Astrology of Today’s News

Ed Sheeran is at the top of the male pop star pyramid,  selling out Wembley Stadium for the 12th time, every album at  No 1, singing with Eminem and Beyoncé and yet he puts out an image of normal-schtick. Despite the dizzying levels of his success he has had a nightmare 18 months of his wife’s diagnosis of cancer, the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards and now a copyright infringement case in the US, which he says will end his career if he loses. At the moment his fifth album is due out along with a Disney documentary: The Sum of It All – ‘a surprisingly moving, intimate view of marriage, loss and mental health.’

 He is modest about his rise to fame – “I’m speccy, ginger hair, really short, English, from the countryside, who stutters and beatboxes … that guy doesn’t become a pop star.” That he did is largely down to the late Jamal Edwards who put him on his YouTube channel – as well as his own talent and determination.

  He was born 17 February 1991, no birth time sadly, Halifax, England, and is a Sun and Mercury in Aquarius square Pluto – communicative and enduring (stubborn). His Pluto is also in trine to a musical Venus in Pisces and sextile Uranus Neptune conjunct in Capricorn. The Uranus Neptune conjunction generation are highly-strung and inspirational, some with a touch of genius. He also has Saturn in Aquarius opposition Jupiter in Leo trine/sextile Mars in Gemini which will make him wobble between downers and uppers, flamboyance and under stated – and the stressed Mars in Gemini is possibly part of the reason for his ‘explosive and incessant creativity’. He composed seven songs in four hours his wife received her initial cancer diagnosis, so music clearly is a way of channelling emotional turmoil.

  His wife was diagnosed and Jamal Edwards died both in early 2022 when tr Saturn was square his Pluto. At the moment over his court case he has tr Uranus square his Mercury at 18 Aquarius and moving on to oppose his Pluto from late this month on and off into early 2024. He’s in a period of major change with tr Uranus heading to square his Sun in 2025.

  He will have upbeat, lucky and successful moments this year and again in 2024/25 but those run alongside times of uncertainty and disruptions.  All the adulation and money in the world can’t blot out problems.  

Hunter Biden is in another legal tangle this time over child support for a child he initially disavowed until a DNA test proved he was the father. He was paying $20k a month for his daughter’s upkeep but went back to court asking to pay less because of revised financial circumstances. As a result he has been told by a judge to produce financial paperwork which could involve exposing the business dealings of other members of the Biden family.

  He is already being investigated by a federal grand jury in Delaware over tax charges and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase; as well as an investigation by Republicans in Congress over emails on a laptop that appear to tie his father to his business activities, despite Joe Biden’s denial of involvement.

  He is catching the 18 degree Uranus in Taurus hard aspect to his Venus in Aquarius exactly now so he’s in the centre of the whirlpool. And has a worrisome tr Saturn square his Neptune returning mid October to the end of this November, which coincides with a seriously stuck Solar Arc Saturn square his Pluto around this time. Tr Neptune is also undermining a couple of his midpoints then as well. Tr Pluto is square his Saturn in 2024/25 which will be a gloomy slog and discouraging.

 Joe’s relationship chart with him is less ebullient than usual with a stuck tr Saturn opposition the composite Pluto in place recently and repeating in September and December this year. With jangles and jolts mid June to mid July, late October to mid November and March 2024 with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Saturn. Plus major confusion with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune in 2024 from late February to mid April, and late May to late July, returning over the Inauguration in 2025 – which is when tr Pluto is square Joe’s Taurus Moon in the 5^th house which rules children.

  Tr Saturn is also opposition the composite Jupiter from April 2024 on and off into January 2025 which will put their enthusiasm and confidence in each other at a peep.

  As far as Joe is concerned Hunter is family so to be protected at all costs but the political price may be high. Jill is less enamoured of Hunter and could rock the boat come August onwards.

Angela Kelly, the late Queen Elizabeth’s dresser, confidante and latterly her carer, so close they could have been sisters, has no place in the new regime. Surprisingly friendly with her erstwhile Royal boss, she was disliked amongst other staff in the household for her tendency to throw her weight around. And was clearly not well regarded by other family members. Her publication of two books about the Queen raised eyebrows given previous strictures about publicising even anodyne information as an insider.

  In the honours list to mark the late monarch’s death, she was made a Commander (CVO) of the Royal Victorian Order though she has now been despatched to a Yorkshire house, a present from King Charles, no doubt conditional on no more books or American TV tours.

  She was born 4 November 1957 with a docker father, had been a lorry driver in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, was divorced three times with three children  and was nicknamed AK-47 because of her tendency to lay down the law in her two decade tenure in the Queen’s service.   

  She’s a Sun Mercury in Scorpio square Uranus so will give as good as she gets. She probably has an inspirational, entrepreneurial and attention-demanding Fire Grand Trine of an Aries Moon trine Saturn trine Uranus; and a super-enthusiastic Jupiter Mars in Libra.

Her synastry with the Queen isn’t pass remarkable apart from her Jupiter Mars in Libra being trine the Queen’s Mars Jupiter in Aquarius. And in some ways wasn’t that comfortable a fit with Angela’s Uranus conjunct HMQ’s Leo Moon. But Angela’s Pluto fell in HMQ’s 8^th house so she would exert a considerable subterranean pull. And with her Neptune opposition HMQ’s Sun she’d be evasive and difficult pin down.

  The relationship chart shows a clearer picture with an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction in a possessive opposition to Pluto which forms a Mystic Rectangle in sextile/trine to Saturn opposition Uranus. With a morale-boosting and exuberant composite Mars Jupiter.

 King Charles would find her difficult and being a Scorpio himself might be more sensitive to her way of ingratiating herself. His relationship chart with her is loaded with a composite Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter square Pluto – which stripped down to Mars square Pluto is hostile and power-struggling.  Prince Harry who called her a troublemaker and obstructive disliked her as well – his relationship chart with her has a composite Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune conjunction and Sun conjunct Uranus which is a whole other mess of aggravation.  With Meghan the Angela relationship chart is controlling and high-tension.

  What intrigues me slightly have looked at a few Royal relationship charts in recent weeks is Camilla. Her connection with Angela Kelly was worse than the others with a hostile composite Mars, North Node, Pluto conjunction – and similar occurs elsewhere, which I will no doubt return to. Camilla may not have wanted to be Queen but there is a faint sense that the ‘lady boss’ is going to turn out to be the power beside the throne.

Additional thought.  Angela’s climb up the ladder to draw closer to the Queen happened after the death of the Queen Mother, who was a fairly overpowering mother who spoke to the Queen every day. That was 2002 when Princess Margaret also died so the Queen was left without her two closest female family members.

The lynching of Emmett Till, a 14 year old Chicago boy on holiday with Mississippi relatives in August 1955 became a pivotal event that triggered the civil rights movement. At his funeral, his mother left the casket open allowing the tens of thousands of mourners to see his mutilated body. Rosa Parks said her refusal to give up a seat on a bus in Alabama to a white passenger in December 1955, a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle, was a result of his death. She said: “I thought of Emmett Till and I couldn’t go back.”

  Carolyn Bryant who has just died, a white woman, said Emmett had grabbed her round the waist at the store, which in the Deep South was unthinkable in those days. Her husband and his half brother were charged with the murder but found not guilty by an all-white jury. She was not called as a witness and years later divorced her husband on the grounds of “cruel and inhuman treatment and habitual drunkenness”.

  She never recanted her accusation though the suspicion was she embellished her story. The federal justice department, which described the murder as “one of the most infamous acts of racial violence in our country’s history”, re-opened an investigation in 2004 but no new charges emerged.

  Emmett Till was born 25 July 1941 8.20pm Chicago, Illinois, and was a Sun Pluto conjunction in Leo beside Chiron, the wounded healer; with sacrificial Neptune in Virgo conjunct North Node (the spirit of the age) trine Saturn Uranus in Taurus. Not a fate to be wished on anyone especially a young boy, but he was a catalyst for much that followed. Tr Uranus was then at zero degrees Leo – and oddly enough tr Jupiter was exactly conjunct his Solar Arc Sun and his Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct his Jupiter, both of which might in other circumstances be seen as positive happenings. The transiting North Node was hovering around his SA Midheaven pulling his life’s direction into the zeitgeist.

 Carolyn Bryant, 23 July 1934, Indianola Mississippi, was a Sun Pluto conjunction like Emmett with her birthday two days after his. She had a Sun Leo square Uranus which was catching the exact tr Uranus conjunction to her Sun at the time of the lynching. Tr Pluto was also opposition her Saturn making for a heavy, discouraging time with her SA Mars just off the scary, trapped conjunction to her Pluto. Her Sun Pluto conjunction would make her prone to attract controlling, bullying men and she went through three husbands before retreating into a life of seclusion.  

 Her Uranus was square Emmett’s Sun Pluto so she would be a disruptive element in his life (to put it mildly). The relationship chart between them is not informative except that the composite Saturn was conjunct Emmett’s Mars in Aries and the composite Mars was conjunct his Saturn – Mars Saturn being the signature for assassination in traditional astrology.

  Indescribably appalling.

Last year President Biden signed into law the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime. 

Jerry Springer, who can claim credit for being the initiator of the lowest common denominator tabloid television with his eponymous show that ran for nearly three decades, has died. A controversial show of  exploitation and moral panic, ‘a relentless orgy of humanity’s worst impulses’, ‘bear-baiting’ and ‘mob rule’ it lowered the tone of television and arguably set the stage for where we are now, politically and culturally. “Without him plumbing new social depths in the 1990s, we might never have witnessed shows such as Big Brother, or Pop Idol, or Jersey Shore, which revolve around allowing the sofa-dwelling masses to sneer at the flotsam of society.”

 Not that he was happy with his trailblazing role into humiliation television but he took the money and ploughed on anyway.

  He was born 13 February 1944 11.45pm (from memory) in London in an underground shelter during a bombing raid and moved with his family to the USA when he was 4. He started his career in politics, then moved into television and found his niche.

  He had a well-tied together, lucky and influential chart with a communicative Air Grand Trine of an Aquarius Sun trine Saturn trine a Libra Moon, formed into a Kite by Sun opposition a 10^th house successful Jupiter. He also had a legend-in-his-lifetime Pluto in his career 10^th conjunct the spirit-of-the-age North Node (like Len Goodman born two months later.)

    Springer’s Pluto dragged him down into the depths perhaps because it sat on the midpoint of a trine between an 8^th house Uranus Mars and a 12^th house Neptune.  He revelled in the dark side. His Venus in Capricorn was on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Jupiter and Saturn which would also make him adept at shifting the culture.

  His Saturn in Gemini would give him a serious side and his Libra Moon must have been appalled at the sorry social spectacles he rabble-roused. A complicated man.