The debacle of the Leeds United trial and the resignation of Sunday Mirror editor Colin Myler brought a remarkable twist of fate for Tina Weaver. The way a thing begins often shows the seeds of its future, so will her editorship be subject to the same lawless upsets?

The good news is that she takes over at a time when her horoscope (June 17 1965) is on a lucky Jupiter high, and nothing could indicate more strikingly that she just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. Weaver is a street-wise, net- working Gemini, a sign perfectly at home in the fast, shifting world of the press, a media Queen with a tabloid background. She has all the smartness of the Gemini twins, coupled with the toughness of aggressive Mars square to her Sun in the hard- working sign of Virgo. This can make her highly strung and prone to sudden, ratty arguments when she is stressed out. Astrologer Isabelle Pagan says of this Gemini quality, " there is always a strong desire to be 'in the running' - in the very centre of things; and if these people find themselves in any way inferior to those around them, and are consequently compelled to take a back seat, they feel very sore and ill-used - and show it." ('From Pioneer to Poet').

Her big rival on the Sundays is Rebekah Wade at News Of The World, and as the only women editors left amongst the nationals, comparisons are inevitable. Since Wade is another magpie Gemini (May 27 1968), we can expect fun and 'coincidences' as these two second-guess each other's headline-grabbing moves. There is, however, a huge difference between them.

Weaver's horoscope is not fully typical of Gemini because it contains gallons of emotional water, giving her a strongly humane touch and making her super-sensitive to other people's needs. This compassion for the suffering of others is not common in horoscopes connected to the tabloids - Wade has no water at all - but it seems to motivate Tina Weaver more than outsiders might imagine. Her watery Venus in Cancer gives her a populist, caring instinct and tunes her in to the human interest side of any story, with such scoops as the Blairs' Baby and Michael Jackson's marriage. This fits well with the Sunday Mirror, a watery Pisces with origins in The Sunday Pictorial (March 14 1915), but it does mean that Weaver can go soft at the wrong moment. As she goes with the flow it will be difficult for her to forge the distinct identity which the paper needs now. She has no planets in fire, so although she can pull off Gemini tricks, taking risks and playing a dangerous game does not suit her and Wade beats her hands down in the dare-devil department.

Enter Piers Morgan. Although he has a watery Pisces Moon, he is a fiery, courageous Aries with a pioneering spirit that makes up for Weaver's missing fire. The astrology suggests that she will need support from his nerves of steel, especially when she hits her first Saturn crisis this August, and when self-doubt and panic over the ABCs affect her adversely and test her authority in August 2002.

When the going gets tough, Geminis get going, usually as far away as possible from the trouble. This is the Peter Pan sign that wants to stay forever young and forever foolish, and often, just at the point of achieving what they want, their innate duality makes the Twins question whether they do want it after all. For Tina Weaver, the either-or, hot-and-cold Gemini games are over; the main astrological connection between her and the Sunday Mirror puts weighty, heavy-duty Saturn onto her Sun. It's the call of destiny, and the test is whether or not she has the gravitas to carry it off.