Friday Bite 23 October 2026

A Tipping Point

“For too long, powerful technology companies have operated as though their size and influence put them beyond the reach of the law… Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.” Raúl Torrez, the attorney general of New Mexico,

“Facebook was aware that its users did not understand its privacy settings and took advantage of that to a grossly unfair degree… Facebook’s misrepresentations about users’ control of their data were not isolated incidents, but rather a systematic pattern of deception at the core of Facebook’s business model.” Judge Francis J Mathew who presided over the Meta case.

“Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelensky has to want to settle this war, and if he doesn’t, I think it’s gonna be a very bad thing. Look, we have given tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We’ve gotten nothing back, other than high diesel. We have given probably, possibly more money to Ukraine than almost anybody over the years. Hundreds of billions of dollars. We’ve gotten nothing back, and the American taxpayers are tired of it.” Donald Trump, 19 October

“You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that… I commend you, and I thank you again.” Steve Witkoff, US Peace envoy, to Vladimir Putin, 21 October

WHERE DO I begin. The speed and pace and force of events is yet again so fast that it is difficult to select which of them to discuss, but I’ll start with the protests that turned into riots across French cities last weekend. And France isn’t alone. Violent protests have been taking place on the streets from Rome to Athens, Madrid to Paris. Emannuel Macron has but six months left in office and last weekend’s orgy of destruction must surely have represented the nail in the coffin of his presidency.

After last week’s Friday Bite was published, Donald Trump signed an executive order waiving yet more sanctions against Russia that would have gone into effect on Tuesday under the Lindsay Graham act. President Trump maintained he was waiving the sanctions “in the national interests of the United States.” Cheered on by yet another example of Trump’s alignment with Russia, over the weekend Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and a close ally of Putin’s reposted a graphic showing the Russian Bear and the American Eagle on the same side poised to fight the British Lion and a tattered European flag. (I’ve put the nearest image I could get to the one posted by Dmitriev at the top of this Bite.)

On Monday, Vladimir Putin, clearly encouraged by the President of America’s acts of hostility toward Ukraine, suggested a meeting between Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and himself next month to put together a deal with Ukraine.

Looking out on the world, there is a sense that we are at a tipping point.

Yesterday, images published by Axios showed a Russian satellite, Kosmos 2612, coming within 30 metres of a Finish commercial satellite providing intelligence imaging to Ukraine. There was nothing accidental about this incident. To change a satellite’s orbit burns huge amounts of fuel. Gabriel Elefteriu, Senior Fellow on the Council of Geostrategy, said in an interview with Sky News that “sub-threshold orbital warfare has begun”.

And today Russia claimed strikes on ships in the Black Sea, while Austria expelled four more Russian diplomats accused of spying.

On Thursday, the British Government announced a “national resilience programme” aimed at preparing the country for acts of God – storms, fires, floods and energy and communication systems breakdowns – and acts of war. Admittedly, this kind of advice regarding preparation for war is the sort of thing the Baltic countries have been doing for years, given their close proximity to Russia. Nevertheless, for the British government to come out and admit there is a real and present danger of conflict is quite something.

I should also mention another act of violence perpetrated this time on a member of parliament in Australia. On Tuesday, in a deliberate attempt to injure, if not kill, Helen Haines, Brendan Nugent, a family friend, drove his truck into her, reversing his vehicle to crush her for a second time. Sadly, Mrs Haines has lost both her legs.

One piece of good news this past week was that Meta was ordered to pay $25 billion after a jury found the company had misled consumers in a case arising from allegations that a political consulting firm (Cambridge-Analytica) involved in Donald Trump’s 2026 presidential campaign obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent.

OCTOBER HAS BEEN a month dominated by Pluto: Mercury opposition Pluto (2nd) Mars opposition Pluto (3rd) Pluto stationary-direct (16th) Venus square Pluto, for the second time since 15th September, this time in retrograde, on 20th) and now the Sun is applying to a square to Pluto, which will be exact on the 26th October at the same time as the full moon.

I covered some of the effects of this season of Pluto on Putin and Zelensky last week, so please scroll down if you haven’t read that piece. This time I want to focus a little more on the significance of the current configuration involving all three outer planets. This alignment has been in play since the summer of 2025, but it has dominated the astrology for this entire year, forming an impressive part of the July Basket configuration and now here again with the full moon in Taurus.

I see this configuration as the architect of the new world order, which is now no longer speculation but out there in front of our very eyes. The Spheres of Influence involve three authoritarian regimes – Russia, China and America – and in the past couple of weeks we have seen Trump officially come out as Russia’s ally and make a concerted attempt to force Ukraine to capitulate.

Ukraine is holding the line for Europe, and if it gives way, Putin will march on. And the US cannot be relied upon to come to Europe’s aid.  Finally, even Britain has had to inform its people that we could face war, although, of course, we’ve been under hybrid attack for a while.

The chart above, set for the full moon from the perspective of Washington is a troubling sight. The full moon is squaring an angular Pluto, which on the cusp of the seventh house, indicates turmoil with America’s allies as well as its enemies. Mars is rising in Leo widely conjunct Jupiter and providing an indication of a power move in the near future by America, probably in regard to Iran, but given the attempts to interfere with the Starlink/Starshield system that is so vital to Ukraine, Ukraine too.

The Neptune-Uranus-Pluto troika is bearing down on the United States’ chart: Neptune is currently conjoined to the IC and indicative of division, chaos and confusion in the homeland and since the IC is directly opposite the Midheaven, the government is also in a state of chaos and confusion, led by a president who is a chameleon changing his colours as the occasion fits.

And now we come to Venus. On Saturday 24 October Venus will come within 17 minutes of the Sun – they will be cazimi. What is interesting about this particular cazimi is that it is the last one in the sign of Scorpio, the final Venus starpoint, in a hundred year cycle. Venus is halfway through her retrograde passage and at zero degrees of Scorpio there is a sense of her beginning a descent into the underworld – Pluto’s kingdom. In personal terms, we might expect a “clear moment of insight” related to Venus’s principles of love, beauty and the pleasures of life, but that would be to forget that Venus also has a part to play in war. She is the goddess of war in many mythological traditions.

The fact that we have Venus involved in this gathering Pluto storm is to my mind highly significant and is yet another reason why we are at a tipping point.

I can’t pretend to know what exactly is to unfold at this point in time, but I don’t believe it’s a happy-ever-after story. Nevertheless, I think it is important that we talk about the difficulties presented by the astrological configurations every bit as much as we might want to see them as a means of elevating human consciousness and bringing about a new age of brotherhood and enlightenment. Clearly, we have to get through this perilous passage before we can enter any such new world.

Friday Bite 16 October 2026

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.” Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) 9 October

“I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia… Between our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz, and this great announcement on Russian Energy, Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!” Donald Trump, 8 October

“You know, it [Trump’s diesel deal with Putin] looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks absolutely terrible… This is not the right side of history.” Volodymyr Zelensky, 14 October.

I IMAGINE SOME of you have forgotten the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Panama last Friday. Such is the pace of events. During the past seven days, earthquakes of a different variety have shaken up the global order of things.

Here is a picture of the moment the earthquake struck Pitaloza Arriba in south-central Panama. The chart will serve to show the prevailing influences of the time. In terms of earthquakes, there are some familiar themes: Uranus is conjunct one of the angles – the IC in this case – and it is part of the Basket formation created by a Mars-Pluto opposition and a series of sextiles to Neptune/Saturn and Uranus. Jupiter is another prime mover, placed at 21 degrees of Leo and conjunct another angle – the Descendant. 21 degrees of Leo is within minutes of August 12’s total solar eclipse, which, as you will see, continues to exert its influence on the fortunes of certain leaders.

Last Friday, Donald Trump announced that he had reached a deal with Vladimir Putin whereby Russia would release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately” to the American and global marketplace” followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and a further one million after that. Huge as these numbers appear, the amount of diesel oil Russia is to release represents between one and three days of consumption by the United States. Plus, it appears that Russia’s supply of diesel has been so compromised by Ukraine’s attacks on its refineries, that it is importing diesel from India.

On Sunday, Trump announced that a ceasefire had been agreed by both Russia and Ukraine. Sadly, Zelensky knew nothing about any energy ceasefire nor had Moscow agreed to any such thing. Zelensky, in good faith, stopped attacks on Russia’s refineries for three days but resumed after Russia spent those three days pummelling Ukraine with missiles and drones. And all the while the American president continued to berate the Ukrainian leader and blame him for soaring oil prices, “Zelensky could have settled this war many, many times. Many, many times… he wants to make problems for the world… it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”

Worse was to come. On Tuesday, access to Starshield, part of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations was limited. Elon Musk declared he had nothing to do with it since Starshield was owned and controlled by the US government. (Yesterday, officials at the Defense Department revealed that they had received a message from inside the White House to slow the Starshield service for the Ukrainian military.)

While supporters of Trump’s recent actions regarding Ukraine and Russia, including the co-leader of Germany’s right wing AfD party Alice Weidel, claim his motivations are entirely altruistic and aimed at stopping the bloodshed, to others Trump’s behaviour is nothing less than treasonous. America siding with Russia against a European ally would have been unthinkable before this president came into office.

Earlier this month, Trump talked about an “October surprise”. Maybe there is a big surprise to come, but a US president siding with the Kremlin would fit the bill. As for the real reasons behind Trump’s attempt to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Zelensky and Putin, surely they must lie in his increasingly desperate attempts to ensure Congress and the Senate do not fall into Democrat hands at the midterm elections, a mere seventeen days away.

Almost lost amid the gathering storm over the United States’ stance on the war in Ukraine, the Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen have been mounting increasingly deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia. Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia’s international airport was attacked by Houthi missiles and drones and yesterday they fired missiles at the presidential complex in Aden (Southern Yemen). This long-standing conflict is threatening to morph into a much larger war.

In late September, Mars began its opposition to Pluto, which became exact on 3 October as Mercury squared Pluto, Venus turned retrograde and the Sun opposed Saturn. Today, Pluto is stationary-direct and on Tuesday Venus will square Pluto, this time in retrograde. And in ten days’ time (26 October) a full moon at 2 degrees 48’ of Taurus will precisely square Pluto. Were we not to be at a critical point for global relations, it would be a surprise. As it is, the world order is transforming before our very eyes.

I have been waiting for this period of 2026 for more than a year. I expected there to be crucial developments in the Ukraine war and in the life and leadership of Vladimir Putin. Despite Putin’s strong man tactics, his position is far from inviolable. He fears assassination and spends his time moving in secret from one residence to another. Russia’s economy is suffering and with more than 500,000 Russian soldiers killed in the conflict, just how long he can command the trust and loyalty of the people is debatable. And we should keep our eyes on the approaching full moon in Taurus, which like all full moons indicates the end of a chapter.

The natal chart I have been using for Putin, which is not altogether reliable since he may have been born in 1950, finds transiting Pluto squaring his Ascendant-Descendant axis from a fourth house perspective and transiting Uranus retrograding toward his Moon – both of which suggest a change of address! Transiting Saturn has recently opposed his Sun and will return for the third and final time in March next year. Saturn-Sun transits are debilitating even if in Putin’s case they provoke an even firmer grip on power. And the recent new moon at 17 degrees Libra fell on his natal Saturn. Old scores need to be settled, karma is playing into developments.

And then there is the total solar eclipse in Leo, which took place on 12 August. Eclipses have long timelines, and since this eclipse fell on his Midheaven and Pluto – his role in life – we are beginning to see what it foretold. The lunar eclipse two weeks later squared his natal Moon.

In the chart above I have also outlined in red an interesting configuration made up of Pluto squaring his Ascendant-Descendant axis and opposing his solar arc progressed Jupiter, which will be triggered by the forthcoming full moon at 3 degrees of Taurus-Scorpio. Could this preside over an almighty push to end the war or a massive overreach of his power?

Putin’s leadership began on 1 January, 2000 yielding a chart with 25 degrees of Leo rising (Russia’s Ascendant) and Venus conjunct a Taurus Midheaven. At this point in time, Uranus is hovering over Mars inspiring unexpected events of an explosive nature while Neptune is squaring the Moon, suggesting a waning of his authority and giving more than a nod to “what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”. The August solar eclipse squared natal Saturn while the lunar eclipse squared Mars. Again, the influence of Saturn suggests a heavy dose of what-goes-around-comes-around, which makes me think that Putin’s current actions are not going to end well.

You’re probably ahead of me here. That August solar eclipse, which fell on Putin’s Midheaven and squared his leadership Saturn conjoined Zelensky’s IC. Here again, we are seeing the promise of that eclipse beginning to be fulfilled. Zelensky is at risk. Not only the eclipse but also transiting Pluto is conjoining his Sun-Venus conjunction while progressed solar arc Neptune is also conjunct the Sun and Venus. The aforementioned Basket configuration connects with his natal Mars in Leo and the approaching full moon will square his natal Chiron.

These transits and progressions do not bode well for the Ukrainian president.

I hate to end on such a discouraging note, but we cannot ignore the astrology and the concerted attempt by the Trump regime to get Zelensky to capitulate. We can but hope that in the fullness of time good does indeed triumph over evil, and we shall see an end to this US administration and Putin’s rule.

NB Definition of absolute power corrupting absolutely:

Possessing unlimited, unchecked authority completely destroys an individual’s ethical sense and accountability.