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The Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Aquarius, exact on the solstice this December is significant for several reasons. As an astronomical event it will be rare. Despite these two planets coming together in a conjunction every 20 years, they will be closer visually than at any time in several centuries.

    Such astronomical alignments aren’t always noteworthy astrologically speaking. But this one is the first step in a momentous shift out of earthy, money and power-oriented Capricorn which has been the dominant theme for the past twelve years and is the harbinger of a revisioned landscape moving forward in this decade. Pluto will move into Aquarius in 2023, followed by Uranus into Gemini and Neptune into Aries – an ideological, technological driven, scientific Air/Fire emphasis rather than leaden materialism.

   The third lesser reason is that the conjunction falls on the Ingress of the Sun into Capricorn, always reckoned one of the key points in the year, painting a theme of what lies ahead.

   The key locations for this Ingress with be London, Korea, Iran and Los Angeles with the conjunction fall on the axis for each. Intriguingly with Brexit (of whatever variety) galloping towards a finish line the Jupiter Saturn due is conjunct the Ascendant located to London. The Brexiteers will no doubt hope this heralds a brave new world. Though a 12^th house Pluto square a 2^nd house Mars suggests financial road-blocks and dirty-dealings, and a confused, indecisive, delusional 1^st house Moon Neptune squaring the Node is also a worry.

  Set for Seoul in South Korea, close to the North, it puts Pluto on the Descendant with Jupiter Saturn in the 7^th – so that region will be on alert. The change of USA President is no doubt weighing on Kim Jong Un, now that his buddy Trump has departed.

  For Teheran the Ingress has Pluto conjunct the Midheaven with Jupiter Saturn in the 10^th so is likely to also be an important location for the same reason as North Korea. And Joe Biden’s chart relocated there has his determined Mars in Scorpio exactly on the Descendant, so is likely to be an area of intense concentration for him.

  Los Angeles? Who knows?  It has the Jupiter Saturn exactly conjunct the IC, which could perhaps bring grassroots pressure for a less greedy less capitalist approach to movie making?  Small hope!

  Jupiter is expansive, optimistic, fosters ideals and visions of a better life. Saturn is restrictive, realistic, insists on a tangible result from efforts and on facing life as it is. Finding the balance between idealism and materialism is crucial when these two come together. Having hope and common sense at the same time.

  A similar astronomical phenomenon of Jupiter and Saturn being so close together hasn’t occurred since July 1623 (in Leo)and before that March 1226 (in Aquarius). In 1623 the USA was stocking up with settlers in New Plymouth after the Mayflower’s landing in 1620. 1226 – nothing of great note that I can see.  

A depressingly vacuous court case involving two English Kardashian-type footballers wives centres on who leaked what from a private Instagram account. Coleen Rooney, wife of bad-boy Wayne, accused Rebekah Vardy of leaking stories of her private life to the media and says it caused her three years of ‘stress and anxiety’. RV in return sued her for libel, claiming she nearly miscarried because of her anguish over the affair. RV has won the first round, on the grounds that others had access to her Instagram account and the libel was directed solely at her. Both are now involved in “one final attempt to resolve the matter without the need for a full trial”. If they manage it the media will gnash their teeth at missing out on the fun and distraction.

 Coleen Rooney, 3 April 1986, is a Sun Aries with an emotionally intense and stubborn Venus in Taurus opposition Pluto square an Aquarius Moon.  She has a Solar Arc Saturn square her Sun around now so not in the best of spirits. She’ll have some uplift over the New Year but that runs alongside a run of mishaps and failures till late January, followed by a run of disasters from tr Neptune squaring her Mars/Saturn midpoint late March to mid April, repeating later in the year.

 Rebekah Vardy, 17 February 1982, is a Sun Aquarius trine Pluto, Saturn, Mars in Libra which in turn square Venus in Capricorn – so equally not one for giving way easily under attack. She’s not looking too ecstatically happy in 2021 either with Pluto and Neptune transits putting blockages and banana skins in her way; with a sharp-shock from Solar Arc Mars square Sun also in 2021.

   Their relationship chart which has Saturn sitting on the Mars/Pluto midpoint – not an auspicious omen for a BFF bond – has tr Neptune conjunct the composite Sun from late March, through April and on and off across the New Year into 2022.   All disappearing down the plughole as well it might.

What an obscene waste of money.

 See previous post: October 10 2019

A historic Israel-Saudi Arabia pact had been on the cards. Even in the dying days of the Trump regime there is a push to make it happen with Israeli PM Netanyahu and Secretary of State Pompeo allegedly being seen at the Saudi leader Mohamed bin Salman’s favourite watering hole. Whether it will happen or not is questionable with the strong possibility that the promised sweetener of an arms’ sale will be withdrawn under Biden’s watch.

  The Saudi Arabia/Israel relationship is uneasy at the best of times with a struggle-for-the-upper-hand composite Jupiter opposition Pluto; a differing-agendas Sun opposition Uranus and a hostile Mars trine Pluto; and an unsupportive Mars square Neptune.  Tr Neptune will be producing disappointments between them through 2021 and undermining trust.

  Netanyahu and MBS aren’t a comfortable mix at the best of times with both having a brash, flamboyant Mars in Leo and MBS’s super-charged, control-freak Pluto being conjunct Netanyahu’s Sun.

   USA/Saudi Arabia relations look easier than the Saudi/Israel ones through 2021. And there will be considerable tensions between Israel and the USA starting from late this December.

    Netanyahu and Biden are a tough mix with Joe Biden’s Scorpio planets squaring Netanyahu’s Mars Pluto in Leo for a stand-off. It’s highly strung at the moment, jousting for position from the New Year and seriously disrupted through 2021 with tr Uranus in hard aspect to the composite Sun square Pluto, with tr Saturn chipping in its dampers as well.

  Iran is at the centre of all political decisions with Biden likely to try and resurrect Obama’s deal which Trump summarily overturned.

Gillian Anderson, best known for The X-Files, but with a raft of awards for other film, television and stage work, is attracting attention for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Crown 4.

  Born 9 August 1968 6pm (time origin unknown) Chicago, Illinois, she had a chequered childhood, with a film business father, growing up partly in London, a brief spell in Puerto Rico and the USA. She has three children from a variety of short-lived relationships and lives now in London with Peter Morgan, The Crown script writer.

  She is a Sun Mercury in entertaining Leo square a filmic Neptune with her Neptune square a 7^th house Aquarius Moon. Her Neptune is conjunct her Sun/Moon midpoint which will be why settling for a long-term committed partnership will be tricky for her, despite having a 7^th house Moon which needs a partner.

  She has a Saturnine Yod onto Pluto sextile Neptune, so will have moved through phases of feeling uncertain and inadequate and needs to be on a focused track to give her a sense of purpose.

  On the face of it she has little in common with Maggie though there are some chart cross over. Gillian’s dramatic Mars in Leo is conjunct Maggie’s leadership North Node. Maggie’s Mars is opposition Gillian’s North Node in Aries. Maggie’s Moon Neptune in Leo falls in Gillian’s 1^st house and chimes with her Sun Mercury in Leo square Neptune square Moon.

  Both in different ways are quite Saturnine – Maggie with her in Scorpio on her Ascendant and Gillian’s Yod focal planet.  

They wouldn’t have been BFFs but she will understand some of Maggie’s drives.

Nicholas Sarkozy, the former ‘bling-bling’ president of France, is facing a raft of charges, and maybe the first of separate trials for corruption and influence-peddling. He allegedly tried to bribe a magistrate in return for information about an investigation into his party finances. Prosecutors also suspect that he and several associates received millions of euros of Libyan cash to fund his 2007 presidential campaign, at a time Gaddafi was in power. All hotly denied.   

  Jacques Chirac, another former right-wing president, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence in 2011 for diverting public funds and abusing public trust during his time as mayor of Paris.

 Sarkozy, born 28 January 1955 10pm Paris, France, has a grandstanding 5^th house Aquarius Sun sextile a hyper-active and assertive 7^th house Mars Moon in Aries, so a full-on personality. He has a lucky Uranus Jupiter in his career 10^th; an unrealistic and slippery Neptune in his 2^nd house of finances trine Mercury, sextile Venus in flamboyant Sagittarius. His Mercury opposes Pluto on the cusp of his 12^th square Saturn in obsessive Scorpio – more than a bit stubborn.

  What’s most telling at the moment on his chart is his Progressed Mars which is moving to square his Pluto, exactly in three months, but in effect now – scary, trapped, powerless. Tr Saturn is also in an uncertain and worrisome square to his 2^nd house Neptune in the final days of this month and the first week of December over the duration of this immediate trial. His Progressed Moon moving through his 12^th for almost a year ahead will be discouraging, a time of endings and soul-searching. Tr Pluto opposing his Uranus from late January 2021, on and off till late 2022, will be unsettling, a time of his ambitions turning upside down.

  His wife Carla Bruni looks less than delighted from late March 2021 onwards with tr Neptune opposition her Virgo Moon and then Pluto for more than a year, which will undermine her domestic security. Plus her Solar Arc Sun is moving to a confused and discontented square to her Neptune within months as well.

   He does have a lucky Jupiter in his 10^th so may escape the worst of adverse judgements. Though it’ll be a sweaty few months ahead. And more beyond that when tr Uranus catches his Fixed T Square towards mid decade.

He has a strong get-it-together 5^th harmonic; a ‘rise-and-fall’ sometimes self-induced 10H; and a marked 9H, which is pleasure and money-seeking.

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Bobby Brown, the US singer, songwriter, rapper and actor has suffered another family tragedy with the loss of the second of his seven children.  Bobby Jnr who was following his father into the music business was found dead at home aged 28. Five years ago Bobbi Kristina, Brown Senior’s daughter with Whitney Houston, then aged 22, was found unconscious from a drug overdose and never recovered, dying six months later. Three years before that Whitney Houston died also from drugs. Her fifteen-year marriage to Brown Snr was marred by drug abuse, violence and infidelity and he was blamed for her downhill slide.

  Born 5 February 1969 at 5.21am Boston, Massachusetts, he was diagnosed with ADD and in his thirties with bi polar disorder and was alcoholic from a young age.

  He has a 2^nd house, financially-oriented Aquarius Sun square a hard-driving and ambitious Mars in Scorpio in his 10^th. What is striking about his chart is challenging Saturnine Yod with his Mars sextile an 8^th house Pluto and Virgo Moon inconjunct Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries in his 3^rd house. Yods usually accompany a sense of strain and with Saturn on the focal point it requires great maturity, self-discipline and self-control to handle well – which he clearly has never been able to muster up.

  The 3^rd house can also indicate mental problems, not emotionally based but because there is too much pressure put on the ego-shell.  Although a combination of Mars, Pluto, Moon and Saturn suggests a great deal of emotional turmoil and angst as well.

  He wasn’t handed an easy hand of cards to play, for sure. And working in an addiction-prone business wouldn’t help.

Dolly Parton, a year ago was on a high with a Grand Ole Opry jubilee performance at Nashville being aired on NBC as well as a Netflix series dramatizing the stories behind her songs. Never one to slow down even at nearly 75 she’s got a book, an album and a movie out for Christmas. And her foundation is credited with handing over $1 million for coronavirus research and supporting the work of Covid vaccine company Moderna. Her jam-packed schedule in addition to fitting in song and book writing, performing on stage and in movies, running her charity which donates books to children also includes heading her theme park, Dollywood which is the biggest ticketed tourist attraction in Tennessee and an important local employer.

  Over a sixty year plus career she’s managed to sidestep politics, mastermind a varied and successful career, appealed to a wide cross section of the public and presented what could be a caricature drag-image of a busty blonde and still come across as sympathetic and witty.

  Born dirt poor, the fourth of twelve children, on 19 January 1946 8.25 pm Little River, Tennessee, she started on the Grand Ole Opry aged 13. She has an amazing chart with a charming and ambitious Sun Venus Mercury in Capricorn in her performing 5^th house opposition a tough Saturn Mars in Cancer square Jupiter in Libra in the 2^nd. Mars Saturn will have provided more than her fair share of setbacks and mishaps but also gives her discipline. This heavyweight opposition squares onto a 2^nd house Jupiter, focussing her drive into making money. 

   Her maverick Uranus on her Midheaven is trine Neptune and sextile Pluto – giving her a unique talent, a need to control and the ability to have influence. All the planets in her chart bar one are tied up in those two configurations – a Cardinal T Square and a mini-Grand Trine. The odd one out is her sparsely aspected Virgo Moon in the 12^th which is sextile Jupiter and her North Node and inconjunct her Sun. That may contribute to her sense of aloneness – despite a long marriage, she’s almost never seen with her asphalt-contractor husband (a Sun Cancer with a Libra Moon) and they are apart for long stretches; and have no children.

  She’s been under pressure in the last few years with first tr Uranus in Aries elbowing its way round her Mars Saturn, Sun, Venus and then Jupiter; followed by tr Pluto opposing her Mars Saturn in 2018/19 which would have been punishing. Tr Pluto is now heading to conjunct her Venus and square her Jupiter from February 2021 to late 2022. This will be challenging emotionally, very intense, but also super-confident and lucky.

  She’s one tough lady and a national treasure.

The much-hyped antipathy between the Queen and Margaret Thatcher when PM, is featured in the latest episode of Netflix’s The Crown. Despite criticism that much of this season’s series has played fast and loose with the truth, there were grounds for covering the spat which surfaced in the Sunday Times in July 1986, with HMQ describing Thatcher as ‘uncaring’ for her stance in refusing to condemn apartheid in South Africa. In the heated aftermath the Queen’s press secretary Michael O’Shea was forced to resign.

  In reality there was never as much ongoing hostility between the two grande dames as was made out. Though their similarities wouldn’t always make for a relaxed connection. Both had Saturn in obsessively conscientious Scorpio – Thatcher on her Ascendant and HMQ on her Midheaven, so neither found open-hearted friendliness easy. Both also had Moon Neptune in Leo, so had an inclination to stand on their dignity.

  HMQ’s Mercury in Aries opposed Maggie’s Mars for a mildly argumentative interface.

  Their relationship chart had a private Water Grand Trine of Sun and North Node in a business-like trine to Saturn in an innovative trine to Uranus, formed into a Kite by a friendly Sun opposition Venus. It was hardly at daggers’ drawn though it did have an assertive and impatient Mars on the Ascendant trine Moon.

    There would be minor rough edges which is hardly surprising given their different backgrounds and the fact that the Queen was probably to the left politically of Maggie’s true-blue Tory inclinations – though she’d never admit to it.  

  In later years the Queen extended personal honours to Maggie so there was clearly no lingering animosity.   

Douglas Stuart, a reluctant fashion designer, has won the Booker Prize with ‘Shuggie Bain’, an autobiographical novel, about the lonely gay son of an alcoholic mother in 1980s Glasgow. Described as ‘heartbreaking’ ‘both beautiful and brutal’ it fictionalises Stuart’s love for his mother despite her flaws and his determination to survive and thrive in a homophobic early environment.

  Born 31 May 1976 (wiki), in a housing estate in Glasgow, his father walked out when he was 4, died when he was eight. His mother died when he was 16 of alcoholism.  He credits his childhood with giving him “a large amount of self-reliance, determination. I’m incredibly resilient and focused. I see that a lot of my peers don’t have those things — not knowing the keen edge of need, the fear of having no safety net. Those are the positive things of the way I grew up.”

At 16, he rented a room, working on the tills at a supermarket, while he finished his schooling. He went into textiles, without much enthusiasm but it felt like a safe space being a women-oriented environment after his bullying schooldays.  He became a knitwear designer for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic and Jack Spade. “There was no reverse gear,” he says. “There was nowhere to go back to.” He lives now in New York with his husband, Michael Cary, a curator at Gagosian.

  He started writing Shuggie Bain a decade ago and had it rejected by 32 publishers before it came out to rave reviews.

  He’s a Sun Venus in Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Pluto – that’s a combination which has produced many notables both from 1975 Geminis like Angelina Jolie and Marissa Mayer, ex-CEO Yahoo; in 1976 like Cillian Murphy  (25 May) and Colin Farrell (31 May). Neptune and Pluto in aspect to the Sun appear to generate a sense of driving ambition.

  He’s also got a risk-taking Uranus square Mars and square Saturn; and an indulgent Jupiter in money-magnet Taurus. His Moon is in Cancer trine Uranus and square Pluto hinting at a close bond with mother (Cancer plus Pluto) but one who was also erratic and unpredictable (Moon Uranus).

  His writers’ 21^st harmonic is well-aspected. He intends to give up fashion and take to writing full time.

Another inspirational tough-childhood tale.