Guo Chuan was the first Chinese sailor to circumnavigate the globe solo and without stopping, setting a new record for a 40ft monohull of 138 days. He has died in the early stages of his next voyage an attempt on the 21-day solo record for the passage from San Francisco to Shanghai. It is thought he fell overboard and his body has not been found. His slogan for the project was “peace and sport”, a demonstration of friendship between Beijing and Washington, at a time of increasing tension between the two powers in the South China Sea. In one of his last radio messages he said he kept himself company by listening to a recording of his young son laughing. He called it “the most beautiful song in the world”.
He was born on 5 January 1965 and had a very earthy chart with a Capricorn Sun trine Uranus Pluto Mars in Virgo trine Jupiter in Taurus, formed into a Kite with Jupiter opposition Neptune – so very talented, attracted to danger with Mars tied into Pluto Uranus and Jupiter; and drawn by a Neptunian ideal or vision.
The earthiness of his chart reminded me of Chay Blyth, the Scottish solo yachtsman and rower. Born 14 May 1940 4.30am Hawick, Scotland, he had a Taurus Sun Uranus Mercury Saturn and Neptune in Virgo. I interviewed years ago when he set his records and he thought one thing which helped him with the dangers of solo sailing was his ‘lack of imagination’. An overloading of earth can produce a practical mind that doesn’t sail off into fantasy or paranoia and imagine the worst. It just gets on with doing what’s necessary.
Francis Chichester, an early solo sailor, 17 September 1901 had a Virgo Sun and Saturn Jupiter in Capricorn, though he had more Water in his chart.
Robin Knox-Johnston, another marine soloist, 17 March 1939 6.40am London, just to be un-useful, has a Water Fire chart with a Pisces Sun Jupiter opposition Neptune, and Pluto in Cancer; a focal point sporty Mars in Sagittarius; with only two earth planets, Neptune and Uranus.
So clearly different temperaments cope with the rigours in different ways. But not worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong, which most of us would, will be an asset.
The new First Lady, Melania Trump, the Slovenian third wife of Donald, is a jewellery designer and former model.
Born 26 April 1970, she’s a downbeat, tightly controlled Sun Saturn in Taurus trine a Capricorn Moon with her Sun opposition Jupiter in Scorpio; with Venus in late Taurus conjunct Mars in Gemini and Venus trine Pluto and Mars trine Uranus. Her chart has several inconjuncts – a Yod of Uranus sextile Neptune inconjunct her Sun; and Mars inconjunct Jupiter – so she will experience a fair amount of strain, the sense of not quite fitting in. It’s a fairly materialistic chart with so much earth, especially four planets in Taurus and keen-on-money Scorpio, and not exactly emotional.
She’s the polar opposite of her husband with his Air Sun and Fire Moon.
It’s quite difficult to see from the relationship chart (without her birth time) what the attraction was/is. There’s a controlling composite Sun square Pluto; a frivolous, superficial-glitter Venus trine Jupiter and perhaps Moon opposition Venus. Her Venus Mars falls in his 10th so perhaps he found her beauty an asset.
Their wedding which was staggeringly ostentatious, saw her adorned in a $100,000 Dior dress with 300 feet of satin embroidered with 1500 rhinestones and pearls and a 13 foot train. The chart for 22 January 2005 at 7pm Palm Beach, FL has a cool Venus opposition Saturn; an intensely controlling Mars Pluto sextile an expansive Jupiter with a fairly unintegrated Moon.
They do seem fairly heated from the relationship chart this December with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars and that repeats on and off through 2017; though with some relief from tr Uranus square Jupiter come March. She’s having highs and lows through 2017, and is facing real problems come 2018/19.
Roe versus Wade was the landmark US ruling asserting a woman’s right to have an abortion up to the time of foetal viability and was agreed on 22 January 1973. It now looks to be at risk of being overturned with a new pro-life (and pro-gun!) right-wing administration.
There is concern writ large on this chart at the moment from tr Saturn conjunct the Mars exactly now and tr Neptune square the Saturn and Mars through 2017/2019. 2018/19 look to be the real danger points with ferocious argument from tr Uranus square Mercury in 2018 as well as a disappointing Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Jupiter; and then in 2019 a ‘shocking collision’ Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Sun as well as a disruptive upheaval from tr Pluto square the Uranus. If it is was ever going to be overturned this looks like the time – though it did survive through the early 1990s triple conjunction in Capricorn. But this looks if anything more serious. Saturn Pluto in Capricorn’s repressive and heavily masculine energies may just do it.
Mexico has now been put on red alert with the news that Trump wasn’t flannelling about repatriating criminal illegals. He still intends to build a wall/fence and jail those he can’t toss back.
The Mexico 15 September 1910 11pm Dolores Hidalgo chart does have Mars in late Leo so it will catch the August Solar Eclipse which sits on the MC for Mexico City. Indeed the February 2017 Pisces Eclipse conjunct Neptune will conjunct the Mexico MC Pluto; and that Eclipse chart has Mars Uranus Venus on the Ascendant opposition Jupiter square Pluto (MC) – so a crisis-ridden year.
Mexico’s relationship chart with Trump has a composite Mars Mercury Uranus in late Leo square Pluto, so it always going to be a troubled and explosive relationship – and it is certainly being keyed up before and after August 2017. With continuing aggravation as tr Uranus trines the composite Mars from May 2017 and Mercury Uranus in 2018.
Mexico’s economy has been stabilising and growing modestly in recent years though the rich poor gap is still stark; and the ongoing war with drug cartels have claimed around 80,000 lives in the decade up to 2015. Since the clamp down on Colombian cartels Mexico now dominate the illicit drug market, and control 90% of the cocaine entering the US.
2017/18 look very pressured for Mexico. Tr Saturn is exactly square the 10th house Pluto at the moment, moving on to square the Virgo Sun in 2017; with a jolting Solar Arc Uranus opposition Saturn in 2017; and an even sharper shock coming from Solar Arc Mars opposition Sun in 2018.
As ever, Donald Trump has been wildly erratic on the subject of Israel saying at the start of his campaign he’d do the impossible and broker a Palestine/Israel peace deal; and latterly telling the Israeli to build more settlements. And he’s being blamed for the rise of anti-Semitic attacks in the US. You can take your pick.
He’s not temperamentally a good fit with Benjamin Netanyahu since both have the bombastic, bullying Mars in Leo prominent in their charts; and BN’s Saturn is square DT’s unpredictable 10th house Uranus. Their relationship chart is argumentative with a composite Sun Mars but also with a chained-together Saturn Pluto square Moon square Node. There’s a fair amount of unrest from April 2017 onwards between them, but that could be them facing a common enemy together.
Certainly Trump’s relationship with Palestine (1988) and Gaza (1917) looks ever more disappointing and undermined.
Though there’s no saying how much Trump’s policies – if any – will be the deciding factor since he may hand day-to-day decisions over to far-right, evangelist VP Pence and others and content himself grandstanding.
The Great American Total Solar Eclipse on 21 August 2017 at 28 degrees Leo will be seen across the USA, falling exactly on the midheaven through Houston, Texas, down through Mexico and due north up through Canada. It is in a Saros Series that was around previously in 1999, 1981, 1963, 1945, 1927, 1909. Usually this series places strains on personal relationships, induces hasty decisions on the basis of false information, and is associated with tiredness or health problems.
Set for Washington, DC, the Leo New Moon is 9th house conjunct Node Mars also in Leo trine Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus in Capricorn – so a Fire Grand Trine; formed into a Kite by Uranus opposition Jupiter which is in turn square Venus opposition Pluto – a Cardinal Grand Cross.
The New Moon will be conjunct Trump’s Mars and Ascendant as well as (maybe) opposition the USA 1776 Aquarius Moon (depending on start time).
An eclipse conjunct Mars tends to stoke up anger, so can be argumentative if not violent, accident-prone and overly stressed. At that point Trump has another of his wild confidence tr Pluto square his Jupiter and a feeling-unloved tr Saturn conjunct his Moon – so he’s likely to be over-reacting.
A Fire Grand Trine tends also to be supremely confident, taking risks without much thought of what comes next, inducing selfish and ego-centred impulses. Burnout can be a problem.
On the absolutely best reading, this could be a magnificent entrepreneurial plan to Make America Great Again (sic). Though Mars Saturn Uranus tied into the Eclipse is aggravated and reckless, especially with a buccaneering Uranus opposition Jupiter.
Previous Eclipses in this Saros series, every 18.5 years, make interesting if worrying reading with some events happening earlier than August and some the following year, as is customary with Eclipses which tend to cast a shadow in both directions.
1998/9 – Bill Clinton impeachment, Dec 98 to Feb 99.
1981 – Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in March.
1963 – Assassination of JFK in November.
1945 –August: Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs dropped. Death of FDR (by natural causes) in April.
1927: The Pineapple Primary (= hand grenades) took place in April 1928 in Illinois, during the administration of the notoriously corrupt Chicago Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson, whose re-election had gained the financial support of mobster Al Capone. In the six months prior to the primary (ie. 1927) there were 62 bombings in Chicago and 2 politicians killed. 500 federal marshals were drafted in by the Attorney General to protect voters on election day. ‘Underlying the violent campaign was the lucrative Prohibition-era bootlegging trade, a corrupt city government, politicians with ties to organized crime, and a deep-seated and bitter political rivalry between several of the Illinois Republican candidates.’ (wiki)
Calvin Coolidge, was in the White House, a Republican president since 1923, small-government conservative, supported racial equality, relatively scandal-free after predecessor Warren Harding’s less than stellar performance.
1927 also saw various natural and man-made disasters of historic proportions – St Louis tornado, Vermont floods, Pittsburgh gas explosion. In 1928 a California dam fails with 400 dead, Florida hurricane kills 2500.
1909: Assassination attempt against President William Howard Taft while on a visit to Mexico. He was Republican anti-African-American, said in his inaugural address he wouldn’t appoint them to federal jobs; anti-conservationist, protectionist; broke with many of his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt’s policies. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the following election.
So certainly this Eclipse presages violence in one form or another.
In general there will be a huge amount of unrest in the US in 2017 with tr Uranus square the USA 1776 Mercury opposition Pluto – and tr Uranus is in August 2017 reversing back to square the US Pluto again; with tr Saturn exactly opposition the US Mars which is at least accident-prone if not militarily involved.
There’s not much on the Inauguration (Trump 1st Term) chart at that point. Though the foreign relationship charts (see post below) look nerve-wracked and insecure from May 2017 onwards. Eclipses do cover events in advance of the due date.
From a previous post on events connected to tr Uranus square the USA Mercury opposition Pluto.
‘The USA 1776 chart has only one opposition of Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto in Capricorn – and tr Uranus started to pick up the square to Mercury mid 2016 and continues on till early 2018. Mercury Pluto is overly intense and tr Uranus throws an excitable firecracker into the mix.
Looking back on previous tr Uranus hard aspects to that opposition, it is really interesting. Oct 1973 to Oct 1974 – VP Spiro Agnew resigns faced with tax evasion charges. Watergate is raging, escalating and ends with Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment charges, as tr Uranus squares the US Mercury for the final time in August 1974, tugging on the US Pluto.
During tr Uranus in Cancer conjunct the US Mercury and opposition the US Pluto in 1953/54, the McCarthy sniff-out-a-commie hearings were in full swing, along with increasingly vociferous criticism of his bullying and witch-hunting tactics which led Ed Murrow to ask “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
On a previous occasion – April 1933 to April 1933 – President Franklin D Roosevelt declares a national emergency to come off the Gold Standard; and the Business Plot was uncovered which was an attempted coup d’etat against the government and Roosevelt’s progressive policies, by a group of fascist veterans and wealthy businessmen, wanting to ally themselves to Hitler’s Germany and Italy. At the time it was written off as a hoax but there did seem to be some wild scheme in place.
So this influence definitely attacks both the government and US democracy, either by dragging scandals into the open or letting loose hard right-wing fanatics
Just a final caveat. The 1999 Solar Eclipse which had worse aspects than this one ran across the UK and all manner of dire predictions were sparked off. In the event it was a damp squib at the time; though a series of catastrophes did ensure 18 months later when the aspects repeated.
The legendary poet, songwriter and artist Leonard Cohen has died aged 82. He was known as a dark visionary who became a cultural icon through the 60s and 70s and his career extended on. Although born Jewish, he became a Zen buddhist, retreating into silence for several years in the 1990s. On re-entering the world, he found his manager had embezzled his retirement fund, so he went on an extraordinary five year world tour. He never married but had a rolling succession of intense relationships, which resulted in two children.
Born 21 September 1934 6.45am Montreal, Canada into a well-to-do family, he credited his mother, a Russian émigré, with encouraging his poetic and musical aspirations and described how she would, as she went through her day, sing Yiddish and Russian folk songs she had learned as a child. He described her as romantic, beautiful, sensitive, and emotional, given to bouts of both joyfulness and melancholy. His father died when he was 9, and he initially became a poet and writer, turning to music when that failed to make him a living.
He had a Virgo Sun on his Ascendant and his chart was dominated by an Air Grand Trine of Jupiter in Libra trine Saturn in Aquarius trine a Gemini Midheaven – so he was designed to be a communicator. He also had an emotional Pisces Moon opposition a 12th house Venus Neptune in Virgo – a testament to his sensitive mother. His Jupiter opposed an 8th house Uranus squaring onto Pluto in Cancer – so influential, but in many ways a man ahead of his time. It’s not an easy chart for emotional relationships with a controlling/ scared of being controlled focal point Pluto; an erratic 8th house Uranus; and a wants-to-merge, though uncommitted Venus Moon Neptune.
His musical and artistic Neptune in the hidden creative 12th was well integrated into his chart being conjunct his Venus and his confident Jupiter/Pluto midpoint and square his rebellious Uranus/Pluto. Not surprisingly his chart is replete with creative quintiles and septiles, though with a melancholy streak running through them. His 17H – leaving-a-legacy-for-history was also strongly aspected.
Trump’s time ahead, especially in the next year will be erratic, almost bi-polar, with swings from manic highs to crunching lows.
On the upside, he’s got the stratospherically successful Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Jupiter, exact in three weeks; and tr Pluto square his Jupiter in January, July to early September, and November 2017 – the latter will push his over- confidence up several notches, resulting in wild promises, actions that tramp on social niceties and possibly create a backlash since he’ll cross acceptable lines. It could even be connected to the myriad legal cases against him which are pending, since conflict with authority often comes with a mishandled Jupiter Pluto in hard aspect. He’s also got lucky breaks and more success coming from tr Uranus trine his Sun/Jupiter midpoint this December and January – which might even see the action against Trump University kicked into the long grass.
However, however, he’s also got tr Saturn opposing his 10th house Uranus later this month and then conjunct his Moon and opposition his Sun over the New Year and through till late January – that suggests, at the very least, a sharp reality check about the responsibilities he’s unwittingly landed himself with, with tensions and problems at home. He and Melania look at daggers’ drawn this December. Those discouraging influences repeat July to October 2017. Since he has a Full Moon in his birth chart, tr Saturn will also be square his Sun/Moon midpoint at the same time. Sun/Moon for a politician is not just about his marriage, it’s also about public popularity – so both of these look to be hitting a chill. This December looks especially pressured and depressed for him with tr Pluto opposition his Mercury/Saturn and Sun/Pluto.
His Secondary Progressed Moon is also conjunct his natal Saturn around 1st December this year which will be another downer. And his Progressed Moon moves through his 12th house mid 2017 till mid 2019 which is a time of endings, over-sensitivity and emotional muddle, escapist, a longing for solitude. Being out in the spotlight continually will not be easy for him.
Tr Neptune will oppose his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint from April 2017, on and off till late 2018 = ‘inclination to cheat or deceive others, general disappointment, suffering damage without being aware of it.” (Ebertin).
Then he has a whole tranche of jolting Uranus transits picking up from late February 2017 running till early 2018 – square his Mars/Uranus, Saturn, Mars/Node, Sun/Mars, Mercury/Pluto, Venus/Saturn, Venus. Some of these he had earlier this year and they tend to send him flying off into unwise gestures and comments as his machismo is threatened. They rattle the bars of his cage in no uncertain manner.
In May, October 2017 and March 2018 he has tr Uranus trine his Mars (on his Ascendant for Washington, DC) which is when aggravations show up in several of his foreign relationships – so there’ll be a crisis of sorts running at high pitch.
Into 2018 in February his Secondary Progressed Moon is conjunct his 12th house Pluto at the same time as his Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct his Mars is hotting up (exact April 2018) – the first can bring up behavioural problems which given that it’s a 12th house Pluto will be connected to lust, greed, vengefulness. The Uranus Mars at his age, given all the forerunning Uranus jolts, could be health and heart related; or just a massive cattle prod to his sense of security and self worth. His Solar Arc/Sec Prog MC is also conjunct his Sec Prog Saturn early in 2018 which is an additional discouragement.
All of the above to be taken in the context that anyone, competent or otherwise, who steps into the White House will hit running dramas, crises and catastrophes from Day One so some of them will be related to what every leader fears – ‘events, dear boy, events,’ (Harold MacMillan, former UK PM).
The media, having got it monumentally wrong about Trump, is now in full burble-mode second-guessing the whys and what comes next.
There is one sensible piece from Gary Yonge in the Guardian: “He [Trump] represents the incoherent, inchoate and ill-informed rage against the fallout of neoliberal globalisation that has found a home in a newly mobilised and radicalised nationalism across the west. His victory will provide momentary solace to his supporters but no lasting remedy. He exemplifies the problem; he has no solutions.”
What is certain is he’ll have to cope, in his own inimitable style, with foreign leaders. His relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping is cool, suspicious, game-playing for the upper hand. It’ll be very edgy/insecure and aggravated from April onwards, as well as sagging badly over the next three years as tr Neptune squares the composite Venus Sun.
With Putin there’s a tight connection with a composite Sun Pluto conjunction, but these Plutonic relationships can be over-controlling and lead to resentment and hostility. There’s certainly a major upset between them in May 2017 and onwards which is when tr Uranus trines Trump’s Mars and his Washington, DC Ascendant – and that degree shows up in several of the relationship charts. So there’ll be a crisis of one sort or another, with those influences repeating on and off till early 2018.
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian PM, is not a natural ally with a cold composite Sun Mercury square Saturn – and there’s a deal of disappointment coming up in 2017 especially about Canada-US relations.
The UK may be a surprise benefiter from his election since he’ll put the EU on the backfoot vis a vis Brexit and NATO. And indeed Theresa May looks to have a reasonably good relationship with him with a Sun Venus Mercury Pluto conjunction and Mars Jupiter Venus also tied together. Though there are likely to be some muddles as well through 2017 with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune.
Angela Merkel, who’ll be around till autumn 2017 if not beyond, issued a guarded congratulations, heavy on the sub-text of tolerance of gender, religion and race. They are not a good fit, with crossed agendas from a composite Sun Mercury Uranus square Neptune. There’ll be uncertainty, distrust and confusion in their interface in 2017 from tr Neptune opposition the composite Saturn. And again an explosion in mid May with tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU President, similarly is having a tough struggle with the composite cold Sun Saturn Venus being dragged down by tr Pluto in trine through 2017/18; as well as confusion galore in 2017.
