Astrology of Today’s News

Barack Obama goes to Saudi Arabia at a time when relations between the two countries are at a low. A bill before Congress, if passed, would allow relatives of victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia directly for its complicity in the attack. Even before that, the Saudis were sore at the USA-Iran deal and Obama’s Middle East policies in general which focus more on eliminating ISIS than toppling Assad. And the USA have been critical of the Saudi’s destructive and non-productive war in the Yemen. All of this against a backdrop of Saudi Arabia for the first time facing an unfamiliar economic crisis.

In the past it’s been an important relationship, not the least because of oil and arms sales. The SArabia 1902 Sun Jupiter in Capricorn are conjunct the USA Pluto – so commercially an important connection. But the uncompromising SArabia Pluto in Gemini opposition Uranus sits very uncomfortably on top of the USA Mars in Gemini square Neptune in Virgo – so there were always undercurrents of animosity and divergent agendas which were kept under wraps.

As tr Saturn moves to hard aspect all these Mutable planets – SArabia’s Uranus Pluto and the USA’s Mars Neptune in 2017 the gulf will grow wider. So a replacement President won’t make much difference.

The USA/SArabia relationship chart has a gungho, adventurous, mutually supportive composite Sun Mars Jupiter conjunction; with en entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine – so when all was going well, it went very well indeed. But there’s also a composite Moon Uranus with Moon square Saturn which points to an emotional disjunct of two very different cultures.

Tr Uranus has been hopping its way uncomfortably across the conjunction to the composite Pluto, Jupiter, Mars in the recent past and last/this year the composite Sun. Pressures on the relationship will increase in 2017/2018 with tr Pluto square the Sun. So whatever the relationship becomes in future it will differ greatly from the auld alliance.

This year as well tr Saturn will square the composite Moon Uranus; and tr Neptune will conjunct the Moon (depending on start times) and in 2017 conjunct Uranus – so all unstable, suspicious, and highly strung.

OJ Simpson’s trial replayed in a television drama series has turn the focus again on the hullabaloo of ‘racism, sexism, police corruption and celebrity dazzle’ which proved so distracting it led to a Not Guilty verdict.

OJ Simpson is residing at present in prison at least until 2017 for armed robbery.

Born 9 July 1947 8.08am San Francisco, California, he has a Sun Venus in Cancer square Neptune; with his 16 degree Sun under pressure in 2016/2017 from the tr Pluto opposition, having just gone through the tr Uranus square till earlier this year. So a time of considerable challenge and strain. What’s worse even than that at the moment he has Solar Arc Mars conjunct his 12^th house Pluto which is scary, frustrated, enraged and totally stuck. So not a happy camper over the series transmission.

He’s not exactly delirious in 2017 either with a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn square his Sun and Solar Arc Sun square Uranus – nothing will go to plan.

At the time of the trial Judge Lance Ito came in for criticism over his handling of evidence that was allowed and his courting of the media. Born 2 August 1950, he’s a controlling Sun Pluto in Leo with an Aries Moon. He’s now retired and not looking cheerful at all. His Solar Arc Venus is conjunct his Saturn so he’s feeling unloved and unpopular; tr Pluto is trine his Saturn in Virgo in 2016/17 which is a tough haul. Tr Pluto has another square to his Neptune which tr Uranus opposed last year which is highly strung and devastated. Into 2017 his Solar Arc Sun is in a droopy conjunction Neptune

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HM Queen is coming up for her 90^th birthday on April 21^st and is in startlingly good physical form, buzzing around doing what she’s always done.

Her Solar Return for this birthday on for a year has a successful Jupiter in the 10^th so she’ll obviously enjoy the enthusiasm and attention coming her way. She will have a 6^th house Sun for the Solar Return which is either hard-working or health issues. But she seems to have got over tr Uranus square and tr Pluto opposition his 6^th house Pluto of the past two years without noticeable effect. And that is now passed over.

Her Solar Arcs have moved on obviously by 90 degrees so her Solar Arc Saturn will conjunct her Mars very soon, before moving on to conjunct Jupiter and oppose Neptune in 2018. But whether that will have much effect is questionable. If it does it’s marginally accident prone.

She has an extraordinarily Fixed chart with Saturn MC in Scorpio square Mars Jupiter in Aquarius opposition Neptune (Moon) in Leo which will be why she has had the discipline to withstand a marathon of a working life. Duty was stamped into her bone marrow by her mother and she’s never deviated.  David Attenborough, the naturalist and broadcaster, who is also still going strong, was born a week after her and has a similarly Fixed chart with his Taurus Sun opposition Saturn square Jupiter opposition Neptune. Built to last.

She has a strong sacrifice/healer 12^th Harmonic; obsessive determination 11H; humanitarian 9H; and super-star 22H.

Her relationship with Prince Charles has never been easy – monarch first, mother second. There’s a cool composite Sun trine Saturn; and a dominating Pluto opposition Mars Jupiter. That relationship will be undergoing considerable changes and tensions from now onwards as tr Uranus squares Mars at the moment, moving on in 2017/18 to square Jupiter and then Pluto. So a reallocation of the power balance.

His Progressed Moon will be in his 4^th till 2019 which suggests he might have a while longer to wait. In 2018/2019 tr Uranus will conjunct his 10^th house Moon which will certainly alter his working public life. And by then both tr Pluto and tr Saturn will be moving through his 6^th which will be challenging in terms of workload and health.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK Health Secretary having become embroiled in an unprecedented and increasingly aggravated battle with junior doctors, is now facing charges that he may have misled parliament. He appears to be backing away from his earlier claim that he intended to impose a new contract on them which has led to four strikes.

Born 1 November 1966, he’s a Sun Venus in Scorpio square Jupiter in Leo – so charming and quite slippery. Tr Neptune is now on the opposition to his Mars in Virgo till the beginning of June which will have him staring failure in the face. That influence repeats until early 2017 with a tr Saturn square Mars across in July, late Oct/early Nov to add to his irritations.

He’ll stay bullish nonetheless as he did over the spate of criticism when, as Culture Secretary, his connections with NewsCorp and the Murdochs caused a furore but it all fizzled out. Though his relationship with David Cameron looks rockier this year with tr Uranus opposing the composite Venus from May onwards, aiming to oppose the composite Sun in 2017. His luck may just run out or the PM’s patience.

Angela Merkel is now learning the cost of doing a deal with Recep Erdogan, the increasingly authoritarian President of Turkey over migrants. Turkey got a chunk of money, visa-free travel for Turkish citizens into the EU Schengen area (not the UK) and promises to fast track Turkey’s EU membership – in return for taking in more Syrian refugees. Except that Turkish soldiers are now shooting refugees fleeing from the fighting in Aleppo.

And Erdogan has insisted a German comedian is put on trial for insulting him. With Merkel’s agreement he is being prosecuted under an antiquated German law.

Erdogan’s 2014 Presidency chart, 28 Aug 2014 2pm Ankara, is highly controlling with a Uranus opposition North Node square Pluto; ruthless with Mars Saturn in Scorpio; and delusional with a Sun opposition Neptune.

That last is now exact by Solar Arc so he’s floundering.  Plus tr Pluto is square the Presidency Uranus exactly in July/Aug and Oct/Nov this year – so a rocky time for him. With a really discouraging slog from tr Pluto sextile Saturn in 2016/17 and sextile Mars in 2017/18.

His own personal chart, 26 Feb 1954, is highly Mutable oddly enough with Mars (Moon) in Sagittarius opposition Jupiter in Gemini square Sun Mercury Venus in Pisces. The tr Saturn square tr Neptune will chip away at his morale in an anxiety-provoking and disappointing way through 2016/17; with the disruptive tr Pluto opposition his Uranus in 2017/2018.

Turkey itself looks to be heading into problems with a financial-bubble-bursting Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Jupiter in four months time and a much worse high-risk, dead-halt Solar Arc Mars opposition Pluto after mid 2017.

Relations between Turkey and Germany will worsen through this year and beyond with tr Saturn conjunct the composite Mercury Venus and opposition Pluto Neptune in 2016 which is chilly and critical; with tr Neptune picking up the square in following years for a downhill slide; with a noticeable upheaval and turnaround in relations in 2017/18 as tr Pluto is trine the composite Uranus.

An epidemic of suicides has swept through a small  sub-arctic Indian reserve in Canada recently, bringing calls for First Nation deprivations to be addressed. Canada’s record is no better than Australia or the USA where indigenous peoples are concerned. Indeed no country is without a guilty past where mistreatment by invading/ruling powers are concerned.

According to Julian NoiseCat (see URL below) this is a catastrophe generations in the making as native peoples were moved off their ancestral homelands to allow for mining, were forcibly split from their families and abused in residential homes, and then left in bantustans with inadequate housing, education and health care.

http://goo.gl/j6CVHT

When a country’s image is dented you would expect to see transits to the Ascendant and Canada does have tr Pluto square the Asc and Neptune in 2016/17, having had tr Uranus in opposition over the past year. So pulling down an old reputation and the need to reconstruct a better one.  Neptune on the Ascendant natally tends to give an illusory feel or at least an image which doesn’t match the reality.

The other possibility is 8^th house, being the house of ancestors. Tr Saturn is moving through the Canada 8^th until late this year and the Progressed Moon is also moving through the 8^th, with a few months still to go. So maybe as those two come to the end of their time they will prise unwanted realities to surface.

Canada does have quite a hard chart with a Fixed Saturn in Taurus opposition Pluto; a business-minded Earth Grand Trine of hard-working Mars in Virgo trine Pluto trine MC; formed into two Kites focussed on Saturn and Sun Uranus. There’s also an inward-looking, self-protective Water Grand Trine of Sun Uranus in Cancer trine Jupiter trine Saturn.

There should be charity and sympathy from Jupiter in Pisces but it was obviously outweighed by material and commercial concerns.

Spain, lingering in limbo for months after failed efforts to pull together a coalition government, faces another general election in late June. Though no one is hopeful that the stalemate will be resolved even then.

The Spain country chart, 22 Nov 1975 12.45pm Madrid, has a seriously stuck Solar Arc Sun square Pluto, exact in four months’ time. These influences are usually stronger in the run up but where Pluto is concerned there’s usually a long run down as well. So it’ll be a while before the blockage lifts.

Mariano Rajoy, 27 March 1955, is continuing to act as prime minister despite his party losing the December election. He has a fearsomely Fixed chart with Mars Moon in Taurus opposition Saturn square Venus in Aquarius opposition Pluto – so not a man to budge in a hurry.  His 10^th house Aries Sun is unaspected.

He does have a lucky tr Uranus square his Jupiter Uranus in Cancer but that disappears before the putative next election date. At that point he has a sagging tr Pluto conjunct Sun/Neptune which is not positive for an election win.

Singer Tom Jones has just lost his wife Linda to cancer, who was his behind-the-scenes lynch pin since their marriage nearly 60 years ago. She stood by him despite his self-confessed infidelities but stayed very much out of the publicity spotlight, becoming almost agoraphobic.

He was born 7 June 1940 12.10am Pontypridd, Wales and she 14 January 1941. He is a Sun Moon in Gemini both square an 8^th house Neptune, giving him musical talents, the ability to project a powerful aura to the public, but also making him elusive when it came to commitment.  His Sun/Moon midpoint (the marriage signifier) is exactly square Neptune but also in aspect to supportive, lucky Jupiter. So he had the good fortune to find a wife who’d stand by his wandering ways.

Her Leo Moon probably conjunct Pluto fell in his 7^th which is a good long-term relationship placing; and her Venus in Capricorn opposed his Moon which is also positive for affection.  Her Capricorn Sun fell in his 12^th so she’d prefer to be out of sight; though her feisty Mars in Sagittarius would promote his ambitions, falling in his 10^th.

Their relationship chart had a romantic composite Sun opposition Venus, perhaps square Moon, and trine/sextile Pluto – so there would be passion and possessiveness. But there is also notably a composite Mars Neptune conjunction suggesting very different ambitions for each individually and as a couple.

David Gest who has just died, was an entertainer and television personality, friends with Michael Jackson and Liz Taylor, and in the headlines with his brief marriage to Liza Minnelli in 2002.

Born 11 May 1953, (only a few days after Tony Blair) he was a stubborn, controlling Sun Taurus square Pluto; with an enthusiastic Mars Jupiter in Gemini; and Venus in upfront Aries opposition Saturn Neptune in Libra square Uranus – so in his way an innovator, though with a complex emotional life.

His Sun square Pluto had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct/square his natal Neptune Saturn now, which is highly confusing and stressed, as his life ended in sad circumstances, seemingly alone and in debt.

His relationship with Liza Minnelli was not good his his Uranus conjunct her difficult Cancer Moon Mars Saturn conjunction which would set both their teeth on edge. Their relationship chart has a combustible composite Mars Uranus conjunction; and a struggle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter Pluto; plus an illusory Neptune aspect to Venus and Sun.