Astrology of Today’s News

Sigmund Freud’s thinking had a profound effect on the 20^th Century, becoming embedded in literature and movies as well as across the psychological field. Credited as the founder of psychoanalysis, he had a professional partnership then disagreement with Jung with both going their separate ways as egos and theories clashed.  Both were ambitious men keen to make their name as leaders in their field, which in Freud’s case caused him to skew some of his views on the sexual abuse of children to avoid the hostility of the society in which he lived.

  His influence can’t be understated, though he was plain wrong in his attitude to women and sexuality, and his personal habits were not above reproach. He had a cocaine habit and conducted an affair at one point with his wife’s sister. The Oedipal theory on which he based his reputation was a distorted and selective rewriting of the Greek myth to reinforce his view of the idealized mother and the sexualized, vengeful infant. In reality the story of Oedipus tells of a child abandoned by both parents to die in an effort to shore up the narcissistic father’s delusion he could stave off mortality, backed up by a collusive mother.

   Later feminists took exception to his views on penis envy which seen from this distance is bizarre.

  What is intriguing is that both he and Jung had Sun and Uranus in the 7^th making them trailblazers and keen on unconventional relationships. But where Jung had a fiery Leo Sun square an other-worldly Neptune making him reach for the intangible and mystical, Freud was an earthy Taurus and then some with a serious Saturn in Gemini in his 8th, the house of sexual matters.

 His Sun was conjunct Uranus with Mercury at the far end of Taurus and Pluto in the early degrees. His Neptune was square his 8^th house Moon, a hint of his unrealistic view of women and motherhood.

 Both men had hard Mars Jupiter aspects which can signify the ‘holy warrior’, one who promotes their pet cause with zeal and can also indicate at its most negative, an opportunist.

  Both had their North Node in designed-to-lead and be independent Aries. Both had Chiron in their 3^rd house which rules the mental functions.  

  They were never designed to walk the same path with Jung’s Pluto conjunct Freud’s Uranus Sun and Jung’s Uranus conjunct Freud’s Midheaven. Their respective Mars and Saturn also clashed for a bad tempered match.

 Their relationship chart had a hostile, power-struggling composite Mars opposition Pluto and an ego-clashing Jupiter trine Pluto. They could – and arguably did – move mountains in terms of shifting public attitudes to the psyche but from differing standpoints which were never going to agree.  

The polls for the Australia election show a solid lead for Labor and Anthony Albanese over Scott Morrison’s coalition government. But the Australia country chart reeks of confusion and indecision; and neither of the two leaders looks cheered by the result, nor does the main financial backer of the independent candidates.

  The gap at the moment of 54% to 46% would need a staggering reversal to alter it at this late stage. But there still appears to be unease about it not being in the bag.

  The vote comes after a stormy period with the pandemic, a rancorous fight over climate change strategy and deteriorating relations with China. Rising interest rates, inflation and energy prices are a worry for voters; and the Solomon Islands’ decision to sign a security pact with China undermined Morrison’s assertion that he is stronger on national security.

  Albanese, 2 March 1963, no birth time, is a Sun Pisces trine Neptune and opposition Pluto Uranus in Virgo; with a cool Saturn Mercury in Aquarius square Neptune – good as a backroom operator and he has stumbled through the campaign. Over the election he has tr Uranus exactly opposition his Neptune and square his Uranus/Node midpoint and from late May through June tr Uranus squares his Saturn Mercury – which certainly looks like change, though also fractious and high tension. There’s not much of cheer on his chart this year (without a birth time) apart from a very mild tr Jupiter trine his Mars in late May. He’s much more upbeat and confident in 2023/24 though with hiccups as well.

 Scott Morrison, 13 May 1968, a Sun Taurus trine Uranus Pluto in Virgo and opposition Neptune square Jupiter in flashy Leo – not short of ambition or chutzpah but also over confident and not always sensible.

  He’s in a generally disastrous year with tr Neptune opposition his Uranus over the election as well as tr Uranus conjunct his Mercury/Saturn – so he’s in much the same pickle as Albanese.

Jessica Adams sees a hung parliament because of Mercury Retrograde on election day with delayed results and general mayhem.

Carl Jung left a profound mark on the 20^th Century, imprinting his ideas and theories across a wide field of psychology, anthropology, archaeology, literature, alchemy, the paranormal and religious studies. He focused on individuation, the process of integrating the opposites, the conscious and unconscious, and left behind important concepts like archetypes, the collective unconscious, extraversion and intraversion.

  Alongside brilliance went personality flaws, as one biographer remarked ‘the size of the Grand Canyon.’ He married his wife Emma, a banker’s daughter for her money, slept with patients and borrowed money from them, installed his mistress in the family home as his muse, dropping her in later years when her looks went – and missed his wife most of all when she died. He may have helped countless millions with his ideas but close at hand he was damaging.

 Born on 26 July 1875 at 7.26pm Kesswil, Switzerland, he had a showy, attention-demanding 7^th house Leo Sun square a creative, spiritual, vague Neptune in his communication 3^rd. He also had an independent-minded, uncooperative 7^th house Uranus which would incline him towards unconventional relationships. It sat uncomfortably in square to his intensely possessive Taurus Moon Pluto conjunction – so he would veer between closeness and abandonment/rejection.

  His 1^st house serious, coolly detached Saturn in Aquarius was trine a 9^th house Jupiter and sextile Mars in adventurous and outspoken Sagittarius.

   His search for integration would be driven by an intensely personal battle to balance the jumble of contradictory parts of himself. His internal dysfunction may also have driven his interest in alchemy – the symbolic process of burning off the dross to reveal the gold; while at the same time being adamant about not disavowing the shadow. He revelled in paradoxes, fond of quoting the physicist Niels Bohr – ‘the opposite is also a profound truth.”

  I started this post with a thought of drawing parallels between him and Mother Teresa – there’s certainly a Taurus connection with a hint of Leo, and Jupiter in Libra in the 9^th. Though she was much more rooted in the grosser aspects of the earthly world with an Earth Grand Trine. Like her he has Mars in aspect to his Saturn giving him an edge. And he certainly thought that the process of redemption only came through suffering. But in his case it was an emotional or psychological agony that was required not a physical one.  

‘There is no birth of consciousness without pain.’

‘A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.’

‘Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.’

  In terms of psychological process he was right about the journey through to transformation/individuation being arduous and at times agonizing.

  Though the semi-voluntary slog through psychotherapy hardly equates to deliberate physical pain and deprivation being inflicted on those desperate for help and support.

  Jung’s ‘spiritual-seeker’ 7^th harmonic was strong, as was his humanitarian 9H (sometimes money issues); his break-through-genius 13H; leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H; and global influence 22H.

Fur is flying in an unbelievably nonsensical £3 million libel case – ‘a fiesta of fake tan and fury’ – in London between two mega-rich footballers’ wives over the leakage to the tabloid press of trivial social media gossip from a private group. Coleen Rooney, wife of bad boy Wayne, sourced the offending tales to an account of Rebekah Vardy and outed her, resulting in a retaliatory suit for defamation. Though it has been mooted that Vardy’s agent who had access to her account may well have been to blame.  Mobile phones were lost in the North Sea, laptops refused to divulge their secrets but the runaway feud stumbled on into the hallowed halls of justice. It’s been described by an onlooker as a ‘train heading towards a cliff edge with two passengers on board, neither of whom is willing to disembark’.

 Coleen Rooney, 3 April 1986, has been  married for 14 years to Wayne, mother to his four sons Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass, forgiver of his various infidelities, lives in a £20 million house and is constantly on Dubai and Caribbean holidays. Over the years, she has been on TV shows, written  magazine columns and produced fashion ranges. She is an upfront Sun Aries square Neptune Mars in Capricorn; with an intensely determined and indulgent Venus in Taurus conjunct North Node opposition Pluto with her Pluto in a confident trine to Jupiter.

 Rebekah Vardy, 17 February 1982, married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, formerly in a liaison with pop singer Peter Andre, mother of five kids and lives in mansion with a tennis court, gym, indoor pool, sauna and marble-topped bar. She is a Sun Aquarius trine a volcanic collection of Pluto, Saturn, Mars in Libra which is turn squares her Venus in Capricorn.

  Both of them are determined personalities with stressed Venuses and one key problem may result from Rebekah’s Jupiter being conjunct Coleen’s ramped up Pluto which will lead to oneupmanship games and a tussle for the upper hand. And has been spotlighted by the recent Scorpio Solar Eclipse.

  The end result is hardly likely to bring much financial reward though with hubby Rooney being worth £100 million and hubby Vardy earning £7 million a year it hardly matters.

  Rebekah looks uncertain and deflated in the immediate future though back to confident form in 2023. Coleen is edgy this year, on a downer in 2023 and only retrieving her mojo through 2024/25.

   Ukrainians are being slaughtered, the poor can’t afford to eat and heat, and the brainless ones blunder on regardless. They could have given the £3 million to a foodbank or refugee charity and earned themselves some kudos. Sound and fury and even less substance than the rancid Depp v Heard case.

The Philippines is heading for the unthinkable – the return of the Marcos dynasty, a family infamous for its corruption, extravagance and brutality. Bongbong Marcos, son of the late Ferdinand and Imelda, has won the presidential election by a landslide. It is a blow to those who have campaigned for accountability for the abuses of the old Marcos era, which were neither apologised for nor the treasure stolen from the national purse returned.

 A decade-long campaign of whitewashing the Marcos reputation has paid off with YouTube tales of the old Marcos era – ‘not as a period of martial law, with its terrible human rights abuses, corruption and near-economic collapse – but as a golden age of crime-free prosperity.’

  Marcos junior has also benefitted greatly by aligning himself with the Duterte family. The nationalist, populist Rodrigo Duterte, who has just stood down as president was deemed guilty of running death squads who carried out extrajudicial killings of drug users and street children and has never declared his financial assets.

 Bongbong Marcos, 13 September 1957, is a Sun Virgo like his father Ferdinand, 11 September 1917, with both having Venus in Libra. Both have Jupiter in an Air sign; and tough Saturn Pluto aspects.  If anything Bongbong is a harder, more aggressive personality than his father with a Sun Mars conjunction, a Saturn Pluto square and a can-be-fanatical Uranus square Neptune.

  He takes over on June 30^th when there is a ruthless, risky Mars square Pluto, never a good sign for an administration; with an over expansive Sun square Jupiter. His personal chart indicates he’s not having an auspicious start with tr Neptune opposition his Mars inducing feelings of failure later this year; and a devastating and confused tr Pluto square his Neptune in 2023/2024. The economic problems he faces are considerable and his chart would indicate he will struggle mightily to get a grip.

  The Philippine 4 July 1946 9.15am chart is labouring through heavy seas this year with tr Pluto in a ‘deprived/tough-conditions opposition to the Saturn. With the outer planet shift bringing massive and difficult challenges in the second half of this decade. The 10 December 1898 chart has a confidence surge in 2024/25 and will also be greatly affected by the Pluto and Uranus shift.

Mother Teresa, a global icon of compassion with an empire of orphanages for the poorest of the poor, who pulled favours from presidents, attracted a celebrity following, and raised hundreds of millions a year in charitable donations, was never the exalted saint she appeared. She won the Nobel Peace Prize, was canonised after her death but as a new SKY documentary series shows she seemed more attracted to poverty and pain than actually helping people escape it and covered up for the worst excesses of the Catholic church.

 She was born 26 August 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia at an unverified time of 2.25pm, into a poor family and decided to become a nun aged 12. In her 30s, working in Calcutta, she  witnessed the misery and death caused by the Bengal famine of 1943 and had a calling to start her own order, the Missionaries of Charity.

 There were critics of her work from early on but the media was so entranced by her beatific aura they were swept aside. One said “She was not a friend of the poor but rather a promoter of poverty.” She seemed to think that suffering was a noble end in itself – a ‘Gift from God’, she said, so did little to alleviate it amongst those she supposedly cared for. One doctor was outraged about the appalling lack of hygiene he uncovered – reuse of hypodermic needles, the shortage of medical care, systematic diagnosis, and necessary nutrition, as well as the scarcity of analgesics for those in pain.

‘They had the money to run a decent hospital for poor people, but they never did. They said, ‘We will pray for the alleviation of pain without providing treatment.’

Pain was not just a by-product of her work, but an integral part of it. She believed that suffering redeemed the world. Nuns were instructed to whip themselves and wear wire chains with spikes on.

 In the 1980s around £100m a year was coming into her organisation, but most of it was being paid into the Vatican bank. And according to the documentary she was called into help save it from the growing scandal of child abuse by priests by using her reputation to cast doubt on the allegations.

  Two things intrigue me – one was what her chart says about her temperament and the other was how she managed to attract a reputation for exquisite goodness while actively forcing the downtrodden to suffer yet more deprivation and agony as a result of her sanctimonious and warped beliefs.

 She was a Virgo Sun and Mars with both trine Saturn in Taurus – hard-working, disciplined, used to tough conditions, not a sentimentalist. She also had a Taurus Moon conjunct the North Node and trine Mars trine Uranus. An Earth Grand Trine is grounded in the real world of materialism – a good builder but can be blinkered and even wallow in the grosser aspects of the   flesh. The Grand Trine is formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Neptune, making spiritual and elusive Neptune the driving planet.

 Her Uranus opposition Neptune squared onto a focal point Jupiter in airy Libra close to her Midheaven – and an elevated Jupiter would certainly give her an Olympian glow, deserved or otherwise.

   She had an interesting array of harmonic charts.  Her get-it-together 5^th and world-personality 22H, as well as her humanitarian 9H are marked. Her leaving-a-legacy 17H is confident and communicative.

  Her ‘healing’ 12H is determined but merges ruthlessness/brutality with spirituality; as does her 18H, which is sometimes a feature of killers’ charts.

   Her two key planets were head-in-the-clouds Neptune and Jupiter and they were mired in all that earthy Taurus/Virgo which is an odd and uncomfortable mix. Glorifying and mortifying the flesh for redemption. It has echoes of the beyond ghastly nuns of the Magdalen laundries and elsewhere. There’s a sadism/masochism in that mindset which is not only cruel when acted out on others but perverse when made personal.

 And that’s the Age of Pisces for you – which Carl Jung connected to Christianity.  A religion which took as its core symbol one of bloody torture – Christ on the cross.  Roll on Aquarius.  

The SNP were the clear winners in the local elections in Scotland, collecting 453 seats, a gain of 23 on the 2017 result with Labour trailing behind on 282. Tories were down 63. Despite which a recent poll showed that less than a third of Scots voters want an independence referendum next year. The polls in general on an Indyref are running neck and neck, though the economic indicators are worse than in 2014.

Scotland received £1,633 per person more in public spending than the UK average in 2019-20 and generated £308 less in tax revenue per person than the UK average. This leaves a large funding shortfall for an independent Scotland that was not there in 2014. It would face a persistent deficit of almost 10 per cent of GDP — well ahead of international norms. Borders costs would rise, leading to lower levels of trade – the rest of the UK accounts for over 60% of Scotland’s exports, four times more than with the EU.

It would impose many years of spending restraint or higher taxes. Most economists think an advanced economy of Scotland’s size would be viable on a standalone basis in the longer term, but the short and medium term would be painful.

  Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16 pm Irvine, Scotland, is fired up and raring to go with tr Pluto square her Jupiter in 2022/2023. Tr Pluto will finish opposing her Cancer Sun this August to December and is catching the frustrating, trapped opposition to her Sun/Mars midpoint this year and next before moving to oppose her Mars in Leo in 2023/2024 – so despite her Jupiterian confidence surge, she is running into mountainous obstacles and setbacks. Definitely not on a winning streak and with tr Neptune opposition her Pluto from the middle of this month on and off into early 2023 she will sense her power being undermined.

  The Scotland England Act of Union, 1 May 1707, would be the one to split asunder if independence came. The chart indicates an exceptionally strong though not easy bond with an over-controlling Sun Pluto square and a tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter Pluto also square Sun.

  When the 2014 IndyRef was held tr Saturn in Scorpio was in hard-aspect to the Sun and Jupiter Pluto and there was a rebellious, underdog-uprising Uranus square Pluto.  Tr Saturn this year is back in hard aspect to those key planets; and more significantly tr Uranus will conjunct the Sun and square the Pluto Jupiter. The last time tr Uranus was in Taurus in the 1930s the SNP was founded and rose to prominence.

  It may be there is a move towards more devolution while holding back from an outright divorce. The Act chart does look exceptionally troubled for several years ahead especially in 2025 but it has held firm for over 300 years so it will have lived through multiple Astro-challenges in that time.  

Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the IRA, is on course for a historic victory in the Northern Ireland Assembly election – the first time a party wanting a united Ireland has won the elections for the executive. The result could plunge the power-sharing deal into uncertainty, with the DUP warning that it may not agree to power-sharing in Stormont, and complicate talks on post-Brexit trade checks.

  Both the partition 3 May 2021 chart and the Northern Ireland 7 December 1922 chart are indicating a radical shift in direction under pressure over the next three years; with the Midheaven on the 1922 and Solar Arc MC on the 1921 both being in late Capricorn which will be transformed – with difficulty – with a transiting Pluto conjunction running. Both charts also have Mars at 27 degree Fixed so will catch the tr Uranus hard aspect in 2024 for aggravation, outbursts and perhaps violence.

  It would not be an easy decision with the RC versus Protestant blood feuds of the Troubles still raw. Though it would make economic sense given the pig’s breakfast that Boris et al left behind after Brexit, having forgotten or blithely ignored the Northern Ireland/EU border.

   Neither the 1921 or the 1922 chart sits comfortably with the Republic of Ireland 1949 chart – it would be an uneasy mix. Both show high levels of doubt and suspicion, aggravation and sharp differences of outlook.

  What does stick in mind is the UK 1801 chart’s 11^th house Saturn in Leo which rules the legislature and is due for a Uranian shock and jolt in 2023/24. It would be too soon for a unification referendum splitting North Ireland away from the UK but it might be stimulating a heated debate. And it kicks off as the road-blocked Solar Arc Pluto squares the UK Sun in about six months. So the UK may look less of an attractive partner.

  The Republic 1949 chart shows 20023/24 as confident, successful go-ahead years with tr Pluto conjunct the Jupiter though with considerable pressure for change as well from tr Pluto square the Aries Sun Venus in 2022/23.

  The Sinn Fein chart, 26 November 1905, also looks upbeat in 2023/24 with tr Pluto trine the Jupiter.

  Michelle O’Neill, poised to become First Minister if all goes to plan, 10 January 1977 is a Sun Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus trine a Virgo Moon with an ultra-determined Mars in Capricorn square Pluto. She was born into a prominent republican family at the height of the Troubles. Her father was an IRA prisoner, an uncle raised funds for the IRA in the US. Two of her cousins, IRA members, were shot by security forces, one fatally. She was formerly Mayor of Dungannon and more recently Deputy First Minister.

  She looks upbeat now and through 2023. Not surprisingly she’s at odds with the UK, wanting to be free and will be in a constant tussle for the upper hand with relations deteriorating over the next three years.

  She’s a difficult mix with Northern Ireland as well with her Mars opposition the 1922 Pluto, her elusive Neptune conjunct the Sun; and her Pluto conjunct the Saturn. Neither side will give way easily.

Mariupol, a strategic city on the coast whose seizure would allow Russian forces to travel between Donbas region and Crimea has been a key target in Putin’s assault. Despite the overwhelming superiority of the encircling Russian forces, Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steel mill, the last outpost of Ukrainian resistance, have refused to surrender. They are living in appalling conditions in the basement, along with a number of civilians. A medical worker in the plant said on a video. “We are out of time. I don’t know if I have a tomorrow. People are dying in my hands from infected wounds because there are no antibiotics, some from hunger.”

   It is assumed Putin wants his forces to secure Mariupol in time for Victory Day on May 9th when Russia celebrates the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.

 Some civilians have been evacuated but Russian forces targeted Ukrainian troops helping to rescue them. And the defenders have so far refused several ultimatums to surrender, saying they do not trust the Russians to respect their rights as prisoners of war.

 The steel works were founded on 2 February 1930 and unsurprisingly both the Mars and Solar Arc Mars are under extreme pressure this year. The natal Mars at 26 Capricorn will be back under a trapped, high-risk, cornered conjunction from tr Pluto from this August but it effectively overshadows this year. Plus the Solar Arc Mars at 28 Aries is catching the tr Pluto square exactly now till June and on and off till late 2024. Plus tr Uranus is conjunct the Solar Arc Sun exactly now and on and off into early 2023.

  Which doesn’t tell us much since even if Putin dematerialised overnight the damage would be considerable and take years to repair.

Ukraine see previous post April 11 2022

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