Boyan Slat, a young Dutch inventor and engineer, has been on mission since his early teens to rid the world’s oceans of floating plastic. The idea came to him at the age of 16 when diving in Greece. “I saw more plastic bags than fish,” he says. And he set to at school devising a system and finding sponsors. “I don’t understand why ‘obsessive’ has a negative connotation, I’m an obsessive and I like it. I get an idea and I stick to it.”
Over the last 30 to 40 years, millions of tonnes of plastic have entered the oceans. Global production of plastic now stands at 288 million tonnes per year, of which 10% ends up in the ocean in time. 80% comes from land-based sources from drains and rivers. The plastic is carried by currents and congregates in five revolving water systems, the most infamous being the huge Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California.
Born 27 July 1994 in Delft, he became interested in engineering from a very young age, building tree houses, then zip-wires, then rocketry. While studying aerospace engineering at Delft University, he set up a foundation, The Ocean Cleanup on a budget of 200 euros (£160) of saved-up pocket money. It took a while to find sponsors and start testing with not all of the early attempts working. But he is persevering in the face of sceptics and critics.
What is intriguing about his chart is the Uranus Neptune conjunction in Capricorn opposition Mercury. Uranus Neptune can be nerve-stretched, highly strung and fanatical, but it also can have a ‘eureka’ ability to spot inspired solutions. His Mercury is also in a tenacious trine to Pluto and a sensible trine to Saturn. His Mars in high-wire, can-be-scattered Gemini is on the focal point of a T Square to Saturn opposition Venus in Virgo, so he’s not short of courage though can be disorganized. And he has a Leo Sun in a confident, lucky square to Jupiter.
His Harmonics are also instructive – with a breakthrough genius 13H marked; as well as leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H; and a get-it-together 5H.
That 1990s generation are certainly making their mark with unconventional solutions and ideas.
Pakistan wasn’t prospering under the governing prowess of Imran Kahn, the former cricketer, but now that he has been ousted in a No Confidence vote, he’s been replaced by one of the old Sharif dynasty. The new PM Shehbaz Sharif, brother of the former three-times PM Nawaz Sharif, (undone by the Pandora Papers offshore scandal), has been accused of corruption in the past but never found guilty in court.
With less charisma than the former PM he is known as an administrator and is likely to heal rifts with the USA. Khan made himself unpopular by being pro-Putin and pro-Taliban and accused the USA of meddling though it was his economic mismanagement which was his undoing. Pakistan now faces one of Asia’s worst cost of living crises, with annual inflation on a basket of key goods last week hitting 15 per cent. Although he did deliver some of what he promised, issuing cards that allowed many Pakistanis to obtain health insurance for the first time. Crucially he also fell out with the all-powerful military whose support helped him into government.
Khan has signalled he will not go quietly and could continue to be a political disrupter, tapping into anti-American sentiment and voter unease about the return of the Sharif dynasty.
The Pakistan country chart, 14 August 1947 9.30 am Karachi, was always going to be moving through a stormy, fast-changing few years starting mid 2021 with tr Uranus (and tr Saturn) tugging on the Pluto Saturn and Venus conjunction in Leo. That is jolting and jangling through this year till early 2023, after which tr Uranus will square the Sun for more forced changes. This year as well from late May onwards the tr Neptune square the Pakistan Uranus will create a highly-strung, edgy and perhaps fanatical mood – also extending through till late 2023.
The Pakistan Jupiter in Scorpio may produce a few strokes of luck from July onwards but on the whole the road ahead looks no more upbeat than any other country for several years. Tr Neptune will square the Gemini Midheaven by 2024 for confusion about what comes next and the tr Saturn Neptune in Aries will square the Mars by 2025 which will bring setbacks, a sense of failure and continuing indecision about direction.
That coincides on Shebaz Sharif’s personal chart, 23 September 1951 12.30pm Lahore, with tr Neptune opposition his Virgo Sun in 2024. So he won’t be able to overcome whatever pressures are facing the country, exacerbated no doubt by the Ukraine invasion and food shortages to follow. He looks upbeat enough in 2022/23 with a few disappointments and losses sprinkled around this year and a few calamities in 2023. But it is 2024/25 and beyond which look out of his control. He has three planets in Virgo with a ruthless Mars Pluto in Leo and a reforming (and destabilizing) Uranus on the focal point of a T Square to Neptune opposition Jupiter.
The Bank of Pakistan chart also, 1 July 1948, hints at ructions this year and next, and increasing anxiety and disappointment in 2023 through 2024.
Sharif’s Term chart, 11 April 2022 9.12pm, Islamabad, isn’t too illuminating though an accident-prone, impatient Mars Saturn in the 3rd and a controlling Sun square Pluto in the 3rd might point to transport and communication problems looming large.
Three weeks of squalid muck-raking is promised for the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard $50 million defamation trial. He has already lost one UK libel trial before a judge and this is his second go in front of a Virginia jury with the intention of showing ex-wife Amber Heard’s lurid tales of domestic violence at his hands were to further her career and ruin his. She is counter-suing for $100 million for being called a perjuror and a hoax artist.
There are fans on the court-room steps cheering for their hero/ine with the stars dressed for a red carpet performance in sharp contrast to the grubby reality of their short, drug-ridden and degenerate marriage. Legal experts doubt his ability to prove his innocence but celebrity warps everything. His Dior adverts increased in popularity after the last airing of very dirty linen.
Jan Moir in the Mail described them as “a pair of scorpions, locked in a dance of death, repeatedly injecting each other with venom” which may be unfair to one or the other but certainly seems to fit.
He was born 9 June 1963 8.44am Owensboro, KY, and is a Sun Gemini trine Saturn in the 7th (= partners bring hard work); with a volcanic Uranus, Mars, Pluto in Virgo. His Capricorn Moon squares Jupiter.
Amber Heard, 22 April 1986, no birth time, Texas, is a super-stubborn and controlling Sun Taurus opposition Pluto, trine a showbizzy and assertive Neptune Mars in Capricorn. And she may have a T Square of a Libra Moon opposition an argumentative Mercury in Aries square Mars Neptune.
Neither of them are exactly easy-going personalities and what is significant is that both have their Venus in Taurus conjunct the destructive Fixed Star Algol – and in their relationship chart the composite Sun is also conjunct Venus and Algol – so the writhing serpent-headed goddess rules their match.
Their relationship chart is riddled with oppositions – Sun Venus opposition Moon, an argumentative and explosive Mercury opposition Mars and Uranus; Neptune opposition North Node, and a wide tussle-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter opposition Pluto. Plus a chained-together and resenting it Saturn square Pluto.
It’s not a particularly brutal chart though certainly high-tension with a tendency for arguments to flare up. The wedding chart of February 3 2015 is also not altogether suggestive of outright violence though did point to an unstable, crisis-ridden combo with overtones of aggression.
The Lunar Eclipse in late Scorpio in mid May will cause maximum emotional upset to both as it collides with their respective Venus in Taurus – and will be in effect earlier. Usually this kind of Eclipse connection brings feelings of being unloveable and a hint that being tolerant and compromising will be necessary. It was also around late last November – so clearly the message didn’t get across.
The late October Solar Eclipse in Scorpio will rattle Amber’s Sun and Pluto prompting the need for life-changing decisions. And it also opposes Depp’s Mideaven which could bring far-reaching career implications, knocking him off track.
Her Sun opposition Pluto is fairly key to the Depp debacle since her Sun falls within a degree conjunct his Midheaven and her Pluto on his IC. She’d be attracted to his career/status. Well-aspected in synastry, one person’s Sun on the other’s MC can be helpful in career terms. But if it goes wrong, there is a rivalry for power and importance.
Her Pluto on his IC would make her controlling in the domestic environment and she would have a subconscious effect on his deeply-rooted psychological compulsions; and be resented for her attempts to intrude and be in charge.
Neither of them look too happy through this year. She has calamitous transits to her Mars/Saturn midpoint from May 20th onwards, on and off into 2023; with losses August to November this year.
He’s also facing dashed hopes exactly now and on and off till late 2023; upsets across mid May; plus disappointment mid September onwards.
Their relationship chart indicates rancour will drag on if anything ramping up in 2023/2024 and beyond with tr Pluto square the composite Mercury and then opposition the Mars. Though 2024 may blow it all out of the water as tr Uranus is in a separating conjunction to the composite Sun Venus, giving us all blessed peace.
I’m tempted to say they should both take responsibility for their choices in marrying each other and just bury the hatchet. But there again, if a smidgeon of what she alleges is true there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to say so. All a murky swamp.
Jon Batiste, singer, songwriter, bandleader from an astonishingly wide and talented New Orleans musical family was nominated for 11 Grammy’s and won five including the prestigious Album of the Year. This follows on from the Academy Award plus plus which he won for co-composing the score to the Pixar Soul movie.
Born 11 November 1986 in Louisiana into the Batiste family which includes twenty-five or more musicians, he has a determined Sun Mercury in Scorpio square Mars in Aquarius as well as a charming Venus Pluto in Scorpio in a confident trine to Jupiter in Pisces, sextile Neptune. He first played drums at eight years old in the family group, the Batiste Brothers Band, before switching to piano. He’s a fixture as bandleader on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, has composed a Carnegie Hall symphony and organized “social music” protests about the deaths of black Americans at the hands of the police in the hope of sparking genuine political change.
His Grammy’s success was bittersweet since it came as his wife Suleika Jaouad, who wrote a cancer memoir, learnt that her leukaemia had returned and she underwent a bone marrow transplant.
He’s a nephew of the great Harold Batiste another quadruple Scorpio from 1931, who spent fifteen years with Sonny and Cher in LA.
His wife Suleika, 5 July 1988, New York is a Sun Cancer opposition Neptune, trine Pluto with a Pisces/Aries Moon; and a musical Mars in Pisces square Mercury opposition Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius.
Tr Pluto is trine her Jupiter in Taurus through this year so cross fingers the bone marrow transplant brings a remission.
Russian forces are withdrawing from around Kiev after a campaign bedevilled by logistical and military blunders, significant troop and equipment losses and low morale. The focus will now be to seize and subdue the two eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, already partly controlled by pro-Russia separatists. The newly appointed sole commander will be General Alexander Dvornikov, known for the brutality of his bombardments on civilian targets in Syria.
Born 22 August 1961 Ussurijsk, Russia, he’s descried as an “old school” general and a “blood and soil nationalist”, trained in Soviet military doctrines that view obliterating civilian targets such as hospitals as a means of gaining battlefield momentum. A Sun, North Node and Uranus in Leo he is no shrinking violet, especially with a ‘leadership’ Leo Node. He also has Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn opposition Venus in Cancer.
[Two thoughts –Jupiter Saturn conjunctions in earth signs at their worst can produce unpleasant types. Secondly there are a surprising number of military leaders who have risen up through a system that demands obedience who have strong rebellious Sun Uranus aspects.]
He’s looking pleased exactly now over his appointment and will have significant success in July to mid October this year, alongside a few losses and snarl ups. Tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter from March this year, on and off till late 2023 looks disconcertingly triumphant and confident. Once those are over, 2024 looks confused and devastating, with 2025 worse so his run of luck will give out – eventually.
President Zelensky’s Saturn in Leo are conjunct Dvornikov’s Sun, Node, Uranus so it will be, not surprisingly a significant clash of personalities and agendas. Their relationship chart has a fated Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Venus which will be under severe stress and produce intense emotional reactions with tr Pluto square the focal point Venus in 2022/23; and tr Neptune and tr Uranus tugging on the lower legs of the Yod in 2023/25.
Zelensky’s chart, to recap, will be more rattled than usual from the 23rd of this month for two weeks; and will limp on with rising anxieties – with one stroke of luck in late June this year. 2023 has tr Pluto opposing his Mars at zero Leo which will be trapped, high-risk and infuriating on and off till late 2024; with 2025 not looking too upbeat either. So there will be no speedy closure.
The Ukraine 24 August 1991 2.30pm Kiev chart will be facing a significant failure with tr Neptune opposition the Ukraine Mars from mid this May on and off till February 2024’ and will be forced into a significant shift and upheaval from mid this June onwards with tr Uranus opposing the 10th house Pluto which runs into April 2023. Again there’s no sense of an early settlement to the country’s misery. See previous Post 29 March 2022.
Tensions are crackling between North and South Korea with military intelligence suggesting Kim Jong Un is gearing up for a new nuclear weapons test. Usually South Korea stays silent about its readiness to react but a senior Seoul official has indicated publicly they would be able and ready to land precision strikes on the North if an imminent attack was detected. Which triggered a tantrum from Kim’s powerful sister threatening to nuke them. NK had paused its long-range and nuclear tests when Kim Jong Un and Trump engaged in a high-profile bout of diplomacy that subsequently collapsed in 2019.
What is unsettling is that both South Korea, 15 August 1948, and North Korea, 9 September 1948, have tr Uranus about to square the Pluto within weeks, which does suggest a radical shift in their path this year – and their relationship.
The relationship charts between North Korea and the USA also shows a serious blip from the 22nd of this month on and off into early 2023. The same goes for the NK and NATO relationship chart so it will be a red alert phase for the major players.
Kim Jong Un’s birth year is questionable so the only accurate chart is his Leadership one of 29 December 2011 at 11.57am P’yonggang, North Korea. That has a tough-slog and deprived tr Pluto square the Saturn this year and next; with calamities exactly now but receding after the 22nd of this month. Though there’ll be panics mid May onwards and upsets from July. What is worrisome is 2023 when tr Pluto moves into Aquarius and squares the Leadership Jupiter for a flamboyant show of might-makes-right and sextiles the Uranus – so there will be definite changes and not necessarily helpful ones.
2023 starts several years of high-tension, outbursts and over-reaction which may only subside later in the decade when his Leadership runs into the buffers altogether with the Solar Arc Mars square the Sun Pluto.
If his sister’s birth date is sound. Kim Jo Jong, 26 September 1987, she’s hyped up with an overdose of excitability, over-confidence and aggressive energy this year – tr Pluto square her Jupiter in 2022/23 and her Solar Arc Mars conjunct her Mercury this year and opposition her Jupiter in 2023 – none of which look to be contributing to cool-headed decisions. She’ll run into the buffers in 2024/25 – though the shelf-life of NK senior brass even relatives tends to be short so it may not be surprising. But it all adds up to a disruptive, over-reactive two or three years ahead. Sigh.
The Boris brigade lurch from one political sinkhole to the next. While Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, may wail about No 10 leaks spreading entirely true but damaging tales of his wife’s non-dom tax status, it reflects just as badly on the PM since the information had always been to hand. ‘Don’t fire him, fire the man who hired him.’ Sunak’s golden- boy aura has now been irrevocably smashed, not just for his budget decisions and tone-deaf public relations stunts, but for his obvious lack of political nous in not seeing how it would go down with the over-taxed electorate.
Boris’s Term chart, 13 December 2019, is heading into danger territory despite him ducking Partygate and grandstanding in Kiev. The Solar Arc Saturn is now conjunct the Venus and will be exactly conjunct the Pluto in a few weeks – though both in effect now, which looks like a logjam. Plus tr Uranus will oppose the Mars in Scorpio from May 9th onwards for a shock and self-esteem dent as the results from the 5th May Local elections come in. Tr Uranus will also rattle his Jupiter and Neptune at the same time which will bring him down to earth with a bump.
Rishi Sunak’s chart, 12 May 1980, has never been too informative either about his prospects or relationship with Boris, apart from some droopy midpoint transits this year. He’s a steady Sun Mercury in Taurus trine Saturn in Virgo and opposition Uranus. But on looking more closely (my bad) his Progressed Mars is conjunct his Saturn in Virgo now which is a slow-moving car crash covering several months of this year.
His Taurus Sun is on the focal point of a Yod to Pluto sextile Neptune, making him super-ambitious and tending to swing between low self-esteem and too much ego – he will be stubborn and overly defensive. His Aries Moon also probably opposes Pluto so he’ll be more than usually tied into family/home/wife.
He looks disempowered from this mid May onwards with tr Neptune opposition his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. 2023 was always going to be his year of significant disruption and upheaval with tr Uranus conjunct his Mercury Sun from June 2023 onwards – but he may well mooch off to the sidelines sooner than that.
His wife Akshata Murty, 25 April 1980, (Companies House), was born just two weeks before him and is also a Taurus with her Sun in a lucky trine to Jupiter in Virgo and Mars in flamboyant Leo. Her mega-rich father, N.R. Narayana Murty, co-founder of the information technology company Infosys, was born a day after Bill Clinton and has the same Leo Sun tied into a lucky Jupiter Uranus trine; with a determined Saturn, Mercury, Pluto in Leo sextile a glittery collection of Mars, Neptune, Venus in Libra.
Boris Becker, the former wunderkind of tennis, winning his first Grand Slam at 17 and six more before he retired, is facing prison for financial deceptions. He was declared bankrupt in 2017 over a £3 million debt but hid assets and continued spending. His off-court and retirement life has been the stuff of tabloid headlines with a tangled love life, a paternity suit, DNA tests, a divorce amid tales of lavish living and allegations of deceit.
He was born 22 November 1967 8.45am Leimen, Germany, and has a powerful though potentially chaotic chart. His Scorpio Sun is conjunct Neptune in the 12th trine an 8th house Cancer Moon, sextile Uranus Pluto in Virgo and sextile Mars; and square Jupiter. His Moon is opposition a 2nd house Mars in acquisitive Capricorn. And he has a tricky karmic Saturnine Yod inconjunct Mercury in Scorpio sextile Jupiter in Virgo which requires self-discipline and maturity to get the better end of it otherwise it is self-defeating. His Saturn opposes a charming, good-for-PR 10th house Venus in Libra. Driven, determined, emotionally intense and not good at listening to advice.
His pleasure-seeking 9th Harmonic is exceptionally strong. And his Moon Mars in the 8th/2nd will exacerbate his tendency to financial excess. His Mars sextile Sun Neptune trine Pluto Uranus will give him a bulldozing inclination to go his own way with evasions if need be and overt bullying if all else fails.
This year he has the final aspect of tr Pluto opposition his Moon which will be emotionally fraught from August this year; with disempowering panics and disruptions from midpoints and a jangled Solar Arc. With nothing that looks like good news for several years ahead.
Memory and the ability to recall or re-picture past events is associated with several signs and planet. Mercury and Gemini/Virgo rules short term memory. But Scorpio has a reputation for being the elephant who never forgets, followed closely by Taurus. Cancer, a sentimentalist about the past, also clings on. The Water signs which also includes Pisces are visual and might be expected to have photographic memory abilities.
In mythology, Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory – the daughter of Uranus and Gaia who mated with Zeus to produce the nine Muses.
Three individuals with extraordinary memories are worth pondering though there are sadly no birth times which might help and no very clear Astro-similarities, though any ideas welcome.
Stephen Wiltshire, 24 April 1974, an architectural artist and autistic savant, can draw a landscape, buildings; or an entire city after one viewing from a helicopter. He lacked verbal communication skills until he was nine.
He has a Taurus Sun on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Pluto and Neptune; with his Pluto square Mars Saturn in Cancer which is turn trines Jupiter in Pisces – with Venus also in Pisces. His Mercury in Aries opposes Uranus.
Laurence Kim Peek, 11 November 1951, Utah, a megasavant with congenital brain abnormalities, and low verbal skills, was the inspiration for Raymond in the Rain Man movie. He had an exceptional memory and could remember the contents of 12,000 books he had read.
He was Scorpio with his Sun square Pluto and sextile Mars in Virgo and trine Uranus; with his Mercury in Sagittarius trine Jupiter in Aries.
Daniel Tammet, 31 January 1979, Barking, England with an unverified time of 3am, is an English essayist, writer and savant with Asperger’s Syndrome. He does appear to have an exceptional memory though there is a question over whether that is partly due to his training and strategies for remembering or synaesthesia which joins senses not normally connected – to see sounds and hear colours for example. He knows eleven languages and writes so clearly doesn’t lack verbal skills.
His chart is different from the two above with an Air Sun, Mars, Mercury in Aquarius and Saturn in Virgo.
Not sure what conclusions if any to draw.
I was always intrigued by a story told me years ago by an Army officer who had been seconded to fight with Arab soldiers in the Middle East. He said the illiterate ones could remember highly complex orders on first telling, while the literate ones needed it repeated or written down. Which does suggest that brain changes are involved with education.
I do have a fairly photographic memory which I might put down to having several planets in the 12th (Pisces natural home) plus a dose of Virgo and Gemini.
