Astrology of Today’s News

Scott Adams, the American cartoonist, creator of Dilbert, has wrecked his career by saying that white people should stay away from black people whom he regards as a hate group. All of his media outlets promptly dropped him though Elon Musk in his  campaign against the cancel culture appears to be in support. Despite claiming no political affiliations Adams has in the past spoken up in favour of Trump and against Biden.

  Adams has now claimed his statement was similar to Mike Pence’s advice for men to stay away from women during #metoo fervour.

  Born 8 June 1957 2.30am Windham, New York, Adams is a Sun Gemini opposition an 8^th house Saturn in Sagittarius – scattered and rigid; with his Sun in a confident square to Jupiter. His Mercury is prominent being in stubborn Taurus, in a dogmatic and can-be-fanatical square to Pluto, and sextile an excitable Mars in Cancer as well as trine Jupiter. No surprises that he lets fly with both barrels when voicing his opinions. Mars can be volatile in Cancer and it also squares his Libra Moon which is another hint of a short-fused personality, easily prodded into over reaction.

  His Mercury is conjunct his South Node which is intriguing since his Scorpio North Node carries a message that letting go of everything is the road to transformation. He’s certainly burnt his bridges behind him though whether enlightenment will follow looks doubtful.

  What is around is a devastating, confused and marginally tormented introduction to Pluto moving into Aquarius which will conjunct his Neptune from late this March as his Solar Arc Pluto sits on top of it as well. A double whammy of obsessive, brain-meltdown.

  Musk, 28 June 1971, being a Cancer Sun and Venus in Gemini chimes with Adams’ Gemini Sun and Venus in Cancer.

Adams birth time is from memory – and the Midheaven/SA Midheaven does not reflect anything ongoing career wise at the moment so may be wrong.

Legendary BBC commentator John Motson who was the ‘voice of football’ for 50 years has died. He covered 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships and 29 FA Cup finals for BBC Sport and was known for his trademark sheepskin coats and encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.

   He was once asked what made a great commentator. “You’ve got to have a decent voice, you’ve got to have a sense of timing, know when to talk and not to talk. You are the eyes and ears of the viewer,” he said.

 Born 10 July 1945, he had a chart well-designed for a successful career in the sporting arena, requiring hard work and attention to detail; and a powerful way of communicating.  His Mars in earthy Taurus was in a high-energy trine Jupiter in Virgo which sextiled onto a meticulous Sun Saturn in Cancer. And his charming Venus in light-hearted Gemini was trine Neptune with both sextile an influential and penetrating Mercury Pluto in entertaining Leo.  A wonderful mix of adventurous and down-to-earth, visionary and persuasive.

Will Rishi Sunak’s nerve hold over an agreement with Brussels to fix the Northern Ireland protocol or will he cave into “the malcontents, the reckless, the wreckers” of the DUP and right-wing, Eurosceptic ERG in his own party. That is Keir Starmer’s description. Columnist Matthew Parris, once in the Tory inner circle and now a dissenter, talks of the ‘Tory crazies’ – ‘a mad mental virus within the party, long embedded —. There is no cure, but there remains the possibility of control.’

 The details of the protocol dispute are obscure – checks on British sausages, VAT rules or the role of Luxembourg judges in Northern Ireland but it touches on issues of sovereignty and identity, stoking up the bile that the Brexit debate unleashes.  If this deal is signed it would improve the UK’s relationship with the USA and the EU, staving off the prospect of a trade war with Brussels, which in the present economic climate would be a blessing.

  What is worrisome is tr Neptune square the Mars on Sunak’s PM term chart, 25 October 2022 11.15am, which suggests failure picking up from mid March onwards, on and off into early 2024. With a major hiccup late April/early May when tr Uranus squares the Saturn at 18 Aquarius. These could refer to other banana skins on his path ahead, but overall he is not in a successful year.

  The Northern Ireland chart, 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast, is on tenterhooks with tr Saturn just over the conjunction to the Mars, will be jolted and jangled from mid March and facing upsets and disruption from late April into early May with its Neptune at 18 Leo. And will limp on through a less than upbeat year with other unhelpful transits to midpoints. The Solar Arc Sun conjunct the South Node in Pisces hints at lack of confidence, unrealistic expectations and a fear of losing the support of the UK.

  The DUP, 30 September 1971, will not be looking forward with enthusiasm to March with tr Saturn moving into Pisces on the 7^th immediately squaring their Neptune and then Jupiter denting their confidence and bringing disappointments and losses. Those influences continue on and off all year. Plus tr Pluto into Aquarius will trine their Mercury for heated and stubborn discussions from late March till June and again in 2024.

 The three prominent Brexiteers are not too chirpy about Saturn in  Pisces either – with it crashing into Boris Johnson’s Mars in Gemini square Uranus Pluto Saturn from mid March onwards and Rees Moog’s Gemini Sun catching the tr Saturn square in early April. David Frost, the former EU negotiator for BJ, is equally looking at a failure-strewn 2023.

  No one is looking happy or successful.  What a botch up.

The FT today having argued for the deal writes: ‘Weighing heavily on the other side of the ledger is the very real risk that a compromise with Brussels winds up Tory Eurosceptics, fails to end the political impasse in Northern Ireland and leaves Sunak on the ropes with perilous local elections in early May only weeks away.’

   ‘The route is littered with political skeletons; Theresa May, another former Tory leader, lost her job trying to resolve the issue of Northern Ireland’s relationship with the EU post-Brexit.’

See previous post November 23 2022.    

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‘Incredibly damning’ documents indicating the top Fox News brass and staff knew Trump et al’s claims of a stolen election were false but still floated the conspiracies on air, increase the chances of Dominion Voting winning its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.

 Whether Fox and Murdoch were terrified of Trump or of losing their fixated audience hardly matters – or whether Dominion wins or loses since such cases are notoriously difficult to stand up in court – though Alex Jones did fall into a similar sinkhole.  

   What is of crucial importance is a) the stranglehold which Murdoch has had in perverting the American mindset in recent years: and b) whether the evidence in this court case will finally blow a scud missile through the ascendancy of the ‘fake news’ clap trap and paranoia of the past seven years.

  What I never noticed before is that Murdoch’s ruthlessly ambitious Mars in Cancer is exactly opposition the USA Pluto and conjunct the USA Mercury. And it is that fanatical US Pluto opposition Mercury which has been triggered and causing problems through the years of Trump’s demagogic rants, lies and smears. Without Murdoch would he have had the same damaging effect on the culture? Now in its final year with the USA Pluto Return – there may be significant changes ahead.

  Murdoch’s Jupiter Pluto are also conjunct the USA Cancer Sun and square the USA fair-minded Saturn in Libra with Murdoch’s Uranus North Node in opposition – Murdoch’s bulldozer, confident, I’m-more-important-than-rules approach is certainly on a collision course with a good many American values.

  Maybe just maybe with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun of Murdoch/USA chart from mid March, the power-hungry, disruptive bond might be split asunder.

  Fox News, 7 October 1996, is due for an almighty upheaval with tr Pluto moving into Aquarius late next month as it is conjunct the Fox Uranus, plus it’ll get a shock in April this year from tr Uranus square the composite Mars. And that is followed by another massive jolt from Solar Arc Saturn square the Uranus over coming months.  I’m not sure what a $1.6 billion hole would do to its finances. But the Murdoch empire has form for closing down troublesome outlets – the flagship UK News of the World Sunday newspaper was closed down after the phone hacking scandal some years back.  Though Fox is admittedly an entity of a different order for Murdoch.

  The Fox News chart also has its Neptune conjunct the USA Pluto and opposition the US’s Mercury – fitting for a channel that has tended to skirt round and cast smokescreens over the actualite.

  Murdoch is not having a good year with tr Pluto in a frustrating opposition to his Mars and moving into his 2^nd house of finances which can often start with a breakdown phase where money is concerned.

Maybe Pluto heading for a sign change is having an impact.

See previous Post on Dominion court case:  11 December 2022  

In mythology Mars was the god of war, known for his direct action and lack of sentimentality. In astrology, the hallmarks of a prominent Mars are high vitality, impulsiveness, courage and foolhardiness, argumentativeness and lack of tact.

  Two recent obituaries caught my eye which highlight the dramatic effect of a ramped up Mars.

 Simone Segouin, French Resistance fighter born 3 October 1925 1am Chartres, France, became a symbol of female defiance when photographs for Life magazine showed her in shorts, brandishing her machine gun at the end of World War 11. She was born into a farming family, a tomboyish only daughter with three brothers, and was largely brought up by her father, a decorated veteran of the First World War. In 1943, aged 18 she joined the partisan FTP, an alliance of militant communists and nationalists, took part in combat missions, helping to derail a train and blow up bridges. After the war she became a paediatric nurse and had six children out of wedlock with another resistance fighter, all of whom bore her name.  

 She was a Sun Libra conjunct Mars, Mercury with her Sun in an ultra-confident square to Jupiter in Capricorn opposition Pluto in Cancer – a double dose of high-octane confidence and assertiveness.  Plus an excitable Aries Moon and a Water Grand Trine of Pluto trine Uranus trine Venus Saturn in Scorpio – she’d be a curious mix of a dreamer and a doer.

  The other Mars warrior, recently deceased, who challenged the fates and careered through a reckless life is Paddy Macklin, 18 February 1957. He set out in 2009 from Cornwall, determined to sail single-handedly, nonstop around the world in a wooden, engineless yacht. He had a school atlas, food for 600 days, a supply of whisky and other essentials, but no high-tech gadgets. “I wanted to recapture the spirit of true amateurism in sailing,” he declared. He ran into several hair-raising, near terminal disasters, lost several teeth, broke a handful of ribs and suffered from severe loneliness. And consumed a sizeable quantity of recreational drugs. Being stoned he explained was one of the pleasures of life.

  His father, Lance, was a racing driver, who caused the initial reaction setting off the worst disaster in racing history in 1955 when 83 spectators and another driver were killed.

  After Paddy’s odyssey on the high seas, he resumed plastering and decorating while living on the boat and succumbed to cirrhosis of the liver a few weeks back in his mid sixties. A rumbunctious life which broke all the rules and was hardly sensible, but in an odd way he evoked respect for his foolhardy bravado.

  He had his Virgo Sun conjunct Mars, neither of which were well-integrated into his chart – so he’d be a high-wire, over-reactive,  island-unto-himself type. He had an adventurous and lucky Uranus trine Saturn sextile Jupiter which would give him a helpful guardian angel. His Venus, like SimoneS above, was in persuasive and determined Scorpio, in his case conjunct Neptune.

  In both cases their Mars was handed down from Martian fathers. LanceM had his Mars in flamboyant Leo conjunct Jupiter Neptune. Though he was also a Sun Saturn in Virgo so would have some practical sense. He died aged 83.

  Paddy Maclin’s 7^th harmonic was strong which is associated with a ‘seeking soul’ and an inclination to a drug habit.

Add On: Another Mars type gone. Bernard Ingham, Maggie Thatcher’s Press Secretary and known as her ‘personal rottweiler’ was born 21 June 1923. His Mars in Cancer was conjunct Pluto square Saturn and trine Uranus and Jupiter – an explosive mix.

The Banshees of Inisherin won four Baftas on Sunday, including best supporting actor for Barry Keoghan, but the star Colin Farrell lost out on the leading actor award to Austin Butler’s Elvis. There is still hope for Farrell with his nomination for the Oscars on March 23^rd though losing the home-grown gong is a blow.

  Inisherin is a dark tragicomedy set at the end of the Irish civil war in 1923 on a remote Irish island and despite being accused by one Irish critic of ‘maudlin sentimentality mixed with self-obsession, self-harm, child abuse, wanton violence, dead pets and suicidal ideation,’ appears to be engaging audiences and critics.  Horse and Hound readers were enchanted by the miniature donkey. Rotten Tomatoes give it 96%.

  Barry Keoghan, 18 October 1992, Dublin, renowned in recent times for blockbusters as well as Dunkirk and the Green Knight amongst others, had a hair-raising childhood growing up in 13 different foster homes from age 5 onwards and his mother later dying of heroin addiction. He and his brother were eventually taken in by his grandmother.

  He is a Sun Libra with the highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn of that generation opposition Mars (Moon) in Cancer – for a turbulent relationship with his mother and reflecting also his own volatile attitude to school rules and regulations. His Mars is also in an argumentative and ultra-determined trine to Mercury and Pluto in Scorpio; with his Pluto also conjunct Venus. A troubled chart though also talented – Uranus Neptune can be creative. His actor’s 15h Harmonic is his strongest. He has edgy, accident-prone and nerve-stretched transits to midpoints though by the Oscars has tr Pluto square his Venus/Jupiter midpoint – so win or lose, he’ll revel in the glitter.

Colin Farrell, 31 May 1976, maybe 11.45pm Dublin, has had a prolific career for the past two decades with a Golden Globe for his performance in In Bruges, another for this movie and a critics award.

  He is a Sun Venus in Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Pluto, sextile Mars in Leo – a talented and ambitious Half Grand Sextile. His Jupiter in Taurus opposes Uranus North Node in Scorpio square his Mars – he has endurance, luck and a risk-taking flair. His stars are mixed with a discouraging slog from tr Pluto opposition his Saturn until just after the Oscars. But also tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter for a lucky break and new opportunities coming his way.

Jimmy Carter, regarded as a below-average President when in the White House between 1976 and 1980, came into his own in the aftermath with an exceptional career as a global mediator and promoter of human rights which won him the the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He travelled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections and further the eradication of infectious diseases, writing numerous books including two on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which he criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid.

  Now nearing 99 he is receiving hospice care at home.

  He was born 1 October 1924 7am Plains, Georgia, served in the navy after World War 11, took over the family peanut farm and rose from political obscurity as a dark horse candidate to defeat Gerald Ford in 1976. He instantly pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders; put in place progressive energy policies and pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He lost the next election to Ronald Reagan.

  He has a 12^th house Libra Sun square a 9th house Pluto; with his Pluto in a ‘healing’ Water Grand Trine to a Scorpio Moon trine Uranus in the 5^th – emotionally intense and his global influencer and persuader would come from his emphasised 9^th house Pluto. He was outspoken with his Mercury in Virgo opposition his Uranus but the harder-edges would be softened as both squared onto an enthusiastic and optimistic Jupiter. His compassionate, helpful Neptune in his career 10^th conjunct his ‘leadership’ Leo North Node and Venus are what fuelled his ambitions. It is in a publicity-attracting opposition to a determined Mars in Aquarius.  

  His Inauguration chart, 20 January 1977 12pm Washington, DC, is interesting. There is an unaspected Sun, a stressed Yod of Saturn sextile Pluto inconjunct Venus; and a frustratingly stuck Mars square Pluto inconjunct Saturn. The unintegrated Sun suggested a Term that never developed its full potential. And a badly aspected Mars would be blocked and unlucky. A focal point Yod Venus is well-intentioned and easy-going but again not able to fully connect. 

  Hindsight helps in these interpretations but useful to see how the aspects played out.

 There’s a curious snarl-up on the hustings to replace Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland First Minister and SNP leader with the two main contenders at odds over LGBT+ rights. Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary, despite being a practising Muslim is pro, saying “I don’t legislate on the basis of my faith.” Whereas Kate Forbes, heretofore the favourite, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, lost prominent supporters and Green Party backing by stating firmly she was against gender self-identification and would have voted against equal marriage legislation. [The Free Church – the Wee Frees – is a socially conservative, evangelical Calvinist denomination which is against abortion and same sex marriage.]

  Nicola Sturgeon will be a hard act to follow having won three general elections and two for the Scottish parliament. But she leaves behind ‘a torrid sequence of troubles, from a costly fiasco over ferry contracts which has become emblematic of SNP misgovernance to swelling criticism of the party’s failures in delivering public services.’

  The likelihood is that whoever takes over immediately will prove no more effective than Sturgeon in tackling the moribund economy, drug and health problems and may not last.

  Both Yousaf and Forbes have their Sun in mid Aries close to the SNP Sun Mars in Aries – so they fit the ethos of the party.

 Yousaf, 7 April 1985, Glasgow, looks the more likely at the moment. He has a lively and charming Sun Venus in Aries trine Uranus and sextile Jupiter in Aquarius; with his Jupiter in a confident square to Pluto and an ultra-determined Mars North Node in Taurus also square Jupiter. He looks rattled and insecure from mid March with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars but does have a touch of uplift from late March with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter/North Node midpoint. If he does take over, it’ll be rocky, not to say disaster-prone after June this year and sagging into 2025.

 Kate Forbes, 6 April 1990, is a highly strung Sun Aries square Neptune Uranus in Capricorn with her Uranus in a lucky opposition to Jupiter; and a do-or-die-determined Mars in Aquarius conjunct North Node square Pluto. Without a birth time there isn’t much of cheer showing up on her chart – jolts, jangles and confusion.

  Though both do have tr Jupiter conjunct their Sun in late March which is usually upbeat.

  Ash Regan, 8 March 1974, is generally regarded as an outlier – she is a Sun Pisces with an ideologue’s Air Grand Trine of Mars in Gemini trine Pluto trine Venus; and another Air Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine Jupiter Mercury in Aquarius. Tr Saturn will dampen her enthusiasm in March as it crosses her Mercury and Jupiter. Her time may come in later years and this will give her name recognition.

 Humza Yousaf in relation to the SNP holds out a promise of success; whereas Kate Forbes’s relationship chart with the SNP hints at an underlying hostility and doubt.

An ‘Indian spring’ in the shape of a democratic revival is being mooted after the backlash over prime minister Narendra Modi’s involvement with billionaire Guatam Adani, accused recently of “the largest con in corporate history”. Their friendship is inextricably linked to the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat when Modi was chief minister of the state with open slaughter and mass rape of Muslims staged by vigilante Hindu mobs.

  A two part BBC documentary last month on the Gujarat Massacre, when uploaded onto You tube in India, pulled out police in riot gear to stop college students watching, with electricity being switched off on campuses. The government then raided the India BBC offices on the pretext of a tax investigation.

  Arundhati Roy, the Indian writer, in a descriptive and critical piece – ‘Modi’s model is at last revealed for what it is: violent Hindu nationalism underwritten by big business’ (URL below and worth a read) – points to ‘the dangerous divisiveness and deep fault lines Modi has cultivated during his tenure as prime minister.’

  In the nine years of Modi’s tenure, Adani’s wealth grew from $8bn to $137bn. In 2022 alone, he made $72bn. The Adani Group now controls a dozen shipping ports that account for the movement of 30% of India’s freight, seven airports that handle 23% of India’s airline passengers, and warehouses that collectively hold 30% of India’s grain. It owns and operates power plants that are the biggest generators of the country’s private electricity.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/18/narendra-modi-hindu-nationalism-india-gautam-adani

  See previous post on Adani and Jo Johnson – 3 February 2023.

  Narendra Modi, 17 September 1950, has undermining and uncertain Neptune oppositions to his Virgo Sun, Mercury and Sun/Saturn midpoint all through 2023. With a high-risk and disruptive tr Uranus square his Pluto in late April/early Mars moving on in 2024 to oppose his Mars in Scorpio for an ego-denting collision of sorts. His Mars square Pluto natally would point to a ruthless streak and with Mars in vengeful Scorpio involved, he would make a dangerous enemy. But that power base will be seriously shaken in 2023/24.

  There is nothing on his 2019 Term chart, 30 May 2019 7.04pm, to suggest a speedy exit though that odd 18 degree Fixed turns up again with tr Uranus conjunct the Venus in late April/early May which does suggest a considerable financial, maybe also emotional, upset.

  The India country chart, 15 August 1947, also has 18 degree Fixed flagged up with its Jupiter in Scorpio line for the tr Uranus opposition. On its own that might suggest a lucky break; but with the India Jupiter square the Leo Sun, Venus, Saturn and Pluto it will pull out a range of possibilities – from clashes with authority figures due to overstepping the mark to over-confidence leading to problems.

Modi’s relationship with India is certainly tied into wealth and expansion with his Pluto square Mars in Scorpio hitting on the India Jupiter, and his Jupiter falling in the India 10^th house.  But his Pluto falling in the India 4^th also hints at an iron fist approach when it comes to domestic affairs. Pluto in its bully, dominating gear.  

  His relationship chart with India is due for a serious of shocks from early March (next month) onwards throughout this year and 2024 with tr Uranus opposes the composite Sun, then Mars and Mercury. 2024/25 could see it upended altogether. It’s a relationship built on an illusory, over-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune square Venus – putting him on a pedestal and idealized, leading to enraged responses from his supporters when his faults are highlighted.  

There are cracks appearing all over the place as the celestial tectonic plates start to shift.