Please add below. Older posts under News on top bar and in SEARCH

Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada was the most popular went he won in 1984 and the least popular when he exited in 1993 in a defeat of historic proportions.

  One obituary described him as “a complicated figure. He had an easy charm, combined with square-jawed good looks and abundant confidence, but his many enemies considered him smooth, showy, manipulative and self-regarding. He left office reviled, and was subsequently revealed to have accepted envelopes stuffed with cash from an arms lobbyist, but over time his achievements as prime minister gained a wider appreciation.”

He was unable to solve the Quebec separatist issue but he helped Canada to gain prominence on the international scene, having close friendships with Reagan and G HW Bush. He secured a free trade agreement with the USA, reformed Canada’s tax regime which reaped long-term dividends and did safeguard Canada’s natural environment. He made an unexpected comeback from retirement when Justin Trudeau, sought his help in dealing with President Trump.

 Born 20 March 1939 10.17 pm Baie Comeau, PQ, Canada, he had a 4^th house Pisces Sun trine a persuasive 9^th house Pluto and square a money-oriented Mars in his 2^nd. His Sun was also opposition Neptune in his 10^th which might have been slippery but would also have given him a sense which way the wind was blowing on certain issues.

  His crossovers with Canada are mixed. Both have Jupiter in Pisces. Both have heavily 4^th house charts, keen on domestic issues and nature. But his Mercury and Saturn in Aries was conjunct the Canada Neptune Ascendant which would give rise to doubt and suspicion. His Ascendant was conjunct the Canada Saturn which would put a damper on his image.  And his Uranus in Taurus collided with Canada’s Pluto in Taurus opposition Saturn – his instinct would be for reform, to shake up moribund situations which would not always go down well.

Tammy Faye Bakker was a gaudy, over-made-up, campy televangelist who made millions for her church, married two true-believer, mega-church husbands, both convicted for fraud and gave Jessica Chastain an Oscar winning role in the 2021 movie about her. Now her son has made what he insists will be a revealing documentary of the true story of his family’s life: Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye.

Born 7 March 1942 3.27am International Falls, Minnesota, with Pentecostal preacher parents who divorced when she was young, she rose out of poverty, to make millions with her first husband Jim, until he fell from grace into prison, convicted on multiple counts of fraud. She attended his trial but was never charged. She divorced him when he was inside and married a contractor who built megachurches, who was later convicted of bankruptcy fraud and landed in jail as well.

  She had a 3rd house sharp-witted Pisces Sun in an expansive, over-confident square to Jupiter in chatty Gemini and trine an intense Scorpio Moon.  Her Moon was on the focal point of a Fixed – and clearly acquisitive – T Square to a 2nd house Venus opposition an 8th house Pluto. Her Moon would design her to interface with the public and her 8th house Pluto would give her influence. She also had Saturn Uranus in Taurus in her 5th giving her an ability to organise ‘entertainment.’ Her Neptune fittingly was in the religious 9th in a creative trine to Uranus and a publicity-seeking trine to Mars.  Her 8th house Pluto would arguably attract her to the dark side and to partners who wanted to wield power and money.

 Her first husband Jim, 2 January 1949 11 am Muskegon, Michigan, had his Libra Moon on her midheaven, also a showbizzy, publicity-attracting hard Mars Neptune aspect, and both had Venus in Aquarius. His Capricorn Sun was widely square Jupiter in pro-active Aries pumped up by a conjunction to Mars with Jupiter trine Pluto – overflowing with confidence.

 They were a tight, affectionate couple with a composite Sun Venus opposition Pluto square a Jupiter Saturn conjunction – and I would hazard a guess that she was the stronger of the two and the more indulgent.

  At his trial the jurors heard how over a million dollars went on furs and jewellery; homes were purchased and condos, and $2,000 a month on electricity went to heat their swimming pools.

  When their house of paradise collapsed in 1986 tr Uranus was conjunct Jim’s Midheaven and conjunct her Ascendant.

 She divorced him when he was in prison, disappeared for a while and returned with books, documentaries, and TV appearances and went on to marry Roe Messner, a church building contractor, 1 August 1935, whose Leo Sun and determined Pluto Mercury in Cancer fell in Tammy’s 8^th with his Sun square Mars in Scorpio which fell in her 10^th and square Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio which was conjunct her Moon. An intense, entangled relationship. With their relationship chart having a serious indulgent composite Sun opposition Venus square Jupiter, trine Neptune with some gritty moments from Mars square Uranus and trine Saturn.  Her 8^th house Pluto knew how to pick dramatic relationships.

  She died of cancer in 2007 and Jim when he was released from prison married a former televangelist. In 2021 he was sued for selling a fake COVID-19 cure called Silver Solution for $125 each.

  Leopards don’t change their spots but I never understand how all the conning and grifting squares with the god bothering.

Iris Apfel, the unashamedly ancient fashion icon, has died at 102. She had an illustrious career with her husband in their textile weaving business as an interior designer, decorating the White House for nine American presidents. Only after her retirement in her mid eighties she was asked to put on an exhibition of her enormous collection of outfits and accessories for New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and her ‘geriatric starlet’ days were born as she came into demand for lectures and fashion shoots.

  She was born on August 29 1921 in Queens, New York, her father head of a business selling glass and mirrors, and a Russian-born mother who who owned her own boutique and, according to her daughter, “dressed like the Duchess of Windsor”.

 Iris was a Sun Mercury in Virgo in an inventive and outspoken opposition to Uranus; with her Uranus in an experimental trine to Pluto (maybe Moon) in Cancer. Uranus doing its whacky best to make her stand out from the crowd. Her creative Venus in home/family oriented Cancer which would suit her interior design talents and may also have been conjunct her Moon. Her Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Virgo would help to rise her above the crowd and her Mars Neptune conjunction in flamboyant Leo attracted publicity and suited her for a zizzy lifestyle.   

  Her husband died in 2015 aged 101.

Five decades after Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech which saw him ousted from the UK Cabinet for voicing the anti-black concerns of his constituents, the issue of large scale immigration leading to violence is back top of the agenda. UK PM Rishi Sunak talks of the streets being “hijacked” by small groups who were “hostile to our values”. He said Islamist extremists and the far-right, both seek to “weaponise the evils of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred for their own ends”.

  Immigrant problems and violence have flared recently in Germany, in Sweden, in France, in Ireland – not all Muslim but from backgrounds which are starkly at variance to the country of their choice. The Netherlands is in the grip of a major organised drug trial with some talking of it turning into a narco-state because of the grip of a Dutch-Moroccan gang.

  Powell’s words on 20 April 1968 seem eerily prescient, if wincingly racist. “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood”. He thought the majority of immigrants did not want to integrate, and that some had vested interests in fostering racial and religious differences “with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.”

 Matthew Syed, of The Times, with a Pakistani immigrant father and a Welsh mother, thinks one reason why certain immigrant communities don’t integrate is because of intermarriage within their group.  It is reckoned that between 38/59 per cent of British Pakistanis marry first cousins, which is a worry because of birth defects. But it is also a fundamental instrument of cultural isolation. It “may benefit the patriarchs who dominate these groups but it impoverishes their communities…. who languish in poverty, cut off from society, their votes collated into blocks controlled by clan leaders and where Islamism and antisemitism fester.” Banning cousin marriage has been shown to increase integration and economic growth.

Statistics for UK (as ever to be treated cautiously):

The 2021 census, 7.4 per cent of the population of England arrived in the previous decade; 16.6% in London. Only 4.9% more secondary schools and 4% more GP premises. Immigration does not generate the tax receipts needed for migrants to ‘pay their way’ let alone to finance the new infrastructure required. UK stats are patchy but in 2019 white people were large net taxpayers. Ethnic minorities were net recipients, but there was significant variation: Asian households were close to balance or small net taxpayers; black households were substantial net recipients. People from western Europe and anglosphere countries are high earners. Citizens of poorer countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh, generally earn less. Though Indian citizens earn much more than people from neighbouring countries. In employment there is huge variation between different groups of migrants. For those born in Bangladesh and Somalia, the rate of employment is low and the rate of full-time employment is very low: almost a third of the rate for those from Poland and New Zealand.

  Whether much is to be gained by looking at Powell’s chart, or Michael Houellebecq whose 2015 novel Submission about Islam taking over France caused a furore, or Douglas Murray, UK the political commentator well known as a critic of immigration and Islam, I’m not sure but it does provide a backdrop.

Enoch Powell, 16 June 1912 9.50pm Birmingham, England, had a stellium of planets in Gemini with Sun, Pluto, Mercury, Venus conjunct – so he would have all of Gemini’s communicative powers with Pluto stirring up a ferment of theories. His Pluto would give him a fear of being taken over and trapped. While his Moon Neptune in Cancer falling in the UK’s 10^th house conjunct the UK Moon would make him idealistic and patriotic. His Mars opposition Uranus would be uncompromising and his Mercury Pluto would give him a sharp mind though also a tendency to overdo the force of his opinions. His Aries North Node fell close to the UK’s NN reinforcing his need for independence and freedom from being dominated.

 Michel Houellebecq, 26 February 1958 1pm St Pierre, Reunion, whose novel Submission imagines a Muslim party upholding Islamist and patriarchal values who wins the presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party attracted criticism and support. It was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

  He has a 9^th house communicative Sun Pisces opposition Pluto with a Fixed T square of an 8^th house Venus opposition Uranus square Jupiter, North Node and Neptune in Scorpio. He also has an unaspected 8^th house Mars in conservative Capricorn which will act like a loose cannon.

  Douglas Murray, 16 July 1979 London, is a far-right journalist, author and activist, a supporter of conspiracy theories like Eurabia in which Arab powers set out to weaken European culture and undermine its previous alliances with the United States and Israel. He has a patriotic Sun Cancer which is in a controlling/influential square to Pluto, trine Uranus and inconjunct Neptune; with a hard-edged, resentful Mars in Gemini square Saturn North Node in Virgo.

  What links them are strong Sun Pluto connections – hyper-sensitive to being manipulated or dominated and fairly controlling themselves. But what a strong Pluto does sometimes is have a penetrating insight and ideas that are before their time so arouse resistance and hostility. But are eventually proved right.

Odd other thought from Janet Daley of the Telegraph. On demonstrations she reckons they show many signs of the old Trotskyite infiltration techniques of yesteryear which take over every disaffected group. “So many of the apparently spontaneous uprisings of recent years – Black Lives Matter, Just Stop Oil, the Palestine support marches – are now being guided (and often spoken for) by the sort of experienced handlers who would once have organised the Communist takeover of trade unions.”  She isn’t suggesting there is a communist input, merely the same techniques are being used by those who are nihilists, like causing disruptions and are obsessed with attacked western democracy.  

Comment from Carson on previous post on US immigration:

 “ We are a nation of immigrants like no other.   Prior to 1965, when immigration law was vastly liberalized, almost all immigrants came from europe especially northern europe.  Almost no one immigrated from Asia Africa or South America. Slavery not withstanding. There were some Asians in the post US civil war era (1865 til 1882). Since 1965 some 60 million people have legally immigrated to the USA.  And they have had children since then.  Millions more have come illegally primarily from Mexico and Central America.  For comparison the entire UK population is about 68 million.   Here in the US less than 20% of the population can trace their ancestors living here to 1865 when the US Civil War ended.  NOT even to 1776 or earlier.  The conservatives are uneasy about that as the newer arrivals obviously do not have that “Protestant ethic” automatically and likewise many are not Christians either.  Many of the conservatives promote the US as “a Christian nation” theme which is no longer true if it ever was.  At least a third of US population is Atheist Agnostic or non-Christian.  Maybe even 50%. There is great unease by the traditionalist part of the US population about immigration and social change.  That is reflected in Trump’s candidacy.”

  It would be difficult to pinpoint any specific astrological significators for the upsurge in migration. After World War 11, the collapse of the British and French empires would be part of it when tr Pluto Saturn in Leo in 1948 was starting to crawl round the UK’s Fixed planets. The mid 1960s brought a good deal of liberalizing legislation when Uranus Pluto were in Virgo. Tony Blair added his dollop of political opportunism which did not help in the UK when Pluto was in Sagittarius.

  Mass migrations of people are usually associated with triple conjunctions such as the late 1980s and mid 1850 which no doubt had an effect.

  But since it seems an unstoppable force, it might be sensible to look harder at integration, breaking up ghettos and stop pussyfooting around sensibilities about religious or cultural differences. And toss multiculturalism which emphasises differences and divisions out of the window rather than focusing on cohesion in society.

  Not sure this adds much illumination but will no doubt be an ongoing hot topic for some time to come.

See post 3 December 2023 – Europe embroiled in a clash of cultures.

ADD ON: Comment from Bal, 5th March 2024

“As a Gen X, 2nd gen immigrant, Punjabi, Indian, girl born and growing up in England in the 70s and 80s, I hated multi culturalism with a passion. I was desperate to integrate into the Western culture I was growing up in. I don’t just mean the fun things like pop and fashion culture, but the values, the support for women (I acknowledge its imperfections, but Western culture offered a far more empowering environment for women compared to the realities faced by Indian females during that era.), having a voice and being heard.

Multiculturalism basically told 1st gen immigrant boomers, and 2nd gen immigrants, mainly gen X – that it was fine not to integrate, difference was good.

  In reality what happened: 1st gen immigrants, boomers, and much of the second generation, particularly Gen X, were encouraged to maintain their distinct cultural identities without the imperative to fully integrate. Consequently, many first-generation immigrants remained entrenched in the conservative outdated values of their Punjabi villages, failing to evolve along with the changing times. This stagnation in mindset was then passed down to their offspring. They didn’t bother to learn English, so as elderly people I see that they can’t advocate for themselves.

While there has been some progress towards integration over time, a significant portion of the Indian diaspora, spanning even to the third and fourth generations, still prioritize their Punjabi heritage over their British identity. Being British often feels like a mere formality for them, a means to acquire citizenship rather than a genuine sense of belonging.

 It’s worth noting I am seeing more integration from Gen Z onwards though in the Punjabi / Indian community. For some communities within the wider South Asian community, this lack of integration has been even more marked.”

ADD ON: Allison Pearson: Interesting observation on watching George Galloway revel in his victory at the Rochdale by-election. “There were no women on the ballot paper and, as far as I could see, there were no female faces among the Muslim “brothers” at Galloway rallies. Islamic patriarchy ruled. How many of the avalanche of postal votes that secured victory for a candidate who unashamedly turned it into a Gaza election were cast by women who don’t understand English, women who do as their husbands tell them.

 There were 13,460 postal votes cast in Rochdale last week – that’s 43.2 per cent of the total and more than 12,335 were received by Galloway’s far-Left, pro-Palestine Workers Party of Britain. The proportion of postal votes was up from 22.7 per cent in the 2019 general election to 43.2 per cent in the by-election. Disgracefully, the Electoral Commission has chosen not to investigate this startling increase in voters who cannot be seen or checked. That’s a can of worms the authorities clearly don’t want to open. For the same reason, Labour MPs turn a blind eye when they attend meetings of “the community” where women are either segregated or absent entirely.

  Empower women to break free of patriarchal communities. There is a strikingly low employment rate among Muslim women – almost 70 per cent don’t work compared to 20 per cent among Christian women. That means no opportunity to mix with their fellow citizens, no chance to improve their language skills, no opportunity to earn money that will buy a bit of independence from those husbands who still think it is their right to dominate their wives (which suits those men just fine), no chance to feel British and pass on that settled loyalty to their offspring.

 At school, there were girls — who went on “holiday” to Pakistan and were never seen again. Later, they would hear that their absent friends were married to uncles or cousins. Clever girls used to deliberately fail their exams because they knew the fate that awaited them once they completed their education.

 One mother came over as a 14-year-old bride for an arranged marriage almost 60 years ago, but she barely knows 10 words to exchange with the locals. “She has no non-Pakistani friends and she has never worked. Her husband used to taunt her saying she could never run away because no one would understand what she was saying.

Dave Myers, half of the much loved TV foodie Hairy Bikers has died. Half of an unlikely couple of middle aged blokes he was working as a television makeup artist when he met Si King, a locations manager on the Harry Potter films. Having holidayed together on their motorbikes and both being foodie/cooks since early on they pitched the idea of a culinary travelogue to the BBC twenty years ago and it took off.

   They travelled all over the world to sample local cuisine.  Portugal, Vietnam, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico amongst others and in Namibia, stopped off to cook crocodile satay and oryx rolls. Their disarmingly unpretentious love of food and easy on-screen banter won them an appreciative fan club.

  Though some worried their recipes were unhealthy. ‘Their banana French toast recipe, consisting of brioche, bananas, peanut butter and cream, was ominously dedicated to Elvis Presley. One critic suggested that their full-English shakshuka, featuring sausages, lardons and black pudding, “looks as if it should come with a diagram on how to administer CPR”.’ As a consequence they made a series The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight with the book selling millions.

 Dave Myers, 8 September 1957 Barrow in Furness, learnt to cook young when his mother was ill. He was an earthy Sun, Mercury, Mars in Virgo with a Pisces Moon. His Uranus in Leo was trine Saturn and sextile Jupiter – inventive, risk-taking, adventurous, laid-back. Tough as well and used to hard conditions with Pluto probably opposition Moon square Saturn.

  What is curious (unless wiki dates are off) is that Si King, 20 October 1966 had his Mars in Virgo conjunct Dave’s Pluto and square his Saturn. And Si’s Uranus Pluto in Virgo was conjunct Dave’s Mars, Mercury, Sun which does not look like an easy-going bro-romance.  Admittedly Si has a charming Sun Venus in Libra which is conjunct Dave’s Venus. And Si’s Jupiter in Leo does chime with Dave’s fun-loving Uranus.

  Their relationship chart is also quite heavy going with a challenging composite Mars Pluto conjunction and Saturn inconjunct Uranus Jupiter.  The Uranus Jupiter conjunction would help giving them a joint sense of a fun romp. The Sun trine Saturn was businesslike and good for a work relationship.

James Clavell, a brilliant storyteller, was a household name when his Asian saga of blockbuster novels and films – King Rat, Tai-Pan, Shogun – brought a new understanding of Japanese samurai and eastern culture into the western mainstream in the 1960s and 70s. He sank into obscurity after his death in 1994 but his work is now back with a TV remake of Shogun, described as a possible Game of Thrones replacement. Described as “ a mesmerising epic that goes big on the gore,” it follows an English sailor in 1600 landing in Japan who becomes the first samurai.

  What is extraordinary is that Clavell was captured during World War Two and incarcerated in the notorious Changi jail in Singapore, where 14 out of 15 prisoners of war died of disease or malnutrition. Despite his brutal experiences he developed a fascination with his captors, finding their ruthlessness and rigid codes of honour both repellent and inspiring.

 He was born 10 October 1924 9.50am Sydney, Australia with an English naval officer father and brought up in the UK. Only 18 when he ended up in Changi he survived there for four years. He said he adopted an attitude in which he dominated the environment so that it could not destroy him.’

  After the war he started a long trek of breaking into the film business. But he did not talk of his wartime experiences until the early 1960s when he started to open up to his wife and sat down to write ‘King Rat’ about a POW camp. By this time he had written screenplays and directed a few movies. His subsequent novels enjoyed phenomenal sales throughout the world with Shogun in 1975 hitting a stratospherically large global audience. The TV series in the 1980s starring Richard Chamberlain had 30% of the US population glued to their seats with restaurants empty when it was shown.

  In his private life, he fathered a love child whom he refused to acknowledge, who was later adopted by Marlon Brando, who funded a palimony lawsuit against Clavell on her behalf.

  When he died a friend said “He’s a good man. In fact, he’s more good than nice. He doesn’t have time to be nice.”

  He had a 10^th house Libra Sun and Mercury square an intense and controlling Pluto in his 7^th house. His Sun was in an optimistic sextile to Jupiter in his 12^th which in turn was inconjunct his Pluto as well as being square his 4^th house Moon Uranus in Pisces – pushily confident and adventurous.  He had a showbizzy (and stubborn) Mars in Aquarius opposition Neptune with his Mars trine Saturn in obsessive Scorpio. His Uranus was on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Sun sextile Neptune making him wilful, unconventional, with a life full of fated changes of direction – and also a catalyst and a trailblazer. A hugely complicated man, dogged, controlling, lucky and optimistic.

 He had a ‘leadership’ North Node in Leo in his global-communication 9^th house so he was always going to make a significant difference. Which fits with his strong 13^th harmonic chart pointing to an ability to make a breakthrough by introducing Japanese warrior culture to mass audiences. His writer’s 21^st harmonic was strong as was his leaving-a-legacy-for-future-generations 17H.  And a strong global influencer 22H.

  When he was captured tr Uranus Saturn in late Taurus were square his Mars opposition Neptune for a considerable shock; with a trapped tr Pluto moving through his 8^th house.  When King Rat, his first Asian novel was published in 1962 his North Node was triggered by tr Uranus and his Solar Arc Pluto both conjunct; with tr Pluto moving across his 10^th bringing influence and a renewed sense of vocation.

  On his astrocartography his successful Jupiter Midheaven lines runs through Los Angeles. The Changi jail in Singapore puts his defensive, determined Saturn in Scorpio on the ascendant with a hidden 12^th house Sun.  

I adored his novels – Tai Pan (Jardine Matheson business empire in colonial Hong Kong) and Shogun – though never sure about Richard Chamberlain in the original tv series..

Bianca Censori, the sad-faced, supposed wife of Kanye West who is paraded around in a degrading public spectacle virtually naked is remarkably an architect with two degrees from the University of Melbourne.

  Born 5 January 1995 in Australia, she does have a chart and a half with a Capricorn Sun as well as Neptune, Uranus Mercury conjunct in Capricorn – very much one of her generation. She also has a ramped up, seductive Venus Pluto in Scorpio in a super-confident conjunction to Pluto but that squares onto a less than comfortable Mars in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces (maybe Moon in Pisces). Her Jupiter square Saturn will make for up and down moods which added onto the highly strung Uranus Neptune will be tricky to keep in balance. Mars Saturn will make her susceptible to ill treatment and pull her into unfair situations and may even give her a masochistic streak.

 Tr Uranus will be rattling up her complicated T square first by opposing her Venus this July onwards and more so in 2025 and on – her life will change radically ahead.

  Kanye West, 8 June 1977 maybe 8.45am Atlanta, Georgia, has his own mental problems. A Sun Jupiter in Gemini opposition Neptune trine Pluto he is stratospherically ambitious. His can-be-excessive Mars Venus in Taurus hints at a ramped up sex life and over indulgence. And that is opposition Uranus and square Saturn in Leo. He’ll not put up with any interference to his plans and can be autocratic.

  There’s not much linking them on the synastry.  Their relationship chart does have a publicity-attracting composite Neptune opposition Mars square Sun which will be undermined when tr Neptune Saturn move into Aries in 2025/26. There is a hint of attraction from a wide composite Pluto square Venus. The composite Saturn which is unaspected will get rattled through this June/July.

  Her family are seemingly worried for her and I am not surprised.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Formula One principal having just been cleared after an internal investigation into his behaviour towards a female colleague has been blindsided as a series of alleged messages were leaked. They were sent to 149 people involved in the sport. His wife, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is reportedly furious.

 He was born 16 November 1973 and Geri 6 August 1972 2.30pm Watford, England. It is an odd match since she is a Sun, Mercury and Mars in Leo while he is a Sun and Mercury in Scorpio. Though his Leo Moon will help as will her Venus Moon in Cancer. His Saturn sitting on her Venus Moon will be a damper.

 Their relationship chart has a possessive, passionate and controlling composite Sun Pluto opposition Venus and an irritable composite Mars Saturn conjunction which usually ends up with one partner gritting their teeth to make it work. There is an adventurous Jupiter square Uranus and the Venus, Sun, Pluto will make for a strong attraction. But it won’t all be plain sailing. Tr Neptune is just off the undermining square to the Saturn Mars conjunction and is aiming to square the Pluto Sun and Venus over the next two/three years so hints of disappointment abound.

  He will be strong minded and stubborn with his Pluto square Saturn and trine Jupiter; with a high-adrenaline Mars opposition Uranus. But he is in charge in a super-speed sport so what can you expect?

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”  Discuss individual instances without resorting to violence, intemperate language or stomping off in the huff. Why is it so difficult to admit that fanatical zealots, however unpleasant and destructive, might have a reason for their actions?

Trans activists are mutilating/brainwashing gullible children and undermining vulnerable women. Anti-trans activists are inflaming hatred and putting vulnerable transgenders at risk of attack. Why is there no middle ground? Have we lost the ability for complex thinking? There is only one truth and it is OURS.

 This is a thinking-in-process ramble so bear with me – or skip to the next post.

  If control of one rigid viewpoint is the issue it must involve Pluto? Maybe.

 Psychologically speaking, complex thinking emerges as the child realises that neither parent is perfect which is a shattering blow as the idealized idol is toppled off his/her pedestal which accompanies an inner realization that I am both good and bad myself, can be nice and can be nasty all in the one personality. For some, a mature realization is not possible so they split – one parent (support system) stays shining white and the other is all negative.  In parallel, the child (even in middle age) retains an overly positive self-image which admits to no shadow – I am great and you are NOT. Projection a la Trump is the coping mechanism. I.e. blame others for that of which I am most guilty. I’m all good so any bad (shadow) must belong to you. Life is always divisive, no shades of grey.  Defending a fragile ego becomes a desperate and thus violent life and death struggle to stave off psychological implosion. No quarter can be given, no admission of any chinks in the argument to allow the opposing forces to gain the upper hand.  

  Part of the present inability to cope with nuance might be put down to a culture in regression, not just socially but psychologically, reverting to early immature patterns. But it has probably always been thus. Peasants have been notoriously prone to conspiracy theories throughout the ages. Mob rule flared up and dominated at various times.

  In societal terms, one view imposed on everyone is fascist or totalitarian. Psychoanalysts have written about its mindset as did George Orwell with his chilling insights into truth twisting and totalitarian thinking.

From a previous post

  ‘Underlying the trans furore of recent years is a mind control battle over language – what is allowed to be said and what will be obliterated under an avalanche of hostility if it deviates from the proscribed party line.

   Pure George Orwell. He says of the Ministry of Truth in 1984 “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”  The influence of language on people’s ability to think is one of the book’s most enduring themes as it focuses on the techniques of totalitarianism.

   The Trumpian phenomenon of distorting reality and brain-washing true believers into the dictator’s version of ‘the truth’ was where this trend of abusing language became most noticeable. What it led to was a similarly virulent battle-to-the-death between not just opinions but two opposing mindsets, where victory for one means psychic implosion for the other. Ditto the Brexit argument – a complete inability to tolerate the other view.

  So much of the transgender firefight is an argument at cross purposes. No sane or sensible person is anything other than sympathetic to people with gender dysphoria, but what appears to be at issue is the use of language. Those who have been hounded out of jobs have made statements about biology which would hardly seem inflammatory except in the present climate.’

  One thought struck me contemplating psychoanalytic writings on the fascist state of mind, which seems like a leap, but bear with me. Christopher Bollas, a London analyst writes that such a state of mind “entertains no doubt or uncertainty”. Distortion of the views of opponents to render them less intelligible and credible is the first move. They have to be discredited because no separation of view is possible from the accepted one.

   Janine Chasseguet Smirgel, a French analyst, echoed this thought “he who does not think as the group does is excluded, harassed, killed or declared insane.”  She extended her argument, linking perversion (as in group sexual abuse of children) to such a state of mind. It is not to hand but my recollection is she talks of the regressed state of mind of such abusive perverts to involve an inversion of reality. Adults become children and children adults; and the sexes are interchangeable –  girls become boys or boys girls or there is no distinction.  

  In the fascist state of mind the past is destroyed with a future entirely of the narcissist’s own creation.  Similarly the argument that the birth sex can be wiped out and that a future is possible of the individual’s own choice might be seen as a parallel – a narcissistic grandiose delusion. And given that it is a consequence of an absolutist mindset, it is difficult/well nigh impossible to budge. Which is not to say that those with genuine gender dysphoria are deluded – I am talking of the cultural mania for 47 genders etc. A narcissistic culture (the consequence of a self-obsessed psychology in the west since Freud etc) giving wing to its arrogance and detachment from reality.

  What astrology might match such a mindset?  In a previous discussion Uranus Neptune was mentioned as a possible factor in the present state of intractable arguments. In particular the 1990s generation, now in their thirties, who have Uranus Neptune conjunct in Capricorn. It is a feasible argument since Uranus Neptune was in place conjunct the North Node for the birth of the worldwideweb in 1991, which has undoubtedly played a part in the ramped up, howl-round debates on various subjects, allowing group-think to run rampant. Mermaids, the UK group aggressively promoting support for transgender children and Stonewall both emerged during the Uranus Neptune conjunction in the 1990s.

   George Orwell himself had a wide Neptune opposition Uranus but also a rebellious Uranus opposition Pluto so arguably he might understand its risks more than most and rebel against them. The CIA’s Mind Control obsession in the 1950s/60s ran through Uranus square Neptune. Trump has his Uranus/Neptune midpoint conjunct his Pluto and the Brexit referendum has its Uranus/Neptune midpoint square the Sun.  

  Uranus combined with creative, spiritual Neptune has a positive side being inspirational in art, science and social thinking, with high ideals and soaring vision. What the combination can lack is common sense. With no Earth grounding and thus no limits, it can rise to magnificent achievements; or it can foster irrational fanatical thinking, so extreme that it misleads.

   Fanatical repression is part of its story with the Spanish Inquisition set up in 1478 when Uranus Neptune were conjunct in Scorpio. During the most recent conjunction, fervent beliefs leading to fanaticism were clear in the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa (death threat) against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, in 1989. In 1993 and 1994 two extremist cults hit the headlines: the David Koresh fundamentalist cult at Waco in Texas was besieged by the FBI, and deaths ensued; and there were multiple suicides and murders among Solar Temple cult members in Switzerland and Canada, who believed they would be reincarnated on Sirius.

   Ebertin has Uranus Neptune as visionary and creative on the positive side – but also confusion, wrong ideas, onesidedness, peculiar psychic states, lack of emotional balance.

  Uranus Neptune was not around for the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 30s so the absolutism of the present mindset may be more to do with a highly strung mental balance which will cling to its opinions even in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.

  Apologies for an extended ramble and jumble – Uranus Neptune fits. The psychology of a narcissistic culture fits. Chasseguet Smirgel’s notion of the inversion of sexes allied to perversion or a narcissistic grandiose attempt to become self-created won’t be popular – but there might be a smidgeon of an explanation in there for some of those who have leapt on the bandwagon. .  

 Reading Jane’s comments on Neptune in Pisces below previous post. It won’t have helped in its tendency to dissolve boundaries – and spawn surreal beliefs.  It strikes me, to add a further messy thought – that fighting against a male female labelling to be free to ‘create’ one’s own gender has in contrary fashion led to an even greater proliferation of dogmatic labelling.

Below additional comments, added onto text for ease of finding later.

Add On: More on Uranus Neptune:

From Hugh: “In the period 1907-1909 Germany was shaken by a series of scandals involving cross dressing Prussian Generals and senior figures in the Kaiser’s government. This included the trials surrounding the Eulenberg-Harden affair and the bizarre death of General Dietrich Graf von Hülsen-Haeseler on 14 November 1908 who died of a heart attack while dancing in a pink tutu in front of Kaiser Wilhelm II and assembled guests. All this happened while Neptune in Cancer was forming an opposition to Uranus in Capricorn. The fall out from the scandals is thought by some historians to have impacted the way the German military was run and ultimately to have played a role in the run up to the outbreak of the First World War.”

From Jane: “Uranus-Neptune dynamics are interesting in all this. I looked up the famous, scandalous trial of “Fanny and Stella”, or Boulton and Park, who were arrested after a secret Met Police operation, as cross-dressing gay men. They were prosecuted for enticing others to commit sodomy, and the prosecution failed.

” As the trial of ‘the Young Men in Women’s Clothes’ unfolded, Fanny and Stella’s extraordinary lives as wives and daughters, actresses and whores were revealed to an incredulous public.

With a cast of peers, politicians and prostitutes, drag queens, doctors and detectives, Fanny and Stella is a Victorian peepshow, exposing the startling underbelly of nineteenth-century London.” (Fanny and Stella, the Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England by Neil McKenna).

Uranus in Cancer was square Neptune in Aries when the trial began, 9th May, 1871. Sun conjunct Pluto , trine Mars in Virgo suggests the event’s power over the general public at the time.

By the time of a trine between Uranus in Virgo and Neptune in Taurus, the Cross-Dressing Ball, at Temperance Hall, Manchester caused a huge scandal in the autumn of 1880 – with police raids, numerous arrests, but in the end the participants were simply bound over to keep the peace, rather than going to prison as some critics would have preferred.” 

NEPTUNE IN PISCES:

 Reading Jane’s comments on Neptune in Pisces below previous post. It won’t have helped in its tendency to dissolve boundaries – and spawn surreal beliefs.  It strikes me, to add a further messy thought – that fighting against a male female labelling to be free to ‘create’ one’s own gender has in contrary fashion led to an even greater proliferation of dogmatic labelling.

Jane: Wrestling with Neptune in Pisces here – yes, I’m nailing jelly to the wall!  However, musing on what Hugh said about Mercury I thought of Dionysus – androgynous, shape shifting, and called ‘twice born’ because in the myths he is born from his mother, who was killed, and then Zeus, his father – sewn into his father’s thigh during gestation. An Eastern god (foreign to the Greeks) of theatre, wine, and ecstasy, he was brought up as female. His mythic female followers, the Maenads, tore men and animals to pieces in fabled frenzies of worship that symbolised the adult Dionysus’ own dismemberment and subsequent rebirth at Eleusis. Dionysus is one of the dying and resurrected gods in various myths. He was worshipped in the Middle East, and according to Tacitus was once god of Jerusalem.

There is an interesting (long and dense) article by Gary Crawford (garycrawford.net) on Dionysus and Pisces which cites a number of authors who have explored the Dionysus theme – including Joseph Campbell, Liz Greene, Richard Tarnas and others.

 “The many layers of duality found in Pisces can also be found in Dionysus, as Liz Greene and others have noted how he embodies concepts such as redeemer/victim, savior/devourer, yin/yang, intuition/reason, sacred/profane, creative genius/madness, and passionate love/passionate anger.  Yet instead of trying to rationalize this duality, separate the concepts into a bi-polar analysis, we can remember that Dionysus is whole and embodies these concepts integrated together within his holistic self, not separated.  To Liz Greene, the idea that Dionysus embodies an “ecstatic unity with natural, undying life” and a “seeking of union with the divine” that paradoxically mixes “the holy with the vicious and sadistic,” can be explained through his connection to Pisces because in the sign of the fish “these two opposites live side by side” and “each generates the other,” much like the interplay between good and evil.”

VirgoFlake:

“Jane, fascinating about Dionysus. The deity was portrayed by the Ancient artists as feminine, youthful, long-haired and beardless unlike the other Olympian Gods who, with the exception of Apollo are depicted as muscular with full beard. In Euripides’s ‘Bacchae’, the deity appears as a feminine stranger, a kind of priest as the straight-laced patriarch Pentheus, a stickler for law, order and logic interrogates the god who he sees as a dangerous threat to the state. Attempts to imprison the god are futile, since Dionysus is a god and has the power to shapeshift.

Pentheus’ outlook is particularly rigid, but at the same time, there is part of him that is intrigued and fascinated by these women who are able to abandon themselves through wine, ecstasy and mania. Dionysus devises a plan in orderthat Pentheus can climb a pine tree and spy on the Bacchae and persuades Pentheus to dress as a woman, with long skirts and a wig. In fact in the play, Pentheus is quite entranced and engrossed at his own transformation, even delighted. But henceforth, Pentheus is an unknowing sacrifice. While the Bacchantes are in a state of wine-induced mania, his own mother mistakes him for a young mountain lion and the women tear his body limb from limb, decapitate him and his mother brings his head back to the palace, while still hallucinating and under the influence of the god’s power.

The shapeshifting, the mania, the ecstasy, the taking of wine as ritual as well as the fluidity of gender and the abandonment of gender roles in this myth is essentially and undoubtedly Piscean and Neptunian. As you say, it’s worth re-reading Liz Greene’s chapter on Pisces in her ‘Astrology of Fate’. But it’s also interesting that a strictly patriarchal society such as Ancient Greece was fascinated by the female experience. In the myth of the prophet Tiresias for instance: he is on Mount Cylene when he comes across two serpents copulating. He strikes the snakes with his stick and in the process offended Hera (which, let’s face it wasn’t difficult – she was rather thin-skinned!) and she turned him into a woman. As a woman Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, but after seven years of service, Hera changed Tiresias back into a man. Both the Greeks and the Romans embellished Tiresias’s time as a woman and Tiresias becomes a kind of liminal figure, a link between man and gods, male and female, blindness and sight, the earth and the underworld, the present and the future.”