Astrology of Today’s News

China is pushing its luck and territorial outreach to the north east of India on the borders with tiny Bhutan, which has always effectively been under Indian protection. The strategy appears to be to take control of a narrow corridor which would cut India off from part of its northern territories; and assert Chinese domination. China’s presence in the area also gives it possible access to important Indian infrastructure, including a hydro-electric project. China itself has built dams close to the border which establish its rights over the waters of the biggest river in the region, the Brahmaputra. It could turn water into a weapon should conflict arise as it can either turn off the supply or flood the lower States, the first one of which is India.

The Indian view is that China believes it is destined to lead Asia with its economic and political clout and be the only arbiter of peace in the region.

The relationship chart between China and India does look super-tense at the moment with tr Uranus trine the composite Saturn, returning on and off till early 2019; with deteriorating diplomatic relations and much suspicion from tr Neptune opposition the composite Sun now and until late 2018.

Where it looks at its most fraught and dangerous is 2019/2020 when tr Pluto opposes the composite Mars. And that is when India’s chart is on high-alert with tr Pluto opposition its Mars/Saturn midpoint, which could have military implications. Even through 2018 India’s chart looks trapped and uneasy.

China, for all its bluster and cavalier actions in the South Seas and Bhutan with the adventuring Solar Arc Mars square its Jupiter at the moment, is also sagging under Neptunian disappointments this year and until late 2018, perhaps financial ones.  Once clear of those it is certainly gung ho and in a super-confident frame of mind come 2019/2020 with tr Pluto conjunct its Jupiter. The war-like tr Saturn conjunct Pluto is exact in late 2019.

China’s aggressive-towards-neighbours Mars Pluto in the 7^th does fall in India’s 4^th house conjunct India’s Sun, Venus, Saturn, Pluto – so the chemistry between the two countries will always be toxic.

The Hajj Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca is due this year from August 30 to September 4^th at Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It brings together hundreds of thousands of people and, if badly handled, can lead to major fatalities as in 2015 when almost 2500 were killed in a stampede.

When the 2015 tragedy occurred, Mars in late Leo was square Saturn; with Saturn on the focal point of a panicky, uncertain, over-hopeful T Square to Neptune opposition Jupiter. There were also high-tension, risky and devastating aspects to the Saudi Arabia chart at that time – tr Uranus square Saturn; tr Uranus square Mars/Neptune; tr Pluto square Mars/Pluto.

Mars has returned for the first time since 2015 to late Leo, and will be on the same degree on September 4^th, when it is trine to Saturn and Uranus, so slightly similar. The Leo Eclipse occurs on August 21^st and set for Mecca, does put Pluto conjunct the MC square Uranus on the Ascendant opposition Jupiter Descendant – so the mood will be tense with the possibility that religious differences will break out.

There are also tricky midpoints for the start of this year’s Hajj, involving Mars/Saturn, Mars/Pluto and Sun/Mars – so there will be some risk. But there’s nothing much showing up on the Saudi Arabia chart, so definitely less damaging for the host nation. They came in for heavy criticism in 2015, specifically from Iran who lost several hundred citizens. In the aftermath 28 officials were supposedly beheaded as being responsible for the disaster.

There’s a new twist to the mystery surrounding legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart’s disappearance in 1937 over the Pacific while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. A newly discovered photo suggests she might have died in Japanese custody. The official explanation at the time was that she lost communication, ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. An NBC documentary now says she was taken prisoner, suspected of being a spy, interned and died a prisoner of war.

Born 24 July 1897 11.30pm Atchison, Kansas, she had an alcoholic father, was an adventurous child, and intent on making her name in a male dominated field. She had a 4^th house Leo Sun and Mercury; with an extraordinary collection of Moon Pluto Venus Neptune in Gemini, with Moon Pluto square Mars Jupiter in Virgo – not short of determination or guts. Mars Jupiter in the performing and sporty 5^th would prompt her to make a name for herself. She also had Uranus Saturn in Scorpio in her 7^th – so with that and her difficult Moon aspects she was not ideally suited to a settled married life, especially of those days.

When she disappeared with navigator Fred Noonan in July 1937, her Solar Arc Sun had been conjunct her Mars Jupiter in the much publicised months before; and tr Uranus was exactly trine her Mars Jupiter. There’s no way of telling from the astrology since the chart continues on after death. But if she did survive, then there certainly were devastating influences in the aftermath with tr Pluto moving to conjunct her Solar Arc Neptune; tr Pluto opposition the Solar Arc Uranus Saturn; and her Solar Arc Neptune opposition her Sun three years later.

Her leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17^th Harmonic was particularly strong; as was her breakthrough-genius 13H.

Tension is mounting as North Korea blows a possible nuclear raspberry at the USA and Trump is facing up to Xi Jinping on a laundry list of differences (NK, trade, China’s territorial expansion). China is also muscling in on a disputed border with India. The Middle East is a hyena’s nest of myriad conflicts amongst them Russia power-playing, the debilitated but-not-dead-yet ISIS, Qatar versus the Arab autocrats, and behind it all the great Shia-Sunni schism being played out with all the ferocity of Europe’s Roman Catholic v Protestant Wars which led to several centuries of carnage.

The upcoming Leo Solar Eclipse does have a military-connection Mars trine Saturn and an explosive Mars trine Uranus; with an overly forceful Jupiter square Pluto and Jupiter in a religious/culture clash opposition to Uranus. So it is fraught. Though it is not as stark as the solar eclipse before the Korean War of 1950 with the New Moon opposition Mars square Uranus; or World War 11 with the eclipse  Mars again in hard aspect to Pluto and Saturn in 1939; or World War 1 with the eclipse Mars in hard aspect to Saturn Pluto and trine Uranus in 1914. Or even 9/11 where the preceding solar eclipse had Saturn opposition Pluto and Pluto conjunct Mars, with Mars sextile Uranus.

The Saros Series eclipse which oversaw 9/11 repeats in 2019, which doesn’t mean a replay of 9/11 will happen, since it has only occurred once and these cycles repeat every 18.5 years approximately. But the eclipses from mid 2018 onwards do begin to look harsher as the Saturn Pluto conjunction approaches and Mars is in play in the July 2018 eclipse, both eclipses in 2019 and in a peculiarly unpleasant square to Pluto Jupiter and widely Saturn in mid 2020.

Trump is the only world leader with a birth time and his Mars Descendant line runs to the west of Korea with his Pluto Descendant at maximum impact through Beijing; so both are hot spots for him. His Mars MC line runs through Poland where he is today giving a rousing clash-of-cultures speech and down through Libya and central Africa. GW Bush’s Mars MC line ran straight through Afghanistan. Trump’s Pluto MC line runs through Germany where he’s likely to run into considerable opposition.

Trump’s Admin chart is nothing like as stark as GWB’s First Term January 2011 which had Mars on the Descendant in vengeful Scorpio opposition Saturn square Uranus. In Trump’s Term chart there is a Mars in Pisces square Saturn, which will give rise to bad-temper and some military sabre-rattling, but (cross fingers) won’t be the game-changer that GWB’s term was.

Please add below.  Older posts under News on the top bar.

As the world sinks into chaos, there’s always celebrity trash and the obscenely wealthy ready and willing to grab the limelight. If disgraced billionaire’s daughter Chloe Green was cavorting with ‘hot felon’ Jeremy Meeks on daddy’s yacht on the Med strictly for the cameras and a publicity stunt, she was making a credible job of looking besotted.

And it could even be a genuine coup de foudre since their relationship chart has a composite romantic Sun Venus in a fiery opposition to Mars. Though the Solar Eclipse bouncing off both ends of that may lead to a crisis or two.

She, 2 March 1991, is a Sun Pisces square Mars in Gemini which does rather collide with his Uranus, 7 Feb 1984 – though Uranian relationships can be very sparky, for a short while. Her highly strung Uranus Neptune are conjunct his socially ambitious Venus in Capricorn – so she’ll prove an elusive catch. Her Venus and his Moon do chime, being both in impulsive Aries.

Meeks is married with an LA wife who stood by him in prison, three kids and an eye-popping rap sheet of past offences. Despite which – or because of it – he’s now embarking on a lucrative, high profile career as a male model.

What is intriguing is that Meeks has a fearsome collection of Pluto Mars Saturn in Scorpio, the latter two squaring his Aquarius Sun. And Chloe’s father Philip Green – a former businessman in fashion retail, much criticized for tax avoidance, workers’ rights and abandoning his final business with heavy pension losses which he was forced to repay, for which sin he may lose his knighthood – also has Mars, maybe Moon in Scorpio, with Mars square Pluto. Green also has Venus in Aquarius and Jupiter in Aries – so he may have a twinge of fellow feeling for his daughter’s lowlife holiday fling. And she’ll certainly recognise the similarity.

Kim Jong Un has thumbed his nose at the USA, China and the rest of the world by firing what he said was an intercontinental ballistic missile which landed in the Sea of Japan. North Korea, his officials proclaimed, was now “a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world”. Though experts doubt whether NK has the capability or technology to back his wild (Trumpian) assertions.

But for all he’s testing patience in several directions which will bring consequences. The NK/USA relationship chart does have the composite Mars in conjunction with the August Solar Eclipse which can only inflame relations; with high tensions this Sept/Oct when tr Uranus retrogrades to trine the Mars. China looks exasperated and is distancing itself through the rest of this year.

Kim Jong Un’s leadership chart, 29 Dec 2011 11.57am Pyonggang, is moving towards its most precious phase with the Solar Arc Uranus square the Sun, exact in six months time, followed by a square to the Pluto a few weeks after. The August Eclipse will oppose the leadership Neptune leading to delusions and self-deception; and the trapped/cornered tr Pluto trines the Leadership Mars come January 2018.

The North Korea 9 Sept 1948 5.27pm chart, is being jolted into heightened anticipation at the moment with tr Uranus trine the Saturn; plus a false-happiness/delusionary Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Jupiter which generally leads to a sharp fall. It looks thoroughly demoralised in 2018 with tr Neptune opposition the Virgo Sun (difficult to see how it could get worse); and really knocked sideways with a risky and explosive tr Uranus opposition Mars in 2019.

South Korea has been on extreme tenterhooks over the past year with a fearful, trapped tr Pluto square Mars. That returns from next week, July 16^th to early September, and again late October to early December. Their Saturn Mercury in late Leo and the composite Saturn Sun with North Korea will catch this August’s Eclipse head on; with this November and next February looking on a knife edge with their northern neighbour. South Korea – 15 Aug 1948 12pm Seoul.

Nicola Sturgeon is feeling the downward drag of tr Saturn through her first quadrant, which was always going to make a continuing roll of success tricky. And she’s lost the bounce of tr Jupiter through her 10^th and 11^th houses which kept the last two years optimistic. Even tr Uranus opposition her 12^th house Jupiter didn’t give her the lucky break she was hoping for over the recent disappointing (for SNP) UK election.

A second Scottish Independence Referendum has been put onto the back burner for now and attention has been turned with increasing criticism onto the SNP’s track record in government. Literacy and numeracy have fallen sharply in what used to be a world-renowned education system; the NHS is missing its targets; a troubled IT scheme has delayed payments to farmers for the second year in a row; and a respected think tank has warned Scotland could tip into recession any day. One commentator remarked: “The wages of Scotland’s ten-year romance with the politics of identity are all around. For a nationalist party, the SNP is remarkably unambitious for the country it professes to love.”

Her Term chart, 12 May 2016 9.35am Edinburgh, always did indicate a troubled run with an over hopeful Neptune opposition Jupiter squaring onto a setback-attracting Mars Saturn. Tr Saturn was exactly square the MC over the June 2017 election. And that chart will limp along, undermined by Neptune transits till late 2018.

Her own chart, 19 July 1970 3.16pm Irvine, Scotland, has tr Saturn square the 11^th house Pluto putting a block on future plans, on and off till mid November; with a disruptive Solar Arc Uranus opposition Saturn, exact in 4 months time; plus tr Uranus zig zagging in square to her Cancer Sun and opposition her Jupiter till early 2018. She will get a lift from tr Jupiter across her Ascendant from mid November; but her Progressed Moon through her 12^th (a la Trump) for another 14 months will make her feel isolated. 2018/19 look like a dreary slog with tr Pluto trine her Saturn; and an insecure tr Uranus square her Mars in 2018; and then square Mercury Moon in 2019, which will bring irritations and shake her confidence.

The two SNP charts – 14 Dec 1933 and 7 April 1934 – look a mix of acute frustration and rage alongside a bullish determination to remain confident, at least till late 2018. But will suffer badly from tr Saturn in Capricorn hard aspects in 2019; and may lose their drive. They were buoyed up by the rebellious, revolutionary tr Uranus square tr Pluto but that is waning fast.

Andy Murray, having hit the heights in 2016 with a Wimbledon win, his second Olympic Gold and the coveted No 1 ranking in tennis, has been struggling against injury this season.

He’s through to round two of Wimbledon, but there’s another five after that to the final, so his fans are on tenterhooks.

He’s just through his first Saturn Return, finishing late 2016; and tr Saturn is now wending its way backwards and forwards conjunct his Moon Uranus and opposition his Saturn till November this year – so it’ll be a considerable effort to keep his morale high. Saturn opposition Mars is anyway quite accident prone and requires gritted-teeth determination.

He and Kim are expecting their second baby which fits his Secondary Progressed Moon going through his 5^th house of children for the next year; and tr Uranus conjunct his Venus. He says his family in now his priority.

Mel B, in the middle of a rancorous divorce from Stephen Belafonte (see post April 4 2017), has had the beleaguered state of her finances laid bare. A wildly extravagant lifestyle has depleted her multi-million pound fortune from the Spice Girls down to almost nothing.

According to the Daily Mail her purchases included an attack-proof motor, able to withstand bullets, bombs and chemical attacks, for £200,000 plus several other high-end vehicles; a vastly expensive jewellery collection, one ring worth over £400,000 and another £200,000 and a £20,000 Rolex; at least four Birkin handbags, each worth around £20,000, and dozens of other designer bags totting up to £500,000. She has an agent, a publicist, a PA and a nanny, plus housekeeper, gardeners and pool technicians, adding up to an estimated staff bill of at least £250,000 a year. The kids school fees are £24,000 a year; and last year they went by private plane from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to watch Jennifer Lopez in concert, at a cost of £12,000 for the evening. Plus lavish holidays to butlered luxury villas; and she bought her about-to-be-ex a £1 million private island. And at the end of the year they couldn’t afford to pay their tax bill.

Insanity or what?

Born 29 May 1975 6pm Leeds, England (from memory) she does have an 8^th house Gemini Sun opposition a 2^nd house Neptune, so emphasising an extreme vagueness about money. She’s also got an Air Grand Trine of Moon, Sun and Pluto, which will put her up in her head rather than keeping her feet on the ground. Plus a ruthless, can-be-selfish Mars opposition Pluto which is sextile/trine her Sun opposition Neptune – and that so-called Mystic Rectangle can be tricky to balance.

Her 9^th Harmonic, nominally idealistic, but really pleasure-seeking has Mars opposing Pluto Saturn squaring onto Jupiter in Leo which says it all really. Way over the top.