Thursday, February 28, 2008

As March begins, four planets are still in Aquarius: Venus, Mercury, Chiron & Neptune. This is still a strong Aquarian signature, with the voice of reason prevailing over emotion for the most part. Only one planet (Saturn) is in retrograde motion, and until April 2, when Pluto changes direction, there is a decidedly forward emphasis in most areas of our worldly experience. In May both Jupiter and Neptune will retrograde and we will begin to retrace our steps again.

There are a lot of planetary interactions in March, signaling a period of activity and change even though these are largely interactions between the faster moving planets that are of shorter duration and less significant in scope. For the first week or so of March Venus, Mercury and Chiron are in conjunction, fusing their energies to promote healing (Chiron) of our relationship to ourselves and to others (Venus) and our ability to communicate and relay information (Mercury). The Chironic process of healing is not always an easy one; it requires our attention and willingness to walk into the fire of potentially painful emotions. During Chironic periods we are extremely sensitive to the buttons of our old wounds being pushed, and there is potential during this first week for emotional reactions in the extreme. Chiron is in play throughout the month with an inconjunct (30 degree aspect) to Uranus that will come to fruition at the end of the month. Combinations of Chiron and Uranus can make it difficult to integrate our internal wisdom (Chiron) with the pressures of a restless desire for change (Uranus). This can result in an energy imbalance that may require additional steps to improve, such as with yoga, long walks or hot baths.

Ideally, we will take this opportunity to feel a little more deeply and invite these emotions to enter into the conscious realm where they can be recognized and then released. This process will be particularly powerful for those of us with planets in the middle degrees of the fixed signs (Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio, Taurus).

While all of this is going on, Mars is moving into position for its final opposition to Pluto, a cycle that began last fall and has followed the planets as both have changed signs: from Mars in Gemini opposing Pluto in Sagittarius to Mars in Cancer opposing Pluto in Capricorn. Mars is our drive, our aggressive instinct, and you can see how things can get a little riled up when Mars is interacting with Pluto, Lord of Death and Transformation. Pluto tends to put its Supreme Foot down when Mars gets uppity, but in the final cycle we often see the resolution of that battle. Mars and Pluto together are a formidable combination that results in irrevocable change when the lessons from the earlier phases of the cycle are integrated. Mars re-enters the sign of Cancer on March 4 and the final opposition is March 6, but we will be feeling its effects for several days prior to that which is likely to add a combative influence to the touchiness of the Chiron conjunctions mentioned above. Fortunately, a conjunction of sweet Venus and romantic Neptune will soften the edges of any conflicts that come up, providing creative ways to move through difficulties and release old patterns as Neptune's urge to dissolve and transcend does its magic.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:36 AM :: |

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Third Saturn Return

Yesterday I had the privilege of doing a reading for a woman who recently turned 80 and was going through the closing square of her third Saturn cycle. I began doing readings shortly after my first Saturn return at around age 32, and it took me a long time to realize that as we grow older we often learn to manage the issues in our chart so that they are no longer as difficult. In fact, the challenges that formerly caused us pain and suffering often become our greatest teachers.

The beauty of reading for older clients is that they often have experienced this evolution to a degree the rest of us can only dream about. If they haven't become stuck in a cycle of dysfunction, they have learned to move through all kinds of cycles and find their center. I spoke with the client yesterday about the Saturn Return cycles, and we talked about her upcoming third Saturn Return which will arrive around age 87.

The first Saturn Return at age 28-30, as we know, deals with experiences where we leave our youth behind and enter adulthood, either willingly or kicking and screaming. The second Saturn Return is more difficult to predict since the result depends quite a bit on how well we have learned Saturn's lessons since the first one. Regardless, during the second Saturn Return at age 56-58 we must leave our ripeness behind; we often discover that we are being replaced by the younger generation. We have lost our youth and are entering the third stage of life. We are middle-aged.

To answer my client's question: "What can I expect at the third Saturn Return?" I pondered the meaning of Saturn at the age of 87, and it seems that one of the major experiences of life at that age is the gradual detaching from the physical world and turning to face the abyss. Saturn is, after all, the god of Time (especially in its role as Kronos) and its lesson is that time is short and life is fleeting. Saturn has been called the Lord of Karma, and by the age of 87 we have been through quite a bit.

The possibility of a third Saturn Return is a rather new phenomenon, since until the last century the second Saturn Return would have come close to the end of one's life. It's probably just the fact that Saturn sits right on my Sun, I have grown to see him as a friend rather than a foe, and also as life's greatest teacher. I am grateful to this client for giving me a beautiful picture of what life can be like as we enter that fourth cycle!!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:25 PM :: |

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Pluto in Capricorn and the Eroding Infrastructure

One of the things I believe we'll be facing over the next few years as Pluto travels through Capricorn is the erosion of the structures that support our human lives on the planet. Bridges, tunnels, buildings - all are ruled by Capricorn and subject to transformation while in Pluto's domain.

Governors meeting the other day with President Bush pushed for him to include funding for various infrastructure repair projects for their states, which were turned down by the President. Bush said that he would rather wait to see the results of his stimulus package, which consists mostly of tax cuts, rather than fund infrastructure projects which would put Americans back to work.

The American Society for Civil Engineers estimates that $1.6 trillion dollars is needed to restore the aging and unsafe infrastructure in the United States. The areas that need rebuilding include toxic waste sites, sewage treatment systems, dams, water treatment facilities as well as roadways.

Janet Kavinoky, director of transportation at the US Chamber of Commerce, stated last year:

America’s infrastructure is not only showing its age, but showing that it lacks capacity to handle the volume of people and goods moving today. From exploding steam pipes under New York streets, to record level flight delays in the skies across the country, it is evident that now is the time to move on a robust, thoughtful, and comprehensive plan to build, maintain, and fund a world-class 21st century infrastructure. There can be no more delay.

Washington's Governor Grigoire said, ""In order for us to be able to avoid a Minnesota situation across America, we need a dramatic infusion of federal dollars throughout this country to rebuild our basic infrastructure." The Canadian government added $2 billion a year into that country's budget to repair their infrastructure, and the Indian government has funded infrastructure projects as well.

The billions of dollars we are pouring into the war in Iraq in a vain attempt to rebuild the infrastructure there before it is torn down again is robbing us from the opportunity to rebuild our own country. There's nothing like a good swipe of Pluto through Capricorn to collapse a few dams and power grids to demonstrate where our priorities should lie.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:18 PM :: |

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Dharmaruci on Obama as Medicine Man

Dharmaruci evidently hasn't been swept away by Obamania as I have, so his post on Obama as "The Medicine Man" is a clearer-headed one than any you will find in this column:

The man creates a very strong impression on people. One of the strengths of astrology is that it can stand outside of strong impressions and look at the chart as an entity in itself, and reflect that back to the person. Whatever time he was born, he has Sun in Leo square to Neptune. And in the 1.06 chart (and for much of the day) he has Moon square to Pluto, and I want to run with this. This is HOT. The 2 most powerfully transformative planets – Pluto and Neptune – in challenging relationships with the 2 planets most central to the personality, the Sun and Moon.

He’s working at a heat that most of us could not withstand. Squares are very challenging and very creative, if you can handle them. And has the 2 most challenging squares of all. What you need to get them right is to have a healthy and steady Sun and Moon, to be aware of yourself, so that you can then be a channel for something bigger that has its own purposes. Obama is a channel, the squares give a strong dynamism and responsiveness in relation to the collective needs and desires of the USA. People sense this very strongly: here is someone deeply tuned into the collective.

The most powerful leaders will tend to have this. Hitler, for example, had the Pluto-Neptune conjunction of his time unaspected in his chart, in his case making him an undiscriminating channel for the desires of the collective: the lack of aspects meant this ability was out of control, and the darker desires of the German people had just as much say as the more creative desires.

So Obama also has this ability, he is a medium, a medicine man. He can be a focus for all the currents within the American nation, and in his case, because of the connection to his Sun and Moon, he can discriminate: something in him will tell him how to move all this forward, what steps to take that can unify and heal and move forward the nation AS A WHOLE. He is not just a Democrat: the outer planets address the entire collective that you are part of.

So I think that as he is at the moment, he can be trusted. Even though he lacks governmental experience, the outer planets will tell him what to do. But all the same, psychologically it is a knife edge that he walks on, it is a tightrope on which he is currently very sure-footed. More than most, he needs to keep his integrity, because the forces working through him are so strong. After say 6 years in Washington, how will he be faring? Because he is also an ordinary human being.

I love this take on Obama.

I will add my caveat, though that the 1:06 pm birthtime that DR uses has not been verified; it comes as a rumor from Frances McEvoy who has since died and cannot verify it, and the chart with this birthtime gives Obama a Scorpio ascendant. Because the ascendant is the part of the chart that we as viewers see, it is the easiest piece of the chart to guess. A Scorpio rising person is typically intense with a tendency towards being secretive and more concerned with amassing personal power than collaborating with others. And you will never see a Scorpio rising person with a smile plastered on their face like Obama has 99% of the time.

I'm working on a comprehensive post on Obama for my website that will put together some of the posts I've written here and incorporate some biographical data, but ALL of the anecdotal history of Obama's career highlights his ability to reach across various viewpoints to build consensus. This seems quite obvious to me to be a Libra rising characteristic, which would mean a birth time around 11:30 am. This chart (which I can't upload right now due to computer problems but will try to do soon) has a 10th house Sun which makes a lot of sense for Obama's intense political aspirations, and an exact conjunction of the Sun to the Part of Fortune. But without any certainty of the birthtime, any discussion of houses is speculative.

update 2/26/08 at 7:00 am: Comments to this post suggest that my statement about Scorpio rising people not being big smilers is erroneous. I should point out that Obama, as a Leo, would have a great sense of humor and the opposition from Jupiter to his Sun, which bestows a great deal of confidence on him, also widens his sense of humor. Typically Scorpio rising also suggests someone who tends towards secrecy, and Obama is wide open with his personal life (some say a little too open). Unless Obama provides us with his birthtime, and til now he has not responded to queries, we may never know.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:33 PM :: |

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Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sunday Inspiration: Feeding the Wolf

With transiting Mars bearing down on my own Mars which is already being pressured by Pluto, I found this a wonderful bit of wisdom:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, worry, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:44 AM :: |

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Saturday, February 23, 2008

A rigorous astrology study - another "horoscope" rant

Here is a questionnaire from a sincere questioner who would like to determine whether astrology has any validity, but their only knowledge of astrology is from the "astrology" columns on the comics page. The only problem is - sun sign astrology will not hold up under any kind of scrutiny, much less something this well thought out. So we'll end up with yet another curious seeker who never takes that next step to discover the real magic of astrology.

Some of you have written in support of "horoscopes," telling me that they lead people on a quest for further knowledge and perhaps that is true. But wouldn't it be better if the sun sign columns included an introductory paragraph explaining that the sun sign is only one part of a larger whole that includes a much more complicated picture? Perhaps then the true seekers would be stimulated to learn more rather than become disillusioned with the entire craft.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 11:23 AM :: |

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Friday, February 22, 2008

Conspiracy Corner: Secret Service stops screening for weapons at Obama rally

The other day I was talking to a few black gentlemen in their 60s about the possibility of a black president, and one of them said, "Yeah, but how long will he live?" For many years I heard from my black friends this kind of conspiracy thinking and it didn't mean much to me until I began really studying the Kennedy assassination. Then I started to think maybe there was something to the rumors of the government flooding the ghettos with crack cocaine and other such rumors.

So it chilled me to the bone to read this article today:

Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Doors opened to the public at 10 a.m., and for the first hour security officers scanned each person who came in and checked their belongings in a process that kept movement of the long lines at a crawl. Then, about 11 a.m., an order came down to allow the people in without being checked.

As a people, we need to remain alert and aware when this kind of thing takes place and ask the hard questions. Friendly crowd or no, it's bizarre that the police would suddenly be ordered to stop the weapons checking. Maybe it wasn't the secret service - there are all kinds of white nationalist groups that wouldn't want a black president. Still, there is something here to keep an eye on.
(updated 12:20 pm)

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:50 AM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Pluto in Capricorn and the Urge for Change

quote is from Margaret Mead

There's no doubt that we are seeing a shift on the world stage along with the shift of Pluto into Capricorn last month. It seems that people all over the world are thirsting for change - to break down (Pluto) the old establishments (Capricorn) and rebuild something better.

• Fidel Castro has stepped down as dictator of Cuba after 50 years of rule.
• Kosovo has declared its independence from Serbia, deepening the rift between the West (led by Russia) and the East (led by the US) as nations take sides.
• Pakistan elections ousted Musharraf's cronies and installed new Parliament members that will change the balance of power in that country.
• In the US, a call for change by Barack Obama is sweeping the nation.

It makes sense with Pluto in Capricorn that the desire here is for change simply for the sake of change. Capricorn builds the structures that society depends on: schools, governments, marriage, housing. Pluto seeks to transform those structures, and this hunger for change at this time is not very well directed. This is frightening to those who are entrenched in those structures that are about to change because with Pluto there is no way to control the rising tide. Change happens - the tornado lifts the house and you don't know until the storm is over where the house will land.

In my work I have seen that Pluto acts as the "will of the higher self." When we are in a Pluto transit, our higher self takes over and shows the way. We can't control what is happening, but like the tornado experience we must simply let go and create an intention that the result be for our highest good.

In 1995, when Pluto entered Sagittarius, there was another burst of fervor for change as the Republicans took over both houses of Congress in the US for the first time in 40 years, causing a transformation (Pluto) in ideology (Sagittarius) that continued until the last throes of Pluto in Sag last year. The fledgling European Union had its first elections and expanded its influence, beginning the globalization (Sagittarius) process that continued for the next 12 years of Pluto in Sag.

Change is coming, and all we can do is watch and keep our intention strong and focused.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:39 AM :: |

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Eclipse and the unmasking of John McCain

Last night's eclipse was spectacular! We had a thick blanket of clouds here, but the clouds parted long enough to expose the eclipsed Moon through a smoky light. I wish I had decent nighttime photography equipment. Of course it kept me up all night - recently I find I don't sleep during the Full Moon and this eclipse had a power all its own.

You may remember from my article here a few days ago that the eclipse would conjunct both John McCain and Mike Huckabee's Virgo Suns. I didn't make much of it because McCain is undergoing a transit of Saturn to his Sun of which this is the second phase, and it has only strengthened his candidacy. But eclipses can bring about sudden changes and as one reader wrote, the "unmasking" and revelation of Truth.

John McCain wants to be president so badly that after Karl Rove spread whisper campaigns that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was an illegitimate black child, and that his wife Cindy was addicted to prescription drugs, he still sold his soul to President Bush in exchange for his support (see photo).

Last night's Keith Olbermann program featured a story on new revelations to come out of the New York Times today that John McCain had had an "improper" relationship with a lobbyist during the 2000 election. Olbermann is a great gossip, but his reporting of this story focused on the tittilation of the possible relationship. Reading the entire NYT article reveals other long-forgotten aspects of John McCain that are in my view more damaging:

• In 1989 the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association collapsed, and its CEO, Charles Keating, turned out to be a major contributor to the campaigns of five senators who asked the chief investigator to back off. One of those senators was John McCain. He is the only one of the Keating Five still in the Senate.
  
• Subsequent to this debacle McCain reinvented himself as a reformer of campaign financing with the help of Senator Russ Feingold. However, during the 2000 campaign he actively solicited campaign contributions from lobbyists.
• The Reform Institute that he founded to reform campaign financing collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlimited donations from companies that had business before the Senate commerce committee of which he was a member.

Regarding McCain's possible relationship with the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, the New York Times writes:

A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd., one of Ms. Iseman’s clients. He introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations; Ms. Iseman represented several businesses seeking such a program. And he twice tried to advance legislation that would permit a company to control television stations in overlapping markets, an important issue for Paxson.

In late 1999, Ms. Iseman asked Mr. McCain’s staff to send a letter to the commission to help Paxson, now Ion Media Networks, on another matter. Mr. Paxson was impatient for F.C.C. approval of a television deal, and Ms. Iseman acknowledged in an e-mail message to The Times that she had sent to Mr. McCain’s staff information for drafting a letter urging a swift decision.

Mr. McCain complied. He sent two letters to the commission, drawing a rare rebuke for interference from its chairman. In an embarrassing turn for the campaign, news reports invoked the Keating scandal, once again raising questions about intervening for a patron.

Mr. McCain’s aides released all of his letters to the F.C.C. to dispel accusations of favoritism, and aides said the campaign had properly accounted for four trips on the Paxson plane. But the campaign did not report the flight with Ms. Iseman [after a private dinner with Ms. Iseman's clients after which McCain flew home with Ms. Iseman on Paxson's plane.] Mr. McCain’s advisers say he was not required to disclose the flight, but ethics lawyers dispute that.

The timing of the release of this information, which evidently the Times had been holding for months, on the night of the eclipse is pretty interesting. The New York Times is not prone to publishing tabloid speculation, and commentators last night all said that it was likely that there was even more to the report that wasn't published. The eclipse also conjuncts the Sun in Mike Huckabee's chart, and wouldn't it be an incredible thing if McCain's campaign imploded, forcing his withdrawal, leaving only Huckabee in the presidential race! McCain has an interesting combination of planetary cycles going on right now. Saturn is conjunct his Sun, which often brings tests and challenges but also can give us the strength to withstand them and become even stronger. But transiting Uranus is conjunct Saturn in his chart, breaking up patterns and structures and forcing change, and transiting Pluto is square the Nodes of the Moon, a transit which typically denotes a course correction.

I'll report more as more news becomes available.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:38 AM :: |

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Millennial Generation

We've been talking in these pages about the generational impacts of this year's presidential election, including the early boomers (Pluto in Leo), late boomers and generation X (Pluto in Virgo) and generation Y (Pluto in Libra). Each group as a generation carries the impulses of the sign that Pluto was in. But there is another generation, commonly considered to have born since 1982, that many writers are calling the Millennial generation, presumably because they came of age at the turn of the 21st century.

Pluto in Scorpio, the sign which it rules, brought with it the scourge of AIDS (death by sex, both Plutonian/Scorpionic trademarks) along with a flood of repressed memories (Pluto digs out debris from the subconscious) about sexual abuse. Pluto and its sign Scorpio rule over the domain of death, destruction, regeneration and sexuality and the elimination of waste products from our lives that no longer serve us. The Pluto in Scorpio generation, now termed the "Millenials," are more prone to suicide than any generation before them. They experience the traumatic side of life more deeply - as one Millennial says:

We're realizing early on that "everything we want" - marriage, family, a good job, comfortable finances - doesn't come with a warranty. We watched our parents get divorced and laid off, so we're not exactly starry-eyed about adult commitments, and don't see many good reasons to stick around.

Plus, while we readily indulge in around-the-world adventures, we're inundated by images of war, corrupt politics, a sick Earth, and distant family and friends. Frequent travel and jobs abroad are popular among my friends - always on to the newer and wilder thing - but the adventures are often accompanied by loneliness, disconnect, and disappointment, which often worsens upon returning.

Where the Pluto in Virgo generation tends towards cynicism and the Pluto in Libra generation leans towards pursuit of pleasures, the Pluto in Scorpio generation is seen by political watchers as being more highly engaged, more concerned about economic inequalities and the reality of war. This generation has leaned more heavily Democratic (48%) than any other generation in recent history.

It's interesting to me that the writers (such as in the article cited above) who combine the generation born in the 1970s with the Pluto in Scorpio generation from 1982-1995 see more of a trend towards a desire for equality which is clearly the influence of Pluto in Libra from the late 1970s and 1980-1981. In any event, the Millennials are disappointed with the system of government they have inherited, and ready to change it. One interviewee in the above article said:

Through these conversations, we learned that these millennial youth not only wanted change, but they also expected to be agents of change in their own way and time. Kristen, a rural high school senior described her generation as the “actual laborers,” meaning that her generation would put ideas into action. She added: “I think other generations think about the problems that lay in the future. Our generation acts upon those problems and does things to fix or prevent them.” Matthew, also a rural high school senior, offered a similar perspective. He believed that millennials would, “grow up and see the problems” and then “try to fix them. We won’t ignore things.” And finally, George, a suburban junior, summarized many of his peers’ views about their generation when he asserted, “I can’t see why we wouldn’t be the generation that changes things. I agree with everyone that we will want to change things and make it more intimate--more of what people want.”

Pluto and Scorpio are highly tuned in to the vagaries of political power, and whereas their more self-oriented baby boomer parents wanted power to control their own lives, the Pluto in Scorpio generation is likely to discover ways to wield political power for the sake of increasing their own base of power. They're young now so it could be a while before we see it happen, but this could be the most politically astute generation for quite some time.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:36 AM :: |

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Candidates and the Lunar Eclipse

Two weeks ago we looked at how the solar eclipse on February 6th would affect the remaining presidential candidates; today let's take a look at what effect tomorrow's lunar eclipse could have.

Tomorrow's eclipse shows the Sun and Moon opposed at 2 degrees Pisces/Virgo, with the Moon conjunct Saturn, trined by Pluto which is very close to a tight aspect to a difficult opposition of Pluto to Chiron in the chart of Barack Obama. Obama is in the middle of a challenging cycle of transiting Saturn conjunct Pluto in his chart which began back in October. As I mentioned in the last article, this is a cycle that can bring great tests but also an increase in stability and power, and it seems to be having the latter effect for Obama. This eclipse will bring a challenge for him, and he could lose several states during this period. However, the eclipse also makes a sextile to Venus in Obama's chart and it is likely that he will forge several new alliances during this period.

Hillary Clinton was hard hit by the February 6 eclipse, but tomorrow's eclipse will have little effect on her other than a square of the lunation (Sun and Moon opposition) to her natal Jupiter. Jupiter shows our confidence level and how strong our sense of our own abilities is, and Jupiter squares can inflate our sense of our own importance and make it difficult to see reality. This is a minor problem overall, and Mrs. Clinton has survived some very ugly planetary cycles over the past few years. She's not going anywhere any time soon.

I'm still getting over the fact that John McCain is still in the race. But like Clinton, he is a survivor and the transit of Saturn over his Sun which began last October and November has only increased his strength in the primaries. The eclipse, since it conjuncts Saturn in the sky, adds a revelatory component to this cycle for McCain. I suspect we will see a little more of the "real" John McCain over the next two weeks as the unmasking process continues.

I never did a profile for Mike Huckabee, but with his Sun at 0 degrees Virgo, the eclipse aspects his Sun directly. This may be the time that he decides to exit the race, since he has no chance outside of a miracle to attain the nomination.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:59 AM :: |

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Monday, February 18, 2008

Mercury direct tonight

Mark your calendars! Mercury turns direct tonight and will begin to pick up speed next week to help things move forward a bit. At that point only Saturn will be in retrograde motion and it's a rarity for there to be just one planet retrograde.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:28 AM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- News of the Upcoming Eclipse

The eclipse on Wednesday night is a total Lunar eclipse at 1 degree Virgo.



See the NASA site for visibility maps and tables and other useful information.

Lunar eclipses occur at the Full Moon when the Moon and the Sun are in opposition, and when the lunation conjuncts the lunar nodes. Because the lunar nodes signify the evolutionary journey of the soul, the astrological symbolism of an eclipse is very significant. These are times of reckoning; of course correction.

The eclipse finds the Moon at nearly 2 degrees Virgo and conjunct Saturn. The Sun will have just left the Aquarius stellium where revolutionary ideas have captivated the attention of the masses; now the Sun enters Pisces where it is more sensitive and with a deeper orientation. The Moon eclipsed in Virgo demonstrates a new focus on the mundane details of life, and the conjunction to Saturn which is also in Virgo enhances this.

This revolutionary fervor has swept the globe ever since the solar eclipse of February 6th - with the Obamalypse in the US (™ JM) and the revolutions in Kosovo and Kenya, and there has been an explosive energy in the air. With the conjunction of the eclipse to Saturn and the trine of Saturn and the Moon to Pluto, we are likely to find a push for more stability and a more serious approach to the matters at hand.

Jupiter, the planet of possibilities, is heading towards a sextile with Uranus over the next month and the process of change and breaking away from the status quo is likely to continue. Still, the presence of Saturn so tightly aspecting the lunation of the Full Moon suggests that challenges are likely as Saturn exerts its role as Celestial Taskmaster.

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

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

The February Quickening

Art by the marvelous Willow Arlenea

Robert Wilkinson has a great article today on planetary events for the end of February:

A quick look at the patterns occurring now in late February shows a distinct quickening, with more and more of the old peeling away or falling back in our rear view mirror. Mercury is speeding up, preparing to go direct, Venus is changing signs, and of course the big news is the Lunar Eclipse [on February 20.]

We also have another significant factor occurring in the near future. The Sun opposes Saturn on its way to its conjunction with Uranus, portending the future long wave Saturn opposition Uranus which will polarize energies even more than they already are. This is one reason things are quickening, in some places phenomenally violently. Even nature's various superstorms are getting beyond whatever they used to be.

In our world, this is a clash between polarized views and ways that must be resolved. It will manifest as two energies vying for power, pitting willful erratic Piscean forces and people against evolved Saturn energies and people, as well as regressive, controlling, and fear based Saturn forces opposing progressive evolved Piscean forces.

As this is the first time the Sun in Pisces has opposed Saturn in Virgo this Solar transit activates the opposition for a long time to come. I'll write more about this in the future as well, since it's a long wave influence we must learn to maneuver within so we are not caught up in the larger breakdown.

Venus moving out of Capricorn into Aquarius can help us to elevate our likes and dislikes and become more impersonal and dispassionate wherever it transits in our charts. It also can give us more of an Aquarian approach to Taurus and Libra houses and planets, as well as the houses they rule as well. As it approaches Neptune in March, it will trigger the Grand Irrationality, which I'll be writing more on in the Spiritual Astrology articles coming soon.

Mercury is showing us how to prune things back, shaping our expression in ways that demonstrate what we actively care for. Some things must be trimmed, some radically cut, so that in the future productive period what we care for will be allowed to grow unencumbered by overgrowth.

It's now conjuncting Venus, bringing fusion of mind and likes, giving us a great ability to blend ideas with pleasant or agreeable ways of expressing them. This particular conjunction can help us see the beauty of broader points of view integrating many facets of whatever is being perceived.

As Mercury and Venus both move forward through Aquarius, when they conjunct Neptune it will trigger the Grand Irrationality spoken of earlier. So in addition to what was said there, include Gemini and Virgo houses and planets. The good news is that Mercury has already been in this span of Aquarius for awhile, so we've been able to pick up a lot of information about this sector of reality in our lives. Due to the retrograde, we've been able to take multiple looks at our Aquarian areas and so should be familiar with how to see, understand, and coordinate whatever major choices and changes are set into motion when Mercury and Venus both conjunct Neptune in March.

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

---------------oOo--------------- The Pesky Inconjunct and Quincunx

Many people have commented ever since the eclipse about the heightened rage, anger and arguments in the air. Jill wrote asking "Is Aries in Mars or something"? Evidently the political blogosphere had heated up with diatribes and blogroll deletions, and her comment threads had turned into dogfights. I responded to her that Mercury was conjunct Chiron at that time, evoking painful discussions and hurt feelings. The Mary wrote, "There seems to be a madness going on. I'm witnessing so many arguments... on the subway, even at my acupuncturist and personally as well. Maybe people are desperate to get their point across and the violence is one way people are doing that. After it passes I hope we can all learn how to communicate our truth in a better way." So I took another look and noticed the inconjunct to Uranus.

Warning: geeky astrological details ahead: There are all kinds of appellations for the 30 degree and 150 degree angles between planets, but the ones that make the most sense to me are the inconjunct (30 degree) and quincunx (150 degree). Some astrologers call the 30 degree aspect the semisextile and the 150 degree angle the quincunx or inconjunct interchangeably, and some say that the 150 degree angle is only an inconjunct if it is between two fixed signs. Some say that an unaspected planet is inconjunct.

The geometric angles that planets form to each other describe the way the characteristics of those planets work together. Most commonly we talk about the harmonious aspects, where planets work together easily, or challenging aspects which promote crisis and change. In both the 30 degree and 150 degree aspects, or planetary relationships, the planets are in signs that don't understand each other.

For example, Taurus and Gemini are 30 degrees apart. Taurus wants stability and a solid footing; Gemini wants to be able to float like a balloon through a variety of different experiences. These two signs have nothing in common and no basis for communication. Gemini and Scorpio are 150 degrees apart, and Scorpio's intensity and drive for power also has nothing in common with Gemini. There isn't real conflict here that can result in a resolution; there is just irritation and misunderstanding.

(Calling the 30 degree aspect a semisextile implies that it is a weak sextile or harmonious aspect, and this is clearly not the case. However, at 30 degrees the planets are wide of a conjunction and for this reason the appellation "inconjunct" means the most sense to me.)

At the time that Jill was experiencing conflict in the blogosphere, and Mary was encountering arguments, and we had five shootings in one week, not only had we just experienced an intense eclipse with the Mercury/Chiron conjunction in Aquarius, but that conjunction was also inconjunct the Aquarius ruler, Uranus, and frustration and hurt feelings exploded into confrontation with no real resolution.

This is a good lesson to me for my Skywatch articles where I typically don't include the inconjunct or quincunx unless it's between Mars and Uranus where it is much more visible. But the eclipse energy sometimes has a tendency to be burned into our consciousness for days or weeks afterwards, intensifying the experience for many of us.

After Mercury turns direct it will conjunct Chiron again on March 2, again inconjunct Uranus. At that time Mercury and Chiron will be exactly conjunct the degree of the February 6 eclipse which some astrologers might say will bring the return of that intense eclipse energy. I have not found this to be true in the past, so this will be an interesting experiment. Please mark your calendars and send in your reports!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:36 AM :: |

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Friday, February 15, 2008

The Return of Mars Pluto and the second Eclipse

Mars is preparing for its third and final opposition to Pluto where it tends to foment rage and inspire explosions, and one might think the opposition has already happened. School shootings, mall shootings, shootings in the city council - people are clearly under stress. Although the opposition will not be exact until the new moon on March 7, we are clearly in its shadow now.

I've been trying to find the birthdates of these shooters to see if any of them are tied in to the eclipse on February 6, but unfortunately that data is not available.

And I'm seeing lots of explosions from unknown causes in the news as well:

• An explosion at a machine shop in Alberta Canada sent three workers to the hospital;
  
• An explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia killed at least six people;
  
• A huge explosion in a Chinese fireworks factory caused tremors throughout the city;
• Explosions at a scrap yard in Malaysia sent gas tanks flying through the air;
• A south Texas gas pipeline has exploded.

Tensions are clearly high now, and we're heading towards the second in the pair of eclipses which will occur at the Full Moon on February 20. So keep your eyes and ears open!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 3:12 PM :: |

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

What your Valentine wants!

When you're wondering what your Valentine is looking for, don't bother looking at his or her Sun sign. When it comes to relationships it's Mars, Venus and the Moon that rule. Look up your beloved's chart on astro.com and see where these planets fall in their charts and you'll get an idea of what they want for Valentine's Day.

Venus in the birthchart reveals our relationship needs - how we express our affection, and how we would like to be treated by our partner. It also describes our aesthetic preferences and the type of art or furnishings we enjoy for our home.

Venus in water signs tends to desire emotional closeness and connection; in the air signs Venus wants to think and talk about the relationship. In fire signs Venus wants a bolder and more adventurous expression of love, and in earth we see a Venus who enjoys staying home and enjoying the fruits of their labors.

Mars shows our physical energy and drive, and describes the kinds of experiences that we desire. The sign that Mars falls in gives us a clue as to the needs of the sexual drive.

When Mars is in fire signs, there is a need for excitement and pure sexual energy. In air, the brain becomes the major sex organ. Mars in water wants to feel connected and nurtured, and in earth Mars is more sensual and physical.

The Moon is the Inner Child - it identifies the types of emotional experiences we need to be secure and to feel safe. If the Moon isn't fed, the relationship will not go well and feelings will be hurt.

An airy Moon needs to be listened to; in fire the Moon needs adventure and new experiences. Earthy and watery Moons both need to feel secure and safe, but the watery Moon also needs a sense of emotional connection and the earthy Moon needs a more practical and material kind of security.

Unless you have a summer home in your loved one's head (® Jill) it's often hard to know what they really want. Astrology takes away some of the guesswork and makes it easier to understand each other. Happy Valentine's Day!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:29 AM :: |

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hillary Clinton: In the palm of her hand

For you Hillary fans out there (and judging from the comments there are a lot of you!), Leslie Zemenek gives a great look into the palmistry of candidate Hillary Clinton entitled "Will the real Hillary Clinton run for president?" Leslie writes:

Her gifts of insight, empathy, focus and passion are clearly etched in her palm, but she seems unable to integrate her softer side into her public persona. The lack of a clear fate line confirms the difficulty she faces in allowing her true gifts to shine. Like many women in positions of power, she is criticized for being too masculine, but not allowed to be at all feminine. . . .

No one, male or female, should have to contend with the level of vitriol that has been directed at Senator Clinton. As the first serious woman candidate for president, Hillary Clinton has taken on a pioneering role, and with it a heap of psychic and emotional abuse.

Perhaps it is part of her karma to change the way the US looks at strong women. But in order to stop being seen as polarizing, Hillary must integrate her own polarly opposite strengths and allow all of herself to show up on the campaign trail.

read more about the palmistry of Senator Clinton here...

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:57 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Star Guide to Weddings!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, astrosistah April Elliott Kent has come out with her new book! Check it out:

Do you want a "rock star" Leo marriage or an enduring Taurus union? Wedding planning mixes with astrology in Star Guide to Weddings — a cosmic cocktail of marriage insight based on the Sun sign of your wedding day.

You can't choose your Sun sign, but you CAN choose the sign of your marriage! This fun-to-read guide takes you through every sign of the zodiac, describing how each can flavor your new life as a married couple. See how your career, health, children, creative spirit, friends, spiritual beliefs, and the overall "personality" of your marriage can be influenced by the stars.

The perfect gift for engaged couples, this entertaining guide also includes tips for choosing a wedding date along with ideas for celebrating the special day with flowers, colors, and other symbols to honor the astrological energy enriching your union.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:52 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Pluto in Capricorn and the Surveillance State

Let's take a break from the festival of hope I've been championing in these pages, and talk about something much more insidious:

The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.

The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.

Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."

But it's unnerving to privacy experts. "It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project. ...

There remains the question of how reliable these new biometric technologies will be. A 2006 German study looking at facial recognition in a crowded train station found successful matches could be made 60 percent of the time during the day. But when lighting conditions worsened at night, the results shrank to a success rate of 10 to 20 percent. ...

The FBI says it will protect all this personal data and only collect information on criminals and those seeking sensitive jobs.

The ACLU's Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there.

"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."

Perhaps we should all go back and re-read the novel 1984 which first brought the concept of the surveillance state into the minds of Americans. George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1946 and 1947 when Saturn and Pluto were conjunct in Leo. Saturn of course is the ruler of Capricorn which shares many of its characteristics such as, on the negative side, a somewhat ruthless and depersonalized methodology of achieving success. "The ends justify the means" is often said about Capricorn (although that phrase can really be the motto of all of the cardinal signs but that's a story for another day).

Combined with Pluto, the force of Saturn/Capricorn can be a transformative process that breaks down the old order and brings about the dawning of a new day. But there is also a darkness to it that brings an awareness of the dark and secret side of power. It's a frightening reminder that evil and darkness lurk in the corners of every political system, but under Pluto's journey through Capricorn that evil can be vanquished.

We have the power at every moment to change our destiny - together we can alter the destiny of the planet. But we must remain aware and awake, and participate in the process!

Labels: Big Brother, Pluto in Capricorn

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:25 AM :: |

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Monday, February 11, 2008

Predictions for Year of the Rat

There are a lot of things you can learn in the astrological world, but keeping track of basic Western astrology is about as much as I can manage. Still, synchronicity is at work everywhere, and Chinese astrology probably is just as valid so I thought I'd see what kinds of predictions I could find for you, dear readers.

"The rat will become aggressive at the tail end of the year and its underlying water element will cool the stock market," said Vincent Koh, a feng shui master at Singapore Feng Shui Center.

Caution will be the watchword for the Year of the Rat, the new lunar year that begins Thursday, as Chinese fortune tellers predict financial and political rumblings, tsunamis and epidemics in the year ahead. The reason, they say, is that water and earth -- two of the five elements Chinese mystics believe are at the root of all things -- are in conflict in 2008.

[Feng Shui master] Yap says, for 2008, if you are going to be a trend follower and just follow what other people say, don't expect to make any money. You need to use the proper information and be a bit of a contrarian,” he says. He points out that the Rat belongs to the Water group, but is presently in a Wood cycle. Hence, this cycle will be marked significantly by water and wood elements in the first half of the year. The fire element is also present, hence Yap foresees oil prices and commodity prices continuing to soar before tapering off towards the second part of the year.

Feng shui master Raymond Lo says this year will see the earth element sitting atop water, suggesting an outward solidity built on sliding foundations. "The earth on top is Yang earth which symbolises a mountain, and mountain gives a sense of stability and firmness. But such floating earth in the ocean is weak in foundation and the stability appears to be fragile," Lo said.
"This elemental relationship will bring a year which apparently is more stable but there are a lot of underlying tensions and confrontations."

I really like this last description and it makes a lot of sense compared to what we see in Western astrology. Saturn and Pluto are both in Earth signs, but we have Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius which create a mutually foggy reception that undermines the sense of stability. Still, making predictions for a whole year based on one astrological attribute seems risky and ill-defined!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:37 PM :: |

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Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Descent of Britney Spears

Quite a few of you have written asking me to give an update on Britney Spears, which you can find at the National Ledger. Britney is going through some difficult planetary cycles, but they are no more intense than the ones you and I go through on a regular basis. When the identity is not permitted to strengthen, as so often happens with these young stars, they often don't have the werewithal to handle these stressful times which to me is a real tragedy.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:10 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Sunday inspiration for Hope

A new day is dawning...

We have been engulfed by the politics of fear for too long, where 9/11 was used as a way to scare up votes instead of a way to bring us together around a common purpose to defeat a common enemy.

People say, "He's so idealistic, he's so naitve...he's a hopemonger." I've heard this criticism that I'm pedddling false hopes, that I need a reality check. The notion is that if you're realistic you set your sights low, but if you talk about hope you have your head in the clouds, just waiting for things to happen to them . I have to remind people that's not what hope is.

IIt's true I talk about hope a lot. I have to - the odds of me being here are not very high [cheers]. I was raised by a single mom and my two grandparents and they didn't have a lot of money, they didn't have a lot of status. They could give me love, education and hope. But I need to explain that hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not ignorance of the challenges that lie before us.

I know how hard it will be to provide health care to everybody ... to change our energy policy. I know how hard it is to alleviate poverty ... I know how hard it is to lift up our schools. It will involve parents and communities changing their mindset about our children. I've seen good legislation die because good intentions were not enough. They were not fortified by political will or political power.

I've seen how this country's judgment has been clouded by fear and division; how we've been made to be afraid of each other, afraid of immigrants, afraid of gays, afraid of people who don't look like us. I know how hard change is. But I also know this: that nothing in this country has never happened unless someone, somewhere, was willing to hope....

[Hope is] imagining what can be, and then fighting for it. Working for what did not seem possible before. And this is our moment, this is our chance.

Barack Obama, February 9, 2008

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:19 AM :: |

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Friday, February 08, 2008

From the Advice Column: What's wrong with my mom?

I realized I hadn't posted anything from the advice column for quite some time. I'm very interested in the way health issues manifest in the birthchart, and this was a good example.

Q: My mother has been really nervous, lately -- and her jaws are tense. She has generally been in good health -- with the exception of having to take thyroid medicine for the past year -- and once in a while suffering from a migraine headache.

All of a sudden beginning last month every joint in her body aches, and she can no longer get out of the bathtub on her own. She has been to a doctor, and I think she has rhematoid arthritis.

My mother had a very traumatic background when she was young, and things were not easy for her when she was raising us. I think she has tried to soldier on, but I wonder if something from the deep unconscious is trying to get her attention.

A: The timing of your mom's sudden body aches coincides with Saturn's entry into Virgo. Alice has the Sun in Sagittarius which is so lighthearted and optimistic, but her Moon is in Virgo and it conjuncts the Midheaven which heightens the intensity of her emotions and transiting Uranus has been working on her Moon as well as her Midheaven. Uranus transits to the Moon can indeed be quite challenging and create a fair amount of nervous energy, and your mother's chart doesn't have a natural release for that energy. I sense that there is an energy imbalance here and a difficulty in releasing a charge from the emotional body. I started to say releasing emotions, but that's not accurate - she has a grasp on her emotions. This is a more subtle thing that occurs on an energetic level.

Saturn in her chart squares her Moon, and this can be a heavy placement that brings about some heavy emotions, but her Sag ascendant, Mercury and the Sun don't really like those heavy and sad places and tend to want to stay out of there. If she experiences a migraine there is likely an emotion behind it that can't get out.

In September and October, transiting Saturn made a conjunction to Neptune in her chart for the first time, and her Neptune makes a square to her Ascendant so Saturn squared her Ascendant as well. As you may know, Saturn transits cause us to feel blocked and this has likely exacerbates the emotional blocks that reside in her chart anyway and just to intensify the Saturn effect a little more we have transiting Saturn beginning an opposition to your mom's progressed Sun beginning in late September.

Saturn then went on to square Mercury in her chart in mid-October and over the six months Saturn will retrograde over that square to Mercury and pass direct again. I feel that there is a deep memory or emotion that has been buried for many years that is wanting expression. Saturn is pulling her deep within herself and she is resisting. As a strong Sag she isn't comfortable there, but it would be useful for her to see where the emotion will take her. Energy work is certainly advisable for her right now - it might help to clear the blocks from her emotional body so that she can more easily access the memories that lie beneath. Perhaps it's an anniversary of a tragic time or crisis, or something else but I feel there is a deep mourning that is looking to surface.

The transit of Uranus can make it difficult for her to relax enough to access this deeper material. I am a big fan of short-term use of small amounts of medication if that becomes necessary in order to calm the nervous system so that the deeper work can be done.

----------------

I had an opportunity to do a follow-up visioncrafting session with this mother, and found that she was indeed using a glass of wine before bed to help to relax her. But still, she was caught up in old hurts and resentments that made it difficult for her to let go, and her heart and spirit were very contracted. In fact, she wanted desperately to start to let go of old clothes and possession that no longer suited her, but she was afraid to move forward. The arthritis that she was experiencing was the physical manifestation of this inability to move.

We worked together to adjust some of her beliefs to be more expansive and more joyful, and she said she felt better already. I hope this process has continued for her!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:30 PM :: |

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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Pluto in Capricorn: Enough Happiness Already

Capricorn is known for its dour nature and embrace of the difficult, the challenging, and the just plain sad. After all, it is ruled by Saturn whose domain encompasses all of this and worse. So with Pluto having just entered Capricorn perhaps it's no coincidence that this article appeared in the latest Newsweek, declaring:

The plural of anecdote is not data, as scientists will tell you, but consider these snapshots of the emerging happiness debate anyway: Lately, Jerome Wakefield's students have been coming up to him after they break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and not because they want him to recommend a therapist. Wakefield, a professor at New York University, coauthored the 2007 book "The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder," which argues that feeling down after your heart is broken—even so down that you meet the criteria for clinical depression— is normal and even salutary. But students tell him that their parents are pressuring them to seek counseling and other medical intervention—"some Zoloft, dear?"—for their sadness, and the kids want no part of it. "Can you talk to them for me?" they ask Wakefield. Rather than "listening to Prozac," they want to listen to their hearts, not have them chemically silenced.

Mr. Wakefield would find it useful to know that his students are of the Pluto in Scorpio generation, trafficking in the realm of the dark and the intense, but that's another story. For the past thirteen years there has been an ever more relentless pressure to take little purple pills and pills of many other colors in order to "fix" problem emotions. For many people, one antidepressant is not enough and thus we find the tragedy of Heath Ledger who in his panic to alleviate his pain, had no fewer than six separate physician-described psychotropic medications in his system when he died. Perhaps Heath's death was the wakeup call that will help to end this madness.

Not only are we trying to lift our moods, we're also hoping to erase our memories. After the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" proposed surgery to erase bad memories, a new pill (propranol) is being tested for people who suffer with PTSD and hope to eliminate those memories.

Now I'm all for positive thinking, and in fact I teach workshops on it as many as you know. But this is far from the compulsion to avoid mental and emotional discomfort that took hold under Pluto's journey through Sagittarian optimism. Pluto in Capricorn lacks any optimism, preferring reality no matter how depressing or dour, and corresponding with Pluto's entry into Capricorn is a new study (cited in the Newsweek article) that concludes that people who, on a happiness scale of 1 to 10, scored 8s were happier than those who scored 9 or 10.

That probably reflects the fact that people who are somewhat discontent, but not so depressed as to be paralyzed, are more motivated to improve both their own lot (thus driving themselves to acquire more education and seek ever-more-challenging jobs) and the lot of their community (causing them to participate more in civic and political life). In contrast, people at the top of the jolliness charts feel no such urgency. "If you're totally satisfied with your life and with how things are going in the world," says Diener, "you don't feel very motivated to work for change. Be wary when people tell you you should be happier."

Motivation, hard work, success - all good Capricorn traits. "Studies show that when you are in a negative mood, says Diener, "you become more analytical, more critical and more innovative. You need negative emotions, including sadness, to direct your thinking." Abraham Lincoln was not hobbled by his dark moods bordering on depression, and Beethoven composed his later works in a melancholic funk. Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson and other artistic geniuses saw the world through a glass darkly."

So here we see another example of the change of perception brought about by Pluto's shift into a new sign. But let's not go overboard and start celebrating sadness; everything in life needs to occur in balance. But I for one will be glad to see the frenzied need to evaporate difficult feelings become a thing of the past. It's only by going through the normal cycles of emotions that we can heal and evolve.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:52 PM :: |

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Obama, Early and Late Boomers, and Pluto generations

There are two articles in the latest Newsweek magazine that have inspired posts, so you'll get one tomorrow about the end of the happiness craze. Today, though, I am excited about Jonathan Alter's article about the battle between the Early Boomers versus the Late Boomers in the battle between Obama and Clinton.

Jill has been bemoaning just such a battle on her blog, where cohorts from both generation are duking it out over the Democratic candidates. The fact is, the Boomers that get the bad rap about being an admittedly self-indulgent and narcissistic generation are those of us born with Pluto in Leo. The late Boomers, the one Alter describes as "feeling like generational stepchildren . . . as if we arrived late at the '60s party after everything turned bitter."

These Boomers are those born with Pluto in Virgo (after October of 1956), and their generation has been marked by a strong resentment to those who came directly before them. This is no surprise, because Virgo doesn't like Leo much. Where Leo seeks the spotlight and takes center stage, demanding attention and adoration, Virgo is selfless and service-oriented and seeks only to serve others and live a life that is safe and orderly. The sign that Pluto falls in typically doesn't express our individual personality but it does reflect who we are as a generation.

The Leo nature doesn't have much thought for the future - it is anchored in the present and a need for pleasure and fun. Virgo, on the other hand, has a tendency to worry about the adequacy of available funds and planning for the future. Where Virgo is willing to work long hours toward a goal, Leo is more concerned with doing work that will allow the fullest expression of oneself. Where Leo seeks to express the Ego in the most perfect way, Virgo has an intense dislike of Ego expression, and herein lies the deepest difficulty between the two generations.

There are plenty of Boomers who weren't hippies, but that instinct for self-expression and living our own life has been a driving force for nearly everyone born during this time period (except for those with strong concentrations of earth and water signs). And it's no wonder that the Pluto in Virgo generation is resentful of the"entitlement and excess" and the squandering of resources that has been done under the Boomer reign.

The length of a generation shortened significantly during this period. Pluto was in Cancer, for example, nearly 25 years (between 1913 and 1939). Those with Pluto in Cancer sacrificed everything for family and country, both focuses of the Cancer archetype. Pluto was in Leo from 1939 until 1956, only 17 years, and then in Virgo for only 15 years, from 1956 until 1971. Jonathan Alter reports that demographers have concluded that generations are only 10-15 years rather than the 20 years used previously, and this makes sense given the acceleration of Pluto during these years and Pluto was in Sagittarius for only 13 years. (This trend is about to reverse, with Pluto traveling through Capricorn for 16 years. )

Obama's candidacy is reaching across aisles of race and gender; hopefully he can reach across the Pluto/Virgo aisle as well!

Labels: generations, Obama

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:46 PM :: |

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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Molly Hall on the New Moon

My own blurb about the eclipse is buried in my article about Super Tuesday, but here's some wisdom from Molly who coordinates the Astrology pages on About.com:

This new Moon (Exact on the 6th at 10:44 pm EST) has the potential to be an extraordinary one. It's an alignment of five planets in Aquarius (Sun, Moon, Neptune, Chiron and Mercury), a sign of waking up and busting out. It's the global equivalent of one of those 70s-era decorative spheres, lit up with lightning bolts. There's excitement from being on the edge of what's known, and crossing over into unexpected territory. The synapses start firing in new ways, and alter our perception of the world. The new Moon in Aquarius invites us to break out of usual ways of thinking, and make space for the zingy new.

At the same time, we're plodding through earth now, with Pluto's penetrating eye turned to structures and institutions (Capricorn).

Saturn retrograding in Virgo snags us on details, and forces things like steady effort and patience. There's a shift toward seeing things realistically, combined with the Aquarian currents of awakening to new possibilities. Astrowisdom's Lisa Dale Miller sums up the moment this way: "The combination of these planets in Aquarius and Capricorn represent a mind-blowing head-to-head struggle between the energies of Saturn (reality) and Uranus (innovative vision)."

You can't get a much more sobering reality than the state of our planet. From too many fish being plucked from the sea to the very soil being stripped of nutrients from overuse. All the earth planets anchor us in that reality, making flights of fancy less possible. More people are actually living with the effects of the deteriorated environment. On the up side, here's a moment to connect to the great web of life, and envision new possibilities. Changes are happening left and right -- like Ireland's tax on plastic bags -- that reflect this urgent to use our resources wisely.

The planets in Aquarius, and notably Mercury retrograde, open our minds in a different way. An Aquarian collective mindset sees beyond the usual stereotypes and formulas. People speak truths that are true for the whole, and not filtered through the needs of the ego. There's the chance to draw from beyond the known, maybe even talk with E.T. We get a glimpse of how we're connected through thoughts and 'vibes.' Watch for strange phenomenon that demonstrates this -- like thinking of someone right before they call.

To sum up, the cosmos is full of dynamic energy, the momentum for change. And yet, we're more embedded in the density of real life. We're not freefloating in space, cut adrift from the Mothership, which always seemed like it would be a terrifying way to go. We're rooted on Earth, and can use that Aquarian creativity and original thinking in ways that involve tangible effort. The ideal is coming up with utopian visions that turn things around, to dare to create heaven on earth.

New Moons are a fresh start, a time of quiet darkness to commune with your spirit, and all those mysterious guides, spirits and allies that whisper in your ear. In Aquarius, your intimately personal visions are seen as part of the greater whole. Find ways to experiment with changing your life by changing your thoughts. Nurture dreams that send the best of you back out into the world.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 10:34 AM :: |

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Monday, February 04, 2008

Elsa on the Bill to Ban Fat Diners

I can't even believe this is happening:

A state lawmaker wants to ban restaurants from serving food to obese customers — but please, don't be offended.

He says he never even expected his plan to become law.

"I was trying to shed a little light on the number one problem in Mississippi," said Republican Rep. John Read of Gautier, who acknowledges that at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he'd probably have a tough time under his own bill.

More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi are considered it obese, according to a 2007 study by the Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.

The state House Public Health Committee chairman, Democrat Steve Holland of Plantersville, said he is going to "shred" the bill.

"It is too oppressive for government to require a restaurant owner to police another human being from their own indiscretions," Holland said Monday.

The bill had no specifics about how obesity would be defined, or how restaurants were supposed to determine if a customer was obese.

Al Stamps, who owns a restaurant in Jackson, said it is "absurd" for the state to consider telling him which customers he can't serve. He and his wife, Kim, do a bustling lunch business at Cool Al's, which serves big burgers — beef or veggie — and specialty foods like "Sassy Momma Sweet Potato Fries."

Elsa agrees and is thinking of leaving the country:

This topic, the Mississippi Fat Ban has me stunned and mesmerized so I just keep writing. Excellent example of Saturn (restriction) in Virgo (diet) and Pluto in Capricorn (Shadow side of the government).

The bill won't go anywhere, but I believe it's quite possibly a harbinger of what we have to look forward to with the healthcare crisis and the potential repression of Pluto in Capricorn.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:42 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Super Tuesday and the Eclipse

Tomorrow voters in 24 states plus American Samoa will go to the polls to express their opinion about the presidential election. Most of us know by now that we don't really get to vote for our president (maybe this is something Pluto in Capricorn can fix) - we just get to express our opinion and hope that the delegates in our state vote the way the state requests.

This Super Tuesday event falls in the shadow of the upcoming (annular) solar eclipse at the New Moon on February 6 with the Sun and Moon conjunct at 17 degrees Aquarius. The New Moon is part of a stellium (grouping) of Aquarian planets which includes Chiron, Mercury and Neptune as well as the Sun and Moon. Aquarius is associated with invention, technology, originality, and humanitarian goals but can also be emotionally detached and quirky. Venus also makes a sextile (harmonious aspect) to Uranus (ruler of Aquarius) during the New Moon which accelerates the radical revolutionary energy of the time. All of this Uranian/Aquarian energy is perfect for an election which is all about change.

Let's compare the charts of the four major presidential candidates with the eclipse chart. Remember that in the lunar eclipse it is the Moon's light of instinct and emotion that is kept in darkness.

Barack Obama - the Aquarius stellium (including the New Moon and North Node) falls in his seventh house of partnerships and open enemies, suggesting that he will pick up new key endorsements and forge new alliances. The North Node in the eclipse chart opposes Obama's own North Node within 1 degree, suggesting a challenge (opposition) in his ability to perfect his destiny (North Node). Surprisingly, none of the other Aquarius planets oppose Obama's Leo planets except for a separating opposition of Chiron to his Sun which completed back in December. In a hotly contested election it's clear who the open enemies are, and this New Moon is likely to further illuminate this.

Obama is also experiencing the second phase of a transit of Saturn over his natal Pluto which is not part of the eclipse, but an important transit nonetheless. Saturn combined with Pluto can bring great power, but it can also bring important tests of that power. This transit began last fall, and we can see how an increasingly difficult campaign has increased his power rather than lessened it, and I suspect this will continue under the eclipse energy.

Hillary Clinton - The eclipse stellium falls in Mrs. Clinton's ninth house of travel and ideology and exactly squares Venus in her chart. This would seem to indicate that Mrs. Clinton's partnerships (Venus) will be challenged and that she will be forced to make some radical changes in her platform (9th house). Because the 9th house rules the press, she is likely to have some difficulty with media coverage as well. Mrs. Clinton is going through some challenging planetary cycles, but as we've seen they have not slowed her down much. Transiting Mars is stationing on Uranus in her chart where it's been since mid-January, and she has been having trouble controlling her irritation, something which will continue throughout the month. I have rectified Mrs. Clinton's chart to show a Cancer ascendant, and if this is true she is a lunar type that will be more sensitive to eclipses than other mortals. It's hard to predict whether this will create difficulty for her, but there's no doubt that there will be some sort of change in her campaign.

John McCain - Last year I wrote that John McCain would never be president, and now he's surging to the forefront of the Republican campaign. What happened??? McCain is another individual who thrives under adversity, and transiting Saturn has been making a pass over his Sun since last fall, coinciding with his sudden takeoff in the polls. Saturn transits give challenge to some people but its hard work and discipline brings success to those who utilizes those qualities. The eclipse falls in his 5th house of creative self-expression, creating a need for McCain to be more personally involved in the campaign. At the same time, transiting Uranus is passing over Saturn in his chart, opening doorways to new modes of expression. The eclipse goes easy on McCain and creates no challenges for him.

Mitt Romney - We have a new birthtime for Romney which gives him Gemini on the ascendant and puts the eclipse stellium in his 10th house of career and public life. This shows the importance of this eclipse to Romney's life in the public arena and puts the North Node of the eclipse exactly square to Romney's Moon/Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio. Jupiter conjunct the Moon bestows great inner confidence and a sense of grandeur, and the square of the eclipse North Node to this point could show a shift in his destiny and a challenge to that confidence. It's interesting to me that Saturn is transiting the planets of each of the candidates, and for Romney that planet is Mars which shows that his will is blocked now. Romney's planetary cycles are equally positive and negative, so it's difficult to predict how he will survive the campaign.

Our fate is not set in stone, and we can make choices each moment that alter our destiny which makes it impossible to predict the future using planetary trends. Each of these candidates has shown tremendous strength in the face of great challenges, which shows that they are not likely to be destroyed by one eclipse.

Labels: Eclipse, election

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 6:44 AM :: |

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Sunday, February 03, 2008

Online classes coming!

If you're on my mailing list you already know about this, but for you others I'm preparing to begin online classes in March. I'm trying to finalize the times of classes and before I do this I'd like to know if there's anyone else interested other than the people who have already emailed me.

I've found an online classroom that permits you to participate without having to telephone in if you don't want to (you can listen with your computer speakers and ask questions via a chat window), and you can sign up either individually if there are just one or two that you are interested in, or for the whole series. If you don't get in this time don't despair, I'll be offering these on an ongoing basis, probably two cycles a year. I will also record the classes and make them available for purchase.

The first class will be a very basic introduction to astrology and the symbols. Then the three series will begin, with a week in-between to give us all a break. Here is the syllabus which is subject to change:

Beginning .

Understanding the Signs

Understanding the Planets and Luminaries

Analysis of the Houses, including the angles and quadrants

How aspects work

Rulerships and associations, and putting the symbols together

Intermediate

Delineating the chart (chart analysis)

Transits and progressions

Relationships #1 - synastry

Relationships #2 - more on synastry and the composite chart

Life cycles and personal evolution (returns and midlife cycles)

Transformational

Understanding energy flow in the chart

Psychospiritual themes

Working with the gods - using transits for transformation

Nodes of the moon and other karmic placements

Working with the difficult chart: case studies

Classes will be $25/each, or $100 for the series of five. Recordings will be available (hopefully!) for the same price. If you're interested in signing up for any of these classes, please send me an email with your preferred time from these selections, all Eastern time (please convert your time to Eastern!):

1 pm Sunday
7 pm Sunday
9 am Saturday
7 pm weekdays
9 pm weekdays

If you don't get your preferred time during this cycle, you may get it next time around.

And for those of you near Chapel Hill/Carrboro/Pittsboro, I'll be teaching the same series locally at 7 pm on Wednesday evenings. Please email me to be notified when these classes will start.

Thanks and have a great Sunday!

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 12:50 PM :: |

---------------oOo--------------- Superbowl Astrology: Quarterback Chic

This will not be a post to predict who will win the Superbowl, because frankly I know nearly nothing about who is playing or what factors are involved here.

But an article in last week's Fashion section of the New York Times compared the different dating characteristics of Tom Brady and Eli Manning with football heroes from the past Joe Namath and Roger Staubach, that age-old debate between "quarterback chic" and "quarterback geek," the article quotes writer Mark Kriegel as saying. Joe Namath was the first football superstar, dating models and appearing in celebrity gossip columns, just like Tom Brady who famously started dating Gisele Bundchen after breaking up with his pregnant girlfriend.

A look at their charts shows two powerful corrolaries between Tom Brady's chart and that of Joe Namath, but also many differences:

• Tom Brady has the Sun conjunct Saturn square Uranus. Joe Namath has the Sun conjunct Saturn and conjunct Uranus. The combination of these three planets indicates an individual who has low self-esteem as a youth (Sun/Saturn) and rebels against authority (Sun/Uranus), but also a strong drive to succeed (Sun/Saturn) in their own unique way (Sun/Uranus). There is also a lifelong conflict between authority (Saturn) and rebellion (Uranus).
  
• Tom Brady has Moon opposite Pluto in a T-square to Venus (meaning both the Moon and Pluto are in square formation to Venus). Joe Namath has the Moon square to Pluto. Squares, oppositions and sometimes conjunctions are all stressful aspects which suggest conflict between the way the planets operate in the chart. Both men have stressful aspects between the Moon and Pluto, denoting a challenging relationship with their mother (represented by the Moon). The Moon/Pluto combination can reveal problematic relationships with women in a man's chart, often accompanied by power struggles as the power of Pluto battles for supremacy with the emotional Moon.
  
• Both men have Venus in Cancer conjunct Jupiter, suggesting a strong connection to family (Cancer) but also an ability to attract many mates (Jupiter).
  

The two men are very different in nature: we know that Joe Namath has Leo rising which lends a much more flamboyant personality, where Tom Brady's Leo Sun conjuncts Saturn which creates the need to be much more private about his life and unlike Namath, he is not known as a womanizer. Namath's Taurus Moon craves stability despite the drama inherent in the rest of his chart, where Brady's Aries Moon craves independence. Brady's desire to stay out of the spotlight and his hard work and application to his craft suggests that he may have Capricorn or Virgo on the ascendant which would be much more conducive to a long-lasting career rather than a flashy but less-disciplined player.

While Quarterback Chic certainly applied to Joe Namath, it appears that Tom Brady is miscast in this role! He is more likely a Geek in Chic's clothing.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 7:59 AM :: |

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Friday, February 01, 2008

The mysterious case of Societe Generale

Last week the #2 bank in France, Societe Generale, was brought to its symbolic knees after 31 year old trader Jerome Kievel caused a $7 billion dollar loss to the bank by setting up false accounts and transferring over $73 billion dollars in funds. Now the larger banks are circling, smelling blood. Kievel evidently pocketed nothing from these huge transfers of funds, which is even more peculiar.

One of the fears of conspiracy theorists is that a few central banks, and therefore a few "shadowy elite" characters, will control the global economy. Nothing spells Pluto in Capricorn more than a breakdown in the banking system, and the timing of this bank scandal just as Pluto enters Cap for the first time is extremely synchronistic.

Pluto also has a tendency to bring out secrets, and the laxity of oversight in the banking industry is beginning to generate some fear in the French populace and put the bank's liquidity at risk. Kievel has suggested that there is no way he could have conducted such large scale trading without the bank having been aware of it, but as long as he was making money for the bank they turned a blind eye. This has rattled the nerves of all concerned

And so it begins! The journey of Pluto through the Capricornian world.

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 10:23 PM :: |

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

Here's the intro, you can sign up to receive these monthly updates on my website:

As February begins, Mercury has just turned retrograde and Mars has just turned direct, so there is a bit of a feel of moving forwards (Mars direct) while looking back (Mercury retrograde). Mars, which has been retrograde since November, is moving now through the last degrees of Gemini on its way back to Cancer where in March it will make the third and final opposition to Pluto which is now in Capricorn.

Mercury is retrograding back to a conjunction to Neptune that will be exact on the 2nd. The recent failure of the underseas (Neptune) cable that provided internet communications (Mercury) to Asia can be seen as illustrative of Mercury traveling retrograde in conjunction to Neptune. Things can be more confusing, and we may be more eager to embrace illusion (Neptune) as we are forced to go back (Mercury) and re-do some things that have been left unfinished. On the other hand, Neptune inspires our creativity and this is a fantastic time to complete unfinished music or art projects. Our creativity is high, and Mercury Retrograde facilitates the process of going back to perfect what is not yet complete. The effect of the Mercury/Neptune conjunction will last throughout the first week of February and impact the New Moon eclipse as well.

The conjunction of Venus to Jupiter on February 1st will bring a lovely couple of days of harmony and generosity of spirit as the two "benefics" meet. This will soften any difficulty that may arise under the Mercury/Neptune confusion, and is likely to enhance the creative impulses of Neptune as well. Both Venus and Jupiter add grace to whatever planetary dynamic they find, and they are both pleasure-driven so stock up on chocolates and bubble bath!

read more here...

Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:37 AM :: |

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