Having said that, it’s not immediately clear when he’s born. A magazine article shown on his website implies he was born in 1976, and this is confirmed by several sources. However recent articles, relating to his trial and conviction, are suggesting 1973. And given that legal processes are quite good at throwing up accurate birth details, I’m reasonably confident that this is the correct year. As for the precise date, it would appear to be November 28, so he’s coming up for his 35th birthday.

Anand Jon’s conviction is a spectacular fall from grace. He started making his name in the late 1990s, not just through his design talents, but also by hanging out with the right celebrities. And by the beginning of 2007 he was at the peak of his career. Women such as Paris Hilton and Janet Jackson had worn his clothes, and Newsweek had just mentioned him as a talent to watch for that year. Then in March 2007 he was arrested, the charges including rape and assault on a fifteen year old girl.

Looking at Anand Jon’s horoscope, he’s got the Sun in Sagittarius. A man with big and expansive ideas, and like many Sagittarians, he has benefited from travel, at least to begin with - his move from India to the US brought him fame and fortune.

His Sun makes a conjunction to Neptune, the planet of fantasy, delusion and make-belief. This conjunction is great for image-building - creating a powerful name, with style being just as important as substance. The bright lights, the networking, the celebrity circus. However Sun-Neptune conjunctions can be dangerous - those that have them in their chart can sometimes believe their own hype, and can believe that they can play things according to their own rules.

And under his glamorous surface, Anand Jon is someone who is single-mindedly ambitious.

He has both the Moon and Venus in Capricorn. This is a man who knows what he wants, who has a clear understanding of his own interests. Celebrity parties aren’t just for having fun, they’re for meeting the movers and shakers.

Yet the planet Venus helps explain Anand Jon’s current problems. It makes a forty-five degree aspect to Neptune, and this suggests that his relationship with the opposite sex is often confused, that there’s an air of deception.

Anand Jon’s defenders raise doubts about the accuracy of the witness statements - and there were certainly a lot of women who came forward with evidence against him. Or maybe it was a case of him losing touch with reality, and not realising the human and legal implications of what he was doing.

Matters are made worse by Venus making stressful, 90-degree aspects to both Mars and Uranus. Mars and Uranus can be quite a violent combination, and their influence on Venus could be dramatic. Indeed astrologer Reinhold Ebertin wrote of the Venus-Mars-Uranus combination as follows:

A strong passionate excitability. - the desire to enforce love, a sudden stepping up of energy in love matters…

Anand Jon’s Hindu horoscope suggests that we’re dealing with someone with powerful desires, who might suffer greatly through the company he keeps. There are many things he wants, in terms of fame, fortune and perhaps sex, and his desires can sometimes take over, and lead him into a trap. And when Desire climbs into the driving seat, the escalating dangers are often ignored.

Finally, Anand Jon’s trials and tribulations may be part of a wider, collective trend. He’s a Sagittarius, and in less than two weeks Pluto leaves this sign. As I’ve said in other articles, the age of celebrity is coming to an end, and the glamour of fame is fast losing its magic. The celebrity of tomorrow doesn’t just have to be talented, but their conduct must also be above suspicion.

For those that don’t know, the celebrities are placed in the jungle, and are faced with various tasks and ordeals.  And as the weeks progress, the TV audience votes which celebrities are to be eliminated, until there’s only one remaining.

A few of the celebrities will be know to American readers, but most of them have the UK as their fame catchment area.

Martina Navratilova, the tennis champion, is almost certainly the most famous of the celebrities.  She’s a Libran, and female Librans should never be underestimated.   With the Scales being the symbol of this sign, they tend to have a strong sense of justice.  Martina Navratilova also has the Moon in Aries, and in the female chart the Moon is often more important than the Sun.  Aries tends to be dynamic and outspoken, and I’d guess that over the next few weeks British television audiences will be hearing a great deal about her various opinions.

George Takei is probably the second most famous contestant, at least on a international level - he played Mr. Sulu in Star Trek. Unfortunately I can’t say for sure what his star sign is.  He was born on April 20 1937, on the Aries/Taurus interface.  The Sun moved into Taurus early in the day, so this is probably his star sign, but we can’t be sure.  He also has the Moon in Virgo, unless he was born very early in the day, just after midnight.  If he’s indeed got the Moon in Virgo, he might find life in the jungle rather annoying, and he might be quick to pick up on the faults of the other contestants.

Martina Navratilova and George Takei are well-known for being gay, and so’s another contestant, Brian Paddick.  Oxford-educated, and formerly a high-ranking London policeman, he made an unsuccessful bid to be Mayor of London.  Brian Paddick is a Taurus, with Venus in Pisces, and this probably isn’t the best time for him to be heading to the jungle.  Right now he needs peace and quiet, and obviously he’s not going to get this on I’m a Celebrity… Still, the experience might give him a chance to re-evaluate some of his priorities.

Another Taurean contestant is politician and TV personality Robert Kilroy-Silk.  Originally a Labour Member of Parliament, more recently he became a member of the European Parliament, on a eurosceptic ticket.  Yet is was his smooth performance as a chat-show host that made his name.  Robert Kilroy-Silk isn’t afraid of expressing his opinions, and his TV career ran into serious trouble as a result of an article he wrote titled We owe Arabs nothing.  He has a conjunction between Mercury and Jupiter, in Gemini, which boosts his verbal skills, but this conjunction can sometimes encourage people to talk too much.

Then there’s TV veteran Esther Rantzen, who is a Cancerian.  She’s been a household name in the UK since the early 1970s, and she’s know for her advocacy of particular causes - for example consumer and child rights.  She really is a super-Cancerian, with the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in this sign.  The power of her feelings mustn’t be underestimated, though with an Aquarius Moon she’s going to be independent-minded, and if something’s wrong she won’t be too embarrassed to make a fuss.

The show has another Cancerian TV presenter, Dani Behr.  She’s got her Moon in Pisces, so when she makes the effort she can be very good at adapting to her social environment, and in terms of the  audience, she can make an excellent impression.  So unless she sabotages her own performance, I think it unlikely that she’ll be voted off early.

Next there’s Aries singer and songwriter Simon Webbe.  With this star sign I would guess that he gives the impression of being exciting and confident, and because he also has a lot of Pisces planets he’ll have an intuitive understanding of what’s required of him and he therefore should have no difficulty making himself popular.

After that… there’s Cancerian fitness instructor Carly Zucker, who is engaged to a Chelsea football player.  And soap opera actor Joe Swash, born on January 20 1982.  I don’t know what time he was born, so he’s either a Capricorn or an Aquarius.  But his Moon’s in Sagittarius, so all things being equal he looks like being an honest sort of person, who is open about his feelings.  Finally, there’s model Nicola McLean.  And guess what?  I haven’t got a clue what her star sign is.  But being born in 1983 (I think!)  she’s got the planet Jupiter in Sagittarius.  A good sign for Jupiter to be in, and provided the rest of her chart confirms it, she’ll be positive and optimistic.

So, how are the ten contestants going to get on with each other?  I haven’t got the time to analyse the interactions of their various charts, so I’ll just go by their star signs, basing their compatibility ratings on information in this website.

For this purpose, I count George Takei as a Virgo, because that’s almost certainly the sign of his Moon, and I count Joe Swash and Nicola McLean as Sagittarians, because we know for sure that’s the sign of their respective Moon and Jupiter.

Five stars is excellent compatibility, one star is terrible - though I’m not putting anyone in this last category.  And I’m sure, as the show plays out, that some of these compatibility ratings will be short of the mark.  But it’s a bit of fun, isn’t it?

Before I give the compatibilities, a quick reminder about Pluto.  On November 27 it moves from Sagittarius to Capricorn.  Pluto has been in Sagittarius since the mid-1990s, and the sign Sagittarius can be associated with reality TV and celebrity culture.  Once Pluto’s in Capricorn - and it says here until the early 2020s - our obsession with celebrity will come to an end.  Programs such as I’m a Celebrity… Get Me out of Here! will, I believe, become increasingly irrelevant, and somehow out of tune with the times we live in.

Five stars - excellent compatibility

Esther Rantzen - Dani Behr
Esther Rantzen - Carly Zucker
Dani Behr - Carly Zucker
Simon Webbe - Joe Swash
Simon Webbe - Nicola McClean

Four stars - good compatibility

Martina Navratilova - Joe Swash
Martina Navratilova - Nicola McClean
George Takei - Esther Rantzen
George Takei - Dani Behr
George Takei - Carly Zucker
Brian Paddick - Robert Kilroy-Silk
Brian Paddick - Esther Rantzen
Brian Paddick - Dani Behr
Brian Paddick - Carly Zucker
Robert Kilroy - Silk - Esther Rantzen
Robert Kilroy - Silk - Dani Behr
Robert Kilroy-Silk - Carly Zucker.

Three stars - average compatibility

Martina Navratilova - Brian Paddick
Martina Navratilova - Robert Kilroy-Silk
Martina Navratilova - Esther Rantzen
Martina Navratilova - Dani Behr
Martina Navratilova - Simon Webbe
Martina Navratilova - Carly Zucker
George Takei - Brian Paddick
George Takei - Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Robert Kilroy-Silk - Joe Swash
Robert Kilroy-Silk - Nicola McClean
Brian Paddick - Joe Swash
Brian Paddick - Nicola McClean

Two stars - below average compatibility

George Takei - Simon Webbe
George Takei - Joe Swash
George Takei - Nicola McClean
Brian Paddick - Simon Webbe
Robert Kilroy-Silk - Simon Webbe
Esther Rantzen - Simon Webbe
Esther Rantzen - Joe Swash
Esther Rantzen - Nicola McClean
Dani Behr - Simon Webbe
Dani Behr - Joe Swash
Dani Behr - Nicola McClean
Simon Webbe - Carly Zucker
Carly Zucker - Joe Swash
Carly Zucker - Nicola McClean

I am very sorry that I incorrectly predicted that you wouldn’t win yesterday’s Presidential Election. While it’s true that you as a person are going through a wonderfully fortunate period of life, which lasts for a few more months, I always felt that it was the wrong time for a progressive politician to become the President of the United States.

To be more specific, you’re becoming president during a very tricky phase of the twenty-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle, which started in the year 2000. It’s the culmination of the Bush years, which will reach its peak in 2010 and 2011. So in many respects the Bush years will continue, with you as president. You might try to have your great new beginning, but it’s not going to work - the time for new beginnings is 2013 and afterwards.

Put another way, the tide is against liberal, progressive ideas, even though you’ve won the presidency. This might not be immediately apparent, but with Pluto entering Capricorn at the end of the month, we’re entering a conservative era. And if you want to have any chance of going down in history as a great president, you must recognise this.

You won’t make it as a progressive, you have to move to the right. Your left-of-centre associates might been useful on your path to the White House, but they’re now surplus to requirement. Your role models should be Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon, presidents who like you were both elected in ‘eight’ years - 1828 and 1968. You’ve got to be conservative and tough, both at home and abroad. And you probably need to be weary of Congress, even though it’s controlled by your party - you’ll have to control its excesses, and that’s going to be difficult.

Most importantly, you need to recognise that your first term in office is going to be disappointing and perhaps disastrous. From the end of March onwards things will move from bad to worse, and by 2012 you’re going to be one of the most unpopular men in America. In 2010 and 2011 the global economy will go down the pan, and in terms of foreign policy there’ll be significant challenges, that threaten to erode American power in a big way.

The changing of your luck in March 2009 is a big deal. An extremely difficult period starts, which goes on until February 2010. I don’t think there’ll be much you can do, and it’s a time when you need to play safe and avoid risks. Keep your public engagements to a minimum, and avoid dangerous sports.

I would also suggest that from March 2009 through to February 2010 you hire a team of reputable Hindu priests, to do constant yagyas for you. Yagyas are a type of prayer, often use to mitigate a problematic configuration in a horoscope. Obviously you’ve got to be subtle about it, because it might upset your Christian supporters, but I think it’s worth doing.

The problem is connected with the planet Mars. From March 2009 through to February 2010 it becomes a significant factor, and as well as having the yagyas done, you should fast on Tuesdays, because Tuesday is Mars’ special day. If fasting is too much for you, then you should at least refrain from eating meat, and of course you shouldn’t smoke.

From February 2010 the danger does diminish, and you move into a new phase. It still won’t be much fun, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you start giving serious consideration to giving up politics - perhaps you’ll decide it’s too much aggravation, and you won’t want to run for a second term.

Yet in July 2012, just as everyone has written you off, your luck will return, and there’s a real chance that you can win the November 2012 election. But whether or not you win, depends on where you have positioned yourself on the political spectrum. If you’ve successfully abandoned your old allegiances, and you’re on the right of your party, pushing a fairly conservative agenda, then you can win. I know, you’ll have to re-invent yourself, but if you want to go down in the history books as a great president I don’t think you’ll have an option. You can then achieve the kind of greatness that Richard Nixon might have achieved if it hadn’t been for the Watergate Scandal.

That’s probably not a scenario you want to go for. And you might want to keep plugging away, with your progressive agenda. In which case there’s a big problem.

You see, McCain was supposed to win in 2008. The Republicans were supposed to destroy themselves from 2008 to 2012. And the 2012 election was supposed to be the big election - the worst of the economic crisis would be over, and someone like you could have stepped in as the great saviour, in the the FDR mode. But by winning in 2008 rather than 2012 - through the sheer power of your favourably configured horoscope - you’ve ironically wrecked your chances of being the new FDR. Or even the new Bill Clinton. Indeed the platform you’ve just been elected on is not only unworkable, but is also out of the synch with the times.

But 2012 could still be the big election. This year you’ve humiliated the Republicans but you haven’t destroyed them. And unless you move to the right, it’s going to be a crushing Republican victory. And your successor will share your charisma, and they’ll define an era of radical conservatism, that could hold sway over America for a decade or more.

Still, congratulations on your victory, and enjoy the honeymoon period - it should last until the end of March. After that, get the Hindu priests on board, and start dumping your progressive policies. It’s a time for concrete realism rather than vague hope.

All the best,

ELNU

PS The Jupiter-Saturn opposition in 2010 and 2011 won’t only have a bad effect on America. I believe it will also have a devastating impact on Iran, and I believe that in the next few years the Islamic Regime in Iran could lose power, to be replaced by a relatively pro-Western, secular government.   However bad things get for you, this could be your foreign policy trump, that could help win you the 2012 election.

Scorpio Jonathan Ross and Gemini Russell Brand were on a radio show, in which they had arranged to ring up Aries actor Andrew Sachs - who played the Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers. Sachs wasn’t around to take the call, so Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left message on his answering machine, that contained obscene content. Specifically, they talked about Brand’s sexual relationship with Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter.

Andrew Sachs, who is seventy-eight, is someone who is much respected in the UK, and he was therefore a poor choice of target. As a result of the uproar, Russell Brand has resigned from the radio show, and Jonathan Ross has been suspended for twelve weeks without pay.

Jonathan Ross, who was born on November 17 1960, has his Sun in Scorpio making a stressful, ninety-degree aspect to Uranus. Uranus is the planet of shocks and upsets, so it would make sense that he at times likes to be controversial. However the overall chart doesn’t make a lot of sense to me - I don’t know his time of birth, and I don’t know much about him as a person.

However Jonathan Ross, on the face of it, is a serious Scorpio. He doesn’t just have the the Sun in this sign, but also Mercury and Neptune. And he almost certainly has the Moon here, unless he was born before 2.53 am. Here’s a man who values his privacy, with particular reference to his family. He also has a good understanding of ongoing trends - so when anticipating what the public wants, he’ll usually get it right. I suppose that explains his television success - he can be a mirror to popular taste.

Russell Brand’s horoscope is more straightforward. Born on June 4 1975, he has the Sun and Mercury in quick-witted Gemini, and he has the Moon, Mars and Jupiter in Aries. This latter sign tends to act first and think later, and it complements Gemini very nicely. Verbally assertive, also very spontaneous.

In terms of chemistry, it seems likely, in the final analysis, that Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand haven’t been very good for each other, at least in a career sense. In the astrological jargon, there’s a lot of ‘Mars-Saturn synastry’.

Mars and Saturn are two malefic influences, and Brand’s Mars in Aries is making a stressful aspect to Ross’s Saturn in Cancer. Likewise Ross’s Mars in Cancer is conjunct Brand’s Saturn. The end result could be frustrating, for both of them!

Saturn represents limits and boundaries, and this planet has a cycle of just under thirty years. And the two celebrities were born fourteen and a half years apart - which is a half-cycle. Ross’s Saturn is at fifteen degrees of Capricorn, Brand’s Saturn is in the opposite sign, at seventeen degrees Cancer. Saturn is about restriction and limitation, and perhaps they were short-circuiting each other’s boundaries.

Interestingly, Andrew Sachs was born just over thirty years before Jonathan Ross, on April 7 1930. His Saturn is at twelve degrees Capricorn, very close to Jonathan Ross’s own Saturn. Saturn is often seen as the planet of Karma, and perhaps Andrew Sachs had a role to play in the unfolding of Jonathan Ross’s destiny.

However the real meaning of the incident might be collective rather than individual. Pluto has been moving through Sagittarius since the mid-1990s, and during this time we’ve seen reality TV and ‘in your face’ comedy. Indeed, the more outrageous the better! Put plainly, the sign Sagittarius, often associated with outrageous humour, has been massively emphasised.

Yet everything comes to an end, and Pluto is on the verge of moving from Sagittarius to Capricorn - the transition happens at the end of November. Pluto will remain in Capricorn until the early 2020s, and it’s a time that’s going more conservative, and perhaps more respectful. The antics of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand, and the powerful backlash they created, are a sure sign that things are changing. Perhaps one of the last gasps of Pluto in Sagittarius, as an age of moderation and restraint beckons.

However if I am wrong, and Obama does become president, then one has to be aware of the consequences. After a short honeymoon period, Obama will be a major disappointment, at least in his first term. If he has a second term, many of his supporters will feel betrayed - Obama, having learnt the ropes and got the experience, will be more of a Richard Nixon than a Jimmy Carter.

When trying to understand American politics, it’s essential to look at the twenty-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle. Every twenty years there’s a conjunction between these planets, and it’s a new beginning. Then ten years later the planets are opposition each other, and the cycle goes into crisis.

In the year 2000 there was a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. It should have been a brand new beginning, a start of something positive. Yet nothing is guaranteed, and in that year George Bush Junior was elected US president. That presidency has dominated the decade, but now, in 2008, the cycle that started in 2000 is moving into crisis. It’s a crisis that will ebb and flow, but it will hit maximum intensity in 2010 and 2011, and for ordinary people the worst point won’t be until 2012.

So, what does this say about Barack Obama? The George Bush Express began its journey in 2000. George Bush the driver gets off in January 2009, but the train can’t be stopped until 2012 at the earliest. This means that if Obama becomes president, he’s a lame duck before he’s even reached the White House. His big hopes and his big programs won’t come to anything, because he’ll just be responding to the legacy of his predecessor. Not just in terms of the domestic economy, but also in terms of foreign policy. Indeed, having looked at Obama’s horoscope, I believe that more US troops will die in combat under his presidency than under a McCain one.

It follows that Obama will increasingly get the blame for the mistakes of his predecessor, and when the train finally goes off the rails, in 2010 or 2011, it’ll be the current driver that’s vilified, not the old one.

Matters are made worse by the fact that very soon Obama will lose his luck. At the moment, according to his Indian horoscope, he’s going through a lucky phase. In late March 2009 this comes to an end, and he starts a very difficult period, lasting until July 2012. This is a period when few things are going to go right, with the eleven months between March 2009 and February 2010 being particularly dangerous. At this stage in his life, Obama should be involved in quiet contemplation, not leading the free world.

I’m not going to predict whether or not Obama will get a second term. But if he does get re-elected in 2012, his first and second terms will be very different from each other. The first term will be a disappointment, and I doubt Obama will be his own boss - it’ll be the people around him who make most of the decisions. And, with his luck coming to an end, he might find it difficult to engage with his job. It would also be inadvisable for him to make uncontrolled public appearances, and he should avoid unnecessary travelling.

If Obama does get a second term, it’ll be much more successful than his first. It would also be a rarity - in American history, presidents elected in the immediate run up to the Jupiter-Saturn opposition don’t usually have a follow-on term. Yet I can think of two presidents that have managed it - Andrew Jackson (elected in 1828 and 1832) and Richard Nixon (1968 and 1972).

Both Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon were tough players with an autocratic streak. They certainly weren’t weak-willed liberals, and as far as the American constitution allowed, they ruled with an iron fist. So if Obama gets re-elected in 2012, he’ll finally get the hang of the job, and he’ll be able to step out of the shadow of his patrons, advisors and supporters. But this is jumping the gun - Obama’s first term will be so bad, that I think, on balance, he’ll be paving the way for a Republican, rightwing populist. And it might not be Sarah Palin! This new president could set America’s course for a whole generation, and he or she will be the stuff of Democrat nightmares.

I know, I’m whistling in the wind. Everyone loves Obama. But any American of a Democratic and progressive disposition should think very carefully before they vote for Obama. From an astrological point of view, his first term will be a train wreck, through no fault of his own. In the process all the positive programs that he wants to bring into being will come to nothing. Worse still, they might be discredited - because they’ve been brought into the open too early.

Given these circumstances, wouldn’t it be better for John McCain to be elected president in November? Let him drive the train, let him get the blame for the inevitable accident. That way the dream that Obama represents will remain intact, and it won’t be destroyed by the carnage of the next few years. Then in 2012 he can have another shot at the Presidency - or at least be someone else’s running mate. His horoscope will be in much better shape, and the wider astrological picture will be more friendly to a progressive agenda.

On the face of it, Leo and Virgo isn’t a great combination.  Typical Leos are into big gestures, and they often have a high opinion of themselves, while typical Virgos are more focused on the details - it’s the nuts and bolts that matter, not only the grand picture.

However star sign astrology can be too generalised, and one has to look at the broader horoscope.  Madonna has the Moon and Mercury, as well as Pluto, in Virgo, while Guy Ritchie has Mars in Leo.  So the Leo and Virgo energies are strongly entwined, and this surely helped the relationship to flourish.

Still, the star sign is important, and I want to focus on Madonna’s Sun in Leo.  The Sun is a male energy, and in a female horoscope it often represents the ideal man.  So a Leo woman will usually want a powerful partner, who has a strong sense of who they are and where they are going.

Madonna’s first husband, Sean Penn, was a Leo.  He had his Sun at 25 degrees of Leo, which compares with Madonna’s Sun, at 24 degrees of Leo.  Guy Ritchie, of course, doesn’t have a Leo Sun, but his Mars is at 23 degrees of Leo.  And Mars, like the Sun, is a male planet.

So I would guess, at least from Madonna’s perspective, that Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie had things in common with each other, that can be symbolised by the sign Leo.

By the way, the wedding between Madonna and Guy Ritchie took place in Scotland, on December 22 2000.  The horoscope for this wedding is less than perfect, with the Moon being void of course in Scorpio, moving away from a stressful aspect to Saturn.  It’s maybe surprising, purely from an astrological point of view, that the marriage has lasted so long.

As far as timing is concerned, 2008 was always going to be tricky.  Guy Ritchie has his Sun at around 18 degrees of Virgo, while Madonna has her Moon at 19 degrees of this sign.  Since the beginning of the year Uranus has been making an opposition aspect to these points, and it could have been a potentially explosive influence, perhaps with the issue of freedom coming to the surface.

And now, as the autumn unfolds, the planet Saturn is moving towards 18 and 19 degrees of Virgo.  In fact, on November 4 - the same day as the US elections - Saturn and Uranus will form an exact aspect, which is very, very close to Madonna’s Virgo Moon.  So I would advice Madonna, in early November, to make a special effort to relax, and I think she should avoid anything that’s remotely stressful.

Like Nazi Germany, Joerg Haider was an Aquarian.  Yes, types of government can have star signs, and because Hitler came to power on January 30 1933 Nazi Gemini comes under the sign Aquarius.

As astrologers increasingly realise, there’s nothing fluffy or sentimental about the sign Aquarius.  It’s ruled by the sign Saturn, and it can have a cold brutality to it.  And it often doesn’t care about mainstream political opinion.  Aquarians have their own way of looking at the world, and if other people don’t agree that’s their problem.

Having looked at Joerg Haider’s horoscope, he was a man who wore his Karma on his sleeve.  He had Mars, the planet of aggression, conjunct the South Node of the Moon, in Libra.  In astrology the South Node is the line of least resistance, and as he lead his life, conflict must have seemed the easiest option.

The silliest manifestation of this, in his younger days, was using a straw doll for fencing practice - which had Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s name pinned to it.  Libra represents populism, sometimes using fear and stereotypes to gain political support.  In other words appealing to the electorate’s latent xenophobia is the lazy way of making it in politics.

We can then see Joerg Haider’s soul coming into the world on January 26 1950 full of anger and rage, and perhaps being disappointed that the opportunities in post war Austria for fighting real-life battles, with swords, guns and bullets, was zero.  So the aggression got channelled into politics.

As far as his death was concerned, he was running into his second Saturn Return.  Saturn has a twenty-nine year cycle, so fifty-eight can be a critical age.  One has to deal with the consequences of one’s actions, good and bad, and very often the Saturn Return can be an ending.

In Haider’s Indian horoscope, Saturn is ruler of his Eighth House of death.  It’s in the Indian Third House, and the Third House is connected with short journeys.  So death in a car accident fits the bill - apparently he overtook another car, lost control and crashed into a concrete block.

And I should say, that using Indian astrology the period from December 2007 through to July 2010 was always going to be very dangerous, and it’s not surprising that he died when he did.  His fifty-eight year journey was over, it was time for him to move on, to face new challenges.

Don’t be fooled by Gordon Brown’s bounce in the polls.  From the point of view of Indian astrology, luck has turned against him, and in the long-run things can only get worse.  However nothing moves in a straight line, and even the driest of deserts have the occasional oasis.  On September 22, just before his conference speech in Manchester, a window of opportunity started opening, that will last until the end of August 2009.  It will appear that Gordon Brown’s luck has changed, and his standing in the polls is likely to further improve.  However it’s a temporary blip.  After August 29 2009 Gordon Brown’s political fortunes will plunge into the abyss.

This means that Gordon Brown has got until the summer of next year to call an election.  It’s an election he’ll lose, but it won’t be a wipe-out, and he’ll maintain some credibility.  So probably the last reasonable date for an election is June 11 2009.  However from an astrological point of view he would be advised to go for May rather than June.  If I was his astrologer, I would suggest that he went for Thursday May 28.

Nicolas Sarkozy in mortal danger

Astrologers are always weary of predicting death and injury, but looking at French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s horoscope, there’s reason to be worried.  From October 24 2008 through to May 25 2009 his life and well-being are in danger.  Now, that doesn’t mean anything will happen to him.  His presidential position affords him a high level of protection, and hopefully he’ll have a personal astrologer, who will alert him to the problem and offer the right remedies.  Still, it’s a classic death signature, and I would advise Sarkozy to avoid doing anything dangerous, and to steer clear of crowds.  And even if Sarkozy avoids death or physical injury, his political and personal fortunes will almost certainly take a dive.

When will the stock markets stop falling?

I don’t know.  But I think 2009 will be a better year on the markets than 2008.

In the mean time, here are three dates to consider:

October 15.  Mercury, after three weeks of moving backwards, starts going forward.

October 18. Venus moves from Scorpio to Sagittarius. Scorpio’s not the greatest sign for Venus to be in.  Sagittarius is more optimistic.

November 4. Mercury moves out of Libra, Saturn’s sign of exaltation.  As a result, Saturn, the planet of pessimism, loses a lot of strength.

So over the next few weeks the picture should slowly improve.  And perhaps the US presidential election will be a positive for the markets, whoever wins.

Henry VIII was not someone to mess with, and he wasn’t particularly forgiving.  Most importantly, he was a dangerous person to marry - of his six wives, two had their heads chopped off, for alleged adultery.  Their supposed lovers suffered a similar or worse fate.

But I’m digressing.  The sign Cancer can be very emotional, and Cancerians tend to have high expectations of their partners.  Also, they can find it difficult to let go.  Indeed, Cancerians have a sentimental streak, and links with the past can be very important to them.  Which takes us to O.J. Simpson’s recent conviction, for robbery and kidnapping.

Last year, O.J. Simpson and others entered a hotel room in Las Vegas, and at gunpoint took O.J. Simpson memorabilia from a memorabilia dealer.  O.J. Simpson claimed that the memorabilia belonged to him.  This is a key point.  The memorabilia were a part of his life, a part of his history, and as a Cancerian he wanted it back.  I hope, when it comes to sentencing, that the court takes into account O.J. Simpson’s star sign.  Assuming his appeals fail.

As has been widely reported, O.J. Simpson was convicted in Las Vegas exactly thirteen years after his acquittal for the murdering of his wife - the conviction was on October 3 2008, the acquittal on October 3 1995.

Thirteen years is the amount of time it takes for Pluto to go through a sign, at this stage in its cycle.  When O.J. Simpson was acquitted in 1995 the planet Pluto was at 28 degrees and 40 minutes of Scorpio.  When he was convicted thirteen years later, it was at 28 degrees and 39 minutes of Sagittarius.  The conviction isn’t about O.J. Simpson, or perhaps even about his Karma.  It’s about the tail-end end of a collective obsession.

To be more specific, Pluto’s movement through Sagittarius, since 1995, has been about an obsession with celebrity.

Celebrities are different, and they’re people to be emulated.  I don’t know whether or not O.J. Simpson killed his wife, but his celebrity status might well have had an impact on the 1995 verdict.  Pluto was on the verge of moving from Scorpio to Sagittarius, and it was a taste of things to come.  Now, in 2008, Pluto is about to move into Capricorn.  Society will become more serious, and celebrity status won’t cut so much ice.

And the picture is looking worse. Yesterday’s Independent on Sunday reported a Swedish study, indicating that use of a mobile phone increases a child’s risk of brain cancer five times.

Surely, that’s very serious? We’re not talking about some vague correlation. We’re talking about a massively increased chance of getting cancer, that should be influencing parents’ behaviour.

As the article says:

Professor Hardell told the conference – held at the Royal Society by the Radiation Research Trust – that “people who started mobile phone use before the age of 20″ had more than five-fold increase in glioma”, a cancer of the glial cells that support the central nervous system. The extra risk to young people of contracting the disease from using the cordless phone found in many homes was almost as great, at more than four times higher.

I’m not a scientist, but from my limited medical knowledge, the situation could get a lot worse. Cancer can take decades to develop, and it’s only been in the last five or ten years that children have been routinely using mobile phones. So it might not be for another ten or twenty years that we see the full picture.

The cancers shown up in the study are perhaps the first cases, and we shouldn’t forget that younger and younger children are using mobile phones; and because call costs are falling, they’re using them for longer and longer periods. So what might the real figure be, for an increased risk of brain cancer? Ten times? Twenty times? Fifty times?

It seems to me strange that mobile phones are being treated differently from cigarettes. It took a long time for scientists to work out the linkage been cigarettes and cancer - it wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that this linkage was widely accepted. Yet even in the glory days of the cigarette, children weren’t encouraged to smoke, and in the 1930s my mother got into serious trouble when she was caught smoking at school. So many of today’s parents are quite happy for their child to waltz off to school with a mobile phone glued to their ear, but would throw a fit if they discovered that that same child was smoking a couple of cigarettes a week behind the proverbial bike sheds.

Of course we don’t know for sure that there’s a linkage between mobile phones and cancer. Scientific studies can be flawed, sample selections can be biased. But I’ve a gut feeling that we’ve got a problem on our hands. And while children are going to be most vulnerable, we also have to think about the impact on the adult population.

As far as timing is concerned, Uranus’ movement into Aries is important. Uranus is the planet of shocks, and it also has a possible connection with radiation, because of its association with the radioactive metal uranium. Aries is the planet that rules the head, and it’s this part of the body which is most vulnerable to the kind of radiation produced by mobile phones.

Uranus moves into Aries in 2010, and it stays in this sign, on and off, until 2019. If mobile phones cause cancer - and right now the evidence isn’t looking good - it’s at this stage, I believe, that the wider public will become aware of the problem.

At the moment, of course, the evidence is being largely ignored. It’s just statistics, it may be wrong, we’ve all got to die some time… besides, what would I do without my mobile? Yet from 2010 to 2019, a brain tumour epidemic might start in earnest, and the penny could drop. In which case the class action suits will snowball, and the whole mobile phone industry could be in danger of collapse.

Radium dials, tobacco, thalidomide, asbestos… are mobile phones going to be added to the list of mankind’s dreadful blunders with its health? Hopefully I’m being alarmist, and science has finally learnt its lesson. But with Uranus soon moving into Aries I would suggest that you don’t take a chance on it.