Antony Sher, hailed as one of the greatest stage performers of his time, after an early rejection by RADA who told him to try a different a career, has died. He is best known for his ‘venomous, spider-like Richard III, scuttling about the stage on crutches’ which won him an Olivier, his Fool in Lear and on film as Disraeli in Mrs Brown.
He was born 14 June 1949 in Cape Town (no birth time sadly) and even in later years always felt like an outsider as Jewish, gay and South African. His talents stretched beyond the stage and screen. He wrote several well-received novels, memoirs and a few plays, was an accomplished and caricaturist. In his autobiography he write: “I felt I’d been born on the moon, not just in the wrong country, but on the wrong planet. I just didn’t seem to fit in to that very macho, rugby-playing, extrovert, outdoor-living South African society.”
He and his long-term partner Gregory Doran, the RSC Director, became one of the first gay couples to enter into a civil partnership in the UK in 2005 and were married in 2015.
He was a Sun Gemini with probably an Aquarius Moon. His Sun is just conjunct Uranus giving him a life out of the ordinary and the lack of integration of his Sun with the rest of the planets suggests an aloof, island-unto-himself type of personality.
His Mercury in Gemini, a key instrument for an actor, was conjunct Mars and square Saturn as well as trine Neptune and sextile Pluto, so was well stitched into his chart and making him well able to turn his anger, aggravation and sharp tongue to good use.
He also had a Yod of Saturn in hard-working Virgo sextile Uranus inconjunct Jupiter in Aquarius (and maybe Moon). Such a focal point Jupiter would give him the ability to have a strong effect on wide swathes of people and for all his outsider paranoia he would have a strong streak of self-confidence allowing him to take on monumental Shakespearean roles.
His creative 5th harmonic was powerfully aspected and even more so his actor’s 15H – and both indicate a leaning towards the darker side of life. His 13H, harmonic of exploration and genius, was also marked with an edgy Mars sextile Saturn inconjunct a super-confident Jupiter Pluto conjunction.
A curious mix of neurotic uncertainty and supreme self-assurance.
Actress Arlene Dahl, a 1950s screen icon whose fiery red hair, blue eyes and porcelain white skin made her a natural for the early years of Technicolor, has died. She was hardly ever seen with a hair out of place though she had a turbulent love life, including six marriages and an affair with John F Kennedy. She regarded her film career, based on her decorative looks, as an embarrassment with a short shelf life but profited from her immaculate image when she retired to establish a highly successful business selling cosmetics and lingerie.
Her first husband was Lex Barker, renowned as Tarzan, and followed by an Argentinian actor, an oil tycoon, a wine importer and a financier before settling down for nearly four decades with number six, a perfume executive 18 years her junior. She later wrote a syndicated astrology column, was an accomplished numerologist and said she had timed the caesarean deliveries of her three children, all from different marriages, to produce siblings with favourable astrological chemistry.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
She was born 11 August 1925 4.10am (birth certificate) Minneapolis, Minnesota, and had an exuberant, upfront 1st house Leo Sun conjunct Neptune, with Neptune conjunct Mars, so custom-built for a showbiz and a glamourous and publicity attracting career. Made more so with her Taurus Moon in the 10th. Neptune in Leo square her Moon and conjunct her Sun would give her an ethereal glow but would produce problems with commitment in relationships – either she baled or picked husbands who were Neptunian types. Her South Node was conjunct her descendant which probably didn’t help either. And her Venus opposed Uranus so her feelings would flip suddenly and make settled bonds tricky. Though obviously she mellowed with age.
But she had confidence aplenty with Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto – and with her Jupiter in an Earth Grand Trine to her Moon and Venus which is ideal for a beauty business. Though she did go bankrupt in the 1980s after a series of robberies and a business partner walked out.
Her Uranus in the 9th would attract her to alternative and unconventional beliefs.
Her son described her as a force of nature. Though with her North Node on her Ascendant she may have spent a good deal of her life unsure who she was, since it tends to undercut a strong sense of identity. Perhaps why she always had to have such an immaculate image in her early career.
She had an exceptionally strong 13th Harmonic which the comedian Peter Sellers also had which has been put down to his lack of a sense of who he really was. Though it is also associated with exploration.
Her 19H was also heavily aspected, which can be lucky and prosperous but forces the person to develop individuality.
The mind-numbing details about the life and death of six year Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, beaten, starved and tortured by his stepmother and father, have a ring of sickening familiarity. Both the perpetrators now face long prison sentences for murder and manslaughter respectively and social services are being hauled over the coals for their incompetence. Previous high-profile cases led to hand-wringing and ‘lessons learned’ promises but there always seem to be some that fall between the cracks.
Born 4 January 2014, little Arthur was a heavily controlled Sun Pluto in Capricorn square Mars opposition Uranus and opposition Jupiter. Even before the sadistic, clearly unhinged stepmother took over he was at the mercy of an alcoholic mother who stabbed a lover to death. The Mars Pluto theme in his chart runs through other similar abused-to-death children.
Elisa Izquierdo, 11 Feb 1989, New York, who died aged six at the hands of her mother after a prolonged campaign of abuse, had Mars in Taurus opposition Pluto with Mars trine Neptune Saturn.
Liam Fee, 12 August 2011, who died as a two year old at the hands of his mother and her partner, also had Mars opposition Pluto in Cancer/Capricorn squaring onto Saturn opposition Uranus.
Victoria Climbie, 2 November 1991, murdered aged eight by her great-aunt and boyfriend, was a Sun Scorpio conjunct Mars with Mars conjunct Pluto. Her death led to a public inquiry and brought changes to child protection policies in the UK.
Maria Colwell, 26 March 1965, killed as an eight year old by her mother’s boyfriend, had the formidable Mars Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn. Her death also stood out as a tragic landmark in child protection failures by authorities.
Heather West, 17 October 1970, daughter of the gruesome and barbaric Fred and Rosemary West, who ended up buried under the patio, also had an exact Mars Pluto conjunction in Virgo trine Saturn.
Given that Mars Pluto carries with it a theme of brutality, having to suffer violent assaults and being completely suppressed it isn’t so surprising.
Though not all who carry it in their charts end up destroyed as children – Mel Gibson, Christine Lagarde former IMF head/now President of the ECB, and war correspondent Marie Colvin were all born within days of one another in January 1956 when there was a fearsome Mars Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto. Though it is softened or at least given a more positive slant by Jupiter being conjunct Pluto. Mel Gibson’s father is a ranting and raving Holocaust denier so young Mel’s upbringing would be scary. Marie Colvin drank, smoked and acquired PTSD from her relentless excursions into danger so it didn’t come without a fallout.
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker was born on the same day as Maria Colwell with Robert Downey Jnr only a few days later with the same Mars Pluto signature. Sarah has sailed through though he ended up with major substance abuse issues, not surprising with a drug addict father and the dark frustration that Mars Pluto brings.
Michael Hutchence, the Australian actor and singer-songwriter, 22 January 1960, also a drug user and brawler who died by hanging, ruled suicide, also had a stressed Pluto trine Mars Saturn in his chart.
There are ways of turning even cruel, suppressive influences in a chart to good use though it isn’t always a matter of choice. But for those to whom fate gives a helping hand there can be a reasonable outcome in adult life. Ebertin gives the positive meanings of Mars Pluto as ‘great self-confidence and ambition’ and ‘the ability to demonstrate extraordinary force and vigour.’ Mars Pluto types are courageous and strikingly resourceful in crisis.
As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in his customary bleak and insightful way – “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” He had his Mars on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Pluto and Neptune and although it can sound trite and clichéd it holds a nugget of truth.
Barbados became a republic at midnight on 30 November after several centuries of being colonised by the British (following the Spanish and Portuguese) in the 17th Century. It gained independence on 30 November 1966 with the Queen remaining as head of state and she has now been replaced by President Sandra Mason.
The Republic chart is tough, but well-knit together with an assertive/determined Mars in Scorpio trine Neptune, sextile Pluto Venus in the entertaining 5th. There may be a suspicion of lack of commitment to neighbours and treaties with Neptune in the 7th but it is a nation that will demand attention with Pluto Venus in the 5th. The latter perhaps a pointer to it being a tourist destination with colourful and entertaining festivals. The Libra Moon is trine a hard-working Saturn, sextile the Sagittarius Sun Mercury which will help to give balance. Though the Saturn square Uranus will produce the odd hiccup along the way – in terms of employment (Saturn in 6th, maybe health) and foreign relations which will be unpredictable (Uranus in 9th). Jupiter in Aquarius in the 6th square Mars suggests a lively, adventurous and at times opportunistic approach.
China is considered one of Barbados’s closest allies and for decades has been an increasingly important trading and export partner. The China 1912 chart has its controlling Pluto in the Republic’s 10th house so no doubt who will call the shots though the China Jupiter is also conjunct the Barbados Sun suggesting it will be a supportive partner bringing largesse (with strings attached). The China Uranus is conjunct the Barbados Pluto Venus so it will be an agent of significant change for the country.
Sandra Mason, 17 January 1949, the president was a former lawyer and high court judge and Governor-General since 2017. She is a Sun Capricorn with a formidably determined Mars Mercury in Aquarius opposition Pluto. She’ll be under considerable pressure with tr Pluto conjunct her Sun from early 2022 till late 2023; and tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on her Mars from this December, New Year and January and then her Pluto throughout 2022. It will shake even her formidable courage. Not much of a honeymoon.
Her relationships with both the China 1912 and 1949 charts and with Xi Jinping all have controlling Pluto dominant, so she will be dancing on Beijing’s strings.
The Barbados Republic chart in relation to China 1949 is also dictatorial and monopolizing with a composite Sun Pluto Mercury in a tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter – it will come under immense strain after mid decade. The Barbados/China 1912 relationship indicates is a high-tension union with some plus points but again one-sided with a tendency to become aggravated over time about the power imbalance.
Sir Frank William, who has just died, rose above adversity to make an extraordinary success of his Formula 1 racing team. Early on in his career after he ran out of money, he was making business calls from a public telephone box. And he came back after a catastrophic car crash in the 1980s which left paralysed and in a wheelchair, needing constant carers for the rest of his life. None of which stopped him from winning innumerable championships with his team and 114 Grand Prix victories.
He was born 16 April 1942 in South Shields, England (no birth time) and was an irrepressible Sun Mercury in Aries, which sign has the enviable ability to bounce back after setbacks to try, try, try again. His Sun Mercury were sextile an exuberant and adventurous Mars Jupiter in Gemini which would keep him upbeat as well. He did have three Earth planets, maybe four with the Moon in Taurus, which would give him an essential grounding for the technics of the car world.
His 16th Harmonic is marked – supremely confident, keen on thrills and excitement with Mars and the Sun linking to Jupiter Pluto. The 16H is one of extreme endurance – in Vendla’s numerology description “ warning against catastrophes, disappointments, accidents, disasters. Life as you know it might change completely. Sometimes this is self-inflicted, sometimes it is not.” And, of course, he picked a sport where deaths are not unknown including Ayrton Senna who was racing for the Williams Team when he was killed.
When the car crash happened in March 1986 as he misjudged a bend on a road, his Solar Arc Jupiter/Mars was conjunct his Pluto and a transiting Mars Uranus in Sagittarius was veering towards the opposition to his Mars.
I might hazard a guess at a 7 am birth time which would put racy Mars in the 3rd and tr Neptune at his Midheaven when he crashed.
Josephine Baker, the American Folie Bergere dancer, who started life as a street kid in segregated Missouri and went on to become a World War II spy for France and resistance fighter; as well, later, as a civil rights activist in the USA, is being given an honoured spot in the Pantheon, a monument to national heroes. She is the first black woman to receive the honour and will lie alongside Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo and scientists Pierre and Marie Curie.
Born 3 June 1906 St Louis, Missouri, 11 am (biography?) she never knew her father, started work at 8 as a live-in domestic for white families where she was abused and eventually ran away to marry twice in her teens, at 13 and 15, before moving to Paris. There she became an icon of the city’s Jazz Age in the Roaring Twenties (Neptune in Leo), accentuating many African stereotypes of the colonial time in a banana skirt and little else. She became a French citizen after her marriage in 1937 to Jewish industrialist Jean Lion, who suffered from anti-Semitic laws; and at the outbreak of war offered her services to French counter-intelligence services and De Gaulle, working as an informant.
After the war, she became involved in USA anti-racist politics, fought against segregation during a 1951 performance tour of the US, causing her to be targeted by the FBI, labelled a communist and banned from her homeland for a decade. She spoke at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Baker adopted 12 children from all over the world as part of a “Rainbow tribe”, living in a castle in the southwest of France.
What a life.
She had five planets in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces – her Sun, Mercury and upbeat Jupiter with her Jupiter conjunct a formidably courageous and attracted-to-danger Mars Pluto conjunction. The Saturn square would give her problems early on with low self-esteem and setbacks but would also instill a work ethic. She emerged from a brutal childhood to become her own woman.
She also had a creative and idealistic Venus Neptune in Cancer in the signature opposition to Uranus of the time. Significantly she also had a ‘leadership; North Node in Leo so was never destined to spend a life like her mother in poverty.
While I am not entirely convinced by the birth time since it doesn’t show France as a key location for her, it would put tr Pluto going through her 12th during WW11 which would make sense. And even without an accurate birth time, her Solar Arc Neptune Venus opposition Uranus were crossing her leadership Leo North Node in the hidden 12th then which would also fit.
Her creative 5th and especially her musical 7th Harmonic charts were well aspected. But it was her victim/healer 12th which is outstandingly strong, linking the Sun and Moon to a revolutionary Uranus Pluto and confident/lucky Jupiter.
The kind of person who should make all of us shut up and stop complaining about our tough lives and making excuses.
The stranger-than-fiction and horrifying tale of how a rape that produced a best-selling book also led to an innocent man having his life ruined has finally been told. Student Alice Sebold was raped in 1981, thought she saw her rapist months later but didn’t identify him at a lineup. The prosecutor then coached her into saying she had got it wrong and rehabilitated her misidentification and a guilty conviction was cemented on the basis of a faulty analysis of a piece of hair. Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years inside, was denied parole five times because he wouldn’t admit to a crime he didn’t commit and passed two lie detector tests. He was released in 1999 the year Sebold wrote her memoir ‘Lucky’ which sold one million copies. She went on to write the Lovely Bones, another best seller which became a film and a stage play.
Even once released he had no life since he was on the sex offenders register, and although married decided not to have children because of the stigma.
He was exonerated this week in court because of the efforts of a film producer, working on a Netflix adaptation of the book, who became suspicious of the facts presented and investigated further after he parted company from the project.
What is striking about the crossover between Alice Sebold, 6 September 1963, and Anthony Broadwater, 16 November 1960, are the Nodes. Her Virgo Sun Pluto Venus is conjunct his North Node. And his Mars is conjunct her Cancer North Node with his Saturn conjunct her South Node.
They had never met before and indeed may never meet in future since she seems to have gone to ground as the demand for a public apology grows. But they were bound together by a strange and perverse fate.
He has a Mars opposition Saturn perhaps square a Libra Moon – which does suggest a harsh experience of life. His Scorpio Sun square Uranus was being triggered by tr Mars square tr Uranus in the year when his life fell to bits.
Their relationship chart has a composite Mars Pluto Uranus conjunction sextile Venus Neptune which certainly suggests a destructive interface with deceptive Neptunian overtones.
Sebold has a scattered Virgo Sun conjunct Venus, Pluto and Uranus; with a lucky and adventurous Jupiter in Aries opposition Mars with Mars in a hard-edged trine to Saturn. She’s looking very hemmed in and trapped through 2022 as she has been in 2021 as the legal process got under way with more panics in 2022 – and the next several years look exceptionally uncertain, stressed and nervy so the fall out may weigh heavily on her.
No judicial system is without its flaws but the USA record is shameful in terms of wrongful convictions especially involving black defendants.
Amol Rajan: The Princes and the Press. BBC Part Two November 29.
Cancerian Prince William took the full brunt of the recent Taurus Algol Lunar Eclipse sitting on top of his Venus in Taurus. He has gone to war on the BBC, fully supported by the other senior Royals, to object to Amol Rajan’s two part documentary on The Princes and the Press. Part One last week gave air time to the Sussexes’ lawyer and hagiographer Omar Scobie but did not give equal access to the other side of the story. As a result Prince William and Kate took their live carol concert away from the BBC and gave it to ITV instead.
An Eclipse on Venus is emotionally upsetting and can accompany a painful crisis. He’ll get a rerun from next May with the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse doing similar. Royal feelings are still raw after the recent Martin Bashir climbdown over the Diana Panorama interview.
Amol Rajan, the BBC’s ubiquitous new hot talent, a Republican by inclination from past twitter form, was born 4 July 1983 and is a resourceful and excitable Sun, Mercury, Mars in Cancer with a tough-minded and persevering Saturn Pluto in Libra and an adventurous, lucky Jupiter Uranus in Sagittarius.
He was always going to have a provocative not to say incendiary effect on William. Rajan’s Mars in conjunct Will’s Cancer Sun Moon and Will’s Mars Saturn are square Rajan’s Sun. Cancer and Mars do tend to work on the simplistic rule of thumb – water makes fire boil.
Rajan’s Sun is also conjunct Will’s North Node, which latter has an undertone of pride; and Will’s Neptune Ascendant are opposition Rajan’s bull-in-a-china-shop Gemini North Node. That and an interwoven relationship chart with a composite Sun North Node, and the composite Mercury tied into Neptune, Mars, Saturn Pluto suggests a ‘fated’ encounter which might have wider ramifications.
Will’s relationship with the BBC chart has this December’s Sagittarius Solar Eclipse conjunct the composite Mars which is likely to cause further aggravation.
The fraternal relationship between William and Harry was always due to have a bust up around now with the combative, argumentative composite Sun square Mars catching the tr Uranus square Sun exactly now, with a further bucket of ice water through December/January with the tr Saturn hard aspects to both the Sun and Mars; and more rifts come April 2022 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars.
Amol Rajan has a raft of uncomfortable, undermining and less than ecstatic transits to midpoints in 2022 with only one stroke of luck, so the fall-out may slow his rapid progress up the BBC ladder. Or not. Since the BBC can be remarkably tin-eared and inclined to dig its heels in hard when criticized, whether justified or not.
See previous post 11 September 2021 Royals rising their legacy with thoughts on the 2036 Eclipse.
Neptune, planet of spirituality, illusion, delusion, deception, creativity and vision moves out of its own sign Pisces, where it has been since 2011, into Aries in 2025 staying till 2038. Looking back on historical events linked to its stay in upfront and pro-active Aries, not an easy combination, there are some constants but there will be additional cultural or psychological effects which the history books don’t describe. Aries Fire won’t always sit comfortably with Neptune’s Water. Though ‘Neptune in Aries may be about individuals submitting themselves to a bigger cause than themselves. It does seem to coincide, in the Western world at least with an increase in individual rights and was one of advancements for formally disenfranchised people.’
1861 – 1874: Most notably this covered the American Civil War, which arose after the abolition of slavery, which had been banned in Europe decades earlier.
Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head (ruled by Aries) and died.
In Russia Alexander 11 signed the Emancipation Act liberating serfs in 1861.
The Bahai faith was founded as was the forerunner to the Salvation Army and the Geneva Convention established the Red Cross.
The first UK trade union was legalised in 1872 and in the U.S. the “Knights of Labor” was set up. The U.K. Education Act of 1870 brought in elementary schooling for all children and legislation on child labour. The USA gave voting rights to all ethnicities. The UK Married Women’s Property Act allowed married women to retain their earnings and inherit.
Italy was unified in 1860 and Canada came into being.
Prince Albert dies, Victoria’s consort and the ‘uncrowned king of GB.’
Famines in Finland, Sweden and India – of greater magnitude than usual.
1697 – 1710: The ill-fated Darien Scheme, which lost 20% of Scotland’s money, led to the Act of Union with England in 1707.
The Act of Settlement in 1701 establishing the succession to the English throne, put the childless protestant Queen Anne on the throne, leading on her death to the establishment of the Hanoverian Monarchy in 1714.
Peter 1 Great regenerated Russian society and started expansion westward.
Famines of greater magnitude than usual in Estonia, Sweden and Finland, the last wiping out almost a third of the population. Two million die of famine in India; 250,000 die in East Prussia and 600,000 in France.
1533 to 1547: Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII and the split from Rome establishes the Anglican Church.
Wales becomes part of the Kingdom of England.
Henry declares himself and his heirs as Kings of Ireland, replacing the Lordship of Ireland with the Kingdom of Ireland.
1370 to 1383: In England, the ‘Good Parliament’ attempted to highlight the corruption of the Royal court and to reform the government. John of Gaunt, the effective ruler, replaced it the next year with a ‘Bad Parliament’ which undid the advances.
1206 to 1219: The English Barons force King John to sign the Magna Carta, in an attempt to curb the power of the monarch.
1042 to 1056: Westminster Abbey built, 1050. East-West schism in Catholic Church.
Edward the Confessor became King of England and restored the Saxon line after the Danes had conquered England under Cnut. As in 1533 England took a break from the European continent though it did not last long.
878 to 892: England has become unified for the first time under Alfred the Great a few years before (871).
551 to 564: ?
PS. Thanks to those who commented last time and added thoughts which I have incorporated.
Andre Barbault writes of the 2026 Saturn Neptune conjunction: “It is the most benefic configuration of the century and the interplanetary partnership will work for the best in a splendid relaunch of civilization. It contains a harmonious relationships between primordial polar opposites, the coming together of the external and internal, rational and spiritual, mind and soul …. human beings surpassing themselves while experiencing life on a higher level. “
I hope he’s right – previous Neptune Saturn in Aries – 878 AD and 1381.
From Speedy:
551 – 564 This period came after the plague of Justinian (541-549) devastated the Mediterranean area and Western europe weakening the Roman Empire which became susceptible to invasions. The Abbey of Iona was founded in 563, an important focal point for the spread of Christian religion.
878-898 Alfred the Great was at his greatest during this period uniting an English force to beat off the Norse invaders. He also concluded a treaty in 878 which established spheres of influence and the Danelaw north of Watling Street.
1206- 1219 Apart from Magna Carta we had a child king on the throne (Henry III) whose advisers fought off a French invasion. Henry III’s reign was long and peppered with divers tumults and civil disturbances but the King was notable for enhancing Westminster Abbey.
1370- 1383 We have the aftermath of the Great Plague, a child king (Richard II) and a peasants’ revolt.
