December 31 , 2005
The last day of the year and we just had a New Moon last night, so we certainly have a wave of new directions in which to go but we have to focus on the one that is the greatest priority; responsibility. Some on the right side of the spiritual-political spectrum are of the fascist persuasion and want to control your choices down to a few, eliminating competition the way the Inquisition did to eliminate pagan religions, yet maintained their celebrations as an enticement for the converts to feel comfortable. They use fear, limitation, manipulation, patriarchal domination and subjugation of the female-goddess energy to make life a bleak landscape of the wages of sin, working for money with no apparent benefit to human culture. Yet, when you come to the end of the year and the beginning of the new one, you can understand why the Romans chose to name the first month after Janus, the two-faced god. It is why all the news organizations seem to want to look back, while I like to look ahead, to see what the year will bring and what signs will be affected by what planets.

Scorpios are the sign most benefited this year by the presence of Jupiter in that sign until November, so make the most of the opportunities as they arise and consider yourself luckier than normal at this time. Saturn is in Leo all year and most Leos will be heavily affected for varying degrees of time because its transit spans 21 degrees from early Leo to near the end of the sign. Taurus people born in May get a jolt of Mars energy and rush around with much more of a buzz than usual. In six weeks, it will be time for Geminis to get a little more assertive with less thinking and more acting. Bringing the time frame into more currency, today we have a conjunction of Mercury to Pluto, so the ultimate change for anyone has to be a mental one, as without thought, we are nothing. As the year begins with a double Capricorn energy, it’s only appropriate that many people are depressed and frustrated with how they have been treated with such a lack of respect that they have lost respect for those in power. Those who cause or permit such tragedy as 9/11 or the Katrina damage, or are lax in policing hazards have to be held accountable and you will see a huge change in the makeup of the congress in the next election.

This is the Moon Wobble period, when the Sun squares the nodes and life is out of balance, as though the challenge of staying focused and on track is more demanding than usual. Yet there is a powerful energy with Mars trine the New Moon, despite its involvement in the Fixed Grand Cross. Venus retrogrades back into Cap tomorrow and Mercury enters Cap on Tuesday and there is a meteor shower that night. There’s a lot of heavy, slow earthy energy happening, so don’t expect things to fly forward fast, for fortune’s favors may pass you by. The old goat has always faced adversity with a stoic demeanor of quiet determination, not to boast of the things they’ve achieved but to stay on track for the next goal. Cap is about preparation and professionalism, knowing what has to be accomplished and when. It is the mastery of the physical plane and the success it breeds and instills in others when in a respected position of authority. They have a sense of duty toward their civilization and honor their obligations by attending to civic, professional or cultural conventions, gatherings and even festivals, since even grumpy goats get gregarious now and then. If only they didn’t make things harder on themselves.

I understand why Bush can’t admit the whole truth since his whole administration has been built on lies, secrets and corruption and until the American people know how and why this pre-meditated, electoral coup was pulled off, they won’t fully comprehend how badly we’ve been raped. This is the guy who parties with you, drugs you, robs you, rapes you, wakes you to slap you around until you can’t stand it and then says he was only protecting you. This is the man whose friends have called for all-war-all-the-time so that they can take over the world and drive the economy into the ground so we have to become a complete fascist government, propped up by corporations who control everything you do, wear, eat, drive, think or feel. 1984 and Brave New World are coming and only individuals who think independently can save themselves and if they are lucky and persuasive, maybe others will be saved, perhaps even the whole world.

The secret lies in today’s Mercury conjunction to Pluto. We have to transform our thinking process and dig deeper until we uncover the truth. There has been such a culture of corruption that many Americans are disgusted with the dismantling of our constitution. As far as I can tell, this administration has violated 9 different amendments, without breaking a sweat. In order to appreciate the extent to which your civil rights have been violated, I will enumerate them. The First Amendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech and free assembly, yet, everywhere the president went, the press was sure to follow; yet the protesters were always at a huge distance from where the Bushwhacker spoke. The free press is not free when stories are planted by the administration and passed off as reported facts. This was a slow news week although it was revealed that when she was NSA head, Condi Rice authorized wiretaps of the UN Security Council to find out how they were going to vote on the war resolution against Iraq. And Tom DeLay postponed the opening of congress until he gets his day in court because he believes he’ll be acquitted so he can be re-instated as Majority Leader. That arrogant Aries asshole!

The 4th amendment is about illegal search and seizure, which is the one that wiretapping comes under, since it is an invasion of your personal communications without a warrant, even though they could have obtained one retroactively within 72 hours. When they put the Patriot act into effect, they allowed themselves to violate the 6th, 7th and 8th amendments as well. Tom DeLay has helped in the violation of the 10th, 13th, and perhaps the 14th amendments. And the Bush elections have violated the 15th in Florida and Ohio, but people lack the awareness or balls to say or do anything about it. DeLay has his hands very dirty in the slavery and human trafficking to the Northern Marianas Islands, where they practice forced labor, forced abortions and prostitution. In other parts of the world they use women as drug mules and forced labor, depending upon their needs. We tuned into the Showtime series Sleeper Cell and they showed the dark underbelly of the whore business as children are sold as if they are meat. We have a responsibility to allow children to grow up and determine for themselves what kind of life they want to lead.

This had always been called the “Land of the Free” but freedoms that have been our rights by the constitution and the Bill of Rights have been trashed and trounced on by this administration, so don’t think we’re as free as we’d like to believe we are. When you have religions influencing congress with lobbyists to change the laws of the land that were established at the birth of our nation, you have a democracy problem. Our rights are about freedoms, not what is banned. There are laws for what constitutes illegal behavior, but it has never been the place of the constitution to bar us from doing anything except for the one time, which ultimately failed and probably accelerated the collapse of the economy. Prohibition of alcohol was the only amendment making something illegal and it was repealed in the 30’s, less than 20 years after passing. It gave rise to organized crime and may have led too many people into a life of crime from which they would have otherwise steered clear.

With the rise of religious-political activists beginning with the Moral Majority in 1979, they began steering the country to the right in a way that has had nothing to do with Jesus or Church teachings, but a marriage of greed, control and developing a Faith-based Fear. This is not the Jesus with teachings of love, compassion and tolerance, but one of condemnation of those who are different. They have programmed people into believing that anything other than the bible they decide upon to be blasphemous and have closed their minds to alternative interpretations of scripture. Many of them are way too literal for the truth to come through and as such can’t really relate to how politicians work. You can’t take a politician at their word since their word has been promised to so many contributors before the constituents can have a chance at helping their cause. Religions have been buying politicians left and right, but mostly rightwing and a few moderates, I’m sure. We need to take religion out of politics altogether and while we’re at it, take out the money, too. It’s time to hear what the man or woman candidate is all about without hearing the cause of the contributors they represent. It’s going to require a voter revolt in 2006 and elect as many Green Party candidates to congress as possible. Eventually, we can get a groundswell of debate about the issues rather than cast aspersions and slinging mud.
<REM - Losing My Religion>

It seems that many religions prosper by building divisions between themselves and other religions and with other denominations of the same umbrella religion. Just saying you’re a Christian opens up too many variations on your beliefs that you could be anything from a normal protestant to an evangelical holy roller. As we shall examine the founder of the Unification Church a little later on, I’ll restrain my tirade against Reverend Moon except to say that there is another example of radical Christianity, the very kind the Bush family supports, since they have been close allies in the war on gay marriage and abortion rights. They are of the common opinion that everyone in the world should be straight and married, proliferating babies at an unprecedented rate, despite the overcrowded schools and incredibly shrinking natural resources. Sustaining the Earth’s bounty is another one of our responsibilities to each other and to future generations. It’s actually interesting that Bush is reading Teddy Roosevelt’s biography, since he was the last good Republican this country had and that’s a hundred years ago! Go look at my archives and you can read a little profile on Teddy, since his birthday was 10-27, although it wasn’t an extensive one.

Meanwhile, in the Northwest, the wolves are again on the prowl, having been re-introduced to the wild but there is an uneasiness with ranchers up there and hunters don’t like the competition either, although they tend to be the Republican Elmer Fudds. The wolves are necessary for the ecological balance and they have to do what comes naturally and become accepted by humans for that reason. They won’t go after people or livestock unless they are really desperate. So many people find reasons to hate what they don’t understand and that includes wolves or people of other cultures or races.

So many people want to escape their county because of political, economic or environmental disasters so they come here illegally, not going through the process of naturalization and citizenship. As such, there are some who get all up in arms with a witch-hunt mentality and get feverish with their bigotry. I’m talking about Tom Tancredo, whom I analyzed two weeks ago. Now I read where he’s going to run for president with no expectation of winning, but to bring attention to the immigration problem. And he and Duncan Hunter, the nut from California, want to build the Great Wall of the Southwest. This whole thing is about control and fear, as well as ethnic divisiveness and racism.
<Animals - We’ve gotta get out of this place>

Earth shakers and Newsmakers
12-31 Henri Matisse was an artist who saw light in a totally new way and as such, his colors radiated with an extreme intensity. A Capricorn with Moon in Sag conjunct Saturn might be more aptly an international businessman but with Leo rising, it places his Sun, Mercury and Mars all in the 5th and its ruler, Jupiter, in Taurus in the 9th, so his works became universally prized by collectors. Venus in Aquarius in the 7th sextile Moon/Saturn made for some very highly positioned friends with foreign relations as well as close ties to home and family and associations would tend toward long-term. The visionary artist often has a strong Neptune in his chart, as the inspiration flows like water from the mountains and Matisse had Neptune square the opposition of his Sun/Mercury/Mars to Uranus in Cancer. Uranus square Neptune would be part of the impressionistic technique of painting in which light and color are used in unusual combinations. The Sun and Mercury are square Neptune, while Mars is not, hence an over-active imagination and escapist tendencies would manifest but not necessarily addiction. Jupiter/Pluto in Taurus on the MC gave great fame, fortune, recognition and respect and they form a trine to his Sun.

Simon Wiesenthal just died after spending much of his adult life hunting down Nazi war criminals. It is ironic that the Iranian president would start ranting about the holocaust being a myth at this time. If there is any crime worse than committing one it is spreading lies about it not having happened. Simon would track down war criminals that escaped the Nuremberg trials and who assimilated into other cultures elsewhere in the world. There were many in South America and a few in the US, as well. With the organization and ingenuity of the Sun/Mercury/Uranus stellium trine Jupiter in Virgo, it was his service and duty to bring those criminals to justice. Neptune opposing the stellium sheds the light on a focus of the victims and their families, as Neptune was in Cancer, and the escaped criminals who needed to be imprisoned. Moon in Taurus gave a stubborn tenacity that never permitted him to give up for a just cause and his longevity bears this truth out. He would have been 97 today. Saturn in Aries in the 7th, square his Sun made authoritarian oppressors his open enemy, which would have been the Nazis, as he was born in the Ukraine and they roared through there on there way to a stunning defeat at Stalingrad. Having Pluto on the North Node in Gemini, he was obsessed with learning as much as he could and did his research thoroughly, so as to know where to go to get his man. Mars in Scorpio in a close inconjunct to it made some of his methods less than honest or discreet.

Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins are both Oscar-winning actors with an uncanny chameleon-like quality about them.

Jan. 1 J. Edgar Hoover, it seems, had eyes everywhere because he was so paranoid about getting found out for his homosexuality, that he had files on everyone of any importance. What may have been the case was massive overcompensation for horrible insecurity, as his Mars in Taurus opposite Saturn in Scorpio may have given him a small penis and he was a secret cross-dresser. Moon in Pisces liked to play out fantasies and in a square to Neptune and Pluto, there was a great deal of sexual escapism and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Jupiter square the nodes and opposite Mercury and the Sun also contribute heavily to this inability to be honest about his own emotional needs. He needed to accept and understand his emotions and instead, he avoided them and projected a law and order cover-up that hurt a lot of people. Mars opposite Saturn is a big key to his personality, since it indicates confrontation with male authority figures, since he wants to be the main man at the table. This is also where spying on people’s sexual interests obsessed him and there is much more than I can’t go into here and now. He was never a very honest man, since the Jupiter opposition indicates a projection of those qualities and attraction to political people to serve, as it is in the 6th house. This Public Servant was a public enemy of the constitution.

Erica Durance plays Lois Lane in Smallville and she’s a hottie because she has Venus on her Sun and Moon in Libra square to them both, so has issues with knowing her real self. Mercury conjunct Neptune gives her a great imagination, which can be a good or bad thing, as most people know. Moon square Jupiter causes her to go overboard emotionally and over-react to things in ways that are too exaggerated. Mars square Uranus may lead to sexual experimentation with bisexuality, although with Moon square Venus, most of her relationships are going to be difficult.

Betsy Ross is well known in Philadelphia, where the creation of the first US flag is unquestioned despite there being rumors to the contrary. Paul Revere was a silversmith, metallurgist and the brave man who warned Boston and surrounding areas of the invasion of the British. Alan Ball is the creator of Six Feet Under and it was a great show and I saw the whole series from start to finish. From the time Nate meets Brenda on the flight to LA to his death. J.D. Salinger is the author of Catcher in the Rye, which was the book Mark Chapman had when he shot John Lennon. It’s understandable with his Sun/Moon opposing Jupiter/Pluto in Cancer that some readers would get the wrong message and go on killing sprees. Mars opposite Neptune might actually inspire violence in the weak-minded reader.

Jan 2 Dennis Hastert is the speaker of the House and I can’t believe I haven’t done him before, since he is right after Cheney in succession. He’s a Full Moon type, hence the girth around the middle, since one with Cancer Moon likes to eat. His Mercury trine Saturn likes to control the daily operations of the House and Saturn conjoins Uranus, so he manipulates friends and foes alike in the collected assembly as well as repression of freedom, although not as bad as some. But his Venus in Aquarius squares Saturn, so he trusts no one and considers few people his “friend”. Jupiter in Gemini squares the nodes, which is like a triple whammy of lies and gamesmanship with lawmaking and constitutional matters. His Mars is unaspected in Aries, so he lacks the assertiveness to get physically active and get into shape, perhaps because of Chiron in Leo inconjunct his Sun, giving him a weak back or heart. Chiron is also square his Taurus ASC and Juno in Scorpio, so he and his wife are both unhealthy and refuse to get alternative opinions that might get them off of pharmaceutical medications and into lifestyle changes that would help them. Well, perhaps the House will have a significant turnover in 2006 and he will only serve one more year.

Isaac Asimov, the sci-fi writer, Dan Rostenkowski, the congressman who was indicted back in the early 90’s, and Mily Balakirev, who is the Russian composer who wrote a lot but is known as a one-hit wonder.

Jan 3 JRR Tolkien is the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and other fantasy-adventure tales. He was a historian and created an ancient-sounding group of languages for his stories. With Mercury retrograde in Capricorn, all of this is understandable, since having a past reference, even if imaginary, gives a structured foundation upon which to construct your epic novels. The adventurous and emotional imagination at work is thanks to the Moon and Jupiter in Pisces, with the Moon trine Uranus for the innovation and originality of the plots and characters. Mars trine Jupiter is the tremendous scope of the wars against the dark lord, both in time and distance. Mars square Chiron shows the wounded warrior battling to maintain his masculinity and may indicate a problem with his sexual organ. Venus in Aquarius signifies the bond of friendship and the fellowship of the group. Mercury square Saturn in Libra shows the element of overcoming fear as a character development point, as well as the inability to fit back into the world of the common folk after having undergone such uncommon experiences. Venus square Uranus is the separation of friends as well as having intimacy issues. Writing stories for days and months without end precludes close relationships from making a partner feel secure. Moon square Neptune/Pluto in Gemini might provide some insight into the motivation for the activation of this outpouring of dramatic epics. His mother’s death might have hit something in the depth of his soul that opened up a profound well of storytelling. The Moon square the Nodes tells me there’s something up with the maternal forces of nature. And where are the mothers and wives in most of the trilogy? Is anyone engaged with a woman except for the King? Eowin was rather masculine in her demeanor; Galadriel was an ice queen and only Arwen showed any feminine passion. I wonder if old JRR was gay…it might make sense.

Mel Gibson, on the other hand, is so rigidly Catholic that he prays for sex before he impregnates his wife for the 27th time. He’s not a rational man, as his character in Lethal Weapon has demonstrated and maybe he should have stayed in the outback of Australia where he filmed much of Mad Max and The Road Warrior. He’s got Mercury square Neptune, making his line of reason delusional and infected with religious dogmas that have outlived their purpose in this century. Mercury is opposite Uranus, which is the aspect of those who ask too many questions and with them both square Neptune, you’d think he would break away from the church. Venus is sesquiquadrate to the Moon, so he really doesn’t appreciate history and how it has been modified to create lies that subjugate people to the will of an authoritarian power that tells them how to think and how to live and who they can’t love.

Victor Borge, the musical comedian from Denmark, said, “We have three sexes over there…male, female and convertible.” Jupiter trine three Cap planets, Sun, Mercury/Uranus and Moon in Gemini, so the bright, improvisatory and inventive creativity was all over the place. Sergio Leone, maker of spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood and singer/songwriter Steven Stills are also born on this same birthday.
<Chopin – Minute Waltz>

Jan 4 Sir Isaac Newton - Astrologically, he has a water grand trine in a kite formation with his Sun in Capricorn. When you think gravity, you think of Newton and Capricorns are very aware of this force. His visionary qualities are indicated by the searching Mercury in Sag, wanting to seek truth, its square to Saturn giving it time to research and figure out the structure of his concepts.
He was born with a rare opposition of Neptune and Pluto. Those two planets next conjoined in 1892, meaning 249 years pass from opposition to conjunction. So, the Neptune/Pluto cycle is about 500 years long. It’ll vary because of the eccentric orbit of Pluto. The point is that this is symbolic of profound transforming energy that can affect what the collective believes and takes on faith. He gave them gravity amongst many other natural laws of the universal principles of motion. There are some that can’t be deciphered by mere mortal minds, as they are far beyond our puny ability to comprehend the nature of the universe. Such is the genius of men like Kepler, Galileo and Newton, because they were able to see far beyond the moment they experienced. Another facet of this position is his fascination with alchemy, which was really chemistry, to transmute elements through combining them in a furnace. He also calculated the end of the world to happen in 2060 and by considering the rate of decay of the arctic ice cap, it could well happen just around then.
His North Node in Libra indicates his ultimate recognition as he balanced his own experiences and perceptions for what he needed to do for civilization and the future scientists of the world. The South Node in Aries might be considered his fast start, intellectually speaking, and his determination to go his own way when it was clear to him that no one could understand what the hell he was talking about. Venus, ruler of the North Node, is located in Aquarius but square the Neptune/Pluto polarity, causing avoidance of relationships as they were viewed as destroying his own discoveries, as he would be branded a heretic. Indeed, he held the belief that the Church was in violation of its own doctrines, as there is no other God but the One God, while the Catholic doctrine is the trinity as equally powerful.
Going back to his kite formation, the Sun forms sextiles to Jupiter/Saturn in Pisces and Uranus in Scorpio while in an opposition to the Moon. His intuitive understanding of the nature of nature was processed through the diligent process a Capricorn takes, which is methodical and pragmatic, making sure theories are tested and proven. While his social life left much to be desired, perhaps that is why the Capricorn discipline and focus were able to manifest some of the greatest scientific discoveries by a single person. Sure, he had the shoulders of Galileo to stand on but he gave birth to new and better ways to observe the universe. Some of the credit goes to Mercury in Sag, being able to see more than the average person with the dedication of the Cap. Sun trine Mars in Taurus gave the steady and determined energy to stay on the case until it is solved. He had no problem with being reclusive and isolated, as his extreme idealism about relationships might have precluded the intimacy of anyone special for long.
He improved the telescope and developed the model upon which most modern telescopes are built. He observed the laws of color. His three laws of motion began modern physics with inertia, acceleration and action-reaction and the basis for gravity was born. This underlies many later theories of planetary motion as well. He is also the father of calculus as he developed mathematical computations far beyond what anyone had previously investigated.

Also born on this day are Louis Braille, Floyd Patterson, who, along with Ali, Frazier and Foreman, is another Cap heavyweight champ, and Senator Everett Dirkson, who had a long political life back in the middle decades of the last century.

Jan 5 Mike DeWine is one of those Ohio senators who will be swept out of office in the midterms because he’ll be challenged by Paul Hackett, an Iraq veteran, despite the fact that DeWine was one of the gang of 14 who compromised to prevent the filibuster-breaking nuclear option from being implemented. He was involved in a prostitution scandal when his assistant took money from older men for sexual favors. He has an exact Sun/Mars conjunction square Neptune, so he has no boundaries for his sexual impulses, might have a substance addiction and with Moon conjunct Uranus in Gemini, probably has latent homosexual tendencies, as well. His Jupiter and Venus are both in late Scorpio although not conjoining, but still it makes him a lust muffin with a dash of horny hot sauce splashing on the side. Mercury square Neptune makes for a person who has a hard time dealing with the realities of his job and avoids work in order to party. He has his Juno on the South Node in Sag, which is a wild a crazy guy like a Casanova, coming to a bedroom near you. The ultra Right hates him because he wouldn’t stand up for the president’s extremist judges and the left isn’t fond of him either. It’s like the conjunction of Moon/Uranus in Gemini not connecting with any other planet in his chart; he needs friends but he doesn’t stand firmly enough on any one thing to be trusted to stick to his guns.

Diane Keaton is such a marvelous actress that everybody seems to adore her. I must say, for an older woman, she is hot. No wonder, since her Venus is on her Sun, which often makes for an attractive person. Moon in Aquarius is trine Neptune and Uranus, which is good for acting and being independent. Venus square Neptune has made her relationships disappointing because of a lack of understanding or acceptance. A Capricorn woman can’t be controlled or dominated unless she has heavy Neptune squares and then that’s all she’ll want. And Diane has that and more, with Saturn opposite her Sun, she draws control freaks to her like flies. With Mercury on the South Node, she has to stop thinking about the past and tune in to the future, which is what she needs with Moon in Aquarius. It’s in an opposition to Pluto so she needs to cease the obsession with sexually-extreme guys who only want sex…wait, she isn’t in her 20’s anymore.

Paramahansa Yogananda brought kriya yoga and high spiritual teachings from India in an earlier time of American spiritual questing. Now it’s no big deal, in some ways, while it’s an ever-increasing vocal minority who want us to become a Christian theocracy. We could use more spiritual masters to teach the great hordes of faithless followers of the false teachings of Jesus to pay attention to the Beatitudes and heed not their vile preachers who are paid to play the political game of excommunicating Democrats. I have heard of them casting out the Dems from the pews, saying if you aren’t Republican, you can’t be Christian. Par was a young man when he left home to travel around India and went on a quest to meet his master. He wasn’t gifted with brilliance but possessed an excellent memory (Mercury trine Moon) and sought out wise teachers from whom he would learn all about the important things in life (Venus in Sag trine Jupiter). I read the autobiography a long time ago…perhaps 30 years ago, so I can now look at the chart and remember some details, but experiences are more deeply etched than words in a book, unless it’s freshly read. The Sun made a T-Cross with the Jupiter in Aries opposition to Saturn in Libra, the same polarity I have, so when I say he made important progress and met significant people on his travels, I speak knowingly. His Venus in Sag forms a sextile to Saturn and trine to Jupiter that is nearly exact, so he made lots of money and people flocked from everywhere to meet him. His Neptune/Pluto conjunction is exactly the same degree, forming a trine to Saturn, hence when he died, his body was laid in state and did not decompose for three weeks, an amazing feat. Maha samadhi is the ultimate in transcendence of the physical body.
Walter Mondale was Vice President under Jimmy Carter and ran against Reagan, just missing out on getting swept.

Jan 6 Johannes Kepler is the father of modern astronomy and explained how the planets revolved around the Sun. Needless to say, he wasn’t very popular in Rome. A genius might easily have, as Kepler did, Uranus conjunct the Sun and Mercury, all in Capricorn, with Venus also near the Sun for a pleasant disposition and with the urge to share his findings with others, like Galileo, Newton and others who benefited from his revelations. Saturn forms a sextile to most of the Cap planets, so diligent hard work was his way for a long time. Moon in Gemini trine Mars in Libra makes for a very active curiosity and the desire to converse and share his discoveries with those who might be interested in his work. People who are brilliant often have their head in a cloud and Mars square his Mercury/Uranus conjunction might have caused him to have accidents because he wasn’t always paying attention to where he was going. Jupiter/Pluto in Pisces square Neptune shows how deeply he began the breakdown on religion’s hold over the masses by revealing the truth of the operation of the solar system. With his Leo North Node, he was to be a leader and be brave to express what his Aquarius South Node scientist remembered to look for…the secret truth of the planets. He was an Atlantean astrologer in an earlier lifetime, so it was no big deal for him to figure this out. It was a problem for him at the time since the Inquisition was in full swing and it was too easy to be branded a heretic.

Sun Myung Moon is the founder and leader of the Unification Church…the Moonies, who own the Washington Times, an extremely Right Wing newspaper in DC. He has had a long association with the Bush family, supporting Herbert Bush in 1988 and the son in 2000 and ’04, as well as all the evangelical congressional candidates, and where he can, he buys them off by funding their campaigns. That he would have a political agenda for his religion is apparent in his Jupiter/Neptune in Leo and form a quincunx to his Sun, so perhaps he’ll have a coronary. Venus rules the chart with materialistic Taurus rising and it’s in the 7th house in Sag, emphasizing his focus on marriage with lots of wives for him and lots of weddings for his congregation. In fact, he has been known to have hundreds of couples marry simultaneously. So much for individuality or having your own wedding party, since the Moonies separate you from your family and move you around so they can’t track you down, I doubt that personal family members are invited. Moon has Venus square Uranus in Aquarius, so what he is doing is perceived as the path to utopianism as in heaven-on-Earth, but it’s really a sham and a scam. He has a problem with personal and intimate relationships, so has to try to change everyone to his way of thinking because of his inflated spiritual ego. His Moon in Cancer opposes his Sun and they square Mars, showing an angry, impatient, irritable and arrogant person who is defensive and plays the protector of his flock, while getting them to do his shit work for him while they learn to prove themselves as loyal soldiers in his holy war.
Alexander Scriabin was a mystical composer, Alan Watts was a Zen mystic writer, and Kalil Gibran is the author of The Prophet, thus all were seekers of divine knowledge, celestial truth and cosmic reconciliation.

As you can tell, there have been a lot of very powerful people who were born as Capricorns and the next two shows will bear that out, as well. This is more than the mountain climber or the executive in charge, since ultimately it about being responsible for the impact a social order has upon the land and its peoples. We have dominion over the planet and its flora and fauna, so that we may judiciously use what nature provides. But we have been careless stewards of the land and its many species and polluted it horribly, fouling the air, waterways and the earth itself, storing tons of spent nuclear fuel rods and other toxic substances in the deep underground storage facilities the government has built that they won’t tell you about. We need to make a resolution to clean up the poisons from this world and commit to eliminating their use in the future. It won’t be agreeable to those who pollute but we can try to make this world a healthier place to live. You have to do you part by speaking truth to power and sending letters to your congressional representatives on state and federal levels. Express your civic duty by participating in the electoral process and become active in your liberal party of choice, but until we have a rainbow system of political parties, vote for those who will protect the rights of the people and not sell out to big business. If you are interested in legalizing hemp and marijuana, as well as becoming more environmentally political, check out the Green Party. This year focus on doing what you can to fight the evil powers by joining with those revolutionary forces. Muster all your discipline and concentrate on what you know you have to do to be the person you need to be and doing the things you are meant to do. It is your purpose and it is all up to you to attain. I know we can do it and we have to do it now. Have a happier year than the previous one and may you prosper despite hardship, succeed despite setbacks and grow strong in the weak light of winter. It is the power to thrive in harsh conditions that make you a person people can respect. May 2006 be a year to remember the way this was one people would like to forget. Have a happy one, everyone and make it fun.

December 24 , 2005
Blessed Yuletide. That’s a greeting I can get behind, since it predates Christianity by a bit. The tradition of lighting of candles and blazing logs has long been a tradition of light at the time of the longest dark days. Celebrations at this time of year have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus, since they were about getting together and being warm, friendly and festive to fight off the S.A.D., season affected disorder that is common in colder northern climates. We in the southern parts of the country don’t suffer from that so much. Pagans have more to do with Christian holidays than most people want to admit. In fact, almost every important holiday has pagan roots, like Easter is the Spring Equinox and the first fruits and newborn animals. It gets twisted as time and various different cultural influences color it differently, but there are movements afoot to reverse trends and make things more direct by eliminating competing ideas. There are Christians who want to take the joy and fun out of Christmas, removing Santa Claus and snowmen because they want it to be all about Jesus. That’s more insane since they are under the delusion that this was his birthday, when everyone who knows anything says it isn’t. It was March 1st because that’s the month in which the Romans conducted a census and collected taxes, thus everyone was required to return to their place of birth and be counted and collected from. The Age of Pisces, under which religions have flourished, is in its death throes as we tumble toward the Age of Aquarius, trying to find the humanity to not destroy each other and the planet in the process. We need to have a little greater appreciation for who and what we are as well as where we live.

Speaking of appreciation, a trait that Venus would claim, that most misty of poison planets has just turned retrograde in Aquarius and is conjoining Chiron. While it brings up the wounds in the female of the species, it could also be about people who are wounded with their lack of feminine qualities being a disadvantage. This could be the case of a transsexual MTF who is decidedly not pretty but she tries, bless her heart, even though she’s ugly as sin. Everyone has some form of wound, whether it’s visible or not, as in the case of returning Iraq War vets having PTSD and no visible injuries. These are people who are having a hard time adjusting to the real world from the insanity that was the military operations in the Gulf. Aquarius is the sign of the genius, the crazy person and the techno-nerd. Dominic Purcell who plays Lincoln Burroughs in Prison Break is an Aquarius who played a man who knew everything except his own identity. John Doe was a good series that was cancelled before we had a chance to find out who he was. Anyway, the Venus/Chiron points out how many people are really off of their game due to being out of rhythm with the flow of the universal energy.

A friend just sent me a note about the ice storm in the South she lived through. It knocked out the power for a couple of days and she noticed how different she felt without the constant electrical stimulation. Of course, she is highly susceptible to the energy even more so as she has her Sun in Pisces and Moon in Gemini with a Libra rising, so all kinds of external influences affect her, plus she has Venus in Aquarius opposite Pluto and square Mars, so the response to it is more intense than most. She said that a copper bracelet with a crystal attached, presumably quartz, is perfect to effect calming and balance the effects of the electronic assaults. So, I tried it to see if it had any affect. I actually understand what she means because it wasn’t so long ago that I lived in San Francisco with only a stereo for anything semi-electronic and a phone. There were no answering machines then and I didn’t even have a TV for much of that decade, let alone Tivo or a VCR. I remember climbing up into the hills and canyons and the ultra-quiet of nature, yet how alive I felt. In this day and age of international telemarketing, it seems every ten minutes a person will ask you to refinance your home, if you have one. I won’t even answer the phone if I see a toll-free number calling me. There could be a way to make this all work out. If they could tax the outsourced companies according to how much they take away our jobs, and that might stimulate some more revenue for the coffers.

One week remains to this year that we thought would never end and we’re in a politically-charged battle over who gets a holiday tax cut and who gets their benefits cut, whether it’s Medicare, or student loans that were the hardest hit or tracking down deadbeat dads to make sure mothers have the money they need to raise their kids. Congress has shown no sense of responsibility, the very heart of the duties our public servants have to perform for their constituents. It is their obligation to the people they serve to bring home the bacon, which is why favorable appropriations are called pork. The times have changed when an education was affordable for anyone who wanted to go and they could always get grants and loans to help them until they got out into the work force and began to earn a living. And even then, the interests were very low…at first. Back then education prepared you for a place in the workforce where you could take any number of paths to professional success. The field was limitless, as we were the greatest conglomeration of labor and industry the world had ever known. We produced everything for our own consumption and plenty more to export, because the whole world wanted American goods. This week, before the biggest sales holiday retailers ever have in the year, the stores in New York City were virtually empty when transit workers went on strike for three days. They went back to work yesterday while continuing negotiations but they got their point across. Something has to change and the battle is about cuts in pensions and increase of their contribution towards it. Once upon a time, when there was a rail strike, the National Guard took over and operated them. I wonder where they all are?

Education no longer prepares you for employment as much as it is an end in itself for some. That and the fact that so many of the good tech jobs and many high-paying manufacturing jobs went overseas and the unions have been busted to the point where we have a weakened labor force, riddled with immigrant workers who will work off the books for less money than home-grown citizens. There are pockets of potential for the American intelligencia of the future but so many are left behind to a life of drugs and alcohol, mainly due to poor leadership. If you consider the governor of California and the President of the USA were on one drug or another through most of the 70’s, you have clear evidence of the lack of respect they deserve. They have done more to dumb down the mentality of the listener-viewer because of their simpleton natures. They are highly rated on the testosterone meter but extremely low on the sense and sensibility meter. Without developing leaders with superior communications skills, you will leave people thinking with lazy brains, not striving to improve their vocabulary or increase their comprehension of the message. Where are the scientists and researchers, the philosophers and mystics of the future going to come from? We need to have more funding for education and the people who make the most money should pay for it, as it has always been. The reverse Robin Hood label has been widely used because it is appropriate but did you hear anything about the esteemed Congressman from Michigan?

Did you hear of Congressman Dingell and the Christmas jingle he read on the floor of Congress?

Here is the Dingell Jingle

T’was the week before Christmas and all through the House
No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;

Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,
While visions of school and home danced in their heads;
In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,
Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;
Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…
Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;
A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly

We can pretend that Christmas is under attack
Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger
Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas everywhere we go,
From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,
When this is the season to unite us with joy

At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,
We don’t need a made-up reason to fight
So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;
You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!

‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch
With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?

So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,
A merry Christmas to all,
and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.

I might tell you that he fell into the family business, since he’s a Cancer and his dad was in congress when FDR signed the Social Security Act into law. The current Congressman Dingell submits the same bill for a vote every year and every year it is turned down because of all the special interests that would be adversely affected by…national health insurance. One thing they would do with that sort of plan is prevention and education, especially pregnancy and STD’s. One of the most important things we can have is healthy people, just as the rest of the industrialized nations have done, so we also need nationalized medicine. Doctors would be contracted directly to the federal government through a special agency in the HHS. They would negotiate appropriate fees for procedures above normal medical treatments. This is a free country except when you’re sick and need care you can’t afford. You can attribute the decline of the American way of life to an extreme wing of the Republican Party, the Neo Conflationists. For them, everything is tied up to 9/11 and Iraq with the intention of establishing a foothold in the Middle East with military bases for invading Iran and reinvading Afghanistan as it becomes necessary. They have created a mess which will decay into civil war and chaos will prevail, just the conditions for starting a revolution against the mighty imperial forces of the western commercial alliance. And it has busted the budget for anything healthy or educational.

I have heard the suggestion that Bush is drinking again and taking prescription drugs with it, so no wonder he’s glazed and blazed. There have been tributes to him and his cronies in their comfortable offices, which they have disgraced. I got one I’ll share next week, since I didn’t want to do two songs or poems on the same show. Meanwhile, his corporate compadres are going through some damage control, as Wal-Mart has to pay 172 million because they wouldn’t allow their employees to take meal breaks. I guess when we exchanged Chinese labor for our imported goods, we got their human rights violations along with them. On the other side of the ledger, the courts have overturned a fine against R. J. Reynolds tobacco as being excessive. The cigarette company was busted giving away loads of free smokes to people at beer rallies and other festivals in violation of federal laws. As for the automakers, they have problems with their healthcare packages that have been cut and it has been okayed by the unions involved. Now you get less when you retire than before the GOP hijacked the government. Whenever leaders are given too much power, they take advantage of it and overstep their authority but those who are out of power want their voices to be heard, even if it is insane garbage, like the opposition leader in Egypt. Apparently, Arab right-wingers have their ditto-heads, too. This Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, just echoed the crazy Iranian president’s impression that the holocaust was a myth. Apparently, he never saw the films of the walking skeletons leaving the camps upon liberation nor did he talk with the survivors or the GI’s who freed them in what was the most difficult moment of their lives. With these leaders leading a denial of the holocaust in the Muslim world, perhaps they need a little reminder and we should make them all watch Schindler’s List and then the archival footage of the freeing of death camp survivors. What if it had been Muslims the Nazis went after as well?
<Schindler’s List>

Uranus in Pisces could be seen as humanity being the victim of electronic surveillance in the name of a president and his war powers. This has become a major problem because it has made him a criminal that has not been charged with a crime against humanity, or at least the Constitution. The 4th Amendment is about search and seizure requiring probable cause and a warrant; therefore what Bush has been doing is a direct violation of the Constitution, which he swore to uphold upon taking office. He is so completely impeachable for so many things but this really takes the brass ring. Uranus will square Pluto by the end of this administration’s term in office, whoever may finish it, which will be a time of possibly violent revolution. It will be if they try to rig another election! The people united will never be defeated! To beat the corruption, people have to put aside their petty differences and rally all their forces to get out the vote next year to elect young blood to the houses of congress, on state and federal levels. Perhaps the power can get distributed to more of the people who care more about the people than their own greedy pockets, when liberal voices are heard and followed. One thing the war in Iraq has done is taken many people who were not political and plunged them into the cesspool of politics. They come out of the service to try and integrate into their old lives and they can’t really do it. They have seen too much that nothing will ever be the same unless they have a way to manifest the fight that has been instilled into them. We can make soldiers but we can’t unmake them so must lead them back into public service through politics or the Secret Service, CIA, FBI or other agencies or the diplomatic corps and there are always opportunities in Homeland Security. There are many ways to serve your country, although I believe we are beyond nationality and race, if people would see past their ethnocentricity.

Karl Rove is going to be indicted, which will be Patrick Fitzgerald’s Christmas present to the Left. The master of dirty political tricks is going to have his Christmas goose cooked and his birthday may be the last free one he has for a while. Fitz the Spitz has him in the grips of his legal jaws and won’t let go. In other legal news, it seems Abraham Jack-off, as he was known in school, is about to sing like a canary, as the expression of yore goes. His song will tell the tale of widespread corruption and bribery on Capitol Hill and he will name names, of which most are Republican and the Right will collapse like an arch with the keystone removed. The house of lies and corruption has been held together by a code of silence that prevents the evils that men do from being disclosed. Once Plamegate broke, the bricks started falling. When the Texas Justice Dept. went after Tom DeLay for money laundering, it opened the investigation into how widely his net of crimes spread. The Abramoff-Scanlon partnership to bribe congressmen goes deep into the Republican Party, so you could say that many of them are in deep shit.

John Spencer dies of a heart attack right before his birthday and his TV election to the vice presidency, who also had a heart attack. Talk about life and death imitating art! He had cleaned up his act by quitting the drinking and smoking but it was too late to prevent the damage from taking its toll. What tells me that is the transit South Node conjoining his Neptune, as old addictions are releasing his spirit to the ethers. Saturn, which is often present at the time of death, was sandwiched in between his conjoined Saturn and Pluto in Leo, the sign of the heart and his character name was Leo. Pluto was approaching his Sag Sun, while his minor Moon was in Scorpio and his progressed Moon and Venus were in the 8th of death. Heart attacks relate to the Sun, so here was his progressed Sun in Aquarius squared by minor Sun and Mars in Taurus, which in turn formed an inconjunct to his natal Sun…all Suns at 28 degrees. And his natal Moon in Scorpio was being opposed by the minor Sun/Mars. Venus rules the 5th house, so has some effect on the heart, as well and his minor Venus was square natal Neptune at the time of his passing. Minor Saturn square natal Sun also would have shut the valve down under these circumstances. We always liked John Spencer, even from his earlier days on LA Law and we were always hooked on the West Wing, too. Everyone and every series dies; some suddenly and unexpectedly while others live on if in faded glory, as the show he was in for so long.

12-24 Ricky Martin has gone up and down on the popularity ladder, probably because so many Latinos think he’s gay and his music is a little too lightweight. He does have Moon in Aries conjunct Mars in Pisces opposite Pluto and square his Sun, so that’s one gay aspect. Venus in Aquarius trine Saturn and Pluto in a close grand trine could mean he likes older men and the backdoor method of love. Mercury makes no major aspects, so he’s not very bright, but with good management and handlers, he’s done well for himself. And, of course, for any singer or musician, there has to be some Neptune involvement and his is sextile his Venus, trine his Moon/Mars and opposite Saturn, so dealing with reality has never been easy for him.
Howard Hughes, who was portrayed by Leo DiCaprio in The Aviator, received an analysis of his chart last year.

Nostradamus was one of the all-time greatest men in history along with Leonardo DaVinci, Ben Franklin and a few others. His powerful combination of Cap Sun and Moon in Scorpio give a depth and insight few could match. His Mercury retrograde in Capricorn sextile Uranus allowed him to look at things in new and unique ways, The Moon in the 8th house formed a grand trine to Uranus in Pisces in the 12th for his ability to see into the future and the Cancer stellium of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the 4th, so much of his work was done in the home. Jupiter rules the 9th and Saturn rules the 10th and 11th, so he could envision the truth about those important and powerful rulers who would be affected by the forces of the fates and the future. As a skilled astrologer, he would analyze the charts of some of his subjects and make calculations about what might happen, but the visions confirmed it. He was also a talented medical doctor and was able to heal people of the plague and kept himself healthy as he traveled around and healed many in France. It was while he was away that his wife and family died. The Moon in Scorpio in the 8th tells this story very clearly, and the ruler of the house is Pluto in Sag, thus the reason for their deaths was his journey at the wrong time. Venus sextile Pluto, however, I believe he understood the eternal connection that love has in people’s hearts.

<Twilight Zone>
12-25 Rod Serling was a rather hyperactive Capricorn, never letting it be until he was almost close to death. One thing is the Capricorn focus but he had Jupiter on his Sun and Mercury retrograde, while his Moon in Sag at the last degree also was conjoined to Jupiter. He might have been over-compensating for his fear of failure, which many Cappies have. Mars square this stellium made for an anxious and restless man who smokes all the time but with Neptune trine Chiron and the Moon, he had a chance to reform and still does…just not in the same body. Venus trine Mars makes a man know how to treat a woman and still take care of business. Sun/Mercury opposite Pluto is why he pushed the envelope on the subject of death as well as collective social ills.

Sissy Spacek has done some fine acting work, as with Moon in Pisces and Mercury square Neptune, she can lose herself and her mind in a character very easily. But with too many actors already, let’s look at people who have changed things in the world.

Anwar Sadat was a great Egyptian leader who brought his country to the peace settlement with Israel and Begin in a deal that won Jimmy Carter the Nobel Peace Prize. His Moon in Libra made him a peace loving man but the square it made to Pluto showed that his people didn’t agree with him and caused an upheaval of anti-American and anti-Israeli backlash, perhaps triggering the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Carlos Castaneda has written a whole series of books on the path of shamanistic enlightenment. When I read The Teachings of Don Juan, I was surprised how slow-witted Carlos was in the presence of Don Juan, showing his Taurus Moon and ASC as the dense researcher he was. Mercury is an important planet for a student, researcher or professor of Cultural Anthropology, as he was. His Mercury makes minimal aspects and not very strong, with a wide sextile to Venus and inconjunct to the sextile of Moon and Pluto, making a Yod. This would have a profound influence on investigating the other aspects of spiritual energy that should be read about directly, as I don’t want to give the whole description of the world of the Yaqui Brujo. Let’s just say that it is a fascinating read if you understand how we live in alternate realities in our mind as well as occasionally in the process of living in this reality. Piercing the veil, you might call it, when you slip through to the other side without dying. Moon square Venus in Aquarius we have seen enough of by now to recognize that there are major difficulties building trust and affection for others because of a conflict between what one needs and what is wanted. The capper is the Mars/Saturn in Scorpio square Neptune in Leo as the clash between the world of reality and the realm of illusion, which can also lead to addiction and escapist activities. Saturn square Neptune is the absent, addictive or dysfunctional father, which leads men to find a surrogate father symbol, for which Don Juan was perfect. There was enough chiding and knocking sense into the seeker Carlos that is was like a father-son relationship. He had Jupiter in Capricorn on the South Node, so one could suggest that he used the truth to teach valuable life lessons and that has taken him forever to figure out…or you could say that he has never really had a grasp of the truth and manipulates people through his dishonest or even fictional account of some strange people and events in the Northern Mexican Sonoran Desert. But Christians always hate and curse what they don’t understand.

Annie Lennox is a double Cap with Virgo rising and is certainly in touch with the Earth Spirit energy but her Mars in Pisces and Venus/Saturn conjunction in Scorpio as well as Jupiter/Uranus in Cancer means that she is saturated with water and is trying to dry out. Mars trines her Venus/Saturn to stabilize it and provide a practical support system so the fluid fishy energy doesn’t dissipate into thin air. Venus square Pluto is a common enough aspect in people who sabotage their relationships or blow them right out of the water. The Sun/Mercury/Moon are all on the North Node, so she has made significant strides in her evolutionary growth in this lifetime as well as knowing her purpose and identity.

Ricky Henderson is the all-time leader of most stolen bases and still thinks he can play at the Major League level, Larry Csonka was on the last and only undefeated NFL team, the ’72 Dolphins. Karl Rove is going down, perhaps sailing into the west.
<Into the West – LOTR>

12-26 Mao Tse Dong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, had a problem with women, as Venus in Aquarius square Uranus resists any intimate desire. His Mars opposite Jupiter may have overcompensated by screwing a ton of women out of human rights and then having them killed or banished. Mercury opposite Neptune and Pluto in Gemini made for an ideologue and an exterminator of dissidents.

Henry Miller the sex crazed author, Ozzie Smith the wizardly shortstop with the Cardinals through the 80’s and 90’s, and Steve Allen, TV man, composer and songwriter of thousands of songs also were born on this day after Christmas.
Gray Davis is the former governor of California, and I looked at him a while ago, so he’ll be in the archives.
Phil Spector, the record producer, who has been going through a bit of a rough patch with his trials, also shares this birthday.

12-27 Louis Pasteur is famous for pasteurization, but developed vaccines for anthrax, rabies and chicken cholera, so if he were alive today would be able to figure out a vaccine for the bird flu. This genius microbiologist had 6 planets in Capricorn and five of them were trine Saturn, so he would have cured old age, had he lived long enough. He was 72 when he died, but we sure could use him now. The Sun was exactly conjunct Neptune along with Mercury, Venus and Uranus. Mars is in late Capricorn trines Jupiter in Taurus and sextiles Pluto in Pisces, but the Gemini Moon doesn’t aspect a thing, so he had an overly rational emotional nature. Chiron in Aries trine the Leo South Node indicates his healing abilities came from a past life as a healer in Ancient Egypt.

William Masters was the sex researcher who teamed up with Virginia Johnson and picked up where Kinsey left off. He had Moon in Virgo and Venus in Aquarius, so liked to analyze the unusual sexual relationship practices people have. Mercury in Cap opposite Saturn made for a diligent and thorough study of his subjects. Uranus on the North Node in Aquarius made for a soul whose purpose was to know the way to sexual and spiritual liberation, by being a unique sexual being and experimenting until you knew why people did what they did. Venus opposite Neptune made him want to understand people with greater acceptance and a scientist has to know all the facts before he can state any conclusions. Sun opposite Pluto is why he was compelled to focus on sex research, which is why his life’s work is contained in books such as “Human Sexual Response” and “Human Sexual Inadequacy” which really sparked the sexual revolution in the late 60’s and early 70’s. People began to explore their sexuality as never before in American history, as our puritanical roots had been repressing us for too long.
Marlene Dietrich wanted to be alone when she wasn’t acting and Oscar Levant played a lot of Gershwin and very well I might add.
<Gershwin tune>

12-28 Denzel Washington is one of the best actors working today in the film industry. His Sun is exactly on the North Node, so he really knew what he was supposed to be and do in this life. His Mercury is right next to it, just about a degree and a half ahead of the Sun and that’s it for this powerful duo. The rest of the chart mostly has other connections, except for the Moon in Aquarius, spacing out with no contacts, so his emotional nature is actually one of cool detachment yet friendly and personable. It’s not easy to get too close to a Capricorn quickly and have it last, since they are all about time, although you add space with Aquarius and spirit with Mars in Pisces, which is why I wonder if he’ll ever do a film in which he dances. Moving on to Venus in Scorpio, it’s conjunct Saturn and square Pluto, making for some intensely challenging relationships where he would feel sabotaged, betrayed, ripped-off or the partner died while they were together. There is also a certain amount of deconstructing these types do when they have to move on to a greater goal, as Cappies are wont to do. Mars in Pisces trine Saturn and Venus might ameliorate the more harsh qualities of that aspect by allowing the energy to be flowing more freely and while a certain amount of structure is imposed, it is easy to deal with in most ways. In other words, he gets the job done with ease and in harmony with others because he understands how to accept the forces at work while blending his energy into the picture.

Woodrow Wilson was a very smart and progressive kind of goat, since his Moon, Venus and Mars were all in Aquarius, so his vision of one human international community was the idea behind the failed League of Nations. Yet, the seed was planted for the creation of the United Nations, although those who try to tear it down show how delicate the balance is for the global peacemakers. Failure was a perception of his administration, except for the war effort, because he had Sun opposite Saturn and it made dealing with powerful business interests difficult to say the least. His intellectual brilliance is indicated by Mercury in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus and the Moon in Aquarius sextile Jupiter also filtered in a deep wisdom and perspective of what we needed in the future, so a visionary on top of it. Mercury sextile Neptune gave him the compassion to take care of those who could not take care of themselves and established a means of protecting our economic system on both ends of the ledger. He instituted the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission and the dreaded IRS. These were tough times as we had been though a lot as well as a long distance war the decade before.
FDR was able to more under even more dire circumstances and his chart will be examined next month when his birthday comes around at the end of January.

12-29 Andrew Johnson was president after Lincoln got shot but didn’t have the balls to lead in any cohesive way. An impatient Capricorn with nothing but his Sun in the sign left without the organizational powers to hold together a government. He was sabotaged by a coalition of corrupt politicians who ultimately got him impeached, although he was not convicted. The only one who would have been impeached, had the trial gone forward was Nixon, but he resigned before that could happen. We’ll get to him next month. Back to Johnson: I can tell you, he didn’t have many friends, with Venus in Aquarius square Uranus in Scorpio, as they kept suddenly disappearing. But with Venus conjunct Chiron, so many he knew were very wounded in ways you don’t want to know. The Moon in Taurus opposite Saturn and Uranus made his job and life much more difficult than it might have otherwise been. He would have felt frustration at having to deal with shady people in powerful positions, not wholly earned, it might be added. Politics of the times were even more murderous then they are today. Why just forty-two years ago, our president, who would have changed the world into a more peaceful place, was assassinated by a conspiracy from within our own government. No, I didn’t just watch Oliver Stone’s movie, JFK, back and to the left.

Patricia Clarkson, Jude Law, MTM, Jon Voight are all actors also born on the same day as an impeached president.

12-30 Sean Hannity speaks nothing but insanity and it must be his vanity but without makeup he’s a manatee. This asshole is born the same month and year as Ann Coulter. He also has Mars and Venus conjunct his Sun, so while he’s an arrogant, confrontational, impatient, talk-over-your-arguments kind of guy, but the camera likes him and he has some fans who are easily impressed by lies, deception and making shit up. His Mercury in Cap is square the Moon in Libra, so when he can’t remember the facts, he blames the other person for lying as a defense mechanism. He should remember that through the magic of videotape and Tivo, your words can always be thrown back in your face and so should professional liars like Tom DeLay and Bill Frist and every other one of those congenital liars on the right. Jupiter square Neptune has a problem facing the reality of his illusionary version of truth. So if the truth isn’t there, just lie a little louder and get other liars in to back you up. Everyone wants someone to hate and if they aren’t there, they’ll create them. Scapegoat is a term that originates in Exodus when Aaron uses a goat to take on the sins of the Jews on Yom Kippur. Back to Hannity, his Jupiter is exactly inconjunct Pluto indicating the corruption behind his broadcast company, Fox News. Rupert Murdoch is a Pisces and I will get to him in March and nail his ass to the cross.

Sandy Koufax was the greatest lefty in baseball especially during the 60’s, without a doubt and had one of the greatest 5-year spans ever. Being an observant Jew, he wouldn’t pitch on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Sun trine Uranus and Mars in Aquarius show his athletic skill and wildness when he was younger. Capricorns mature very well, even though they seem older when they are young. With Moon in Pisces square Jupiter in Sag, he was very impressionable and overly emotional. Mercury trine Neptune and Moon in Pisces show a natural intuition or even psychic nature that might have allowed him to pick up what a batter thought he would be throwing and if he was really on his game, he would throw it and dare the guy to hit it. Sun and Mercury straddle the North Node, so success was his destiny and he went on to make money in business. Moon in Pisces opposite Neptune in Virgo might make someone shy and emotionally retiring, wanting to avoid the spotlight, so when a vicious rumor about Sandy being gay came out, he had some problems.
Kristin Kreuk is Superboy’s girlfriend, finally. With her Sun opposite Moon in Cancer and Mercury square Saturn/Pluto she’s an obsessive worrywart.
Michael Nesmith was one of the original Monkees and possibly the most talented of them all, since he was already a musician and composer and his career continued after the demise of the band. Moon conjunct Neptune in Libra gives him the musical instincts and nurturing of his art from his family. They trine Saturn/Uranus in Gemini for the discipline and group association he was willing to do despite his need to express his own will as an individual artist. Mars in Sag gives that wild and crazy energy that has great enthusiasm but goes overboard and burns out, as mutable fire tends to do when not fed by the stimulus of intellectual growth or opportunities to advance or improve the self.

Tiger Woods is one of the greatest active golfers, which I would attribute to early maturity because of his sign and his incredible focus. With Mercury in Cap opposite Saturn, it’s astounding how he can sit and stare. All the while, the wheels are spinning in his brain about the concrete facts and stats he knows are true and the conditions where he’s playing at that moment. Sun sextile Uranus makes for good athletic skill, although there will be people who say golf isn’t a sport, but I’ll leave that debate for another time.

Rudyard Kipling was a great poet and writer but according to his chart, writing was a much more natural talent and with Sun/Jupiter square Neptune, I believe he challenged himself to become a better poet. His Mercury retrograde conjunct Mars and Venus oppose Moon in Gemini and give that facility for the written word. Chiron in Pisces is the wound that creates the quest to heal the difficulty with poetry and all the Piscean qualities.
Titus was emperor of Rome and Jack Lord was in Hawaii 5-0, also this day.
Bo Diddley was the musician who started the rock and roll sound, even though he didn’t really get that much credit for it, but you have to understand that at the time, black musicians weren’t taken seriously or paid well in this country. His style was natural and instinctive, since his Moon in Virgo conjunct Neptune trine his Sun in Cap and Jupiter in Taurus made his performances a lot of fun. He was perhaps uncomfortably ahead of his time, since his Sun square Uranus must have shocked people who heard his tunes. With Venus in Aquarius trine Mars in Gemini for the good eye-hand coordination it takes to play guitar, he attracted lots of interesting people and built up a considerable following as time went on. But with Mars opposite Saturn he had to fight against the suits at record companies who didn’t respond to the visceral style he played. Mercury opposite Pluto would bring up some deep thoughts that he may have obsessed about.
<The Story of Bo Diddley- The Animals>

My closing thoughts are about the winter beginning with the news that polar bears are drowning because the ice in the arctic has become too spread out and there is too much sea for them to survive. If the sea had been this clear back in the 16th century, Henry Hudson would have made it to Russia, Korea, Japan and China easily. Back then, though, there was little use of any fuel beside firewood and whale oil, so there were no toxic fumes and greenhouse gases being pumped into the ozone, depleting it to create global warming. Everyone needs to show some responsibility for the planet they call home and take care of it before it can’t take care of you. Save fuel by ordering online and not driving around to all the stores. Of course, shopping season is over and return season starts Monday, so you still get to go out, but research first and save time. That’s what Capricorn is all about. It’s time to look toward your goals and we’ll discuss that next week on New Year’s Eve. Have a Good Yuletide.
<Happy Xmas – John Lennon>

December 17 , 2005
This is the final countdown to the most significant day of the year - the Winter Solstice, which is Wednesday, the 21st; so prepare to greet the shortest day of the year with loving expectation that the daylight shall increase for 6 months. Blessings and benevolence of the season, for, you see, the actual birthday of the Christ is March 1st but it wasn’t known to those Romans, who celebrated the birthday of Mithra and the rebirth of Saturn on that day. Last year, Christmas was on a Saturday and I did a lengthy explanation of the origins and reasons it’s a scam. It was made an official US holiday in 1870, after creation of the Santa Claus icon by a Madison Avenue Ad agency, the dawn of the Department Store Santa, and big businesses put pressure on congress to create a holiday for clearance sales drives to help the companies balance their fiscal books with a nice profit at the end of the year. It would have been only natural, since Pluto was in Taurus and Jupiter was in Gemini, the sign of commercial trading, buying and selling and retail outlets, etc. at the time it became a legal US holiday.

This Christmas, maybe all the talk about the holiday greetings and the debate of what it all means makes it the perfect time to defuse the bomb by saying that the fabrication of this holiday covers up the fact that it exists because the Holy Roman Empire converted the pagan holiday of Saturnalia into Christmas. It was never a big deal until about the time of Dickens, in England and then it came over here, along with the tree from Germany, das tannenbaum. Having been raised Jewish but being a spiritual astrologer, I can’t see the sense in all the hype and stress just to make the rich corporations richer. If you want a real experience that echoes the time of the birth of Jesus, then sleep in a barn in the desert at the end of February. If you want to represent the gift giving, consider what the three astrologers brought. Gold is always useful in your journeys, especially after the astrologers let Herod know the King of the Jews was newly born, and now you have to go all the way to Egypt and immediately. The other gifts were two kinds of incense used in purification rituals; myrrh was used as part of a Jewish holy incense, along with frankincense. The real gift was the astrology reading they must have done for the kid, so maybe somewhere in the Middle East, there are ancient scrolls containing the chart of Jesus. Thus, the gift of an astrology reading is the true spirit of Christmas. After all, how many holidays feature astrologers? Here’s something else to do this month…to learn what Jesus really taught and pass it on to others. The good karma you reap is its own reward.

A big problem is that there are different ways to celebrate and different holidays that different sects celebrate, as in Mexico, where Catholics have disenfranchised Christians for not attending Catholic fiestas. One family used backhoes to cut off a neighbor’s water supply when they didn’t show to the Catholic fiesta de St Nicolas of Tolentino. Next thing you’ll hear is that riots break out in the line to see Santa Claus at the mall. If they would take their religions and holidays less seriously, putting more emphasis on the conduct they are allegedly trying to emulate, there wouldn’t be these problems. This is another reason so many from South of the border come here, to get away from oppression but they need to have something other than minutemen and border guards greeting them. They need job referral agencies set up right at the border so they can direct the guest workers to the right places to find the kind of work they have skill to do. We have to stop scapegoat-ing people because of their ethnicity. The Jews have known about this for thousands of years. Everywhere they went, they were persecuted, which is why when they had their own land and stood up for themselves and defeated a superior enemy, they made a holiday to celebrate it. It’s the one we call Hanukah and it’s the day after Christmas this year, since it moves around depending on the lunar cycle.

Venus just entered Aquarius on Thursday and is conjunct Chiron today and there are many wounded people who share a common bond of being poor, homeless and jobless, still trying to find the pieces of their lives and get a little help from someone. But federal help is little and late, not helping the displaced quickly enough, while those at the top of government care less than most about those poor people. Venus rules the kidneys and Chiron is the wound that will not heal, so there could be a big increase of kidney problems over the next few months. Drinks lots of pure water, get plenty of exercise and rest well during the night. The Venus/Chiron might have something to do with the torture issue being such a big deal and that humanity will win out in the end in a civilized society. But now congress is talking about making illegal immigration a felony. Why, so they can fill up more prisons and have to be fed, clothed and housed?

Long before Bush was sworn in as president, he made a pledge to please his masters of power who put him in a position to piss on all the poor people possible, in populations all over the world. To do this without having to have anything resembling consciousness is difficult to imagine for most of us but there are many souls who have reptilian qualities, as an icy cold snake in the grass would be. These are the Neo Cons; a fraternity of people who have that Greek quality, with Roman totalitarianism and brutality. It is sad that our once-great democracy has decayed into an empire and that Bush is like Julius Caesar, who must be eliminated. Where is Cassius when you need him and et tu, Brute? Where are the Senators who will conspire to murder Dick Cheney on the floor of the most deliberative body in government? We have a Boxer in the Senate, but not a Shooter or Killer. They assassinate candidates in Iraq all the time, but they still have elections and people are turning out for them there, at a higher percentage than US elections.

What of the President, then? It seems he’s been conducting evasive maneuvers since basic training and has painted himself into the corner of his own little world, with little contact to objective reality and says the same things he’s been saying since the beginning of the run-up to war and continually conflating Iraq with the terrorists who attacked us. 9/11 changed the way he looks at the world, rather as us versus them and they must all be destroyed while our troops are over-deployed. He doesn’t investigate what’s going wrong because he doesn’t have a curious bone in his body and nothing in the 8th house of research. His Libra stuff makes him in denial and put the blame on others and his 12th house Sun and Saturn make him reclusive by nature and escapism, like drugs and alcohol, as well as avoidance has been his life dance. He is the president in the role of the glass bubble boy – he is the Isolationist.
<Isolation>

He really should have gone to war against Iran, instead of Iraq, because now they have a crazy man as president there, too. President Ahmadinejad has said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map and then later said they should move it to Europe. I think there’s no more room for a new country there, unless they take over Albania, since they don’t really do much with such prime real estate. Maybe their president can fight against ours in the battle of the stupid, crazy and insane presidents.

Look at the Sopranos and then turn back to the Medici and before that, Rome and things haven’t really changed except for the methods of murder and assassination. In fact, some people are swept up into that lifestyle that might have gone a different way. Take the tale of Lillo Brancato, for example. Here’s an actor who wants to play gangsters, criminals and murderers, so he becomes one in real life, only to get arrested and will have to play other roles in the state pen. This is type casting of the reality sort, where life actually does imitate art and it gets him in big trouble. If he ever works as an actor again, he’ll have a wide range of hoods to recall from his time in the joint. With the mob, at least, all of your life was business related, for the most part. It’s not that way with other groups, as there are some who take their freedom of speech too far and advocate hatred.

Neo Nazis think the US is owned and operated by Jews but they haven’t checked to see who actually owns the people that run the country…it’s the WASPs who head up the largest American corporations! Granted, in the entertainment industry there are a lot of Jews, but that’s because Jews have always placed a high value on academic, musical and theatrical education. Yet these Aryans stir up hatred everywhere they go, especially in Ohio, where there are already more political problems than you can imagine. Now, Neo Nazis have invaded very white Australia and have fomented rage against anyone who even looks Arabic, leading to beatings and mob violence. It seems there are still far too many people who have their minds made up for them by others. What ever happened to critical thinking and taking the measure of a man by talking to him and finding out where he’s coming from, and in these days, where he actually comes from?

Memorial time, as we bow our heads and remember two great men.
Eugene McCarthy had the bad luck to die on the same day as Richard Pryor. He made it okay for an anti-war candidate to run for president, which fueled Bobby Kennedy’s run. Having Aquarius Moon/Uranus on the ASC makes for an idealistic progressive futurist. This is the innovation of individuality being needed to stay in the forefront of American leadership in the world of ideas and inventions. But there was a counter-revolution in the works, designed to suppress rebellion and advance the cause of the military-industrial complex that was gearing up for all-war-all-the-time under the Nixon/Bush alliance. His Sun/Jupiter in Aries made him somewhat of a teacher-philosopher, direct and unafraid of speaking truth to power and brought down LBJ with his anti-war stance in 1968. Mercury in Pisces conjunct Chiron led him into poetry and visionary dreams of what this American brotherhood could become. Sextile this combination is Venus in Taurus, a sensual love of the finer things in life but with an appreciation that not all who need are fulfilled and he did much for the socially and economically bereft. Mars in Leo on the South Node opposite Moon on the North Node shows the past of war and violence to be fought against and the needs of humanity must be faced in the future, which begins now. Many who have had lives of bitter frustration and have had success in spite of it all have the Sun square Saturn that McCarthy has, which includes his Jupiter, too. It was also the obstacle of those in powerful positions preventing him from attaining that same or higher position.

His passing was astrologically marked by Saturn on his Mars, as well as Neptune on his Moon and progressed Sun was exactly in between natal Saturn and Pluto, often present at the time of death. Minor Saturn exactly squared natal Saturn and minor Pluto was still closely on his natal Saturn and minor Neptune was exactly opposite Uranus, for separation of the spirit from the body. I think what really killed him was the cumulative impact of five years of the Bush presidency and the fact that he was very old, like 89 is anything to sneeze at. He was a private man for as public a life as he lived. He made an impact in the American Democratic Party that needs to be heeded and remembered for a long time to come. If Bobby hadn’t been assassinated by Nixon’s scheme to blame a Middle Eastern person with the shooting, he would have easily won but it was a setup and trap to take down the great man. Who uses tactics like that anymore, when they have been using character assassination with such success in the last few elections, along with voting machine tampering and voter registration fraud?

Richard Pryor just had his birthday on the first of the month and died on the 10th and while there have been numerous things written and spoken about him, I will, as usual, give the astrological inside scoop. First of all, he was so much more than a comedian…he was a force of nature. Secondly, he was very Sagittarian without having anything other than his Sun there. In fact, the Sun was trine the South Node, so his past life experiences were influencing this lifetime rather easily with certain talents and gifts. But consider the Sun trine Pluto and then take a look at three inner planets in Scorpio, with Venus and Mars square Pluto and opposite Jupiter/Saturn. This is some deep shit he’s got here! There are multiple oppositions in a T-Cross, so it’s intense. Venus square Pluto is having close loved ones die or sabotage, borrow, steal or drain your money. Mars square Pluto is an explosive temper that can get violent. The Jupiter/Saturn square Pluto was a global issue of world war at the time he was born and shows that questioning politicians is needed.

Saturn conjoined his minor Pluto, opposite progressed Sun, which was being conjoined by transiting Neptune, so he died in his sleep of a heart attack. His Solar Return had the Moon just before New, as in preparing for a whole new phase of life. They formed a trine to Saturn for the time being up, a square to Uranus for the heart attack separating of his spiritual energy from his physical body and a quincunx to Mars for going quickly. He’ll be back, since the nodes were opposite what they were when he was born, which speaks of unfinished business. First of all, he had to fight so long against racism before he was taken seriously, then he didn’t take care of himself or other people, so he died at an earlier age than average, but Sagittarians generally have shorter life spans than the rest of the zodiac.

Death penalty victim Stanley Tookie Williams would have been 52 in less than two weeks. A Capricorn with Moon in Libra, he was influenced by the times he grew up in and the things he had to do to survive. Arnold would have had a different view if he had been a youth trying to avoid being drawn into the Hitler Youth Corps. He was born in New Orleans and came out here with his mother in 1959 and grew up in the Los Angeles of the Watts Riots in the mid-Sixties and came of age in the wild and undirected 70’s of the Vietnam War era. With Moon in Libra and, I believe, Gemini rising, he was very influenced by circumstances, events and people around him. His Scorpio Mars/Saturn conjunction sextile the Sun makes for a responsible leader and authoritative individual who had to grow up fast and take charge. Moon/Neptune conjunction may have been a parent with an alcohol or drug problem and led to his involvement in the drug world. That it squares the nodes has to do with the public perception of his denial of remorse and forges a strong need for spiritual redemption, but the square causes issues with drugs, avoidance of reality, which is a problem for a Capricorn and the lack of understanding about what others want. They wanted an apology and he didn’t offer one. Instead, proud goat that he was, he pointed to his accomplishments while incarcerated as evidence that he had changed. Prison changes a man, is a common theme in the joint and with ex-cons. Mercury in Sag, along with Jupiter in Gemini in the 1st actually gave him some humor and inclined him to want to teach about the life he lived and worked to prevent kids from following that path. But it also makes one opinionated and not attentive to others.
It is perhaps fitting that the Sun was very close to Pluto, less than four degrees and approaching. Moon/Mars conjunction in the 8th opposite Jupiter in the square to Saturn in the 11th opposite Neptune shows how there were many people involved on many levels working on both sides to be heard and who wished to have an impact. I say put it to the voters and let the whole state decide in the November mid-term election. If the country moves to the left, you might see more initiatives and bills about banning the death penalty.
<Green, Green Grass of Home – Johnny Cash>

It’s really time to end the death penalty and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment, especially since I just know that Bush and Cheney were involved with the Spanish Inquisition. Cheney has his Mars in Sag exactly on Bush’s South Node, so Cheney was the one who did the torturing, which is why he likes it so much. How often does a powerless pawn of powerful people get a chance to inflict pain and have control…and in how many ways? Cheney can tell you. There are good reasons to end the Death Penalty. One is that it doesn’t deter crime. An eye for an eye is a biblical passage from as far back as Exodus but applies to the judgment of the state, not the conduct of individuals. So, is state sanctioned death moral? Do we really have the right to take the life of anyone else, if we say we believe in God and His commandments? After all, it seems that the Conservative Christians and even Catholics believe in the Ten Commandments more than they do the Beatitudes. It says, after the one that says to have no other gods, which means Catholics are on the shit list, thou shalt not kill. That’s fine if you never have to defend yourself in a war. Sometimes life deals you a kill-or-be-killed-situation and you have to do it, as much as you might hate to do it, a bit like the moment in High Noon where Grace Kelly shoots the bad guy to save her hero husband from certain death. When you kill a killer in a justifiable circumstance, it has to be forgiven on every level, but to shoot ducks in a barrel with the death penalty doesn’t make political, economic or moral sense.

Abortion versus the Death Penalty…which one do you favor? How about neither! Both should really only be reserved for the direst of cases. But then, abortion can save lives by preventing the burden of an unwanted, possibly abandoned, neglected or institutionalized child, putting a burden on adoption agencies. Those kids grow up to become troubled adults, leading to lives of addiction or crime, in many cases. Ever look into the kids that are up for adoption or follow up what happen to them after they fell off the grid? There are too many people on the planet and we need to have a better system of prevention of pregnancy so we don’t have to have abortions. There could be a connection between birth rates and biological adversities to the human reproductive system that drugs and pesticides produce. There is a higher incidence of XXY transgender people being born all around the world because of these and other toxins that affect the human bio-system. Whether or not these transgender people are able to reproduce, there has been some hint, as in the new fact-based movie, Transamerica with Felicity Huffman.

With the transition from Sag to Capricorn, one might think of opportunists who prey on the elderly and the other side of the coin, the old people who sell drugs to survive. On the one side, there are always bunko artists who scam money with fake get-rich-quick schemes. As it has ever been, if it sounds too good to be true and there are funny strings attached, it’s a criminal operation and you should contact the cops or the FBI. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the seniors are cutting back on their meds and selling off pills to addicts to pay for life’s necessities, like food, utilities and rent. By doing so, they are committing a crime and have been increasingly arrested in the past five years, as before 2001 it was unheard of! Five years ago, what happened? Oh yeah…Bush was selected by the Supreme Court to run this country into the ground! In other words, Bush policy and all these backdoor pharmaceutical deals have made life a living hell for these old people. This is why suicide should be legalized and insured! These people are in pain and not getting the benefits their service to the country or their company deserves. Pensions are slashed and health care has been cut significantly for many who work in large corporations, as the CEOs are crying about losing money while turning huge profits time and again. We have seen the greatest disparity grow from one extreme to the other in the past five years from those who were covered and secure to those with no health care at all. And in California, seniors weren’t notified of the state offering to pick up the tab for the prescriptions while the changeover in coverage happens. They get 100 days of meds for free I think it is. And no one has been signing up because no one was informed!

It is tragic that what was once the premier medical researchers were here in this country and now they are everywhere but here, because of medicine being governed by politics and policies formed by pharmaceutical companies. Americans need to wake up to how corrupt this particular Republican congress is and make sure these people are held accountable for their bribe-taking, gerrymandering, DeLay tactics of grandstanding in arrogance with contempt for the traditions of the American Judicial system and their oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States that they all swore upon taking office. Jeez, I was as long-winded as any Senator!
<Flying – Beatles>

Earth shakers and Newsmakers
12-17 William Safire is a columnist for the New York Times, was a speechwriter for Nixon and Agnew, coining one of my favorite phrases of alliteration…the line, “nattering nabobs of negativism.” No one who is wrong likes to be criticized, especially when they know their position is one of complete falsity. That’s why Bush doesn’t like it. I hate Safire most for going after Hilary Clinton with such venom for so long. He has that arrogant, know-it-all Mercury/Saturn in Cap square Uranus in Aries, which is also the aspect where he likes to make shit up, offering it as truth. With Moon conjunct Pluto, he has a background of corruption in his family history. Venus opposite Jupiter always wants more money and spends it like it’s on fire and if you shift a letter in his name, William’s afire. The Sun/Mars in Sag makes an arrogant and impatient person with a confrontational nature. Think of a toned down Ann Coulter.
Paul Butterfield had his blues band playing gigs in the wild and crazy mid-sixties in Chicago. Can you imagine how wild it was in 1968 when the whole world was watching Mayor Daly’s storm troopers beating up protestors? Butterfield had Neptune on his ASC in Libra so needed others around him a lot, but had to escape through drugs and alcohol and the square Neptune makes to the Sun, Mercury and Venus contributes heavily to addiction. Moon in Aries square Jupiter in Cancer made him excessively emotional and overboard with many impulsive behaviors. Mars in Sag opposite Uranus/Saturn in Gemini may count as part of a bi-polar disorder, which the drugs and alcohol were an attempt to remedy.

12-18 Ramsay Clark is monitoring the insanity that is the Saddam Hussein trial but he’s such a defender of freedom and the American way that even if he is appearing to be for the defendant, he’s really on the side of justice. He doesn’t want to see Saddam freed to go back to his murdering ways. He wants the trial to be fair and allow each side to present its case and let there be a judicious period of deliberation before sentencing, which should be running Iraq as a US puppet. Ramsay’s Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Pisces squares his Sun, so this is an attack on him by the Right, since he has been behind an Impeach Bush campaign for a while. Sun trine Neptune gives tremendous compassion but it doesn’t translate to helping people who are alleged Christians to share his views. Sun in Sag and Moon in Libra is about as just and fair as anyone could ever hope to be. Mars/Saturn/Mercury in Sag make for a dynamic, take-charge energy, brimming with ideas that help make things work better. Venus in Scorpio trine Pluto makes him passionately loyal to those values that transform our lives into something that is more meaningful. Four planets in Sag, including Mars/Saturn, so truth is always worth fighting for…and Mercury conjunct Saturn gives a serious mind, focused and committed to finding the source of the problem. Seeing a vision or a goal, it works back to the beginning and then through to the end and envisions a new goal.

Brad Pitt should not marry Angelina Jolie but should adopt her international babies and agree to help take care of them. I looked at his chart back when he was dating Jennifer Aniston and they were perfect together, each having their Moon on each other’s Sun, or at least in the same sign. Why they can’t see their connection is a cruel twist of fate. Brad and Angelina are opposites and they would have a problem staying together. At some point, I’ll have to do a fuller rundown of their charts, so stay tuned to see where everything goes.

Katie Holmes has made her bed with Tom Cruise, but I don’t have time to go into her chart. Christine Aguilera is a former Mouseketeer who is getting married I hear but she’s not my favorite and space and time prohibit a look into her tawdry and tacky life.

12-19 Jake Gyllenhaal made his debut in the movies as a kid in City Slickers, with Billy Crystal and is now known as the star of the gay cowboy movie that has won numerous awards, nominations and critical acclaim. Will the heartland embrace it and accept it for what it is? It’s an excellent film about two men who fall in love but live different lives after their experience. It gives a new meaning to “Ride ‘em, cowboy.” It works on allegorical levels as well, I’m sure. But I have come to review the man, not the movie. He’s had a rather interesting career, playing Homer Hickham in October Sky, an excellent performance and film about a future aeronautics engineer, commonly known as rocket scientist. He followed that up with the title role in Donnie Darko, a strange, twisted story that might have much to do with his Venus in Sag conjunct Uranus in Scorpio opposite Moon in Gemini. These usual attractions are due to the need for nurturance that allows freedom and separation. Mars in Capricorn is the powerful drive to succeed at all costs but the square to Pluto is anger and obsessive intensity that borders on extreme explosive passion. His Sun/Neptune/Mercury in Sag sextile Pluto in Libra to further intensify the desire to act, with which he has been fortunate in Sag terms, is abundantly lucky. Now he’s filming Zodiac about the serial killer…hmm. Mars square Pluto. But he has Moon in Gemini trine Jupiter and Saturn in Libra, so plays the author.
Alyssa Milano used to be someone hot, but now she’s not and she’s done.

12-20 Tom Tancredo is the nut job Senator from Colorado who wages an anti-immigration war all by himself, wanting to build a wall from the Gulf to the West Coast because immigration is the gravest threat to our security. But then, when have Sagittarians ever been known to exaggerate? He’s a one-issue guy with a reason to hate foreigners…his South Node is Sagittarius and his Sun is right on it, so it’s personal and xenophobic due to ethnocentrism and egotism. His fear of things international is further in evidence with his Moon/Saturn in Cancer, symbolizing mom, dad and the home, the country and the extended family of your own kind…they square Jupiter, the universal traveler. As if to further negatively affect this energy, Chiron is conjunct Jupiter to wound the enthusiasm for anything positive or progressive. Fear everything and then he’ll protect us from the invading hordes of workers who want to take our low paying jobs. He doesn’t understand the truth of what is going on. The reason they come is because there are few people who want to do those jobs. Do you want to labor in the strawberry fields forever doing back-braking work? There are far too many kinds of work that most Americans, due to their education or lack thereof, will not do, and because of their lack of attunement to the Earth, they are not interested doing in any significant way. This man is borderline delusional and bi-polar, perhaps. He’s got some short circuits in his wiring. It could also have something to do with his Venus in Sag opposite Uranus, so that all who are different and strange are seen as the enemy.
<Doors - People are Strange>

12-21 Ray Romano is easy to see why he has written about his family life experiences. He is the very last day of Sag with his Sun on his Moon in Capricorn conjunct his Mercury retrograde in Cap, as well. This gives a memory-bound, maternally blinded, needy family man with a control freak mom. They all trine his Pluto, which has made him a fortune and he could easily be one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, if he wanted to bank on it. His Mars in Scorpio is square Pluto in early Virgo, so has emotional eruptions and fits of anger break out frequently. They form a sextile to Neptune for his imagination, since not every one of the shows is based on actual events in his life. I doubt his Mother drove a car into his house where the front door used to be. Sun sextile Jupiter is perhaps why he has the facility for comedy and Venus opposite Uranus is why many know him from TV but he used to do stand-up. It’s also an attraction to interesting and important people or crazy, cold and aloof types. Nightclubs are a very intimate medium and his Sun in the 1st makes him good up close and personal. With Neptune on the North Node in the 10th, he’ll either end up making movies or in prison, but I think you know which it is.

Jane Fonda is also the last degree of Sag but her Moon is Leo, so had a family legacy of actors. Her dad was one of the all time great Midwest actors, with the flat accent that is so distinguishing of the heartland of our nation. Jane was born in Manhattan and spent a lot of time in Hollywood, so has been a coastal girl much of her life. Some Republicans remember her Vietnam era sympathy with the Communist North and still call her Hanoi Jane. With Sun and Venus square Neptune, she has been out of touch with where most people are or have been, with no empathy or there is a lack of true understanding. With Sun square Saturn, it might have been out of fear or insecurity that she married Ted Turner or went as far as she did, with Jupiter at the 1st degree and Mars at the last degree of Aquarius, as she has always been a progressive lover of freedom. I remember that Barbarella poster with the silver ribbon outfit she was wearing. It brings back fond-a-memories.

12-22 Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the Federal Prosecutor, is digging into the connections between the leakers and leakees and where it all came together. Why is this little guy no one had ever hear of coming into such prominence now? Well, taking down Libby, and next is Rove, could lead to taking down Cheney and Bush, as well. It’s clear they have lied and if they perjure themselves, that’s it! Patrick is a Capricorn with his Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in the sign, but not near his Sun, which is conjunct Mercury in Sag, rising before the Sun, so will someday write his story and make lots of money off one of the most vicious scandals in Washington DC history. Mercury trines Uranus, making for the A student who really knows more than he thinks he does. The guy has a strong intuition with Moon in Pisces on the South Node trine Neptune in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer, so he’s a pit bull with a soft heart for those he likes. Venus in Aquarius square Neptune shows how his ideals have caused disappointment with failed relationships on which he had given up. But at this point in his life, there are so many women who have fallen in love with a hero of the left that he could get laid in any Blue state in the country as well as the Blue cities in Red states. This is the guy who could easily become Attorney General in the next administration, which will be a Democrat. Then he could run for president after that, along with Elliot Spitzer, they will clean up American government.

Ralph Fiennes is a fine actor with the dark intensity of zero Cap Sun, Moon/Neptune in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius and trine Jupiter in Pisces. Sun trine Uranus and Mercury in Cap trine Pluto give added depth and Mars in Leo square Venus in Scorpio provide the romantic and dramatic tension. I’ll do more on him in the book.
Paul Wolfowitz was analyzed on last year’s Christmas show, so I’ll spare you another take on that slimy hymie.

12-23 Wesley Clark is the former presidential candidate as well as Commanding General of the Allied Forces in Bosnia, and is known to those who watched the Democratic candidate’s debates last year. I felt he acquitted himself well and could have held up and won if he had been the nominee and the election hadn’t been fixed. If he were to get the nomination next time and chose Jack Murtha as his running mate, the hawks in the Democratic Party would love it, but that’s the minority of the party. If Hillary were to win the nomination, she would need a progressive like Barrack Obama to balance out her centrist views. It’s actually the working class that fuels the economy and makes up the bulk of the Democrats but too many people have been blinded by the Religious Right and have voted against their own economic interests. Sorry, but I have strayed away from General Clark’s chart and for a Capricorn who achieved the rank of 4 Star General, that’s disrespectful and we would be slammed into the brig for that kind of insubordination. Except now he’s a civilian and that means no more brig. He has Moon in Aries, which is why he became a fighter and soldier in the first place. The Moon is your instinct and in Aries, it’s fight or flight, but without hesitation and he is never the type to back down. He is realistic enough to know when to regroup his forces after a strategic withdrawal, but that’s most Caps. Mercury retrograde is conjoining the Sun in the earliest degrees of Capricorn and they oppose Saturn and all square Neptune, so the challenge is being aware of the reality of the situation that faces him from oppositional forces and the deceptive tactics they throw at him. It could also be a retiring nature after having lost in the primaries. Moon in Aries trine Pluto in Leo and sextile Uranus in Gemini gives him an ability to work with large and powerful groups, like armies and marine forces and commanding multiple units on the field. Venus in Aquarius sextiles the Moon and makes him socially progressive, once he doesn’t have to deal with the limitations of the military life structure. Jupiter is elevated in the 10th and he would make a good lawmaker, administrator or cabinet member at whatever level of government he might serve. There is a square from Jupiter and Chiron nearby in Libra to the Sun/Mercury as well as Mars square Jupiter, so there has been some excess in his life and some risky activities, which might well be modified by his Capricorn energy. Venus opposes Pluto, so some of his enemies have been very sneaky and underhanded and while it might indicate the attraction to very dark and sinister people, dealing with them is part of government life. But he has the benefit of balancing that out with Venus trine Uranus and Neptune, so as to bring understanding and enlightenment to those who live in darkness. His North Node is in Cancer, so he is here to take care of other people in his homeland.

Eddie Vedder is the lead singer and front man of Pearl Jam and he has a mystic rectangle involving Neptune as his musical mark.

As so many of you are going to be guilted into buying things people don’t need for people you don’t like as well as things for people who already have the important things, including love, remember the real spirit of the season is about spirit and the most important thing you can do is to spread enlightenment. The Magi weren’t three kings from the orient…they were three astrologers; Persian and Zoroastrian, and perhaps Chaldean. So give the gift of astrology this season. A Cosmic greeting to all, and to all, a good night.

December 10 , 2005
Prepare to meet the chaos of the fortnight before the holiday weekend. There is a Full Moon opposing Pluto on Thursday as Venus enters Aquarius, where it will turn retrograde on the 24th. A very intense day, week and month, as the capper to an intense year that reflects this very lunation. I know I’m not going to be one to dwell on this whole past year, since it’s easy enough for anyone to go back and read the transcripts of what I have commented on. But to look at the year as a whole, is a whole lot different and in this Full Moon, we have seen the bone of contention over oil and commerce as well as the political corruption. We can review all the indictments and litigants for the entire show but let me sum it up succinctly. The powers-that-be will soon be the powers-that-were as the legal dust settles on the last of the cases that will come before the courts. Maybe that’s why the Right wants to have so many of their buddies on the court benches, so that they can get leniency when the dirty congressmen come to trial. Speaking of judges, I don’t think it will go real well for Alito, although at least he’ll probably get to the confirmation hearings, but I think I smell a filibuster. I don’t think he’s deserving of a lifetime position, as opposed to John Roberts, who creeped in to a fortunate position of opportunistic power as the Chief Justice. We shall see soon enough.

Sagittarius seeks the truth, wisdom and a sense of justice, which we can say doesn’t seem to be as widespread as it could be. Just as Will Rogers said, “Common sense isn’t as common as it used to be.” The downside is an opinionated judgmental person who has already figured everything out so that they have nowhere to go but down, which explains, in part, the high incidence of bi-polar Sagittarians. Always running around trying to do everything, including other people’s tasks and then coming to the realization that no matter how much they do, it’s never enough in their own eyes to make the kind of improvements they desire. The truth that they are missing, even from all their advice to others, is that you can only truly learn from personal experience, not from stories, parables and such. So many times have parents said to their troubled children, “If only you had listened to me…” Without having our own personal experiences, life would only be stories that other people tell, so they would have also not listened to the cautions of others. If Columbus had listened to everyone else, we would never have gone through the sequence of experiences that we have. I’m sure there are still some reverberant echoes from that specific event, especially if you ask the Knights of Columbus. It might have been a different country that would have discovered this land, which wasn’t really all that new of a world. In fact, the indigenous people had been here for at least 10,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age, as the ice melted and a land bridge allowed passage from Siberia to Alaska. Nature has been rebelling over the past year, beginning with the Tsunami, continuing with the hurricanes and the Pakistani earthquake; we have seen more than our share of mega disasters in the past year. That is not even including the disaster that has been the War in Iraq, perhaps the most devastating of them all, as it has torn apart the Middle East and the United States as well as making the world hate the U.S.

The time of Sun in Sag is most challenging for those who are Gemini-born or those born with Sagittarius South Node, as our fearless leader has. Now the 9/11 panel has broken silence about the failures of the administration to follow up on their recommendations to protect the nation. In fact, Bush has no idea how to lead a nation, since he is still sounding like a candidate and less like a lame duck trying to leave a favorable legacy. Perhaps he recognizes the Zen of failure and is reveling in his non-accomplishments. Instead of leading the world toward peace, he’s plunging us deeper into permanent war, resulting in an impossible deficit and debt, causing us to owe our future to Japan and China for the next few generations. Japan is ruled by Sag and with transiting Pluto there, they have benefited from their investments significantly. In fact, this Full Moon on Thursday will have the Sun conjunct Pluto, so there will be some significant events involving Japan and Spain. There’s a square from Jupiter to Saturn on Friday, so it has a stronger impact being on the Full Moon.

There has been an increase in violence during the time of the Sun in Scorpio and Sagittarius, so the widespread destruction has an association with these signs by nature. There have been far more instances of suicide bombers taking out larger targets, including and especially, large numbers of civilians. On the other hand, there has been an increase in lively debate about the necessity of a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq. They don’t want us there, most Americans don’t want us there and the world community doesn’t want us there. In fact, only Al-Quada wants us there so we can continue to be sitting ducks for their holy warriors. If we leave, Al-Quada will be forced to leave, since they are less than 20% of the fighters in Iraq. It’s like Bush said, fight them there rather than here but they lured us onto their turf. Howard Dean says we can’t win a war in Iraq and that is historically correct, as those with the home field advantage eventually win out. Dickhead Cheney and Butthead Bush, which should be a satirical cartoon, have blasted Dean for being a liberal crybaby, although I’m sure they didn’t say anything like that. Instead, they trashed him relentlessly while propping themselves up with admonissions of staying the course and hitting the same notes as the past three years. And four years after 9/11, the administration gets very poor grades for implementing the commission’s recommendations, yet they keep saying they’re doing their best to protect us, but their best isn’t good enough.

Ah, the hypocrisy of government! It was with bipartisan support that Arnold won election, and crossing party lines were many so-called Democrats who went for their perceived hero for Governor. So, when he appoints a Democrat as chief of staff, his Right-wingers scream foul! They’re calling it a revolt from his party and in not being able to please all the people all the time, he won’t get re-elected at all. This is leading the GOP to consider drafting Capricorn Mel Gibson, who hasn’t shown much interest in politics, figuring that maybe replacing one actor with another is a good thing for California politics. The Democrats have talked about sending in Warren Beatty, who is interested in politics. Mel was born seven days after my wife and she has no interest in running for office, even though she has been elected and selected to head organizations and such. The funny thing is that Warren and Mel are born 18 years apart, which is exactly one cycle of the nodes and they happen to be exactly the same degree! If they go into politics, it wouldn’t happen before 2007, when Jupiter hits their North Node, which sounds like a presidential run. There has also been some buzz about Rob Reiner running but that he wanted to wait until he kids were older. He’s a Pisces with Moon in Sag and Jupiter opposite his Mercury, so he seeks truth with humor and wants to benefit and uplift others.

In lesser political news, yet more scandalous, is the voting out of office Republican Spokane Mayor James West, who solicited gay sex after being elected as an anti-gay proponent. Why is it always the straight-laced Republicans are the ones so deep in the closet that they are raging queer haters. It could be their guilt over their shameful denial of the truth about themselves. Spokane will elect another mayor and this is the beginning of a new phase in West’s life, beginning with the charges against him for loading porn on a city computer and trying to hire young men as interns in exchange for sexual favors. There are few openly gay politicians in this country and most of them are Democrats, like Barney Frank in Mass. Americans are more puritanical in appearance than in practice, since the reason porn and escort services are so big as well as internet dating, is because people are socially inept and often cut-off by their jobs demanding too much of them. Sag is about going beyond what you think others expect of you so that you seem better than everyone. Often there is a genuine generosity of spirit and the desire to see the collective uplifted to a higher level of interaction. But if we are to advance as a culture, we have to be more open to the facts of life. One is that we should not judge others if we wish not to be so judged. Do you hear that James West? I read that he is 54, which means he was born in 1951, the year of the Rabbit, so he’ll go back to his burrow and watch Internet gay porn while trying to entice an 18-year old boy to get his freak on. I wasn’t able to find out his birth date so if anyone knows or finds it, let me know.

Across the pond, they have had a few more centuries of civilization and have come to determine that gay couples should have a legally sanctioned civil union approved. It gives them a leg up on our political discourse on the subject, but it is primarily because the institution of government has become infiltrated by the insidious and hideous menace of bigotry and intolerance as it has become more fundamentalist Christian. Ironic that at this time of the year, politicians want to punt the football of semantics around and cause people grief over what the holidays should be called. Jeez, Louise, these freaks want to frack with everything. Organized religion is a scam to make money off the poor and maintain power over them. Ever notice how the Pope travels and dresses, as well as how he lives and what he eats? Catholics, by nature, are conservative, yet they don’t believe in the death penalty, as killing is wrong. God will punish those who do wrong and who lives by the sword, dies by the sword, since you made your choice when you were born. It is my belief and knowledge from personal experience that we can change our lives and reality by our choices and the commitment we make. We have already chosen to be who we are, so upon realization of that, you make the effort to become what you want to be. The process of that is learning how to express your ability to love who you are and create what you will.
<God – John Lennon>

Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and the God within. You can’t have your spirit torn in too many directions since no one can serve two masters, let alone a dozen or so. You are the master of your own destiny and have to become the master of your self in order to achieve the level of power you need to ascend to a higher level of consciousness. I have so attuned myself to my intuition that I can pick up on the collective psyche, as when on returning from errands on Friday, I picked up the anger and frustration of bottlenecked traffic that overflowed from the freeway onto many local surface streets- streets on which I had to travel and it provided a significant delay for many, including me to a lesser extent. You see, I have always been a long short-cut taker. It may be roundabout but it gets you there faster for not waiting in stand-still traffic. If Jupiter is all about your personal truth, than mine is one that hates to wait, since it’s in Aries in the 9th.

As for air traffic this week, a tragedy occurred in Miami when an air marshal shot and killed an unarmed American missionary with bi-polar disorder who had a backpack and was running away, off his meds. As it turns out, these air marshals haven’t had much training and are ex-corrections officers, having been fired for any number of reasons. It is true that you can’t get good help these days. Maybe if kids stopped killing themselves and each other, we would have a next generation to turn to for good service. Maybe if we didn’t have so many good young people overseas dying and getting permanently maimed in Iraq for no good reasons in the final analysis, they would be here filling the jobs in Homeland Security that have not been implemented yet.

At a time of abundance and economic recovery, the tax cuts could have been used to help out those in need, instead, the rich keep getting richer and the poor get poorer, which is the way the GOP wants it. The Democrats are so disgusted with the repugnance of these new tax cuts as it takes food and assistance from those who need it most and gives the most money to the people who need it the least, those at the top .5% get 50% of the benefits. There are so many ways that’s wrong but that’s every policy by this administration and almost every single appointment has been to the disadvantage of the common citizen and to the aid of the large corporate donor. Why can’t we sue the federal government for any number of breaches of promise? It has often been said that this is the greatest country in the world, probably most by those who took advantage of the opportunities and made themselves rich off of the previously untapped natural resources or by taking those raw materials and manufacturing durable goods. It is a great country but we have made a great impact on a global market that has had negative repercussions as development and industry increasingly pollute the lands and waterways.

Thanks to the miracle of globalization, our American manufacturing jobs have magically disappeared overseas to the large populations of Asian giants, China and India. Since they each have over a billion people, many are willing to work for far less than they would make in this country at the same jobs, which is a huge incentive for the mega corporations. The only people who are screwed are the American workers who lose their jobs and have no new similar ones created to take their place. I’ve mentioned before that the answer is American grown hemp and its ancillary industries, as they would help those areas of labor to reap significant profits and rewards…when the ban on hemp is lifted. Oh the things we can make when hemp is in play! I could do a whole Dr. Seuss thing here, but I’d rather imply it than do it. One policy that has suppressed economic development for much of the 3rd World is the Drug War but the anti-hemp conspiracy predates that by decades. In the first few decades of the 20th Century, Hearst and DuPont were the movers and shakers behind the legislation that created the Marijuana Tax Law and Nixon further criminalized it to a Schedule 1 drug to control the pot smoking hippies and make it easier to arrest them. This policy has also led to increased poverty in the US, as cannabis would enhance the economy in so many ways that you can’t even begin to imagine. It will help our southern neighbors become less dependent on debt relief and stimulate their own economies. Perhaps an increase in Amazonian products will translate to reforestation of the Amazon basin to save their indigenous flora and fauna.

We live on a dying planet in its last throes, thanks to the ravaging rampage of mankind’s impact on the planet and if we are to prolong the life of our biosphere beyond a projected 50 years or so, we have some serious conservation to do. Recycling became a cause to champion back in the 70’s and it caught on at the municipal level and now you have three cans to divide your remnants into. We are able to use technology to recreate matter into different objects with recycled materials and it makes good economic sense to do so, since you can use certain elements many times before molecular deterioration. Some materials break down into their essential elements, like oil was the fat of dinosaurs or how coal becomes diamonds under pressure and there are other transformations over time. Metamorphic rocks are those that change their composition as a result of combining with other minerals under geologic heat and pressure.

Long-range weather forecasters have predicted more hurricanes than usual, although not as many as this year, thank God, or whatever force is behind them! We are in a period of increased hurricane activity for the next 15-20 years, a Colorado State researcher reported. During that entire period, Neptune passes through Aquarius and Pisces. In 2025, it moves into Aries, leaving the air and sea alone for a period of 28 years. By then, however, the toll that the bizarre weather cycles have upon us will have devastated and ravaged much of the planet so as to render any prediction moot, since Bush is going to kill us all. I hadn’t thought about Neptune affecting the weather like that until now, so one would need to research back to 148 years ago, when it was in this same position and see if there was an increase in weather anomalies like frequent and severe hurricanes. That’s before the National Weather Service was created but there might be some historical references.

If it’s not one natural phenomenon, it’s a volcano on Vanuatu in the South Pacific, which is spewing rocks and ash and threatens but may not explode. The ocean levels are rising and the ashes are falling. I’m beginning to hear New Zealand calling. It’s a global warming and natural disaster song that I will never write. The world in every quadrant and every continent, is showing its disdain for human pollutants and impact. It remains habitable for only so much longer, until it gives up its last drop of oil or last clean drip of water. We have overpopulated and overtaxed the resources of this world and we don’t have any backup plans since we aren’t capable of interstellar space travel yet. If we ever get light speed, it will come at a time after we have solved most of our own globe’s problems. It’s a race against time, really, that between the need for clean fuel and running out of gas, we are running headlong into a dead end of disastrous consequences.
<Borrowed Time – Lennon>

If it seems there is a John Lennon theme to the musical interludes, it was 25 years and two days ago that Mark Chapman shot John twice in the back. My theory is that he was programmed to do it as part of a bigger plot that you can read about on my web site in the Bush on the Grassy Knoll article. There are lots of articles about John in many publications because of this commemoration. Ultimately, though it has to be about the music.

Newsmakers and Earth-shakers
Phil McGraw is being sued for advising people to use a weight loss supplement that obviously he never used, since he’s still fat! It could be that his Moon in Taurus likes the good life a little too much and with his Pisces ASC, he has some addictive tendencies. In fact, with Jupiter in Pisces in the 12th house, he has some really good and bad things going on. It could be an excess of alcohol led to a spiritual revelation in prison in a past life, as there is a guardian angel energy to this placement. Overall, his chart is rather weak and dependent on the influence of others to advance his career, like Oprah did for him. His Virgo Sun sextile Uranus appeals to an Aquarian and he has Chiron elevated conjunct Hygeia and Ceres, so a nurturing mental healthcare service fits his nature. They do square his Sun, thus the wounded doctor with his own raging demons.

12-10 Newsman Chet Huntley was born in 1911, so he grew up with many of the basic technological advancements in the vanguard. He probably built those crystal radios when he was a young man out on the wide plains of Montana in the 20’s. With Moon in Leo, he wanted to be in the arts and yet, was too straight laced and direct to be anything other than a newscaster who told it like it was. He had Mercury trine Saturn, so was always patient, focused and professional in his work, never flustered, except when JFK was assassinated, and maybe Bobby, as well. He was able to maintain a high level of professionalism on camera for 15 years as co-anchor of the Huntley-Brinkley Report, despite some challenging lunar aspects. Moon square Mars, Jupiter and Saturn could cause bi-polar disorder. Jupiter sextile Uranus form a yod with Pluto in Gemini in the 3rd, so lung cancer was the cause of death. The secret death aspect is the Moon in Leo in a sesquiquadrate to Mercury in Capricorn. He was part of a generation raised on the delusion that smoking was cool and everyone did it and there wasn’t anything wrong with it, until the 60’s, when the Surgeon General found out through research studies that smoking caused cancer. Well, by then, Chet was already invaded, to be sure.
Morton Gould is one of the great under-rated American composers and shares this birthday.

12-11 Christina Onassis was one of the richest women in the world and died at 38. What a drag!
John Kerry is a double Sag with Moon in Gemini along with Mars, Saturn and Uranus, so it’s no wonder so many people oppose him for re-nomination, myself included. I feel there are better candidates for the highest post in the land. It could be the Mercury in Capricorn formality squaring Neptune to make it confusing to try to follow his reasoning, since he has so many hyphens, semi-colons and triple dots that his paragraphs are just singularly long sentences. Had he focused on a music career instead, his speechmaking mannerisms wouldn’t have been a problem and there would have been room for someone else to express their political views in the senate from Massachusetts. Venus in Scorpio square Pluto on the North Node in the 8th may call in to question his motives for marriage, as there is a certain advantage marrying the widow of the ketchup fortune. Quite a pickle he found himself in last year, losing due to dirty tricks with fixed voting machines and fudged vote counts, as well as long lines and polling places changed or reported to have been changed. Kerry won in ’04, just as Gore won in 2000, just with a different state and tactics. This is the conciliatory senator not being forceful enough in his rigidly diplomatic and measured speech. Here’s my vision of how things could have gone…Gore wins in 2000 and the country avoids war in Iraq. Bush loses and goes on a bender leading up to driving his SUV into a ravine in Crawford to die in a ditch. The economy booms, environmental disasters are avoided and cleaning up the planet is a priority. 9/11 still happens but due to fast Air Force response and with some advance intelligence, three of the four flights are prevented from taking off and the fourth is shot down by the Air Force. CIA and Allied military forces find and capture Osama and bring him and his higher lieutenants to International war crimes court and they are convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts. Like John Kerry, I like to see things from a positive perspective, but I’m an unrealistic dreaming Pisces.
<Imagine>

12-12 Frank Sinatra was a notorious misogynist and serial monogamist, while being a womanizer and drinker and smoker as well as one of the most popular and best-selling singers of his time. It was said that he sang the soundtrack of our lives upon his passing. Sagittarians are well known for their multi-talented skills and he was no exception, as a singer, actor, a little dancing, a lot of schmoozing and some questionable associations on the way to success, notwithstanding. The Chairman of the Board had Moon in Pisces and Aquarius rising, so he could easily blow hot and cold in an instant. Venus in Capricorn opposite Saturn makes for demanding women and powerful partners in business. In fact, with Mars in the 7th and sesquiquadrate to Venus, it proves somewhat contentious relationships are the rule rather than the exception. Mercury was combust his Sun, just two degrees away and they square Chiron and Jupiter, making him a liar or exaggerator and not all that restrained in his speech regarding women, in particular. This would have a lot to do with excess in his life, including alcohol and other indulgences and addictions. Pluto makes no aspects, so he was unwilling to transform his evil ways and with Neptune also virtually unaspected and near the South Node, he was not about to be redeemed in his life just lived, basking in far too many of the negatives of his Leo South Node. Uranus on the North Node in Aquarius is all about friends, like our president who has it as well; there is an association of reputation due to hanging out with a bunch of guys who have bad intentions. With Bush it’s his cronies and with Frank, it was The Rat Pack; Dean, Sammy, Peter Lawford and who can remember Joey? I mean, who can forget Joey Bishop?

Dionne Warwick may know the way to San Jose, but doesn’t really know good astrologers, as they would have predicted the collapse of her psychic phone network. She may have had Moon trine Neptune for her music and intuition, but Sun square Neptune was dealt a harsh blow of reality in her collapse.

12-13 Jamie Foxx just did an Oscar-worthy performance in Ray, so he should get his due, seeing as how he played some funky characters in his early days on In Living Color. Since he’ll likely be nominated for some award, I should take a look at his chart and see if anything is indicated. I can say that his Sun is square his Pluto, so he has sabotaged his own projects before and can do it again, since Pluto is like that dark snake that’s hidden in the shadows and strikes at you when you don’t expect it. His Mars is square the Moon – Venus opposition from Taurus to Scorpio, so he’s never really had good and stable relationships that have endured…has he? He’s also irritable and easily annoyed by little things. However, his Mars is sextile Saturn in Aries trine Mercury in Sag, so mental and physical discipline seem to go together for him, since he played the piano as part of a classical music major in college. That really was Jamie playing the piano as Ray Charles, although they dubbed the songs to have the real sound, even though Jamie is a talented mimic. Moon in Taurus gives a good voice and trine to Jupiter makes for an instinct for humor.

Ben Bernanke is the replacement for Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. He’s the one who raises and lowers interest rates. Ben is known to be in the mold of Alan Greenspan but since Alan is very old, it’s easy for mold to grow. However, it is usually the case with Sag professionals is that they like to be truthful and hopeful. Well, Ben’s Moon is in Pisces and it squares the opposition of his Sun to Jupiter in Gemini in the 2nd, I have calculated. This is inflated optimism to the point of delusional fantasy, so he fits right in with the Bushies. Saturn, the planet of reality and pragmatism, is unaspected, finding no measure of connection with the rest of the chart, operating like a free agent without representation. Of the planets that do connect, Mars/Neptune is a close conjunction and square the nodes and Uranus on the South Node, although in a trine to Jupiter and sextile Pluto. The Moon in Pisces trines Uranus and forms a yod with Pluto and the Mars/Neptune, so it’s rather interesting for me to predict that Ben been boning boys…or at least men like Ben.

12-14 Patty Duke was a fine actress who married John Astin, a talented actor in his own right but then her career slowly deteriorated. But before anyone concludes that their marriage was a failure, it did produce a most talented son, Sean, whom you might remember as Samwise Gamgee or even longer ago, Rudy, the title character. John is an Aries who remarried in the late 80’s, I think. I helped cater the reception and can’t pinpoint the year. But this analysis is about Patty, not her son or ex, so let’s see…first there’s the Sun opposite Uranus and the Moon in Virgo squares them, right there her emotional balance may be rather delicate, in fact, often those who are born with strong Sag/Gemini polarities along with corresponding aspects could easily fall into the bi-polar category. I don’t really see the depressive element, as Saturn is well enough aspected without challenges that would cause a downward turn of the psyche. Mercury is early in Sag and Mars is very late, near enough the Sun to conjoin it and give her a bold, assertive and independent character. The Sun square Moon is known as an identity crisis, which is only 7% of the population, so perhaps that seems fitting, since it happens on two days of the month, generally. Anyway, if you might remember, she played Patty and her English identical cousin Cathy on her self-titled show. <theme song> It befits the Sag-Gemini polarity to a tee, since Sag is international travel and Gemini is siblings, twins, of course and local trips. Her Venus/Jupiter in Scorpio is exactly conjunct and square Pluto, causing obsessive-compulsive behavior and causing kidney or liver problems, since Venus rules the matched pair of kidneys and Jupiter rules the largest internal organ, the liver. The conjunction appearing in the 5th house is not only her own creativity but describes Sean, as well as her romantic interests, such as marrying a man who was known for comedy.

12-15 “Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned” was the headline in the Roman tabloids and the graffiti on the walls the next day, so try to imagine that this is the being who has reincarnated as GW Bush! He was an obsessive, self-destructive, sexually perverse freak with Sun and Mars conjunct Pluto in a square to Saturn and Uranus plus Moon in Leo square Jupiter in Scorpio. Top that off with unaspected Mercury in Sag and Neptune semisquare the Sag stellium and you have an addictive, incurious and arrogant leader who doesn’t care about the common people. If that sounds familiar, you’ve been paying attention to what has been happening in our country today. Venus in Capricorn trine Saturn indicates the lack of a father figure growing up and the interest in older men for sexual partners. Yet, with the debilitating Saturn square to his Mars, he wasn’t big enough to sustain any love interests willingly. He was kicked out of Rome when he was two by Caligula and asked back with his mother by Claudius, who married his mother and adopted Nero, so as to make him heir to the throne. As for the Bush mom, she’s a commanding iceberg.
The talented Michael Shanks from Stargate SG1, the privileged Max Factor Heir Andrew Luster, and the very funny comic actor Tim Conway also have this birthday.

12-16 Beethoven, who has his birthday on Friday, was born 235 years ago, although he has been decomposing for 178 years. Well, that’s only fair since he spent most of his first 57 years composing, to which few have ever improved on his achievements. He remains a monolith of musical edifices. Nine magnificent symphonies, 7 concertos, 47 sonatas, 16 string quartets, dozens of other works for all kinds of instrumental combinations. As a pianist/composer/performer/ conductor, he would often perform his latest works from the piano or podium, to the awe of many. He worked like a madman on his scores and crossed out, furiously, passages he didn’t like. He composed two masses, an oratorio, only one opera but wrote four overtures for it.

By our best reports, Ludwig was a triple Sagittarius, being born a day before a New Moon, thus finishing up a cycle of experience. Perhaps he was a composer in a previous life on another world and brought this wave of advancement to music of that time. With Mars in the 7th house, opposite his Sun, ASC, Moon and Mercury, he was rude, inconsiderate and abrasive with most people. Having Moon square Neptune explains his escape into writing music when his father wanted him to be a performing monkey. It’s also a sign of his victimization at the hands of a family member. As research has recently uncovered, he had lead poisoning, in addition to cirrhosis of the liver and dropsy. He might have had too much wine with too much lead in it or someone wanted to kill him. Talk about a cold case. Well, there was some forensic work done on King Tut and that’s over 3 thousand years ago.

There are far too many interesting and important people born every week to be able to profile every one of them. I have become more methodical this year as opposed to last, when my progressed Moon was in Aquarius. Of late, it has been on my Mercury, giving rise to the more ordered sense of things. It is a matter of going with the flow but knowing that it has a destination and even a schedule of sorts. In cosmic terms, time is irrelevant, but to effect changes in a timely manner, you have to break a few eggs and scramble others. You may have a long and winding road upon which to travel to reach that place, but you get by with a little help from your friends. We need to come together to give peace a chance, so don’t play mind games or instant karma is going to get you. All you need is love, as that will help bring power to the people. Nobody told me there’d be days like this. You always eat the corn, so all we are saying is give peas a chance. Thanks John, for everything you said and did and those you brought along for the ride. You came from the working class and became world class.
< Working Class Hero - Lennon>

We have little left of the working class, as unemployment has been rising along with the increase in poverty. As they cut funding for early education, childcare, tracing deadbeat dads and other life-line programs, they give more tax cuts to the top earners, throwing a tragic Marie Antionette attitude into play. Sadly, those in power are so corrupt that they piss on the poor every chance they get. We’ll save some of those arguments for the power-monger programs under the sign of Capricorn and we’ll tout the qualities of the underdogs of those days, the masses of humanity who only want their simple human dignity to live their lives in accordance with their own personal beliefs and not have someone else’s values or opinions about what to name the holiday season and what words are now politically incorrect. Why not call the season what it is really all about? Saturnalia! It deals with time and old age that prepares for the rebirth and return of the Sun. We have reached the darkest days of winter and have survived. Let’s move on! Happy Saturnalia!

December 3 , 2005
The End is near! The end of Mercury retrograde, say amen, sisters and brothers! Amen! Hallelujah, praise God that it only happens three times a year and for only three weeks at a time. Any more of this craziness and we’d all go insane! The end of the year is when the books have to balance out, so retailers back in the 1800’s devised an inventive year-end spectacular that hadn’t been made much fuss over until the industrial age made profits and losses into greater sums, during the time of Pluto moving through Taurus, wouldn’t you know! Pluto will enter Capricorn in 2008, moving into the sign it was in when our country was founded. Our nation’s chart also has the planet Jupiter conjoining the Sun and Venus and as such, will undergo significant changes after the next presidential election. Do Asians vote in erections? I think there is a web site where you can vote on erections, but I don’t go there. It must be the Jupiter in Scorpio affecting me, as it is making a lot of aspects right now. It’s exactly opposite Mars, which is why there is a great deal of argument and debate over the war, the lives and the money it has cost us. Something everyone in the media does is the year-end review, seeing who died and what important events there were, as well as things like convictions/acquittals, marriages, divorces, Oscars or Walk of Fame stars were stolen over the course of the past year. Since you get that everywhere else, I won’t do it here.

December isn’t a joyous month for all, but at least this year, Hanukkah is on Kwanzaa, the day after Christmas, so everyone builds up to a frenzy at the same time. There has of late been some controversy about the name of the tree that’s decorated. Apparently, there are people who don’t want it to be called a Christmas tree because it’s like the Christians own the holiday. We used to call ours a Hanukah bush because we were Jewish. Mercury goes direct this evening and the retrograde has been very chaotic…until tonight and even then, there’s a little residual effect. It is the time of year when the great polarity is at its zenith - at the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year. It is the polarity between spirituality and materialism. We say we believe in God and yet, we don’t really follow the teachings of the great masters who were in direct communication with God, the prophets and the biggies; Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Mohamed. We just act like we do. God is a concept that has changed throughout the different ages. In the Age of Taurus, women were the rulers with the goddess cults. The Age of Aries brought in the jealous, warlike, fearsome and wrathful male god of the Jews, the Christians and Islam. Jesus came along and said that God isn’t quite like that but rather forgiving and accepting of you. In the coming Age of Aquarius, it will be revealed that God is in everyone and everything and exists as the energy of the entire universe and we’re all part of it.

You see…the difference in religions gives rise to how people perceive God. The Muslims see him as a God who demands a simple life of servitude and 5 worship services a day. You have to fight and die for him to know him, especially if you are an extremist. The Christians see God as a guy who turns water into wine at a party, has him rise from the dead, then transforms into Santa Claus and every other do-gooder. The Jews see him as the ultimate unknowable, so they don’t really know. That’s why they’re always asking questions about and to God. Like, “Why me?” Remember that nice Jewish boy, the son of the carpenter, also studied to be a rabbi. As part of that study he learned astrology and numerology, as well as Kabala. In the years that are not reported in the bible, from age 13 until 29 or so, he traveled abroad and learned about all the world religions and belief systems. There were stories of the red-bearded pale skin from the water, the Fish Man, in Central America before the Spaniards set foot there. He also went to Tibet and India to talk with great spiritual masters. Well, why not? If you were God, sending someone on a mission, wouldn’t you send someone you trusted to get a peek in on how you were being regarded or worshipped? I know I would! The traditions are derived from various legends but the result is reflected by the signs of this time of year. Story-telling with some truth and lots of exaggeration designed to manipulate and guilt people into overcompensating for consistent failure with one final yearly push of materialistic expressions of love. This is what some of your belief is based upon and the truth is ultimately unknowable.

Preaching the gospel doesn’t seem to ring true anymore, since they are playing politics at the pulpit and manipulating public opinion by pounding on points less relevant to government and more the domain of morality and religions. The vile depravity they sling out is astonishing, since much of their negative rhetoric is designed to inflame their congregation into a vitriolic rage against all things liberal, Democratic and pro-choice on almost anything. They forgot that Jesus was the ultimate liberal and they forgot the phrase, America, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave! You have to be brave to stand up for your freedoms these days! Yet the Right Wingers and Religious Right feel that the American Flag is their exclusive property and that liberals would only want to burn it. Yet, liberals are as patriotic, if not more so because of exercising the right of dissent and wanting our troops to be supported after they leave active duty. I think the best way to support the troops is to have them return to these shores and held rebuild the Gulf Coast and clean up New Orleans!
<Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven…John Prine>

Truth is a funny thing, which is why Jupiter and Sag have rulership over humor and wisdom, but the facts aren’t always going to add up to the truth and the truth doesn’t always uncover all the facts. Semantics is the science of seeking the meaning of language, far more comprehensively than what may be communicated is what is meant and where the impetus originates. What do you mean by that? In political wordplay, semantics is an accusation and sometimes even an insult, but that happens when smart people use language in a complex and nuanced way. People can’t always formulate their ideas in a clear and concise way and have to use phrases like, in other words…or, I mean to say…or something of that nature. I think we have a president like that and he has Sag South Node, so has always had a problem with truth, wisdom, and worldliness. It seems internationalism will have to be a greater attribute for our next leader. If it has to be John Kerry, I hope he gets a better speech writer and handler who will advise him to speak more like a person and less like a long-winded gasbag senator.

Immigration is a hot button issue now and it is a very Sagittarius subject to discuss since it involves long distance travel, legal issues, risky adventures that weren’t part of the bargain and sometimes feeling like you’re wandering around in a foreign country and are completely lost. The borders are in danger of being overrun by invaders from the South, as if it hasn’t been going on for centuries but it has gotten worse since the construction of the Hoover Dam and the destruction of the Colorado Delta. Yuma would have been a vacation destination. A situation that has been checked and rechecked has failed to stem the tidal waves of immigrants from south of the border and there is a move afoot to make it a major issue. There is no debate that there needs to be something done but there are few solutions that will please everyone. The problem is in the nature of nations and borders, artificial separations between people, which is an evolutionary issue, really. For centuries, many humans had lived in nomadic tribes, wandering to where the land yielded its abundance that they may gather in what it provided and moved on to the next place to feed. Eventually, agriculture developed because there became too many instances of competition over food resources, some of which would lead to violence and even primitive wars. Well, at least some things never really change.

In health news, it’s become harder for injections of antibiotics and other intra-muscular serums because we’ve become the nation with the world’s fattest asses! Part of this is due to the health care treatment we have in this country that avoids the preventative and educational aspect of health. The external part of the body ruled by Sag is the gluteus maximus and the thighs. This is why comedians, who are ruled by Sag, frequently make mention in erotic and suggestive ways of people and their derrières, or, if you prefer, their asses. This is a by-product of the great American indulgence in junk foods, super-sized with saturated fats coupled with the laziness factor that too much computer and TV time combine for.

We are a nation that has enthusiasm for sports but seem content to watch as fans rather than participate as competitors, while we eat and drink ourselves into a stupor, losing control of our faculties and inhibitions. Stupid behavior is frequent at sporting events in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed. More, more and still more is the Jupiterian American way and the only way to solve the problem is to increase the physical activity and decrease the intake of food. For that to really happen, people need more free time, which means they have to make more money, in the form of raises greater than the rate of inflation and thus you increase the federal revenue. When American ingenuity turns its attention to innovation in technology, we can advance more rapidly, especially as we turn toward new technologies and materials. It used to be that I would only wear cotton underwear but as they have developed more comfortable materials, I have accepted them if they work for me.

Self-improvement is also under this sign’s domain and as such, is a good time to exercise and work to get back in shape before the end of the year comes and you make it a resolution that you don’t keep. Instead, make it a present to yourself and go out a buy a membership at a gym and give them as gifts so that you can get into the kind of shape that will make you feel good about yourself. It is wise to avoid overexertion and trying to do more than you are able on the first efforts, since you have to find out your capabilities. It might be smart to get advice, either from a trainer or someone you know who works out with positive results. The Mars opposite Jupiter in today’s chart is an indication of just such a scenario, as Jupiter is the teacher or advisor, but it can also be the over-exertion. Saturn is going to move in the direction of an opposition to Neptune but it won’t be exact until the end of August. So, between now and the end of January, we have a near T-Cross with Saturn and Neptune square to the Mars/Jupiter. Of course you know this means war! Oh right, as if there were anything else with this Orwellian administration! We are the New Oceania, following one war with another and the aim is the same. Keep the war economy rolling along and everybody has a job. Eventually, we will have to remember the land from which we came and return to work the earth itself. We have to rebuild it, since it has been destroyed many times over by pollution and other toxins. You might remember nuclear fallout and DDT from the 50’s but there have been other things along the way since then.

Here’s the thing, though…Saturn opposite Neptune could be nebulous reasons for those in authority to have suspicions cast upon them while it undermines their power structure, as the president and his administration seem to be doing. It’s also the unraveling of many of the Catholic Church legal cover-ups, resulting in priests getting arrested, defrocked, or in other words, busted in one way or another. This should have the effect of revealing further the hypo-Christians for what they are, and perhaps people will stay away from the church in droves. You see, as this aspect shows, the Church uses manipulative deception to get you to give your money. Imagine what all those billions of untaxed dollars could have done to benefit the homeless and the hungry! Instead, money was funneled into political campaigns and PACs, not helping the homeless, the hungry and the sick or elderly. This is the big problem with the whole faith-based initiative that will become very different under a new administration. People will get very tired of having their Sunday Sermons injected with stump speeches and requests for political contributions, and banished from the church if they are Democrats.

Polarizing America has been the agenda of the Right and by demonizing gays and abortion, they have set the tone of the political debate, saying these are values issues. Are they? It seems to me that they are biological in origin, with sexuality as their impetus, but the government has no right to tell you whom to love. Nor do they have any right to control your body and what you choose to do with it. This is a free country, or at least it used to be when democracy was still valued and respected. There…democracy is a value. Depriving you of your freedoms destroys the foundations of democracy. As long as you haven’t infringed on the rights or property of others, you shouldn’t have to fear. If you have sex with someone, it is your business and if they charge you for it, that’s their business. If the government wants to tax everyone, then they need to legalize prostitution they way they legalized gambling, but you have to regulate it, which would create new jobs and more revenue from the taxes to cover it but then you need health care clinics to maintain a healthy business environment. Putting abortion doctors and clinics out of business only increases the pressure on the unemployment situation and we don’t want that. And if gays want to get married, they should also have the right to be as happy or as miserable as the rest of us, so it’s ultimately about equal rights under the law.

It should be against the law in terms of what this president has done with the war. We could have captured Osama but they wanted to divert to Iraq and get the other target, Saddam, while letting the original bogeyman be left on the loose, so as to continue to be a threat to us. Meanwhile, the US troops have committed horrible atrocities with weaponized White Phosphorus, a chemical so deadly, it will burn the skin off of your body unless the oxygen supply is cut off. Many Iraqis lie dead from White Phosphorus burns. Fire has often been a weapon of war dating back almost a hundred years to WWI. The ultimate fire is passionate love, something Johnny Cash and June Carter shared long before they got married.
<Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash>

By the way, we went to see Walk the Line last week and while it was excellent and Reese was delightful and heartfelt as June, Joaquin Phoenix brought his Scorpio energy to the Man in Black, who had Moon in Scorpio. So, even though he got much of the man and his music down pat, there was a little element that was missing and that was his sense of humor. Sharing my birthday with Johnny Cash gives me some special insight and I understood the story they told was authentic, but it’s something of a concern to me on a personal level. They left out his funny songs like Dirty Ol’ Egg Sucking Dog and A Boy Named Sue, so it was planned to put the serious side of his obsession with June and addictions in the face of not having her in the forefront of the movie and leaving out an essential component of the man’s personality. His card is the Queen of Clubs, which is the Jupiter card in the Jupiter Line in the 52-card deck, so humor, wisdom and travel are his stock-in-trade. Being a Pisces with Mercury and Mars there, too, music was a natural outlet for him. His brother Jack had died in adolescence but had wanted to be a minister, so when Johnny had accomplished all he wanted in the world of love and career, he turned back to God, on whom he had turned his back during a life of fast women, booze and drugs. Interesting that Joaquin has his Jupiter in Pisces, very near Cash’s Sun, so this portrayal will gain him much advancement in his career. One fault with Johnny’s lyric in Folsom Prison Blues, where he says, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.” Reno is in Nevada and he would have done time in their state pen if that had been the case. He could have said ‘Frisco, but then, San Franciscans wouldn’t have appreciated that version of their name. Barstow? Tahoe?

There is a vast gulf between the two parties on several issues and one is the way in which we go about the business of war, although now the paradigm has shifted since the Jack Murtha speech. There is no military victory in Iraq and the only real victory will happen if the democracy idea sticks, which could collapse in weeks, months or years and descend into a vast civil war. But the war is not the issue over which we should be focused, but rather the right to dissent and debate the merits of the war and the motives for going and staying. Dissenters were tortured and imprisoned without any rights, just like enemy combatants and God knows how many protestors. The Right feels torture and strong armed invasions of sovereign nations is justified but the Left is not so sure as they were in 2002 because, I believe wholeheartedly, that if they knew then what they know now, they wouldn’t have gone into Iraq.

The three parties of the right are very distinct as they cover secular financial interests, conservative Christians and the Neo Con extremists. The left, on the other hand, is less stratified as there is more crossing over, since liberals aren’t anal about rigid adherence to a single set of ideals and principles. The spectrum to the left is more varied and diverse. You have the Greens, the environmental movers and shakers, who advance the production of hemp and marijuana to the ecology as well as the economy, as it would be good for both. It would also be good for the Blue Party of the heart and soul of the American Workforce…the labor unions, which have to get stronger and bigger in order to restore some pride to the American way of life. Further out to the left, you have your socialistic ideals of economic equality and redistribution of the wealth, which is hard in a capitalistic society, but those more progressive and spiritually evolved are awakening to the necessity of sharing the world’s resources more equitably…or will do so in the future. In the middle could be the entirely neutral White Party or even Violet, if color distinction is required. Centrists exist on both sides and they will agree on many things but they especially connect on the economic advantages of the status quo in corporate power structures. With the revelations of widespread corruption in congress, will business by far behind? Elliot Spitzer will be president in 2012 or 2016 and will clean up this whole mess. He’s a Gemini and Jupiter will be there in 2012, so do the math.

The newly dubbed Newsmakers and Earth Shakers segment…
The dominoes continue to fall, as Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigns his congressional seat after his conviction for bribery, fraud and tax evasion and could get ten years in Levenworth or eleven years in Twelveworth, whichever is greater. As a former Air Force pilot, who was alleged to have been the inspiration for Top Gun with Tom Cruise, he maintained ties to both the military and the military-industrial complex and was able to secure contracts for which he was compensated royally, to the point where he had a 2.5 million dollar home and a yacht paid for by the contractor. What he did is readily out there this week but as I look into his chart, we see why he has done all he has. As a Sagittarius, he has always been a risk-taker and showboat, so his wings were duly earned by his experience in the sky. His Sun trines Mars in Aries and Moon in Leo, which is always a mark of egotism on a subconscious level and it forms a grand trine in fire. Fine. Sag is also the sign of the law and government, which is one reason he became a lawmaker, but it also rules opportunism and he took advantage of everyone he could and with Jupiter in Gemini opposite his Sun, there were many of those in which he could pad his wallet as he succumbed to the temptation to sell out his influence to the highest right wing bidders. He also has Venus opposite Pluto, where he attracts corrupt criminals to benefit him from their deep and hidden pockets. His nodes are Virgo North and Pisces South, which means he doesn’t deal very effectively with reality or being of any real substance, since deception and evasion are his tools of the trade. The North Node’s overcompensation might be his devotion to things militaristic and being of service, even if it’s in humble and prostrate devotion to the cause of global domination.

So why did it happen now? Well, his progressed Sun is in Aquarius in a square to Saturn in Taurus, so his ego has been brought down by his ambitions for money. His progressed Moon in Sag opposed minor Uranus and minor Saturn conjoins natal Pluto for a halt to the corruption and criminal income he’s been getting away with for many years. His minor Sun is now conjunct Neptune, the planet of prisons, institutions and escapism through drugs and alcohol. If he does go on a bender, I’m betting he’d opt for suicide rather than prison. His minor South Node is very near his natal Sun, so all that he has done in the past will now be perceived as a personal attack on his character. Transiting Saturn is right there on his natal Moon/Pluto conjunction, which could make him feel depressed and suicidal, since he’s lost everything, as Sagittarians do exaggerate. He could still have the love of a good cellmate…that might count for something in the twilight of his life.

On the other side of the aisle, we hear that Russ Feingold, the Jewish Senator from Wisconsin, is looking into running for president in 2008. A nice Pisces, growing up he was fascinated by JFK, RFK and MLK, so he’s a very progressive humanitarian, as his North Node in Aquarius and Sun trine Uranus reveal and add in Jupiter in the middle in Taurus, sextile both and you have an advanced soul who wants to teach humans how to evolve in a positive way. Venus and Mars in Aries can be too assertive for some and the square Mars makes to Uranus can cause accidents and unexpected conflicts. And with Venus opposing Saturn and Neptune, we can guess the cause of two failed marriages. He was drawn to abusive, alcoholic control freaks, although I have yet to investigate further, but what political man would drop a wife who wasn’t a liability? His Mercury is direct and right on the Pisces cusp of Aries, so bold ideas are designed to benefit those who have been victims of deregulation and tax cuts causing cuts in services and funds to the poor. His Moon is in Libra, after all, and his Mercury is in an opposition, so he’s instinctively attuned to the needs of others, which you really want in a senator or congressman. Duke shows what happens when a self-serving arrogant asshole holds the office of a trusted public servant! Russ shows what a dedicated civil servant can accomplish for the American people and his fellow cheese heads.

12-3 Ozzie Osbourne is an icon in the Heavy Metal world, having been proclaimed as the godfather of the genre. The guy was an alcoholic drug addict and now he’s been clean since ’91. Moon in Capricorn square Neptune tells you that he has an addictive and depressive personality. Mars is conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn, so he’s also a workaholic and tends toward excess in much of what he does, which echoes the South Node in Scorpio, very close to Venus, in a wide square to Pluto, but with closer sextiles to Saturn in Virgo and Jupiter in Cap. I know…that’s a lot of aspects playing together! His Sun and Mercury in Sag square Saturn and increase the overcompensation for his insecurity and fear in the form of violent music, actions and images. He’s been arrested numerous times and sued for allegedly putting subliminal messages in his music to have kids commit suicide or kill family members. No matter what the drugs and alcohol abuse did to his mind, body or spirit, I can see his problems in the chart. Bi-polar disorder is frequent in Sagittarians but when you see Mars and Jupiter so close (one degree apart!) and they oppose Uranus, you have extra problems that increase the craziness. Mercury square Saturn is almost exact, so there would be lung problems, slowness or slurring of speech, yet with the rambling monologue that Sag people are known for. He might stop it on his own, as that’s also part of the Saturn square, but that’s the challenge; his failure to stop talking or thinking about negative things to do or say. This is the basis for Metal, anyway…the anger and fear that are expressed as raging lyrics and melodies that you won’t slow dance to, if you could dance to anything of theirs! Brendan Fraser was born this day too.

12-4 Paul O’Neill was the Secretary of the Treasury who was the first Cabinet member to walk out in protest of the horrible policies that Bush was putting forth. Jupiter is conjoining his Sun and Mercury, so he is a smart and wise man with the experience to know a fool, because the one he had worked for didn’t seem to know what to do with the money in the surplus! Then he wrote a book that explained that Bush had the intention of going to Iraq from the outset of his administration and certainly wanted to invade as soon as it could be made to happen. That Paul pissed off plenty of people in his party is probably true. He was never for anything less than the truth in his life, which explains why he angered so many, but there it is in his chart, with Mars opposite Pluto square to Venus opposite Uranus, so it was always bigger issues and never personal. He had spoken truth to power and power couldn’t handle the truth. Even his Moon in Aries is trine his Jupiter, so he couldn’t help himself, which is why he was the first one of prominence to leave and write a book. With Saturn in Pisces square his Mercury and Jupiter his selection of career opportunities might be damaged by those in government who pull strings in secret. Ultimately, his Sun square Neptune would prefer to escape from the runaround world of Washington and get away to some quiet little town and forget about everything. Where is the saxophone solo now? Tyra Banks, who was born on this day, is the model who has done well on TV even though it may not be a very good show. I guess the runway is different than the TV camera.

12-5 George A. Custer was an adventurous control freak, as his Saturn was closely conjoined to his Sun and Moon. They were all trine to his Pluto, with Mars square Pluto, for his anger and rage at the charge to eradicate the Native Americans who were living peacefully in the upper Midwest. The Sag stellium squares Uranus and the nodes, for his being unexpectedly cut off from his reinforcements, although it might have been by design, as in a conspiracy to let Custer get massacred alone. Jupiter square Neptune causes political confusion and deception, although Jupiter trine Uranus would be his swift rise through the ranks, but the Saturn square is why he got busted from General to Lt. Colonel by his enemy, U. S. Grant. Mercury in Capricorn made for a good theoretician about war strategies but the real experience with Indians…he wasn’t really prepared for that. The truth is that he was set up and assassinated by one of his own men and the betrayal could be Uranus square his Sag planets, with no friends to look out for him, he was doomed. Indians didn’t touch their yellow-haired friend, according to eyewitness accounts.

Strom Thurmond lived 100 years and was in the Senate for much of that time, over forty years. He was governor of South Carolina and then became the senator with the longest term in office. But you can google him to find out facts. I will tell you the truth of his character! Hypocrisy is one of the more glaring traits in a Southern gentleman when they are racist and yet choose to sleep with colored women and have a child by them. He screwed around with the servant negress when he was a younger man. His anger and racial hatred is his Mars in Virgo square the opposition of Pluto in Gemini to Sun, Venus and Uranus in Sag. His Moon in Aquarius conjoins Jupiter, for more judgmental attitudes, but it gives an instinct for the law, which, with a sextile to Mercury and the Sun reinforces it and made him a lawmaker. Mars in Virgo trine Saturn and Hygeia in Taurus gave him that long life and led him to fight on the beaches of Normandy at the advanced age for a soldier of 41. Sag is the shortest-lived sign from a statistical basis but Strom beat the stats. To a bloody pulp!
Rob Hand, the astrologer, Walt Disney, and President Martin Van Buren also share this birthday.

12-6 Dave Brubeck was one of the giants in jazz back in the middle of the last century. His Sun trine Neptune gives a natural flow to the creation process and the Mars in Aquarius is the natural rhythm that bounces with electric energy is opposite Neptune, giving his rhythm a focus through music. A water grand trine from Moon in Scorpio to Uranus in Pisces and Pluto in Cancer make for intense drive and passion that reaches and connects all kinds of people. This may also be a strong sexual side to his nature, as well. Moon square Mars makes one irritable, as my son and dog both have it and they certainly are. I don’t have it but I get that way from Moon in a near sesquiquadrate to Mars. Anyway, Dave has Mercury in Scorpio sextile Venus in Cap, which is good for cooperating with other people and their ideas, playing off of each other, which you do in jazz. Venus trine Jupiter and Saturn gave him an enormous respect for a lot of the players he played with and many that he didn’t. However, with Sun square Jupiter, he would go overboard in asserting his will and made an ass of himself. Moon square Neptune could be a problem with drugs and alcohol, not that I’m accusing but after all, he was a jazz musician!
Another great from the musical world, Ira Gershwin can be read about on my web site, in the article Fascinatin’ Rhythm Brothers.
<Take 5 – Dave Brubeck>

12-7 Larry Bird was a basketball player for the Celtics in the 80’s and 90’s as well as a coach of the Pacers but has since retired…and he’s younger than me! While he was a great player, he had lots of talent around him to complement his skills but he suffered with injuries in his later years. Career-ending aspects like Saturn square Pluto might have caused the damage, but it’s likely that progressions played a bit into the injuries. His Moon in Aquarius in a sextile to the Sag Sun is a good reason for the athletic prowess and love of outdoors. Mars in Aries trine Saturn made for the competitor who was disciplined to do the hard work necessary to succeed and a trine to Uranus makes for the unexpected move to surprise an opponent and catch him off guard. But with Mars opposite Jupiter, he went overboard and above and beyond what was expected of him, which is why he was one of the greatest who ever played the game. A lot of the game is mental, because if you haven’t prepared your mind to be in the game, the game won’t be in you and your body has no direction. A car needs a driver and a ship needs a captain, just as your body needs your mind to steer it where you want it to go. Mercury square the Mars/Jupiter opposition is one of the more interesting combinations of confrontation and humor, sort of the trash talk they do on the court, anyway. As for his Aquarius Moon square Venus in Scorpio, I’d say he doesn’t get too close to too many people. Terrell Owens is also not letting anyone get too close to him these days and he’s got the same birthday as Bird.

12-8 Ann Coulter is the tall, skinny blonde Right Wing hack who knocks the left with every breath she takes. When she’s not busy insulting liberals, she’s trashing the things she thinks they represent or have accomplished and lies all the way. Every one of her personal planets is in Sag and they all square Pluto, for her venomous sarcasm and unconscious hatred of everything good and right about democratic values, principles and ideals. Sag is the sign of opinions but it also rules truth and when you lie about someone or something to the point that you become a mockery of journalistic integrity, a line needs to be drawn. She can’t help but tear down that line with every word she utters. She’s an angry person because her Mars in right on her Sun and less than three degrees from the Moon, a conjunction that is known as combustion. The ego, or personality is taken over by the nature of the combust planet, in this case, Mars, affecting her emotionally, as well as her personality, making her rather masculine. Some people have suggested that she was a transsexual. Jupiter in Aquarius square Neptune in Scorpio is her attitude of the know-it-all cynic (Aquarius South Node), yet the flaw in her judgment is that it isn’t based on reality, especially with Saturn making no aspects to any of her planets and if it squares her ASC as I think it does, her father was such a negative role model that she plows through men, especially with Venus square Uranus and Chiron, so she attracts losers, flakes and weirdoes, which is why she’s gone out with Bill Maher! Just kidding Bill…I love your work, dude. So, it’s her very close Mercury square Pluto that causes her to tear down and deconstruct all things good and just, but she’s obsessed with destroying the Left. But why?

Next year, or in the book version, I will include an astro-profile of my favorite Scandinavian composer, Sibelius, who shares this birthday with one person who is dead, whom we all wish weren’t…

Jim Morrison was the leader of The Doors, as you know, so let’s cut to the chase and look at the chart. For one who lived life on the edge, only his Sun was in Sag, with Mercury at the first degree of Cap sextile Venus at the first degree of Scorpio, which is also part of the problem. The Moon in Taurus opposed Venus and they square Pluto and the Nodes, which is why his life ended by his death…I know…duh! Mercury’s square to Neptune indulges in escapist daily activities and misplaced acceptance of things, but with Mercury trine Jupiter, he saw plenty of the truth that he was a threat to some powerful and impatient important people. This is based on his Sun opposite Mars and Saturn in Gemini and with no other aspects to them, they can be perceived to represent enemies who wished him harm and an end to his activities. Uranus in the 4th in Gemini, the vagabond, trine Neptune in the 8th indicates drugs as the cause of his sudden death but did he do it to himself? He, Hendrix and Janis may have had their entourage infiltrated by an undercover FBI guy passing some bummer acid or deadly laced heroine. Perhaps the Sun’s exact square Chiron shows that his wound was so deep that no matter what material benefits he got, there would always be a hole where his heart should be. Mars square Chiron as well could indicate him doing himself in, but it’s only generally likely with this aspect. There would be some degree of passion and anger that would get him all fired up.
<People are Strange – The Doors>

12-9 Don King is a Bush-lover because of the tax cuts, I’m sure. He’s not that nice of a guy when you see what an opportunist he’s been, which makes sense with Sun square Jupiter and Moon in Taurus opposite Venus in Scorpio. Oh does that man have money issues! Mercury retrograde in Sag and the Sun are square the nodes, so they have not had a proper meeting, I’d guess. Sun trine Uranus is his seeming friendliness to book something for athletes, particularly boxers, since that sport attracts gamblers like few others and has the easiest ways to arrange fixes because of the few players in the game.

John Malkovich has always been one of the more interesting mainstream actors and the movie about people being in his mind and body was a trip. First of all, may I say, I see a bisexual energy with his Mars/Neptune in the bi sign of Libra and they trine Jupiter and square the Moon in Cap opposition to Uranus in Cancer on the South Node, so he’s no stranger to these issues. Mercury square Pluto is the sick and obsessive mindscape he lives in, while Mercury trine Uranus is the creative genius to create unique concepts. There might be some addictive tendencies but a strong sense of self-discipline as the Moon is on the North Node, the point of evolutionary growth. Sun trine Pluto reinforces this, showing his ability to transform himself on an ever-evolving merry-go-round. Venus is conjunct Mercury in Scorpio and nothing more, opening up a range of possibilities for relationships. Whatever gets you through the night…it’s all right.

In this crazy world at this insane time to be alive, or should I say surviving, it takes a lot to handle life and still maintain your sanity. The evidence of a world gone mad is all around. Maybe it was the retrograde and squares to Uranus that caused some of it, but that’s just the temporary part. The insanity has gone on for several years now, maybe even the last decade or so. It might be the Pluto in Sag and Neptune in Aquarius combination that is bringing out these weird extremes with civilization as a whole. Sag rules publishing and broadcasting and there are all kinds of strange things going on in those worlds, like in Iraq, where the military uses planted stories in Iraqi papers that spin a favorable view of the US involvement there. It’s also inflation of one’s ego, as Bill O’Reilly takes credit for the lower gas prices because of his reporting, but he has Mercury conjoining Neptune on the South Node, so he’s delusional and with Moon square Jupiter, his instinct to exaggerate…what a schumck! So as to not end this show with a negative, let me say this…now that Mercury is direct and it’s just after the New Moon, all those things you weren’t able to do or couldn’t get done are now able to move forward. Get moving and make sure you do as much as you can over the next two weeks. There is much to do and if you start now, you won’t be stressed when the end of the month comes. Mars conjunct Jupiter tomorrow, Mars goes direct on Friday, Mercury goes direct tonight. Go, go, go and get things done! Don’t wait until the setting of the Sun.