Happy Birthday Tempest Storm!!!!!

February 29, what a hoot. You have your Sweet 16 party after your 2d Saturn Return.

Here's a link to a list of famous people born on February 29.

http://www.leapzine.com/FamousLeapies.htm.

The San Francisco Chronicle supplies its own list, among them famous San Francisco Exotic Dancer Tempest Storm, flaming red hair and hips, last performance in 2005.

Tempest Storm
b. Feb. 29, 1928 (Place?)

Sun 11 Pisces; Moon Gemini or Cancer; NN 15 Gemini

Sun squares the Nodal Axis in Mutable Signs but with prissy Virgo absent. Interesting that Saturn is involved. It's in Sagittarius conjunct the South Node. That lends business ability and a penchant for seeking out those Sugar Daddy's in the audience.

Venus conjunct Mars in Aquarius. Fun and Sexuality and an eye for inventiveness. The Sun in combination with these two planets is the same as Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat, and Richard Tarnas, world famous astrologer, tee hee. One can sense that astrology really does work from this line-up. No, wait, I am now remembering (faulty) that those all had Mercury and Venus in Aquarius, not sure about Mars. Tempest has Mercury in Aquarius, though, so she should be able to cook up some great Green Eggs and Ham.

Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Aries. Born to wear glitter & feathers, or nothing at all.

Happy 20th Birthday, Tempest!!! In 4 more years you'll be old enough to drink!

Bulldozer Joe

Just found this story in connection with the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia. Guess it's 7 plus years too late. Can I just blame it on the U.S. Postal Service (of my Mind)?

The event that led to Milosevic resignation is called "The Bulldozer Revolution." It occurred in Belgrade on Oct. 5, 2000. It's called "Bulldozer" because some guy got into a Bulldozer and rammed into the State controlled TV Station at around 17:00 hours. What can we say here? The guy was a Sagg, maybe a Double Sagg. Pluto was on his Sun & Mercury if not his Moon. This is the ultimate "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore" aspect. Anyway, I have Sagg on my Descendant so I just think this is the Ultimate Good Time.

I hereby present to you, the Guy who drove the John Deere that ended Milosevic's career:

Ljubisav "Dzo" (or Joe for Westerners) Dokic
b. Nov. 27, 1943 (Belgrade? no birth place given) Yugoslavia

Sun 5 Sagittarius; Moon Scorpio or Sagittarius; NN 9 Leo (c. Pluto)

Joe's got a great chart for driving a Bulldozer. I mean, he would have also been a great journalist or politician but you've got to work with whatever tools you've got readily available, right? And Milosevic didn't give his people too many options overall.

Joe here is a Sagittarius Sun with Sun conjunct Mercury and maybe, probably, Moon in Sagittarius. This opposes a conjunction Uranus and Mars. Joe likes Revolution. Saturn is also in a later degree of Sagittarius. I would have liked to have seen it exactly in conjunction with Mars and Uranus for a Bulldozer Driver but Joe was out of work and suffering from a spinal injury, so, as I said, he would have made a better journalist or lawyer.

On Oct. 5, 2000, transiting Pluto was opposite Jupiter and the two were layered over this natal opposition of Joe's. This is a sign of Success, that he would do something larger than life. A couple of Grand Trine figures link into this opposition as well, further assuring that something would happen.

Joe's bulldozing down of the door of the TV Station is clearly depicted by this Gemini-Sagittarius axis which represents both Media, Speech, Ethics, and Driving Skills. Saturn had just passed into Gemini as well. That literally just screams out "Bulldozer" (Saturn) and "TV Station (Gemini)."

So, why Joe? Why not Fred or Agnes or Hal? I'll tell you why. Two reasons.

Joe's Venus was placed in its own sign of Libra. That's the Scales of Justice, Baby. On this day, the Sun was at 13 Libra conjunct Joe's natal Venus and squaring the t.Nodal Axis and the t.Moon. This Sun (and Joe's Venus) was also involved in a Grand Trine with Jupiter in Gemini and Neptune in Aquarius. Joe was simply more likely to survive the police gun shots than anyone else, that's the Jupiter influence at work. Sagittarians know when they're feeling lucky and they know when their chances aren't so hot.

This Grand Trine is echoed in Joe's progressed chart as his p.Sun had just passed into Aquarius (sign of Revolution) and was trining his Libra Neptune and Gemini Uranus (t.Jupiter). His chart was strongly hooked into doing something for the Humanitarian Good. With t.Pluto on one's Sun, one will go to extreme lengths/crises to change things.

Milosevec resigned 2 days later.

Another thing, Joe's progressed Mercury was just coming out of Retrograde and he just coming out of verbal hibernation. His communication skills had just received a huge boost.

The Mass Protest lasted all day and had been going on for years. The TV Station was overrun beginning around 17:00 hours according to this timeline: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/959077.stm

Minnesota Starvation Project

While websurfing about anorexia I came across an interesting study about the effects of starvation and malnutrition called the Minnesota Starvation Project. This was an experiment performed on conscientious objectors during World War II. Kind of weird that this was being done at the same time in the U.S. while the Holocaust was happening over in Europe. But, Cancer rules Food and Hunger and Saturn was in Cancer during this time and that's a good time to go on a diet. What can I say?

Excellent description of the experiment here: http://www.joyproject.org/overcoming/starvation.html

Brainchild of physiologist Ancel Benjamin Keys
b. Jan. 26, 1904
Sun 6 Aquarius (c.Saturn); Moon Taurus; NN 30 Virgo (opposing Jupiter, Squaring Neptune opposite Uranus - huge humanitarian effort to understand the effects of nutrition - Virgo).

The Experiment was conducted at the University of Minnesota from Nov. 19, 1944 to Dec. 20, 1945 and it was done to understand the effects of starvation from the War. 400 Volunteers applied and in the end 36 White Males were selected. These were healthy conscientious objectors and a large proportion were Mennonites & Quakers. One of the volunteers was Max Kampelman b. Nov. 7, 1920, New York, NY who later received Honors for future humanitarian efforts.

The study found that prolonged semi-starvation brings increase in depression, hysteria, hypochondraisis (right word?), self-mutilation, social withdrawal and isolation, preoccupation with food, loss of interest in sex, hoarding.

Aspects for Nov. 19, 1944:

Sun conjunct Mars in Scorpio: healthy robust men participating in research study. North Node in Cancer and Saturn at 11 Cancer Rx. Interesting that Saturn was not only in Cancer but Retrograde at both the beginning and end of study.

T-square with apex Jupiter Virgo-Chiron 1 Libra-Neptune 6 Libra (conscientious objectors). Neptune squares an opposition of Saturn in Cancer opposite Moon-Venus in Capricorn. That Moon placement really emphasizes the oppressive role of Saturn on the Moon.

Mercury 14 Sagittarius opposite Uranus Gemini and sextiling Pluto in Leo. The study was concluded at the Mercury return so this same configuration was repeating. And, it also might explain the sensitivity of the researchers to hysteria and other mental-emotional complaints. I just watched a video on You-Tube of every professional in the Eating Disorder Profession and they are all adamant that Anorexia is a Brain Disorder and not a result of family dysfunction or malnutrition.

End of Study: Dec. 20, 1945:

Sun 29 Sagittarius. Moon at 18 Cancer c. Saturn 24 Cancer Rx.
North Node just leaving the sign of Cancer and was at 30 Gemini.

Saturn was once again Retrograde and just about to leave Cancer.

Mercury had returned to the same spot where it was at the beginning of the project and was back in Sagittarius once again trining Pluto and opposing Uranus.

One interesting factor was that it took an average of 5 months after the study ended for the men to return to normal mental functioning. A couple of them never lost their obsession with food and became Chefs.

Paul Ekman

Wish I could take a look at face reading psychiatrist Paul Ekman's chart. In the following quote from a New York Times Article by Judy Foreman called "A Conversation with Paul Ekman" (Aug. 5, 2003) Ekman separates Emotions out into different types. He's got a list of 7 different types but also discusses the difference between "Attachments" which are long-lasting, "Emotions", which are fleeting, and "Moods," which are somewhere in-between.

Don't know how this works out in Astrological terms. It's interesting though to think about feelings in terms of time spans. Paul Ekman's ideas say that Feelings are completely tied to the Face. He says that if you make a facial expression then you will begin to feel the emotion associated with it. This means that the 1st House of the Chart plays a reciprocal part with one's feelings at all times. Not the normal, oh it's the the Water Signs kind of thinking. Mars here, or maybe just to psychiatrists, is the center of the emotions.

Romantic and parental love are more enduring than emotions, though they are highly emotionally laden. I don't just feel happy with my daughter. Sometimes I'm worried, sometimes I'm surprised, and sometimes I might feel anger. It's an attachment, not a fleeting emotional state. A mood, by the way, is different still. It doesn't last as long as an attachment, though it can last for hours or even longer.

Sylvan Tomkins

I've briefly talked about the writer Malcolm Gladwell. Mostly I was talking about the Virgo-ness of the topics of his books, The Tipping Point and Blink. Well, I finally got an audiobook version of Blink because it was remaindered at Borders. It was so good I managed to drive down to Palm Springs and back so that I didn't have to get out of the car. Now something's wrong with my car. I must have been blinking too much while I was driving.

Anyway, where was I, oh yeah. Blink discusses researchers's findings concerning the quickness of human perception. Often our perceptions are more accurate when based on first impressions. This isn't always true as in the case of police officers who tend to make stupid judgments about people while their adrenaline is running. That's what all these police brutality cases are about and the departments have found to make up rules that might help deter the rage thing. Anyway, other researchers have found that by watching a couple talk for just 10 or 15 minutes they can tell with 80 percent accuracy whether or not the relationship will last.

One interesting topic mentioned in the book is the face reading work of Paul Ekman. Paul Ekman has labeled human facial expressions according to muscle numbers on the face. He has learned how to discern a person's feelings by looking at facial expressions and he has figured out a way to teach these ideas to others. The guy who inspired him is really fascinating also. This is the guy whose chart I'm looking at because I couldn't find Ekman's birthdate.

This other guy, a psychologist who worked at Princeton, is Silvan Tomkins. Biographical information on him isn't easy to find but I did locate one story about Tomkins' first job. Can't remember what it was, but this job involved determining which horse would win a race at the track by looking at the expression on the horse's face. My Mother used to do the same thing so I know some people can do this. Even more amazing when they can get paid to do it. So. You can see, for a psychologist, Tomkins was a pretty cool guy. This also leads me to believe that Silvan Tomkins had a Scorpio Rising. These people have laser visions into the motives and behaviors of others, doesn't matter how many legs they stand on either.

Silvan Tomkins
b. June 4, 1911 Philadelphia, PA

Sun 13 Gemini; Moon 23 Virgo; NN 10 Taurus

Here the Sun and most likely the Moon placement are ruled by Mercury. Mercury is quick and observant. You might feel insulted by a Mercury person but you won't really feel judged. They just point out your faults and move on to other topics, no doomsday motives really, although it still feels that way.

The North Node in Tomkins' chart is in Taurus, sign of the alphabet. He was able to "name" the feelings and emotions into a new vocabulary. I found a blog that explains his theories very well: http://neighborhoodofgod.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html.

Tomkins' Mercury was in Taurus as well conjunct Saturn. His thinking would have been much slower paced and methodical than his perceptions which are shown in the other inner planet aspects.

Tomkins' inner planets are each connected with a different outer planet energy. Mercury-Saturn is sort of a Scientist aspect, organized and determined. Venus here is conjunct its upper octave equivalent Neptune in the sign of Cancer. Desire plus empathy in the sign of the emotions, feelings. This would also account for "Psychic knowing." Mars here is square its upper octave equivalent, Pluto. Mars is at 1 Aries right on the Aries Point and it's a singleton in Fire. This is the inspiration point in the chart (my opinion) and explains Tomkins amazing ability to zero straight in what others were feeling. Mars also has rulership over "The Face." And it indicates little boys. Tomkins developed his theories by taking time off from work after his son was born and just watching his face react to the world.

The following is the list of Tomkins' 9 universal emotional affects as described in "The Neighborhood of God" link listed above. According to that blog Tomkins felt that the nerves of the face were tied to the emotional affects and came across even in a baby's face.

Interest to Excitement
Enjoyment to Joy
Surprise to Startle
Fear to Terror
Distress to Anguish
Anger to Rage
Dismmell (??) to Disgust
Shame to Humiliation

3 Siblings Born On the Same Day

Martin & Kim MacKriell of Gloucester, England have had 3 children who were all born on the same day, January 29, in different years. Oldest brother Robin was born in 1994. Middle Sister Rebecca was born in 1996. And their newest sister Ruby was born just this year.

Aquarians just like to do things in an interesting way.

As Mercury rules Siblings I took a look there first. The oldest has Mercury in Aquarius squaring a conjunction of the North Node and Pluto. His middle sister has MercuryRx in Capricorn squaring the North Node and Chiron. His baby sister has MercuryRx in Aquarius conjunct the North Node. So it does seem that there is a connection between Siblings and life path for these guys. They have different North Nodes, Sagittarius, Libra, and Aquarius, respectively, so they will all have different life paths in which to direct their friendly, innovative and futuristic Aquarius Suns.

More similiarities: the two girls share Jupiter in Capricorn. Their older brother has Jupiter in Scorpio. Jupiter is one of the planets of Partying and in these particular signs this shows a serious side to sharing. The articles discuss how they have to share their Birthdays.

Also interesting how the two oldest siblings were born while Saturn was in Pisces while their sister has Saturn in opposing sign of Virgo. They will always be pretty much in sync with timing in their lives.

Here's a link to one of the articles: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231754&home=yes&more_nodeId1=231776&contentPK=19972745

Crowd Control

Pluto in Capricorn is working its magic. Both symbolize a strong drive to control all situations. Both represent the senses. Pluto works through the sex drive, power centers of the body, and deep psychological motivation. Capricorn works through the physical senses and hearing in particular. They say that your hearing is the last sense to go before you die.

Add this influence to the mutual reception between Uranus and Neptune represents crowds. While Pluto was in Sagittarius, people were concerned with how people working together in crowds can bring about positive change. Remember "Collective Unconscious?" Well, it's over. James Suriekwi's???????? book called The Wisdom of Crowds? Well, turns out they're just a pack of sheep like we always thought. How else could Bush have survived and thrived for 7 years? Now we're going to be hearing from the folks who like to lead all that wisdom. And if nobody wants to listen? Well, let them know what's good for them. Neither Scorpio nor Capricorn takes no for an answer from anybody.

According to an article in today's San Jose Mercury News called "New Tool for Police is a Blast of Sound," the police are taking on what the Military has already been using on the terrorists and God only knows who else. The device is called an LRAD. LRAD for Long Range Acoustical Device. It completely disorients a person, possibly causes brain damage. Really, who cares? The FDA is too busy forcing cloned meat into the food supply to bother with running a couple of victims through an MRI to see what happens when one of these damn toys bugs a couple of useless jerks.

A San Diego company, American Technology, has designed the device and is now selling it to anyone who cares to get one. Problem with a co-worker? Problem with a neighbor? LRAD, baby. They'll be out of your face in no time. $27,000 bucks. That's a drop in the bucket for a drug czar.

An ever new and deranged transcription of the concept "Don't Tread on Me." as brought to us by the U.S. Military. I couldn't be more pissed off about this.

Monochrome Outfits

There's a fun and interesting article about New Yorkers who wear only one color in New York Magazine. It's called "One is the Loveliest Color" written by Joanna Goddard.

Don't know their charts, of course, but I would imagine that the astrological reasons for this type of thing would be either a strong fear of change and need for habit and uniformity (Moon/Saturn) or a strong, obsessive Pluto. That's on the deep psychological level. Maybe there's a lot of planets in Fixed Signs. All characters mentioned are creative & individualistic. I would expect a strong Venus and Neptune for the creativity, and Uranus for Eccentricity. That covers pretty much all the planets so I guess I'm safe that at least some of my insights are accurate, lol.

It's fun to ponder why these people might prefer these colors. The article does mention years and time spans in a couple of the cases so let me ponder...

Valeria McCullough wears only Yves Klein blue. This is a very vibrant electric blue. Because of that I would expect Uranus, ruler of Electricity and Electric Blue, to be very strongly placed in McCullough's chart. She is a Shoe Designer so she must have a strong Pisces element in her chart as well.

I checked the chart of Yves Klein, the artist who had this special type of blue pigment manufactured. He painted almost exclusively with it. His Uranus was in Aries, unaspected to the rest of the planets in his chart which really emphasizes its presence in his chart. Uranus disposes to Mars in Pisces which squares his Saturn and Nodes in Gemini and Sagittarius -- a great aspect for manufacturing anything and turning it into a life project. And then he's got an awesome artistic Grand Trine between Venus-Jupiter to Neptune-Moon to Saturn. Really excellent aspect for an artist overall.

Rebecca Turbow wears only a light-medium gray right now. She is a fashion designer. She wore only Turquoise for 8 years and then switched to gray last September because she says she had a difficult year and needed to change. I wonder if this means that her chart was heavily affected by the Saturn-Neptune opposition in Leo-Aquarius. The 8 year Turquoise phase might be connected with a Sun-Venus cycle in her chart. How appropriate for a Fashion Designer.

Karim Rashid wears White half the time and Pink half the Time. He's an Industrial Designer. In College he wore only White. Then during a few years in Europe he wore only Black. When he returned to New York he switched back to White. He says he thinks he might like pink because his Mother dressed him in it when he was a baby because she wanted a girl. Emily Dickinson wore only White, was even buried in a white coffin. She was a Sagittarius so I suspect there might also be a Sagittarius element to Mr. Rashid's chart. The Pink in a man's chart might indicate a Retrograde Venus or Mars, maybe natally or maybe by Progression, or maybe both at once.

Elizabeth Sweethart is a Fashion Designer who wears only Kelly Green. She says that this is a compensation for living in New York which is so far away from Nature. I almost died watching all those dogs trying to pee on hard concrete myself. Sweetheart has been in New York since 1964 and it sounds like she's been wearing Kelly Green for almost as long. Maybe she's got a bowl shape chart or some other indicator, a strong lack in Elements maybe? Don't know, maybe all Earth or no Earth? Some people are attracted to the element that they lack, some are obsessively attracted to it.

Stephen Merritt is a Singer-Songwriter who wears only Brown. Hmmm, sounds like he's got an emphasis on Earth Signs in his chart, maybe a strong Saturn-Pluto. Maybe he's a very grounded person or maybe he just doesn't like to stand out in a crowd. He's close to his dog so I think he might be grounded. What the Hell is he doing in New York then? He says that brown doesn't show lint and dog hair.

I found the article through the blog: www.kottke.org. Here's the link to the article http://nymag.com/fashion/08/spring/44210/.

Who Invented the Telephone?

Valentine's Day is sort of the Telephone's Birthday. Although "eclipsed" by other news in the media this year I do remember hearing about a new book written about the unbelievable competition between Alexander Graham Bell and another guy, Elisha Gray, who both applied for the Telephone Patent on Feb. 14, 1876.

Way I understand the story (from Wikipedia), Gray brought in his Patent application right after the Patent office opened. Apparently he dropped it in the box where it languished until the afternoon. Meanwhile, Bell's attorneys rushed in with his application and insisted that the clerk sign for it right before noon. So, Bell was awarded the patent. He was out of town and said he didn't know what was going on, only a Pisces can get away with a story like that.

The telephone is ruled by Gemini/Mercury/3d House. Both men had conjunction of Mercury to Venus in their charts. Gray's is in Cancer and Bell's is in Pisces. The telephone was to carry the human voice (Venus) over the wires (Mercury).

Alexander Graham Bell
b. Mar. 3, 1847 7:00am Edinburgh, Scotland (astrotheme)

Sun 13 Pisces; ASC 17 Pisces; Moon 25 Virgo; NN 20 Libra; MC 26 Sagittarius

Elisha Gray
b. Aug. 2, 1835 Barnesville, Ohio

Sun 10 Leo; Moon Scorpio?; NN 7 Gemini

The competition between the two men is blazing all over the place when comparing their two charts. For one, Bell's Moon is in his 7th House of partners and open enemies. Gray's Mars is in Virgo conjunct Bell's Moon. This could bring a lot of emotional animosity between the two gents.

Both inventors had Chiron conjunct their North Nodes. This explains that, on a personal level, they both had genius coupled with some sort of flaw or wound that was linked to their destiny pattern.

Their nodal axes are also strongly influencing each other's charts.

Elisha Gray had a Saturn-Pluto opposition between Libra-Aries which was placed on top of Bell's Nodal Axis. Saturn and Pluto working together in challenging aspects can bring Loss, bad timing and plain old bad luck. These two working together can attract a lot of competition to an individual.

On the other end, Bell's Saturn was squaring Gray's Nodal Axis. This might explain how he gained the Authority with the Government in this matter. The Patent was placed right as he was moving into his Saturn Return.

Also, on this date, Bell's transits were really good. Transiting Venus was exactly conjunct the t. North Node on top of his natal Venus so he was having a Venus Return. This would have been very fortunate for him as his natal Venus is placed in his 1st House (remember conjunct Mercury, ruler of telephone) and at the 1 Aries Point meaning that he would come forth before the public in some way. And, on this date Venus-NN was trining Jupiter which had just moved into Sagittarius, sign of Lawyers. The action of Bell's Lawyers were basically the reason why he was given credit for the invention of the telephone. Sagittarius is a very competitive sign (rules athletes, etc.).

I checked the times for the Feb. 14, 1876 chart at the Washington DC Patent office. Not sure what kind of hours they kept. If the office opened at 8:00am, 19 Pisces was Rising. This would have matched Bell's Rising Sign.

If the office opened at 9:00am 16 Aries was Rising.

By 11:45 am, guesstimate for the "just before noon" time that Bell's attorney's may have signed for the Patent, 12 Gemini was Rising. This, of course, is the most appropriate sign for applying for a telephone patent. And, of course a conjunction of Sun-Mercury-Saturn in Aquarius was perfect for the invention (Aquarius) of the telephone, especially from a Government (Saturn) office.

Alas, this stellium would have opposed Gray's Sun and squared his Moon. The timing was simply not very good for him. I get so upset when I read these stories.

Lunar Eclipse

I was wondering how this Eclipse would play out with Saturn conjunct the Moon. Not only are they in conjunction but they are parallel and contraparallel to the Sun. Would this control and repress the volatility of the Mars-Pluto opposition?

Well, I've been out in the California Desert. The Weather has been pretty warm and clear. Today just before noon an incredible wind whipped up and brought clouds and some rain in. The sky was completely obliterated by cloud cover. Then just before the Eclipse that occurred just after 7:00 pm the wind completely died down. I didn't even think to look up at the Moon.

The Military shot down a defunct Spy Satellite. Launched at 10:26 pm EST and hit its target about 3 minutes later. 29 degrees Libra Rising. Mars is in Gemini, sign of Satellites. It was in the 8th house of the launch chart opposing Pluto in the 3d House. Everyone who has tried to shoot somebody in the past few weeks seems to have hit their targets, guess this isn't any different.

Huge opposition between 4th & 10th houses. Guess that's necessary for shooting at large school bus size objects that are full of toxins and slowly lowering down into earth's atmosphere. Venus, Mercury, Neptune, Chiron, NN and the Sun were in the 4th House in Aquarius & Pisces and were opposing Moon and Saturn, SN in the 10th House. Jupiter was unaspected in the 3d house, sort of a hair up the ass type of aspect. There's some special name the Navy has cooked up for the pick-up project. Personnel will be scrambling the country trying to keep track of what piece falls where. Things should begin reentry within 24 hours. And they're toxic. Of course, they shot the thing down over the West Coast rather than the East Coast.

So, that's how the Eclipse went.

Annie Dillard on "The Total Eclipse"

Through strange coincidences brought on, of course, by the current Eclipses, I've stumbled upon Annie Dillard's essay called "Total Eclipse." It's included in her book Teaching a Stone to Talk. Dillard is a nature writer and here she excels at talking about the mystical experience of viewing an Eclipse. While describing the earthly process of travel to the eclipse spot with her husband, the viewing of the eclipse, and going out for breakfast afterwards, Dillard describes the different layers of subconscious that she travels through as well. The people around her, the event, her place in the universe, and even the picture on the wall of her hotel room are described in surreal terms as both emotional and symbolic elements. Such an incredible essay. Saturn was at 11 Virgo for this particular Eclipse, so Dillard's essay, or at least the inspiration for it, is having its Saturn Return so I suppose the timing is right for reading this essay.

Annie Dillard
b. Apr. 30, 1945 Pittsburgh, PA

Sun 10 Taurus; Moon Sagittarius; NN 11 Cancer (c. Saturn 7 Cancer and squaring Neptune 5 Libra)

Total Solar Eclipse Feb. 26, 1979 8:54am Yakima, Washington

Sun 8 Pisces; Moon 8 Pisces; opposite North Node 18 Virgo (c. Saturn 11 Virgo & Squaring Neptune 21 Sagittarius)

Right away one can see that Dillard's Saturn-Neptune square is echoed in this 1979 Eclipse which explains the Mysticism and feelings of boundlessness and formlessness that she experiences during the eclipse. She's seeing this part of herself expressed by the Universe.

"This was the universe about which we have read so much and never before felt: the universe as a clockwork of loose spheres flung at stupefying, unauthorized speeds. How could anything moving so fast not crash, not veer from its orbit amok like a car out of control on a turn?"

Dillard's chart is strongly tied into this Eclipse Chart in many other ways. Her Taurus Sun was conjunct the Taurus Ascendant and her Nodal Axis was widely conjunct the MC-IC Eclipse axis. Her Saturn in Cancer would have been near the bottom of the chart, kind of an interesting placement for climbing a mountain in order to view an astronomical event given the goat's need to climb.

There's a chance that Dillard's progressed Moon was in Pisces conjunct the Sun-Moon conjunction of this eclipse. That would certainly explain why she hooked into it so well and felt it with such incredible intensity. Her progressed Sun was at 13 Gemini conjunct her natal Uranus at 12 Gemini.

It's really incredible to see the n.Uranus-p.Sun aspect described in the following quote in terms of "wake-up calls" and the Saturn-Neptune influence in the second half along with her Taurus Sun (value, usefulness). Although not intentionally, Dillard is basically explaining the way the astrological influences play with each other:

"We teach our children one thing only, as we were taught: to wake up.(Uranus). We teach our children to look alive there, to join by words and activities the life of human culture on the planet's crust. As adults we are almost all adept at waking up. We have so mastered the transition, we have forgotten we ever learned it. Yet it is a transition we make a hundred times a day, as, like so many will-less dolphins, we plunge and surface, lapse and emerge. We live half our waking lives and all of our sleeping lives in some private, useless, and insensible waters we never mention or recall. Useless, I say. Valueless, I might add -- until someone hauls the wealth up to the surface and into the wide awake city, in a form that people can use."

One last quote:

"It was good to be back among people so clever; it was good to have all the world's words at the mind's disposal, so the mind could being its task. All those things for which we have no words are lost."

This is explained very nicely in astrological terms: Dillard's natal Jupiter was conjunct the Eclipse's 18 Virgo North Node.

The Lane Bryant Shooting

Along with the unbelievable rash of School Shootings/Suicides this last week there is still an awful tragedy that I hope won't be forgotten. This was the mass execution style shootings of 6 women in a Lane Bryant store in the Tinley Park area of Chicago, Il. The Shooter as far as I know is still running around loose. Someday I hope to know how to read Horary Charts well enough to try to locate these freaks but for now I'm stuck with just trying to read the Event Charts which is challenge enough.

First off, Mars (aggression, violence) is going through an extremely long transit over the cusp of end of Gemini and beginning of Cancer. This brings in the Cancer Aries Point which is a public point. Mars in Cancer is a very emotionally volatile aspect when under stress and currently it is very much under stress. First it is opposing Pluto (death, power). Next it is out of bounds which magnifies its influence. It is also opposing and disposits to the Moon (emotions, irrational, subconscious behaviors, women) which is also out-of-bounds in Sagittarius in this chart.

I wanted to look at this chart, of course, to see how Venus is aspected as Venus rules Women and Dress Shops. And, without intending to insult any Rubensian type lovelies, it is conjunct Jupiter, the planet of expansiveness. Venus conjunct Jupiter would certainly indicate a Rubeneque type of woman. Here the two planets are not only in conjunction, they are parallel to each other (aspect similar to a conjunction) and they are also in conjunction with and parallel to the Midheaven. This could just describe the event without explaining the shooter's motives, but it could also indicate that he has some sort of fetish or deep hatred for larger size women. In connection with the Midheaven it would seem that this is connected to one of his parents. I personally read MC as symbolizing the Father but it can also symbolize the Mother.

Earlier in the morning Aries was rising. I can't get the story straight from what I've read about what happened but I think he had entered the store and was talking to the women. Then he drew a gun and herded them in to the back room. Two women walked in while this was happening and were also abducted. The Killer had brought Duct tape and bound them and threw clothes over their faces before he shot them. He had fondled one of them and when one of the women somehow managed to call 911, that's when he supposedly shot them.

I've listed a timeline of changes in some locations in the chart. Am not sure when the store actually opened. Early on Aries rules the chart with ruler Mars in the 3d house in Gemini. If this indicates the killer then he possibly lives in the neighborhood or has a brother or uncle who lives in the neighborhood. Mars deposits to Mercury which is conjunct Neptune-NN-Sun in the 11th house. This explains how he was able to vanish out into the crowd as Neptune is great for elusive behaviors. This stellium may indicate a drug problem, living out a fantasy or gang related motives also. I know, I'm giving too many alternatives here. I don't think that robbery was the only motive here. This guy was trying to prove himself.

At all times from when the store would have opened to the time when the women were found, Venus was very prominent ruling one end of the ASC-DESC axis. First it rules the Libra Descendant and then it rules the Taurus Ascendant. It also crosses over the Midheaven. So women and dress shops are heavily influencing this chart.

At 10:12 the Rising Sign changes to Taurus and Aries is intercepted in the 12th House for awhile. 12th house is one of the rulers of bondage so this may have been when the women were bound up. This may also have been when the guy totally snapped. Venus at this point rules the chart. The killer may have felt his "manhood" at stake with the women in control. Mars moves into the 2d house, Venus's house and house of money and banking and also self-worth.

By 10:35 both Pluto and the Moon were in the 8th House of Murder (and sex and psychopathic behaviors) and were opposing Mars. This is an extremely violent indicator, especially because both Mars and the Moon were out-of-bounds. The Sun here is also parallel Pluto (murder) and just at 10:43 am when the police were called, the Sun squared the Ascendant.

The Murderer has been indentified by the one surviving victim. I hope he will be caught. My condolences to the relatives and friends of the victims.

6 Victims, 5 dead, 1 survivor.

At 9:00 am
30 Pisces Rising, Ruler Neptune conjunct Mercury Rx in H12.
with Mars conjunct the IC and opposing Pluto, 30 Sagg MC, Moon 21 Sagg.

At 9:30am
13 Aries Rising
ruler Mars in H3
ruler of Descendant, Venus, is in H10

At 9:47 am
Venus 12 Capricorn conjunct Jupiter 11 Capricorn conjunct the Capricorn MC

10:12 am
0 Taurus Rising
Mars moves into 2d House

10:35 am
Pluto moves into H8 along with Moon

10:43 am
13 Taurus Rising, Sun squares Ascendant from H10
Aries intercepted in 12th House
Mars in H2, doesn't rule any houses at this point, this is the time that help was dispatched.

Venus was both conjunct and parallel both Jupiter and the Midheaven in Capricorn passing as this crime was being committed. As Lane Bryant is a plus size store for women this fits very well. Until 10:12 Venus ruled the 7th House of Libra. After that time Venus ruled the Taurus Ascendant.

Both Mars and the Moon were out-of bounds showing completely out of control emotional problems.

Sun conjunct Mercury Rx-Neptune-Chiron-NN in Aquarius

At 10:33am Pluto passed backwards into the 8th house of Death and the Sun began to square the Ascendant. The Sun was parallel Pluto.

Mercury Rx c. Neptune at 22 Aquarius

There were 4 shootings in schools this last week that I've read about. Unbelievable:

Yesterday's Shooting in Illinois. Feb. 14, 3:00 pm

Feb. 8, 8:30am. Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge, LA A woman shot 2 nursing students.

Feb. 11, 9:00am. Memphis, Tenn. Shooting in a High School Gym. (an additional shooting in Memphis last week)

Feb. 12, (early). Oxnard, CA. 15 year old Jr.High School Student.

A Sociology Student discusses the School Shooters who are His Age

While looking for Stephen Kasmierczak's birth date, the guy who shot 21 or 22 students in Illinois I came across an interesting blog written by a Sociology Grad Student who is observing that many of the school shooters were born within a year of his/her own birth year, 1981. That's the Saturn-Pluto in Libra conjunction year. These people will have great insights into the workings of the world, here's one who is harnessing the energy for good. I certainly think that psych meds don't do them much good at this point, best to leave that maybe for the Jupiter-Neptune folks. At last count there were about 4 or 6 school shootings last week but not all this same man's age.

Here's a bit from the blog entry for today called "Sociology is a martial art."

Last night, when first reading about the shootings at NIU, I commented to Jennifer that we belong to an ill generation, whose high school rampages have recently graduated and taken to college campuses. This was before finding out that Kazmierczak was a graduate student, which only makes that statement truer, since those of us born in the early 1980s, as Kazmierczak was, as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were, as Kipland “Kip” Kinkel was, and as Luke Woodham was, are, or would be, now in our mid-twenties.

Again, pockets full of sentiments. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that men under thirty keep committing crimes. Also, it shouldn’t surprise me that students who commit crimes at schools are around the same age and of the same generation as me. Until recently, that would have to be the case, since I’ve been the age of most students for the last twenty years.

That said, this constellation of school shooters were born within a year of 1981 (my birth year). Scattered across this generation are young men who dramatize violence, dressing for the roles and carrying too many weapons to use.

from: poorgradstudents.wordpress.com

Swiss Art Thefts

I always said the perfect vehicle to own is an unmarked White Van. You can do anything at all if you own an unmarked White Van. You could be a plumber or an electrician or a Soccer Mom or the FBI or... you could use it to rob a Museum. You look official and yet you blend in. At any rate, that's the Getaway car of choice that was used in Sunday's robbery of 4 Impressionist masterworks.

I hope this isn't a foreshadow of Pluto in Capricorn in a negative sense. On one hand I can see how Capricorn's appreciation of Tradition will bring a heightened interest in Classical Artworks, but it also makes sense that it will show a heightened interest in organized crime, especially in combination with all the other outer planets in very social outer planet signs. This seems to be playing itself out in Switzerland last week where the two major Art Thefts took place.

Last Wednesday two Picassos were stolen from an exhibit in a town called Pfaffikon and on Sunday 4 masterworks were stolen from a museum in Zurich. To get this out of the way: Picasso was a Scorpio. Monet was a Scorpio, van Gogh was an Aries, Cezanne was a Capricorn and Degas was a Cancer. That right there shows an interest in Artists whose expressiveness (Sun Signs) represents either Pluto or Cardinal Signs.

The never-ending Mars-Pluto opposition is strongly represented in the event charts for these crimes and seem to have been set off by this month's eclispes. The charts for both robberies show most planets contained within Pluto at 1 Capricorn and Uranus in Pisces. Mars here is going through its long retrograde visit to the cusp between Gemini & Cancer. Mars is out-of-bounds and opposing Pluto and trining the Sun-Mercury-Neptune conjunction. Just a total invitation for people to stick guns in each others' faces I guess. In addition, Pluto is also on the Aries point and conjunct the Vertex in these charts which adds to the sinister feeling of this Pluto.

The Mars-Pluto opposition also hooks into Switzerland's chart where there is a stellium of NN-Sun-Mercury-Venus-Mars at the end of Virgo and beginning of Libra. This opposes the SN-Saturn conjunction in Pisces. The current Mars-Pluto opposition squares these aspects. Switzerland from Liz Greene at Astrodienst: Sept. 12, 1848, 11:12 am Bern.

The first robbery happened just before the Solar Eclipse on Feb. 6, Wednesday. This was an Aquarius New Moon with Mercury, Neptune, Chiron, and North Node also in Aquarius. Negative Aquarius motto: The Gang's all here.

The robbers are now thought to have locked themselves into the first Exhibit Building before closing and then as they left later on that evening set off the alarm. Sunday's heist was more brazen. It was committed during daylight around 4:30 pm before the gallery closed. 3 men walked in, one guy pulled the gun and told the employees and patrons to get down on the floor and his buddies pulled the 4 paintings off the wall in one room. At this point, the Sun, Mercury and Neptune were not only in conjunction in Aquarius but parallel to each other. And they were trining that Mars.

Leo was Rising around this time so the Sun rules the chart. That accounts for the dramatic daylight timing of the crime I suppose. It is placed in the 7th house of both event charts with the North Node right on the 8th House. The Moon was in Aries in the 9th House of International Affairs. Since one of the men spoke with a Slavic accent the authorities are assuming that the criminals are part of a Balkan organized Crime ring.

It will be interesting to see if these crooks will try another robbery before the Lunar Eclipse on Feb. 21. I suppose the Leo-Aquarius ASC-DESC axis might describe something about the criminals.

1st Robbery:
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, Pfaffikon, Switzerland, after closing

2d Robbery:
Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, Zurich, Switzerland, around 4:30pm

Bride Dies in Husband's Arms during 1st Wedding Dance

This is a tragic story. A bride in Florida, Kim Sjostrom, passed out in her Husband's arms during their first dance at their Wedding. She suffered a heart attack and was unable to be revived. The date was Jan. 19, 2008, Davies, Florida. (http://www.wpbf.com/news/15269770/detail.html). The couple had met 3 years before to the day. I don't have Kim Sjostrom's birth date but wanted to see what kind of astrology this might show.

First thing that stands out is the Mars-Pluto connection in both the Date of the couple's Meeting and in their Marriage. Probably not the best combination for a marriage due to its volatility.

When Kim met her future husband on Jan 19, 2005 Mars was at 18 Sagittarius conjunct Pluto at 24 Sagittarius. On the Wedding Date Pluto was at 30 Sagittarius so Mrs. Efkarpides was probably going through her natal Pluto Square.

This energy repeats for the Wedding. Pluto was opposite Mars at 25 Gemini conjunct the Moon at 24 Gemini and was amplified by a conjunction to Venus at 25 Sagittarius and Jupiter at 8 Capricorn. This is a very stressful & emotional combination, kind of like too much of a good thing.
I don't know what time Mrs. Efkarpides passed away but this opposition was passing over the ASC-DESC line of Marriage right before 4:00 pm. It was also connected with North Node conjunct Neptune which were just passing into the 8th House (death).

What also stands out is Kim's age, 36 years old, which indicates something to do with an upcoming Nodal Return. If Mrs. Efkarpides' perhaps indicates weakness in the Heart. During her childhood she was a Poster child (Leo) for Diabetes and a 1st grade teacher (Leo) which shows that she was very connected with her Leo South Node. In 1972, Pluto was just passing into Libra (the planet of marriage) and for a while was in a Grand Trine with the North Node and with Saturn in Taurus. This means nothing because I don't have her birth information and probably doesn't apply to her chart at all but I'm mentioning it anyway. At any rate, when the couple met, Pluto, Saturn and the North Node were once again figured together in a triangle shape including a trine, opposition and inconjunct. Saturn, Pluto and North Node are all connected with "Fate" and "Karma" which probably means nothing but there does seem to be an unreasonable amount of either one of these in their marriage (South Node for their meeting was in Libra (marriage). They were not in aspect on the date of their marriage.

I'm very sorry for Teddy Efkarpides' loss. May his wife's soul Rest in Peace.

Shuttle Launch STS-122 / Sick Astronaut

NASA has announced that operations on the current Shuttle Launch are being delayed due to an undisclosed but not life threatening illness of one of the astronauts. I quickly looked at the charts and noticed some big problems (Hindsight, of course).

Shuttle STS-122
Launch Feb. 7, 2008 2:45 pm Cape Canaveral, FL

Sick Astronaut
Hans Schlegel
b. Aug. 3, 1951 Uberlingen, Germany

The Shuttle launched during a Mercury Rx. That doesn't really matter much except that Mercury was conjunct Schlegel's natal Saturn in Virgo by a degree. These are conjunct Schlegel's South Node in Virgo. Virgo being the sign of Health and Intestines in particular I suppose I'd suspect a stomach ailment. Schlegel has a natal Saturn at 29 Virgo so Pluto is squaring that planet. He's also approaching his Saturn Return.

Another major feature is that the Shuttle was launched during a Solar Eclipse. Man, now that one I wouldn't recommend. The chart has 6 Cancer Rising which means that it is ruled by the Moon, which again points to fluids problems, stomach problems. There's a big stellium in Aquarius in this chart which falls in the Launch Chart's 8th house. With regards to Health, 8th house indicates Medical Research. I wouldn't get anywhere near those petri dishes myself.

Also, extremely stressful to see is that Schlegel has a natal conjunction of Sun-Pluto in Leo possibly also conjunct natal Moon in Leo. This is between 11 Leo (Sun) and 20 Leo (pluto). When the Shuttle Launched, not only was it a Solar Eclipse, but The Sun was at 19 Aquarius conjunct Neptune-Moon-NN. Neptune-Pluto-Moon also points to toxicity. He could also have flipped out and seen UFOs.

Schlegel's natal Uranus is at 12 Cancer and his Mars is at 21 Cancer meaning that both planets were in the Launch Chart's 1st House (physical body) and about to pass over the ASC into the 12th house of hidden health problems (and poisonings).

He shouldn't have snuck that Taco Bell before taking off... I hope he is well on the way to recovery. NASA has said that his problem is not life threatening.

Gen X & Gen Y

Interesting little article titled "Gen Y: An Alien Life Force?" in a magazine titled What is Enlightenment? (Feb-Apr 2008 issue). According to this article older people are confounded by the younger generation. The U.S. Navy has called them "narcissistic praise junkees" and "a somewhat alien life force." I suppose the boomers were called "Draft Dodgers" when faced with Vietnam, so I don't know how important this criticism is. Either way I was sort of shocked by a poll which is listed comparing people born in Gen X (Age 26-40) and people born later (Age 18-25). The Generation Y people just want to be rich and famous, very few want to become more spiritual. The magazine's website is www.wie.org so maybe they include the article.

I sort of starting blaming Pluto in Virgo v. Pluto in Libra for this phenomenon but when I looked at the years that separate these generations I realized that they are marked by major outer planet configurations.

Generation X began around 1967 when there was a Kite Pattern (February, 1967) of Uranus-Pluto in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces which includes a Grand Water Trine between Saturn in Pisces trine Jupiter in Cancer trine Neptune in Scorpio. Of course this generation wants spirituality with all that Water plus Virgo and of course they don't understand the money thing as well.

Generation Y began around 1982 up to 1990. In 1982 there was the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Libra. Uranus and Neptune were both in Sagittarius, not in conjunction. Narcissism is one of the markers for both of these signs. Spirituality for these folks is going to be much different than it was for the previous generation, much more social and extroverted. Perhaps they don't feel any deep yearnings to pursue any big questions because outward adventure is their expression. I wouldn't expect a Libra Generation to run out and sign up for the draft, that's for sure.

The article only accounts for kids 18 years old and beyond which cuts off that Generation at 1990. In 1990 of course there was the big conjunction of Saturn-Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn, a sign which appreciates money and particularly fame.

So, anyway, I think it's interesting that these dates line up with some of the major outer planet transits.

Chinese Astrology Joke

I was listening to a show on NPR, name I have forgotten (came on after CarTalk) this morning and a Comedian (whose name I have also forgotten) (sounded Italian starting with a C maybe?)(Neptune has been opposing my Mercury for more than a year, I have no memory left and don't even care)(honest to God I don't smoke pot).

Start over: I heard a funny joke on an NPR show this morning. A comedian says:

"I can't get used to the "Year of the Rat" -- I'm still writing "Year of the Monkey" on all my checks."

Hahahahahhaahahahahaha.

That's a good one.

I know I know, not year of the Monkey, it was year of the Pig... wish I could remember the comedian's name. Do one's mental faculties improve during the year of the Rat? I could use a little help here.

Lucky Jupiter

Cool! Jupiter has moved into my 8th House and I won a lottery! Well, I won a book at a raffle, not the big Lotto, but still I won I won I won and it was exciting and people said "Congratulations!"

The talk was on Archaeological Sites and the book is about Great Archaeological discoveries. I've had a strong interest in Archeology, even spent two years flunking out of a Classics major in College.

I sort of like to think that maybe this win is a message that I ought to be changing my path.

I've discovered a potential interpretation for the Eclipses concerning this path. This last Solar Eclipse was on my 3d House Mercury. The upcoming Lunar eclipse on February 21 (UT time) is going to be on a heavy stress point in my chart. Bleeh. This will be in my 4th house which is the House of Archeology so maybe the Solar Eclipse was giving me a Message (Mercury) in the Solar Eclipse about what to do with my life right now. Hmph, we'll see. I'm pretty impatient. Don't know how I'd fare digging around in the boondocks with a toothpick.

Jerry Yang

Yahoo is currently struggling to avoid a hostile takeover from Microsoft. I wanted to look at the CEO's charts to see what's going on with them. Jerry Yang and David Filo are the founders of Yahoo and I could only find Jerry Yang's birth date. I'm not sure how involved David Filo is in running the company as Jerry Yang is mostly in the news. What grabbed me was the fact that The San Jose Mercury News published an email Yang sent to the Yahoo employees and dope that I am I was particularly impressed by the fact that he doesn't capitalize words in his business correspondence. He's worth Billions and runs the company like e.e.cummings! That's awesome. I mean, maybe it's not so awesome right now as he struggles to figure out what to do with Yahoo, but at least he sounds like a fun boss.

Jerry Yang
b. Nov. 6. 1968 Taipei, Taiwan

Sun 14 Scorpio; Moon Taurus or Gemini; NN 10 Aries

Yang is a Scorpio like Bill Gates and if his Moon is in Taurus he's got good fixed sign capabilities, holding power. Also, like Bill Gates, he was born during a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. His Pluto-Jupiter is supercharged at the end of Virgo (25 & 29 degrees respectively) conjunct Mars (29 Virgo) and Uranus (3 Libra) . This brings in the extreme success of a Jupiter-Pluto conjuction but with Mars and Uranus also an impulsive, initiator quality to the way he does business that Gates doesn't seem to have.

This Jupiter-Pluto conjunction was directly squared by the recent conjunction of those planets at the end of Sagittarius. This poses some big challenges as squares generally do. Yang's progressed Sun and prog. Mercury are at the end of Sagittarius as well meaning that he really is stressing right now. It's interesting to note that there was another Jupiter-Pluto conjunction back in 1995 just as Yahoo was getting off the ground (the t.North Node also passed over natal Neptune as well). This would have been conjunct his natal Neptune in Scorpio which is trining the natal Virgo conjunction and was in his Solar Return Chart for the entire 1994-95 year. I haven't looked up Yahoo's data so I can't be specific about this.

As for what will happen? Jupiter will trine that natal Pluto-Mars-Jupiter-Uranus conjunction later this year which will add some relief and maybe a lucky way out. It will pass over the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Yahoo's natal chart which could bring either an opportunity or just a lot of optimism. Probably Yahoo already is strongly international but there may be more emphasis on overseas operations. Yang's natal Mercury is in diplomatic Libra, hopefully he'll be able to think through a solution. Right now his Mercury has progressed to a square with natal Mars-Jupiter showing that's he's definitely pushing to come up with new ideas. It's also approaching a square to natal Uranus so the ideas may come by working in a group and through friends. They will have to be new and innovative ideas that project far into the future.

Yang's progressed Sun also tells some interesting stories. It is just pulling away from a conjunction to his natal Venus (about 4 years ago). It looks like he was too lax in running his company and was enjoying his riches (Venus square Pluto). He may also have been bored. Yang's progressed Sun is now at 24 Sagittarius. This means it is approaching an exact square to natal Pluto by a degree, showing Power struggles over the next year. He's also approaching his Neptune square which shows some confusion as to how to handle the situation, maybe feeling that his world is not in his control. Neptune can be a great time to reach outside of normal boundaries through imagination so hopefully he will use this. He should definitely avoid drinking right now, especially if his Neptune is opposing his natal Moon.

Jerome Kerviel

Jerome Kerviel is the French Rogue Trader who just lost the Bank he worked for $7 Billion Dollars. Okay, so George Bush can do this for the U.S. in a day over in Iraq, no biggee. I looked at the chart anyway. Found some stuff that might be useful.

Jerome Kerviel
b. Jan. 11, 1977 Pont-l-Abbe, Brittany, France? (not sure about place)

Sun 22 Capricorn; Moon Virgo or Libra; NN 30 Libra

The most recent news is that the bank, Societe Generale, is thought to be partly to blame for entertaining a very competitive, risk taking environment and not keeping track of its Traders. Big Whoop, Saturn was in Leo, what do you expect? Also, another bit of news was that Kerviel has recently suffered two major losses. His Father died in 2006 and he has recently separated from his wife.

Kerviel's "unauthorized" trading began at the end of 2006. It's interesting to notice that in August, 2006 Kerviel was having his Saturn Return just as the Saturn-Neptune opposition was moving into place. That's a tough transit to go through just as you "lose" your "Father." But opposite the Neptune, eek.

I also checked for Lilith's placement as I know that in mythology she had some problems with death and grieving and holding grudges. Here she is placed in Taurus (Banking) conjunct Kerviel's Jupiter. Am not sure how to interpret her but this as well as a possible conjunction between Moon and Pluto may show some difficult emotional/feminine energies that struggle with loss more than average.

Kerviel could do what he did because he had worked for so long in the back office. I don't understand the working of legal bank trading let alone illegal bank trading but do recognize that a "back office" and "unassuming" character is a Neptunian theme as is "Fraud". It's also a Scapegoat theme, the card which Kerviel is playing right now. He was being rewarded for making the company money, even if assuming risk (Saturn in Leo), so I guess they are in part to blame (Saturn & Neptune word).

Kerviel's chart cycles show a Saturn Return, a Jupiter Opposition and a Uranus trine while he was committing his crimes. These planets are linked by aspect in his natal chart in the Resource Houses of Risk taking Leo (Saturn), Banking Taurus (Jupiter) and Investments (Uranus). All 3 Planets were in aspect to natal planets and were being hit by t.Neptune and prog. Sun as well. The broader nature of all the outer planets chiming in so well together explains the extreme nature of the crime.

The Saturn-Neptune opposition transit hooks into Kerviel's natal chart by transit but also because he has a natal trine between the two planets (Neptune in Sagittarius). He naturally knows how to use that energy. Also, his progressed Sun has been traveling 21-23 Aquarius so it has been within conjunction-opposition of that Saturn-Neptune opposition.

Venus and Taurus also rule money and Banking themes so I took a look at those. Venus here is in Pisces. That again shows a style of handling money which is not direct and which somehow works beyond the normal boundaries. I believe this is the biggest Bank Fraud case in history. Jupiter is his only planet in Taurus. It is Retrograde and is strongly linked with his Saturn (so involved in the Saturn-Neptune opposition as well). It is parallel Saturn and both planets are Retrograde and in Fixed, Resource signs. Jupiter and Saturn working together can give one a great, broad sense of social rhythms, for good or bad.

Saturn is also squaring Uranus in Scorpio in this chart and Jupiter was passing over natal Uranus just at this time.

T. Uranus was passing over natal Venus in Pisces (squaring Neptune).

Kerviel was caught for making unauthorized trades on Jan. 19, 2008. His Solar Return Chart for 2007 shows a Sun-Venus Rx conjunction and a Grand Fixed Square between Mars 15 Taurus opposition Jupiter Scorpio which was squaring Saturn Leo opposite Neptune Aquarius, all on top of his natal planets. He was about 6 months out of his exact Saturn opposition.

It's interesting that another Rogue Trader, Nick Leeson, who completely tanked the British bank he was working for back in 1995, was caught for his hanky panky back on Jan 16, 1995. This shows the Sun in close to the same spot of Capricorn (Authorities, Guilt). Also interesting is the fact that Saturn (Authorities, Guilt) on that day was at 10 Pisces, very close to opposition of Saturn's placement for when Kerviel was caught on Jan. 19, 2008. I'm not much into Sabian Symbols but it would be interesting to check out the interpretations for these degrees. Mostly I think this is just a symptom of the end of Saturn's ambitious transits through risk taking Leo and enterprising Aquarius.

There's an interesting blog post comparing Leeson and Kerviel's charts at "Astropost" http://astropost.blogspot.com/2008/01/jrome-kerviel-and-nick-leeson-same.html.

Hollywood's Most Desirable Woman

AskMen.com ran a Poll asking more than 1 Million Men who the Most Desirable Woman in Hollywood is. Well, they make you flip through 100 Slightly Less Desirable Women in Gradated Increments before getting to the Winner. I went to the Comments Section and discerned from all the people bitching that Katherine Heigel is NOT the Most Desirable Woman, that she is indeed the Winner of the Poll. Wanted to check her chart for reasons why she may be Hollywood's Most Desirable this year.

Pluto rules deep desires. Venus rules the desire to be loved. Mars rules going after what you want. Jupiter just wants everything. Moon is the subconscious.

Katherine Heigel
Nov. 24, 1978 Washington, DC

Sun 3 Sagittarius; Moon probably in Virgo; NN 24 Virgo Rx

Well, it looks like Jupiter helped Heigel last year. She has 4 planets in Sagittarius, the sign that Jupiter was passing through. First Jupiter would have hit her Sun (Luck, Opportunity) and then passed over her Mercury, Mars, & Neptune in Sagittarius. Mars & Neptune working together are thought to give a person extra Charm and Panache. This stellium is the boundary for a Bundle Chart (Everything happens all at once) creating a trine with Jupiter in Leo (entertainment). The Mars-Neptune-Mercury stellium also squares her Nodal Axis (Destiny) and maybe Moon (Public) in Virgo.

And, of course, Pluto, the planet of Sexual Magnetism had been slowly passing over those planets for the past few years, sort of prepping Heigl for the Jupiter transit.

So, basically, Jupiter, planet of opportunity, has been passing over every planet in Heigl's chart over the last 4 years of so. In her case it really did offer her one opportunity after another. Once it hit that Stellium in Sagittarius (the sign of Luck), BLAMMO!!! All the planets contained within a Mercury-Jupiter trine also explains her incredible comedy talents. I suppose this lines up with her career although I'm not going to check it.

Heigl does have the hardware for winning this poll, though, on her own. She has the Bundle Chart, everything contained within a Trine, so when things go right for her they go really right. She has achieved great career success the same year that she married. Maybe too much all at once, but right is right.

Also, Heigl has Venus in Scorpio and that is just plain sexy. I know it's in its Detriment but Men like the danger that might be involved in a Detrimental Venusian. Nick Campion calls this placement the "Dark Temptress." Hegel's Venus is squaring her Jupiter which adds an element of Luck and also adds a sense of playfulness and sportsgirlmanship. It works well for any kind of Doctor role. And shows why she can be cast so well in roles of women in crisis (unplanned pregnancy) or as a perpetual bridesmaid. She can go through all these crises and still manage to hold down a job and have regular sex. So Scorpio.

It would be nice, of course, to know Heigl's birth time to see how her Midheaven was aspected during this time. Amazing how much shows up without it, though, at least in hindsight.

The Aries Ingressesssesssss, 2008

While reminding myself once again that the Mars-Pluto opposition is not anywhere near finishing I located a cruddy chart. I mean, really cruddy, except for losers and artists. It's the Aries Ingress chart for this year.

Aries Ingress
Mar. 20, 2008 5:48 UT (or close to that)

The Ingresses are the Ingresses just because that's when the Sun is most angular. The Sun here is right on the first degree of the Zodiac. In the London Chart, the Sun is also in the 1st House, angular. And it's only aspects are the squares that it makes as apex to the Mars-Pluto opposition. Mars is in the 4th House where it's always a Bull in a China Cabinet and Pluto is up in the 10th House trying to control everything. That's a total too many Cooks spoil the broth type aspect.

Pisces Rises in this chart and Ruler Neptune is in the 12th House so there's sure to be some poison added to that broth. Actually, Neptune and Saturn are about to continue on with one widely orbed version of last years' opposition. If you weren't a total victim at that point, expect to get a kick now.

The next day, the Moon will move into Libra in order to make a Grand Cardinal Square right pretty dang close to the Aries Points for my tastes. Then the next day, the Mars-Pluto opposition will finally end. I wonder if anything or anybody will be left alive. My ex-stepmother will probably become President.

Boy, I really need for this Mars-Pluto opposition to be over. I can't possibly get anymore forks to form on my tongue at this point.

Venus Inferior Conjunctions

Here's a link to some dates and articles written about Venus Inferior Conjunctions. The articles mostly relate the Inferior Conjunctions with Health Matters and the spread of germs.

http://www.datasync.com/~rsf1/vel/1918ics.htm

Baby's First Synodic Years

All these current inner planet Retrogrades I guess have led me down a strange little path. I've found that there's more to the Retrogrades than just a slowing down movement. I've never understood the interpretations for Retrogrades so this is sort of exciting. During my study of Cycles research I came across the Synodic Years Cycles. I'm sort of wondering if a Baby is strongly affected by the Planetary Synodic Years during his first years. So I'm also looking at that idea briefly. Mercury is retrograde right now and Mars feels like it will never be out of retrograde ever again so this is sort of a mish mash I guess.

"Synodic" comes from the Greek word for Assembly or Meeting. Synodic can show a line up of any two or more planets. The Synodic Year as I'm using it here is the transit at which the Sun lines up with the Earth and the Sun.

The Tie-In to Retrogrades is that the Planet is always in the middle of its Retrograde Session when this happens. The cycle that this creates is called a Synodic Year by the astronomers. This shows up clearly in the planets whose orbits are outside of the Earth's orbit, Mars to Pluto. With Mercury and Venus there are Inferior and Superior Conjunctions. Inferior means that the planet lines up with the Earth in front of the Sun and the Superior Conjunction means that the Planet is farthest away from the Earth and is blocked from view by the Sun.

The astrological chart doesn't show the Earth so one must read these transits as oppositions between the Sun and the Planet.

I'm studying it as a way of trying to understand development in a Baby's first couple of years. The Sun, after all, shows the development of the Baby's Will, Ego and Creative Expression. Very important factors in understanding how his life will turn out. Interesting to check to see if these land on natal points as they will be significant to him. I'm thinking that these first Synodic Years are sort of the Baby's first viewing of how Ego relates to the energy of whatever planet is retrograding. The energy is enhanced because Retrogrades extend the time that the Planet will stay in one spot. Will have to research this as somebody has probably already written about it.

The slower moving planets actually experience slightly quicker Synodic Years than the faster transiting planets.

An interesting unfolding through time is involved as the slower moving planets actually have more Synodic Years than the quicker ones (except for inner planets Mercury and Venus). So the Neptunian Synodic Year happens sooner than the Uranian Synodic Year. Pluto's transit is so uneven that some generations will experience a lot more Plutonian Synodic Years than other generations.

I think these might be important to study for a baby just as he is developing his Ego (Sun) during the first couple of years. During these Retrogrades/Oppositions he is seeing how Ego works to balance out and relate to the energy of the planet in the real world. Of course, the most important Oppositions will be the ones that directly land on a natal planet.

The animation feature on Solar Fire is awesome for looking these up. The way my chart is set up there were no "Outer planet" Synodic Year transits (Mars - Pluto) until I was more than 6 months old. Then the Sun opposed Uranus Rx on my natal Mercury (and Uranus, since I have those two in conjunction natally). "The Shock of the New" was pretty much the theme of my childhood. This would have affected my whole expression as Gemini Rules my Ascendant and Uranus rules my Midheaven and I have them both in conjunction in my chart. I know that my one of my first words was "Don't do that!" just because my Mother had an abnormal fear of electricity. She said that she was constantly afraid that my brother and I would stick our fingers in the electrical sockets. What can I say? Some Mother's worry that their kids will poke their eyes out, others worry that strangers will abduct their kids. Mine panicked that the appliances would attack her kids.

I don't remember my life from that point, of course, but I do know that my Father's career as a modernistic, innovative architect was experiencing a meteoric rise. Uranus in my natal chart rules my Midheaven. Also, my Health suffered as I suffered from Bronchial Asthma attacks. This is indicated by my Cancer Sun and Gemini Rising overall (Chest, lungs, bronchials). But I also have a Yod that involves apex Moon to 3d house Uranus-Gemini Rising. Erratic breathing due to emotional shocks was definitely a major part of my existence at that point. As much as I'd like to blame the asthma on my parents 3 pack a day habits, my first attack came the first time they left me with a babysitter, a stranger I had never met. Kind of Uranian. So, I'm not saying there is anything to this, but this might be an interesting way to help a person try to remember that momentous first year. Most people, I'm sure couldn't care less.

Here's a list of how long Each Planet's Synodic Year happens. (from climate.qi.alaska.edu/Curtis/astrol.html).

Moon: Synodic Month: 29.53059 days (I'm listing this for the hell of it, Sun and Moon don't retrograde.

Mercury: Synodic Year: 105-129 days (is Rx for 22 days)

Venus Synodic Year: 1 yr. 6 month + 5-41 days (584 days, inferior conjunction) (is Rx for 40 days)

Mars Synodic Year: 2 years. + 1 - 2.5 months (779.7 days)

Jupiter's Synodic Year: 398.88 days (is Rx for 121 days)

Saturn's Synodic Year: 378 days (1 yr. 12-14 days) (is Rx for 138 days)

Uranus' Synodic Year: 369.7 days (1 yr. 4.5 days) (is Rx 5 mo's.)

Neptune's Synodic Year: 367 days (1 yr. 1.8 days) (is Rx 5 mo's)

Pluto: ????

Time Converter Calculator

Don't know how this thing works but I'm going to link to here for future reference, it's a Time Converter. Didn't there used to just be Minutes, Hours, Days, Years and Centuries? Wow.

http://www.csgnetwork.com/timemath.html

I sort of wonder if we aren't going to go through major changes with Time, Weights and Measurements now that Pluto is in Capricorn. We need Caesar to come along and change the Calendar again.