Astrology of Today’s News

 

The pound may have chuted south last week because of a technical market fault (though it has been drifting down since June anyway and is unlikely to go back up in the short term). But there’s no doubting that UK and global business leaders and others are beginning to get seriously worried about the direction Theresa May’s policies are heading. A hard Brexit means losing half of the UK’s export market, never mind blowing holes in the City of London’s prosperity (and thus decimating tax revenues). And anti-foreigner rhetoric is only likely to harden the EU’s already flinty hearts.

Her birth chart over the next two years shows a mix of great confidence side by side with panic about dashed hopes and plans dissolving under her feet. Her steady-pair-of-hands image may be an illusion which events drive a spear through. She has a singleton Mars in Pisces in an opportunistic opposition to Jupiter natally and that is being seriously shaken first by tr Saturn square Mars from the 19^th of this month for about eight days; much worse is tr Neptune conjunct her Mars from April next year on and off till late 2018. That latter is usually straight failure, weak-willed and an inability to make progress. She has on the upside tr Pluto trine her Jupiter and sextile her Solar Arc Jupiter through 2017 which will keep her confidence up and bring some successes. But it will be a struggle. She’ll suffer a major shock of sorts with her Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Sun in 2018, maybe early or late in the year depending on her birth time.

In addition, transits to her midpoints next year are with one exception bad news – disasters in February and total confusion. That latter rolls on and off till late 2018 and is described by Ebertin as a ‘tragic delusion or deception.’

The CBI (Confederation of British Industry), 30 July 1965, are up in arms and at daggers drawn with her. The relationship chart between the PM and the CBI has a composite Sun Pluto trine Mars, so a brutal and hostile power struggle. The CBI chart looks hugely stressed through 2017 with tr Pluto square their Mars and sextile their Saturn; with a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn square Sun in 2017; a stuck Solar Arc Pluto square Sun in 2017/18; and a real jolt from Solar Arc Uranus square Sun in 2020.

Theresa May has already indicated she’s not overly happy about the Bank of England’s policies and her relationship chart with chairman Mark Carney, much like the CBI is fraught with a Pluto square Mars and that is being steadily undermined by tr Neptune in2017/2018; and ploughing through exceptionally heavy seas (if he stays the course) in 2017/18 with tr Pluto conjunct the composite Saturn.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond, who is murmuring words of caution, is anxious about the buccaneering Brexiteers – Johnson, Fox, Davis – making negotiations more difficult with inflammatory and delusional claims. He clearly favours a ‘soft Brexit’ with access to EU markets. His relationship with Theresa May is inherently friendly but under disappointing, unsupportive influences through till January next year. His own chart is sagging badly right through until late 2017 with tr Neptune square his Sagittarius Sun Mercury.

Theresa May had some real disasters as Home Secretary but seems to have a Teflon knack of emerging unscathed. Whether that will last through her term is questionable.

 

What’s to say? The lewd sex tape from 10 years back which has Donald Trump boasting about groping women’s genitals and describing women as sex objects who could not resist his advances, has sent the GOP into a tail spin. Even his chosen running mate Mike Pence has backed off. Though it’s a touch late in the day to be thinking of throwing Trump overboard.

Trump even made suggestive comments about his daughter Ivanka’s body. She’s a redoubtable Sun Scorpio with an ambitious and tough-minded Saturn Pluto Jupiter in Libra – 30 Oct 1981. But her relationship chart with her father is beyond difficult with a composite Sun Mars Saturn Uranus – that’s a bucket load of aggravation, unkindness and a volcano waiting to blow.

None of his relationships with three wives are exactly harmonious. With Melania and middle-wife Marla Maples there are strong Pluto Sun aspects on the composite charts – so very controlling marriages. Melania has a Sun Saturn conjunction natally so would be used to being put down as a child. Marla has a Venus square Saturn so attuned being unloved. Ivana, the first wife, has a Sun Mars opposition Saturn natally probably square her Moon – so again used to hard-edged relationships where her needs weren’t considered.

Even Kellyanne Conway’s relationship chart with Trump has a Mars Saturn aspect – which is negative, destructive energy. I’ll bet she’s regretting the move big time since it won’t help either her or Pence’s career for that matter going forward.  Pence’s relationship chart with Trump has tr Pluto moving to oppose the composite Uranus just after mid this week, which could upset the entire applecart.

 

Warren Beatty has emerged from family seclusion to make his first movie in a decade – Rules Don’t Apply, described as a biopic about the eccentric, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes but in reality about two would-be lovers coping with the money and misogyny in late-1950s Hollywood. Beatty plays Howard Hughes in a supporting role.

He is described by Vanity Fair as “one of the most famous actors of the second half of the 20th century, the most talked-about wooer of women in his day and one of Hollywood’s more successful filmmakers.” During nearly 60 years as an actor, director, screenwriter, and producer, he has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won best-director Oscar for Reds in 1981. At 54 he married actress Annette Bening and settled down to domestic bliss, raising four children.

Born 30 March 1937 5.30pm Richmond, Virginia (with Shirley MacLaine as an older sister) he grew up in a Baptist family. He has a 7^th house Aries Sun and Mercury trine a crusading Mars in Sagittarius; and an experimental Venus Uranus in indulgent Taurus in the 8^th. His Scorpio Moon is in a creative, self-protective Water Grand Trine to Saturn Descendant in Pisces trine Pluto, formed into an even more talented Kite by a confidently pushy Pluto opposition Jupiter, making lucky Jupiter the leading planet. His Fire Sun with Water Moon combination is not a comfortable mix – that plus Uranus Venus and in the 8^th probably points to why he took so long to settle down.

His wife Annette Bening, 29 May 1958, is a Sun Gemini with probably a Libra Moon conjunct Jupiter opposition her Venus in Aries. She has an inspirational and tough Fire Grand Trine of Venus trine Pluto trine Saturn in Sagittarius; and a disciplined and used-to-hard conditions Saturn square Mars. Her Venus falls on the cusp of his 8^th house so there will be a deep emotional connection. Plus a few sparks from her Sun opposition his Mars; and rough edges from her Mars in Pisces conjunct his Saturn.

Their relationship chart is very complicated but knit together. The composite Sun is in an affectionate conjunction to Venus Mercury possibly opposition Moon. There’s a challenging composite Saturn opposition Pluto square Sun and possibly square Moon – so it will be enduring though not always a picnic. The composite Sun is also on the focal point of a Yod to Jupiter sextile Neptune, so although strained at times, there’ll be enough lift from Jupiter Neptune to make it manageable. And given he has a strongly aspected Saturn he will have mellowed and become more sensible as he matured into his older years.

 

Sarah Jessica Parker has shrugged off her Sex and the City persona to play lead in HBO’s comedy Divorce, about a middle-aged woman, juggling debts, teenage kids and a hang-dog husband negotiating a split.

Born 25 March 1965 9am Nelsonville, Ohio, she’s another Sun Aries conjunct Venus with a deeply buried 8^th house Capricorn Moon; with her Moon sextile/trine Saturn in Pisces opposition Uranus Mars Pluto in Virgo, so a challenging emotional life. She was a child actress on stage and screen along with some of her eight siblings.

In real life Parker has been married to actor Matthew Broderick since 1997 and insists she has no plans to leave. Broderick, born 21 March 1962, is another Sun and Venus in Aries with a Libra Moon. Their relationship chart has an affectionate and supportive composite Sun Venus Jupiter trine Mars – so lots of sparks but also morale boosting; though there’s also composite Mars square Pluto Uranus which suggest an undercurrent of aggravation.

More couples have same the sun sign than you might imagine, although traditionally only Scorpio and Aquarius respectively were supposed to be the ones who homed in on the same.

 

The noise around the Brexit-will-it-bankrupt-the-UK debate has an irritatingly low sense-to-sound ratio. I wondered whether Solar Returns for the UK might give any pointers. The 1993 Solar Return when the UK crashed out of the ERM certainly showed up strongly with Uranus Neptune in the financial 8^th opposition Mars; with Sun also in the 8^th, and Saturn in the 10^th square a 6^th house Pluto.

Looking back over the recessions of the 20^th Century, the Solar Returns do seem to point up a financial crisis with most often Mars in the 8^th, sometimes Uranus; though there were a couple which didn’t show up much.

This year the UK 2016 SR (from January 1) has a successful (or confident) Jupiter in the 10^th, plus a pressured Sun Pluto in the 2^nd. The 2017 SR looks upbeat where international and business finances are concerned with Jupiter in the 8^th; though there’s an erratic, insecure Mars Uranus in the 2^nd; plus a get-serious Saturn in the 10^th. 2018 looks enthusiastic on the speculation front with Mars Jupiter in the 5^th; hostile relations with neighbours from Sun Pluto in the 7^th which figures; a directionless Neptune conjunct MC and unpredictable Uranus also in the 10^th. 2019 looks marginally more ominous with Uranus in the 8^th and a worrisome Moon in the 2^nd; with a depressed population Saturn in the 4^th. 2020 looks challenging but basically OK, as does 2021.

So not much of an indication of a total nosedive there. Where financial unpredictability kicks in will be as tr Uranus moves into the UK 8^th in 2019 to stay until 2026/7. That’s not necessarily disastrous, just roller coaster. Especially when tr Uranus meets the conjunction to the UK 8^th house Mars in 2021/2 and then continues to rattle round the other UK Fixed planets for several years. That will certainly start with a financial shock of sorts (as well as other effects). The EU is also in serious shtook at the same time as tr Uranus hits their 8^th house Taurus Moon and squares their Uranus.

With major aftershocks in 2023/2024 with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the UK Mars; and Solar Arc Sun square the 2^nd house Neptune.

Previous times of tr Uranus in Taurus are not much help since the previous one was conjunct Uranus and square Pluto during WW11; and the one before that in the mid 19^th Century was part of a triple conjunction with Pluto and then Saturn.

Before Uranus moves into Taurus in 2018, the UK chart does have some questionable Solar Arcs hitting on the 8^th house UK Mars with tr Neptune square the Solar Arc Mars; plus the Bank of England looks to be in some disarray in 2017.

The state of mind of the population is either 4^th house or Moon aspects. Tr Pluto now in the 4^th until the end of the next decade and tr Saturn moves through the 4^th from 2019 to mid 2021 – both of which suggest a fairly tough time then, especially during Saturn’s stay. And even before then tr Pluto opposing the Moon in 2017/18, followed by tr Saturn opposition the Moon in 2019 also points to a challenged and discouraged electorate.

But all in all it doesn’t look like a terminal meltdown. And these influences would still have been in place with or without Brexit, though perhaps taking a different form.

Theresa May’s Government chart will have some wobbles in February 2017 with tr Uranus square the Sun; and a fair amount of confusion and uncertainty through 2017 with tr Neptune square the focal point Saturn; but it’ll also be bullishly confident and probably successful to a large degree with tr Pluto trine Jupiter in 2017/18. The challenges will start to mount with tr Pluto opposition the Govt Sun in 2018/19; and the most likely fall-off-perch-time will be mid 2019 when the Sun moves by Solar Arc to square Uranus exactly.

As if life is not beset by enough horrors, the dreaded Tony Blair’s itchy-fingered megalomania is turning a focus on returning to UK politics, swooping in like batman to save the day. He’s dropping his money-earning work for third world dictators, partly because they’ve stopped piling cash his way, so will have a few hours to spare to save UK Inc. His chart certainly indicates a major change of direction in 2017 with tr Uranus square his Capricorn MC. Regrettably he’s not finished completely, with his peak starting in 2020 for a few years. Though he’s got some devastatingly stuck Solar Arcs across 2017/18 and 2021/22. But he might try.

His relationship chart with the UK is control-freaky to start with – a composite Mercury opposition Uranus squaring onto Mars Pluto; with Saturn trine Mars Pluto – that’s fathoms of hostility. It looks very limp and lacklustre until late 2018 with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Sun Venus, so he won’t make any headway instantly. But it’s just possible his narcissism is such that he throws caution to the winds and arouses a great deal of angst by pushing on in 2019 for a few years.

 

 

Could you survive without Twitter? Despite a $15 billion capitalization from its 2013 IPO, it is struggling to find ways of making money on the 300 million who use it. Advertisers are lured away by the 1.7 billion users of Facebook and 500,000 on Instagram, with new competition coming up fast from Snapchat and others. Shares are today down by a fifth amid worries about a lack of takeover interest.

The 7 Nov 2013 10.52am New York IPO chart is certainly in trouble now and through 2017 with tr Saturn square Mars after mid this month; and tr Neptune opposing Mars through 2017/18. There’ll be some lift in Dec/Jan 2017 from tr Uranus square the IPO Jupiter, perhaps if they find an unconventional buyer, but it won’t help thereafter.

The original Twitter chart, 21 March 2006 1.02pm San Francisco, CA, is in no better shape with tr Saturn square tr Neptune hitting on Uranus Mercury square Mars, through 2016/17 with a worse dip in 2018.

Jack Dorsey, the founder, 19 Nov 1976 1.30 am St Louis, Missouri (Sly Schofield), who recently returned as CEO, hasn’t been making much headway with his ambition to monetize and retain control of the company. He’s very up and down through the next eighteen months, panicking at setbacks, but staying bullish throughout. But his relationship chart with Twitter 2006 looks mired in confusion at the moment and there’s a parting of the ways in 2017/2018.

 

Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful Caribbean storm in a decade, has done considerable damage in Haiti, leaving at least 300 dead, and is heading now towards Florida as a Category Three storm (120 mph/190 km/h.)

Haiti is no stranger to tropical hurricanes but has still not recovered from the devastating 2010 earthquake. This September Lunar Eclipse located to Haiti had Pluto conjunct Ascendant square Uranus conjunct IC, so putting it in the centre of the disruptive Uranus Pluto effect.

The Haiti, 1 Jan 1804 independence chart, at the moment has the Solar Arc Saturn opposition the Haiti Jupiter with Solar Arc Mars square Jupiter – so battering at confidence and optimism. With tr Pluto moving this year backwards and forwards in square to the Haiti Uranus, so more jolts and upsets.

The country chart is tough to start with having a Capricorn Sun Mars square Saturn; and sextile Pluto. The January 2010 quake which killed anywhere between 50,000 and 300,000 people happened when the tr Pluto in Capricorn square tr Saturn in Libra was hitting on the Haiti Mars square Saturn, so a brutal outcome.

It isn’t clear who is running Haiti at the moment after the previous President resigned and an interim government was formed. With tr Pluto continuing to square the Haiti Uranus till late 2017 and picking up the conjunction to Mercury in 2017/18 it looks like endless wrangles and an unsettled period ahead.

Florida state, 3 March 1845, is now experiencing the effects of the hurricane with warnings about threat to life. The Solar Arc Mars is square the Florida Pisces Sun, which always accompanies a collision of sorts; with tr Saturn opposition the Solar Arc Mars now, before moving within days to square the Florida Sun. Tr Neptune follows in 2017/18 to conjunct the Sun as well. That may not all be hurricane damage, but it looks less than upbeat.

Please post below.  If you want to see back posts go to NEWS on the top bar and they are all there back to late 2015.

 

Despite scoring a spectacular victory with the Brexit vote, UKIP (the UK abandon EU party) is still a car crash. Which given that its start chart of 3 Sept 1993, has a Mars Jupiter square Uranus Neptune is not too surprising. Mars Jupiter is gung-ho, Mars Uranus explosive and erratic, Uranus Neptune fanatical and highly strung. Having got themselves in a tangle voting a replacement leader for Nigel Farage, they forced Diane James in under duress, who resigned 18 days later this week. A major donor Aaron Banks described some of the top executives as ‘circus clowns – who’d be out of their depth in a paddling pool.’

Now Steven Woolfe, one of the possible replacements for the replacement leader, has ended up in hospital after a heated exchange in Strasbourg amongst UKIP MEPs, in which he allegedly called one of the other members outside to finish the argument like men, received a punch, fell down hitting his head and then collapsed with a seizure two hours later. You couldn’t make it up. Almost on a par with the then leader Nigel Farage nearly getting killed in a light aircraft crash campaigning for the 2010 election when the UKIP banner got tied round the propeller.

The UKIP chart had this September Eclipse conjunct the Virgo Sun which usually indicates a crisis; and the UKIP Sun has also been suffering from the downbeat tr Saturn square, just finished, and is facing the undermining tr Neptune opposition through 2017. Plus an over-heated tr Pluto square the Mars Jupiter now which would lead to inflamed passions along with an overly-intense Solar Arc Pluto square Mercury, which is also picking up the tr Pluto trine at the moment. And it’s not going to get easier with tr Pluto conjunct the Uranus Neptune from early 2017 to late 2018.

Steven Woolfe, 6 Oct 1967, who according to Neil Hamilton picked the fight, is a Sun Libra opposition Saturn in Aries, but the diplomatic niceties of his Libra Sun will be outweighed by a fiery Mars in Sagittarius in a do-or-die determined square to Pluto and a no-compromise square to Uranus.

Another MEP, Mike Hookem, 9 Oct 1953, an ex-commando, was evidently incensed when he heard Woolfe was thinking of defecting to the Tories until Diane James resigned. Hookem is another Sun Libra like Woolfe, with a passionately enthusiastic Mars Venus in Virgo which is conjunct Woolfe’s Pluto and square Woolfe’s Mars, so an argumentative combo. Both have Mercury in sharp-spoken and distrustful Scorpio.

No complaints or charges have been brought and there’ll be no investigation unless that happens. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Below are a couple of pieces I wrote when this hoary old chestnut came up a couple of years back, for the umpteenth time.

Did my sun sign change?

Noooooo. You are precisely as you have always been. How could an intense passionately emotional Scorpio suddenly morph into an elegantly detached Libra? Not possible. Your sun sign (birthday sign) in Western astrology comes from a zodiac set by the solstices. The zodiac circle round the earth is divided into 12 exact segments each named after one of the 88 constellations in the heavens. These zodiac signs have been in use for thousands of years and aren’t going to change just because one astronomer got the wrong end of the stick.

Why are people talking about a new, 13th, sign? Astronomers like making mischief about astrology as a way of undermining its credibility. They imagine that pushing up the idea of a 13^th sign will throw a spanner in the works. And the media especially on the internet loves a good argument. Astronomers don’t like astrology since they don’t understand it. They also feel it diminishes their lofty scientific status being even faintly associated with it via the stars. This is despite the fact that all the early astronomers – Galileo, Kepler, Brahe -and indeed early scientists were also astrologers.

What is the meaning of this new sign? The constellation Ophiuchus was in Roman times known as Serpentarius and associated with Ascelpius the healer who was reputed to be able to bring people back from the dead or keep them alive indefinitely. So it has a meaning somewhat similar to Chiron, the wounded healer.

Is this new news?

Nooo. It keeps cropping up every few years when yet another astronomer decides to try to rock astrology’s boat. One of astrology’s problems is it has bad PR despite being everywhere and accepted by two thirds of the world’s population. At the moment there is no explanation for astrology since it doesn’t fit in with any of the accepted scientific theories of the universe. And science in its arrogance says what we can’t explain can’t possibly exist. Hah.

How might I learn more?

When I first started doing astrology I knew I had to put aside the why question. Why does it work? We don’t know why is the simple answer. How it works is a different matter. People have been studying and practising astrology for several thousand years and a considerable body of knowledge has been accumulated. If you want to learn how astrology works then there are a huge variety of courses on offer – just go google. Find your country’s main astrological association and ask them.

For a general background on astrology my website has a brief summary of where it came from and just how many leading figures have used it.

http://www.astroinform.com/index2f.asp?page=home%2Easp

 

SIGN CHANGES

Sigh. Astronomers do like to cause mischief on the basis of utterly no understanding of how astrology works. One has suggested because of the wobble of the earth on its axis we are all one sign out. And the Precession of the Equinoxes is news? And shock horror there is a thirteenth sign named after the constellation of Ophiuchus. This is a hoary chestnut that reappears every so often and is all beside the point.

Back to basics. Astrology works off a mathematically exact zodiac marked out from Zero Point Aries which is a line through the centre of the earth. That zodiac circle divided into twelve equal segments is named after twelve of the eighty eight constellations in the heavens which are roughly in a circle.

If you think of the astrological zodiac as a map grid reference it helps. Constellations vary enormously in size and distance from the earth so would hardly be useful for accurate predictions.

Where some of the confusion comes in is that 2000 years ago Zero Point Aries was very roughly against the start of the constellation of Aries. Two thousand years before that in the time of the Babylonians that line through the centre of the earth was against the constellation of Taurus. We have for the past two thousand years been moving through the Age of Pisces and now are hovering on the brink of the Age of Aquarius. But since the constellations are impossible to put a start and finish on estimates for the start of the Age of Aquarius run from 1966 to 2034.

In any event these great epochs as they are known have nothing whatsoever to do with the working of day to day astrology.

While for some it is reassuring to think of astrology working because we are ‘zapped’ by solar system energy, few serious astrologers believe there is a cause and effect mechanism working. The explanation has to be a good deal more complex than that. Since science has dismally failed to even start to grapple with the issue, other than throwing out silly smears once in a while we still have no idea why astrology actually works.

Which it undoubtedly does. Even at the simplest level of Sun signs it does make sense. Many early astronomers and indeed modern many scientists are Pisces. Comedians tend to be Aquarius or Sagittarius. Farmers and singers Taurus. Yes there are exceptions but anyone who knows astrology knows what their friends and family are like and most fit the rules of the thumb for that sign.

Birth charts can be startling accurate in pin pointing temperaments, talents, hang ups and life’s patterns. The examples are legion.

I wrote a book some years ago looking at the history of the past two thousand years and what was around astrologically during the great historical shifts. You can track the history of economics and the handling of money through times of Pluto in Capricorn which we have at the moment – 2008 to 2024. Pluto is about transformation. Capricorn is about governments and finance. Pluto melts down to produce a better system. The world went into a global financial spasm when Pluto moved into Capricorn. It occurs roughly every 250 years. Last time round Adam Smith was writing the free market bible ‘Wealth of Nations’. Prior to that currencies were re-organised, stabilised, banking was invented.

There is abundant proof that the kind of astrology we use, based on the map grid of the zodiac with the twelve signs we know and love so well, named after but not exactly matching constellations, does work. One day scientists will stop sneering and smearing and get on with their proper business of providing an explanation.