Astrology of Today’s News

Facebook’s stock fell roughly 5 per cent ($25 billion) when markets opened because of the huge “data breach” scandal that the Guardian broke over the weekend. It’s a complicated story (see URL) involving Cambridge Analytica acquiring and using Facebook data on users personal interests to target voters in the 2016 US election. Chris Wylie, the whistleblower describes himself as creating “Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare mindfuck tool”. ‘In 2014, Steve Bannon – then executive chairman of the “alt-right” news network Breitbart – was Wylie’s boss. And Robert Mercer, the secretive US hedge-fund billionaire and Republican donor, was Cambridge Analytica’s investor. And the idea they bought into was to bring big data and social media to an established military methodology – “information operations” – then turn it on the US electorate.’ (Guardian)

Cambridge Analytica (CA) is a privately held company that combines data mining and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was created in 2013 as an offshoot of its British parent company SCL Group to participate in American politics. The company is partly owned by the family of Robert Mercer. Cambridge Analytica worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and on the Leave.EU-campaign for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. CA’s role and effect on those campaigns has been controversial and is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations in both countries. (wiki). SCL Group describes itself on its website as: providing ‘data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations worldwide. For over 25 years, we have conducted behavioral change programs in over 60 countries & have been formally recognized for our work in defense & social change.’

The Facebook IPO chart, 18 May 2012 11.31am New York, looks rattled and blocked this year with tr Saturn square Uranus, conjunct Pluto and sextile Mars until the year end. With a tough, discouraging slog through 2019/2020 with tr Pluto square Saturn; though will bounce again come 2020 with tr Pluto trine Jupiter.

The Facebook start chart, 4 February 2004, looks agitated at the moment with tr Uranus square Mercury; and alarmed come mid May with tr Uranus conjunct Mars, continuing on into 2019. 2020 looks less enthusiastic than the IPO chart with Solar Arc Sun conjunct Uranus and Solar Arc Mercury conjunct Neptune – though if it was a 12am start, then could pull those two influences forward to 2019.

Mark Zuckerburg also doesn’t look that easy this year with undermining and uncertain Neptune transits to midpoints 2018 to 2020; plus a disruptive tr Uranus opposition Pluto from mid May this year into 2019.

Cambridge Analytica (I have a date of 30 July 2014 though don’t know where that came from since incorporation was 6 January 2015) but neither chart is exactly informative. The 2014 chart has an opportunistic Sun Jupiter square Mars, which is getting a sharp elbow in July from tr Uranus opposition Mars, running into 2019. And the 2015 chart has an equally opportunistic Mars opposition Jupiter; with a controlling Sun Pluto in an innovative square to Uranus. 2019 will be restrictive with tr Saturn crossing Sun Pluto and squaring Uranus.

The SCL Group,20 July 2005, is more obviously racked with insecurity with tr Uranus in hard aspect to its Cancer Sun square Mars in Aries; with more sharp shocks and tensions as tr Uranus starts to square the Saturn from mid May.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump

Round and round the mulberry bush and so the tension mounts. Will Trump fire Mueller now that he is daring to go where no man has before, into the Trump business finances; or fire Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, to insert a more pliable yes-man to do the dirty for him? Will Stormy Daniels’ case breach the walls of the Oval office? It’s knee deep in lawyers going ahead which fits with the focal point Pluto in the 9th in Trump’s Admin chart.

Rosenstein, 13 January 1965, looks undercut at the same time as Mueller has sinking-failure influences come this June. Rosenstein could go in April with tr Saturn square his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint which sometimes accompanies job losses. He looks devastated this month but will push bullishly ahead nonetheless. His relationship chart with Trump is under a dark cloud at the moment, getting jangled in June.

Mueller’s relationship chart with Trump has nothing on planets (without a birth time) but looks to be undermined in April with an upheaval late April/early May.

Jeff Sessions relationship with Trump is uncertain and suspicious at the moment; will be flaring up in June and more so in July.

Donald McGahn, the White House lawyer is similarly all over the place with Trump from mid May.

John Dowd, Trump’s personal lawyer for the Russia investigation, 11 Feb 1941, born 12 days after Dick Cheney, is a heavyweight Sun Aquarius sextile Mars in Sagittarius; with the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Taurus and Uranus also in Taurus square his Sun and trine Neptune. His relationship chart with Trump is powerfully confident with a composite Sun opposition Mars square Jupiter. There’ll be a major move perhaps with relief when tr Uranus squares the Jupiter come April. Though over-confidence could trip them up in the long run.

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, 16 February 1971, is going full steam ahead with television interviews, claiming she has been physically threatened since making her allegations public. He’s a Sun Aquarius inconjunct Pluto and square Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius – not short of chutzpah or determination. He looks boxed in from tomorrow onwards for a few weeks; and isn’t winning in April with tr Neptune square his Mars. He’ll buck up come July. His relationship with Trump is fraught from now onwards in a do-or-die contest of wills. Their relationship chart has a composite Mars trine Saturn and opposition Sun – with tensions running on for several years ahead.

There’ll be a crisis point with Stormy Daniels and Avenatti, come the final few days of April into mid May; and again in early 2019.

So extrapolate what you will from all that lot. Trump’s track record is not to play fair, following his early lawyer Roy Cohn’s advice ‘always be on the attack, to counterpunch whenever punched and to never apologize. Never, ever, ever apologize – even if you’re in the wrong, because your opponents will take a mile.’ When Trump and pa were sued for discriminating against black people in their housing in the 1970s, they counter-sued the Federal Government for $100 million and the case was settled without them having to admit guilt, allowing them to claim victory.

What did America do to deserve this? Theresa May is a shining saint in comparison.

Is Trump descending into a sinkhole of his own digging or beginning to find his feet and rule as he pleases? He blindsides senior staff by impromptu decisions on trade, NK and Russia, losing an economic adviser along the way, firing the Secretary of State who wouldn’t toe his line and now about to dump McMaster, who wasn’t emollient enough. The only two grown-ups left in the room, Mattis and Kelly, both look terminally depressed moving ahead.

The Administration chart is moving into new territory with tr Uranus square the midheaven at the moment and then square the Sun from mid-May onwards – so there’ll be a few jolts and surprises, abrupt changes of direction ahead. And it also has tr Pluto square the Uranus now, on and off till late 2019 which tends to make for a rocky ride.

Andrew McCabe, Deputy FBI Director, was fired just before his retirement, losing him thousands in pensions, in an act of petty spite. Which may yet blow back on Trump.

McCabe, 18 March 1968, is a Sun in Pisces opposition Uranus Pluto in Virgo and trine Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio – used to a life of constant change and upheaval, idealistic, secretive. He’s also got Mars in Aries on the focal point of a Yod to Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune (Moon). Such a dynamic Mars would suit him for high-risk jobs – he was formerly in a SWAT team, fighting against organised crime and in counter-terrorism. He will be decisive, passionate, self-willed, inclined to let his anger run away with him. Once that Yod is activated, which usually happens through a crisis, he will need to stand on his own two feet and separate out from his past.

Tr Uranus has been conjunct his Mars through 2017 and tr Pluto moves to square his Mars in 2019/2020 – so a longish period of where he will need to be self-sufficient, will be infuriated and blocked, but could cut through ultimately onto a new path. If mismanaged rash decisions can lead to self-defeat.

His Mars crashes into Trump’s Saturn Venus in Cancer, so he hits Trump where he feels vulnerable, denting his emotional self-esteem. McCabe’s Uranus Pluto squares Trump’s Sun and Moon, so he would be felt as a potential destabiliser; with McCabe’s Neptune square Trump’s Mars threatening to undermine his macho image. The relationship chart has a composite Mercury and Sun square Uranus, so on differing agendas; with Mercury opposition Neptune, trine Pluto, square Uranus – miscommunications, disagreements, evasions and outbursts. Plus a bleak composite Saturn square Pluto which may tie into the Moon. Not a match made in heaven. Their chemistry will be jangled, jolted and tense from this May onwards with tr Uranus in Taurus trine the composite Pluto and opposition Uranus; worsening through 2019 with tr Uranus conjunct Mercury; and more so in 2020 with Uranus conjunct the Sun.  It could be an exceptionally bitter and messy argument since McCabe’s accentuated Mars looks under a great deal of pressure then.

McCabe has a sticky three years ahead with disappointment, losses, dented enthusiasm and anger. Though he’ll start to bounce again come 2020/2021.

Trump does have his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Mars, exact in three months’ time, almost certainly triggering earlier, as well as at the time – that will lead to macho gestures, bravado, a surge of adrenaline to his brain, maybe a severe shock. There’ll be upsets this year with Ivanka and Jared, probably around June. The July Cancer Solar Eclipse will cause him some headaches since it is conjunct his Saturn Venus. An Eclipse on Saturn tends to bring heavier responsibilities and guilt/blame for past actions, sometimes also for the actions of others. An Eclipse conjunct Venus brings a first-rate emotional crisis with a sense that there’s no love coming in and thus the need to stand alone; also a dent in self-image.

But I’ve always thought if he survives the Mars Uranus then 2019/2020 is when his real problems loom larger.

In 2019 he has tr Pluto starting the two year opposition to his Saturn, which is a considerable uphill struggle and highly discouraging; plus a highly-strung tr Neptune square his 10^th house Uranus; plus tr Pluto opposition two of his Mars midpoints in 2019/2020 which will make him feel caged and trapped. His Solar Return from June 2019 for a year has poleaxing Saturn Pluto opposition Mars which won’t be fun; as well as Sun square a panicky-failure Mars Neptune.

His Term chart looks exceptionally depressed in late 2019 with tr Saturn conjunct Pluto, square Jupiter and Uranus, and that runs into 2020. Early 2020 the Uranus Pluto square on his Term chart comes exact by Solar Arc which will be the most unstable time, although that is just a stronger version of tr Pluto square Uranus which is around at the moment. By mid 2020 tr Uranus will be opposing the Term Scorpio Moon for more upsets. What to remember is that the Term chart does have a strong Jupiter which brings luck even when not deserved.

PS Wiki changed its mind about McCabe’s birth date, hence changes

Ken Dodd, the zany, buck-toothed Liverpudlian comedian with a feather tickle stick in hand, has died.

“The last standing true vaudevillian – a force of nature, a whirlwind, an ambulant torrent of surreal invention, physical and verbal, whose Liverpudlian cheek masked the melancholy of an authentic clown.”

“A typical Dodd routine was finely balanced on the borderline between sanity and madness.”

“The whole experience was like plunging down a waterfall in a barrel, swept away on the tide of his boundless energy.

Born 8 November 1927 in Knotty Ash, he continued living in the house he had been born in; engaged to one partner for 22 years until she died of cancer, and then forty years with his next, whom he married two days before his death. He did move from theatre to television with success but his career was blighted by a court case where he was accused of cheating the Inland Revenue, during which he admitted to multiple off-shore bank accounts and one third of a million pounds in cash stored in his attic. He was acquitted after a five-week trial, after fellow showbiz types attested to his tireless free charity work. Though he had to pony up a hefty amount to HMRC. He was always seen as a tortured soul inside, who couldn’t separate from his parents.

He was a Sun Scorpio conjunct Mars and Mercury trine Pluto in Cancer and trine Jupiter Uranus in Pisces – so excessively private with Scorpio planets plus a Water Grand Trine. His Moon was probably in early Taurus or late Aries, maybe opposition Mars. His Venus in hard-working Virgo was opposition Uranus Jupiter, which would give him changeable emotions and perhaps a fear of abandonment.

It isn’t as hard a chart as Jimmy Savile’s, though shares certain common elements with a Scorpio Sun in hard aspect to Mars and a Water Grand Trine.

Vladimir Putin is up for re-election this Sunday and should he fail to gain an outright majority, there’ll be a second round on April 8^th. No one doubts he’ll win though he doesn’t look exactly on top form. Tr Jupiter will sextile his Mars/Node midpoint on the day which is positive but minor enough and then make a confident square to his Pluto from March 23^rd. But he picks up tr Pluto square his Neptune from March 20^th until early June, and on and off till late 2019, which can bring confusion, devastation, scandals, deception and bouts of megalomania.

Overall he’s in a mixed year with the confident tr Pluto trine Jupiter returning in July, though at the same time as tr Pluto square his Saturn/Neptune which can bring suffering, depression or illness. And the disruptive tr Pluto opposition his Uranus rolling on till late year. 2019/2020 look acutely frustrated, blocked and risky with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars/Mode midpoint.

His relationship with Merkel looks cooler than usual; with sharp words in June; and in a time of upheaval and muddle through 2018 to 2021. With Macron, he’s on a downhill slide from this May onwards for years ahead. Theresa May won’t worry him much but if anything (and she lasts) 2019 looks worse than 2018.

What’s intriguing is his relationship chart with Russia 1917 which is showing acute strain late April, May and again into 2019 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Pluto and square Sun, Mars; with more upsets in 2019. It’s less catastrophic on the relationship with the new Russia 1991 chart but still facing major panics vis a vis his domestic popularity.

If he does win outright this Sunday, he’ll take over his next presidency under the aggravated Mars, Sun, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto influences so it will be a term of rolling crises and violence.

There’s a long read in the Guardian about Putin’s politics with an alarming story about the reasons behind the brutal Second Chechen War, which according to the author was started deliberately by undercover acts of self-terrorism by FSB (ex-KGB) agents. ‘Since consolidating his power in rigged elections at the start of the decade, the Russian leader has pioneered a politics of fictional threats and invented enemies.’ No idea about its accuracy or slant but interesting.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/16/vladimir-putin-russia-politics-of-eternity-timothy-snyder

Ditto his reasons for the annexation of Crimea during the Sochi Olympics to cover up domestic corruption.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/26/crimea-putins-olympic-diversion/?utm_term=.3e0017056aaa

Putin’s chart is similar to that of the hunchback King Richard 111 of England who allegedly has his two young nephews bumped off.

Donald Trump Jnr is to divorce his wife of 12 years, ex-model Vanessa, mother of their five children. According to reports he is unhappy about the level of scrutiny his life and deals bring now that he is first son; and she disliked the invasive security and risk that their role brought.

They were born only two weeks apart, she on December 18 and he December 31 1977. He’s am ambitious Sun Venus in Capricorn with a Virgo Moon; while she is a Sun Venus in Sagittarius with an Aries Moon. He Earth, she Fire – so different temperaments. Both have flamboyant Mars in Leo, in his case inconjunct his Sun which is in turn square Pluto and trine Saturn. So he’s quite ratchety and probably controlling or at least defensive. Both have their North Node in Libra, so one-to-one relationships not that easy for them.

Their relationship chart is reasonably OK with an affectionate composite Sun, Mercury Venus opposition Jupiter and trine Saturn. Jupiter brings love of the high life and indulgence; Saturn is enduring. There’s also an explosive composite Mars square Uranus which both have natally so neither will be good at compromise. Tr Saturn last year and this has been trailing across several planets and there would have been increased pressure since the 2016 election.

There’s a tricky six-week run of influences coming up from this weekend with Mars moving into Capricorn on Saturday and the Sun into Aries on the 20^th. Thereafter the Sun hits hard aspects to Mars and Saturn before this month’s end; Mars is conjunct Saturn early in April and conjunct Pluto late in the month, with the Sun hitting Pluto and Uranus through the middle.

It will be more accident, disaster and atrocity-prone and argumentative than usual. For most individuals (us, cross fingers) it will just bring higher levels of tension, frustrations, bad-temper and irksome things going wrong. Usually several major events globally soak up the clashing energies, so it won’t bring catastrophes everywhere.

Looking back to recent occurrences of Mars in a Cardinal sign hitting on Uranus and Pluto, which stokes up the unstable energy, what’s below is just a selection of headline events to give a flavour of what’s likely.

November/December 2017 with Mars on Libra: Egypt’s worst bombing with 300 dead at a mosque. Iran-Iraq earthquake, many dead and injured. Zimbabwe swaps one gangster for another. Texas church shooting, 26 dead. Saudi Arabia imprisons princes/businessmen in Ritz Carlton.

June 2017 with Mars in Cancer: Qatar blockade. Portugal fires, many dead. London Bridge terrorist attack. London Grenfell Towers high-rise fire, many dead. MbS named Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Disastrous UK election.

October 2016, the last time Mars was in Capricorn: Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti. Obama standoff with Putin over Syria, freeze in relations. Kim Kardashian assaulted and robbed. USA election fever.

March 2015 with Mars in Libra: French sports stars dead in helicopter crash in Argentina. 11 US military dead in helicopter crash in Florida. Armed attackers in French jewel heist on motorway. Poisoning at Crufts Dog Show. Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson fracas and suspension. Hillary Clinton knee deep in email scandal.

2014 Mars in Libra: Bombs in Russia and the Lebanon, South Sudan civil war, more killings (even than usual) in Egypt, Syria, Iraq. More horror rape stories from India. Catastrophic weather, flooding, power cuts etc in the UK; and major snow in North America. Michael Schumacher’s accident

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Angela Merkel was sworn in for her fourth term as German Chancellor this morning around 12 noon. This puts the Pisces Sun and Neptune straddling the midheaven; with the Sun sextile Pluto and trine a 5^th house Jupiter; and square Mars. It’s a confident chart, with even a hint of over-confidence from Sun squaring the Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. An accentuated Pluto in the 7^th suggests a robust relationship with neighbours, intense and dominating, slightly control-freaky.

Certainly there will be no shortage of arguments and crises with the Sun Mars hard aspect, and Mars trine Uranus – quite explosive at times. Neptune conjunct the MC (if time accurate) may cause drift at times but will be counter-balanced by the strength of the other planets. Not always popular with Saturn square Venus Mercury.

Interesting to see how the 5^th house Jupiter turns out – entertainment, children, speculation.

PS: Anyone who has an accurate time, gratefully received.

Stephen Hawking the theoretical physicist and cosmologist who became one of the best-known scientists in the world has died. He suffered from a rare, early onset variety of Lou Gehrig’s disease but despite loss of physical functions and his voice he continued working till the end. His fame came from his work tying Einstein’s theory of gravity and relativity, with quantum mechanics. He was fascinated by black holes that could boil themselves out of existence, and equations that described the entire history of the Universe.

Born 8 January 1942, he had a very earthy, practical and ambitious chart with a Capricorn Sun and Mercury in an Earth Grand Trine to Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine North Node, Moon and Neptune in Virgo. An over-weighting of earth is supposed to lead to a limited imagination but clearly not in his case with the inspirational Uranus trine Neptune, often associated with ‘eureka’ moments. His Mercury was in a deep-thinking opposition to Pluto, as well as being trine Neptune and Uranus. It forms a wide Kite with influential Pluto being the driving planet.

His 13^th Harmonic – genius, breaking with the orthodox – was exceptionally well-aspected; as was his creative, get-it-together 5H. His 12H associated with sacrifice and healing was also strong.