Astrology of Today’s News

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 10^th 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 12^th 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 12^th 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 12^th 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.

Looking at Hillary Clinton’s chart with a fresh eye – she does have tr Uranus trine her Saturn now which suggests a reasonably radical change in her life. She’s just lost the tr Saturn trine her Mars Pluto which dented her chances somewhat as James Comey chucked the FBI grenade in two weeks back. And that influence passed the day he announced the all clear. The only midpoint transit she has at the moment is the tr Uranus opposition her Sun/Neptune which is highly strung, sudden upsets, a crisis, mourning and that runs till late this month. She’ll bounce a bit in December with tr Pluto sextile her Sun/Jupiter but will also be mighty confused with tr Pluto trine Saturn/Neptune.

If her 8.01 am birth time is sound then tr Saturn is moving through her lower profile, less successful first quadrant and about to hit the deepest part for the next couple of years, which can often be psychologically difficult.

Her Solar Return for October 2016, for what it is worth, if birth time sound, has Jupiter in the 2^nd, so she may be off on a money-making spree; with a grandstanding and enfuriated Mars Pluto in the 5^th so she’ll make her presence felt in no uncertain way. Her SR for this past year looked very stuck with a trapped 8^th house Pluto and directionless 10^th house Neptune.

She’s enormously tough with that Mars Pluto Saturn in Leo on the point of a T Square to her Venus Mercury in Scorpio opposition Taurus North Node. The Taurus North Node often has a life rife with financial tugs of war and sexual tangles until some kind of transformation takes place. Though with such a resilient Pluto Saturn Mars which is designed to withstand any pressure, such a wholesale change would be incredibly difficult for her. I can’t see her taking up gardening which is always one of the suggestions for this Node – getting your hands dirty in the soil and embracing nature.

Repressive Saturn Pluto, historically associated with suppression of religious difference and the imposition of great hardship on underdogs, clearly won out over the more liberal minded Saturn Neptune. Trump’s victory may be taken as a victory for the little man against the capitalist overlords; but it is in part xenophobic and racist, a vote against those-not-like-me.

An astrological apology: It’s where getting invested in or repelled by one candidate rather than staying detached gets in the way of interpretations. Trump has his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Jupiter, exactly now and over the Inauguration. On anyone else’s chart I’d have said a win was a no-brainer. But it was so beyond unthinkable, I wriggled around trying to find other reasons for some other giant success in his life.

Tr Pluto is also back to square his Jupiter from early January, and repeating on and off till late 2017. This will puff up his self-importance and, as last year, push him into going a step too far, careering off like a loose cannon, making wild comments and assuming in his grandiosity that rules don’t apply to him. More minutiae in later days.

His aggravated/likely war zones are China with his Mars Descendant there. Libya and south through central Africa and north through eastern Europe where his Mars MC runs. And the eastern seaboard of the USA – relocating his chart to Washington DC puts his bombastic, over-bearing Mars in Leo exactly on his Ascendant.

Hopes for restraining him lie with Mike Pence, his VP, who made a decent showing at his debate – right-wing, evangelist, not pro-LGBT, but with political experience and spoke out against Trump’s more intemperate remarks about women and Muslims, and not a huge fan of Russia’s efforts to prop up Assad in Syria.

He could be well positioned in 2020 with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter, having lived through some rough patches before then.

That just about puts the tin lid on this year. I could make some unwise comments about democracy being too important to be left to the mob, but probably I shouldn’t.

It’s anyone’s guess as the dreaded day is upon us after 575 days of campaigning and $2.1bn spent. The greatest ‘known unknown’ since whenever as it goes down to the wire, too close to call, with polls all over the place. Scandals galore tarnished both candidates, though in an odd way sticking more to Clinton than Trump – in the USA anyway. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, it awaits in horror at even the possibility of a Trump Presidency.

Hollande of France said: “His excesses end up giving a retching feeling.” Only North Korea described him as “a wise politician and a prescient presidential candidate.”

“It needs no underlining that a Trump win would be an indelible, eternal stain on the US. How a pussy-grabbing, race-baiting, tangerine-hued pantomime ogre with the attention span of a labrador puppy, the moral sensibilities of a slum landlord, the verbal dexterity of a stroke victim, and the default vindictiveness of a mafia capo could be so close to such an office remains indescribably hard to believe.” Matthew Norman, Independent uk.

But here we are. The midpoints for Election Day do give a clear indication of the over wrought nerves, alarm, consternation and trepidation around as the world awaits the verdict.

Sun = Saturn/Pluto – fanatical, mass struggle, cold, stuck.

Sun = Uranus/Neptune = Uranus/Node, which like Saturn/Pluto are all at 0 degrees Cardinal – upsets, confusion, can be violent, family quarrels, lack of self-control, highly strung.

Saturn conjunct Sun/Pluto and = Mars – ruthless striving for power, stuck, discouraging, angry.

Uranus square Mars/Pluto = Neptune – violence, calamity, cunning and deceit.

Pluto = Sun/Saturn – road blocked and depressed.

The Sun Saturn Pluto theme repeats in various combinations.

From the Astrological History of the World on Saturn Pluto:  “Tremendous resistance to adversity and a formidable defensiveness come to the fore when these two tough, essentially masculine energies come together. Their appearance in tandem is usually an invitation to a walk on the dark side of life. Saturn, rigidly disciplined, status-driven, melancholy and authoritarian, has no reason to mellow when combined with Pluto’s power–hungry need for control. If anything, both planets become more entrenched when their energies are merged. Achievements of substance can occur, but only through slow, patient hard labour and usually a good deal of suffering, too. Stamina counts when they are around; some sacrifice is always demanded. Liz Greene talks of the obsessiveness, intense frustration and self-destructive quality of the merging of these two energies.” Intimations of what is to come with the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn towards the middle and end of this Presidency.

Though for Clinton fans there is the hope of this year’s, now waning, Saturn square Neptune which usually favours women in power.

Andy Murray has finally made it to No 1 and be officially crowned the world’s leading male tennis player. He already has three Grand Slam wins and two Olympic gold medals and is now the first British man to have topped the ATP world rankings since they were launched 43 years ago.

Born 15 May 1987 2.10pm Glasgow, Scotland, he has a much-travelled 9^th house Taurus Sun; with an ambitious 10^th house Mars in Gemini in an emotionally volatile opposition to Uranus Moon Saturn in Sagittarius. He is heading within weeks for his first Saturn Return so it’s a great coming-of-age achievement after years as the challenger and outsider.

What’s around on his chart at the moment is tr Pluto trine his Solar Arc Jupiter and returning to square his 8^th house Jupiter in Aries in January and through 2017. So he’s in the midst of a very Jupiterian period – always good for success and money. But there’s very little showing on his midheaven or Solar Arc MC. Nor indeed is his Solar Return very instructive (birthday 2016 Rome, Italy) except admittedly for an Earth Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Pluto trine Venus – but with all the planets in hidden houses, so this year wouldn’t have leapt out as the pinnacle of his career.

What stands out amongst his Harmonics are his get-it-together 5H which is feisty. His obsessive 11H which has a power house Mars Sun Pluto trine Moon and Mars opposition Uranus giving him the grit and perseverance to follow his dream. Strongest of all is his ‘breakthrough’ 13H which requires adaptation to change to succeed – which he certainly has done.

King Salman, the 80 year-old monarch of Saudi Arabia, is reportedly suffering from pre-dementia or another form of brain damage, though, as ever, in the deeply secretive court and country, it is difficult to get accurate details.

He took over the throne on the death from pneumonia of his half-brother, the 90 year-old King Abdullah, at 1 am on 23 January 2015. This gives a rather flashy Jupiter in Leo on the MC, but more pointedly a muddled 4^th house Moon Neptune Mars in Pisces square Saturn. Subsequent events have made it clear how much game-playing is going on within the family, more so even than usual. The impetuous young Deputy Crown Prince bin Salman is evidently at odds with the steadier Crown Prince bin Nayef, though there were reports that bin Nayef was also ill – which has been hotly denied.

On King Salman’s reign chart, the Solar Arc Moon and Neptune are moving to conjunct the Mars exactly in 4 months and 8 months’ time respectively. Plus the late Feb 2017 Solar Eclipse in Pisces will conjunct that Moon Neptune Mars – so it will become even more confusing and undermining at an internal family level.

King Salman, 31 December 1935, does have tr Uranus square his Pluto from mid 2017 which could be destabilising for someone his age and in frail health.

The kingdom is suffering from a severe economic crisis with plummeting oil prices, is slashing public spending to plug the hole in its deficit and has issued an international bond for the first time to raise money. Plus Deputy Crown Prince bin Salman has become embroiled in an expensive and destructive, no-exit war in Yemen as well as in Syria. BND, the German intelligence agency, recently published a remarkable memo talking about “an impulsive policy of intervention”. It portrayed bin Salman as a political gambler who is destabilising the Arab world through proxy wars.

There’s certainly no love lost between the Crown Prince bin Nayef, 30 Aug 1959, and his Deputy bin Salman, 31 Aug 1985.

The elder has his Sun Pluto in Virgo conjunct the younger’s Virgo Sun. But bin Salman has an ultra-determined Pluto opposition North Node in Taurus square Jupiter in Aquarius, so he’s a man on a mission from which he won’t easily be diverted. Their relationship chart has an argumentative, suspicious, bad-tempered composite Sun Mars square Neptune Saturn – with the dislike being further exacerbated by tr Neptune over the next fifteen months. And indeed looks as if it is undergoing an upheaval at the moment with tr Pluto square the composite Uranus till late this month.

Saudi Arabia is rapidly heading towards tr Pluto conjunct its Saturn in Capricorn from mid March 2017 onwards for two years which is usually a sign of hardship and economic cutbacks. There’ll be some uplift from tr Uranus square Jupiter (and the Sun) in April and December/January 2018. But it’s going to be unaccustomed deprivation for a country which has always kept the peace by doling money and benefits out lavishly to its citizens. There’s also a raft of Saturn transits hitting the SArabia Pluto and Uranus before this year end and then the Moon from March to early May and again late November which could be a time of national mourning; as well as hitting on its Neptune later in 2017. So a very uncertain time.

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Now that actress Meghan Markle seems to be a running possibility for Prince Harry (maybe) and not just a mirage in celebrity websites’ fondest hopes, it seemed worth a second look – if only to get away from political disasters on all sides.

Born 4 Aug 1981 Los Angeles, she’s an entertaining Sun Mercury in Leo; with an idealistic Jupiter Saturn (Moon) in Libra square Mars in excitable Cancer – so she’ll veer between high enthusiasm and the opposite fairly frequently. She’s also got Venus in Virgo which is picking up the tr Neptune opposition from April next year, running off and on till late 2018. This looks disappointing where love and romance are concerned. She’s also got a high-hopes ( and false happiness) tr Neptune opposition her Sun/Jupiter till January 2017 and opposition her Sun/Saturn at the same time – so she’ll be very up and down. Then has a run of confused, disruptive and very unsettled transits to midpoints through 2017. So she won’t find being in the spotlight of publicity surrounding a Royal romance as much fun as she might have expected.

‘Sources’ (usually unreliable) say she’s already met Prince Charles – that relationship looks argumentative with a composite Sun Mars; and communication-blocked with Saturn Pluto conjunct Mercury; and is sagging somewhat through 2017.

HM Queen looks half pleased and half horrified; with a composite Sun Venus opposition Jupiter as well as an awkward Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus.

Prince William looks quite enamoured of her with a composite Sun Venus square Jupiter Pluto; but won’t put up with any upstaging.

Kate Middleton looks less enchanted and would attempt to keep the upper hand as well as keeping her distance.

Prince Harry does have tr Uranus square his Sun/Moon midpoint from late February next year which can suggest separations in close relationships – or at least a major turnaround in his hopes and expectations of what he wants.

I do feel sorry for him having to play it all out in the spotlight and indeed having to find a partner who could survive that gilded cage.

The High Court judgement that Westminster must vote on whether the Government can trigger formal Article 50 notification of Brexit has put the cat amongst the pigeons. Though for all the yowling, it seems not unreasonable that in a parliamentary democracy, elected members should have their say and not be sidelined.

Theresa May does look very uptight at the moment with tr Saturn just off the square to her singleton Mars, now exactly square her intense Mercury/Pluto midpoint, then within a few days it will conjunct her Mars/Jupiter further dampening her enthusiasm. Tr Saturn then wends across a series of depressing squares to her Sun/Venus, Jupiter and her Sun/Pluto through this month into December.

It will go to a Supreme Court appeal which is likely to be December at the earliest.

She looks in full crisis mode next February with tr Pluto square her Sun/Neptune and tr Uranus square her Mars/Saturn – surrounded by confusion and finding that one deception or delusion is unravelling; and under great nervous pressure due to an unexpected shock. It needn’t all be down to Brexit negotiations. Her Term chart also looks seriously rattled at the same time.

Possibilities are an extended debate which would drag the uncertainty out further or an early election to give her a more workable majority. In either case she will have to reveal her Brexit plans which she has been noticeably reluctant to do to date – if they exist.