Astrology of Today’s News

Jerry Falwell Jnr, president of one of the world’s largest evangelical Christian colleges and a vocal Trump supporter in 2016 has stepped aside after posting a photo of himself with his trousers unzipped. He conceded the Instagram photo was “weird”, but defended it as “all in good fun”.

The college has a strict code of conduct for students, barring premarital sex and the consumption of media either on or off campus “that is offensive to Liberty’s standards and traditions”, such as lewd lyrics, anti-Christian messages, sexual content and nudity. Last year, the former editor of the school’s student newspaper wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, accusing Mr Falwell of silencing students and professors “who reject his pro-Trump politics”.

Born 17 June 1962 9.13 pm Lynchburg, Virginia,  Falwell Junior, surprise surprise, is a Sun Gemini opposition Moon in Sagittarius, an almost perfect match for Trump. With a pushily confident Jupiter opposition an 8^th house Pluto square Mercury in Gemini so never short of a snappy quote. He has a slippery Neptune in his career-10^th opposition an indulgent and bullish Mars in Taurus in a hard-edged square to a chilly Saturn in Aquarius opposition a Leo North Node and widely opposition Venus in Leo – all of which adds up to a tricky personality with more psychological knots and wrinkles than most. And with Uranus and Pluto and his Node all in his 8^th, his ancestral past will weigh more heavily on him than he realises.

Tr Uranus is in a jolting square to his Saturn at the moment and starting three years of hard aspects to his Fixed Grand Square which will be a bumpy ride. And tr Pluto is aiming to square his Midheaven (birth time being accurate) in 2021/22 which is loss of reputation and a fall from grace – and indeed could even be in operation now. With tr Saturn Pluto moving through his first house his reputation will be taking a pounding.

The Falwells have a family history and a half with this Falwell having a born-again father, Jerry Falwell Senior, promoter of TV evangelism and a political lobbyist for the Moral Majority, Inc with a six-figure income and his own jet and hair-raising views including blaming 9/11 on “the pagans, the abortionists, the feminists and the gays and lesbians for helping this happen.”  Born 11 August 1933, he was a Sun Leo opposition Saturn in Aquarius with a ferocious, dominating, control-freak T Square of Mars in Libra opposition Uranus square Pluto.

Senior’s father Carey was a bootlegger, reputed brothel-owner, an alcoholic and an atheist who shot his drug addict brother and then proceeded to drink himself to death.

More of Jerry Falwell Snr’s rabid quotes:

“AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

Any sex outside of the marriage bond between a man and a woman is violating God’s law.

Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.

The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.

God created the family to provide the maximum love and support and morality and example that one can imagine.

The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America’s free enterprise system and our economic stability.

I think the Moslem faith teaches hate.

If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being.”

Photo:  Gage Skidmore at Mar-a-Lago

PD James, the crime writer, who was born on August 3 1920 7.59 am Oxford and died six years ago, was an understated Leo with her Sun Neptune conjunction in Leo and Venus Jupiter in Leo all in her hidden 12^th house. What marks her chart out as suited to a walk on the dark side strewn with corpses and murder is a creative, private and ferocious Water Grand Trine of Mars North Node in intense and dark Scorpio trine Pluto trine Uranus, formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Saturn. She was talented but harboured a fair number of demons though she possibly never admitted that even to herself.

She had a tricky childhood with her mother in a mental hospital by the time she was in her mid-teens, leaving her to bring up two younger siblings. Married at 21 to an army doctor, she found herself as the breadwinner when he returned from the war suffering from a mental breakdown, which eventually sent him to a psychiatric hospital. In a rare moment of openness she once said she had been exceptionally scared of him when he became unwell and he died young, perhaps from suicide. She never remarried but brought up her two daughters and eventually had five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Her first novel was published when she was 42 but she worked full time in the civil service, hospital administration and the forensic sciences before retiring at 60 to write full time. Latterly she became one of the great and the good, being a member of the House of Lords and sitting on endless committees, literary and otherwise.

In many ways her novels are more genteel than her chart, mainly upper-class perpetrators who strayed from the straight and narrow by circumstance rather than sadistic serial killers leaving a trail of blood and carnage behind them. She clearly leant on her Leo planets for her character and plots.

Though her chart is most similar to Patricia Cornwell who has a ruthless Mars opposition Pluto square Saturn.

James’  creative 5^th harmonic is well aspected though strained. Her 21^st writers’ harmonic is also notable.  Even more so is her ‘serial killers’ 18H – so the understated cruelty in her books was maybe more a generational factor than an innate tendency. She wrote what she though the market would accept.

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Legal jeopardy is mounting in several directions as New York attorneys ratchet up a gear, having variously – nailed down Ghislaine Maxwell, aimed firepower at Trump’s Deutsche Bank records citing public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization”; and now has the NRA firmly in their crosshairs.

Letitia James, New York’s AG has announced a civil lawsuit aimed at dissolving the powerful National Rifle Association over alleged financial mismanagement. She alleged that its top executives including  Wayne LaPierre had used it as a “personal piggy bank” over several decades for luxury holidays, private jets and expensive meals amounting to many millions. The NRA described the lawsuit as a “baseless, premeditated attack” and suggested it was a political vendetta aimed at Trump’s election campaign since they had funnelled millions his way in 2016.

LaPierre, 8 November 1948, is a tough-minded and incredibly stubborn Scorpio Sun square Pluto with Pluto in an ultra-determined and ruthless trine to Mars in Sagittarius, sextile a slippery Neptune; with an opportunistic Jupiter opposition Uranus. He’s agitated though bullish this year but on a catastrophic slide in 2021/22 as tr Pluto squares his Mars/Saturn midpoint and tr Neptune undercuts his happy-optimism in square to his Mars/Jupiter midpoint. 2022 is when his life turns upside down with tr Uranus opposition his Sun and square his Pluto.

That is when the NRA chart, 17 November 1871, also starts to get shaken on its perch with tr Uranus conjunct its Pluto and then by 2024 tr Uranus opposes its Scorpio Sun. Though both it and LaPierre are staggering obstinate so won’t give in easy.

Letitia James, 18 October 1958, is a Sun Venus in Libra with Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus. Her relationship chart with LaPierre has a suspicious Neptune Saturn square a disruptive Uranus which is being elbowed at the moment by the tr Saturn Pluto conjunction and on for another three years as tr Pluto is in hard aspect to all three composite planets. Her Saturn is conjunct the NRA’s South Node.

Cyrus Vance, 14 June 1954, the Manhattan DA hot on the Deutsche Bank trail, has his Gemini Sun close to Trump’s; though in Vance’s case his Sun is trine Neptune and sextile his Pluto so more anchored down.  His relationship chart with Trump will intensify through 2021/22 with a few disappointments along the way and move through a radical upheaval in 2022. 2021/22 is when Trump’s Sun, Moon and financial planets are sliding into a Neptunian swamp.

Trump’s Term chart does have an afflicted focal point 9^th house Pluto and I recollect someone saying at the start that looked like legal problems. With tr Pluto aiming to square the Jupiter on that Term chart from late August to late November it could lead not so much to a confident push which would be one meaning as an all-out conflict with authority for crossing the line of society’s rules and regs.

But in or out of the White House Trump is likely to defend himself like a rattlesnake. In 1973, when sued by the government for racial discriminatory policies in his rental properties, he counter-sued for $100 million. Two years later the Trump outfit agreed to change their practices without publicly admitting anything.  I hope Cyrus Vance has a hard hat.

Previous posts on Letitia James and Audrey Strauss see May 7 2019:

“More jeopardy for Trump may come from legal actions by state attorney generals, especially in New York, than from Mueller. At present there are 51 multi-state lawsuits against the Trump administration including New York where it has led the group. They do not answer directly to William Barr and unlike Mueller can’t be fired by the president and investigations of Trump-linked interests could dog the president, his family and his associates for years, including after his departure from office.

The state’s financial fraud laws give the attorney general “incredible power” to demand documents and records, said one commentator. “New York is in a unique position to lead a lot of these investigations. Number one, they have the resources to take Trump on, and number two, they have the location where Trump is potentially most legally vulnerable.”

“Trump has decades of complex and shady business deals that make for a target-rich environment,” said Eric Soufer, a senior counsel.”

For previous posts on NRA: April 28 2019 and August 4 2019

Hiroshima is being remembered on the 75^th anniversary of the bombing which, along with the Nagasaki bomb three days later, killed nigh on 200,000 people.  Most casualties were civilians and the two incidents remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in armed conflict. US President Harry Truman said it was necessary to save anywhere up to half a million American soldiers’ lives after Japan refused to follow Germany into surrender and the war in the east threatened to run on.

The Hiroshima bomb was dropped 6 August 1945 at 8.15am when Uranus was exactly (to the same minute of a degree) conjunct the Midheaven. There was a powerful Sun Pluto conjunction; an unpleasant Mars in Gemini trine Neptune sextile Pluto; and a cold-hearted Saturn Moon in Cancer.  Like 9/11 it isn’t quite as earth-shattering a chart as you might expect, though into the more finely tuned harmonics it shows up as brutal on the 9^th and 18^th Harmonic; where 9/11 showed its true colours on the 16H.

The 9 July 1945 Total Solar eclipse in Cancer had Saturn conjunct the New Moon with Jupiter on the Descendant and Uranus on the nadir/IC located to Hiroshima. It also had an expansive Jupiter trine Mars in Taurus sextile New Moon Saturn – so arguably pushing all that inflated Mars Jupiter into an event of great sadness with Saturn in Cancer on the Eclipse. When the bomb was dropped a month later the transiting Moon was just one degree passed the conjunction to the Eclipse – which is relatively often the case as the following Moon appears to trigger the Eclipse chart. Located to Washington, DC, the Total Solar Eclipse had the Midheaven conjunct Mars in Taurus and conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol.

The partial Lunar Eclipse of 25 June 1945 was even more pointed set for Hiroshima with Moon conjunct Midheaven opposition Sun Nadir/IC square Neptune conjunct Descendant.

The Japan country chart, assuming a start time of 10.44 am is sound, 11 February 1889, had the Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the IC for a moment of great national shame and devastation; with tr Saturn square the Solar Arc Sun and moving to conjunct the North Node in the aftermath; as well as the Solar Arc Mars moving to square the Sun which always brings a shock and a collision of sorts.

The USA chart was more upbeat with Solar Arc Jupiter square the Neptune and tr Jupiter just passed the conjunction to Neptune and square the USA Mars, presumably as they saw the conflict ending. Though the Saturnine Solar Eclipse conjunct the USA Sun might have brought pause for some sober reflection.

Harry Truman, a Sun Neptune in Taurus trine Uranus with a lucky Jupiter in the 10^th, would have been less decisive than his comments of the time sounded, since tr Saturn and the Solar Eclipse were sitting on his Solar Arc Sun Neptune for a panicky, high-anxiety phase with a heavy-hearted tr Pluto conjunct his Solar Arc Saturn.

Robert Oppenheimer, 22 April 1904 New York with an unverified time of 8.15am, was an American theoretical physicist, wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and among those who are credited with being the “father of the atomic bomb”. He was elated at the time of the bombings because of the success of his science but later campaigned against the use of nuclear weapons and was discredited for some years for allegedly communist leanings.

He had his Sun, Mars and Mercury spread out through Taurus; with his Mercury conjunct Algol, and his BML conjunct his South Node; plus an ultra-determined Saturn in scientific Aquarius trine Pluto. By all accounts he had an odd temperament, suffered from depression and was obsessive about his work. In the run up to 1945 he had his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Pluto, putting him under massive pressure; and in 1945 he had his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct Algol for the devastating moment which defined the 20th Century.

When he saw the first bomb test in New Mexico in the July 1945 he said he remembered the words from the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” In purely scientific terms he was a great success; out in the real world of consequences less so.

The massive explosion in Beirut leaving many dead and wounded and described as ‘thermonuclear’ in strength happened at 6pm last night. Reports put it down to an accident sparking off a warehouse filled with unstable ammonium nitrate. Although the result in the trial of the accused killers of former PM Rafic Hariri due this Friday has conspiracy theories swirling.

It occurred when Mars in aggressive Aries was exactly square Jupiter, which is a high-energy, opportunistic combination – sometimes associated with zealots and those who cosmeticize their anger by turning it into a holy crusade. Though it would also fit with impracticality (and incompetence) leading to a catastrophic misadventure – the nitrate appeared to have been unloaded seven years ago from a ship and just left there.

Since Jupiter is also part of the Saturn Pluto conjunction, with the Mars square in orb of both, it is particularly potent and violent. The Sun was also just past the upsetting square to Uranus. Pluto is also semi-square the accident-prone Mars/Saturn midpoint.

The Lebanon, with a rich history back 7000 years to the Phoenicians, has been on a tragic spiral in the 20^th Century, being acquired in the carve up after World War 1 by the colonial French and gaining independence in a series of muddles in the early 1940s. Thereafter rampant corruption, greed and burgeoning debt following the long and destructive civil war between 1975 and 1990 has left the country on its knees. And now this.

22 November is celebrated to mark independence in 1943; though the official enactment was midnight into 1 January 1944.

Both charts work reasonably well though the 1944 one shows up the civil war most clearly with the war-like Saturn in Cancer square Pluto in Libra bearing down on the Capricorn Sun in 1975. And for this event Solar Arc Neptune is creating a state of high-anxiety and uncertainty in an exact opposition to the Saturn – which fits. As well as tr Saturn Pluto being in a depressing conjunction to the Mercury through this year.

The 1943 chart has the Solar Arc Neptune opposing the Mars/Saturn midpoint at the moment which has much the same effect. And it showed up the Hariri assassination most clearly with tr Pluto opposition the Saturn and an upsetting tr Uranus square the Mercury also exactly.

The only hope is that the Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter conjunction having done its worst to tear down the past, rebuilds on more solid foundations – and that goes for everywhere.

James Lovelock, best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis and for his warnings that greenhouse gases will accelerate global warming, is now 101. While he launched a hundred green and eco-movements, he diverges from most by being pro-nuclear energy – “only nuclear power can now halt global warming” – pro-fracking and anti-wind turbine.

He was born 26 July 1919 2 pm in Letchworth England and started his professional life performing cryopreservation experiments on rodents, including successfully thawing frozen specimens. He invented the electron capture detector, and became the first to detect the widespread presence of CFCs in the atmosphere. While designing scientific instruments for NASA, he developed the Gaia hypothesis.

He apologised at one point for his ‘alarmist’ assertion that as a result of global warming, “billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable” by the end of the 21st century. He still believes the climate to be warming although the rate of change is not as he once thought and he has criticized environmentalists for treating global warming like a religion.

He is a visionary Sun Neptune in Leo – Neptune being surprisingly common amongst rarefied scientists and mathematicians – with a full 9^th house of widespread communication. His Jupiter in late Cancer is in a confident conjunction to his Sun. He also has a super-determined and opinionated Mars Pluto in Cancer in the 9^th in an inventive trine to Uranus. His Mars Pluto would tend to incline him towards catastrophic fears and to sinking his teeth into controversies and hostile debates.

He also has a well-organised Saturn conjunct Mercury in his 10^th which would pull him back when he recognised he had allowed his concerns to run away with him.

Venus in Virgo is his only Earth planet in that odd way of people consumed with an interest on all matters earthy. He has leant on his missing function to guide his life – which was Carl Jung’s theory. The road to transformation lies through what we are least familiar with.

His creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics are strong; as is his leaving-a-legacy 17H.

Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, once a shining hope for democracy after he steered the country when Franco’s dictatorship ended, has voluntarily gone into exile in disgrace. He has been linked to an inquiry into alleged corruption surrounding a Saudi Arabian contract worth several billions. He said he would be available if prosecutors needed to interview him, having lost his immunity after he abdicated in 2014. In March this year his son, King Felipe VI, renounced the inheritance of his father and stopped Juan Carlos’ annual state grant.

For more detail see previous post June 18 2020: Spain – A Gigantic Royal Scandal.

Juan Carlos, 5 January 1938 1.15pm Rome, Italy, is a pushily-confident, rules-don’t-apply-to-me type with a can-be-arrogant Jupiter in Aquarius conjunct his Capricorn Midheaven opposition a 4^th house Pluto. He also has a creative Saturn opposition Neptune square an 8^th house Mercury in Capricorn.

His 9^th Harmonic chart is exceptionally strong which is the one about aiming for pleasure and especially money. His rise-and-fall, wheel-of-fortune 10^th harmonic is also notably stressed.

Relocating his chart to Riyadh put his Sun and Jupiter in the financial 8^th with his Pluto in the financial 2^nd.  That figures.

With tr Saturn now poised to cross his Midheaven he could, had he taken care, been about to embark of a successful few years – but Saturn’s tendency to extract a karmic payback for misdeeds has obviously clicked into gear with the double whammy of a reputation-denting tr Pluto following quickly behind.

Queen Sophia, his long-suffering wife who put up with years of his philandering with great elegance and grace, is staying in Spain. She was born 2 November 1938 8.15 pm in Athens, the eldest child of King Paul and sister to the later deposed King Constantine of Greece. She spent her childhood partly in Egypt and in WW11 exile in South Africa, was educated in Germany and England and married when she was 24.

She has a stalwart and private though playful and sporting 5^th Scorpio Sun in a needs-space opposition to Uranus. She also has a disciplined and used-to-tough-conditions 10^th house Saturn in forced to be self-reliant Aries opposition Mars. She also has Neptune in the 4^th so would be brought up understanding that family sacrifices were part of her existence.

It isn’t as bad a relationship as it might have appeared since his Capricorn Sun and Venus fall in her 7^th and his Jupiter in her 8^th; and his Moon is conjunct her Jupiter.

Their relationship chart has a passionate composite Mars Venus conjunction though admittedly it does square a can-be-disappointing Neptune which tends to turn dreams dust. The composite Sun is sextile an upbeat Jupiter, trine a dutiful Saturn and inconjunct Uranus. A so so relationship chart, which has its downside but also a fair few plus points. It may be that her Sun opposition Uranus appreciated personal space and her Mars Saturn would certainly acclimatise her to self-sacrifice and difficulties.

He was an exceptionally attractive man when younger so perhaps she knew what she was getting into. She was also brought up Royal and they have a different attitude to what are akin to arranged marriages. They may make the choice themselves but from a limited range of suitors since they incline towards keeping up their Royal style.

She does have a Yod of Mars sextile Pluto inconjunct a sensitive Pisces Moon on her Midheaven which will have made her exceptionally self-protective about her feelings, withdrawing into a shell when they threatened to become overwhelming. Such a Moon would suit her for charity and public work caring for the disadvantaged. Though she has faced criticism for her views on homosexuality, same sex marriage and abortion.

She has clearly been stressed recently with a road-blocked Solar Arc Sun opposition her financial Pluto last year; and the tr Saturn Pluto moving through her 8^th; But she also looks relieved in the immediate future with her Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct her Uranus; and she’s clearly in a phase of great change with her Solar Arc Uranus square her Sun; and tr Uranus opposing it.

Alex Zanardi, the Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist, has had his second near-brush with death. His first serious accident in 2001 on a racetrack, when he lost control, left him fighting for his life, losing 75% of his blood volume and subsequently both legs. Two years later he was back on the track in a modified racing car before moving over to Paralympic handcycling, winning himself several gold medals. In June this year he was again involved in a serious accident while competing in Italy, when he lost control of his handbike and veered into an oncoming truck. He has been treated in intensive care for serious head injuries, had three neurological surgeries and was put into an induced coma from which he has now emerged.

Born 23 October 1966 12.10 pm Bologna, Italy, he began racing karts when he was 13 which was the year his sister, a promising swimmer, was killed in a car crash.

He has a charming Sun Venus in Libra in an expansive (over-confident) square to Jupiter and trine an Aquarius Moon, with his Moon square Neptune Mercury in Scorpio. He has the generational Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn which is also sextile/trine Mercury Neptune.

He also more significantly has an unaspected Mars in Virgo in his 8^th house which can be uncompromising, single-minded and given to constant activity. Tierney remarks that an unaspected Mars can act in an unrestrained manner, since constructive limitations that could be placed by other planets are lacking. It has a tendency to allow pent-up energy to build up until it can no longer be contained. Negative outcomes tend to be driven by the unconscious and can be irrational – which will be doubly so in his case, since Mars is in the 8^th. (Bil Tierney: Dynamics of Aspect Analysis.)

When his first crash happened on 15 September 2001 the harsh tr Pluto in Sagittarius opposition tr Saturn in Gemini was colliding in hard aspect with four of his Mars midpoints, including the disaster and accident-prone Mars/Pluto and Mars/Saturn midpoints as well as the surgery-associated Mars/Uranus midpoint. And tr Saturn was just into his 6^th house of health.

This recent accident in June has less of a Martian feel though his Solar Arc Mars was conjunct his Sun a year ago and was still within a degree – and it usually accompanies a collision of sorts. Tr Neptune conjunct Mars in Pisces was also hitting on his 3^rd house Saturn in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto.  There’s also a setback from his Solar Arc Sun square his Saturn exactly and tr Saturn just over the square to his Sun – both of which are downbeat. Tr Neptune will now move slowly across his Saturn and Uranus in 2021 into 2022 for a long recovery.  And with tr Saturn now moving downwards through his 1^st Quadrant he’ll be in a more seclusive phase of several years ahead anyway.

His most notable harmonic interestingly is his 18H – which can be associated with fire and explosions (and serial killers). But not the more obviously accident-prone 16H or 8H or even the victim 12H. So much is not known about harmonics and their meanings (sigh).

That unaspected Mars of his does sound as if it has a great deal to do with his blighted life.

Photo: Morio

John Hume, widely credited with crafting the Irish peace process which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement, is regarded as one of the most important figures in the recent political history of Ireland. He has sadly died having battled dementia for some years. A recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Martin Luther King Award, he campaigned tirelessly across the EU, in London, and Washington where Senator Edward Kennedy became one of his most powerful patrons.

Over three turbulent decades he influenced the way successive British and Irish administrations handled their common Northern Ireland problem as he pushed for an all-Ireland solution. His guiding principle was that violence compromised the cause and only delayed peace. “Politics,” he once said, “is the alternative to war.” He was widely criticised for holding talks with Sinn Fein but it led ultimately to the ceasefire in 1994, when the IRA and loyalist combatants agreed to a cessation of violence.

He had an extraordinarily strong and enduring chart with a determined Capricorn Sun opposition Pluto in Cancer squaring onto Uranus in Taurus opposition Mars in Scorpio. That would give him, grit, courage, stamina and stubbornness. He did have a self-willed streak from Mars Uranus and a desire to control situations. But what softened down what could have been an almost ruthless chart was his Neptune in Virgo opposition Saturn Venus in Pisces – which gave him hope for a better society.

What’s interesting are the three central oppositions in his chart. Oppositions can be difficult since they lead to a going-in-two-directions tendency or a see-saw wobble between extremes.

Edward Kennedy shared that astro-trait and for all his personal failings, he was an adept at cross-party negotiation. The ability to see the other point of view and walk in their shoes was an invaluable asset for both men and Hume especially, rooted as he was in a tragically divided Northern Ireland.

When the Good Friday Agreement was finally signed on 10 April 1998 5pm Belfast, tr Jupiter in Pisces was moving across his Saturn in Pisces opposition Neptune; and tr Pluto had moved on two signs to trine his Sun and sextile his natal Pluto.