Astrology of Today’s News

Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican congressman and majority whip is in critical condition after a shooting at a baseball game. Five others were injured after James T Hodgkinson, opened fire and was then killed after a firefight with police. Hodkinson’s Facebook account is filled with anti-Republican and anti-Trump posts; and he had campaigned for Bernie Sanders. In a tragic irony, Scalise and others were practising for the non-partisan annual baseball match with the Democrats in Congress.

Hodgkinson, 12 Dec 1950 (FBI net), had a history of domestic violence, anger and alcohol abuse. He was a Sun Venus in Sagittarius with his Sun trine Pluto; a publicity-attracting Mars in ambitious Capricorn square Neptune, and Mars in a hard-edged, angry trine to Saturn; and a T Square of Uranus opposition Mercury square Saturn. The last would give him some organisational skills but also high levels of impatience and a tendency to dominate.

2017 would have set off his hair-trigger responses with tr Uranus in an insecure, volatile square to his Mars exact now; and a mega-confused tr Pluto square his Neptune. And tr Pluto was also square his violent Mars/Uranus midpoint exactly when he opened fire.

Steve Scalise, 6 October 1965, New Orleans, is a Sun Mercury in Libra, as befits a lawmaker; with his Mars in Sagittarius quincunx Jupiter in patriotic Cancer; and Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn. He’s not in a great year though there’s nothing exact at the moment. Tr Uranus is just over the opposition to his Mars/Pluto and Mars/Uranus midpoints which are high risk; with tr Pluto trine his Uranus and Pluto, and square his Uranus/Neptune and Neptune/Pluto midpoints; and tr Neptune conjunct his Saturn. Confusion, uncertainty and major changes.

His relationship chart with Hodgkinson, whom he’d probably never met, and there is no suggestion of any personal animus, merely a generic political dislike – does have a heavily aspected Mars, conjunct Saturn, and trine Pluto trine Jupiter; with Jupiter opposition Neptune. So a powerful composite which is often the case in these oddly karmic interactions, even if it was just wrong time, wrong place for Scalise.

Like many terrorists/mass shooters, Hodginkson was a bubbling cauldron of rage looking for a target.

Puerto Rico’s plebiscite voted overwhelmingly in favour of pushing to become a full USA state. But the turnout was abysmal with fewer than a quarter of voters taking part, with mass abstentions after charges of corruption. And at the end of it all, there is no legal requirement for the USA Congress to consider the matter. When Puerto Rico was acquired from the Spanish in 1898 it was as a colonial possession (an unincorporated territory) not a future state. One of Congress terms in any event would be national solvency which is certainly not the case for Puerto Rico which has considerable government debts owing.

The constitution for Puerto Rico was celebrated on 25 July 1952 1.36pm, San Juan (astrotheme). That gives a fixed T Square of Mars in Scorpio opposition Jupiter square Pluto on the MC (time being accurate), with Pluto opposition North Node IC – so a country prone to being dominated. It looks exceptionally muddled in 2017/18 with tr Pluto square Neptune; and short financially with tr Saturn through the 2^nd. There will be some optimistic moments from July onwards for a few months; but it also looks very high-wire, explosive and in a state of upheaval with the Solar Arc Mars opposition Uranus.

There looks to be disappointment with the US before the end of 2017; with pressures mounting on the relationship in 2018 to 2020. 2019 could see a complete turnaround in the relationship, though it looks more separated than conjoined.

A horrific fire has destroyed a London tower block of 120 apartments with many fatalities feared as residents were trapped. Details are sketchy but there is a talk of ‘Third World’ safety failures with no fire alarm or sprinklers, and previous advice to tenants of ‘stay inside’ being proved catastrophically wrong as newly installed plastic insulation cladding on the outside turned the building into an inferno which is likely to collapse.

First alarm calls came through at 00.54 am local time, which puts Saturn on the MC opposition Sun IC, which is the driving rod of a Fire Grand Trine of Node trine Uranus trine Saturn MC.

When it started Mars was closely square the Sun/Pluto midpoint and opposition Saturn/Pluto – physical breakdown, fighting for one’s life, violence. Expansive (not always a good thing) Jupiter was opposition the brutal Mars/Pluto midpoint. And Pluto was square the Sun/Moon midpoint, which latter often appears at disasters with relationships and families being ripped apart.

The UK chart has Solar Arc MC approaching the square to the 8^th house Mars, within weeks. That UK Mars in the 8^th when triggered has always accompanied major loss of life catastrophes in the UK. When tr Pluto was opposition the UK Mars in the late 1980s: on the run up there was the Zebrugge Ferry sinking and King’s Cross Fire in 1987, followed in 1988 by the Marchioness sinking, the Piper Alpha explosion, the Hillsborough football fatalities, Lockerbie plane crash. It just went on and on, all of them involving multiple deaths.

Otto Warmbier, the young American convicted in North Korea to 15 years hard labour in 2016 for stealing a poster with Kim Jong Un’s name on it, has been sent back home. At the time the US State Department spokesman said that the harsh sentence was imposed “for political purposes” and was a response to strengthened economic sanctions due to increased North Korean nuclear weapons testing. His parents said he had been in a coma for a year after his trial, after contracting botulism – usually a result of badly preserved food or infection entering a wound.

Born 12 December 1994 (wiki) he’s a Sun Mercury in Sagittarius; with a complicated Saturn opposition Mars square Jupiter Pluto. Sagittarius will give him a love of travel; Mars Saturn is accident-prone or associated with major frustrations, while Jupiter Pluto is supremely confident. He also has the highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn. His Mars is trine Uranus, so he’ll be impulsive as well.

His Solar Arc Pluto was in a blocking conjunction to his Sun when he was arrested on 2 Jan 2016; tr Saturn was conjunct his Sun/Jupiter and Mercury/Jupiter midpoints, which would drain his confidence; tr Neptune was just past the conjunction to his Saturn; and tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Sun. So pretty much hemmed in from several directions.

His Progressed Mars had just gone retrograde a year or so before (assuming birth date is accurate) which almost always coincides with a major event. Robert Blaschke says – the individual loses will and vitality and in some cases faces violence. It stays retrograde for many years to come.

There’s no way of knowing what lies ahead for him. Normally botulism paralysis only extends up to 8 weeks, though I can’t imagine NK hospitals in labour camps or wherever are exactly state of the art. How grim for his parents.

Parallels are being drawn between the present political imbroglio in the UK, with the early 1970s which saw major discontent with miners, a three-day working week, an oil crisis, entry into the EEC and the Irish Troubles at their height (the Birmingham bombing killed 21). The hastily called 1974 election led to a humiliating defeat for Tory PM Edward Heath, who gave way to a minority government under Labour Harold Wilson. Another election eight months later gave Wilson a small majority. Five years later, after the Winter of Discontent with public sector unions out on strike, Maggie Thatcher was elected. So the pendulum swung from right to left and back again. Heath lost on the slogan ‘Who Governs Britain?’ and Thatcher won on ‘Labour Isn’t Working.’

Oddly enough the USA was in full-blown crisis mode as well from 1972-4 with Watergate escalating.

There are astrological similarities to 1974 with Uranus having moved on half a cycle, Neptune almost quarter of a cycle, and Pluto just past the quarter cycle. In 1974, there was also Saturn in Cancer square Pluto, of which we’ll get a taster in probably even starker form come 2018/19. Tr Saturn in 1974 was about to conjunct the UK MC, square the Ascendant and oppose the UK Sun; followed by Tr Pluto conjunct Ascendant, square Sun and MC. In 2019 tr Saturn in Capricorn will conjunct the UK IC and Sun, oppose the MC and square the Ascendant. Tr Pluto has already moved on from the conjunction to the UK Sun by several years. But there are similarities.

Nothing is ever exactly the same – you can’t step in the same river twice – since the cycles are constantly shifting. But tr Saturn moving towards the UK chart axis by 2019 certainly suggests another game-changing and discouraging time.

There are previous posts on the USA’s woes around the two periods with the tr Uranus square the USA Mercury opposition Pluto and tr Saturn conjunct the USA Sun, Venus, Jupiter. [Dec 26 2016].

Theresa May’s new government was kicked off just after 12.30pm on June 9^th with an exact Full Moon square Neptune conjunct the Descendant, which is hardly auspicious – impractical, disorganised, lacking will-power, a tendency to give up or give in too easily rather than meet problems head-on, prone to self-deception, lacking in commitment to alliances (or unreliable partners).

To some degree that weakness may be strengthened by the Saturn conjunct Moon opposition Sun, which is the driving rod of a Fire Grand Trine of Node trine Saturn trine Uranus. But it looks all muddle, guddle and panic frankly. With an unhappy populace given Saturn in the 4^th.

There will be activity in fits and starts with an ambitious (and bossy) 10^th house Mars; and a forcefully confident, grandstanding 5^th house Pluto square Jupiter – but it’s all very disjointed. And will, in the short term, lead to toxic disagreements as tr Mars moves to oppose Pluto on July 2^nd and then square Uranus on July 18^th. Plus tr Neptune will square the midheaven along the way of this year and next, depending on the exact agreement time, which is undermining.

She’s now hauled Michael Gove, a definite Brexiter, into her Cabinet, presumably with an eye towards inclusiveness, and to keep a dangerous rival off the backbenches. But there’s no way any cohesion is going to be achieved with such a split cabinet – the Scots Tories don’t want out of the single market, the DUP want an open border with the south, Philip Hammond has acute worries about the economic effects of a hard Brexit etc etc. Her relationship with Gove is angry and blocked from mid July to early Sept, and late October/November this year.

Theresa May will need all of her Saturn in Scorpio sticking power if she’s going to hack on regardless. She’ll meet her backbenchers probably tomorrow (Monday) which might seal her fate. But polls are indicating that none of the possible contenders from within Tory ranks would be any more popular, some less so. So they are tangled up in a maze without an exit at the moment. The deal with the DUP is raising hackles in Northern Ireland given assurances (inscribed in a UN tablet of stone) that the UK government would favour neither side (the DUP or Sinn Fein). And Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, with 12 MPs, must be aghast at having such a bunch of homophobes, zealots and creationists as the DUP being a crucial support. And last but not least May goes into the Brexit negotiations woefully unprepared psychologically, logistically and realpolitik-wise, with a smirking Merkel and almost certainly triumphant Macron ganging up to block the Brits every which way.

The Tories have self-destructed themselves and the country would say hell mend them, except for the more mature voters who look at Corbyn,  have read the history books on the bad old days of Stalin, remember the IRA, understand the Chavez chaos of Venezuela, and screech in horror. It’s worth reading the New Yorker piece by Anthony Lane, June 9, The Book of Jeremy Corbyn.    Gloriously funny but acutely perceptive as well about the whys and wherefores – and the generation gap.  [URL in Questions and Comments below]

It’s anyone’s guess when May will cease to be in George Osborne’s payback comment ‘a dead man walking’ and become a past tense. She does have tr Pluto sextile her Solar Arc Jupiter along with the highly confused tr Pluto square her Sun/Neptune till mid July, so a mix of hope and delusion; then her sinking-failure tr Neptune conjunct her Mars returns after mid July till early September; and again early and late 2018. She does have some bullish Pluto transits to two Jupiter midpoints picking up from early 2018, which will give her a stroke of luck – in whatever scenario she is operating then. But will get a fearful jolt in late 2018 from Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Libra Sun.

Her 16^th Harmonic which does give her tremendous staying power but also a tendency to self-inflicted disasters is her strongest harmonic; next is her 19H which is lucky for personal success, happiness and prosperity. However there is also an element of ill luck attached to it, unless the person can develop their individuality. [E.g Mel Gibson has a strong 19H]. Her 10H = contains the seed of both rise and fall, is also marked.

What may be telling is that having been forced to fire her inner cabal of two advisers and into appointing a Deputy PM and a new Chief of Staff, she has named two strong Remainers.

Damian Green, 17 Jan 1956, now Deputy PM, a Capricorn with a Pisces Moon, isn’t that easy a match for her with his Jupiter Pluto square Saturn Mars sitting on her Pluto square Saturn – and their relationship chart has a cool and controlling Sun Saturn opposition Venus square Pluto – chained together with underlying resentment.

Gavin Barwell, Chief of Staff, 23 Jan 1972, is a Sun Aquarius, Moon Aries/Taurus, with Saturn in late Taurus square Pluto, so stubborn and gritty. That relationship chart is also very Saturnine with a composite Sun opposition Venus square Saturn, which is good for business if not exactly warm.

The chart above is with her Secondary Progression positions and have moved up a comment by Maggy below.

Donald Trump is approaching his 71^st birthday this Wednesday pursuing his usual scorched-earth policy against critics and Comey in particular. Anyone accuses him of lying, he’ll double up and wham back in response, to the delight of his die-hard supporters, who soak up his every wild claim as gospel. [See March 17 201 post on Roy Cohn, his early McCarthyite mentor, who taught him his wrecking-ball tactics.]

His Solar Return for the year from June 13^th onwards, set for Washington, DC, where he spends most time, has an expansive Jupiter on the Ascendant square Pluto in the 4^th opposition MC – so he’ll be magnifying his might-makes-right, law-unto-himself tactics with dogmatic determination. His Jupiter is also in an Air Grand Trine to Moon trine Mercury – so ultra-communicative and not much hope the twitter tsunami will retreat any time soon.

He does have the SR Sun opposition Saturn, but since that is the driving rod of a Fire Grand Trine of Uranus in the 7^th trine North Node trine Saturn, making the Sun the key planet, it may not work quite as discouragingly as some of his detractors hope. But he does look isolated in his everyday routines with Saturn in the 3^rd, resentful and mutinous in relations at home with the family; and prone to splitting with close work and personal companions with Uranus in the 7^th. The Sun, Mercury, Mars in the 9^th does hint at legal issues as well as foreign relations. Neptune in the 6^th – lacklustre energy and health.

Solar Returns aren’t always (irritatingly) as useful as they might be, but where he runs into catastrophic trouble is from birthday June 2019, with Saturn Pluto in the 10^th opposition Mars Mercury in the 4^th.

His Lunar Returns, again only giving a background which needs fleshed out from transits and progressions:

13 May to 9 June – very stuck, cornered, directionless.

9 Jun to 6 July – confident, combative, energy sags

6 July to 3 Aug – nasty month with Sun Mars in the 7^th opposition Pluto. Muddles and mayhem, with the Fire Grand Trine in his hidden houses, so boxed in and stressed.

3 Aug to 30 – directionless, hostile relationships, energy strain.

30 Aug to 26 Sept – gritty, explosive, disruptive, but still going for the jugular in his approach.

November 20 for a month looks v logjammed with a Mars square Pluto; 17 Dec – trapped and lacking support; 13 Jan 2018 – attention-seeking but under-supportive helpers; 9 March -indecisive, drifting and blocked-in; 5 April – bad tempered, depressed, low energy; 3 May – complete road-block career-wise.

Former Top Gear and The Grand Tour tv presenter Richard Hammond has escaped death for the second time in a crash that Jeremy Clarkson described as the “most frightening” crash he had ever seen. He was on a practice run in Switzerland with an electric car which flipped and then burst into flames. He suffered a fractured knee but was not seriously injured.

In 2006 he suffered severe brain injuries from a Top Gear crash, but made a full recovery after several years treatment.

Born 19 December 1969, Solihull, England, he’s a sporty Sagittarius in a determined square to Pluto; with his Sun on the point of a wedge trine/sextile to an up-and-down and hates-failure Saturn in Taurus opposition Jupiter, and also on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to an adventurous Jupiter in Scorpio trine Mars in Pisces. So a go-getter, risk-taker and hugely energised.

At the moment he has tr Uranus trine his Sun and quincunx his Pluto; but remarkably little Mars activity, until you look at his Progressions, where his Sec Prog Mars is opposing his Uranus for the next year. And he seemingly had another scrunch-up earlier this year on a motorcycle. A time to be wary.

His previous major accident in 2006, also has little direct Mars activity apart from his progressed Mars quincunx his Jupiter, shaking up that wedge involving Sun and Saturn. Though tr Pluto in Sagittarius conjunct his Sun and square his Pluto oversaw a long and difficult recovery in the months/years thereafter.

“Come on, Robin, to the Bat Cave! There’s not a moment to lose!” An epic two years on television in the 1960s as the Caped Crusader imprinted actor Adam West on a generation as the only Batman and he never lost his cult fans. He struggled in later years to throw off the one-trick pony label but always said he was blessed to have been given a signature role. Recently he came back to prominence in Family Guy.

He died this week from leukaemia. Born 19 September 1928, Walla Walla, Washington, he was a Sun Virgo square Mars in Gemini; with a charming and persuasive Pluto square Venus Mercury in Libra; and a (maybe) T Square of North Node opposition Sagittarius Moon square Neptune.

Usually individuals tied into the zeitgeist have marked North Node aspects. His was square a film-and-fantasy Neptune in showy Leo and conjunct his lucky/successful Mars/Jupiter midpoint and = his Sun/Jupiter. His Jupiter and Mars were also in aspect to his Neptune/Pluto midpoint which has a feel of the supernatural about it, certainly good for weaving a fantastical tale.