Friday Bite 22 August 2025

Shame

“Russia is a powerful military nation, you know, whether people like it or not. It’s a much bigger nation. It’s not a war that should have been started; you don’t do that… You don’t take on a nation that’s 10 times your size.” Donald Trump on Fox and Friends 18 August

“I’ve said it before, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours. There’s an old rule that wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours,” Vladimir Putin, St Petersburg 20 June 2025. 

“Read [the ICC report] in sorrow and anger, not as words and numbers but names and lives. Be in no doubt that this is irrefutable testimony. It is a famine, the Gaza famine. The famine that we could have prevented if we were allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel,” Tom Fletcher, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, 22 August

IT HAS BEEN seven days since Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and five days since a posse of European leaders accompanying Volodymir Zelensky met with Donald Trump at the White House. Although these talks were aimed at finding a way to peace in Ukraine, according to many, that peace is even further away than it was before. While President Trump arrived in Alaska with the intent of emerging with a cease-fire agreement, he went back to Washington empty-handed but with a renewed conviction that the war is Ukraine and Zelensky’s fault.

What exactly passed between Trump and Putin in Alaska we do not know, but according to a report from Reuter’s today, we do know that Putin’s demands before any kind of cease-fire or even a discussion for a cease-fire can take place involve Ukraine’s giving up the entire Donbas region, renouncing its ambitions to join NATO, remaining neutral and keeping Western troops out of the country.

Trump’s plans for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin remain remote despite Russia declaring it is open to such an eventuality. Putin has long made it known that he does not consider Zelensky a legitimate president and will therefore never directly engage with him. According to Zelensky, Russia is “trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting… the signals coming from Russia are simply outrageous… they don’t want to end this war.”  And as far as security guarantees go, according to an article in Thursday’s Guardian, Sergie Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, not only states that Russia must be a part of any talks on security guarantees but proposes that China, Russia’s ally in the war on Ukraine, be among the security force!

The hastily convened meeting at the White House appeared to go some way to pivoting the American president back to a more Westernly view, but without holding Putin’s feet to the fire the prospect of an end to the war in Ukraine remains as far away as ever. Trump’s deference to Russia remains puzzling. And were there to be any doubt of Russia’s true intentions, it continues to bombard Ukraine nightly, on Thursday destroying an American electronics factory in a remote part of western Ukraine in one of its largest airstrikes since the war began.

THIS MORNING THE UN-backed IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) declared Gaza City and the surrounding territory to be officially suffering from famine. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed… starvation is present and rapidly spreading”.

Throughout the war, Israel has denied or at least downplayed the severity of hunger in Gaza, although members of the Israeli government have floated the idea of starvation as a weapon of war. In response to the report Israel reiterated its intention to “open the gates of Hell” as it prepares its advance into Gaza City.

MEANWHILE, ON WEDNESDAY, in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, the Texas House of Representatives approved a new congressional map designed to hand five additional House seats to the Republican party. To all intents and purposes, the redistricting looks like an attempt by President Trump to stack the Republican deck in next year’s midterm elections.

In response, on Thursday, California Democrats, led by governor Gavin Newsom, pushed a new congressional map through state legislature that would flip five Republican held districts in the state.

And, before we lose sight of the administration’s attempt to put in place the groundwork for martial law should it become necessary, last Friday, a federal judge blocked the President’s move to take over the DC Police department.

Democracy, democracy, where art thou?

IN RECENT BITES, I have spent time looking at the alignments presiding over the extraordinary global developments we are witnessing. I have examined Kites, Envelopes, Mystic Rectangles and Yods, all of which continue to form over everything, everywhere, all at once!

Later today or Saturday morning, depending where you are in the world, a new moon takes place at zero degrees of Virgo in tight square to Uranus, the planet of change and awakenings. The new moon is also at the apex of a Yod or Finger of God configuration made up of two quincunxes to Pluto, on the one hand, and Saturn and Neptune, on the other.

I have set the chart for the new moon from the perspective of Ukraine because it is clearly signalling a change in the course of the country’s history.

Ukraine became an independent nation on 24th August, 1991. Thus, its Sun is to be found at zero degrees of Virgo and 56 minutes, within a hair of the new moon and squared by Uranus. Uranus has been squaring Ukraine’s Sun since the first of August, and we don’t have to look very far to see the effects of this transit: increased bombardment from Russian missiles and drones, sudden and unexpected U-turns by the United States, last minute diplomatic shuttles and all manner of outrageous attacks on its right to exist.

And for good measure Mars at the time of the new moon is exactly square Ukraine’s natal Uranus.

Not only Uranus but also Pluto is currently conjunct Ukraine’s natal Saturn, the ruler of the fourth house, the homeland. A threat to its very existence is inherent in this combination, as many of you will know if you have experienced a transit of Saturn to your natal Pluto or Pluto to your natal Saturn. An existential fight for survival, whether in a financial, physical, emotional or spiritual terms is depicted in this combination.

However, Pluto will start to separate from Ukraine’s Saturn by the spring next year, and Uranus will make its third and final square to its Sun in May, 2026, and it is my belief that if Ukraine can continue to fight for a few more months, it can win the war or at least be in a better position to negotiate terms for the cessation of hostilities.

As I have mentioned previously, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction plays a big role in Russia’s history, presiding over the end of regimes and the deaths of its leaders: 1917 (Saturn conjunct Neptune in Leo and the end of the Tsarist regime – the Romanov family was assassinated the following year – 1953 (Saturn conjunct Neptune in Libra) saw the death of Joseph Stalin, and the break-up of the Soviet Union started on the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn in 1989. So, it is not out of the realm of possibility that we shall see the demise of Vladimir Putin in the coming months, whether through a popular uprising, ill-health or a Kremlin coup.

Certainly, this new moon and its connection to Uranus is going to change the map, and not only for Ukraine. Plus, it is followed by two eclipses, the last of which opposes the Saturn-Neptune conjunction.

It’s going to be a seismic few weeks. 

I CALLED THIS Friday Bite Shame, first because of the shame many of us bear for not calling out the Israeli government for its treatment of the people of Palestine who are being starved and slaughtered in their thousands. There is also shame involved in Donald Trump’s disinclination to stand firmly and resolutely behind Ukraine, which is the victim of a maximalist, imperialist power’s attempt to subjugate it. And there will be shame if Ukraine ultimately falls because, far from preventing a world war, it will open the gates to it. Hence the reason behind the image at the front of this article.

This is a photograph of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waving the infamous piece of paper which bore Adolph Hitler’s signature. Earlier in the day, 29 September, 1938, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy had signed the Munich Agreement, which allowed Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia. It was part of an appeasement policy designed to avoid war by giving in to Hitler’s territorial demands. Within a year that agreement was broken and World War II had begun.

I’m going to leave you with Winston Churchill’s words on the Munich Agreement, which should be echoing around the walls of the Oval Office at this pivotal point in time:

“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”

Friday Bite 15 August 2025

Repeating History

“FINAL WARNING DONALD TRUMP—MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT WARNING IN HISTORY! STOP CHEATING OR CALIFORNIA WILL REDRAW THE MAPS. AND GUESS WHO WILL ANNOUNCE IT THIS WEEK? GAVIN NEWSOM (MANY SAY THE MOST LOVED & HANDSOME GOVERNOR) AND A VERY POWERFUL TEAM. DON’T MAKE US DO IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.” Gavin Newsom, Governor of California.

“He [Putin] won’t mess around with me.”  Donald Trump

 “Good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both… We’re going to change the lines, the battle lines,” Donald Trump on his plans for the meeting in Anchorage.

THESE FRIDAY BITES are intended to be an astrological narrative of the times in which we live, which is why I try to cover as many of the most significant events as I can each week. During the past seven days, I’ve been spoilt for choice – the National Guard on its way to protect the citizens of Washington DC from a crime wave that is, to all reports, in decline, five Al-Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza by an Israeli targeted strike, and the publication of a new biography of the Duke and Duchess of York, which threatens to expose financial corruption within the British royal family – but the noise drowning out all other news is the meeting in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. And I’m going to start there.

THE MEETING BETWEEN the two presidents was announced last Thursday, and I briefly referred to it in my previous Bite.

The much-hyped meeting has been largely viewed as a masterstroke for Putin and a pointless exercise for the American president. (The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.) … Although Mars will be separating from the Saturn-Neptune opposition, and the full moon in Aquarius will be long gone, the chances of the Russian president opting for a cease-fire without pre-agreed concessions from Ukraine is slim at best. Another expression of this Mars-Neptune and Saturn alignments would be: shady deals.

As I write these words Trump and Putin are making their separate ways to Anchorage. The place chosen for this summit – the first between the two leaders since July 2018 – is deeply symbolic. Anchorage is roughly half way between Moscow and Washington, and Alaska was once Russian territory – indeed, many Alaskans retain their Russian heritage and speak the language. Thus, Anchorage could be said to be both Russian and American turf. Yet despite the symbolism of “meeting in the middle” the chances of a compromise are slim to the point of being negligible. And even if the two leaders agree on some parameters for a ceasefire, they remain subject to President Zelenski’s and Ukraine’s approval.

Throughout the week, I kept hearing the word Yalta in my head. Why Yalta, I wondered? It took until this morning and my research into the Yalta Agreement to understand.

In February 1945, Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Yalta (a small town in Crimea) to discuss the postwar re-organization of Germany and Europe. Over the course of seven days, the three men effectively carved up Europe without, it must be said, any input from the various countries involved.

Footnote to history: within weeks of Yalta, Stalin had broken his promise to allow free elections in Poland and was busy deporting and liquidising any Polish opposition. It took until 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall for Poland to be liberated from its communist stranglehold.

You see where I’m going. There is a large body of opinion that believes Ukraine will be somehow “carved up” during the meeting between Trump and Putin. Indeed, the American president has declared in full view of the cameras that we can expect some “land swaps”.

“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying I have to get constitutional approval… He has approval to go to war and kill everybody but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody.”

Those words were uttered by Trump earlier in the week; by yesterday, his statements had become a little more muted while the administration was busy downplaying the likelihood of the get-together leading to a significant shift in the war: “If it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly. And if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future… there’s a “25% chance” the meeting will not be “successful.”

Actions speak louder than words, and where Putin is concerned, he has not shifted one centimetre from his intention to claw back all the territory lost to Russia in the breakup of the Soviet Union. He sees it as his mission to bring Russia back to its former glory. He is after all the Great Redeemer. And it’s hard to see how any land swapping would work. Maybe Ukraine could swap the Donbas for Moscow or Zaporizhia for St Petersburg…

The above chart provides a picture of the summit and its potential outcomes. I have set it for 11:00 am local time, although the meeting could start a little later. However, even thirty minutes later the angles will hardly have changed since Libra, a sign of long ascension, is rising at the time. As it is, Mars at 5 Libra 32ʹ is exactly on the Ascendant while Jupiter is conjunct the Midheaven, in turn conjunct Venus, the ruler of the chart.

As you will see, I have drawn in the major configuration that is presiding over this hugely significant event. The Envelope formation is made up of a Mystic Rectangle and two Kites: one with Mars and the Ascendant-Descendant axis as its central strut and the other with a Mercury-Pluto opposition as its lynchpin. All three of the outer planets are engaged, as is Saturn, underscoring the history-making nature of the event.

The oppositions are the key; the first, the Mars opposition to Saturn and Neptune, is made even more powerful by its presence on the Ascendant-Descendant axis: here we find deception, unrealistic hopes, devious manoeuvres, betrayal and treachery. Both leaders will surely be concealing their hands and endeavouring to find and play on each other’s weaknesses, but there is also a sense of futility in this opposition, possibly even a hint that greater forces are in motion and resistance is pointless. What is interesting is that Trump’s Neptune is five degrees of Libra, so this opposition is playing on his own ability to deceive and to be deceived.

Illusion-delusion.

The second opposition – Mercury opposing Pluto – epitomizes tough talking; no-holes-barred discussions, power struggles, manipulation and use of the “dark arts”, not least bribery and blackmail. This opposition is ruthless, and although there is talk of a meeting with Zelensky to follow, I think we can be fairly certain that the Ukrainian president isn’t going to take the carving up of his country lying down, no matter how pretty the package in which it is wrapped.

My instincts are that even if Putin and Trump emerge from the meeting with smiles on their faces and talk of a route being laid down for a ceasefire, the war in Ukraine is far from over. What cannot be sacrificed at any cost is Ukraine’s ability to militarily defend itself or its future as part of NATO.

What is so interesting, even uncanny, is the similarities of today’s astrology with the Yalta meeting.

Talks between the three leaders went on for a week but they were begun on the eleventh of February and so the planetary alignments of the day presided over the outcome of the summit some six days later. And what do we find but a similar Envelope configuration made up of two oppositions and a Grand Trine, with almost the exact same opposition between Mercury and Pluto, although in reverse, as the central strut of one Kite and a Venus-Neptune opposition as the linchpin of the other.

Eighty years on, and we can look back and see the successes and the failures of the decisions reached at that meeting. We now know that Stalin had no intention of keeping to the agreement regarding Poland, and indeed there were other promises broken by the Russian leader, and so we must also know that his successor will do the same.

I called this Friday Bite Repeating history, the reason being: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.