In case you’ve been too preoccupied with the whiplashing American news…
Formidable seismic activity began occurring on Feb 5 in Greece’s most popular tourist destination, Thira (aka Santorini) and people are being evacuated from the heavenly island in droves. Some old timers are choosing to stay, being fatalistic…perhaps they will take care of the animals left behind. All those cats! Authorities are saying there is ‘no need to worry’ about volcano eruptions. Hmm….I wonder.
Of course, seismic activity in the Greek Islands and the surrounding seasis attributed to the Titan God, Typhon, who, after a long and bloody battle, Zeus managed to seal up under Mt. Etna, a still very active volcano on the east coast of Sicily (Prototype for St. Michael and Satan). Still rattling his chains and fuming, Typhon is responsible for typhoons, tsunamis, quakes, volcanos, plagues and other such disasters. But in the mytho-alchemical sense, Typhon is like Mercury on steroids, similar to Uranus being called the ‘higher octave’ of Mercury and having the effect of creating sea changes. For example, when the Greek gods fled Typhon into Egypt, where they donned animal heads/masks for disguise, the great Pan jumped into the sea, transforming via crisis into our Capricorn sea-goat. Part 3 of this post about the TdM Devil goes into this Typhon material.
Detail in map of the Underworld, showing Typhon under the volcano.
As it turns out, there is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) named after him, as there is for everything – a binary system (it has a Moon) – currently at 28 Scorpio. Athanasius Kircher had once associated Typhon to this sign.At the moment of the first quake, TNO Typhon was/is opposing Uranus and Moon conjunct at 23 Taurus (earth).
I have long ‘intuited’ 23 as being Uranian in nature due to the discordant vibration of this prime number that reduces to 5. Today this is actually a commonly accepted idea. Lately, with Uranus having just stationed direct at 23 degrees of Taurus (typically a sign that thrives on harmony), you must admit, there has been quite a lot of discord! We can’t but acknowledge the POTUS’ wrecking ball nature, with his North Node closely flanked by Sun and Uranus – his most elevated planet – in Gemini. (Both Muck and his outspoken 4 yr old Mini-Me also have Sun-Uranus conjunctions). The number between 45 and 47 is 46, which, divided by 2 is…23.
Barry Blitt’s ‘Anything but That’ …at 23rd St??
This isn’t to say 23/Uranian discordant energy is necessarily always bad, but it is often shocking – you don’t see it coming – and has the effect of breaking up the harmonic order it refuses to fit into.
Returning to the main theme, Typhon, I also learned that astral Typhon was discoveredFeb 5, 2002 – exactly 23 years to the day of this earthquake! (Yes, tremors started earlier, but it’s not an official quake unless it registers 5. on the Richter scale). Very mysterious, especially with Typhon’s distinctly serpentine attributes and it being a lunar EARTH SNAKE year.
Stamp featuring Zeus and Typhon duking it out
But is there a deeper meaning to all this, not just some wow-conspiracy-theory-sounding-coincidence? We have to remember that the Underworld, to the Greeks, was not yet the Hell of Christianity, although it did have a section like this for bad people and monsters, called Tartarus. Rather, Hades was an inverted, somewhat depressing mirror version of the above world of the living. Pluto is simply dark Zeus (also Dionysus, but let’s keep it simple).
Uranus, named after the sky itself, gets and sends its energy from the beyond the Saturnian sphere, ‘out of the blue’, often taking the form of inspiration (Urania) or strokes of genius. It’s fiery/airy. If Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, then its ‘messages’ are going to come faster and more intensely. Typhon, similarly, rears up from deep below, sending shocks in the form of earth or water events, rocking our physical foundations.
Giulio Bonasone (Italian 1531-76), Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto dividing the universe. MET
When Jupiter and his two ‘brothers’ (actually all aspects of the one triplicity) cast lots and divided the realms, Neptune didn’t just get the sea, but the whole ‘middle realm’ where the other two worlds meet. We currently have the North Node conjunct Neptune in Pisces, trine Typhon/Scorpio, sextile Uranus/Taurus. Meanwhile, Pluto, Lord of Hades is in Uranus’ fixed air sign of Aquarius. We look to global events for clues to how and where the planetary aspects are manifesting. Greece is where our western ‘civilization’ began, The surrounding seas and islands are literally the realm of the old gods. Seems to me that some very shape-shifting, powerful chthonic and cosmic forces are at work or perhaps even doing battle, their combined effect being felt acutely by us middle-realm dwellers. Perhaps the frequency of 23 provides a conduit. ~rb
In the next instalment I will further explore 23 and Uranus in the charts of various air disasters.
Algol card from Le Tarot Astrologique, George Muchery
“A series of shocks – sneakers fall apart” ~ David Bowie/Up the Hill Backwards
We’ve heard the buzz, we’ve witnessed heads rolling on the collective stage. So what does it all mean, Algol ‘conjunct’ Mars and Uranus?
Ra’s al-Ghul, the ‘Demon’s head’ was not always associated with Gorgon and her blinking eye (the Hebrews knew it as the ‘Devil’s head’ but also the vampiric Lilith), but whatever, same evil connotations. The word comes from al-kuhl – meaning kohl, specifically referring to powders produced by alchemical sublimation. So already we find Algol linked to alchemy (and thereby chemistry), if only by name. Also, might ‘turning to stone’ have a double meaning?
Algol’s declination is way outside the ecliptic – it is not within the zodiacal constellation belt – so we can’t truly say it is ‘conjunct’ Mars and Uranus. But it does align latitudinally with 26 degrees of Taurus. A distant, fixed star like Algol becomes most potent at the time and place where it is a) rising, culminating or setting b) doing so with a planet or in aspect, or c) doing so with/aspecting another fixed star, which is calculated differently than with planetary aspects.
Mars and Uranus from Tarot Astrologique
Trump’s transit chart at the time of his near-Kennedy moment showed Mars and Uranus (and thereby Algol, by latitude) all right on his midheaven (top point/angle of the chart), which is very significant. However, for the time and location, Algol was in fact below the horizon, having already set and not yet risen. So this might explain why the bullet only clipped his ear, the star’s power wasn’t at its peak. (Am hoping the Teflon Don will now fall on his knees, a changed man, due to Jupiter’s grace, but won’t hold my breath). I have always thought Trump looks like he’s begging to be put out of his misery. As it turns out, the shooter himself had natal Mars conjunct Uranus which landed on Trump’s natal descendant, and opposed Trump’s Mars/ascendant. (Descendant can signify shadow projection). Tragic, in every aspect.
Uranus has been in Taurus a while now, urging change in a sign that hates being urged to change. It’s been a slow burn, especially for Taurus, earth signs and anyone with significant aspects to it. Uranus is electric, original, can be irrational, weird or totally scientific and detached. It is also futuristic. Just about every kind of horror B-movie monster created in a lab by a mad scientist or met in outer space is under Uranus’ jurisdiction, but so are downloads of inspiration and information from outer to inner space (strokes of genius or ‘daemon’). These I like to attribute to Urania, its feminine side, muse of Astronomy, Astrology and all things cosmic.
Mars is a firebrand, firecracker, firearm. He’s our ammunition, our physical energy and will power, our will to live. He’s now oriented. Whether hero saving the day or toxic masculinity personified, he works alone. In Taurus, he is somewhat restricted to working underground, it’s a sign he can’t be his spontaneous, bravado self in. So again, in terms of the shooting, the sniper acted alone, probably fancied himself a hero, and secretly plotted the whole thing out, over time (he didn’t just wake up with the idea that morning).
The two planets together, in exact conjunction today, are explosive. Avoid confrontation for the next several days, please. Ask yourself is it worth ‘losing my head’ over? Because with Algol in the mix, it could happen, one way or another. Headaches are another possibility. Algol mojo is the most powerful of any fixed star. We now know it is not a binary system (two stars) but actually a trinary one (three stars). There were three Gorgon sisters, and they had three sisters called the Graeae, who were born old with grey hair. They shared one eye and one tooth between them, passing it around (Perseus stole these as ransom until they told him where to find Medusa). Coincidence?
We want to make this alignment work for us, but to do this, our own Mars must be a noble hero, not a blow-hard with a big ego. Perseus, Medusa’s assassin, can be seen as either. Solar heroes tend to be not very bright, but very brave and willing. They have a particular bias toward anything that slithers – serpents, dragons, sea monsters – which symbolize the untameable, irrational, lunar (dark) forces of the creative feminine, but also monsters we create from shadow.
[I’ve written about Medusa and her relationship with Athena pre-Perseus, so search her name herein if you are curious, but this article concerns the classical, Perseus myth, forever preserved in constellation lore. The Perseus/Medusa myth goes back to around 500 BC, and gorgon/gorgoneions probably before that, but Andromeda’s rescue was added much later.]
Perseus, our Mars/Taurus hero, didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to go kill Medusa, Athena put him up to it. Athena represents the rational, cooler expression of Uranus in this scenario. Medusa (flip side of the same coin) represents the B-movie monster created by an out-of-control experiment (Athena ‘turning her into a gorgon’ in the first place). Asteroid Pallas Athena is currently opposite Mars, in his home sign of Scorpio, getting a ‘removed’ perspective.
In our own lives, depending on which house of our chart this conjunction occurs in (find 26 Taurus in your chart), here lies something which has ‘come to a head’ – a head that has become a monster that petrifies everything (ie, can no longer move/grow). Your inner Athena has taken an objective view of the situation and has decided something drastic must be done. Hopefully you are conscious of this, because then you can be in charge of deciding what form your Perseus will take. Unconsciously, outer events seemingly come out of nowhere (Uranus) and take you by (sort of) surprise. Stay safe!
[Note, if you don’t know your birth time, then let first house = Aries, second house = Taurus, and so on. Not as precise, but still bears similarity.]
* * * * * * * * * * *
First house of self (or Aries):
You are done to death with the way you look/feel or how others see/don’t see you. Who are you really, today, now, and how can you let your freak fly or let go of being a freak? Don’t hold back! This is transformation time and you can be a trend-setter. A new hairstyle might suffice, but wait a few days, avoid sharp objects about the head today. Wear your fanciest helmet. Taurus is Venus’ sign, after all.
Second house of personal resources/values (or Taurus):
What has been accumulating so much that it has taken on a life of its own and has begun calling the shots? The mould in your fridge? The property you own? It’s time for a cull, to make room for new growth, seek fresh resources. Pegasus and Chysaor were born out of Medusa’s severed neck, and with the use of her severed head, Perseus was able to save the Venusian Andromeda from Cetus. Beauty and love can be radical.
Third house of communication (or Gemini):
Be honest, where does your speech, way of speaking, novel, or life story need editing? It’s possible you need to call in outer help, get a second opinion from someone with a more objective view (or you might be that person for someone else). At least get some distance for a while, stop trying. (Practice Wu Wei). You might just get a brainstorm. There is vast space in the moment. But do stay alert on the road, watch out for those Martian red sports cars.
Fourth house of home/mother parent (or Cancer):
Looks like that reno or repair can’t wait any longer. There may be upheaval, uprooting, cutting of an umbilical chord, or weaning of the infant, whether literally or metaphorically. Comfort zones become (even more) uncomfortable. Something rocks the cradle or the foundations. Practice compassionate un-attachment, letting go. Mothers of those with the 4th house transit might have similar issues now.
Fifth house of creativity/children (or Leo):
For creativity, this is a great boost. You could conceive some original new ideas now. Algol with Uranus can bring strokes of genius. Be open to new daemons, but also note that future-directed Uranus-Taurus genius is not always appreciated in one’s own lifetime. Pro-creatively, this could mean one of those un-planned events, so take extra precautions if not your plan. Existing kids might have head bumps or headaches. No trampoline today, ok?
Sixth house of work/health (or Virgo):
Are your work habits making you sick? You need to change them now and taking more time for self-care and exercise, if this is the case, to prevent a chronic condition from developing. I’m sorry but this can’t be put off any longer. If you are already doing this, fantastic. This conjunction can bring a boost of will to change or a boost of energy. You might also decide to change your work/job.
Seventh house of partners (or Libra):
Can we talk about contracts, shadow projection and who is bearing the other’s what? If you are in an abusive situation (be it with a spouse, business partner or otherwise), and are trying to leave, consciously use the Perseus-Medusa myth to take back the power you gave to the other person, which is also your anger. Athena gets her mojo by wearing Medusa’s head on her breastplate. Reclaim, do not fear.
Eighth house of shared resources/death (or Scorpio):
One of the psychic houses, where what is hidden from sight could take the form of an ‘outer’ surprise. Here is where Medusa might have the upper hand. Also, vials of the blood spurting from her two, severed neck veins – right/healing and left/toxic – were given to Asclepius the healer, on whom Ophiuchus is based. His constellation straddles Scorpio and Sagittarius. It’s where we get the word ‘medicine,’ Use it wisely.
Ninth house of higher mind (or Sagittarius):
Here, this conjunction can be a mind-opener. If your moral standing is in order, Algol aloft should be fine. But if you’ve been pontificating ‘do as I say not as I do’, look out. She doesn’t like falsifiers and will turn you into a relic. Traveling or just reading this Summer should ideally take you as far away as possible, not to escape, but to be a-ston-ished, from ‘attonaire’, a Latin word meaning, ‘as if being struck by lightening.’ (ie, ‘turned to stone’).
Tenth house of career/father parent (or Capricorn):
I could save time by just putting a picture of the Tower card here. What the card actually depicts is a release from a prison tower, by divine intervention. It also has sexual connotations – le petit mort describes the ego death that happens with orgasm. Has your career, persona or reputation become a prison? It’s said the subject draws the lightening to itself. Did Medusa just want out of her misery? Or was Pegasus kicking in his stall?
Eleventh house of friends/groups (or Aquarius):
Are you living for others to the point where you’ve lost yourself? Are you sick of the company you’ve been keeping, not wanting to be in a club that would have you as a member? You might want to speak your mind – just be sure that your intent is for the betterment of everyone, or that you are ok with burning a bridge. Otherwise, it’s you they’ll eat. Stay on the high road, don’t take things personally.
Twelfth house of subconscious/unselfing (or Pisces):
You shouldn’t have trouble with the ‘letting go’ aspects of this conjunction, unless you are attached to things for sentimental reasons, but the acceleration might take you for a spin, if you’ve been just ‘going with the flow’ of changes up until now. This is the house of ‘self-undoing,’ so chopping off your own head is not out of the question. But is it that of the Gorgon or of the Hydra – the monster whose heads keep regrowing – that you sever? ~rb
Like all her fans, I was crushed to learn of Sinéad O’Connor’s (Shuhada’ Sadaqat’s) death. I’m not going to get too into analyzing her personal struggles…suffice it to say we of the Pisces Saturn opposite Pluto-Uranus generation are working through lifetimes of (usually religious) guilt and/or persecution, which can involve putting oneself back in a similar situation. Sinéad often walked through fire of her own making, but likely she’d been burned (or burned others) at the stake in the distant past. Sadly, she didn’t make her second Saturn return.
Ripping up the pope on SNL “Fight the Real Enemy”
Squares are challenging, especially T-squares, and her Sagi Venus was in this configuration with the Pluto-Uranus/Saturn-Chiron opposition, her Xena warrior Venus believing unequivocally that without the freedom to love who and how we want, there can be no healing. As well, Pallas Athena, Jupiter’s favourite warriordaughter in rebel Aries. But her Black Moon Lilith, sometimes a self-saboteur in youth was also in Pisces, sign of the martyr, conjunct Saturn, and the two of them opposite Mars in Libra. Not easy to keep a balance (Libra) with the ironman Mars sitting on one of your scales, while luminaries Venus and Sun have their hands full trying to mediate the forces of Pluto/Uranus and Saturn/Chiron. Saturn in this placement can feel like one’s been abandoned by god and/or one’s own father, which is what happened. All of them under Jupiter’s watch (see explanation below).
Sinead O’Connor natal chart with asteroids Dec 8 1966
Read her book, ‘Rememberings’ if you want to know about her personal life. Here’s a great Guardian interview from 2021, upon its release.
With Chiron tightly conjunct her Saturn, the urge to break and heal the long cycle of pain would be even stronger, but as we know, Chiron’s own wounds never quite heal even as he healed others. Sinéad gave music her all, and all her music. “We’re only given as much as the heart can endure” sang Capricorn Patti Smith, but Sagittarius is known to bite off more than they can chew. Sagittarius is clichéd as being a lucky, optimistic, freedom-loving zealot. And that would be true. However there is also what I’ve always referred to as ‘the unbearable lightness of being Sagittarius.’ It’s kind of like an unbearable heaviness, except light. (Sagis will understand).
Michelangelo’s sculpture of a young slave – spirit trying to release from body.
I had actually just been listening to Sinéad’s Irish Ballads the night before the sad news broke, that crystal-perfect voice, remembering how she’d said that these songs were ‘ghosts.’ Spirit possession, be it via songs, demons or Holy Spirit or can be a very stressful practice, definitely not for the faint of heart. Sometimes they won’t leave.
Jupiter, like Sagittarius, is given this benign definition of ‘greater benefic’ or ‘fortunate’ or signifying ‘excess’. And these would be true. But Jupiter’s influence, being of the spirit, is perhaps not fully fathomed until a person has passed and their own, ‘larger than life’ spirit becomes one with everything. That’s kind of the whole point of Jupiter’s religiosity (although many astrologers now attribute this ‘seeking oneness’ quality and Pisces rulership to Neptune, I see the outer planets as a slow release over a long period of time, affecting whole generations, so am not quite ready to replace the traditional rulerships with them). Similarly, when a loved one dies you recognize and perhaps feel it in a breeze or passing bird…a Jupiterian serendipity. This planetary god makes spirit known.
Jupiter in the end shows where a person died a ‘good death’ (though not necessarily without physical pain), ‘with honours’ or simply how the pull to spirit realm was at that moment overriding the material. Think of how we are drawn into sleep each night, the realm of dreams – Pisces being Jupiter’s other traditional sign. Likely she died in her sleep.
Celtic designs on Jupiter
Sinéad’s Sagittarius Sun (ruler of Leo) was in mutual reception with her Leo Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius). Her Libra Moon and Taurus North Node were also ultimately under the influence of Jupiter, since her Venus (ruler of Taurus and Libra) was in the sign of Sagittarius. It’s called the ‘chain of command’ in a chart. At the same time, her natal Venus was being trined by transiting retrograde Venus. Retrograde Venus is where we get the myth of Ishtar going into to the underworld – ie, the period of invisibility in the Sun’s rays, before re-emerging the other side – where, en route, she had to remove a veil at each of seven gates (heavenly spheres).
I’m dancing the Seven Veils Want you to pick up my scarf See how the black moon fades Soon I can give you my heart
~ first lines of Sinead O’Connor’s first big hit, ‘Mandinka’
Natal chart with transits on day of departure
When the news of her death broke, Jupiter was conjunct her North Node (future/material) and Sun was on her Jupiter. As well, the Moon was transiting her South Node (past/spiritual) node. The Lunar Nodes are an axis and work together, not separately. Whatever was going on, it seems her God-father came to take her home, with honours for her musical contribution and valiant battle with lifetimes old cause of so much abuse and suffering. Yes, she had a martyr complex at times (her Neptune conjunct south node in the 12th house was a significator of that in this life and the past), but that was also deeply imprinted in the psyche via catholicism. Life throws us enough suffering without the added notion that somehow we ‘deserved’ it and are being punished by the almighty for simply being ourselves, but that is the general idea of ‘original sin’ and it’s made a real mess of things.
Lamp with Ishtar’s underworld twin Ereshkigal, Syria
As well, we see transiting Mercury, flanked by Lilith and Venus, squaring her natal 12th house Mercury, representing her son Shane. Like his mum, he had been institutionalized (12th house), and sadly, although on ‘suicide watch’ he had ended his own life (age 17) last year. She expressed in her last tweet how she was basically walking dead without him, that he was the ‘lamp of her soul’ and that they ‘shared a soul’. Transiting Mercury is the psychopomp, conjunct retrograde (underworld) Venus and Black Moon Lilith (the void/anti-Moon). So much there offering her the door. “Alright, my daughter, you’ve had more than enough.”
It is not personal, human foibles (sorry, media) that ultimately defines how a great artist will be remembered, but their legacy. Jupiter also sired the nine Heavenly Muses, when he slept with the Titan Mnemosyne (‘of Memory’).
I think Sinéad, Jupiter’s daughter, whom Christy Moore once referred to as ‘one of our [Ireland’s] sons,’ and a catholic priest asked she sign his copy of her book ‘because she is a prophet’, was blessed by at least several of them. ~rb
Concept for Disney’s Snow White by Gustaf Tenggren – alchemy much?
With chthonic ‘dwarf planet’ Pluto at 29 Capricorn and opposite Black Moon Lilith at 29 Cancer, I was reminded of the ‘alchemist mining the earth’. In fact , this theme, I *believe* was central to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. ‘Hair black as ebony, skin as white as snow, lips red as blood’ happen to be the three ‘distinct’ phases of the Magnum Opus; nigredo, albedo, rubedo (sometimes there was a 4th, citrinitas, between the albedo and rubedo). These were also enumerated to seven stages, corresponding with the seven planetary spheres…or dwarfs. Not to mention that glass ‘coffin’.
Here is the clip I was rereading from my files, and apologies, I don’t remember where I originally clipped it from, but it is a quote (must be old, as it uses ‘man’, maybe from Jung?):
“The alchemist mining the earth. Mining or going inside the earth is the first step in the alchemical process. The earth is the body or oneself. Going inside the earth is equal to going into your inner self. Thus we are invited to descend into the earth, into the underworld, or the unconscious. The earth is the symbol of physical man. Man needs to become conscious of his inner world, who he is, what he is doing, what his motives are, and so on. Once attention is directed inwards, a whole new world opens: the underworld of Hades, the dark realm of shadows and monsters.“
And this is from another source, regarding the black phase or ‘nigredo’:
“Here, we are being asked to let go of all within us and outside of us that is false, inauthentic, and not in full alignment with the truth of who we are. This is a truth as it exists on a soul level, far beyond the ego and its limited ideas or illusions about who we “should” be.”
Is it possible that we’re now collectively getting ready to ‘birth’ out of the ‘nigredo’ stage? We began descent into fermentation blackness when Pluto entered Capricorn (feminine earth sign) back in 2008. About a year and a half prior, Pluto had been “demoted” to ‘dwarf planet’ by a handful of young astronomers who thought they were clever by disempowering the planet-god. Clearly, Pluto was in fact operating through them from that unconscious, Hadean realm over which he presides. [Side note: I bet Pluto will take its former status back once it is securely in Aquarius.] As it is, too, with Black Moon Lilith, who loves the freedom of darkness and invisibility of night. In Cancer, the sign of the Moon and mother, she represents the ‘uterine’ blackness itself, the void people desperately try to to a-void but that must be traversed. Our fear of death likely has much to do with our memories of that messy and shocking business of rebirth.
When Ishtar descended into the underworld, she had to leave a veil or some such trapping at each of the seven gates she went through (i.e, stages/planetary spheres). Even then, she had the hubris to want to sit on her sister Ereshkigal’s throne, and for this, she was hung up on a meat hook until she learned her lesson. We can also think of the Hanged Man in Tarot, Odin, and the Freemasons’ weird hanging upside down ritual, meant to instill that same sense of emptying out the false self so as to receive true knowledge that is the ultimate unification of self with world knowledge. The mystery ‘cults’ of Ancient Greece and Rome likely had similar purpose (though originally based on fertility/seasons).
These types of healing and initiation rituals are as old as we are, and are related to vision quests. I am sure paleolithic humans/shamans weren’t so much concerned with ‘self and non-self’ but nevertheless, soul-loss or theft was considered a cause of sickness and their work involved traversing into other realms, perhaps through a pitch black, uterine cave passage, to set things right or be instructed by other beings, ancestors, animal spirits, etc. We exist in more than just this one, as we know simply from dreaming.
Dali Tarot Hanged Man
What happens much of the time is, people start going through this ‘inward’ process unconsciously and are either unaware or resistant. All one knows is the depression, self-loathing or other emotional unpleasantness that arises. This is a calling from deep in the soul, but thinking that it is abnormal and needs to be ‘cured’, one fights it, is taken over by substances used to quell it, or fears losing control, which is akin to death. Because how can one function in this world, with all its glaring eyes, while descending into another? But there is no choice. If we ignore this call, Pluto will then bring about an outer event that will force us inward. That is what has been happening, collectively. The three outer planets are ‘the three alchemists’; Uranus shocks, burns and blows up, Neptune dissolves and dissipates, and Pluto pressure-cooks us into change that is permanent. Their transits are long, affecting entire generations.
Artists, poets and musicians of each generation are modern shaman-alchemists of sorts, who traverse the deepest chasms to bring back healing for the rest of society (you’re welcome). But it’s not exclusive, by any means.
Pluto will be leaving earth and entering air starting March 23 (with two retrogrades back to Cap), followed by Uranus leaving earth and entering air and Neptune leaving water and entering fire, both in 2025. Use the next couple of years, with Saturn in Pisces and the alchemists still submerged or partly submerged, to do your spelunking. If you are hearing the soul’s call, don’t be afraid to descend, to enter the labyrinth (you can leave a golden thread to guide you back out). Perhaps you are already in one of the stages or nearing completion, as many of my Saturn Pisces brethren must be.
Point is, you are full of hidden mysteries and treasures to be mined!
And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said “BE STILL!” and tamed them with a magic trick of staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things “And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”
~ from ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak
Below are excerpts from two articles from my old blog archives. I was not going to include them – or any political posts – in this new site, but under the circumstances, it’s kind of interesting now, to see the writing on the wall. The summation for me was Patti Smith singing ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ at the Nobels, after the dictator won the election in 2016. The sinking feeling we’d all had foreshadowed so much that has befallen us since, but the song is hopeful at the end.
(Photos of the subject have been removed, as well as his full name, because we’ve seen quite enough).
Monday, March 14, 2016 – Triumph of the Donald
Triumph of Mars
Why do I get the feeling, when I witness DT, that he is a man in great pain, begging to be put out of his misery ?
Geminis often make great actors, because of their channeling abilities, as long as they can consciously take the persona off at the end of the day. Gemini Marilyn Monroe was an example of one who could not. Having ‘no there, there’ can be scary, feel empty.
One of the more serious conditions a non-conscious or un-grounded Gemini can suffer from is demon or spirit possession, because, being mutable air they are often not quite in their bodies, and being Mercurial, even the less shadowy twins can sometimes attract invisible friends, conjuring unawares. Demons eat negativity and when they find a host, they encourage more and more of it in them, to feast on, as was the case with Gemini Rob Ford, former mayor of Toronto.
Similarly, DT is getting more bloated and insane and less in control of his words and actions. He is not on crack, though I am not sure about pharmaceuticals. At the same time, because of the path he’s taken, he has no choice but to see it through, high stakes, winner take all. Speculative Sagittarius Moon opposite his Gemini Sun. DT has Uranus (higher octave of Mercury) conjunct Sun and opposite Moon. Uranus here bestows an obstinate self-centeredness, extreme unpredictability and the courage of one’s own convictions, no matter how crazy. Monotony is anathema, therefore the pot must always be stirred. With Moon opp Uranus, the soul is never at rest and the person cannot be happy living in the present. The need for intensity eventually can wear them out. I think he is worn out, but his demons are keeping him hopped up and he likes the mojo. And Mercury square Neptune can be delusional.
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Satan, 16th c
America loves Uranus, because it’s the planet of Aquarius, society at large, freedom, revolution, the rebel without a cause, wild at heart, as well as science and technology, discovery. But it’s unpredictability has a dark side, too – energetic forces that we don’t know how to control, nukes, big pharma, genetic engineering, and internet disinformation that flows like spilled water. Any planets close to the Sun want their place in the Sun, they’re ‘hot’, so I think his Uranus (insert Uranus joke here) is what people notice first and foremost…certainly that ‘shock’ of hair. His followers feel oppressed by ‘political correctness’ and see him as their liberator.
It’s funny, because mythological Uranus was no liberator. And we now know Uranus, like Saturn, has rings, so even though it marches to a different drummer, it is not entirely unconstrained by limitations. In any case, DT’s North Node lies right smack between his Sun and Uranus, so there’s a destiny to fulfill, for better or worse, and it’s tied in with his aggressive, lonely, Leo Mars ego in the 12th house of karmic debt and self-undoing. The 12th house is where one seeks to dissolve ‘me’ and devote to higher ideals, to transcend ego and free oneself from residue of past deeds. Pluto is also in Leo, there (if his birth time is correct), at 10 degrees. The Pluto-Leo generation have issues and past guilt around things like privilege and wealth, lording it over others. It’s the rock star/super star Baby Boomer bunch. Many of them worked through their karma on stage, through performance. Well, America has had an actor for president before…
Giansar is the fixed star conjunct DT’s Pluto, in the tail of Draco. It indicates having many friends and an analytical mind, but also the name means ‘the punished enemy’ as well as ‘the poison place’, because it is similar in nature to the south node (Dragon’s tail). He may very well be re-living a past life of being a punished dictator. Royal star Regulus, Heart of the Lion aka ‘Little King’, is right smack on his ascendant, conjunct Mars by a few degrees, meaning he sees himself – and others may see him – as a ruthless king. Well, he certainly does live like royalty.
The fixed stars around his Sun have to do with high position, quick mind, quick temper, luck, brief fame, scandal, quarrels, weapons of war, point of attack and the Death card in Tarot. (I think of stars as being indicative of the past, because their light has come from there, reaching us in the present and lighting particular points of the chart).
Mussolini was Leo Sun w Gemini Pluto, in mutual reception to DT’s Gemini Sun and Leo Pluto.
Thursday, October 27, 2016 Election Vivisection
Watching parts of the last presidential debate made me physically nauseous for about three days. Both candidates are frightening, but I think DT is actually, literally toxic, a product of all the psychological hazardous waste in the US, having taken on a life form.
It’s hard to say who was doing exactly what last time around, but 1938 keeps coming up again and again. The players have changed, but the cycle has come back to the same spot. Fun fact – H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds was first broadcast Oct 30, 1938, causing widespread panic, because Orson Welles made it sound so realistic. The first large scale example, perhaps, of how collective fear could be manipulated by media. (Aptly, it was a Mercury Theatre production). We are seeing that every day now, but nobody is coming on air after the fact to tell us that it’s not real !
I’m not the only one who thinks there will be a plot twist to this election. Some think there will be an assassination or attempt on either candidate, most predict some kind of voting fraud or mishap. I think it will come after the election, whether it be assassination, health-related or some criminal allegation. Not sure, just know that the actual election is not going to be the end of this madness, just a point of release.
Looking to 1938 again, there were a few very false starts, like when Hitler was named TIME Magazine’s Man of the Year. That’s right, Hitler, Man of the Year. Meanwhile, concentration camps were opening up in Germany, the passports of Jews were being confiscated and their businesses being looted, the Holocaust had begun. The Munich Agreement saw Germany, Italy, France and Britain agree to the annexation of the Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia by Germany, without any say from the Czechs, thinking this would avert war. Neville Chamberlain arrived home, waving the signed papers, proclaiming, “Peace in our time !” Yeah, that didn’t happen. Instead, Mussolini began demanding France cede various ‘colonies’ to Italy, the Middle east was also being carved up, and the atomic age officially started when nuclear fission, using Uranium was first discovered that year.
Seeing any parallels yet ? Now we have refugee camps, passports being confiscated, new dictators, Ukraine, Syria, use of depleted uranium, the threat of nukes and world war for real, rearing it’s ugly head… Not making predictions, just noting that unfinished business has returned to collect and the tension is thick as black, Russian rye.
Comparing their charts, Putin trumps DT, and his crafty, Gemini Moon must give a sense of security or recognition to DT’s ‘no there there’ Sun. I’d have to agree that Trump makes a very excellent, Putinesque puppet. It’s a mutual, buddy-buddy relationship, sure, except that one of the buddies is not playing with a full deck, the other is a major, world player. A narcissist like DT with Mars and Pluto in the 12th is attracted to power like a fly to excrement and is therefore malleable. At the same time, he has a lot of power residue, left over from the past, and is an excellent manipulator himself, but he does not use it responsibly, he throws it about, inciting people to be their worst and attracting entities. The man is akin to a walking ear worm of your most hated song.
Well, less than 3 weeks to go…
Btw, Nov 9 in 1938 was ‘Kristallnacht’, the ‘night of broken glass’, in Germany, when Nazi activists and sympathizers spent the night on a rampage, burning and looting Jewish businesses and synagogues. We can likely expect some violence around this election – if he loses, there will be anger, rioting by those believing the results fixed… if he wins, there will be idiots who see it as permission to go on a racist rampage.
And now, back to the present…
Attack on US Congress, Jan 6, 2021 – either that upholstery goes or we do.
This just in…
A friend posted to FB this morning. Old footage of a Nazi rally at Madison Square Gardens, 1939, pieced together and cleaned up by director Marshall Curry. It seems hard to believe (although I’d heard of this event, before), but then, considering Hitler was TIME’s Man of the Year, just the year before, and the world had not yet seen the concentration camps, maybe not so hard. Please watch this 6 minutes of horror.
Man’s heart, away from Nature becomes cold. ~ Standing Bear
Uranus entered Taurus on May 15, 2018, for a 7 year stint. With Taurus being the sign of our planet, Uranus being the ruler of the Aquarian Age and the creation myth of Ouranos (sky) and Gaia (earth) being symbolically reenacted, the stage is set for a highly significant transit.
There are many possible interpretations, but I see the combination of fixed earth and Mercury’s higher octave as nothing less than ‘the Great Work’ of our collective alchemy, wherein we are able to rediscover (and perhaps quantify) the living spirit in matter.
Francisco de Holanda, ‘De aetatibus mundi’ (c. 1545)
The Mythology and the Mechanics
In astrology, Uranus is said to have a ‘Promethean’ quality. This was especially true during it’s Aries transit, when we saw individual, young hero-rebels at the forefront, stealing fire and giving it to mankind (think Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden). By the time Uranus had come to the late degrees of Aries, it was not just one or two brave truth tellers, sticking their necks out, but large numbers of ‘underdogs’ marching in the streets – a virtual children’s crusade against the gun lobby and a #metoo movement against sexual harassment. True to “I Am” Aries, these were initiatory expressions of anger, the demand to be seen and heard. Mercurius in his volatile, firey form.
Erté, Fire
Often, in myth and legend, a Hero must obtain or is given a ring, key, password or other such symbolic, magically imbued accessory, with which to unlock secrets or treasures, hidden within the Earth or some forbidden place (ie, the feminine). The individual must be pure of heart, of course. Only a ‘true sovereign’ like Arthur could obtain the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Only the compassionate, simple brother who shares his loaf with a stranger will win the princess. Musical keys also unlock certain mysteries, in that they open different channels to our emotions and memories. Uranus’ symbol, like Chiron’s, resembles a key.
Because Aquarius’ natural ruler is Saturn, who’s metal is lead, and it’s polar opposite, Leo’s ruler is the Sun, whose metal is gold, we can see how the addition of the ‘key’ of Uranus – the higher octave of Mercury (who indeed heralded the transition into Taurus, by conjunction) – is essential to the alchemical process of turning lead to gold. In the realm of fairy tales, frogs are transformed into princes, pumpkins into coaches, and so on – all metaphors for the transmutation of the self. In evolutionary astrology, Uranus is also said to represent long term memory, that of past lives. Remember sitting on a lily pad, catching flies ?
The Frog Prince illustrated by P.J. Lynch
So, collectively, we could see it as the first ‘task’ (1st house/Aries) now being complete, and the next one (2nd house/Taurus) beginning. Uranus is future-oriented, unattached and changing, while Taurus is ancient, material and constant. Our mission now is to unlock something hidden (Scorpio) and sacred in us that is our birthright, but that we will have to be pure-hearted enough to do. Uranus is mental intellect, so in our collective myth, the hero must now be initiated into heart (Leo) wisdom, via Venus/Eros (Taurus). The 0 degree of each fixed sign is being activated or awoken by Uranus as it unlocks the gate to Taurus, waking the Phoenix (Scorpio) from it’s ashes.
The Lover: Spock’s initiation into heart wisdom.
True, not everyone will have successfully completed the 1st task, and the ‘children’s crusade’ continues with Chiron’s move into Aries (tragically, there have been two more high school shootings, as I edit this). But only a certain percentage of the population need obtain the fire or key required for the evolution of the collective consciousness, ’tis said.
We’ve seen many brilliant, scientific and technological breakthroughs at the onset of the Aquarian Age, as well as the dangers, like the risk of becoming too clinical and detached, toxic pollutants and the capability for total annihilation. At the same time, many are becoming highly sensitized to the suffering of others, of animals especially, as we realize we are not separate from anything else in the universe, that spirit isn’t just something personal, but lives in and connects all things.
Fiat Firmamentum, by Francisco de Holanda, from’ De Aetatibus Mundi Imagines’, circa 1545
Fun Fact: Uranus, ruler of the Aquarian Age, is also the planet of astrology. Viewed from space, everything on Earth would appear to be happening simultaneously, which is kind of how we view the snapshot of a moment in time, drawn as a chart.
Aquarius can be a telepathic sign, and with the key of Uranus, we are being presented with a golden opportunity to communicate telepathically with all lifeforms, via spirit, once again. As mentioned, Uranus rules long-term memory, which includes traumatic resonance. Our collective, Uranus in Taurus trauma must have something to do with our separation from nature, both within and without.
The field has eyes, the wood has ears; I will look, be silent and listen. ~ Heironymus Bosch
Buddhist meditation instruction illustration, Rubin Museum
Buddha was also said to have been a Taurus. He ‘unlocked’ the mysteries of the nature of mind by simply sitting under a Banyen tree and observing his. He saw that all suffering comes from attachment to that which is impermanent. One of the key teachings of Uranus in Taurus is freedom from attachment – to old ways, traditions, things…anything that is overdue for renewal. Freedom in any way necessary. Un-attachment to outcome and transient forms is not the same thing as emotional detachment, which kills compassion and creates sociopaths.
So, how does a Uranus transit differ from a Pluto transit ? Uranus feels more like a rumbling or irritation that one can’t ignore, shackles that must be thrown off. There is an urgent, awakened quality to it. It may bring sudden clarity or quantum leaps. The Pluto transit is more like a death (albeit with the promise of rebirth), as the transformation goes on at a deep, subconscious level. It can manifest in outward projections, like scary situations/people and obsessions. Both planets are powerful, impersonal, and can be destructive if we try to cling to the old. Best to come quietly.
Where did we come from, what are we, where are we going ? ~ Paul Gauguin
Taurus is one of the – if not the – oldest constellations in the zodiac. This is thought to be a depiction of it at Lascaux.
Aquarius has an affinity for archeology as well as astronomy and astrology, because in the ‘Age of Man’, what does it actually mean to be human ? The more we discover about the past and the future, we begin to realize that we are the so-called ‘missing link’, not only do we embody the living potential of spirit, but we are the living potential. We were given the blueprints, in the form of teachings we didn’t fully understand at the time (another magic key), and our consciousness has since been evolving, but we are not yet there. The sense that it’s all our own responsibility is existentially terrifying to us, so we amass information as fast as we can, providing our rational minds with some sense of security. But this only provides partial understanding, because information, being windy-Mercurial, is ever changing.
How do we know what way is the right one ? How does the hero know which path to choose ? What is constant and real, not bullshit ? Taurus is accused of fixity, but the lesson of this sign, and for those born under it, is to instinctively understand the transmutation of elements (Scorpio), at a base level and know that in nature, nothing remains the same – though it is constant. Perhaps Taurean melancholy comes from gut feeling this impermanence, just like Scorpio power comes from knowing nature’s consistency (Taurus).
Hildegarde Von Bingen, The Egg of the Universe
Out of this World
When Venus (Taurus) and Uranus come together, it can create the environment for creative genius. Of course there have to be other contributing factors in the chart for any of these manifestations to occur, but the number of mystics, occultists, astrologers, philosophical thinkers or spiritual and social scientists with Uranus in Taurus is staggering. Among them are Hildegard of Bingen, Marcilio Ficino (humanist philosopher who translated Plato’s works), Nicola Tesla, Mademoiselle Lenormand, Sigmund Freud, Max Planck (founder of quantum theory), Fritjof Capra, Stephen Hawking and Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space).
Perhaps the greatest musical genius of all time, Ludwig Van Beethoven
The musical list is a blog post in itself, but Beethoven, JS Bach, Handel, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Nico, Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Tina Turner, Roy Orbison, Brian Epstein (Beatles discoverer and mgr) and Phil Spector are just a small handful. The list seems disproportionately male, which is partly due to the nature of the biz, but also because the men seek their lost muse or ‘anima’. Think of Bob Dylan’s ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’, Velvet Underground’s ‘Venus in Furs’ or pick any Leonard Cohen song – they are not really about an individual woman, but rather a hymn to the Goddess, in some form or other. (Many of the 60s bunch are also Neptune/Virgo natives = Music + Goddess).
“It don’t matter how you worship, as long as you’re down on your knees,” sang poet-prophet Cohen, adhering to ancient tradition.
Western women with Uranus in the feminine house of Venus, discovered and owned their body politic, en masse for the first time. This generation gave us ‘ground-breaking’ feminist writers like Germaine Greer, Erica Jong and Margaret Atwood, actor-activists like Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson and the screen Goddesses had a formidable, self-possessed sexuality – Sophia Loren, Tura Satana, Anita Pallenberg, Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, Brigitte Bardot, Karen Black, Elke Somer, Diana Rigg, just off the top.
Tura Satana and Diana Rigg
The polarity of Taurus/Venus and Scorpio/Mars/Pluto is intense, can be obsessive, perverted or sexually deviant, if unbalanced and there do seem to be a lot of sexual-serial killers born with Uranus Taurus. It has to do with not just sexual but also creative repression, which rejects the Goddess and kills the soul. On the other hand, writers with Uranus Taurus like Dante Alighieri and Joseph Conrad stared into the mouth of Hell and revealed to us what damnation was like for tortured souls. Vincent van Gogh was the quintessential, tortured artist and misunderstood genius. True to Uranus, his artistic vision would be appreciated in the future, not in his own time. True to Venus, his paintings – bursting with the living, volatile spirit – are now some of the most valued and sought-after on Earth. Were the MOMA to sell ‘Starry Night’ it would cost about a billion dollars. So keep in mind that what whatever we create now will be long-lasting and may not come to fruition within our own lifetime.
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
The previous Uranus/Taurus transit also overlapped Pluto/Leo, so many came into the world with their personal, creative expression fully-honed. We aren’t likely to see the same plethora of ‘super-stars’ with Pluto in Capricorn, but it will be in Aquarius, near the end of the Uranus-Taurus transit, which will again bring the Leo polarity into play. Uranus-Taurus is ushering in the first ‘official’ Pluto-Aquarius cycle of the Aquarian Age !
A note about Capricorn…
Capricorn rules class systems, money/power structures and other orders of society. But we often forget that Capricorn is not just a Scrooge-y, social climbing mountain goat. It’s also a fantastical mer-goat, as well as Unicorn, which it was depicted as, once, in old, medical astrology texts. The pure, white, “calcified” unicorn horn was thought to be a cure for anything, since the Unicorn is incorruptible and equated with the Christ or the incorruptible part of ourselves. Pluto in Capricorn is helping us get there, by any means necessary.
15th and 14th c zodiacs with Capricorn as Unicorn
The magical, Mercurial (or Uranian) unicorn horn is essential for transformation. And doesn’t Scrooge himself undergo a transformation after a series of dreams (aka visions), at Winter solstice? Capricorn rules the skeletal system and teeth, and it’s ruler, Saturn, old age and death – the bleached bones being all that remains long after the spirit and the flesh have left. Saturn is also the traditional ruler of Aquarius.
“We caught the beast called the Unicorn That knows and loves a maiden best And falls asleep upon her breast: We took from underneath it’s horn The splendid male carbuncle stone Sparkling against the white skull bone.”
It’s no wonder Unicorns seem to be popping up everywhere, lately. The horn also symbolizes the opening of the third eye, it’s vision transcending the mundane. (Indeed, many Capis are visionaries). It’s important not to lose our sense of wonder, as we try to rationalize what we can’t control or foresee. Uranus is all about tricksterism and expecting the unexpected.
David Bowie: Capricorn Unicorn, Mercurial poster child
Meanwhile, in the lower realms…
Environmentally, Uranus is a hot, explosive, planet of surprises and it’s moving into fixed earth. We are already seeing increased volcanic activity, but things are likely just getting warmed up. Environmental changes (and possible, other natural catastrophes) under this transit will be a factor in the coming economic changes. We will again be reminded, in no uncertain terms, that we must get back in tune with nature, as our imposed, false grid is no longer secure or sustainable. Remember, Uranus is Mercury on steroids, and Mercury can be ‘an infernal fire, the spirit of truth hidden in the earth’, sulphur.
Some astrologers have noted cyclic returns and conjunctions to the last time(s) Kilauea blew, and are predicting another big one, based on this. Volcanic explosions of the big, sudden kind can affect earth’s atmosphere and weather for years. They can actually cool the planet, but also darken it, as the ash blocks the sun. Or, if the particulates are large, the opposite effect happens, wherein there is an acceleration of global warming. They say that active volcanoes have actually prevented us from getting as warm as predicted. (Considering the latest policy of the US admin under Trump, it might be best for the planet if Pele blows her top). Interestingly, Hawaii is the highest place (above bottom sea level) on earth – literally where the earth meets the sky. Expect comets and other phenomena.
Athanasius Kircher, The Interior of the Earth, 1665
In 1815, the Indonesian volcano Tambora propelled more ash and volcanic gases into the atmosphere than any other eruption in history and resulted in significant atmospheric cooling on a global scale, much like Krakatau a few decades later. New England and Europe were particularly hard hit, with snowfalls as late as August and massive crop failures. The cold, wet, and unpleasant climatic effects of the eruption led 1816 to be known as “the year without a summer,” and inspired Lord Byron to write:
“The bright Sun was extinguishd, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space Rayless and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came and went and came, And brought no day”
–Lord Byron, “Darkness”
There is a story that Byron invited some of his friends to his home in Switzerland that summer to relax by the shores of Lake Geneva. The lack of sun and warm summer weather led the group to hold a competition writing ghost stories to keep themselves entertained. One of the guests, Mary Shelley, wrote the famous novel Frankenstein for this contest, revealing that in addition to major climatic effects, volcanic eruptions can have some unexpectedly far-reaching results. (from Scientific American)
Shelly’s book was first published in 1818 – exactly 200 years ago this year, and was originally titled Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus. It has been called the ‘birth of science fiction’. (Frankenstein was the doctor’s name, the monster was not referred to by name). Here we have an example of the Leo-Aquarius polarity in action, a classic work of artistic genius, about the madness of a scientist playing God and mucking about with the natural order without taking spirit into account. Sound familiar ? Though some insist it was written by her husband, one look at Mary Shelley’s chart shows otherwise, but I won’t digress here (perhaps another article). In any case, a good book to re-read, about now. There will be more goth days to come…
Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster
Speaking of man-made monsters, there will be a temptation to invest in Uranium mining during this transit. While we bitch about bitumen in Canada, uranium mining here is a much more lucrative and shady business. It is used solely for nuclear energy and its bi-product, depleted uranium, for weapons. Depleted uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years, and once it enters the body (via inhalation of dust, ingestion, through soil, etc), it mutates the chromosomes and causes all manner of cancers and birth defects, literally creating monsters. (The higher octave of Mercury poisoning). Since Iraq has an old affinity with Taurus and surviving babies exposed to depleted uranium during the Gulf war are now teenagers (Chiron in Aries matter), we might see them coming up in the news. If so, I hope you all have strong stomachs. Google ‘Iraq depleted uranium’, if you don’t believe me, but you have been warned.
The possibility of nukes of some kind going off in Mesopotamia (Iran is a Taurus affiliated land – could be a matter of underground testing), the ‘cradle of civilization’, is also very real, and the Capricorn Pluto power players are invested up to their goat horns in the arms trade. Guess they didn’t read Dante.
The famed poet, Dante Alighieri
Findings of plastic, and other toxins in milk (human and animal) are sure to increase, and if we don’t find a natural way to transform plastic and start putting to use the existing ones, we may literally start turning into Barbie and Ken, as our DNA changes to absorb the new information. Well, maybe we have become too attached to all the beautiful forms of the present ‘maya’ (illusion) we are in. Taurus finds the destruction of the garden very hard to take, but there is nothing here that didn’t always exist in our cozy, alembic vessel. What does the spirit in plastic have to teach us ?
The wave of discoveries regarding how information is recorded in and changes our DNA is going to get tidal. Minds will be blown. The fact that our destiny is in our own hands will become ever more apparent, some will see this as a precious thing, others will go power-mad.
‘Henry’ – Get up, get on up/like a ‘Sex Machine’ [photo Wired Magazine]In Conclusion
Uranus in Taurus, in Greek myth, is the union of Titan Gods Ouranus (sky God) and Gaia (earth Goddess), but take your pick of Sky + Earth creation myths. Since we are all children of this union, the duality of spirit and matter exists within each of us, but man and woman are not true opposites. Rather we are of one ‘gender’, with various levels of the same hormones. We all start out, in utero, as a Mercurial, ‘feminine’ androgyne. (Men have nipples, and the penis is just a little clitoris that grew). The battle of the sexes becomes ridiculous when you understand the biology. But biology alone is alchemy minus the philosopher’s stone; a study of material building blocks, of product, which does not take it’s inherent, living spirit into account. Dr. Frankenstein stuff. Maybe the fact we are drowning in ‘product’ is a testament to this.
‘Pink Optimism’ [photo Roxanna Bikadoroff]In alchemy (the ‘below’ in ‘as above, so below’), Mercury is ‘the working force in the Great Work’, ‘the spirit of truth hidden in earth.’ S/he is the volatility and fluidity in every form, embodying every duality. In astrology (the ‘above’), Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury. In the Aquarian Age, the Mercurial becomes Uranian, the inherent spirit in matter goes up an octave in frequency. This acceleration can make fixed Taurus/matter extremely volatile, which is why we are seeing more volcanic activity. Taurus is about manifestation, show me the goods.
I doubt we will all awaken to the inherent, transmuting power of our Mercurial/Uranian spirit-nature en masse (unless aliens land and set off millions of visionary gas bombs – it could happen), but I do believe it has something to do with secret we are supposed to unlock, and that we are going to see some very interesting meta-physical developments, over the next 7 years, which will bear exotic fruits for years to come.
Philosophical Mercury, c 1400
When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter the Kingdom.
William Lilly (infamous 17th c astrologer and occultist)
Fomalhaut (19th c French astrologer, Sun exact conjunct Uranus)
Thomas Burgoyne (American occultist, mystic, astrologer, clairvoyant)
Mademoiselle Lenormand (sybil of Napoleon’s court)
Noel Tyl (famous contemporary astrologer)
Anne Toth (Canadian astrologer) Hildegarde of Bingen (abbess, doctor, composer, artist, mystic)
Marsilio Ficino (humanist philosopher, astrologer, reviver of Neoplatonism and translator of Plato’s works)
Charles Fourier (French utopian socialist/philosopher, credited with originating the word ‘Féminisme’)
Thomas Moore (spiritual writer and Jungian therapist)
Emile Durkheim (helped establish sociology as an accepted science)
Emanuel Swedenborg (inventor, scientist, mystic)
Nicola Tesla
George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak company, invented roll film)
André-Marie Ampere (one of the discoverers of electro-magnetism)
Daniel Gabriel Farenheit (self explanatory)
Charles Kowal (discovered Chiron)
Catherine Kraft (French volcanologist who died with her husband in pyroclastic flow on Mt. Unzen)
Sigmund Freud (father of modern psychoanalysis)
Kenneth Ring (co-founder of Intl Association for Near-death Studies)
Max Planck (founder of quantum theory) Fritjof Capra (The Tao of Physics, quantum physicist and ecologist)
Stephen Hawking
Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space)
