Monthly Archives: August 2010

Exercise can moderate anger: the Mars factor

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exercise and marsA recent article in the New York Times reports that a study which evaluated the responses of 16 young men with “high trait anger” (short fuse reactions) after exercising on a stationary bike for 30 minutes.

[T]he results of the study suggest  that “exercise, even a single bout of it, can have a robust prophylactic effect” against the buildup of anger, said Nathaniel Thom, a stress physiologist who was the study’s lead researcher.

“It’s like taking aspirin to combat heart disease,” he said. “You reduce your risk.”

When the men did not exercise, they had considerable difficulty controlling their racing emotion. But after exercise, they handled what they saw with more aplomb. Their moods were under firmer control.

This will not be news to anyone who has ever been an exercise junkie, but astrologically we can connect this phenomenon with the planet Mars in the birthchart.   This will be old hat to my clients and many of my readers and listeners who have heard me recommend vigorous exercise for anyone with what I call “Mars problems” in the natal chart.
Mars represents desire and the individual will – it describes how we go about getting what we want, and how we defend what we have.  Anger occurs when our desires are thwarted, and if it is left to simmer for too long it erupts into rage.  Unexpressed anger or rage, or what I call “unexpressed Mars,” can be associated with many chronic health problems.
I recommend exercise for people who have a stressed Mars in their chart because exercise helps to put us in touch with that fiery energy that lives in the solar plexus and masquerades as our will.  When we’re pushing and pulling heavy things, or moving faster than we ordinarily would do, we have to reach into our Mars energy in order to fuel our activity, and this helps to activate  the astrological Mars.  Suddenly we feel empowered, excited – ready to break through blockages that hold us back.  This is the role that Mars plays in our chart, and exercise helps a stressed Mars to find its full expression.
A stressed Mars is often shown in the chart as a Mars which is tightly aspected by Saturn, Chiron, Neptune or Pluto, or in the signs of Pisces, Cancer, or Libra.
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Americans still don’t know who Obama is

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I really haven’t wanted to write about President Obama, because I don’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest of controversy.  But I do find it striking that two years into his presidency, nearly 20% of Americans believe that he is a Muslim – more than the number who believed that he was a Muslim while he was running for president and the same number who admit to peeing in pools.  (Is this coincidence?  I think not!)

Reverend Franklin Graham fanned the flames recently when he appeared on Larry King and said  that Obama was born a Muslim because Obama’s father was a Muslim.

On the news tonight the dominant opinion seems to be that regardless of whether people think Obama is a Muslim or not, Americans don’t know who Obama is.  This is something that I attribute to the fact that he has Neptune, the planet of confusion and obfuscation, in a challenging square to his Sun.

During the election, anti-Obama people who were versed in astrology used this as a weapon to demonstrate that Obama was a liar.  Pro-Obama people were caught up in the Neptunian mist that permits us to hang all kinds of Neptunian projections on him.  (For more details see my article, Neptune, Obama and Me.)

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The astrology of Dr. Laura’s resignation

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Dr Laura SchlessingerDr Laura Schlessinger is no stranger to controversy. She has called homosexuality a “biological error,” and compared gay parents to pedophiles.  While she has stated publicly her belief that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman, she had an affair with her first boss when she began in the radio business.

This week Dr. Laura announced that she would leave her radio program after repeatedly dropping the “N-bomb” eleven times in a discussion with a black caller to her show (transcript here) and today she announced that she is leaving radio for good, saying she wants “her first amendment rights back.”

With the Sun conjunct Mars (aggression) in the serious and somewhat dour Capricorn, it’s no wonder Dr. Laura (born 1/16/1947, time unknown, New York is so certain that she is always right.  Capricorn is the planet of rules and following social conventions and Mercury is in that sign as well.  Mars energizes and stokes the fire of her personality and adds an aggressive note to her manner of communication (Mercury).

Ramping up the intensity even more, her passionate and power-seeking Scorpio Moon is conjunct Jupiter, the planet of confidence and arrogance.  The power motif continues in a conjunction of Saturn, the ruler of her Sun,  to Pluto representing the power of death and rebirth to transform.

It’s interesting that Uranus is unaspected in her chart – it operates independently and autonomously which is perfect for the planet of independence and rebellion.  Like Rush Limbaugh, she is a rebel (unaspected Uranus) within the confines of the conservative social structures (Sun/Mars/Mercury in Capricorn).

The very week that Dr. Laura dropped the N bomb on her show and now announces her retirement from radio, transiting Uranus has retrograded back over her progressed Sun. This is a planetary cycle that can create a somewhat reckless need to break up the status quo and achieve liberation of some kind.  We don’t have her time of birth so we don’t know the exact placement of her  Moon, but it is very likely that her progressed Moon is opposite Mars sometime between last week and next week, exacerbating the expression of her frustration and desire to break free of any shackles.

Dr. Laura says she has been considering retirement for some time, and in fairness she did apologize immediately for her remarks which she said were inappropriate.  But with a big Uranus transit going on, it’s not surprising that she decided that she’s ready to move on to something else.

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Mercury retrograde August 2010

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Mercury retrograde August 2010Mercury will turn retrograde on Friday the 20th at 3:59 pm Eastern time, but as Mercury’s (apparent) motion continues to slow down in preparation for its change of direction we could begin to see the famous communication glitches.  These glitches are by no means universal, so there’s no reason to panic!  But I find it’s useful to know about the Mercury retrograde phenomenon so that we can (a) be prepared and (b) laugh when we run into problems.  It’s just Mercury retrograde!!

Mercury is in its own sign of Virgo right now, so it’s a little more adaptable and can find ways to maneuver around any quirky glitches that arise.  However, the final square in the challenging Saturn/Pluto cycle occurs just hours after Mercury turns retrograde and that event could highlight challenges and difficulties.  On the positive side, as I’ve been noting, this final square of Saturn to Pluto likely marks the end of the worst of the challenges of the Cardinal Drama as the intensity of the planetary interaction we’ve seen since May begins to subside.  But this week is likely to bring bad global news and bad financial news until we begin to turn the corner after the 21st.

Mercury will remain retrograde until September 12, but don’t put your life on hold.  If you have to take a new job, or sign a contract on a house, or get married, or have a baby, don’t enter into these arrangements with a lot of fear.  But do your homework: recognize that it’s important to be especially conscious during this time because the brain tends to operate on a more internalized level which is why these are great times for introspection and meditation.  Pay extra attention to details, and try to be sure that all negotiations and agreements are as clear as possible and preferably in writing.

For more information on what Mercury retrograde periods are good for, tune into the Musings on Astrology radio show on Sunday morning at 11 am.

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New study finds hands-on prayer helps heal

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A new study evaluates the benefits of Pentecostal hands-on healing prayer with some amazing results.

An older Mozambican woman named Maryam could not see two fingers held up just one foot in front of her when she arrived for a Pentecostal prayer intervention in her village. Nor could she see an eye chart from a similarly close distance.

But after a healer at the evangelical meeting laid hands on her and prayed for less than a minute, Maryam was able to not only see the fingers held up in front of her but could count them as well. The eye chart also came into view, with Maryam able to read down to the 20/125 line.

The experiences of Maryam and 23 other Mozambicans, part of a study reported in the September issue of the Southern Medical Journal, a peer-reviewed journal, suggest to the researchers that “proximal intercessory prayer (PIP)” — in which the healer is in close proximity to the patient, often touching or hugging him or her — may be a useful complement to Western medical practice.

Other studies which have focused on distant prayer without the hands-on factor have not shown significant results like these:

Fourteen hard-of-hearing and 11 visually impaired study participants were recruited at meetings of Pentecostal Christian groups in Mozambican villages and towns.

They were tested with a handheld audiometer or vision charts, depending on their impairment, before and after they took part in a prayer session.

“There was a highly significant improvement in hearing across 18 ears of 11 subjects” and “significant visual improvements,” says the study, which will be published in September in the peer-reviewed Southern Medical Journal.

Two of the hard-of-hearing study participants were able to hear sounds 50dB lower after the prayer session and three of the visually impaired subjects saw their vision improve from 20/400 or worse to 20/80 or better.

To me these results suggest that the power of the impaired person’s intention is at work here.  The magic doesn’t lie in the power of Pentecostal prayer itself, but this type of prayer involves the “laying on of hands,” and therefore carries a more powerful intention for the person being prayed for than distant prayer.  Healing modalities such as Reiki and Healing Touch have a similar effect and scientific studies have proven the efficacy of Reiki which is now used in many hospitals.

These results are dismissed by some medical professionals as representative of the “placebo effect,” but the placebo effect is really just the power of intention.  If you believe something will work, it often does.

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Mel Gibson in car crash

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Mel Gibson was involved in a single car crash last night when his Maserati drove off a Malibu road.  Gibson was alone in the car and was not injured.

Mel Gibson is involved in a nasty custody dispute with his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva that has been much in the news after recordings of phone conversations were leaked to the press.  Gibson has had a difficult transit of Uranus (shocking events and revolutionary behavior) in opposition to his Moon (emotions, women) since May of last year and while Uranus has been within a half of a degree from that opposition since then the second exact hit occurred on August 13th, just three days before the accident.  (The final phase of the cycle comes next March.)

More posts on Mel Gibson here

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Uranus retrogrades back into Pisces, August 2010

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Uranus in PiscesThis was the topic of yesterday’s radio show, which you can listen to here if you like.

Uranus is the planet of autonomy and individuality – the planet that urges us to live as authentic a life as possible.  Pisces is the sign that represents the completion of a spiritual cycle.  Pisces is symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions, connected by a cord that represents the higher and lower selves – the struggle to live in a material world as a spiritual being.

Uranus first entered Pisces in March of 2003 and moved into Aries for just one degree from May until August, entering the fray of the Cardinal Drama.  Now with Uranus having left the cardinal signs for the more mutable Pisces, the intensity of the Cardinal Drama will begin to subside and we will be left to pick up the pieces as we seek to find more balance and integration between the individual Self and our spiritual world.

Uranus and Neptune are in what we call “mutual reception” now – Uranus is in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, and Neptune is in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus.  This links the Uranus/Aquarius principle to the Neptune/Pisces principle in a more powerful way.  Here are some of the phenomena we have seen since Uranus entered Pisces in 2003 beginning this “mutual reception” realignment:

  • There has been an awakening (Uranus/Aquarius) of group consciousness (Neptune/Pisces) and an expansion of group meditation and prayer events around the globe, especially since the “harmonic concordance” in November of 2003, building online communities (Uranus/Aquarius) of spirituality (Neptune/Pisces).
  • The rise of the social networking craze, beginning with the launch of Friendster in 2002 which took off in 2003 after Uranus entered Pisces, followed that year by LinkedIn and Myspace and with Facebook in 2004. These social networking sites helped to blur (Neptune) the definition of friendship (Uranus) and facilitate the expansion of the online community idea.
  • The exposure of musicians (Neptune) through internet sites such as YouTube (Uranus) and the rise of the .mp3 downloads (Uranian technology) as the predominant way that music (Neptunian creativity) is purchased.
  • Bizarre weather resulting from the clash of the dry Uranus/Aquarius influence with the watery Neptune/Pisces influence: droughts, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes.
  • Increasing acceptance of psychic phenomena in the mainstream (television shows such as Psychic Kids, Medium, the Ghost Whisperer) and of astrology as well.
  • A growing sense of compassion and fairness (Neptune/Pisces) thanks to the spread of information across the internet (Uranus/Aquarius) that makes it nearly impossible to keep secrets.
  • An increase in “internet addiction” to the point where it was proposed to the American Psychiatric Association in 2007 as a new disorder to be listed in the DSM manual.

How we are affected personally by the retrograde passage of Uranus back into Pisces depends primarily on how our personal chart is affected.  If we are on a spiritual path, we will likely be faced with a dilemma or confrontation between the needs of the individual Self versus the needs of the spiritual realm.  For some of us that will necessitate engaging more completely with a spiritual practice.  For some of us it will be important to find a greater sense of Self in the midst of a blossoming spiritual experience.

Under Uranus in Pisces, we are called to find our own individual experience and authentic expression (Uranus) while exploring the realms of a deeper spiritual connection to the Divine.  This necessitates finding a balance within our own sense of Self that can deepen our connection to the Source that we find within.

Uranus is the revolutionary, and under its influence the status quo is not enough.  We may find that we need to make deep changes in the way we see the world, or in the ways that we express ourselves creatively and spiritually.

Uranus will move completely into Aries in March of 2011 and the world of Spirit will take a back seat until Neptune enters its own sign of Pisces in 2012.  Uranus is the Awakener, and under its influence the doorways of perception are opened wide.  So let’s utilize this time to find new ways of opening up our understanding and awareness to the Source within us that guides all things and grants us the gifts of love and beauty.

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On the radio Sunday morning: Uranus completes its path through Pisces

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Uranus, planet of radical change and innovation, re-entered Pisces yesterday as it traveled back through time to pick up any lost pieces left behind.  What does this mean for the Cardinal Drama, and what kinds of experiences are we likely to encounter?

We’ll be discussing these things on the Musings on Astrology radio show Sunday morning at 11 am Eastern.  There will also be time for you to call in with questions about your own chart (starting with first-time callers please!).  To listen live, click the link below at or after 11 am Eastern on Sunday, August 14th (after the show is over it will be archived.  To interact in the chatroom you’ll need to register at Blog Talk Radio (it’s free!).  You can also download the show as a podcast from Itunes or through any podcatcher.

Listen to internet radio with Astrological Musings on Blog Talk Radio
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“Astrology may matter” in sports

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michael jordan astrologyMore and more, real astrology is beginning to gain a new level of respect.  For example, this:

With Tiger Woods’ seemingly inexorable though not irreversible slide into an abyss, something never before thought possible, more players than usual will have a chance to win the PGA Championship this weekend at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. …

However, as I scour the top 40 players in the World Golf Ranking, I wouldn’t put money on Paul Casey, Robert Allenby, Sean O’Hair or Dustin Johnson to surprise and take the trophy. The reason? All were born under the sign of Cancer. And since the PGA Championship switched from match play to stroke play in 1958, nary a Cancer has claimed the Wanamaker Trophy.

Even the mention of astrology will likely cause readers to scoff. I count myself as one of the skeptics. But after examining the data closely, there appears to be at least a kernel of truth in the theory that astrology can sometimes help determine sporting greatness.
The signs that have utterly dominated the PGA are Aquarius, Capricorn and Virgo. The three have accounted for more than half the winners of the season’s final major. This is not surprising. Consider that any list of the best golfers of all time starts with Jack Nicklaus, an Aquarius, and Tiger Woods, a Capricorn.

With his Aquarian nature, Nicklaus is in extraordinary company from other sports. It can be argued that the “greatest ever” in each major sport was an Aquarius: Jim Brown in football, Babe Ruth in baseball, Michael Jordan in basketball, Wayne Gretzky in hockey and Bill Tilden in tennis. Any new believers in the truth-telling ability of the zodiac now?  [Aquarius is gifted with the ability to rise above personal emotions and innovate new performance styles.]

Tennis, the other major individual sport, also has stunning patterns. The three players routinely mentioned as the best of the Open era are Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer – all Leos. [Leo loves to win, and enjoys the sport of good-natured competition.] And Rafael Nadal has been labeled by John McEnroe as the 21st-century edition of Bjorn Borg. Why not? Both are Geminis. [Gemini would be well-suited to the sport of tennis, which requires a great deal of quick movement.]

In the second tier of most best-ever lists in golf reside Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson. Both are Virgos, who seem to be the most suited to golf, as their stereotyped traits of tenaciousness and industriousness are tailor-made for a sport that takes the utmost in patience. [Tiger Woods has Virgo rising.]

While no Cancers have ever won a PGA, their struggles in all four majors are nothing compared with the wretched record of Tauruses. Indeed, Taureans toil in near-futility when it comes to the majors. Only 11 of the 296 major championships examined (the Masters from its inception, the PGA from 1958 and the U.S. and British Opens since World War I, generally considered the start of the modern game) have been claimed by those born from April 21 to May 20.

read more here…

Although this unscientific study is dealing solely with Sun signs, it is interesting nonetheless.  The fact that Cancerians and Taureans have bad sports records may not be surprising – these are the two signs that are primarily focused on security and therefore typically lack the aggressive competitive gene that creates great sportspeople.

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The astrology of summer weather extremes

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Wildfires in Russia are claiming 700 lives a day.  Floods in China and Pakistan threaten not only lives but also the region’s political stability.  Icy cold temperatures in South America have killed dozens of people in a region that is not accustomed to this kind of cold.  And a gigantic “ice island” has broken off the Greenland glacier, sending a sheet of ice four times the size of New York into the open Atlantic.

Global warming?  Or just another effect of the Cardinal Drama?

This summer’s weather tragedies have not surprised astrologers.  The astrological chart for each solstice and equinox reflects to some extent the type of weather that we are likely to experience that season, and this Summer Solstice chart was a doozy.

As reported in this blog, the Solstice Sun was in an exact square aspect to Jupiter and Uranus at zero point Aries, the first of the fire signs.  Looking back, we can see how the Jupiter influence in Aries might correlate with a rapid spread/expansion (Jupiter) of wildfires (Aries).  But with the Solstice Sun at zero degrees Cancer in a trine to Chiron (wounding and healing) at zero degrees Pisces, there is a strong water component to the chart as well.  But that water element is challenged by the fire element, and we can see that reflected in global weather patterns such as in Moscow where the dry fire has overcome the water element, and in China and Pakistan where the water element has overcome the fire.

Pluto was also strong in the Solstice chart, opposing the Solstice Sun adding a note of life-changing intensity and danger, and Saturn was within range as well forming the fourth limb of the Grand Cross.

These weather extremes will have long-lasting effects in terms of food availability and global hunger, and this will tie into the upcoming square of Uranus in Aries (rebellion and war) and Pluto in Capricorn (destruction and realignment of power centers).

It doesn’t look like the global situation will lighten up any time soon, with the Sun again exactly square Pluto and conjunct Saturn in the chart for the Autumn Equinox.  But there is an interesting triple conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces in that Equinox chart that suggests a new  (Jupiter/Uranus) way of approaching old problems that may bring some relief to the unrelenting negativity of this summer’s mood.

For great astrometeorological information, visit Ken’s Weather Alternative.

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