John Kerry, SOS

Posted on December 23, 2012 by ohioastrology

The president has nominated a new Secretary of State (SOS) to replace Hillary Clinton – Senator John Kerry. Sounds like a good job for a man who debated George W. Bush in 2004 and proclaimed that the US should work with other countries to develop and implement foreign policy. That comment did not play well to a psychologically traumatized public (from 9/11) that accepted an almost unilateral US invasion of Iraq.

Now Kerry gets to play with others.

Looking at Kerry’s Astrotheme chart, this Sagittarian sun and way-too-many-planets in Gemini man will love, I mean love, jet setting across the world. What’s more fun for a 7th house full of Gemini than meeting new people everyday? Sagittarius and Gemini will delight in breakfast in one country, lunch on a plane and dinner in a land where you don’t speak the language.

For others, this would be hell. For Sagittarius and Gemini, “routine” is just a word in the dictionary that follows “route” and precedes “rove.”

Kerry appears to be what we call today ADD (attention deficit disorder) but back in his day might have simply been called hyperactive. Kerry’s chart reminds me a little of Newt Gingrich’s chart which is also packed with Sagittarius and Gemini energy.

Both Kerry and Gingrich would do well to become professors.

For Kerry, four planets are in Gemini – Uranus, Mars, moon and Saturn. Kerry’s chart is mostly fire and air with a very little bit of water (Venus in Scorpio) and earth (Mercury in Capricorn).

That Mercury in Capricorn may help Kerry sound like a serious statesman. He may do okay as a statesman, but ultimately Kerry is a philosopher and purveyor of information and ideas. Both Sagittarius and Gemini are mutable (i.e., flexible) signs so the ideas will change over time, as probably ideas should.

That’s nice, but how does that fare in diplomacy?

In this regard I might understand the public’s distaste for Kerry’s lengthy and detailed responses. Studied and informed thought might be great for a professor, but diplomacy really isn’t about education – it’s about politics.

While a man who’s been in office since 1985 should know politics, Sagittarius is a champion of ideals and having to make deals that are real politick and not culturally uplifting may be difficult for Kerry.

Kerry’s chart makes me believe he will like this job more than this job will like him. He may enjoy talking (and talking and talking) but may not be effective in doing more than talking and discussing and understanding the bigger picture.

Kerry will seek to understand each situation in great detail, but others may not care. I bet Kerry is already opening his dusty history books and buying a new atlas. He’s probably memorizing the capitals of foreign countries right now.

The open and blunt Sagittarius may also not care for the current Neptune in Pisces transit (which forms a T-square with Sagittarius and Gemini) which requests he make his information fit into a larger “story” that is being promoted. Kerry wants to raise consciousness more than manipulate consciousness.

Kerry will want information to be presented so the public can understand both friends and enemies and the long cultural history that has brought people to their current mindset and situations. Neptune in Pisces, on the other hand, may request Kerry relegate that information into a fairy tale of witches, and beautiful young girls and poisoned apples.

Kerry will hate this but luckily both Sagittarius and Gemini has this habit of saying what they think so we might get some goodies that the secretive Scorpio sun / Pisces moon Hillary Clinton would relish keeping from others.

For Scorpio, my knowing and you not knowing is a competitive and power advantage. For Kerry, my knowing means I should educate you.

If I were an evil astrologer (I swear I’m not), I’d tell the press to press on Kerry early in the game before he gets taken to the woodshed for slips of the tongue.

If Kerry becomes our SOS, I’m gonna keep my ears tuned. Kerry may be better than WikiLeaks. I’d really love to know what’s going on out there!

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The Day After the End of the World – Reality Awaits

Posted on December 22, 2012 by ohioastrology

Sagittarius truly went out with a bang this year – not only did we have our usual pre-Christmas eating, drinking and shopping celebrations of abundance, we also made grand pronouncements about the world ending.

How does it feel the morning after?

Head hurt? Room spinning?

Wondering how you’re going to pay for that dress you bought impulsively yesterday with your new, super-duper-high interest rate credit card (who’d do that?)?

Welcome to Capricorn!

The sun entered Capricorn yesterday or today, depending on where you live.

Capricorn, like all earth signs, loosely represents a brick falling on your head – the reality check.

So the world didn’t end and you didn’t believe it anyway but today is a little, how shall we say it, anticlimactic?

After the world ends, what do you do? As you look around you see the dishes in the sink and remember that you have to do the same things you did yesterday.

That’s earth.

Capricorn

Capricorn is the cardinal earth sign, represented by a goat climbing rocky mountains to get to the top. Goats eat anything you know so don’t get in the way. Fear those who can digest anything!

Known for its ambition, Capricorn seeks success. Success doesn’t merely exist in those places known for success – businesses; it can exist anywhere. The top of the corporate ladder is just one place to view the world below. Human ventures have structure and therefore ladders. Top of the religious ladder, top of the gang ladder, top of the artistic world ladder – they are all ladders.

Respect is what Capricorn ultimately seeks. Serious is the path to respect.

In the world of structure, earth signs, including Capricorn, have the most drive to accomplish something within the structure. If they don’t, they feel inadequate. Removal from structure makes earth signs feel lost.

Others view work as something that funds the other portions of their lives. Not earth signs. These are the signs most spiritually hurt by unemployment because they have not simply lost their jobs, they have lost their identities. They have lost the reason to “be.”

Capricorn 2012-2013

Capricorn is going to be a little different this year. Not only is the sun in this worldly sign, it’s bringing a friend – Pluto. Pluto will be hanging out in Capricorn for quite a few years. Our serious Januarys will be increasingly serious.

The world hasn’t ended but Pluto in Capricorn may very well end a structure we find near and dear to our hearts – the economy.

During Sagittarius this year we worried about the world ending while the fiscal cliff (cliff and goats – I see a connection here) looms real.

Sagittarius energy isn’t completely gone – Venus entered Sagittarius December 17 where it stays until January 10, 2013 when it enters Capricorn. We’ll still have a little fun during Christmas and New Years.

On January 10, Mercury, Venus, sun and Pluto will all be in Capricorn. Expect major economic news at that time. Saturn continues its two-year transit of Scorpio, a sign that traditionally rules some areas of finance – those in which you have no control – shared money, taxes, insurance (I think) and inheritance.

Capricorn and Scorpio are serious bedfellows. You want to talk about the game last night and they want to talk about how you are going to pay the bills.

Mars will be in Aquarius by then indicating some unusual responses to economic changes. Aquarius is group expression, normally around an intellectual idea more than a practical reality. This transit is only a month long but in the future I’m expecting to see more Aquarian response to economic changes such as sharing in groups, group ownership and equal ownership and equal pay.

Don’t forget that Neptune in Pisces still puts a shellac glaze on the ceramic so make sure you touch, feel and smell your news to make sure it’s real. A picture is worth a thousand words but how many of those words reflect the reality as you experience it? Touch it to see if it feels like earth.

Start Your Own Worldly Venture

Oh, and if you’re thinking that end of the world prophecy shouldn’t be followed by end of the economy prophecy, remember that astrology and Mayan calendars are both about cycles – nothing “ends.”

Pluto is telling us that the current structure doesn’t work. As things collapse, remember all the things you didn’t like about it anyway. A break in structure and routine means you can take that leap into the worldly venture you’ve dreamed about for years.

The rules are changing and earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo) get confused when they don’t know the rules. The other elements (air, water and fire) deal with change more easily and can find those cracks in the structure that lead to new worlds.

This time of changing structure brings to mind an image of Tiwanaku in Bolivia. At the top of the world (altitude around 12,000 feet) a people built a big stone gate.

A gate from where to where?

Image from Wikipedia

tiwanaku

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Death, Taxes and Facebook

Posted on December 16, 2012 by ohioastrology

Benjamin Franklin famously spoke that there were no certainties in life but death and taxes. Two hundred and fifteen years later there is one more certainty – your Facebook profile.

While talking to a friend about a recent fight I had with Facebook privacy settings, he told me of his brother who tried to remove his profile. Guess what folks, your profile isn’t removed it’s made dormant and re-ignited with a simple login.

Facebook is forever.

The interesting thing about the certainties that Franklin spoke of – death and taxes – is that in your horoscope those two seemingly unrelated items are ruled by one house – the 8th house.

The natural ruler of the 8th house – in other words, the sign that represents the playing ground of that area of the horoscope – is Scorpio. This house also rules sex.

What’s the commonality between death, taxes and sex . . . and Facebook?

The 8th house has always been confusing for me so I slept on it for several days and, of course, consulted my favorite astrologers.

My favorite astrologer, Liz Greene, writes of the 8th house in “Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil” that the 8th house is: “primarily a house of crisis and refers to those points in life where the emotional ties to others force a man to the realization of some vital area of his own feeling nature which must be recognized, examined and purified.”

Isabel Hickey in “Astrology: A Cosmic Science” writes it’s the house of “generation (sex), degeneration or regeneration.”

“The Astrologers Handbook” decided to play it safe and confine the 8th house to “joint resources.” Wait, a paragraph later I read that the 8th house “deals with the dissolution of material structures back into energy.”

Oh my.

I used to think Pisces was the most misunderstood sign of the zodiac. Now I’m wondering if it’s Scorpio.

The 8th House

As is my blogging wont, I threw out the idea of Facebook as a compatriot to death and taxes then gave it some thought to see if it jelled. It jelled for me.

Reading about the 8th house I think this is what all these intense, disparate ideas are leading to – in the 8th house we give up a part of ourselves.

While the 7th house is partnership, it is Libra partnership, Libra being an air sign. When you get to the depth of your air signs you find ideas, not emotions.

Seventh house partnership brings us into the reflection of ourselves so that we can see ourselves. Romance is makes us feel good and brings out the best in our selves.

The 7th house is the kindergarten love who offers to sharpen your pencils. It is the friend you call to see a movie. It is the muse who inspires your poetry. It is the drinking buddy.

The 8th house is where “the other” penetrates you, enters both your body and energy. When people enter you, they sometimes leave with some of your energy and you feel different, sometimes good and sometimes bad and sometimes in between.

In sex, there is the penetrator and the penetrated, in many variations between male and female, the most organic that of male penetrating female.

Sex is way different than holding hands at the movies. Sex changes you.

Sex can produce a baby and if you are female, another life feeds on your life before entering the world. Women physically give up a part of themselves to produce a baby.

That is why rape is so destructive to the soul – someone has literally come inside and taken your energy, energy you haven’t willingly shared.

Prostitution, then, is selling your energy to many, which is highly destructive to your energetic being. It’s a sad state for a human to be reduced to selling his/her fundamental energy source.

Pluto rules Scorpio and when Pluto is involved in your interaction with others there is some sense of intrusion or violation. Pluto doesn’t knock first.

Sex is the most intense of this experience but don’t forget taxes.

Taxes are the part of your hard work you give away. Not too far in the distant past, most of us worked the land. Imaging cultivating the land, planting the seeds and reaping the harvest only to – give some of that away to a king, queen or governmental being in some distant place.

The 8th house also rules inheritance – this is when the money comes to you through someone’s loss of life.

In Hamlet we hear, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”

You lend, you lose something.

Facebook

Is Facebook really so intense, you might now be asking?

Yes, I argue. I willingly entered my personal profile on Facebook and no longer “own” it. A part of my virtual being has been given away, just like energy given through sex.

Facebook also constantly and consistently changes my privacy settings so that others can intrude upon my virtual self. Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has Pluto, Saturn, moon and Mars in Scorpio.

Zuckerberg not only invades, he probably has been invaded. I’m guessing the man who changes the privacy rules for us has a fortress around his own personal and intellectual property. Those invaded learn to have better defenses.

Regeneration

Lastly, the 8th house rules “regeneration.” This is the other side of Scorpio, which is also represented by the Phoenix which rises from the ashes.

Life will feed on us (as we feed on it) so we do give away parts ourselves everyday. Regeneration is the reclamation of that energy.

In the Carlos Castaneda books, there is constant reference to a purported ancient Mesoamerican practice called a “recapitulation,” where one reviews one’s life in an energetic, not psychological way. In revisiting encounters with others, a sweeping breath is meant to both return energy we took from others and in turn take back lost energy.

It’s a reconciling of the energetic checkbook.

I’m still in awe of two year olds who are seen as “terrible” (as in “Terrible Twos”) because they are filled with energy, so much that they run in circles, dancing, laughing, shouting and spinning.

The twos aren’t terrible – they are a time when you enjoy your natural energetic state (hopefully) before you learn to share your toys and, ultimately, your energy with others.

Regeneration doesn’t make us two again, but it makes us more whole and hopefully more frugal not only with how we spend our energy (lender) but also how much we ask of others (borrow).

We could all be more energetically fit if we treated others’ energy as a precious resource not to be wasted.

As for Facebook, I have to accept that I’ve given a piece of myself to the cyber world and will continue to do so as I do with this blog (which feeds to Facebook).

As with sex, we must chose our virtual partners wisely.

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The Santa Story’s Missing Character

Posted on December 8, 2012 by ohioastrology

Last year I pondered deeply, very deeply, about Santa’s sign of the zodiac, and this year I gave more consideration to Mrs. Claus and the elves.

Santa, to me, is a Sagittarius as I wrote about at length here.

Sagittarius is the mutable fire sign.

The elves I believe are pure Virgo as Virgo is the sign of work. Santa’s elves are helpers, content to work in the cold North Pole (don’t call it a sweat shop – no one is sweating) while Santa gets all the credit due to his exuberant jolly nature, corpulent physique and bright red outfit.

Traditional images of Santa’s realm lead me to believe that his elves are male – something I need to continue pondering. If there are no female elves, then where do little elves come from? That too is a bit Virgo in that sexuality isn’t present – elves are simple anonymous, tiny but happy workers (no political commentary here).

Virgo is the mutable earth sign.

Mrs. Claus, now she’s also a bit anonymous behind Santa’s stealing-of-the-thunder. I don’t hear much about her in the story – she’s just anonymously kind and warm.

Mothering as a whole evokes images of Cancer. But Cancer is more involved – she’d at least nag, I mean tell, Santa to wear a warmer jacket and would definitely pack him food for the trip not allowing him to feast on cookies and cocoa at every house in the world.

But then again, Mrs. Claus isn’t a mother. Unless those elves are . . .

Mrs. Claus is essentially a spiritual partner, the jolly Santa’s female side. Mrs. Claus has no identity, no first name and is enveloped in her husband’s story, but exudes warmth and love. That’s a little bit like Pisces.

Pisces is the mutable water sign.

Astrologers in the room see where I’m going here. Mutable signs are the adaptable signs of each element. There are four elements and three “modes” (cardinal, fixed and mutable) which makes the twelve signs.

If the Santa story contains Sagittarius (fire), Virgo (earth) and Pisces (water), it is missing the mutable air sign.

The mutable air sign is Gemini.

Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the messenger of the zodiac and as such relates to communication, messages, gossip, journalism and the exchange of information.

Regardless of advances in technology, Santa appears to get his information the old-fashioned way – through the post. Santa apparently knows if you’re naughty or nice so there are informants out there channeling information to the old chap.

The Santa Story, then, is missing the mailman, the deliverer of news, information and letters about the behavior of children around the world.

Following the story, the name “Claus” is German or Dutch. Looking up the word “Gemini” in Dutch brought up “Tweelingen,” which appears to be the word “twins” because Gemini is represented by the twins.

As time flows, cultures gradually shift like glaciers over the terrain so someday in the future we may have an addition to the story: Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, the elves and Tweelingen, the loving and kind messenger, deliverer of letters and ever-watchful eye of the behavior of children across the world, or at least in the parts of the world that know Santa.

How will Tweelingen manage so much information? Will Tweelingen develop a global database of Naughty Behaviors? Will Tweelingen gather his information through gossip or through trusted, authoritative sources?

As Santa learns Sagittarian lessons of abundance, Mrs. Claus learns lessons of separation and identity and the elves learn lessons of work and perfection, Tweelingen can learn Gemini lessons of information and communication.

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The End of the World

Posted on December 3, 2012 by ohioastrology

Are you reading a blog with the title “The End of the World” because you’re scared or curious or expecting satire?

I’ve been thinking that as an astrology blogger I ought to address the idea that because some Mayan calendar is completing a cycle that we are at “the end” of the world.

My neighbors were robbed yesterday and the police told them that because of this worry and fear about the “end” of the Mayan calendar, people were doing crazy things such as breaking into homes more frequently.

I’ll have to admit, I’ve never understood the fear of the world ending. Like a robot who’s receiving illogical commands and responds, “Does not compute,” then starts internally combusting, I can’t even comprehend the idea of the “end” of the world.

For starters, what is “the world?” The earth? The incomprehensibly large universe?

How does the universe “end?”

I had an “aha” moment recently during meditation while connecting some ideas the teacher presented regarding ego with a comment by the late philosopher and writer Ayn Rand.

In the movie “Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life,” we see an interviewer ask Rand if she fears death. Her response was in paraphrase of some unknown philosopher who said, ““I will not die, it’s the world that will end.” (She says it in the last interview of this compilation of interviews on religion.)

Of course! When we die the world does end, for ME.

Our fear of the “end” of the world, I’m suspecting, is the ego’s fear of its own demise.

Astrology

Years ago I bought a new chair. My aggressive, anxious and semi-feral cat walked in fear, scurrying across the room.

When a cat is afraid of a chair, you hear that it’s instinct and animals are just like that, etc. Yet I see this very same behavior in human nature. It may not appear as simple as the cat and the chair (is there a children’s book subject here?), but I see humans resisting change for the same reason animals appear to – loss of control, protection of territory and desire for constancy.

My view is that our horoscope represents our conscious sense of self. Like animals, we have our habits and comforts and threats to those habits and comforts produce fear and anxiety.

As we are all different in personality, what triggers our anxieties will vary. A person focused on material wealth fears the loss of job and banks failing. A person focused on relationships fears loss of a partner and may become anxious (also called “jealousy”) when the partner is with others.

How does this tie to the end of the world?

In simplest terms, I think fear of the “end” of the world is a fear of death. While most maintain faith and religious belief, there is still some underlying visceral fear of “the world ending.” The chair hasn’t been moved – the entire world has been moved.

While there is always change occurring, currently there is cataclysmic change occurring represented astrologically by Pluto in Capricorn square Uranus in Aries. Lots of other planets have been involved in this square in the last year or so (Saturn and Mars, for example). If you’re not interested in astrology you might notice it as the collapse economic markets from housing to banking. There was also a lot of relationship collapse when Saturn was in Libra creating a nice T-square with Pluto and Uranus.

I don’t know anything about the Mayan calendar to know how it relates to Western astrology. I believe there’s an end to a specific long count, but I don’t believe (but am not sure) this is seen as the “end” of the world in Mayan belief.

I keep using the earthquake image. While I didn’t grow up in an earthquake zone, I lived in an area with earthquakes for a couple years. What’s scary about earthquakes as opposed to tornadoes or hurricanes is that earthquakes are beneath – there is no where to run.

We are experiencing an earthquake of “the world,” what the world will look like and how it will work, as represented by Capricorn. Aries represents the ego self, shattered then enlightened through its time with Uranus.

Astrology has taught me about cycles. Calendars may “end” but cycles keep revolving and rotating in time and space just as the planets rotate and also revolve around the sun, the sun which spins in the galaxy and the galaxy that moves around the universe.

It’s big out there.

The cycles continue but “me” will end. I am bothered mostly by “end of the world” talk because we’re just promoting then feeding off the fear of others which changes nothing and helps no one.

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The Astrological Age of Anxiety

Posted on December 2, 2012 by ohioastrology

If you follow astrology news, you often see stories about full moons, eclipses and intense aspects between transiting planets (like Pluto and Uranus right now) with lots of write up about what it means in your life and for society as a whole.

Don’t forget, though, that every five seconds or so an individual is born into this world. Those individuals are born under these energies – the energies don’t merely affect their weekend plans, but become embedded in their astrological DNA.

So when you read this month that Venus is in sexual Scorpio sextile (60 degrees apart) intense Pluto in Capricorn and your love life will be both intense and serious, remember that someone born today will carry this serious and intense romantic nature as part of his/her fundamental personality.

If that person was born with this aspect while the sun was still in Scorpio, overall seriousness is strong in the personality. However, if that person was born when the sun entered Sagittarius, then there may be a conflict in the personality between the gregarious and adventuresome Sagittarius with the cautious and controlling Scorpio and Capricorn.

When masses of people are worrying about their jobs, investments and disintegrating home values during this Pluto-in-Capricorn tear-down-the-entire-structure-of-society transit, that worry and anxiety is part of what children being born breathe into their unformed consciousness, just as they would breathe in second-hand smoke.

The generation born from 2008 to present may become a frugal, penny-pinching generation like those born during the Great Depression. They may keep money close for fear of great loss of work, home and property. There may be some control issues around money embedded in their cultural coding.

The Age of Anxiety

W. H. Auden’s poem “The Age of Anxiety” was published in 1947 as Pluto was in Leo, Neptune in Libra and Uranus in Gemini.

The outer planets – Uranus, Pluto and Neptune, describe generational energies.

The Age of Anxiety was published as a generation of hippies was being born. About 20 years later, some of these children sat in Golden Gate Park naked, in drug-induced states of alternate realities.

The Pluto in Leo generation is more commonly called The Me Generation. Most the Me Generation dates listed in Wikipedia (1946 – 1964) find Pluto transiting Leo.

Dropping out of society might be considered a self-absorbed delusion, but don’t forget that leaving your family and society and emerging as an individual creates what today is called “separation anxiety.”

Would you sit naked in a park today and take a pill given to you by a stranger?

Who would drop out of society today and give up healthcare insurance?

Those children born in the late 1940s when Auden wrote “Age of Anxiety” produced children of their own who were born during a time of social upheaval in the late 1950s through the late 1960s. Those children have Pluto in Virgo. Some even have Pluto conjunct Uranus in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces (1964 – 1967).

The external world in the 1960s was challenging authority, fighting for civil rights and protesting against wars abroad – questioning the “establishment.”

And children were being born every five seconds, breathing it in.

The New Anxiety

Today’s world is being run by the tail-end of the Pluto in Leo generation and the next-in-line Pluto-and-Uranus in Virgo folks.

Virgo is the sign of work, health and service. While Leo is a strong, self-centered ego structure, Virgo is a more flexible, adaptable ego that looks to others for the perfection it seeks. I think Virgo is associated with service because to truly serve others, you must put aside your own ego. The behind-the-scenes person (Virgo) doesn’t get the same attention as the front-and-center-stage person (Leo).

The change of generational leadership from Leo to Virgo brings an entire change of focus to culture. Instead of focus on self expression (Leo), the focus is now on work and health (Virgo).

Today there is an extreme and increasing focus on health and healthcare from drug marketing on television and increased use of pharmaceuticals to corporate wellness programs that insist on participation for reduced premium costs. To participate in healthcare, you must be tied to a corporate or government entity otherwise it is not affordable for anyone but the extremely wealthy.

Healthcare has descended on us so even if you feel healthy, you might find yourself forced into a health “issue” in order for a company to feel satisfied that it has provided you with health information.

Recently I heard someone sneeze and another person ask if a cold was involved. When the response was affirmative, the next question came – what kind of cold do you have?

The sneezer wasn’t interested in analyzing her cold but I find today that you are expected to identify each and every sneeze that you have or others will analyze it for you. It’s no longer good enough to have “a cold.”

Analysis is in the realm of Virgo, the discriminating mind. I believe that’s why Virgo tends toward hypochondria-not because Virgos aren’t truly ill but because every moment is analyzed, nothing is simply left to “be.” A bad night’s sleep must be analyzed, labeled and remedied while more relaxed personalities simply accept the night was bad and move on, never giving it a mention or a second thought.

The over-concern with health and every fluctuating physical state in a fluctuating universe represents to me a form of anxiety. While germs are real, the excessive fear of germs which seems to exist in my country today (probably one of the cleanest and healthiest times and places in history) to me represents a fear of the unknown because however real germs are, we can’t see them. We don’t really know if that door handle contains the Swine Flu Virus or just remnants of paper towels from a hundred women who refuse to touch the door handle with their bare hands.

When we are afraid to touch the bathroom door handle, what is it we truly fear?

Virgo’s opposite sign is Pisces, which likes to merge with others. When you merge with others you do take on the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the pathogens and the antibodies.

Is the fear of germs a fear of intimacy?

What is the underlying anxiety in the excessive fear of germs?

Generational Learning

Each generation has something to learn and teach. I don’t know what this collective fear of germs represents, but I do wonder if the hypersensitive Virgos and Pisces of this generation are the canaries-in-the-mine in terms of being affected first by impurities in the environment.

Maybe this collective fear of germs is the first warning that our environment contains too many impurities which will at some time create a collective health issue.

Way back when I began studying astrology a local astrologer commented that the Pluto-and-Uranus in Virgo generation would “clean up the planet.”

Maybe then this anxiety about germs is an anxiety about living on a dirty planet? That’s a good reason to be anxious.

The Pluto-and-Uranus-in-Virgo generation will be doing its work through the mid-twenty first century. Hopefully by then we will have a cleaner, healthier planet.

And hopefully less anxiety.

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Mars in Capricorn – It’s Business Time

Posted on November 26, 2012 by ohioastrology

Hearing complaints of a ruined Thanksgiving due to an earlier and earlier Black “Friday,” which now is really Black Thanksgiving Evening, I have to note that the United States’ economy is based on shopping.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is calculated as “private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports).” In the US economy, private consumption contributes 70% of GDP.

According to the National Retail Federation, for some retailers the holiday season is 20 percent to 40 percent of sales. In 2011, holiday sales were 19.5% of all retail sales.

So what would happen to our economy if we truly did put the “Christ” back in Christmas? If it wasn’t the season of giving presents, which retailers would fail?

This holiday season, with the sun in generous Sagittarius, Mars will be traveling through practical and business-oriented Capricorn. For Capricorn suns, that means more energy, more success and more drive. For Capricorn moons, that means more compulsion for these things which can lead to an increased need to control the environment.

For business, it’s a good placement. But later this week Mars will conjunct Pluto, also traveling through Capricorn so there may be some business news along the lines of a big company or endeavor no longer in one piece, shaken at its core and tumbling into many small parts.

Mars and Pluto in Capricorn are squaring Uranus in Aries indicating that there is still a dormant fault line lurking under the holiday cheer. Saturn is trine in Scorpio lending some stability during what could be a month of some instability.

It’s business time.

One of our largest businesses here in the US happens to have Mars in Capricorn . . .

Walmart

Walmart was founded in 1962 but incorporated on Halloween Day in 1969. Walmart, then, is a Scorpio with moon in Cancer, Saturn in Taurus and Mars in Capricorn. There’s a bunch of Libra in the chart – Uranus, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury – which would make you think Walmart would be a little more attractive.

Maybe Walmart is attractive to the penny-pinching Mars in Capricorn and hoarding moon in Cancer. To a person of these signs, with the added Saturn in Taurus, seeing a big storeroom full of stuff provides a sense of comfort and security.

According to the Wikipedia site, Walmart employs 2.2 million people. Target, by contrast, employs a mere 365,000.

It’s Walmart time.

I’ve noticed a general dislike of Walmart while at the same time noticing a great liking for MBAs. I know the many reasons why Walmart is disliked (labor relations, pricing tyranny, locating on disputed lands, running small businesses to the ground, etc.) but find it odd that a business that does so well doesn’t get some appreciation from a generation that loves business enough to study it.

But that’s just my lone observation here in Ohio’s capital. It’s possible around the US there is more respect (a Capricorn desire) for a company that started as a little Five and Dime and has grown to the largest retailer in the world (a Capricorn story of the self-made man).

Why don’t we love Walmart? Why don’t we love this incredible success story? Don’t those who go into business see themselves as going “big” at some time?

I’m not defending Walmart’s business practices here, I’m just trying to understand our love-hate relationship to the very foundations of our economy.

Walmart Season

Mars entered Capricorn November 18 and will be in Capricorn until December 27.

Mars in Capricorn will be good for Walmart’s growth, but bad for Walmart’s family as Mars opposes moon in Cancer.

Saturn transiting Scorpio is conjunct Walmart’s natal sun opposite Saturn in Taurus. That means there could be tax issues or merchandise issues. Will there be taxes from exporters or tariff on importers?

Mars creates the drive but the Saturn in Scorpio takes in the form of taxes or money due to others. Is there a huge loan maturing?

With Capricorn, Cancer, Scorpio and Taurus in the chart, there is definitely a good stewardship of money and resources, of the kind we call penny-pinching. The 2.2 million employees are probably aware of this.

When we buy a product, we want the best product at the lowest prices. Unfortunately, our employers want the same – the best person at the lowest price (or a market price that reflects the value of the employee in certain roles).

This holiday season should be good for Walmart and the news already suggests Walmart is at the top of the selling competition for Black Friday.

Let’s raise a toast to Mars in Capricorn – may this holiday season produce the highest holiday sales ever contributing to a healthy economy and employed workforce!

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Happy Sagittarius, I Mean Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2012 by ohioastrology

So many Americans love the sign Sagittarius and don’t know it. Instead you hear, “I love the holidays.” The “holidays” begin around the time the sun enters Sagittarius and culminate at Christmas when the sun enters Capricorn.

The sun entered Sagittarius today.

Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory explains to character Penny in an episode that Christmas is really the ancient festival of Saturnalia. In this you hear “Saturn” which is the ruler of Capricorn. That holiday occurs near the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice when the sun is overhead at the tropic of Capricorn.

So it’s all about astrology, right?

The only mind-boggling holiday is New Year’s Eve which is more Sagittarian than Capricorn. The only thing Capricorn about it is that we get up the next day and make RESOLUTIONS to never do again what we did the night before.

So shall we move New Year’s Eve to mid December? The Sagittarians whose birthdays get ignored because of Christmas would enjoy it.

Anyway, back to Sagittarius, the mystical, eye-in-the-sky truth seeker, child of the sublime and the one who has the courage at the Christmas table to announce she is a pagan (along with Aries).

We love Sagittarius because it brings all the things we do during the holidays – celebrate a higher god through each other’s company, create food that is more special than the daily diet, spend a little extra to make others happy and give, give, give to charity.

Sagittarius can also bring the effects of these generous tidings in the form of bills to pay during Capricorn, headaches after too much eggnog (a whole pint to yourself, really?) and waking up to discover that you sat in the boss’ lap last night and sang “We’re off to see the Wizard.”

Since I gotta get a move on, I’ll leave all the descriptions of Sagittarius to Café Astrology. I love their descriptions of signs and planets in signs. I look at this site often.

But if you want to read about one of my favorite Sagittarians (besides my dad), you can do it here, in the purple haze of Thanksgiving.

Happy Sagittarius!

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I Don’t Believe in Astrology, but My Cat Does

Posted on November 17, 2012 by ohioastrology

Really, I believe astrology is all hogwash and we people of the earth have free will, something you see each and every day as humanity greets the rising sun with a new, fresh approach to another day of consciousness.

We’re not stuck in habits, patterns and routines. We can do whatever we want whenever we want.

My cat, however, does believe in astrology. During full moons she often celebrates by dashing across the house, chasing her tail and following unseen ghosts on the wall.

During the recent solar eclipse it was all “purr – purr – purr.” She wouldn’t stop talking about it. Now that the eclipse has passed she’s back to her silent and prolonged meditations on astrology while curled up in her sleeper.

These are the random astrological thoughts my cat bothered me with this week:

  • The fall of Twinkie – Twinkies rose in 1933 during the great Depression and are falling near 2013 during another financial depression. In 1933 Pluto was in Cancer and Neptune in Virgo – both food and diet oriented. In 2013 Pluto is in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces – both planets have traveled 180 degrees – are we at the end of the Twinkie business cycle or the end of an eating cycle?
  • Hillary Clinton in Australia – Hillary Clinton was down under where you could see the solar eclipse that was astrologically between her Scorpio sun and Scorpio Venus. Saturn is hanging out on her Scorpio sun as well creating all kinds of fantastic ancient-ritual type energy. What happens in Australia stays in Australia, hopefully. Pisces moon Clinton is may be more of a spiritualist and dreamer than you might realize . . . What else happened down there?
  • John Kasich in Ohio – while Hillary was basking in Scorpionic energy, Ohio Governor Kasich is fielding Scorpionic energy from without as this Jupiter, Venus and Sun are in steady-Taurus, opposite Scorpio. Kasich is having to deal with this stuff called “heavy emotion.” Yuch, eew. He’s probably wondering why everyone thinks he’s a tightwad as he generously gives light bulbs to the local shelter. Why can’t everyone just go to work and be happy? Why do people get so intense about nothing?
  • George Clooney – Clooney also has sun in Taurus and moon in Capricorn, like Ohio Governor John Kasich. Clooney might be having more fun fielding Scorpio energy from without but also goes “eew” when people have intense feelings that are separate from the physical body. Haven’t seen him on the cover of People in awhile. What’s going on?
  • My cat noticed several stories of sexual misconduct (and one major abortion story) on her BBC Mobile App story feed this week and reflected on how this is going to be one long Saturn-in-Scorpio transit. As the Wicked Witch of the West (WWW – interesting) said to Dorothy as she complained of her long journey to Oz “Why you’ve only just begun.” Saturn in Scorpio has only just begun.
  • Mitt Romney whines – When you have all three water signs in your chart (in trine aspect) it’s called a “Whine Trine.” When you have lots of Pisces and Scorpio, as Romney does, there may also be a more-than-average tendency to see oneself as a victim. As my cat noticed, every day on the drive to work we all experience winning and losing, victories and humiliations. She thinks Romney should file emotional bankruptcy and let the process work itself out as bereavement begins. If he resists while Saturn is on his moon, he’ll just fall into a depression. My cat’s usual advice to Romney is to go have some frickin’ fun and forget about saving the world.
  • Fiscal cliff – While my cat doesn’t have a checking account, she does understand what it means when Pluto transits Capricorn – transformation of all structure. She fully believes there is a fiscal cliff and we ought to re-structure our government and financial sectors in the early degrees of Capricorn rather than letting Pluto raze our society for another ten years. Pluto is like an earthquake under us, collapsing all that we try to build. Sand castles, she told me, it’s like sand castles. When I asked for more detail on her plan, she had her usual response – I’m not president, I don’t have to figure this out.
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Happy Birthday David Petraeus

Posted on November 11, 2012 by ohioastrology

David Petraeus, former director of the CIA, turned 60 a few days ago. And what did the American people give him for this milestone birthday?

Infamy.

Prior to the story of Petraeus stepping down as head of the CIA due to revelations of an extramarital affair, if you’d asked me who the head of the CIA was, I would have said, “give me a second” while secretly checking my iPhone.

Now I know.

Confucius believed one could only become a sage after age 50 (“I knew the decrees of Heaven“) and at 60 had achieved some inner peace (“No sound irritates me“).

“Sage” is a word little used in my universe, unless we’re talking about a spice rubbed on chicken. In our Internet age, no one is a wise sage, we’re all librarians curating information.

Will this sudden break from the world launch Petraeus on the ascent to wisdom and inner peace?

Saturn in Scorpio

You may have noticed that Petraeus is a sun-sign Scorpio, which is the sign associated with sex. The scandal isn’t the sex, it’s the getting caught. Usually Scorpio is too smart and clever to be caught. Has this Scorpio set his own trap?

With Saturn beginning its transit of Scorpio, sex may be more in the news, even than it is today.

I hope we don’t have two and a half years of Saturn-in-Scorpio sex scandals. If this story is accurate and 50 percent of women and 60 percent of married men have affairs, it’s gonna be one long Saturn transit.

Since Scorpio also rules money shared with others, these public divorces may also contain public airing of money issues.

Fun.

Relationship Issues

If I look at Petraeus’ chart with the knowledge he had an affair but from the vantage point of trying to help someone who’s made a decision that’s changed his life, I would focus on mother issues.

Liz Greene is the master of seeing parental relationships in the chart. I’ll put on my Greene hat as Petraeus’ chart stands out to me as containing an inner female with a drinking or substance abuse problem. The inner female may come out as a female partner while Petraeus wears the emotions of a general.

Petraeus has moon in Cancer close to Uranus, although he may have moon in Leo. Uranus on the moon is an unpredictable mother. In Cancer, mother was sometimes very motherly and sometimes not-to-be-found, off searching for comfort maybe from substances and also from her own family.

Today your mother is mothering you and tomorrow you have to take over and help mom out of bed.

That creates a lot of anxiety and desire to rescue.

Saturn and Neptune are conjunct in Libra in Petraeus’ chart, square Uranus/moon. Mother may have also been depressed. Neptune in Libra seeks the ideal mate, a beauty with a poetic nature and strong sense of fairness. When mother (and other women) are in the right mood, there is no greater pleasure to be had than being in their company. It’s just the other “moods” that cause the problem . . .

If I were a fortune cookie, I might say to Petraeus, “Bad luck with women.”

Mars is in Sagittarius right now and is almost finished with its month-long transit. It happens to be transiting Petraeus’ Venus in Sagittarius. Mars on Venus in the fire sign of Sagittarius is risk-taking and adventuresome.

If Petraeus has the problems with women his chart suggests, this Mars transit may have said, “I’m breaking out to have some fun. I don’t care what it costs.”

This fun didn’t begin a month ago, I believe, from my brief glance at the story. But Mars might have decided it was time to face all the repercussions that arise from following your risk-taking behavior over the cliff.

I’m guessing the true breakup of his marriage occurred while Saturn was transiting the later degrees of Libra (last year) and Petraeus had his second Saturn return. Both he and his spouse were probably very depressed about the state of their marriage (happens to a lot of folks, really). Sometime last year was probably a true breaking point.

If Petraeus and his wife were holding up the idea of a perfect marriage, they wouldn’t be the first couple to do so. With the American focus on marriage, it’s difficult to tell the world that you are one more couple that isn’t making it.

Mars will soon move into Capricorn and will return to its natal position in Petraeus’ horoscope activating the Uranus/moon, Mars and Saturn/Neptune T-square. I’m guessing that Petraeus will go forcefully forward on his new path and may even have a few moments where he tells others what they can do with their news stories.

Saturn transiting Scorpio will oppose Petraeus’ Jupiter in Taurus. Regardless of what’s truly occurring in this man’s marriage, he will be paying the financial price. She’s keeping the house.

No Sound Irritates Me

Sometimes while watching Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan in their public meltdowns, I thank god I didn’t have to have my own emotional upheavals in public. We all have our crazy moments and most of us don’t have to see those moments on the cover of People.

If you have chosen a path that takes you into the limelight, your travails might be more pronounced but hopefully so will your learnings and joys.

The events set in motion this week for Petraeus will probably take most of the Saturn-in-Scorpio transit to fully resolve.

Saturn’s transit of Sagittarius, in about three years, will be conjunct Petraeus’ Mercury. There will probably be a book at that time (which may help with the finances).

Writing is cathartic for many. Maybe it will help Petraeus go to the place of “no sound irritates.”

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