumentative square to Mars opposition a highly strung Uranus Neptune so the potential for explosions was built in from the start. Venus was also square Saturn and trine Mars for a mix of fire and ice.

  They’ve done remarkably well to hold it together and make a good partnership out of it with enough pluses in their relationship to balance the gritty edges.

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnyan President and close ally of Putin, infamous for egregious human rights abuses amounting to crimes against humanity in his own country, has called for a nuclear strike on Ukraine and has announced he is sending his young sons aged 13 to 15 to fight in the war.

  He was formerly in the Russian military and took over in 2007 three years after his father, then president, was assassinated by Islamists. He has been accused of kidnapping, assassination, and torture of human rights activists, critics, and their relatives, within both Chechnya and other regions of the Russian Federation, as well as and abroad, through the political use of police and military forces. He has advocated restricting the public lives of women and led anti-gay purges. The Kadyrov family has enriched itself considerably during its rule of the Chechen Republic with extensive funding from the Russian Federation.

Born 5 October 1976 he is a controlling Sun Pluto in Libra on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine sextile a wannabe-important Saturn in Leo and sextile Neptune – accentuated control-freakery.

He has Uranus North Node in Scorpio which will catch this month’s Solar Eclipse for a dramatic wake up call. That is followed by tr Pluto returning to the frustrating, trapped square to his Mars in Libra from earlier this year through this December to mid January and returning October 2023 which usually accompanies a total road block. His Mars is conjunct Uranus natally which gives him his volatile and disruptive streak which will resent more than most at being hemmed in – he will bubble with suppressed rage and may over react. He has another similar influence of tr Pluto square his Mars/Node midpoint from late March 2023, on and off to the end of 2024. So not a progressive period.

  But in amongst the downers he does have some lucky breaks so it doesn’t look like total annihilation.

  His presidency chart, 15 February 2007, is being tossed around with tr Saturn conjunct the Neptune from mid this November bringing uncertainty and confusion, and conjunct the Sun in early 2023. Then tr Uranus picks up the square to the Sun Neptune opposition Saturn to bring forced changes and high tension through into 2023/24. With late 2023 looking especially agitated with a Solar Arc Sun conjunct the Uranus.

  Chechnya, 27 October 1991, with its Scorpio Sun catching the this month’s Solar Eclipse and the Mercury Pluto in Scorpio catching the Lunar eclipse as well as tr Saturn square and tr Uranus in opposition in 2023 is in for a rocky and game-changing ride. With the deprived, tough-slog tr Pluto conjunct Saturn in 2023/24 followed by tr Pluto square the Sun and Mars making the years up to 2028 exceedingly stressed and high-risk.

  Once Putin goes, depending on who replaces him, Kadyrov could be left exposed.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark is slimming down the Royal family by removing the royal titles from her second son’s children, though they will be deemed count and countess. Prince Joachim is up in arms and publicly criticising his mother, though her actions follow a similar pattern to Sweden which in 2019 dropped titles for the children of the heir’s two siblings.  In 2016 Queen Margrethe decided the heir to the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Frederik’s eldest and second in line to the throne, would be the only one of her adult grandchildren to receive an annual stipend from the taxpayer.

   When she was crowned in 1972 only 45 per cent of Danes supported the monarchy which has now risen to 77 per cent with only 15 per cent favouring a republic.

  Queen Margrethe was born 16 April 1940 10.10 am Copenhagen, and is an enthusiastic, career-oriented Sun Jupiter in Aries in the 10^th. She also has communicative Mercury in Pisces close to her Midheaven and both Saturn and Uranus in Taurus also in her 10^th – so a public life was inevitable. Her North Node falls in her 4^th, suggesting that establishing a fulfilling home and family life would be an area she had to work at.  She also has Pluto Moon in Leo below her late Cancer Ascendant in an unyielding square to Saturn which will anchor her impulsive Aries tendencies and her excitable Venus Mars in Gemini.

  At the moment her Solar Arc Pluto is exactly conjunct her 4^th house North Node, as a family realignment and squabble occurs. Tr Pluto is also crossing her Descendant into her 7^th so her relationships will become more intense in the time ahead, at times bitter. She looks directionless this year into 2023 with tr Neptune conjunct her Midheaven; with heavy pressures from tr Pluto opposition her Pluto, square her Saturn and opposition her Moon over coming years.

  She is now the longest European serving head of state and the world’s only queen in her own right. Her accession happened with her father’s death on 14 January 1972 7.50pm Copenhagen. That puts a rock-solid, dutiful and hard-working Saturn in Taurus in the 10^th trine a sociable 5^th house Capricorn Sun widely trine Pluto. There’s a more complicated hidden-anger Mars in the 8^th in a volatile opposition to Uranus and widely opposition Pluto, both in the 2^nd.   I’m not familiar enough with the Denmark royal family to know how this worked out in practice but it is a bubbling cauldron.

Tr Uranus is conjunct the Midheaven in 2023 so a change of direction was inevitable.

 Prince Joachim, the second son, 7 June 1969 4.30 am Copenhagen, is a Sun Gemini, like his elder brother and his father, with his 12^th house Sun square a public-career 10^th house Pisces Moon opposition Pluto. Not hugely dissimilar to the UK’s Prince Andrew with his Pisces Sun opposition Pluto. Joachim was overly controlled as a child and has become just as controlling in adult life. Joachim also has his 4^th house Pluto conjunct Jupiter, giving him a pushy confidence about his roots which won’t take kindly to a demotion. He also has an under-loved Saturn Venus in Taurus; and an argumentative Mercury opposition Mars.

  His relationship with his mother has a possessive, power-struggling Sun Venus square Pluto and a resentful, gritty Mars trine Saturn. It will rock n’ roll through 2023 with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun Venus and tensions will remain high.

Crown Prince Frederik, 26 May 1968 11.50pm Copenhagen, has carved his own path in the past, running marathons, working among the homeless in Boston and becoming a member of the Danish Navy’s elite Frogmen Corps (like the US Navy Seals.)

  He has a 4^th house New Moon in Gemini with an unsettled and rebellious Uranus Pluto in the 8^th which focuses via a sextile to Neptune onto a Yod focal point Saturn in Aries. He won’t have an easy furrow to plough in life and his Saturn conjunct his mother’s Sun Jupiter hints at a tricky relationship.

  His relationship chart with his brother like Charles and Andrew is competitive and argumentative with a composite Sun square Mars and Mercury square Pluto.

  Who’d be a Royal? Family dynamics are always more pressured than for most with sibling rivalries blown up to epic proportions. And the lifestyle for all its perks is punishingly restrictive.