Astrology of Today’s News

“The mob is the most ruthless of tyrants.” Friedrich Nietzsche.

‘You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!’    Shakespeare’s reflections on the mob in ‘Julius Caesar‘ are a reminder they have existed throughout history. The Romans were acutely aware that the crowd of common men had to be treated with caution, kept amiable with bread and (blood-drenched, gladiatorial) circuses.

  Two astro-events collided this month for the USA. One is tr Pluto opposition the US Mercury till late this month, which promotes bitter, hostile debate, riled up by demagogues and agitators with deceitful rhetoric. And it leads to excessive mental strain. That has been running on and off through 2020 and repeats mid August to late November this year.

  The other trigger was the December 2020 Sagittarius Solar Eclipse which opposed the USA 1776 Mars in Gemini. It runs in effect for several months and leads to an overspill of argumentative and aggressive energy. Jansky in his book on Eclipses describes it thus: ‘A period of warfare. Compromise? Never!’  It can turn destructive which it obviously did in Washington yesterday. 

  Trump channels into the USA Mars with his Gemini Sun conjunct and his Sagittarius Moon exactly in opposition, so he was always going to be a divisive and inflammatory catalyst for the country. And his Full Moon was exactly what the December Solar Eclipse provoked  – to his detriment, which in turn generated full-blown narcissistic rage. To do the decent thing and face up to loss and failure for him would mean psychic death, against which he defends himself with volcanic anger and frenzied desperation.

   His relationship charts with both Republican Party charts have composite planets also being rattled by the Eclipse – one has a composite Saturn Pluto at 24/20 Gemini and the other Pluto at 21 Gemini square Mars. Even his die-hard political supporters are, mainly, turning their backs on him – too late.  The Republican Party, 22 February 1856 chart, has a sober-moment of reckoning from the December Eclipse opposition the Saturn, which brings responsibility for those under their care. They voted for him, stood behind him and now they are seeing the chickens come home to roost. This chart is sagging badly through 2021/22 with tr Neptune square the Saturn.

  Tr Uranus is also square the USA North Node in Leo, exactly now, which is arguably denting the USA’s leadership image as a shining beacon of decency and democracy.

  What next?  The tr Pluto opposition the USA Mercury runs on into the Pluto Return in 2022/23 so there will be lingering aggravation and resentment. This is a pivotal moment for the USA, with a contradictory outcome.  Trump as wrecking ball may have been a necessary force to tumble the house of cards of American politics and bring greater self-awareness of what is needed in the rebuilding process. But there is also a sense of deep wounds exposed which won’t heal easily. He leaves a poisoned legacy behind – “the evil that men do lives after them.” (Shakespeare)

  Of Trump himself, he appears to have overshot his bolt to such an extent that there will be no coming back and no compassion for his manifest financial sins. It may be that John F Kennedy was right when he said in his own inaugural address: “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”

Earlier posts to refresh memories:

December 13 2020 – Trump as of the moment.

September 28 2020 – Trump finances ahead

August 25 2020 – the Trump tribe, kiddies’ fortunes ahead.

Sound the trumpets for the end of the celebrity influencer cult (cross fingers) with the news that Kim Kardashian, one of the principal and early offenders in this zone is heading for a divorce from Kanye West.

  He’s had well-publicised problems with his bi-polar disorder and she pulled back from the spotlight after a scary robbery in Paris in 2016.  The marriage has clearly been in trouble for a while and with so much money at stake – $4 billion jointly it is thought – it will be a major disengagement exercise.

  In many ways it’s a shame since his Sun Jupiter in Gemini falls on her Descendant which is ideal and fits her Libra Sun; with his passionately enthusiastic Mars Venus in her 5^th. His Pluto in her 10^th would make him inclined to control her direction but she’s got a Sun Pluto conjunction so would have been OK with that up to a point. Both have Pisces Moons.

  There’s nothing much showing on the relationship chart apart – perhaps – from tr Neptune conjunct the composite Moon. But without his birth time that isn’t certain.  2022 looks more ominous since tr Saturn in Aquarius will then conjunct the tricky composite T square of Mars opposition Sun Mercury square Uranus; with a jolting tr Uranus joining in and extending in the years beyond that. So it may take some time.

  He’s on his mid-life crisis Uranus opposition at the moment with tr Uranus also disrupting his Saturn in Leo as well through this year so he’ll be up and down.

  Her Sun/Moon midpoint which usually shows up with separations, took its worst pounding several years back so she may psychologically have made the split already.

   She’s in a less successful low-profile phase with tr Saturn moving through her First Quadrant – from the robbery in 2016 through till mid decade. Which doesn’t mean she won’t be making a confident and probably successful push for a new project come 2022/23 with tr Pluto trine her 10^th house Jupiter.

  Their wedding chart, 24 May 2014 Florence, Italy, had all the hints of a tumultuous union with an Aries Moon Uranus opposition Mars square Pluto opposition Jupiter. It predicted a pattern of rolling crises in the years following – of which this is one, with the explosive Solar Arc Mars in exact opposition to the Uranus.

Trump’s brawling exit from the White House, slashing-and-burning as he goes, leaves (he hopes) a scorched earth legacy for his replacement. It is even for him, nauseatingly destructive. He is, for one, auctioning off portions of the Arctic national wildlife refuge to oil drillers to add to his previous sins against the environment and mother earth. Executions are also on his wish list as he ‘rushes to kill three prisoners over four days as a macabre climax of his time in the White House.’ One of them, if it goes ahead on January 12^th will be the first woman executed in 70 years.

Lisa Montgomery, 27 February 1968 in Kansas, did commit a shockingly brutal murder of an eight months pregnant woman to steal her baby sixteen years ago. But the story of Montgomery’s childhood is so beyond horrific that it is a miracle she survived at all, let alone was left with any spark of humanity. Raped, gang-raped while still a child, suffering severe concussive injuries when she objected which are visible on MRI scans, sold for sex by her mother – not a story for the faint of heart or stomach. No civilized country executes those suffering from severe mental disorders – apart from the USA.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/05/lisa-montgomery-death-row-execution-history

  Montgomery is a Sun and probably Moon in Pisces opposition Jupiter in Leo, with her Jupiter square Neptune. It was possibly her emphasised Jupiter which allowed her to keep going in the face of years of brutalising treatment. What stands out starkly is a Mars Saturn conjunction in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries. Mars Saturn can be an indication of unkind if not downright cruel treatment. But there is always a spectrum of meaning with any planetary aspects and how they work out will depend partly on house positions and on the ‘indefinable’ something that a chart won’t show. In old style astrology Mars Saturn had associations with assassinations or violent death; as well as military ability.

  Two born near Montgomery with the same Mars Saturn in Aries are Daniel Craig, born 2 March, who became the face of acceptable violence as James Bond. And Kate McGann, born 5 March, tragic mother of the disappeared Madeleine.

  Montgomery has her Black Moon Lilith conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol opposition Neptune. When she committed the murder in 2004, her Solar Arc North Node was approaching the conjunction to her BML and opposition her Neptune.  A touch nebulous but it may be significant.

  Oddly enough her Jupiter falls exactly on Trump’s Ascendant; her Uranus Pluto squares his Full Moon, her New Moon sits in his 7^th; and her Mars Saturn sits in his 8^th.  There’s more than a hint of a karmic link between them.   And their relationship chart has a composite Sun Venus opposition Neptune, trine Pluto, square Uranus – which is quite interconnected.

  If there is any decency in the universe, his karma will surely come up and bite him for his misdeeds.

Rumours are rife in Scotland that Trump may fly to his Turnberry golf course hotel in Ayr (despite it being closed) on January 19^th to avoid the Biden Inauguration next day. It may turn out to be a non-story or he’ll change his mind or Nicola Sturgeon will quite rightly throw a hissy fit over him breaching coronavirus restrictions and deny him entry.  Nor is it clear how, as a private citizen, he would be allowed to fly back to the US after January 20 from a plague-zone.

   In any event he might be better advised to avoid turning a publicity spotlight onto his two Scottish golf courses, which are haemorrhaging money, and in debt to the tune of £158 million. Their long-term viability is underwritten by the Trump Organization, which will come under renewed scrutiny after Trump leaves the White House. And there is a larger and scarier threat with Scottish lawmakers pushing to investigate Trump’s finances using an anti-money-laundering statute typically employed against kleptocrats, oligarchs, and crime kingpins. Their question: Where did the hundreds of millions Trump poured into his Scottish courses actually come from?

  During his well-documented low period between 2006 and 2014 he splurged $400 million in a cash spending spree, in addition to Scotland, purchasing a golf club in Ireland, five courses in the USA, and several expensive homes.  Then spent mega-millions more in refurbishments.

Questions, questions and with Deutsche Bank backing off, who knows what might crawl out from under rocks?

  Scotland is where his mother Mary was born, but is a risky area for him. Relocating his chart to Ayr put his secretive, dirty-dealing Pluto in the 10^th which is generally considered unfavourable, since it brings out a ruthless energy which can be destructive or damaging. His Pluto is being particularly battered this coming year by tr Uranus in square and tr Saturn in opposition.

  Trump’s relationship with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has never been good and she said recently that he will face “due accountability” in Scotland if evidence emerges that his Scottish golf courses have been used for money laundering and fraud. Trump’s Pluto is conjunct her Mercury, her Saturn is conjunct his Midheaven and square his Mars – so there will be a war of words and she’ll put blocks in his way.

   Their relationship chart is volatile with an uncompromising composite Uranus Mars which is being ramped up to explosion point through this year by the tr Saturn square tr Uranus. The recent December Solar Eclipse was opposition their composite Saturn; and tr Pluto is opposition the composite Mercury this month and again later in 2021. Relations will deteriorate badly in the months to come.    

Screen goddess Sophia Loren, one of the last true stars of the movies, has returned to the screen aged 86 in the Netflix The Life Ahead directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. Dispensing with any pretensions at glamour or likeability, she appears angry, defeated and cynical as Madame Rosa, a former sex worker and Holocaust survivor, who looks after the children of “working women”.

  Sophia’s life started in the unlikely beginnings of a Rome home for unmarried mothers. By the time she was eight, she, her mother and sister were starving, hiding from air raids in a rat-infested train tunnel, full of “sickness, laughter, drunkenness, death and childbirth”. Her mother was a beauty and Sophia started on the beauty pageant circuit at 15, moving into bit film parts until eventually she was discovered by Carlo Ponti, twenty years her senior, whom she eventually married, produced two children and stayed with throughout his life.

She says her most important teacher was Vittorio De Sica who directed her breakthrough film, The Gold of Naples in 1954 which started her 13-film collaboration with Marcello Mastroianni and, eventually, a career in Hollywood where she landed speaking no English.

  She was born 20 September 1934 2.10pm Rome, Italy and has a far-travelled 9^th house Virgo Sun with a lucky, successful Jupiter conjunct her Midheaven in a determined and confident square to a 7^th house Pluto. Her screen presence was never less than intense thanks to her Pluto and co-stars like Richard Burton remarked on her intelligence. Her Jupiter opposes a domestically-unsettled 4^th house Uranus squaring onto her Pluto – she would be controlling and secretive, but also able to push back boundaries.

  She has an Aquarius Moon conjunct Saturn opposition an 8^th house Mars in Leo – a hint of her hard beginnings and the lifelong obsession with poverty it left behind.  In addition to Mars she also has Venus and Neptune in the 8^th, giving her the film-star knack of projecting an aura.

  Carlo Ponti, 11 December 1912 1pm Magenta, Italy, also had successful Jupiter on his Midheaven, in his case in Sagittarius with, also like her, a packed 9^th house in his chart – good at communication and travel. His Moon Venus in Capricorn would connect with her Virgo Sun. His money-minded Saturn in Taurus was square her Moon which is less than ideal, though her Moon Saturn would be acclimatised to the cool, materialistic and workaholic Saturnine energies. Her Sun fell on his Descendant which is ideal for a relationship with her Jupiter in his 7^th as well.

  He was more of a behind-the-scenes support for her; though his Pluto in Gemini opposition Jupiter was trine/sextile her Midheaven so he’d be instrumental in making her career a success.

  Both children, Carlo a conductor, and Edoardo have prominent Jupiter in their charts making for gilded lives.

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The confected outrage over gender fluidity and pronouns has been well and truly skewered by the genuine article. Comedian Eddie Izzard, who came out 35 years ago as transvestite and more recently transgender, defended JK Rowling against accusations of being transphobic. “We need to look at the things she has written about in her blog. Women have been through such hell over history. Trans people have been invisible, too. I hate the idea we are fighting between ourselves.”

  Eddie was born 7 February 1962 7.30 pm (unverified) in Aden, Yemen, to English parents, and was brought up in Northern Ireland and Wales. He knew from aged four that he was transgender. “I’m gender fluid. Your brain gets coded male or female when you’re young. Mine got coded both ways. I have the gift of both, although it doesn’t feel like a gift at first.”

‘If [people] call me she and her, that’s great – or he and him, I don’t mind. I prefer to be called Eddie, that covers everything.”

 He cut his teeth as a street entertainer, ‘made burbling, conversational surrealism his stock in trade’ and hit fame in his thirties as a stand-up comic, often in drag, following in the Monty Python tradition – as Darth Vader in the Death Star canteen (“Give me penne all’arrabiata or you shall die!”), the thoughts of a busily munching squirrel (“Did I leave the gas on?”) or God as James Mason. ‘Izzard didn’t just riff off recognisable reference points but spun big existential questions into hallucinogenic gold.’

Now 58 he has stayed the course, has built a stage and screen acting career, sold out Madison Square Garden, was the first solo comedy act to play the Hollywood Bowl, did a long stint in Paris, performing in French, and has gigged in Germany, in German. He/she has also caught the headlines doing astonishing back-to-back marathon runs for charity, to be repeated this month on a treadmill. He’s a dedicated Labour activist and may go into politics.

   His/her chart has an astonishing six planets in Aquarius, a sign often associated with comedians –  Jimmy Tarbuck, Jimmy ‘Scnozzle’ Durante, Ned Sherrin, Michael Bentine, Barry Humphries, Les Dawson amongst others. In Aquarius he a disciplined, determined and sharp-witted Mars Saturn conjunction, as well as sunny, charming, chatty, lucky Mercury, Sun Jupiter and Venus. Neptune in Scorpio sits in square with Uranus as well as a leadership North Node across the zodiac in Leo. So incredibly Fixed and enduring.

  He/she probably has unaspected Pisces Moon which will tend to make his feminine impulses act erratically. On his artistic 5^th Harmonic the Moon is heavily aspected in opposition to Sun, Jupiter, Venus square Pluto Saturn (Mars) so through his creative work he can fully express his emotions and feminine side. His mother died when he was six of cancer.

  The other cross dressing though not transgender comedian Barry Humphries, the Australian Dame Edna Everage, was also a multiple Aquarius with Sun, Saturn and Venus in Aquarius with a Sun Saturn trine Jupiter.

Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Alec, being ‘outed’ as not-Spanish is a silly season twitterfuffle. Only in America where ethnicity is as carefully calibrated as caste in India, would it even have surfaced. A celebrity influencer sprinkling a little distinctive glitter on her bio to separate her out from the crowd is hardly pass remarkable. Though her sin appears to be taking away attention from proper Latinas and appropriating what isn’t hers.

  She was born in Boston on 6 January 1984, spent some holidays in Spain growing up, maybe more though she’s vague when pushed, and her parents now live on Mallorca. She is the mother of Baldwin’s five children, whose names are Spanish-influenced and she is multi-talented – teaches yoga, podcasts and writes, co-owns a chain of yoga studios, has penned fitness books and has a signature calming ointment to her name. 

  She’s a Sun Capricorn sextile Saturn in obsessively conscientious Scorpio. What probably draws her to the flamenco-vibe is her four planets in adventurous, far-travelled Sagittarius – Venus Uranus and a fantasy-prone Neptune Jupiter. She also has an ultra-determined Mars in late Libra conjunct Pluto which is sextile her head-in-the-clouds Jupiter Neptune Mercury. Her free-spirited, wild-child Gemini North Node opposes her Sagittarius planets. And she has a loves-to-shock Aquarius Moon.  

Alec Baldwin, born 3 April 1958, is an upfront Sun Aries with an excitable and uncompromising Mars in Aquarius opposition Uranus square Mercury opposition Neptune. His Venus in Aquarius resonates with her Moon; her Mars Pluto is conjunct his Jupiter; and her Venus in Sagittarius connects with his Aries Sun.  They are both high-octane personalities and both have strong Mercury Neptune aspects which will be no drawback in the showbusiness world of make believe.

The UK will be more buffeted by the transiting Uranus square Saturn than many countries (except the EU – and now that I think about it India, Pakistan and China). Tensions will run high over restrictions to freedom as well as the fallout from economic disruptions.

  Tr Saturn will square the UK 8^th house financial Mars in late March/early April, mid July and across the New Year into 2022 for setbacks, irritations and accidents. But it is tr Uranus which will have the more obvious effect as it forms a shocking/insecure/over-reactive conjunction to the UK Mars through most of May, late November through December 2021 and again in February 2022 – there will be financial and other major upsets. When tr Pluto hit this part of the UK chart a few decades back there were a stream of major disasters – ferry sinkings, Kings Cross fire etc. So it will be accident prone on a larger scale than Saturn.

  2022 will see much the same as tr Uranus square tr Saturn hits on the UK 2^nd house Neptune. Uranus won’t clear the UK’s Fixed planets until early 2025 so it will be a bumpy ride with multiple forced changes coming one on top of each other.

  Any legislature changes with extended devolution or splits is likely to come in 2023/24 with tr Uranus square the 11^th house Saturn.

  What will be interesting to watch to see how it turns out is the UK 5^th house Venus. The 5th is the chart area of entertainment as well as financial speculation. The Solar Arc Sun opposes the Venus exactly in nine months and the Solar Arc Midheaven is conjunct in eighteen months. Both of which might suggest positive outcomes although tr Saturn and tr Uranus will be impacting the Solar Arc Sun, Solar Arc Midheaven and Venus throughout 2022 as well, so it will be a time of jolts, jangles and stop-start progress.

  Back in 2021 minor good news will come from tr Jupiter conjunct the UK Pluto in Pisces June 9^th to July 2^nd, and again in January. Might be sporting successes. Jupiter is also moving through the UK 5^th from late January 2021 for a year which will – some of the time – lead to renewed self-confidence. Though Jupiter will battle with tr Saturn moving through Aquarius as well, which latter requires effort to take responsibilities seriously.

There’s uncertainty now till late January 2021; and some downbeat moments March to mid April, mid September to mid October and Jan/Feb 2022. And losses late May, on and off to March 2022. But those are run of the mill life-being-normal kind of influences.

   Northern Ireland, 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast, is shifting off an old track with tr Uranus impacting on its Water Grand Trine of Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto so is having to cope with new circumstances and changes. It will cause strain but it may not all be negative since it will force the country to rethink its ambitions for the future. Pluto moving through the 10^th (start time being accurate) from exactly now onwards for a decade can be seen as a search for a new direction. 2022 will be a time of high anxiety about domestic matters and deep questioning of roots and family past.

  Relations with Ireland 1949 look undermined, unresolved and damaged through 2021/22 with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Mars and opposition Saturn; not warmly co-operative; pushed and pulled by circumstances in 2022/23 and turned upside down by 2024 with completely new agreements needed.

  Wales, 3 March 1284 JC, is ploughing through discouraging times in 2021/22 and is low in morale with tr Pluto conjunct the Pluto Saturn and tr Neptune conjunct the Pisces Sun. And the Devolution 1998 chart is no more settled with tr Uranus square tr Saturn causing disruption.

  Scotland, up in arms over Brexit, is the most likely to aim for separation though economic realities as well as a Sturgeon v Salmond split in the SNP may make for a tighter vote than it appears now if it came to a referendum.  The Scotland Act of Union, 1 May 1707 JC suggests that 2023 may be the most likely time for a Scexit push with tr Uranus conjunct the 1707 Sun and square the Pluto Jupiter. But it is a tightly welded-together chart and won’t split easy. Uranus has been round this circuit several times in the last four centuries.

  The Scottish Devolution chart, 17 November 1998, would point to 2024/25 as the times of radical change. Neither of the two ancient Scotland charts of 1034 and 842 indicate much in the way of a drive for independence.  

  Maybe Keir Starmer’s ideas for a constitutional commission to extend devolution may gain traction.   

Add ON:

England – there are two charts – 11 May 973 JC and 25 December 1066.

  The 1066 chart shows dampened hopes through 2021 with tr Neptune opposition the Jupiter – high expectations which end in disappointment.  But both charts would indicate that 2023 to 2025 are the years of major turmoil, uncertainty and upheaval.

  The 1066 chart has tr Pluto conjunct the financial Venus in 2022/23 for considerable economic challenges; with a series of insecure, shocking, highly strung, undermining jolts from Solar Arcs in 2023/24 – tr Uranus conjunct the Neptune and Solar Arc Sun square Neptune; Solar Arc Uranus opposition Mars; and tr Neptune square Uranus.

  The 973 chart has much the same timeline with uncertainty in 2023/24 from tr Neptune square the Saturn; and tr Uranus conjunct the Taurus Sun, Mars and square Pluto in 2024/25.

   So not dissimilar to the timeline of the ructions on the UK 1801 chart and the 1707 Scotland Act of Union chart.  It doesn’t mean there will be an outright split. But the England identity will certainly go into a full wash-and-spin which won’t be too comfortable.

The final (allegedly) moment of the irrevocable parting of the ways from the EU will come at 11pm London time tonight.

  This produces a mixter maxter chart with three distinct strands:

Neptunian dreams with Venus in freedom-loving and adventurous Sagittarius opposition a wild-child Gemini North Node square Neptune in the employment and health 6^th house.

Uranus in the financial 8^th in an innovative trine to the Sun and an erratic square to Jupiter Saturn in Aquarius – adventurous, opportunistic, dictatorial, inconsistent.

  And a log-jammed, frustrated, furious – and then some – 8^th house Mars square Pluto Saturn Jupiter, which will take superhuman effort to push through financial problems. It also suggests bitter wrangling over financial matters, immediately and with escalating tensions in three and four years time as the Mars Pluto Saturn move by Solar Arc to exact.

Last and probably least there’s a flashy Leo Moon sitting on the UK Jupiter and opposition Jupiter Saturn in Aquarius – continuing the contradictory themes of high hopes and pessimism.  

Add On: Next day commentaries:

‘The UK has repatriated economic sovereignty and discovered that, far from allowing it to humble the EU, it has harmed itself. [Brexit] is still a promise without a plan. We have broken out of one regime of international relationships into a holding position – worse than what came before.’

‘I voted for Brexit – but not for this. Sean O’Grady thought that Leave could lead to a better deal for Britain. But, he writes, what we’ve ended up with instead is the worst of all worlds.’

‘A trade deal that requires a high degree of continued alignment on labour market regulation, environmental standards, state aid and much else besides doesn’t entirely free the country of its past ties.

 [But]no longer will it be possible to blame the EU bogey for the country’s troubles, or for sitting on our hands and doing nothing. No more excuses. Britain must learn to stand on its own two feet.’

‘Another union — that between the nations of England, Scotland and Wales and the province of Northern Ireland, will take centre stage in Brexit’s next act. Forget the guff about embarking on a new Elizabethan age. “Global Britain” is at present heading towards the rocks of constitutional break-up.

The decision to leave the EU was, at its heart, an expression of English nationalism. A reordering of relationships within the UK is inevitable — and a parting of the ways a real and present danger.

 Changing minds to guarantee the preservation of the Union will require, at very least, two steps. The first, which should be the easiest, is Mr Johnson’s departure in favour of a prime minister ready to redistribute power within the UK. The second (contingent on the first) is a constitutional offer to Scotland — and to Wales and Northern Ireland — that would create an essentially federal union. The status quo is no longer an option.’