Astrology of Today’s News

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson successfully reached the edge of space on board his Virgin Galactic rocket plane, the vehicle his company has been developing since 2004. He returned safely to Earth just over an hour after leaving the ground and said “I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space. The whole thing was just magical.”

The trip makes him the first of the new space tourism pioneers to try out their own vehicles, beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. Some 600 individuals have already paid deposits for tickets that will cost them up to $250,000 (£180,000). The Russians are also reprising their commercial flights to the ISS and there are even those who want to launch private space stations for people to visit.

For an extra frisson Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Dragon capsule will have a glass-domed observation deck available for the passengers it’s shuttling to the International Space Station for an eight-day stay at $55 million a piece. Passes belief.

  Branson, 18 July 1950 7am Blackheath, England, is an entrepreneur and innovator, owner of a wide range of companies from records to railways, airlines to telecoms with some resounding failures as well as successes.

  He has a 12^th house Cancer Sun conjunct the Fixed star Procyon – he shares his birthday serendipitously with astronaut John Glenn.  Procyon usually suggests wealth and good fortune, though it can also bring great lows as well as highs.  Branson has a determined Pluto on his Ascendant, a publicity attracting Mars Neptune in his 3^rd; and adventurous and financially lucky Jupiter in his 8^th trine Uranus; and a serious Saturn in his financial 2^nd. It’s not entirely clear from his chart why he should have been able to carve such a unique and globally successful career. Though he does have several notable Harmonics – especially global fame 22H; and the innovative 13H.

  He famously has a sticky relationship with Jeff Bezos whose nose will now be out of joint since he was beaten to the post with the first tourist flight.  See previous post Jeff Bezos June 12 2021.

  Bezos is a Sun Mars in Capricorn which opposes and clashes with Branson’s Sun; and both their Saturns are in hard aspect to the other’s Pluto which makes this a battle between heavyweights.

  Their relationship chart has a seriously aggravated composite Saturn Mars square Pluto, trine Uranus which will evoke hostility and frustration if the other wins.

  Branson is in a challenging year with tr Pluto opposing his Sun until this December and earlier this year his Solar Arc Pluto was square his Sun – so he would feel the pressures keenly. He’s aiming for an upbeat Jupiter Return early in 2022 and more success on the business money front through 2022. Tr Pluto is trine his Jupiter/Pluto this year and next plus plus so he’s on a roll. Though it won’t all be plain sailing ahead and there’s a real risk of him allowing his confidence to overstep the bounds of common sense in one area of his plans come 2023.  

Cuba is seeing the biggest protests for decades against the Communist government. Cubans have been angered by the collapse of the economy, restrictions on civil liberties and the handling of the pandemic, with record infections in recent days.

  One demonstrator said: “This is the day: we can’t take it anymore. There is no food, there is no medicine, there is no freedom. They do not let us live.”

 The president urged them to defend the 1959 revolution which brought in communism and the police used pepper spray and violence against the marchers.

  Both the Independence 20 May 1902 and the 1 January 1959 charts point to 2022 as the year of major disruption with the Mars in Taurus on both being triggered by tr Uranus conjunct and tr Saturn square. That will unleash a wave of anger. The 1902 chart will be heavily discouraged and suffering deprivation in 2022/23 with tr Pluto conjunct the Saturn; and the Revolutionary 1959 chart shows up 2024 as its nadir.

 Miguel Diaz-Canel, a technocrat, who replaced Raul Castro, was sworn in on 19 April 2018 at 9.30am in Havana. His Term chart has a ruthless, secretive and crises-prone 8^th house Mars Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn with an unstable Pluto square Uranus Sun. So it was always going to be an economically troubled and high-risk administration. The Mars Pluto conjunction has moved to exact by Solar Arc now so no surprises that anger has boiled over. 2022/23/24 will be worse with a disruptive tr Pluto square the Uranus which is often when governments topple.

 His personal chart, 20 April 1960, does have a lucky and powerful Earth Grand Trine of Taurus Sun trine Pluto trine Jupiter, formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Neptune. But he also has a strained Yod of Mars sextile Saturn quincunx Uranus in Leo – with his Uranus getting pulled every which way next year by tr Uranus square tr Saturn. That last will shift him onto a different trajectory. 2023/2024 sees tr Pluto square his Sun pulling down old structures in his life and putting him under considerable pressure as well.

Laurens van der Post was a South African writer, philosopher, conservationist, close friend of the Swiss therapist Carl Jung and mentor to Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He was much praised for his initiative when a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War 11, maintaining the morale of prisoners of different nationalities, organising a “camp university” and a camp farm to supplement nutritional needs. His later books about his experiences were turned into the film ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’.

  Wiki quotes him: “It is one of the hardest things in this prison life: the strain caused by being continually in the power of people who are only half-sane and live in a twilight of reason and humanity.”

  His reputation in later years was dented when it was revealed he had fathered a child on a 14 year old girl, who had been put into his care on a sea voyage. He paid her family a small amount of money but never publicly acknowledged the daughter. After his death the accuracy of his claims about his life were questioned with examples published of where he had embellished the truth in his memoirs and travel books. One biographer claimed he was “a fraud, a fantasist, a liar, a serial adulterer and a paternalist. He falsified his Army record and inflated his own importance at every possible opportunity.”

  He was born 13 December 1906 at 2am (unverified) Philippolis, South Africa, and was a Sun Sagittarius in a controlling opposition to Pluto in the far-travelled and opinionated 9^th. His Pluto was also in a determined and courageous trine to Mars in Libra. But what dominates his chart is a healing Water Grand Trine of Jupiter Neptune in Cancer in the 9^th conjunct his Midheaven trine Saturn trine a Scorpio Moon, with Neptune Jupiter opposition an innovative, reforming Uranus.

   Water Grand Trine individuals can operate within their own little bubble and be detached from reality – which in appalling circumstance can be a blessing. Jupiter Neptune can also indicate a Pollyanna-like tendency of head in the clouds and hoping for the best; and it has a reputation as a guru-chaser which might well apply to his relationship to Carl Jung whom he idolised.

 He was a complicated man, half saint and in typical Jungian fashion half not. He was anti-apartheid and although his credentials as a guru and sage were challenged he did spread the word about Jung and African conservation to a wider public.  

  His relationship with Prince Charles was an influential one with a three quarter Grand Sextile in their relationship chart tying together the composite Sun, Saturn, Moon, Uranus and Jupiter. Van Der Post’s Sun fell in Charles’s 5^th house conjunct his Mars Jupiter so his enthusiasm would be an inspiration for Charles; and LVP’s leadership North Node in Leo was conjunct Charles’ Ascendant for another motivating lift.

  Van der Post’s relationship with Jung was very Neptune Pluto with the composite Sun trine Neptune Pluto which also sat on the focal point of a Saturn opposition Jupiter. Neptune Pluto has an interest in the paranormal and what lies beyond reality.

  When he had to surrender to the Japanese in 1942 the tr Saturn Uranus in Taurus were just moving into his 8^th house, bringing a phase where he needed to develop inner resilience and would be thrown back on his inner resources. Tr Pluto was exactly conjunct his 10^th house Node at that point, arguably sparking off his latent talents for showing the way to others.

Talented, influential and flawed.

The Euro Final football frenzy will kick off at 8pm tomorrow in London with England versus Italy. The last time England won was in 1966 also played in London.

The only faint clue of anything much on the manager Gareth Southgate’s chart is tr Jupiter square his Mars/Node midpoint which Ebertin describes as ‘successful team work’ and tr Jupiter trine his Mars but that isn’t exact until July 19th. And those are minor enough. I’ll let the afficianados pitch in since I’m blank.

Post-apartheid South Africa took a small step towards fulfilling Nelson Mandela’s hope for a corruption-free country when former president Jacob Zuma handed himself into the police. He had been charged with contempt of court after repeatedly refusing to appear before a commission looking at allegations of corruption against him, involving dealings with a criminal syndicate run by the Gupta family; as well as a separate arms deal. He denies any wrongdoing, ‘despite the mounds of evidence’.

  His successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, wants to be the face of a clean ANC, but has already had to sideline his health minister for diverting Covid-19 communications funds to cronies. At present South Africa is far behind its vaccination targets; has a corrupt and mismanaged state electricity provider; a passenger rail system barely functions; and a criminal justice system that was seriously damaged by Zuma and his cronies. Ways to go.

  Both the South Africa 1910 and 1994 charts have Uranus in Capricorn at almost the same degree picking up the tr Pluto conjunction this year – so the pressure for change has met its moment. And the 1994 chart in particular will feel the effects of the Taurus Lunar Eclipse late this November and the Taurus/Scorpio eclipses in 2022 all triggering the Moon Pluto North Node in last decan Scorpio as well as the Taurus Sun Mercury. Crisis and the challenge of change will dance hand in hand through till 2023.

  Even the 1910 chart with its late Taurus North Node will be at a critical turning point as it runs into a Nodal Return from early 2022.

  Jacob Zuma, 12 April 1942, is an Aries with an adventurous/opportunistic Mars Jupiter in Gemini and a heavyweight Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune. Both his Term charts had marked Mars square Pluto aspects which always indicates ruthless control-freakery if not downright criminal behaviour; strong Jupiters for confidence and emphasised Neptune for slippery evasiveness. He won’t enjoy the next three years especially 2023 when he runs into the buffers.

  His Saturn Uranus in Taurus is conjunct the South Africa 1994 South Node and opposition the SAfrica Pluto Moon so his acquisitive Taurus proclivities would run him counter to the needs of the people; though his Sun conjunct the South Africa Midheaven would pitch him high for a while.

  Cyril Ramaphosa, 17 November 1952, is a New Moon in Scorpio square Pluto; with Mars in Capricorn opposition Uranus and square Neptune Saturn in Libra. If he fights on the side of justice he has considerable heft and perseverance. Though he will be volatile and given to impulsive, reckless decisions, disregarding advice.  He’s trapped and frustrated this year and next with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars, with the Eclipses from this November onwards for two years rattling his Scorpio Sun Moon. Tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter exactly now and repeating into early 2022 will give him good news.

  His Term chart, 25 May 2019 11.30am has been labouring against tr Neptune dashing optimism in square to Jupiter; the Eclipses rattling the Gemini Sun Mercury until early 2022; and a dead-halt Saturn Pluto conjunction, closed to exact by Solar Arc later this year. It’ll be an uphill struggle to make progress.

Known around Hollywood as “Psycho Kilmer”, the actor Val is trying to burnish his reputation with a documentary culled from 800 hours of home video footage and premiering to rave reviews at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. His reputation as ‘difficult to work’ with shot his problematic reputation above such as Marlon Brando, Edward Norton, Russell Crowe and Steven Seagal. Not even his super-successful movies – The Doors, Top Gun and Batman Forever – could persuade directors who worked with him to ever repeat the experience.

  Industry commentators remark: “he never quite cracked the code of interacting with other people” and describe him as “a personality not exactly on speaking terms with self-awareness.” The documentary appears to indicate not much has changed.

He was born 31 December 1959 7.58am Los Angeles and brought up in the Christian Science faith which has been his guiding light since his career took a nose dive and he latterly contracted throat cancer which means he now speaks through a voice box. 

   He does have a tricky chart with an 8^th house Pluto trine a 12^th house Sun Saturn in Capricorn, sextiling Neptune Midheaven in Scorpio. Pluto in the 8^th would provide an unconscious ability to project an influential aura but in trine to a 12^th house Sun Saturn it is also depressive and locked in. The hidden houses wouldn’t make gaining insight easier. That trine focuses onto a filmic and religious Neptune in his 9^th conjunct his Midheaven so he would push aside any questioning of himself by focusing on his creative visions and spiritual beliefs.  His Moon also squares Neptune which wouldn’t help with insight either as Neptune fogs up his perspective.

  His seductive 10^th house Venus in Scorpio is in a needs-space square to Uranus which in turn is in an adventurous trine to Jupiter, Mars, Mercury in Sagittarius – all of which would lift him out of his gloomier tendencies from time to time.

  His recent years have been understandably challenging with his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Sun, Saturn; his Solar Arc Mars opposition his Uranus and tr Neptune trailing in square to his Sagittarius planets. It doesn’t look much easier ahead but he has the support of his children and his faith and will no doubt appreciate the attention at Cannes.

A hawkish Japan has said publicly for the first time it would join the USA in defending Taiwan were China to invade in an irritated response to China’s expansionist policies in the region. The prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has long been regarded as the potential trigger for a superpower conflict. Most foreign governments, including Japan, acknowledge that Taiwan is a sovereign part of China but insist that reunification must take place without force, something Beijing refuses to rule out. Taiwan is a prosperous democracy and has been self-governing since Chinese nationalist forces fled there after their defeat by the communists in 1949.

  What is intriguing – astrologically – is that the First Sino-Japan War of 1894 started with Uranus at 11 degrees Scorpio and the Second War in 1937 started with Uranus at 12 degrees Taurus. Which is where Uranus is this year and rattled by the tr Saturn square so no surprises the rhetoric is heating up. That rattles up the China 1912 Saturn in Taurus and the Japan Taurus Ascendant square Saturn in Leo.

The other triggers appear to revolve around the China 1912 Uranus at 28 Capricorn square the North Node at 28 Aries.  The Second Sino-Japan War in 1927 started with tr Pluto in opposition to the China Uranus, which is what will pick up from March next year, on and off till late 2023.

  The three Taiwan Strait crises of 1954, 1958 and 1995 – all have activity around the China North/South Node axis at 28 Aries/Libra and squaring onto the China Uranus at 28 Capricorn – which will be under pressure in 2022/23.

  The Japan/China 1912 relationship chart is aggravated this year especially from mid August onwards for a few months and with intense arguments in 2022/23. And in swampy, uncertain territory until Neptune clears Pisces mid decade.

  The China/USA relationship chart, always in a state of tension with a composite Sun opposition Pluto, will be most affected in 2023/24 when tr Pluto opposes the composite Saturn.   

  Tensions will rise undoubtedly with all these sensitive spots being triggered. But it’s difficult to see the US getting dragged into another messy conflict when all the weight of public and political opinion is to avoid them.

See previous post October 1 2020

Marjorie Taylor Greene is not only addicted to offensive, over-heated rhetoric but also to a warped Trumpian cum Nazi tactic of turning herself and her ilk into victims. She recently was forced to apologize for suggesting that mask mandates were similar to the Holocaust; and promptly went on to compare medical personnel offering vaccinations to Nazi brownshirts forcing prisoners to undergo experiments.  

   The House of Representatives which she only joined this January, voted to remove her from all committee roles on February 4, 2021, in response to her incendiary and violent statements. She will run for re-election in 2022.

  Born 27 May 1974 in Georgia, USA, she is a Sun Gemini opposition Neptune trine Pluto; with a volatile and over-loaded Mars in excitable Cancer on the point of a T Square to Venus opposition Uranus; and a hard-edged, unyielding Saturn square Pluto. Tr Pluto is still exerting maximum pressure on her Martian T Square being square the Venus and Uranus till the end of this year – so her cat on a hot tin roof performance will keep going for a while. 

The December Sagittarius Solar Eclipse will oppose her Sun for a crisis of direction in which she may be forced to rethink her plans. She’s also got a Neptunian failure or two late this year and in general her high hopes won’t be producing results with swampy influences till late 2022.

  Her Solar Arc Sun is conjunct her Mars probably mid or later in 2022 which will produce a collision of sorts and is not good news, followed by Solar Arc Neptune in a paralysed, panicky square to her Uranus also in 2022 and then Venus in 2023.

  She probably is enamoured of Hitler since his mesmeric Neptune Pluto in Gemini is conjunct her Sun and oddly enough both have Uranus in Libra. The relationship chart has a passionately connected composite Pluto opposition Jupiter square Venus

  With Trump, it’s trickier to see where the love comes from with his Saturn conjunct her focal point Mars; though her Sun falls in his 10^th and her Leo Moon is probably attracted to all the fake glitter. Their relationship chart again has a passionate Sun Venus square Pluto which will be rattled up by this December’s Solar Eclipse.

Roger Federer says he does not know if he will play at Wimbledon again after losing in the quarter-finals with a final set 6-0 loss. Now nearly 40, he’s had a sterling tennis career winning his first grand Slam at 21 and over his career 20 in all, a record shared with Rafael Nadal. He dominated the 2000s with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, (both 5/6 years younger) – the ‘big three’ – but was less successful in the 2010s until his knee surgery in 2016 after which he won three more Grand Slam singles titles over the next two years. He is routinely one of the highest-paid athletes in any sport with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020.

  Born 8 August 1981 8.40 am Bale, Switzerland, he has a 12^th house Leo Sun Mercury trine Neptune and sextile Pluto in his 6^th so he’ll be super-powered by an ambitious streak. He was born four days after Meghan Markle and has her volatile Mars in Cancer square Jupiter Saturn in Libra. He lacked emotional self-control as a junior but calmed down as he matured. He has Uranus Moon in Scorpio in his 3^rd so would have a defiant streak though he is very controlled with a Scorpio Moon and an emphasised Pluto.

   His Gemini Midheaven is catching the upcoming December Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius which will pose crucial questions for his career direction; and the late November Taurus Lunar Eclipse will oppose his Uranus so there will be a few disruptions and upsets.

  Exactly now till early October he looks slightly paralysed with sticky midpoint transits; and there are hints of a turnaround in his life with tr Pluto sextile his Uranus this year and next. He won’t disappear even if he does retire though any transition will be difficult, making him irritable and frustrated in 2022 to 2024.

The only other point of note is his Solar Arc Neptune moving to conjunct his South Node later next year which could be a hint of retiring from his leadership positions of the past.   

Please add below. Older posts under News on the top bar.