Dateblog: The Week Ahead (June 5-June11)

 Michael E. Brown, Astronomer

photo credit: NASA

Today (June 5th) is Mike Brown’s birthday. Don’t know who Mike Brown is? Well, more formally known as Michael E. Brown, professor of planetary astronomy at the illustrious CalTech, Mike Brown is one of the great (and friendly) planet hunters around.

And he has nothing against astrology. In fact, if you read through his blog (Mike Brown’s Planets) you’ll find that he likes the detailed thought and work astrologers (of any repute, that is) put into their studies. If you want to know ABOUT a planet, you go to Mike Brown. If you want to know the metaphysics of a planet, you ask an astrologer – like me.

LINK to MIKE BROWN'S PLANETS

That’s his take on things. We've even had a digital chat on the subject - I thought it rather fun.

LINK to Blog on ASTRONOMY versus ASTROLOGY

Anyway…today is Mike’s birthday and I for one, cheer. Without Mike Brown we wouldn’t know about all sorts of great points like Haumea, Huya and Makemake. We wouldn’t know that Orcus has a moon. We wouldn’t kwon all sorts of neat stuff.

So happy birthday to Mike.

Having said that, considering his birthday is only 4 days after a solar eclipse, we can expect to hear that Mike Brown’s life is changing in some fundamental manner. And no….Mike, if you happen to read this, I’m not trying to make you some sort of lab rat wearing one of those fabulous NASA helmets.

Okay…so I would be entirely happy if half the people who read this blog would email you a ‘hey, Mike, happy birthday!’ missive through your blog (my gift to you, guy…) but that’s not really my point.

My point is that sometimes knowing that someone famous is born around the time of an eclipse helps us understand how eclipses (and astrology) work.

Considering that Clint Eastwood and Brooke Shields both have birthdays on May 31st…and that Rudi Giuliani has a birthday on May 28…even that the Dali Lama has a birthday on June 6 and Muammar al-Gaddafi (choose your own spelling there) has a birthday on June 7th… don’t be surprised if you hear of big ‘life shifts’ happening in any and all of these individual lives.

How they change? Ah, that’s the ‘individual chart’ thing. But the dynamic evolution OF life which is so typical of a solar eclipse, that will be a constant.

Interestingly enough, eclipses work whether you’re dead or alive. So whether you’re a ‘life after death’ person or not, apparently the ‘mark’ we make with having lived lives on even after we’re gone. So with Mike Brown, Clint Eastwood and Brooke Shields we can add people like Marilyn Monroe (June 1), actor Peter Lorre (June 6), Armand Hammer (May 28), Pancho Villa (June 5), James Dean (June 5), John F. Kennedy (May 29), Isadora Duncan (May 27), Allen Ginsberg (June 3) and Thomas Hardy (June 2) to our list. Often times when say, a writer has been dead a long time, something they wrote will become suddenly popular again for some reason when their Sun gets eclipsed. A biography may be released on the life of someone like Isadora Duncan or Armand Hammer or JFK. Or maybe someone will build a monument to them or name a philanthropic prize after them…you get the gist.

 Dancer Isadora Duncan as photographed

by Arnold Genthe (photo housed in the US LIbrary of Congress)

We may only life and die…that may be your belief. But time and time again I have seen not just eclipses but major transits (such as those made by Uranus, Neptune or Pluto) hit charts and signal a renewed interest in someone’s life or work.

With last week’s astrological events having been something of a stunning line-up (the solar eclipse followed by Neptune’s station followed by Jupiter changing signs), especially with Sun and and Mercury in Gemini our thoughts are busy even if we aren’t.

With Venus and Mars in the latter part of Taurus as the week starts out there’s a big emphasis on wanting things to ‘count’ and to be worth the effort. Appreciation is likely to be another theme, whether that’s voiced as ‘hey – appreciate what I’ve done for you, okay?’ or the more eloquent ‘we should honor the efforts of those who have made sacrifices on our behalf…’ And either is apt. Venus in Taurus is gracious, Mars in Taurus tends to see the glass as half-full, no matter whose glass that is.

As Jupiter in Taurus sinks in against Neptune having gone retrograde in earliest Pisces (and now headed back into Aquarius) there’s a sense of awareness…maybe concern…about how we will make our way in the world. Or what we need to do to be more effective. Or if we can do what we think we need to do. Combining that with the Venus, Mars and Sun-Mercury, those who are realistic about what can or can’t get done would seem to be the best off.

At least they know what to concentrate on first, right?

About the worst thing we can do is expect others to cover our gaps, debts and faux pas now…though you may get help, those who expect to be helped are likely to feel the most disappointment. Entitlement is a buzz-word in some circles and a quality which gets others short-changed. Mercury-Neptune are just finishing off their square-by-aspect as the week begins and that means that lies…told to us, told by us or that we’ve tried to put over on ourselves...are coming clear, or coming to an end of their allegedly useful life.

With Saturn due to go direct next week, the whole of this week is likely to feel ‘pressured’ for some, ‘problematic’ (aka challenging) for others and for a few, downright depressing. Reality is in our face. Time and necessity and all those very Saturn realities are making themselves known.

So with this as the basis of the week’s ‘astro-operational parameters,’ that takes us to…

TUESDAY, JUNE 7…The big highlight of the day is  Hebe moving into Cancer. Hebe being the immortal ‘cup bearer’ to the Olympian gods, the basic idea associated with this point is two-fold: one being about service and the other provision in the sense of making sure those things which are wanted or needed are on hand, perhaps with something of an emphasis on sustenance.

That Hebe is moving into Cancer suggests the ‘venue’ of this service or needing to provide or take care of things is pretty basic: family, home…in keeping with one’s culture and national traditions.

Asteroids don’t generally confront us with matters of import all by themselves…they’re the ‘hint of flavoring’ to all else which goes on now. So with Mars, Jupiter and Venus all in Taurus, how we live and providing ourselves with security in regards to our livelihoods, our families, our homes and such, there’s a planetary (conscious focus) on such matters which Hebe entering Cancer would seem to compliment. Perhaps it means we need to think of others who need things too? Perhaps Hebe during the weeks that Hebe is in Cancer you life will prompt you with a need (or inspiration) which tells you what you need to do in order to get ahead in the world (which would be very Saturn in Libra) and that involves showing someone how useful you are. Or what your abilities really are.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8…with Cubewano (and dwarf planet candidate) MakeMake about to go direct early on the 10th, its station effects begin now, suggesting it’s a good time to move ahead whatever projects we have slated. As ‘creator’ god of Easter Island, MakeMake can be seen as a symbol of ‘raising something up out of the depths’ or of creating something in isolation or all by yourself, this last part going very much with Saturn’s position at 10 Libra.

MakeMake the astronomical object as photographed by

the Hubble Telescope (photo credit: NASA/JPL)... 

 ...and MakeMake the Easter Island creator god as a glyph

carved in stone on Easter Island

There is a thread of this ‘be your own person’ thing going around…have you noticed?

And just because I want to, I’ll also note that Mike Brown was one of the three discoverers of MakeMake - the others being Craig Trujillo and David Rabinowitz. So isn’t it nice that one of his ‘very own’ KBOs is doing a little turnaround dance for him during the week of his birthday?

Prosaic, yes. And when we put this all together…maybe the devoted dad Mike Brown will be expanding his family this year? Who knows…but just to show you how astrological thinking goes, that wouldn’t seem to be out of the question, considering all things!

THURSDAY, JUNE 9…an interesting day which starts with Jupiter in Taurus perfecting a sextile to Neptune retrograde in Pisces at 2:42am (UT/+0) – which yet again speaks to something of increasing (Jupiter) value (Taurus) which either clarifies or stirs up that nebulous Neptune ‘wish list’ we all have inside. It’s a moment when we can be realistic and we can profit from doing so. But we may not want to.

Like as not, a little fantasy is okay – but we will do well not to get lost in same. Remember, Saturn is bearing down on its station/direct point: reality must be served!

A bit later – at 2:42pm (UT/+0) Venus enters Gemini, meaning that as Jupiter perfected its sextile Venus was at 29 Taurus: a critical moment which can point out the chinks in our armor as well as the blessings in our life. It’s a real ‘glass half full or half empty?’ moment.

 Te aa no areois (The Seed of the Areoi) by Paul Gauguin (1892)

As a planetary ingress, Venus entering Gemini will earn its own blog post, but when tossed in with all the other doings of the week it would seem to be a warning to choose knowingly. There’s a time for play and an extent to which we know we can play. There are also times when the priority needs to be work. Knowing the difference and what our goals and limitations are (and yes, sticking to them!) seems the object d’moment.

However! With Kassandra about to go retrograde in Aquarius, we may not want to see the clouds which go with those silver linings. Or that the proverbial cloud tends to come with one. Which way you go here is probably described by your general mental attitude. Are you someone who refuses to hear anything which darkens your day? Are you someone who doesn’t believe anything good will ever happen?

Remembering that Mars and Jupiter are still in Taurus, with Venus now in Gemini we want…but can we have? We know the truth of this is about what we’re willing to strive for and earn (or whether we have) and that for all we want there are limits to what is sensible in life…but we…or someone close to us…may not want to hear that just now.

Thus we come to…

FRIDAY, JUNE 10…with KBO MakeMake going direct at 4:40am (UT/+0). That MakeMake is going direct at 25 Virgo rather challenges us to understand the difference between what we think works and what other people think, given the same situation. For those building or improving something or some part of their life (or learning/trying to figure out how to), this would be a moment when your abilities and practicalities meet up with those of others around you. The combination of Virgo and that we’re talking about a point which is between 20 and 29 degrees of some sign (a 3rd decanate point) means that we are not – as individuals – in the initiating position, though we need to be self-motivated in getting things done.

Showing your capabilities today? A positive. Insisting on having your own way? Maybe not so good. When you need to at some point or any point deal with others, you really have to take the audience into account. It’s sometimes annoying, but true!

And thus we arrive at…

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, a day when Kassandra goes retrograde at 18 Aquarius early in the UT/+0 morning (at 6:27am, to be exact) and when Saturn’s station effects begin…if they haven’t already, that is!

Saturn’s going on station in Libra (at 10 Libra) is all about our ability to function as individual human beings. There are a lot of parameters to this, but that’s the basic gist of the thing. It’s a real ‘get hold of yourself!’ kind of moment which Kassandra can help or hinder.

 Ajax and Cassandra (aka astronomy and astrology's Kassandra)

by Solomon Joseph Solomon

Going retrograde in an emotional degree of a public, social, worldly sign, Kassandra’s going retrograde signals our being prompted to pay attention – which is exactly what some of us don’t want to do.

Another part of this would be the necessity to sort the real from the inflammatory…the fact from fable, fiction, pipe dream or fear-mongering drama.

Again, we may not want to.

But apparently we need to. It’s wonderful to work on ourselves and hopefully we’re all using our time to better our personal world with an eye to building a better future for everyone and thus, those we love. In this, the trick would seem to be remaining aware of what’s going on and what ‘the trends’ are without being deluded by hyperbole or drawn astray by our own desire to hear only what we want to hear.

Plus there is that need to maintain an awareness that what is today may be different tomorrow. Time marches on…things change.

And so do we.

Reconcilliating the Venus/Mercury of the Momentary All

 Venus and Mercury 

painting by Bartholomaus Spranger (1585)

A synodic cycle begins when planets are out there doing their orbital thing and by hook or zodiacal crook come to be transiting the same zodiacal degree...as seen from here on Earth.

Let's be straight about this...planets don't actually meet up out there in space - they're literally millions of miles apart. It's like planets don't actually turn around and go in reverse when they're in retrograde.

It's all about how we see and experience things from here on Earth. Astrology is 99% operated as a geocentric ('earth/geo - centric/centered') science...and no, we don't want to get me started on people who don't view it or treat astrology as a science. Things which aren't based on reality are beliefs. Astrology, originally based on repetitive observation (i.e., every month, when the Moon is 'xyz' the tides are 'abc'...hmmmm....does this mean the Moon and tides are linked?) ...is more and more science based if only because advances in science are proving out the cause/effect(s) long noted by astrologers. 

Oh, we astrologers are just so ahead of our time...as I suggested to Mike Brown, planet hunter par excellence of Caltech fame! (And yes, we've done that blog.)

Getting back to the subject...There was a synodic encounter of a rather interesting kind back on October 25, 2010 between Venus - our 'making things real' efforts- and Mercury - the thought and actions which may/may not go into making things real, unreal, or something somewhere between).

The degree of this conjunction? 7 Scorpio, a degree all about inner strength, core quality and everything it takes to recognize said strength or quality, separate it from whatever is holding it back (if something is) and learning to harness/use said strength and quality to best effect.

That this synodic conjunction occurred during difficult global financial times is aptly presented here too - by the very quality which makes this synodic conjunction out-of-the-ordinary: namely, Venus being retrograde at the time.

The implication here is that the outer/worldly (Mercurial) doings, delvings, chattings, conversings and whatever else - they are all in service of learning why we are and/or aren't effective. In other words, how we haven't yet learned to uncover, cleanse, harness and/or use our inner strengths and core qualities to best effect.

Each synodic cycle pairing having its own length, this one (between Venus and Mercury) is 144.562 days long - about half a year, say...the next one being due on May 7 of 2011. That next one being in Aries (I Am/I Do) and the current one being in Scorpio (Emotional Connections-Connectivity), the whole of this cycle is defined as one where we are working towards being able to function from a more powerful, clarified and potent position in life.

How do we know we're working towards it? We know that because we are starting in Scorpio and it's six signs until Aries, the 'sixth harmonic' being the zodiacal sign of working to create functionality and harmony.

And I mention this last rather technical sounding bit...why? Well because...no matter what you read in 'astrology simplified' manuals, as someone who has been tallying the astrological yea's and nay's now for about three decades I'm here to tell you that a remarkable number of long-lasting relationships are founded in what is known to be a 6/8 harmonic - the six part being the effort and the 8 part being power (yes), sex (yes), investment (yup) and...emotional connections made through a willingness to be honestly vulnerable.

 Mirage sunrise over Lake Superior, Minnesota (July 2002)

photo credit: Tom Ruen

Mercury and Venus are so-called 'personal planets' and much of the time get fluffed aside as "non-major" players since by transit they tend to mark errands, paying the bills, dealing with the wash - the mundane things of life.

 

But seen from another level...how we interact on a mundane level is really a product of how well equipped we are to be open, honest, vulnerable - and all the rest.

Without the core, love is a word or placation.

Without access to the emotional core, there is no vulnerability.

Without peeling back the layers and cleansing ourselves from the goo and toxins of life's bruises, grudges and those desires which are simply irrational, there can be no actual connection. Not a durable one, at least.

So why does that matter now? It's not that it matters per se as some sort of giant event you should expect. But during the day...maybe into tomorrow....as part of this October 2010 to May 2011 synodic cycle we're hitting a little 'blip' point.

First comes the Venus side of the blip, as Venus retrogrades from Scorpio back into Libra come Monday November 8th, at 3:07 UT ...which is obviously still Sunday in the Americas and Pacific Basin region.

As this happens, you will feel more thoughtful and less angst ridden. You'll want to understand things more than straighten out the feelings involved. There will be less of a sense of to-and-fro 'tugging' with others or between others. Choices can still be a bit trying to make (sorting out processes seems over-the-top-hard right now, don't they?) and there will like as not still seem to be something 'lacking.' 

Oddly enough, it's about now that you'll recognize that part of that lack - oh, yeah...- is your having done nothing to really fix the problem. For all the whooping and hollering about what we need to do (and what needs doing) which generally accompanies any Venus retrograde but especially one in Scorpio (a sign which would like to turn finger-pointing into an Olympic gold medal event)....for all the whining, complaining, pouting, snarling and dissecting, not a lot generally gets done under Venus retrograde. 

Except....for one, as Venus retrogrades back into Libra, people oh-so often suddenly seem to remember that a.) verbs are useful in sentence structure and in getting things done....AND...that oh-by-the-way, if they want something done then you know, they could just get up and do something and thus make it happen.

And granted, all that is an 'occurring to us mentally' sort of thing. So who says anything will really get done?

Well that's the curious thing. About twenty hours after Venus backs its planetary tushy into Libra, Mercury vaults into Sagittarius (at 23:44 UT on November 7th, to be exact). Libra and Sagittarius are two signs which are in natural sextile. And sextiles represent opportunities. So while the door may not be open, by sign confluence alone, it's now unlocked.

But then we consider Mercury in Sagittarius. Mercury is ruler of ("at home in") two signs: Gemini and Virgo. It's therefore very 'not at home' in the opposition signs to Gemini and Virgo, which would be Pisces (opposite Virgo) and SAGITTARIUS...which is in opposition to Gemini. 

Normally we'd say that given the Sagittarian 'aw, go ahead try' thing which is so obvious where ideas are often concerned...normally we'd think Mercury would be slap-dash, over-the-top, hasty, waste-y and problematic in the 'shooting the mouth off' department (at least!) when in Sagittarius.

But with Venus currently in retrograde....?

You know that old diet joke about how a diet Coke and a candy bar cancel each other out? In real life, this doesn't work so well. But in metaphysics and astrology, the offset of hesitant against hasty can - with a little bit of effort, especially with the natural sextile thrown in, make for not the easiest of times...but with a wee bit of thought, a productive period of time.

Some answers will come quickly. Some, you'll have to wait for. This is not a moment of 'solutions' but it is one for input and exploration of ideas with others...a 'trying things on for size,' we might say.

This is not a mandate. It's an opportunity. So you can turn it down, tune it out and go your own way.

Is that what you want to do?

Oh, questions, questions....!

 The Thinker...by Rodin

CHART USA (Pt. 7): Transits and a Nation in Transit

A map of the United States and Terrirorites

One of the truly useful things about astrology is in the fact that from the time/space map which any natal chart is, we can then look at transits - prescribed angles being struck by celestial objects as they continue their orbital path around the Sun.

For those who wonder why this might be a valid consideration from a scientific point of view, the answer is fairly simple, if entirely metaphysical. Working from the concept that the entirety of Existence is energy (the 'E' in E=mc2'd), then we are each born as manifestations of energy - energy bundles, if you will (shades of kiddihood) - which are 'hallmarked' by the moment and position in that All of Existence-time/space in which we were born. And much like any other 'bundle' of energy, we would be reactive to harmonics as energy frequencies (time/space) marches on.

Those harmonics are created (physically and metaphysically) by the continuing movement and reorientation of time/space as a whole - in which celestial objects are a very convenient set of markers. They do not thus 'do' anything except what all celestial objects do: they move through space, they exude magnetic waves, they disrupt the general field of space-time by moving through it.

Astrology simply reads when those waves reach Earth. And for those who say 'yes, but astrology started back in Babylon' the answer to that would be yes. And obviously back in Babylon, people weren't all that up on Relativity and magnetic resonance and the like.

But we were still human. And one of the great things about human beings is their unceasing curiosity which, when coupled to the human power of observation often leads to great discoveries. (When we're in the mood to be observant, that is.) As it happens, people evidently started observing and correlating movement of celestial objects with things here on Earth back in Babylon. People probably would feel better about astrology if such observations had begun in modern times, but that's not the way it worked. Nor does astrology's origin in antiquity make it any less correct, as discussed in a different blog post touching on some correspondence I had with that most successful and open-minded of planet hunters at CalTech, Mike Brown (link).

In any case, despite the to-be-expected debates among astrologers about transit nuances (what, you think astrologers should debate less among themselves than  politicians, lawyers, clergy and doctors do? Why should we miss out on all the fun?)....despite that, transits remain an interesting and often dispassionately reassuring source of information.

How so reassuring? Well, one of the things about being an astrologer is that you tend to hear from people when they're having a really bad time. And when you're having a really bad time, that bad time is usually marked by a transit which has a beginning and ending date. By giving those dates to a client, I provide them with a sense of when they're going to see 'the light at the end of the tunnel.'

Not that the tunnel always lets out onto their land of milk and honey, mind you - but most people would rather be able to see what they are dealing with rather than stumble along in the dark.

So where are we with Chart USA when it comes to the big and wonderful world of transits?

 
Starting with the broadest of big brush strokes, the karmic and evolutionary powers of transformation (symbolized by Pluto) moved across the IC/Nadir (foundational bottom) degree of this chart in 2002. As discussed elsewhere in this series, the IC degree of the Appomattox chart (17 Sagittarius) is one which displays a native and innocent (rather purist) belief in God - or what one believes in, even if that is a belief in nothing.

That this time corresponds to when the United States began its recent, rapid and highly polarizing/polarized  radicalization with regards to religion(s) is notable. Given this idea, we can also say that this trend will continue until Pluto moves out of the 4th house that the IC serves as cusp to. That will not happen until 2019, so enjoy the debates. 

As of 2006, Pluto also opposed Uranus, a Uranus positioned in the governmental and most worldly house of the chart - the 10th house. For astrologers/readers who time a transit uptick when a major planet comes within the standard 5-degree conjunctive orb, that moves the date back to January of 2004, suggesting that domestic and foreign difficulties ranging from the war in Iraq to governmental disorganization when greeted with the ravages of Hurricane Katrina were part of a more karmic 'shakeup' of the nation.

Uranus - source: NASA

Uranus in the 10th asks a government not to be too rigid, points to the people's need not to allow their government to be too rigid, too inaccessible, too erratic, too detached from the national mood, or too polarized/polarizing in its politics.

By 2006, a lot of these challenges had become rather obvious. And with Uranus opposition Jupiter in the natal 4th, the division and divisiveness which began in the halls of government and all it was up to would then shift to the people, as Pluto moved on from 26 Sagittarius to 28 Sagittarius, conjuncting Jupiter.

Jupiter - source: NASA

As with all things astrological, there are pluses and minuses to everything. Depending on your politics, you saw the election of Barack Obama as either a big improvement or a wholesale detriment. Whatever it was on a purely political basis however, Obama's election (and the very serious bid Hillary Clinton made in that election) did represent a clear 'broadening' of the public view on presidential politics. With this being neither a  referendum on good or bad, it is wholly Jupiterian, since Jupiter represents 'expansion' and in the house of the people denoted the 'expanding' of the popular and populace point of view.

Currently, Pluto is in the process of opposing the national 5 Cancer Mars, a symbol fraught with disruptive energy when not used in a truly universal manner - the United States' 'We the People' credo. With this transit having ratcheted into full effect in May 2010 (and running through October of 2011) its 'orb effects' where witnessed as soon as Pluto entered Capricorn.

Interestingly, given Pluto's yearly retrograde patterns, Pluto first entered Capricorn in late January 2008, just after political caucusing had begun to greatly thin down the list of candidates. As Pluto turned direct during September in the midst of a crumbling economic situation, the nation prepared to head off to the polls in early November. Duly elected if not yet sworn in, Obama's team began taking over the reins of power as Pluto committed to its transit of Capricorn in late November and the GW Bush administration appeared to have all but left the field.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, symbol of populace and economics. With the Moon of this Chart USA also at 5 degrees, it is no wonder that the people and American government are entrenched in a debate of economics and citizens rights. From immigration to health care to national debt and so on, we can expect these heated debates to continue through October 2011, and the discussions involved therein not to be even half-way sorted out until December of 2013. 

With all of this noted however, one thing is good to know: given how the IC of any chart represents one of its biggest tests, Pluto's passage over this point tells us the United States is moving through its most internally volatile period to be seen in the roughly 150 years since the nation was re-birthed, rising like a Phoenix from the ashes of the Civil War. (Which is a very 8th house image and thus much in keeping with a national 8th house Sun!)

Yet there is no question that the US is really hard up. The Appomattox chart shows a natal Saturn in the 2nd house of talents, abilities, resources and the national coffer. This is clearly a 'what you earn you reap' symbol. Not only that, but natal Saturn sits in a grand trine with Uranus in 10 and Juno in the 6th house of employees, jobs, health, civil servants and the military.

A computer-generated image-map of Pluto - source: NASA

This means that when Pluto first started afflicting Uranus, it also began afflicting the whole Uranus-Saturn-Juno system. So we shouldn't be surprised to look back and track the roots of fiscal (Saturn) problems which entangle everything from military expenditures to health care to Wall Street, big oil and the rest of it back to that time. Saturn moved across the national Vesta (service) potently placed behind the Ascendant as the economy collapsed and rolled across that Ascendant on November 2nd, 2008 (a day before the Presidential election).

That would make the election a Saturn call for dealing with the public's economy, recalling pundits tossing around the slogan 'it's the economy, stupid!' Beyond that, it would also say that everybody would be highly disgruntled no matter who was President during the period Saturn was to transit the national 1st house. This having begun on Election Day 2008, it will continue until August 2014.

Currently, the whole of the nation is highly disgruntled and about to get even more so: with Pluto squaring the national Moon and opposition its willful (loudmouth) Mars by long-term transit, Saturn is also posed to square Mars on September 8th and conjunct the Moon on September 14th. (Those who are political junkies may also want to mark their calendars for September 27 and 28, when the Sun reaches 5 Libra, setting these transits off.)

Having moved into the national 6th house of health-work/jobs-service in May 2007, Neptune's continuing presence in this house until somewhat after 2050 suggests the United States is in a period of long term discussion and development of its own understanding of what the term 'universal' means. And what it doesn't or even can't mean to a nation. Nations have boundaries - Neptune doesn't.

 Neptune - source: NASA

This isn't an easy question, though in time the United States is likely to invest in tougher standards for citizenry and foreign aid. Why? Both reasons come down to the Mars/Ixion/Uranus sandwich in the national 10th house. For one, no nation can be in all places. Secondly, other nations don't think the way the United States does. The US is likely to get very sulky as it concludes (reluctantly) conclude that they don't get to play (Cancer) parent to the world (amidst grumbles about other nations acting like ungrateful Ixion children). Yet in the end, the nation will either pull itself back within its own boundaries or like the mythic Ixion, get roasted for sticking its nose into something totally and entirely none of its business.

It rather gets back to the boundary thing: like many parents, the US wants to protect the whole world. This is emblematic and symptomatic; parents are supposed to be models of behavior which children emulate - a nation which demonstrates war-like behaviors should not be surprised that the world and its own youth pay more attention to winning than the quality of life.

More rough waters are expected in the short run as Uranus moves through the early degrees of Aries, squaring the Cancer Mars and opposing the national  Moon.

We've already felt the entrees of these effects as Uranus hit Aries in late May 2010; considering this is Uranus in action, the center of the dispute is governmental, whether domestic or international. These transits will come into full force as of April 2012 and extend through February 2013, suggesting among other things that the next Presidential election cycle will make this last one look like afternoon tea in the Queen's most secure, demure study.

These being only the most sweeping of broad brush strokes we could go on endlessly, defining and refining transits to this chart for the United States as a modern nation forged and essentially reforged at the end of the Civil War. Just to note that the calamity most people know simply as 'Deepwater Horizon' was marked to the day by a Venus return to the Appomattox chart shows how accurate the chart is.

As this series started out, between all the intriguing explorations of the chart has remained the essential question: what is the real chart for the United States of America? Astrologers have been debating this one for at least the thirty years I've been involved in astrology and probably for more than that.

It seems pretty astonishing to this researcher that no one ever stepped back and took the time to think of the nation not in terms of where it started out (working forward), but as the nation it is today. Starting from today, working back through the tale of years, there is only one point at which the nation came apart. That's what defines a national chart - a nation which comes together and is forged from disparate parts.

During the time these blogs have been being posted, I've heard from astrologers protesting that the Union never accepted the Confederacy's breaking away. To my thinking, that simply doesn't matter. The Confederacy was enough of an entity to have its own legal tender, it's own government, its own standing army, its own constitution and other nations recognizing its existence (though granted, they dallied with whether they wanted to go public on that score.) What more can anyone ask? So what if the North didn't like it - that's why the war got fought.

 Cemetery at Shiloh National Military Park

 
Ask a hard core southerner whether the nation fractured. You'll get chapter and verse on how it did - and by some, why that was a very good idea. 

As a researcher, the feelings can't matter. What has to be accepted are the facts. In this case, the South ceded and created its own nation. The North invaded, conquered, and subdued its former territories.

The chart which came out of that was the chart erected for General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant in a little borrowed farm house in Appomattox, Virginia. The date was April 9, 1865 - the time (as near as we can make it) was 3:53 pm, which produces the following chart for the United States of America as the nation which exists today.

Chart USA 

April 9, 1865 - 3:53pm - Appomattox Court House, VA

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Astronomy vs. Astrology: Two Sides of a Universal Coin

 

  A sunset photo of the Moon, Venus (at left) and 

ESO's Very Large Telescope platform

(photo credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky, April 2010)

The astrology we know today (western/tropical and Vedic) basically began back in ancient Babylon. As yet, there was no science - so astronomy. Not yet.

Astrology was as good as it got - and astrology was a natural way to think in that world where people were still so much a part of the land and at the mercy of its seasons and cycles. You needed to know when to plant and all that. So if Venus rising in a certain place meant the rain was on the way - that was a good thing to know. This shift in thinking had begun when and because people stopped wandering around, choosing instead to choose a place, put down roots and establish  'civilization' (Note please that I said civilization, not civilized). 

It was really one of the BIG steps in human history. Along with figuring out how to roast coffee and make chocolate, in my book. But hey...that may be just me.

As for astrology, its roots go back to about the 4,000 BCE mark, which was when Egyptians began using 'dog star' Sirius as a seasonal marker for tha all-important Nile flood which helped them not starve. And natal astrology? Natal astrology as we know it seems to have come into being somewhere around 700 BCE - in Babylon.

But science didn't start until philosophical early Greeks decided to separate fact from conjecture - a process which started around the year 500 BCE. And which yes, we might say is still being worked on today.

Or not worked on, depending.

Whatever on that score, 500 BCE seems to be about when Greeks like Herodotus started hitching up their togas to sit and have a little serious ponder over a plate of olives and feta cheese. Those Egyptians...they're SO into divination. There must be some facts behind what happens, no? 

And with the discarding of an olive pit and such pithy words, thus was science born.

But that's not to say that astrology was - or is - bunk. Far from it!

A year (maybe two) ago I had a little exchange of emails with one of the fabulous planet hunters at Caltech. If you haven't realized by now (either from what I write here or at Daykeeper Journal) I'm very into science - and more on that in a minute.

The guy I had this exchange with is named Mike Brown - who has a nifty circular (Mike Brown's Planets), and his own well deserved page on Wikipedia. 

(That's it for the links - I promise!)

Anyway, the point I made to the masterful Mike Brown is that back in Babylon, one of his ancestors was probably standing in the public square watching one of my ancestors rhapsodizing enthusiastically (and one hopes, eloquently) about the Moon and the tides. So I was standing there...as I had stood there so many times, and I said to myself....Moon....tides....Moon...tides. 

Moon...TIDES? YES, YES! MOON...TIDES! They're CONNECTED! 

At this, Mike's ancestor probably heaved a heavy sigh. Oh how looney is SHE? 

Of course by now we know that the Moon does influence Earth's tides. It just took science a couple of thousand years to catch up. So just because we don't know how something works doesn't mean it doesn't work.

But science is catching up. A year or two ago now, someone lovable scientific type (I think they were connected with Hawaii's Keck telescope team, but maybe not...)....he proposed an experiment regarding Relativity.

You know, that Einstein thing.

Now don't go rolling your eyes at me...I'm not going all obscurely scientific and dense here. Basically the idea is that the speed of light has been calculated. That's a 'known.' And Relativity says that large objects (say, a planet...or even better, a star) have such giant mass and gravity (and maybe even gravitas?) that they can literally bend the path of light and thus alter the apparent speed of light. 

So...how to test this? Well, since we have this handy-dandy star (the Sun) hanging around out there, this science type proposed 'bouncing' a laser beam off Mercury just when the relative positions of Earth, Sun and Mercury would make the straight line between Earth and Mercury zip barely past the very, very, hot edge of said Sun. Theoretically, this should make the light bend, since we KNOW how super gigundo the Sun is (and if you don't know, check yesterday's blog photo).

So okay...there's a pow-wow, the experiment gets approved, the distance from Earth to Mercury (and back) gets calculated and translated into light-time - then at the appropriate moment, the experiment is begun.

And....voila! The Sun's super-deluxe mass did indeed 'bend' the light beam, increasing the amount of time it took that laser to hit Mercury and - 'boing!' - bounce back to Earth.

But what this proves astrologically, and that it proves an astrological premise thousands of years old? That's a whole other thing! And also true!

What do I mean? I mean that the exact moment of that experiment - with it's positioned line-of-site between Earth and Mercury just barely ootching past the Sun...That's what a Mercury station is. And the 'bend' in the light noted by the scientists is exactly what astrologers have been metaphorically saying about Mercury stations since....well, pretty much since ancient Babylon.

By the by here...Mike Brown doesn't dislike astrology. He just sees it as an 'inner' science....(at least so far. Though you never know...he may be reading this blog and be going maybe so...maybe so...) After our correspondence he made yet another comment about astrologers in his circular, saying that if you want information on human effects, that's astrology and not astronomy (in other words, don't ask him).

But that he isn't above your asking an astrologer a question is a substantial and large deal. And one which suggests that the real problem with astrology is that astrologers have themselves not taken the time and such to treat astrology as a science. We're getting there - and  we need to get there, because if E=mc2'd is a true-ism, then the universe seen and unseen is contiguous. You, me, the doorknob, dog star Sirius and planet Neptune, we are all made of the same stuff and at some very intrinsic level, a continuum.

To me, this makes the question of what makes us different not merely about DNA or molecular makeup but far more essential: how is it that we think we are separated and separate? To quote Yul Brynner in The King and I,  'tis a puzzlement.

People ask me about Pluto having been 'demoted' as a planet and I always respond with what one smart-ass astrologer came up with in the moment: who's going to tell Pluto?

Funny? Yes. But beyond that is the fact that astrology shouldn't ignore science. If the universe is contiguous (which it is), then all parts of our life are not only connected within us - hence why our mentality affects our health and vice versa. But it becomes even more than that. If the universe is contiguous, then it's completely logical to see time/space evolution in generational connections and individual lifetimes in positions of what would therefore be the clockwork manifesting of Existence: the planets and every other manner of celestial object.

And if that is true, each and every piece of that Existence - including the spacing of and all such - has meaning in itself, and to us. What it is, how it works, its cycles, its composition, its rotation, and its associations with other objects is not just valid, it's important.

This is why when I write about objects like Typhon, Sisyphus and Damocles (okay, so I wasn't done with the links...) ...when I consider or write about them, I take into account their physical nature and whatever their cycles and orbital paths tell us. If a Kuiper Belt object comes in as far as Uranus but not as far as Saturn, that says something. If Neptune as a planet controls the orbits of certain objects (the Plutinos) but not others (KBOs and SDOs) that means something. 

Astrology should care - because to not care is not just to ignore facts about objects out there in space, but to also not care about our lives and existence as human beings.

That's the other side of nature being totally contiguous: the responsibility which goes with being an astrologer - or human being - rests with us.