not categorised

David Milgaard’s chilling story of being imprisoned for 23 years between the ages of 16 and 39 for a crime committed by someone else stands as one of Canada’s most egregious wrongful convictions. He was living a hippie lifestyle when he was banged up in 1970 for the sexual assault and murder of a nursing assistant and was only freed after his mother’s tireless efforts in 1992. Her search pointed to a serial rapist who lived nearby and subsequent DNA tests proved it. Over the years, lawyers accused police of having “the worst kind of tunnel vision” during the investigation of the case. In prison he was raped and attempted suicide.

 After his release David Milgaard became a passionate and effective defender of the wrongfully convicted, pushing to create an independent commission to review wrongful-conviction applications. After his release he settled down and had two children.  Those close describe him as a gracious man who did not hold onto anger or animosity. “He wanted to live life to the fullest with the time that was available to him and not carry a grudge,” said Dr. Patrick Baillie, a psychologist who testified on his behalf at the inquiry into his wrongful conviction in 2006.

  He died at the weekend from pneumonia.

  Born 7 July 1952 in Winnipeg, he was a Sun, Uranus, Venus in Cancer square Neptune and Saturn in Libra and opposition a Capricorn Moon. He also had Mars in Scorpio which must have made living with injustice doubly difficult. And an upbeat Jupiter in Taurus sextile his Sun, Uranus, Venus and square his Pluto – which almost certainly kept his optimism alive through those gruelling years.

   His Pluto was conjunct his South Node which Sakoian & Acker describe as ‘learning how it feels to be a victim of circumstances beyond his control.’ And being forced to build a life without the help of others. It can foster resourcefulness, self-reliance and the ability to survive under hardships. Not much to disagree with there.

  When he was incarcerated there was significant pressure on his Mars in Scorpio with a panicky, undermining conjunction from Solar Arc Neptune and square from Solar Arc Venus; as well as the tr Saturn in Taurus opposition Jupiter sitting on top of it. And tr Uranus was conjunct his Saturn with tr Pluto conjunct in the years following for a jolting and then deeply depressing time.

  Around the time he was released in 1992 tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn was moving in opposition to his Sun, Venus Uranus in Cancer in the run up, maybe conjunct his Moon. The tough tr Saturn in Aquarius square Pluto in Scorpio were tugging on his Pluto NN/SN so it would not be an instant celebration but a sobering moment as he reflected on what he had lost. It was another five years before he was exonerated so he would be facing that further challenge.

Urrgh. Bless DNA and mothers. I don’t suppose the police who were largely responsible for the miscarriage of justice were ever brought to book. But they should have been.

The unstoppable Tom Cruise is picking up rave reviews for his latest mega-blockbuster Mission Impossible 7 (Part One) – “thrilling, moving and gloriously Cruisey —- the best studio action film in years.” He also managed to collect the top billing for the Queen’s Jubilee feste for reasons no one can fathom. Most interestingly of all he appears to be drifting away from Scientology, the much maligned cult church which he has stuck to through thick, thin and damaging publicity for decades. Reasons given appear to be differences over Covid vaccination at a time when he was under heavy financial pressure to deliver a movie with strict film-set protocols in place.

  Born 3 July 1962, no verified birth time, Cruise has a Water Grand Trine of a Cancer Sun trine Neptune trine Jupiter with Jupiter in a confident opposition to Pluto, making influential Pluto the driving planet. He clearly knows what the public wants and has talent as an actor which balances out his Ron Hubbard thetanesque obsession. The Water Grand Trine will wrap him in his own private bubble of reality and won’t always connect him to knock-on-wood common sense.

   His Neptune is further emphasized being in a creative though neurotic square to Saturn in Aquarius opposition a leadership North Node (and Moon) in Leo. His Mars in ultra-determined Taurus is conjunct Algol is in a high-adrenaline, risk-addicted square to Uranus and Venus in Leo.

  He shares a general pattern with Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, 13 March 1911, who was a Sun Pisces square Pluto and a Mars Uranus opposition Neptune – the outer planets are intertwined with personal planets, more than most and Hubbard also had a head-in-the-clouds, guru-chasing Jupiter Neptune Mercury Water Grand Trine.

  Cruise’s best Scientology buddy heretofore is/was David Miscavige, head of Scientology since Hubbard moved to a different astral plane in the late 1980s.

 Miscavige, 30 April 1960, is nothing if not a good businessman with an Earth Grand Trine of a Taurus Sun trine Jupiter in Capricorn trine Pluto in Virgo, with his Sun opposition Neptune. He also had a wide-ish Yod of Saturn sextile Mars inconjunct Uranus making him hard-edged, rebellious, intolerant of convention.

 This year will be testing for him as the Eclipses collide with his central Taurus Sun opposition Neptune – perhaps more secrets emerging, but certainly a life-changing set of challenges. Plus tr Uranus will be yanking at his focal point Uranus for disruptions and forced changes.

  He is chalk and cheese to Cruise and their relationship chart indicates a one-sided partnership with underlying resentment that was always going to blow at some point. There is a controlling composite Sun square Pluto and a bad-tempered Mars square Saturn. The Mars Saturn has been under severe pressure really since 2018 when tr Uranus in Aries set a fuse under it; and was followed in 2020/21 by a frustrating, impatient tr Pluto square Mars and moving on to conjunct the Saturn in 2023/24 for a discouraging set of pressures. Pluto tr Saturn in Pisces will hit the composite Sun square Pluto in 2023 as well.

  It would have a considerable ripple effect on Scientology never mind the financial hit if Cruise cut ties.      

Recovering from a potentially crippling injury to become a record-breaking Mount Everest guide is an inspirational tale of mind over matter. Kenton Cool shattered both heels when he was 22 in a climbing accident and was told he would never walk again without a cane. He had a year of surgery and therapy and went on to work in Rope Access – scaling tall buildings without scaffolding – and then co-founded a global adventure company before becoming a leading Alpine guide.

 He has helped Ben Fogle and Ranulph Fiennes, amongst others, to scale Everest and this weekend his 16^th climb broke the record for most ascents by a non-Sherpa. He charges a six-figure sum to amateurs who want to climb Everest and has the best success rate of any guide, with over 80 per cent of his clients making it to the peak.

  He also became the first person to complete the Everest triple crown, comprising Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, in one push without returning to base camp, and previously led a client to the summit of K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain.

  When he had his accident his injuries had been so bad that the doctors were amazed he hadn’t broken his back. “But I was determined to prove everybody wrong, that I could climb again.” He defied doctors’ predictions though he still has chronic pain.

  Born 30 July 1973 in Slough, he has a chart reeking of initiative, a love for risk and excitement and confidence.  His Leo Sun (and Moon) oppose Jupiter in Aquarius, with Jupiter in turn in a positive-thinking trine to his Pluto. His adventure-seeking comes from a go-ahead Mars in Aries opposition Uranus square Mercury in Cancer – Mars Uranus relishes high-adrenaline-rush activities. Even more significantly he has Saturn in final degree Gemini opposition North Node square Pluto and that is tough and unyielding, drawn to difficult, deprived situations over which he can maintain control.

When he had his accident one of his T Squares had moved by Solar Arc to collide with the other – with his Solar Arc Pluto opposition his Mars which is usually catastrophic, made all the more so because it brought the full weight of two T Squares together. Tr Neptune was also in an undermining square to his Mars – all round bad news.

  His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic is enthusiastic and super-confident. His 16^th harmonic, usually a necessity for a life of extreme endurance, is also strong and lucky.

  I must admit to having a soft spot for adventurers, especially ones who ignore and disprove medical advice. Good to know there are some out there who aren’t malodorous whackjobs or shambolic politicos.

The double sickness at the heart of the USA – guns and racism – re-emerges with a mass shooting by a deranged teenager with an AR-15 at a supermarket in a predominately Black neighbourhood. 10 were killed with three injured. Despite having a mental health evaluation last year for making threats of shooting he was free to buy heavy weapons, with a rifle and a shotgun also found in his car. The suspect, Payton Gendron, 18, drove more than 320km (200 miles) to carry out the attack.

A 180-page document authored by him has emerged, in which he describes himself as a fascist and a white supremacist, parroting the conspiracy fears favoured by extremist websites of immigrants taking over.

  His mother proudly showed family pics on social media with weaponry boxes on display for Christmas and children clearly inculcated with a love for guns. https://twitter.com/yourgirlavie/status/1525623786330112003. 

I hope like Ethan Crumbley, the parents get arrested as well – see post December 10 2021.

 Payton Gendron, born 20 June 2003, is a late degree Sun Gemini conjunct Saturn in Cancer trine Uranus Mars in Pisces – so a high-wire, hair-trigger and overly excitable as well as depressed temperament. His Mars Uranus is further jacked up being square the South Node/North Node opposition.  His Pluto is in a confident, pushy trine to Jupiter in flamboyant Leo and in an emotionally ramped-up opposition to Venus Mercury. His Jupiter is also opposition an unstable/head-in-the-clouds Neptune. An explosion waiting to happen, aided and abetted by deficient parenting and outrageously lax gun checks.

  There’s not much to be gleaned from his chart and he’s unlike Ethan Crumbley, a Sun Taurus square Saturn and opposition Jupiter. Though I suppose the unstable mix of low self-esteem from Saturn and over-confidence from Jupiter might be deemed a problem. Both have Jupiter in hard aspect to Neptune and Venus in hard aspect to Pluto.

  Searching around for other shooters I came across Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the New Zealand alt-right, white-supremacist, promoter of ‘white genocide’ conspiracy theories, who shot up two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 killing 51. He was older, 27 October 1990, and had a chart custom-built for extremism and out-of-control rage. He has an intense Scorpio Sun, Venus, Mercury square Jupiter in flashy Leo opposition North Node in crusading Aquarius (and Moon). His Mars in Gemini is on the focal point of a Yod to Pluto sextile Saturn Neptune in Capricorn – and that is nasty. Plus a rules-don’t-apply Pluto square Jupiter.

  Police recovered six guns: two AR-15 style rifles, two 12-gauge shotguns (a semiautomatic Mossberg 930 and a pump-action Ranger 870), and two other rifles (a .357 Magnum Uberti lever-action rifle, and a .223-caliber Mossberg Predator bolt-action rifle, along with more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition. And this didn’t raise any red flags?

  No great conclusions except the neanderthal mentality appears alive and kicking.

Emmanuel Macron officially embarks this weekend on his Second Presidency for what looks like a tempestuous term ending in tears and tribulations. France itself is undergoing a seismic shift and series of convulsions between 2022 and 2025 and his own chart indicates banana skins galore, misjudgments and ultimately failure.

  He had a low-key swearing in on 7 May 2022 (circa 11.02am) and the new government officially started at midnight at the end of the 13^th. Both charts have unpredictable Sun Uranus conjunctions square a downbeat Saturn. Both hint at financial woes and the 13^th May points to a grandstanding performance with pzazz, aimed at attracting publicity but not stable. 

  What is interesting about the 13^th May chart is that it has a Moon on the focal point of a Yod as does his own birth chart – they suggest emotional disorganization, an overly defensive attitude and a tendency to react in a self-defeating way. It will be most noticeable in the effects of the Term chart with a singleton Libra Moon conjunct Midheaven inconjunct a flashy, showbiz Mars Neptune sextile a 5^th house Taurus Sun. The 7th May swearing in also has a prominent Moon in moody Cancer on the Ascendant opposition Pluto – hinting at over reactions to criticism.

  France is undergoing quite a roller coaster with its central Fixed T Square of rebellious Uranus opposition Pluto square Mars Midheaven in Scorpio catching this year the discouraging tr Saturn hard aspects and the tr Uranus hard aspects which will be even more unsettling from mid 2023 into 2025, with forced jolting changes. Tr Neptune is also heading to the undermining opposition to the France Virgo Sun by 2024/25

 Macron’s own chart has tr Saturn now moving below his Capricorn Ascendant for a less successful few years ahead; with tr Pluto conjunct his Ascendant in 2022/23 putting immense pressure on his reputation and image and giving him an urge to over-control. He has a run of tricky Solar Arcs – this year a jolting SArc Sun square Uranus and Moon; 2023 has a depressingly stuck Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Pluto; and by 2024 tr Neptune is in a disappointing, indecisive square to his Sun Mercury; with a car-crash Solar Arc Mars square his Sun in 2025 along with a sharp change of direction tr Uranus opposition his Midheaven. He will have odd patches of sunshine on the way through but in general it won’t be a fun time. Most of what happens won’t be his doing but he won’t handle it well.

  His relationship chart with France is disruptive this year; edgy and upsetting in 2023/25 and beyond-aggravated by 2025.

  His relationship with the UK, never good at the best of times, will take a sharp downward spiral from this year throughout his stint at the Elysee Palace.

  Like the UK politicians, he is making the most of the Ukraine invasion to grab personal attention for himself, but from a different direction. He started by initiating peace-making initiatives with Putin and now appears to have gone overboard trying to placate the Russians, saying there’ll be no EU membership for Ukraine for decades or NATO membership either. Neither of which are in his gift or helpful in the circumstances. His chart relocated to Moscow has Jupiter in the 4th making it a comfort zone for him. Sigh.

There was a bizarre and slightly pathetic mise-en-scene for the Queen’s Speech with the Imperial State Crown minus its keeper sitting centre spotlight on a cushion, effectively upstaging Prince Charles who had to perform the political ritual. If it was a pointed reminder that the Queen had sworn lifelong devotion to the throne, it didn’t work. Her appearance two days later in beaming good spirits at a horse show added to the tone deafness of the exercise.

  No one begrudges her pleasures after a gruelling lifetime of service or would be anything other than understanding of her handing over the reins to Charles as Prince Regent.  But as her vanity stops her being wheelchaired into state occasions, the question of her misgivings about whether Charles is up to the job looms large. Added to which she is extraordinarily fixed and rigid so dislikes change and may, like her mother, have a strong resistance to stepping back from a front line status.

  Queen Victoria, who left her son and heir Edward deprived of political influence until he was 60, before she died and handed over the reins, famously disapproved of him but his subsequent ten year reign turned out, much to everyone’s surprise, to be successful. He was charming, had a string of mistresses, but was progressive in his views on tolerance and alleviating class divisions.  

   Like Charles, King Edward V11, 9 November 1841 10.48 am London, was a Sun Scorpio. His relationship with his mother Queen Victoria was fraught with his Virgo Moon being opposition Uranus  – and her tough, chilly, disciplinarian Saturn Pluto in Pisces being opposition his Moon and her Uranus Neptune square, sitting on his Ascendant and Saturn. Not a great mix.

  What he also shared with Charles was the Mars Pluto cross over with his mother. Edward’s Pluto in Aries was conjunct Victoria’s Mars with his Mars Square – he would be trapped and enraged by the power imbalance in their relationship.

  Charles’ Pluto opposes his mother’s Mars with his Sun square – so similar. And it’s worse in their relationship chart with a composite Pluto opposition Mars Jupiter. Jupiter Pluto suggests a tussle for the upper hand. Mars Pluto which appears in many of the Queen’s relationships is an indication that there is only one power figure in the family. It may be partly her spiritual pledge to the throne but she makes it abundantly clear that she calls the shots and no one else. What makes the chemistry between herself and Charles trickier still is a composite Sun square Uranus hinting they need a good deal of space from each other and have differing agendas and outlooks with neither willing to compromise.

  Charles and his mother are additionally an uneasy mix despite his 10^th house Taurus Moon being exactly conjunct her Sun, because her critical Saturn is conjunct his Sun which will be fault-finding and dampen his self-esteem.

  Throughout a long reign Queen Elizabeth has been selfless and conscientious to a staggering degree, rarely putting a foot wrong and in recent years has seemed like a beacon of stability to the country. But her judgement about certain members of the close family has always been her Achilles Heel, over-critical about Charles and under-by-a-mile of Andrew. Her relationship with Charles is the most fraught of all her children which must make it impossibly difficult for him.

  I can’t find an exact time for the oath at the Coronation chart, 2 June 1953 (does anyone have it?) but it is sagging this year with tr Neptune square the Mars and may have the Solar Arc Midheaven (on an 11am start time) square the Saturn.

  What is for sure is that 2023 will see huge changes for both the Queen and Charles with tr Pluto in Aquarius square Charles’ Moon and the Queen’s Sun from late March onwards. Even before then the Scorpio/Taurus Eclipses are rattling the Queen’s Midheaven and Saturn and Charles’ Sun and Mercury in Scorpio at the moment and through this year. Tr Uranus is also square Charles’ Pluto from next month hinting at the start of an upheaval running into 2023; with added pressure from tr Uranus opposition his Sun in 2023.

  When Edward V11 succeeded his mother Victoria in 1901 there were also Scorpio/Taurus Eclipses in place.

  A sad passing of an era – and it will be a considerable wrench and jolt for the country. But life must go on.

Add On: As near as I can make it the oath was taken twenty minutes after the 11am start of the ceremony. That would put the Taurus Midheaven in line for a decisive change of direction across the middle of this year, and into early 2023.

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Cryptocurrencies are collapsing with some reduced to zero in value. Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, has seen their shares lose around three-quarters of their value since the market debut last year, and drop 32 per cent this week.

  I stumble around in the dark where these magical, mystical, non-real money tokens are concerned but for what it is worth –

Coinbase, founded 20 June 2012, has a Gemini Sun square Mars in Virgo which is catching the panicky-failure tr Neptune opposition Mars now and into early 2023; with financial disappointments extending on as tr Neptune squares the Sun before moving into Aries in 2025. Their Nasdaq chart, 14 April 2021, shares similar confidence and enthusiasm denting influences this year extending on to 2025.

Bitcoin, the original, founded 3 January 2009, has been under astro-pressure for the past year and finally breached the seawall now as the Solar Arc Saturn square the Mars.

 Ethereum, 2 July 2015, which shares with Bitcoin a do-or-die-determined and utterly ruthless Mars Pluto hard aspect, is into earthquake territory this year with Solar Arc Pluto square the Uranus – and this week’s Lunar Eclipse colliding with its Saturn in Scorpio. The next few years look stormy and high-risk with the Solar Arc Mars approaching the opposition to the Pluto and the Solar Arc Sun square the Uranus.

Another Pluto in Capricorn ‘greed is good’ phenomenon intertwined with Neptune in Pisces up to its sleight-of-hand dream-spinning.

The Good Friday agreement – ‘one of the great achievements of the turn of the century’ – brought to an effective end nearly thirty years of violence in Northern Ireland. The UK attorney- general Suella Braverman is now accusing the EU of putting the peace process at risk by holding the Johnson government to the terms they signed in the Brexit deal – which is a reversal of the truth.

 Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, in between bouts of lambasting Putin while showboating over Ukraine, has also been raining criticism on the head of the Northern Ireland Protocol. As has ‘nightclub bouncer’ David Frost, the former UK/EU negotiator.

  The UK/EU relationship chart is sparking up trouble exactly now with tr Uranus square the composite Venus, on and off into 2023, at which point tr Uranus picks up the aggravated square to the composite Mars into 2024 for a heated emotional spat. The recent Scorpio Solar Eclipse was also conjunct the composite Neptune leading to evasions, delusions and outright deceptions.

  Joe Biden has already issued stern warnings about not upsetting the agreement and his relationship with Boris, hostile at best, is deteriorating badly now until this autumn and again early next year with tr Saturn opposition the composite Mars Pluto; and worsening in 2023 with tr Uranus in square to Mars Pluto.

  The Good Friday Agreement, 10 April 1998 5pm Belfast, has been stressed since Brexit with the Sun, Saturn, Mars in Aries catching the tr Uranus conjunction and now the tr Pluto square to the Mars in 2022/23. So stretching to almost breaking point and ending in a swamp in 2024/25 with tr Pluto conjunct the Neptune.

  None of the Johnson acolytes looks too cheerful this year though whether that is because their shameless posturing has come unstuck or for other reasons isn’t clear. Braverman, a controlling Sun Aries opposition Pluto with a flashy Mars North Node in Leo tied into an ultra-Fixed grand square with Uranus and Venus – is sagging this year, feeling disempowered and into a tumultuous three years thereafter.

  David Frost, a Sun Saturn in Pisces with an explosive Mars Uranus Pluto in Virgo and Boris’s unrealistic Jupiter opposition Neptune – is facing panicky failure this year and a tough slog till late 2023.

  Liz Truss with her eye on the crown has a Leo Sun in a stratospherically ambitious trine to Neptune, sextile Pluto; with a wobbly and inconsistent T Square of Mercury Saturn square Uranus opposition Jupiter and a tough Mars in Taurus. She’s mainly on a losing streak in 2022/23 with one blip of luck this August to December.  

  Words fail me. Well not quite. It’s amoral and punted by those of mind-bendingly low calibre.

Add On: The Times May 14 2022

‘In Downing Street the blame has been laid at the door of Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. She has been accused of unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right while allowing aides to brief journalists that some less Brexit-blooded ministers, such as Michael Gove and Sunak, were trying to stop the plan.

One source described it as “leadership feather-fluttering”, whereas others in government suggested that Truss fully deserved the nickname given to her by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former adviser: the human hand grenade who blew up everything she touched.

“The whole thing is just very painful,” a government aide said. “The Foreign Office has gone very gung ho on it. Yes the process with the EU has been very tortuous but this was never meant to be an exercise in EU bashing. It was meant to be all about the Northern Ireland peace process.”

“Another senior figure who has worked on Brexit added: “The PM has ‘religion’ on this and thinks that the ERG [ the pro-Brexit European Research Group] will love it — but I’m not so sure. What I do know is that a lot of the wider parliamentary party are horrified. Even if it’s technically legal — and there are a range of views on that — it is not going down well.”   

Ninety year old Cardinal Zen has been arrested in Hong Kong for breaking China’s draconian 2020 national security law, on the specious excuse of being a trustee of a humanitarian relief fund, now disbanded, that helped pro-democracy protesters in financial need. Other than the Dalai Lama, there is no individual more despised by the Chinese State Security officials than Zen. Human Rights Watch called it a “shocking new low for Hong Kong.”

Cardinal Zen fled Shanghai for Hong Kong after the communists took over China 70 years ago, is a former bishop of Hong Kong and has long been a critic of the Beijing government, speaking out for Catholics in mainland China and for more democracy in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong church has for more than two decades commemorated the crushing by Chinese troops of student-led protests centred on Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989. But recently local Catholic leaders decided to cancel the annual memorial for fear of violating the new laws.

  Cardinal Zen was born 13 January 1932, fled from China after 1949 and after training as a priest spent his career largely in teaching as he rose to high office.

  He has a rock-solid and reforming chart with trail-blazing Uranus in Aries on the focal point of a T Square to a determined Capricorn Sun opposition Pluto. His Sun is also conjunct a disciplined and steely Mars Saturn in Capricorn. And his Uranus is trine Jupiter in Leo which is trine Mercury in Sagittarius.

  His Neptune in Virgo is unaspected which would suggest that he keeps his spiritual search as an inner not an outer experience; and perhaps hints that he has a bleak view of the possibility of his ideals becoming a reality.

  His tough-minded late Capricorn planets sit uncomfortably with the Neptune and Jupiter respectively on the China 1912 and 1949 charts. And both the relationship charts show a high level of aggravation and dislike.

  Hong Kong itself. 1 July 1997 12 am, is not heading anywhere cheerful with a devastating and confused tr Pluto conjunct Neptune in 2023/24 and stress with disappointment after mid decade. Relations with China will worsen between 2023 and 2026.

  Xi Jinping’s 2^nd Term chart is in an unstable and uncertain year with tr Pluto square the Uranus, hitting exact for a final time this August to December; and tr Neptune square Saturn on and off into early 2023. The pandemic and economic woes are looming large.

 His personal chart, assuming 15 June 1953 is an accurate birth date, indicates a jolting and undermining year now; more disruptions in 2023 and failure/panic in 2024/2025/2026.

  Shaky dictators tend to get more repressive when they feel the ground shifting under their feet.