Marjorie

Hope springs eternal as wars break out with a general expectation that the mayhem and carnage will all blow over quickly as one side faces facts and withdraws. In reality, conflicts usually drag on into a prolonged state of “violent stalemate”.

  The Ukrainians are fighting for their lives and freedom.

“The goal of western capitals – is – to ensure that armed aggression ends in failure, without precipitating a wider war.” (William Hague) 

Russia is trying to restore old glories and fighting against an old Cold War enemy (the USA) whom they perceive as encroaching on their borders. Given the mindset of those close to Putin (see Patrushev below) it seems unlikely that Russia will admit defeat and meekly go home to nurse their humiliation.

  The relationship charts between Ukraine and Russia 1990 point to more obvious disturbance late this April to mid June with a long drawn out struggle till late 2023. The Ukraine/Russia 1917 chart describes jolts late April and major upheavals in relations in 2023/24.

  The USA relationship charts with Russia are most fraught in the time ahead, more so than the EU or UK. The USA/Russia 1917 relationship chart is trapped, high-risk, acutely frustrated and angry through 2022/23. The USA/Russia 1990 relationship chart is nerve-stretched this year with shocks and over-reaction from late April, repeating in January 2023.

 The man closest to Putin now and over the past two decades, head of Russia’s security council and the FSB,  a “hawk’s hawk”, Nikolai Patrushev, a career intelligence officer, has known Putin since the 1970s, when the two men worked together in the Leningrad KGB. He believes that western powers are seeking to destroy Russia and has called Ukraine a “protectorate” of the west. He has warned that Russia would hold the U.S. accountable for all its troubles. For him the main adversary of his formative career never went away.

  He sees the FSB security officers as “the new nobility” tasked with governing Russia in the spirit of self-sacrifice and for the sake of the country’s greater glory. He has stressed that Russia is the main antagonist to the Western liberal world order and warned that Russia would leave nothing off the table when pushing for its geopolitical interests abroad. Analysts believe that the culmination of his decades-long agitation against the Western world is Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Recently he has ramped up his anti-American conspiracy theories to provide justification, asserting that the U.S. was conducting covert biowarfare against the citizens of the former Soviet republics. He blamed the pandemic on Western laboratories, some of which operated in Ukraine, and said their work had to be stopped no matter what the cost. He also appears to regard renewable energy policies as an attack on Russia’s oil and gas.

  Russia’s foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin in early March just after the invasion began echoed his sentiments saying, “The West does not only want to encircle Russia with a new Iron Curtain but to destroy it completely.” This has evidently become the core belief among Putin’s KGB cohort in the Kremlin. They believe they are fighting for their survival. Against that level of paranoia there doesn’t seem much room for negotiation and compromise.

 Patrushev, 11 July 1951, St Petersburg, is a confident, ego-centric and rebellious Sun Uranus in Cancer on the point of a resourceful Jupiter in Aries opposition Neptune – super-confident, not always realistic. His Uranus is also in a volatile conjunction to Mars so he dislikes interference.  His Pluto is trine Jupiter adding to his luck and self-assurance.

  His Mars is conjunct the Russia 1917 10^th house controlling Pluto so he will connect in a ruthless way with the ruling elite; and his Pluto squares the Russia 1917 Sun opposition Uranus conjunct Saturn, which all adds up to an urge to drive Russia’s revolutionary spirit onwards with his hand on the tiller.

  His Pluto sits on the Ascendant of the Russia 1990 chart as he attempts to shape its image for the world at large with his Sun conjunct the country’s Jupiter boosting morale. A dictatorial cheer leader. On both relationship charts with Russia he looks to be driving momentum forward in 2023/24, upping the emotional temperature and radically changing his role vis a vis the country’s direction – though with trickster Uranus being involved there’s no way of tell whether that will be elevation or ultimate calamity for him.

  On his own chart there will be a significant shift from late this April for three weeks; disasters late May to mid June, repeating on and off till April 2023. Later this year August to November he has a curious mix of high-risk/aggravation mixed with good luck/relief. From early 2023 to late 2024 he also picks up more upbeat influences though also a Uranus Pluto midpoint hinting at the collapse of an old order. There’s also a high degree of uncertainty in 2023/24. So not undiluted catastrophe though it’ll be a rocky road.

Finland is on alert and prepared for the Ukraine conflict to spread. “The threat of war in Europe has not hit us as a surprise,” according to Tytti Tuppurainen, Finland’s EU minister. “We have prepared our society, and have been training for this situation ever since the second world war.”

  Finland has a 1,340km border with Russia, and a brutal history of conflict with their Soviet neighbour. What has dominated their thinking and planning over recent decades was the Winter War of 1939-40, when Stalin’s forces invaded and stole a chunk of its territory. This was followed by the Continuation War of 1941/44 when Finland allied with Nazi Germany against Russia to recapture the stolen territory. During both conflicts, Soviet Army losses were heavy and far outweighed their opponents’ death toll.

 In recent years it has been standard to stockpile supplies, with at least six months of all major fuels and grains, and imported drugs held in reserve. Civilian defences requires all buildings above a certain size have to have their own bomb shelters, and underground car parks, ice rinks, and swimming pools can easily be converted into evacuation centres.

   The military, one of the biggest in Europe relative to its size has a third of the adult population as reservists. Helsinki has maintained strong defence spending even as others cut in the 1990s and 2000s. Detailed planning is in place for how to handle an invasion, including the deployment of fighter jets to remote roads around the country, the laying of mines in key shipping lanes, and the preparation of land defences such as blowing up bridges.

   Since the modern Finland chart of 6 December 1917 is only a month after the Russia revolutionary 8 November chart, it’s hardly surprising that events which hit one resonate on the other. Tr Uranus getting to 14 degrees Taurus this April 22nd to May 10^th, repeating in January 2023, which shakes up the Russia Scorpio Sun square Saturn, will also create jolting tensions for Finland with its Saturn also at 14 Leo. There’ll be more upsets as tr Uranus is trine the Finland Mars in Virgo from mid June on and off into 2023. Two of Finland’s Uranus midpoints are catching tr Pluto hard aspects which suggests disruptions, upheavals and forced changes in 2022/23; along with tr Uranus square the Uranus on both charts in 2023. With acute frustrations for Finland in 2023/2024 from Pluto on a Mars midpoint and Solar Arc Mars opposition the Finland Pluto.

  When the Winter War took place tr Uranus was a 19 Taurus which it gets back to in 2023; and through the Continuation War tr Pluto in Leo was conjunct the Finland and Russia Neptune at 6 Leo – of which there is similar in 2026/27 – which doesn’t mean another war but it will bring confusion and maybe devastation. On occasion Pluto in hard aspect to Neptune accompanies natural disasters like major earthquakes/volcanoes etc.

  The relationship charts between Finland and modern Russia, 12 June 1990 9.45am, indicate disappointment through 2022/23 with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Venus and square Jupiter and then Mars. And there will be turbulence and disruption in 2023/24 with a major shift in diplomatic relations as tr Pluto is conjunct the composite Uranus.

  Whatever transpires it won’t settle quickly. The curse of geography.

  But all power to the Finns who unlike the West won’t be caught by surprise.

https://www.ft.com/content/c5e376f9-7351-40d3-b058-1873b2ef1924 (behind a paywall)

An unscripted joke in bad taste which earned a hard slap across the face rescued an inconsequential Academy Awards from oblivion. In the headlines for all the wrong reasons last night’s Oscars has become a battle ground of argument between those who think Will Smith’s defence of his wife was heroic and those who condemned him for over-reacting to host comedian Chris Rock’s off-colour jibe.

  Rock who appears to have form on disliking Jada Smith, joked about her hairless state (due to an auto-immune alpoecia). Smith then galloped to her defence before later collecting Best Actor for King Richard about Venus and Serena Williams’ father.

 Richard Madeley, a UK morning show presenter said in his long career that Rock was the most unpleasant celebrity he’d met. ‘He was the most unpleasant, rude, aggressive, unlikeable human being I’ve ever interviewed on camera, without question.’ 

  Rock, born 7 February 1965 10am Andrews, SC, has a confident, ego-centric Aquarius Sun on the point of a T Square to an ever-optimistic Jupiter opposition Neptune. He also has a powerful collection of Uranus, Pluto and Mars in Virgo trine Jupiter which will give him confidence but will be volatile.

   His Aries Moon sits below his Ascendant and is unaspected except for a quincunx to Mars, and an out-of-sign square to Venus, which will make him scratchy in relationship to women.  A sparsely aspected Moon can make for a sense of disconnection and immaturity. A not-well integrated Mercury can be hyperactive and one-track minded but again will lack a sense of real connection.

 Where he and the Smiths clash is his Mars in Virgo which is conjunct Jada Smith’s 10^th house controlling and influential Sun Pluto in Virgo; and Will Smith’s Uranus Pluto in Virgo.

  Rock’s relationship chart with Will Smith is an explosive cache waiting to ignite with a composite Mars, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo square Venus, Mercury, and Sun.

  With Jada, there’s a fated Yod of Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune Mercury inconjunct Saturn so there are obviously undertones of drawn-together-for-a-reason chemistry. Plus a competitive, argumentative composite Sun Mars conjunction.

  All a typhoon in a teacup of no account.

And in an entertainment business that thrives and banks richly on violence, getting vaporous over a slap is a touch tiresome and sanctimonious. I doubt it will affect any of them too badly though they all have undermining Neptune transits in opposition to their Virgo stelliums in the next two/three years so there will be some slipping and sliding.

See:https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2022/mar/29/will-smiths-oscars-slap-created-a-storm-of-increasingly-irrelevant-internet-hot-takes

Add ON: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have been together since 1994 with two children and a recent tendency to overshare in public – often misleadingly about their open or otherwise marriage.

They live in a 27,000 square feet Malibu house that sits on 100 acres.

  There are good connections between them with her Venus conjunct his Libra Sun and his Jupiter conjunct her Virgo Moon; as well as less helpful ones given that both have fairly turbulent temperaments from the Uranus Pluto of that period.

  Their relationship chart is exceptionally close – not necessarily bound by affection – but by unconscious ties. The possessive composite Sun Pluto conjunction sits in the composite 8^th house along with five other planets. Sun Pluto on its own makes for a transformational though not easy, bound-by-fate connection. The Venus Moon Jupiter conjunction will smooth round rough edges and give mutual support.  Seven planets in the 8^th will bind them together in ways they don’t understand. The composite Mars Neptune is OK-ish for showbusiness and a publicity-attracting duo but it suggests an underlying ego clash with each rooting for their own and not their partner’s success. And the Mars opposition Saturn hints at unfairness.

  It doesn’t mean it will last till eternity though it survived a tempestuous patch from 2007 for a decade after. It will sag over the next couple of years.

Add On: Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which runs the Oscars with copious apologies for his behaviour. Quite what that means isn’t clear and the decision about whether or not to rescind his recent award for King William hasn’t been made yet.

  He has tr Saturn just across his Midheaven moving through his 10^th for two years and his upper quadrant until 2030 which should be a time of consolidating his reputation.  Though he is beset by Neptunian confusion as tr Pluto squares his Sun/Neptune midpoint util late 2023. And tr Neptune opposes his Pluto on one leg of his Yod, which can be disempowering this year into 2023.

  I still think the whole thing has been seriously overblown with faux outrage from the Academy – I know they totted up the murders and corpses, running into hundreds, in Game of Thrones which won multiple BAFTAs and I’m sure the Oscars total over the years won’t be miniscule either. The industry thrives on gun and fist violence – and the audiences lap it up otherwise it wouldn’t be made.

Prince Albert of Monaco is claiming that a shadowy group is seeking to undermine his tiny, ultra-rich country with bogus corruption allegations. The accusations centre on property developments, involving some of his closest allies. Recently he changed five of most senior advisers, in an apparent attempt to counter criticism that he had allowed property companies to take control of his country. He said the allegations surfaced after he tried to introduce more transparency into property dealings.

  Whatever emerges from the fog of claims and denials, he is in possibly the worst year of his reign. His Pisces Sun is sinking under a swampy conjunction from Neptune all year. And worse tr Pluto labouring through his hidden, financial 8^th house from last month conjunct his Mars through this year and next – is trapped, scary, high-risk and impossible to avoid – financially and emotionally in crisis. Plus a calamitous tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint from late April to early May this year and repeating in January 2023. As if that wasn’t enough tr Neptune will move to square his Saturn from late this May, on and off into 2023, which will induce extreme uncertainty if not paranoia.

  Tr Saturn has reached his midheaven this year and will be moving through his 10^th until 2026 which for some can be successful and a consolidation of the preparation of previous years. But for others it is when chickens come home to roost and mistakes have to be faced. Saturnine justice.

  His Progressed Moon is also poised to move into his 12^th house within months to stay for two years plus which is a time of endings, clearing out old baggage and old attitudes and can be discouraging.

  His marriage, of course, has been in trouble for some time with the sad Princess Charlene away with health problems for a year. French magazines report that she has not moved back into the palace with her husband and children, preferring the calm of a house in the hills.

  Their relationship will not improve with the harsh composite Saturn Mars conjunction in their relationship chart catching the tr Pluto square until late 2024 and Uranian hitches, glitches and jolts right through till 2026.

  It may be that she has already made the split in her mind since her Sun/Moon midpoint has been under assault from the transiting Saturn square tr Uranus last year and this. His Sun/Moon midpoint is catching the tr Saturn conjunction this year and the tr Uranus square next, so he’s lagging slightly behind, as if often the case.

   She’s in an impossible bind since bolting would mean leaving her children behind. They will be his lifeline for the future and he won’t let go. Without heirs Monaco would revert to France.

  His Coronation, 12 July 2005, when he formally took over, brushing aside paternity claims and swearing he’d clean up Monaco’s money-laundering and corruption image, took place with less than auspicious aspects in place. Saturn was conjunct Sun square Mars and Mars was in a can-have-criminal-associations trine to Pluto, with Venus in Leo opposition Neptune.

 The tr Saturn square tr Uranus is jolting the showy, illusory Venus Mercury opposition Neptune this year into 2023; tr Neptune is in a disempowering square to Pluto this year; and tr Pluto is in a discouraging, deprived opposition to Saturn in 2023/24. With his popularity sagging further in 2024 with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the Venus.

Monaco is a sovereign city state which sits on 2 square kilometres of ground, with under 40,000 inhabitants, many millionaires, there as tax exiles. Claustrophobic and truly depressing.

See previous post Charlene: 19 November 2021

Hungary unlike Poland is attempting to maintain an ambivalent stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin Prime Minister Orban  has supported EU sanctions against Russia and condemned the war, but banned the shipment of weapons to Kyiv and is against stopping natural gas and oil from Russia, on which Hungary is heavily reliant. For the forthcoming April 3 elections as he aims for a fourth term, he is proclaiming himself the peace and security candidate. His party still leads but the polls are the tightest they have ever been for him.

  His multi-billion spending spree ahead of the election next week of tax rebates, tax cuts, pension and wage hikes has left a budget hole that will spell trouble ahead for whoever wins. With Hungary’s public debt ratio surging to the highest in Central Europe, its credit ratings are likely to drop given rising interest rates, surging inflation and energy prices, the cost of helping 200,000 refugees, exacerbated by Hungary’s lack of access to EU pandemic recovery funds due to a row over democratic standards.

  The election on April 3^rd is likely to be bad tempered with a tr Saturn Mars conjunction in Aquarius. If the modern Hungary chart of 23 October 1989 is accurate at 12pm then those two planets will collide with the Hungary Leo Moon which suggests a stressed and unhappy electorate. Even without that the Hungary Pluto at 14 Scorpio catches a disruptive tr Uranus opposition from late April into May, repeating January 2023 which suggests major changes in leadership. August to November this year look frustrated, cornered and undermined. The Eclipses this year will also rattle the Hungary Scorpio Sun and Pluto.

  In 2023/2024 tr Pluto squares the Hungary Scorpio Sun bringing relentless and irrevocable pressure for change.

Viktor Orban, 31 May 1963 2pm, is on his second Saturn Return with the tr Saturn Mars square his Mercury in Taurus over the election, so irritable and argumentative, inclined to erupt. Tr Uranus is opposing his Neptune exactly which is highly strung and anxious and moves on to an upsetting conjunction to his Venus from early May.

In general it’s a year when his hopes don’t pan out especially now till June, and again on and off till late 2023. The opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay, 9 May 1972, looks devastated over the election but is recovering his mojo by July with a striking success – so much may change in the aftermath.

Sean Penn, the actor, director, writer with a mercurial  personal life, is stomping the boards in support of the Ukrainians threatening to smelt his Oscars if President Zelensky isn’t allowed to speak at the Academy Awards.

  Luvvies at full trumpet on behalf of humanitarian issues is hardly a surprise but Penn is emerging as a substantial player in the activist world, having been hands-on after Hurricane Katrina, more so after the Haiti earthquake. He was in Ukraine filming a documentary, in preparation late 2021, when the invasion started and had to walk to the Polish border to escape.

  He won two Oscars for Mystic River and Milk, before moving to directing and latterly to novel writing.

  Born 17 August 1960 3.17pm Burbank, California, with film business parents and his father the son of Russian immigrants, he started early making short films at school with his friends Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. He’s been married at least three times to – Madonna, Robin Wright (on, off, on, off) and another actress – all brief, plus flings with Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Jewel.

  He has a talented, tough-minded, forceful and determined chart.  His communication/far-travelled 9^th house is noticeable with a flamboyant Sun close to revolutionary/outspoken Uranus and in a lucky trine to an enthusiastic, confident Jupiter in his 1st. There’s also in his spread-the-word 9^th house, an opinionated, charming and intense Venus Pluto in Virgo which is on one leg of an accomplished Half Grand Sextile formed from a Cancer Moon opposition Saturn trine/sextile Neptune. Plus he has a heated, argumentative Mars on his Descendant square Pluto Venus, making him hell-bent on getting what he wants.    

 He’s also got a ‘karmic’ Yod onto Saturn inconjunct Mars sextile Mercury – which is difficult to live up to and handle well. Can be self defeating.

  It’s not an easy chart for relationships with a chilly Moon Saturn and that can-be-overly-forceful Mars Pluto.

  Relocating his chart to Ukraine puts his caring Cancer Moon on the Ascendant and his Sun and Pluto straddling the IC so it will resonate at a core level for him. Haiti and New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina) have his healing Neptune Midheaven line running through.  Moscow has his vehement Venus Pluto conjunction on the IC and Beijing has Venus Pluto on the Ascendant so both will ramp up his emotional responses.  

  At the moment he’s coming out of a low profile several years and winding up steam for his next life’s phase. He’s considerably aggravated this year and next with his Progressed Mars opposition his Saturn which fits with being in a war-zone; with his high hopes not working out as quickly as he’d like. 2023 is a mix of some confusion and high confidence success which runs into 2024.

 His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic is strongly aspected, confident and defiant and his humanitarian 9^th is marked. His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H is also featured with Saturn Pluto aspects suggesting his work in disaster areas will be his gift for posterity.   

The confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson nominated for the Supreme Court have been ‘rife with racism, sexism, feigned outrage and general ugliness’ according to the Washington Post. Despite which she is expected to be voted through in early April, assuming enough Democratic senators are healthy and present.

 She was born 14 September 1970 in Washington into a family of academics, lawyers and police officers; edited the Harvard Law review at college and has worked her way up steadily through  the ranks to become a Federal Judge.

  She has a hard-working, determined and controlling Mercury, Sun, Pluto in Virgo which is trine/sextile a stalwart, idealistic Saturn in Taurus opposition Neptune. Her Mars also in Virgo is sextile a charming Jupiter Neptune in Scorpio; and she has a Pisces Moon. Half her chart is Mutable = flexible, scattered, multi-tasking and the other half Fixed = enduring, stubborn. She’s also Earth Water which is not a bad combination of practicality and empathy.

Her midpoints which had a Jupiterian lift when her nomination was announced, have been rattled through these confirmation hearings with disappointment and confusion showing up. Tr Jupiter in Pisces will oppose her Sun in early April and then Pluto which may help in a minor way. Mid May and more so mid June onwards look undermining and disruptive. Her Solar Arc Venus Jupiter is moving in square to her Pluto this year and next which will help. But it won’t have been a life-affirming process.

 Assuming the general view holds good and she is confirmed, she’ll get on well with Chief Justice John Roberts; will meet hostility from Amy Barrett and Clarence Thomas, and worse from Brett Kavanaugh. Sonia Sotomayor may be cool. Her interface with the Supreme Court chart itself hints at a disruptive relationship as it moves through a period of some turmoil ahead.

  The politicking of Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia is raising more than eyebrows at the moment see post 30 January 2022. And the partisan nature of the judges and decisions are causing public concern and lowering public respect for the institution. See post 30 October 2021.

A stolid Taurus Chancellor with a meticulous Saturn in Virgo is not a great match for a harum-scarum Prime Minister with the attention-span of a gnat and less interest in economics except when it comes to handing out largesse from the money-tree.

  Yesterday’s budget seems to have pleased no one with sensational headlines about a historic plummeting of standard of living in the coming months and several years ahead. Which fits the astrology – see previous post of December 19 2021. This is a reprise with not much of cheer to add.

[Post-budget headlines have been damning. The worst fall in the standard of living since records began. The highest level of taxation since the 1940s. More than a million people to fall into absolute poverty. Nothing for the out-of-work and disabled. Food and energy prices spiralling out of control.]

  Transiting Uranus is rattling through the financial 8^th house until 2027 which will be erratic and unpredictable, not necessarily all negative but unstable economically. This year Uranus squares the financial Venus and opposes the financial Neptune for high anxiety and upsets.

 The blocked Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun, exact in 8 months, will not add to the cheer of the nation. Though it may not be financial. That is followed by a Solar Arc Saturn opposition the UK Uranus, exact in 18 months which will bring disruptions, and tensions, again not necessarily focussed on economics. And the Solar Arc Sun will square the 2^nd house financial Neptune late 2023/into 2024 which will bring financial disappointment.

  Tr Uranus will square the 11^th house UK Saturn from July 2023 to early 2025 which will shake up the legislature and may bring pressure for significant changes.

  Tr Pluto square opposition the UK Jupiter in 2023/24 will bring a confident push but there’s still the biggest financial jolt to come in 2025 with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the 8^th house Mars.

 It won’t be the end of the universe but will be a rocky and swampy ride. Not that any country looks exactly cheerful through the same period but it will be a notable time of historical change for the UK.

   The Bank of England chart shows up 2023 to 2025 as the road-blocked and high-stress years.

  Rishi Sunak, 12 May 1980, will find his hopes won’t work out this year and next with tr Pluto square his Mars/Neptune midpoint; with gloom through 2023 from tr Saturn in Pisces opposition his Jupiter Mars and upheavals also in 2023 from tr Uranus conjunct his Sun Mercury and opposition his Uranus. He may decide discretion is the better part of ambition and bale out to a financial institution.

  Much is made in the media of his embattled relationship with the PM  – which is certainly riddled with doubt and suspicion with a composite Sun Mercury opposition Neptune Saturn. But there’s not too much showing in the near future without Sunak’s birth time.

Add On: Brexit chickens coming home to roost.

UK goods exports have underperformed the rest of the world – as Brexit limits UK trade performance. UK goods exports fell 14 per cent in the three months to January compared with the same period in 2020, in contrast to the global average of an 8.2 per cent rise over the same period.

“While most other advanced economies have seen a strong recovery in trade, UK exports remain below pre-pandemic levels.”

The OBR noted that “none of the new free trade agreements or other regulatory changes announced so far would be sufficient” to have a material impact on its forecasts for UK trade. It has estimated that leaving the EU would result in the total UK imports and exports being 15 per cent lower than if Britain had remained part of the EU.

UK exporters will continue “to be slowly cut out of global supply chains, due to the extra administrative burden for EU firms of sourcing goods from Britain”.

https://www.ft.com/content/021c629d-5853-4111-9600-ab5f0eb65a35

Please add below. Older charts under news on top bar.

Madeleine Albright, a Czech refugee, who became the first female US Secretary of State under Bill Clinton has died aged 84. Her early life was challenging as her diplomat father took the family to London months before World War 11, only to live through the blitz, and returned to Czechoslovakia briefly after the war before fleeing the communist regime to seek asylum in the US. By the age of 11 Albright had already lived in several countries and spoke four languages. She was brought up Roman Catholic and only discovered in the 1990s that she was born Jewish, with three grandparents killed in the holocaust.  

  Her father taught at the University of Denver, where one of his later students was Condoleezza Rice, the second female Secretary of State under GW Bush. Madeleine Albright married a philandering publishing executive, had three daughters moved into academic life and then when her marriage split into politics. Her reputation as a tough operator followed her into the UN where she was US Ambassador, constantly championing US power.

In a later interview, Albright said the US had a problem with women in politics. “I don’t understand it, frankly,” she said. “We are very good at being No 1 in many things and yet we are not in this and I don’t know the answer. Because there are certainly very qualified women.” When she was professor of International Relations she made a point of putting women into the male-dominated roles, teaching them the importance of speaking up and interrupting to have their voices heard.

Because of her familiarity with communism and fascism, she was a fierce proponent of human rights and opposition to authoritarianism on the international stage, even if it meant military intervention. Though she was against the Iraq invasion.

  She used her jewellery to diplomatic effect, wearing an antique snake pin after she was called an “unparalleled serpent” by the Iraqi media after the first Gulf war. A giant insect brooch came out when the Russians were embroiled in a “bugging” scandal; and her monkey broach was worn to a frosty encounter with Putin in a subliminal “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” reprimand over Russia’s activities in Chechnya. 

   She was born 15 May 1937 in Prague (no birth time) and had a dogged, enduring, stubborn chart, which reflected the dangers and stresses of her formative years. It’s the kind of chart that could easily have gone bad but she used her toughness to good use. She had a Taurus Sun conjunct Algol and conjunct Mercury with her Sun opposition a formidable Mars in late Scorpio; with her Mars was in an even more redoubtable Grand Trine involving Pluto and Saturn in forced-to-be-self-reliant Aries. Her Sun was trine a lucky Jupiter in Capricorn on one side and Neptune on the other. Her Pluto was in a pushily confident opposition to Jupiter tempered by being square a diplomatic Venus. Complicated, talented, courageous and massively strong-willed.    

   Her spiritual-seeker 7th Harmonic was strong as was her ‘master number’ 11H and most marked was her breakthrough/exploration 13H.