News Brief: Spies coming of (Aquarian) Age

Pisces Zodiac sign - Chartres Cathedral, France

If you were alive, breathing and listening to anything besides voices in your head during the 1960's, you heard a song called Age of Aquarius from a musical called "Hair." (And yes, if you know the song, it's now going to be in your head all day.)

That song was about something real - a real event; we are moving from the Age of Pisces (as above) into the Age of Aquarius, aka the Aquarian Age.

The change won't be instant; astrological ages merge one into the other like the colors of a rainbow. And yet, if I said that Aquarius rules all things electronic...such as computers, TV and cell phones AND how it rules systems - particularly those based on other Aquarian precepts such as electronics...

Then you'd think Internet...networking sites...online shopping...and you'd go 'Oh...! So the Aquarius Age started to take hold, and computers and all this other stuff became part of life.' And you'd be absolu-ta-mente, proverbially, bull's eye right.

The whole Age thing is a giant, fascinating subject, but we won't get into it whole hog right now. Nor do we have to, as each astro-age lasts 2,160 years. (So we have time.)

The point is that each Age has it's own chart - the "coloration" of the Age through which everything we know of as Earthlings is well,....colored !

What this amounts to is how a slow but important focus shift is going on right now. And this recent nabbing of a bunch of Russian spies in the US of A pictures the whole thing rather well. 

In order to get how this works, here's the chart of Ye Olde (outgoing) Age of Pisces:

 And here's one for our spanky (almost brand) new Aquarian Age:

The name of an Age tells us what sign is on the Ascendant - the far left hand point of the horizontal axis line ("9 o'clock" if you will).

Each one of those 'pie shaped' pieces being called a 'house', we count and number them (always, always, always) in a counter-clockwise direction. So with Pisces on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Piscean Age, and Aquarius on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Aquarian Age, we count our way around the wheel.

The last house - the 12th house - is colored by Aquarius in the Pisces Age, and Capricorn in the Aquarian Age. 

With me?

Okay - so now we come to how this relates to the Russian spy thing. Espionage is a  12th house issue. Being a spy? Also a 12th house thing - each house describes traits, professions and the nature of various actions. In this case, anything 'behind the scenes' or done (even imagined) in a manner which is 'unseen' is 12th house.

Throughout the Age of Pisces, espionage has been about stealing information. And 'information' as a concept is a very Aquarian thing - hence the Aquarian Age being already known in the media as the 'Information Age.' 

And as the ages have "overlapped" we've sort of had a double dose of Aquarius - meaning spying has become about stealing technology. And the act of spying has  become highly electronic. All that fits with what we said about Aquarius coming in - that it's all about things techy, electronic, computerized and new-fangled.

But Aquarius doesn't stop there. Aquarius symbolizes a functional society which at one end is about fitting in, equality and universality, and which at the other is about rebellion, the anarchist and all those who feel they know 'better' when in reality what they know is simply what works for them. Or their interests.

Given this, what have spies been doing for lo, more than several past centuries? Their primary function has been to help find the (Aquarian) know-how/information so some group could overthrow some government or 'ruling cadre.'

And that's where the change is coming in. The spies so recently snatched up are part of the incoming (Aquarian/information Age) trend. They were looking for corporate information. They weren't aiming at besting a government - at least not directly. They were looking to get corporate research, trade secrets and the like.

Which leads us to the ultra-important thing to recognize about this incoming Aquarian Age: that it's about commerce. In the Age of Pisces, government ruled. The image of the two fish going in either direction tied by a golden cord is all about one body in charge, one being ruled.

But remember what we said about Aquarius - that it's about systems, universality and equality? Pisces supported the concept of the 'ruling cadre.' Aquarius levels the field, making the "classes" subservient to the system.

In time, government and its society will be equal. The corporate/commerce system will either be part of, or on a par with government. But here at the end of the Pisces Age we still have some of that Ruler-and-ruled vibe going on.

So at the moment, it's a struggle. In fact...since time only moves forward (at least in this dimension) those who rule commerce may currently be in a position to more or less rule government - at least in the short run.

It does explain a lot, doesn't it?

Natalee Holloway: Speaking from the Grave

A nineteen year old named Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005 while on spring break in Aruba. The prime suspect in her disappearance was Joran van der Sloot, an eighteen year old native of the Netherlands.  Due to a lack of hard evidence, Joran was never charged.

Five years passes….

In Peru, on May 30, 2010, a young woman named Stephany Flores Ramirez disappears.

On June 2nd, she’s found stabbed to death in the room of one Joran van der Sloot. Joran has fled to Chile but is apprehended there on the 3rd and sent back to Peru where on June 7, he confesses to his crime.

It’s to be vividly stressed that we have no birth times for any of the parties involved in this story. But even without that, given location and date of birth, plenty of things simply scream to be said.

Among all, the most touching is how clearly Natalee’s chart ‘reacts’ to van der Sloot’s doings. It started long ago but continues on, starting with… as he confesses in Peru and that news hits the airwaves, Sedna opposes Natalee’s natal Mercury.

Named for an Inuit goddess, Sedna represents our struggles to escape, hold on to or finally let go of our dreamy childish dependence. The myth (and the dwarf planet named for same) speaks in our chart of the trials we experience as we move from standard childhood ‘longings to be an adult’ into the somewhat chilling realization that with adult freedom and independence inevitably comes some measure of loneliness.

Or…an ‘alone-ness’ which, in isolating us, allows us to (hopefully) know ourselves better and thus move towards realizing our personal potential, providing ourselves with fulfillment instead of having to rely on someone else - replete with whatever they ‘require’ in return for that we think we can’t live without.   

In Natalee’s natal chart, Sedna sits conjunct asteroids Hel (terrible choices) and Phaethon (too headstrong for one’s own good). Obviously going off on her own for spring break brought these images out in a heartbreaking manner.

With an orbital period of 10,500 years, Sedna moves very slowly. But as Natalee arrived in Aruba, it opposed her Scorpio Venus, the first of three conjunct symbols. Seeking self worth from others, Venus in Scorpio tends to be too desirous, too controlling or too vulnerable – and often an uncomfortable mix of all three, particularly prior to when we get settled in our adult (individuated) mentality.

The second symbol is Ixion, a symbol all about entitlement and lack of gratitude which is a problem (though not impossible to manage) in everyone’s chart. Conjunct Natalee’s Scorpio Venus, this would have been her attraction to sensual vibes of the darker kind and probably the ‘bad boys’ among us. 

It’s also one form of description for a sexual predator.

Unfortunately for 19-year old Natalee, Sedna opposing her Venus set everything off. Natalee vanished. And as Sedna inched on to oppose Natalee’s Ixion, Joran van der Sloot, privileged son of a well-to-do judge….Joran walked away. Which is strikingly reminiscent of the mythic Ixion.

The third symbol in Natalee’s Scorpio triad is Mercury a symbol which by turns can manifest as  dedication and loyalty, an alluring quality and the ability to be lured, insight against blindness, denial against manipulation/coercion and honest polarized by total deception. Conjunct Ixion, to whatever degree she was ‘so very good’ she would have attracted the polarity. Even – unfortunately – been fascinated by it; that we do not own we become fixated by in someone else (projection).   

As Sedna finally confronted Natalee’s Mercury five years after Natalee’s disappearance, van der Sloot’s predatory instinct acted out again. And again as in the Ixion myth, then circumstances changed: the entitled son of privileged heritage committed his crime under circumstances which, far from making him nearly immune to punishment (as he seems to have been in Aruba)…now he was in a place where the people were immune to what would seem to be Joran’s ruinously self-entitled behavior.

Time will tell…and we may never know for sure…but astrologically, the clarity of the timing on Natalee’s chart with regards to this second murder of Stephany Ramirez suggests van der Sloot was well aware of the ‘anniversary’ of Natalee’s disappearance. The reasoning is this: if it was random, her chart wouldn’t reflect it with a series of transits as exact as we have seen.

For those of us bearing witness, possibly even worse is the idea that Joran van der Sloot has no strong signals on his chart for any of the dates involved - at least not using a chart without accurate time of birth. All we have is Vesta opposing his natal Juno as he was returned to Peru, where he confessed.

And yes, this may signal Joran feeling it time to own up. Some have suggested his confession is a ploy – a way to avoid the death penalty and get sent off to Peruvian prison where perhaps he could bribe someone and affect an escape before prison conditions (or another convict) gets to him.

Then again, given Vesta as an image of sacred service and Joran’s natal Juno (female integrity) conjunct  Kalypso (altruistic love) conjunct Medea (self-destructive love) is simply telling us that Joran van der Sloot takes a great pleasure in, even worships his own his ability to take a human life.    

One bright note in the morass - one we can only hope is felt by friends, family and victim spirits. As Sedna opposed Natalee’s Mercury and van der Sloot was apprehended, Sedna was also coming into unification with the position of Natalee’s Panacea – holistic inner healing.

And the truth will set you free.  

We hope Natalee and Stephany will now truly rest in peace. 


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Dahmer's All-Consuming Mentality

Granting that the tale of the person, company (or whatever) is the whole of any chart, in the prime vertical and horizontal axis lines we can see very important basics.

The vertical axis is composed of the Midheaven or MC (the top of the chart)  and the Nadir or IC – the bottom of the chart. This is the internal line – who we think we are on the inside...where we have 'come from' and who we want to ‘grow up to be.’ 

The horizontal axis being literally the horizon line (Earth revolving into time as the present and past), the Ascendant (the left end - "9 o'clock") is Now: who we are being. The Descendant (the right end - "3 o'clock") is the impression we create – the legacy we leave in our passage or (after death) in our passing. 

Because the Earth isn't a nice round ball, these two axes are not always in a perfect, 90-degree square. But the distance between them - large or small? That is pretty much the difference between who we think we are and who we're seen to be. 

They're so not always the same thing. And oh, what a sobering thought that is, right? But educational - especially if you're someone who keeps wanting to be one thing and who so consistently gets seen as something else. 

Not that you're Jeffrey Dahmer - at least we hope not. For one, if you were Dahmer, you'd be dead. And if you're dead, why are you reading my blog? 

(Should I ask you to comment in that case? Oh, decisions, decisions...!) 

Back to the point - that being that the distance between who we mean to be and who we are seen to be can get changed. But to change things we have to recognize and reconcile differences which (yes...) we would so often like to think are 'about' or 'in them' but which in reality are in us. To paraphrase someone who was not very happy with this idea, if the problem keeps happening, it really is all about us. 

So with this said, off to the chart of Jeffrey Dahmer - a man most people know of as one of the most bizarre serial killers of modern time (making the term 'off' very apt). Appearing to many as a moody, almost shy guy, Dahmer killed male lovers though a variety of gruesome acts...which was apparently his way of trying to keep them from leaving him. It’s a story all the more horrible for being truly pathetic – and universal; his was a need for love expressed in a (literal) stew of bloody violence totally lacking in compassionate recognition of anyone else as a valid human being replete with the right to exist. 

Dahmer’s Ascendant is fairly unremarkable expect for being marked by the presence of Arcturus, a fixed star all about doing ‘the different thing.’ We begin to feel a bit of his desperation however, when we think of his Libra Ascendant as being ruled by Venus - Dahmer's Venus being at 22 Taurus in the 8th house. 

Venus is notoriously ungraceful in the 8th house. At home in the (opposing) 2nd where (if not afflicted) it manifests through self-worth as an ability/willingness to initiator a profitable exchange known as human ‘give and take.’ But when Venus appears in the (oppositional) 8th we have someone who needs to get from others. 

Even more potently, with Dahmer's Venus being in Taurus (native sign of the 2nd) he felt his self worth came from others. Or that through the possessing of others, he would feel his own self worth. He would 'find himself' in others - as many people do with all things 8th house. People with such placements (as sometimes happens with planets in Scorpio, native sign of the 8th)...there is a need to 'achieve self through others.' Dahmer needed input or validation (maybe both) from others to allow him to even begin feeling something about himself in order to then make something of himself, this being maybe a better way of putting the difference between planets in 8 and in Scorpio. The 8th house planet/symbol seeks to understand the self, the Scorpio planet wants to make something of the Self through wherever it happens to be placed (that "department" of life as indicated by the house). 

Bottom line, the 8th house is where we interact with others and test our emotional choices and risk ourselves emotionally. It's INTERACTIVE. 

So with Dahmer’s Venus conjunct Industria (industriousness), Sabine (forced imprisonment) and Fanny (the behind, literal or figurative), his way of putting his self-worth demons behind him and to work was expressed by taking his lovers captive. And sex of that particularly 'putting it behind me' sort, of course. 

(So to speak...) 

Just a side comment here, before we get back to specific axis points....In Dahmer’s 8th house was also a Sun at 0 Gemini. That defines him at least at some level as a mental naïf - any symbol at zero of any sign is at an initiation point, however you want to take that. In conjunction with headstrong Phaethon, this Sun speaks to Dahmer's need to keep doing what he was doing despite all: its mental compulsion in an interactive setting. 

To this we then add the other asteroid closely present: Charybdis – a sea monster (water=emotion) which says you have to keep trying and trying lest you get eaten up and spit out. 

(Yes, I said that.) 

The other end of the horizontal axis – the Descendant – of Dahmer’s chart is 19 Aries, a degree known for difficulties often including a ‘dark and fearful life’ which includes an early end (Dahmer was murdered in prison at the age of 34). The solution for  conditions expressed in this degree would seem to be compassion but with Dahmer, that apparently was not forthcoming – at least for others, though we can guess his choices were a gigantically convoluted attempt to make himself feel better!

But with the ruler of the Descendant – Mars – in Aries and the 6th conjunct Chaos, the effort was futile in the extreme. Astrologically, Chaos is ‘the void’ the great ‘undefined’ from which comes both the highs of artistic and spiritual inspiration and the total emptiness of fear, grief, loss and helplessness. 

As always – this being an important note in astrology – we need to look to the symbol ruling the house to see how all in that house will “behave,” good and bad. With Pisces, the first place we look is (primary) ruler Jupiter. Dahmer’s Jupiter is ill-placed in the 3rd house, telling us his was a mind which cannot be quieted. In Capricorn, we have the indication that he was capable of doing ‘hard things’ and going beyond ‘hard limits,’ which in Dahmer’s case involved murder by skull drilling. 

And why SO aberrant?

One explanation given by the chart would be the direct opposition from Jupiter to calculated Lilith. There are two forms of Lilith – the calculated one (which has to do with social/societal morays) and the asteroid Lilith (which has things to do with things in ourselves we don’t approve of). This being the calculated form, we know Dahmer would deny societal ‘rules’ – that ‘hardness’ image in the Capricorn Jupiter would ‘bar’ such things from his thoughts. It wasn't (in other words) hard for him to do at all - that we know from Lilith also being conjunct Betelgeuse, a fixed star about ‘ease of process.’ So we can bet that either Dahmer had little trouble ignoring societal values or that they didn’t really occur to him either way, for good or bad.

So saying, back to that Descendant. The Moon in Dahmer’s chart is exactly conjunct the Descendant. So those dark and fearful feelings are not only what he felt every day of his life, it is what he has left us with as his legacy. In the greatest and karmic sense, that he lived is a lesson to us all.

A very distasteful lesson to be sure, but a lesson nonetheless.

And that’s not all. The Descendant also highlights Icarus: rash actions and, reckless choices. Because the Descendant is not only what we do and how we are seen but about those drawn to us, this also speaks to Dahmer’s victims and why they became his victims. Also present here: Typhon, a TNO (Trans Neptunian Object) all about our most primal states and urges. (Link to article on Typhon.)

These qualities – the naïf, the primal urges, the fear and sadness in Dahmer…they would also be qualities he was drawn to. And that his lovers were drawn and which they possessed at some level -  defining the eternal like attracts like of human relationship inevitability. We will attract people who ‘fit,’ emulate or ‘set off’ most of all what we haven’t dealt with (in full) in ourselves.

And while sometimes those qualities are good, often it’s not so good. Why? Because how else is life going to prompt us to do the work we need to do on ourselves? 

Ouch. What that says about us as much as a Jeff Dahmer is simply distressing.

Moving on to his vertical axis, it expresses as 23 Capricorn/Cancer – with Cancer at the MC. Cancer being ruled by the Moon and the IC the other point in the chart most known as ‘public recognition’ this surely gives us the picture of someone ultimately known for a chaotic and fearful legacy. 

More important maybe…that that’s what Dahmer’s life was. When will we learn that to have such things not happen we have to care about human beings beyond their childhood years? 

People say once we’re adults we can’t be changed – at the same time everything in life causes us to evolve. We can’t have it both ways and the truth is that people don’t change maybe because they don’t want to, yes. But probably also because they don’t know how to.  

Am I my brother’s keeper? That’s SO very too biblical. How about am I a fellow human? Is it really okay to ignore and desert others out of preference when they're displaying a plaintive need. Aren't the Jeffrey Dahmers and other horrors known to dark histories an example of what comes from just that?

Even worse, when we don’t care about others (or the world) is that US being our own tiny version of the Dahmer who didn't value the lives of other people? 

All points appear in all charts. 

The foundation of Dahmer's chart (23 Capricorn) is a degree about excesses and difficulties controlling one’s passions. It’s a degree I happen to wrestle with myself in my own chart (no, I'm not a mass murderer!)....plenty of people have plenty of planets at this and other trying degrees. My comment about this one is merely that it's no  better uncontrolled than totally controlled – it’s the balance which counts. 

And which is hard. But that's a valuable lesson to us all, since all degrees occur in all charts - and considering the number of celestial objects out there, what do you think the chances are that NOTHING is in your chart at 23 Capricorn?

That's right - slim and next to zilch.

Ruled by Saturn, ultimately this is a degree which can only be learned through structured responsibility – which Dahmer evidently has perilously little of. His Saturn is in Capricorn. So Saturn ruled he was: his was a literally and figuratively ‘fearful foundation.’ That this Capricorn Saturn is sitting in a 3rd house tells us it functioned mentally and through his choices – and this is the Saturn ruling the Jupiter involved in that Jupiter/Lilith/Betelgeuse conglomerate.

I’d ask how scary is that except we all now know how scary that turned out to be.

And that this 3rd house had Sagittarius (sign of knowledge) on the cusp with the Sag ruler (Jupiter) in that very 3rd house? This is the snake not just eating its own tail by being consumed by the knowledge that it’s eating its own tail. This is torment and self-torment of a maximal, cognizant form. If you’ve seen any of the filmed interviews with Dahmer, it’s apparent: he knew what he was doing. He knew that it was wrong. He knew he was doing harm. But he simply could not fend off his own mentality.

Do we know that his aims were? That would be told at Dahmer’s MC, where we not only see 23 Cancer, but also Nemesis (a warning often ignored) and Rhadamanthus (dispassionate fair judgment). He wanted someone to stop him. Twenty-three Cancer is degree from Cancer’s third decanate. All third decan degrees are about things we have to put out into the world to see if they work. To see how they work or how to fix them. There is a danger of falling here, but only when like children, we have not been taught to climb.

Again…it’s a busy world. But at what point to business and the preference to pleasure one’s self become harmful? It’s not just parents and its not just Dahmer – it’s all of us.

He’s paid. His victims have paid. His family has paid. Do we all have to pay in our own way too not just for him, but for our own lack of balance?

It's that all points being in all charts which gets me. This doesn't mean that if you have Saturn and Jupiter in Capricorn in your 3rd house that you're going to be like Jeff Dahmer - it's the whole of the chart which counts and charts only repeat every 25, 920 years (even without all the 'new' points being used - the asteroids, TNO's and all that).

But there are no 'perfect' charts. That's one of the first things I ever learned when I started attending lectures with astrologers who had been in the biz for plural decades. And what that means, like the fact that all of these points are in each of our charts is that we all have challenges, some of which are nasty.

It's how we cope with having them which counts.  So there we leave it. I go off to continue being me and you go on coping with being you. 

And I wish us all well.

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