The previous ingress of Pluto into Capricorn was 7 January 1762. (For the record only I will mention that in 1762 Peter III of Russia was crowned only to be murdered 6 months later and replaced by Catherine II. This was a very quick fall and rise that stank of corruption and infamy). US Independence was around the corner (1778) and as Pluto is in the later degrees of Capricorn in this chart it is worth reviewing what sparked the rebellion against the British and the events that led to their defeat. It is also worth considering now how often history has a tendency to repeat in some way.

The Seven years war of Britain against France (and Spain towards the end) happened between 1756 - 1763. George the III ascended the throne in 1760 (acquiring Buckingham Palace in 1762).

After the war it was time to count the cost [emphasis added]. The Bank of England had been set up in 1694 to help Great Britain recoup its previous war debts. Even though Britain had plundered much Spanish treasure from Havana and elsewhere this time around, it still had debts amounting to �133,000,000. Britain by now, however, had colonised many countries. It had attained greatness and was now a global force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately the lack of finance over the following years led them into very unpopular territory. Britain needed revenue from their subjects including India, Cuba and America. It was the time of realisation of the British Empire but it had cost them dearly. The Stamp Act of 1763 was the first attempted tax of the colonies. Naturally this was viewed in an unfavourable light, especially in America.

One of the main sources of income outside of Britain was via the East India Company. Generally remembered for trading in tea (we'll come back to that in a moment) it was trading in 1763 mostly in opium.

Forcing the natives in India to grow opium and selling it to China had been going on for quite a while. The ships returned with China black tea to sell to the wealthy. The British Government openly condemned the trade, of course, but secretly supported the valuable revenue it was producing. Likewise the East India Company also traded (by proxy naturally) as carrier ships for the slave trade, which was another lucrative source. The East India Company literally ran the country of India at this time. For the record, the first Indian tea to be imported into the UK would not occur until 1887.

The East India Company had its own flag, the Grand Union flag that has a tangible link to the United Sates Stars and Stripes. Readers in the United States may now start to feel uncomfortable, especially if they are already observing parallel similarities to current wars and national debts at this point!

The coincidences are alarming. One of the main communication routes between India and Britain was Iraq. In 1763 the British Company set up a factory in Basra for commerce and enterprise.

By 1773 Britain was still trying to recoup its debts. The growth of Britain's trade and commerce had significantly expanded and the London Stock Exchange was founded. Meanwhile, the East India Company had not done so well and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The drug trade had become more difficult and, to assist in a continuation of revenue, Britain allowed them the sole franchise to sell tea tax free to the colonies. The Americans were undercut by this action and is what led to the now famous Boston tea party (1773) incident (Note the long running Saturn/ Neptune conjunction from Feb 1773). This was the first dissent leading to the American declaration of Independence (4 July 1776) citing the unalienable rights of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'. The power and passion behind these simple values were taken up on the background of oppression and the right to self Government. Great Britain could not impose its will on the people of America. First they lost America and then they lost face and had to reconsider their position in the world.

Pluto ingressed into Aquarius in January 1778.

So what do we learn from this? Pluto goes into Capricorn when a nation that has risen to greatness is on the back end of a war that has cost a fortune. So great is this cost that they seek to recover their losses in a grossly unfair and oppressive manner; So powerful is the need to obtain money that even companies become big and powerful enough to run other countries. The people suffer until the burden becomes oppressive. The control and manipulation becomes so much that they say enough is enough. They demand the unalienable rights of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'. Those who tried to impose their will on others were turned back.

Now which period of time am I talking about -1762 to 1778 or 2008 to 2024? Personally I think that the parallels are a little too scary to ignore. Not convinced? OK let us look at it in a more up to date manner.

Let us assume that it is the United States of America and not Great Britain that is now involved in a Seven-year war. The destruction of the World Trade Centre in 2001 led to the war against terror. In 2002 the coalition forces invaded Iraq (How strange was it that Britain got Basra!). What if this little slice of the war on terror lasts for Seven years until 2009? The cost has been astronomical (US national debt is around $137,000,000,000 I understand). Not only that but the single minded obsession to forge ahead regardless becomes oppressive to their allies and/or the occupied. The people in occupation cry out for independence - for the very same unalienable rights of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'. A small collection of countries joins together - a sort of United States called Europe. But the very nature of democracy means that Great Britain is no longer a single entity. However the fall manifests it will be the United States of America that has to reconsider its position in the world. Remember that Great Britain thought it could dictate terms back in 1778 and got hammered by a bunch of farmers!

To recoup the losses there is no way that the country will survive from its own internal manufacturing. So it must use the profit making abilities of a large company to produce big enough revenues from an international source. It is unlikely to be opium, slaves or indeed tea. But it could be oil. Oil from where you may ask? If I read the 2004 presidential election campaigns correctly I understand that George W Bush plans to drill for oil in the Antarctic - something that has been regarded as taboo for years. One could imagine that this act would ruffle a number of feathers. Alternatively I suppose that the oil in Iraq could be siphoned off by way of compensation. Naturally this would go down like a lead balloon with other oil producing companies on the grounds that they would have had their trade effectively cut off. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would be incandescent with rage! One wonders what would happen to the US dollar if oil producing companies started to value and sell oil barrels in terms of Euros instead of US dollars?

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 2:05 PM :: |

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

UFO flies over Texas!

More than 30 people over the past week have seen a UFO flying over Stephenville Texas.

"It was very intense, bright lights," said local newspaper reporter Angela Joyner.

"The lights were like going like this," said Constable Leroy Gateman making hand gestures to describe what he saw when he spotted the UFO.

Rick Sorrells says he saw it while he was hunting deer in the woods.

"You look at the trees, and it was right here," Sorrells told ABC News correspondent Mike Von Fremd as he showed him the location in the woods where he spotted the UFO.

Steve Allen, a 50-year-old pilot, was at a campfire with friends and says the object was a mile long and half a mile wide. "I don't know if it was a biblical experience or somebody from a different universe or whatever but it was definitely not from around these parts," Allen said.

Allen drew a sketch of the object, which he said traveled at amazing speed without making a sound. While drawing, Allen told Von Fremd that he saw "an arch shape converted in a vertical shape, and then it split and made two of them, and then these turned into just fire and it was gone."

A spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth says no aircraft from his base was in the area, and says the objects may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. But those who saw the lights don't buy that explanation.

No one in Stephenville took a video from their phone?????

Of course I went to rense.com to get the real story, and they have posted video and photographic evidence from what is currently (6:22 pm) six sightings in six different Texas towns via the UFO Casebook site. Some of the people said they saw fighter planes chasing the UFO, but the military says no planes were in the area.

Raw Story has more video here.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:11 PM :: |

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Another failure of Sun Sign astrology

I could probably be a lot more famous if I was willing to write a Sun Sign column. I don't know why I'm so stubborn, without newspaper horoscopes hardly anyone would even know about astrology. And after writing the Vanity Fair horoscope column for at least 15 years Michael Lutin is finally getting to write about real astrology.

But articles like this (thanks to the Townleys for the link) show that sun signs have little effect on our ability to make any kind of reasonable predictions using astrology.

Last month a magazine from Jordan contacted me to write a "horoscope" article for their January issue and I thought about it for awhile before turning it down. But at some point it would be difficult to say no. What if the New York Times called me to write "horoscopes" using sun signs? Could I say no? Or would it give me a wider audience to whom to reveal the secrets of astrology?

And really, I write celebrity gossip profiles for crying out loud. Is that any nobler? Of course, my goal for these profiles is to make REAL astrology accessible to people who otherwise would know nothing about it.

These are all questions buzzing around my brain as Pluto begins its descent on my Capricorn Mars.

Still - we really owe it to the magic of astrology to avoid simplifying it into sun signs that add, in my mind, nothing useful to the conversation.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 4:55 PM :: |

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Monday, January 14, 2008

The death of Christopher Bowman

The National Ledger has my article about the tragic death of former figure skating champion Christopher Bowman at the age of 40 (see right).

For more commentary see Jill's nostalgic look at Bowman in his heyday (see left).

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:53 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- John Townley on Election 2008

John Townley has done a yeoman's job of creating composite charts between each presidential candidate and the Sibley chart for the United States. John was one of the early pioneers of the composite chart technique and probably understands it better than most (the composite chart combines the chart of two people or entities and describes the quality of partnership between them). John writes:

[T]he first place to look [for predicting the outcome of the Presidential primaries and election] is not the chart of the leader (or the potential leader), but of the nation, then the leader. Those of us looking at the U.S. chart in 2000 were expecting a tremendous diminution of U.S. world power and reputation arriving shortly thanks to the first-ever Pluto conjunction to the U.S. Ascendant. The presidential question should have been, perhaps, who is most likely to contribute to the bringing about of such a dreadful situation? In hindsight, clearly, the appropriate person won, if not the most desirable. Sometimes you get what’s coming to you, whatever you do. This election the U.S. is at another crossroads, a progressed full Moon, meaning you’ve pushed to your outward limit, which last happened during the 1979 (hostage) crisis in Iran, and a cycle before then just as the Korean War was about to break out.

You have to be careful with these composite charts since without accurate birthtimes for the candidates the houses the planets fall in and the position of the Moon can't be relied on. Townley predicts:

Seductively attractive (he’s got the Venus/Mars conjunction) bass-player Huckabee (for whom no one has an exact time, making composites dicey) and Obama have both emerged with more attention to challenge their respective favorites, with everybody sharing a mysterious emphasis on the mid-Scorpio/Taurus axis, a show of its own (maybe not so mysterious, there being both the transiting Jupiter/Saturn midpoint and their L4 and L5 points as well, real power attractors). But neither challenger has the transits in the fall to indicate they’ll still be there, regardless of how well they do now. Edwards, whose composite Sun with the U.S.A. has Pluto on it all year, will probably be 2008’s retrospective “I told you so” Gore equivalent, for all his efforts. By the time the voters realize what he was saying, it will be too late. As for the rest, astrologically it looks like a contest of wealthy interests changing hands, with a lot of well-meaning sideliners laid low by the powers that be. Only Obama is an especial mystery, considering his popularity, as there is little conflict for him in the fall…where will he be then?...perhaps there are some things that are going to happen this spring and summer to make it all different. Remember 40 years ago, in January, how little we suspected what would become of our heroes in a few short months…The Jupiter-Saturn midpoint that fateful year hovered around the Galactic Center axis of 26 Sag-Gemini, the progressed Ascendants of both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy…That’s where Obama’s progressed Ascendant is right now.

Relationship charts have an endless depth to the amount of comparison that can be done. We can compare the individual chart to the composite, we can put the planets of the US into the charts of the individual and vice versa, we can compare the progressed chart of the candidate to the US progressed chart. Still, I don't think we can discount that Saturn opposition to Uranus on election day that is bound to bring a surprise of some sort!!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:48 AM :: |

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sunday Haiku

Beautiful words from Matsuo Basha

Winter solitude--
in a world of one color
the sound of wind.

photo by Pete Leonard from Corbis

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

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

For Pluto in Capricorn: A New Breed of Money!!

I know, I know...this is partisan politics and not worthy of such a lofty astrology blog. :)

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:43 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- A week of Venus

art from occultopedia

Venus rules the skies this week.

Venus is the goddess of love and beauty, and her namesake planet presides over all things relating to interpersonal relationships, the force of attraction, aesthetics, values, sensuality, self-indulgence, harmony and balance. As Venus transits through the sky it is barely noticeable to us because it moves so quickly and its effect is so mild.

In its role in the governance of attraction, Venus is involved in matters of wealth and prosperity. Last week Venus made a square to Saturn (exact on the 6th) and the stock market plummeted as investors lost confidence in fears that the recession (Saturn in Virgo/Pluto in Capricorn) had arrived. Still, Venus is in Sagittarius where it bestows confidence, and Pluto is still going through the last degrees of Sagittarius as well.

Yesterday's sextile of Venus to Chiron was a sweet harmonizing influence that is very beneficial to relationships, but today Venus makes a square to Uranus that is likely to bring about a fierce need for autonomy in relationships and could create disruptions in the financial markets. Ben Bernanke's speech to the Fed last Thursday is widely supposed to be a harbinger of bad financial news next week. Short-term interest rates are expected to be slashed which will bolster the stock market but create inflation risks that cannot be supported under Saturn in Virgo.

Just as things calm down from the excitement of the Venus/Uranus square, Venus makes a lovely sextile to Neptune on the 16th. Neptune is often referred to (by me, anyway) as the "higher octave of Venus." Where Venus is associated with personal relationships and affection, Neptune is divine love and compassion. When Venus and Neptune dance together, a flood of creativity and beauty is released and opportunities abound for creativity and imagination. However, this is not an ideal time for business ventures as we are less realistic than usual now.

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

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Add fourteen years to your life! My plan to repair the US healthcare system

Let's put this under Saturn in Virgo, where the reality (Saturn) of our healthcare system and personal health routines (Virgo) are tested.

People who adopt four healthy behaviours -- not smoking; taking exercise; moderate alcohol intake; and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day -- live on average an additional fourteen years of life compared with people who adopt none of these behaviours, according to a new study.

Everyone knows these things are good for you, but add FOURTEEN YEARS? That's half a Saturn cycle!!

Rather than focusing on how an individual factor is related to health, the study calculates the combined impact of these four simply-defined forms of behaviour. The results suggest that several small changes in lifestyle could have a marked impact on the health of populations. . . .

In order to examine the combined impact of changes in lifestyle, Kay-Tee Khaw and colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council used a health behaviour score that is easy to understand in order to assess the participants in the study (who were from Norfolk, United Kingdom). Between 1993 and 1997, 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79, none of whom had known cancer or heart or circulatory disease, completed a questionnaire that resulted in a score between 0 and 4.

A point was awarded for each of the following: not currently smoking; not being physically inactive (physical inactivity was defined as having a sedentary job and not doing any recreational exercise); a moderate alcohol intake of 1-14 units a week (a unit is half a pint of beer or a glass of wine); and a blood vitamin C level consistent with eating five servings of fruit or vegetables a day. Deaths among the participants were recorded unti l 2006.

After factoring in age, the results showed that over an average period of eleven years people with a score of 0 -- i.e. those who did not undertake any of these healthy forms of behaviour -- were four times more likely to have died than those who had scored 4 in the questionnaire. Furthermore, the researchers calculate that a person who has a health score of 0 has the same risk of dying as someone 14 years older who had scored 4 in the questionnaire (i.e. someone engaging in all four healthy forms of behaviour). This was independent of social class and body mass index. The study forms part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), conducted across ten European countries, the largest study of diet and health ever undertaken.

As a related editorial discusses, individuals in isolation often cannot make the lifestyle changes they want and a set of complex processes affect how research is translated into effective public health policy. . . .

Saturn seeks to create structures, and in Virgo will apply pressure and create challenges to force the creation of structures to take care of the problem of health care, one of Virgo's associations. Instead of instituting nationalized healthcare to pay for the treatment of lifestyle diseases, perhaps it's time to institutionalize (Saturn) promotion of a healthy lifestyle (Virgo), beginning with school lunches which currently are subsidized by the USDA and promote unhealthy food choices. Hospital cafeterias no longer serve home cooked menu options; instead they serve Big Macs and fries.

And this is not only in the United States: India is experiencing a sharp rise in heart attacks, diabetes and strokes as well as depression and an increase in suicides; in Europe the World Health Organization estimates that as many as 80 percent of heart disease, strokes and type II diabetes and 40 percent of Cancers are preventable by lifestyle changes; lifestyle diseases have been named by WHO as the number one cause of deaths in the South Pacific.

Our healthcare system is geared towards fixing a problem, not preventing it. Expensive and unnecessary tests, expensive medications to treat one problem and secondary medications to treat problems caused by the first problem - this is what is breaking our healthcare system. Nationalizing the system will only spread the burden of the cost but will not repair the system. The crisis in the healthcare system is rooted in the sedentary lifestyle of the world populations and the lack of easy access to nutritious foods. Doctors continue to recommend diet and exercise to their patients, but this is not supported by the government, at least not in the US.

The cost of healthcare in this country is spiraling out of control and will cost governments all over the world billions of dollars in future decades. Sensible government spending for prevention rather than insurance will help to curb this tide.

My plan to fix the broken healthcare system in the United States:

1. Bring back compulsory physical fitness programs in public schools and offer kids choices of activities that fit their needs and abilities.
   
2. Reward schools with economic benefits for serving healthy lunches.
3. Provide funds to less affluent communities to build community centers with pools and fitness centers for adults and children.
4. Eliminate pharmaceutical advertising. Doctors should prescribe medications because they are needed, not because an ad says to get a purple pill.

In my opinion, this idea of nationalized health care is just a bandaid on a rapidly growing cancer of ignorance and poor choices. Update: Check out this NYT article discussing the book Overtreated, by Shannon Brownlee.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:41 AM :: |

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hillary Clinton: An astrological update

Mrs. Clinton has had a rough couple of year from the planetary perspective, with transiting Saturn running rampant over her Leo and Scorpio planets and transiting Pluto tearing up the square in her chart from Uranus to the Moon. But she is one tough lady.

I for one was glad to see her appear human on the last day of the campaign, where she revealed a softer side than we had seen previously. Michael Lutin has a nasty article at Huffingtonpost.com ,which I will not bother to link to, which basically says that Hillary is tough because she's a Scorpio and compares her to a cockroach. I am not a big fan of Mrs. Clinton, who is too liberal where I'm conservative and too conservative where I'm liberal, but I feel she deserves a neutral look at her birthchart and current planetary cycles.

To recap earlier articles, the most significant system in Mrs. Clinton's chart is the stellium of planets in Scorpio which include the Sun, Chiron, Venus and Mercury, along with the South Node that suggests Mrs. Clinton's Scorpio side is a vestige of the past and a trait which holds her back from her personal evolution. Breaking this down, Mrs. Clinton is particularly sensitive (Chiron/Sun) to the need to prove herself again and again, and the Scorpio energy of these planets gives her the tenacity to stay in the fight. Venus and Mercury in Scorpio demonstrate the intensity of her affection (Venus) and her views (Mercury), and her relationships are both her healers and create the post pain for her (Chiron/Venus).

This stellium is squared by a powerful triple conjunction in Leo of Mars, Pluto and Saturn. The exceptionally tight pairing of Mars and Pluto shows an intense (Pluto) desire (Mars) to express oneself and to achieve greatness (Leo). This shows Mrs. Clinton's need for power and influence on a grand scale, which we see in most presidential candidates to one extent or another. The presence of Saturn there indicates frustration in realizing this goal. When Mrs. Clinton says this is personal, she means it in more ways than one. She also went through a difficult transit of Chiron and her first Saturn return (see this article for more details on these cycles).

This system was challenged for the past two years by transiting Saturn which passed over the Leo planets and made a square to the Scorpio planets, submitting Mrs. Clinton to one difficulty after another. Most recently transiting Pluto has opposed Uranus in her chart and quite probably her Moon (depending on her birthtime which is in dispute), suggesting a major upheaval (Pluto/Uranus) in her life and plans.

Transiting Chiron is in opposition to that Mars/Pluto conjunction which represents her urge for power, and we are seeing this in what came across in the most recent debate as her desperation to be president. This is the third phase of a cycle that began for her back in April of 2007, and then Chiron heads off to square Venus in her chart which is likely to create change in her relationships and allies while at the same time Jupiter makes a sextile to Venus, bringing in new allies to replace the old ones (March through October).

Mrs. Clinton is also going through a transit of Neptune opposite Saturn in her chart and square to Mercury which can be a difficult time when the structures we seek to create in our life (Saturn) are threatened by an erosion of our sense of reality (Neptune) and our sense of logic (Mercury) is dissolved into Neptune's longing for idealism.

Most interesting is the effect on the February 6 eclipse on her chart. As soon as I find the time, I'm going to compare the charts of the major candidates to the eclipse chart, which ought to be interesting. The only candidate still not profiled is Huckabee, and we'll see what happens next week. I may not need to include him!

Labels: Hillary Clinton

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:28 PM :: |

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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Link cleanup

It appears that many of my fellow astrobloggers have gone on to find other things to do, so I'm going to clean up the blogroll and remove any sites that haven't been updated in the past couple of months. If you are one of those blogging compadres whose link I have removed and want your blog to still be listed, or if the address has changed, please let me know in the comments. I want to be sure that these links are active and useful!

If you have suggestions for other astrology blogs to be added please let me know that too. They should be quality sites with regular updates and not overly commercial, and ideally should have a reciprocal link to Astrological Musings. :)

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:58 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- More on sunspot cycles

Rich is the scientist in our family, and he was commenting after reading my post on the new sunspot cycles that since these cycles alternate between positive and negative, perhaps each 11- year cycle is actually one-half of a larger 22-year cycle.

An article on the site of the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR) by Jackie Slevin told the story of John H. Nelson, who is called the "patriarch" of sunspot research:

An amateur astronomer since boyhood and radio operator for RCA Communications, Nelson pioneered solar research and forecasting through over 25 years of rigorous experimentation. In 1946 he was given the title “Short- wave Radio Propagation Analyst,” and began a course of scientific observation, the results of which ended in unexpected controversy. “We have come to realize that the Sun is doing something to the planets, or the planets are doing something to the Sun that the presently recognized laws of science cannot explain. Though sunspots have never been completely understood, I found, through careful observation, that they are predictable. Why the predictions come true is not readily apparent. When future amateurs or scientists find a scientific explanation for what is taking place in the solar system, on the Sun and in the ionosphere of the Earth, we can take the subject out of the occult and assign it a scientific basis. I am confident this will be done someday.”

I found this paragraph about sunspots and the church particularly compelling:

The Chinese have been recording sunspots since ancient times, but it was the Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei who, after viewing them with this homemade telescope, reported them to scholars in sixteenth century Italy. Scholars at this time were connected to the Catholic Church, whose strict dogmas did not allow for much free thinking. The Church doctrine on the Sun and planets was based on Aristotle, who stated that the Sun was perfect and free of any blemishes whatsoever. After repeatedly insisting that the Sun did show black spots on its surface periodically, Galileo incurred such fundamentalist wrath he was informed that, unless he rescinded his statement, he would be punished by torture. Following exasperation and anguish, Galileo finally retracted his statement, but is said to have muttered under his breath immediately afterwards, “but I did see them.”

It's an interesting aside that Nelson ultimately developed an interest in astrology as a result of his research into sunspots and the effect of the planets on their activity. Still, I could find no useful information on the alternating positive and negative sunspot cycles. Any ideas out there?

Labels: Sun, Sunspots

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 1:07 PM :: |

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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

New Moon and other planetary news this week

art stolen from Quinn McDonald

Mercury passed yesterday from practical Capricorn into innovative Aquarius. This marks a transition in the way we process information and communicate with each other (Mercury's domain), and Mercury will be in Aquarius longer than usual (through March 14) due to its retrograde period from January 28 to February 18 which will take it back.

Today's New Moon features the Sun and Moon conjunct in Capricorn. We have had a strong Capricorn influence since the Capricorn Stellium of mid-December, and this New Moon continues the Earth theme that we are seeing this month. With the New Moon in Capricorn, our focus is on building structures in our life that support us. Discipline, responsibility, commitment - these are the hallmarks of the Capricorn experience. This New Moon provides an opportunity to manifest our dreams in a real and concrete manner. Capricorn is the sign that says "Just Do It." No excuses, no rationalizations.

However, we have a strong Aquarian component that helps us to lift and expand the Capricorn influence here, with Mercury having just entered Aquarius and Chiron and Neptune both carrying the visionary Aquarian torch as well. Three planets in Aquarius PLUS the North Node, - this is a strong force for overturning the status quo and creating something that is authentically true. Aquarius is humanitarian but it can be unkind as its sometimes excessive rationality leaves no room for the human emotions. Star Trek's Dr. Spock is a good example of the Aquarius archetype. Brilliant, fair, rational - but without compassion. The humanitarian instincts of Aquarius stem from an innate sense of fairness rather than feeling.

The New Moon makes a sextile to Uranus (the ruler of Aquarius). Uranus shares the Aquarian essence of innovation and change. This will help us to create new ways (Aquarius) of building structures (Capricorn) in our lives. The New Moon energy is strongest during the three days before and the three days after the actual lunation, making this an excellent time for planning and reorganizing.

Venus has been a strong influence over the past week with several aspects, and this continues harmonious aspect (sextile) to Chiron (wounding, healing and wisdom) on the 10th which opens the door to healing and understanding. This leads nicely to a square of Venus to Uranus (independence and sudden change) on the 12th that is likely to bring about a fierce need for freedom and independence in our dealings with others and personal relationships.

Just as things calm down from the excitement of the Venus/Uranus square, Venus makes a lovely sextile to Neptune on the 16th. Neptune is often referred to (by me, anyway) as the "higher octave of Venus." Where Venus is associated with personal relationships and affection, Neptune is divine love and compassion. When Venus and Neptune dance together, a flood of creativity and beauty is released and opportunities abound for creativity and imagination. However, this is not an ideal time for business ventures as we are less realistic than usual now.

This New Moon period has the potential to be much more exciting and interesting than its Capricorn signature would ordinarily signify. If you have a new project in mind, or a new vision to manifest, this is the perfect time!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:41 AM :: |

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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Astrology in the corporate world

I was interested to find this article about the growing acceptance of astrology in the business world, since it has long been my fantasy to work with Human Resource departments to explain the behavior of employees:

Fate and timing have a vital role to play in the success of a business — or so say the soothsayers. Astrology tells us that the time of a year a person is born can influence much about their lives. Now corporate astrology is being applied to businesses from India to the UK, the US and South Africa.

Anita Noyes-Smith, an astrologer who has been involved in the field for over 20 years, primarily in the corporate arena, explained that astrology can provide important insight into planning.

One may be able to find out, for instance, when the best time is to expand or close a business.

“It gives everyone a rational process and a sense of timing which ultimately allows you to minimise your risk. If this didn’t work I wouldn’t be in the business of fate and timing,” said Noyes-Smith.

This does not mean she’s allowed to be a psychic or intuitive — it’s all mathematically based.

“If your business proposal doesn’t have an exit plan, no one will look at it. I apply the same principles of life to businesses. A business is like a giant family.”

Family businesses are potentially the most volatile environment, mixing blood, emotion and business.

In a corporation you can lock the door, hide what you’re doing from your wife or husband. No such luck with family businesses.

People are searching for answers that ordinarily aren’t found through the rational process of teaching, said Noyes-Smith.

“Most people understand the rational and physical at stake. But lots of people don’t have a sense of timing.”

Timing is critical to such decisions as:

# When to market a product;

# Whether to go with a particular partner in a strategic alliance; and

# What staff to hire. . . .

Corporate astrology has taken off worldwide. According to the Financial Times, executives who use astrologers tend to be rather coy about it — though the founder of The Body Shop, the late Anita Roddick, was quite open about her use of astrology.

In India, people are far less reticent. Bejan Daruwallah, one of the country’s best-known astrologers, told the newspaper he makes predictions for some of the largest companies in India. . . .

Some company owners will not select a chairman without first looking at the candidate’s horoscope. Key decisions are also impacted by astrologers’ input.

In the US, the most well-known astrological moneyman is Henry Weingarten, said the Financial Times. He runs several funds that invest on the basis of astrological predictions. Weingarten, who works with several large companies, said astrology gives superior results.

“You can make money without it, but anyone who doesn’t use it is at a serious disadvantage. We do make mistakes, but it is a superior tool.”

If anyone out there is looking for a corporate astrologer, give me a call!!

Labels: Astrology

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 9:49 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- China: The face of Pluto in Capricorn

If you have any question about where the balance of power in the world is heading, check out this article from Mother Jones entitled "The Last Empire: Can the world survive China's rush to emulate America's way of life?"

The grander astonishment is the most massive and rapid redistribution of the earth's resources in human history. In a mere two and a half decades, China has awakened from Maoist stagnancy to become the world's manufacturer. Among the planet's 193 nations, it is now first in production of coal, steel, cement, and 10 kinds of metal; it produces half the world's cameras and nearly a third of its TVs, and by 2015 may produce the most cars. It boasts factories that can accommodate 200,000 workers, and towns that make 60 percent of the world's buttons, half the world's silk neckties, and half the world's fireworks, respectively.

China has also become a ravenous consumer. Its appetite for raw materials drives up international commodity prices and shipping rates while its middle class, projected to jump from fewer than 100 million people now to 700 million by 2020, is learning the gratifications of consumerism. China is by a wide margin the leading importer of a cornucopia of commodities, including iron ore, steel, copper, tin, zinc, aluminum, and nickel. It is the world's biggest consumer of coal, refrigerators, grain, cell phones, fertilizer, and television sets. It not only leads the world in coal consumption, with 2.5 billion tons in 2006, but uses more than the next three highest-ranked nations—the United States, Russia, and India—combined. China uses half the world's steel and concrete and will probably construct half the world's new buildings over the next decade. So omnivorous is the Chinese appetite for imports that when the country ran short of scrap metal in early 2004, manhole covers disappeared from cities all over the world—Chicago lost 150 in a month. And the Chinese are not just vast consumers, but conspicuous ones, as evidenced by the presence in Beijing of dealers representing every luxury-car manufacturer in the world. Sales of Porsches, Ferraris, and Maseratis have flourished, even though their owners have no opportunity to test their finely tuned cars' performance on the city's clotted roads.

The catch is that China has become not just the world's manufacturer but also its despoiler, on a scale as monumental as its economic expansion. . . .A fourth of the country is now desert. More than three-fourths of its forests have disappeared. Acid rain falls on a third of China's landmass, tainting soil, water, and food. Excessive use of groundwater has caused land to sink in at least 96 Chinese cities, producing an estimated $12.9 billion in economic losses in Shanghai alone. Each year, uncontrollable underground fires, sometimes triggered by lightning and mining accidents, consume 200 million tons of coal, contributing massively to global warming. A miasma of lead, mercury, sulfur dioxide, and other elements of coal-burning and car exhaust hovers over most Chinese cities; of the world's 20 most polluted cities, 16 are Chinese.

The government estimates that 400,000 people die prematurely from respiratory illnesses each year, and health care costs for premature death and disability related to air pollution is estimated at up to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Four-fifths of the length of China's rivers are too polluted for fish. Half the population—600 or 700 million people—drinks water contaminated with animal and human waste. Into Asia's longest river, the Yangtze, the nation annually dumps a billion tons of untreated sewage; some scientists fear the river will die within a few years. Drained by cities and factories all over northern China, the Yellow River, whose cataclysmic floods earned it a reputation as the world's most dangerous natural feature, now flows to its mouth feebly, if at all. China generates a third of the world's garbage, most of which goes untreated. Meanwhile, roughly 70 percent of the world's discarded computers and electronic equipment ends up in China, where it is scavenged for usable parts and then abandoned, polluting soil and groundwater with toxic metals.

Remember that Pluto rules over breakdown and destruction, followed by transformation. The elevation of Ceres to planet status has coincided with the eruption into mass consciousness of an acceptance (finally!!) of the need to protect the planet's resources. Capricorn is concerned with matters of business, factories, governments, anywhere things are made and commerce is conducted. The emergence of China as a world power, without the democracy that helps to put safeguards in place, is likely to be the focal point of the Pluto in Capricorn period. Already we are seeing the emergence of a deadly "people's revolution" to protest the devastation of the environment there that is likely to come to a head with the upcoming square of Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn.

This article is a must read.

Labels: China, Pluto in Capricorn

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:21 AM :: |

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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Barack Obama Shines in Iowa

(Disclosure: Obama is my pick for President in 2008).

One year ago I wrote an astrological profile of Barack Obama when it appeared he had some real staying power for the Democratic party. Previously he had been little known other than as a junior senator from Illinois and for an exceptional keynote speech he delivered at the party convention in 2004. It appeared possible that Obama was more hype than substance, but a year on the campaign trail has dispelled all notions that Obama is a passing phase.

Since then, astrologers have worked diligently to try to find a birth time for Obama. Astrology has come a long way, but not to the point where our political leaders provide birth times to astrologers. Michael Wolfstar uses the 1:06 pm birth time which presumably came from the late Frances McEvoy, but that chart, with Scorpio rising, does not ring true for me and you can find out why here. So I continue to use noon for Obama's chart rather than take a chance with an unverified birth time.

Obama's progressed Moon has just changed signs, entering Aquarius after a 2-1/2 year stint in hardworking Capricorn. The shift from Capricorn to Aquarius is a transition from the Capricornian hard work and discipline to the vision of Aquarius that simply opens up the mind to receive insight from the higher planes. This reflects the fact that the slogging through the campaign trail may be over, and now Obama is merely shining a light and asking people to follow. The American people are looking for not only change - they want something completely different and we see this coming to a head with the election chart in November that has Saturn in opposition to Uranus: the status quo (Saturn) being shaken off by the new (Uranus). Uranus rules Aquarius, and Obama fits right into that sense of change. In addition, his progressed Venus is exactly conjunct his progressed Uranus, another Uranian signature that shows his ability to reach out to people (Venus) of all kinds (Uranus) including independents (Uranus) and even Republicans who want change (Saturn/Uranus).

In my article last year I wrote that "[Obama] is going through a long term cycle of Pluto in square to his progressed Sun which could lead to battles over power issues (perhaps with the Democratic establishment?) and we certainly saw that take place. Currently, transiting Saturn is passing over the T-square in his chart that includes an opposition from Chiron (wounding/ healing) to Pluto (transformation) that probably squares his Moon (emotions/ emotional stability). This cycle began back in October when Obama began to fell behind in the national polls and was criticized for his gospel music campaign stop with an anti-gay musician. The second phase of the Saturn cycle occurs in February and March of '08, with the wrapup in July. The transit of Saturn to Pluto usually creates change, and this is a time when Obama can easily embrace that change. The transit of Saturn to Chiron is more problematic as it creates an increased sensitivity that is difficult on the campaign road. There is also an increased risk of illness due to stress.

The February eclipse at Super Tuesday does NOT affect Obama's chart where it DOES affect Hillary's (I'll write more on that later) which augers well for Obama's placement there.

The most interesting time to observe Obama will be in May through September when transiting Uranus makes a stop directly opposite his Mars. This is a time of increased radical behavior and rebellious change - although Obama's Virgo Mars tends to be rather cautious and circumspect which may keep things under control.

Obama is really the face of the new United States - he's multi-racial, young, and appears able to have a broad appeal. He has not resorted to the kind of vicious attacks that most Americans are tired of. Some Democrats have argued that Obama would be a president like Jimmy Carter - unable to deal with the harsh realities of Washington. Carter won by the slimmest of margins: 50.1% to Gerald Ford's 48%. If Obama can win the Presidency by a wide enough margin, he can reunite the country and force the congressional establishment to change as well.

Labels: Obama

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:21 AM :: |

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Friday, January 04, 2008

Jupiter/Pluto and the Bhutto assassination

Portrait of Benazir Bhutto by Daisy/Lapata

I have not had the time to work on the profile of Ms. Bhutto which I promised some of my readers, but Jessica Murray (author of Soul Sick Nation) has done it for us on the About Astrology site (thanks Molly!):

The Jupiter-Pluto conjunction that we have mentioned before -- see Neptune and Oil Spills -- provided the most obvious piece of the backdrop of Thursday's tragedy. It's job was to take the darkest (Pluto) of the many troubling realities now simmering just under the surface of mass consciousness, and expand them (Jupiter) into global awareness.

How many Americans knew, for example, that their taxes have been pumped into the black hole of Pakistan's flailing dictatorship at a rate of 150 million dollars a month for the past six years? Such data will doubtless move now from the back pages of the nation's newspapers to the front pages, a symbol of Jupiter making Plutonian truths seize hold of the public mind in a new way. There are many questions about the background of the killing, and Pluto (intrigue, secrets, clandestine plots) suggests that they will not be easy to fathom. But with Pluto one thing is certain: before there is rebirth there must be an acknowledgement of breakdown. Every death (Pluto) is a entryway into a new level of consciousness. There is no resurrection without a corpse.

read more here...

Labels: Jupiter/Pluto, Pakistan

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 9:05 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- New sunspot harbinger of new solar cycle

According to this article:

A new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity, bringing with it increased risks for power grids, critical military, civilian and airline communications, GPS signals and even cell phones and ATM transactions, showed signs it was on its way late yesterday when the cycle’s first sunspot appeared in the sun’s Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said.

“This sunspot is like the first robin of spring,” said solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “In this case, it’s an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years.”

A sunspot is an area of highly organized magnetic activity on the surface of the sun. The new 11-year cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to build gradually, with the number of sunspots and solar storms reaching a maximum by 2011 or 2012, though devastating storms can occur at any time.

During a solar storm, highly charged material ejected from the sun may head toward Earth, where it can bring down power grids, disrupt critical communications, and threaten astronauts with harmful radiation. Storms can also knock out commercial communications satellites and swamp Global Positioning System signals. Routine activities such as talking on a cell phone or getting money from an ATM machine could suddenly halt over a large part of the globe.

Isn't it an interesting coincidence that the solar maximum will arrive at 2012!

Labels: Sun

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:05 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- The return of Earth

photo by Tony Howell

Dharmaruci wrote a post yesterday citing my comments about the return of the outer planets to the earth element after nearly ten years, and noting the connection to the lack of achievement and accomplishment on the world stage since then:

it is no surprise, for example, that it has been impossible to establish an international agreement on the environment and climate change. The earth element is concerned with the facts on the ground (to borrow an unfortunate Israeli expression). If earth is lacking, then these facts don’t count for very much, they don’t impact. The Kyoto protocol was agreed in 1997 – the last gasp of Neptune in Capricorn – but has since proved impossible to implement.

Incredibly, in 2003 the US went to war in Iraq without a proper plan as to what to do afterwards, and without reasons that could be backed up by facts. During the 90s, with Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn, the US had been able to restrain itself.

Since 1998, we have had 2 financial bubbles: the dotcom bubble of 2000, when stocks prices in the newly established dotcom sector went way over the top, causing a hangover for the US economy . . . ; and now there has been a credit bubble, in which banks have lent huge amounts of money in irresponsible ways and passed the buck all over the world, so no-one knows who is liable; and in which consumers have also built up large amounts of debt.

The downside of earth is that the imagination can get stifled, everything becomes defined by what seem to be fixed practical limitations and traditions. This time of no earth has also been the period in which the internet has taken off in all sorts of ways that couldn’t have been predicted, unhampered by too much legislation or financial limitations (it can still be pretty much free to get your stuff out there). So this has been a positive outcome, the imagination has had free rein. It can be seen as the result of the mutual reception between Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius, which still has a few years to run.

The return to earth brings not only stability and practicality, but a deeper connection to life on earth and the needs of the natural world which is so crucial at this time of climate change. Earth is quiet and possesses a deep wisdom that connects us as humans to the other members of the Earth community. Under the influence of earth ideology becomes less important, as do personal opinions and philosophies that have ruled the Pluto in Sagittarius era. Earth tends to slow everything down and bring a more deliberate approach to life.

The earth element is considered "feminine," or yin, and sometimes termed in astrological texts as "negative" because of its more receptive quality. The downside of earth, as Dharma writes, is the tendency to become bogged down in detail or too attached to routine. There can be a dislike of the mystic or subtle experiences that are not based in what is commonly perceived as material reality. In most magical traditions, the element of earth is associated with gnomes and the direction North. Midnight is its time and winter its season.

We'll be entering this earthy period while still in the visionary Uranus/Pisces Neptune/Aquarius period, so there's not too much danger over the next few years of becoming too routinized.

Labels: Earth element

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:20 AM :: |

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Welcome to 2008! An astrological look ahead

Padma Planet, by Aya

2007 was a pretty big year, astrologically speaking. We had the conjunction of Pluto to the Galactic Center, the first time this has occurred since the Galactic Center was mapped. We had the opposition of Saturn to Neptune, the midpoint in the 36-year dance between those two planets. Jupiter squared Saturn in 2007, threatening to topple the optimism that has buoyed financial and housing markets, but not succeeding.

And who could forget the square from Jupiter to Uranus which brought us a series of rebellions that threatened even the most fractious of factions. Under this influence a series of bizarre and fantastic scientific discoveries lived up to astrologers' expectations of surprising events, including the creation of "interspecies entities" including human/animal hybrids (no George Bush didn't make that up).

So what's in store for us in 2008?

Saturn, which is now traveling retrograde, has just entered Virgo for a 2-1/2 year stint where it will challenge our ideas of health and healing and probably create challenges for work situations and employee relations, all aspects of Virgo's associations. Still, Pluto and Jupiter, both in Capricorn throughout the year, are allied with Saturn and helping to facilitate its changes. Other than this, we don't have any major planetary cycles until we get closer to the end of the year, when Saturn faces off in opposition to Uranus just in time for the 2008 elections to overturn (Uranus) the status quo (Saturn).

There are two eclipse cycles this year, the first in February when we see an Annular Solar Eclipse at the New Moon on February 6, and a Total Lunar Eclipse at the Full Moon on February 20. This Full Moon (in Virgo) will be particularly powerful because of its proximity to a trine to Pluto which will facilitate the changes that the eclipse could bring into our lives.

In March Mars makes its final opposition to Pluto, bringing the last of the fireworks from this cycle that began back in September. Pluto turns retrograde on April 2 and remains retrograde until September 9. Pluto travels retrograde for four or five months every year, and these periods provide an opportunity to go more deeply into the events that surround us and dig every bit of meaning out of them. This is not always conducive to progress, but more important things are taking place with Pluto retrograde as Pluto travels back in time into Sagittarius and remains there briefly before heading back into Capricorn at the end of the year. Still, Pluto makes no aspects to any planet other than Sun, Moon, Mars and Venus until the end of the year.

Four other planets turn retrograde in May, including Jupiter, Chiron, Neptune and Mercury, meaning there will be five planets retrograde just until June, and four until July. These heavy retrograde periods slow down the process of life and create the need to continually head back to the drawing board rather than move ahead with our lives. This year though is relatively minor compared to the long retrograde periods of the last two summers.

August brings a Total Solar Eclipse at the New Moon on August 1, and a partial Lunar Eclipse at the Full Moon on August 16. The Full Moon incorporates an exact conjunction of Chiron to the eclipse, suggesting the potential for great healing and shamanic work to take place at that time.

Jupiter approaches a trine to Saturn in the latter part of August that is exact on September 8, a fortunate time when luck (Jupiter) is harnessed to discipline and hard work (Saturn). A fast-moving triple conjunction in Libra suggests that this will be an auspicious time for diplomacy and talks between nations. Israel? Iraq? Anyone listening?

The first phase of the opposition from Saturn to Uranus begins its approach in October and is exact on November 4, making it impossible to predict the outcome of the election. When restrictive Saturn attempts to impose those limitations on rebellious Uranus, it's anyone's guess what the results will be. In addition to surprising turns of events, we may also see an increase in repression (Saturn) in response to a revolutionary fervor that spirals out of control in response to that repression. This cycle continues through the summer of 2010 when Uranus enters Aries, leading into the upcoming square of Uranus to Pluto that will create real transformation like it did during the conjunction of the 1960s.

So my friends, the next year appears to be a bit of a grace period. But let's not be complacent, or we will not be ready when the real changes begin to unfold.

Labels: 2008

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 5:08 PM :: |

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

An astrological look back at 2007

Happy New Year everyone!


Today I give you Phil Brown's look back at the year in astrology and fantastic link extravaganza. I've copied the whole article here for your convenience, but please be sure to visit Phil's website for other of his terrific articles.

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A totally subjective and random look at the wonderful world of astrology in 2007

Biggest astrology trend (a repeat from last year): Astrology blogs. They’ve been growing exponentially. Check out Jeffrey Kishner’s Astrology Blogger Directory, a “comprehensive guide to every Western astrology blog on the web.” By the time you scroll to the bottom of the list, you’ll be in a new time zone, your head spinning in a blissful astro-blogosphere tag cloud. Then check out the blog podcasts and vidcasts. Top Ten Astrology Sources will also keep you happily busy for most of your waking hours.

Second biggest astrology trend: Interest in Mayan cosmology and 2012. Although the apocalypse is what’s simmering in a part of the collective consciousness right now, respected experts in Mayan cosmology are not forecasting any sort of 2012 pre-Columbian rapture. John Major Jenkins’ Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (which doesn’t really predict an apocalypse and is probably the best of the 2012 books--a fascinating read) has steadily outsold most astrology books on the list of astrology bestsellers. Bruce Scofield’s How to Practice Mayan Astrology has been finding a much wider readership. And there’s been an endless parade of other 2012 books.

Planet of the Year (and probably next year, too): Saturn. When contacted, Saturn merely griped that he could not accept the Planet of the Year award because he was too busy “tightening my rings, sir.” Indeed, Saturn’s coming off the opposition to Neptune, went into Virgo, and recent discoveries indicate that Saturn’s rings are a lot older than previously believed—and thus, perhaps, in need of a little adjusting. Oh well, it’s been a SERIOUS year. Even the comedians have been hard-edged and Comedy Central’s Stewart and Colbert haven’t been doing new shows due to the writer’s strike (although they are scheduled to come back in early January). Pluto’s about to go into Saturn-ruled Capricorn and Saturn’s starting to face off against Uranus. No wonder Saturn’s tightening his rings. He needs to be ready. Damn ready.

Dwarf planet of the year: Ceres. Now that global warming has our full attention, the recently elevated planet Ceres—the goddess of agriculture and seasonal change—is getting a lot of overdue respect. And you gotta love the sub-plot involving a mythic underworld Amber Alert.

Astrology book of the year: Wish I had time to read more books, but there’s been precious little time this year. I’m still trying to catch up with books from several centuries ago. However, my favorite book this year (even though it was published last year) was Venus: Her Cycles, Symbols, and Myths, by Anne Massey. Venus seemed due for a major makeover and Anne Massey masterfully brings her into the 21st Century—yet Venus still maintains an ageless symmetry. A real eye-opener.

Cosmic event of the year: Pluto conjunct the Galactic Center certainly helped to explain a world in transition. For an excellent discussion of this alignment, see Lynn Hayes’ article on her AstroDynamics website.

Most anticipated astrology event that hasn’t happened yet: Tie between 2012—the Mayan calendar end date—and the U.S. election on November 4, 2008. At this point, it is not clear which will be more transformational. Technically, a national election is not an astrology event per se, but this one will coincide with the exact opposition of Saturn and Uranus. Runner-up: Pluto’s entry into Capricorn.

Astrology event most anticipated by me personally: the mid-2007 waning of the Saturn-Neptune opposition. It hit a few of my own planets and I’d just about had it up to here with that alignment, although Neptune kept fogging things up to the point where I could never quite figure out what “it” was.

Least noticed astrology event: The discoveries of other solar systems. The astrology reaction’s generally been like, “Yeah, if I was born on some planet orbiting 47 Ursa Majoris, I might care.” But according to Zane Stein and Debbi Kempton-Smith (authors respectively of A View from Chiron and the irreverent classic Secrets from a Stargazer’s Notebook), these exo-planets might be a lot more potent than we think.

Biggest astrology frustration: The lack of solid birth times for most of the presidential candidates. AKA Looking for Hillary…and Barack…and Mike…and John (at least the one from North Carolina)…and…I realize there are more important issues facing our world today, but hey, if they can answer questions from a snowman on YouTube, the least they can do is have some aide dig up a birth certificate and post it on the candidate’s MySpace page. Inquiring astrologers REALLY want to know.

Best planet, all things considered: Earth. The character of the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town commented that of all the worlds in the known universe, “Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself.” Hopefully, we can make something better of our own small planet in 2008.

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Amen, brother. and may the best of all things come to you and yours this next year.

Labels: 2007

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 1:59 PM :: |

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