Hello
Weekly Hello
MONDAY, June 2 – SUNDAY, June 8
Hello!
Looking out at the week ahead, there’s nothing to scare the horses, but in a year that has seen extraordinary events virtually each week, gentle, harmonious aspects are no guarantee of an uneventful few days. Indeed, as each day goes by, we draw ever nearer a cluster of game-changing influences. And if you’d like to know more about what’s in store, take a look at my new video, The Full Moon in Sagittarius.
Based on the lack of planetary impediments, it’s probably a good idea to use the breathing space to regroup or get ahead with certain tasks, especially those we don’t want to do or are hoping will somehow sort themselves out. Under the developing astral canopy, we need to tackle those ticking time bombs before they become too hot to handle!
Some people might assume that I live my life by astrology, making plans according to the planetary alignments and avoiding doing anything on “bad” aspects, but I don’t. It’s not that I’m a fatalist so much as an explorer. It is well nigh impossible to have all the planets in perfect harmony, there’s always something dark and difficult in the mix, so while I go forward armed and ready on a “bad” day, I am also open to what fate might have in store for me. Indeed, when I use the astrology to circumvent a potential problem, I invariably meet it head on. Now, this may be because I can use my knowledge to help others but not myself.
This philosophy is also part of the reason that I’m not a fan of relocation astrology nor astrocartography. The other, larger part, is that the moment we take our first breath is the beginning of life, and that moment is reflected in our natal charts. We don’t become different people because we move to a different place, we can’t change who we are nor our destiny.
Food for thought on a sunny Saturday in Somerset.
With Love ♥
Friday Bite
Astrology of the Week’s Main Global Events
by
Penny Thornton
Friday Bite 30 May 2025
Anyone for tacos?
One day after the nonprofit news site NOTUS discovered that at least seven of the studies cited in a new report from health secretary Robert F Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission do not exist, the report was quietly edited to remove at least some of the fiction.
A US plan for Gaza proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages alive and dead in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians. Reuters, 30 May (Is it just me or does that say a lot about the war in Gaza…)
“China… has totally violated its agreement with US. So much for being MR NICE GUY! Donald Trump, 30 May
THANK GOODNESS FOR irony. Just in case you were puzzled by the image of a waving taco at the head of this Bite, TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) is an acronym coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong in reference to the US president’s chaotic policy-making, which was on full display again this past week.
To recap: on 2nd April – “Liberation Day” – President Trump announced that he would raise punitive tariffs on such countries as China, Vietnam and the European Union, only to pull back and delay their implementation until 9 July. On 12 May, he dropped the 145% levy on China to 30% after reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement with the superpower.
On Wednesday, in New York, the Court of International Trade blocked Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, ruling them illegal and “exceeding any authority granted to the president”. Its ruling is based on a clause in the Constitution whereby “The Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ and to ‘regulate Commerce with foreign Nations’.’’ The Trump administration, however, claims that Congress invites presidents to set tariff rates as they please under the International Emergency Economic Powers act of 1977, which it invoked within weeks of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
On Thursday, an appeals court agreed to the Trump administration’s request for a temporary pause in the federal court’s decision on tariffs.
On Friday, the president announced that China had “totally violated” its agreement with the United States.
To date, the administration is embroiled in roughly 225 lawsuits, of which those launched by Harvard University have gained the most column inches. President Trump’s feud with the Ivy League institution seems almost personal, and it has been suggested by his biographer Michael Wolff that his failure to get into Harvard may have something to do with it. Since the opening salvo in early April when the administration placed a series of wide-ranging demands on the university, the White House has frozen billions in federal funding, threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and attempted to place a ban on foreign students.
It is exhausting simply reading the above, let alone waking up each day and dealing with it all. Which is why, when you look at Trump’s natal chart and the forthcoming transits, you begin to question his ability to stay at the helm. Of which more shortly.
ON TUESDAY MORNING, Elon Musk’s third space baby, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built, took off from Boca Chica in Texas. It flew further than its two predecessors but sprang leaks and spun out of control before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and breaking up. Undaunted, Elon Musk vowed to “pick up the pace”, planning a launch every three to four weeks.
The following day, Musk announced he was to leave his government role as a top advisor to Donald Trump and head of DOGE (Department Of Government Efficiency). It was surely no coincidence that his decision came shortly after he had openly criticised the president’s Big Beautiful Bill, which he described as a “massive spending bill” and one that “increases the federal deficit and undermines the work of DOGE”.
His departure was not a surprise. It had been a question of when not if from the get-go. And his comments about the BBB were almost certainly the tip of the iceberg, and tensions between him and the president had been building for some considerable time. His fall from grace was something I had forecast in my year-ahead and have discussed periodically over the past few months.
The astrology is Beautiful.
At 7:37 on Tuesday morning as Starship III lifted off, 19 degrees Gemini was rising; Mercury, the ruler, was placed at 3 degrees of Gemini, squaring the Pisces Midheaven. The chart itself gives no indication of a failed mission – in fact it’s rather a good chart — and, of course, in many ways the launch was a great success. Mercury may be sandwiched between the Sun and Uranus, which suggests instability and unpredictability, although Uranus is the planet of space travel, and take-offs are explosive, so it could just as easily reflect the nature of the event. What is special about this moment are the connections it makes to Elon Musk’s natal chart.
Musk’s natal Saturn is placed at 1 degree Gemini and opposed to Neptune at zero degrees of Sagittarius and Jupiter at 27 degrees of Scorpio. Thus, Mercury at the time of take-off was conjunct his Saturn and opposed to the Neptune-Jupiter conjunction. And 19 degrees of Gemini is Elon’s natal Venus.
Since Uranus is currently almost exactly opposite Musk’s natal Jupiter (which in turn is conjunct Neptune and opposing Saturn) the simultaneous fall to Earth of his SpaceX spaceship and his departure from the Trump administration are a picture-perfect representation of his downfall.
And for good measure, progressed Uranus (by solar arc) is conjunct natal Neptune and progressed Mars conjunct Chiron.
Maybe downfall is too strong a word, but however you spin it, his deepening unpopularity within the administration, the effects of his purges, which have not only decimated government departments and ended livelihoods but also cut life-preserving funding in foreign aid, have all conspired to damage his superstar status. Even his once great Tesla company has suffered through his association with Donald Trump and his various political shenanigans.
Jupiter-Neptune combinations are often present in the charts of those with great charisma, those who experience great good fortune and do great things for the world – the stars, the philosophers and philanthropists amongst us. However, they are also present in the charts of grand deceivers, those who lack a moral compass, and who abuse wealth, power and privilege. Jupiter-Neptune people are in danger of flying too close to the sun.
That transiting Uranus is currently opposed to his natal Jupiter, thereby triggering the conjunction to Neptune, is the very definition of a wake-up call. At heart, Musk is probably a philanthropist, someone who wants to make the world a better place, but his ego has got the better of him and he’s veered terribly off course.
This is his come-to-Jesus moment.
And so to President Trump.
As I said earlier, the pace and the stress of the presidency cannot be good for a young guy, but for an elderly man, it is hardly life-affirming. In two weeks’ time, Trump will be seventy-nine and he will be celebrating his birthday on some difficult aspects. Born on a full moon – a lunar eclipse no less – just prior to the day there will be a full moon on his nodal axis while the transiting Mars-Uranus square will be conjoining his natal Mars. Not only are these highly volatile influences in play, but by solar arc progression Neptune is conjunct his Moon and opposing his Sun while progressed Pluto is squaring his natal Venus-Saturn conjunction.
You could say, in regard to the full moon repeating the full moon at birth, that President Trump has fulfilled his destiny, you could say he has come full circle, and you could also say, in reference to the Mars-Uranus square triggering his natal Mars, that a short, sharp, shocking development is part of the story.
Trump is not known as the Teflon president for nothing. He’s escaped two, if not three, assassination attempts and countless attacks on his liberty and reputation. He has managed to beguile people of power and influence and persuade a good number of sensible Americans that black is actually white. (Or maybe that’s not an ideal example given the complete dearth of people of colour in his administration.) So, there is every reason to suppose he can glide effortlessly through the sort of transits that would fell another individual.
Still, what just happened to Elon – his come-to-Jesus moment – may not be as far off as we might think.
Friday Bite 123 May 2025
Rinse, Repeat
“[The Big Beautiful Bill is] arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country!” Donald Trump, Truth Social 22 May
“[Ramaphosa is] in some circles, really respected, other circles, a little bit less respected, like all of us in all fairness”. Donald Trump. Introducing the President of South Africa. 21 May
“I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice… You’re on the wrong side of humanity, and you’re on the wrong side of history.” Benjamin Netanyahu, 22 May.
IT’S HARD TO know where to begin. In a week that 163 million people watched the Eurovision song contest and celebrated the enduring power of music, dance and spectacular staging, yet more missiles fell on Gaza and Ukraine and two young Israeli diplomats were murdered on a New York street. Tornedoes sped across mid-America leaving a trail of devastation and Australia’s New South Wales remains in the grip of unprecedented floods.
On Sunday, Portugal, Romania and Poland held elections. The Romanians rejected the far-right nationals, as did Portugal’s centre-right coalition. And Poland looks set to elect the pro-democracy mayor in round two of its election.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had a two-hour phone call. Allegedly. The US president declared the exchange “excellent” while the Russian president described the conversation as “frank and informative”. The result? No change. No ceasefire. And increasing evidence that Trump is moving away from his role as peacemaker-general, “Ukraine and Russia must talk directly as only they can.”
In other news, just before seven o’ clock on Thursday morning, House Republicans voted (215 – 214) to advance the president’s Big Beautiful Bill. A bill that would offer lavish tax cuts for the wealthy while slashing benefits to the poor. And this comes days after Moody’s downgraded the United States credit rating. Of course, it’s Biden’s fault.
And speaking of the former president, Joe Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
IN A WEEK dominated by a Sun-Uranus conjunction, one of the most controversial developments was the encounter in the Oval Office between President Trump and South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa. What began as a fairly friendly interaction suddenly veered off course and threatened to become a rerun of the meeting between President Zelenskyy and Donald Trump back in February. What saved the day was Ramaphosa’s composed and cordial response to Trump’s allegations of a “white farmers’ genocide”.
The South African leader was clearly well prepared for the mercurial American president. Theirs has been a “tricky relationship”, not least because of South Africa’s stance on the war in Gaza. In December, South Africa brought an allegation before the International Criminal Court that Israel had committed and was continuing to commit genocide against the Palestinians. In February, Trump signed an executive order cutting aid to South Africa and accusing it of “unjust racial discrimination”.
On Wednesday, in full view of the media and members of the cabinet gathered in the Oval Office, a short way into the meeting with Ramaphosa, the lights dimmed and video montage of bodies in bags appeared on the screen. “These are all white farmers that are being buried.” In fact, it was footage from Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, showing humanitarian workers burying bodies in a war zone.
Since the end of apartheid, conspiracy theories have proliferated about the genocide of white farmers, although the deaths of white farmers represent a mere 1% of more than 27,000 annual murders nationwide.
“As an independent Institute tracking violence and violent crime in South Africa, if there was any evidence of either a genocide or targeted violence taking place against any group based on their ethnicity, we would be amongst the first to raise (the) alarm and provide the evidence to the world.” Gareth Newham, head of the justice and violence prevention program at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.
I can’t pretend to know a lot about South African politics, although I lived In Johannesburg and Cape Town for a couple of years in the Seventies when apartheid was firmly in place and the scent of revolution hung over the Jacarandas. It seems Ramaphosa has attempted to clear up the corruption that has mired the government for decades, although he himself has not escaped scrutiny. He was cleared of the accusation that he had accepted a $34,000 donation for his 2018 election campaign and also cleared of hiding $4 million in cash in a sofa at his game farm. It’s not a good look though.
Ramaphosa, a former anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and supremely successful businessman, was purported to be Nelson Mandela’s choice as successor.
As ever, we have no time of birth for the South African president so we must make do with a sunrise chart. Born on a new moon in Scorpio with Mars in Capricorn, his business acumen, political stealth and staying power are not in doubt. This is not a man for turning, nor a man you mess with. Adding to this formidable combination, the Sun is square Pluto and widely opposed to Jupiter, forming a T-square in fixed signs.
One explanation for the bond with Mandela is that Ramaphosa’s Sun was conjunct Mandela’s Moon – an aspect that bodes well for marriage (!). What may also be a factor, certainly in their evangelical crusade against apartheid, is that both were born on a Saturn-Neptune conjunction – Mandela in 1918 on the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Leo and Ramaphosa in 1952 when Saturn and Neptune were in Libra. And, of course, Saturn-Neptune conjunctions have a lot to do with crusades of one sort or another.
You may have noticed that Ramaphosa’s Venus at 1 degree 35 of Capricorn is currently the focus for the applying Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries. In my recent talks I have discussed the theme of ends-of-eras with Saturn-Neptune conjunctions, and while a Saturn-Neptune conjunction on a planet and point in a natal chart does not forecast the end of an era for an individual, that Ramaphosa was born on a Saturn-Neptune conjunction certainly raises the prospect.
Last June, at the general election, Ramaphosa’s party, ANC, lost its majority for the first time since 1994. Only after a deal was struck with the Democratic Alliance was Ramaphosa re-elected president. Since then, his approval rating has hovered around 35 percent, although the recent ambush in the Oval Office appears to have given him a bit of a boost.
There are two charts for South Africa, the first set for the new constitution which came into effect on 27 April 1994, and the second for the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. I prefer the Mandela chart, not only because he embodied the spirit of the new apartheid-free South Africa but because on that day, 10 May, 1994, there was a solar eclipse. And eclipses are always game-changers.
While that solar eclipse took place at the opposite point to Mandela’s Moon, Pluto on the day was within a couple of degrees of Ramaphosa’s Sun. In this way, Ramaphosa becomes the agent of transformation (for good or ill) for South Africa.
There is little evidence in this chart of a change in leadership in the next twelve months, so I’m not going to hang my hat on such a prediction. However, the repeat of a natal Saturn-Neptune conjunction and on his Venus must mean something. Maybe the president will have a Damascus moment and become one of the world’s leaders to experience the long-awaited expansion of consciousness. On the other hand, maybe he’ll succumb to a political assassination. Ramaphosa’s deepening ties with Russia and other autocratic regimes, most notably Iran, not only threaten its trade relationships with the West but also South Africa’s fragile unity.
Watch and wait.