Knight of Swords - Go Obama- Vehicle of Change

After watching “The Choice 2008” last night on SBS a doco examining the history and politics of the US presidential candidates Obama and Mc Cain, I thought it time to document my idea of who would win this election next week. This documentary gave me a good idea of the baggage that comes with McCain, his profile indicates he has too much negative karma attached, the wounds and scars of war and his rise in the political system stemming from his wartime accolades. The fairness, straightforwardness and idealism that comes with Obama’s background , his need to serve the people was clearly evident. Haven’t we had enough of war influenced politicians, time to move on. With Obama’s long serving catch cry - Change - it seems appropriate that with Uranus and Saturn aligned in an exact opposition on election day - we can hope for Change.

Saturn and Uranus could also indicate no change, a stalemate, but I prefer to see the Saturn opposite Uranus as a strong indicator that change will manifest, perhaps we are more determined and focused on these changes than ever.

The other night I did a tarot reading , asking the question “who will win the US election”.I did a pyramid spread of 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, then one card knowing this would give a more definite answer. The run up to candidates was evident in the spread with a definite female causing havoc in the race in the third line. The third line indicated issues and concerns about money and possessions with the 5 of Pentacles Card, The Moon card, an indication that the whole nation and many more people are in tune to this event, and the Queen of Wands perhaps Palin being a nuisance. The second last line came up with the King of Cups and a Page of Swords - an old guy and a new guy. The top card came out - as the Knight of Swords. This could only be the young guy being elevated to knighthood.

After attending a panel of astrologers in Melbourne where different speakers looking at Charts of the candidates and their running mates, tried to ascertain the outcome, i thought that personally I don’t think that an outcome can be seen in the personal Astro charts of the candidates. Although this event being one the biggest in their lives, was not showing up clearly in either natal charts, therefore could not be clearly defined. A Horary led to a Mc Cain win, Mundane outlooks were done using various US Charts, but no one used an Ingress chart. My preference would be the Mundane outlook and looking at Ingress charts for Washington DC for the Libra Ingress of 2008, it defines the national weather so to speak, for the next quarter.

For the Libra chart Scorpio rises with an eighth house moon , giving the feeling of underlying serpent energy rising. Some would say, but Scorpio is a fixed sign - yes - but it indicates transformation and change. Hanging on does not serve Scorpio energy well . Uranus sits in the 4^th effecting a deep down change in the home of the nation. Scorpio has guts and nerve and so does Uranus.

So many aspects can be looked at to see what will happen, but again nothing is ever so clear in astrology. Election day begins with Uranus in the 4^th of DC chart, Saturn at 18 Virgo - has a Sabian symbol of “ a swimming race” - both are in the race, and Uranus ‘ sabian symbol - “a master instructing his pupil “. If the old guy is Saturn and Uranus the young guy , the old guy is in the race but Uranus is a master, Uranus doesn’t change degree that day, because it is retrograde, but Saturn does to “An automobile Caravan” perhaps symbolising Saturn moving away . The retrograde Uranus, more determined and not giving up, being closer to the earth and symbolic of what is now needed here the most. Mercury changes signs too that day and so does the Moon. To me this is extremely changeable energy.

Well we have to wait for the outcome to see, but the symbolic language of astrology is perhaps the best way to see what will happen. Don’t forget the intention of change that goes with the times we are living through. We are living in extremely transformative times, with Pluto at 29 Sag, the threshold of a new beginning. So lets not be afraid to ask for it as well as believe in the unprecedented global intention that comes with this historic event. Go Obama - Knight of Swords.

The astrology of Falling Man

The Astrology of Falling Man

Last night watching the documentary - 9/11 The Falling Man - by Henry Singer 2006 - which I had seen before in 2007, but watching it again on late night TV like many things, made me also very curious about the Astrology of the moment and the Falling Man. The capture of the image of the Falling Man became one of the most famous and horrific photos of recent times. Famous because of it’s depiction of a man having decided that he would rather jump from the towers than to be choked by toxic smoke or burn to death. This iconic image embedded in our psyche called us all to wonder at what we would do in such circumstances.
It is not 100% certain as the documentary reveals that the falling man was indeed a 43-year-old employee of the Windows on the World - Jonathan Briley - but many clues do show that it was. It is perhaps not important to identify the Falling Man as someone in particular, but that he did represent to us the archetypal Unknown Soldier. As one person interviewed in the documentary says,
“ the I hope we're not trying to figure out who he is and more figure out who we are through watching that”

Gwendolyn, 9/11: The Falling Man

The Astrology Chart for the time the Photo was taken was 9:41am nearly an hour after the planes first hit. The Moon ruler of the midheaven in Gemini and Jupiter in Cancer with the North Node also in Cancer inbetween all in the 9^th house, tell us abit about the story that would come from the photo. The quote sums up the astrology of this moment perfectly. The ruler of the 9^th Mercury is in the 12^th house, adding to the intrigue and the mystery and the search to identify the man.

The documentary showed a birth date for the man identified , as March the 5^th 1958. A person born on this day - would have had an exact Venus Neptune square and most karmic of all , the North Node Neptune and Jupiter all conjunct in Scorpio retrograde. Without knowing any more details of the Man, the transits to his astrology during that photo, show transiting Pluto and Saturn which are opposite each other, squaring this man’s Sun and Mercury in Pisces . Neptune is also square natal Neptune and conjunct natal Venus.

If we look at a Solar sign chart which we often do for someone without a birth time, we know he is a Pisces, in death identified as the sacrifice and the victim, the man with incredible faith, that showed to the world the pain of this disaster, like the tarot card, the Hanged Man, often identified as the Pisces archetype, upsidedown falling having decided to take the incredible leap of faith. Neptune, Jupiter and the North Node are in his solar charts 9^th house, again strongly reflecting his faith and belief. The man who became known as the Falling Man Jonathan Briley and his fate, is identified even stronger through the astrological images and symbols. Perhaps this really was the Man who through a Photo bought us such a strong image of the victims sacrificed on that horrendous day.

8-8-08

The day of the Olympics opening in Beijing, occurring in between two eclipses in the signs of Leo and Aquarius and the North Node conjunct Chiron - the chart of the Anima Mundi shows that the spotlight on Beijing ultimately brings up two main issues - the quality of the Air and China's attitude to human rights.

It was written back in March 1345 in a statement by the medical faculty in Paris, that the Mars, Saturn and Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius at that time explained the “Corruption of the air” and the Black Death. Today we have Chiron exactly conjunct the North Node in Aquarius it's easy to see that the country with the a fifth of the worlds population is one of the biggest contributors to the corruption of our air. Perhaps it is a lucky day for the world, a blessing in disguise that highlights the problem on the biggest world stage - the Olympic Arena. If our over ready champions battle it out and we see that some don't make it to the finish line, because they are gasping for air hopefully conscious awareness of this problem will grow. There could be no better way to show us all the frightening reality of these implications and how affected we all are, how we have all contributed and continue to contribute to air quality. Air an Aquarian element belongs to all, but we continue to see global issues addressed by ignorant and militant governments like China - as not being anyone's business , how they treat their people and indeed what they put into their air. Air pollution kills 656,000 Chinese each year, and 95,600 thousand from polluted water. Chiron conjunct North Node indicates the need for healing these issues as a major priority, the healing of global world direction.
It makes you sick when you think of all the handshakes, the pretense, the money involved with the Olympics as a global farce, an extreme attempt to show each other that all is well in this world, we are all friends, instead of facing up to what's really going on. As China shows off how well their country is doing, proud and happy with their achievements,(Leo- Sun, Mercury) well I'm so glad it's in smog and all the world can see, symbolic of the covers ups the not wanting to see what's really going on and perhaps waking more of us up to try and see beyond the veils of deceit cover up and deception.(Neptune-Aquarius)


Today also in Melbourne 16 Men have been arrested for the biggest ever ecstasy bust in the world where somewhere over 4 tonnes of ecstasy have been seized from a container which arrived a year ago and with the tablets being concealed in Italian tomato tins.
Mars(the cops) Virgo(the well worked out operation) opposes Uranus Pisces (the Dealers ), a Scorpio Moon (Exposing the cover up and huge amounts of money) - Neptune(lies, deception, drugs) opposite Mercury (the trickster, mastermind, clarity) all make up a great story of this incredible bust with a market value beyond comprehension.

So as the world turns we see forever the stories on earth that synchronize with the heavens - but I ask what are we doing about it?

Finding The Muse

Over the next few weeks and stretching back over the last few weeks astrologically Neptune conjuncts the North Node within one degree orb in the sign of Aquarius. The nodes North and South are points in astrological charts that mark the intersection of the Moon's orbit around the Earth with the ecliptic path - the path of the Sun. The Nodes carry meaning like all astrological points and planets, the North Node defines a place of opportunity for growth and development, the south represents karmic repression and tendencies that restrict growth.

With Neptune conjunct this North point it also opposes the South point and poses a question to us as a collective. Where are we heading? Have we a great imagined idea, a fabulous Aquarian goal of where we see ourselves going? Or are we completely lost on this journey and quest. Have we found ourselves caught in Poseidon’s nets and seriously have no idea of what’s going on and what’s ahead. Is it too impossible a question to answer or is it too scary to look?

The sabian symbol for 24 plus degrees of Aquarius is -

“A butterfly with the right wing more perfectly formed” -

being a great image of : perhaps we have half an idea, but the other half has not even been addressed or looked at. We can’t fly into the future without both our wings formed. This is also the degree of the next lunar eclipse on the 16^th August also at 24 degrees Leo/Aquarius. What could this mean? Certainly a time to think of forming and paying attention to the other wing.

Just recently in The Age newspaper, I read a scientific report that confirmed to readers, that our assumptions of where we would be at this moment in time regarding global warming and our ecological crisis , are in fact far beyond and more advanced than we presumed a few years ago. We are failing considerably in the quest to save the planet. Our crisis worsens.

Neptune confuses us more - is this task impossible? Are we doomed ? Can we save ourselves still? We’ve had Earthhour and the 2020 conference over the last few weeks, but surely these seem to be miniscule attempts when we think about what we can do and what we could do. Couldn’t we do Earthhour every week, surely it wouldn’t be so hard. Neptune at this nodal point reminds us that all could be lost, as well as all could be saved. Much needs to be sacrificed from so many perspectives - personal and global.

Perhaps Neptune’s presence reminds us to keep the faith, that there is no clear way or solution right now. It’s all so very complex, our issues with the future and how we will survive. However everyone is involved, we are all lost at sea with a confused direction home. Do we bother with all that plastic, or think God one more plastic bag surely won’t make a difference, or lighting my gorgeous open fire tonight surely won’t add much pollution to what’s already out there. We have to keep the faith and believe it will and it does make a difference. If we have no visions , we have no future. The combination of Aquarius, the North Node and Neptune remind us that it is time to imagine and envision, not to fall apart in despair and hopelessness.

Reading about a new documentary soon to be shown at the St Kilda film festival, I thought of this current alignment. A topic that reminds us that however we get there, we need to find the MUSE. “Abusing the Muse” is about Nick Cave, the infamous Melbourne singer and the documentary explains to us the ways Nick finds inspiration and his Muse.

He says this of his creative process:
“ a lot of people think you should wander around and absorb life and wait for the epiphany to happen , but I’m very much a plodder “. He says he doesn’t go to his office when inspired, he just goes in the office every morning, compelled to do some work “I don’t care how I feel or whether or not the muse has struck that day, I just go and do it”.

I love this as an analogy of Neptune right now, if we can’t be inspired or find solutions to our future dilemmas right now, we still need to plod away and keep working on it. To some this is the way, to others, well they do wander around and perhaps wait for epiphanies. Whatever way, we need to find the MUSE to help ourselves through these veils of illusion, delusion and hidden agendas and perhaps cannot afford the time to wait for epiphanies. We would do best to nurture and encourage, make a special time and place, make yourself a date with your MUSE.

Where does Neptune and the North Node conjunct in your chart? Perhaps you will find a clue to finding your muse over the next few weeks. I write this on the day that the Muse revealed herself through my 3^rd house.

BLACK in FASHION

Recently I went to see an exhibition at the NGV in Melbourne - titled “Black in Fashion - from Mourning to Night” - I wanted to see it because I thought - what a great theme - conjuring so many images and the world of Black. Black representing so many things from authority, confidence, mourning, magic, mystery, so much symbolism and meaning, I thought I was in for a treat. The exhibition, however, was quite a disappointment, Besides a few dresses - wonderful as they were, and a few old paintings of Elizabethan women’s portraits wearing Black- and one Punk outfit - there was nothing else. No write ups of the symbolism of black, no shoes, bags accessories, no meanings, no references to symbolism - nothing. Surely the curators could have come up with more than that, such a big theme. You’d think with the resources available to curators at the NGV - they could have perhaps come up with a much more extensive representation - of Black - in Fashion. Perhaps next time they could summon an Astrologer - we can only hope.

Black perhaps is the most symbolic of all colours. In the fashion world it has never not been around, even though we constantly hear or read term such as “Green is now the new Black” or perhaps”blue” or “purple”. But nothing will ever be as powerful as Black.

Black defines pure elegance or outright rebellion to sophistication and power. From the little black dress to the sumptuous flowing chiffon evening gown, a man in a tuxedo. From old rockers to young punks, from Goths and Mods to priests and vampires, widows to witches, burglars and spies, black is a very strong and powerful symbol. It defines someone of authority someone quite confident, someone who is not afraid to show themselves and who they are, someone who wears their authority on their sleeve, or wears black for a reason, like judges, referees and black belts in some martial arts.

Black is not technically a colour but is any colour at it’s darkest value, it absorbs all colour and is perhaps also the most intriguing colour , non-colour, be it found on velvet, shiny vinyl, soft leather or a furry wrap, black has many disguises and many faces.

Psychologically black is usually associated with very negative things, we have a fear of darkness, bad things happen in the dark. Black is associated with the underground, being undercover, unseen. Black is also associated with depression and death, black magic, the Black Market and Blackmail .

As an Astrologer when we think Black - we automatically think of Saturn. Lord of melancholy and authority, death and darkness. Living in Melbourne a city always attuned to the colour black and myself having a strong Saturn and many black clothes - I found that this exhibit fell far from my expectations of what could have been done with such an deeply symbolic topic.

Anyway - another mission perhaps for the C*I*A in the future.

A huge topic - this site has some more great insights into BLACK and all it's meaning.

http://www.sensationalcolor.com

Pluto in Capricorn Conference Sydney 2008

Well it's taken a week to recover from the exhaustion of networking, talking, lectures, meeting new and interesting people, having romantic dinners, talking business and laughing and learning late into the night. It all started with the sad news of dear Heath Ledger- when learning of his death and looking at his astrology and death charts, we noticed T Uranus con SN and Saturn returning, with Jupiter and Venus in Pisces with rx Mercurynataly, we understood perhaps few more things about him, than any of the media speculators and paparazzi, whom he hated. Having many planets in Pisces myself and Mercury, I understand an exhausted mind that is unable to switch off or sleep when necessary.

We found ourselves staying in a wing of the Womens College - called of all places and names in the world"Langley", the name of the town in the USA where the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has their headquarters. For our first conference as the C*I*A , to be staying in "Langley" helped us all to feel ever more synchronized with the magic of what we are building with our Agency and also this seemed to be a cosmic message that we are on the right track.

I think I was as busy as agent 12 - who sent me off on all sorts of missions throughout the weekend, like loading up the website on the computers in the email room, selling T-shirts and networking. Many hilarious things happened, like being mistaken for having a romantic dinner with 37 in a little Italian joint in Newtown, having water poured on us, for smoking on our balcony(everyone else was doing it too) by a"Control" freak up above and relating this to my "Saturn in Aquarius" or perphas it's Saturn now on my MC. As the lawn-dwellers that we became after this episode, we spent time laughing about dramatisations of mars and merc rx. Catching up on many conversations in the mundane astrological world as we watched the red planet above the trees, and the Virgo Moon above the tower, we reflected on our thoughts of the future and left us all always having so much to say and talk about. It was great how our T-shirts grew throughout the conference as more and more people bought them, I missed many lectures but that's because agent 12 had me doing stuff like walking around the Uni and putting C*I*A cards in the graffitti tunnel and taking photos of the fabulous statue of Gilgamesh, so I plan to get some conference tapes and catch up on a few things. I loved that Agent 23 as confrence MC - wore our T-shirt to the closing ceremony - Thanks 23.

Well we are back now and rested - the mind having had a few good sleeps. One dream I remember during the conference, the night after the Pluto in Cap - panel discussion- when we left feeling as though perhaps we should sell up and move to the country buy a good plot of land to store water and grow vegies -
I dreamt in a more lucid state than being deeply unconscious (my Merc in Pisces finding it hard to fall a asleep)
"Building a university of Astrology - locking the gates and sending out information to the world as required " -
perhaps a paranoia of what's to come, the need for validating astrology, deserving of university status, with much important information to share and distribute. Nevertheless a dream that reflects my love of the study of all things astrological, as well as "wouldn't it be great to be an eternal student at uni again - mid life crisis stuff). At the same time the dream held with it a very Pluto in Capricorn feeling, which was - that there is a real strength and huge transformational time ahead for the world of astrology and astrologers, as Pluto moves through Capricorn, it will be unleashing many deeply hidden and resourceful aspects of the creative treasure we have all found and so dearly need to protect.
Anyone remembering other dreams during conference please write in and we can discuss similarities and themes that can help inform us of the depth of experience we all experienced during the conference -
Thanks Sydney organizers for a great conference!