Astrology of Today’s News

Drawing attention to Princess Charlene’s absence from the Monaco celebrations to mark Prince Albert’s enthronement seemed a little off-colour given that she appears to be suffering from unspecified mental strain. She has been in South Africa for ten months with sinus problems requiring surgical intervention and only recently returned.

   Albert went out of his way to say it wasn’t relationship problems that were causing difficulty, though with allegations of a third love child last December just before she left, the state of their union is under question.

  Born 25 January 1978 12.35pm Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, she’s a cool, charming Sun Venus in Aquarius with changeable Uranus in her 7^th house of relationship square her Moon – so she was never going to pick a conventional partner or indeed settle happily to a 24/7 match.

  Albert, 14 March 1958 10.47 am Monte Carlo, is no one’s idea of an ideal match with a defensive Saturn in his 7^th; an uncomfortable and volcanic Mars and Moon in the 8^th and a controlling Pluto in his domestic 4^th. Plus an overly confident and carefree Jupiter Neptune in his romantic 5^th.

  He’s not in a good couple of years with tr Neptune conjunct his 10^th house Pisces Sun and square his 7^th house Saturn throughout 2022 into 2023. Lacklustre, undermined, relationship uncertainties.

  She looks uncertain, needing space in relationships if not a definite separation with tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting her Sun/Moon midpoint now until early 2022. But she doesn’t look as if she is getting much settled in the next several years. Their relationship chart always was beyond challenging and requiring great sacrifice from one partner with a one-sided, unkind composite Saturn Mars Moon trine Sun Mercury. It will be under increasing pressure for the next three to four years with a good deal of bitterness creeping in.

  The Monaco country chart 9 May 1949 has Venus conjunct Algol catching the present Lunar Eclipse and repeating for next May’s Lunar as well – for an emotional crisis. Plus a few more besides since its other Taurus planets will catch the Solar Eclipses next year as well. A stormy time ahead for the sunny ring-fenced tiny tax haven.

Covid rates are surging across Europe, with infections sweeping in from the east where vaccination rates are low. Case numbers are rocketing in central and eastern Europe, as  well as in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. Angela Merkel described Germany’s situation as “dramatic”, but its infection rate is lower than Britain’s which remains 30% higher than the average for the EU27. A small matter which Boris Johnson has skipped over.

  The Netherlands has imposed a partial lockdown. The ECDC  puts the new wave down to the more transmissible delta variant, middling vaccination rates and a relaxation of social distancing measures. It is thought only countries with vaccination rates of over 80 per cent – such as Spain, Portugal and Malta – will escape pressures over winter. Low vaccination rates tend to correspond to higher rates of Covid-related deaths. The UK is 68%, Germany 67%, France 69%, Netherlands 73%, Slovakia 43%.

  The EU chart does look rattled from mid December through till early February with the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the Taurus Moon and Uranus; with the Solar Arc Mars also opposing the Uranus now and shaking up its Fixed planets so it is on tenterhooks.

  The Austria, 12 November 1918 4pm chart, if accurate, has a 4^th house Neptune also catching the tr Saturn opposition till mid December which will accompany domestic uncertainty and unrest. The Austria North Node in Sagittarius with the Solar Arc Saturn close by will catch this December’s Solar Eclipse for a crisis at a crossroads with a few hard lessons and sharp reality checks.

  The UK also has its 8^th house Mars in Taurus being upended by tr Saturn square late this December across the New Year and tr Uranus conjunct through February. That may not all be Covid but it will be a bumpy ride one way or another.

 The European Central Bank, 1 January 1999, is also ploughing through heavy seas, perhaps for a variety of reasons with this December/January 2022 being especially fraught; and financial disappointments and a discouraging slog throughout 2022.  

Rumours that Joe Biden has been sidelining his VP Kamala Harris, with both their poll ratings plummeting south, have been stoked by her inner circle and denied by the White House. Her side complain she’s been handed politically-fraught issues with little support while her critics point to her missteps and dysfunctions within her own office.

  Their relationship chart is not ideal with a suspicious, doubt-ridden and cool composite Saturn opposition Venus Neptune which squares onto a no-compromise Uranus. At a pinch it could be useful for a joint reforming platform but more likely points to an instability in the relationship, with two strong individuals who want to walk their own path. There’s also a tough, stuck-together-by-circumstances Saturn Moon trine Pluto – which is admittedly sextile Jupiter which will offset some of the bleaker feel.

 Tr Pluto has been trailing confusion around this year with a square to the composite Neptune which ends later this month. But tr Neptune is in an enthusiasm-denting and undermining square to the Jupiter from April 2022 onwards, on and off till late 2023. It could turn inwards to dissolve the foundations of their connection, or could be an indication as a pair that they are floundering and not making progress.

  Even before then the tr Saturn square tr Uranus is battering the composite Sun Mercury with late this month to mid January looking especially separated, chilly and jolted; and again in March 2022. If it was a marriage it might well split.

  President and VP don’t necessarily have to get on but this pair are particularly not well matched with her short-tempered and hard-edged Mars in Leo opposition Saturn in Aquarius squaring Biden’s Sun and other Scorpio planets; with her evasive Neptune conjunct his Mercury and Mars. Her Saturn is also conjunct his South Node which won’t bring out his best side.  And Indeed Biden’s South Node is conjunct her Midheaven which wouldn’t suggest a supportive link.

  On her personal chart she was always going to face a tough two years from early 2022 with tr Pluto moving through her trapped 8^th house square her Libra Sun and her Aries Moon. She also has her Progressed Moon moving through her 12^th from three months back until August 2023 which is inward-looking, a time of endings and can be downbeat.  All in all she looks log-jammed and not content.

Technically he cannot fire her since she was elected but he could pressure/humiliate her into resigning and is free to say she won’t be his running mate in 2024. There was another suggestion that he could nominate her for the Supreme Court but how sound that is I’ve no idea.

See previous post August 22 2021

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been found liable for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, over his claim the massacre was a hoax. 20 children, aged five and six, and six adults were killed in 2012. The 20-year-old gunman killed his mother before the shooting and killed himself as police arrived at the school.

  The shooting was portrayed on Jones’s Infowars show as a hoax involving actors, aimed at increasing gun control. Families of victims said they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones’s followers because of the hoax conspiracy broadcast on Infowars. He has since acknowledged the shooting did occur.

  Jones continued his standard policy of failing to turn over documents, including internal records showing how and if Jones and Infowars profited from talking about the school shooting and other mass shootings. This violated court policy and the judge held he had defaulted on the case. This ruling follows a trio of losses for Jones in Texas when a judge in other defamation suits also found that he had failed to comply with court orders to hand over documents.

 Jones born 11 February 1974 in Texas, has a confident Sun Jupiter in Aquarius square a bullish Mars in Taurus; with his Sun Jupiter in a true-believer Air Grand Trine to Saturn in Gemini and South Node trine Uranus. Air signs are thinkers and a heavy Air chart can produce ideologues who hang grimly onto their pet theories no matter the physical evidence to the contrary. Or they just like a platform where their ideas attract attention and an audience.

  He’s more nerve-stretched than his defiant declarations against the judge and court ruling might suggest. His Solar Arc Pluto, elbowed by this week’s Lunar Eclipse is square his Jupiter giving him a touch of the rules-don’t-apply-to-me fever. But he’s running into discouraging Saturn Pluto influences this December and more jitters and jangles in 2022 – as well as a major upheaval as tr Pluto squares his Uranus and shakes up his Air Grand Trine.

And by 2023/24 he is in real trouble. Tr Pluto opposes his Mars/Pluto midpoint for a trapped, scary, enraging set of circumstances in 2023/24 plus a ‘shocking’ and insecure tr Uranus conjunct his Mars at the same time. And he’ll be into a swamp of uncertainty in 2024 as tr Neptune squares his Saturn on another leg of his Grand Trine. He is facing a game changing and life-altering three years ahead.   

From an old May 4 2013 post:

 Alex Jones is an American conspiracy junkie, a radio host, author, and documentary filmmaker. He has accused the U.S. government of being involved in the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, Sandyhook and now the Boston marathon bombing.  He says these are all ’false flags’ – a government and big business collusion to create a New World Order through “manufactured economic crises, sophisticated surveillance tech and—above all—inside-job terror attacks that fuel exploitable hysteria”.

 Eh? Who’s exploiting hysteria here? More pots and kettles or in psycho-jargon projecting the darkness in oneself onto others especially the big daddy others. He feeds his paranoia into the gullibility of the neurotic public who appear to be lapping it up.

 Born 11 Feb 1974 in Dallas, Texas, he has an Air Grand Trine of Sun Jupiter in Aquarius trine Uranus trine Saturn; with Sun Jupiter square Mars in Taurus, with his Sun and Mars 135 degrees from Pluto.

 His chart has fair similarities to that of the late Jorg Haider, Austrian neo-Nazi politician, who was a Sun Jupiter in Aquarius opposition Pluto and trine Mars.

 Aquarius’s sense of mission fuelled by substantial quantities of rage against power figures. Not quite sorted out his father issues clearly.

 David Icke, another conspiracy entrepreneur, doesn’t have any Aquarius in his chart but he does have a Sun opposition Mars square Pluto with Sun conjunct Jupiter – so similarly stressed Mars Pluto aspects.

 Whipping up paranoia is a dangerous tactic.

The Lunar Eclipse in late Taurus conjunct Algol this coming Friday comes at the end of a turbulent ten days with a bad-tempered, mishap-prone Mars in Scorpio square Saturn last week and then Mars in a disruptive, can-be-explosive opposition to Uranus this Wednesday. The alarm about Russia’s manoeuvring in eastern Europe will be part of it especially since the Lunar Eclipse located to Moscow sits across the Midheaven/IC axis. See previous post October 20 2021 for detailed run down. The others to watch out for are Joe Biden with his Scorpio Sun on the exact degree of the Eclipse. Trump with his Taurus Midheaven catching it as well. And France with its Scorpio Mars Midheaven. And indeed any other charts with major planets or axis on the Eclipse degrees. Though the Eclipsed Full Moon does square Jupiter which may soften a few of the rougher edges.

  The Queen is also affected with her Saturn Midheaven in Scorpio catching the Eclipse. She has surprisingly withdrawn from the Remembrance event at the Cenotaph this morning which she had hoped to attend after taking two weeks off on medical advice. The reason given was a ‘strained back’ which, if not a euphemism for something else, would fit with a Saturnine ailment since it rules the bones and body’s rigid structure. See previous post 30 October 2021.

The Solar Eclipse (New Moon) following at 12 degrees Sagittarius on December 4^th is in a Saros Series that is in a joyful, happy family according to Bernadette Brady. A bringer of good news and benefits that continue well after the eclipse has passed. Roll it forward.

Rarely a week goes by without a Meh Again story hitting the papers. Part of which can be attributed to the total idiocy of suing the Daily Mail which was never going to end well – or indeed ever end at all. And the rest to a jack-in-the-box tendency of the Sussexes to pitch in on whatever the trendy topic of the moment is.

  The Mail first – founded in 1896 on 3 May it has a stalwart Taurus Sun opposition Saturn in Scorpio which sits squarely across from Meghan’s Leo Sun; and its ferociously-determined and can-be-malicious Neptune Pluto in Gemini square Mars in Pisces is in hard aspect to her Venus. The relationship chart has a bitter, power-struggling-to-the-death composite Mars square Pluto – and it looks upended at the moment, under a dark cloud this December; jolted, jangled and high-tension through 2022 with tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on the Mars Pluto; and sagging badly for two years after.

  The latest kerfuffle comes from an admission that the ‘private’ letter to her father, the subject of her copyright lawsuit, was crafted with an eye to possible publication and that the Royal pair had sanctioned communication with the authors of the supportive Finding Freedom. New information released suggests the Royal pair, despite past piteous claims of being under-supported, were given a good deal of help and advice from staff. Meghan seems, extraordinarily, to have taken umbrage at the suggestion that someone, Harry or a staff member, should fly out to see her father before the wedding. Which at the time seemed like common sense .

  Her father is an important component of her life with his Cancer Sun on her Ascendant although he will be controlling with his Pluto conjunct her Sun. And she has Pluto in her 4^th so she will bridle at any hint of not being in control of family matters. He was a successful and respected Lighting Director in his career and paid for a good deal of her education. While she may have been concerned about him elbowing in on her moment in the limelight, it was all so badly handled it ended in a total mess.

  Harry wouldn’t help since his relationship with Thomas Markle is, if anything, more difficult. Not that he has ever met him which doesn’t help. Markle Snr’s Pluto Mercury square Harry’s Saturn for a communication block and Markle Snr’s Saturn opposes Harry’s Jupiter Neptune so he would have an enthusiasm-dampening effect – at least the idea of him would, since the reality was never tested.

  The Lunar Eclipse in Taurus conjunct Algol next week does hit Meghan’s 5^th house Uranus so will already have rattled her Don Quixote inclination to charge every windmill she comes across or dreams up. In the Royal household she was reputed, like Harry, to be extremely thin-skinned. She’s recently had to apologize to the court for misleading them in previous evidence which could well be part of the Eclipse effect.

[Don Quixote was a 17^th Century Spanish literary character who decides to take up his lance and sword to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked. In one memorable episode, he attacks a row of windmills, believing them to be gigantic knights. (This is the source of the common phrase “tilting at windmills” to mean attacking imagined enemies.) His delusions of grandeur make him the butt of many practical jokes.]

  She’s on an upward trajectory in terms of career ambition for years ahead. Though will be running into a few setbacks immediately as tr Uranus squares her Sun from late this month throughout December and is amplified and buffeted by tr Saturn opposing her Sun in the final week of this December.

  Harry will drift along with tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun continuing from this year through 2022. Their relationship chart is ploughing through heavy seas this month with the final tr Pluto square the composite Saturn; but December won’t be much better and next year has tr Pluto square the Pluto and then more significantly opposition the composite Moon from March 2022, on and off till late 2023, which will be extremely challenging in terms of family matters. And the pressures won’t lift with tr Pluto trine the composite Mars Venus in 2023/24. It won’t be a honeymoon.

  Difficult to see this whole farrago ending well. Such a shame for Harry who was doing sterling work with Invictus – but he’s got bees in his bonnet about the media and a lopsided view of his mother, neither of which make him think clearly.

See previous post: August 5 2021

A sensational story of murder, madness, glamour and greed – and all true – is a perfect movie scenario. Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, released later this month, stars Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, former wife of Mauricio Gucci from the Italian fashion house, who hired a hitman to kill him to prevent his remarriage, protect her alimony payments and ensure his fortune went to her daughters.  The daughters knew nothing of the plot and have distanced themselves from their mother since her release from a long prison sentence.

Patrizia Reggiani was born poor on 2 December 1948 7.30am Vignola, Italy with no knowledge of her biological father. She married Mauricio Gucci against his father’s wishes, who thought she was a gold digger.

  She has an upfront, exuberant, fiery Sagittarius Sun on her Ascendant, helping her become a fixture on the New York socialite scene for some years, friendly with Jackie Onassis.  She more significantly has an ambitious, go-getting Mars Jupiter in Capricorn on the cusp of her 2^nd house of money opposition a risk-taking and volatile Uranus.

  When he was bumped off in 1995 her Solar Arc Pluto was exactly square her Jupiter Mars, ramping up her greed. Her Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct her Pluto, turning her life upside down but not quite in the way she had though; and tr Pluto was in a devastating conjunction to her Solar Arc Neptune in the aftermath.

  Her husband Mauricio, 26 September 1948 1.10 am Florence, Italy, had Sun Neptune in Libra but he was no pussycat having also an ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio square Pluto Venus in Leo. Mars Pluto appears to be a family signature handed down from the original founder Guccio Gucci born in 1881 which tends to breed hostility and bitterness and no surprises that later generations were all at loggerheads.

  Patrizia’s Sun was in his 5^th house so a good companion for an active social life and for children but her Pluto, like his, falls in his 2^nd house so tussles over money were to be expected.  Her Venus in seductive Scorpio was conjunct his South Node and indeed her own – so a relationship that played to a less evolved tune.   

  Their relationship chart had the composite Sun conjunct South Node as well; with the tr North Node conjunct when he was killed. Karma at work.  On his personal chart his Solar Arc Moon was exactly conjunct his Pluto and square his Mars – the family curse came back to bite him.

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F.W. de Klerk has died who was the South African President who brought an end to apartheid and freed Nelson Mandela. Throughout his political career he had supported racial segregation but finally reckoned it would lead to civil war if it wasn’t dismantled. After the 1994 election put Mandela in as president he served as Deputy in the coalition government but resigned after two years.

  He was born 18 March 1936 11.30pm in Johannesburg, and had a 4^th house Pisces Sun square Jupiter in the 12^th and trine an influential 8^th house Pluto. He also had a resourceful and implacable Mars in Aries square Pluto and in an adventurous trine to Jupiter. And he had the signature Neptune opposition Saturn in Pisces of the day across his Midheaven/IC axis. Neptune can be caring; Saturn Neptune hopes for a better society. In the event he was unpopular both for his lack of fulsome apologies for the evils of apartheid and with the entrenched whites for having dismantled their power base.

  When Mandela was elected in 1994 the tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was opposition his Pluto, altering his life in a radical way.

 His relations with Mandela were strained which is hardly surprising given that Mandela’s Cancer Sun was conjunct de Klerk’s 8^th house Pluto for a deep and uncomfortably tense cross-over and power struggle which manifested as a hostile composite Mars Pluto in their relationship chart.  

  De Klerk’s connection to the South Africa 1910 chart is strong with a composite Jupiter trine Pluto trine Uranus North Node in the relationship chart. And that earlier South Africa chart was on its first Uranus Return when it transformed into a non-apartheid state.  

Whatever his failings he was strong enough to see which way the winds of change were blowing and adjusted his sails accordingly. 

Russian troops are massing on the Ukrainian border with warnings of a possible invasion. Belarus (a Russian client state) has engineered a migrant crisis on its border with Poland that could spiral into violence with most of the migrants want to get to Germany. And Russia has cut gas supplies to Europe, sending prices soaring with winter looming. The theory is that Putin is testing Western resolve in a world without Angela Merkel. She has long been seen as the only western leader with any influence on Putin and she’ll soon be gone.

  Putin’s 4^th Term chart, 7 May 2018 11.05am Moscow is brutal and crises-ridden with a Mars Pluto conjunction square Uranus. The Solar Arc Midheaven is conjunct the Uranus now and for several weeks ahead which could suggest a decisive shift of direction. Tr Pluto will conjunct the Mars through 2022 as it has done this year which can be frustratingly trapped or ruthless as he seeks to ride roughshod over obstacles.

Internally Russia is facing a a triple threat of rising coronavirus cases, new lockdown measures and surging inflation, veering towards 8%. The Solar Arc Pluto will conjunct the Mars exactly in 16 months but will be in effect before then which doubles up on the logjammed mood. This could stem from a myriad of problems not all foreign relations – though desperate leaders can make desperate decisions to divert attention from domestic problems. Tr Pluto is also square the 10^th house Uranus in 2023/2024 which will be unstable in the extreme.

 Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus President, first installed on 20 July 1994 and sworn in for a 6^th term after a disputed election on 23 September 2020. Both these charts are under extreme stress through this December and across 2022. So if he hangs on it’ll be by the skin of his teeth.

  Joe Biden’s Mars in Scorpio is close to his Descendant when his chart is relocated to Moscow, so it is a toxic hotspot for him. For Warsaw, Poland he has an indecisive Neptune on his Descendant.  He’ll be irked certainly. Whether he takes radical action is less sure.

See previous Post on Ukraine 13 April 2021.