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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.

Simone Biles, the peerless American gymnast has pulled out of another final at the Olympics citing mental health issues. In a statement she said she was off form and likely to risk injuring herself. “We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do. I don’t trust myself as much anymore. Maybe it’s getting older. ”

  At 24 she’s already older than Nadia Comaneci and Olga Korbut, two other world class gymnastic Olympians who took the world by storm when they performed years back. They retired at 20 and 22, having started very young.

  There’s not many similarities between the three charts. Olga Korbut, 16 May 1955 in Belarus, is a driven and determined Sun Taurus opposition Saturn in Scorpio square Pluto; with a creative Venus in Aries opposition Neptune square an adventurous and lucky Uranus Jupiter in Cancer.

  Nadia Comaneci, 12 November 1961 in Rumania, is a Sun Scorpio conjunct Neptune on one side and Mars on the other, sextile Saturn – so has a streak of Korbut’s determination. Her Jupiter is inconjunct Uranus and trine Venus Mercury in Scorpio.

  Simone Biles, 14 March 1997 maybe 12.30 am Columbus, Ohio, is a Sun, Venus, Mercury in Pisces opposition Mars in Virgo; with a tough-minded Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries trine Pluto sextiling onto a lucky, adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Aquarius.

  Last Olympics she ignored a kidney stone, refused to be operated on and couldn’t be drugged to ease the pain, and still managed to win her thirteenth gold. Her signature vault – ‘the Biles’ – has never been attempted in competition by any other woman. Nadia Comaneci said of her: “You have somebody who can do something we cannot even design on a paper.” Her superstar 22^nd Harmonic stands out as tough and unique; as well as super-confident.

  Simone had an inauspicious start in life with a drug and alcohol addicted mother and never knew her father. She was rescued from foster care by her grandparents, who despite their modest circumstances indulged her drive to succeed. Earlier this year, she came forward to testify that she, like so many of her fellow gymnasts, had been sexually abused by the US team doctor Larry Nassar.

  Jupiter Uranus appears to be the only common factor between all three gymnasts which is best described as the ‘power of positive thinking’.

  Simone’s Pluto is exactly conjunct her exuberant Mars/Jupiter midpoint. Olga Korbut’s Sun and Pluto are also in aspect to her Mars/Jupiter midpoint; and her Jupiter=Sun/Mars. Nadia’s Sun is conjunct her Jupiter/Pluto midpoint. So a fair sprinkling of confident and high-spirited connections, with two of them having their enthusiastic Venus Mars midpoint also in play.

  If Simone’s 12.30 am birth time is sound then tr Saturn is moving down through her lower profile, less successful first quadrant at the moment; and tr Neptune is hovering around her IC opposing her midheaven which could explain her lack of motivation with tr Neptune conjunct her Sun this year or next depending on birth time and moving onto oppose her Mars in 2023. We may have seen her peak and she’ll have a tricky transition into retirement and her next phase of life/career.

Piers Morgan in his usual crass, brash fashion is berating her withdrawal. But there’s a real risk of serious spinal and other injury if complicated mid air twists go wrong.

Add On: In late May this year she was executing a move so awe inspiring no one else would attempt it. That was when tr Uranus was square her focal point Jupiter giving her the confidence to take a risk and succeed. Then evidently she had problems in training running into the Olympics – that was when tr Saturn had retrograded to conjunct her Jupiter dampening her confidence and causing her to doubt herself. Tr Saturn is now moving to conjunct her Jupiter/Uranus midpoint from August 4th – so she’s stuck in a patch where her self-esteem will be low and her mental attitude not as strong as usual, which for this particular sport is crucially important, if life-changing injuries are to be avoided.

New Zealand on the statistical front appears to be weathering the Covid economic storm but there’s no doubting the challenges ahead. The NZ 4^th house Sun Mars in Capricorn is catching tr Pluto conjunct the Sun this year and next and moving on from early 2022 to conjunct the Mars which will be aggravating, trapped and frustrating till late 2023 on the domestic discontent front. The Solar Arc Saturn is also in a discouraging square to the NZ Sun this year and pointing towards considerable setbacks by 2023 when it squares the NZ Mars.

  From a previous post: New Zealand always was facing an exceptionally tough decade starting on its Uranus Return in 2019, followed by a series of heavy, challenging transits right through the 2020s. Tr Pluto moving into the 4^th house this year and staying for many years ahead bringing internal disquiet and strains, will conjunct the NZ Capricorn Sun Mars and square the NZ Pluto from early 2021 to 2023; with the economically destabilising tr Uranus in Taurus square tr Saturn in Aquarius in 2021 hitting on the NZ (Uranus) Saturn. The Solar Arc Saturn will square the Sun in 2021, then Mars in 2023, then oppose Pluto in 2026 bringing a series of setbacks. By which time tr Pluto has moved into Taurus and will form a disruptive (revolutionary) conjunction to the Uranus and in a tough-slog conjunction with Saturn up to the end of the decade.

  There will be jolts, upheavals and upsets in 2023/2024 economically which show on the Bank of New Zealand, 1 August 1934 chart, but it isn’t as stressed ahead as the USA, UK or EU Central bank charts. It may be ripples from a global crisis or it could be the knock on from a deteriorating relationship with China – or maybe earthquake connected.

  This decade was always going to be one which changed New Zealand in a profound way.

  The Bank of Australia, 14 January 1960, is hinting at more obvious aggravation similar to USA, UK etc between 2023 and 2026 – with a devastating and confused Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Neptune late 2022/early 2023; then a panicky failed tr Neptune square the Mars in 2024/25; a dead-halt, scary Solar Arc Mars opposition Pluto in 2025 and a shock Solar Arc Sun square Mars in 2026.

  The Australia 1 January 1901 chart has an enthusiasm denting tr Neptune square the AU Jupiter in 2023/24 and a muddled square to Mercury in 2024. Tr Pluto will also cross the Midheaven, depending on the accuracy of the start time from 2023 to 2025, which can be a time of blocks on progress, necessitating a complete rethink of direction thereafter. It can sometimes accompany a loss of reputation or status as well. So tough times.   

Anti-vaxxers are falling out of favour in the USA with infection rates spiralling and even the Republicans have now gone into fast reverse on the subject. But there are still a hard-core of fanatical activists, in the UK and France as well, objecting vociferously to being told what to do, as they see it.

  What is striking about four of the top screamers – Robert F Kennedy Jnr, Christiane Northrup, Joseph Mercola and UK’s Piers Corbyn – is how similar their charts are. Sun in hard aspect to Uranus for a contrary, rebellious and uncooperative streak. An afflicted angry Mars most often in aspect to Pluto, so hyper-sensitive to being bullied because of childhood experiences though, au naturellement, that’s what they turn in. And Uranus Neptune hard aspects which can give a fanatical streak and a tendency to hang on to batty ideas even when all the evidence points against their beliefs.

  Robert Kennedy Jnr, 17 January 1954 Washington is a Sun Venus in Capricorn opposition Uranus square Neptune. With Mars in Scorpio conjunct Saturn and square Pluto.

 Christiane Northrup, 4 October 1949, Sun Neptune mercury in Libra square Uranus; with a Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo square Venus.

Piers Corbyn, 10 March 1947, is a Sun Pisces square Uranus; with a focal point Mars in Pisces on a Yod inconjunct Saturn Pluto sextile Neptune; with Neptune trine Uranus.

  Joseph Mercola, 8 July 1954, is a Sun Cancer conjunct Uranus square Neptune; with Mars in strident Sagittarius trine Pluto Venus in Leo.

  There may also be an element of jumping on a bandwagon to grab the spotlight but a goodly chunk of it is venting their rage against an unfair world/daddy/big government and this just happens to be a convenient issue for them to sink their teeth into. And for some there may be the alternative medicine dislike of putting foreign substances into the body. A touch of the Jehovah Witness fervour against medical interference.   

See previous January 16 2020 post.

An over-the-top socialite-marries-billionaire wedding on Saturday saw Lady Kitty Spencer, niece of Princess Diana, married to South African fashion-mogul Michael Lewis, who is twice her age and five years older than her father. She dazzled in a series of gowns made for her by Dolce & Gabbana, for whom she is a brand ambassador.

  The wedding chart for 6pm Frascati, nr Rome, has, not surprisingly, a frivolous, indulgent and extravagant Jupiter opposition Venus and Mars in flamboyant Leo – as befits a high fashion event. Though the Mars is also on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Pluto which will be tricky to balance. There’s also a cool, workmanlike Moon Saturn in Aquarius widely opposition Sun and on the other side square Uranus – so their domestic life is likely to be a touch ratchety and changeable. There’s also an intense Mercury opposition Pluto.

  She was born 28 December 1990, the eldest child of Earl Spencer, though not in line to inherit Althorp because of the weirdly behind-the-times aristo rules which hand it over to her younger brother. Her mother Victoria suffered from eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse during her six year marriage to Spencer, so Kitty would not have an easy start.

  She’s a rebellious and highly-strung Sun, Uranus Neptune in Capricorn with a sophisticated though cool Venus Saturn also in Capricorn. Plus she has an aggravated Moon Mars in Taurus opposition Pluto suggesting a more than difficult relationship to both parents.

  Her crossovers with her father are especially fraught with her determined Mars in Taurus conjunct his Sun and his unpredictable Uranus Pluto in Virgo trine her Sun Uranus Neptune.

  I have a birth date of 27 January 1959 for her husband Michael Lewis though I can’t remember where it came from. If accurate, he’s a Sun Aquarius opposition Uranus square Neptune; with Mars in Taurus opposition Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio square a charming, good-for-frivolous-fashion Venus in Aquarius.  It sounds feasible.

  Her next two years look challenging and quite an uphill push with tr Pluto trine her Mars and Solar Arc Saturn square her Mars.

  A life out of the ordinary for sure.

Global patterns are beginning to emerge from the astrology about economies ahead which suggest it won’t be a smooth handover to the new celestial order towards and across the middle of the decade.

The USA is more problematic where it comes to pinning down the economics than the UK because there’s not an agreed start time and therefore houses are dubious. Though the USA Federal Reserve Bank, 16 November 1914 9am Washington, DC, does indicate a similar judder to the Bank of England chart between 2023 and 2026.

   Tr Pluto picks up the opposition to the FedRes Neptune in 2023 into 2024 which tends to be devastating and confusing; followed by an equally hair-raising tr Neptune Saturn in Aries square the Saturn Pluto in Cancer in 2025/2026 and tr Uranus tugging on the Neptune and then in opposition to the Mars in 2026/2027.

  The 2025 Inauguration chart, assuming it sticks to scheduled times, is challenging to put it politely with a 10^th house Sun Pluto opposition a 4^th house Mars – complete road block, frustrating, trapped, discontented electorate.

  The USA 4 July 1776 chart is marginally panicked this year with tr Neptune square the Mars; and trudging through the Pluto Return in 2022/23. There’s then a run of tricky Solar Arcs and transits between 2024 and 2027 – Solar Arc Saturn conjunct Mars in 2024 which is a sharp setback; tr Neptune Saturn square the US financial Venus in 2025 and Jupiter in 2027 which will be undermining economically and can be balloon-bursting with shocks from Solar Arc Sun square Mars and opposition Neptune in 2026/2027.

  So the much vaunted celestial gear shift of Pluto into Aquarius, Neptune into Aries and Uranus into Gemini may not be as uplifting as hoped, at least initially.

  The European Central Bank, 1 January 1999 chart won’t escape the strain either with a disastrous tr Pluto conjunct the Neptune in 2024/25; and marked disruptions and upheavals from Solar Arc Uranus square Pluto. The EU chart itself hints of failed plans in 2023/24 despite a massively over confident push in 2022/23. And will be completely poleaxed and stuck in 2025 as well as jolted all over the place with Solar Arc Pluto square the Uranus and opposition the Moon.

  No doubt the storms will – as ever – pass with rebuilding on the far side but it won’t be a seamless transition from Earth and Water Capricorn and Pisces to Air and Fire Aquarius and Aries for sure.

Five years after his death from an accidental fentanyl opioid overdose Prince’s estate is issuing a never-before-heard album recorded in 2010, which offers a prophetic window into present day social struggles – racism, political division, technology and disinformation.

  Regarded as one of the greatest musicians of all time, he often played most or all instruments on his recordings and was known for his flamboyant and androgynous persona and wide vocal range. He was also a career activist, advocating for the empowerment of Black people in the recording industry and beyond. His sudden death left a tangled estate behind with no will and his six siblings squabbling with the administrator, lawyers and now the IRS who reckon the valuation of $80 million was ways too low.

   He was born 7 June 1958 at 6.17pm in Minneapolis, Minnesota into a musical family with his parents divorcing when he was young.

  He had an extremely complex chart with an 8^th house Gemini Sun in a downbeat opposition to Saturn in his 2^nd. His 4^th house Pisces Moon opposed Pluto on his Midheaven squaring into Mercury in Gemini – emotionally intense, highly-strung, nervy. With his 12^th house Neptune opposition Venus square Uranus – certainly innovative, could be confused or fanatical, mystical and not always stable. Most significantly he had a high-octane 5^th house performing Mars in pro-active and impetuous Aries on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Pluto Midheaven – vitality plus but could be self-defeating, tending to shoot into top gear with maximum vigour. Part of his use of painkillers may have come from his wild physical antics on stage causing injuries to his hips and legs, which can almost certainly be ascribed to that no holds-barred Mars in his 5th – not helped by having no Earth in his chart. 

A 12^th house Neptune can have a tendency to addiction and it was trine an afflicted Pisces Moon so he would feel the need to take the edge off his hyper-active mental and emotional state.

  When he died from counterfeit pills, which have never been traced, his Progressed Mars was exactly square his focal point Uranus which is an explosive combination – and he was on his Second Saturn Return.  Oddly he also had tr Uranus opposition his 12^th house Jupiter exactly which usually brings relief and a lucky break.  Jupiter often turns up around death.

The latest UK economic figures are uncomfortable in fiscal terms but do back up the astrology, which in a perverse way is reassuring. Statistics up at stratospheric levels tend not to mean much but the gross debt is £2.2 trillion as of December 2020, equivalent to 104.5 per cent of GDP and 13.7 per cent above the average across EU states. UK indebtedness as a proportion of GDP is two-and a half times higher than at the height of the 2008 crash and UK government debt is now at a rate not seen since the early 1960s. The UK’s national debt has grown far faster than its European neighbours, with the 2008 crisis hitting the UK harder than elsewhere.

   In 2020 – ‘the UK recorded the fourth-largest rise in government borrowing among 35 large economies last year, after experiencing one of the worst recessions in the group and suffering among the highest coronavirus infection rates.’

    Taxpayers will be liable for the cost of the government’s pandemic measures circa £372bn in May, with billions likely on bad loans, as well as eye-watering amounts thrown at PPE, substantial amounts of which are useless, not arrived or not unpacked.

  What was always a concern was tr Uranus moving into the UK’s financial 8^th house from 2019 onwards till circa 2027 which is normally erratic and unpredictable in terms of economic and trade stability. What makes it more complicated for the UK is the 8^th house Mars in Taurus opposition Neptune in the personal financial 2^nd house square Venus in Aquarius in the speculative 5^th opposition Saturn in the 11th. So all the financial houses populated by Fixed planets are due for a Uranus shake-up, jolting and jangling from this year for the next four or five.

   Tr Uranus is conjunct the Mars this year into early 2022; and then moves to square the Venus and opposes the Neptune in 2022 into 2023. There also a road-blocked Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun late 2022/early 2023; with a disruptive Solar Arc Saturn opposition Uranus in 2023; and more financial disruptions of a major order in 2024/25 with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the UK 8^th house Mars.

  2023 with tr Uranus square the Saturn could also see radical changes to the legislature in Parliament as well as sudden changes of future direction.

  The Bank of England chart, 27 July 1694 JC, points to 2023 to 2026 as the fraught, high-risk and nerve-stretching years. A gloss may be thrown over harsh realities initially in 2023 with Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct the financial Venus. But what follows won’t be disguisable. Tr Pluto is in a trapped, frustrating, scary square to the BofE Mars in 2023/2024 (the first Pluto hard aspect since 2008), along with a discouraging, deprived, dead-halt Solar Arc Pluto opposition Saturn also in 2023. Then the Saturn Neptune conjunction in Aries of 2025/26 opposes the Mars which won’t be fun either; having been square the Saturn the year before.

  What will help reboot morale on the UK chart is tr Pluto square the Jupiter and trine Uranus in 2024/2025. At that point green shoots will appear.

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Sarah Ferguson aka Duchess of York has continued on her voyage of self-discovery by writing a Mills & Boon bodice-ripper ‘Her Heart for a Compass’ based on the life of her great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott. She said in an interview: “Personally, I feel more robust, authentic, confident in myself and who I am and where I’m going than ever, and that feeling is very much reflected at the end of Margaret’s journey.’ Another book is planned with her ‘collaborator and co-author’ Marguerite Kaye, known for her hot historical romances.

  Whatever you think of Fergie, you have to take your hat off to her incessant industry – 77 books so far, mainly for children, and endless forays into commerce. She has stuck close to her divorced-but-together ex-Prince Andrew for three decades and is supporting him through the Epstein scandal, which will loom large with Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial now due late November into December this year (if not further delayed).

  She was born 15 October 1959 9.03am (from memory) London, and despite her blundering manner or maybe because of it she is directly descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch, Abercorn and Devonshire.

   She has an impulsive Sun Mars in Libra with an equally impetuous 5^th house Moon in Aries. Plus a controlling, can-be-influential and superficially charming Pluto Venus on her Midheaven in a pushily confident square to Jupiter in Sagittarius. Her brash, uninhibited streak probably comes from her Pluto Jupiter plus a Fire Moon and Sun Mars. She doesn’t appear to have too many internal brakes.  Though she has a disconcerting habit of talking about herself in the third person which sounds frankly dissociated.  The Duchess, Fergie, Sarah – a handful of alter egos to toss around.

   This is not her shining hour with tr Pluto in a trapped frustrated square to her Mars now till mid August and again through this December. 2022/23 doesn’t look like a walk in the park either with confused and devastated Pluto transits to three substantial midpoints; with more blockages and gloom in 2023 and a run of disasters in 2024/25. Her Progressed Moon continues to limp through her emotionally intense and conflicted 8^th house for another ten months. What’s intriguing is tr Uranus moving above her Descendant from mid 2022 onwards for several years which could suggest a split in a close relationship. Her relationship chart with Andrew will hit a rock n’ roll patch from mid 2022 with losses or disappointments into 2023.

  If anything she dislikes Ghislaine Maxwell more than Andrew and that pairing looks highly stressed until 2025.  Though that may not be the only blot on the horizon since with the Queen winding down, Andrew’s situation will be left to Charles’s tender mercies. The brothers do not exactly get on with a chilly composite Moon square Saturn and a competitive Sun Mars in their relationship chart; and Sarah even less well with Princes Charles – and she looks persona non grata with him in future years.

  Two key influences are plaguing Andrew’s chart. One is tr Neptune going through his 8^th which not only has an undermining effect on finances, it can also drag secrets out into the open. The 8^th ruling sexuality as well as money.

  The other is his 6^th house Mars Venus in Capricorn which is catching the tr Pluto conjunction from early 2022 to late 2023 and the Solar Arc Moon is also conjunct in 2022/23. This could be health related but his Venus Mars is very Epstein-connected as well.

   He also has his Progressed Moon moving into his 8^th within weeks and staying until after mid 2023 which is a long drag. And fairly catastrophic midpoint Uranus transits from June 2022 for a year.

  What is strange in the midst of all this disaster is his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his 7^th house Sun in 8 months and relatively upbeat Solar Arc from birthday February 2021. Mind you he is so arrogant what would humiliate most people into a puddle of shame probably slides off his back.

   His posthumous relationship chart with Epstein looks shaken and stirred and not in a good way until 2025.