Actor William Hurt has died aged 71 of cancer after a glittering career marked with four Oscar nominations for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News and Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Reviewers rave about his nuanced and often dark performances including Body Heat with Katherine Turner. He worked until recently in Marvel movies as well as television dramas like Damages. His image was blighted after Marlee Matlin, his deaf co-star in a Lesser God with whom he had a two year relationship, accused him of drug and physical abuse in the mid 1980s.
He was born 20 March 1950 and had a final degree Pisces Sun opposition Mars square Uranus so he would be explosive and inclined to flare up. He also had his Pluto in an emotionally intense opposition to Venus and a pushy opposition to Jupiter. It’s a more revved up chart than I would have expected, so much of it may have been hidden in houses we don’t know without a birth time.
When his relationship with Marlee Matlin exploded in the mid 1980s his volatile Sun, Mars, Uranus T square had moved to catch tr Pluto conjunct the Solar Arc Mars, which would pump up his aggravation levels; and tr Uranus was square his Solar Arc Venus and Pluto. So his two hair-trigger configurations were being activated. Which isn’t to excuse his behaviour but it pin points where his problems lay.
His actors’ 15th Harmonic is strong as is his 7H which is described as spiritual number, endowed with a different kind of imagination, often artistic skills. A perfectionist and a seeking soul. Can be sceptical, critical, sarcastic, cold, self-centered, attracted to alcohol/ drugs and occultism.
John Bercow, former Speaker of the House of Commons, has been deemed a “serial bully” and a “serial liar” following a two-year investigation into his conduct during his ten-year tenure at Westminster which will see him banned from the parliamentary estate. Last night his wife Sally called the police over a domestic assault. He left the house and has not been charged. Not his best week.
He was born 19 January 1963 in London, the same date as Martin Bashir, the BBC reporter of the infamous Princess Diana Panorama. Both have a late Capricorn Sun which is labouring under a tr Pluto conjunction from now onwards until late 2023. There is also a pushily-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto and Uranus in Virgo; and a hard-edged, short-tempered Saturn in Aquarius opposition Mars in flamboyant Leo square Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio. Slippery and forceful.
Bercow’s wife, Sally, 22 November 1969, has a penchant for catching headlines not always for the right reason and is certainly no shrinking violet. They are married with three children, though nearly split six years ago when she had an affair with his cousin. But they reconciled.
She has a determined and evasive Sun Neptune in Scorpio with a passionate Venus in Scorpio in a not-always-sensitive square to Mars in Aquarius, with her Mars widely square Saturn (Moon) in Taurus. Her Jupiter is trine his square his Sun and her Pluto trine his Sun so there is a strong connection. But her Venus is conjunct his Neptune so he’ll be evasive; and worse her Mars is conjunct his Saturn – so there will be gritty moments of impatience about unfair treatment, probably on both sides. Their relationship chart has Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Sun so it will always have been roller-coaster. There’s also a composite Neptune Mars perhaps square Moon which suggests an ego-clash with neither supportive of their other’s ambitions.
He’s in a very ratchety year even apart from Pluto bearing down on his Sun with his Saturn and Mars/Saturn midpoint being triggered explosively by tr Uranus and tr Saturn hard aspects, now and again from mid May onwards; with more jolts and self-esteem dents through 2023 when tr Uranus squares his Mars. Exactly now tr Saturn is square his Mars which is often a flare-up time when tensions erupt into tantrums. That runs on and off into 2023.
Their relationship chart is sending up red flares in May and on and off into 2023 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Mars and then Neptune; with tr Neptune is an uncertain, undermining conjunction to the composite Saturn all year.
Not their high point, either of them, for sure.
Why these bad behaviour complaints take for ever to reach a conclusion is depressing. The allegations against him have been known about for years.
Tucker Carlson, Fox News host, long a promoter of conspiracy theories favouring Trump and the far right, and recently accused of echoing Russian propaganda about the Ukraine invasion, has garnered favour with Putin. Evidently Moscow has instructed friendly media outlets to use clips of Carlson’s show.
Late last year Carlson’s three-part series on Fox “Patriot Purge”, suggested the January 6 Capitol attack was a government false flag operation to implicate the right wing. Fact-checkers found the series contained numerous falsehoods and conspiracy theories. Two Conservative writers severed their ties to Fox News, declaring that the series was “a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions”. A prominent Fox news anchors later resigned as well.
He was born 16 May 1969 10.07 am San Francisco, with a media business/ambassador father who brought him up after his mother left the family when he was six. In the past he has worked for CNN and MSNBC before moving to Fox in 2009 and rising to become “the most powerful conservative in America” often driving the media agenda. He was pro-Trump, influencing some of his decisions. He’s accused of being racist and sexist, against immigration, protectionist, against foreign interventions, against abortion.
He has a focused, stubborn, uber-confident and stratospherically ambitious New Moon in Taurus opposition Neptune and trine a Jupiter Pluto in Virgo conjunction in his communication 3rd house – journalists often have strong 3rd house emphasis. He’s built to last. He also has a well-organised 10th house Saturn in Taurus; and a good-at-public-relations Venus in Aries on his Midheaven in an enthusiastic trine to Mars in opinionated Sagittarius in his performing 5th house. His Mercury in talkative Gemini is in an argumentative opposition to Mars. It’s quite a chart and he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Tr Pluto is this year crossing his Descendant to move through his 7th for years to come which will make him even more dogmatic and likely to attract hostile resistance. Saturn moving through his 8th for two years ahead, is OK on the career-front but can be under-supported financially and emotionally, so he may end up feeling a touch isolated at points. 2023 he has tr Jupiter across his career 10th which is usually successful and attention-attracting. He also has a confidence-boosting tr Pluto trine his Jupiter this year returning from August across the midterms. But his midpoints are less uplifting with confusion, evasions, disappointments, worsening in 2023 with calamities after mid year. 2024 looks discouraging and his 2025 trapped and infuriated. He’s unlikely to disappear since tr Saturn is rising towards a peak from 2026 for eight years thereafter. But it will be an immensely bumpy ride across tr Uranus conjunct his Sun Moon in 2025/6.
On his astrocartography relocating his chart to Moscow puts his forcefully confident Jupiter Pluto in his 10th, bringing him to prominence. Being in the Putin fan club is a good career move.
He is evidently a good writer and there’s some regret amongst other media types that he’s ended up so far out on the end of the branch.
Boris Johnson’s surreal ability to survive any scandal, egregious failure or semi-criminal act is a wonder to behold. But even Mephistophele’s Faustian pact came with a price tag attached. The devil will demand his due and the fates cut down to mortal size when the time is right. A Sun god he is not.
The next lurches on his personal chart pick up from May 9th to 26th (and again late year) after the council elections when tr Uranus is conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Neptune. One on its own could bring luck, the other not so much. The combination according to Ebertin suggests coming down to earth with a bump and being forced to face the gap between fantasy and reality.
His Term chart has the self-esteem-denting tr Uranus opposition the Mars at the same time which will deliver a shock and often triggers an impulsive, over-reaction.
His Progressed Moon which has been goose-stepping its way round his firecracker, chaotic Mutable T Square since last year causing mayhem and muddle for him, all of which he somehow slid past, has one last collision as it squares his Uranus, exact late June; with his Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Moon, exact in five months but in effect now. The Moon in a politician’s chart often refers to the public and popularity as well as mother/domestic/family concerns. Tr Pluto will square his Moon from late March 2023 on and off till late 2024.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, 29 March 1972, has been making a hash of the Ukrainian refugee crisis but there’s not much showing on her supremely confident Aries Sun opposition Pluto square Jupiter chart. Water off a ducks’ back. Her relationship with Boris will flutter with anxiety now till mid April and is showing signs of a radical shake up from mid May, peaking in July onwards when it is severely challenged.
She has Boris’s Road-Runner ability to smash into the deck and bounce back unscathed, but that will not work so well in 2024/25 when she will labour under mountainous challenges.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, having had a reasonable pandemic until the Covid contract fraud emerged, is now facing a horrendous economic blitz with Covid recovery, plus Brexit, plus plus oil, energy, food prices, inflation. Oddly enough he was born on 12 May 1980, four days after Eugeny Lebedev. He’s sinking in self-esteem and morale from mid May onwards and worse late year and through 2023. The upsets and upheavals in his chart will come in 2023 when tr Uranus is conjunct his Mercury Sun and opposition his Uranus.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Minister, looks most upbeat of the Cabinet through this year and next though I gather he might get the top NATO job. Liz Truss will bounce up marginally August to November.
For a dummies guide to infiltrating the British establishment look no further than Eugeny Lebedev, proud owner of two UK newspapers, who was shoehorned into the House of Lords by Boris Johnson against the advice of the security services. Not that Lebedev is remotely stupid, far from it, but his targets certainly were, bewitched by his billions, his ex-KGB father’s Italian castle, private jets and patronage. They ignored his tweet hinting that MI6 might have poisoned Livtenenko, the defector murdered on British soil, which two inquiries deemed Putin’s responsibility, and his support for Russian action in Syria and Crimea. Though his newspaper has come out recently against the Ukraine invasion.
Eugeny was born 8 May 1980 in Moscow, his father Alexander, a former KGB spy turned billionaire oligarch with investments in occupied Crimea, the National Reserve Bank, which held big stakes in Gazprom, the state oil giant, Aeroflot, the Russian airline, and a military jet manufacturer. Lebedev Sr styled himself a dissident but it was suspected he belonged to a class of oligarchs who had licence from Putin to pose as opponents while actually furthering Russia’s interests in the West. Senior was the original owner of the London Evening Standard and Independent newspapers which his son now runs.
Lebedev junior’s friendship started when Boris became mayor, elected for a second term with the Lebedev media outlet’s support. After that Boris travelled more frequently to the Lebedev Umbrian villa, including during his time as Foreign Secretary when he had oversight of MI6. He even made a trip in April 2018, weeks after the Skripals were poisoned in Salisbury. ‘He did so without his close protection officers. Johnson has never provided an account of the visit, or explained why he went.’ Just 24 hours after winning his landslide general election in December 2019, Boris attended Alexander Lebedev’s 60th birthday party in London.
According to the Sunday Times this was when he pushed hard for Lebedev’s peerage. “One said he had started speaking about it almost immediately after arriving in Downing Street. “He pathologically wanted to get this peerage over the line,” a source said. They added: “It was ‘Lebedev needs a peerage, he needs a peerage’ . . . it was immediate.”
What is wonderfully and alarmingly descriptive is how Lebedev Jnr’s chart fits with the UK’s. He has a Taurus Sun in an uncompromising opposition to Uranus, a power-hungry inconjunct to Pluto and a hard-working trine to Saturn; with a high-energy Mars Jupiter in Virgo.
His Taurus Sun is deeply embedded in the UK 8th house opposition the 2nd house UK financial Neptune and square the UK financial Venus. His controlling Pluto squares the UK 10th house Moon (= the ruling classes). And his super-enthusiastic Mars Jupiter in Virgo opposes the UK’s Pluto. He was custom-built to insert himself in with the great and the good.
His Taurus Sun is also conjunct Boris’s Jupiter and opposition Boris’s careless/over-hopeful Neptune; with Leb Jnr’s Venus in Gemini in a friendly conjunction to Boris’s Sun.
At the moment Eugeny Lebedev looks rattled as tr Uranus moves to conjunct his Sun from the middle of June this year, on and off through a rocky two years ahead as tr Uranus continues next year into 2024 to oppose his Uranus. Late this May he picks up catastrophic Neptune midpoint transits, repeating into 2023; with August to November this year seeing his hopes dissolve into disappointment. His relationship with Boris is also slipping and sliding through this year.
His father Alexander Lebedev, 16 December 1960, is also looking less than thrilled with tr Neptune square his Sagittarius Sun from exactly now on and off into 2023; with a punishing 2023/24 from midpoints.
This is in no way a pointed comment involving Boris Johnson – but given how the Russian mind works, I wonder if down the line some kompromat material might filter out into the open in revenge, given how many high profile UK figures were involved with the oligarchs.
Underlying the trans furore of recent years is a mind control battle over language – what is allowed to be said and what will be obliterated under an avalanche of hostility if it deviates from the proscribed party line.
Pure George Orwell. He says of the Ministry of Truth in 1984 “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” The influence of language on people’s ability to think is one of the book’s most enduring themes as it focuses on the techniques of totalitarianism.
The Trumpian phenomenon of distorting reality and brain-washing true believers into the dictator’s version of ‘the truth’ was where this trend of abusing language became most noticeable. What it led to was a similarly virulent battle-to-the-death between not just opinions but two opposing mindsets, where victory for one means psychic implosion for the other. Ditto the Brexit argument – a complete inability to tolerate the other view.
So much of the transgender firefight is an argument at cross purposes. No sane or sensible person is anything other than sympathetic to people with gender dysphoria, but what appears to be at issue is the use of language. Those who have been hounded out of jobs have made statements about biology which would hardly seem inflammatory except in the present climate.
Maya Forstater, a tax expert and researcher, who lost her job after saying that people cannot change their biological sex won an appeal last year against an employment tribunal. A High Court judge ruled her “gender-critical” beliefs fell under the Equalities Act. The second stage of her claim is ongoing at the moment. She was born 3 July 1973 making her a Sun Cancer square Mars in Aries with her Mercury in Leo trine Mars – she’ll undoubtedly be argumentative and provocative.
Which is remarkably similar to Suzanne Moore, the journalist, who resigned from the Guardian over lack of support on this issue. Born 17 July 1958 she is another Sun Cancer square Mars in Aries opposition Jupiter, with Mercury in Leo trine Mars.
And both are not so far removed from George Orwell himself, 25 June 1903 2.30pm Molihari, India, not that the trans debate features in his writing. He had a Sun Neptune in Cancer square Mars in Libra. His Mercury in Gemini was in an Air Grand Trine to Mars trine Saturn in Aquarius. So language and thinking would be important for him. He also had a rebellious Pluto opposition Uranus square Jupiter.
J.K. Rowling who has also been harried and harassed, 31 July 1965 9.10pm Bristol, is like Orwell a born rebel with her Uranus Pluto conjunction opposition Saturn square Jupiter. If her birth time is accurate she has a determined Mars in the 8th. She’s less of a warrior woman than Suzanne Moore or Maya Forstater, but certainly won’t appreciate being bullied into silence.
See previous posts: November 25 2020 Suzanne Moore. June 8 2020 JK Rowling.
My own particular credo? I’ve never thought of myself as a feminist since I was brought up by a father who was the youngest of a family of three older suffragette sisters and a suffragette mother. It’s so far back in the family I just took it for granted that I would be independent and be treated the same way as men/everyone else. And having done a therapy training which was keen not to slap diagnostic labels on people I would see the purpose of self-development as becoming more yourself. So this obsession with he, she or they jars somewhat. Sex/gender doesn’t define who a person is. Why have we got so hung up on it?
What is a priority is that vulnerable women in prison and domestic violence centres need to be protected. And vulnerable children need to be treated with sensitivity, allowed to develop at their own pace and not be caught up in the fad of the moment.
The last posts brought a discussion which pointed to the fanatical bent of the transgender debate perhaps being triggered by the generation born 1995 to 2003 who are of the Uranus Neptune generation which can lean towards an extremism that is not open to debate.
Maria Prymachenko, Ukraine’s naïve folk-art painter, has become an icon of national identity. Copies of her 1982 painting “A Dove Has Spread Her Wings and Asks for Peace” are now being used in demonstrations as a symbol of hope. Last week a museum housing many of her painting was attacked by Russian forces and although some were rescued it is not known how many.
She was born 12 January 1909 near Chernobyl into a peasant family and was self-taught, developing her artistic talents after she was struck down by polio at an early age, beginning with embroidery. A later operation enabled her to walk unaided and she had a son by a partner who was killed in World War 11 in Finland with a brother being killed by the Nazis. As she became better known for her painting she had exhibitions in Moscow, Warsaw and Paris. Pablo Picasso was struck by her work saying “I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian.” Her work has been featured on postage stamps and her likeness immortalized on commemorative coins. Her son and two grandsons went on to become painters.
She had a Capricorn Sun conjunct Uranus and opposition Neptune – marking her out as unconventional, creative and stamped with the highly-strung generational, can-be-inspired Neptune Uranus. She also had her Pluto in Gemini conjunct the North Node opposition Venus adding to her artistic inclinations and tying her into the momentous events of her time. With a tough Saturn in self-reliant Aries trine Mars and a lucky, confident Jupiter trine Uranus and Sun.
She needed grit to survive a hard life and had the talent to stand out and make the best of what she had.
Her Sun Uranus in Capricorn do fall in the modern Ukraine’s 1st house so she is an important icon of identity. Her Uranus opposition Neptune had come half circle when Ukraine became independent in 1991 with a Uranus Neptune conjunction in Capricorn on what was her Uranus return, six years before her death.
Chechen death squads sent to eliminate President Zelensky were thwarted according to reports after their plans were leaked to the Ukrainians by disaffected FSB spies. Whether or not the stories are true, or a useful Ukrainian dezinformatsiya plant, the destruction of the Chechen elite squads has caused ructions between Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov and the Russians.
Kadyrov is a particularly nasty piece of work, guilty of a wide array of human rights abuses, kidnapping, assassination, and torture of human rights activists, critics, and their relatives so widespread they constitute crimes against humanity; restricts the public lives of women and had led anti-gay purges in the Republic. A Muslim, he has issued a call to others to embrace the war against Ukraine as a religious duty.
Born 5 October 1976, he fought against the Russians in the First Chechen War and switched sides for the Second, being installed afterwards as a pro-Kremlin president and favourite of Putin’s on 5 April 2007 and amassing a huge personal fortune from kickbacks on Chechen oil deals.
None of which matters except to the poor Chechens who disagree with him – but his prospects may well reflect on Putin’s and the progress of the Ukraine war. So it might be illuminating.
His personal chart has a power-hungry Sun Pluto conjunction in Libra sextile Saturn and Neptune – a control-freak and veering towards paranoia. His Mars in late Libra is catching the tr Pluto square through February to the middle of this month which is hugely frustrating, enraging and trapped. It repeats later in the year, December across the New Year and again on and off till late 2023. So a definite no-progress phase. With more sinking disappointment from next week for several months and repeating into 2023, early and late.
His Presidency chart will be rattled and undermined this year and next but maybe not enough to topple him.
Chechnya, 27 October 1991, is in for grinding hardship through 2023/24, and in many ways worse in the few years after, as tr Pluto in Aquarius is conjunct the Saturn and then square the Scorpio Sun and Mars.
He certainly does not look victorious over this year or next.
High-profile oligarch Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK with his assets frozen along with Oleg Deripaska and five others as Liz Truss accused them of having Ukrainian “blood on their hands” because of links to President Putin. Which is laudable, if belated and not a touch hypocritical since Abramovitch for one has been a long established fixture in Britain. He has owned Chelsea Football Club since 2003, as well as a £150 million 15-bedroom mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens and a three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront circa £22 million, as well as part owning a Russian steel manufacturer which may have been “supplying steel to the Russian military. He and Deripaska succeeded in embedding themselves into London’s political, financial and social establishment, enabled by a tranche of UK bankers, lawyers and spin doctors keen to help them launder their reputations as well as their fortunes.
The Times remarks: “There is no question that all these men have close links to, and indeed owe their fortunes to, the Kremlin and their relationship with President Putin. That they have been able to continue to enjoy and even grow their fortunes in Britain, with all the protections available in this country that Russia is seeking to deny the people of Ukraine, has rightly provoked considerable anger. In Mr Abramovich’s case the abuse of those protections included hiring expensive lawyers to intimidate journalists who dared to pry into his dealings.”
The blowback from Putin’s attack has also hastened a long-awaited Economic Crime Bill intent on introducing much-needed transparency into the ownership of British property and English-registered companies.
Pluto in Capricorn finally sweeping out some financial muck.
Abramovitch, 24 October 1966, is a Sun Scorpio conjunct Venus in a lucky square to Jupiter in Leo, with Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn, sextile/trine Neptune Mercury in Scorpio – charming, determined, slippery. Tr Neptune is in a highly-strung opposition to his Uranus exactly now and in an uncertain, panicky conjunction to his Saturn from the middle of this month on for a few weeks – and both these influences run into 2023. He also has tr Pluto making a pressured square to his Venus and then Sun between 2022 to 2024, which will change his life out of all recognition. He has some ups ahead as well as downs – these guys didn’t get to where they are by being unresourceful – and he’s no doubt tucked some goodies away somewhere for a rainy day.
Oleg Deripaska, an aluminium, steel making and mining investor, 2 January 1968, is a Sun Mercury in Capricorn square a self-reliant Saturn in Aries and in a lucky trine to Jupiter. He has a Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars in determined Aquarius, so no slouch when it comes to exerting his will. His chart looks more rattled than Abramovitch’s ahead – though both are without birth times so Abramovitch could be in worse shape than he appears. Deripaska looks flattened, devastated and knocked totally sideways in 2023/24.
Alisher Usmanov, 9 September 1953, metal, mining and investments, has been sanctioned by the EU and USA. He’s a Sun Virgo, with Saturn Neptune in Libra square Uranus, and trine Jupiter, sextile Mars Pluto – ruthless, lucky, never gives up. He’s sagging badly this year but like Deripaska looks in more trouble by 2023/24.
Igor Sechin, 7 September 1960, chairman of the Russian state oil company Rosneft, is a Sun Pluto in Virgo with an unbudgeable Pluto trine Saturn sextile Neptune; and a risk-taking, opportunistic Jupiter opposition Mars in Gemini square Mercury. His morale and confidence are on a fast downhill slide this year with tr Neptune square his Mars and Jupiter as his fortune freezes. He’ll be in a ferocious battle with insurmountable obstacles in 2023 to 2026, which he’ll attack with vigour but progress will be spasmodic.
Andrey Kostin, chairman of VTB state owned bank, 21 September 1956, has been under sanction by the US since 2018 and now the UK. He’s yet another Virgo with an unyielding, tough Pluto square Saturn in Scorpio and an opportunistic Mars opposition Jupiter. Devastated and depressed in 2022/23 with his life turned upside down in 2023/24.
Summarising – clearly undermined this year but the major debacles for most occur in 2023 or 2024. Which would fit with Putin toppling over then.
