Astrologer's Note: Aurora Colorado Shooting

We are all incredibly saddened by events in Colorado.

May peace be with those who have passed, their families, and those traumatized by being forced to witness such terrible doings.

As someone who has dealt with PTSD for the whole of my life, I feel for all who must now face finding a voice to grieve with, some way to find faith in life's continuance. Once human beings betray our trust so completely, it's incredibly difficult to even find enough will to reach out...as much as you may desperately want to do exactly that.

To all those who are hurting, who are grieving, I wish for you a sense of safety and peace. Here's hoping there's someone in your life that you love, someone with whom you have solid, existent bonds with that will allow you to feel secure in their arms.

The data on this torrid tragedy will take time to properly assemble. Until then, I will tender no astrological comments.

I will however, note how horribly ironic this shooting really was. The core mythos which is Batman is about a man who when a child, saw his parents murdered. He grows up and out of a desperate but very human desire to feel safety, almost joins the darkness.

But at the critical moment, he can't.

Instead he takes everything that he's learned through watching the ways of evil and tries to turn it to good.

Yet he cannot be an innocent, happy person like his friends are. Not all the money in the world can buy Bruce Wayne peace or human happiness. He lives in a netherworld, probably understanding more about the visceral evil of the 'bad guys' than the innocent of all which is good.

He knows who he is. He also knows - intellectually - who he could have been but will never be because of the cruelty of human beings.

He's not psychotic as some say, he's someone struggling to overcome trauma. He doesn't really know any other life; he grew up being traumatized. No one can tell him to just 'let go of it' because there's nothing to let go of, there's nothing else to be.

I will hope that for those who were in that theater in Aurora there is a 'letting go' of this horror. Since I will guess they were all teenagers or older, there's a better chance for them than some. I hope they get help, I hope they have patient, loving, tolerant friends and family to talk to.

But it will take time. Most of us will have long moved on to other things before they're half way into grappling with this singularly damaging event.

For that, I'm sorry. I know how long it can take.

I truly pray that they give themselves time, that they keep trying - for however long it takes.

I also hope that those around them love them in spite of all their conflicts, their bad nights, their fears. If there's anything worse than the initial cruelty incalculable, its being told that you don't shouldn't cry...That you shouldn't 'hold onto' something you have no way of letting go of...That you're 'not trying' because people around you are 'tired' of a trauma you didn't ask to encounter in the first place.

The truth of this Batman irony is that in a sense, Bruce Wayne has the right idea with his wanting to face the bats which as a child became a symbol of his terror in the time surrounding his parent's murder. Real trauma can never be simply 'forgotten.' At some point you have to face your own valley of darkness.

That 'darkest before the dawn' theory was made for survivors of trauma.

And we each must find our own way.

To all those concerned, my most heartfelt thoughts are with you and yours.

Peace be with you...may peace be with us all.

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Prompted by Pluto

 ,

 ..

This photo of Pluto's system taken in 2005 by the Hubble

 Telescope has just been...well, usurped as the 'real deal'

information on Pluto. (photo credit: Hubble Space

Telescope Pluto Companion Search Team)

 ..

 ..

 .

..

There's an ongoing conversation both inside the astrological community and among those who read astrology.

It pretty much amounts to a discussion of everything which the late (and great) astrologer Marion March called 'gravel.'

Gravel, you say?

Yes, gravel. That was Marion's standard reference commentary on the idea of using asteroids, comets and other such small celestial objects in astrology.

Personally, I belong to the metaphysical camp which says this: if anything counts...it all counts. So we can't just say that planetary positions are informational and asteroids don't count.

If anything counts, it all counts.

Nowhere is this debate easier to pin down than with reference to Pluto. Originally deemed a planet, Pluto became something close to an astrological obsession - which yes, does pretty much go with Pluto's standard keyword list ('obsession' is always right near the top of said list!).

Then Pluto got...(perish the thought)...demoted. When this happened, 99% of the astrological community simply shrugged. Pluto is Pluto - it's astrological meaning hasn't changed.

Which just proves my point. There are objects out there (Eris, for instance) which are bigger than Pluto. So it all should count, right? 

If you're a reader of this blog, chances are you're already in the same camp of thinking that I am. Otherwise you have a penchant for irritation, which isn't my affair. On this blog we're just looking at how Existence works - we aren't going to be cherry picking, unless we're heading into the kitchen to make a pie.

Into all this came a new wrinkle in the informational bedsheets: a missive brought to us all by the exuberant at NASA, who have evidently been out playing with their Hubble Space Telescope again.

(I so wish I had a toy like Hubble!)

What Hubble has found is another moon orbiting Pluto, bringing the total to five.

LINK to...

'Fifth Moon Discovered Around Pluto' 

(NASA's "Science News" edition for July 13, 2012)

.

Regarding this article, my favorite line is where the writer refers to Pluto's collective moons as something akin to a set of Russian nesting dolls. I had a set of same as a child and still have a fondness for them.

Yes, what else is new.

 A 'crowd' of Matryoshkas (Russian nesting dollars)

 checking out the goings on in a marketplace in Kiev

(photo credit Grzegorz Polak, September 2006)

But this got me to thinking.

..

Contemplation du Jour: is it possible that the moons of a planet, dwarf planet (or other object) has, and the NATURE of those moons...how they orbit, their geological makeup...is it possible that those are real-time, science-definable indicators (and/or maybe even partial generators) of effects noted by astrology?

Then came the corollary to same...

Contemplation du Jour, Part Deux: does a physical connection between planet and planetoid (or other object) increase the metaphysical influence of both on a geometric scale?

,,

That the structure of our solar system is a metaphysical reflection of not just astrological effects, but the  macro-micro construction of all life (including our individual and collective lives)...to me, that seems pretty evident.There's only one Existence and the patterns are way consistent (quack, quack, quack...).

What I'm not going to say here is that there's only one universe, as I suspect physics will in time come to some grandly mind-boggling equation about multiple 'dimensions' beyond the three we see (corresponding to height, width, depth) and the one we don't see (time).

(Thus the term 'time/space' for All Which Is...which only begs the question 'what about all which isn't?')

That's a whole other issue, that 'isn't' stuff.

Getting back to this universe and this solar system in particular...there do seem to be particular segments of 'clockwork gearing' which cause astrologers and astrology fans alike seem to quiver at a bit. Obviously everyone has their personal weak points and all, but in my years as Local AstroSorceress (which amounts to several decades now, as shocking as that seems) I'll go with Pluto, Neptune and Uranus as the top three whinge-whine-shriek-protest-agony-psychodrama production points.

(Personal sound effects yea or nay are welcome.)

My point here is that more people who know a bit about astrology come to me wanting a professional consultation because they know these points are currently active than anything else. And more people who don't know astrology per se, but do know their lives are at a crossroads (or in a mess) come to me and we find that these three points (natally or in transit) are more often activating their chart than not.

Yes, I do get some Saturn skulkers and sulkers. Many of us don't like the Saturn Schedule life seems to have us on. But I seldom get a client come to me complaining about their Saturn (or Saturn-type issues) without further investigation revealing that Pluto, Uranus or Neptune is tangled up in the moment.

So back to that moon thing.

As of now, we know Pluto has five moons. And what about the other planets? Well, at current count, Uranus has 27 moons. And the current count for Neptune is thirteen moons, including the truly bizarre Triton.

(More on Triton in a moment.)

Meanwhile, the current number for Jupiter is sixty-six moons...and Saturn - as it turns out - is the granddaddy of them all in the Moon Department with some 200 moons, of which only some 50-plus have names.

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 Two of Saturn's many, many moons...here we see Dione and 

Titan (note: not Triton, which is a moon of Neptune).

(photo credit: NASA-JPL-SSI, color composite by Emily Lakdawalla)

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Then there are the inner planets. Mars has two moons, Venus and Mercury have no moons and Earth of course, has one moon - our much beloved Luna Moon.

There being the well-developed concept of the inner planets (plus one star and one satellite) being astrology's 'personal realm' everything inside the asteroid belt (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus Mars) may be excused from this contemplation as they are 'us' (so to speak) and therefore less about what 'affects' us.

Beyond the asteroid belt we have Jupiter and Saturn. Known as the 'generational' or 'building' pair, they are about what we do...our efforts to grow our lives (Jupiter) and to get somewhere with same (Saturn).

Saturn defines the extent of our 'personal reach' in life because Saturn is the planet farthest from Earth that we can see with our duly naked eyes.

(Which brings up a whole set of questions about far sightedness and near sightedness, don't you think? Evidently far more people are near sighted than far sighted. What does that say about humans as a group?)

So that Saturn has its bucket-load (plus) of moons seems pretty much on target. Saturn represents that which we build, the 'rules' by which we have to build, the tasks and responsibilities we have in life and our  achievements and limits.

Saturn also refers to everything we block out and all of the places we 'won't go.' (Or don't go, depending.) 

This makes Saturn and its 200 moons seems something like building blocks we can work with, and that with which we build a fence.

Without question, Saturn represents everything which those who concentrate on their daily life deal with daily. That there are astrologers out there who to this day don't want to deal with any object - planet-sized or otherwise - beyond Saturn says a lot about what kind of hold daily reality has on many folks.

Some of us, however, like to explore. We like to postulate and think about the workings of life. We want to know the why that is what it is and not just what it is.

And let's be real here...those who want to only deal with everyday reality are still subject to that which happens beyond their wrapper and bow. If there's a hurricane and they live in its path, they're going to get swamped. If war breaks out, they may well be subject to it.

They have obsessions and vulnerabilities too. In fact, though I haven't looked at the chart of the one person in my life at present who holds to this 'everything beyond Saturn has no effect' sort of position, I'm pretty willing to make a bet that the very symbols he denies the effect of are, in his chart, representing his denial.

Yeah, that would be pretty much how it works.

So back to the subject of moons....(continuing of postulation): Is it possible that as science comes to better understand the physical nature and physics of celestial moons that metaphysicians will better understand how they translate as astrological attributes?

And...

Is it possible that the OPERATIONAL mechanisms of our solar system contribute to the strengths noted as astrological effects in the chart and in transit?


This last seems particularly noteworthy since with 200 moons, there's no doubt but that Saturn takes the...uh...moon cake.

This is also where I get back to Neptune...and hence, Triton. When Pluto got "demoted," that left Neptune as the last 'true' planet in our solar system. Neptune (or more to the point, Neptune's orbit) would seem to be the dividing line between everything we can know and that which is unknown as a conscious mechanism.

Things Kuiper Belt are things we embody. Or things we experience which become motivational and then we embody them. But as active 'it's in my head' sort of 'I can get hold of it' sorts of things...that doesn't seem so apt with KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects). About the best we can do is gain awareness. And yes, that counts. Once aware, we can 'catch' ourselves in that mode and not do 'that.'

But the mode, the attribute, the tendency still exists.

The KBO list includes many an illustrious object. There's Eris, Sedna, Deucalion, Chaos, Haumea, Ixion, Huya and...yes...Pluto.

And literally hundreds (if not thousands) of others.

But Neptune IS the last full-fledged planet out there. So Neptune stands as the illusion versus the ideal...that we know or think we know against the dream, the exultation, the faith which rewards us and the reality which disappoints us. With Neptune we know...but do we know for sure?

Furthermore, the Pluto of our obsessions - that Pluto is physically (and therefore metaphysically) controlled by Neptune. And this is where we get into a discussion of why Neptune appears to 'spin off' its' Neptune 'now you believe it, now you don't' effects. Every one of the objects controlled by Neptune (known collectively as Plutinos) seem to have a magnetic allure - pro AND con - in our lives.

And that seems to make sense when we look at the 'operational Neptune' as a planet...particularly with regards to Neptune's most major moon, Triton.

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 Neptune's Moon Triton as photographed by Voyager

 (photo credit: NASA-JPL, August 1998)

 

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Triton is the only moon in our solar system known to orbit in retrograde motion (that is to say, in the opposite direction that it's planet turns). To those of you into electricity, this may well remind you of how electricity gets generated.

And what do we get from such generation? Electricity aside, we get electro-magnetic fields.

So...does Triton's retrograde orbit around Neptune 'generate' its 'parent planet's ability to control the orbits of all those Plutinos through that which science calls 'magnetic resonance'?

More to the point here, does this explain to us why we seem to be challenged to work 'against' our nature when it comes to all things Neptunian OR Plutinonian?

(Yes, I just coined that word. If you have a better version, contact me.) 

Does this explain why objects like Neptune and Pluto (and the rest of the Plutinos) represent things which have such a powerful affect on and in our lives?

We are attracted to such things as if magnetized by them. The power of power and the illusions of power and the power we so would like to have over life - ours, and maybe everybody else's.

Why and how this all works is a gorgeous, glorious puzzle. And I'm going to hazard a guess that until we know more about Triton and other planetary moons (and have the software with which to explore same), we may never have an answer as to why these things work as they do.

When I hear people why money should be invested in national space programs (here in the US and elsewhere) my answer is this: so we can better understand the nature of Nature and thus, ourselves.

Somewhere out there, in the totality of what's out there lie the informational nuances which explain why humans are the way we are.

For now I will postulate that Plutinos are powerful because they are not just 'of themselves' but a 'systemic energy' which involves not just the Plutino object, but also Neptune.

And by inference, all these other Plutino objects.

I once described Neptune as a 'veil' between all we know clearly and all we will never understand fully. Combined with all the Plutino orbits, this would seem to be a set of billowing veils beyond which all is not quite clear.

It is rather dream-like.

So this news about Pluto...what does it mean? Pluto itself is not such a large object - it's less than 20% the size of Earth. And now that we have one more moon in Pluto's garland, that gives us greater awareness of Plutonic complexity and our tendency to act out in Plutonic ways.

Or with Plutonic insight. That's one of the really interesting qualities of the Pluto-Neptune connective. Together they seem to draw us into situations by which we learn. Anyone who has ever gone through infatuation or a torrid love affair knows the tale. Anyone who has built an empire only to have it crumble beneath their feet knows this cycle.

In the end, these are our processes of learning we're talking about. Knowledge is Power is probably the most Neptune-Pluto statement which is out there.

And it's ours to know, so long as we will focus not on 'them' but on our Self.

Through a good long swath of the 1900s (starting back around 1944, late in WWII), Pluto and Neptune traveled in a 'transiting sextile.' They were always in sextile, whether pleasantly or otherwise. That began to waver a little towards the end of the 1980s, but it wasn't until the mid-90s that these two really parted ways.

What this speaks to is the idea that everybody born with this transiting sextile in their natal chart has an opportunity to harness those two things: knowledge and power.

Given the nature of sextiles, this also means that those born with this configuration are actually less likely to summon themselves to try.

Sextiles are opportunities, yes. But they do not compel, no, not even when Pluto is involved.

As for those born after the Neptune/Pluto sextile broke apart, we would assume there would be a more free-wheeling mentality to their seeking throughout life.

Then again, if we look at history (particularly social and economic history) since the mid-90s, this could be good and this could be bad. One of the signature of Neptune-Pluto connectives seems to be that of caring for others and a sense of inner conscience.

And now that we know Pluto has five moons, that may well be the sign that we need to know more about what impels...and compels us. The need to know...the desire to have...the concept of stewardship which means we have to give a gosh about someone other than our own even to the extent of caring about what kind of a world 'our own' are going to inherit...?

It all seems tied up in this sort of thinking.

Now you know what I do on a day when NASA sends out one of it's fun little missives. Welcome to my world!

/

 

 Perhaps the most spectacular photograph of Saturn ever taken,

this image was taken by spacecraft Cassini when it was on the

 'back side' of Saturn and in position to create what we would refer

 to as an 'eclipse of Saturn' with the Sun directly

 behind the ringed planet.

(photo credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech)

From An Astrologer’s Notebook

When I looked up 'Golden American Cocker Spaniel' this

photo came up, and it does look a lot like my friend

Barnaby did about a decade ago.

photo credit: Ryan Johnson (January 2007)

A friend of mine died today. His name was Barnaby, and he had four very furry feet, a sweet disposition, fluffy body, endearing gaze and a very wiggly tail.

‘B’ as he was known to his family and probably everybody else (including me) was a Cocker Spaniel. People who know me know that even though disabled, here and there I’ve looked after people’s pets when they go away. There are a lot of pets which frankly, I don’t want to take care of. But B and his Siamese cat ‘wife’ Kiki, they’ve been my friends for many, many years now.

Their ‘mom’ and I have often joked that as both kitty and pup have grown older they seemed more and more like an old couple sitting on the bench in the park…loving and entirely used to each other’s little irritating habits, they were seldom far away from each other to the last.

When I went to the house…it was a beautiful, sunny day. The garden was alive with blooming roses, the air gently cool but filled with warming promise.

Then I walked out onto the back patio. It was quiet. Too quiet. Barnaby had been old and stiff for some time now, but something was different.

The minute I got to the gazebo looking for my friends I heard Kiki calling me from amidst the greenery. Her call sounded odd and she circled – undecided – before she came over to get her velvet coat petted and a little ear scratch.

But then she raised her blue eyes and looked straight at me. I knew something was wrong.

It didn’t take me long to find him and I knew she had watched her life-long friend and companion die, helpless against that moment which in time finds us all.

I burst out crying. Anyone would. We cry when our loved ones die whether they be human, animal or for many of us, tree or plant. I wrote his parents a note despite the fact we talked on the phone back and forth, they as upset as I was and the father doing his best to reassure me as from hundreds of miles away they tried to marshal who needed to come help with all.

What I wrote them was a note about how none of us are good with death…and how I’ve been told I deal with it less well than some. I don’t begrudge myself that…I grew up spending the first 14 years of my life watching my sister die inch by inch by gasping inch of Cystic Fibrosis. I don’t think I’ve ever quite processed her life…or death fully. She died on the day Bobby Kennedy was shot. It was a gruesome, ironic 24 hours. When the family funeral cortege went through town people came out on the sidewalks to wave little American flags at the line of shiny black limos. I guess they thought we were the Kennedys.

Gemini always looms large when death occurs in my life. It doesn’t make sense until I think in terms of Jupiter. Great big red Jupiter…growth, learning, leaving: Jupiter. Oddly enough, this planet often thought of astrologically so ‘all things good’ can also signal ‘all things overwhelming’ and even being ‘overcome’ by life’s processes.

It’s to remember…Jupiter and Saturn orbit as a celestial pair: there’s a ‘gap’ between Mars and Jupiter and another between Saturn and Uranus. Together, Jupiter and Saturn represent the initiation and building of structures and lives…and the decline and end, too.

But one thing alone never signifies death. That’s an astrological rule. The coming eclipse will affect my Jupiter as July’s eclipse will hit my IC. I’m not joyous, no. Yet being a believer in doing and using the time and energy given me, I do what I do and have faith all will be as it should be.

As for my little golden friend with his paddy paws and wiggling tail, he isn’t going to see the heat of summer he disliked so much. His allergies won’t bug him any more. He off being a puppy now in some other space.

And his family, his friends like me, his velvet coated wife cat Kiki…we will all miss him desperately.

Yet maybe because we do, we will value our own lives a little bit more. Maybe we will treasure the time, and treasure our gifts, and work out to some slightly better degree how much time we should take for ourselves and our pleasures and how much we should devote to using our gifts to leave this world a little better…maybe sadder in some ways but touched and enhanced…for our having been here.

Like Barnaby.

I wrote a little poem for him a couple of years back. His parents liked it. Maybe you will too.

The Prince of Fetch

Boots Hart / c. 2007

A very fetching prince the Prince of Fetch is

In a garden of roses is where the Prince lives,

On golden paddy paws he tours the

Brick realm which is his,

Yes, a fine and kindly Prince 

The Prince of Fetch is

So handsome and gentle as ever a Prince was,

The softly silent type who coveys all with a nudge,

Neither obtrusive or rude,

He earns everyone’s love

Yes the charming Prince of Fetch is as

Fetching a Prince as 

Ever was

Whilst surveying his kingdom, the Prince smiles,

Knowing his people will return in but a

wee, little while

With a yawn and quick scratch,

He sprawls out for a nap,

Yes the serene Prince of Fetch

Smiles first, and smiles last

  

So few hear his bark and not one feels his bite,

Though mellow now with years, yon Prince has

Always been sweet, fetchingly nice

Born to enjoy the grace of a

pampered puppy Prince life, 

He carry the ball and  

Comes in when day becomes night

O, a very fetching prince the Prince of Fetch is

In a garden or roses is where the Prince lives

A velvet treat for all, he

Scampers broad castle halls

Keeping track of all important

Keeping an eye on one and all

 

Just because…

 

As lovable a Prince as anyone’s seen ever

(or since),

Yes, the charming Prince of Fetch is as

Fetching a Prince as

Ever could be

Or ever was

Of that, I'm convinced.

  

Barnaby died on his birthday.

 

From an Astrologer's Notebook: Venus' Planetary Station

 A digitally altered version of NASA/JPL's photo of Venus

Venus went retrograde last Friday - October 8th. It was an interesting week, listening to people. So much emotional and physical turbulence, confrontations, frustration and bouts with depression (or whatever one found personally 'depressing' to have to deal with).

Friday brought much to a head.

But as Venus actually went into retrograde, personally, I felt the mood begin to lighten. I noticed that my attitudes towards various matters had shifted into a more reflective, cautious mode. My focus turned more towards things in my life which needed preparing for, straightening out (or up) and that which needed to be pruned, repaired or let go of.

With the two-day planetary station "leeway" period ending as of Sunday, I was interested - not overjoyed, mind you, but intrigued by a series of events happening in the lives of people I know personally.  Those who had continued to focus on 'others' were taking the hardest 'hits' and finding life more sour.

Those who had shifted from the perspective of Venus as ruler of Libra and the relationship with 'the other' (where we tend to project the most) to a Venus as ruler of Taurus (as oppositional sign to Scorpio, where Venus is now retrograde) were doing better.

And those who by natural inclination are more of the Taurean type who recognizes all comes - first and foremost - from our own self worth, our values and how we utilize our native abilities or inclinations (Taurean resources)...they were already contemplating how to move ahead. Not instantly, but with a plan. By working through a process.

Some of my friends are into astrology, but not all of them. So that this 'trend' to shift towards consideration of personal values, abilities and how all could be worked on or reshaped or put/packaged differently in order to be better received (Scorpio) in the long run...

...As an astrologer, I just find it interesting to see trends and transits at work in the lives of people, companies and governments which plainly have no knowledge of astrology.

It says so much. But does it mean that by knowing you can go from inertia to going full guns with the flip of a mental switch? No! Yet it does suggest something of the 'going with the flow' nature. If you can figure out how to go with the flow in a direction which suits you, you'll expend less energy and get farther in less time, no?

Some of us will use this retrograde to figure out how to do that. Some of us will have life get sufficiently murky or sticky that in spite of our not wanting to change, we get forced to.

And some of us are inclined to realize that the old saw 'wherever you go, there you are' is really true. We can't be satisfied without being basically happy and secure - and it's that security part which is getting tested during this time.

Among other things, Venus retrograde in Scorpio puts us in situations which test our understanding of what 'security' really means to us. A couple of examples:

Some think that's all about money - and for them, maybe it is. But why? What would they feel if they didn't have money?

Some think having someone to love and be loved by is security. What would they feel if they were totally on their own?

Knowing who we would be if we were 'without' and how that affects us, what it suggests we are or aren't comfortable with about ourselves...that's ultimately what Venus retrograde is about.

I hope to help my friends, be there for anyone lost in some patch of personal darkness and do some work on myself. So far I've wrangled my insurance company into stepping up to get my car fixed after an accident over a month ago where I was not at fault. That's plainly their Scorpio-Venus job. But maybe more important to me is that in doing that, I recognized my ability to get one of these corporate megaliths to cooperate with me hasn't vanished just because I left the 9-to-5 workforce.

And that makes me more comfortable with me, setting the stage for me to feel capable to get other things done...wish me luck!

So here's to your Venus retrograde journey being enlightening and empowering, too. I'd also enjoy hearing hear your Venus retrograde stories - as would (I'm sure) other readers of this blog....which much to my surprise is, in less than six months, being read by people on every continent except Antarctica.

(Anyone know anyone working at one of the science stations in Antarctica?)