Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Modern man throughout the twentieth century was coming to terms with his theological and scientific paradigms, and in the last decade of that century s/he saw an intensification of the integration of these two worlds; the true philosopher's stone, the stone of the wise, was condensing from the merging of these two paradigmatic systems. This new paradigm of thought was synthesized in a dialectical process where the thesis and antithesis were merged, the worlds of theology and science, and it is now informing the morphogenetic fields that rule social behavior all over our planet. These fields order our behavior through the process of morphic resonance, whereby our thoughts and emotions are in sync with the planetary mind, and our mind then follows suit. These global morphogenetic fields of humanity have been called many names: the collective unconscious, the genetic archives, the akashic records, and the phylogenetic unconscious. At any rate, this morphogenetic field that humanity resonates with is a sphere of thought surrounding the planet, and the synergistic tendencies of the information couplings within those fields are gearing up for and catalyzing a transformational shift to a whole new order of being. In the notions of the French priest and paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the biosphere, nature, will give rise to and exude the noosphere, a global layer of thought, the informational synergy of which will actualize the Omega Point into being. This will usher in a new paradigm, a transcendence for all of humanity. It is interesting to note that Teilhard came to his realizations long before the global network of the Internet; therefore, many philosophers consider the internet to be the hardwiring of the noosphere.

::snip::

Humanity is in a very precarious situation; never before have so many mounting crisis points been converging together. I'm no doomsayer, but if you remove yourself from the group mind with its aversion to the facts at hand, and you take a good look at what is about to transpire, then you can't help but be white-knuckled and fearful of the future. But this fear is not at all what we need, if reality is truly affected by our minds as scientific studies are beginning to bear out. The following situations “Could” transpire in the years to decades ahead; they are not necessarily slated to occur in 2012!

The increased complexity and convoluted nature of our global civilization has made the threat of a pandemic a much more conceivable situation. A virus could be transferred to many areas of the world through our transportation grid in a very short period of time, and an all out pandemic could be actualized in a matter of weeks. . . .

A pandemic is just one possibility on the shelf of global, future threats. In addition, we have the Geo-Political environment, a motley crew of a makeup with each component striving for dominance on the world stage. It is one thing to agree to disagree with the other parties in the global arena; however, we now have radical terrorists, self proclaimed servants of God, who believe it is their God given duty to kill all those that will not convert to their way of thinking. It is hard to deal with these people in a rational manner, as their behavior elicits the very primitive instinct of seeking their utter destruction. In addition, we now have the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and they are now in the hands of some very fanatical and tyrannical leaders. It is easy to foresee and imagine that if the terrorists ignited a nuclear bomb in one of our cities due to their ideological insanity, then the civilized world could very easily retaliate, thereby sparking a nuclear tit-for-tat of all the countries involved. . . .

Our global society is also facing major economic collapse as we move forward into subsequent periods of time. Our economic markets are so reliant on what occurs globally now, and the countries of the world have created such a deficit that some financial specialists say what we are facing is insurmountable; we are operating on borrowed time, and a huge spiral into economic collapse looks like an extremely conceivable scenario.

If those realistic threats weren't bad enough, the biosphere is being destroyed in so many aspects that it is barely possible to imagine. Researchers believe that the biosphere may become completely uninhabitable in just a couple centuries. The facts of man's destruction of the habitat that brought him forth are truly appalling and ghastly. We are decimating the rain forest by miles daily, the main source of the oxygen we breathe. Climate is changing as both the jet stream in the atmosphere and the gulf stream in the Atlantic are shifting. Our oceans are dying from pollution and over fishing, and many species are being wiped into extinction. Is this insanity? What are we doing to ourselves? The planet was never intended to support life for 6.5 billion people, and that population is only increasing daily. The facts of the matter make one wince when looking at all the details, creating a nauseating feeling in the pit of the stomach. The melting of the ice caps is occurring from a multitude of sources that are causing Global Warming. It is not just our fuel use causing global warming; it also has to do with natural cycles that revolve around the earth-sun connection. The melted ice will cause the sea levels to rise, obliterating the coastline and inundating us with water. This biosphere issue is definitely not something that will cause a global catastrophe in 2012, but it is an indication of where we find ourselves and the nature of our shared predicament. The operative word is "Shared," and we need to realize that all of us on the planet are in this boat together, and it has now begun to traverse the rapids and dangerous currents ahead.

Additionally, we have the sun-earth connection to be concerned about. The Sun’s Coronal magnetic flux has increased 100% in the last century. Global Warming is partly caused by man and is also caused by the earth’s relationship with the sun, and scientists say the sun has steadily become more active in the past several hundred years. It must be understood that when a Solar Flare or Coronal Mass Ejection occurs a wave of energy moves out in all directions, and when it impinges with a planet’s magnetic field, the field contorts in reaction. This contortion shifts the Jet Stream creating climate change, and it also puts stress on the system of plate tectonics, causing an increased number of earthquakes and volcanoes. The last sunspot cycle ended with the two largest flares on record and the next major cycle is scheduled for 2012.

Now that we have discussed some of the sobering bad news about our future, and because I like to be the optimist even in the most drastic and horrid of situations, I think it is essential to relay the whole picture. Yes, things look very dire, but they also look most promising. Strides in science, medicine, government and technology are making major advances in ridding our species of the undesired effects of bad health, famine, poverty, or lack of any name. So, like I said, what we are moving into is both wonderful and horrid. It is a double-edged sword!

::snip::

So, we live in a time full of radical changes of both a qualitatively good and bad nature. The ancient seers knew that this exact period in time represented a period of catastrophic changes preceding a golden age. Most cultural traditions have some intimation of the times we are living in, whether it is Hindu, Hopi, Mayan, or many, many others, and they are all in basic agreement that a great purging, a cataclysmic time of change, will precede a golden age of enlightenment. The Mayans encoded 12-21-2012 into their calendrical system, and they pointed to that day for some reason. Hundreds of years later in the 1970s a hippie botanist, Terence McKenna, had a vision under the influence of Shamanic Power Plants, and he saw how to distill a timewave from the Ken Wa sequence of the I-Ching. This Timewave mapped the ingression of novelty into the universe, an organizing principle of ever increasing complexity upon which all of our reality is ordered. At any rate, he saw on the timewave that this nature of novelty hits a moment of infinite novelty, what is called the concrescence of novelty, at the same exact time that the Mayan Calendar cycle ends, December 21, 2012!

Labels: 2012, Pluto in Sagittarius

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:51 AM :: |

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Thoughts on "Fire the Grid"

Over the past couple of months I've received 10 or 15 emails about "Fire the Grid," an event occurring today at 11:11 GMT. You won't be able to access the Fire the Grid website today because of traffic problems, but you can view the video of Shelley Yates sharing her vision.

Shelley Yates is an ordinary person who had an extraordinary experience in which she and her son drowned in a marsh. Before her rescue she experienced the voices and presence of beings of light in attendance, providing guidance that ultimately revived both herself and her son. In the weeks that followed she was given additional instructions that in connecting the power of individuals on earth the damage that humanity had done could be reversed. She was told to connect representatives from every corner of the world in a linkage that would "fire the earth grid" on July 17, 2007, which is today.


Shelley writes:

The light beings use the term “fire the grid” when they speak of the energizing of humanity with divine power, on July 17, 2007. They say firing the grid will accomplish two things. First, it will pulse healing energy into the center of the earth and regenerate the core, or the heart of the planet. Just as we poured our energy into my dying son, we will individually give the gift of our true intention, the gift of our individuality and the gift of our healing energy. As they explained, my son’s energy field was badly deteriorated, as is the Earth’s. We must pour some of our living energy into the Earth, and the accumulation of our combined energy will regenerate the Earth. They told me humans are like little lightening rods, channelling God’s energy to the planet. Because we have separated ourselves from our complete connection to The Source, by not having a fully functioning human grid, God’s energy has not been able to easily flow into the Earth. If we choose to come together to rebuild our grid, then the natural flow of energy between us and God, God and the Earth, and from person to person, will be restored. Do you see what a wonderful gift you will give? This energy will live on eternally with the earth and its inhabitants; the splendour of the creator’s intention for us realised in the creation of this new energy field for our planet.

How do we do this you ask? The time has been set for July 17, 2007 at 11:11 Greenwich Mean Time. document.write(localTime);— 06:11 (6:11 AM) in Central Time Zone — I have been given no indication about why this date and time have been chosen, but this date has been told to me over and over again. I have been asked to bring together as many humans as possible, throughout the world from every corner of the globe, to simply sit and pray or meditate for one hour during that time. Hopefully, with your help, we will amass a union of humans, such as the world has never seen. Loving humans with one intention - to heal our planet and awaken our souls to our true purpose… to become one with our Source of Light.

I have a hard time believing that the Supreme Consciousness of Creation would have difficulty flowing Its energy into the earth because of the lack of a functioning human grid system. Still, I am a big believer in the power of conscious intention and a linkage of this type can't help but be a positive expression of intention if nothing else.

It is interesting to me that this event occurs in such close proximity to the Live Earth events which shares a similar purpose of linking humanity in an intention to save the earth. There doesn't seem to be any astrological significance for this date, although I did find a post linking to my website saying that today is the day that Pluto conjuncts the Galactic Center which isn't exactly the case, the exact conjunction actually takes place tomorrow, but perhaps it is after all the galactic influence that is inspiring this desire for global linkage, and perhaps there is an opening now for conscious awareness to have a powerful effect. Not just this morning at 11:11 GMT, but every day of our lives.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:29 AM :: |

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Traditional vs. "modern" astrology

Somewhere along the line astrologers split into two camps as some moved forward into humanistic or psychological astrology (leading into evolutionary and transformational astrology) and some moved backwards towards traditional or medieval astrology. Rob Hand was one of my favorite authors, and his book Planets in Transit is still one of the very best resources available on that subject. In 1992, just as Uranus and Neptune conjoined in Capricorn where the flood of new ideas (Uranus) confused and befuddled (Neptune) established conventions (Capricorn), Rob began a study and collection of ancient astrological texts called Project Hindsight. I'll come back to Rob Hand in a moment.

Modern astrology has its roots in the work of Dane Rudhyar, who pioneered the concept of self-actualization through the astrological system in what he called "humanistic astrology" which was more psychological in nature than the predictive astrological system of the past that was more event-oriented than person-centered. Although Rudhyar had studied and written about astrology since the 1920s, it wasn't until the Uranus/Pluto conjunction of the 1960s that he revolutionized the astrological world with his book The Astrology of Personality. Rudhyar had been influenced in the 1930s by the archetypal studies of Carl Jung and depth psychology, and he utilized these ideas in his revolutionary approach to the new astrology.

Chiron's discovery in the late 1970s brought with it the ancient idea that the key to healing is found within the wound, accelerating the movement towards an astrological system that
provided healing of psychological wounds. The outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) became known as the "transpersonal" planets which accelerated that personal growth and healing from outside of the individual, and the inner planets were revealed as functions of the inner world of the person.

Predictably, after the "New Age" explosion of the Uranus/Neptune conjunction there was a backlash in the astrological world against modern astrology which, rejecting the classic attributes of certain planets as "bad" or "good" and instead as tools for change, they considered "mushy" and unscientific. As most conservatives do, traditional astrologers find comfort in the past and are reluctant to move forward into the unknown, which they find frightening and without regulation. A recent interview with Ben Dykes on the fabulous Skyscript site reveals a basic lack of understanding of "modern" astrology that is found in non-astrologer skeptics:

First of all, I believe much modern astrology is plagued by a lack of clear instruction, inconsistent and unclear delineation techniques, and rather poor predictive techniques. Now, the idea that there is something lacking technically in modern astrology, might seem strange. There are so many books, so many authors, so many different ways to do astrology! But what I found was that much of it is treated either anecdotally, or subjectively, or without the sense that one can know whether one understands what is being taught. I felt as though I ought to have some vivid personal "feeling" about, say, what Virgo was. Since I didn't have this feeling, I thought maybe I was hopelessly doomed to fail at astrology. [While it's true that there are many different approaches to modern astrology, there certainly is a basic understanding of the twelve zodiac signs.]

Consider that there are many psychological or pseudopsychological approaches to astrology - but what if one is not a Jungian (or Freudian, or whatever)? Or there are scads of asteroids and other new bodies - what justification is there for using them in the ways they are, not to mention as substitutes for the traditional planets? For instance, why should Pluto now cause difficulties with power and violence, but not Saturn? Nowadays Saturn has been demoted to being the planet that kindly points out our limitations. [This is incorrect - Saturn is known as the "Celestial Taskmaster" who is often far less than kind.] Or one is supposed to use mental associations of symbols in order to delineate - but how do I really know whether this native's Moon has anything to do with blood, water, vaginas, caves, witchcraft, and all the other possible associations one can make (I'm thinking of Liz Greene here)? [It's hard to believe that Mr. Dykes has read Ms. Greene's work, in which I have never seen vaginas or witchcraft mentioned although she may have thrown in a cave or two.] Again, plenty of modern astrologers insist they have their own personal ways of doing things - but why should the stars obey us, rather than the other way around? [Again, this shows a complete lack of understanding of the way modern astrology has evolved. Astrologers have not commanded the "new" outer planets; their influence has been clearly noted through painstaking research and observation.] Finally, there is so much emphasis on a native's character, that astrology seemed plagued with self-absorption. [This is the same argument that has been made about all of the "self-help" processes since the birth of psychology in the 1930s, along with the discovery of Pluto.] This is especially true in people's dependence on the trans-Saturnian planets to explain, and find pleasure in, their own problems. [ Explaining the problems is only the first part - the second step is in using this knowledge to help the individual work through those problems and heal dysfunction.]

Rob Hand has a better understanding of modern astrology, which he practiced before rediscovering and falling in love with the ancient texts. Rob says:

The single most important advance in 20th century astrology was the recognition that astrology actually could be used as a tool for human potential and self-actualization. There may be some of this in Jyotish, but there certainly is not any of it in Hellenistic, Arabic or Latin medieval. All three of those traditions were completely oriented towards dealing with everyday, mundane situations. But Dane Rudhyar in particular introduced a radically new way of thinking about astrology. Closely related to his astrology is the idea of psychological astrology. I do not share the contempt that many traditionalists feel for psychological astrology. I think it is extraordinarily important. My only criticism of it is that in the hands of some of it’s less competent practitioners it has been an extremely mushy sort of astrology where anything can be made to mean anything, depending on the emotional frame of mind of the client and the astrologer. The language of 20th century astrology as a language tends to be imprecise, vague, inarticulate and unclear. But the goals of 20th century astrology are absolutely commendable. ...

As with everything else, balance is the key. Many traditionalists are disturbed at the lack of educational foundation of modern astrologers, as they should be. Before we can step into the future we must understand the past. But remaining rooted in the past because we fear the unknown is short-sighted in the extreme. There is no doubt that human understanding and knowledge is growing by leaps and bounds in all areas of life, including a scientific understanding of the workings of the universe. Why should astrology, the study of the planets, not keep pace with this?

Labels: Astrology

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:56 AM :: |

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Sunday Inspiration

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.

I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet.

It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.

The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.

My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said `Here art thou!' The question and the cry `Oh, where?' melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance `I am!'


Gitanjali - Song Offerings by Rabindranath Tagore 12.

Labels: Inspiration

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:15 AM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Weather manipulation

When I was a child there was an old TV commercial in which a nature goddess, adorned with daisies, was fed margarine and then told it was butter. The goddess lets loose a stream of thunder and lightning and shouts "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!!"

The planet formerly known as asteroid Ceres is one aspect of the Mother Nature archetype, and it's interesting to me that her star has risen (when she was declared a dwarf planet along with Pluto) now when the natural world is being manipulated by humans to an incredible degree. The hubris of this manipulation ignores the fact that nature exists in a delicate ecological balance.

China has the largest weather modification program that exists with public knowledge, with each of its 30 provinces possessing its own weather modification base. I'm not certain how this can take place since weather modification has been prohibited by the United Nations since 1976, but it has long been rumored that the US, Israel and Russia have been carrying on secret weather manipulation experimentation, and after Hurricane Katrina there was much speculation that the increase in hurricanes that year could be a result of that manipulation. Meanwhile, the US Air Force used that event to announce their intention to "own the weather," ostensibly to be able to predict future weather events but also to use weather as a weapon.

Ancient myths are full of warnings for men who attempt to take on the tasks of the gods, and I can't help but wonder at the ecological balance that changing the weather may bring. The discovery of new planets has historically engendered a new way of looking at the world, and the reclassification of Ceres with Pluto and the new planet Eris seems significant in its timing. The promotion of Ceres seems especially synchronistic with the renewed focus on the health of the planet over the past year.

Labels: weather

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:28 AM :: |

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Friday, July 13, 2007

Karma, Responsibility and Magic

Sometime people write me asking for a reading, saying they want to know what their karmic lessons are in this lifetime. One gentleman wrote me saying he wanted a "straight" reading, with no attempt to frame the difficult in positive language. He referred to this article in the New York Times in which scientists have proven that humans have no free will:

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, as Einstein paraphrased it, that “a human can very well do what he wants, but cannot will what he wants.”

Einstein, among others, found that a comforting idea. “This knowledge of the non-freedom of the will protects me from losing my good humor and taking much too seriously myself and my fellow humans as acting and judging individuals,” he said.

How comforted or depressed this makes you might depend on what you mean by free will. The traditional definition is called “libertarian” or “deep” free will. It holds that humans are free moral agents whose actions are not predetermined. This school of thought says in effect that the whole chain of cause and effect in the history of the universe stops dead in its tracks as you ponder the dessert menu.

At that point, anything is possible. Whatever choice you make is unforced and could have been otherwise, but it is not random. You are responsible for any damage to your pocketbook and your arteries.

“That strikes many people as incoherent,” said Dr. Silberstein, who noted that every physical system that has been investigated has turned out to be either deterministic or random. “Both are bad news for free will,” he said. So if human actions can’t be caused and aren’t random, he said, “It must be — what — some weird magical power?”

People who believe already that humans are magic will have no problem with that.

It is this belief in magic that bridges the gap between acceptance of the mystery of the web of life and a dry skeptical view of the universe. Astrology strikes a balance between fate and free will: our birthcharts and underlying personality characteristics are predetermined, but what we do with those potentialities are our choice.

Those who believe in complete predestination, with no lessons and no purpose, are relieved of any responsibility with respect to their own life. If everything is predetermined, it doesn't matter what choice you make at the crossroads of life. Saturn is known as the Lord of Karma, but he is also the Lord of Responsibility which reveals the linkage between the two. Karma doesn't exist in a vacuum; it presents us with difficult situations and then asks us to make a choice whether to fall back into the instincts that keep us tied to that karma, or to decide to make different choices this time.

I call myself a "transformational" astrologer because I look at the birthchart from a more alchemical perspective. Here are the ingredients of the chart; how can we transmute them into gold? How can we take the difficulties and blocks we are given and use them to make us stronger, wiser, more attuned with the rhythms of the universe? It's easy to sit back and say "this is my karma" and absolve yourself from any responsibility. The harder path is the one of responsibility and evolution.

Labels: Fate

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:44 AM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Cancer New Moon and other planetary news

photo by Werner H. Mueller

The New Moon takes place the morning of the 14th with the Sun and Moon conjunct in the water sign of Cancer. As a water sign Cancer deals with the realm of emotions and instincts, but being a cardinal sign of action, Cancer take an active role in seeking to nurture and care for others. The New Moon begins a new lunar cycle; the conjunction of the Sun and Moon in which the pure and simple conscious solar principle obscures the darker and more complex lunar instincts. At the New Moon we seek the highest form of the lunar energy, and in Cancer that takes the shape of love and protection for our family and our tribe. In Cancer we seek to make a home; not just for our bodies but also for our souls. Here we feel at home in our inner life; our inner world becomes richer and more nurtured.

New Moons are of course times for new beginnings, and the New Moon in Cancer is a good time for watering the garden and propagating new plans. Our inner gardens are more fertile as well; we are better prepared to connect with those we love and to nurture our relationships. Because the Moon is a ruler of Cancer, it is very much at home there and helps to facilitate Cancer's work in building and sustaining safe and secure emotional environments. The Sun/Moon conjunction is trined by Uranus, adding a note of excitement and an ability to create change where needed and move forward from the past where Cancer has a tendency to become stuck.

Coming on the heels of the conjunction from Mars to Ceres, this New Moon offers an opportunity to leave past issues of neglect and self-abuse behind as we allow a purer love for others and for ourselves to flow from the source within our own hearts. Uranus in Pisces trines the Sun and Moon which suggests that the creative impulse is strong now and that flashes of insight help to guide us toward the new beginning stimulated by the New Moon. The approaching trine of Saturn to Pluto is also a part of this lunation which facilitates the transformation that is necessary in order to be able to fearlessly reveal the truths of our deeper being.

However, the approaching square of Mars and Ceres to Chiron suggests the possibility of confrontation and button-pushing that may provide the stimulus for a deeper experience of healing if we don't run from the emotional discomfort that this confrontation may engender. Ceres, as the higher octave of the Moon, represents not only our emotional security but the safety of our very being, and the heightened sensitivity of the Mars/Chiron square will bring up any unresolved fears now. The Cancer New Moon offers the possibility of washing the emotional state clean in the pure unconditional love of the Divine Mother archetype but getting there is not always easy when Chiron is involved.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:04 AM :: |

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Today's Comedy Minute

In a world where Jupiter and Pluto are both in Sagittarius, taking expansion to ridiculous extremes and the mundane becomes an ideological fixation in the case of the Cult of the Iphone, here is an anthem for our time from the very entertaining David Pogue of the New York Times.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:20 AM :: |

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Chiron and Cindy Sheehan

Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast has a brilliant post today on the need for Cindy Sheehan to get some grief counseling. I think it's safe to say that there are few on the left who don't respect the work that Cindy Sheehan has done in gaining recognition for the debacle that is the Iraq War, but as Jill so brilliantly puts it:

When Sheehan announced in May that she was tired of being the right's favorite punching bag and going home, I cheered her decision. Because the point of her tribute to her son had been lost -- some of it her own inadvertent doing due to her inexperience as an activist, much of it not. Whatever her mistakes may have been, the way Sheehan has been treated by the right is reprehensible, and part of a campaign of smears and lies that seems to be directed at only women who dare to speak out against this Administration. Kristen Breitweiser, a Republican voter whose husband died in the World Trade Center, has been another target of the right wing lie machine for daring to ask the necessary questions.

Yet by now it wasn't just the right that was using Sheehan as its favorite punching bag. In this heartbreaking diary she wrote at Daily Kos, she decries those on the left who had branded her an "attention whore." This diary encapsulates everything that has been wrong with the very activist left into whose embrace she fell. It's impossible to read this diary and not recognize someone who not only has realized that she's been used as a tool by some of the most counterproductive elements of the antiwar movement, but whose emotional state has gone completely off the rails. I recognize it because I've been there more than once, albeit for different reason. When the emotional train derails, there are a lot of boxcars lying willy-nilly across the countryside of the mind, and there's a lot of cleanup that needs to be done.

Now, less than two months after announcing at the end of May her retreat from the Democratic Party and anti-war activism "to be a mother to [her] remaining children, Cindy has decided to run for Congress against Nancy Pelosi. Jill notes that Cindy Sheehan's inability to find a clear focus and stick with it his hurting her ability to be a standardbearer for her message.

Cindy Sheehan is a Cancer (see chart). whose focus is taking care of her family. Cancers are sensitive and emotionally vulnerable and often find it difficult to care for themselves because their focus is typically on caring for others. Cindy's Mercury is also in Cancer, and it conjuncts the Midheaven which is the point at which we project ourselves into public life. Mercury there suggests a great deal of change in that public arena and we have certainly seen that. It also indicates that Cindy's public role (Midheaven) is to express herself in a caring and nurturing way (Cancer).

However, Leo is intercepted in the tenth house which is the house controlled by the Midheaven. An intercepted sign occurs when the sign on the cusp of one house is two signs from the cusp of the previous house. The missing sign shows up in the center of the house. It has been my observation that intercepted signs behave as an unconscious influence. In the example here, Cindy's conscious projection of her public persona is the nurturing sensitivity of Cancer, but the subconscious influence is the need for public admiration of Leo. When a sign operates in the subconscious like this we often see the shadow or the more negative traits rather than the hero, with the more positive ones.

Cindy has a triple conjunction of Mars, Venus and Uranus all in the tenth house and all in Leo. Venus in Leo is quite charismatic, and in the tenth house (of public life) creates an attractive aura around her, making it easy for her to draw people to her for the sake of her cause. Venus conjunct Uranus suggests an interest in unusual people and a need for autonomy and distance in relationships. While Cindy's Sun and Mercury in Cancer demonstrates a need to nourish her home life and family, Venus/Uranus, especially in the tenth house and in Leo, needs to be off doing something for one's own self. The addition of Mars in Leo with Venus and Uranus just adds energy to that configuration and exacerbates the need for admiration (Leo) and to be off on one's own doing great things.

Cindy's rising sign or ascendant is Libra, the sign of balance and relationship, and Neptune is retrograde, sitting right on the ascendant where it becomes part of her persona. Neptune rising people can be difficult to know because the Neptune influence tends to create a cloud through which they cannot be seen. Libra rising is a mirror, able to reflect back to each individual what they want to see. The combination of Libra rising and Neptune on the ascendant suggests an individual who has a very hard time knowing who she really is.

Chiron is retrograde in Cindy's chart, showing that she is particularly sensitive to the healing and wounding dynamics of Chiron. Those sensitive to Chiron find themselves needing to face their wounds head-on and process them over and over until the experience is devoid of impact and no longer has power over them. Chiron is also in opposition (180 degrees) to Mars and Venus in Cindy's chart, which suggests that she has a tendency to become frustrated in satisfying her personal desires (Mars) and that her dealings with others (Venus) can be rather painful. This dynamic in Cindy's chart is being stressed right now by the approaching return of Chiron to its place in her birthchart which is affecting the Mars/Venus conjunction as well.

Chiron transits of any kind, but particularly over a sensitive system like this tend to bring up old unresolved psychic pain that we have stuffed under the rug, often for many years. I always compare this to when you burn your skin and a blister forms over that burn to protect the sensitive damage from further pain. Later, though, an infection can grow under the blister and then the doctor has to remove the blister to expose the wound to the air so that it can heal. This is the Chiron experience; Chiron exposes the wound and brings the feelings into our conscious awareness so that we can experience them from the perspective of our present wisdom and then release them.

If we do not attend to this process in a conscious way, the emotional rollercoaster of the Chiron experience can drive us to do anything that we can to distract us from this emotional sensitivity. Perhaps this is what is driving Cindy Sheehan in and out of her activist persona as she frantically searches for some relief from her emotional pain.

Labels: Chiron, Political figures

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:22 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- A great read on the Bible

For many years now I have been utterly fascinated by the history of the Bible and how it came to dominate the religious landscape of most of the modern world, and the questioning about Christianity that has sprung up under Pluto's reign through Sagittarius has made my research easier. Lifetechnology.org, another site that makes me think but didn't make it onto the meme of a few days ago, has a great article called The Bible Fraud by Tony Ashby, an Australian researcher. I'll give you the conclusions, and then you can read the article to discover how he got there. It's quite an article.

The important question then to ask is this: if the New Testament is not historical, what is it?

Dr Tischendorf provided part of the answer when he said in his 15,000 pages of critical notes on the Sinai Bible that "it seems that the personage of Jesus Christ was made narrator for many religions". This explains how narratives from the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, appear verbatim in the Gospels today (e.g., Matt. 1:25, 2:11, 8:1-4, 9:1-8, 9:18-26), and why passages from the Phenomena of the Greek statesman Aratus of Sicyon (271-213 BC) are in the New Testament.

Extracts from the Hymn to Zeus, written by Greek philosopher Cleanthes (c. 331-232 BC), are also found in the Gospels, as are 207 words from the Thais of Menander (c. 343-291), one of the "seven wise men" of Greece. Quotes from the semi-legendary Greek poet Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC) are applied to the lips of Jesus Christ, and seven passages from the curious Ode of Jupiter (c. 150 BC; author unknown) are reprinted in the New Testament.

Tischendorf's conclusion also supports Professor Bordeaux's Vatican findings that reveal the allegory of Jesus Christ derived from the fable of Mithra, the divine son of God (Ahura Mazda) and messiah of the first kings of the Persian Empire around 400 BC. His birth in a grotto was attended by magi who followed a star from the East. They brought "gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh" (as in Matt. 2:11) and the newborn baby was adored by shepherds. He came into the world wearing the Mithraic cap, which popes imitated in various designs until well into the 15th century.

Mithra, one of a trinity, stood on a rock, the emblem of the foundation of his religion, and was anointed with honey. After a last supper with Helios and 11 other companions, Mithra was crucified on a cross, bound in linen, placed in a rock tomb and rose on the third day or around 25 March (the full moon at the spring equinox, a time now called Easter after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar). The fiery destruction of the universe was a major doctrine of Mithraism-a time in which Mithra promised to return in person to Earth and save deserving souls. Devotees of Mithra partook in a sacred communion banquet of bread and wine, a ceremony that paralleled the Christian Eucharist and preceded it by more than four centuries.

Christianity is an adaptation of Mithraism welded with the Druidic principles of the Culdees, some Egyptian elements (the pre-Christian Book of Revelation was originally called The Mysteries of Osiris and Isis), Greek philosophy and various aspects of Hinduism.

Labels: religion

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:23 AM :: |

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Monday, July 09, 2007

Mercury turns direct tonight! And other planetary news

Crab Nebula photo from the Hubble site.

On July 9, Mercury turns direct and begins the end of this heavy retrograde period, and Venus forms a trine to Pluto which enables a deepening of our love for each other and for ourselves. When the Goddess of Love takes a trip to the underworld, fear takes a back seat and we find ourselves with a new sense of courage as we face one another unadorned by the artifice with which we sometimes hide from ourselves. The conjunction of Venus to Saturn is still very close, with Saturn beginning to move into a trine alignment with Pluto.

The Saturn/Pluto trine cycle began December of 2006 and will reach the apex of the second phase of the cycle in early August, but its effects are beginning to make themselves known. Saturn motivates hard work and responsibility, and Pluto induces regeneration and transformation which makes this a powerful cycle of change. Trines generally inspire change rather than force it, although the concurrent conjunction of Pluto to the Galactic Center which is also in the second phase of its cycle seems to be intensifying the need for change and change NOW.

Aspects between Pluto and the Galactic Center appear to correlate with periods of intense shifts in cultural awareness. This conjunction appears to have generated a flood of concern for the future of the human species and the planet itself, and on a more personal level many of us are experiencing a need for a more truly real and honest experience of our lives. We see this not only among "seekers," but even in the halls of government and the entertainment industry. The conjunction from Pluto to the Galactic Center will conclude in December of 2007, just as Pluto transitions out of Sagittarius into Capricorn.

Mars conjuncts Ceres on July 10. With Ceres now reclassified as a dwarf planet along with Pluto, she has gained new life on the astrological stage. Ceres rules over the nurturing of ourselves and others at a life or death level; she shows how we take care of not only our own physical and emotional needs but also those of others, and how we provide and experience sustenance and nourishment. Ceres appears to operate as a "higher octave" to the Moon; where the Moon deals with emotional safety and security, Ceres deals with issues of basic survival and how we approach life in an incarnated physical form. As the god of war, Mars seeks to better our situation but because of its often ruthless demeanor it can create its own problems. With Mars conjunct Ceres our drives (Mars) can interfere with our ability to take care of our basic needs. This combination can either put us at risk because of the needs of others, or it can drive us to feel we must take care of ourselves at all costs. Attention to the balance of give and take will be very useful during the few days before and after the 10th.

reprinted from July's Skywatch.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:13 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Musings on Live Earth

I didn't think I'd find much of interest in the Live Earth concerts, thinking it little more than a big hype, but nevertheless I tivo'd all 20-some hours of it. When I sat down to watch it yesterday I found it both inspiring and annoying. There are incredible little films interspersed throughout the concert footage that tell small stories of the effect of climate change that made me want to make big changes in my own "carbon footprint" by doing things like turning off lights that I'm not using and using less water. And then you have these incredibly huge stages with billions of watts of power being used for flashing light shows and electrified instruments. Not to mention Madonna's really bad song "Hey You" being promoted throughout the entire 20 plus hours of video.

Madonna is another issue - Phel posted a link to a Fox News article that outlines the investments of Madonna's foundation in companies like

Alcoa, Ingersoll Rand, Weyerhaeuser, and several others associated with oil exploration, digging, and refining including British Petroleum, Schlumberger (a chief competitor of Halliburton), Devon Energy, Peabody Energy, Emerson Electric, Kimberly Clark and Weatherford International.

In 2002, the University of Massachusetts' Political Research Institute ranked Alcoa No. 9 on a list of all-time toxic American companies. And I don't mean toxic as in toxic bachelor. This is toxic as in air pollution.

The same UMass PRI study ranked Ford Motor Company at No. 7 on the Toxic Top 10. Northrop Grumman was No. 17. Weyerhaeuser was No. 42. Emerson Electric was No. 56. 3M Corp was No. 70. Kimberly Clark was No. 96.

You get the picture. Madonna's Ray of Light Foundation has stock in each of these companies. Her last published tax statement claims $4.2 million in corporate stock, and only $620,000 in donations to other charities including her pet project: the Kabbalah Center.

Baby boomers (the Pluto in Leo generation) often get a bad rap for the hypocrisy of our lifestyles; we have high and mighty ideals that are inconveniently in conflict with our desire for a big lifestyle. We love the planet but don't want to give up our SUVs, five acre lots and vacations via jet airplanes. We prefer to use our money for granite countertops rather than install expensive green features such as photovoltaics in our new homes. (This is me I'm talking about, folks.) That's the inconvenient truth.

I've been thinking about this a great deal because one of the things I teach is something I call the Alchemy of Abundance which helps clients to create a new vision for the life they want to lead. I encourage them to think big - to expand their vision into a life of affluence and joy. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that abundance is infinite, and that one person's expansion does not necessitate loss for another.

At a certain point, however, abundance turns into greed. The Aral Sea in Russia that was highlighted in one of the Live Earth short films is shrinking because its waters were diverted for irrigation projects. Billions of dollars are being spent to establish a permanent US base in Iraq and provide business ventures for Halliburton and Kellogg Brown & Root that could be going to fund projects that would help millions of people around the world. CEOs of major US corporations are earning millions of dollars in bonuses while their employees are laid off. Abundance needs to have a balance.

Pluto in Sagittarius has brought about many things, including globalization. Pluto as we know brings extremes of experience, and Sagittarius is an adventurer and explorer. Pluto in Sag has brought about an explosion of world music and the ability to link 150 countries in a satellite network to provide the Live Earth concert experience. However, Pluto in Sag has also brought the breakdown (Pluto) of employment in the US via outsourcing jobs and sending factories overseas.

But back to Live Earth . . . I believe we can criticize the hypocrisy and still believe in the goal; in fact, it's crucial that we be able to recognize hypocrisy where we find it. Especially if it's in our own lives. There is no doubt that millions and perhaps billions of people were inspired by the concerts and the buzz around them to make changes in their lives. I have already hauled a bucket up to my shower to catch the water that falls while I'm waiting for it to heat up. And I'm more careful about the lights I leave on, and have started turning up the temperature during the day when I'm not at home.

And I also believe we must hold our icons to the standards which we are espousing and not make excuses because their hearts are in the right place and they're saying the right things. Was Madonna really the best headliner for this enterprise with her nine houses and private jet?
I checked my own carbon footprint and found my impact is almost 21,000 kg per year. The average person in the US has an impact of 19,000 kg but it's 11,000 in other industrialized nations. Before I preach about saving the earth, I had better start in my own home!!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:36 AM :: |

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

The Thinking Blogger's Meme

Jill has tagged me for this meme which requires:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,

Writing a blog has taken much more time than I ever thought I had, but has been endlessly rewarding both in terms of growing my astrology practice as well as sharing information that people seem to find useful. Because of this I don't read as much as I otherwise would, but there are many many blogs that I read that open up doors of new understanding. Leaving aside my fellow astrobloggers, of whom there are many more than five and whose links you can find in the sidebar, here are five intriguing blogs that make me think (and provide fodder for my own writing):

Red Ice Creations - a weird and wonderful paradigm-breaking site of conspiracy and iconoclastic theology.

Signs of the Times - a news feed with commentary on topics you won't find anywhere else to feed the Uranian side of your brain. For example, today you'll find an article on "transmarginal inhibition."

Rigorous Intuition - looking for deeper connections in our daily news. The most recent post compares the Bush presidency to the Trickster archetype.

Ellie's World - Ellie Crystal's "Crystalinks" site is a treasure trove of facts and fantasy on nearly every topic related to the so-called New Age. Ellie's World is her daily e-zine.

Ursi's Eso-Garden - A beautiful tapestry of images, history and teachings for enlightenment and learning. Recently Ursi posted an out of print course on tarot divination; he often posts fascinating or beautiful videos.

Now it's your turn:

Neith
JM
Elsa
April
Melody
Dharmaruci

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 12:51 PM :: |

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Saturday, July 07, 2007

Your wild and precious life

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

A celebration of Mars in Taurus, exactly sextile the North Node today.

Labels: Poetry

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 9:58 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- 7/7/07

Last year there was quite a bit of hysteria as the calendar approached June 6, 2006 or of course 6/6/6. This year the masses appear to be convinced that 7/7/7 will bring astonishing good fortune:

I got a feeling about that day," he said. "I'll win over $700. Everything will go people's way that day. At least hopefully mine."

Gambles of a different sort will take couples down the aisle. Kathleen Murray, deputy editor of The Knot - - said 38,000 of the company's members are getting married that day, up from the normal 12,000 for a Saturday in July.http://www.theknot.com/

"This is a true phenomenon," she said. "I've never seen anything like this before. Seven has always been considered the luckiest number, and with three sevens in a row brides and grooms feel they're hitting the jackpot that day." . . .

The Ritz Carlton Hotel's Central Park location in New York is offering a July 7 wedding package with a reception for 77, a seven-tier wedding cake, seven Tiffany diamonds for the bride, and a seven-night honeymoon at any Ritz in the world for $77,777.

"The numerology on this day - 7-7-07 - is phenomenal," he wrote on his Web site. "Seven represents the aura. Three sevens equals 21 (2+13). Three represents the positive mind. Add the 7 p.m. hour and you have four sevens, which equals 28 (2+810). Ten is the radiant body." . . .

"The number is significant in the Bible because seven represents a covenant," said Julia Richardson, a spokeswoman for the event, titled The Call. "We feel we want to make a covenant with the Lord to pursue him. Whether it's 1,000 people or 100,000 people, we feel we can bring about a change through prayer and fasting."

Numerology is one of the sacred sciences, and Pythagoras called seven a perfect number, combining the quaternity of four with the trinity of three. But the calculation of 7/7/2007 by standard methods is actually five because you would count the whole year of 2007, not just the "07." Five is the number of conflict in the tarot, and in the Pythagorean system five is represented by the fire element.

In astrology five is represented by the quincunx and quintile aspects. Planets are said to be in a quincunx aspect when they are five signs apart, and the quintile (which I don't use in my own work) is the "fifth harmonic aspect" or 72 degrees. The quincunx shows conflict that does not result in crisis and subsequent resolution like the square; it requires an adjustment in order for both planets to achieve synthesis.

Enjoy the day, but don't expect to win the lottery!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 9:09 AM :: |

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Friday, July 06, 2007

Tonight's Sky

Wow!! Thank you Ursi for yet another fantastic link to this flash movie: "Your Guide to Constellations, Deep Sky Objects, Events and Deep Space." (Film requires Flash 7 or better). There's a nice view of the conjunction of Saturn and Venus, just separating from their dance.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:56 AM :: |

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

busy busy busy!

Perhaps it's just Mercury retrograde that makes me feel that the world is spinning with a million details that are having difficulty fitting nicely into the pigeonholes of my life. Or perhaps it's the exact conjunction of my progressed Moon to my natal Moon. This event is known as the Progressed Lunar Return and it's supposed to be a major time of change and I'm sure that's true if I could only slow down enough to notice it. I feel that the pace of life in general, not just my life, is accelerating so that we're all like hummingbirds buzzing around, being busy.

Evidently it's not just me; a recent study in Britain found that city dwellers are walking 10 percent faster than they did in 1994. In Asian countries the pace has accelerated by 20 to 30 percent. Is this progress? I'm not so sure.

Mars is in Taurus now, where it demands that we slow down and smell the coffee and then have a seat and savor it for most of the afternoon. The joys of being in a physical form are the domain of Taurus, and there has been a noticeable lack of the earth element present in planetary dynamics over the past year. Earth is the element that grounds us; that takes our ideas and converts them into practical form and helps us to feel rooted on the planet. Without earth it can be difficult for us to feel comfortable in our bodies unless we consciously spend time in earthy pursuit such as gardening.

I for one am looking forward to a return of earth when Jupiter heads into Capricorn in December of this year, paving the way for Pluto to follow shortly thereafter. Capricorn provides structure and rootedness, qualities which are often resisted as boring and restrictive but will be welcome to me as stabilizing and providing much-needed balance.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 9:21 PM :: |

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Saturn/Neptune and Poison in our Food

The Saturn and Neptune opposition is associated with the forced revelation (Saturn) of that which is hidden and obscured (Neptune), and the forced exposure (Saturn) of the dangers of poisons, drugs, and food additives (Neptune). The Saturn/Neptune opposition which began last summer has brought us a variety of food scares and recalls: an epidemic of e-coli from bagged spinach, salmonella in commercial brands of peanut butter and melamine-tainted pet food, diethylene glycol in toothpaste. Some of these poisons are from China, necessitating a new round of debate on the wisdom of globalization (Pluto in Sagittarius).

Now an Italian study confirms the dangers of the artificial sweetener Aspartame (Nutrasweet and Equal) as a carcinogen, especially for children. An earlier study by the same researchers was rejected by the FDA as insufficient to overturn previous studies that showed no causal connection between aspartame and cancers (many of those studies were paid for by Searle, the manufacturer of Nutrasweet). For more information on the history of aspartame and its approval despite the presence of multiple studies showing a causal connection to cancer, see this report.

More and more it is becoming evident that the safest and most wholesome way to eat is by buying and consuming local foods. This not only helps our bodies to stay healthier but supports our communities as well.

Labels: Saturn/Neptune

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 10:44 AM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Happy Birthday USA!!

(A portion of this article is taken from an earlier post.) The date and time of birth of the American nation has been a matter of debate for centuries now. Most astrologers use the "Sibley" chart for the US, named after Ebenezer Sibley, a prominent American astrologer in the late 1700s.

According to Benson Bobrick's excellent work The Fated Sky Sibley, a Freemason, was well practiced in the field of mundane astrology, known for his accurate political predictions regarding both the American and French revolutions. Sibley also predicted that America would one day "have an extensive and flourishing commerce; advantageous and universal traffic to every quarter of the globe, with great security and prosperity amongst its people," and eventually be "a new Empire that shall soon or late give laws to the whole world. " This is rather startling considering the fact that Masonic historian Manly P Hall has reported that the US has a secret destiny:

“Thousands of years ago, in Egypt, these mystical orders were aware of the existence of the western hemisphere and the great continent which we call America. The bold resolution was made that this western continent should become the site of the philosophic empire. Just when this was done it is impossible now to say, but certainly the decision was reached prior to the time of Plato, for a thinly veiled statement of this resolution is the substance of his treatise on the Atlantic Islands.” (from Manly P Hall's Secret Destiny of America).

Suffice it to say that Sibley had a mystical and Masonic background, and since most of America's founders were Masons and therefore very concerned with matters of the occult, Sibley most likely had direct information regarding the actual time for the birthchart of the United States, and his is the chart that is predominantly used today. Some astrologers prefer the Scorpio rising chart but I feel that the Sagittarius rising of the Sibley chart most accurately describes the spirit of adventure, expansion and entitlement that the USA has exhibited since its inception.
(Click chart to enlarge). The Solar Return chart for the US shows the Sun in Leo nearing a conjunction to the Midheaven, indicating that the drama of the United States political world will be played out very publicly on the global stage over the next year. With Libra rising there will be a return to diplomacy and an understanding of the need to build relationships with global partners, although Mars in the seventh house of alliances and open enemies demonstrates a continued fierce independence in those partnerships and a likelihood of attacks from enemies.

The Moon conjuncts Uranus in the sixth house of daily routine, work environment and health. The Moon rules over issues of emotional security and family and Uranus craves autonomy and radical change - these two are not natural partners and in the US chart suggests sudden changes that have a strong effect on the US job situation and healthcare systems resulting in a lack of emotional security and safety. Jupiter squares the Moon/Uranus conjunction indicating a relentless optimism that continues to drive the change despite evidence that things are not working as hoped.

Venus, planet of attraction and love, is conjunct Saturn (tenacity, responsibility) in the eleventh house of friendship and social groups. The alliances in the eleventh house are not the same as seventh house partnerships - these are connections that rely on shared ideals and a desire to find expression of those ideals. NATO, the G-8 - these are examples of eleventh house alliances that are likely to be strengthened over the next year by the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. There will be a renewed sense of responsibility to our alliances that will be a refreshing change.

Retrograde Mercury of this Solar Return chart falls in the ninth house of higher learning, exploration of other cultures and philosophy. In the Ninth House we establish our own ideology and Mercury there shows a keen interest in exploring the ideologies of others in order to formulate our own. The fact that Mercury is retrograde indicates that as a nation we will go back and revisit failed assumptions that are no longer working for us and reformulate new ones. A transformation in our understanding is also demonstrated by the presence of retrograde Pluto in the third house of communication and learning. Pluto enforces a sharp focus on the issues of the house it inhabits, and in the third house there is an almost compulsive need to understand what is going on around us.

All in all, it looks like a year of philosophical and ideological change for the US as a whole, fraught with a certain amount of insecurity but with potential to gain understanding which in the long run is the most powerful ally of all.

Labels: US chart

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:57 AM :: |

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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

This is just too bizarre...

Let's put this under the heading of the dawning of the Aquarian age and a new breed of humanity.

Human-animal hybrids have the right to life, according to the Roman Catholic Church. Not many people had heard of human-animal hybrids, also called "chimeras," before Bush discussed them in his State of the Union which drew riotous ridicule, but evidently a bill introduced in Britain gives scientists the right to create these hybrids for research purposes as long as they destroy the embryos within two weeks.

Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the Parliamentary joint committee scrutinising the draft legislation, said that the genetic mothers of “chimeras” should be able to raise them as their own children if they wished.

The bishops said that they did not see why these “interspecies” embryos should be treated any differently than others.

The wide-ranging draft Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, which aims to overhaul the laws on fertility treatment, will include sections on test tube babies, embryo research and abortion. Ministers say that the creation of animal-human embryos - created by injecting animal cells or DNA into human embryos or human cells into animal eggs - will be heavily regulated.

They insist that it will be against the law to implant “chimeras” - named after the mythical creature that was half man and half animal - into a woman’s womb.

The bishops, who believe that life begins at conception, said that they opposed the creation of any embryo solely for research, but they were also anxious to limit the destruction of such life once it had been brought into existence.

In their submission to the committee, they said: “At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and should be treated accordingly.

The last time the Aquarian Age occurred, around 28,000 BC, seems to coincide with the end of the Neanderthal-type human and the beginnings of modern man (homo erectus). Perhaps as we head into the Aquarian age this time we will see an entirely new species of human evolve. I had thought that this would take the form of a more evolved being rather than a human-animal hybrid, but life is full of surprises.

Labels: Aquarian age

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:11 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Weather forecast for August

 
Ken has posted his forecast for weather events in late August:

August 20-25:

The Sun's conjunct to Saturn indicates the possibility of a tropical system or at least tropical moisture off the Carolinas in the western Atlantic that affects the Southeast (Carolinas). Since other planetary indicators involve the Northeast and New England, one scenario could be that a tropical system that hits the Carolinas and then creeps up the coast to New England.

Another possibility would involve a severe weather system, not tropical in nature, over the Mid-Atlantic States and New England characterized by strong thunderstorms, damaging winds, and heavy downpours.

August 26-30:

Triggers to the Lunar Eclipse of March 2007 should bring a potent weather system over the Mid-Atlantic and through the Northeast. This may be tropical as was the last time the Sun triggered the eclipse in June. At that time the remnants of TS Barry visited the area. If
not an actual tropical system, at least strong storms assail the area.

Other areas that stand out for possible tropical activity or at the least some type of severe weather are the eastern Great Lakes, the Carolinas and the West Coast of Florida.

Astrological signatures for this time period include a triple conjunction in Leo trine Pluto/GC and two related mutable T-squares evolving into a Grand Cross involving Mercury in Virgo, Mars in Gemini, Jupiter in Sagittarius and Uranus in Pisces.

As far as I can tell so far, his accuracy rate is far more accurate than the weather channel!!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:04 AM :: |

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Monday, July 02, 2007

More good news from Mercury Rx

Thanks to Elsa for this additional Mercury Rx news item:

The attempted London car bombings were meant to be detonated by calls to mobile phones in the two vehicles, but failed for technical reasons, the Evening Standard reported Monday.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:50 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Mercury Retrograde Roundup

Despite the claims of many that Mercury retrograde brings no more problems than any other time, many of us have noticed quite a few news items to the contrary:

Unexplained computer failure created problems with the space shuttle mission.

Computers at United Airlines mysteriously failed, grounding all of their flights.

Technology problems shut down the American Stock Exchange three times in two weeks.

The 1.5 mile fence being built across the US/Mexican border was actually accidentally built on Mexican soil, necessitating over $3 million to rebuild it.

In South Africa an airport baggage glitch delayed 150 flights and caused havoc at local airports.

Unexplained omputer problems cut off power to 80-100,000 Phoenix area residents.

Probably just a coincidence...

Labels: Mercury Retrograde

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:29 PM :: |

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

The Astrology of the Iphone

Apple released its much-heralded Iphone on Friday after months of speculation. Techies waited on line for hours to be the first owners of Apple's sleek and gorgeous new multimedia phone, despite its $500+ price tag. Still, the astrological timing of the Iphone's release leaves quite a bit to be desired.

The timing of an event using astrology is called "electional astrology," and provides a weather report for the planetary climate of that event. The chart of the release or birth of the Iphone on Friday June 29 at 6:00 pm, Cupertino California, shows the Sun in nurturing Cancer which suggests responsive customer service. The ascendant is Sagittarius, whose traits include not only optimism and a love of fun but the shadow side reveals a tendency towards self-importance and a desire to associate with only the best people. The Iphone is the gadget everyone will want to have, and Sagittarius jumps right on that bandwagon.

The "Lord" of the ascendant, or ruling planet, is Jupiter in Sagittarius which is retrograde in the first house. Jupiter in its own sign of Sagittarius would be considered a benefic signature in this chart which illustrates the initial success of the Iphone. The Moon is in Capricorn, the sign of material success and achievement which is a positive indicator, and it is in an applying trine to Mars which provides the energy for activation of the new business. And Venus nearing an exact conjunction to Saturn will bring loyalty of the customers; this conjunction falling in the 9th house of travel shows success overseas.

Still, the chart shows a number of difficult aspects as well, such as five traditional planets (excluding Chiron) in retrograde motion including Mercury and the extremely prominent first house Jupiter which is not only rising in the chart but also rules the ascendant. Retrogrades force us to look back into the past and re-do what we have done before, and we are likely to see the Iphone in a nearly constant state of upgrade as past errors are corrected. Already early reports complain that over 100,000 users who waited in long lines for their phones were unable to activate them.

The Sun in the eighth house would not be considered a fortunate signature for a new venture, nor would its conjunction to retrograde Mercury which forever links the Iphone to communication difficulties. Retrograde Neptune falls in the third house where it adds creativity and inspiration, but also obscures communication and shipping of the product short distances. The opposition between Venus and Neptune indicates romantic illusion that may not find a basis in reality.

It is rarely a great idea to purchase a new gadget before the kinks have been worked out, but the frenzy of optimism and illusion that has surrounded the Iphone is clearly displayed in the astrological chart. It appears, however, that there will be a fair amount of backsliding before the Iphone is really ready for business.

Labels: Mundane astrology

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 4:35 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Skywatch is posted!

Planetary updates for July are posted here. Excerpt for the first week:

July 1st finds us still in the shadow of the Full Moon in Capricorn, the sign of achievement ruled by Saturn which impels us to seek solid ground, something made more difficult by the opposition of Saturn to Neptune, the planet of mysticism and transcendence. Saturn is separating now from Neptune, but its influence will remain throughout the month although it will continue to weaken. On July 1 Saturn conjuncts Venus as well, requiring us to be responsible (Saturn) to others in our lives (Venus), but also planting the seeds of self-doubt and insecurity.

Six planets are retrograde now, including Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron. When planets appear to be moving backwards (in retrograde motion) we find ourselves going back to previous episodes of our life and having to re-do them. Two steps forward, one step back as we perfect the past and move forward with new wisdom and maturity.

Jupiter's transit is practically stationary as it travels only two degrees throughout the entire month. Chiron is also moving extremely slowly and these two planets remain within orb of a sextile that will be exact on September 7. The sextile of Jupiter and Chiron facilitates the healing process as Jupiter's expansive optimism and desire for faith and understanding opens doorways for Chiron's work in exposing our more painful memories and experiences so that they are made more available for healing and transformation.

To sign up for a free subscription to Skywatch, visit www.astrodynamics.net.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 11:41 AM :: |

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