What is Depth Astrology? Click here to learn more.
|
This week’s Saturn-Uranus opposition marks, not surprisingly, big changes about.
Saturn tends to be old-school, foot-dragging, conservative and cautious while Uranus tends toward more revolutionary, fast-moving, freedom-loving forward movement. An opposition between the two will surely cause some crackling tension in the air as the world holds its breath waiting to see which of these powerful energies will win out.
Clearly, this week’s big winner on the world stage was President-elect Barack Obama (oh, how I love writing that!) and his Uranian mantra Change. The young, insightful, biracial Obama even symbolizes a new generation of energy, thought and perspective in a way that the institutional image of McCain’s Country First campaign just could not. The democratic embrace of people everywhere, of equality and justice for all, of change for the idealistic better, echoed through Obama’s campaign and sustains hope among his supporters.
However, that Saturnine element still lurks — McCain did appeal to 47% of U.S. voters, after all — and so we must not assume that Uranus has “won out” over Saturn.
Click to continue reading “Saturn Opposition Uranus Reflects Need for Bipartisanship”
This week’s Saturn-Uranus opposition marks, not surprisingly, big changes about.
Saturn tends to be old-school, foot-dragging, conservative and cautious while Uranus tends toward more revolutionary, fast-moving, freedom-loving forward movement. An opposition between the two will surely cause some crackling tension in the air as the world holds its breath waiting to see which of these powerful energies will win out.
Clearly, this week’s big winner on the world stage was President-elect Barack Obama (oh, how I love writing that!) and his Uranian mantra Change. The young, insightful, biracial Obama even symbolizes a new generation of energy, thought and perspective in a way that the institutional image of McCain’s Country First campaign just could not. The democratic embrace of people everywhere, of equality and justice for all, of change for the idealistic better, echoed through Obama’s campaign and sustains hope among his supporters.
However, that Saturnine element still lurks — McCain did appeal to 47% of U.S. voters, after all — and so we must not assume that Uranus has “won out” over Saturn.
Click to continue reading “Saturn Opposition Uranus Reflects Need for Bipartisanship”
The wonderful thing about Huber-style horoscope charts is that they’re so visual. The colors are bold, the symbols are large and the aspect circle — the criss-cross of lines that symbolize the inner life of a person — is large, clear and given to imagination the same way cloud-gazing can evoke images of elephants, fish and cars.
The visual emphasis reflects the Hubers’ belief in an intuitive and integrative approach to reading horoscopes. My first session with a new client usually starts with an invitation to gaze at the natal chart and see what image or feeling is evoked. Some people see sailboats, others see birds, still others see spiral stairs. Even if an image doesn’t pop out at the person, no one has yet failed to be drawn to some part of their chart, usually with an intuitive association, either positive or negative.
So without telling you whose is whose, I’m going to post natal charts for both U.S. Presidential candidates below. Do you see a picture in the blue, red and green lines across the center circle of either chart? Which one are you most drawn to — just intuitively, even if you know nothing about astrology? What specifically draws you? Do you have a negative response to either one? Can you identify why?
Chart 1:
Chart 2:
Have you taken them in? Then here’s a little more information about reading Huber-style natal charts that may deepen your intuition or experience of looking at the charts above. Most people will notice three things about these two horoscope charts:
1) The aspect lines in Chart 1 are blue, red and green. The ones in Chart 2 are blue and red only. Each color symbolizes a different quality of inner drive or motivation. In very short shorthand: Red is action, blue is rest and green is thought. When red is missing, it’s hard to motivate to get things done. When blue is missing, it’s hard to take a break. When green is missing, it’s hard to process new information and integrate it into your decisions.
2) Chart 1 has two closed shapes (a triangle and a quadrilateral), as well as some lines that don’t come together in closed shapes; while Chart 2 has no closed shapes: All those lines are open. Like colors, shapes also reflect different types of motivation. Again in very short shorthand: Triangles signal dynamic movement toward a goal; four-sided figures show a motivation toward stability; and open lines adapt to the situation, environment or other impulses of the personality.
3) The lines in Chart 1 tend to move toward the right side of the chart, where most of the planetary symbols lie, while the lines in Chart 2 tend to move toward the upper left. (A caveat: We’re not sure of Candidate 2′s birth time, so it’s possible that the concentration of planets would change if, say, he were born three hours later than the estimated time.) A gathering of planets on the right side of the chart suggests a person who feels comfortable and open in the public sphere. A gathering of planets on the left side suggests a more private personality.
Did these three points confirm or conflict with your guess about which horoscope chart belongs to which candidate? Did your intuition serve you well?
Click here to find out whose chart is whose.
This morning, as we do roughly every Monday or Tuesday, a friend and I got on the phone to discuss one dream each that we’d had over the weekend. Though this morning our respective dreams were quite different, they both had the same apocalyptic feeling that seems to be pervading the whole world lately.
In my astrologer’s mind, it was the feeling of Pluto moving into Capricorn:
- In my dream, I was with a group of friends in an outdoor mall where only one store was open and operating. We heard, and then saw, a huge, heavy military plane fly very low overhead. It looked like a stealth bomber. We watched as it slowly got lower and lower, skimming treetops and power lines, then finally crashed into the ground nearby.
- In my friend’s dream, she was with her teenage daughter on a hilltop in Los Angeles. The hill slowly gave way under their feet and came sliding down to the ground below. They were okay in the end, but the entire hill was just gone from underneath them.
Astrologers are fond of pointing out that, around the time Pluto was discovered in 1930, atomic bombs were developed and fascism and Nazism reared their heads — frightening metaphors for the kind of cataclysmic and totalitarian destruction that can be wrought by Plutonian power. Pluto breaks things down into their unseen parts, forces us to look at them and remixes them into new, unfamiliar and sometimes terrifying structures. Pluto is the life-death-rebirth cycle in all its imaginable forms.
A less truly frightening Plutonian metaphor of 1930 was the debut that year of the U.S. radio drama The Shadow – with actor Frank Readick, Jr. intoning the iconic introduction:
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! The Shadow knows…”
In Jungian terms, the shadow is psychological material that gains its power from the very fact that it is repressed. It’s usually repressed because it’s something we don’t want to admit about ourselves. The more we repress it, the bigger and more powerful it grows, creating projection situations where we can see it only outside of ourselves.
For example, did you ever despise someone for, say, her arrogance, only to be forced to admit that you’ve got a certain self-righteousness about you as well? Or have you ever been the President of a superpower who systematically shut down the freedoms of its own population while embarking on an international campaign for freedom in other countries? The larger and stronger the shadow grows, the greater power it has over you — precisely because you haven’t dared to look at it, to admit it exists, to confront it head-on. And the more you ignore it, the bigger ass-kicking is required to make you pay attention to it.
In the horoscope, any planet can contain shadow material, not just Pluto. But Pluto’s dynamic tends to be the archetypal shadow dynamic — the force of change through exposure of hidden powers — and its expression is generally large-scale and often scary. Yes, Pluto exists in each of our individual horoscope charts, but unless it’s touching a more personal planet in our chart, its effects tend to be wider-spread, more impersonal: across a generation, across a culture.
So we get situations like market “corrections” or terrorist attacks that force us (or should force us) to look at ourselves: Are we, as a culture, a bit too self-righteousness, say, or greedy, or giddy about imposing “freedom” on others without examining our own freedom complex? Are we really as free as we brag about being? As generous? As right?
When Pluto pulls the veil off our eyes, for example when it changes zodiac signs and highlights a different area of life anew, it can feel frightening in the extreme. The last 13 years of Pluto in Sagittarius have been marked by ubiquitous consumption, accelerating depletion of natural resources and idealism-cum-tyranny — the latter starting, I would argue, with the Taliban’s 1996 march across Afghanistan and reaching its climax with the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The weaknesses in the structures that have supported these trends are now emerging from the shadows. We are experiencing the breakdowns associated with dictating our ideals in foreign lands, getting drunk on oil fields and building castles on flimsy credit.
Pluto’s movement into Capricorn highlights the reality that the old code is slowly disintegrating. What might be more frightening than that — after all, many of us would like to see regime change here in the U.S. at least — is that we don’t yet know what will come to take its place. This not-knowing can whip up an atmosphere of crisis.
The word crisis comes from the Greek krinein, meaning “to separate.” Also derived from that root are the words criminal, decree, discern, discriminate, excrement and secret: All Plutonian words in that they imply shadowy, secret or hidden elements that need to be separated, sorted and reconnected in new ways — a process that almost always implies crisis of some kind. Separation of a relationship, a limb or an atom requires careful handling in order to reconnect it or remake it or recreate it productively instead of destructively. When separation and reconnection occur, there is always the possibility of something going horribly wrong.
Like powerful military jets crashing in a calm sky and sturdy green hillsides collapsing underfoot, it is hard to imagine such apparently solid structures as markets and governments and capitalism and democracy separating into component parts and being remade in a different form. It might even be frightening to think about this happening: What crisis would ensue if we were separated from our money? If familiar government agencies and commercial storefronts disintegrate and reassemble in some other form? If oil-based energy disappears completely?
But confronting the possibility of change, and admitting where we’ve gone wrong, and remaking those institutions in the spirit of integrity and solidity may bring us together in a way that only true crisis can. Frightening as it may seem to live in this in-between period, we may someday look back at this time and think, “How did we live through that?” and then, “I’m so glad we did!”
Comment below: Have you had dreams about cataclysmic destruction lately?
Photo credits: Stealth bomber, Rose shadow
 Yesterday I went to the doctor to get a cortisol shot for a bulging disk in my neck. I expected to arrive at 10:30, get the shot and be on my way by 11:00. But instead, the receptionist cheerily handed me a big pile of paperwork that required my signature multiple times, acknowledging the possibility of my death because the procedure would involve anesthesia and sedation.
At first I balked, then I made sure it wouldn’t be a general anesthesia. “Oh, no,” the nurse said. “It’s a local, plus, you know, just a little sedation because they don’t want you to move. But you won’t be completely under.”
I changed into a robe, climbed onto a gurney and watched as a nurse poked an IV into my wrist. I have a grotesque love of watching myself get shots. The doctor came and introduced himself, then I was rolled 30 feet into the surgery room, where I flipped over, prone, onto a stationary table. Why I couldn’t have just walked in and hopped up, I don’t know. I double-checked with the anesthesiologist about the level of sedation and he assured me I wouldn’t be completely out.
As the doctor chatted with the nurse about a recent trip to Italy and the quality of gelato to be had at Whole Foods, I heard the anesthesiologist repeat, over and over, “The right side, she says. It’s the right side of the neck. The right side. We’ll do it on the right side.” I was relieved that at least one person in the room would get it correct.
The next thing I knew, I was mumbling senseless syllables and waking up, supine, back on the gurney in the room where I’d started.
“I’m surprised to be here,” I said to the nurse through a fog, without meaning to. She smiled.
I’d never been sedated before, and what surprised me wasn’t exactly that I came out of it so much as the complete and utter absence of experience during it. Usually when I awaken from a normal sleep, I have a sense of having slept: of turning, or dreaming, or grabbing covers back from Alan, or being climbed over by a groggy three-year-old. This time, there was none of that. It was utter nothingness for half an hour — though it could have been half a year for all I knew. Even the partial consciousness that exists during normal sleep was completely erased from my experience.
I think I understood, then, a little more of the horoscope’s 8th house dynamic.
Across from the 8th house, the 2nd house is where we possess things: money, valuables, values and even ourselves. It is the sphere of control over our lives, the place where we exert power over what we own, including our bodies. It is the space where we forge self-worth, self-control, self-possession.
The 8th house is exactly the opposite: It is where power, control and possession belong to others. We usually think of the 8th house as other people’s money, but that’s just a symbol of its underlying and deeply powerful dynamic: the ability of another person — including their possessions, valuables, values and motivations — to affect our lives without our consent.
 In her wonderful book Archetypes of the Zodiac, Kathleen Burt describes the energy of Scorpio (the sign associated with the 8th house) through the ancient Egyptian story of Queen Isis and King Osiris. Osiris was killed by his brother, Set, who desired the throne for himself. But that was just the beginning of the story; what became of Osiris’s body after his death was the real plot. Set killed Osiris by taking possession of his body in a coffin and disposing it in the Nile River. But Isis later found the mutilated body, took possession of it, reconstructed it and, with it, became pregnant with Horus.
There is much more to the story, of course, but a major theme is the importance of trust when control is not ours. When we are not self-possessed — when others are in possession of our bodies, or our money, or even our values — we must trust them completely to do right by us. If we believe the other person isn’t trustworthy, we feel jealous, or instigate power struggles, or try to thieve or trick to regain self-possession. We want to grab our toys and hightail it back to the 2nd house.
And, whether we trust or not, if those 8th house people don’t act in a way that’s worthy of our trust, we lose: The wrong limb gets amputated, or sexual abuse occurs, or our money is used for bad loans, or grave robbers heist our belongings. When we are not in control, our possessions — our money, our valuables, our principles, our integrity — are vulnerable to pillaging.
Someone, or something, has to be in control, and if it’s not us, we tend to feel at risk. Witness the themes and dynamics of the world financial crisis: Who possesses what, anymore? Who controls decisions? How do fear, possession and trust play out between people and institutions? These themes, as Pluto (ruler of Scorpio and the 8th house) moves into Capricorn, are bouncing around world politics and economics with incredible intensity and anxiety these days.
I believe this fear of lost control is a huge element in our fear of death. Of course, when faced with the possibility of death, we fear losing connection, love and familiarity; of course we also fear not doing everything we want to do in life. But there is also a distinct fear of losing control. If we lack consciousness, movement and speech, if we cannot affect what happens around us, we simply cannot have control over anything that occurs.
When Alan and I honeymooned in Costa Rica, we climbed 60 feet up into the rainforest and strapped ourselves into harnesses so we could swing on rope lines through the canopy. I was terrified beyond belief. But the guide kept saying, “Trust the equipment. You have to trust the equipment.”
How could I? I thought. I haven’t checked it out. Maybe a possum chewed through it. Maybe lightning struck it when no one was looking. I imagined falling through the branches to the hard ground below.
But I gritted my teeth, held on and swung anyway.
It was exhilirating.
I thought, Maybe control is overrated. But just for a second.
Photo credits: Surgery, Osiris
Nothing like looking at someone’s horoscope chart to generate a little sympathy.
This afternoon, in gleeful anticipation of tonight’s debate, I’m checking out the birth charts of Vice Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin –- specifically, their abilities to translate thoughts into meaningful, convincing words, and nicely.
(Please note: My image uploader is being temperamental. I’m working on posting the candidates’ charts here. In the meantime, enjoy my handicapping of tonight’s debate.)
Both candidates have been accused of not being able to filter thoughts before they escape from their mouths. With Biden, the charge is usually around his long-windedness and we can certainly see from the preponderance of green lines (quincunxes and semi-sextiles) in his chart that the man has a lot on his mind. On one hand, he’d like to just sit and enjoy his thoughts. But another part of him needs to process them out with a willing audience. His tendency to go on and on is a reflection of a mental process that tries to capture many ideas at once.
It certainly doesn’t come from Mercury in Scorpio in the 12th house, which would normally keep its own counsel – though that might allow him to think on another level even as he speaks. As you listen to Biden during the debate tonight, see if you can trace these mental processes in the way he responds to questions.
For Palin, the filtering problem comes off as faltering for smart responses when she’s unscripted. Though her Moon-Mercury conjunction suggests a facility for communication, Palin’s larger chart picture suggests significant vulnerability to the environment swirling around her. That is, without clear direction from an advisor, friend or event, she appears to have little anchoring for how to respond to a situation. Her Mars-Saturn-Sun conjunction may also signal a tendency to get defensive when feeling cornered. These patterns have been painfully obvious in the clips of her interviews with Katie Couric over the last few days. Look for similar stymies in the debate tonight. When does Palin switch from eloquent to defensive?
Palin can wow audiences with prepared speeches that are paradoxically aggressive and charming: That lineup of five planets in Aquarius around the descendant, with Moon-Mercury sextile Venus, helps a lot. But the Moon-Mercury-Venus aspect is only distantly connected with Palin’s Sun – her self-awareness and, ideally, her reference point for self-expression. And the Moon is her weakest ego planet, so she may work very hard to say the right words that will appeal to the right people. But the question remains whether she herself connects with them.
Speaking of disconnect, the other criticism of Biden is that he can come off as condescending – indicated, perhaps, by his Saturn in the 7th house. Normally we associate a 7th house position with how others present themselves in your life, not how the chart native comes off to others (for that, we look to the 1st house). But on a more basic level, the 7th house is about projection: If I can’t accept a trait in myself, I’ll attribute it to you instead. And if you don’t deliver on it, then I’ll either do it myself or provoke you until you do.
In addition to Biden’s Saturn being in a prime place for this projection dynamic, and being his weakest ego planet to boot, it is also disconnected from the rest of his aspect structure – with lines only to power planets Pluto and Mars. So it’s not surprising that he still has trouble reining in his condescension. As long as he’s working from his stronger ego planets – Sun quincunx Moon, in a great position for bringing deep thinking out into the public sphere – Biden should do fine tonight. But if things get really heated, if his game is thrown off somehow, look for that condescension to come out.
Frankly, many people, myself included, found much of Palin’s RNC speech to be condescending as well. Not surprisingly, she also has Saturn in the 7th house – though unlike Biden’s, hers is, as noted above, closely aligned with her Sun and Mars. Like Biden, though, this Saturn is barely connected to the rest of her aspect structure, making her vulnerable to its unconscious expression and possibly making it hard for her to translate her thoughts into tangible self-expression. She’s not, as many have suggested, a stupid person. But her ability to give voice to her thoughts may be Palin’s great challenge. Watch tonight and see if you can tell when Palin is working from her Moon/Mercury sextile Venus (proper choice of words, beautiful expression) or from her Mars-Saturn-Sun conjunction (defensiveness or attack). See when she’s able to move her thoughts into concrete words and when she has trouble with that.
It should be an interesting night.
|
What People Say “Truly gifted astrologers are a rarity. Kathy Crabb is one such person. She is a brilliant, original thinker, an intuitive and empathic counselor and a superb workshop facilitator.”
Pam Tyler, Dip. API (1981), Dip. FAS (1979),
AFA Teacher Cert. (1978); Astrologer since 1977;
Co-founder of Astrological Psychology Institute (UK);
Author of Mercury: Anatomy of a Planet
Get Our Blog Updates Your Way!
contact lenses - Lens.com offers a huge online inventory of brand name contact lenses with reasonably priced prices. Services include online order and shipping straight to you.
|
Recent Comments