The indefatigable Nicola Benedetti, celebrating her 38th birthday, is gearing up for the Edinburgh International Festival starting in three weeks of which she has been the first female director since 2022. Heralded as one of the most sought-after violinists of her generation, she was a child prodigy, continues to play and record prolifically to international audiences, and act as an enthusiastic advocate of classical music through her music education charity The Benedetti Foundation. She has a new Classic FM radio series ‘The Truth About Classical Music’ in which she will take listeners behind the scenes of the classical music world and is inspired by the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival theme, ‘The Truth We Seek’. In October she sets of on her first solo tour in over a decade performing at 14 venues across the UK and Ireland. And all this after just giving birth.
She was born 20 July 1987 7.40 am Irvine, Scotland, with an Italian father and an Italian-Scottish mother, and an older sister who is also a violinist. She started to play the violin aged four and at eight became the leader of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain; and later went on to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
She has a Cancer Sun on the cusp of her 12th house square a confident, enthusiastic Jupiter in pro-active Aries in her far-travelled 9th house. She also has Venus Mercury in Cancer in her friendly, socially-minded 11th house. Her musical Neptune in her performing 5th house opposes Mercury and squares a North Node in Aries hooking her into the culture of the times.
Her Mars in Leo in her 12th squares Pluto on her IC giving her formidable determination, and a never-say-die approach. Her home life will also be dominated by her work ethic with Saturn there and probably was throughout her childhood. Her Uranus sitting close to her Saturn won’t make domestic contentment easier but will make her innovative and keen on effecting positive changes.
Her 10th house Taurus Moon conjunct Algol and Pholus are clearly intent on doing good by reaching out to inspire audiences and children.
Her ‘Master’ Harmonics of 11 and 22 are strong as is her genius/breakthrough 13H.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the American actor, musician and poet best known for his role in the Cosby Show had drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica, apparently dragged out to sea while swimming by a strong current.
He was born August 18, 1970 at 2.43 am Jersey City, New Jersey, named after Malcolm X, and had an upfront, vibrant Sun Mars in Leo square Neptune in his creative and performing 5th house and square Saturn in Taurus. He had a full 4th house of family and childhood with an intense, controlling Mercury Pluto in late Virgo conjunct an unpredictable Uranus and Venus in Libra as well as Jupiter in Scorpio.
His 9th house Moon in Pisces was unaspected which would make him feel disconnected and can be emotionally disorganized and vulnerable. His Moon was very much to the forefront when he died with his Progressed Moon exactly conjunct his natal Moon. And when his chart is relocated to Costa Rica near Limon it put his Moon exactly conjunct the Midheaven.
I have no idea why that should be accident prone in itself. But in addition his 4th house Pluto opposition the shipwrecking Scheat in his 10th was due for a shake-up from the September Solar Eclipse. And his Progressed Mars was sitting on his Mercury/Pluto midpoint, sending vibrations ahead to the conjunction with Pluto which is accident prone.
When he died around 2pm on July 20 the Gemini Moon conjunct Hyades was on the Descendant. Hyades according to Dark Star Astrology is stormy and; “give tears, sudden events, violence, – and contradictions of fortune.”
Blighted and scandalous families are not restricted to the obscenely wealthy, with two biographies out turning the focus on unforgivable behaviour amongst creative and celebrity types.
Gloria Grahame, a four time married Hollywood actress, who gained some success in the 1950s with an Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful, seduced the 12 year old son Tony Ray of her second husband, Nicholas Ray, which split the marriage – and in later years she went on to marry the son when she was 57 and he was 23. It lasted for 14 years.
The biography Circle of Lions could not be published until all concerned were dead and starts with a foreword by Tony’s daughter Kelsey, in which she acknowledges the ‘deep-seated trauma’ that ‘trickled into every aspect of his later life’. He had multiple addictions, to drugs, alcohol and gambling as well as mood swings between ‘euphoric and grandiose mania’ and ‘deeply destructive catatonic, depressive episodes’. He divorced Gloria in 1974 but apparently loved her until he died in 2018.
Gloria Grahame, 28 November 1923 3.47 am Los Angeles, had a 2nd house Sun, Jupiter, Mercury in Sagittarius; with Venus in later Sagittarius trine a filmic 10th house Neptune, sextile a hard-edged, can-be-destructive Mars Saturn conjunction in Libra. Mars Saturn is sometimes a marker of sexual abuse. A recent movie with Annette Bening played Grahame in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool was based on a memoir by a Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner whose love affair with Gloria Grahame began when he was 26 and she was 55. So she obviously had a penchant for younger men.
Tony Ray, 24 November 1937, Washington, DC, was also a Sun Sagittarius trine Pluto trine Saturn in late Pisces and Scheat – a tough, bleak childhood which left its mark. He also had an emotionally erratic Venus in Scorpio opposition Uranus square Mars in Aquarius. His Moon was Leo/Virgo.
His relationship chart with Gloria had a chained-together and resentful composite Saturn opposition Pluto square North Node with an affectionate Sun Venus. Could not live with or without her. The wedding chart of 13 May 1960 had Mars on the focal point of a fated yod, tying them together; with the Sun close to Algol.
His Pluto was conjunct Gloria’s Moon and Midheaven – so there would be an intense connection though one which ultimately ruined her career when the story emerged. His Jupiter was square her Saturn Mars so there may have been a way in which he offered her comfort. Her Jupiter was conjunct his Sun so she would boost his confidence (initially).
There is little in the way of Algol appearing in this rancid tale except for it sitting in Gloria’s 7th house of marriage.
What does appear relevant (or coincidence) is Hyades which was conjunct Tony’s South Node in Gemini exactly and opposition her Sun.
Hyades, the face of the bull, 5 to 9 degrees Gemini, is likened to a dark trickster, scandal-prone with a tendency to exploit others in quest of power. Associated with rampant sexual urges, ‘a dissolute life, excessive and licentious ways’ it can go too far with stalking and obsessions. Its positive side can lead to success in life if handled well, otherwise it ends in a fall from power.
The other sordid tale is of writer Lawrence Durrell’s abuse of his daughter Sappho, who suicided in her 30s. It resurfaces with a new biography of him which is clear about his darker side, though it stops short in 1947 before Sappho was born. Durrell, eldest brother of the naturalist Gerald Durrell, best known for his erotic Alexandrian Quartet set in Eqypt, was charismatic but unpleasant, free with his fists, snobbish and racist.
Born 27 February 1912 1 am Jullundur, India, he had a Pisces Sun in his communicative 3rd house conjunct Mercury square Mars in Gemini (conjunct Hyades) opposition Jupiter. His Moon fell midway between Pluto and Mars in his 7th so he would be dependent on partners whom he would dominate and denigrate. To say he had problems with women would be the understatement of the century. His mother was evidently a raging alcoholic. He also had his Venus conjunct Uranus trine Mars for more emotional volatility.
His daughter Sappho, 30 May 1951, London, had a Sun Mars conjunction in Gemini (conjunct Hyades). Her relationship chart with her father is similar to that of Gloria and Tony Ray – with a composite Saturn Pluto and an affectionate Sun Venus. Saturn Pluto can be chillingly bleak, cruel and unfeeling.
The seamier side of human nature is deeply depressing.
[PPS. I am beginning to get bewildered and irritated by the blizzard of possibilities from the lesser Fixed stars and asteroids. Still I suppose it is as well to keep exploring until the chart eventually self-combusts from carrying too much flotsam and jetsam.]
Athina Onassis, the heir to a Greek shipping fortune, is gradually emerging from seclusion after her divorce several years ago which turns a focus back onto her family which has been blighted by early deaths, accidents, suicides and dramas.
All the cliches about the curse of money which have haunted dynastic wealth like the Onassis and the Guinness family in Ireland, make it an attractive project for drama producers. Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, has an up and coming Netflix series looking at the 19th Century House of Guiness starting withBenjamin Guinness – who is credited with the brewery’s early success. Along with their prosperity comes a tragic tale of seemingly endless misfortune for the family.
In the Greek Onassis shipping family, Athina Onassis, 29 January 1985 2.50am Neuilly Sur Seine, was the only child of Christina Onassis and product of her fourth marriage; the only grandchild alive of Aristotle Onassis. Christina within 30 months in her early twenties lost her only brother to a plane crash and shortly after her mother Tina Livanos to a drug overdose, and her father Aristotle (still married to Jackie Kennedy) to ill health. Christina then died aged 37, it is assumed because of heavy medication use, struggles with her weight, stress and a turbulent emotional life.
Her daughter Athina was then 3 and then went to live with her father Thierry Roussel whom latterly she has been estranged from. Her marriage to a Brazilian showjumper was complicated by the two children they took in belonging to his former girlfriend who subsequently committed suicide.
Aristotle Onassis’ marriage to Jackie Kennedy after JFK’s death, which shocked the American public and did not go down well with his two children, was also part of the saga. Never mind poor Maria Callas, Aristotle’s abused and bemused lover who was dumped when Jackie turned up. [See previous posts: Maria Callas in Search].
Athina Onassis has a 3rd house Aquarius Sun square a 12th house Pluto opposition a Taurus Moon, so she would feel trapped with both Plutonic parents outwith her control. She has a defensive Saturn in Scorpio in her 1st opposition North Node and Algol in her 7th house, so relationships will be a challenge for her.
Wading through a handful of Onassis-related charts, Algol is a recurring presence in many. Maria Callas had Algol conjunct her Descendant. Jackie Onassis has Algol in her 7th, (and her father Black Jack Bouvier had Algol conjunct his late Taurus Sun.)
Both Aristotle Onassis and JFK had their Jupiter in Taurus conjunct Algol, as did Tina Livanos (Christina’s mother). Alexander Onassis (killed young in a place crash) had his Mars conjunct Alphard square Algol. Thierry Roussel, Athina’s father, has his Aquarius Sun opposition Alphard and Black Moon square Algol.
Benjamin Guinness, 1 November 1798, who elevated Guinness to rarified heights of wealth, had his Jupiter in Taurus conjunct the North Node and Algol square Pluto. And subsequent generations of the Guinness family do appear to have had more than their fair share of accidental deaths and suicides.
Algol is not specifically related to curses but it has more than a touch of ‘the heart of darkness’ about it. Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas with it in their 7th house of one-to-one relationships would be attracted to men with a ‘dangerous’ aura, like moths to a flame.
Algol does have a positive side when it can harness destructive powers to do good but it takes great strength of character not to be pulled into its darkness.
“Cursed be he above all others Who’s enslaved by love of money. Money takes the place of brothers, Money takes the place of parents, Money brings us war and slaughter.” Anacreon
There are sadly no astrological titbits from the Greek tale of the Fall of the House of Atreus when grandfather Tantalus’s act of hubris initiated the curse. He offended the gods by serving them a stew made from his son Pelops’ flesh to test their omniscience. Bitter feuds, revenge, murder and mayhem followed down the generations. The curse is eventually lifted but it is a potent tale of inherited guilt.
See previous post Algol – light in the heart of darkness.
Clint Eastwood has gained another biography which promises to be “neither acquiescence nor denigration,” though whether he will welcome it personally given his dislike of any incursion into his private life is questionable.
Shawn Levy, the author, according to a review, covers Eastwood’s sixty years in films without making any attempt to moralize about his character flaws and the reviewer goes on to say that as ‘problematic artists continue to become less mythologized and held more accountable, the works that chart their personal lives must somehow confront these aspects more productively, than mere reportage.’
Eastwood was born 31 May 1930 5.35pm San Francisco, CA, into a middle class family, limped through school, worked in several dead end jobs, served in the army and in his mid twenties landed a second lead role in the TV western Rawhide which ran for eight years and all else followed including the Spaghetti westerns and Dirty Harry. During the 1970s he also started directing as well as acting.
His personal life seemed to be constantly in turmoil with several marriages, endless revolving romances and at least eight children; with well-publicized spats with wives as well as directors, of whom he would get four fired.
He has a 7th house Gemini Sun inconjunct Saturn in Capricorn, which in turn is opposition an intense 8th house Venus and 9th house Pluto square a 5th house Uranus – defensive, self-doubting behind a disruptive and defiant exterior, opinionated. Venus Saturn types are often serial philanderers. He’ll be an innovator in the creative field with a 5th house Uranus but also erratic and unpredictable emotionally. That trait would be exacerbated by his Leo Moon on the focal point of a T Square to Mars in late Aries opposition a South Node in Scorpio – women spark off his anger. His Chiron is conjunct his Descendant with Algol in his 7th both of which might hint at partnership wounds and dramas.
His filmic, creative Neptune is conjunct his Midheaven with Alphard closely conjunct his Midheaven as well. Alphard can give wisdom and artistic appreciation but can also lead to turbulence, lack of self-control, immorality.
His lucky 8th house Jupiter in Cancer sits midway of a tine between his Midheaven and Mars – so blessed in life with financial good fortune.
His Harmonics are notable with a strong 22nd, 15H, 13H, and 9H notable.
[Talent and good behaviour or a stable temperament do not tend to go together which is a problem when the fame culture idolises the person rather than their achievements. Astrologers tend to be invasive. probing into the whys and wherefores of a personality but character flaws while fascinating psychologically should not diminish appreciation of their output. ]
Early astrology knew nothing of the outer planets. As they were discovered and added to the zodiacal lexicon, astrologers had extra tools for interpretation, expanded further by the addition of Chiron. In recent times Fixed Stars like Algol, Scheat, Alphard, have come back into vogue as helpful tools. And now asteroids are also coming to the forefront (despite Richard Idemon’s witty dismissal of them as ‘cosmic detritus’.
My software lists 81 asteroids which is an overwhelming number were they all to carry cogent information and raises a suspicion they could be used an an explanation for almost anything.
Despite my Virgoan misgivings, I read with increasing appreciation a new ebook out on Pholus – Cults, Intoxication and the Divine by Ben Belinsky, the first of a series of four on the centaurs. The author explains that the major planets e.g. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc have rulerships and a specific job description. Whereas the centaurs of which Chiron was the first to be discovered, are identified with their narrative. Chariklo, Nessus and Asbolus are the others.
Pholus was the guardian of a flask of wine, gifted by Dionysus, Greek god of fertility, religious ecstasy, ritual madness and drunkenness. When the divine legacy of Dionysus is released as the flask is opened it can lead to:- a mad stampede, a volley of poisoned arrows, religious ecstasy or poetic inspiration. It takes us beyond the rational mind so the Pholus ‘experience’ can be transcendental, angelic or psychotic.
Pholus is connected to panic, herd mentality, fanaticism, (fan is a shortened version of fanatic), possession by a god or demon, ‘a religious maniac’, ecstasy, mass hysteria, intoxication by alcohol or drugs, a state of emotional excitement, elation, or exhilaration, the loss of sense of individuality in a mass or collective. Cults. Mobs. Mind-control. To enslave.
Atavism – the tendency of reversion. Those who “look backwards, feeling deprived of a real or imagined past” and relates it to the rise of populism.
Ancestral legacy – the wine that Pholus had guardianship of was gifted four generations before.
The author Ben Belinsky, a practising London astrologer with a background in Jungian psychology and a degree in Comparative Religion, points up why Pholus is so relevant to our time.
He quotes: Gustave Le Bon, ‘The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind’. “The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them.” “Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”
And Joost Meerloo, ‘The Rape of the Mind.’ “Logic can be met with logic, while illogic cannot – it confuses those who think straight. The Big Lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have a more emotional appeal… than logic and reason.”
His insights into both Pholus and the present mindset in certain quarters are helpful. “In a cult, what we project onto the leader is our own sense of divinity, in other words our divine self. We become worshippers, devotees, they become our saviours, our protectors; in effect they become gods. And through them we achieve religious ecstasy.”
Two thirds of the book are chart examples of which cult leaders are most illuminating. Jim Jones of the suicide cult has Pholus on his Ascendant. Marchall Applewhite of Heaven’s Gate (extra-terrestrials) had Pholus on his Midheaven. Timothy Leary, early advocate of psychodelic drugs also had Pholus on his Ascendant. Ron Hubbard, who invented Scientology as a smart way to make money had his Jupiter in Scorpio and South Node conjunct Pholus in a Water Grand Trine.
Of the others I might have expected more obvious connections in Hitler and the Germany charts. Though both Hitler and the 1871 Germany chart has Pholus in the 5th perhaps hinting at the Third Reich’s popularity through grandstanding displays of pomp.
The USA 1776 chart has Pholus conjunct the South Node exactly which could point to the country’s reversionary need to hook into conspiracy theories, televangelists and populism. Donald Trump? His Pholus is opposition his Saturn and exactly opposition his Venus/Saturn midpoint. Oddly enough his Pholus falls in the 5th house of entertainment as well – so there may be a nugget of insight from that.
Of the other charts, my slight impression is that Pholus in aspect to the Moon or Venus is a frequent occurrence amongst notables.
Though the area is so new that much more research is needed.
Ben Belinksy’s book is extremely readable, with gripping illustrations of the old myths and their modern relevance, and psychologically perceptive.
It is, in a odd way, reassuring to be able to nail down the modern madness. Fandom of any variety – global, political or sporting – may not be arguable with but understanding its irrational kink does make it (marginally) easier to hack.
The ebook can be ordered from Amazon
See also: https://moonletter.co.uk/e-books/#pholus
Add On:
Celebrities with Pholus aspects: https://www.zanestein.com/celeb.htm
The value of the global cryptocurrency market has reached $4tn for the first time after the passage of the US digital asset legislation – the so-called Genius Act. It marks “one of the most significant moves” towards mainstream adoption of crypto. It is a huge turnaround since 2022, when its value fell to about $800bn following the failure of crypto exchange FTX.
Trump who received hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funding from crypto executives has been behind support for a renewed push which investors predict will pave the way for Wall Street banks, money managers and other companies to invest in digital assets or create their own tokens. He is also preparing to sign an executive order to open up the $9tn US retirement market to crypto and other alternative investments.
Critics warn that tying crypto closer to traditional finance poses grave risks in the event of another market crash. Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren said that the Genius Act “lacks the basic safeguards necessary to ensure that stablecoins don’t blow up our entire financial system”.
She also argued that the issuance of stablecoins by private companies risked “concentrating too much economic power in the hands of a few”.
The crypto industry — including groups such as Coinbase, Binance and Crypto.com — faced a series of lawsuits under former president Joe Biden’s administration. During the second Trump presidency, those cases have all been dropped.
The ‘Genius’ Act was signed into existence on 18 July 2025, which puts the Saturn Neptune conjunction in Aries in the 5th house of speculation in an over hopeful, stop-start square to Jupiter in the 8th house of business finances, along with Venus in Gemini. An ambitious Mars in Virgo sits beside the South Node which could suggests a tendency to build castles in the air rather than ensuring the foundations are well-established.
Alphard sits on the Midheaven which is in the Hydra constellation, the single star in the neck of the Water Snake. It has also been called the heart of the snake. On the positive side it can give wisdom, musical and artistic appreciation but in negative mode can lead to turbulence, lack of self-control, immorality, revolting deeds and self-destruction. ‘The danger is marked if either Sun, Moon, Mars, Neptune, Ascendant or MC are linked up with this star.’ (Astrology King.)
The Cancer Sun is also exactly conjunct Procyon bringing a promise of wealth, fame, and good fortune but with the warning that any enterprise created in haste will not last. There is a tendency to a hot temper and impudence. Rise and success are found with it, but a later fall from high position is also indicated. (Astrology King) Fixed star Scheat is also in the speculative 5th house close to Saturn Neptune which in its negative mode is associated with shipwrecks.
The Part of Fortune is also conjunct the Midheaven which promises luck and success. My sense would be (but don’t bet on it!) that some will do well and others will be ruined.
PS. I really cannot get my head round crypto so more knowledgeable types do feel free to comment.
PPS. I adore Scrat from the movie cartoon Ice Age who is endlessly hunting a runaway acorn. Seems fitting.
Austrian Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound in 2012 after jumping out of a balloon 24 miles (39 kms) up in the air over New Mexico and smashing the record for the highest ever freefall, has died in a paragliding accident in Italy. According to media reports, he suffered a cardiac arrest while still in the air.
Born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria, he had an Aries/Taurus Sun conjunct Saturn in Aries on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Uranus, South Node, Jupiter (Pluto) – super-confident from Jupiter Pluto and adventurous from Jupiter Uranus, self-willed and self-reliant with a focal point Sun and Saturn. His Mars was in a danger-attracting square to Pluto. He found his singular path in life when he started skydiving in the military at 16. He said: ‘The air is where I am at home’, and has “born to fly” tattooed on his arm. At that point tr Pluto just into Scorpio was opposing his Sun and triggering his yod apex.
Over the course of his career he set 14 world records, becoming the first person to jump from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, the Millau Viaduct in France, the Turning Torso skyscraper in Sweden and Taiwan’s Taipei 101. He also became the first man to fly across the English Channel in a wingsuit in 2003.
His chart has been stressed in recent times with tr Neptune Saturn opposing his Uranus with tr Pluto trine; and the past two years tr Pluto square his Sun. So he had come a full Pluto quarter cycle from his teenage revelation about his life’s direction. Tragic but oddly fitting.
Connie Francis, the American singer, who was the best selling performer in the late 1950s/early 1960s after Presley and The Beatles, with Stupid Cupid, Who’s Sorry Now?, and Lipstick on Your Collar, has died aged 87.
From 1964, her career was blighted by a catalogue of personal tragedies including three divorces, two miscarriages, rape, mental breakdown and the violent death of two close relatives. After being arrested for assault, she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital, having earlier been committed twice by her father who considered her behaviour “erratic and self-destructive”. Although she never recaptured her earlier success, a few months before her death she enjoyed an unexpected renaissance on TikTok, when her 1962 B-side Pretty Little Baby went viral with 10 billion views.
Her biggest regret she said was “to have allowed my father to control my personal life. He was tyrannical.”
She was born December 12 1937 7.28 am in Newark, New Jersey with her musical talent appearing when she was an infant.
Her Sagittarius Sun was conjunct her Ascendant and square a musical Neptune in a creative and can-be-neurotic opposition to Saturn in regretful Pisces. Her Chiron was in her 7th house of marriage opposition her Sun and square Saturn and Neptune. She also had a super-confident Jupiter in Capricorn opposition an 8th house Pluto.
Her 3rd house Aries Moon was trine Venus. This would relate to her brother George Franconero Jr, to whom she was close, who would provide support in childhood. He was an attorney who had testified against mob activity, refused witness protection and was murdered in 1981 by Mafia hitmen. At that point her Solar Arc Mars was trine her Venus and conjunct her Moon for yet another shock.
Before then in 1974 she was raped at knife point in a motel bedroom. She courageously went public about the assault and sued the motel chain, but developed agoraphobia and was unable to leave her home to perform. She also suffered from paranoia and believed that people were trying to kill her. At that point her Progressed Mars was square her Sun and opposition her Neptune.
The compensation she won from the motel chain paid for a course of cosmetic rhinoplasty, but one operation on her nose resulted in long-term damage to her vocal cords.
Her career stumbled through the 1980s with frequent hospitalizations and disastrous stage appearances though she wrote a memoir Who’s Sorry Now? which became a best seller and she worked to help other victims of violent crime. Through the 90s and on till her retirement in 2018 she revived her career and headlined in Vegas once more.
Apart from the central Saturn opposition Neptune square Sun, two other points of note in her chart. One was her 8th house Pluto making her feel trapped but also giving her influence. The other was an unaspected Uranus in her 5th which would tend to act in bursts of high-voltage energy but being unintegrated in her chart could also be disruptive.
