not categorised

A shell-shocked USA, battered by rancour over Trump’s presidency and his chaotic, vengeful exit, never mind the pandemic, could be forgiven a sigh of relief at the hope of quieter times ahead. With no mid degree Fixed signs on the USA 1776 chart the disruptions of the prevailing 2021 tr Uranus in Taurus square tr Saturn in Aquarius won’t have much direct impact.

   But certain themes will run on from last year with tr Pluto opposition the USA Mercury, exact now till late January, repeating mid August to late November. On its own, this would bring mental strain and intense, probably bitter, debate. But it will be ramped up by Mercury being natally opposition the USA Pluto and therefore a harbinger of more momentous changes to come as Pluto heads for its First Return since the USA was founded in 2022/23. (Examples of other countries going through a Pluto Return see post: October 16 2020.) The divisiveness and fraudulent misrepresentation will run on.

  One consolation to be drawn is that Joe Biden’s Jupiter in Cancer is conjunct the USA Mercury so he might manage to pour syrup on the worst of the hatred and bitterness.

  The Eclipses in Gemini/Sagittarius in June and December will continue to rattle the USA Uranus and Mars, leading to a heated, argumentative mood, both internally and externally.  [The Gemini and Sibley 1776 USA charts will also have their Ascendant’s affected by these Eclipses so they will bring about – as last year – a re-evaluation of America’s image in the eyes of the world and its relationships.]

   What is worrisome is tr Neptune square the USA Mars late March to mid April, early September to mid October, mid January to mid February 2022. Traditionally this brings about a panicky sense of failure, with dented self-esteem.

  Similar occurred before:

 In 1980 with tr Neptune in Sagittarius opposition the USA Mars, in the final year of Jimmy Carter’s presidency generally regarded as lacklustre. The US was in a minor recession spawned by the 1979 oil crisis; the unemployment rate rises to 6.3%.

In 1938 with tr Saturn in Virgo square the USA Mars. President Roosevelt on his less successful 2^nd Term hints at US neutrality in the approaching war with Germany.

In 1897/98 tr Neptune in Gemini is conjunct the USA Mars. William McKinley President – the Spanish–American War started after an explosion on USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. It led to the U.S. emerging predominant in the Caribbean region and acquiring Spain’s Pacific possessions.

In 1857 Neptune in Pisces square the US Mars – Franklin Pierce president, an anti-abolitionist; the Supreme Court ruled that Blacks are not citizens and slaves cannot sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War of 1861.

  Not terminal but on the whole uninspiring times in US history.

  What is also worth considering given the aggravated nature of the aspects on Inauguration day is the USA First President chart, of 30 April 1789 12.45pm New York. Tr Pluto is square the Mercury on this chart also at 24 degrees, so similar phases of ramped-up debate as indicated by the 1776 chart throughout 2021 Tr Neptune is conjunct the Saturn for uncertainty and paralysis, picking up late February and running till January 2022.

What to watch for is tr Uranus conjunct the First President Taurus Sun at ten degrees – with tr Saturn in square – which does suggest considerable disruption. This runs from April 2021 on and off until early 2022.

  Interestingly previous occurrences of this coincided with the Neptune transits above to the USA Mars.

Uranus in Taurus conjunct the FP Sun, June 1853 to March 1854, during Pierce’s presidency who is ranked as one of the worst and least memorable U.S. Presidents.

Uranus at 10 degrees Taurus – May 1937 to Feb 38, Franklin D Roosevelt after a successful first term from 1933, failed to garner support for his Second Stage New Deal intended to drag the USA out of the Great Depression. The business community objected, equating him with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. The Supreme Court became his primary domestic focus during his second term after the court overturned many of his programs. Roosevelt’s “court packing” plan ran into intense political opposition from his own party, since it upset the separation of powers. Although by 1941, seven of the nine Justices had been appointed by Roosevelt.

  Overall the influences tended to coincide with ineffective presidencies.

The Queen’s dislike for Tony Blair has reportedly put the blockers on him getting an Order of the Garter which was bestowed on all his predecessors.  In turn this has stopped those who came after him being given the honour which is in the sovereign’s personal gift.  Relations between Blair and the Palace have been strained since the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and didn’t warm up much in the ten years following of his tenure at No 10 as prime minister, with his wife Cherie famously knee-stiffening rather than curtseying to the monarch. Classy.

   Blair and HM are certainly badly-matched despite both being Sun Taurus. His Pluto is conjunct HM’s Neptune for confusion and opposition HM’s Mars Jupiter for irritations and frustrations and game playing; and square HM’s Saturn Midheaven for a resentful sense of being stuck with this and not happy.

Relations are just as bad in a different way with Cherie, whose Mars is in an implacable-dislike opposition to HM’s 6^th house Pluto and Cherie’s Saturn opposes HM’s Sun and squares HM’s Moon for a frosty chemistry.

Tony Blair and HMQ’s relationship chart has a chilly Sun opposition Saturn Moon. Though again the chemistry between Cherie and HM is worse with an aggravated and hostile composite Mars opposition Pluto and Pluto in a power-struggling, one-up-manship square to the composite Jupiter.

  Blair keeps popping up into the public arena trying to sound like a senior statesman and being roundly boo-ed off stage. He’s had a tough decade with the tr Uranus square tr Pluto bouncing off his Venus in Aries opposition Neptune Saturn in Libra square Uranus; with his Solar Arc Pluto grinding across the conjunction to his Neptune Saturn when the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry Report came out.  He’s still got tr Pluto square his Mercury through 2021/22, bringing intense discussions and some mental strain; and his Solar Arc Sun will form a neurotic, confused and stuck square to his Neptune Saturn in late 2022/23; followed by his Solar Arc Moon in opposition Saturn Neptune across the middle of this decade which may bring family disruptions and concerns. So his travails are likely to continue.

  Tr Pluto will conjunct his Midheaven from February 2021 onwards which can sometimes mean damage to reputation and a fall from grace, followed by many years thereafter of searching for a vocation. But since he’s been there anyway for a decade plus it’s difficult to see quite how it will turn out.  Though by all accounts he will soon get a knighthood if only to allow for those who followed him to get their elevations of whatever variety.  

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’…” Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Things to be thankful for moving into 2021 – the drearily restrictive Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn harbinger of grief and hardship is gone. Like all Saturn Pluto experiences, it heralded tough conditions requiring perseverance though it also bred resilience. There has also been a downbeat run of Solar Eclipses across 2020 which predicted traumatic transformation, separations, restraints and frustration. The final Eclipse from earlier this month will admittedly cast its shadow across the first few months of 2021 but thereafter there is more cheer.

  Saturn and Jupiter will move through Aquarius, although they will never return to the Great Conjunction just passed. The energy should be lighter with the shift from Earthy, sombre Capricorn into Airy, scientific, curious and communicative Aquarius. Aquarius can be stubborn, emotionally cool and its reputation for humanitarian idealism is sometimes over-stated when it veers toward ideological fanaticism, but it will provide a contrast to what has gone before. It will promote scientific and especially technological advances.

  Jupiter will skip merrily into Pisces for ten weeks from mid May, promoting sympathy, charity, creativity and dreams.

  The key planetary theme for the year will be Uranus in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius, which is a high-tension mix as conservative, traditional Saturn clashes with progressive, liberal-minded Uranus. There will be strong reactions to limitations on freedom, with self-willed behaviour, outbursts of irritability, as those who attempt to pursue dictatorial  policies run headlong into rebellions – whether politically or at an individual level. The year will be marked by inconsistency and contradictory approaches and results. In an individual chart, Saturn square Uranus points to a person who doesn’t practise what they preach – they don’t walk their talk.

  There are exact Saturn Uranus squares in February, June and December and it will also makes its presence felt when other planets move in aspect to both. January will be a ratchety month with Mars in Taurus, and in the latter days the Aquarius Sun, colliding with both Saturn and Uranus – for stresses, strains, broken crockery and aggravations. May, August, November with the Sun in Fixed signs will also be erratic times.

  The first of the upbeat eclipses comes in June with the Solar Eclipse of June 10 at 19 degrees Gemini in a Saros Series that accompanies inspirations, visions, hunches and prophetic dreams and surges of creativity which according to Bernadette Brady ‘will leave the individual enriched.’  Its beneficial effect will be felt perhaps a month before and for several months afterwards.

  The June Eclipse does square Neptune as does the December Solar Eclipse – so some Neptunian drift will be evident. There is also a challenging, trapped Mars opposition Pluto across the midyear eclipses will suggests some frustrations will continue, requiring perseverance and persistence.

  The December 2021 Total Solar Eclipse at 12 degrees Sagittarius is in ‘a joyful, happy’ Saros series. ‘There is a sense of good news, falling in love, a peak experience that is joyful in some way.’ The benefits will continue long after the Eclipse passes over.

  There are also two Lunar Eclipses: A Total Lunar on 26 May at 5 degrees Sagittarius/Gemini with the Full Moon square Jupiter so it will have its uplifting moments. And a Partial Lunar Eclipse on 19^th November at 27 degrees Taurus/Scorpio which again squares Jupiter.

Saturn square Uranus rolls on into 2022 causing a few tensions early and late in the year.

  2021 won’t be a perfect year by any means or completely seamless but in comparison to what went before it should have its walk-in-the-park times.

 “Welcome to the future, negotiations without end.” That’s one acerbic view of the Brexit deal with the text containing no fewer than 244 references to “arbitration tribunals” and a further 170 to a “partnership council” – the bodies that will decide the details and settle future disputes, hinting at further negotiations. There will be 19 specialised committees and four working groups which will hold at least 21 meetings each year, excluding aspects affecting Northern Ireland.

Britain and Europe should expect years of continued wrangling over trade, warned Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Those who think the Brexit drama comes to an end with this deal will be bitterly disappointed.”  

Among several issues not nailed down by the agreement sealed on Christmas Eve are:

* Financial services – with future rules “still to be established”, despite the sector employing more than 1 million people, paying more than £75bn in tax.

* Professional qualifications in services jobs – with nothing agreed on their recognition in the EU, despite the UK enjoying a huge surplus in such exports.

Anton Spisak, a Brexit expert, said “I’m astonished how thin the deal is. This falls even below the standard of some recent EU FTAs [free trade agreements].”

 The UK/EU relationship chart never did show a clear breach apart from a shift onto a new footing with tr Uranus trine the composite Uranus now till late January 2021. That’s followed by the irritatingly contradictory stop-start tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the 2^nd house Neptune in late March/April, May, July, November and across the New Year into 2022 so financial wrangles and panicky, erratic progress. Confusion, evasion and indecisive discussions in late April and May, again through 2022 with tr Neptune square the 3^rd house composite Mercury (transport issues?). Tr Uranus will square the 5^th house Venus and trine the 12^th house Jupiter in 2022 and square the 5^th house Mars in 2023 – that could affect financial services amongst other things, since 5^th house covers speculation. Some positive outcomes, others unsettling and creating insecurity and bad-temper.

  The UK EEC chart of 1 January 1973 when the country joined the bloc is no clearer.

The French needless to say are crowing contemptuously with the Libération newspaper describing the agreement as offering only “a facade of commercial freedom for the UK”, while committing London to maintaining standards on the environment, workers’ rights and climate change.

“While the US is shaking off Trump’s 2016 win, to restore their role, influence and image in the rest of the world, Britain is consumed by the eccentric plan of the conservative elite to return to exerting [global] influence from a position of splendid isolation.”

“The United Kingdom finds itself once again facing a question that was never resolved after 1945: its place in the world. It’s like Back to the Future, from the 1950s.”

  Only time will tell whether the doomsayers are right or the Rule Britannia choir will intone their way into the promised land of a (not entirely) free and fruitful Britain.  Grasping at straws I suppose it will help not having to be a net contributor to the EU as the UK like elsewhere wrestles with the pandemic economic hangover.

George Blake, the British spy who worked as a Russian double-agent and sent many MI6 agents to their deaths, has died in Moscow.  He was sentenced to 42 years in prison after he was caught in 1961 when a Polish defector pointed to a mole but Blake escaped and fled to Moscow.

  He was born 11 November 1922 at 3pm in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a Protestant Dutch mother and a Sephardic Jewish father, who had been a decorated WW1 officer and a naturalized British citizen. Blake spent his teens in Egypt where he was influenced by a Marxist cousin, studied Russian at Cambridge University, joined the Dutch Resistance during WW11, returned to the UK, joined the Royal Navy and was recruited by MI6. His intended marriage failed because of the family of the girl objected to his Jewish background and he was then posted to Germany and South Korea where he was captured and interned by the North Koreans in 1950. He was recruited there by the KGB and said what swayed him was the American bombing of defenceless Korean villagers. He also said later he had never felt British: “To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged.”  

    Blake had a Water Grand Trine with legs in the two hidden houses which makes sense of an inordinately complicated, doubly deceitful spy lifestyle. The hidden house are secretive by nature and the Water Grand Trine would give him the ability to live within his own bubble. His wayward Uranus in the 12th was trine Pluto in the 4^th and trine Mercury Jupiter in Scorpio in the 7^th, formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Midheaven – talented, focussed, successful in his own terms and lucky with such an emphasised Jupiter, which is further highlighted being on the focal point of a T Square to Mars in Aquarius opposition a Leo Moon.

  He’d be persuasive with Jupiter in his 7^th having an enthusiastic way with words and since it is prominent in his chart, it would give him the ‘good fortune’ to survive internment and then be able to break out of prison and make his way out of the UK and across the European border into the USSR.

  His 8^th house Scorpio Sun was square Neptune giving him an intense and obsessive idealism. He also had an inspirational and entrepreneurial and risk-taking Fire Grand Trine of Moon trine Venus trine Ascendant formed into a Kite by Moon opposition Mars.

  So his two driving planets off two Kites were his Midheaven and his Mars. Relocating his chart to Moscow put his Mars conjunct the Midheaven with his Moon in the 4th  – it would bring out his ambitious streak and also be a reassuring location for a settled domestic life.

  When he was turned during the Korean War, tr Uranus was moving across his IC pulling him away from his roots and his Solar Arc Uranus was about to cross his Ascendant, moving him into a defiant and rebellious phase of his life.

  Knowingly betraying and sending anywhere between forty and several hundred fellow agents to their deaths took a cold and ruthless streak no matter how he justified it to himself – and he had an unyielding Saturn square Pluto as well as a can-be-cruel Mars trine Mars. He also had a strong 18^th harmonic, common amongst serial killers; and a destructive 16H. His Pluto sat on the UK 1801 midheaven, so he did have the capacity to do damage; and his Pluto opposition the UK Sun and his Saturn square would give him no love for the country whom his father had embraced.

  But for all that he was an intriguingly complex man with a fascinating chart.

Festive cheer all round. A time to look forward and shut the door on the old year.

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” Lao Tzu

Cordialement

Marjorie

PS For the horticulturalists, the middle pic of red berries and white flowers is an Arbutus (strawberry) tree that grows around here. One of the few that fruits and blossoms at the same time in late autumn.

On the table Amaryllis and poinsettia, the latter being my one concession to Christmas decorations.

Please add below. Older posts under News on top bar.

  The Brexit Deal was signed at 2.44pm and announced at 3pm in London, with sighs of relief all round. The devil will be in the detail but even Nigel Farage says the long haul out of the EU is over. It will still have to be ratified by both parliaments but the reckoning is that Boris has enough to see it through even if the batshit crazy ERG-ers mount a challenge (violently anti-Eu types who really wanted a No Deal fallout.) Commentators added below.

   The announcement chart has a co-operative 7^th house Sun Mercury in an easy trine to Moon Uranus in the friendly, networking 11^th. And Moon Uranus square a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Aquarius in the international 9^th  – marrying idealism and materialism though it won’t be seamless. With both Uranus and Mars hitting on Jupiter Saturn there will be jolts, hitches and glitches along the way.

   Two aspects raise more obvious question marks.  One is the indecisive Neptune in the 10^th square North Node on the Ascendant opposition Venus. The other is the dirty-dealing-in-secret Pluto in the 8^th in a frustrating and trapped square to Mars. Luckily the Mars Pluto square is almost exact so although the next few months will be fraught, it may not cause much aggravation beyond that.

   There’s not much indication of triumphant celebrations on any of the charts of key figures – negotiators, Boris etc. I take that back – Ursula von Leyen has tr Uranus opposition her Jupiter for a considerable sigh of relief, which she deserves having pushed Barnier aside to take over negotiations. Boris isn’t looking too chirpy but then he didn’t over his resounding election victory either. One of the oddities of his temperament.

 There will be all manner of griping and groaning but from an initial reaction it does seem in the circumstances like a triumph for Boris which Theresa May couldn’t have managed to pull off.

Add ON: The media as to be expected are split between the contemptuous left-wing and the jubilant right-wing. Below thoughts to ponder from various commentators.

   The general view appears to be “Even with this deal, nobody is a winner.” A trade agreement along the lines of the one negotiated between the two sides will leave Britain facing a 4 per cent loss of potential gross domestic product over 15 years compared with EU membership, according to the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility.  Britain will begin its “independence” facing unsatisfactory frictions in the roughly half of its trade that is with the EU, especially in services.

   It is certainly not the easy deal Brexiters blithely predicted. Manufacturers – face costly extra bureaucracy which is likely to hit exports to Europe. There is even less for the service sector, the engine of the British economy. The price of British sovereignty is essentially the first trade deal designed to reduce access. This – represents a much harder Brexit than even many Leave supporters thought they were voting for in 2016.

   In the long term, however, Britain is weakened. The UK alone carries less clout in the world. The Union is in great peril. Northern Ireland will look ever more toward the Republic; Scotland appears likely to return the Nationalists to power with their agenda of a second independence referendum. More important, the UK’s economic trajectory is now slower and lower.

     Finally shorn of the economic advantages of EU membership, the UK is going to need a more agile and effective leadership than this government has thus far generally shown itself capable of delivering.

  There’s also an argument that Brexit is now four years out of date. “The whole ‘Global Britain’ model doesn’t reflect the more protectionist, nationalistic world we’re living in,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. “Becoming a global free trader in 2016 is a bit like turning into a communist in 1989. It’s bad timing.”

“The world is now dominated by three gargantuan economic blocs – the United States, China and the European Union. Britain has finalised its divorce from one of them, leaving it isolated at a time when the path forward seems more perilous than it once did.”

‘The prime minister –  has run down the clock and squandered diplomatic goodwill until the only viable option was a bad Brexit softened at the edges by the prospect of it being implemented in an orderly fashion. To have avoided the very worst-case scenario is a pitiful kind of achievement. Mr Johnson deserves no credit for dodging a calamity that loomed so close because he drove so eagerly towards it. This, too, is intrinsic to his modus operandi. His core skill is getting out of scrapes that his own negligence and recklessness get him into.’

‘So far, the government has given little indication of its plans. A vision for post-Brexit Britain, its economy, and its place in the world, have yet to be spelt out. It is far from clear, moreover, that a government that has mishandled much of its response to coronavirus is capable of steering a traumatised country through the extraordinary period of change ahead.’

Extras:

“Brexit was always in part fuelled by the allure of destroying the present. The farce has been presented as a drama, when reversing more than 40 years of cooperation for peace and prosperity is truly a tragedy.”

“This deal will see the poorest communities across Britain hit hardest – especially in the north and the Midlands, which are more reliant on manufacturing, set to be a significant loser. For all the talk of “nothing to lose”, analysis by IPPR shows that a Brexit deal like this will cause the most harm to those least resilient to it. “

“We share the view of most informed world opinion, especially American, that beyond our weaker economic position, we shall become less important allies for the US because of our forfeiture of influence in Europe.”

“Post-Brexit Britain can indeed exclude Polish plumbers and Romanian car-washers. There will be immense popular disappointment, however, trending to anger, when it becomes understood that our newfound liberty does nothing to resolve the far more serious problems posed by non-EU immigration, especially from Africa and the Middle East.”

“In the words of Churchill after Dunkirk: “wars are not won by evacuations”.

Boris and the Brexiteers broke it – they own it. And they won’t escape the brickbats as the actualite throws a spotlight on the mendacity.

Oliver Sacks, the neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and author was once described as the “poet laureate of contemporary medicine”, and “one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century”. He became widely known for writing best-selling case histories about both his patients’ and his own disorders with some of his books adapted for plays and films. He was fascinated by how the brain deals with perception, memory, and individuality and once said the brain is the “most incredible thing in the universe”.

  He was born on 9 July 1933 in London (no birth time sadly), the son of a Lithuanian Jewish doctor father with his mother being one of the first female surgeons in England. She was one of 18 siblings and he had an extremely large extended family of eminent scientists, physicians and other notable individuals.

  He was evacuated with his brother when he was six to a boarding school out of London where he remained until 1943, being half-starved and badly treated by a sadistic headmaster.

  He’s another with an extra difficult chart. He had a controlled Sun Pluto in Cancer with his Pluto in a disruptive square to Uranus – not the recipe for a settled life but he had the makings of a breakthrough-researcher. He also had a Yod of his Cancer Sun sextile a confident Jupiter in Virgo inconjunct Saturn (and Moon?) in Aquarius, which last points to a scientific bent. His Saturn opposed Mercury and Venus in Leo making him fear he was less intelligent/articulate than he’d like and less lovable. A Saturnine Yod often brings major difficulties initially with low self-esteem and feelings of despair.

  His medical career had a rocky start as he went through periods of self-doubt and he dabbled extensively in recreational drugs. He was described by a colleague as “deeply eccentric” and he admitted to suffering ‘severe shyness’. He never married, remained celibate for most of his life though ultimately he settled into a committed partnership with NY Times writer Bill Hayes.

  Like many genius level thinkers his Neptune is strongly marked – not obvious on his chart without a birth time. But it stands out amongst his midpoints.

   An outstanding mind and talent went hand in hand with a fairly tortured life.

Pic: Luigi Novi.  

Patrick Stewart, a respected classical thespian and an intergalactic hero has had an extraordinary six decade career on stage and screen from unlikely beginnings. He honed his talents in the Royal Shakespeare Company only coming to an unexpected and reluctant superstar role in his late forties as Captain Luc Picard in Star Trek which has been reprised this year with another scheduled for shooting once the pandemic lifts.

  He’s been filling in his spare time recently recording one of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets every day and posting them on Twitter and Instagram.

  He was born 13 July 1940 in Mirfield, England, no birth time sadly, in a home with no indoor bathroom. He was happily spoiled by his mother for five years until his father, a Regimental Sergeant Major with a sterling record, returned from the war, suffering from combat fatigue — post-traumatic stress disorder. He was violent towards Patrick’s mother and she refused to leave. In recent years Patrick has supported campaigns against domestic abuse and violence against women.

   At school, he joined the drama club which he said was a revelation. “The first moment that I walked onto the school stage I felt safe — it was the safest place I’d ever been. For one thing I wasn’t Patrick Stewart, because I didn’t like Patrick Stewart very much.” He left school at 15 to become a trainee journalist, but an English teacher encouraged him to apply to the Bristol Old Vic theatre school and he was given a full local authority grant to fund him through it.

   He was born at a challenging and dangerous time during World War Two when there was a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Taurus square Mars, Mercury, Pluto in Leo – all of which may well tie into his Scorpio Moon, well some of it will undoubtedly tie in. Incredibly fixed and enduring, determined, adventurous and brave. He’s also got the inspired, creative Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune in Virgo of the time, which in his case, sextiles onto his Cancer Sun, so is an integral part of his personality.

  With Saturn leading his Jupiter conjunction he’ll always experience the setbacks and difficulties first, then the rewards and luck second. He’s got a high coming in three years time when his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto, but will still have to face the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Pluto which is stuck in about eighteen months time.

  A lovely man and super-talented, though with a distressingly difficult chart.