USGS Says There Won't Be An Earthquake in Rome Tomorrow

The Vatican does not have to evacuate. Rome will very likely not fall again. At least, not tomorrow, or at least not because of an earthquake.

USGS to the rescue.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110509/sc_livescience/nearzerochanceofmay11earthquakeinromeusgssays

According to Raffaele Bendandi's biographer, Bendandi never made any such prediction. Also, the elephants are not running into the hills. And Rome is not on a fault line.

"Drink Me" or Stories About the SEC

Found a great article written by Marjorie Orr over at Astrology.com on all the Virgo stuff going on over at Goldman Sachs. I don't understand where she got some of the dates for Goldman Sachs but I didn't look very hard. What I did notice over at Wikipedia's entry for Goldman Sachs is that it was Founded 1869 right as the Neptune-Pluto conjunction in Taurus was forming. Interesting to match up what Robert Blaschke says about Mercury Rx in Taurus while keeping that in mind. My original intent was to figure out why Goldman Sachs is denying its wrong doing. And to do that I was looking for some kind of lyer aspect. And to to do that I was preparing myself to focus on Neptune-Mercury type stuff. Maybe adding Jupiter and Pluto in there for good measure. And so far this looks good in that regard. Perhaps this Mercury Rx in Taurus is going to dredge up all kinds of bad stuff that began around the time of that conjunction. I was just thinking that all kinds of good stuff started around the time of that conjunction, but the stuff I was thinking about was mostly in the Arts and Imagination. That's the other side of Venus besides the money thing.

Looked up the SEC's chart. Have to admit I wanted to find the reason for the porno, the getting caught with the pants down aspect, so to speak. I got distracted by the other stuff which is equally fascinating but not quite as funny. So, wait just a second and I'll go have a peak, so to speak.

Oh, haha, it's right there. Progressed chart shows that the SEC is just finishing up a Venus conjunction to natal Pluto in Cancer. And not progressed Mars is 3 degrees away and approaching. They're going through a sexy phase, what can I say?

The thing about being attracted to the kinky in the first place, and getting caught, is the natal Mars-Chiron conjunction in Gemini squaring the natal Saturn in Aquarius. The Internet is just laying the foundation for one big long game of Screwdriver for these boys and girls. Progressed Venus has moved into Leo now so perhaps they'll get free tickets to the opera and start whacking off in the boxes. Or maybe they'll do it at NASCAR races. Who the hell knows? This story would only appeal to a Gemini Riser, that's for sure. Thanks CNN.

Okey dokey, back to the Rules and Reg's for this organization.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
procreated: June 6, 1934 Washington, DC

Sun 16 Gemini; Moon Aries; NN 14 Aquarius

Wow, what a weird chart for Securities Exchange Commission. This is basically the chart for Meth Freak. As I said, natal Mars conjunct Chiron in Gemini squaring Saturn. These guys don't know if they are making the laws or running from them.

Then there's the Venus. Venus rules money and banks. But these guys have a very artistic idea of what that means. Venus is in Taurus in the procreation chart. That's awesome. And it's conjunct Uranus which doesn't do rules and regs but it does do entrepreneurship and innovation. Venus-Uranus in Taurus is trining Neptune. Venus-Neptune trine likes to sing and dance and sell dope. HaHa this is great.

Pretty crazy. Saturn, which rules governance and regulations, is in Aquarius and disposits to Uranus, which doesn't do governance and regulations. Uranus went into Rx by Progression back around 1995 just when the market went on its long Spring Break, thank you Weird Alan.

Pretty crappy stuff started to pull the party apart. First of all, that Gemini Sun in the natal. That got hit by the Saturn-Pluto-Chiron opposition back in 2001-2. That's just when progressed Venus was exactly conjunct natal Pluto and inconjunct Saturn (prog.). That's when the porn market must have exploded, so to speak.

Gee-ad, this is how everyone knew that Elliot Spitzer was renting hookers. They were the ones who told him about them.

Is this really the story of American Finance or is it another Disney version of Alice down the Rabbit Hole? Is this why I've developed such a crush on Chairman Ben and Big Haired Tim?

Stay tuned --- I've gotta go watch a movie about Mussolini.

The 12 Cartoonists of the Apolcalypse

Gadzooks, Batman! Jihad can't take a joke. Can't we just send some more Coca Cola out to the Arabs? They are seriously dehydrated if they really are putting out hits on cartoonists. Dudes, just brush it off. Please? Pretty please?

Jihad, I know you like folks who have good manners, so please? With Sugar on Top? It's a joke. It doesn't matter. Muhammad himself is probably freshly hydrated because he doesn't have to live in the desert anymore and he's probably laughed it off himself by now. Come on guys, it's the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto t-square. Life is difficult. We really don't need to circle back to the 1930s. Let's spiral out to something good like a DNA coil.

So now we have Jihad Jane killing the Cartoonists. It started on Sept. 30, 2005 when a Danish newspaper published 12 insulting cartoons of Muhammad. The Danes are cool. They were just having a moment.

So, now Jihad hired our Jane, American Blond Blue eyed Internet Sensation to kill a guy who drew a picture of Muhammad as a dog and now they want to end the world in nuclear catastrophe. Of course, that's not funny, the picture of Muhammad. I don't have an opinion about Muhammad, but I definitely like dogs and wouldn't want to see one in pain.

Also, it turns out, Jihad, or whatever their name is, hired a bunch of people from their outpost in Ireland. Hey, stay the Fuck out of Ireland, Assholes. That's my ancestors. My Irish Grandmother? I remember her telling us to deal with verbal assaults with the phrase "Sticks and Stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me." Learn a lesson here from the old lady. Of course she drank a lot and never really felt the pain and was as verbally abusive as they come .... but that's another story.

Lighten up here. We're playing with some seriously ugly energies and it's all for nothing. As I said, wherever Muhammad is, he's refreshed and I'm pretty certain he does not want this poo. We can do better.

What's super interesting is that my Irish Grandmother was a Gemini. So is Lars Vilks who Jihad Jane was going to kill just as soon as she could get around to it. Jane is also a Gemini. Isn't that weird? This is a Gemini Story in a way.

Geminis don't get along. Personally I can tell you, I have the rising sign, and they drive me nuts. Although my Gemini Grandmother was my idol and my Gemini Cat was the only best friend I've ever had. (Maybe I should draw a picture of Muhammad as a Burmese Cat. If Jihad gets upset over that then they are absolutely hopeless, because Burmese Cats are the highest spiritual beings on the planet.)

I've been told that the Aryan Invasion left us with some platinum blond Jews, so I can see where Jihad Jane might be coming from, or not. Wait, she was pro-Muslim, so anti-Jew, and apparently anti-Swede and anti-Dane. Kind of weird that she had recently moved to Pennsylvania Dutch land, huh? Maybe the Amish are involved.

Jihad Jane
Colleen La Rose
b. June 5, 1963 Michigan

Lars Vilks
b. June 20, 1946 Helsingborg, Sweden

Both Gemini Suns, both born with Mars within a degree conjunction of each other at 1-2 Virgo. Jane's Mars is conjunct Pluto to the degree and is caught up in a t-square with Uranus, Sun and Chiron. Did I really need to say that or was it just so obvious you're rolling your eyes.

My boyfriend Lars, who just can't keep his fingers to himself was born during a conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Libra which has been mirrored in the recent sky in the sign of Aquarius. Let Freedom ring, baby. Try to stay alive, Lars. Take some drawing classes, for Christ's sakes, your bad draftsmanship is upsetting the Persians. No wonder Ikea wouldn't hire you.

The Pie Chart and Humpty Dumpty

In my previous post called "Stimulus" I talked about Pluto's influence on the current Economic Stimulus Plan that is being debated in Government. Scorpio/8th House topics are what stimulate us overall. Sex, Death and Taxes. I forgot to mention that Crises are often what motivates us. And manifesting our Fears. The Scholars and Intellectuals and Media who are talking now are certainly creating a Fear Factor. Sad to say that I worry that the Pluto in Virgo generation is just a bunch of critics who couldn't stimulate a pig to roll in the mud.

Okay, Pluto in Virgo here. I'm mean, I'm petty, I'm critical and I'm worried. But everytime I hear about the Stimulus Plan I hear in my head:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall
Humpty Dumpty had a Great Fall
All the King's Horses
And All the King's Men
Couldn't Put Humpty
Back Together Again.

Humpty's Men have provided us the foolish Public with a Pie Chart of proposed expenditures for Investing Money into the Economy. 800 Billion Dollar's Worth or so. We already threw 700 B to the Bankers and they took a nice Christmas Vacation on their Lear Jets before giving them back to Boeing or wherever Lear Jets come from (maybe sold to Osama). They enjoyed some great end of the Year Bonuses and won't lend money out and have probably just decided to sit back and relax for the next 15 years. Banking and Taurus are at the opposite end of what Pluto's all about. Pluto is Banking's Shadow Brother. They can't exist apart from each other. And when they act like this they're a totally unfortunate presence.

We can see here that Taxes are a big piece of the Stimulus Pie. That sounds like gastrointestinal hell. Much of the rest of areas of Investment will be into Mutable Sign areas. Is this a leftover from what should have happened while Pluto was in Sagittarius? Pluto empowered/destroyed the mutable signs already.

Pluto is now in Capricorn. It seems that there has to be a focus on ripping apart and reconstructing all things Cardinal. Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn. New Starts. Implementing new Programs and Ideas. Mutable Signs can come up with so many ideas, after all.

This stimulus plan was obviously written with a bit too much of a Mutable Sign emphasis perhaps. There's some good Cardinal Stuff, but there's not much to let the Fixed Signs chew on.
Lawyers are 9th House. Higher Education is H9. Lower Education is H3. Welfare is H12. Healthcare is H6. All the refining elements of living in a society are Mutable. We're supposed to use it now to start something new. Not to Fix which is Fixed Sign. Not to make due with which is Mutable.

This is my Score Card for how well the Stimulus Plan would fit in with Pluto in Capricorn which is where the Stimulus needs to go.

Biggest chunk of Stimulus is Tax Cuts. Pluto. Good. But Capricorn is about Self Reliance and Stoicism and doing the Right Thing because doing the wrong thing will come back to bite you. There are things to watch out for, like ruthlessly clobbering others in order to look good in society and abusing authority and watching out for the interests of old established firms. Actually, those are the qualities that Pluto would hopefully take its wrecking ball to. Hopefully, Pluto actually agrees with a lot of the bad stuff that Capricorn does, just wants to appear sensitive while doing it rather than open handed and brash.

Aries isn't represented here much which worries me, except for the fact that we are in a Rush to get this thing passed. Remember Paulson of Banking/Mortgage Bail Out Fame was Aries. Libra is completely absent from this plan, which is extremely worrying because that means that means that the unhealthy side of that sign could leak into the picture. Libra represents Diplomacy, which Obama has plenty of so maybe things are ok. Libra also represents Balance, Harmony, the Arts and man's first feeble attempt at dealing with others on a civilized level. Of course, Artists are not part of the plan. If you don't give your society the arts, you don't have a civilization.

Here's a link to one of the Pie Charts available on the Internet. (Cancer Sun just loves Statistics when it's mentioned in Food Format. Sorry, stupid joke):

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/stimulus-pie-chart/

Here's the pieces of the Pie. Think I got most of it. The Pie doesn't look all that crummy methinks. The Fixed Signs had better be given more outlets, imo.

• Transform nations' energy transmission. That could be Aries, Good.

• Repair public housing. Ergh! Well, it's Cancer, or probably more like Capricorn since Cancer prefers doing what's nurturing and healthy. Good enough for Government.

• Weatherize modest income home. Cancer? Uranus (fixed). Mercury (mutable). Good.

• Science facilities, research. Well, Research is Pluto. Depends what kinds of Science. Capricorn likes Science. Good. Empiracle ass kissing science though, conservative shit. Keeps the Virgos going.

• Expand Broadband Internet Access. Mercury (Mutable), Uranus (Fixed). Wah. Might not happen. Better be careful who they hire for this one. Well, this is necessary.

• Highway Construction: Mutable (H3 and H9). Not in the cards, but is necessary.

• Modernize Federal & Other Public Infrastructure: Modernize is Uranian. Federal is Capricornian as is Public Infrastructure whatever that is. Sounds like a Saturn-Uranus-Pluto t-square thing.

• Clean Water, flood control, environmental investment. Water Signs and Virgo, Good, especially if Cancerian and Plutonian Water Systems concentrated on. That means plumbing and sewer.

• Transit and Rail. Mutable, H3 and H9. Won't help.

• Local School Districts. Mutable, H3. Won't help.

• State Fiscal Relief. Don't know. Taurus, H2? Make the Bankers pay.

• Pell Grant. Higher Education. Mutable (H9). Problems ahead.

• Higher Education Modernization. More H9 and Uranus. This is special interest b.s. at this point. We educate immigrants before we educate citizens so what do we expect. There, I said it.
  

• Health I.T. Mutable (probably H6)? don't know what this is. Isn't Cardinal.

• Preventative Care. I suppose this is very Cancer/Capricorn (along with Virgo), so good.

• Unemployment Benefits. H12, Mutable? This'll drain out pretty quick, but buying time seems like an applicable Pluto in Capricorn type of subject matter.
  

• Healthcare. Mutable, H6. Time to join a Christian Science Church and just say that your illness doesn't exist. The Pluto in Cancers were the last of the Good Doctor generation anyway.
  

• Food Stamps. Cancer, probably with Neptune/Pisces. Good but might not survive the big t-square. We may not have Food after this thing is done with us.
  

• Medicaid. (Mutable) Bah. Let's face it we have to completely start over in this area, poor Pluto in Leos trying to retire.
  

• Law Enforcement. (H6) Mutable. Might not be able to hold down the fort.

Nothing about Border Control which needs all the 4 points of Cardinal to be effective. Nothing about fostering Innovation by encouraging meetings of great minds to figure out a new structure or order. Nothing about helping people to help themselves. Nothing about switching the Farming communities over to Sustainable, Organic, Local businesses. No Arts. No interest in seeking real talents. Don't they have to raise taxes in order to pay off the debt? I can go on and on. Nobody reads this anyway -- Good thing about Pluto in Virgo, too boring to make a difference.

Today's Bell: Triple Plutonian Uptick

Today's Dow rose 889 points which is a rise of 10.9 percent and the second biggest Stock Market gain ever. The Closing Bell hit over 9,000 points at 9,065. The Biggest Point Gain ever was on October 13, 2008 where the Dow closed up 936 points.

Today's Chart was Triple Scorpio. That's Determination, Investments, Behind the Scenes dealings and wheelings. This shows that the Ascendant and New Moon (Sun conjunct Moon) were all in Scorpio. Except for a sextile to Pluto, the Sun-Moon conjunction was unaspected by major aspects which emphasizes its influence in the chart.

And illustrating the "Do or Die" attitude, I read somewhere (would have been on Yahoo) that the "Government" "told" the Bankers to start lending money now. There's an urgency to the message.

Pluto rules lending and its influence in the chart is very strong as I pointed out. Saturn (the Authorities) is conjunct its natural spot at the MC. It is opposing Uranus and so they are both angling over the IC/MC axis for the next week. Today they were squaring 1st House Venus (Banks) in Sagittarius which has now moved Out-of-Bounds. Venus is parallel/contraparallel the two Houses of Finance, House 2 and 8.

Interesting to note that Ben Bernanke is now celebrating a Venus Return. His natal Venus is at 10 Sagittarius and transiting Venus is at 12 Sadge. Venus is now moving towards his Sun at 21 Sagittarius. That's imbues some serious snake charming abilities.

Mars is at 17 Scorpio up in the 12th House showing a lot of pushing behind the scenes. Paulson's still hanging in there, evidentally. Wikipedia says he's Christian Scientist. They're tough as nails. I don't know whatever happened to that other guy, Cox. Boy, I can't wait for the TV movie to be made on this crisis.

Looked again at the October 13 Chart to see if there's anything significant about these big point gain charts. The Moon is very connected with the Resource Houses in both charts. It disposits to Pluto (Moon in Scorpio today and in Aries on Oct. 13, rulership through old school). It is also in aspect to Pluto.

On the 13th, the Moon was in the 5th House and today she was in the 11th House. These are the Houses having to do with the more psychological versions of Resources, like Risk, Creativity, Confidence, Wishes, Hopes, Groups. They will show a more positive vibe than the 2d & 8th Houses which show what a person really has or what he/she can make out of others.

A couple of other similarities between the charts is that Venus has been in the 1st House and Jupiter has been in the 2d House. Overall, one would think that is a positive influence on things having to do with money. These aspects alone aren't really that rare so they are just adding to the overall tone. I'm not sure that they can hold up against Pluto's big crossing into Capricorn. Saturn opposing Uranus can be connected with serious, long term financial depressions as I've said before.

One more similarity is that Pluto, at 29 Sagittarius is in aspect to the Angles which are about to change signs in the charts. This might be significant, since Pluto rules investments. Pluto also probably embraces changing signs more than most of the other planets as it can do its transformation thing more easily that way. Today, of course, Pluto's presence is extremely prominent ruling the Sun-Moon conjunction and the chart. The Ascendant today is at 30 Scorpio so tomorrow Sagittarius will rise and Jupiter will begin to rule the Charts for about a month.

For comparison, on October 13, the Midheaven was at 29 Leo and was about to change into Virgo. I did notice a big quieting down surrounding reactions to the crashes. Even remember hearing on the radio (NPR) that the Drama was over. People just became resigned, or the smart ones just got busy and started shopping for bargains. Nobody's better at bottom fishing than the Virgos because they are naturally discerning.

According to Yahoo the biggest gainers in Today's market were the Telecoms and the Oil Companies. With North Node and Neptune in the 3d Houses, I guess one would expect to see them doing well. Verizon managed to post a big gain for its quarterly earnings as have many tech companies. The Oil Companies are such jerks I'm not even going there.

Alan Greenspan

The Crash is being blamed on Alan Greenspan for the most part. He kept Interest Rates too low for too long and sort of led all kinds of innocent homebuyers to the slaughter. He says that the Homebuyers are to blame. I blame the Money Lenders, myself. This is the same U.S. public that elected the Bush Administration into office twice in a row. Anyway, Greenspan did nothing to try to deal with the problem that comes up with these bubbles apparently. Maybe he did, they don't show that kind of thing on TV so who would I know?

Alan Greenspan
b. Mar. 6, 1926 New York City, NY

Sun 16 Pisces; Moon in Scorpio or Sagittarius; NN 2????? Cancer Rx

Greenspan's chart is very similiar to the U.S. chart so whatever he does just reflects what the U.S. would do anyway. I'm not one to let a Pisces go off scot-free because they tend to do that way too much but in this case the astrology says that he's just part of the bigger picture.

Greenspan got on the horn and confronted his accusors and the media with a "Whoopsy, I goofed" statement yesterday. I wanted to look at his chart to see a couple of things. I wanted to see what indicates being blamed. I also wanted to look at the Nodal Cycle that would be associated with his 18 plus year reign at the Federal Reserve. I figured that must be a hum-dinger and it is.

The Blame Thing. Greenspan called the Crisis a tsunami yesterday and said he was in shock and disbelief. No wonder. He's going through his Uranus Return. Good time for a Shocker. Greenspan's chart is set up to receive the Saturn-Uranus opposition like bread and jam. Natally he has a (wide) Grand Trine between the two planets to his natal North Node at 25 Cancer. Right now he is approaching his Uranus Return at 20 Pisces. The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception has been linked with one weather catastrophe after another, why not a global financial one as well?

The synastry with the U.S. chart is really amazing. For one, the U.S. also has a trine between Saturn 15 Libra and Uranus 8 Gemini so they have a matching energy here.

In addition, the United States' opposition between Mercury and Pluto is conjunct Greenspan's Nodal Axis with Mercury Rx conjunct North Node and Pluto Rx conjunct South Node. Remember he's got a wide Grand Trine between North Node-Saturn-Uranus.

This means, there is a strong Kite configuration between Mercury and 3 Outer Planets: Saturn, Uranus, Pluto. In a way, this seems to show a lead up to the problems of the now upon us Saturn-Uranus opposition which will turn into a t-square with Pluto over the next few years.

In either the Gemini or Sagittarius Rising Charts for the U.S. this Kite's spine of Mercury to Pluto for the U.S. and Nodal Axis for Greenspan crosses the 2d and 8th Houses of Finances.

Natally Greenspan has a conjunction of Venus to Jupiter in Aquarius. The United States has one in Cancer. Those are rulers of Money in astrology. Venus in relation to Jupiter and Aquarius is a sky's the limit kind of thing. A conjunction in Cancer like the U.S. Chart has would show massive consumerism, probably greed, especially where home and land is concerned. The country has gone through an incredible rise in almost non-stop prosperity since Greenspan took over. My family was struck really badly by the Recessions in 1974 and 1982 so I'm old enough to remember what it was like before Greenspan showed up.

Greenspan's Venus-Jupiter conjunction is unaspected by Ptolomaic aspects so it sort of "runs away with the chart" to use Noel Tyl's words. No kidding. The conjunction, however, is in a minor aspect, quincunx/inconjunct, to Pluto, planet of Crisis and Investments. This seems to add a cog in the wheel to all the Bliss. Inconjuncts show energies that just don't blend.

Greenspan's Nodal Cycle as Fed Chairman. The Nodes return to their original spot about every 18 3/4 years. Greenspan took over as Chairman of the Federal Reserve on Aug. 11, 1987 and left on Jan. 31, 2006. The Transiting North Node was just approaching the Aries Point when he took over and when he left. This is conjunct his natal Mercury at 1 Aries. In 1987 his progressed Venus, ruler of Banks, was conjunct this spot to the degree. Aries Points show great prominence and projection out into the world.

The United States Sibley chart has Venus at 3 Cancer. This shows the Banking Systems of the Country and hooks right into Greenspan's natal Mercury, transits and progressions and also the Nodal Transits for when he took his leading position.

Looking at this even closer, one realizes that the Federal Reserve Bank's chart is strongly affected by this Nodal Transit as the Nodal Axis was squaring the Federal Reserve Bank's natal Sun-Pluto opposition on the Capricorn-Cancer Aries Points.

And Looking at this with Eyes Full of Horror is the current Pluto transit with Pluto at last degree of Sagittarius and moving on to the Capricorn Point.

Breathe. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Exhale. Pass out. Wake Up. Move on.

When Greenspan left the post in 2006 his progressed Venus was at 21 Aries and approaching a square to his natal Nodal Axis at 25 Cancer. Right now his Progressed Venus is conjunct his natal Chiron which squares his Nodal Axis. Once again, Keyword for Venus is Banks, Values, Money. Chiron is the Teacher/Healer who can fix everyone around him but can't heal his own wound.

Coincidentally, Greenspan was born on a Chiron Return for the United States so they have this planet in conjunction with each other. His Chiron is at 26 Aries; the U.S. Chiron is at 21 Aries. And by really strange coincidence, the progressed Venus's for both charts are very close to this point. Greenspan's progressed Venus is at 24 Aries and the U.S. progressed Venus is at 18 Aries.

And, this is right on the U.S.' t-square between Sun-Saturn-Chiron so it is heavily afflicted right now. (Prog.Venus-n.Chiron opposes natal Saturn 15 Libra and squares natal Sun 14 Cancer.) And to add an extra corrosive element, progressed Mars for the U.S. chart is moving backwards toward Saturn and is now at 19 Libra Retrograde.

Anyway, I've seen Chiron as a Scapegoat type symbol before. Scapegoats come from a mass mentality type of thinking.

3:00 PM Meeting With Henry Paulson

According to some articles I've read in the newspaper, on Monday at 3pm, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called Bankers from the top 9 Banks in the Country and "forced" them to sell Bank Stock to the Government. This is considered "UnAmerican, but necessary." (Kind of strange how Republicans are anti-socialist but keep using Government to control people.) Down the road, the Banks will buy their stock back.

I was amazed at how this represents what I was talking about in my blog entry from Sunday/Monday where I noticed that Mars and Pluto have been unaspected. I wondered if this would represent an act of sheer human will. It looks like it panned out. I also made a mistake and said that Pluto would be unaspected. I was wrong there. At 3 pm on Monday, October 13, Pluto was very much aspected as apex of a t-square. I also noticed that Henry Paulson's chart is lit up like a Christmas Tree (does he celebrate Christmas, he's into Banking, they'll celebrate any holiday).

Article here: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081016/meltdown_paulson.html

The Stock Market has been unbelievably volatile and had a major advance on Monday, almost a 1000 points, and has since fallen by just about as much. The Banking sector yesterday suffered a double digit decline yesterday but today did very well. The entire market ended 400 points up. Don't know who the major nine banks are. Bank of New York Mellon is the first to sell off its stock.

article: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/merrill-citigroup-report-more-losses/story.aspx?guid={50ADB381-5151-4E8D-8369-D09D669AE145}&siteid=yhoof.

Don't think it's one of the "Big Nine" but by accident I pulled up "The Bank of the Ozarks." That stock was the stock to own today. Stock went up about 2 points, gain of 8.5 percent. The little banks' stocks seem to have gone way up. Citigroup went down.

First of all, I wanted to look at the 3 pm chart to see where Mars and Pluto, the planets associated with Force and Will would be. Mars was unaspected in this chart and up in the 9th House, just having passed over the Midheaven (Government). Pluto was in the 11th House and apex to a t-square of Moon 7 Aries opposing Mercury 8 Libra Rx in the H2 (Banking) and H8 (Investments).

Venus (Banking) in Scorpio is almost exactly conjunct the Midheaven in Scorpio (Other people's money). She is squaring the ruler of the 2d House cusp, Neptune which is in the 1st House.

Aquarius is rising and the Signs representing Resources are on all of the angles. The Ruler of the chart, Uranus, is conjunct the 2d House cusp. It is opposing Saturn in the 8th. This is a very interesting event to attribute to the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

Tomorrow's Opening Bell & Halloween's Cauldron

I spoke too soon about yesterday's Market. Around 3-4 in the Afternoon there was a sudden sell-off. The Aquarius Moon was passing over the Ascendant and still squaring Mars in Scorpio. That's volatile.

Today the Market continued the volatlity again and sold off extremely heavily towards the close and is now down around 8,500 points. Paulson's still saying that Banks are going to close while the Internet whizzes are starting to scream about how this is a buying opportunity. Last I looked the Asian Stock Markets are in the middle of tanking.

It seems as if so far nobody in the real world has been paying attention until today. Probably my imagination but it seems that I saw a lot of old rich guys this evening out talking together in coffee shops. That's about as emotional as those guys get. Others were driving their fancy Middle Age Complex sports cars slowly around parking lots while the skin on their faces pulled g's as if they were spinning around on the teacups ride at Disneyland. Don't know if this is a joke or not but on one of the talk shows Bill Maher made a comment about how 20 percent of U.S. Income is made through the financial services sector. What a useless bunch of idiots we've turned into. This also means that 20 percent of the country can't figure out how to get us out of this mess. People are saying that the Feds have run out of "things to do." I guess they're gonna let Pluto run its course.

So tomorrow's Stock Market Bell.

15 Scorpio Rising. That's half way through Scorpio. That's sumpin. Pluto is still the chart ruler; still in the 2d House at opening of Stock Market Bell. Pluto is still a singleton in Fire. Tomorrow it will be unaspected by major aspect to other planets but will be trining the Leo Midheaven.

The Moon will still be in Aquarius and will be conjunct the Chiron Rx-NN-Neptune Rx stellium blob which has moved into the 3d House. Will somebody make a speech? With Moon-Neptune in the 3d house both natally and astro-stock-marketly I'd assume that it would be President Bush. I assume that it's unfortunate that this blob stellium disposits to 4th House Uranus. I've been sort of worrying that somebody was going to commit hari-kari or something.

Uranus is unpredictable. In the 4th House it's like living underneath a couple that constantly rearranges the furniture at 2:00 am. It isn't happy down at the bottom of the chart in a house that is ruled by feelings, that's for sure. And Saturn is at the top. And Saturn is still the only planet that is at a Northern Declination right now and that's got to be significant.

I've been curious about when the Saturn-Uranus opposition would cross the Midheaven / IC axis of the opening bell charts. That's such a good aspect for an earthquakes, especially with aspects to Mars and the Moon. Halloween happens on a Friday this year and this will be the Stock Market where the opposition hits this angle. After that Uranus will move into the 3d House where its probably more comfortable and Saturn will have moved into the 9th House where it might be more optimistic.

The Halloween Bell is a very interesting chart.

The Saturn in Virgo opposition to Uranus in Pisces is conjunct the IC-MC Axis. And the Sagittarius Moon is conjunct the ASC. This seems more like a social uprising or earthquake kind of chart except that Saturn rules the 2d House and the Moon rules the 8th House, those are the finance houses. Plus, Venus will be apex of a t-square and squaring Saturn-Uranus from the 1st House.

The Ascendant will be 2 Sagittarius.

Three planets, Moon-Venus-Pluto will be in the 1st House all in Sagittarius. They will all disposit to Jupiter which is going to still be in the 2d House of Banking and Money. Sagittarius is expansive, opinionated. Sometimes it's lucky and optimistic.

Venus and Jupiter and the Sun and Moon and Pluto are the Main rulers of money and they are very wildly placed in this chart.

The Scorpio Sun and the Sagittarius Moon will both be unaspected to other planets. The Moon will be conjunct the Ascendant, however.

Venus and the Moon are both out-of-bounds. And out-of-bounds in Sagittarius in the 1st House and believe me that's out of bounds.

As Saturn rules the 2d House and the Moon rules the 8th House of this chart this means that both rulers of these houses are conjunct the angles.

The one thing holding this chart down, believe it or not, is Mars. Mars is secretive up in Scorpio in the 12th house and he's sextiling the Jupiter-Saturn trine.

Time is of the Essence

This morning through the road noise of my car I heard a wonderful English Financier being interviewed on PBS. He has a completely different idea of what the Fed should do with the Markets than what they are probably going to do. The one thing they all agree on is that "Speed is of the Essence" in making a Decision.

I pulled out Rex Bills and found that rulership of Speed is given to Mercury and Uranus (in parentheses). I would have included Mars but maybe Mars is related too much to rashness.

Decisions themselves are ruled by Uranus. I would have thought Saturn or Pluto.

Then by coincidence I surfed over to Jonah Lehrer's blog The Frontal Cortex and saw that he is discussing the neurology of what it takes to make a quick decision. He uses Football Quarterbacks as examples.

Link: http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/09/quarterbacks.php

Three and a half seconds: that's how long, on average, a quarterback has to make a decision about where to throw the ball. So, how does he make sense of his options in such a short amount of time, while a swarm of humongous, angry men attempt to pancake him?

I decided to look at the charts of great Football Quarterbacks who are listed by Lehrer along with some others to see if there is a strong connection between Mercury and Uranus which could account for their lightening quick decision making talents. It turns out there is a strong relationship in most of the charts. Mercury-Mars is also almost always present as well.

Then I decided to look at the charts of the Feds, Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, and Christopher Cox to see if the Stars have bestowed upon them this great gift of Instantaneous Decision Making Ability.

The Quarterbacks are listed below.

The Feds are listed below them.

Looks like the Fed needs desperately to hire some Quarterbacks.

Fran Tarkenton
b. Feb. 3, 1940 Richmond, VA

Mercury 16 Aquarius conjunct Sun and squaring Uranus 19 Taurus

Johnny Unitas
b. May 7, 1933 Pittsburgh, PA

Mercury 26 Aries conjunct Uranus 25 Aries square Pluto Cancer and trining Mars 5 Virgo

Joe Montana
b. June 11, 1956 New Eagle, PA

Mercury in Gemini sextile Uranus 1 Cancer and squaring Mars in Pisces

John Elway
b. June 28, 1960 Port Angeles, WA

Mercury 30 Cancer squaring Mars 7 Taurus
Uranus 19 Leo unaspected (major aspect)

Dan Marino
b. Sept. 15, 1961 Pittsburgh, PA

Mercury 16 Libra conjunct Mars and otherwise unaspected
Uranus?

Brett Favre
b. Oct. 10, 1969 Gulfport, Miss.

Mercury 1 Libra conjunct Uranus 6 Libra and Pluto 26 Virgo
squares Mars 13 Capricorn

Randall Cunningham
b. Mar. 27, 1963 10:50 pm Santa Barbara, CA

Mercury 5 Aries conjunct Sun Aries, trines Mars in Leo and inconjunct Uranus in Virgo

Joe Namath
b. May 31, 1943 9PM Beaver Falls, PA

Mercury 28 Taurus conjunct Uranus 5 Gemini, squares Neptune in Virgo and sextile Mars in Aries

Terry Bradshaw
b. Sept. 2, 1948 Shreveport, LA

Mercury 29 Virgo (H11) square Uranus 1 Cancer (H8), Aquarius is co-ruler of H3, Mercury is ruler of H11

Tom Brady
b. Aug. 3, 1977 San Mateo, CA

Mercury in Virgo sextiles Uranus in Scorpio and squares Mars in Gemini

Peyton Manning
b. Mar. 24, 1976 New Orleans

Mercury 27 Pisces squares Mars in CAncer. Uranus unaspected in Scorpio

*******

Ben Bernanke
b. Dec. 13, 1953 Augusta, GA

Mercury 5 Sagittarius conjunct Venus 11 Sagittarius
Uranus 23 Cancer conjunct SN and squares Mars-Neptune at 26 Libra

Henry Paulson
b. Mars. 28, 1946 Palm Beach, FL

Mercury 4 Aries conjunct Sun 8 Aries opposite Neptune 8 Libra and trines Pluto 10 Leo
Uranus 14 Gemini trines Neptune 8 Libra

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

Mercury 9 Scorpio unaspected
Uranus 19 Cancer squares Sun-Saturn-Neptune and trines Venus in Scorpio and sextiles Jupiter

Opening Bell - Sept. 22, 2008

Wish I had looked at this yesterday. The Chart for the Opening Bell for today's market.

The Sun is at 30 Virgo. That's an Aries Point (1 Libra). The Sun is apex to a t-square to the Moon at 5 Cancer which opposes Pluto at 29 Sagittarius. That's another Aries Point (1 Capricorn). They are in the Resources Houses. Actually the Moon is in the 9th House but very close to the 8th House. The Moon is out-of-bounds which could trigger just about anything emotional and related to security. The Sun and the Moon are the Vital Forces of the Chart along with the Rising Sign. Pluto rules the Rising Sign. All 3 are in harsh aspect with each other in the Resources Houses.

My computer was attacked by spyware this morning, no wonder. I suspect that this will be a lucrative time for Hackers to pick up personal information about people's accounts as they try to dump stocks. Try not to pay for anything with a credit card. Tomorrow the Sun will be right on 1 Libra and its only major aspect will be to Pluto. It will also be making a quindecile to Chiron.

On what might be a bright side, Sagittarius is now on the 2d House cusp and that might bring a bit more optimtimism. It might bring higher wisdom about the reality or it might add to the hysteria element or it might bring optimism. Sadge's ruler Jupiter is still in the 3d House of communications. So there are still talks going on. Venus conjunct the Ascendant brings negotiations. Pluto is in sextile to her and the Ascendant which is a positive influence. I don't know if the Fed will announce anything today. Tomorrow as the elements hit the Aries Points the real reaction may come.

Still beneficial, Jupiter is trining Saturn. But, Saturn is within orb of opposition to Uranus now (computer and internet problems). They are placed in H11 (Saturn in Virgo) and H5 (Uranus in Pisces).

2 Scorpio Rises and Venus is still in conjunction at 29 Scorpio. Venus-Mercury-Mars are still up in the 12th house of undoing trining the NN-Neptune-Chiron down in the 4th House (Security, Real Estate, Foundations, Denial).

Tomorrow the Opening Bell Moon will be at 19 Cancer in H9. It will be opposing Jupiter in the 3d and squaring Mercury-Mars at 23 Libra in H12. That doesn't sound like good news to me. The Moon will also be in a Yod pattern. There's a Moon-Saturn sextile from H9 to H11 that is inconjunct on either side to apex NN in H4. Yods are odd patterns. They shows elements that don't work together naturally and must find a way of living out of balance together. Some of the more subtle problems related to the financial system may have to be accepted.

No Growth in U.S. Economy

Ben Bernanke has now made a statement that he doesn't see any growth for the U.S. Economy in the near future. I decided to take a look at some things which represent Growth in the U.S. Chart. I use the Sagittarius Rising Chart. This one has 13 degree on the Ascendant, I think that's Sibley.

First off I looked at the Planets. Jupiter. Doi. Jupiter expands. The Moon rules Fertility. The Sun creates. Venus impels toward growth or destruction. Then I looked at the Progressions to see what kinds of stunted Retrogrades might be jamming the works.

The United States has Sun, Venus, and Jupiter in Cancer. That's a growth oriented situation.

Right now the Progressed Sun for the U.S. is at 4 Pisces trining the natal Venus and Jupiter at 4 and 6 Cancer respectively. Transiting Jupiter is in Capricorn opposing the United States Sun. And Progressed Jupiter has been Retrograde in Cancer since around 1905-6. If the U.S. has a Sagittarius Rising this is very important to look at because Jupiter is then the Chart Ruler. The timing of the Retrograde coincides with the 1907 Crash. Although there were many before it, that was the Crash that was the reason for the creation of the Federal Reserve Board as I was reminded yesterday by reading Monica's blog "Astrology Mundo." So this looks indicates heavy duty growth aspects. Of course, disease enjoys Growth as well.

So, then I thought what rules productivity because in my opinion the problem is not Growth but Productivity. We have turned into a Nation of Sheep. Not that there's anything wrong with Sheep, I just tried to make a dishcloth that had a sheep on it (didn't turn out) but they tend to follow along and graze all day. So I looked at Mars and Saturn. The U.S. has a conjunction of these two planets. The only thing these two might like is productivity. The conjunction is at the beginning of Virgo so the Country just had a Saturn Return. That can be a time of deep reckoning and being faced with big decisions.

Progressed Mars also moved into Retrograde around 2005-6 in Libra. Right now it is at 19 Libra Retrograde. That will eventually lead to great creativity but also heightened violence. On a current level this means that it's been hanging out on the Ascendant of the Opening Bell Chart for the NYSE. It has also been conjunct the Mercury-Venus-Mars conjunction in Libra. I was wondering how such a potentially nice aspect could have turned so much to its worst side. Maybe this is a reason, especially as its all been on the Ascendant of the Opening Bell Charts for the last couple of weeks.

The Progressions for the U.S. are actually pretty intense. The only planets that aren't Retrograde are Venus and Uranus. And Progressed Venus is conjunct (within 3 degrees) to Chiron in Aries at 18 Aries. That's opposing Progressed Mars Rx plus the Mercury-Venus-Mars conjunction.

The U.S. is born with a Mercury Retrograde and is now going through another Mercury Rx by Progression. This started sometime around 1993-94. Progressed Mercury is at 24 Aquarius. The extended trip through Aquarius was certainly good for becoming the center of the Technology Boom. Now prog. Mercury is being hit by the Neptune-Chiron-NN conjunction and is in the 4th House (Real Estate, Security, Mortgage) at Opening Bell.

So, here's the clinker, unrelated to what I've said so far. The natal U.S. Chart has a Mercury-Pluto opposition. Both planets are Retrograde. Mercury is at 25 Cancer Rx. Pluto is at 28 Capricorn Rx. Retrogrades make you really look deeply into whatever sign they're in. Cancer rules Real Estate and Capricorn rules Government. Mercury - Pluto is pretty sharp but also pretty paranoid and crisis oriented. And...

The Progressed Nodal Axis is now right on top of this opposition with 27 Cancer North Node. This means that Pluto is conjunct the South Node. Destiny come calling. Time of Trouble. Pluto represents crisis. But it also prunes and strips away dead weight so that all may prosper in the future. In gardening that's a good thing. In Economics I don't know why it can't be seen as a good thing. Tightening our big fat Sun-Venus-Jupiter in Cancer belts. At any rate transiting Jupiter will hit the Pluto-SN combination soon. As a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction (by transit) was involved in Cancer during the Great Depression this could certainly echo that energy.

If the Sagittarius Rising Chart were to be used one could see that the Progressed Moon and Progressed Ascendant are both at 1 Virgo. Virgo is another pruner. Don't get me going about how awful the transition is from Leo to Virgo in Progressions. I'm spending a lifetime finding this out. Leo just loves. Leo wants to create. All is well and simple. Then suddenly Leo realizes that his audience is snoring. That's when you know something's progressed into Virgo. And the lessons, although healthy, totally suck for the first 10 degrees.

Fresh Air Interview with Michael Greenberger

Here's a link to today's episode of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She interviews Michael Greenberger a Law Professor about the failing economy.

Greenberg's bio. I can't find his Birth Info. Terry Gross was born in 1951:

Law professor Michael Greenberger explains how the recent turmoil on Wall Street could trigger a domino effect for economies around the world.

Greenberger is the director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland and the principal deputy associate attorney general at the Justice Department.

I was driving around and getting in and out of the car during the Interview but I heard Greenberger say something interesting about the American Economy:

"We privatize gains and We socialize Losses."

In AstroBlab that's sort of like saying:

"We Pluto Jupiter and We Uranus Saturn."

Well, at least we are blending aspects.

Great Interview. Greenberger's been sending out alerts for a while. Terry Gross says she has interviewed him before.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94686428

Stock Market Hell Ramblings for September 17, 2008

I made a promise to myself to carefully read every day's Stock Market Chart before it happens and then study it the next day to observe how a Crash happens in Astro-Micro-Management terms. My Mercury has progressed into Virgo, what can I say? I'm still not into editing anything but the details, whew, I'm loving the details. I'm seeing God and the Devil and the Details all in one pop.

Life is getting in the way now though and I haven't had time to edit what I write. Today I'm suddenly infested with fleas and I was so upset about that I dropped my one pair of glasses on the ground behind the car and then backed up over them. At least it wasn't somebody's kid.

So I have to go buy a pair of Goggles. So sad. I've lost my fancy French glasses. Maybe I'll get some Sarah Palin look alikes and pace back and forth in front the local chapter of the NRA to see if anyone will shoot me.

Yesterday's Stock Market report I titled Houdini's Hat. Pretty good, huh? Paragraphs and paragraphs of unbelievably incomprehensible English. For some weird reason the Market rose. The Banks like to stick some of the extra wads of cash that Ben Bernanke's given em back into the Markets I guess. Interesting that Taurus and Scorpio are trading rulerships of each other's houses at this time of year. Bad News, George Bush decided not to make another comment to the reporters about how things are still looking good. Maybe now he'll fly over Wall St. in Air Force One to inspect the damage from afar. Ben Bernanke supposedly had to take him out to lunch and plead. "No George, it's over. This is catastrophic. Don't listen to Dick anymore." So Pluto and Jupiter are still in the 3d house. That's communications and announcements.

The Moon has been in Aries keeping Pluto company in Fire. I think that's a good thing for Pluto. It's lonely up there. Pluto's always feeling isolated and being unaspected and singleton is really ripping his little lonely heart out. The Sun is still opposing Uranus and Uranus is a singleton and still swinging its bat around in all kinds of wrong directions.

Pluto will pass into the 2d House at Opening Bell within the next couple of days. Venus continues to stay in conjunction with the Ascendant. This is the Mercury-Venus conjunction from Hell. I had forgotten one of the main reasons for writing this blog was to study Market Crashes in preparation for the Big One. I remember that this Mercury-Venus conjunction was one of the indicators. But I had set the Opening Bell for 9 am for all the charts and had to pull them offline.

Mercury's Retrograde will keep him up in the 12th House for extra long. The Retrogrades are supposed to bring the past up for review. Everyone's certainly going to be looking back and trying to figure out how this could have been done differently. I suppose there will be background shenanigan's.

Isn't it odd how we picked two Candidates to run for President who didn't have a clue that the Markets were in trouble? Neither one of them has looked at this at all and now they're insulting each other about what the other doesn't know.

Oh well, off I go to get my Amelia Earharts. The Optical Stores in my area are so awful. Maybe it's best to run around blind. This is probably not the most P.C. thing to say but have you ever noticed how Blind people usually have wonderful personalities? I could use some of that. And the fleas? Oi.

I'm going to draw a life size picture of an Ostrich tonight because my head very much wants to be buried in the sand right now.

As always, I recommend following Ray Merriman's column "Market Week" at StarIQ.com for a genuine assessment of what's going on. And Monica's got some great ideas on her blog "Astrology Mundo."

Tomorrow's Stock Market

Hey, I've been knitting and ripping all day so I was a little freaked when I got onto the World Wide Web and saw all this talk about the tanking Economy. Tomorrow's Stock Market? Why even look at the chart?

Doom & Gloom / Tomorrow's Stock Market Opening Ding Dong
Sept. 15, 2008 9:30 am New York, NY

Well, Sept. 15, it may not be the Mortgage Crisis so much as the fact that Estimated Taxes are due. That always get the Republicans into a futz. 3d Quarter Freak Out is coming up.

This chart has Libra Rising with chart ruler Venus conjunct the Ascendant and Mercury and Mars in Libra from up in the 12th House. There's strong emphasis in this chart on balancing. I have full faith in Ben Bernanke, he's such an adorable Sadge, he couldn't possibly screw up. So, don't screw up here Ben, we Love You With All Our Hearts. We need a Hero. Come on Baby, pull this Effer through, you can do it. I just heard Greenspan in an ABC interview and he was making a lot of sense and not sounding too positive at the same time. But he's not the Chairman, Ben, you are. And I'm a sucker for a cute Sadge.

So, here's the nasties. And I'm not talking sex. Pluto isn't in the 2d house yet. But it's now ruling the 2d House of Banking and Money. Pluto is still in the 3d House of Communications so let's hope that Bernanke and his Buds are yacking up a Storm and getting the Banks to cooperate. There's a Full Moon tomorrow with the Sun up in H11 and Moon in the Opposing 5th House conjunct Uranus. And Uranus is ruler of the 11th House. We're still Wishin, and Dreamin, and Hopin'. What are the words to that song? Forget it. The Resources of Risk, Creativity, Groups, Hopes, Wishes and Dreams are strong in the Opening Bell Charts for a couple more days at least. Pluto is squaring the Full Moon and Uranus. Pluto and Uranus don't really like each other's styles but one thing they both want is to create Change. So, it looks like something will change with the Bankers.

A second possibly difficult aspect is that Neptune in this chart is down in the 4th House of Real Estate and Home and is squaring the 2d-8th House cusps of the chart. Neptune is associated with the feeling of being victimized and sacrificed. Sometimes this is very lucrative. I looked up the charts of the World's Richest People and was amazed (and not really surprised) that so many were Pisces Suns.

The 8th House of Investments is empty at Opening Bell with Taurus on the cusp. As a matter of fact this is a Bowl Shape Chart with Moon and Saturn on the Boundaries. That sounds like something to do with Governmental Control. Since the Feds are telling the Bankers that they aren't going to cover their Asses I don't know how this plays out. Bowl Shapes (according to Bob Marks) show consciousness that the other half is missing.

On a positive note, Venus, ruler of the chart and of the the Banking Industry and of the 8th House in this chart is trining the North Node which is in the 4th House. Venus also rules Diplomacy. So, if we're Lucky, the Bankers will do some magic thinking and figure out a whole new angle to be corrupt and the Stock Market won't crash and all will be well. Mars is squaring Jupiter which sports a feisty, winning spirit. Sometimes the square can indicate that the fighting spirit crashes, though. Hopefully, a lot of this news coverage is pre-Full Moon stress and strain and the Banks won't fail tomorrow.

UAL, Y'all

There was a really weird blip in the Stock Market on Monday. One can expect weird, random events with Sun opposing Uranus. A reporter who was researching United Airlines stories on the Internet pulled up an old bankruptcy story from 2002 and thought he had hit pay dirt because no one else knew about it. Turns out the Google search engine had attached the day's current date to the story from 2002. Oopsey. The Reporter reported his story and United Airlines' stock tanked. For about an hour it lost 75 percent of its value. It then went back up, almost, to its opening price. The speed at which this all occurred is unbelievable and of course has brought up all kinds of questions which need to be solved. With the Saturn-Pluto-Uranus t-square coming up, man, they better solve this Internet stuff fast. Talk about Computer Goofology transits. In this case, the Internet goofed. The Reporter goofed. What the Hell was going on with the 3d House? Answer: It was loaded with planets that were squaring the ASC.

I looked at the day's chart for the NYSE on Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 Opening Bell: 9:30am, New York, NY. Libra was rising with Mars-Mercury-Venus still in conjunction. Venus rules this chart and she is conjunct Mercury here. Rulers of the Markets are indicated somehow. Mercury rules reporters and is conjunct Mars to the degree. Mars rules Rash behavior. Mercury-Venus-Mars-ASC are squaring (challenges) Jupiter which rules Journalism and Publishing as well. Jupiter is placed in and rules the 3d House of Journalism. Mercury and Mars squaring Jupiter will indicate exaggerations, misquotes, misinformation, but generally a really, really good story.

Don't know if I could have seen this coming through foresight but, in hindsight, this seems like a very easy to read event astrologically. The Sun opposing Uranus indicates Technology as does Mars conjunct the ASC. The Moon was in Sagittarius and also in the 3d house approaching conjunction with Pluto. That adds emotions to the 3d/9th house element. Pluto rules the Masses. At the height of the frenzy, the Moon was within 1 degree conjunction of Pluto in the 3d House. Jupiter and Sagittarius and Uranus and Aquarius all indicate something to do with Airlines.

Perhaps the Sun-Saturn in Virgo conjunction was the saving grace here. Saturn rules Caution and Virgo quickly grasps mistakes.

There are a couple other things I looked at in this chart. On his excellent blog, Jonah Lehrer discusses the event as a Herd Mentality thing. I'm writing this without my Rex Bills book so the Keywords will be my own -- probably a good reason to skip these paragraphs. I assume that Herds and Herding would be related to Virgo on a literal basis as Virgo rules Farm Animals. This is interesting since I just said that I thought that Sun and Saturn in Virgo were the saving grace for the quick fix to the problem. Oh well, the Stars will indicate a trend, they often don't indicate in which direction the trend will move. Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is conjunct Venus-Mars and the Ascendant as said before.

Pluto would be involved as it rules the Masses. The Moon which rules the Public is conjunct Pluto here. Uranus might be involved as well as it rules large groups of people, maybe not in the negative way though.

The Sun in the opening day chart is in the 11th House and is opposing Uranus. Random, unexpected events with sudden turnarounds. Check out the stock price chart for United Airlines that day. I mean, really, where's the epicenter to that earthquake?

Second thing I noticed by looking at United Airlines' chart for Date of Incorporation. United Airlines (incorporated Dec. 30, 1968, Delaware) chart is lit up by all kinds of aspects. Jupiter has been passing over United's natal Sun. That should be great for an Airline.

Here are some interesting progressions. Progressed Mercury has been moving Retrograde since between the mid-late 1980s sometime (sorry about lack of computer program right now). What a bad situation for an Airline as Mercury rules transportation. United's progressed Sun is also approaching conjunction with natal Venus in Aquarius. This is also the spot where t. Neptune, North Node and Chiron are at this point. The prog. Sun will be in exact conjunction in about 4 years about the same time that Progressed Mercury stations Direct at 1 Aquarius. There should really be big changes for the Airline at that time.

Jonah Lehrer's blog: The Frontal Cortex. http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/09/herd_behavior.php

IndyMac Bank Closure

A Pasadena Mortgage Company called IndyMac closed its door to depositors yesterday. The Feds will reopen it on Monday and customers with more than 100,000 deposited may have a problem getting their leftover money out. I've read that IndyMac was the largest Savings & Loan Company in Los Angeles and was the 7th largest in the United States. This is the 2d or 3d largest bank closure ever. (sorry I didn't keep links for this info).

IndyMac was founded in 1985 as Countrywide Mortgage Investment. A Date I found for this is July 16, 1985, incorporated in Maryland. The Company was reincorporated in Delaware on Mar. 6, 1987. (http://sec.edgar-online.com/1994/03/30/00/0000898430-94-000225/Section2.asp)

IndyMac was a spin off in 1997. I can't find any dates for the spin-off.

IndyMac was closed on Friday, July 11, 2008, Pasadena, California.

Sorry, I don't have any computer programs loaded right now so my planetary information is going to be spotty. What jumped out at first were the Jupiter Cycles. All these years began with Jupiter in Capricorn. Countrywide, however, would have an Aquarius Jupiter if incorporated in July, 1985. The current Neptune-NN-Chiron conjunction would be conjunct this Jupiter.

The July 16, 1985 Baltimore, Maryland date has Sun conjunct Mars by one degree. A 9am chart has a Moon at 7 Cancer which means that the Bank was born during an applying Cancer New Moon. (I don't know exactly what time to use for an incorporation date.) The Chart looks very good for a Mortgage lending Company with the (almost) New Moon in Cancer, sign of Real Estate and Taurus North Node. Very security conscious. The Sun-Mars conjunction in Cancer is volatile.

Neptune in the "birth date" was at 2 Capricorn. Pluto has just come very close to touching that spot. As Noel Tyl describes it that's "Ego Wipe-Out." The description applies even to Banks.

The Progressions stand out. Once again there's a prog. Mercury Rx situation here. Mercury went Rx at some point and has returned to 21 Leo of the Incorporation Date. This stands out because it's involved in a Grand Square in the natal chart where it opposes Jupiter and squares Saturn in Scorpio and the Nodes. The Transiting Nodal Axis is hammering natal Jupiter within 2 degree conjunction and is accompanied by Chiron-Neptune in Aquarius. Neptune dissolves everything it touches, Chiron can't heal its wound. So, of course, at the base we see a Nodal square by transit over a natal Grand Square. And Neptune is there. And Chiron too. And ugh.

Progressed Venus (ruler of Money) is at 8 Cancer. This would be conjunct the 9 am Moon. And the progressed Moon for this chart would be conjunct the Taurus North Node. That would be a double whammy Moon-Venus aspect. Interesting for a natal chart strong in Cancer and Taurus leading aspects.

I don't have a date for 1997 when Countrywide was spun off into IndyMac. What a stupid name for a bank.

The FDIC supposedly has a list of about 80 or 90 banks that are in trouble but they keep telling us not to worry. So far about 5 banks have failed this year. There were actually quite a few back in 2002 as well.

I looked back at the Summer Solstice Chart to see if this is part of the Country's bigger picture. Jupiter rules this chart through the Sagittarius Rising and Jupiter is in the 1st House conjunct the Moon in Capricorn. That's supposed to be lucky isn't it? Well, Jupiter in Capricorn apparently sucks, it doesn't know whether it's expanding or contracting but certainly would like to make a splash in the world. People are supposed to feel happy about receiving their Rebate Check. I just don't know where that money is coming from. It's sort of like having the mafia hand you a wad of bills and tell you everything is good. This chart had the Pluto-ASC opposition to Sun-Venus. I think that's what I noticed first when I looked at this chart. There's a strong power push here to try to help people that just doesn't feel quite right.

The Neptune-NN-Chiron conjunction (Dissolving-Wounding-Direction things are going) is in the 2d House of Banking. Saturn rules the House and Aquarius is intercepted (astrodienst default house). Saturn rules caution, fear, recession. It might also rule "Rebates". Aquarius and Leo intercepted might mean that the big emotional supports (risk taking and hope) that keep the economy running are not find much expression right now. At least those are my thoughts in hind sight.

Mars and Saturn and the South Node are in the 8th House of Loans, Insurance, Investments. Mars is at the apex of a Yod to a Moon-Uranus sextile. That's a pretty hysterical combination and with Mars at the helm could be pretty destructive. Yods are called the Finger of God because they try to combine elements that don't work together into a cohesive whole, something only God can do. In this case the Yod is extra challenging because Mars is placed on the Nodal Axis opposing Neptune-Chiron.

On a really weird note, John McCain's financial advisor, Phil Gramm, told everyone to stop whining. He did this just as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac share prices were dropping astronomical amounts. The Mars-Saturn conjunction was on his Virgo North Node to the Degree so he decided to shoot straight from the hip. He's an old guy and he knows that the real estate market blimped up to unbelievable levels really really fast. House prices increased probably 200 percent in 5 years. Maybe more. It's also very close to Gramm's own Birthday so I guess it's ok for the Birthday Boy to act like a turd. Maybe he was drunk.

Phil Gramm
b. July 8, 1942 Fort Benning, Georgia

Ray Merriman at UAC 2008

I wasn't planning on writing anymore about UAC which is winding up right about now but have been reading some really frightening blogs about some of the financial astrology lectures. Apparently two speakers said that U.S. Currency will be completely worthless by 2012. It certainly seems to be moving in that direction with lowered exchange rate and rapid inflation and Bush and Dick in office.

I went to Ray Merriman's lecture "State of the World According to Astrological Cycles" which explained the bad stuff coming up but also provided some hope and possibilities through some good cycles we are currently in which can manifest in manufacture of new green earth technologies. He said that although we are on the downsides of some key cycles we are also on the upside of moving into a Renaissance in the bigger picture of things. Also, the price of Gas is going to start dropping either around now or in the Fall.

One of the basic concepts of financial astrology is the study of cycles so Financial Astrology is really interesting. A Cycle begins at its conjunction and peaks at its opposition. When we're in separating phases after the opposition, whatever peaked at the opposition begins to fall apart or pull back. Things get really grumpy by the time of the conjunction.

Saturn's cycle is super strong influence right now because it's begun separating aspects to all 3 of the outer planets. Saturn represents restriction and Governmental law. My notes are somewhere else so I can't quote what Merriman said. Saturn and Pluto hit their peaks 2001-2 and now are in the separating phase. And Saturn-Neptune hit their peaks last year with their opposition and now are separating. And now Saturn & Uranus will hit their peaks next November. So all 3 cycles will be in waning format. This shows a strong long term pattern where people need to concentrate on conserving and not losing what they already have.

Merriman pointed out that the other planets are still in some strong applying phases which shows long term gain aspects going on at the same time. And way out there Neptune and Pluto are still in their happy sextile aspect as part of a long term applying segment of their 500 year cycle.

Merriman pointed out a really interesting interpretation of Uranus transits in the financial markets. It creates a "boom" in whatever sign it's in which just pops near the end of the transit. Uranus in Pisces, of course, is doing this with oil prices. Uranus in Aries could bring a boom in alternative and new forms of energy . I just read in the newspaper that California Real Estate prices just rose a lot during the last month. I've also read about and personally observed how the Silicon Valley is trying to invent new energy efficient ways to live and get around. There are more and more funny little vehicles driving around town every day. So maybe they will keep the economy afloat.

Merriman went over the fact that Pluto in Cardinal Signs seems to bring a set-back in the Stock Markets. (My personal Pollyanna wish is that maybe this won't be so bad because the Pluto in Virgo People will be handling it and Virgo and Capricorn trine each other. I remember how much my Pluto in Cancer parents struggled when Pluto hit Libra. That was the square and boy it was nasty.) Merriman also discussed the Cardinal t-square that's coming up on the Aries Points. That, of course, can't be good. Last time it happened was 1930-31. If nothing else, people will be switching from Meditation classes to Self-Defense Classes by the droves.

Merriman says that many countries will be very interested in heavy Military Build-Up. Meanwhile the U.S. has progressed Mars in Libra Rx and isn't really in the mood for fighting. Maybe we'll bring forth a great Diplomatic leader or leaders. It sounds like many other parts of the World won't be very accepting of our Flower Power though.

I strongly recommend purchasing the CD of Merriman's lecture from UAC. It's only about $15.00. Hopefully, I haven't misrepresented what he said but he did provide constructive insights. He explains everything really well and at a nice pace.

Housing Hell, Credit Crisis and the U.S. Chart

I thought I'd take a look at the Credit Crisis problem compared with the U.S. Chart. This is elementary astrology written while watching the Stock Market fall so take it for what it's worth.

This particular Credit Crisis is caused by Banks (H2) who lent money (H8) to people who couldn't afford to buy Homes (H4). The Real Estate Market has become totally inflated so BLAM!!! POPPPO!! I just wanted to take a quick look at this. Here's the Idiot's Eye View.

I use Sagg Rising. Princess Di looked so much like the Statue of Liberty, after all, and she had the same Sun, Rising and Moon sign as this chart.

The U.S. of A., God Bless Her For All Her Flaws
b. July 4, 1776 (or somewhere there roundabouts) 5:10 pm Philadelphia, PA

Sun 14 Cancer; ASC 13 Sagittarius Rising; Moon 28 Aquarius; NN 7 Leo; 2 Libra MC

First I go straight to the 8th House. House 8 rules Sex, Death, Taxes, Credit and Lending. Moon, ruler of Housing, rules this House. Inside the House is the planets Mercury in Cancer and the North Node in Leo. Mercury is Retrograde, great set-up for writing Funky Contracts. So, this is sort of a natural born booby trap for America. Sometimes we're not clear headed when it comes to realizing that we can't afford a house with no down payment. The Progressed Moon in this Chart is conjunct n.Saturn which is placed in the 10th house. Up there at the top of the chart it has hit it Zenith and conjunct Saturn it is going to learn a lesson through constriction at the same time. Moon and Saturn together = Depression. Saturn = Builders. In the House that it rules, we are a Nation of Builders. We just sometimes forget to check for the foundation at times. Saturn rules the 2d House in this chart which is rules Banking and the Money we actually have. More on that later since it doesn't look like we have a whole lot of money left.

The North Node at 7 Leo is also placed in this chart's H8 so Credit, Insurance, Gambling, Big Stupid Schemes are the Country's True Goals. This of course places the South Node representing the Country's Ability to Screw Up Royally in the house of Banks, Money and Values. --We were born to invest as if our life depended on it. --Can't spend it after you're dead, after all. 8th House arguments, so American. --Death Defying. Haha, I can't stop. --Bankruptcy is the American Dream. And of course: --"A Sucker is born every (nanosecond)."

Furthering the Poo, Pluto is placed in the 2d House opposite Mercury Rx which means .... Death to the Banks?!!! Well, we're getting that wish, they're all posting huge zillion dollar losses. And why? I don't know why, they're all Harvard MBA's after all. Some kind of bread and circus Ponzi scheme.

Backtracking, the Moon is the ruler of the 8th House and it is placed in the 3d house of Contracts. The Progressed Sun just passed over it so everyone was writing away, composing all kinds of contracts, upgrading their neighborhoods, buying into 5 neighborhoods at once and the Butt-Brained Banks were giving them the money to do it.

The Chart's Progressed Mercury has gone Retrograde (around 1994-5) and is also just past conjunction with the natal Moon at 25 Aquarius. It is now back in the 2d house of this chart. Progressed Mercury has been running Retro by Progression since 1994 almost since the last Recession. I've heard that people with Natal Retrograde Mercury don't suffer from transiting Rx Mercury the way the rest of the World does so maybe this accounts for the incredible rise in Real Estate and Stocks. This natal Moon is going to remain busy. It will receive conjunctions from t.Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter within the next couple of years. Optimism, Wounding and Victimization rules the 8th House matters, but great for writing poetry so all is not lost. 3d House rules local transportation, and Neptune rules Gas. The good story from this would be that people would learn to get around on less Gas. Mostly Neptune-Jupiter and Moon together spell "corruption" to me. People still want to be Lucky. Maybe best to keep financials off the Internet as well.

The natal Moon is trining Venus and Mars in the 7th House. This doesn't concern Markets a whole lot except that these two planets rule the 4th and 10th house axis so that should in some way be a good sign, assuming Trines mean good things... and everyone knows they don't necessarily. Seems there are lots of Investors from overseas buying properties now that the Dollar isn't worth anything and the Boomers are all inheriting (H8) from their parents which might soften the blow overall.

Saturn rules the 2d House of Banking in this chart. Natally it is placed in the 10th house at 15 Libra and is receiving lots of attention as Solar Arc Moon is just past conjunction at 18 Libra and Progressed Mars (Ruler of H4, Land, Real Estate) is Retrograde at 19 Libra. Some kind of Government Intervention. At least the elections are distracting us. Moon and Saturn together do spell Depression. The Country is due for a Saturn Return in 2-3 years. Since our Founding Fathers were such Stud Muffins I have no doubt that this will be a good thing. I'm checking Ben Bernanke's face for Botox injections, that's for sure, I don't know how he's gonna make it through this but he was raising those Interest Rates pretty dang fast to begin with.

The Federal Reserve and Zero Point Energy

This isn't going to be much of an essay. It's going to be more like a panic attack. In my last blog I wrote that Einstein and some other guy came published the theory of Zero Point Energy which is being related as Scientific Proof that the Collective Unconscious exists among other things. This is super human cool. They wrote this in 1913 when Pluto was moving into Cancer.

Now, while looking for information about cycles related to something completely different I found Bill Meridian's essay about the Federal Reserve Bank (http://www.billmeridian.com/articles-files/fed-new.htm). The Federal Reserve Bank was set up in 1913. It's sort of like a Zero Point Energy field too. Meridian gives the chart for the Federal Reserve as Dec. 23, 1913 6:02 pm Washington, DC.

What your eye just goes straight to at this point is the opposition between the Sun and Pluto in this chart. They are at 1 Cancer and 1 Capricorn and squaring the Bank's Aries MC. What this means, in terms of where Pluto is today, is that when Pluto passes into Capricorn it will hit the Federal Reserve's Sun. This will also be a Pluto opposition and will square the MC/IC axis. This transit will be within a degree exactness and then it will last for a couple of years. Then, Saturn and Uranus will be slowly moving into opposition over this axis for the next couple of years.

That can't be good, can it? I mean, if you will remember back to my interpretation of Bob Newhart's chart, he had a similar lineup of planets on his angles when his career suddenly skyrocketed him to great fame and success. It just depends I guess if there are any trines. I don't think there are any big trines coming up. The opposition is in the 6th and 12th houses and not in the angular houses which might lessen the blow for now. With Pluto in the 6th house you're still being practical and you're not surrounded by enemies and incompetents.

Oh God. I'm feeling too psychotic to look it up right now. That's the problem with these God Damned transits, you never really know for certain. I mean, it certainly looks like our financial markets are tanking, and there was a similar t-square of Saturn-Uranus and Pluto during the Depression which was ushered in by a conjunction of Jupiter-Pluto in 1930, so.....

I guess Bill Meridian's now a big gun and you have to pay tons of dollars to read what he writes. He's got an interesting article about how the Country's deficit was never in surplus, just the funds were wiggled around via the Social Security Trust Fund.