Ursula von der Leyen’s Presidency of the EU Commission started a month later than scheduled. Her Term chart has a lacklustre and indecisive Sun square Neptune; with the heavyweight Saturn Pluto in the grandstanding 5th which along with a Virgo Ascendant (assuming 12 midnight start) suggests an understated approach. If the time is right there’s a helpful, business-minded Earth Grand Trine of Venus trine Uranus trine Ascendant, formed into a Kite by an excitable Uranus opposition an uber-determined Mars in Scorpio – so there may be more drive there than expected. Though she’ll have a bumpy start with tr Uranus opposing the Mars in 2020.
Her own personal chart, 8 October 1958 has a sagging-morale tr Neptune square her Saturn from late April to late August 2020 which will be highly uncertain and panicky, and that repeats on and off through till late 2021. But into 2021 she picks up the more confident and successful tr Pluto square her Sun/Jupiter midpoint running through 2022 as well; with a definite triumph from Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Jupiter in about 15 months from now.
So after a shaky start she may collect a few wins to her credit – though the end of her term doesn’t look too upbeat.
There are squawks and hisses emerging from the UK ITV morning shows with rumours of bad blood between the ever-popular Philip Schofield and his sofa-companion Holly Willoughby as well as Eamonn Holmes and wifely co-presenter Ruth Langsford. A management spokesman wrote off the reports of a toxic atmosphere off “ a desperate attempt to tarnish Philip’s reputation by maliciously motivated gossip.’ Perish the thought.
Schofield, born 1 April 1962 2am Oldham, England (from memory), does have a fairly tricky chart with a lively 3rd house Aries Sun inconjunct Pluto. If the birth time is right his Pluto as well as Uranus are in the 8th; and his Pluto opposes both Jupiter and Mars in Pisces. So he’s super-confident, which he’d need to be with a heavy presenting schedule – and super-determined with Mars Pluto. Plus he has a cool Saturn Moon in Aquarius. Tr Neptune is finishing a run of conjunctions to his Mars into the middle of this month which is not ego-supportive; and he has tr Saturn heading downwards through his first quadrant which is always a touch lacklustre in the career department.
Holly Willoughby, 10 February 1981, has been his co-presenter for a decade as well as juggling myriad other programmes. She has her Aquarius Sun conjunct his Moon which is a perfect crossover but her Venus is conjunct his Saturn which is OK for work but not warm; and her Pluto is conjunct his Midheaven which will have led to some underlying tussles for the upper hand. Their relationship chart is a mix of affectionate with a composite Sun Venus square Jupiter and aggravated with Saturn Neptune square Mars. It’s definitely sagging at the moment through 2019 and 2020 with tr Neptune dissolving the composite Sun, Venus, Mercury and square Jupiter.
Relations between Schofield and Eamonn Holmes, 3 December 1959 – an enthusiastic and confident Sun Jupiter in Sagittarius square Pluto; with an ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio – will be negatively impacted by the Saturn Pluto conjunction. Their relationship chart has a composite Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Mercury opposition Venus which is being challenged, damped down and aggravated from now onwards; with more hiccups after July 2020 as tr Uranus starts to square the composite Sun.
Life is rarely all sweetness and light in the land of showbusiness egos, but it’s most often swept under the carpet.
If Schofield’s birth time is accurate then I’d imagine he is struggling with a few unresolved issues courtesy of tr Saturn heading into the nadir of his chart.
A shock volcanic eruption on a tourist island in New Zealand has killed at least five with 23 rescued, some of them critically ill with burns, and 22 missing. There aren’t expected to be any more survivors. Tr Saturn is exactly square the New Zealand Aries Moon exactly at the moment which is an indication of loss and mourning; with an undermining tr Neptune square the NZ Jupiter as well.
Tr Pluto is heading to cross the IC in January 2020 onwards which is a reasonable metaphor for an eruption from deep in the earth. And tr Pluto’s entry into the NZ 4th house starts a phase of several years of major challenges and considerable stress as Pluto will conjunct the Sun in 2021/22, then conjunct Mars in 2022/23 and finally square the NZ Pluto in 2023/24 – part of that could be more natural disasters or severe internal aggravation amongst a discontented populace.
Finland’s Sanna Marin is to become the world’s youngest prime minister, aged 34. She will lead a centre-left coalition with four other parties, all headed by women, three of whom are under 35.
Born 16 November 1985 in Helsinki, she is a seriously determined Sun Saturn in Scorpio with a charmingly persuasive Venus and Pluto also in Scorpio square Jupiter in Aquarius; and a go-ahead Mars in Libra sextile Mercury Uranus in Sagittarius. Plus a hard-working Capricorn Moon.
She takes over as tr Neptune is coming to square her Uranus till late January so she’ll have a highly-strung honeymoon, not necessarily bad but edgy. She will run into frustrations with tr Pluto square her Mars/Pluto midpoint from late January on and off till late year. With some disasters to overcome in April/May and over the New Year into 2021 with tr Uranus opposition her Mars/Saturn midpoint. But she’s determined and resourceful with so much Scorpio so will soldier on.
Her Jupiter falls in Finland’s 10th (time and date being accurate) which is good news for the country. Her Uranus is conjunct the Finland Sun so she will be a reformer and her Sun squares the Finland 10th house Uranus so she will push it onto a different track.
Finland still has tr Neptune around in 2020 in opposition to the Mars so not all schemes will come to fruition.
Saturn Pluto kicks off 2020, coming exact only once, in January at 22/23 degrees Capricorn. However that doesn’t mean its effect won’t be hanging over the entire year. Every time the Sun or Mars is in a Cardinal sign the hard aspects will reverberate the same energy since Saturn and Pluto stay in orb. Mars in Capricorn in March will conjunct Saturn and Pluto; and in April the Aries Sun will square Pluto and then the Taurus Sun will square Saturn in early Aquarius. Saturn only sticks a toe in Aquarius from late March until July before reversing back into Capricorn.
Just to put added stress onto events Mars moves into Aries late June to stay for a high-octane six months till January 2021, with a retrograde in the middle. In July the Cancer Sun opposes Saturn and Pluto and Jupiter; in August Mars also opposes Jupiter and Pluto and Saturn. October has both the Libra Sun and Mars in Aries hitting on Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter; with a final hard aspect from Mars to Pluto in December. Mars in hard aspect to Saturn and Pluto tends to be high-risk, accident or disaster prone.
Jupiter is the oddity and wild card in the midst of all these leaden aspects since it generally brings morale-boosts and good luck. There is a Jupiter conjunction with Pluto in March, again in June and November – so there should be some good news amongst the drear and drama.
Venus is also having a retrograde year staying longer than usual in Gemini from April to early August.
Mars will have a ratchety few days in early April as it enters Aquarius to form a conjunction with Saturn and then a square with Uranus.
The Solar Eclipses are in June at zero degrees Cancer; and in December at 23 degrees Sagittarius. The Lunar Eclipses are at 20 degrees Cancer in January; at 16 degrees Sagittarius in June and 14 degrees Capricorn in July; and 9 degrees Gemini in December. Only the January Lunar Eclipse is tied into the heavier influences of the year. Though the July Lunar may have an impact on the USA since it falls opposite the Cancer Sun.
In December both Jupiter and Saturn come together in Capricorn and then move in unison into Aquarius after mid month for a lighter, more cerebral, though still ambivalent influence. Jupiter is expansive, inspired and confident while Saturn is the opposite – practical, lacking imagination, cautious. Together, at best, they can marry idealism with materialism and find a balance between vision and reality.
In the past it has been associated with a few iconic figures who become symbols for a society but are elevated to an impossible height – Princess Diana, John Lennon being two examples – and then come crashing down. US presidents elected under it tend to die in office or are the target of assassination attempts.
The heavyweight Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn marks the start of the coming decade. It brings to a climax the slow grind of Pluto through Capricorn since 2008, collapsing old financial and governmental systems. Where the 2010s was a decade of turmoil with the disruptive Uranus square Pluto causing havoc and throwing everything up in the air, now comes the serious business of trying to put new pieces together. Uranus Pluto clears the decks of what no longer works but can be chaotically destructive since it often neglects to think about what comes next. Saturn, the builder, comes along to instil more order and structure, not necessarily with compassion or sentiment, but it will attempt to lay more solid foundations for the future.
Saturn Pluto is never a fun experience but it will only linger for a few months in effect in 2020 since Saturn moves smartly into Aquarius from March. The Saturn Pluto sombre effect will also be mitigated by Jupiter belatedly catching up to conjunct Pluto through the year which should bring rewards after the pain.
Aquarius is a coming theme for the decade ahead with a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius in early 2021, followed in 2023 by Pluto moving into Aquarius to stay until 2043. This airy, inventive, technologically-oriented, scientific, allegedly humanitarian sign does have a lighter feel than Capricorn, but it can produce ideologues and fanatics, often right-wing.
2021/22 will also be marked by Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus, which aspect is often seen as an indicator of a financial downturn. There’s a key Lunar Eclipse in late 2022 with the Full Moon tied into Uranus and square Saturn fairly closely; with a financial bubble-bursting Jupiter Neptune conjunction as well.
2025 will be the year of the decade and not necessarily for positive reasons. Following Pluto’s change of residency in 2023, the other three outer planets all move on a sign which will be a considerable gear shift. Neptune moves into Aries till 2038, having been lingering in Pisces since 2012 and promptly conjuncts Saturn (in Pisces since 2023); and Uranus moves into Gemini for seven years. The Neptune Saturn conjunction is often associated with widespread epidemics, as well as neurosis, creativity and hope for a better society.
The September 2025 Solar Eclipse indicates clearly the forces in play – a Uranus in Gemini trine Pluto in Aquarius trine New Moon which is opposition Saturn Neptune. It’s a powerful mix of outer planets all interconnected, so it will be accompanied by significant events. And that innovative and unsettled Uranus trine Pluto sextile Neptune runs on in orb for several years. The energy is Air and Fire, so it will be a time of fertile ideas, intellectual and scientific exploration – inspired but not always realistic.
Marlon Brando still casts a considerable shadow even fifteen years after his death. On top form as an actor in ‘The Godfather’ and ‘On the Waterfront’ he was matchless and he lived his life as a full-on drama. When he died at 80 in 2004 he had fathered at least 11 children from a run of spectacularly disastrous marriages. He was often presented as a wasted talent for the stacks of forgettable films he made for the paycheques. But he did good with his social activism, first in support of a post-war Jewish state, then with Martin Luther King and his support of American Indians. A recent biography by William J Mann charts his life in sympathetic detail cutting through the often self-created lies and fantasies he wove round his mythology.
He was born 3 April 1924 11pm Omaha, Nebraska, with two alcoholics as parents, which fuelled a rage and sense of victimhood he never lost despite years of therapy. He had an Aries New Moon in the performing 5th house square Mars in Capricorn in his financial 2nd house opposition Pluto in the 8th – which is an extraordinarily tough burden to carry of compacted anger and overwhelming frustration. He must have felt as a child that the universe and his parents were trying to destroy him and in later life he tried to self-destruct through obesity. He had lifelong mood swings, dark depressions and was a compulsive womanizer as well as an over-eater.
The Times reviewer of the biography remarks: “He was – utterly egocentric and therefore crushingly obtuse about other people’s feelings. His rages, sulks and destructiveness were monstrous.” His Sun on the point of a T Square would make him narcissistic and attention seeking; the focal point Moon would make his emotional sensitivities more acute. Mars Pluto would ramp all that up to def con levels.
He also had an entrepreneurial Fire Grand Trine of Jupiter in Sagittarius trine Neptune trine His Sun Moon – so would be confident, inspired and self-involved.
His Pluto in the 8th, a placing often found with superstars who have an ability to project an aura, was trine Uranus on his IC, a relic of an unpredictable childhood where his parents often ended up in jail. He had Venus in Capricorn in the 6th – perhaps a pointer to his eating indulgences.
His strongest Harmonic is his creative 7H, which can be psychologically on the edge as well as being a seeking soul – and shows the cruelty of his life both done to and doing clearly. His breakthrough-genius is also notable.
Iraq, fifteen years on from the aftermath of the catastrophic Bush/Blair invasion, appears to have gone backwards. The initial ‘shock and awe’ attack of 2003 was followed in 2004 by what was ironically described as sovereignty. Since then there have been a series of unstable governments. Recent public protests against political corruption and Iran’s influence over Iraqi politics coupled with the government’s violent response in which 400 have been killed led to the recent resignation of the prime minister.
The defeat of ISIS has left a vacuum in the country and in Syria, which has been filled by forces linked to Iran, Turkey, the United States, and Russia. New intelligence points to Iran stockpiling of missiles in Iraq, which pose a threat to American troops as well as Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration has sent roughly 14,000 additional troops to the region, primarily to staff Navy ships and missile defence systems.
What’s interesting about the Iraq Sovereignty chart, 28 June 2004 10.28am Baghdad, is that it is a Uranus Return on from the Iraq mandate chart of 23 August 1921 6am when the country was carved out of a Middle Eastern map after World War One. Both have Uranus in early Pisces; and coincidentally both have Jupiter in Virgo and the 1921 Pluto is conjunct the 2004 Cancer Sun Saturn. So both charts do appear to hold good. And they are being rattled by the Cancer/Capricorn Eclipses this year and next which usually points to crises.
Both charts have 2021 as an especially tricky year with a blocked Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Sun on the 2004 chart; and a severely jolted Solar Arc Sun square the Uranus on the 1921 Iraq chart in addition to tr Uranus in an explosive and highly-strung square to the Mars Neptune in 2021/22.
Tr Neptune is square the 4th house Pluto on the 2004 chart in 2020 for a discontented population and Solar Arc Saturn is conjunct the Mars in 2022 which will bring more violence/war; and tr Neptune opposes the Jupiter Saturn in the 1921 chart in 2021/22 for lowered hopes and uncertainty.
So it looks as if it’ll rumble on in the same state for some years ahead. The Iraq Attack of 20 March 2003 had the transiting Saturn opposition Pluto and this conjunction of the moment is the half-cycle further on.
Emmanuel Macron’s landmark pension reforms have been met with the largest strikes of his presidency, as French rail workers, air-traffic controllers, teachers and public sector staff took to the streets in resistance to the changes. France has one of the lowest retirement ages and highest public sector costs in Europe; and Macron was voted in on what everyone knows needs done. As per usual pitchforks came out at any hint of a disruption to the ancien regime of generous benefits. 82% of rail drivers are out leading to the cancellation of 90% of regional trains cancelled, half of Paris’s metros are out, with fears it could continue for days.
The bullish, bolshie T Square in the France chart of a revolutionary Uranus opposition Pluto square a never-say-die (and vengeful) Mars in Scorpio has moved by Solar Arc to catch the prevailing Cancer/Capricorn eclipses. And tr Neptune is in an enthusiasm-denting and uncertain square to the Solar Arc Saturn opposition Jupiter in 2020; and in opposition to the 8th house Mercury – so muddle and mayhem may run on.
Macron’s Presidency chart 14 May 2017 11.25 am Paris is sagging badly till mid this December with tr Neptune square the Mars which usually suggests failing plans; with a setback tr Saturn square the Midheaven exactly now and a blocked tr Saturn conjunct the Pluto in mid this December.
Macron’s personal chart 21 December 1977 10.40am Amiens, France, has his Solar Arc Pluto now conjunct his Midheaven (birth time being exactly accurate) which can lead to power struggles, sometimes loss of reputation or an inability to stand up to stronger forces. With tr Saturn moving through his 12th house till this coming March and then hovering across his Ascendant backwards and forwards until December 2020, he’s at the end of a successful, responsible phase and heading downwards thereafter. Saturn on his Ascendant which repeats through the coming year will take the shine off his image.
