Astrology of Today’s News

A shock volcanic eruption on a tourist island in New Zealand has killed at least five with 23 rescued, some of them critically ill with burns, and 22 missing. There aren’t expected to be any more survivors. Tr Saturn is exactly square the New Zealand Aries Moon exactly at the moment which is an indication of loss and mourning; with an undermining tr Neptune square the NZ Jupiter as well.

Tr Pluto is heading to cross the IC in January 2020 onwards which is a reasonable metaphor for an eruption from deep in the earth. And tr Pluto’s entry into the NZ 4^th house starts a phase of several years of major challenges and considerable stress as Pluto will conjunct the Sun in 2021/22, then conjunct Mars in 2022/23 and finally square the NZ Pluto in 2023/24 – part of that could be more natural disasters or severe internal aggravation amongst a discontented populace.

Finland’s Sanna Marin is to become the world’s youngest prime minister, aged 34. She will lead a centre-left coalition with four other parties, all headed by women, three of whom are under 35.

Born 16 November 1985 in Helsinki, she is a seriously determined Sun Saturn in Scorpio with a charmingly persuasive Venus and Pluto also in Scorpio square Jupiter in Aquarius; and a go-ahead Mars in Libra sextile Mercury Uranus in Sagittarius. Plus a hard-working Capricorn Moon.

She takes over as tr Neptune is coming to square her Uranus till late January so she’ll have a highly-strung honeymoon, not necessarily bad but edgy. She will run into frustrations with tr Pluto square her Mars/Pluto midpoint from late January on and off till late year. With some disasters to overcome in April/May and over the New Year into 2021 with tr Uranus opposition her Mars/Saturn midpoint. But she’s determined and resourceful with so much Scorpio so will soldier on.

Her Jupiter falls in Finland’s 10^th (time and date being accurate) which is good news for the country. Her Uranus is conjunct the Finland Sun so she will be a reformer and her Sun squares the Finland 10^th house Uranus so she will push it onto a different track.

Finland still has tr Neptune around in 2020 in opposition to the Mars so not all schemes will come to fruition.

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Titbits and tasters for the year ahead.

Saturn Pluto kicks off 2020, coming exact only once, in January at 22/23 degrees Capricorn. However that doesn’t mean its effect won’t be hanging over the entire year. Every time the Sun or Mars is in a Cardinal sign the hard aspects will reverberate the same energy since Saturn and Pluto stay in orb. Mars in Capricorn in March will conjunct Saturn and Pluto; and in April the Aries Sun will square Pluto and then the Taurus Sun will square Saturn in early Aquarius. Saturn only sticks a toe in Aquarius from late March until July before reversing back into Capricorn.

Just to put added stress onto events Mars moves into Aries late June to stay for a high-octane six months till January 2021, with a retrograde in the middle. In July the Cancer Sun opposes Saturn and Pluto and Jupiter; in August Mars also opposes Jupiter and Pluto and Saturn. October has both the Libra Sun and Mars in Aries hitting on Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter; with a final hard aspect from Mars to Pluto in December. Mars in hard aspect to Saturn and Pluto tends to be high-risk, accident or disaster prone.

Jupiter is the oddity and wild card in the midst of all these leaden aspects since it generally brings morale-boosts and good luck. There is a Jupiter conjunction with Pluto in March, again in June and November – so there should be some good news amongst the drear and drama.

Venus is also having a retrograde year staying longer than usual in Gemini from April to early August.

Mars will have a ratchety few days in early April as it enters Aquarius to form a conjunction with Saturn and then a square with Uranus.

The Solar Eclipses are in June at zero degrees Cancer; and in December at 23 degrees Sagittarius. The Lunar Eclipses are at 20 degrees Cancer in January; at 16 degrees Sagittarius in June and 14 degrees Capricorn in July; and 9 degrees Gemini in December. Only the January Lunar Eclipse is tied into the heavier influences of the year. Though the July Lunar may have an impact on the USA since it falls opposite the Cancer Sun.

In December both Jupiter and Saturn come together in Capricorn and then move in unison into Aquarius after mid month for a lighter, more cerebral, though still ambivalent influence. Jupiter is expansive, inspired and confident while Saturn is the opposite – practical, lacking imagination, cautious. Together, at best, they can marry idealism with materialism and find a balance between vision and reality.

In the past it has been associated with a few iconic figures who become symbols for a society but are elevated to an impossible height – Princess Diana, John Lennon being two examples – and then come crashing down. US presidents elected under it tend to die in office or are the target of assassination attempts.

The heavyweight Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn marks the start of the coming decade. It brings to a climax the slow grind of Pluto through Capricorn since 2008, collapsing old financial and governmental systems. Where the 2010s was a decade of turmoil with the disruptive Uranus square Pluto causing havoc and throwing everything up in the air, now comes the serious business of trying to put new pieces together. Uranus Pluto clears the decks of what no longer works but can be chaotically destructive since it often neglects to think about what comes next. Saturn, the builder, comes along to instil more order and structure, not necessarily with compassion or sentiment, but it will attempt to lay more solid foundations for the future.

Saturn Pluto is never a fun experience but it will only linger for a few months in effect in 2020 since Saturn moves smartly into Aquarius from March. The Saturn Pluto sombre effect will also be mitigated by Jupiter belatedly catching up to conjunct Pluto through the year which should bring rewards after the pain.

Aquarius is a coming theme for the decade ahead with a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius in early 2021, followed in 2023 by Pluto moving into Aquarius to stay until 2043. This airy, inventive, technologically-oriented, scientific, allegedly humanitarian sign does have a lighter feel than Capricorn, but it can produce ideologues and fanatics, often right-wing.

2021/22 will also be marked by Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus, which aspect is often seen as an indicator of a financial downturn. There’s a key Lunar Eclipse in late 2022 with the Full Moon tied into Uranus and square Saturn fairly closely; with a financial bubble-bursting Jupiter Neptune conjunction as well.

2025 will be the year of the decade and not necessarily for positive reasons. Following Pluto’s change of residency in 2023, the other three outer planets all move on a sign which will be a considerable gear shift. Neptune moves into Aries till 2038, having been lingering in Pisces since 2012 and promptly conjuncts Saturn (in Pisces since 2023); and Uranus moves into Gemini for seven years. The Neptune Saturn conjunction is often associated with widespread epidemics, as well as neurosis, creativity and hope for a better society.

The September 2025 Solar Eclipse indicates clearly the forces in play – a Uranus in Gemini trine Pluto in Aquarius trine New Moon which is opposition Saturn Neptune. It’s a powerful mix of outer planets all interconnected, so it will be accompanied by significant events. And that innovative and unsettled Uranus trine Pluto sextile Neptune runs on in orb for several years. The energy is Air and Fire, so it will be a time of fertile ideas, intellectual and scientific exploration – inspired but not always realistic.

Marlon Brando still casts a considerable shadow even fifteen years after his death. On top form as an actor in ‘The Godfather’ and ‘On the Waterfront’ he was matchless and he lived his life as a full-on drama. When he died at 80 in 2004 he had fathered at least 11 children from a run of spectacularly disastrous marriages. He was often presented as a wasted talent for the stacks of forgettable films he made for the paycheques. But he did good with his social activism, first in support of a post-war Jewish state, then with Martin Luther King and his support of American Indians. A recent biography by William J Mann charts his life in sympathetic detail cutting through the often self-created lies and fantasies he wove round his mythology.

He was born 3 April 1924 11pm Omaha, Nebraska, with two alcoholics as parents, which fuelled a rage and sense of victimhood he never lost despite years of therapy. He had an Aries New Moon in the performing 5^th house square Mars in Capricorn in his financial 2^nd house opposition Pluto in the 8^th – which is an extraordinarily tough burden to carry of compacted anger and overwhelming frustration. He must have felt as a child that the universe and his parents were trying to destroy him and in later life he tried to self-destruct through obesity. He had lifelong mood swings, dark depressions and was a compulsive womanizer as well as an over-eater.

The Times reviewer of the biography remarks: “He was – utterly egocentric and therefore crushingly obtuse about other people’s feelings. His rages, sulks and destructiveness were monstrous.” His Sun on the point of a T Square would make him narcissistic and attention seeking; the focal point Moon would make his emotional sensitivities more acute. Mars Pluto would ramp all that up to def con levels.

He also had an entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine of Jupiter in Sagittarius trine Neptune trine His Sun Moon – so would be confident, inspired and self-involved.

His Pluto in the 8^th, a placing often found with superstars who have an ability to project an aura, was trine Uranus on his IC, a relic of an unpredictable childhood where his parents often ended up in jail. He had Venus in Capricorn in the 6^th – perhaps a pointer to his eating indulgences.

His strongest Harmonic is his creative 7H, which can be psychologically on the edge as well as being a seeking soul – and shows the cruelty of his life both done to and doing clearly. His breakthrough-genius is also notable.

It’s a miracle he made it to 80.

Iraq, fifteen years on from the aftermath of the catastrophic Bush/Blair invasion, appears to have gone backwards. The initial ‘shock and awe’ attack of 2003 was followed in 2004 by what was ironically described as sovereignty. Since then there have been a series of unstable governments. Recent public protests against political corruption and Iran’s influence over Iraqi politics coupled with the government’s violent response in which 400 have been killed led to the recent resignation of the prime minister.

The defeat of ISIS has left a vacuum in the country and in Syria, which has been filled by forces linked to Iran, Turkey, the United States, and Russia. New intelligence points to Iran stockpiling of missiles in Iraq, which pose a threat to American troops as well as Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration has sent roughly 14,000 additional troops to the region, primarily to staff Navy ships and missile defence systems.

What’s interesting about the Iraq Sovereignty chart, 28 June 2004 10.28am Baghdad, is that it is a Uranus Return on from the Iraq mandate chart of 23 August 1921 6am when the country was carved out of a Middle Eastern map after World War One. Both have Uranus in early Pisces; and coincidentally both have Jupiter in Virgo and the 1921 Pluto is conjunct the 2004 Cancer Sun Saturn. So both charts do appear to hold good. And they are being rattled by the Cancer/Capricorn Eclipses this year and next which usually points to crises.

Both charts have 2021 as an especially tricky year with a blocked Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Sun on the 2004 chart; and a severely jolted Solar Arc Sun square the Uranus on the 1921 Iraq chart in addition to tr Uranus in an explosive and highly-strung square to the Mars Neptune in 2021/22.

Tr Neptune is square the 4th house Pluto on the 2004 chart in 2020 for a discontented population and Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct the Mars in 2022 which will bring more violence/war; and tr Neptune opposes the Jupiter Saturn in the 1921 chart in 2021/22 for lowered hopes and uncertainty.

So it looks as if it’ll rumble on in the same state for some years ahead. The Iraq Attack of 20 March 2003 had the transiting Saturn opposition Pluto and this conjunction of the moment is the half-cycle further on.

Map: https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/complete-map-of-syrian-war-november-update/

Emmanuel Macron’s landmark pension reforms have been met with the largest strikes of his presidency, as French rail workers, air-traffic controllers, teachers and public sector staff took to the streets in resistance to the changes. France has one of the lowest retirement ages and highest public sector costs in Europe; and Macron was voted in on what everyone knows needs done. As per usual pitchforks came out at any hint of a disruption to the ancien regime of generous benefits. 82% of rail drivers are out leading to the cancellation of 90% of regional trains cancelled, half of Paris’s metros are out, with fears it could continue for days.

The bullish, bolshie T Square in the France chart of a revolutionary Uranus opposition Pluto square a never-say-die (and vengeful) Mars in Scorpio has moved by Solar Arc to catch the prevailing Cancer/Capricorn eclipses. And tr Neptune is in an enthusiasm-denting and uncertain square to the Solar Arc Saturn opposition Jupiter in 2020; and in opposition to the 8^th house Mercury – so muddle and mayhem may run on.

Macron’s Presidency chart 14 May 2017 11.25 am Paris is sagging badly till mid this December with tr Neptune square the Mars which usually suggests failing plans; with a setback tr Saturn square the Midheaven exactly now and a blocked tr Saturn conjunct the Pluto in mid this December.

Macron’s personal chart 21 December 1977 10.40am Amiens, France, has his Solar Arc Pluto now conjunct his Midheaven (birth time being exactly accurate) which can lead to power struggles, sometimes loss of reputation or an inability to stand up to stronger forces. With tr Saturn moving through his 12^th house till this coming March and then hovering across his Ascendant backwards and forwards until December 2020, he’s at the end of a successful, responsible phase and heading downwards thereafter. Saturn on his Ascendant which repeats through the coming year will take the shine off his image.

Comedian and television show host Ellen Degeneres who had been a byword for niceness for years appears to be losing her sheen, after several recent missteps. She has admitted her television persona is an act rather than the real her.

Born 26 January 1958 3.30 am Metairie, Louisiana, she has a charming Sun Venus in Aquarius opposition an 8^th house Uranus so she will like to walk her own road and won’t always be good at compromise. Though since that opposition squares onto Neptune, North Node and Jupiter in Scorpio, she will cover over her stubborn streak with a bubbly Pollyanna-ish veneer. She also more markedly has a gritty conjunction of Saturn Mars on her Ascendant which can be short tempered. It trines her upfront Aries Moon so she will be a firecracker in her emotional life; and her Mars (Saturn) is also trine Pluto which is uber-determined.

What will be taking the gloss off her success is tr Saturn moving below her horizon through her lower profile First Quadrant, since 2017 and now at the nadir of that seven year phase moving through her 2^nd house until 2022. It’s a time when individuals no longer feel like pushing ahead as ambitiously as before; and at a deeper level it’s when the old ego starts to be unpicked leading to a withdrawn few years until a new identity with different aims starts to emerge. Those who can’t give up the glitter and glory of their previous existence and push on as before start to slide on banana skins and make misjudgements.

In 2020 tr Uranus will be shaking up her natal Sun and Uranus for a definite rethink about priorities and direction. She also has tr Neptune moving to square her Saturn and then Mars in 2021/22/23 which will be unnerving and uncertain. And as if all that wasn’t enough she’s got her Progressed Moon moving through her 8^th for another two years which is a conflicted time of searching for new values. So a tricky transition patch for a fairly Fixed individual.

Comedian, impressionist, mimic and dancer Stanley Baxter, one of Scotland’s great talents, is still sparkling at 93. He’s been reprised in a TV collage for Christmas with segments from his best-known shows which in their day would get audiences of an unheard of (nowadays) 22 million. They featured pastiches of the musicals he had loved from boyhood and spoofs of Hollywood classics such as Gone with the Wind (Rhett Butler: “I’m going to tear off that fancy dress and smother you with custard, sponge and sherry.” Scarlett O’Hara: “No, I won’t be trifled with.”)

He was born 24 May 1926 2.15am Glasgow, the same year as the Queen (and David Attenborough) so blessed with their longevity. Though according to his biographer his impersonation of HMQ pushed the boundaries a touch and provoked letters from brigadiers in Surrey threatening to have him horsewhipped.

He has a chatty, sharp-witted 3^rd house Gemini Sun and an exuberant Jupiter in Aquarius on his Ascendant opposition Neptune square Saturn opposition Mercury – so a Fixed and enduring Grand Cross. He also has a talented and healing Water Grand Trine of North Node Pluto in Cancer trine Saturn in conscientious Scorpio trine Mars in Pisces; and a Cardinal T Square of a Libra Moon opposition Venus square Pluto in the performing 5^th. For all his bubbly persona on stage and on television he was a private man and very emotional.

He started as a child actor, performed during his national service and later in the Citizens’ Theatre, and for many Glaswegians for years he was the face of Christmas pantomimes, sparking off Scots comedian Jimmy Logan, 4 April 1929 12.10am Glasgow.

They were a good fit since Jimmy Logan’s enthusiastic Sun Jupiter in Aries was resonated with Stanley’s Venus and Moon; and Jimmy’s Mars in Aquarius was conjunct Stanley’s Jupiter for a boisterous chemistry.