Tag: Venus

Father Earth-The “Must-See” Film No One is Watching by Marcia Buchart


“You figure he’ll crack quick?”

“I figure,” Val Con said…”that the luck has favored us, in that Nelirikk has been so badly used… I take him for a man who possesses a strong and innate sense of Balance…If we are clever, and give him what he starves for—work, discipline, and respect—we may yet preserve him.”

from Plan B, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

And so, I offer the solution before naming the issue, because it is all too easy to shudder at the issue and turn away before even asking whether there is a solution. On the very Friday on which I saved Venus’ sacred bee, I opened the Seattle Times to the top story of a father who had been killed by random gunfire while driving his children and parents from the airport. The very next day a man went postal in a downtown club and five more people were shot dead.

While all our eyes and minds are focused on the thrilling—but invisible!—dance between the Horns of the Great Bull, let us not forget the planets that are visible in the sky almost all the night.

Grief hangs over Seattle following senseless shootings 

Let’s think about Mars.

Night after night, since late March of last year He has kept an often lonely watch in the night sky; last May He met, all too briefly, with His Goddess lover, Venus near the baleful stare of Cetus—Rick and Ilsa sharing their last moment together.  

After their parting, only Saturn and Jupiter have kept Him distant company throughout His long months on patrol in the zodiac sign Virgo, against the constellational backdrop of the Lion.

Ewww! Mars?? Do we have to talk about Him?? Isn’t this whole time supposed to be about the special potential signified by the Venus dance?? Well, I hate to break it to you, folks, but lissen up. An ignored Mars is like the Bad Fairy at the christening: the one who has been dissed, intentionally uninvited, and who will therefore pronounce the Curse that it will take a loooonnng time for the Heroes and Heroines symbolized by all those multiple conjunctions  to resolve.(Remember those? See Preview of Coming Attractions post)

Quoting from that post:
This whole series of events is a mammoth sequence of conjunctions—Venus with the Pleiades, Venus with El Nath, Sun with Jupiter, the solar eclipse of May 20th, Jupiter with Mercury, Mercury with the Sun (where He sheds His worn-out Explorer’s leathers for His Administrative robes , Mercury with Venus, Venus with the Sun, Venus turning away from a conjunction with Jupiter, Venus with Aldebaran, Venus with Chi1 Orionis [the business end of Orion’s club].
OMG, this whole sequence will last until August 6!

To put it bluntly: if He is dissed, He’ll kill your ass, bitches. And there are very few zodiac signs that are more dissed than Virgo.

Mars began His long stay in zodiac sign Virgo in early November 2011. He spent a looooonnnng retrograde in Virgo and will finally leave Virgo for Libra on July 3rd. “Whew!” many may be saying. Even some archetypally oriented astrologers have shaken their heads over Mars in Virgo; Adam Gainsburg has noted a special tension in people with this placement. So it is perhaps unsurprising that, while all the shooting insanity was occurring in the Seattle area, (Dec 02 1869, 12 noon, Olympia, WA) while in hard aspect to that chart’s Destiny Axis (Midheaven and Lower Heaven).  What can the planet of direct, sometimes brutal action find at all convivial about supposedly picky, detail-oriented Virgo?

One thinks of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Coriolanus, of the warrior who cannot cope with civilized life

(“Who am I without my sword?”).

No swords in civilized life? Think again.

U.S. Air Force surgeons Dr. Patrick Miller (left), Dr. Michael Hughes (right), and surgical technician SrA Ray Wilson from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Squadron, repair the ruptured achilles tendon of a servicemember on March 11, 2003. The doctors are performing this surgey at a field hospital in a foward-deployed location. (U.S. Air Force photo by SSgt. DERRICK C. GOODE)(RELEASED)

Consider these deeply necessary, detail-demanding endeavors, at the mastery involved in bringing fire, sharp implements and brute strength (all ruled by Mars) under fine control…

Watching this mastery is riveting. I once stood for a half hour at a blacksmith’s booth in a Renaissance Faire, marveling at the precision with which this person struck the blade he was building.

At a granite finishing shop I watched a gnarled gnome of a man work for a solid hour on polishing the same two-foot section of marble slab.  I watched a physician with hands that seemed much too large for the task tease away the scars and scabs from the stitches in my husband’s hand before deftly drawing them. At dinner overlooking Elliot Bay, I watched two tugboats maneuver a monstrous vessel to berth.  Homely, ugly, battered little craft, ridiculous-looking tires lining their bows and sides, pivoting like dancers in the water as they passed the towing cable between them. The power implied by their maneuvers took my breath away. Watch Tugboats Working

No nobility in what used to be termed “honest work”? That’s certainly how it seems Governor Scott Walker and the plutocrats who back him see it. And wasn’t it interesting that a bid to topple him took place on the very day of the Venus Transit? “Way to go!” some of us (me) thought; “Get the Goddess (Venus) championing the Virgo Mars!”

Wrong.

That special conjunction of Sun and Venus was not only in challenging (90°) aspect to Mars. She did so while engaging in Sacred Marriage with one of the celestial bodies that Babylonian astrologers believed symbolized the King (Sun). Of course Scott Walker (the local king) won. BUT! the Martial underdog (Virgo) forces also won: Wisconsin’s senate wrested control from their King’s party.

If you click on this link to  you will hear a fascinating discussion between Adam Gainsburg and Eric Francis on Mars’ retrograde cycle “lassoing the Lion”. The Lion, of course is Leo, the actual constellational backdrop for this whole drama taking place in the sky. I watched those tugs lassoing the giant beast of a ship and turning it to guide it into its berth. Astonishing.

In another recent podcast, Adam Gainsburg asked with the new beginnings of Divine Feminine consciousness being forged in the heat of the solar transits—the Solar Feminine—where was the rest of the revolution: where were “Father Earth” and “Mother Sky”? Mother Sky has been with us since at least the days of ancient Egypt, in the magnificent depictions of Nut, the goddess who represents the entire night sky. See the following link to a lovely Visual Astrology Newsletter speaking of the return of this Goddess.

But where is “Father Earth”?

With Mars in Virgo, I would offer this idea: He is right under our noses, and we’ve ignored Him just as we so often ignore the daily details of our lives that require focus, precision and exactitude in execution. Chop wood, carry water. Even the most spectacular of Martial idols…Olympic athletes, perhaps?…have put in untold hours of Mars-in-Virgo practice to earn their right to compete for the prize.

Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration (thank you, Thomas Edison)? Believe it.

Don’t miss this opportunity, people: consider in what area of your own life you may need to apply that 99% perspiration to master focus, precision, strength, the symbolic cutting forces of fire and steel. (Contact Claudia and/or Carol for help in figuring this out.)

Consider it now, because, after July 3rd, your window of opportunity to honor and cultivate what we often dis—to give that part of yourself what He starves for: work, discipline and respect—won’t come again for another two years.

The world can’t wait that long. Neither can the Divine Feminine, riding the Horns of the Great Bull, Who longs for union with the Divine Masculine in Love:

“…the sense of having striven against an obstacle and survived is absolutely essential…It is our refusal to recognize this that makes Mars malefic. It is my opinion that only when your Mars has functioned at this level can you love. You can’t love if you don’t know who and what you are and you can’t find that out unless you have striven against resistance and measured yourself against it.”

– Robert Hand, “Handling the Malefics” in Essays on Astrology.

Music at the Wake for those killed in Seattle shooting in May 2012

Venus, me and the Honey Bee by Marcia Buchart

There may be those of you who were intimidated by the last post titled

Previews Of Coming Attractions

STAY TUNED!!

OMG…WTF?  Is this what we’re in for?  Let me find a hole, crawl in, and pull it after me.

Wake me when it’s over.

Let me, instead, give you two models of how to approach the terrific potential of this season’s endless Venus transits.

In Astrology: A Place in Chaos, as well as in her 2008 UAC post-conference seminar lecture (click here to view that lecture), Dr. Bernadette Brady offered a method to sensitize one’s self so as to make the most productive use of current astrological events.  One noted the approaching aspect of a transiting planet to a natal planet.  Then, one simply changed a detail of one’s habit: one switched the wrist on which one wore; one parted one’s hair on a different side; one put on one’s trousers using the opposite leg (what I did).  And one then remained alert, while in the unsettled state produced by the habit change, for signals for what one should truly seek to change.

The other model, offered by Richard Tarnas in a lecture at NORWAC 2010, asked one to keep track of planetary aspects occurring between the planets in the sky and one’s own chart (as described above).  But what one did, as the transit became (what we call) active, one simply watched, waited for a sign.  As preparation, one accumulated knowledge on the symbolic correspondences associated with (especially!) the transiting planet.

Ever since I noted significant transits (Uranus and Pluto) approaching sensitive points in my own chart (Brady method), I have assiduously put the other foot into my trousers when getting dressed, put on my earrings beginning with the opposite ear, opened pill bottles with different hands performing the different functions of handling the cap vs. the bottle (man, is that one hard to master).  This was four years ago.  I have attempted new things, tried to complete old things.  And the self-knowledge gained has been immense.  But “plus la change, plus la meme chose”: the more things change, the more they stay the same.  I have been forced into face-to-face confrontation with what I have always been, yet felt helpless to actually change what feels hostile to life and growth (especially spiritual).

Today, without first consciously realizing it, I experienced a Tarnas-style omen.  I received a signal that appears strongly correlated to the Venus activity referred to in the previous Previews post and am attempting to decipher what it might mean.  For ME.

This morning, about 7:30, as I sat sipping coffee and staring idly out at my backyard, I spotted something floating in the birdbath.  It was a bumblebee.  After my initial prick of sorrow, I decided to go pluck her out of the water.  I gently scooped her up in my hand…and her wings fluttered!  One of her legs extended in a “warding off” gesture.  After a few seconds I could see her sides heaving as she tried to clear her breathing spicules.  It was still chilly and the sun was not yet strong (nor is there a lot of it in our tree-circled back yard), so I heated our granite warming trivet in the microwave and placed her on it, with a paper towel beneath her to help her dry out.  Later, I had the inspiration to place one of our garden bells over her, to help retain the heat.  I could see her sluggishly cleaning her antennae, but she seemed not to want to do much but huddle.  “Ah, well,” I thought, “who knows how long she was in the water, how hungry she is, how old.  At least she might be more comfortable in her final hours.”  But about 9:00, I noticed a very bright sun patch that would be in that place of the yard for a good half hour; so I moved her to a small BBQ table and placed the whole contraption—bell, trivet, towel, bee—there.  In 5 minutes she was crawling vigorously around the rim of the bell, seeking exit.  I lifted it and off she flew, headed (I think) straight for my neighbors’ rhododendron bushes.  I stood, dumbstruck with wonder.  And wept.

I’m writing this on Friday and therefore Venus’ day—with bees associated with Divine Feminine mythology in a number of cultures (if you Google “bee mythology” you will find many, many sites in which to peruse the connection).

And then it hit me: OMG, I had saved one of Her creatures on Her day!

Here the goddess is attended by lion-headed guardian spirits in bee skins bearing her offerings. Libation vessels came in many shapes besides the one depicted here, including vessels in the form of a bull’s head.

There were some very significant connections to my own birth chart at the time I discovered her, ’til the time she flew away.  The most significant connection was between transiting Venus and what we Astrology Wonks call the Sun-Moon midpoint (a possible symbol of the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine).

I cannot doubt that I have received a Sign.  But what does it mean, Mr. Natural?  I have yet no consciously developed idea, but now I am on full alert.  I cannot help but contrast the outcome of this endeavor with other care-taking endeavors in which I tenderly cared for something (or some-one) as it/(s)he died.  There were times—12 years ago in the spring—when I watched a hoping-to-spawn-salmon—beach itself on a maintenance platform that was part of the very salmon ladder designed to help it reach its spawning stream.  I stood and watched it die, helpless to do anything.   Someone said, “Say, is this dinner?  Can we take it home?”  The people around laughed.  I cried for three days.

This time—was different.  Something is changing.  But what?  What might I be able to rescue and restore to life now?

Ask yourself these questions: what might you be able to rescue and restore to life?  If you watch Adam Gainsburg’s Vimeo of the Venus transit, you will see that She weaves a zig-zag pattern—just like a bee weaving her way from flower to flower—between the Horns of the Great Bull.

All these rites are present in the classical Greek myths of Dionysos, himself originating in Crete and called the Bull God. A bull was sacrificed with the rising of the star Sirius, and the bees were seen as the resurrected form of the dead bull and also as the souls of the dead. This festival for the rising of Sirius that initiated the New Year was thereby raised to the level of a myth of ‘zoe’ (indestructible life):the awakening of bees from a dead animal

This is the Gemini zodiacal season—the season of Alchemical Flutter and Buzz (see John Wadsworth’s site for a lovely tidbit) when bees pollinate like mad.  What can you rescue that will flit about from flower to flower, seeding new life?

These are not just rhetorical questions.  (Request a consultation with Claudia, Carol or Marcia. They can help you see those possibilities in your own birth chart and life.)

Stay tuned…

P.S.  You might also like to view a video preview on The Sacred Feminine website titled Honey Bees of the Venus Star

PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS by Marcia Buchart

On Monday, May 14, 2012, it began…a grand, extended spectacle of high astrological drama set against the stars of the Great Bull of Heaven.  Venus stationed retrograde in the tropical sign of Gemini while also conjoining El Nath, the tip of the Great Bull’s North Horn.

 She formally turned retrograde the next day — Tuesday morning. This is just one of the actions that forms a prelude to the Venus Transit—Venus actually moving across the solar disc—on Jun 5th, 2012.

This whole series of events is a mammoth sequence of conjunctions—Venus with the Pleiades, Venus with El Nath, Sun with Jupiter, the solar eclipse of May 20TH, Jupiter with Mercury, Mercury with the Sun (where He sheds His worn-out Explorer’s leathers for His Administrative robes , Mercury with Venus, Venus with the Sun, Venus turning away from a conjunction with Jupiter, Venus with Aldebaran, Venus with Chi1 Orionis [the business end of Orion’s club]. 

         OMG, this whole sequence will last until August 6! 

There seem to be so many energies mixing it up, it’s like being in a multiplex  with about a dozen movies playing.

Fox Theater Marquee, Detroit MI-from artistmac’s photostream http://flic.kr/p/9o8pvb

  —But these movies all have a common backstory featured somewhere in their plot lines: that of The Great Bull. 

There are observers who find this potentially menacing, especially cringing to see Venus on the point of the Horn.  We remember Queen Pasiphae (pronounced Pa-siph-ah-ee) of Crete, smitten by an angry Poseidon with lust for the bull her royal husband, King Minos, reneged on his promise to sacrifice;their union produced the monster, the Minotaur.

 And Minos himself was a son of Zeus by Europa, whom Zeus abducted and bore off to Crete while in disguise as—you guessed it—a bull.

 

Painting by Guy Ottewell http://www.redliongallery.com

But it’s important to remember that Venus is in the process of preparing to make Her inferior conjunction to the Sun to begin a new storyline—the “Gemini Journey”, as astrologer, Adam Gainsburg would call it.  And Adam’s read on the possibility for dramatic change in the way we live our Inner Feminine in the outer world is inspiring.

NOTE: You can click here to listen his Podcast on-The 2012 Venus Transit at his site: SoulSign.com  and we highly recommend this great video Adam made of the Venus Transit on Vimeo–it is stunning.

So: in that spirit, let’s imagine Venus taking the Bull by the horns—and perhaps even enjoying the wild ride! 

Which brings up the next point: is it possible that, with all these beginnings—symbolized by the succession of conjunctions—that there’s a way to view the whole scenario that doesn’t automatically spell death, doom and destruction? 

What if…instead of being caught up in a bullfight

 we’re caught up a dance?

We can take a hint from ancient Crete’s bull worship, which involved grabbing the horns, somersaulting over animal’s head (aided by its natural reflex effort to toss you off), landing on its back–and then sticking your dismount.

Hey, Venus is already showing us the way!  Dangerous?  Certainly.  Thrilling?  Yes!  Inevitably fatal?  No.

Don’t forget there are another couple of “bull dancers” up there as well: Mercury and Jupiter. 

Say what? How are they possibly bull dancers?  Heh!

Ever seen footage of a rodeo?

Bull riding is a major event where the point is not to kill or be killed, but to stay on the animal’s back longer than your competitors.  Jupiter, hovering around the Bull’s shoulders and back all spring, certainly seems determined to stay on as long as He can. 

Yippee Kiyay! Ride ’em Zeus!  

He is aided and abetted by His faithful rodeo clown, Mercury  whose main job is to distract the bull after the rider (inevitably) falls off.  The rodeo clowns have arguably the most dangerous job in the sport.  (Mercury a daring hero?  Who knew?)

So come to the multiplex with us as we peek into each theater over the coming weeks to check out all the storylines in play. 

Bring your popcorn.  With the butter .

STAY TUNED!!

WHEN THEMIS SPEAKS

By Marcia Buchart

How many of you have seen the video of Elizabeth Warren?

Rather marvelous, Not only because what she says needs saying, but because sometimes, the universe gives you just the right sign.  Something occurs that captures the essence of the celestial energies in play so well that it, well, goes viral through the public’s consciousness.  It is a terrific bonus when it also illuminates a neglected aspect of a zodiac sign’s energetics. 

I’m talking about Libra

On September 27, we had a New Moon at 4 degrees Libra.

That New Moon followed hard upon the autumn equinox of September 23 (when the Sun ‘ingresses’, or enters the sign Libra).  Many of my friends had also been biting their nails over the fact that just after the ingress the Sun would promptly form a configuration known as either a T-Square or T-Cross. 

It will directly face Uranus in Aries while making a square (90-degree angle) to Pluto in Capricorn.  And the Sun was not alone in this dynamic!  First, Venus marched across the relevant degrees from Sep 17 – 19.  The Sun followed on September 26 – 27, with the Moon catching up to join Him on the 27th while Mercury galloped into the fray on both the 27th and 28th, finishing the dynamic by conjoining the Sun and thereby fully shedding  (see previous post regarding Mercury and his roles in your chart) His Explorer outfit and putting on His Administrative robes.) 

And on the 28th, Themis, the Greek goddess of divine justice,stepped up and had some strong words (Mercury) to say about the social contract (Libra) she deemed should exist between the self-proclaimed, independent overlords (Sun) and the common people (Moon).

Mythic Themis, a daughter of Gaia, sat at the side of Zeus to give him counsel.

She also had a function of judging the souls of the newly deceased to determine whether they would enter Tartarus or the Elysian Fields. 

This bears a striking resemblance to another Goddess with such a function: Maat.  

She held a feather that was placed on a scale to weigh the heart of a deceased person to determine the soul’s worthiness.

Calmly impartial deities of divine justice don’t often seem to gibe with popular notions of Libra.  The sign’s keyword is “I Balance”.  But, when we think of balance, how many times do we think of maintaining stasis?  Of taking no action whatever?  But Libra is one of the Cardinal signs, whose energies initiate the beginning of a season, something too often overlooked. 

None of the Cardinal signs—Aries, Cancer, Capricorn and, yes, Libra—are passive, paralyzed or wimpy. 

To get a sense of Libra in your own body, stand up.  Close your eyes.  And just stand there.  Feel the minute adjustments your body must make to remain upright.  Now open your eyes and, with that consciousness of your body’s balance engaged, walk. 

Miraculous, isn’t it, this exquisitely controlled falling forward?  

You are using balance to move forward not to stand still! 

Just like dancers,

 skaters,

gymnasts,

                                                  —all are using balance in order to move.

“Well, gee,” you might be saying, “all this balance stuff for walking requires an inward focus.  Isn’t Libra about focusing on The Other?”

Okay, let’s do another exercise, this time with a partner.  Get someone to sing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ with you (maybe after a few glasses of whatever).  Sing it first in unison.  Not too hard; we all remember the tune.  Next, try singing it as a round:

Voice 1: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream/
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream/

                  Voice 2: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream/                                                     Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…

…and so forth. 

Harder, yes?  You not only have to listen to The Other to know when to come in, you have to focus with great intent on “hearing” you own inner musical line, so you can contribute to the harmony.  Without that inner focus on your own contribution, you won’t have anything to contribute.

Wouldn’t you know, this exercise was presented in a class I took with a teacher who had five (count them!) planets in Libra, including her Sun.

But what about Libra’s reputation as Mr. or Ms. Nicey-Nice, who will do anything, say anything to avoid conflict?  In an astrological joke series, you identify someone’s Sun sign by what they say after having sex with you.  The stereotypical Libra response is, “I liked it if you liked it!”  The idea is that balance and harmony are so important to Libra that a Libra Sun person is afraid to rock the boat, to disturb the peace.

Oh really?

How about the Libra who values balance and harmony enough to fight for them?  To initiate action? 

Such as…   Brigitte Bardot

(sexy movie star, to be sure, AND activist for animal rights)
 or radical feminist Andrea Dworkin
                                                     

or real-life hero Christopher Reeves who never gave up striving to walk                                                                                                                                           

    or President Eisenhower who, long before the “I Like Ike” campaign buttons were                                         handed out, was the American general heading the WWII effort in Europe 

–Lenny Bruce, the bitter, sardonic comic

                                     John Lennon, who led protests to “Give Peace A Chance

   rebel psychiatrist R.D. Laing, who fought the existing medical models of psychosis 

—controversial tennis champions Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova     

–Solidarity co-founder and political leader Lech Walesa 

or Jesse Jackson  

The current march of planets through Libra’s early degrees, which hook them up with revolutionary Uranus and transformative Pluto, have made Libra’s steel, the sword in the hand of Themis, visible. 

Do you have planets in early Libra?  Were you thinking of hiding under the covers for the next three years until Uranus and Pluto have left town? 

Fuggedaboudit. 

Walk. 

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single (exquisitely balanced) step.

Scary?  You bet. 

But it could also be the thrill of a lifetime, knowing that

the art of balance can—must!—be used to move you forward.

Hey– I been good!

Hey—why me?  I’ve been good!

I said that to my friend and colleague, Margaret Gray, yesterday while bemoaning the transits of our times and the fact that even though I’m doing all the right things, I haven’t lost a pound (and yes I’m working on that) in two months.  Plus the economy is whako and…and… I said—out loud.  Why me?  I mean—I’ve been good.  Actually I was impersonating Bill Cosby impersonating Noah and God.

–Call me intuitive or smart or in touch with the divine, but I just know Noah had to have been born near the constellation Capricornus carrying the story of the Sea Goat–that ever so practical animal in the night sky who would tell the people how to handle hard times like floods and such. Or maybe Noah had some planet in the mid degrees of Taurus and heard a voice from the deep. Maybe Noah was being stared at by the monster from the black lagoon—the leviathan—the whale who ate Jonah—that whale (not Free Willy). That whale called Cetus.   Ahhhhhh maybe that is it.

Is that you, Cetus? Collage C.Johnson 2010

Bernadette Brady describes Cetus in the Starlight Program as:

According to the Greeks, Cetus is the sea monster who was sent to devour Andromeda. Perseus, however, saved her by using the severed head of Medusa which turned the sea monster to stone. But the stories of this whale in the sky seem to predate the Greek version. It has had various forms but it is always some aquatic beast that blows water from a blow hole. Cetus has been illustrated at times with a dog’s head and forelegs and with a mermaid-like tail. It would seem that this creature is more like the fresh water mythic creature the Loch Ness monster than a marine whale in that it represents an unknown beast from the depths rather than what we know as a gentle giant of the sea. Aratus in the 4th century B.C.E., referred to the constellation as: “the hateful Monster Cetus”. And Jobes referred to it as representing a monster “that rises from the dark nether sea with a ravenous appetite for humans”. Christian mythology saw this as the whale that swallowed Jonah, whereas the Arabs broke it into three separate constellations: The Hand, the Ostrich and the Necklace.

The Brightest star is Menkar, the nose or jaw of the whale.

Like all of us, I am trying to figure out how to maneuver through these times and how to assist my clients as the waters appear to be rising (think the new phrase referring to mortgages~ “my house is under water”.)   And these times do indeed call for something akin to the building of an ark.

I mean when you look at the news or the transits — say Pluto squaring Uranus or Saturn squaring Uranus or Pluto opposing Saturn or…take your pick–I feel like Noah being given a job–build an ark!  “Get the animals on board and stay on top of the waters and I ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie sayeth the Lord!”  (well I don’t know if that is biblical but it feels right)

I also identify with Noah’s disbelief that this could be happening–oh say with the economy or with riots or with the clear and present revolutions occurring–and I can feel as Noah did that he was being “put upon” — he was tired and frankly pissed that he has to “do something”.  Remember this one?

Ri-i-ight–this isn’t a shower.  It isn’t even personal.  We are watching the earth and the structures that we might have thought stable tumble and wobble; people that we expected to bring wisdom and sanity scratch their heads in amazement at their inability to do so. And– Like Noah, I protest—hey I’m retired!  I should be able to kick back and enjoy my golden years and not have to think about arks.

Ri-i-ight!

Noah says to God—and what about that mess down there in the ark?! Who’s gonna clean that up?   awwwwwww man.

Heading to Starlight to see just what might be happening in the watery part of the heavens, I find Jupiter right smack dab in what Darrelyn Gunzberg has named: The Stare of Cetus.  Hmmmmmm

Awhile ago, Bernadette Brady wrote in the Visual Astrology Newsletter a piece called “Saviors Need Not Apply” . The title alone caught my eye. (and that piece was about Jupiter in the sky stories). I was reminded then of that other eye –the eye of Cetus.  Darrelyn Gunzberg has brought that one to the surface with her eloquent writing and fascinating inquiry into what that whale means for people and “the” people.

She says of Cetus the whale in the April 2008 Visual Astrology Newsletter:

The ram of Aries shares his glory with no one and Cetus the Sea Monster is the unknown beast from the depths which can erupt bearing with it moments of great insight or chaos. When a planet/luminary passes through this area of the sky, then, depending on which planet/luminary that is, whilst it may imply independence or supremacy of an individual or a concept (in Aries, the Ram), it comes at a price, for it is trapped in the stare of the sea monster and there will be hidden issues which sit beneath it.

and more about Cetus in the May2008 VAN

(does Bill Cosby have anything connected to that whale and were those riffs “messages” as only great comedians can impart?)

Well lookie here—Bill Cosby does have the brightest star in the whale in paran with Jupiter. Quoting from the report that Starlight can generate for one’s sky story:

Menkar-The Whale, with Jupiter in Foundation

Feast or famine, the fickleness of life

Menkar is the alpha star of Cetus the whale, and this whale represents the human collective unconscious, that can erupt like a beast from the deep bearing, with equal probability, moments of great collective insight, or chaos and mayhem. Symbolic of these unconscious forces, Menkar’s effect on your life, via its paran to Jupiter, can be difficult. However, the collective unconscious is not always evil or dark, it can also be great and glorious. Jupiter will soften the impact of this star, and indicates that if you follow your intuition and reach for the big picture your success can be based on popular support. This can result in many different expressions. The record breaking and successful sports person, the gifted teacher, or perhaps the lawyer who represents a large collective issue. This really is a stellar combination of feast or famine. If you aim high some of your ideas and plans will definitely become popular, but at other times you will fall from grace. Learn to ride the waves and the valleys. 

And Cetus is staring at the wandering star Uranus in Bill Cosby’s sky story as well. As with many comedians — as with the Jester — the truth get told.  Think the current Jon Stewart show where many of us now go for our news :)–and I’m not kidding.

There is revolution in the air. And Arks to be built. Yup.  But as Noah says:  um….what’s an ark?

Since I’m identifying with Noah today.  This is getting interesting.

Another twist is that in the night sky story’s cast of characters — Jupiter is considered the Crown Prince. That is the part he plays on the silver screen. And as we said above, currently (like right now) Jupiter is “in the stare of Cetus”.  So um…. Speaking of “crown princes” wonder who else in on “ark-duty”.  Note to God:  Call Barack.  Tell him about the ark thing and that there is no compromise.

About an hour ago, I heard about a friend of ours who for the umpteenth time is in hospital–a broken bone–now needing Physical Therapy–(she is in good hands and will be ok)–and–She is Mega Taurus–with Cetus staring at her Moon, Uranus and Venus!!

This woman is amazing—she just takes the pain and inconvenience and suffering and transforms it into smiles and love for all–and I do mean ALL.  She turns what is tough and chaotic into music and gratitude and courage.  Frankly she is quite impressive and a grand example of how to manage that stare from the deep.

Plus she attracts the greats. 

Recently we were all together at Teatro Zinzani’s celebrating Elaine’s 75th birthday and enjoying a grand evening

Elaine, Rhoberta, Claudia and Susan June2011

—seeing her chart, one is not surprised when Joan Baez picks her out of the crowd, walks over, takes her hand and sings to her. (now Elaine will be the first to tell you that that had happened before—with Joan herself at another event–yes–Joan Baez loves Elaine Levine.  It is on a tree somewhere in the forrest.with a heart around it–carved. ).


Good work with that whale, girl.  This song’s for you.

Ok…gang—-let’s go build some ark’s.

PS–Darrelyn recently wrote a very moving piece about Amy Winehouse and her life lived in the stare of Cetus in the July VAN  (You can sign up to receive these newsletters at http://www.zyntara.com–well worth it!)

She writes: The eastern horizon 

Additionally, rising in the east and lying above that eastern horizon and along it at the time of her birth was Cetus, the Sea Monster, carrying hidden issues from deep within the collective. Those issues found a ready voice in Winehouse. Lyrics that were intensely autobiographical, a voice that was suffused with gritty realism, the more complicated her personal life became, the more successful she became as an artist.[8]

 


 

but seriously folks…

Astrology is an ancient and intriguing discipline. I take it very seriously.  One can learn about oneself, the cycles of one’s life, current events, history, cosmology, relationships. We can get all worked up over eclipses, transits and things that go bump in the night.

As an astrologer–it is my job to empower you as you explore possibilities, what to do at certain times or how to look forward and make responsible plans or look back at your life and make meaning out of the past. I think it is the astrologer’s job to offer assistance as you wander through life’s peaks and valleys.  It is also my job (as I see it) to do my homework, work with integrity, study my craft, all the while weaving together the disciplines and research that allow us to experience aliveness, empowerment and an understanding of what it means to be human.

So–this week (upon returning from NORWAC–the Northwest Astrology Conference held in Seattle every year)—I am charged with the rather daunting task of sharing the wisdom I gained while studying my craft –

 

Question: What is the proper way to begin a conference and serious course of study?

Answer:  by laughing your head off… 


On Friday, Rick Tarnas conducted a seminar titled—The Comic Genius: An Archetypal Perspective

Tarnas on numbers of occasions joins John Cleese for what must be wonderful ways to spend a life!  Tarnas and Cleese at California Institute of Integral Studies

We spent the day watching various clips from Cleese’s Monty Python series and other comedians and entertainers.  We looked at their charts–and frankly in this day and age of rather serious events and transits that indicate a momentous time in our history—-laughing and remembering the healing power of laughter was a gift from the Celestial Comedy Gods.

Tarnas pointed out Mercury and Mars contacts in Cleese’s chart speaking to the notion that the mind takes in information (I’m not quoting him exactly – just from my memory and notes) and then one must defend the ideas. Cleese thrives on the thrust and counter thrust—Tarnas noted that he generally begins his pieces with an argument—a contest.

 Argument Clinic

 

Cleese also has a T-Square to Uranus and Tarnas points out that “best humorists—have a high Uranian component”—the trickster (Mercury ) saying that which is taboo (Uranus). Think about some of your Aquarian friends—they are often the ones who at some point in the meeting–point at the elephant in the room with an innocent expression—stopping us in our tracks, so to speak. Tricksters indeed.  

And talk about talking about that which is taboo!  

John Cleese delivered a memorable memorial speech for Graham Chapman at a memorial service held two months later in the Great Hall at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Cleese delivered a humorous eulogy for his friend Chapman and took advantage of “this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf,” which he then went on to do.

Part of the speech is included below:

Video of Eulogy for Graham

Graham Chapman, co-author of the ‘Parrot Sketch,’ is no more.

He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky.

And I guess that we’re all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, of such capability for kindness, for such unusual intelligence, a man who could overcome his alcoholism with such truly admirable single-mindedness, should now so suddenly be spirited away at the age of only forty-eight before he’d achieved many of the things in which he was capable, and before he’d had enough fun.

Well, I feel that I should say, ‘Nonsense! Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard. I hope he fries.’ And the reason I feel I should say this is he would never forgive me if I didn’t. If I threw away this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. It’s not a funeral, I grant you, but a memorial service is still pretty good.

It is magnificent, isn’t it? You see, the thing about shock . . . is not that it upsets some people, I think; I think that it gives others a momentary joy of liberation, as we realized in that instant that the social rules that constrict our lives so terribly are not actually very important.

Well, Gray can’t do that for us anymore. He’s gone. He is an ex-Chapman. All we have of him now is our memories. But it will be some time before they fade.
Cheer up—you know what they say:

Always look on the bright side of life…

Tarnas pointed out that great comics have strong Sun / Saturn components in their charts. That is to say that the Sun and Saturn are in some aspect to each other or prominent by house or sign—they are, if you will, in ‘conversation’ and depending on the nature of the relationship it becomes apparent how the comedic archetype takes hold in their manner of delivery.

One example a classic Sun/Saturn comedian is Woody Allen  who also has Jupiter in the mix such that even the expanding universe is cause for worry.

Woody Allen’s chart

 He said among many things:  I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. 


Colbert at Rally to restore sanity and/or fear 2010

Steven Colbert was born with the Saturn opposing Pluto conjoining Uranus era in 1964. This funny progressive liberal (Uranus) is a trickster cloaked as a conservative Fox News Commentator. He pretends to be the opposite of what he really thinks and says of himself. It is the only way he can stay sane—to laugh. He says if he didn’t – he’d cry. Did you see him at the Correspondent’s Dinner in 2006? Actually the clip watching Bush’s face is equally as interesting as the court jester speaks and shocks and gets away with it as only the court jester can do.  (you can click on the chart for an enlarged image)



Only the best comics (Court Jesters) can pull it off. Tarnas played the clip of Colbert interviewing the head of Ploughshares (an anti-nuclear organization) — the interview itself is a poignant example of the current Saturn–Uranus-Pluto catastrophe. Colbert begins the interview and with a serious face asks if the head of Ploughshares will “at least admit that a nuclear explosion is awesome”

 


And I cannot forget my favorite Ernestine aka Lily Tomlin. Able to transform into character after character—the characters are real and have a structured presence as well as that Uranian shock effect. Tomlin was born under the 1939 Saturn Pluto square, has Mercury squaring Uranus and her Virgo Sun opposing Saturn. She can make us laugh at ourselves as she becomes aspects that we often want to hide, but never fail to recognize.

Here she is as Tommy Velour w/ Michael Jackson & Elizabeth Taylor 2009  


And on the Johnny Carson show–she talks about all her characters–Johnny Carson was my dad’s favorite comic.  I’ll bet my dad has some similar planets in his chart–he was one funny guy. (gotta go look)

Spent time today going off on my own for a while, looking at charts of people/friends I think are funny. I am seeing how Mercury and Uranus and Saturnine flavors are present in their charts.  I see how those archetypes come alive when laughter just erupts around the dinner table.

Just think about when you are watching Jon Stewart (I don’t have his chart) or laughing with your friends as you or one of them says something that just has you almost on the floor. It is generally unexpected, taking you over and  — then it begins to take hold and even if you wanted it to end…you just can’t stop——Laughing.

Laughter loosens up the body, the heart and the mind and I’ll bet we can find all kinds of medical reasons for it being a healthy thing to do – and do a lot. One of the people I laugh with on a regular basis is my sister, Peggy. We just think about each other and the jokes start coming. Sister jokes. My favorite kind! Best friend uncontrollable laughter often accompanied with trips down memory lane (Saturn) when something erupted and took over and we had to pull over to the side of the road if driving. Those times make life worth living, the comedic archetype and the astrological signatures worth looking at. A hell of a homework assignment for this student!

In honor of my Gemini sister and Gemini friends with whom I have shared a world of laughter here is a clip from Victor Borge. He was our grandmother Peggy’s favorite comedian—and since my funny sis, Peggy, has a birthday this month, I chose Borge to honor her and our Nanny Peggy. Borge was a Capricorn, a classical musician with his Sun conjoining Uranus, Mercury opposing Neptune.  

 

Borge famously said: “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people”.

Here’s laughin’ with you kids…

and FOR THE GEMINI’S

Birthday Song performed 2007         Victor Borge

Mars & Venus: A Balance of Power by John Wadsworth

There are several articles I think you’ll enjoy by John Wadsworth at his site: The Alchemical Journey

Mars & Venus: A Balance of Power

By John Wadsworth – The Alchemical Journey | Published: APRIL 19, 2011
Botticelli Venus and Mars

The Sun enters Taurus mid-morning tomorrow (Wednesday 20th April), but it might not quite feel like it, as most of the planets remain in Aries for a few weeks more. Venus rules Taurus, and even though this is traditionally her season, she does not seem to have the upper hand…yet, at least not until she enters Taurus in mid-May. Uranus has now established itself in Aries and Mercury is still retrograde in Aries until Saturday, playing tricks with our communication channels. Mars and Jupiter are gearing up for a potentially explosive conjunction in Aries at the beginning of May, which should release huge amounts of energy and is a good time for seizing the initiative, but suggests the unleashing of a lot of raw anger and passion too, with Mars so strong around that time. And Venus also enters Aries on Thursday, the goddess armed and ready for action, and fuelling Mars’s fire in the process!

‘Mother Earth’ by Jenness Cortez

This is the picture for the next few weeks until all the faster moving planets (Mercury, Venus & Mars) move into Taurus by the 16th May. With Venus in her dignity between 16th May and 10th June, and with Mars under her dominion again, there exists the possibility of “ceasefire” in both personal and global conflicts, if only temporarily, and there is more of an opportunity for love, peace and reconciliation, and the honouring of Mother Earth and an awareness of the need to establish balance. Indeed this is likely to be the part of the next cycle that feels most Taurean!  continue at:   The Alchemical Journey 

Just a quick word about Neptune…

For those of you who have a Venus/Neptune © aspect in your natal charts, the article below will be of particular interest to you~ see below for link to an article titled Butterfly Lovers by Astrologer, Glenn Perry.

Remember that Neptune © just entered Piscesœ and will be in his “hometown” sign until 2026. A Long time.

Neptune © has been in the sign Aquarius [ since 1998 and hasn’t been in Piscesœ since 1862. So ’tis a big deal—it always is when one of these outer slower moving planets moves into a new sign.

In addition to looking to see if you have Venus/Neptune © aspects in your natal chart—look to see where 0}Piscesœ is in your chart. That will be the house that Neptune © is visiting now – With Neptune © swimming through my 3rd house, I find myself dreaming of what to write in the next blog J.

What are you dreaming of? Do tell.

Claudia

Butterfly Lovers


And Other Venus-Neptune Tales of Woe

By Glenn Perry


The title of my article is inspired by The Butterfly Lovers, a Chinese legend and tragic love story. Zhu, a beautiful and intelligent young woman, earnestly desires an education. Traditions of the time forbid females from going to school, however, so Zhu convinces her father to allow her to attend classes in disguise as a young man. While at school, she develops an unusually close bond with a classmate, Liang, who does not realize that Zhu is a female. They study together for three years and Zhu gradually falls in love with Liang.  read on at: Glenn Perry’s site

Aphrodite Salacia and fish on Friday

Fellini’s   La Dolce Vita – strange fish pulled on shore

With all this rain, earthquakes and tsunami warnings, nuclear power plants, radiation being poured into our ocean—I said to my friends this morning that I feel more like I’m being “washed in the blood of the fishes than the proverbial blood of the lamb“.

Marcia wrote and said –and I quote: Heh: your ‘blood of the fishes’ comment actually reminds of the ending of La Dolce Vita (the finale). Remember? Remember when the crowds make their way to the beach to see the huge fish?  Remember Fellini?   Remember that movie?   Whew!  The haunting music lives on as well as those incredible archetypal images about Cetus the whale—as in scary archetypal monster from the deep. (a story for another time but oh so applicable to these times)

With all the planets visiting the stars of the fish and with Neptune moving today into the sign Piscesœ — ok well – I went to see what Bernadette Brady says about those fish. I mean what with Jupiter, Moon, Mercury, Sun, and Mars and Uranus all dancing there in the sky these days.  AND Neptune moving into the sign Pisces for the first time since the Civil War!!  What was I trying to remember with that statement?

Ahhhh—yes—now I remember—the reason that phrase popped into my head has to do with the ancient sacred rituals of washing away sins, of renewing self and others by being ‘cleansed’ in holy life — blood.  The waters of life.  Water at Baptism.

I now know that when the Constellation of the Bull (Taurus) was rising at the Equinox, folks were “washed in the blood of the bull”—

The Egyptians also annually slew a sacred bull in atonement for the sins of the realm. The concept was that the blood of one god, or the symbol of that god, could cleanse the sins of many. However, after two thousand or so years the spring equinox slipped from Taurus, the Bull, into Aries, The Ram, and this heralded the birth of yet another new god, this time emerging from the Israelites. They distinguished themselves from the bull-worshippers by using the blood of the lamb as a sacred fluid and symbol. For Moses was leading his people,chosen with lamb’s blood, to a new religion. This was the new world age marked by Aries and thus a new god was required. (Brady, Starlight software)

Cut to 2000 years later and here came the stars of Piscesœ

(Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars p. 312, Bernadette Brady)

Pisces began to receive the lead position in the Zodiac around 2,000 years ago when the spring equinox heliacal rising slipped from Aries the Ram to Pisces the Fishes. However this was never a clear distinction, as Pisces is such a large constellation and its two fish reaching through the sky actually encompass the stars of Aries. The coming of the age of Pisces, the new world order, was eagerly awaited as it was heralded by a triple conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces in the year 6 BCE and Virgil, in his Fourth Eclogue, announced it would be the return of the Golden Age. This conjunction was the astronomical highlight of the time, eagerly awaited and then watched and was later named, in Christian mythology, the Star of Bethlehem.
 But the fish was an ancient symbol long before it was adopted by the new god. The Greeks incorporated the Fish as a sacred symbol through Aphrodite in her form as a fish-goddess called Aphrodite Salacia.

She was often depicted as a fertile mother nursing a child and her temples always contained ponds of fish. Her followers would eat fish on her holy day which was Friday. They were known as the fish-eaters and this custom was adopted by the Catholic church who decreed that the eating of fish on a Friday, translated as the abstinence from meat, was a holy act that had to be performed by its followers.

As the spring equinox moved into Pisces, the Ram-god sent his Son, Christ, to save the world, and he became the god of fishes. He was a fisherman fishing for men’s souls. His disciples were fishermen and his miracle, which proclaimed him god, was the miracle of the loaves and fishes where he was said to have fed five thousand on just a few fish. The new religion adopted the sign of the Fish as their symbol.

Read on dear students of the stars–the following is a good cut on what is going on:

Eric Francis writes in his post (April 4, 2011) titled  Neptune enters Pisces: The tide is up (for full post click link to his site)

…many forms of creative experience that we were told are useless (as kids) are some of the best that Pisces has to offer. By that I mean everything but social studies and accounting: the stuff you do with your imagination and your hands. Your talents and your desire to express your imagination may be coming under focus now. That would include music (to create the stuff, or at lest to experience some in person), as well as your poetic senses. And what about those paints in your closet? What about the art supply store down the street? You DO have time to experiment and play, and now the astrology is floating you like the tide rising beneath a boat.

Pisces is also the sign most associated with clairvoyance (Scorpio would be a close second, and these are two signs that usually get along nicely). Just wondering — have you been experiencing any enhanced non-physical communication? Any premonitions that have come through, or out-of-body communication? Have these events involved fantasy, imagination or creativity? I’m suggesting here that there may be a connection between what we think of as out-of-body communication and many of the other ideas that Pisces or Neptune represents.

Then there is water, the actual stuff that comes out of the shower nozzle. The same stuff we expect to just be there. We see a lot of water when we fly across the ocean — but that is not the kind of water we need for our individual bodies to survive. Less than 1% of the earth’s water is drinkable fresh water and that is going away fast. It’s also becoming one of the biggest businesses around; the World Bank and many other institutions have been muscling in on this for decades. So Neptune in Pisces is likely to call even more attention to this issue than we’ve been seeing in recent years, here as a nuclear complex in Japan is dumping tons of radioactive water into the ocean and groundwater.

We got our first really big lesson about this last year when — as Chiron entered Pisces, on that very day — the BP oil spill happened. When Uranus left Pisces two weeks ago, the earthquake happened in Japan. So Pisces seems to be sensitive to global changes involving water. Now, we need to get there. Astrology is suggesting that now it’s our turn

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