advertisements
Search within NeptuneCafe
Custom Search
book recommendations
Bernadette Brady
on progressions
"The progression will seem to manifest first as a feeling or need and then as an action"
"Progressions are the way the cosmos manifests through us, as compared to a transit, which manifests on us."
"Progressions are a richer source of information than transits. They tap into the realm of the inner, personal world, showing both day-to-day motivations as well as unshakable life statements or desires."
Demetra George
on asteroids
"Astrologers need the asteroids because the tradi-tional planets simply do not and cannot fully explain the issues which are emerging - simply because they are new."
"Before the use of asteroids, the only significators of the feminine in the traditional chart interpretation were the Moon and Venus. The socially acceptable roles for women were the Moon as mother and Venus as mate."
"Ceres, Pallas, June and Vesta represent the new voices of the dormant feminine, recently activated and now demanding power, recognition, justice, and equality in our society."
Richard Tarnas
on the cosmos
Astrology is not concretely predictive, but archetypally predictive."
"The modern dismissal of astrology reflects the virtually universal conviction that the cosmos is disenchanted."
"The universe is a fundamentally and irreducibly interconnected whole, informed by creative intelligence and pervaded by patterns of meaning and order that extend through every level, and that are expressed through a constant correspondence between astronomical events and human events."
Nicholas Campion
on national horoscopes
"Experiment with the charts. Make predictions. And yes, prediction remains a perfectly valid exercise: one successful prediction reveals more about the nature of the universe than a hundred retrospective studies."
" Just as the individual is contained within the collective, so natal astrology can be seen as contained within mundane astrology."
"The modern nation state is largely a creation of the French revolution and is becoming increasingly irrelevant as capitalism becomes global."
Michael O'Reilly
on geopolitics
"Astrology as a worldview shows us that everything is connected, that the individual is an interdependent part of the whole. "
"When Scorpio is rising, the U.S. has four planets in the eighth house, underscoring the national focus on acculating wealth and corporate influence."
"The biggest celebrities have natal planets closely connected to national planets. Their character may personify a specific planet or group of planets, so that they become a national icon or archetype."
"The natal chart is like a seed and progressions are the unfolding in time of that into the plant it is to become. Transits, are like a daily weather report. In political astrology, these three factors have to be taken into account!"
Reader Feedback... "Thanks again for the great astro work you put out every week on Newscope. This caught my eye and i thought you might want to correct it: "his progressed New Moon, a 29-year cycle marking ..." The progressed Moon cycle is between 27 and 28 years, usually happening for the second time at about 56 - 57 yrs of age.
response: My thinking was that the progressed Lunar Return is 27-28 years, but the progressed New Moon is 29 since the progressed Sun advances two degrees or so while the progressed Moon is making a circuit.
re: U.S. dollar
"Since so much of our economic power - to both good and bad effect - is having the US Dollar as the world's reserve currency, it might be useful to look at the dollar, distinct from looks you've done on the Federal Reserve. And as the world shed's the dollar as its sole standard - does it happen all at once? little by little? what effect on commodity prices? gold, silver, foodstuffs, oil? Our projected deficit this year - $1.5T. China is already a net seller of dollars. The real economic crunch is still ahead of this "eye of the storm" period we're in. I'd be interested in your perspective on these matters.
Comments, questions, suggestions? Let us know what you think. Email wolfstar@neptunecafe.com
Recent NewsScope columns
Nov. 1, 2010 - Election Day and the Scorpio Rising US chart, Silicon Valley, and Frank Sinatra, the Voice
November 8, 2010 - John Boehner's horoscope, Pluto and "Quantitative Easing", and actress Jill Clayburgh
November 15, 2010 - Pluto opposite the U.S. Jupiter, Teddy Roosevelt's gilded age, and Elizabeth Smart
Nov 22, 2010 - the U.S. Saturn Return, plus the Sarah Palin book tour, and Prince William and Kate
Nov. 29, 2010 - Kim Jong' un's horoscope, December's top five astro-events, and Mark Twain's autobiography
December 6, 2010 - Julian Assange's horoscope, Afghainistan's Hamid Karzai, and Tron star Olivia Wilde
Dec. 13, 2010 - Obama's tax cut deal, Ron Paul and the Fed, and besieged Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi
Dec. 20, 2010 - transits to the U.S. horoscope, Amelia Earhart's return, and Julian Assange's chart refined.
Jan. 3, 2011 lBrazil's Dilma Rousseff, super spy Anna Chapman, plus Kelsey Grammer's double Neptune
January 10, 2011 - looks at Gabrielle Giffords' Mars, China's new horoscope, and Rahm Emanuel's residency
January 17, 2011 - Tuni-sia's social network, chess prodigy Hou Youfin, David Arquette and Couteney Cox.
Jan. 24, 2011 - Ophiuchus' delineation by the IAU, February's top five, Steve Jobs progressed New Moon
NewsScope for January 31, 2011
by Michael Wolfstar
Egypt's Transition
While an excellent case for Egypt's 1922 horoscope* can be made, the more modern version, set for June 19, 1953 (1:30 am; Cairo), is a best fit for Egypt's recent history and events. This chart features a Sun-Mars conjunction, reflecting the strength of Egypt's military as nation's most powerful insitution. Uranus conjunct the nadir symbolically reminds us that the nation has been ruled under emergency law since 1967.
Egypt is extraordinarily responsive to Saturn's transit through Libra. The initial independence in 1922 arrived when Saturn was in early Libra. One Saturn cycle later (in 1953), Egypt's modern incarnation came into being as the British colonial power was formally booted out. President Anwar Sadat, who negotiated a peace treaty with Israel, was assassinated on October 6, 1981 during the next Saturn in Libra cycle, and during a Sun-Saturn conjunction.
President Mubarak replaced Sadat on October 14, 1981. He has been in power for one Saturn cycle, which brings us to the current revolutionary fervor. The outbreak of mass protests and violence began last week precisely as Saturn turned retrograde while squaring natal Uranus. The protesters were organizing through the use of social networking technologies (Uranus), but then the government shut down most internet portals (Saturn).
The metamorphic quality of Egypt's Saturn cycle indicates that Mubarak will soon leave office, either by force or of his own volition. Since Egypt has simultaneously been experiencing a power-grabbing progressed Sun-Pluto conjunction, Mubarak has been attempting to pass power onto his son, Gamal Mubarak. The transiting Sun-Mars conjunction over the coming week points to increasing violence and mayhem, since it opposes Egypt's Pluto.
Ophiuchus, the 13th Constellation.
One astrologer writes, “When I look at the ecliptic, it seems to me that Ophiuchus’ foot is definitely crossing the line… So recognizing a 13th sign does not make tropical astrology incorrect, right? It just creates another option to look at.” The problem with this line of thinking is that the signs that astrologers use are very different from the constellations as used in astronomy.
Some 2200 years ago the signs of the zodiac corresponded to the constellations. Back then, the spring equinox happened when the Sun aligned with the beginning of the constellation Aries. But due the phenomenon of precession, the spring equinox has slowly (at the rate of one degree every 72 years) retrograded backwards into the previous constellation, Pisces.
In the astrological model, the planets’ positions are marked relative to the equinoxes and solstices, not to the constellations. The twelve signs of the zodiac are exactly 30º each, while the constellations have varying sizes. The constellation of Virgo, for example, is 47º wide, while Cancer is only 14º. Astronomers who say astrology needs a thirteenth sign because there are 13 “signs” on the ecliptic are being disingenuous: signs are not the same as constellations.
Until the International Astronomers Union (IAU) put boundaries around the constellations in 1928, there was no agreement about where the constellations began or what stars to include in each constellation. The astrologers’ zodiac, by definition, begins at the spring equinox, and the beginning and end of every sign has a harmonic resonance with this point. Astrologers use a mathematically elegant system of interconnectivity, while astronomers’ constellations have no consistent relationship with each other.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
From the time she was singing gospel solos as a pre-teen, to her superstardom in the 1960s, and to her powerful rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at Obama’s 2009 inauguration, Aretha Franklin has been at center stage in the world of American music. Lately, she’s slowed down a bit, and underwent surgery last December, although she denies she’s being treated for pancreatic cancer.
Aretha Franklin was born with her Aries Sun in the fifth house of entertainment (March 25, 1942; 10:30 pm; Memphis, TN). With Leo at the Midheaven, her life purpose has always been as an entertainer. The Sun trine Pluto gives her voice immense power and range. Pluto is the ruler of her chart, and in the ninth house of religion, fuels her songs with a direct connection to her soul.
Aretha has been unlucky in love. The love planet Venus is the ruler of her 7th house of partners, but squares a Saturn-Uranus conjunction in the 7th house. This dynamic brought her two children before she was 15, then two unsuccessful marriages. Venus is conjunct the 4th house cusp, and tragedy also struck her home life: her mother was killed when she was ten, and her father was shot by a burglar in 1979.
Her recent surgery took place under major Pluto astro-events: progressed Moon opposite Pluto, and transiting Pluto squaring her Sun. She says she feels fine now and that the doctors have promised her another 15-20 years. That may come into doubt in two years when her progressed Venus in the 6th house of health squares her Pluto. In the mean time, she’s lobbying Halle Berry to play her in the upcoming biopic.
* Set for March 15, 1922 (10:00 am, Cairo) according to Campion’s The Book of World Horoscopes. The 1953 chart used here is also referenced in Campion’s book.
