not categorised

The reluctance of authorities to tackle child sexual abuse is not limited to the most recent horrors emerging from the north of England with mainly “Pakistani men” preying on young girls, many in social care. Fear of embarrassing Muslim sensitivities with concern about the political impact may have been part of the problem. But it is all too sadly a common occurrence across the field, no matter who the perpetrators are.

 Priest abuse was ignored forever until groups of adults abused as children got together, starting in the 1990s, and filed lawsuits in the face of an unrepentant RC church. To date $5 to $6 billion has been paid out by churches in the USA over the past two decades. Private school teacher abuse has been outed again because groups of adults came together and the multiple allegations were less easy to rubbish through weight of numbers.

  Child sexual abuse in general started to be exposed in the 1980s as Pluto moved into Scorpio. Ellen Bass’s 1988 Courage to Heal which offered self-help to abuse survivors ran into a savage backlash as the ‘false memory’ (denial) movement went on the counter attack. Because of the toxic debate which followed, a considerable quantity of therapy research was initiated which eventually buried the notion of ‘false memory’ as a get-out-of-jail free excuse.  Ellen Bass, 16 June 1947, is a Sun Uranus in Gemini with a determined Saturn Pluto in Leo with a Taurus Mars and Moon; and Jupiter in Scorpio.

 In England the Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry 1987/88 led by Lady Butler Sloss produced a botched report suggesting that the doctors had got their diagnosis of abuse wrong. This misconception is still widely held today despite Beatrix Campbell’s heroic research efforts which provided evidence from The National Archives that the government in 1988 had been advised that “at least 80%” of the diagnoses of sexual abuse were, in fact, correct – and Margaret Thatcher knew that. Bea Campbell, 3 February 1947, is a redoubtable Sun Mars in Aquarius opposition Saturn Pluto in Leo with Jupiter in Scorpio.

  Pluto exited Scorpio in 1995 as the Rose West trial in the UK was sickening the country with tales of serial killing and torture of young girls and women. The Solar Eclipse which oversaw her conviction fittingly was a New Moon in Scorpio with a brutal Mars Pluto conjunction.

 The latest UK Child Abuse Inquiry instigated in 2015 went through three chairman in short order at the start, one of them being Butler-Sloss, which indicates a carelessness beyond the norm even for politics. Eventually Alexis Jay was pulled in because of her prior work in the Rotherham, Yorkshire abuse cases. She came out with a report in 2022 which has been largely ignored. She said that mandatory reporting was her “most important” recommendation and the UK was now “an outlier” in terms of international best practice, but a “watered-down” version proposed by the last Conservative government had been scrapped when the general election was called.

Alexis Jay, 25 April 1949, a Sun Taurus in a determined square to Pluto in Leo, Mars in go-ahead Aries in a tough-minded trine to Saturn in Leo and a Jupiter in early Aquarius.

Interesting that Ellen Bass, Bea Campbell have Jupiter in Scorpio and come out of the stubborn late 1940s generation..

  The North Wales child abuse scandal was the subject of a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes. The 2000 report by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, resulted in changes in policy and to the settling of 140 compensation claims on behalf of victims of child abuse. When it reported, Waterhouse was interviewed on BBC TV Newsnight and Jeremy Paxman to his shame led with the question of whether some had ‘invented’ their stories to claim compensation.

  What puzzled me through the 1990s as I was knee deep in the ‘false memory’ wars was the oddity of how quickly buried the knowledge of child sexual abuse incidents was in the public mind. Lies, smears, distortions of the truth were more palatable and easier to believe. I watched one multiple abuse scandal emerge in real time during which abusive adults got decades in prison and by the end of it there was still a general/media belief that nothing had happened. As one child therapist put it – the event just got ‘sealed over’ as if it had never existed.

  Not an astrological thought – but there is a hint in  psychiatrist Dori Laub’s words “The fight against the obliteration of the story could only be won at the cost of the obliteration of the audience.” So terrible we can’t bear to look at it – until dragged kicking and screaming by the threat of massive, expensive lawsuits.

 Maybe Pluto in Aquarius will start to make headway into righting a few social ills.

This is a ramble and not too astrological but the present north of England rape gang horror sees an unhealthy coming together of political cowardice over Asian perpetrators added on top of the standard see-no-evil approach to child sexual abuse. Prison sentences are sometimes handed out but the public turns away its gaze and the authorities are never brought to pay the price for their dereliction of responsibility.   

  In terms of the Muslim sensitivities I am always reminded of Joan Bakewell’s words at the time of the Ayatollah’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie – “it is the problem for a basically tolerant society when it takes in intolerant elements. It doesn’t know what to do with them.” I reckon that is where the rot started. My hope for Pluto in Aquarius is that it is fiercely intolerant of intolerance.

Additional random thoughts.

  Belgium held a huge White March on 20 March 1996 to demand better protection for children and a better functioning justice system after the Marcel Dutroux affair, when a serial killer and torturer of young girls with associations to politicians was exposed.  Has much changed since?  All countries have a convulsive moment which then sinks back into torpor.

 Good piece in today’s Times by Matthew Syed who allies hyperliberalism with fascist right wingers – “two equal and opposite forces that are feeding off each other.”

  He says about the gang rapes we should bin euphemisms. This was — ethnic violence of a shocking and sustained kind: predominantly Pakistani men targeting predominantly white girls. Children were drugged, trafficked, gang-raped and tortured, a scandal that shakes one to the core.”

  “And all this took place in plain sight, in no small part because of the capture of our institutions by the virus of ultra-progressivism, the fear that to investigate these crimes might “undermine community cohesion” or — worst of all — appear racist.”

   “Isn’t this what we saw with the trans issue, when a tiny group of activists “won” support by threatening anyone who disagreed with cancellation, leading to a backlash that ensured Trump’s most potent campaign slogan was not about the economy or anything else that once represented the bread and butter of politics. Instead, it was: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you. That’s right: a man who pathologically denies the result of the 2020 election, a serial lawbreaker who flutters his eyelashes at the QAnon conspiracy, was given wings by trans extremists and their (one hopes temporary) capture of American institutions.”

  Thoughts to ponder.

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/nc05syed-plvfdcxnz

Add ON: After a great deal of soul searching at the end of a gruelling five years in the 1990s to find out why child abuse is such an intractable problem to tackle I eventually concluded:

That the perpetrators and their close perverse supporters (whether personally involved or incapable of believing their friend/relative was this monster) as a problem could probably be cracked.

  What was not possible to shift was the great congealed mass of ‘nice’ people (neither abusers nor abused) who did not want to know and often hostilely did not want to know since it disturbed their idealized view of the world.  Their need to hang onto a delusional sanitized world view was the overwhelming obstacle to progress.  

  Every so often an atrocity so horrific breaks through which they have to face but – as soon as possible it seals over and they delete it from mind. And life goes on as before.

It may be a faint hope but Martin Luther King’s thought – “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”  has a mite of truth about it. CSA can be talked about nowadays which it couldn’t be prior to the 1980s. And progress tends to go in pendulum swings from one extreme to the opposite but out of the process incremental change of a positive nature usually results over the long term.

 Institutional cover ups – from the Vatican, to school boards, care home management, to police and the judiciary – are a whole other problem. And are either complicit in the abuse or share the mainstream distaste for being forced to open their eyes to an unsavoury truth.  

Add On: Nick Timothy (with whom I do not always agree politically ) has a trenchant piece in the Telegraph.

“The rape gangs are a massive social and state failure.”

“The machinery of the state failed in their most elementary duties – driven by its core ideologies of ultra-liberalism and multiculturalism – not only looked the other way. In some cases it was an active participant in the racially aggravated mass rape of children.” “We still do not know, for example, the truth about allegations of police collusion, social workers facilitating abuse, and senior councillors cutting deals outside the criminal justice system.”

  “We are witnessing not the strength of an arrogant state, but the weakness and fear of an ideological dynasty that sees its empire collapsing and lacks the power to stop it. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/06/grooming-gangs-scandal-is-shattering-the-woke-worldview/

Add ON: Compiled from police forces in England and Wales. Foreign national males living in Britain commit sex crimes at a far higher rate (3.5 times more likely) than do British men.

The number of rapes soared from about 15,000 a year a decade ago towards its current level of almost 70,000 a year. “That coincided with a sharp increase in immigration by young men from countries and cultures that have not experienced women’s emancipation.”

Data coming from Germany, Denmark and Sweden point towards the same thing too: foreign males are over-represented in their rape statistics and those from countries with a backwards record on women’s rights were hugely so.

“The recent enormous “Boriswave” of immigrants was skewed heavily towards people from culturally non-aligned countries of origin. In other words, we can expect to see British women pay a heavy price for Johnson’s recklessness in the years to come.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/06/foreign-crime-figures-prove-the-folly-of-mass-immigration

See previous post: Europe – embroiled in a clash of cultures 3 December 2023.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/alexis-jay-grooming-gangs-report-hpzll0332

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/grooming-gangs-national-inquiry-cause-unaddressed-2qkqwsprn

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/07/elon-musk-has-ripped-cloak-of-deceit-off-britain-scandal

 

Luke Littler, the youngest world champion in darts history beat one of the greatest players in a match which has sent fans and sports writers into meltdown. He had to produce a birth certificate recently to prove that he is indeed only 17, born 21 January 2007 in Warrington, England. He started at 18 months old when his father bought him a magnetic board and he hasn’t looked back since.

 He has a stellium in Aquarius, ranging from the Sun to Mercury and Venus Neptune conjunct. He has an upbeat Jupiter in Sagittarius in an adventurous square to Uranus; and a do-or-die-determined Mars Pluto conjunction with Pluto in a tough-minded trine to Saturn in wannabe-important Leo.

 Would I have predicted such a spectacular win? Hmm I would have looked at tr Pluto conjunct his Sun exactly for a hugely pressured moment – not always a winning combo; with the tr Saturn square tr Jupiter pushing and pulling his natal Jupiter; and a jolting tr Uranus square his Saturn. On that basis probably not. He does admittedly have his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Mars/Pluto midpoint which would give him a distinct lift and will continue on for another three years as his SA Jupiter moves to conjunct his Mars exactly.  

 It is one of the problems of sports predictions – without birth times especially – that what shows is the stress and exertion as much as the relief or jubilation at a win.

 Sometimes prodigies fade but his 22^nd harmonic hinting at global fame has a Sun Jupiter opposition Uranus square Venus – so he may stay at the top.   

Total Lunar Eclipse on March 14 at 24 degrees Virgo  – the Pisces Sun will conjunct Saturn and Neptune opposing the Sun so the mood will be of uncertainty, with a need for determined effort in the face of difficulties or danger with Mars trine Sun and Saturn.

Partial Solar Eclipse on 29 March at 9 degrees Aries in Saros Series 9 New North. This Saros series is, according to Bernadette Brady, physically expressive so requires effort and may accompany accidents or violent events. The advice is to undertake physical activity but with caution. Around before in 2007, 1989, 1971, 1953, 1935, 1917.  The Aries New Moon will sextile Pluto on one side and Jupiter on the other for a smidgeon of confidence and cheer. Though the hard-edged Saturn trine Mars is still in place with Uranus midway between which won’t be too settled.

Total Lunar Eclipse on September 2 at 15 degrees Pisces for the first time will have Uranus in Gemini trine Pluto and sextile Neptune Saturn so evocative of the new era. The Full Moon in Pisces is trine Jupiter for a hint of luck with Jupiter in turn square Mars for impulsive action.

Partial Solar Eclipse 21 September 29 degrees Virgo in 9 New South Saros series. This Saros series brings to the surface long term worries whether over loved ones, health or to do with paperwork. ‘Any news will have a sense of destiny or fatedness about it.’  Before in 2007, 1989, 1971, 1953, 1935, 1917.

 The final degree Virgo New Moon will trine Pluto and trine Uranus, forming a kite in the opposition to Saturn and Neptune, making a powerful statement so momentous events will happen on its watch. The Saturn Neptune are inconjunct Mars for disagreements and maybe conflicts.

  The eclipses will keep pace with the changing of the celestial guard so it will be a year to stay alert and be flexible.   Last year’s October 2^nd Solar Eclipse at 10 degrees Libra will still be in effect until March – it heralded a time of endings and closure or completion. And the 26 degree Pisces Lunar eclipse also of last September will linger on as well.

  The IS (Islamic State) flag on the truck which drove into a crowded New Orleans street at 3 am on January 1^st killing 15 revellers and injuring dozens more is an ominous sign. If it proves to be more than a disturbed perpetrator, then it will give Trump a serious headache from the start. He may yodel on about immigrants but incoming refugees from South America are a totally different problem from an IS (Middle East) threat on his home turf.

  The killings started around 3.15am in New Orleans unsurprisingly on the Mars opposition Pluto which often accompanies acts of brutality. It also gives a late Leo Midheaven conjunct Trump’s Mars. 

  The USA chart is on high alert at the moment anyway with the high-risk Solar Arc Saturn conjunct Mars still in effect and moving on to a worrisome SA Saturn square the Neptune through 2025.

  There is no exact date for the foundation of IS, a transnational Salafi jihadist group, but there was a declaration of intent made on 29 June 2014 5pm Baghdad, Iraq. IS gained global prominence in 2014 when its militants conquered large territories in Iraq and Syria and by 2015, its self-declared caliphate ruled an area with a population of about 12 million. After a grinding conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019, reverting to insurgency from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts.

The IS Declaration chart does show a ‘lucky’ break Solar Arc Uranus square Jupiter at the moment as well as a forceful SA Sun square Mars – with indications of a more confident push  by 2028. The chart has a Cardinal Grand Cross so it is not short of initiative or the ability to reinvent itself.

  The Trump/IS relationship chart which flags up deep dislike and suspicion will be rattled in the early months of the new administration and will be undercut by tr Saturn Neptune square the composite Sun, Venus, Mercury from before mid 2025 into 2026. Not indicative of conflict but a confusing situation causing concern.

 The USA/IS relationship chart similarly does not look aggravated in terms of acts of violence but tr Saturn in Aries in 2026/27 will see a standoff with the tussle of the upper hand running into a stalemate.

 The Paris Bataclan shooting of 13 November 2015 with 130 dead and 350 wounded was claimed as an IS atrocity. It happened with the North Node conjunct Mars at zero degrees Libra. This New Orleans killing occurred exactly half a cycle later with the North Node at zero Aries, trine/sextile the Mars opposition Pluto.

 IS have not yet claimed responsibility and there are no neon lights flashing red on the charts but the undercurrents are concerning. Especially given the USA’s unwavering support in supplying arms to Israel. Not that IS will particularly care about the Palestinians but the Israeli carnage in Gaza can only inflame the mood in the Middle East and give hostages to fortune.   

ADD ON: Shamsud-Din Jabbar, named as the New Orleans perpetrator, was born 26 October 1982 in Beaumont, Texas (source: MSN). This made him a Sun Venus conjunct in Scorpio with Jupiter also in Scorpio with a determined and bleak Saturn Pluto in Libra sextile Mars Neptune in Sagittarius.  

  If accurate, he had been through a turbulent emotional patch with tr Pluto square his Venus and at the moment his Sun/Venus midpoint – plus an intense Progressed Mars square his Pluto bringing acute frustrations and turbulent dark feelings.

 The Vegas cybertruck bomber if it is Matthew Livelsberger, though his remains are yet to be identified, according to his passport was born 22 July 1987 in Colorado Springs, making him a final degree Sun Cancer with a determined, courageous (and desperate) Mars square Pluto. Tr Pluto was just finished two years of opposing his Sun which is a punishing process of forced change.

  I am reminded often with these murder-suicides of Ernest Becker’s thought that what many fear is not death itself but death with insignificance. The prospect of a failed marriage or other existential crisis bringing feelings of intense inner worthlessness spark a last desperate need to gain attention by going out with a bang.  The tragedy is that bystanders become the unwitting victim of a perverted howl for validation.  

Jocelyn Wildenstein whose extreme addiction to plastic surgery led to grotesque changes in her appearance has died in her sleep aged 84. As her marriage to a wealthy art collector billionaire started to crumble she hoped to win back his affections by ‘improving’ her appearance and since he had an interest in wild cats on his Kenya ranch she opted for the feline look. ‘By the end her skin was stretched so tightly over her face that she could barely blink and her lips so stuffed with collagen they looked like rubber. The first time Alec Wildenstein saw his newly-sculpted wife, he was said to have screamed in horror. “She seems to think that you fix a face the same way you fix a house”, he complained later.

 During their opulent marriage their spending was obscene – reputedly $1 million a month over twenty years. Despite her massive divorce settlement when the split came, she end up in recent years filing for bankruptcy.

 Born 5 August 1940 in Lausanne, Switzerland, she was not surprisingly a flamboyant Sun Leo conjunct Mars with Pluto also in Leo and her Sun sitting on her Mars/Pluto midpoint. She also had Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and Algol in Taurus trine Neptune, and in varying squares to her Leo planets – staggeringly Fixed.

  Although Fixed planets dislike change they do incline when in quantity towards extremism and can lead to psychosomatic problems when intractable inner emotional problems are acted out through the body. She tried to change the outside because she couldn’t change the inside. I’m intrigued also by the afflicted Mars.

  Her Mars is conjunct her Sun and square her Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus – which is a volcanic reservoir of bubbling lava. Her Sun on her Mars/Pluto midpoint hints at a tendency to take violent measures. Her Venus/Neptune sits in the same place pointing to illusions and delusions about love and beauty.  Her Venus is also conjunct her Mars/Saturn midpoint suggesting a masochistic streak and again allying a self-destructive impulse and love. Attacking herself brutally all in pursuit of love and beauty.

 Her Solar Arc Mars is exactly square her Sun at the moment which can accompany a ‘shocking’ event.

 Her chart reminded me of Katie Price, an English media influencer, former glamour model, also addicted to cosmetic surgery whose life is in constant financial and emotional chaos.  Born 22 May 1978 she has a Gemini Sun conjunct Algol square Mars Saturn conjunct in Leo with Mercury in Taurus opposition Uranus in Scorpio and possibly a Scorpio Moon. Again hugely Fixed with an angry, afflicted and self-destructive Mars. She also has Venus in Cancer like Jocelyn Wildenstein.

  One motivation in the forcible control of outer appearance must be to bury an inner unworthiness. But part of it may also be a delusional attempt to stave off mortality by refusing to grow old, at least in looks. Beyond weird.

Magic and escapism with a touch of Disney schmaltz  throw sparkle and glitter over Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood. While there has always been an undercurrent of darkness in modern versions of fairytales, the reality of Grimms’ Children’s and Household Tales was a good deal bleaker. The original version of 1812 was not translated until recently making it clear how much the Grimm brothers had watered down their lurid tales for subsequent editions.

Rapunzel is impregnated by her prince and the evil queen in Snow White is the princess’s biological mother, plotting to murder her own child. Dropped altogether in later editions is How the Children Played at Slaughtering, where children playing at being a butcher and a pig. A boy cuts the throat of his little brother, only to be stabbed in the heart by his enraged mother. Unfortunately, the stabbing meant she left her other child alone in the bath, where he drowned. Unable to be cheered up by the neighbours, she hangs herself; when her husband gets home, “he became so despondent that he died soon thereafter”. The cruel stepmother who abandoned Hansel and Gretel was originally their mother.

  Jacob Grimm, 4 January 1785 19.30 pm Hanau, Germany and Wilhelm Grimm 24 February 1786 Hanau, Germany, were inseparable the whole of their lives, becoming university librarians and a professor. Their extraordinary work found international acclaim with later abridged stories translated into more than 170 languages.

 Their project was less about entertaining (and terrifying children) and more about the protection and promotion of Germanic culture. Their nationalistic fervour was troubling. “The popularity of the Grimms’ collection during the Nazi years later led Allied occupation forces to ban the Grimms’ fairy tales for a time after the war, believing that they had contributed to the Nazification of Germany”.

 What is intriguing is that both Grimm bothers were born during the last Pluto in Aquarius and it is an integral part of their charts.  Jacob has a 4^th house Capricorn Sun opposition Uranus square Neptune – certainly inventive, creative, though also veering to the fanatical. His Libra Moon was in a bleak square to Saturn and and affectionate trine to Venus. His attitude to his mother and women would be conflicted.

 His creative and attention-demanding 5^th house Pluto in Aquarius was trine Neptune, sextile Mars in Sagittarius in his 3^rd house – which would give him a cruel streak.

 His brother Wilhelm had a creative, attention-grabbing 5^th house Sun Venus in Pisces with a bleak, hard-edged 4^th house Saturn Pluto in Aquarius trine Neptune trine Mars in Gemini, formed into a Kite by Neptune opposition Jupiter which in turn was part of a Cardinal Grand Cross square Uranus opposition a Capricorn Moon.

  Both had strong, creative charts with a dark streak. Both had North Node in Aquarius which would focus their attention on a cause to which to devote their lives, in their case to promoting Germanic language and culture.

  The two brothers spent their entire lives close together. In their school days, they had one bed and one table in common; as students, they had two beds and two tables in the same room. They always lived under one roof and had their books and property in common, even after Wilhelm married. A visitor  observed, “they both live in the same house, and in such harmony and community that one might almost imagine the children were common property.”  

  Pluto in Aquarius has many facets – nationalism in their case being one, as well as misogyny plus a bloodthirsty streak evident in their tales and even more so in the French Revolution’s bloody Reign of Terror.

ADD ON: Wilhelm married Henriette and had four children.  His Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage significator, was conjunct his 4^th house Saturn Pluto which makes it sound a bleak affair.  Jacob’s Sun/Moon midpoint (he never married) fell in his 3^rd house of siblings.

 Their relationship chart was not all sunshine and roses despite their apparently seamless partnership. There was a composite Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Pluto conjunction hinting at a chained-together bond with underlying resentment; and an irritable composite Moon square Mars.

 But the synastry had important positives with Jacob’s Capricorn Sun conjunct his brother’s Moon; and Jacob’s Jupiter conjunct Wilhelm’s Sun.

The Jupiter in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces hovering over the close of the old year and start of the new has produced an oddly disjointed mood to add to everything else. The square between high-hopes Jupiter and downbeat Saturn picked up in August 2024 and will run on to mid 2025 after which Jupiter in Cancer starts to pull away from Saturn in Aries.

  In addition to mood swings, Jupiter square Saturn usually accompanies a time of faulty planning and judgement where actions are initiated and responsibilities taken on board without preparation. Of which the previous occasion in 2016 when Brexit was promoted and voted through is a prime example. Though added Neptune would also play its part; which will also be the June 2025 experience with Neptune in Aries conjunct Saturn and square Jupiter.

   Timing can be bad since too much Jupiter brings over-optimism and too little discipline so makes charging ahead tempting. In contrast to an overdose of Saturn which induces a crisis of confidence and a reluctance to act.

  The mythological background is revealing with Jupiter/Zeus inspiring messianic and Olympian aspirations – there are no limits to what can be achieved. And Saturn, the pragmatist, being tediously realistic, pointing to the inevitable limitations of life. Jupiter’s tendency to attempt too much leads to crash-landings so disappointment follows heady new beginnings.

  Jupiter square Saturn will be obvious at a personal level as positive events and negative ones will come simultaneously. Good things and not such great things come side by side.

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New Zealand has been under enormous strain in recent years with Pluto bearing down on its Sun Mars in Capricorn square Pluto since early 2022 running till last month. The worst of that is over but it always takes time on the far side of Pluto to see the benefits of the forced changes.

 On the New Zealand chart, 17 January 1853 12 am Wellington, NZ, there is a stuck, slow-progress Solar Arc Saturn opposition Pluto now; as well as a mutinous-electorate SA Pluto opposition Moon, which may be a result of employment or health issues.

  Assuming the start time is sound tr Jupiter through the financial 8^th will bring improvements in coming months with hints of more success late in the year. But this longish phase of massive change for New Zealand will pick up again in 2026/27 when tr Pluto squares the NZ Uranus, upending conventional wisdom and shifting the status quo.

 The Bank of New Zealand, 1 August 1934, should get an upsurge of confidence at points in 2025, alongside significant upheavals.

 Christopher Luxon sworn in as PM on 27 November 2023 11.18 am Wellington, does not have a lucky Administration chart with a Sun Mars in Sagittarius square Saturn, all of which tr Uranus moving into Gemini in July will hard aspect, bringing significant setbacks, running into 2026.

But whatever happens New Zealand is doing well – scoring 99 out of 100 for political and civil liberties – the second highest after Finland. It is also doing well on the corruption-free front; and for safety and security with low domestic and international conflict.

Indications are that Australia faces cautious optimism ahead with an improving employment rate and interest rates tipped to drop. But the Bank of Australia chart, 14 January 1960, suggests there may be a hurdle or two to overcome on the economic front. Tr Neptune will square the Mars from March 2025 on and off till January 2026 which looks like panic and failure; with a totally logjammed Solar Arc Mars opposition Pluto later in 2025.

 The Australia country chart, 1 January 1901 1.35pm Sydney, has tr Pluto crossing the Midheaven through 2025 which does suggest a forced change of direction. Tr Saturn is also square the Jupiter opposition Neptune throughout 2025 which usually accompanies a come-down-to-earth-with-a-bump and face reality phase especially on the cash front.

 PM Anthony Albanese is also on tenterhooks in 2025 with his Administration chart, 23 May 2022 9am Canberra, edgy and in upheaval in April 2025 with tr Uranus square the Saturn; and moving through a turbulent patch as tr Uranus into Gemini will conjunct Mercury and the Sun just after mid year, into 2026. There is a disappointing, high-hopes-dent tr Neptune conjunct the Jupiter also after mid 2025; and a panicky-failure Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Mars in late 2025.

 It won’t all the plain sailing.