Astrology of Today’s News

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin on 4^th November 1995 successfully destroyed the one real chance of peace with the Palestinians and changed the course of history.  Rabin with a military background had been able to persuade the electorate to overcome their fears, let go of the past and forge an accord with their neighbours. He came to see Palestinian resistance not as a military threat to be crushed, but as a political grievance requiring resolution.

   But the then leader of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu disagreed and rabble roused at demonstrations, with the crowd chanting “Death to Rabin”. In July 1995, Netanyahu walked at the head of a mock funeral procession featuring a fake black coffin. He was asked to dial down the rhetoric, warning that the prime minister’s life was in danger. He declined. Four months later Yigal Amir, a young religious Jewish nationalist, shot Rabin, who refused to wear protective clothing, at a peace demo. He died of his wounds on the way to hospital.

   The election the following May elected Netanyahu to power for the first time, where he remains today. For all but 20 months of the last 25 years, the right and centre-right have held power.

   Rabin, born 1 March 1922 4.17pm Jerusalem, was an innovative Sun, Uranus, Venus in Pisces; with Jupiter Saturn conjunct in Libra opposition an 8^th house Aries Moon square Pluto – controlling and also influential, persuasive and as is the way with a focal point Pluto inclined to arouse hostile resistance because his ideas were ahead of their time.

  His shooter, Yigal Amir, 23 May 1970 11.30pm Herzliya, Israel, came from an Orthodox Yemenite family, and has a religious/idealistic Neptune in Scorpio on his Midheaven sextile a troubled Pluto Uranus in his 8^th house. When he carried out the killing the highly strung tr Neptune Uranus in Capricorn were square his Jupiter and tr Pluto was conjunct his Midheaven and Neptune – none of which would help to keep him stable. He remains in prison.

  The Israel country chart at that time had the destabilizing tr Uranus Neptune conjunct its IC at the base of the chart, uprooting it from old certainties and throwing it into confusion. The Israel Solar Arc Pluto was in a power-struggling and one-upmanship battle in the months before in square to its Jupiter.

  Interestingly – astrologically-speaking – Rabin’s healing Neptune was conjunct Israel’s warlike 10^th house Saturn Pluto, whereas Amir’s unyielding Saturn Mercury in Taurus are square it. Amir’s Mars is also conjunct the Israel Uranus for an explosive connection.

  Netanyahu, 21 October 1949 10.15 am Tel Aviv, who arguably walked over Rabin’s corpse to gain power had the tr Neptune Uranus in Capricorn square his Libra Sun and Moon at that point as well as trine his Virgo Midheaven; with his Solar Arc Pluto square his Uranus. Uranus, the wild card, thrusting him into high office.

  Netanyahu hooks into the worst of the Israeli temperament having his Pluto conjunct the Israel Saturn and his Mars in flashy Leo conjunct the Israel Mars and square its Taurus Sun; with his Sun Moon conjunct the Israel Ascendant and his Jupiter conjunct the Israel IC.

  Israel is, in many ways, at an even more significant point in its history now with the triple conjunction of Saturn Pluto Jupiter in Capricorn congregating around its IC and brewing up domestic discontent for years ahead. The Solar Arc Pluto Saturn is straddling its Ascendant now; but more pointedly tr Uranus is moving to square the Pluto from mid 2021 onwards and then the Saturn, conjunct the Sun and finally square the Mars – all between now and 2026.  Tr Neptune will also undermine morale and enthusiasm as it squares the Uranus and Jupiter in 2022/23.  Israel’s trajectory will be bounced this way and that with upheavals, disruptions and considerable economic damage, more so than most countries.

Pic: Yaakov Saar

Wendy Williams, the nationally syndicated television talk show host, has been causing concern amongst fans for her distracted appearance on a recent show. She has spoken in the past about her substance abuse problems with cocaine and she also suffers from Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism and lymphedema, so will undoubtedly have her off days.

  She was born 18 July 1964 at 9.30 pm New Jersey, and prior to getting her TV show in 2008 was a radio DJ known in New York as a “shock jockette” for her brash personality and on-air spats with celebrities. She has written a New York Times best-selling autobiography and six other books.

  She has a hard-working 6^th house Cancer Sun trine an intense 9^th house Scorpio Moon which opposes a 3^rd house Jupiter in Taurus – communication is her thing. And with a rebellious Uranus Pluto in Virgo in her 7^th she’ll come across loud, strong and unpredictable.

  What’s clear is that she is moving into a highly pressured phase in her life with tr Pluto opposing her Sun from February 2021 for two years thereafter, which will change her priorities. Plus a debilitating run of Neptune transits squaring her enthusiastic Venus Mars in Gemini from next spring onwards on and off till late 2022 which will lower her energy and optimism.

  At the moment tr Saturn is making the final opposition to her Sun which is always downbeat and the triple conjunction of Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter is moving through her hidden 12^th so she will be conflicted either psychologically and physically – not an easy time for her now or ahead.

Gisele Halimi, a Tunisian-born feminist MP and lawyer who fought to decriminalise abortion in France and spent her life trailblazing for women’s and other human rights, has died aged 93. She sought justice for torture victims in Tunisia and Algeria, under French control when she started practising law, strengthened French laws against rape and campaigned for the end of the death penalty.

  When she was born on 27 July 1927 4.30pm La Goulette, Tunisia, into a poor, conservative Jewish family, her father was so disappointed she was a girl he wouldn’t admit to her birth for several weeks. That sowed the seeds of her rebellion and lifelong drive for equality and fair treatment for women. She refused a teenage arranged marriage and left home to study law in Paris.

  She had an intense 8^th house Leo Sun in an inspired and attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine to an adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Aries trine Saturn in Sagittarius. That was formed into an even more talented Kite by Jupiter Uranus opposition her Libra Midheaven, making her MC the leading point of her chart. She threw her all into her career. She also had an emotionally intense Pluto, Moon, Mercury in Cancer in her 8^th, hinting at her obsessive concern for women’s rights.

  Her communicative and legal affairs 9^th house had an idealistic Neptune along with a dynamic Mars (in a disciplined square to Saturn)  and persuasive Venus, that along with her Libra Midheaven and Saturn in Sagittarius – all pointed to the law as a consuming interest.

  Her superstar 22^nd Harmonic was strong as was her get-it-together 5^th and her seeking-soul 7H. Also notable were her obsessional-dream 11^th and breakthrough-unorthodox 13H.

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Shirley Jackson, once dubbed ‘Virginia Werewoolf’, an American horror writer and self-proclaimed witch, is now a shining star with a bio-pic movie about her life and destructive marriage mesmerising critics and audiences.  Her short story The Lottery caused a scandal when it appeared in The New Yorker in 1948 – about a village draw which was to choose the resident to be stoned to death — even by members of their own family — in a ritual sacrifice to ensure a good harvest and general prosperity. Thousands cancelled their magazine subscriptions and it was banned in South Africa.

  Her own life was only marginally less odd than her fiction starting with an unpleasant mother who didn’t hide her disappointment that her overweight daughter wasn’t prettier and more feminine, and telling Jackson she was the product of a failed abortion. There was also a hint of sexual abuse in her childhood. Her fascination for the supernatural and magic became an obsession in her teens. She then married a literary critic Stanley Hyman, whom she met at university, who cheated on her constantly, relating the tales of his affairs to her. He did nothing to assist her in the house with four children, demanded she wait on him hand and foot, was jealous of her success which far outweighed his own and only gave her a portion of her earnings.

   Not surprisingly she ended up depressed and addicted to psychoactive drugs. She also, understandably enough, had a vindictive streak, putting curses on publishers. It was said she wrote ‘not with a pen but with a broomstick’. She died aged 48.

  She was born 14 December 1916 7.15 am San Francisco and had a Sagittarius Sun on her Ascendant which would give her a full-on personality, though to some degree damped down by a downbeat and fey Saturn conjunct Neptune in her 8^th along with a hidden Leo Moon. Saturn Neptune can be neurotic, paranoid and in the 8^th would make her troubled with a wild imagination and fears which got out of control. Which may be why she turned to magic to regain an illusion of control. Her witchy streak would also be partly associated with an intense, hugely frustrated and enraged Pluto opposition Mars Mercury, which does suggest a dominating cruel father whom she replicated in her husband. Mercury Pluto would give her a dark and poisonous streak.  

  Stanley Hyman, 11 July 1919, New York, had a Sun Jupiter in Cancer which fell in her intense 8^th conjunct her South Node, pushing her back into her past rather than helping her move forward; and a ruthless Mars Pluto conjunction in Cancer which fell in her 7^th house of relationships. He fitted her nightmare pattern exactly, poor woman.  Her Moon opposed Uranus squaring Venus, hinting at a mother who was not a stable support and may well have contributed to her over eating with Venus being involved. Seeking comfort from food since it wasn’t available elsewhere.

  What was her saving grace was an inspirational Fire Grand Trine of Sun trine Jupiter in Aries trine Moon which would give her some uplift through the difficulties of her life.  

  Her relationship chart with her husband was a toxic mix of love and hate with an affectionate composite Sun Venus opposition Mars square Pluto – a dance to the death. That Sun Venus opposition Mars forms a composite Half Grand Sextile to Jupiter and Neptune Saturn. There was as much holding them together as was destroying her.   What a tortured life. Her strongest Harmonic was her creative though often finely mentally balanced 7^th. Seven in numerology is traditionally regarded as a spiritual number, endowed with a different kind of imagination, often artistic skills. Need peace. Perfectionism. A seeking soul. Also attracted to alcohol/ drugs and occultism.

Joe Biden’s errant son Hunter continues to be the focus of right-wing attacks with a dodgy New York Post piece, disclaimed even by its own reporters, about an alleged laptop containing incriminating files – and complaints that the media are avoiding covering the story for partisan reasons. A recent Republican Senate report found that Hunter Biden’s lucrative work at a Ukrainian energy firm while his father was vice-president was “problematic” and “awkward”, but found no evidence that US foreign policy was influenced. The BBC comments: “It does however detail the breadth of his connections to questionable foreign interests and business leaders in Ukraine and China – creating “criminal financial, counterintelligence and extortion concerns”. It suggests Joe Biden’s son was profiting from his family name – a potential conflict of interest that is unsavoury but not unusual in Washington’s corridors of power.”

  Hunter has a known history of drink and drug abuse.

  Born 4 February 1970, he is a charming Sun Venus in Aquarius, with an up and down Jupiter in Scorpio opposition Saturn in Taurus; and a volatile and reckless Mars in Aries opposition Uranus. He was injured when two years old along with his brother Beau in a car crash which killed his mother and sister. In the aftermath Joe Biden, then a young Senator, travelled home daily ninety minutes each way from Washington to ensure he was there for them.

   Despite a recent gushing WPost piece about Joe’s unconditional love for his son, it is not that easy a relationship. Hunter’s Neptune is conjunct Joe’s Sun, Venus so his father will find him elusive, evasive and slippery – perhaps the drug problem also fits here. Hunter’s Saturn is conjunct Joe’s Taurus Moon for a defensive barrier. More troublesome Hunter’s Pluto sits in Joe’s 10^th which does give him a capacity for damaging Joe’s reputation and /or involving him in political and profession intrigues. Hunter’s Uranus is also in Joe’s 10^th which could be destabilizing.

  Their relationship chart does have an affectionate and close composite Sun Venus trine Pluto and Jupiter. But there’s also a hard-edged and aggravated composite Mars trine Saturn and a Neptune square Mars, both of which suggest differing agendas and lack of mutual support on one side or the other.

   What will be interesting to watch out for, astrologically speaking, is tr Pluto conjunct the composite Mars from late January 2021 onwards for two years. In the event of Biden winning, junior may well find himself hemmed in and fuming about it. If Joe loses then Hunter might get part of the blame. But one way or another it won’t all be sunshine and roses for two years ahead.

  There’s a delicious sense of being hoist on their own dirty dealings for the pro-Trumpers who have spread around so many claims of ‘fake news’ that no one believes any smears any more, whether there’s a smidgeon of truth in them or not.    

  Jeremy Corbyn, until recently UK Leader of the Opposition and of the Labour Party, has been suspended from the party after a damning report on anti-Semitism by the equality watchdog. While he was not named personally the report took to task the leadership for “serious failings in ….. in addressing antisemitism and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints”.

  Jeremy Corbyn, 26 May 1949 no birth time sadly, has a substantially Air chart with a Grand Trine of Gemini Sun trine Jupiter in Aquarius trine Neptune plus Venus, Mercury, Uranus in Gemini.  Air suggests an individual attached to ideas and theories and can be ideologically tunnel-visioned. He’s also got an angry Mars (Moon) in Taurus square Pluto which is often found in the charts of shock jocks, conspiracy theorists and those who have exceptionally strong likes and dislikes.

   Narendra Modi of India, if his birth date of 17 September 1950 is sound, has Mars in Scorpio square Pluto, which lives out in his divisive and hate-filled rhetoric against all non-Hindus.

   Corbyn always sided with the Palestinians to an extent where he allowed his dislike of successive and suppressive Israeli government policies over the occupation to leak into ethnic slurs against the Jews.

  David Icke born in 1952 is another Mars in Scorpio square Pluto. It doesn’t make for nuanced opinions. There seems to be a need to have ANother to attack/destroy. Daddy issues that get writ large out into the world.

   Corbyn looks rattled at the moment with tr Uranus square his Sun/Neptune midpoint; more so from mid 2021 onwards with tr Uranus square his Pluto and then opposing his Mars the following year which will bring major strains and tensions.

  His relationship with the present Labour leader Keir Starmer was always evasive and a battle for one-upmanship. Tr Pluto is opposition the composite Sun for the final time this month exerting maximum pressure; then moving into a confused and devastated square to the composite Neptune from early 2021 for two years.

Add On: Parallels are being drawn between Neil Kinnock’s expulsion of the Militant Tendency from the Labour Party circa 1983. But this isn’t too similar since back then both Saturn and Pluto moving into early Scorpio and tr Neptune moving into Capricorn were rattling the Labour Party 1906 Uranus in Capricorn opposition Neptune in Cancer square Mars in Aries T Square for years of turmoil.

At the moment the transiting Node is conjunct the Party Pluto with the next two sets of Eclipses rattling up the Pluto suggesting power-struggles, resentment and hostility but it isn’t the same extended wrangles as in the 1980s. Where there’s likely to be more ructions is 2024 with tr Uranus square the Party Sun Venus and 2025 with the Solar Arc Sun conjunct the Pluto.

Pic Chris McAndrew.

The assassination in 1991 of Detlev Rohwedder, German manager and politician responsible for the privatisation of state-owned property in former East Germany, has been turned into a German documentary ‘A Perfect Crime’ put out by Netflix. The Red Army Faction was suspected of being responsible but no one was ever charged.

  Rohwedder, born 16 October 1932 1.45pm Gotha, Germany, was a 9^th house Sun Libra in a Cardinal Grand Cross opposition Uranus square Saturn in Capricorn opposition Pluto – ambitious, full of initiative, tough-minded, controlling, stubborn, born to live through disruptive times. He also had Mars on the cusp of his 8^th house square a Taurus Moon and his Scorpio Midheaven. With Neptune, Venus, Jupiter also in the 8^th. The strong 8^th house would give him a heavyweight personality and an aura of influence, perhaps why his death is still of interest.

  Mars in the 8^th always had a reputation for sudden death though I’ve known people with it in their charts who survived into their nineties. However there does seem to be a sliver of truth in it given that JFK also had Mars on the cusp of his 8^th house.  When JFK was shot, tr Saturn in Aquarius was opposition his Solar Arc Pluto and both within a degree of being square his 8^th house Mars in Taurus.

  Likewise Rohwedder has planetary activity around his 8^th house Mars with his Solar Arc North Node being exactly square his Mars, and tr Venus square as well as tr Moon; with tr Pluto just past the square and conjunct his Midheaven. The tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn conjunction was also conjunct his Ascendant. So the axis of his chart was being substantially triggered as well as his Mars.

  I’m not sure why this is of such interest now but it is astrologically on point.  

Fay Weldon, the author, best known for The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and for the dramas of her private life, has always been adept at catching the headlines. She’s done it again, accusing her third husband of 30 years, who managed her affairs, of coercive control and financial mismanagement. Her second husband left her she claimed as the result of one visit to an astrologer, which resulted in her going on a media rant against astrology. He died within eight hours of their divorce coming through, which always felt a touch spooky.

  Her best-known She-Devil novel written when she was 52, featured an unattractive wife who took her revenge on her unfaithful husband and his lover to almost psychotic lengths, wrecking both their lives. It echoes a theme in her own life from her childhood: “I was born large, blonde and big-boned into a family of small beautiful women. My mother thought it was unlikely that anyone would marry me.”

  Born 22 September 1931 5.50 pm Alvechurch, England, she has a communicative Virgo Sun on the cusp of her 8^th house; with a zany Aquarius Moon conjunct her Ascendant from the 12th opposition Jupiter in Leo.  Plus the signature tough-minded Great Depression Pluto in Cancer opposition Saturn in Capricorn square an innovative Uranus in Aries. Such a Uranus can be a law-unto-itself type of personality, a disrupter, self-willed and unpredictable, though also a trailblazer.  In addition she has Venus in Libra in her intense 8^th conjunct her Sun as well as an unaspected Mars in vengeful Scorpio. Such a Mars can be uncompromising, constantly on the go, prone to irrational outbursts.

  Her Sun/Moon midpoint which is the marriage significator is square her Neptune sitting in her 7^th house both of which point to an attraction for creative men and a difficulty in making total commitment. Her Sun/Moon is also sesquiquadrate Pluto which again is a hint of power-struggles within close relationships. She always insists “My only ambition was always to be married.”

   She has well-aspected creative 5^th and 7^th harmonic charts, as well as the writers’ 21H so clearly has talent. Though not I suspect much self-awareness or insight.

Photo: Mogens Engelund

Emmanuel Macron is fighting battles on several fronts in true Gallic fashion, revving up his four fiery Sagittarius planets and a 7^th house Mars in Leo to fend off attacks from the Arab world, from Brussels and from his unhappy voters.  

   He has been pushing back, almost single-handed in the international community, against Turkish President Erdogan’s expansionist military activities in Libya and in the Armenia dispute. As a consequence he has reaped the whirlwind of an Arab boycott of French goods over his support for secularism and free speech after the Charlie Hebdo cartoon killings. His refusal to compromise over French fishing rights in UK waters – a tiny proportion of GDP for both countries –  has brought him into conflict with Angela Merkel and Brussels. Though it is a politically sensitive and symbolic issue for him. And last but not least the French pandemic figures are soaring leading almost certainly to another unpopular full lockdown.

   Tr Saturn is about to dip below the Capricorn Ascendant on his personal chart from mid December onwards, usually a sign of a lower profile few years ahead – though it can take a while to kick in and he’ll be aided by upbeat, lucky tr Jupiter following suit through his 1^st house for the first year. His Presidency chart, 14 May 2017 11.28am shows signs of a complete turnaround from late February 2021 onwards as tr Pluto squares the 10^th house Uranus and that will run for two years till the end of his term. This December’s Sagittarius Solar Eclipse will also catch his Presidency Saturn as well as his personal chart so his life won’t get any more peaceful.

   And from April 2021 onwards for a year or more he will have tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting on his 7^th house Mars as well as his Uranus and Moon – so the economic pressures amongst others will bear down heavily on him. His relationship with France will be even more stressed than usual from March 2021 onwards.

  On the Brexit fishing climbdown he is under pressure from Angela Merkel who is looking chilly with him across into early December. His relationship chart with Boris Johnson is hostile as well as explosive at the best of times with Boris’s scattergun and overly aggressive Mars in Gemini square Macron’s Saturn in Virgo; and Boris’s slippery Neptune in a head-in-the-clouds opposition to Jupiter crossing swords with Macron’s Uranus opposition Taurus Moon square Mars. On the relationship chart there is a power-struggling composite Sun Mercury opposition Pluto Venus and a high-tension Uranus square Mars in their relationship chart. Relations between them are sagging more than usual as of now till late January; with a confused and bad-tempered dip in December up to the middle of the month – so the cliff hanger may continue or at least residual bad feelings will.  

  The France chart is confused and downbeat in early this December which could be the ongoing virus; with the 10^th house Moon being rattled by several Eclipses from this November onwards hinting at crises in the rulership. There is strain showing on its financial Venus in two years’ time under assault from a couple of tumultuous Solar Arcs at the same time as major confusion as tr Pluto squares the Neptune. The real revolution sets in by 2023 as tr Uranus starts to square the France Pluto and Uranus and then oppose the Mars the following year. Whoever takes over the next Presidency in 2022 will have a bucking bronco of a ride.