Astrology of Today’s News

Katherine Birbalsingh, known as Britain’s strictest head teacher with an outstanding educational record in her school, is facing legal action over a ban on prayer rituals. She defended the policy, arguing that it was vital in order to “maintain a successful learning environment where children of all races and religion can thrive”.

  Previously, the court heard there had not appeared to be any great appetite for prayers at the school, where about half of the pupils are Muslim. Last year, however, a growing number of children began praying during their lunch break, increasing from a single child to 30 in a matter of days. The prayer sessions led to growing segregation between non-Muslim and Muslim pupils in the playground, and that a number of Muslim children were observed by teachers applying peer pressure to other Muslim children, encouraging them to be more observant. In one alleged incident described to the court, a child who had never previously worn a headscarf was pressured to wear one. A Muslim girl was said to have dropped out of the school choir after she was told by other Muslim children that it was haram (forbidden), while a number of other children were told they were “bad Muslims” for not praying and had begun to pray, according to written arguments before the court.

  Birbalsingh defended the “the culture and ethos” of the school where “children of all races and religions buy into something bigger than themselves: our country”.

  She was born 16 September 1973 in Auckland, New Zealand, with an academic father, grew up in Toronto, and was a Socialist Worker Party member (far left) at Oxford.

  She is Virgo at befits a perfectionist teacher, with a singular and complicated chart. She has a lucky, confident Jupiter in Aquarius square Venus opposition Mars Moon in Taurus. Her Jupiter is in a confident trine to Pluto and Mercury which in turn are in an unyielding, tough-minded square to Saturn. She also has two yods of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars (Moon) and Saturn sextile Mars inconjunct Neptune – a curious mix of idealism from Neptune and hard-driving determination from Mars with a dollop of argumentative zealotry from Mercury conjunct Pluto.  She is a divisive and controversial figure though she does get results in a school where most of the pupils have English as their second language.

  I would have to admit to a personal bias in this argument since I am allergic to almost all organised religion and especially dislike the bullying, coercive streak amongst certain Muslims to which the UK – and elsewhere – appear not to have found an adequate response.  

  Politicians’ inability to grapple with voters’ concerns about immigration, ranging from an overloading of the welfare system and housing provision, to fear of terrorism and criminality as well as an insidious or overt shift in the culture has the risk of opening the doors to far-right populist candidates.  In 2001 then Tory leader, William Hague spoke of Britain being at risk of becoming at some point unrecognisable, which evoked a horrified response tagging him with the Enoch Powell stamp.

  The Home Secretary recently criticised ‘do-gooders’ who stopped the deportation of violent criminals back to their home country. Detention Action is one charitable organisation concerned with the welfare of immigrants, whose activist member on a plane helped block the deportation of a Jamaican criminal, involved in a shoot-out on a Birmingham street, who has convictions for gun and drug-related crimes.

 Detention Action, 24 July 1997, is a Sun Leo opposition Neptune and Uranus – so idealistic and defiant – with the can-be-fanatical Uranus Neptune taking centre ground.  There’s also a stubborn Mercury square Pluto and and a hard-edged, maybe victim-focused Mars opposition Saturn. Except in this case the victim was the perpetrator.

  Not sure the astrology adds much to this argument – continuing on from the previous post 3 December 2023 – Europe: clash of cultures. 

  But it is rapidly becoming the key election issue. Like the Post Office scandal it has been brewing for years without it breaking through into a MUST FIX issue.   

Add On: Follow on media thoughts on the court action Telegraph.

“There’s a vital principle at stake in the case: whether ‘rights’ culture is allowed to trump social cohesion.”

“Birbalsingh is asking everyone to give up something, not to insist on everything, so we can all get on. We all need to compromise.”

“On one hand is what the French call laïcité: an agreement to leave religion out of certain areas (like the classroom) so that people of all religions and none can rub along together.

Against this we have the grievance industry, preaching minority rights. Claiming that “freedom of religion” somehow compels schools to open prayer rooms, or drop whatever may offend a minority – like Macbeth or Sunday study or plates that touch eggs – even if they are within majority national culture.”

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  Outer planet changeovers are not for the faint hearted. Alongside positive advances there is inevitably a showcasing of the worst side of the planet involved. As if the scales have to be balanced  – no good without the bad, no joy without sorrow, no peace without war.

 This is a rehash of previous posts.

  In the year or two before a Pluto transition into a new sign and several after, there has always been a ferment of unrest often armed conflict.

Pluto in Aquarius: The American Revolutionary War began in 1775 when Pluto was at 26 degrees Capricorn and ran on till 1783 with Pluto at 9 degrees Aquarius, during which years the French and Spanish joined in on the side of the US colonies against Great Britain. GB was also at war with the Dutch and fighting with Spain over Gibraltar.

 Around that time In 1774, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Catherine the Great, making Crimea independent, which was then incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1783.

  To balance the scales James Watt invented the steam engine which was fundamental to the Industrial Revolution which followed.

  And not just Pluto’s entry into Aquarius. More often than not when Pluto ventures into a different sign, every fifteen to twenty years, the changeover has been marked by the start of violent clashes lasting several years. Pluto into Taurus in 1853, Crimean War. Pluto into Cancer in 1914, World War One. Pluto into Leo in 1938, Spanish Civil War and WW11 approaches. Pluto into Virgo in 1956 Russia invades Hungary. Pluto into Libra in 1982, UK versus Argentina over the Falklands. Pluto into Capricorn in 2008, Russia invades Georgia.

  Neptune moving into Aries as it does in 2025 has a track record from the previous time in the 19^th Century for humanitarian advances. It produced the Geneva Convention, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Bahai faith, and the emancipation of the serfs in Russia. It also oversaw the US Civil War in 1861 with the abolition of slavery at its heart.

 On the downside in 1914 Neptune was in late Cancer preparing to move into into Leo for World War 1. In 1929 it moved into Virgo for the end of the Roaring Twenties and the start of the Great Depression. In 1942/42 Neptune into Libra during World War 11 was when the Holocaust and gas chambers got under way. In 1957 into Scorpio when H2N2 flu killed 1 million globally. In 1984 into Capricorn when the Ethiopian famine killed 1 million, triggering BandAid/Bob Geldof and a global charitable effort. In 1998 into Aquarius for the Kosovo War start, and the 2nd Congo War which killed 5.4 million, the bloodiest conflict since WW11. The Good Friday Agreement brought peace to Northern Ireland. In 2011 into Pisces for the Arab Spring, Bin Laden killed, Kim Jong Il dies.

  Uranus moving into Gemini in 2025 for seven years has an equally mixed (good and bad) track record of outcomes to the other outer planets. It coincided with the American Civil War during the 1860s; the American Revolution in 1775/76; and in 1942/43 came on the back of the Pearl Harbour attack which precipitated USA entry into World War 11.   

   Revolutions are a key outcome of the Uranian push for freedom at all costs. The 1968 Uranus into Libra brought the start of the Irish Troubles and the Stonewall riots for gay rights. The Eastern European uprisings of 1989 when the Berlin Wall was collapsed with Uranus just into Capricorn. That year apartheid in South Africa started to be dismantled.  The Arab Spring coincided with Uranus moving into Aries in 2011.  The destructive side of Uranus comes out with brutal suppressions as in Tiananmen Square in 1989 (in Capricorn); the Holocaust in 1942/43 (in Gemini); Nazism on the rise and the Night of the Long Knives purge in Germany in 1934 with Uranus moving into Taurus. And the Titanic sank as Uranus moved into Aquarius in 1912.

  But it also brought technical and scientific advances which altered the face of global culture – television, airplane development and space travel.  The internet moved from early computing in the 1955/6 Uranus into Leo, further advances in 1962, Microsoft being founded in 1974 with Uranus just into Scorpio, first computer virus on the next in 1981 when moving into Sagittarius, then 1989 into Capricorn the first commercial internet providers and the WWW.

 To be remembered – no planet works its magic or mischief in isolation from other planets.  In 1942 for example Uranus moved into Gemini, Neptune into Libra and Pluto was in early Leo. Each will have thrown its contribution into the cauldron to produce a blended effect.    What is marginally reassuring is there is not a Saturn Pluto hard aspect until 2028 or a tumultuous Uranus Pluto until the late 2040s which often cause the most havoc.

Ominous warnings of possible Russian incursions into neighbouring Baltic countries in the aftermath of the Ukrainian invasion have been voiced in Germany and by the Estonian prime minster. The timescale they foresee is not imminent but it would involve NATO anywhere between three to five or eight years hence.

  Having had a quick skip through relevant charts it is clear that Uranus moving into Gemini will be the trigger for all manner of significant unrest with aggravations showing up in the Russia relationship charts with Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Not necessarily instantly but around 2027 and onwards.

 The NATO chart itself, 24 August 1949 11.42am Washington, DC, has a Virgo New Moon Saturn conjunction so will be rattled by tr Uranus squares from 2026 onwards. It will be facing major challenges by 2026 with a dead-halt SA Sun square Pluto.

    The two Russia charts, 1917 and 1991, both have Mars in an early Mutable sign – Virgo and Sagittarius. And the three Baltic States in their relationship with Russia are flagging up 2027 to 2029 as times of high alert.  

  The Russia 1917 chart is recording a significant setback later this year after an aggravated start to 2024. The 1991 chart is pointing to an explosive 2027 with SA Mars conjunct the Uranus – though there could also be a major natural disaster with a SA Neptune square the Pluto which often brings devastation.

  The NATO/Russia 1991 relationship chart shows a definite downturn in 2025/26 with high tension following. The NATO/Russia 1917 hints at a spike in tension from July this year onwards with the October Solar Eclipse marking a crisis point in both relationship charts.

  There really does seem no let up from the doom, gloom and catastrophizing.   Though mercifully there is not a hard Saturn Pluto aspect until 2028 – which is what usually accompanies a large-scale war. Not always and not definitive but a small consolation.

King Frederik acceded to the Denmark throne yesterday at just after 2pm as his mother Queen Margrethe officially abdicated. This puts a downbeat Moon Saturn in Pisces in the 10^th and if the time is right Sun and Pluto in the 8^th. There is a friendly Jupiter in the 11^th in an exuberant trine to Mars to offset the sombre overtones.

  King Frederik, 26 May 1968 11.50pm Copenhagen is a fairly scattered and chaotic New Moon and Mars as well as Mercury in Gemini with an 8^th house Uranus Pluto in Virgo. He does have Saturn in Aries on the focal point of a yod, hinting that maturity will be needed if he isn’t to trip himself up. His Venus in indulgent Taurus is at 29 degrees conjunct his Gemini New Moon and opposition Neptune as well as in a frivolous square to Jupiter – so he will tend to be wayward in his affections.

  The new Queen Mary, 5 February 1972, no birth time, Hobart, Australia, is a steadier temperament with Sun Mercury in Aquarius and Saturn in Taurus. Her Saturn at 29 degrees is inconjunct Jupiter at 29 Sagittarius which may be sextile a Libra Moon, forming a yod so she will walk a singular and challenging road in life.

  Her Aquarius Sun fits well enough with his Gemini planets; and her lively Mars in Aries trine his Jupiter in Leo will produce fun moments. But her sensitive Venus in Pisces opposing his 8^th house Uranus Pluto conjunction will be an emotionally unsettling connection; and his cold-hearted Saturn conjunct her Mars will be wearing on her patience.  Their relationship chart does have a needs-space composite Sun opposition Uranus suggesting two individuals who will tread independent paths. There is also a suppressive, irritable/resentful Mars Saturn square Moon. And a fated composite yod of Venus inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto – a tie that binds both together for good or ill.

  Crown Prince Christian steps up as heir, 15 October 2005 1.57am Copenhagen. He has an expansive, confident, quick-witted and communicative 3^rd house Sun Jupiter in Libra which is sextile Pluto and inconjunct Mars in Taurus in his 10^th. Definitely a go-getter and ambitious, but will have difficulties modulating his anger and assertion. His Pisces Moon on the cusp of his 8^th is square his Pluto hinting at a possessive mother. Saturn in the 12^th = a not entirely practical or good role model for a father opposition Neptune square Mercury – he will be neurotic but may also have an interest in improving society. 7^th house Uranus = wanting freedom in close relationships.

  His mother’s rigid Saturn in Taurus falls in his 10^th so she’ll be a disciplinarian, keen to see he sticks to his responsibilities. Her Moon in Libra fits well with his Libra Sun though her Uranus opposition Mars will be a disruptive mix at times. Her Sun is conjunct his 6^th house Neptune opposition Saturn so she will be irked by his vagueness and concerned about keeping him healthy.

  His relationship with his mother is fairly fraught with a composite Mars opposition Pluto perhaps because she is guiding him towards the strictures of his future role as monarch.

  He regards his father as a mixed blessing with Frederik’s Saturn opposing his Libra Sun and Jupiter; but Frederik’s Venus on his Midheaven and Jupiter on his Ascendant give him status to soften the downside.

ADD ON: Prince Henrik, 11 June 1934 10pm Bordeaux, France, Queen Margrethe’s consort never settled to what he regarded as his inferior status within the Danish monarchy since he wished to be king beside his wife. He was a winemaker and a poet. Like Frederik he had a New Moon as well as Mars in Gemini; with an emotionally intense 7^th house Pluto.

  His relationship chart with Margrethe was affectionate with a composite Sun Venus sextile Pluto; and mainly contented at home with a 4^th house Jupiter. Though she would find him wayward with his Uranus falling in her 10^th.  

 The victory in Taiwan’s presidential election of Lai Ching-te — a man Beijing has described as a dangerous separatist — is less of a provocation to future conflict than it might have been given that his party’s (DPP) share of the vote fell to 40% in a three way contest.

     Analysts say that Beijing’s response to his victory could translate into a more calibrated approach to Taiwan and make Chinese military action towards Taiwan less likely though  Beijing will still be unrelenting in its pressure on the country. 

  Lai Ching-te, 6 October 1959, whose father died in a mining accident when he was a baby had a redoubtable mother who worked to see him educated, in part in the USA.

  He is a Sun Mars in Libra; with a confident and charming Pluto Venus in Virgo square Jupiter (Moon) in Sagittarius and in an unyielding trine to Saturn.

  Despite the relatively low key Beijing reaction couched in the usual flamboyant though not blood-curdling terms, there are indications of a flare up across the middle of this year. Lai Ching-te’s relationship chart with the China 1912 country chart indicates implacable opposition and hostility on both sides with a composite Mars Pluto conjunction square Uranus – and the composite Sun will catch the tr Uranus opposition from June onwards setting them at odds. 

   His relationship chart with Xi Jinping is, if anything, even more fraught in essence with a composite power-struggling Mars Pluto conjunction square Saturn – and that is being put under intolerable pressure from June onwards with tr Uranus square the composite Mars and opposition the composite Saturn and rattling the composite Pluto the following year.

  Lai Ching-te’s personal chart flags up high risk and calamities at the same time – and those influences run on into 2025.

 The China 1912 chart has Mars at 24 Taurus opposition Venus at 25 Scorpio which will be activated from May this year onwards into April 2025.

 Finding a chart for Taiwan is tricky since its history is intertwined with China’s. But the China 1912 chart did show up the three Taiwan Strait conflicts in 1954/58 and 1996.

  The 1954 crisis occurred when Pluto was at 25 Leo which was square the Mars in Taurus and Venus in Scorpio on the China chart. By the second military action in 1958 Pluto had just moved into Virgo and Neptune just into Scorpio. In 1995 for the third Taiwan Strait crisis Pluto was with three degrees of exiting Scorpio.  So Pluto’s transitional years between signs do appear to heighten tensions within China. Not surprising given the high-stress, emphasized Pluto on the focal point of a yod in the China 1912 chart inconjunct Uranus sextile Venus.

  Xi Jinping’s initial presidency confirmation chart  has a Sun, North Node and Mercury in Scorpio between 23, 26, and 28 degrees so will be on alert over the next two years as tr Uranus opposes and de-stabilises its core planets.

[This year does not look like calming down globally I regret to say.]

See previous post China 29 December 2023 and other China posts in SEARCH.

  A young, savvy social media influencer, Chiara Ferragni, who has built a global brand and a multimillion-dollar business on her image with 30 million Instagram followers, is on the hook for “aggravated fraud.” She gave her name to a Christmas cake that was misleadingly linked to fundraising for a children’s hospital and received £1 million for her trouble. The hospital received £50,000. A separate branded Easter egg sales campaign linked to another charity, from which she earned €1.3mn over two years, is also being looked at by Italian prosecutors.

  Ferragni has lost sponsors over the debacle including Coca Cola as well as followers.

 Born 7 May 1987 12.40am Cremona, Italy,  she is no shrinking violet with a determined 4^th house Taurus Sun opposition an influential and controlling Pluto on her Midheaven. She also has an attention-seeking, self-assured, entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine of an 8^th house Leo Moon trine Saturn Uranus in Sagittarius trine Venus (Jupiter) in Aries, formed into a Kite by Saturn Uranus opposition Mars in Gemini in her hard-working 6^th house. So her go-getting, communicative Mars is the driving planet.  Jupiter Venus is often a combination seen in fashion charts or amongst the exceptionally sociable or frivolous.

  She started as a model and moved into blogging and then brand promotion.

 There is nothing too dramatic showing up in her chart though tr Saturn through her first quadrant tends to be prone to slipping on banana skins career-wise for the ego-centric. She’ll be less successful for a few years ahead but may then reinvent herself.

  Maybe the insubstantial famous-for-being-famous brands may melt into thin air once Pluto in Capricorn moves into the past.

  The scandal that broke British politics. The Horizon/Fujitsu system whose unreliability was flagged up before the £900million deal was struck in 1999 was backed by Peter Mandelson (Lord) and pushed through by Tony Blair (Sir) despite the adverse reports to avoid damaging relations with Japan. Gordon Brown later appointed Lib Dem Ed Davey (Sir) as Postal Affairs Minister while prosecutions were ongoing. David Cameron (Lord) and every Tory PM since have averted their eyes from the egregious miscarriages of justice going on under their noses.  What are they for?

  The Mail on Sunday has also noted that Blair had close links with Fujitsu, meeting Fujitsu bosses in Japan in 1996, before he entered No10.

  On the UK chart the 2^nd house Neptune is under attack from a square to the Solar Arc Sun and also to the SA Midheaven over coming months – all of which might point up a financial snafu of epic proportions with all the Neptunian vices of evasion, deception, dishonesty, smoke-screening, chilling inhumanity on show.

 The Solar Arc Saturn is also opposition the UK Uranus exactly over this furore, tugging on one leg of the UK yod of Uranus sextile Jupiter inconjunct Pluto.  That yod at its most negative is bullying, coercive and grandiose as well as wayward and defiant. Saturn has no truck with arrogance or deviations from the straight and narrow – so this influence may be part of this scenario as well.

  Plus tr Uranus is moving to square the UK Saturn in the 11th house, which rules the legislature this May and again over the New Year into March 2025 – which might give Westminster a sharp elbow in the ribs. Maybe. Hopefully.

  It is too much to hope that the great British electorate rise up and toss all of them into the trash can.  But again it may be Pluto in Capricorn’s swansong to spotlight wholesale political failures. Never mind the PPE procurement and infected blood disasters which are still limping along in the background.  

  Tony Blair, 6 May 1953 6.10am Edinburgh, Scotland, is running into a series of cataclysmic setbacks courtesy of his Progressed Mars square his Neptune Saturn from now till 2026; and his SA Moon opposition his Neptune Saturn in 2026/27.  At the moment his has a Solar Arc yod formed from SA Neptune sextile SA Pluto inconjunct his Jupiter – all at the 29’ anaretic degree. Tr Pluto is also just into his career 10^th house which often coincides with a reputation dent/collapse..

  The Fujitsu Sun, 20 June 1935, falls in his financial 2^nd house with the Fujitsu Jupiter exactly opposition his Taurus Sun.  His relationship with Fujitsu has a ‘fated yod’ hinting that the association will affect the destiny of both for good or ill. That yod is being  cut down to size with tr Saturn square one leg and tr Neptune Saturn in 2025 colliding with the Saturn focal point. So it is a link that won’t fade into obscurity any time soon.

  Ed Davey has tr Pluto conjunct his Mars in Aquarius from late February on and off for two years which will box him in.

  Just goes to show a week is a long time in politics. Starmer’s two backroom string-pullers of Blair and Mandelson will be compromised over this which will reflect badly on his judgement. And Rishi Sunak has gone into full “Wag the Dog” mode over the Houthi attack, whether intentionally or not, which could change the rules of the game in coming months.

See previous posts: Blair – 14 November and 28 July 2023.  Fujitsu/Post office 8 January 2024.

Lisa St Aubin de Teran, the wild woman wunderkind of the literary scene four decades ago is back with another memoir Better Broken than New: A Fragmented Memoir. Her life might be described as novelesque except it would be deemed overblown as fiction.

  She was conceived in a mental hospital where her four-times divorced mother was being treated for suicidal depression. At 16 she ran off with a schizophrenic Venezuelan landowner-turned-bank robber who had been stalking her and escaped a murder-suicide pact only to find herself trapped in a haunted Norfolk castle with the Scottish poet George MacBeth. Then she eloped with the painter who had been commissioned to do her portrait. A ruined Mozambique palace came next with a former war correspondent. Now she lives in a houseboat in Chelsea harbour.

 A Times review careers through her madcap lifestyle: “across three continents, three marriages (with a child from each) and endless madcap exploits (love affairs, assassinations, car crashes, comas, costume parties, violent attacks, prison sentences, exotic illnesses, a hunger so fierce she ate dog food.” “There are walk-on parts for Malcolm X, the Queen Mother, Andy Warhol and a serial killer and cannibal called Ivan Russian Schmitter who shared a prison cell with her first husband, Jaime Teán, and later tried to seduce the author’s mother.”

  What appears to have brought her down to earth was a “life changing” home invasion in 2015 in Mozambique by a gang of 18 machete wielding robbers which she and her partner fought off.

 She said before this – “I’ve always been careless. I go to places and do things and people say, ‘Ooh, that’s really dangerous,’ but I’ve always been unaware. I would see myself as someone who could walk through a minefield and nothing would blow up.” The attack appears to have finally brought reality home.

 She was born 2 October 1953 10am London, with an 11^th house Libra Sun which sounds surprisingly well balanced. But what dominates her chart is a Half Grand sextile from a lucky Jupiter in her 8^th (giving her no fear of death?) trine a 12^th house Neptune, Mercury, Saturn in Libra, sextile Pluto conjunct her Midheaven. The neurotic Neptune Saturn in the 12^th will be a hint of the unsettled mental state of her mother during pregnancy. Pluto on her 10^th would make her susceptible to dominating partners but also defensively controlling herself. Such a strong Pluto would ramp up the dramatic factor in her life. She also has the can-be-passionate, romantically impulsive, inclined-to-infidelity Venus Mars conjunction in Virgo in her 10^th.  Her Saturn Mercury Neptune are also square Uranus, giving her an obsessive, unrealistic and disruptive streak.

  Her Sun and Leo Moon are in sextile but otherwise not well integrated into her chart.  Perhaps why Johanna Thomas-Corr, the Times reviewer, describes her as ‘unmoored.’

 Of the book she says: “It is one of the most bonkers life stories I’ve read. Published by a tiny London press, it is a riveting — if rather disjointed — read, one that conjures up a lost world of international bohemianism in which freedom fighters, poets, artists, opera singers and the odd stray python shack up in semi-feudal situations.”

Annie Nightingale, the trailblazing and eternally young-at-heart DJ, has died at 83. When she decided to break into the male enclave of the housewife-friendly music jock she was rebuffed.  She was told in the 1970s by BBC bosses her voice was too high and wouldn’t carry, that she didn’t have sufficient authority, and that disc jockeys were “husband substitutes” for listening housewives and a female voice would kill the fantasy. She persevered, called out their gender bias in her magazine column and after three years they relented. She stayed as the first and only lady of radio for 12 years until joined by Janice Long.

  She was born 1 April 1940 in Isleworth, England, and had an upfront, pro-active Sun and Jupiter in Aries; with a stubbornly persistent and enthusiastic Uranus, Venus, Mars in Taurus; and an even more relentlessly determined Saturn in Taurus square Pluto perhaps opposition an Aquarius Moon. Lots of fizz and sparkle backed up by resolute staying power.

  Her Uranus opposed the BBC’s Scorpio Sun so she would be a rebellious and unsettling presence but their relationship chart had a lucky, successful composite Sun Jupiter conjunction; a musical Venus opposition Neptune; and a chained-together Saturn Pluto. Once on board she would not leave and kept working into her 80s.