Mars and Teenagers in Trouble, Trayvon Martin and Sierra Lamar

Hindsight is so telling. With Mars squaring the last Total Lunar Eclipse on Dec. 10, 2011, that's Mars squaring the Sun and Moon and Nodes, most of the major factors of the sky for events, I suppose that now we can know that children will be susceptible to violence more than usual.

There will be another square between these planets, sort of a Grand Square with Chiron, in the June Lunar Eclipse which will also include the big Venus Rx cycle.

So right now, Eclipse wise, we're wenched between 2 Eclipses which represent emotional volatility. Also, Mars is spending a lot of time in Virgo not really moving anywhere, so he's not really flowing very much. And since he's the guy who acts first and thinks second, he's burbling away like a pit bill on a leash. And Mercury has been in Retrograde so nobody can think straight, but apparently can still shoot straight which is an extremely scary thought. And Venus will move Retrograde soon after Mars goes direct at the end of this month. So, get out your suspension rope, don't offend the gang stalkers because they're not very nice, and they make sense to all those mean brats born with the Pluto in Scorpio and Neptune-Uranus in Capricorn who were raised by parents who called themselves helicopters because they didn't really want kids, they wanted money, and the kids just happened to be part of the Plan to get the money and the success. It's a Material World, don't ya know.

Okay, high horse. I think I was just fed psych drugs in my orange juice 2 days ago and I'm coming down off a really scary high

Basically, there's a lot of frustrated inner planet energy. A cess pool if you will. Third World Country thinking (except for Nancy Grace and Mark Klaas, in this case)

Kids are mostly about inner planet energy.

Who? What's a kid? I live in California. We just have transplants who act like kids.

Teenagers are just past their first Saturn oppositions and most are launching out into a 4 or 5 year period in which they are not developing through any major planetary cycle phases or parts of phases.

The two big stories in the news have been of Trayvon Martin, a 15 year old Black teenager who was shot for suspected trespassing by a citizen security guard named George Zimmerman. This occured in Florida in a town called Sanford. Zimmerman has a typically Jewish name and he says he's Hispanic, so right there he's a civil rights catastrophe waiting to happen.

Sierra Lamar is a 14 year old White girl (I think) from Morgan Hill, CA who went missing in MidMarch, having never boarded the bus to go to her school. Her cell phone and her bag with some clothes have been located a couple of miles from her home but nothing else is known about her whereabouts.

Trayvon Martin was born at the beginning of 1995 and Sierra Lamar was born near the end of 1996. They share the Uranus-Neptune conjunction from those year in their natal charts. Trayvon's is in Capricorn at 24-28 Capricorn. Sierra's is Neptune 26 Capricorn-Uranus 1 Aquarius.

Capricorn is the sign associated with parents, usually the Father. On a societal level these events are bringing up a lot of topics for society and the media to discuss. Outer planet transits are said to project out into the bigger picture in this way because slow moving as they are many people within a generation share them. Trayvon Martin's murder has become a huge talk about racism and civil rights. Both kids were from Divorced families so now there is talk about how kids from Divorce get into trouble. I read an article yesterday about all the kids in the news right now who are from Divorce, the theme was lack of Fathering more than lack of Mothering. Sorry don't have a link. Should try to find it.

I've been studying kids from divorce and have found that, at least in the cases which go public in the national media, most of the women who get murdered by boyfriends and husbands seem to come from divorce. I'm not going into the reasons why this is so, mostly because kids from divorce wander around a lot and don't shelter themselves from the strangeness of others very well, either that or they are manipulative spoiled brats as anyone from an intact family will readily tell you. One can see the strange allegiences which occur within step families when Sierra Lamar's mother is interviewed. She can't seem to discuss her husband and boyfriend, even at the expense of not being able to find her daughter.

The Divorced kid thing is a long story. Since these two are/were teenagers we can focus the conversation on how to avoid that topic.

I said that I'm not going to discuss crime stories as they are occurring so already I've screwed that topic up. What I'm going to try to focus on is Mars in the natal charts of the victims and in the event charts of their victimhood. I've looked at a chart for Sierra's last cell phone call. It says something important but I can't say what.

The reason why I'm looking at Mars is because both Sierra and Trayvon had natal Mars within a degree of each other at 25-26 Leo. Mars also rules impulse and violence and bullets and knives. And it's just odd that they shared a Mars Return.

Mars is prominently placed in both of their charts as it is Lead Planet of their chart shapes. Sierra has Mars 25 Leo lead planet of a Locomotive Chart. Trayvon had Mars 26 Leo lead planet of a Bucket Chart.

Mars rules Men, mostly young impulsive boys and represents the male side of a person within a relationship, and also describes the impulsive side of a person. So these kids may have had a bit of a good soldier style of action, valuing honor and courage. Being a Fire Sign Leo can perhaps get itself into difficult situations, especially if offended. Leo is the sign of Pride, Romantic, wears Heart on Sleeve. Leo rules creativity and kids, so kids being raised by parents who aren't doing their job properly might dramatize through behaviors but most of all they just want to be good kids and to be rewarded for it.

Mars is prominent in the skies right now because he is moving Retrograde in Virgo and has been opposing Neptune. Virgo is the sign which comes after Leo, it's the sign of discernment and attempt to seek clarity through analysis of all the Leo drama. So, these kids' Mars is in the shadow of this current rx transit. Perhaps something they did back on the day when they had their exact Mars returns somehow led to what happened to them on the days of their victimization.

The Virgo-Pisces pole will often bring up issues regarding Civil Rights, most notable the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s which came about during a huge configuration in Virgo-Pisces. There is a weird chance that Sierra Lamar ran off to join the revolution, from looking at the chart, and this revolution could be related to immigrants' right just because Morgan Hill is an agricultural town.

Mars Opposing Neptune brings fogginess and lack of clarity, though, which seems to be part of both of these cases. There can be dishonesty and cover ups or just difficulty in discerning reality. Both cases are bringing about searches on mass scale, in civil rights in Trayvon's case along with Mass Media screw ups, and in the actual physical search in Sierra's case. Football players are tromping out in the fields in Morgan hill right now along with many other people looking for traces of what happened.

It's interesting that the Mars-Neptune opposition had just passed over the ASC-DESC pole of both event charts, but on opposite sides.

Pisces was Rising at 7:11 when Sierra sent her last text message to her friend so Mars was in the 6th House and Neptune was in the 12th House. (Since this is at the end of Pisces, Aries may have been actually rising when she was went missing).

Virgo was rising when Trayvon was shot so Mars would have been in the 12th House and Neptune in the 6th House. This is interesting just for the reason that everyone knows what happened to Trayvon and Mars represents guns and violence. He was also misidentified which would be a Neptunian problem. Neptunians can't really do eyewitness situations, but they can instantly identify the murderer (or more likely, crack dealer) in the room if they've never met the person before.

In Sierra's case nobody knows what happened to Sierra which is very Neptunian and unclear. If she disappeared soon after making her last text, Neptune is ruling the chart and is in its own sign and in its own house. The Sun is unaspected and in conjunction with the Ascendant at that point which shows a burst of ego that has nowhere to go.

There is a tight conjunction of Mercury-Uranus. which could indicate a runaway situation, just depends on the time of the disappearance. The chart is also unclear because there is a conjunction of Moon-Pluto in Capricorn up in the 10th House which squares the Mercury-Uranus conjunction. Pluto is connected with abduction and pretty much all types of shady crime and taboos. This is a very intense square aspect which is right on the angles. Plus, another quasi planet influence, Ceres, which is also connected with abduction is also in the 1st house. That's interesting because Ceres and Pluto are connected together through the myth of daughter/abductee, Persephone, in Greek myth. This myth is also about agriculture and Morgan Hill is a farming community. And there was recently another shooting of teenagers back in November which was related to gang activity. Maybe gang activity in Ceres?. Sierra's natal Jupiter is at 12 Capricorn and is unaspected except through a square to her Nodal Axis, so she may have run off to join the revolution (Uranus in Aries) and has long since flown out of the area.

I can't find any reason to connect Mars at 25-26 Leo with the events in either of these cases. It's out of bounds to be considered a Mars return for these kids. Mars will return back to 4 Virgo next week and then will move forward. This is an exact Mars Return for Trayvon Martin's killer, George Zimmerman, who has natal Mars at 4 Virgo. Mars will station right on his natal Mars next week.

Trayvon Martin was born with both Mercury and Mars Retrograde. So this mirrors the current Mercury-Mars Retrogrades that are in the sky right now. Mercury was not Rx when he was shot.

Sort of weird how there are no out of bounds planets in the natal or event charts. I always expect something to look really wiggy in the case of crime.

Trayvon Martin
b. Feb. 5, 1995 (no place, I used Miami, FL)

Sun 17 Aquarius; Moon Aries or Taurus; NN 10 Scorpio

Trayvon Martin killed
d. Feb. 26, 2012 7:17 pm Sanford, FL

Sun 8 Pisces (H6); Moon 4 Taurus (H8); ASC 21 Virgo; MC 21 Gemini; NN 10 Sagittarius Rx

Sierra Lamar
b. Oct. 19, 1996 (no place, I used Fremont, CA)

Sun 27 Libra; Moon Capricorn or Aquarius; NN 7 Libra Rx

Sierra Lamar goes missing
Mar. 16, 2012 7:11 am Morgan Hill, CA

Sun 27 Pisces; Moon 16 Capricorn; ASC 23 Pisces; MC 27 Sagittarius Rx; NN 9 Sagittarius Rx;

Total Lunar Eclipse Dec. 10, 2011 7:36 am EDT NY, NY
Sun 19 Sagittarius-NN 15 Sagittarius opp Moon 19 Gemini square Mars 14 Virgo

Partial Lunar Eclipse June 4, 2012 7:11 am EDT NY, NY
Sun 15 Gemini oppo Moon 15 Sagittarius squaring Mars 17 Capricorn opposite Chiron 10 Pisces. NN 5 Sagittarius Rx squaring Neptune 4 Pisces SD. Venus Rx c. Sun, end of 8 year cycle that's part of that big cycle, I forget what the name of it is.

George Zimmerman
B. Oct. 5, 1983 somewhere in Virginia, I used Richmond

Sun 12 Libra; Moon Virgo or Libra; NN 20 Gemini Rx

Will Rome Have An Earthquake on May 11?

Italians sure are good at predicting earthquakes. No one believes them. But, that doesn't stop them from trying to save everyone's lives. Remember that guy who almost got thrown in jail a couple of years ago? It's just the weird Uranus energy of earthquakes I guess, why people won't believe. Or maybe it's annoying to have to make plans ahead of time for something that may not happen. But, just think of all the other things that people will believe without questioning. Gossip and Rumor, for example. Everyone believes psychiatrists but their track record sucks when you bother to think about it. People believe the Weather man. People believe Politicians. Actually people just like to complain after the fact that Politicians don't live up to their campaign promises, they probably don't really ever believe them in the first place. People believe Drug Addicts. People trust illegal immigrants with pretty much everything. Most dangerous chemicals. Hotel Room keys. Children. It's amazing. They wouldn't trust any American from the same economic level, that's for sure.

Anyway, there was this incredible Italian seismologist who was both believed and disbelieved. He predicted 3 earthquakes. And then he apparently never told anyone how he did it. Just some story about how he walked on the beach one day and ideas came to him. But, thing is, he said there was something about how the Planets line up with, uh, the Sun and the Moon. And the Earth's crust....

Okay, time for an Interlude, just thinking about Italy and crusty things makes me so hungry:

"moon hits you in the eye like a big pizza pie it's Amooooorrrrreeeeee!"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_italy_earthquake_prediction_odd

Raffaele Bendandi
b. Oct. 17, 1893 Faenza, Italy

Sun 25 Libra; Moon Capricorn; NN 20 Aries

So, Bendandi was hyper Cardinal. That fits with the Cardinal Sign/Earthquake theory. He possibly had a t-square in his natal chart which included the Sun, Moon and Nodal Axis. That means that he grew up absorbing the tension from his parents' miserable marriage. His Sun 25 Libra is in conjunction with the South Node and Saturn 17 Libra. He also has Mars 10 Libra. Don't have his birth time so don't have his correct Moon placement. Noon places Moon in mid Capricorn. With this Saturn, Venus stuff he could pretty much hear the rumblings in his bones.

But what else? His prediction dates show heavy influence on his natal chart. Bendandi was born during the big psychic conjunction of Pluto to Neptune in Gemini which was occurring around the years that he was born. Pluto is at 11 Gemini and Neptune is is 14 Gemini Rx. He also had Jupiter 1 Gemini. They are opposing Venus 7 Sagittarius and inconjunct a conjunction of Mercury 12 Scorpio to Uranus 11 Scorpio. That's hyper sensitive and intuitive at the same time. Don't try to simulate this at home by yourself. You were born into the wrong time zone.

Also, in the predictions I'm looking at the Sun is opposing major outer planets. It doesn't in Wednesday's earthquake, but the Sun will be squaring Moon in the Morning and the Nodal Axis will be at a key point. I haven't looked up all of his predictions though, just the ones for Italy. The Moon will oppose Neptune-Chiron in Pisces at some point during the day.

Here are some of his predictions which I found off a website and did right down URL. I think it's http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences etc.

May 11, 2011 Rome, Italy
Sun 21 Taurus; Moon Leo or Virgo; NN 26 Sagittarius

Moon oppose Neptune-Chiron
Sun square Moon early morning
Grand Trine: NN 26 Sagittarius trine Moon Leo trine Venus 25 Aires Mercury 25 Aries Jupiter 25 Aries Mars 1 Taurus.
This is the last pass of the big outer planet T-square within orb: apex Pluto 8 Capricorn square Saturn 12 Libra Rx opposing Uranus 4 Aries


Marsica Earthquake
Jan. 13, 1915 Marsica, Italy

Sun 23 Capricorn; Moon prob. Sagittarius, Capricorn if very late, NN 24 Aquarius

Sun c. Mars 17 Capricorn Mercury 28 Capricorn opposite Neptune 30 Cancer Rx

Saturn 28 Gemini c. Pluto 1 Cancer maybe opposite Moon

Jupiter 26 Aquarius c. NN 29 Aquarius trine Saturn-Pluto Cancer

Senigallia Earthquake
Jan 4, 1924 Senigallia, Italy was 2 days off for this prediction, thought it was Jan 2, place was off

Sun 11 Capricorn; Moon Scorpio; NN 5 Virgo

Sun opposite Pluto 12 Cancer Rx
Jupiter 9 Sagittarius square NN 5 Virgo
Grand Water Trine: Uranus 15 Pisces trine pluto 12 Cancer trine Mars 19 Scorpio-Moon 15 Scorpio
Mercury 29 Capricorn square Saturn 1 Scorpio
Venus 9 Aquarius maybe square Moon

Frivoli Earthquake
May 6, 1976 Gemma del Frioli, Italy

Sun 17 Taurus (H5); ASC 7 Sagittarius; Moon 12 Leo (H8); MC 30 Virgo; NN 13 Scorpio Rx.

Sun 17 Taurus c. SN opposite Uranus 5 Scoprio-NN 13 Scorpio Rx square Moon 12 Leo
Mars 25 Cancer c. Saturn 28 Cancer
H1: Neptune 14 Sagittarius trine Moon (H8)
Neptune rules H4 (empty)

Will look at some other stuff later, computer just crashed.

Earth Water Air Adrenaline

Matthias Giraud and his friend films a death defying ski run down a hill while filming with his helmet. Video has gone viral.

http://www.grindtv.com/snow/blog/26377/skiers+amazing+avalanche+cliff+jump+becomes+internet+sensation/

Giraud's birth date is listed on his website. I wanted to check the chart for a person who never feels vertigo:

Matthias Giraud
b. Sept. 24, 1983 Is he from France?

Sun 1 Libra; Moon Aries or Taurus; NN 20 Gemini

The title of this post is from one of the videos on Giraud's website: matthiasgiraud.com. Giraud lists the elements and replaces "fire" for "adrenaline." You look at his chart and you know why. He's possibly got a Fire Grand Trine in his chart which branches out into a Kite Shape with apex Saturn-Pltuo. (I don't know because it all depends on the placement of the Moon in Giraud's chart and I don't have a birth time or place.)

Watch the video and you'll see things from a Kite's perspective, that's for sure.

At noontime the Moon is placed at around 26 Aries. It is trining an conjunction of Venus-Mars at 25-27 Leo on one side and Jupiter-Uranus both at 6 Sagittarius on the other side. It would also be opposing a conjunction of Saturn 3 Virgo/Pluto 29 Libra. I think that's the Vertigo element since Alfred Hitchcock had a strong Saturn-Pluto aspect in his chart.

Oh, and for Chart Shape enthusiasts -- I think it's a whole lot of fun that Giraud's got a "Sling Shaped chart." All the planets are held within the Venus-Mars trine to Jupiter-Uranus except for the Moon which is hanging out by itself either in Aries or Taurus.

WHOOOO HOOO!

Ken Bradshaw Surfs the World's Biggest Wave

Vanity Fair has written a very interesting article about the day that a surfer road the world's largest wave. The wave was somewhere near 85 or 90 feet high and riding it was like jumping out something like a 10-story window.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/02/big-wave-surfer-201102

The surfer was Ken Bradshaw. The wave he rode was in Hawaii during the 1989 El Nino. Seriously, Dude, what's your sign?

Ken Bradshaw

b. Oct. 4, 1952
Sun 12 Libra; Moon Aries or Taurus; NN 19 Aquarius (source: Wikipedia)

When I saw the Oct. 1952 date I was curious to know if Bradshaw has a Sun-Neptune conjunction. Neptune rules the Ocean, and that would just be too pat. Turns out his chart is even better than that. Bradshaw has both planets in the same sign, Libra, but his Sun is actually in conjunction with Saturn in Libra. He has a stellium of four planets total in Libra: Sun 12 Libra (Vitality & Will); Saturn 18 Libra (control); Mercury 20 Libra (thinking); Neptune 22 Libra (Ocean). Saturn rules Boundaries and Neptune rules letting go of boundaries so, when combined, they often create some really interesting circumstances. Bradshaw's Sun stellium is trining his NN 19 Aquarius. And it is squaring his Uranus 19 Cancer.

The Uranian element seems as important here as the Water element. The article instructs us to think of waves not as water that is rolling but as "pulses of energy." The article explains some of the science involved in understanding how the waves will form. More speed, bigger size. Bradshaw's Uranian North Node is in conjunction with a stellium of planets in Aquarius on the day that he caught his big wave. These are trining his natal Libra stellium. Both charts have a Mercury-Neptune conjunction.

"Condition Black" Bradshaw rides biggest wave

Jan. 28, 1998 I used 11:30 am as time, actual ride probably occurred later. Bradshaw was out in the ocean between 10:30 am and 4:30 am that day. (source: V.F. article)

Sun 9 Aquarius; Moon 18 Aquarius; ASC (11:30 am) 29 Aries; MC 21 Capricorn; NN 13 Virgo

This was a New Moon with Sun conjunct Uranus to the degree.

(Amazingly, we just completed the New Moon in Aquarius which was in exact conjunction with Mars. Again, the world has again experienced Extreme Weather as the U.S. was caught in a record breaking Blizzard and Northern Australia has suffered a Category 5 cyclone, the worst possible kind with 186 mph winds. The Eclipses have a strong influence on the current problems. (The political upheaval that is occurring is explained very well by Mary Plumb over on the Mountain Astrologer blog.)

With anything this extreme we want to look at the planet which rules Daredevils. That's Mars. Impulse, Spark, Action, excitement.

Bradshaw is part of an elite set of surfers who rides large waves and he was scheduled to participate in a contest at North Shore on Oahu but, due to the extreme conditions of the waves, the contest was called off. Bradshaw went off to his favorite spot, "Outside Log Cabins," to surf with his friend who towed him out.

In the event chart, Mars is a singleton in Water in the event chart at 3 Pisces. Mars is also a singleton in Bradshaw's natal chart, as well as being in conjunction with the Galactic Center 25 Sagittarius. In the event chart, Mars rules the chart until just a little past 11:30 am. It is conjunct Jupiter (rules anything big) and squaring Pluto 8 Sagittarius (rules anything extreme, also rules Jupiter). Bradshaw's natal Mars is at 25 Sagittarius and is a singleton in mutable signs. It's also conjunct the Galactic Center and is trining Pluto 23 Leo and possibly in a Grand Fire Trine with the Moon. That shows that he has great strength and is willful and emotional, perhaps a loner, and is protected within these characteristics. The article explains how a friend of his was killed by a wave while they were out surfing.

Bradshaw's Moon can't be figured out without a birth time but it sure would be interesting to know. It is the lead planet of a locomotive chart. In a 12:00 pm natal chart it would be both moving fast and out of bounds. That would in very literal termes explain a dare devil surfer who can ride waves at very fast speeds.

Venus and the 8th Cranial Nerve

I've never really been able to get a handle on how Venus could manage to rule the two signs that she does until last week when I learned about how the 8th Cranial Nerve works in the Human Body.

Basically, the two signs that Venus rules seem sort of unrelated. Taurus rules Money and Values, Physical Sensations like Touch. Libra rules Marriage, One on one relationships, open enemies, Balance & Harmony. Now I'm really wondering what genius astrologer from ancient times knew enough about the human body to link these two signs together through Venus' rulership.

The signs are set in to the astrological wheel with a Quincunx relationship to each other. This means that they don't share similarity by Element or by Modality(?). If they want to relate at all they require constant "Adjustment" of their own natural tendencies.

Taurus is Earth and Fixed.

Libra is Air and Cardinal.

When astrologers refer to Venus and her rulerships they almost always default to the Libra signatures (unless the market has just tanked, of course). This could be because Libra belongs to the Cardinal Signs and rules an angle on the Astrological Wheel. The angles are considered a stronger influence in natal charts. Libra kicks off the start of the Autumn Equinox. I'm not sure if she kicks off the start of the football season as well. That could be another post I guess if I liked football even a tiny bit, but I don't.

It is sort of odd that the Planet which rules Harmony and Love rules two signs which can't relate to each other in anything but an artificial way, but I'm pretty sure that most Libras, if not Tauruses, would agree that there's probably something to this. Adjustment, along with compromise, are probably the two major hurdles to get past in having any real relationships with anyone. (Well, maybe not with stalkers and Plutonians, but, like football, that's another post).

The one thing that both signs tend to share some similarity with each other is through their love of beauty, the arts, and leisure. When looking at the charts of musicians one always looks at Venus first. Through Taurus, Venus rules resonance of the human voice. Through Libra, one looks for Harmony and Balance.

So, I've been finding really amazing relationships between stages of Child Development and when the first planetary cycles occur in a child's life. The completion of a planetary return seems to equate very closely with basic stages of development in children.

Since studying childrens' charts in this way I've been most fascinated by the Venus Cycles. Venus seems to play an interesting role in cognitive development that I don't generally hear discussed by astrologers.

In order to understand this better I bought a set of Brilliant College Lectures from The Teaching Company. Gotta get the real title, it's about Aging and Sensation in Humans.

The lecture on hearing is really revealing about how Venus rules the areas of the body that she does. Hearing is controlled by the 8th Cranial nerve. That number alone suggests the Venus Cycle as the Sun-Venus Retrograde Cycle is one of the more exact planetary cycles and takes 8 years to complete. During that 8 year cycle, the Sun will be in conjunction with Venus 5 times during times that she is retrograde.

Taurus is said to rule the ears and physical sensations relating to touch. Taurus is also often related to hearing. I suspect that Saturn and Mercury are also involved as well, maybe even Mars because of the role that the eardrum plays, probably other signatures. I'm definitely not a Medical Astrologer.

The way that the neurology of hearing works strongly relates to Taurus rulerships. I remember the Hierophant card of the Tarot deck which is related to the sign of Taurus. The Hierophant is a Philosophical and Religious Leader with very big ears and a great sense of hearing.

The lecturer of the Teaching Company tapes explains that hearing is actually a very acute system of touch. The ear hears by picking up on very slight movements of air molecules. So, this very simply explains how Taurus can rule hearing.

What's interesting is how Taurus and Libra are connected through the nervous system. Hearing is controlled in the human body by the 8th cranial nerve. Hearing in the Taurus sense has to share use of this nerve with the Vestibular System. I haven't gotten to that lecture yet, but the Vestibular system is what rules "balance" in the human body. And that's the major keyword for Libra! There is all kinds of talk about how hearing doesn't work well along the mid-line of the body. Mid-line has such Libra like connotations.

Probably have the information a bit skewed and was writing notes while driving so as I understand it:

There are a few different categories for understanding human hearing. One equates roughly to range (pitch, high/low). Another relates roughly to amplitude (decibels, loud/quiet). Another relates to being able to eco-locate, to determine where sound is coming from. It turns out that the human ear can locate where a sound is coming from unless the sound is directly in front of, behind, or above the midline of the head. There's the mid-line Libra element!

So, Libra is probably related to 1/3 of how humans hear. And Astrologers wanting to understand human hearing must pay attention to that sign as well. Libra will perhaps rule things like Sonar which require ecolocation. I always assumed that Bats, which use ecolocation, are ruled by Pluto, but maybe not.

(and, with hearing, Saturn is going to be in there as well because there are bones in the human ear which create resonance) (And I suppose, actually, that Mars will be related for perhaps ruling drums, as in eardrum, vibration).

The Two Libras

Saw this Video over on the Mason Dixon knitting blog. This has got to be what 2 Libras do with each other when stuck in a room alone together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3iFhLdWjqc

http://www.masondixonknitting.com/

Links of 3 - Borromean Rings

This seems to be happening a lot for some reason. A thought from 40 years ago is just now being proven. Here's a really cool example from Science. Some Scientist theorized that Quantum Mechanics could prove that in a ring of three, if one ring falls apart, the other two will fall apart as well. It has to do with the energy of the number 515, or multiples thereof. And the article says that the idea was first theorized by Afghanistan Buddhists in the 2d century AD.

So I'm wondering if this is a Saturn-Uranus opposition thing in the signs of Virgo-Pisces. Makes sense that this combination would express itself through a combination of science and mysticism and numbers and the web of life. Rex Bills is out in the car, so I suppose I should look up what is thought to rule the number 3. Saturn?

Yow, well, I was wrong at least in part. I looked up to see what was going on outer planetary wise back in 2d century. It turns out that this is a Pluto thing. Pluto was passing from Virgo to Libra back in those days. This is a Libra AP thing which really makes sense since it studies the interrelatedness of everything.

When physicist Vitaly Efimov heard his theory had finally been proven, he ran up to the younger scientist who had verified it and gave him a high five.

Efimov had predicted a quantum-mechanical version of Borromean rings, a symbol that first showed up in Afghan Buddhist art from around the second century. The symbol depicts three rings linked together; if any ring were removed, they would all come apart.

Efimov theorized an analog to the rings using particles: Three particles (such as atoms or protons or even quarks) could be bound together in a stable state, even though any two of them could not bind without the third. The physicist first proposed the idea, based on a mathematical proof, in 1970. Since then, no one has been able to demonstrate the phenomenon in the lab - until recently.

A team of physicists led by Randy Hulet of Rice University in Houston finally achieved the trio of particles, and published their findings in the online journal Science Express.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091216/sc_livescience/strangephysicaltheoryprovedafternearly40years

2 Mass Shootings Last Week

Last week there were two mass shootings within two days. The first one, on Thursday, a Military Psychiatrist specializing in treatment of PTSD victims of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars gunned down a bunch of his comrades at Fort Hood in Texas. The story is complicated by the fact that the shooter was of Arab descent and has been showing signs of loyalties to his heritage rather than his nation. The military and the media is questioning whether or not this was a terrorist attack. Nobody is questioning whether or not modern psychiatrists know what the hell they are doing. Shouldn't they have been the first to question this guy's sympathies with suicide bombers?

My first thought after hearing of the shooting was that the psychiatrist had heard so many PTSD stories that he just lost his mind, kind reminded me of that old episode of Night Gallery episode about the dying Sineater. The Sineater's profession was to sit by the corpse of people who paid him to eat a meal. By doing this he absorbed the sins they had committed during their lifetimes and so releasing their souls to go on to Heaven. Complicated part of the story is that the Sineater is about to die and he wants his Son to take over his profession. The Son, of course, must not only take over his father's awful profession but also must eat all the sins that his Father now contains within his soul. And that's a whole boat load of sins. The last scene is a gory close up of the Son's face as he gorges himself with food and panic. (Wonder if that's when my anorexia started).

Anyway, that's what the story first reminded me of. I completely doubted that the Army Shrink would be a terrorist. Then I looked at his chart. He doesn't have an obvious chart for a mass shooter except that I would expect a Virgo Sun/Scorpio Moon to be a really good aim with a rifle. Well, there's also a Mars-South Node conjunction.

The Shooter/Shrink, Major Hasan, is just past his Pluto square. That can be a difficult passage in a person's life regarding all things Pluto, things concerning one's feelings of power and impotence. Hasan's has been especially difficult as transiting Saturn has been passing over his natal Pluto at the same time while Uranus opposes this past year. Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn working together will certainly bring out a vulnerability to PTSD. Saturn (fear of failure, bitterness) and Pluto (resentment, revenge) can bring depression and Uranus can bring shock, weird and erratic behavior. The orb is considered kind of wide, about 5 or 6 degrees. But, in my opinion, Pluto transits have a long aftereffect, especially when they've been accompanied by other heavy transits and progressions.

Hasan's progressed Mars has been hanging out on top of his natal Pluto and transiting Saturn. That can certainly inflame feelings of rage that seem to come from out of nowhere.

After looking at the shooter's chart I immediately felt that he had not been acting alone. Maybe it's just difficult for me to understand why someone with Middle Eastern heritage would take a job like this in the first place.

Something interesting is that Hasan has a natal Venus-Jupiter conjunction, just like James Arthur Ray, the guy who recently led 3 people to their deaths in a Sweat Lodge in Sedona. (I wrote about this in my blog entry, 1957 problems). Hasan's natal Venus is at the end of Libra conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio. Not only was he going through his Venus Return during the shooting but Venus is squaring transiting Nodal axis. Not the usual transit for a shooting but it stands out.
Hasan's Progressed Venus has been passing through the sign of Scorpio for all of his life and it is now in conjunction with his Neptune at the end of Scorpio. I think it might be a notable connection that the Juipter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction was conjunct the Ascendant at the time of the shooting. At some point Venus has passed over his natal Moon in Scorpio.

I definitely am thinking that this is a frustrated guy thing especially with the Virgo Sun and Middle Age thing. Plus, he's probably been on meds (p.Venus on Neptune) and those things have a repeated history of creating shoot-em-ups. There's this weird conundrum is that the psychiatric profession urges people with traumatic disorders to "get help." And then the truth is they don't have treatments for the trauma.

I wonder if the military or the psychiatric profession is going to do anything to make amends to his patients. In addition to the victims who were slaughtered last Thursday, these people have had insult added to injury.

Hasan started working in psychiatry in 2001 and his mid-Virgo degree Sun would have been squared by the Saturn-Pluto opposition that centered on the Twin Towers attacks. (I sort of remember Michael Lutin pointing out that tense Saturn-Pluto contacts are very often related to the Middle East conflicts). What bad timing for a guy of Arab descent to be entering the Military. That's a bummer job, even for a Virgo Sun/Scorpio Moon workaholic.

The second shooter was a frustrated mentally ill guy whose life has been in free fall. He went to an old workplace and started shooting. He is born only a year apart from Hasan. It's interesting to me that both men were born within a year of each other and in the same Month. Both share a Pisces North Node and a Virgo South Node. They both committed their crimes at their workplaces (Virgo). And they will both probably be considered victims (Pisces) in the end through their mental illness. Pisces also rules drugs so it sure would be interesting to know if pharmaceuticals were somehow to blame. It definitely looks like the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto t-square transit is really hurting these guys (and their victims and their victims' families and friends and coworkers).

Rodriguez' chart is classic for a shooter. Sun conjunct Uranus and Jupiter squaring Mars.

Last Thursday and Friday it's interesting to notice that the Moon was Out-of-Bounds and moving very fast. Plus it was passing over the Gemini-Cancer cusp which is an Aries Point and opposing Pluto and squaring Saturn. That's one busy Moon.

In addition, the Sun was conjunct Mercury in Scorpio and squaring Mars in Leo. Scorpio as a sign is related to all taboo behaviors, murder included. This square was vaguely angular over the Descendant and Midheaven cusps for both shootings.

It's also interesting that the attacks occurred while the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction was in the 1st house of both event charts. In Hasan's case this reads out in literal terms as Religion-Wounded Healer-the Unexplained/Terrorism/BadReactionstoPsychMeds.

In the case of Jason Rodriquez' attack, Capricorn was rising and this conjunction was not a prominently placed but still angular in the 1st house. Mars was on the Descendant.

According to Wikipedia,

Major Nidal Malik Hasan

b. Sept. 6, 1970 Arlington, VA

Sun Virgo; Moon Scorpio; NN Pisces

Shooting: Nov. 5, 2009 1:34 pm Fort Hood, Texas

Sun 14 Scorpio (H9); Moon 23 Gemini (H4); ASC 20 Aquarius; MC 3 Sagittarius; NN 25 Capricorn


Jason Rodriquez
b. Sept. 28, 1969 (Place?)

Sun 6 Libra; Moon Aries or Taurus; NN 21 Pisces

Work related shooting
Nov. 6, 2009 11:45 am Orlando, Florida

Sun 15 Scorpio; Moon 6 Cancer; ASC 22 Capricorn; MC 9 Scorpio; NN 25 Capricorn

Born in September Millionaires

A Forbes article called "A Recipe for Riches" (http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107927/a-recipe-for-riches.html?mod=career-leadership) looks for the common traits of self-made millionaires and has found that the most common birth month of self made millionaires is September. Out of 380 self-made millionaires, 42 were born in September. Go Virgos. Go Libras. The Rulers of these signs are Mercury and Venus which are the two planets that rule the markets. Pretty early on in the person's life his Sun will progress into shrewd Scorpio where it will remain for 30 years. That's enough time to build up a decent portfolio. The most determined sign, it also helps to steer through crisis management.

The entire Fall season is the most common month for self-made millionaires except for December. So, the Scorpio Suns are included. That leaves out the Sagittarians.

Interesting that another common denominator has to do with a Sagittarian subject: Higher Education. The moguls either dropped out of college or went to one of 3 Ivy League Schools. Unless you are going to Harvard, Columbia, or some weird school in Pennsylvania that I've never heard of before, drop out.

Of the Pluto in Leo and Pluto in Virgo generations, this also means that the Sun will never have to progress over the native's natal Pluto.

Another key money planet in the chart, Venus will probably be in the signs of Leo through Capricorn. With the exception of Capricorn, that means that Venus, like the Sun, will be in a sign which is considered controlled by others (right side of Astrological Wheel). Pretty interesting. In other words, I read that to mean that Accumulation of Wealth is related to people skills. Interesting that Venus is included by Sun Sign rulership but not through the sign of Taurus which is the ruler of money.

I wonder if the Sun Sign prominence of wealth changes in relation to the generations as indicated by the Outer Planets.

Oh yeah, the article also says that having parents with Math Skills helps a lot. Something will show up in the person's IC/MC axis which shows Mathematical abilities.

This is from my fortune cookie today:

"The riches of others makes you more valuable."

The Moon-Mars Conjunction and Celebrity Anger

As Mars has been in Cancer there have been several bizarre and crazy public outbursts which fit the nature of this volatile combination of planet and sign. Mars represents aggression and anger and the Moon ruled sign of Cancer represents emotions and literally "lunacy." At least those are the simplest interpretations. When these two get together there can be highly volatile emotional outbursts.

On Sunday there were two highly public situations which concern celebrities.

In the evening at the MTV awards, Kanye West hopped onto the stage at the MTV awards as Taylor Swift was accepting an award. West grabbed the microphone from Swift and announced that Beyonce deserved the award. This is unbelievably hostile, of course, and obnoxious. During all the media brouhaha trying to analyze why West would have done such a thing there has been discussion of difficult events in West's personal life (no discussion about cross-racist behavior). On Oct. 23, 2002 West was in a near fatal car crash. On Nov. 10, 2007 his Mother unexpectedly passed away after complications during surgery.

Because this act has to have something to do with the Mars-Moon contact in Cancer I sort of figured I'd check the transits to see if there was some return action going on. Didn't find a connection with the car crash which seems related to some bad Pluto transits. However, it turns out that this is the first return of Mars to the spot where it was when West's Mother passed away. This past week's Return of that event included the Moon (which literally represents the Mother in the natal chart). West's progressed Sun is also within conjunction of this spot in Cancer, slightly past at 19 Cancer.

The Moon represents not only "Mother" but Feelings and Family. It also represents Infantile Behavior and Subconscious Acts especially when set off by toddler terrorist Mars. I'm sorry I'm not up on West's music but if he's an old time rapper then his job is to rage against white people. He probably feels that the music world is his family and he subconsciously chose the stage to go on auto-pilot with his rage.

In another completely unrelated event, Tennis Star Serena Williams had a fit during a game which led to her disqualification from that game. I'm not completely sure what the real story is but on Sunday night I read that a judge had mistakenly fouled her for doing something that she hadn't done. As Serena was in the middle of a game and not performing well at that particular moment, this extra bit of insanity just set her off.

So I looked up Serena's chart. Her Sun is at 4 Libra which doesn't place it in a square aspect to the Moon-Mars aspect however much of the rest of her chart is being affected. Serena has a huge stellium of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Libra which was being squared by the Moon-Mars conjunction. Libra rules Justice and everything that's fair and balanced in the world. Saturn rules Judges and Jupiter rules Opinions. Serena reacted (Moon) to the misjudgement of the judge. The situation really doesn't sound fair. But apparently threatened to kill the judge. I personally probably would have thrown a racket so the judge is actually pretty lucky.

Serena's natal Moon in Virgo which shows her own emotional nature is also under heavy aspects as it is being hit by the Saturn-Uranus opposition. So she's really going through a double whammy set of transits. And, as a matter of fact, Kanye West may also be in the same situation as his Moon is in Pisces. Without a birth time I can't say where it is placed exactly but it may also be getting hit by the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

Since the Saturn-Uranus opposition from the opposite ends of Virgo-Pisces that occurred in the 1960s was so connected with the civil rights movement I sort of wonder if these extreme emotional outbursts by Black Celebrities aren't also connected with the racist treatment that President Obama is receiving.

As a weird aside, on Sunday evening while I was out walking I suddenly began to wonder about women named Serena. And specifically I was wondering what it would be like to be named Serena if I weren't a very Serene person. After the walk I logged on to the computer and read about Serena's tantrum. No kidding. Isn't that weird? The Moon and Mars together tend to have interesting psychic tendencies that Astrologers don't often discuss.

Another case of an outburst came from a Carolina congressman Joe Wilson earlier in the week. That's a political problem which I'll hope to add later.

Kanye West
b. June 8, 1977 Atlanta, GA

Sun 18 Gemini; Moon Pisces; NN 22 Libra

Serena Williams
b. Sept. 26, 1981 8:28 pm Saginaw, MI

Sun 4 Libra; ASC 4 Taurus; Moon 21 Virgo; MC 18 Capricorn; NN 29 Cancer

Pittsburg Gym Shooter

We're in a new era of total fitness I guess. The Go for the Burn generation really is burning up. This last week-end a guy named George went into a gym and started pelting an aerobics class full of women with bullets. He murdered 3 and thankfully he managed to kill him self. If the afterlife exists they're all stuck with each other. The idea of that just makes me shudder.

Sodini's motive for the shooting is perhaps thought to have been to achieve ever-lasting internet fame through a blog that he wrote. He hadn't had sex since the 80s, couldn't get a date, and spent a lot of time admiring himself in the mirror and not understanding why women weren't falling all over themselves for his attention. So he daintily wrote about his frustrations in his blog. I read a couple of sentences and got bored.

Sorry, George. My blog sucks too.

I thought I'd look at Sodini's chart to understand the prototype for a classic bad date chart so that's why I'm giving it attention. Also it's a classic for seeing how Eclipses can drive a person loco. Pluto's transit would have to be bad. And Mars. And Uranus. And Saturn.

George Sodini
b. Sept. 30, 1960 Pittsburgh, PA (not sure about accuracy of place, birthdate is from Internet)

Sun 8 Libra; Moon Aquarius; NN 15 Virgo

With Sun and Moon in Air Sign, Sodini would perhaps not have been a real sensual guy but he also would have been extroverted. This isn't a loner combination and it is the basic brickwork that sets up the rest of his chart. (This is such a great chart for a creative person. Sordini should have gone into graphic design or fashion design.)

George probably liked to talk a lot to his love interests, Mercury, planet of communication, is also in an Air Sign, Libra. Libra, as ruler of marriage and one-on-one relationships, will either show an extra interest in others, or it can get stucking looking at itself in the mirror, through its vain side which can come out when frustrated. Either way, Libra yearns for relationship as its main ego expression. And as an early Libra Sun, Sodini's Sun was under extra tension from Pluto's transiting square to his Sun. Pluto's cravings make Libra's yearnings look like sandplay. And it sort of looks like Sordini's love life went blank right around the time that his progressed Sun moved into the sign of Scorpio way back when. Pluto/Scorpio rules Sexuality but it also rules Abstinence. This double whammy Scorpio aspect would have been difficult for anyone.

So, there are other elements in George's chart that shows that he would have had other needs that perhaps he couldn't naturally express through all this Sun-Moon Air as well.

For one, his Sun is apex of a t-square to an opposition of Mars in Cancer to Saturn in Capricorn. I seem to keep repeating this that although a Sun-Mars square doesnt' necessarily indicate a shooter, it seems to come up a lot in these shooting charts. I've talked a lot about hard Mars-Saturn aspects, about how difficult they can be for self-expression, like trying to jump a brick wall or trying to drive witht he brakes on. Mars rules a Man's sexual drive and Saturn sort of puts a damper on that energy. A Scorpio Sun native might enjoy the Challenge presented by this t-square aspect. A romantic, gentle Sun in Libra might prefer methods that flow a bit more easily and get really frustrated. Mars in Cancer is a very difficult aspect as it can show a volatility and infantile expression of feeling. Baby doesn't always get what Baby wants and then Baby explodes.

Pluto is doing one more nasty in this chart. Pluto here is in a wide conjunction with the North Node (Destiny) in Virgo. Virgo is perfectionist. Pluto rules Death, Murder, Fame, Deep Desire. There will be a need perhaps for crises to happen so that the individual can feel that his life is unfolding on a big enough and deep enough level of existence. I sort of suspect that the real motive for George was to not have to die alone as an ugly man. Instead he is caught in eternity with the 3 gorgeous women he died with -- no matter the means with which he had to bring this about, ah-hem.

To add to this Sodini has Venus in Scorpio conjunct Neptune in Scorpio. In a man's chart Venus is one of the indicators along with the moon of the types of women he's attracted to. In this case he would have been attracted to women who are probably not very intellectual or verbal. He probably also had an unrealistic overly idealized version of women and romantic relationships in general. In conjunction with Neptune there is a feeling of always being the Martyr, always giving and never receiving, or perhaps of being attracted to unobtainable women. This combination is trining natal Mars in Cancer so George may have found his ideal early on in life and simply couldn't match it. Perhaps a Miss Havisham complex? He may also have had some bad luck in dating women who were addicts.

Also, when George went into the gym and wasted a bunch of lives on Sunday, he was under the influence of the set of 3 Eclipses that happened this Summer. The last one was yesterday which perhaps hit his natal Moon in Aquarius. T.Venus was in conjunction with his natal Mars which set off his angry and controlling Sun-Mars-Saturn t-square. T.Mercury was conjunct his natal Pluto in Virgo distorting his thinking process, ideal for leaving a written blog which would give him his 15 minutes of fame in the world, after death.

Natally, Sodini had a trine of Jupiter in Sagittarus trine Uranus 5 Leo which shows that he was hooked into a feeling of sportsmanship and good physicality that is typical of his generation. So I suppose it makes sense that he "chose" to die with the ladies who were in their prime and looking good. This trine was under hard opposition from the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius which was opposing his natal Uranus. The Moon was in Aquarius on the day of the murders. The Moon on this date was in Aquarius. This means that Sodini was having a monthly Lunar Return, obviously feeling extra emotional (Moon) stress from the build up to yesterday's Eclipse. In simple terms that means that this was a difficult Full Moon for George.

George really wanted to get a Date badly.

In George's Progressed Chart his P.Sun is in a square aspect to p.Uranus at 26-27 degrees Scorpio. This is a stressful aspect which could make an individual act in a way which is shocking. His inner planets have never gone through any Retrogrades. I sort of wonder if a difficult chart like this wouldn't benefit from such an astrological event as Progressions sort of scramble up the energy that they are hitting. Maybe adds a few problems to the personality but slows down the arrogance a bit.

I'm a little shaky on the time of the shooting. Remember the days when the News gave Who, What, When, Where? How? No matter, I'd screw it all up with typos anyway.

Info I'm using is:

Aug. 4, 2009 8 pm Bridgeville, PA

Sun 13 Leo; ASC 4 Aquarius; Moon 2 Aquarius; NN 30 Capricorn; MC 26 Scorpio

This puts the approaching Full Moon pretty much right over the Ascendant/Descendant Axis. Moon/NN rules Women. It is also Sordini's natal Moon Sign.

The Sun is in the 7th House of, get this, partners. Sordini's natal Sun is in the 8th House of Murder/Motives. Saturn (Bitterness) in the event chart is conjunct the 8th House cusp along with Sordini's North Node. Uranus is widely opposing this from the H2 cusp.

The Venus/Pluto opposition spans the H5-H11 axis. (Romance, Sports, Groups).

Mars is squaring Saturn from H4. This square is relating to the ASC/Moon through a Thor's Hammer figure.

More on the Billings Murders in Florida

Don't really intend to pursue this all that much but was interested to find out an interesting tidbit about the Florida murder of a couple in their homes.

According to what I've found the birth dates for the Victims are:

Husband: Byrd Billings
b. 9/23/1942 Place?

Sun 30 Virgo; Moon Pisces; NN 3 Virgo

Wife: Melanie Billings
b. 9/12/1965 Place?

Sun 20 Virgo; Moon Pisces or Aries; NN 9 Gemini

Source: http://www.legacy.com/PensacolaNewsJournal/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=129741743

Another Arrest has been made. Pamela Long Wiggins rented a place out to Gonzalez, Jr. so had contact with him. Her van was used during the robbery and the safe that was stolen was found in her backyard.

Pamela Long Wiggins
b. 10/22/1961 Albany, Georgia?

Sun 30 Libra; Moon Aries; NN 24 Leo

Wow, well, without place or time it's difficult to say much about anything here. There's a possibility that all 3 of these people were born under a Full Moon. So that could possibly be some Eclipse action.

Also, all 3 of them have a conjunction of Mars to Neptune. Byrd had a conjunction of Sun 30 Virgo to Neptune 30 Virgo to Mars 4 Libra. Melanie and Pamela both had the conjunction in Scorpio. There is talk on the Websleuths site that drug trafficking is involved which would make sense for Mars and Neptune. But whether this means that these people were involved or just the victims of the traffickers I can't say.

Byrd was born during the Saturn-Uranus conjunction in Gemini and had both of these squaring his Nodal Axis.

Melanie was born with a difficult chart. Her Sun is conjunct the Uranus-Pluto opposition to Saturn-Chiron which occurred during 1965. This is squaring her Nodal Axis.

Interesting how these two charts relate. Don't have much time to look very deeply at this, but both Husband and Wife had Virgo Suns and possibly Pisces Moons. That would certainly explain their need to care for all those children. Plus both had Uranus-Pluto contacts. And as said previously both had Mars-Neptune conjunctions. Melanie would have been attracted to difficult situations through the placement of her Sun on that big opposition. They apparently were involved in some sort of illegal adoption thing a while back.

Pamela was born during the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn (24-29 degrees) of her birth year (assuming this is correct date, someone on Websleuths pointed out that she claimed to be a Taurus on a profile page on some website). If the date given above is correct she would have had Sun c. Mercury Rx squaring Jupiter-Saturn. She wouldn't have been a real clear thinker but would have liked to be in charge of things. Jupiter-Saturn and Libra Sun are very social placements to have. Apparently she was the link between Gonzalez, Jr. and the Byrds.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

While looking at my current transits and progressions all I can do really is to gasp. For reasons that will remain undisclosed, I am instantly reminded of the old Bette Davis/Joan Crawford Horror movie from the 1960s called Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? As a kid I remember Bette Davis as epitomizing everything that I was most afraid of growing up to be. Now, when I look in the mirror, a couple months shy of turning 50 I'm seeing something pretty scary. I think that, due to failing eyesight, I am even starting to paint my lips in over the line...


Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Premiere: Oct. 26, 1962 New York, NY
Opening: Oct. 31, 1962, U.S. (no time? I used 8:00 pm)

Sun 4 Scorpio; Moon around 17 Libra; NN 4 Leo

What better placement for a Horror Movie than Sun in Scorpio? For the National Premiere, well scheduled on Halloween night, the Sun (Drama) was actually conjunct Neptune (Film) in Scorpio (Shadows). Halloween has probably never really been able to live up to those 1960s Neptune in Scorpio years when some of the Goblins were really real. (Okay, okay, so they were actually just the old time face lifts that stretched Bette and Joan's facial muscles back into Bandanas over their skulls). As Neptune rules Movies and Scorpio rules all things that go bump in the night (as well as at the IRS and Wall Street) how appropriate that a Horror Movie would be made during this time? The Leo North Node, of course, doesn't hurt the picture one bit.

The contents of the movie which is about two aging ex-movie stars whose careers have ended years before. The one was a Child Star whose career ended with puberty (Bette) and the other was successful as an Adult and her career was cut short by a crippling car accident. The two are living together in isolation in a house, Joan is dependent on Bette for support and Bette is so full of resentment and jealousy and guilt about her sister's condition that she serves her sister rats for dinner. Nothing on screen is more psychotic than Bette Davis in this role.

So, since this is the Chick Flick from Hell I was very curious to look first at the classic indicators for Women in a chart. These are the Moon and Venus. Venus rules sisters as well, along with Mercury which rules siblings in general. Awesome astrology here through Moon, Venus and Mercury. For the premiere, the Moon was conjunct Mercury in Libra which is Venus' sign. Libra rules vanity and envy. What better night to premiere a movie about vain sisters than on a Libra Moon that's paired up with Mercury? The audience was in the same state of mind.

And then we look further into these same aspects and see that Venus herself is in the sign that takes envy one step deeper to jealousy. That, of course, is the sign of Scorpio. Things are getting darker here, very scary. Scorpio rules resentments, vindictiveness, deep passions that go unexpressed.

Then we look at how prominently these 3 planets are placed in the chart. All three stick out like sore thumbs. All 3 are unaspected by major aspect to other planets. This means that their presence can't flow with the other energies in the chart. The Moon is conjunct Mercury but the two are sitting there by themselves. Venus is also unaspected and totally haywire because she is Retrograde. Venus rules a person's feeling of being both loving and lovable and also shows his/her popularity. When she's constipated in Rx motion she sort of turns on herself. Totally appropriate for two old women who have lost all connection to the world, especially after both having been super popular and successful as movie actresses in the past. They've experienced a big fall which makes their situation even more difficult. Again, the entire audience would have been affected by these aspects on the night that the movie showed and it's just an interesting coincidence that the story projects these traits!

Looking farther into the chart we see that there is a Mars-Saturn opposition placed over the Nodal Axis in Leo-Aquarius (respectively). First off, A Leo North Node is just great for movie makers as Leo rules Drama. Mars conjunct the North Node suggests a fight and aggression. Great for conflict. Psychologically Leo North Node seems to need too much attention. It wants to move toward the spotlight. It is ruled by the Sun and shows that the need for being center stage has to balance with the need to be part of the crowd/audience.

Psychologically, Mars rules competition & youthfulness which describes where Bette Davis' role. She is stuck in her child's mind. Joan is stuck in her crippled body (Saturn literally rules bones) She seems to suggest Saturn. Mars is youth and Saturn is maturity. Saturn wants control and Mars acts without control. During the whole movie there is this tension (opposition) between these two forces. They express themselves through Leo/Aquarius which represent the conflict between Egotism and Group Involvement. At the end of the movie she reveals that ... oh I won't spoil it. Anyway, Bette's insane and abusive and all the blame seems to be on her until Joan comes clean at the end of the movie. Saturn rules guilt. Together they have been stuck in an abusive relationship in their decaying home for years in an unresolved fight over who is most popular and successful.

Another interesting aspect is a big opposition between Jupiter-Chiron in Pisces and Uranus-Pluto in Virgo. Outer planets are slow moving and show the generational attitudes of a generation. An opposition is actually the perfect setting for Horror especially in the signs of Virgo-Pisces as they are here. Pisces, obviously rules all things that can't be seen or understood clearly. At the opposite end, Virgo rules sensibility and middle ground. Both are feminine signs. A while back I took a class on writing screenplays for Horror movies and, as the class was taught I was struck by how "Virgonian" a Horror movie protagonist must be (I was going through a phase of painting pictures of women screaming, and the teacher was really good which is why I was sitting in a Horror Writing class. If you ever have a free week-end and want to sit through a magical class take a screenwriting class from Robert McKee. He lectures non-stop for 2 or 3 days in the most entertaining, insightful and organized way. )

During the class McKee showed the movie Alien and then gave a scene by scene explanation of how Horror is portrayed through the film. Sigourney Weaver's character is the perfect Virgo Hero. For one, she is, along with her co-workers, an employee on a cargo ship. Her drama has to come while she is on the job. On another level, McKee explained, she is the one who survives because she maintains the most sensible and realistic, most grounded character of everyone on the space ship. She doesn't flip out, she knows when to act and when to hold back.

I always tend to think that Virgo is the most reasonable sign (unless in a sibling relationship that is where they are absolutely horrible people) and figure that the Uranus-Pluto audience probably craved these ugly horror movies more than audiences from other times. In Baby Jane, I suppose we could assume that Joan Crawford's character is the Virgo character and Davis' character, well, I don't know what sign she would be except as said before she is stuck in a Mars state. And, personally, I sort of think that in the case of this movie, the audience, especially the women who grew up with jealous sisters, are the true survivors.

Happy Belated Bobmas to Ravelry!!

An insane amount of my time has been spent on a Knitting Website Community called Ravelry. I've been staying up until 2 am compulsively looking at 300 versions of how knitters have made a certain sweater pattern, or at what 2000 knitters have made with one skein of yarn. You can read their notes and thoughts about each project. Knitters take incredible care in giving very generous help with other knitters who can't get their SSP's and Knit2Tog's straight. I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out how to hold the yarn.

At any rate, Ravelry is celebrating its 2d Birthday and the home page has been sporting a celebretory video featuring the Website mascot and amazing Black & White Beast Dog named Bob. The owner/creator of the website Jess/"Frecklegirl" and her husband Casey and the other Ravelry crew celebrate the Moment of coming up with the Idea with an annual "Bobmas" named, of course, after Bob.

It's just too great that they know the date for this because the Astrology is really incredible.

Idea for Ravelry Knitting Community/Website.
dreamed up on Apr. 11, 2005 in the evening at some point , Boston, MA?

Talk about Wildfire! The Sun (Creative Expression) was conjunct Venus (Arts) and the North Node (Destiny) in Aries. This was squaring Saturn in Cancer (Practicality and Building anything having to do with Home and Comfort and Nurturing).

A Sun-Venus-NN conjunction shows great creativity and popularity and a desire to create beautiful things and the aspect to Saturn shows the practical drive and hard work needed to bring it forth into reality. This chart also has a conjunction of Mars to Neptune in Aquarius which is another great creative aspect, especially in relation to anything having to do with the Internet.

(Sun 23 Aries conjunct Venus (Arts, Women) 26 Aries conjunct North Node (Destiny) 23 Aries squaring Saturn (Practical Applications) 21 Cancer)

I wasn't hooked in at the time but it looks like the Internet was full of Knitters who were blogging about what they were making. The idea was to bring/organize everyone together into one place.

It looks like Frecklegirl posted the idea on her blog the next night
Apr. 12, 2005 8:45 pm Boston, MA?

This was about as fortuitous a moment for making this announcement as she could have chosen. Mercury (Announcements) stationed Direct that day at 2 Aries. The Aries Point of the chart is great for anything having to do with success in the world. The Astrology is just incredible!

Secondly, the Sun-Venus-NN conjunction, was further highlighted by an Eclipse Series. Frecklegirl had her Revelation sandwiched between a Solar Eclipse on Apr. 8 and a Lunar Eclipse on Apr. 24. That's practically Biblical! This means that the Moon was first in conjunction with the Sun-Venus-NN conjunction and then was in Opposition to it.

If the Birthdate given on Frecklegirl's profile is correct then she would be a Libra Sun and her Solar Return in 2005 would also have been sandwiched between a set of Solar-Lunar Eclipses! What better energy to bring people together than a strong Aries/Libra Eclipse Series. The only time I've ever really seen the Eclipses work their magic is in bringing forth great creative ventures, especially when they hook in to a person's Solar Return chart the way they do here.

Thirdly, this chart has two Grand Trines (Fire and Air). These are very positive for successful ventures. The grand trines are almost set out in a Star of David formation in the chart. If anything, Frecklegirl/Jess and Casey have to be aware that the success might be too much for them and they need to ask for help at the proper moments in order to maintain the momentum. Scorpio is Rising in this chart and chart ruler Pluto is in the 2d House (money) trining the Sun-Venus in the 6th House of Crafts and Leo (Arts) Midheaven (How the World Views the Matter). The Mars-Neptune conjunction is conjunct the IC, or opposite side of the Midheaven and is in an unbelievably positive trine to Juipter in Libra and the Moon in Gemini.

I wonder what Bob's sign is. He's some sort of breed, black and white and he has Marty Feldman eyes and is full of charm. I suspect he's maybe an Aries Moon. He just looks very inspired.

There's only one other successful website that I've looked at the astrology of and that one is also run by a Libra Sun, Jason Kottke. It's one of the oldest blogs on the web at this point, Kottke.org. I can't remember the astrology but it also was stand-out.

Rumi

Last night as I was moseying through the remainders section of my local bookstore I noticed a biography about the Mystic Persian Poet Rumi. On the back cover were some of his quotes. One read: "I am Wind, You are Fire." I thought, damn, you must be a Libra. That's the ultimate Libra to Aries statement that I've ever read. Air to Fire.

I'd like to say that people born under this Sun Sign are the most transparent in the World. I'd like to say that you always know what you're dealing with with a Libra because when they're in their happy form they really do see it all ways. Because Rumi knows that he's Air and because Thich Nhat Hahn knows he comes from "Central Vietnam" not Southern or Northern. But, man, the Astro Wheel knows how to throw a real wrench in the old tool bag through the Succession of Signage. Scorpio comes after Libra and if you're ever watched that progression in a Sun Sign you know that the Opacity really fogs up the works pretty fast. You can wonder about what's right and fair for only so long before you start to realize that motives show the way humans really work. Anyway, with Venus Rx pulling U'ys opposite his Sun and possibly squaring his Moon (and doing the same in my chart pretty much) I guess I am drawn to talking about him. I don't know his poetry very well. And for some reason my surfer chick drawl is coming out extra strong on this one. I wonder if he'd mind. Probably not, Uranus was on his SN and squaring his Mars in Scorpio. Sick and twisted wouldn't have phased him.

Anyway, if the general birthdate given for him is more than fiction it turns out Rumi might really have been a Libra Sun. He might also have been a Capricorn Moon, my sign, which is just a gas and a half for all the creepy new agers who insist that Capricorn Moons are incapable of spirituality. Anyways, Rumi was born at the middle of Libra and just as the North Node was changing signs from Pisces to Aquarius, that's probably as fortuitous for spawning Great Ancient Mystic Poet as it gets. Mercury in Libra opposing Neptune compounds that a hundred, thousand, million times.

According to the bio on Astrotheme, a book was given to Rumi when he was 18 (Nodal Return) which was about the "entanglement of the soul in the material world." There you bring in the Cap Moon, I suppose, although I know that all the signs are concerned about this problem.

Rumi
b. Sept. 30, 1207 Wakhsh, what is now Afghanistan

Sun 14 Libra; Moon 15 Capricorn (noon), NN 30 Aquarius

I wonder if Rumi was a Whirling Dervish, he had a Grand Trine (out of sign) of Mars in Scorpio to Jupiter and Neptune (Jupiter in Cancer to Neptune in Aries). Seems like a signature for dancing, spinning, and mystical enlightenment if I've ever seen one.

I found an interesting pair of stories from Rumi's biography which really highlight the unexpected nature of how things could be expected to work in the life of someone with Aquarius NN in conjunction/square aspect to Mars and Uranus. This assumes that the birth date I'm using is the correct one.

Rumi met his teacher Dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on Nov. 15, 1244. According to my SolarFire ephemeris the Sun would have been at 1 Sagittarius which is great for meeting a teacher. T.Neptune was passing over Rumi's natal Saturn/Chiron conjunction in Gemini. That's also great for meeting teachers but is a time gaining great compassion and spiritual understanding. One would be very open to looking for help at that point because one is probably more open to "not knowing" with this aspect than for many of the others. Enhancing this conjunction were progressed Venus in conjunction with p.Mars which were in opposition in the sign of Sagittarius, sine of higher education, philosophy, religion, broader understandings. Oppositions often can indicate relations with others.

At this time, Rumi's progressed Sun was at 21 Scorpio. This means that it was 5 degrees away from conjunction with natal Mars 26 Scorpio, which is natally the apex of a t-square to Uranus-Nodal Axis. Transiting Pluto was passing out of a square with n.Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius, high learning, religion) and into a square with n. Pluto which is a bit foreboding and deeper/occult understandings.

Rumi studied with the teacher until Dec. 5, 1248 when the Dervish went to answer the door and is said to have just disappeared. Sudden events are considered Uranian and having Mars activated certainly helps. It happens that Rumi was going through his Mars Return in Scorpio so his natal t-square was heavily activated. Not sure what rules Doors and Thresholds but I might suspect that Mercury is partly responsible and Mercury on this day was in conjunction with the double whammy Mars. The teacher is thought to have been murdered with certainly shows the Scorpio/Mars influence. The square to the Aquarius NN / Uranus-SN natal aspect brings in the unexpected element. I think we end up grieving more from Uranian experiences than from any other just because they are so difficult to reconcile with how life ought to have happened.

At any rate, Rumi is said to have gone into a period of deep grief as one would expect, especially since he was within 2 degrees of having his Pluto square from transiting Scorpio. He was also within about 4 degrees of his Uranus opposition which also activates the t-square from another angle. Interesting that Rumi was born while Uranus and Pluto were in Leo. We've got a few of those floating around who were born in the last half of 1955.

Once his progressed Sun and Pluto moved into Sagittarius he started a 12 year (Jupiter returns worth) of writing poetry.

His words, which I really need to be reminded of right now:

Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,

The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).
The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes
Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.

Thich Nhat Hanh has a Birthday

Relief! One of the two Birth Dates that I've always wanted to know but couldn't find were that of Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh and Permaculture's Bill Mollison. Still don't have Mollison's birth date but Astrotheme is now providing a date for Thich Nhat Hanh. When asked about the circumstances of Hanh's birth the only information I could ever find was a comment he said about his birthplace. In the West people of my generation only know Vietnam as either Northern or Southern. Hanh said that he was born in Central Vietnam. He may have been speaking literally, but I remember at the time commenting that he must be a Libra ... and ....

Thich Nhat Hanh
October 11, 1926 Tha Tien, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam

Sun 18 Libra; Moon Scorpio or Sagittarius; NN 12 Cancer

Hanh was a major spokesman in the West about the Vietnam War. He proceeded to help his countrymen as only a Monk, and a Libra, can do. One can see the mark of having to live "In Interesting Times" in Hanh's chart in his natal Sun square to Cancer North-Pluto conjunction. A Cancer North Node would indicate a destiny linked to "Homeland." Pluto tends to bring Crises and also hopefully Determination to overcome Crises. The Diplomatic and Peace Loving Libra Sun is strongly engaged with these two through a square aspect. Hanh's Libra character is further emphasized by wide conjunction to Venus in Libra which she rules.

I am sort of finding (and would like to hear back from anyone else who happens to notice this or knows where I can research more about it) that people with Sun-Venus conjunctions tend to do very significant things during the times that they have their first Sun-Venus returns at Ages 8 and 16 which continue to influence the rest of their lives. Hanh became a Monk when he was 16. I suppose that's not an odd age for becoming a Monk but this is such an apppriate occupation for a Sun-Venus in Libra square Nodes person to do which might account for his extra talents.

Hanh has only recently been allowed to return to Vietnam in 2005. Transiting Saturn was in Cancer at that point passing over his natal NN-Pluto. This was squared by transiting NN in Aries. The Nodal Axis was squaring his natal Nodal Axis that year and was in conjunction/opposition with natal Sun-Venus.

Mars in Hanh's chart is in the other sign that's ruled by Venus at 19 Taurus. It was Retrograde when he was born. It changed out of Rx during 1983-4. Would be interesting to see if significant changes occurred for him at this point.

I suspect with his great talents to communicate with people from all cultures that Hanh has a Sagittarius Moon but have certainly been surprised to find that I'm wrong about Moon signs before. Currently he is going through both a Jupiter in Aquarius Return and a Uranus in Pisces Return. The Outer Planets in his chart are in strong aspect with each other which I think would show great humanitarianism as well as organizational ability and depth of soul. Jupiter 18 Aquarius is opposing Neptune in Leo. This is a very uplifting combination but is tied into useful purposes in a wide t-square with Saturn 24 Scorpio as apex. This Saturn is trining Uranus in Pisces at one side and Pluto in Cancer at the other side (Uranus and Pluto are too far out of orb to be a trine). It is also opposing Mars Rx. Mars-Saturn aspects always seems to show up in charts these days in people who feel instinctively that they must psychically deal with breaking through Walls in their lives.

If you've ever listened to Hanh you know that he has a very calm serene voice and speaks with great clarity. This, of course, is something which I attribute to the Libra influence and was interested to find that his Mercury is at 2 Scorpio in aspect to Neptune (sextile) and Uranus (Quintile thingee).

Eureka!

One of the worst transits to go through, Astrologers will no doubt agree, is a combination of Saturn to Pluto or Pluto to Saturn. In one word this transit is thought to bring a loss of some kind. I've got these two connected in my chart by a trine and in my life I have gone through a few Double Whammie Saturn-Pluto aspects and I have to say I agree with the usual interpretation. But it isn't the rule. There are no real rules because Nature and the Universe are a mystery. And here is proof (astrological proof for what it's worth): while looking up the disastrous financial situation that California is currently in -- a deadlock in the Government has frozen the money and the Franchise Tax Board is delaying sending out refunds and certain government agencies aren't working today because they can't pay their employees -- I found a really interesting & bizarre version of the Saturn-Pluto transit in California's History. But, this situation I really can't interpret with regards to loss. It would be interesting to look further in this particular person's biography to see what was really going on in his life.

The person I'm talking about is James Marshall. Marshall is the guy who discovered Gold. He is the Father of the Eureka Moment for which California is famous. California's economy is very dependent on Gold Rushes, whether for the actual item, the weather, or for the Real Estate, Hollywood or for the High Tech business. Now it turns out that we won't sink as far underwater during Global Warming. Gawd, I hope an earthquake happens soon, though, and scares off all the transplants -- so annoying and bullying.

James Marshall
b. Oct. 8, 1810 Hopewell, NJ

Sun 15 Libra; Moon Aquarius?; NN 6 Libra

Strike Gold
Jan. 24, 1848 Sutter's Mill, Coloma, CA in the Morning, I set chart for 9am but an Aquarius Rising sure would be appropriate

Sun 4 Aquarius; Moon 23 Virgo (at 9am); NN 3 Libra; 11 Pisces

First of all I need to look at the astrology of "the Eureka moment." There as some fun indicators here. I'm going to suppose that Uranus and Aquarius are the rulers of such a situation. On the day that Marshall had his great discovery, the Sun was conjunct Mercury in Aquarius and trining the transiting North Node. Uranus was 10 degrees away from Pluto in Aries in a very wide conjunction.

Marshall's natal chart hooks into this as he was having a Nodal Return (Fated Path) which trines his natal Sun. His progressed Mars was at 1 Libra in conjunction with his natal North Node and the transiting North Node. Transiting Uranus was also opposing Marshall's Sun to the degree (15 Aries to 15 Libra Sun).

Eureka!!!!! There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!

As California was accepted into the Union around this time California also has the Uranus-Pluto conjunction and I always suspected that this is the reason for all the Gold Rushes. Even more shocking than Uranus working alone is Uranus working with Mars (sign of Aries) and Pluto.

Where the Astrologers would no doubt have screwed Marshall up royally was in telling him about how awful transiting Saturn is to natal Pluto. Natally Marshall had Pluto in Pisces which is involved in a t-square opposing Mars 9 Virgo and squaring Saturn 12 Sagittarius. This t-square almost fans out into a Grand Square as Mars is squaring an opposition of Venus 2 Sagittarius to Jupiter 1 Gemini. On Jan. 24, 1848 when Marshall went down into the mine and made himself into a millionaire transiting Saturn was at 11 Pisces. It was even squaring natal Saturn! In Pisces. Natal Saturn is conjunct Neptune even. How depressing. How many Astrologers would have had him sobbing all over himself???

On the Eureka day there was a Kite Shape which is a good omen. Grand Trine of Saturn 11 Pisces to Chiron 11 Virgo trine Jupiter 14 Cancer. That's good. You know Jupiter had to have been hanging around. Chiron was opposite Mars. Mars likes to bring on a Rush.

Marshall was also going through his Venus Return in Sagittarius, or he was approaching Venus return, still too far out of orb. Venus is the dispositer of his Sun (rules Gold) and North Node so this is more important in Marshall's chart than in some of us poor schmucks. (Study of the Eclipses would probably be interesting).

Marshall also had a very prominent Mars in Virgo, sign of precision analysis. Mars rules picks and sharp tools, physical activity, rushing around, digging. Mars is a singleton in his chart and is involved in 2 t-squares so it's very active. My brother has a Virgo Mars and does construction. He can walk into a building and ram a pick into just the right spot in the structure to pull it apart perfectly. (My Mother also had Mars in Virgo. She was very good at knowing just how to pick on people so that they become completely unstrung. Okay, so I'm whining.) So, Marshall's eye or "sense" would have been a bit more particular than some of us. Marshall's progressed Mars was perfectly placed as well. I mentioned that it was conjunct his Nodal Axis both natally and by transit. It was also squaring his progressed Venus at 6 Capricorn.

This is how far this has to go. Check out this chart someday. It is truly Golden. Do not cram people full of fear. Ruthlessness applied to work can sometimes pay off. (in relationships it rarely works). Loss and Loneliness very often come long after one knows (deep down at any rate) that a thing or situation is dead.

"The 3 Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me this morning on NPR, or at least I think that's what show it was, referred to the 3 Feds in charge of saving the economy as "The 3 Horsemen of the Wall St. Apocalypse." This really is something straight out of Tolkien.

Anyway, here they are along with the Pluto-Nodal Axis transits that they are going through right now. This is the Pluto in Leo generation on overdrive. Paulson and Cox both have Mars out-of-bounds and Sun in conjunction (Cox) or opposition (Paulson) to Neptune. It's amazing they manage to stay in their saddles.

Henry Paulson, Secretary of Treasury
b. Mar. 28, 1946 Palm Beach, Florida

Sun 8 Aries; Moon Capricorn or Aquarius; NN 25 Gemini

t. Pluto conjunct n. South Node


Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board Chairman
b. Dec. 13, 1953 Augusta, GA

Sun 22 Sagittarius; Moon Pisces or Aries; NN 25 Capricorn

t. SN 18 Leo conjunct n. Pluto 25 Leo
p. Sun 18 Aquarius & prog Venus 19 Aquarius conjunct t. NN 18 Aquarius-Chiron 17 Aquarius-Neputne 22 Aquarius

No out-of-bounds Mars but has Saturn unaspected in Scorpio. He's meant to do this, you can just tell.

Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman
b. Oct. 16, 1952 St. Paul, MN

Sun 24 Libra; NN 20 Aquarius; Moon Virgo or Libra

Has natal Grand Square of Pluto 23 Leo conjunct South Node 20 Leo square Jupiter Taurus opposing Venus 24 Scorpio.

Right now he's having a Nodal Return and t. Neptune-Chiron is opposing natal Pluto right over this.

Mars is out-of-bounds and conjunct Chiron in Capricorn. Apparently he went to a recital the day that Bear Stearns tanked and then went on vacation the next week (Sun conjunct Neptune-Saturn).

Waiting For Ben Vereen

An eccentric recurring theme continues to run in my life which I don't really understand and so I thought I'd look into the Astrology of it for guidance. The thing is, I tend to meet people who are waiting for Ben Vereen. I really don't even know much about Ben Vereen except that he was wildly successful in the Broadway Musical Jesus Christ Superstar when I was a kid. The second part of the story though is that these people I meet who are waiting for Ben Vereen? They know he may not show, he doesn't show, but they just can't stop anticipating his arrival. I even remember seeing a movie on this theme called Waiting for Guffman. It's almost as if the Guffman movie makers were also waiting for Ben Vereen.

The first time I observed this interesting phenomenon was in High School. The Theater Department boasted a genius who could put on Broadway Musicals. He wrote them, he directed them, he sang in them, he danced, he orchestrated. Somebody somewhere told one of the theater majors that Ben Vereen was going to show up on Opening Night for the final production and since my best friend was in the play we all got really excited. All night we were glancing around in the audience and assuring ourselves of the reality that Ben Vereen couldn't possibly show up for a High School play. It didn't happen. Nobody was really crushed because nobody really thought he would show, but still.... It's the Ben Vereen phenomenon.

Then another time while driving across the country I went into a music store and the owner was really excited about Ben Vereen. I thought, uh oh. But there it was. Ben Vereen might move to town. He can play any instrument. Real Estate prices will go through the roof. Life will be perfect.

So, anyway, why is this? I grew up in California. Why don't I meet people who are waiting for any other celebrity? Some of today's young stars not only show up but put on a show.

I decided finally to look at Ben Vereen's chart for clues that would indicate a person who naturally creates huge amounts of anticipation in others. Someone who makes you wait. (That would be all musicians and theater people by the way or they wouldn't make it). Astrotheme doesn't have an Ascendant for Ben so I don't have a Descendant to understand Ben Vereen's relationship axis. I'm winging it anyway with only the planets. Turns out me and Ben have a double whammy Neptune-Vertex connection between our natals, so, I can take this one out there, way out there. Or at least this is why I am full of wonder over this subject. Vertex ties you in to people. This is it. I know people who wait for Ben Vereen. The Anticipation is almost, I say almost, as good as the performance. I bet when I die, if I get sent to Heaven (just supposing, not anything firm on that one), the first thing God will hand me a Ukelele and tell me to keep him entertained until Ben Vereen shows up.

Ben Vereen
b. 10/10/1946 Miami, FL

Sun 17 Libra; Moon Aries; NN 15 Gemini Rx

Ben Vereen may have been born on a Full Moon. Full Moon people do tend to have odd relationship issues. It's the pull of the opposition aspect. Ben Vereen's Nodal Axis is conjunct my Asc/Desc line. His South Node (mistake behaviors) is sitting right on my 7th House cusp. So I at least have more Synastry with Ben Vereen.

Two things come to mind when I think of a person who makes another person wait. First off, I think, "That person is lost." Then when they show up 3 hours later I think: "That person's head is always in the clouds. Good thing he/she is a talented artist type or I'd blow a fuse." That would be true of Ben Vereen. He has a wide conjunction of Sun to Neptune in Libra. Man is quite a poet but don't hand him the map.

Another reason why a person might make another person wait is that he promises more than he can deliver. He's a people pleaser or his thinking isn't realistic. We can see this once again in the Sun in Libra square Neptune. Libra Sun is always thinking about not making waves and spends his life learning to say no. Ben also has a conjunction/stellium of Jupiter-Mercury-Mars in Scorpio. Mercury rules the mind and here it is thinking great thoughts and planning great things, perhaps more than he can deliver. He's thinking he really will drive 3 hours, fly across country, whatever to show up. The planets in Scorpio might mean....

A third reason why a person might make another person wait is a passive way of dealing with power. Ben Vereen has 4 planets in Scorpio, the planet of subtle power. Mercury-Jupiter-Mars in Scorpio is squaring a natal conjunction of Saturn to Pluto in Leo. He doesn't realize that other people take him seriously. He may even have a complex about it. And the square would cause more problems than usual.

Saturn and Pluto are together in a person's chart when he has to channel a big message. These are the two task masters of the chart. Saturn literally rules Waiting as it rules all things having to do with Time. Mercury (communications) and Mars (drive) are hooked into delivering a powerful social message for his generation through this Saturn-Pluto-Jupiter aspect. I suppose that playing the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar would probably fit that bill.

Performance Artist Protests Shark Fishing

26 year old performance artist, Alice Newstead was hung by huge fishing hooks in the window of a Cosmetics Store in London today. The hooks were pierced through her back while she posed for onlookers for 15 minutes.

This is the type of News we want to hear when Neptune, Lord of the Sea, and Chiron, Wounded Healer, are conjunct the North Node. Finally.

When Sharks are captured they are hung up on hooks alive while their fins are chopped off. They are then thrown back into the water alive to die a slow death.

I don't know exactly what indicates compassion for animals but I do know that most of the Vegans I'ves known have been Pisces and Libras so I always sort of assume that a strong Venus and Neptune are involved. Right now there is a conjunction of Mercury, Venus and Mars in Libra. The Moon was also in Libra at the time of the Performance and it was in the 12th House and trining Neptune which was conjunct the IC. All this emphasis on Venus and Neptune certainly indicates an artistic event. Interesting that this one occurred in a Beauty Shop as well (Venus & Mercury in Libra).

As is appropriate for anything having to do with Sharks, Scorpio was rising at noon. Hmm, Lunch Hour. I'm not sure when the performance actually occurred but this was the planned time. Newstead was painted blue and dressed in only a Mermaids tail. She has been pierced for other performances many times (I read 60 times somewhere) and said that this didn't hurt. Well, Neptune also rules Anesthesia and Denial...

The Protest aspects show up as well. Uranus and Pluto are squaring each other and both are Singletons (Water and Fire, respectively).

Real Social Good came out of the event. A London restaurant has declared that it will stop serving Shark Fin soup as a result of the event. The Sun is conjunct Saturn in Virgo today and trining Jupiter. This Trine was sextiling the Scorpio Ascendant from either side. A very good indicator of Success. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/hakkasan-drops-its-famed-pound40-shark-fin-soup-over-ethics-917895.html