Astrology of Today’s News

The classic Civil War break-up signature is Pluto conjunct  Sun which was in place when the USSR split (along with the triple conjunction in Capricorn). And for the Syria 2015 civil war with Pluto moving to conjunct their Capricorn Sun with Uranus square. But the USA had similar in the 1920s, as did the UK in the last decade and they both remained intact.

  When India underwent the messy and murderous partition in 1947 tr Neptune was square the Unified India 1871 Sun and on the Ascendant; with the brutal Mars opposition Pluto square Uranus having moved by Solar Arc to collide with the Neptune which was a fair description of the slaughter that followed.

 The English Civil War of 1642 isn’t that easy to pin on any of the old England charts in any starkly obvious way – on the 1066 chart there was a Solar Arc Mars in a brutal opposition to the England Pluto and some activity around the Saturn Jupiter conjunction but nothing that would have leapt out as a major rupture.

  The American Civil War (1861 to 1865) broke out on a Uranus Return in the 1776 chart with tr Pluto square the Leo North Node. Again nothing too indicative. Though it does make sense on the USA First President chart, 30 April 1789 12.45pm, New York, with tr Pluto moving to conjunct the Taurus Sun, having in the build-up been in the high-tension, disruptive square to the Uranus.

   My slight sense with the USA and the UK is that the North Node is involved when there are major challenges. 9/11 occurred with tr Neptune in opposition to and undermining the USA ‘Leadership’ Leo North Node as American pride was badly dented.  The UK 1801 chart had the 7^th house uncooperative, ‘independent’ Aries Node triggered over Brexit.  

  Where the USA has slightly similar influences will be for the next Uranus Return in 2027/28 when coincidentally tr Pluto in Aquarius will be square the 1776 North Node also in 2027/28.

  Tr Pluto into Aquarius will be putting pressure on the USA First President chart from 2023 onwards as it opposes the Uranus for two years and then moves on to square the Taurus Sun in 2029/2030. By 2032 tr Neptune in Aries will meet the undermining square to the 1776 USA Cancer Sun.

  None of this means a rerun of the 1861 Civil War – but the USA Pluto Return will take its toll.

Previous times of tr Pluto in hard aspect to the USA Pluto Mercury saw bitter anti-slavery fights under a Democratic President, 1845 to 1851; the Great Depression, 1933 to 1938, Roosevelt’s New Deal and J. Edgar Hoover in the FBI; Reagan was elected on tr Pluto square the USA Mercury in 1981 and during his term, there were swingeing tax cuts leading to a soaring budget deficit and high unemployment, a recession and his attempted assassination.

Usually it takes more than one influence to catapult a country into civil breakdown. The USSR break up happened at the time of the triple conjunction in Capricorn. The 1848/1850s upheavals all over Europe and elsewhere also occurred on a triple conjunction of Uranus Pluto Saturn in Aries, then moving together into Taurus, so quite a whammy.  Indian partition happened around the bleak Saturn Pluto in Leo; the Syrian Civil War on Uranus square Pluto. There is nothing too similar late this decade.

 For what it is worth – and I do so reluctantly since the American obsession with elections becomes wearisome – the 2029 Inauguration looks the most troubled with a Sun Pluto conjunction and Pluto trine Uranus trine Mars and Sun Pluto square Saturn. But it is nothing like as stressed or destructive as the 1861 pre-Civil War Inauguration which had a Mars Pluto conjunction in Taurus trine Saturn with Saturn square Uranus.  

From a previous post on Pluto Returns:

What goes up must come down. In the rollercoaster of history empires and superpowers rise and ultimately fall, sometimes to rise again, sometimes not. Nothing lasts for ever. Spain, France and England/Britain once had empires of unimaginable size – and now they don’t. But they still exist and in varying ways attempt to reconcile themselves to the loss of their former status. Pluto Returns occurring roughly every 250 years can be one indicator of rises and falls. The USA is moving into its First Return in 2022/23. Below are examples from countries which have old enough charts to have experienced Pluto Returns. Thanks to Hugh for a detailed looked at the Roman Empire’s turbulent history over many centuries through the lens of its Pluto Returns. 

England 11 May 973 JC AD chart – Pluto 27 Leo. Pluto Returns in 1956; 1709/10; 1463/64; and 1217/18.  The Pluto Return of 1709/10 propelled the British Empire into existence after the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707 – at its height it was the largest empire in history. The Suez Crisis in 1956 was the consummate humiliation for Great Britain, signalling its fall from world super-power with the empire crumbling fast in the years before and after.

Spain 19 January 1479 JC – Pluto 1 Libra. The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. From the late 15th century to the early 19th, Spain controlled vast overseas territories. One of the superpowers of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was known as “the empire on which the sun never sets” and reached its maximum extent in the 18th century. It moved through its first Pluto Return around 1724; and began a slow decline at a Pluto half Return in the 19^th Century. The most recent Pluto Return around 1972 saw the dictator Franco gradually relinquishing power, nominating a monarch as successor and handing over the Prime Ministership by 1973.

France 19 August 843 JC – Pluto 29 Pisces. Previous Pluto Returns: 1577, 1332, 1088. Around the second Pluto Return in 1337 and the start of the Hundred Years War, France was at the height of its mediaeval glory. The most recent Pluto Return in 1821 saw the death of Napoleon on the exact aspect and the government of France moved into instability thereafter, though the Second French Colonial Empire built up post-1830 became one of the largest empires in history.

Russia 28 March 1462 JC – Pluto 22 Leo. Previous Return 1708/9. The most recent Pluto Return was exact when Stalin died in early 1953. Previous Pluto Return was 1706.

Switzerland 26 May 1231 JC – most recent Pluto Return joined the Council of Europe. Before that 1726.

Austria 18 October 1221 JC – was angling to join the EEC on the most recent Pluto Return, managed it 6 years later. Before that 1714, 1468.

Scotland March 25 1005 JC – the second Pluto Return in 1745 saw the Jacobite Rebellion crushed by the English with savage repercussions. The next Pluto Return in 1991/2 saw Alex Salmond take over leadership of the Scottish National Party which led later to its rise to power. The Pluto Return first was 1252.

Sweden 1523 – Pluto 14 Capricorn. In the 17^th Century Sweden became a great power but had started to lose land and status fifty years before the next Pluto Return in 1768/9. The latest Pluto return of 2015/16 was during European refugee crisis.

Thanks to Hugh for the Roman Empire ups and downs of Pluto:

Rome – the traditional founding date is 753 BCE – Pluto 17 Leo.

The first Pluto Return in 509 BCE the Roman Republic was founded.

The Second Pluto Return coincided with the start of the Punic Wars circa 269 BCE.

The Third Pluto Return oversaw the second settlement of the Augustan Principate around 23 BCE.

The Fourth Pluto Return – 220s CE – the end of the Severan dynasty and the beginning of the 3rd Century Crisis of the Roman Empire which saw near constant civil wars.

The Fifth Pluto Return – 470 CE which saw the end of the Western Empire.

The Sixth Pluto Return – 717-718 CE oversaw the failed Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in (one of the most important events in European History).

9^th Pluto Return – 1204 – the Sack of Constantinople by Latin armies in 1204 (an event that fatally weakened the Byzantine world).

10^th Pluto Return  – 1453 CE when the former Christian capital Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.

Hugh: “I find that a remarkable set of repeated major turning points stretching over 2000 years I would say those run of events indicate that Pluto Returns played a not insignificant role in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.”

Neptune in Pisces (2011 – 2025) = barbarity. Neptune in Aries (2025 – 2038) = increase in individual rights and advances for the disenfranchised (with the caveat that it also coincided with deadly famines.) That’s a sweeping generalization but from past experience contains a nugget of truth.

  The chilling savagery of ISIL -‘hysterical death cult’ – was a feature of early Neptune in Pisces with Putin’s mad brutality stamping its dying days.

The previous Neptune in Pisces from 1848 (along with a triple conjunction) oversaw the Taiping rebellion which ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, with estimates of war dead ranging from 20 to 70 million.

The Crimean War of Russia versus France, UK, Ottoman Empire which was described as having a “great confusion of purpose” and a war noted for its incompetent international butchery, including the Charge of the Light Brigade.    

  Other Neptune in Pisces, occurring roughly every 165 years, saw two great famines in France. One of largest naval battles in history in China.  The Sack of Rome – end of Italian renaissance.  Henry V111 breaks with Rome.

Previous Neptune in Aries –

1861 – 1874: The American Civil War, which arose over the status of slavery, which was later abolished.

In Russia Alexander 11 signed the Emancipation Act liberating serfs in 1861.

The Bahai faith was founded, as was the forerunner to the Salvation Army and the Geneva Convention established the Red Cross.

‘Neptune in Aries may be about individuals submitting themselves to a bigger cause than themselves. It does seem to coincide, in the Western world at least with an increase in individual rights and was one of advancements for formally disenfranchised people.’

The first UK trade union was legalised in 1872 and in the U.S. the “Knights of Labor” was set up. The U.K. Education Act of 1870 bringing in elementary schooling for all children and legislation on child labour. The USA gave voting rights to all ethnicities. The UK Married Women’s Property Act allowed married women to retain their earnings and inherit.

Famines in Finland, Sweden and India – of greater magnitude than usual.

1697 – 1710: Famines of greater magnitude than usual in Estonia, Sweden and Finland, the last wiping out almost a third of the population. Two million die of famine in India; 250,000 die in East Prussia and 600,000 in France.

1533 to 1547: Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII and the split from Rome establishes the Anglican Church.

1206 to 1219: The English Barons force King John to sign the Magna Carta, in an attempt to curb the power of the monarch.

 See previous post on Neptune in Aries November 27 2021.

The Pluto Return for the USA was always going to infuse key debates with harsh rhetoric and the desire to dominate. With extreme opinions being adhered to with a fanatical zeal resulting in bitter and resentful reactions. All courtesy of the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto, which in the past has spewed up fundamentalist rabble-rousing like McCarthyism.

The pro-choice Roe V Wade ruling on abortion was always going to be in the cross-hairs with the Republican Party lurching ever further towards the lunatic fringe and the Supreme Court overweighted to the political right. As well as its astrology.

  From a previous post September 24 2020.

‘Roe v Wade was signed 22 January 1973 at 10 am Washington, DC which gives a stalwart Aquarius Sun trine Pluto sextile Neptune in Sagittarius; with an optimistic Uranus square Jupiter Mercury; and a destructive Mars opposition Saturn. Where the major debate comes is 2023/24 with tr Pluto conjunct the Mercury with a seriously rattled and insecure Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Mars in 2024/25. Tr Pluto will also be conjunct the Sun in 2024 so that looks the most challenging time.’

  Now an unprecedented leak of a first draft, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, suggests SCOTUS might well reverse Roe v Wade, following on from a couple of Southern States banning abortions recently.

The decision puts the Supreme Court firmly at odds with the overwhelming majority of Americans and could torpedo the GOP’s hopes of gaining sizeable majorities in Congress this November.

Recent polling suggests as many as 70 per cent oppose overturning Roe v Wade.

 The USA Pluto Return runs on till late 2023, but 2024 looks fractious and intemperate as well especially over the election with the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Mars – so it could well still be an issue then.

  SCOTUS has already sunk to its lowest public approval over the perception that it is overly politicised. John Roberts, the Supreme Justice, despite being appointed by GW Bush is a centrist, and was alarmed by the recent Mississippi anti-abortion ruling. He looks confused if not downright devastated this year and next with tr Pluto square his Neptune and his Solar Arc Saturn square his Neptune.

 SCOTUS, 2 February 1790, has its North Node in Scorpio which tr Uranus is opposing exactly now, and into early 2023, as well as the recent Solar Eclipse – so these events will strike at the heart of its raison d’etre and future path. Tr Uranus is also square the Aquarius Sun and later this year the Pluto, on and off into 2023. It’ll be a tempestuous time in the hallowed chambers. Tr Neptune is also – from last year – conjunct the Saturn then Venus in Pisces through till late 2023, suggesting the popularity of SCOTUS will be further undermined.

 Samuel Alito, the justice appointed by GW Bush, who signed this first draft of an opinion to overturn Roe v Wade, 1 April 1950, is a Sun Mercury in Aries trine Pluto and opposition Neptune. He’ll be pushing confidently ahead with some success for the next two years mixed with uncertainty;  but will run into a major failure come 2024.

  The other right-wingers show a relatively similar timeline. Amy Barrett, some ups but a tough, discouraging slog in 2023/24 and dashed hopes by 2024.

Neil Gorsuch,  uncertainty this year, mixed 2023; and disastrous 2024/25.

Clarence Thomas, hints of confidence alongside disruptions, soaring anxieties in 2023, failures in 2024 and in a swamp in 2025.

Brett Kavanaugh, over estimating his luck this year, with a tough slog and failures in 2023/24.

In a joint statement the Democrats’ leaders in Congress, Senator Chuck Schumer and congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, denounced the Supreme Court’s draft ruling as “one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history”. “The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower,” they added, “has now completely devolved into the party of Trump.”

  The twittersphere is alight with anomalies.

“Banning abortion before banning assault rifles.”

“The penalty for abortion after rape is more severe than the penalty for rape.”

“If you are upset that #RoeVWade is about to be overturned by the Supreme Court but you didn’t vote in 2016 or you voted for Trump because you didn’t like the smart lady. YOU did this with your apathy or your decision to choose an imp for President. YOU gave him THREE SCOTUS seats.”

A haunted life of fear, betrayal, louche behaviour, imagined victimhood, callous insensitivity and heavy drinking was the backdrop to Jean Rhys’s highly acclaimed novel Wide Sargasso Sea – a transplanted rendition of Bronte’s ‘mad wife in the attic’ in Jane Eyre. Although started 30 years earlier, it was only published in her 70s when she was living in a Devon shack in poor health.

  Her astrology gives a clue as to why this character struck a chord with her. She was born in Dominica on 24 August 1890, no birth time sadly, when there was a horrifically difficult Neptune Pluto in Gemini opposition Mars (Moon) in Sagittarius square Saturn and Sun in Virgo. Cruelty, acute frustration, ill-treatment, low self-esteem as well as unyielding determination and a hunger for attention/publicity drove her on. Her revved-up, indulgent Venus in Libra was conjunct Uranus, trine Pluto and sextile Mars.

  As a child on the Caribbean island she was terrified by her nursemaid regaling her with stories of red-eyed women creeping into children’s bedrooms at night to suck their blood. Her mother whipped her until she was 12 telling her she was ugly and her father’s male friends were abusive. Sent to London in her late teens she dreamt of becoming a great actress but ended up as a chorus girl with a litany of rich gentlemen supporters.  She married three times, firstly to a Belgian spy, embezzler, bigamist and jailbird; then No 2, a literary agent, gave her a home and did the chores while she wrote novels as well as drinking heavily and physically assaulting him. No 3 wound up in prison for attempted fraud. Along the way she had an abortion, abandoned two children in clinics and had multiple affairs. She died at 89 after a car-crash of a life.

  A biographer remarked “her belief in her own victimhood was largely a myth. There were always Samaritans who helped her -. She repaid kindness with abuse and distrust because her faith in people had been poisoned. But the paranoid sensitivity and sharp eye for insults that destroyed her as a person also made her a writer.”

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Naomi Judd, the country singer, half of a successful duo with her daughter Wynonna, and mother also of actress and #MeToo activist Ashley Judd, has died. The family story is a  smorgasbord of talent, triumph, sexual abuse, broken relationships, drugs and mental illness. Naomi herself underwent years of psychiatric hospital treatments,   pharmaceutical drug poisoning, and overcame ‘incurable’ Hepatitis C at one point.

 Naomi was born 11 January 1946 6.45pm Ashland, Kentucky, had a traumatic childhood with little emotional support, was abused by a relative, lost a young sibling, got pregnant at 17 with Wynonna and abandoned by the father. By 21 she had two children, had been beaten, raped and abandoned by her husband without financial support. She trained as a nurse before embarking on her singing career in the late 1970s with Wynonna. The Judds sold more than 20 million records and won six Grammys.

Wynonna Judd, 30 May 1964 8.52am Ashland, Kentucky, has a troubled relationship with food, describing herself as having a severe dependence; has been married three times. Her second husband was arrested for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and she filed for divorce five days later. Her third husband was involved in a serious road accident two months after their wedding, resulting in a leg being amputated. Her  daughter Grace was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2018 for violating her probation period, having pleaded guilty to possession, manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamines.

  Ashley Judd, 19 April 1968 1.12 pm Sylmar, California, attended 13 schools during a peripatetic childhood after her father left when she was four; and has described being raped three times in her life, once during a modelling stint in Japan on a school break when she was 15. She has had a reasonably successful film career and was a main speaker against Harvey Weinstein when the #MeToo movement got under way. In February 2021, while hiking in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she shattered her leg and spent 55 hours journeying with the help of African porters to get to surgery in a hospital in South Africa.

   Mother Naomi had a hard-working and ambitious 6^th house Sun Venus in Capricorn opposition a truly difficult, accident-prone and unfair-treatment Mars Saturn in Cancer in her 12^th square Jupiter on her IC. She also had a 10^th house Taurus Moon – connecting her to the public via Taurus’s singing abilities. But it was square Pluto on her Ascendant and inconjunct Neptune for an intense and complicated emotional life, adding to the stresses of Venus in hard aspect to a harsh Mars Saturn.

Wynonna has a friendly 11^th house Gemini Sun (a common sign for popular singers) with a lucky, successful and enthusiastic Jupiter Mercury Mars in Taurus in her career 10^th. Her Sun is on the focal point of a scattered Mutable T Square onto  Saturn in her 8^th opposition Uranus Pluto which isn’t an easy house placing for this can-be-depressing and chaotic aspect. She’ll wobble between low self-esteem from Saturn to turbulent, conflicting impulses from Uranus Pluto.

  Added on to which her Pluto trines her Mars, Mercury, Jupiter which is equal parts positive from high-octane determination and negative with acute frustrations. Her Neptune also opposes a showbizzy Neptune in the 4^th attracting her to a glamour industry – though its house position hints at family confusion. Her Capricorn Moon trines Mars for a scratchy relationship with her mother.

Ashley has a far-travelled and communicative 9^th house Aries Sun and Mercury on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Uranus (Pluto) – so she will wobble between over and under confidence. She has an ambitious Mars in Taurus conjunct her Midheaven from the 9^th; and trine her Pluto Uranus and opposition her 4^th house Neptune – so in this respect not unlike her sister.

 Her Sun is trine a super-confident and enthusiastic Jupiter in Taurus on her Ascendant and square an Aquarius Moon. Plus a self-reliant Saturn, North Node, Venus in Aries. Although she is tied into her family background in a nebulous way through her Neptune she is resolutely independent and will become more so as she grows older.

What a family – the fates blessed them with creative gifts and good fortune – but at a considerable cost.

Westminster sleaze is backing up from the sewers in a steady flow on cue for the sex-and-money Scorpio/Taurus Eclipses. One MP watching porn on the parliamentary benches was outed which followed hard on the heels of another MP being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15 year old boy. Then the home of Michelle Mone, a House of Lorder, was raided along with four properties connected to her and her husband in the Isle of Man. The National Crime Agency is investigating a company set up in May 2020 by a business associate of Mone’s that received more than £200mn in contracts awarded – without competitive tender and on a “high-priority” fast-track process – to supply PPE to the government during the crisis. And that’s all above and beyond Russian donors, Partygate, Boris’ lies, Greensill etc etc etc etc.

  I’ve lumped them all together since none is worth a slot on their own.

  Neil Parish, 26 May 1958, now suspended from the party and facing ridicule as the “porn MP” is being supported by his wife. A former MEP he’s been at Westminster since 2010. He’s a Sun Gemini with an extraordinarily robust chart with a pushily confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo opposition a beyond-stubborn Mars in Aquarius square Saturn in Scorpio which opposes his Mercury Sun; plus a highly-strung Uranus square Neptune and a Sagittarius Sun.

  He says he may step down next year and in life is certainly in turmoil with tr Pluto in a devastated square to his Neptune now and in 2023 when it is joined by tr Pluto in an apple-cart-upsetting opposition to his Uranus. Tr Saturn is also wending its way round his Fixed planets and next year his Sun – for a discouraging couple of years. Plus his Solar Arc Pluto is square his Uranus now which is another topple-off-perch indicator.

 Imran Ahmad Khan, 6 September 1973, has already resigned from his constituency, causing a bye election in June, following his conviction for underage sexual assault. He only became an MP in 2019, the first Tory to take a traditionally Labour seat, he claimed because of his pro-Brexit views.

  He’s a Virgo with a challenging and crises-ridden chart with two Yods – Neptune sextile Jupiter inconjunct Saturn South Node, and Saturn sextile Mars in Taurus inconjunct Neptune. He’s also got a controlling and stubborn T Square of Saturn opposition North Node (Moon) square Pluto. He had a background in Russian and war studies, UN interventions in Somalia and Afghanistan, counter terrorism and advertising – which fits with an attracted-to-risk and tough-conditions chart.

 Michelle Mone, 8 October 1971 4.55pm Glasgow, became known for her lingerie firm and elevation by David Cameron to a life peerage in the House of Lords in the face of a good deal of criticism in 2015. She denies all knowledge and/or connection to the PPE scandal despite having set up the fast-track links.

  She has the bulldozer Mars in Aquarius in her 1^st house trine a jam-packed 8^th house with a Sun, Uranus, Mercury in Libra there as well as Venus at one end and Pluto at the other.  She also has the George Osborne/Dominic Cummings’ over-hopeful, slippery Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius opposition Saturn in Gemini – and a Moon Gemini.

  An overwhelmingly Air chart – cool, detached, not given to sentiment. With a heavy 8^th house for an interest in business finances and secrecy.

  Tr Saturn is now moving into her lower profile First Quadrant for years ahead throwing up setbacks this year as the tr Saturn square tr Uranus collides with her Mars. She’ll get the financial benefit of Jupiter through her 2^nd at the moment till mid 2023; but thereafter Saturn will start to bite with shortages running on for some years ahead. But the likelihood is she’ll slide out from under.

   Not sure what this hill of rancid beans adds up to. Maybe on the UK chart the Eclipses tugging on the 8^th house Mars and 2^nd house Neptune. Wherefore art thou Hercules?

Amazon has reported its slowest growth for two decades. Netflix is firing staff after missing its subscriber target sending its shares down by 50 per cent. And Apple, despite having had a strong quarter, warns its growth slowdown is likely to deepen with chip shortages.

  Three staple ingredients of modern times are, along with Twitter, moving into changing times which for some may mean curtains and for others a diminished presence in everyday life.

  Amazon’s first sale chart, 16 July 1995, is showing ominous signs of panic with tr Neptune conjunct the Saturn next month, on and off into 2023; and is then aiming to undermine the Mars through till January 2025. There will certainly be radical changes this year and next with tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus. Then troublesome Solar Arcs pile up in 2024/25.

  Netflix launched 14 April 1998 is equally struggling uphill with difficulty as tr Pluto aims across disastrous midpoint between now and 2024 after which it is in a trapped, risky square to its Mars in 2024/25. It won’t be easy – or probably possible – to regain the glory days.

 Apple will wrestle with a discouraging, deprived tr Pluto opposition Saturn till the end of this year; but will then look forward to a confidence-raising 2024/25 with tr Pluto square the Jupiter. Where it runs into real problems will be as tr Neptune in Aries starts to square the Mars towards 2028  and afterwards to square the Pluto and conjunct the Aries Sun across the turn of the decade.  

The hook-up between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck cemented with an emerald sparkler has caused great excitement in the celeb-fan world. They nearly made it to the altar 19 years ago but abruptly parted company after he decided too much media attention was ruining his life. At the time she said “ It felt like my heart had been torn out of my chest,” despite which she started dating a singer three days later, whom she later married (briefly) – one of the carousel of men who have flitted through her life, some she married others not.  

  She had in recent times been dating New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez but split from him and within days was back with Affleck. Not a lady who wastes time – or headlines.

  Affleck who has a history of addictions and depression was previously married to the actor Jennifer Garner for 13 years until 2018 with three children.

 Lopez was born 24 July 1969 in New York with no verified time. But around a midday time she would have her Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage indicator, conjunct her Uranus Jupiter which would make sense of her constantly changing partners. She is a Sun Leo in a high-octane trine to Mars in Sagittarius, sextile her lucky Jupiter Uranus. Her Venus in social butterfly Gemini is in a passionate square to Pluto.  Her Moon may be Scorpio or Sagittarius.

  Ben Affleck, 15 August 1972 2.53am Berkeley, California, is also a Leo trine a confident, lucky Jupiter in Sagittarius. He does have an unsettled Pluto Uranus in his 4^th house of roots and childhood which fits a family background of addictions and mental health problems. His Venus in Cancer is in a passionate square to his Pluto and his Moon is in Scorpio.

   Two Leos aren’t ideal since they’ll fight for the spotlight and her Mars is conjunct his Neptune which is another indicator of an ego-clash.

  The relationship chart does have a strong Jupiter square the composite Sun and maybe conjunct the composite Moon. Jupiter in a relationship brings enthusiasm, optimism and usually is mutually supportive, ironing out wrinkles and problems.  There’s also a passionate and possessive Venus square Pluto. Plus a doubting composite Saturn opposition Neptune, which latter tends to bring anxieties and worries of a nebulous but undermining variety.

  When they split before in 2004 tr Neptune was opposition the Sun which isn’t a problem in the near future; but tr Uranus was just over the composite Saturn opposition Neptune in 2004. That latter repeats in 2025; and before then tr Neptune is undermining the Pluto and Venus in 2023/24. So not all rosy ahead.

  He looks fairly upbeat in 2023/2024 with one of his Jupiter midpoints being boosted. Whereas she looks completely stuck in approximately six months with her Solar Arc Sun conjunct her Pluto; and under immense pressure with tr Pluto opposing her Sun in 2024/25 so they may be out of step with each other through this time as their careers diverge.

Putin’s first phase attack on Ukraine having failed in its purpose of a takeover complete with puppet government, there are fears he will bolster his dented pride by expanding operations elsewhere.

  Transnistria, a breakaway segment of Moldova, controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 1992 which hosts 1,500 Russian troops and a large arms depot, borders western Ukraine, may be his first call. A series of mysterious explosions there a few days ago, blamed by Moscow on Ukrainian infiltrators, are said by Kiev to be false flag operations designed to provide a pretext for an infusion of Russian troops.

 A Russian move into Transnistria would pose an imminent threat to the sovereignty of Moldova, which has shown interest in joining NATO. It would also menace Odesa, the Ukrainian port city, part of the grand plan to give Russia control over the Black Sea coast.

  This is a reprise of previous posts but worth updating. The former Soviet satellite states and Russia have charts, either from the 1917/18 era or 1990/1991 – both of which dates have key planets in mid fixed signs. So they are in the line of fire of this year’s Eclipses as well as tr Uranus, for example, opposition the Pluto in Scorpio of the Lithuania and Latvia charts at 17 Scorpio from this June onwards. The Moldova Pluto is at 15 Scorpio so catches the disruptive tr Uranus opposition from May 12^th this year. And 2023 looks equally turbulent.

  The EU and UK also have tr Uranus rattling up their Venus at 15 and 16 Aquarius and Germany has Pluto at 17 Taurus – which could be financial and not necessarily directly linked but they will certainly be unsettling.

  The one chart that is definite about Putin is his 4^th term chart of 7 May 2018 11.05 am Moscow, which has a confident, lucky Taurus Sun opposition a popular-at-home 4^th house Jupiter. There’s also a ruthless Mars Pluto in Capricorn in a crises-ridden and unstable square to Uranus Mercury.

Tr Uranus will conjunct the Sun and square the Sun/Jupiter midpoint, then oppose the Jupiter between late May and mid year which could suggest a confident push. But he will run into a frustratingly stuck and infuriatingly trapped tr Pluto conjunct the Mars from early this August till early December, which was around early this year and last – and worse a destabilizing tr Pluto square the Uranus from February 2023, on and off until late 2024. This last is often a transit associated with topple-off-perch moments for an administration. Plus in 2023 the Pluto moves by Solar Arc to close the conjunction to Mars to exact by mid 2023 which is usually a dead-halt if not total implosion influence.

  2023 is the year when both the Russia 1917 and 1991 chart indicate major upsets and significant changes.

  This year’s fraught Lunar Eclipses will be rattling up many of the above charts so all stormy ahead. But at least there is a smidgeon of hope that Putin may keel over at some point in 2023 – despite the UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, trumpeting on about a 10 year war.

  [While UK support is heart-warming, I’m not sure that some of the grandstanding London politicos aren’t throwing around provocative comments just to grab attention and risk causing problems if not doing actual damage.]

See previous post: 8 March 2022

Elon Musk has agreed to buy Twitter for roughly $44bn, putting him in control of the influential social media platform that millions rely on for news. He describes himself as a “free speech absolutist” and in the past has attacked regulators and critics, though he’s not above blocking those he dislikes personally. The deal is expected to close this year, but could still fall apart if blocked by regulators or if he fails to deliver on financing.

   Musk has made donations to both of the major US political parties in the past but there are concerns over his desire to loosen content moderation on the platform.

   Republicans are hopeful that the deal could pave the way for Donald Trump to return to the platform, although he insists he’ll stick to his own Truth network. “Everyone should be worried about this,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist. “We saw the impact Trump managed to have with his Twitter account before, whether questioning Barack Obama’s  birthplace or rejecting the results of the last election. Imagine what he will do to regain power in 2022 or 2024 when there is no one to stop him?”

  Musk, 28 June 1971 Pretoria, South Africa, no time, is on a confident  and lucky roll with tr Pluto sextile his money-magnet Jupiter in Scorpio in 2022/23. Though his 2023 will prove a bumpy, insecure and disempowering ride; with a tough slog through 2024/25. The great planetary shift starting in 2023 won’t suit him with tr Pluto trine his Saturn and sextile his Neptune; and the tr Saturn Neptune shift into Aries will gradually encroach on his Cancer Sun square Uranus in Libra. Tr Uranus moving into Gemini in 2026 will initially prove to be destabilising.

 Twitter, 21 March 2006 will also regard the celestial changeover with a jaundiced eye especially in 2025/26 with tr Neptune Saturn conjunct the Aries Sun and tr Pluto opposition the Saturn.  This year will be roller coaster with lucky breaks from tr Uranus opposition the Jupiter and highly unsettled with the financial Venus and Neptune being rattled as well. Not all plans will bring the desired result.

  The Twitter IPO, 7 November 2013, will be under stress this year with tr Uranus opposition the Saturn Sun in Scorpio, exact now and repeating into early 2023, with the Eclipses throwing down challenges as well. 2024 looks a disaster year, followed by several more as tr Neptune Saturn gets into gear in Aries to square the Venus and then Pluto and Uranus.

  Elon Musk isn’t the greatest fit for Twitter with his contrary and inordinately stubborn Mars in Aquarius crossing swords with both Twitter charts.

 Intriguing thought that one of the key manifestations of the Pluto in Capricorn years may falter and either keel over or shrivel when the new era arrives. Facebook/Zuckerburg may be less affected at the start since he and the FB IPO are late Taurus and the FB launch chart is mid Aquarius.