Friday Bite 3 July 2026

Happy Birthday, America!

“Government is supposed to serve us. It is supposed to lower costs, supposed to protect our families, strengthen our schools, make life better for people. But Donald Trump believes that government exists to serve him—to make him richer, to protect his friends, to reward his donors… And he’s betting that the corruption will be so constant that we stop hearing it. That the outrage will just turn into exhaustion, and the exhaustion will just turn into acceptance. We can’t let that happen. Because once corruption becomes normal, it becomes permanent.” Senator Chris Murphy, 23 June

“…90 years of precedent has been COMPLETELY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY OVERRULED, greatly increasing Presidential Power at a time when it is most needed! Today’s Historic Slaughter Decision by the Supreme Court is the Greatest Increase in Presidential Power in the last 100 years. Such a Monumental Ruling at such an important time!” Donald Trump, 29 June

THIS WAS A big week in the astrological calendar – in the space of a few hours, Jupiter entered Leo, Mercury turned retrograde and a full moon took place – and although there have been events of significance, which I’ll come to shortly, it’s not quite the rodeo we might have expected. I may be speaking too soon, of course, because America’s big 250th birthday bash lies ahead, as do a Mars-Uranus conjunction and a Sun-Saturn square.

On Wednesday, President Trump took his first trip in the new Air Force One – a refurbished Boeing 747 – gifted to him by Qatar, declaring it to be the “greatest commercial plane ever built”. He fielded questions about the financial gains he and his family and friends have made since his return to the White House, details of which had landed the day before in a financial disclosure document. His fortune has grown at a rate matched only by tech barons and kleptocratic dictators:  $1,430,390,415 in crypto earnings alone and a comparatively paltry $635 million in royalties from ‘Celebration Coins’ – the $TRUMP meme coin.

Not helping what many see as a rapid descent into authoritarianism, was the ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday giving the president the power to remove Federal Trade Commission commissioners at will, thus overturning a ninety-year precedent that protected members of certain independent agencies from being fired by the president without cause. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor put it: “In abolishing independent agencies, SCOTUS hands the U.S. president more powers than a king…”

Closely on the heels of the “Slaughter” ruling, Trump lost his bid to end birthright citizenship. This might have been seen as a victory for lovers of democracy and a sign of impartiality by SCOTUS, but the Supreme Court’s decision was far from unanimous and showed its clear bias toward the president. As Stasha Rhodes, executive director of United for Democracy put it, “The Court is creating just enough distance from the administration to preserve the appearance of balance…”

So, while these decisions may not seem to be of great significance compared, say, with the War in Iran or Lebanon or the Venezuelan earthquake, they have huge implications for the people of the United States and beyond.

THE WAR IN Ukraine got a little more deadly this week. Late Wednesday and through the early hours of Thursday morning, Russia battered Kyiv with an arsenal of drones and missiles, destroying apartment buildings and killing more than thirty people. These attacks are the deadliest this year and come as a response to Ukraine’s success in striking oil refineries in Russia.

In terms of the astrology, we should again take note that while these influences have not presided over a cease-fire or a major event that alters the course of the war, there is a shift taking place and if you look at the bigger picture, while Russia may not be losing ground on the battlefield it is losing ground in other ways. Ukraine’s strikes on refineries are beginning to affect Muscovites, as petrol queues lengthen, and Putin needs income from oil sales to fund his war machine. The war has already burned through much of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and it is difficult to fathom how much longer Putin can continue to fund the war before the Russian people decide they’ve had enough of their “Redeemer” and this war.

The above chart is that of Vladimir Putin. Around the circle I have drawn the forthcoming configuration set to take place on 20 July. I have also added the solar eclipse of 12 August (20 degrees Leo), which is conjunct Putin’s Midheaven and the lunar eclipse of 28 August (5 degrees Pisces), which is squaring his Moon in Gemini. As you will see, the Basket alignment connects with Putin’s Ascendant suggesting that the second half of July and all of August is going to be a pivotal time for the Russian president – and not in a good way.

Already, Uranus is in range of Putin’s natal Moon (2 degrees Gemini) and Russia’s Moon (3 degrees Virgo) while Saturn is closely opposing Putin’s Sun and Pluto conjoining Russia’s Saturn. All of which suggests Russia is ripe for revolution or at least a season of major social and political unrest. Of course, a wounded animal can be dangerous, as former major general and lawmaker in the Putin government, Andrei Guruhyov illustrated. “We must strike the enemy mercilessly and without hesitation… eliminate the entire leadership, destroy all command centres and bring the entire industrial sector to its knees.”.

Spoiler alert!

One of my students pointed out to me that the birth data we have for Putin is incorrect, and that he is older. Apparently, he was bullied at school because of his small stature, so when he went to live with his grandmother she altered his birth date. I am going to look further into this, but as we astrologers know from experience, a chart, even an incorrect one, can produce remarkable results! As it stands, the above chart has worked very well with major events in Putin’s life thus far, but if the next few months go by without his removal from power or at least a severe threat to his authority, I shall have to reconsider its authenticity.

AS I PUT this Bite to bed, Donald Trump is on his way to Mount Rushmore to give a speech to celebrate the founding of America. The speech will be followed by a firework display. And on an exact Mars-Uranus conjunction, we should cross our fingers in the hopes that they are the only explosives on display. Halfway around the world, Iran is burying its beloved leader Ayatollah Khamenei, killed alongside his family on the first day of Operation Epic Fury…

Friday Bite 26 June 2026

The Shocks Keep A-Coming

“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question. And I accept that answer with good grace.” Sir Keir Starmer, 22 June

“I don’t know. I think I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. I hear he’s extremely liberal, extremely, so that means he probably won’t open up the North Sea.” Donald Trump on Andy Burnham, 22 June

“Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.” Minnesota governor Tim Walz in reference to the Reflecting Pool fandango. 20 June

“So, I have Iran on the ‘ropes,’ ready to go down for the fall, willing to give us practically anything, and for the first time in decades, respecting the hell out of the United States and its President, ME, and the U.S. Senate decides to have a poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act Vote…”  Donald Trump 23 June

IT WAS AS I thought, Sir Keir fell on his sword on Monday, after a weekend of soul-searching with his family, and paved the way for a peaceful transition of power. Later on Monday, Andy Burnham was sworn in as Member of Parliament for Makerfield, and he could become prime minister within three weeks. (Potential candidates have from 9-15 July to acquire enough backers to stand for election, and should only one meet the threshold, he or she will be announced on 17 July.)

I discussed Mr Burnham’s chart in last week’s Bite, which you can find below this one, however, my gut instinct tells me, despite his being hailed as a Messiah, he will fast disappoint.

Great Britain is divided, a fact which became clear during the Brexit referendum, and due to the combined effects of Covid and the war in Ukraine, that division has become even more pronounced. And no one can successfully run a divided country and a divided party, which is why we have had six prime ministers in as many years. So, I’m not holding out a lot of hope for Mr Burnham. If he increases the defence budget, maybe I’ll change my mind.

And speaking of Brexit. Tuesday marked the tenth anniversary of Britain’s leaving the EU. That day is engraved on my mind. I went to bed in the knowledge that the vote, although tight, was in favour of Remain, and woke up at seven the next morning to discover that we were to leave the Union.

Here is a picture of that moment.

Astrology can be poetic. Rising to the Capricorn Ascendant – Great Britain, a solidly Capricorn country – is Pluto, the planet of transformation, reformation, death and rebirth.  Britain, as we can see from the evidence of ten years outside Europe, has completely changed. We were a declining power before Brexit and now we’re relying on our great history to remain relevant.

Mars, another identifying figure for Great Britain (Aries rising), is conjunct the Scorpio Midheaven, squaring the Moon (representative of the people). Mars is septile the rising Pluto and both are tri-septile Mercury, forming a Yod-like configuration. Septiles have a strong aura of fate about them, and given that Mercury is the focus for this configuration, we can assume that this decision (Mercury) of the British people was destined to completely change our fortunes.

There is a T-square made up of an opposition between Jupiter and Neptune in the second and eighth houses squaring Saturn. Jupiter-Neptune combos can signal unimaginable wealth but they can also point to the very opposite. And squared by Saturn, there is either the consolidation of economic power or quite the reverse.

However, there’s not just one T-square but two, thereby creating a Grand Cross. Saturn is also opposed to Mercury, which in turn squares the Jupiter-Neptune opposition. I think we see the division in opinion over Brexit here and in turn the division of the British people. And it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when Uranus makes its first connection with this Grand Cross in the June of 2028, when it opposes Saturn.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Britain rejoins Europe, albeit under a different framework.

There is another Brexit chart worthy of consideration – that regarding the actual exit of Britain from Europe, which occurred on 1 January, 2020.

And what do we find on this occasion but Pluto conjunct the IC, reinforcing the transformational message of the referendum chart and representing the country’s actual rupture from the European family. You may remember January 2020 for another exit – Megxit – and the onset of the Covid Pandemic. On 10 January, there was a lunar eclipse, followed two days later by the Saturn-Pluto conjunction.  Saturn-Pluto transits often preside over conflicts and transformational boundary changes – North and South Korea, for instance – and Britain’s exit from the European Union was all of that. And we are still suffering the consequences of that decision. That the Moon in Aries (on the Anaretic degree, no less) is conjunct Uranus and squaring the Saturn-Pluto conjunction speaks for itself.

Mars in this chart at 19 degrees of Sagittarius is almost exactly opposite the referendum Mercury, and is another indication of a potential change in the status-quo of Britain and the European Union in 2028.

AND NOW TO Venezuela. At four minutes past six on Wednesday evening, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake took place in an area just north-west of the capital Caracas. It was followed 39 seconds later by an even bigger quake (magnitude 7.5). At the time of writing, the death toll has reached 235, but with 50,000 people missing that number is expected to rise dramatically. Such a massive eruption would be devastating anywhere, but in Venezuela which has no discernible infrastructure in place to cope with such a massive search and rescue operation, the situation is beyond desperate. And since the capital’s airport is unusable, it makes the global rescue mission far more complicated and considerably delayed.

There are several significant factors in the above chart of this double earthquake. At the moment of impact, Neptune was conjunct the IC and squaring the Sun. In my research into eruptions, Pluto, Uranus and Neptune are often to be found on an angle or conjunct Mars, the Sun or the Moon. 28 degrees of Sagittarius rises, a degree that appears with some regularity at time of eruptions, as does 28 degrees of Gemini. 27/28 Sagittarius is the degree of the Galactic Centre, and while I have no rational argument as to why this degree should show up so often with earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, it is interesting.  You may also note a configuration pictured in the centre of the chart, which looks like a Mystic Rectangle, although it is not made up of squares and sextiles but septiles and trans-septiles. Indeed, these apparently minor aspects reveal a singularly important link between the Moon and Uranus and the Ascendant and Uranus. And, as I mentioned earlier, septiles bring a very fated theme to an event. And if there is one planet synonymous with eruptions, it is Uranus.

As you may note, Mars at 27 degrees of Taurus is some six degrees away from ground-breaking Uranus and is fast approaching a conjunction which is set to take place on 3/4 July.

This double earthquake in Venezuela comes at a time when earthquake activity appears to be increasing globally. On Thursday, a massive magnitude 6.9 eruption occurred in the North Pacific Ocean close to Japan’s shores and a couple of hours ago, a 5.6 earthquake occurred just west of Tokyo. On Wednesday, a 5.6 earthquake hit the Willits area of northern California, which is not known for seismic activity, although it is none too far away from the San Andreas fault.

I have spoken before about this strange sense that life is speeding up, and that one earth-shattering event follows another giving us barely any time to absorb the one before, and although time is not accelerating, nor is our world teetering on its axis, our perception is changing and we very definitely living through an unprecedented and highly volatile period. Everything, everywhere, all at once. Fortunately, we have the astrology to reflect such a phenomenon, and I have written and spoken about the important alignments that have come and gone, and those that lie ahead. And we have one of those looming in mid-to late July.

First though, next week. On Monday, a full moon in Capricorn occurs at the same time as Mercury turns retrograde. And as the week goes by Mars draws ever nearer Uranus and the Sun ever closer to a square to Saturn. Maybe we are already perceiving the effects of these earth-shattering influences or there may be more to come.

I am, however, coming down fairly heavily on seismic events to come, whether indeed the earth heaves or events are explosive and life-changing.