That old bear Rupert is having a curious time as enchanting Neptune crosses over his Venus this November. Add this planet of miracles to Venus, goddess of love, and the result is his love child Grace, born in New York on the evening of November 19. Neptune guarantees that Dad will idolise and idealise this child, and since she probably has sunny Leo rising, Grace is a little ray of sunshine to warm an old man's heart.

As she gets older, expect Grace to be a true Corporate Miss when the ambitious and controlling qualities of her Scorpio Sun and Capricorn Moon begin to kick in. She has a lot of powerful Scorpio, a sign associated with life's mysteries, especially the cycles of birth, death and transformation. This suits someone born under the shadow of a remote and dominating father, in the last phase of his life as her own young life unfolds. Magnetic Scorpios also attract dramatic emotional responses from others, just by being who they are, and the jealousy attached to this last born father's darling could play a big part in her early years. The Capricorn Moon shows a burden of responsibility for the family dynasty, and whatever her other dreams, she is destined to take up her father's mantle.

Astrologers suggest that the Sun-Scorpio and Moon-Capricorn pairing is "the most intensely purposeful and ambitious combination in the zodiac...(with) a natural gift for regeneration, be it of people, laws, buildings, companies or indeed countries." Such an individual has "an innate sense of strategy" and the ability to "anticipate and manipulate others' perceptions". They are devoted to the well-being of their family "with the ferocity of a mother bear." (Charles & Suzi Harvey Sun Signs, Moon Signs).

But not too soon. With a big bunch of rebellious Aquarian planets, Grace has a mind of her own and the astrology plays a classic rebel teens theme, with the possibility of her hitching up to an outrageous man as the perfect way to free herself from her father's shadow. The Murdoch managers won't have to worry too much, though. Corporate structures are in Grace Murdoch's DNA, so even if she takes time out, she should get back on the family track in her mid-twenties.

All this, of course, is pure astrological speculation, but in the here-and-now there is one undoubted piece of heavenly poetry. Grace has been born under a major astrological configuration that is currently marking out the turmoil in America and the threat of global recession - the opposition of restrictive Saturn and abysmal Pluto. It is a haunting planetary combination, symbolising fear of the unknown, and an undermining of all stable structures. It comes along every thirty-five years or so and sets a dark mood for the times. Strikingly, Rupert was born on this same configuration, way back in 1931, at the height of the Great Depression. These are tough times for media corporations, so it has to be a sign of regeneration, and a mark of Grace for Murdoch and his empire, that his new child is born, with a new spirit, in New York.