Lynn Hayes: July 2008 Archives

Let's classify this as an eclipse story, bringing the raw elements of prejudice and fear out of the mists of night where these factors have been lurking.  Thanks to Jill and Americablog for this piece of video that was censored by MSNBC from last night's "Race to the White House" program:  This clip captures an exchange between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan over whether Obama exhibits too much "hubris," which I think we can safely read to mean "is too uppity."

 

If you don't know Rachel Maddow yet, do a YouTube search and watch some clips. She is the smartest human on television, and one of the few good remnants of Air America radio.

If the birth data given for Rachel is correct (4/1/1973), she has the Sun in Aries conjunct Venus, giving her a strong will (Aries) that comes in an attractive and people-pleasing package (Venus). The power of her will is more strongly shown by the conjunction of Jupiter (expansion) to her Mars (assertiveness) which are both in Aquarius, the sign of invention and revolution. Mars and Jupiter are trined by Pluto (transformation), and all of this adds to her exceptionally focused energy that is able to get right to the point of an issue and debate it brilliantly. That Aquarian energy, when filtered through the Will of Mars and the faith and belief of Jupiter is extremely rational and tends not to become overly emotional or distressed.

The rumor is that Rachel will soon be given her own show. It's hard to imagine that Rachel would take sitting down the kind of censorship that MSNBC demonstrated by eliminating this five minute exchange from the footage on their website.

August 1 will bring a total solar eclipse, occurring at 6:12 am EDT.  The solar eclipse occurs astronomically with an alignment of the Sun, Moon and the Earth so that the Moon blocks the light of the Sun to us here on Earth.

Astrologically, the solar eclipse occurs at the time of a New Moon, with the solar conscious principle conjoining the lunar unconscious principle in close proximity to the nodes of the Moon, or the Dragon's Head and Tail. 

The nodes of the Moon describe our evolutionary journey, with the North Node (also called the Dragon's head by the Chinese and other ancients) demonstrating the direction in which we are heading and the South Node (the Dragon's tail) identifying the karmic past and issues best left behind. The involvement in the eclipse phenomenon perhaps gives a clue to the effect of an eclipse, where the Sun and Moon are aligned in tandem with the evolutionary lunar nodes but the earth blocks their light. The symbolism to me is clear: The eclipse marks a turning point, but the significance may not be immediately obvious as both the solar conscious principle and the lunar instincts are obscured and we journey in darkness.

The eclipse on August 1 is at 9 degrees Leo, the sign of creative self-expression and the development of a healthy ego.  If you have a copy of your birthchart, look to see where in the chart the eclipse will fall and that will give you a picture of where in your life you are likely to experience a change.  Some say that the eclipse is an "unmasking," revealing something that has been hidden up until this point.

A solar eclipse in Leo is an interesting phenomenon astrologically, because Leo is the sign that is associated with the Sun and the ego is therefore driven underground during the eclipse period.  The effect of New and Full Moons is said to be three days before and three days after the event; eclipses can be felt for a longer period of time if you are a particularly lunar person (with planets in Cancer, in the fourth house, or with strong aspects to the Moon). 

This eclipse could bring out some interesting facets of the US presidential candidates, since it is exactly square to Uranus in McCain's chart and very close to a square to Neptune in Obama's chart.  This is interesting because these are the two planets that cause the candidates the most trouble.   Uranus (radical behavior) is square to McCain's Mars, the astrological dynamic that results in McCain's "maverick" status that he is trying so hard now to keep under wraps.  Neptune (redemption and illusion) is square to Obama's Sun, and this is the chart factor that results in the adoration of Obama that some find so frightening.  Perhaps during this eclipse period some of the real substance that underlies these factors may be revealed.

This incredible image is from The Nonist; it's a composite image of 6 hand drawn images from different astronomers of a total solar eclipse on July 18, 1960. 

One of the arguments against the validity of astrology is the argument that there is no scientific evidence that humans on earth are influenced by planetary bodies.  For many skeptics there must be scientific proof that a thing is possible, and of coures as scientific knowledge continues to expand by leaps and bounds we are learning more than ever before how little scientists really know about the universe around us.

Scientists are now learning that contact between the earth and the Milky Way do have an effect on biological species here:

Early last year, research revealed that the rise and fall of species on Earth seems to be driven by the undulating motions of our solar system as it travels through the Milky Way. Some scientists believe that this cosmic force may offer the answer to some of the biggest questions in our Earth's biological history.

read more here...

Last year Pluto made a conjunction to the Galactic Center of the Milky Way for the first time since these measurements were available. There are lots of theories about what that meant astrologically and you can read my ideas here.  Once we start really paying attention to the rhythm of our lives, the fabric of time and space does become more magical and it becomes more obvious that everything really is connected.  It's good to see that science is catching up with magic!  

Randy Pausch died on Friday after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.  He skyrocketed to fame after he delivered "The Last Lecture" to a standing-room-only crowd at Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh.  The lecture, an inspiring film on life's lessons, was posted on YouTube and soon watched by millions of people who drew inspiration from the wisdom in Randy's words about living your life to the fullest.

Randy Pausch was born as the Sun just entered the sign of Scorpio, the sign of darkness and intense experiences of life.  Mercury in his chart was also in Scorpio, which shows that his intellectual capacity (Mercury) was colored by the Scorpionic need to probe under every rock and examine closely the underlying facets of life that are missed by those who live closer to the surface.  Randy also had a strong Sagittarius element with the Moon, Venus and Jupiter all in Sagittarius which craves a lighter, more buoyant and positive experience of life.  But his Moon was squared by Pluto, ruler of Scorpio and god of the underworld, which suggests that for Randy the spectre of death and darkness was always a shadow of the lightness that he craved (Moon) in his heart.

This combination of darkness and light can be a difficult one, and the two must be synthesized in the personality in order to function properly.  It is more common for the darkness and light aspects to battle within the psyche, creating distress and potential physical problems.  It is exactly this synthesis that we see in The Last Lecture: a fearless look into the mouth of death (Pluto/Scorpio) while maintaining a positive and inspirational viewpoint (Sagittarius).  

At the time Randy was diagnosed in September of 2006, transiting Uranus was making a square to his Sagittarius Moon, indicating that his life would soon be abruptly changed.  Uranus is the Awakener, and in one way or another we will wake up from our sleepy state and come to a new realization of one sort or another.  It is apparent from Randy's journal that he remained awake throughout the course of his disease and treatment, and conscious enough to process every step of the change and transformation that he was going through.

When Randy died on Friday his progressed Moon was nearing an exact conjunction to Pluto in the progressed chart, denoting the arrival of an intense experience that would change his life.  Transiting Saturn, presiding over challenges and limitations, was conjunct the two and shows that Randy's death was not an easy one.  Still, transiting Pluto was conjunct Jupiter (abundance and opportunity, the ruler of Sagittarius) in his chart, bringing together for one final event the powers of darkness and light to create real inspiration for the millions of people who followed his story.

Therese Borchard, one of my compatriots here at my new home, has posted the points that inspired her most from Randy's work. For me, the inspiring thing is his unflinching look at the process of death and dying and his successful attempt to glean whatever inspiration can be found there. 

 

Thanks to Astrococktail for the link to this article. Last year Ceres was reclassified as a planet along with Pluto and the new planet Eris as a "dwarf planet," and most recently as a "Plutoid."

Ceres has an interesting history: when it was first discovered scientists hailed Ceres as a new planet, but then after Neptune was discovered and it was much larger, Ceres was demoted to asteroid status. Now scientists report that Ceres has been a relative of Pluto all along, an "escapee of the Kuiper belt" that entered our solar system long ago, rather than an asteroid as it has been classified all these years.

There are thousands of asteroids, and some astrologers work with virtually all of them. There is an eerie synchronicity between asteroid names and significant events (check out this article for some eerie coincidences!!), but astrologers who work with asteroids use primarily the major ones: Juno, Vesta, Pallas, and til now, Ceres. Even these asteroids have secondary importance and are felt to have more of an influence on behavior patterns than real personality dynamics.

With the reclassification of Ceres her role in astrology has become more pronounced. Ceres was known in Greece as as Demeter, and was the mother of Persephone/Kore who was taken by Hades/Pluto into the Underworld. Ceres/Demeter, goddess of grain and nourishment who was well-loved by the people on earth, abandoned them in her grief over the loss of her daughter causing starvation and devastation. The return of Persephone/Kore brought the return of Spring, but the archetype of Ceres contains the duality of the nurturing eath with the devastation of nature's wrath. For more information on Ceres, visit my earlier articles here, and more here.

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Thanks to JM for the link to this article by astrologer Barry Orr about the unease surrounding the upcoming election day. Orr writes primarily about the opposition between Saturn (status quo) and Uranus (the revolutionary) which will be exact on...

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Found this on Jill's site and was aghast (from the Washington Times):A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device,...

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