Happy Watergate Break-In Day

On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex (fancy, by the way) in Washington, DC. A little over two years later (a Saturn cycle, by the way), then President Richard Nixon resigned due to his knowledge of the break-in and subsequent cover-up.

The man who won his campaign on promising law and order clearly meant for laws and orders to apply to his enemies, not to himself or to his friends. Nixon is a whole psychological and astrological case study of paranoia, but that will need to wait for another rainy afternoon.

Current scandals await us . . . OHA readers want to know!

On June 17, 1972 (happy anniversary, a day early), Saturn, the sun and Venus were all in the sign of Gemini. The moon and Pluto were in Virgo.

The sun in 26 degrees of Gemini was in somewhat-tight square with Pluto in 29 degrees of Virgo. Both signs are ruled by Mercury, the heavenly messenger who rules communications.

If you haven’t seen “All the President’s Men,” now might be a good time to watch this classic. The crime committed at Watergate was really quite like the IRS scandal of today – Nixon’s supporters wanted to bug the Democratic National Headquarters in advance of the 1972 National Election.

The Watergate scandal was unraveled by two journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who obsessively worked details (Pluto = obsession and Virgo = details) until the got to the top of the mountain and found the Capricorn goat President (Nixon) at the top.

Media is also in the realm of Gemini.

Until studying subjects for this blog, I associated Gemini with fun, interesting and stimulating conversation. Now I’m seeing how Gemini as messenger (as an energy not as specific individuals) can be the mechanism for behavior modification through communication. Communication, then, is not merely to inform but to coerce, covertly or overtly, such as with the many monetary changes that occurred with the advent of phone and radio.

Twenty degrees of Gemini

This year, in the 20-29 degrees of Gemini timeframe, we’ve also received some unsettling communications:

May 14 – Venus in five degrees of Gemini and Jupiter in 20 degrees of Gemini – we learn that the IRS has been targeting and delaying tax-exempt status for conservative groups.

June 6 – Mars in three degrees of Gemini and Jupiter in 25 degrees of Gemini – we learn the NSA has been tapping into American and foreign phone records. The individual who provided this information, Edward Snowden, has Mercury, Mars and sun in Gemini. His sun is in 29 degrees of the sign.

June 14 – Mars in nine degrees of Gemini and Jupiter in 27 degrees of Gemini – we learn that the US will provide military support to rebels (define, please) in Syria.

Here’s an entire list.

Sound familiar? What’s next?

Let’s play Woodward and Bernstein

Let’s play Woodward and Bernstein, astrological style. Let’s study the details to see where the path might lead. Woodward had an underground garage contact “Deep Throat” who advised Woodward to “follow the money.”

We’re going to follow the astrology first, which may, it appears, lead to the money.

It’s always about money, isn’t it? (Saturn transiting Scorpio is a good time to explore why).

Let’s start at the beginning.

On Election Day, November 6, 2012, Mercury in Sagittarius was stationary turning retrograde (apparent backward motion from our earthly vantage point). Mercury rules communication so its backward motion brings severe warnings from astrologers to be careful in communications which could be confusing or misleading.

My own experience with Mercury retrograde is that everything appears fine during the retrograde period. It’s only later, when Mercury is direct, that you discover you forgot to send your car insurance payment or that the payment is stuck to the side of the mailbox.

At the end of November 2012 (around the 26th), Mercury went direct. The astrologer in me waited for claims of election fraud (I did erroneously believe Republican Mitt Romney would win) but none occurred.

Clue number one – follow the election results.

Is there anything we need to know about November 2012′s Mercury retrograde? That Mercury in Sagittarius retrograde was opposite (in the 10th house) Barack Obama’s natal moon in Gemini (in the 4th house).

From November 2012 until the end of this month, Jupiter has been transiting Gemini, the sign opposite November’s Mercury retrograde sign of Sagittarius. December and January were months where I would have expected revelations.

None came.

As with Mercury retrograde, it’s quite possible all we learned in May was learned in the smoke-filled backrooms from December to May.

The Gemini portion of the show simply involves the releasing of the information. It may be time to look back at November’s Mercury retrograde.

Barack Obama’s solar return

Obama’s birthday is August 4 so he’s still within last year’s solar return cycle but is soon to have a birthday. So let’s take a look at the August 2013-August 2014 cycle (assumes Washington, DC as location).

Obama’s solar return sun is in the 9th house while solar return Jupiter, Mars, moon and Mercury are in the 8th house. From a transit perspective, these planets will be in the 5th and 6th houses of Obama’s natal horoscope.

Pluto is continuing its long trek through Obama’s 11th house in trine to his natal Pluto in Virgo in the 7th house. Solar return Saturn in Scorpio is in the 11th house.

Sparkling and neat, Venus in Virgo is in the solar return 10th house.

Neptune (in Pisces) and Uranus (in Aries) are hanging out at the bottom of the solar return chart, with Pisces holding the ship afloat.

Where would my “Woodstein” investigation begin? What should be investigated? One person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter (to quote a friend); one person’s rebel, another’s criminal; one person’s national security, another’s invasion of privacy; one person’s fight for democracy, another’s fight to protect the dollar as reserve currency.

The most interesting to me is the IRS scandal, which involves influence of a government agency for political means –very Watergate. For me, there are fewer shades of gray in this situation than some of the others.

Astrological trail:

• Foreign influence – sun in solar return 9th says “foreign” so foreign events and foreign trips are the clues to where these varying stories lead. For some, Obama was born in a foreign country and that is enough to indicate conspiracy. Trips abroad by the President may point to other players in these May dramas.
• Family money – the preponderance of planets in Cancer in the 8th house and transiting the 5th and 6th. As mentioned in the Jupiter in Cancer blog, the struggle between “homeland” and “security” may increase. Obama may also be protecting personal family. Look to the activities of Obama’s relatives. When Jupiter moves into Cancer at the beginning of July and conjuncts Obama’s natal Venus in Cancer, we may learn more about female relatives.
• Personal money – Uranus continues its transit of Obama’s 2nd house of personal resources. Sudden changes to money and property are occurring. Foreign investment maybe?
• Illness – the 6th house is about health. Is our President having health issues that he’s not revealing? Cancer rules the stomach. Leo rules the heart. Saturn transiting Scorpio is conjunct Obama’s natal 9th Neptune in Scorpio. Depression may also be an issue.
• Moon in Gemini hidden half – this placement is rarely as clear and direct as it seems. Just because we talk doesn’t mean we inform. Moon in Gemini often has a dual personality, two distinct personalities. Jupiter has been transiting Gemini for the past year so any “other” selves possessed by Obama were itching to be expressed.

As an astrological Woodstein, I’d probably look to the IRS scandal and how, if at all, it benefited relatives of the president. I’d also look back to November’s Mercury retrograde and re-evaluate the facts of today in relation to the the election results.

Conspiracy theories

One persons’s conspiracy theory is another person’s paranoia. Today’s world has too much information which is proving to me to be the same as too little. It’s still difficult to discern the truth.

If I were a conspiracy theorist (and I swear I’m not), I’d look to Neptune in Pisces – this 15-year transit that makes everything seem like opening one’s eyes at the bottom of the pool. One tool of deception, to me personally, is to split the world in half and ask people to take sides in an effort to create the feeling of having made a good, “right” choice.

Regardless of my feelings on the matter, news indicators suggest it’s going to be an interesting summer of untangling the political puzzles to see what lies beneath. Astrological clues are just a quicker way than knocking on doors, as Woodstein did during 1972 and 1973, forty years ago.

Happy Watergate Break-In Day

Maybe one day we’ll make Watergate Break-In Day a national holiday where people get the day off work to read the newspapers and catch up on the political events we ignored while busy with our work, social and social media lives that prevented us from keeping up in the first place.

Watergate Break-In Day, June 17, can be a day of information, accurate and true information, not too much and not too little — just the facts.

June 8: What Will Blow in This Year?

According to the July/August 2013 issue of Archaeology Magazine, the Viking Age began on June 8, 793.

“According to historians, the Viking Age began on June 8, A.D. 793, at an island monastery off the coast of northern England. A contemporary chronicle recorded the moment with a brief entry: ‘The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.’”

Reading this yesterday, I realized June 8 was today (or as of yesterday, tomorrow).

My, I hope we don’t have a Viking blow-in this year.

On that fateful day, Pluto was in 26 degrees of Capricorn and the moon in Aries. We’ve got a little of that Aries/Capricorn bumping (via Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn) going on today.

In 793, Uranus and Neptune were conjunct in Virgo. The perfect world collapsed in a pile of death and fire.

Nasty.

Saturn in Taurus, in 793, indicated a loss of wealth – very true. Today Saturn is in the opposite sign – Scorpio – which is the wealth of others.

So what’s up for this June 8?

Our Viking raids, which demolish our sense of the world both physically and mentally, in some parts of the world have lost the physical aspect. That’s a good thing, of course. In the US we may not having Viking raiders on the shore but we might have government raiders on our phone call.

Gemini, you know, is about communication.

And some, unfortunately, still experience Viking-like raids.

For the monks at Lindisfarne, the raid was a great message that there are many others on the planet and they might come marauding into your life. It was both physical and mental, a quick learning by fire.

Today’s June 8 has sun, moon, Mars and Jupiter in Gemini. Uranus (in Aries) and Pluto (in Capricorn) are in a close square again, one of many times this will occur. The uprisings are not over.

If this were a June 8 fortune cookie it might read: Keep your eyes and ears open as there is much to experience today. Read, watch and listen for news or the news will find you.

Mars in Gemini: Chopped or Shredded?

Many years ago while grocery shopping with a Gemini college roommate I lost sight of her as I finished picking my items. I discovered her standing in an aisle staring at two bags of coconut. She was deciding which to buy for her recipe.

Chopped or shredded.

It took a while for her to decide.

Mars the planet of directed and focused action will be in the sign of Gemini the Twins for the entire month of June while the sun also transits this sign.

It’s going to be a confusing month of chopped versus shredded decisions. What’s worse is that Mars in Gemini is swimming in a pool of emotionally-charged energies from the sun, Mercury and Venus in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces.

When you choose the chopped coconut and you find you wanted the shredded, you might have the urge to cry.

The collective emotions will create confusion and inability to make firm decisions.

On the other side, Mars in Gemini will want to have a little spontaneous fun during an otherwise weepy month. Moping and weeping are not Gemini traits.

Gemini might also lend a bit of rationality to a misty and humid June.

Mars

The glyph for Mars is the circle with arrow pointed outward. This glyph is also the symbol for males (as in “men are from Mars . . .”).

The circle and pointy arrow represent not just male mentality but also male physicality. So imagine this one pointy thing wanting to go in two directions . . .

For many male pointy things, this is quite a nice idea so Gemini gets this reputation for fickleness. As with coconut, one must decide in a partner: Unpredictably stimulating or predictably trustworthy? Wildly fun or comfortably stable? Peaceful and calm or rambunctious and zany?

Chopped or shredded?

Mars wants to go in one direction, not two. Splitting into two, like splitting an atom I suppose, creates energy but the energy is confusion, often mental confusion.

Don’t forget, too, that confusion can also be used as a weapon to disarm the thought process. If, this June, you find yourself in the midst of an arbitrary decision meant to paralyze you, spit in the eye of the messenger and tell them to come back at the end of August (when Mars has passed through both Gemini and Cancer and entered Leo, a strong, forceful sign).

Gemini likes to talk so June will be a time to pull the talking stick out of the closet for use in meetings and public gatherings. Again, there’s a lot of Cancer energy in the air so the “talking” might sound a bit more like “whining.”

Bring the talking stick.

Walt Whitman

Speaking of talking, Great Gemini Poet Walt Whitman’s lengthy “Song of Myself” makes me think he was probably a Great Gemini Talker as well. Astrotheme has Whitman as sun in Gemini, moon in Leo. “Song” is the Gemini and “myself” is the Leo.

Let’s take a deep breath (Gemini rules the lungs) and let Whitman guide us through this June 2013, with all its airy and watery energy, its confusions and emotions, its random thoughts and planned actions:

Come, said my Soul

Come, said my Soul
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after death invisibly return,
Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying Earth’s soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas’d smiles I may keep on,
Ever and ever yet the verses owning – as, first, I here and now,
Singing for Soul and Body, set to them my name,
Walt Whitman

From: http://www.poets.org

Gordon Gee’s Other Side

Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University, recently offended a bunch of folks through what he claims were attempts at humor. Columnist Dan Wetzel writes of Gee:

“The man craves attention and through the years has proven he’ll pretty much say or insult anything and anyone (including himself) if he thinks it might get an extra chuckle, especially if that might one day lead to an extra donation or positive word in the media.”

Wetzel writes later in his column that “Gee isn’t likely a bigot. He’s just a self-centered opportunist desperate for glowing smiles and open wallets.”

And that’s not all. Wetzel adds:

“E. Gordon Gee is the NCAA: tone deaf, clumsy, situationally [sic] arrogant and obsessed with bringing in more and more money (and making sure Delany, or anyone else, doesn’t then get their paws on it).”

Gee, Wetzel writes, is a powerhouse:

“Over the decades Gee has sat in on nearly all of the most powerful boards and executive committees, both in the national office in Indianapolis and through the Big Ten and SEC. He’s shaped college sports, pushed its direction, been a part of creating, or not changing, its rules, culture and purpose. This is a guy who went seeking power and influence and then wielded it broadly.”

What’s the astrology behind this?

Craving Attention

Craving attention is an energy that spawns in fire signs, most specifically Leo. Is Gee a Leo?

Gee is Leo’s opposite sign, Aquarius. Planted across from his Aquarian sun is Pluto in Leo and also, by wide aspect, Jupiter in Leo.

Gee’s seeking of attention might be awkward because it’s cast upon him by the environment. Aquarius also likes group energy but is aloof and, to conservative humanity, just plain weird.

Pluto and Jupiter opposite sun indicate a strong father who enforced his authority through extreme measures. Aquarius, don’t forget, is the freedom-loving rebel so pushing an Aquarius to the ground under the sole of your shoe creates increased rebellion. If the Aquarius doesn’t have the strength to rebel, then he/she will simply have intense nervous disorders.

Self-centered opportunist

This is a tricky one. Opportunism suggests lack of ethics. Self-centeredness can occur in many signs but seems to be a more salient trait of both Aries and Capricorn. Capricorn is the “end justifies the means” kind of sign.

Gee has both Venus and Mercury in Capricorn. Venus in Capricorn is a placement of selective friendships, pleasures and associations. This might be considered The Country Club placement of Venus.

It’s a good placement for running an exclusive club, a university. What’s interesting is that Pluto is transiting Capricorn and has just crossed Venus and now is making its way to Mercury.

Pluto in between your Venus and Mercury is a big, radioactive, chip on the shoulder while attending the party. It’s the angry spouse who is feeling resentment that spurts out in snide side comments.

Wetzel doesn’t think Gee will be removed over his comments:

“Unless there is a groundswell of anger that threatens E. Gordon Gee’s ability to raise money for Ohio State, he won’t be replaced. That’s the way the world works.”

Pluto in Capricorn will change Gee’s social environment. Wetzel may be wrong. Gee may be looking for a new country club.

What Wetzel may not be factoring is that Gee may have the goods on some people. When Pluto makes a closer transit to Gee’s Mercury after some retrograding (backward motion), we may see some communications from Gee like a memoir or a true attack on enemies.

Obsessed with bringing in more and more money

Gee’s moon is either in Taurus or Gemini. Taurus likes accumulating stuff, including money. But money is energy and money from others is taking other’s energy. That resides in Taurus’ opposite sign of Scorpio, which is ruled by Pluto.

Seeking power and influence

Power and influence are in the realm of both Pluto (ruler of Scorpio) and Saturn (ruler of Capricorn). As already noted, Gee has a strong Pluto influence and Capricorn influence.

The other side

Looking at Gee’s chart for the first time, I wondered if his gaffe’s were Pluto transiting Mercury indicating transformed communications or simply Jupiter transiting Gemini bumping against Gee’s moon (possibly in Gemini), Uranus, Mars and Saturn.

Gemini likes to talk. And talk. And talk.

Gemini doesn’t always remember what it said.

Gemini has two sides, you know.

Gee’s spectacles and bow-tie are Capricorn tradition mixed with Aquarius rebellion since the outfit is from a different time. That’s one side – the side we commonly view.

Where is the Gemini in Wetzel’s description?

Gemini, Wetzel might not understand, does like to have fun – plain old skirt-chasing, beer-drinking, gossip-seeking fun. Wetzel is missing half of Gee’s personality.

Gee’s gaffes might simply be as stupid as they appear.

Power is power, dumb jokes are dumb jokes.

Gee has a power-loving, country club side to his personality and an aloof, Aquarius/Gemini side that is actually a million miles away mentally. Gee isn’t always in the room with you. His mouth and mind may become detached.

Both Gemini and Aquarius have a place deep inside where they retreat from the emotional world. It’s not a secretive place, per se, just remote enough that you’ll never find your way there.

When Gemini and Aquarius travel back from the mental-million-mile journey, they sometimes have trouble remembering the native language.

Future transits

As Mars transits Gemini this month, Gee’s mouth may continue of its own will. Gee will probably continue to be in the news as Gemini rules news.

As Pluto transits Capricorn and nears Gee’s Mercury, Gee’s last money-making venture may be monetizing all the Gemini information he has collected in his 69 years.

With all that journalist Gemini energy in his horoscope, Gee may even take Dan Wetzel’s job.

America’s Sacred Partner

Catholics have the Pope. The British, Dutch, Belgians, Saudis, Japanese and others have royal families. The North Koreans have Kim Jong-un. The Mexicans have the Virgin of Guadalupe.

What does America have?

America has The Sacred Partner.

The Sacred Partner talks to us at 11:30 pm from a chair on a platform in New York City or Los Angeles. Our Sacred Partner, liked many other revered figures, is male. Our Sacred Partner prepares us for sleep with simple talk, silly talk, unusual talk, but nothing that taxes our world-weary heads. The Sacred Partner is our sleeping pill, the sheep we count, a pleasant and harmless thought.

The Original Sacred Partner hour (The Tonight Show) was created under a Libra sun with moon, Neptune and Mercury all in Libra (September 27, 1954). Libra is the sign of partnership. The Sacred Partner is beautiful, charming, and pleasant to be around and doesn’t make the other cardinal signs’ — Aries, Cancer and Capricorn — demands that we speak up, come home for dinner and make a success of ourselves in the world. The Libra Sacred Partner simply sits up with us at night. The Sacred Partner talks to us in gentle tones.

Libra is a cocktail, a cocktail enjoyed in the Neptune-in-Libra way, without guilt, without counting calories, without the critical thoughts that ruin pleasure.

With Neptune in Libra men are men, women are woman (tough women, by the way), all look good and poetry speaks all about it. Poetry is read to you by Libra as you turn to look at the TV commercials and cars speeding down the pot-holed street. Libra paints the wall of the cheap, rented apartment and now you are in a beat café in San Francisco with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.

This all happens at 11:30 pm.

The First Sacred Partner was Steve Allen, Capricorn sun and Sagittarius moon, with Saturn and Jupiter in Libra. Capricorn sun says “follow the rules by the day” and Sagittarius moon says, “make every night a night in Las Vegas.”

After the First Sacred Partner came several others until the Golden Sacred Partner emerged during the sign of Libra on October 1, 1962. Neptune, the moon and Venus were all conjunct in Scorpio suggesting the new Sacred Partner brought a charismatic sex appeal.

The Golden Sacred Partner, Johnny Carson, had sun in Libra and moon and Jupiter in Capricorn. Our Golden Sacred Partner was all that was good about Libra – suave, charming, handsome, easygoing, pleasurable, amiable and non-threatening. The Capricorn moon kept the emotions far from view. Eleven thirty was a time for relaxing, not a time to be nagged by your wife, boss, children or neighbors, not a time to finish your homework. Eleven thirty was time to relax.

Johnny Carson was the last person you saw at night, your nightcap. A beautiful image before sleep.

On February 1, 1982, the Sacred Partner mutated into the Golden Sacred Partner, who remained at 11:30 pm and the Obnoxious Sacred Partner, who spoke to us at 12:30 am.

The Obnoxious Sacred Partner, David Letterman, also had moon in Capricorn but sun in Aries, the opposite of the pleasure-loving Libra. The Aries Sacred Partner allowed us a few self-aggrandizing slaps on the back before bed. The Obnoxious Sacred Partner made us feel cool.

The Obnoxious Sacred Partner, with Uranus in Gemini, appealed to a younger generation than those born during the reign of the Original Sacred Partner or the Golden Sacred Partner. This was the budding Pluto/Uranus in Virgo generation spreading its wings, knowing it was just a matter of time before the world had to hear its criticisms.

Virgo is the sign of pets and the Obnoxious Sacred Partner brought pet tricks of the non-intelligent kind to amuse the pet-loving generation.

On August 30, 1993, the Obnoxious Sacred Partner earned his place next to the Sacred Partner at 11:30 pm. On that day, sun and Mercury were in Virgo, Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn, Saturn and moon in Aquarius and Mars and Jupiter in Libra. The Obnoxious Sacred partner created tensions and sense of inclusion. The Obnoxious Sacred Partner created a challenge and forced us to choose the Perfect Partner.

After thirty years as Golden Sacred Partner, Johnny Carson retired to be replaced by Jay Leno on May 25, 1992. The sun was in Gemini and moon in Pisces changing the show from a pre-slumber nightcap into a round of chatty gossip.

Gemini and Pisces are rambling, lively, imaginative conversationalists.

Jay Leno, with sun in earthy Taurus and moon in earthy Virgo is the Stable Sacred Partner. The 11:30 pm hour changed from a nightcap to a routine before bed, to something more rational, practical and useful. Leno is part of the Neptune-in-Libra generation and understands pleasure, but also projects more essence, more corporeality, more reality. Leno is a guy you’d meet on the street. Carson was a God, someone you merely fantasized about.

The 12:30 am hour has brought us several Lessor Sacred Partners – Conan O’Brien (Aries), Jimmy Fallon (Virgo) and now Seth Myers (Capricorn).

Both the 11:30 pm and 12:30 am Sacred Hours are being populated with earth signs. Our images of Sacred Partners began as suave, moved to obnoxious and now are more like our actual husbands.

America’s Sacred Partner, unlike a Pope, dictator or royal family, is chosen by the people. The Sacred Partner is a product and reflection of our democracy. He has earned his way into our hearts, has not been forced there.

Our Sacred Partner speaks to us Monday through Friday. Saturday is still reserved for the Sacred Friendship Group when we spend time with the not-ready-for-prime-time players of Saturday Night Live. That show aired on October 11, 1975 with Pluto, Mercury and the sun in Libra, the sign of partnership.

Collective Guilt

Being a native of Cleveland, the Cleveland kidnapping story has been of great interest to me. When stories like this are close to home, it has a greater sense of being real, a greater sense of “this could happen here.”

The astrologer in me notices that the escape of one of the girls (which led to the freedom of two others held captive) occurred during the Saturn in Scorpio transit when sexual issues, including rape, are surfacing more in the news.

The Scorpio part of the Saturn-in-Scorpio transit involves penetration, violation and obsession. Scorpio’s positive manifestation is to rise above obsession, or stuck and frozen feelings, into a pure, unblocked experience of emotions.

The kidnapper was the negative side of Scorpio and the girls, to survive, may need to manifest the positive side of Scorpio, the letting go. I’ve heard that in these types of situations, there is not only physical bondage, but emotional bondage.

Letting go is very easy to say and very difficult to do.

Thinking of letting go as part of surviving may be a better path to the process than through moral or religious reasons, which can cause us to fight against our own negative emotions.

The brothers, the daughter, the community

Watching the news stories that involve interviews with the community, the brothers of the kidnapper and the daughter of the kidnapper, I’m wondering how much each feels a sense of guilt about not having known what was occurring. The daughter, it appears, was best friends with one of the captives before her disappearance.

The stories sometimes describe subtle hints of evidence that no one at the time recognized and certainly couldn’t recognize without some hypothesis that their brother/father/neighbor was mentally ill.

Are they feeling guilt? Or having thoughts like “What if I had . . .?”

In “Working in the Swamplands of the Soul” Anne Ortelee writes about guilt as:

Guilt: Saturn. Guilt is responsibility. Part of developing as a human is accepting responsibility for the consequences of one’s choices. Saturn marks our conscious choices and critical turning points. Guilt can reflect a lack of permission to be oneself combined with the power of early authorities. However unconscious a person was when they made a choice that made another suffer, acknowledging it and admitting error is the beginning of wisdom and the path to release. Task: Dealing with guilt in a mature fashion involves recognition, recompense (where it is possible~ remember symbolic actions count) and release. It includes forgiving yourself, a critical and difficult step. Otherwise good energy is wasted on the past and blocks new options. Ask your client “Against what are you defending yourself?”

As Saturn transits Scorpio, will we be feeling collective guilt about sexual violation and emotional bondage?

While we’re learning lessons about Scorpio, his water-sign friends Pisces and Cancer will be coming to help in the form of Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Cancer (in June). Transiting planets in all three of the water signs creates what’s called a grand water trine.

Neptune and Jupiter like to create spiritually accepting and loving conditions. Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Cancer invite you in to dinner. They see you are tired and offer you a place to sleep for the night. They make you a cup of hot milk before bed. They understand whatever it is you’ve gone through without judgment. They listen.

If you need a comforting rest, this is good. If you what you really need is a fire under your ass to get motivated, then this comfort can be an indulgence.

Water is compassionate and sometimes so much so that it has no boundary between itself and others. If a person is well adjusted, this is a warm and loving situation. But if a person is hurt and unable to process the feelings, they might be hurting others, as psychologists say, to feel their own pain through the pain of others.

The grand water trine will include the comforting Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Cancer with the responsible Saturn in Scorpio. Saturn may be involved to remind us that we are responsible for our own feelings. If we’re feeling collective guilt about emotional, physical and psychic abuse, then maybe the Neptune and Jupiter placements will help us establish emotional links with family and community to prevent these types of abuses.

The power to feel

While Scorpio gets its share of negative press for its obsessive qualities, I personally feel Scorpio is about the power to feel.

Why power?

It’s power because we avoid bad feelings. Avoiding bad feelings is like the overuse of anti-bacterial soap and antibiotics to avoid illness. The medical field is suspecting that if we don’t encounter, process and build immunity to certain bacteria, we are then more prone to super bugs and drug-resistant strains of bacteria.

Likewise if we don’t build immunity to unpleasant feelings, we can’t handle situations where intense negative feelings exist, like during the death of a loved one, a natural disaster or any unpleasant situation.

I heard a saying once that the heart is a muscle and needs to be exercised. Likewise the emotions might be made weak if we feed them only good feelings, like having only sugar in the diet. Our emotions need sugar but also need fiber to clean out the pipes and allow feelings to flow out and not get caught thereby causing a leak of sewage into other areas of life.

This also relates to the Asian concept of qi and energy flow. When flow is constricted is when we have problems. Saturn in Scorpio says we are having collective constriction with regard to sexual and survival energies. Guilt may be the response to that restriction.

Writing about guilt on a beautiful day

Writing about guilt on this beautiful Mother’s Day brings up feelings of guilt – why write about ugly stuff on a beautiful day?

The answer to myself is that both the ugly situation and the beautiful day have arisen. One doesn’t cancel the other – they both exist. Like food eaten, both must be digested.

Jupiter in Cancer

At the end of June, Jupiter will transit into Cancer from its year in Gemini. It’s going to be an emotional year. Collective emotional outpourings are in store.

Jupiter is in its exaltation in Cancer – it’s the best placement for Jupiter. Jupiter is expansive and generous and Cancer, in positive manifestation, is emotionally nurturing. The placement is compassionate, loving of family.

Hopefully there will be an abundance of compassion this year.

Jupiter takes 12 years to revolve around the sun. Twelve years to go through 12 signs means that Jupiter spends a year in a sign. Check out your life’s “good” years and “bad” years to see where Jupiter is in your chart during the “good” times and you’ll understand transits and your own horoscope.

The last time Jupiter was in Cancer was 12 years ago – 2001.

Does that year ring a bell?

Jupiter entered Cancer in July 2001 and in September the US faced a violent political assault. We were shocked and emotional with a Cancer response – desire for increased security. We also had an increased desire to know better the people in our community. Meetup.com was founded, according to Wikipedia (verified by an email I received from the organization) in this way:

“Following the September 11 attacks, the site’s co-founder Scott Heiferman publicly stated that the manner in which people in New York City came together in the aftermath of that traumatic event inspired him to use the Internet to make it easier for people to connect with strangers in their community.”

Jupiter in Cancer isn’t the symbolism for the 2001 violent assault. That rests with some astrologers as the Pluto / Saturn opposition which occurred in Sagittarius / Gemini respectively. Jupiter in Cancer was part of the energy, the energy of sharing the experience.

This Jupiter transit of Cancer, however, will make its own opposition to Pluto in Capricorn by August of this year. Security (Cancer) and rules (Capricorn) will be at odds. These are some of the other Cancer/Capricorn polarities:

Mom / Dad (with capital letters)
Home / career
Personal conscious / social consciousness
Feelings / defenses
Family dynamics / social dynamics

The phrase “once bitten, twice shy” is both a Cancer and Capricorn response. Cancer hides and Capricorn makes a vow never to lose control.

“Homeland Security” is a term and organization arising from the trauma of 2001. It’s a perfect combination of the Cancer/Capricorn axis and might be the object of attention this year.

News stories of bombings (Boston) and girls being kidnapped for ten years (Cleveland) are enough to scare loving family members into overly-protective behavior. I’m having some Jupiter in Cancer feelings right now.

In August there will be a T-square of Jupiter (in Cancer), Pluto (in Capricorn) and Uranus (in Aries). Adding fuel to the emotionally-charged bonfire will be Mars in Cancer. It will rain on the rain. Rain will fill the rivers. Water will seep into your life. You can’t ignore the emotional landscape around you.

Sounds like there is a wet summer ahead.

The sign of Cancer is known for its tenacity. To non-emotional signs, it feels clingy. Cancer, fed by belonging, is lonely when not surrounded by the warm, comforting waters of the emotionally and spiritually familiar.

The Cleveland kidnapper, I discovered today, has three planets in Cancer (sun, Mercury and Venus) opposed by Saturn in Capricorn. That’s some unpleasant symbolism of what it means to need something so badly (whatever he needed), that you’d take away someone’s freedom and life to get it. That’s a lot like eating, where something has to die to feed us.

Jupiter in Cancer will bring abundance in eating and other eating-like appetites such as medicine, cigarettes and drinking.

Neptune in still in watery Pisces (and will be there for quite some time) and Saturn is in watery Scorpio (for the next year)  - with the added Jupiter in Cancer, alcohol sales will do well this year. It’s a good time to invest in intoxicating watery substances.

Charities will probably also do well during this year of compassion. We feel each other’s pain and give.

Jupiter in Cancer is also a good time to go swimming. Swimming during Jupiter in Cancer will take you to the water so that the water doesn’t need to come to you.

Here’s site for the next year – Rainy Mood.com. Listen to the rain. Calm down.

Jupiter enters Cancer on June 26, 2013.

Reese Witherspoon and Class

The United States is known for its lack of class system. It’s certainly debatable whether or not a class system truly exists, but if it does, it is more subtle than some that exist around the globe.

In the Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, you can take a glimpse of this painting that identifies the different “castas” or breeds of individuals born of the varying ethnicities existing in 17th and 18th century Mexico – Spanish, Indian and African – and all of the subsequent mixtures of these three ethnicities.

Picture from: link

And, of course, there is the Great British Class Calculator which aims to quantify your class.

Take the class quiz now!

In the United States, a class system, if we have one, is more subtle. Many believe we don’t have one which makes statements like “Do you know my name?” when stopped for a driving offense particularly difficult on American ears.

Actress Reese Witherspoon was caught on tape last week saying just this while being picked up for a driving offense.

Reese, you have trouble. You weren’t just unruly; you opened a can of worms on class.

The General

According to Astrotheme, Witherspoon has sun in Aries and moon in Capricorn with Leo ascendant. The Aries and Leo produce a great amount of pride where the Capricorn moon provides the need for order, rules and control. It’s the moon, I think, more than the fiery sun and ascendant that produced the “Do you know my name?” statement.

Aries and Capricorn are cardinal signs and push forward, as a flower bud through the soil in spring. A bud must push and so too must cardinal signs. The Aries/Capricorn combination is strong, pushy, bossy and needs to be in command at all times.

It makes for a great general.

The Capricorn moon isn’t a sensitive feeler which is why this combination leads to military ability. To take a command from someone you aren’t related to, implement it and not let the images of dying fathers and lonely babies enter your consciousness takes the emotional restraint of a Capricorn moon.

Aries/Capricorn has executive ability.

This Aries/Capricorn combination is extremely admirable which generates great respect but you often prefer to show your respect from a different room because if you join this combination in the living room and try to sit on the sofa, you will be told to sit on the chair. You will be commanded. Your wrinkled dress, lazy habits, messy hair, slouching posture and smeared eyeliner will all be commented upon.

Witherspoon’s Pluto in Libra and Mars in Cancer create a grand square to the Aries/Capricorn tension. The cardinal signs represent self-partner-career-family. Witherspoon is struggling with all of these relationships and the priority for each.

The current transits of Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn are lighting an already hot and volatile rocket. It’s a tense time for Witherspoon with or without a viral YouTube video demonstrating her unruly behavior. She’s feeling an immense amount of frustration due to thwarted goals. Everyone and everything is getting in the way and the video is just one more piece of frustration.

Everyone is out to get her.

Capricorn moon can get a little paranoid as well.

I Fought the Law and the Law Won

If OHA were sitting down with Witherspoon, the first piece of advice would be to close the lid on the class statement. A good way to do this is to through the Mars and Saturn in Cancer portion of her horoscope.

Community service with families or something family-oriented will dispel the scent of privilege. Witherspoon can demonstrate that she is just one of the family. She can bring the family. Family, family, family.

Saturn in Cancer indicates that Witherspoon has no sense of belonging. It’s a good time to nurture a feeling of belonging before Pluto in Capricorn makes a nasty square to natal Saturn (in Cancer) and natal Jupiter (in Aries) in years to come and really makes this problem extremely painful. Working on it now will make it easier later. It will help with both the video problem and the underlying problem of not feeling like part of the family, not feeling truly loved.

That’s the real problem here.

The second piece of advice OHA would provide is about the need for control. With Uranus transiting Aries and Pluto transiting Capricorn, the more Witherspoon tries to take control, the more problems will arise.

A great commander knows not only when to attack, but when to retreat. Retreat isn’t failure, a great fear with moon in Capricorn. Retreat can also be a tactic in a larger strategy.

While Aries/Capricorn can be controlling, it is also extreme disciplined. Learning both the fighting skills and meditative skills of a martial artist, for example, would be useful to Witherspoon right now. In other words, commanding the world will produce Pluto-in-Capricorn legal response from the world. Commanding the self, however, will produce entirely different results.

Witherspoon would make an awesome ninja.

Commanding the self would be the first step to loving the self, something Witherspoon may be working on right now. When everyone loves you and you don’t love yourself, it must feel a bit odd. I’m guessing a lot of folks who seek the limelight struggle with this.

OHA says this from afar, with simply a chart and a few new stories as guidance. As ever, the horoscope simply describes stories of our self. An actress like Witherspoon can certainly understand this and transform a ridiculous story into a living, breathing myth of adventure and discovery.

An Aries sun and Capricorn moon can do anything.

Retirement Planning with Iggy Pop

Apparently Iggy Pop wants to know if his new album will be successful and has been consulting tarot readers. According to this video, he wants his new album “to sell.” He says he “could sure use a hit.”

That sounds like the wish of a businessman, not a rock star. Makes sense for a guy with sun and moon in Taurus (according to Astrotheme) who enjoys luxury and material goods. Mr. Pop is possibly broke.

While Jupiter was transiting Taurus in from June 2011 to June 2012, Iggy may have had some windfalls of material gain. Today the astrological landscape is a bit different.

Saturn is transiting Scorpio creating a tense T-square with the sensual and material sun/moon (in Taurus) and the controlling and self-centered Saturn/Pluto in Leo. Saturn will conjunct natal Jupiter in Scorpio in fall of 2014.

The Scorpio/Taurus opposition creates a complicated financial situation. Pop may have some gains, but he may also find that his assets have lost value. In the case of Pop, his asset is his identity and he may be facing some unpleasant realities about time and space. Trying to sell an “album,” for example, is a bit dated.

Pop might do better selling his identity than selling music. Identities can be “monetized” these days in many ways: action figures, motivational speaking, reality shows, clothing lines, perfume, food, grills, theme parks and much more!

If Pop were to invest his identity through material means, I would suggest he involve his chart’s Taurus/Leo T-square and create the Iggy Pop Resort in Las Vegas.

Taurus likes material comfort and Leo likes grandeur. It’s the perfect way to remain a “name” and also “sell” stuff. Vegas is the perfect place for Pop’s energy. The resort would be big as everything in Vegas is monster-sized (appealing to both Taurus and Leo), ostentatious (Leo) with a few wild animals in the lobby (T-square tension).

Everything would be soft and comfortable with minimal effort exerted to derive pleasure. That means “you know what” would be encouraged here, maybe even the goal. OHA dares not speak the word, but suffice to say Charlie Sheen would like this resort.

This advice is free, as that is the kind of good OHA promotes, so pricey astrological consulting fees won’t threaten the profitability of the venture.

Escape from the body

Having seen Pop in the late 1980s, I was convinced his thrashing energy was due to something like the electrical energy that you see with Mars or Uranus. By the way, I think I blew an eardrum at that concert and should get some proceeds from the new album to cover the cost of all that I haven’t heard in the last 20 years.

Pop does have Mars and Mercury in Aries, but I think the thrashing is really about that T-square of Taurus and Leo. I’m wondering if he’s trying to get out of his body. He seems like a cartoon character that is trying to push its colors outside of the lines.

Taurus, Leo and Scorpio are fixed signs which are intense, focused and set in their ways. Fixed signs make great leaders because of this unwavering focus. If you’re not in a position to rule a small Communist island nation, too much fixed energy can create a bit of rigidity seen as uncooperative.

The moon in Taurus is considered its exaltation. The moon is where we react and Taurus is slow to react thereby calming the emotions. Taurus moon is a deep pool of water that ripples at the top from the wind, but not below the surface.

The princess and the pea, where the princess can feel a pea 20 mattresses deep is more like a Pisces or Virgo moon, so sensitive to the environment that they are like embodied emotional allergies.

Taurus moon, on the other hand, is not sensitive in that way and can drink its liquor straight. Because of that calmness, I find Taurus moon likes extreme sports. I think it’s because they have such thick skin, it takes a stronger force to feel what others feel more easily.

Possibly Pop’s extreme thrashing is simply a way to feel the pulse of the music. Others tap their foot for the same effect.

The thrashing might also be a way to push that T-square energy out and relax.

If the Astrotheme horoscope is correct, transiting Pluto in Capricorn is in Pop’s sixth house of health. Capricorn rules skin, teeth, bones and knees. Pop may be having health problems in these areas. This transiting Pluto is squaring natal Neptune in Libra in the third so the problems might be due to smoking (Libra being an air sign indicates something with breathing) or some other toxin in the immediate environment (third house being neighbors, siblings and neighborhood).

Pluto square the natal “make love not war” Neptune in Libra placement suggests some problems with a romantic partner.

Transiting Jupiter is completing its passage through Gemini this month, passing over Pop’s Uranus in Gemini. May will be a fun month, but then Jupiter will be hanging out in Pop’s twelfth house for a year. Pop may be spending more time at home than he expects.

Retirement planning

In summary, Pop’s album may do well in the first couple months of release, but probably won’t relieve him of his financial obligations. By fall 2014, money owed will come due. Health problems may also prohibit Pop from thrashing on stage which is his signature behavior.

If Pop is planning for retirement, he may want to consider other things to sell besides music. Because Taurus is an earth sign, it tends to approach the world from a material point-of-view. Pop wants to sell an “album,” a physical thing that no longer exists.

Pop might want to consult with air sign friends who sense opportunity in the air and know how to sell things in a non-tangible form or can help merge tangible and non-tangible. Music, for example, is what Pop is truly selling and music is now sold in bytes, not on plastic.

With Saturn transiting Scorpio in the fourth and fifth houses, debts from home expenditures, romance and children are coming due. It’s time for Pop to have a more creative approach to solving his financial problems.

Pop might be helped by his own Venus in Pisces which is hanging out in his intense chart promoting a more gentle and fluid approach to life.

Pier 1 Does Astrology

Retailer Pier 1 ever-so-boldly has a zodiac gift guide. It’s adorable – love the write-ups. Anyone out there write it?

Pier 1′s Zodiac Gift Guide

From the pictures:

Gemini, Libra and Sagittarius drink the most while Cancer eats the most.

Virgo cooks but doesn’t eat because it is busy keeping lists and using hand sanitizer.

Taurus and Leo like pillows.

Aries and Scorpio probably should never hook up – too much intensity.

Capricorn could decorate from discarded university furniture.

Pisces should live in the ocean.

Aquarius is weird, cats are weird and Uranus probably rules cats.