June 19, 2004

It’s Father’s Day and I can only remember my father for what he was and did to me and for me in life. He passed away at age 69 10 years ago. But what are fathers for? Some are merely sperm donors and others are completely hands on and if he had put his hands on me when I was older…well, I actually meant involved in his kid’s life. Mine wasn’t but I am rather actively involved in my son’s life. I don’t remember playing catch with dad or having a decent conversation, for that matter. I know he loved his kids but wasn’t really able to show it in a caring or considerate way. He did what was good for us or for our own good but there wasn’t much support or demonstrativeness.

Father’s Day only became a national holiday in 1972, when Nixon signed it into law. It was probably a distraction for the Watergate break-in that happened in the same year. The holiday had been celebrated for many decades unofficially, since around WWI.

Con-grad-uations graduates and here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson or whatever your name may be, for going back to school and getting a degree. Your grown children are proud of you and you should be proud of yourself, too. Even the men who have gone back for a degree in something after their jobs were downsized or outsourced have something to take them to the next adventure in Career Search, 2004. Jobs are on the rise if you don’t mind making much less than you did during the Clinton Administration. The corporations are giving as much as they can to the Bushwhackers and Republiscams so they don’t have as much to pay their employees without dipping into their reserves or profits.

Are we a Christian nation? The USA is the Novus Ordo Seclorum, the New Secular Order, not a religious one. It is up to the people to rebel against the idea of a Christian Nation. If the man touts Jesus as his favorite wise man, then let him live by the teachings of the man he follows. Somehow, I can’t see him as a truly spiritual man when his friends are destroying the very greatness of the land they’ve sworn to protect. Leading us into a holy war is not the way to win friends and influence the electorate. First the Anglicans chastised the American Episcopalians for having a gay bishop and now the Southern Baptists want to take their children out of public schools and home school them because public schools are "Godless." That deserves a big…excuse me? Let’s have a cage match with Baptist Boy against Methodist Man. The Giant Jew will take on the Muslim Mauler in the under card bout.

How many other ways are we going to separate people from those who are different? How are we going to learn tolerance and compassion if we’re never exposed to anyone other than our own family and immediate neighbors? How are we going to teach our children about the most important human experience…socialization? We already have enough anti-social people as it is. It’s because of parents passing on their prejudices to their kids and drilling it into them like brainwashing. I have never programmed my son to learn astrology but presented it to him and let him make his own choice. He prefers to be skeptical at this time but I have faith that he will change his mind eventually. I have tried to be a good dad but have been impaired by not having had a good experience of my father. As Washington was the Father of our country, some people look to the president as a surrogate father, which to me is very frightening.

This is Father’s Day weekend, so look at it as the Fathers of our country speaking out at the way things have turned away from their vision of a nation that keeps out of foreign affairs instead of destabilizing banana or oil republics. Our Founding Fathers wanted to make our country great, not make a global economy and market our brand of democracy all over the world. Unless we are willing to make a United Nations reorganized into a stronger political and military power, we can’t go on like this. Many of us need a strong father figure because our own dad was far too busy trying to make enough money to support a family. It’s even harder when you have so many mouths to feed. The more kids you have, the more money you have to make and the more greedy and acquisitive you become. This is a slippery slope of rationalization and desperation. So many people go into debt because of the number of kids they have draining their resources. You can be just as gratified by one or two kids as ten, even being able to enjoy your life more. I am not a believer in large families, having come from one. The time for them is past and the Catholics need to become aware of that. Birth control and abortion are not violations of life when then contribute to quality of life for the living. Those who are only potential lives are not the ones having to survive in this existence. Why ruin a living person’s life with the burden, which they may not be ready to handle? In certain cases, abortion should be mandatory, as in rape and incest.

If this does become a Holy War, we’re going to have to enlist all the Catholics who want to fight for their beliefs. I’m sure there will be a lot of Christians and Jews as well but I say we call the whole thing off. We don’t have to kill each other if we all believe in the same God. He wants us to love one another, not kill each other. Old attitudes burn into the souls of the perverters of the truth. They will lie about this being a justified war and yet, there is never really a justified war. Things can be worked out in ways other than sacrificing thousands or millions of lives on the battlefield. People need to learn how to communicate, but if they are kept in ignorance, that’s trouble brewing. If you keep people down long enough, they launch into revolt and then you can’t control them. You have to keep people busy enough that they can afford to live and content enough that they don’t want to change governments. As we are going now, we are changing the face of the world for the worse, inciting violent opposition to the globalization intentions of multinational corporations. We have become a predatory beast, sucking off the vitality of the common human by draining them of everything they’ve got. It seems no one can enjoy what they have because they always want more. Some may learn how to live within their means and on a budget but it’s usually because they have to, as they have no other choice. It is a sad state of affairs when you don’t have much input into how you are able to live your life.

The Moon is lodged in between Mars and Saturn, which is like being attacked in your home by an angry militant and an arrogant developer who will get you to leave your land, one way or another. But the really interesting aspect pattern today and for the next week, is Venus retrograde in Gemini in a square to the opposition of Jupiter in Virgo to Uranus in Pisces. Where to begin…well, we could say that the changing value systems and beliefs will be altered again upon sudden revelations of the truth that a news service puts out. There is a lot of information that hasn’t come out yet that will implicate the people in the highest offices in the land. One month will pass and we will see if this plays out. Check this again on the Cancer New Moon.

Speaking of Cancer, the Sun enters the sign of the crab Sunday evening at 3 minutes until 6 PM in the Pacific Time Zone. I can just see the pagans dancing on the beach until sunset and then partying into the night, except it’s a Sunday and most people work the next day. And it isn’t like the Solstice occurs on a Full Moon…that happens next year! It’s great knowing things like that. To be able to look into the future or the past and check out what’s happening in the sky at any moment in history is rewarding. To know about famous historical or contemporary people is fascinating. The more one adds to their knowledge the more of an advantage one has over less-well informed people. One of the things about pagans is that they had a nature-oriented religion for thousands of years and never got into religious wars over it. Cancer is connected to the Great Mother and the Goddess as well as things like Wicca and witchcraft, especially White Magic, while Black Magic is ruled by the Lord of the Dark Forces, Pluto. Whereas mysticism is a transcendental spiritual art and comes under the influence of Pisces.

Getting 10 days of jail time for extreme drunk driving is singer and former TV show host Glen Campbell, a guy with 5 planets in Taurus, the sign of habits. It does bless one with a good voice generally and he did have one but since nobody likes him anymore, he’s gone done the drain. When a guy has Sun squaring Pluto, you can be fairly sure of a self-destructive streak and he has that. His Moon in Taurus trines Neptune, which could be a family influence to drink, especially having Saturn opposite Neptune, easily his father must have been a drinker. Or maybe it was the opposite end of the spectrum and his dad might have been high on the Lord. The family he was born into was big, being one of 12 kids, so he goes out and fathers 8 kids that he knows of and is on his fourth marriage. It could be that his unaspected Venus in Aries has a bit of a problem with impulse control and he doesn’t finish what he starts with women. The only thing close is a sextile to Chiron and that hasn’t always been the healing kind of relationship. He may well have been singing, "By the time I get to Phoenix…I’ll get pulled over. I can see the lights shining in my mirror. He’ll freak when he sees my blood alcohol level and throw me in the back seat of his car." Sorry Glen, but you were very drunk at .2 B.A.L. and deserve to stew over it for a little bit. Maybe you’ll have a driver take you out next time.

Prince just had his birthday last week and his Solar Return has Moon conjoining Neptune, so he might feel like a victim. There is a funky lawsuit a guy in Minnesota has filed to which Prince has filed a counter-suit. It happened in an airport and Prince’s bodyguard got in this guy’s face to back off perhaps. The details are sketchy but it’s frivolous on both sides and may well get kicked. It’s all too common to have fans or onlookers get intimidated by his big, burly bodyguards when they aren’t really doing anything aggressive. If you saw Prince’s chart, you might understand his paranoia. He has Moon in Pisces opposite Pluto, so may well have justified fears that someone is out to get him. It may be the obsessive Mercury square to Pluto that contributes to an imbalanced mind that obsesses all the time anyway. Then there is the fear of intimacy aspect, Venus square Uranus, which also contributes to bisexuality and coldness towards most people. Add to that Venus opposite Neptune and you have someone who wants to avoid people altogether. Maybe he should take some of his millions and buy his own Lear jet. He can find one at the CIA Charity Auction because George Tenet is liquidating his assets. He should have it checked for drugs before he buys. Those guys could very easily set someone up and bust them in a heartbeat.

One of the biggest problems in the medical business is the legal business of malpractice suits. Taking matters into his own hands, Dr. J. Chris Hawk of Charleston, SC, refuses to treat attorneys and calls on all doctors not to treat lawyers. It’s professional revenge for dragging good doctors through the legal expense and embarrassment of trials, ruining careers in the process and causing diminishing returns. Now, many doctors have to get a second job, maybe selling black market cigarettes so they can stay in business. It isn’t about the battle between doctors and lawyers, however…it’s the insurance companies that have ramped things up and made the malpractice premiums so exorbitant that many who would have gone into medicine make alternative career plans to avoid the hefty insurance. I have long known how insurance is the biggest scam of the century. You pay them money to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Consumer Reports that just came out has documented about a dozen different insurances that are a total waste of money. It’s a shakedown racket, worse than mafia and gang protection schemes that are really nothing more than extortion.

Let’s look at Kerry’s Chart

John Forbes Kerry is a double Sagittarius with his Moon conjoining Saturn, and Mars conjunct Uranus in Gemini, so if he sees both sides of the coin, it’s because he can. Our president has no oppositions, so can’t see or relate to any other points of view. Kerry’s Sun is in the first house on the ASC, so he has a courageous will and a self-confident nature. He will do anything he wants to as it pertains to his sense of self-expression. He may be a bit full of himself but he has a good, strong heart, lots of love and a generous spirit. His Sun is opposed to the Moon in its Full phase, Saturn and Mars, indicating that he is often embroiled in conflict with someone who seeks power over him or seeks to attack him. He is also in need of someone with whom he feels comfortable, which could easily be his wife. In many of these aspects, he is unique among past presidents, in that they don’t have this grouping of planets in opposition. Perhaps it’s because of being so embattled by the furious opponent he is facing that makes it so potent. Either way, this is a challenging energy, but he hasn’t backed down from challenges very often. Mars conjoining Uranus is a willingness to go into battle for principles and ideals and the advancement of freedom and individuality.

He was born into a political family, as the Sag ASC and its ruler, Jupiter placed in the 9^th house relate to travel, higher education, law and government. He searches for truth and sees the big picture and wants to get more people involved in making a better world. His Mercury in a square to Neptune makes understanding things easily a challenge but it isn’t due to lack of intellect. It’s that he has a very pragmatic thought process that can’t believe things on faith, the opposite of our current leader, who won’t do any research into the news reports or find out anything on his own. His Mercury inconjunct Uranus is so idealistic and humanitarian that in his desire to be of service to a greater circle of constituency, he drains himself, overworking to the point of exhaustion. This would be an old past-life pattern as Uranus rules his South Node and Mercury is a patterning energy that can slip into repetition very easily. As such, he may be involved in the political field because of his ideals about social justice from previous incarnations.

Neptune is on the MC in the 9^th house, which could mean he might have made a left turn and pursued a career in music and other arts, like acting. He could have also pursued a seminarian path, were he so inclined, but he likes to have fun and it’s hard to do if you have a vow of poverty or silence. Whatever happened to …make a joyful noise unto the Lord…? He also has Jupiter in the 9^th, which is more prominent owing to its rulership of his chart. This is the diplomat, especially with a Libra MC and his reputation for changing his mind precedes him. Neptune is trine to his Uranus so his ideals and beliefs open up to a higher calling and he has an understanding of the universal truth in ways many others will never open their minds to.

Pluto is on his North Node in his Natal chart and he just had it go over his Sun, the ruler of that node. This brings forward the transformational energy he was destined to experience from birth. Of course, the whole life is about transformation and the event of its crossing his Sun has profoundly altered his life, I’m sure. His Natal Pluto also has a square to Venus, indicating the troubles with love that he had earlier in his life. Relationships are more problems than they’re worth to those with this aspect. Divorce is very expensive but the extreme loss with this square is the loss of a spouse to the other side…death, the ultimate transformation. When looking at the sign Venus is in, Scorpio, one could say there is a natural extremism in love relationships and that intense desire can make for an uncomfortable set of expectations, something Sag people are good at. There are likely suspicions about motives with these energies and one wonders what he really values or wants. Other Venus square Pluto people are Hilary Clinton, Saddam Hussein and Condi Rice, so he’s in some ruthless company. But there is another way of looking at this aspect and that is to change the way money is used by the collective. We have to change our value systems to see how the rest of the world lives and reduce our consumption of the lion’s share of the world’s resources. We used to have a middle class and we need to restore that, as it’s what made America great.

The fact that Kerry is a triple mutable combo (Sag/Gemini) and it makes clear his flexible, adaptable nature, which allows him to change his opinion as the circumstances warrant. The attempts by the Right to paint him as wishy-washy don’t stand up to analysis when the facts are clarified and you can follow his reasoning. When a bill is presented without riders and amendments, it’s easy to decide which way to vote. But when committees get through with it and special interests have twisted arms to get policy favors, it’s a whole different ballgame and you have to alter your vote. This is what some of the accusations are about. When the public is ignorant and they believe what they are told, it’s impossible to get the truth out.

Sagittarians love truth, as it is their operative word. The truth shall set you free. Unfortunately in politics, the truth is often something we don’t get from people who have been corrupted by the power. It is often the case that a powerful figure is actually a shill for a particular industry or network of industries. There are also politicians who would lose their careers if the truth were known, such as many of the top officials in this administration, all the way to the top, including Poppy Bush, especially. It’s no wonder the president has a problem with truth, since his South Node, considered one’s area of weakness, is in Sag.

John Kerry’s chart shows he was wounded in battle while expressing bravery and self-sacrifice. It’s indicated by Mars and Vesta opposite his Sun squared by Chiron. He never thought about getting medals or keeping count of how many times he would need to go above and beyond the call of duty to rescue a mate or kill the enemy that was about to kill him and his crew. Viet Nam wasn’t so much a war as it was a test of survival. The wounds weren’t always physical as Chiron square the Moon will show. The emotions are so deeply affected by the stint in the service that he came out a changed man and went into politics to keep us from having to go to war for profit again. The Moon represents one’s patriotism and sense of belonging to a homeland worth protecting. His Moon conjoining Saturn in Gemini could be manipulated into responding along with a growing consensus and having his better judgment be swayed by undue influence on the part of the drum-pounding Republicans in their call to war. These are powerful interests and concerns that were influencing his votes.

The 7^th house is the house of relationships, partnerships and open enemies, so it figures that the planets located there, the Moon and Saturn represent the past and the patriarchy that seeks to control, limit and dominate the economy and more. His wife is an heiress to the Heinz fortune, so the family power is certainly evident there. They relish the opportunity to get us out of a pickle. Let’s hope they cut the mustard and get lots of condiments. Then there is the opposition party, the conservatives who claim a greater sense of patriotism than liberals. What a bunch of crap. There are always two sides to every coin, two different colored suits in the cards, two colors in chess and checkers and so on. If you have only one side, it’s a dictatorship or monarchy, each as bad as the other and often leads to violent overthrows. Seeing both sides in operation on an alternate basis is instructive. Look at trends in the economy in the last 24 years and you’ll see what I’m talking about. When Republicans are in office, the national debt and deficit rise and the rich get richer off of a war-oriented economy. When Clinton was in office, unemployment was at an all-time low, average income was at an all-time high and education was working, which benefits all the economic classes.

Kerry’s Moon/Saturn is his sense of structure, purpose and concern for the welfare of others but it may also have to do with his comfort level in the mountains, whether it’s skiing or snowboarding, biking or hiking. Sag guys are often outdoorsmen, hunting and fishing with a nod back to the days of the pioneers. They like exploring and seeing the great open spaces of the American West but then we have the sprawling cityscapes in the urban centers, which is really more of the Gemini stellium. If he becomes president, I’d like to see his biopic made. It needs to happen but with so many ignorant and easily manipulated Americans, it’s the devil you know is better then the one you don’t know. I think Poppy Bush is the devil and Dubya is the Anti-Christ. If not, then they must be inhabiting their bodies to effect global changes that are not in the majority’s interest. Satanic Walk-ins! Jesus Christ, what the hell is happening?

Consider the present situation in the world and our place in it. Never before have we had such a trade imbalance to the extreme disadvantage. All of the Asian countries have taken over most production of electronics and many other goods and services. It used to be the US was the leader in technology. Tom Edison is rolling over in his grave about now, as is Henry Ford. The men who made American ingenuity famous and technological and manufacturing progress beyond the scope of any other civilization is on the verge of becoming a 3^rd World country. Immigration is increasing the population and lowering the average learning potential due to oversized classes and under-funded schools, not to mention the diminished integrity of the textbooks they learn from.

It’s not just the kids who lack a proper education but apparently one third of the Senate needs a little more education in the rights of gay people. That’s 33 senators who voted against a bill to make attacks on gays a hate crime. If race, religion or ethnic background are subject to this status, why then not sexual orientation, gender or disability? People who are different should not have to be subjected to discriminatory or violent behavior. If everyone was the same, we’d have a lot of trouble differentiating our sense of self and…oh well, just go see Stepford Wives. Really though, think of it this way. If a guy…because it’s always a guy or guys, usually who have had a little too much to drink…goes out and targets a particular genre of people, he or they, have a serious issue with some group. Hateful people usually come from abusive families and learn it at an early age.

In some cases, it’s inferiority issues, as in a crappy student in school majors in business and the intellectual snobs sneer at him for his choice of major. He’s been plotting his revenge for the longest time and has incorporated by 29 with a capital worth of well over 3.5 million, partying with the Republicans and sailing his yacht around Baja. Meanwhile, the intellectuals are making under 100,000 a year and living a moderate, unpretentious lifestyle. Then there are the washed up jocks who stumble along looking for the pie in the sky opportunity to strike it rich while working at a manual labor job. If all these people had equal measures of desire and fire, skill and willingness to learn, then they’d all be successful. There are so many ways to earn money that you have no one to look at but yourself.

When people are properly educated, they tend to prosper and have productive lives, whether it’s in business or the arts or sciences. If one pursues their proper purpose and proceeds to pound the pavement to find the position in the profession he or she is most suited to, then this world would have fewer unemployed and a much happier labor force. As we have become a highly technical society, those who advance on the cutting edge of science and industry will usually have opportunities and ability to ply their skills in several different areas. American ingenuity is way ahead of political realities as in the case of energy production plants that use garbage to produce much more energy than it uses. Turkey bits and pieces have been processed to produce oil and bio-diesel fuel but they have no tax credits and no incentives or subsidies from the government because they aren’t digging for oil or gas. Old technology is profitable for the men who want to drain the wells dry to get every ounce and dollar out of the black gold. This is why they go to war and support Halliburton and other criminal organizations.

Let’s get back to the Cancer planets in the sky for a minute. Right now, the Moon is sandwiched between Saturn and Mars but Mercury enters today and the Sun enters tomorrow as I mentioned before. I should mention the implications to families at this time. The kids (Sun) are out of school and it’s time to plan activities (Mercury) to keep them active (Mars). It could also be going to summer school (Mercury) or working a summer job (Mercury) or independent business (Saturn). The last few degrees in a sign are usually difficult in that the energy of the sign is ending and its influence is disintegrating. Gemini has symbols here like Surrender and Stumbling as well as Indefatigableness and Allurement. Reaching the first degree of Cancer, we get Compassion.

Looking at Bush’s chart, his Sun shows him reaching a position of importance and a stubborn personality. His Saturn, the planet of professionalism, is in a degree called Glitter, wherein he’s hypnotized by power and show and takes risks others would shrink from. The love of pleasure is too great and the will is too weak that he had to turn his life over to a higher power (Cheney) to get his life together. Actually, it was in the middle of his mid-life crisis that Uranus opposed its natal position and his progressed Moon in Pisces came into the square with that pole. Jupiter was on that Moon at the time of his conversion from one addiction to another. He gave up booze and coke for Christ and God. He was a lost soul that needed a wakeup call and those aspects will do the trick for anyone. His progressed Venus at the time was exactly on Neptune and transiting Neptune was squaring that, so he sacrificed it all for the love of his wife and daughters. His confused speech when unscripted is due to this very Neptune placement in the 3^rd house of mental acuity. We’ll look at a more in depth analysis of the current influences to his chart in two weeks as we approach his birthday. Speaking of degrees, there is one significantly disturbing degree he has and it’s the planet that rules humanity and society. The planet is Uranus and the degree it’s at is one of Menace. His South Node is the degree of Onrushing but the description entails attributes that fit him to a tee. He rose from relative obscurity to a position of influence. He is somewhat inconstant and uncertain, but crushes opposition and all who challenge his way. He should be careful lest the force he uses be turned against himself, no matter how powerful he may be. This is from Isidore Kozminsky’s book called Zodiacal Symbology.

As we head into summer, let’s do a few other things, like get into better shape, eat less but more healthfully. The Moon conjoining Saturn informs us that we need to eat less and control what we ingest. Grabbing fast food may do the trick for your schedule but your stomach and all your fat cells will make you regret it. You have a duty to yourself to take care of your body, so it will take you into old age without too many physical ailments. The Baby Boomers shouldn’t be as medically needy as the older generations because we have learned from their mistakes, or should have. For example, my dad had a heart attack when he was about 45 and one of my sisters died of Cancer at 44 and I have bypassed both of them without serious medical episodes. Health is priceless and once you lose it, it’s damn hard to get it back as you get older. It could be the toxic environment we live in compared to just a hundred years ago or even fifty. The air was cleaner then and the food was more pure, except for the chemical pesticide, DDT…oh well. People are living longer now on average because of advances in medical science. We can keep people alive artificially indefinitely and that’s not necessarily a good thing. We’ve already seen how big of a deal was made in Florida with Gov. Jeb Bush ordering a hospital to keep a woman on life support even though there was no appreciable brain activity. Who benefits in a situation like that? The Insurance companies and the hospital and the doctors and the pharmaceutical companies, that’s who. Who loses? The widows and widowers do.

We can improve health care in America by taking the task upon our own selves to become more responsible for the maintenance of the temple of the living God. That’s right, people, this here’s the religious part of the show where I show you where God is. He dwells in everyone of us because He is everywhere and we are cells in His body. He is part of us and we are part of Him. A divine symmetry, sort of. We have to take back the power we were given at birth, which we have all but given up to others. The things we have surrendered are power over ourselves, the power to govern ourselves and to entertain ourselves and heal ourselves. There are far too many things we used to do for ourselves and we have stopped doing them and have other people do them for us. We need to protect ourselves from the greedy corporate concerns that seek to control everything.

There was some heartening news in the economic area…Costco has become the best place to work at a crappy job because of the benefits, the pay and the cheap prices. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is the worst corporate place to work on an entry level as they pay below the minimum wage in most areas and don’t let you work enough hours to qualify for benefits but teach you how to apply for food stamps. I know a real opportunity when I see one, which is why I’m rushing out and telling everyone, everywhere to never shop at Wal-Mart. I don’t expect they would ever sponsor my show nor would I want them, anyway. There represent so much of what is wrong with America today, as in outsourcing and sending far to many manufacturing jobs overseas. There is a reason that the economy is doing better and it has nothing to do with tax cuts. It is a natural cyclic progression and the best reason I can share with you is the sextile that has been happening in the first half of this year between Jupiter (expansion, improvement) and Saturn (business and industry).

This week will see the release of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and I plan to see it soon since I’m concerned that the radical neocons will torch the theaters where it’s playing. Much of this information I already know, having put things together myself and also read MM’s book, Dude Where’s My Country? I suppose some people can’t handle the truth so want to be lied to by the Right Wing Media Smear Machine. Truth is in polar relationship to Lies. Would it be too much to ask our politicians to mix in a little truth for variety? Take into consideration the money trail. Whoever pays, gets to play and that would be part of the circle of corruption. We need a new sheriff in town to clean out the bad guys. It’s what Carter did and he lost his bid for reelection because people bought into the hype of Reagan. Bush’s revenge was the arms-for-hostages deal. Arming the Iranians for a fight against the Soviets who were invading Afghanistan, incited a war between Iran and Iraq, although they didn’t need much incentive to go off at each other. Well, I guess I’ll get a little more insight into the situation by seeing the movie.

Up in the sky, scientists have closely observed a comet and their minds have been blown away! It wasn’t anything like they expected. Comet Wild 2 is all pocked and pitted with a big chunk missing from one side. You can see more on the Nasa.gov website. Staying with natural phenomena, the western US is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. They can tell by tree rings and water lines on the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell is at its lowest point since it started filling up.

Over the course of the next two shows, I’m going to cover the Declaration of Independence and the chart of that moment as well as the charts of the president and first lady. It will tell us of the nature of their connection and the influence each has on the other. It’s always fascinating to examine the charts of the powerful. Even they can recognize when they need to make changes in life. We all have to make some changes to become more the person we are meant to be. If you sit on your ass and only dream of doing something but make no effort, it’s impossible to achieve anything. Make the effort, even if you don’t make it, at least you know what you need to work on to be better. You may get the right advice if you present yourself to the world in some way and that could alter your path for the better. It’s all about becoming and being. It’s you as the manifestation of one portion of the being that is the all that is. I Am God, as are we all. It is the season to feel your connection to the Earth and it’s cosmic rhythm. It is the longest days in the Northern Hemisphere and we celebrate with parties and festivals. Celebrate yourself.

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June 12, 2004

Uranus just went direct and we’re coming up to a new moon on Thursday, so maybe now we can make some progress and move into the future a little more easily. While Reagan’s death has dominated the news this past week, there are repercussions from it that will be spoken out on by his widow, Nancy. She will press Bush and the congress to pass a law expanding stem cell research to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. She has lived too long with it to give up on it. She’s 10 years younger than Ron was, so she’ll be a thorn in the side of the religious right that sees the stem cell as advocacy for abortion, which it is certainly not. Without the ability to study different pure human cells, scientists can’t progress far enough to find any kind of cure. Bush, the anti-scientist, taking us backward in a hurry or barreling us toward Armageddon.

I don’t think we need an amendment to make flag burning a federal offence when we already have the 1^st amendment permitting freedom of speech and expression. There are no amendments prohibiting anything and there hasn’t since the 18^th was repealed. You remember prohibition and how that turned out, don’t you? It gave rise to organized crime. Oh hell, what am I saying? Politics is organized crime but less of a family.

Looking at the sky, we have Mercury and Venus conjoining today and they are in a trine to Neptune, so it’s a great time for poetry and music, singing and dancing, as well as imagination and inspiration, spiritual camaraderie and fellowship. Drinking buddies would even have this aspect, and if they were into astrology, they might know that.

On Tuesday, Mercury opposes Pluto, an investigative reporter would have that, since digging up dirt and passing on the information is what this energy is about. It could also have a connection to scientific research as well as forensic investigation of most types. This could be the worst kind of faultfinder aspect, too, so try not to pick on people you like too much. The New Moon will be on the Mercury end of this opposition, bringing a new phase of light into the proceedings. Here are some interesting correlations for you to ponder. Mercury in Greek was Hermes, and is the Magician in the Tarot. Pluto is the lord of the dark underworld, akin to Vulcan, the god of fire and the forge.

Reagan was buried yesterday but today is the day for another president. Since it is the birthday of our 41^st President, George Bush…Poppy to his CIA friends and family, I thought it appropriate to analyze the charts of these two men linked together in one administration. Reagan beat Bush in the primary by a landslide but he still chose his rival to be his running mate. What was the thinking then? Was it the deal that Bush would deliver the hostages by inauguration? No one’s talking. Bush doesn’t reveal a whole lot when you talk to him. He wouldn’t know truth if it hit him squarely on the nose. In fact, this funeral is the first time he’s ever cried in public.

Gemini George has a Virgo rising, making him his own worst critic but also a pawn in a grand military war game, since Virgo rules military service. With Mars on the South Node in Aquarius, he was one of the warlords of Atlantis. The red planet is square to his Mercury, making an argumentative and confrontational communicator. His campaigns were so venomous and attack oriented that he raised the bar in dirty politics by slandering and lying about his opponents in very insidious ways. That Mars is in the house of service and Mercury is in the house of government.

With his 10^th house Sun in a square to Uranus in the 7^th, he’s cold, aloof and detached from his wife, Barbara, even though they put up a good front. She’s a Gemini, too. He wanted a friend as a partner, not an intimate companion. After all, this is a guy who has Venus retrograde in a square to the Moon, a sure sign he has problems being intimate with women. In fact, his Mars is trine Saturn and the Sun, all masculine planets, so his taste for boys and men hasn’t been verified yet but it will come out some day. I’ve heard rumors about secret retreats with underage boys as the sexual prize. Besides being kinky and experimental, it also shows a dislike for liberal and progressive people. Uranus in the 7^th would make them his enemies.

One of the more telling aspects is his Venus conjunction to Pluto, a sign of his love of money and oil and death. This also suggests ties to friends who are of a corrupt and covert nature, like his CIA and Mafia connections. With this conjunction happening on his 11^th house cusp, it makes it that much more powerful, since this is the house of important people. This is kind of like making a deal with the devil, since you have your values (Venus) converted and perverted to a dark side motives of Pluto, the deepest and darkest in us and the power is absolute, which leads to corruption. But these are family (Cancer) values (Venus), dwelling on past virtues and flaws, transformed through playing the system, going deeper into the abyss. It’s ironic that Danny Quayle was the laughing stock of politics yet it was his dad who gave Herbert a job after Carter fired him as head of the CIA.

More power is found with his Sun in the 10^th house, which is supported by several key allied aspects. Let’s start with the trine to the Moon and Saturn in Libra, determining that his parents and family lineage had raised him to follow in their footsteps. His father was in similar ventures and Herbert has passed these on to his sons. With the Sun trine to Mars, war has always been a source of profit and power, so benefits are made when people die in mass quantities. The sextile to Neptune shows how he has worked with both kinds of drug industries, the pharmaceuticals in the late 70’s, for Eli Lilly, makers of Prozac Nation. Along with his CIA buddies, he has also helped the illegal drug trade be active and profitable. The reason he cracked down on drugs was to eliminate competition, like the Mafia does. So the Sun and Pluto in the 10^th house has a lot to do with controlling everything. After his one term as president, he built up the Carlisle Group and has manipulated international trade and government contracts, as well as making sure the right lobbyist got to the right lawmaker.

His Mercury in the 9^th contributes to his activity in politics but the Taurus placement of it and the square to Mars and the nodes being the only aspects make for a difficult public speaker. He had so many quirks in his speaking style that it was easy for guys like Dana Carvey and Robin Williams to do impressions that rang true. The nasal and repetitious, almost drawling qualities were easy techniques. But that Mars square makes him a nasty enemy if you are on the left or have betrayed the "Cause" in any way. There are many people who knew too much about the Iran Contra affair who simply ended up dead before they could testify…many made to look like natural causes or accidents. Big plans call for bold actions, as when Nixon hired him to get the job done in Dallas in 1963 and LA in ‘68. He then hired out the contract work to specialists and Nixon took office in 1968 and hired Bush to work for him, along with Rumsfeld and Cheney.

The Sun opposite Jupiter in the 4th makes for an interest in foreign policy and international affairs that stems from the family legacy. It’s also enterprising and entrepreneurial, as well as opportunistic. One of the things that happen with oppositions is that it shows things you lack and as such, seek out people who have those qualities. One of the traits he lacks, as politicians often do, is honesty. It then becomes projected and twisted around to make the good guy seem like the enemy. Clinton rode a white horse to dethrone King George the 1^st and Bush lied about everything he could, as well as sending his boys, Newt and Kenneth Starr, on a witch hunt to dig up every kind of dirt they could manufacture on President BJ Clinton…BJ, because he never goes by William and since Jefferson is his middle name…well, BJ fits. The self-righteous right was trying to impeach him for a blowjob! Unreal!

Saturn opposite Chiron is a disturbed relationship with his father, even though he followed the business plan. It may be that his father was a dark hearted, cold and brutal man, having Moon in Aquarius squared to Uranus. Prescott also had Chiron square to Venus, so didn’t know how to relate to people with consideration or appreciation. It seems that the sins of the father are indeed passed along to the son. Dubya has Moon in Libra too, like dad. Poppy has his Moon opposite Chiron, too, along with a square to Venus. The emotional wounds run deep, so that he could show respect for his father all the while resenting him and even being angry, as well. He came in with Mars on the South Node, a problem with anger and impatience. This is a contributing factor to my opinion that he is not a wise man or even a smart man. One who gets angry and lashes out lacks the diplomacy to be a fair and effective judge of a global or national problem. Pallas Athene is the asteroid of wisdom, diplomacy and tact and his is in a square to Jupiter and his Sun as well as conjoining Uranus. The only good aspect hitting Pallas is a trine to Venus, so he needs other people to provide the wisdom. But his Venus is retrograde and conjunct Pluto! Those people are evil and corrupt! And that’s exactly the problem we have had to deal with for the last half century of his involvement in the CIA and the secret government.

Look at the benefits of doing what he does, since the Moon in the 2^nd brings financial security and gives him those alleged family values, not virtues, mind you. His Moon sextiles both Jupiter and Neptune, showing his vast network of international drug trafficking and he’s rolling in the green from it all. Some astrologers see Neptune ruling oil, so there is that to add into the equation. Lots of oil from all over the world and at home, too. It all balances out, or did until he got cozy with the Saudis. But that’s historical rather than astrological.

Let’s see how the chart works with Reagan’s. At first glance, the composite is awesome with the Sun in Aries, the Moon in Leo and Scorpio rising but you need to get past those to see the essence of the administration. Yet consider the ego necessary to handle what they did. There might well have been some competition with the Aries/Leo combo and the Scorpio ASC is the essence of secretiveness and espionage. We used more money for surveillance of Soviet weaponry during this period than anytime in the prior history of the USSR.

They have a Moon/Saturn/Neptune stellium from late Cancer to early Leo in the 9^th house. You could call it governmental deceit and controlling the country with illusion. The economy is getting worse when there are more homeless than at any previous time in history. With Pluto on the North Node, this was the beginning of the oligarchy, as it shows the dark forces in the ascendancy. It happened in 1943, when Hitler was at his most powerful. It was also then that the US effort was in full gear and ready to invade Italy. After getting sand kicked in their faces by Rommell’s Desert rats, they were ready to get a solid footing on the continent. But I digress into history. Reagan could tell a few war stories about the plots of movies he was in. Anyway, that stellium of Moon/Saturn/Neptune is all in opposition to Mars! So, the massive weapons buildup was to bankrupt the USSR, according to some sources. They would feel a need to deceive the public about the reasons for war and weapons, so much of the operations were covert.

Mercury conjoins Chiron, showing wounded communications between them, in a trine to Jupiter and the Saturn stellium. This would be blackmail and lying to committees and other legal authorities and representatives. Sometimes there was no talking because the president was napping, hanging out in dreamland.

Venus makes no aspects, unless you consider the wide square to Neptune, making for economic disillusionment and confusion, evaporating assets and a horrific national debt.

They only have one conjunction in their synastry; Bush’s Venus on Reagan’s Neptune, meaning Bush was able to get a lot of treasury money out from under the nose of the dozing actor president.

Reagan’s chart at death shows the transiting N. Node conjoining his Progressed Saturn, Pluto opposite Pluto, Neptune transiting his Sun, P. Moon hitting the MC, Uranus conjoining P Chiron, Chiron transiting his Uranus and his progressed Moon square to his Neptune and Mercury. Let me break these aspects down for you…Saturn is the planet of time and when the N. Node hit it…it was time. Not many people live to see Pluto opposite Pluto because it has an orbital cycle of 248 years and half of that…well…do the math. But this past century, Pluto came to its closest range during the years Reagan was in the highest office in the land. He saw us through very Plutonian passages, including the transformation and death of too many people from AIDS. There were also sex scandals and witch hunts for child molesters and other sexual criminals. It was also the decade of Jeffrey Dahmer and Wayne Williams, the Atlanta Child Killer. The ultimate Pluto influence is the Iran Contra affair. I’m sorry…I’ve wandered off. Neptune transiting his Sun is a once in a lifetime transit as well because of its distance from the Sun. It’s time to transcend the physical embodiment and send the spirit out on its ultimate journey. Moon on the MC reaches a goal after it began the process of decay from the time the Moon progressed into his 6^th house of health. The mutual Uranus/Chiron aspects show the irreparable neurological damage, the wound that will not heal. The Moon Square Neptune is also about releasing the past, escaping from the discomfort of a shell that couldn’t remember much of anything anymore.

Ronald Reagan was not much of an Aquarian, except in his friendly, strange ways, because he had three planets in Capricorn, Moon and Saturn in Taurus, which accounts for his conservatism. However, Mercury conjunct Uranus in Cap makes for a bright mind, able to use information that has been accumulated over a long life with lots of movie dialogue ready for the right questions. The Mercury conjunction also has the brilliant ideas for making futuristic changes, like being environmentally strong as governor and seeing the end of Communism. This aspect also made him an idealist, without the reality check of having to walk in another man’s shows…or shoes. I suppose acting made up for that.

His Jupiter in Scorpio was right on the South Node, giving him a past life in which he governed ruthlessly, with a penchant for lying, possibly in China and opposite that is the Moon in Taurus, for which his sweet tooth became famous, with his addiction for jellybeans. With planets on both nodes, his struggle between the past and the future would be a major battlefield. His Sun squares the nodal axis and planets, indicating skipped steps in his karma. Asserting his will would have been the way to balance that out and some might say he did. Others might suggest that Bush ran the country while Reagan slept. But let’s see what the chart says. Jupiter in Scorpio is also having a lot to hide, so instead of being honest, he pulled out a joke to side step the issue. Leave them laughing and most will forget the question, except the questioner. They can be taken care of if one is willing to go far enough.

Having Neptune in the 7^th house and Venus in Pisces, it’s no wonder he married two actresses. Venus is also conjunct Chiron, indicating a soulmate union, as well as relating to wounded souls. This conjunction is in sextile to both Mars in Cap and Saturn in Taurus. So a long and energetic relationship would be the result. Under the illusion of the glamorous fantasy of Neptune, it’s easy for a marriage to end in divorce because of the disillusionment of it not living up to his dreams. Nancy had her Sun on his Neptune, so was the personification of someone who would sacrifice her own personal desires to fulfill his. Another manifestation of this Neptune is his ease at deceiving others. As another Aquarian president said, you can fool some of the people some of the time…

Pluto in Gemini opposing the ASC in the 6^th house has several interpretations but I think it’s his powerful transformational influence on others in the pursuit of public service. It could also be the corrupt people he had working for him during his presidency. His ASC would be Sag, as his sense of humor was legendary and his fun-loving easy-going persona belied the stress and strain of governing.

One of the classic twice-monthly aspects that occur is the Sun square to the Moon, which often leaves the mark of an identity crisis. Some would say that actors frequently have these ego dilemmas and from playing so many characters, they don’t always know who they really are. It can be said that Jupiter square to the Sun caused him to compensate with humor when he didn’t have a good enough answer to keep the question monkeys off his back.

By the end of his second term, Pluto was conjoining his Jupiter on his South Node and a whole lot of truth would hit the fan. At the same time, it opposed his Moon and he needed a change of scenery. He was gung ho Cowboy Ron who cleaned up the town and the world by breaking down the Berlin Wall and ending the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. It eliminated the balance of power and the Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD Man battle of the heavyweights. The Eastern Bloc splintered off and immediately trouble started in Yugoslavia. The Czechs broke in two and various other confederations have split into chaos and you need look no further than the former USSR. The breakdown of a greater order has given rise to numerous terrorist states and there’s no one to keep them under a unified authority. That’s what the end of communism brought.

Of his marriage to Nancy, I can say it’s a destined partnership for a few reasons. One I’ve seen several times is the Nodal polarity on the MC/IC axis. Nancy’s nodes are on Ron’s axis. His Juno is on her North Node exactly. She will use his death as a catapult to lobby for expanded stem cell research to find a cure for the disease that robbed her of her husband for the last 10 years. She has also spoken out against using his image on any money. The reason there are founding fathers as well as presidents on coins and bills is as replacements for icons of our heritage. Walking Liberty half dollars were replaced by the Ben Franklin Half Dollar and finally JFK. FDR replaced a Liberty Head on the dime and Lincoln replaced the Indian Head, as did Jefferson. Never has one dead president replaced another on any coin or bill.

In the world of sports, the Lakers and the Pistons are knocking each other around in Detroit and have already done so in LA. These teams last beat each other up back in 1989, when the Poisons swept the half-Laker team that was without the starting backcourt due to injuries. Now, as well, they seem to have a few injuries that have hobbled them considerably. Karl Malone is an old man in basketball terms at age 41 but he had never been injured before this year to the point where he would lose time and have to wear a brace. He’s a Leo with Moon and Mars in Virgo, so he’s a warrior and has a great work ethic. But he’s been dealing with Uranus opposite Uranus and it’s putting him through changes with injuries and weird feelings of inadequacy and not doing his job. His pride is hurt because he came here to do a job and he hasn’t lived up to his own expectation of success.

Entertainers lead interesting and active lives, sometimes getting into trouble because their emotions go over the top and they have personal issues that can’t be readily worked on. It’s even worse when the issues they have involve drugs, as in the case of Courtney Love. She’s one of the few celebrities I actually met when she was young, around 19 and I was in my 30’s. Nothing happened between us, as her Venus and Mars in Gemini square to Chiron wasn’t exactly my style and I had just been through the wringer with a couple of Cancers in the previous few years, one threatening me with Mafia payback and the other breaking my heart by marrying another Cancer. I moved on to Scorpios and Capricorns and found much more comfort than I did with the crabs. Courtney is in the news again for an assault, just after her drug conviction. Hmm, what planet might be at work there? Neptune is in an exact square to her Neptune, so there’s the drug problem. It’s also problems defining boundaries and there are other concerns, so let’s examine her chart for a few minutes.

People born with Saturn in Pisces often have drug-addicted, alcoholic or absentee fathers. She also has Neptune in the 1^st house, giving a musical, imaginative and dreamy childhood. There is an escapist nature and dealing with reality is no fun to her. Her South Node in Capricorn shows a past based on fear and control. Saturn, the ruler of the S. Node, is in her 5^th house, showing she would fall for a Pisces who was depressed and even tortured, but not in Abu Grhaib. Here’s another position of note…her Mercury is in Leo, direct and ahead of the Sun, indicating an intelligent and forward thinking creative person. That’s fine if it’s integrated into the rest of the chart, in which case it can be productively accessed and utilized. But her Mercury makes no aspects except a wide conjunction to her Moon, making her defensive and her moods are mercurial.

The 8^th house Venus and Mars square to Chiron defines almost everyone she gets intimately involved with a wounded soul. And she really knows how to find them. Her Neptune is conjunct Pallas Athena and Juno, another reason she married a Pisces who had talent and wisdom, if skewed a bit on the dark side. I predict she will ultimately clean up her act and get into natural healing. The problem is she never got much in the way of nurturance, which could explain why punk rock appealed to her. She has Jupiter opposite Neptune, which can be enormous creative talent or overindulgence in drugs or alcohol. Pluto is opposite her Venus right now so there will be some significant changes in finances or relationships.

In other celebrity news, JLo gets married to Virgo Marc Anthony, who has his Moon in Scorpio like Ben Affleck does. Only we’re not seeing two Leos together, at least. He may have more patience with her than Ben did but her moon in Aries isn’t the type to be waited out. She likes confrontation, while he will avoid it. Being less than a year apart, they have the same nodes and it gives them an understanding of each other’s karmic growth, whether they are conscious of it or not. He gets his divorce four days before he marries Jennifer in the Dominican Republic! It may not even be valid here…we’ll see.

In other entertainment news, I’m sad to report the passing of a great musician and person, Ray Charles, who was a double Libra…unless he’s a Virgo. Born on the cusp, he blended hard work and graceful musical style that many felt was the perfect kind of music. He was born with Mars, Jupiter and Pluto in a close stellium in Cancer…just where Saturn is along about now. But he also had Saturn in Capricorn, so had just gone through the opposition of the grim reaper planet. And yet another death aspect is Pluto transiting in an opposition to his progressed Moon. Oh, yes, Saturn also squaring his Uranus could signal a sudden, age-related ailment and acute liver failure qualifies in that respect. His health deteriorated only in the past year, after he had hip replacement surgery. That’s not the first time I’ve heard that, however. I put his Neptune in the 4^th because he was born with music in his soul and that places Taurus on the ASC, for the voice and the mellow, easy-going nature he always seemed to have. He was an orphan by 15 and his Uranus would be in the 11^th, which is by turns about independence and adopted children, as well as the cosmic rhythm of the universe. His Neptune was opposed by transiting Uranus, which would deal with sudden problems with fluids in the body. Uranus also releases an electrical shock that can electrocute cells in the body vital to life, and as water and electricity cause severe shocks, it can sometimes be fatal. Mars is the acute pain and it was conjoining his Pluto/with Jupiter, the planet that rules the liver. Transiting Neptune was also in an opposition to his Mars…so piling it on, is the solar system. Pluto would have just entered his 8^th in the past year, if I’m close on the time. Here’s another interesting timing mechanism; his first big hit, "What’d I Say?" hit the charts when he was 29, the Saturn Return!

Of the two great men who died this past week, Ron Reagan and Ray Charles touched the lives of so many people, but while both of them were actors, Ray was the most sincere and the more positive role model for people. He lived a life of creating beautiful music and bringing smiles to the faces of his listeners. His blindness by age 7 forced him to go deeper inside rather than play to the audience, like the 40^th president. Vastly over-esteemed and praised, Reagan’s image was more successful than the substance of what went on under his watch, whether or not he knew about it. I believe he started losing it by 1985…too many jellybeans. Reagan always played to the crowd, to win friends and influence white voters. But the blacks and Latinos have no great love for him. Even though he won over old Democrats, I believe he used his old material from his FDR days and his SAG union presidency. Then GE hired him and he crossed over. Corporate sellout. It’s because of him that deregulation of industry has cost American consumers so much more than one can believe. He had too many mixed notions about a free market economy wherein he thought that tax cuts for the rich would help supply side business generate income for the poor. But what we got was the same as we have now, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, sort of Robin Hood in reverse. He left a lot of people out to dry when he refused to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic, leaving others to deal with it. But Ray Charles helped the people he could in ways that he was able. Usually it was entertaining people or writing music. He was able to go so deep within that he could memorize entire scores, including every part. He was able to play many different instruments, including the sax. It might be his Mercury in Virgo in a retrograde motion that causes him to be so exacting in his thought process and able to master so many instruments. His Moon on the South Node shows the need for security and in Libra, relationships.

Saint George and the Dragon is an apt legend to equate to Bush, since his dragon is terrorism and it must be slain. When King Richard the Lionhearted went to the Holy Land, it was to sack and pillage and steal the secrets of the Ancient Ones hidden in Jerusalem. When King Dick, the Tricky One, went to China, he altered the balance of power. He began the process that would lead to US giving military secrets to China in exchange for siding with us against the USSR. He also changed the economic balance of power, beginning the shift to China as a world economic power. However, human rights issues remain and may bring further changes there soon. Back to Saint George, his dragon hides in a cave in the east but he’s a friend of the family, so he is allowed to remain free. There are so many back-stories that need to be investigated. I will do an analysis of Bush and Osama’s charts next time. It will be very interesting.

From dumb humans we turn to smart animals. It has long been known that Border Collies are among the smartest dogs around. Now there is one being put to the test by scientists in Germany. Rico is a 9-year-old Border Collie who knows close to 250 words, including objects he will fetch and the words are in both German and English, so he’s bi-lingual! If I had a place with some land, I would have one. But you can’t keep a dog like that cooped up. It’s hard enough for the dogs we have already, two Corgis. They, too, are herding dogs and would love to get out and round up cattle. Of course, since I haven’t eaten meat in 27 years, I would have a problem raising cattle, anyway. So, my dogs watch and warn when they aren’t sleeping. Certain kinds of dogs are right for your particular sign while others aren’t right at all. It’s no wonder that the genius of dogs is most compatible with Aquarius, the genius of the signs. Not that the rest of the zodiac lacks its great thinkers and inventors. In fact, more inventors are born under the sign of Leo, from what I have gathered. I have lists of signs and the dogs that are good for them in a book called Cosmic Canines by Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall. If you want to know more about the compatibility between your own dog, if it’s a purebred, you’ll need to find a record of the birth. Most AKC breeders maintain records of purebred dogs, whereas if you have a mutt, it’s impossible to know unless someone attended the birth of the puppies. But at least you have a mixed breed which is a better pet often. Not to finish up with a shaggy dog story, let’s see what else is going on.

Well, dog gone it, I’m done for this week.

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June 5, 2004