advertisements
Search within NeptuneCafe
Custom Search
book recommendations
Recent NewsScope columns at NeptuneCafe:
January 4, 2010 - advise on new year's resolutions, a check into Iran's horoscope, and hero Jasper Schuringer
Jan 11, 2010 - Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Timothy Geithner, and Casey Johnson's death
January 18, 2010 - Haiti's earthquake, the eclipse hits the U.S. chart, and Google fights censorship in China.
January 25, 2010 - the Supreme Court's decision, Feb's Top Five Astro-events, and Heidi Montag's surgery
February 1, 2010 - Toyota's troubles, J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn, and Hollywood legend Jean Simmons
February 8, 2010 - the market outlook for 2010, China's 3:00 pm horoscope and Charlie Sheen.
Feb 15, 2010 - Michelle Obama's Cause, Greece's financial crisis, and Ellen DeGeneris's Q rating
Feb 22, 2010 - the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, March's Top Five, and Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug
March 1, 2010 - Chile's 8.8 earthquake, the Bloom Box, and Alice in Wonderland star Mia Wasikowska
March 8, 2010 - Best Actor Jeff Bridges, Mars turns direct and anger, plus the European Union's horoscope
March 15, 2010 - New York's wounded politicians, Greater Israel, and Betty White's Comeback at 88.
March 22, 2010 - Pluto's role in financial reform, Pope Benedict's troubles, and Sandra Bullock's marriage.
March 29, 2010 - Obama's improved standing, April's Astro-Events, and DWTS leader Nicole Scherzinger
April 5, 2010 - the influence of the June 26 Lunar Eclipse on Hamid Karzai and Pope Benedict, plus the iPad
April 12, 2010 - Poland's lost elite and the Katyn massacre, the Vatican, and DWTS star Erin Andrews
April 19, 2010 - the Grand Cross of 2010, hedge fund manager John Paulson, and Larry King's eighth divorce
April 26, 2010 - Thailand's red Shirts, May's Top Five astro-events, and Iron Man 2 starlet Scarlett Johansson
May 3, 2010 - BP's horoscope, the astrology of corporate disasters, and Earth Day's Gaylord Nelson
May 10, 2010 - Anwar al-Awlaki the #1 terrorist threat, market meltdown, and Dr. Phil's mustache
May 17, 2010 - Elena Kagan's Pallas, PM David Cameron, and teen sensation Justin Bieber
May 24, 2010 - North Korea's transition, June's top five astro-events, and the Kevin Costner solution
May 31, 2010 - Big Oil's horoscope, hedge fund investor David Tepper, and the maniacal Dennis Hopper
June 7, 2010 - Israel's progressed Venus , Al and Tipper Gore's divorce, and activist O'rianka Kilcher
June 14, 2010 - BP's chart and the Solar Eclipse, CEO Tony Haward, and Jacques Cousteau's 100th birthday
June 21, 2010 - Obama's energy plan, Mexico's drug war, and Miley Cyrus's new album Can't Be Tamed
June 28, 2010 - Generals McChrystal and Douglas MacArthur, July's top five, and Al Gore's masseuse
July 5, 2010 - the astrology of austerity vs stimulus, the July 11 Solar Eclipse, and Chelsea Clinton's wedding
July 12, 2010 - Arizona's immigration law, the Gemini Rising U.S. horoscope, and LeBron James' Neptune
July 19, 2010 - Vatican's dissonant equation, more on the Gemini Rising U.S. horoscope, and Mel Gibson
July 26, 2010 - North Korea threatens attack, August's top five astro-events, plus Christopher Nolan, Inception
August 2, 2010 - WikiLeaks document dump, Charles Rangle's Mars, and Jennifer Lopez on American Idol
August 9, 2010 - Obama's stars, same-sex marriage in the Age of Aquarius, and Grace Kelly, fashion icon.
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!"
"These Republicans were not cut from the same cloth as Teddy Roosevelt, in any shape or form, they're the exact opposite, bought and paid for by big business."
Reader Feedback... Q. AstroDatabank lists Smart's time as "am." www.adb/Smart,_Elizabeth
A. It's an error. See the bottom of that page for where they got the data.
Q. You're right! I'll ask someone I know to let them know!
Comments, questions, suggestions? Let us know what you think. Email wolfstar@neptunecafe.com
Aug. 16, 2010 - Pakistan's flooding, Linda McMahon's Pallas, HP CEO Mark Hurd and Jodie Fisher
August 30, 2010 - the Beck-Palin phenomenon, Sept.'s top five astro-events, plus a mature Matt Dillon.
Sept. 6, 2010 -Israel's horoscope and peace talks, David Koch's Tea Party, and Bristol Palin on DWTS
Sept. 13, 2010 - the Uranus-Pluto square, Haumea the Hawaiian Goddess, and Jamie Oliver's food revolution
Sept. 20, 2010 - Sarah Palin's rectified birth time, Sedna the Sea Goddess, and Mike Brown's horoscope
Sept. 27, 2010 - Christine O'Donnel's Pallas-Pluto, October's Top Five, Venus on Demi Moore's Neptune
October 4, 2010 - featuring a look at the chart of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Stuxnet info
October 11, 2010 - Eris in the horoscopes of Iran, Liu Xiaobo, China, and Bob Woodward
October 18, 2010 - the rise of Apple, a follow-up on theTop 5 astro-events, and DWTS leader Jennifer Grey
Oct. 25, 2010 - Eris in the Tea Party movement, top 5 astro-events, and DWTS leader Brandy Norwood
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
2009 NewsScope columns are located in the
NewsScope for November 15, 2010
by Michael Wolfstar
Currency Wars
Last week's G-20 meeting in South Korea concluded with no major agreement and no international recourse to the Fed's plan to pump another $600 billion into the U.S. economy. Finance Ministers from the U.S.'s major economic rivals China and Germany were the harshest critics of Ben Bernanke's "quantitative easing", which they fear will unleash a currency war, inflation, and asset bubbles.
As described last week, the Fed's plan is being enacted as transiting Pluto opposes the U.S. Jupiter. While he described the quantitative easing in terms of the national economy, the global community unanimously condemned it for flooding the currency markets with U.S. dollars. Where will those dollars go? Following the nature of the Pluto-Jupiter combination, asset bubbles become very likely, a process already begun with the recent highs in gold and other commodities.
Transiting Jupiter and Uranus return to Aries early next year, and will be forming squares to the U.S. Venus-Jupiter conjunction. This will most likely push the asset bubbles toward unhealthy heights and in danger of catastrophic collapse. However, if collapse is avoided through clever policy shifts, those who own assets will get richer, much richer, while the middle and lower classes get nothing.
From the international perspective, the Fed's plan will make the dollar lose value, which in turn makes its exports more competitive. China, Brazil, South Africa and Germany - the largest economies on their respective continents - have all complained that their own economies will be hurt by the U.S. plan. As Jupiter and Uranus enter self-centered Aries, a round of protectionist national policies seems likely. This means currency wars.
Teddy Roosevelt's Gilded Age
Does history repeat itself? Several political observers* have compared our current state of political paralysis to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, alternatively known as the Age of the Robber Barons. Not until Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901 was the tide of unfettered capitalism turned back. TR's relentless and enthusiastic efforts to overcome adversity were just what the country needed.
Theodore Roosevelt was born with his Scorpio Sun opposite Pluto (October 27, 1858; 7:45 pm; New York, NY), an extremely challenging polarity that brought him poor health as a child. To overcome his weakness, he embraced a vigorous lifestyle, which included boxing as a college student and fighting police corruption as a young adult. Roosevelt's adventures became a national story, undoubtedly facilitated by his Sun's conjunction with the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant (see Elizabeth Smart below).
TR's first major act when he became president (after McKinley was assassinated) was a 20,000 word speech to Congress, informing the legislators of his intent to reign in the all-powerful monopolies like Rockefeller's Standard Oil. At the time, transiting Uranus and Pluto were opposing each other and aligned with TR's Jupiter. The speech kicked off a series of reforms that transformed the nation. Roosevelt had righted the ship of state through Plutonian will power.
The Uranus-Pluto cycle that coincided with TR's trust-busting days can be characterized as a revolution in political consciousness. We had a similar collective experience in the 1930s when Uranus and Pluto were squaring each other, and again in the 1960s during their conjunction. We're now entering the next phase of the Uranus-Pluto cycle, which becomes full-blown during the 2012 presidential campaign. Keep your eyes peeled for the next TR.
Elizabeth Smart Testifies
During her three days of testimony last week, Elizabeth Smart described her nine-month nightmare in captivity while accusing her kidnapper of being a brutally cruel religious zealot obsessed with sex. Her story has already been told and re-told over the last eight years (on Oprah, in books, a film etc.), but one has to wonder what astrological signature* would lead to such a harrowing event.
Elizabeth Smart was born with her Scorpio Sun conjunct Pluto (November 3, 1987; 1:03 pm; Salt Lake City, UT), an intense combination that can magnetically attract others. With her Venus in Scorpio, her powers of sexual attraction began at an
* NewsScope originally addressed this case in 2003. See http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles
* See, for example, Gail Collins op-ed piece: nytimes.com//opinion/collins
early age, but she may not have been aware of the effect she was having on others, including the former handy man who now stands accused of kidnapping her.
Normally, an astrologer wouldn't suspect that hard transits to her natal Saturn could be troublesome since her Saturn is generally well-aspected. However, it forms an octile to her Aquarius Ascendant and another hard aspect to her Vesta (a trioctile). Plus, Saturn rules the twelfth house of secret enemies. Progressed Venus and transiting Saturn were both activating her natal Saturn when she was abducted on June 5, 2002.
She was found alive and dazed on March 12, 2003 as her progressed Venus had just completed its conjunction with her natal Saturn (orb 0º06'). Now, her progressed Venus is opposing her Chiron, as she relates her agonizingly painful experience. Her tone is at times tinged with
anger, but she carries herself with grace and poise. We can see that she has learned the lesson of a Sun-Pluto contact, which is to claim her own power.
