The Great Frost of 1709 – few parallels

Apocalyptic comparisons have been made by the UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the event of the lockdown continuing into the summer. The worst economic hit for 300 years, he cheerily intoned, since 1709. That was the year of the ‘Great Frost’, the worst winter in 500 years, which lasted for three months, sparked food shortages, caused thousands of deaths especially in France, and a huge deficit to the economy. In London on the night of 5 January 1709 a temperature of minus 12 C (10 F) was recorded. The severe cold occurred during the time of low sunspot activity known as the Maunder Minimum. Almost all the rivers in the north and centre of Europe froze, roads were blocked and many cities including Paris were cut off from supplies for months.

The Great Frost occurred when Uranus and Pluto were conjunct in Leo trine Neptune and sextile Saturn in Gemini. Uranus Pluto is disruptive; add Neptune for devastation and confusion and Saturn for hardship and it was not a fun time.

The England 11 May 973 AD chart shows up the devastating effects clearly as tr Pluto made its Return (a once-in-250- year occurrence). Not only was tr Pluto conjunct the natal Pluto with tr Uranus not far behind, both were also in square to the England Sun Mars in Taurus – so it was a considerable catastrophe. The England Saturn was also on a Return; and the Solar Arc Saturn was exactly square the North Node. A perfect storm.

Although France was most affected. The 10 August 843 AD chart has a last decan Leo Sun which also caught the tr Uranus conjunction; with tr Neptune square the Saturn and conjunct the France Uranus for extreme agitation.

There are no astro-similarities at the moment, though the economic hit is likely to roll on for several years, which the money-men are only beginning to grasp. The over-optimistic hoped for a V shaped dip, but the fall out is likely to drag on for several years, until mid decade. The UK, EU as well as Russia will have their multiple Fixed planets under assault from tr Uranus hard aspects until it moves into Gemini; and the USA is heading for its first Pluto Return.

Charles Ingram – damned by a tickle in his throat

 

Fame-hungry reality stars with criminal convictions are meat and drink to TV producers. Following Tiger King, there’s a Brit scaled-down version in Quiz, a dramatized version now airing of one of the biggest gameshow scandals in history. Charles Ingram, a former army major and his wife, were accused of cheating in Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in 2001 with a million prize at stake. They were given suspended prison sentences and subsequently went on to appear in other reality shows. They are some who still claim the ‘coughing’ major is innocent. Two years later he was convicted of a separate and unrelated insurance fraud, having had a history as a habitual claimant over alleged loss of personal possessions.

Born 6 August 1963 he has a needs-attention Leo Sun and Venus with his Sun opposition Saturn and square to Neptune, as well as trine Jupiter in pro-active Aries and sextile Mars in Libra. A focal point Neptune will be – at the very least –detached from reality, can be delusional, and at worst will be slippery and evasive.

When the offence occurred in 2001 his Solar Arc Mars had moved to exactly conjunct his Neptune; and tr Neptune was opposition his Venus and trine his Mars exactly. Tr Pluto was also trine his Sun and was about to run into the catastrophic conjunction to his Mars/Saturn midpoint.

The happy couple are revelling evidently in this new found spotlight, despite it focussing on their guilt.

Trump – the train has left the station

 

Trump is losing it as criticism mounts and attention slides away from him with the State Governors taking an increasingly strong and sensible grip on the pandemic. Yesterday he delivered what Jon Sopel, the BBC North America editor described as “the most dizzying, jaw-dropping, eyeball-popping, head-spinning news conference I have ever attended.” He didn’t talk about the dead, the dying, their families or a population in fear. He voiced ‘a profound sense of grievance’ that the media had been nasty in suggesting his handling of the crisis had been defective. ‘Contempt seemed to ooze out of every pore.’ ‘You feel he wants to be loved, and can’t understand it when love is not forthcoming.’ Plus ca change except his reactions are ramping up to ever more extreme levels of megalomania.

Over the briefing he did have tr Mars in Aquarius opposition his Pluto which would escalate his rage, hatred and desperation to new levels. But that’s fast-moving. What will be interesting is to see what happens when tr Uranus squares his Pluto come this July until late September, which suggests a considerable upheaval; and in someone his age can be health-related. Mind you despite all of the pointers to progressive dementia with physical side effects he is still able to rant and rave on his feet for long periods. Maybe its the hatred that keeps him going, pumping adrenaline through his system.

Following on from the previous post below of 10th April, which details his transits, there must be considerable panic brewing amongst those closest to him, both family and political allies.

Mike Pence has been viewing their relationship with dismay since late March with tr Neptune square the composite Sun till late April, as he sees what a swamp he’s standing in.

Mike Pompeo also is agitated as is Mitch McConnell with tr Uranus elbowing their relationship charts.

There are too many charts to go over in detail – so to encapsulate there is a good deal of activity, jolting and fracturing, when tr Uranus gets to 7 degrees Taurus from early May and building up to even more turbulence in June. Mike Pompeo’s relationship chart with Trump has an aggravated Venus Saturn opposition Mars which will get a full-frontal assault from tr Uranus early May to mid June. Mitch McConnell’s relationship with Trump is also destabilising in May with tr Uranus square the composite Pluto; and separated in August and September.

Ivanka, Don Jnr and Jared all have major upsets showing with Trump senior through May/June. And Ivanka’s Scorpio Sun will be upended by a tr Uranus opposition in May; and Don Jnr’s Mars in Leo gets the tr Uranus highly-insecure and explosive square in June. Melania is also is a period of considerable turmoil with her Taurus Sun catching the tr Uranus conjunct now; and her relationship with Trump looks exceptionally fraught come June.

Hope Hicks, brought back in to prop Trump up, though technically on Jared’s staff, was looking at a disaster in March, is very off balance this month and devastated come July.

I can’t imagine any of them having the guts to stand up to him and tell him he’s unfit. And the track record of raving lunatic dictators going on and on is depressingly familiar. Maybe they could slip something soporific into his coca cola to leave him to wander through the daisies at Mar a Lago. One can but hope.

[The headline is that blissfully funny line from Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as the effects of his hallucinogenic cigarette start to bite.]

Bruce Willis – marital musical chairs during lockdown

 

Bruce Willis, twenty years divorced from Demi Moore, has decided to shack up with her and their two adult daughters during the CV quarantine. Leaving his present wife Emma and two young daughters to self-isolate by themselves. He’s stayed friendly with Demi and the three of them have attended each other’s celebrations over the years. But it’s an odd arrangement.

Bruce, 19 March 1955 6.32pm Germany, is a complicated personality, inordinately stubborn and private. He has a ‘dependent’ 7th house Pisces Sun in a Water Grand Trine to a lucky Jupiter Uranus in his career 10th trine an obsessive Saturn in Scorpio. His Saturn opposes an unbudgeable 8th house Mars in Taurus squaring onto Venus in Aquarius opposition Pluto. Not an easy man in close emotional space, for sure and unyielding when it comes to getting his own way.

Demi, 11 November 1962 2.16 pm Roswell, New Mexico, isn’t easy either with a Sun, Venus, Neptune Mercury in Scorpio in the 8th square Mars in Leo with Mars widely opposition Saturn in Aquarius; plus a super-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto Uranus.

Their relationship chart is incredibly fraught with a composite Mars opposition Saturn square Moon; a head-in-the-clouds, over-hopeful Jupiter opposition Neptune; an adventurous Jupiter square Uranus trine Pluto. Mars Saturn in a relationship chart usually indicates a considerable degree of self-sacrifice from one partner as the other, not always kindly, insists on getting what they want. So pretty one sided.

Emma, his ex-model wife since 2009, was born 18 June 1978, and is a Sun Gemini sextile Saturn Mars, so used to self-sacrifice; with a confident and lucky Jupiter square Pluto trine Uranus, with Venus in Leo and a never-admit-she’s-hurt Scorpio Moon.

Her relationship chart with Bruce is, all things considered, positive with an affectionate composite Sun Venus sextile an enthusiastic Jupiter Mars trine Uranus Pluto. While it’ll have its ups and downs and periods of separation, it’s not bad. Though even it has a Saturn square the Mars Jupiter which suggests one partner – no guesses which – gives up their wishes to placate the other.

Despite the supposedly cosy ex-wife and present-wife friendship, Emma and Demi aren’t bosom pals. Emma’s Mars (Saturn) is conjunct Demi’s Uranus (Pluto) and Emma’s Uranus is conjunct Demi’s Mercury, Neptune and square Demi’s Mars. Their relationship chart may have an irritable composite Moon opposition Mars; and an evasive Sun square Neptune.

To be honest if I were left with a choice I wouldn’t be stuck in the same space as Bruce Willis 24/7 for weeks on end, even if it is 10,000 square feet plus a large garden.

David Icke – turning every disaster into a dastardly plot

 

David Icke, the controversialist conspiracy nut, is back in the headlines after a quiescent period. On a London Live TV show he blamed Israel for the coronavirus, suggesting it was using the pandemic to “test its technology”. The broadcasting station owned by Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard newspaper and The Independent, has been reported to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. Icke described moves to require people to be vaccinated as “fascism”. He has previously spoken of “the global conspiracy Rothschild-Zionism, a secret society putting its agents in places of power.” He early on described himself as “the Son of the Godhead”; and suggested that an inter-dimensional race of shape-shifting reptilians were an elite (the Illuminati) in place to manipulate global events. The reptilian thesis may (or may not) be a Swiftian allegory.

Born 29 April 1952 5.15pm Leicester, England, he has an intense 8th house Taurus Sun, which will prompt him to explore realms beyond reality. His Sun is in opposition to a money-making and angry 2nd house Mars in Scorpio which is in a rage-filled, trapped square to Pluto. That will be where his hatred comes from and his aggro against anything that smells remotely like an authority or power figure. He has a contrary Uranus Moon conjunct his Midheaven in an autocratic square to a paranoid Saturn Neptune on his Ascendant opposition Mercury.

He does have talent as an influencer, gained a vast popular following and gave a voice to child abuse stories when no one else would, though tended to go too far in naming names without evidence. His output has been described as “a mishmash of most of the dominant themes of contemporary neofascism, mixed in with a smattering of topics culled from the U.S. militia movement.” He is against gun control.

It’s not clear what he’s been up to recently but he did have the tr Uranus square tr Pluto battering its way round his central Cardinal T Square of Midheaven, Uranus, Moon, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune through the middle of the last decade; along with tr Saturn ploughing through his low profile First Quadrant.

He’s now embarking on a new cycle with tr Saturn moving into his through his 4th; though the Eclipses this year will rattle his cage somewhat. Tr Uranus will conjunct his deeply buried Taurus Sun starting in June which will give him a jolt or two and that continues into next year, when it opposes his Mars – so there may be financial upsets.

As if life wasn’t difficult enough without unhinged cuckoos squawking nonsense about the place.

Damian Lewis & Helen McCrory – rallying support for health workers

 

Married actors Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory are expanding their initiative to feed NHS workers meals from High-Street restaurants, after raising nearly £1m. They started Feed NHS scheme in London but now say it will roll out to other UK cities. They have teamed up with restaurant chains including Leon, Dishoom, Wasabi and Tortilla, to “get food to these people who were working such long hours and weren’t able to get food.”

They have been married since 2007 and remarkably successful at holding it together with two busy, successful careers. He’s known for Band of Brothers, Brody in Homeland and more recently Bobby Axelrod in Billions. She’s had a varied career ranging from Harry Potter, through a Scorsese film to a Bond Skyfall and most notably recently Peaky Blinders.

He was born 11 February 1971 and she 17 August 1968. She’s a Sun Leo square Neptune and trine Saturn in Aries with her Saturn on the focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Pluto Uranus. He’s a Sun Aquarius square Saturn in Taurus with his Saturn on the focal point of a Yod to Mars in Sagittarius sextile Uranus. So they are remarkably similar. Her Venus Mercury Jupiter in Virgo are trine and fit well with his Virgo Moon and his Venus in Capricorn. Her Moon in Gemini is opposition his Jupiter, maybe Mars. Both have their Mars in a Fire sign.

Their relationship chart isn’t on the face of it exceptional but it clearly works. The composite Venus is in a cool and enduring opposition to Saturn; with a volatile, needs-space composite Mars Uranus; and a vague composite Sun Neptune which being in the movie business possibly soaks up the more negative ends. With perhaps a composite Moon square Jupiter to smooth round rough edges.

She’s in for a lucky and highly pressured 2021 with tr Uranus in a fortunate trine to her Jupiter; but tr Pluto is also squaring her focal point Saturn for two years which will be a considerable slog.

He’s also in for a dash more luck and an adventure or two come 2021/22 when his Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct his Jupiter.

Boris – facing mortality strips away pretence

 

The Cancer Sun of the NHS (UK National Health Service) sits exactly on Boris Johnson’s Midheaven with the NHS Neptune on his Ascendant. Who’d have thought that health would become the defining issue of his career and image? The NHS Mercury, Uranus, Venus (Moon) in Gemini are conjunct his Sun, Venus for a close connection though with hints of aggro from the NHS Mars in square. Most significantly the NHS’s Taurus North Node which hints at years-long struggles over money and equipment are exactly aligned with his head-in-the-clouds Jupiter opposition Neptune; with the NHS unyielding Pluto Saturn in square. There’s a savage irony about his fate being so interwoven with that of the NHS.

The relationship chart has some mutual support and luck from a composite Sun trine Jupiter; but otherwise is a complicated mess of an unsupportive Mars Uranus square Neptune; and a discouraging Saturn square Pluto.

Switching tack for a moment I was pondering on what makes Boris tick – chronically competitive, a chancer, an unapologetic liar and an inveterate and unashamed womaniser. Like Trump, the answer seems to lie with father.

Johnson senior – Stanley – was the one to instil the dog-eat-dog, cut-throat desire to win all arguments at any cost in his children. He was also a serial seducer, which according to friends drove his first wife, Boris’s mother, then the mother of four young children, into a mental breakdown and a series of bouts of depression.  He had political ambitions himself but they didn’t get anywhere near as far as Boris; and he evidently bristles when referred to as Boris’s  father – jealousy and an ego-clash.

Stanley has a very different sort of chart to jitterbug Boris, with a heavyweight Sun Mars in Leo in an explosive square to Uranus; with Saturn Jupiter in Taurus and Pluto Mercury in Leo. He’s incredibly fixed and obstinate and not much budges him from his chosen course. He shares an indulgent Jupiter in Taurus with Boris. But he will be a disturbing presence with his three Taurus planets falling in Boris’s 8th, and a controlling Pluto in Boris’s 10th square Boris’s Moon – suggesting he’d like to be the one with his hands on the reins of power. Stanley’s Neptune squares Boris’s Gemini Sun Venus, so he’d be evasive and tricky to pin down and most pertinently his Sun Mars is square Boris’s focal point/afflicted Mars. A combustible, rocket-fuelled chemistry with a tendency to flare up into arguments.

Their relationship chart, not surprisingly, has an incendiary composite Mars Uranus in a mutually unsupportive square to Neptune and a serious dislike square to Mars. There’s also a power-struggling composite Jupiter square Pluto. Taken altogether it suggests a fight for the spotlight which only one can win – and winning is all that matters since egos are at stake. Boris has been running on that playbook since he was knee high to a grasshopper.

And it does explain Boris’s ruthlessly unpleasant T square of Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Mars. His self-deprecating ‘all a jolly jape’ Sun Venus Mercury in Gemini is a camouflage for a frenzied need to get ahead of rivals using any and all tactics, no matter how questionable. A commentator once described him as a ‘man without a moral compass’. Like Trump he learned it at his father’s knee.

One thing a near death experience does – usually – is bring a reality check which strips away the ego’s defences to open up a deeper layer of meaning. It’ll be interesting to see whether he can lose the relentless gameplaying he created as a childhood defence to step out and become his own person.

Shirley Bassey – a gilded talent tinged with sadness

 

Shirley Bassey, the powerful Welsh voice of the movie Goldfinger and two other Bond themes is still going strong as she dots between Monte Carlo and London. She was born in the Tiger Bay, Cardiff, on January 8, 1937, maybe 9 am, the youngest of seven children. She grew up in poverty as her Nigerian father was imprisoned for under age sex when she was a baby and deported. She left school at 14 to work in a factory and sang in pubs, then got pregnant, resuming her career after leaving her daughter Sharon with a sister. Sharon only discovered Shirley was her mother when she was nine, by which time another daughter Samantha had arrived, perhaps the product of an affair with actor Peter Finch. Shirley’s two marriages ended in divorce and Samantha drowned in her twenties, either by accident or suicide and some said by murder.

Shirley has an ambitious, earthy Capricorn Sun and Jupiter with probably an intense Scorpio Moon. Her supercharged voice and indeed her volatile diva’s temperament come from Mercury in Aquarius opposition Pluto square Mars in Scorpio opposition Uranus in Taurus. She did nothing by halves and would either flare up or push relentlessly until she got what she wanted. Her Venus is in sensitive, musical Pisces. As is her regretful-about-the-past Saturn in a creative opposition to Neptune square North Node in Sagittarius.

Her creative 5th and 7th Harmonics were strong as was her superstar 22H. Not an easy lady or an uncomplicated life but she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made a success of her career if not her personal life.

Duffy – surviving a troubled life

Duffy, the Welsh pop singer, has emerged from a decade of seclusion recently to talk of being drugged, taken abroad and raped in a four-week nightmare. After her escape she laid low for years, often contemplating suicide. Prior to her ordeal she had been a soaring star, outselling Adele and Amy Winehouse, collecting three Brit awards and a Grammy in the US. But even before she disappeared she was a ‘cautionary tale in the music business – a near text-book exercise in career self-destruction’ according to Neil McCormick of the Telegraph. She dumped the management and producers who had nurtured her success to handle her own career with an album which flopped.

She was born 23 June 1984 6.55am Bangor, Wales, and had a troubled childhood with her parents splitting when she was 10 and her stepfather being the target of a murder plot which saw her taken into police custody for safekeeping; and caused a rift with her mother and sisters when she ran away back to live with her father. She also binge drank through her teens.

She has an emotionally sensitive and charming Sun, Mercury Venus in Cancer opposition a musical, creative and unrealistic Neptune and Jupiter in ambitious Capricorn.   Her 4th house is horrific with Pluto and a Mars Saturn conjunction in Scorpio which suggests a scary childhood with undertones (or overtones) of violence. Her Venus trines Mars Saturn, which is especially difficult emotionally being in intense and unforgiving Scorpio. Her Uranus in the performing 5th house, a typical placing for ‘rock’ stars also suggests an erratic romantic life. It opposes a Gemini North Node, which in itself is an indication of a free spirit with a streak of wilfulness, and a touch of a ‘bull in a china shop’ approach to life.

It’s not clear when she was assaulted but around 2011 which is when she effectively withdrew from public life her Solar Arc Mars Saturn were opposition her North Node; and tr Uranus in Aries was conjunct her Midheaven for a sharp change of direction in an upsetting square to her Sun, Mercury, Venus in Cancer, with tr Pluto in Capricorn being in a disruptive conjunction to her Solar Arc Uranus and having been in a pressured opposition to  her Cancer planets including Sun in the previous two years. Her Solar Arc Node was conjunct her Sun. It was a very fated Nodal event in many ways.

Where she’s at now is tr Saturn aiming above her Descendant pushing her into a more visible phase in her career and life. Relationships won’t be easy through the next two years with Saturn Pluto moving through her 7th perhaps because she will carry a ‘rape victim’ identity.  And she will find her home life and family relationships especially jolted and jangled with tr Uranus opposing her Saturn and Mars from April 2021 onwards for a year.

Grim beyond thought, but it followed on from a heavy heavy atmosphere in her childhood which would acclimatise her to dark personalities. Not that she remotely asked for it, but her danger antennae would have been blunted early on.