I Spy With My Little Eye...

This is going to be a sloppy, gossipy little tidbit about Galileo. I've been given precise information from off of his own charts as he himself wrote them down and I still can't figure out his birth time. It's either Feb. 15, 1564 Pisa Italy or Feb. 16, 1564. I guess he saw himself as having 14 Leo Rising if born on the 16th, so I'm game, I'll go with that. Although I prefer the Feb. 15 chart with Libra Rising. I'm rambling already.

Here's the thing. Galileo played around with all kinds of inventions and gadgets like your basic Aquarius and one night while he was fooling around with his newly ground telescope lens he discovered 3 tiny little orbs around Jupiter. In the next few days these little orbs moved and he discovered a fourth one on the 4th day. Sounds Biblical. Well, actually, the Bible, or rather the Church, is what got him in trouble with the Holy Romans because by noticing that these little orbs orbiting around Jupiter, he reaffirmed what Copernicus had said earlier about the Earth revolving around the Sun (I think 20 years earlier, Galileo had a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction so 20 years fits (Jupiter & Saturn conjunct every 20 years)). And eventually Galileo was accused of being a heretic, another basic Aquarius quirk.

So, yay, the Moons gravitate around Jupiter. Thing is, another guy, a Bavarian named Simon Marius claimed to have discovered the same thing on pretty much the same day. Galileo got credit for the discovery but I thought I would check their charts to check for clues to see if this really was some kind of incredible coincidence. Guess those guys were all into telescopes in those days, even the Capricorns. Galileo actually rushed to publish his discovery 2 months later so I kind of get the feeling he knew about his competition. Fortunately for him, Capricorns are slow.

Galileo Galilei
b. Feb. 15, 1564 22:30 after sunset or Feb. 16, 1564 around 4PM Pisa, Italy

Simon Marius
b. Jan. 10, 1573 Gunzenhausen, Bavaria

Funnily enough, both men may have had Moon in Sagittarius (Jupiter rules Sagittarius, so maybe they were simpatico with its moons). Marius had a Yod in his chart so of course nobody ever gave him credit for anything, it's part of the Yodal experience that everything is always just out of reach. How starlike. On the dates of discovery, Mars, Venus and Mercury were all in Sagittarius. Jupiter was conjunct Uranus in Gemini opposite them and trining Saturn in Aquarius. Good star gazing weather astrologically, guess the skies weren't too cloudy considering it was dead of Winter

Galileo's discovery of the first 3 Moons was on Jan. 7, 1610. He discovered the fourth four days later. By Funky astro coincidence there was a total Lunar Eclipse on Jan. 9, 1610 12:43 pmUT Saros No. 118. So the Sun was opposite the Moon and they were both conjunct the Nodes at 18 Cancer/Capricorn. Fated occurances. Galileo had natal NN at 7 Capricorn. Marius had natal NN at 14 Cancer so they were looped into the energy.

Sun and Mars will indicate whether people are in competition with each other. Marius' Mars was at 27 Aquarius conjunct Galileo's natal Sun at 26 Aquarius. Not only that but Marius' progressed Sun and progressed Mercury were conjunct at 28 Aquarius on his natal Mars. So, his progressed Sun was conjunct Galileo's natal Sun. So, yes, they were in competition with each other.

Galileo went on to discover in September of that same year that Venus goes through phases like the Earth's Moon. He had a Venus-Pluto conjunction in Pisces natally. And, with the Leo Rising chart, his progressed Venus and t. Pluto were conjunct in his 10th house, just past the MC.

Galileo was going through his Uranus opposition this year. (Oh yeah, that year). This is the Divorce aspect and I guess this was the same year that he broke up with his mistress who had given birth to three of his children, one of which was the Nun who is written about in Galileo's Daughter. I didn't read the book but just saw the movie.

There's more but I'm just very restless these days. Guess the Mars-Uranus-NN conjunction is just wrecking my concentration.

Yousef Karsh

It seems like a good time to stick this guy in.

Yousef Karsh
b. Dec. 23, 1908 Mardin, Turkey

Karsh was born in Turkey, like Arshile Gorky. He was a brilliant portraiturist (is that a word?) like Gorky, but his medium was photography. Karsh also had a chart a lot like Len Cutler, the guy who invented the Atomic Clock.

Sun 2 Capricorn; Moon Sagittarius or Capricorn; NN 26 Gemini

Karsh photographed all the great and famous people of his time. His images of them are very will known and easy to take for granted. I saw an exhibit of the photographs up close and a few months ago and couldn't believe how brilliant they are in real life. He shot a very famous portrait of Winston Churchill (among others) in dramatic blacks and whites. The poses are generally extremely formal but there is always a life force in the subjects' gaze that just really struck me. Churchill sits there like a huge black coat, so large that you sort of confuse positive space with negative space, but his face is there completely human.

Karsh's Sun is the first thing to notice. It's conjunct Mercury on an Aries Point. For what it's worth he's got a Cazimi Mercury. His Capricorn Sun is opposite Pluto, though, same as the guy who invented the Atomic Clock. His eye (Sun) knew how to time (Capricorn, Saturn) the lens (Mercury) of his subject which was mostly famous people (PLuto). This sense of timing is amplified ten fold by Sun-Mercury-maybe Moon square Saturn. Timing, Timing, timing. How did he get those shots anyway? Timing, timing, timing. To add to this, there was a Solar Hybrid Eclipse on Dec. 23, 1908 4:44am. That's a hell of a Sun-Mercury-maybe Moon combination.

Karsh had an opposition of Neptune (photography) to Uranus (innovation). Neptune in Cancer opposition Uranus in Capricorn. This expands out into a boat shape with a string of sextiles: Neptune sextile Jupiter 15 Virgo sextile Mars 19 Scorpio sextile Uranus. This shows great talent in the arts and technology.

Arshile Gorky

One of my favorite portraits of all time is the one that Arshile Gorky painted from a black and white photograph of himself and his mother. There are two of these paintings, actually, along with some drawings. They are both elegant and warm and full of love and sorrow. As a viewer I can feel that each line and shape and color was picked after much deliberation. The expressions on the faces is absolutely haunting. Gorky's Mother died of starvation in the Armenian Genocide in 1919 and he immigrated to the U.S. with his Sister to be with his father in 1920. Gorky began painting both these portraits in 1926 and worked on one for 10 years and the other until 1942. It certainly seems that this was a way for him to keep his mother in his life.

In 1926, Gorky's prog. Venus (women, art) was on the last degree of Aries, trining Uranus and sextiling Neptune. It then progressed into its own sign of Taurus. I can see how that would be a great set-up for starting a major life project especially through art. T. Jupiter was conjunct natal Saturn and opposing natal Neptune in Leo. That shows more of a serious attitude toward creating a life plan, Neptune in Leo would be great for an artistic or risky type of business. He was going through a Uranus square which also involved the Nodal axis and was moving into conjunction with natal Venus. And, of course, Gorky was one of the great innovators in Abstraction of the 20th century. Portrait painting wasn't his main subject matter.

My initial goal for this exercise was to try to understand the astrological transits behind a really great portrait. (That's of course impossible but I just wanted to check it, okay? So chill.)

Arshile Gorky
b. Apr. 15, 1904 Khorkom, Turkey

Sun 26 Aries; Moon probably in Aries; North Node 28 Virgo

First off, I'm interested in seeing that a Double Aries is responsible for painting a Portrait. Aries is the side of the Aries-Libra relationship pole which "does its own thing" and doesn't think about "The Other." That's Libra's job and one would expect a strong showing of Libra in a portrait painter's chart. Aries is the "I" in the "I-Thou" theories. Yet, Goya was an Aries and he was also one of the great Portrait Painters. So was Van Dyck. And of course you can really see the Aries struggle to perceive 'The Other" in Vincent Van Gogh's portraits. In Art, the biggest struggles are often what leads to the biggest successes whereas in relationships they often lead to divorce. So, this is something to ponder, maybe someday look for an answer. When I try to think of famous Libra painters I can only think of Bonnard who painted interiors and landscapes and nudes.

Moon rules the Mother, and since there is no birth time (the birth date might actually not be accurate) we don't have an exact position for the Moon. Gorky's Venus and Jupiter were also in Aries, and the combination of both female planets in this sign shows that women (Venus,Moon) came first (Aries) for him. Moon in Aries is also a sign that shows rash emotions and extreme, raw feelings. Highly creative, intuitive, but can also be selfish, acting on one's own impulses without considering the needs of others. So, you know, it's your basic artist genius type.

Gorky's chart was bowl shaped, bounded by an out of sign opposition of Uranus in Sagittarius and Neptune in Cancer. Bob Marks gives a great description of bowl shape personalities (www.bobmarksastrologer.com). This seems like a good aspect for a portrait painter as it creates a need for a person to look outside of himself for answers. Maybe creates a need and an emotional bond to a sitter. This opposition of Jupiter and Uranus expands out into an out-of-sign Grand Square involving his Virgo-Pisces Nodal Axis and very close to the Aries Points and Venus 3 Aries-SN. Grand Square people, as I've mentioned before usually have a lot of energy to deal with problems which is great because a lot seems to happen to them. In addition, Saturn and Pluto are in trine aspect which even in the trine can show a weightiness and seriousness to a person's outlook.

Mars at 7 Taurus is conjunct Mercury at 14 Taurus. Taurus is one of the signs that indicates artistic talent. Mars is dispositor for all the Aries planets. Mercury's progression follows Gorky's career in that it went Retrograde by Progression the year after he moved to America and turned out of retrograde in 1944 when his life literally began to fall apart. Over a few years, a fire destroyed his studio, he got cancer, he broke his neck in a car crash, his arm was paralyzed, and his wife had an affair with a good friend and then left him (and the friend). He is said to have wailed in pain all night on Isamu Noguchi's doorstep. Gorky hanged himself in July, 1948. T. Jupiter and Uranus were opposing each other and aspecting his natal Grand Square. So, he was going through a very difficult Uranus opposition. T.Neptune was just moving out of orb with this Grand Square (his life literally dissolved). Also both t.Saturn and t.Pluto were within orb of opposing natal Saturn, a major depressor. Progressed Sun and Progressed Mars had been traveling in conjunction in Gemini for a long time and the conjunction was exact when Gorky committed suicide. The T.North Node was inbetween conjunction with Mercury and Mars. These are the dispositors of his Sun and natal North Node.

Gone Fishing

I've followed a blog for more than a year that's kept by Painter named Karen Winters. The link is at www.karensblog.com. Karen paints every day and shares her work and her progress and her insights which are always amazing. Today's entry is extremely insightful about painting.

I used to paint a great deal and used to tell people that painting is probably more like fishing than any other activity because you just have to go out and do it and sometimes you catch a little fish, sometimes you don't catch anything, and sometimes you land the big barracuda. I would like to quote the whole entry but don't know how that works with copyright. So please check out today's entry.

Fishing and Painting both are ruled at least in part by Neptune. Karen compares how both the best times to fish and the best times to paint are at dawn and at twilight, the moments right before the point where the Sun Rises and Sets. These moments are indicated by the 6th and 12th houses of the chart. 6th house is ruled by Virgo and 12th house is ruled by Pisces and is Neptune's house. Karen also says that you must quit work on a painting when you think that it is 70 or 80 percent finished. This is also indicates a Neptunian influence, as well as a Mutable sign influence overall, because these are the signs that come right before the angles in a chart. They indicate endings. The Angles indicates the Cardinal Signs. The Ascendant in a chart is indicated by 6am and the Descendant is indicated by 6pm for the Sign which the Sun is in. (This is adjusted for latitudes and longitudes). If you are born during the sign of Taurus at 6am Greenwich Time, you will be born when the Sun is on the Ascendant and so will be a Double Taurus. If you are born under the Sign of Pisces at 6am, well, then, you'd better learn how to cast a fly and load a brush because you'll be a Double Pisces. And there's no escaping that unless you're my cousin who's a Double Pisces and ended up a Dentist. (But he spends all his vacations sailing his boat - Neptune).

Cadmium Red

Today a little story. I went to a lecture once about the artist Philip Guston. An old friend had written his biography and was sharing Philip Guston stories. Born in Canada, moved to Los Angeles when still a kid. His art was heavily influenced by Cartoons and is full of surreal imagery of boots and cigarettes and self-portraits and trash. His early work makes political comments about the Ku Klux Klan. It's often mostly Black & White linework with Red stroked in.

This Red he was into, apparently Guston was really, really into it. He asked to be buried with a tube of Cadmium Red paint because he loved the stuff so much. If you've ever painted with Cadmium Red you know what a powerful pigment it is. Mars rules Red. I thought I'd check his chart for Cadmium Red Fervor indicators. I'm really not in the mood for anything deep today. Sorry, Philip Guston, may you not roll over in disgust and squish your only remaining tube of paint. You really do deserve better, but, like I said, I'm just too lazy right now.

Philip Guston
b. July 27, 1913 Montreal, Canada

Sun 5 Leo; Moon probably in Taurus; NN 26 Pisces

Sun opposite Uranus in Aquarius; NN in Pisces trining ruler of Pisces, Neptune (at least his chart is maxed out on professional artist indicators)

Mars at 29 Taurus. Shit, Tauruses like Art but I think they may prefer Green. I'm not sure what color is Taurus, but it's not Red. This is going to be tougher than I thought. I must penetrate deeper...

Okay, no planets in Aries. I don't know what houses he's got, so that avenue is blocked off. Don't make me look up Midpoints. I still don't know Midpoints... I'm not that desperate.

Hey, wait, we don't need Midpoints. It's Pluto! Pluto rules deep Reds like, say, Cadmium Red Deep. Mars would rule Cadmium Red Light, a more orangy type of Red. And Pluto, deep, powerful, penetrating, sultry, sexy Pluto is at 0 Cancer, an Aries Point. If you have a planet at the Aries Point that quality will come before the public easily. Philip Guston's Pluto brings him forward in the world, brings Fame. Pluto is even squaring his North Node. A painter (Pisces NN) with an obsession (Pluto) for a certain color (Pluto's color) is famous (Pluto) for painting with said color. Dude's even buried with it! Cancer is natural ruler of the 4th house which rules beginning and end of life issues, like graves and burials.

And if you actually look at Guston's subject matter you can see the Pluto influence as well, say covert terrorist organizations and trash and cigarettes and disembodied heads, probably a bit more important point to make. And, actually, there's a Fixed Star at the end of Taurus, very unfortunate, has to do with loosing one's head, this is where Guston's Mars is, and maybe even his Moon.

"There She Is..."

Great transiting Uranus-NN story about the Miss America from 1944, Venus Ramey. She's now 82 and living on her farm in Kentucky. On April 13, she caught a couple of burglers trying to steal old farm equipment, fetched her rifle and shot out the tires on their truck so they couldn't get off the property. Ramey would seem the perfect victim. An old lady living by herself, uses a walker and a couple of dogs to get around. Ha!

Venus Ramey.
b. Sept. 26, 1924 Ashland, KY

Sun 4 Libra (unaspected); Moon either in Leo or Virgo; NN 23 Leo.

Interesting that with a name like Venus, she's got Sun and Venus in mutual reception. Venus also conjuncts her North Node. And her Sun is unaspected. Venus di Milo. Venus of Willendorf. Venus in the backwoods of Kentucky taking no shit from nobody. This is one Miss America who has earned her Crown in triplicate.

The stars show a highly activated chart. Venus is going through a Jupiter Return in Sagittarius; her Uranus Return in Pisces and Neptune opposite her natal Leo Neptune. Boy, I hope all the octogenarians are like this, the world could use more of this grace and panache.

So, this means that natally Ramey has Uranus in Pisces squaring Jupiter in Sagittarius. This expands out into a t-square with Mercury opposite Uranus. This gives Ramey some Attitude. (I can't capitalize the "A" on Attitude enough.) It's just oh-so-cool that the transiting Nodes are also aspecting this t-square across the Uranus-Mercury opposition. Ramey used her Miss America reign to fight for the Suffrage Movement, a spokesperson for equal rights.

In addition, the Saturn-Neptune opposition is conjunct Ramey's Nodal axis and all the planets that conjunct that. She has natal North Node conjunct Neptune and Venus in Leo. That's a Beauty Queen aspect if you ever wanted to see one! Mars is conjunct her South Node. She reached for that gun (Mars) as if by instinct (South Node). She was the first (Mars) Redheaded (Mars) Miss America.

The transiting and progressed Sun aspects are also aspected significantly. T. Sun was conjunct natal Chiron in Aries. Progressed Sun is within 2 degrees (27 Sagg) of transiting Pluto (29 Sagg). both trining & sextiling the transiting Saturn in Leo plus all the natal aspects. Centaur aspects. Aim Low and Shoot Straight Venus. What an Inspiration!

Venus Retrograde

Here's a link to a really great article on Venus Retrogrades by Deena Grier: http://www.astrologymontreal.com/articles/venus_retro.htm. It's based on Erin Sullivan's book about Retrogrades which I've got stuffed in a storage unit somewhere. (H2 rules storage units and is ruled by Venus, I've turned into the official Rex Bills Rulership Book Dork).

Venus retrogrades every 18 months. The retrograde period can last more than half a year (clearly described in the link).

Then there's an interesting 8 year cycle that is formed because Venus Retrogrades in the same sign every 8 years.

Each of these Venus stations is 72 degrees away from the last. This is a Quintile Aspect. So somehow Venus Retrogrades are linked to the 5th Harmonic. They're thought to be a spiritual aspect, both creative and destructive. Sounds a lot like Venus to me, especially when you think of her in relation to Helen of Troy and that Rilke Elegy where Rilke says that he doesn't really care about seeing angels because their beauty would probably destroy him. I checked and Rilke did not have Venus Retrograde, nor did it go Retro during his lifetime.The descriptions I've found of that aspect are vague psycho booga. These oddball aspects are impossible to find without a computer so nobody's really paid attention to them all that much.

This movement around the chart creates a 5 pointed star pattern. Pretty Spirograph stuff. I think it's also a Pentagram. Huh, well there ya go. The Blessed Curse.

Rough Notes on 1776

The year 1776 keeps coming up as a significant year for New Beginnings in Society so I thought I'd take a look at basic information of what was going on that year. Here's a link to some copper gravures of the sky in 1776 by a Frenchman named Jean Fortin (1750-1831), very beautiful: http://www.pbase.com/henkbril/1776. This is a very rough and incomplete list. It's Tax Day and I'm feeling very very taxed and this is all I'm gonna do.

The Significant events that I'm aware of are:

Signing of the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA, late in the afternoon.

Publishing of Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Founding of Modern Economics Theory. (no birth date, Astrotheme gives Apr. 5, 1723 but I have no clue where they got this date from as no one else will commit to it. All I've found is that Smith was born after his Father died in January 1723 and baptized on June 5, 1723)

Publishing of History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by James Gibbon. The similarity of American Culture to Roman culture is pretty amazing. Gibbon gives the reasons for the Fall of the Roman empire, laziness and softness due to outsourcing. Sounds familiar. Why is Enlightenment so fleeting?

The Outer Planet placements for Jan. 1, 1776:

Jupiter 14 Gemini Rx; Saturn 21 Libra; Uranus 4 Gemini Rx; Neptune 25 Virgo; Pluto 26 Capricorn; NN 17 Leo; Chiron 12 Aries

The Outer Planet placements for Dec. 31, 1776:

Jupiter 22 Cancer; Saturn 2 Scorpio; Uranus 8 Gemini; Neptune 28 Virgo; Pluto 28 Capricorn; NN 28 Cancer; Chiron 16 Aries

The North Node placement in Cancer at the end of the year seems significant for Founding a Nation as Cancer is the sign associated with Patriotism, Home, Hearth, Borders. Pluto was conjunct the South Node at the end of the year.

There was an Earth Trine between Neptune in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn the entire year. A feeling (water) of spiritual harmony (trine) that can be expressed in Nature and the Real World (Earth).

ECLIPSES

Here are the Eclipses I've found. There seems to be something significant about each one in terms of its placement in its Saros Series.

In July there was an Eclipse of historical note called James Cook's Lunar Eclipse. This was first in a series of 4 James Cook Eclipses that occurred over the next year. Link to NASA's information about this eclipse and others of historical note (including significant ones of the Roman Empire which might be important because this is the year that Gibbon's book was published: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEhistory/LEhistory.html

Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of Saros 120:
Feb. 4, 1776 14:30
most current Lunar Eclipse of this series happened on: June 15, 1992 4:57
next Lunar Eclipse of this series will happen on: June 26, 2010 11:38

Eclipse of Sun to Jupiter, Cazimi Jupiter at around 3-4 degrees Cancer
June 24, 1776 12:02 pm Philadelphia, PA?

Lunar Eclipse of Saros 125, James Cook's Lunar Eclipse
Jul 31, 1776 00:02
most current Lunar Eclipse of this series happened on: Dec. 9, 1992 23:44
next Lunar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Dec. 21, 1010 08:17
This eclipse is interesting in that it was the first after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and is maybe a Lunar Return Chart for the DOI's chart: It has 9 Aquarius Moon. It also has South Node at 7 Aquarius with Sun conjunct North Node in Leo. It also has 20 Sagittarius Rising which is close to the Rising Sign for the Sibley chart. In this way, it reinforces that energies of that chart.

First Solar Eclipse of Saros 151:
Aug. 14, 1776 5:22:56
most current Solar Eclipse of this series happened on: Dec. 24, 1992 00:31:41
next Solar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Jan. 4. 2011 08:51:42

Shortest Total Solar Eclipse of Saros 4:
Nov. 30, 1776 07:41:49
most current Solar Eclipse of this series happened on: Jul. 23, 1992 04:03:17
next Solar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Jul. 12, 2010 20:41:58

Well, here's an interesting addendum to what I wrote about the eclipses. I have since purchased professional software which shows all the eclipses that occurred and 1776 and 1777 are exceptional in that they both had 6 eclipses a year. Usually there are 4 per year.

Here's a list, complete, no doubt, with typos.

Jan 21, 1776, 3:02am, Solar Partial, Saros 108
Feb. 4, 1776 2:30pm Lunar Total, Saros 120
Feb. 19, 1776 1:20pm Solar Partial, Saros 146
July 15, 1776 3:39pm Solar Partial, Saros 113
July 31, 1776 :02am Lunar Total, Saros 125
Aug. 14, 1776 5:23am Solar Partial, Saros 151

Jan. 9, 1777 3:55pm Solar Annular, Saros 118
Jan 23, 1777 4:24pm Lunar Partial, Saros 130
July 5, 1777 :23am Solar Total, Saros 123
July 20, 1777 12:48pm Lunar Partial, Saros 135
Dec. 14, 1777 1:49pm Lunar Appulse, Saros 102
Dec. 29, 1777 10:03pm Solar Annular, Saros 102

Girls Gone Ape Face

Joe Francis is The Guy. At age 24 he started the company that produces the "Girls Gone Wild" videos. Dude's been making $100 million a year off those videos and has been repeatedly accused of all kinds of sex crimes in order to get the girls to "produce." America eats it up. $100 million worth a year at $9.99 each. That means that 10 millions copies have sold. 10 million Americans like what this guy offers. He is said to have gotten the girls drunk and then taken advantage of them. Ok, so some of them wanted it. What about the ones who were forced? One girl went for the drink and woke up in morning with no memory of what happened after. Okay, so that's a False Accusation. One girl was a virgin who said "no." Ok, so no doesn't mean no. Drinks didn't seduce her so force was necessary. She claimed he raped her and then had the cameraman come in the room and film her after the event. These girls can speak out all they want. No one will hear them. And if they do, their parents just figured they were asking for it.

Joe Francis
b. Apr. 1, 1973 don't know place, I used Laguna Beach, CA because that's where Francis grew up.

Sun 12 Aries; Moon probably in Pisces; NN 13 Capricorn

Francis has no planets in Earth. The Sky's the limit if you're not grounded.

Sun-Venus in Aries opposite Pluto and squaring the Capricorn NN. This is all you really need in order to read this Dude's chart. Come on! Sun conjunct Venus in Aries (Girls Gone) opposite Pluto (Wild). The women, the sexuality, the wildness, that's Aries and Venus. Hell, the Guy's Solar Return chart happens every year on Spring Break. So, traipsing through a little deeper, but depth isn't really what this guy's about. Sun = Ego, Venus = women and Pluto = control bound up with the Nodes = Life Path in an aggressive way. Cancer South Node. Hmmm, interesting. That's the subconscious problem that presents itself in one's life. Cancer = Mother, Family, Nurturing, Caring. He found his outlet through Capricorn activities of social climbing and business. Maybe the ethics could be a bit more conservative because Capricorn isn't known for getting away with its indiscretions quite like some of the other signs. Feeling the Guilt is one of the downer Capricorn lessons.

So, Francis is a kind of hyper aroused guy with a strong aggressive streak, heavy desire nature, not particularly gentle emotions but lots of enthusiasm. He's attracted to pretty, peppy Aries types of girls. I've seen what he looks like and he probably caught on early that he likes the types of girls who don't really like him back. Everyone who's ever lived in a dorm has met at least one of these guys. They're the ones who spend all week figuring out how to raise the alcohol level in the pink punch bowl so that no one will taste it. There's always a scam to attract the butterflies.

The NN disposes to Saturn which is in Gemini exactly conjunct Vesta (raping Virgins) and squaring his Mercury in Pisces which is also maybe conjunct his Moon. This is a good solid business aspect. Vesta-Saturn is opposing Lilith in Sagittarius so he maybe learned to whip the ladies into shape from his Father.

There is also a really lucky "Boat Shape" configuration. The Venus-Pluto opposition is held together on one side by a string of sextiles and trines. This shows a lot of talent. In a way it also shows a real penchant for porn. Venus and Pluto working together, that's sex and money all in one g-string. Neptune in Sagittarius sextile Mars-Jupiter in Aquarius sextiling the Venus-Pluto opposition. That's free spirited fun, a lap dance to go with the g-string. A powerful combination completely void of Saturnian dourness. Just planets working together show hyper sexual nature and leisure oriented person in party lover signs. He looked deep within his soul and saw nothing but The Girls Gone Wild and managed to get the girls to cooperate. The phrase has literally become part of everyday language in the United States basically institutionalizing Spring Break.

When Francis started this business all the planets in this Boat Shape were aspected by conjunctions: t. Saturn and prog. Mercury conjunct Sun; T.Uranus c. n. Jupiter-Mars, then followed by Neptune; t. Pluto c. n. Neptune; T. NN c. n. Pluto. He was good to go. What else are you gonna do with a college education?

Right now, Francis is going down. As usual the sexual misconduct could be made to go away but now the authorities are taking him down for racketeering and tax evasion. I wonder if this has anything to do with T.Uranus and North Node on his natal Mercury-maybe Moon which squares his Saturn? Need some earth to back up that Saturn, dude.

No Sfumato

I'm 100 percent of only one thing when it comes to Astrological Prediction. And that is: people should only procreate when Neptune is in Libra. That's the only way the Human Race can attain the highest levels of Wisdom.

Leonardo da Vinci
b. Apr. 23, 1452 9:40 pm Vinci, Italy

Sun 4 Taurus; ASC 7 Sagittarius; Moon 4 Pisces; North Node 7 Capricorn

And Neptune:

Neptune at 0 Libra trining Venus which is Libra's Ruler.

Would this proposal be considered "Astrological Cleansing?" LOL! Good-Luck getting the World to cooperate. Anyway, this is my Pearl of Wisdom for the Day.

Bitch, Crone, Ho

In disgust I'm talking about Don Imus' firing. I'm doing it not because I like or don't like Don Imus. Can't even say I know who he is (beyond that face). I'm doing it because of all the other arguments it's bringing up. Last week, Imus stuck his foot in his mouth and called a girl's basketball team a group of "something racial." The comment was awful but we hear it all the time in Rapper music and on the street.

First, Don Imus. Another Shock Jock got Shocked. Uranus, the planet of shocking, sudden turns of event, has been conjunct NN and last week was also conjunct Mercury (communications). Last April 4 could have been expected.

Choral Interlude:

You say Uranus
And I say U-a-nus.
Uranus.
Ur-a-nus.
Oh,
Let's call the whole thing off.

Not that Uranus does anything that's to be expected. Imus' chart hooked into it and believe me he'd be singing the second line of that song right about now. Uranus may have aspected Imus' natal Moon. It did oppose his Neptune. The transiting Moon even would have passed over Imus's Libra NN, inconjunct his Taurus planets and transiting Venus. This is coming way too late because I can only look back at the alignments and say "I told you so" but, overall, I'd say: A Bad day for impressing the Ladies, Don.

Imus has Venus in Gemini, singleton in Air. Venus = Women and Air = Radio. It may be the apex of a t-square to Moon in Pisces opposite Neptune. It's also widely receiving a Grand Cross transit from Jupiter and Pluto in Sagittarius squaring Nodes-Uranus-Mercury. After 40 years of saying stupid things on the Radio Imus loses his job for insulting girls due to a Grand Square aspect to his Venus. How astrologically astrological. Beware those Grand Squares. Imus has 3 planets in Taurus (Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus) and 3 planets in Leo (Sun-Mars-Pluto). That's Fixed. With that Gemini Venus out there all on its lonesome in Air it's no wonder he held his position as Shock Jock for 40 years.

What gets me, of course, is the hypocrisy of it all. People are now talking about the Double Standard. Rappers are extremely abusive to women, yet their behavior is easily accepted by the same society that disses Imus. Al Sharpton says he doesn't like thinking that his daughters are talked about in that way. But he doesn't mind when they listen to these insults on their Ipods. Bill Cosby has mentioned the problem before. He must not have any daughters.

This is a great lancing for society. Or it could be if the Rappers' records would stop selling and the Media would quit turning everything into a Circus. And the Double Standard argument, it goes so much deeper. I'm not particularly feminist, just trying to figure out a way to stumble through life as a single woman. It's not just men. It's the women themselves. We are actually the worst of all.

Last night I went into my local Ooga Booga bookstore to listen to a new Age Writer rant on how Middle Aged Women can love themselves. Oo, guidance for that moment post Menopause when I realized that I'm incontinent.

I've always feared Middle Aged women, spent two years in my 20's painting the Fat Angry Bitch series about Fat Angry Women. And I have to say this event didn't ease my fears. Instead, the writer I was thinking about hearing is going to lecture us on her new book. It's called "Bitch, Harlot, Crone." I'd rather be called a Nappy Headed Ho, that at least gets us past Chaucer on the historical charts. So, the idea is that middle aged women are just coming into their power "Bitch," becoming repositories of wisdom "Crone," or, you know, sensual or sexual, the Hooker thing. The Feminists promote this kind of thing. I hate it, and I mean, absolutely hate it when middle aged women start calling everything sexy and juicy in order to compensate for sagging breasts. I hate it when they start bossing everyone around because they only know how to back talk to their teenage kids and husbands. Face it, we're all gaining weight, we're not very nice anymore from all the oppression and denial and subservience, our eyesight is failing, we're wrinkly and we're shrinking. We can think that we're sexy, but, personally I'm pretty grossed out by it all. I mean, I look back on my life and realize that if I had been a guy I would have been hired to make three times as much money as I have. I would have been able to eat when I wanted to, probably would have had it served to me. Maybe I would have never scrubbed a toilet. Maybe I would probably have learned to build my own kitchen cabinets by now.

I never wanted to grow up to be a Bitch or a Prostitute or a an Ugly Old Hag and I still don't. And what are the Male equivalents to these? Wife Beater, Dead Beat Dad, Pimp?

I stood there confused, slowly realized that I was repulsed and didn't go into the lecture. I got into my car and listened to the rant against Imus. Now they're ranting against Sharpton who caught national attention through a false rape accusation case. Gawd, somedays it's just an ugly world out there.

Tuesday's Child

On Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 9:35 am, President Bush signed into Law the "Military Commissions Act of 2006" after it had been passed by both Senate and House. I made a note of it and sort of never looked at the chart. At the time it was called "The Military Torture Act of 2006" but the name has since been changed.

Just had a peeksy. O My God! What have we done now?

Mercury c. Jupiter conjunct Scorpio Ascendant squaring Saturn in Leo (H9 applying to MC) opposite Neptune in Aquarius (H3 applying to the IC).

The Moon is in Virgo conjunct the MC from the 10th house and otherwise unaspected.

Chiron is unaspected in the 3d house.

The Sun is conjunct Mars and Venus in H11, apex of a small triangle to Saturn-Pluto trine.

I've got to hand it to those torturers, they have good instincts for choosing dates. I won't say anything more, not with this chart. I'd confess to anything if trapped in a 5X7 cell with bright lights and big dough boy interrogators for 2 hours, let alone 6 years.

Saturn Returns - William James

While studying William Bates' chart I thought I remembered that William James, the great philosopher-psychologist, had experienced blindness as a young man which he was able to recover from. Couldn't find that information this time. I guess he suffered from all kinds of physical complaints and was considered a "neurasthenic," hypersensitive to everything. You look at his chart and you know why: he had 6 planets in Capricorn, 3 of them placed in his 1st house of physical body, the rest in H2 of "touch" and "sensation".

Capricorn is the sign of physical perception, sometimes it makes the senses too acute, sometimes it gives remarkable control over them, sometimes if you stress a Capricorn out they develop a whole new reality, kind of schiz out. I'm thinking of Cezanne, whose paintings recreated a whole new perception of space.

Anyway, Capricorn is also a Cardinal Sign so it tends to start new things. James was a pioneer in his fields. He said that "the first lecture of psychology I ever heard (was) the first I ever gave." That's just so "Cardinal Signy". (It also sounds kind of Cowboy, you can tell he's American). James added the concept of "Functionalism" to psychology and the concept of "Pragmatism" to philosophy. I have no idea what either means except that the words are just so "Capricorny". They also seem to have been spawned from the revelation that James had during his Saturn Return which brings us back to the reason for this babble. Astrologers like to put the fear of God into young people by telling them that their lives will fall apart at around age 29 when Saturn returns to its natal spot in their chart. Then they don't explain what this means. They just get really round eyed and let you know it will just be "really intense" for a couple of years. It has something to do with Aging and making Decisions, more "Capricorny" types of issues. Nothing lets the air out of a 27-year-old's jets quite like hearing this shit.

Anyway, James with 6 planets in Capricorn, both Sun and Moon among them and 3, Saturn itself among them, in the 1st house and in its own sign. He was bound to have the Mother of all Saturn Returns. I suppose I should say "Father" of all Saturn Returns, more "Capricorny." His Saturn Return was so significant in his life, involved a severe depression, supplied the direction for the rest of his life, even involved his Father, another "Capricorny" issue. Capricorns would hate that word, "Capricorny," too corny, by the way.

So.

William James
b. Jan. 11, 1842 4:30am New York, NY

Sun 21 Capricorn; ASC 10 Sagitttarius; Moon 18 Capricorn; MC 28 Virgo

The 1st house planets: Jupiter 6 Capricorn; Saturn 8 Capricorn; Venus 8 Capricorn
The 2d house planets: Mercury 18 Cap; Moon 18 Cap; Sun 21 Cap; North Node Aquarius; Neptune Aquarius.

Capricorn is the sign of the old man. James was born old and sickly, probably the type of kid who was afraid to hang upside down from the jungle gym without a spotter. He struggled with physical ailments and mental depressions during his whole younger years but snapped out of it during a revelation right between the time between his Saturn Return and his prog. Moon return. Then he invented the 20th Century mindset for all to behold.

Born into a wealthy family that spent much of his childhood in Europe as ex patriots. His brother Henry is a famous writer who told stories about neurotic Victorians through the use of incredibly long sentences. His sister did something else, can't remember what. William's Father was a Theologian who suffered all kinds of psychological misery which he tried to cure through Religious fervor. This anxiety passed on to the son who thought that (according to Wiki article) "he was biologically bound to repeat his Father's problems." James went through Medical School and managed to write and publish highly regarded papers but he was always sick with all kinds of Capricorn ailments (eyes, back, stomach, skin, depression, suicide). He totally crashed psychologically in 1870. Then, one day in April, 1870, probably while sitting on a plush velvet pillow on a carved mahogany window bench, pale, pulse faintly beating, a single wren chirping outside:

"He recorded in his journal that, after reading an essay by Charles Renouvier, he had come to believe that free will was no illusion and that he could use his will to alter his mental state. He need not be a slave to a presumed biological destiny. "My first act of free will," he wrote, "shall be to believe in free will." (www.des.emory.edu/mfp/jphotos.html)

He didn't have to be like Daddy!

Here are the transits and progressions for April, 1870:

T. Saturn 29 Sagittarius approaching n. Jupiter and then Saturn at 6 and 8 Capricorn. Sagittarius represents Free Will and Belief Systems, Capricorn represents disciplined control of the emotional and Authority over self and others. Strong here because Sagittarius rules the Chart and 1st house emphasis on presentation of self to others.

Progressed Mars at 26 Pisces c. natal IC at 27 Pisces. Aggressive urge to break free from Genetic traits, what one is born to. Described in the Wikipedia article as a "Psychological fever break."

Prog.Moon 30 Capricorn c. natal NN 30 Capricorn (merging of emotions with problem solving). Major life transition.

T. NN 25 Cancer opposing t. SN 25 Capricorn c. Sun 21 Capricorn (confusion) trined by Pluto at 25 Taurus, easing of intense emotional pain, feelings of gaining control over emotions.

T. Neptune 20 Aries c. n. Pluto 19 Aries c. Solar Arc Uranus 19 Aries squaring natal Mercury-Moon-Sun. Aspect of deep spiritual confusion just beginning to separate. The SA Uranus adds the suddeness to the revelation. (James didn't get his first real job for another 2 years after all). Natally James has Neptune as a singleton in both Air and Fixed signs. Pluto is also a Singleton in Fire.

Progressed Sun 20 Aquarius, prog. Venus 14 Aquaruis, conjunct natal Neptune 16 Aquarius. Don't know what this really means, just a feeling of good old fashioned Victorian euphoria about how ideally beautiful the World is.

Most of James' planets are on the Left Side of his chart, also accounting for his innate sense of having Free Will. It would be interesting to see his Father's chart.

So, like all the rest of the astrologer's I can't really conclude anything about Saturn Returns. William James suffered through his but through that suffering developed his life work. Sounds "Capricorny" enough.

The Great Race

The Great Race is on to save the planet.

The Scientists have known for years that we are doing ourselves in. The Elephants and the Polar Bears and the Whales are gagging their brains out, the Salmon don't bother swimming up the streams anymore, why make the effort? Now the Politicians have caught on. But we can do nothing about it until the Businessmen know it because they're the ones who have the money to get the show on the road for necessary repairs (Repairs ruled by Uranus, according to Bills). An English billionaire, Sir Richard Branson (minimal birth info down below), has offered $25 million to the first Scientist who can come up with the solution. So far two companies have joined the race. They are hoping to grow a bunch of scum into the oceans which will cool the waters down and absorb the CO2. The Environmentalists, of course, say this could devastate the fish.

Today's San Jose Mercury News has an article called "Wacky ideas to save Earth / To combat climate change, scientists give 'great' to 'idiotic' geo-engineering proposals a serious look" by Seth Borenstein. http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5625816?nclick_check=1.

Hmmm, Geo-Engineers. Our Heroes. Actually, this field is perfectly lined up with the stars right now. According to Rex Bills, Geology is ruled by Saturn, Pluto, Taurus. Right now there's a trine between Saturn in Leo and Pluto in Sagittarius. Engineers and engineering are ruled by Uranus and Mars. Uranus has been conjunct the North Node in Pisces and will be joined by Mars later this month. Pisces is best for Chemical Engineers. Sagittarius & Pluto rule Broadcasting engineers, Flight Engineers, and Missile Engineers. Saturn and Mars rule Mining, Industrial, and Civil Engineers.

The Solutions represented in the article are: Solar Umbrellas (refracting disks sent up in missiles to reflect the sun's rays); Volcano effect ("using jet engines, cannons or balloons to get sulfates in the air to do something based on the idea that exploding Volcanoes cool down the earth). These two are considered wacky because they don't reduce acidity in the ocean or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Then there's Bio-Engineered photosynthesis (dumping iron into the ocean to grow scum that will eat up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Last, but not least, Artificial Trees (air filters that grab carbon dioxide using chemical absorbers and compress it into gas or liquid that can be stored somewhere).

Sir Richard Branson
b. July 18, 1950 Surrey, England

Sun 26 Cancer; Moon either in Leo or Virgo; NN 1 Aries (Aries Point Rocks!)

Sir Branson's Sun and Venus are both unaspected. Sun rules Superstars and Venus rules Money. It appears Branson's got both, even a knighthood to go with that Sun. His Mercury 4 Leo is trining his North Node. He has Mars 17 Libra conjunct Neptune 15 Libra. Have such a soft spot for those socially conscious Neptune in Libra people.

The Uranus-NN transit is hooking into Sir Branson's natal Saturn at 16 Virgo as the South Node is conjunct it. Also, his progressed Sun is 4 degrees past conjunction with Saturn. He's really taking the Bull by the Horns and mobilizing the efforts. This conjunction is squaring his natal Chiron in Sagittarius plus transiting Jupiter. Science is ruled by Sagittarius and Aquarius, Jupiter and Uranus. I'd imagine that maybe Chiron is involved too, especially in the teaching stage.

While we're at it, here's my own wacky idea: Refill all the empty crags and crevices left empty by all the oil we've taken out of the earth. I think this has acted as an insulator from the heat in the earth's core. I don't have any ideas about what to do with the pollution in the atmosphere. There, now I'm in the Race too. Where's my 25 M?

Pollution is ruled by Neptune and Pluto, the industrial revolution created by the Neptune-Pluto conjunction in Taurus-Gemini at the end of the 19th century.

Nellie Bly

The Neptune-Pluto conjunction in the last half of the 19th Century seems to have done something really amazing for Women's Rights. Women were breaking out from seemingly nowhere and doing amazing things, they turned into flappers in the 1920s and then crawled back into the kitchen, apparently too hungover to do much else. Nellie Bly was one of the early heroine daredevils. She was a Feminist, Social Reformer, Inventor of investigative and undercover reporting, Industrialist.

Nellie Bly
b. May 5, 1864 Cochrans Mills, PA

Sun 16 Taurus; Moon maybe in Taurus conjunct Sun, Pluto, South Node. NN 19 Scorpio conjunct Jupiter.

The 19th century transiting conjunction of Neptune and Pluto started at the end of Taurus and became exact at the beginning of Gemini in the 1880's. Bly's Double Taurus hooked into it in that she was born with Sun and South Node conjunct her natal Pluto. In addition, Pluto was transiting at the same pace as her progressed Sun during pretty much her whole life. It stayed within a 3 or 4 degree orb of her progressed Sun and then hit transiting Neptune while both were conjunct her natal Mercury in Gemini. I suppose this explains her writing career, her social reforms, the fact that she is said to have invented investigative reporting and reporting under cover. Bly reported on sweat shops of women laborers; reported on the Mexican people until the Government threw her out; went undercover in a Madhouse to report on the inhumane conditions; traveled alone around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds. Then she married a millionaire 44 years her senior, and worked in his company as a leading industrialist. She invented and patented a steel barrel which is still used today.

Her chart attracted me because it has 2 Yods and an opposition between Saturn 13 Libra and Neptune 8 Aries. Because of this I would expect her to be sort of weak. Instead she worked on behalf of the weak. I'd expect her to be deluged and overcome by difficult situations. Instead she reveled in the difficult situations and uncovered the ways that the "weaker sex" are taken advantage of and made weaker.

Jupiter c. NN adds an element of Luck and optimism to her life. It probably explains better than anything the Journalism, Investigative and undercover reporting (Scorpio). But with the Nodes being on the Taurus-Scorpio poles, Bly experienced a lot of strife and loss and fluctuations, especially with regards to financial resources. Her Father died when she was 6 and left the family in a difficult financial situation. Bly was often penniless. And later she declared Bankruptcy because her employees embezzled money from her company.

The daredevil side is pretty interesting to look for in this chart. I don't expect much of a Revolutionary streak from a Double Taurus but Taurus has been surprising me ever since I've started this blog. In the prenatal New Moon chart, Bly's Mars is conjunct her Midheaven, which is something I expect. In her natal chart, Mars is in Pisces conjunct Chiron. As I don't have birth time but assume it must be on an angle. Perhaps this is a sign of recklessness, the devil may care attitude. She could possible have had an Aries Rising, she was very beautiful as well, her Venus was in Aries.

Bly's Feminism is thought to have developed from the six years that her Mother was married to an abusive step-father. Her Mother divorced this man when she was 14 and Bly had to testify at the Hearing. When given "ladies" style articles to write, she suddenly left her job out of boredom and, at the age of 21, traveled to Mexico by herself. This would have been in 1885! Must be the Sun-Pluto-SN. And the two older brothers. An extra note on the Feminism: There is a Kite figure between Bly's Venus in Aries and the Goddess asteroids. Venus trines Lilith in Leo and Juno in Sagittarius and opposes a Vesta-Uranus conjunction in Libra.

Links to Bly's biography along with the article she wrote reporting on the 10 days that she faked Insanity in order to be institutionalized so that she could report on the "care" the women were receiving.

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/nellie.html
digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html

Funny Leading Ladies of TV Sitcoms

More dull lists, this one from USA Today (I enjoy reading the fluffy ones). Title is:

"AGELESS BEAUTIES / USA TODAY'S Carol Motsinger recalls some of TV's funniest sitcoms built around female leading characters." There's about a ten year period where I didn't own a TV and I'm not familiar with the shows so I may leave those out just because it's so God damned Much Work to do this and ensemble casts take way too much time. I'll try to remember to add all the strong Capricorn-Scorpio-Leo emphasis in the women's charts. It doesn't take much to understand why they would have their own shows.

1) I Love Lucy, 1951-57.

Lucille Ball, b. Aug. 6, 1911 5pm Jamestown, NJ
Sun 14 Leo; AS 2 Capricorn; Moon 8 Capricorn; MC28 Libra

Vivian Vance, b. July 26, 1909 Cherryville, Kansas
Sun Leo; Moon Leo

2) Mary Tyler Moore Show, 1970-77

Mary Tyler Moore, b. Dec. 29, 1936 10:45 am Brooklyn Heights, NY
Sun 8 Cap; AS 14 Pisces; Moon 28 Cancer; MC 21 Sagittarius

3) Maude, 1972-78

Beatrice Arthur, b. May 13, 1923 New York, NY
Sun Taurus; Moon either Taurus or Aries

4) One Day at a Time, 1975-84

Bonnie Franklin, b. Jan. 6, 1944 Santa Monica, CA
Sun 16 Capricorn; ASC 16 Gemini; Moon 6 Gemini; MC 26 Aquarius

5) Laverne & Shirley, 1976-83

Cindy Williams, b. Aug. 22, 1947, 16:35 Van Nuys, CA
Sun 30 Leo; ASC 24 Capricorn; Moon 24 Scorpio; MC 14 Scorpio

Penny Marshall, b. Oct. 15, 1943, 9:32 am Where?
Sun 22 Libra; AS 19 Scorpio; Moon 18 Taurus

6) The Golden Girls, 1985-92

Beatrice Arthur; Rue McClanahan; Betty White; Estelle Getty

7) Designing Women, 1986-93

Annie Potts; Jean Smart; Dixie Carter; Delta Burke

8) Roseanne, 1988-97

Roseanne Barr, b. Nov. 3, 1952 13:21 Salt Lake City, UT
Sun 12 Scorpio; ASC 8 Aquarius; Moon 6 Gemini; MC 28 Scorpio

9) Murphy Brown, 1988-98

Candice Bergen, b. May 9, 1946 Time? Sorry, can't read my writing, Los Angeles, CA
Sun 19 Taurus; ASC 1 Capricorn; Moon 14 Virgo; MC 19 Libra

10) Ellen, 1994-98

Ellen DeGeneres, b. Jan 26, 1958 3:30 am Metaire, LA

Sun 6 Aquarius; ASC 15 Sagittarius; Moon 18 Aries; MC 28 Virgo
Looks like a break from tradition, but... Saturn c. Mars in H1.

They left out Patty Duke and Donna Reed. Well, that's the breaks.

William Wilberforce

Just saw the movie "Amazing Grace" about the leader of the Slavery Abolitionist movement in England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and, like, I totally want to jump that actor, Ioan Gruffudd (b.Oct.6, 1973, Cardiff, Wales). He looks like a young, spruced up Al Gore and I tell you I'm all over him like an old suit.

But, back to our Hero, even if he didn't look like Ioan Gruffudd in real life ((((((sigh)))))).

William Wilberforce
b. Aug. 24, 1759 Kingston upon Hull, England

Sun 1 Virgo; noontime Moon in Virgo; North Node in Cancer.

Sun is unaspected except for an inconjunct to Uranus. That's why he looks so good in the movies. Also a great Leo type influence for politics. In the movie, Wilberforce has terrible colitis which accounts for the Virgo Sun, possibly Moon. In wikiworld, he is said to have suffered bad health in general, was tiny and delicate, someone described him as looking like a tiny shrimp until he stood up in front of Parliament. Then he turned into ((((((sigh)))))) Ioan Gruffudd. (I highly recommend this movie for the drewl factor but have to admit there were no African Americans in the theater, just a bunch of clapping white folk who knew all along there had to be a good guy in there somewhere.)

Wilberforce's Mercury was at 29 Virgo squaring Pluto at 23 Sagittarius; opposing Saturn 14 Pisces. It progresses back and forth over the Virgo-Libra cusp in his lifetime and I wonder if this has anything to do with his keen sense of service and justice. He grappled to find the spiritual in politics.

Wilberforce got elected to Parliament at age 21, kind of a wealthy partier dude success story, although Wikiworld says he wasn't as bad a boy as he could have been. (Ioan Gruffudd says he lost his own virginity at Age 22, also a good boy/bad boy type - sigh).

Wilberforce muddled around legislating the Lottery or something until the Abolitionists found him and then he became their spokesman and Leader and spent more than 20 years trying to get Parliament to abolish the slave trade due to the extreme inhumane conditions. On a ship of 600 captives, around 200 would make it off the ship alive the conditions were so inhumane. He gave his first speech to Parliament at his first Saturn Return, May 12, 1789, Saturn in Pisces. Slavery according to Bills is ruled by: Saturn, H12, Pisces. His progressed Sun was on its last degree in Virgo. Transiting Pluto (control, change) was opposite his n.Neptune, sextile his natal Pluto. He had entered a battle that would take more than 20 years.

The Slave Trade Act was finally passed on Mar. 25, 1807 when Wilberforce was going through his Chiron Return. Transiting Pluto was conjunct his natal Saturn in Pisces and squaring the Nodes in Sagittarius. His progressed Sun was conjunct his natal Venus in Libra. How fitting for a person who was turning the scales on Justice. His natal Venus is apex of a t-square to a Jupiter-Mars opposition. Not until a month after his death was the sale of slaves completely abolished in England.

In addition to his gastric health problems which can be attributed to Virgo, Wilberforce developed a strong spiritual side. The movie shows him as sort of a St. Francis of Assisi type who keeps a pet bunny. That's the Virgo for sure. Neptune, planet of compassion, is also a singleton Fire planet in his chart. Creepy thing, though, Elizabeth I of England, another Virgo, was the one who basically let the Slave Trade thing happen in the first place. Apparently she told her pirate guy, John Hawkyns, to "ask for volunteers." Yeah, right.

William Bates

William Bates was a 19th Century M.D. who invented eye exercises that are said to cure some eye conditions. But, as is common amongst the conservative Medical crowd, one can never be accepted if one can treat a condition that is known to be untreatable. Bates managed to "fix" some of the other Doctor's myopia problems in the school where he taught and this led to his firing. After reading about his life I can only say God help the poor fool who finds a cure for Cancer and Heart Disease. And also, somebody please write a bio on this guy, he's fascinating.

In addition to his apparent successes in improving vision problems through relaxation and focusing exercises, Bates did experimental research in Memory and discovered Adrenaline.

William Bates' book of eye exercises, "Perfect Sight without Glasses" is available online at www.iblindness.org/books/bates.

William Bates
b. Dec. 23, 1860 Newark, NJ

Sun 3 Capricorn, Moon probably Taurus, maybe Aries; NN 23 Capricorn

The eyes, in general, according to Rex Bills are ruled by Aries, the Sun and H1. Eye diseases are generally ruled by the Moon. I don't have time of birth for Bates so don't know his 1st house aspects. His Capricorn Sun, however, is strongly aspected by all the outer planets except Uranus. It's in a Grand Trine with Saturn in Virgo and Pluto in Taurus, and maybe also trining his Moon. Bates' Sun also trines Jupiter in Leo and squares Neptune in Pisces. Except for maybe the trine to his Moon, his Sun does not aspect any of his personal planets. I wonder if strong aspects to outer planets gives good distance vision and strong aspects to inner planets gives better close up vision. Given the rulerships of the Sun and the Moon on the Eyes it would certainly make sense if Bates had a trine between the two, especially involved in a Grand Trine with Moon conjunct Pluto, the planet of change and transformation, also of the glands and of deep relaxation.

Bates had two t-squares:

Apex Saturn 10 Virgo squaring Mercury 12 Sagittarius opposite Uranus 10 Gemini (Great for innovation and experimental research)
Apex Venus 29 Scorpio squaring Chiron 25 Aquarius opposite Jupiter 27 Leo.

Since his eye exercises involve both relaxing (Relaxation ruled by Venus) and focusing (ruled by Pluto no doubt, maybe also Saturn) I suspect that Venus in Scorpio is key to his innovations, although I haven't figured out how this figures in. Bates graduated from Cornell in 1881 and had developed his exercises by 1891 when he was fired. So, I looked up his progressions for 1889 and Venus does figure prominently. Prog. Venus was conjunct his natal Sun and trining his Pluto, Moon?, Jupiter, and Saturn. There was also a conjunction of Neptune and Pluto at end of Taurus, early Gemini during these years which would have opposed his n. Venus. Also, his chart might be another example of a Taurus Moon with great healing abilities, Taurus Moon disposits to Venus. The Taurus Moon people are very calm and unassuming, that alone bestows great healing abilities.

The discovery of the substance that would later be isolated into Epineprine occurred in May, 1886. Prog. Venus had just changed signs from Sagittarius into Capricorn. Neptune and Pluto were within opposition of natal Venus. And Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn were lined up into squares with Bates' Sun which I guess produces discoveries that are easier to accept on a social level.

I have to admit, I got sidetracked by Bates' life story and I don't have any insight on where his abilities to work with vision are from. He experienced a sudden amnesia in midlife and disappeared. His wife searched and searched for him but died before he was found. Supposedly this had happened once before, his wife found him, and then he disappeared again. In one account, a fellow eye doctor found Bates practicing out of an office in South Dakota and brought him back to New York. I found the date for his disappearance to be August 30, 1902, New York City. At this time, he was going through both his Uranus opposition and his Neptune Square. These are the disorienting mid-life crisis aspects. Natally, he had a Sun-Neptune square so this was a strong transit for him; he was probably a little lost all the time anyway. Natally, Neptune is in its own sign of Pisces and conjunct Mars.

His Nodes were also under fire. Transiting Saturn and prog. Venus were both conjunct his natal NN and squared by the transiting NN in Libra. Prog. Mars was in Aries revving up on the transiting South Node on the other side. There was an opposition of t.Uranus in Sagittarius to Pluto in Gemini that squared his natal Mars, great for travel, so to speak. He did end up out in the Wild Wild West, just couldn't remember how he got there. All these guys driving around in their red porsches have a similar story no doubt. The Day he left, the T. Sun hit his natal Grand Trine and he was off and running.

Bills list rulerships for both amnesia and aphasia as Mercury-Pluto. T. Pluto was opposing t.Uranus (aspecting t-square) and was squared by t. Mercury in Virgo that day. There are a few more hits between Mercury and Pluto through progressions, the big one being that prog.Sun and Mercury were in conjunction and widely squaring n. Pluto. The t. Sun hit Bates' natal Saturn and set off the Grand Trine. Blammo! Next thing you know you've set up a new practice in South Dakota. This led Bates to study Memory and Memory's effects on Vision.

Rex Bills lists rulerships

For eyes, in general: Aries, Sun, H1 (Uranus, Aquarius, Neptune, Moon, Mercury)
Eyesight: Mercury

For eyesight, defective (Moon):

Myopia, Near-Sightedness: Moon
Astigmatism: not listed
Hyperopia: Moon (Far-Sightedness: Moon, Neptune)
Cataracts: Sun
Presbyopia (difficulty reading in old age): (Moon)

Bad Ride? Or Carbon Neutral Ride?

Just a little thought. Global Warming. When things heat up they speed up. Is the rising temperature of the earth going to make us spin around a little faster? Maybe humans will begin to look much better designed; more like Corvettes and less like Buicks. Maybe we're in for much more than just rising coastlines. Maybe we'll spin right off the earth. What will happen with the gravitational pull? Maybe we'll be pulling G's.

Pluto moving into Capricorn is certainly going to address all these problems. Capricorn rules slowness, it rules brakes. It probably wants to drive a better car than a Buick, maybe Mercedes. Quality stuff, but still stodgy. Mostly it wants good brakes though and solid skin.

Saturn rules Capricorn and Saturn rules Carbon. Both Saturn and Pluto rule Control and Reserve. It rules Behavior. Controlling Behavior, Disciplining, Maturing, Restraining. Changing Behaviors could be a positive outcome of this aspect, especially if not abused by the Elite in the Society. Selfishness is a big problem for both Saturn and Pluto. Elitist thinking. Let Them Eat Cake. She never said that. Nevertheless, Marie Antoinette had Capricorn on both her 7th and 8th House cusps. Thinking of the welfare of others simply wasn't her thing. The one thing that Pluto in Sagittarius hasn't brought us is reform in the Public Education system. Instead, it has pretty much allowed for a collapse to the system. A Society can't function if it's people can't think in abstract terms. So, we're going into the Self-Sufficiency phase of Pluto in Capricorn with a very split society.

Unfortunately, Pluto likes to make things worse before it makes things better. The old Phoenix problem, reduce em to ashes before you let em rebuild. Both Pluto and Saturn represent loss. But they also represent building. And they also represent Coldness. So maybe the earth will somehow begin to lower its temperatures. Sagittarius is sometimes too hot. Just check out your Sagg friends' sex lives sometimes and you'll know what I mean. Also, Pluto and Capricorn are both extremely magnetic signs. People born under these signs definitely are some of the best looking people. So something will be happening with the earth's gravitational pull. Just watch out for the whirlpools, there's a parched Charcoal Briquette lit up all red deep in the earth's core just raging to slake its thirst.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart flew her first transatlantic flight June, 1928 when she was 30 years old. She was the first woman to do so, but she wasn't actually flying the plane. She said she went along like a sack of potatoes. Earhart did fly solo May 20, 1932 and set many other records. Then, when she was Forty she tried to become the first woman to fly around the World. She almost completed the trip, but her plane disappeared in the South Pacific somewhere very close to the equator as she was flying between New Guinea and Howland Island. There has been much speculation about whether or not she and her Navigator survived and lived for awhile on one of the desert islands as a signal was picked up from their plane for days after the disappearance.

Amelia Earhart
b. July 24, 1897 11:30 pm Atchison, KS

Sun 3 Leo (H4); ASC 4 Taurus; Moon 12 Gemini (H2); MC 19 Capricorn; NN 7 Aquarius (H10)

Date of Disappearance: July 2, 1937, last heard from 8:45pm

Took off from Lae, New Guinea at 12:30pm
(Latitude: 6 deg. 43' 12" S; Longitude: 146.99)

Destined for Howland Island Island, 2556 miles from Lae
(Latitude: 0* 48' 06' N Longitude: 176* 38' 12" W.
last report saying they were traveling North-South: 8:45 pm

Airplanes: Uranus, Aquarius (Gemini)
Airway travel: 3, Mercury, 9, Sagittarius, Uranus (Neptune)

Earhart's chart shows an "unofficial" Grand Cross between the Nodes, Sun, ASC and Chiron on the Descendant. Astrologers don't really pay attention to configurations with so few planets but I think this is significant because the closest astrolocality lines to the spot where she may have gone down are where Sun and Chiron lines cross.

Earhart's interest in flying is shown all over her chart.

Conjunction (within a degree) of Uranus-Saturn in H7. Trines the Sun. Uranus rules aviation. The 7 House conjunction trining her Sun shows independence but probably also that she received a lot of help from her partners.
North Node in Aquarius. Aviation, Independence and Futuristic thinking.
Gemini rules H3; Sagittarius rule H9, Strong desire to travel both short and long distances.
Stellium in Gemini: Moon 12; Pluto 15, Venus, 18, Neptune 22. This conjunction is in H2 showing that she could earn a living off of her interest in travel.
Conjunction within a degree of Mars-Jupiter in Virgo (H5). Competitive, Athletic abilities.

Earhart's transits and progressions for July 2, 1937 are very difficult. Both she and her navigator had the conjunction of Neptune and Pluto in Gemini and were going through Neptune and Pluto transits at the time of their disappearance.

The Gemini Stellium received two major hits: T. South Node conjunct Pluto and Progressed ASC c. Neptune. Both on the same degree with respective natal planets. T. Chiron is 4 degrees past conjunction with Neptune. Natally, Earhart had a wide conjunction of Neptune and Pluto which has often a very destructive influence on materialistic affairs. Neptune dissolves and Pluto simply destroys in order to rebuild.
Prog. Venus c. n. Sun at 3 Leo. A Jupiter-Pluto opposition is also aspecting Sun as Pluto in applying conjunction from 28 Cancer (5 degrees) and Jupiter opposing from 25 Capricorn. T.Pluto conjunct natal Sun can be a very difficult time of change. With the Jupiter and Venus aspects there is certainly an influence that what one goes through will bring them fame. This is also conjunct Earhart's natal South Node which is squaring her Ascendant-Chiron opposition.
Prog. Sun is conjunct n. Mars-Jupiter conjunction at 11 Virgo. Neptune is at separating from conjunction at 17 Virgo.

Astrolocality Lines for New Guinea and the Pacific Ocean up to Hawaii show influences from these transits as Earhart had significant lines running through both New Guinea and Hawaii which was her next stop after Howland Island. She had failed her first attempt at the trip when she was flying West from Oakland, CA. This trip was started in March and she crashed her plane at take-off in Hawaii. The plane had to be repaired and then she re-started flying in the opposite direction towards the East from Burbank, CA due to changing weather conditions.

New Guinea:
Natal Lines: Neptune DC; Venus DC; Pluto DC. These cross the Mars MC-Jupiter MC lines.
Transits/Progressions: Prog. Sun line c. Mars-Jupiter lines. Transiting Neptune line. Prog. Venus line c. Sun DC line. The Pluto line is a bad omen, but anyone traveling across the world is going to meet up with these lines and most haven't died. The addition of the Neptune line, however, makes this a particularly difficult point, especially since Earhart's navigator was a heavy drinker. Natally, she has a conjunction of Saturn and Uranus which could show an erratic partner who may let a person down.

As they traveled East, she past a close conjunction of her prog. Mercury MC; prog. Mars MC, transiting Saturn IC lines at 160 longitude.

At 170 longitude, there are a close set of lines which swing up into Hawaii to cross a conjunction of Saturn MC-Uranus MC lines. Transiting Jupiter ASC is joining these lines.

Hawaii:
Natal Lines: Sun DC; NN AC; Mercury DC cross Saturn MC-Uranus lines

In the Astrolocality chart, the closest crossing of lines to the spot where she and her navigator seemed to have disappeared is the Sun DC line to the Chiron MC line at 170 latitude, 2-3 longitude. This hooks her into that Grand Cross energy which activates the angles in Earhart's chart.

The navigator, Fred Noonan's, chart is very interesting.

Fred Noonan
b. Apr. 4, 1893 Chicago, IL

He's got Uranus in Scorpio at apex of a Yod that links to two stelliums: Venus-Mercury-Sun in Aries and Mars-Pluto-Neptune in Gemini. At the time of his disappearance, he was going through his Uranus opposition so that the empty spot (I forget what you call it) of the Yod was filled in. He was also going through his Neptune square and Pluto was squaring his Nods to the degree.

Famous Quotes and the Days They Were Said

The very commercial, Full Color Newspaper, USA Today, will celebrate its 25th Birthday on Sept. 15, 1997 and is getting an early start today by listing the most memorable quotes from the last 25 years. Here's the link to the article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/top25-quotes.htm.

I like the article because it gives the dates of the quotes, would make a good Mercury study someday or something. Every Monday USA Today will have a list like this. Here are the ones that list a particular date.

1. "Let's roll." Todd Beamer, Sept. 11, 2001, on United Flight 93 which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

2. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987.

3. "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." Johnnie Cochran, Sept. 27, 1995, Los Angeles, CA.

4. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." Bill Clinton, Jan. 26, 1998, Washington, DC.

6. "Read my lips: no new taxes." George H.W. Bush, Aug. 18, 1988, New Orleans, LA.

7. "Obviously a major malfunction." Steve Nesbitt, Jan. 28, 1986, NASA public affairs officer after explosion of Challenger.

8. "How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?" Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Dec. 5, 1996.

10. "I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle, Oct. 5, 1988, Omaha, NE.

11. "Just say no." Nancy Reagan, anti-drug slogan, 1983.

14. "Keep hope alive." Jesse Jackson, July 19, 1988, Atlanta, GA. Democratic National Convention.

22. "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?" Rodney King, May 1, 1992, Los Angeles. After acquittal of police in his beating trial.

25. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." Jerry Seinfeld. Feb. 22, 1993. In episode of his show that discusses gay characters.

Birth Month and Disease

Here's a link to an article showing links between Birth Months and Various Diseases: http://intraspec.ca/month_disease.php.