With floods and earthquakes and tsunamis, there’s a lot more to worry about in the world lately than the lives of talk show hosts and movie directors. But just the same, these lives do get media coverage and people do get interested in them. These lives also give us a chance to take a look at how transits can affect people, sometimes in dramatic fashion.

David Letterman’s transit of note is Pluto square Mars. Hopefully, you will not be blackmailed if you go through this transit (not everyone does), but it’s usually quite the challenge, to put it mildly. The astrological symbolism of Letterman’s situation is fairly straightforward. (Click here to see Letterman’s chart on astro.com. )

Letterman has his Mars in Aries in the 12th house. Mars is a symbol of, among other things, a person’s sex drive or sex life. The 12th house is a symbol of secrets or things you keep private and hidden from view. It is also an area vulnerable to hidden enemies. Pluto in Capricorn is greatly concerned with reputation. Pluto tends to destroy (or at least try to) when squaring by transit. Pluto can also be a symbol for crime and criminals.

Hence, a fairly easy astrological equation: A hidden enemy uses criminal means to try to destroy Letterman’s reputation by revealing the secrets of his sex life.

This Pluto square Mars transit attacked publicly starting right before Pluto went direct and it is near its end. Seems unlikely but it’s possible this matter will largely fade away within a few weeks or so.

Polanski’s situation is more ambiguous. (Click here to see Polanski’s chart.) He’s got Neptune in opposition to his sun these days, which is ambiguous enough to begin with. This is not a happy transit, but it doesn’t usually put you in jail. Meanwhile, Neptune is also trine his Mars in Libra, which is a happy transit.

Uranus in Pisces is making a yod (sometimes called the eye of God) with those same sun and Mars placements, which only makes things more complicated. Even more ominously, Polanski is undergoing a transit in which Uranus in Pisces opposes his natal Jupiter and Venus. Uranus, the planet of surprise, apparently pounced in an attack on his freedom (Jupiter). Given that the crime was more than 30 years ago, you’d think at least one planet could have pounced earlier than this, but apparently not.

Meanwhile, Saturn had moved into his 12th house at the time of the arrest and was squashing his Venus. Saturn in the 12th house doesn’t throw most people into jail, but then most people haven’t plead guilty to unlawful intercourse with a minor and then fled the country. If you have plead guilty to a crime, Saturn in the 12th house of confinement will do its best to put you away.

On the other hand, Uranus is also going to be making a trine with his moon and his Pluto in Cancer. (They’re conjunct by the way, one astrological indication of the death of his wife at the hands of the Manson family.) Uranus will be stationing in December, so perhaps more surprises are afoot. The whole thing is rather messy from astrological standpoint, but it’s probably not going to get any less public, given that his Pluto and moon are so elevated in his chart.

Of course, the irony is that he landed in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award. I suppose no one thought that his ‘achievements’ included the sex charge.