The Astrology Blog 5 June 2023
All times in BST
“I’m not sure I’m adult yet.”
Johnny Depp – 9 June 1963
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Johnny_Depp
“Age, what is it? It’s not a figure that has ever meant anything to me.”
Steffi Graf – 14 June 1969
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Steffi_Graf
The Astrology Blog is a weekly teaching blog, including the astrology for the week ahead and analysis of how astrology is showing in the world around us, in world events or in the lives of those in the public eye.
The content of the blog focuses on astrological interpretation and prediction, in terms of the kind of things to expect when particular planets or patterns are at work. It also includes commentary on the psychotherapeutic benefits of using astrology as a frame of reference, for the individual and the collective.
CHECKING CHARTS
If you want to see the visual of the wheel with the sign and degree of the planets in your own or any other natal chart, to check against the signs and degrees important this week as outlined in the blog, here’s the link to Astrotheme.
Enter your data into the boxes provided, and you’ll also find an invaluable databank of thousands of celebrities. You can also store up to 200 charts of your own:
https://www.astrotheme.com/horoscope_chart_sign_ascendant.php
THE GEMINI TIME OF YEAR
Regardless of other features in the picture the backdrop for the moment is the Sun in Gemini. As noted in the bigger write up on this sign a couple of weeks ago Gemini’s archetype is the “puer eternus”, the eternal youth.
In physical terms individuals born under this sign tend to look younger than their years, and often have a noticeably youthful spirit. Hence choosing the quotes this week from two Geminis who have their birthdays coming up, reminding us all that age is just a number and to think young.
Seen through the eyes of a child the world can always be something to explore and enjoy, full of possibilities with no cynicism, like The Fool who as card 0 is the beginning of life’s journey as symbolized by the Major Arcana.
I came across another quote from Johnny Depp which made me smile – The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants. He might have a point.
PHILLIP SCHOFIELD
If you’re not from the UK you might not be familiar with this name but Phillip Schofield is a top TV celebrity and presenter, particularly known for his partnership with Holly Willoughby on This Morning, which airs Monday to Friday.
Phillip Schofield came out and separated from his wife back in 2020 but has now resigned after the disclosure of an affair with a male colleague who was 30 years younger. It’s been blown out of all proportion and has all the hallmarks of a witch hunt.
In a BBC interview, exhausted and distressed, he spoke of his career being finished and said I see nothing ahead of me but blackness, and sadness, and regret, and remorse, and guilt. I did something very wrong and then I lied about it consistently.
He took full responsibility for the affair, saying that it was consensual, but his fault, but also let it be known that homophobia was behind the backlash he received:
I fully appreciate there is a massive age gap, but that happens in life. I think there is an enormous amount of homophobia that it happens to be male, but if it was male-female then it wouldn’t be such a scandal.
Who can argue with that? There are so many famous heterosexual couples with a huge age gap. To kick him while he’s down Holly Willoughby is now back on air after a two week holiday and started the show with what’s been called a brutal put down –
She said that the This Morning team ‘gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth’. She also paid tribute to his young lover, who has left ITV and was last seen working in a pub, saying she was ‘worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on’.
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Phillip_Schofield
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Holly_Willoughby
| Phillip | Holly | |
| Moon 17 Aquarius | Conjunct | Sun 21 Aquarius |
| Jupiter 1 Pisces | Conjunct | Mars 2 Pisces |
| Mercury 4 Pisces | ||
| Sun 10 Aries | Opposite | Saturn 9 Libra |
| Jupiter 10 Libra |
Well it seems that she’s worried about the wellbeing of everyone except Phillip. She’s already getting criticism for being so condescending and frankly she deserves it. If I were a top celebrity who’d made the mistake of a scandalous affair I’m sure I would’ve done everything possible to keep it covered up, knowing it was an unexploded bomb. He wouldn’t be the first to do that and he definitely won’t be the last.
But there is zero understanding of this, of how a lie can grow far beyond what was intended and grow arms and legs. And maybe he didn’t confide in her because he knew what her reaction would be? The most difficult characteristic of Aquarius can be intransigence. Unconditional love means just that, that we love without conditions. But she obviously doesn’t feel any loyalty towards him whatsoever.
In terms of their synastry we can see above that they have the “cosmic marriage” that is formed when one person’s Sun is conjunct the other person’s Moon to within 5 degrees. Here is where we locate their famous friendship and onscreen chemistry that has made the show a hit for so many years.
Phillip Schofield has a Sagittarius Ascendant and therefore has Jupiter as his chart ruler, at 1.19 Pisces. He also has Chiron opposite Pluto at 8 Pisces – Virgo. No time of birth for Holly Willoughby but this only means that we can’t know her Ascendant (rising sign), so we don’t then know the exact position of her planets. But we can see that there is more synastry here with Holly’s Mercury and Mars being in early Pisces.
And there’s the trouble. Mercury – Mars is also the cutting and wounding words. She also has her Jupiter – Saturn conjunction opposite his Sun. The Jupiter is lovely synastry, but the Saturn is the judgement and the blocking. Saturn is the suicidal thoughts, the reason why his daughters haven’t let him out of their sight and the whole scandal has unfolded under Saturn transits for both of them, and has a long way to go, but it’s irreparable –
- 7 March – Saturn enters Pisces
- 17 June – Saturn turns retrograde at 7 Pisces
- 4 November – Saturn turns direct at 00.30 Pisces
ELIZABETH HOLMES
Last week Elizabeth Holmes finally started her 11 year sentence and she was photographed walking into the prison on 30 May. If she’s off your news radar this is the former darling of Silicon Valley, the billionaire biotechnology entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud last year. Investors poured millions into her blood testing device but it didn’t do what it was supposed to do, and amongst her crimes she fatally falsified the reports to say that it did. Beyond crazy.
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Elizabeth_Holmes
No time of birth for Elizabeth Holmes but again it’s a Saturn transit that captures the story. A midday time of birth (called a Noon chart, as above) gives her Moon as nearly 3 Pisces. Given that the Moon is the fastest moving body, one degree every 2 hours, then this means that if she were born before 6am her Moon would be in the late degrees of Aquarius.
She has her Sun at 14 Aquarius. Saturn was at this degree in January 2022, the month that she was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors. Her prison sentence was delayed for various reasons, the most recent being failed appeals (Saturn) and then the need to arrange her child care (Moon).
She finally had to leave her home and her children (the Moon rules both) at the end of last month which to me confirms that her Moon will be around 5 – 6 Pisces. But to do a full rectification of a chart you would need to test it against more than one significant life event.
ANDREW TATE
So the big Venus – Pluto aspect is in the skies, becoming exact today, and read on for more info on this combination. For starters though these two planets often show in the charts of men whose own DNA/early damage – whatever the reason – marks them out as the abused turned abuser, or inevitable abusers.
No time of birth for Ike Turner but we can see immediately from a Noon Chart that he had three slow moving planets, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto in a Cardinal T-Square. In addition he had a Mercury – Venus conjunction in Scorpio, the sign that belongs to Pluto and trine Pluto.
Influencer Andrew Tate is born on a Venus – Pluto conjunction in Scorpio, only 3 degrees apart. His other feminine planet the Moon is also “afflicted” being in Sagittarius, same sign as his Sun which is conjunct Saturn. The Moon will also be conjunct Saturn regardless of what time he’s born, could be 6 degrees earlier or later, but my guess is that the Moon will be very close to Saturn.
Influencer has become a new word in our social media dominated world. At first it was associated with harmless things, like fashion choices, but now it’s far more serious. Andrew Tate is a self-proclaimed misogynist and sexist and in August 2022 he was banned by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for violating their policies. He’d already been banned from Twitter in 2017 for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. He also says that women belong in the home and belong to men.
Last November his Twitter account was reinstated after Elon Musk took over the company, which tells me everything I need to know about Elon Musk too. Tate currently has a following there of more than 6.7 million. There’s been an international outcry, including alarmed school teachers, about his misogynistic ideas taking root in the minds of young people across the world.
Andrew Tate was back in the news last week with a major BBC interview. He drips with contempt. He ridicules the interviewer for silly questions and tells her to do her research. If you can bear to watch it here’s the link –
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/02/europe/andrew-tate-bbc-interview-intl/index.html
He and his brother have been under house arrest in Romania and will be in court before the end of the month on a list of charges, including human trafficking and holding women against their will.
Here’s another example of a chart with a planet in the early degrees of Pisces, again it’s Mars at 4 degrees. Saturn is on the case. He’s going to prison.
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK?
Venus arrives in Leo, something that happens once a year, but this one is being marked out as a Big Event, firstly because of the collision course with Pluto and secondly because it’s the beginning of a four month stay, which means of course that a retrograde phase on its way.
Mercury is very much in the news too, being back up to full speed since coming “out of shadow” in the middle of last week. The links to the outer planets of Neptune and Pluto are the last events of a two month trek through Taurus, the latter happening just a few hours after Pluto has returned to Capricorn and just three minutes before finally changing sign –
Monday 5 June
- Venus ingress Leo 14.48
- Venus 0 Leo opposite Pluto 0 Aquarius 17.02
Friday 9 June
- Mercury 27 Taurus sextile Neptune 27 Pisces 22.16
Sunday 11 June
- Pluto retrogrades back into Capricorn 07.16
- Mercury 29.58 Taurus trine Pluto 29.58 Capricorn 11.25
- Mercury ingress Gemini 11.28
- Venus 5 Leo square Jupiter 5 Taurus 16.41
VENUS – PLUTO
Firstly here’s the timeline on Venus’ journey through Leo that will take four months instead of the usual one –
- 5 June – enters Leo
- 23 July – gets nearly to the end of Leo but then turns retrograde 28.35 Leo, starting the backwards loop of 16 degrees
- 4 Sept – turns direct again at 12.13 Leo
- 7 Oct – reaches 28.35 Leo for the second time, the exact position at which she turned retrograde, known as “coming out of shadow”
- 9 Oct – enters the next sign of Virgo
Venus is retrograde far less frequently than Mercury (who is 3 times a year for 3 weeks at a time, you can set your watch by him) making her backwards loop approximately once every 19 months. So the last time Venus was retrograde was December 2021, in Capricorn.
On this occasion Venus immediately opposes Pluto who’s currently retrograde and coming the other way, not a great start to the journey. Interestingly, during that last four months stay in one sign, Venus in Capricorn made the conjunction with Pluto three times, giving us a wealth of information about this very tough combination.
Venus is known as the love and money planet but most importantly she’s feminine and rules women. Pluto as god of the underworld can be demonic, and can signify abuse, control and power issues, illustrated in mythology with the rape of Persephone.
Back in December 2021 we were still in the world of the pandemic and lockdowns, that put women in abusive relationships at further risk.
- Pope Francis made several comments about domestic abuse but in December 2021 he went further, condemning domestic violence against women as “almost satanic”. Shame he didn’t take out the word “almost”
Capricorn is the sign of authority and the men in grey suits. In the news the women making the headlines were –
- Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention – yet again. Another 7 years have since been added to her sentence and she’s still under house arrest
- Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial – for her own part in the sex crimes but also getting it in the neck for Jeffrey Epstein
- Nazanin Ratcliffe’s ongoing detention as an innocent pawn in a political power battle (she was finally released 16 March 2022)
- The Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, reported as saying that her post about sexual assault had been widely misunderstood. It was screamingly obvious that she was being controlled by the authorities as her original post included, “Why did you seek me out, take me to your home, and force me to have sex with you?” Not a lot to misunderstand about that
This time Venus’ extended journey is in Leo, a completely different combination, so this is more likely to show in connection to women who are centre stage figures in their own right, such as actors, other celebrities or royals, Leo being the sign of monarchy. It doesn’t have to be just women either.
The retrograde phase is still 7 weeks off but the themes will start to show before that point. It’s always interesting to see what happens ON THE DAY of an ingress and Prince Harry is in the news this morning –
Prince Harry is one of four people claiming Mirror Group newspapers hacked their voicemails. It is one of several cases the Duke of Sussex is currently involved in with British tabloids. He is the first royal of modern times to give evidence and be cross-examined in a British court.
Worth noting that of course he’s not just speaking for himself but even more so for his wife, whose Sun is at 12 Leo, the exact degree at which Venus will eventually turn direct. This indicates success for her husband, fighting on behalf of her and their children.
For now it’s worth noting that this Venus – Pluto opposition is a one off, Venus won’t retrograde back far enough to repeat the aspect. That’s a relief. This opposition with Pluto in Aquarius, the sign of the collective, is chilling stuff for the destruction (Pluto links to annihilation) of innocent lives (Venus) in war and tragic accidents (the train crash in India).
At a more personal level the Venus – Pluto combination can indicate extremely sensitive or emotional issues that are all consuming. Themes of invisibility, absence, loss and total change will loom large for many. What will I have to give up in order to make this change? What am I willing to write off? Am I prepared to go back to nothing and start again? Can I rise phoenix like from the ashes?
If you study the charts of those with planets in Scorpio or a powerfully placed Pluto you will find stories of starting over, often from scratch and sometimes more than once. A very famous example was covered in last week’s blog, Tina Turner’s Grand Trine – her Sun, Jupiter and Pluto all being trine (120 degrees) each other, creating the shape of an equilateral triangle.
Love affairs – Venus/Pluto is textbook for triangles and all the feelings these involve – such as the secrecy, intensity of feelings, including jealousy and the desire for revenge. This kind of stuff can also be present in working relationships so tread carefully with anyone who fits this description and choose your battles wisely. Any kind of control freak behaviour is a massive red flag.
Bottom line if you’re trapped into living in a way that suits others but which isn’t that great for you is to think about perception of choice. Definitely the worst experiences in my own life were about that kind of powerlessness, genuinely believing that I had no choice, that there was nothing I could do.
On one occasion that was true, but on another that wonderful thing called hindsight showed me that there were in fact choices I could have made. Visualise clearly where you want to find yourself by the beginning of September when Venus turns direct again.
VENUS – JUPITER
Venus’ second date on the new journey is with Jupiter. Yes it’s a square, a supposedly stressful aspect, but these two together are the Lesser and Greater Benefics – they benefit us – so the worst of this picture is usually things like excess. It’s the stuff of things like letting your hair down, too much partying, breaking a diet or bingeing, over spending or generally overdoing things but mostly for fun reasons. At a general “let’s live” level there’s nothing sinister in this combination.
In response to all the heavy Plutonic issues it’s worth noting that Jupiter also rules freedom and liberation, sometimes in the shape of a lucky break or 11th hour luck, so look for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Jupiter also rules the law. The other big story in this morning’s news is Kathleen Folbigg, once branded “Australia’s worst female serial killer”, who has just been pardoned and released (Jupiter) from prison after spending 20 years locked away (Pluto) for crimes that new evidence shows she almost certainly didn’t commit. Science now shows that her four infant children carried severe genetic conditions. In terms of Venus – Jupiter being huge amounts of money her compensation is likely to be a staggeringly high sum.
The Venus – Jupiter themes are not one offs like the Venus – Pluto. This is because Jupiter is so much faster moving (12 year cycle) than snail’s pace Pluto (248 year cycle) and will also start a retrograde loop on 4 September. So Venus and Jupiter stay as close travelling companions throughout the summer and the square repeats three times –
- 11 June – Venus 5 Leo square Jupiter 5 Taurus
- 22 August – Venus 15 Leo square Jupiter 15 Taurus
- 17 September – Venus 15 Leo square Jupiter 15 Taurus
These are likely to be significant dates for Kathleen Folbigg’s litigation and rehabilitation and this will be a significant timeline for you too if you have planets at or very close to 5 and 15 of Leo or Taurus, or their opposite signs of Aquarius and Scorpio.
The importance of these degrees is something that I’ve referenced several times in recent weeks as they just keep on cropping up and will continue to do so between now and the end of the year.
Jupiter also rules higher education, long distance travel and all things overseas so it’s actually a very relevant aspect for bringing a group of women (Venus) together this week for the Tarot and Astrology course. They all fly in on Wednesday, and the course repeats 13 September so the third Venus – Jupiter will coincide with that week too. No I didn’t plan it, it’s just worked out that way!
MERCURY
I don’t know if this is you as well but I personally feel as if I’ve been living under a retrograde Mercury since he entered Taurus two months ago. The aspect yesterday was the conjunction with Uranus at 20 Taurus (conjunct my Mars) and I often say look out for last minute invites when Uranus is in the picture.
Sure enough I got the “sorry it’s last minute but come and join the group for lunch for my birthday today” from a good friend, who’d actually done his main birthday celebration on Friday night that I didn’t make.
It was a 2pm start, I had a mountain of work to get through, including printing out more course prep and writing this blog, but it was achievable. Gorgeous weather so quickly popped outside to the storeroom to put the washing machine on, came back inside … the power had gone off. Uranus rules electricity as well as the unexpected rug pulling stuff! And not only was it a Sunday but it’s a bank holiday Monday here as well. Of course.
This messed up my whole day but at least I eventually remembered that, after the last electrical fiasco with the oven, that the electrician had shown me the switch in the fuse box to turn that off. Only when I remembered about isolating the oven did I manage to get the mains switch to work.
But no oven or hob until the electrician can come and the power outage had upset my printer – who flatly refused to print and only gave me the message “a different product is selected”. I wasted a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure this out and ended up in tears of frustration and being nearly an hour late for the birthday lunch. And I’m glad I went to it as it made me stop stressing. When I got home again I then managed to sort the printer problem, which I won’t bore you with, but given that I’m generally a techno dunce I was very pleased with myself!
So all the final Mercury in Taurus activity happens at the end of this week. The Friday evening one with Neptune is a harmonious aspect, lovely for things like food (Taurus) and drink (Pisces), music, easy connections, being by the sea! My group will be having dinner on the beach. With Mercury being communication this combo also indicates sensitive subjects, look out for confidences or the heart to heart.
The finale with Pluto is intriguing. Pluto has been “stuck” at 0 degrees of Aquarius since the end of March, turned retrograde at 00.21 Aquarius at the beginning of May, and now slides back into Capricorn and won’t get back to Aquarius again until next January.
So this is fine timing stuff, that Mercury makes the trine to Pluto just a few hours after Pluto changes sign and literally 3 minutes before Mercury himself changes sign –
Friday 9 June
- Mercury 27 Taurus sextile Neptune 27 Pisces 22.16
Sunday 11 June
- Pluto retrogrades back into Capricorn 07.16
- Mercury 29.58 Taurus trine Pluto 29.58 Capricorn 11.25
- Mercury ingress Gemini 11.28
My first feeling about this intricate picture was that it would relate to the power of words, that information received or conversations had at this time could change everything in a grand finale way. Certainly we could expect final decisions, answers or revelations, including closure with any matter that has dragged on for the last two months.
The fact that the aspect to Pluto is just three minutes before the arrival of Mercury in his own sign of Gemini – Mutable Air – feels like a breath of fresh air after a long slog. Mercury is also now at full speed and will take only 2 weeks to whizz through this sign. I would expect something like new options to arise that hadn’t been previously been available to us. Gemini the sign of the Twins loves choices.
The bump in the road is that Mercury has got to get past the square to Saturn next week who is now already SR – Stationary Retrograde – which means stuck in the same position, 7 Pisces on this occasion, in readiness for starting the backwards loop on Saturday 17th.
Saturn will be at 7 Pisces for the whole of June and will slowly work his way back to 0 degrees of Pisces before turning direct again at the beginning of November. Next week we’ll also have the New Moon in Gemini and these are the things that I’ll be talking about next time,
Until then with love from Greece
Joanna
