Suri Cruise celebrated her 18^th birthday yesterday with much media speculation about her reportedly non-existent relationship with her father Tom Cruise. She has said she may not follow her mother Katie Holmes into acting but head instead for fashion.

  She was born on 18 April 2006 3.26am Los Angeles, six months before her parents glitzy wedding in Italy and was five when they split with tales of Katie Holmes’ fear of her being engulfed by Scientology.   

Suri has a 2^nd house late Aries Sun and Mercury conjunct North Node in Aries – so she will be focused on money, though with a tendency initially to be overly dependent on others with her South Node in the 8^th. What is striking is her Moon Pluto in Sagittarius trine Sun and opposition Mars in Cancer in her performing 5^th house. Moon Pluto is a possessive mother though the Mars opposition hints at a great deal of underlying friction. Suri’s Sun is trine Pluto which could indicate a father out-with her control and her Sun square Saturn suggests her emotional self-esteem is damaged by the distance between them.

 Tom Cruise, 3 July 1962, is a Sun Cancer with his Pluto and Uranus falling in Suri’s 7^th which would not make for togetherness. His chilly Saturn in Aquarius is conjunct her 12^th house Chiron so he will exacerbate her sense of grief, of  being an outsider and add to her problems building a secure sense of her own identity.

  Their composite chart has a yod onto a composite Sun, Uranus, Venus, North Node, hinting at divergent paths in life and that is inconjunct a Neptune sextile Pluto. They are bound together in a fated way while wishing to walk their own road without reference to the other.

  Poor soul, she will forever be the daughter of a famous father with whom she apparently has little connection.

  Her relationship with her mother is not easy either. Katie’s Sagittarius Sun is conjunct Suri’s Pluto Moon with Katie’s Pluto falling in Suri’s 8^th – inevitable in one way but there is way too much control and possessiveness wrapped up in their bond.

  Their relationship chart has an excitable and chaotic composite Uranus Neptune Venus conjunction and a challenging composite Sun opposition Saturn square Pluto. Chained together by circumstances leaving an underlying residue of resentment dampening good feelings.

  If the wedding chart is accurate at 6pm 18 November 2006, Bracciano, Italy, then it is ironic it had a 5^th Scorpio Moon in the 5^th house of children.

  Children of celebrities have their own path of thorns to walk – not easy.

Peter Murrell, husband of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the Scottish National Party. He was previously arrested as a suspect on 5 April 2023 before being released without charge. This time round he was questioned for nine hours, charged and then released.

Police Scotland has pointed out that “The matter is active for the purposes of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the public are therefore advised to exercise caution if discussing it on social media.”

Scotland is a good deal fussier about contempt of court – prejudicing the outcome of any possible future trial – so anything that follows will be about the astrology and not a comment about guilt or innocence.

  Murrell, born 8 December 1964, Edinburgh, had been CEO of the Scottish National Party since 2001 and praised by his wife as a sure winner. He has a Sagittarius Sun closely square Pluto, Uranus, Mars in Virgo so has a high-wire and volatile temperament despite his bank-manager appearance. He also has a Boris Johnson-type Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune (and conjunct Venus) in Scorpio – able to turn on the charm, over-hopeful, with according to Ebertin a tendency to get into scrapes and scandals because of poor judgement.  An unaspected Saturn hints at lack of organization, self-discipline and caution.

  He is an odd mix with Cancerian Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16 pm Irvine, Scotland,  though both share an Aquarius Moon – and his overdose of confidence would have lifted some of her gloomier, prone-to-worry traits. His Jupiter opposition Venus Neptune sits across her Saturn opposition Neptune. But she does have a natal 7^th house Saturn and his Saturn falls in her 4^th – so it was always going to be a relationship involving work to a large extent.

  On his chart tr Saturn is opposing his Mars, Uranus, Pluto in Virgo and squaring his Sagittarius Sun now and through this month, repeating in September and January 2025 for setbacks, discouragement and a sharp reality check. His Uranus, Pluto Mars square Sun is also moving by Solar Arc to collide with his natal Jupiter opposition Venus Neptune for a destiny-changing three years ahead.

 Nicola Sturgeon always looked to be completely trapped and scared through 2023 on and off till late 2024 with tr Pluto opposition her Mars at zero degrees Leo. Plus tr Pluto square her Sun/Moon midpoint throughout 2024/25 putting considerable strain on her marriage. Her travails won’t ease up for a few years since tr Pluto will move on to square her Moon/Mars midpoint and then conjunct her Moon till the end of 2028 – a long haul of emotional upset. Tr Uranus will also add worries on top as it squares her Saturn/Neptune midpoint and then opposes her Neptune in 2025.

  Her relationship chart with him which has an affectionate composite Sun Venus opposition a too-much-work Saturn – also has a publicity-attracting Mars square Neptune, useful in their heyday but less so in these circumstances. It is getting a fair rattling up, bringing insecurity from tr Uranus opposition the Neptune and square Mars this May and again over late December to mid March 2025.

  One intriguing astro-thought Peter Murrell’s Mars went retrograde by progression in May 2016 just before the Brexit Referendum – so something started to sap his vitality and forward gear from that point onwards for many years to come.

Formidable and forthright, a much loved TV director who bullied, barracked and swore with a sergeant major’s repertoire of colourful profanities, industry legend Diana Edwards Jones, has died. As ITN’s senior director she controlled immensely complex operations on special events like election specials from the production gallery –  a task compared to “playing three-dimensional chess at Wimbledon pace over a marathon course”. According to a 1987 profile in the newsletter for former ITN staff, she was “the bully, the one they learnt from, the one they laughed with and were outraged by. But it was Di who got them through whatever had to be done.”

  Born 13 December 1932 in Swansea, Wales, no birth time, she started as a studio assistant in 1955 and rose rapidly at a time women were a rarity in senior positions. She became mistress of the control room on News at 10 with Alistair Burnet, Reginald Bosanquet and Trevor MacDonald and puppet-master behind special events.

  Having come across her professionally in her heyday, it is such a delight to see that her chart reflects perfectly her exuberantly unselfconscious personality. She had an outspoken Sagittarius Sun opposition a communicative, restless Gemini Moon squaring onto an expansive, enthusiastic Jupiter in Virgo. Her Mercury in equally candid Sagittarius was in a short-fused square to Mars in perfectionist Virgo tempered by a sensible sextile to Saturn. Her Mars was in a showbusiness conjunction to Neptune. Her charmingly persuasive Venus in Scorpio trine Pluto would allow her to get away with a good deal.

  Her mould-breaking Uranus in Aries was not only in a disruptive square to Pluto it was on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Venus sextile Jupiter – making her wilful, contrary, independent-spirited and also a trailblazer. Her life could have been a chaotic mess but she found the ideal context for her need for constant excitement, change and complexity.  There is no birth time but I would hazard a guess at a 10^th house controlling Pluto which would put her communicative Sagittarius Sun in the journalistic 3^rd house, her Moon in the 9^th of foreign affairs and her individualistic Uranus in the 7^th. 

Old memories. I was working for STV in those days which being Scottish and all too aware of the risk of alcohol there was an absolute veto on anyone drinking before going on air – presenters or technical staff.  Much to our surprise on going down to London to watch the big boys at work, we were startled to see them tucking into the brandy at lunchtime with a long working day ahead. Not a workplace culture that helped Reginald Bosanquet who would finish News at Ten with his wig askew slurring his way through the football results.

  Her strength was in an almost superhuman ability to hold together a vastly complex technical operation and deliver it to TV screens with effortless efficiency. By the 1979 general election I had moved to the BBC and had seen the behind-the-scenes preparation for a mammoth set-up with outside broadcast units galore, which looked guaranteed to beat ITN hands down. In the event Di Edwards Jones running a tighter organisation with her usual exemplary control delivered, while the BBC having over-convoluted their set-up collapsed to much ignominy.

  It feels like the good old days of the wild west and was fun though almost always hysterical. Astonishingly she made it work.

Denmark’s 17th Century stock exchange building in the centre of Copenhagen has been destroyed by fire. Culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said 400 years of Danish cultural heritage had gone up in flames. The building was being renovated, as was Notre Dame before its fire.

  The Denmark chart, 5 June 1849 12.15pm Copenhagen, has the accident prone tr Saturn Mars conjunction square the 9^th house Gemini Sun for a considerable setback; and the Solar Arc Sun within less than a degree of being in an undermining square to the Neptune.

  The two recent eclipses were both stressed in relation to Copenhagen with the late March Lunar Eclipse having Pluto exactly on the Midheaven for Copenhagen; and the Solar Eclipse having Pluto on the IC exactly.

  It certainly registers as a transformational moment – and perhaps hints at a history-changing moment for Denmark in other ways.

ADD ON:  The fire was reported at 7.30am on April 16^th which puts Pluto near the Midheaven.  The Uranus at 21 degrees Taurus echoes the German Invasion of Denmark chart on 9 April 1940 when Uranus was previously at 20 Taurus. Another catastrophic Copenhagen fire of 20 October 1728 JC which destroyed 30% of the city had Uranus at 21 Scorpio – so it is a sensitive degree area for Denmark.

  There is a difficulty in establishing earlier charts for Denmark since its history was so entangled with the other Scandanavian countries. Though 804 AD and 936 AD seemed to be historically important and they had Uranus in Scorpio and in Taurus respectively.

  Where this key degree resonates with the modern Denmark chart of 1849 is in its Chiron at 22 Scorpio. So at the moment tr Uranus opposing its Chiron does suggest a deep wound – as did the German Invasion of 1940.

Dubai and the United Arab Emirates yesterday experienced its largest rainfall event since records began 75 years ago. 254.8mm (9.7in) fell over less than 24 hours, almost double the expected annual rainfall with the monthly average for April being around 8mm. There have been rumours that the authorities had been cloud-seeding – a technique which sees aircraft fire salt flares into clouds to speed up condensation and induce rainfall but whether this could have resulted in such a catastrophic downpour is unclear – and seems unlikely.

 The UAE chart, 2 December 1971, has tr Saturn conjunct its Mars in Pisces exactly; with a heavy-duty tr Pluto trine the Saturn and conjunct the Solar Arc Sun bringing considerable challenges.

 The Dubai 9 June 1833 12 am chart, has the panicky, undermining Solar Arc Neptune conjunct the Mars exactly now. Tr Uranus moving to square the Uranus within days and tr Saturn also about to square the Gemini Sun. If the 12 am time is sound the Solar Arc Uranus is also opposition the Moon. Tr Pluto is conjunct the Neptune throughout 2023/24 for a disorienting and nerve-stretching phase.

  The 8 April Solar Eclipse set for Dubai has the accident-prone Mars Saturn conjunction on the IC with Neptune in the 4^th which seems apt.

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Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer, known as the ‘Leopard King’ for his animal prints on leather and textiles, has died aged 83. A flamboyant showman he designed for Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez and revamped the Playboy bunny outfit in 2005, updating the abbreviated tuxedo with bondage-style cuffs and other S&M overtones. More streetwalker than catwalker as the NY Times remarked.

  He claimed to be the only straight man in fashion, and said that he adored women because “they are much more intelligent than men. I am not gay… I detest men, dressed or naked, but women…” He insisted, however, that women should never wear all black or swear, because “a woman’s mouth should always be clean.”

He was born 15 November 1940 in Florence, Italy, no birth time, with his father shot dead during a Nazi massacre in 1940, a reprisal for attacks by the partisans. His maternal grandfather was Giuseppe Rossi, an Impressionist painter whose artistic flair Roberto inherited through his seamstress mother. “The sensibilities you get from your mother are like the Ten Commandments. They are set in stone and difficult to break,” he explained.

 He had an overwhelmingly Fixed chart with a Scorpio Sun opposition Uranus Moon in Taurus with another batch of Fixed planets in a wide T square with Jupiter Saturn in Taurus opposition Mercury and square Pluto. 1940 did produce heavyweight personalities as well as creative ones with Uranus trine Neptune. But what intrigues me having skipped through other women’s fashion designer charts are the ‘afflicted’ Moons which are pretty constant.

 Cavalli’s Moon is close to his Uranus, opposition his Sun and inconjunct his Mars and trine Neptune.

  Paco Robanne, 18 Feb 1934 11.45am Bilbao, Spain,  had his Moon close to Uranus as well, opposition Jupiter square Pluto. With another surprisingly frequent fashion designer theme of Aquarius – his Sun, Saturn and North Node as well as Venus were in Aquarius which is not generally thought of as creative or pro-feminine, though can be an influencer and a lover of bright colours.

Vivienne Westwood, 8 April 1941 1am Glossop, Eng, had her Moon square Uranus; with a powerhouse Mars in Aquarius opposition Pluto square Saturn Jupiter in Taurus.

Mary Quant,  11 Feb 1930,  another Sun Venus in Aquarius with a Cancer Moon (or a Leo Moon opposition Mars in Aquarius) – with two yods onto Mars and Jupiter respectively as focal points.

Both Yves St Laurent and Christian Dior had Moon oppositions – to Mars Pluto for the first and opposition the Sun for the second. Dior had his Moon opposition Sun in Aquarius square Mars

 Coco Chanel had her Pisces on the other side of the zodiac from her Uranus in Virgo though too wide to be an opposition. Pierre Cardin had his Libra Moon square his Sun Pluto in Cancer and his Moon was sextile Venus Neptune in Leo inconjunct Uranus.

 Moon Uranus or Moon Mars – and plenty of Aquarius.  Not always what you expect. Fewer inconjuncts than garden designers.

Feargal Sharkey, the Irish former lead singer with the Undertones, has become a notable environmental campaigner in recent years targeting the water companies for their frequent sewage spills which contaminate waterways, while paying out billions in dividends.

 He was born 13 August 1958, no time. Londonderry, and is an attention-grabbing Sun and reforming Uranus in Leo with his Uranus in a volatile and uncompromising square to Mars in determined Taurus. His Sun and Uranus are sextile Saturn in knowledgeable Sagittarius sextile Jupiter conjunct North Node in Libra.  

 His Jupiter North Node square Venus (probably) Moon in Cancer will be what puts his heart in the right place. With his Mars in Taurus plus Uranus giving him the impetus to stir up trouble where needed.

  In 2025 his Solar Arc Sun will conjunct his Jupiter for a triumph and surge of confidence. He’ll be popular.

  Looking up the Great Stink of 1858 in London which was what precipitated a new sewage system it is intriguing to note which I am sure Jane has pointed out that it happened around a Jupiter Uranus conjunction in Taurus – so who knows – there may be a shift in the right direction.

 See previous post 29 June 2023. UK sewerage – the money men doing the dirty ++ Thames Water

Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born writer who has been under threat of assassination since the Iranian fatwa was issued against him in 1989 after his Satanic Verses novel was published and was nearly despatched in 2022 has written a book about his latest near brush with death – Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. He was stabbed 18 times at a literary conference by a Hezbollah-supporting Lebanese American who had only read two pages of his book but had been radicalized.   

  Rushdie whose Midnight’s Children won the Booker writes: “Art challenges orthodoxy. To reject or vilify art because it does that is to fail to understand its nature. Art sets the artist’s passionate personal vision against the received ideas of the time… Without art, our ability to think, to see freshly, and to renew our world would wither and die.”

  He was born 19 June 1947 at 2.30am Mumbai, India into a Kashmiri Muslim family and has a New Moon in Gemini conjunct an outspoken Uranus; with Mars in his 1^st house in ultra-determined Taurus in a risk-taking and can-be-opportunistic opposition Jupiter in Scorpio in his 7^th. He also has an unyielding Saturn Pluto in Leo in his 4^th house with his Pluto in a pushily-confident square to Jupiter. He is not short on self-belief or determination.

  When the fatwa was announced against him around the time of the triple conjunction in Capricorn on 14 January 1989 his Solar Arc New Moon was exactly conjunct his 4^th house Saturn, restricting his life thereafter as heavy security became necessary. His Solar Arc Pluto in the year that followed square his Uranus as his life turned upside down and continued  in the years thereafter to square his New Moon; followed by SA Saturn square his Uranus and New Moon over the next decade. Tr Pluto was also moving to conjunct his SA Neptune and Jupiter as well in a couple of years to oppose his Mars for a trapped, infuriated two years.

  In 2022 his Mars was again under assault from tr Saturn square his Mars with tr Uranus in Taurus adding its layer of tension.

  By all accounts a talented writer though not always well remarked for his personality, he certainly has endurance and courage to survive and keep a high profile through 35 years of threats.

 His creative 5^th harmonic is strong; as is his global-name 22H. His victim/creative 12H and stubborn though can-be-self-defeating 16H is also marked.

  The expected retaliation from Iran for the Damascus strike two weeks back came overnight as slow-moving drones were fired on Saturday evening arriving over Israel at 1.42 am on Sunday morning 99% were deflected. The US and UK helped defend Israel but according to reports, Joe Biden has said he will not participate in any Israeli counter-attacks being threatened by Netanyahu which would lead to a catastrophic regional war. 

  There is not much to add to the previous post of April 2, reprinted below, charts available there. Except to say Netanyahu has never been one to listen to advice. The peak danger period still looks like June/July/August but there are ominous tensions picking up from the 24^th of this month through to May 11. It shows up as extremely high risk for Netanyahu as it catches his Mars/Pluto midpoint at 22 Leo. It also will cause a major bust up with Benny Gantz, one of his war cabinet who has generally more sense as tr Uranus starts to square their relationship chart composite Sun Pluto conjunction. Netanyahu’s government chart, 29 December 2022 is also exploding with disagreements then as tr Uranus squares the Saturn – and again more jeopardy come June onwards.

 Joe Biden’s personal chart will be rattled during this late month early May period as well as more so across July.

 One thought to keep in mind about eclipses is sometimes they trigger events on the following New Moon, in this case on May 8^th – and sometimes also much further ahead.

Previous post April 2:  In Israel demonstrators are out on the streets demonstrating their anger against Netanyahu and the lack of a deal to free the remaining Hamas hostages. He has just undergone surgery for a hernia. And Israel’s strike against Iran’s consulate in Damascus on Monday, killing Tehran’s top generals in the country, threatens to escalate into a regional war. This was always the fear since the war in Gaza erupted, putting Israel in a conflict with Iranian allied militias.

  Iran will now be forced to respond but may hesitate to embark on a direct confrontation.

Several related charts are on high alert with danger-zone, red-flags waving.  Netanyahu has a catastrophic tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint from late this month to mid May. A nerve-stretched and highly-strung, prone-to-misjudgments June with Neptune Uranus midpoint aspects will be the fore runner to an explosive tr Uranus square his Mars picking up through July and running on and off into mid 2025. His Libra Moon is catching the upcoming April Aries Solar Eclipse so he will be standing on shaky ground politically and finding his image further dented. He will be undermined and failing mid October to February 2025 with tr Neptune opposition his Sun/Mars and Mercury/Saturn midpoints.

 Israel, of course, has its 8^th house Taurus Sun at 23 degrees catching the disruptive tr Uranus conjunction for the second time this May, repeating New Year to mid March 2025 plus the possibility of more violence in 2025 from tr Uranus square the Mars. This October’s Libra Solar Eclipse will conjunct the 12^th house Neptune which does not give much hope for realistic decisions.

 The Israel/Iran 1906 relationship chart points to July/August as flash points; as does the Israel/Iran Islamic Republic 1979 relationship chart. The Iran 22 December 1501 chart which worked well against the 2017 earthquake, is also showing high stress June onwards with tr Uranus conjunct the Mars and square the Mars/Pluto midpoint into 2025. The Iran 1 April 1979 chart is catching this Aries Solar Eclipse opposition its Pluto and the September Lunar Eclipse conjunct its Mars Mercury.

  All of which will impact on Joe Biden who looks edgy in the extreme on more or less the same timeline. Tr Uranus opposes his Sun/Mars midpoint exactly now. Then hits his Mars/Uranus midpoint late April to mid May; and his disaster-zone Mars/Saturn by July and beyond -all of which have military as well as other associations. Tr Uranus will also oppose his Scorpio Sun picking up in July this year.

ADD ON:  Will USA be dragged into the fight? There is a worrisome Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the US Mars exact this July which does have military associations – or can be a setback of a different order. On the US Sibley 5.10pm chart, the Moon at 27 Aquarius catches a conjunction from the SA Mars in August as well as tr Uranus in square which will bring a shock/collision of sorts.

  The Iran Islamic Republic April 1979 chart in relation both to Biden and the USA shows July/August as flare-up points. The Iran 1906 and 150 charts in relation to Biden and the USA have a marginally different timeline but also show significant unrest this year.

ADD ON: The Iranian prime minister Ebraham Raisi’s Term chart, 5 August 2021 received a boost over the Israel attack but from the final few days of this month and throughout May there looks to be mounting jeopardy and aggravation, repeating late December to mid March 2025. Ayatollah Khameini’s Leadership chart, 6 August 1989, similarly looks rattled from the 5th of this month into May – with an undermining, indecisive SA Neptune opposition the Sun and a discouraging tr Neptune opposition the Sun/Pluto midpoint trhuogh April and again late in the ear into 2025.