Sunday's Gemini Solar Eclipse panned out nicely with this story.  Gemini rules little kids, neighbors, communications, cars, trucks and trikes.  A 3-year old decided to hop on his tricycle and ride through a busy intersection in a North Eastern City in China on Monday afternoon.  (May 23, 2012).  The video shows him making it all the way through before a police officer rescued him. 

This Eclipse was in conjunction with Jupiter (Luck) and Mercury (Trikes and busy intersections). This doubles the Mercury and Jupiter energy.

A 3-year old has just completed cycles of all his inner planets (Moon, Mercury, Sun, Venus, Mars) and is going through the first square of Transiting Jupiter to his natal Jupiter.  This is a time of rapid increase of vocabulary and breaking through boundaries, adventure seeking, and testing one's lucky stars. I wonder how Jupiter is placed in this kid's natal chart.  He could star in his own Pink Panther movies.

Babies: Fairness and Sharing

Yahoo has published a cool article called "Kids May Develop a Sense of Fairness Earlier Than Thought."

The reason why I'm fascinated by this study is because it hooks up so well in my research matching stages of Child Development and the First Planetary Cycles in a child's life.

The researchers found that 15-month old babies can tell the difference between equal and unequal portions of food. Anything involving understanding equality and portions relates directly to Venus.

This sort of matches up with the first Venus cycle which will happen in most children within 2 months before or after the first Solar Return or Birthday (10 months to 14 months).

I equate the time between the first Venus Return and the first Mars Return, which usually occurs just before the second Birthday, as the time when a child develops the qualities of his natal Venus because he has just completed a complete cycle of that planet in his chart. (He has also just completed a complete cycle of Mercury and Sun so it gets more complicated).

Venus is related to connecting with material objects through its rulership of the sign Taurus and connecting with other people through its rulership of the sign Libra. Libra is related to harmony, portion, balance, sense of "the other" as in all one on one relationships. Taurus is related to connecting with objects in early childhood. We develop our cognitive abilities (Mercury, Gemini, Virgo) by remembering familiar objects in our environment.

The Sun's influence could also be involved here as the Sun rules our generosity.

The study developed theories about how early our sense of fairness and altruism develop. But it also studied how early babies develop the ability or desire to share what they have. I always figured this type of thing is shown ultimately in the chart by Neptune which is considered the higher octave of Venus.

I've seen in my research that the traditional rulership of Jupiter which includes both the influences of Sagittarius and Pisces as showing up pretty clearly. The first Jupiter transit cycles (square, trine, opposition) sort of double as ruled by Neptune as well. Things related to Sagittarius, such as very quick learning of vocabulary, sense of ethics, rules, and development of friendships outside the inner boundaries of family develop at this point. But, also very Neptunian hings like wanting to be a fairy princess, imagination, having imaginary friends, understanding the concept of secrecy, often show up around the time of the first Jupiter Square (Age3) and Jupiter trine(Age 4).

The study also observed whether or not babies share at this age. I suppose that's connected with Venus and the Sun and possibly Mercury. Supposedly 1/3 of the babies shared their favorite items willingly. 1/3 of the babies shared their least favorite items. And 1/3 wouldn't share at all. I suppose we'd need to know where Pluto was placed in the babies' charts. If it was in Capricorn I'd expect to see less desire to share. Both Pluto and Capricorn represent the parts of ourselves which do not like to share.

Show and Tell and the Sagittarius nn

Story that illustrates the transit of the Sagittarius/gemini nodal axis. A kindergartner brought his mom's drug paraphernalia to class to share with the other kids. His 32 year old mother was then arrested and later released on bail.

http://news.yahoo.com/kindergartener-brings-crack-pipe-meth-show-tell-202314001.html.

Gemini and Sagittarius are all about communication and schooling. This year is just made for interesting show and tells. The kids are going to be learning all kinds of things. So are the teachers. And, uh, hopefully the parents. A kindergartner is usually having his first nodal square which happens right before the 5th birthday. This little boy was probably born with a Virgo nn. What better sign to help mama figure out that she would benefit from rehab than a little sharing session from her adoring son?

Too bad it doesn't really work that way. The nodal axis transits in backward motion so it will soon move into Taurus and Scorpio, signs which are known for holding on to situations for good or bad. Mom will probably go to rehab this year and meet someone who introduces her to an even worse recreation.

CChildren go through a major stage of development every 5th year of childhood which seems to equal the first challenging aspects of their nodal axis cycle. The Gesselle institute wrote that children actually seem to plateau at a level of security in their personality development. They literally call the ages of 5 and 10 "nodal points" in stages of development.

Jonathan saffron foer's childhood

Hi. I'm ting on an iPad. I with the spell check. So. Boohoo. This post will be even more unreadable than the others.

Jonathan saffron fore is a wunderkind novelist. I've never read anything he's written but always wanted to. Pluto in Sagittarius made my reading list so long I'll never catch up.

Heard foer's younger brother interviewed on NPR in the car, driving. I was driving. NPR was in the radio. I can't go back and edit. Takes forever for iPad to catch on which word I'm pointing at,bad circulation and cold fingers.

Turns out the are 3 boys in the fore familyand they're all geniuses. Wikipedia says something about fore which shows really interesting planetary cycle development in childhood so that's what I'm trying to explain here. Too bad my mother didn't procreate with the fore oys'father or grandfather, I could write better.

Jonathan safran fore
Spellcheck keeps misspelling his name, not me necessarily but that's good because he can't find this when he googles himself. I'm safely hidden in the silicon valley cloud except for the gang staplers who read all ,y crap because they're freaks.

Born feb. 21, 1977
Sun 3pisces, moon Aries, nn 26 libra

Isn't that weird how spell check knows to capitalize Aries but not libra?

Fore had a freak accident in the chemistry lab when he was 8. He said he was messed up for 3 years after that. This is described perfectly by his astrology chart and the child development phases as described by the planetary return cycles of childhood. 8year olds are mostly under the influence of Saturn because this is roughly the time of the first square that Saturn makes to it's natal spot. Satrun rules father, discipline, etc. It also hacve trouble dealing with failure. It also represents empirical science. Fore's natal Saturn is at 12 Leo. It's a very strongly placed planet in his chart. You can sort of sense that fore gets performance anxiety but is also very driven to succeed. Since he has natal sun in Pisces inspected to other planets y,ou can sort of also sense that a hit from Saturn would constantly pull him towards Leo style self expression. Saturn I. This chart is involved in a lot of major aspects, t-square with Uranus and mars. Grand trine with neptune-Venus-maybe moon which also turns into a house configuration with more planets, merc and mars, and with apex Neptune in Sagittarius. So his first Saturn square set off all those lights.

Physically Saturn rules the bonesand skin. Boundaries. The wiki articles says, and this won't be a dire t quote: for 3years "he wanted nothing except to be outside his own skin.". How's that for describing a difficult reaction to a satrun grant trine, especially with Neptune and Venus and maybe moon?

He spent the next 3years in some sort of turmoil and was then released. Interesting that 3years later he would have been going through his first Jupiter return. This is the first outer planet retrun and symbolizes end of childhood. Like his sun, fore's Jupiter is inspected so it doesn't flow with the rest of the planets. It's at 24 Taurus. Jupiter rules higher learning, opinions. It's connected with publishing and writing. Taurus is connected with writing as it rules the development of the alphabet, historically.

Hooked on Phonics

A biologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand has developed a theory that language began in Southern Africa about 9000 years ago. So, the cradle of civilization might be in the Middle East, but the cradle of language is in South Africa.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/science/15language.html

(Quentin D. Atkinson is name of biologist)

Interesting time to study the Astrological Ages that have unfolded through history because the timing here hooks up nicely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_age#The_Age_of_Taurus_.28The_Taurean_Age.29

The signs move backwards rather than forwards in this case. Right now we're in the Age of Pisces and everyone's been whining the whole time about how cool it will be once we make it to Aquarius. It does explain modern society's attempts at trying to heal human suffering. And the Global Warming die off of earth where we all end up floating around in nothing but a big ocean.

At any rate, 9000 years ago was maybe just around the beginning of the Age of Gemini. That's words and communication. After that came the Age of Taurus. That's sounds and alphabets. So, the astrology doesn't back the linguists' theories really.

The linguists' findings do fit with the development of language in babies. Language seems to first come out of a Taurus phase, where a baby develops attachment to objects and material parts of his environment, especially the parts which give comfort. After repeated exposure to objects and environment baby of course develops a memory for the good stuff. Then baby develops separation anxiety when the thing isn't around, then learns to ask for it, or at least screams for it. Gemini. Eventually it all turns into witty repartee like a 1930s B&W movie.

Toilet training doesn't come until the Mars Return. I'm so glad I don't remember that one. I have a feeling that fear of making a mess was a big part of my upbringing.

Little Girls and Princesses

There seems to be a lot of concern from Mothers these days over not wanting their daughters to pretend that they are Princess. I remember hearing a Fresh Air interview with comedian Sarah Silverman saying that she loves to talk to little girls about being Princesses and about telling secrets. Knowing Silverman's style of humor this is probably done just to irk the Mothers who are freaking out whenever adults drag their girls into these non- PC conversations.

I remember how upset my own Mother used to get over my obsessions with wanting to be a Princess and with my love of the color pink. My Father on the other hand loved it. I was his little girl.

And I had a boyfriend for a while who had a 4-year old daughter who was obsessed with all things pink and purple. He loved how silly the whole thing was. And even more I think he loved how much it upset the little girl's Mother. I sort of wonder if this whole thing is now peaking with the Pluto in Libra Mothers who are super sensitive to not wanting to see their daughter's power taken away from them by any relationships or by a society that expects them to be all ruffly and Hello Kitty.

I heard a great interview with an author who has just written a book about this today. Unfortunately I lost the name of the book and the author. She was talking about women in middle age are still obsessed with Hello Kitty. There is some boutique in San Francisco which sells Hello Kitty champagne to adults who never grew up. I love Hello Kitty myself and I remember being admonished for that affection by my Mother.

So, I just want to share some findings which branches off from my research about Children and Divorce and this whole Princess thing that might have to do with a particular phase of development in little girls. In Divorce situations one would look at this phase as turning into an element of trauma which can manifest later in life in connection with the Jupiter cycle. In this case one hopes that it is just a phase that a child needs to work through in order to learn how to handle her own Jupiterian energy. We all know what a boundless bottle of Joy Jupiter is, after all.

What little boys go through might be completely different, but I have found that this part of a little girl's development corresponds really well with the first Jupiter square, trine and opposition which take up most of a child's development between the ages of 3 and 6 when the Princess stuff seems to be strongest. I think I may have my Romans mixed up with my Greeks. Jupiter is the Roman equivalent of Zeus in ancient Greece so either way I'm talking about the same guy.

In classical astrology, Jupiter is the Father of Pallas Athene. Pallas Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom, has an interesting birth story in that she has no Mother. She is born by popping directly out of her Father's head. So, I sort of wonder if this age is connected with a bonding ritual between daughter and Father which makes the Mother feel left out or which at least excludes the Mother. It would be difficult to say for sure, but sort of interesting. I'm pretty sure that within the stress of divorce, a daughter might develop a really difficult relationship with her step-mothers at this age. It's almost a given that a step-mother will complain about how manipulative her step-daughter is at this age and how she needs to have her Father's attention. For some weird reason step-mothers rarely say the same thing about the step-sons.

Either way, Jupiter is ruler of the sign of Sagittarius which rules all things having to do with giving opinions. At the age of 3 childrens' vocabularies are expanding at a very rapid rate, something like 9 words a day. This is the age (approximately) of the first Jupiter square. By the time of the first Jupiter trine, an easy aspect, children are developing "potty mouth." By the time of the first Jupiter opposition at around Age 5.5, they are learning about telling all kinds of stories, true and false. The point is, storytelling is a big part of all this Jupiter energy. In order to tell a story a person will begin to create all kinds of new roles and environments. Princesses, Castles and Magical Lands are just status quo. Well, and Jupiter likes to sit on a bar stool as well, but don't tell the kids that.

And to add to this, we also see the strong influence of Jupiter's other Classical rulership, the sign of Pisces. Pisces rules the Imagination and all the Fairy tale types of stories. Total Fairy Princess stuff. I used to know a 50 year old Pisces woman who used to grab everything and stick it on her head and say it was a crown. One can see how the Astrology says that a child's life is extremely involved in Jupiterian types of activies. I suppose I assume that one could direct one's child into applying for a Master's degree or in shooting some Heroin if one wants to put things in the adult perspective of typical Jupiterian activities, but perhaps the Princess thing is just a phase that many little girls have to go through.

The talk show I heard today was interesting -- the one with the author and book title I can't remember. Mothers calling in were very alarmed about how their daughters were developing unhealthy attitudes towards sexuality by expressing too feminine a side which they felt was connected with this Princess thing. There was a story about a first trip to the dentist in which the dentist kept the child under control by talking about Princess imagery. I have trouble connecting the inside of a mouth with being a Princess, so that's some pretty crazy Neptune imagination right there. This might be a rich kid thing anyway. Maybe poor kids don't have this obsession with Princesses at all.

They talked about how little girls are learning about their looks around this age, and playing dress up. There's the obsession with pink and purple. A Father called in and agreed that he had observed the same things in his daughter. But he noticed that his daughter had grown out of it.

Also interesting to note is that the first Pallas Athene return happens between Age 4 and 5. The other modern feminist types of asteroids come at this age as well. So perhaps Mothers can try to develop that imagery in their daughters' lives as well. From what I've observed they naturally do anyway. Ceres is the great Mother imagery. Some little girls probably still like to play dolls. Maybe Modern Mothers should teach them how to drive a tractor instead. Don't know if little girls go through any Juno phases at this time, she's Zeus' wife. I know my friends and I thought about marriage a lot at that age.

The Sound Only Teenagers Can Hear

A high pitched sound, known as "The Mosquito", is something only teenagers can hear. Back in 2008 it was being sold as a ring tone for cell phones that kids could use in class. The teachers couldn't hear when their phones were ringing. The Astrology of the Teenage Years. Man, that must be some trippy stuff. I remember that Dell Magazine published some articles about this years back. The teens probably being with the Jupiter Return which comes on Average at around Age 11. Then there is the first Progressed Lunar Opposition to itself, probably around Age 13. And then the first Saturn opposition to itself at around Age 14. These ages vary widely. There are also a bunch of tertiary or minor progressed returns of the Inner Planets (sorry, I've blanket out which, should look that up). They occur at different times because of Retrogrades. Chiron will also make its first square to its natal position approximately Age 12.5. So, kids at that age are loaded with information.

Then there seems to be nothing much at all happening until the Nodal Return which comes a couple of months before the 19th Birthday. Except for kids who have natal Sun-Venus conjunctions. They get a special Sweet Sixteen present because those two planets complete their second Return together.

I'm back to listening to my Brilliant College Lectures about Aging and Sensations. We lose our hearing when we get older, but, apparently not as much as Doctors used to think. It turns out that testing older people for sensations gets extra tricky because of the Saturn Effect. We become much more cautious to say when we do and don't hear the little tones in the hearing tests. The class even explains what kind of deafness Beethoven suffered from. Boney things in his ears. Beethoven was a Double Sagittarius with Scorpio Rising. That means that his Sun first progressed into Capricorn when he was pretty young. Then once it had progressed into Aquarius, his Ascendant progressed into Capricorn. That could make a person hard-working, grumpy, and could affect the hearing. Apparently he could still hear when he put his head directly on the piano. Maybe Mosquitos are Capricorns. Who knows? Actually I think that they must have some mutable sign stuff in there as well.

You can test your own hearing in the following article about this sound.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/23/high-pitch-only-teens-can_n_98304.html

Circadian Rhythms Indicate Children's Emotional Development?

Some researchers of Circadian Rhythms claim that babies who follow a regular schedule when they are one month old will have less anxiety when they are 10 years old.

The researchers say that this could be related to Circadian Rhythms that develop in the body, maybe from genetics or from hormonal settings from this age (and probably other reasons that I don't understand).

I wonder if some of this could be explained by planetary progressions in some way. A baby will have his first Lunar Return at roughly 29 days. I sort of assume that this is a significant time in his development for all things related to emotional self reliance. The researchers had the parents record daily schedules from the first month and then followed the childrens' emotional development up to Age 13. Age 13, conveniently, is roughly a child's first secondary progressed Lunar Opposition. Age 10 is just after the child's first Lunar Node Opposition. Oppositions in Cyclic Returns are naturally going to be times of greatest tension. Anything related to the Moon is going to show emotional tension.

Also interesting is to note the babies who were followed in the study were born in 1990 and 1991 which was when the big conjunction of Saturn-Uranus and Neptune occurred in Capricorn. This is the sign which opposes Cancer, the sign which rules the Moon. Capricorn is also the sign which rules anything having to do with time and timing and rhythm. And, being an Earth Sign, it really does need to have a set schedule. Perhaps if the researchers were to test the kids born with Pluto in Sagittarius and the Uranus-Neptune mutual reception they would find kids who naturally prefer chaotic and unpredictable schedules. In the quote that follows one can see how the balancing act between Saturn self control and management and Lunar emotional reactions. Also, interesting that these are the two planets that rule parenting.

Greater regularity in daily activities may increase the predictability of an infant’s demands, leading to enhanced parental perception of the baby’s cues and increased parental confidence in meeting the infant’s needs, the researchers say.

More confident and perceptive parenting, in turn, supports the development of an infant’s emotional regulatory capacities. A baby’s ability to self-soothe and self-regulate are important emotional regulatory skills.

“Further, cognitive skills, such as directed-attention, or the ability to concentrate, also are likely involved in emotion regulation,” says Linnea Burk, clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin and a co-author of the study..

“These attention-directed processes may help to adjust emotional arousal and aid children in managing overt behavior when emotions are less well-regulated by other means.

“Children with a well-developed ability to direct attention in a variety of situations likely use less cognitive effort, and therefore may have more cognitive resources available to aid in regulatory processes.”

The study supports the potential importance of the circadian system and its development in the life of the child, and possibly suggests a genetic basis that the researchers will explore in future work.

Source: http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/babys-irregular-rhythm-may-grow-into-anxiety/

Timothy Monk from University of Pittsburgh and Linnea Burk from University of Wisconsin

Astrological Techniques for Reading for Children of Divorce

Right now we're in a difficult time for marriage and family. The Outer Planet t-square of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto is opposing the sign of Cancer which rules loving, caring families. It will take super human effort to keep the Cancer ideals alive right now. Uranus rules Divorce and a need to break free suddenly. The way this is done might impose too much cruelty on other family members as Saturn and Pluto working together create selfishness and ruthlessness, blame and grief. There is a feeling that everyone is on his own and no one is beholden to anyone else. People want to move on but they may not know where to move on to because through all the drive to break away they have lost touch with basic feelings and what they need.

People who chose to divorce right now will have an extra difficult time managing. Relationships are more complicated right now because of financial uncertainty and social unrest. Children who go through their parents' divorce will be more likely to have long term traumatic side effects because of the extra lessons in "Advanced Relationship Skills" that are being taught right now. I'm not saying to stay in a destructive relationship, but parents who can't be civil right now ought to try going for a whole year of counseling before finalizing anything. If you cooperate right now you are making a huge positive investment in your childrens' future well being.

Here's a link to my other blog in which I've been matching up the age that a child is when his or her parents divorce with the first planetary cycle that he/she has just completed.

What I'm finding is that this planetary phase becomes a major part of a child's personality and might even hook him very strongly into successive planetary return phases.

That blog has completely drained me. Turns out that Step-parents use the Internet to bitch about their step-children. One woman is writing a blog and "borrowing" my ideas about child development. She has absolutely no experience in counseling. Her pictures shows wild Medusa hair and crossed arms. Not to be fooled with. And a thief. Where in my childhood have I met that? The psychology field is suddenly waking up to the fact that divorce is traumatic for the child. It's a Hot Topic, but none of these "professionals" seems to want to let the kids talk. Anyway, this is what I've been so pissed off about for the last year or so.

I'm starting at the beginning ages and working forward. So the blog has posts going backwards.

I'm breaking down childhood year by year but that doesn't necessarily follow the return cycles. Will get it straight some day. Or maybe Medusa will beat me to the punch.

If anybody who is into astrology grew up in divorce and is interested in being a guinea pig please leave a message. I just need to know what age you were when your parents split. So far I've just been looking at successful people from divorce.
http://spoiledchildrenofdivorce.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/many-happy-returns/