Astrology of Today’s News

Joe Biden topped a recent poll for a possible Democratic candidate in the 2020 election, beating Sanders, Oprah and Warren. Long ways off, much water to flow under bridges before then. But a quick look suggests he has several influences in his favour then, and a few that aren’t.

At the election he has tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter for a confidence boost; and tr Jupiter square his Pluto over the Inauguration plus tr Pluto trine his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. If his birth time (from memory) is sound then the tr Jupiter Pluto conjunction will be around the trine to his MC at the election. What’s not so great is the tr Jupiter Pluto square his Mars/Neptune midpoint in November 2020 which usually dashes hopes of a win; along with a blocked tr Saturn square his Solar Arc Pluto. Also tr Saturn is running through his 2^nd house, the lowest point of his first quadrant through the campaign which will really pull down his energy. He may not put himself forward but he looks relatively upbeat until after January 2021 when tr Uranus moves to square his Pluto and opposes his Mars, which looks high-risk and extremely insecure.

Republican Mitt Romney also may or may not stand and is schtum about whether he’d take on Trump for the candidacy. He looks chirpy enough at the Inauguration with tr Pluto conjunct his Sun/Jupiter midpoint, and enthusiastic between the election and inauguration. But in general he’s labouring under tr Neptune squaring his Uranus from 2019 and approaching the conjunction to his Pisces Sun from March 2021 onward, which may undercut him; as well as Solar Arc Neptune square his Sun through 2020. Like Biden he looks fairly rocked by events of 2021 with tr Uranus opposition his Pluto and square his Venus.

Liam Neeson has stepped into the #metoo debate, suggesting there was a ‘bit of a witchhunt’ going on with some allegations being about ‘childhood stuff.’ Twitter has been fairly mixed in response with some outrage and some support for his honesty. In the past he’s generally been thought liberal, doing a film for Amnesty about the legalisation of abortion in Ireland and being pro-gun control.

Born 7 June 1952 9.55pm (astrotheme) Ballymena, Ireland, he has a Gemini Sun Mercury on his Descendant conjunct Venus opposition a 12^th house Sagittarius Moon; with his Sun trine Neptune (Saturn) in Libra trine an Aquarius North Node – restless, multi-talented, communicative and emotionally quite detached. His ambitious, ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio in the 10^th is in an adventurous opposition to Jupiter in indulgent Taurus. And he has the signature superstar influential Pluto in the 8^th. Uranus in his 7^th square Saturn, could make him uncompromising and at times autocratic.

He’s not in his best of years with his Solar Arc Sun in a blocked conjunction to Pluto, with Solar Arc Mercury following in 2019; an undermining tr Neptune square his Moon and Venus this month; a disaster-prone tr Pluto square his Mars/Saturn midpoint also this month, repeating later in the year; and an unsecure, jolting tr Uranus opposition his 10^th house Mars from mid 2018 for eighteen months. Tr Uranus, on this birth time, will also oppose his midheaven next month. There may be other reasons than a lashback from these comments. But one way or another he’ll be out of sorts. He’ll get a lift in early 2020 from Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Uranus.

Tunisia, which kick-started the Arab Spring and was the only and brightest hope emerging from the melee of 2011 is descending into violent unrest because of economic woes. The unity government of centrists, moderate Islamists and independents, was forced to push through austerity measures this year to meet the demands of foreign lenders including the IMF. Tourism has been hit because of terrorist attacks, the currency has fallen, inflation and unemployment are up. The governments since 2011 have made moves towards democratic reform but the underlying problems of poverty remain unsolved. A heavy-handed response to street demonstrations has seen 800 arrested which has only strengthened resistance to the government.

Tunisia gained independence on 15 June 1956 at 5pm, Tunis, which gives a confident,  controlling Jupiter Pluto conjunct the MC but on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine of Sun trine Neptune which adds a layer of impracticality and wishful thinking to the mix.

There are certainly indications of changes afoot this year with tr Uranus approaching a square to the natal Uranus from May onwards; tr Uranus opposing the Solar Arc Midheaven at the same time; and then tr Uranus trine the natal Midheaven from July onwards. Even before then tr Uranus will trine Pluto and then oppose the Tunisia Neptune in March/April which will be highly-strung, nervy, possibly fanatical and push through radical changes. Some of the shifts may be positive though it looks a bumpy ride. It may take till 2021 to clear the economic trough and bring a morale and financial boost to Tunisia. Though there’s always the risk with Pluto conjunct the MC of a strong-man leader (dictator) emerging to take control.

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The BBC is sinking itself deeper into the mire over equal payment for women with the China editor resigning because she had discovered, despite promises to the contrary on contract renewal, that she was not on parity with male editors in similar jobs. Carrie Grace said she had discovered over the previous year the two male foreign editors were paid 50% more than the two female editors. Today’s John Humphreys then compounded the aggravation by cracking jokes off mic, as he thought, on the subject, leading to threats of a mass walkout amongst female presenters.

The Moon in the BBC chart is sparsely aspected and tucked away out of sight in the 4^th house; with the Progressed Moon now almost in opposition in the 10^th, pulling the issue of women employees out of the kitchen into the public arena.

The late January Lunar Eclipse in Leo is also going to oppose the BBC Mars suggesting a major barney on issues of balance and transparency is brewing and will continue through the year with the July 2018 Lunar Eclipse rattling the BBC Mars as well.

Tr Jupiter is moving towards a conjunction to the BBC Scorpio Sun within two weeks, which should give the BBC a confidence boost. But perhaps it’s also doing the cause of womankind good, since Jupiter moved into Scorpio just as the #metoo campaign kicked off. Not that is likely to move to a fast conclusion given the BBC’s customary intransigence and bureaucratic obfuscation.

Tantrum Trump’s lack of inhibition about spraying racist insults around then flat denying he said what he said in the face of corroboration by others, and blaming Barack Obama for a GW Bush decision on moving the London US Embassy (for reasons of security and space), does suggest he’s losing the plot at a rate of knots. And he’s still five months away from the over-reactive Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Mars which will test his nerves and self-esteem, usually provoking reckless behaviour; and within two weeks his Progressed Moon will conjunct his 12^th house Pluto, which won’t improve his joie de vivre either.

He does have an obsessive ‘thing’ about Obama and seems to decide policy priorities in terms of whatever will unpick Obama’s legacy, whether it is right, wrong or indifferent. Wrong colour, scandal-free eight years, jubilant crowd-filled Inaugurations – it grinds deep into the warped Trump soul (if he has one) and triggers his petty jealousies and prejudices.

Admittedly their charts are not well-matched. Obama’s 8^th house, hard-working Mars in Virgo squares Trump’s Sun and Moon and Uranus; Obama’s reforming Uranus is conjunct Trump’s bombastic and blingy Mars in Leo; and worst of all Obama’s Leo Sun is conjunct Trump’s broodingly dark (and shame-filled) 12^th house Pluto.

Their relationship chart has a suspicion-ridden composite Saturn opposition Neptune square a can’t-exist-in-the-same-space Uranus. Plus an emotionally overheated composite Moon opposition Mars in a jousting square to Jupiter. It’s not going to improve through the next two or three years.

Trump was so looking forward to a full state visit to London – Royals on the tarmac to greet him, golden carriage down the Mall, state banquets, weekend with HM at Windsor or Sandringham. But with Pluto conjunct the MC when his chart is relocated to London it was always going to be an accident-prone region for him. HM Queen would have coped with icy aplomb having seen off a fair few appalling visiting heads of state, but he couldn’t risk the rotten eggs. I doubt he’ll ever make it.

Tonya Harding survived a fairly brutal childhood being forced to skate from 3 onwards by her pushy and neglectful mother. She went on to become US champion, performing moves never accomplished before and escaped into an abusive marriage. Her career ended when her by-then ex-husband’s friend attacked her main rival Nancy Kerrigan with the aim of knocking her out of the Olympics. Both competed with Kerrigan wining silver and Harding ending in 8^th place, but she was then charged by the FBI for hindering the prosecution of the attacker. She claimed her ex-husband had threatened to kill her if she talked. But she’s never been able to escape being portrayed as the one responsible ever since. A recent mockumentary bio-pic I, Tonya has had multiple nominations for awards. She has married twice since, taken up boxing and now landscaping.

Tonya Harding, born 12 November 1970 8.22pm Portland, Oregon has a confident sporting and performing 5^th house Sun, Jupiter, Venus in Scorpio opposition Moon Saturn in Taurus, which latter describes cold, hard mother. Her 4^th house describing her childhood has an over-controlling and fearful Pluto, with a prone-to-violence Mars Uranus in Libra.

She would certainly clash temperamentally with Nancy Kerrigan, 13 Oct 1969 5.17 pm Woburn, MA. Kerrigan’s charmingly forceful Venus Pluto in Virgo and her Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Sun in Libra all fall in Harding’s 4^th, so would stir up memories of her childhood; with Kerrigan’s Moon Neptune conjunct Harding’s Sun so she’d never be able to pin her down; and Kerrigan’s Mars was conjunct Harding’s Descendant for an argumentative, competitive interface. Their relationship chart was notably has a close Mars Neptune conjunction, meaning only one can win, and when they do the other feels diminished.

A tragic life in many ways with a bad start leading irrevocably to bad relationships.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a Saudi billionaire, one of the world’s richest men, has been held a prisoner, along with dozens of others, in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh since November on charges of corruption, extortion, money-laundering and bribery. He has been reportedly tortured and is refusing to pay the $6 billion demanded by Crown Prince Bin Salman for his release, which would amount to about a third of his wealth. He owns major stakes in Twitter and Citigroup, was a key shareholder in 21^stCentury FOX and is known as the “Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia.” He evidently says any payment would amount to an admission of guilt, and lead to the dismantling of much of the business empire he has spent his life building, and which he recently said he would give to philanthropic causes.

The grandson of Ibn Saud, the first Saudi king, he was born 7 March 1955 in Mecca. He’s a Sun Pisces, with a determined Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto, plus a lucky Jupiter Uranus in Cancer.

He certainly rubs Mohammed Bin Salman the wrong way and vice versa with MBS’s Mars in Leo conjunct Bin Talal’s Pluto, which is bitter hostility; and both have the obsessively stubborn Saturn in Scorpio. Their relationship chart has two stressed Yods of Mars sextile Jupiter inconjunct Neptune, and Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Jupiter – so they are fated to change each other’s destiny irrevocably for good or for ill.

Bin Talal does look bullish ahead with tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter in 2018/2019 with lucky breaks coming from tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter/Uranus from March onwards for two years; but that apart he’s got undermining Neptune transits to his Pisces Sun from mid this year and two midpoints; with a devastating 2019 to look forward to as his Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct his Neptune and Solar Arc Saturn opposes his Uranus. He’ll make it difficult for Bin Salman but he doesn’t look as if he is winning this battle.

Just as a footnote there was the start of a three part BBC documentary this week on the House of Saud: A Family at War. It was excellent and an eye-opener, starting in a village in Bosnia, laying out how Saudi money had channelled funds into that destructive early 1990s war, had promoted extremist mosques worldwide, including in India, inflaming tensions where before there had been a peaceful Sufi version of Islam; and Saudi charitable donations largely funded 9/11. Had it not been for Mohammed Bin Salman’s recent rejection of the extremist Wahhabist standpoint, the main motivator behind the global mosque building, it would have caused more of a rumpus. A 1980s UK TV doc, The Death of a Princess about an execution caused a split in diplomatic relations. The Times review this week remarked: “the billion-dollar question: is the new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the liberal, white-knight moderniser the world has been waiting for, or just a blingy hotshot full of counterproductive impulsiveness? And how does his daddy feel about him being man of the year for his aim to kibosh ultra-conservatism?” What it did leave was a sense that the Middle East is heading as one American expert said: ‘into an abyss of hell’ with a mighty sectarian clash looming between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran.

Catherine Deneuve, the formidably beautiful icon of French cinema is picking up flak for suggesting the #metoo campaign is a new puritanism, portraying women as weak and hates both men and sexuality. An open letter to Le Monde, signed by 100 French women, said: “Men have been punished summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss. Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or clumsily, is not – and nor is men being gentlemanly a chauvinist attack.”

Deneuve, was born 22 October 1943 1.35pm Paris, the daughter of two stage actors, has worked for cinema greats like Truffaut, Bunuel and Polanski; lived with a succession of starry men like photographer David Bailey, Mastroianni, Roger Vadim and a Canal+ executive, and supported liberal causes throughout her career.

She does have an intriguing though tough chart. Her 9^th house Libra Sun is trine Mars Saturn in Gemini, sextiling onto an 8^th house Jupiter. Lucky definitely, though with a hard edge from Saturn Mars. Libra women tend to incline towards their fathers and take a less sympathetic view of their mothers, perhaps one reason she wants to introduce some balance into the heated argument. She does have a packed 8^th house with Venus in Virgo, Jupiter, Moon and North Node in Leo there and Pluto on the cusp – so sexuality will be important to her.

The other notable co-signee is Catherine Millet, a writer and editor of an art magazine, but best known for her 2002 memoir The Sexual Life of Catherine M, which was described as “the most explicit book about sex ever written by a woman”. Born 1 April 1948 3.15pm Bois-Colombes, France, she also has an exceptionally intense and hard chart with an 8^th house Aries Sun opposition Neptune square a Capricorn Moon, and trine a 12^th house Saturn, Pluto, Mars in Leo.

The French are incorrigible flirts and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of their wholehearted appreciation of l’amour. It’s partly also a generational argument with older women who relished the sexual liberation of the 1960s, seeing #metoo at risk of rolling back the clock. While younger women see it as a stand against harassment.

Oprah Winfrey having taken a look at Trump is pondering on the merits of running in 2020 for president. She’s undergoing considerable changes at the moment and through 2018/2019 with tr Uranus trine her Pluto exactly now and opposition her Solar Arc Pluto throughout 2018; as well as tr Pluto opposing her Uranus from early February till late 2019. So she will feel her life is being turned upside down or at least onto a totally different trajectory. Tr Pluto is also opposition her Jupiter/Pluto midpoint for supercharged confidence from this February till late 2019. Her high-enthusiasm will be dented a touch by tr Neptune square her Jupiter from May onwards till late 2019, which could undermine financial expectations. From spring 2019 to late 2020 she has tr Pluto sextile her ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio, so whatever she’s doing she’ll be going at it with unrelenting persistence.

At the inauguration in 2021 tr Jupiter is exactly conjunct her Sun Venus in Aquarius, so she’ll at least be pleased with whatever is going on; and more intriguingly she has her  Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct her Pluto within months of the inauguration, which is similar to Trump in 2016/17. What will not be in her favour, birth time being accurate, is tr Saturn moving through her First Quadrant which is usually less high-profile and less successful (though there are exceptions to this rule).

Her Solar Return for Jan 2021 to Jan 2022 does have a controlling though charming Venus Pluto in the 10^th as well as a successful Sun Jupiter; and the volatile Mars Uranus on her Ascendant for a fiery, innovative year.

It’s certainly possible, though she’ll arouse as much resistance as support. And it will depend on whether the USA is fed up by that time of having a president with no governing experience, either of the negotiating that goes on within Congress and Senate, let alone handling the complexities of the economy and foreign policy.