Astrology of Today’s News

Khloe Kardashian, third sister of the brood, was born 27 June 1984 10.55pm Los Angeles. Despite a party-loving and flamboyant 5^th house Sun Venus Mercury in Cancer in a glitzy and confident opposition to Jupiter in money-attracting Capricorn, she does not have an easy chart or life. Her Sun squares Pluto in last degree Libra as well as Saturn Mars in Scorpio in the legal 9th. With her Venus square Mars Saturn. That’s a whole load of problems and unhappiness, unkind treatment in childhood, especially from father figures, who later included Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner – and potential for bitter legal wrangles.

Her parents divorced when she was 7, and her mother instantly remarried the then athletics star. When Khloe was 17 she had a serious car crash, resulting in traumatic brain injury with long term memory loss. She married basketball player Lamar Odom, who after their separation ended up unconscious from a drug overdose in a Las Vegas brothel and is still recovering. Mars Saturn is accident-prone; and in Scorpio has an unsavoury feel.

Mars Saturn also occurs in both her relationship charts with her father and stepfather, so she’d feel constantly thwarted and irritable. Her Gemini Moon opposes Neptune and trines Pluto, with Uranus conjunct her Midheaven – so mother comes across as scatty, unpredictable, possessive, kind but difficult to pin down. And indeed Kris Jenner’s Scorpio Sun is conjunct Khloe’s Mars Saturn – so a bubbling cauldron of complications. Who’d want to be a Kardashian?

The named suspect in the NY and NJ bombings, Ahmad Khan Rahami, is an Afghan-born US resident for 15 years, born 23 Jan 1988, according to the FBI. His fingerprints were found on one of the unexploded devices and he has been taken into custody, injured, after a shoot-out.

He’s a Sun Aquarius widely sextile Mars in Sagittarius and widely square Pluto in Scorpio. He has Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius trine Jupiter in go-ahead Aries; and Venus, North Node in Pisces and if born before 1pm also a Pisces Moon. The Pisces theme appears in most of the fundamentalist Islamic terrorists’ charts. And the Saturn Uranus in Sagittarius especially appears to produce rebellious types (see Lauri Love below). In its negative form it can be autocratic and acutely stubborn.

Rahami has his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Neptune this year, so arguably stoking up his wish for a publicity splash; and his Secondary Progressed Mars is conjunct his Uranus propelling him into violence. With tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter within a degree of exact, giving him a surge of confidence. There’s nothing of cheer ahead for him.

His chart sits uncomfortably with the USA 1776 chart – his Uranus Saturn oppose the USA Mars and square the USA Saturn; and his Mars opposes the USA Uranus – a gritty and angry interface, on both sides.

His relationship chart with the USA has an explosive, unpleasant composite Uranus opposition Mars square Pluto; with a paranoid and hostile Saturn Neptune on one leg of a Yod in sextile to Mars inconjunct the composite Sun. The composite Sun has tr Uranus conjunct this month so shaking that strained Yod into destructive action (Mars Saturn).

Diane James, the new UKIP leader, 20 Nov 1959, is certainly an intense, tough, no-compromiser with a Sun Mars in Scorpio square Uranus, though perhaps a touch overly impulsive and forceful. She’s evidently a good media performer which makes sense of a confident Jupiter Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Venus in charming Libra. But there’s a very steely backbone behind the smiles and a disinclination to adapt to others. Her heroes are, she claims, Maggie Thatcher, Churchill and Vladimir Putin.

UKIP, 3 Sept 1993, who should be delirious at having pushed for over the years and finally won a Brexit vote, look very uncertain and highly strung in 2016/17/18 – the tr Neptune square tr Saturn is hitting on their Virgo Sun at the moment; and in 17/18 tr Pluto will conjunct their Uranus Neptune in Capricorn. So not all going as they expect.

She’ll be a tricky fit with UKIP since her Sun Mars is conjunct the UKIP Pluto and square the UKIP Saturn; with her Pluto conjunct the UKIP Sun – so a real tussle with hostility emerging. The relationship chart has an explosive composite Mars Uranus in a simmering-dislike square to Saturn; and a control-freak composite Sun Pluto. Not easy at all and it may blow asunder come tr Uranus into Taurus in 2018/19 when it squares the composite Saturn and opposes Mars Uranus.

But for all that her win was announced (I think) at 1.30am on 16 September in Bournemouth with Jupiter exactly on the MC which has to bring some luck to her term; though it’s right on the Lunar Eclipse square Mars, so likely to be very argumentative.

Her own chart has tr Uranus opposition her Solar Arc Uranus and square her Solar Arc Mars in 2017/18/19 which will make for a bumpy ride. With a slipping, slithering, muddled and unsuccessful tr Neptune square her Mars/Saturn through 2017. She’ll be deeply frustrated with Theresa May and a thorn in her flesh with tr Pluto conjunct the composite Mars through 2017/18. Government policy and progress on Brexit may not meet with UKIP approval.

The chief exorcist for Rome, Father Gabriel Amorth, has died. He claimed to have conducted tens of thousands of exorcisms, was against yoga because it encouraged Eastern religions; and against Harry Potter, since it gave children an interest in black magic and wizardry. He said people possessed by the devil vomited pieces of iron, glass and rose petals when being cleansed and embarrassed the Vatican with his wilder claims.

Born 1 May 1925 at 4.10pm Modena, Italy (ADB, BC), he had a chart that certainly fitted him for delving below the surface, and indeed could have made him clairvoyant. His Taurus Sun was conjunct Venus in the 8^th opposition Saturn in Scorpio and square North Node, Moon, Neptune in Leo; with his Sun Venus also sextile an influential and likes-to-be-in-control 10^th house Pluto.

He also had two Yods in his chart – Jupiter sextile Uranus inconjunct Neptune, and Mars sextile Nerptune inconjunct Jupiter. Both of those would, once he’d found the right path, suit him for a life of healing and a higher social purpose. Though the first can also be delusional and the second given to self-aggrandizement.

His healer 12^th Harmonic is not that strong. What is more marked is his 7^th Harmonic, which can be highly spiritual or creative, tinged with both genius and madness. In his case it brought together an unpleasant collection of Mars Pluto and Saturn, tied into the 7H Sun – violent, risky, brutal. He chose to work with other peoples’ madness, perhaps as a way of soaking up some of his own. He would certainly revel in the high-adrenaline flow of the excitement of the exorcism with his Uranus square Mars exactly.

In a case reminiscent of Gary McKinnon, a UK citizen, Lauri Love, son of a prison chaplain and an Asperger sufferer at risk of suicide, is facing extradition to the US on charges of accessing dozens of US government IT systems, including the FBI, the US Army and the Department of Defense, and stealing “massive amounts” of data. If extradited and found guilty of the US charges, he faces a maximum penalty of 99 years in prison. The case now goes to the UK secretary of state, who may, as in McKinnon’s case, refuse to send him.

He committed the cyber attacks as part of a “hacktivist” campaign in 2012 protesting the death of Aaron Swartz, a computer programmer who committed suicide while facing up to 35 years in US prison on charges of computer misuse. According to Love’s American lawyer, the allegations aren’t as serious as they sound. “The information he allegedly copied was never distributed anywhere, it was more a youthful prank. And the security exploit they allegedly used had been publicly disclosed months before and used by tens of thousands of people.”

Lauri Love, born 14 Dec 1984, is a Sun Uranus Mercury in Sagittarius with Mars in Aquarius and Pluto Saturn in Scorpio. That’s not dissimilar to Chelsea Manning, the whistle blowing data-leaker, who is a Sun Uranus Saturn Mercury in Sagittarius with Pluto Moon Mars in Scorpio. Both crusading Sagittarians who have problems with authority figures. Aaron Schwartz was a Sun Venus Pluto Mercury in Scorpio; but he also had Saturn Uranus in Sagittarius; and Mars in Aquarius which can be uncompromising. Sagittarius can be self-righteous and Uranus Saturn struggle for a better society.

Gary McKinnon, is a Sun Mercury in Aquarius square Neptune; with five planets in Mutable signs – Mars Saturn in Pisces, Uranus Pluto in Virgo and Jupiter in Gemini. The mix of Mutable and Fixed is interesting – the first contributing to high nervous tension and incessant curiosity; the second to obstinacy.

Despite losing this court case, Love looks to be over the worst. When he was first hauled in by the police his Solar Arc Saturn was conjunct his Sun Mercury. He’s got tr Pluto as well as Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Jupiter, which should produce some relief. In the UK similar crimes would face a much much shorter sentence.

At least 29 people have been injured in an explosion around 9pm Saturday night in a fashionable part of Manhattan, New York, which is usually crowded at the weekend. The blast is thought to be “intentional” but with no known links to terrorists, well presumably of the ISIS variety anyway. Another device was later found in the same district.

The explosion came a day after the Lunar Eclipse with the Full Moon in Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius. At the time tr Mars was moving through the 8^th located to NY and in an explosive trine to Uranus as well as having moved to exactly square the Lunar Eclipse degree.

The Lunar Eclipse set for NY has Uranus on the IC, so very unsettling.

New York City Inc, 1 Jan 1898, also has Mars (and Venus) in Sagittarius, though five degrees further on. There’s not much showing on that chart exactly, though the tr Saturn square tr Neptune is hitting on the Saturn/Pluto midpoint – 9/11 was very much a Saturn Pluto event. And tr Mars is conjunct the Sun/Saturn and square the Mars/Neptune midpoints.

New York has a very Mutable chart with Pluto Neptune in Gemini and Uranus Saturn also in Sagittarius, which will contribute to its high-wire temperament. Tr Saturn will oppose the NY Pluto after mid October; with tr Neptune square Pluto through 2017, as tr Saturn then opposes Neptune and is conjunct Mars Venus – so tough times ahead though not necessarily to do with atrocities.

Davina McCall, the UK television presenter, has published a semi-memoir called Lessons I’ve Learned. In it she tells of her wild child mother, who had her as a teenager, had a drug and drink problem, left her with her paternal grandparents when Davina was four and died in South Africa, when they were estranged despite a reconciliation years before. Her mother sold stories and photographs of Davina, who had her own adult drug problem, at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting which caused the final split. The mother always liked to play the victim and insisted she didn’t know what she had done wrong.

Davina McCall was born on 16 Oct 1967 and is a Sun Libra – which in women tends anyway to gravitate towards the father. But her Moon influences are dreadful. Either in late Pisces in which case her Moon opposes Uranus, squares Mars and trines Neptune; or in Aries where it would be conjunct Saturn, probably square Mars and opposition Uranus. Either way it is a picture of a chaotic, angry, abandoning, delusional mother.

Mercifully Davina seems to have pulled herself away from her mother’s patterns. An upbringing by steady grandparents would certainly help with that, and has had a good marriage for 16 years with three children.

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Anger and aggression get a bad press but if you think of them as stored-up assertion they sound less off-putting. Mars is the planet of the individual life-force which says ‘I am’. In order to be myself I have to voice and act on my wants and needs, which is not negative, merely an expression of who I am. If my need to assert myself is thwarted by other people or life being difficult, then the ‘I am’ urge doubles, trebles, quadruples until it erupts as impatience or explodes into a tantrum.

A good many relationship problems would be pre-empted if both partners were assertive in small ways from the start, rather than one side being overly nice and placatory, until the unlived Mars resentment builds up and it all turns destructive.

Although having said that Mars is competitive. It loves a good fight or challenge, and may the best one win. In early adult life Martian types can be brash, tactless, insensitive to others’ needs. Telling it like it is – is a definite trait because Mars tends to be straightforward and usually has no agenda. Only as experience crashes in does it get through Mars’ head that a show of empathy and co-operation, however forced and insincere, will make for faster progress and more workable relationships.

Mars is speedy, operates on a high-adrenaline flow, is brave, at times foolhardy, tending to leap before it looks and speak before it thinks. Action is its first response to any trigger without thought of consequences.

In mythology, Mars and Aries, whom it rules, were gods of war (Ares). But in Roman times, Mars was the military power who brought and enforced peace, so he was regarded as essential and only destructive to good purpose.

Mars also represents virility, perhaps why he is always thought of as a masculine energy. Konrad Lorenz’s study of ducks indicated that the ones who were not aggressive couldn’t mate. The impetus to coupling comes from Mars but the aggression has to be diverted or toned down at the point of mating. So sexuality and aggression are intimately connected. Not in the sense of rape – for that Mars needs to be merged with Pluto’s drive for power and control, to produce an overpowering, inhumane and ruthless action. Or in sadism where Mars joins with cold Saturn to inflict pain.

The woodpecker was sacred to Mars for his ability to tap with a sharp beak, strong enough to feel an oak tree; also the wolf and bear. The horned ram in the Aries symbol presumably came about because of rams’ behaviour at rutting, clashing skulls to identify the stronger male to produce better progeny.

It tends to be at its best in kick-starting new projects, but has a low boredom threshold and attention span, unless in Fixed signs. A better sprinter than marathon runner.

However irritating it is to be on the receiving end of a Mars blast, it is an essential part of the life force.

Edward Albee, one of the US’s greatest playwrights has died. A three time Pulitzer Prize winner, he was best known for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – a portrayal of vicious in-fighting in a failing marriage, portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on stage and film. He leant towards dark themes, of what lay on the underside of conventional living.

Born 12 March 1928 in Virginia, he was adopted shortly after birth by wealthy parents he described as unfit to be parents, and became estranged from them as a teenager.

He was a Sun Pisces trine Pluto and his Sun was also on the point of a Mutable T Square to Saturn in Sagittarius opposition North Node in Gemini. Sun in aspect to Saturn and Pluto is bleak. His Moon was Scorpio or Sagittarius, probably Scorpio given his temperament. His Mercury Venus in Aquarius was in a fantasy-prone opposition to Neptune in Leo.

What is interesting is that his creative 7^th Harmonic (septiles) was not only strong marked, it brought together a ferocious collection of Mars Saturn Pluto Uranus tied into Venus and possibly the Moon – so he drew on his dysfunctional childhood emotional relationships for inspiration. He also had a noteworthy actors/orators 15H and writers’ 21H – a talented man.