Astrology of Today’s News

For a man who infamously uttered the scornful dismissal of business concerns about Brexit – ‘f*** business’ when Foreign Secretary – Boris Johnson has done a sharp U-turn since entering No 10 to cosy up to Tory donors and others in a government that is sinking in accusations about sleaze and favouritism. The latest kerfuffle concerns leaked text messages with billionaire James Dyson over lifting tax liabilities for his overseas workers, exchanges with Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) over a blocked Saudi bid for Newcastle FC and leaked emails about donations solicited to cover the renovations of the prime minister’s flat.

  A former civil servant said that Johnson’s mobile phone use demonstrated that “he just doesn’t understand that there needs to be a level of transparency and accountability” in regards to his actions.

 Dominic Cummings, the bitter ex-adviser who was kicked out late last year is being fingered for these leaks though denies them hotly.

  Dyson, 2 May 1947 Cromer, England, has his business headquartered in Singapore but is returning from tax exile to live in the UK. He has a Sun Taurus square Pluto, which is being severely shaken up this year into early 2022 by the tr Uranus square tr Saturn. His acquisitive Taurus Sun falls in Boris’s financial 8^th close to BJ’s Jupiter and opposition BJ’s financial 2^nd house Neptune with Dyson’s Jupiter also in BJ’s 2^nd – so a potentially financially lucrative tie-up.

  MBS is a less obvious connection with an aggravated Saturn opposition Mars Venus square Pluto in their relationship chart. Though MBS’s inflated and power-hungry Pluto is conjunct Boris’s Sun so he will exert fear if not influence.

  What was always intriguing was Boris’s choice of Dom Cummings as his Svengali since their charts are seriously at odds. Dom Cumming’s Sun Neptune in Sagittarius opposition Saturn square Mars (Moon) in Pisces grates badly with BJ’s Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn in Pisces square Mars in Gemini. And worse their relationship chart has a ‘fated’ and bad-tempered Yod, suggesting a connection that would irrevocably change the lives of both. Which it has done with Brexit but there may be more to come.  The Yod involves Neptune sextile Sun, Pluto, Uranus, Venus inconjunct Mars Saturn North Node – and that is not only truly difficult, it’s also highly unstable and prone to blow a fuse. Which is what Matthew Parris, the Times columnist, said right at the start of their association.

  The angry, resentful composite Mars Saturn squares the hidden 12^th house Saturn Venus Pluto in Capricorn in BJ’s 2^nd Term chart – which is a touch obscure but makes me wonder whether Cummings is now intent on chipping away at the foundations since he knows where the bodies are buried and has plenty of ammunition for exposures.

  None of which is likely to have an instant impact since, for all the media squalls, Boris sails on impervious to attacks that would have ousted politicians on the instant years ago. Especially since Labour appear incapable of mounting an effective opposition and getting their criticism to stick.

Add ON: Whoever thought it a bright idea to lob a grenade at Cummings – some say Boris against advice in a fit of pique, others say Carrie – it resulted in a scud missile kickback in return which could reverberate down the ages.

  What’s clear is that Cummings’ dislike of Carrie is one component of his beef against his erstwhile bro-romancer. It’s not surprising since his Uranus squares her ambitious Mars in Capricorn, his Pluto opposes her Sun and worse her Mercury in Pisces collides with his Saturn, Neptune, Sun and Mars so she will arouse all his paranoia and it will have made calm communication impossible. Power struggles are also obvious in their relationship chart with Pluto trine the composite Mars and square Mercury, Sun – a tug of war for the ear of the flaxen-haired dolly trapped between them.

  Boris is attempting to brush it all off in his usual piffle waffle way though Carrie seems less sanguine.  She has her composite Neptune square her Pluto and Venus now which is emotionally confused, even devastated; and she will be tossed around from late May with tensions breaking into the open, with worse to follow from July onwards.

  Her relationship chart with Boris shows a serious dose of panic and failure and disruptions from late May till late July, repeating on and off till early 2023 – that may be part personal but given she is a political force in her own right may also be a series of professional banana skins.

Useful indicator of where more landmines may explode in the near future from The Telegraph:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/04/23/sorting-shrapnel-dominic-cummings-grenade-ridden-riposte-means/

Robert De Niro, one of the all-time Hollywood greats with a string of awards for his nine Martin Scorsese movies including The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, The Unotuchables as well as Wag the Dog, Silver Linings Playbook etc has gone noticeably off track over the past two decades with a string of clunkers – Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents, Dirty Grandpa  – and worse recent lame TV adverts for a breadmaker and a car company. His lawyer now claims he is “working at an unsustainable pace” in order to support his about-to-be-ex-wife Grace Hightower and pay off all his back taxes.  Her lawyer retaliated that he had been “unfairly decreasing” the agreed-upon payments including cutting her credit-card expenses from $461,000 a month to “just” $127,000 from January.

  He hooked up with Hightower in the late 1990s with a two year marriage which split and got together again in 2004 which more or less coincides with his downturn and bad career choices.

  He was born 17 August 1943 3am New York and has a 2^nd house Leo Sun square Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol; with Jupiter Pluto and his North Node in Leo in his 2^nd. Money will always have been a driving force in his life with a strong tendency to profligacy and gross indulgence when it comes to spending with no limits and on the evidence less inclination to save for tax.

  What is astro-intriguing is his ex-Grace, born 7 April 1955, also has Mars in Taurus conjunct Algol in an extraordinarily difficult, stubborn-to the-nth-degree, and hard edged opposition to Saturn square Pluto. Her Pluto is conjunct his 2^nd house Sun so she will be drawn to controlling him financially and exacerbating his worst habits. But if ever two people should never have got hitched they are it. Their relationship chart does have an affectionate composite Sun opposition Venus with a passionate Venus trine Pluto so there would have been an attraction which ended in disappointing with a composite Sun trine Neptune. But it’s that stand-out Mars Algol which has obviously wreaked destruction on their relationship and his judgement.

  When the couple finally split four years ago tr Neptune was conjunct his Pisces Moon and starting to move round his T Square of Mercury Venus in Virgo squaring onto an impractical 12th house Saturn and that won’t clear till early 2024 after an uncertain tr Neptune square his Saturn is finished. In 2018 as well tr Uranus just into Taurus was aiming to square his Pluto and Jupiter which he’s now in the midst of. Tr Saturn is just into his 8^th till April 2023 which will be tight financially (comparatively speaking) – and tr Saturn square tr Uranus is also tugging on his extravagant Jupiter Pluto in Leo this year.

  It’s an unedifying divorce spat which has left the judge unimpressed. He said: “I want to get these parties divorced – to go their separate ways. They will still come out of this richer than almost any human being who walks this earth. There is nothing ordinary about these expenses. For 99.9999 per cent of the world, these are extraordinary to an almost unimaginable degree.”

  It’s not clear that De Niro can untarnish his legacy any time soon with tr Neptune heading to conjunct his Midheaven between now and 2024.

  Hollywood at its worst.

The humiliating collapse of the European Super League has been hailed by fans as a victory after the main clubs pulled out after a barrage of criticism. But Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid chairman, insists the plan is not dead, merely on standby. The 12 clubs’ involved are still disenchanted with how Uefa runs the Champions League and do not think it delivers enough high-quality games in a digital media age.

The Super League clubs are adamant they could make more money from broadcast revenue than Uefa, so it would give substance to Perez’s assessment that the competition would “save football”.

[I would have to admit I know zero about football apart from a passing astonishment at the level of monies involved to employ footballers, so this background is all gleaned from media reports.]

  The breakaway teams had hoped the Super League could attract billions in revenues to replenish their finances, facing a 2 billion euro revenue hit from the pandemic. Pérez’s ambition was to use the Super League to multiply revenues for the clubs involved, locking in cash flow for a decade.   An insider said “I’m sure he [Pérez] will come back with something. “You don’t work four years on something like this and just drop it.”

  Another Spanish football boss arguing against the idea said that breakaway clubs should rethink their business models, and control their expenses which would mark a major shift for clubs that have for years increased their transfer and salary budgets for signing and retaining star players.

 Florentino Perez, 8 March 1947 11.30am Madrid, has a 10^th house ambitious Mars in Pisces as well as Sun Mercury in Pisces square an innovative, rebellious Uranus. His Libra Moon Neptune is in his performing/sporting 5^th house. He has a money-magnet Jupiter in Scorpio as well as a doggedly determined Saturn Pluto in Leo opposition Venus.

  At the moment he has the disruptive tr Uranus square his Pluto and tr Saturn in opposition which continues on through this year till early 2022. But he then looks in the mood for an over-confident push come later in 2022 when his Solar Arc Jupiter opposes his Pluto. Which will run into major setbacks in 2023/24 with a raft of unhelpful Solar Arcs and his Progressed Mars and Venus squaring his Saturn.

  Though that may not all be football since he’s also embarking on a plan to transform his road construction group ACS into the world’s biggest toll road operator. But one way or another all of his plans are facing major obstacles ahead.

  UEFA, 15 June 1954, despite this ‘win’ isn’t looking too cheerful with tr Neptune square the Gemini Sun from late May, on and off till early 2023. And 2022/23 also has undermining, panicky midpoint transits.  

  Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer, has been found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter of George Floyd and will be sentenced in eight weeks. The Attorney General Merrick Garland has also announced an inquiry into the Minneapolis Police Department which is part of a broader strategy by the Biden White House to hold police forces accountable in cases where they are found to have violated federal laws.

   Chauvin’s chart has tr Pluto in a discouraging opposition to his Saturn in 2021/22 and an insecure and disruptive set of influences from this July onwards so although there is talk of an appeal he isn’t looking confident.

 What is clear is that this is regarded as a game-changing moment for the USA so Chauvin is a pivotal figure for the country. What is of interest is that his Saturn is conjunct the USA Mercury and exactly opposition the USA Pluto; and his Pluto is conjunct the USA Saturn. The USA Mercury Pluto opposition fuels the strand of almost pathological obstinacy in the national psyche which causes toxic debates, mainly involving right-wing and divisive issues. And it will be highlighted over the next three years as tr Pluto finishes the opposition to the USA Mercury in the second half of this year before moving on to the Pluto Return in 2022/23.

  Saturn and Pluto (Chauvin and the USA) combines two tough, masculine energies – rigidly disciplined, melancholy and authoritarian, with a power–hungry need for control. Both are associated with death – Saturn the Grim Reaper and Pluto, ruler of the underworld. Neither are good or even capable of giving way gracefully. Their world view tends to see only the victorious or the oppressed.

 So it is a potent synastry.

  What has dented the mood around the conviction somewhat is Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ ill-judged remarks encouraging demonstrations on the streets if a guilty verdict wasn’t reached – giving rise to an opening for an appeal. She has a long track record of stormy interventions, some of which were understandable, but often unhelpful.

  Born 15 August 1938 St Louis, Missouri, she has an expansive, over-confident Leo Sun opposition Jupiter and a volatile, disruptive Mars in Sun in Leo square Uranus. With her Sun and Mars in a hard-edged trine to Saturn and Moon in Aries. Too much Fire, not enough common sense. She enjoys a fight and will stir up the heat even when it isn’t constructive.

India is facing a catastrophic second wave of Covid infections and deaths, described as not a wave but a wall. Entire families are being wiped out, crematoriums are melting down from constant use, hospitals are full with oxygen, medicines and vaccines in short supply and the already creaky health system is near collapse.

  Earlier this year, India appeared to be weathering the pandemic but changes in behaviour with less social distancing and the emergence of new variants have sent infections soaring.

  The India chart was always going to be at the mercy of the jolting, high-tension tr Saturn square tr Uranus this year as both planets hard aspect the India Saturn Pluto in Leo from late this month on and off into 2022 – which does point to tough conditions and deprivation. With the additional strain of tr Pluto square the Solar Arc Midheaven this year creating blockages before moving on in 2022/23 to oppose the India Cancer Moon hinting at a deeply unhappy and emotionally overwrought population.

  Narendra Modi’s Term chart, 30 May 2019 7.04pm has an over-hopeful and impractical Jupiter opposition Mercury square a 4^th house Neptune, which is deflating fast with tr Neptune now square the Jupiter, repeating till late this year. And the Gemini Sun is catching the Eclipses from late 2020 right through in effect till early 2022 which will accompany rolling crises.

 Modi’s personal chart, 17 September 1950 11am, birth date/time being accurate, has tr Neptune in an undermining, uncertainty and panicked opposition to his Saturn Sun Mercury in Virgo from late this month, on and off till early 2023.

 The Reserve Bank of India, 1 April 1935, is undergoing a year of turbulence with sharp reverses upending old certainties as the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hits on the Bank Venus in Taurus as well as from Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Pluto; and is in a deadlocked, high-risk state of paralysis in 2022 from Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Mars.

  The recovery will be long and hard stretching on – like most other countries – for several years ahead.

Germany’s elections this September will mark a fork in the road as Angela Merkel, Chancellor since 2005, finally leaves the stage.

 The national chart, 1 January 1871 12am, indicates that 2021 is a year of turbulence and dramatic change with tr Pluto opposing the 10^th house Uranus in the run up to the election and again in December, so nothing will be quite the same in the aftermath.

 Armin Laschet, who describes himself as the Merkel continuity candidate, is the right-centre’s choice for the top office. Although regarded as dull with a few blotches on his copybook he is a political survivor who has bounced back from previous defeats, is known for his liberal politics, passion for the EU and ability to connect with immigrant communities. See Post January 16 2021.

  The Greens have pitched as their candidate Annalena Baerbock, 15 December 1980.

  There are no birth times for any of them. At the election the Saturn square Uranus is still in orb setting the progressives up against the status quo-ers.

  Annalena Baerbock is an idealistic Sun Neptune in Sagittarius with a determined Mars in Libra square Pluto and a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Libra so quite a mix of soft and hard. She’s not doing well in the run up to the election with an undermining and indecisive tr Neptune square her Neptune Sun and again in early 2022. That apart there’s not much showing on her chart without a birth time.

   Laschet, 18 February 1961, may benefit from the reflected glow of tr Jupiter in Aquarius close to his Aquarius Sun. though it won’t hit the exact conjunction till late December. Tr Pluto is just off the conjunction to his Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn from mid August, returning in December, which is impossible to interpret, bringing good and bad.

  Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat (SPD) candidate, 14 June 1958 is on a Neptunian slide downwards from late this month onwards into 2022 so not in with a chance.

  That Germany is going through a major spin and shake out isn’t in doubt, since not only is tr Pluto opposing the 10^th house Uranus this year; by 2022 tr Uranus till be conjunct the 8^th house Pluto for yet another upheaval – financial and psychological.

Vartan Gregorian who has just died was once described as “the impossibly distinguished one-man academy of arts, letters, and the humanities” and a “visionary and a living example of the modern man of letters, for whom education and knowledge is the key to opportunity and peace.”  He was a shining example of America’s immigrant policies of yesteryear.

  Born 8 April 1934 he was born in northern Persia to Christian Armenian parents and after his mother died when he was six, he was brought up by an illiterate, though ‘wise’ grandmother and a grandfather who owned camel caravans. He was educated latterly in Beirut and spoke Russian, Persian, Armenian, Turkish, Arabic and French. He came to the USA aged 24, speaking no English, intending to return to Beirut. He studied at Stanford University, completed a BA in two years with honours and earned a dual PhD in history and humanities (art history, philosophy, Romance languages, religion, classics.)

  He stayed in academia and in the 1980s served as president of the New York Public Library which he rescued from near poverty and restored it “to a center of New York cultural life”.

  He was a dynamically pro-active and innovative Sun Mars Uranus in Aries in an expansive and confident opposition to Jupiter square a determined and influential square to Pluto; with his Uranus Mars and widely Sun sextile Saturn in Aquarius.  With only Neptune in Virgo in earth, he could have been impractical but his fund-raising skills were extraordinary so it may depend on his birth time which isn’t known. Half his planets in Cardinal signs would give him a restless sense of initiative. A focal point Pluto, while not easy in adult life since it tends to run into resistance, would give him stamina, focus and a one-tracked obsession with fulfilling his goals. An influencer of a superior variety.

Doug Ford, the Ontario premier, is coping with the pandemic as well as might be expected which is not at all. The situation there is chaotic, with infection rates rising and incomprehensible edicts being tossed around. As the Washington Post remarks he is deflecting blame and losing the plot. ‘Ford was never fit to be premier of Ontario. The pandemic didn’t reveal that; it just bathed it in the garish light of emergency. Both before his time in provincial politics and since, he has shown no distinction other than his extraordinary capacity to alienate, divide and fail. And the failures are many and epic.’

 Born November 20 1964, he has an immoveable and impervious to advice Fixed T square of a Scorpio Sun and Neptune opposition Jupiter in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius. A focal point Saturn dislikes sharing the driving seat and is wilfully resistant to outside pressure. Jupiter opposition Neptune is a Boris Johnson marker – head-in-the-clouds, unreliable, impractical, fuelled by arrogance, likely to land themselves in scandals caused by their own instability.

  Ford also has a volatile, loathes-interference Mars Uranus in Virgo with Uranus conjunct Pluto squaring onto Mercury in Sagittarius maybe opposition a Gemini Moon – not stable.

  Without a birth time there’s not much affecting his chart at the moment though even he must be feeling the heat so it’ll be there on the chart axis.  

 His Term chart, 29 June 2018, again without a start time, has been exceptionally rattled recently with tr Uranus square the Mars and tr Saturn conjunct Mars for mounting irritation and setbacks. Tr Saturn will remain in place on and off all year hammering away at the Mars for more mistakes. The Term Jupiter is also in line for tr Uranus oppositions from June this year which look like fortunate breaks extending into 2022. He has Boris’s luck-of-the-devil clearly. His comeuppance will come – just not quite yet.

See previous post July 30 2018

There is something quite odd going on at the moment with even more outrageously appalling leaders around than usual – as well as monumental financial frauds being exposed and collapsing – WireCard is hammering away at the German elite; Greensill at the UK and Archegos is giving the global banks a major shaking. Unnerving.

Cryptocurrencies regarded by one sceptic as “ a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster” and by Jay Powell of the Fed Reserve as  “vehicles for speculation” took one step out of the shadows into the mainstream with the arrival this week on the stock market of Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptoasset trading platform.

  Purists see the market listing as a brazen sellout, forsaking crypto’s true principles for the golden goose offered by Wall Street by becoming just another middleman operator. An analyst remarks: “If this signals anything at all it is that the state, not crypto, has won the day in terms of control of the financial system. —— Those who thought crypto would up-end the public’s dependency on central banks or financiers, should be lamenting it.”

  Coinbase founded on 20 June 2012, lists 90 cryptocurrencies out of more than 4,000 available; has 56 million verified users in more than 100 countries and employs 1,700 staff. It has assets worth $223 billion on its platform. One day, Coinbase thinks that it could be at the heart of a new, decentralised online financial system.

  Depending on the start time Coinbase has a Sun on last degree Gemini or zero degrees Cancer with the Sun in an assertive though scattered square to Mars in Virgo. With Venus Jupiter in Gemini opposition a Sagittarius North Node square Neptune in Pisces. And Pluto opposition Moon square Uranus. It’s a crises-prone chart with Uranus square Pluto though that can also be a trailblazer. Too much Mutable and a focal point Neptune would make me nervous about putting my life savings with them. They will be having their ups and downs in what is a super-volatile environment with an undermining tr Neptune opposition the Mars from late this May onwards into 2022 and moving on to square the Sun in 2024.  Though tr Pluto will trine the Jupiter in 2024/25 which will give it a lift.

 The Coinbase Nasdaq opening on 14 April 2021 at 1.30pm has an intense Sun Venus square Pluto, a publicity-seeking though not always decisive Mars square an 8^th house Neptune; an adventurous Mars trine Jupiter; and a provocative, status-quo upsetting but inconsistent Saturn square a 10^th house Uranus. Tr Neptune square the Mars in 2022 will make for an uncomfortable and less than progressive year; with financial pressures in place through 2023.

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