Astrology of Today’s News

The economic plight of Italy is dire as it approaches what could be a game-changing referendum on Sunday. It is nominally about parliamentary reform, but the electorate are more concerned with voicing disapproval on the current state of stagnation. [See previous post on Euro.] Since 2008, the US and the UK have seen output rise by 12pc and 8pc respectively, whereas Italy’s is down by 8pc. Even more crucially since 1999, when the euro got under way, Italy has managed to grow by less than 6pc, in comparison to 25pc in Germany and France and 40pc in the UK (outside the euro). Unemployment now stands at about 12pc of the workforce; with youth unemployment nearly 40pc, third worst in the EU below Spain and Greece (UK unemployment 4.9 pc overall with youth 13.7pc).

Italy needs a much lower exchange rate than their German neighbours, which of course is impossible within the currency union. With a boost to competitiveness of 20 to 30pc through a lower exchange rate, there would be a surge in net exports, higher economic growth and less employment.

The Italy 1861 12 am chart, hints at financial disappointment through 2017 with tr Neptune conjunct Venus; and a hugely frustrating tr Pluto trine Mars in the 6^th house of work, causing anger. Tr Saturn will also square the MC, Mercury, Sun, Neptune on and off for most of 2017. 2016 will undoubtedly be seen as a year of the great rebellion with the Solar Arc Uranus opposing Pluto and in force for another few months. There’s also tr Uranus square the Sun/Moon midpoint which could indicate partnership splits. (as in the UK)

The other Italy chart, 2 July 1871 12.30pm, is relatively similar with tr Pluto trine the 8^th house Pluto in 2017/18 exerting huge subterranean pressure for change. With tr Uranus conjunct the 7^th house Neptune and square the 10^th house Uranus from March onwards – so a radical change of direction and very high-tension relations with neighbours which could involve a split.

The Bank of Italy chart, 10 Aug 1893, is sagging badly through 2017/18 with tr Neptune square Pluto Neptune and opposition the financial Venus, so no quick n’ easy solutions.

The EURO chart, 1 January 1999, will be under extraordinary pressure, the worst in its short history,  from Feb 2017 till late 2018, with tr Pluto square the Euro Mars, so it’ll be boxed in every which way causing major angst and considerable fear. And there’ll be a series of major upsets when tr Uranus starts to square the Euro Venus from late April and conjunct the Euro Saturn from mid May onwards, on and off till March 2018. The warning signs will be there from late this December with tr Saturn moving round the Mutable T Square, conjunct Mercury and square Jupiter and then opposition Moon, repeating the whole process in the autumn of 2017.

One possible catalyst could be the political situation in Italy, which is facing a referendum on December 4^th to push ahead reforms which may see PM Renzi step down if he loses which it looks likely that he will. Italy is considered one of the biggest threats to the survival of the euro, with eye-watering debt and banks filled with non-performing loans. A Renzi resignation would make markets look again at the state of Italy’s banks which could push the eurozone crisis from its current chronic state to an acute one. On a worst case scenario, Renzi goes, and a new populist party takes over which has pledged to hold a referendum to leave the euro, which was what Berlusconi threatened before he was toppled. Several other European countries also desperately need a more affordable currency, but are stuck inside the euro straitjacket.

The European Central Bank (ECB) chart 1 June 1998 is facing an undermining tr Neptune square its Gemini Sun in January 2017. But also has a bullishly confident Solar Arc Pluto square its Jupiter, exact in early 2017, which could cause them under pressure to throw away the rule book; followed late in the year by a reckless Solar Arc Mars square Jupiter. Plus a whole raft of discouraging Saturn hard aspects to Solar Arcs in 2017.

Matteo Renzi, 11 Jan 1975 2.45pm Florence, Italy, has a Capricorn Sun picking up the tr Uranus square in the final days of this month through Dec/Jan 2017, so there will be a major disruption in his life; with an aggravated setback tr Saturn conjunct his Mars in January 2017. He may, of course, lose the referendum and decide not to resign, though even he was talking of breaking regulations and baling out the banks.

Brexit may be the lesser of EU worries as 2017 proceeds with France and German elections to be held, with all populations distinctly restive and inclined to kick over the traces.

Fidel Castro, the communist revolutionary who ruled Cuba for half a century and inspired insurrections across the globe, has died aged 90. Admired by some, loathed by others, he guided Cuba through the Cold War, survived the collapse of communism, and hundreds of assassination attempts, outliving ten hostile US presidents.

For older Cubans he was a hero, who rescued them in 1959 from the US-backed dictator Batista and provided healthcare, education and food, though younger ones have become more mutinous about the erosion of personal freedom in a country that was a one-party police state.

There has been a partial thaw since his brother Raul took over the government but when he goes he’ll leave a party machine determined to cling to power.

Born 13 Aug 1926, maybe 2am, Colon, Cuba, Fidel Castro had a flamboyant and visionary Sun Neptune in Leo in the 3^rd in an expansive opposition to Jupiter in Aquarius square Saturn in Scorpio. Certainly enduring with a surfeit of fixed signs; and a Fixed focal point Saturn is stubborn to the nth degree, dislikes sharing the driving seat with others. He also had a self-protective wide Water Grand Trine of a rebellious, innovative Uranus in the 10^th trine Saturn trine Venus (conj Pluto in Cancer). His Libra Moon was in the 4^th showing his love for his homeland in a possessive square to Pluto. An argumentative Mars in Taurus squared his Mercury in Leo.

His Jupiter was square his revolutionary Uranus/Pluto midpoint and his Uranus was conjunct his Mars/Jupiter, so well-designed to fight against established orders (unless they were communist).

His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic (quintiles) was strong and bleak and this is a harmonic that is often associated with a need for power, to dominate and create a world that accords with the individual’s own ideas. His 7^th Harmonic is even more heavily aspected (septiles) which is most often thought of as creative, but underlying that is the drive and ability, especially when backed by quintiles, to actualize a fantasy, for good or for ill. Neptune is a recurring pattern in his natal chart, conjunct his Sun and opposition Jupiter, as well as Mars being square his Neptune/Pluto midpoint, and recurs in his 5H and 7H.

His Master Number ’super-star’ 22^nd Harmonic has a Mystic Rectangle, combining dogged discipline and risk-taking enthusiasm.

There are various charts for Cuba but the 10 December 1898 12 noon appears to work well. Castro’s Jupiter fell in the Cuba 10^th, with his Sun Neptune in the Cuba 4^th which makes sense. With his Saturn in the 7^th emphasising the degree to which he shut Cuba off from the rest of the world (barring the USSR and Venezuela).

The Cuba 1898 chart has a hidden, secretive Sun Saturn in Sagittarius in the 8^th opposition Pluto Neptune in Gemini, so a country used to economic hardship and steeped in superstition and attuned to cultish ideas. The Revolution in 1959 also had Saturn in late Sagittarius; and in 2016 as Castro dies, Saturn has returned to Sagittarius, approaching the conjunction to the Cuba Sun within days.

When the revolution occurred in 1959 tr Pluto was square the Cuba Uranus Venus; and tr Uranus was conjunct the Solar Arc Pluto exactly.

Castro’s relationship chart with Cuba had both love and hate writ large with a brutally suppressive composite Mars Pluto opposition Jupiter square Venus; and a dreamy composite Sun Moon square Neptune.

Cuba ahead is facing tr Saturn moving through its’ 8^th house until late 2018 in a time of national mourning and economic hardship; with tr Saturn also conjunct the Sun and opposition Neptune in 2017; with tr Neptune moving to square Pluto in 2017 as well, then square Saturn, Sun in the years following. So the shutters won’t come up in a hurry despite President Obama’s entente cordiale. Which the next incumbent may pull back from anyway.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s two children were born: North West (a girl) 15 June 2013 5.34am Los Angeles; and Saint West (a boy) 5 December 2015 6.13 am, LA.

Both have very complicated charts with strong Jupiters on the angles.

North has Sun Jupiter on her Ascendant so will view her father in a rosy light as a confidence-giver. She also has a 4^th house Moon which does suggest family and father are experienced as reasonably stable elements in her life. Her Moon opposes Neptune on her MC square an 12^th house Mars – so mother will be needy, inaccessible at times and angry; though also possessive with a Moon trine Pluto. She has a wide Water Grand Trine of a 5^th house Saturn in Scorpio trine Neptune trine Venus (Mercury) in Cancer, formed into a Kite by Venus Mercury opposition Pluto, making her self-protective, creative, talented, intense, probably designed for a business role in the entertainment business with Saturn in the 5^th. Her Pluto opposition squares onto Uranus so she’ll be innovative, rebellious, a fairly disruptive force, though caring with Neptune on her MC.

Saint has Jupiter in Virgo on his midheaven, so lucky in life and in his career. He’s quite defensive with Saturn in Sagittarius on his Ascendant conjunct his Sun. His Sun Mercury in Sag square his Jupiter so he’ll be an odd mix of laid-back and overly serious. He experiences his mother as the more confident of his parents though a bit of a drama queen. His father comes across as Saturn Neptune so more unstable,. And with an explosive Uranus opposition Mars (Moon) in Libra square Pluto in the 2^nd, he’ll inherit both of his parents’ volatile temperaments. He’ll channel his energies into making money, perhaps the music end of the business with a rock n’ roll Uranus in the 5^th and a needs-an-audience 10^th house Moon.

Another bomb atrocity in Iraq has killed around 80 people, many of them Shia pilgrims, some Iranian, returning from a holy festival south of Baghdad. The Islamic State said it carried out the attack, probably in a diversionary tactic since they are under severe pressure from Iraqi Government forces pushing to drive them out of Mosul, their last major stronghold in Iraq.

The Iraq 23 August 1921 6am chart, is being seriously challenged by this September and next February’s Solar Eclipses in Virgo/ Pisces in hard aspect to the Iraq Uranus in Pisces; even more so by the August 2017 Solar Eclipse which is conjunct the Iraq Leo Sun. So it will be a critical time with the chance of a new road ahead, but only if radical reforms are carried through.

2017/18 will be emotionally intense years for the population with tr Pluto opposition the Iraq Venus and square the 8^th house Aries Moon. There will be a push to restore Iraq’s reputation but it won’t be an easy victory, with a still fragile political situation. There will be even more economic headaches than usual, in a financial situation already fraught because of falling oil prices and the cost of the war against ISIS.

The Eclipses run on into 2018 causing upsets as they oppose the Iraq Sun and then conjunct the Iraq Venus. The best hope is when tr Pluto moves to trine the Iraq Jupiter from 2019 but that is followed by tr Pluto trine Saturn, so it won’t be an easy road to any semblance of security and normality.

Anselm Kiefer is a German artist, whose often melodramatic paintings have been focussed on never letting Germany forget the horrors of its Nazi past or the destruction that nationalism and war brings. He has just opened a new exhibition in London, more installation art than paintings, which again evokes the nightmares from history which have become ever present.

He was born 8 March 1945 in a small village called Donaueshingen in Germany, which was being bombed by the British. [Just to put it into perspective it is reckoned that 600,000 German civilians died in WW11 from air raids, with 4.5 million military casualties; and 65,000 civilians died in the UK during those six years, along with 400,000 forces personnel. WW11 was the deadliest in history with an estimated 50 million plus civilians dead and 25 million combat deaths in total.]

He’s a Sun Pisces opposition Jupiter so creative and inclined to large ideas. His Mars in Aquarius is in a wide opposition to Pluto; and he has planets in all three Air signs; plus a Sagittarius/Capricorn Moon opposition Saturn. So fuelled by anger and ideas.

But it is really down into his 5^th and 7^th Harmonics (quintiles and septiles) that his talent emerges. His inspirational 7H has a brutal Grand Trine of Saturn Pluto Mars; and a stressed Yod of an explosive Mars Uranus onto the 7H Sun. So what fires his imagination is war (Saturn Pluto) and the damage that it causes (+ Mars); and he expresses himself (Sun) in shocking images.

His get-it-together 5H is mellower, more Neptunian, enabling him to magic fantasy representations out of his deepest fears. Neptune is tied into a paranoid though prolific T square with Sun Saturn; and is also in aspect to an exuberant Mars Jupiter Venus.

His obstinate and outspoken Mars in Aquarius is exactly square the Germany 1871 Pluto in the 8th, so he taps into the country’s deepest fears and guilt. His regretful Saturn in Cancer square Neptune are also in hard aspect to the Germany  Sun and Saturn in Capricorn, as well as the Germany Mars,  so his life and work are an uncomfortable reminder of their history.

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Donald Trump has started rowing back on some of his more extreme policies, causing alarm in the Alt-Right which he ‘disavowed’ in an interview with the New York Times. He also admitted to some human cause behind climate change and said he wouldn’t pursue Hillary Clinton through the courts.

Mindful of 2017’s tr Uranus square the USA 1776 Mercury opposition Pluto’s historical tendency to spark up far-right conspiracies I wondered about the white nationalists’ and other extremists’ reaction going forward, since they reckon they helped get him elected.

Richard Spencer, 11 May 1978, (the Nazi saluter), is a Sun Taurus opposition Uranus and square Saturn Mars in Leo, so rebellious, angry, hard-edged, demanding of attention; with a pushily confident (not scared to break rules) Jupiter square Pluto. He looks disappointed at his unpopularity in 2017 but also fairly gung ho, so in the mood for an initiative. It’s a chart with three oppositions so he’ll constantly look for and be unfulfilled by partnerships of all varieties. His relationship with Trump has a fight-for-control composite Sun square Pluto, with a suspicious Saturn square Neptune. What could have been (in his eyes) a power partnership will dissolve through 2017.

Alex Jones, radio host and conspiracy theorist, 11 Feb 1974, has a typical far-right winger’s chart with an Air Grand Trine of Sun Jupiter in Aquarius trine Uranus Moon in Libra trine Saturn; with Sun Jupiter in an aggressive and over-confident square to Mars in Taurus. His relationship with Trump has potential for serious aggravation with a composite Mars Saturn trine Neptune, sextile Pluto. In 2017 he is slightly cheered by some Trump policies and at odds with others as tr Uranus squares the composite Sun Venus. He’ll be enraged in 2018/19 with tr Pluto trine his Mars.

David Duke, former KKK, 1 July 1950, a Sun Uranus in Cancer trine Jupiter, square Mars Neptune in Libra. Again with an Air Grand Trine of Mars Neptune trine an Aquarius Moon trine Venus in Gemini. He looks disheartened in 2017 with tr Neptune opposition his Saturn in Virgo. And his relationship chart with Trump is sagging every which way and enfuriated with tr Pluto trine the composite Mars.

Jared Taylor, a White Nationalist academic, 15 Sep 1951, is a Sun Virgo with a fiercely argumentative Mars Pluto in Leo. He looks confused and uncertain with tr Pluto square his Neptune in 2017/18. His relationship with Trump also has the potential to turn vicious with a composite Pluto Mars Saturn conjunction which is being rattled over the next three years.

Kevin MacDonald, a white-ocentric retired Pysch Prog, anti-semitic, 24 Jan 1944, is yet another Air Grand Trine with a Sun Aquarius trine Neptune trine Uranus Mars in Gemini, formed into a Kite with Sun opposition Pluto. His relationship with Trump again has undertones of viciousness from a composite Mars Saturn square Sun Mercury Neptune and Venus; and is seriously rattled through 2017 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars.

And Trump is not exactly in tune with Stephen Bannon either (see previous post) with tr Neptune opposing the composite Sun Saturn. Bannon’s Breitbart news site is beginning to rumble with disapproval as Trump runs off script.

It’s brewing up to be quite a pileup in various directions – with Trump’s business interests causing conflict of interest concerns, especially given his overseas financial associations; Melania’s refusal to join him in the White House threatening to gum up Manhattan traffic; never mind the lawsuits and questions over electoral fraud. With Hillary now well ahead in the popular vote. Methinks he didn’t expect or indeed probably want to win, especially now that he sees how circumscribed his life is about to become.

Kanye West has had a meltdown and been removed to hospital after an emergency services call out, suffering from what was described as ‘nervous exhaustion.’ He’s been acting erratically in recent times and citing major debt problems.

He does have a Mutable T Square of Sun Jupiter in Gemini opposition Neptune in Sagittarius square a Pisces Moon – and a surfeit of mutable planets can make for mental strain. Tr Saturn is at the moment wending its way in hard aspect round that T square until early this December. He’s also got a heavily aspected Fixed Saturn in Leo on the point of a T Square to Uranus opposition Venus Mars; as well as being on the focal point of a mini Grand Trine of Sun Jupiter trine Pluto. All of which will make him rigid, wilfully obstinate, determined to plough ahead and keep the upper hand no matter what. Saturn in Leo demands attention and status and does not cope well with failure, which given that it sits in his 2^nd house of personal finances may be what is weighing him down at the moment.

Exactly now he has a depressive tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Saturn midpoint which has been around for a couple of years. December looks confused and February next agitated in the extreme with tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto. What may help is tr Jupiter moving through his 4^th till 2018 which might persuade him to take  R&R breaks more frequently at home.

Not that his relationship to his wife Kim Kardashian is exactly calm with a composite Sun opposition Mars square Uranus, so it’ll be constant churning change and high tension, when they are together. And he’s got tr Pluto about to move into his 7^th which is often a time of added intensity and difficulty in close relationships. This match may not last since tr Uranus will conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint in 2018/19.

Birth times being sound, there’s also an out-of-step-with-each-other’s-mood composite Sun inconjunct Moon. There’s uncertainty and worry on that chart late this month into December with tr Saturn conjunct Neptune; then an upheaval and challenges through till the New Year; with a chilly patch into 2017 when tr Saturn squares the composite Moon.

She’s at a real turning point in her life with tr Saturn disappearing into her lower profile first quadrant and coping with changes in her emotional life and future plans, from tr Uranus opposition her Pluto in 2016/17 and then in 2018 her Libra Sun.

Though both of them look more cheerful at least briefly in mid 2017.

Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock band Queen, died 25 years ago of AIDs-related pneumonia, and his mother has sadly just died this month aged 94.

He had a public persona that was larger-than-life with high energy performances through a string of hits from Bohemian Rhapsody, to Killer Queen and We are the Champions.

Born on 5 September 1946 5.10am Zanzibar, Tanzania to Indian Parsi parents, he spent much of his childhood in India and then moved with his family to the UK when he was 17.

He had a flamboyant showman’s Leo Ascendant with a 1^st house Virgo Sun Mercury. His adventurous and exuberant Mars Jupiter Venus in Libra were trine Uranus making him stand out from the crowd. His fiery Sagittarius Moon was in the performing 5^th house opposition his Uranus, so very mercurial in his feelings and expression. He also had a hidden Saturn Pluto in his 12^th, so he’d struggle in private moments with depression.

His inspirational 7^th Harmonic (septile) was strongly marked, a mix of determination to be grand and angry. As was his ‘super-star’ 22^H which highlighted Mercury and passionate enthusiasm from Venus Mars Moon.

When he was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 tr Saturn was opposition his Uranus and tr Uranus was conjunct his Sun de-railing his plans for his life. His Solar Arc Moon was also opposition his Saturn/Pluto midpoint, moving over his Pluto just before his death four and a half years later.

In November 1991 when he died oddly enough tr Jupiter was moving through his 1^st and his Solar Arc Sun was exactly conjunct his Jupiter. Very often when public personalities die Jupiter is around accompanying an upsurge in interest and popularity. Tr Saturn was by then moving through his 6^th house of health, though he continued to work right through his illness.  He is still voted as the greatest male singer ever in the rock sphere.