Today's Mercury and Me and Ben Bernanke and His Competition

Too many NPR Driveway Moments these days as I try to avoid confronting absolutely everything in my life. Mercury is right on my North Node in Libra and Pluto is squaring it while sitting on my 7th House Saturn.

First Mercury was squaring Mars and opposing Pluto. Next week Mercury goes Retro. Right now Mercury's in a Thor's Hammer configuration with Mars and Jupiter. Don't know really what Thor's Hammer means. The interpretations for Thors Hammers are all pretty vague just like interpretations for all the other vague planet formations (except for Yods which Karen Hamaker Zondag cleared up nicely in her book). Mercury-Mars-Jupiter working together in a difficult way could certainly indicate an overload of stress, competition, shouting matches. They are linking up the signs of Cancer, Libra and Aquarius. Mars is probably most prominent because he's in his Fall, throwing tantrums and neither Mercury nor Jupiter is going to know what to do with all this excess emotional baggage. Mercury and Jupiter aren't exactly the most caring planets in the world so they will just be making Mars' situation all that much worse.

Thor's Hammer is the aspect that's a bigger, meaner triangle thingee than a Yod. A Yod at least has a sextile. One of the aspects a Thor's Hammer contains is a square between two planets. These planets are both linked to a third planet by sesquisquares or 3 half squares or 3 tri-octiles (135 degree aspect, whatever it's called). Whatever you want to call them, they belong to the same family as the square, just more subtle. The interpretation that I did read which I liked (can't remember the source, crap) said that this can present a turning point of some kind caused by an inability to make a decision or choice. Either the planets in the square are relying on the 3d planet for a resolve, or things come to a head to a point where one is pushed down the fork in the road in whatever direction. Remember a long time ago, I said that both Hillary Clinton and what's his name, the guy with the shiny hair, John Edwards, have the natal Thor's Hammers. Either way, count on things not really going your way. And right now that certainly would apply to me as well as I eagerly panick over which fork in the road I will have to take.

So, Thor is hammering away in the sky. Thank God these minor aspects have small orbs so the transits don't last long. Jupiter is bouncing around over my Midheaven and I'm pretty sure I've burned more bridges than the state has rivers at this point. I don't have positive Jupiter transits pretty much without exception. This one is just making me want to eat a lot and get fat and I can't sleep and there's brown goo coming out of the bathroom faucets that smells sometimes like cookies and sometimes like barbeque and sometimes like Sweet and Sour Pork. I am hungry all the time which means blood sugar issues.

So, what was this going to be about? Oh yeah. NPR Driveway moment. The damn idiots on NPR were babbling about the financial markets again and were sort of getting catty about my Magic Federal Reserve Chairman Boyfriend Ben Bernanke's reappointment to the Chair of said Reserve. They said that Obama's pick, Lawrence Sumners, was more qualified than My Boyfriend for the Post but he (Lawrence) has a bad personality and upsets people so Ben was better for the job (even though he's a Republican and owns Philip Morris).

Ben has a soothing personality. Boy, does he ever. (Remember the days of weirdo Alan? Market goes up. Market goes down. Market goes up. Market goes down. I hated Disneyland when I was a kid and I don't like Disneyland now.)

So, they (NPR) said that Lawrence is a better pick because he saw it coming. Ben didn't. How could Ben not have seen it coming? He's been studying the Great Depression all of his adult life.

Anyway, I wanted to compare Larry's chart with Ben's chart to see what's the difference between a good personality and a bad personality. I figured Lar was going to get all Saturn-Pluto on us.

Lawrence Sumners
b. Nov. 30, 1954 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (not sure about the place)

Sun 8 Sagittarius; Moon Capricorn or Aquairus; NN 8 Capricorn

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

So, Sagittarrians born at opposite ends of the year of each other. Same North Node in Capricorn, same Saturn in Scorpio. Seriously serious stuff. (Remember Alan? He was fun. He was all into Ayn Rand, those were the days when people bought that shit.).

So what we have here is Cute Sadge v. BlabberHead Sadge. Actually, Sumners is butt-ugly but he likely has Moon in Capricorn and I've been told by some nasty astrologer that we don't age well. (Think Cindy Sheehan).

See, the problem with Sumners' personality (that I know about) is that he's the guy who spoke to a crowd at Harvard in 1995 and announced to the entire crowd that women aren't successful, truly guys, women are dumb, bottom line. Moon in Capricorns can be awful women haters, I know because I am. An engineering scholar and college dean and woman had to stand up in front of the crowd and chew him out. She was the Great and Wonderful Denise Denton of Oz (Virgo Sun). Probably all the other women in the room were cowering in the corner saying nothing because, after all, only ass-kissers can break the glass ceiling.

At any rate, the woman who stood up to the BlabberHead Sadge Sumners was Denise Denton. I wrote about her tragic death. She committed Suicide in 2006. She is the inspiration for my research on astrology of Children of Divorce so, needless to say, I like her very much and am not fond at all of BlabberHead Sadge Sumners. Plus, I have a major Federal Reserve Bank crush on Ben Bernanke. Who doesn't? How the hell else are we going to get through the next 10 years if we don't have a crush on the guy?

So what if Sumners saw the Crash coming? He sucks. Anyway, the entire astrological community saw it coming. The Bush administration saw it coming, that's why they picked Ben the Scholar Expert guy (well, it helped that he's a Republican). That's why they post-poned notifying NPR and other media about the crash until a year after it was already in the works.

So, let's look at Ben's Moon. It's in Pisces. It might be the handle of a Bucket chart, don't know because don't have a birth time. But Moon in Pisces, yeah, he may not have seen it coming, but then again, he probably doesn't see it lasting for as long as it probably will last. That means he's an optimist. Basically, he's a Happy Go Lucky Sadge with Sun opposing Jupiter and he makes other people feel happy go lucky as well. And Mercury and Venus are in conjunction in Sagittarius so he's all, man, he's bad with money, holes in his pockets. Have you seen how much the country is in the hole? Anyway, we couldn't care less. We've got Ben and Ben has pizazz. Mars conjunct Neptune in Libra that trines Jupiter in Gemini. Just don't have a heart attack Ben or we'll be stuck with Larry and Larry, well, Larry hates women. (I don't like women either, most of them at any rate).

Interesting to see the Innie/Outie combinations between the two. Larry the Sadge has Mercury & Venus conjunct Saturn in Scorpio. And Ben the Sadge has Mars conjunct Saturn from Libra to Scorpio. Both have that amazing Mercury-Venus conjunction in their charts that indicates is often associated with big Stock Market losses.

So, this post has pretty much gone nowhere. How many people have I insulted? I'll never make good of my Libra North Node at this rate.

Power of Prayer & Medicine

I just read Val Thomas' story. She's a 59 year old woman whose Heart suddenly stopped early Saturday Morning. The paramedics revived her as they took her to the Hospital and she coded two more times during the day. Her prognosis was dire and rigor mortis even began to set in but, just after her family had said their farewells and the life support was being removed, she awakened! The Doctors can't explain it.

The story as I understand it is that her body temperature was lowered at the Hospital (Induced Hypothermia). 10 minutes after the respirator was removed and after an electrical wiring system was removed her arm moved, she coughed and her eyes started to flutter. Then she spoke, apparently reassuring the apologetic nurse that it was ok that she wasn't dead.

This has got to be an example of Neptune (Hospitals, Spiritual Beliefs) and Chiron (Healer) conjunct the North Node in Aquarius (Hopes, Wishes). They were also opposing Saturn in Virgo (Health, Medical) which must also be significant here as Mrs. Thomas is somewhere near her 2d Saturn Return. Given the spiritual nature of Saturn and Neptune working together I have no doubt that her family's prayers played a huge role in her surprise recovery.

I looked at the event charts, just because I'm obsessive.

May 17, 2008 1:30 am Charleston, West Virginia
Sun 27 Taurus; Moon 26 Libra; ASC 9 Aquarius; MC 29 Scorpio; NN 24 Aquarius

7:00 pm (17.5 hours later)
ASC 10 Scorpio Rising c. Moon 5 Scorpio; 17 Leo MC;

The Saturn-Chiron-Neptune-Nodes axis is angular both at 1:30 am (over ASC-DESC lines.) 9 Aquarius is Rising with ruler Uranus (Surprise, Shock) in H1 . On this day the Sun-Venus conjunction was squaring the axis-opposition from Taurus. It's also angular from the 3d house very close to the IC (end of life).

Around 7:00 pm when Mrs. Thomas awoke the big Axis was just crossing the other angles, the IC-MC axis. Here 17 Aquarius is on the IC with ruler Uranus in H5).

They do this every day right now so something else must have been going on and here the Moon may have been a strong factor along with Mercury and Uranus.

The Moon was in Libra when Mrs. Thomas was taken into the Hospital and passed over the Libra-Scorpio cusp. That passage is foreboding as Scorpio rules Death. But it also rules Tenacity and Rebirth. This Moon was significant as it was approaching the 2nd Scorpio Full Moon in a Month. It also was trining the Nodal Axis and inconjunct the Sun from the 8th House.

The Moon/Scorpio theme goes on. Just before 7:00 pm the Moon was passing over the Scorpio Ascendant. At 7:01 it became a Thor's Hammer to a Mercury-Uranus square spanning from the 5th to the 8th House. I suppose this could be some sort of indicator for receiving an electrical charge ruled by Mercury and Uranus. I don't have a clear idea of what a Thor's Hammer means interpretation wise, but figure it must provide extra strength. These planets could certainly cause some extra jolts of electricity to one's system, especially in relation to the houses they are in: ASC (physical body), 8th house (phoenix symbol) and 5th House (heart).

And, of course, as I said before, the 4th-10th houses were loaded. And Aquarius was ruling the IC which rules the end of life. And Aquarius always brings Surprises and Shocks and Miracles.

Pablo Casals

I admire this guy so much I can't even begin to try to think of fluffing up some stupid introductory remark. You want to see a great Master in action watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP5OUxyEOhk. Casals is teaching a student. The student plays, completely clueless how the music should sound and then Casals shows her how it's done...

Pablo Casals
b. Dec. 29, 1876 8pm Vendrell, Spain

Sun 9 Capricorn; ASC 20 Leo; Moon 24 Gemini; MC12 Taurus; NN 15 Pisces Rx

Casals was one of the greatest Musicians who ever lived. This is reflected by his Taurus Midheaven and Pisces North Node, and also his 5th House Sun trine Neptune.

Casals was born in Spain to musician parents. His Father had taught him to play piano, violin and flute by the time he was 4 years old. At Age 11 Casals decided he would play Cello. This would have happened right before Casals' first Jupiter Return in Sagittarius right on his 5th house cusp (music, performance). Jupiter is opposite Casals Moon which is way out-of-bounds at Declination 28 14' 36" N and a singleton in Air. At this time there was right around the time of the big conjunction of Neptune to Pluto in Taurus in the sky. This would have happened in Casals' 10th house and opposed his Mars in Scorpio.

Casals gave his first performance at Age 14 (Saturn opposition in Pisces including the Nodal axis) on Feb. 23, 1891. It's interesting that his progressed Sun was conjunct n.Mercury to the degree in the 5th house of performance. But, N.Mercury was apex of a Yod figure, inconjunct on either side to a sextile of Moon in Gemini & Uranus in Leo. I've heard stories about Casals' terrible stage fright, once his bow slipped out of his hand and into the audience because he was shaking so badly. I wonder if Yods can have something to do with this. There may have been some sort of fear of success related to not wanting to eclipse his Father in career matters. The Father is shown through Capricorn emphasis, Family tradition problems shown through the Yod and the Moon, and nervousness shown through Mercury, Leo, Gemini, and Moon. Certainly with the Capricorn there would have been fear of failure. Once he hurt his hand and had to stop playing for 6 months. He said it was one of the happiest times of his life. Fortunately he probably couldn't do anything else and had to go back to it. He was also an incredible Conductor who gathered together the greatest players of the time every year at his home for the Internationally famous Marlboro Festival.

Casals' major relationships show the Capricorn streak true to form. He was cautious and didn't marry his first partner who was his student. Then he married an American Socialite. Then at Age 80, at a very advanced age, he married another student. This marriage actually lasted until he died at age 96 and was his longest!!

Casals' greatest achievement is his contribution to music, but he is also known for his strong political stance against Franco's regime after the Spanish Civil War struck. Casals refused to perform in Spain until Democracy was reinstated in the country. He never got his wish and lived in exile for the rest of his life. He died in his Mother's birth country of Puerto Rico but he was buried in Spain. This tension is shown very clearly by a t-square aspect in his chart which is due for a repeat transit in a couple of years. Uranus (rebellion) was conjunct Casals' Leo Ascendant and it was apex of a t-square to Pluto (power, resistance) in the 10th House (Government) opposite Mars (discord) in the 4th(homeland). His t-square was in Fixed Signs whereas the transit coming up will be in the Cardinal signs which gives a much different flavor but Casals' planets are placed prominently in angular in his chart. The Uranus-Pluto square was furthered agitated by 135 degree aspects to his Sun in a Thor's Hammer aspect. This is again the Thor's Hammer which I looked at in Hillary Clinton's and John Edward's chart. It shows a strong need to fight for political rights apparently. Saturn in this chart is not in aspect to the t-square but is in the 7th house, also on an angle.

Democrats in the Election, Mars, Astrolocality

Twilightstarsong wrote an interesting blog comparing Presidential candidate John Edward's chart with that of the French artist Henri Rousseau. I don't understand Politics but if you bring in an Artist my interests spark up. So, anyway, I started thinking about the Democrats, maybe a little late in the game. Astrotabletalk has also written an incredible analysis connecting early to mid-Cardinal signs with wins of Presidents in the past (during times of major outer planetary aspects): http://astrotabletalk.blogspot.com/2007/01/next-american-president.html.

I figure this seemingly endless Mars transit through the end of Gemini-beginning of Cancer is a good place to start when looking at the Candidates's charts. I'm only looking at the leading Democrats here for now in order to see which parts of their charts Mars is revving up. Then I remembered that Howard Dean destroyed his Presidential Race when he had a Martian like outburst while on his Mars Line. It literally destroyed his campaign. Mars has impulse control problems. So I think we need to respect Mars. Mars rules Aries and is the starter planet. Let's see what kind of a leap out the gate the Candidates are dealing with astrowise.

The big deciding influence for the Race is said to be on Super Tuesday on February 5. Mars will be out-of-retrograde at 25 Gemini. Mercury will have gone back into Rx though and will be at 20 Aquarius conjunct Neptune and Chiron. There will be no squares and the Moon will be void-of-course most of the day. The Mars-Pluto opposition will be going most of February. Maybe nobody will show up at the Polls and with the Mars-Pluto opposition anyone who does show up will be shot. Two days after that on Feb. 7 there will be a Solar Eclipse (3:55am UT) and a total Lunar Eclipse on Feb. 21 (3:26am UT) so emotions may begin to heat up.

John Edwards has Mars at 28 Gemini so he is going through a Mars Return. Spunky Monkey. This will happen in his 12th house which adds to his mystique. His Mercury is at 8 Cancer so the Mars RX is also hitting his verbal communications and relationship with the media. His astrolocality is a lot like Clinton's. Uranus on the East Coast, Mars running through the middle of the country, Jupiter on the West Coast. Arizona and up northwards might be difficult for him due to Pluto influence.

Barack Obama has Venus at 2 Cancer so Mars has been adding to his Sex Appeal and also enhancing his Charm, Social Skills and perhaps also Values regarding nurturing. His natal Venus is trining Neptune so his allure is definitely assured. No birth time so no astrolocality. I think the whole country is his Venus line.

Mars is currently passing over Hillary Clinton's ASC at 30 Gemini (from astrotheme) and her Uranus at 26 Gemini. She has to either exploit the fact that she's probably putting out more power right now than Hoover Dam or somehow find a way to way to funnel it through her inner Neptune. Mars is sextiling her natal Mars-Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 3d house which definitely shows a highly competent person who must keep her words from appearing too coarse. She has to watch out that she doesn't freeze up in front of the media. There's an ancient Indian Medicine Wheel in Wyoming that she should maybe visit on her travels. This would hook her into the earth magic that exists in that area for her. (astrolocality: Her Mars-Saturn-Pluto lines all fall over Texas and run up into the Rockies). Start playing John Denver music, Hillary. She's got a lot of different major lines running through the U.S. so must put on a lot more hats than most in order to appeal to everyone.

Bill Richardson also has Uranus at 26 Gemini. His Moon is directly opposite at 26 Sagittarius. I imagine that with Mars hitting this opposition he's feeling pretty frustrated right now. Interesting that like Clinton he has Mars-Pluto-Saturn lines running through the Rockies. They even pass through Albuqurque, Richardson's main town. But, he has a Neptune line running right through Washington. I would imagine that's probably not the best influence for the Presidency because of its associations with victimization and confusion.

An interesting aspect I found in both Clinton's and Edward's charts are their Thor's Hammer configurations, both with Moon at the apex. A Thor's Hammer is composed of 3 planets. 2 of the planets are squaring each other and in a 135 degree aspect to the third apex planet. It's considered a challenging aspect like the t-square. Otherwise, I've never been able to find a real good interpretation for it. With these two, I'd say it somehow indicates a strong drive to help the less fortunate (apex Moon in nurturing mode). Perhaps the emotionality of the situation lessens their appeal as Candidates as the Moon reaches out in difficult Octile aspects to squares in their charts. Both Candidates are very concerned with Children, the Poor, and Healthcare. All Moon related concerns. They have to relax their emotional concerns and give off the appearance of ease in dealing with these issues.

Edwards' Gemini Moon is octile/sesqui-quadrate (135) to a square between Chiron (wounding, teacher) and a conjunction of Saturn-Neptune (compassionate authority figure) so one can see a strong personal struggle to help the less fortunate.

Clinton's Moon in Pisces is Octile/Sesqui-quadrate an unbelievable square of Mars-Saturn-Pluto (H3, Leo) to Venus-Mercury in Scorpio (H5). This shows great passion in communications and thinking and organizational ability plus a sense of the dramatic. I think Hillary's problem might be her weak Neptune. She doesn't hold back on what she thinks and feels. As it is placed in her 5th house and not strongly placed in her chart she might not make people feel like they can improve their lives through her. Neptune sells. She has a Neptune line running through Brazil. Hmm, maybe she should lay off the John Denver music and play Brazilian Music at her rallies. You can see why I'm not into Politics.