not categorised

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 2^nd 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 10^th 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.   

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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 2^nd 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 8^th house Mars Moon in Aquarius opposition Pluto made him an ideal deal broker.

Photo:
MystifyMe Concert Photography (Troy)

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 10^th 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 5^th house opposition Jupiter; plus a none-too-sensitive (emotionally-speaking) Mars square Venus in the romantic 5^th. With an uncommitted Neptune in his 7^th 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 4^th 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.

Photo: Marie-Stéphane Barthout

A mega-million dollar deal with Netflix should set Meghan and Prince Harry on the road to solvency as well as giving them a purpose in life. But no sooner had the hyped-up news been announced than cynical insiders started raising questions about the pair’s lack of experience and the uncertainties of a ruthless business. What hasn’t helped is the Obama’s foray into this market which kicked off with an Oscar winning documentary, which may have given them an inflated notion of what’s possible.

 On both their charts they have the conflicted Progressed Moon moving through their respective 8^th house of joint finances for another year. That does bring anguished questioning about values and life ambitions, but often also throws up financial headaches in particular to do with loans and credit or joint ventures.

  They were both always due an uptick financially before restrictions kick in. In Harry’s case Jupiter goes into his 2^nd from February 2021 for fifteen months which is generally good for attracting money though it tends also to be spendthrift. Tr Saturn moves into his 2^nd briefly from March to July 2021 and then digs in for a three year haul from January 2022 to 2025 which is usually shorter of money than before, necessitating a reorganisation and a time of belt-tightening.  

  Meghan has relatively similar on the opposite side of her chart. Tr Jupiter through her 8^th March 2021 to March 2022 is usually favourable for joint and business finances. But tr Saturn from March 2022 till early 2025 through her 8^th suggests that credit and loans or generosity won’t be forthcoming and she’ll be thrown back on her own resources.

  It’ll be a bumpy ride for both next year with the tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting off Harry’s Pluto in Scorpio and then his Midheaven; and Meghan’s Leo Sun. Both their charts look frustrated and bad tempered and Harry’s Virgo Sun will be catching the undermining tr Neptune opposition from April 2021, on and off till late 2022.

  The financial consequences of their bolt from Britain haven’t impinged greatly since Prince Charles has evidently been footing some of the bill. But between them they have little sense of the realities of life. Meghan has no Earth planets and Harry has no experience of life outside a protected Royal enclave. Their relationship chart has Neptune in the financial 8^th conjunct the South Node which does not bode well for a hard-headed approach.

  Their relationship chart will be under severe challenges and stress emotionally through the near future until tr Pluto clears the composite Moon opposition by early 2024.

  While the figure being bandied around sounds enormous – $150 million – there’s no saying how many years this will cover. It will have to fund staffing, development and film production costs which don’t come cheap; plus their domestic running costs with security for a millionaire-row house, plus mortgage payments plus repayments for Frogmore in the UK – all of which will add up to an eye-watering sum.

  The Obamas are not a good comparison for them since Michelle evidently made $36 million from her book; and they, in any event, have a good deal behind them in terms of career achievements, previous books and other strings to their bow.

Add On: Latest media slant is that the big boss of Netflix, Reed Hastings, known for his aggressive management style, described by some as North Korean, will be an unforgiving overseer – so the Royal couple will not be handed unfettered creative control and likely only paid when they deliver on acceptable ideas.

  Born 8 October 1960, Hastings has a Libra Sun on the focal point of a Cardinal T Square to a hard-edged Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars in Cancer; with his Saturn in an unyielding trine to Pluto sextile Neptune Mercury Venus in Scorpio. Meghan in particular will find his strictures aggravating since her 12^th house Mars in Cancer square Saturn Jupiter Moon in Libra collides with his Mars Saturn Sun. Their relationship chart has a combustible composite Mars square Uranus.

  Harry also will find the relationship with Hastings disruptive, since RH’s Uranus Pluto fall in Harry’s financial 8^th; ReedH’s Saturn is conjunct Harry’s Ascendant, having a dampening effect on his image; and ReedH’s Neptune, Mercury, Venus are conjunct Harry’s Pluto and Saturn in Scorpio. That relationship chart has a controlling composite Sun Pluto in a power-struggling square to Jupiter.

  It’s not that is couldn’t work but it’ll be exceptionally fraught and require cooler heads, thicker skin as well as more humility and hard pragmatism than either of them appear to possess.  They really do seem like babes in the wood who’ve fallen gleefully into a shark pond.     

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, once Melania Trump’s senior adviser and best buddy until she was summarily fired, gets payback in her book ‘Melania and Me’, described by one reviewer as ‘a spectacular exercise in icy revenge.’

 Wolkoff was a fashion and entertainment executive prior to the White House job, producing the Met Gala and being founding fashion director for Lincoln Center; and had known Melania for 14 years. The ill-fated and under-attended 2017 Inauguration which she arranged, the most expensive in history, was the bone of contention for which she was blamed, though she says she was stitched up and didn’t see a good deal of the money that she was supposed to have spent or pocketed. 

  Melania comes across as cold, in control, fully aware of the marriage which gave her a gilded lifestyle, and uncaring about what anyone thought of her actions. Though she did appear to get heated about Ivanka’s efforts to upstage her and went out of her way to sideline her from photo ops.

 Wolkoff portrays all the Trump family in particular Ivanka as ‘scheming, manipulative and deeply unpleasant people’; though Wolkoff herself also comes across as thoroughly unlikable as well.

  Born 21 January 1971, Wolkoff is a Sun Aquarius in a controlling and influential trine to Pluto, sextile a head-in-the-clouds Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius. She shares Saturn in Taurus with Melania, so both are money-minded; and Wolkoff also has a Mars in unforgiving Scorpio probably conjunct a Scorpio Moon so forgiving and forgetting won’t be in her nature.

  Her relationship chart with Melania has a composite Sun trine Jupiter, which would make them enthusiastic about joint ventures; with a passionately enthusiastic though not always sensitive composite Venus opposition Mars in a publicity-attracting though not mutually supportive square to Neptune. Plus an up and down Saturn opposition Jupiter.

   Wolkoff’s relationship chart with Donald Trump is more obviously competitive and argumentative with a composite Sun opposition Mars. And her interface with Ivanka is worst of all with a composite Mars Pluto hinting at extreme dislike and a power struggle.

  It may well be that her exit in February 2018 was not just orchestrated by Melania who as I recollect was barely there in the early stages so it seems more likely that it was another of the vipers in the White House den that decided to kill two birds with one stone – shuffling awkward financial questions her way and leaving Melania without a senior adviser.    And now that I look at it Melania’s relationship chart with Ivanka was the one most stressed and aggravated at the point of Wolkoff’s departure – so the First Lady attempting to sideline ‘the princess’ may well have earned a kickback.  

Brad Pitt has been romancing his latest amour in the south of France recently. German model Nicole Poturalski, from reports, appears to be in an open marriage to a 68 year old restaurateur husband, whom she’s been with for eight years with a seven year old son. Born 2 January 1993 (net sources) she’s a highly strung, uncompromising Sun, Uranus, Neptune in Capricorn in a volatile opposition to Mars in Cancer square a confident Jupiter; with Saturn and Venus in Aquarius both square Pluto.

  I might have been inclined to assume her birth date was wrong or the affair was a publicity stunt since the astro-crossovers are hardly enticing. But considering his past choices – Jennifer Aniston with Mars Neptune in Scorpio square an Aquarius Sun and Sun inconjunct Saturn and Pluto – and Angelina Jolie with her Moon Mars opposition Pluto square Saturn – he clearly likes complicated women.

  Nicole’s three Capricorn planets clash and mix with his Mars, Mercury, Moon, Venus in Capricorn with her Mars in opposition. Mars contacts can initially give a spark of passion and hot blood but long term tend to be competitive and argumentative. And her independent-minded and elusive Uranus Neptune may perplex his Moon Venus.

  Their relationship chart is tricky to put it mildly. There is on the plus side an enthusiastic, supportive Sun, Mercury, Jupiter conjunction. But that trines a dominating composite Mars Pluto which won’t be easy to handle after a while; and more so since it trines Saturn Venus. So hot it could turn toxic all too easily. And the composite Venus Saturn is in an unstable square to Uranus. Interesting to see how it rolls. But unlikely.

Japan is facing the upheaval of a new prime minister in the midst of the pandemic crisis with the resignation for health reasons of Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest serving PM. His replacement will be voted in by mid September. The powerful chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga is the frontrunner.

  Shinzo Abe, 21 September 1954, has suffered for many years from ulcerative colitis. He has a Virgo Sun sextile a lucky Uranus Jupiter in Cancer which in turn squares Neptune. He’s also got an obsessively conscientious Saturn Venus in Scorpio in a hard-edged trine to Mars North Node in Capricorn. He had a dead-halt blockage from Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mars in recent months as well as tr Saturn opposition his Jupiter Uranus more recently sapping his enthusiasm. Plus a jolting tr Uranus opposition his Saturn. Not a good year for him.

  The new prime minister will face a raft of challenges from coronavirus to a tanking economy.

  Yoshihide Suga, 6 December 1948, has no indications on his chart (without a birth time) of an immediate triumph though it will be a daunting prospect ahead if he does get it. He’s an ambitious and influential Sun Mercury in Sagittarius trine Pluto, sextile Neptune – with perhaps a Half Grand Sextile from an Aquarius Moon opposition Pluto trine Neptune and sextile Sun. He’s also got a business-like and capable Earth Grand Trine of a go-ahead Mars Jupiter in Capricorn trine Saturn in workaholic Virgo trine a Taurus Node, with Jupiter opposition Uranus, making innovative Uranus the driving planet.

  His life is certainly in the midst of an upheaval exactly now and once through a fairly disastrous few weeks over New Year, he’s into a more confident patch from late January onwards. Though it’ll be an uphill struggle at the same time for two years thereafter. He looks knocked sideways in 2022.

  The Bank of Japan chart,10 October 1882, has – like most countries – got a run of obstacles to overcome with panics at the moment into 2021, setbacks and discouragement in 2022 and a general slog until Pluto changes sign, and even after, until Uranus changes sign in 2026.

   The Japan country chart will equally bump along a rough road with tr Uranus square the Saturn and then Sun in 2022/23 into 2024. With 2022 being a singularly undermining year from tr Neptune conjunct the Mars as well.