The American Empire – Symbolism with the Ancient Roman Empire

Posted on June 27, 2021 by ohioastrology

You’ve heard it said before, how the American Empire is like the ancient Roman Empire. And now you’re going to hear it again, with astrology (and numerology) added for spice. This is the history you wanted in high school but were were not allowed because a culture must support a story of that generates positive self-esteem, not ambiguity and complexity. It’s nice to give everyone a sporting chance to be nice, even if historical patterns repeat endlessly.

Finding (at a yard sale) Tacitus’ The Annals of Imperial Rome and then passing a line of cars ostentatiously driving to the Trump rally was clearly symbolic for one who studies patterns. Maybe the Trump supporters had togas in their trunks.

In case you’ve forgotten, the United States is having its Pluto return at 27 degrees next February (and it’s already in orb – i.e., in effect). The Roman Empire began (according to the Encyclopedia Britannica) in 27 BC. The Roman Empire did not have Pluto in Capricorn, but the opposite sign – 27 degrees of Cancer (or a little more or less, not sure exact month of Roman Empire establishment). The Roman Empire’s Pluto was directly opposite that of the United States.

Are you with me yet?

Pluto is the great destroyer and transformer with the goal of evolution. Evolution is a fun word to say but if you, say, were evolving to grow wings and fly in the sky, would it be comfortable? And the thing about Pluto is that it doesn’t give you a choice. You evolve or are destroyed.

Pluto in Capricorn 2007

In late 2007 when Pluto first entered Capricorn, the sign of authority, social consciousness, social structure, achievement and ambition, the global financial system collapsed due to negligence and greed in mortgage-backed securities, a security deemed too stable to fail. It did fail because during Pluto in Sagittarius the bankers gave everyone a mortgage because they could sell the mortgages right away for profit. And unusual mortgage products were added to the mix that only the financially savvy understood.

In the Roman Empire in 33 AD with Pluto in Sagittarius there was a crackdown on corruption which resulted in a financial crisis. As the cause was taken to the senate we learn that:

That body – being implicated to a man – nervously entreated the emperor’s indulgence. It was granted. Eighteen months were allowed in which all private finances had to be brought into line with the law. The result was a shortage of money.

At the loss of money, another measure was implemented to require land sales and purchases which, unfortunately, was ineffective:

The decree requiring land purchases and sales, envisaged as a relief, had the opposite effect since since when the capitalists received payment, they hoarded it to buy land at their convenience.

Sound familiar? If it does because you remember way back to 2008, then you know what happened next:

Then Tiberius came to the rescue. He distributed a hundred million sesterces among specially established banks, for interest-free three-year state loans, against security of double the value in landed property. Credit was thus restored; and gradually private lenders, too, reappeared.

Tiberius, the subject of most of The Annals also tried to curb extravagance, including “gluttonous eating” but chose not to to avoid humiliating “eminent men.” Tacitus explains a page later that extravagance then went out of fashion when during the “Reign of Terror” – which involved excessive persecution – because “distinction meant death.” In today’s language, wealthy folks wanted to stay “under the radar.”

In the United States today there’s a trend to reduce the stuff in one’s life after 30 years of collecting it in big houses.

And the similarities go on and on as the Roman society of oligarchs continually fight for power and prominence. It’s petty and violent, with lots of forced suicides (like, say, Jeffrey Epstein today). In a way it’s difficult to read because the struggles never cease.  If you believe in mass reincarnation, it’s easy to believe these souls came back together to exhibit the same behavior while holding iPhones.

Technology changes steadily. Human psychological evolution, in contrast, is a slow-moving glacier.

Women appear in Tacitus’ Annals as well. Powerful women are generally described as domineering shrews, seducers or the seduced, all reprehensible to our ancient chronicler. While I’m not quite finished with the book, I don’t expect to be surprised here. American cultures does not care for females in high positions of power.

While “history repeats itself” is the familiar cliché, the true issue appears to be a lack of understanding of cycles and only a minority in each culture understanding the complexities of the system. Or as Tacitus says:

Or perhaps not only the seasons but everything else, social history included, moves in cycles. Not, however, that earlier times were better than ours in every way – our own epoch too has produced moral and intellectual achievements for our descendants to copy. And such honorable rivalry with the past is a fine thing.

The American Empire’s Pluto Return

If the American Empire is like the Roman Empire, it could be a 500-year affair. Pluto has a 248-year cycle so that means twice around the sun if the clock starts in 1776.

Pluto in Capricorn means our evolution involves social structure and the roles of authority. The ideals of the United States do support a heighted sense of humanity and equality while not exhibiting that fully in practice. That is our evolutionary challenge. We meet it or Pluto will destroy us.

At the beginning of 2020, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn joined Pluto in Capricorn and we saw great fear and mistrust of all authority, even authority that would benefit us. The fear and mistrust was carried on the back of a pandemic but not caused by it. Executive power in the United States has been increasingly steadily for many decades.

In The Annals, Tacitus clearly does not like Tiberius, yet some of the emperor’s speeches are quite enlightened which Tacitus does sometimes admit. The issue, it appears, is the right message for the wrong reason. Lots of wisdom from the past applied to justify corruption in the present.

This is a good lesson for a country with Pluto in Capricorn about to have a Pluto return.

An emperor’s knowledge cannot be all-embracing, and intrigues against rivals should not interest him. The law is concerned with what has been done. What will be done is unknown. That is why our ancestors ruled that punishment should follow crime. This was wise, and has always been accepted. Do not reverse it. Emperors have enough burdens – and enough power. Strengthen the executive, and you weaken the law. When one can act by law, the use of official authority is a mistake.

Related Blogs:

America’s Material Evolution

The United States’ Pluto Return: Fear Disguised as Mistrust

The United States’ Pluto Return:  Disillusionment and Transformation

Other Related Blogs:

The Financial Crisis, Then and Now: Ancient Rome and 2008 CE

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Dropping Acid and Looking for UFOs with Jupiter in Pisces

Posted on May 22, 2021 by ohioastrology

Ah, finally! The Reagan Revolution is over. The sanctification of greed, material accumulation and earth exploitation is finally winding down after being launched in 1980 with the election of US President Ronald Reagan. The “trickle down” economics he promoted was the Orwellian doublespeak for “trickle up” economics which created the great Feudal-system divergence of wealth and poverty we see today.

Since Neptune entered Pisces in 2011, the sign it rules, drug and alcohol regulations have gradually eroded as a culture focused on productivity and return on investment began suffering the effects of a life lived solely for the accumulation of wealth – depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome and many other newly-named syndromes. Chill pills were developed in the form of pharmaceuticals until recently as we finally accepted that nature has its own substances for chillin’ mankind that need no patent.

It’s rare to go walking now without smelling some marijuana. My college years weren’t even close to the drug consumption that occurs today. But it’s nice to see some focus on relaxation; or as my meditation teacher says, functioning as a human “being” rather than a human “doing.”

And then there is the new craze for psychotropic drugs – regular doses for mind expansion and micro-doses if you still want to be Reagan Revolution productive and rich.

Otherworldly News

In otherworldly news, in case you missed it, the US government decided to admit in early 2020 during the beginning of pandemic fear and isolation that, yes, there are UFOs (which, by the way, is simply saying we don’t identify something, i.e., we aren’t in control). It was generally ignored news so last week the television news show 60 Minutes made sure to remind us.

Cool. We’re finally chillin’, looking to the skies, and wondering about the universe. After 40 years of buying stuff, selling stuff and moving stuff around, it’s a nice change.

Jupiter will only be in Pisces for a couple months before it returns to Aquarius at the end of July so look for UFOs before August when you may be asked to go back indoors to watch Netflix. But don’t worry, in January 2022 Jupiter will go back into Pisces and later in the year join Neptune. At that time, I would expect the US government to drop another UFO news-bomb on us. Maybe they will even tell us that some of the beings walking around the Pentagon are from outer space. With Neptune in Pisces, you never know.

Wait, Pluto is still in Capricorn until 2024

As many have pointed out during the pandemic, illness is not political. This is rational, and correct. However, those that want to control (who often find their way into politics) use “shock and awe” to make power grabs. If you are interested in global politics, China and Russia are making very large strides in this way. The US response is to increase military might. But I’d recommend learning to speak Chinese anyway.

If you’re not interested in global politics, consider that the government telling you suddenly during a pandemic that it was lying and making those that said otherwise objects of humiliation, scorn and ridicule must have a strategic goal. A government that denied a pandemic suddenly releasing UFO information is quite interesting and suspect.

In 2020, several planets (Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars) lined up in Capricorn bringing a collective global response unseen in our earth history. Capricorn is authority itself and it has not relinquished its power. That it “allowed” people to use previously-illegal drugs legally is simply a means to keep people from getting angry and ill while being asked to isolate. Pluto which is about power, control, and transformation (and ultimately evolution) is still in Capricorn.

Remember, in the 1960s the government tried to stop the use of drugs as groups of young adults sat in San Francisco parks and dropped acid. Now the government is promoting the same so there must be a reason.

As the US government and US state governments reduce control of drugs and alcohol, they have been increasing control in many other ways including the recent reduction of more flexible voting options in southern states. Go drop acid and forget to vote is the message.

Lava Lamps

The astrological message is that it’s time to chill but also time to stay vigilant. In a culture that seems to always go to extremes, chillin’ and vigilance may be seen as opposites which can’t be accomplished by one person. As you learn in astrology, it’s all about balance. The more you chill, the more energy you have to be vigilant when needed. Anyone with a house cat knows how this works. I’m sleeping and relaxed, like spilled milk; now I’m jumping ten feet up the wall to catch a fly.

But more importantly, as the use of marijuana and psychotropic drugs increases, I would expect some member of the Pluto/Uranus in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces generation (born during the mid to late 1960s), to re-trend the use of lava lamps (image from Amazon.com). If you don’t know why you need one, find a hippie and ask.

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Amy Carlson: Saturn in Leo Has Won

Posted on May 13, 2021 by ohioastrology

Love Has Won cult leader Amy Carlson was recently found entombed in the cult’s compound. Avid readers know I can’t pass by a cult story, as fascinating as they always are. Avid readers also know that Ohio Astrology acknowledges all cultures as cults, just larger, more dominant ones.

According to this BBC article, the cult has been accused of “brainwashing people and stealing their money.” Welcome to the world, where everyone is trying to sell you something. Humans need physical essentials – food, water and shelter. And modern society creates its own needs – transportation, banking, etc. But so much of what we see today is generally marketing. Everyone wants to create a need in you (real or fake) to then solve.

In the realm of religious belief, much is offered that does not need to be delivered on your back porch like an Amazon package. Much is acquired in life by some with these after-life promises to others. It’s easier in some ways – nothing to deliver in the here-and-now; and more difficult in other ways – you need exert a lot of effort to maintain continual lack and promise. That is why, I always reason, cults go to extremes because day-to-day life can lose luster.

So cults are just small, extreme and noticeable traits that can be found quite prevalently the in everyday life of the culture in which it was established.

Spock voice: But fascinating nonetheless.

Amy Carlson

According to this Wikipedia site, Love Has Won leader Amy Carlson was born November 30, 1975. Sun is in Sagittarius, which is definitely a sign that would go on a spiritual quest. The desire for meaning and to help others is also strong.

Without time of birth we don’t know the rising sign. By planet placement, Carlson lacks the earth element or grounding and care of practical matters. So definitely a dreamer.

Uranus and moon are conjunct in Scorpio for both intense and erratic emotions and constantly-changing obsessions. The erratic emotional states are almost like a separate personality in a horoscope that is otherwise social and nicely connected.

The sun/Mercury/Neptune in Sagittarius is that explorer, visionary. Trine to Jupiter and Saturn could bring both leadership and responsibility. For all of the wackiness we see from the outside in a cult, Carlson most likely took her leadership very, very seriously.

Not knowing how she died (yet), it’s interesting to speculate. There are no harsh transits of Pluto, Saturn and Mars which can indicate cruelty and/or violence. My guess is transiting Uranus in Taurus – an earth sign which she lacks – opposite the natal moon/Uranus conjunction in Scorpio brought on a physical illness that created emotional resistance. Scorpio rules the genitals so possibly she passed away from a female illness such as uterine cancer. Or possibly in square to natal Saturn in Leo, heart issues.

The transit is out of orb, meaning it would have been activated a year or two ago. Possibly that is when the illness began and now is the quiet ending.

In times of pandemic and fear, it’s difficult to ask the question “Is it okay to die?” or “Is there an okay way to die?”

Carlson’s horoscope and transits suggest an emotionally painful end, but not necessarily a physical one. And I wonder if in some way she was okay with it, the other parts of her personality needing a break from the heaviness of her moon/Uranus.

Hopefully prior to passing on, Carlson did find the love she was seeking. Natal Saturn in Leo, which rules the heart, is a placement indicating lack of recognition, need to be seen as special by those around you and a difficulty finding joy in everyday life. Hopefully before she passed she found the love and recognition she needed.

Cult blogs:

New Trends in Cult Leadership: Keith Raniere

Patty Hearst – 45 Years Later

If you want to start a cult, what sign should you be?

Osama bin Laden – Average Student of Genocide

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Jupiter in Pisces – A Wider Ocean

Posted on May 12, 2021 by ohioastrology

OMG! Jupiter is moving into Pisces tomorrow and there’s no blog! It’s late. What will people do without it?

Those are Virgo thoughts, the opposite of Pisces. Jupiter the planet of expansion, generosity and benevolence is moving into the sign of Pisces which is an emotional and empathetic water sign. Pisces is ruled by Neptune which is currently transiting its own sign.

Jupiter and Neptune have some things in common – a generosity, desire to help others, vision, philosophy and wisdom. These two planets also share some bad habits of indulgence and excess. Jupiter tends to run away to less restrictive pastures and Neptune “escapes” in any way escape from the human body exists – drugs, alcohol, fantasy, and media.

Jupiter in Pisces is very happy floating in the unstructured waters of the ocean. You don’t have to plan, plan, plan with this transit. You can float, float, float. Or drift, drift, drift. It feels so nice – why don’t we do it more?

Jupiter will only dip its toe into Pisces for a little over two months then return to Aquarius for more social distancing I’m sure until the Powers-That-Be realize that Digital Happy Hour without surreptitious touching, cheap drinks and slurred, drunken gossip isn’t really “happy.”

In fact, Pisces is the next set of hit-and-run transits: Neptune already from 2012-2025; then Jupiter from 2021-2022 and then Saturn from 2023-2026.

What does that mean?

It means during the Neptune transit we glamorized all things Pisces; in Jupiter we expand on that. And when Saturn arrives we hit the breaks on Pisces seeing its limits.

What have we glamorized?

Moving image, drugs both legal and illegal, alcohol. Mr. Rogers (double Pisces).

Living a life of isolation has never been more enjoyable with these Neptune distractions. Yet, in addition to Happy Hours not being as happy without human interaction, life without emotional and spiritual connection is a great part of addiction as research is discovering. When your life is meaningful (and safe) there is less desire to escape it. The traditional experimental results of the rat choosing the alcohol over water changes when the rat has company in his cage; the traditional experiment has a lonely rat. Bring his rat family and he’s not a natural alcoholic.

For the next couple years, Jupiter and Neptune will continue the expansion of these indoor highs to keep us from experiencing the depression that would result from decreased social interaction.

And of course there’s always the possibility of a transit’s highest order – Jupiter in Pisces is assisting Neptune in Pisces with a harmonious, spiritually-connected life with our fellow men. Often sharing a difficult life experience can make people closer. The news doesn’t support this – it supports the opposite – but Jupiter in Pisces is eternal hope.

And I know from personal experience that people can get along, share a connection even with different mind beliefs. Every time I attend a silent retreat I see that humans can cooperate. And I have something else to share about it: when you do this, you start to love everyone. That’s Jupiter in Pisces too.

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Wagner Family Astrology: Jake Wagner’s Saturn Return

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ohioastrology

Saturn often carries a bad reputation for astrologers because in short it’s not fun. Yet, without Saturn our impermanent lives don’t feel permanent. While we might believe ourselves to be light, airy and spiritually above life on earth, we generally seek permanence which is why we buy houses, get married, have children. If you don’t like a lover cheating on you, you like Saturn. If you want your furniture delivered after you paid for it, you like Saturn. If you want your company to employ you for as long as you need to work there, you like Saturn.

All planets have cycles and for those planets that have cycles within a human lifetime, the completion of the cycle is called “a return.” For Saturn, that “return” happens at age 29, an age in modern life associated with settling down, getting married, having kids, finding that “career” that you will have until your retire. In medieval times, age 29 might have been close the end of a human life.

Saturn is time, limit, boundary, responsibility. Saturn doesn’t kill you; time does.

Last week the youngest of the four Wagner family members on trial for the brutal slaying of eight Rhoden family members in Pike County, Ohio pleaded guilty to all charges. As I watch a lot of Dateline, I wasn’t expecting the guilty plea. Normally having the right to legal counsel seems to be the right (for some) to get away with crime.

Edward “Jake” Wagner appears to have a conscience and according to the news stories, has admitted to five of the eight murders. He’s also offered to give evidence against his mother (Angela), brother (George IV) and father (George III) who were also involved in planning and carrying out the homicides.

Saturn Return

The guilty plea occurred on April 22, 2021 when Jake’s Saturn was almost exactly in return at 12 degrees of Aquarius. Saturn’s current transiting of Aquarius has brought us social distancing. For Jake, it will be a continued lifetime of social distance.

While a guilty plea does not bring back the dead, it does take some sense of responsibility to accept what one has done and to accept dying behind bars at the young age of 29.

Jake and family have a great deal of air in their horoscopes; as blogged yesterday, air more than the other elements has the ability to dissociate. For Jake, with Gemini moon, he might have had the clear sense of feeling like two people. At the time of the slayings, Saturn was transiting Sagittarius opposite this moon; for Jake, this meant the authority was “out there” trying to control him.

Jake has sun conjunct Pluto in Scorpio (the sign it rules). Jake is the controller, not the controlled. The mother of his child was underage during their union which makes him a pedophile as well as a murderer; clearly the girl had issues of her own and was taken advantage of by this older man.

Having studied astrology since childhood, I remember some of the old fashioned descriptions of signs. For Scorpio, it was biting off its own tail rather than acquiescing. That image is appropriate here.

And at the time of the murders in 2016, Pluto was transiting Jake’s Uranus/Neptune conjunction adding more energy to the internal “seek and destroy” message Jake was following. Mars in Cancer also adds to an emotional nature. The air in Jake’s chart could have told him to detach, but probably youth and the preponderance of Pluto/Scorpio overrode that message.

Jake has chosen responsibility and the harsh reality of it. He has embraced Saturn now. It’s a very sad way to learn it.

The Other Wagners

The other son – George IV – also has Saturn in Aquarius. His return occurred in March of 2020 but he appears not to have grasped at responsibility as did his brother.

With Jupiter and moon in Virgo, George IV is “the nervous one.” Sun and Mercury in Libra add to the thinking nature. Both signs are strong in ideals and relationship, but neither is strong in leadership. His mother’s Mars/Pluto conjunction is on his moon indicating that he was constantly trying to please her. She was also constantly nagging and criticizing him. He was never perfect enough.

My guess is George IV followed along with plan and will passively await his fate. And he will probably continue to defend his mother and maybe even sacrifice himself for her.

Angela (mother) and George III (father) are the topic of this blog. Looking at the records, the Georges are named George Washington Wagner. This is a very American story, an 18th century story when you could have shot your enemies and hidden in Alaska as the Wagners tried to do. Today’s world of surveillance means there’s no exile available.

George III and Angela both have a bit of Taurus in the chart. Dad has Venus, Mercury and Saturn in Taurus. With Uranus currently transiting Taurus, I suspect dad is having body issues, possibly including withdrawal from Taurus pleasures. Combined with moon in Libra, he’s probably diabetic. The next five years of Uranus transiting Taurus will be tough. But when Uranus moves into Gemini, physical issues may move from pancreatic to lung.

If mom criticized George IV, she did the opposite with Jake. Her Venus/Neptune conjunct in Scorpio suggests that Jake was the favorite and as can happen with mothers, this son may have become an object of romantic-type affection. Her own Saturn in Taurus suggests lack of physical affection and she may have focused that lack toward this young son.

More to come

It will be interesting to see what the other Wagners do now that the youngest has admitted guilt and paid the price for his actions. It may take the other three a little longer to embrace Saturn.

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Saturn in Aquarius: Idealism, Detachment, Dissociation and Rationalization

Posted on April 24, 2021 by ohioastrology

When you read about the sun sign Aquarius, you’ll often hear about its “detachment.” With Saturn transiting this sign and bringing us “social distancing,” it’s a good time to think about what this means.

The forced “meditation retreat” of 2020 allowed a lot of observation of self and others. For me personally, I came to understand why the Western “mind” (and guns and germs) took over the world. Detachment is part of it.

2020 also helped me understand some nuances of meditation that I didn’t fully understand. Meditation tries to bring you to the present, to remain there during all activities. How does that align with the addict who gives up the future self for a constant present stimulation?

As a meditator, you are trying to observe, to detach from reaction. How does that differ from dissociation, where you remove “self” from unpleasant situations?

Aquarius Idealism

All elements contain three signs; for air those are: Gemini the mutable or flexible one; Libra the cardinal or initiating one; and Aquarius the fixed or steady one.

Air is about idea, socialization, communication, interaction, mental stimulation, pure intelligence. Fixed signs are focused and steady, sometimes obsessed. For Aquarius, it’s fixed focus on ideas and specifically futuristic ones or “how things should be.” How things “should” be comes in two forms: judgment or idealism.

Aquarius takes on the idealistic lens (Capricorn, the earth sign preceding it which is ruled by Saturn tends to take the judgmental route). Saturn, the great taskmaster, is the planet that rules time, limits, rules, law and order. Saturn is judgment and Aquarius is idealism so we have lots of people judging you right now for social behavior that deviates from an ideal, in this case a hygienic ideal.

By the end of Saturn’s transit of Aquarius in spring of 2023, I would expect more idealistic groupings of individuals with equally fervent demands and rules of entry. Aquarius rules brotherhoods and non-family unions which can make them more egalitarian. But sometimes it also brings in the Capricorn/Saturn elements of hierarchy and exclusion.

Aquarius Detachment

The detachment that Aquarius is known for can be seen, I believe, in all air signs. It’s more noticeable in Aquarius because of its fixed nature. Sometimes with your air sign friends, you may feel that they are not there, have gone somewhere in their minds.

Air is creating the ideal situation in the mind. Gemini is connecting the dots, thinking of the possibilities, traveling the world. Libra is focused on relationships, how to be popular, reacting to the environment to form its sense of self. Aquarius is innovating, finding ways to live the idealistic life, separating from an emotional and needy humanity for a breath of freedom.

The detachment of air is what allows it to see the possibilities of life. In this way, there can be opportunism of both the positive and negative kind. Air can see the gaps in others’ thinking and fill those gaps with life activity or consumer products. Air is faster than earth or water so can take advantage of these slower elements and those that live under their influence. Fire is fast but needs air to move. Many an idea is started by air and moved by fire.

The United States has the moon in Aquarius. The moon is the reactive nature; in a nation’s horoscope, the “people.” The people of the United States are idealistic, we have a constitution that is very Aquarius in nature – it honors the individual.

That the United States constitution honored the individual yet some of those that wrote it held men and women in bondage is another quality of air – the ability to dissociate. Detachment allows for possibility. When reaction and response is needed, detachment can re-attach. Dissociation, in contrast, can’t or won’t help put out the raging fire.

Aquarius Dissociation and Rationalization

The Western mind can’t be identified as one particular sign, but I do think it is air in quality. The ability to write a document about freedom while holding people in captivity takes both idealism and dissociation from the horrific pain of others. The ability of these same individuals to attend religious services and then return home to torture others is another example; it’s not extreme, it really happens.

As Saturn entered Aquarius in March 2020, my moon-in-Aquarius country fought over and is still fighting over reality. A global pandemic causes much reaction amongst humans as one day we are going to die and threats to our lives remind of us this. Our fears evacuated our bodies like toxins will in a virulent upheaval. When in fear, all idealism is tossed aside.

One of the responses to this situation was to pretend it didn’t exist. While I’ve seen that reaction before in individuals avoiding problems, I hadn’t realized the prevalence of this type of reaction. It explains everything about how we’ve come to be where we are in the Western world.

The Western mind took over because it has strong ideals, many of them very good for all. But the ability to dissociate allows for an opportunism that removes itself from the pain of others and to avoid the ugly by-products of one’s actions. And when the ugly by-products make themselves known, the mind uses its most effective trick – rationalization – to further dissociate. The mind can create a rationalization – a story – for any situation. That’s its role.

The mind is both an asset and liability and the trick of meditation is to attempt to remove the liability portion as our ability to dissociate and rationalize does not merely affect others; it affects our own well being. But keeping the asset portion brings us the life enhancements the Western world today enjoys and enhancements others would like to share in – indoor running water, constant electricity, consistent food supply, etc.

Saturn in Aquarius

Saturn in Aquarius is contracting, as Saturn does, group ideals and experiences. Saturn in Aquarius is challenging ideals against reality – Saturn is time, the “real” world you wake up to each morning.

The world outside the window is the result of shared beliefs and actions mixed with nature’s patterns. Much of what humans complain about, I believe, stems not from divine interventions but human activity and response. Nature isn’t deemed evil – humans are.

When ideals don’t match reality, you have the sound of words and ink scratches on paper. That’s all. Saturn is asking for the ideal to be real.

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Polishing Your Moon

Posted on April 8, 2021 by ohioastrology

Pulling out the spring jewelry collection, I discovered it was time to polish the silver. “Polish the silver” is something you hear often in British period pieces, done by servants and exclusively with dinnerware. It definitely can be a tedious task, especially with tiny earrings.

“I’m a cheap date,” was my first thought as I pulled out the silver cleaner. Silver is so much cheaper than gold. But silver is my metal in look and feel and I have lots of it due to relatives in Colorado and travels in Mexico. Silver likes me I suppose as much as I like it – it finds me.

In astrology moon is silver. Gold is the sun.

That makes sense both visually and symbolically. The moon looks more like silver, white and changing, as silver does when it tarnishes due to contact with moisture and sulfur in the air. The sun looks more like gold and is always shining and bright, even if we can’t see it behind the clouds. Fly on a commercial jet and you discover it’s always sunny at 30,000 feet.

Moon Polishing

The sun in astrology represents our conscious self, the one we identify with. The “I am” self and “me” of “you did this to me.” It’s the one you dress every morning to look like an executive. It’s the one you take to the party and describe to others “I’m a baseball player.” It’s the one on your resume who worked here, volunteered there, sings in a choir.

The moon in astrology is the reactive self, the one that holds all impressions and can act without the conscious self’s authority or approval. The moon is more evident when one is experiencing stress and forgets to maintain the “resume self.”

Teaching astrology, I ask folks to describe what they do after a stressful day. This is a good way to guess and learn about others’ moon signs.

Because the moon is reactive, it gets “tarnished” in the emotional sense. Like silver, it often needs cleaning. The moon is receptive, a very lovely thing if you are a musician connecting with your band members during a concert. Receptivity to an abusive or disruptive early environment, unfortunately, stays with the moon. The reactions of early childhood are the strongest impressions retained by the moon.

So it’s important to understand your moon and what it “picks up” from daily life and clean it off. The tarnish is not yours.

How does your moon react?

There are four elements – fire, earth, air and water. Moon reactions follow the same energies as sun conscious action. The difference is the trigger from external event; the reaction may be appropriate or a set of responses developed from past events that do not apply.

The moon reactions often have a manipulation to them because the moon “needs.” It’s reactive.

Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) react with passion, energy, anger. Aries fights. Leo looks for recognition. Sagittarius often flees for freedom.

Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) react slowly with practical concerns. Taurus maintains the peace. Virgo rationalizes. Capricorn tries not to “burn bridges.”

Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) react with thoughts. Gemini is best at dissociating. Libra seeks partnership. Aquarius develops its own, internal rules.

Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) reacts with emotion. Cancer cries and can make you cry too. Scorpio obsesses and broods. Pisces becomes what you want it to be.

Is the moon feminine?

The sun and moon are also related to male (sun) and female (moon). This can seem obvious as women menstruate with the cycles of the moon. And the last two thousand years have been dominated by externally-focused males who established femininity as “emotional.”

I would argue the moon is not feminine. I prefer the Chinese concepts of yin and yang which are internal and external respectively. Female organs are internal and male organs are external. I believe this is the root of gathering, which is at peace with the external world and hunting which uses tools (external senses) and tries to conquer “out there.”

We all have the same horoscope – 10 planets, 12 signs.

Both males and females have a sun and moon with active and reactive principles. Menstruation just like respiration or heart beating is involuntary. It’s the moon.

For me, the historical trait of males viewing women as emotional, which I still hear today in the “crazy ex-wife” stories is the externalizing of the moon. It’s also very clearly evident in psychological political war where a group of people, for example, is enslaved, whipped, raped for hundreds of years and then when freed somehow become the “violent” ones. If you look closely, you will see this pattern repeat over and over.

Males are as “emotional” as females they just don’t have the menstruation to prove it. But they do have other hints of this such as violence or other “external” acts of emotion which are rationalized into “conscious” actions. If war is emotional, consider how that balances the scales.

The Universe is Female

According to a Western view of history, Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ahkenaten in 1300s BC established “monotheism” asking his people to worship Aten – the sun – only. Archeological interpretation often stays within the paradigms of one’s own cultural thinking. Ideas of “monotheism” are our own.

I believe Aten was focusing his people toward our true energy source – the sun. Eating food is to eat the sun. The moon does not generate energy, only the sun does.

Associating females with the moon assigns women to an inert body that generates its “light” from the sun. Ahkenaten may have been the first feminist.

There’s only one theory of male dominance that makes sense to me and it’s from Carlos Castaneda. His mentor, Don Juan, explains that the universe is primarily female. The earth is clearly female – it feeds us. We couldn’t live without the sun either.

Male energy, then, is rarer and somehow became privileged.

That makes sense to me. That we look at the earth as an external thing made for our use is imbalance of male and female energy. It’s too focused on yang or external. In a sense, we are raping the earth. But as female energy is the energy of the earth and universe, I expect the earth will eventually win.

As we learned during the pandemic, when humans retreat nature returns. Thoughts of an earth without people does not unsettle me as it does some.

Why should it?

We will all still be in the earth, in the soil. Then we will all be “feminine.”

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Unrequited Love of Authority: Pluto in Capricorn

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ohioastrology

Astrologers are like economists – we have basic principles that occur in unique combinations over time. We analyze those past patterns to make future predictions. And like economists, we sometimes get it right, sometimes wrong – more often a combination of accurate and inaccurate.

The challenge is vision. Both astrologers and economists deal with the inconsistencies of human behavior. How something “should” occur may not happen that way because you find humans do unusual things like prioritize pleasure over need. The underlying elements of prediction may be accurate, but the manifestation looks different than imagined.

In that way, the year 2020 stood out to astrologers who cared to look in advance at that year. Pluto the planet of destruction and transformation began its transit of Capricorn in 2007. Capricorn is social structure and authority and immediately the global economy collapsed due to “Plutocrats” making money off of numbers and bankers and auditors playing along. This type of high finance is not easily understood by the average person who simply works hard and tries to pay his/her bills.

Having lived through 9/11 in 2001 and the housing crisis in 2007, I’ve learned that humans do not heed warnings and probably never will – maybe that’s why for all of the moral instruction religions provide, it never really stops people from killing each other.

The chaos of 2020 was caused by a pandemic, something that is not easily predicted by astrologers or economists. However, astrological predictions of the 2020 lineup in Capricorn probably had many of its elements – societal control, responsibility, caution, and rules.

Foresight

In 2020, the planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn joined Pluto in Capricorn. Mars is where we assert the self and is often associated with aggression and war. Jupiter is where we meet society at school or church and learn to interact with others. Saturn is where we meet authority and personal responsibility and where we learn to be a part of the running of society.

For this astrologer, this 2020 line-up meant a great deal of authoritarianism, which I believe came to pass. While the needs of public health can impinge upon one’s personal freedoms, most countries do not have a clear line of where and when that occurs. We will most likely be discussing this through 2024 when some sort of resolution occurs as Pluto passes into Aquarius.

The digital life arose during Uranus and Neptune’s transits of Capricorn and Aquarius in the mid 1990s through early 2000s. Those born then tend to glamorize (Neptune) technology so its authoritarian implications were not understood. The freedom (Uranus) that technology can provide was exciting but appeared to have lasted only for a Uranus transit through Aquarius (seven years). Quickly the authoritarians discovered the power of daily-life surveillance.

Hindsight

As with most prognostications, it’s easy to look at the present and see evidence of one’s thoughts – that’s the bias of daily life where we see what we expect to see.

The great 2020 hindsight takeaway for me as an astrologer is that there is a great love of authority. Having grown up in the shadow of WWII, I carry the image of the dangerous demagogue. While some of the authoritarian figures that arose and continue to arise with Pluto in Capricorn turn my stomach, I did not understand how appealing to others they would be. What’s more fascinating, even, is that much of this love is unrequited. Many of these authoritarians are quite open and honest about their disdain for others, even those that admire them.

In the 1960s classic I’m Ok – You’re Ok psychiatrist Thomas A. Harris shares that at some point in development, children of all cultures seem to develop a position of I’m not Ok, You’re Ok. This is a state developed in childhood because of the adults around us controlling our world. We retain the emotional responses of childhood in addition to this external parent consciousness. Our “adult” is then contaminated by parent ideas and childhood emotional responses. What we need to develop is the detached adult state which can assimilate the parent and child states and create an “I’m Ok, You’re Ok” state.

“I’m not Ok, You’re Ok,” in the New Age parlance is “giving away your power.”

It’s interesting to read Harris’ description of the reverse of this – the “I’m Ok, You’re Not Ok” person:

The person in the I’m Ok, You’re Not Ok position suffers stroking deprivation. A stroke is only as good as the stroker. And there are no OK people. Therefore there are no OK strokes. Such a person may develop a retinue of “yes men” who praise and stroke him heavily. Yet he knows they are not authentic strokes because he had has set them up himself, in the same way he had to produce his own stroking in the first place. The more they praise him, the more despicable they become, until he finally rejects them all in favor of a new group of yes men.

In recent years, it seems masses of “I’m not Ok, You’re Ok” people elected or found themselves ruled by “I’m Ok, You’re not Ok” leaders. And those leaders will never find the masses ok; they can’t.

2020 Revised

Like a good economist, Ohio Astrology will explain the flaw in 2020 prognostications. In the years leading up to 2020, I imagined an “Authoritarian Armageddon.”  That view externalizes the energy seeing authoritarianism “out there” inflicted upon a helpless humanity.

Today my understanding is deepened and I would say instead that 2020 was a year to understand where and when we give our power to others, specifically authority figures. We collectively create the world and if we don’t like what we see we have to look inside, not outside.

Pluto’s destruction and transformation has occurred externally as well with market collapses and ill people. But the real change that Pluto is forcing is the understanding that giving one’s power to (and blame on) authority is an abdication of personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility means negotiating with a shared world. Cooperation is not relinquishing freedom but assuming adult responsibility for the shared outcomes of social decisions. The United States, which is currently experiencing its Pluto “return” to 27 degrees of Capricorn, appears to be having the most difficulty with this.

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Mike DeWine: The Illness and the Cure

Posted on March 31, 2021 by ohioastrology

Just prior to the pandemic in November 2019, Ohio’s governor Mike DeWine signed a bill that forced upon Ohio gynecologists a non-existent procedure to re-implant ectopic pregnancies. This made international news due to its irrationality:

A bill to ban abortion introduced in the Ohio state legislature requires doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy” into a woman’s uterus – a procedure that does not exist in medical science – or face charges of “abortion murder”.

This is the second time practising obstetricians and gynecologists have tried to tell the Ohio legislators that the idea is currently medically impossible.

Just a few months later as Ohio Astrology’s Governor DeWine ordered Ohio locked down due to coronavirus, I was skeptical, as were others. Was this just another religious/political maneuver? Could I trust a man that just signed a bill mandating an unscientific and deadly procedure?

During the 2020 high season of pandemic and other political and social chaos, DeWine clearly supported his unsupportive and narcissistic co-party president (the 45th). And like many an experienced politico, DeWine clearly supported the 45th president until the insurrection on January 6, 2021 when he was able to distance himself a little — enough for political expediency only. In case his party wondered about his loyalty, on February 7 DeWine declared former president Ronald Reagan’s birthday as “Ronald Reagan Day” in Ohio.

After a year of pandemic, it might have been more meaningful to create a day for historical health care crusaders, the many health care workers who guided us through 2020 or scientists who created the new vaccine. Instead, after a year of illness, unprecedented government action and massive unemployment, DeWine chose to honor a man who kicked people off welfare and removed regulations that allowed unprecedented greed and social economic divergence that continues to this day.

And DeWine continues his acceptance of the 45th president’s support.

Who is Mike DeWine? Is he creating a problem or solving a problem?

Capricorn sun and Gemini Moon

DeWine’s sun in Capricorn (cardinal earth sign) is known for ambition. With Mars conjunct sun, there is competitive ambition, even more ambition than normal for this sign. The best of Capricorn was demonstrated by DeWine during the pandemic – calm, authoritative leadership and clearly-defined goals. Capricorn’s primary motivation is “success” and greatest fear “failure” and the subsequent sense of humiliation.

Capricorn is authority and social structure, known for its serious plodding and planning. It’s not the sign known for lively center-of-attention antics at the cocktail party. Capricorn stays sober because after the party there is a checkbook to balance and a future to plan.

The worst of Capricorn was exhibited by the Capricorn poster boy 38th President Richard Nixon: Calculating ambition, self-centeredness bordering on paranoia, mean streak and lack of respect for others.

DeWine, unlike Nixon, has kept any Capricorn nastiness in check. He’s publicly diplomatic and respectful. More than respectful, DeWine has done a fabulous job of playing both sides of a very unusual political situation. For that you can thank his Gemini moon.

Gemini is the mutable air sign and most mentally agile and socially dexterous of all the signs. Ruled by Mercury, Gemini is highly intelligent. Pure Gemini intelligence combined with Capricorn ambitious shrewdness makes for a fine chess player.

Unlike Capricorn, Gemini does like the cocktail party, socializing, meeting new people and sharing ideas. Gemini likes to talk. Depending on time of birth, Uranus may also be conjunct moon suggesting constantly changing moods and general inconsistency. If DeWine has these traits, he does not demonstrate them overtly.

Neither Capricorn sun nor Gemini moon is strong in feeling tone. Earth signs tend to repress feelings and air tends to dissociate and rationalize feelings. So there is a cool detachment here. DeWine’s Jupiter in Scorpio (fixed water) helps a bit with emotional understanding; however, Scorpio is fixed water, obsessive and when hurt seeks revenge. Capricorn is also known for vengeful acts.

If DeWine wonders why more of his state’s population doesn’t get the vaccine, he may want to review his own actions. It takes some emotional awareness to understand the damage done by promoting junk science in November 2019 and then promoting real science in February 2020. In the real world people have internal, conflicting views; but as a leader, it creates mistrust.

While DeWine has done much to curb the spread of illness in Ohio, he’s also done much to increase the spread of mistrust. He’s the cure and the cause of illness. The reason the Consumer Confidence Index is used as a gauge of economic health is that public attitudes have a great affect on the physical reality of the economy. In this way, confidence in public officials would go a long way to increasing public health and willingness to sacrifice individual need for public good.

By promoting and supporting conflicting beliefs, DeWine with Gemini moon is much like the 45th president (who has Gemini sun) but in a much more subtle way. While the 45th president was bold in his conflicting, non-rational, irrelevant and irreverent views, DeWine appears to be a calm, stable authority figure.

DeWine was born in the Pluto in Leo generation (The Me Generation) and has Saturn conjunct Pluto in this sign. As with the Capricorn sun, this is ambition and with Saturn involved suggests that without ambition and “success,” there is a feeling of unworthiness. Possibly that is why DeWine like others of the Pluto-in-Leo generation won’t retire and pass the torch to the younger generations. That we as a nation hang onto them also says we are not yet willing to truly change.

Playing both sides of the fence works well DeWine who has navigated a long list of public offices. For the people of his state and his country, DeWine’s ability and agility is both productive and destructive. Prior to the pandemic, people mistrusted government. Now they mistrust government, science and everything else. That’s dangerous for a nation as there is no shared reality and no way to communicate.

In 2020, DeWine did a remarkable job of navigating a unique public health situation. He’s also done a remarkable job of appeasing the powers of the political party system that runs counter to his own actions. That takes a lot of intelligence, shrewdness and plain skill – a political chess player.

Through this agility DeWine has also contributed to mistrust of government, science and elected officials. This benefits the enemies of our nation in a myriad of ways who show vigor and creativity in exploiting this culture of mistrust. This is true, lasting damage to the spiritual health of this nation. We don’t know how long it takes to recover from this illness and there is no vaccine.

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Anne Applebaum: Fixed Ideas in a Mutable World

Posted on March 14, 2021 by ohioastrology

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum is one of the many works you can find written since 2016 that analyzes why those in the more free countries on earth are drawn to authoritarian figures. As with many things in earth life, one man’s authoritarian is another’s savior.

And that for me is what underlies all analyses done of this subject – saviors. As earthlings are born, they are generally provided stories of how they and their cultures were created. Most involve a savior in a secular or religious form. Since most saviors are not in sentient form, it’s no surprise to me that we seek a more corporeal form during our time on earth. It’s kind of like preferring currency over bitcoin. Bitcoin may be real, but holding a $50 bill in your hand feels much different.

And like most works on the subject of recent authoritarianism, I enjoy the unique perspective that Applebaum brings. Unlike other works, however, hers focuses on individuals. The running theme, to me, is that her friends were once on the side of freedom but have “changed” and supported authoritarianism.

While I agree with her premise that in changing times people seek simple stories and a nostalgic return to the past (that may or may not have existed), I also see in her narrative a certain aspect of human nature – people seeking identity in the trends that surround them. Philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand is very appealing because she called this out – if a person doesn’t establish his or her own philosophy and value system, he or she will pick up what’s around by default. While values can change during a lifetime, most of us believe in what our cultures taught without a deeper dive into whether we really, truly believe in that cultural interpretation.

While reading Twilight of Democracy I kept feeling that while Applebaum has true, deep concerns about society, she also feels a great deal of sadness in lost friendships.

Anne Applebaum

As expected, Applebaum’s chart has a lot of fixed signs. Astrology has four elements (fire, earth, air and water) and three modes (cardinal, fixed and mutable). The four elements times three modes equal the 12 signs.

Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) initiate action and tend to be bossy. Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) are steady and strong and often become leaders. Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) are flexible and adaptable but not consistent.

An astrological history of United States presidents shows that traditionally we liked fixed signs. Fixed, just as it sounds, can stay the course on whatever motivates it. In earth (Taurus), there is drive to earn and accumulate assets. In fire (Leo), there is fixation on self and expression making this the actor of the zodiac. In water (Scorpio), there is fixation on emotions and intimate relationships. In air (Aquarius), the fixation is on ideas, especially ideas of social order, technology and innovation.

Humans tend to like the consistency of fixed signs – you said you would do this and you did. You showed up. You kept your promise.

Applebaum has five of the ten “planets” in astrology in fixed signs – sun and Mercury in Leo, moon opposite in Aquarius, Jupiter in Taurus and Neptune in Scorpio. The rest of her chart is in mutable signs. So unless she has a cardinal sign rising, that is a missing mode.

Sun opposite moon (when exact is your astronomical full moon) means the active and reactive responses are at odds. Leo is lovers and Aquarius is friends so Applebaum writing about parties and events shows the social side of this aspect. This aspect tends to make friends into lovers then want to return to friendship, which isn’t easy for everyone.

It’s the Aquarius moon, I believe, which is experiencing the disappointment in former friends’ intellectual morphing from proponents of freedom to supporters of polarizing politics. Aquarius is fixed idea so when Applebaum says she believes in something, it’s more firmly established while others may be going with the flow, enjoying the energy of the times or simply having stimulating conversation.

Journalism is astrologically ruled by Mercury (which rules Gemini). By nature, journalism is a short-term seeking of facts. Although we accuse our journalists of fake news, consider if you were, say reporting on the 45th US president, the “fact” might be one day he says “up” and the next day on the same subject he says “down.” The fact is that each statement was made and that they are contradictory.  A “fact” can report someone’s lie.

Gemini and journalism are the messengers. Taking the facts (and non-facts) and making meaning belongs in the realm of the opposite sign – Sagittarius. Gemini is the journalist; Sagittarius the philosopher.

Applebaum has Mars and Venus – the planets of assertiveness and romance/pleasure – in Gemini. She loves the journalist type with agile mind, incessant curiosity and ability to communicate. For her Aquarius moon, Gemini makes a trine and nothing is better than a late-night conversation about a unique subject. The love of foreign and unique people is also a quality of air signs.

Yet air also seeks identity and identity is not solid like body is. And while Applebaum may feel her friends have “changed,” I suspect they feel the same about her with that Mars/Venus aspect. Also, a party is a party. What one says at a party to relate (and seduce) and what one does with her or her vote or money are entirely different motivations.

My own experience of this is that while young we may tend to be more liberal (but not always of course). But as we age and have children (and houses and jobs), we tend to become more conservative because we have people and lifestyles to protect and as we age we naturally become less competitive as energy wanes (but not always of course).

Gemini is the eternal youth and Applebaum has some of that too. Aquarius is idealist and Leo is proud so there is a lot of energy and identity around worldview. With Mars/Venus in Gemini and Uranus/Pluto in Virgo, the intellect is quite strong and detailed. Applebaum may not be seeing past the ideals of her companions and maybe hasn’t understood that some have fixed-sign attachment to ideas and some simply like the outfits (like the revolutionary beret).

Natal Saturn in Pisces indicates that for Applebaum it is difficult to get a true emotional connection to others – it’s just a difficult bridge to cross. Words can convey emotion but are not the emotions themselves.

Transiting Saturn is currently in Aquarius and in 2023 will move into Pisces. In Aquarius, Saturn is conjunct the moon. In Pisces, it will conjunct natal Saturn for the second Saturn return (times of maturity and acceptance of mortality).

These two aspects create additional distance in friendships both intellectual (Aquarius) and emotional (Pisces). Saturn moved into Aquarius just as social distancing began. For Applebaum, the distance occurring now with many friends will mostly likely be permanent. Yet were they ever truly friends?

In April 2023 when Applebaum has her second Saturn return, she will mostly likely understand that those showing up to the barbeque with amusing stories may not be the same ones that show up in hard times with a bowl of soup.

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