Astrology of Today’s News

A mass grave containing the remains of 215 children found at a former residential school set up to forcibly assimilate indigenous people in Canada has shone a spotlight on the ‘cultural genocide’ policies of the early government.  

The Indian Act of 12 April 1876 aimed amongst other things to eliminate First Nations culture in favour of assimilation into Euro-Canadian society. Further amendments led to the establishment of compulsory boarding schools run by the government and RC Church whose aim was to separate the children of indigenous parents from their families. The children were often not allowed to speak their language or to practise their culture, and many were mistreated and abused.

The first such school was opened in 1 December 1883 at the behest of the first prime minister of Canada, John A Macdonald, who had tasked an Irish lawyer, journalist, politician Nicholas Flood Davin to make recommendations. His Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds led to the creation of a network of such schools which over a hundred years incarcerated around 150,000 children. By the 1930s about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools.

  The Indian Act, 12 April 1876 Ottawa, has an innovative Aries Sun trine Uranus but is also ruthless and cruel with a Pluto Mars conjunction and Mars Venus opposition Jupiter Moon square Saturn. Mars in aspect to both Pluto and Saturn does suggest brutality.

  The first Industrial school, 1 December 1883, has hardship and deprivation written all over it – with a Saturn Pluto conjunction in Gemini opposition Sun.

 Nicholas Flood Davin, 13 January 1840, the architect of the scheme, was a Sun Capricorn with an unpleasantly hard-hearted Pluto trine Saturn, sextile Mars – so in tune with the Indian Act.

  John A Macdonald, 10 January 1885, Glasgow, was another Sun Capricorn conjunct Mars trine Neptune and Pluto respectively with a pushily confident Jupiter square Pluto.  He is credited for his key role in the formation of Canada though heavily criticised for his indigenous peoples’ policies.

My non-astro thoughts:

Outraged disbelief at the Roman Catholic Church for their reprehensible behaviour here and in Ireland and elsewhere and wishing plague and pestilence on them for their hypocrisy.

The early Canadian whites’ attitude isn’t much different from the colonialists in Africa and Australia; and in modern day with the Chinese in Tibet or with indoctrinating the Uighurs, and North Korea. It’s a fascist one-note policy – you’re one of us or you don’t exist. But that has probably been true of most, though not all, civilizations at all times. The invading force wants to put its mark on the territory it has taken over.

   Colonial attitudes are coming under attack, quite rightly for their brutality in some areas. But it is too blinkered to see it all as a ‘privileged white’ issue. Superpowers have good and bad sides – Genghis Khan created his great Mongol Empire on the back of appalling genocides but practised religious tolerance when he was established. Mali in west Africa which became a centre for Islamic learning at its height in the 13^th century ran on widescale slavery.

  It’s too easy to beat ourselves up about historical sins from the recent past but taking a wider perspective indicates it’s as much about the human condition over millenia as anything else.

Add On: The Canada chart describes a tough-minded and adventurous national temperament. The Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto in Taurus gives grit, perseverance and endurance though isn’t awash with sentiment. Mars opposing Jupiter hints at a risk-taking mentality; and the Sun Uranus in Cancer in the 4^th give a strong but rebellious sense of identity. The Sun Uranus squares Neptune on the Aries Ascendant softening the national image, wreathing it in a smokescreen of niceness.

   This First Nation atrocity may turn out – as ever – to be a short-lived outrage that gets swept under the carpet after a few judicious words of apology – but two things seem pertinent in the near future. The Lunar and Solar Eclipses are rattling up the Canada Solar Arc Midheaven, Solar Arc Sun Uranus and the natal Venus in Gemini this year and the Eclipses will also impact the Saturn opposition Pluto in 2022 so there is a sense of change in the air, or at least change that will be precipitated by crisis.

  At the same time tr Uranus will conjunct the Canada Pluto opposition Saturn, as indeed will tr Saturn in Aquarius, throughout 2022 which suggests a radical upheaval internally, against a fair amount of resistance and with some deprivation and hardship. Eclipses hitting the Canada Saturn in 2022 can bring chickens home to roost and exact a price for past mistakes.

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Naomi Osaka, the women’s NO 1 tennis champion, four times Grand Slam winner and reigning US and AU Open champion has withdrawn from the French Open after a botched handling of her refusal to attend press conferences. Her reason was that her mental health issues made facing negative media questions damaging. Initially it did sound an overly precious excuse and sent Piers Morgan off on a rant, but it then emerged she has suffered from major depressive bouts.

  She was born 16 October 1997 in Chuo, Japan but moved to New York when she was three, with her Haitian father taking on the role of tennis coach having been inspired by the Williams’ sisters father.

  She is a Sun Libra opposition a self-doubting Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries close to her Aries Moon. Her Sun is also square Neptune and it’s possible her Moon is also conjunct Saturn and square Neptune.  A prominent Neptune is surprisingly common amongst athletes but it can be ultra-sensitive, in particular when tied into Saturn. 

  She also has a super-intense Pluto, Venus, Mars in Sagittarius which will ramp up her emotional temperature and give her acute frustrations. She also has a lucky Uranus Jupiter in Aquarius which sextiles her Pluto, Venus, Mars. A Saturn trine Mars will give her self-discipline but tends to go along with fairly harsh treatment.

  It is a punishing lifestyle at the top in global sport though it does pay. Her last year’s fees were reputed to be $55 million. It requires an obsessive and fairly masochistic drive to keep up with the training schedule and constant travel. And parental pressure, though she does talk fondly of them, won’t help.

Actress Kate Winslet has become the TV hit of the year for her portrayal of a moody, middle-aged grandmother and detective in Mare of Easttown. Her penchant for not opting for commerce-driven movies despite her early success in Titanic possibly stems from her thespian background with actor grandparents who ran an English provincial repertory company.  She has still acquired an impressive array of awards – Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Emmys.

  She was born 5 October 1975 at 7.15am in Reading, England and is a Sun Pluto in Libra – similar to Gwyneth Paltrow, though a million miles apart in life choices.  Kate’s Sun is conjunct a Libra Moon Mercury and opposition a confident, pro-active Jupiter in Aries so she’s focused, intense and enthusiastic. She has a well-organised Saturn in Leo in her career 10^th in an erratic, inconsistent, can-be-dictatorial square to Uranus.  Her Mars in upfront Gemini in her spread-the-word 9^th house makes her a dedicated campaigner for vegetarian, animal cruelty and other issues that interest her. 

  Her actor’s 15^th harmonic is strong as are her creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics.

  She’s been married three times, the middle one to director Sam Mendes and since 2012 to a nephew of Richard Branson. The last few years will have been tough going with the tr Uranus square tr Pluto tugging on her Libra planets but she’s now clear of those.

  She’s on a roll at the moment with tr Pluto conjunct her luckily Jupiter/Uranus midpoint, on and off till late 2022. And this year her Solar Arc Midheaven is conjunct her Venus which will boost her popularity.  There’ll be a dip in her fortunes in 2023 when tr Neptune squares her Mars but overall she’s got a good many years of hard work and success ahead.

  Settled in England at the moment, she has her best success line through eastern USA, not quite exact for the Philadelphia area in which this series is set but near enough.   

The last two remaining Dionne Quintuplets have celebrated their 87^th birthday. They had a tumultuous upbringing being removed from home a few weeks after their birth to be turned into a tourist attraction in return for free medical care. They were returned to their parents aged nine and for years were bullied by their five elder siblings and sexually abused by their father. All left home at 18 and had little contact with their parents after that. Their parents lived in considerable style because of the money generated by them in childhood. In the late 1990s the three sisters still alive were awarded compensation by the Canadian government for their exploitation. The two others had died in adult life from a seizure and a blood clot.

  Born 28 May 1934 at 3.56 am in Callander, Ontario, Canada, they had a horrifically difficult chart. A first house Gemini Sun squared Neptune in the 5^th house of children and trined Jupiter which was light enough and their Jupiter probably saved them, dangling enough hope under their nose to get them through.

   But their intensely emotional Scorpio Moon is massively afflicted. It opposes Mars in Taurus and Algol and is in a cruel-treatment square to Saturn in Aquarius as well as being on the focal point of a Yod to Uranus Venus in Aries sextile Mercury in Gemini. Tierney says of a Moon Yod apex point that it ‘undergoes its most strained period during the individual’s early developmental years’ – and leads to emotional defensiveness and lack of trust.

It says a good deal for their spirit that they are still trucking on in their late eighties.

One of America’s worst outbreaks of racial violence happened 100 years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma when a white mob killed 300 black people, ran amok in one of the country’s most prosperous Black communities known as Black Wall Street, destroying hundreds of Black-owned businesses, churches and homes – the equivalent of $32 million dollars worth of damages nowadays. 10,000 were left homeless and a further 800 injured. Witnesses reported seeing bodies tossed into the muddy Arkansas River or dumped into mass graves, making it impossible to count the dead.

  It was triggered when a young white woman screamed inside a building and a young black man was arrested for assaulting her though she later said nothing happened.

   The attack and killing started around 10pm on 31 May 1921 – the Gemini Sun was in a rebellious square to Uranus opposition Jupiter, which last has a habit of amplifying whatever it touches. More significantly the Sun was conjunct a heated Mars, and Mars was in an ‘accident-prone’, bad-tempered and cruel (assassination associations) square to Saturn. Uranus was also in a disruptive trine to Pluto as well as an explosive, no-compromise square to Mars. And Mercury was close to Pluto which wouldn’t help since it tends to exaggerate negative opinions and bitterness.

    The North Node is Libra hints that learning to cooperate would be the mature way to go while Venus sat on the South Node pulling the unevolved back into primitive reactions.

  The Tulsa incorporated chart, 18 January 1898, has a Sun, North Node and Venus in Capricorn as befits a commercially ambitious hub with Mars Mercury also in Capricorn. The signature Neptune Pluto in Gemini of the time sat across from Moon, Saturn and Uranus in Sagittarius making for a tough-minded local temperament, though also paranoid and prone to wild fantasies.

  When the massacre occurred tr Pluto was exactly opposition the Tulsa Mercury – shades of the USA chart at the moment – which leads to hasty thinking, high levels of irritability, lies and does lend itself to mob fever. The tr Sun Mars, tr Uranus and tr Jupiter Pluto were also moving in hard aspect to the Tulsa Pluto Neptune in Gemini and Saturn in Sagittarius maybe Moon – on the day and in the shocked aftermath.

  Just a stray thought – Jupiter Saturn is always written up in slightly upbeat language but my impression is that in Earth signs it has a much less agreeable effect.  

The happy day came sooner rather than later with Boris hitching with Carrie yesterday at a small family event just after 2pm in London with celebrations to come next year. It was conducted at a Roman Catholic Cathedral on the spurious grounds that Boris, baptised originally as RC although non practising, could have his two previous marriages and divorces regarded as non-existent since they were conducted under other religious umbrellas.

  On the wedding chart there’s a light-hearted, social butterfly Venus and Mercury in Gemini on the Midheaven, similar to Boris’s own chart. But in this case it squares Neptune hovering just below the Descendant which suggests illusions, delusions and disappointments later when reality kicks in. Good for show and public relations, less so for commitment. The Sun in the intellectually stimulating and far-travelled 9^th house is in an expansive square to Jupiter.  

  What is most problematic is a crisis-attracting, ruthlessly determined Mars opposition Pluto Moon – which suggests bitter power-struggles or at least a serious power imbalance causing resentment and major arguments. The argumentative Mars opposition Moon would be exact just as the vows were exchanged. The Pluto is also inconjunct the Midheaven and Venus which is strained.

 There’s also a restrained Saturn in the sociable 5^th squaring onto a high-tension, self-willed 8^th house Uranus.

 It’s not the most peaceful of charts and indicates a fair amount of aggro around the day itself, never mind the pattern it lays down for the marriage. The Moon will move by Solar Arc to oppose the Mars exactly in eight months which will lead to domestic arguments and the heat is likely to rise over the next four years with the Solar Arc Mars moving to oppose the Pluto exactly. This fits with my somewhat gloomy predictions from the previous post see May 24 2021 below – of 2025 being high noon time.

  Usually wedding charts by some odd quirk reflect many of the themes of the relationship chart.  Their’s has a Neptune opposition Venus which is ethereal and romantic to start with but the shine usually wears off. There’s also a Saturn square Uranus which suggests different agendas – one more progressive than the other which leads to constant eruptions. There is a helpful and lucky Jupiter in the middle of it all which will smooth rough edges – conjunct the Sun, opposition Uranus and square the Saturn. Though it can also lead to arrogance getting out of hand. The composite Pluto is inconjunct the Sun and possibly square the composite Moon which makes for possessiveness but also a tussle for the upper hand.

  What’s odd about the choice of a wedding date is that tr Neptune has just started to conjunct the composite Mars in their relationship chart, running on and off till early 2023, which will bring a panicky sense of failure about the relationship and tr Uranus is exactly conjunct the composite Sun now which is normally a separating aspect. Both tr Saturn and tr Uranus will continue to aspect the Sun all this year.

  Their personal charts are not showing up much of cheer apart from minor Jupiter transits in BJ’s case square his Mars and in Carrie’s conjunct her Mercury and her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint.

  Carrie’s Venus in Taurus opposition Pluto is being buffeted every which way by tr Uranus conjunct her Venus and opposition her Pluto exactly now and both being squared by Solar Arc Neptune this year – none of which looks like blissful contentment. Tr Uranus will continue to shake up her Venus into early 2022 and tr Saturn will also be in discouraging hard aspect through this year.   

Will be interesting to read the biographies at a later date as to what exactly what was going on.

GB news – a new 24-hour news and opinion channel is due to launch ON June 13 with a mission to inform those fed up with the BBC’s ‘woke’ culture and London-centric thinking. The CEO is Angelos Frangopoulos, who turned Sky News Australia into a right-wing megaphone, and the Chairman is Andrew Neil who will also host a political discussion show. Critics fear it will lead to the ‘Foxification’ of the UK’s broadcast media. Though the experience from down under was that advertisers were scared off by social media campaigns after offensive remarks from presenters and there would also be restrictions under Ofcom’s broadcasting guidelines.

   Although Neil has likened GB News to “a David among Goliaths, the underdog in a crowded market”, it is still costing £60 million; and industry analysts say they don’t see how the business model will hold up.

  It will launch 13 June 2021 at 8pm which gives a Sun Mercury in Gemini square Neptune which is not encouraging. Neptunian enterprises often fizzle out. There’s also a ruthlessly determined but also aggravating and frustrated Pluto opposition Mars Moon. What is more helpful is an Air Grand Trine of Midheaven trine Saturn trine North Node Mercury which will produce some traction. There’s also a grandiose, over hopeful Jupiterian Yod onto MC sextile Mars Moon.

 Andrew Neil, 21 May 1949, has had an illustrious and generally successful career as editor of the Sunday Times, chairman of The Spectator and a regular TV political show host. He’s a stalwart and serious Taurus Sun square Mars with an ultra-determined, good-in-a-crisis Mars in Taurus square Pluto – well used to coping with big hitters.

  He’s got tr Neptune opposition his Mars/Jupiter midpoint exactly now over the launch which generally points to plans not working out, a difficult birth and a sense of failure. That runs exactly till late July and repeats on and off till early 2023. Plus a disruptive tr Uranus square his Pluto from July onwards and conjunct his Mars in 2022 for a major upheaval and tr Saturn is also pitching in its tuppence worth of woe in 2022 onto his Mars Pluto square.  So not all running to plan.

 I’m not sure viewers need more news – they need entertained and cheered up not embroiled in rancorous discussions or sunk under a deluge of discouraging statistics.

Elizabeth Warren, one of the moderate progressives in the Democratic Party is rattling up CEOs in her campaign to hold the corporate world to account. She lost the fight to be Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidency and says she’ll run again for her Massachusetts Senate seat come 2024, supporting Joe Biden in his stated aim of a second term.

  She was born 22 June 1949 and is an innovative Sun Uranus in Cancer with a combative and determined mini-Grand Trine of Mars Mercury in Gemini trine Neptune, sextile Pluto. She also has Jupiter in Aquarius which is interesting since it catches the super-successful tr Pluto conjunction from April 2023 right through till late 2024. Over the election she has a raft of helpful and uplifting though minor Jupiter transits to various midpoints as well as one discontented one. Whatever happens she looks as if she is on a roll and more than upbeat about the result.

Ghislaine Maxwell due for trial this November on charges of sex trafficking and other offences may face evidence from other Epstein co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein, which could be damaging to her case. She has pleaded not guilty.  Legal wrangles are continuing in advance of the due date.

  Born 25 December 1961 3.20pm Maisons Lafitte, France, she has an intense, secretive Capricorn Sun, Mars and Mercury in the 8^th house of money and sex, with her Mars in a passionate conjunction to Venus in late Sagittarius. She has a drama-queen, lucky, successful though also self-righteous Jupiter in her 10^th on her Midheaven in a head-in the-clouds square to Neptune. Her flashy Leo Moon falls in her 4^th along with the unsettled Uranus Pluto in Virgo, hinting at her closeness to an unstable father.

  Her Midheaven and Jupiter will catch the tr Saturn conjunction on and off till late November which will be discouraging and a time when the harvest for past actions is reaped. She’s got the emotionally upsetting tr Uranus square her Moon picking up in July and repeating into 2022. The run up to the trial in October looks blocked and over-burdened with tr Saturn square her Sun/Pluto; and December is nervy and under attack with tr Saturn square her Mercury/Pluto midpoint. Next year from mid March onwards for two years she picks up the discouraging tr Pluto conjunct her Saturn in the legal 9^th which suggests an uphill struggle against the forces of the law.

  She does have Neptune in her 6^th so will be semi-fragile on the health front and since it catches both tr Saturn and tr Uranus hard aspects through this year I’d wonder about her general state of fitness.

 Significantly the composite Mars opposition Uranus on her relationship chart with Epstein sits exactly on her MC/IC – an explosive connection that will upend her life.

For more detail see previous posts in 2020 under search.