not categorised

DNA testing could prove the guilt or innocence of Bruno Hauptmann convicted and executed for the kidnap and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby 90 years ago. There has been no DNA testing or forensic testing of any kind in recent decades and the case largely rested on circumstantial – admittedly overwhelming – evidence. A group of researchers is pressing its legal fight to reexamine the case evidence using rapidly developing DNA technology.  Marked bills from the kidnapping ransom were found in his garage. Wood from the kidnapping ladder was found to be from his attic.  But there are queries as to whether he had an accomplice. When he went to the electric chair in 1936, he was still maintaining his innocence, refusing to sign a confession that might have saved his life. 

Bruno Hauptmann, 26 November 1899 1pm Kamenz, Germany, was a carpenter, an illegal immigrant who came to the USA after the First World War in which his father and two brothers died and he himself was gassed and suffered a head injury. After the war, he and a friend robbed two women wheeling a baby carriage and he served time for burglaries including one using a ladder.

  He had a stellium of six planets spread out through Sagittarius with Sun conjunct Uranus, Uranus conjunct Mars and Venus, Mercury, Saturn all conjunct. His explosive Mars Uranus was opposition Pluto and square a Virgo Moon which suggests a volcanic reservoir of anger against women, no doubt from his own infant experiences.  His Venus, Mercury, Saturn opposed Neptune and again squared his Moon – emotionally incredibly unstable. Plus his Mars was conjunct Chiron which can have problems controlling aggression.

  Tragically and ironically the baby Charles Lindbergh 111 also had his Mars conjunct Chiron, deeply buried in in Taurus in his 8^th house. Born 22 June 1930 2.10pm Englewood, New Jersey, he may have had a lucky, expansive Sun Cancer conjunct Jupiter in his 9^th house but he did not have an easy chart with an over-controlled 10^th house Pluto square a 7^th house Uranus and his Mars Chiron conjunct his Moon. Had he survived the kidnapping or even without it, he would not have had an untroubled life.

  His father, Charles Lindbergh 11, 4 February 1902 1.30 am Detroit, Michigan, was a super-determined Sun and Mars in Aquarius with a controlling Pluto in his 8th opposition Uranus and Neptune also in his 8th Taurus. His Moon in Sagittarius was conjunct Uranus and opposition both Pluto and Neptune – so not emotionally stable or calm. His Sun was square the baby’s 8th house Mars exactly so a connection that would tend to flare up easily.

  The baby’s mother Anne Morrow Lindbergh, another aviator, 22 June 1906 11.15 am Englewood, NJ, also had a revved up Mars with her Cancer Sun conjunct Mars, Moon, Neptune opposition Uranus – and that would have been explosive.

  There is nothing much on any of the charts to give any indication of involvement on 1 March 1932 when the baby disappeared.

  But there is an extraordinarily strong Mars theme running through all the charts.   

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Michael Caine whose epic and award-strewn career started with Zulu, The Ipcress File, Alfie and The Italian Job in the 1960s has announced his retirement at 90. He continued on through the 70s with Get Carter, The Man Who Would Be King, The Eagle Has Landed and A Bridge Too Far, followed by Educating Rita, The Cider House Rules, Mona Lisa and others.  He says he wants to go out on a high note after his last role in well-reviewed The Great Escaper.

 He was born 14 March 1933 10.10am London, son of a fishmarket porter and a charlady, who grew up in poverty and dreamed of becoming an actor. He didn’t go to drama school and after National Service where he saw action in the Korean War, he worked in rep theatre and took bit parts in movies until his breakout role in Zulu.

  He was marked by the poverty of his upbringing and remarked of one untypical dud movie he appeared in: ‘By all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.’ But across the board he managed to produce quality performances in top-notch films.

  He had a 10^th house Pisces Sun and Venus (not conjunct) suiting him admirably for a Neptunian filmic career. His Sun was opposition a 4^th house Jupiter and his Venus was opposition Jupiter, Neptune and Mars in his 4^th house. Home and roots would always have been important to him.

 What stands out in his chart is his Libra Moon in his performing 5^th house which was quincunx his Sun – and opposition Uranus square a 2^nd house Pluto. The quincunx would make it difficult to balance his ambitions with his emotional needs and he’d be constantly restless and fluctuating in mood.  Moon Uranus would further accentuate his need for excitement and change.

  A focal point Pluto in his 2^nd would make him obsessive about staying in control of his finances and boosting his security and wealth.

 His wife since 1973 Shakira, 23 February 1947, is also a Sun Pisces with her Venus in Capricorn falling in his 8^th opposition his Pluto and trine his Jupiter –a passionate and amiable connection.  Her Jupiter in Scorpio is also trine his Sun and his Pluto so she would be a supportive influence and would also enjoy the good life along with him.  The Jupiterian crossovers will help to smooth any rough edges.

  His actor’s 15^th harmonic is exceptionally well-aspected as his his leaving-his-mark 17H and his global-presence 22H.   

He has twice before said he is retiring so who knows?

Australia met the challenge of the Solar Eclipse by ducking and rejecting the government’s proposal to create a permanent body for indigenous people to advise parliament. Best estimates are that 60% voted no. It was an attempt to improve the lives of the indigenous population and close the enormous gap that persists between them and non-indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders account for 3.8 per cent of Australia’s population of 26 million people. Opponents gained traction with the public by claiming it would divide Australia by race, bestowing special privileges on one small minority.

  The Australia Settlement chart of 26 January 1788 had yesterday’s Eclipse conjunct the Neptune. Jansky remarks that Neptune triggered by an eclipse can be an opportunity for greater spiritual understanding and joy (idealism/caring as well). Misused it leads to self-deceit. Typical Neptunian dither and evasion. Though chickens may come home to roost in coming years as the Solar Arc Venus and significantly Saturn will conjunct the Neptune in 2025/27. Even before then next April’s Aries Eclipse will oppose the Neptune perhaps exposing the insincerity.

   New Zealand also rallied voters in an election which saw a sharp swing to the right as the Solar Eclipse opposed the Aries Moon. Jacinda Ardern’s sweeping victory in 2020 was reversed as the country grapples with economic pain.

In a mundane chart the Moon refers to the public though can also indicate an emotional component when it is triggered. The next April Aries Solar Eclipse will conjunct the NZ Moon so the enormous pressures on the NZ chart won’t magically disappear with a new shade of government. Pressures will intensify with tr Pluto continuing to conjunct the NZ Mars in Capricorn till late this year and square the Pluto till late 2024. With two high-tension and deprived/tough conditions Solar Arcs – Saturn opposition Pluto and Pluto opposition Moon – in 2024 as well.  With financial disappointments in 2023/24 and upheavals into 2025/26.

 There may well be political musical chairs for a while.  I will return to NZ and politicians when the new government is sworn in.

Canadian-French astrophysicist Hubert Reeves whose fascination for the Universe’s past led him to become the historian of the cosmos and of matter, has died. Latterly he became an environmentalist as well. “After skimming the skies, he became passionate about the Earth.”

   In one paper he said: that astronomy and ecology could be seen “as two facets of the same theme: our existence. Astronomy, by telling us the story of the Universe, tells us where we came from, and how we came to be here today. Ecology, by making us aware of the threats to our future, aims to tell us how to stay there.”

  He was born 13 July 1932 6pm Montreal, Canada, where after graduation he taught and became a scientific advisor to NASA. But in his 30s he moved to Europe and became Director of research at the CNRS, France’s national scientific research centre, and scientific advisor to the French Atomic Energy Commission. There he might have stayed, respected by colleagues but little known until he was persuaded to write a book, which initially could not find a publisher. When it did it, he sold over a million copies and had it translated into over thirty languages. Thirty books followed and his memoirs.

  He had a deeply buried 8^th house Sun Pluto conjunction in Cancer which would fuel his interest in the mysteries that lay far beyond our limited reality. His Sun Pluto also squared an innovative, experimental Uranus and trined an intense 12^th house Scorpio Moon. His communicative 9^th house – teaching and writing – had a flamboyant and entertaining Mercury and Jupiter in Leo as well as cosmic Neptune which in turn squared his 7^th house Mars. He was always destined to come out of the academic shadows with attention grabbing Leo and a publicity-attracting Mars Neptune.

  His writers’ 21^st harmonic is well-aspected, both charming and explosively direct. His get-it-together 5H and seeking-and-searching 7H are also notable. As is his breakthrough-genius 13H and global-fame 22H.

Protecting the rights and lives of civilians is a basic tenet of the Geneva Convention. As Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, declared as a caution this week in Tel Aviv: “We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it’s difficult.”

 The Geneva Convention came into force on 21 October 1950, following from the earlier convention of 22 August 1864 and there have been various amendments since.

     The key directive is to distinguish between combatants and civilians and minimise harm to populations. Sites such as shops, hospitals, schools and places of worship are considered civilian installations where attacks either deliberate or as collateral damage would normally be prohibited. Attacks should be focused on militarily defeating armed opponents, rather than collective punishment of a wider group of people for casualties inflicted. Hostage-taking such as that carried out by Hamas is also a war crime. The use of civilians as human shields for combatants is forbidden. Even if a warring party is using civilian sites, its opponent still has a responsibility to minimise non-combatant casualties.

  The Geneva Convention’s 1977 additional protocols prohibit the use of starvation as a weapon of war. It is forbidden to “attack, destroy, remove or render useless . . . objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population”. These include “foodstuffs, agricultural areas . . . drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works”.

White phosphorus bombs are internationally prohibited under the 1980 Geneva Convention, which explicitly forbids their use as incendiary weapons against both humans and the environment. Their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime. Human Rights Watch says there have been documented civilian deaths from the use of white phosphorus in war zones in countries and areas such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Gaza.

  When the Convention came into force in 1950 there was a Libra Sun and Venus Mercury Neptune also in Libra sitting midway between a brutal/ruthless Pluto trine Mars. The Sun is labouring under tr Pluto square exactly at the moment and the Venus Mercury Neptune are catching today’s Solar Eclipse for an emotional upset, disagreements and confusion – with more come next spring’s Aries Solar Eclipse in opposition. Tr Uranus is also square the Pluto mid this December to mid March 2024. Plus an uncertain, undermining tr Neptune opposition the Saturn this year into early 2024. So war crimes will be in the spotlight over the coming twelve months.

The sham that was Will and Jada Smith’s marriage in finally unveiled as she admits they have lived separately since 2016 despite his heroic defence of her at the 2022 Oscars when he slapped presenter Chris Rock for making fun of her.

  Never believe a Hollywood smile when cameras are around.

  He was born 25 September 1969 9.47 pm New York, started out as a rapper before switching to movies which have festooned with awards and earned nearly $10 billion over the years.  His entertaining 5^th house Libra Sun is conjunct Uranus giving him an original, quirky, inventive streak and a need for space. He has a Moon Neptune conjunction in Scorpio making him idealistic but unrealistic about women. It sits on one leg of a tricky yod sextile a super-confident Jupiter Pluto inconjunct Saturn in self-reliant Aries – he’s a curious jumble of arrogance and low self-esteem, pushy at times and dreamily uncertain at others.

  Jada was born 18 September 1971 12.38 pm New York and has a controlling and influential Sun Pluto in Virgo conjunct her Midheaven with Moon Mercury in Virgo in the late 9^th house. She also has an Air Grand Trine of Uranus trine Saturn in Gemini in her 7^th trine a stubborn Mars in Aquarius and North Node, formed into a Kite by Neptune Jupiter in Sagittarius on her Ascendant. She’ll be critical with so much Virgo and emotionally detached with so much Air. 

   Neither are easy personalities and she has Saturn on her Descendant so relationships were always going to require considerable effort from her.

  Both have Venus in Libra which will help  and her Venus is conjunct his Sun. But her Saturn squares his Mars which will be fractious and her Sun Pluto is conjunct his Uranus and Sun – so a push pull, over-control and then reject pattern.  Her Virgo Moon is conjunct his Jupiter.

  Their relationship chart has the composite Sun sandwiched between possessive Pluto on one side and needs-space Uranus on the other so it was never going to be easy to find a secure middle ground. There is also a composite Mars Neptune conjunction which is not good news since it points to an ego-conflict and not mutual support. One succeeds in career projects and the other feels diminished. Worse the Mars opposes Saturn which suggest one partner has to suppress their identity for the relationship to prosper.

 The wedding chart, 31 December 1997, has a downbeat Sun square Saturn; a tough-going Pluto trine Saturn, sextile Venus, Uranus, Mars – not an indication of seamless happiness ahead.  

   Not that it should matter what goes on behind closed doors but such is the price of fame to feed the public’s appetite for gossip. And to give astrologers a chance to dissect the celestial strands that bind together or tear apart.

The phenomenon that is David and Victoria Beckham has been honoured with a four part Netflix documentary, not that they need any more publicity. He is a football legend and fashion icon married in 1997 to a former Spice Girl, now fashion designer. Their fortune is reckoned to be around £350 million. His OCD is highlighted as well as his affair which nearly broke their marriage in 2003.

  He was born 2 May 1975 6.17 am London and she 17 April 1974 10.07 am Herts, England (memory).

  What is immediately obvious is her Aries Sun conjunct his 12^th house Chiron which suggests a deep connection either of healing or a coming together because of a recognition of the other’s woundedness. Otherwise her frivolously indulgent Venus Jupiter Midheaven conjunct his Mars will bring a spark of excitement and attraction. His Venus in social butterfly Gemini is conjunct her Mars (and Saturn) which is half OK and half not. It really is not an obvious match with her Sun opposition his Uranus and his Taurus Sun inconjunct her Neptune.

  It comes together more obviously in the relationship chart with a composite Venus, Mercury, Sun, Mars conjunction – affectionate, passionate quite competitive. There is a composite Saturn square Pluto which will chain them together not always comfortably  but will be difficult to split. The composite Saturn is in a stabilizing sextile to the composite Sun, Venus, Mars. The composite Pluto is inconjunct Mars, Sun, Venus and trine Moon – possessive, control issues and some aggravation.  A complicated relationship which will have its rough edges, more than most and will have gone through an exceedingly bumpy patch when tr Uranus was in early Taurus 2020/21 crossing their composite Sun etc.  Tr Pluto is also poised to put pressure on their togetherness as it squares Venus, Mercury, Sun and Mars from 2024 for a few years.

  Her Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage significator, is square her Mars Saturn conjunction so she was always going to attract a fiery relationship that would involve hard work and require effort to keep it together.

 Their wedding chart, 4 July 1999 Dublin, had an over-the-top display of flamboyance which is not surprising given the Jupiter opposition Mars square Neptune opposition Mercury.  With an ego-centric yod of Pluto sextile Uranus inconjunct Sun.

  One thought on his OCD. He does have a Neptunian yod of Taurus Sun sextile Saturn inconjunct Neptune which may give him a yearning for an unrealisable perfection. Plus he has a ramped up T square of a super-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto square a rigidly organized Saturn. Liz Greene also marks Uranus down as a perfectionist planet which I had never considered – a dream of the ideal. His Uranus squares his Capricorn Moon. So maybe the chemistry is all there for an obsessive need for order.

    None of which matters a hoot except as a distraction from horrors elsewhere.

Elsewhere life goes on. Singer Taylor Swift described as a cultural juggernaut known for shattering records, is fresh off her billion-dollar, highest grossing concert tour of all time. Now a documentary film of the Eras concert tour is to be released worldwide which has pulled in $100 million in global movie ticket sales a week before release. Reviews are positive though audiences are treating it like a concert by screaming, singing and dancing from start to finish, with some teenage girls barely sitting down during the near three-hour runtime.

  Apropos of no connection whatsoever, Taylor Swift was born two years almost to the day after Hamas – and has the same Sagittarius Sun and Pluto and Mars in Scorpio. Pluto Mars especially in Scorpio in negative gear can be ruthless and destructive. In positive mode it gives a do-or-die-determination not to be distracted from driving ambitions. What is not generally recognized is the considerable weight of carrying a stratospheric career and worldwide public image. She may look as if butter wouldn’t melt but she needs to be super-strong to get to and stay at the top.

  She is also of the triple conjunction generation with her Mercury sitting amidst Uranus, Neptune, Saturn in Capricorn in opposition to (Moon) Jupiter in Cancer – highly-strung, chaotic with hints of genius, lucky. Her Jupiter is also in a confident trine to Pluto.

  At the moment her Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct her Sun, which can bring a blockage though in her case it may just be ramping up the pressure of success. Her SA Saturn is also conjunct her North Node in Aquarius which again might sound problematic but maybe just another indication of the magnitude of her situation. And she does have two helpful Jupiter midpoints this year attracting money and success.

  Her new found romance with NFL player Travis Kelce, 5 October 1989, may or may not be a useful PR hype. But it does seem a tight relationship. He is a go-ahead Sun Mars in Libra square the triple conjunction so every bit as scattered and changeable as she is.  His Sagittarius Moon chimes with her Sun and his Venus in Scorpio is conjunct her Mars for added zing and passion.

  Their relationship chart has a possessive composite Sun, Pluto, Mercury conjunction so will be intense; with an extra zest from Mars trine Jupiter and sextile Uranus, Neptune, Saturn. It looks a high-octane match.

In the midst of the terrifying carnage and the moral quagmire of the Palestine problem there are some savage ironies. Today’s news carries the story of a Gazan, her home reduced to rubble, one of the 340,000 displaced. “Where should I go now?” she said. “I am homeless.”

  Yesterday Daniel Finkelstein in The Times wrote an equally anguished piece relating how after World War 11 displaced Jewish people equally had no place to go. His grandfather had previously argued against the Zionist project because he thought there were too many Jews in Europe to fit into such a tiny area and peace with Palestinian Arabs would be hard to come by. After the death and displacement of millions in the 1930s/40s, he became a pragmatic supporter of a state of Israel because it seemed the only answer to the question of – where do we go now?

Finkelstein writes: “I understand why the Palestinians did not want to share the land. But like my grandfather in 1947, I cannot see any choice but sharing. And while sharing is rejected by the Palestinians I cannot see any choice but to resist — stubbornly and absolutely and, when necessary, with force, even great force. For Israel must be defended. Where else are we to go?’

  Two irreconcilable tales of anguish. As James Cameron wrote: “a sick and sorrowful conflict, not between right and wrong, but between two forms of right and, maybe two forms of wrong.” (see previous post). Though the argument from an Arab point of view was and is that the Palestinians were not to blame for the Holocaust or displacement of the Jews. The Saudi king of the time thought the answer was simple – hand Germany over to  the Jewish people.

 In the here and now, two considered voices try to see a way ahead that might limit the damage. Both caution Israel not to fall into the trap set by Hamas’s atrocities by lashing back. William Hague writes that Hamas want to start a war ‘so intense that it spreads, igniting an explosion of violence in the West Bank and bringing in Hezbollah from Lebanon in the north, with Israel fighting on multiple fronts. To see so many Palestinians killed that the Israelis lose the moral high ground of defending themselves against mass murder.’ ‘Essentially, to bring down the ceiling on the whole region, including themselves and the people for whom they claim they are fighting.’

  Colonel Tim Collins echoes the point. To Hamas ‘civilian Palestinians are nothing more than human sandbags to be sacrificed at will. The group’s goal is not to defeat its enemy in traditional combat, but to ensure enough innocent Arab lives are taken, over a sufficiently long time, that the screams of protest from the international community become deafening.’

  He argues that Israel could strengthen its standing on the international stage by launching limited ground incursions at specific targets and “crucially, encouraging the Palestinian political party Fatah, which previously ran Gaza, to take back control from the terrorists of Hamas. Most Gazans are fed up with Hamas’s vicious paramilitaries, whose fanatical anti-Semitism and corruption have left the territory in a state of devastated economic neglect.” “The overthrow of Hamas by Fatah, backed by Israel, would be a step forward for democracy in Palestine – and would isolate the theocratic Iranian regime which has long bankrolled and armed Hamas.”

  Fatah, initially started on 10 December 1959 in Kuwait with Yasser Arafat as a co-founder, has in recent years been overshadowed by Hamas. Though they have retained control of the West Bank and the refugee camps. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, is the chairman of Fatah and generally considered a lacklustre leader.

  Both his personal chart, 26 March 1935 and his Presidency chart, 15 January 2005, show signs of  major disruption and upheaval. He is a Sun Aries with Uranus in Aries opposition Mars in Libra (catching this week’s Solar Eclipse by close conjunction) and squaring onto Pluto.  Although a revolutionary by nature he is also overly controlling. He looks to be running into a dead-end soon with his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Mars and tr Pluto is also square his Uranus in 2023/24 which will upset the status quo.

  His Presidency chart is confused and undermined exactly now with SA Sun conjunct the Neptune; with a SA Uranus square Pluto rocking the boat of his administration violently – maybe terminally so in political terms.

 The Fatah chart itself is hitting the jolting tr Uranus square Uranus this year and next, hinting at a need to revision for the future. The Solar Arc Jupiter opposition Uranus by 2025 could suggest a lucky turn of events.

  The Fatah/Hamas relationship chart has this week’s Eclipse conjunct the composite Uranus for a major shake-up. With serious arguments from mid 2024 onwards and an erosion of the ties-that-bind from 2025 onwards.