Astrology of Today’s News

Hollywood is being rattled by a full-scale media inquisition about which of the main players knew about Weinstein’s behaviour and why they didn’t speak out. Not that the press is blameless since it’s a story some have sat on for years. Shades of Jimmy Savile.

Hollywood, 1 February 1887, incorporated under Jupiter in Scorpio coincidentally, has an emotionally unpleasant and power-hungry, not to say perverse, Venus in Aquarius conjunct Mars in Pisces square Neptune Pluto. The August Leo Eclipse opposed that Venus, the effect of which is to feel unloved by everyone.

What is instructive are the relationship charts between the leading ladies whose careers benefited from his talents and Weinstein. Almost all have afflicted Mars or strong Pluto elements. Helen Mirren disliked him with a composite Mars Saturn trine Venus, feeling his cruelty. Charlize Theron and Kate Winslet were hugely unsettled by him, not able to be in the same space for long with composite Saturn Uranus Pluto Venus aspects. Renee Zellwegger was frightened of him, as was Kate Winslet with a composite Mars Pluto. Nicole Kidman had to grit her teeth, regarding his bleakness as a necessary evil. Meryl Streep was certainly aware of his controlling tendencies; and Judi Dench also sensed the power imbalance though she’d be past an age when she’d be at risk.

Hillary Clinton was less afraid of him, with a friendly composite Sun Venus, though they wouldn’t survive in the same space for long with an explosive composite Mars square Uranus.

His present wife Georgina Chapman, a fashion designer and actress, with whom he has two young children, was born 14 April 1976, and is a Sun Aries perhaps opposition a Libra Moon square Saturn in Cancer. Low in self-esteem and driven to succeed with such a strong Saturn. Her Venus in Aries opposition Pluto square Mars in Cancer would attract her to a dramatic emotional life with a powerful/dominating partner, given the Mars Pluto square added onto Saturn. Weinstein’s Jupiter is conjunct her Sun, so he or his influential position would boost her morale; though with his autocratic Saturn square Uranus sitting exactly on her Pluto square Mars, there home life would have some very rough edges. Their relationship chart has a composite Mars Pluto opposition Venus which is a touch alarming; with Venus trine Neptune hinting at illusions and delusions initially.

Their marriage from reports is holding together at the moment though I’d be surprised if it made it through the next two years intact.

Fashion designer, Donna Karan, 2 October 1948, has attracted a storm of criticism for appearing to support Weinstein and suggesting women need to look at how they flaunt their sexuality. She has the same ruthless and unforgiving Mars in Scorpio square Pluto as he does; and being a Sun, Moon in Libra may favour the masculine rather than the feminine viewpoint. Libra women, such as Maggie Thatcher, tend to idealise their father and ignore their mother. She says she was quoted out of context which is the usual excuse; but she wouldn’t get on with Weinstein at close quarters with his Saturn conjunct her Sun Neptune with his Uranus square.

Jupiter moves into Scorpio tomorrow for a 12 months’ stay. It’s not entirely obvious that its’ recent sojourn through Libra did much to bring harmony to relationships. Though one astrologer brightly suggested that what Jupiter, the truth-sayer did, was illuminate where relationships were out of balance. Perhaps the tr Jupiter opposition Uranus square Pluto was what did the damage – shining the spotlight on unfulfilled promises, on those who take too much for granted and, as ever, with Jupiter veering to the negative, inflated self-righteousness.

Scorpio in a nutshell is the sign of sex, death and taxes – or more broadly, intimate passions, secrets, depth insights and the occult, joint finances and transformation. It is intensely emotional, self-protective and obsessive. It’s not an together happy combination since Jupiter represents Zeus, ruler of Olympus, the god on the mountain top up in the clouds; and Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, god of wealth and the underworld. Maybe Zeus will throw down a thunderbolt or two to expose the dark and dirty secrets of financiers.

Looking back on previous Jupiters in Scorpio, every 12 years, the one surprising common factor appears to be women coming to the fore.

1958 – first Afro-American woman hired as a flight attendant. Women sit in the UK House of Lords for the first time.

1970 – Women’s Strike for Equality celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of US right to vote. Women’s lib disrupt Miss World. First women’s only tennis tournament. The Pope deems two historic saints, St Teresa of Avila and St Catherine of Siena, as Doctors of the Church (=v. imptnt saints).

1981 – Women admitted to holy order for the first time in Church of England.

1993 – Whoopee Goldberg hosts Oscars. First hearing-impaired woman becomes Miss America.

2005 – Angela Merkel becomes Germany’s first female Chancellor. Also there is the first democratically elected female head of the state in Africa.

The EEC also came into being on the 1958 Jupiter in Scorpio; with the Maastricht Treaty establishing the EU in 1993. NAFTA was also agreed in 1993 which makes more sense of Scorpio’s interest in joint finances.

Perhaps the Harvey Weinstein scandal breaking now is timely with Meryl Streep finally stepping up to condemn him. No doubt others will follow.

Was Russian interference in the 2016 election motivated as much by Putin’s personal and perhaps misogynistic grudge against Hillary Clinton as the desire to see the compromised Trump shoehorned into the White House? That’s what she’s been saying on her book tour, believing he actively disliked her. And perhaps getting his own back for her criticism of his ‘dishonest and unfair’ elections.

Their relationship chart would certainly back this up with a composite Sun Mars Neptune in their relationship chart. Sun Mars makes for competitive ego-clashes; Mars Neptune for an only-one-of-us-can-win scenario. There’s also a struggle-for-the-upper-hand, game-playing composite Jupiter opposition Pluto.

When Trump won last November, tr Jupiter was conjunct Putin’s Libra Sun, allowing him a small surge of triumph; and tr Uranus was trine his MC (on 9.30am birth time) and Pluto, opening up all manner of new possibilities for him.

Hillary’s Uranus opposes his ultra-determined Mars in Sagittarius, which would trigger his anger when they were together. With her elusive Neptune conjunct his Sun. If his birth time of 9.30am is sound, then her Saturn Pluto (Mars) is conjunct his MC which would make him feel consummately put down as if she was trying to lord it over him. His Mars is in a ruthless and controlling trine to Pluto and his Pluto is in a might-makes-right square to his Jupiter. So he’s not exactly a reconstructed metrosexual.

Movie super-mogul Harvey Weinstein – Pulp Fiction, Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love – apologised for inexcusable behaviour with colleagues in the past which had caused a lot of pain and promptly said he was suing the New York Times for printing allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Actress Ashley Judd contributed with an experience of her own and he raised questions about her mental stability.

‘Too influential to offend and too powerful to be dethroned’ appeared to have been Hollywood’s attitude though cracks are beginning to appear. Robbie Collin, the Telegraph film critic wrote today about ‘the rumours of bullying and brow-beating that seemed to circulate every awards season. Weinstein was known to twist arms, crack skulls and leave a trail of butchered and unreleased films in his wake, but his results were supposed to excuse it.’ Miramax, the company he founded with his brother Bob garnered 75 Academy Awards and was nominated for 228 more.

Born 19 March 1952 in New York, (four days before Rex Tillerson) he has an unaspected Sun in last degree of filmic Pisces; with six planets in Cardinal signs giving him an overdose of initiative, and talent for dreaming up new projects. Her Mercury Jupiter in upfront Aries opposes Neptune Saturn in Libra; with Saturn in an autocratic square to Uranus perhaps tied into a T square by a Capricorn Moon.

Plus a bulldozer Mars in Scorpio square Pluto, which would enrage him when opposed. Tillerson has the same though his Aries Sun opposes Saturn which is a more understated combination and it’ll depend very much on houses how it acts out.

An unaspected Sun tends to act as an island unto itself, is self-centred usually with high self-regard.

If his Moon does oppose Uranus and square Saturn, he’ll be emotionally cold and erratic.

He has tr Pluto opposing his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint at the moment which is often when a job is lost – he’s stepping back from his company with several executives resigning. So not a career high. He also has tr Pluto square his Saturn/Neptune which suggests a degree of turmoil, not obvious from his bullish statements. 2018 could be a mess with tr Pluto square his Jupiter opposition Neptune, a bubble-bursting, devastating time.

His business the Weinstein Company, founded 10 March 2005, now run by his brother Bob, certainly looks to be running into a brick wall in 2018/19 with tr Pluto opposition Saturn and moving to conjunct the Mars in 2019.

His brother Bob, with whom he evidently has a tricky relationship was born 18 October 1954. Like HarveyW he has a heavily Cardinal chart with Jupiter Uranus Moon in Cancer opposition Mars in Capricorn square Sun Neptune in Libra. He’s certainly moving into a very up and down phase across into 2020 with tr Uranus opposing his Sun Neptune and then square his Mars; before tr Pluto moves to square his Sun Neptune in 2020.

Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter, has a birth time of 11.05 am Clinton, Iowa. That gives him a pro-active, impulsive and ambitious Aries MC with his Aries Sun Venus and heavily aspected, malefic Mars in Taurus all in the 10^th. So he’d certainly want to make a statement with his life that brought him into the public eye.

His Mars Jupiter in Taurus sit on the point of a Fixed T square to an intense 8^th house Aquarius Moon opposition Pluto. Mars Jupiter is high-energy, enthusiastic, can be fanatical, with a might-makes-right attitude, giving a love of parade, pomp and patriotism. Mars is slow burn in Taurus, but utterly unyielding, strong-willed, headstrong, stubborn to the nth degree with dogged persistence, a bulldozer type. And that triples up as a focal point, especially in a ruthless, brutal square to Pluto; with the over-pushy Jupiter square Pluto added on top. Jupiter Pluto is dogmatic, making the individual disregard social niceties and be a law unto themselves.

He’d be a good organiser and the shooting had clearly been planned meticulously overtime.

Why now?

The two T Squares which dominate his chart are in collision at the moment and have been since 2013, so there would be a slow build-up of hyper-energy that wanted expression. His 10^th house Aries Sun Venus are opposition a paranoid/neurotic Saturn Neptune in the 4^th square his Cancer Ascendant. His Pluto opposition Moon square Mars Jupiter has been moving to hard aspect the other T Square with the Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Saturn and Neptune at the moment, which would exacerbate his tendency to paranoia and mental turmoil.

He’s also got a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune Saturn inconjunct Mercury in Pisces in the 9^th, which wouldn’t improve his mental stability either, since Mercury can be exceptionally scattered and highly-strung. Tr Saturn is square that Mercury exactly now, which may have been a minor trigger. But I would suspect he’s been in meltdown since around 2013 since at that point as well his Solar Arc Saturn Neptune had moved to square his Mercury. So something may emerge about his life which explains what has been going on in recent times.

I would also suspect there’s also some religious element with a strong Jupiter and 9^th house Mercury in play, perhaps of a peculiarly American ‘patriotic’ variety.

An additional point of interest is that the fanatical Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto of the USA 1776 chart, which is being highly stressed this year by tr Uranus in square, falls exactly across his Asc/Desc axis. (see post Dec 26 2016). In past occurrences of this in the US there have been outbreaks of extreme behaviour. So in part he was acting out the American mood of the moment. His Uranus is conjunct the USA Sun, so he’d act as a catalyst.

A banner year is what the US conservatives are hoping for from the Supreme Court as it reviews a batch of ideological cases on migrant rights in the legal system, partisan gerrymandering of election districts, voter purges, public-sector union financing, a cake maker’s objection to gay marriage, the privacy of cell-phone records and whistle-blower protection.

The Supreme Court first met on 2 February 1790 when there was a controlling Sun Pluto in Aquarius; with Sun opposition Uranus in Leo and Pluto trine Neptune and opposition Mars Jupiter in Leo; and a Virgo Moon opposition Saturn Venus in Pisces. Quite a mix of super-confident, influential, power-hungry, yet also prone to surprising decisions at times. 2018/19 look challenging and tough with tr Pluto sextile Saturn, with the workload piling up.

Tr Uranus will trine the Mars Jupiter in Feb to April 2018 which should be a successful resolution though that’s from the Supreme Court’s point of view, so could mean anything. Where it looks unsettled is by 2019 when tr Uranus squares the Uranus.

What’s interesting is Trump’s relationship with SCOTUS. It’s not remotely harmonious with a composite Mars square Saturn Venus. It’s on a downer at the moment with tr Saturn square the composite Jupiter for a few days; is generally in a tense tug of war through 2017/18 with tr Pluto square the composite Sun and trine the composite Saturn/Pluto; agitated in March 2018; and facing more obstacles in 2019. So he won’t get all the decisions he fancies despite his appointment of Gorsuch.

Indeed he looks seriously out of sorts with Gorsuch from Aril 2018 until late 2018 with tr Uranus opposition their composite Neptune and square Sun. Gorsuch, 29 August 1967, has his Uranus Pluto in Virgo square Trump’s Uranus Sun and Moon – so he has the capacity to upset Trump’s applecart in ways he didn’t expect. Dry judges have a way of sticking to the letter of the law which will no doubt prove irksome to the great huckster.

EastEnders is the one of the UK’s most popular long-running soaps, made by the BBC, about everyday life in east London, and the most complained about for storylines, which have dealt with violence, rape, murder and child abuse. Ratings have been falling recently with a new producer being pulled in.

The first programme transmitted at 7pm on 19 February 1985 on a Pisces New Moon trine Pluto and square Saturn, giving it grit and longevity; plus an enthusiastic Venus Mars in upfront Aries. It’s been muddling along in the past year with Solar Arc New Moon square Neptune; and although it’ll get a lift in 2018 from tr Uranus square its entertaining 5^th house Jupiter, it will continue to struggle through a challenging transformation with tr Pluto opposition the Solar Arc MC in 2017 to 2019. Late in 2019/into 2020 it looks highly uncertain with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct Neptune. As with most terrestrial shows there has been a drop off in audience in recent years.

The first of the UK daily-life soaps was Coronation Street launched by ITV on 9 Dec 1960 at 7.30pm, which still continues. It has a showbiz 5^th house Sun in Sagittarius; with Jupiter Saturn in earthy Capricorn in a gritty opposition to Mars in Cancer; and a confident Pluto trine Jupiter. It is labouring as well with tr Pluto opposition Mars at the moment and conjunct Saturn before the year end; and will be in a dip in 2019 with tr Neptune square its Sun; and Solar Arc Saturn square the Sun in 2020, which might bring closure.

Both soaps have Pluto in the financial 2^nd and they have been money generators with spin offs along the way; both have confident Pluto Jupiter aspects; and both have three planets in the hard-working 6^th house for the relentless schedule of shooting;

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The Scottish National Party has thrown its support behind the Catalonian separatist movement, though they’ve dropped discussion of a second independence referendum pro tem until the Brexit negotiations conclude. Several EU countries have secessionist problems, including the UK, Belgium and Italy, so the EU will be worried about the outcome in Spain. A commentator said this week: “the Europe of regions is making a comeback.”

As far as the UK is concerned: Working off ancient country charts is dodgy since there’s always an argument as to which of several dates fits best. What is set in stone, however, is the Act of Union between Scotland and England, which came into effect on 1 May 1707 JC presumably at 12 am. That chart would point to movement towards a split picking up a head of steam from 2020 with tr Uranus square the Act Uranus, moving towards a climax around 2023. As tr Uranus moves towards the final decan of Taurus it will conjunct the 1707 Act Taurus Sun in 2023 and square the Pluto Jupiter; with the Solar Arc Pluto Jupiter square the Moon (assuming 12am); with the Solar Arc Sun approaching an opposition to the Moon as well, exact in 2025. All of which looks like a major upheaval. Even before then there are major aggravations on this chart especially through 2018/19 as tr Pluto opposes the Mars and squares the Neptune.

Just before the mid-2020s the UK 1801 chart will have lived through a dramatic series of jolting changes as tr Uranus moving into the UK financial 8^th has crossed the 8^th house Mars, squared the 5^th house Venus, opposed the 2^nd house Neptune and tr Uranus is on its final hard aspect squaring the UK 11^th house Saturn which rules the legislature. In 2024 the Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct the 8^th house Mars, so it will be a time of radical upheaval. And as tr Pluto moves into Aquarius it is trine the UK Uranus and opposition the UK Jupiter, which will bring a definite shift into a different future.

At that point the devolved Scottish Parliament, 1 July 1999 12am Edinburgh, is moving through a challenging phase of transformation with tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc Midheaven, which could certainly indicate more powers; with great celebration from tr Uranus conjunct the Solar Arc Jupiter; though also a major amount of enraged frustration running into that period from tr Pluto opposing Mars in 2022/23; and a not altogether easy Solar Arc opposition Pluto in 2024 which could point to financial constraints.

Whether this means a federal UK with even looser ties to Scotland, Wales and NIreland or an outright fragmentation isn’t clear. But it certainly isn’t going to stay the same.

Tom Petty, American rock musician and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, has died from an apparent heart attack. He had just finished a successful, six-month 40^th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers; and had several projects going ahead.

Not flamboyant or a show-off, he was a musicians’ musician much respected by those in the know and but whose quiet genius was never fully appreciated.

Born 20 October 1950, he was a charming Sun Venus in Libra trine Jupiter (Moon) in Aquarius. His Jupiter was in a confident opposition to Pluto; with Pluto in turn trine Mars in Sagittarius, sextiling onto musical Neptune, communicative Mercury and creative Venus in Libra. He would have a steely core behind his unassuming front.