Astrology of Today’s News

Two years since the Hamas attack on Israel there is a slender hope of a negotiated peace deal with Donald Trump pushing hard for a settlement. The attacks were the first large-scale invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, with 1,195 people killed by the attacks, 736 of them Israeli civilians. About 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages. Hamas said its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, rising Israeli settler violence, and recent escalations.

 At the end of last year Israel’s leading human rights organisation says conditions inside Israeli prisons holding nearly 10,000 Palestinian detainees amounted to torture. 3500 are being held without charge; 400 are children.

   The 2023 Attack chart had Uranus in the 10^th (conjunct the Israel Taurus Sun) trine Pluto, square Venus and inconjunct Mars – so an explosive event. Mars square Pluto hinted at brutality and ruthlessness. A yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus pointed to at the anti-social nature of the attack.

 At the moment the Progressed Moon is about to move across the Ascendant though that only gives the slimmest glimmerings of hope. Tr Venus will oppose the Neptune by late this week which looks disappointing. Tr Mars is also this coming weekend aiming to oppose the Jupiter highlighting self-seeking, opportunistic acts (probably on both sides).  And by December tr Uranus will square the yod apex Venus for an upset – which point in time is also highlighted elsewhere in relevant charts.

Hamas has detailed its main conditions as: A permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. The complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from all of Gaza. Unrestricted entry of humanitarian and relief aid. The return of displaced people to their homes. The immediate start of a full reconstruction process, supervised by a Palestinian national body of technocrats. A fair prisoner exchange deal.

 The chances of Netanyahu and his right wing cabinet agreeing to that is remote. And the Palestinians see little hope ahead of self-determination and freedom. One Palestinian commentator remarked of global involvement:  

“Rhetoric without consequence has been the west’s modus operandi for decades. The “peace process” became a magic pill rendering the occupation invisible to the west – with the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine swept under the rug to be forgotten. Israel used the cover of the “peace process” to build and expand Israeli settlements, correctly believing that these facts on the ground would strengthen their position at the negotiating table. And with the settlements came settlers and checkpoints and an expanding Kafkaesque system of military control.”

    Everything has been said before but points to watch are Uranus at 28 degrees squaring the Israel Mars in December and again next March which looks like an incendiary point with an angry over-reaction from Israel.

 Hamas looks to be heading for annihilation in the short term at least as its Mars Pluto moves by Solar Arc over its Sun Saturn now and over the next two years. Palestine Action, the UK protest group now labelled terrorist, is also running into the buffers next year.

  But there is equally nothing that looks settled or progressive about Israel’s future ahead with tr Pluto moving to oppose the Moon and then Saturn Pluto right through from 2026 to the mid 2030s – and then worsening towards 2040 with tr Pluto square the Sun and opposition the Mars.

 Relations between Israel and most of the other key Middle Easter countries look significantly stressed and at odds in 2026 and getting increasingly aggravated through 2027 to 2030/31.

 Netanyahu’s popularity will sag further internally with his relationship chart with Israel jangled from this October and worsening January to March 2026.

 Of all the not-solvable problems in the globe this one is amongst the most depressing.

“Many and sharp the num’rous ills

Inwoven with our frame!

More pointed still we make ourselves

Regret, remorse, and shame!

And man, whose heav’n-erected face

The smiles of love adorn,—

Man’s inhumanity to man

Makes countless thousands mourn!”

Robert Burns

Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position, was born 100 years ago. A polarising and divisive figure in UK politics, she is still viewed favourably in historical rankings and her realignment towards neoliberal policies had a significant effect. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

  Her economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office from 1979 waned, although victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support. She survived an assassination attempt by the IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners’ strike. In 1986, she oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang. Her third term fell apart after the “poll tax” debacle and her Eurosceptic views were not shared by her cabinet colleagues.

 She was born 13 October 1925 at 9am (from memory) Grantham, England with a grocer father who was a strict Methodist, and took a chemistry degree at Oxford before becoming a barrister and entering politics. She married at 26 to businessman Dennis Thatcher which lasted over fifty years till his death in 2003 and had two children. She famously filled in her entrance papers for the bar in her hospital bed having just delivered twins.

  She had a Libra Sun and Mars both square a super-confident and opinionated 9^th house Pluto opposition a communicative 3^rd house Jupiter. Although Libra is reputed to be balanced and diplomatic it can veer from extreme to extreme; and in the female of the species tends to get stronger and more assertive with age. In her case Mars would add an argumentative edge to an already dogmatic Pluto and self-righteous Jupiter.

  Her Pluto was trine an overly conscientious Saturn in Scorpio on her Ascendant giving her a stubborn streak and the ability to withstand tough conditions. Her 4^th house Uranus was on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Mercury giving her a defiant urge to upend the old order and institute changes.

  Her career moved to the bidding of Saturn. She had her children as tr Saturn moved through her 12th pulling her away from old ambitions as it headed for her lower profile 1^st quadrant. She entered parliament as tr Saturn moved out of the lowest ebb of her 1^st quadrant setting her on a path which would see her enter the Cabinet as tr Saturn crossed her Descendant moving upwards. When tr Saturn reached her Midheaven she became prime minister. And when she finally admitted defeat and resigned in 1990 it was after tr Saturn had a humbling four years after her Second Saturn Return as it moved back down through her less successful First Quadrant.

 Tr Saturn was also conjunct her Sun when the Falklands War started; and was conjunct her Ascendant on her Second Return at the Brighton Hotel bombing.  

 When she was voted in as PM on 4 May 1979, tr Uranus was just across her Ascendant for a radical change of image and tr Pluto was hovering across the conjunction to her Sun. Tr Jupiter was also conjunct her ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo which in turn was exactly conjunct the UK Jupiter in Leo. Tr Uranus at that point was conjunct the UK 2^nd house Neptune as she set about bringing significant different economic policies into play.

  Her emphasised natal Pluto fell in the UK 10^th house so she had a definite urge to control the country’s direction.  Her relationship chart with the UK had an intense composite Moon square Pluto; a suspicious Saturn Neptune opposition Venus; and an argumentative composite Mars trine Sun Mercury, inconjunct Uranus. When she was elected tr Jupiter was heading for the composite Midheaven hinting at a favourable start though tr Uranus in Scorpio heading for the composite Mercury and then Sun pointed to a bumpy ride ahead.

Oddly enough when she finally resigned tr Jupiter was back moving through the composite MT/UK 10^th with tr Mars exactly conjunct the composite North Node for a decisive moment. And tr Pluto was in Scorpio almost exactly where tr Uranus was when she first took up office putting pressure on the UK’s financial planets.

 By the end of her tenure she was increasingly unpopular and with Solar Arc Uranus moving across the UK Descendant the country was ready for a new partnership. Tr Uranus crossing the UK IC into the 4^th behind tr Neptune and Saturn already in the 4^th – also pointed to the UK in a state of internal upheaval and uncertainty, with change inevitable.

 However much hostility she provoked, she was still an influential figure on the international stage and her friendship with Ronald Reagan not only brought the USA and UK together but also facilitated Reagan’s peacekeeping efforts with Mikhail Gorbachev after she convinced Reagan that he could be trusted.  Reagan’s Jupiter in Scorpio fell on her Saturn Ascendant so he would be an uplifting and confidence-inducing connection.  Their relationship chart echoed this with a composite Sun Jupiter conjunction.

  Two personal asides on Thatcher. One is she fitted the female Libra’s inclination towards her father whom she idolised; and spoke rarely and rather dismissively of her mother.   The second is that despite her rather brisk schoolmarmy temperament she surrounded herself with quite a few colleagues with less than squeaky-clean CVs when it came to sexual scandals. Which may have harked back to her father who had quite a reputation locally according to those who grew up in Grantham.  Her father comes across as a Mars Sun Pluto Jupiter type – pushily confident and domineering.  Her mother is reflected in her Moon Neptune in Leo – vague, dreamy, difficult to pin down. And, of course, with her twins, her son Mark always seemed to be the favourite.

A further thought was a comment made by a cabinet colleague at the outbreak of the Falklands War – was that she had been spoiling for a fight and didn’t much care who she had it with. An interesting women who came out of nowhere really to be a considerable force.

ADD ON: The Conservative Party chart, 9 May 1912, is in turmoil with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Saturn now and for several months ahead – suggesting the old certainties are being upended. Tr Pluto will continue to square square the Venus and conjunct the Uranus throughout 2026 as it has done this year pointing to upheavals, turbulence and insecurity. By 2028 the Solar Arc Pluto will square the Mars for a dead halt with the two years thereafter no better.   

 The Tory Party, 18 December 1834 chart (which I don’t think works as well) is panicked and uncertain now, disappointed and discouraged in 2026 – with some faintly more cheerful influences thereafter. But the 1912 one has in the past reflected events more accurately.

Writer Jilly Cooper, ‘Queen of the bonkbuster’ who brought sex and sharp-eyed social observation to Middle England’s bookshelves with rollicking tales of raunch and rivalry amongst the Cotswolds polo-playing classes, has died after a fall.

Queen Camilla, whose first husband Andrew Parker-Bowles was said to have been the inspiration for the invented lothario Rupert Cambell-Black, hailed the author as a ‘wonderfully witty and compassionate friend’ and added “may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.”

She was born 21 February 1937 12pm (from memory), Brentwood, England, the daughter of a brigadier, started as a local paper reporter, was reportedly fired from 22 PR jobs and eventually became a newspaper columnist for the Sunday Times writing about marriage, sex and housework. Her first novel came out the 1970s, but it wasn’t until Riders when she was 48 that she had her breakthrough.  She was married to publisher Leo whom she had known since she was 9 for over fifty years and had two adopted children.

 Her agent said ‘You wouldn’t expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things – class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.’

 She a survivor of the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash, in which 31 people died and more than 400 were injured when two trains collided in London and had to crawl through a window to escape.

 For all the warm and ‘joyous’ descriptions of her from friends and her reputation for frivolity, she had a not-altogether light hearted chart. Her career-oriented Pisces Sun on her Midheaven was sparsely aspected with only a sextile to Uranus giving her an independent streak. A well-organised, hard-working Saturn in Pisces in her 10^th was in a creative Water Grand Trine to Pluto in her financial 2^nd trine an intensely emotional/sexual Mars in Scorpio in her romantic 5^th, with Saturn opposition Neptune. Certainly creative, but she would have a toughness and a degree of inner torment from Mars Saturn Pluto.

  Oddly enough P.D.James, the crime writer, born in 1920, had a similar chart with a Water Grand Trine of Mars in Scorpio trine Pluto trine Uranus with Uranus opposition Saturn – and she had a markedly darker life than Jilly Cooper’s appeared on the surface with a mentally ill mother and a husband institutionalised after WW11.

  What would help attract positive responses in and towards her was Jilly Cooper’s 7^th house Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto and her 1^st house Cancer Moon which would channel an uplifting spirit, boosting her desire to write ‘happy’ books. Her Venus in upfront Aries was on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Mars sextile Neptune which initially would put her out of step with her social environment and probably honed her observational skills.

 Her husband Leo Cooper, 25 March 1934, was a Sun Mars in Aries; with a cool Venus Saturn in Aquarius square her Mars in Scorpio which would a few aggravations; but was balanced by his Jupiter opposing her Venus and square her Jupiter and Pluto. Their relationship chart had an affectionate and intense composite Sun Venus trine Pluto (Moon) opposition a forgiving Neptune; though with a scratchy Mars square Uranus.

  He  had a six year affair which emerged in 1990 causing them to split temporarily – when the triple conjunction in Capricorn, especially Saturn would be opposing her Cancer Moon and in hard aspect to her Pluto and Venus.

  In October 1999 the Ladbroke  rail crash, which she survived, was one of the worst in 20th-century British history with 31 people killed and 417 injured. On her chart then her Solar Arc Saturn opposition Solar Arc Neptune was hovering in hard aspect to her Mars in Scorpio for a panic-making event. But five other damaging Solar Arcs did not become exact for another two years which was when her husband started to show signs of Parkinsons.

   She undoubtedly had a profound effect with her novels and before that her popular Sunday Times columns, which kind of success would demand a strength of character (and chart) but there is still a lurking sense of angst-ridden turbulence beneath her happy-go-lucky persona.   

James I of England, the first Stuart king of England, and James VI of Scotland, has had a less than glowing reputation, deemed as odd and effeminate and has been underplayed in comparison to Elizabeth 1 and Charles I. A new biography paints a different picture of an assured intellectual who promoted peace in Europe and colonial expansion in America.

 He was born in 1566 to Mary, Queen of Scots, great-grandson of Henry VIII’s elder sister, Margaret Tudor, and crowned in 1567, a “cradle king” at only 13 months old, after the murder of his father, Lord Darnley, and the forced abdication of his mother, whom he never saw again. Three of his four regents died in office and a 1582 coup, saw the powerful Earl of Gowrie kidnap the 16-year-old king during a hunting trip and hold him captive for 10 months.

  Despite his homosexual inclinations, he dutifully married Anne of Denmark and had seven children, three of whom reached adulthood, with his second son, Charles I, as heir. James succeeded to the English throne as King James I of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603.

  He had a 10th house Cancer Sun square a 1^st house Jupiter – creative, caring and confident. He also had an inventive, though nervy 10^th house Neptune opposition Uranus in the 4^th which latter points to a turbulent childhood. His Neptune Uranus opposition squared onto a 7^th house Pluto in Pisces which would mark him out potentially as a radical thinker, though one whose ideas would often be before their time. And that Pluto may well be the reason for the hostility he raised in critics after his death who tarred his image.  It would also have made him highly-strung and mentally stressed.

  He also had a hard-edged Mars Saturn conjunction in Leo in his 12^th square Venus South Node in Taurus, a pointer to his damaging and fearful childhood.

  In his later years, he suffered from arthritis, gout and kidney stones, lost his teeth and drank heavily.  He died during a bout of malaria which brought on a stroke and a violent attack of dysentery.

He was widely mourned, having retained the affection of his people, who had enjoyed uninterrupted peace and comparatively low taxation during his era. He was succeeded by his son Charles 1 who was beheaded 24 years later aged 49 after losing the English Civil War.

Tough times then for a monarch – and on the medical front.

Actress Patricia Routledge,  a British treasure of screen and stage, with an extraordinary range, has died. Best known for  playing the social-climbing battleaxe Hyacinth Bucket in classic TV sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (“an absolute monster and I enjoyed playing her enormously.”) she also starred in Alan Bennett’s TV monologues, and in BBC One’s amateur sleuth Hetty Wainthropp. A Tony Award for best lead actress in a musical on Broadway in New York for Darling of the Day in 1968 was followed by Richard III and Henry V at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

 Her “defining quality’ wrote on critic was ‘her ability to see the humanity in a variety of eccentrics and outsiders.”

  Her intimidating reputation went before her, with one critic noting that with her brusque, often rude, manner with others, she was “doing her very best to qualify as a grande dame”. She explained that she hated timewasters.

 She was born 17 February 1929 12.30 am in Birkenhead, England, with a gentlemen’s outfitter father and a northern puritan upbringing. After university and an English degree she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She never married but admitted to several relationships.

   She had a maverick Aquarius Sun opposition a creative 10^th house Neptune squaring onto a 7^th house Taurus Moon conjunct Algol. Her 7^th house Moon would crave a partner though a focal point Moon often finds it more reassuring to have broader attention from the public than a one-to-one dependency. Sun square Moon is also initially problematic when it comes to making a firm decision about relationships. Ditto a commitment resistant Neptune. In addition she had a freedom-loving Uranus widely conjunct Venus in her performing and romantic 5^th house.

  Her Venus was square Pluto giving her a passionate intensity. As did an 8^th house Mars opposition Saturn in a different way, giving her an understanding of deep seated anger which she used to great effect in the grotesque characters she often played.

 Her 6^th house Jupiter in Taurus flagged up her enthusiasm for work though unaspected apart from a tine to Neptune it would make her less gregarious, self-contained and more aware of the seriousness of life.

  Her creative 5^th and 7^th harmonics were notable – as was her break-through genius 13H; her leaving-a-legacy 17H and her superstar 22H.

Manchester is yet again shaken by a traumatic incident after a terrorist attack on a synagogue by Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, wearing what appeared to be an explosive vest armed with a knife. Two victims were killed, one by friendly fire from the police, who also shot the attacker.

 The city does appear to be a magnet for violent events – with the Ariana Grande concert attack by Islamic extremists on 22 May 2017 which killed 22 people and injured 1,017. An IRA bombing in 15 June 1996 in which 212 were injured after a 1,500-kilogram lorry bomb was detonated, the biggest bomb in Great Britain since the WW11. And the Manchester United football team Munich plane crash of 6 February 1958.

 There are two charts for the city which has an ancient history. One is 14 May 1301 JC Royal Charter, which does have a hard-edged, high-risk, brutal Saturn Mars in Leo opposition Pluto.

   And the City Charter of 29 March 1853 which has an Aries Sun plus a rebellious Uranus Pluto conjunct in Taurus; and a Gemini North Node opposition Jupiter square Mars in Pisces – which last does seem sensitive to events. At the moment the Solar Arc Sun is forming a Mutable Grand Square opposition Mars and square the Jupiter opposition South Node.  In 2017 for the Arena concert bombing, tr Saturn in Sagittarius opposition Mars in Gemini was also rattling that Mutable T square. In 1996 the Solar Arc Uranus in last decan Virgo was triggering the Mars square Jupiter.

 The earlier chart of 1301; had a nerve stretched tr Uranus opposition Neptune in 2017. In 1996 the tr Pluto opposition tr Mars was sitting across the 1301 Sun; with a Solar Arc Sun opposition Neptune. The 1958 plane crash was also a highly Neptunian event.

 Both charts appear to work well enough. The Mars square Jupiter on the 1853 chart on the face of it does not seem overly violent. But Sakoian & Acker describe it as destructive, providing a drive to use collective power and social sanction for self-aggrandizement and gratification of passions. They associate it with people who glorify war and go on holy crusades, can be fanatical.

  City and even town charts do work well if the dates can be found.

Please add below. Older posts under News on top bar and in Search.

Another USA government shutdown has started with the prospect (at the minimum) of lay-offs – 750,000 federal employees expected to be placed on enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work, essential workers like military and border agents may be forced to work without pay, parks will be closed, rubbish pile up and there is likely to be disruption at airports.

 Though Trump has posted online that Republicans should use it to “clear out dead wood” and see which “Democrat Agencies” to cut with the possibility of permanent job losses. In a shutdown, the White House and Office of Management and Budget have full control over which arms of the executive branch will stay running

  J.D. Vance is spouting nonsense about Democrats holding out about funding for illegal aliens when US law bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits and the Democrats have not called for changes to that.

 Democrats are motivated by grassroots anger over expiring healthcare subsidies. Though Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post writes this is less about Obamacare and more about the  American Rescue Plan, brought in as a temporary covid emergency plan, which he argues was inflationary and should not continue. At the time evidently former Clinton treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers cautioned against it because it would “set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.” And Obama economic adviser Jason Furman said he didn’t know of “any economist that was recommending something [that] size.” [I am not familiar enough with the detail to know what weight to put on any of the arguments.]

  The last shut-down under the first Trump administration lasted a record 34 days, starting 20 January 2018.

 There is not much to add to previous thoughts on the USA and Inauguration charts. The USA 4 July 1776 chart has the Solar Arc Saturn exactly square Neptune at the moment for high uncertainty and paralysis with the Solar Arc Sun square the Mars for a collision-type event in six months and SA Sun in a lacklustre discouraging opposition to Neptune exact by mid 2026 but trailing on in effect to early 2027. That will see the end of this two year plus process of a disruptive existential crisis starting in early 2025 as the USA Sun square Saturn by Solar Arc collided with the USA Mars square Neptune.

 Not that the shutdown will last that long since the Democrats are likely to cave but the high anxiety will roll on.

 The USA Federal Reserve. 16 November 1914 9am is not in a good phase with tr Neptune (Saturn) square its Saturn Pluto in Cancer this year till January 2027; a lacklustre, disappointed Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Sun exact in six months; and a high-insecurity tr Uranus square Mars from June 2026 to April 2027. So economic pressures will mount.

 The 2025 Trump Inauguration chart with its afflicted Moon in the 6^th house of health has been pressured as the Progressed Moon squared Mars recently and then moves on to square the Inauguration Pluto by March 2026 – so again a long, heated wrangle with deadlock along the way which will extend in effect after.

 Trump’s personal chart, birth time being accurate, does have his Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Pluto exactly now and lingering on for months ahead at a time he does not seem to be winning too many battles – Putin, Netanyahu, his boy Milei on the skids, Epstein lurking in the shadows etc etc. He has tr Pluto opposing his Saturn/Pluto midpoint now till early December which suggests tough conditions and an uphill struggle to make progress. Plus November 9^th to early December and again in April 2026 tr Uranus square his Saturn/Neptune midpoint hinting at stretched nerves, irritability and even illness brought on by underlying panic. This last influence at the same time as tr Uranus squares his Ascendant for an image jolt.  Plus, of course, his Solar Arc Neptune continuing to wend its way over his Moon and opposition his Sun to late 2026 and beyond into early 2027 which won’t improve his clarity of thought or his energy.

 None of this helps to put a date on the end of the shutdown but it is part and parcel of an extended period of muddle and mayhem in the USA.

Conservationist Dame Jane Goodall, a world-leading expert on chimpanzees, has died aged 91. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio said that she “inspired millions to care, to act, and to hope”, and called her a “a true hero for the planet”. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould said her discoveries “revolutionised science” and Roger Fouts, a psychologist who studies the chimp’s linguistic abilities said, “her work is almost comparable with Einstein’s.”

 Born 3 April 1934 11.30pm London, England, she was given a toy chimpanzee as a two year old and later said, “I cannot remember a time when I did not want to go to Africa to study animals.”

  After leaving school with no scientific training, she was offered a holiday at a friend’s home in Kenya from whence she went in search of Louis Leakey, the paleontologist who was trying to prove his controversial, now accepted,, theory that man originated in Africa, and not Europe or Asia. He thought a study of the great apes would yield important insights into the behaviour of early man which set her off on her life’s journey of living amongst chimpanzees living on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Her career spanned more than 60 years and was pivotal in proving the similarities in primate and human behaviour. More recently she switched to become an advocate for the natural world.

  She was married twice, the first time to a wildlife photographer, the second to a member of the Tanzanian government and head of their national parks.

  Her chart reflects a lucky, successful though not easy temperament and life. She had a pro-active (and argumentative) Sun Mars in Aries in her domestic 4^th house with Mars and a 5^th house Uranus in Aries opposition a 10^th house fortunate-career Jupiter squaring an 8^th house Pluto. Restless by nature and a go-getter, lacking fear, with an attraction for adventure and an unorthodox emotional life (Uranus in 5^th) she was keen to explore below the surface with an 8^th house Pluto which also ultimately brought her increasing influence. Pluto on the point of a Cardinal T square can be ahead of its time in insights and meet with resistance though ultimately will be proved right. She also had Saturn Venus in scientific Aquarius in her communication 3rd house as well as a crusading Aquarius North Node.

 Her kindly, spiritual, visionary Neptune in the 9^th in Virgo opposed her Mercury widely square her adventurous and nurturing Sagittarius Moon on her Ascendant.

 Relocating her chart to Tanzania put her Moon in the 10^th suiting her for a public career; her scientific Saturn Venus in Aquarius moved to her 1^st establishing her image and identity; Neptune was in the influential 8^th and Pluto in her 6^th house of animals.

  She had a marked global-personality 22nd Harmonic; a creative 5H; humanitarian 9H and an enduring 11H.

Patricia Crowther, known as the “high priestess of the Moon Goddess”, and considered the spiritual heir to Gerald Gardner, the founding father of modern Wicca, has died at 97. She made it her mission to dispel myths about witches and their practices. “Witchcraft simply means the craft of the wise people.” She was adamant that modern witchcraft contributed to society through its promotion of women’s equality.

Outside her coven she gave talks, made radio appearances and published books, as well as designing three of the Tarot cards (The Sun, Karma and The World) used for the Tarot of the Old Path set.

  She was born Patricia Dawson in Sheffield on 14 October 1927 with a Breton great-grandmother who had been a herbalist, clairvoyant and fortune teller and lived next door as a child to a palmist who predicted she would develop clairvoyant powers.

She had a Sun conjunct Mars in Libra square Pluto, so not short of determination and courage with an interest in wielding power. Her publicity-attracting Mars sextile Neptune was inconjunct Jupiter and Uranus giving her confidence, a vision for creating a better society as well as a wish to follow an unorthodox path. Her Mercury in Scorpio was trine Pluto for a need to explore below the surface.

 Gerald Gardner, 13 June 1884 Liverpool, no birth time, was a trailblazing Sun Gemini square Uranus. With an intense Mercury Pluto conjunction square Mars; and trine Uranus sextile Venus. His Jupiter was sextile Pluto.

 What they both shared was an ultra-determined Mars square Pluto – which hints at a fearful childhood with a resulting wish to find ways of not being powerless. Both had Mercury Pluto interlinked which is often associated with a) firm views) but also b) digging into the darkness for answers.  Both had notable Uranus for unconventional interests.

Dion Fortune, another Occultist, magician, white witch and writer, 6 December 1890 2.11 am Llandudno, Wales, was a Sun Venus in Sagittarius opposition a 9^th house Pluto Neptune in Gemini square Saturn in Virgo – – Neptune Pluto does have supernatural overtones. She had a wide communicative Air Grand Trine of a Libra Moon trine Jupiter trine Neptune Pluto, giving her the confidence to get her ideas across.  Her Mars in determined Aquarius was trine a 1^st house Uranus emphasizing her road-less-travelled.

  I am not familiar enough with the distinctions between Patricia Crowther/Gardner’s Wicca and Dion Fortune’s Inner Light philosophy handed on by spiritual masters – but I am surprised marginally by the Wicca pair’s formidable and darker Mars Pluto and Mercury Pluto – and Dion Fortune’s lighter Fire Air temperament.