Astrology of Today’s News

Eclipse season is back with the first Solar Eclipse of the year falling on 30 April at 10 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus; with the Taurus North Node square Saturn, trine Pluto and sextile Jupiter Venus Neptune in Pisces. It’s in a Saros series, around previously in 2004, 1986, 1968, 1950, 1932, 1914 and is associated (according to Bernadette Brady, The Eagle and the Lark) with the relationship to father figures and the need to take responsibility and accept commitments due to another’s indisposition or unreliability.

  Uranus will throw up a few surprises, maybe upsets and prompt innovation and change. Jupiter Neptune hints at financial bubbles bursting and delusions or over-optimism leading to disappointments financially and emotionally. Saturn in Aquarius in square is chilly, can be selfish and self-righteous.  New Zealand and Australia may be unsettled locations – NZ with an argumentative Mars on the MC; and AU with the New Moon Uranus on the Ascendant.

 The Total Lunar Eclipse following on 16 May at 25 degrees Scorpio in many ways is more powerful, as is often the case with Lunars. The Scorpio Moon opposes the Taurus Sun and North Node squaring onto Saturn in Aquarius, trine Pluto and sextile Mars Neptune in Pisces. Stubborn, controlling, attention and publicity seeking, emotionally chilly and intellectually arrogant. Europe and the EU may be more than usually affected along with the UK as forced-change Pluto sits on the Midheaven.  Saturn sits on the Midheaven through Kiev which suggests a sobering reality.

  The second Solar Eclipse, also a Partial like the first, is on 25 October 2022 with the New Moon at two degrees Scorpio conjunct Venus inconjunct Jupiter; and Mercury trine Mars trine Saturn, square Pluto. It was around before the same years as above and is in an emotionally intense, slightly manic series, affecting relationships and group activities with effects ranging from falling in love to having to make a great effort.

 The Venus Jupiter aspects may mellow what looks to be an argumentative, if not dogmatic and intellectually bullying mood. Saturn in Aquarius will be showing its un-empathic and obstinate face. This Eclipse is the final one to be catching the disruptive Uranus Saturn square which bedevilled last year – as Uranus will conjunct the Taurus Node and square Saturn for a final time. Mars Saturn can be violent or accident-prone.

  The Total Lunar Eclipse on 8 November 2022 at 16 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus opposition Venus square Saturn will magnify the Saturn square Uranus effect which can be dictatorial as well as unpredictable and contradictory.  There’s also an over-hopeful Jupiter Neptune in Pisces square Mars.

  They all look like a mish mash of minuses and pluses with the May Lunar Eclipse being the most difficult.  

There is a noticeable shift in the UK zeitgeist around the ‘what is a woman?’ spat. For several years in the political arena it has been non-pc to question gender self-declaration. Finally the push-back from women has begun to gain traction.  Stonewall which had a solid reputation in fighting for LGBT rights for two and a half decades has been steadily losing support and money recently over its take-no-hostages policies on transgender rights.

   JK Rowling who was declared persona non grata by her ungrateful former movie mates is now emerging as a figurehead for the common sense lobby, giving much a needed public hand to those scapegoated by the fanatics.  High profile columnists in the broadsheets arguing along similar lines for some time have been supported by an avalanche of comments.

  While the great silent majority aren’t always right, what was always odd about this mystifyingly vicious argument was how a few screamers managed to bully politicians and societies into meekly acceding to ludicrous demands. Girl Guides allowed male teenagers to self-identify into female overnight accommodation. No one checked on the impact of taking self-declared transwomen into female prisons. Only now are sports personalities speaking out about the inequities of allowing bulked-up transwomen to compete in women’s sports.

Edmund Burke, the 18th-century philosopher of liberal conservatism wrote –  “Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.”  

   Stonewall has lost income recently as major organisations like the Department of Health, Channel 4, BBC, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and others have withdrawn from their diversity schemes.  

  Founded on 24 May 1989, it fought its corner bravely and effectively until it had won concessions and acceptance for its members. The trouble started when it looked around to find a raison-d’etre for the future in 2014 and added transgender to its CV.  

 One bystander remarked: “Plan A was all about bullying, intimidation and legislation by stealth, because they knew they had no hope of foisting this stuff on the world by honest persuasion.”

Stonewall was born out of the triple conjunction in Capricorn with a Gemini Sun and Capricorn moon – and more significantly a Yod from Jupiter Venus in Gemini inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune Saturn. A Jupiterian Yod can have social influence and a strong impact on the masses, though can have fateful consequences and be undone by overconfidence and arrogance. The chart also indicates a volcanic reservoir of anger at unfairness and ill-treatment with Mars opposition Saturn, Neptune and trine Pluto; which can all too easily turn into ruthless domineering.

 At the moment the Solar Arc Sun is opposing the Uranus for an upset this year; with devastating confusion from Solar Arc Neptune square Pluto at the moment as well. Plus an over-pushy Solar Arc Pluto opposition Jupiter this year, moving on to oppose the Venus by 2024 – feelings will run high over the next two years.

  I am fascinated by the repeated occurrence of Gemini dictators and bully-boys/persons over the past few years and still in place, hopefully not for long. Maybe Neptune in Pisces moving across the Gemini Solar Midheaven through last decade allowed them to magnify their slippery and fanatical grip; aided and abetted by a string-pulling Pluto in Capricorn moving through their Solar 8^th. With luck 2025 will see the end of them.

  JK Rowling, 31 July 1965 9.10pm (rectified) Bristol, with her rebellious Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn clashing with Stonewall’s Jupiter Venus she is well-designed to dent their good humour. Plus her Mars in Libra makes a combative square to their Saturn Neptune opposition Mars – not that she has any particular argument with Stonewall, only this latest extremist crusade.     

PS I love the “if you don’t respect my sex you won’t get my X” local election campaign which has made Labour leaders tone down their biology-denial.

See previous posts: 12 March 2022 and 23 May 2021.

Dropping in for afternoon tea with the Queen, on the way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands, having missed Prince Philip’s memorial, seems curious. And like most actions of the Sussexes is raising questions about ulterior motives. Tom Bower, the biographer, suggested it was to appease the Netflix producers of an upcoming documentary, part of their $100 million deal; a film crew being ready and waiting their presence in Amsterdam.

That may be a touch uncharitable since even Prince Harry must feel twinges of conscience about not being mindful of the grandparents to whom he was devoted and other Royal watchers suggest it would have been the Queen’s doing to try to mend the family rift.

  Harry is in a truly difficult year or two with an undermining tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun throughout this year; a dead-halt, blocked Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Pluto in Scorpio within six months; and the Eclipses shaking up his Taurus Moon, Pluto and Saturn in Scorpio all year as well. Eclipses on the Moon in particular tend to accompany family crises and emotional upsets, often shaking the foundations of a life. Saturn on an Eclipse brings a sharp reality check, heavier responsibilities and kickback for mistakes. Tr Uranus opposing his Midheaven will bring sharp changes of direction at home and in career direction. 2023/24 look no easier for him.  

  Part of this will be sadness about his grandparents, with the additional factor of aggravation about his father and Camilla stepping up in prominence (and William). He’s never taken to Camilla whom he regards as complicit in Diana’s unhappiness and there are fears he’ll be grinding axes about this in his forthcoming memoir. His relationship chart with her is ferociously difficult with a composite Mars opposition Uranus Pluto square Jupiter opposition Moon. Tr Saturn in Pisces in 2023 will be pouring cold water and a deepening chill over their connection.  Harry’s relationship with his father is limping along and is trickier with William, who is more inclined to vent his anger with ill-feeling dragging on there between the brothers.

  I’m still puzzling over why Harry has such a bee in his bonnet about his mother and such an idealised view of her. Admittedly her Cancer Sun sat on Harry’s Descendant and her Venus was conjunct his Taurus Moon so there would be deep affection between them and a sense of partnership. But Diana’s obstreperous Uranus, North Node in Leo and her volcanically angry Mars Pluto in Virgo all fell in Harry’s 8^th which must have made for a very uncomfortable mood at times – though all very unconscious on his part since it is 8^th house. At some level she provoked and infected him with her burning resentment, vengeance and inability to let go.

  Meghan is unlike Diana, astrologically-speaking. Where Diana’s Venus might have rooted Harry in his family, Meghan’s Uranus in his 10^th opposition his Moon pulls him sharply away. What is intriguing is that Meghan’s 4^th house Pluto is conjunct Diana’s Midheaven and Meghan’s Mars is conjunct Diana’s Sun. That might suggest to me that Meghan is trying, because of her own family dysfunction and need to control her domestic environment, to usurp and overtake Diana’s ambitions. The Sun Mars is certainly a competitive connection which would have led to running arguments had Diana lived.

  It may be a stretch but almost as if Meghan wanted to harvest Diana’s image and aura and outdo her (Pluto on MC). And although Meghan appears to get on well with her mother Doria, her chart with a Libra Moon Jupiter Saturn square Mars does not suggest an easy relationship with women and mother figures in general.

   The Harry Meghan relationship chart is a classic for externalising problems. Or put it another way, they have managed to create a situation with family rifts on both sides which allow them to avoid facing and sorting the key problems in their relationship. The relationship chart has a composite Moon square Saturn Pluto which has been under heavy pressure since they baled in 2020. Tr Pluto is this year opposing the Moon through till late 2023 which will put both under a great deal of strain. They could move house, which has been suggested, to soak up some of it – again externalising rather than addressing the underlying grievances.  Saturn Pluto makes couples feel chained together and resenting it. They blame each other or restrictive circumstances rather than asking what within themselves has landed them in this situation and relationship.

  Nothing looks to be easing any time soon in the Royal connection with Meghan and William at loggerheads in 2023/2024; and Meghan and Charles undermined and aggravated in 2024/26.

  Meghan is in a different phase of her life to Harry, becoming increasingly ambitious and hard-working ahead where he wants to bury himself in a corner and stay invisible for a while. Though her financial fortunes may contract a touch ahead and she’ll be thrown back on her own resources emotionally as well as financially for a couple of years ahead.

Add On: Additional thoughts on Harry and family tangles. He has a Taurus Moon which is possessive, attached to the past, as is an intense 8^th house Sun (hints of more Scorpio). Even more significant may be his Taurus North Node in the 4^th. The Taurus NN hangs grimly onto hurts, reacts like a wounded animal when threatened, isn’t initially endowed with much self-awareness, and has a bottomless reservoir of neediness for support and possessions. Learning to live on his own talents and resources is crucial if he is to grow.

  Falling in his 4^th house suggests his family is his pathway to transformation which means coming off his high horse and sorting out his emotional knots. Parental ties are more important for this placing than any other and the urge to be independent is great, yet soul growth comes through forgetting pride and outer glories and coming to terms with emotional realities.

  Prince William who as a New Moon in Cancer with his Venus conjunct Diana’s in Taurus might have been expected to be closer to his mother. But their relationship chart is less affectionate than Harry’s and is riddled with suspicion and doubt. William also has Jupiter on his Midheaven which describes a drama queen mother so maybe he saw through her manipulations more clearly than Harry.  He also has his Moon square Mars so he would have been angry about how she blocked his assertiveness.

Viktor Medvedchuk, often named the “dark prince” of Ukrainian politics, a lawyer and business oligarch, and Putin crony has been arrested by Ukrainian Secret Service and his assets seized which include 23 houses, 32 apartments, 26 cars, and one yacht.

Viktor Medvedchuk has been a loyal ally and close friend to Putin for two decades, sharing holidays together and Putin is godfather to his youngest daughter. He headed a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine for years, even after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the beginning of the war in Donbas.

 In 2021 he was accused of treason and attempted looting in Russian-occupied Crimea. Putin, who had regarded him as their main man in Ukraine,  was enraged by the closure of Medvedchuk’s pro-Russian television stations and some suggest this invasion may in part be motivated by that. Medvedchuk fled  house arrest recently and was missing for 48 days.

  Born 7 August 1954 in Krasnoyarsk, he has a 14 degree Leo Sun which is a hot-spot degree triggered in many other related charts in this debacle, including the Russia 1917 chart. That is about to be pounded by a transiting Uranus hard aspect from the middle of next week – April 20^th on for a few weeks. Indeed if Medvedchuk was an early morning birth tr Uranus may well be squaring his Sun now.

  His Progressed Mars has also been hammering away square his Neptune recently and now opposition his Uranus – throwing his life into chaos.

  He has a ruthlessly determined Mars in Sagittarius trine Pluto which will catch the undermining, panicky-failure tr Neptune square Mars in 2023 and upending tr Uranus square Pluto in 2024. 2024 looks like a dead-end with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Saturn and Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Neptune plus plus discouraging influences thereafter. He has a few blips of luck and confidence but more of the sinking variety.

   He won’t be resurrected to his former illicit glory, for sure.

    The Moskva, the Russian flagship sunk by Ukrainian missiles, had the hull laid down on 5 November 1976 and was commissioned on 30 January 1983.

  The Laying Down chart had a Uranus square Saturn that year as this; and the North Node in Scorpio – so similarities. Tr Uranus is exactly opposition the Scorpio Sun now for an upset (and then some). The indications are all there of a high-stress phase for the ship this year with the tr Saturn square tr Uranus tugging on the Mars in Scorpio as well – before moving on to square the Mars/Pluto midpoint next year. Often when entities or individuals run into the buffers there are damaging influences just ahead as if they cast a shadow backwards – and the upcoming late April Solar Eclipse would certainly also be having an effect  tugging on the Uranus, Mercury, Sun, Mars in Scorpio.

On the commissioning chart, the Solar Arc Pluto is within a degree conjunct the Uranus and about to square the Mars. A destruction would usually involve Mars Pluto.  

Battling on at 101, “Hurricane Hazel” McCallion, former mayor of Canada’s seventh largest city for 36 years, has extended her directorship of the Toronto airport authority for another three years and stayed on as adviser at the local university as well.

‘Known for her blunt demeanour and pugilistic style of governing, McCallion has loomed large over Ontario civics for decades, despite her diminutive height.’

  She was born 14 February 1921 in Quebec, the youngest of five children, later working for an engineering firm in Montreal and playing professional hockey before loving into local politics.

  She is a Sun Aquarius with a practical Jupiter Saturn in Virgo; and a resourceful, courageous and confrontational Mars in Aries opposition Saturn and square Pluto. Her Moon is in steady Taurus.

 Her get-it-together 5^th harmonic is her strongest, along with her breakthrough 13H. Her tough/enduring 8 and 16H harmonics are also well aspected.

Boyan Slat, a young Dutch inventor and engineer, has been on  mission since his early teens to rid the world’s oceans of floating plastic. The idea came to him at the age of 16 when diving in Greece. “I saw more plastic bags than fish,” he says. And he set to at school devising a system and finding sponsors. “I don’t understand why ‘obsessive’ has a negative connotation, I’m an obsessive and I like it. I get an idea and I stick to it.”

Over the last 30 to 40 years, millions of tonnes of plastic have entered the oceans. Global production of plastic now stands at 288 million tonnes per year, of which 10% ends up in the ocean in time. 80% comes from land-based sources from drains and rivers. The plastic is carried by currents and congregates in five revolving water systems, the most infamous being the huge Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California.

  Born 27 July 1994 in Delft, he became interested in engineering from a very young age, building tree houses, then zip-wires, then rocketry. While studying aerospace engineering at Delft University, he set up a foundation, The Ocean Cleanup on a budget of 200 euros (£160) of saved-up pocket money. It took a while to find sponsors and start testing  with not all of the early attempts working. But he is persevering in the face of sceptics and critics.

https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/

https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/is-boyan-slats-pacific-garbage-patch-ocean-cleanup-bullshit

What is intriguing about his chart is the Uranus Neptune conjunction in Capricorn opposition Mercury.  Uranus Neptune can be nerve-stretched, highly strung and fanatical, but it also can have a ‘eureka’ ability to spot inspired solutions. His Mercury is also in a tenacious trine to Pluto and a sensible trine to Saturn. His Mars in high-wire, can-be-scattered Gemini is on the focal point of a T Square to Saturn opposition Venus in Virgo, so he’s not short of courage though can be disorganized. And he has a Leo Sun in a confident, lucky square to Jupiter.

  His Harmonics are also instructive – with a breakthrough genius 13H marked; as well as leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H; and a get-it-together 5H.

  That 1990s generation are certainly making their mark with unconventional solutions and ideas.   

Pakistan wasn’t prospering under the governing prowess of Imran Kahn, the former cricketer, but now that he has been ousted in a No Confidence vote, he’s been replaced by one of the old Sharif dynasty. The new PM Shehbaz Sharif, brother of the former three-times PM Nawaz Sharif, (undone by the Pandora Papers offshore scandal), has been accused of corruption in the past but never found guilty in court.

 With less charisma than the former PM he is known as an administrator and is likely to heal rifts with the USA. Khan made himself unpopular by being pro-Putin and pro-Taliban and accused the USA of meddling though it was his economic mismanagement which was his undoing.  Pakistan now faces one of Asia’s worst cost of living crises, with annual inflation on a basket of key goods last week hitting 15 per cent. Although he did deliver some of what he promised, issuing cards that allowed many Pakistanis to obtain health insurance for the first time. Crucially he also fell out with the all-powerful military whose support helped him into government.   

Khan has signalled he will not go quietly and could continue to be a political disrupter, tapping into anti-American sentiment and voter unease about the return of the Sharif dynasty.

  The Pakistan country chart, 14 August 1947 9.30 am Karachi, was always going to be moving through a stormy, fast-changing few years starting mid 2021 with tr Uranus (and tr Saturn) tugging on the Pluto Saturn and Venus conjunction in Leo. That is jolting and jangling through this year till early 2023, after which tr Uranus will square the Sun for more forced changes. This year as well from late May onwards the tr Neptune square the Pakistan Uranus will create a highly-strung, edgy and perhaps fanatical mood – also extending through till late 2023.

The Pakistan Jupiter in Scorpio may produce a few strokes of luck from July onwards but on the whole the road ahead looks no more upbeat than any other country for several years.  Tr Neptune will square the Gemini Midheaven by 2024  for confusion about what comes next and the tr Saturn Neptune in Aries will square the Mars by 2025 which will bring setbacks, a sense of failure and continuing indecision about direction.

That coincides on Shebaz Sharif’s personal chart, 23 September 1951 12.30pm Lahore,  with tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun in 2024. So he won’t be able to overcome whatever pressures are facing the country, exacerbated no doubt by the Ukraine invasion and food shortages to follow.  He looks upbeat enough in 2022/23 with a few disappointments and losses sprinkled around this year and a few calamities in 2023. But it is 2024/25 and beyond which look out of his control. He has three planets in Virgo with a ruthless Mars Pluto in Leo and a reforming (and destabilizing) Uranus on the focal point of a T Square to Neptune opposition Jupiter.

  The Bank of Pakistan chart also, 1 July 1948, hints at ructions this year and next, and increasing anxiety and disappointment in 2023 through 2024.

  Sharif’s Term chart, 11 April 2022 9.12pm, Islamabad, isn’t too illuminating though an accident-prone, impatient Mars Saturn in the 3^rd and a controlling Sun square Pluto in the 3^rd might point to transport and communication problems looming large.

Three weeks of squalid muck-raking is promised for the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard $50 million defamation trial. He has already lost one UK libel trial before a judge and this is his second go in front of a Virginia jury with the intention of showing ex-wife Amber Heard’s lurid tales of domestic violence at his hands were to further her career and ruin his. She is counter-suing for $100 million for being called a perjuror and a hoax artist.

  There are fans on the court-room steps cheering for their hero/ine with the stars dressed for a red carpet performance in sharp contrast to the grubby reality of their short, drug-ridden and degenerate marriage. Legal experts doubt his ability to prove his innocence but celebrity warps everything. His Dior adverts increased in popularity after the last airing of very dirty linen.

  Jan Moir in the Mail described them as “a pair of scorpions, locked in a dance of death, repeatedly injecting each other with venom” which may be unfair to one or the other but certainly seems to fit.

He was born 9 June 1963 8.44am Owensboro, KY, and is a Sun Gemini trine Saturn in the 7^th (= partners bring hard work); with a volcanic Uranus, Mars, Pluto in Virgo. His Capricorn Moon squares Jupiter.

  Amber Heard, 22 April 1986, no birth time, Texas, is a super-stubborn and controlling Sun Taurus opposition Pluto, trine a showbizzy and assertive Neptune Mars in Capricorn. And she may have a T Square of a Libra Moon opposition an argumentative Mercury in Aries square Mars Neptune.

  Neither of them are exactly easy-going personalities and what is significant is that both have their Venus in Taurus conjunct the destructive Fixed Star Algol – and in their relationship chart the composite Sun is also conjunct Venus and Algol – so the writhing serpent-headed goddess rules their match.

  Their relationship chart is riddled with oppositions – Sun Venus opposition Moon, an argumentative and explosive Mercury opposition Mars and Uranus; Neptune opposition North Node, and a wide tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter opposition Pluto. Plus a chained-together and resenting it Saturn square Pluto.

  It’s not a particularly brutal chart though certainly high-tension with a tendency for arguments to flare up.  The wedding chart of February 3 2015 is also not altogether suggestive of outright violence though did point to an unstable, crisis-ridden combo with overtones of aggression.

 The Lunar Eclipse in late Scorpio in mid May will cause maximum emotional upset to both as it collides with their respective Venus in Taurus – and will be in effect earlier. Usually this kind of Eclipse connection brings feelings of being unloveable and a hint that being tolerant and compromising will be necessary. It was also around late last November – so clearly the message didn’t get across.

  The late October Solar Eclipse in Scorpio will rattle Amber’s Sun and Pluto prompting the need for life-changing decisions. And it also opposes Depp’s Mideaven which could bring far-reaching career implications, knocking him off track.

  Her Sun opposition Pluto is fairly key to the Depp debacle since her Sun falls within a degree conjunct his Midheaven and her Pluto on his IC. She’d be attracted to his career/status. Well-aspected in synastry, one person’s Sun on the other’s MC can be helpful in career terms. But if it goes wrong, there is a  rivalry for power and importance.

  Her Pluto on his IC would make her controlling in the domestic environment and she would have a subconscious effect on his deeply-rooted psychological compulsions; and be resented for her attempts to intrude and be in charge.

  Neither of them look too happy through this year. She has calamitous transits to her Mars/Saturn midpoint from May 20^th onwards, on and off into 2023; with losses August to November this year.

  He’s also facing dashed hopes exactly now and on and off till late 2023; upsets across mid May; plus disappointment mid September onwards.

  Their relationship chart indicates rancour will drag on if anything ramping up in 2023/2024 and beyond with tr Pluto square the composite Mercury and then opposition the Mars. Though 2024 may blow it all out of the water as tr Uranus is in a separating conjunction to the composite Sun Venus, giving us all blessed peace.

  I’m tempted to say they should both take responsibility for their choices in marrying each other and just bury the hatchet.  But there again, if a smidgeon of what she alleges is true there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to say so.  All a murky swamp.

Jon Batiste, singer, songwriter, bandleader from an astonishingly wide and talented New Orleans musical family was nominated for 11 Grammy’s and won five including the prestigious Album of the Year. This follows on from the Academy Award plus plus which he won for co-composing the score to the Pixar Soul movie.

  Born 11 November 1986 in Louisiana into the Batiste family which includes twenty-five or more musicians, he has a determined Sun Mercury in Scorpio square Mars in Aquarius as well as a charming Venus Pluto in Scorpio in a confident trine to Jupiter in Pisces, sextile Neptune. He first played drums at eight years old in the family group, the Batiste Brothers Band, before switching to piano. He’s a fixture as bandleader on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, has composed a Carnegie Hall symphony and organized “social music” protests about the deaths of black Americans at the hands of the police in the hope of sparking genuine political change.

 His Grammy’s success was bittersweet since it came as his wife Suleika Jaouad, who wrote a cancer memoir, learnt that her leukaemia had returned and she underwent a bone marrow transplant.

  He’s a nephew of the great Harold Batiste another quadruple Scorpio from 1931, who spent fifteen years with Sonny and Cher in LA.

  His wife Suleika, 5 July 1988, New York is a Sun Cancer opposition Neptune, trine Pluto with a Pisces/Aries Moon; and a musical Mars in Pisces square Mercury opposition Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius.

  Tr Pluto is trine her Jupiter in Taurus through this year so cross fingers the bone marrow transplant brings a remission.  

Russian forces are withdrawing from around Kiev after a campaign bedevilled by logistical and military blunders, significant troop and equipment losses and low morale. The focus will now be to seize and subdue the two eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, already partly controlled by pro-Russia separatists. The newly appointed sole commander will be General Alexander Dvornikov, known for the brutality of his bombardments on civilian targets in Syria.

  Born 22 August 1961 Ussurijsk, Russia, he’s descried as an “old school” general and a “blood and soil nationalist”, trained in Soviet military doctrines that view obliterating civilian targets such as hospitals as a means of gaining battlefield momentum. A Sun, North Node and Uranus in Leo he is no shrinking violet, especially with a ‘leadership’ Leo Node. He also has Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn opposition Venus in Cancer.

[Two thoughts –Jupiter Saturn conjunctions in earth signs at their worst can produce unpleasant types. Secondly there are a surprising number of military leaders who have risen up through a system that demands obedience who have strong rebellious Sun Uranus aspects.]  

   He’s looking  pleased exactly now over his appointment and will have significant success in July to mid October this year, alongside a few losses and snarl ups. Tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter from March this year, on and off till late 2023 looks disconcertingly triumphant and confident. Once those are over, 2024 looks confused and devastating, with 2025 worse so his run of luck will give out – eventually.

 President Zelensky’s Saturn in Leo are conjunct Dvornikov’s Sun, Node, Uranus so it will be, not surprisingly a significant clash of personalities and agendas. Their relationship chart has a fated Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus which will be under severe stress and produce intense emotional reactions with tr Pluto square the focal point Venus in 2022/23; and tr Neptune and tr Uranus tugging on the lower legs of the Yod in 2023/25.

  Zelensky’s chart, to recap, will be more rattled than usual from the 23^rd of this month for two weeks; and will limp on  with rising anxieties – with one stroke of luck in late June this year. 2023 has tr Pluto opposing his Mars at zero Leo which will be trapped, high-risk and infuriating on and off till late 2024; with 2025 not looking too upbeat either. So there will be no speedy closure.

   The Ukraine 24 August 1991 2.30pm Kiev chart will be facing a significant failure with tr Neptune opposition the Ukraine Mars from mid this May on and off till February 2024’ and will be forced into a significant shift and upheaval from mid this June onwards with tr Uranus opposing the 10^th house Pluto which runs into April 2023. Again there’s no sense of an early settlement to the country’s misery.  See previous Post  29 March 2022.