Astrology of Today’s News

Prince Harry’s win against the Mirror Group newspapers over phone hacking has sent shock waves round the tabloid press. He is regarded as a man on a mission with other cases aimed at different media groups still to come. The damages were small compared to what was asked and he was only proved correct in half of the 33 instances his lawyers produced. Lame claims dismissed include some when he was 12 before he even had a mobile phone, and others where the information came from Palace briefings. See

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-harry-claims-phone-hacking-case-mirror-newspapers-0fk20lpvm

  But the legal costs could be huge for the media groups and it could lead to more restrictions. The red tops undoubtedly acted badly and hacking Milly Dowler, a murder victim’s phone was the final straw in 2011 which closed down Murdoch’s News of the World and led to the Leveson Inquiry.  

  It is a contentious area with concern about SLAPP litigations (strategic legal actions against public participation) which aim to prevent investigations and discussions about matters of public interest. The government defines them as “an abuse of the legal process, where the primary objective is to harass, intimidate and financially and psychologically exhaust one’s opponent via improper means”.

  Hacked Off, a campaign group founded on the back of the furore on 5 July 2011, which numbers Hugh Grant amongst their front line members has been accused of being a “secretive pressure group … of wealthy and powerful individuals and celebrities … which has successfully campaigned for state control of the media”.

  Finding a balance in the middle of this minefield is not easy.

 Hacked Off does look cheered by this win with its Jupiter in Taurus exactly on its Jupiter return. It has a Sun Venus in self-protective Cancer opposition Pluto square Saturn opposition Uranus – so is both revolutionary and controlling. Keen to upset the status quo, break the old mould and be in charge.

  IPSO, the press standards body, 8 September 2014, is making plaintive noises about the risks of landing more restrictions on the media. They have a Virgo Sun and Venus opposition Neptune Moon which isn’t too robust; with a maybe downtrodden Saturn Mars in Scorpio which is being rattled up through next year.

 The Mirror Group is only one outfit in Harry’s crosshairs and is suffering all the woes anyway of a falling market for newspapers.  It is sagging badly in 2025/26.

 Piers Morgan who went off on a typical whing-ding at the court result is insisting only one of Harry’s claims were during his tenure as editor and were not the result of hacking and he was not called as a witness despite which the judge deemed him to be in the know and Leveson had previously made a few scathing comments about his ‘unpersuasive’ testimony.

  Although his past beef has been with Meghan Markle for treating him as a useful media leg up until she met Harry and then ghosted him, he looks more aggrieved with Harry ahead.  Morgan, 30 March 1965, is a pro-active, resilient Sun Venus in Aries with a volcanic Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo opposition Saturn (Moon) in Pisces. His stormy Mars Uranus Pluto falls in Harry’s 8^th close to Harry’s Mercury and square Harry’s Uranus Mars in Sagittarius so it is a combustible mix. Their relationship chart is pretty locked together and worsening through 2024, more so in 2025/26.  

Prince Harry looks mildly cheered by this result with tr Jupiter trine his Mercury and his Solar Arc square his 9^th house (legal maters) Saturn this year. But in general he’s not looking great ahead with several mountains to climb of setbacks etc over the next two years which may not be all media court cases.

  The tabloids did this to themselves but there are principles above and beyond amoral gutter journalists and spoilt celebrities who only want PR puffs printed about them. Or in Harry’s case want the freedom to trash others himself but not keen to be on the receiving end.   

Cher in a black leather corset and sparkly trousers was showing no sign of her 77 years as she strutted her stuff and sang with gusto at the Royal Variety Show (to be shown on TV this weekend) alongside the inimitable Hannah Waddingham.

  Given her fractured start in life it is astonishing Cher is still raving it up on and off stage, with a forty years younger boyfriend in tow.

  Born 20 May 1946 7.25am El Centro, California, her mother married several times, leaving her in an orphanage at one point and living in poverty on many occasions. She rose to fame at nineteen as one half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher before launching a successful six-decade-long solo career. Best known for her top-ten singles “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down” as well as “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves“, and “Half-Breed“, she became the female solo artist with the most number-one singles in US history at the time after her divorce.

  She has an 11^th house Taurus Sun widely trine a 7^th house Capricorn Moon which in turn opposes Saturn in Cancer  in her first – the latter a legacy from her less-than-nurturing mother. Though since her Moon Saturn opposition square onto Jupiter in the 4^th she would be ambivalent about her childhood, regretful one moment and accentuating the positive at other times. But with Chiron in her 4^th the wound would never completely heal. A do-or-die- determined Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo in her financial 2^nd gave her a driving determination never to be poor again.

  Her latest beau, music producer Alexander Edwards, 21 September 1986, is at a simple level not a bad fit since she is a Taurus Sun with a Capricorn Moon and he is a Virgo Sun with a Taurus Moon. But his ambitious Mars in Capricorn is conjunct her Sun and opposition her Saturn which will create a definite imbalance and rough edges of irritation. And his charming though manipulative Venus Pluto in Scorpio square her Mars Pluto which will also give rise to aggravation.

 Their relationship chart does have an exuberant composite Venus trine Jupiter sextile Mars so superficially all good fun. But maybe not forever.

  She’s in a phase where with Neptune moving across her Midheaven she is less driven by ambitions for personal glory; though with Saturn following along behind it is unlikely she will retire from view altogether.

Pic Raph_ph

Venezuela’s Putin-ally president Nicolas Maduro has been threatening to upset the South American applecart by grabbing the oil-rich Essequibo, encompassing two thirds of the landmass of Guyana. It has been disputed territory since the old Spanish-British colonial days but only became heated recently since Guyana unearthed crude oil deposits in 2019. ‘Should current trends persist, Guyana is poised to emerge as one of the foremost per capita oil producers worldwide by 2030. This discovery constitutes the most substantial addition to global oil reserves since the 1970s, bringing a shift in dynamics of the international energy landscape.’

  Not only is Maduro hungry for money, he is also in danger of losing the next election for the first time in years and may reckon an external enemy will mobilise domestic public opinion around him.

  As of yesterday there appears to have been an agreement between Venezuela and Guyana that neither will use force in the dispute, though Maduro has form for reneging on his word. Joe Biden appears eager for a confrontation with Venezuela but in doing so he is potentially setting the stage for another proxy war with Russia.

Nicolas Maduro first took over as president on 19 April 2013 and this last term started 9 January 2019. Both charts look highly unsettled and trapped this year and his initial presidency chart may well grind to a halt in 2024 when the next election is due.

  His own personal chart 23 November 1962 9.03pm Caracas, looks extremely insecure exactly now till mid March 2024 which may well tempt him into taking desperate measures to prop up his position.

 Guyana took independence on 20 May 1966 and looks rattled through this year and the next two with tr Saturn square the Gemini Sun early in 2024 and then opposing the Uranus Pluto. By mid 2024 tr Uranus will collide with the Mars/Neptune midpoint and by 2025 will conjunct the Mars – it could be an explosive and unsettling phase.

 The Venezuela/Guyana relationship chart hints at long drawn out aggravation stretching through into 2026.

Another nonsensical and damaging eruption from the bubbling cauldron of American academia produced the outrageous claim from three US college presidents that wishing genocide on a people might be acceptable depending on context. Sigh. What do these people use for thinking? From unformed, over-heated late teen brains it might be understandable if not supportable but their teachers should know better.

  The First Amendment in the USA on freedom of speech written into the Bill of Rights, ratified on 15 December 1791, was set in stone to differentiate from a restrictive climate on free speech in the UK of the time. There are categories of speech that are given lesser or no protection by the First Amendment include obscenity, fraud, child pornography and speech that incites imminent lawless action.

  The Bill of Rights chart has an excitable, argumentative Sagittarius Sun square Mars in Virgo in a Half Grand Sextile with the revolutionary Uranus opposition Pluto in place linked in to an idealistic, over-optimistic Jupiter Neptune in Libra. 

  The Bill of Rights chart triggers the Mars in Gemini in the USA chart which I have always associated with their hair-trigger defence to any interference with their need to say anything and everything they fancy, waving the First Amendment as a fig leaf. The Jupiter Neptune also squares the USA’s intensely argumentative and not always tolerant-of-differing-views Mercury opposition Pluto.

   Claudine Gay, President of Harvard, who has been allowed to stay in position after her performance at Congress, was born 4 August 1970 and is a showboating Sun Mars in Leo sextile Uranus; with a charming, if manipulative, Venus Pluto in Virgo and a hyper-anxious Saturn in Taurus opposition Neptune.

 Elise Stefanik, the Republican congresswoman who mounted a fierce inquisition of the college presidents, though has been accused of hypocrisy since she is a far-right Trump supporter, was born 2 July 1984. She’s a Sun Venus, Mercury in Cancer. Her tough, can-be-vindictive Mars Saturn in Scorpio would clash with Claudine Gay’s Sun Mars in Leo; and Stefanik’s Mercury square Pluto echoes the USA’s demagogic streak.

  Not sure astrology has much to offer in this debate except to wonder if the pendulum swing towards idiocy might be about to reverse.

Two non-astro thoughts strike me.

  One is the inability of people in general and youngsters in particular (who may be forgiven since I recollect being an idiot at that age) to be incapable of complex thinking. Not all of life is like cheerleading a football match, supporting MY team and wishing defeat on YOURs. You are with me or you are against me. What happened to agree to differ? Or the unpalatable reality that both sides of an argument may be wrong and/or there may be right on both sides. It means tolerating uncertainty.

  Me, me, me. It is MY right. Toddlers go through an irritatingly ego-centric stage where tantrums are thrown if the world does not revolve entirely around their whims and needs. They grow out of it as cold reality sinks in. They are one of many.  There are no inalienable rights in a society such as ‘I can say exactly what I want.’   If you want to live in a society you need to accept compromises on individual freedom in order not to tramp all over the rights of other members of that society. It isn’t rocket science.  

  Threatening genocide is no different from issuing fatwas and is not acceptable in a civilized society.

Excitement amongst sky watchers as Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and best-known stars in the constellation of Orion, nearly disappeared a day ago – for seven seconds – eclipsed by an asteroid. Betelgeuse, famous for its bright red tint and unpredictable behaviour,  sits at 28°45′ Gemini has an orb of 2°40′.

 In astrological lore it gives preferment and wealth with the native being obstinate, combative, rash, energetic, and changeable. It has of Mars-Mercury classification. ‘How that serves the person in question depends on how he uses his strength. Nothing happens by halves with this great star. It can end in final ruin with the ever present danger of losses of one fell-swoop.’

This is a good conjunction for popularity. However, there is the danger of domestic or family problems. These natives must exercise caution not to create their own sorrows.

 Notable Sun Betelgeuse individuals are Boris Johnson and Paul McCartney, Errol Flynn, Salman Rushdie and Prince William.

  Helpful info on other planets conjunct Betelgeuse from https://astrologyking.com/betelgeuse-star/

  It should be said that Procyon, the fixed star, at 25 Cancer also has a reputation for falls from high grace but it doesn’t always work that way since I have known people with it who ambled along without tripping up.

ADD ON FROM VF. ‘Quite a few leaders who have risen and then fallen have their Sun on this star – Colonel Gadaffi, Radovan Karadzic, Aung Sun Suu Kiy and Ayman al-Zawahir (the Egyptian leader of Al-Qaida slain by the US to name but a few. Wallis Simpson too, so she and William, Prince of Wales, perhaps aptly share a synastry! King James I of England is a Sun/Betelgeuse royal too.’

  Also Rudi Guiliani who has his Saturn Midheaven conjunct Betelgeuse – and has certainly crashed from his glory days post 9/11 to a bankrupt tarnished idol.  

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The highly respected and much loved astrologer Erin Sullivan has died.  Known as “the astrologer’s astrologer” she had an internationally-acclaimed career consulting, writing and lecturing. She was an integral member for the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London for over a decade, edited the prestigious “Arkana Contemporary Astrology Series” of books and had a wide ranging career teaching and consulting.

  Her Classical Studies background and training in archetypal analytic psychology and cultural studies made her an activist thinker, and promoter of ecology, improving the power of women in the world, human rights and individual freedom.  Her six books include The Astrology Of Midlife And Aging, the best seller The Astrology of Family Dynamics and the recently reissued Where in the World? on astrocartography.

  She was born 9 November 1947 7.21 am Vancouver, Canada and died at 8.50pm on December 11^th in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 Her chart shows great strength and tenacity with a Scorpio Sun exactly on her Ascendant conjunct Chiron and Mercury in her 12^th which squared onto a powerfully-determined Pluto Mars Saturn conjunction in the communicative, publishing, lecturing 9^th house. Her North Node in Taurus sat in her 7^th opposition her Sun and square her Saturn Mars Pluto.

  A Venus Jupiter conjunction in Sagittarius in her 1^st would lend her a charming and enthusiastic manner, masking some of the undoubted turmoil of her heavy Leo stellium and Sun Chiron conjunction. She also had a soft, intuitive Moon Neptune in Libra in her friendly 11^th house. Her astrological Uranus was in her 8^th house, giving her access to deeper realms of knowledge.

 She had a strongly aspected creative, ‘seeking and searching’ 7^th harmonic; a powerful healer/victim 12H; and a notable leaving-a-legacy -for-history 17H.

  I only met her once at a party I gave when she came with Howard Sasportas and my recollection was she supported him towards the end when he was dying of AIDs. Like her, he had that tumultuous Pluto, Saturn, Mars conjunction in Leo and there was a strong karmic connection between them with his Chiron conjunct her South Node exactly and her Chiron exactly conjunct his South Node. His Moon was conjunct her North Node. See previous post on Howard Sasportas 7 August 2023.

Heather Mills, one time wife of Paul McCartney (briefly), has been complaining loudly about the collapse of her vegan food company which has gone into administration. She is blaming everything from corporate greed to mismanagement to gaslighting influencers supporting the meat and dairy industry.  There has been a fall in the sale of vegan products after an early surge with only 1-2% of the population being vegan and many put off by the price, taste and suspicion of additives in non-meat products. The plant based market will still be substantial but too many firms rushed in creating a bubble which has burst. Rebranding may help stressing sustainable and healthy rather than vegan or vegetarian.

  Heather Mills was born 12 January 1968 in London with a possible 8.04 am birth time which fits with what is known of her life to date. She had a fractured childhood and a track record as a compulsive liar according to wiki – which is worth reading; lost a leg in a traffic accident and continued modelling with a prosthetic limb. Her marriage to McCartney was fractious, produced a daughter and lasted four years.

  This birth time puts an upfront, ambitious Capricorn Sun on her Ascendant trine an 8^th house Pluto Uranus in Virgo and sextile Neptune on her Scorpio Midheaven. Not short of ambition she will be opportunistic with Jupiter opposition a 2^nd house Mars which squared onto Venus in Sagittarius opposition Moon in Gemini in her entertaining 5^th house. Quite a whirlwind.

  Her Uranus Pluto at the moment has moved to conjunct her Neptune and her SA Neptune her Sun so a life-changing crisis. Plus tr Saturn damping her enthusiasm as it is conjunct her 2^nd house Mars and opposition her Jupiter this year into next.

  Her VBites company, founded 20 May 1993, did not kick off on the most auspicious of moments with a Taurus Sun Moon opposition Pluto square Saturn so it was always going to be an uphill struggle though also enduring.  Tr Neptune is in hard aspect to that T square in its Solar Arc positions.

 Another with a relatively similar chart (birth times being accurate) is lingerie-queen Baroness Michelle Mone. She is presently being sued by the UK government for £122m plus costs for “breach of contract and unjust enrichment”. This follows a Guardian investigation which reported that she and her children had secretly received £29 million of profits to an offshore trust from government personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts, which she had lobbied for during the COVID-19 pandemic.  She has issued regrets about not being clearer initially in her evidence but basically denies everything.

  She was born 8 October 1971 4.55pm Glasgow, Scotland and has an 8^th house Pluto as well as a Libra Sun conjunct Uranus and Mercury and Venus all in Libra in the 8^th. She has an assertive and stubborn Mars North Node in Aquarius on her Ascendant; and a Jupiter Neptune conjunction in Sagittarius opposition Saturn Moon in Gemini. A heavily populated strong, secretive, erratic 8^th house of business finances and a flurry of Mutable planets – both fixed and hyperactive.

  Tr Saturn at present heading into the nadir of her 1^st quadrant is not a successful time either for ambitions or for money and that lingers for several years to come.  Along the way of this year and next it will also dent her super-optimism as it squares her Jupiter Neptune opposition Saturn Moon.

  An invasion of the undead, ghosts from a hair-raising past, appears to be upon us. Trump is riding high in the polls and Boris is being mooted for a triumphant return along with a jungle jubilant Nigel Farage.

  Although Boris according to one set of inside murmurs is happy earning gzillions and staying out of the front line for now. Tr Saturn is wending round his Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto T square until March 2024 which will be downbeat and coincides with his Saturn Return – maybe a sliver of maturity will emerge. Following that he has an undermining and not ego-supportive tr Neptune square his Sun Venus in Gemini from April 2024 on and off till March 2025. He has one lucky blip in May 2024 but that coincides with another failed-plans influence – so ups and downs. In general 2024 to 2026 end looks like a discouraging slog.

  His standing with the Tory Party (apart from a few right wingers) is on a downward slide; and ditto with the UK.

 Nigel Farage, 3 April 1964 4.30pm Farnborough, England, has been buoyed up recently by tr Pluto square his Jupiter but that is now gone. Jupiter will move across his midheaven from mid 2024 for a year which is generally successful but that apart he looks stuck, facing setbacks and nothing else positive for three years or so ahead.

 Richard Tice, right-wing Reform Party CEO, 13 September 1964, is another destabilising Uranus Pluto in Virgo (plus Mercury and Sun) opposition Saturn with a Sagittarius Moon. He has all of Boris’s scattered, windmill-in-a-storm tendencies. He also has Boris’s over-hopeful, prone to bad judgement Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune. Saturn will damp his ardour over the next eight months and though he will get a maybe-lift from tr Uranus conjunct his Jupiter in mid 2024 that will tug on his Neptune which could upset his optimistic showboat.

See June 11 2023  Conservative Party.

Javier Milei was sworn in as Argentina’s new president yesterday vowing to lead his country out of decades of “decadence and decline” but said its punishing economic crisis would intensify over the coming months.

Milei – a mercurial former TV celebrity known as El Loco or the Madman – compared his shock election with the start of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Far-right associates including Jair Bolsonaro and Viktor Orbán, were in attendance as well as Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Milei has called Putin a dangerous leader and appears to be positioning Argentina as Ukraine’s biggest Latin American ally.

The swearing in was 11.56am on December 10^th according to a local astrologer. This gives a fiery Sun Mars in Sagittarius in the 10^th so certainly loud and outspoken. But the Sun square an indecisive Neptune is not a progressive aspect for an administration. Pluto in the 11^th sits midway between an 8^th house Scorpio Moon trine Neptune – super ambitious. The Pluto is further emphasised sitting on the focal point of a T square to the Moon’s Node. The 11^th house refers to government institutions and long term hopes. Pluto does represent transformation but can also involve over-control. Venus in an indulgent, superficial opposition to Jupiter will ooze charm but may prove expensive. The Moon opposition Uranus hints at a restive population. The 12^th house Saturn a lack of realism or get-a-grip practicality.

 See previous post for details November 20 2023.

 There was nothing in the previous post to suggest he would swoop in on Marvel wings to accomplish a miraculous transformation.