Monthly Archives: April 2009

More on the transhuman: Autism and savant skills

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Thanks to Rich for this link to an article that confirms what has only been hinted before: that many people with autism possess skills not found in the general population:

Savant-like skills, such as astounding memory, perfect pitch or the ability to multiply very high numbers together, may be much more common among people with autism than previously thought.

A new study of about 100 adults with autism shows that one third have skills that stand out, both in comparison with their other abilities and with the skills of the general population. Previous studies put the prevalence of savantism in autistic people as around 1 in 10.

“People often focus on the things people with autism can’t do,” says Patricia Howlin of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College in London, who led the study. “One of the things our study illustrates is that these are people who do have special skills but they are not being used.”

read more here…

This is a topic of particular fascination to me, and I have for a long time speculated on the connection between autism and the development of a new breed of humans.

One-third of the population is not a hugely significant number, but I think what is more significant is that researchers are beginning to look for positive aspects to the autism phenomenon.  I predict that with more and more research like this, we may discover that the human brain is in fact evolving and changing, and that rather than a disorder, autism is a new modality of consciousness.

For more on the savant/autism connection, check out this amazing interview with Daniel Tammett, a noted savant with Asperger’s who has written two books on the subject including Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant .

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Venus prepares to turn direct – stock market reversal?

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Planets of course do not really change direction and move backward, but astrology studies the motion of the planets from our perspective here on earth which distorts the actual planetary motion but provides accurate astrological data.  When a planet is preparing to change direction, it appears to slow down and come to a standstill, just like a car that is preparing to make a U-turn.  We call that “stationary motion,” and the news of Venus today is that it is “stationary direct.”

The influence of a planet is more powerful when it is stationary,  Venus rules over our values and the power of attraction.  It is in charge of money and wealth and pleasure as well as relationships with others, art and beauty.  Because Venus is associated with wealth and possessions, it has some influence on the stock market (although since the stock market has to do with investing in other people’s money it is also ruled by Pluto, ruler of the 8th house of shared resources).

A look at the history of the New York Stock Exchange over the past couple of months provides some interesting information.  The market dropped suddenly on February 9 at the lunar eclipse in Leo which incorporated the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune and opened up old wounds and fears.

The market continued to drop, with a strong rally beginning on March 6 when Venus turned retrograde.  If historical trends prove true there will be a reversal today, tomorrow or Monday with the direct turn of Venus.

The financial markets are nearly completely dependent upon the optimism of investors, which is why they did so well when Pluto was in optimistic Sagittarius.  In more realistic and dour Capricorn, investors need real results to return to the markets.  The markets rallied yesterday with the conjunction of Mars to Uranus and investors tried through sheer force of will to raise the optimistic bar despite weak economic data.

The turn of Venus direct will also relieve some pressure on our personal relationships and make it easier to move forward in many areas of our lives

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Mel Gibson sued for divorce

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Mel GibsonBack in August of 2006, the image of Mel Gibson underwent a well-publicized breakdown after he was arrested for drunk driving in California and launched into a tirade against Jews.  I profiled Mel at the time:

Gibson has some challenging planetary systems in his chart, including a conjunction of Pluto (power issues) to Jupiter (philosophy and shared values). The combination of these two planets can indicate a person who seeks to impose through power and manipulation (Pluto) their values and ideology (Jupiter) onto others. Mars is conjunct Saturn in Gibson’s chart, both in Scorpio which is ruled by Pluto and deals with issues of power and secrecy. Mars in Scorpio is extremely charismatic and sexy, but conjunct Saturn, which tends to be more repressive, it often doesn’t find its full expression. The combination of Mars with Saturn can indicate a frustrated individual who is unable to activate the assertive urge of Mars, it’s like driving with the brakes on.

These combinations create a huge challenge as they constantly conflict and create a buildup of energy that needs to be released. Gibson’s films have provided this release for him; they have tended to portray characters who are tortured emotionally and face physical abuses in order to attain their noble goals. Evidently Mel Gibson has battled alcoholism throughout his career as he attempted to keep these emotional challenges in check.

Everyone now knows that Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving in Malibu California on July 28, and that the transcript of the arrest record shows that Gibson is currently experiencing a transit of Pluto in square to his Midheaven. The Midheaven is the point of highest aspiration in the birthchart; it also shows how our life is played out in the public eye. This cycle began for Gibson back in December and is currently in the second phase of the cycle. The television film on the Holocaust which was announced when Pluto first aspected Gibson’s Midheaven has now, during the second phase, been canceled. The last phase of this cycle will take place in December, coinciding with the release of his next film Apocalypto (since Pluto rules death and rebirth, this is perfectly symbolic).

The current scandal over Gibson’s remarks in the current climate of religious conflict has already affected his career (Pluto transiting the Midheaven), but it may create an environment for him where real transformation can take place, and I suspect that what we are seeing is only the tip of the iceberg. But in the Midheaven, particularly since he is a public person, that transformation will take place squarely in the public eye.

What wasn’t so well-known is that Mel and his wife separated on August 26 of 2006, shortly after his arrest.  According to a family insider, Mel had been depressed beginning in the summer of 2005, but by early 2006 his alcohol addiction had returned.  These dates correspond exactly to a transit of Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth, in a challenging square to the Midheaven of Mel’s chart that describes his career and public persona, and also to the Nadir of the chart which represents our home life.  The final phase of that cycle came in August when the separation occurred.

This is no doubt a painful time for Mel.  The triple conjunction of Chiron, Jupiter and Neptune, which is creating some emotional pain for many people, is exactly square to that combination of Mars and Saturn in his chart and he is no doubt experiencing a level of powerlessness that he has not felt before.  Transiting Saturn is exactly square to the Nodes of the Moon in his chart which point the direction of our evolutionary growth, showing that this is an extremely important time for him to find his way.  He also has a number of challenging transits of Jupiter which indicate that his ego is likely to be challenged and that the liberation that he is experiencing may not be exactly what he is looking for.

It’s also interesting that Mel and Robyn are in the 28th year of their marriage, which is a Saturn cycle.  There is some evidence that marriages run in the same 7-year cycles (hence the 7-year itch) as human development, and so this is the Saturn return for their marriage.

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More on Pirates: The Original Rebels

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In the astrological language, Uranus is the planet of rebellion and revolution against the establishment.  The more repressive the establishment, the more radical the rebellious behavior becomes.  Yesterday I wrote about modern piracy being signified by the current opposition between Saturn, representing the repressive establishment, and Uranus, the rebel.

Johann Hari has an interesting article that has been widely published over the past few days called “You are being lied to about pirates”:

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied – and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls “one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century”.

They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed “quite clearly – and subversively – that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy.” This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves.

The words of one pirate from that lost age, a young British man called William Scott, should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: “What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirateing to live.” In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas. …

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the “pirates” have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence”

read more here...

This view of pirates is a depiction of Uranian characters who seek social and economic revolution, rather than being motivated through greed.  When you are starving and desperate, and all around you are wealthy trading vessels, the raiding of those ships becomes a means to feed your family and community rather than an act of terrorism.  It is said “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” and in the battle between Saturn and Uranus those lines are more clearly drawn.

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Saturn/Uranus and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism

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This is disturbing news, but not surprising in light of the increased polarization of the Saturn/Uranus period during which rebellious attitudes of Uranus face off against the established order of the Saturnian status quo:

Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report to law enforcement officials.

The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in “recruitment and radicalization activity” by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name.

And it’s not just in the US.  European countries are becoming more and more vocal in their opposition to immigration and concerns about extremists in their country, such as in Norway where the anti-immigration party is becoming more powerful, and the threat by the British government to terminate relations with the Muslim Council of Britain.

The beauty of the opposition, such as the dynamic we have now between Saturn and Uranus, is that the intention is to balance two opposing forces.  We have just had the second hit of the cycle, and are headed toward the third in September.  In the meantime, each end of the polarity must explore the other so that the required stasis can occur.

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The human brain and robotics: One step closer to Transhumanism

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Researchers from Honda Motor Company have developed a new way to analyze human brain patterns and translate them into commands for their new generation of robots.  Several years ago I predicted that in the Age of Aquarius, at which we are on the brink, the distinction between the human brain and technology will be blurred, and computers will plug into our brains directly and pick up our thoughts.

Other research is beginning to show that the use of technology is changing the human brain as we adapt to the new demands of our changing world. As I wrote in this earlier article:

Since Neptune entered Aquarius in the late 1990s following the Uranus/Neptune conjunction of 1992-1995, the boundaries between humans and technology (Uranus/Aquarius) have blurred (Neptune).  When Uranus entered Pisces in 2003, instigating the mutual reception that has been in place since then with Uranus in the sign ruled by Neptune and Neptune in the sign ruled by Uranus, this blurring has increased exponentially.  So really, for the last 15 years we have been wandering into uncharted technological territory.  This period saw the explosion of the internet and the wiring of nearly every human being on the planet into the World Wide Web.

This hard-wiring of technology into our brains comes easier for those of us who are already rather electric in nature, with Uranus strong in our charts.  For others it’s a more difficult

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Modern Piracy during the Saturn/Uranus opposition

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modern piratesphoto from Nick Ryan’s website. When I first heard about the new epidemic of piracy in Somalia I confess I thought it was a joke. Pirates, I thought, were the legendary ruffians that terrorized the Caribbean hundreds of years ago.  It turns out I was wrong, and piracy is alive and well and has been for years, particularly off the Somali coast and other areas including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Brazil.

Modern piracy evidently thrives on political unrest, and political unrest is often seen when Saturn is in a stressful aspect with Uranus.  Saturn represents established governments and the status quo, and Uranus is the revolutionary, the oddball, the eccentric.  Pirates act outside of any governmental system, and seek to undermine the conventional structure through acts of rebellion and violence for financial gain.

The last peak of piracy incidents occurred in the first half of 2003, the worst 6-month period on record according to Wikipedia.  This coincides with the opening square in the Saturn/Uranus cycle, when Saturn in Cancer formed a square to Uranus in Pisces.  The entry of Pluto into Capricorn in 2008 witnessed another uptick in incidents of attacks by pirates, accelerating as Saturn moved into position to oppose Uranus in the sky.  By September and October and into November and December, when Saturn and Uranus were within five degrees of their exact opposition, the incidents of pirate attacks had accelerated steeply, reflecting the intensification of the conflict between the radical behavior of Uranus, which seeks to break up the power structure, and the suppressive factor of Saturn.

The second phase of the Saturn/Uranus opposition occurred in early February and seems to have coincided with increased publicity for the piracy incidents.  Saturn and Uranus will face off an unusual five times before completing the cycle in July of 2010, and by then Uranus and Pluto will be preparing for their own battle which will create its own intensity of radical behavior.

Saturn is responding to the Uranian behavior by sending more ships into these waters to suppress (Saturn) the rebellious activity of the pirates (Uranus).  The question remains whether the nations currently in power have sufficient resources to quell these microrebellions as they spread to follow governmental instability.

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Happy Resurrection Holiday! The Origins of Easter

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EasterArt by Diane Clancy I have always found it interesting that the timing Christian holiday of Easter is based on the lunar cycle and the Spring Equinox.  The holiday that the Christian world celebrates as Easter retains much of its pagan roots as a fertility festival and a time of balance as the days and nights (in the northern hemispheres) are of equal length. Even the name “Easter” is taken from the Saxon fertility goddess Ostara or Eostre, who is related to Astarte in ancient Babylon and Ashtoreth in ancient Israel.  And the Easter bunny is, of course, an old pagan symbol of fertility.

The resurrection story of Jesus is virtually identical to the tale of the resurrection of the Phrygian god Attis who preceded him:  According to Gerald Berry’s Religions of the World: The Record of Man’s Religious Faiths Primitive rites, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity and others written in 1965, “About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill …Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection.”

Another interesting aspect to the timing of Easter is its combination of the solar and lunar calendar, taking place as it does on the first Sunday following the 14th day of the lunar month following the Equinox.  The Jewish festival of Passover, which was certainly celebrated by Jesus and his followers, takes place on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the lunar calendar, which is the first Full Moon after the Equinox.  The ancient Christian leaders, probably wanting to differentiate their Easter holiday, uses an “ecclesiastical” full moon rather than the actual lunar event.  (Passover, however, is not a resurrection festival.)

Other ancient cultures celebrated the resurrection of their dying gods:  Osiris, Tammuz, Dionysus – all are gods who died and were reborn anew. In the Spring, when life springs forth anew from every tree and flower, there is a sense of resurrection and rebirth and an opportunity for a fresh new start. Even in Islam there are some stories (not universally accepted) that Mohammed ascended to heaven on a a white horse, although no effort is made to connect this phenomenon to the Spring resurrection festival.

Let us celebrate this renewal, no matter what our faith, and the beginnings of Spring!

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Kal Penn – the astrology of his sudden life change

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Kal PennKal Penn, born Kalpen Modi April 23 1977 (time unknown), has been acting since the age of 21.  After a successful film career (he is best known for his role as Kumar in the Harold and Kumar movies) he landed a regular television gig on the program “House” where he has been a regular cast member since the fall of 2007.

Recently Kal made news when his character on House, Dr. Lawrence Kutner, committed suicide.  He immediately announced that he was taking on the role of Associate Director of the office of Public Liaison in the Obama administration.

Penn’s astrological chart (also known as the birthchart, or horoscope) shows that he was born with the Sun in Taurus, which was in close proximity (conjunct) Chiron, which is also known as the Wounded Healer.  This planetary combination shows that Penn is a person who cherishes stability in life and doesn’t like change (Taurus), but that he has had difficulty establishing a sense of his own identity (Chiron conjunct the Sun).  With the Sun conjunct Mercury (which with its mercurial nature lends itself to taking on other roles) he has a natural facility for acting, but he has an extremely serious side as well.

Saturn, the planet of hard work and discipline, forms a challenging aspect to Penn’s Sun which suggests that he puts a great deal of pressure on himself to be successful.  Saturn is in Leo, which reveals that he is uncomfortable with attention and fame, despite the news reports that claim that Penn quit the House gig out of an attack of egomania.

The Taurus Sun desires a comfortable life that is stable and secure, and acting certainly provides a good income when one has a steady television career. But the serious side of Penn has always reached for something deeper and more meaningful.  In 2007 it was announced that Penn would be teaching undergraduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania.  It was around this time that his Moon progressed into Virgo which has a longing to be of service and to do meaningful work.  At the same time, transiting Pluto has been forming a trine to his Sun which is encouraging him to transform his life in order to better reflect his true self.

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The Chiron/Neptune conjunction: Part II

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When Chiron and Neptune are working together, they combine to assist with the work of the soul.  The body,, the mind, and the ego are all most interested in living a life well-grounded in the material world that offers the maximum of pleasure and the minimum of pain.  The soul does not pursue pleasure and avoid pain; instead, there is an embrace of experiences that will assist us at the deepest level to completely learn the lessons that are presented to us so that we can release the past and move forward with greater wisdom.

Chiron facilitates this aspect of soul work by uncovering any wounded places that have been left unresolved so that we can be freed of the blocked energy that our unreleased wounds hold within the body/mind/spirit system.  Neptune assists by reminding us that there is a world of experience that lies beyond the boundaries of the material world.  Under the influence of Neptune we either open up to experiences of a powerful mystical nature, or else we become confused and deluded as the nature of our personal reality is blurred and we have nothing to replace it with.  Neptune bestows creative genius and a spiritual connection to our Divine self as the physical world is transcended, or it can cause us to indulge in escapist and addictive behavior in an effort to escape the prison of our own mind.

As in everything else in the astrological language, there is a both a higher and lower manifestation of both Chiron and Neptune, so when they combine in a conjunction there is the potential to for a transcendent experience of healing spirituality, or a confusing descent into the hell of the unknown of the psyche.

I suspect that the epidemic of mass shootings we have seen over the past few months as Chiron and Neptune approach their exact conjunction is the result of the conjunction taking a darker turn in the personal lives of many people  Chiron can intensify any wounds that are already challenging, and Neptune can make it difficult to evaluate those experiences with any kind of rational thought.  We like to think of Jupiter as being a “benefic” planet, but it is also the great liberator and expands whatever it comes into contact with, so when Jupiter hooks up with Chiron the process of exposing the wounds for greater healing potential can create an abundance of sensitivity that under Neptune’s influence has no real outlet without a conscious application.

There is also an opportunity here for tremendous spiritual growth and insight if we look within for the wisdom that awaits there.  The process of spiritual evolution does often require that we step confidently through a dark night of the soul or two, and this may be a necessity over the next couple of months.  Jupiter and Neptune expand the potential for creativity as the inspiration of the divine showers easily through the veil of the mind, and the voice of our guidance and the divinity of our choice can be clearly heard now.  Jupiter in Aquarius is humanistic and altruistic, and there is a strong focus on the call for change, both within ourselves and in the world in which we live as well!

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