Joe Biden has taken the damned-if-he-does and damned-if-he-doesn’t decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan after two decades. Critics predict civil war may erupt, lead to the collapse of the Kabul government and the struggling army; and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups could re-establish havens within two years, using them as launch pads to attack the US. It will almost certainly be a disaster for the country’s 39 million people — in particular, its women, wiping out any progress made at the cost of more than 2,000 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

  Afghanistan has had a turbulent history as far back as the eye can see becoming independent in 1919 but going through convulsions since 1979, first from the ill-judged and unsuccessful Soviet-Afghan War against the mujahadeen, then a civil war and from 2001 the American invasion after Al Quaeda’s 9/11 attack, with Bin Laden hiding in the mountains. Having toppled the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime there the US found, as in Vietnam, that starting was easier than finishing.

 The Afghanistan Independence chart, 19 August 1919 12 am Kabul, has a rebellious, uncompromising Uranus opposition Saturn as well as a Leo Sun squaring onto a hidden 12^th house Taurus Moon conjunct the South Node; with a stressed and explosive Uranus inconjunct Mars. The Moon in the 12^th square Uranus MC and Saturn Sun relegates the feminine to an inferior place.

  What is significant is how sensitive this chart is to influences which hard aspect the Fixed T square of Sun, Uranus, Saturn, Moon, Node. The Soviet War started with tr Uranus in Scorpio squaring the Sun and then moving round the other planets. The USA 2001 invasion occurred when tr Uranus was conjunct the Solar Arc North Node and Solar Arc Saturn was moving to square the Afghan Sun; and the Solar Arc Midheaven in Taurus was also colliding with the same points. In 2001 as well there was the war-like, tough-conditions tr Saturn in Gemini opposition tr Pluto, which was moving to conjunct the Afghan Ascendant in 2022.

  Tr Uranus will start to shake up the Afghan Fixed T Square from 2023 to 2027; with major high-risk stresses coming from early 2022 through 2023 as tr Pluto opposes the Afghan Mars. So it does not look settled ahead, far from it.

  The Invasion chart, 7 October 2001 4.25 pm Kabul, is predominantly an Air chart with only one Earth sign – Mars in Capricorn – hidden away in the financial 8^th. Strong on hopes and theories but not practical. The gung-ho Mars opposition Jupiter is also significant since it suggests an attempt to put a cosmetic often sanctimonious veneer on an aggressive act.

At the moment the Solar Arc Mars is conjunct the Invasion Neptune for a sense of failure which may increase over the next two or three years as the Solar Arc Sun moves to square the Neptune – the fear is, like Iraq, that having pulled out they may have to go back in if the situation deteriorates too much.

Shirley Williams, one of the most influential and popular political figures in the UK in the 20^th Century –  “Shirl the Pearl” – has died aged 90. Originally a Labour MP and one of the first women cabinet ministers, she was in the “Gang of Four” who split away from Labour in 1981 to found the Social Democratic Party and later supported the SDP’s merger with the Liberal Party (the LibDems). Her career in politics spanned more than 50 years.

  Shaped by her childhood as the daughter of two busy and remote parents – the pacifist/activist Vera Brittain, the principal breadwinner of the family, and her academic father George Catlin, who failed in his political ambitions – she grew up imbued with feminist ideals but lacking in emotional nurturing. She was sent to the States in 1940 with her brother John, labelled but unaccompanied by adults through the Battle of the Atlantic, supposedly to protect them from the war.

  Her mother, Vera Brittain, wrote the heartrending, best-selling classic Testament of Youth, later made into a television series, about her experiences in the first world war as a nurse and losing her brother, fiancée and two close male friends, which sent her into a nervous breakdown in the aftermath. 

  Shirley Williams evolved into a dedicated egalitarian, responsible for the controversial abolition of the socially divisive 11-plus examination, and became an internationalist with a distinguished academic record. Despite the admiration she attracted she was also criticised for being indecisive, incapable and disorganised due to an inability to prioritise; and her other failing was a dislike of making enemies so she lacked a ruthless edge.

  Shirley Williams was born 27 July 1930 4am London and had a first house Leo Sun sextile Mars in Gemini and a 2^nd house Leo Moon Mercury trine Uranus in her 10^th – well designed for a public and reforming career with Leo plus Uranus in her 10^th. She had Pluto in Cancer on her Ascendant which would give her a slightly enigmatic image – pleasant but impenetrable. Her hard-working Saturn in Capricorn in the 6^th was in a see-saw opposition to Jupiter in her 12^th. She also notably had a vague, disorganized Neptune in her 3^rd house as well as a charming Venus.

  Her mother Vera Brittain, 29 December 1893 had a trickier chart with two Yods: Her Capricorn Sun was sextile Uranus inconjunct Neptune Pluto in Gemini; and her Saturn sextile Mercury was inconjunct Jupiter in Taurus. Her super-confident Jupiter also opposed vengeful Mars in Scorpio squaring onto a detached Venus in Aquarius – a curiously hybrid mix.  When World War 1 started one of her Yods had moved to sit on top of the other by Solar Arc, for long years of crisis which defined her life – tr Neptune Pluto in Cancer were also moving to oppose her Capricorn Sun through the whole ordeal and after.

  It wasn’t an easy relationship with her daughter Shirley, who always felt she came a poor third behind her favoured brother and her mother’s various causes. Vera’s tricky Neptune Pluto was conjunct Shirley’s Mars and square her Venus which would set up aggravations.

Pic: University of Essex

Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s border, reportedly 83,000, the greatest show of force since Putin’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014, has provoked NATO, the EU and the USA into issuing warnings indicating their support for Ukraine.  Two US warships are due in the region this week. There have been hostilities recently between Russia-backed separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine, breaking a months-long cease-fire. But it’s also thought likely that Putin is testing how Joe Biden, who has already indicated his hostility to the Russian president, responds to military threats. It will be the first major foreign policy test of Biden’s presidency.

 Biden has his Mars conjunct his Descendant on his astrocartography for Moscow and that relocation chart has tr Uranus opposition the Descendant exactly now as trouble flares, with tr Saturn exactly square Biden’s Mars now as well.  Tr Uranus moves to oppose his Mars from late May onwards, on and off into 2022. Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, 16 April 1962 2.56am New York, has his Mars conjunct the Midheaven located to Moscow (birth time being accurate). For both it’s a high-aggression, argumentative, competitive region.

  When the Crimea invasion occurred in late February 2014 the tr Uranus in Aries square tr Pluto in Capricorn was impacting directly on the Ukraine 24 August 1991 2.31pm Kiev chart with its natal Uranus Neptune and Ascendant in Capricorn. It also showed up clearly on the Ukraine 28 June 988 AD JC chart with its Sun Venus in Cancer opposition Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus in Capricorn.

  There is nothing similar at present though both charts do indicate mounting concern this year, with worse next. The 1991 chart has tr Uranus opposition the Midheaven, moving into the 4^th from this June onwards which could bring upheavals and disruptions at a domestic level, continuing on for years ahead. With more upsets, panics, failed plans, possible collapse of the old order of things and more in 2022/23 with tr Neptune opposition the Ukraine Mars, tr Uranus opposition the 10^th house Pluto, tr Saturn opposition Jupiter and conjunct Moon.

  Putin’s 4^th Term chart always did look violent, ruthless and crises-ridden with Mars Pluto in Capricorn square Uranus. Mars Pluto is a bullying, dictatorial, control-freaky energy though it can also lead into dead-end obstacles and result in acute frustrations so the do-or-die determined side of it doesn’t always lead to success. He certainly looks desperate enough at the moment in terms of his administration’s progress and stability with tr Pluto just picking up the conjunction to the Mars as Biden takes over and that stays for two years. Plus the Solar Arc Mars is moving over coming months to square the Uranus for explosive and reckless acts which can backfire.  2022 looks wobbly for him, 2023 even more so. Though as ever there’s a lucky Jupiter around to cushion a few blows.

  The relationship charts between Russia 1917 and 1991 and the EU, USA and NATO looks highly stressed this year and more so next and on so the tensions are not going to subside whether over the Ukraine or elsewhere.   

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, is under scrutiny for her purchase of several properties, including a recent million dollar plus one in Los Angeles. Local BLM chapters have been raising questions since she’s a self-proclaimed Marxist and BLM’s finances appear to be opaque, despite raising $90 million last year.

  She was born 20 June 1983 and is a Sun Mars conjunct in Gemini opposition Neptune and trine Saturn Pluto in Libra. Her best-selling book and extensive media contracts may well have funded the purchases but until explanations and more transparency are forthcoming about BLM’s organisation the rumbles will continue.  Her two co-founders have left.

  She’s certainly well-designed for coping with multiple projects at once with such a Geminian slant to her chart and will be mega-ambitious with that signature Sun Neptune Pluto connection. Her flamboyant Venus in Leo will also give her extravagant tastes.

  Her relationship with her other two co-founders is stressed. With Alicia Garza, the relationship chart has an irritable, one-sided Mars opposition Saturn with Saturn conjunct Pluto – it has been under considerable pressure and strain for some years. Opel Tometi also has a tricky relationship chart with her with a composite Sun Mercury square Pluto – also majorly aggravated now till late 2023.

  It’ll be a tragedy if there’s any truth in it.

See previous post on BLM August 30 2020.

Pic: The Laura Flanders Show.   

The torture, murder, suicide melodrama of Puccini’s Tosca, Maria Callas’ signature role, had nothing on the searing unhappiness and maltreatment of her own life. Regaled as the greatest operatic soprano of the 20^th Century, she was pimped out by her mother who later blackmailed her into handing over money, was ripped off financially by her husband and latterly, in a harrowing affair with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, was violently attacked and drugged for sex, before being publicly dumped for Jackie Kennedy.

 She was born 2 December 1923 6am (unverified) New York, but was brought up in Greece after her parents’ marriage failed, an overweight unhappy child who was made to feel ugly and unwanted but still put out to perform as her singing talent became obvious. Her mother during World War 11 worked as a prostitute and tried to pimp her out to Nazi soldiers. When she became successful both parents tried to leech off her. Callas later said: “I am fed up with my parents’ egoism and indifference toward me … I want no more relationship. I hope the newspapers don’t catch on. Then I’ll really curse the moment I had any parents at all.”

  She had a mercifully upbeat Sun Jupiter in Sagittarius which would give her an edge of optimism; with her Sun square a 4th house Uranus, a sign of an unstable, constantly changing childhood and adult domestic life.  On this birth time she had a 10^th house Virgo Moon which fits a public career; but what stands out are a cruel-treatment Mars Saturn conjunction in Libra and a trapped though influential 8^th house Pluto, which latter would make her feel circumstances were constantly out of her control.

  Onassis, 20 January 1906 10am had his Capricorn Sun square her Mars Saturn so he’d tap into her victim fears. He had a ruthlessly determined Pluto square Mars which collided with her Moon – his power-hungry Pluto squared it and his aggressive Mars was in opposition. And his leadership Leo North Node was conjunct her musical Neptune as he claimed a global superstar prize as befitting his status.

  Their relationship chart was truly distressing with a destructive, damaging, dominating and angry composite Sun Mars opposition Pluto; and a fated, leading-to-irrevocable-changes in both lives composite Yod of Mercury Saturn sextile Jupiter inconjunct Neptune.

  Even after he moved on to Jackie Kennedy, much to America’s acute horror, he still met Callas secretly in Paris and she died nine years later.

  His relationship with Jackie oddly enough did have positive aspects though it never seemed a comfortable match.  His Jupiter in indulgent Taurus fell in Jackie’s 7^th, his possessive Pluto was in a passionate conjunction to her 8^th house Venus though also opposition her Saturn and square her Mars.

  Their relationship chart had another of those irrevocably-life-changing Yods onto the composite Sun, for an ego-centric match on both sides, one assumes. There was also a passionate and socially ambitious composite Venus sextile Jupiter, square Pluto and trine Neptune.  Not quite what her sophisticated image suggested or her ‘Camelot’ fans wanted, but she had been brought up by a hard-drinking, womanising rogue of a father which may explain part of it.  And JFK himself was no saint.  

DMX, the American rapper, has died young at 50 of a heart attack brought on by years of drug abuse to a litany of anguished praise by music critics. One described him as a “colossus, a fire-starter and a healer.” Another said “he was a force of nature, an all-or-nothing character who could be profound but also self-destructive.” He fathered 15 kids, sold 23m records, totalled sports car after sports car and moved in and out of prison for petty crimes – drug possession, aggravated assault, driving without a license, tax evasion. He rescued stray dogs, but also pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.

  The source of his pain and chaos was a childhood from hell, in which he was physically abused by his mother and her boyfriends, spent time in group homes, was introduced to vodka aged 7 by an aunt and to crack cocaine by a music mentor in his teens. In his performance he barked like a dog because angry strays became rare friends during spells of teenage homelessness.

 He was born 18 December 1970, no birth time sadly, New York and had a Sagittarius Sun square Pluto, the legacy of an absent father who was literally out of his control. He also had that emotionally impulsive and super-intense Venus Mars conjunction, in his case even more ramped up being in Scorpio. Though it would be warped by an opposition to Saturn in Taurus, giving him major anger issues. His Mercury in Capricorn was in an outspoken square to Uranus and trine Saturn.

  His Jupiter in Scorpio was square the North/South Node axis which may have been a minor saving grace for him, giving him highs to counter-balance the crashing suicidal lows he suffered from and sang about.

  His creative 5^th and 7^th harmonic are strong; as was his self-defeating ‘Wheel of Fortune’ 10H and can-be-fanatical 11H.

It’s a tragic comparison to Prince Philip, also born with an absent father and otherwise occupied mother, but somehow got it together.  It’s drugs that are the real killer in terms of damaging lives beyond repair.  

Rachael Blackmore, an Irish steeplechase jockey in her early thirties, has become the first woman to win the Grand National at Aintree. Afterwards she said: “I don’t feel male or female right now,” she said. “I don’t even feel human.” She added, “You need some luck to get around with no one else interfering and you need so much to go right, and things went right for me today. I just feel so incredibly lucky.”

Women have been competing for 44 years but this is a significant first. She’s had a good season with wins in the Champion Hurdle at last month’s Cheltenham Festival, where she left as the leading jockey despite nursing bruises after four falls. Another female jockey said “She has taken some terrible falls and bounced back — she really is an animal. The mental strength she has is something to behold.”

  Born 11 July 1989 in Killenaule, Ireland, she has a highly-strung and passionate chart. Her Cancer Sun Mercury are trine Pluto and sit on the opposite side of the zodiac from the can-be-chaotic or can-be-tinged-with-genius triple conjunction in Capricorn. Her full-on Mars Venus in Leo is in a do-or-die determined square to Pluto. She also probably has an Air Grand Trine of Jupiter in Gemini trine Node in Aquarius trine a Libra Moon.

  Her Solar Arc Jupiter is catching the tr Pluto opposition at the moment and throughout this year and next which should bring luck and success her way. Though 2022/23 also look accident-prone which is the bane of race jockeys’ lives so she’ll need to take care.

  Her get-it-together 5^th harmonic is strong, even more so her 7H. And intriguingly her breakthrough 13H is the most notable as she demolishes one more barrier.

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Prince Philip has died just short of his 100^th birthday in June.

  Born 10 June 1921 Corfu, Greece, time maybe 10am, into the Greek and Danish royal families he had a peripatetic childhood with the family exiled when he was an enfant and he was educated in France, Germany and the UK. He served in the British Royal Navy with distinction in World War 11 and married the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947.

  He had an assertive and hyper-active Sun Mars in Gemini with his Sun on the focal point of a scattered Mutable T square to Jupiter Saturn in hard-working Virgo opposition Uranus. His Mercury in Cancer close to Pluto and trine Uranus would give him a tendency to express himself forcefully.  His Venus in indulgent Taurus was square Neptune and widely a Leo Moon.

  It was by no means an easy match with Elizabeth though her Sun conjunct his Venus would help, as did her enthusiastic Mars Jupiter in his 7^th (10am being accurate BT) and both shared a flamboyant Leo Moon and Neptune – all of which would help to smooth some rough edges. But the relationship chart with a Mars opposition Saturn flags up the one-sided, self-sacrificing nature of the bond, as he had to give up his family names and career to become he-who-walked-behind. It did undoubtedly cause aggravations and irritability as well as resentment.  There’s also a Yod of Uranus sextile Sun Mercury inconjunct Saturn – which indicates a relationship which would change the lives of both irrevocably. There was on the plus side a passionate composite Venus square Pluto, a morale-boosting Sun opposition Jupiter; and a gloss-over-problems Venus trine Moon Neptune. It’s also notable that the Queen’s chart is extraordinarily Fixed while his is weighted to the more adaptable Mutable. Oddly enough Gunther Sachs study found Taurus and Gemini one of the longer lasting matches which wouldn’t seem intuitive but it clearly works.

  The Wedding chart, 20 November 1947 11am London was also exceedingly fraught with Mars Saturn (Pluto) opposition Moon square Saturn – a simmering volcano of aggravation but also arguably the toughness of the aspects was what gave it the strength to endure – since in those days bolting was not an option.

  At the moment the Queen has tr Saturn exactly on the opposition to her 12 degree Leo Moon with tr Uranus moving to square her Moon from late May.  Prince Edward, who oddly on the astro seems to have been the child closest to him, also looks rattled with tr Uranus square his Aquarius Moon exactly now. Andrew has tr Uranus opposition his 4^th house Neptune for a highly-strung reaction; and Anne has tr Saturn just into her 4^th house, which rules childhood/father.

  Prince Charles has tr Neptune square his Mars this year, just a few days off the exact, so he will be feeling undermined.

  What is heart-warming is how the Queen and Philip spent more time together recently because of the pandemic – and how their relationship weathered the storms to come together in recent years as a rock-solid partnership.

  The UK chart has tr Saturn square the 8^th house (rules death) Mars as the country reflects on the passing of an era.

  Scary to think what might come apart at the seams when the Queen moves on.  

Add ON: His mother Princess Alice, a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had a troubled life being congenitally deaf, forced into exile, despatched to a sanatorium after a breakdown when Philip was nine years old and diagnosed as schizophrenic. After she came out she devoted her life to charitable works in Greece, sheltering Jewish refugees in WW11 and setting up an order of nursing nuns. She spent her last two years living in Buckingham Palace. She was born 25 February 1885 4.40pm Windsor, England.

 His father Prince Andrew of Denmark and Greece, 2 February 1882, left the family to live with his mistress in Monte Carlo in 1930 and died in 1944, not having seen his wife or son since the outbreak of war.

 Princess Alice had a highly-strung Sun Mars in Pisces opposition Jupiter square Pluto with Saturn in Gemini – a highly Mutable chart like her son and indeed Queen Victoria who was a Sun, Moon in Gemini with Saturn Pluto in Pisces square Uranus Neptune in Sagittarius. The Queen’s father George V1 was also weighted towards Mutable with a Sun Mars Mercury in Sagittarius and Neptune Pluto in Gemini. Mutable is restless, nervy, scattered, often sharply intelligent because of the Mercurial nature of it. What a mercy the Queen is so Fixed.

  Prince Andrew of Denmark and Greece was a Sun Venus in Aquarius square an impractical, over expansive Jupiter Neptune in Taurus. Like Philip he had Mars in Gemini.

  Philp’s connection with neither was easy. The relationship chart with his father had an aggravated, bitter and undermining Pluto Mars Neptune square Venus. With his mother there was an argumentative Sun Mars and a living-through-times-of-constant-change Uranus opposition Pluto tied into Venus.

  It’s a miracle he stood rock steady for all these years in the one marriage.

‘The Arduous March’ is Kim Jong Un’s euphemistic description of the approaching famine he has flagged up in North Korea, similar he said to the 1990s years of starvation which killed several million people. The 1994-98 disaster years were caused by economic mismanagement and the loss of Soviet support after the collapse of the USSR. This time round trade with China has come to a standstill with the borders shut due to coronavirus and international sanctions are still in place. All offers of external aid have been rejected and he’s still lashing money out on new missiles. Same old crazy but his poor people are the ones suffering, not the elite.

  The Kim Jong Un leadership chart, 29 December 2011 11.57am, which is the one which is verified, has the erratic tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the financial Venus this year; but it is 2022/23 when the problems mount with a hardship/deprived tough slog of tr Pluto square the Saturn in 2022/2023 and an explosive, disruptive Solar Arc Mars opposition Uranus in 2023 and an undermining, directionless tr Neptune square the Midheaven by 2024.

 The North Korea, 9 September 1948 chart, looks depressed and stuck this year with Solar Arc Sun square the Saturn and a financially disappointing tr Neptune square Jupiter; tr Uranus squares the Pluto for a considerable upheaval or revolution in 2022; then tr Uranus bumps across the bleak Saturn Pluto midpoints before forming a high-tension, unstable square to the Saturn in 2025. There’s also a raft of truly difficult and damaging Solar Arcs across 2025/2026 as the Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct the Sun for an upheaval/rebellion, and there’s a completely log-jammed and dangerous 2026 with Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Mars and Solar Arc Saturn square the Pluto – so not much in the way of sunshine ahead.

  When the mid 1990s famine struck tr Saturn was in Pisces (as it will be 2023-25), the Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct the NK Pluto, the Solar Arc Sun was conjunct the NK Mars; and tr Pluto was crossing the Midheaven for a break down. Some similarities.