Astrology of Today’s News

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The USA will be into the thick of rancorous and aggravated debates in 2020 as Pluto starts to oppose the USA Mercury opposition Pluto from late February onwards, on and off till late 2021.

Pluto opposition Mercury does hint at a dark, fanatical streak in the US temperament. Ebertin associates Mercury Pluto with: demagogues, plagiarists, those who fraudulently misrepresent, slyness and cunning, irritability, and psychological pressure. Kept under control it can be persuasive and insightful.

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

All of this being a forerunner to the USA Pluto Return in 2022/23. See previous posts: November 19 2018 and October 29 2018 – on Pluto Return and Civil War.  Tr Saturn will also oppose the USA Mercury and conjunct the Pluto on and off throughout 2020 which will be discouraging, prone to the glooms and stuck at points, especially late November.

Tr Pluto will also be trine the USA Neptune for a second year running in 2020 – exact in January and mid August to late November across the election. Neptune Pluto has a span of meanings from an interest in the supernatural, to great confusion, obsessive or fantastical ideas, scandals and megalomania. The election is likely to be held under stressful (more so than usual) influences and the January 2021 Inauguration looks exceptionally fraught with Sun, Saturn, Jupiter in Aquarius square an explosive, no-compromise Mars Uranus in Taurus.

The Eclipses will impact the country with the effects of the December 2019 early Capricorn Solar Eclipse in opposition to the USA Venus Jupiter running through early months; the January Lunar Eclipse hitting on the USA Mercury; the July Lunar in Capricorn opposing the USA Sun; and the December 2020 Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius bouncing off the USA Mars and Neptune – some emotional upsets early on and a tendency to over confidence; a critical turning point vis a vis relationships mid year and a hot-tempered finish.

A touch like the UK, with whom the USA seems to be in an odd lock-step at the moment, 2021 in some ways looks even more troublesome with a panicky-failure tr Neptune square the USA Mars and opposition Neptune; the Mercury Pluto effect strengthening; and the Pluto Return drawing nearer.

 

Poised on the brink of a momentous change the UK heads into 2020 with a transformative Uranus trine the UK Pluto, bringing a new order into being. That transit picked up at the recent election and rolls through till early February 2020, across the pull-out of-the-EU date. It seemed mild enough, looked at in advance, but even soft aspects appear to have a significant effect on country charts.

The heavy concentration of Saturn Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn are all focussed on the UK 4^th house which certainly indicates the roots/foundation of the country undergoing a massive shift under great resistance. Emotional tensions will flare from Saturn there and mutinous rumblings will come courtesy of Pluto. Jupiter will help to smooth over a few rough edges. Often Jupiter in the 4^th is a time of waiting and it does look as if 2021 is the year when more ructions are likely, of which more below.

Saturn has just cleared the gloomy opposition to the 10^th house Moon mid this month – though Saturn’s effects can hang around like rotting fish to make an impact months ahead. The 10^th house Moon refers to the monarchy/and or ruling classes, and this transit suggests separation and mourning. Saturn then proceeds to oppose the UK 10^th house Jupiter in Leo from April 7^th to mid June which will damp national confidence and enthusiasm, perhaps prompting the need for financial cutbacks after a phase of over-spending.

Before then through February there’ll be a nervy mood with tr Neptune square the Uranus/Pluto midpoint and then square the Saturn/Node midpoint in March, which latter influence repeats October to mid January 2021 – and will bring uncertainty, gloom, deception, suffering through falsehood.

Uranus squares the Sun/Pluto midpoint in the second half of April 2020 and again late December 2020 to mid February 2021. Ebertin describes that as “sudden adjustment to new circumstances: carrying out fanatical reforms” – and can, he suggests, be a change into restrictive circumstances.

From the look of what’s around in late December 2020 across the New Year into the crash-out Brexit phase will be exceedingly nerve-stretching and uncertain with both the UK Saturn/Node and Sun/Pluto midpoints being activated. At that point the Solar Arc Mars will be conjunct the 3^rd house Mercury provoking noisy arguments – and perhaps transport or communication snafus.

The Progressed Moon will continue in the 10^th house through 2020 keeping ambitions buoyant. From the start of 2021 it heads into the UK 11^th for a change of focus towards the future with an exceptionally bumpy ride ahead for two years as it squares the 8^th house Mars, opposes Venus, squares Neptune and finally is conjunct the UK Saturn. At the same time tr Uranus in 2021 from May picks up the conjunction to the 8^th house Mars which will bring a disruptive series of events, financial and otherwise, running on for several years as Uranus follows the Progressed Moon round the UK Fixed Grand Cross. In 2021 in May as well, the Progressed Mercury will square the UK Mars for explosive arguments; made all the more bitter by tr Pluto conjunct the Mercury/Pluto midpoint throughout 2021/22 – which tends to bring hostile debate, fanatical obstinacy and a degree of mental strain.

But for all that Jupiter in 2021 will have moved, along with Saturn, into the UK 5^th so there will be some attempt at celebration.

 

Happy Festivities and All the Best for 2020. May it float by on a drift of dreams and fantasies.

My most favourite flowering tree is out. Always the earliest – Pearl Mimosa with a heavenly scent. Otherwise Acacia podalyriifolia.

[I would have written a cheerful message across it but Adobe has messed up photoshop which now means all pics with texts now require too much RAM. Urgh. By next NY will have new specc-ed up desktop.]

What a pickle. Love Island presenter Caroline Flack is in court facing assault charges after her boyfriend model and ex-tennis player Lewis Burton summoned the police and ambulance services following a domestic dispute on December 12th. Reports indicate she hit him over the head with a lamp after reading what appeared to be a cheating text on his phone. She’s pleading not guilty and he’s withdrawn his allegations despite the police saying it looked ‘like a horror movie’ when they arrived and having not only the 999 call on record but also bodycam footage. Both are bewailing the judge saying they can’t have contact over Christmas.

She was born 9 November 1979 and he 23 March 1992. She has form for younger lovers having once hitched with Harry Styles when he was 17 and she 31.

She’s an intense and uncompromising Scorpio Sun conjunct Uranus squaring onto a volatile Mars in Leo; with her Mars in a determined sextile to Pluto and trine a publicity-attracting Neptune. Her Neptune is in a (marginally paranoid) square to Saturn in Virgo. She also has an emotional Cancer Moon which is likely to be in a possessive square to Pluto.

He is an upfront Sun Mercury in Aries with possibly a Sagittarius Moon, a highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn; and more significantly a forceful and compulsive Mars in Aquarius square Pluto, with Pluto also in a stubborn square to Saturn in Aquarius.

His Pluto is conjunct her Sun Uranus and his Mars square so it is a volcanic combination – and then some. Wow.

Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction in a sparky and passionate trine to Mars (conjunct Algol) maybe trine a Virgo Moon – a very earthy connection.

She’s having a downbeat 2020/21 with tr Pluto trine her Saturn. No matter what happens in the March trial she’s lost her presenting TV job. And the relationship understandably is under tremendous pressure from tr Pluto conjunct the composite Sun and Venus.

 

Emanuel Ungaro, the last of the grand Paris couturiers, has died aged 86. He trained under Cristóbal Balenciaga, worked briefly with futurist designer André Courrèges, before launching his own label in the mid-1960s. The Telegraph obituary says: “He became known for his flamboyant use of pattern and elegant draping, and was once described as “arguably unique among his peers as a heterosexual man creating dresses for the bodies that he worshipped”. Evidently he kept a Sigmund Freud poster in his office with his quote despairing that he would ever find the answer to the question ‘What does a woman want?’

He was born 13 February 1933 2.30am in Aix-en-Provence, France, to Italian parents who fled fascism, his father a tailor. He had a sharp-witted 3^rd house Aquarius Sun on one leg of a Yod sextile innovative Uranus inconjunct Jupiter. A Jupiterian yod can have considerable social influence.

He also had an 8^th house Pluto which can also indicate the ability to wield unseen power over the masses and it was in a revolutionary square to Uranus.

He had an interesting collection of Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, Moon in Virgo – interesting because my recollection is that it threw up a fair number of notables that year. Mars Neptune is good for attracting publicity and glamour; Mars Jupiter is confident and pro-active, willing to take risks; Moon Jupiter fond of women.

He had other inconjuncts of Neptune quincunx Saturn, Sun to Pluto and Moon to Mercury – not a fitter-in, a man who walked his own road.

  

The movie season is experiencing extremes of reaction with the eighth film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women getting unanimous plaudits and five-star rave reviews – in contrast to the furry disaster of Cats. The story of four sisters coming of age during and after the US Civil War opens in this movie version with Alcott’s own words “I have had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales.”  Her jolly tales were to prove a lodestar for many 20^th century women inspired to mark out an independent path for themselves.

She was born 29 November 1832 12.30am Germantown, Pennsylvania, with a maverick, experimental educator for a father who was domineering, overbearing and a failure, so much of her childhood was spent on the move with the family. She was forced to go out to work young as a companion, seamstress, teacher and then volunteered as a nurse to Civil War soldiers. She wrote constantly throughout and gradually started to make sufficient money to support her family and pay off their debts. Little Women was a huge success in her mid 30s onwards. She was a trenchant abolitionist and feminist and was still an ‘irrepressible’ spinster when she died at 55, within days of her father, perhaps from an auto-immune disease but also debilitated by mercury poisoning from a typhoid fever cure years earlier.

She had a quick-witted and communicative 3^rd house Sagittarius Sun; with an emphasised Mercury in Sagittarius in the domestic 4^th square both Saturn and Jupiter, so no surprises she wrote about family life. Her stalwart Mars in Taurus in the 9^th, oddly enough conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol, would also contribute to her ability to publish successfully. But for all that she had a tough chart with an Earth Grand Trine of Mars trine Saturn in Virgo trine Neptune in Capricorn in the performing 5^th house. It would give her a good business head and practical skills, as well as a knack for attracting publicity, but it would also make for a life strewn with setbacks and obstacles. That Grand Trine is formed into an even more talented Kite by Neptune opposition a Cancer Node, which latter would propel her towards becoming the feeding hands for her family.

Her creative 5^th Harmonic was very marked; as was her writers’ 21H.

Greta Gerwig, the director, who is attracting top marks for this effort, was born 4 August 1983 in Sacramento, CA, and also has a peculiarly heavy chart with Saturn Pluto in Libra square Mars in Cancer. She is a Leo Sun trine Uranus and Jupiter in Sagittarius with fits well with Alcott’s; and her Venus Mercury in Virgo also chimes with Alcott’s Venus in Capricorn.

Gerwig looks to have several mountain ranges to climb ahead with tr Pluto opposing her Mars in 2020/21 and then squaring her Pluto Saturn till 2023 Sagittarius Sun so her next project, an improbable Barbie film may prove more of a chore than this one.

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Louisa’s father Amos Bronson Alcott, born 29 November 1799, was a visionary, philosopher, reformer and cultured man of letters who exercised a profound influence over his friends Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women’s rights, though his wife evidently thought he didn’t appreciate her contribution to keeping the family ship afloat.

He was born the same day as Louisa so was a Sun Sagittarius in a controlling square to Pluto on the cusp of his 5^th house and trine Saturn in Leo on his Midheaven. He would be attention-demanding, controlling of his children with Pluto in the 5^th; a proud man, driven to be thought of as someone of substance. His Saturn squared onto a less than wholesome Mars Neptune in Scorpio so he’d certainly be stubborn. He also had a T Square of Jupiter in Virgo in the educational and philosophical/spiritual 9^th house opposition a 3^rd house Mercury in Sagittarius squaring a revolutionary Uranus. He wouldn’t be steady but he would always be trying to forge new paths.

He shared Louisa’s Mercury in Sag as well as her Sun; and his Jupiter fell in her 10^th so he would be instrumental in making her successful. His Moon was conjunct her Venus which would give a good emotional connection. Despite his temperamental failings they were relatively similar and would have moments where they felt in tune.

The upcoming Capricorn Solar Eclipse on December 26^th at 4 degrees is conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus, leading to optimistic predictions of bountiful rewards. Though Jupiter isn’t always positive in mundane astrology since its expansive tendency will amplify good and ill alike.

However in the interests of festive cheer another Jupiterian Solar Eclipse around in mid-1954 in Cancer coincided with the birth of rock n’ roil, Bill Haley and Elvis’s first single. So there should be some good-news spin offs and plus points.

The Saros Series of this particular Eclipse, according to Bernadette Brady, does coincide with the sudden ending of an association or a relationship with a large emotional component and a sense of traumatic transformation. Which certainly fits Brexit. Previous occurrences of this eclipse series:

December 2001 – aftermath of 9/11, the Afghan War, Enron bankruptcy – that was accompanied by a much more aggravated Saturn square Mars, and opposition Pluto.

December 1983 – not much stands out.

23 November 1965 – Southern Rhodesia declared illegal independence from the UK (UDI). That had the Eclipse inconjunct Jupiter.

12 November 1947 – horrific Eclipse in Scorpio square Mars Saturn Pluto – Partition massacres on the India sub-continent; Brits withdraw from Palestine. Princess Elizabeth marries.

1 November 1929 – aftermath of Stock Market Crash, two days before. Palestinian riots. That had the Eclipse inconjunct Uranus, and a destructive Mars trine Pluto.

This December 26th Eclipse chart also has the Saturn Pluto conjunction less than two degrees to exact in sextile to Mars in Scorpio, so there will be challenges and heavy tensions as well. It will spark off the UK, Germany and EU Capricorn Suns; as well as the USA Jupiter Venus in Cancer – so a challenging time which could include crises in the months following because of the imperative to change. If change is resisted then force majeure kicks in and it happens in a much messier fashion. The USA’s Venus involvement could point to an emotional upset and feeling unloved. The eclipse opposing the USA Jupiter may bring up trust issues and disappointment.

It will be especially on point for Washington since it puts the Eclipse and Jupiter closely conjunct the IC – planets on the angles always indicate major events in that location. Located to North Koreas it puts an aggressive Mars on the Descendant. And also Iran with Mars Midheaven when located there.

The following Lunar Eclipse on 10 January 2020 at 19 degrees Capricorn is opposition the Saturn Pluto conjunction so will be powerful, potent and perhaps destructive or at the very least sombre in mood and restrictive. It’s very keyed up for Washington with Mars conjunct the Descendant and North Korea with Mars conjunct the Ascendant. And very close to Trump’s Saturn Venus in Cancer.

The UK National Health Service was a foreground election issue for both major parties, more in voters’ minds even than Brexit. Wild and extravagant promises were made about funding though it remains to be seen whether much will change for an overloaded system creaking badly.

It was founded 5 July 1948 giving a caring Cancer Sun square a healing though not always practical Neptune; a tough and enduring Saturn Pluto in Leo; and an adventurous and overly hopeful and scattered Mutable T Square of Jupiter opposition (Moon) Venus, Uranus Mercury in Gemini square Mars in Virgo.

The chaotic and tumultuous tr Pluto square tr Uranus has been battering on the NHS Sun and Neptune in recent years; and tr Neptune will start undermining the T Square from 2021 – first by squaring Jupiter and opposing Mars in 2021/22 which will bring disappointments about failures/lack of money and of direction. Tr Uranus will also square the NHS Pluto in 2021/22 so there may be an attempt at a revamp and rethink. But tr Neptune will continue on almost to mid decade squaring the Moon, Venus, Uranus and Mercury – so it’ll be a swampy path ahead.

The problem with a free state health service as most countries are discovering is that they are economically unsustainable – plain too expensive to run. Even France which had a glittering reputation in this regard can only run theirs with stupendously high taxation and individuals in France don’t even get 100% free. Everyone has to take out a top-up private insurance to cover the difference. The UK has become over-entitled about the NHS doing everything for everyone with trivial emergencies overloading the system so patients in real need don’t get sufficient attention; and people are unwilling to pay for anything.

 

 

Independence for Scotland was regarded as a racing certainty if Boris and pro-Brexiteers won the election. The SNP took 47 out of 59 Scottish seats which seemed to seal the deal but sober economic assessment hints the prospects are not good, never mind Boris digging in his heels about another referendum. Over 60pc of Scottish exports go to the rest of the UK with just 18pc to the EU; Scotland’s public expenditure per head is significantly higher than the whole of the UK giving it a budget deficit of 7pc of GDP compared to 1.1pc for the UK.

From an economic point of view the situation has deteriorated since the last referendum in 2014. The costs would be prohibitive with at least a decade of financial trauma, welfare cuts, and systemic austerity on a staggering scale to follow any breakaway.

Which isn’t to say Nicola Sturgeon will throw in the towel. Her Cancer Sun square Jupiter is catching the tr Pluto hard aspects to both 2021 to 2023 which will see her revved up and raring to go.

She’s a mighty antagonist for Boris with her Pluto in Virgo squaring his Sun Venus; and her determined Saturn in Taurus conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Neptune – she’ll tussle endlessly with him and rain on his parade.

The Scotland 16 March 842 AD JC chart worked well on Scotland’s entry into the 1707 merger with England (see post November 3 2019). It indicates confusion and indecision with tr Neptune square the Solar Arc Pluto and Sun in 2020 and more as Solar Arc Neptune is conjunct the Sun in 2021. And nothing much of note thereafter, certainly nothing as significant as the 1707 marriage between the two countries.

The 1 May 1707 Scotland Act which started the new partnership does have tr Uranus conjunct the Taurus Sun and square Pluto and Jupiter in 2020/21 so there may be movement towards an adjustment in the terms of agreement but nothing as major as a separation. Tr Uranus has been round every 84 years and nothing split on those occasions.

The relationship chart between Scotland 842 and the UK is also showing signs of turbulence and a shift between 2020 and 2022. But again nothing likely to lead to a complete split away.