Review of the Year 2022

Review of the Year 2022

It’s that time again…Time for the Review of the Year!   Selections from the blogs, as usual, for those of you who like to review the year…

January

30th:

Barry Cryer (1935 – 2022)

“I haven’t had a career, just a series of incidents. I’ve been dogged by good luck all my life.”

~ Barry Cryer

Legendary comedian and scriptwriter Barry Cryer died peacefully at home on Tuesday, at the age of 86, surrounded by his family.  We owe many laughs to him over the years, as we watched Morecombe and Wise and other classic comedies.  He wrote for many, many comedians, among them Bob Hope, Dave Allen, Tommy Cooper, and Kenny Everett.

Birth Chart

We are fortunate in having a birth time for Barry, giving him a Capricorn Ascendant.  His Sun was in Aries, largely unaspected, making him very authentic and individualistic.  With Chiron trine his North Node, his karmic mission was in some ways as a healer.  Chiron was in Gemini in his birth chart – healing through words, to laughter.  With the Sun in his 3rd House, words were his stock in trade, and later in life he was a popular after dinner speaker.

February

27th:

Invasion of Ukraine

Added to the pandemic, and climate change, the world has a new threat: that of war between Russia and the Ukraine.  Wary of involvement after what transpired from the Iraq War, Syria and Afghanistan, NATO is trying to support Ukraine by other means than military forces.  Rhetoric has been ramped up against the chilling protagonist Vladimir Putin of Russia, whose sanity has been questioned.  Currently, Ukrainian citizens are literally fighting for their lives, reportedly today in the streets of Kharkiv on the outskirts of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.  The population of Kyiv have been told to stay underground, and the Prime Minister is staying firmly in the capital.

Ukraine

For the chart of the invasion, I have used 5.55 a.m. on Thursday 24th February 2022.  Mars (war) is still conjunct Venus (peace), in an unusually long conjunction – she has been worn down, and run out of diplomatic options.  Pluto is exactly trine to the North Node, which is a powerful time of reckoning karmically.  The transits to the Ukraine chart seem very karmic – Putin claims Ukraine should still belong to Russia, and won’t forgive the split.  Ukrainians feel they want the freedom and democracy which they would not have as part of Russia, and would like to belong to NATO.   Astrologically, the Nodal Axis is square the Ukrainian natal Mercury-Jupiter conjunction in the 7th House of Close Relations.  The North Node (karma) is about to enter Ukraine’s 4th House of Homeland.  Two more squares threaten Ukraine’s stability at this moment: Chiron square its Uranus (crisis) and Saturn square its Pluto (destructiveness).

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The Prime Minister of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is the hero of the hour.  He was born on 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.  We have a birth time for him, which gives Jupiter rising (he started out as a comedian).

March

20th:

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released

In the midst of another week of unbearable news from Ukraine, a miracle happened.  Nazanin Zhagari-Ratcliffe, who had been detained in Iran, most of that time in prison, was allowed to come home and be reunited with her daughter and husband.  Heartwarming photos ensued of the three of them together again.  At a time when Ukrainian families are being torn apart, we should frame these photos in our hearts to remind us that reunion is possible.

Birth Chart

The birth date now accepted for Nazanin is 26th December 1978, though we do not have a birth time for her.  She has Sun in the sign of Capricorn, known for qualities of endurance (but can also be the scapegoat).  Her Sun conjoins Mars, giving her a warrior spirit.  She is also a healer, with the Sun exactly trine Chiron.  She certainly had to employ her inner healer in her six years under arrest.  Moon in Scorpio, will have given her extra emotional grit and determination.  In confinement, the Moon conjunct Uranus, will have given her a highly developed imagination to explore her inner mind: Terry Waite, one of the Beirut hostages, had the Moon opposite Uranus in his chart.

April

10th:

June Brown (1927 – 2022)

“Ooh I say!”

~ Dot Cotton

June Brown, and her alter ego, Dot Cotton, was a household name, even for those who didn’t watch EastEnders.  She died last week, at the age of 95.  Though it was announced that she left the soap in February 2020, for the viewers her character Dot is ostensibly in Ireland;  they are yet to break the news in soapland. She was often asked how similar she was to the character that was created, and she would reply that they both chain-smoked, and were both Christians.  She played the role, on and off, since 1985.  She has been described as a National Treasure.

Birth Chart

June Brown had half her planets (5) in the Water element, making her an emotional individual, though she would sometimes hide this under a deadpan expression.  This is something an Ascendant might reveal, but we do not have her birth time.  She could, however, be a cool customer, with the Sun in Aquarius.  She was born on a Full Moon in Leo, which would have given her strong likes and dislikes – if she did not like a scene, she would walk away from it.

May

15th:

Eurovision Song Contest 2022

“I’m incredibly excited to make some friends, chat some music, and just take in every moment of this beautiful, wild bonkers thing.”

– Sam Ryder

Long-term readers of my blog will know how much Eurovision means to me!  And I have to declare last night’s Eurovision Song Contest the best ever (and I have been watching since 1959).  I attended when Duesseldorf hosted in 2011, which apparently was the last time we were on the left hand side of the scoreboard, until last night of course.  It was such a special occasion, not least for the overwhelming unity and love for Ukraine, who won deservedly.

Sam Ryder

Last night was the first time I had been able to watch Sam Ryder’s performance all the way through his song “Spaceman”.  We had been told, as usual, that we stood a chance of winning, but they say that every year…So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved everything about the performance: the long strawberry blonde locks, the soaring falsetto voice which seemed to encompass the universe, and the imaginative set and costume (which a young friend texted me to declare it blogtastic).  For many of us, this year is the first we have heard of Sam Ryder, but in fact he has been singing since 2009 (at the age of 20).  He sang first in bands, then went solo in 2016, but in the interim has taken jobs, such as bricklaying, to make ends meet.

June

19th:

Olena Zelenska

This week, it will be four months since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24th February.  It is being said that we are beginning to suffer “Ukraine fatigue”, so here I am keeping the flag flying, with a blog about the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.  When I wrote about her husband Volodomyr Zelenskyy three days after the invasion, we had only just heard of him, but sensed his heroism.  Our admiration has increased as each war torn month has gone by, though not all nations are supporting his cause.  From that time, the war has taken a terrible toll on Ukrainian family life, with women and children fleeing to safety, and men and boys staying to fight for the state and their own survival.

Birth Chart

Volodymyr was born on 25 January 1978, and Olena was born only 12 days later on 6 February – often a sign of soulmates who plan to incarnate together, when their lives run parallel.  They are both Aquarians, first attending the same school (she noticed him performing in school plays), and then properly meeting at University.  Their birth charts have much in common.

July

31st:

James Lovelock (1919 – 2022)

“Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.”

~ James Lovelock

James Lovelock, creator of the concept of “Gaia”, died this week on his 103rd birthday.  His groundbreaking book “GAIA, a new look at life on Earth” of 1979 proposed a hypothesis which was responsible for a whole new way of thinking.  It posed a scientific question which flew in the face of Darwinism, put him at odds with some other scientists, and in its solution also conflicted with some environmentalists’ views of how it should be dealt with.  He saw the Earth as a living organism in which its components were interconnected.  He brought up the danger of CFCs, greenhouse gas emissions, a problem which we are still dealing with.  He held very individual views about climate change, and it is interesting that he has left the planet at this time, a few days after the extreme 40 degree celsius temperatures in his home country.  People are still questioning whether climate change is real (deniers), and in our Tory leadership contest, there is no attempt to put this planetary issue at the forefront of their policies.

August

14th:

Olivia Newton-John (1948 – 2022)

“People don’t want to hear that you’re nice, but that’s what  I am.  In fact, I’m pretty boring”

~ Olivia Newton-John

Singer and Actress Olivia Newton-John died this week at the age of 73.  She made her mark on this world in several ways, not least in promoting health research, but the role which she is most remembered for was that of Sandra Olsson in the film Grease.  The film made a big impact on our household!  As a young mum, I remember singing “Summer Nights” to my first daughter as a baby, then later when my children were older, they put the video of the film on replay.  I asked one of them how many times they played that film, to be told “millions”!

Birth Chart

They say the beautiful people are born under Libra, and this was true of Olivia.  She also had the “nice” persona of Libra, and singing is one of the professions of that sign.  She did not however have a smooth-sailing life, and that is to some extent due to her Sun’s square to Uranus (disruption).  Her Moon trine Mercury gave her the ability to combine imagination with rationality, which would have been useful in acting.

September

11th:

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)

“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service”

~  Elizabeth, 1947

As a nation, and also in the wider world, we are shocked and stunned at her passing this week on 8th September, even though we always knew Queen Elizabeth wasn’t immortal.  It seems not just the end of an era, but maybe the end of the end of all eras.  She was a remarkable woman in her fortitude and dedication. And it has been said that one in every two people in the U.K. have met her, so that is a lot of memory, spanning the 96 years of her life and the 70 years of her reign.  I never met her, but I did dream about her, which apparently is a common phenomenon, as she is deeply ingrained as an Archetype in our psyche.  Her revealed personality has changed over the years, from stiff formality through to the later years when she increasingly revealed so much wisdom and humour.  She reigned longer than any other British monarch, and longer than any female monarch in the world (the record is held by Louis XIV of France).

October

2nd:

Liz Truss and Kwazi Kwarteng

Dream Team or Nightmare Team?

This new duo running the country have been re-named “Kamikwasi Kwarteng and Librium Liz” by John Crace of the Guardian.  What do their birth charts tell us?  I was originally set to write about Liz when the Queen died, but now find myself writing about the pair in the aftermath of Kwarteng’s “mini-budget” and the dramatic fall of the pound.

Liz Truss

I wrote about Liz in 2019, during the Tory leadership contest when Boris Johnson was elected:

“26/5/19

Liz Truss (odds 50/1)

“Just for fun.  Liz Truss has not yet declared her candidacy, but is rumoured to be considering it.  I only include her because she is my local M.P.  Like Jeremy Hunt she unnerves me, but for different reasons.  Her deadpan voice and slightly soulless gaze worry me, and some of the stances in parliamentary voting she has taken have lacked compassion.  She sits in a Tory heartland, and most of the people I know who have met her have been underwhelmed by her intellect…”

November

20th:

Xi Jinping

This week, Joe Biden met up with Xi Jinping of China at the COP27 climate summit.  Named in recent years the most powerful man in the world, at this point in time Xi Jinping holds a crucial position in the power balance of the world.  Not only does his country hold great responsibility in reducing carbon dioxide emissions (as the highest emitter), but Xi Jinping in his closeness to Vladimir Putin may hold the key to the outcome of the war in Ukraine.  He is an inscrutable figure, and it is an interesting time to look at his chart and his life.

Birth Chart

With Sun conjunct Mars in Gemini, Xi Jinping is a warrior of the mind; he has called his attitude to foreign relations “wolf warrior diplomacy”.  The power and strength of his Sun is shored up by a trine from Saturn, a trine from Neptune and a sextile from Pluto.  We do not have a birth time, but we know that his Moon lies in the powerful sign of Leo, giving him a desire to dominate emotionally.

December

18th:

World Cup Final 2022

Strictly Come Dancing over, and the best person (Hamza) won…(sigh)

I don’t watch the football, but someone in my house does, and it can hardly escape my notice that there is a World Cup final today.  They are billing it as Mbappe for France versus Messi for Argentina, though both players are signed with Paris St. Germain.  Mbappe was born in 1998 and Messi was born in 1986, so there are 12 years (a Jupiter cycle) between them.  So they both have Jupiter in Pisces, actually conjunct with each other, and Jupiter is currently in Pisces (just about).  The World Cup 2022 has been a high tide for both of them, but how does the astrological picture look for them?

Kylian Mbeppe

Mbeppe has the Sun in Sagittarius, and therefore Jupiter is his ruling planet.  But what marks him out as a football player from his chart is Mars (the planet of football) rising, within 3 degrees of his Ascendant (which is in Libra).  He is also a leader (North Node trine his Sun), and a diplomat (Libra rising, with the Moon exactly conjunct Venus).  He has quick emotional reactions (Moon closely square Mars) and is close to his roots (Moon closely conjunct his I.C.)…

Lionel Messi

Mbappe may be on the rise, but for Messi this opportunity is being hailed as a possible swan song.  It is considered important for him to achieve a win at this World Cup final, as it is the only trophy which has eluded him in his glittering career, which has been compared to that of Maradona.

I have written about him, for a previous World Cup (in 2014):

”Lionel Messi Is being hailed as Argentina’s finest hope now.  His footballing brilliance chartwise is shown by Jupiter (success) exactly sextile Mars (football)… Messi has an inspirational exact conjunction of Neptune and the Part of Fortune in Capricorn in 8th House. ”…

Tomorrow: Astrological Features of 2023 for your Diary