Astrological Take on the Year’s Craziest Political Stories

December 31, 2009 By
I’m working feverishly to write the January Skywatch and to finish my forecast article on the Astrology of 2010, so rather than write a fresh post for you today I will post a link to this fascinating look by Patrick Watson of the political events of the past year and their astrological significations.  The White House party crashers, the significance of Joe “You Lie” Wilson, the Healthcare town hall protests, the election protests in Iran, and the Obama “Birther” controversy – all are detailed here with full-color astrological charts.
Enjoy!  And if you’d like to sign up to receive the Skywatch article tomorrow and the 2010 article over the next few days, just visit my website and fill out the form (it’s free!)..
Happy New Year!

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Full Moon, Blue Moon, Eclipse Moon and Other Planetary News

December 29, 2009 By
Once in a Blue Moon, by Sofanya White.Blue_Moon.jpg
A gorgeous big moon followed me home tonight, even though she technically won’t be full until the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.  This is a Blue Moon because it’s the second Full Moon in a month, something that doesn’t happen very often (hence the term “once in a blue moon”).  It’s also an eclipse, because the lunar nodes are involved; however, it’s a partial eclipse and not very powerful astrologically.
The Full Moon occurs when the lunar principle of the subconscious inner world overpowers the solar conscious mind with its brilliance as the Moon opposes the Sun in the sky, with the Earth between them.  At the Full Moon we earthlings are sandwiched between these two archetypal forces, and the experience of the Full Moon can be intensely emotional and unexpected.
This particular Full Moon is in the sign of Cancer, its own sign, suggesting that our sensitive emotional natures will be highlighted at this time.  The emotions of Cancer are vulnerable and tender and easily hurt, and the Moon now is opposed to four planets in the pragmatic and rather rigid sign of Capricorn.  The Capricorn lineup includes a tight conjunction of the Sun, Venus (relating) and Pluto (transformation, death, and rebirth).  There is a feeling now that every emotion we experience is critical and can act as a doorway, and a need to create balance in our own emotional world as well as in our relationships.
A lunar event becomes an eclipse when the nodes of the Moon become involved.  The Moon’s nodes represent the evolutionary direction of the soul, so when the nodes are tightly connected to a Full or New Moon there is a sense of destiny that is imparted.  However, astronomers give the nodes a very wide orb of 15 degrees, and this particular eclipse finds the nodes 11 degrees from the Sun and Moon, which is rather far to have much astrological effect.
Still, Saturn is the fulcrum of what we call a “T-square,” challenging both the Moon and the Capricorn planets.  Saturn demands discipline and focused attention, so in the midst of the New Year’s Eve celebration we might be wise to do a little planning for the New Year as well. This will help us to be prepared when the Moon aligns with Saturn on the 6th, creating the potential for depression and sadness as the two face off in a square with Pluto and that sense of finality that Saturn and Pluto bring.
The message here is that our lives are a gift that we need to take seriously.  Celebrations and parties are a wonderful thing, but this Full Moon/Blue Moon Eclipse wants us to take a look at our life and create something wondrous.
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Charlie Sheen’s Latest Marital Woes

December 28, 2009 By

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The relationship problems of Charlie Sheen, a well-known American actor who has been acclaimed for his roles in such films as Platoon and Wall Street and in TV sitcoms Spin City and Two and a Half Men, have been well-documented.  n 1990 his engagement to actress Kelly Preston ended after he accidentally shot her in the arm and then left her for porn star Ginger Lynn.  In 1996 he was arrested for attacking a girlfriend at his home, for which he received probation. He was named in the Heidi Fleiss prostitution scandal and was hospitalized for a cocaine overdose in 1998.  His marriage to Denise Richards (2002-2005) and subsequent divorce were fraught with charges of Sheen’s abusive behavior.
Now Sheen has been arrested for “felony menacing” at his home in Aspen as the result of a 911 call from his wife, Brooke Mueller.  Mueller accused Sheen of attacking her with a knife, but police records show that she was legally drunk with a .13 alcohol reading.  Sheen told authorities that he had been defending himself against his wife.  Mueller later recanted her accusation and is no longer speaking to police at the time of this article.
Charlie Sheen is one of those “radical Virgos” whose dramatic behavior belie the typical characteristics of the Virgo Sun sign whose natives tend to be rather reticent and modest.  You would never think of a Virgo as having a penchant for porn and gambling.
Sheen is one of the “Uranus/Pluto” generation who were born between 1962 and 1968 when Uranus (radical change) and Pluto (death and rebirth) were conjunct in the sky.  This entire generation has a thirst for breaking down barriers (Uranus) in order to rebuild something that has become stale and dysfunctional (Pluto), and for Sheen this hunger is even more intense because his Sun is a part of that conjunction.  In addition, Chiron (emotional wounding and sensitivity) is conjunct oppressive Saturn in his chart, signifying a deep well of emotional pain within him that never quite disappears.  This is a powerful combination of planets that require a fair amount of self-understanding to master, and sometimes that process takes a lifetime.
Sheen’s Moon is part of this configuration, and it falls in the expansive and happy-go-lucky sign of Sagittarius.  This complicates matters for Sheen, since it makes it more difficult to do the solid emotional work that a conjunction of Saturn to Chiron demands.  The Sagittarius Moon often prefers to take the easy way out and flee the scene rather than dig into the dirt of the emotional stress that follows him everywhere.
This process must have been extremely difficult over the past year as transiting Saturn opposed Saturn in his chart, passing over his Sun in the process and setting off this whole dynamic.
Sheen’s sexuality is evident in the chart with Mars, planet of aggression and desire, in the sign of Scorpio which is an intensely sexual sign.  The sexuality of Scorpio is intense and dramatic and not at all polite.  Mars is the ancient ruler of Scorpio and represents the pure desire found in that sign, but Scorpio’s modern ruler is Pluto, awakening the individual to the call of the Soul that lies within the purely physical desire.  Individuals with Mars in Scorpio are really seeking the Soul through the act of sex, although that isn’t always evident to them. This need to go deeper through sexuality is also seen in the fact that Sheen’s Sagittarius Moon falls in the Eighth House of Scorpio.
This duality is complicated even further by Gemini on the ascendant.  Gemini is famous for experimentation and flirtation, and even though a part of Sheen’s psyche craves the intense dramatic sexuality that a porn star can probably deliver, another part of him desires the freedom to be able to pass through many different experiences (Gemini ascendant) while keeping his heart free (Sagittarian Moon).  At the same time his Virgo Sun craves order and respectability, yet it conjoins Uranus and Pluto which instills an intensely rebellious nature.
Sheen is a complex array of personalities locked up in one human being.  As an actor, he is able to identify with each of the different parts of himself through the roles that he plays, but at a certain point he has to figure out who he himself really is.
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Could the Uranus/Pluto Square Bring the Pole Shift?

December 26, 2009 By

[According to an article in the National Geographic} Earth's north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) a year due to magnetic changes in the planet's core, new research says.

The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field’s movements by tracking how Earth’s magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space.

read more here...


The concept of polar shift, where the magnetic axis of the earth shifts and creates cataclysmic changes of the earth, is well known to conspiracy theorists and followers of the “earth changes” hypotheses.  The concept of “earth changes” is a common thread throughout many of the prophetic voices throughout the past two thousand years, beginning with Revelation in the bible and continuing through Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce.  Cayce famously predicted that the polar axis would shift and that oceans would become land and land oceans, and that Atlantis would rise from the sea. Immanuel Velikovsky is another well-known proponent of this theory and he was an academician rather than a “new age” thinker, although his work back in the 1950s was either ignored or ridiculed by the scientific community.
Back in the 1980s scientists began to accept the idea of “true polar wander,” but it was thought that the actual shift of the poles has occurred at a rate of one degree or less over 150 million years.
National Geographic reports that in 1904 the pole began shifting about nine miles a year, and then sped up again in 1989.  In 2007 it was confirmed that the pole is shifting at a rate of 34 to 37 miles a year.
Interestingly, in 1904 when this pole shift evidently began to accelerate Uranus, planet of electromagnetic energy, was opposite Pluto in the sky.  Pluto is the planet of transformation, and the combination of these two energies has throughout history evoked major shifts of consciousness and culture on our planet.  These two joined forces between 1962 and 1968, inspiring the cultural revolutions of the 1960s.  They were in opposition to each other (180 degrees apart) between 1900 and 1906, coinciding with the San Francisco earthquake.  They will be in a square formation (90 degree angle) between 2010 and 2016 or so.
Pluto is now in Capricorn, an earth sign that represents the sign of the solid foundation on which we build our worlds, and as such it has already begun to create transformations in our economic system, one of the areas over which Capricorn presides.  Uranus is heading into Aries, a fire sign.  Volcanos and earthquakes appear likely under this combination, and if the shifting of the poles really is picking up speed we could see some interesting results during this time period.
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Mercury Turns Retrograde Today

December 26, 2009 By
Mercury will shift direction today, beginning its four times a year journey backwards as we revisit areas in our life that require additional attention.
Because Mercury turns our attention to the past and in a more interior direction, often we experience communication problems which is largely due to a lack of focus or attentiveness.  Things can be more confusing, equipment failures can occur (sometimes due to a simple lack of following directions), email and phone systems frequently break down.
If you must sign a contract during this period go ahead and do it, but use extra caution when making agreements and be sure they are in writing if possible.  The inattention of these periods can result in misunderstandings and confusion in negotiations.  And then expect to have to renegotiate at some point in the future.
When we know that Mercury is retrograde these frustrations become less aggravating, because we expect them and understand that they can occur.  These periods (this one lasts until January 15) are wonderful for going back and revisiting unresolved issues from the past, redecorating your home, redoing your website, revisiting your life plan – it’s commonly said that anything with a “re-” prefix is a good idea when Mercury is retrograde.
What you don’t want to do is become paralyzed with fear and afraid to take any action during this period.  Life your life as it comes, but you’ll be prepared and have the resources you need to work through any problem.
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Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All Sentient Beings

December 25, 2009 By
The-Peaceable-Kingdom.jpgNo matter what your religion, it’s hard to argue with the teachings of a man called Jesus who preached a gospel of peace, love and compassion.  In honor of the celebration of not only this great teacher but all of the other great teachers who came before and after him, I’d like to offer a selection of teachings from the leaders of Christianity and Islam, whose original words have been so sadly reconstructed in our present world.

At this Christmas season let us come together to create a powerful vision of a world in which these words come to guide the lives of all humans, and where real love and compassion for all beings infuses every breath, every word, and every action.
——————————–
If those who lead you say to you, “Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,” the the birds will get there first.
If they say “It is in the ocean,” then the fish will get there first.
But the Kingdom of God is within you and outside of you.
Once you come to know yourselves, you will become known.
–Jesus of Nazareth, Gospel of Thomas

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God
–Jesus of Nazareth, Gospel of Matthew

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
–Jesus of Nazareth, Gospel of Thomas

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
–Confucius
Expect much from yourself and little from others and you will avoid incurring resentments.
–Confucius
Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.
–Prophet Muhammad
Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them.
–Prophet Muhammad

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Mars Retro Travel Delays Combine with Mercury Retro Power & Communication Problems

December 24, 2009 By

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Following up on my article the other day about travel delays corresponding to the retrograde turn of Mars, planet of action and movement, Mercury is now preparing to change direction on Saturday.  When Mercury turns retrograde (planets obviously do not ever move backwards, but occasionally from our perspective on Earth they appear to do so) there are often more incidents of equipment and machinery breakdown as well as communication problems.
Travel difficulties continued yesterday as a big storm in the Mideast knocked out power and caused more delays, and Julie in Boston commented that the public transit system experienced a derailment and weak tunnel wall that caused extensive delays there.  A bridge failure in Florida stranded 800 people yesterday for three hours waiting for a drawbridge to open.
There have also been train accidents, including two that occurred in the Triangle region of North Carolina where I live and one in Ohio, and several in Europe as the result of icy conditions.  .
And now the power and communication problems begin.  An electrical problem outside of New York City forced Amtrak to halt all trains coming in and out of Penn Station between Washington and Boston.  And Blackberry users experienced email outages twice in one week.
Fortunately, the Mars retro effect is diminishing and we should be seeing travel problems ease.  Communication problems, however, are with us for another few weeks.  When we know that Mercury is retrograde we can laugh at communication problems and phone and email failures because we know that Mercury is at work being its old trickster self.  As Julie in Boston wrote in the comments, Mercury has a sense of humor even if Mars doesn’t.
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WOW- The Incredible Universe

December 22, 2009 By

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Religion, Science & the Solstice

December 22, 2009 By

I really like this article that compares the spiritual observation of the Winter Solstice with the observations of science:

Religion and science occupy separate and opposed spheres, no? Not to our distant forebears, from whom all of our illumination festivals derive. They could not afford the facile dichotomy between the sacred and the profane that defines thinking since the Enlightenment, when people of the West sought to free themselves from the bane of superstition. For most of history, though, religion was not taken to be a flight from rationality, but a mode of it. Noting the intervals of nature that repeated themselves gave the ancients their liturgical cycles, but also the natural clock. The natural clock gave them measurement, and eventually the mechanical clock, from which ordered thought took off. The infinite universe and the abyss of individual consciousness both required attention, and the mind evolved to reach equally toward the macro and the micro, a bi-directional measuring that has brought us to where we are. The Hubble Telescope. Nanotech. The novels of James Joyce.

In the beginning, though, the winter cults by which the gods were worshipped were part of a generalized marking of the calendar that served the immediate purpose of survival. When humans had replaced opportunistic scavenging (“hunters and gatherers”) with agriculture (planting and herding), close attention to the sun and other heavenly bodies became a necessity, since livestock take mating cues from the quality of light, and cycles of the harvest equally depend on celestial predictability. Knowing how the moon wanes and waxes, and where the sun is in relation to the horizon had become ways to fend off starvation. The creatures who honored the gods with light in winter were honoring their own ability to think. …

What prompted humans to imagine that religious impulses and the rational quest for insight are at war with each other? Once it became clear that the sun would “return” whether or not blessed candles were lit, why did the idea of prayer come to seem naive? When mystical wonder was walled off from measurable observation, science restricted its range, and religion anathematized critical thinking – disasters both. But the festivals this week, sparked by this morning’s dawn, call to mind the age-old spaciousness of informed imagination. Happily, it remains so. Knowledge is holy.  ….

read more here… I particularly love the expression this author uses:  ”the age-old spaciousness of informed imagination.”  For that is what is practiced here!

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Mars Retrograde Brings Traffic Problems

December 22, 2009 By
Mars is the planet that rules action, so it stands to reason that it’s retrograde turn on the 20th would bring transportation problems, and so it did as several parts of the world faced challenging winter conditions:
Four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) between France and Britain on Saturday as Mars stood still preparing to change direction, stranding more than 2,000 passengers for hours.
Meanwhile on Monday thousands in the UK were trapped in their cars overnight with more than 20,000 breakdowns noted by the end of the night as the result of a record breaking snowstorm.
It looks like the weather is the likely culprit and not Mars, but it sure is a coincidence!
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