Friday Bite 24 October 2025

House Title For Sale

“We’re in this together.”  Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein in an email, 2011

“We are not living in a functional democracy any longer. It’s not too late to save it, but it is just important to acknowledge that we aren’t on the precipice of losing our democracy. We are losing it every single day. We are not a functional nation with a rule of law any longer, and those toppled walls in the East Wing are a pretty stark reminder of that.” Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, 22 October

“I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound… I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to make heaven, but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.” Donald Trump, 13 October.

GOOD NEWS! With so much heartache and tribulation in the world, I decided to open with the great good news of a breakthrough in the treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. CAR T-cell therapy aims to reset the immune system by introducing a patient’s own T cells to hunt out infected or damaged cells which are affecting nerves in the brain and spinal cord. While not a cure, the therapy has the ability to prevent permanent disability in MS sufferers.

This kind of therapy is one of a number of groundbreaking discoveries that is helping us combat diseases that were once a death sentence. 2025 has been a spectacular year for scientific breakthroughs, revealing a whole other dimension of these unprecedented alignments that have otherwise presided over such devastation and disorder.

Another breakthrough worthy of note took place on Thursday when King Charles and Pope Leo prayed together in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Not since Henry VIII parted company with the Catholic Church (1534) over Pope Clement VII’s refusal to annul the marriage between he himself and Catherine of Aragon, has such an event taken place.

In that moment, a 500-year-old rift was mended.

On Tuesday, Japan’s new prime minister was announced. Sanae Takaichi is the country’s first female leader. She is from the far right and an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, which may explain why some refer to her as the “Iron Lady”. Surprising really, given that she is a pliable Sun Pisces with a nurturing Mars in Cancer. Then again, she has a formidable Moon in Scorpio and was born on the steely Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.

The day before, France’s former president, Nicolas Sarkozy began a five-year prison sentence. And with transiting Pluto currently hovering over his natal Chiron, a major part of his healing journey is surely taking place, and certainly a period of exile.

Which brings us on to other news.

Volodymir Zelensky was on his way to a meeting at the White House when last week’s Friday Bite went up. And what a meeting it turned out to be. According to reports, raised voices were the polite way of putting it. Since then, however, there has been another pivot by the American president, and in place of fire and fury over Ukraine’s refusal to concede territory, on Wednesday the Trump administration slammed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies. Since then, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity between Zelensky and the Coalition of the Willing, and it seems we are at yet another potential turning point for the war in Ukraine.

Certainly, Tuesday’s new moon in Libra squaring Pluto is the stuff of change and transformation.

Speaking of which, the White House is, as we speak, undergoing a massive transformation. Gone is the East Wing, the People’s House, and with it more than a hundred years of history contained within its Palladian walls. (Roosevelt oversaw the construction of the building in 1902.) It appears Mr Trump needed no permission for the demolition – you’d probably need an act of Parliament were the White House to be in England – and it also appears the president told a teeny-weeny porky-pie when he claimed that no part of the most hallowed building in America would be destroyed. And for what? A ballroom.

It’s hard not to see this act of sabotage as yet another metaphor for the demolition of America’s once enviable democracy.

And just in case you had forgotten, Saturn and Neptune are currently moving back and to over the United States’ IC, the very roots of the nation, the homeland.

Great Britain has a rather different set of problems, although its roots could be said to be shaking. Yesterday, the Labour Party lost a bi-election in Caerphilly, which has serious implications for the future. Labour has been the largest party in Wales for more than a hundred years, and with this shocking defeat its future is looking distinctly shaky. Sir Keir could become the Labour leader who lost Wales. Now, that’s an epithet you don’t want.

Neptune and Saturn are presently hovering over Great Britain’s Moon at 29 degrees of Pisces. The people, represented by the Moon, are confused, lost. We don’t know to whom to turn to fix our existential problems. Our borders are porous. Our spirits waterlogged. Our soul is in torment. Forgive the purple prose, but the country is going through a difficult time, and as if we needed any more to wail about, the monarchy is awash with controversy.

Last Friday, at seven o’ clock, a statement was issued by Prince Andrew. (Following nearly a hundred years of tradition, important notices from the Palace have been announced on the six o’ clock news, although the main television news programme is now broadcast at ten.) Anyway, regardless of the time, the statement was met with shock and awe. Prince Andrew had fallen on his sword and was relinquishing his titles, first and foremost his Dukedom.

Hoorah! God save the King!

This decision had come in the wake of fresh revelations about his alleged connection with the late Virginia Giuffre. Not only had Prince Andrew long denied any knowledge of Ms Giuffre, although he paid over £12 million to settle her civil lawsuit out of court, but despite claiming during a television interview in 2019 that he had severed links with Jeffrey Epstein in 2010, he continued to have contact with him, telling the convicted paedophile in an email, “We’re in this together.” 

Within twenty-four hours, the belief that Andrew had fallen on his sword had faded, replaced by the understanding that relinquishing his titles didn’t mean what we thought it meant. It would take an act of parliament for that to happen. Plus, as word would have it, Andrew came under intense pressure by the King to make the statement. This was not a man who had finally publicly acknowledged his disgrace. He was still the same entitled man who believed he had nothing to answer for.

I’m not going to explore Andrew’s chart in this Friday Bite because I have other astrological points to make, but I am directing you to note his Sun at zero degrees zero minutes Pisces, currently being squared by transiting Uranus. I’d also like to point out the significant progressions (solar arc): progressed Pluto conjunct natal Neptune and progressed Neptune on natal Saturn. The reason why I use solar arc as opposed to secondary progressions is that it allows for considerable movement by the slower moving planets, while maintaining their original relationship with each other. In this way, these two important progressions, both of which imply loss and ignominy, hint at the conditions of an ineluctable destiny being met at this time.

The above chart represents the “birth” of the Windsors. Given that Great Britain was at war with Germany in 1917 and the royal family was of German origin, King George V decided to change the family’s name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. The proclamation was made on 17 July 1917.

Andrew’s behaviour has sullied the monarchy. It has placed a spotlight on the royal family in a way that questions its purpose. I don’t think there is a risk of the demise of the monarchy, but it is going to have to make changes.

There was a similar time when the monarchy was embroiled in such scandal that its existence was threatened. That was 1992, the Queen’s annus horribilis.  The separations of Andrew and Sarah and Charles and Diana in the wake of appalling revelations, cast the monarchy in a truly bad light. At the time Uranus and Neptune were occupying the same part of the zodiac. They did not conjoin exactly until 2 February 1993 but they were in close orb throughout 1992, and in wide orb from 1989-1998.

Uranus, the anarchist and Neptune the unfathomable, are an odd couple. While this cycle has much to do with brave new worlds, part of the power of monarchy lies in its mystique, and a certain untouchability. When its members turn out to be all too human, if not seriously flawed, that golden aura turns to tin.

Thirty-two years on and Uranus and Neptune are making their first major aspect with each other, so we expect a reference to the period when they were conjunct. And here we have it. The Andrew problem is turning out to be King Charles’ annus horribilis, and I fear there is more to come. The solar eclipse on 21 September at 29 degrees of Virgo, opposing Neptune and Saturn was squaring the House of Windsor’s natal Moon.

Trouble ‘t mill indeed.

Friday Bite 17 October 2025

Piece by Piece

“A new and beautiful day is rising, and now the rebuilding begins.” Donald Trump, 13 October

[The No Kings event] “is about loving America, not hating it… It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and are not going to let you [Republican lawmakers] and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.” Senator Bernie Sanders, 14 October

IT’S BEEN A mere four days since the leaders of the United States, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement between Gaza and Israel. An historic moment witnessed by leaders of twenty-seven countries. The jubilance of that day is fast disappearing into the dust, however, given the dawning of awareness that not only is the ceasefire incredibly fragile – already terrorist factions have opened fire on one another – but that the hurdles to overcome in the 20-step programme may prove insurmountable, not least Hamas’ laying down its arms and Israel’s agreeing to Gaza being governed in any way shape or form by Palestine.

And let’s not forget, the two parties concerned – Israel and Gaza – only committed to the first phase of the peace plan.

A mere three days after that glorious Monday, Donald Trump was again at the helm of the peace-in-our time programme, endeavouring to resolve yet another global conflict – that’s eight to date according to Mr Trump, if you include Albania and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Azerbaijan and Ethiopia and Egypt. Hours before Volodymir Zelensky was set to meet with the President in the Oval office – the Ukrainian leader flushed with expectancy that Trump was about to put his full weight behind Ukraine – Trump performed another volte face and announced a meeting in Hungary with Vladimir Putin.

As I put this Friday Bite together, Trump and Zelensky have yet to meet.

Meanwhile, in the new normal that is America, this week virtually the entire press corps that covered the goings-on in the Pentagon left the building. They left because they refused to agree to the twenty-one-page list of press restrictions that prevented them from doing their job – gathering information on matters of defence and national security and reporting it to the public.

Then on Thursday, John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor and now fierce critic of the president, was indicted on eighteen counts of communicating secret information to those not entitled to receive it, and unauthorized possession of documents containing secret information. It’s hard not to view this as anything less than an act of retribution by the president who himself was accused of keeping top secret files after he had left office.

And, before we get into the astrology, I want to mention the very public humiliation of UK prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who was snubbed by President Trump when he came up to greet him on the podium at Monday’s grand gathering in Sharm el Sheik. Normally, a mild-mannered man, a Trump whisperer no less, on his return to England, Sir Keir cancelled a US-UK economic consultation and summoned the US ambassador for an explanation.

Ruffled feathers indeed.

LAST WEEK I examined the chart of the ceasefire, or to be more precise, Israel’s ratification of the Trump plan, and suggested the positives outweighed the negatives, and that it gave a strong indication that the ceasefire would hold, albeit periodically appearing to fracture. Now, however, we have a horoscope of the Gaza 20-step peace plan, which was signed and witnessed in a grand ceremony on Monday at 19:26 local time.

On Monday afternoon, as leaders gathered for the signing ceremony, I was recording my video on the new moon in Libra. Given it was such an auspicious day I decided to talk about the astrology that was presiding over this important event. I set up the chart for 6 o’clock in the evening (an arbitrary time since I had no idea when the agreement would be signed), which placed 7 degrees of Taurus on the Ascendant, designating Venus the ruler, which was part of a Grand Trine involving Uranus and Pluto. My first thought was that the Venus rulership boded well for the future of the peace plan. Not only Venus but also the Moon in Cancer was conjunct Jupiter and part of another Grand Trine involving Mars and Saturn. (The trine between Mars and Saturn was wide, but it was nonetheless valid because Mars trines the Moon which is in turn trine Saturn.)

What also leapt out of this chart was that Venus at 29 degrees Virgo was within minutes of the solar eclipse of 21 September. And the signature of an eclipse is almost always present in the chart of a game-changing event.

Venus is opposed to Saturn (and Neptune) which suggests a false dawn and many problems, on the one hand, but, on the other, Venus and Saturn are a good combination for a peace you hope will endure. Plus, Venus-Neptune combos speak of divine love and acts of compassion. Surely, things that must be at the heart of a peace agreement.

The Jupiter-Pluto opposition is yet to become exact – that will happen on 20 July next year – but it is already in play. And Jupiter-Pluto combos are all about events that affect the masses. (Jupiter and Pluto were in conjunction throughout 2020 and the arrival and spread of Covid.)

You may be ahead of me here, but if you look at the shape these two Grand Trines form, a hexagram appears. And a hexagram or six-pointed star is a powerful symbol. It symbolizes light and love, the union of the divine and the mortal and, of course, it is the Star of David. I don’t want to get carried away with the idea that somehow the hand of God is upon this moment – and we must remember there would be countless events happening all over the world at this time – but it is interesting. Just like the mysterious interstellar object (3I-Atlas) that entered our solar system in the summer and somehow managed to align itself with the ecliptic need not have an alien force behind it, but it is interesting.

An hour or so after I had finished my video, the Gaza 20 step programme for peace was signed. And what a difference an hour and a half makes;

The all-powerful hexagram remains, but instead of Taurus rising with peace-loving Venus as the ruler, Gemini rises yielding a Mercury rulership. And Mercury is conjunct Mars (and in Scorpio) suggesting spirited arguments at best but violent acts and disagreements at worse. More important, Uranus is sitting on the Ascendant placing its anarchic, controversial and unmanageable signature on the agreement and its future. Plus, Uranus is also the ruler of the Midheaven, the direction of travel for the plan, which is yet another indication of random events making or breaking the deal.

Much as I hate to dampen all our hopes, the future for peace in this part of the world is looking more than fragile. There’s a lot resting on that hexagram to bring its promise of union to fruition. But maybe, maybe.

Friday Bite 10 October 2025

Peace at last?

“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” Donald Trump, 9 October

“His [Trump’s] decision to fire a United States Attorney [Erik Seibert] who refused to bring charges against me—and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law, but to the president—is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country. This is the time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice.” Letitia James on being indicted for mortgage fraud by Lindsey Halligan, US attorney for the eastern District of Virginia, 9 October

“To capture a democratic nation, authoritarians must control three sources of power: the intelligence agencies, the justice system and the military. The intelligence community has effectively been muzzled, the nation’s top lawyers and cops are being purged and replaced with loyalists. Only the military remains out of Trump’s grip.” Tom Nichols, The Atlantic 7 October

THERE REALLY IS only one story: the peace agreement between Hamas and Israel. After two terrible years, almost 70,000 deaths, 2,000 of which were Israeli, and the near complete destruction of Gaza, finally the guns are silent. President Trump, whom it must be said put his heart and soul into delivering the peace agreement, deserves praise. He did not get the Nobel Peace Prize which was announced today – that went to Marià Corina Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” – but maybe next year.

Before I take a look at the astrology of this long hoped for ceasefire, there was another powerful event within hours of the agreement. At 9:43 this morning a massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Philippine Sea, just off the coast of Mindanao. The expected tsunami did not follow, and only two deaths have been reported, unlike the previous earthquake in the Philippines on 30 September in which 74 people died and more than 1000 were injured.

I take a great interest in earthquakes and over the years have found eclipses, full moons and new moons, along with angular outer planets and 28 degrees of Gemini to be regular participants. In the earthquake of 30 September and 10 October, the nodal axis (the place at which eclipses occur) was close to the MC-IC axis; more important, the current position of the nodal axis (18 degrees Virgo) is precisely square Uranus in the chart of the Philippines. Plus, for good measure, Uranus, in the nation’s 10th house, is leading all the planets around the horoscope and squaring the Moon in Virgo. And if all that isn’t enough, currently, transiting Uranus is squaring the Philippine’s natal Ascendant.

The Philippines lie in an earthquake prone zone, a factor perfectly represented by that dominant Uranus in precise conjunction with the nation’s north node.

Twenty-eight degrees of Gemini did not figure in the charts of either earthquake, however, Saturn at both times (27 degrees Pisces 06’/47’) was squaring that all-important degree. Certainly, it can be no coincidence that Uranus, as the great groundbreaker of the solar system, should be in such high profile at this time.

AND SPEAKING OF the great groundbreaker. Uranus was also a key player in the brokering of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire.