Astrology of Today’s News

Shamima Begum, the erstwhile teenage ISIS bride, stuck in a semi-secure detention camp in northern Syria with her UK citizenship revoked is as divisive a figure as ever as her story airs on BBC. A victim or a threat? Even journalists who know the territory and have interviewed her seem unsure. It is now eight years to the day since she left her mum at a London bus stop on a well-planned exit without a hint of where she was going. She passed through a smuggling network run by a spy for Canada, and lived at the centre of the Islamic State caliphate. Her two best friends have been killed, and her three children have died, two likely of starvation and one of pneumonia.

   Shortly after she arrived she was ‘matched’ with a husband, who demanded absolute obedience and she said it felt like ‘prostitution’. It was all the more savagely ironic since part of her reason in escaping the UK was to get away from her Bangladeshi immigrant mother who kept her tied down. She is evasive about how much she knew of ISIS savagery either before or during her time in the Middle East. Western countries are mixed about opening their doors to ISIS brides.  Canada has recently chosen to repatriate; the USA has been asking nations to do so; Australia has now taken some back. At present she is a stateless person, having had her UK citizenship withdrawn and she has never been in Bangladesh which might be a possibility.

  Born 25 August 1999 London, she is a confident Sun Virgo square Pluto – controlled and controlling – and trine an indulgent Jupiter in Taurus. Her Jupiter is tied into a plethora of Fixed planets square to Neptune with (Moon), Uranus in Aquarius opposition North Node in Leo, Mercury and Venus in Leo square Saturn in Taurus with Saturn opposition Mars in Scorpio. It is not an easy chart to warm to – can-be-vengeful, not overly sensitive, sharp-edged, very obstinate.

  Tr Saturn moving into Pisces will damp down her Sun and Pluto this year; and Uranus has two years to go before it clears her Fixed planets in a jolting and jangling ride that start several years back. She’s an uncomfortable mix with the UK since her Mars in Scorpio and Saturn in Taurus never mind Uranus collide with the UK’s Fixed planets.

 Even those who see her as culpable think she would be better in the UK facing British justice here.

 Nicola Sturgeon for reasons beyond comprehension has allowed herself to be tied in a knot over her sweeping changes to gender identification, allowing self-identification with no medical diagnosis. Only to be wrong footed when a male rapist, up on two charges, decided to switch from he to she and ended up in a women’s prison with an ensuing outcry. She is now saying, Nicola that is, that the he/she (formerly Adam now Isla) is “almost certainly” masquerading as a woman and has been transferred back to a male prison. Which renders the whole barrage of outrage aimed at the Westminster government for banning her new law a touch superfluous.

  She was never moving into a successful phase despite brave words on independence which came to nought with another ruling against a referendum. With tr Pluto aiming to oppose her Mars from late this March for two years she will be trapped, frustrating and enraging. Even before then tr Pluto opposition the Sun/Mars midpoint this month and next and on till late 2023 will have much the same effect.

  She will muster up her bravado with tr Pluto square her Jupiter through this year but it won’t outweigh the negatives and with tr Neptune undermining her Pluto in Virgo from this March into 2024 she will feel disempowered and it runs alongside a disaster prone tr Neptune square her Mars/Saturn midpoint

  Tr Uranus will also upend her rigid Saturn in Taurus from late this May and then square her Midheaven from mid August this year which will force a change of career direction – and those run on into 2024 as well.

  Her popularity appears to be fading even amongst her own supporters and it looks as if she has shot her bolt and is running out of road ahead.

  Her latest Term chart, 13 May 2012 9am has a lacklustre Neptune on the Midheaven (never a good sign for an administration) and the Saturn square Uranus which is now closing the square to exact this year by Solar Arc which will give rise to eruptions, tensions getting out of hand and divisions within the ranks.

ADD ON:  Born 19 July 1970 3.16pm Irvine, Scotland, she had a dental nurse mother and an electrician father, both of whom were experienced by her as fairly Martian, argumentative and competitive types. She has a Sun Mars conjunction  square Jupiter and a Moon opposition Mars. Her mother in particular was controlling with mom’s Pluto sitting exactly conjunct Nicola’s midheaven and their relationship chart has a composite possessive Sun Pluto conjunction. The composite Moon and Neptune are tied into the Sun Pluto in aspect which would inculcate soaring ambition to her daughter. The same is probably true of her father since Nicola has her Sun trine Neptune and sextile Pluto inclining her towards enormous goals in life.

  According to wiki Nicola was a quiet child, preferring to sit with her head in a book than talking to people”. She described herself as being an “austere” teen who’s style tended towards goth, adding that “if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl”.

  She married when she was 40 having known her husband for 7 years – he’s a Sun Sagittarius square a volcanic Pluto, Mars, Uranus in Virgo with an Aquarius Moon like Nicola. It seems to be a supportive and affectionate though workmanlike bond. It will go through a period of disruption from this July onwards, perhaps from outside causes.  

She does seem to like tilting at windmills but also has a capacity for attracting a cult-leader style adoration from her supporters. According to them she can do no wrong.

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Political connections, high finance and allegations of accounting fraud and share manipulation have collided in a debacle that has wiped over $100 billion from the share price of the company owned by Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, recently estimated as the world’s third richest man. He is much associated with Indian PM Narendra Modi and his attempt to sell £2 billion of shares has roped in a London investment firm with Jo Johnson, Boris’s brother, as a director – who has just resigned. This comes only weeks after Johnson’s resignation from the UK advisory board of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – not his best year.

  Hot denials all round after US-based investment firm Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani group of decades of “brazen” stock manipulation. The Adani Group responded by calling the report “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”. The share sale has been called off.

 The opposition in India has been demanding answers from the Modi government, accusing the government of forcing India’s premier life insurer and its biggest state-run bank to invest in Adani’s stocks, thereby “endangering the savings” of millions of Indians.

  Gautam Adani, 24 June 1962 5.14am (Indian astrologywebsite) Ahmedabad, India, was a school and college dropout who moved into trading and prospered. On this birth time he has a lucky Jupiter Moon in Pisces in his 10^th house opposition a pushily-confident Pluto which forms the driving rod of a creative Water Grand Trine of a Cancer Sun trine Midheaven and Jupiter trine Neptune. He’s also got a risk-taking Mars in acquisitive Taurus square Uranus and a Fixed T Square of Venus in flamboyant Leo opposition Saturn in cool Aquarius squaring onto an escapist, idealistic, evasive Neptune in his 5^th house which rules speculation.

  He was trapped in the Mumbai Taj Hotel shootings on November 2008, when tr Uranus was exactly conjunct his Moon which sounds as if his birth time is feasible.

  Tr Saturn in Pisces will put a damper on his influential and over-confident Pluto from this June onwards and then his Midheaven, Jupiter, Moon in 2024. Even earlier he’ll be in for a shock from this May with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars which also extends into 2024. Overall 2024 looks like a serious swamp moving into 2025.

  Jo Johnson (Lord J of Marleybone!!) born 23 December 1971 London shares with his brother Boris all the hallmarks of his bulldozer father. Stanley is a Sun Mars in Leo square Uranus with Jupiter Saturn in Taurus. Boris has Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars. JoJ has Mars in late Pisces opposition Pluto square a Capricorn Sun; with an ‘adventurous’, risk-taking Mars square Jupiter; and an Air Grand Trine of Pluto trine Saturn trine Venus, formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Mars. In many ways even more driven by competitive ambition than Boris.

  He was a politician serving as a Minister under David Cameron and latterly in his brother Boris’s cabinet until he resigned and was elevated to the House of Lords. After his retreat from politics he moved into business and writes as a journalist for the FT.

 He’s into a car-crash phase of his life starting with a disastrous tr Pluto square his Mars/Saturn midpoint from this month on and off till late 2024; a devastating tr Pluto conjunct his Mars/Neptune from late March also until late 2024. Plus plus other less desirables. And he has not even reached tr Neptune Saturn in Aries hitting his Sun and Pluto in 2025. Cataclysmic.

  It’s not sure that Narendra Modi will be pulled into this whirlpool but he does have an undermining tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun and Mercury this year – and a disruptive, destabilizing tr Uranus square his Pluto in late April early May which few weeks is also flagging up on his Term chart as a financial shock.   

Dr Phil McGraw’s controversial advice talk show, which started with Oprah Winfrey’s help and attracted a deluge of lawsuits and scandals is ending by his choice. Critics say the show went too far in pursuit of entertainment by exploiting vulnerable people and taking advantage of their problems to boost ratings.

  He was born September 1, 1950 7.15pm in Vinita, Oklahoma, and holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. He co-founded Courtroom Sciences, Inc. (CSI), a trial consulting firm which provides services in US litigation psychology, jury selection, witness training, and depositions. The TV show Bull is based on his experience and he is credited as one of the creators of the series. He assisted Oprah Winfrey in her Texas beef lawsuit in the 1990s and was invited to appear weekly on her show, before launching his own on September 2002.

  He does have a hard-working Virgo Sun in his 6^th house of health and Saturn also in detail-oriented Virgo on his Descendant. But what dominates his chart is a heavyweight, hard-driving and financially-focussed 8^th house Mars in Scorpio opposition a Taurus Moon in the 2^nd square Pluto Venus in Leo in his 6^th house. One complaint made of him was he lacked compassion and that T square certainly does not suggest a sentimentalist.

  His Dr Phil Show launched on 16 September 2002 when there was a ruthless Mars square Pluto and a Virgo Sun square Saturn in Gemini – so fairly similar to his own chart.

  Oprah Winfrey, 29 January 1954 4.30am MS, also has a strong Pluto opposition Mercury square Mars in Scorpio in her chart – a testament in part to her difficult start in life.

 Jerry Springer, 13 February 1944, who started the agony-aunt, problem-exposing trend in top rated shows in 1991, has Pluto conjunct a ‘leadership’ North Node on the focal point of a trine between Uranus Mars and Neptune; with Pluto opposition Mercury – controlling, opinionated, keen on excitement.

  Dr Phil’s chart does indicate a fair amount of disruption with tr Saturn last year tr Uranus this year pounding on his  Fixed T square. Tr Uranus is opposition his Mars now and moving on to square his Pluto Venus before mid year. Plus  a dissolving tr Neptune square his Midheaven this year as well.

  Maybe it is symptomatic of the end of an era as the culture shifts away from humiliation TV.  Hopeful thought.  

Turkey and President Erdogan are facing a crucial election either this May or June with his popularity plummeting in the face of runaway inflation. Officially it is recorded at 85.5% though outside analysts reckon it is nearer 180%.  The blame is laid firmly at Erdogan’s feet, since he controls the Central Bank and his “unorthodox” understanding of monetary policy has kept interest rates artificially low favouring the “big funders” of his AKP party in construction and real estate, who reap more profit from cheaper loans. In the past, Erdogan won elections by flooding the economy with cheap money and this time round he is clamping down on opposition voices and drafting controversial media laws that criminalise “disinformation”.

  Commentators say the long-term prospects for his autocratic, over-centralised government will be dim if the polls remain low and its economic policies do not change.

  The Turkey 29 October 1923 8.30pm Ankara chart shows no real sign of a radical change this year (start time being accurate). If anything there is more drift with tr Neptune square the Solar Arc Midheaven and a financially restrictive tr Pluto moving into the 8^th house of international trade and investment. If the election is June then tr Uranus will square the Turkey Neptune for a highly-strung, nervy mood – and possibly fanatical outbursts.  There will be some financial movement with tr Uranus opposing the speculative 5^th house Venus this year (late April/early May) and Jupiter in 2024, which could indicate magic-money-tree spending. But it runs alongside a deprived Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the 4^th house Saturn suggesting a domestic population living through tough conditions around mid 2024.

 Erdogan’s relationship chart with Turkey is very locked together and resentfully so with overtones of cruelty and unfairness with a composite Mars Saturn square Pluto. Mutual enthusiasm will be at a low ebb in early May and later in the year with tr Saturn opposition the composite Jupiter; with some upheavals and disruptions after mid March.  It is 2024/2025 which will see the bond under the greatest pressure as tr Pluto is square the Saturn and then opposition the Pluto.

 His own chart, 26 February 1954 Istanbul, is downbeat and jangled this year with tr Saturn conjunct his Pisces Sun and tr Uranus square his Pluto – which might suggest separation and a significant change. But it isn’t definitive.  

The French are infamous for their rudeness especially the Parisians but they seem to have take offence at one of their own claiming her nationality was an excuse for spraying insults in all directions. Actress Eva Green is in court in an overblown luvvie spat about a failed sci-fi movie with both sides blaming the other for the production’s demise. She claimed in High Court yesterday that her ‘Frenchness’ was to blame for abusive messages she sent branding the film bosses ‘weak and stupid’ and the crew ‘s****y peasants from Hampshire.’ She referred to the director as ‘evil’, a ‘devious sociopath’, ‘a liar and a mad man’ and ‘pure vomit’; and the production manager Terry Bird ‘a f****** moron’ and described the men as ‘total a***holes’. She claimed that being in ‘a B S**ty movie’ would have ruined her career.

 Born 5 July 1980 10.35 am, Paris (Astrodatabank, birth certificate) she is a Sun Cancer square an 8^th house Aries Moon opposition Pluto – intense, controlling, highly emotional. More pointedly, her Mercury in Cancer is sextile both Saturn and Mars in Virgo, square Pluto, trine Uranus and inconjunct Neptune – so she will tend to emphasize her points with vigour. Mercury square Pluto can become obsessed and bitter. Uranus in her 3^rd is outspoken, given to blurting out comments without thinking first.

  She does have charming Venus in her 10^th but it seems to have been swept aside in the heat of the furnace. In the past she has worked with directors like Bertolucci, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott and has been nominated for various roles. You would think by this time she’d have learned that a screaming cuckoo’s nest of chaos is the norm for movie making.

  When this movie fell to bits tr Pluto was opposing her Mercury, tr Neptune opposing her Saturn and tr Saturn was beginning to move through her 6^th house. Troubled times – and becoming known as a troublesome (and foul mouthed) diva is not always a career-friendly move.

   Her fortunes are mixed ahead with a a financially successful Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct Pluto in 18 months from now; but a raft of Neptunian sinkers as well for the next two years and a dramatic change of career direction come 2025 as Uranus moves across her Midheaven.

  France itself has an intense 8^th house nit-picky Mercury in Virgo sextile a can-be-toxic Mars in Scorpio, inconjunct Pluto and semi-sextile Uranus – so fairly stressed on the communication front as well.

Steven Spielberg’s latest film, the autobiographical drama The Fabelmans, has been garnished with several Oscar nominations but has still flopped commercially, making back barely half its $40 million budget at the box office so far. His previous film West Side Story also did not make its costs back.  Where once Spielberg prided himself on knowing what audiences wanted, he is deemed either to have lost his touch or is aiming to be a filmmaker for critics and the elite, rather than ‘ordinary’ people.  

 His next film is said to be a semi-remake of the Steve McQueen crime film Bullitt, with Bradley Cooper starring which does not sound as if it would generate Jurassic Park queues round the block.

  He was born 18 December 1946 6.16 pm Cincinnati, Ohio, with a hard working Sagittarius Sun conjunct Mars in his 6^th, an entertaining and can-be-frivolous Moon, Jupiter, Venus in Scorpio and Mercury in Sagittarius in his performing 5^th; and a heavyweight Saturn Pluto in Leo in his financial 2^nd house.

  At the moment and since 2020 he’s been soaked in Neptunian influences. First tr Neptune started to move across his Midheaven and then across his 10^th house of career to stay for many years. It could be said to favour the movie business but is often not ego-supportive in terms of personal glory though can be creative and healing. His Solar Arc Neptune was conjunct his Sun in 2022 and tr Neptune then squares his Sun in 2023/4, before moving on to square his Mars in 2025. So the next three years look a touch lacklustre.

  Where his Solar Returns indicate a return to great success wouldn’t be till 2027 when he has cleared Neptune off his Sun and Mars. Though by that time tr Pluto is on the cusp of his 8^th which might suggest darker subjects or restrictions in his life.

  It’s a tough business to stay consistently at the top.

Anti-Swedish sentiment in Turkey after the burning of a copy of the Koran and an effigy of Turkish president Erdoğan hanging next to Stockholm’s city hall could result in a veto for Sweden’s proposed membership of NATO which needs ratified by all 30 existing members. It could mean Finland having to go it alone. Finland has Europe’s largest border with Russia at 1,340km in length and is desperate to wrap up the application process. Sweden could count on bilateral security guarantees from the likes of the US and UK even without membership and has Finland as a buffer state to Russia.

  There will be much to play for between Erdogan’s election in May and the July NATO Vilnius summit. The NATO chart itself, 24 August 1949 11.42am will be in for a turbulent few weeks with long term implications for its direction and control from mid March to early April this year as tr Uranus squares the 10^th house Pluto. The Solar Arc Midheaven is also square the Mars exactly within the next six months. On its own that could bring a shock and a setback but since the NATO Mars opposes Jupiter and the SA MC squares the Jupiter  by 2026 it could also be part and parcel of an expansion.

 2023 is downbeat and serious for NATO with tr Saturn in Pisces opposing the Virgo Sun and Moon. Where it looks more stressed perhaps because of an over confident and unwise push is in 2026 when the SA Sun is square Pluto and the SProgressed Mars is conjunct the Moon.

  The Finland/NATO relationship chart will have a bumpy ride up to this July summit but looks confident across it. Sweden and NATO have a more stressed interface this year and next; with a problematic year in 2025/26 when the NATO/Russia relationship chart is also sagging badly.

 Turkey will continue to be at daggers drawn with Sweden across this July and more so in 2024 to 2026.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be upfront and centre stage at the Coronation on May 6^th, which he says is already giving him nightmares. His spiritual though highly strung Mercury opposition Uranus square Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio will be under considerable pressure from tr Pluto opposition his Uranus and square his Neptune – so not an easy time for clear thinking or clear speaking.

  If reports are true, he may also have the added challenge of trying to act as mediator between Prince Harry and the Royals, especially Prince William, since Charles seems to think a Harry absence would be more distracting than his presence – not a view I imagine shared by many.

  Welby purportedly gets on well with Prince Harry, though I’m not sure if that isn’t wishful thinking. Welby’s Neptune is conjunct Harry’s opinionated Pluto so he could soften him down but Welby’s Uranus is also square Harry’s Pluto and in Harry’s 7^th. Plus Welby’s Mars Saturn in Scorpio falls in Harry’s 10^th opposition Harry’s Moon which is pretty severe and not exactly sympatico.

 At the Coronation Harry’s Pluto is catching the conjunction to his Solar Arc Sun and both in square to transiting Pluto so it will be a loaded time for him with a downbeat tr Saturn exactly opposition his 8^th house Mercury. Tr Pluto is also square his Venus/Saturn midpoint leaving him feeling unloved and unappreciated. And tr Neptune will have been square Harry’s Solar Arc Midheaven from the middle of this February to mid March which will be dithering and undermining.

Tr Saturn at 5 degrees Pisces at the Coronation is having a dampening effect on Harry and Will’s relationship chart as it forms an edgy, high-tension square to the composite Uranus over the Coronation. It will also undercut the composite Jupiter in the Kate/Harry interface, squashing good feelings. Kate and Meghan’s already troubled bond will have tr Pluto square the composite Sun to contend with, which can usually be a complete-break influence.

Camilla looks highly anxious about Harry over the coronation with tr Neptune opposition their composite Saturn and tr Uranus opposition their composite Neptune, moving on to square the Sun from mid year, rocking the boat and widening the split still further.

  Rolling back a few coronations – George IV’s on 19 July 1821 was memorable since he forbade entry to his estranged wife Queen Caroline because of her wayward ways when Princess of Wales. There was a late Cancer Sun trine Pluto and square Jupiter Saturn in Aries; with Pluto square Uranus Neptune in Capricorn – so more turbulent times even than now.

  There is a syncronous oddity about 5 degrees Mutable for Royal Coronations. George IV’s had the North Node at 5 degrees Pisces. Queen Elizabeth 11 had Jupiter at 5 Gemini. The Hanoverian Monarchy start 1 August 1714 has Pluto at 5 Virgo square North Node at 5 Sagittarius. Charles 1 Coronation in 1626 North Node at 5 Virgo.  Not all of them but an interesting repeating theme.