Wagner Family Astrology: The Family Cult

Posted on November 2, 2022 by ohioastrology

In late 2021 when the southern Ohio Wagner family matriarch Angela Wagner pleaded guilty to her role in the 2016 slayings of eight Rhoden family members, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued the following statement:

Our society reveres mothers for taking care of their children and teaching them to do the right thing, even when it’s hard. But by actively plotting the murder of an entire family and encouraging her own kids to carry out the violence, Angela Wagner abjectly failed in her responsibilities. I send my thanks to the dedicated special agents, forensic scientists, and intelligence analysts at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation — at least 33 past and present by my office’s count — who have worked this case without ceasing since the start. Their work will continue until each of the perpetrators of these crimes are held accountable.

Prior to Angela Wagner pleading guilty, her youngest of two sons – Edward “Jake” – had already pleaded guilty to five of the eight slayings as well as a number of other charges. Yost’s comments in that instance focused solely on the investigation.

I am incredibly proud of our team at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation whose dedication, perseverance and expertise lead to today’s plea.

The scope of this crime and subsequent investigation surpasses any other in Ohio’s history. The dedicated men and women of BCI rose to the challenge in the pursuit of justice for the victims — and never gave up.

BCI’s work spans countless long nights, weeks and years and will continue until all responsible for these crimes are held accountable.

Motherhood, it seems, has a different standard than fatherhood.  Is it not a bad example of fatherhood to murder your children’s mother and close relatives while sending yourself and grandmother (and possibly grandfather and uncle) to prison?

Yet listening to the witnesses in the trial of the oldest son George IV, why Yost focused parenting comments toward Angela Wagner is a bit clearer. She seems to have set the tone for the family, in the words of others “controlling,” home-schooling her boys and bringing girls to “the farm” when they were young in an apparent effort to loosely arrange marriages in a 19th century clan-type fashion. Neither of her sons when grown wanted to move away from her and farm when asked to by their girlfriends and wives.

Father Wagner’s role (George III) in setting the cult-like tone of the family was less clear until Jake took the stand to explain that dad taught the boys thieving, stealing and scamming. Mom home-schooled the boys and finished subjects they did not care to do while dad-as-Fagin, the exploiter of homeless children in Oliver Twist, inured his boys to a life of small-time criminal activity. Let’s see if Yost has anything to say about fatherhood when the patriarch stands trial.

It’s interesting that Jake did not finish his studies in psychology thinking he wouldn’t need it in life (according to his testimony). Psychology, it seems, was the most important subject he could have taken. And English literature with some Dickens thrown in. A shout out to the liberal arts which help us understand life, reflect on it. Astrology, of course, does that too.

Saturn

Saturn is one of astrology’s traditional “malefics,” a planet bringing bad luck. A broader view indicates Saturn brings contraction, caution, rules, limits and authority. While some astrologers fear Saturn, I try to remind any astrologer who wants to get married and be monogamous that Saturn is involved. Saturn is the discipline and limits that makes marriage, well, marriage. We can argue whether marriage is a natural state for humans in another blog. Saturn’s discipline is needed for any life venture you want to last for an extended period of time.

For Jake and George junior, Saturn was definitely malefic. Both men have Saturn in Aquarius – George at zero degrees, Jake at 12. Saturn is currently transiting Aquarius in its 29-year cycle. Both George and Jake have had Saturn returns, a time considered the first round of life maturity, when we start to “settle down” and get married and leave unfinished, childish goals behind. In the words of astrologer Steven Forrest, Saturn returns are “confrontations with reality.”

The confrontation with maturity for both men has hit very hard. Jake confessed during his Saturn return. George pled not guilty and is currently on trial.

Saturn entered Aquarius in March 2020 when the world went into “lockdown” due to a virus. Aquarius is the fixed air sign governing group expression, group ideals and group activities. Those were the very things limited by Saturn from 2020 to the present. Saturn will move into Pisces next year.

Not every Saturn in Aquarius cycle is so extreme yet Jake and George experienced their own “lockdown.” The lockdown was already a life sentence having begun when young and they were isolated in life and learning. They will continue the path of social isolation.

George’s Saturn is trine to his Libra sun while Jake’s is square. George, we are learning, was the nicest and most approachable member of a difficult family, although still prone to a little violence as we learned from the ex-wife. If the testimony is correct in his trial, he accompanied his brother and father on the fated night but was not able to shoot. His weakness was his strength; Jake’s strength was his weakness as he was able to do most of the homicides.

The Wagner parents both have Saturn in Taurus which is square to Aquarius (both are fixed signs). Taurus is the most literal and possessive of the signs as it rules stuff, property, but ultimately is about values. Those with Saturn in Taurus seem to feel a physical lack regardless of the true material quality of the upbringing. Saturn in Taurus feels there wasn’t enough physical love, touch, food, or money. In response, there can be excessive possessiveness as we see in this situation.

Mercury

The negative image of home-schooling and its lack of “socialization” are evident here. (As an aside, having done a library science practicum studying home schooling and library use, there is a positive side where socialization and the broadening of perspective is a major part of home schooling.)

George has moon in Virgo and Jake moon in Gemini, both ruled by Mercury. There was a great potential for intellectual pursuits, an emotional need for stimulation and social interaction. George with four planets in air and Jupiter and moon in Virgo is someone who thinks a lot, especially about what others think. Virgo is also anxious and gets in the way of itself. When you are in the ice cream shop sampling flavors and the person in front of you can’t decide, it’s probably a Virgo sun or moon. Combined with sun in Libra, George is indecisive at best.

Jake has Mercury in Sagittarius opposite the moon in Gemini. Gemini, an air sign represented by the twins, is known for its ability to compartmentalize, a psychological state needed to commit these heinous crimes. Moon in Gemini can see to be two people, two emotional reactions, some Jekyll and Hyde. Jake certainly did that but ultimately connected with his Pluto/sun conjunction and purged his emotions by confessing to all of his crimes.

Angela Wagner also has placements that suggest a quick mind (Uranus conjunct Mercury in Libra, Mars conjunct Pluto in Virgo) and desire for learning. Her childhood wasn’t examined during the trial so possibly she was cut off socially as well and merely handed down the tradition.

With Mercury, Venus and Saturn conjunct in Taurus, George the Father was more of a literal thinker. Taurus isn’t a fast-moving sign. It’s fair to say with a grand air trine, that he enjoyed the social life around him, although he may have been sleeping in the corner or munching on chips. Taurus is much slower than the air signs so his Venus/Mercury/Saturn in Taurus may not have expressed his Gemini sun/Libra moon pleasure until several days after the event.

Breaking from the cult

With four charts and all of the aspects in and across each, there is much more that can be said about the family relationships in general and possibly about how fear and possessiveness led to murder.

Saturn seems most involved in cutting off the intellectual, social and spiritual lifelines to the outside world which allowed the Wagners’ to stew in their own feelings creating distorted perceptions that led to unrealistic solutions. The intellectual potential for the sons was focused on farm life and also criminal life. Mercury’s negative side is con artistry.

Culture is a “cult.” Culture as opposed to cult ideally provides a guide for living with rituals that allow its members to connect physically, emotionally and spiritually. When we travel, this is what we seek to experience – the differentness of others’ ways of life. Experiencing different cultures allows us to reflect upon our own culture and our own selves while enjoying the stimulation that a new environment provides.

The first rule of a cult is to control the environment so that otherness does not threaten the cult’s purpose. When Jake testified that he felt “he had no choice” but to murder his daughter’s family that was the cult talking. In a bizarre twist of psychology – the stuff of novels – Jake has actually acquired psychological freedom for the first time in his life by being separated from his family, a strategy employed by the law for this very outcome so that as an independent entity he might confess.

Freedom from the cult, unfortunately, came at a tremendous cost to Jake and others.

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Dear Ohio Astrology

Posted on September 18, 2022 by ohioastrology

Dear Ohio Astrology,

All our lives we’ve been told to plan for the future and play by the rules. And now the rules seemed to have changed! Plans are up in smoke, my country is going crazy and I don’t even know if the person sitting next to me is male or female. What the heck is going on?

Sun/Moon in Taurus Society

Dear Sun/Moon in Taurus Society,

You are experiencing a seven-year Uranus transit which upsets the apple cart, so to speak. Uranus in Taurus creates shock waves through all of your finest habits and plans but for the purpose of awareness and enlightenment. Our ancestors provided us wisdom for life but do we really want to wash our clothes on a washboard? Do you want to talk to your friends only at night when a phone rings?

The Taurus suns in your group should be able to shift to new habits and plans. The Taurus moons might have more trouble because moon is where we do things for emotional comfort. For them, it’s probably best to calm them by saying things will return to “normal” as you guide them into understanding that there is no such thing as “normal.”

Uranus is a seven-year transit so when it moves into Gemini in July 2025 your society members should be able to create new habits and plans that last for a while. The world will still be in constant change, as it always is, but the people around will be air and fire energy busy and not paying attention.

Dear Ohio Astrology,

My Gemini cat won’t go to sleep. It started about a month ago. Will he ever go to sleep?

Gemini Cat Owner

Dear Gemini Cat Owner,

Mars entered Gemini about a month ago providing energy to Gemini sun as well as the other air signs (Libra and Aquarius). Unfortunately for you, Mars usually is in a sign for two months but will be in Gemini for seven because it goes retrograde (looks like it goes backwards). When Mars goes retrograde in October your mentally agile, flexible and fun Gemini cat may take a nap. When Mars moves into Cancer in April 2023 the cat may return to regular sleeping habits but will probably be very hungry. If you want an external barometer of Mars in Gemini, the 45th president has sun in Gemini. When he stops talking and sleeps, your cat may as well.

Dear Ohio Astrology,

The other day my boyfriend told me he was studying for an exam but I found him at a pub with another woman. I called my friend to talk to her about it and she said she was at Queen Elizabeth’s wake but then I saw her post her lamb and mint sauce dinner on Facebook. Why is everyone lying?

Jupiter in Pisces

Dear Jupiter in Pisces,

Jupiter in Pisces is a very loving, generous and compassionate placement. You need to remember that not everyone has that in his or her horoscopes. Neptune is in Pisces which gives you even more sensitivity and compassion but also is giving the world excessive media, drink, and drugs to escape the harshness of 3D reality.

The answer to your question is in the question – it’s more difficult to have privacy today than it was in the past. You sound too young to remember the day when you could pretend you weren’t home by not answering your phone. Today that excuse no longer works so you have to pretend that you were abducted by aliens and they took your phone. But you also have to be careful that you don’t leave digital clues during the time of your said abduction. So don’t be a sensitive Jupiter-in-Pisces. Your friends can lie to you or they can say “I have two girlfriends” or “I don’t feel like talking to you right now.” Which would you prefer?

Hey Ohio Astrology,

I don’t believe in this astrology crap. I’m an individual and the government is trying to take away my rights. What do you weirdos have to say about that?

Free Thinking Individual

Dear Free-Thinking Individual,

My first thought is that you have a rebellious Aquarius sun or you wouldn’t write at all. My second thought is that you have been reading Aquarius Ayn Rand.

Ohio Astrology, of course, has a lot to say about this. First, where did you get your ideas of individuality and rights but from the school system? Had you been born elsewhere you might have been taught and believed something else, been presented with a different idea of the afterlife and maybe even be using different eating instruments.

It’s ironic that all species have common characteristics but yet some are taught that humans are individuals with no connections to others of their species. Pluto transiting Capricorn from 2007 to 2023/4 is challenging our notions of authority and sovereignty and how we give our power to authority.

In early 2020, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were also in that sign and the governments of the world acted in sync – a freedom loving Aquarius ought to be scared by that. Saturn entered Aquarius in March 2020 when peoples of the world were told to physically isolate. When Saturn enters Pisces at the beginning of next year we will see the emotional results of that.

Astrology describes the characteristics of the human species. We all have the same horoscope but in different combinations. Like all species we fight. And like all species we can still exist on the same planet.

Dear Ohio Astrology,

The last two years have been really boring. Are we ever going to have fun again without constant worry about disease and death?

Fire and Air Club

Dear Fire and Air Club,

The constant worry about disease and death comes from generations of people who have Pluto and Uranus in Virgo which is obsessive/compulsive by nature.

The transiting planet energies are about to shift beginning in 2023. Pluto will move into air-sign Aquarius. A couple years later Uranus will move into air-sign Gemini and Neptune will move into fire-sign Aries.

The intense earth and water energies of today will “lighten up” into air and fire. It should be more fun for those the extroverts amongst us if we avoid becoming cyborgs in the process (Pluto in Aquarius).

Jupiter is currently transiting Aries so hopefully 2022 has been more fun than the past couple years. The universe is giving us a little break where we can start new things, as Aries likes to do. Aries likes starting things but not finishing them so find an earth sign for your club to create some continuity during the transition of energies.

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Mars in Gemini . . . and Gemini

Posted on September 5, 2022 by ohioastrology

When learning astrology many, many years ago, the universe gave me the gift of a Gemini sun roommate who took me grocery shopping with her. Needing coconut for her recipe, I accompanied her to the baking aisle where she found coconut – both chopped and shredded.

Which one would work best – chopped or shredded?

As she stood pondering, thinking, I realized it would be a while and I continued my own shopping. I wonder if today’s smart phone would have slowed down more or speeded up the thinking process. Gemini is the sign of the twins so providing two options created a back and forth internal conversation.

Gemini was the first sign I started to examine outside of my own – that’s when I can say I “became” an astrologer. It’s common in both spiritual and psychological exploration to start with self and branch out. If we don’t branch out, then we are not able to allow the same understanding and compassion to others we allow ourselves making both counter to their purpose.

During this same period, I had a Gemini sun classmate who used two notebooks – one for notes during class and one for re-noting and interpretation later. Amazing, that’s what astrologer Linda Goodman said about Gemini in Sun Signs – that they have two of everything.

And lastly, there was a Gemini friend who said when looking in the mirror in the morning she never knew who she would find there. Linda Goodman didn’t address this one; it took more maturity in astrology and life to understand this.

One doesn’t need a Gemini sun to experience these things. As a reminder, our horoscopes contain all of the signs – we are all the same! Gemini is the place where we might experience these things, where Gemini falls in the horoscope.

Signs with Duality

There are three signs that have an inherent duality to them – Gemini, Libra and Pisces. Gemini is the twins, who can be different or the same genders. It’s easy, then for Gemini to feel like two people and to be looking for “the other half” or believe the gender they were born into isn’t the gender with which they identify. Gemini is ruled by Mercury which provides its legendary intelligence and mental agility. So for Gemini to “be” one person is difficult and so to the more focused signs of the zodiac (like earth signs or fixed signs) can appear inconsistent.

Libra (the scales) is ruled by Venus and seeks pleasure. Venus gives charm for Libra’s goal of partnership and romantic connection. Libra may not feel like two selves as it more than Gemini is seeking partnership to form identity. Libra can get lost in relationship and not know its true self. As the scales, Libra is also very interested in fairness and justice and may find a home in law.

Lastly is Pisces, the two fish swimming in opposite directions. Traditionally Pisces was the sign of undoing because of these two directions – the fish are swimming in circles which can create a whirling eddy which we sink into. Pisces is the most emotional and empathetic of the zodiac signs which is both a blessing and curse. We all want to be empathetic but truly feeling what others feel can be overwhelming when you consider the volume and range of human emotion. In fact, social media provides this overload and increasingly folks are understanding then need to limit usage. At best Pisces is the mystic; at worst, the scapegoat. During the Age of Pisces we had religious leaders who were both.

Mars in the signs

Mars the planet is commonly associated with maleness – Men are from Mars, Women from Venus. As an aside, had the author met my Aries sun/Leo moon mother, it would have torn apart his entire premise. But there are some seeds of wisdom in it.

The important thing about Mars is that it’s focused in one direction. Not two, not three but one direction. Mars needs a goal, an aim. Consequently, Mars is associated with war and sports where there is a clear winner and clear loser.

So Mars loves to be in Aries, the sign in rules, because Aries does just that – goes on a mission. It can be a soldier in war or a woman with a coupon – same thing. When Mars is placed in signs that want to go in more than one direction, it can cause confusion.

In Gemini, Mars provides contradictory behavior; in Libra, fickleness in relationship; in Pisces, emotional confusion through multiple feelings from one input.

Transiting Mars entered Gemini on August 20, 2022 and will be in Gemini until January 12, 2023. While Mars has a two-year cycle around the sun and usually is in a sign for only two months, it will be in Gemini for seven months because it will go “retrograde” which is the apparent backward motion of a planet due to our distance from it. Often a planet in retrograde will pop into the previous sign, but not in this case.

Mars in Gemini will go back and forth in Gemini like a brush on a washboard. The many aspects of Gemini will be evident which, ultimately, are lessons about how our own minds function.

Gemini and the mind

Gemini is ruled by Mercury. In traditional astrology, this means that Mercury rules the mental processes. Do we think fast like Gemini or slow like Taurus? Do we see all the possibilities of a situation as Gemini does or just one like Aries and Capricorn? Are we focused on left or right brain like Aquarius or Cancer, or are we both like Gemini?

The personality itself is in “the mind.” We are not our personalities which nulls and voids astrology. Astrology represents the range of human thought and how we share the same elements in different proportions. Trying to change others’ thoughts is truly pointless, as we are learning in these turbulent times.

What are we changing but an image of ourselves? No matter what our beliefs, we all get up and eat breakfast.

The inconsistencies we see in Mercury and Gemini are the inconsistencies of the mind. Gemini Ralph Waldo Emerson called consistency the “hobgoblin of little minds.” Geminis remind us that our “consistency” is often just a story we tell ourselves. Let’s explore some of what Gemini reveals in this way.

Gossip and the narrative

Gemini represents the journalist getting the “facts” in situations whereas Gemini’s opposite Sagittarius is looking for the “meaning” behind facts and events.

As such, Gemini is traditionally viewed as the “lower” mind with a love of gossip. Shallow, right?

The gossip we malign is the gossip that has nothing to do with us, where we enjoy others’ suffering for mere entertainment value (i.e., Dateline – I plead guilty). Yet gossip is actually informal communication. Formal and official communication is what we today call the “narrative.”

Politics gives us the best view into the disparities between what people say they are and what they truly do (called hypocrisy). My ultimate favorite of this is from the early 2000’s, a lifetime ago it seems now. Moral crusader (and Leo sun) William Bennett, author of The Moral Compass, was discovered to be a high-stakes gambler.

Gemini – journalism – reveals the hypocrisy. Is this shallow?

Gemini is simply pulling off the mask of its own and others’ experiences. Our masks – our personalities – are precious to us, especially for politicians who are selling the mask.

We laugh at Bennett while others laugh at us, behind our backs of course. They gossip about our own inconsistencies as we laugh at the news.

…

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae monie a blunder free us

An’ foolish notion:

What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,

And ev’n Devotion!

Robert Burns, To a Louse (last stanza)

Con artistry

Gemini was traditionally considered the con artist of the zodiac due to its mental agility and mutable (changeable) nature. Con artists are bad, right?

Check out social media – friends and foes alike – and you’ll find lots of con artistry. Con artistry is about appearances, looking the part. For a magician, it’s about capturing attention in a certain way while moving the body and hands in another way – I think. I don’t know how the magician at the Ohio State Fair performed his tricks but at this age don’t care – I’d rather enjoy the illusion and the fun. A younger self would have wanted to know “how?”

Gemini understands in its dual nature how easy it can be to fool another. While we all like think ourselves above being taken by a swindle, we all have things we want to believe. All it takes for a person with agile mind is to see what that is.

Love swindles are common because that is a common desire – wanting to be loved. In my own exploration of cults I’m quite surprised by how much people will do for another who simply says, “I love you.” Wanting to be loved isn’t a weakness, but to respond to the image of being loved is all too common.

“There are two sides to every lie,” is the tag line of the documentary The Imposter. Lies from others are only effective when we lie to ourselves, when we believe the person asking us to murder loves us.

Connection and disconnection

In the religious and spiritual communities, there’s one huge Gemini duality I see often – the desire to be “above it all” while at the same time “connected to it all.”

The world tosses us both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. For most, there’s a desire to have only pleasant experiences. A small portion, I believe, prefers only unpleasant experiences due to a sense of unworthiness or retribution.

Gemini and the third house of the horoscope that it rules is described by Barbara Hand Clow as “integrating in 3D.” Integration of the Gemini twins – in whatever way we experience this. While at a meditation retreat a couple several years ago now I saw one of my own dualities – the retreat versus “real life.” It was the first time I experienced a retreat where I didn’t feel great disappointment about going back to “real life.”

If we are merely biding time for a better post-3D existence (or a retreat or DisneyWorld), how does that affect our relationships? If we are seeking connection but don’t really want to be here, why would others want to connect with us?

Using spirituality to avoid the unpleasant aspects of life I’ve heard recently referenced as “spiritual bypassing.”  It’s a common first experience in spirituality which is often why the injured or elderly turn toward spirituality.

One thing or two things?

In The Fire From Within by Carlos Castaneda, his mentor describes ancient Toltec discoveries. Amongst five sets of categories (earth/dark regions; fire/water; above/below; loud/silent; moving/stationary), two were discovered to have dual qualities. Fire is both heat and flame; water is both wetness and fluidity. The flame and fluidity are ways to move consciousness. Fire and water are both live-giving and spirit-enhancing.

No wonder both are sacred in indigenous cultures.

Even “one” thing is two things, or more things. Gemini knows this, sees this. So for the person of great fixed energy (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) or great earth energy (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn), the Gemini is difficult to pin down.

Shredded or chopped? Pick one. Let’s go!

But if one object is many things, then what is reality? Gemini in understanding this may manipulate or get lost in it. It can be difficult for the Gemini to come out of what we now call the “multiverse” into the universe (one verse).

Be Like Boy George

In summary, Mars in Gemini will bring us focus on the unfocused world of the mind and Gemini. So we ought to channel our energies into a very lovely Gemini experience – what is called “fun.”

For me, the highest quality of Gemini is having fun with 3D existence. It’s quite common to see our Gemini friends dressed in unusual but fun and stimulating attire. Since 3D is image, why not have fun with it?

A clerical collar is as much an image as a punk Mohawk haircut. Serious, angry, frivolous – all images.

When one chooses the clerical collar, it is for “forever.” Saves on laundry, I suppose. But do our thoughts and feelings stay the same “forever?”

Gemini Boy George is one of the harbingers of the Age of Aquarius and “gender bending” as it was called back then (in today’s more technical parlance “non binary”). His name contains “boy” which suggests immaturity but also fun (Mercury is the eternal youth). But he’s also interested in wearing clothes traditionally assigned to either gender.

What is he? Who is he?

Forty years later, we understand Boy George. He was born “one” gender but is truly a multi-faceted awareness. Gender, bah! Gemini is fast; we caught up.

As he writes on the CD notes for at Worst . . . the best of Boy George and Culture Club (best and worst!):

“People ask if I look back in shame at my Culture Club costumes. ‘Nish dear, they weren’t costumes, I’m absolutely proud.'”

Let’s wear our costumes with pride and fun during Mars in Gemini.

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Social Media Meditation

Posted on August 21, 2022 by ohioastrology

“The thought of your mother is not your mother,” my meditation teacher often says (quoting her own meditation teacher). In meditation one examines one’s thoughts. And thoughts may involve people in one’s life, past experiences, past conversations. So maybe our mother once said something to us that made us upset. By thinking about it, we upset ourselves again (and again and again).

Not responding to one’s own thoughts is the work of a lifetime. Imagine then if we had ten thousand mothers, or one million mothers.

How would we manage those thoughts? Would we ever be able to relax into the moment?

Enter social media with the one million thoughts of others.

There’s a belief that “social” media is social – social is actually the antithesis of social media. Yes, humans are social and want to know what others are doing. Wanting to know what others are doing is not the same as wanting to know what others are thinking. And looking at a screen is not social, it’s mental.

As humans we may want to know that there’s a threat in the environment. But do we need to know each and every thought of the intruder? Do we need to know that the intruder is having thoughts about his mother?

Social media keeps us in our thoughts and reacting to our thoughts in the endless cycle of the mind.

Neptune in Pisces

Neptune is the ruler of Pisces and has been transiting that sign since 2011 and will until 2025/2026. Neptune and Pisces are the least grounded of the planets/signs and represent the dissolving of self. If done under spiritual guidance, it can lead to freedom from self. If done through media, drugs and alcohol it can lead to delusion and escapism. Or one may simply morph into another through relationship which is a more socially-acceptable loss of self.

Most have had the experience of hearing a song and being so moved that we are transformed. We share that song with others who merely shrug their shoulders; it’s a personal experience of transcendence that can’t be planned or shared. That’s Neptune.

Music is Neptune and Pisces. Music is a magical merging.

Social media rose with the transits of Uranus and Neptune through Capricorn (business) and Aquarius (technology) and then Pisces (merging of self to the spirit). Now Neptune is in Pisces giving license to excessive media, promoting it, and creating more and more of it. Combined with the rise of drug, pharmaceutical and alcohol culture, we are not merging with each other but becoming more emotionally disconnected from each other.

Social Media Breaks

As Neptune is in the last few degrees of Pisces there’s rising awareness of the negative effects of following so many thoughts. Next winter Saturn will enter Pisces so we may see more “social media dieting.”

In the BBC article Tom Holland: Spider-Man actor steps back from ‘overwhelming’ social media Holland and other actors explain how excessive social media is affecting their mental health.

In a video posted online, Holland said: “I find Instagram and Twitter to be overstimulating, to be overwhelming.

“I get caught up and I spiral when I read things about me online and ultimately it’s very detrimental to my mental state.

“So I decided to take a step back and delete the app.”

US Magazine has a story listing several celebrities that have taken breaks from social media.

Nick Jonas

In January 2022, the musician revealed that after he “unintentionally” took a break from social media, the time allowed him to “just be present” and it “felt great.”

Awkwafina

The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star shared that she’d be taking a hiatus from Twitter until at least 2024.

“Well, I’ll see you in a few years, Twitter – per my therapist,” she tweeted in February 2022. “To my fans, thank you for continuing to love and support someone who wishes they could be a better person for you. I apologize if I ever fell short, in anything I did. You’re in my heart always.”

What’s fascinating is that a break from social media is news! Social media, then, has become a social mandate and is not “social” in the sense of fun. We have to explain why we are not using it. And we’ve probably all had the experience of someone being hurt because we didn’t respond to a post.

Social media is far from the innocuous pleasure that it’s purported to be, although some may be experiencing that. But it’s also become another area of life to manage in a business-like way.

Social Media Meditation

Understanding the effects of thoughts is part of meditation. Social media has inadvertently forced us to examine what happens when we are constantly distracted from our own lives. In this way, social media has provided an unintended service by showing in extreme what happens when we live vicariously (i.e., in the mind) rather than through our own experiences.

Every now and again I harbor the belief that we are all turning into cyborgs but that I’m old enough that I don’t have to see it come to fruition. But seeing articles about folks distancing themselves from social media gives me hope that the younger generations born with Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn/Aquarius and indoctrinated in the emotionless laws of business and technology will rise above being marketing semi-conductors.

Being famous entails supporting some Neptune – aspiration, glamor, yearning, crazy love. But Neptune like all energies has its place; Neptune reminds us that the spiritual elements of life are as important as the material ones to health and happiness.

We can still see our famous friends at the movies.

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Uranus Body, Mind and Feeling

Posted on July 24, 2022 by ohioastrology

Wonderful description of simplicity: Making the journey through life with just a single suitcase.

                                                                                – Dell cryptogram August 2022 issue

Decluttering has been a trend in American life for several years now. It’s difficult to determine exactly when this trend began – first there were shows about hoarding and then decluttering became a common goal. Uranus has been in Taurus since May 2018, retrograde for a bit after that then direct in Taurus from March 2019 to the present. Taurus is “stuff” including all tangible items, our homes and cars and body itself.

Last week a friend texted about Mars transiting Taurus and the purging phenomenon. Minutes later someone mentioned getting rid of “stuff.”

Only then did it occur to me that the desire to purge stuff from our lives is the first step of clearing energy, first in physical form. After purging and decluttering the external stuff, we may move to the decluttering of internal stuff.

Uranus is the planet representing enlightenment, clarity, and sudden shifts. Generally the shifts are to bring awareness. Lightening is ruled by Uranus as it illuminates a dark sky.

Enlightenment has a positive connotation; however, planetary energies are neither positive nor negative. Awareness of your employees dipping into the cash account is unpleasant to find out but good to know. Spiritual enlightenment is often viewed as “good” until enlightenment reveals our areas of pain and darkness which we prefer to remain unlit.

Uranus in Taurus

Prior to Taurus, Uranus transited Aries, the first sign of the zodiac from 2011 – 2018. Uranus in this cardinal fire sign signified “me” and is best represented by the rise of selfies. But the deeper meaning of Aries is self-dominion and the assertion of fair treatment for self. In Aries, we are at the beginning of an 81-year cycle as Uranus revolves around the zodiac.

Today we’re in Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac and fixed earth. From 2018 – approx. 2025 we are experiencing enlightenment of body and stuff. Most notable, in case you missed it, are supply chain disruptions and discord over what rights human have over their bodies.

Possibly at some spiritual level, the supply chain disruptions that are new to my country are a result of this desire to declutter. Toilet paper and baby formula are not generally the focus of decluttering but may be responding to our energy message of “less.”

Also during supply chain disruption and now high inflation, this American has noticed that to maintain price parity the portions have decreased. Not a bad thing in a country where almost everyone struggles with weight. We want to lose weight but want big houses and cars which sends conflicting energetic messages.

While there is a trend toward decluttering, supply chain disruptions have resulted in some hoarding behavior as well. The decluttering-hoarding pendulum will probably swing until Uranus in Gemini.

Uranus in Gemini

If at the end of Uranus in Taurus we have decluttered our spaces and bodies, we then may be ready to declutter our minds. Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac and mutable air – learning, exploration, movement and social contact are mind food for Gemini.

Decluttering the mind is the goal of meditation but we are still in our technology upswing with the addictive aspects being emphasized to keep minds focused in specific areas. When Uranus is in Gemini, we may ask ourselves, “Are these my thoughts?” Sounds ridiculous but give it a try now.

We’re aware of the effects of junk food in the diet, but haven’t considered what junk information does to the mind. Like junk food, it tastes good, and seems harmless to have a bit here and there. Yet like junk food, junk information is addictive and placed at the “front of the store” in our digital experiences.

Language evolved during Uranus in Aries and Taurus to briefer strings of words and more images. While the Internet may bring up thousand of pages of information on one’s search, often the information is similar if not completely redundant.

Take healthcare information. Search any topic and all of the top hits will have the same information in almost the same language. That is called curation. Media companies develop much of the healthcare “news” and then sell it to the media outlets.

Uranus in Gemini may bring us awareness of the information “supply chain” and the perils of important news and information curated by marketing companies and stored only in digital format. Gemini as a sign is known for its mental dexterity and agility when motivated can become the con artist. That’s certainly with us now, but Uranus in Gemini may bring some desire to declutter sources of information.

Also, Gemini rules the lungs and hands. Experimental medicine of the present may have lung effects that will surface during Uranus in Gemini.

Uranus in Cancer

After Gemini, comes Cancer, the cardinal water sign and fourth sign of the zodiac. Aries through Cancer are the personal planets, concerned with daily, local affairs.

Cancer is family conscious which is the desire to be connected and belong. Associated with mothering, Cancer is about finding one’s true family, one’s tribe which may or may not be the one born into. While these Uranus transits are occurring, Pluto will move into Aquarius so the seeking of true community will be underway both in on an intellectual and emotional level.

If we’ve cleared our bodies and minds, next up is the clearing of emotions. Cancer is nothing if not tenacious and does not forget the emotions of the past, is sentimental. Water signs, like actual water, get stagnant if not in motion.

While it’s common to focus on love as the connecting emotion, anyone who has done emotional work like therapy knows that all emotions create connections (as do thoughts as we might learn with Uranus in Gemini). Clearing our emotions means breaking off the connections that do not promote the inner health and sense of self we developed with Uranus in Aries, Taurus and Gemini.

Forgiveness, then, isn’t something that makes one moral or superior, but a practical action that serves both parties to untie the cords that bind.

Much of the mind junk food we eat then becomes emotions. We know that strong emotion is what is desired by digital media and the emotions will suffer for being stretched like a rubber band constantly.

Decluttering the emotional pipes will allow us to feel and respond to the immediate environment of real people, animals and plants rather than manufactured digital stories which waste our emotional energy. Ruled by the moon, Cancer goes through lots of emotional changes. Those ruled by Cancer make such good actors because they can enjoy the experience of varied emotions.

Cancer rules the stomach so if we don’t declutter our emotions then stomach (solar plexus) issues may increase. Like food, we need to process and digest emotions so they don’t get stuck in the body and create blockages.

Uranus Body, Mind and Feeling

A Qi Gong teacher I once had described the practice as emptying the body, then the mind. If Uranus in Taurus is bringing a desire to empty our physical space of unnecessary items, then maybe it will continue to the mind and then the emotions.

If nothing else, it will reveal how our thoughts and emotions are developed in the energetic “supply chain.”

Related

Uranus in Taurus: What do you really own?

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Dodge, Ram with Jupiter in Aries

Posted on June 29, 2022 by ohioastrology

When the Dodge Ram truck tailed me the other day, I had to accept that the symbolic energy matched the behavior. How could I expect a “dodge” “ram” to drive patiently on a 25-mph road two car lengths behind?

Jupiter the planet of expansion is in Aries, as in “Aries the ram.” Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, a fire sign ruled by Mars and focused on self-assertion. Driving a Dodge Ram while Jupiter is in Aries pretty much guarantees that any car in the lead will be “too slow.”

Mars is also transiting Aries this month (June) which is like an Olympic coach in the passenger seat of the Dodge Ram saying “Push her off the road!”

Normally the earth moves too slowly for me and a bit of fire energy is enjoyable, but during this transit I’ve already had to give up coffee at work and if I could arrange a year-long silent retreat without loss of income, it would save me the grief of my recent impulsive responses. Or I could just start some aggressive activity like boxing. I could tell Jupiter to stop pushing me but that doesn’t usually help with such a gregarious planet.

Jupiter in Aspect

Jupiter will be transiting Aries for a year and will move into Taurus spring 2023. Jupiter in Aries is definitely a battery recharge for anyone with planets in fire signs – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Aries says “I can do that” for self-confidence is the quality of fire and especially Aries. For fire signs, it is a year of “more, more, more.” Sleep can wait until Jupiter moves into Taurus when they can both sleep and eat all of those skipped meals. Don’t try to get your fire signs to “slow down” or “relax” (whatever that means) right now.

For those with planets in cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn – Jupiter in Aries can bring both awareness of relationship issues and open conflict. Open conflict is the style of Aries and, I believe, a gift from an enemy. Your hidden enemies (12th house) do much more damage because they can’t always be identified or drawn into the light. Would you rather sometime slowly poison you with arsenic or look you in the eye and hold up their fists? If you chose the latter, you are fighting a fire sign. They may still win, but at least you had a chance to fight.

Planets in air signs (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) are generally drawn to fire as air and fire are compatible. Fire says “yes” to the idea-generation that comes from air signs who want to do this, and go there and try that new experience. Libra, though, is cardinal as is Aries so they are opposite. Libra likes Aries as much as the other air signs but is more rocked by Aries dominance because Libra is ruled by Venus and looking for relaxing and easy pleasures which sometimes are not adventuresome enough for Aries. Yes, Aries can lie on the couch eating chocolates and relaxing – for a few minutes.

Water and earth are compatible elements and more introverted than fire and air. Water (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) is sensitive and the fire signs can say and do things that later – like five minutes later – they have forgotten about because those things were generated from the excitement of the moment and not some deep-seated, long-held belief. (Air does this too but often doesn’t remember what it said or did as it’s detached and looks forward not backward). Jupiter in Aries for water can create lots of hurt feelings which water holds for a long time (code for “forever”).

Earth (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) is habit-oriented so fire (and air) tends to disrupt all of the carefully laid and thought-out plans that earth has written down or notated somewhere. For fire, earth is not fun because it wants to make sure the house is clean (and the rent paid) before having a party.  In Chinese astrology, fire creates earth so fire pushing earth creates – more earth – which results in stubbornness and withdrawal from earth. Jupiter in Aries is definitely pushy and you can’t “push” earth. Watch the farmers leading the cows at the fair and you will see what I mean.  Earth must be slowly cultivated and since fire doesn’t move slow, it tends to move on.

Using your Jupiter in Aries energy charge

As Jupiter in Aries provides energy to self, find the area of your natal horoscope where Aries resides. Horoscopes are complex, filled with compatible and conflicting energies. But in general, this area of your horoscope is where you can gain the most from this aspect.

First house – assertion of self

Second house – material gain

Third house – learning and teaching

Fourth house – expression of emotion

Fifth house – creativity and romance

Sixth house – health

Seventh house – partnerships

Eighth house – shared resources

Ninth house – intellectual exploration

Tenth house – career

Eleventh house – shared goals

Twelfth house – subconscious

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The Ghost of Margaret Sanger Visits Ohio Astrologer

Posted on June 26, 2022 by ohioastrology

Convinced for quite a while now that American dualistic politics is a malicious ploy by unknown players to divide a people in order to better control them, I’ve reduced my exposure to the manipulations. Yet the universe has other plans, which I learned the night before last after being awoken from deep sleep.

At the foot of my bed was the apparition of a lady in her 30s, long brown hair, a string of pearls around her neck and a flapper-style dress.

Was this my great grandmother who died in 1922? Was this a female spirit from the Roaring 1920s revisiting the Roaring 2020s? Was it a deceased librarian from the Lakewood Public Library haunting me for the 26 cents in overdue fees that I never paid after skipping town in the mid 1980s?

“Singer,” she muttered in that echoing voice that apparitions always have in the Hollywood movies. Saints and spirits always whisper.

What singer was this? Was it a spirit trying to help me learn to carry a tune?

The next day upon waking, I rushed to the New Age store and purchased a Ouija board. Spelling out her name, I learned my spirit was Margaret Sanger, social activist of the early 20th century who promoted birth control as a way for women to have more freedom in life by not being tied to constant child-bearing and child-rearing.

Follow the Taurus

After providing her name, Sanger instructed me to “follow the Taurus.” Taurus, you know, relates to tangible property, body, money, values and self-reliance in these matters. Sanger was born with Neptune, Mars and Pluto in Taurus indicating a time of great material evolution, advancement and also idealization of material accumulation. While no one wants to be a pauper, we in the Consumer Age might not be aware that material accumulation was not always the goal of a life. Sinclair Lewis’ novel Babbitt was written in 1922 satirizing material pursuit over all other pursuit. Taurus both improved life and set it on a course of constant destruction and pillage.

Today’s transit of Uranus in Taurus in compatible aspect to the long transit of Pluto in Capricorn has resulted in intense focus on how Capricorn social structures and government authority affect our Taurus body, property and self-reliance. One hundred years after Babbitt was written, global material abundance is a result of complex and intersecting “supply chains.” Uranus is sending shock waves through that system and results in Uranus “enlightenment” for a culture that is used to always finding toilet paper and peanut butter on the shelves of the grocery stores, 24/7.

Sanger was a radical for her day and in my day I did not learn about her in school. For those willing to dig through the annals of female activism, there are as many women as men. But as Sanger pointed out, women’s responsibility for carrying children can prevent them from having the option to develop in other ways, if desired.

Today’s Missing Virgo

Sanger was a Virgo sun with Mercury and Uranus also in Virgo. Virgo is the sign of service and to be of service one’s ego must be subservient to the cause. Virgo like the other mutable signs (Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces) tends to avoid conflict. Yet Virgo is passionate about its interests which include in health, diet, work life and pets. A Virgo might avoid conflict unless it is fighting for a cause then it will put fire signs to shame with its bold and sometimes reckless courage.

Sanger followed her Virgo sun into a career of nursing and activism. Her Leo moon (fire sign) provided additional courage to her nature. Fire sign moons never back down – they are fighters, even if there is no war (public service announcement).

Today’s astrological energy pattern is lacking in Virgo energy. While there is a great deal of “health” and “wellness” being marketed, much is geared to the profit motive rather than true health which may be more about food and exercise than pharmaceuticals and things that we can buy.

Asking Margaret

Sanger died in 1966 about a year after the legalization of contraception, while Pluto and Uranus were transiting her Virgo sun. She’d done her work; she could move on.

Back to the Ouija Board, I asked Sanger why she came to visit. Was it because we were now stepping back into the 19th century? And like all nostalgia, the reality of life in that century was much harsher than the idyllic Little House on the Prairie television series?

If I understood Sanger’s response, she explained how the Taurus of her day was about improved life and how population was needed to do the manual labor. In the United States today, fewer workers are needed to till the land but the material gain is occurring from the behavior of individuals, not their output. More and more behavior is needed to create wealth which flows to a smaller number of individuals.

The spirit world does wonders, it appears, in seeing the greater patterns of history. And life itself is a Taurus experience as our thoughts, feelings and spiritual connections occur through a body.

Sanger added one more note. If rational discussion doesn’t work as body issues are being debated, she said, women can always stop having sex with men. That would change things.

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J.D. Vance – What Did You Say to Your Mother?

Posted on May 14, 2022 by ohioastrology

Did I see among them, the intelligence and refinement: the true, honest, patriotic heart of America? Here and there, were drops of its blood and life, but they scarcely coloured the stream of desperate adventurers which sets that way for profit and pay. It is the game of these men, and of the profligate organs, to make the strife of politics so fierce and brutal, and so destructive of all self-respect in worthy men, that sensitive and delicate-minded persons shall be kept aloof, and they, and such as they, be left to battle out their selfish views, unchecked. And thus this lowest of all scrambling fights goes on, and they who in other countries would, from their intelligence and station, most aspire to make the laws, do here recoil the farthest from that degradation.

Charles Dickens

American Notes 1842

It’s very common in a brief human life to believe that things have changed drastically during one’s lifetime – and usually for the worse.  As I age and have this feeling often, I try to remember that it’s simply nostalgia talking, that third century Chinese intellectuals had the same feeling. And they didn’t have indoor plumbing let alone hand-held electronic devices.

But then again, maybe it’s true that some things have improved and some have declined, as our earth changes would suggest. It truly is getting worse, from the earth’s perspective if not from my own.

“Change is the only constant,” you hear. But you will also hear “the more things change the more they stay the same.”

What’s changing and what’s staying the same?

As an avid reader of history, I enjoy first-person narratives best for the very reason many don’t – it’s only one perspective. The history we learn in school is the established story which combines fact and myth. One person’s honest view is more real to me than the packaged and rationalized history we learn in textbooks.

From the mid 19th century travelogues of Charles Dickens and Frances Trollope, I’ve learned that American religion and politics have not changed much for 180 years. Or more precisely, the more that American politics changes, the more it stays the same.

But there are things that have changed since Dickens’ and Trollope’s travels to the United States – chewing tobacco is much less common; spitting is very rare; blood pudding is not generally served for any meal; and pigs do not run amok in the streets of Broadway, unless you use the term “pig” as an adjective to describe humans.

Things do always change.

The Storyteller

Speaking of politics staying the same after 180 years, J.D. Vance, author of The Hillbilly Elegy, is running for U.S. Senate from Ohio.

As it happens in the life of an astrologer or “new age” (old term already) practitioner, I coincidentally just read The Hillbilly Elegy having found it on the shelves of the the thrift store (two copies actually). Had I know that Vance would be running for public office, I wouldn’t have thrown it in the resale bag. The fraction of a dollar I probably earned from it could have inflated to . . .who knows what.

While The Hillbilly Elegy is viewed by some as social commentary, I found it a very enjoyable read by a good storyteller. And like good storytellers, certain facts seemed to be missing both to enhance the story and possibly to protect others’ privacy.

In one scene I recollect (but don’t have the book in hand to get the exact details) Vance was in a car with his mother and said something to her he “doesn’t remember” but it caused her to stop the car and yell (or beat?) him upon which he ran far away. It was a big event in his life.

And he doesn’t remember what he said to cause such a severe reaction?

That scene alone brought the astrologer out in me and I took a quick glance at his horoscope then. Oh, he’s a Leo. Good storyteller. So he leaves out a few details, don’t we all? I don’t mind when someone is telling a story. A story is a story.

But now that Vance wants to have a say in my life, I need to know: J.D. Vance – What did you say to your mother?

The Politician

To his credit, Vance does occasionally mention in his elegy that he could be difficult, as children from broken homes often are. As children are still developing, we give leeway and forgiveness for actions committed before maturity.

So why hold back?

As a natural storyteller, it’s easy to say that Vance is already a politician, doesn’t need to become one. Sun in Leo is often in leadership roles due to its confident nature, positive outlook and ability to bounce back from any situation as Vance describes in his autobiography. Add Uranus and Neptune in Sagittarius and we have inspiration and magnetism – charisma as it’s called – as part of his personality.

Vance’s moon and Pluto in Libra indicate an individual very concerned with relationship – always having one – and with Pluto nearby being in control of that relationship. This is another area in his autobiography where Vance treads lightly. In our younger years, love and romance are so important they often eclipse other concerns yet it’s almost completely absent from this book published when Vance was just 32.

In the fall as the election heats up, I suspect we’ll be hearing from some of Vance’s prior Pluto/moon relationships. Vance’s Saturn in Scorpio is square to the sun in Leo while Mars in Scorpio is square Venus in Leo indicating some intense relationships that went from very hot to very cold. No relationship is casual.

Pluto/moon aspects (generally the square but any other) are what I’ve always called the mark of a politician. It’s a need for control and with Vance the negative attention will hit him hard as Libra above all wants to be popular. While he’s buddied-up with the 45th president who likes all attention – good and bad – moon in Libra does not deal well with negative publicity.

Libra is very creative. So regardless of how his political life evolves, Libra will make some beauty out of it now or later. Part two of the elegy can be the Public Years. Libra also wants fairness so it’s possible that in subsequent years Vance will defend fairness or explain how unfairness was inflicted upon him.

Leo, Libra, Scorpio – in order these signs represent the fire, air and water elements. Vance also has two planets in earth – Mercury in Virgo and Jupiter in Capricorn. This is a nice balance for fire and air because it creates some grounding of the inspiration and creativity that comes from those two elements.

Having all four elements is a nice thing – balanced. The challenge of Vance’s horoscope – and we all have challenges – is the squares of Saturn/Sun and Mars/Venus. For those that are driven to succeed in some way, we usually find squares which are a tense energy of someone needling you or rubbing you the wrong way that makes you want to succeed in response.

Squares are different than oppositions of which Vance has none in his chart. Some astrologers might find the lack of oppositions a delight but it also means that you don’t have an open enemy in which you feel the polar opposite – I’m right and they are wrong.  

Oppositions are easier than squares in this way because you see the “enemy” on the other side of the street. With squares the “enemy” is near by and you sometimes like them a lot when they are not driving you mad. Squares are never resolved – the itch, the rub is always there irritating you like a recurring rash.

The political energy

Speaking of a rash that won’t go away, transiting Pluto is in the late degrees of Capricorn making a square aspect to Vance’s natal Pluto. That means the plutocracy that will be guiding and advising Vance will ask him to do some ugly in order to get the beauty – the end justifies the means.

What will he do?

For some he’s already tossed out ideals for political expediency by buddying up to a man he once referred to as an idiot. There’s a square for you. I now need this idiot.

Transiting Neptune in Pisces squares Vance’s natal Neptune in Sagittarius. Another square! In this one, there is the tension of the fight for the mission versus hurting those that are in need. With Vance’s water element under stress from the natal horoscope, the question is how much he responds to his own feeling and the feelings of others in response to the hero quest of saving others and making a fairer world.

Transiting Saturn in Aquarius is opposite Leo, opposite Vance’s Venus. Now this is a group that is openly against Vance – they will feel he’s working for the self (Leo) and not the group (Aquarius). Are the hillbillies going to desert him?

Transiting Jupiter in Aries, which will flip back to Pisces just before the election, provides energy Leo (sun/Mercury) and Sagittarius (Uranus/Neptune). So while Jupiter is direct from now until July Vance will feel the wind at his back but come July he’ll be facing more of a headwind as Jupiter goes retrograde and then back into Pisces at the end of October.

October, in politics, is the month of “surprise.”

J.D. Vance – Washington Hillbilly

While Vance the storyteller proclaimed his love and connection to the “hillbilly” culture in which he was born, politics with the Pluto in Capricorn crowd is much more than jumping out of the hills of Kentucky. Plutocrats are not just individuals who have embraced Capricorn ideals of business and success, who’ve chosen a different line of work than the coalminers or steel workers, but a whole different culture that was always far removed and continues to grow more distant from the common culture of packed lunches, rush hour, balancing the checkbook and housework.

In old Europe there was the landlord in relation to the tenant, the lord and the serf. That the tenant relates to and votes for the landlord is still a great mystery to me and I’m just chalking it up to something in our DNA.

Vance’s image as just a hillbilly with some inner drive (squares) is a nice one in a world of politics that is increasingly for the super wealthy alone. In the fall we’ll have a chance to see what this hillbilly has inside. We may even learn what he said to his mother to make her so angry.

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Shrinking Silver

Posted on May 1, 2022 by ohioastrology

Cotton shrinks, I knew that. As I get older, I’ve come to learn that lots of other materials shrink too. For example, during the pandemic lockdown when my shoes lay dormant the lack of usage appears to have made them shrink — so few fit now.

While some of my shirts shrank a bit, the sleeves of many definitely did, maybe because they are hanging around not being stretched by my elbows.

And most surprising of all is that I never knew silver could shrink. Amazing, but that choker that sort of fit years ago now has shrunken to the point I can’t wear it.

My grandmother warned me when young that when we got older gravity would take over and that’s clearly happening to my body. It’s not much extra weight (honestly) so much as the shift of muscle and bone which are not contracting but expanding.

Saturn is contraction; Jupiter expansion.

Does “contraction” sound bad to you and “expansion” good?

If so, that might be a bias of culture. We all want our money and assets to expand, but how about our bodies? How about that body of water that is moving closer to the walls of the house?

Contraction of muscles allows us to move, even to jump in the air against the force of gravity. Contraction is necessary for expansion, like a spring wound up then released. Contraction and expansion are the yin and yang of the body.

And so it is in society as well.

What is the stock market besides the observing of contracting and expanding cycles?

My astrological advice to you – never reject an energy or it will lob itself at you like a spitball. Dig deep into your desires and you will find your areas of contraction and expansion.

What are the current cycles of contraction and expansion?

Saturn has been in Aquarius, the fixed air sign associated with friendship, group ideals, technology, innovation and rebellion since March 2020. This is a point-in-time that might feel familiar.

Social interaction was definitely contracted at that time and will continue through spring of 2023. As Saturn contracted physical social interaction, Jupiter in Capricorn (combined with Pluto in Capricorn) expanded government and authority reach over the globe. All governments did the same thing at the same time, an earth first. And if the government won’t let you work, then you must rely on it to survive.  This is Capricorn at its worst – fear and control.

In December 2020 Jupiter moved into Aquarius expanding social interaction and also the technology that supports non-physical interaction. Many workers in corporate environments need not return to the physical buildings. While this is seen as a godsend by many, it’s a good time to decide if this is how we want to live forever as Pluto will enter Aquarius in spring 2023 and we may not have a choice about how we want to interact physically as Pluto is the destroyer and transformer. We’re willingly but not consciously walking into a technology point of no return.

Jupiter is now in Pisces meeting up with Neptune in Pisces. As an astrologer friend says, you may not feel like you’re quite in your body right now. The combination of Neptune escape (often through drugs and alcohol), excessive media and reduction in physical interaction, it makes sense that we may start to feel disconnected both physically and spiritually.

Jupiter is moving into Aries – the first sign of the zodiac – in May. Aries is fire, aggressive, and competitive. Jupiter in this sign will light the fires of self assertion. Masses of humans being controlled (contracted) will have its resulting expansion of the need to assert which can include anger and warfare.

Neptune will enter Aries in a couple years and this Jupiter cycle is the harbinger of what is later to be glorified — those who assert and challenge in the forms of warriors, heroes, and champions. These last degrees of Neptune in Pisces will most likely produce some martyrs who will become posters and screen backgrounds on digital devices during Neptune in Aries.

How to avoid silver shrinkage

On the physical level, Saturn is contracting our nervous systems, breathing and circulation. Avoid “shrinkage” in these areas by physical and breathing exercises. Saturn rules bones, teeth, and knees. As with Saturn, these are the structures of the body also going through transformation. Staying home more may mean sitting more for some which affects the knees and the “standing up for oneself.”

In Pisces, Jupiter has been expanding our feet and water in the body. Ruling the kidneys, it’s important to hydrate with good, old-fashioned water. We have lots of liquid choices these days but many add to the problems of the body rather than reduce.

And if you find, like me, that your silver continues to shrink, you can engage in some disciplined Saturn activity to contract those parts of your body where the silver no longer fits.

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Pluto in Aquarius: You Do Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Posted on April 17, 2022 by ohioastrology

Maggie comes fleet foot, face full of black soot

Talkin’ that the heat put plants in the bed, but

Phone’s tapped anyway

Maggie says the many say

They must bust in early May

Orders from the D.A

Look out kid, don’t matter what you did

Walk on your tip toes, don’t tie no bows

Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose

Keep a clean nose, watch the plainclothes

You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

Verse 2 of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues

In 1965 Pluto-in-Leo generation singer Bob Dylan released Subterranean Homesick Blues a paean to a generation of youth focused on Leo self-expression and rejecting the traditional and historical paths of rural and family life. The Pluto-in-Leo generation is better known to non-astrologers as the “Me Generation.”

The Me Generation did not want to be like their parents, to follow in their footsteps to farm, run the family business, or determine at a young age their entire futures. Newly developed radio and television were the forces that fed images of self-expression. Without these two devices, would this incredible change have occurred?

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows evokes the sentiment of Leo, a fire sign. Fire is intuition and trust in the self. To know which way the wind blows, one must have a sense of self, a sense of place and a sense of direction. It’s also a rejection of authority and the belief that we need another to explain that which the body can sense on its own.

Pluto is now at the tail end of Capricorn and soon to move into Aquarius. In spring in 2023, about a year from now, it will make its first, but short, ingress into Aquarius, the sign opposite to Leo.

For the Pluto-in-Leo generation, a weatherman wasn’t needed to know which way the wind blows. Now as Pluto moves into opposite-sign Aquarius, we do need or at least want a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. In fact, we now have apps for that.

Leo-Aquarius Polarity

The six polarities of astrology (six times two equals the 12 signs) are of the same mode but compatible element. Leo is fixed fire and its opposite Aquarius is fixed air.

Leo is “me” and Aquarius is “we.” Fire believes in self. Air, in contrast, is looking outside of itself for completion. Mutable air Gemini is the first air sign represented by the twins. “We” for Gemini is the many aspects of its multifaceted self. How can one person, one job, one house, one  . . . anything satisfy a multifaceted self?

Libra is the cardinal air sign represented by the scales. Its primary goal in life is partnership in all domains from romance to business. It’s rare to find a loner Libra. While we all form identity through perception and reaction to others, for Libra this is a life theme.

Aquarius is the third of the air trine and fixed. It’s looking for community of shared ideals and is quite determine (aka stubborn) about it. The ideals can be religious but generally for Aquarius it’s an intellectual belief of how things “should” be in the perfect society or the perfect anything. Family isn’t a choice and is the domain of Cancer, not Aquarius. Aquarius is friendship, those you choose to be affiliated with.

Head in the clouds

In 1965 we didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Now, half a Pluto cycle later, we rely more and more on technology to tell us what our senses can also perceive.

The rise of technology occurred during Uranus (innovation) and Neptune (glamour) in Aquarius in the 1990s. It was fun! We met folks from across the globe! It was stimulating and mind-expanding – all Aquarius traits. It was pure Aquarius, unsoiled.

As Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2007-2008, technology was embraced by those that like to control the masses and now we are both forced into technology and increasingly dependent upon it. Even if you wanted to be a Luddite, it’s increasingly impossible.

Take GPS for example, an amazing aid to drivers, especially those like this writer who are “directionally-challenged.” That GPS is heavily relied on is no wonder; the shift that is concerning isn’t that GPS aids or that we use it more and more to navigate even close to home.

The subtle shift is not the dependence on GPS but the relinquishing of the desire to even know where one is, to even question the GPS programming. It’s fascinating that a nation that prides itself on freedom is so willing to hand over personal sovereignty to technology.

If I was a conspiracy theorist – and I swear I’m not – I’d also suggest that the GPS model is how all other technological behaviors are modeled. No need to look at our utility bills – just pay them. No need to know when your consumer products need maintenance or refills – we’ll tell you. No need to get up off the chair, just tell me what you need.

And should these behaviors negatively affect your body, simply run in place and wear a tracker that which instruct you on how long you need to run in place to maintain your ideal body weight.

All of our information in “the cloud” is really just another means of consolidating data, which is consolidation of power. There is no “cloud” just larger servers that are now targets for hackers.

Pendulum

Balance (which Libra represents) is the challenge of third dimensional reality. From Leo to Aquarius the Pluto transformation pendulum has swung between the extremes.

The self-expression that Pluto in Leo promoted has not been extinguished. Aquarian technology gave us all a platform (or two) for self-expression. The drug use of the 1960s is now institutionalized in pharmaceuticals. And the self-absorption that fire often expresses became a consumer culture with an amazing amount of waste and negligence of the environment.

Likewise we’ll see both positive and negative aspects of Aquarius. The negative is exhibited by the dereliction of sensation (earth) and intuition (fire) – knowing which way the wind blows – by allowing excessive air function to disassociate from experience. Feeling the wind and understanding the wind speed through an app are two entirely different experiences.

The positive side of course is the convenience technology offers and also the Aquarian ideal to form “a more perfect union” of like-minded individuals. Technology-in-service versus technology-in-takeover is very much an Aquarian struggle.

What is freedom? How do awareness and freedom interact? In this “open book test” lifestyle, do I ever need to hold anything in physical memory? Who will make sure the information is accurate? What if I can’t access it someday?

What happens if the electricity goes out?

Hopefully we’ll still know which way the wind blows.

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