The Grand Water Trine of Summer 2013 (or Winter if you are in the Southern Hemisphere)

Here we go, the major planetary formation of June, July and into August starts to form in the next couple of days as we get a little taster of what is to come. Right now Mercury and Venus now in Cancer are moving in to form a Grand Water trine with Saturn and Neptune which themselves are making a lovely trine from Scorpio to Pisces. Following on these two scouts laying down the path we have the Sun, then Jupiter and Mars which will all move into range in the early degrees of Cancer between now and the start of August completing the Grand Trine.

So what will this mean to us all? Well the base structure of the Saturn Neptune trine looks really positive. Neptune in Pisces is pure inspiration, it rules one's dreams, deception, escapism, spirituality and suffering too. Saturn in Scorpio is hard and uncompromising and it does bring limitation and rules fear and harshness but here is also the potential for growth, solidity, ambition and slow steady progress. If you use these planets in a positive manner you can use your intuition to make your dreams into reality or your faith can solidify. The down side is that you use deception and the more shadowy side of Neptune's influence it can bring the weight of the law down upon you. The choice is yours as the energy is here.

The planets coming along to complete the trine bring different influences to the picture. Right now we have communication and ideas to protect yourself as well as issues coming along from the past to the past through Mercury all of which can be boosted by Neptune and Saturn.

Venus brings issues of money and relationships (from the past perhaps) to the fore too as well as compassion and caring and beauty. These will be important keywords as Saturn and Neptune bring these things into reality if you really want them to happen.

The Sun's energy will enthuse this grand trine in early July, Jupiter brings expansion and optimism, faith, confidence and maybe international opportunities and then Mars brings strength, determination and action to put all of these factors together.

For any water sign person or those of you with strong water links on your chart, this could be a summer of unlimited opportunities and a chance to make significant progress as Saturn and Neptune combine and enthuse and build. Even if you are not a Cancerian, Scorpio or Pisces, there are wonderful opportunities on offer here wherever these planets touch your chart. For myself a Sun sign Leo, Saturn is just in my 1st house, Neptune my 5th and the other planets in my 9th so maybe for me expansion will come internationally (9th) and I can use my creative talents (Neptune in 5th) to make significant personal progress (Saturn in 1st) - let's hope so :)

Turkey in turmoil as anti Government protests increase

What started out as a peaceful demonstration 4 days ago against the demolition of Gezi Park, one of the few green spaces in Istanbul to make way for a shopping mall, has mushroomed into an all encompassing mass protest against the government of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been in charge in Turkey for 12 years. The ruling AKP party has become more authoritarian and hard line in recent years and the fear has been that Turkey’s secular stance is being eroded away in favour of more Islamist policies. Even recently the Turkish government brought in a new law banning the sale of alcohol between 22.00 and 06.00 hrs inflaming tensions in the more Western leaning Turkish cities of Istanbul and Izmir and the coastal resorts which rely on the tourist trade for much of their income.

Jodi Arias – Guilty but waiting to find out her fate.

Living here in the UK I have not heard anything of the Jody Arias trial but in the United States it seems that this story has been dominating the news for weeks. She has been convicted of 1st degree murder of her former boyfriend Travis Alexander back in 2008 and now in sentencing the jury at the case were split 8-4 to whether she should receive the death sentence. If she were to receive it in a retrial due to be held in July, then she would become one of only a few women on death row in the US. This case is notable for the graphic nature of the relationship of the two former lovers and the brutal manner in which Travis Alexander was killed. Looking into the Astrology between the two, a fascinating picture appears.

Ray Manzarek, keyboard player of the Doors passes away aged 74

When people thing of the pop group The Doors they always think of Jim Morrison, the charismatic lead singer but just as integral to the unique sound of the 60’s group was the keyboard playing of group member Ray Manzarek who passed away yesterday.