VIDEOS

Mars conjoins Pluto on Wednesday, and the world holds it breath as Israel prepares its potentially terrible purge of Rafah.

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There is too much correlation between the movements of the planets and human affairs to say that the planets do not cause events; but not enough correlation to state definitively that they do. As astrologers we dance along the diaphanous pathway between this world and the other, avoiding the temptations of ungrounded mysticism on the one hand, and reductionist material explanations on the other.

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The series of Pluto transits I lived through in the 90s was my real qualification to be an astrologer. It wasn't any courses I had been on, or books I had read, but the hard-won Plutonian knowledge of the soul and it's transformations.

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I have started making videos for Tiktok, maximum 10 mins each. Here are the tiktok links to the show so far 😊 Blogger said they were too big to upload directly

MARS-VENUS-PLUTO IN AQUARIUS

Pluto in Aquarius 

WILD GEESE  (Me reciting a Mary Oliver Poem)

THE ASTROLOGY OF CREATION

 

THE FISHER KING

When the king is ill, the country does not thrive. While Big Ben was silent for 4 years from 2017, the country was politically paralysed over Brexit. Symbolism is a real thing, as any astrologer can tell you.

The country needs renewal: that is what King Charles' illness tells us. The Fisher King, the guardian of the Holy Grail, recovered, and his land recovered, when Parsifal asked him, "Whom does the Grail serve?" In our case, we maybe need to ask "What is the point of the UK, who are we now?" We lost an Empire, and tried to find a new purpose as part of the EU. That didn't work out. So who are we? We have an election coming up, but neither party has the vision of renewal necessary for the King to be well again.

Charles has Leo Rising, befitting a king. It is ruled by Sun in the collective sign of Scorpio, conjunct Chiron: his wound is collective. Uranus is currently opposing his Sun, a lightning rod for the country's malaise. In the Fisher King story, the wound is to the groin - the place that generates new life - very appropriate for Chiron in Scorpio.

My theory is that England forgot who she was 1000 years ago, when the Norman (Viking) conquest turned us into a conquering nation, beginning with the rest of the British Isles. The Empire has gone, and Scotland and Northern Ireland may go too. Charles' kingly line began with the Normans: that is one way of seeing the wound that he carries. His illness is that old soul loss healing. Just a theory :)

We may have to wait until next year, when Neptune enters Aries and begins a long slow sweep across the UK's Sun, Moon and Angles, to start to find the way again post-Brexit, with humility and reality: no longer a superpower; and no longer the next best thing, the vicarious power that came with being part of the EU.

 

 

KING CHARLES' HEALTH

Pluto is currently changing signs in King Charles' 6th House of Health, while squaring his Moon/Node in Taurus. This suggests his cancer diagnosis is of major significance. Pluto will not finally leave his 6th House until the end of 2027, giving a possible time frame for his illness. At that point, Neptune will be completing a square to Prince William's Sun-Moon conjunction in Cancer: a defining change for him is also in the offing. Uranus has also just turned direct, opposing Charles’ chart ruler, the Sun. Here is wishing him well!

 

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Everyone is weird once you get to know them. Aquarians are just more upfront, even honest, about it. That is why they are Everyman.

 

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A friend said recently that he felt Gemini was associated with the fairies, and was that the case? I said if it wasn't, it is now.

 

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I think Pluto in Aquarius will see GM crops come into their own, allowing for improved food production in the 3rd world. The power (Pluto) of technological invention (Aquarius.) Much of the opposition to GM, as with oil, is simply hatred of technology and human progress, and Pluto will march through that.

 

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Astrology is poetry.

 

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All the planets from Jupiter outwards are going forward. Time to make new s**t happen.

 

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On 12th Feb, Mars will cross the MC of the Northern Ireland chart, with Venus following soon after. Pluto crossed it 3 weeks ago. An agreement has just been reached on a return to devolved government, after a 2 year gap due to Brexit fall-out. Pluto still has 2 more crossings to go this year. NI is inching towards eventual reunion with Eire.

 

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The world is being held back from the abundant energy that nuclear power promises, and the abundant food that GM promises, by irrational fear of technology and hatred of humanity. The coming age of Pluto in Aquarius will march through this opposition, taking no prisoners, because it is our survival and flourishing (Pluto), through human inventiveness (Aquarius), that is at stake. And our destiny. Pluto is in this sense a protector of what humanity can become. Neptune in Aries will also play its part in this renewal of the collective dream. 

 

Elon Musk, with his vision of humanity as an interplanetary species, symbolises the optimism and inventiveness of this coming age. And let's not forget Uranus moving into Gemini too. A whole new age to look forward to.

 

 

THE AQUARIAN REBELLION AGAINST GREEN POLICIES

The last transit of Pluto through Aquarius saw both the French and American Revolutions: the people rebelling against unrepresentative, authoritarian government. Power (Pluto) to the People (Aquarius.) I think we will see a similar mood in the coming years, this time with green policies as the focus, as they begin to erode people's standards of living. I'm not saying this is good or bad: I'm just saying I think it is what will start happening. They have become the norm, and that is something Aquarius sees the holes in and pushes against.

 

 

In the UK we see it already, with the two main parties, in the run-up to a general election, vying to water down their commitments to net-zero. We saw it in the lack of media coverage of COP28. We see it in the huge protests by Dutch and German farmers against the imposition of green policies, and the rise to power of political parties that reflect this mood. In the US, Donald Trump is well-known for his lack of belief in the climate crisis. The rebellion will also be against the authoritarian, ideologically driven way net zero is often being implemented. The media is likely to tar this political movement with the label 'far right', a term that is gradually losing its meaning through over-use.

 

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If you attempt to turn astrology into a statistical truth, then you disrespect the gods and they will stop speaking to you. Astrology is not scientific. It is not for us to try to probe and judge the workings of the divine. It is for us to stand back in awe.

 

 

VENUS IN CAPRICORN

Venus is now in Capricorn. Not very romantic. Or, at least, not a time for love-bubbles, based around 2 people not knowing each other. That's so yesterday, so Venus in Sag. Venus in Capricorn wants you to listen to your experience, listen to the whole of yourself. That takes time and patience. But it can produce results that actually work, that last.

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Aquarians, if you want to be radical, be conservative. If you want to be even more radical, go to church. Got this idea off Nick Cave in this brilliant interview. Nick Cave has a hell of a work ethic. I looked him up: Sun in Virgo square to Saturn. 

 

 

PLUTO IN CANCER?

In Sardinia, the use of the "femina agabbadòra hammer" was a women's practice. Whenever an elderly man or woman of a given family was dying and in great pain, the family would call for the Accabadòra or Lady of the Good Death. She would usually be a widow dressed entirely in black, who likely inherited her role from her own mother or grandmother. The title Accabadora means "She is the One Who Ends." She arrives with a large hammer of carved olive wood wrapped in heavy wool, and is left alone with the individual who may yet be screaming in agony and terror. 

 

A witness testimonial of the practice translates: "It was dark. The room was illuminated by a single wick in mastic oil. The Accabadòra entered the house -- the door had been left open for her. She passed no one as she enters her patient's room at at the bedside. "She caressed the face of the dying person, chanted the rosary, sang one of the many lullabies usually sung to children. Finally she raised her hammer wrapped in thick, black wool, and gave a quick sharp blow on the skull. 

 

"She then left the bludgeoned patient in quiet peace, and our family blessed and thanked and paid her for her good work as she was leaving. It is a hard job. The Accabadòra may herself be feeble, and is often a friend of the ailing individual. So you must always respect her. "We do not consider her a murderer. In our village she is known as compassionate, a holy assistant in fulfilling the final destiny. Her act is loving and benevolent. She is our Last Mother." 

 

Though usually done with a hammer, each Accabadòra may have her own technique, including smothering with a pillow, or climbing atop the sufferer to wrap her legs around the neck to squeeze the throat closed. The last recorded Accabadòras went about their missions of euthanasia in 1929 in Luras and in 1952 in Orgosolo. But a recent work of fiction about the life of a modern Agabbadòra alleges that the ancient practice still exists in rural parts of Sardinia, where there are no physicians or any other help for the suffering.” 

 

=== Photo: An Accabadòra ready to serve, though her hammer is considerably larger than would be used by a real Accabadòra. Inset: An actual femina accabadòra hammer in a Sardinian museum.

 

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The Ukraine War will have it's Mars Return in early Feb, a Mars (at 22 Capricorn) that is at the same degree as the Saturn-Pluto conjunction the year before. That connection makes this minor war very significant geo-politically. Whether the Mars Return leads to an escalation or to negotiations, I do not know. But new developments are likely around that time.

 

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We belong not to ourselves but to the universe. Ordinary humanity does not understand this, astrologers and healers do.

 

 

PLUTO in CAPRICORN CRISES

Pluto can be associated with crises, inasmuch as they often precede the fundamental restructuring that this planet engenders. Pluto's time in Capricorn has been a time of institutional (Capricorn) crises, beginning with the financial crisis of 2008, the biggest since the 1930s. Then there was the Eurozone crisis, the political crises that led to Trump and Brexit, and then the COVID crisis. Last but not least has been the climate crisis which big business and government (both Capricorn) are being seen to ignore, despite protestations to the contrary, as Pluto leaves this sign.

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The International Climate Conference (COP) started in March 1995. This year it has its Saturn Return at 17 Pisces. Last year's COP 28 was barely front page news. I reckon the age of climate anxiety is starting to come to an end.

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The transit of Neptune through Pisces will be remembered for its religious madnesses around climate and gender and the victimhood of minorities.

NEW YEAR PIECES

NEW YEAR'S ASTRO-DICE 

Sun in Aquarius in the 10th House.

Going forward, this is a time for putting what you uniquely have to offer out into the world. It doesn't have to be noticed by a lot of people, it just needs to be out there. It is something different, that breaks up the rigid moulds that humanity usually creates around anything over time. If you are bothered by what other people might think, then consider that a warrior training: Aquarius is not a wallflower 😆

 

THE PARADIGM SHIFT OF 2024-26

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 Nov 1989, 3 days before Saturn made his 3rd conjunction with Neptune in Capricorn: the dissolution (Neptune) of a wall (Saturn/Capricorn). Saturn makes stuff happen - transits involving him and Neptune or Pluto often bring world-changing events. It is not so much the event itself - a wall coming down, twin towers coming down - as the significance, the political implications. 4 years ago Saturn conjoined Pluto and Covid happened: not in fact the most major of diseases, but much of the world shut down in over-reaction, with huge economic and social consequences.

Saturn and Neptune will conjoin in just over 2 years. Who knows what this will bring? Most astrologers saw something big coming up at the start of 2020, with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, but none of us could have guessed what it would be. Who foresaw Communism collapsing in 1989? (Actually Liz Greene got it pretty much right in her 1985 The Outer Planets and Their Transits.)

We have 3 years of paradigm shift in the world, as Pluto beds into Aquarius in 24-25, and then Saturn-Neptune takes over. And Uranus enters Gemini. All 3 collective planets changing sign.

Pluto in Aquarius is already bringing AI to the forefront. The first wave of AI was in the late 1700s, the Industrial Revolution, when complex machines first began to do our work for us. That was when Pluto was last in Aquarius. It was also the time of the American and French Revolutions. The power (Pluto) of the people (Aquarius). This time, we have the culture wars. Now it is not enough for the power of the people to be centre stage: it is the oppressed minorities who are being thrust centre stage. Those who think this has gone too far call it 'woke'. It is a battle that has been won by the 'woke' at many universities (we saw the black woman head of Harvard defending calls for Jewish genocide recently, in defence of Palestinians, and keeping her job), and it may rage in the wider culture in the years to come, as graduates become influential in the world.

Neptune, as ever, is harder to see. What has Neptune in Pisces brought with it? The dissolution of gender? The feeling that the end of the world is near through climate change?

OK, here is a stab at one meaning of Neptune in Aries: the end of apocalyptic thinking around climate-change. I will intrude my own opinion to say such thinking is silly: humanity has always been able to adapt to change, and we are now better at it than ever. So it is the apocalyptic mindset that will dissolve, as the power (Pluto) of our inventiveness (Aquarius) in relation to climate moves forward.

Saturn and Neptune in Aries very much suggests a new vision for humanity. The transit of Neptune through Pisces has produced collective madnesses that I think many of us have felt, from the over-reaction to Covid through to the extremes of wokeness and fears of climate armageddon. The teenage transgender epidemic - and tragedy - and Just Stop Oil are emblematic of the madnesses we have been living through.

As Pluto and Neptune change signs, I think we will begin to see these madnesses for what they are. Last time Neptune entered Aries was the time of the American Civil War, which brought a new vision for the country. There is a new vision brewing, it may have to be fought for (Aries), and its early stages will present themselves at the end of 2025/start of 2026 as Neptune and Saturn line up.

 

 

OPEN TO INVITES...

I'm not a great advertiser of myself. But I reckon I'm good at running workshops of many varieties. It's something I love to do. I've been at it for nearly 40 years in one way or another. In my youth it was Buddhism. After a major revamp that turned into Astrology, Tarot, Medicine Wheel, Journeying, Pipe Ceremonies, Sweatlodges, Trance Dances and just general chewing stuff over: maybe my favourite :) I prefer not to plan too much, and let things unfold in their own way.

The point of a teacher is to edge you in the direction of your own inner guidance. That is why I say cherish the things you don't agree with me about. If you've been in this group a while, I will almost certainly have said some things you don't agree with 🤣

I have 2 books as a sort of CV (pictures below), published by Moon Books in 2022. I'm not that inclined to set up workshops myself, but if you would like me to come and do something foran evening or a day or even a week, I will probably say yes, enthusiastically. Anywhere in the world! As long as I don't lose money on it. Happy to sleep in a tent. Or my van :)

 

 

FATE, FREE WILL and TIME

Free Will is causality moving forward in time: what you do now bringing about an effect in the future. Fate is causality moving backwards in time: the future reaching out and bringing about an effect in the present. You can never be entirely sure how much is due to one, and how much is due to the other. Astrology takes place at the interface between these 2 causalities.

 

 

THE SHAPESHIFTERS TRILOGY

 

The chart above is for when I began writing my first book in 2021. It was not planned, one morning I just thought dammit, start. It is weighty, with all the Capricorn 10th. Before Christmas I signed a contract with an American publisher for my 3rd book, The Shapeshifters Trilogy, a shamanic fantasy in which those who can adopt animal form are abominated, but end up helping to save the world from a tyrannical cult of reason. I didn't plan the chart, I never do, I think that is counter-productive to trusting one's own inner guidance. 

 

The Shapeshifters Sun-MC aligns nicely with the 1st chart's Venus and MC, and is also sextile Jupiter and Saturn. I am Capricornian in my ambitions: I want something that will sell slowly and steadily over a long period. A cult classic, that is what I'd like it to be 😎

Book Cover painting by Ali Broughton

I particularly like the Mars-Mercury conjunction is Sag in the 9th. Perfect for signing a contract with a foreign publisher. I chose my moment well! Mercury is retrograde, but to me that just means there will be a few things to iron out along the way.

 THE AMBITION OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES

I just watched the final series of The Crown on Netflix. The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, and her mother Carole were both portrayed as scheming and ambitious when it came to the matter of landing Prince William. It makes good drama, and typical license that Americans can take where the English couldn't, but isn't that really all it is? Not if you look at Kate's chart. Sun in Capricorn square to Saturn-Pluto in Libra. You don't need to know much astrology to see the power (Pluto) of the ambition (Capricorn) around marriage (Libra). It's actually a t-square with the Moon in Cancer, emphasising the centrality of her aspiration/ambition. Her mother also has Moon (mother) opposite Saturn (ambition).

Poor old William has a New Moon in Cancer in the 7th opposite Neptune. They saw him coming. The facts as portrayed in The Crown seem outrageous, yet they seem to be true: after William announced his uni plans - taking a gap year then attending St Andrews - Kate promptly dropped her plan to attend Edinburgh that year and copied William. She had never even met him at this point. And she did go to places, like Chile, where William was also known to be going during his gap year. She set out to land William, with her mother behind her, and she succeeded. She isn't stupid, and once at uni she would have turned it into a case of 'He chased her until she caught him.'

 

Now women aren't supposed to do this. It's OK for men to plot to land a woman, but not the other way round, particularly if the man is of higher rank: that makes the woman some kind of scheming gold-digging slut. So it has to be covert. No-one talks about Kate's early moves, now she is mother to 3 heirs to the throne. But The Crown talked about it, and well done them, for it is what happened.

But is it really not OK for a woman to aim high for a prospective husband? Is it not what happens all the time? Are not certain men 'good catches'? Let us be real about this. A competent or high-ranking man is good father material, and probably an interesting guy, and well done if you land one. There is also a big biological component to the way we choose mates. So let us not be too quick to judge her.

Let's look at the charts again. William's chart seems very soulful (Neptune Rising in Sag) and oriented around relationship (New Moon in the 7th, opposite Neptune). With its very strong Saturnian/Plutonian influence, Kate's chart is much harder. There are no Sun-Moon interactions between William and Kate, so it is not very soulful, though the Mars-Venus interactions give a sexual connection.

But Kate's Moon is in Cancer in William's 7th House. He feels nurtured by her. It would be easy to say he needed a mother figure because his mother Diana died when he was 15, but I'm not going to go there. That is too easy to say, and it is mere pop psychology. It is normal for men and women to be wanting to be cared for in a motherly or fatherly way by the spouse, but it is not spoken about, because it is the opposite of romantic. When it starts to become conscious - if it does- it often leads to a crisis in the relationship. We no longer want or need an 'other half'. But that is a whole other subject.

So the bedroom is good, and William feels cared for, but his deepest self is not addressed. Does he even know who he is deep down, with his life planned for him from birth? Maybe he is happy to go along with that, as many would be. His father wasn't, to his credit, but most would. With Sun-Moon in the 7th, and Neptune Rising, William can - up to a point - be content to let others tell him who he is.

Let us drag in Fate, the bigger picture. Kate's Sun-Moon/Node opposition lands bang on the UK Moon at 19 Cancer. She is meant to be the Queen, the people (the Moon) will feel comfortable with her. She will be very responsible too. I find this placement remarkable. This is a bigger consideration than whether or not her and William are compatible at all levels. What couple is, for heaven's sake, particularly if they are regular folks living out the norms of their community?

That said, I suspect there will be points at which William is drawn to women who do engage his Sun-Moon, and he may not understand why he is drawn. With her unusually ambitious chart - Sun-Moon-Saturn-Pluto t-square - Kate will do her best to stay slim and sexy and a good mother and everything she is meant to be, especially in the face of any infidelities on William's part. She has a super-hard shell. But there is something in William that I think will always elude her, his brooding Cancerian self, that may well reach for a mistress, as royals are entitled to do.

Watch out for Neptune squaring his Desc now, and his Sun-Moon in the coming years. Whatever does happen, we will probably not hear about it. Putting on a good show is something the royals do well.

 

THE PARENTAL FALLACY

James Hillman was a Jungian, a fan of astrology and a very influential archetypal psychologist. I think what he says here has a lot of bearing on anyone who considers themselves to be a psychological astrologer:

"If any fantasy holds our contemporary civilisation in an unyielding grip, it is that we are our parents' children and that the primary instrument of our fate is the behaviour of your mother and father. As their chromosomes are ours, so are their mess-ups and attitudes. Their joint unconscious psyche - the rages they suppress, the longings they cannot fulfill, the images they dream at night - basically form our souls, and we can never, ever work through and be free of this determinism....Psychotherapy compounds this fault."

From The Soul's Code by James Hillman

As astrologers, we know that the chart, not our parents, reveals our Fate, don't we?

 

 

WHEN TO AVOID RELATIONSHIP ASTROLOGY

Relationship astrology can be a bit like electional astrology, in that one is using astrology to see if an event/relationship is a good idea in advance, so to speak. And in that way bypassing the inner guidance that it is the job of astrology to support.

I always say to people who are asking for a propitious time to do something, to do it when it feels right, or maybe just to get on and do it. The chart for when they did it will then tell them what they have done, it can help them understand that thing in themselves that took action. I tend to say no to electional astrology.

And I think it's the same with relationships. Avoid looking at the charts till it's well underway. The astrology won't tell you if it's 'right' or not. All the Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus connections you could hope for won't make it right. And all the traditional incompatibilities or lack of aspects won't make it wrong. But then astrology can do an excellent job of unpicking the dynamics of the relationship.

Two people getting together is a soul thing that may take years to understand, and you know deep in yourself if it is the right thing to be doing or not. And it doesn't have to last forever. The fact that your charts 'miss' each other, for example, may provide a compelling desire to be around that person who sees life so impossibly differently. It may mean you can see each other clearly 'from the outside', so to speak, which can be a great gift. Square pegs and round holes can be just the thing. The one thing you don't want is boring!

The battleground in ourselves is often between wanting it to be 'right' and our knowing that it isn't, and overlooking that. And maybe using astrology to persuade ourselves it is right. And it's hard for an astrologer not to think so too if he sees all sorts of flowing aspects. Putting that knowing first, in the face of our wants and fantasies and compulsions, is where we grow.

At the end of the day, as I say, it is a soul thing. It is about a synergy beyond words and reason. Everything we do is a soul thing - coming, as it were, from the centre of the chart, outside of space and time. It is the soul thing we need to learn to trust. You've gotta let life do its thing. And then trust what the astrology says about it. But don't put the cart before the horse: that way lies religion, the looking outside of oneself for guidance.

 

THE AQUARIAN DAIMON

The daimonic destiny of the Aquarian is to never be recognised by establishments of any sort. In this way one has to find that recognition for oneself, and that is a deep thing. It is a higher level of its ruler, Saturn. 

 

This struggle to find and live from that unique source within, comes naturally to the opposite sign of Leo. That is why the Sun is in its fall in Aquarius. But what a gift it is, if you can stay the course.

 

ASTROLOGICAL MAGIC

The astrologer doesn't need to tell you anything more about yourself than you know already for you to feel that the universe knows you, loves you, has your best interests at heart. And that the universe itself is alive, enchanted. We bring magic to people's lives.

Moving forward, the gods, in the form of the planets, speak through the astrologer: her job is to help you align with their callings, which find voice through what it is you love to do, or would love to do if you dared. That which you cannot resist, and which never goes away. That may take a major transit for you to take seriously.

 

 

THE ASTROLOGY OF THE DEVIL 

I watched a recent long-form interview with Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.) I was reluctant, because he's got such a reputation as a nasty piece of work. But it was Lex Fridman doing the interview, and I like him. Besides, the people who hate Bezos tend to hate anyone who is wealthy and powerful. So I watched, pushing myself through my prejudice, and I found I quite liked him. 

 

Like many very successful people, he has some exceptional qualities, which are worth imbibing. We don't have a birth time for him, but there is still a lot we can tell. He has Sun conjunct Mars in Capricorn - would you expect less from a man who can build a huge business over decades? I reckon it is what attracts the 'bad guy' projection - which of course makes the rest of us feel comfortably virtuous. We can congratulate ourselves we are not ruthless and heartless like Mr Bezos 🤣 

 

I was struck by the way he worked: he calls meetings in which someone will have spent 2 weeks preparing a paper. They all begin by spending 30 mins in silence, reading it. And then there is a free-form, wandering discussion. That made me think that this man has got Saturn and Neptune working creatively together: they are often opposites in people, creativity vs diligence, order vs chaos. I looked at his chart, and found Venus conjunct Saturn square to Neptune. Amazon as a whole expresses this spirit: on the one hand it has become very big and substantial (Saturn) while being very innovative (Venus-Neptune.) 

 

He gave up being CEO of Amazon a few years ago, to concentrate on his space enterprise. Like Elon Musk, he is dedicated to making humanity an interplanetary species. It is fascinating that there are people actually trying to do this. Much of the interview was Bezos talking about the ins and outs of spacecraft and rocket engineering. He has a wide square from his Sun to Jupiter in Aries: there is the adventurer. And he probably has Moon in Sagittarius. 

 

Amazon occupies the shadow place in the psyche of many, that MacDonalds did 20 years ago. The Great Satan, just as the US is to the mullahs in Iran. I will say just one thing: it is a simplistic position, as these things usually are. Beyond that, in the interests of your psychological stability, I will leave undisturbed your need to see Jeff Bezos and his offspring Amazon as the Devil Incarnate 😈 Here is the interview.