Amanda Knox – There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on July 26, 2011 by ohioastrology

Amanda Knox is currently in prison in Italy convicted of killing her English roommate in 2007. My usual disclaimer when writing about a sensitive issue is that I don’t believe delineating the horoscope can say whether someone committed a specific act. Any act from watering the garden to murdering someone.

Like others, I definitely get curious and run scenarios through my mind when a high-profile trial hits the airwaves. Maybe these types of events capture our collective attention simply because we have a desire to solve a puzzle. Maybe we should create national crossword puzzles instead of lotteries where we all try to solve a puzzle together and the winner gets millions of dollars.

Curiosity does get the best of me and I had to take a peek at Knox’s chart.

She has three planets in the sensitive water sign of Cancer (Venus, Mercury, sun) and three planets in the fiery Sagittarius (Saturn, moon and Uranus). Mars is in Leo, Jupiter in Aries adding two more fire signs to the chart. Pluto is in watery Scorpio.

There is only one planet in earth – Neptune in six degrees of Capricorn. Pluto is currently transiting that planet.

The signs of Cancer and Sagittarius are a little at odds. Cancer is about home and belonging while Sagittarius is about exploration and traveling. In traveling, Knox may have been looking for a place she felt at home.

Both signs have a bit of indulgence in appetite – Cancer for food and beverage and Sagittarius for sublime experience.  Self-restraint is not strong. This is the person who eats the last cookie on the plate and may have eaten just one cookie too much.

Cancer is sweet and Sagittarius is gregarious. I haven’t heard Knox speak, but I’m guessing she has a broad sense of humor and an infectious laugh.

Knox may teeter between shy, self-protective Cancer and also shy but expressive Sagittarius. Saturn and Uranus are conjunct that moon in Sagittarius suggesting unexpected events with women and possibly foreign women. Of course, that has happened.

Because that aspect is in the natal chart, Knox may have encountered in the past other unusual or unexpected situations with foreigners. Her quest for foreignness will probably not subside even though this current situation is quite horrible.

The current transit of Saturn in Libra, Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn creates a T-square. It’s square in your chart and mine and finding where that square resides indicates how these relationship issues (Libra) are manifesting in your life.

For Knox, Pluto in Capricorn in her natal Neptune suggests the lifting of illusion. Because this Neptune in Capricorn is the only earth in her chart, this situation has clearly grounded Knox. She is an emotional and intuitive person. The situation has made her a practical person. She’s had to deal with authority and structure, possibly for the first time in her young life.

Knox was probably a bit in her own bubble, having fun, enjoying life and then wham!, suddenly she had to deal with AUTHORITY – the government of a foreign country. That would ground the most grounded of us.

Transiting Pluto opposes natal Venus and Mercury. Both her values, love interests and communication are undergoing change from their emotional style (Cancer) to a more authoritative style (Capricorn). This situation is probably bringing her closer to her family. If she does get released from prison I suspect she will continue to travel, but will probably bring her family along.

I don’t know what Knox’s life was like before this horrific situation. I suspect she didn’t have to take care of herself the way she does now.

Uranus in Aries will be transiting natal Jupiter in Aries in the next few years. Jupiter just transited Aries. Both transits, according to Robert Hand’s book on transits, seem to involve positive outcomes and turn of events. According to yesterday’s news, there very well may be a turn of events with regard to evidence in the case.

In about a year, Saturn will move onto natal Pluto in Scorpio and square Mars in Leo. At that time, Knox may be releasing some inner anger. This is a very intense aspect that is much like a volcano blowing its top.

I think that after Saturn transits Pluto and Pluto transits Neptune, Knox may return to some enjoyment of life (or maybe has already).  That transit doesn’t affect the Sagittarius energy in her chart; it appears to be something else.

Neptune in Pisces will trine Knox’s Venus, Mercury and then sun. There may be some new spirituality going around. Knox will probably hook onto it.

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Homosexual Indicators in the Horoscope

Posted on July 25, 2011 by ohioastrology

What are the homosexual indicators in the horoscope?

I don’t believe there are any indications of homosexuality in the horoscope any more than there are indications of whether an individual likes green beans.

I could have just tweeted that.

My greatest influence in astrological thought is Liz Greene. Where others write about the same old topics of romance, work and money, probably because that is what gets published, Greene ties astrology to mythology, parental relationships, archetypes and Jungian psychology.

Greene points out in one of her lectures that any given horoscope can be for a man, woman, birth of a nation or chicken. You can’t tell from any horoscope if the person born during those energies is male or female.

The horoscope is androgynous.

We are clearly born with physical gender. The energies in our charts, however, are gender free. That suggests to me that some perceived gender traits such as women liking to shop and men liking sports are learned.

Since we are biologically different as gender, we seem to pick a side on any energy manifestation – subject or object.

For example, a heterosexual woman with moon in Cancer might be very “mothering,” asking you if you’re cold, constantly getting you food. A heterosexual man with the same placement might act motherly as well or may project the mothering onto the females around him and expect any and all women to bring the meatloaf to the table (and wash the dishes afterward).

Whether heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, the moon in Cancer is the raw energy. The manifestation is based on other aspects in the chart and any external gender roles that are forced upon the individual.

In my early days as an astrologer, this subject-object manifestation was difficult for me to understand and explain. For example, I told a woman with Venus in Leo that she was jealous. Her response was, “No, I’m not. But the women I know are.”

Attraction is shown in the chart by the aspects of Venus and Mars and by the 5th and 7th houses. The gender of those you are attracted to is described, but says nothing about your gender or the gender of the beloved.

In the chart, there is no heterosexuality or homosexuality. And you are not a man or a woman. You are just you.

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Thought versus Feeling

Posted on July 24, 2011 by ohioastrology

What’s the difference between and thought and feeling?

In meditation last week, I pondered it more and it became clear. Feeling is just what it implies – physical sensation. Everything else is thought.

Back home, of course, I consulted Dictionary.com which defines thought as “the product of mental activity” while feeling as “ the function or the power of perceiving by touch” or “physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell or a particular sensation of this kind.”

“Physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell.” What physical sensation is that?

If I’m angry, I sometimes feel the blood rushing to my head. But when I feel loyalty, what is the physical sensation? Loyalty must be a thought then, not a feeling. I feel a sensation with anger, but the thought generates the feeling. The feeling doesn’t come all by itself, like the wind blowing in my face.

In meditation one thinks a lot about thoughts. Thoughts seem involuntary. Just try to get them to stop and you realize thoughts have a force of their own. We have a thought then react to our thoughts having either more thoughts or actual physical reactions – feelings.

This constant thought-reaction-feeling-thought-reaction-feeling is like a machine and takes constant energy to run. The energy it takes to run is our life force.

The five senses generate feeling and the thoughts generate feeling response.

Carl Jung had the four ego functions as feeling, thinking, sensation and intuition. Feeling and thinking are opposite and sensation and intuition are opposite.

In my astrology Meetup group there is a guy who thinks feeling is actually opposite sensation, thinking opposite intuition. I see his point.

You feel or sense, think or intuit. Sensation comes from the five senses while feeling arises from our thoughts. Generating feelings removes us from sensations.

Now I see that is why when my thoughts calm in meditation, my body begins to bother me. When you sleep, you have no awareness of your body. When you first wake, say after a night of drinking, you awake to sensation – your head throbbing, your mouth dry. Then you realize you’re late for work.

Thinking is cognitive while intuition returns a result without cognition. That’s when you “know” or “realize” something. If you are strong on intuition, thought seems an Amtrak that takes way too long to reach its destination. Thinking is silly string sticking all over in a confused mess. Intuition is like a laser beam focused and illuminating.

In Western astrology, fire and air are compatible as are water and earth. However, your opposite sign is a compatible element but the same mode.

For example, fire Sagittarius gets along with air Libra and air Aquarius but is opposite air Gemini. That’s because Sagittarius and Gemini are both mutable. Sagittarius is intuitive and “knows.” Gemini is thinking, constantly seeking stimulation and data.

In astrology, the sun is the conscious self, the active self. The moon is the emotional self or the reactive self. The sun is like the thoughts we have about ourselves, the moon the reaction to those thoughts.

The more I engage in meditation, the more I understand that it is not about changing your thoughts, reaction or external world. It is about acknowledging and understanding these thoughts and reactions so that you are not ruled by them.

My Chinese qi gong teacher wrote an article saying when you practice meditation and qi gong, you “jump out of the three dimensional world” and are not in the “five elements” (Chinese astrology has five elements).

I believe that to mean you can transcend your horoscope. But you must first be aware of your actions and reactions to do this. Until you do, you are both the horse leading the cart and the cart being led by the horse.

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Rupert Murdoch Transforms

Posted on July 21, 2011 by ohioastrology

Rupert Murdoch is close to his Uranus return. Uranus has an 84-year cycle and is returning to the sign and degree of where it was when Murdoch was born.

Since not everyone lives to 84, this is not an aspect discussed much. I consulted Robert Hand’s “Planets in Transit” and found the description wanting of anything but “hope you had a nice life.”

Astrologers talk a lot about the Saturn return, which occurs around the age of 29 because that age is when people “settle down.” We crystalize into our earthly patterns.

Uranus opposing its natal position, which occurs about the age of 42, is also written about extensively. It is the old “mid-life crisis.”

Uranus transits through each sign of its 84-year cycle in seven years – the old “seven year itch.”

So Uranus is an itch and a crisis. What is Uranus at 84?

Enlightenment, hopefully. Uranus is ultimately about enlightenment. The itches and crises (and anxiety) move us there.

While Murdoch is in the press (his very domain) for being a nosey scoundrel, his inner psyche may be going through some very, very intense experiences.

Neptune has just entered Pisces, the sign of Murdoch’s natal sun. Transiting Neptune will take years to conjunct Murdoch’s natal sun (around 2019). However, transiting Neptune is currently opposing his natal Neptune in Virgo.

Let’s start with the Uranus transit. Murdoch’s natal Uranus is in Aries, the sign of self. Remember, outer planets are generations. At age 80, many of your generation are no longer walking the earth so the issues that drove you as a youth are irrelevant to today’s youth. Until, of course, you are old enough to see those issues (like clothing) cycle back around.

Murdoch’s crisis of today is one that probably existed very strongly in his youth. In 1931, newspapers were the only source of timely information.

In 1931, William Randolph Hearst was the newspaper magnate. The movie Citizen Kane is based on his life. This year was just two years after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. In Europe and old war finished and a new war was on the horizon. In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire had just fallen. Asian was in the midst of defining itself.

Murdoch grew up in times of uncertainty so he can deal with unusual circumstances. His sun is in Pisces and his moon in Sagittarius, so he’s flexible and adaptable to the point of being irresponsible. Change he can deal with.

Uranus in Aries back in 1931 drove nations to define themselves differently. Uranus in Aries today may do the same. Aries is the headstrong self, the “me first” attitude.

While individual self-determination was needed back in 1931, in today’s global economy that same self-determination creates ripple effects across the planet that it might not have back in the early 20th century.

Back then I built a factory on Lake Erie and polluted the folks in Northern Ohio. Today I build an oil rig in the Gulf and pollute even larger regions and ecosystems.

Murdoch is learning about self-determination. He’s learning about the effects of his Arian drive on others.

The crisis is “But this is who I am!”

On to Neptune. Neptune in Pisces means we’re going to be feeling each other’s pain a little more. Lynn Hayes in her Astrological Musings talks about the times as having the potential for “tremendous spiritual transformation” or “mass delusion.” Or both, I assume.

Neptune has the ability to spiritualize or delude in the sign in which it’s placed. In Murdoch’s early years, Neptune spiritualized and deluded ideas of work and health. This Neptune opposition is telling him that maybe those weren’t the correct values. Or maybe they were. Neptune is undifferentiated and confusing.

Today Neptune will spiritualize and delude about spirituality itself. Murdoch might be thinking, “People don’t work hard today like they used to.” In his early years, factory life was the life. Today it still is in some parts of the world (like China) but a service industry is taking over some parts of the world (US, India).

Neptune in Pisces focuses on spirituality and the needs of the whole without regard to the contribution (work) provided. Last time Neptune was in Pisces, astrologer Hayes points out, the Communist Manifesto was written.

In one’s 80s, it appears, there is a lot of psychological transformation. In American culture, we don’t focus much on this in our movies and books. It must feel lonely to go through these transformations that are part of your generation when much of your generation isn’t around to share it.

Murdoch’s sun in Pisces and moon in Sagittarius is a drifter, both physically and emotionally. I can see why he would love gossip – Pisces loves secrets. I’m sure Murdoch has many secrets of his own. The current transformations he is experiencing are probably enjoyable to him, as Sagittarius loves risk and excitement.

Because so many of Murdoch’s transits relate to the year he was born, today’s events may reflect a return to a time he enjoyed.

These are “interesting times” for Murdoch. Maybe instead of snooping into other’s unimportant gossip, he could share a little of what’s going on in his own emotional and spiritual world.

That would be interesting.

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Dominion

Posted on July 20, 2011 by ohioastrology

Reading historical first-person narratives is a hobby of mine. Reading these works reveals words that have gone out of style such as economy (meaning “thrifty management”), industriousness and handsome (with regard to females).

I don’t think in today’s American culture we value handsome women who are industrious and economical. We sure did back in the 17th and early 18th centuries when women were hauled out to wild Ohio by their husbands to set up home and hearth in Indian territory.

Another word we hear little today is “dominion.”

According to my Random House College Dictionary, dominion is “The power or right of governing and controlling. Sovereign authority.”

When I hear the word “dominion” I immediately think of the Emperor in the Tarot deck. Some balk at the fact the emperor in the Tarot deck is portrayed as a male. I believe it’s an accurate archetype not because emperors or those with dominion must be male, but because dominion is a yang quality, as in yin and yang. Maleness itself is a yang quality. Yang produces maleness.

I believe dominion is yang because it is active as opposed to reactive. In today’s lingo we might say you should “own” a particular behavior. That is dominion. “Owning” your actions and taking responsibility for your life.

For me, astrology itself is about dominion. Not dominion over others, but dominion over the self. Because I see horoscopes as accurately reflecting behavior and personality, it suggests that we come into the world with a set of glasses we wear to view the world and a particular way of being. You might say astrology describes your DNA.

Dominion is the placement of the sun in the horoscope. The sun is the self, the head honcho in our horoscope. The sun is our own internal emperor who sits on the throne and governs our personality.

The sun rules.

The sun can be placed in one of 12 different signs. The characteristic of that sign in the area of your life where you seek dominion and where you can learn dominion of the self.

Your chart is you. Be you.

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Mine!

Posted on July 19, 2011 by ohioastrology

When I read about Native Americans, which I often do during Ohio summers, I begin to think about what it means to “own” something. Prior to contact, tribes had territories and fought over hunting and living ground, but no one “owned” the land.

Among many factors decimating the Native Americans (such as illness, sheer numbers of immigrants, weapons), this one may have contained a crazy element of surprise. Here’s where I hunt and now you call it “yours” and put a big building on it (and later housing developments,  freeways and a Walmart). The shock of someone simply saying they “owned” the land may have made the Native American response quizzically slow.

When children are in their “terrible twos” they are often known to grab things and yell “Mine!” Funny how we tell those children that sharing is good and not to yell “Mine!” But we yell “Mine!” all the time in this world.

The people who came to what is now the United States not only set foot on land and yelled “Mine!” they also captured other humans and yelled “Mine!”

Today multi-nationals are grabbing the water and food and yelling “Mine!”

What is “mine?”

From an astrological perspective, I believe Saturn and Capricorn are about defining societal structures, including this idea of owning property. If we didn’t own property, the result would be Neptune and Pisces – a boundary-less, undefined world. The owning creates the structure, not the other way around.

The structured Saturn fears the diffuse Neptune and calls Neptune “chaos” and “anarchy.”

How would you feel if you didn’t know that you lived in a place called the “United States?” How would you feel if you only knew that you lived on the earth? How would you feel if nothing was “yours?”

With Neptune transiting Pisces, you may begin to have these feelings.

While Neptune is transiting ethereal Pisces, Pluto is transiting rigid Capricorn. These outer planets take years to move through a sign and reflect the “times” and societal changes.

If Capricorn protects “mine” then Pisces promotes “ours.” It looks like we’ll be having some shift in ideas of mine and yours, yours and ours. (And Uranus in Aries assures we will fight for it.)

One reason to have something that is mine, such as my house, is protection. Mine protects me. I think we create “mine” to have a sense of security in a world that is not really secure. Saturn and Capricorn represent the “house” we build around ourselves for protection. This is often called a façade or shield or defense.

When reading about defenses in psychology books, I sometimes get the feeling defenses are seen as bad. I think defenses are a natural part of living in this world. Defenses gone extreme, like the US defense budget, is when we need to examine where our defenses are crippling our growth.

Neptune and Pisces are like wading in the water in the middle of the ocean. There is nothing to stand on. There is no boundary. There are no clear lines of demarcation and to survive in the middle of the ocean, you have to be in constant motion.

As it’s said, you’re born naked and die naked. You own nothing coming in and you own nothing going out. With Neptune in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn, I think we are going to have global lessons about “mine.”

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Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony – INTENSE and intense

Posted on July 18, 2011 by ohioastrology

There are so many break ups in the world. Maybe following Hollywood breakups is just a way to express our emotions about the break ups around us.

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are now calling it quits. As is my habit, I took a look at their charts.

While there are always many different aspects at play between any two individuals, at first glance of the two charts nothing popped out as “it” for why they might have broken up.

But that may be the very reason they broke up – nothing “it” enough to stay together. From the AP story I read, it appears they are parting amicably.

Rather than using left-brain analytical astrological talk, I thought I’d take the Chinese approach to looking at their charts. Chinese astrology, like Western, bases its imagery on the elements. Often the description of personality and behavior is more poetic and tied to those natural images.

First, the facts.

Lopez has sun and Mercury in Leo and squaring moon and Neptune in Scorpio. Saturn in Taurus squares the sun and Mercury. Her Mars is in Sagittarius, Venus in Gemini, Pluto in Virgo and Uranus/Jupiter conjunct in Libra.

Leo is a fixed fire sign. Scorpio is a fixed water sign. Combined is very INTENSE.

Anthony has five planets in Virgo (Jupiter, Pluto, sun and Uranus) and moon in Cancer. He’s also got a little bit of fire (Mars in Leo and Saturn in Aries) and little bit of air (Mercury and Venus in Libra). Anthony is also intense, but lowercase and in a different way.

Now the poetry, modern-style.

Lopez is both like a constant, strong flame such as the sun and also like fixed water such as a block of ice. Combined I think of the icy patch you use when you sprain a muscle. Is it hot or cold? It’s both and very intensely both.

Lopez is hard like a block of ice that is both hot and cold to the touch. She’s not the ice cubes you put in your gin and tonic. She’s hot, not cold. Her heat and passion is so extreme, it becomes its opposite – cold. My tai chi teacher explained that the sigmoid curve of the tai chi symbol represents that when a quality becomes extreme, it becomes its opposite.

Anthony’s Virgo is a mutable earth sign. Cancer is a cardinal water sign. Mutable earth is like the branches of a tree, swaying in the wind. They don’t break because they bend. Cancer is cardinal water, persistent but not forceful, like the dripping of a faucet. That persistent drip adds up to a lot of water if you put a bucket underneath. It’s a powerful drip, but you don’t notice its power because it’s the small adding up to the large.

Anthony is gentle but driven by the small details. He’s like a squirrel running around all day hiding nuts. Little by little he builds up his storehouse of food so he doesn’t have to worry (Virgo is a worrier) about winter.

Lopez is INTENSE about emotions and Anthony is intense about the little things in life. He says the picture frame is uneven she takes it off the wall, throws it at his head and says “I don’t care, show me you love me.”

Lopez is rightly a diva. Some are born this way; she is one.

Anthony was born with fine-tuned discrimination. He could be a piano tuner or scientist working with precision instruments. He could be a surgeon or cut pieces of sushi that are works of art.

Anthony’s confidence comes from his ability to do something so well that he can’t question himself. Lopez’s confidence comes from just being herself – no justification needed.

In societies that traditionally used astrology for matchmaking, they didn’t look for love. They looked for compatibility with the assumption the man would be the dominant force. In that way, these two are not necessarily compatible.

However, they do balance in qualities with Lopez focusing on larger-than-life and Anthony focusing on the details of life. Balance, however, is not always passion.

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Richard Cordray, Mr. Persistent

Posted on July 17, 2011 by ohioastrology

President Obama is planning to nominate Richard Cordray, Ohio’s former Attorney General, to head a new financial protection bureau.

Cordray has a quiet but extensive history in Ohio politics having been a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, state solicitor, county treasurer, state treasurer and attorney general. I met him at a candidate fair in 1992 when he was running against Deborah Pryce for U.S. House of Representatives. He appears to have shot too high too early and backed off to gradually work his way up the political ladder.

Without looking at his chart, I’ve always felt he was persistent. He lost in 1992 but kept showing up on the ballot.

Cordray has sun in Taurus, a fixed earth sign which is known for grounded qualities such as persistence.

Cordray has both a grand earth and grand water trine (although widely aspected). He is both a practical and warmly emotional individual.

So what’s driving this man to politics?

Saturn is in the sign of Capricorn. Saturn rules Capricorn and enjoys being in its own sign. Saturn in Capricorn makes one a serious individual and highly ambitious driven to seek status. Because Saturn is where we feel some burden, limitation or insecurity, that Cordray is driven by his Saturn suggests his political ambitions stem from the need to prove himself through worldly success.

The earth trine in Cordray’s chart is between sun, Saturn and Pluto, all planets that rule dominion, authority and power.

The moon in Pisces, on the other hand, makes for a dreamy, imaginative individual. I suspect he once stared out windows and doodled in his notebook rather than paying attention to the teacher. Neptune opposite the sun adds to the effect of sometimes being in another, imaginative, world. Sometimes Cordray just isn’t “here.”

While Cordray’s chart is strong in earth and water, that Uranus in Leo squares his Taurus sun. I bet he sometimes takes unexpected risks, usually to prove himself in some way (Leo).

What does Cordray’s year look like?

Jupiter is transiting Taurus and will be right on top of Cordray’s natal sun by the fall. Jupiter “expands what it finds” as astrologer Jan Snodgrass says. For Cordray, it will expand financial security. He will feel good about his money and property and himself. Maybe like Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is also a Taurus, Cordray will spontaneously give away money.

Cordray may also make some wild financial speculations as Jupiter will be squaring that natal Uranus in Leo. That square also makes me wonder if Cordray will be starting his own business.

While the feeling of financial security is growing, Pluto is transiting Cordray’s natal Saturn. This is a very powerful aspect. It suggests intense power struggles. But the aspect is trine the natal sun/Pluto so Cordray will probably handle these struggles well.

The Pluto/Saturn conjunction will be like dealing with radioactive energy. The energy is intense, must be handled skillfully and can burn you into a black hole if you’re not careful.

While Cordray has a strong earth trine with powerful planets involved, he also has that Pisces moon and Mars in Cancer which make for a sensitive individual. Regardless of how well he externally handles this radioactive political environment, internally he will be affected.

Someone like Cordray has to watch his health at times like this. Sensitive people pick up on energies and if he has to hide those feelings, the feelings could manifest as illness. The illness would probably be a strange, difficult to diagnose illness.

If that wasn’t enough, transiting Neptune is in Pisces moving in the next ten years onto his natal moon. I suspect his time in national politics will be colored with this Neptunian energy.  Neptune is spiritual, emotional, creative and sacrificing.

Part of politics is Saturn – rules, laws. Part of politics is Pluto – power. And part of politics is Neptune – the zeitgeist.

Cordray will feel part of the times and the movements that occur while he’s in office. What he won’t like are any personal attacks that come as a result of his actions or decisions.

Cordray’s chart is a balanced chart. He has planets in all the elements and modes. He has two trines which offset the squares that exist. But he is more sensitive than he appears so he really should take care to protect himself from negative energy that emerges in politics.

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Miranda July Wins “Honorary Pisces” Award

Posted on July 16, 2011 by ohioastrology

After seeing “Me, You and Everyone We Know,” I would have bet the farm that Miranda July, the writer, was a Pisces.

I was wrong.

It’s a good thing I don’t own a farm or know anyone that would make an astrological bet with me.

July is actually an Aquarius with moon in Sagittarius.

The movie is so filled with Pisces imagery that it still makes me wonder if it was deliberate. But as I write I realize that much of Pisces imagery is also Jesus imagery. Jesus was born (if you believe he existed) in the age of Pisces (if you believe in astrology).

What are those images?

  • Fish. The fish bowl on the car. Pisces is the sign of two fishes swimming in opposite directions.
  • Feet. The boyfriend was a shoe salesman. Pisces rules the feet.
  • Film. July’s character creates video art. Pisces is ruled by Neptune which rules motion pictures. Images have such power, I still marvel at it.
  • Me, you and everyone we know. That is all of humanity. Pisces is about merging rather than individuation.
  • Raw, unfiltered emotion. July’s character responds with honest, childlike emotion that feels the joy and pain of every living thing.

I can’t recall if the movie contained sacrifice, a big Piscean trait (and Jesus trait).

There are two marks of Pisces in July’s chart: Mercury in Pisces and Neptune conjunct the moon in Sagittarius. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces.

Mercury is about communication. July certainly communicates in a very Piscean way, emotional, undifferentiated and obtuse.

However, Saturn is in Gemini, the sign of communication, suggesting difficulty and insecurity in communicating. July probably thinks all night and day and I bet her thoughts won’t let her sleep. She’s on a high intellectual plane that is difficult to communicate to others.

The moon in Sagittarius is expansive, risk taking and unreliable. Neptune on the moon in Sagittarius adds what deceased astrologer Howard Sasportas called the “quest for the sublime.”

There are definitely some Piscean and Neptunian influences in July’s chart.

But stepping away from the watery Pisces and Neptune, the fog clears. July’s chart is mostly comprised of fire and air – intuition and intellect, enthusiasm and socialness. July’s chart isn’t near as watery as I would have guessed.

The sun and Jupiter are conjunct in Aquarius a fixed air sign. It is the sign of friendship, brotherhood and humanity. July does seem to have humanity in mind when creating art.

I see Aquarius as seeking the perfect universe, utopia. Aquarius is fixed and firm in its unusual ideas. Aquarius is also the rebel. Combined with Sagittarius we have a crusader – a headstrong, righteous crusader.

I now suspect that July’s diffuse, obtuse, undifferentiated emotion masks a true crusader with a very specific message. What message?

Since Pisces imagery is also Jesus imagery, I’m wondering if there is a hidden religious message in her work. While the moon in Sagittarius conjunct Neptune is openly messy about connecting the threads of its beliefs, Aquarius is actually very neat and tidy about its ideas.

I’m now wondering if July’s emotionally raw expression isn’t simply a tactic to challenge our culture rather than an expression of her personal emotions. Aquarius is actually hyper-rational, not emotional.

July is clearly a unique individual and probably has very, very clear ideas about every subject. I suspect if she explained her ideas, others would be confused because the strings that tie them together would be extensive and unusual. Both Aquarius and Sagittarius are unrestricted in thinking. This combination would not have the least conflict about carrying ideas contrary what others think.

That Saturn in Gemini suggests that she does want you to understand and really can’t understand why you don’t.

Mars and Venus in her chart are in earth signs, suggesting that no matter how absentminded she appears to be, she will know if you haven’t sent the paycheck. She can be grounded when the need arises.

I suspect July is trying to say something very specific and we’re just not getting it. I also suspect that if you were to disagree with her ideas, she would argue with you until the wee hours of the morning.

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Kasich Promises $2 million for Research – a Jupiter Transit Story

Posted on July 15, 2011 by ohioastrology

Back at an American Federation of Astrologers convention in 1992, the astrologer Jan Snodgrass said in a lecture that Jupiter, when transiting, “expands what it finds.”

Some think of Jupiter as being solely benevolent. This astrologer clarified that it expands whatever it finds. If it finds charity, it expands charity. If it finds gambling, it expands gambling. She debunked the myth that Jupiter is solely “good.”

John Kasich, governor of Ohio, has Jupiter transiting his natal Jupiter in Taurus. By spring of next year, it will be transiting his natal Taurus sun.

I don’t know Kasich’s time of birth so can’t tell what area of his life this Jupiter normally affects. Astrologically, Taurus is money and property so it’s no wonder that the expansive Jupiter moved Kasich to spontaneously offer Children’s Hospital $2 million for research.

Looking at Kasich’s chart from a personal standpoint, I would guess his generosity springs from his own feeling of financial security. He feels good about his money, so now he will offer you some. If Kasich did not feel financially secure himself, he probably would not have made that offer.

Money represents our values. How we spend our money reflects what is important to us.

While Kasich is offering up money from nowhere for research into children’s health, on the other side of the financial coin he is taxing teachers to take salary cuts and pay more for their own health care.

In the Columbus Dispatch story, Kasich said that pediatric research was “a priority.” Pediatric education, it seems, is not. Kasich is telling us his priorities by telling us how he wants to spend his money.

It makes me wonder if Kasich has a sick child in his life.

Jupiter has expanded Kasich’s method of showing his feelings by offering money. He probably does this in his personal life as well. You will know he’s happy because he has offered to buy dinner. Buying dinner is something a Kasich’s Capricorn moon doesn’t do often.

The news here is that Jupiter is transiting Kasich’s natal Jupiter in Taurus. Kasich is happy and offering us presents. This is the old “dad’s in a good mood, let’s go ask him to buy us pizza for dinner” moment.

Seize the moment.

And look under the couch cushions for loose change.

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