Astrology of Today’s News

The two leaderenes are at war (if that’s not too sexist). UK PM Theresa May is spitting that Nicola Sturgeon should get on with governing properly (hear, hear) and stop playing games by insisting on an independence referendum re-run. While the Scottish First Minister spat back that at least she’d been elected which is more than she can say for the PM.

As far as I understand it the UK government would have to agree to another referendum and the suggestion is that post the 2021 Holyrood (Scottish government) election would be a more sensible time. Holding it in the middle of the Brexit fallout would be too confusing and would not allow Scots to make a sensible choice about the economic argument. [See previous post Feb 27: Try, Try Again.]

Spain for one is making mutinous noises and insisting Scotland would be way down the EU membership-joining list, since they have their own separatist problem which they don’t wish fed with hope. With oil unlikely to recover in price and Scots public expenditure being high, there’s a real possibility they’d be refused EU membership anyway without swingeing cuts to public services and tax rises.

Theresa May is certainly not doing her popularity much good up north by coming across as schoolmarmy and rigid, even if she’s right about the SNP government needing to sort out major problems under their control – NHS, education and police. TM’s Pluto falls in NS’s 10th conjunct her MC, so she will come across as controlling and contemptuous. TM’s Sun is conjunct NS’s Uranus, so she’ll regard the Scottish leader as rebellious and unco-operative; and TM’s Uranus is conjunct NS’s Mars and opposition NS’s Moon – so a flare-up combo. TM’s unbending Saturn in Scorpio is conjunct NS’s Neptune, so pragmatism meets evasion.

Their relationship chart has a composite Sun Uranus Pluto, so will be an unpredictable, erratic relationship that’s destined to live through major changes and upheavals and none too co-operative. There’s also a bad-tempered, overt-dislike composite Mars square Saturn which may be tied into the composite Moon. Where it starts to hot up and get bitter is 2019/2020 with tr Pluto trine the composite Mars.

The swamp will marinade more happily now that Trump has gone against an earlier decision and fired crusading New York US Attorney Preet Bahara. Over seven years Bahara earned a reputation as one of “the nation’s most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors” of public corruption and Wall Street crime, being even-handed about Republican and Democratic NY dirty politicians. He is the inspiration for the hit TV show Billions. He has also been key to taking down organized crime outfits and trying terrorists. Russia has him on their banned-Americans blacklist after his investigations into their human rights abuses over Sergei Magnitsky’s death. There is, of course, now murmurs that he was removed lest he stick his oar into any of the multiple investigations into Trump finances.

Born 13 October 1968 in Firozpur, India into a Sikh/Hindu family, his family moved to the US when he was two and he is a naturalized American citizen married to a lawyer from a Muslim/Jewish family – so five stars for diversity. He has some chart with a dominating Yod of Jupiter Pluto in Virgo sextile Venus Neptune in Scorpio inconjunct Saturn in Aries; with Saturn opposition a Libra Sun Mercury. He’ll have never felt he fitted in,  but once he got on track, he’d be totally focussed and find his outsider status and cast of mind an asset.

Saturn on the focal point of a Yod is a tough master to live up to and requires self-discipline and maturity. But it gives tremendous inner strength and points towards a life direction where the individual ‘can display his special capacity for social responsibility and purposeful action.’ (Bil Tierney: Dynamics of Aspect Analysis.)

Tr Uranus is conjunct his Saturn exactly now throwing his life onto a different track with a sudden jolt. He’s also got an undermining tr Neptune opposition his Mars in Virgo this year; and a challenging tr Pluto square his Libra Sun from this month till late 2018. Tr Pluto moves on to a uphill-struggle opposition to his Saturn in 2019/2020; but at the same time tr Pluto will trine his Jupiter Pluto for success and a confident push. Although he has always forsworn politics as being incompatible with being a US Attorney, it’s not inconceivable he could be a player towards the next election.

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, born 5 Aug 1968 also has that focal point Saturn inconjunct Uranus Pluto sextile Neptune – and tr Uranus is exactly conjunct her Saturn over the upcoming French elections, so it’ll be instructive to see what kind of different track she’s pitched onto.

Robert James Waller, author of The Bridges of Madison County, one of the best-selling novels of all time about a brief love affair, has died. He wrote it in 11 days in his fifties, having retired from a business college teaching career. The critics crucified it as sentimental, cliché-ridden and trite, for The New Yorker “the worst book in living memory”. But it sold 50 million copies globally and was made into a successful Clint Eastwood movie. So much for critics’ sense of public taste.

Born 1 August 1939 in Rockford, Iowa, he had – intriguingly – an 8 degree Leo Sun, as does JK Rowling, whose writing style the critics have also trashed. In Waller’s case, his Sun was conjunct Pluto trine Jupiter in Aries, so he wasn’t short of confidence. He had an Earth Grand Trine of Neptune in a creative trine to Uranus trine Mars in Capricorn, formed into a Kite by Mars opposition Venus in Cancer and Pluto in Leo – undoubtedly talented and suited to the materialistic world of economics and management. His Mercury in Leo opposed an Aquarius Moon squaring onto Uranus in Taurus; with an out-of-element Grand Cross of Saturn opposition a Scorpio Node square Pluto Venus opposition Mars. A complicated man, tough-minded though obviously with a romantic streak. He left his wife of 35 years for a younger bride five years after his great success and went on to write several other books.

Could Norway be invaded by neighbouring Russia? That was the plot of ‘Occupied’, the 2014 television thriller based on a Jo Nesbo novel. Too far-fetched the studio bosses said – until Russia walked into the Crimea. The Russians condemned the drama as fear-mongering; but the Scandanavian countries are all ramping up their military and naval defences, which had been allowed to slide at the end of the Cold War.

Norway, NATO’s most northernmost outpost, is monitoring increased Russian military and submarine activity inside the Arctic Circle, with worries about the maritime choke point, the Greenland Iceland UK Gap, through which Soviet naval forces would have to cross to reach the Atlantic to stop US forces heading in to reinforce America’s European allies.

A senior Norwegian defence official said: “We are a nation of only 5 million, but we lie on the threshold of the largest non-western concentration of force in Europe. The modernised Northern Fleet is Russia’s main strategic deterrent, their main nuclear bastion and contains the capabilities to deter and attack the US. It is also the area where the most sensitive testing of Russia’s strategic hardware takes place.”

Trump’s NATO-bashing and opaque Russian ties are alarming those who sit on the frontline with Russia. What is worrying is that Trump’s Mars MC line on his astrocartography runs through Scandanavia (Sweden, Finland) up into the Arctic circle, as well as further south through eastern Europe, so it is a flash point for him. And his Pluto MC runs through Norway which will bring up his power-hungry streak, though it’s likely to backfire on him.

Norway, 7 June 1905 11am Oslo, has the confused, uncertain tr Neptune square its Gemini Sun in 2018; with a blocked, bleak, Solar Arc Saturn conjunct Pluto; though also a confident, never-give-in tr Pluto trine Jupiter in 2018/19 as well. So whatever ails them, they are pushing back. 2019 and especially 2020 look more stressed, inflammatory and insecure with tr Uranus square their Moon, conjunct Venus and opposition Mars. Relations with Russia (both the 1917 and 1991 charts) look on high-alert with extreme anxiety this year, but most aggravated in 2019/2020.

Finland, 6 Dec 1917 3pm Helsinki, also has Neptunian panicky influences through 2017 till 2020 as tr Neptune squares the Sagittarius Sun, then opposes Mars in 2019/2020; with extreme concern in 2020 from Solar Arc Neptune square Uranus. Relations with Russia, are jangled this year, sinking to a low in 2018/19 and explosive in 2020.

Sweden, 7 Dec 1865 3.30pm Stockholm, again has Neptune dissolving and undermining the Sagittarius Sun through 2018; with a dead-halt and high-risk Solar Arc Mars conjunct Pluto in 2020, followed by an explosive Solar Arc Uranus conjunct Mars covering 2020/21. Relations with Russia, are sagging and hugely unsettled this year, and working up to outright rage and frustration, again with dangerous overtones in 2018/19.

Trump’s idiocy no doubt bolstering Putin’s burgeoning aggression could have unpleasant knock-on effects on places far from the safe enclave of Mar-a-Lago, unless his military brass rein him in.

What will colour EU countries attitude to the UK over Brexit will be that one stumbling block is removed to the notion of a two-speed Europe which is now being talked up. So the UK will get the blame for opening the door by those countries opposed.

A two-speed Europe would allow closer integration for a core of countries to forge cooperation on finance, tax and security, leaving a peripheral group to stay in a looser federation, which latter group would not have the power of veto.  Italy is pushing the idea hard at the moment and France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are likely to support it. Poland is vehemently against it, fearing that the inner group would start to take unilateral decisions with a continent-wide effect. The head Poland’s ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, last week warned that any move toward a two-speed European Union would lead to the bloc falling apart. It would lead he said to “the breakdown, and – liquidation, of the European Union in its current sense”. Others in the Visegrad group – Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are also alarmed. Which given that they have only recently removed themselves from the USSR straitjacket and re-asserted their national identity is hardly surprising.

The latitude for the UK exploiting such rifts amid the general mayhem of the EU attempting to mount a cohesive divorce negotiation will be considerable.

The relationships of all the Visegrad countries with the EU (for Poland see previous post) are hugely unsettled, Hungary especially, and getting more so into the early 2020s, . They’ll all feel forced into changes beyond their control.

Malta looks disappointed and irritated by the UK’s decision to exit so won’t be too supportive; Cyprus even more so, though that was always a fractious relationship at best.  The EU will be fighting battles on several fronts so Brexit, at times, won’t be the major concern.  Though the substantial loss of revenue will loom large, nonetheless.

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry continue to step out together with relatively little fuss (comparatively speaking) apart from the odd bitchy piece a la the Daily Mail today suggesting she’ll get not-invited to Pippa Middleton’s May wedding lest she steal the limelight.

I’m still not convinced it’s a together-till-eternity match with a close composite Sun square Uranus, which favours on-off, separated-by-distance relationships. There’s certainly a passionate composite Venus Mars conjunction and a tough-it-out Saturn Pluto, though that latter probably squares the composite Moon which is bleak. And there’s also a fair amount of Neptune wreathing its illusory magic around which most often ends in disappointment, especially with Mars square Neptune.

They are totally different types of personalities – she a Sun Leo and Moon Libra, he a Virgo Sun Taurus Moon. So Fire Air with Earth Earth. Admittedly her Venus in Virgo helps as does his Venus in Libra, since they resonate with his Sun and her Moon. But maybe not enough.

There’ll be some kind of an upheaval in the relationship come April as tr Uranus opposes the composite Saturn and then moves to oppose Pluto; which may well be circumstances around them changing rather than anything dramatic at an emotional level. The degree of the composite Moon isn’t known but tr Uranus will square it sometime either this year or next, which will be a genuine upset. The year end across into 2018 will also feel separated and irritable with tr Saturn square Mars Venus, which may be just a passing moment.

Prince Harry definitely is smitten and wants a settled partnership with tr Pluto square his Venus throughout this year (and last) and his Progressed Moon going through his 7^th for another year ahead. And he has tr Pluto trine his 4^th house Moon in 2018/19 which is usually domestic and family changes. He’s got tr Uranus square his Sun/Moon midpoint at the moment which quite often accompanies relationship splits, but since he’s had that since early 2016, it may point to a radical reappraisal of what he wants from partnerships and from life. The Sun/Moon midpoint is the marriage of the spirit and the soul, the conscious and the unconscious. But it does suggest a degree of inner conflict perhaps about what his public duties will be in future. And that returns double-fold when tr Pluto opposes his Sun/Moon in 2019/2020.

April shows up on his chart as an emotional upheaval and that returns on and off till early 2018.

Meghan herself looks confused through chunks of this year, edgy, insecure with some highs but more challenges; and a disappointing-in-love tr Neptune opposition her Venus in April, returning later in the year and on and off through 2018.

Just as an addendum: Pippa certainly harbours no great liking for Meghan with a composite Mars square Saturn Pluto, which is very activated through mid March/April and beyond.

Meghan’s relationship to maybe-sister-in-law Kate will be turned on its head in April and jolted mightily in 2018 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Sun.

It’s a shame for Prince Harry since he clearly wants a settled family, but he’s a very different temperament to New Moon in Cancer in the 7th William.

One of the (many) mysteries of the fledgling Trump Administration is what has happened to the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Next to POTUS it’s almost the most important post and yet Tillerson has been largely invisible, not present at foreign dignitary meetings with Trump, or giving briefings. Admittedly he inherited an understaffed department, with top staff exiting, and is under threat of budget cutbacks. But he didn’t get to be CEO of Exxon, the world’s sixth largest revenue generating business, by being a shrinking violet. So the fightback must be happening out of sight or is still in the planning stages.

He’s a Sun Aries opposition Saturn square Uranus, so pro-active, innovative, practical; with a fearsome and ruthless Mars in Scorpio square Pluto, and his Sun exactly opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint, so he’s not going to be tramped underfoot for long.

His relationship chart with Trump (minus his birth time) is friendly enough though also controlling – but doesn’t throw up too many clues about the way ahead prediction-wise. Two alpha males and only one boss. Tillerson won’t take kindly to being pushed into a cupboard.

The ones he has real issues with are Stephen Bannon and Jared Kushner, who have been sitting in on foreign meetings and plotting a parallel course to the State Department. Tillerson’s relationship chart with Bannon has an argumentative composite Sun Mercury square Mars; with a power-struggling composite Jupiter square Pluto; and a suspicious, crossed-agendas Saturn Neptune square Uranus. That chart is being jolted and jangled for the next two months with a major upheaval in September/October.

With Jared Kushner, the relationship chart is no better with an implacable-dislike composite Mars square Pluto Uranus; and a disappointing/distrustful composite Sun square Neptune. They’ll be jockeying for position this month till early June; with an impatient, seriously stuck late July to late September; and a real flare up in December.

Tillerson’s personal chart looks undermined ahead and insecure with tr Neptune opposition Mars/Uranus, on and off till late 2018; and a high-tension tr Uranus square his Sun/Mars from late April, on and off till 2018. Plus a major setback tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint in Sept/Oct, which tends to be a career loss.

Heaven help the US if the grown ups can’t get their act together and throw their weight around effectively.

Not that Jared Kushner and Stephen Bannon get on well with a disruptive composite Sun square Uranus Pluto, which is being pounded by tr Saturn hard aspects all year; plus a dissolving, undermining tr Neptune square the composite Mars this month and on into 2018.

There’s been a fractious spat in the EU with Poland after a near universal vote to reappoint Polish Donald Tusk as European council president. Clearly he’s not popular at home. As one of the largest recipients of EU funds, Poland would hardly seem to be in a position to lay down the law, even more so considering the EU parliament last year passed a resolution condemning PM Beato Szydio’s for meddling with the Polish Constitutional Court saying it endangered “democracy, human rights and the rule of law”. But she’s come out all guns blazing saying they would not be blackmailed.

The Poland 24 Aug 1989 1.05pm Warsaw/EU relationship chart is in a flashpoint year with tr Uranus opposition the composite Uranus and Mars, hotting up in April, on and off till early 2018. With a separating tr Uranus opposition the composite Sun in 2019. So the differences won’t subside.

Poland joined the EU on 1 May 2004 along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia. That chart is on a collision course exactly now with Solar Arc Mars conjunct Saturn, certainly bad tempered, with tr Saturn also this year in an irritable opposition to the Mars, and square the Mars/Pluto midpoint; with a dead-halt Solar Arc Pluto opposition Saturn by 2021, when there is also tr Uranus conjunct the Sun.

The possibilities of getting anywhere near a unanimous agreement on almost anything look slim whether Brexit or a two-speed EU ahead, split into the haves and the have-nots..

Another holy roller horror has emerged after a ‘wee free’ minister in Lewis, Scotland hanged himself after being confronted by his wife over several affairs, of which she found evidence on his computer. In some denominations it might raise no more than a few tut tuts, but the Free Church (a misnomer if ever there was one) is exceptionally strict and has dominated life in parts of the north west of Scotland for 170 years. On Sundays due to Church diktats, life grinds to a halt – no shops and restaurants, no play on the golf course; the council-run swimming pool is shut. Only in recent years have there been flights and ferry sailings on Sundays. Needless to say, in addition, all sins and immoralities are roundly condemned in hellfire and brimstone sermons.

The Free Church of Scotland was formed on 18 May 1843 which gives a resolute Taurus Sun conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol, trine Saturn (Moon) in Capricorn, square Neptune Jupiter in Aquarius; with Saturn (Moon) square Pluto Venus; and Pluto Venus trine a crusading Mars in Sagittarius. All of which adds up to enduring stubbornness, a tough almost ruthlessly cruel streak and a fair amount of illusions/delusion. The Jupiter Neptune conjunction is marked being on the focal point of a mini Grand Trine to Pluto Venus trine Mars; and square Sun – Ebertin associates this with a conflict between the visualized ideal and the very different reality. How true.

There used to be an old saying about wee free ministers that around them it was best to keep both hands in your pockets – one holding your knicker elastic and the other your purse. Vulgar but apposite.

At the moment tr Uranus is opposition the Free Church Venus Pluto as the sexual scandal emerged which seems descriptive; moving on to a jolting square to the Saturn (Moon) as the year rolls on, perhaps putting a dent in all that Saturnine authoritarianism. Tr Uranus doing what it does best – rattling cages and forcefully blowing away old restrictions.

What gives with religious zealots? Outrageous and quite dizzying hypocrisy.