Astrology of Today’s News

Donald Trump’s admin is making slow-to-no progress on major campaign promises – repeal Obamacare to allow for tax cuts and substantial infrastructure investment to name but three – as it gets increasingly snarled up in the Russia imbroglio. Some politicians are now murmuring about Don Jnr’s Russia meeting, that cooperating with a foreign nation to influence an American election especially one deemed by the military to be a primary state adversary, if proven, is treason.

Dominating the Trump Term chart is the Jupiter opposition Uranus which Sakoian & Acker describe as a ‘soap bubble that breaks at the slightest prick’, promises more than can produce, unwise financial expansion which can lead to ruin, unbridled flights of imagination with no basis in reality. That opposition squares onto Pluto in the 9^th, hence rolling legal tangles as well as bile and bitterness about foreign affairs. A Cardinal Pluto on the point of a T Square tends to be bullying, forceful, manipulative, not good at sharing power or integrating with others, chip-on-the-shoulder defensive when threatened, contemptuous. It can have its uses but always tends to run into hostile resistance. That chart picks up the tr Pluto square Uranus from February 2018, which will start to seriously destabilise it – and that runs till late 2019.

There’s also an 8^th house Saturn square Mars, which does suggest an administration beset by setbacks and frustrations, and that is picking up the tr Saturn square to Mars again late Oct/early Nov this year.

The Term Sun is unaspected which gives an intense yet erratic quality, creating a virtual island unto itself mentality which can be isolated, self-important, unable to relate outwardly to prevailing circumstances.

The other chart, in some ways more interesting, is the moment Trump accepted the GOP nomination – 22 July 2016 12.13 am, Cleveland, Ohio – since at some point the Republicans may decide enough is enough and President Pence would be preferable.

That chart is being seriously rattled by this August’s Lunar Eclipse hitting the Venus Mercury for an emotional shock and crisis; and the Leo Solar Eclipse opposing the Moon which will put an additional strain on relationships. It is in any event a highly strained chart with two Yods of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus Mercury and Mars sextile Jupiter inconjunct Uranus. With the Sun inconjunct the Moon – so that’s five quincunxes. Plus Node opposition Neptune square Saturn.

Uranus on the focal point of a Yod is disruptive, lawless, intolerant of convention. Mercury on the focal point is scattered, can’t think straight. Where this chart starts to stand on its head is from late April 2018 onwards.

The relationship charts between Trump and the two Republican charts – 28 Feb 1854 and 22 Feb 1856 – are both stressed this year with the possibility of blasting apart in 2018. The 1856/DT relationship chart looks up in arms at the moment and ready to walk away with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and Venus, but those influences run on and off into 2018 and it is rarely the first hit which causes the split, since the critical mass has to build; with enfuriated and discouraging Saturn transits to Pluto, Mars and Neptune over coming months. The 1854 relationship chart has tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and trine the composite Mars from May 2018 onwards, running into early 2019. So the aggravation is not going to go away.

The murder of four year old Gregory Villemin in 1984 has haunted France for more than three decades, and is a gothic tale of family rivalries, poison-pen letters and false leads. Now the judge who botched the initial investigation has reportedly committed suicide. At the time, an uncle was arrested, then released, only to be shot by the boy’s father, who ended up in prison. New DNA evidence has now led to more relatives being arrested. Before Gregory’s death, anonymous letters were sent to his father threatening revenge from someone who knew details of the extended family and became known as ‘the Crow’. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be novelesque.

Gregory was born 24 August 1980 10.50pm St Die, France and his body was found, hands and feet tied in a river on 16 October 1984.

He had a lively 5^th house Sun Mercury in Virgo, with Jupiter Saturn also in Virgo; and a fearful Mars Pluto conjunction in Libra. His North Node in Leo is very tied into his Moon Uranus in a T Square, and Neptune Pluto in a mini-Grand Trine – which is perhaps why he so resonated in public interest. His Saturn is not well-aspected being square Neptune, sextile Uranus and semi-sextile Mars.

When he died tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Mars which makes sense of a brutal act of vengeance; and the transiting Sun was conjunct his Solar Arc Pluto. So very much a Mars Pluto event.

His victim 12^th Harmonic was highly stressed with a Yod tying together Mars Saturn (traditionally associated with assassinations) and Sun and Moon; and a destructive Mars square Pluto Neptune. His get-it-together-to-create-a-life 5^th Harmonic was also strong, which makes less sense. Except for the waste of what could have been a productive life.

I’ve just finished reading Mark Billingham’s ‘Love like Blood’ about honour killings. This is just another version of the destructive passions that run through dysfunctional families.

Rebecca West in her day was described as one of the greats, “a novelist of note… a distinguished literary critic… above all… one of the greatest of living journalists.” Her Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941) on the history and culture of Yugoslavia was called “this century’s greatest travel book”. She wrote on the Nuremburg Trials and the trial of British fascist Lord Haw Haw who was executed and several novels as well as countless newspaper and magazine pieces, in particular for The New Yorker.

Born 21 December 1892 8.15am London, she grew up in an intellectual home but left school early when money ran out; became an outspoken suffragette, feminist and socialist and later become concerned about social injustice in South Africa and other countries she travelled to constantly. When she was 20 she had an affair with 47 year old HG Wells, which produced a son, and reportedly had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and Lord Beaverbrook. She did marry, not very happily in her late 30s, earned a great deal and kept an active social life with the thinkers and influential figures of the day until she died aged 91 in 1983.

Her Sun was within one minute of a degree (one sixtieth) away from Capricorn (assuming her birth time is accurate) square Mars in Pisces, so assertive; with a hard-working Capricorn Moon; and the signature Neptune Pluto in Gemini of her generation opposition Mercury in Sagittarius, so both idealistic and dogmatic, a dreamer and a deep-thinker. Her Jupiter in pro-active Aries opposed Saturn in fair-minded Libra, so she would veer between highs and lows. Both her Mars and Jupiter fell in her 3^rd house, which is a journalistic placing. Her Mars was in a passionately enthusiastic trine to Venus in seductive Scorpio.

HG Wells’ Jupiter was conjunct her Moon for a resonant connection, but his volatile Mars Uranus fell in her 7^th square her Saturn and Jupiter so it would be fraught and not destined to last a lifetime. He also had Venus in Scorpio, which for a time would make for an intense attraction.

Her son with whom she had a very public falling out after he wrote a novel about the relationship between an illegitimate son and his two world-famous, unmarried parents, in which he portrayed the mother in unflattering terms as a poor caregiver. He never forgave her for being absent while she built her career in the US.

Like her he had a Capricorn Moon and his Saturn in Gemini conjunct Pluto in Cancer sat squarely on her Descendant, so not a good mix. He did have his Leo Moon on his IC and evidently idealised his father, although HG Wells was also an absent parent.

Elon Musk is a man with gargantuan ambitions and apocalyptic worries about the future. A billionaire green evangelist, he talks of colonising Mars, frets that the earth is facing collapse through population explosion and thinks Artificial Intelligence will destroy mankind eventually. He has made himself a bete noire of the fossil fuels industry who have launched an extraordinary barrage of attacks, mainly from rightwing thinktanks, lobbyists, websites and commentators. A business magnate, engineer and inventor, he spouts out an endless stream of super-tech ideas – for electric cars, batteries powered by solar energy, ultra-high speed trains, space tourism, under-city tunnels to ease traffic problems. In spite of his high enthusiasm for all things new,  he says: “we are the first species capable of self-annihilation.”

Born 28 June 1971, Pretoria, South Africa, he has a Sun Cancer in an inventive, think-out-of-the-box square to Uranus; a creative, hoping-for-a-better-society but can-be paranoid Saturn in Gemini opposition Neptune and Jupiter in money-attracting Scorpio, which is trine/sextile Pluto. So he’ll find it tricky to balance his power-hungry Pluto, too much or too little. When on target, his Pluto will give him insights into the future, but when off-beam, it’ll make him overly controlling and prone to negative thinking.  His Jupiter opposition Saturn will also make him up and down, optimistic and pessimistic in turn. His Mars in uncompromising Aquarius is square Jupiter, so keen on risk.

It’s a pity there’s no birth time, since his chart isn’t that well integrated without a chart axis. He does have a marked leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H, so he won’t fizzle out without a trace. Though he’ll take a couple of hefty knocks within a year or so as his Solar Arc Mars squares his Sun and his Solar Arc Sun opposes his Mars. But he’ll bounce again into the 2020s.

He’s not the easiest husband, having divorced his first wife after she’d produced 5 children, and divorced his second wife twice. Justine No 1 wife, is a Sun Mars in Virgo which is conjunct his Virgo Moon; and Talulah No 2 wife, whom he remarried after their first divorce and then went for a second divorce, has Venus Mars in Virgo again around the conjunction to his Moon. His Moon may be square the Saturn opposition Neptune which would suggest an unstable emotional life. After his parents divorced when he was 9, he lived mainly with his father.

Donald Trump Jnr now says he did meet with a Russian lawyer, closely associated with the Kremlin, who had promised compromising material on Hillary Clinton, which flies in the face of a stream of earlier denials from himself and others in the Trump campaign. Media and political circles are in a furore though how much it will impact on Trump’s fan base is questionable.

Trump Jnr was born 31 Dec 1977 in New York, was regarded as a loose cannon through his father’s campaign and beyond with highly questionable tweets about refugees and gas chambers. He criticized the London Mayor after the Grenfell Tower fire; applauded the man who promoted the false Pizzagate conspiracy; and some years back was slammed for an African hunting trip after photographs appeared of him holding a dead leopard and beside a slaughtered elephant. He appears to be far right in politics; and has continued, according to insiders, to have a strong sense of entitlement.

He’s an ambitious Sun Venus in Capricorn, with his Sun square Pluto, so under a controlling father, which will breed contempt in his attitudes to others; with his Sun quincunx Mars in Leo which in turn squares onto Uranus – so he will have problems with impulsivity and anger.

His Sun Venus fall in his father’s 5^th house – so a good father-child bond; though his Pluto is conjunct senior’s Jupiter, so they probably egg each other on unwisely into overly ambitious schemes. And his Mars is conjunct senior’s Pluto which does suggest some aggravation. Junior’s Saturn is conjunct senior’s Ascendant and Mars, so again a friction point which could impact on senior’s image.

Their relationship chart is by no means without problems with a cruel or unfair composite Mars Saturn, suggesting one side of the relationship discounts the other’s needs which will breed resentment. Saturn Mars squares Neptune, so there will be doubts and suspicions between them; and an overly confident composite Mars Jupiter, again suggesting they’ll tempt each other to go sailing into unwise ventures together.

Junior does have some Neptunian sinkers through the rest of this years; but is also suspiciously gung ho till late 2018. So it’ll be water off a duck’s back.

Boris Becker, the Wimbledon glory boy, champion as an unseeded player at 17, ‘kissed by the gods’ as the German describe him, has tumbled to an ignominious low. A UK court last week declared him bankrupt, a former partner has demanded repayment of a £36.5 million loan and his Maserati has been taken back by sponsors over his failure to pay parking fines.

Becker, who won six grand slams in the 1980s and 90s, has continued to live as if he was still earning mega-bucks; appears to be exceptionally generous; has had a string of failed business ventures; an acrimonious divorce costing an estimated €15m from his first wife; and a string of publicised relationships one of which produced a child; and he plays poker, though does seem to win at that. The bankruptcy judge said he appeared to stick his head in the sand rather than face up the reality of his situation.

Born 22 November 1967 8.45am Leiman, Germany, he has a 12^th house Sun Neptune in Scorpio so will be both intense and vague. His Sun Neptune is sextile Uranus Pluto in Virgo. Relocating his chart to the UK, where he seems happiest, it puts Uranus Pluto across his Midheaven. Uranus Pluto can be chaotic, constantly in a state of upheaval and since it is trine/sextile Mars in the 2^nd in Capricorn opposition an 8^th house Cancer Moon, he will wobble around fiercely, driven by emotional impulses probably even he doesn’t understand.

That 2^nd/8^th house Mars Moon opposition is being rattled by tr Uranus squares this year; and worse when tr Pluto catches up to conjunct his Mars in 2019/2020. Plus Tr Saturn is heading downhill through his 1^st quadrant to hit his 2^nd house from 2018 till 2020, which is always a tight time on the cash front.

He does have a Yod in his chart, the most difficult one onto a focal point Saturn in Aries quincunx Mercury sextile Jupiter – that requires real maturity and self-discipline to make it work. The Yod has moved by Solar Arc to put the Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Neptune two years back, his Sun/Neptune midpoint now, and then his Sun by 2020. So a perfect storm of difficulties.

So brilliant too young and couldn’t quite make the transition to real life.

Serbia stands on the frontier between east and west and throughout its long and troubled history has always seemed to be a place of great significance. 17 Roman emperors were born there; 140 wars have been fought around its capital Belgrade in the past two thousand years. And it was home to the renewed fervour for gnostic Christianity in the 8^th and 9^th Centuries which sent the Cathar heresies out into Europe. It was swallowed up in the Ottoman Empire, then incorporated into Tito’s Yugoslavia and suffered through an exceptionally destructive break up a decade after his death.

Serbia declared Independence on 13 July 1878 2.58 pm; and became a stand-alone sovereign republic on 5 June 2006 2.09 pm Belgrade.

A gay woman has just been appointed prime minister, a double first for the EU-candidate state, all the more surprising given the virulent homophobia which is still widespread. The President, a former extreme nationalist, rebranded as a pro-EU reformer, also wants deeper ties to Russia. His candidacy was endorsed by Putin amid fears from some of Moscow’s expanding influence in the tense Balkan region. Opposition candidates have accused him of over control of the media, mudslinging and intimidation of voters. Critics are worried he could become too powerful, leading to freedoms being eroded in Serbia’s fledgling democracy.

Both charts for Serbia have Mars in flamboyant Leo, strong aspected Jupiter and Uranus Pluto so it will always makes its voice heard internationally, be confident and almost certainly always be in a state up upheaval. Both charts have planets in the 9^th, so an international reach; though close neighbourly relations will always be tricky with one having the Node conjunct the Descendant and the other Pluto in the 7^th. Both charts are quite Neptunian as well, so idealistic.

There’s nothing much of huge note going on bar the Leo Eclipse being conjunct the Uranus MC on the 1878 chart; and jolts and discouragement on the Serbia 2006 chart through 2018.

The much respected and loved astrologer Donna Cunningham has died on her 75^th birthday. The author of over a dozen books and hundreds of articles, she was given several awards for her contribution to astrology.

Born 5 July 1942 7.40am Onawa, Ohio, she started her working life in social services, studied astrology under Richard Idemon and started in private practice combining psychotherapy, astrology, and healing.

She had a 12^th house Cancer Sun conjunct Jupiter and square her Moon Midheaven in Aries, so was well-designed to be a good listener, work behind the scenes and also out in the public eye with her Moon MC. She had the creative Neptune trine Uranus of that period, sextiling onto an influential and persuasive Pluto on her Leo Ascendant. Her Pluto was widely conjunct her Mars, which would give her an understanding of other people’s difficulties in life; and her Uranus was in an innovative conjunction to Saturn Venus in Gemini. It’s an Air Fire chart, with a Water Sun, so inspirational if not always practical.

Her Mercury also in communicative Gemini was in her 11^th so she’d want to give of her knowledge to a wider audience.

Her Sun was conjunct the deep-thinking Mercury/Pluto midpoint and conjunct the passionately enthusiastic Venus/Mars. Her Jupiter was conjunct her Uranus/Pluto midpoint which not only brings success, but also an interest in philosophical pursuits. Her Uranus was square her Neptune/Pluto which would bring an almost mystical approach and a flair for the unusual. She would certainly have a strong intuition, and almost psychic understanding of the world and other people.

Her victim/healer 12^th Harmonic was strong, even more so her writers’ 21H; as well as a practical pursue-her-dream 11H; and get-it-together 5H. Her leaving-a-legacy for-future-generations 17H was also marked, indicating her work will live on.

She would have had a challenging time recently with tr Uranus square tr Pluto in hard aspect to her Sun, then Moon and MC; as well as Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Mars 20 months ago. Her Progressed Moon was exactly on her 6^th house cusp when she died. The Moon dominates her chart, sitting on the MC, and on the focal point of several of her harmonic charts – so a truly lunar, feminine wisdom.

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Fourteen-year-old amateur Atthaya Thitikul has become the youngest winner of a professional golf tour event with her first place at the Ladies European Thailand Championship. She bettered the record set by Canadian Brooke Henderson who won at 14 years 9 months; and previously the NZ/South Korean Lydia Ko who triumphed over adult competitors when she was just 15 years old.

Atthaya Thitikul, 20 Feb 2003, is a Sun Pisces conjunct Uranus; with a ferociously determined Mars Pluto in Sagittarius opposition Saturn.

Brooke Henderson, 10 September 1997, is a Sun Virgo on one leg of a Yod in sextile to Mars in Scorpio inconjunct Saturn in Aries; with Mercury square Pluto – so a very challenging and stressed chart.

Lydia Ko, 24 April 1997, also has a chart riddled with quincunxes. She’s a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Taurus with her Sun Mercury inconjunct Pluto; and a Yod of Saturn in Aries sextile Jupiter inconjunct Mars in Virgo.

Yods do set the individual apart from their environment, making them feel they don’t fit in; until they find their direction and then they become very single-focussed. The Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has a Yod of Jupiter sextile Uranus inconjunct Mars in Cancer and he was ADHD until he found swimming and he never looked back.

But it does just go to show that even the most challenging of charts can be put to good use.