"The Castle"

Do buildings have charts?

On yesterday's Full Moon, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for a $50 Million replica of the Alhambra in Morgan Hill, CA. It will house "The Institute of Mathematics" a 7-year old "School" that gathers the world's greatest mathematicians to solve the world's toughest mathematics problems. The founder of the Institute, John Fry (founder of Fry's Electronics) conceived and is paying for the building. His college buddy, Steve Sorenson, is in charge of managing the construction. An architect from Santa Fe, NM, Jay Bonner, is designing the building.

"The Castle"
groundbreaking ceremony: May 31, 2007 11:30 am Morgan Hill, CA

Sun 10 Gemini; Moon 8 Sagittarius; ASC 24 Leo; MC 18 Taurus; NN 12 Pisces

What better aspect for building a "Castle" than Leo Rising with Sun is in the 10th house? Saturn is conjunct the ASC and is trining Jupiter in the 4th house of "Place and Home". Jupiter rules higher education. Saturn also trines Pluto in Sagittarius in the 5th house: serious ambitions for pursuing deep thought and higher learning.

The Full Moon in Sagittarius is conjunct and disposits to Jupiter opposing Sun in Gemini. This is perfect for an educational, intellectual pursuit. The Institute was conceived by Fry and Sorenson when they were in college (Jupiter) together. John Fry went on to make his money through the Fry's Electronics chain. Moon conjunct Jupiter in its own sign promises Luck. A place (Moon and H4) of Higher Thought (Jupiter) of International (Jupiter) Fame (Scorpio IC). Moon is also conservative, the design will be an imitation of a building from the past. All the Fry's stores are decorated with historical themes as well.

The ceremony (Leo ASC c. Saturn) went from 11:30 am to 1 pm. At this point there was a Grand Fire Trine of Jupiter in Sagittarius-Saturn in Leo-Mars in Aries that extended out to a Kite through Saturn's opposition to Chiron in Aquarius. Saturn is also opposite Neptune and this opposition is closely conjunct the ASC-DESC line. A strong focus on gathering people to work in partnerships.

Scorpio rules the IC, indicator of a need for privacy, great for a retreat to discover deep secrets of the universe and also beneficial for fame and power. John Fry didn't attend the ceremony as he dislikes publicity. How Scorpio!

Pluto opposed by Mercury from H5 to H11, respectively. Another indicator of "deep thinking," especially through communication with others (Opposition).

As the purpose of building this building is to encourage great Mathematicians to gather and share knowledge and to work in teams I figured Uranus/Aquarius should be looked at. Gemini rules the 11th house and Mercury (communication) is placed there. The Nodal axis spans H1 and 7 indicating strong drive to work with others. The mutual reception of Uranus and Neptune is aspected in H7. These are the outer most planets, representing the most advanced intuitive (Uranus) and spiritual (Neptune) thinking that Man is capable of. Uranus is squaring Jupiter.

The focus of creating beautiful grounds like the Alhambra as inspiration: Venus in Cancer on H12 cusp trining Uranus in Pisces on H8 cusp.

Leonard Eron, TV and Aggression

Leonard Eron is the guy who did the Landmark Psychological Study which linked violence in Children to the violence they see on Television. He passed away on May 3 from Congestive Heart Failure at his home in Illinois at the age of 87.

This was supposed to be a quickie where I locate Mars and Sun in his chart and be done with it. After all, violence isn't complex. Kids aren't complex either. Woof. I get the birth data from his obituary in today's San Jose Mercury News. Another Taurus.

Leonard Eron
b. Apr. 22, 1920 Newark, NJ

Sun 3 Taurus; Moon either Gemini or Cancer; NN 16 Scorpio.

So, yeah, if you look at his chart you go GAW! Leo & 5th house rules Children and Mars rules violence, little boys, and puppy dog ears. Eron had Sun opposite Mars. Bingo. His Mars is in Scorpio, sign of its traditional rulership and it's Retrograde. So aggression is right up this guy's alley. It goes further though. The Sun-Mars opposition actually expands out into a Kite where Mars is involved in a Grand Water (Feelings) Trine with Uranus 5 Pisces and Pluto 6 Cancer. Sun-Mars-Pluto-Uranus. You mention that combination in hard aspect to any garden variety astrologer and they just slant their eyes and ask "Who did he kill?"

Mars (in Scorpio, geead I gotta repeat that) is also handle to a Bucket Chart which puts so much more energy on it. But the Bucket Shape starts to show a gentler story because it is made up of a Boat Shape: opposition of Uranus in Pisces to Saturn R Virgo strung together by sextiles. Sextiles give talent and flow and depend on some action oriented trauma from Mars in order to get some locomotion. So, Uranus sextile Sun sextile Pluto sextile Saturn. You mention Uranus-Sun-Pluto-Saturn to your garden variety astrologer and he/she still asks "Who did he kill?". Remember though that the signs the planets are in are all feminine & receptive signs and Mars is Retrograde so it's influence is stifled or slowed in some way.

So where's Venus? Sweet, charming Venus who wouldn't harm a fly? Venus is in Aries conjunct Chiron and Mercury all dispositing to Mars. The conjunction is trining a conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune at 9 Leo (kids) and squaring Pluto in Cancer (parents). In addition to being conjunct to the degree, Jupiter and Neptune are Parallel which doubles and triples the power of this conjunction. Kind of a magical combination involving entertainment and kids.

I'll also add that all Eron's planets strongly aspect, or interact, so the energies between them flow and don't get stuck. Maybe this is something to look for. Unaspected planets can come on real strong during difficult transits and progressions. Also, there are no Out of Bounds planets.

Eron did his first study in 1960, was commissioned to do a follow up study in 1969 and then continued followup studies until 2000. Originally 875 3d-graders were studied in Columbia County, NY. The San Jose Mercury News includes an interesting description from his son on how the results were discovered by accident (Mars-Uranus). The original study was trying to connect child rearing habits with aggression. Apparently everyone was afraid of Communist Plots in 1960 and got paranoid that psychologists were commies out to perform mind control experiments. So, in order to defer the paranoias, questions about Television viewing habits were casually asked in order to relax the parentsand make the study sound like "Ladies Home Journal" questions. Eron's got Scorpio North Node so dealing paranoia was right up his alley along with psychology, research and hidden meanings. He excelled at all of these. Psychologists must perform better when accused of being a Communist. I'll have to remember that for next week's session.

So, I'm coming back to Eron's Mars for one final note: the movement of his Progressed Mars is linked up with his research to the year. Natally, remember it's Retrograde. It progressed back from Scorpio into Libra until 1960 when it went direct. This is the year he started the study. Then it returned to it's natal position at 1 Scorpio in 2000 the final year of the study.

Pluto and Chiron were also opposing each other in 1960 and conjunct the Saturn-Uranus opposition in his chart (border of the Boat).

I'm not even sure what rules Television. I'm assuming Mercury and Uranus, maybe Neptune? Where did I put Bills? In 1960, Eron's Solar Arc Mercury was probably close to conjunct his South Node. Progressed Mercury was squaring the transiting Nodes. And Venus and Sun were also progressing through Gemini.

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.