The Los Angeles riots against Trump’s draconian measures on immigration which put the country on a war footing are being seen as a seminal moment. He sent in the National Guard for the first time in decades to suppress citizens on domestic soil against the wishes of a state’s governor, using a rarely invoked anti-foreign invasion law. And Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, even threatened to send in the marines to quell the unrest over raids against suspected illegal migrants. Critics warn the administration is increasingly ruling in defiance of US Constitution and political norms.

One commentator wrote: “We are witnessing the first stages of a Trump police state. Now that Donald Trump’s tariffs have been halted, his big, beautiful bill has been stymied, and his multi-billionaire tech bro has turned on him, how does he demonstrate his power?”

“History shows that once an authoritarian ruler establishes the infrastructure of a police state, that same infrastructure can be turned on anyone.”

Other political analysts suggest “The most consequential political life at stake here is that of Donald Trump himself – whose ultra-adversarial, bully-like tactics have yet to be tested as they are right now in California. There has never been anything quite like the anti-ICE protests during either of Trump’s terms. The Women’s Marches and BLM protests of his first administration may have, at times, turned rowdy and chaotic – but their violence was never directed at the White House like it is right now. This moment is different. Very different.” “This is a level of pushback practically without precedent – risky and uncertain amid an atmosphere of anti-Trumpism whose long-anticipated #resistance has finally materialised.”

  Since 2018, California has been a “sanctuary state” that limits official cooperation with federal immigration authorities. At present, there are more than 600 sanctuary states, counties and cities, including Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New York City, Atlanta and Washington DC.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, about a dozen states – including Texas, Florida and North Carolina – have laws prohibiting their cities from adopting sanctuary policies.

  The Los Angeles 4 September 1781 chart has tr Neptune squaring the Uranus for a nerve-stretching few weeks starting exactly now running into July and repeating into 2026; plus its Virgo Sun will catch this autumn’s Pisces Lunar Eclipse for an unsettled crisis. With greater pressures and uncertainty through 2026/7 as tr Pluto makes its Pluto Return and tr Neptune tr Saturn square the Neptune and then Venus into 2027/28. The relationship with Trump which is ramped-up, power-struggling and hostile at the best of times is under serious pressure this year with high anxiety in 2026 and worse in 2027/8. There is a suspicious Saturn Neptune conjunction; a bitterly determined Mars Pluto Jupiter square Sun Mercury; and Algol conjunct the composite North Node. So LA could indeed be the eye of the storm. The Los Angeles Incorporated 4 April 1850 chart looks rattled now with the Solar Arc Uranus opposition the Aries Sun and the Solar Eclipses this year catching the Saturn in Aries.  

  The relationship with Trump is aggravated this year with tensions erupting in 2026.

 Gavin Newsom, the California governor, 10 October 1967 5.13 am San Francisco, CA, a Sun Libra opposition Saturn; with a determined Mars in Sagittarius square Pluto Uranus in Virgo which latter clashes with Trump’s Gemini Sun and Sag Moon.

  He has threatened to sue President for calling the National Guard into the state which he described as “illegal, immoral and unconstitutional”.

 His relationship with Trump has a chained-together and resenting it composite Saturn square Pluto which is being tested to the limits at the moment with tr Uranus square the composite Pluto and moving to conjunct the composite Saturn from July onwards into 2026.

 One theory is that Trump wants to damage Newsom’s chances of running in 2028. It’s unlikely that

Newsom will since there’s nothing cheerful on his chart then.

ADD ON: California, 9 September 1850 – has been itching for a fight with the recent Aries Solar Eclipse opposition its Mars. The next September Lunar Eclipse will rattle its Virgo Sun and the Virgo Solar Eclipse will conjunct its Jupiter which could bring highs and lows, over optimism and disappointment.

Trump’s chart relocated to Los Angeles puts a downbeat Saturn on his Ascendant so not a zone where he can flaunt his peacock feathers and be admired.

Erica Jong, an icon of second wave feminism wrote an autobiographical novel Fear of Flying which made her famous in 1973. Her candid depiction of women’s sexual desires was shocking at the time, boosting its sales to 20m copies. John Updike compared it to The Catcher in the Rye and Portnoy’s Complaint.

  Her daughter Molly Jong-Fast has written a poignantly sad, insightful and strangely witty memoir about her mother, now suffering from dementia, and her own disjointed childhood.

“My mother was a famous feminist writer known for her candour and wit. But she was also a fantasist who couldn’t be bothered to spend time raising me.”

“My mother coined an expression for casual sex: the “zipless fuck”. Now think about being the offspring of the person who wrote that sentence.”

“The reason I knew Mom was a liar was because her story always changed. Sometimes it was one thing, then sometimes it was an entirely different story. This shifting reality, this strange post-truth ecosystem she inhabited, and that for a time I inhabited, too, made me completely unable to know what was real and what was a lie with her. It was a kind of gaslighting by proxy, like Munchausen syndrome, but somehow much, much stupider.”

“ My glamorous mom didn’t believe in the rules. Rules were for boring, unfamous people who balanced their cheque books. Rules were for normal people. My mother was not normal, nor did she want to be.”

“Between her divorce from my father (husband No 3) and her marriage to my stepfather (husband No 4), there were numerous fiances. I couldn’t help but envision each one as a possible father.”  

“I had spent my entire life trying to get away from the loneliness of being abandoned by my parents.”

Erica Jong, born 26 March 1942 10.25 am New York, is an Aries Sun on the cusp of her 11^th trine Pluto. With Venus in Aquarius conjunct her Midheaven from the 9^th in a chilly, unpredictable square to Saturn Uranus in her 12^th. Aquarius being a favourite sign of writers who focus on sex. Her Cancer Moon in her financial 2^nd is the middle point of a trine between Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine a 4^th house Neptune in Virgo. She also had a high-vitality, super-enthusiastic Mars Jupiter conjunct in Gemini in her 12^th just above her Descendant.

  Such a strong and troubled 12^th house would need a degree of self-awareness to function well as a parent and her 4^th house North Node hints strongly about the need to build solid emotional foundations rather than aim sky high for inflated ambitions. Clearly neither happened.

 Erica Jong’s own mother Eda Mirsky, 10 December 1911, a painter and designer, was a complicated mix with her daughter. Eda had a Sagittarius Sun and Leo Moon which fitted well; but her Saturn and Mars in Taurus clashed badly with Erica’s Saturn Uranus conjunction.  Down the generations it comes.

  Molly Jong-Fast, born 19 August 1978, five years after Fear of Flying was published, now herself a novelist, journalist and political commentator, had a loving and protective nanny but that did not help her avoid obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia and an alcohol and cocaine addiction as she lurched through the constant chaos of her mother’s fame, remarriage, lovers and alcoholism. After rehab at 19, she has stayed sober since.

   She is a Sun Leo conjunct Saturn in early Virgo with a super-determined Mars, Venus, Pluto conjunction in Libra and a sensitive Pisces Moon maybe square Neptune, trine Uranus and inconjunct Pluto. Emotionally fraught with bereft Moon issues.

 Her relationship with her mother will be conflicted since Molly’s Jupiter is conjunct Erica’s Moon for forgiveness and good feelings. But Molly’s Leo Sun is square Erica’s Saturn Uranus making her feeling rejected and blocked out. Great and not so great.

  She does seem to have risen above or rather worked her way through the chaos of her childhood to become perceptive and able to regard it with a degree of irony and wit.

 Her mother sadly never seemed to recover from her later days of not being famous any longer.     

 “How to Lose Your Mother” by Molly Jong-Fast

Idle chatter has actor Tom Cruise romancing actress Ana de Armas as they have been seen multiple times together recently and gushed about each other’s talents in interviews. Though sources say they’re “just friends” who are working on projects together.  

 An uncomplimentary piece in the Telegraph raises eyebrows about how De Armas, whose cv of past movies is replete with duds and no-hopers, has come to attract hype about being the next big thing.  Her most recent Ballerina gets a one-star review, with her character described as “lethally dull” and the review remarks de Armas “simply isn’t good enough to animate this sock puppet”.

 None of which amounts to a hill of peanuts but at least it isn’t politics.

 She was born 30 April 1988 in Havana, Cuba and has a seriously determined Taurus Sun Jupiter opposition Pluto square Mars in Aquarius with a Libra Moon. Her Pluto is conjunct Cruise’s Neptune with her Mars conjunct his Saturn which does not sound a harmony-filled connection. Though her upbeat Sun Jupiter does fall in his 7^th (assuming 3.06 pm birth time for him) which is positive partnership material.

 Their relationship chart has a composite illusory Sun Mercury opposition Neptune square ? Moon; a cool workmanlike Venus opposition Saturn though a square to Uranus hints at tensions. Plus a high-vitality, enthusiasm filled Jupiter Mars conjunction opposition Pluto. That last could sail them along on a crest of a wave for a while before collapsing in acrimony.

See previous post: Tom Cruise – drawn to extremes. 24th May 2025. 

Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate change activist, now on a mission to bring aid and highlight the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, is sailing into what will be a confrontation with the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) today or tomorrow. She is travelling with 12 pro-Palestinian activists, including a French member of the European parliament of Palestinian descent. Some of the activists on board have been criticised for their past remarks against Israel.

  The World Food Programme has said that Gaza is facing imminent famine as 2.3 million people are acutely malnourished and one in five Palestinians is on the brink of starvation.

She said in an interview: “We are willingly and knowingly taking those risks, because we believe that the bigger risk here is to be silent in the face of genocide, in the face of injustice and mass starvation of over two million people. I am so much more scared of the world’s silence and passivity — than anything that could happen to us on this boat.”

  Thunberg who is autistic, started holding a “school strike” in Stockholm in 2018 when she was 15 to pressure the government into taking action on climate change. By the next year, she was leading the largest climate protest in history: four million people around the world took part in the climate strike on September 20, 2019. She has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize five times, and is Time Magazine’s youngest ever person of the year.

The plight of the people of Gaza has been picked up by Generation Z, many of whom first came to politics through the climate movement that she symbolised. A US poll showed only 16 per cent of adults under 30 supported the American government providing military aid for Israel, compared with 56 per cent of those aged 65 and older.

 She was born 3 January 2003, Stockholm, Sweden, no birth time (though Starkman speculates on 3am). She has a Sun and Moon in Capricorn with a tough-minded Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto plus a volatile, excitable, passionately enthusiastic and stubborn Venus Mars in Scorpio square Uranus on one side and square a super-confident Jupiter in flamboyant Leo on the other.

 What is also significant is her Sun conjunct Chiron hinting at a struggle to find her own inner self but equally giving her a capacity to understand the needs of others. And her Gemini North Node which gives her a ‘bull in a china shop’ approach, with a tendency to rush helter skelter into action, an insistence on being a free spirit and a difficulty in understanding why others won’t listen.

 She looks rattled from the 17^th of this month till early July with tr Uranus square her Mars/Node midpoint which suggests upsets within her community. That repeats on and off into early 2026. There look to be more calamities and blockages in 2026 so her whirlwind approach will continue to rush into risky situations.

 Her synastry with Israel is dreadful with her Sun (Moon) square the Israel Neptune; her reforming Uranus in a fractious opposition to the Israel Mars and square the Israel Taurus Sun; her Jupiter conjunct the Israel Pluto Saturn; her uncompromising Saturn is conjunct the Israel Uranus with her Pluto in opposition. And if a 3 am birth time is accurate then her Leo Midheaven will be conjunct the Israel Mars.  All at cross purposes.

 Her relationship chart with Israel has a hostile power-struggling composite Mars Pluto conjunction and a tussle for the upper hand Jupiter conjunct Pluto – all opposition a destabilizing Uranus.

 She is no better with Netanyahu with her Uranus opposition his Mars as well.

  Her tendency to head straight into the eye of the storm must alarm her parents.

See: BBC In Depth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0r1xl5wgnko

Israel is accused of the gravest war crimes – how governments respond could haunt them for years to come. Jeremy Bowen

At the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva (ICRC) the words “Even Wars Have Rules” are emblazoned in huge letters.

ADD ON:

Add On: Chris Packham, the UK TV Wildlife presenter and activist, 4 May 1961, who has been diagnosed with Aspergers, has the same slightly sanctimonious, harassing approach to his pet causes which can be off putting. Greta’s autism may result in similar.

  Her family do seem to be strong personalities. Her sister has just emerged as a singer and actress, 3 November 2005, Stockholm.

See: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14797213/Gretas-little-known-sister-steps-shadows-Singer.html

  She is a Sun Taurus opposition Mars square Saturn opposition Neptune – Fixed, determined, go ahead.

Farage’s Reform Party has followed its usual pattern of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by losing a major donor and strategist just as they looked like becoming a force to be reckoned with on the political scene. Admittedly it was over an issue which would gain general support as a new Reform MP asked the Prime minister whether he would consider banning the burqa. Though it led to Zia Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, resigning as Reform Party chairman as a result.  

  Richard Tice, the Deputy chairman of Reform Party’s deputy leader says discussion about the burqa must not be ‘forced underground’ when it is policy in some European countries. He said “I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burqa is appropriate for a nation that’s founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second-class citizens.”

  But is is still a messy exit, raising questions about why Yusuf was there in the first place.

 Farage has a reputation for spectacular fall outs, the most recent being Rupert Lowe MP in March, who was cancelled without due process after a spectacular hissy fit. See previous post 12 March 2025.

 Farage and his Deputy Richard Tice, 13 September 1964, are looking undermined from the 9^th of this month with tr Neptune square their composite Sun Venus conjunction and even edgier with tense and bad tempered eruptions in July right through till this November – and those influences repeat into 2026. I would not be surprised if a separation was on the cards.

Lee Anderson, Reform chief whip, 6 January 1967, and Farage equally are out of sorts through the next year with tr Uranus square the composite Sun and tr Neptune Saturn conjunct the composite Venus.

 Farage himself, 3 April 1963 4.30 pm Farnborough, England, an 8^th house Sun Aries conjunct Mars, with a fiery Sagittarius Moon will be jittered and jangled with tr Uranus conjunct his Venus in later this month for an emotional upset; and tr Uranus square his Saturn from this August for further eruptions, which will continue into 2026. At which point he also has a panicky-failure tr Saturn Neptune conjunct his Mars extending into 2027.

  The Reform Party chart, 23 November 2018 has tr Uranus rattling (or blowing up) its Sagittarius Sun Jupiter square Mars from this August through 2026.

  On burqas: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy (in some localities), the Netherlands (in public places) and Spain (in some parts of Catalonia) have banned burqas. In Germany some states ban them in schools. Switzerland officially banned burqas, hijabs and other face coverings in public after a referendum. The ban has been implemented primarily citing security concerns, social integration, and to promote gender equality.

France banned the wearing of face-covering headgear in public spaces in 2011, including the burqa, which is a full-body covering that covers the face. 

 Jack Straw, a Labour MP for Blackburn, with a third of the electorate Muslim, raised the subject in 2006 and said he would no longer see constituents who covered their faces. There then followed a TV Question Time debate over which the discussion chairman David Dimbleby should hang his head in shame since it was badly mishandled – and the political debate was effectively buried thereafter.

Will the Musk fallout do damage? Trump in the past has made up with enemies before; and in addition has brushed off allegations and accusations of bad behaviour that would have sunk most politicians.

 There is no doubt this noisy parting of the ways has spread confusion and alarm this month since the Inauguration chart is dismayed with tr Uranus opposition the Sun/Neptune midpoint and the Neptune/Pluto midpoint from June 18 to July 6. Ebertin describes the first as sudden upsets, nervousness, spasms, an inner crisis and the second as hyper-sensitive nerves.  These repeat November 9 to December 2, and April 2026. Tr Uranus into Pisces from early July on and off into 2026 will also rock the administration’s boat.

  And as pointed up in a previous post the Progressed Moon on the Inauguration chart is heading to close the square to Mars to exact within the next few weeks bringing anger and aggravation. By March/April 2026 the Progressed Moon will square the Inauguration Pluto Sun for another blockage.

 I have always been intrigued by the Trump/Ghislaine Maxwell relationship chart, surprised that more has not emerged into the open before now. There is an aggravated (and then some) composite Mars Neptune opposition Saturn square Uranus with a yod from the composite Sun inconjunct inconjunct Pluto sextile Mars Neptune. That relationship has been under exceptionally heavy pressure in the past several years and yet nothing much has surfaced.

 On both the Trump/Ghislaine Maxwell and Trump/Epstein relationship charts – one degree of Cardinal signs is marked which the tr Saturn Neptune will hard aspect from now into 2026. But whether that will bring anything to light remains to be seen.

Musk and Trump were never a good fit with Musk’s Pluto squaring Trump’s Sun and Moon and Musks’s Mars in Aquarius opposing Trump’s Mars in Leo. The rift is likely to continue with tr Neptune square the composite Sun June 18 to July 6, repeating November and April 2026. With more upheavals from mid 2026 onwards as tr Uranus squares the composite Pluto.

Steve Bannon has always fought a war of attrition with Musk with a power-struggling-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter Pluto conjunction in their relationship chart square Mars. It will only worsen after the middle of this year into 2026 and beyond. Bannon’s relationship with Trump will hit an exceptionally nervy patch in 2026/27.

  No dictator appoints a successor so any suggestion of Vance stepping up will not be appreciated. The DT/Vance relationship chart is on red alert and undermined exactly now, which two influences repeat December and mid March 2026. The pair will hit an all-time low late this October to end of January 2026 either because of a personal fallout or because they are facing a career calamity together.

 Trump’s relationship chart with the USA has a composite Sun at three degrees Cancer which will catch the tr Neptune Saturn square in 2026/27 which may be the point at which the country wakens up to the disastrous financial and social impact of his policies.

The Nazi Minister of Propaganda or the Hexenmeister, chief sorcerer of lies, Joseph Goebbels, is the subject of a new film. It spotlights his strained relationship with Hitler despite his reputation as a devoted follower and shows the misgivings that quite senior Nazis had until late in the war. Behind the theatrical display of ecstatic loyalty there were considerable fears about Hitler’s strategies. ‘It was Goebbels’s job to soothe their concerns, to create a subhuman identity for Germany’s enemies with repeated lies and provide a comforting illusion of imminent victory in which he, Hitler and everyone came to believe.’

 All of which is old history except it sounds remarkably current.

  Goebbels, born 29 October 1897 10.30 pm Rheydt, Germany, was a Sun Mars in Scorpio in his 4^th house of family lineage and roots, with his Mars inconjunct Pluto in his 11^th house of society giving him a ruthless need to spread his influence. His Pluto was conjunct Neptune, adding a further layer of megalomania.

 He had a Capricorn Moon like Hitler and both had an early Leo Ascendant. Hitler’s Taurus Sun fell in his 10^th for a good career partnership though it would be a fractious relationship with Hitler’s Saturn in Leo clashing with his Sun and Mars.

 Goebbels did have a plausible Jupiter in his 3^rd though I am marginally surprised he did not have more communication planets/houses in action.

 What was chilling was the fact that Goebbels and wife poisoned their six children aged, 13 to 5, when they committed suicide the day after Hitler. That was when Goebbels’ Solar Arc Mars was conjunct his Moon. Tr Saturn was square his Midheaven and tr Pluto trine.

 Magda Goebbels, 11 November 1901 1am Berlin, was a match for her husband with a New Moon in Scorpio and a controlling/ambitious Pluto and Neptune in her 10th house; with her Pluto opposition Mars. Mars Uranus in her 4^th hinted at an argumentative, unsettled home life never mind the ultra-determined Mars Pluto.

 When Hitler committed suicide her Solar Arc Neptune was just over the square to her Moon and conjunct her Sun/Moon midpoint. With her SA Mercury conjunct her Mars opposition Pluto.  But given she poisoned her six children I might have expected more angst showing.

History recycling.

“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”  Walter Langer

“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.” Dorothy Allison,

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Vladimir Lenin

“Sometimes the point isn’t to make people believe a lie – it’s to make people fear the liar.” Anne Applebaum

“So a lie told a million times becomes the truth.” Maria Ressa

“A lie leads a man from a grove into a jungle”. Marcelene Cox

“He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.” Alexander Pope

“Most people don’t care if you’re telling them the truth or if you’re telling them a lie, as long as they’re entertained by it.” Tom Waits

“Gradually I came to realize that people will more readily swallow lies than truth, as if the taste of lies was homey, appetizing: a habit.” Martha Gellhorn

“A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.” William Shenstone

 Derek Jarman, artist, writer, designer, gardener and activist, who died thirty years ago, is celebrated in an exhibition of his ‘dark paintings’ in London and in the publication of a treatment for an unfinished film called The Assassination of Pier Paolo Pasolini in the Garden of Earthly Delights, which Jarman wrote in 1984 as he was struggling to get his film Caravaggio made.

  Best known to the general public for his peaceful garden in the shadow of the Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, now saved for the nation, his main oeuvre in contrast was often ‘angry, dark and disturbing.’

His black paintings came out of a period when he had been diagnosed with HIV and in the midst of the Thatcher backlash against homosexuality in the late 1980s. He died of complications from AIDs in 1994.

Jarman was born 31 January 1942 7.30am Northwood, England, had a 1^st house Aquarius Sun (and Venus) in an entertaining trine to a 5^th house Jupiter; and more pointedly opposition Pluto and square Mars in Taurus – ultra-determined, angry, stubborn and enduring. His Cancer Moon conjunct Pluto on one side and sextile Uranus and Saturn in Taurus in his 4th added to his super-determined temperament. Though a 7^th house Moon would yearn for the security of a close partner. Three planets in Taurus, two in his 4^th, would incline him towards nature in his home life, hence the garden. His 8^th/9^th house Neptune was in a creative, inspired trine to Uranus.

 A critic wrote: “There’s something galvanising about Jarman’s resourcefulness as well as his rage, his protean creativity, and his determination to live his life and make his work regardless of the forces of repression ranged against it. “He kept flying through the flak. He kept going forward and he was extremely unapologetic about who he was and what he liked to do. Shadowing his work is a great deal of distress and trauma, but you were very seldom aware of it in his company because he was immensely warm, positive and joyful.”

 Pier Paolo Pasolini, 5 March 1922 6.30am Bologna, Italy was poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright,  considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history. Openly gay, he became an avowed Marxist after the end of World War II, voicing harsh criticism of Italian petty bourgeoisie and what he saw as the Americanization, cultural degeneration, and greed-driven consumerism taking over Italian culture. ‘As a filmmaker, Pasolini often juxtaposed socio-political polemics with an extremely graphic and critical examination of taboo sexual matters.’  He was murdered aged 53 in 1975, with blame initially falling on a 17-year-old rent boy but the more likely culprit would be a far-right terrorist group, working with the tacit approval of the secret services.

 Pasolini was born 5 March 1922 6.30am Bologna, Italy, with a father who was a gambler and pro-fascist. He had rebellious, provocative Uranus Sun and Venus in Pisces in his 1^st house in a charismatic and determined trine to Pluto in his entertaining and creative 5^th house. His Neptune sextile Jupiter was inconjunct his Sun and Venus for a personality that was both charming and also unsure. His lively Mars in Sagittarius in his communicative, opinionated 9^th house was in a showbizzy trine to Neptune and sextile Saturn as well as inconjunct Pluto.

  His Taurus Moon was square Mercury but not well integrated into his chart.

My slight impression and it is hardly a statistical survey is that an afflicted Mars and poorly aspected Moon are a theme in this and the Edmund White/Genet charts as well.   

Edmund White, essayist, playwright, novelist and chronicler of gay life, has died aged 85, having suffered from HIV since 1984. He once said of his generation: “Gay fiction before that, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote, was written for straight readers. We had a gay readership in mind, and that made all the difference.” For several years he lived in France and went on to write admired biographies of Jean Genet – which won White a Pulitzer prize – as well as Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud.

 He estimated he slept with three men a week for 20 years; in 1970s New York, he wrote: “I thought it was quite normal to take a break from writing at two in the morning, saunter down to the piers, and have sex with 20 men in a truck. When I wrote that I’d had sex over the years with 3,000 men, one of my contemporaries asked pityingly: ‘Why so few?’”

 He was born 13 January 1940 5.11pm Cincinnati, with an engineer/entrepreneur father and child psychologist mother who  divorced when he was seven. He came out as gay to himself at 12. His partner and husband of 30 years in an open relationship Michael Carroll is also a writer.

  White had a Capricorn Sun in his 7^th house of close partnerships in an Earth Grand Trine to Uranus in his 11^th trine Neptune in his 3rd making him a hard-worker and builder in life, keen on comfort and perhaps inclined to over gratify his physical appetites. He had a lucky, successful and high vitality Jupiter Mars conjunction in Aries conjunct his Midheaven giving him drive, ambition and motivation in his career. He also had Saturn in self-reliant Aries conjunct his South Node sextile Venus in Aquarius in his 8^th house inconjunct Neptune. Such a Neptune can be emotionally disorganized, escapist, tending to live in  a bubble of privacy and weighed down by feelings of unworthiness. Though ultimately it would give him healing as well as creative abilities. He was present at the Stonewall riots and the start of the gay moment and undoubtedly did a great deal of good in helping a marginalised community including gay writers.

 His Pisces Moon in his communicative 9^th was sparsely aspected being only sextile Mercury and widely sextile Uranus.

 His Chiron was conjunct his Cancer Ascendant and opposition his Sun giving him problems early on forming a strong sense of identity; though for some as a consequence it can become pioneering.

  Jean Genet about whom he wrote a monumental biography was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist, the son of a prostitute who became a vagabond and petty criminal, but later after spells in the Foreign Legion and prison he became a writer and playwright.  Acclaimed by Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, he escaped a mandatory prison sentence for repeat offences. His writings were controversial for their explicit and provocative portrayal of homosexuality and criminality. His aim was to subvert traditional moral values and celebrate a beauty in evil.

Latterly he became a political activist drawing attention to the living conditions of immigrants in France, protesting police brutality against Algerians, expressed solidarity for  Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof in the Red Army Faction, was involved with the Black Panthers in the US and the Palestinian cause, having been in Beirut during the Sabra Chatila Camp massacres.

 Born 19 December 1910 7.45 pm Paris France, he had an audience-attracting 5^th house Sagittarius Sun conjunct Venus in Capricorn, which was opposition Pluto and trine Saturn in self-reliant Aries on his Midheaven, adding a controlling and tough dimension to his temperament.

 His Mars in intense, all-or-nothing Scorpio was sextile Uranus inconjunct Pluto for a hint of the darkness in his outlook and obsessions. It gave him an extremist streak, a tendency to be overly forceful but also an ability to bring penetrating insights to bear that could be valuable in changing social values.

 His Uranus was in a high-wire, can-be-fanatical opposition to Neptune square his Midheaven and widely square his Saturn.

 His saving grace was Jupiter in his 4^th pointing to his supportive adoptive family though it did not keep him out of trouble. It squared onto a Leo Moon in his Ascendant. A complex personality, driven by an urge to shock.  

The Duke of Windsor’s wedding to ‘the woman I love’ Wallis Simpson, by all accounts a sad affair six months after his abdication with none of his family present took place in France. The vows were made at 11.47am in Conde en Brie, France on June 3 1937, with a self-protective Water Grand Trine of a Pisces Moon and Scheat in the Dependent 7^th house trine Mars in resentful Scorpio trine Pluto in Cancer, formed into two Kites by Mars opposition the destructive Fixed Star Algol and the Midheaven – and a rules-don’t-apply-to-us Pluto opposition Jupiter. Saturn was on the cusp of the 8^th hinting at financial restraints as well as emotional ones.

   A powerful, unhappy, bitter and self-defeating chart which set the path for what followed.

 Transiting Uranus at 11 degrees Taurus then was exactly conjunct the UK’s 8^th house Mars – as it was just after Prince Philip’s death in April 2021 and just before Queen Elizabeth 11’s death in September 2022.

The Duke of Windsor, 23 June 1894 9.55pm Richmond, England.  Tr Uranus was also exactly opposition the Duke of Windsor’s yod focal point Uranus (inconjunct Pluto Neptune sextile North Node in Aries) – for a mid-life crisis of considerable proportions, sending his life onto a totally different trajectory courtesy of his yod. His Solar Arc Mars was also exactly opposition his Uranus as he caused an explosive and irrevocable rift with his family and country.

Tr Pluto was conjunct his Mercury in Cancer having just moved across his Descendant which fits with impassioned and hostile discussions with family members. The Gemini Sun that day was conjunct his Neptune in Gemini.

Wallis Simpson, 19 June 1896 10.30pm Blue Ridge, Pennsylvania, was another Sun Gemini, also with a Uranian yod inconjunct Mars sextile Neptune Venus. Her Saturn in Scorpio was also inconjunct her Pluto – and tr Uranus was moving to a disruptive, high tension opposition to her Saturn within days. Tr Pluto opposition tr Jupiter was colliding with her Solar Arc Neptune as well for a forcibly confident and delusional move.

 Their relationship chart not surprisingly was also dominated by a yod onto Uranus in the 9^th inconjunct Mars sextile Pluto Neptune – which indicates a life-altering relationship, one which changed both their destinies – not necessarily for the better as it turned out.

Very descriptive charts which marched to the celestial dance.

Add On: Mary of Teck, his mother, 26 May 1867 11.59pm London, was a tough cookie. She did have a family-oriented 4^th house Gemini Sun square Jupiter Moon in Pisces in her 1^st which would give a semblance of empathy. But what dominates her chart is a ramrod rigid Saturn in Scorpio opposition Pluto in a harsh square to Mars in Leo – she did not have an easy life and would offer no sympathy for the Duke of Windsor’s dereliction of duty. She evidently was a great mentor and role model for Queen Elizabeth 11, instilling an ethos of sacrifice and duty above all else.

 Her Fixed T square clashes badly with the Duke’s Uranus on the focal point of a yod so no surprises his bid for freedom went down so badly with her.  Their relationship chart had a volatile composite Moon opposition Uranus square Mars.

 If she was his female role model no surprises he made a bad choice.