Astrology of Today’s News

Michael Sheen, the Welsh actor with an illustrious catalogue stage and screen performances on his CV including biopics as Tony Blair, is expecting a child with his 25 year old Swedish girlfriend. He already has a 20 year old daughter with his first partner Kate Beckinsale.

He was born 5 February 1969, with amateur dramatic parents and worked mainly in the theatre in his early adult career. He’s a Sun Aquarius square a determined Mars in Scorpio which in turn is in a showbizzy conjunction to Neptune. His forced-to-be-self-reliant Saturn in Aries is inconjunct his Mars giving a hard-edge to his performances. He’s also got a lucky, risk-taking, constantly changing Jupiter Uranus in Libra opposition Venus in Aries. He has had a succession of girlfriends but never married. His Virgo Moon is probably conjunct Pluto.

There’s no birth date for his present girlfriend Anna Lundberg but she was born around 1994 when the Uranus Neptune conjunction was in Capricorn which will square his Saturn which might make it an edgy connection. He doesn’t look that enchanted this year with an uncertain, worried tr Neptune conjunct his Sun/Saturn midpoint at the moment; a trapped tr Pluto square his Mars/Pluto midpoint recently and on and off till late 2020; with a discouraging tr Pluto square his Saturn and sextile his Mars this year; and a blocked Solar Arc Pluto square his Sun next year.

He does have tr Pluto trine his Solar Arc Venus this year and next which is emotional and affectionate but that’s fairly obscure.

Pic: IDominick

‘German industry is in the deepest slump since the global financial crisis and threatens to push Europe’s powerhouse economy into full-blown recession.’ Even allowing for economic journalists’s tendency to catastrophise there do appear to be problems in the wheelhouse.

It’s not just the German car industry facing a problem. More than 80pc of Germany’s factories are in outright contraction; with manufacturing activity for the wider eurozone dropping to levels last seen in the depths of the 2012 European debt crisis.

The Bundesbank (Central Bank) chart, 26 July 1957 is in a perilous state at the moment with a high-tension, jolting Solar Arc Saturn opposition Uranus earlier this year; worsening towards a devastating Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Neptune late this year into early 2020. Plus tr Uranus in a series of jangling squares to the Sun this year and Uranus next. It won’t regain confidence till 2022/23 as tr Pluto trines the Jupiter.

The Germany 1 January 1871 chart has a panicky tr Neptune square Jupiter exact now and recurring on and off till late 2020 which is the classic financial bubble-bursting influence, with falsely high hopes deflating. The recent Solar Eclipse was opposition the Germany Sun and conjunct the Germany Midheaven for a crisis of direction. And tr Uranus is conjunct the Germany Taurus Moon sitting on the cusp of the 8^th house of joint finances for an economic upset this year and early next.

The UK chart has the same Capricorn Sun and Cancer Midheaven as Germany so has different crises running in parallel. Tr Uranus into the Germany 8^th which usually bring a period of economic instability should be noted since the UK has the same from 2022 onwards. The EU with the same Capricorn Sun and similar chart axis picked up tr Uranus into the 8^th earlier this year so their financial insecurities picked up earlier than the UK’s which to date isn’t doing badly. Though clearly there are clouds on the horizon.

The Germany chart picks up tr Pluto opposition their 10^th house Uranus for a radical upheaval and change of direction in 2021/22. The Germany chart does not suggest an essentially compliant or cooperative country with Uranus in the 10^th and an uncommitted, evasive Neptune in the 7^th. And indeed the relationship chart between Germany and the EU has been fraught with tensions and difficulties since the beginning which are coming to a head at the moment with tr Uranus elbowing the composite Fixed Grand Cross of Venus opposition Uranus square Mars opposition Moon, from last year through till 2021; with an increasing sense of separation and crisis from tr Saturn and this year’s Eclipses. There’ll be major confusion and disappointment in 2022/23 between the two, with a paralysis of will about how to tackle problems.   The France/Germany relationship chart as well is showing up a sense of loss, confusion and devastation in 2019/2020; with a major turning point in 2022/23 which could put unbearable pressure on their relationship, stretching it to breaking point.

The EU chart has the Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the 2^nd house financial Neptune now which is creating an earthquake of panic; with the Solar Arc Midheaven approaching an exact conjunction to the Pluto within three months whichwill grind progress to a dead-halt and perhaps drag dirty-dealing into the open. Plus tr Uranus is starting  three years explosive, cage-rattling of the EU’s central Fixed Grand Cross. This year and early next a highly-strung, nerve-stretched tr Uranus is opposition Neptune and worse the conjunction to the 8^th house Moon picks up from July 2020 and squares the Uranus at the same time, running through 2021 as well – precipitating not only a financial disruption of considerable proportions but also triggering a sharp change of plan for the longer term.

Tr Neptune is also square the 3rd house Saturn in 2020/21 which will lead to uncertainty and significant worry. As well as communication and transport difficulties.

Everywhere going into a melting pot.

Chris Evans, best known for his superhero Marvel comic roles, will appear in a Netflix docu-drama airing late this month playing a Mossad agent involved in smuggling Jewish-Ethiopians into Israel in the 1980s. He says he’s finished with his superheroes and wants ultimately to give up acting for directing.

Born 13 June 1981 6.16pm Boston, Massachusetts, he has an intense and secretive Gemini Sun on the cusp of his 8^th house in a creative opposition to Neptune and an influential trine to Pluto. He has the chart to make waves. He has a hidden and also emotionally intense 12^th house Scorpio Moon trine an 8^th house Venus in Cancer, so no surprises he keeps his relationships under wraps. His Mars in feisty Gemini is in his 7^th so he can express himself assertively – on Trump, gay marriage, Roe v Wade etc – and that trines an idealistic Jupiter Saturn in Libra in his 10^th.

He’s an interesting personality, more than his blockbuster roles might suggest. With Saturn edging its way out of his 2^nd house he will be looking ahead to start building his career in a new direction over the coming two decades plus. It’ll take him time to establish what he really wants to be doing but he’s clearly got talent and motivation.

There’s nothing much to suggest an emotional commitment coming soon, indeed there may be an upheaval or two soon with his Progressed Venus square his Uranus. And when he does he’ll no doubt make the effort to hide it from view.

Faye Dunaway has been fired from a one woman stage show in which she played Katherine Hepburn after what is described as an altercation with a crew member and creating a hostile work atmosphere. The play was due to transfer from Boston to Broadway.

She’s clearly an acquired or maybe more accurately a specialised taste. Polanski referred to her as “a gigantic pain in the ass” on the set of Chinatown; Bette Davis said she was the worst person she has ever worked with, calling her “totally impossible”. But others who worked with her through a long, award-strewn career are wholehearted fans.

Born 14 January 1941 8.15pm Bascom, Florida, she has an Earth Grand Trine of Sun Mercury in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune – practical, grounded in the material world, creative. She’s also got Saturn Jupiter in Taurus square Pluto and trine Venus in Capricorn – very Fixed to the point of unyielding, confident to over-pushy from Jupiter Pluto. Her hidden 12^th house Leo Moon is trine Mars and square Saturn – not a ball of marshmallow emotionally, that’s for sure. Quite hard, angry. A heavyweight personality.

At the moment exactly she has tr Uranus conjunct her Jupiter/Saturn midpoint which often accompanies career losses; as well oddly enough as tr Uranus conjunct her Jupiter which normally suggests a lucky break. But in her case since it’s tied into Saturn and Pluto will be causing a fair upheaval. With a run of disappointments through this autumn from Neptune transits. Her Progressed Mars is moving over the next two or three years to oppose her Pluto which will make her feel very stuck.

The promise was a love-bombing that would unite the Tory Party. The reality was a savage pruning of moderates and remainers and the appointment of a Cabinet of hardcore Brexiteers. Typical lying, vengeful Boris, now nicknamed The Liar King by cartoonists. In the ‘midnight massacre’ Jeremy Hunt, who got 40% (of the admittedly miniscule Tory vote) was ousted since he wouldn’t accept a demotion. It may have pleasured Boris with his dream of a Godfather’s bloody revenge but it stocks the backbenches with a murder of magpies, an unkindness of ravens and a parliament of magpies all ready to pounce.

In a quick skip through the charts of the oddball collection now in the Cabinet what stands out as striking is the emphasis on strongly Mutable charts, which Boris and Dominic Cummings certainly have, as do Priti Patel, Sajid Javid, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Dominic Raab, Ben Wallace, Michael Gove, Stephen Barclay.

Mutable energy – Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces – is stimulating if not overly-nerve-stretched, constantly restless and bored, lives moment to moment, is not goal-oriented or a forward-planner, can lack discipline and concentration. In a crisis too much Mutable acts like a windmill in a storm, flying off in all directions. Mutable tends to react to prevailing circumstances rather than initiate new projects and isn’t good at standing firm over the long haul. Couldn’t be more different from stolid, unbudgeable Theresa May – or indeed the incredibly Fixed EU.

There are also a fair sprinkling of Saturn Neptunes in opposition or square which in my experience are not decisive and lack the killer push-through mentality to get things done.

Priti Patel, 29 March 1972, now Home Secretary, is a Sun Mercury in Aries opposition Uranus Moon (Pluto) square Jupiter in Capricorn – pro-active, impulsive, overly-confident; with a hard-edged and toxic Mars Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune, trine/sextile Pluto – not renowned as a team player, having resigned as international development minister in 2017 over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials that breached diplomatic protocol. She’s far-right on immigration and many other areas that she now presides over.

She’s got an exceptionally rocky, crises-strewn and bad-tempered ride late September to late October this year; is at odds with Boris late September to mid November; with major ructions in November into December which are showing up on most of the connected charts. And she’s in meltdown from late December to late February – again when many of the Cabinet charts are showing extreme stress.

Sajid Javid, now Chancellor, 5 December 1969, is a Sun Sagittarius with a Libra Moon; a publicity-attracting Mars square Neptune; and a wobbly hates-failure Jupiter opposition Saturn. He again has a major hiccup mid September to mid October, is extremely anxious mid November to mid December; severely jolted mid December to early February 2020; and utterly confused and devastated from late January 2020. His relationship with Boris is unstable and conflicted at best and is slithering and sliding over the next two years.

Dominic Raab, the new Foreign Secretary who has to take over the Iran situation, 25 February 1974, is a Sun Mercury in Pisces square Neptune. He’s on a confidence slide downhill late September to mid November; and into catastrophe territory from mid December to early February 2020, that last is a time when his relationship with Boris could snap altogether as tr Uranus is conjunct their composite Sun.

Rees-Mogg, now Leader of the House, is also into calamity country from mid December to early February with tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint.

I know I’m not supposed to have strong political views and I don’t much like any of them but frankly all I’m praying for – probably delusionally – is that Corbyn and Momentum get pushed off stage and Keir Starmer put in as Labour leader. Faced with this bunch they’d walk an election.

The royal handshake which anointed Boris as PM happened around 3.12 pm this afternoon. He then went onto to make a rabble- rousing speech declaring it would be a do-or-die exit on October 31^st. Whether this is a calculated negotiating strategy to force the EU into re-setting their demands isn’t clear, but it’s high-risk, since they may not budge and all the advice about tumbling out on Halloween, with precious little prepared, points to major problems – logistical and economic.

His Government chart doesn’t have the unbelievably will-sapping and lacklustre aspects which Theresa May’s had with its Full Moon opposition Neptune. But this one is pressured from the heavy-duty Saturn Pluto in the 3rd house of communication and transport and a heavily populated 9^th house of foreign affairs and legal arguments.

Two key configurations are worth pondering – there’s a Cardinal T Square of Mercury Venus in Cancer opposition Pluto square a 6^th house Aries Moon which suggests an overly-emotional approach to problems, extreme defensiveness, impulsiveness, bad-temper and an insistence on following a chosen path whatever the consequences. The 6^th house rules health, workers, civil servants and the armed forces.

There’s also a Yod of Neptune sextile Saturn inconjunct Mars in flamboyant Leo pointing to a tendency to plunge ahead without necessarily having a sensible plan or direction. It can be self-defeating though it can also be decisive about cutting ties with the past.

The Leo Sun is in no-compromise square to Uranus which can be wilful and erratic as well as helpful for forging a new path. Uranus is trine the midheaven pointing to ingenuity about new paths to be followed.

Expansive Jupiter is an over-spender in the 2^nd house of finances in an enthusiastic trine to Mars and a head-in-the-clouds square to Neptune.

The midpoints aren’t overly encouraging with the Sun in a setback-prone square to Mars/Saturn and conjunct an argumentative Mars/Node; and Neptune = Mars/Pluto which could induce paralysis or be surrounded by deceit.

Boris’s relationship chart with Ursula von der Leyen, the new EU President, is implacably hostile since both have Mars square Pluto; and that’s repeated in Boris’s relationship chart with the EU which has a Mars opposition Pluto, not surprising given the lies he’s told about them over the years.

His relationship with Trump is certainly premised on joint super-ambition with a composite Sun trine Neptune sextile Pluto, veering to the fanatical with Neptune square Uranus; and a possessive, controlling Moon square Pluto. Both birth times being sound, tr Neptune will square the MC through this year and next and square the Ascendant next year – undermining the ties that bind.

On Boris’s astrocartography – Iran is not well favoured having his Mars on the IC there.

His Solar Return for this year June 2019 to June 2020 is horrendous with  a trapped, scary, enfuriatingly frustrated Mars Mercury in the 7th opposition Saturn Pluto and an afflicted mis-communicating Neptune in the 3rd.

Boris’s relationship with Leo Varadkar, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland, crucially involved in the backstop and frictionless border with Northern Ireland talks, is grim at the best of times with a hostile, resentful, power struggling composite Mars opposition Pluto and a differing-agenda, needs-space, uncompromising composite Sun opposition Uranus. September 8^th to 29th looks especially chilly between them with tr Saturn square the Sun and Uranus. Even before then, August 13^th till late September is on a downward spiral; and mid October to mid November over the putative no-deal exit is at daggers-drawn and in disaster-mode.

Dominic Cummings, a ‘career psychopath’ according to David Cameron, has been appointed as Boris’s adviser in No 10. He masterminded the Leave campaign, was behind the infamous ‘£350 million-a-week for the NHS’ claim on red buses, and the ‘take back control’ catchphrase. He was later found in contempt of Parliament for refusing to answer MPs questions about the campaign and declined to assist the Parliamentary investigation into claims that Cambridge Analytica used illegally harvested Facebook data of millions of users that used to sway the Brexit vote. Sharp tongued, he doesn’t hold back from insulting even his own side. In 2017 he described David Davis, then the Brexit secretary, as ‘thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus’.

He ought to be a weathervane for what comes next.

Born 25 November 1971 in Durham, he got an Oxford First in Ancient and Modern History, spent three years in Russia on a failed business venture and then moved into politics. He’s regarded as part brilliant part mad and tricky to get along with.

He has an exact, slippery Sun Neptune in Sagittarius in a neurotic opposition to Saturn in Gemini squaring onto a scattered, high-wire Mars in Pisces. Shades of Boris’s focal point Mars in Gemini. It’s not an obvious pairing since Boris’s Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Mars collide with Dominic’s Mars Sun, Neptune, Saturn. Though Dominic’s Venus Mercury in Sagittarius do chime with Boris’s Gemini Sun Venus. Both are exceptionally fragmented, disorganised and find focus difficult.

Their relationship chart is tricky with a controlling composite Sun Pluto which can be helpful for a joint transformative venture but can also run all too easily into power struggles. There’s also a gritty, bad-tempered composite Mars Saturn conjunction on the apex focal point of a Yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto – that suggests a relationship critical to both lives which will completely alter their destiny – for good or ill. Plus a delusional, head-in-the-clouds Jupiter square Neptune.

Their connection is mightily strained now till late August with tr Pluto square the composite Mars, and on a slide from mid November to mid December which is a time that also looks ropey on Boris’s personal chart.

Cummings’ own chart doesn’t look remotely upbeat at this promotion – if anything he’s in a meltdown panic of bad-temper and anxiety with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun/Mars, his Mars/Neptune and square his Mars/Saturn midpoints. That looks catastrophic. He’s got another exceedingly jangled and worrisome patch mid-December to early February. Not exactly running to plan.

It’s ironic – maybe not – that the Netflix documentary The Great Hack exposing Cambridge Analytica and election manipulation airs tonight. Aaron Banks the chief Leave donor has been trying to get it shut down.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/23/the-great-hack-review-cambridge-analytica-facebook-carole-cadwalladr-arron-banks

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Boris Johnson was announced as new Tory Party leader at 12.05 today though he technically does not become Prime Minister until he has seen the Queen tomorrow after Theresa May’s exit. He won by a 2 to 1 majority though it wasn’t quite as much of a wipe-out for Hunt as had been anticipated.

Johnson inherits a considerable mess, much of it his own making, having flannelled and lied his way through the Brexit referendum and more recently has been making all manner of promises which have little hope of being delivered – on Irish backstop, leaving come hell or high water on October 31^st, easy-peasy trade deals etc. And he has even less of a slender majority than Theresa May with ministers resigning over his NO-Deal strategy and coups being planned left, right and centre.

Rachel Sylvester in the Times says what will undo him is his need to be loved. She quotes an MP who says he seems terrified at the thought of having to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions. “Through his whole life Boris has had somebody who makes things OK. He’s always had a fixer but Brexit is unfixable. He knows he’s in trouble. I saw it in his eyes. He’s scared of failure and of being found out. He sold something that he knows he can’t deliver and now the facts are going to catch up with him. He can see the train coming down the track that’s going to destroy him.”

That pretty much sums up most of the comments about his elevation. He does have charm as well as a ferocious temper and a vengeful streak, but is bad with detail and invents facts to suit himself. He’ll be very exposed in Downing Street.

The chart of his election will be superseded tomorrow by his acceptance as PM by HM Queen, which will be the more significant, but for what it’s worth – there’s an unsettled, divisive Sun square Uranus with Uranus also in a volatile, argumentative square to Mars in flashy Leo. A vulnerable, dependent-on-support 7^th house Aries Moon does trine Mars and Jupiter in the 3^rd which could be inspirational, will certainly foster a strong sense of self-belief, is vitality plus, attention demanding, not humble, adventurous. There’s also a head-in-the-clouds, over-hopeful, over-promising Jupiter square Neptune. What will pull away from all the enthusiasm and general charm being sprayed around by a 10^th house Venus, is Saturn on the IC conjunct Pluto and opposition the North Node. Domestic hardship and mutinous, resentful natives will take the shine off the hot air. And the Sun square the Mars/Saturn midpoint and conjunct Mars/Node does suggest major setbacks and running arguments.

His own chart, birth time of 2pm being accurate or thereabouts, does have his Solar Arc Midheaven moving to oppose his Saturn this year and then conjunct his Uranus (conjunct Pluto) which will be very stop-start and prone to sudden jolts and changes of direction. There’s nothing too secure or stable from that career-wise. And he’s got a considerable emotional shock coming next year with his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Moon.

On transits to midpoints he does look marginally unnerved at the moment as well as trapped until late August; really tossed around mid September to mid October; and in a meltdown of panic mid November to mid December.

Best wait for tomorrow for the new Johnson Government chart.

The trail of damage left behind by ‘fantasist’ Carl Beech’s lies about sexual abuse is considerable, not just for those who were falsely accused, but also for those struggling to get their genuine stories heard and believed. He claimed various high level political and military individuals in a paedophile ring were guilty of heinous abuse, which stories were swallowed hook, line and sinker by a gullible police force, over-reacting against their earlier wilful blindness of abuse cases – and Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson stirring up a media storm.

Certain of Beech’s stories involved physical torture which could have quickly been disproven by the simple remedy of a medical examination as could other details of his stories. That there will be abusers amongst the highest and mightiest in the land is hardly a stretch of the imagination, given Cyril Smith, Jimmy Savile etc. Pinning down solid evidence is something else even when stories are common currency amongst the gin-drinking classes and regularly appear lightly-fictionalised in crime novels.

Beech, 23 January 1968, Wrexham (cps.gov) grew up overly attached to his mother, with his father disappearing earlier on and being replaced by an alcoholic, violent military stepfather. Beech learnt he could gain his mother’s sympathy by lying; and went on in adult life to have a middle-class career as an NHS manager, was a school governor and assisted the NSPCC, all of which helped give him credibility when he decided to exploit the post-Savile hysteria. He received financial compensation for his alleged abuse; and was found to have a stash of child porn when he was arrested.

Beech is a Sun Aquarius on one leg of a Yod, sextile Saturn in Aries inconjunct a self-aggrandising Jupiter in Virgo which in turn is in an opportunistic, chancer’s opposition to Mars in Pisces. His Venus in Sagittarius squares Uranus Pluto making him emotionally erratic and unpredictable. His intense Scorpio Moon is possibly trine Mars adding another scratchy edge to his emotional responses. His Neptune is on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to Sun trine Uranus, giving him a fanatical streak. His Sun is conjunct the neurotic/hysterical Saturn/Neptune midpoint and is also in aspect to his ruthless Mars/Pluto.

His Solar Arc Mars squares his Sun exactly this year for a considerable shock.

Tom Watson, 8 January 1967, a Sun Capricorn square Mars in Libra with Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square a Sagittarius Moon does have some cross overs with Beech since Beech’s Sun is conjunct Watson’s Venus; and Beech’s Venus is conjunct Watson’s Moon. Though their relationship chart is highly stressed with a composite Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Mars; and prone to illusion/delusion with an emphasised Neptune.

There are times one despairs of the police – either they look the other way or they run with the wrong story which isn’t checked out for too long.