Mars in Sagittarius – Jimi Hendrix Time

Posted on November 10, 2012 by ohioastrology

Bothered by the crazy driving behavior last night, I consulted my astrologer friend and asked for insight. He replied simply, “Mars is in Sagittarius.”

Mars has been transiting Sagittarius since October 8 and will be there until approximately November 17.

It was an “aha” moment. Yes, Mars is in a fire sign. I have a Sagittarius rising. I have been drinking too much coffee this week, sometimes while driving. And I had the sudden urge to hear Jimi Hendrix, which I’ve been playing in the car since Thursday.

Hendrix, coffee and driving do not mix.

Was it me, then?

Yes, of course, but I still beg (pretty please with sugar on top?) others to stop driving and talking/texting. We’re just not present at the wheel when we do that and often can’t quite make that sharp turn while handling a large vehicle and talking on the phone.

The more important, higher, lesson here is that Jimi Hendrix’s energy is with us.

Jimi – you died too young. The fire burned within. I can feel it in your music:

“Music, sweet music
I wish I could caress, caress, caress”

[From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/manic-depression-lyrics-jimi-hendrix.html ]

Jimi Hendrix

Astrotheme’s chart has Sagittarius sun Hendrix with a Cancer moon. The moon is awful close to Leo, the rock star of the zodiac. But I could believe Cancer.

Several years ago while at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, I saw a video of a young Hendrix as a backing band guitarist for Night Train. I found it again here:

Leo moon would say, “Hey look at me.” Hendrix appears involved in his guitar, swinging back and forth as the choreography dictates but increasingly separated by his own movements, fully engaged in his playing. Seeing the video for the first time, I felt Hendrix wanted to jump out of that line and start dancing across the floor. He’s having fun. He’s in the moment.

Although Sagittarius is a fire sign, I consider it a more sensitive fire sign than Aries (the Ram) or Leo (the Lion). Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign, expressive but also impressionable.

Cancer is sweet and sensitive and I feel the Hendrix I saw in the video was divorced of self, pure feeling.

Now Sagittarius is still a fire sign, headstrong and very willing to tell you about its crazy, unusual experiences and suggesting your life might be enhanced by doing the same – if you could walk a tightrope between skyscrapers while wearing only henna tattoos, you might see life a little differently, you know.

I’ve kissed a goat during the full moon and you haven’t . . .

I’m a lover of Sagittarian stories but others might find it a bit arrogant, especially if you don’t want to hear about kissing others of your gender during ancient Druid festivals and would prefer to talk about something here and now, like the price of gas.

If the Astrotheme chart is correct, Hendrix’s sun was in the 12th house, the hidden house. Any energy of any sign in the 12th arises, if it ever does, like a chick breaking out of an eggshell.

Breaking out of the 12th house with Sagittarian energy means leaving your monastic or prison cell and walking straight onto the main drag of Las Vegas – bright lights, shows, slot machines, temptations – so much to experience!

Drugs, of course, can help us crack our shells, but with detrimental impact. Breaking the shell before we are fully formed brings us into a new universe unprepared physically, emotionally or mentally. It’s like a preemie baby who must be quarantined from the world until it can build strong enough defenses.

With his Jupiter conjunct moon in Cancer and Neptune in Libra in the 9th, Hendrix would have been emotionally dependent, contrary to the energy of his Sagittarius sun. Cancer is dependent while Sagittarius is independent. True independence for Sagittarius in this chart would have involved independence from the appetite for food, drink, sex, indulgence and ultimately drugs.

Since Sagittarius longs for experiences that bring heightened awareness – new tastes, foreign lands, alternate universes and different jam on the toast this morning, drugs are a great and powerful allure. I want “different,” please, and, oh, make it fast because I’m leaving for a flight soon to meet my foreign lover in Dubai.

“If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me
We’ll hold hands and then we’ll watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea

But first, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have”

[Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/are+you+experienced_20071527.html%5D

Saturn and Uranus were conjunct in Gemini in Hendrix’s chart, opposite the Sagittarian energy. The man who wrote the song “Manic Depression” may very well have been diagnosed with that illness.

As an aside, someone recently in the news has a teeter-totter chart of Sagittarius and Gemini, with sun moon and Uranus involved – Newt Gingrich. I think he may have a little manic depression with that wild surge of creativity and mental agility.

“Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can’t say
Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can’t say
But I know for sure
I don’t live today
No sun comin’ through my windows
Feel like I’m livin’ at the bottom of a grave
No-ho sun comin’ through my windows
Feel like I’m livin’ at the bottom of a grave
I wish you’d hurry up and rescue me
So I can be on my miserable way
(well), I don’t
Live today
Maybe tomorrow, I just can’t say, but, uh
I don’t
Live today
It’s such a shame to waste your time away like this”

[From http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/dont+live+today_20185371.html%5D

The Veil of Time

Is Jimi busting through the veils of time, adding his own energy to the Mars in Sagittarius transit? Is the essence of Jimi whispering into the ears of peeps consumed by daily concerns that the music can flow through you, forget about all that other dumb stuff?

Are you still with me on my journey through the purple haze? Maybe if we made it this far together we can crack out of our 12th house shells and survive.

“Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?”

[From: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/purple+haze_20071539.html%5D

Posted in Musicians | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Five Career Options for Karl Rove

Posted on November 7, 2012 by ohioastrology

To be honest, I feel a little sorry for Republican Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney. He had a hurricane blow in on his convention and a hurricane blow in as he was on an upswing. That’s not to say a hurricane-less race would have provided a win for Romney. But if you believe in omens, and cross-my-heart-hope-to-die-stick-a-needle-in-my-eye I don’t, you might say the Gods were against him.

Romney is a Pisces, a sign fairly associated with suffering and victimhood. Romney might be feeling kind of sad but there is another way to look at the situation. Now that this “running for president” thing is over and he’ll be at his retirement age of 66 next March (since Paul Ryan wasn’t able to change it to 70), he can just take it easy and let the mantle of responsibility fall from his shoulders like leaves falling off a tree during a windstorm.

Now Karl Rove, on the other hand, won’t be at retirement age for three more years and still needs work. An NPR news story I heard this evening discussed how Rove got some big checks from donors for Romney’s campaign. When you ask folks for $10 million and don’t deliver, they sometimes cease doing business with you.

The Textbook Ambitious Capricorn

Rove is a Capricorn sun, Cancer moon. Capricorn is all about what Rove is known for – ambition, success, drive, calculation and career life. His moon is all about the opposite – belonging, togetherness, personal emotions, nurturing and home life.

Where is this moon hiding? Or maybe that’s why Rove is standing next to politicians but not one himself – Cancer is too sensitive for the criticism.

Rove also has Venus and Mercury in Capricorn so he likes to socialize with people of high social status. Outside of work associates, Rove may not have a hang-at-the- bar buddy (although moon in Cancer may have some close family relations). Venus in Capricorn can appear snobbish.

Uranus is also in Cancer which suggests volatile emotions erupting alternately with Capricorn coolness. He may hear, “Remember when you got angry and smashed the plate,” and have no memory of it. Capricorn rarely admits to crazy impulsive emotions.

Rove has some interesting T-squares in the chart with Saturn and Neptune in Libra creating squares with Capricorn and Cancer. These are all cardinal signs which reflect Rove’s ability to motivate, initiate and get things done.

Jupiter is in spiritual Pisces, Pluto in Leo (the “Me Generation” placement) and Mars in Aquarius (the independent rebel).

Let’s see – we’ve got Pluto transiting Capricorn squaring Uranus transiting Aries which pretty much interferes with most of Rove’s chart. Then there’s Neptune transiting Pisces hovering over that soothing Jupiter in Pisces.

Rove may be looking for a new herd to join. A quick glance at Wikipedia suggests Rove has already found a new family herd, marrying this year. He may also be looking for new work and social associates.

What new career would suit Rove’s chart and transits well?

Five Career Options for Karl Rove

  1. Owner of a bar & grill. With moon and Uranus in Cancer, there is a love of food and beverage, sloppy and greasy food, what we today call “comfort food,” but which was, in my day, regular old food. Although Capricorn likes expensive things, Cancer likes food that evokes images of mom. Expensive comfort food is quite chic right now.
  2. Animal trainer. The ability to alternate between controlling and soothing is perfect for work with wild animals. This recommendation was not influenced by Rove’s work with politicians, I swear.
  3. Clothier. It may be time for Rove to promote his own brand rather than others’ brands by creating a line of professional wear with his name on it. We all remember Yves St. Laurent but ask someone on the street to name a political consultant. Can they do it?
  4. Divorce lawyer. Capricorn cool, Cancer emotional understanding and Libra focus on partnership are the perfect traits to assist the irreconcilably differentiated in their splits. I’d hire him.
  5. Politician. Why stand next to the man on the top of the ladder when you can be there yourself?
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2012 Election Tidbits

Posted on November 4, 2012 by ohioastrology

Ohio has a very special place in presidential elections. As I listen to the pundits I often hear that it’s difficult to win the presidency without Ohio. I’m sure one could, but there appear to be voting habits in the nation that make Ohio a “swing state.”

Tomorrow, in fact, the day before the vote, the president Barack Obama will be visiting just down the street. As a voter that tells me that the president is not confident that he has Ohio in the bag, to visit the very day before the election, hours before we vote.

If you’re not in Ohio, you might feel envy that we Buckeyes are basking in the financial warmth of millions upon millions of advertising dollars. What you don’t know is that some of us have stopped watching TV due to the onerous amount of ads, back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, for and against each candidate.

It’s a good time to live in Utah or Illinois where you can watch the evening news and enjoy the usual car and pharmaceutical drug commercials.

I wonder if the drug companies have seen a hit to Ohio profits during October?

Mercury Retrograde

It’s quite interesting that on voting day, Tuesday November 6, that Mercury will go retrograde in Sagittarius. Mercury retrograde means delays, misunderstandings and general cross-signals with regard to communication.

When Mercury goes retrograde, as it does often, astrologers across the globe warn of miscommunication. Why astrologers are ignored, I believe, isn’t just due to the general lack of belief in astrology. I think astrologers are ignored because we often don’t know about Mercury retrograde problems until later.

It might take me a month to notice, for example, that I accidentally put the $500 final car payment amount toward my electric bill (as I’ve done on bill pay). Only in a month when I find that I have more interest on my car and have three months of pre-paid electricity do I see the error.

When does Mercury go direct? On November 26. Hopefully Election Day issues, if any, will be resolved at that time.

Sagittarius is a sign that relates to things foreign. Will there be foreign influence in our election?

Some blogs on Tuesday’s Mercury retrograde:

http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html

ttp://darkstarastrology.com/mercury-retrograde/

http://astrology.richardbrown.com/mercrx.shtml

Jupiter Retrograde

Jupiter is currently retrograde in the sign of Gemini, which rules communication. Gemini’s ruler is Mercury. So Jupiter in Gemini and Mercury in Sagittarius have a relationship called “mutual reception” in which each is in the other’s sign.

Mercury in Sagittarius and Jupiter in Gemini, both retrograde, suggests issues in communication due to excess or expansion. I’m wondering if we won’t have some sort of telecommunication issues due to overload of the system.

Overload makes me think of the “denial of service” attacking/hacking that is occurring more frequently. The main targets are banks. Two ways to shut down a system are to starve it or overload it.

Saturn starves; Jupiter overloads.

Sagittarius rules things foreign so maybe foreign elements overloading information systems?

Gemini and Sagittarius provide too much information rather than too little. Too much information can be as confusing as too little. With news coming from sources over the globe all saying different things, what is true?

Maybe the foreign press will report something differently than the local press? Gemini is like your local news and Sagittarius like your international news.

Some blogs on Jupiter in Gemini:

http://www.astrology.com/jupiter-retrograde-gemini-rethink-your-choices/2-d-d-490784

http://astrodynamics.net/astrologicalmusings/tag/jupiter-in-gemini-2012/

http://rubyslipper.ca/2012/10/reboot-jupiter-goes-retrograde-in-gemini/

Too close to call?

Watching the news, I’ve also seen more stories on election and voting law, processes that are normally remote and archaic but were dug out of the cedar chest during the 2000 “too close to call” election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, which cross-my-heart-hope-to-die-stick-a-needle-in-my-eye I’m not, I would even guess that something along these lines was being planned.

As the US electorate gets split in half through dualistic candidates, there seems to be ever increasing chances of elections being won by hundreds or thousands of votes. We learned during the 2000 election that sometimes our preciously placed vote gets thrown out (ouch! I never learned about that in high school).

The 2000 election results were up in the air from Election Day until December 12 when the Florida Supreme Court ended all recounts and George W. Bush was declared the winner.

On that Election Day in 2000, Mercury was retrograde and went direct about three days later. On December 12, Mercury was conjunct Pluto in Sagittarius.

Post election this year, the next conjunction of Mercury and Pluto will be on January 6 – 7, 2013 which is orthodox Christmas. Prior to that, the sun and Pluto will be conjunct on December 31, 2012.

It should be an interesting New Year’s Eve.

Posted in 2012 Presidential Election | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Believing is Seeing

Posted on October 30, 2012 by ohioastrology

“Belief” has always been a strange word to me and more so during a general election as people take sides of a arbitrary split and seem to “believe” that one particular man can save us. We enact this same drama every four years.

Dictionary.com defines belief as “confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.”

Belief is usually associated with religion because we seem to be unable to see each other’s gods or logically convince each other of spiritual or religious belief.

In our age of information, belief has gotten stronger because rather than too little information, there is too much and we are less likely to know the source of information. More and more information creates conflicting information and we need this thing called “belief” to chose some information over other information.

Pisces Believes

Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, a mutable water sign, has the key phrase “I believe.” Because of this willingness to believe, Pisces is considered spiritual and/or mystical. Pisces is intuitive and empathetic. It’s also easily influenced and too sensitive to disagree or fight. Pisces style of survival is more about emotionally manipulating events than taking an active, open stance (see the fire signs for this).

Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, represents merged states from the fetus in the womb to speaking in tongues during a religious experience. It’s “we” not me, much like Libra. Libra is a “we” in terms of picking up the identity of others while Pisces is “we” in that it wants no identity at all.

Among the many things ruled by Neptune, it also rules the moving image, film.

What is the connection between image and belief?

Image relates to sight which appears to be the most powerful sense in that if we see something, we believe it. We know the models on the magazine are airbrushed, but we still want to look like those models, those images. The models themselves are not the image on the cover – they are the foundation of the image.

While most claim TV and movies are just mundane entertainment, I think many of those images transfer unconsciously to life, such as ideas of romance or the power of having a certain car. Advertisers have known this for a long time. Yet we feel in control of our subconscious and watch image after image thinking we control the gates from conscious to unconscious (also ruled by Neptune).

Neptune rules the ocean. If I put a chemical in the ocean, can anyone stand in the ocean and not touch the chemical? You can’t sequester Neptune.

Neptune in Pisces

Transiting Pluto in Capricorn is squaring transiting Uranus in Aries and getting all the attention – economic breakdown and revolutions.

All the while Neptune is starting its travels through the hazy waters of its natural home creating a silky glaze over our world weary eyes.

As Neptune enters Pisces, it may be time to think about why the two presidential candidates are spending almost $1 billion on television ads and why those that can’t compete in money can’t compete at all.

The true winner of the election is image. The images we create of our democracy are way different than the image it has become.

When the recent jobs report was issued showing the unemployment rate below a milestone 8%, it was questioned whether the report was cooked. It’s a good question but also raises the question of what is real and how do we know it, ever?

Belief in what we see seems addictive and also comforting. The idea that we don’t really know anything is scary. I saw a television ad on Ohio’s Issue 2 (wanting a “no” vote) that didn’t even bother to explain what Issue 2 is about. It’s quite insulting to see an ad that doesn’t even bother with an appeal to reason and also quite scary that a market researcher determined that an ad without any explanation is effective. Is the ad simply hypnosis (also ruled by Neptune) much like the Queen of Diamonds in the Manchurian Candidate?

Every planet has a purpose and Neptune’s absorption of images into our subconscious seems necessary to move us from a state of survival to one of higher purpose. Neptune connects us in our entirety to everything else in its entirety but then leaves us open to all else that floats in the collective wind.

Astrologer Barbara Hand Clow writes about the “fourth dimension” as a dimension of collective images (if I understand her correctly). I can understand this idea of fourth dimension – we can pretend to ignore the images around us, but like radio waves we are penetrated.

It will be interesting to see what we collectively “believe” in 15 years from now as Neptune finishes its transit of Pisces. Few of us would go to a glass of water sitting on a park bench and drink. But we do that every day when we open image portals like TV, film and Internet. The Internet used to be a place where we directed the images but notice how little control we now have over what is presented to us on the Web.

Will Neptune in Pisces teach us to choose our images like we choose our drinking water?

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Ohio Astrology’s Presidential Prediction

Posted on October 28, 2012 by ohioastrology

Astrologers are much like analysts – we want to be right. We analyze data to understand a confusing world of inconsistency, feelings, double speak and people’s rationalizations of their actions under the mantle of philosophies and religions.

If you accept the world as non-rational, it’s an easier place to be. Trying to apply a rational standard to the world simply creates frustration.

On the flip side, I do believe the world runs by patterns if not logic and reason.

The last Get Smart movie starring Steve Carell creates the perfect image of the analyst. Carell is Maxwell Smart, an analyst who dreams of being a special agent. Smart has written bulky report after bulky report that his colleagues don’t read. When asked questions, Smart’s reply often goes something like, “It was in the report on page 726.”

Smart, aptly named, has all the answers, if someone would just pay attention.

The Western world runs on ideas of reason and likewise I believe we carry this trait culturally and which is why our religions are also tinted with this need to be right.

As an American, I was surprised to find in other countries you can discuss religion peacefully without the need to be right or convert others to your views. Discussing religion without anyone getting or telling others they were wrong was a surreal surprise.

While astrology is associated with divination, I’m turning to the view that its true purpose is creative engagement with life in the way of artists. You can explore images and not always identify with those images.

What’s called divination, though, is part of the fun of astrology, the same way betting in a sports pool is fun. You have some background information, you have some personal preferences and you bet accordingly.

I’ve been staying far, far away from election predictions for two main reasons: 1) I don’t know how to make election predictions using astrology and 2) I fear making wrong predictions taints the practice of astrology. Once something is branded divination, it must be 100 percent accurate.

Yet, I keep having a feeling about the winner. I decided to let go of whether I’m right or wrong simply because it doesn’t matter. One blog on the blogosphere getting it right or wrong isn’t important in this vast, great universe.

For a while I’ve been feeling the winner of the US Presidential election will be Mitt Romney.

Why?

When I look at the weather forecast on my phone, I see pictures of rain for the next five days. Saturn in Scorpio, which we’ll experience for the next two years, feels a lot like that weather forecast.

The energy of Saturn in Scorpio, Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces seems more aligned with the energy of Mitt Romney. Romney is a man of water sign sensibilities five of the ten planets in the horoscope in water signs (Scorpio and Pisces). He is the rain. He’s a man who believes in the efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings over bold, daring actions. This is more aligned with Capricorn and Scorpio energy than the current president’s fire and air chart.

Capricorn and Scorpio are both very serious, not dreamers. Both are prone to fear of the paranoid kind, thinking others are out to get them because they don’t understand that others have a more fluid idea of life.

Capricorn is about law and order (sound like the campaign speech of a past Capricorn president?) not about hope and glory.

Scorpio is focused and driven and enjoys a walk on the dark side.

Both Capricorn and Scorpio are prone to depression and taking a “glass half empty” approach to life.

Capricorn is shrewd while Scorpio is perceptive.

While I’m feeling Romney is going to win, I’m also feeling that he’s not going to like it much.

It’s on Page 729

Astrology is analytical and there are far superior astrologers out there analyzing past data, looking at angles and arcs and progressions and transits. I’m sure they have much better reasons for their picks. I’d trust them if you’re betting money.

I’m simply feeling Romney in the air, in the storms and in the economy.

Posted in 2012 Presidential Election | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Renegade, Rebel, Revolutionary – What’s up with the Letter R?

Posted on October 25, 2012 by ohioastrology

Thinking today about someone I know, the R words came to mind – renegade, rebel and revolutionary.

Oh, how I love a revolutionary! Really, revolutionaries are few and far between and our use of the word has gone way, way down since the 1960s.

Once when I casually used the word “terrorist,” someone reminded me that one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Revolutionary is also a word charged with good and bad connotations.

That’s kind of the problem with words – people use them with a different meaning that you mean and suddenly you like the word no longer.

Hey, we’re having a few revolutions around the world right now – mostly in the Middle East. In the US, my perception is that the media views these revolutions as good. Do the people in those regions see the events as revolution or something else?

The “Arab Spring” started about right before Uranus entered Aries, when it was hanging out with Jupiter in the last degrees of Pisces.

Uranus the great awakener is associated with revolutions because you are in one state and then “wham,” you find yourself in a completely different universe.

Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, is often the renegade because Aries lurches forward first and thinks second. It’s a renegade sign, to me, only in the sense that it has a compulsion to step forward and stand up for itself.

In a different sense, Aquarius is the great rebel because it thinks first then steps forward because the world has offered it no alternative that meshes with the ideas. Aquarius is not the fighter that Aries is – it simply can’t function within ideas that create internal discord.

Aquarius fights for ideas and Aries fights for self (or ideas of self?).

Uranus, you know, rules Aquarius.

Some reptilian mind part of our brains has associated this state of breaking from the current cultural norm into another state with the sound of “rrrrrrr.”

Uranus in Aries might bring more Rs to our lives in the next seven years for a Rip Roaring time. R might be called the official sponsor of Uranus in Aries.

Maybe Sesame Street, that great promoter of the first letter of words, might solve the true mystery of the letter R.

That is, if we don’t have an R president.

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October 22 President Debate: Astrological Weather Forecast

Posted on October 21, 2012 by ohioastrology

Columbus, OH: On Monday, October 22 in Boca Raton, Florida there is a strong chance of an emotional frost that stings to the touch as the moon and Saturn embrace in the sign of Scorpio. Feelings may be hurt which will be nursed and licked for the rest of time.

While the tone is frosty, there are foreign Jupiter in Gemini /Mars in Sagittarius allergens in the air which are known to cause “foot-in-mouth disease.” OHA advices that the candidates wear soft and tasty shoes as eating one’s own foot is cause for unpleasant taste in the mouth.

These Gemini/Sagittarius allergens also cause words to flow from the mouth without filtering through the brain. Because of that, the words should be quite interesting and fun but may cause headaches for the listeners.

With moon in Aquarius and Venus in Virgo there is a strong chance of details raining on the audience and umbrellas are recommended. The details will cause no damage but friction between Aquarian and Virgo details may cause Uranus-in-Aries induced lightening. As long as no candidate’s feet touch the ground, damage is minimal.

Neptune in Pisces will create a thin layer of fog throughout the evening that won’t be discernible to the naked eye but will leave each viewer confused at the end of the debate. OHA recommends the audience drive through the debate with the headlights on.

Also in the weather is the chance of a ghost sighting, namely the ghost of past economic development. Pluto in Capricorn will grace the evening’s 8th house and bring back memories of past titans, legends of authority and respect.

Lastly, a strong wind advisory is in effect.

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Michael Corbat: Citigroup’s New Top Banker

Posted on October 20, 2012 by ohioastrology

“If I can’t be a banker, I don’t want to live.”

Cosmo Kramer, fake reason for fake suicide in effort to get Newman out of a speeding ticket on Seinfeld

Cat Reads News

My tuxedo cat, Lacy, learned that Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit abruptly resigned. She chided me for my blog on bankers where I voted that Pandit would prevail over his peers.

“Economists are wrong a lot too,” I pointed out, “and no one seems to bother about it.”

It is surprising that a man with sun in Capricorn and Mars in Aries has given in to the big “F” word – Failure. Capricorn and Aries are about success and competition – by throwing in the towel Pandit must be facing a Herculean frustration.

His moon may be in Gemini, the sign where Jupiter is currently transiting. Does this mean that Pandit has a Gemini-twin second job, a backup plan, a getaway car at the back door?

My guess is that he’s having thoughts such as “let’s see how well they do without ME.”

His successor is Michael Corbat.

Michael Corbat

In addition to the great perks of bank chairmanship like the executive dining room, private jets and stock options, one also gets, at no charge, two full paragraphs of astrological insight from Ohio Astrology.

How cool is that?

There’s very little kindness directed to bankers these days. OHA gives where it can.

No longer must banking chairmen sneak out at night and walk down dark, empty alleys to visit the local astrologer.

Bankerly Sun

Corbat has a bankerly Taurus sun, the fixed earth sign that is grounded and fully engaged with the physical world without the glossy glaze that many of us inflict on it.

It’s a nice sign to be if you want to count money.

Where is Corbat’s moon? It could be either in Cancer or Leo. Taurus/Leo is more charismatic and very, very stubborn while Taurus/Cancer is garden-variety stubborn but warm and inviting. Taurus/Leo is sensual while Taurus/Cancer is seeking a nostalgic and comforting physical environment.

Corbat’s Mars, the planet which shows how we assert ourselves, is in the sign of Pisces. Pisces is not generally assertive and is more likely looking at how to relate to others than conquer and dominate others. That’s nice in family life but not as useful in banking life.

With Mercury and Venus in Aries, Corbat may have a bark worse than his bite.

The interesting planets in Corbat’s chart are Jupiter and Saturn, both in Capricorn. They are not yet conjunct – it took another year for that to occur and when Corbat was about 1-2 years old his life probably changed in terms of social or religious environment.

Astrology Critics describes the 20-year Jupiter / Saturn conjunction cycle as:

• important economic fluctuations, rise or fall of the market;
• conflicts may appear as two different processes must converge in order to generate evolution, especially social progress: expansionism, liberalisation, democratic values, freedom and, on the other side, oppression, rules, limits, performance, effort
• the manifestation of ideas, potentialities in the material world;
• the Jupiter – Saturn conjunctions are called “Grand Conjunctions”; the conjunctions occur in the same element (fire, earth, air or water) for about 200 years, with 1 or 2 exceptions;
• a series in fire signs symbolise discoveries, exploration, independence, free spirit, adventure, power, display (1603 – 1782); a series in the earth element signify materialism, wealth, industrial development, agriculture, infrastructure, territorial disputes (1802 – 2000); a series in air (next will start in 2020) symbolise new concepts, ideas, intellectual development (1226 – 1405); a series in water corresponds with spiritual movements, art development (1425 – 1583).

The big news here for Jupiter/Saturn in Capricorn folks (born in 1960 and 1961) is that transiting Pluto is coming to visit. Lessons are coming along the lines of:

• When should I trust and when should I challenge authority?
• What is success?
• What is failure?
• How is my self-esteem tied with my material success/failure?

When Capricorn loses position in society, it loses everything. For some a job is a job, but for Capricorn it is the core of self-worth.

What a perfect time for Corbat to run the nation’s third largest bank!

Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn also represent growing up in an environment of strict rules, lots of “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” and strong religious, moral or ethical beliefs.

Transiting Jupiter in Gemini has formed a square to Corbat’s Pluto in Virgo (health issues?) and will soon square that Mars in Pisces. Trying to please everyone won’t work very well.

Transiting Saturn in Scorpio is close to Corbat’s natal Neptune in Scorpio and opposing his Taurus sun. I’m feeling that Corbat might have a belief that people are ultimately good and will do well. He has some things to learn in this regard, with his strong Jupiter/Saturn in Capricorn standards.

I’m wondering if he will also discover the institution he has chosen to head is in worse financial shape than presented. It will take many years before transiting Uranus touches his Mercury in Aries when he will have the impulse to spit it all out. I’m guessing he will keep his lips shut for now and follow orders (a Capricorn thing to do) based on his personal code of ethics.

Corbat may also do well to watch his own finances. Stock options are nice but don’t forget Enron. Financial whizzes often know when to bail even if they tell those around them not to – but if Corbat may be the type to put all his eggs in Citigroup stock in an effort to prove his seriousness.

Banking seems a ship so large that no one man (or woman) can truly run it. It’s interesting to watch folks try.

Astrologers in Dark Alleys

For more insight, Corbat will need to take his date, place and time of birth to the local astrologer, who may also welcome bankerly folk with open arms.

Without time of birth, much is unknown in the horoscope.

With Pluto conjunct one’s Saturn and tearing down the known social structure, it’s also a good time for Corbat to explore things once forbidden – such as astrology.

Astrology presents a more fluid universe that Capricorn energy enjoys. For strong earthly folks, a fluid universe can be a scary thing. The universe doesn’t provide a Monday night special forever – it’s simply a cycle.

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Who’s More Likely to Win a Duel – Obama or Romney?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by ohioastrology

After having watched the primary debates and election coverage since August 2011, I’m getting a little bored with this election. While last night’s debate questions (Tuesday, October 16) were good, I’ve been hearing the same questions or types of questions for over a year. No wonder the candidates sound odd – they’ve been giving the same answers for over a year. Like robots, they probably don’t even know what they’re saying anymore.

While I’ve been getting bored with it, my tuxedo cat Lacy hasn’t.

Last night while I blogged, Lacy kept her yellow eyes on the debate. At one point she meowed, “They’re gonna fight!”

She referred to a point when Republican candidate Mitt Romney stood close to President Barack Obama and received a somewhat evil glare from the President. Maybe Romney hasn’t seen this photo of Obama watching Osama bin Laden being killed. Romney ought to take a glance at it before approaching Mr. Obama again.

When the men didn’t come to fisticuffs, Lacy was disappointed.

“Why didn’t they fight?” she purred.

“Lacy,” I said gently, so as not to offend, “Cats hiss and scratch when people get into their territory. Humans try to overcome that instinct.”

Alexander Hamilton

As usual, Lacy trapped me with history. While watching PBS years ago, she learned that one of our Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, first Treasury Secretary, died in a duel against Aaron Burr.

Here’s the story.

The Cliff Notes version of the story is that Hamilton and Burr were long political enemies. Burr suffered political failures in which Hamilton contributed to the opposition. At a dinner one night in 1804, Hamilton spoke against Burr and his words surfaced in a New York newspaper. Burr then challenged Hamilton to a duel in which Hamilton lost, losing his life.

So we have:

• Dissing
• Dueling
• Death

Quite unseemly, but Hamilton still managed to make it on the $10 bill.

Twentieth Century Dueling?

We’re lucky that today in the US we don’t lose our lives during political turmoil (at this time at least). Campaigns appear to be fought more with money than fists. But if they were fought mano a mano (with pistola a pistola), who would be more likely to win, Obama or Romney?

You’d don’t hear much about fighting in astrology, outside of relationship astrology . . .

Mars

The planet of assertiveness and aggression is Mars. It’s the planet that makes us move from here to there. Mars is the ancient god of war. It makes us attracted to others or repulsed by others and drives us to act on any impulse.

It can be associated with violence and anger, but I believe that occurs only when you don’t (or can’t) express your Mars. Mars then erupts. It’s a rocket in your pocket and is going to launch at some point, so make some room.

Obama has Mars in mutable earth Virgo and Romney has Mars in mutable water Pisces, the opposite sign to Virgo. No wonder the fight between these two men last night looked like a pissing contest – it was nervous Virgo against anxious Pisces. It was detail (Virgo) against feeling (Pisces), analysis (Virgo) against synthesis (Pisces), and critic (Virgo) against victim (Pisces).

Neither Virgo nor Pisces is an open, put-up-your-fists fighter. Both signs are mutable and mutable often deal with problems through avoidance.

“Lacy,” I said. “You probably won’t see these two hit each other with anything more than criticism.”

“That’s boring,” she replied, yawning and settling down for a little nap.

Who’s More Likely to Win a Duel – Obama or Romney?

Dear readers, you’ll have to weigh in. I think if this were 1804, neither would show up for the duel.

I’ve been wondering this about Romney and now wonder it about Obama – what are they doing on that stage? Do they really want to be there?

Obama hasn’t explained much his first lackluster debate performance. I’m wondering from his chart if he’s hiding an illness (transiting Saturn in Scorpio squaring Mercury in Leo in the 6th). Jupiter has also been transiting that moon in Gemini. Mercury rules Gemini and speech and lungs.

Romney appears much more engaged now that during the primaries. Transiting Neptune in Pisces is transiting his Mars in Pisces. Does that make one desire the top of the political mountain or an aggressive desire for spiritual union?

I still wonder.

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The Transformation of John Lennon

Posted on October 16, 2012 by ohioastrology

John Lennon keeps coming to mind, so I thought I’d get him out of my psyche and into this blog. What other use is there for a blog?

While I consider myself a mild fan of the Beatles and Lennon, I’ve never been so enamored of him to put up a poster or anything like that. So it’s odd that he’s so on my mind (and was before the anniversary of his October 9 birthday).

What’s coming to mind is an image from my childhood. One rainy Sunday afternoon I sat with the “Hey Jude” album cover, listening to the song “Rain,” staring at Lennon, face hidden behind a head of frizzy brownish-red hair, mustache, long beard and glasses (aka “Lennon specs”). I couldn’t believe this was the same man who was on the cover of earlier album covers, say, “Rubber Soul.”

I asked my mom what happened to him.

If she had an answer, I can’t recollect it. But now as a middle-aged woman in these changing times, I’m wondering if Lennon didn’t truly transform in a way few do. Until recently, I simply thought of Lennon as a rebel looking for something to oppose.

As we move toward another general election here in the US, I’m having a strange nostalgia for hippies and Lennon-types to say (or sing) about peace and other non-tangible elements of our lives on earth. Hard times often lead to great insights.

Pluto and Transformation

The planet Pluto is associated with transformation. Transformation is so easy to say but so difficult to experience. A friend once compared cooking with baking. Cooking, she said, was creative but baking, in contrast is alchemy.

Transformation is alchemy. If you were a strand of wheat, would you willingly transform into bread?

And let’s say you do decide to become bread (challah, maybe?), how would the rest of the field of wheat respond?

The wheat is the wheat and the bread is the bread.

Transformation isn’t easy.

“Christ, you know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They’re gonna crucify me

Saving all your money for a rainy day,
giving all your clothes to charity,
last night the wife said,
oh boy when you’re dead,
don’t take nothing with you but your soul . . .”

(From the Ballad of John & Yoko)

Transformation through Partnership

According to this Astrotheme chart, Lennon had sun in Libra, moon in Aquarius and Aries rising.

It’s not unusual for Libra to marry or partner-up at a young age. Libra seeks partnership first and everything else second.

Lennon married his first wife, Virgo sun, Cynthia, on August 23, 1962. At the time, transiting Pluto was conjunct his Venus in Virgo.

Venus in Virgo is a “love me perfect” placement. With sun in Libra and moon in Aquarius, Lennon was seeking not just a partner, but the perfect match along the lines of Virgo, Libra and Aquarius perfection, which is weird, quirky and eccentric.

Transiting Pluto conjunct Venus also creates some serious control issues around this need for a perfect partner. While I haven’t had time in my recent Lennon obsession to read a biography, I have vague memory of reading that he didn’t treat his first wife well and was honest about this in later times.

Lennon’s second wife is the wife of history, the fated encounter that changed Lennon forever. On November 9, 1966 he met the artist Yoko Ono. Ono was different from Lennon in age (she being older) and culture.

At the time of meeting Ono, transiting Pluto was nearing a conjunction to Lennon’s Neptune in Virgo. Venus in Virgo is looking for the perfect pleasure. Neptune in Virgo spiritualizes perfection and sees perfection in whatever is worshiped.

Lennon and Ono split up for a year in 1974, while Pluto was transiting his Mars in Libra. They were together until his death in December 1980 when Pluto had just moved into his 7th house of partnership, the house ruled by Libra.

If the Astrotheme chart is correct, most of Lennon’s fame and public life occurred with Pluto transiting the 6th house, the house of work, health and service.

What an odd house of emphasis for a period of intense rock stardom!

Did Lennon transform work, making rock stardom a valid work path? Was he secretly ill? Was his transform regarding service?

What Transformed in Lennon?

Taking the 6th house to a higher level via Barbara Hand Clow in “Alchemy of Nine Dimensions,” the 6th house is “be here now” while the opposite 12th house is “bliss.”

In the mid to late 1960s, at the height of his fame and meeting of Ono, Pluto and Uranus were both transiting Virgo and opposite a transiting Saturn in Pisces.

Natal Neptune, which was in Lennon’s 6th house, happens to rule the opposite 12th house. Neptune in the 6th can indicate mental health problems of the sort where what one calls “reality” is not the “reality” of those around us. While we all have different perceptions of reality, Neptune can bring visions, hallucinations and all kinds of vague fears and anxieties.

Was Lennon’s transformation deep in the realm of perception? While it seemed that Lennon went from poor Liverpool orphan transformed into drug-using, guru-worshiping rock star, maybe the transformation was from a separate personal reality into a shared social consciousness? Maybe when he appeared to go crazy, he was actually connecting to others for the first time?

Did he transform from garden-variety rebel to spokesperson for a generation’s spiritual longing? If he did, was he aware of his role or riding the waves of a strong current?

Lennon’s chart had only one planet in water – Mercury in Scorpio. Neptune in the 1960s was transiting Scorpio, bringing, to Lennon and others, open talk of sex and intimate feelings.

Lack of water is lack of understanding in the feeling realm. Air, in contrast, can follow the zeitgeist but in an intellectual way, without understanding that what people say and their true motivations are not always equivalent. Lack of water has difficulty both experiencing and expressing feelings. Air relates through shared ideas, not shared emotions.

The Mystery of Transformation

Most of us try to bring what’s inside of us out to share with others. When we go through difficult or unusual times in life, it can be difficult to explain one’s experiences.

Lennon appeared to be a man transformed, ostensibly through his meeting of an eccentric foreigner, but I’m guessing Lennon always had a Yoko Ono within, the bread that could be created from the strands of Liverpool wheat.

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