Anna Wintour – a talent and a target

Anna Wintour, goddess of high fashion and editor-in-chief of Vogue, has more than the economic downturn and a troubled magazine business to worry about. A scathing memoir from André Leon Talley, a colleague for many years who until 2013 was editor-at-large at Vogue, is hurtling down the tracks. He claims, like others before him, that she is ice-cold – ‘nuclear wintour’ – and cuts off old friends who are no longer of use or sufficiently A-list. She was portrayed as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada so she’s used enough to being caricatured but this may hurt.

She was born 3 November 1949 and is an intense Sun Scorpio in a controlling square to Pluto; with her Sun also in an innovative trine to Uranus and sextile both Mars and Saturn in workaholic Virgo. Her Moon is in Aries which is a tricky mix with a Scorpio Sun; and her Venus in colourful Sagittarius is widely squares Saturn.

She’s undoubtedly talented in her field and her 22nd Harmonic, usually strong with world-class talent, has an emphasised Venus Jupiter which is the fashion signature, as well as a ruthlessly determined Mars. Her creative 5th and 7th Harmonics are strong as is her obsessive and enduring 11H.

Tr Uranus will oppose her Sun from this July onwards, so she will be moving into a year of upheaval and change; with more in 2021/22 from her Uranus/Pluto midpoint being triggered. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn will be bouncing off her Sun in 2021 which won’t be easy. Though 2021/22 will also see tr Pluto conjunct her Jupiter for more success and riches.

Andre Talley, 16 October 1949, is close to her in age, though he has a Libra Sun and his Mars in showy Leo is in a frustrated and angry conjunction to Pluto.

Their relationship chart has tr Saturn square the composite Sun exactly now as early reports and excerpts from the book have emerged. So the frost will get deeper.

Vogue, 17 December 1892, has struggled in recent years in the midst of a changing industry; and will be facing more forced change with tr Uranus opposing the Uranus from this June onwards; with an undermining and disappointing tr Neptune conjunct the Mars in 2021 and moving onto square the Sagittarius Sun by 2022. Followed by a financially sticky 2023/24.

The publisher Conde Nast chart, 24 June 1909, has similar with the Solar Eclipse this June conjunct the Cancer Sun for a crisis thereafter; and 2022 looking financially blocked.

Michael O’Leary – a proper punch up

Michael O’Leary, the mouthy Irish CEO of Ryanair, has let fly about Richard Branson’s claim for taxpayer aid for Virgin airlines. He said “Now you have Virgin Atlantic owned by Delta and a Caribbean island-based, non-resident billionaire. Frankly if he’s worried about Virgin he should write the cheque himself. It’s not like he’s short of money.”

He said he said he expected his airline to be flying around 40% of its services by late June or early July. But a second wave of infections could cut winter traffic by up to 30% and staff would have to be laid off. He also refused to cut out middle seats to maintain distancing.

Born 20 March 1961, he’s a final degree Pisces or Aries with his Mercury in Pisces in an argumentative trine to Mars in Cancer and a dogmatic opposition to Pluto, as well as an evasive trine to Neptune.

He’s not a good match with Branson since O’Leary’s combustible Mars is conjunct Branson’s Uranus; O’Leary’s Saturn opposes Branson’s Cancer Sun; and O’Leary’s Pluto is in a power-struggling opposition to Branson’s Jupiter.

Their relationship chart is beyond horrible with a composite Sun Venus opposition Saturn square a bitterly-hostile Mars Pluto in a tussle-for-the-last-word opposition to Jupiter. Ouch.

O’Leary’s personal chart looks frustrated, blocked and highly impatient this year with Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Pluto; as well as an enthusiasm and bank-account denting tr Saturn square his Jupiter on and off in March/April and returning in June. Plus a disastrous tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint through this May, again late year and a final hit in February 2021.

The Ryanair chart, 5 July 1985, is in a panicky undermining year with tr Neptune opposition the Mars/Saturn midpoint, on and off till late February 2021; as well as a blocked tr Saturn square Pluto this year. And 2021 doesn’t look a sparkling year for revenue either though is less catastrophic.

See previous post on Richard Branson 22 April 2020

Lynn Faulds Wood – intrepid campaigner for consumer rights

Lynn Faulds Wood, the fearless defender of consumer rights on UK television, has died of a stroke aged 72. She started on Nationwide, became the face of Watchdog and exposed crooks, conmen and rogue businesses. She was once attacked with an axe and almost killed by the owner of a fleet of illegal lorries, and was advised by police to wear a stab vest. After exposing dangerous design flaws in household appliances, she moved on to focus attention on cancer symptoms and failures in medical care. She herself overcame bowel cancer in the 1990s and a later episode of skin cancer. Many of her campaigns led to changes in the law, business and medical practices.

She was born 25 March 1948 6.10pm Glasgow, Scotland, moved to London and met her husband John Stapleton, another TV reporter, in the early 1970s and married him.

She had a pro-active Aries Sun in her sociable 7th house opposing Moon Neptune in Libra in her 1st; with a formidably strong Pluto Saturn Mars in Leo square her Venus in steady Taurus. She wouldn’t be short of courage or endurance. She had an insightful and maverick Uranus in her career 10th conjunct her Midheaven opposition a happy-at-home Jupiter in the 4th. Her Jupiter was also in an expansive square to her Sun.

Her Mercury in helpful Pisces in the 6th house of work and health is curiously unaspected. This can provide problems but can also lend a single-minded approach to interests with less of a tendency to become distracted or scattered.

At the moment her Moon Neptune had moved by Solar Arc to oppose her Uranus which can be nerve-stretched. Uranus Neptune is associated by Ebertin with ‘apoplexy of the brain’ which is a stroke.

Her husband John Stapleton, 24 February 1946 11 pm, Oldham England, is a charming Sun Venus in Pisces with a Sagittarius Moon.

Val Kilmer – talent and personality at odds

 

There’s difficult to work with and there’s Val Kilmer according to several Hollywood insiders who tried. After the disastrous Island of Dr Moreau director John Frankenheimer said “Even if I was directing a film called The Life of Val Kilmer, I wouldn’t have **** [him] in it.” “Childish and impossible” came from director Joel Schumacher after Batman Forever in 1995.

Kilmer has just written a ‘candid’ autobiography I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, which according to reviewers doesn’t indicate much self-awareness about why his antics have met with such sour responses or why his career stuttered and parts dried up in the nineties.

He was born 31 December 1959 7.58 am Los Angeles, with his parents divorcing when he was young and a younger brother dying at 15 in a drowning accident. He attended school with Kevin Spacey, went to Julliard, started his career in theatre and went on to become a pin-up A-lister after Top Secret, Top Gun and The Doors.

He has a 12th house Sun Saturn in Capricorn trine an 8th house Pluto in Virgo, sextiling onto Neptune which is conjunct his Scorpio Midheaven. Key planets in hidden houses can offer depth insight and subtle influence or drown him in the unconscious without much understanding of why others have such a strong reaction to his behaviour. He has in the past inhabited his characters during filming to the point where he became them – and was known as psycho Kilmer. His Neptune will help for a movie career and Pluto for creating an aura. His Moon in mischievous Aquarius squares Neptune and is inconjunct Pluto, so emotionally confused. He also has an excitable, enthusiastic  and adventurous Jupiter, Mars, Mercury in Sagittarius trine Uranus; and a charming Venus in Scorpio in an emotionally erratic square to his Uranus. A complicated mix.

At the moment he has his Progressed Mars conjunct his Moon which doesn’t sound easy – emotionally explosive. And he has the tr Saturn Pluto moving across his Ascendant down into his 1st house which will give him a sombre image. Tr Neptune is also squaring his Mars Jupiter in 2020/21 which will be enthusiasm-denting. None of which suggests great success immediately and he will be less visible in years to come.

Stella McCartney – high hopes on taxpayer money

         

“Everything will be OK. We are all in this together” trills fashion designer Stella McCartney’s website promoting high-end (very expensive) fashion. She’s all for sustainability, supporting eco-green and animal causes except when it comes to nurturing the furloughed staff of her company with its £500 million a year turnover. She will claim up to 80 per cent of their wages to a maximum of £2500 a month from the government (taxpayers) and doesn’t plan to top up their wages. She’s worth around £60 million.

Born 13 September 1971 in London, she’s an intense, workaholic Sun, Venus, Pluto in Virgo; with a wobbly, up-and-down and very scattered Mutable T Square of Saturn opposition Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius square Mercury in Virgo. And she has a hard-edged, emotionally cool Air Grand Trine of Mars in obstinate Aquarius trine Uranus trine Saturn; with the head-in the-clouds, super-optimistic Jupiter Neptune being the driving planets of the Trine from the opposition to Saturn.

She’s facing a disappointing run of Neptune transits in opposition first to her Sun from exactly now, on and off into 2021, followed by oppositions to her Venus and then Pluto up to mid decade. At the moment she has a frustratingly trapped, dead-halt Solar Arc Mars opposition her Pluto, and a highly-strung Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Neptune. Into 2021 tr Uranus will rattle her Grand Trine as it squares her Mars for more nerve-wracking events. Since it elbows her Grand Trine it will shift her life onto a different track, and presumably not one of her choosing. She’s not used to being slated, having built up a Mary Poppins and super-successful reputation.

The incorporation of her company on 28th February 2001 also indicates a financially blocked and sticky three years ahead.

Switzerland – wincing from historic bank shock

Even Switzerland is not immune from the economic landslide with the Swiss National Bank suffering its worst quarterly loss since its 1907 foundation.

The SNB, 20 June 1907, is showing stress this year with the financial Solar Arc Venus in a blocked square to the Pluto. And there’s no indication of a let up from challenges for several years ahead. 2021/22 has the car-crash Solar Arc Saturn and Sun both impacting on the SNB Mars; as well as an undermining tr Neptune starting a three year dip squaring the Pluto, then the Sun and conjunct Saturn. It’ll be early 2025 before the downturn lifts.

The Switzerland, 12 September 1848 12.55 pm Bern chart, is similarly moving into confused, disappointing and swampy territory with tr Neptune opposition the Virgo Sun this year and conjunct the Saturn in Pisces in 2021/22; with a disruptive Solar Arc Pluto opposition Uranus in late 2021 and forced change with great difficulty with tr Pluto moving to square the Pluto. There’ll be some good news in 2021 but it’ll be a long haul which fits the other indicators – that the economic downturn will, not surprisingly, run on until almost mid decade.

Liechtenstein, which is interwined financially with Switzerland, is also showing panic on its Central Bank chart, 5 December 1861, which shows tr Uranus conjunct Pluto and opposition Mars picking up late May into June, and repeating till early 2021, which will be fairly disastrous and insecure; with uncertainty stretching on for three years with tr Neptune opposition the Saturn Jupiter in Virgo.

Abigail Disney – shining a spotlight on executive greed

 

Abigail Disney, granddaughter of the co-founder of the Walt Disney Company has criticized the company management for furloughing 43,000 employees during the lockdown without first cancelling plans to pay shareholder and executive bonuses. Top executives have taken pay cuts during the crisis, but their bonuses are worth way more. Disney’s USA theme parks have been closed since March, costing it $1.5 billion in revenue per month. She has been outspoken about growing income inequality in the USA, repeatedly criticizing Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger’s pay package. In 2018, Iger earned a $66 million, while in 2019, his compensation package was estimated to be $35 million. She said “there is nobody on Earth worth 500 times his median workers’ pay.” She inherited $120 million from her parents.

Born 24 January 1960 in Los Angeles, she is a Sun Mercury in Aquarius in an idealistic and creative square to Neptune; with a tough-minded Pluto trine Mars Saturn in Capricorn; and a sociable Venus Jupiter in Sagittarius trine Uranus.

Oddly enough Bob Iger, who has returned as Disney CEO to cope with the coronavirus crisis, 10 February 1951, is also an Aquarius with his Sun in an ultra-determined controlling opposition to Pluto and a visionary trine to Neptune – Neptune Pluto can be megalomaniac and capable of handling huge enterprises. He’s also got an enthusiastic Mars Jupiter in filmic Pisces; plus a can-be-autocratic Uranus square Saturn. He’s in for a jolting and swampy couple of years ahead. Bu he won’t exactly be queuing at a food bank.

The Abigail Disney/Bob Iger relationship chart is argumentative with a composite Sun Mars- very widely square Saturn; with a high-tension composite Mercury opposition Uranus square Neptune. It’ll continue to be downbeat this year and more combustible in 2021 with first tr Saturn producing more criticism and then tr Uranus lighting another fuse next year in square to the Sun Mars.

Disney, founded 16 October 1923, is running into the greatest crisis of its history over the next two to three years with tr Pluto square the Sun Saturn in Libra and then the Solar Arc Pluto moving across the conjunction to Sun and Saturn in 2022/23. In 2024 tr Neptune opposes the Mars for a sense of panicky failure. Crowd-attracting venues are going to really feel the pain.

Jane Goodall – a hope for the future

 

Jane Goodall, the cheerleader for chimpanzees and ardent conservationist, is the subject of a documentary The Hope transmitting for Earth Day tonight.

She started with no scientific training but went on to spend 60 years studying man’s closest relative in Tanzania until more recently switching over to become an advocate for the natural world.

She was born 3 April 1934 at 11.30 pm in London and went to Africa in her 20s. She has a successful though not easy chart with a 10th house Jupiter, which usually brings increasing respect with age, opposition a pro-active Aries Sun Mars and a restless, adventurous Uranus in her 5th squaring onto Pluto in the 8th. That Pluto would give her research abilities and the capacity to be ahead of her time, and for that reason would run her into resistance from stick-in-the-muds in her profession. Mars Pluto would also give her the courage to live and work in high-risk situations.

She also has a scientific Saturn in Aquarius conjunct Venus; and a Mercury in Pisces trine Pluto and opposition Neptune. A Neptunian slant is often found oddly enough amongst scientists.

She was married twice, the first time to a wildlife photographer, the second to a member of the Tanzanian government and head of their national parks.

An amazing lady who still travels extensively despite her age.  She has a marked superstar 22nd Harmonic; a creative 5H; humanitarian 9H and an enduring 11H.

Richard Branson – the spirit of Brass Necker

Richard Branson is finding out the hard way that another coronavirus side effect is the visceral dislike of people whose businesses don’t pay UK taxes and then have the gall to expect to be baled out by taxpayer. He is looking for £500 million in government aid to help stricken Virgin Atlantic, rather than dipping into his £4billion fortune. Dragon’s Den Duncan Bannatyne and Simon Cowell have hit out at the mega-rich, like Victoria Beckham and Branson, for leaning on the state. Simon Cowell says he will continue to pay his staff.

Tom Bower, his unauthorised biographer, says ‘Branson must rank as the least deserving tycoon in the Treasury’s long list of casualties asking for financial help. He wants a loan from the same tax system he has spent his entire career avoiding.’

What Branson has been superb at is building a media brand image through countless business set-ups and a fair number of failures. One commentator wrote: ‘He is a salesman who breaks rules not out of any radical impulse but because he has always got away with it.” Another described him as a “chancer” and a ‘vacuum.’ He advocates ethical transparency and accountability despite the veil of tax-haven secrecy over his businesses; and campaigns for a fairer world, flying his private jet into climate change summits.

He was born 18 July 1950 7 am Blackheath, England, with an entrepreneur mother who told him he could become anything and a barrister father who paid for his first sexual experience with a prostitute, was dyslexic, apparently cheated at exams and left school at 16. He has a 12th house Cancer Sun exactly conjunct the Fixed Star Procyon, which raises to great heights and can come crashing down, associated also with rashness and temper. His Sun squares an impulsive Mars in Libra conjunct a publicity-attracting Neptune. His secretive Pluto sits on his Leo Ascendant making him both an enigma and a showman. His Jupiter in Pisces is on the cusp of his 8th house of business finances giving him luck and opposes his Moon, describing the indulgent mother; on the other side of his chart Saturn in Virgo in the 2nd, makes him ‘careful’ about his personal finances.

If his birth time is right then his Solar Arc Midheaven and his Uranus will catch the mid year Solar and Lunar Eclipses for a crisis and forced change of direction.  Tr Saturn also opposes his Sun this year and squares his Midheaven. But even more significantly tr Pluto is aiming to oppose his Sun and square his Aries Midheaven in 2021/22 which will put him under tremendous pressure for change and could see a major dent in his reputation. Plus his Solar Arc Pluto is in a blocked square to his Sun in 2021. He’ll push bullishly ahead as he always does supported by a couple of Jupiter uplifts. But if anything his 2022 is worse with a severely jolting Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his financial Saturn; a car-crash Solar Arc Mars square Moon; and possibly a Solar Arc MC conjunct his Uranus.

It may be that the pay-no-tax Leviathans also become a casualty of the CV 19 bug – Amazon, Apple, etc etc never mind Branson. It’ll become a much more mainstream issue given the economic pain of the lockdown and health costs.