Peter Brookes is just the best cartoonist – adore this.
A young Canadian-born British tennis player is catching the public imagination with an unexpected showing in the US Open, as she sailed exuberantly through to the semi-finals, to become the UK’s No 1 and the first UK woman in the semis since 1983.
Only 18, she excelled in her A-level exams recently and was so sure she wouldn’t get through the qualifying rounds she booked an early flight home and her parents did not come across to see her.
She was born 13 November 2002 in Toronto to a Romanian father and Chinese mother, came to London when she was two, started playing tennis at five and turned professional when she was 16.
She has an adventurous and flamboyant Jupiter in Leo opposition Uranus squaring onto a Scorpio Sun Mercury – so overflowing with confidence and determination. Her Jupiter is trine Pluto which is in a wide opposition to her Saturn – so enthusiastic and dogged. She also has three planets in Air signs Mars in Libra, Neptune and Uranus in Aquarius and Saturn in Gemini, so will be quick-witted and a good learner. Her Moon is in Pisces.
Her Solar Return for this year had a super-successful Jupiter Pluto sextile Neptune and sextile Sun. Though she’s also had a run of confusing Neptune transits to midpoints.
Her get-it-together 5th harmonic also has a Jupiter Pluto connection onto disciplined Saturn and a feisty, publicity-attracting Mars Uranus Neptune.
The UK money fountain is also feeding the prodigiously expensive HS2 (high speed 2) train line envisaged as ‘one of the most demanding and exciting transport projects in Europe’ linking up London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. It is due to be completed by 2040, but is already behind schedule and over-budget heading northwards of £100 billion.
Cheer leaders say it will improve transport times, create jobs and by moving freight by train rather than on the roads will help cut carbon emissions. Critics worry about whether it is affordable and about the impact on the countryside. High Speed 1, the channel tunnel link was opened in 2003 and the long decision and consultation process for HS2 started in 2009 under a Labour Government. It was given the green light by the Tory-Liberal coalition and got the construction go-ahead from Boris Johnson last year.
HS2 Ltd, the over-seeing government company, was incorporated on 14 January 2009; and the HS2 Act for Phase One London-to-Midlands was given the assent on 23 February 2017.
The HS2 company chart does have a workmanlike, practical Capricorn Sun trine Saturn in Virgo. And a dogged Saturn trine Mars as well. Though the erratic, see-saw Saturn opposition Uranus will bring tensions. There’s nothing much of note after this year passes and tr Pluto and tr Neptune move on to later degrees. 2024/25 will be go-ahead with tr Pluto square the Jupiter with a definitely upbeat Solar Arc Mars conjunct Jupiter in 2027. Though that is followed by setbacks in 2030 and considerable problems in 2031.
The Act 2017 chart is less upbeat with a vague, dithery Sun Neptune in Pisces; though admittedly that is offset by a super-confident – and crisis-prone – Jupiter opposition Uranus Mars in Aries square Pluto. 2023 looks undermined, uncertain and swampy with tr Neptune square the Saturn and Solar Arc Sun conjunct Neptune. But there’s no much beyond that of note.
Jean Paul Belmondo, an icon of the French cinema who shot to international fame in Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary new wave classic Breathless, has died. He was frequently compared to Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando and James Dean, playing tough, unsentimental, antisocial characters. After he became known he starred in Peter Brook’s adaptation of Moderato Cantabile and played in Vittorio De Sica’s Two Women opposite Sophia Loren, but much preferred French cinema and theatre.
He was born 9 April 1933 9am Neuilly Sur Seine, France with an Algerian-born sculptor father of Italian origin and has a fairly haphazard chart which only comes together in his 15th harmonic, most associated with actors. He did badly at school, dallied with a boxing career but really only found his feet when he turned to acting.
He did have a rebellious Aries Sun, Venus, Uranus square Pluto so was never destined for a conventional life. The main astro-interest in his chart is his exuberant and attention-attracting, and hard-working Mars, Neptune and Jupiter in Virgo which was around from late November 1932 till July 1933 which produced a considerable number of names – Yoko Ono, Kim Novak, Nina Simone, James Brown, Carol Burnett, Ruth Ginsburg, Quincy Jones, Philip Roth, Michael Caine, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jayne Mansfield, Willie Nelson, Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers, Joan Collins. That plus the determined-to-be-different Uranus Pluto would make them stand out.
Belmondo’s 15H is heavily aspected with a Grand Trine tying together Mars, Uranus and Pluto with Mars opposition Sun squaring onto the North Node. His connection with the zeitgeist is flagged up by the Node and the Mars, Uranus, Pluto is wayward, tough and sometimes violent in the roles he played. There is also another T square of Saturn Moon Jupiter.
Without acting he’d have had a directionless life.
Astrologers search for patterns in seemingly random events to offer partial reassurance that life is not all a swirling meaningless chaos. It can be a delicate task distinguishing between coincidental clusters of events and a genuine connectedness. And distinguishing between what is an individual reaction and what is going on out in the collective.
There do seem to be more cancer deaths from celebrities in the news at the moment – and no doubt more who never catch a mention. And many people I know appear to be weighed down in their personal lives by multiple problems, which vary according to their particular life’s pattern – ie. some have health issues, others have domestic woes etc etc.
The tr Saturn square tr Uranus while hinting at tensions and irritability and producing situations which require endurance, doesn’t feel like the main culprit.
The only astro-thought I have is that Mars opposition Pluto dominated the recent June Solar and late May Lunar Eclipses. There was also a formidable Mars square Pluto Saturn Jupiter in the Capricorn Ingress which ushered in 2021. Depending which of the Cardinal Ingresses is used and opinions vary – the Aries and recent Cancer Ingress also have afflicted Mars, especially the late June one with Mars opposition Saturn square Uranus opposition Moon.
Eclipses and Ingresses are both thought to stay in effect for months afterwards. And the principal Ingress for the year ahead.
Mars is assertive, says ‘I want’, ‘I will do’ and likes to make fast progress, sweeping obstacles aside. When Mars is blocked by Saturn there are accidents, setbacks, irritating blockages and delays. Blocked by Pluto it tends to bring up intense frustrations and what I think of as spider web situation. No matter which way you turn you are trapped and end up feeling you have no choices. Mars Pluto is also destructive, ruthless, brutal so can accompany major natural or man-made disasters and the kind of fear-inducing savagery seen in Afghanistan.
The upcoming Ingresses in October in Libra and December in Capricorn are easier in terms of Mars afflictions and the December Solar Eclipse, supposedly a joyful one, has only a Mars sextile Pluto which will be easier.
Great things are expected of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow kicking off on October 31st this year in the aftermath of increasingly violent weather swings worldwide. How many of the lofty promises will end up being actioned is questionable but the pressure is certainly on. One of the pledges of the 2016 Paris agreement is that signed-up countries will ratchet up their commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. Trump (in)famously withdrew and Biden signed back up again.
It will be a noisy conference this November since it starts with a Sun Mars conjunction in Scorpio opposition Uranus square Saturn. It finishes on November 12th by which time tr Mars has closed the square to Saturn to exact which is bad-tempered and then closed the conjunction to the Sun on the final day. Tensions will run high; with intense debate from Mercury square Pluto as well. Mercury is also in an upbeat trine to Jupiter and an evasive/muddled inconjunct to Neptune so it won’t be easy to hold to a steady focus.
The Paris Agreement was signed April 22 2016 which has a revolutionary/reforming Pluto square Uranus. But it also has an over-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune square a discouraging and setback-prone Mars Saturn conjunction. 2023 looks like a year when progress may grind to a halt or some other significant complication arises when the Solar Arc Mars is exactly conjunct the Saturn.
‘Prince Charles For Sale Furore’ is not a headline that the Queen or Royal Family need at the moment. His close aide Michael Fawcett has been accused of using his influence to help secure an honour for a major donor, who gave large sums to restoration projects of particular interest to Prince Charles. He has temporarily stepped down from his role as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, an umbrella group for a number of Prince Charles’ charitable interests.
Fawcett, once dubbed Rasputin by other Royal staff, was dismissed years ago for bullying, retrieved and then let go again after allegations about the sale of presents given to Prince Charles, though there is a suggestion it was with Charles’ agreement. Since then he has remained technically outside the fold but taken over as Charles’ event organiser. He started in the Royal household at 17 and married a Royal housemaid.
He was born 6 November 1962 (Companies House) and is a Sun Scorpio like Charles with his Sun conjunct Neptune and square Mars in flamboyant Leo in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn – quite a tricky temperament, creative and slippery, as well as ultra-determined. He also has Mercury at one end of Scorpio and Venus at the other.
Fawcett’s Venus is conjunct Charles’ Sun so it is a friendly connection and all his Scorpio planets fall in Charles’ domestic and foundation 4th house so he will be an important individual for the Royal stability. Fawcett’s Mars falls in Charles’ 1st trine his Midheaven giving him an energy and courage boost; though conjunct Charles’ Pluto will require diplomatic handling.
Their relationship chart has a business-like composite Sun Saturn conjunction. More significantly there is a composite Jupiter opposition Uranus square Neptune, Mercury, Venus. Uranus Jupiter in a relationship chart suggests an adventuring duo but can also indicate a tendency to egg each other on into taking unwise risks. A highlighted Neptune is not realistic or practical and can also be either deceitful or disappointed, either together or as individuals. The relationship is moving into two years of confusion, maybe even devastation, with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune from early 2022 to late 2023 and then through a testing three years with tr Pluto upending the composite Uranus and squaring the Mercury and Venus.
Fawcett’s personal chart is moving through a highly-strung, challenging and upsetting year with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn colliding with his Sun Neptune and Mars – so he will emerge shaken at the far end into early 2022. And then he moves into more problems with a dead-halt Solar Arc Pluto square his Mars in 2022 and a calamitous conjunction to his Sun Neptune in 2023.
Prince William looks none too keen on Fawcett; and the Queen is discontented with Charles as tr Neptune moves to square their composite Moon now. Their differing-agendas composite Sun square Uranus is also being shaken about this year by tr Uranus square tr Saturn into early 2022.
Prince Charles’ chart is flagging up a financial crisis at the moment with his Solar Arc Mars within minutes of a degree in a major-setback opposition to his 2nd house Saturn. His Solar Arc Pluto is also opposition his career-directed 10th house Moon for a sense of paralysis which will also involve the effects of his father’s death. His enthusiasm will be dented in 2023 by his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Uranus at the same time as he has a career-changing Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Uranus; with a discouraging, overworked Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Sun in 2024.
Charles really does himself no favours – with his long standing penchant for questionable billionaires; and his obsession for restoring a glorious past in Dumfries House, which has cost many millions and the renovation was only funded because of wealthy donors. Preserving heritage is one thing but he has been accused of ploughing money and energy into a vanity project.
Charley Ross was the first American child kidnap victim held for ransom to receive widespread media coverage in 1874. He was never seen again after he disappeared aged 4 with two men and his prosperous-looking but debt-ridden family went to the police.
What is intriguing, looking over after high-profile kidnap victims, though it may be just coincidence, is the recurring presence of Taurus. Charley Ross born 4 May 1870 had a Sun Pluto conjunction in mid Taurus with Mars and Jupiter also in Taurus.
Charles Lindbergh 111, born 22 June 1930, who was kidnapped when he was two and found dead later, had his Mars in mid Taurus with the Moon also in the same sign and his North Node.
Madeleine McCann, born 12 May 2003 who disappeared as a four year old and has never been found, has her Sun and Mercury in Taurus as well as her North Node.
Two other headlined victims Marion Parker, 11 October 1915, and Bobby Greenlease, 3 February 1947, had multiple midpoints in Taurus.
No idea why Taurus should recur. Charley Ross was kidnapped with tr Neptune was just dipping a toe into Taurus at zero degrees with the tr North Node also in Taurus. When Madeleine McCann disappeared tr Sun Mercury were in mid Taurus.
Three of the five had natal or transiting Sun Saturn hard aspects or Sun Pluto, or both.
Not much conclusive to be drawn except the oddly recurring patterns.
‘Live in the midst of difficulties as if they did not exist’ is a laudable I Ching goal for a keep-calm-and-carry-on tranquillity but hardly helpful as government strategy in the face of mounting problems. Empty supermarket shelves, the result of a mixed Brexit and pingdemic effect, are alarming shoppers and likely to worsen towards Christmas.
The Road Haulage Association say there is a shortage of 100,000 drivers, including 25,000 EU truckers who returned home after Brexit. There are also logistical chokepoints between borders. This often results in spoilt goods and Tesco estimates 48 tonnes of food is being wasted each week.
In addition there are labour shortages across the UK’s farm-to-fork food and drink supply chain as thousands of seasonal EU workers have not arrived in the UK this year, as Brexit bureaucracy begins to bite. Vacancies, such as fruit-pickers, factory workers and hospitality staff are not being filled by local candidates.
A sharp fall in exports to the EU of around £2 billion is also a concern with sales of beef and cheese hit hardest, not compensated by an increase in sales to non-EU countries.
There’s not much to add to previous posts on the UK economy ahead (see below) except to puzzle why there is so little backlash against Boris Johnson. His approval ratings are certainly falling but there’s nothing to suggest he’ll be toppled any time soon despite leading a shambolic government, with clearly incompetent ministers and no effective plan ahead.
Like Trump, one can only surmise he has been dropped in by the fate daemons to prod the UK down the path it was destined to go – an end-of-era wrecking ball.
His Cancer Midheaven is conjunct the UK Midheaven which does suggest a degree of correlation in ambitions or direction; with his overly enthusiastic, delusional, self-justifying Neptune opposition Jupiter hooking in to the UK’s 2nd house Neptune and other Fixed planets – allowing him to sell a dream that is turning into a delusion.
Though what flags up in the Boris/UK relationship chart is a composite Mars opposition Neptune which indicates divergent aims. One wins, the other loses. He does not have the UK’s interests at heart. There will be a gradual sense of disappointment in the country with his leadership with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter through till early 2023. But no real sign of a sudden separation.
This is reflected on the Term chart with the Solar Arc Saturn now on the same degree as the Venus, though not exact for six months, which in politics usually represents unpopularity; with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the 12th house Pluto in nine months, which will produce a deadlock. This is around the time that tr Uranus will start to create high insecurity as it opposes the Term Mars in Scorpio and on Boris’s personal chart collides with his Jupiter opposition Neptune.
Be careful what you vote for – Brexit was never going to open the gates to Camelot in the foreseeable future.
Add On September 6 2021
The Conservative Party chart, 10 May 1912, which worked OK during Theresa May’s meltdown is showing the Spring 2023 as a crisis point. There will be sinking moments and disappointments before then; as well as major calamities flagging up right now till mid October and again mid January to mid February 2022. 2022 looks nerve stretched and seriously jangled with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Sun. But 2023 is the significant juncture when it could be derailed when tr Uranus is conjunct the Taurus Sun, followed by tr Uranus conjunct the Saturn at the same time as tr Neptune in an undermining square to Pluto’s power point.
Boris’s relationship with the Tory Party is sagging badly from May 2022 onwards with tr Neptune square the composite Mars; and then into a disruptive phase from May 2023 with tr Uranus in hard aspect to the composite Mercury opposition Uranus.
So if that is the next election – the Tories are not happy.
Apologies for not mentioning Labour but I don’t find either of their charts helpful 1900 or 1906. They don’t even show Tony Blair’s 1997 resounding victory which makes me think they are not illuminating.
PREVIOUS POSTS:
UK ECONOMY JULY 24 2021
The latest UK economic figures are uncomfortable in fiscal terms but do back up the astrology, which in a perverse way is reassuring. Statistics up at stratospheric levels tend not to mean much but the gross debt is £2.2 trillion as of December 2020, equivalent to 104.5 per cent of GDP and 13.7 per cent above the average across EU states. UK indebtedness as a proportion of GDP is two-and a half times higher than at the height of the 2008 crash and UK government debt is now at a rate not seen since the early 1960s. The UK’s national debt has grown far faster than its European neighbours, with the 2008 crisis hitting the UK harder than elsewhere.
In 2020 ‘the UK recorded the fourth-largest rise in government borrowing among 35 large economies last year, after experiencing one of the worst recessions in the group and suffering among the highest coronavirus infection rates.’
Taxpayers will be liable for the cost of the government’s pandemic measures circa £372bn in May, with billions likely on bad loans, as well as eye-watering amounts thrown at PPE, substantial amounts of which are useless, not arrived or not unpacked.
What was always a concern was tr Uranus moving into the UK’s financial 8th house from 2019 onwards till circa 2027 which is normally erratic and unpredictable in terms of economic and trade stability. What makes it more complicated for the UK is the 8th house Mars in Taurus opposition Neptune in the personal financial 2nd house square Venus in Aquarius in the speculative 5th opposition Saturn in the 11th. So all the financial houses are due for a Uranus shake-up, jolting and jangling from this year for the next four or five.
Tr Uranus is conjunct the Mars this year into early 2022; and then moves to square the Venus and opposes the Neptune in 2022 into 2023. There also a road-blocked Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun late 2022/early 2023; with a disruptive Solar Arc Saturn opposition Uranus in 2023; and more financial disruptions of a major order in 2024/25 with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the UK 8th house Mars.
2023 with tr Uranus square the Saturn could also see radical changes to the legislature in Parliament as well as sudden changes of future direction.
The Bank of England chart, 27 July 1694 JC, points to 2023 to 2026 as the fraught, high-risk and nerve-stretching years. A gloss may be thrown over harsh realities initially in 2023 with Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct the financial Venus. But what follows won’t be disguisable. Tr Pluto is in a trapped, frustrating, scary square to the BofE Mars in 2023/2024 (the first Pluto hard aspect since 2008), along with a discouraging, deprived, dead-halt Solar Arc Pluto opposition Saturn also in 2023. Then the Saturn Neptune conjunction in Aries of 2025/26 opposes the Mars which won’t be fun either; having been square the Saturn the year before.
What will help reboot morale on the UK chart is tr Pluto square the Jupiter and trine Uranus in 2024/2025. At that point green shoots will appear.
Post : UK FINANCES 1976 PARALLELS MAY 14 2020
Cataclysmic descriptions about the economic damage caused by the virus lockdown are difficult to gauge since no one knows whether it’ll be a V-shaped dip with quick recovery or an L-shaped slog. The more dramatic couch it in terms of a historic first in direness. Though parallels are being drawn with the 1976 humiliation for the UK when it was forced to go cap in hand to the IMF for a loan. PM James Callaghan said: “We used to think you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour, that option no longer exists.” What followed was a reduction in government spending, tax increases and rises in interest rates. The economy did recover and it was paid back within three years but it ultimately paved the way for Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 victory.
The IMF Bailout came in December 1976 when tr Uranus was in early Scorpio and squaring Saturn in Leo, in the months running in and after. Tr Uranus in hard aspect to tr Saturn is traditionally associated with economic recessions and another such turns up in 2021 with tr Uranus half a cycle on in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius.
On the UK chart around the time of the bailout tr Uranus was poised to oppose the 8th house financial Mars by January 1977 with tr Saturn in square. This time round tr Uranus will conjunct that UK Mars with tr Saturn in square in 2021 – so very similar. The Solar Arcs were marginally more damaging in 1976/77 with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the financial Venus with tr Saturn in opposition to the UK Venus; and tr Uranus square the Solar Arc Venus.
But it’ll still be a very rocky ride ahead economically for the UK with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the financial planets badly in 2021 with more disappointment by 2023 with the Solar Arc Sun square the 2nd house Venus; and more shocks in 2025 when the Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct the Mars. Tr Uranus doesn’t clear the 8th house of international trade till 2027 so it’ll be a bumpy ride ahead.
The Bank of England chart, 27 July 1694 JC, with its natal Sun Jupiter in Leo and Solar Arc Uranus in Taurus will catch the tr Saturn square tr Uranus next year for high-stress challenges. With 2023/2024/25 keying up as high-anxiety phases as well.
An IMF bailout hardly seems likely since they haven’t the money to prop up the world, but similar cutbacks and shocks look unavoidable.
Fifty years on ABBA, the Swedish pop group, who topped the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1983, are back together for their first studio album in 40 years to be released in November. A tour featuring virtual avatars will take place in 2022. They got together in 1972 as Pluto was shifting into Libra and Neptune was just into Sagittarius so harbingers of a new age in pop music, hitting it big with “Waterloo” in the 1974 Eurovision contest. They ultimately disbanded, after relationship splits and the stress of success, to go their separate ways. Though their compilation album released a decade after they gave up became a worldwide bestseller. The successful musical Mamma Mia! and subsequent movie were smash hits.
They are vastly different personalities – a Taurus Sun initially hitched with an Aries and a Scorpio with a Sagittarius.
The only theme running through three of the charts is Jupiter Venus conjunct for Benny Andersson in Scorpio, in Aquarius for Agnetha; and inconjunct for Bjorn. Venus Jupiter tends to the frivolous and superficial.
Both composite charts for the engaged/married couple have strong Uranus aspects so would not survive the hothouse 24/7 touring and success schedules.
Benny Andersson admitted to being alcoholic most of his life – he’s a Sun and Mars in Sagittarius opposition Uranus; with Saturn Pluto in Leo trine Mercury sextile Neptune.
Agnetha, an Aries opposition Neptune, has suffered from various panic disorders including fear of flying, heights and fear of crowds.
Bjorn, a Sun Taurus with Jupiter in Virgo opposition Mars in Pisces and Neptune square Saturn, is a humanist and cash-free campaigner.
Anni-Frid, a serious Sun Scorpio trine Saturn, ultimately married into minor Royalty and became a princess.
Not that any of them will be dependent on the success of this album but none look exactly exuberant ahead. Benny has tr Neptune square his Sun this year and next and then his Mars till mid decade.
Bjorn has tr Neptune square his Jupiter/Mars midpoint this year and conjunct his Mars in 2022/23 which is equally lacklustre. Agnetha also has tr Neptune opposition her Mars in a couple of year; and Anni-Frid has a frustrating trapped tr Pluto square her Mars in 2023/24. Which may all be for individual reasons.
