Astrology of Today’s News

Heavy-handed police arrests at a London violence-against-women vigil in memory of Sarah Everard, killed while walking home, have sent images of a small woman being cuffed face down on the ground round the world. In the event only four were arrested for public order offences and breach of Covid laws but the furore has seen widespread calls for the resignation of the Met Police Chief Cressida Dick. A Met police constable and firearms officer assigned to parliamentary and diplomatic protection has been charged with Sarah Everard’s kidnap and murder.

  Cressida Dick, 16 October 1960, has tap danced through a fair number of missteps in her career. She was in charge of the 2005 operation which saw an innocent Brazilian De Menezes shot, having been mistaken for a terrorist after the London 7/7 bombings. More recently she sanctioned the disastrous and damaging botched Operation Midland investigation into paedophiles at Westminster, relying on fantasist Carl Beech’s testimony. She was also criticised for the light-touch policing of Extinction Rebellion demos in 2019.

  Born into a distinguished academic family, she’s a Sun Libra with a talented but hard-edged and ultra-determined Half Grand Sextile from Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars in Cancer sextile trine Neptune and Pluto; with a charming though outspoken Venus Mercury in Scorpio square Uranus and an adventurous/lucky Uranus trine Jupiter. Her Moon is in Leo or Virgo. She looks more than devastated at the moment with her Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Neptune and worse in 2023 with a panicky-failure Solar Arc Neptune opposition Mars.

  Her Term chart, 10 April 2017, always pointed to this year as being one of disruption and upheaval as tr Pluto squares the Uranus, which often coincides with a fall-off-perch moment. It returns for a final direct aspect mid August to the year end; and if that doesn’t do it, then 2022 has Solar Arc Pluto square the Uranus. Not that she’ll be short of a lucrative bolt hole with her CV and background when she moves on.

   The Metropolitan Police was formed by Robert Peel on 29 September 1829, which oddly enough also has a Libra Sun and Moon. The scales of justice make sense, even if more in the aspiration than practice. It has an entrepreneurial, super-confident, arrogant Fire Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Saturn in Leo trine Pluto, which forms into a Kite with Pluto opposition the Sun – certainly controlling, at times overly forceful, stubborn, resistant to change.

  It is an accurate chart since the recent Operation Midland screw up (2016) showed up clearly with tr Pluto conjunct the Met Neptune and tr Uranus square.

  The earlier catastrophic hit for the Met’s reputation from the conclusions of the 1999 inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence which found the investigation had been incompetent with a failure of leadership; and that the Met were institutionally racist – coincided with a nerve-stretched tr Neptune conjunct the Met Uranus, tr Uranus opposition the Met Saturn and tr Pluto conjunct one leg of the Met Grand Trine exerting pressure for change. Though the fall out continued for years with further allegations of police corruption in helping to hide the killers of Lawrence; with pressure internally to smear the credibility of the Lawrence who were campaigning for further investigations into his death.

  At the moment the Met chart has tr Neptune opposition the Mars picking up from mid this April, running on and off throughout 2022 to January 2023. That usually coincides with damage to reputation and unsuccessful plans as well as stalled progress. And it will face more damage in two and three years as the Solar Arc Mars opposes the Sun and is conjunct the Pluto. That could be a significant setback of collision proportions or a particularly risky patch with major accidents or terrorist attacks.  

  The Daily Mail now dominates the UK market in print and globally online. Rubbished by the prime minister of the day after it launched in 1896 as a “a newspaper produced by office boys for office boys,” it became hugely popular and by the end of the Boer Wars in 1902 it had a circulation of over a million, a world record. Right-wing, imperialist and patriotic, it also set out to entertain and was the first to recognize the potential market of the female reader. Alongside its commercial success went critical brickbats with one commentator remarking: “ by confusing gewgaws with pearls, by selecting the paltry at the expense of the significant, by confirming atavistic prejudices, by oversimplifying the complex, by dramatizing the humdrum, by presenting stories as entertainment and by blurring the difference between news and views, Northcliffe (the owner) titillated, if he did not debouch, the public mind; he polluted, if he did not poison, the wells of knowledge.”

  Northcliffe’s brother Lord Rothermere took over when he died and was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, sympathetic to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. The paper’s support ended after violence at a BUF rally in 1934 though the paper editorially continued to oppose the arrival of Jewish refugees escaping Germany.

 The MailOnline had a soft launch in May 2004, well after other papers, the internet having been written off by the DM powers-that-be as a passing fantasy that wouldn’t work. It is now the most visited English language newspaper in the world.

   The paper was launched on 4 May 1896 with a Taurus Sun opposition Saturn and Uranus in Scorpio – tenacious, materialistic, conventional, autocratic. Significantly it has the Neptune Pluto in Gemini of its day which is astro-associated with scandal and megalomaniac ambitions; and that squares Mars in Pisces. Mars square Pluto is ruthless; Mars square Neptune keen on publicity, glamour and showbusiness.

   It hardly looks likely that it will be toppled off its pedestal though not everything looks plain sailing ahead.  Tr Uranus will conjunct the Sun and oppose the Saturn through from mid this year into 2022 with tr Saturn in square to the Sun and Saturn – it will be tossed around perhaps by economic stress as well as other factors. There will be a major setback in eighteen months when the Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct Mars and square the Neptune. With much heightened emotion (and financial pressures) from tr Pluto square the Venus in Aries in 2021/22.

  The MailOnline, without an accurate start date, was kicked off around May 14th 2004 with again a stubborn, materialistic and enduring Taurus Sun square Neptune inconjunct Pluto. It has been accused of failing to uphold the integrity of its journalism and criticised for its accuracy.  That fits with a stressed Pluto quincunx Sun – not knowing where to draw the line between forceful and dominating.

  The relationship chart between Prince Harry and the Mail is resentful and chained-together. But it is the connection between Meghan and the DM that is really hostile with a composite Mars square Pluto.  There will be continuing and discouraging pressure this year between them with tr Pluto square the composite Saturn; with jolts, jangles and outbursts from this July and worsening through 2022 as tr Uranus and then tr Saturn collide with the composite Mars Pluto; and sagging badly in 2023/24 with tr Neptune square the composite Sun. So the unholy battle of wills will drag on.  

Actor Matthew McConaughey, fresh from his NY Times list-topping memoir success, is seriously considering a run for Texas governor in late 2022. His book ‘Greenlights’ was filled with homespun wisdom and maxims, which were praised by Jordan Peterson and described by the Washington Post reviewer as “vaporous, circular proverbs for would-be McConaugheys.”

  He said he felt the next stage of his life would be about leadership since he had ‘things to teach and share’ and that politics was a “broken business”. It’s not clear which side of the aisle he’d be sitting on and said he preferred compromise. In the past he has spoken up for “rightful, just and responsible gun ownership – but against assault rifles, against unlimited magazines”.

   He’s still undecided and may choose another route to sharing his thoughts and with Pluto about to move out of his 8^th house in two years into his spreading-the-word 9^th for many years thereafter he will want to make his voice heard. Saturn through his 9^th at the moment until late 2022 will see him in preparation stage for a career peak of serious responsibility from early 2023 onwards until the turn of the decade. Jupiter is moving through his 10^th now till early 2023 which is usually successful, bringing recognition and praise.

  But it won’t be remotely easy going. Tr Pluto will conjunct his Mars in 2023/24 which will be blocked and intensely frustrating before moving to oppose his Saturn in 2025/26 – and that will be a seriously uphill slog.

  He doesn’t look exactly delirious in late 2022 so either he’ll fail in his bid or have decided on another course of action.

  Details about his life below from an earlier November 14 2020 post:

Matthew MConaughey, maverick and versatile actor – True Detective, Dallas Buyers Club – has written a kind-of memoir, “Greenlights”, replete with bumper-sticker musings and aphorisms, and tales from his up and down, boom and bust life story, from a drama-filled childhood onwards.

  Born 4 November 1969 7.34 pm, Uvalde, Texas, he was the third son of parents who married three times and divorced twice. His father a former professional football player turned pipe salesman had an explosive relationship with his mother. The book relates a scene where the five year old McConaughey watched them fight ferociously — his mother having broken his father’s nose with a telephone while he brandished a ketchup bottle — before his parents had sex on the kitchen floor. And tells how his father fulfilled his dream of dying while having sex.

   After becoming known for making rom-coms in his 30s, he married, and took a gamble by refusing similar roles through a bleak, unemployed two years before meatier roles started to come in, The Wolf of Wall Street amongst them and the TV series True Detective.  

  He has an intense, hard-working 6^th house Scorpio Sun; with Mercury in Scorpio as well as a frivolous Jupiter Venus in Libra in his performing 5^th along with Uranus. No surprise that he can do light and shade, superficial rom-coms along with darker roles.

  His Mercury opposes Saturn in Taurus squaring Mars in Aquarius with Mars trine Uranus hinting at frustrations and hardships in a volatile childhood and after; and a hard, angry father.

  He has a 4^th house Virgo Moon and Pluto – so home would be both a source of comfort and scary.

  As his book is published and he does the round of interviews tr Jupiter Pluto is exactly square his Jupiter Venus conjunction for a confident high. And his Solar Arc Jupiter is square his Moon for another warm glow.

  Saturn and Jupiter are about to move into his 9^th which may give rise to more gnomic musings in the coming months. Though not all of 2021 will be smooth flowing with the tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on his Scorpio Sun.  His next period of significant change will be 2023 onwards as tr Pluto is conjunct his Mars and moves in hard aspect round his Fixed T Square. That’s when his ‘Alright, alright’ and respond-to-the-hints-of-the-universe philosophy may come in handy as he transitions through another challenging few years.

  His strongest harmonic is his creative and ‘seeking soul’ 7H and his actors’ 15H. 

Some Greenlights stickers to consider:

‘The value of denial depends on one’s level of commitment.’

‘To lose the power of confrontation is to lose the power of unity.’

‘Form good habits and become their slave.’

‘When you can, ask yourself if you want to.’

‘When you’re up to nothin’, no good’s usually next.’

‘Truth’s like a jalapeño. The closer to the root, the hotter it gets.’

Pic: By All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0,

Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony in eastern Africa, is undergoing yet another spasm of violence and mayhem in the north (perhaps not surprising for a country that features an AK-47 on its national flag.) Remnants of ISIS fostering a global jihadist ideal have joined forces with local marginalised groups exploiting local grievances and offering an alternative path for unemployed youths frustrated by a corrupt and neglectful state. More than half a million people in the region have been driven from their homes in the past 12 months by roving gangs of machete-wielding Islamist fighters who operate a slashed-earth policy of beheadings and killings.

  Mozambique shares the same tragic history of many ex-colonial countries, having lived for centuries under repression, they then step into decades of civil wars and corrupt gangster governments – in this case, a Marxist-Leninist one-party outfit, in power since independence in 1975, though under pressure it morphed into multi-party democratic socialism in the 1990s – with the same party staying in power throughout with claims of rigged elections. Despite being resource-rich – coal, titanium, hydroelectricity, gas and a huge ruby deposit – Mozambique has staggering levels of poverty and inequality, which have worsened under the present president.

  It gained independence after a bitterly fought war with Portugal on 22 June 1975, which gives a final degree Gemini Sun square Pluto; with an explosive Uranus opposition Mars Jupiter square Saturn in Cancer in the 4^th.  An afflicted Saturn in the 4^th is certainly a description of a deprived domestic population, unfairly treated with Saturn square Mars; and destined to live through disruptions with Uranus square Saturn. The sadness is that Mars Jupiter has courage and resourcefulness, which is reflected in the vast agricultural and mineral wealth available which could lift the country out of poverty. There’s nothing much that looks cheerful in the next few years with the possibility of a revolution or rebellion in 2022/23 as Pluto squares the Uranus and there are dips and troughs from Solar Arc thereafter for several years.

  Almost two decades ago, Tony Blair infamously described Africa as a ‘scar on the conscience of the world’ in line with a characterisation of the continent as one damaged by cycles of poverty, conflict, and disease. There are some steps in the right direction with poverty reduced by almost a third since the 1960s and political accountability and transparency improving in certain countries. But it does seem unconscionable for all its natural riches that it can’t be a prosperous region for its people.  

   What has been striking me recently – and I step gingerly into a fraught subject – is that the history of Africa we see reflected in movies focuses on the slave trade with nothing about what went on before. Whereas we know that Mali, for instance in west Africa, had a golden age when it was a significant learning and cultural centre between the 13^th and 16th century with a major Islamic university in Timbuktu, attracting scholars from throughout the Muslim world. Zimbabwe still has remnants of elaborate stone buildings erected anywhere between 600Ad and the Middle Ages. In a way it was what Marvel’s ’Black Panther’ was aiming to do and there should be more of it – portraying a different face of Africa that is not just slavery and present day mismanagement.

‘Many have wondered why Black Panther means so much to the black community and why schools, churches and organizations have come to the theaters with so much excitement. The answer is that the movie brings a moment of positivity to a group of people often not the centerpiece of Hollywood movies… [Racial and ethnic socialization] helps to strengthen identity and helps reduce the likelihood on internalizing negative stereotypes about one’s ethnic group.’ Erlanger Turner. 

  There were high points in Africa especially on the trade routes and while the cycle of history shows that no civilization lasts for ever, there should be a greater understanding in the west, especially the racist USA, of Africa’s contribution in the past to learning and culture.

“Frasier” is set to return to screens after a nearly twenty years absence, with Kelsey Grammer reprising his role as the radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane on ViacomCBS’s new streaming service Paramount+. There is no word about whether the supporting cast members will join him though it’s tricky to see how it would work without them since it was such an ensemble show and the actor who played his father is now dead.

 Kelsey Grammer was born 21 February 1955 in the US Virgin Islands, regrettably no birth time, and has had a disaster-strewn life with his father whom he barely knew murdered, his sister raped and murdered and his half twin brothers were killed by a shark. He’s been married four times and has seven children.

  He has a Pisces Sun opposition Pluto; and his Moon and Mercury in Aquarius also oppose Pluto and square Saturn in Scorpio which would fit with his multiple family tragedies. While the Sun Pluto father is generally thought of as the controlling or dominating father, it also appears regularly in the charts of individuals whose fathers were not in their lives – the literally out-of-their-control father.

He also has a showbizzy Mars in Aries opposition Neptune squaring onto an adventurous and lucky Jupiter Uranus opposition Venus in Capricorn. That Cardinal Grand Cross would give him endless initiative and energy as well as a tendency to have a life full of revolving crises. Without a birth time it’s tricky to say but a frustratingly blocked tr Pluto square his Mars in 2021/22 and square his Neptune in 2022/23 don’t look too encouraging for a new project.  Plus his Solar Arc Saturn will also square his Mars opposition Neptune this year and next – so ditto and ditto.

  David Hyde Pierce, who played brother Niles, 3 April 1959, is a Sun Aries square Saturn with an Aquarius Moon and Venus in Taurus. Jane Leeves who played Daphne, 18 April 1961, is also a Sun Aries with Venus, Mercury in Aries as well. Though her Sun does square onto an edgy Mars opposition Saturn, so she wouldn’t always be too good a fit with Kelsey.

  All of them have gone on to other work, some highly praised but none that caught the public imagination to the same extent as Frasier.

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The damage inflicted by the Oprah Sussex interview on the Monarchy felt devastating in the immediate aftermath. But as the Meg-Haz litany of mistreatment by the Family is put under scrutiny and increasingly questioned, the pressure is slowly dropping. On top of which the Monarchy has been through spasms of acutely negative publicity in the past and recovered its balance. The brief response put out by the Palace was a masterpiece of barbed under-statement – ‘recollections may vary’ being the one likely to stick in mind.

 Given the Queen’s age and Prince Philip’s state of health it’s difficult to say what the planetary influences on her chart will refer to. Her own chart has her 7^th house partnership Leo Sun under strain this year from tr Saturn on opposition and tr Uranus in square from this April onwards, on and off into early 2022. Tr Saturn and tr Pluto both moving through the early stages of her First House will have a sombre effect on her image, pulling down her energy levels and work motivation. Without all this confected nonsense she might have been opting to retreat further into the shadows but will almost certainly feel she has to soldier on. Tr Pluto will start to square her Taurus Sun from 2023 for two years which will be challenging.

  Her Coronation chart, 2 June 1953 11am London does have a lacklustre, panicky-failure feel from late this April onwards for two years with tr Neptune square the Mars Mercury in Gemini. It has a 12 degree Taurus Midheaven (which will be a later degree if the oath-taking which I can’t find is used). That certainly suggests a sudden change of direction, bumpy ride etc. As does the Moon around 11 degrees Aquarius which is catching the same jolting influences.

  Neither Meghan nor Harry are looking upbeat in the aftermath. Meghan has her Leo Sun catching the discouraging tr Saturn opposition from late this month and tr Uranus pitching in with jolts and jangles in square from early May – and those repeat through the year. Harry has a lacklustre and undermining tr Neptune opposing his Virgo Sun through 2021/22 – so ditto and ditto.

  An astrologer pointed out that Prince William was born on the day of a Solar Eclipse in a Saros cycle that started in 792AD and ends in 2036, leading to speculation that he would be the last king. How much that theory holds water is questionable. The Eclipse in question on 21 August 2036 has a final degree Leo New Moon conjunct Saturn widely opposition Pluto. Uranus at that point is in Cancer moving through the UK 10^th house, conjunct the Cancer Moon, which is associated with the Ruler, but that is the only hint of any shift and that influence comes round every 84 years so is hardly a gamechanger.

   Prince George, 22 July 2013 4.24pm does not have his grandmother’s rigorous sense of duty, having his Saturn in the 12^th in a Water Grand Trine to an 8^th house Mars Mercury Jupiter trine Neptune. His 9^th house Cancer Sun might prefer to travel or bury himself in learning and he’ll certainly live in his own self-contained bubble.

  Both the Queen and Princess Margaret have/had the same dutiful Saturn in the 10^th, a legacy from their disciplinarian and none-too-warm Queen Mother. Unfortunately there’s no confirmed birth date for the QM since it wasn’t registered until six weeks after. Though she was almost certainly a Sun Leo with a ferociously tricky collection of Pluto, Mars, Neptune in Gemini opposition Saturn in Sagittarius. Underneath the saccharine sweetness there was a deeply unpleasant streak.

  On the whole the Royal females tend to be a stalwart bunch. The Queen’s Saturn in Scorpio on the MC square Mars Jupiter opposition Neptune Moon is unbudgeable. And much of her early Royal tutoring came from her grandmother, Mary of Teck, an equally rock-solid Gemini with Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto square Mars in Leo. Before that, Queen Victoria another Gemini, had Saturn Pluto in Pisces square Uranus Neptune so had that equally unyielding quality. Victoria had a successful Jupiter in the 10th which William does also.

   See previous post February 10 2021 and below 5 March 2021.

Journalist and TV presenter Piers Morgan’s car-crash career has taken another lurch as his increasingly brash and unhinged criticism of Meghan Markle aroused an outraged public response and led to his parting company with ITV’s morning breakfast show. He said he didn’t believe her claims of mental health problems and in his post-exit tweet shared a quote by Winston Churchill – ‘Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage’.

  His past career (see wiki) as newspaper editor and then TV presenter has been a roller coaster ride of highs and then crunching lows when he was dismissed only to bounce back. Rupert Murdoch, his former boss at the News of the World, where he was editor described him as having “balls bigger than his brains”. His US TV presenter career evaporated when he refused to back down over his opposition to the lax gun laws and it slumped his ratings. He’s been right on many issues but is addicted to getting into fights with no sense of where to stop.

   The Good Morning Britain breakfast show, which his presence over five years lifted from half a million viewers to three times that figure, may suffer more than he does. He has had lucrative offers from other broadcasters in recent years, found the very early starts gruelling, and doesn’t need the money. He owns the rights to his formats that are broadcast in the US, and is on a seven-figure salary for the Daily Mail group, where he writes several columns. His Twitter profile (7.8 million fans) contains the quote “One day you’re cock of the walk, the next a feather duster” attributed to his grandmother. 

  He did know Meghan briefly in her actress/influencer phase as she, no doubt, curried favour with a useful publicity promoter. But her engagement to Harry cut the connection which clearly rankled with him. When the Royal couple announced they were stepping down as working royals he accused them of being “grasping, selfish, scheming Kardashian-wannabes”.

  He was born 30 March 1965, with his father dying when he was 11 months old and he was brought up by his mother and stepfather.  He is, not surprisingly a Sun, Venus in Aries with Mercury also in Aries. Aries has that resilient, rubber-ball quality that bounces back from defeats to try, try, try again. As a sign it has guts, self-confidence, though isn’t always known for its tact, sensitivity or common sense. Where his troublemaking streak comes from is a volcanic collection of Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo which opposes Saturn and a Pisces Moon. He does like a scrap, has extraordinary endurance and stubbornness, and holds grudges. His Mars is pumped up by rebellious Uranus, do-or-die-determined Pluto and resentful, short-tempered Saturn opposition Mars. He could start a punch up in an empty room.

 His three Aries planets fall in Meghan’s 10^th house so it would be a transactional career connection but they also square her Mars and oppose her Moon Saturn Jupiter so was never going to be a BFF bond. The relationship chart isn’t catastrophic though it is cool with a composite Venus opposition Saturn and a ‘disappointed’ Sun opposition Neptune.  She would be a convenient hook for him in his attention-grabbing career – as he no doubt had been for her initially. It won’t get better in the next two years so he’s unlikely to give up his attacks with tr Neptune square the composite Saturn and Venus.  

  He’ll be OK this year with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter in Taurus though will run into more than a few hitches and glitches thereafter for three years.

  His strongest Harmonic is his 11^th which does give endurance, though it is a difficult number to live up to. The positive aspect of number 11 is idealistic and inspired imagination. The negative aspects are fanaticism and unreasonableness.

The Chinese boa constrictor is coiling round to exert an ever-tighter grip on Hong Kong. Even HK loyalists are now being cut out of decisions about forthcoming changes to the territory’s electoral system with mainland officials brought in to increase control. Opposition politicians are now largely disqualified or being prosecuted.

 The Hong Kong 1 July 1997 midnight chart has a disappointed and financially damaging Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the Jupiter across 2020/2021; with tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc Midheaven in 2021/22 which fits with blockages and suppression; and there will be worse in eighteen months when there is a panicky-failure Solar Arc Mars is exactly square the Neptune and tr Pluto conjunct Neptune for confusion and devastation come 2023/24. The relationship chart between HK 1997 and the China 1912 chart (which works better than the 1949 one) has no good news on the horizon with mayhem and deception in 2021/22, acute frustration and anger in 2023/24/25 as tr Pluto squares the composite Neptune and then opposes the composite Mars and squares Saturn.  

   All a mess and tragic for the Hong Kongers who were promised their own separate system.     

 The new USA Biden Administration has already been speaking out about Hong Kong as well as the “genocide” of 1m Uighurs in labour camps as part of a broader “push back” against Beijing’s “economic abuses and coercion that undercut the foundations of the international economic system”. Biden hopes to rope in allies like Australia, India and Japan to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. And there has been talk that the US would “impose costs” on China over any abuses.

  Of the four Quad countries above, Japan is the one who looks most stressed about China moving ahead, ramping up next year and reaching breaking point from 2023. The US will be pushing boulders uphill in 2023/24 but not making much headway.

  Xi Jinping’s presidency will be backed into a corner around 2023 and not winning but it doesn’t mean he won’t retaliate if pushed. And the China chart is in a state of upheaval, disruption and maybe even facing rebellions in 2022/23. With disinformation being rife as the Mercury opposition Pluto (shades of the USA) is being wreathed in Neptunian smokescreens in 2023/24 as well. Even the 1949 chart looks significantly stressed and insecure as well as aggressive towards neighbours from this July onwards, on and off for three years.  See previous post June 14 2020.  

The knotty question of how astrological predictions work is an imponderable which practitioners tend to push to one side. No one pretends it is an exact science or art since in any given situation there are a myriad of complexities – different planetary cycles constantly shifting, a spectrum of meaning attached to each planet and aspect, a variety of calculation methods and the possibility of an individual’s choice impacting on the outcome.

  Was Brexit fated to happen or the pandemic? If neither had taken place, the same influences would have been in place – so what does that tell us?

Trying to unscramble my thinking on this several thoughts occur:

I think of the planetary influences being like winds (this is an analogy not a literal fact) and as captains of our individual ship we have a choice of how we react. We can use the wind to blow us along; run headlong into it in defiance and give ourselves more sweat; or ignore it altogether and run the risk of capsizing as it catches us sideways.

   This fits in with my (tentative) attempt to pin an explanation on astrology based on the physicist David Bohm’s notion of an explicate universe unfolding from an implicate substrata universe of potentials and probabilities. And given that most physicists believe the underpinning of the universe is mathematical, it could be that astrology is a way of tapping into this implicate universe. Assuming that the planets move in syncronicity with this implicate universe.

  There will always be a range of outcomes and we have (maybe, to some degree) a choice (some of us) about how we use the energy. The hedging is because I don’t think every soul who lands on the earth has the same degree of choice. Some get handed a difficult hand of cards or land in impossible circumstances, others don’t. Life ain’t fair. Countries also react differently, with less flexibility, than individuals since they have more of a critical mass to shift in terms of choice.

  There is always something the astrology won’t tell us from the birth chart – and it’s what I describe for want of a better word – grace. It allows some individuals to make choices and not others. I’m not fond of the notion that some people have no freewill but it is undeniable that some are able to utilise choice and freewill better than others.

   The Arab astrologers believed the greatest use of astrology was in understanding the past, which certainly is a valuable tool. But it is also helpful in looking ahead, as long as its limitations are understood.

  A cliched example is transiting Pluto conjunct Moon – the Moon rules childhood, adult family life, the domestic environment, the body. Pluto is about transformation, tearing down the old and clearing space for the new to emerge. In different individuals the same transit could a) bring up old unresolved issues to heal; b) cause rifts in the family; c) cause cracks and subsidence in the house, especially sewers/drainage requiring a rebuild; d) put additional strain on the body. It will also be affected by the chart house position of the Moon and its aspects to other planets.  So there is a wide-ish range of a spectrum of outcomes. For all it will be emotionally intense, stressful and challenging whether they are dealing with it at an outer event of house/body break down or an inner event of turmoil and cleansing.  To some degree which may be a matter of developed consciousness there will be a choice about whether it operates at an internal level or not.

  The Covid-pandemic – the 2020 Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn indicated hardship, deprivation, tough-conditions, an economic hit – those you could predict with certainty. Why a virus and not war which is another Saturn Pluto manifestation? Some astrologers did point to a coming plague of sorts, presumably because of Neptune.  But there is never an absolute answer. Nor are the influences ever exactly as they were at the same stage on previous cycles since there would be other planetary influences coming in from a different angle.

  Brexit – was it written in the stars? In a way I was marginally surprised nothing much happened a few years prior in 2013 when the tr Pluto square tr Uranus was battering on the UK Capricorn Sun which is a classic split or civil war/revolution influence. Hmm, now that I look that’s when David Cameron made his promise to hold a referendum when tr Pluto was exactly sitting on the UK Sun. The UK chart is extraordinarily Fixed and doesn’t budge easily if at all – so it would take a while for critical mass to build. What was around at the 2016 vote was pressure on the 7^th house North Node in Aries – which indicates a country that isn’t good at co-operation in the first place being put under immense strain on the relationship front.

   In hindsight it looks more obvious than it did at the time (never mind personal bias getting in the way.)  Also it makes it easier seeing it as a historical set of events given the detachment of distance. When you’re in the middle of churning events it is more difficult to maintain the necessary neutrality to see the big picture. But that’s a personal flaw, not an astrology fault.   

    There is another oddity I notice from doing running predictions which is that when there are accident and disaster-prone Mars influences in particular in aspect to Uranus, Saturn, Pluto, there are often one of two notable headline-catching examples, such as Tiger Woods’ crash, while the rest of us muddle through the same influences in a bad-temper but remain unscathed. It’s almost as if the energy is ‘soaked up’ by a few instances.

  That’s the length of breadth of my thoughts to date since I’m pushed for time. I may return to it later. Practising astrology is an odd occupation since it has to be carried out almost in a vacuum with no explanation for it being available. That is a tricky exercise at the start since all of us assume that someone somewhere knows how ?? eg. computers, the internet, electricity – work even if we don’t. But astrology operates out in its own arena without any wider theoretical structure to hold it up.