not categorised

Oliver Cromwell, a keynote figure in the English civil war, whose rise to prominence led to the execution of Charles 1 and his own subsequent and short-lived semi-kingship, is the subject of a new biography about the years of his rise to power. Two things are astrologically intriguing about him. One is his conversion to radical Puritanism in his late 30s which pulled him out of obscurity and the other is his extraordinarily emphasised Jupiter.

  He was a divisive figure described variously as a regicidal dictator, a class revolutionary by Leon Trotsky and a hero of liberty by Thomas Carlyle. Atrocities in his name meted out to Catholics in Ireland have been characterised as genocidal.

  Biographer Ronald Hutton describes him as sly, vindictive, glory-guzzling and ruthless. He manipulated the press, lied to the House of Commons and destroyed allies with relish. Luck was also with him at the right times.

  He was born 25 April 1599 JC 3am (maybe) Huntingdon, England (ADB) and has a Taurus Sun Mercury as befits a Calvinist zealot trine a Virgo Moon, sextile Jupiter in Cancer (on this birth time) in the putting-on-a-confident-performance 5^th.  Jupiter is also spotlighted being on the focal point also of a military/cruel Mars in Aries opposition Saturn. And last but not least he had a revolutionary Uranus Pluto in Aries trine a religious Neptune.

 During his thirties he suffered a loss of status and perhaps a breakdown, which was when he turned to the intense form of Protestantism that assured him that he was God’s instrument in this life and would be saved in the next. His religiosity was extreme even by the standards of his age and Hutton describes him as “a Puritan jihadi”.

 That was when tr Uranus was opposing his Pluto and then Uranus, turning his life upside down, fuelling his ambitions and his revolutionary fervour. His Solar Arc Jupiter (pulling with it the full force of his Sun, Mercury Moon mini-Grand Trine and Mars Saturn T Square) was conjunct his natal Neptune giving his religious beliefs a turbo-charge blast of energy and determination.

  When war came as he entered his forties he rose rapidly up the military ladder, glorified his own achievements at the expense of brother officers and told “blatant untruths” to discredit parliament’s aristocratic military commanders. His godliness co-existed with slippery less saintly traits, ruthless self-promotion being one of them – Jupiter’s grandiosity coming into its own. Jupiter’s Olympian confidence would also fuel his belief in himself as an agent of divine judgment put on earth to depose the monarch and after some soul-searching almost but not quite step into his shoes.

  When he finally took over as Lord Protector in 1653 his Solar Arc Neptune was square his overblown Jupiter inflating his ambitions to greater heights. Though as ever with Neptune Jupiter disappointment follows and the ego balloon deflates. Tr Saturn was also conjunct his Neptune inducing untypical uncertainty and perhaps a prescience of what was to come. He lasted five years as ruler before his death, was followed by his weak son and the monarchy was restored with Charles 11 on the throne by 1660.  

  Intriguing that both Cromwell’s Neptune and his Jupiter were lived out in all their duality – self-appointed saint and sinner all rolled into one.

Two other sensationalised murders of years past are also in the news.  Amanda Knox, cleared of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher after eight years in an Italian prison, has been voicing her objection to Stillwater, a Matt Damon film, about an American father trying to exonerate his daughter up on a murder charge in Europe. It was directly inspired by the Amanda Knox story but her character in the movie appears to implicate her indirectly in the killing. Knox says “It is the false narrative that was presented by the prosecution that has been debunked by evidence and yet is the ongoing myth that is an obstacle towards me —- being taken seriously as a person.”

  The other below is Louise Woodward, the British teenage nanny found guilty of the 1997 manslaughter of a baby in her care. The evidence will be trawled over in a new three-part documentary: Villain or Victim?

  Knox, born 9 July 1987 2.47 am Seattle, Washington, is a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Cancer which sit across from Neptune in the 8^th, with a ratchety, complicated Moon Saturn Uranus in Sagittarius in her 7^th house of relationships. She wouldn’t have a settled emotional life, for sure, with a head-in-the-clouds 8^th house Neptune and low emotional self-esteem from Moon Saturn and unpredictable reactions from Moon Uranus.  Plus she has a ramped-up and angry Mars in Leo square Pluto.

  What told against her initially were her odd reactions at the time and some discrepancies in the timeline she offered. There’s no doubt a drifter Rudy Guede was the one responsible but the confusion in the stories and the slanted police investigation turned it into a global media bunfight with her reputation being serially slandered.

  What is noteworthy astrologically is not only her evasive 8^th house Neptune; but also her Mars square Pluto.  Like all astrological markers aspects have opposite ways of working out, depending on whether they are lived out or left unconscious and therefore attract what they don’t own.  Mars Pluto is brutal/ruthless and Doris Duke clearly lived hers out to the full. But in others, especially women, they tend to attract brutality or hostile dislike, for reasons they don’t understand, because they find it difficult to utilise the high-octane Mars Pluto energy. It can be a plus point for those who work in crises areas – war correspondents, NGOs in the Congo etc or in domestic violence shelters – having courage and a cool head when others are losing theirs. But it isn’t helpful in ordinary life.

  When Meredith Kercher was killed tr Saturn was conjunct her 8^th house Neptune and tr Pluto was aiming to go into her trapped 8^th house. Indeed it has only just emerged from there.   At the moment her Solar Arc Neptune is conjunct her Midheaven which will be contributing to her disappointment and muddle.

  Louise Woodward, 24 February 1978 3am Elton, England, who was convicted of second degree murder, dropped to involuntary manslaughter on appeal, of the death of a baby in her care, which hinged on conflicting medical evidence about shaken or dropped baby syndrome. Again it caught global headlines and again attracted intense media arguments for and against.

  She is a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Pisces with a 9^th house far-travelled Virgo Moon. She has a notable Neptune on her Ascendant opposition a 7^th house Jupiter, so confident though not always realistic. She has a controlling Pluto on her Midheaven with a deeply buried Mars in the 8^th, which is square Pluto and trine her Uranus – so she will have strong reactions. But again with 8^th house and Mars Pluto there’s no way of telling whether she would live them out or attract hostility to herself. When the baby died tr Pluto was just across the square to her Mars/Pluto midpoint so she would have been under pressure running into that time.

  Astrology is never an indicator of guilt or innocence but it is intriguing to see the way certain similar aspects play out – inwards and outwards. What caused problems in both of the above cases was the marginally odd demeanour of both when under police questioning.  

New evidence has turned up that Doris Duke, ‘richest women in the world’, heir to a tobacco, aluminium and energy fortune, who died in 1993, was responsible for crushing her constant companion of seven years under the wheels of her car, after he had told her he was leaving. Vanity Fair says: “A notoriously jealous and possessive woman, Duke had stabbed her common-law husband, jazz musician Joseph Castro, with a butcher knife three years earlier and escaped any criminal charges.” This time round the local police chief who had mafia connections deemed it an accident. In thanks she donated hundreds of thousands to local projects.

Born 22 November 1912, she had a 12^th house Sun conjunct Mars in vengeful Scorpio in a hard-edged and can-be cruel opposition to Saturn. Her Sun was inconjunct a 7^th house Pluto which would intensity her darker emotions where close relationships were concerned; and she had a pushily confident Pluto opposition Jupiter Mercury in Sagittarius. What is also noteworthy is her Neptune in the 8^th which would give her an ’aura’ in the public eye, shared by many top film stars. She had a sociable and indulgent, tactile Taurus Moon in the 5^th squaring onto a changeable Uranus which was in a highly-strung opposition to her Neptune. Her Venus was in an intense and manipulative/jealous opposition to Pluto and trine her Moon – not a lady who liked to go without what she wanted.  But also emotionally very unstable.

  The astrology of the moment in 1966 when the killing occurred is illuminating – her Solar Arc Saturn was conjunct her 8^th house Neptune, tr Uranus Pluto was conjunct her Solar Arc Sun Neptune and tr Saturn was conjunct her Solar Arc Uranus –  her life would be melting down with high anxiety and extreme uncertainty. The tr Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo was moving to conjunct her Midheaven in the aftermath, changing the course of her life.

   She was friends with Jackie Kennedy and in later years did a good deal of philanthropic giving towards AIDS research, medicine, child welfare and donated funds to support and educate black students in the South who were disadvantaged because of their race.  Her estimated $1.3 billion fortune was largely left to charity, dedicated to medical research, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the performing arts, wildlife and ecology.

  Maybe she finally saw the light and her sins sent her off in search of redemption. She certainly wouldn’t be in control of her jealousy or anger.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, celebrated her 40^th birthday with a rousing celebrity-influencer video giggling with a professional comedienne from her plush California residence offering encouragement to women going back to work. Needless to say certain sections of the media sent it up and the comments sections were even more critical about the hypocrisy and tone-deafness of the wealthy, never mind all previous wails about needing privacy. It did veer towards parody and perilously close to caricaturing the Queen’s speech setting and Royal tea-parties.

  Her Solar Return for this coming year has a passionately enthusiastic Mars and Venus in her 7^th and Jupiter in the Ascendant so her confidence will be high and she’ll be socialising and charming at full volume.  Her Sun Mercury in the 6^th will keep her hard at work though opposing Saturn in the 12^th, she may lack a realistic and practical approach – and that opposition squares onto Uranus in the 3^rd. Such a Uranus can obviously be innovative though in the 3^rd it will also be outspoken; and in fixed signs tends to be wilfully determined. Intriguingly Tierney says of a focal point Fixed Uranus – “if [her] vision of “truth” is not all-inclusive, it will breakdown eventually and lose its structure entirely.”

  A 4th house Moon square Neptune and trine Jupiter suggests a need for a secure home life with moments of contentment and some disappointments or confusion.  But with the North Node conjunct the IC she will find it easier to slide back into career ambitions than focusing on developing a rooted domestic life.

   The transiting Uranus square tr Saturn will continue to hard aspect her Leo Sun on and off till early 2022 which will be up and down, with setbacks and some opportunities. She also has her Solar Arc Uranus square her Moon exact in three months, which may be a family or emotional upset, with repercussions running on till late 2022 as Solar Arc Uranus squares her Saturn as well.  Her Progressed Moon moving out of her 8^th house in three months will lift some concerns though it has been balanced recently by tr Jupiter also moving through her 8^th until March 2022 which is good for money and usually brings beneficial changes.

   Saturn moving into her 8^th from April 2022 for three years may be stickier on the business money front and she’ll be thrown back on her own resources with less support emotionally and financially. She will have some frustrations and trapped phases in 2022 with tr Pluto continuing to oppose her Sun/Mars midpoint and she will hit a lacklustre patch in 2023 with her Solar Arc Sun square her Neptune. Though she is overall powering up for a major career push over the next fifteen years with her tr Saturn rising upwards in her chart.

  Her relationships won’t be easy with tr Pluto just moving into her 7^th for many years ahead which can bring tensions with partners and others as Pluto’s controlling tendencies come to the fore.

  Her relationship chart with Harry is already under a good deal of pressure with tr Pluto square the chained-together Saturn Pluto this year and moving on to oppose the composite Moon in 2022 and 2023. Given the way they have been living out this aspect by projecting it out onto Harry’s family, it seems likely the aggro in that direction will continue. Apart from her mother she appears to have cut away from almost all of her own family, including her father’s brother a retired US diplomat, recently deceased, who had been helpful to her as she was starting out.  

 Harry is not in an ambitious phase at all and would prefer to disappear into a lower profile role.

Pic: Archewell

Records appear to be tumbling at a record rate at the Olympics with the latest being in the women’s 800 metres. There are too many athletes and sporting prodigies to go over by name and event but one thing continues to fascinate me – which sounds obscure but has turned up over the years – which is the concentration of key midpoints or planets/Solar Arcs at mid Aquarius degrees in top class competitors’ charts. It seems strange with Aquarius not being a sign much associated with physical prowess.

  The Japan Olympics chart itself has a Jupiter/Pluto midpoint at 12 Aquarius – see post July 24 2021. Elaine Thompson-Herah, 28 June 1992, the fastest woman alive after her 100 metres win, a Sun Venus in Cancer has her Mars/Pluto midpoint at 15 Aquarius and her Saturn at 17 Aquarius.

  Emma McKeon, 24 May 1994, the multi-medalled swimmer (4 gold, three bronze here), a Sun Gemini has her Mars/Pluto at 13 Aquarius and her Mars/Node at 11 Aquarius.

 Keely Hodgkinson, 3 March 2002, the 800 metres runner, Sun Pisces, has her Mercury at 17 Aquarius, Mars/Pluto at 24 Aquarius and her Uranus/Neptune at 17 Aquarius.

  Lamont Marcell Jacobs, 26 September 1994, sun libra, the 100 and 60 metres winner, has two of his Saturn midpoints in mid Aquarius.

 Adam Peaty, the Brit swimmer, 28 December 1994, a Capricorn, has the same two Saturn midpoints almost on the same degrees as Jacobs in mid Aquarius.

  All of which may not add up to much but the fixed quality may help, giving endurance and staying power for the punishing training schedule. Sydney McLaughlin, who has just broken the world record for 400 metres hurdles, 7 August 1999, has a seriously Fixed chart with a Sun Leo opposition Uranus in mid Aquarius square Mars in Scorpio opposition Saturn.

Usain Bolt, the former world champion sprinter, and Mo Farah, the long-distance runner, both have their Mars/Jupiter midpoint in mid Aquarius; with Mo Farah having his Sun/Neptune and Mars/Uranus there as well.

Kamala Harris’s standing is flagging as she becomes the most unpopular US vice president for decades. She ticks more disapprovals than approvals having not shone in her two assignments of immigration and voting rights. She managed to alienate some Hispanic voters by telling those from central America not to come and equally upset others by not visiting the border sooner. And there are persistent reports of an unhealthy environment in her office with staff morale plummeting.

  What is keeping her afloat and did so into the election is tr Pluto trine her Jupiter and that repeats for a final time this December. It is usually successful but can also breed arrogance. Her relationship with Joe Biden is going through a confused, disappointed and unsettled phase with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune again till late this December; and the ratchety tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the composite Sun. There will be some disappointments between them in 2022 and 2023 with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter.

  But she should have a career boost from this New Year throughout 2022 with successful Jupiter moving across her 10^th till spring 2023. At the same time she will be under considerable pressure with a challenging must-change tr Pluto square her Libra Sun from early 2022 to late 2023 followed by tr Pluto square her Moon in 2023/24. Also her Progressed Moon will move into her 12^th house almost exactly now till mid 2023 which can be discouraging, a time of endings and inner reflection.

  She’s probably too unbending, outspoken and over confident for her own good with a Fixed Grand Cross of Mars in Leo in the 3^rd in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn square Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune. Though she would have assisted Biden in his win with her Jupiter trine his Midheaven and her can-be-charming Venus Pluto conjunction his MC.

  From a previous post: May 20 2021:

Kamala Harris has the same uplift as Joe Biden with tr Pluto trine her Jupiter until late this November and tr Jupiter is moving through her 10^th till March 2023 which is generally successful. But also like him she runs into more obvious problems from next year onwards when she picks up the challenging tr Pluto square her Libra Sun and her Aries Moon and conjunct her Sun/Moon midpoint. The latter could suggest marital tensions but in a politician it can also point to a popularity dent. But one way and another she’ll be under huge pressure. Plus tr Neptune will square her Ascendant and oppose her Sun/Mars midpoint from April 2022 onwards till late 2023 – which suggests an undermining of her image, low vitality and failed-plans. During this period tr Uranus will make a high-anxiety opposition to her Neptune.

  Late 2023 sees a discouraging Solar Arc Saturn opposition her Sun and from April 2024 onwards for two years she picks up another Neptunian sinker to her Sun/Saturn midpoint.

  Her Progressed Moon will move through her 12^th house from the middle of this year to mid 2023 which is usually a time of endings, inward looking and not too upbeat. Then she’ll experience some uplift as it moves across her Ascendant and that coincides with tr Saturn being conjunct her Midheaven in March 2023 and starting her career peak of eight years thereafter with heavier responsibilities.

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Dishevelled, chaotic, prolific, the Boris spinning-top twists and twirls ever onwards, unimpeded by the karma that forces most to pay the price for their actions. Happy news for the UK – to add to a bucketload of Olympics medals – as Carrie is expecting her second child in December, after a miscarriage earlier this year.

  Boris is on to his 7^th offspring, at least that’s what’s written in the record – four from second wife Marina Wheeler, the first of which arrived five weeks after his divorce from Wife No 1; one from an art consultant, and this will be a pair. One of his other great loves Petronella Wyatt admitted to a termination and a miscarriage during their affair during which he promised to leave his wife and didn’t; and he had to resign in 2004 from the shadow cabinet for lying about it.

  Word has it that Marina Wheeler was the stiffener in his spine career-wise during their years together. She was born 18 August 1964 in Berlin, daughter of BBC correspondent Charles Wheeler and his Indian Sikh second wife.  Boris does seem to have a penchant for ladies from connected and multi-divorced families since Petronella Wyatt’s father was a prominent Labour MP and her mother, the 4^th wife of her father, was a Hungarian.  Boris’s first wife was the daughter of a well-known and wealthy art historian and an Italian mother. Odd to be so anti-EU when his connections have been so global and fluid.

  Carrie Symonds also comes from a complicated family lineage which may track back to an illegitimate daughter of Herbert Asquith, prime minister in the early 20^th Century. And down the line there were other illegitimate offspring of journalists until Carrie herself was born out of wedlock on 17 March 1988.

  Marina is a Sun Leo in a downbeat opposition to Saturn and an upbeat square to Jupiter in Taurus. What’s relevant to her chart is her enthusiastic and ambitious Mars Venus in Cancer falling on Boris’s Midheaven so she would throw her considerable energy behind his ambitions.

  Carrie’s connection to him, surprisingly given her personal political ambitions, is of a different order. Her ramped up Mars Neptune in Capricorn sits on his IC with her Uranus Saturn close by. It does suggest a confused and argumentative home life and she will unsettle him at quite a profound level, the IC being the foundations of his chart and life. Her Pluto in his 2^nd conjunct his Neptune and opposition his Jupiter suggests a compulsion on her part to get a grip of his muddled approach to his finances and there will be a fair amount of gameplaying between them for the upper hand with Pluto on Jupiter.

  Their relationship chart does have a lucky and mutually supportive composite Sun Jupiter conjunction but it also has an unpredictable, needs-space opposition to Uranus and an erratic and can-be-downbeat square to Saturn, so there will be highs and lows. With tr Neptune conjunct the composite Mars from late this May on and off till early 2023, not everything will feel in tune between them. Mars Neptune brings a droopy sense of failure. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn is also rattling the composite Sun this year into early 2022, so not a smooth path ahead.

  Boris’s Moon is coming in for a considerable amount of jangling ahead. His Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct his Moon about six months ago; and his Solar Arc Saturn will oppose his Moon in a year’s time. Plus his Progressed Moon is opposition his focal point (afflicted) Mars exactly now and moving on to square his Saturn come December, with hitches and glitches in 2022 as it squares his Uranus and Pluto. So his lunar life won’t be exactly settled. 

Which fits in with the wedding chart – see 30 May 2021; and other indicators, see also posts May 24 2021 and July 22 2021.

  I’d hazard a guess that Carrie was getting to the age where the now-or-never question about children came up and she was keen where he might not have been so enamoured of the idea.  He’s been moaning abut being short of money since he lost his lucrative column writing fees on becoming PM and has to contribute to past children. My impression is he would not be that unhappy to move on from No 10, having been-there, done-that, and on to greater wealth and security. But Carrie presumably won’t want to budge from a position where she can pull political strings. And there no real indication – see previous posts – of a sudden exit. All remains to be seen.

Piers Morgan, famously outspoken and abrasively confident, has made a car-crash career out of being a professional provocateur.  Rupert Murdoch, his former boss at the News of the World, where he was editor described him as having “balls bigger than his brains”. And it’s not that he’s always wrong, having blown his US TV presenting career by refusing to back down over his opposition to the lax gun laws which slumped his ratings. But he is addicted to getting into fights with no sense of where to stop.

  His not-altogether-inaccurate but seriously over-the-top and unhinged attacks on Meghan Markle led to his UK morning breakfast show reign ending last year, despite him having boosted the ratings threefold in his time there.  He’s also had spats in the past with Madonna and this recent one over gymnast Simone Biles.

  Born 30 March 1965 in Sussex, UK, he’s a pro-active Sun Venus in Aries, which explains his rubber-ball resilience in bouncing back from whatever self-inflicted career disaster he has created. Money isn’t an issue with him since he owns the rights to his formats that are broadcast in the US, and is on a seven-figure salary for the Daily Mail group. He lives by his grandmother’s happy thought that: “One day you’re cock of the walk, the next a feather duster.” Which he appears to have turned into a career plan.

  Where his explosive trouble making streak comes from is a volatile Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn (Moon) in Pisces square North Node in Gemini. He will have an exceptionally short fuse,(Mars Uranus + Saturn), and will get easily enraged (Mars Pluto). And undoubtedly won’t play well with girls having his Moon tied into Saturn, Mars, Uranus, Pluto which is a considerably afflicted Moon.  He’s also got Boris Johnson’s Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune giving him a liking for money and indulgence and a lucky, slippery streak.

  Tr Pluto is trine his Jupiter exactly now and again in December for a successful push. The next three years won’t be as upbeat with banana skins galore and some frustrating slog. But he’ll bounce again by 2024.  

   He certainly doesn’t have good chemistry with Simone Biles with her self-reliant Saturn in Aries conjunct his Sun Venus and her Pluto trine. Her toughness bred from surviving a horror childhood may rub him up the wrong way and their relationship chart is truly aggravated with a composite Venus Saturn opposition Mars square Neptune.

 Madonna and MeghanM are less marked as astro-hot spots for him with only their Virgo Moon and Venus respectively hitting his combustible Virgo planets and T square. But he does seem overly sensitive about them not sticking by his side as BFFs which clearly brings out his vengeful streak.

  Partly what will drive him on is (at the moment) earning his Daily Mail seven figures which will require him to grab attention by being offensive or outrageous; and in the past, it will have given an outlet for his less-than-stable temperament which needs to vent and rant about something or anything to release the pressure inside him.  

On his age: He started as a freelance for Murdoch papers when he was 23 and became the youngest editor in Fleet Street in his late 20s.

He’s married to Celia Walden former gossip columnist and novelist, daughter of long-time former MP George Walden. Her wiki entry suggests she’s come in for a fair amount of criticism in her time for her musings.

  She was born 8 December 1975 in Paris and is a Sun Mercury Neptune in Sagittarius so communicative and vague with her Mercury opposition a straight-speaking and argumentative Mars in Gemini, with a pushily confident Jupiter in pro-active Aries opposition Pluto; and an excitable Uranus Venus in Scorpio in a can-be-autocratic square to Saturn in Leo.  So she’ll be no slouch when it comes to standing up for herself.

   Her   self-assertive Jupiter is conjunct Piers’ Sun Venus with her Pluto opposite; and her Sun Neptune square his volcanic Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo and his Moon Saturn in Pisces and her Sun is conjunct his South Node. Her Neptune may calm some of his more combustible moods at home but it’s an oddly scratchy combination – and the South Node connection suggests she pulls him back into bad habit patterns that he needs to move away from. Her Aquarius Moon may square his Jupiter which will help.

  Their relationship chart is upbeat with a composite Sun square Jupiter though also competitive and argumentative. Together they won’t always make sensible decisions with a composite Mars square Jupiter egging them on to take risks. There is also an Earth Grand Trine tying them together, so money and status will be important.

   Her father came up through the diplomatic corps and then Westminster was born 15 September 1939 and is a Sun Neptune Venus in Virgo. But he also has the extraordinarily difficult Mars opposition Pluto square Saturn of the time, so she would be used to demanding men.

  The wedding chart to Piers Morgan, 24 June 2010, indicated a roller-coaster ride ahead with a Sun opposition Pluto square Saturn opposition Jupiter Uranus – so a pot pourri of great fun and adventure, luck, hard work and tension.

The car-bomb killing of investigative reporter Caruana Galizia in 2017 – “a one woman wikileaks” – who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta sent shock waves through the government. Joseph Muscat was eventually forced to resign as prime minister as several with close ties to himself, senior government officials and senior police officers were implicated.

  A damning independent inquiry has found that the state had to bear responsibility after creating a “culture of impunity” which led “to a collapse in the rule of law.” The judges called for immediate action to rein in and regulate the links between politicians and big business.

   Three men suspected of setting off the bomb were arrested in December 2017 – one plead guilty in a plea bargain, resulting in a 15-year jail term. Two others await trial. The self-confessed middle man turned state witness and was granted a pardon. Muscat denies any involvement in the murder.

 Caruana Galizia was born one month before Malta became independent and was – as befitting a journalist – a serious Sun Virgo opposition Saturn; with a defiant Uranus, Pluto, Mercury in Virgo on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine to a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Cancer trine Neptune. Idealistic and keen to push back the frontiers of knowledge. Her Mars sextile Pluto would give her courage though that was severely blocked when she was murdered with tr Pluto opposition her Venus Mars and her Solar Arc Mars Venus was in an explosive conjunction to her Uranus.  

  Malta’s natal Virgo Sun was badly shaken in the aftermath with a Solar Arc Mars conjunction and tr Saturn in Sagittarius square both. Tr Pluto was also on the Malta Descendant provoking strong hostility from across Europe for the atrocity and the lack of government/police action before or after. Tr Neptune was also opposing the Malta Uranus exactly and Mercury for panic and high-anxiety.

  Joseph Muscat, the former prime minister who denies all and any involvement, was born 22 January 1974, and is a Sun, Venus, Mercury in Aquarius trine Pluto, sextile Neptune and square Mars in Taurus – not short of super-charged ambition and a liking for material wealth. He also has an Air Grand Trine of Jupiter in Aquarius trine Saturn in Gemini trine Uranus – seven planets in Air making him communicative, but emotionally detached. His stressed Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars is being rattled around this year with tr Saturn square tr Uranus colliding with the focal point Mars. He’ll have problems from that Yod with rash, overly assertive actions which can be self-defeating. When Galizia was killed his Solar Arc Pluto was in an over-confident square to his Jupiter which can lead to tangles with authority figures if a line is crossed and rules are transgressed.   His Yod was always going to be sent off onto a different trajectory this year.

  The Malta chart isn’t saying much that is illuminating apart from tr Uranus square the Venus this year – and an undermining tr Neptune opposition the Virgo Sun in 2023/24 – but that could be for other reasons. There is a Yod of Mars sextile Sun inconjunct Saturn on the natal chart which will exert a heavy karmic price for transgressions but they may not come home to roost with full force until 2025/2026 when tr Uranus will square the focal point Saturn and tr Pluto squares the Mars. All three legs of the Yod will be under attack between 2023 with Neptune first and then Pluto and Uranus – so it will be a phase of rolling wake-up-calls urging a new direction and outlook.