not categorised

France and Algeria are at a standoff with diplomats on each side being sent home after France recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Though shadowing any present-day dispute is the bitter history between the two countries extending back almost two centuries, culminating in the brutal 1954-1962 war for Algeria’s independence from colonial France.

 In 1830 the French invaded and captured Algiers with methods which reached genocidal proportions. A combination of violence and disease epidemics caused the indigenous Algerian population to decline by nearly one-third from 1830 to 1872. From 1848 until independence, France administered the Mediterranean region of Algeria as an integral part of the nation and it became the destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, known as Pied-Noirs. Communal land was confiscated from tribal peoples.

  Dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, underdogs in the colonial system, gave rise to demands for independence from France. There were various massacres by French troops and outright war broke out in 1954.  The Algerian militant group the National Liberation Front (FLN) killed those who supported the French and in retaliation the French conducted severe reprisals. 2 million Algerians were sent to concentration camps. There was a notorious Paris massacre of 1961, the mass killing of 200 to 300 Algerians by the French National Police after a pro-FLN demonstration. Death was due to heavy-handed beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators into the river Seine.

 The France chart, 31 September 1792 3.30 pm Paris, born out of a bloody revolution, has a revolutionary Pluto in Aquarius opposition Uranus square a vengeful Mars in Scorpio on the Midheaven.

Algeria gained independence on 3 July 1962 10.38am Algiers, Algeria, with Uranus back in late Leo square Mars in Taurus so not the most amiable of connections. Algeria’s Mars is conjunct France’s IC with Algeria’s Uranus on the cusp of the France 8^th house with their Pluto into the 8^th – so an entangled and uncomfortable interface.

 Their relationship chart is worse with a composite and explosive Mars, Uranus, Sun conjunction square Pluto.

 The FLN was founded on 23 October 1954 just before war broke out when Pluto was in late Leo. The war finished when tr Jupiter in late Aquarius was opposition Uranus.

  Late Fixed signs recur throughout their conflicted relationship. No surprises with tr Uranus aiming to exit Taurus that more troubles flare up – opposing their composite Pluto into next year.  

ADD ON:

Frantz Fanon, a French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher, supported the Algerian War of independence and was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. He has been described as “the most influential anticolonial thinker of his time”. As well as being an intellectual, he was a political radical, Pan-Africanist, and Marxist humanist concerned with the psychopathology of colonization and the consequences of decolonization. His life has inspired national liberation movements and other freedom and political movements in Palestine, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and the United States.

 Born 20 July 1925 6am Fort-de-France, Martinique, he had a Cancer Sun conjunct his Ascendant, conjunct the France Descendant and conjunct the Algeria 1962 Moon. An upfront personality he was intimately linked with the destiny of both countries. His 8^th house reforming, status-quo-upsetting Uranus was trine his Sun and Moon. His 12^th house Pluto was in a confident opposition to Jupiter. And he had a stellium in attention-seeking Leo in his 1^st house – Mars, Venus, Neptune, Mercury. A Water Fire chart would make him inspiring and excitable.

 His relationship chart with France was unsurprisingly fractious and hostile as well as stuck with a composite Saturn trine Mars trine Uranus; and Saturn square Pluto. His relationship chart with the 1962 Algeria on the contrary had a New Moon hinting at an emotional closeness.

The vilification of Anthony Fauci, pre-pandemic a highly respected research scientist and adviser to seven presidents, arose because he refused to bend the knee to Trump’s downplaying of the risks of the Covid virus and Trump’s promotion of unproven treatments. An analysis released by the Commonwealth Fund last week found the Covid vaccine shots saved 3.2 million lives in the U.S. alone and prevented 18.5 million hospitalizations. Fauci is still being attacked by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro and other anti-science conspiracy theorists.

 In response to a recent Musk inanity on the subject, a vaccine scientist and virology professor, responded “Mr. Musk should know that 200,000 Americans needlessly lost their lives from Covid due to this kind of anti-science rhetoric and disinformation.”

 What intrigues me astrologically are two strands. 1. When/how did the anti-vaccine bandwagon become such a mainstream and virulent phenomenon? 2. What caused Fauci to become such a hate figure.

  Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 Lancet paper connecting the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine to autism described as ‘one of the biggest frauds in the world’ and “the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years”, has had major and catastrophic consequences up to today, despite its debunking.

  It was published when tr Neptune had just changed sign into Aquarius, which makes sense of irrational, can-be-fear-mongering Neptune moving into the sign ruling science. Neptune then moved into Pisces in 2011 fostering even more dubious imaginary and paranoid beliefs. This year Neptune moves into Aries until 2038 which on past occasions has coincided with health advances (and admittedly epidemics – maybe measles’ deaths in Texas might have an effect.)

  Fauci, 24 December 1940 10.24pm New York (from memory) does have a heavyweight, fixed and enduring chart. His Capricorn Sun sits in his home-loving and private 4^th house; with a determined Scorpio Moon and blunt Mars in his communication 3^rd house opposition Uranus in his 9^th house of education. His Uranus is conjunct Trump’s Midheaven so they would clash with different approaches and agendas. With his Mars falling in Trump’s 4^th for an argumentative chemistry.

  Fauci also has Pluto in Leo in his 11^th house hinting at his influential status in society magnified by the square to his Jupiter Saturn in Taurus in his 8^th. Jupiter Saturn for a few has a tendency to throw them up to dizzy heights in the public realm only to cut them down as Saturn undermines Jupiter’s tendency to fly too high. He was adored and deified during the pandemic by some and vilified by others.

WHO: Immunization is a global health success story, saving millions of lives every year. Immunization currently prevents 3.5 million to 5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza and measles. The measles vaccine is estimated to prevent a million deaths every year.

WIKI: Vaccines led to the eradication of smallpox, one of the most contagious and deadly diseases in humans. Other diseases such as rubella, polio, measles, mumps, chickenpox, and typhoid are nowhere near as common as they were a hundred years ago thanks to widespread vaccination programs. Polio is targeted by an extensive eradication campaign that has seen endemic polio restricted to only parts of three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan). Vaccines also help prevent the development of antibiotic resistance.

Bruce Springsteen, the rock’n’roll legend, in what was described as one of the most sustained political attacks from a cultural figure, said at a Manchester concert that Trump is running ‘rogue government’ and ‘siding with dictators’. In a series of blistering speeches on stage he targeted a ‘corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration’ and called the president “unfit” for office. He pleaded with the audience to “Raise your voices against authoritarianism” before singing an impassioned The Land of Hope and Dreams.

 He was born 23 September 1949 10.50 pm Freehold, New Jersey, and is a Sun at zero degrees Libra with a later Libra Moon. His Sun is in a rebellious square to a 1^st house Uranus. His performing 5^th house is full with musical Neptune, South Node, Mercury, Moon and Venus there – so he was born to seek an audience.

 Where he clashes with Trump astrologically is that both have Mars and Pluto in Leo and Trump’s Mars sits on Springsteen’s IC arousing a visceral irritation in him.  Plus DT’s Sun, North Node and Uranus are conjunct Bruce’s Ascendant with DT’s Moon conjunct his Descendant so their chemistry has a capacity for disruptive competitiveness.

Their relationship chart is worse with a composite Sun, Pluto, Saturn, Mars with composite Mars Saturn square Moon. Extreme dislike.

“Journalism exists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

Andrew Norfolk, the Times investigative reporter, whose expose of sexual grooming of underage girls by men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham and Rochdale in England sparked a national inquiry, has died.

He said recently: “This story is an example of why newspapers matter. When all else failed a very brave person (a Rotherham social worker) placed their trust in journalism. Those documents I was handed revealed something shameful. Something people whose job it was to protect children had chosen to keep hidden. It was an uncomfortable story but sometimes uncomfortable truths are the ones for journalists to tell because if we don’t no one else will.” “It seemed extraordinary that the authorities knew so much and did so little.”

 After the first story appeared in January 2011, he was attacked by those who felt he was unfairly targeting a minority community. But Keir Starmer, then director of public prosecutions changed the rules so that more charges were possible.

  Professor Alexis Jay’s 2014 report in 2014 found that 1,400 girls had been groomed and abused in Rotherham since the late 1990s. Children had been trafficked to other cities. Some were doused with petrol and told they would be set alight if they told anyone. The grooming gangs were acting with “virtual impunity”. Norfolk won the Paul Foot award and the Orwell prize for his investigations and was named the 2014 Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards.

Andrew Norfolk, born 8 January 1965, avoided the story when it was first raised by Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, in 2003 since he assumed it would be a  “dream story for the far right”. Yet his journalistic conscience overcame his reluctance in 2010 and he started digging through archive court material and local newspaper articles in libraries. He identified 17 cases in 13 places where 56 men had been convicted; 50 were Pakistani Muslims. “We found clear evidence of a crime pattern that was having the most devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable, innocent people in our society.”

  He had a Capricorn Sun in an Earth Grand Trine to Jupiter in Taurus and Uranus, Pluto, Mars in Virgo with his Jupiter opposition Neptune in Scorpio, making Neptune his driving planet. He also had a Pisces Moon, perhaps conjunct Chiron, opposition his Virgo stellium – which sounds feasible; and square his North Node in Gemini opposition Mercury Venus in upbeat Sagittarius.

  His Earth Grand Trine would make him practical, sensible, not given to flights of fancy. His Mutable Grand Cross could have made him highly strung with a tendency to get scattered, but it did hook him into the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) especially in its darker underbelly (Mars Pluto).

 When his story was published on 5^th January 2011 the transiting Chiron was conjunct Neptune and tr Pluto close to the North Node.

 On his chart tr Pluto was conjunct his Solar Arc Neptune hinting at the scale of the reaction to a devastating story; with his Solar Arc Uranus, Pluto, Mars being in Scorpio.

 Rotherham was incorporated as a borough on 6 September 1871, giving it a Virgo Sun and a tough Mars in Scorpio opposition Pluto in Taurus. When the abuse story emerged in print the Solar Arc Neptune was conjunct its Sun for an undermining moment; with there was also an uncertain, panicky tr Saturn opposition its Neptune; and a blocked, discouraging tr Pluto conjunct its Saturn.

Andrew Norfolk’s Uranus Pluto were conjunct Rotherham’s Sun for an explosive synastry.  And his Jupiter opposition Neptune sitting on the Rotherham can-be-cruel Mars opposition Pluto would shine an idealistic light on their situation. Understandably his writing would not be welcomed  with the relationship chart having a power-struggling and hostile composite Mars square Pluto which tr Saturn was triggering when the story surfaced in print.

 The political fallout is still ongoing with resistance to another national inquiry, though given how little attention is paid to the conclusions of expensive, long-running inquiries, it is a moot point whether that is the answer.  

 Maybe Andrew Norfolk’s death will bring the horror that no one wants to know about back centre-stage for a while which may help.

José “Pepe” Mujica, Uruguay’s former president, who started as a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla fighter and later became a groundbreaking social liberal has died at the age of 89. Some refer to him as Latin America’s Nelson Mandela because of his 13 years in jail. Others point to his legalising of marijuana, same sex marriage and abortion. But mainly he was famous for his frugal lifestyle, living in a tiny house on a rural smallholding, and giving away 90% of his salary. He was a fierce critic of consumer culture and the environmental damage it has caused the planet.

  During his time in prison under Uruguay’s 1972-1985 dictatorship, more than half the time he was confined in a tiny cell without books or companionship, which he was allowed to leave only a couple of times a month to exercise. He is survived by his wife, Lucia Topolansky, whom he met when they were both guerrilla fighters.

Born 20 May 1935 9.30am (from memory) Montevideo, Uruguay, he had a late Taurus Sun sextile Pluto and South Node in Cancer.  He had a hoping-for-a-better-society Saturn opposition Neptune and a 10^th house reforming Uranus. With probably a Sagittarius Moon. His Uranus was trine Uruguay’s Virgo Sun and his Neptune fell in Uruguay’s 10^th so fuelling his urge to improve his country.

  His wife Lucia Topolansky, 25 September 1944, who was often compared to Winnie Mandela for standing by her husband when he was in prison, is a Sun Neptune in Libra. She has Mars in Libra like Jose, in her case square Saturn giving her courage; and her Jupiter was conjunct his Neptune which would help her keep the faith. She had a Sagittarius/Capricorn Moon.

 Their relationship chart had a tight composite Sun Pluto conjunction with an exuberant, enthusiastic Mars Jupiter conjunction.

When he was put into prison and tortured in 1972 tr Uranus was conjunct his Solar Arc Neptune and both were conjunct the IC, the lowest point in his chart, and opposition his Midheaven His Solar Arc Saturn was also conjunct his Midheaven.

  When he was released in 1985 tr Uranus was square his Neptune and his Solar Arc Pluto for an upheaval which would be disorientating. Tr Pluto was also conjunct his SA Neptune as well as opposition his Uranus; and his Solar Arc Pluto was conjunct his Neptune – for a fair amount of confusion.

Looking at the Mandela’s charts – both interestingly had their Sun inconjunct Uranus –  Nelson had Mars in Libra square Pluto with a Saturn Neptune conjunction. Winnie had a Libra Sun at the same degree as Lucia’s; with a hard-edged, ill-treated Mars opposition Saturn. So some similarities.

Learning astrology is a long drawn out process and it requires starting with the basics.

Books I found useful at the start:

Margaret Hone 1953 Modern Textbook of Astrology, out of print but some available second hand.

Sakoian & Acker – The Astrologers Handbook. Planets in signs and houses and in aspect.

Robert Hand – Transits.

Bil Tierney: Dynamics of Aspect Analysis – excellent on major configurations, yods, unaspected planets.

Martin Schulman: Karmic Astrology – the Moon’s Nodes.

Melanie Rhinehart: Chiron

Tracy Marks: Your Secret Self: Illuminating the Mysteries of the Twelfth House

Marcia Moore: Astrology book (beginner)

Sakaion and Acker: The Minor Aspects in Astrology.

Delphine Jay: The Dark Moon Lilith.

Bernadette Brady. The Eagle and the Lark (Eclipse Saros Series and much else.  Book of Fixed Stars.

Elsbeth Ebertin: Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation.

Vivian Robson: The Fixed Stars and Constellations (1923). It’s on archive.org.

Diana’s Fixed Stars, the website for the late Diana K Rosenberg.

Rodney Collins : The Theory of Celestial Influence.

Nick Campion: History of Astrology volumes.

Richard Tarnas: “Cosmos and Psyche”.

Erin Sullivan: Retrograde planets.

Noel Tyl: Solar Arcs is one of the books in this series. Good for advancing astrologers with a good foundation.

Sue Tompkins: Aspects in Astrology. Unmatched, in depth interpretations.

Celeste Teal: Predicting Events With Astrology’ – a good  foundational text on prediction.

NEXT TIER:

Stephen Arroyo: Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water etc)

Astrology, Karma and Transformation.   He also has Chart Interpretation.

Liz Greene: Saturn especially but any of hers are excellent

Howard Sasportas ditto

RELATIONSHIPS:

Robert Hand – Planets in Composite

Sakoian & Acker – Synastry

HARMONICS:  David Hamblin

MIDPOINTS: Rheinhold Ebertin: Stellar Influences

AStROCARTOGRAPHY:

Jim Lewis & Kenneth Irving: The Psychology of Astro*carto*graphy

Erin Sullivan: Where in the World? Astro*Carto*Graphy & Relocation:

POLITICAL/COUNTRY ASTROLOGY:

Michael Harding, Michael Baigent:Working with Astrology – the psychology of midpoints, harmonics and ACG mapping techniques.

Nick Campion: World Horoscopes (countries birth dates).

Andre Barbault: Planetary Cycles is a good book if you are evaluating the value of astrology in looking at recurrent cycles in history.

Traditional and Horary Astrology: William Lilly, Olivia Barclay, Charles Carter and Deborah Houlding

Barbara H. Watters: Horary Astrology and the Judgment of Events(Valhalla 1973). It’s a workhorse of a book for students of horary.

Wessex Astrologer on the net has most of Liz Greene’s and is a good starting point in the UK.

PS. Some of these are older books since I started astrology in the late 1970s.  I am sure other astrologers will have their own favourites so do add comments. 

There are also useful astrology websites with the basics:

Café Astrology, Dark Pixie, Bob Marks come to mind.  Plus Astrology King for Fixed Stars.

Astrodienst (www.astro.com) set up by Swiss Alois Treindl who met and brought on board Liz Greene, Rob Hand and other renowned astrologers.
For magazines, recommend The Mountain Astrologer, The Astrological Journal.

For out of print books, you can check on Internet archive website, which is a virtual non profit library with millions of free texts. https://archive.org

www.addall.com/ is a good aggregator of used book sites.

The radiantly beautiful Halle Berry, a constant presence on the screen for 25 years, with an erratic romantic life, has raised eyebrows with an over-exposed outfit for the Met Gala and celebrating Mother’s Day with an Instagram post of herself naked in bed with her musician lover.

  Her charm and luminous looks along with a fair few successes have obscured just how rumbustious her personal life has been – with several very short lived marriages, descriptions of abusive relationships, financial law suits, custody suits and a domestic violence incident when a former husband had an altercation with a present boyfriend.

 Her career has seen similar highs and lows with Variety noting in 2017 about one lacklustre film: “It should be said that Berry has given some of the best and worst performances of the past quarter-century, but this is perhaps the only one that swings to both extremes in the same movie.”  She has recently moved into producing and directing.

  She was born 14 August 1966 11.59pm Cleveland, Ohio, and has a 4^th house Sun Leo with Mercury Moon in Leo and Venus in Cancer also in the 4^th house. A settled home life and privacy are important to her which makes her lifestyle all the more bizarre. Though admittedly she does have an emphasised house Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo with all its contradictions and attendant chaos in her romantic, emotional and dramatic 5th house.

  She has a creative, overly emotional Water Grand Trine of a passionately enthusiastic Venus, Mars, Jupiter conjunction in Cancer trine Saturn in Pisces trine Neptune South Node in Scorpio, formed into a Kite with Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto. Her Leo Sun is square Neptune opposition Taurus North Node on her Ascendant. The Taurus Node has a tendency to become involved in intense tugs of war financially and emotionally, and her Neptune plus a Water Grand Trine possibly makes her less self-aware than is helpful, since she’ll live in her own self-protective bubble of reality.

  At the moment tr Pluto is crossing her final degree Capricorn Midheaven to start moving through her career 10^th for many years. Sometimes Pluto on the MC can bring a reputation breakdown and career-collapse though it can also in a less dramatic fashion start a long period of searching for a new, more meaningful career direction. Tr Uranus since 2023 has been moving through her 1^st which is often a defiant time of making a stand for individuality and not caring what others think or say. Her Solar Return at the moment has Uranus on the Ascendant so she will be more rebellious even than usual.  

 Tr Pluto is also opposition her Moon Mercury in 2025/26 which will intensify her feelings with ongoing changes within the family. I can’t imagine her children will appreciate mom throwing caution and modesty to the winds.

  Her present romance is with musician Van Hunt, 8 March 1970. His passionate Sun Venus in Pisces opposition Pluto is a good connection with her Jupiter, Mars, Venus in Cancer but not with her Saturn in Pisces. And his hard-edged, short-tempered Mars Saturn in Taurus square her Moon Mercury does not look a good-news connection.

  It’ll be interesting to see what happens with tr Pluto crossing her Midheaven.

The historic Alien Enemies Act, used only three times since its adoption in 1798, during war time, has been resurrected as an excuse for the Trump administration to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. The present acting direction of ICE, the immigration enforcement agency, Todd Lyons said he would like the agency to implement a system of trucks that rounds up immigrants for deportation in a system “Like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”. “We need to get better at treating this like a business.”

 The Alien Enemies Act, 6 July 1798, had a hard Sun Saturn in Cancer trine Neptune trine Mars in Pisces with Mars opposition Uranus. Not awash with sympathy or sentiment.

 The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created on 1 March 2003 by George W. Bush following the September 11 attacks to protect from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety. It has a Pisces Sun with the tough, unfeeling, war-associated Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto (conjunct Mars).

 Tr Saturn is square the ICE Mars earlier this year and on and off till January 2026; with a change-of-direction tr Uranus square Uranus this June into 2026.

 Todd Lyons, no birth time, took up his position on March 9 2025 which gives his term a Sun Saturn in Pisces trine Mars in Cancer, sextile Uranus – again unfeeling with a hint of cruelty.

Strange how all of the above are awash with Water planets which are often erroneously deemed to be touchy-feely and soft hearted. The reality can often incline more in the direction of a strong need for self-protection which has the effect of coming across as selfish or cut off from human connection.

The Alien Enemies Act is running into trouble within a year with the Solar Arc Saturn Sun crossing the Pluto in 2026/2027. Todd Lyons term also looks to be running into a wall by 2027.

 Two astro thoughts, well three.  One: the Alien Enemies Act has its Saturn Sun in Cancer square the USA Saturn in fair-minded Libra so its stony-hearted approach will not sit easily with the USA’s basic ethos. Two: The ICE Saturn is exactly conjunct the USA 9^th house Mars and square its Neptune, hinting at the unease its measures bring.

 Secondly ICE, set up during the 2003 Saturn opposition Pluto links in closely with Trump’s chart. The ICE Saturn in Gemini being exactly conjunct his Sun with the ICE Pluto in opposition so there is something in his dark soul which embraces the war-time ethos which ICE represents. War time necessitates that certain peace-time legal niceties are dropped.

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Jack Draper, the UK tennis No 1, has admitted that “I get out of bed and I feel so angry some days” after smashing his racket during his recent win. “I’ve got to lose points, so I’ve got to go through those emotional ups and downs.” “It’s sometimes difficult to always be perfect.”

 Mars is what gives a competitive drive and it hates to lose so flare ups are difficult to avoid though some professionals manage better than others.

 Draper, 22 December 2001, has a Capricorn Sun and a peculiarly difficult Mutable T square of Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto square Mars in Pisces. Mars Pluto is do-or-die-determined; Saturn Pluto won’t give in; and Mars Saturn is fractious, inclined to blow fuses every so often. He’ll give his all but find losing impossibly difficult.

 John McEnroe, famous for his on-court meltdowns in days gone by at umpires etc, 16 February 1959, 10.30 pm Weisbaden, Germany, has an 8^th house Mars opposition Jupiter square Pluto opposition Sun Mercury. A volcanic temper was hardly surprising given his burning need to stay on top and in control.

 Another young player of the moment French Corentin Moutet, 19 April 1999, Neuilly Sur Seine, is also renowned for his explosive temperament and he has Mars in Scorpio opposition Saturn with an intense Venus opposition Pluto.

  Andy Murray, 15 May 1987, now retired, who also looked less than delighted if he played below his best has Mars opposition Uranus, Moon, Saturn.

 Mars makes for great sportsmen but it can be like holding a tiger by the tail when things go wrong.