Astrology of Today’s News

(Cartoon: The Times Peter Brookes)

Moving ahead it’s tricky to see how the young-ish couple will move back from the debacle since there’s been such a deluge of criticism heaped on them. But there again Sophie Wessex and others recovered from mishaps in the past and went on to be accepted.

Harry is a hot-head with not great judgement with his Virgo Sun square Mars and Neptune in Sagittarius and his Mercury in Virgo square Uranus – so an overly-impulsive and high-wire temperament with a tendency to dreams and illusions as well as addictive-prone. Plus he has a dose of stubbornness from a Taurus Moon and Saturn Pluto in Scorpio. And last but not least he has a head-in-the-clouds Neptune Jupiter in the 12^th.

His Saturn in Scorpio will give him a leaning towards obsessiveness as will his 8^th house Sun. And his Taurus Sun will make it tricky for him to let go hurts.

At the moment his Progressed Mars is sitting on his Ascendant stoking up his assertive streak; and his Progressed Moon is moving through his 8^th house for another almost two years which is a conflicted often anguished time of searching for new values. 2021 will be a difficult year with tr Neptune in a debilitating opposition to his Sun and tr Saturn moving into his 2^nd house of finances bringing cash shortages and cutbacks until 2025. Tr Uranus will move across his IC in 2022 which suggests a major upheaval and relocation with a trapped, blocked Solar Arc Sun conjunct Pluto in 2023, and considerable setbacks and discouragement in 2025 from Solar Arc Saturn square his Sun. So not an easy furrow ahead to plough as tr Saturn rolls on through his low profile first quadrant for the rest of the decade; and will push him deeper into unresolved psychological issues between 2021 to 2025.

Meghan has been over-reactive recently with her Progressed Mars conjunct her Mercury and her Progressed Mercury square her excitable Mars in Cancer about a year back. Her Mars coincidentally is conjunct the Queen’s relentlessly dutiful 6^th house Pluto for a clash of agendas. Meghan has her Progressed Moon moving exactly now into her 8^th house for the next two years which, as it is for Harry, is an emotionally charged time, with power struggles bringing draining experiences and money being one area of contention.

Tr Saturn is about to move across her Descendant from later this month for a three year stretch of chillier close relationships when flaws begin to show and there’s more negativity around. It can also indicate social or public popularity for celebrity types. What will make it more intense is tr Pluto from late February also moving into her 7^th to stay for many years ahead which will make for power struggles and tensions in close relationships. Her morale will sag with tr Neptune opposition her Solar Arc Sun from late March 2020 for a year thereafter. She’ll be prone to outbursts with tr Uranus square her Mercury this coming April and will experience a major upheaval with tr Uranus squares her Sun in 2021.

Any joint or commercial set up will move through sticky times from early 2022 till late 2024 with tr Saturn moving through her 8^th. It will throw her back on her own resources financially and emotionally and is generally a tight time on the cash front.

Odd other non-astrological thoughts. If you’re in the public eye don’t read the media. Liz Taylor who started as a child star read no magazines or newspapers about herself. Sensible.

The media can be scabrous – they can also be helpful for publicising good causes like Invictus. Diana made a pact with the devil when she got into bed with them to fight her own private vendetta. But making an enemy of them is equally as stupid and equally as likely to blowback. Kate Middleton had fairly horrendous media coverage for years and almost never reacted except over sunbathing pics. Ditto Camilla. They kept their heads down and weathered the storms. The Princess Royal is a class act for coping with (ducking) the media. Her romantic life has been colourful over the years but little has emerged. Charles and sons went to Gstaad to ski and complained about photographers. Anne, I think, went to Norway to ski and I never saw a pic of her.

Not everything you read in the media as hard fact is true but if the comments that Meghan and Harry reacted badly to being ‘ousted’ by the four generation pics of Queen, Charles, William and little George, then I despair. For years we had the whining Princess Margaret kvetching about having to walk behind the Queen and never being first. She had all the money, residences and wealthy friends she could ask for and could have done anything with her life. 99.99% plus of the population never get to be first.

Carlos Ghosn who rose to super-hero status as ‘Mr Fix-It’ for Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, then dramatically tumbled off his perch, accused of under-reporting his earnings, misuse of company assets and misappropriations of Nissan funds, made a bold bid for freedom as he escaped from Japan to the Lebanon. He said “I didn’t escape because I was guilty. I escaped because I had zero chance of a fair trial.” Lebanon does not extradite its nationals but are uncomfortable about the diplomatic position they have been put in.

Born 9 March 1954 in Brazil, Ghosn is a Lebanese-Brazilian-French, multi-lingual and from an entrepreneurial family. He has a Pisces Sun on the focal point of a Mutable T Square to a risk-taking, adventurous (and opportunistic) Mars in Sagittarius opposition Jupiter. Such a Sun can have a good deal to offer but is often arrogant, know-it-all and headstrong, and is very driven. Tr Neptune has been in a panicky-failure square to his Mars through his arrest in 2019 and is moving to square his Jupiter from late January 2020 and conjunct his Sun from late February and those influences repeat on and off until late January 2021. So a two year plus run of undermining Neptunian hard aspects moving round his central T square.

Tr Pluto was also opposing his Uranus in Cancer through 2018/2019 for a major upheaval; and his Uranus catches the Lunar Eclipse this week as does the mid 2020 Lunar Eclipse – so hiding out in the Lebanon won’t be without its problems.

He should bounce back by 2021 as his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto; though he’ll be muddled at the same time with tr Pluto square his Neptune.

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The gloves are off as the media launches a full-scale attack on the Sussexes for their disrespect of the Queen. Their self-centred and ill-thought-through demand, thrown into the public domain without consultation, to have their cake and eat it at a time when the monarch and consort are both well into their nineties won’t be forgotten. Their bizarre statement indicates they want to be financially independent – apart presumably from a chunky annual sum from the Duchy of Cornwall and taxpayer-funded security – with income presumably rolling in from brand Royal.

Astrologically the Queen was always in for a crises-ridden two years in 2019/20 with her hard-working Pluto in Cancer and Cancer North Node as well as her Capricorn Ascendant catching not only the eclipses but also tr Saturn Pluto crossing into her First House casting a shadow on her image. A different temperament might be inclined to throw duty to one side and retreat into peace and quiet. Certainly with Saturn now moving into her First Quadrant she’ll increasingly want to do less ahead, but she’s unlikely to opt for the nuclear option of abdication. Ignoring tr Saturn through the 1^st house can result in health issues emerging.

The UK chart also with its 10^th house Cancer Moon catching this week’s Cancer/Capricorn Lunar Eclipse and the recent tr Saturn opposition was always due for a shift amongst the Royals. The 10^th house in mundane astrology is associated with the ruling classes, including the monarchy.

It does make more sense of the Sussexes’ relationship chart. Making negative comments at the time of a blissed-out engagement and wedding is always tricky. But it’s now clear that the composite Moon square Saturn Pluto has played its part in this decision. It suggests two things. One is that family restriction is felt as a major impediment, which showed up early in Meghan’s own family dramas, and now with the Royals. The second is that Saturn Pluto is always experienced as a problem bearing down from the outside. The reality is that the heavy, dark, repressive energy of Saturn Pluto is an internal dynamic in the relationship itself. That will become abundantly clear from late this February onwards until 2023 as tr Pluto starts to square the composite Saturn, then Pluto then oppose the composite Moon in 2022/23 – which will put massive pressure on their togetherness.

Their relationship chart also has a needs-space composite Uranus square Sun, which does suggest a relationship where each partner needs to be free to pursue their individual wishes which are likely to be very different. There’s also an ego-clash from another perspective with a composite Mars square Neptune, which suggests if one succeeds, the other feels diminished – so it isn’t mutually supportive.

Her Uranus falls in his 10^th so she was always going to change the trajectory of his life; and her Uranus also opposes his 4^th house Taurus Moon pulling him away from family security.

They are at very different times in their respective lives – he has tr Saturn moving through his low profile first quadrant for the rest of this decade so will be happy to retreat into a backwater. He has a panicky-failure tr Neptune square his Mars until late this month and then tr Neptune in an undermining opposition to his Virgo Sun 2021/22. His Sun/Moon midpoint at 22 Cancer is also catching the tr Saturn Pluto opposition exactly – which will affect his public popularity, but also indicates a good deal of inner turmoil about what he actually wants from his marriage and indeed from his life. His Solar Arc Moon is also opposing his 12^th house Neptune over coming months adding another layer of emotional and family confusion into the mix.

She on the other hand has tr Saturn about to move across her Descendant and upwards in her chart indicating increasing ambition in the fourteen years ahead. She also has tr Saturn and tr Pluto about to move across her Descendant into her 7^th which does suggest a troubled relationship phase ahead not only with her marriage partner but also the public.

Relations between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royals are all at sixes and sevens this year and ahead; with Will and Harry’s connection showing a rupture until mid decade. The Queen looks confused and disappointed with Meghan and irritated with Harry.

Odd non-astrological thoughts. I think Meghan has delusions of grandeur – she was a jobbing actress with a not-bad gig as six-down-the-cast-list in a watchable but not spectacularly successful TV series. Suddenly she’s off to a $750,000 baby shower in New York, holidaying with Elton John and partying with global celebrities, getting bizarrely precious about her privacy and the criticism of contradictions between her ‘woke’ eco-warrior stuff and private jetting around. She’s a Leo with Jupiter Saturn in Libra, both of which can lead to an over-estimation of self; and the Leo Sun also has a tendency to get overly defensive about criticism.

Prince Harry’s obsession about his mother and the paparazzi has always seemed to me to be a touch uninsightful given Diana’s enthusiastic use of the media when it suited her purposes. Often children of split marriages idealise one parent and vilify the other since it’s easier than seeing both as flawed or a mix of good and not so great. Given that he can’t see Diana as she was with pluses and minuses, he’s likely to not see the reality of any partners in adult life he is attracted to.

This story is likely to run and run.

The Lunar Eclipse on Friday at 19 degrees Cancer/Capricorn is closely entwined with the exact Saturn Pluto conjunction at 22 Capricorn, the only one for the year of those two heavyweight outer planets, whose effect is likely to linger. There’ll be a sombre mood with a sense of being hemmed in by restrictions. Progress will only be made after considerable effort and teeth-gritting perseverance. There is awesome strength and endurance in Saturn Pluto but little flexibility and less sentiment. It is sometimes referred to as the sign of the black magician, with an ability to wield occult power.

The eclipsed Full Moon is trine/sextile Neptune which may arguably soften the effect slightly. But it could also add a confused, delusional or megalomaniac streak. The ‘lucky’ Jupiter trine Uranus is still in orb though not tied into the eclipse.

Located to Washington, DC, it puts Mars conjunct the Descendant, stirring up a belligerent mood. There’s nothing much angular for Teheran.

The Saturn Pluto lines tied into the Midheaven fall through central United States and Canada. Saturn Pluto on the Ascendant runs through eastern Australia which makes sense of the blackened devastation there. Saturn Pluto on the IC runs through western India and up through central Russia.

Seberg, out in UK cinemas this Friday, isn’t a straight biopic about Jean Seberg, the actress once described as “the golden sunflower girl” from the Midwest who went on to become the darling of the French New Wave cinema after Jean-Luc Godard immortalized her in Breathless. Its focus is her deadly entanglement with the FBI who admitted days after her suicide at 40 that, under J Edgar Hoover’s instruction, they had plotted to ruin her reputation because of her involvement in political causes and her support of the Black Panther Party. They planted the false rumour that Seberg was pregnant by a Black Panther Party member to “cheapen her image” with the American public. Gossip columnists followed the false leads and her life started to come apart, with the baby she was carrying, arriving prematurely and dying.

She had a stream of Hollywood hits including Otto Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse but she became increasingly tormented by the FBI smear campaign. She was found dead from an overdose in her car in Paris aged 40, her body badly decomposed. It was written off as suicide though there were questions about whether she’d been helped.

She was born 13 November 1938 5.15 am Marshalltown, Iowa and started acting in her late teens. Her emotional life was complicated – with a brief early abusive marriage; then she hitched up with novelist Romain Gary and had a son; then she had a daughter who died by a student revolutionary; followed by a third husband whom she left for an Algerian who persuaded her to cash in her flat and give him the money before she died. There were stories of multiple failed suicide attempts before. Romain Gary blamed the FBI for her deteriorated mental state.

She was a Sun Scorpio opposition a 7^th house Uranus, which would go a long way to explain her constantly revolving partners. That opposition squared onto Jupiter in Aquarius so she did have confidence and would have felt no inclination to put limits on what she wanted. She also has a harsh, hard-edged Mars opposition Saturn, which would be why she kept attracting herself into abusive relationships. She also had an intensely possessive and controlling Moon Pluto in Leo on her Midheaven.

When she died tr Uranus in Scorpio was hovering around the opposition to her natal Uranus and moving to conjunct her Sun which would make her excessively restless. But more than that it was emotionally a very stressed and depressing time with her Solar Arc Venus square her destructive Mars and Saturn; and tr Saturn exactly conjunct her Solar Arc Moon (and Pluto).

Such a muddled life with a tragic and sordid end.

Add on: J Edgar Hover: 1 January 1895 7.30am Washington, DC.

Hoover’s deeply unpleasant and cruel Mars in Taurus opposition Saturn Midheaven in Scorpio squared onto her Moon Pluto Midheaven which would certainly set her up as a target for his destructive impulses and make them implacable enemies. His Capricorn Sun squared her Mars opposition Saturn which had already attracted to her abusive situations – and this was just another one of a different order. His Uranus was conjunct her Sun upending her life and image. And his scandal-prone Neptune Pluto fell in her 8^th for behind-the-scenes smears. A mismatch made in hell.

Adele having left a failed marriage has also shed three stone (42 pounds) to be a lithe shadow of her former self. Despite the usual snowflakey howls of fat-shaming about making comment, she does look much better and happier.

Born 5 May 1988 8.19 am London, she’s a Sun Jupiter in indulgent Taurus opposition Pluto square Mars; with her 6^th house Moon opposition Venus in the 12^th. Taurus is a great lover of food; Moon Venus will reach for sweet treats when emotional lacks loom large; and often women with Mars Pluto in their charts use weight as a defence against perceived threats.

She has had a rocky relationship with her father who split from her mother when she was three and in later years succumbed to alcoholism and a few years back made ill-advised remarks about her lack of a love life, after which they haven’t been in touch.

Her marriage to financier Simon Konecki, 17 April 1974, would be fraught and at times scary with his Mars Saturn in Gemini conjunct her Venus and opposition her Moon; and their relationship chart has an angry and frustrating composite Mars opposition Pluto which would make for exceptionally challenging chemistry. She also suffered from post-natal depression and anxiety disorder after the birth of her son seven years back. Her 6^th house Moon will make her especially prone to somatising her emotions, so her body will take the strain of what is bothering her.

In 2016 tr Saturn started to move into and through her 6^th house of health which is always a time of getting serious about fitness, physical lifestyle and health.

She’ll probably always fight a battle of yo-yo-ing weight with Taurus and a sugary Venus Moon, but she must be pleased with herself at the moment.

Tr Saturn immediately and then tr Pluto next year will move into her 8^th house which will be a more sombre phase with a good deal ongoing either financial or in terms of other restrictions. She’ll need to battle on. By 2021 tr Uranus will start several years of hard aspects to her Fixed T Square of Pluto, Jupiter, Sun and Mars – there will be highs and lucky breaks as well as forced changes which she won’t find easy having such a Fixed chart.

Pic 2016: Mark E

Another same-day headliner with surprisingly similar astro-patterns to Sinaga is investment manager Neil Woodford. His company made heavy losses which trapped hundreds of thousands of investors without access to their cash and shrunk their capital by a considerable margin. Despite that he and his partner took out £13.8 million in the months before the company imploded, which brings a total of £112m in dividends to the pair since the Woodford Equity Income fund was launched in 2014. He was fired in 2019.

Born 2 March 1960 he’s a Sun Pisces opposition Pluto; with Venus Mars conjunct in Aquarius square Neptune; and a Taurus Moon. Not, I hasten to add, that there’s any suggestion of him having the same proclivities as Sinaga – just interesting to see how similar astrology can have a different outcome in practice. Passionate enthusiasm from Venus Mars with a Neptunian bent. A controlling Pisces with an Earthy, indulgent Moon.

Woodford does have an exceptionally strong 9^th Harmonic which is often found with those who prize money about morals – Madoff etc.

His Saturn in Capricorn is catching the two Cardinal Lunar Eclipses this year which might suggest he’ll get his comeuppance though he also has some undeservedly lucky Jupiter around. But 2021/22 are ‘collision’ years with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars/Saturn midpoint so he won’t escape unscathed.  Gordon Gekko lives on despite the crash.

Mike Pompeo appears to have taken ownership of the Soleimani killing alongside Trump and all matters of defence, as he dominates the airwaves, talking about troop deployments, deterrence and the likelihood of American bombs raining down on Iranian soil. He’s definitely pumped up by the upcoming January 10^th Lunar Eclipse at 20 degrees Cancer/Capricorn as it collides with his Mars in Capricorn opposition Cancer Moon, which will make him more combative and aggressive than usual. His Capricorn Sun would also get an over- confidence surge from the late December Capricorn Solar Eclipse conjunct Jupiter.

Moving ahead, March looks like an accident or disaster-prone month for him from 9^th to 28 with tr Uranus square his Mars/Saturn midpoint. Which is when there’s high alert on the Israel and Hezbollah charts as well as up in the celestial sphere (see post below – ME sandstorms January 5^th.)

On his Secretary of State chart, 26 April 2018 2pm, the ruthless Mars Pluto in Capricorn is catching this upcoming Lunar Eclipse almost exactly. He will be set back on his heels in April and then on a downhill slide of morale, confidence and popularity from late April to late August with tr Neptune hitting on two Jupiter midpoints, one Mars and one Uranus midpoint.

His relationship chart with Trump is far from being as cosy as it looks with a composite Saturn Venus opposition Mars – suited maybe to joint military activity, but with an underlying strand of resentment and aggravation which will erupt into the open in May and June as tr Uranus throws in a firecracker or two into the mix, with rumblings before then.

If the Iranian escapade backfires badly, Trump will toss him overboard without a second thought. And Trump is looking hemmed in every which way from late January onwards with risk attached. Pompeo’s chart relocated to Teheran has Mars on the IC which is not a propitious sign.

Mike Pence has also been scuttling around doing his bit to cheerlead the Trump wagon train along. He has an undermining tr Neptune square his Gemini Sun until late this month and is more confused than he sounds with tr Pluto square his Neptune/Node till later this month as well. Then he’s got jolts, jangles and risk of violence mid February to early March from tr Uranus opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoint and square his Mars; and more disruption with threat of violence or at least excessive stress late February till early July with tr Pluto square his Saturn/Uranus midpoint. His relationship with Trump will be chilly early March and starting a major slide into disappointment from late March to late April with tr Neptune square the composite Sun and that repeats on and off till early 2021. Tr Saturn is square his Mars across the Inauguration which usually brings a considerable setback.

For Eclipse watchers: Jared Kushner with a 20 degree Capricorn Sun, Eric Trump with a 15 degree Capricorn Sun; and Don Jnr with his Sun Venus in Capricorn square Pluto – are all in for a challenging year.

It’s not that the world isn’t a better place without Soleimani, to which many Iranians would agree, but doing it in such a flagrant, provocative way was narcissistic lunacy. Typical. Better to have used proxies with deniability which would have solved the S problem without giving rise to the inevitable explosive response.

A churchgoing PhD student has been named as the world’s worst serial rapist. Reynhard Sinaga, 36, preyed on at least 195 young men and incapacitated his mainly heterosexual victims with the date rape drug GHB before filming his attacks. He was convicted of 159 attacks, including 136 rapes, eight attempted rapes and 15 indecent assaults against 48 victims in Manchester after four trials were held over 18 months.

He was born on 19 February 1983 in Indonesia where homosexuality is either illegal or frowned on to a rich family. Their money allowed him to play the eternal student in the UK for the past 12 years.

He was a final degree Sun Aquarius or Pisces trine Pluto in Libra and Saturn in early Scorpio and sextile Neptune – so a hard, unyielding temperament with a delusional, tinged-with-megalomania Neptunian bent.

He doesn’t have the brutal Mars Pluto or cruel Mars Saturn you might expect. What he does have is an exact Venus conjunct Mars in Pisces – a placing he shares with Jeffrey Epstein. There was an odd grouping around Epstein who also shared Venus Mars conjunctions – Prince Andrew in Capricorn, Bill Clinton in Libra, Ghislaine Maxwell in Sagittarius/Capricorn. Venus Mars is usually described as ‘passionate enthusiasm’ but Ebertin also adds onto that – ‘a strongly emotional and sexual life with disharmonious tendencies’; ‘in some cases inclination to polygamy.’

In Sinaga’s case his Venus Mars are square Neptune which Ebertin further describes as: ‘pathological or abnormal craving in sex relationship, inclination to perversity.’    Plus he has a Taurus Moon which can be overly indulgent in matters of the flesh. Bill Clinton has a Venus Mars Neptune conjunction and a Taurus Moon though clearly houses will make a difference as well as other factors.

When Sinaga was first arrested in June 2017 after a victim became conscious, fled and reported him – tr Saturn was exactly square his Venus Mars and tr Uranus was moving to upset his applecart by opposing his Pluto.

His two strongest Harmonics are the 9^th (what gives him pleasure) and the 7^th (can-be-unhinged-mentally and attracted to drugs). Both have strong controlling Pluto connections to Mars Venus and his 7^th adds in a Mars Saturn link as well.

What an utterly depressing saga. Makes one despair about the state of the world – though it’s probably never been any different.