A Tale of Two Capricorns: Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson

Posted on March 23, 2011 by ohioastrology

As you are now aware, having assiduously kept up with this blog, Pluto is transiting Capricorn. Our horoscopes contain all signs of the zodiac so we all have Pluto transiting a particular house in our charts. If you are a sun sign Capricorn, you will have Pluto transiting your sun at some point in the next 20 years.  Pluto, the great destroyer and transformer, will be challenging your Capricorn traits – practicality, responsibility, reputation, serious mindedness, rigidity, authoritarianism. Two famous Capricorns have already taken the hit – Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson.

The astrological key phrase for Capricorn is “I use.” Capricorn likes to make use of the world, to be productive, to accomplish something. Capricorn is related to authority and ambition and loves being on the top of the organization chart. The ultimate desire of Capricorn is to be respected.   Capricorn wants an old-fashioned “good reputation.” When Pluto comes a knockin’, all that will be challenged.

Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson both have Sun in Capricorn. They share ambition to be top dog, top-of-the- ladder authority figures.  Congratulations to both on making it. That’s nothing to sneeze at.  How to remain top dog is the current challenge for both men.

Gibson’s natal moon is in Virgo, Woods’ is in Sagittarius. Gibson is much more serious than Woods.  Woods’ moon is Sagittarius is the same moon placement as Charlie Sheen. Both are living it up, but at the expense of their practical, earthy sun signs.

While it was recently revealed that Woods was having extramarital affairs, astrologically his big transformation with women came back around 2000 when Pluto was transiting his moon. My guess is that something very disillusioning happened in a romantic relationship at that time.  Woods’ natal Neptune is conjunct moon suggesting a great idealization of women. He probably idealized someone to the point where that person fell from grace. Woods is a Capricorn, so at some point he got critical and noticed his goddess was just a mortal woman.

Pluto is a planet with a very long cycle. It doesn’t show up in your chart one day and bring new trouble. The transformations you experience under a Pluto transit are the result of build-up and break-down of the energies and patterns of all the planetary cycles in your chart. Your inner development affects how this transit will manifest.  Woods’ current fall from grace appears to have happened off-TV several years ago. Pluto has simply said, “By the way, Mr. Woods, it’s time to get that situation out of your system.” The Woods we are viewing now is the Woods that has existed for some time.  Woods’ hasn’t changed; Pluto simply said that it’s time to review that pattern.  Because Woods is famous, we get to experience this with him.

Gibson should have an easier time during this transit, although Pluto is also exposing elements of his past. Gibson, with moon in Virgo, is actually a great worrier. I’m guessing the angry outbursts are a result of excessive worry and fear of losing control. Capricorn hates to lose control.

Gibson has Mars and Saturn conjunct in Scorpio. Natal Pluto in Leo squares this volatile conjunction.  While Capricorn is not always known to be a “nice” sign and Virgo is critical and discriminating, this conjunction in Scorpio adds to a general nastiness. Sexual politics are rife with this configuration. As with Woods, the effects of the Pluto transit did not occur in a void.  Pluto is razing issues not resolved. For Gibson, there are sexual control issues stemming from the early 1990s.The early 1980s was advent of a new sexual disease – AIDS. Those sowing their wild oats in the 1980s had a great black cloud looming over their sexual adventures. For hyper-married Gibson, there may have been great changes in his marital sexual relationship at that time. He may not be affected with a communicable disease, but he caught something at that time, something that is unresolved today.  Pluto makes a sextile to that Scorpio energy so I believe Gibson will resolve this conflict peacefully.  If he weren’t famous, maybe he would not have gotten drunk and had hissy fits in public. Gibson’s isn’t a chart of drinking; it’s a chart of extreme criticism. I’m sure he’s as hard on himself as he is on those people he lambastes.  Drinking is probably a means to simply relax that worrying, nagging mind.

The moral of the story is that Pluto pulls out the weeds of your life and throws them on the ground in front of you. If you’ve consistently plucked your weeds and kept your soil nourished, you should be okay in the Capricorn area of your chart. If you have not, Pluto will clean the soil for you (no thanks necessary) to allow you to grow your next batch of flowers and vegetables without toxins.

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Lindsay Lohan: Tough Girl?

Posted on March 21, 2011 by ohioastrology

Remember this about your Sun in Cancer friends who act tough and talk rough:  your friend is hiding. Cancer is a very sensitive water sign and I regularly find Cancers who hide this behind an exterior of toughness. I wouldn’t suggest they do otherwise. If a sensitive gazelle stops to smell the flowers and help a beetle across the road, it will probably get eaten by a lion. Sensitivity needs protection just like your skin needs clothing and sunscreen.

Not all Cancers, of course, hide behind toughness. Some just hide in their homes, probably in the kitchen. When Cancer is threatened, it retreats. Just watch a crab on the beach. You walk past and it darts into a shell. Don’t knock on the shell; it will do no good. The crab will only emerge when you are gone and it feels safe.

Lindsay Lohan has Sun in Cancer and seems to be putting on the tough act. Her moon is in Taurus, which is a strong, grounded earth sign. The combination suggests a love of home and hearth, inviting friends and family to share a home-cooked meal. This actress who wants to play Linda Lovelace probably doesn’t want to be seen as a woman who could be very happy as a wife and mother. The moon in Taurus is a very sensual placement that enjoys physical life, from being touched to eating food. Taurus is materialistic in a positive sense meaning it truly gets enjoyment from the physical aspects of life.  Materialism gone bad is when we buy things in a hope to get more than material pleasure such as status, respect, love, etc.

Lohan’s Mars in Capricorn opposes the Sun in Cancer which suggests that raw ambition is also part of Lohan’s personality, but in conflict with a desire for a more peaceful life of cooperation and belonging. Because Mars is in opposition, it suggests that others in her life are pushing her to be ambitious (her mother?). This opposition probably causes Lohan grief because other parts of her personality (Sun and Moon) do want to maintain peace with others. Her own ambition must make her feel guilty.

Why the drug use?

Drug and alcohol abuse is commonly associated with water signs and Neptune.  Cancer is a water sign, but I believe Lohan’s drug use stems from a lack of meaning in life and an inability to see problems from a detached and imaginative point of view.

First, Lohan’s chart lacks air (rising sign is not known).  Air is about socializing and communicating and is known for its detachment which allows air to move to new experiences.  Secondly, Saturn in Sagittarius suggests that Lohan does not see the bigger picture, the meaning, of life situations.  And third, Moon in Taurus can be quite literal, sometimes lacking an imaginative approach to life.

For all her fame, I sense the Lohan just doesn’t find any meaning in it and finds it boring.  I think the drug use stems from a desire to relieve the boredom.  I don’t think, with her lack of air, that she will ever find a compulsive social life meaningful.  Her chart suggests that meaning will be found in home, family and what are called “simple pleasures,” such as planting a flower.

If Lohan does engage some sort of spirituality, it will probably be an established religion.  Neptune in Capricorn suggests her spirituality is found in an established, older religion.  Maybe she will follow Madonna into Judaism.

As a sun in Cancer, Lohan needs to find her roots and a place to belong.  I don’t think that prison is where she belongs.  I hope she looks for the meaning of her life a little closer to home.

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks: Gemini and Sagittarius

Posted on March 20, 2011 by ohioastrology

Years ago while watching Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, I wondered how this very light story with corny special effects could have become so popular. The boy gets the princess – how many times have we seen that?  Why do people want to watch the same story over and over again, I wondered?  Later, I discovered the answer.  Through my study of astrology I began to understand archetypes. Star Wars was popular for the very reason I thought it should be unpopular – it’s an archetypal story that we do want to see over and over again. Star Wars is another version of the hero quest. Had I understood that the hero quest involves sons and fathers, I would have known immediately that Darth Vader would be more than simply a disgruntled old curmudgeon in a black mask. The hero quest involves us in the energies of courage and becoming ourselves and we like it whether in Star Wars or The Lion King.

Now when I view popular movies and TV shows, I look for the archetypes. The four characters in Sex and the City can fit into the mutable cross:  Carrie is Gemini the writer, Samantha is Sagittarius the independent crusader, Charlotte is Pisces, the empathetic art lover and Miranda is Virgo, the discriminating critic. Whether a writer cares one whit about astrology, there is still a need for balancing characters in a story that provides distinction to make them real thereby creating believable conflicts (such as judgmental Miranda telling fickle Carrie to break up with her boyfriend).

One of my favorite movies as a child was Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a Disney movie that involves witchcraft, something I bet Disney wouldn’t today have the courage to touch. (You can tell this blogger was meant to be an astrologer.  Give me witches, not princesses). Bedknobs and Broomsticks is set in WWII England. Three children are sent from war-torn London to live in the countryside with the spinster Eglantine Price.  Price is bothered by having three little guests.  For one, she’s not motherly, as we can see when she serves nettles to three youngsters who are craving sausages.  Secondly, she’s an apprentice witch enrolled in the Emelius Browne Correspondence College of Witchcraft.  Price is working on a spell for “substitutiary” locomotion in an attempt to help with the war effort.

Price is doing pretty well with the substitutiary locomotion spell, but needs the final page.  Unfortunately Browne has sent a letter informing his students that the College has suddenly and unexpectedly closed.  Using a traveling spell, Price and the kids hop on the bed, use the bedknob to activate the spell and travel, bed and all, from the countryside to London to find Browne.

Price and the kids do find Browne, who is the quintessential con artist selling magic tricks on Portobello Road. Upon facing one of his “students,” Browne tries to flee until Price, using one of “his” own spells, turns him into a rabbit.  Shocked to discover the spells work, Browne joins Price and children in the continuing magical quest that takes them to different parts of London then under the sea to an entirely submerged kingdom.

Browne, as con artist, is the Gemini.  Gemini, a mutable air sign, is known for its native intelligence, interest in surroundings, constant boredom and need for continual stimulation.  Gemini rules the hands, which, according to magicians, are quicker than the eye.  Browne, living in bombed-out London, is surviving on his wits, squatting in an old mansion.  The old mansion has an equally old library with ancient manuscripts, including a dusty old tome of magic spells.  Browne has simply done what he needs to get by and when trouble arises, he flees.  There is a big bomb, however, right in front of the mansion which is why the occupants are no longer there.  Trouble, obviously, is imminent.

Price, as the believer in magic spells for her crusade to help the war effort, is the Sagittarius, a mutable fire sign.  Her belief in the spells makes the spells work (which is a bit Piscean as well).  Sagittarius is known for its optimism and aversion to any input that is contrary to its ideals.  Price is the doey-eyed idealist, sure that her mission will be accomplished.  She travels (Sagittarius loves travel) to London on her bed to find Browne then uses the bed to continue the magical quest to find the last lines of the spell on substitutiary locomotion.  Late astrologer Howard Sasportas associated Jupiter, which rules Sagittarius, with the quest for the sublime, the quest for our own “greatness.”  How sublime to sit on one’s bed and travel to other dimensions. (Hey, don’t we do that every night when we sleep!)

Both Gemini and Sagittarius want to know.  Gemini travels near and Sagittarius travels far.  Both signs have an attraction to things “foreign.”  Your Gemini friend is the one who, on that drive downtown, spots a new store and has to stop and see what it is.  Your Sagittarius friend is the one who might say no to a night out but will spend a night in poring over travel books and dreaming of far-away lands.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks joins the Gemini con artist with the Sagittarius believer on a magical quest to find a “spell” that will help end the war.  What a mission.  I now realize I didn’t initially like Star Wars because the hero quest doesn’t appeal to me personally.  The quest for the sublime, on the other hand, I can watch over and over.

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Barack Obama: The Ohio Astrology Profile

Posted on March 14, 2011 by ohioastrology

While looking at Obama’s chart the other day, I realized his moon is in Gemini, not Taurus as I had thought.  Hmm.  That’s an astrological Freudian slip on my part and worthy of exploration.

Obama’s sun is in Leo, a fixed fire sign, represented by the lion, the king of the jungle.  Leos have strong egos and are natural leaders because of their preternatural belief in themselves.  Taurus is also a fixed sign, an earthy one, which would have added more stubbornness to an already fixed sign and also a little sensuality and groundedness.  The story that Obama always tells where Michelle asks him to stop on the way home for milk (or was it bread?) sounded plausible with a Taurus moon kind of guy.  Not so much with a Gemini moon kind of guy.  With moon in Taurus, you ask him to bring milk home because this earth sign likes to eat.  With moon in Gemini, you ask him to bring milk home so that he actually comes home.

Using 8/4/61 with a birth time of 7:24 pm in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama has an Aquarius rising and moon in Gemini.  The natal Leo sun is in the 6th house with Saturn and Jupiter in the 12th (in Capricorn and Aquarius, respectively).  The first sense I have of this chart is that Obama has to work harder than he’d like and often finds himself in positions beneath what he feels he deserves.

The 6th house relates to work, service, health and pets.  The house is ruled by Virgo, a sign I believe has a fragile ego because big egos and service are not compatible.  Now put a sign like Leo in the 6th house and you have an inherent problem.  Leo is about royalty, not service.  He could, of course, be very proud of being of service.  Even though I know he’s President of the United States, I still get the sense he feels he’s not getting the full ego-benefits of this position, for whatever reason.

Saturn in the 12th house signifies, to me, the loss of a father or father figure.  Father figures relate to archetypes of authority and I find those born during the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn tend to have issues with authority and established religions.  Buried deep in Obama’s 12th house, this conjunction suggests to me that Obama is a rebel with issues regarding authority.  What I mean by issues with authority is an inability to respect anyone in a position of authority simply because they are in authority.

Now onto Moon in Gemini, the subject that brought you this blog today.  As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, the American electorate has never been too fond of Geminis, those political wafflers.  Gemini is a mutual air sign known for its intellect, curiosity and constant need for mental stimulation.  Obama’s Gemini moon is in the 4th house signifying a great emotional restlessness.  Gemini, the sign of the twins, is often seen as having more than one personality because of Gemini’s ability to see all sides of a situation.  Because of this ability and the ability to talk persuasively, Gemini is also associated with con artists.  Gemini is unpredictable and changeable, something the American public appears to dislike.

The moon in Gemini squares Obama’s Pluto in Virgo in the 7th house.  I consider the moon/Pluto square to be the mark of a politician.  Pluto is the planet of transformation and the moon is the “planet” that represents our emotional reactive nature.  Pluto square moon suggests a controlling person, and someone who is or has been controlled by a female, probably the mother.

In summary, Obama is a more complicated person than he appears.  He is not simply a family man who decided to go into politics.  He is a man deeply embedded in authority and power structures.  Obama is a rebel who worked to be in control.  He is clever and knows what he’s doing, every inch of the way. More power to him, as they say.

Uranus, the great awakener, has just moved into Aries and into Obama’s second house, the house of values and property.  Uranus will be making positive aspects to his sun and moon, energizing him.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I think Obama will be seeking some sort of financial independence, possibly kicking someone off of the payroll.  It appears to be in his personal life, not political life.  It will be a good thing for him, something that will make him feel free.

Neptune will be moving into Pisces, further away from Obama’s Aquarius ascendant, but still in the 1st house.  Aquarius, the rebel, will be replaced with Pisces, the savior.  I suspect that Obama will either become more spiritual or will bring some sort of spirituality into the public sphere.  He needs to be careful who he trusts, obvious advice for a politician of course, but still relevant to Obama as an individual.

Pluto is still transiting Obama’s 11th house, the house of friends, associations and groups.  Pluto will stay in that house throughout Obama’s presidency, one or two terms.  It will leave Obama’s 11th house and enter the 12th around 2016, the time when a two-term presidency would end.  At that time, Obama will begin dealing with those hidden authority issues.  Maybe after being one of the top authority figures on the planet, Obama will explore what it really meant to have power.

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Charlie Sheen the Perfectionist

Posted on March 5, 2011 by ohioastrology

I feel for Charlie Sheen.  He’s paid $1.8 million an episode to play himself.  Then, when he gets off work, he acts like himself and gets in trouble.  Then he arranges TV interviews where he acts like himself (and his character on Two and a Half Men) and people think he’s a jerk.   Then the show where he plays himself is canceled because of all this.  Charlie Sheen is confused.  If his character, Charlie Harper, which is essentially Charlie Sheen, is so attractive to the television audience, why isn’t he attractive in real life?

Charlie Sheen is a Sun-sign Virgo.  There was another famous Sun-sign Virgo who also had this trouble with identity – Michael Jackson.  Is this a Virgo problem?

Virgos born during the late-1950s through the mid-1960s have been blessed or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with Uranus and Pluto transiting Virgo at the time they were born.  That means in the charts of these Virgos, Uranus and Pluto are conjunct their natal suns.  Many years ago I pondered why the Virgos around me seemed so extreme, a quality I associated more with Aquarius than Virgo.  I then remembered that Uranus, the planet of sudden awakenings and Pluto the planet of transformation, were conjunct and sitting on the top of the sun-sign Virgos of my generation.   Virgos born during this time will experience lives of awakenings and transformations.  Since Virgo isn’t a sign necessarily seeking these kinds of extreme experiences, it can be difficult for them.

Virgo born during the late-1950s through mid-1960s have the typical qualities of discrimination, perfection, service and interest in health & diet, but in extreme.   If these Virgos go on a diet, they don’t merely count calories.  They eat celery and cranberry juice only for six days then have a seven-course meal on Sundays.  Now you know where the weird diet fads have come from.  As I write, I realize anorexia and other eating disorders have increased with this generation.   Anorexia is perfection in extreme.

So how does this relate to Charlie Sheen?  In addition to Sun in Virgo, Sheen has Moon in Sagittarius, Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Gemini.  The astrologers out there recognize this as a very intense mutable grand cross.  Sheen has most of his chart in mutable signs indicating he is moody, changeable and unpredictable.  When in trouble, Sheen avoids.

The public image Sheen is creating relates mostly to the Moon in Sagittarius, a freedom-loving fire sign that is not known for responsibility and boundaries.  The open drinking, sexing and partying is Moon in Sagittarius talking.  I’m sure Sheen’s moon is having a good time.  But how is Sheen’s Sun in Virgo feeling?

I suspect that Sheen’s Sun in Virgo does seek perfection in extreme and because perfection is not truly achievable, he reacts by becoming the bad boy.  I’m guessing his internal talk goes something like this, “Since I can’t be perfect, I may as well be bad.  Entirely bad.  Perfectly bad. ”

Also involved in this grand square is Saturn in Pisces, opposing the Virgo wall of perfection. While all this partying and reaction against perfection is in place, Saturn is whispering in Sheen’s ear that he is really worth nothing, and that true spiritual connection with those around him will never occur.  With a message like that, it is difficult not to feel what is called “depression.”

This generation of Uranus conjunct Pluto opposing Saturn occurred during the Hippie Movement.  Remember when people dropped out and fought against the establishment?  Those born during these times have this energy in their DNA.  Sheen has an inner hippie, fighting against authority.

This is complicated stuff.  Virgo and its opposite sign Pisces do not have the strong egos of other signs.  I believe that is because both signs relate to service and to be of service to others, you can’t carry a strong ego with you.

So why do we like Charlie Harper but not Charlie Sheen?  My guess is that we use television to vicariously live and feel aspects of ourselves we don’t want to create in daily life – which I consider a good thing.  I can watch a horror film of someone being chased with a knife, feel the fear and scream my own inner fears and frustrations into the movie theater.  I’d prefer not to have the actual knife and masked pursuer in my life.

Charlie Harper the character can help Charlie Sheen the person express and feel the negative aspects of his personality before he self-destructs.  Hopefully Sheen can learn the difference before it’s too late.  Sheen’s recent interviews suggest he doesn’t understand that Charlie Harper will never die, but Charlie Sheen will.

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The Return of Authority – more on Pluto in Capricorn

Posted on March 2, 2011 by ohioastrology

I’m reminded once again that Pluto is transiting Capricorn.  As I mentioned in my blog “Pluto in Capricorn – Christmas is Over,” Capricorn is the contraction after the Pluto in Sagittarius expansion.  Remember our religious wars during Pluto in Sagittarius?  Religious war faded as the US economy collapsed and Americans and American politicians focused on problems at home.

As an unabashed bleeding-heart liberal, I feel that our politicians bringing their political attention back from abroad is giving the American citizen a taste of what our politicians have been pushing beyond our borders – authoritarianism.  From dictionary.com authoritarianism is:  “favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom.”  An example is Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 amendment.

According to a Columbus Dispatch article on Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 amendment, “Binding arbitration for safety forces would be replaced by a procedure giving ultimate authority over contracts to elected officials, according to a key provision of a massive amendment to a bill that would sharply curtail collective bargaining rights.”  The key phrase here is “ultimate authority.”  Hello Capricorn.

 Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign that rules the 10th house of the chart, the house at the top that represents your career, your reputation and your status in society.  Like the lonely man at the top of the mountain, Capricorn has a compulsion to climb those peaks and be at the top, controlling from above.  Capricorn is the CEO.  Capricorn is the manager.  Capricorn is the politician.  Capricorn makes the rules.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, the great taskmaster who creates structure.  Societies need structure, which are also called “rules.”  Imagine if there were roads but no signs, no rules, no directions.  Imagine the chaos.  Ohio had a horrible wind storm several years ago and some traffic lights were out for days.  I vowed after that storm that I would never, ever feel frustrated when being stuck at a red light (which, of course, I have since forgotten).  Rules can be frustrating; that is why Saturn and its placement in your chart are areas of discipline and structure rather than areas of fun and excitement.   But Saturn is necessary.

Pluto in the sign of Capricorn means we are collectively experiencing a transformation of the structure of society, of its rules and its authority.  I say collectively because Pluto is an outer planet with a long cycle which represents cycles that affect entire generations.  As with any sign, Capricorn has its extremes.  Structure is necessary.  Too little structure creates chaos and confusion.  Excessive structure creates oppression.

The current amendment to Senate Bill 5, according to the Columbus Dispatch, would “eliminate the right to strike for all public employees.”  As a liberal, I find this an extreme rule that tries to create order by forcing people to relinquish their freedom and accept authority.   In trying to keep the economy under “control,” politicians are promoting structure that imprisons rather than structure that creates order.

I am expecting that we will have these types of political struggles as Pluto transits Capricorn through 2023.  And while Pluto is transiting Capricorn, the great awakener and creator of sudden events, Uranus will be in Aries for some of that time.  Aries and Capricorn have what is called a “square” relationship – one of friction.  Aries, also a cardinal sign, wants, like Capricorn, to lead and take charge.  Aries is not, though, about structure, but about starting new ventures, being the first sign of the zodiac (and a fire sign to boot).  Aries is the plant pushing up from the soil and breaking through to reach the sunlight.  Capricorn is the fence around the garden.  This should be fun . . .

The beginning of Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus moving into Aries, which is occurring as we speak, is the collapse of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.  As authoritarianism is waning abroad, it seems to be gathering strength domestically and in Ohio.

Ohio’s current governor, John Kasich, has natal moon in Capricorn.  For him, these excessive rules make perfect sense because moon in Capricorn is emotionally reserved and accepting of extreme limits.  Moon in Capricorn is not comfortable having or expressing emotions.  When Kasich is at a loss of any sort, my guess is that a rule or mandate will arise.

Because Kasich’s moon is in Capricorn, this transit of Pluto in Capricorn will be touching him personally and well as collectively.  Kasich will experience emotional forces that will upset his carefully-controlled emotional balance.  As the moon also relates to women, I expect Kasich will have transformations with the women in his life over the very same issue he faces in politics – control.

Pluto in Capricorn will help us collectively revisit, transform and then re-define the “rules” we chose to live by as a society.  Uranus in Aries squaring this transit suggests people aren’t going to apathetically accept the new rules.  As in Egypt, I expect Americans to go into the ring and fight.

Oh, I wish Peter Tosh were here now (“Get up, stand up,” . . .).

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Communication is Overrated

Posted on February 27, 2011 by ohioastrology

One day a friend was lying to me.   Upset, I decided to look through my binder of horoscopes and find the common element in the charts of everyone I thought had lying tendencies.  I was going to find the “mark of a liar.”  I learned something very important that day.

We all lie.

I learned that we all lie differently.  The bigger lesson, the lesson of astrology that I proclaim over and over, is that we all have the same signs and planets.  We are the same.  We’re the same in different ways, our chart representing the unique way we experience the world.  So we all lie at times, we just lie differently and for different reasons.

In our charts, Mercury is the planet representing communication.  In my great quest to find liars, I discovered that individuals with Mercury is water signs and/or aspected to Neptune communicate in a way I think of as “lying.”  That’s because my Mercury is in Capricorn, a practical no-nonsense earth sign.  If I’m hungry I might say something like, “I’m hungry.”  If my Mercury in water sign friend with Neptune opposite is hungry, he/she may say, “I haven’t eaten for days.  I think I’m going to faint.”  That may not be true, in a Capricornian kind-of way.  But it may be how this Mercury in water feels.  It’s not a lie; it’s an expression, a feeling.

The importance of communication, to me, is way overrated.  You hear people say, “It’s so important in a marriage to communicate.”  At work we constantly and eternally try to improve communications yet people continually feel excluded or that the communication is not clear.  Where I work, we talk all day every day yet we feel we are not communicating.  Why?

To me, it’s not about communication.  It’s about agreement.  It’s about sharing a perception of the world.  Talking and writing are means for me to send data to you.  That’s all.

We are driving on a 1,000 mile road trip and I say, “I’m hungry.”   You respond that you are hungry as well.  My Mercury is in an earth sign so I make the logical leap that we are stopping for lunch.  Your Mercury is in an air sign so you are able to have hunger and ignore it because the long drive is helping you think through the details of your new invention.  We communicated.  We sent data to each other.   We soon learn that our initial communication was not enough.  We communicate more and hopefully at some point find agreement.  We either stop for lunch or we learn to keep snacks in the car.  Or we find other traveling companions.

I’ve been to several silent meditation retreats and am always amazed at how easily you can get along peacefully with your fellow man.  Who knew?  Talking not only isn’t necessary, it makes life complex.  At the silent retreats, we make an agreement before the silence on how we will live and how we will treat each other.  Because we signed up for the retreat and even paid some money, we agree.   We agree to get along and not complicate the agreement with unnecessary talk.  We don’t let the talk confuse the simple things we are doing like eating, walking, sitting and sleeping.

I’ve also learned from silent retreats how much my own talking is not truly about communicating.  I’ve learned that my talking is a way to appease others.  I have noticed during silence that a lot of the talking I would have done, had we not had given each other the gift of silence, would have been simply to grease the engine of the social interaction machine.  It’s embarrassing to realize the emptiness of most of my talk, how I talk to keep others from bothering me.

Mercury is still important, of course, being one of the Gods and one of the planets in our chart.  Mercury delivers meaning.  Mercury is the hyperlink on the web page, moving you from one topic to another.  Mercury is a text message.  Mercury is the thought “I’m hungry” that your belly sends to your brain.  Mercury is the iPhone I recently purchased that I look at 85% of my waking hours for texts and emails from my friends.  Mercury is great fun, sending me interesting tidbits of this and that all day long, from the weather report to the location of a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend eating dinner at a restaurant.

As anyone with an iPhone discovers, Mercury can take over your life.  The Internet allows Mercury to go mad, delivering, delivering, delivering.  Tweeting, tweeting, tweeting.   Sharing, sharing, sharing.  Blogging, blogging, blogging.

Mercury is a link but it is not the meaning.  The meaning is what Mercury is delivering.

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The Seven Year Itch

Posted on February 20, 2011 by ohioastrology

Each planet has a cycle.  The cycle is the time it takes the planet to revolve around the sun.  Uranus, the planet of awakening, inspiration and sudden events has an 84-year cycle. 

Now remember that there are 12 signs of the zodiac.  If it takes Uranus 84 years to go through 12 signs that means it takes Uranus 7 years to go through each sign.  That means Uranus is traveling through one sign every 7 years in your horoscope and touching planets and areas of your life.  Every 7 years some aspect of your life will probably change suddenly.  It could be as simple as learning that you are allergic to milk and changing your dietary habits.  Or like the movie “The Seven Year Itch” you could decide to quit your job, divorce your partner, find a new lover and move to Bermuda.

The second option sounds more fun, but why do some people stop drinking milk and others disrupt their entire lives during a Uranus transit, I mean a 7-year itch?

The most important thing to remember about astrology is that we all have the same signs and the same planets in our charts.  Yes, we are all alike.  We are the same species and have the same needs and hunting ground.  What is different about each of us, what makes us unique, is the placement of those signs and planets.  We each have a unique view of the world, a view of one’s own.

How much Uranus awakens with sudden events depends on your level of “sleep” in certain areas of your life.  In Buddhism, there is the term “enlightenment.”  If we are to be “enlightened,” then that suggests we are in the dark.  We don’t need to awaken if we are not asleep.  Uranus will help you “enlighten” and “waken,” whether you care to or not.

Uranus is currently in the sign of Pisces, very soon moving to the sign of Aries.  Pisces is a water sign.  Anyone with Pisces strong in the chart will feel the effects of Uranus in whatever area of the chart Uranus happens to be passing through.  For the world as a whole, have you noticed the “sudden” water we are experiencing – tsunamis, floods and unusually high precipitation?  As Uranus moves into Aries, we may see sudden water change to sudden fire and explosion as Aries is a fire sign.  I would expect volcano activity to be more prevalent as well as explosions due to the buildup of unstable materials.  Maybe the current political “explosions” in the lands of oil (Middle East) are the first indication of where Uranus will be awakening the earth in the next 7 years.

Let’s look at Uranus in a personal chart, the chart of President Obama.  Using a birthday/time of 8/4/61 at 7:24 pm in Honolulu, Obama has a sun in Leo and moon in Gemini and an Aquarius rising.  Pluto is square moon, my personal “mark of a politician” indicator (see John Boehner, Mark of a Politician).  Neptune is square the Sun suggesting strong idealism that will not be subject to facts.

Are there areas where President Obama might be asleep?

Uranus has just moved into Obama’s second house, the house of “my money,” values and self-reliance.  Obama has Aries intercepted in that house, meaning the sign Pisces rules the cusp and the entire 30 degrees of Aries is captured in the second house.

Obama will be going through sudden, unexpected changes with his own money, property and other material goods.  The deeper level of “my money” is values.  Obama may find his values changing from Piscean compassion to Aries self-determination.  I get the impression of someone putting their foot down on a dependent monetary situation that has gone on for too long.

Obama is lucky in that Uranus in Aries will aspect positively his Sun (trine) and moon (sextile).  The awakenings won’t be harsh as the changes will involve aspects of his life that he has consciously wanted to change. When that occurs in a chart, the 7-year itch is a 7-year influx of energy and excitement.

Uranus will be squaring Obama’s natal Venus in Cancer.  This suggests his changes will cause conflict in the family.  He will be seen as seeking his personal goals over family goals.  He will see it as making others more self-reliant.

Uranus’ 7-year cycle can be an “itch” or an “inspiration,” depending on how you manifest the planets/signs in your own chart.  Uranus rules electricity.  If electricity hits the roof of your house, your house will be okay if you have something that conducts the sudden charge.  If you do not, the house will be damaged.  That, to me, explains how to handle Uranus.  Make sure you can conduct and release the energies of your life or they will suddenly erupt when Uranus strikes its bolt in that area of your chart.

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Confidence or Delusion?

Posted on February 19, 2011 by ohioastrology

I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence versus delusion.  What’s the difference?

In asking people and searching the Web, many people point out that it takes some sort of combination of confidence/delusion to follow a dream.  If people with big dreams, such as making the world’s best ice cream with the most unique flavors (i.e., Jeni’s ice cream), didn’t feel a great amount of something called confidence or delusion, we would all be eating supermarket ice cream.

The dictionary.com difference is that confidence is “belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities” while delusion is “a false belief or opinion.”  Both contain the word “belief.”  The difference is whether the object of belief is empirically true or false.  That may sound simple, but it’s not.

If I think I am the queen of England, that is clearly empirically wrong and you can call me deluded.  But if I think I can sing well and have a dream of winning American Idol, whether I can sing well is not necessarily “true” or “false.”   You could measure my singing on harmony, pitch, tune, etc. but then you’d also have to explain why Mick Jagger is famous and I can’t be.

I see confidence as a quality that allows you to forge into the world and delusion as a quality that keeps you sheltered from the world.  From an astrological perspective, I see confidence as relating the element fire and delusion as relating to the element water.  Fire represents enthusiasm and energy whereas water represents receptivity and emotion.  Taking this to the planets, the Sun is the active self and the moon the emotions, or reactive self.  Confidence is projecting the image you want to be and delusion is projecting the image of a need.

We like confident people and don’t like deluded people.   Why?

I think confident people project positive energy that is perceived as charisma.  Confident people are actively engaged with the world and are connecting to you to share the idea.  Deluded people, on the other hand, are projecting a negative energy that is perceived as dependent.  They are reaching out to you but asking you to share an agreement that you can’t see and fulfills their own emotional need.  The confident person may be asking you to believe that cars can one day fly and to invest in a flying car company.  The deluded person is asking you to believe that he is Napoleon and is ruling the world.  While you may not believe that cars can fly, you could.  It might even be fun to think about.  The enthusiasm of the confident person may even convince you to throw a few bucks at the idea.  But you will never believe your friend is Napoleon, so his efforts to convince you will drain you of energy.

Confidence, as a fire quality, perceives the possibilities and is trying to make those possibilities into reality.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  Delusion, as a water quality, is reacting to personal or group needs and wants others to agree so that the needs can be met.  Confident people find success in the world whereas deluded people find struggle in the world.

The line between confidence and delusion may be thin, but I believe confidence is what you need to succeed.  I think confidence is about possibilities and delusion is about need.  Convincing others to share in ideas is uplifting.  Forcing others to believe ideas that fulfill a person or group need is draining.

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George Voinovich

Posted on January 29, 2011 by ohioastrology

As a native of Cleveland, I have known George Voinovich as mayor, governor and senator.  While I have not followed his career closely, I associate him with popularity and a clean reputation – something rare among politicians.  I have further associated him with quiet politics – not one to show up on contentious political talk shows fighting with others from a clear political corner (like our current governor).

Having positive thoughts about him as a politician, I cast his horoscope wondering how this easy, breezy popularity looks on paper.  Much to my surprise, I found my changeable, not-made-for-politics friend Gemini.  And lots of emotional Cancer.

Voinovich’s sun is in Cancer, the cardinal water sign of emotions, mothering and family.  In addition to sun in Cancer, Voinovich has Mercury, Mars, Venus and Pluto in Cancer.  In case you lost count, that makes a total of five planets out of ten (Moon & Pluto are “planets” in the horoscope) in the sign of Cancer.  The driving need here is to BELONG.  The crab, Cancer’s symbolic representation, has the defensive mechanism of hiding in its shell when threatened.  Is the quiet politics I associate with Voinovich actually a form of hiding?

Hiding is necessary for such a sensitive creature, the crab, and the person born under the sign of Cancer.  Feelings are easily hurt.  What you said to Voinovich was interpreted in emotional ways you hardly meant and you can barely fathom.  He’s moody, quite moody.   Maybe his scarcity on the political talk shows is a way to hide his constantly changing moods.

The leftover five planets, those not in Cancer, are in Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces, Taurus and Gemini.  A little bit of earth (Virgo, Taurus), a little bit of fire (Sagittarius), a little bit of air (Gemini) and a little more water (Pisces).  The moon carries more weight, to me, than the other planets, which is the air sign in Voinovich’s chart.  I hereby pronounce that fire is the element least in attendance, with its outgoing nature, optimism and enthusiasm. 

Lack of fire and surfeit of water suggest one of Voinovich’s many mood swings includes some sadness or depression.  Saturn opposing Neptune adds weight to this.  Saturn and Neptune are the only opposition in Voinovich’s chart.  Lack of opposition in the chart suggests just that – the person doesn’t experience a lot of pressure from outside.  No clear, open enemy.  For example, if you were African American and grew up in the 1950s, you experienced clear, open opposition from society.  Or if you walked to school as a child and had the school bully beat you up and promise to quit only if you’d pay “protection money,” that is also clear, open opposition.  Voinovich doesn’t have a clear opponent.   Maybe that’s why his political career has seemed, to me at least, to be so effortless.

Not having open opposition may seem a blessing, but think twice about this.  Open opposition often helps people unite, develop identity and strong inner confidence from their own internal resources.  While I’m not suggesting we give others a hard time, external opponents can drive us to become our best selves, if we are aware enough to accomplish this feat while under the pressure of the opponent.  Of course, the opposite can happen as well – we believe our opponents ideas and dislike ourselves.

Now onto the topic I’ve been waiting for with this chart – the Gemini moon.  In my blog on Mike Dewine, who also has moon in Gemini, I mentioned how rare this sign is among presidential sun signs.  Take John Edwards, for instance.  Edwards has both sun & moon in Gemini.  As an astrologer, I had trouble believing that a double Gemini could be just a good, down-to-earth country boy.  And his running mate Kerry had moon in Gemini.  Gemini doesn’t fare well in American politics.

Why doesn’t Gemini appear much in American politics?

My guess is that Gemini cannot be consistent enough for the American public.  Gemini is the sign of the twins.  Not only does Gemini see both sides of a situation, Gemini may choose to live both sides.  In American political terms, Gemini is the “waffler.”  Remember when “waffle” came into the dialogue of American politics?  It was during the presidency of George H.W.  Bush – a sun sign Gemini and one-term president.  American politicians are not able to honestly develop and change their opinions once they’ve pitched a campaign speech.

Gemini, an air sign, is detached.  Gemini is looking for stimulation, easily bored and constantly needing new information, ideas, lights, action.  Attach this to five signs in Cancer and you have a very changeable emotional landscape.  Gemini duality suggests Voinovich as another area his life, or another life, that is very different than the one we see.

I am impressed that a man of so many moods and changing feelings has survived the intense arena of politics in such a graceful manner.   I can’t imagine what drove Voinovich to jump into the boxing ring – with all the planets in Cancer in his chart, I can only suspect family.

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