‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ is coming to an end after 14 years, sending shock waves through their tens of millions of Insta and social media fans. Unfortunately their massed ranks were not translated into viewing figures for the television show which have been dropping in recent times. The show catapulted the Kardashian-Jenner family into international superstars with a multimedia empire replete with clothing lines, cosmetics companies, apps and never-ending tabloid interest in their every move.
It also made a fortune for the network E! which twittered “We have enjoyed following the intimate moments the family so bravely shared by letting us into their daily lives. While it has been an absolute privilege and we will miss them wholeheartedly, we respect the family’s decision to live their lives without our cameras.”
Piers Morgan, on the other hand, always ready with an acid quip said: ‘A bunch of very average looking dumbo bimbos have taken us all to the cleaners and made billions out of prancing around and doing this. Not a brain cell between them.’
The show launched on 14 October 2007 with a Libra Sun trine Neptune sextile Jupiter and Pluto in Sagittarius – so plenty of oomph. With a healing/creative Water Grand Trine of Mercury in Scorpio trine Node in Pisces trine Mars in Cancer, formed into a Kite with Node opposition Venus Saturn in Virgo. A strong chart for what has undoubtedly been a success no matter how much it trivialised the culture.
Mama bear Kris Jenner, known as the savviest businesswoman in the industry, 5 November 1955 6.42 am San Diego, CA, is a determined Scorpio in the 12th so good at pulling strings; with a megaton successful and lucky Jupiter Pluto in Leo on her Midheaven in an unyielding square to Saturn Venus in Scorpio in her 1st – no pushover, for sure. Her family-oriented Cancer Moon square Neptune Mercury is under a Saturnine wet blanket now till November – and more so in 2021/22 with tr Pluto opposition her Moon and in the following year square Neptune. Not all her children are happy about her decision to pull the plug. She’ll no doubt bounce back with another ambitious project but perhaps not before 2025 when tr Uranus squares her Jupiter Pluto after which her Solar Arc Jupiter Pluto is in a hugely successful conjunction to her Sun by 2026.
Kim Kardashian, 21 October 1980 10.46am Los Angeles, is struggling with husband Kanye West’s bi polar meltdowns and I suspect the PTSD aftermath of a seriously frightening robbery in Paris four years ago. That last occurred when tr Saturn in Sagittarius was about to disappear below her Ascendant into her low profile first quadrant where it stays till mid decade so her ambitious drive won’t be what it used to be – despite her 180 million Insta followers. Her chart has lucky Jupiter conjunct her Midheaven opposition a Pisces Moon square a daydreamy and impractical Neptune in her 1st; balanced by a well-organised Saturn in her 10th; with a controlled Sun Pluto in Libra. And Mercury, Uranus, Mars all tucked into her 12th so finding space for herself will be important. She has ups and downs ahead with a buoyant tr Pluto trine her Jupiter in 2022/23 but a challenging tr Pluto square her Sun at the same time; followed by two car-crash Solar Arcs in 20224/25 – so her attempt to revision her life will run into a few obstacles.
Another revenge memoir is out, though not political. This one is by Barbara Amiel, wife of former media tycoon Conrad Black who ended up in prison. ‘Friends and Enemies’ lambasts the socialite luminaries, once her BFFs during her years of obscene wealth and ostentatious display, who dumped her like a hot brick when he went into convict gear. It is described by one reviewer as “608 gloriously indiscreet pages of elegant vitriol. It could equally well be called Sex and Spite in High Society, a cautionary tale of lavish lifestyles, failed marriages, half-hearted suicide attempts and oral sex with an aristocratic pensioner.”
All too unlikeable but interesting from an astrological point of view. Amiel said in an interview ‘I love sex. Opera and sex are my two great passions.’ And a commentator wrote at the time of the Black duo’s showiest phase: “She has an operatic sense of her own tragedy. There is something of the ancient Greek about the couple’s disdain for ordinary people and their belief in the entitlement of the elite.”
And all this from mundane beginnings on 4 December 1940 at 8am just outside of London. Her parents split when she was 8, and she moved with her mother to Canada when she remarried, only to find herself out on the street at 14 with her mother saying she couldn’t cope with her anymore. She slept in cellars, lived in dodgy boarding houses, worked nights in factories and studied to get into Toronto University. She married her first husband when she was a student which lasted a year; the next one lasted five years; and the third also collapsed. Aged nearly 50 she met media mogul Kerry Packer, who funded her into a new flat. The publisher George Weidenfeld followed, then onto Conrad Black and a glittering life of in-your-face opulence with multiple houses, private jets, couture clothes by the roomful.
To do her credit she stood by him when he was inside for 42 months in a U.S. prison, convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice; and is still with him.
She has a hair-curling chart with a 1st house Sagittarius Sun trine Pluto in Leo, sextile North Node in Libra, tying her into the zeitgeist. But what makes her chart extraordinary is a stubborn-to-the-nth degree Fixed T Square of a seductive, passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Scorpio opposition Jupiter Saturn in Taurus squaring onto Pluto; with another Fixed T Square of Mars Venus opposition Saturn square an Aquarius Moon. Very little will budge her when she’s on track and that is doubly so with Pluto as the focal planet – which gives her immense staying power and a capacity for ignoring anyone or anything that attempts to get her to change course. Sexuality is often emphasised with a Fixed sign Pluto and in her case with a multiplication factor given that she also has Venus Mars in Scorpio and Venus Saturn. And contempt is usually a weapon of choice for handling people she considers beneath her.
Her get-it-together 5th Harmonic is well aspected as is her obsessive 11H but her strongest is the 19H which is associated with personal success, happiness and prosperity. However 19 is not a lucky number – being ‘karmic’ in the sense that the person is forced to develop their individuality.
Her final stand-by-your-man husband, Conrad Black, 25 August 1944 6.15am Montreal, Canada, is built in a different mould from her having a substantially Mutable – ie adaptable – chart, which he’d need to cope with her extreme Fixedness. He has a Sun Jupiter conjunction in Virgo with Venus, Mercury Mars also in Virgo and Uranus in Gemini. His Moon is in Scorpio which will hook into her Venus Mars and his Moon squares Pluto so he will be emotionally intense.
It’s not that obviously a perfect match since her Saturn falls in his 8th putting up barriers to emotional intimacy; and his Scorpio Moon isn’t a great mix with her Aquarius Moon – but with mellowing years it clearly works.
Scared of nothing but close relationships is the soul-baring admission of the undentable Jane Fonda still going strong at 82. “I am very rarely afraid. I’ve been shot at, had bombs dropped on me; but I tend not to be afraid. Maybe emotional intimacy scares me. That’s where my fear lives,” she said in an interview punting her most recent book about climate change – What Can I Do? That’s her current focus and which saw her arrested a few months back on a demonstration against government inertia and imprisoned briefly.
Born 21 December 1937 9.14am New York to actor Henry Fonda and socialite Francis Ford Seymour, she’s had an extraordinary life. Although written off by many as a shallow, surgically enhanced mannequin who betrayed her country by turning up in North Vietnam as Hanoi Jane, she’s not short of talent and good instincts. She has two Oscars to her credit (Klute and Coming Home) and zoomed into the zeitgeist with her fitness videos which remain the biggest-sellers ever, instigated to raise money for her left-wing second husband Tom Hayden’s activist cause.
Her taste in men has always been hair-raising, no surprises given her five-times married father. Her first husband French film director Roger Vadim turned her into an almost soft-porn star. Hayden was dismissive of her talents. Her third husband billionaire Ted Turner was diagnosed bi polar. She said she was affected by her father’s obsession with women being thin, and that plus a repressed childhood with her bi polar mother unable to relate to her and suiciding sent her into a 30-year struggle with bulimia.
To have survived all that and emerged looking as good as she does is no mean feat.
She’s a Sun Sagittarius on the focal point of a T square to Saturn in regretful Pisces in a creative opposition to a film-star 8th house Neptune. Her Sun is also sextile Mars in determined Aquarius and inconjunct Pluto on her Descendant, which latter would attract her to controlling and intense partners. She’d also be dependent at points in her life with a 7th house Leo Moon though she says she’s past relationships now. Her Venus in Sagittarius is also square Neptune which won’t help to stick her into committed relationships.
Her 3rd house activist Uranus is unaspected which can indicate too much or too little reforming zeal – or more likely spurts of high-octane activity and fallow periods in between. She also has an enthusiastic Jupiter on her Ascendant in a pushily-confident opposition to Pluto.
Her relationship charts with both her parents have composite Mars Pluto hard aspects suggesting a one-sided relationship, requiring submission from her as a child. As does her relationship chart with her daughter Vanessa from her first marriage whom she evidently did not bond with due to post-partum depression and then left her as she had been left herself in childhood with professional carers as she went off filming. These aspects tend to roll down generations.
Finally a tale of Trump indecency that has gained traction. After years of evidence about ‘pussy-grabbing’, infidelity, dubious Russian and other dictator associations, racism, financial malpractice, constant lies all slid off his back, The Atlantic magazine managed to nail the president by relating his comments about the military. He called Americans who died in battle “losers” and “suckers”; and asked for wounded veterans to be kept out of military parades. And for once the public appear to be listening.
Trump has now attacked Laurene Powell Jobs, the philanthropist billionaire, widow of Steve, who owns a majority stake in The Atlantic. She founded The Emerson Collective, a social change organization focused on education, immigration reform, the environment, media and journalism and health which has owned a majority stake in The Atlantic since 2017.
She’s a Sun, Mercury, Neptune in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius – idealistic and stubborn; with a high-octane, volatile and courageous Mars in crusading Sagittarius square Uranus Pluto. She’s also got an upfront Jupiter in Aries on the focal point of a Yod onto Sun, Mercury, Neptune sextile Pluto Uranus – which can, if handled with humility, bring about social change and progress.
Her reforming, rebellious Uranus Pluto fall in Trump’s 1st house giving her a chance to upset his image; with her Sun, Mercury, Neptune square his controlling Pluto and her serious Saturn in Aquarius opposing his Mars/Pluto midpoint.
Their relationship chart has a power-struggling Sun Pluto conjunction with a cross-purposes composite Neptune square Uranus which tr Saturn is throwing a wet blanket over right now till late October and jangling in November/December – with muddle and devastation from late January 2021 for two years.
Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic editor 22 September 1965, is an innovative Uranus, Pluto, Mercury, Sun all in communicative Virgo with a determined Venus and Mars Neptune in Scorpio. He’s also jousting with Trump in coming months.
Neither Laurene Jobs nor Goldberg look too happy over the election and inauguration. Jobs especially looks deeply frustrated and on through 2021, only picking up her enthusiasm again in 2022.
Goldberg has some upbeat patches across the election itself and next spring but is otherwise moving through tough times. Which could, naturally, be due to many factors unrelated to who gets the White House. But still.
For Trump astro-timeline see previous post August 31 2020.
Breaking a promise made less than a year ago, Boris has chucked a hand grenade into the Brexit impasse saying he will tear up the Northern Ireland section of the Withdrawal Agreement to avoid returning to a hard border. Commentators say that cases of democratic governments seeking to unilaterally overwrite ratified international agreements are rare; and such action will undermine any future moral authority for the UK to criticise, for example, China via vis its actions in Hong Kong – or indeed to be believed about anything in future agreements. Boris further says the talks will finish one way or another by mid-October. By breaking the Withdrawal Agreement he may find the EU – bored, irritated and overloaded with Covid and economic matters – brings the guillotine down sooner.
Whether he’s playing a reckless game of hardball or chicken, reckoning the EU will cave in, it’s very high stakes. Where things go badly south for the Boris Government is when Neptune moves to 18 degrees on October 2nd staying there till late January 2021. See previous posts below.
There was a suggestion that the Barnier/Frost negotiating team would be sidelined allowing the political leaders to step in to negotiate directly though whether that will happen is still in doubt. Boris’s relationship with Ursula van der Leyen is hostile at the best of times with a composite Mars square Pluto. Their connection is nerve-stretched and high-tension late this month and through October and seriously jolted mid November to mid December.
Boris’s relationship with the EU is similarly toxic with a power-struggling, implacable-dislike composite Mars opposition Pluto; and a chilly Venus square Saturn. Tr Pluto is in an intensely emotional square to the composite Venus now till late November; paralysed and riddled with confusion in late September and October; and knocked sideways late December to early February 2021 as tr Uranus is trine the composite Pluto – though that could indicate a release from bondage – on both sides.
The new addition to the UK team and Dominic Cummings’ centralised ‘mission control centre’ is Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, 27 December 1978. He is a Sun Mars in Capricorn trine Saturn in Virgo with his Mars square Pluto and his Saturn square Mercury Neptune – still Mutable but more practical than most of the Boris acolytes. Although he starts this week with Neptune opposing the Virgo Sun which isn’t too hopeful a sign for what lies ahead. His relationship with Cummings is jangled and bad-tempered through this month and on a disappointed and confused slide from early October into 2021; with a discouraging few weeks late November to late December. His relationship with Boris is faring no better with loss-making transits October through January and worse from March 2021 on till late 2022 – if either of them survive politically speaking.
Case himself has one gung-ho upbeat moment late December to late January but is otherwise unnerved moving ahead with a minefield to cross in 2021.
It is truly difficult,, even from the most detached viewpoint to see good coming out of this, since most of the true-believer Brexiteer proponents appear to be in a state of nervous collapse and certainly not jubilant.
Excerpt from previous August 3 post: Brexit – grinding towards a deadlock.
The Boris government chart, 13 December 2019 11 am London, looks devastated, turned into an emotional blancmange by several rolling crises from early this October to late January 2021 – which is the crucial period for pushing the EU up against the deadline in the hope they’ll bend. This September on the run-up is agitated and coming down to earth with a bump. There’s muddle, lies and scandal from late January 2021 for a few weeks with the real downward slide picking up from late March 2021 running on and off till early 2022 with tr Neptune square the Government Sagittarius Sun – and indeed at the same time is square the catastrophe-attracting Mars/Pluto midpoint on Cummings’ chart. He’s also having an exceptionally stressed September (next month).
Boris’s personal chart is being rattled by an emotionally upsetting Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Moon, exact in six months’ time which will be activated over the New Year. Plus the December Solar Eclipse opposing his Mercury, Sun, Venus which usually indicates a crisis or several in the months following. Plus Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Uranus, exact now if his birth time of 2pm is exact to the minute, indicating a sharp change of career and life’s direction. His Solar Return relocated to London also has Uranus in the 10th for a career twist, either voluntary or forced.
His relationship chart with the UK is sagging further from late August till March 2021; and more dips to follow after that.
Excerpt from August 23 2020 post: Brexit – how much fudge is coming?
Uk negotiator David Frost’s relationship with Gove is extremely fraught as well with a frustrated, trapped, impatient tr Pluto square the composite Mars from now till late November; and downbeat across the New Year. None of which sounds like a resounding joint success whichever they were aiming.
Gove’s personal chart is similarly afflicted with tr Pluto square his Mars/Uranus and Uranus/Neptune midpoints now to late November this year, suggesting acute stress, losses and catastrophes; and his troubles won’t lift in 2021 with a nasty sinking feeling from tr Neptune square his Sun/Saturn and Mercury/Saturn midpoints picking up in April and running on and off till late 2022. As he no doubt surveys the proof of the pudding with the Brexit consequences becoming clear.
ADD ON: The SNP has made it clear that reneging on obligations under the Brexit withdrawal agreement and leaving without a deal, causing “lasting damage to Scottish jobs and the economy in the middle of a pandemic” would make the case for breaking up the UK stronger.
Boris’s relationship with Nicola Sturgeon, never warm at the best of times, is on a discouraging slide from now right through till next spring with tr Neptune opposition Pluto and square Moon and then opposition Uranus. There’ll be major outbursts between them late this month and through October and maximum pressure being exerted into late January next year. No rapprochement there either. The scorched earth policy rolls on.
ADD ON: 8 September 2020: Jonathan Jones, head of the UK government’s legal department, described as “a man of enormous integrity”, has quit over the proposal to renege on parts of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland. He is the sixth senior Whitehall official to resign this year and it evidently followed months of tension over the Brexit negotiations and legal disagreements with Suella Braverman, the attorney-general. She was appointed last February after the previous attorney-general, Geoffrey Cox, was sacked by Boris Johnson for making what one insider described as “uncomfortable noises” about the importance of abiding by international law.
So bad faith has been implicit from the get go. What a way to run a country.
Suella Braverman, 3 April 1980, is a controlling and controlled Aries Sun opposition Pluto with a stubborn and flashy Mars in Leo square Uranus opposition Venus in Taurus. She’s looking no happier than any of Boris’s other cronies in the months up to the New Year and apart from one upbeat few weeks is generally standing on a very long banana skin of hopes dashed through 2021.
Alastair Campbell, the controversial aide and campaign director for Tony Blair, much-criticised for the Iraq ‘dirty dossier, has since exiting No 10 made a career out of mental health activism. He talks widely in the media about his own depression, breakdown, alcoholism, suicidal impulses, self-harm and has a new book out: “Living Better: How I Learned to Survive Depression,” which has an afterword by his wife of 40 years Fiona Millar on how she coped.
He writes about when his low moods hit: “The dynamo I normally feel 24/7 whirring inside me is switched off – a power cut. Energy gone. Power gone. Desire gone. Motivation gone. Everything gone, gone, all gone.”
His wife Fiona Millar, also a journalist, describes their marriage as ““Bloody difficult . . . but never boring”. Though her other comments made me wonder quite how much of herself she’s had to sacrifice to keep the family together after he refused psychiatric treatment when he had his breakdown aged 28.
“I came to realise these high control needs, the constant urge to influence and make a difference, were an essential part of keeping himself on an even psychological keel.”
“To this day he is keen to exclaim “I won” if he has slept longer, walked further, swum longer in the freezing outdoor pool we frequent, or if the dog has run to him rather than me.”
“It was a hurtful puzzle that Alastair could get up for work and function seemingly normally, be affectionate and engaged with the children, but reserve his silent, black-dog moods for me.”
“As usual I took the blame.”
He was finally persuaded 20 years later to go for professional help. She says the psychiatrist explained to her “that Alastair’s high need for control effectively meant that at times he saw me as an extension of himself, almost like an extra limb, and if he couldn’t get me to behave the way he wanted, it caused him real pain. If this intervention had happened 20 years earlier, I wonder how different our lives might have been?”
He was born 25 May 1957, no birth time sadly, with a schizophrenic brother and depression running in the wider family as well. He has a Gemini Sun and Venus opposition Saturn in Sagittarius, which in a minor way could dent his self-esteem. More significantly he has a Yod of Saturn in self-righteous Sagittarius inconjunct Mars in excitable Cancer sextile Mercury in Taurus – all of which would induce anxiety, uncertainty and a high degree of frustration; though it can also lead to a singular path in life which is followed with dogged determination. He has another quincunx of Neptune to his Sun with Neptune also in a highly-strung square to Uranus.
A birth time would help but it’s not an easy chart since a Saturnine yod requires maturity to bring out the best in it otherwise it backfires. And indeed his strongest harmonic is the rise-and-fall, can-be-self-defeating 10H.
His wife Fiona, 2 January 1958, has a Capricorn Sun which opposes his Mars so it will be an argumentative interface. With her Mars in Sagittarius square Pluto in Virgo colliding with his Saturn and Sun. She does have an Air sign Venus in Aquarius to match his Air sign Venus in Gemini; and her Moon may be Gemini conjunct his Sun which would make sense. But it’s still quite an odd mix. With Mars Pluto in her own chart she’d be used to having to be compliant from early on.
Their relationship chart has a superficially amiable composite Venus opposition Jupiter, which is the driving rod of a Grand Trine of Venus to Uranus to Saturn – which would help, since Jupiter smooths rough edges and keeps hope alive. But there’s also a one-sided and aggravating composite Sun opposition Mars square Saturn – that usually indicates one partner having to give up a chunk of their identity and needs to make it work.
I’m not a believer in using astrology as a diagnostic tool for psychological conditions. But reading his wife’s comments and reminiscences I’m not sure I’d have described him just as a depressive. His behaviour sounds quite manic and narcissistic as well.
Despite sharp condemnation from Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, the hedge fund scavengers continue to short sell, betting against stocks they reckon will fall. Bailey said what they are doing: “might not be frankly in the interest of the economy, the interest of the people.”
Financier Crispin Odey claimed returns of as much as 20% on his short bets – £115 million ($132.6 million) from this year’s stock market crash. Marshall Wace, one of Europe’s biggest hedge funds, has recently built the largest short position against Lloyds Banking Group on record, reckoning that UK bank stocks, a barometer for the wider economy still have further to fall. Not all investors agree and other Marshall Wace buys suggest confidence in rising UK stock prices elsewhere. Shares in Lloyds have already more than halved this year, making it the biggest faller among Britain’s largest banks because it is particularly exposed to a domestic downturn.
What follows should be treated with some caution since data is not always certain. Financier birth dates are from old Companies House filings. Companies in this area are continually evolving and being re-incorporated so dates can be a moveable feast.
Paul Marshall, 21 August 1959, and Ian Wace, 25 January 1963 are co-founders of Marshall Wace and Crispin Odey, 31 January 1959 started his own Odey Asset Management outfit.
Wace has Sun, maybe Moon, Saturn in Aquarius with Saturn in a hard-edged opposition to Mars in flashy Leo square a ‘visionary’ and elusive Neptune; plus a pushily confident Jupiter in Pisces opposition Pluto in a can-be-charming square to Venus in Sagittarius. He’ll be seriously buffeted by the economically-challenging tr Uranus square tr Saturn in 2021/22; with a discouraging Solar Arc Pluto square Saturn in 2022.
Paul Marshall has his Sun, Uranus and Mercury spread out in Leo, which is a bankers’ sign. His Sun is conjunct Pluto and square Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio; he has a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Virgo; and an evasive Mercury square Neptune. He’s veering between panic and triumph till New Year, then moving into a confused, and at times downright devastating two years; recovering his mojo by 2024.
Crispin Odey is another Sun Aquarius in a rebellious and uncompromising opposition to Uranus; with Jupiter in Scorpio in a wildly enthusiastic opposition to Mars in heavyweight Taurus. His Mercury is also square Neptune. He’s facing a sexual assault charge later this month in court. His way ahead is a mix of great and terrible ahead. These guys live on the edge of a constant roller coaster of wild up and equally catastrophic downs. Tr Uranus square tr Saturn in 2021/22 will hit his Sun, Uranus which won’t be good news; he’s got a devastating Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Neptune into 2022; with some successes at the same time through 2022/23.
Aquarius is another sign often connected to the financially acquisitive despite its reputation for hippy humanitarianism.
If the following dates are sound then Marshall Wace has two on record of 11 June 1997 and 16 May 2002 – both of which are less than upbeat for a few years. The 1997 MW chart has tr Neptune square the Gemini Sun and then opposition Mars through 2021 and then 2023; and tr Pluto conjunct Neptune in 2022/23 which is a swamp. The 2002 MW chart chart has tr Uranus in a nerve-stretched square to Neptune now and through next year, with tr Saturn joining in by next spring which will be edgy in the extreme; tr Neptune is in an undermining square to Mars and Venus 2021/ 2023; and there will be major obstacles in 2023/24.
Odey Assets, 8 July 2002 and 16 December 2005, is more difficult to gauge since in both cases there’s a Jupiter tucked into the major configurations under stress. The Odey 2005 chart will have more than its fair share of ups and downs in 2021 with tr Uranus in hard aspect to Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. 2022/23 look undermining and disruptive with tr Neptune square the Sun Pluto and Solar Arc square Sun Pluto as well.
Lloyds Bank, 3 June 1765 and 1 January 2010, whose shares have fallen 50% this year are clearly limping in the confidence-stakes and it’ll be an exceptionally bumpy ride through 2021/22. But it doesn’t look on a par with the 2008 meltdown and aftermath. Like most banks it may take till mid decade to clear the problems of the pandemic lockdown.
Royal Bank of Scotland, 31 May 1727 will be buffeted in 2021/22. Virgin Money, also deemed to be a barometer of the UK economy, 3 March 1995 and 15 October 2018, shows much the same pattern of humps, bumps, shocks and grinding to a halt at patches up to 2023. And that’s echoed in the earlier post see March 13 2020. My feeling is that it’ll be tough and nervy but not as disastrous as the 2008/9 and aftermath crash.
The appointment as trade advisor for post-Brexit UK of gaffe-prone, misogynistic, homophobic, climate-change-dismisser and non-trade-expert Tony Abbott, former deeply unpopular PM of Australia, is mystifying. He’s described by one of his fellow Australians more familiar with his abilities as “a neo-con ideologue whose political judgment is not only aggressive but woefully inept….. He is an out-of-his-depth clown tripping over bits of international politics in a hapless, endless dance with his too-big shoes.” He appears to have been given credit for trade deals signed during his AU premiership with China, Japan and South Korea; but all these agreements had been worked on for years before. He was merely in place to dot the is and cross the ts and cut the ribbon.
Born 4 November 1957 4 am London, England, he has a stubborn, financially-motivated 2nd house Scorpio Sun, North Node, Mercury in a rebellious and uncompromising as well as outspoken square to Uranus. His Uranus is in an innovative trine to Saturn in opinionated Sagittarius, sextile Jupiter in Libra giving him confidence and luck.
Until late this November he has an upbeat successful tr Pluto square his Mars/Jupiter midpoint alongside a tough-slog tr Pluto square his Saturn/Pluto midpoint. Late November to mid December look panicky and paralysed as Exit-Day approaches. And 2021 and beyond is a disaster zone for him with tr Pluto picking up the trapped, infuriated square to his Mars from March onwards, on and off till late 2022. Progress is likely to be zero. Plus tr Uranus square tr Saturn will be rattling his Scorpio Sun, North Node and Uranus from April onwards into 2022 as well.
It’ll be 2023 before any rays of sunshine light his path but he may be long gone by then onto pastures new.
His relationship with Boris looks conflicted, discouraged and strung out till late year so it’ll be a trudge through thick mud. Not that new trade deals can be magicked out of a hat in a month even with competent negotiators but for PR purposes to soothe ragged public nerves there’ll have to be some flags to be waved before the New Year.
Michel Barnier and David Frost appear to be being sidelined after reaching an impasse in the EU/UK negotiations which might explain their very droopy astrology – see previous Brexit post August 23 2020. Though frankly I never thought Barnier’s beyond-unbelievably-stubborn 8th house Mars Moon in Aquarius opposition Pluto made him an ideal deal broker.
A torrid family split of a continental calibre is being played out in France. In keeping with the national character philosophers are (oddly enough) media celebrities so it’s headline news when high-minded writer/journalist Jean-Paul Enthoven publicly disowns his philosopher son Raphael, an academic and well-known radio and TV pundit. The dispute isn’t about junior stealing senior’s girlfriend, Carla Bruni, two decades back and fathering a child with her. But that he has had the temerity to write an autobiographical novel “recounting the hell of his childhood” which is described as “brilliant … like a bullet in the skull”. There’s now trench warfare between supporters of father and son. Father says his heart is broken and he’s in mourning, “drowning in an ocean of ingratitude.”
Raphael, born 9 November 1975 6.05 pm Paris, is a Sun Scorpio with an outspoken Mercury Uranus also in Scorpio squaring onto a 10th house Moon in Aquarius and Midheaven opposition Saturn in Leo – so he won’t be short of opinions and an inclination to shock with an Aquarius Moon; with an unforgiving streak to boot. His childhood does look cool, overly dutiful with Moon Saturn, and quite toxic in some respects with a composite Mars square Pluto.
Raphael also has a pushily confident Pluto in the attention-grabbing and performing 5th house opposition Jupiter; plus a none-too-sensitive (emotionally-speaking) Mars square Venus in the romantic 5th. With an uncommitted Neptune in his 7th house of relationships. He was married initially to another philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy’s daughter with whom he had a child, moved onto Bruni with whom he had a child, then onto an actress with whom he had a child and finally to a sailor/politician with whom he had another child.
His father Jean-Paul, born 11 January 1949 in Algeria, is a Capricorn with Mars Mercury in stubbornly contrary Aquarius conjunct junior’s Moon and opposition his Saturn – which is a grating interface. Jean-Paul’s Pluto and Saturn also fall in Raphael’s 4th which is controlling and chilly.
Their relationship chart has a power-struggling composite Sun square Pluto; and a neurotic/paranoid/suspicious Saturn opposition Node square Venus Neptune; plus an argumentative and irritable Sun Mercury trine Mars trine Saturn.
Their relationship is clearly sagging at the moment with tr Neptune square the composite Sun. But the person who looks more upset with Raphael is Carla Bruni, now married to Nicholas Sarkozy. Her feelings about Raphael are running boiling hot and it won’t be passion with the composite Mars opposition Venus catching the tr Pluto square this year and next.
The French media wakening up after the lockdown are in full flood having dubbed the family drama – Oedipus vex. Light relief from political sludge and hysteria.
