Friday Bite 17 April 2026

Bitter-sweet

“Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose,” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 2 July1932

I WOKE UP this morning to calls from the Leader of the Opposition and other prominent politicians for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister. The Peter Mandelson scandal – the gift that keeps on giving – had again reared its poisonous head, this time due to reports that the disgraced former minister had failed his security vetting clearance. We are given to believe that the Foreign Office overruled the decision in order to ensure that Mandelson could take up his post as ambassador to the United States. Apparently, Sir Keir was not informed of the failed vetting, and the civil servant responsible, Sir Oliver Robbins has been duly sacked. Meanwhile the prime minister is currently in Paris for a meeting with fellow world leaders aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

An endeavour that became pointless within an hour of the start of the meeting because Iran has just reopened the waterway.

In March, I commented on the Aries Ingress chart for the United Kingdom and Uranus’s position in the tenth house of government, suggesting that heads would roll during this quarter, and I didn’t rule out the Prime Minister’s being among them.

It is going to be exceedingly difficult for Sir Keir to finesse this crisis, but not impossible. Given that the crucially important council elections are only three weeks away, and the process of replacing the prime minister would be a lengthy one, he may remain for the time being. However, in this cosmic climate almost anything is possible.

We only have a sunrise chart for the prime minister, so we have no way of establishing the all-important angles of the chart, which is why I’m going to place greater emphasis on the horoscope of his premiership. Nonetheless, currently, Pluto is conjunct his natal Saturn, the nodal axis (8 degrees Pisces-Virgo) is conjunct his natal Chiron-Jupiter conjunction and opposing his natal Sun-Pluto conjunction while Uranus is squaring his natal Uranus, all of which suggests his position is precarious. You might even say, he’s a dead man walking.

Sir Keir and the Labour party took power on 5 July, 2024 at 12:19 in the afternoon. Here is a picture of that moment.

Two degrees of Libra rises and 3 degrees of Cancer is culminating. At this point in time. Neptune at 2 degrees of Aries is conjoined to the Descendant and squaring the MC-IC axis while Saturn at 7 degrees Aries is squaring the Moon. Neptune is a great planet to have on an angle if you’re starting a religious enterprise, opening an oceanarium or a ballet school, it’s not a great planet to have on an angle if you want your administration to be strong, invulnerable to scandal and to weather all manner of storms.  Plus, Neptune at the start of his administration was conjunct the Great Britain Moon – the people of Britain had no chance. Starmer’s premiership began on an applying Mars-Uranus conjunction which is why there have been so many U-turns and upsets since he has been in power. I also notice that at the time he began his leadership, Jupiter at 9 degrees of Gemini was conjunct the United States’ Uranus, which may explain why the “special relationship” has sustained so much damage.

WHILE BRITAIN’S HOPES of restoring its former glory look bleak to say the least, Hungary is opening a new and potentially marvellous chapter. On Sunday, the Hungarian people voted in their millions to oust prime minister Victor Orbàn – an authoritarian leader of the most extreme and corrupt kind, friend to Putin and Trump – and replace him with a centre-right leader Peter Magyar.

The above chart is based on Emperor Karl 1/IV’s renunciation of the throne. There are others from the November 1918 period, which brought an end to the Austria-Hungarian empire, but this one makes a lot of sense given the monumental events of the past few days.

Zero degrees of Aquarius rises with 28 degrees of Scorpio on the Midheaven. Pluto is now moving away from Hungary’s Ascendant but Uranus is currently conjoined to its IC – the homeland. Plus, all the new moons since last October have occurred at 28 degrees of the various signs, the most recent today and the most significant, the solar eclipse of 17 February at 28 degrees of Aquarius.

The decline of the Austria-Hungarian empire began with the death of Emperor Franz Joseph in November 1916 but gathered momentum at the end of World War 1 and the famine that followed, all of which took place on the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Leo. (Yet another regime to fall under this particular configuration which brought an end to the Russian tsars and ushered in Communism.) And here we have the Orbàn regime collapsing under the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries and the rise of a liberal democracy, or at least a democracy.

Fortunately, we have a time of birth for the new prime minister, provided by himself, and to the minute. And where might Saturn and Neptune be? On the Midheaven of his natal chart. As you may note, natal Mars is on the Midheaven and conjunct the Sun in Pisces while Jupiter and Saturn conjoin the IC. It is a powerful chart, not least because of the Kite configuration that is generated by a Grand Trine involving the Moon, Uranus and Mars and the Midheaven and the opposition to Jupiter and Saturn. He has risen to power on his Uranus opposition, so not only is he undergoing a complete change of life but the change Hungary has so long sought rests in him. Last but not least, his Mercury is to be found at 28 degrees of Aquarius, squaring Hungary’s MC-IC axis and the focus for the almighty eclipse on 17 February.

Hungary was the thorn in the European Union’s side since Orbàn blocked every vote for financial assistance to Ukraine and every vote that worked against Russia’s agenda. While Orban looked to Russia and Putin, Magyar looks to Europe and the West.

The United States, under Trump, had a vested interest in Hungary’s authoritarian regime, which is why both Rubio and Vance made personal appearances in Hungary urging the people to vote for Orbàn. Hungary was the model for Project 2025. On his way to the election, Magyar revealed that Orbàn was using government money to finance CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), a major networking event and ideological trendsetter for the radical right in the United States. This organization has been instrumental in celebrating Orbàn’s Hungary as the centre of the effort to destroy liberal democracy in Europe and America.

Which is another reason this has been a bitter-sweet week for the Trump administration. After the failure of the talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan, Iran continued to retain the upper hand by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and making it increasingly difficult for the president to find an off-ramp to a war that he believed would be over and done with in days. A war that is threatening economies and livelihoods all over the world.

On Monday, the United States began a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday, Israel launched a devastating attack on Lebanon, threatening the fragile cease-fire. On Thursday, Trump held separate meetings at the White House with Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyaho. And on Friday, Iran opened up the Strait of Hormuz.

So, here we are on Friday with a little more hope in our hearts. However, however, the astrology is not pointing to a happy ending in the coming days. Indeed, the week ahead is a veritable minefield.

The above chart is taken from the perspective of Washington and therefore its influence on the United States as a whole. I have inked in the connections the chart makes with the US horoscope and Donald Trump’s natal chart, and all of them are problematic. I have gone into some detail about this chart on my new video, but suffice to say, with Mars approaching a conjunction with Saturn (Sunday), Mercury conjoining Saturn and Mars (Monday), Venus conjoining Uranus (Friday) and the Sun squaring Pluto (Saturday) yet more turmoil is on the horizon.

I cannot say how exactly these influences will manifest in terms of events; all I can say is that these are not signs of celebration and certainly not peace in our time. Donald Trump is by no means out of the woods, personally and politically, and the tremors are likely to be felt throughout the administration, if not beyond.

It’s not pretty. 

Friday Bite 10 April 2026

Eggregious

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Donald Trump, Easter Sunday.

This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them… ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’ ”  Pope Leo, 29 March.

“The America that I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration.”  Bruce Springstein, 1 April

“The American president has lost his mind.” Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence, 7 April

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,”  Donald J Trump, 7 April

FOR A MINUTE there, I thought I’d have to write a Wednesday Bite. The ominous words of a president delivered in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, left little room for doubt. If the Iranian regime did not come to the table and open the Strait of Hormuz, it would be the end of its civilization. Iran had until 8:00 pm Eastern time to decide.

Even though we have become inured to this president’s lies, threats and distortions, his statement of intent sent chills down the spine. Was this the moment the world descended into a fireball, delivering on the promise of the Kali Yuga. Or was it just another teaser in the ongoing cliff-hanger that is Donald Trump’s presidency. “The entire country could be taken out in one night,” he told reporters on Monday, “and that night might be tomorrow night.”

Ninety minutes before Tuesday’s deadline, Trump posted, “Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE AND IMMEDIATE and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of 2 weeks.”

How magnanimous. And what a distortion of the truth. According to the Financial Times, far from Iran’s “begging for a deal”, it was the other way round and the Trump administration had been pressing Pakistan to broker an agreement. Which is almost certainly why we have no idea what the ten-point cease-fire plan actually comprises, at least from the United States’ perspective. On the one hand, it appears to be an Iranian wish list – the lifting of all sanctions on the country, continued Iranian control over the strait of Hormuz, US military withdrawal from the Middle East, an end to attacks on Iran and its allies, the release of frozen Iranian assets and a UN security council resolution making any deal binding. On the other hand, according to Donald Trump, “You don’t know what the points are. And many of them are very good points. I can’t talk about it… but all of them are good points.”

In the version released in Farsi, Iran also included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. But for reasons that remain unclear, that phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats to journalists. To add to the confusion, while Pakistan and Iran believed Lebanon was part of the cease-fire agreement, the US and Israel apparently did not.

As it stands, at 6:45 pm UK time Friday, the Strait of Hormuz is all but closed. The hope is that Saturday’s meeting between US and Iranian officials in Pakistan will lead to clarity, better still an end to the conflict.

Many political pundits believe the cease-fire, imperfect as it may be, will hold. However, the approaching transits would say otherwise.

As the talks begin, Mars will be within a degree of a conjunction to Neptune (exact on Monday, 13 April) with Mercury following in its footsteps (exact on Friday, 17 April). Over the following weekend Mars will conjoin Saturn – Mercury, close on its heels – and by Friday (24 April) Venus will be conjunct Uranus and the Sun squaring Pluto. Unstable.  Explosive. Transformational. We can play around with these adjectives leaving room for actual events to play out, but I suspect that the cease-fire will be repeatedly broken, although it may be in the interests of everyone to keep on negotiating until the bitter end.

I looked at the new moon from the perspective of several countries, including Iran, but the influences of the time affect the United States most. Not only is Pluto on the Midheaven, suggestive of major changes in the leadership and running of the country, but the new moon itself (27 degrees Aries 30’) is closely square America’s Pluto. Transiting Pluto is conjunct the US south node, Neptune is conjunct the US IC and Mars and Saturn are squaring the nation’s Jupiter. In these connections, we might see America empowered and renewed but we could also see it rocked to its core.

Frankly, I’m shocked that an administration can stand behind a president who openly threatens genocide, whose ill-considered war has created a crisis of epic proportions for the whole globe and, contrary to disenfranchising the enemy, has given it the means to continue to hold the rest of the world to ransom. The Strait of Hormuz was an international waterway. No one owned it. Now Iran is the toll master. And Kharg Island, a giant toll booth.

If Sir Keir had taken the United Kingdom into a war without consulting parliament and/or the country, and ended up in a similar predicament, he’d have gone by now.

So, my question to myself was, could these explosive, unstable, transformational transits take Trump out of the White House?

They should but they probably won’t. At least not in the way of the 25th Amendment. As I see it, the only way this president will be removed from office is by an act of God.

Intriguingly, the Ascendant of the Aries new moon is conjunct Trump’s Midheaven and squaring his Mars, so maybe, just maybe, in the symbolism we can interpret some kind of collapse. More important, the solar eclipse of 27 February fell on the president’s Descendant, opposed his natal Mars and squared his Midheaven. These are certainly signs of a threat to his standing in the world, if not a threat to his person. If he manages to stay at the helm, and I’m not convinced that he will, he will be considerably weakened, and over time the movement to have him impeached or removed will grow.

WHO’D HAVE THOUGHT it. Out of nowhere, on Thursday afternoon, Melania Trump addressed the White House press pool (and the nation) from behind the podium bearing the presidential seal. She informed us that rumours surrounding her relationship with the disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein, were unfounded – she barely knew him – and emails between her and Ghislaine Maxwell were nothing more than polite exchanges. Finally, she called on lawmakers to “give [Epstein’s] victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress”. Then she turned and left the way she came leaving behind a small trail of malapropisms.

Melania Trump is the least popular First Lady in history. She has certainly failed to embrace her role, which is why it was all the more shocking that she should suddenly take to the podium to explain herself. Apparently, the President knew nothing about it…

Quite why she felt she had to deny friendships with Epstein and Maxwell will become clear in the fullness of time, but it may have something to do with the civil defamation suit author Michael Wolff has filed against her. Discovery has remained frozen until now but a court ruling regarding the case is due any day. Michael Wolff is holding onto many interviews with Jeffrey Epstein and we can only assume that they are very revealing about the nature of his friendships with both Melania and Donald.

There could be another reason why Melania has suddenly thrust the Epstein files back into the spotlight and that is that it takes the focus away from Operation Epic Fury…

Who’d have thought it.

As you can see from the above chart, Melania has a Boomerang alignment – the Sun in Taurus is inconjunct Uranus and Neptune and opposed by Jupiter, and at this point in time, transiting Pluto is squaring the Sun-Jupiter opposition and triggering the rest of the configuration. Not only this, but with her Mars at three degrees Gemini, Uranus will shortly conjoin it.

We do not have a time of birth for Melania so we do not have the benefit of the angles, but these two transits are enough to have thrust her onto the horns of a dilemma. And since the Sun and Mars, two masculine principles, are the focus of the Pluto and Uranus transit, there is a nod to the instability and uncertain future of her husband, the president.