Astrology of Today’s News

The Changing of the Gods is a new ten part series focusing on Uranus Pluto alignments through history, based on Rick Tarnas’ 2006 book Cosmos and Psyche. It brought into the mainstream the notion that major events of history correlate with planetary positions, which may seem pass remarkable to astrologers, but was then a revelation to the public. Tarnas’ stellar reputation was built on his first book The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View, which became a bestseller and remains in use in universities.

  He was born 21 February 1950 in Geneva to American parents, grew up in Detroit, graduated from Harvard cum laude, did a post-grad in psychedelic therapy (hallucinogenics), and then spent ten years at Esalen studying and teaching with Stanislov Grof, Joseph Campbell, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and James Hillman. He is a founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS.

  He has a Pisces Sun in his career 10^th conjunct his Midheaven, felicitously fostering his cosmic fascination, which is trine a maverick, trailblazing Uranus just below his Ascendant enhancing his astrological image. He has a broad-minded and enthusiastic Jupiter as well as Mercury in Aquarius in his philosophical 9^th house of publishing and teaching, with Jupiter in a confident opposition to an intense 3^rd house Pluto. His Aries  Moon opposes Neptune. He’s well designed to communicate with passion on a broad scale on Neptunian and Uranian themes.

 His 7^th Harmonic is strong, pointing to a spiritual bent – ‘a seeking soul.’ As is his Master Number 11H and leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H.

Esalen, Big Sur, California, where he developed his ideas with some of the alternative greats, on his astrocartography has his Moon exactly on the IC with Neptune conjunct his Midheaven from the 9th and exploring-beyond- reality and influencing-the-zeitgeist Pluto in the 8th. His spiritual home.

See: changingofthegods.com

Ben Wallace, the UK Minister for Defence, is the only inner circle Tory, who looks relatively upbeat this year and next. He’s a former soldier, initially an MSP and has been around Westminster in various roles since 2003, with a reputation for being outspoken.

 He’s a stalwart and ultra-ambitious Sun Taurus opposition Neptune and trine Pluto; with Pluto in an emotionally intense and can-be-courageous or can-be ruthless square to Venus Mars in Gemini. His Virgo Moon is probably trine Saturn Mercury in Taurus.

  His Jupiter in Libra is catching the confident, usually successful tr Pluto square picking up early this March till June and then on and off till late 2023. He’s in the right place at the right time and despite the catastrophe of the Putin assault he’s looking chipper right now with tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint till mid March.  He’ll have some jolts and jangles and sinking moments through this year but on the whole looks in lively spirits with more and better prospects next year.

  His relationship chart with Boris Johnson is fairly competitive at the best of times and may be sagging from mid May this year onwards with tr Neptune square the composite Venus, into 2023 as well. But it is 2023 when the pressures between them really mount.

  Liz Truss had some lucky traction last month from a Jupiter midpoint and that influence returns August to early December; but that apart she’s having a discouraging struggle to make progress this year and next.

Tom Tugendhat, 27 June 1973, London, is another with an increasingly visible profile and a surprising background. He’s the son of a High Court judge, holds dual-French nationality, with a French mother and French wife who is a judge, studied theology at University, then Islamic studies at Cambridge, is Catholic with Jewish ancestry. Before entering politics he was a journalist and PR consultant in the Middle East. He served as an army reservist in Iraq and Afghanistan; and is Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Westminster.

 He’s a Sun Cancer on the focal point of a super-determined Pluto opposition Mars in Aries which is trine/sextile a confident Jupiter in Aquarius. He also has an inspirational and attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine of Mars trine Mercury in Leo trine Neptune.  This year is filled with setbacks, calamities, swamps and glitches. Where he comes into his own may be around 2025 when his Solar Arc Jupiter opposes his Pluto.

   Tobias Ellwood, 12 August 1966, is another with an international background, having been born in New York to British parents, educated in Bonn and Vienna, did a business degree, then served in the Regular UK Army before moving into politics. Was a Cameron supporter, a Minister in the Department of Defence, and not pro-Boris.

   He’s a Sun Leo square Neptune, with Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn; and an enthusiastic Jupiter, Mars, Venus conjunction in Cancer. He’s slipping and sliding through this year; but will be more buoyant into next year with a May 2023 catastrophe opening opportunities for him as two of his Jupiter midpoints get a boost – plus a lucky Jupiter Solar Arc around mid 2023.  

  Both of these are without birth times so there may be other factors in play which are not known.

  Graham Brady, the Chairman of the key 1922 Tory Committee (men in grey suits wielding the knife) is less than enamoured of Boris at the moment till late March and again November to early January 2023; with increasing tensions from this March across the May elections, and on and off till late 2023. Aggravation will mount from late March 2023 across the May 2023 elections. It doesn’t necessarily mean Boris will still be in situ by then, though he might be. But it’s a downhill slide from now onwards.

 Tory panics about Boris will emerge more strongly from mid this May onwards, though it may be May 2023 when the Conservative Party rue the connection sufficiently to upend it.  All they care about is losing a general election and once they deem him sufficient of a liability, he’ll go.

Paul Farmer, a modern-day Albert Schweitzer and giant of public health,  who dedicated his life to bringing health care to the world’s poorest peoples in places like Haiti, Rwanda and Peru, has died at 62. He was described as “a compassionate physician and infectious disease specialist, a brilliant and influential medical anthropologist, and among the greatest humanitarians of our time – perhaps all time.”  He was instrumental in getting Aids and Ebola treatments to people in poor nations, and created various health systems around the world, including during the recent pandemic. He died of a heart attack in Rwanda.

  He was born 26 October 1959 7.59am North Adams, Massachusetts, with an unconventional school teacher father who housed the six children family at one point in a retrofitted bus. He said “When we were growing up in the campground, we were all sort of embarrassed by it, but I think all of us now feel grateful to my parents for having liberated us from middle-class expectations.”

He first travelled to Haiti, as a volunteer as he embarked on his studies at Harvard Medical School and in later years he founded a network of 15 clinics and hospitals that now serve more than 1.3 million people in the most remote reaches of the country. His work there expanded into the global mission of Partners in Health, which today works in a dozen locations across Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and the United States.

  What is intriguing is how he turned what otherwise could have been a tricky chart to good use.  He had a behind-the-scenes Sun, Mars, Neptune in Scorpio on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to an influential Pluto on his Midheaven trine Saturn in Capricorn.  Mars can be vengeful in Scorpio and beside the Sun and Neptune doesn’t always turn out to be saintly. He managed to get hold of the healing and ultra-determined, miracle-maker Scorpio end of it. Pluto on the Midheaven can produce control-freaks which he may well have been but with the best of motives and outcomes. Saturn trine Pluto is hard and stubborn; sextile Mars could be cruel. But he focused all that dark energy into doing good and shining a light where there had been none before.

  He did have a 1^st house Jupiter in upbeat Sagittarius would would help with encouraging and motivating. Though again it was in a pushily-confident square to Pluto which can be rule-breaking and arrogant – and again managed to find the better end of it to achieve the impossible.

 He had a notable 17^th Harmonic, hinting at the legacy he left for future generations; and a global influencer 11H. As well as a humanitarian 9^th Harmonic which can in the wrong hands be less than honest but he found his pleasures in giving not taking.

  An extraordinary man.  

The declaration to invade Ukraine was made at 9pm  in Moscow by Putin last night.

   That puts a less-than-practical Neptune in the 6^th house which rules armed forces, though there’s also a lucky Sun Jupiter conjunction. Unpredictable Uranus is in the 8^th house of finances and costs; the high-risk Mars Pluto Mercury conjunction is in the 4^th which might suggests a less than thrilled Russian population.

 Relocating the chart to Washington DC puts the indecisive Neptune in the 10^th conjunct the Midheaven, though Jupiter is also conjunct the MC from the 9^th but overall it doesn’t suggest an effective response. Plenty of aggravation from Pluto, Mars, Venus in the 7^th; and financial implications from Saturn Mercury in the 8^th.

  The EU take has a slippery and uncommitted Neptune in the 7th with a grandstanding Mars Pluto Venus in the 5^th.

[Relocating these declaration or start of war charts does work – the difference between the US and the UK take on the Iraq Attack in 2003 was strikingly close in descriptive terms to what transpired.]

  Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, a former actor/comedian who played the role of president in a popular TV series before stepping into the political arena, was sworn in on 20 May 2019 at 10am. This puts the warlike Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn in the 6^th house trine a 10^th house Mercury Sun Algol in Taurus – so it was never going to be an easy term. The Saturn has moved by Solar Arc to conjunct the Pluto almost exactly now as he declared martial law and exhorted his countrymen to stand firm.

  His own chart, 25 January 1978 2pm Krivoj Rog, Ukraine, has the devastating tr Neptune opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoint now and through March, on and off till after New Year 2023; with high-risk calamities mid April to mid May and repeating into early 2023. Through 2023 till 2026 tr Pluto first opposes his Mars (23/24) which is trapped, scary and infuriated; and then tr Pluto is conjunct his Sun Venus in Aquarius – so a long haul.

  The countries, which along with Ukraine, border onto Russia  are Belarus, Latvia (EU), Estonia (EU), Finland (EU) and nearby Lithuania (EU). On a quick sweep what stands out are several with Pluto at 17 degrees Scorpio which will catch the destabilizing tr Uranus opposition from mid this June, on and off into 2023 ; and Germany, of course which has a 17 degree Taurus Pluto in the 8th. which will get a severe shake up as well. Several of the East Europeaners also have other fixed signs being rattled from now onwards, through this year.

  The Russia 1917 chart also has a 14 degree Scorpio Sun square Saturn in Leo which will be jolted, jarred and rocked on its axis after mid April this year with tr Uranus lightning strikes and thunderbolts and that returns early 2023.

  The EU 2004 enlargement of 1 May 2004 took in three countries from the former Soviet Union –  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. That intake chart always did look to be having its roughest year, building up from 2021, with tr Neptune square the Pluto opposition Venus Mars, worsening from this late May onwards for a year; with tr Uranus conjunct the Sun North Node now and square the Neptune from May onwards. It looks in complete meltdown so the EU responses may prove to be a disappointment or won’t be sufficient.

Ukraine’s rich and turbulent history stretches back into the beginnings of human civilization. During the 10th and 11th centuries, it became the largest and most powerful state in Europe and was, contrary to Putin’s claims, the precursor to Russia rather than the other way round. But because of its central location it has been invaded and split up countless times.

  What is marginally odd astrologically speaking at the moment is that the recent attacks on Ukraine – in the 1932/33 Holdomor, Stalin’s political famine which killed 4 million, and in 2014 in Putin’s Crimea steal, there was a Cardinal Uranus square Pluto. In 1932 Uranus in Aries was square Pluto in Cancer with Saturn in Capricorn/Aquarius and Neptune in early Virgo. In 2014 Uranus again in Aries was square Pluto, with Neptune in early Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio. Even way back in 1240 when the Mongol invasion destroyed Kiev there was a Uranus in Capricorn opposition Saturn square Pluto in Libra with Neptune in Mutable Gemini.  

   There is nothing similar at present. Nor is there a Saturn Pluto aspect as there was for the start of World War 1 and 11.

   Modern Ukraine, 24 August 1991 6pm Kiev, is certainly not looking confident this year with a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn opposition the Sun exactly now; a panicky-failure tr Neptune opposition the Mars from mid May onwards and a disruptive tr Uranus opposition the 8^th house Pluto from mid June onwards, both influences running into 2023.

   Joseph Stalin, who instigated the political famine in Ukraine, which killed many millions, blamed Ukrainians themselves for starving and his propaganda called anyone who mentioned the famine a Nazi. Another big lie merchant. Power and the truth were never comfortable bedfellows. Putin has been resurrecting his reputation in recent years attempting to elevate him back to hero status.

 Stalin, 6 December 1878 JC Gori, Georgia, (unverified) was a Sun Sagittarius with his Pluto exactly conjunct Alogol in a brutal opposition to Mars in vengeful Scorpio, sextile/trine Saturn which was an unpleasant combination. Plus an Earth Grand Trine to Neptune (Moon) in Taurus trine Uranus trine Mercury in Capricorn. Too much earth can be gross.  

   Modern Russia was born out of a revolution in 1917 and there were two coups in the early 1990s, but the only hint of an upheaval or popular revolt which might unsettle Putin comes from tr Uranus square the 4^th house Pluto in the 1991 chart – which picks up from mid 2023 onwards – and may accompany street protests from a disgruntled populace. Despite Putin’s bombastic claims about supersonic military power, Russian troops, according to one report, are having to buy their own food and living under cramped conditions.

  The run up to the Mars Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, exact on March 3^rd, was always going to be fraught and high risk. There was also a Mars Pluto conjunction in Capricorn (conjunct a New Moon) when Israel invaded Gaza in 2008.

   An earlier Ukraine chart, 8 May 882 JC 6.50am Kiev, showed up the 1932/33 famine clearly and clashed badly with Stalin’s chart. It is similarly looking uncertain and agitated now with the Solar Arc Neptune opposition Uranus tugging on the Ukraine Sun Saturn, now and for two years ahead.

This is all odds and ends and puzzling from an astrological viewpoint. More will no doubt emerge.

PS An entirely trivial point given the jeopardy the poor Ukrainians face but irksome all the same. The turn of events has handed Boris Johnson a diversion from his corruption and lying scandals and given him a platform to attempt to emulate his Churchill schtick which is truly stomach churning. Especially given the zero possibility of him or the Tories cleansing the London stables of oligarch gzillions.

Putin has wrong-footed Western leaders hoping to build political capital by brokering a retreat of Russian forces from Ukraine. He has ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine, after recognising them as independent states. In doing so he appears to have ridden roughshod over his own advisers and ignored China’s reservations about destabilizing the region and interfering with Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

  China opposes Nato expansion, but is wary of large-scale war in Ukraine which will hurt its commercials interests there.

     Putin on the other hand appears to have gone full tonto, holding an extraordinary meeting with his top security officials in the Kremlin’s ornate Hall of the Order of St Catherine, designed by the tsars to show off the glories of Russia’s empire. His subordinates according to commentators looked terrified and even the foreign intelligence chief stumbled his acquiescence. “They looked less like a sounding board than an imperial court.” The Moscow correspondent for the FT noted that the session was “like the finale of the Sopranos.” Retired Russian generals have criticized the invasion plan; prominent Russian intellectuals have publicly challenged Putin and public opinion polls have suggested limited support for war.

At the UN Security Council he was accused of seeking to return to “a time when empires ruled the world”.

  Normally lucid, Putin gave a rambling and bizarre speech reinforcing queries about his health and mental stability. His self-induced isolation during the pandemic in his country residence, earning him the nickname “the old man in the bunker”.

  There’s not a huge amount of astrology to add to the two previous posts on Lunar Eclipses February 12 2022 which pointed up March and April as even more turbulent and risky.  And the post of January 19 2022.

Putin’s 4th Term chart would appear to have it nailed down with a brutal (and desperate) Pluto Mars conjunction in last decan Capricorn in a subversive, disruptive and violent square to Uranus. Pluto Mars at its worst can be murderous but also carries an underlying message about being trapped and infuriated beyond reason. Tr Pluto was conjunct the Mars through this January as the troop movement to the borders escalated; and returns to the exact aspect August to early December. From early 2023 tr Pluto will square the Term Uranus which is the classic topple-off-perch moment for leaders. That influences runs on and off till late 2024.

 The US attitude is that Putin has put himself far out on a limb which looks extremely shaky.

   The other key chart for Putin’s 22 year increasingly autocratic reign is the original Presidency chart of 31 December 1999, which also flags up next year, from late on into 2024, as being undermined and confused.

   The Russian Stock Market indices are highly stressed this year and next and the Bank of Russia chart, 13 July 1990, looks in turmoil this year with tr Uranus opposition the Pluto and then grinding to a fiscal halt in 2023 and 2024 with tr Pluto square the Mars and opposition Mercury.

  Both China charts, 1 October 1949 3.15 pm and 1 January 1912, look considerably unsettled from this March onwards. The 1949 has tr Uranus square the 7^th house Mars Pluto from April on and off all year suggesting aggravation with neighbours. And the 1912 chart has tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus from next month onwards till late 2023, which suggests a significant turnaround in terms of direction.

   Joe Biden’s Mars in Scorpio which is a key trigger point where Moscow is concerned on his astrocartography will be jolted badly from mid March onwards.

PS. Putin’s disputed birth date of October 1952 actually works not badly looking through past events and if so his relationship with Russia may well be stretched beyond breaking point in the next two years.

Final thought for this post. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was during the reign of Catherine The Great, when Russia grew to be a great world power. She was a determined Sun Mars in Taurus sextile Saturn inconjunct Pluto – not given to subtlety when it came to wielding control but she did foster culture. This may be a dying or deranged Putin making a frenzied bid to put his stamp on Russian history.

The shock death of young music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards at 31 has brought a flood of tributes. He was still a teenager when he launched the youth broadcasting and production film channel SBTV to upload clips he had recorded of his friends performing on the estate where he lived in Acton, west London, which later helped launch the careers of Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Stormzy. He was an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, a charity headed by the Prince of Wales, and in 2014 he was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He was also a director, author, DJ and designer, and undertook extensive philanthropic work, including in mental health and the funding of youth centres when he became a success.

  He was born 24 August 1990 in Luton, England, no time sadly, and had a Virgo Sun conjunct Regulus and the highly-strung and talented triple stellium in Capricorn of Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. He also had Mars conjunct Algol in Taurus which has just been labouring under the tr Pluto trine; and a Fixed T Square of Venus in Leo opposition North Node in Aquarius square Pluto. Pluto brings influence, can be ahead of its time in a T square, piles on the charm in aspect to Venus and the North Node gave him a mission in life. His Earth Grand Trine of Mercury trine Mars trine Saturn gave him practical and business skills and discipline.

  The only cause of death was a ‘sudden illness’ and the day before he was DJ-ing.

All the problems and potential for chaos of the Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo opposition Saturn plus Mars in Scorpio are laid bare in the raucous and tumultuous life of Abby Lee Miller. Her eight-season reality show Dance Moms featured children she tutored for a showbiz career along with their bickering stage mothers, with a violent and combative atmosphere being actively encouraged. She was then given prison time for financial fraud and declared bankrupt with a whopping IRS bill unpaid in 2016. Once out of prison she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and after a spinal operation ended up in a wheelchair, with therapy ongoing to get her back on her feet. Allegations of past racist comments and discriminatory behaviour led to possible shows being cancelled in 2020. Though last year she appeared to be punting other possibilities.

  She was born 21 September 1965, no birth time, with a Virgo Sun and Mercury; with her Mercury in an intense, can-be-domineering and outspoken conjunction to Pluto Uranus and all three Virgo planets sextile a hard Mars Neptune in Scorpio. That echoes the chart of Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s Russian political sidekick and Bashar Assad of Syria, so she does have a vengeful streak. Her Saturn in Pisces is trine Venus in Scorpio as well as Neptune Mars adding an aggravated edge. Plus a bull-in-a-china-shop Gemini North Node.

   When Miller’s life started to hit the skids, her Virgo Sun had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct her Neptune in Scorpio and her other Virgo planets were following along behind for an exceptionally bumpy few years which isn’t over yet. And won’t be for a good long while ahead. There’ll be a stalemate with unpopularity in 2023, flaming arguments two years on, and into a complete swamp by 2026.

  Usually when two stelliums or configurations of planets in a chart coincide by Solar Arc it flags up a life-changing crisis running over several or many years depending on the planets.

  It’s not that 1965 did not produce some notables with the same Uranus Pluto Saturn  – amongst them Shania Twain, Cheryl Hines (also September 21), Charlie Sheen, Sam Mendes, Jeremy Kyle and JK Rowling, but along with talent tends to go a roller-coaster temperament and life.

What an unutterably ghastly woman. I pray we are moving out of the era of scream TV and turgid reality shows.

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Satirist and journalist P.J. O’Rourke, regarded “one of the major voices of his generation”, has died. He was, unusually for a scurrilous wit, right wing but with no compunction about causing offence even to his own side, as he sought out  political irony, absurdity and hypocrisy. He was a Republican who mocked Republicans. “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work,” he wrote, “and then they get elected and prove it.”

 Like many with an acerbic turn of mind, he had a difficult, high-tension, frustrated and angry chart. He was born 14 November 1947 in Toledo, Ohio, sadly with no birth time, into what he described as “a family so normal as to be almost a statistical anomaly”, with a housewife mother and car salesman father. He joked that he was the eldest of 2.5 children since “my sisters are identical twins and no one noticed they had separate identities until they married different men”.

  His Scorpio Sun was in a heavy-duty square to Mars, Saturn and Pluto in attention-seeking Leo. However normal he thought his childhood, he must have felt singled out for mistreatment by life if not by his father. His Mercury was also in Scorpio, a sign renowned for its ability to cut through to the core. What lifted him out of the glooms and gave him a comedians’ quirky take were three planets in Sagittarius – Jupiter, Venus and his Moon.  

  There was no situation so bleak he couldn’t find the humour. His best book was reputed to be Holidays From Hell, written from war zones.

  “Wherever there’s injustice, oppression and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it’s happening.”

  Though his Parliament of Whores about US politics also became a favourite. “Although this is a conservative book,” O’Rourke explained in the opening pages, “it is not informed by any very elaborate political theory. I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.”

 He wrote for National Lampoon and Rolling Stone and latterly for more serious outlets – and always with a knack for a devastating one-liner. He described Rush Limbaugh’s echo-chamber fans as “ditto heads.”

  In his 2016 book of election coverage How the Hell Did This Happen? he endorsed Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that he thought “she’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters”. He thought Trump was unstable.

 Some of his other bon mots.

On Europe: “I’ve had it with these dopey little countries and all their poky borders. You can’t swing a cat without sending it through customs.”

In his 1983 book Modern Manners, he argued that traditionalists should encourage the young to do drugs because drugs had “taught an entire generation of English kids the metric system”.

“Every kitchen should be equipped with a dishwasher, preferably a cute one wearing her apron and nothing else”.

“In general, life is better than it ever has been, and if you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, transport yourself, let me say one single word: ‘dentistry’.”

On a more serious note in 1988 he wrote:- “We are fools when we fail to defend civilisation. So-called Western civilisation, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western civilisation not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it’s also the only thing that’s ever tried to. Our civilisation is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.”

 He will be missed.