Astroworld

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecturer, Writer.
@1998-1999

From all appearances, the USA, the acknowledged leader of the Free World, is floundering. Or is she?

True, we have a President who stands impeached and awaiting a trial. We have a Congress, whose members are obviously not working together. Not only did Congress impeach in opposition to the “so-called” polls, they are knocking each other down to be the first to confess their own sexual indiscretions. A prostitution ring was just broken in Washington, with a high profile black book, naming names.

We have a whole nation questioning whether Iraq is a problem or a convenient target to make Mr. Clinton look good. On top of all this, Wall Street is changing their mind daily whether we have a great economy or on the verge of deflation. We are told that unemployment is at an all time low in the midst of massive worker layoffs. Here we stand, a government in chaos, a waffling economy, an apathetic and confused people. A people who stand smack up against their publicly stated ethics, values and morals. What transit do we point to for all this? What array of celestial guns does the US have right now to cause this chaotic changing of America? I don’t believe the purpose all of this turmoil is so William Jefferson Clinton can have his Karmic lessons with transiting Saturn squaring his natal Saturn. I believe his personal drama is simply a micro view of a much larger picture. Perhaps the US is also a micro view of yet a more global view. However, I wish to simply address the changes in the US.

For some answers, I turn to the Sibly Chart of America. July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Various times have been used for this chart , 4:47p.m., 5:10p.m. And 5:13p.m. Whatever time you use, notice that Pluto is beginning to cross the US Ascendant, and are now opposing natal Uranus. Those aspects aren’t simply a suggestion for change; they are a demand for change. For most of 1998 Saturn and Neptune have been in conjunction and square aspect, respectively, to the US Natal Pluto in the second house at 26 degrees Capricorn. The second house not only rules one’s personal resources, it also rules values. Neptune through the second house indicates 1) financial illusion. When in conjunction with Pluto, big illusions. 2) values, and our false values are indicated with transiting Neptune. Natal Pluto in Capricorn, points to self-righteous values. 3) money, the big buck, materialism in all its glory. Saturn squaring from the 4th house, promises to show us where our illusions and false values are, as soon as the cloud of Neptune is lifted and rock our foundations with Saturn showing us our weaknesses and demanding we begin to build on a more solid ground. Dear old Pluto shows us what we have and what we are by first showing what we are not. There’s an old saying in America, “put your money where your mouth is,” we are being given that opportunity.

Mr. Clinton’s problems were first known behind the scenes (Pluto rules the 12th house) until January of 1998. Practically to the day when Neptune moved off the conjunction, and Saturn was opposing the US Saturn from the 4th house to the 10th house, public disgrace for America! But this is just the beginning of Neptune’s planned “bubble burst.” We will find out that our government isn’t nice, and how far over the abyss of evil we are leaning by ignoring the messages that are now and will be in our faces. I can’t help but wonder if Saturn’s final square to Pluto in the 2nd house could bring out all the hidden details and hypocrisy of our government’s imposed values and ethics, that particular transit will begin to show us our dark side. Transiting Pluto crossing the US Ascendant and opposing Uranus. Sudden and unexpected change, with Uranus ruling the 3rd house, change will be on the most basic level, communicated and discussed.

Sexual proclivities aren’t the only Sagittarius issue on the table in the United States, in fact that will be just the beginning. Wait until the next President (to be determined) comes into office, which will be when it all becomes topsy-turvy, where the winner loses and the loser wins.

The legal system will be coming under fire, as well as sporting events and sport figures and their salaries. There are increased demands to justify the money poured into our educational system, with student’s test scores moving lower and lower every year. Our health care system is in shambles, plus, in spite of being one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world, one out of every four children go hungry, now why would that be? In spite of our purported Christian Values” we have one of the most violent countries in the Western World, what in our culture spawns such anger. Could there be an unfair balance of power?

Look for a shake up of organized religion in the near future. And big business, oil (Texas Tea) you will find the lowest of the low sludgeing around in these areas. Pluto will uncover thieves and mass cheating among the richest in the world. Who would have thought that the real sleaze in America turns out to be those at the top? Oh how low they will fall. In this country Pluto is very busy in Sagittarius unearthing the slime around our necks, watch out for the falling muck. It’s doubtful anyone will hear this inside the “market bubble roar” but watch out for your stocks, pay attention to what you are told, the banks and Wall Street are not dealing from a “fair for all” deck.

Women are another issue to observe. Both Neptune and Uranus in Aquarius are supporting the unaspected US natal Moon. We could be witnessing the rise of feminine energy in the US and the fall of an old patriarchal system. In three years, America’s progressed Sun will conjunct the natal Moon and transiting Uranus in conjunction with both, indicating a new spiritual union Spirituality has long been held to be a feminine quality. I am not suggesting that men are on the way out, only a change from an oppressive hypocritical patriarchal system to a more open less restrictive system. This will not be a quick process. The Solar Arc Progression of the US Chart places Saturn at 25 degrees of Taurus in the 10th and the Sun at 25 degrees of Aquarius, over the next three years transiting Uranus will be going back and forth over those points, and in Astrology Uranus wins. The next three years indicate a slow disintegration of what has always been accepted. Right now, there are a few small businesses hiring shamans and healers to share new techniques of management, this is a change of values.

Neptune has done a great job washing away the faith in our power (Pluto in Capricorn). Saturn could show us the weaknesses in our perception of power. At the same time, transiting Pluto over the Ascendant, opposing Uranus will force us to find our true strength. America must change and will change. One thing for sure, every word uttered by our politicians will be subject to scrutiny. Look for more “secrets” to be revealed before our politicians realize they are out of touch with the American people. I would expect more than sexual issues to be disclosed. I expect shady deals, mismanagement of tax dollars, the out right stealing from the people to be exposed.

With Pluto in Capricorn in our house of values, America has “valued” big government, power, and money. Scorpio is on the 12th house cusp, we didn’t care how power and money was amassed as long as it was kept secret from us. The Karmic Father, Saturn, is stripping those illusions away for us and the Neptune and Uranus square to the 12th house will make sure no stone is left unturned. I can’t help but note that transiting Uranus, Neptune and Pluto set up a yod, the Finger of Fate, to the Sun, Jupiter and Venus, we may not be sure what to do with the changes, but we will find out. It’s not our first stripping and it won’t be our last, but it will be profound, and cause a permanent shift on the face of America.

Instead of lamenting the current situation and arguing over who’s good and who’s bad, I prefer to take a longer and more universal view of the situation. After all, “all the world’s a stage and we but bit players.” Most good plays have surprise endings; I think this one will too. The last year of the millennium promises to be very interesting for the United States, surpassed only by the first six years in the new century.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecturer, Writer.
@1998-1999

PS David Solte has another chart of the United States, a Scorpionic America. November 15, 1777, York, Pennsylvania at 5:52p.m. That chart is also filled with the symbolism for change. One last note regarding Mr. Clinton. One of the clearest astrological sign of his fate lies in the chart of his daughter. Her birthday is February 27, 1980, Little Rock, Arkansas, 11:24p.m. Her natal Moon is 9 degrees Leo, her natal Sun is 8 degrees Pisces. Uranus and Saturn will oppose and square, respectively, her Moon. Changes in her thought patterns and the way she communicates. Also the way others’ communicate with her. Pluto will square her Sun from the 1st to the 4th house, changes in her home. Whether Mr. Clinton is in or out of office, he and his wife will be dealing with some difficult challenges to their belief system. Some of those challenges will be coming from a “new generation,” their daughter. The whole family has transformation on the horizon.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecture, Writer
@1999

Look for some bombs to drop on Wall Street soon. Most of us are familiar with the astrological patterns setting up; namely the eclipse’s of July 28th and August 11th. Prior to those ominous signals, there are several other astrological signs pointing toward a Wall Street devastation Those who are familiar with the Silby chart for the US are familiar with the 27 Capricorn degree of Pluto in the 2nd house opposing Mercury in the 8th house. The chart for the NYSE shows Neptune in the 2nd, opposing Saturn in the 8th. Both of these planets are in late degrees of cardinal signs. Mars travels its retracement pattern over those degrees, opposed by Jupiter (the bubble that burst.) We are not without red astro flags all over the sky
Look for dramatic drops in the “tulip” companies, namely the Internet stocks, when Saturn squares Uranus in 2000, in fact look for downright fraud in the good ole Corporate US of A. If you stay with the Internet companies, research their horoscopes before investing. There are but a few worth buying on serious market dips.

There are however, more than one or two techniques for measuring the stock market and they all point to a major correction. The fall could come all at once or a slow escape of air from the stock market bubble. Perhaps we are in a period of time that no harsh effects will ensue from current overvaluation, then again it might be time to pay the piper. With the eclipses on the horizon, I am of the opinion it will be the piper.
There is a current pattern that is very similar to the pattern leading up to the 1987 crash. July 7th is the 55th calendar day after the all time high on May 13th, and that matches up with other crash waves. If the Dow can make a new high without a lagging SPX on June 23rd, then the crash may not happen until after the July 28th eclipse, but if it cannot make that high, July 7th appears to be a major decline.

I don’t suggest what people should do with their money, but I do express my opinion on observable trends. I also know that anyone, who takes their profits now, will be able to buy back into the market at reduced prices. I’ve heard it said “invest in Europe and trade in the US.”

I would like to offer an interesting quote from the New York Times from September 5, 1929. The gentleman quoted was Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University. He was a leading economist in the 1920’s and acknowledged as a stock market expert: “ There may be a decline in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash. We are living in an age of increasing prosperity and consequent increasing earning power of corporations and individuals. This is due in large measure to mass production and inventions such as the world never before has witnessed. The rapidity with which worthwhile inventions are brought out is the result of the tremendous research laboratories of our great technology companies. Applications of these inventions to business means greatly enhanced earning power. This is a new and tremendously powerful factor in the business world and one which never before existed.” The Dow Jones fell 47% in less than ten weeks from the date of that quote. It certainly gives one food for thought.

As astrologers, we know history repeats itself. An interesting note to add to the many interesting notes for the year 2000, take a look at the new and full moons of January 1900. January 1, 1900 was a new moon at 10 degrees Capricorn. A full moon on January 15, 1900 at 25 degrees Cancer and on January 31, 1900 and new moon at 10 Aquarius. Now turn your attention to July 2000, and the three eclipses we have that month. July 1, 2000 a new moon and solar eclipse at 10 degrees Cancer. July 16, 2000, a full moon and lunar eclipse at 24 degrees Capricorn, and July 31, 2000 and new moon solar eclipse at 8 degrees Leo. Notice the nearly exact oppositions to the January 1900 positions. This looks to me as if we are going into a reaping cycle, reaping what we have sown. I’ll write more on that later.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecture, Writer
@1999
Reprinted with Permission

SPECIAL NOTE: When I wrote this column for the Equinox in London in 1999, it wasn’t a premonition of 9/11 or I would have said so.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer/Writer/Lecturer
@1999

Much ado has been made about the turn of the millennium. One doesn’t need to cast their mind too far afield to find ominous indicators of a dramatic end to 1999. In fact, those ominous predictions began as far back as Nostradamus, who is usually vague and metaphorical. He states right out and names the 7th month of 1999 as the year when the “King of Terror” would appear. Edgar Cayce tells of this time period, the Native American Indians have their tale, some say the Bible foretells the downfall of this civilization. We have the prophecies of Madagore and Fatima, channeled warnings from Kryon and Pleadies, recent citings of Mary and archangels. In fact with the evil looking eclipse of August 11th this year, it would seem as if we would be fortunate to reach January 1, 2000. If we make it past the Aug. 11th date, we have Y2K perched, ready to grind the world to a screeching halt, with a little help from giant solar storms.

What could I possibly add to these voices? Well, I can tell you with absolute certainty what will happen and it will be a very bumpy ride.

There will be plagues, killing millions across the world. Never before seen objects in the sky dripping horrible instruments of destruction, raining terror and death on the masses. We will experience genocide, as Kosovo has been experiencing genocide. War? There will be horrible wars. There will be so much pain and suffering, people will beg God to take them. We will have a depression, the likes of which our society has never known and money will be worthless. If you have the resources to get food, there will be little food to buy. Millionaires will die penniless. The drastic and dramatic earth changes of floods, tornadoes, volcanoes, and earthquakes will almost be a relief to the deprivation occurring to mankind.

Think of it, tens of millions will die of starvation, illness, war, and senseless acts of brutality. Children killing children, parents brutalizing their young, brother and sisters stealing from one another, and good men and women turning their faces away, doing nothing. Just when we think we’ve had enough, mother earth will turn on us.

Believe me, I wish I was wrong about this, but I am not wrong.

It all happened between 1900 and 1950, and here we are, we survived. We have survived the destruction of the 20th Century just to stand on the threshold of the 21st Century fearful that we are facing what? Something worse? What is ahead of us that brings us hope? Is there absolutely anything in the astrological aspects that could possibly show us hope for the future, hope for the continuation of the human race?

Astrology is the study of the relationship between the planets and earth, whatever happens to those planets ultimately affect the earth. So let’s take a look at the solar storms. Periods of increased solar activity seem to be times of expansion or jumps in human consciousness. Several studies have investigated the influence of solar radiation on humans in trying to understand the mechanisms involved. Some of those studies indicate that the endocrine system is affected, influencing hormonal activity. This includes the production of fertility harmones of estrogens and progesterone, and serotonin, the enlightenment hormone. So there is a complex interaction between the solar cycles and hormonal activity affecting everything from human fertility to heightened states of consciousness.

No doubt that the stress of the August 11, 1999 eclipse on the earth is sure to give the earth “gas” so to speak, and that will absolutely erupt someplace. Perhaps the stock market and the over inflated “bubble” will burst. Perhaps the death, problems, or fall from power of some world leaders, who have forgotten to exercise the appropriate use of power. Maybe the proliferation of the symbols of power, such as automatic weapons, and bombs will have occasion to be questioned, yet again. As for Nostradamus and his August “King of Terror,” I read that in Nostradamus’ time, the King of Terror referred to the Sphinx, which set atop the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Could this eclipse break apart the Sphinx revealing ancient hidden information from other worlds? Who knows?

Lets look at the Taurus alignment on May 3rd, 2000. This alignment points to an intensified feminine vibration. For those souls trying to walk the path of enlightenment, this can represent a spiritual opportunity for awakening or remembering the eternal feminine or goddess energy within.

There is potential within this powerful conjunction of global transformation as inspired feminine energy gives birth to a new type of World. A world where nurturing and spiritual qualities brings us back in to balance. This conjunction has the potential of opening the heart of humanity. Neptune on the South Node of the US Silby Chart and the Uranus conjunction to the US Moon in Aquarius underscores, at least in this country, an increase in feminine energy. Neptune and Uranus are in a square aspect to this Taurus alignment, indicating a massive breakthrough and one that is riding a Karmic wave of right timing. However, this turning point in history will not be without its struggles. There’s never been a historical “turning point” that didn’t have struggles.

There is astrological wave after astrological wave of change throughout the next two years. However, one of the most dramatic and interesting configurations I have seen, occurs, without fanfare in July of 2000. Three eclipses, two solar and one lunar. July 1st, a solar eclipse at 10 degrees cancer. July 16th, a lunar at 24 degrees Capricorn, and another solar eclipse on July 31st, at 8 degrees Leo. These three eclipses are exactly opposite the two new moons and one full moon of January 1900, indicating a completion and a reaping of what’s been sown the last 100 years. These eclipses relate to the Saros Series of 2 Old North and 2 New North. One series deals with bad news regarding relationships and the other is a sudden collapse of life-style and plans, rebuilding and transformation.

What have we sown the last 100 years? Plagues have resulted in better antibiotics and medical research, while health care is more difficult to obtain. Plus over 72% of the tobacco settlement is going to lawyers. The Holocaust resulted in Israel becoming a Jewish State, however the human race is still participating in genocide. Wars resulted in somewhat of a raised consciousness of a need to control the arms race, but we are still waging war. The depression resulted in more protection for our financial security, however the division between the rich and poor is becoming wider and wider and the middle class is disappearing. In 1980 the average CEO made 42% more a year than the average laborer. In 1997 the average CEO made 382% more than the average laborer. We have more leaders world wide than ever before, does it seem that leadership has improved? Is the political leadership in this country better? We must each ask ourselves the questions whether our morals, values, ethics are better.

I was recently reminded of an obvious truth, “everything on earth has an ending.” Nothing is more true that that statement, yet we still survive with fervor and hope. Why? Could it be to have the daily opportunity to participate with our Creator in that spark of life? It’s a challenge to awaken every morning, not knowing what’s going to happen, or even where our abundance is coming from, yet to have a smile on our face and peace in our heart that sings songs of love and hope. That’s the test of life, isn’t it? To quote from an Elton John song, “the circle of life, it’s a wheel of fortune, it’s the leap of faith.” Well my friends have faith in the year 2000, because you can.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer/Writer/Lecturer
@1999
reprinted with permission

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecturer, Writer
@2000

All agree that some, not all but some Americans are enjoying a great bubble of prosperity. The key word here is “bubble.” Is this an accident, a fluke, sudden good luck or a brilliant move of economic strategy? What or who could be presiding over this level of prosperity, particularly when much of the rest of the world is struggling. There are three key figures that come to mind, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and the latest “on stage” figure, Lawrence Summers. Using Solar Charts, their astrological profiles are very interesting. These are powerful men who consciously strive toward power and control. People who strive for absolute power usually have several shared astrological aspects, to the point that their personalities can merge so you can’t hardly see which is which or who is speaking for whom.

Astrology is a complicated subject and we are complicated individuals. This is not a complete interpretation of any of these men. This is simply a brief overview of the shared methods and belief in their abilities to determine and shift the financial direction of America’s economic road.

The major thing they have in common is the ability to manipulate the direction of a project on a grand scale. Manipulation is not necessarily a bad thing to have; Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, all these people had the ability to encourage and inspire others to be the best of themselves. Manipulation only becomes a problem if it is not used for the greater good of all. Only time will tell if we’ve been manipulated for our good or the good of a select few.

Beginning with Mr. Greenspan, born March 6, 1926 in New York City. You can see that Mr. Greenspan falls under a sensitive and adaptable Sun in Pisces. It’s been said of Pisces that “I don’t know what they said, but they sure sounded good.” Mr. Greenspan’s closest aspect is a trine between Saturn and Uranus, making him a pragmatic realist as well as an excellent strategist. He certainly is capable of formulating a conservative and workable plan and following through. He has a talent for putting fresh ideas and his inspirations into practice, plus a knack for gaining acceptance for new ideas. He is shrewd with good instincts for business and organizational management. Sounds great with one little exception. Looking onward to a quincunx from an Aquarius Jupiter to a Cancer Pluto, Mr. Greenspan would have a firm belief in his vision of “what was good for those he served.” Since he is serving the American people, he is sure that he knows best. Self-protective and almost compulsively secretive, he’s found a near perfect home within a bureaucracy that thrives on half-truths and secrets.

I’m not hinting that Mr. Greenspan is arrogant, but I would remind someone with this aspect that we all look the same in our underwear and the end doesn’t always justify the means.

It’s been said that Mr. Greenspan has a bad temper and his astro chart would bear that out, however he has noble ideals and good intentions to serve humanity, but dominating or manipulating others whether family, friends or a country always needs to be watched.

Mr. Rubin is another pragmatic realist with a Virgo Sun and the Sun’s ruler Mercury in Virgo. (Chart details – August 29, 1938, New York, New York) He recently had transiting Pluto square his Natal Sun and true to classic Pluto energy, he decided to move on to something else. I can’t help but wonder if he’s happy in his new job. Virgo’s are the best at going with the flow of whatever life throws their way. As with Mr. Greenspan, he has an absolute belief in his ability to make decisions for one and all. He also has a great desire to be liked. You can find him pouring over the littlest details, missing nothing. While Mr. Rubin is definitely charming, he is almost completely subjective and just a little defensive with a Venus oppose Saturn. He does have an appreciation for balance and fair play and he knows how to get what he wants. He will use that talent when necessary. Mr. Rubin is a rather cool and self-contained person with a helpful nature and a liking for preserving the status quo. His Saturn/Neptune Quincunx enabled him to appear without an ego; in fact he could turn that quality into an art. Mr. Rubin was very well liked as Secretary of Treasury and certainly inspired economic confidence on Wall Street, thanks in part to his wide Venus/Jupiter trine, supported by an opposition from Mars (the “we can do anything” aspect). Nearly every negative aspect in Mr. Rubin’s chart is supported by a positive. Mistakes could be turned into successes, losses into opportunities, and failures could be completely overlooked.
Anyone familiar with Lawrence Summers 1991 memo when he was the chief economist for the World Bank, would wonder how he could follow Robert Rubin as Secretary of Treasury. In that 1991 memo, Mr. Summers suggested that it would be appropriate for “rich” countries to dump their toxic waste onto Third World countries. Some consider this memo to be “a working thesis behind this decade’s global economic policies.” This certainly wouldn’t seem “Rubin like.”

From an astrological view, no matter what anyone else thinks of Mr. Summers, Mr. Rubin thought he was terrific. Larry Summers, born November 30th, 1964 in New Haven, Connecticut, has Mars at 27 degrees Aquarius, in almost an exact conjunction to Mr. Rubin’s Jupiter (planet of expansion and faith) In addition, Mr. Summers’ Neptune is in Conjunction to Mr. Rubin’s Venus and Moon. In short, Mr. Rubin never saw Larry Summers clearly, or if he did, he ignored the signs.

It has been said that Mr. Summers has limited social skills, exhibiting ruthlessness and tactlessness. That could possibly be the case as he has a Mercury/Mars/Pluto T-square. Couple that T-square with a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in a square to Neptune and there is a danger of being a law unto himself. Most certainly he has an absolute belief in his theories and an extreme reluctance to change his mind. The Venus/Saturn Conjunction in Scorpio might be a ferocious desire to have his own way, and a danger of detachment from emotions, including compassion.

On the plus side you can count on him to “get things done.” He’s focused and through with an extraordinary ability to dig deep beneath the surface of a problem or issue because he would never be satisfied with the face value of anything. His Sagittarius Sun with the ruler (Jupiter) in conjunction to Uranus gives him a strong optimistic streak and the ability to see life as an adventure. As a University Professor, I would expect his teaching methods to be quite unique. Like Mr. Greenspan, he likes secrets and has a tendency toward being very suspicious of the hidden motivations of others.

I am struck by the amount of Aquarius energy these three men have. While Aquarius is known for innovation, intelligence, and serving of humanity, it is also stubborn, independent, detached and can forget that it is PART of the humanity they are trying to serve. In other words, everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time.

Sometimes what seems to be the “easy road” turns out to be the hardest path to follow. Right now, some of us are on the “easy road.” It will be history that decides if the economic policies of these three men are of value or destruction to society. We all hope these policies turn out to be of value. There are more than enough astrological signs in the year 2000 and 2001 to create the needed dramas to find out if the Emperor is wearing clothes.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
Astrologer, Lecturer, Writer
@2000
Reprinted with Permission

July 8th, 2002

In the US chart (Silby) Solar Arc Mercury the Messenger stands at 8 degrees and 32 minutes in Pisces. Slowly it is inching it's way toward the US 8'55"

Gemini Uranus ruled by Mercury. Also in orb is George W. Bush's Mars in Virgo (also ruled by Mercury) and his progressed Sun, as well as the progressed Sun in the Republican Party's chart at 9 degrees Sagittarius, at their mid heaven. I think we can probably look for shocking leaks to GWB and the Republican's secrets which affect the people of the United States, for several months to come, In fact the Republican Party's natal Saturn stands at 10 degrees Gemini, the revelations are going to be quite painful for them, and will make GWB madder than one could imagine. A Solar Arc Mercury moves so slowly, the shocks should hit every few weeks for at least a year, then the Republican Party and GWB will spend the rest of their time dealing with, and trying to convince an unconvinced Nation of their integrity. While this aspect in no way impacts the Democrats, it would be well for them to take this time and clean up their own ranks, because the Messenger of Karma eventually comes to everyone.

For "we the people" in the United States, we will be given a steady stream of stunning and shocking revelations about our Government, the leaders we elect, and the folly of abdicating our responsibility to people whom we ask less information from than we do those applying for entry level jobs. There will be a lot of work for all of us as we grapple with more knowledge of corruption than we have ever known before.

July 10th, 2002

Sally Cheyne McDonald

Chaos: (Webster) A condition of total disorder or confusion. Chaos: (Astrology) Ruled by Neptune and the 12 house - dissolving what is with what seems to be or might be or could be or “what were we talking about again?”

Neptune, for good or for ill, is the dreamer, the liar, the deluded, and the weaver of tales and the supporter of criminal optimism. In its highest form it is the creative being, the explorer of other possibilities, the mystic. In politics Neptune can take the face of Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter and nothing is, as it would seem to be.

July 21st, 2002

Sally Cheyne McDonald

There is a tendency to see America as our government and basically that translates to Democrats or Republicans, with a few mavericks thrown in for good measure. The government, business, media, movies, religions, neighborhoods, schools, parks, are not America. All those things simply represent America as we wish to be represented at any given time. We, the People are America. We are the culture; everything else is a sub-culture to sustain the culture of “us.”

It has long been known that the leaders of a country are a reflection of that country. A country, like individuals, goes through different stages and leaders reflect those stages. Everything that seems to be happening outside us really isn’t, circumstances are simply a reflection of what’s happening within. People in our environment and the circumstances we face act as our Mirror. It’s the same with a country. If we look carefully and honestly we will see that our leaders (politically, business, religious, media) are giving the people an opportunity to “look” in that mirror. What do we see? What do we want to see? Let me set the stage, with the Silby Chart of America. Born July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA at 5:13pm.

We, the People, have a Sagittarius Rising with Jupiter its ruler in Cancer closely conjuncting Venus, the ruler of the Tenth House. Fiercely independent, committed to seeing the bright side of everything, somewhat of a know it all, but tempered with wisdom, this is where we believe we share common beliefs and philosophies. Coupled with Venus we are happy with surface commonalities. We are happy as long as no one gets too fringe in looks, dress or actions. We want everyone to look somewhat pretty and we love youthfulness. We prefer leaders that look good first and if they do look good we will project all our hopes for superior qualities on them, “if you look good, you are good.” This tendency is based on the belief that as a nation of people we are good, kind, wise, generous people, therefore so are our leaders. We are slow to anger and quick to forget and forgive. We love rhetoric, oft times if the words sound good we don’t look too far for the actions behind the words.

We do not like our messy 12 House Scorpio, full of dark secrets, forbidden desires, and hidden agenda’s troubling us, shaking our happy concepts. Unfortunately, Pluto and Mars, the ruler and co-ruler of Scorpio is doing just that very thing right now, we want to hold on to our beliefs no matter what the cost. With Pluto transiting the first house, bringing our darkness into the light of our self, the probability of those beliefs changing is quite high.

Saturn has just transited our natal Mars square Neptune, leaving us with some very unsettled feelings and fears about our leadership choices and frustrated anger not sure where that anger should go or what to do. Mars rules the 12th House and the 5th House of the Stock Market. Saturn is laying down a strong dose of reality and truth, requiring discipline to correct the problems. The fun ride the Market has enjoyed is over for now. More corrections come later when Pluto opposes that Mars and squares Neptune.

The US Sun is in nurturing Cancer in the 8th House of other people’s money, big business, international banking and it rules the 9th House of, among other things national and international law. The US Sun represents our ego, the heart of our country, our leaders. The Sun also squares Saturn in Libra who wants discipline with fairness. We expect caring leaders, and leaders who keep America in balance. We also look toward government as a paternal figure, hopefully the “good” paternal figure. Uranus has been in a stress aspect to this Sun for several months and will be going back and forth for some time to come. Leading all of us into a change of attitude, leading us with a series of shocks at how out of balance we’ve become in many areas in the US. Not just that but the progressed US Sun is now conjuncting our Natal Moon in Aquarius. The Moon represents the people; the emotional center of the Nation, and Pallas Athena (the Warrior Goddess, the Goddess of Justice) stands along side the Moon, strengthening the people’s resolve to have justice done. The Sun is the patriarchal head of the country and the Moon is the matriarch. The Sun has come to dance with the Moon and Pallas sits there to make sure the dance is fair, and Uranus is sitting right on top of them both, electrically infusing a new way of being for the United States of America, giving us an opportunity to take the best from both the matriarch and patriarchy for a new way of being.

Uranus will create shocks, upheavals, revolutions, bolts from the blue, and a shake up of the status quo. We as a Nation are feeling a bit shell shocked, looking to a leader any leader to hang our security on, but the leaders are changing at well. It will be us, the American people who will have to rise up and tell our leaders what we want and what we expect.

We will be vigilant for we don’t want our religious leaders molesting our children, we don’t want our business leaders stealing from us, or destroying our environment, we don’t want our government leaders hiding behind secrets, and we want our watchdog Media to tell us the truth. How long will this take? A few years! How bad will this get? That depends on whether we educate ourselves as to what is happening in our country and how fast we figure out that it’s not our institutions responsible for our thinking and being, we are because We are America, We are The People.

July 21st, 2002

Sally Cheyne McDonald

There is a tendency to see America as our government and basically that translates to Democrats or Republicans, with a few mavericks thrown in for good measure. The government, business, media, movies, religions, neighborhoods, schools, parks, are not America. All those things simply represent America as we wish to be represented at any given time. We, the People are America. We are the culture; everything else is a sub-culture to sustain the culture of “us.”

It has long been known that the leaders of a country are a reflection of that country. A country, like individuals, goes through different stages and leaders reflect those stages. Everything that seems to be happening outside us really isn’t, circumstances are simply a reflection of what’s happening within. People in our environment and the circumstances we face act as our Mirror. It’s the same with a country. If we look carefully and honestly we will see that our leaders (politically, business, religious, media) are giving the people an opportunity to “look” in that mirror. What do we see? What do we want to see? Let me set the stage, with the Silby Chart of America. Born July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA at 5:13pm.

We, the People, have a Sagittarius Rising with Jupiter its ruler in Cancer closely conjuncting Venus, the ruler of the Tenth House. Fiercely independent, committed to seeing the bright side of everything, somewhat of a know it all, but tempered with wisdom, this is where we believe we share common beliefs and philosophies. Coupled with Venus we are happy with surface commonalities. We are happy as long as no one gets too fringe in looks, dress or actions. We want everyone to look somewhat pretty and we love youthfulness. We prefer leaders that look good first and if they do look good we will project all our hopes for superior qualities on them, “if you look good, you are good.” This tendency is based on the belief that as a nation of people we are good, kind, wise, generous people, therefore so are our leaders. We are slow to anger and quick to forget and forgive. We love rhetoric, oft times if the words sound good we don’t look too far for the actions behind the words.

We do not like our messy 12 House Scorpio, full of dark secrets, forbidden desires, and hidden agenda’s troubling us, shaking our happy concepts. Unfortunately, Pluto and Mars, the ruler and co-ruler of Scorpio is doing just that very thing right now, we want to hold on to our beliefs no matter what the cost. With Pluto transiting the first house, bringing our darkness into the light of our self, the probability of those beliefs changing is quite high.

Saturn has just transited our natal Mars square Neptune, leaving us with some very unsettled feelings and fears about our leadership choices and frustrated anger not sure where that anger should go or what to do. Mars rules the 12th House and the 5th House of the Stock Market. Saturn is laying down a strong dose of reality and truth, requiring discipline to correct the problems. The fun ride the Market has enjoyed is over for now. More corrections come later when Pluto opposes that Mars and squares Neptune.

The US Sun is in nurturing Cancer in the 8th House of other people’s money, big business, international banking and it rules the 9th House of, among other things national and international law. The US Sun represents our ego, the heart of our country, our leaders. The Sun also squares Saturn in Libra who wants discipline with fairness. We expect caring leaders, and leaders who keep America in balance. We also look toward government as a paternal figure, hopefully the “good” paternal figure. Uranus has been in a stress aspect to this Sun for several months and will be going back and forth for some time to come. Leading all of us into a change of attitude, leading us with a series of shocks at how out of balance we’ve become in many areas in the US. Not just that but the progressed US Sun is now conjuncting our Natal Moon in Aquarius. The Moon represents the people; the emotional center of the Nation, and Pallas Athena (the Warrior Goddess, the Goddess of Justice) stands along side the Moon, strengthening the people’s resolve to have justice done. The Sun is the patriarchal head of the country and the Moon is the matriarch. The Sun has come to dance with the Moon and Pallas sits there to make sure the dance is fair, and Uranus is sitting right on top of them both, electrically infusing a new way of being for the United States of America, giving us an opportunity to take the best from both the matriarch and patriarchy for a new way of being.

Uranus will create shocks, upheavals, revolutions, bolts from the blue, and a shake up of the status quo. We as a Nation are feeling a bit shell shocked, looking to a leader any leader to hang our security on, but the leaders are changing at well. It will be us, the American people who will have to rise up and tell our leaders what we want and what we expect.

We will be vigilant for we don’t want our religious leaders molesting our children, we don’t want our business leaders stealing from us, or destroying our environment, we don’t want our government leaders hiding behind secrets, and we want our watchdog Media to tell us the truth. How long will this take? A few years! How bad will this get? That depends on whether we educate ourselves as to what is happening in our country and how fast we figure out that it’s not our institutions responsible for our thinking and being, we are because We are America, We are The People.

August 1st, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

Uranus is a planet that could be described as “chaos awaits.” Uranus loves to create havoc, shake up the status quo, force changes because where Uranus lurks in a chart waiting to pounce and behold, “nothing is as I would wish it to be.” What new order will come from this chaos swirling around the U.S? We can guess what Uranus might do while conjuncting the United States natal Moon and Progressed U.S. Sun, but Uranus is the “weasel” who goes “pop” at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. Right now that one and only “smoke and mirrors” planet, Neptune has transited into a trine with the natal U.S. Uranus, obfuscating the possible oncoming “pop” from the “shake em up planet.”

Let’s take our turn at guessing what that shake up might be. It will for sure be a tremble or a quake of we the people because Uranus hits our Moon at 27 degrees of Aquarius, and our Progressed Sun at the same degree, both now reside in the Progressed 7th house of partners and open enemies, making the Sun the ruler of the Progressed 1st house of our selves. This raises some interesting questions. Are we our own enemy, or do we the people partner together to become the enemy of Leo excesses within America? What are the excesses and qualities of an out of balance Leo Ascendant? We are seeing them in front of us now. Abuses of power, might makes right, boastful, greed, vanity, cruel, pretentious and autocratic. With Uranus in the opposite sign of Aquarius, we the people could snap those excesses back into line real fast.

In the U.S. Natal Chart, Aquarius rules the 3rd House. The 3rd house covers, among other things, communication, technology, K through 12. With Aquarius here, we want all of our children educated, not just the elite, we want a working technology and honest communications with the people. We can get those things now if we demand them. Uranus will wake us up to the plight of humanity, not just our own, but the whole world. We have a desire to be friends with the world, Uranus could show us we haven’t been tending our friendships very well and are on the verge of losing them. Uranus wants Justice for All and will work to break up selfishness and unfair practices toward the people. There is also a chaotic spotlight shinning on the polar opposite of the 3rd that is the 9th house of big business, judicial system, higher education (how much is collage these days and who is keeping the books) publishing (shocking new revelations coming out of 3rd house research) religion (who has the right to speak for God, and did God give them that right) foreigners (who do we trust, most importantly, who trusts us) public opinion in general, and a big one - ethics including moral values, moral codes, (is it ethical to steal the public blind and take the attitude of “let them eat cake,” and will the public continue to say to the CEO’s who stole, “is this whole crumb of my life all for me?) With Uranus here chances are Leo excesses aren’t going to be tolerated. A probable reaction is that the public will eventually take to demonstrations against those who are feeding at the trough at our expense. The 9th House also rules the higher mind, the better part of us, our dreams and ideals. The better part of us is changing and growing, not without turmoil and a possible recommitment to the revolutionary ideals of the men who carved out America.

We aren’t facing these changes in the future; these changes are here now and will continue right on through 2003 and 2004. From August to the end of our summer and beyond, there will be a feeling of unrest, irritableness, disinterest, disconnectedness, frustration, and repressed anger. You may feel it’s your job, or kids or significant other, or neighbors, or parents creating your problems, but it is not. We are all feeling the collective rumbling of change. The drums are rolling and every man, woman, and child will feel beating of that drum.

August 1st, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

Uranus is a planet that could be described as “chaos awaits.” Uranus loves to create havoc, shake up the status quo, force changes because where Uranus lurks in a chart waiting to pounce and behold, “nothing is as I would wish it to be.” What new order will come from this chaos swirling around the U.S? We can guess what Uranus might do while conjuncting the United States natal Moon and Progressed U.S. Sun, but Uranus is the “weasel” who goes “pop” at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. Right now that one and only “smoke and mirrors” planet, Neptune has transited into a trine with the natal U.S. Uranus, obfuscating the possible oncoming “pop” from the “shake em up planet.”

Let’s take our turn at guessing what that shake up might be. It will for sure be a tremble or a quake of we the people because Uranus hits our Moon at 27 degrees of Aquarius, and our Progressed Sun at the same degree, both now reside in the Progressed 7th house of partners and open enemies, making the Sun the ruler of the Progressed 1st house of our selves. This raises some interesting questions. Are we our own enemy, or do we the people partner together to become the enemy of Leo excesses within America? What are the excesses and qualities of an out of balance Leo Ascendant? We are seeing them in front of us now. Abuses of power, might makes right, boastful, greed, vanity, cruel, pretentious and autocratic. With Uranus in the opposite sign of Aquarius, we the people could snap those excesses back into line real fast.

In the U.S. Natal Chart, Aquarius rules the 3rd House. The 3rd house covers, among other things, communication, technology, K through 12. With Aquarius here, we want all of our children educated, not just the elite, we want a working technology and honest communications with the people. We can get those things now if we demand them. Uranus will wake us up to the plight of humanity, not just our own, but the whole world. We have a desire to be friends with the world, Uranus could show us we haven’t been tending our friendships very well and are on the verge of losing them. Uranus wants Justice for All and will work to break up selfishness and unfair practices toward the people. There is also a chaotic spotlight shinning on the polar opposite of the 3rd that is the 9th house of big business, judicial system, higher education (how much is collage these days and who is keeping the books) publishing (shocking new revelations coming out of 3rd house research) religion (who has the right to speak for God, and did God give them that right) foreigners (who do we trust, most importantly, who trusts us) public opinion in general, and a big one - ethics including moral values, moral codes, (is it ethical to steal the public blind and take the attitude of “let them eat cake,” and will the public continue to say to the CEO’s who stole, “is this whole crumb of my life all for me?) With Uranus here chances are Leo excesses aren’t going to be tolerated. A probable reaction is that the public will eventually take to demonstrations against those who are feeding at the trough at our expense. The 9th House also rules the higher mind, the better part of us, our dreams and ideals. The better part of us is changing and growing, not without turmoil and a possible recommitment to the revolutionary ideals of the men who carved out America.

We aren’t facing these changes in the future; these changes are here now and will continue right on through 2003 and 2004. From August to the end of our summer and beyond, there will be a feeling of unrest, irritableness, disinterest, disconnectedness, frustration, and repressed anger. You may feel it’s your job, or kids or significant other, or neighbors, or parents creating your problems, but it is not. We are all feeling the collective rumbling of change. The drums are rolling and every man, woman, and child will feel beating of that drum.

August 13th, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

If you are required to kill someone today, on the promise of a political leader that someone else shall live in peace tomorrow, believe me, you are not only a double murderer, you are a suicide too. Katherine Anne Porter “The Situation in American Writing” (1939)

War has to be nourished by lies. Margaret Deland, “The Kays” (1924)

For the first time in American History we are about to wage war on a country that we’ve been told is an enemy but to date we haven’t any proof that they have attacked us or any of our interests. In fact, according to the news service Debkafile, war by the United States against Iraq has already begun on August 6th, 2002 at 8:00am Middle Eastern time. The United States and British air fighters attacked the Iraqi Air Command and Control Centers in al-Nukhaib a desert area between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Command Center contained advanced fiber optic networks recently installed by the Chinese. It would seem the war has started, quietly and with stealth.

With an air strike on August 6th, there is an eerie connection to the Inauguration Chart (January 20, 2001, 12:02pm) of GWB and this administration. Mars and the Sun conjunct in Leo, with a square to the inaugural Mars at 16 degrees Scorpio and Mercury at 16 degrees Aquarius. The connections between the two charts gets better and points to a real likelihood of the Iraqi War having started on that date. In the Inauguration Chart, Pluto, Moon and Chiron are all in Sagittarius in the 8th house, squaring Venus in the 11th house of our “friends” The descendent in the Aug. 6th chart conjuncts that 17 degree Venus, turning our “friends” into potential enemies and critics, and hasn’t that been happening with Saudi Arabia, Russia Germany, France, and Jordan? Even England is highly critical of this “war.” The Inaugural Chart has the Sun, our leader, at the 10th house at 0 degrees of Aquarius, trining Jupiter in the 1st house at 1 degree Gemini. The Aug. 6th chart has transiting Jupiter in an exact opposition to our Leader’s Sun and sextiling natal Jupiter (a belief that we can do no wrong and if necessary “go it alone.”)

Once again we have Pluto in the Aug. 6th Chart conjuncting the South Node in Sagittarius, where it has been transiting this whole year. Pluto resides at the 4th house cusp with the South Node in a stress aspect to the Ascendant, the Inaugural Venus, and Moon, reflecting a strong indication this is a war of the past, even a war of his father’s, as Pluto falls across the parental axis. Not to forget that the ever present drifty, dreamy Neptune is still creating illusions, delusions, fantasies of grandeur to GWB’s Mercury of the mind, and Mr. Cheney’s Sun of the ego, leading this administration deeper and deeper into the “rabbit’s hole” believing they will find gold there. The final main aspect to this Aug. 6th Chart is Mercury, void of course, at the critical degree of 29 Leo in the 12th house, just having passed an opposition to Uranus. Mercury in this chart rules the Ascendant (we the people) and the mid-heaven (our leaders), the up shot of that aspect is “we don’t know what’s going on, and probably don’t know what we are doing. On a smaller scale we have the Aug. 6th Moon ruling the 11th house (again the people) inconjuncting Neptune ruling the 7th house of partners and open enemies and we don’t see the deceit and lies in this war or the backstabbing and we will not know who our friends or enemies are. The American people will not have a clear grasp on who the good guys and who the bad guys are. Nor will our leaders be able to see the build up of anger and frustration the women of America feel about this war, and the direction of the Administration. In 2003, women will play a surprising and powerful role in the politics of this administration. Not necessarily from within the administration, but from without. In the Inaugural Chart, Venus, Mars and the North Node form a grand trine with the Moon squaring Venus and sextiling Uranus. Women may be silently biding their time, particularly with the Warrior Goddess Pallas Athena transiting the US Moon and Uranus setting off the anger of the Goddess.

While the August 6th chart at first glance would seem to spell a successful campaign, it portends wounding and disaster for the administration. And what about us, the American People? Transiting Chiron is now making an opposition to the US Venus and Jupiter, Venus rules the 10th house of our public standing and 6th house of health and jobs, Jupiter rules the 1st house of ourselves. There is a painful wounding in those areas, hopefully with lessons learned.

Politically, the Republicans need to walk cautiously around this war of GWB’s. Already some Republicans have wisely been questioning the purpose and meaning of a war with Iraq. Their party is also under the fog of Neptune opposing their collective Mercury, and since their Mercury trines their Saturn, they could get caught up in the “delusion” of the day and believe in the rightness of their actions, only to find the fluffy white clouds on which they hope they will land, hasn’t a floor. Transiting Uranus is now squaring their natal North Node creating either a challenge or breakup of the new plans they set when Saturn crossed over that same spot at the 2000 Election, and giving them a shock in the process.

The Democrats have a number of reorganized dates for their party, but I am testing and using the Andrew Jackson reorganized chart from May 21, 1832, 10:00am in Baltimore, MD. Based on that chart the Democrats seem to have gained from GWB’s oath of office, and can have a slight gain from this “hidden war,” but only a slight one. The faster they can move back to the perception that they are the party of the people, the better they will fair. Their message has been repressed since the shocking blow of the 2000 election when transiting Uranus conjunct their natal Uranus and squared their natal Chiron wounding their hopes of continued leadership. Plus Saturn moved into Gemini the sign of their Sun and has been squaring their Mars/Jupiter conjunction, creating a situation of erring on the side of caution. Their star should begin to rise when Saturn transits into Cancer, and they feel the safety of stepping up to their liberal roots.

Robert Hitt of AstroEcon has long predicted that one of the parties would go by the wayside, ceasing to exist while a new party based on a combination of fiscal conservatism and liberal ethics. If he is right, at this point it could be either party. Both are at a crossroads, and neither seems to realize that the majority of the people don’t feel represented. We looked to George Bush and his administration to protect us from the terrorists, now we are trying to find someone to protect us from George Bush and his administration. This country is under a heavy emphasis of the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and those planets almost always promise up-endings in a most surprising way.

September 6th, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

Those who seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings, call this a New Order. It is not new and it is not order. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (posted on www.buzzflash.com)

The only way to win World War III is to prevent it. Dwight David Eisenhower

You may as well invite the Gods to your party of life, if you don’t they will come anyway and be in a mood to make mischief.

We are, as they say “multi-dimensional,” operating on several levels at the same time, and so it is with these “boys” in the White House who would be men. We, the human race, have a tendency to raise individuals up to an elevated status, way above our ordinariness. We then pay them well, endow them with super-human qualities and place them high on a pedestal, allowing them to tell us how to live. We accept their laws, their justice, their wars, their bloated salaries and exclaim them to be kings, gods, makers of men, hoping they will throw us a crumb from their good fortune; the good fortune we have forgotten we gave them in the first place.

September 11th, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

In mythology there is the story of the Sirens. They live in the deepest part of the ocean and with their beautiful singing lure us on to what seems destruction and death. But we don’t really know that it is actually destruction, and in most religions we speak of death as a new beginning, not an end. The song of the Sirens can also be singing the song of life. And so this September 11, 2002 we will stop, remember, allow grief, and begin again. We begin for our children, for our families, for our friends, for our country, for ourselves- because we must.

The chart of September 11th, 2001 has been dissected over and over this last year, I doubt if I can add too much in the way of new opinions. But perhaps the Solar Return and Draconic chat of 9/11 will shed some light on the future and outcome of that tragic day last year. The ancient astrologers always said that the Draconic Chart showed the true meaning and purpose of an event or a life.

October 8th, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald

It must be in the water in Washington, D.C., bottled insanity.

As a reminder, the Astrological Chart of America represents the people as a collective, what they want and how they feel. Through that chart an astrologer can see what the collective mood of the people might be, whom they might choose as their leaders, and when they might change their mind. Mercury (what’s on our mind) in the US chart is in a stress aspect to GWB Midheaven. The US Mercury understands things differently than Mr. Bush, in spite of some balanced aspects between the country and the man. As our country moves through the years, we change, and that’s called “progressions.” Not only have we progressed our Sun to the Moon (the people) in Aquarius, but our Mercury has progressed to that point as well. Aquarius has humanitarian ideals for the individual and the collective, and we want our leaders to reflect that change. We intend to be heard, we intend to be respected and we intend not to be marginalized, we also intend to give our leaders the benefit of the doubt. Our President and many of our Representatives have not lived with “the people.” Not lived with the teeming masses, and their job seemingly cuts them off from those masses. It is the masses that are on the brink of raising their voices so they may be heard, and our politicians and Wall Street and Corporations have just about used up their “benefits of a doubt.”

October 26, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

US Senate (Texas):

John Cornyn (R) Date of Birth: February 2, 1952
Ron Kirk (D) Date of Birth: June 27, 1954

I checked Texas, Kirk and Cornyn their solar returns, composites with Texas, and all the progressions and I will go with Kirk. His progressed Moon sits on Texas natal Midheaven and natal Sun conjuncts Texas progressed Midheaven. There's a bunch of other stuff that confirms, not the least of which is Texas secondary progressions have Sun and Uranus in a Sextile from 13 Gemini (Sun) to 13 Aries (Uranus) Pluto has opposed and trined those points respectively, Texas has made some subtle changes they aren't even aware of and with transiting Jupiter sextiling and trining those points respectively Texas is ready to take the opportunity for a change.

Cornyn also has some positive aspects to Texas, however, Cornyn has a solar return t-square with Mars and Moon in opposition (he irritates the people) but one of the most difficult aspects for him is; Natally Texas has a mars/mercury square from Aries to Capricorn, (belligerence, that fits Texas) Cornyn's progressed Sun conj. the Mars end of that square, there is something about him that will irritate them, plus his solar return moon squares the Texas Sun. Also in his solar arc progressions, his progressed Sun and Moon squares, and sets off that Texas Mars/Mercury. Texas doesn't see that they are belligerent, but with Cornyn's progressed Sun and Moon there they will see that he is belligerent and it will make them uncomfortable.

Example: I have a mars/Pluto square (controlling) I go out of my way not to be controlling because I know it looks bad. We don't want anyone to remind us of our faults and with Cornyn's Sun on that Mars Texas will suddenly feel like their belligerence and bad side has been illuminated, they could see him as the enemy. I can't remember what it was, but I know I've read at least three articles this year from Texas slamming something Cornyn has done.

Kirk has been a well liked mayor in Dallas, huge black population, white people nervous about their racism and thrilled to have someone black they can feel like they aren't racists,Cornyn connected with Enron (lots of anger in Texas over that), Kirk is liked and respected on the national stage, with the progressed Sun and Moon connections I think Texas will perceive that he makes them look good. Plus, Ron Kirk's Solar Arc Jupiter is sitting right on top of his Natal Pluto, in a lovely trine (exact) to Texas Pluto. Now John C does have progressed Mercury trine his Pluto, and it does conj Texas Pluto (off by two degrees) but usually Jupiter beats Mercury for big doings

On election night in Dallas at 7:00pm they have a 20 degree Aquarius midheaven with Uranus at 24 in the 10th house, conj. their natal Venus, Cornyn's solar return Uranus conj. that election Uranus, but Kirk's Solar Return Saturn trines it. I am betting on the Uranus conj. natal Venus in Texas as underscoring the desire for a change of clothes. All things considered, I would put my money on Kirk.

On the Astro-Cartography chart on Election Day, the Mercury/Des line is also through another part of Texas and over the West, with Mercury being in sq to Neptune, I would suggest that either Kirk is shafted, or the Republican's won't know what hit them until it's too late, could go either way.

Texas 22nd CD (Houston):

Tom DeLay (R) Incumbent, Began Service: 1985, Date of Birth: April 8, 1947
Tim Riley (D) Date of Birth: February 12, 1954

Tom Delay is going to be in more trouble than he thinks in Texas. In the Texas natal chart Venus Conj. Nep. at 23 and 25 degrees Aquarius and transiting Uranus will conj. that midpoint. One of Ebertin's delinations for that is "sudden seperation, giving way to despair, and his Jupiter for sure maybe his moon too, squares that point. On top of that the Texas Solar Arc mars to 11.2.02 is exactly opposite Tom's Venus, plus the moon on election day squares the Texas Venus and Neptune. If he does make it through it will be under a cloud of lies and suspicious circumstances. In Tom's solar return he has Mars squaring that 24-25 degree Aquarius. There are some problems there and they will shock him.

Texas 23rd CD (San Antonio):

Henry Bonilla (R) Incumbent, Began Service: 1993, DOB: January 2, 1954
Henry Cuellar (D) Date of Birth: September 19, 1955

Cuellar has several progressed aspects to his natal chart that would indicate he does very well in El Paso and Laredo, it will be a toss up in San Antonio, but San Antonio is definitely not a shoo in for Bonilla, and he has already had a depressing year. Retrograde Venus will have just passed over Bonilla’s Saturn (not a real happy time) and Cuellar’s Moon, (better aspects) Transiting Mercury is will conjunct Bonilla’s Saturn (saying a sad goodbye) and at the same time conjunct Cuellar’s Moon, (connecting to the people.)

The problem here is Bonilla has a Capricorn Sun and Cuellar is a Virgo. Both of these men are earth signs, not a feeling of a clear choice for the people and that’s ok because that particular district likes action and a “sense of change,” as long as it feels “earth grounded.” The people of the 23rd District can have the luxury of change and at the same time getting their own earth energy met with Cuellar. In early October, the momentum for this race has slowed down, it’s about to pick up and when it does I think it will be for Cuellar if he doesn’t make any major mistakes. Mr. Bonilla could be unconsciously pushing people away or projecting a feeling of desperation.

Texas 5th CD (Dallas):

Ron Chapman (D), Date of Birth: September 20, 1940
Jeb Hensarling (R), Date of Birth: May 29, 1957

The Winner is.....

October 26, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

We tend to tell strangers what we think will make us sound good. I myself, to my utter amazement, informed a telephone pollster that I exercised regularly, a barefaced lie.
(Kathy Pollitt, “Reasonable Creatures” (1994)

Politics is not really politics anymore. It is run, for the most part, by Madison Avenue advertising firms, who sell politicians to the public, the way they sell bars of soap or cans of beer. (Helen Caldicott, “If you Love this Planet” (1989)

Who will win, whose turn is it at the wheel? Will the American public bring themselves to the brink of the abyss by turning control of their country into a one party system, or will we keep diversity in politics as one of our stated core values? Will we enforce a true “checks and balance” by splitting the balance of power in the system? We aren’t far away from finding out.

October 27, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

A physical move is in the stars for Jeb Bush with Pluto on his IC and brother George shows some kind of problem with a sibling this November, I am guessing that sibling is Jeb. Wm. McBride’s chart also shows a move, so my hunch is Jeb’s moving out and Bill is moving in - the Governor’s Mansion that is.

November 19, 2002
Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

The longed for ships/come empty home or founder on the deep, /and eyes first lose their tears/ and then they lose their sleep. Edith Wharton

Losing is the price we pay for living. It is also the source of much of our growth and gain. Judith Viorsi

The end and the beginning of a thing look exactly alike, both are at the bottom. The difference is the beginning has nowhere to go but up. Sally Cheyne McDonald

“What happened, how could it have happened, why did it happen, and what will we do?”
The Democrats lost, that’s what happened. How it happened lies in the Mercury/Neptune square of Election Day. That square could mean, “dirty GOP tricks,” and there is some support for that concept. In Texas it was discovered the voting machines registered “Republican” when the voter hit “Democrat.” Two very alert election officials discovered this “little glitch”, how many “little glitches” were there in the US on election night, with out “alert” election officials to catch those “little glitches.” That’s something we will never know and it doesn’t really matter.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

For those of you not familiar with the 1975 movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” staring Jack Nicholson, let me share a brief synopsis. The scene was a mental institution and as the story unfolded, it became quite evident that the people who were truly mentally ill were those running the institution. You can find a similar problem in our government, corporate leaders, and religious guides of today. We have given our power over to “Nurse Ratched.” It’s a new year, we can take our power back in 2003.

2003 is about to burst upon us so let’s wrap up 2002 with a quick recap (the short list) since we last sang Auld Lang Syne:

Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

Individuals, countries and the world are the sum total of their experience from birth, we are the sum total of all at this moment in time.

On the 18th of April in ’75;
There is nary a man who is now alive
Who remembers that fateful day and year.

On April 19, 1775 the “shot heard around the world” rang out in Lexington, Massachusetts. On that morning just before dawn the British Troops fired upon a group of rebels who had turned against harsh and punitive rules imposed upon them by the corporate and government leaders of the day. These leaders were large corporations overseas and their supportive head was a man suffering from an inherited type of insanity, that man was King George III. At the end of the day on April 19th, as the British Army was in retreat, the Moon, representing the people was at a solid 19 degrees of Sagittarius, and the first volley for freedom had been shot across the bow of oppression.

True we had declared our independence, we wrote a constitution, even elected a Federalist President, John Hansen, but King George III dragged the war on until the Treaty of Paris was signed by the British and Federalists on September 3rd, 1883 in Paris, France and our freedom was assured. The North and South Nodes were at 18/19 degrees Pisces/Virgo axis, squared today by Pluto and GWB’s Uranus, a challenge to our heritage of freedom.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

“When you wake up in the morning” said Piglet, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say Piglet?” “I say I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” Pooh nodded thoughtfully “it’s the same thing” he said. The Tao of Pooh

While Eejore frets
And Piglet hesitates
And Rabbit calculates
And Owl pontificates
Pooh just is

Well, well, well, isn’t all this an interesting turn of events. It looks like all (and I do mean all) eyes on Iraq, anxiously or angrily awaiting the first bomb drop. But wait, what’s that sound? That irritating kind of tap, tap, tap? “Not so fast” says France, Germany, Russia, China, and now Belgium.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
sallymcd -at- concentric.net

Mememememe, pick ME. The voice you are hearing is Kim Jong Il. Kim has his progressed Jupiter at 18/19 degrees Gemini and transiting Pluto is right on top (opposite) of it. Kim wants to be King, even if it is King of the Axis of Evil. It might not be the best idea right now to ignore him. As George Bush is slobbering for war in Iraq, Kim is slobbering for war with the US. Kim sports a Sun/Uranus square from Aquarius to Taurus and this weekend the Leo Full Moon sets that square off. A Sun/Uranus can make a very nervous person; it’s easy for them to “go off.”

Kim Jong’s natal Moon is at 9 degrees Pisces, directly across from GWB and they hate each other, playing off each other’s insecurities. His Chiron is at 10 Leo, directly conjunct GWB’s Pluto. When Chiron conjuncts another person’s planet, in this case George’s Pluto (his power), the Chiron person is able to zone right in those “power” walls and bring them tumbling down. If George isn’t afraid of Kim now, that could soon change with transiting Jupiter conjuncting the Pluto and Chiron and Neptune in opposition. Just as there is a Karmic issue with Iraq, there is a Karmic issue with North Korea.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
mcdonaldsa -at- qwest.net

A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. (Winston Churchill)

What luck for rulers that men do not think (Adolph Hitler)

When one of my sons was a little boy of 4 or 5, he was obsessed with watching sports on TV. I would make him go out to play with his friends and he would cry until he could once again come back to the TV. I asked him why was all he wanted to do and he said, “When I grow up I am going to play like them.” He thought a person only had to watch the “big boys” to be an athlete; he didn’t know that he had to learn how to be a “big boy” and how to play the game.

This is the feeling I get from this administration, they never learned, never paid their dues, never learned the fundamentals of the “game of life.” You cannot “read” a book and become a powerful statesman or leader; you have to interact with, respect and understand the team.

While we are all foaming at the mouth over what GWB and group is doing let’s remember that George is self-destructive (Pluto on Ascendant) He has messed up everything handed to him and he knows this. Right now Mr. Bush on an internal level is terrified that his “game” is up—it’s his constant fear.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
mcdonaldsa -at- qwest.net

Our human situation no longer permits us to make armed dichotomies between those who are good and those who are evil, those who are right and those who are wrong. The first blow dealt to the enemy’s children will sign the death warrant of our own. (Margaret Mead – Anthropologist)

I do not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war. (Eleanor Roosevelt – letter to Harry S. Truman in 1948)

MARS, identified by the ancients as the God of War! Such a dramatic phrase is “God of War”, and from the male point of view, romantic too. Look at the “guy flicks,” vs. the “chick flicks.” The male of the species just loves war, violence, and fighting; if they aren’t participating, they are watching or encouraging. Is it hormones or a lack of interconnecting neurons, or what? Both of those things are possibilities but that’s too simplistic, and the answer is much broader. There is a positive and negative to every energy, and Mars is simply one more energy in the universal pattern.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
mcdonaldsa -at- qwest.net

Wars may be fought by decent men, but they’re not won by them (P.D. James “A Taste for Death)

Formerly, a nation that broke the peace did not trouble to try and prove to the world that it was done solely from higher motives…now war has a bad conscience. Now every nation assures us that it is bleeding for a human cause, the fate of which hangs in the balance of its victory…No nation dares to admit the guilt of blood before the world. (Ellen Key, (War, Peace, and the Future 1916)

Are we “shocked and awed?” Do you think the people of Baghdad are “shocked and awed?” Do you think anyone in this administration asked for a bowl of water to wash the blood from their hands? Seventy one percent of the people are now “for the war.” Do you believe that?

The reign of Bombs on Baghdad started at 9:00pm Baghdad time and 1:00pm Washington time March 21, 2003. The moon was at 16 degrees Scorpio, conjuncting GWB’s Inaugural Mars. He delivered a gift to the people of Iraq, the only gift he seems to know to give, “death and destruction.”

Geneva Clark

It seems the dirty deed; this loathsome war, commenced with a "pre-war" strike at 5:33 AM Baghdad time on March 20, 2003; 5:42 AM according to CNN. 5:15 AM coming from Comedy Central. I'm favoring the 5:33 AM time. The chart for that time features an exact square between Pluto in the 2001 Inauguration chart for George W. Bush, and the Pisces Ascendant for the first missle firing in Baghdad. If that isn't fitting for an over zealous display of might and power, I don't know what is.

This strike occurred before war was actually "declared" by Bush at 10:16 PM, Washington, DC. He's so vain-glorious he believes missles fired in the name of war don't count until HE drops the gauntlet and officially declares we are at war, a convenient dismissal of the Constitutional provision that CONGRESS shall declare war. Bush is characteristic of Dick Clark waiting for the gong to drop at midnight on (I)rockin' New Years Eve.

Sally Cheyne McDonald
mcdonaldsa -at- qwest.net

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by Maj. General Smedley Butler, USMC. General Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice. Once in 1914 and 1917, and described by General Douglas MacArthur as “one of the really great generals in American History. The following is a quote from General Butler.

“War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. During the years I served, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, “a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

I believe “drunk on power” is an appropriate phrase to apply to our current White House occupants. Right now I believe they are looking at a ladder and Syria is the next rung. They can make a case and will try to make a case on Syria as a terrorist nation just as they made the case on Iraq; only I believe Syria will put up a more strenuous fight. It won’t be the shameful “war” of Afghanistan or Iraq and I would say July, August and September will be when all that heats up. But Syria is only another step on the ladder with OPEC the prize at the top, if this administration gets to the top.

I wanted to add this little change of pace in case any of you had a desire to learn more about Mundane Astrology. Kaye Shinker has a beginning piece and information on how to contact her.
- Sally Cheyne McDonald

In my opinion there are two planets that regularly effect business, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets affect your business, my business, the business in your neighborhood, city, state, and country.

Let’s start with Jupiter.

Jupiter is indulgent. He says, YES to everything and in fact says, if one is good then two or three are better.

We have to laugh. Because laughter, we already know, is the first evidence of freedom.
(Rosario Castellanos, �If Not Poetry, Then What?� 1973)

Where there is laughter there is always more health than sickness. (Phillis Bottome, �Survival� 1943)

I�m not sure what it is; maybe it�s Jupiter in Leo. Maybe it�s because my personal Jupiter is retrograde in the 10th house and I can�t help but laugh at the farce we are watching. Maybe it�s because I just watched the Bob Hope 100 Years of Humor. Maybe it�s because we�ve slipped from the sublime to the ridiculous in this country. Whatever it is I can hardly stop giggling at the heights of the preposterous levels we have climbed in this country, and the solemn way in which we�ve accepted the preposterous.

"Mercury, which has been retrograde since April 26, will pass between Earth and Sun on May 7, 2003, in a rare astronomic event that occurs only a dozen times in a century. We will be treated or maybe a better word "subjected" to both an astronomical and astrological event on the morning of May 7, 2003." Art Gianfermo

I encourage you to read Art's stunning article and his massive insights into this rare event. Log on to, Mercury Transits Sun and Black Hole Eurydice: May 7th , 2003

In Texas the lid blew off the sky a long time ago/So there�s nothing to keep the wind from blowing/and it blows all the time. (May Sarton, �In Texas� 1948

There were so many comments and links I wanted to put up on this site as proof positive the America is in big trouble. Links about the war, horrible pictures of the suffering in Iraq, the budget, the elimination of millions of acres of wilderness land in America, but all that does is fuel our Mars/Neptune square in the collective mind of America, reinforcing our sense of powerlessness. Instead I want to open this article with a sliver of hope that there are people out here who continue to stand against the those who would and are standing against us. America, even though hanging by a thread, is still a democracy, and of all places, Texas is exercising their democratic right.

Let�s play pretend. It�s January 1, 1900 and William McKinley is the President of the United States. Astrologers have been specially gathered at the White House to predict the next century. Serious and sure they pull out their charts anxious to do a good job. That�s me, do you see me, I�m in the back of the room.

These are the predictions for the next 100 years from this august body of astrologers: plagues, killing millions across the world. That�s a shocking opening, but wait there�s more. Never before seen objects in the sky dropping horrible instruments of destruction, raining terror and death on masses of people, there will be so much pain and suffering, people will beg God to take them. A financial depression, the likes of which society has never known, people will kill themselves as they are ruined and money will be worthless, millionaires will die penniless and if you have the resources to get food, there will be little food to buy because the �bread basket� of the world will experience a horrendous drought. The drastic and dramatic earth changes of floods, tornadoes, volcanoes, and earthquakes will almost be a relief to the deprivation occurring to mankind. There will be assassinations and attempted assassinations of our Presidents and leaders throughout the world and the next President you elect will be murdered.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

�The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is na�ve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who loves his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed that the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.� (H.L. Mencken)

Is there anyone reading this site who doesn�t know what is going on? Is there anyone who hasn�t read article after article about what the �Belligerent, Buffoon, Bombastic, and Brazen Bush Bullies� are doing to the United States of America? Is everyone clear on the domestic, foreign, economic, social disasters created by this reptilian, neo-conservative administration? Is there any doubt left in the minds of the readers what is happening here? Thought not.

With nearly every crisis, every scandal starting with Election 2000, moving thorough to Iraq and the unbelievable dismantling of the US government in-between, we move through the 5 stages of death. First denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance, we have to because we are on to the next crisis, the next obscenity, the next issue and we fight until something else comes along and we must reach acceptance of the obscene in order to start the process all over again. It�s the game of �distracting children� in order to divert their attention from their focus on an object and it�s working.

�"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep." (Albert Einstein)

�"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind." (Albert Einstein)

In following eclipses over the last (too many years) I can really see the impetus behind Einstein�s �special theory of relativity.� I don�t mean the �whole� of the equation but the simple understanding that led to the �whole� of his theory. Starting from the place with the same information with which Einstein started, the Energy on earth never escapes from the earth�s atmosphere or our solar system, it simply reforms or relocates someplace else. At a sub-atomic level we are all interconnected by atoms, and are collectively responsible for and affected by the energy expended by others. I apply that information to eclipses, particularly an eclipse, which might impact the energy of the US collective consciousness. Think of it as the �collective� opening a door, the energy leaving the muscle mass in the act of opening the door

THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

In America money takes the place of God. ( Anzia Yezierska 1950)
If money had been the way to save the world, Christ himself would have been rich.
(Phyllis Bottome 1934)

The �money� is flowing straight from the people into the GWB political bank. Not a week goes by that we aren�t treated to a financial accounting of how much George has raised. We aren�t given just a weekly run down but an hourly accounting. I believe last weekend he raised $500,000 an hour. In the same paper or newscast we are told how high unemployment has risen and a new round of cuts in corporations will be necessary. George is King and he tells us that God is directing him and he can hold the world up with his little finger. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/06/27/120.html

THE BATTLE OF THE BEES

Bush, Blair and the BBC

WHOOO ARE YOU? Said the Caterpillar (Alice in Wonderland � Lewis Carroll)

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. (Winston Churchill)

For those of you who do not know, there is a raging battle being fought between the BBC and Number 10 Downing Street. The cast of characters is long, and some of the names you may know. Jack Straw (foreign secretary) Greg Dyke (director general of the BBC) Richard Sambrook (BBC�s director of news) Andrew Gilligan (news reporter for BBC) an unnamed high government security official, a board of BBC Governors, the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, Blair, England�s very own Karl Rove by the name of Alastair Campbell, and the never named shadow Bush,

FOOL'S GOLD RUSH

The California Tourist Center bills itself as "The Land of Golden Opportunities." The GOP is going to see if that's true even if they have to "kill" someone who has a rightful claim staked out. Such is the case with the Recall Election of Gray Davis.

For all you Californians who bravely shut your eyes and pulled the lever for Gray Davis last November just so the GOP, who have become greedy and mean-spirited, couldn't strip your golden land again as they did in 2001, with their made up "energy crisis," and all who are interested in what is happening in California, Claudia Dikinis has explored in depth the reasons and potential outcomes of this historic "political land grab." http://starcats.com/newsmakers.html. I urge you to read Claudia's review of the purpose, the players, the mistakes of this recall election.

The GOP seems to think there is "gold in them there hills." "What fools we mortals be."

Thursday Aug. 7

The California recall is the distraction this month (unless you count the NBA Circus going on up the road here in Eagle, Colorado) I wish to alert you to another Starcats article regarding the new "California Comedy Teams" http://starcats.com/newsmakers.html

I make it a habit to include appropriate quotes in this section. There aren�t any appropriate quotes for what is happening. A group people who are either the �missing link� or part of the �lost generation� are leading us through the dark night of the soul.

I do have one quote that seems appropriate from the David Letterman Show. In his �on the road� series, a woman from Minotta, Kansas was asked if she thought George Bush had heard of Minotta, and she said �I don�t think George Bush has heard of Kansas.�

I long for the good ole days when a Bush only embarrassed us by vomiting on Japan�s Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. Who could know that the son and friends would end up vomiting themselves all over the world. The litany of offences grows every day, EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY DAY. Do they listen to themselves? Do they believe what they are saying? Are they insane (that gets my vote) or part of a giant Illuminati, Bilderburger, New World Order conspiracy?

The most powerful individual in the United States may not be George W. Bush. It is probably Karl Rove, the President�s brilliant advisor. Who is this man and how did he acquire so much power? Having watched in awe for over fifteen years as they reported on the rise of Karl Rove, Moore and Slater expose the brutal and sometimes morally questionable, but invariably effective ways in which Karl Rove�and America�s political system�actually operate. (From �Bush�s Brain)

�Are we taking on water?� (Katherine Hepburn African Queen)

Is Karl Rove capable of �outing� Ambassador Wilson�s wife as a CIA operative thereby putting her and her connections in danger as in being killed or worse. The answer to that question is YES he is capable, but did he do it and will he be caught? Rove�s birthday is 12/25/1950 in Denver, Colorado. A perfect example of Christ�s evil twin, he�s a bad one that Mr. Grinch.

Thanks to the ineptitude of my Internet server I�ve been off line for a week, but now, oh god, do I dare say, �I�m back?� But I am, it has been a stressful move and I am still in chaos, but I�m in chaos in a new home, and I am glad to be back on line, I�ve missed you all. I also missed the great articles Nancy and Morgana wrote and thank them for their time and talent.

For those of you who don�t recognize the little ditty of this title, it comes from Music Man. A delightful musical about a town, a little band, a flim flam man and love. This particular song �Pick a Little,� related to a group of the town�s �ole biddies.� Every town had them and still do I expect, I just don�t pay attention to them anymore. But I know all of us have been the recipients of their poison from time to time in our lives.

These spirits are detectors and avengers of crime and wickedness, the goddesses of vengeance. They say, �We claim to be just and upright. No wrath from us toward one who holds out clean hands, but whoever sins and hides his hands, as avengers of bloodshed we appear against him, presenting ourselves as upright witnesses for the dead� (Erinyes. Aeschylus, Eumenides 310)

In Roman Mythology, the Furies (known as Erinyes in the Greek) are three sisters resulting from a drop of Uranus blood falling to earth. Virgil placed them in the underworld, and there they reside tormenting evildoers and sinners, known to be cruel but very fair.

Where will �The Furies� strike next? Since the beginning of time, the human race has given them enough reason to stay active. The Furies are not a respecter of race, creed, kings, princes, or the ordinary among us they strike at will. The Greeks and Romans had reason to fear them, as do modern man. They do however perform a service for us and that service is staying on target and in our face. Kings, Presidents, people do not make changes until we can see what needs to be changed. The Furies let us know, and all the worse for us if we don�t get the first message.

On a JFK 40 year Commemorative Special, Don Hewitt, the Executive Producer of 60 Minutes and a TV Icon, recalled his memories of the Kennedy Assassination. When asked if he thought there was a conspiracy, he said �I don�t know, but I do know that every journalist has been shut out for 40 years and that the people who handled the investigation were either stupid, incompetent, or liars. When he was further asked if it made any difference anymore who shot JFK, Mr. Hewitt replied: �You bet, our government lied to us and we need to know, it�s the principle of the thing.�

It�s been said, �it�s not the mountains we climb that will cripple us, it�s the pebbles in our shoe.�

You know how it is, you are striding along up that mountain everyone is watching, you feel strong, powerful, a master of your destiny. Pretty soon a pebble, just a little one slows your step, you walk a little more gingerly but still smiling. Then another pebble, the smile has changed to a tiny grimace. More pebbles and you are gritting your teeth, holding your breath with every painful step, finally you can hardly walk but if you sit down everyone will know you are not the master of your destiny and people begin to make fun of your original bravado, plus, you can�t figure out how to get off that damn mountain.

Happy New Year to all who have read and supported our efforts at Astroworld.

Tomorrow is going to be soon enough to make predictions and "astro" opinions, but tonight let's all "bow" in our own way to the passing of the 2003 Old Man, he has had a very difficult year. Celebrate a brand New Year and let's look forward to better more prosperous and joyful times for all of us and for America.

Blessings and light to you all.

Love, Sally

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. (J.B. Priestly)

Places everyone! The year that millions have been waiting for since 2000 has finally arrived and it�s going to be another hum dinger. We are now moving toward the finish line of this presidency and we will need �magic� for the trip. Ronald Reagan once said, �every new day (and year) begins with possibilities. It�s up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace.� I couldn�t agree more with that statement.

Why not upset the apple cart? If you don�t, the apples will rot anyway (Frank Clark)

Pardon me if my �feminist slip� is showing but today on the �Brown/Black Debates� for the Democrats making some Iowa points, Carol Mosley Braun said her candidacy would take the �for men only off the White House door.� I gotta tell ya, if I was in Iowa I would cast my vote for her in the caucus. I know she doesn�t have a chance of taking the �men only� sign off the White House this year, but I sure appreciate the fact that she is making the effort to break ground. Carol was born on Aug. 16, 1947 and has SIX planets in Leo, including the Sun and Moon. She has what it takes to shine and to stand up to all that testosterone in the room. This won�t be the last we hear of Carol Mosley Braun, and as a woman I am proud of her. She�s smart, well prepared, well groomed and most of all obviously conscious and amused at her role. The one person who seems to be truly Presidential doesn�t have a chance.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind (Winston Churchill)

This is delicious. The State of the Union (SOU) timing is absolutely delicious. First of all the SOU speech is to be delivered on January 20, 2004 at 9:00pm EST, the exact day of the 2000 Inaugural Solar Return (01.21.2004 5:28am) and what a year that Solar Return promises. Second the SOU is an administration�s belief of the SOU, what they want You to believe about their work, how and what they will present what they believe is coming up for the nation, not necessarily what is actually happening (remember last year and their "Iraq is poised to drop a bomb tomorrow" tone.

New Hampshire has long been known to deliver �surprises� in their elections so everyone is waiting on humble tenterhooks to see if New Hampshire will �pick them as the top candidate.

New Hampshire (06.21.1788 1:41pm Concord) is a Cancer State with a Cancer Midheaven, they are going to want to pick someone who �feels� good to them, someone who �feels� Presidential. They will look less at the issues than the �feel� good qualities each candidate projects.

And the world they've cobbled together in their heads just looks so inane in context of the real world... a terrible real world they've insanely created for others. (Joanna of Oregon, one of our readers)

And so goes the old basketball cheer as one by one the players step up to the free throw line. First it was �Dean Dean he�s our man,� then remember last fall �Wes Wes he�s our man,� now it�s �Kerry Kerry he�s our man if he can�t do it nobody can.� The next up would be Edwards if the media deems him to be �the man.�

Who will claim legitimacy after Super Tuesday (not to be confused with Super Bowl)

You can�t cross the sea merely by staring at the water. (Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate for literature 1913 India)

Look at the tyranny of party--at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty--a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes--and which turns voters into chattels, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with bible texts and bullies and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern master." "The Character of Man," Mark Twain's Autobiography (thank you Joanne of Oregon)

Mud shields are issued to all Democratic Candidates (Ironic Times, Feb. 23)
-

I had a friend with a spectacular home and family, everything seemed perfect and ideal. One day she leaned up against the living wall and it collapsed. Termites had been eating away for years and she didn�t know it. The same day her husband came home and said he was leaving for another woman, my friend had no idea there was anything wrong in her marriage, more termites.

One of our readers alerted me to this issue and I have decided to share it with you because she is a very loyal reader to our site, however I do so with reservations. This gentleman has been banned from Google and the question is how wide spread are these bannings and for what reason. I went to Google and typed in a number of phrases and saw a number of sites pop up, including sites with very negative phrases regarding Bush. If you type in "T-shirts against Bush," or "Conservatives against Bush," there are a number of sites that pop up with much worse on them.

However, in light of the recent FCC rulings and the seeming effort made against free speech I think we need to be aware of what appears to be happening and I would recommend you download any material you feel to be important to you as well as email addresses. I am not advertising this site or this vendor, that is against Astroworld's policies, we just provide links. I did think you might be interested.

I would also like to remind this gentleman and the rest of us that it's a Mercury Retrograde and might be resolved when Mercury goes direct (unless the site was started on a Mercury Retrograde.

I know that after all is said and done, more is said than done. (Rita Mae Brown, �In Her Day.� 1978)

He was talking at the top of his ego. (Miles Franklin, �Childhood at Brindabella,� 1963)

In response to one of our readers I am taking a look at tonight�s press conference. It certainly qualifies as an event since this is only the third one since GWB took office.

Alas, alack, I did not see nor hear the speech, I did not see who was called upon to present the �served up� questions. As the fates would have it I was tied up in meetings all day, and they were the type where there is �more said than done.� I talked to two friends when I got home and listened to what I knew would be predictable responses (one conservative, one liberal) I also listened to about 10 minutes of Charlie Rose and a panel of editorial writers (conservative and liberal mix) discussing their impressions.

Armed with a small smattering of information I ploughed into The Press Conference Chart. (April 13, 2004 at 9:01pm in Washington, DC. My initial overall impression was nothing. He said nothing, nothing that would be remembered or would impress people (except of course those who get paid for promoting him at all costs)

�Really, if you are going to run a presidential campaign you shouldn�t speak unless you have all the facts.� (George W. Bush while admonishing John Kerry)

It is only in misery that we recognize the hand of God leading good men to good. (Goethe)It is hard, even impossible to get a grasp on Neptune, the Roman God ruling the depth of the seas. On the positive side creativity soars, athletes find they are �in the zone,� dreams seem to come true, ideals are created and even manifested, glamour (or the illusion of glamour.) On the negative side, time slips away, money evaporates, illnesses sneak up, addictions take hold, world leaders think they are appointed (or anointed) by God. All possibilities are possible under Neptune. Hubris, mendacity, obfuscation, all belong to Neptune, and just when you think you have an understanding of what is happening, just when you thought your feet were firmly on the shore the landscape shifts and morphs into something entirely different and the sea rolls on.

�When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.� John Muir

Pluto: The underworld, the ruler of the subconscious mind, the darkest recesses of our primitive instincts. If we refuse to recognize our shadow side Pluto will give rise to events beyond our control which threaten our very survival.

Uranus! Neptune! Pluto! Each in their own way creates havoc in the lives of people, cities, states, countries and governments. To those who don�t know or understand the energies of Astrology and the depth these planets plunge, the havoc created can seem cruel and unfair, sudden and unexpected.

�from a distance you look like my friend even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend what all this fighting is for.
God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us from a distance.
(Bette Midler- From a Distance)

The obfuscation coming out of Washington these days is really beginning to challenge my personal sense of reality. Scenes of torture that isn�t torture but abuse, Rush Limbaugh says it�s something akin to a �collage hazing, like Skull and Bones.� If what we�ve seen is comparable to the Skull and Bones hazing it would explain a lot about GWB. Dennis, I stayed home during the war, Hastert (Jan. 2, 1942, Aurora, IL) has accused John McCain (6 years as a POW in Vietnam) of not understanding the meaning of sacrifice for his country. General Kimmet of Iraq is still denying that troops attacked a wedding party going on in the desert in spite of a video from AP showing the wedding. Kimmet swears it was insurgents (Iraqi people violently against our occupation)

The darling of this administration Ahmad Chalabi, the guy the American taxpayers were supporting to the tune of $350,000 a month, is now a spy for Iran, or always was an Iranian plant and we knew it. However, while his staff have all been arrested, he is making the rounds of the talk shows (more money.) Chalabi�s fall is in part due to the in fighting between he and Paul Bremer who is himself about to fall from grace.

George W. Bush took a tumble off his bike a couple of days ago, that is just about one of the best omens he is going to get with his presidency now on the line with approval ratings of 41 percent, what�s next?

Not Morgana, but for her.

Coldhearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray, and yellow white
But we decide which is right
and which is an illusion...

There is a big difference between Western and Vedic astrology when it comes to the Moon. In Western astrology the Full Moon means completion, a job finished. The World War II Memorial is an example of that completion.

The Full Moon tonight, the brightest and closest to earth of all the Moons this year. It is the same Full Moon that shone on our soldiers on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. Thousands died but thousands lived, and later an Army Chaplain Burkhalter would write �God was on that beach today.� This was the beginning of the end of WWII and the beginning of an end to the underground fascist movement still raging within governments today, an end to modern day corruption. The history of the last 60 years is coming to a climax, not today or tomorrow, but sooner than we think.

Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero. (General Omar Bradley)

It�s a mystery who and what becomes legendary. It doesn�t seem that history picks our legendary figures, something within the life of the person or event embeds within us and that person or thing is forever woven through our human story, and no matter what is unearthed, what mistakes, corruption or good deeds surface in years to come, the legend�s reputation doesn�t waiver from our imagination. As young as our country is we have our share of legends. John Wayne, Martin Luther King, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, our founding fathers, all fire our imagination of greatness.

WWII was such an event to forever spark legendary status. Churchill, FDR, DeGaulle, Stalin, Hitler, Rommel, Bradley, Montgomery, Eisenhower, Patton, McArthur, Mussolini, Pearl Harbor, and D-Day, names and events that have been etched in our psyche for over 60 years, generations that weren�t born know of these people and events. We measured our leaders by their performance in WWII. For good or for ill, these men were giants and remained giants as long as they lived. Their legends were not forged by their death but by their life.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth (The Beatitudes)

I dated a Virgo once, he was the oddest and most eccentric man I ever met. He kept notes on everything. His obsession with detail nearly drove me nuts. He was a good attorney however and his clients loved him. His psychosis was being a compulsive workaholic. It didn�t work out between us, however his star has risen as an attorney.

That little story brings me to Henry Waxman, our very own Mr. Smith. He may not look like Jimmy Stewart, you don�t hear from him often, and he sometimes writes articles but not very much. He�s a little guy with a mustache and I don�t know how big his office is, but I know it�s filled with a ton of legal pads covered in notes. Representative Waxman from California has kept an accurate and tight record of every single thing this administration has done over the last three and a half years. He has kept a record of every misstep, kept them, developed a paper trail by writing memos and requesting documents he is entitled to under the Constitution. Of course, this administration never answers and they don�t send the documents but Henry writes that down too and files it away. He keeps in his files every deed, every word, every misdeed and he dots all the I�s.

Is it July 4th yet? (The last words spoken by Thomas Jefferson as he laid dying in 1826 on July 4th.)

July 4th represents an event on the revolutionary road to what became America. Some say July 4th was actually a war chart signaling to England that the �New World� was read for war, ready to stand up for their rights, ready for independence from the Monarchy. This week signals another kind of war in America, another revolution against those who have lost the understanding of democracy, another government who has lost or is losing their way, lost their understanding of democracy as intended by our forefathers. This is an old argument and one that started with our forefathers, what we are experiencing is an awakening America, but first we must bear witness to democracy and patriotism run amuck. (Sally McDonald)

No matter what is going on the country stops on the 4th of July. Newspapers and TV rarely report anything that might be negative. It is assumed (for us) that we don�t want to hear anything but good news, happy news, something about Mom, apple pie, and the Flag, family and friends gather for barbecues, picnics, and outings.

Fireworks have been banned in most places in Colorado, and my family talks of days long past when I would drive the kids to Wyoming to get the best illegal fireworks ever. Where else would the fireworks be plentiful but in �God�s Gun Country,� so while I fought mightily for gun control, I slipped into my own little hypocritical role and �armed� my kids for the 4th of July, fortunately they were never hurt and neither was anyone else in the neighborhood, but the irony was never lost on me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I accept your nomination for President of the United States. (John Forbes Kerry July 29, 2004 10:22pm Boston, MA.

�Our enemies are innovative and resourceful - and so are we," the US president told a high-level meeting of Pentagon officials. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people - and neither do we." (George W. Bush, 2004)

Did you ever plan a party, a perfect party, and it all fell apart? People didn�t show up like you expected, it rained, the caterer was late, something happened and instead of a perfect party it was a disaster. The Republican National Convention is about to begin on such a note. The last minute details will be disastrous with these final three weeks falling on a Mercury Retrograde. For those needing a refresher on Mercury Retrogrades it relates to miscommunications, mistakes, break downs, forgetfulness, redoes, rehauls, technological mishaps, missteps, foot-in-mouth disease; you get the point I am sure. We will all be under the Mercury Retrograde, fortunately we won�t all be on the national stage.

The RNC is getting a little taste of what�s to come this month as Mercury goes retrograde on GWB�s Mars, and squares the party�s Saturn and the US Uranus. Presidential gaffes that went around the world (see above in italics) A terror alert for NY that turned out to be 4 years old and worse yet they reveled the name of the person who had this information and he turned out to be a secret intelligence operative. He was one of the good guys. This little disaster will send Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft into a huddle. The final blow this week has been one of their �stars,� John McCain publicly refuting the recent attempt to smear John Kerry�s Vietnam record, and the �we�ve turned the corner� phrase has economically turned out to be a bad corner.

I don�t want to go among mad people Alice remarked.
Oh, you can�t help that, said the Cat, we are all mad here.
(Lewis Carroll from Alice in Wonderland)

It�s the Cheshire Cat who rightly explains the insanity of the world Alice fell toward when she went down Lewis Carroll�s �black hole.� If only we had such a guide as �the White Rabbit� to steer us through the �black hole� insanity where we have found ourselves living.

The scientist Stephen Hawking was one of the discovers of the Black Hole in the Universe, concluding all eventually fell into them, enfolded into the universe not to return. He changed his mind a little this last summer and now speculates that �fluctuations gradually allow information inside the black hole to leak out, allowing us to form a consistent picture.�

Although I am taking a complex quantum issue to apply to this one little tiny dot in the Universe (earth) and an even smaller dot in history (the US politics) I think it does apply. The Hawking theory applies to all matter, however big or small, and this is a small matter but it affects everyone inhabiting our little particle of time and space, forever challenging our understanding or sense of reality.

There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behoves any of us to find the fault with the rest of us.

From time to time, in between articles, I am going to place an opportunity for a continued thread to facilitate the Astro/Political discussions and this is the first one.

Astrology is an in-exact science like most sciences and subject to interpretation of the energy. If one attempts to tie their ego into being "right" or the expert as it relates to their interpretations or that of their favorite "expert" they will be sadly disappointed and look like a fool.

If I told you what my actual educational background was or who my client base is or what I've done you may not continue to dig out your own infomation, make your own judgements seek your own interpretations, and that is true of ALL the professional astrologers who post on this page as their backgrounds are awesome and if we knew your educational background or experience it would FREAK us out, and if we don't continue to dig we all lose the richness of new thought.

I've been meaning to change the thread when it got to 250 buttttttttt life has had me by the tail dragging me in other directions this month. I will try to keep a better watch on them.

We didn�t start the fire; it was always burning while the world was turning. (Billy Joel)

I am flummoxed at the polls. Up 12 - down 7 - dead even - ahead by 1. Then the �you did this,� well that�s nothing �you did that.� ELECTIONS: Destroy the enemy first; frenzy, and fights, flog the opponent. Vote for that guy and the terrorists win. Can we take another six weeks of this? Can the editorial writers keep up their hammer for their �guy?� Can we read yet another article that supports the position of �our guy?� Will there be a scandal to end all scandals for one or the other, effectively knocking them out of the race?

Forget the focus groups who say they hate the fighting, oh no, we love the fight, we love the scandals, we love the spitting contests and in truth we will take more until finally we are satiated, gorged, and left exhausted until another 4 years are up and we can start all over. In the beginning, politicians only had word of mouth, then newspapers, then radio, TV to ratchet up their exposure and now � now, with the internet, we have it all, and still the 4 or 5 percent who can�t make up their mind.

Our candidates are floundering as this country is floundering. I am reminded of the old childhood song �Did you Ever See a Lassie� only my adult version would be �did you ever see a leader, a leader, a leader, did you ever see a leader go this way and that?� One has to be amazed that the The most important election in at least 60 years and both candidates are floundering just most flip-flopping, change your story President I ever remember has managed to paint himself as steady and resolved. The only time GWB has been steady and resolved is when he has driven us into quicksand and then he doesn�t seem to know how to �flip-flop� us out of there. Tax cuts, raging deficits, a war based on lies, unemployment, you know the list. GWB doesn�t seem to have a clue or a vision of how to shift, change, or even grab a branch to get this country out of the quicksand, thanks in part to what seems to be an immature understanding of what power and leadership means, much less use wisely. Most of the world sees him as the worst President ever. Link

Remember when you were a kid and you went from one parent to the other trying to get what you want? Neither Bush nor Kerry has been able to articulate a plan or vision of empowerment for the people, perhaps that�s because they are only interested in their own power and begging us to give them that power, throwing promises at us they cannot possibly keep. And so we go �this way and that way and this way and that.�

New Fall Solstice later today.

WHITE NOISE is a type of noise produced by mixing sounds of all different frequencies together. Take all the imaginable sounds that a human ear can hear and combine them and you have White Noise. The adjective �white� is used because of the way white light works. Think of 50,000 tones all playing at the same time. White light is made up of all the different colors combined together.

Because white noise contains all frequencies, it is frequently used to mask other sounds.

White noise is what we have on this 2004 Autumn Solstice, as the Sun slipped into Libra at 12:18 pm, Washington D.C. and the noise is deafening. The Republicans want CBS investigated, Dan Rather fired, investigate the DNC, accusing John Kerry of treason and want him to resign as the candidate for President. Right wing blogs are suggesting that Kerry is terminally ill and want his medical records released (Bill Clinton never released his) they are saying Kerry hasn�t released all his Navy records (he has) and today the list goes on of �white noise.�

Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are trying to lunge toward Libra over the next few days, to join the Sun in that most gracious, fair, craving balance, sign. Worn out from the misuse of Virgo energy they cannot seem to wait to leave the nit-pick, verbal assaults and �white noise� the administration has used.

This is a NEW LINK in celebration of Jupiter throwing herself into Libra at 10:33pm Washington, to join the lucky old Sun, Mars scrambles into Libra (his fall) on Sunday. I am counting on Libra to bring back some balance to what has been a month of surreal experiences.

This eclipse series is about being forceful and taking power. It has a manic flavor about it, with great force or strength manifesting in the relationship area. Individuals experiencing this Saros Series may experience sudden events, like falling in or out of love or sudden encounters. The individual may also exert a huge effort in some group activity. (The Eagle and the Lark by Bernadette Brady)

In 1049, Edward, crowned in 1043, is the King of England. As a penance for not taking a pilgrimage, he was charged with building a permanent base for the English Monarchy on the banks of the Thames and it became known as Westminster Abby. There was a war going on against Ballwin of Bruges and the Catholic Church was mired in corruption and sexual scandals requiring the formation of the Council of Rheims and the Church declared, �witches could not fly.�

The Sun and Moon were at 21 Pisces, Pluto at 12 Aquarius, Mars at 13 Leo and Saturn was at 27 Capricorn, where the US Pluto came to reside, with Saturn today forming an opposition. That�s power for good or for ill.

"But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings." (John F. Kennedy)

Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. (Anonymous

Just remember-when you think all is lost, the future remains. (Bob Goddard)If Dixville Notch, New Hampshire is an indication of the nation, the votes are in and counted. Fifteen votes for Kerry, fifteen votes for Bush and one for Nadar, it�s going to be a long day.

I wasn�t going to write and article tonight because I am almost beyond reading charts, I hold on to a thin edge of objectivity (never a good position for an astrologer) And I believe the energy is going to play out in line with the destiny of the United States.

A very Republican friend of mine called to tell me that she and her mother were voting for Kerry. I�ve listened to friends and colleagues argue both sides. I�ve listened to people say �I don�t like either one of them,� offering no reason for the dislike, they just don�t like them. The one thing I�ve noticed about the candidates that should be disturbing to those who will vote for Mr. Bush, and that�s the amount of Republicans who supported him in 2000 have publicly turned away, that hasn�t happened to Mr. Kerry except for poor angry Zell Miller. I�ve also noticed that not one Senator from either side of the aisle has really come out to criticize Kerry for his record in his 20 years of the Senate. Even the Republican ex-Governor of Massachusetts who ran against Kerry for the Senate in 1996 speaks very highly of him as a man of integrity. The angry Republicans like DeLay, Frist, Hasert, Gringich have been very quiet. None of them have shown up on any talking head shows that I�ve seen. Even the beloved talk show guest in August and September, John McCain, has been pretty silent or not covered by TV. I don�t watch Fox News so I don�t know if they have been on talking about �fair and balanced.� Colin Powell is quiet, Donnie Rumsfeld is quiet, John Ashcroft, all seem relatively quiet on the right-wing front. Pat Buchanan. This doesn�t pass my Scorpio smell test.

It's been interesting reading off and on today the posts on the election,
Bush, Kerry and astrologers. All the way from blaming to excusing, to Nancy thinking she should give astrology up.

Please bear with me while I say a little something about astrology, blogs, pollsters etc.

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." (Thomas Jefferson and posted on DU by Elizabeth Edwards)

The above quote seems to be an appropriate one to describe the frustration of Jefferson as he saw his country, built on the ideals of freedom and free speech, take a backward step into fear and repression. The Sedition Act was passed on July 14, 1798 when Saturn was in Cancer. Another version On May 16, 1918 and a young J. Edgar Hoover used that to imprison those who spoke out against the US Government, including women seeking the right to vote, Pluto was in Cancer busy supporting the family and status quo, lulling them into a false sense of security because all was about to change from dresses, to autos, to hair, to women, and Blacks, and the changes brought by Pluto transiting over the US Venus/Jupiter/Sun in Cancer made sure nothing would ever be the same.

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and
more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day
the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the
White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

H.L. Mencken was a popular conservative satirist and philosopher in the 20's, 30's, 40's and early 50's. He was also the quintessential elitist. It makes me smile to think how shocked he would be if he knew that his prophetic presidential "moron" would come from his own party.

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." -- Julius Caesar

Did you ever unravel an onion? It becomes smaller and smaller, smellier, and smellier, your nose starts to run and your eyes overflow with tears, finally the whole house reeks of onion. If you go far enough the onion becomes nothing.

We have an onion here folks, and it�s unraveling. The onion is the history of our known world, the US and further back. If each generation of humanity is the synthesis of all generations, all humankind, we haven�t come too far from what we think of as the savagery and barbarous actions of previous generations.

We elected our leaders from the pool of humankind and then elevated them with expectations that they will behave in our best interests, or at least behave in a civilized manner. We have mistaken their private clubs, big houses, Armani Suits and fine brandy for leadership. They had something different than those of us out here toiling for them so they could have their goodies, their trappings of success. We thought them better because they threw us crumbs from the money we made for them. Certainly better than the Cromwell�s, Hitler�s, Medici�s, Machiavelli�s, Henry the VIII, of old. Better than the Marquis de Sade�s, better than the Attila the Hun�s, or Marie Antoinette. Oh yes, we are sure we are better, our leaders wiser, kinder, more generous and honest. WHOOPS!!!! NOT!!!!

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. Jimmy Carter

�Destiny� is one of those open-ended words with a feel of romance and finality. We can apply �destiny� to nearly everything and everyone. Our meeting was �destiny,� �destiny brought me to this town, or job or friend or lover or child.� I have clients all the time ask me �what is my destiny,� I almost always say, �what are you doing right now.�

Destiny is synonymous with Karma and Webster defines Karma as Buddhism and Hinduism � the sum of a person�s actions in one of his successive existences thought to decide fate for the next life. Fate, destiny, karmic. Implicit in that definition would be that we are simultaneously working off the old Karma in our present destiny and creating a new future destiny. Talk about a careful juggling of balls.

Karmically we are connected to a myriad of people and situations. As an example our Karma may be attached to a sick child as they with us, even though we won�t experience the same thing, we are attached. We are attached to our neighborhoods, friends, jobs, towns, state, families, countries, these things hold the key to our destiny and if we move or change our situation, we expand or change our destiny in ways we cannot see. Every single action is a choice, every thought is a choice and every person has an impact. We look to leaders to define our destiny and they will as long as they are given the power.
However, we need to remember or learn that our leaders are not the destiny of this country, THIS country collectively, is their destiny as it is for each individual who lives here. They don�t define us, the country as a whole, elevates and defines them and the energy of the cosmos keeps moving and shifting our energy.

The temporary vibration of a 7 year offers some profound advice, for it is a year of the dreamer, philosopher, mystic and creative mind. In the negative a 7-year can bring gloom as the disappointment in the outer world drives us to a hermitage, a recluse shutting out a world that has disappointed us. For the US specifically we are experiencing an 18/9-year, a year of endings and the beginning of internal healing and new dreams.

Soon you will be finding a great deal on the Chinese �Year of the Rooster.� Not only do �roosters� awaken they are also considered to be the link or voice between heaven and earth. I�m not sure if this means the rooster awakens us or is so loud finally God hears us, we will have to wait until Feb. 9th to find out. Until then we are still under the whimsy eye of the Monkey and he has another month or so to play tricks.

There is a new article coming but this thread is getting pretty long so I thought you might want a fresh start.

Quite a pattern of storms, earthquakes, rolling waves that kill, icebergs ready to crash into each other as in the War of the Titans. Mother Nature raging and whipping and heaving her mighty power as we watch in horror. There has been some talk that mankind has been working at tickling the underbelly of the old crone just to see what would happen. The stupidity of such a project is awesome in it's implication.

The lights dim, the theater is hushed, the curtain is going up on the second act of this nightmarish and ghoulish play. Everyone has arrived, they believe they know their parts, there is no shortage in the cast of characters and they are ready. The usual group is here: the tyrant cracking his whip, the misanthropist with his biting comments, the petty official quoting the Constitution ignorant of its meaning, and the idlers with their love of novelty. There are the hanger ons and wanna bees, the repugnant and gruesome with their devotion to torture those who do not follow; the sniveling yes men and women, the liars, the thieves, the greedy, the depraved and the Pharisee�s are loudly praying in hopes of filling the emptiness of their hearts with a God they believe to be as bereft of love and compassion as they. Yes all here, all accounted for� Finally the audience, the judges, the jury, and perhaps the executioners they too are here, unconscious of the slowly drifting stench of sulphur wafting throughout the theater. Shhh � SHOW TIME
( taken from �The Changing of the Gods� A short story written by Sally Cheyne McDonald on the eve of Bill Clinton�s second Inauguration as the Republicans signaled their plan to attack)

January 20, 2004. It�s a day, just another day; another event, another travesty, another election and another pomp and show that has been the US answer to a Coronation since 1789. This day of inaugural ceremonies was our Founding Father�s idea of a democratic and populist Coronation, (only rarely has the �populist� actually been invited.)

�Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.� (Mark Twain)

Ah spring! Can't you almost hear "Ode to Spring" the birds tweetering, the bees buzzing, the lily's springing forth, and new beginnings. Buds flowering from trees and newly thawed ground, birds are building their nests preparing for little arrivals. Some thoughts turn to love, weddings, babies, and Easter. You can smell it, can�t you? Spring! The musty scent of the earth mixed with spring blossoms defusing winter�s lingering stuffy odors.

And right smack dab in the middle of babies and puppies and daffodils and tulips falls SATURN turning direct. I mean here we are, with the Cardinal sign of Aries conjuring up the image of spring, and oppressive ole Saturn belongs in the winter of our souls. But here he is, still in the Cardinal sign of Cancer, holding America�s feet to the fire of taking responsibility for all her actions. What a bummer. Or is it?

Terri Schiavo is no longer about Terri Schiavo. On a mundane level it has become the story of our own struggle over life and death and how much control we actually have and how much we will demand to have. Perfect for Saturn transiting the 8th house of the US Chart and Pluto inconjunct Mercury in the 8th house. We are now watching the people in the US scrambling to write living wills in order to maintain some kind of control over their death. The paper work is certainly a Mercury matter.

The greatest majority of the world's population has absolutely no choice over the issue of their death, they haven't the technology to keep people alive that the western world has, and the western world represents a minority of earth's people. Not only do they represent a minority but they seem to collectively possess the hubris to believe only the death of someone of European descent is important. Most countries don't even know what the flap is all about, they are simply trying to stay alive and the cost of keeping this one person on a feeding tube is mind boggling to them, because that money would support life for several communities in the majority of countries.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it�anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. (Douglas Adams author of �Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy�)

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. (Same guy as above.)

�I'm actually waiting for the mothership. I thought I was up for parole since I've done 55 straight years here on God's penal colony. (Claudia Dikinis)

�A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy� was originally, in 1978, a radio program in England, which led to a book, which led to more books, which led to a TV Series, which led to video games, which led to a movie released this month.

When Pluto turns direct in September it will be headed toward the Galactic Center for his first aspect at 26 Sagittarius since the US became the US. He comes right up to the edge for the first time in March and then decides to turn around and beat a retreat, gathering steam before he leaps over the abyss. Look carefully the house Pluto will aspect in your chart as Pluto arrives at 26 Sagittarius.

Even as cynical as I am having a hard time keeping up. (Lili Tomlin)

I am not among the ones who say "they don't like George Bush" I don't know George Bush to know whether I like him as a person or not. I do know however that I do not like his actions. Much like I felt about my kids when they were growing up. I didn't like some of their actions and believed they needed to take responsibility for those actions. So does this administration.

It was a couple of years ago that I stopped keeping track of all the impeachable, illegal, corrupt, socially unjust actions. When the mountain has already been formed, one more pebble thrown, making it a higher mountain is just one more pebble.

�Faith� means not wanting to know what is true. So long as the priest, that professional negator, slanderer and poisoner of life, is regarded as a superior type of human being, there cannot be any answer to the question: �What is truth?� (Friedrich Nietzsche)

In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues
(History of England 1849-1861 Vol. I. ch 1)The most important thing we can do in life is to think for ourselves (that�s the message of every great philosopher who ever lived.)

It�s about religion people, it�s always about religion. We are either seeking God, using God, or trying to control God for our own purposes and from the beginning of recorded time the human race has been fighting over whose God is best, richest, most powerful. My daddy is bigger than your daddy, so I am safer on this harsh planet than you and to prove it I will be God�s chosen people and that�s where real trouble begins. Lying, perversion, murder, theft, greed all of it starts here, from sacrificing virgins to the gods to atone for someone else�s sins, (not the sins of the sacrifice of course) leading young men and women into their death to protect the particular God who is going to forgive you for the sins you�ve committed, all can be laid at the feet of religion.

It often doth befall/he who conquers loses all. (Dinah Marie Muolck Craik)

I heard Pat Buchanan say tonight that there would be a scream go up around the country over the "Full Moon" comprimise, and there was a scream from the far right and the far left, but the massive group in the middle applauded. Pat indicated that the GOP 7 who broke ranks just didn't understand the American People. I think that's true only I wouldn't confine that lack of knowledge to the GOP 7 who made up half of the filibuster comprimise yesterday, I think most of the politicians on both sides are struggling to grasp that oddest of creatures, "we the people." The question of "what do they want and why don't they like us" is not far from their lips since poll ratings for Congress has plunged over 20 points since they took office on Jan. 4, 2005.

I'm sorry I passed the magic number of 250 posts before I got to the New Thread. I am taking a (what I consider well deserved) break from work this weekend and didn't get another article up.

Mars is at 20 degrees Pisces so things might be or feel a little snappish to the 20/21/22 degrees of Mutable signs, be patient. Mars also squares US Mars and opposes Neptune, more violence and new names to add to the Memorial Day list unfortunately, and perhaps with the opposition to Neptune some new ideas coming from our better selves on how to handle this violence in Iraq. The administration will be hearing the drum beat to "get out" a little loudly as we proceed into next week

This aint comin from no prophet Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there's shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free
We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud
'Cause we shall be free

When we're free to love anyone we choose
When this worlds big enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pew
Then we shall be free
We shall be free
We shall be free
Have a little faith
Hold out
'Cause we shall be free

And when money talks for the very last time
And nobody walks a step behind
When there's only one race and thats mankind
Then we shall be free
We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud,
have a little faith, hold out
We shall be free

Garth Brooks We Shall Be Free lyrics

The wheels of justice grind slowly but exceedingly small.

It was hot on June 21, 1964 in Mississippi; it�s always hot in Mississippi in late June. Three young men Mickey Schwermer, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were in Mississippi to investigate the recent burning of a church during the most violent period of the Civil Rights Movement. The sheriff in Philadelphia, Mississippi picked them up for �speeding,� and then released them at 10:00pm and warned them to get out of town. Carloads of KKK, including the sheriff were waiting for them to make sure they never came back. These young men were tortured, beaten, and then shot and their car set on fire. Their bodies weren�t found until Aug. 4, 1964, but they were murdered on the Summer Solstice in 1964, nearly seven months to the day after the JFK murder in another southern town.

It has taken exactly 41 years to the day for the ringleader of those murders to be brought to justice. In 1964 on June 21st, Venus was retrograde at 27 degrees Gemini, Venus progressed to a direct motion after about 20 years, and today it has finally progressed back to its 1964 position, just a few minutes beyond, and today justice was done, after 41 years the families can have closure on the lives of these three brave young men. It was a good day in Mississippi.

A Nation of Sheep breeds a Government of Wolves

(Edward R. Murrow)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact. (George Eliot, 1879)

CNN pointed out that this was essentially the same speech given last year when the polls were falling for Bush�s war. ABC reported that the only applause came from a WH advance team. CNN also reported that an immediate poll taken after the speech of 50% Republicans, 27 percent Democrats, and 23 percent Independents over 50 percent were favorably impressed. The astrological indicators (0 degree Capricorn on the Ascendant) would say �it�s too soon really to tell how the speech will help.� The other astrological indicators beside the Ascendant say �it won�t play too well and will be forgotten soon.�

Lying is an occupation. /Used by all who mean to rise; / Politicians owe their station but to well concerted lies. (Letitia Pilkington � 1754)

In the early days of our Republic, the questions asked of each office seeker were �Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the constitution?� In our present diseased state, the one question asked of an office seeker is, �Is he faithful to the party?� (Judith Anderson in �Outspoken Women� 1984)

Red Rover is a childhood game, consisting of two teams and each team would try to capture someone from the other and draw a circle so tight around their prisoner the offended team could not pry the prisoner(s) loose. If the circle was weakened or broken, all of course, was lost.

There has been a very tight circle around the built up lies which started this malevolent war of torture, death and destruction. Oh Red Rover, Red Rover! Like children one team has had their circle weakened. Someone, Joe Wilson, caused a little thread to come loose in this administration�s tightly woven tapestry and looks like Karl Rove might have tried to pull the thread out and now the whole outfit is in danger of falling apart. Ashes, Ashes we all fall down.

�It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress� (Mark Twain)
I would like to add the word �politicians� to Mr. Twain�s observations of our Government as a group. It�s like a club for psychopaths, and we are paying them to be thieves, hypocrites, liars and I fear, worse. The better they are at their illegal antics, the more we pay them and the higher we elevate them. Mark Twain saw this over a hundred years ago, and thanks to a hundred years of corporate growth, and expansion � it�s gone down hill.

I�m not sure what a �Thunder Moon� means but it is one of the names Wicca gives for July�s Full Moon and �Thunder Moon� seemed the appropriate name for this particular Moon. On June 22 the Sun�s Ingress into Cancer was accompanied by a Full Moon, and at 7:00am (D.C. time) the Moon will shepherd the Sun out of Cancer, and open the door for the Sun to slip home into Leo and Saturn is waiting to meet and greet.

I hear it's hot mighty hot in Texas including Crawford. I also hear tell there is a big dust cloud the size of the US drifting toward Texas from Saudia Arabia. They say this is not an uncommon occurance, still it is a big dust cloud over Texas.

Jung, The Symbolic Life CW18, p. 571
"The whole of a Nation never reacts like a normal modern individual, but always like a primitive group being...Man in the group is always unreasonable, irresponsible, emotional, erratic, and unreliable. Crimes the individual alone could never stand are freely committed by the group being...The larger an organization the lower its morality."

The above quote is often at the bottom of Claudia Dikinis emails and it's a beautiful way of saying "mob mentality" and that seems to be what is going on in Washington and their friends around the country.

Time has its due influence over visible grief, that which is expressed by visible emotions-it softens sighs and dries tears�but the loss of that which is, or was, part of yourself, remains for ever. (Sydney Lady Morgan � 1844)

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny

I consulted the Moon like a crystal ball. (Diane Ackerman, �The Planets� 1976)

I hold back the Full Moon of August as long as I can. Vedic astrologers say the Full Moon is the most auspicious, far more than the New Moon and it does always seem full of promise and bursting at the seams with magic possibilities. Still, the August Full Moon seems to herald a poignant end to summer. The sun cools, the flowers fade, the night comes sooner, and more than any other Full Moon, it�s the August Moon that reminds me of endings.

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED AND FOR THE TIME BEING I AM CLOSING IT DOWN.

Oh what a summer. Cindy Sheehan is back, but the steam has gone out a bit from her stand in Crawford. Saturn coming to her Leo planets will leave her depressed and feeling even more marginalized and used. However, she will be back and she has kicked off a peace movement. She's also been more than a little responsible with Bush's falling numbers. Of course, if the WH stupidly puts fake protesters against her, they will really be lighting a big Texas fire. They do seem to take long vacations from any brain activity so they might do something stupid against her.

Bush is taking off for a fishing trip. Big daddy (George Sr.) and Cheney flew to the House of Saud (Arabia until the Saudies came in from the Desert) to reconfirm their love and loyalty to the new King.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050815/scheer0810

HELP US, HELP US, PLEASE PLEASE HELP US. (Cries heard from shelters and rooftops around New Orleans)

AND PLUTO IS DIRECT TODAY

She slammed into the Big Easy with all the fury of the world�s anger lashing with her. America awakened to a Monday that would see New Orleans destroyed and people trapped not realizing they would be abandoned like their city was being abandoned.

"...the director runs onto the stage and shouts, 'what's the matter with you anyway? Why didn't you act?" Taken aback we mutter "We didn't know the play'd started. We were waiting. It wasn't the way we thought it would be." (that man is you by Louis Evely translated by Edmond Bonin)

"You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work -- and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. With admiration, Scooter Libby."

The above quote from Scooter Libby�s now famous note to Judith Miller, who was languishing in jail for her refusal to turn over her notes or name her source, (even after �her source� had given her permission to do so) remains a mystery as to the true meaning of his words. Was Scooter waxing poetic or was he sending a message to the neo-cons chosen messenger turned jailbird, and maybe a turned coat.

This is actually just a short update on the present conditions. First of all I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful birthday wishes and a special hello to the "lurkers" and new people, lordy I am grateful to you. I love birthdays and think everyone should declare a National Holiday on their birthday. I feel incredibly honored to live in such a fantastic historical period of time, with enormously brilliant, interesting, caring and involved people. I especially feel honored to know each of you, even if it's just in cyborspace. I don't know what energy brought all of you to this site but I do know it's because of you that this site has whatever success it enjoys. You have taken this small effort and turned it into a huge stage. What a gift. I thank you and tip my hat with a bow to all of you for your generosity.

Love,

Sally

When I was a little girl we would pray for World Peace at my little small town church. The year was 1949 and as I grew up I realized there wasn't much peace then. Europe was still in turmoil from WWII, the Korean War was heating up, the Irish were fighting the English, Africa and India were starving, the Middle East was fighting each other and no one trusted Aisa. Fast forward to 2005, not much has changed except America is the "cook" stiring this Mulligan Stew around the world.

As I've said a million times, "energy is just energy" the same energy that destroys also builds and I have wracked my brain to try and understand why, how and where so much destructive energy has been thrown into this pot.

But the best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is "the results of modern investigation." Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach! (from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis)

In the �Screwtape Letters� Uncle Screwtape is kept busy instructing his beloved nephew �Wormwood� in how to confuse, baffle, stupefy, bamboozle and ultimately procure the soul of a young man just trying to live out his life. Wormwood�s task is to lure the young man away from goodness and toward evil. Not evil on a grand scale, but evil in small and petty ways, the slow turning of a soul toward greed, selfishness, fear, mistrust and hatred toward his fellow man, until the time is ripe to do the bidding of Evil on a grand scale all the time thinking one is doing good. Through �Uncle Screw tape�s� letters, slowly one can see how easily their own heart and soul is turned toward a darker expression and adding to the darkness covering the earth.

This is the backdrop of my New Year�s predictions because in 2006 it will be important to remember and hang on to our own goodness and light as Screwtapes and Wormwoods have been unleashed on this earth.

"A constitution is a compact of a people with their rulers; if the rulers break the compact, the people have a right and ought to remove them and do themselves justice; but in order to enable them to do this with the greater facility, those whom the people choose at stated periods, should have the power in the last resort to determine the sense of the compact; if they determine contrary to the understanding of the people, an appeal will lie to the people at the period when the rulers are to be elected, and they will have it in their power to remedy the evil; but when this power is lodged in the hands of men independent of the people, and of their representatives, and who are not, constitutionally, accountable for their opinions, no way is left to control them but with a high hand and an outstretched arm."

The above warning about the lack of accountability of America's judiciary appeared in 1788, written by Robert Yates, a delegate to the Constitutional convention. Memorialized in what have become known as the "Anti-Federalist Papers," Yates argued that the structure and authority of the judiciary in the proposed Constitution created a dangerously unaccountable branch that would usurp power and ultimately grant itself more power than the legislative branch. History has proven Yates correct. These pages attempt to illuminate, educate and call to act all those whose love for our Founding Fathers' great experiment known as the U.S. Constitution has been sobered by a sense that something is amiss in our judiciary. (Citizens Link)

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards." Samuel Adams

Al Gore�s speech, powerfully delivered today, carried by C-Span and finally mentioned on MSM http://www.algore.org/ left one breathless and excited about possibilities to be the active participants in Democracy as was intended by the framers of the Constitution. As Mr. Gore forcefully said �are members of Congress in more danger than the signers of the Declaration of Independence?� Every single member who signed that copy on July 2, 1776 and then read it aloud on July 4, 1776 were traitors to King George and his throne, and had they lost, everyone of them would have been hanged as traitors. We would not be playing �Hail to the Chief� today, but �God Save the Queen.� Al Gore said it best when he said �is Congress in more danger today then they were then?� The answer is no.

I would like to call attention to the book offering on the right "People-Powered Times" Written by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zunig. Marcos is the founder of Daily Kos (with MYDD listed as the God-father) Jerome is the founder of MYDD, they are considered two of the best political bloggers in the US today and the genius behind political blogs and internet grass roots political activitism. They organized and gave people a directed voice into politics.

I strongly encourage everyone to buy their book for yourself and as a gift to others. These are the two men who tapped the power of the people, directed the energy and know how to get power back into our hands. I can hardly wait to read it, Jerome and Markos are our modern day Thomas Paine whose voices of people power reverberate throughout the internet directing and empowering us all to be the "leaders" we've so badly needed.

"This outrageous film plunges you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated � where neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived by its protagonist - where everything is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.

Human Consciousness itself." (Ashland Independent Film Festival Review on �What the Bleep Do We Know�)

I've written about Jefferson Smith and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" before. It's 60 years old but still the number one movie about Washington, DC. I imagine it's the number one because it's about the little guy and someone with nerve enough to stand up for what's right, someone trying to make a difference. The fictional character Jefferson Smith was an unlikely candidate to stand up as a filibuster. He was new to Congress, young, discouraged, and had everything to lose. He didn't nearly have the clout of a John Kerry or Ted Kennedy, however both of them have been badly marginalized by the media, the GOP, and in Kerry's instance, by his own party.

No matter what Washington, the Democrats, the GOP, the Media, the late night comedians think of John Kerry, it's taken courage for him to continue to fight back this last year and now he is fighting what seems to be an uphill battle with Ted Kennedy pushing him from behind and as of today, the Filibuster is on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/live-onair-filibuster-_b_14635.html

To lodge all power in one party and keep it there is to insure bad government and the sure and gradual deterioration of the public morals.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography

This everlasting compelling of honesty, morality, justice and the law to bend the knee to policy, is the rottenest thing in a republican form of government. It is cowardly, degraded and mischievous; and in its own good time it will bring destruction upon this broad-shouldered fabric of ours. I believe the Prince of Darkness could start a branch hell in the District of Columbia (if he has not already done it), and carry it on unimpeached by the Congress of the United States, even though the Constitution were bristling with articles forbidding hells in this country. And if there were moneyed offices in it, Congress would take stock in the concern, too, and in less than three weeks Fessenden and Washburne would fill it full of their poor relations. What a rotten, rotten, and unspeakable nasty concern this nest of departments is, with its brainless battalions of Congressional poor-relation-clerks and their book-keeping, pencil-sharpening strumpets. Mark Twain

Theater was alive and well tonight with the Sun, Mercury and Neptune in the 5 house in Aquarius. The Sun was anxious to do itself proud in its fallen sign Aquarius, and both the Sun and Mercury are in close conjunction to Neptune and squaring Jupiter. Mercury, the ruler of the Ascendant and Midheaven is closely rolling toward Neptune and a square to Jupiter. With those aspects all we needed was Jimmy Cagney marching up center aisle playing "It's A Grand Ole Flag."

The hardships of life are sent not by an unkind destiny to crush, but to challenge (Sam E. Roberts)

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn�t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. (Lucille Ball)

Where do we go and what do we do? I don�t even know which issues to address.

1. Illegal Spying by our government on its people?
2.Corruption by our lawmakers who are stealing from us and
we seem to be OK with it?
3.A pattern of lies by our governmental leaders?
4.Abramoff and Franklin (AIPAC) scandals?
5.The ineptness of the �opposition� party?
6.The American version of the Taliban with their radical right wing religious agenda?
7.Along those lines, the violent reaction of Muslims to a cartoon?
8.The shredding of the US Constitution
9.The voting machines and the probable illegality of this administration to even hold office.
10The world wide palpable fear of citizens of their governments
11.The seemingly complete and total lack of quality leadership in this country or in any country as far as I can see.
12.The Super Bowl (I�d bet on the Steelers another wise AW poster says Seattle, so there you have it , get your bets down)

Midpoints are simply the planetary point between two planets. If there is a planet in Scorpio and one in Virgo, the midpoint can be found in Libra. You take the mathematical position of one planet, the mathematical position of the second planet and divide them by 2 and you have a midpoint. As an example let�s take Mars/Saturn, a particularly destructive energy midpoint.

Mars in Virgo at 159 degrees (9 Virgo) and Saturn in Cancer say at 116 degrees (26 Cancer) add those two numbers together and you end up with 137 degrees (17 Leo)

Let�s take this a bit further. Mars at 81 degrees (21 degrees Gemini) and 194 degrees (14 Libra) add and divide by two, again 137 degrees (17 Leo)

There are literally hundreds of midpoints in a chart and often times; if a number of them are set off and supported by additional transits to major points in a chart you get a predictable reaction to the midpoint, if you understand the meaning of the midpoint.

You load 16 tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt, St. Peter don�t you call me cause I can�t go, I owe my soul to the company store.
(Tennessee Ernie Ford, song.)

Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are making their run on the US of A. We must thank to the Bush Family and their �special relationship� with the Sultans of the Middle East for this amazing turn of events, and let�s not forget James Baker III. The President asked what the difference was between England managing our Ports and Dubai. One glaring reason would be that England is operated as a Democracy and UAE is not. That would be Sheikhs running around in those turbans on the sands of those seven UAE countries.

Looks a lot like our president is exporting democracy and importing dictatorships into this country.

In forming a bridge between body and mind, dreams may be used as a springboard from which man can leap to new realms of experience lying outside his normal state of consciousness and enlarge his vision not only of himself, but also of the universe in which he lives (Ann Faraday, Dream Power, 1972)

I personally am experiencing Neptune square my Mercury and Jupiter conjunct it, so dreams and escape is very much on my mind as Mercury rules my 9th and 12th house. I am struggling to stay focused on my work and to remember to pay the phone bill on time. But my dreams, ah there is another story; as long as I don�t try to make them conform to a concrete timetable I can watch them unfold. I can pick any dream I want, take it out, play with it and throw it up to catch the wind and let it blow through the collective consciousness for that is where our dreams go. How many times have you thought of something only to see it in print or on TV within a few days? Thought of an old friend or just a person in passing, only to have them call?

A Victory in Iraq will make our country safer. (GWB March 19, 2006)

We're losing 50 to 60 people a day in Iraq, if this isn't a civil war then God knows what a civil war is. (Allawi former Prime Minister of Iraq, March 19, 2006)

Yes, only God knows!

My goodness, this site has been rockin and rollin the last few days and a tribute to the Aries Eclipse. I wrote an article regarding the Eclipse but Nancy put hers up and then Art sent me his and I wanted to post that one. However one of the things I wrote in that article was the fact that the Eclipse was in Aries and in the first house giving rise to a pugnacious response over the next few months to events and AW (as well as other sites) proved the energy affects us collectively. I have seen example after example of the Aries tendency to push one's ideas and opinions forward, including the Immigration issue.

Where should we begin says Pooh? Well, says Christopher Robin, as with all serious subjects, we should begin at the beginning.

Just where is the beginning of the "Plame" affair? As with all pieces of ugly business, there are several dates, several involved 'players' and each had a different 'beginning.' Let's go back to the beginning of the labyrinth that is the home of spies and intrigue and governments. Of course we cannot get to the beginning of the beginning of this saga because it goes back to the early 80's.

The whole mess starts with a breakin at the Niger Embassy in Rome sometime on January 1st, 2001. I will take a noon time (although my Scorpio Sun and Agatha Christie bent says it HAD to be about 3 or 4 am, the witching hours) The Noon Chart does put the Moon (ruler of the 4th) in the 12th House, and the Embassy was closed on January 1st making the daytime a better target than a flashlight bobbing around in the middle of the night.

The thieves were seedy to be sure, but all they took was some Embassy stationary and some official Niger stamps and turned those items into a nice piece of change as they peddled them around Europe, who immediately pegged them for what they were.

http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/berlusconi-behind-fake-yellowcake.html

Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects

I have said that all the reputedly powerful reactionaries are merely paper tigers. The reason is that they are divorced from the people. Look! Was not Hitler a paper tiger? Was Hitler not overthrown? I also said that the tsar of Russia, the emperor of China and Japanese imperialism were all paper tigers. As we know, they were all overthrown. U.S. imperialism has not yet been overthrown and it has the atom bomb. I believe it also will be overthrown. It, too, is a paper tiger. (Mao Tse Tung, 1957)

Outside of Comedy Central, Black Humor doesn't often make its way into polite company. It's saved for the battlefield and soldiers, hospitals and the medical personnel and morticians to name a few.

Colbert truly delivered up a "smashing" routine, black humor at it's finest. Comedy Central's newest star doing his shtick. Stephen Colbert bombed in the room and rocked the audience in the world.

A lot coming up this next week. The possibiity of finally hearing one way or the other if Karl Rove is to be indicted. The fact that he hasn't been indicted after all this time would indicate to me that there is either a weaker case than we know, or a bigger case than we know, but it's turned into one of those "strange" cases that seem to generate out of Washington. One thing is for sure, while Patrick
Fitzgerald is "dragging" his feet, or taking his time, or being really careful, or waiting for them to make a deal - Karl is working as fast as he can "swifting-boating" the Dems.

If General Hayden (March 17, 1945 Pittsburgh PA) is not confirmed as the CIA director, someone equally odious will be named to that position. I keep thinking this will be like kids and too much candy and they will all just get sick of themselves.

I know positive change doesn't look like it's coming soon; and for sure their "coup" is almost complete as there are very few left in government or the judiciary who can or will stand up to these people, certainly not "corporate," but underneath the underbelly of this slime and sleeze I believe there are new seeds of growth and a new foundation being laid.

A sometimes poster "M" and oft times lurker reminded me of this aclaimed play by Samuel Beckett in the late 40's. There is a cast of characters who are awaiting someone by the name "Godot." You never see him and you really never know why he is important.

Initially the play received mixed reviews because the author never explained the meaning of the play, and it was unclear who, what, where or why they were waiting for "Godot." Overtime that has seemed to provide endurance to the success of the story as one can relate and must think of what it means to them.

There will be a new article up as soon as possible this week. My youngest son is getting married Saturday and he just moved into a new house, it's been a bit nuts. I thought the "mother of the groom" was supposed to have it easier than the "mother of the bride" I must say it was much easier when my daughter got married than both of my sons and I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Just a little rant before the wedding.

Oh my, we talk and talk and talk and what happens? Nothing! The country has raged against NSA and the GOP Senate has given the phone companies a pass on a Senate investigation. Orin Hatch has assurances from Dick Cheney that they will be careful. So there you have it, they will be careful. I am so sorry we had to use the name "Tricky Dick" on Nixon, it so fits here.

Immigrants are pouring over the border without any checks or balances (a deal struck by Vincenti Fox and our own GWB) that would be a 9th house matter. America's 9th House is ruled by Leo and housing our Virgo Neptune. Chances are the "deal" was cut when Saturn was conjunct the US Sun (and GWB's) and we started find out the situation when Pluto opposed the US Mars (destruction of the country from without) and squared the US Neptune (slipping in unobserved)

I have a theory that politics is the career path for psychopaths. See if you can�t find our leaders in this group http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/428/428lect16.htm (Sally Cheyne McDonald)

To the hallowed halls of Congress we have elected drug addicts, alcoholics, pathological liars, thieves, thugs, bullies; we have all of that and worse. We pay them, we the people pay them, and worship at their designated alters. As a body, who are these people? What happens to them when they get to Washington or were their problems there before they joined that august exclusive �gang of thieves� in DC?

This is a new thread until Morgana has her solstice article ready to go and to give everyone a fresh comment page. It took me several minutes to scroll to the bottom and thought I would put this up.

Right now life reminds me of those trips many of us make with children who want to know if "they've arrived" every 10 seconds. It's so been a bumpy ride and we are so sick and tired of this group, I feel like one of those kids "Momma, are we there yet?" I saw the 9 Women Senators of the Democratic Party on Larry King tonight and wondered if we could elect them as a Presidential Panel to lead this country. They were fantastic. I'm just going to give a quick recap on some items.

When asked about the very serious question about the seriousness of Israel�s bombing of Beirut, the �leader� of the free world responded by saying �I thought you would want to talk about the pig.� A reference to a �pig roast� he was attending later in Germany. Morgana suggested he was making a hidden reference to �Jesus� driving the �swine� over the cliff. I think it was his way of sending a smart mouth message that he wasn�t going to discuss Israel�s sending in a bull dozer to crush an ant, the ant being the increasingly childish and stupid Hezbollah. Even the Arab League is split over Hezbollah�s actions http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arableague16jul16,0,1570901.story?coll=la-home-headlines.

While Europe is split over the actions of Israel, particularly since there are an estimated 25,000 innocent tourists trapped in the Middle East version of the �Hatfield�s and McCoy� feud; or the Capulets and the Montegues; or the Northern Irish and the English. Fights that were so old that they simply became a way of life for people decade after decade and no one questioned them anymore.

If the Tourists have enough money they can now buy their way out of Lebanon or the rest of the Middle East.

Basically this is simply a new thread but I am writing this on the eve of when the US Mars goes retrograde by progression. Beginning tomorrow and playing out for the next 80 years, this country will collectively begin the process of a journey within our collective unconscious. One of the most interesting aspects to this progressed retrograde Mars is it conjuncts GWB's Jupiter. So what will that mean for all of us?

I will first address what it could mean for our President. It could mean that we just give up to the agenda of the government completing their financial fraud on this country. That we lose our will to fight for our money or fight to save our resources from being plundered. We lose the will because our focus is more on an inward journey for our lives than an outward journey of "things." Much confusion will reign for us until we settle in to a pattern of healing ourselves.

In 2030 Mars will conjunct the US Saturn perhaps signaling a return to restrictions of civil rights. Progressed Mars last conjuncted the US Saturn in 1978/1979 with the hostage crisis that cost Jimmy Carter the election. At that time we had an oil crisis (or so they said) and a recession. The 1980 Election saw the US elect a President who wanted to return us to some mythical "good ole days." He was a puppet in the hands of questionable people and inflicted enormous damage on this country and the present administration is attempting to finish what was started at that time.

The question of the August 11, 1999 Eclipse is one that keeps coming up and should come up. I have written several articles drawing attention to this eclipse because every major thing that has happend since then has it's roots in the Aug. 11 Grand Fixed Cross eclipse and a repeated pattern on Aug. 17/18 1999.

On August 11th the Moon and Sun were at 18 degrees Leo, opposing a 14 degree Uranus in Aquarius. The most powerful aspects to this eclipse was a 16 degree Taurus Saturn, and 16 degree Scorpio Mars.

The second Grand Fixed Cross was formed on August 17/18, not an eclipse but very powerful as all planets except Pluto were in the four fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius and Pluto was in a trine to Mercury; a promise of revealed information.

The other night a fellow astrologer (Claudia Dikinis) emailed me a short video clip of a 1940 Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire dance number. It was a beautiful segment and they tapped to �Begin the Beguine� by Cole Porter. It started slowly like all Astaire routines and built to a frenetic crescendo of talent and flair and passion; showing the dancing genius of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. It was breathtaking, and framed for me the time in which we live, (without the music of course) tap dancing faster and faster, revealing the genius of the human race to survive. I am sure some of you remember the Astaire number where he threw Cherry Bombs on the floor and danced around them as they went off, maybe all the �bombs� going off in the world wouldn�t be so awful and deadly if we put music to the action.

"It�s going to be challenging for New Horizons to fly through Pluto�s system and image all these moons� Max Mutchler

Pluto banished as a planet, sucked into the Black Hole of the Galactic Center. Pluto displaced Mars as the ruler of Scorpio when discovered on Feb. 2, 1930 at 4:00pm in Flagstaff, AZ. At the time of his discovery, Pluto was at 18 Cancer and the serious discussions as to his demise as a planet began when the progressed Moon was opposing (several months ago) 18 Cancer.

This actually fits Scorpio�s nicely as they don�t like people �digging� into their business, so it�s fitting Pluto should disappear for a bit. It is interesting to note that America�s recently retrograde Mars went retrograde in an exact square to Pluto in the Discovery Chart. Of course the disappearance of Pluto as a planet is a world wide experience, still the impact as an analogy on the US is unmistakable. Mars was at 27 degrees Capricorn, when Pluto was discovered, and Pluto did usurp Mars in the US chart as he rested at 27 Capricorn upon the birth of America. In 1789, when Washington became President (the birth of the Republic) Pluto was at 19 degrees Aquarius; could Neptune and Saturn be dissolving the old Republic to be born again as something new when Pluto passes over the 27 Capricorn degree and moves toward Aquarius, giving rise to the power of Pluto in Scorpio generation?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14489259/?GT1=8404

There is a wind blowing tonight. One of those gentle, fall is in the air, winds. A change, a shift. And tonight there is a lull for some. Tomorrow the world's fireworks begins. In watching MSM Cable last week and this one gets the feeling of Rip Van Winkle awakening, or maybe it's more apt to say "taking off the gloves." I loved the post on the last thread that said "Fox News ratings were falling," so something is happening.

After Labor Day the onslaught of political ads begin heating up and the knives are already out of the sleeves and being sharpened. I am listing the astro data on a few key states in this election, and if I've missed your favorite state just leave me a post and I will add.

September 7, 2006 Eclipse Lunar15 Pisces/Virgo � Saros Series 8 South
September 22, 2006 Solar Eclipse 29 Pisces � Saros Series 8 South.

�Separation and loss. To be parted. To finish something, and to feel sad at its completion. Physical injury is also possible through over-straining one�s strength. This is not the time to undertake strenuous physical activities. (Bernadette Brady �The Eagle and the Lark�)
Transiting Saturn 18 Leo

Bill Clinton Moon 20 Taurus (T-Saturn in square by less than a degree and a half)
ABC Mars 20 Taurus (T-Saturn in square by less than a degree and a half)

Not good aspects for either party to come out of this ahead or looking good. This is similar to the Reagan Documentary CBS was going to run a few years ago with the GOP throwing a fit about the inaccuracies and that it had to be removed from their line up. It was removed and sold to Showtime. The famous or infamous documentaries of historical figures and events are rife with �creative license.� Outside of WWII, (including FDR, Churchill, all the famous Generals, Hitler, Germany) we have a plethora of documentaries involving the Kennedys, (heck, Ted Kennedy is so accustomed to swallowing the family pride and reputation he doesn�t even try to rebuke, neither does the Royal Family) Nixon, Iran/Contra, Princess Diana, and a host of others. I suspect the documentaries regarding the Kennedys rival WWII. But today history and the lies of history move on and we have the beginning of the 9/11 made for TV �Movietones� reminiscent of the 10 minute �news shows� that were shown before a movie began, I found out 35 years later that those weren�t accurate either.

Big month of September, not only astrologically but politically as well, the Eclipse, Saturn, Neptune and Mars all give us a big song and dance this last month and they haven�t hit their finale. In fact this celestial show just brought their star power on stage � Jupiter.

The complexity of the cosmic map today is the equivalent to �eating an elephant,� you must do it one bite at a time, for there are patterns within patterns, some of the patterns haven�t been on the heavenly stage for hundreds of years. Because of that what this generation is experiencing is truly unique for us, not for the Universe because these energies have been seen before as various themes throughout the generations have been recurring on a regular basis. That said, let�s take a look at what all this means for us today, beginning with May 2000 and the �Grand Conjunction� or the �Great Chronometer,� this celestial phenomena is called several names but it is the once every 20 years Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. This last conjunction happened in Taurus a perfect metaphor for our present administration and their cry of �stay the course,� with no thought that the �course� is taking us over a cliff of disaster. A typical �negative� among many positives, of Taurus is hanging on when it�s not in their best interest to continue hanging on.

A news reporter from the NY Times in discussing the Foley Scandal, was almost giggling when he said "the guy is a hypocrite and if you can't enjoy watching the fall of a hypocrite you just aren't getting the most zest out of life that you could."

That comment struck me hilariously funny because it's true, so true and hypocrisy is on display in Washington this week. I feel kind of sorry for them because they keep coming with more excuses and they don't know how utterly stupid they sound and how little credibility they have. Believe me the scrambling behind the scenes to cover their tracks on the Foley scandal and other scandals positioned on the brink of pushing the GOP off the cliff for a very long time.

Watching the fall out from Saturn in Leo (fall of kings and leaders) is a sight to behold this week. Lots of anxiety out here regarding Foley and whether Hastert makes it or not the GOP is in flames over this. The Democrats aren't in any better shape actually and soon we should see them floundering. Congress itself is under fire the deeper issue is the decades long corruption of both parties and the lack of faith in this country of both parties.

Meanwhile prisons to hold those our President decides are enemy combatants are still being built.

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it. (Dwight David Eisenhower)

Everyone has a place or sound that says �peace� to them. Peace can be the sound of a house after all the kids have gone to bed or the silence of new snowfall. Peace can be the plaintive whistle of a far away train, or a song, a place in the mountains, or by the ocean or in the woods, or the last gunfire of a war. It can be the ticking of a clock in a quiet house or crawling into bed after a hectic day and the sheets are clean and fresh; it all says and feels peace. It can also be the sound on November 8th and the news saying �the Democrats control both the House and Senate and Donald Rumsfeld has left the building. Any of these experiences will leave you with a sense of peace for a few moments, a night or several days.

I don�t know what exactly to say about the Iraq Study Group, after I read it a wall hanging I saw came to mind. It�s a quote by an anonymous source: �Maybe life really is all about the hokey pokey�
While politicians and pundits swarmed around Baker (of Baker and Botts, no joke) and Hamilton, pontificating with them, slapping them on the back, exchanging words like �genius, fantastic, superb,� dear Russ Feingold was saying �huh, this is about nothing.� Senator Feingold clearly has his cognitive facilities working on all cylinders and he said before the day was out �the emperor is naked, they are all naked.� James A. Baker III (B. April 28, 1930 in where else Houston, TX) Lee Hamilton (B. April 20, 1931 in, wait for it, Daytona Beach, FL) I am sure it�s an accident or coincidence that these two co-chairs are from the exact two states in the Bush camp, it�s just gotta be a coincidence.

That's what Newt's telling his base. "GWB is weak and spinless, don't look for much over the next two years and rebuild the conservative base and it's all Karl Rove's fault."

http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Gingrich3.htm

I smell rats jumping ship and well they should because eventually someone soon will tell them that the ship has sunk.

I am sitting here in the middle of a blizzard and what was a very dark sky has just deepened into a more ominous darkness, signaling the storm gathering into another intense blast of snow and wind. A perfect metaphor for the deepening darkness in Iraq and the entire Middle East with their so called changes at the DOD.

Another Christmas, another day to long for peace, and a prayer that all the songs all the good wishes will somehow someway touch the hearts of governments and religions around the world and there would be a miracle of peace. Soon there will be another New Year and no matter how cynical or difficult one's circumstances, there is that tiny spark of belief on New Year's Eve that somehow, someway the New Year will be better than the old.

One of our posters sent me an article with a message of that age old information that is so true and so easily forgotten through our lives. That message is "we cannot un-know what we know, we cannot go back." Another way of saying that is one can never return to the age of innocence once it's lost. We lose our innocence over a million things a million smashed dreams and wishes a million broken promises.

The whole article set me to thinking what comes after the loss of innocence? The loss of belief in others and yourself, even the loss of hope, the loss of dreams.

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind
Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind
For auld lang syne my dear, for auld lang syne
We�ll take a cup o� kindness yet for auld lang syne

And there�s a hand my trusty friend, and give us a hand o� thine
And we�ll take a right good will draught for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne my dear, for auld lang syne
We�ll take a cup o� kindness yet for auld lang syne.
Robert Burns
And so the year ends, and a new one begins.

In the 231 years since the Declaration of Independence was read and 86 years and 135 days after Women were given the Right to Vote, we, for the first time in our History, heard these words; MADAM SPEAKER.

I didn�t get to see the exact moment of her swearing in, what happened? Did Athena ride her horse into the Rotunda splitting it in half with her sword? Did the burned witches of Salem stand silently, their bodies alight with vindication? Did the testosterone for men on both sides of the aisle begin to dissolve? Did Dolly Madison, Martha Washington, and Abigail Adams dance naked on the House Floor? Did the Suffragettes with their wounds and bruises raise their signs and cheer? Did the Pope, James Dobson, Pat Robertson gnash their teeth and were their sanctuary�s torn asunder? Did the Goddess Shiva, Ruth, the Wicca High Priestess, and Holy Mary Mother of God hold the Sacred Book for Women for her to swear upon? Did women all over America stand and dare to dream of their own potential for affecting change? And God, did she/he smile?

An Astrological Cornucopia accompanied GWB's speech tonight. All the elements were there, earth, air, water and fire, lots of fire. Mars, Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn were all in fire. Mars at 25 degrees Sagittarius, just spitting over the edge of the Galactic Center. Pluto at 27 degrees is deep within the clutches of the Black Hole known as the Galactic Center. Jupiter at 10 degrees sits astride the evil and violent fixed star Rastaban (it's known for lasting pain.) The Ascendant at 8 degrees Virgo, conjuncts the selfish, mean, shameless and egotistical fixed star Zosma. The ascendant also squares the US Uranus known as the nuclear degree, squares the 2005 Inaugural Moon and conjuncts GWB's Mars; our President was very intent on more and more and more war and milking the United States dry and was delivering that message tonight.

The rhetoric around Iran sounds like 2003 and Iraq all over again (Jay Rockefeller)

Same song second verse turns it over and it sounds a bit worse. We have all been here before on the SOTU, heard the same sounds, and listened to the same songs. The applause could be a bit subdued this year and maybe not so many standing ovations, although some of the die hard GOPers will feel it�s their responsibility to drown out the silence of their disillusioned brethren. In spite of the fact that Uranus is coming to a trine to GWB and the US respective Suns, Bush is on the ropes, not sure he even realizes that. A lot of the GOP jumping out to distance themselves from Bush is pre-planned. They all spent a weekend at Camp David trying to figure out with their leader how not to seem tied to him and Iraq for the sake of their own 2008 coming up campaigns.

Martin Luther King "had a dream," did we see that dream standing on the courthouse steps in Springfield, Illinois today? Maybe!

My son and I were standing in line at a store and a couple was talking about Barack Obama's "I really truly am going to run" speech and one said to the other "what on earth would make a black man think he could run for the president of the US and win?" My son turned around and said "what on earth would make people think he can't?"

One thing for sure, he doesn't completely have the credentials to run as a "white man," and he doesn't completely have the credentials to run as a "black man," but he does have the credentials to run as a member of a diverse human race.

He doesn't have money, he isn't from a "known" family, his roots aren't solid in America, he just sort of sprang up from a short lived marriage whose father took off back to Africa. He was raised in part by his sociologist mother and her second husband and a grandmother. No one heard of him outside Illinois until he ran for the Senate in 2004 and won. There is so little information on Mr. Obama and so few footprints, to date, that Fox News has resorted to making things up.

The beauty of this Total Lunar Eclipse masks some of the more sinister aspects lurking behind this Eclipse. We've already been given a peek at the tip of the iceberg at Walter Reed Hospital. That bastion of medical marvels is coming apart at the seams and that is only part of the story. VA Hospitals across this country are in as bad or worse shape. Closures and no money as it's all been sucked into this war have contributed to the appalling conditions for our Vets.

Top brass heads are rolling and it's just begun. You can bet they will be on top of it because not one GOP candidate will be able to show their face in public if it's not cleaned up fast. How could a party who has touted being "for the brave men and women" fighting "their" war look any American in the eye with an ounce of credibility. Walter Reed was right in their backyard and they made multiple photo op trips to see the "brave men and women" trying to recover from horrific wounds in moldy, rat infested quarters.

Shame is too soft a word to describe this, just as it's too soft a word to describe our acceptance of torture.

No one can walk backward into the future Joseph Hergesheimer (1880-1954)

When an individual endeavors to lift himself above his fellows, he is dragged down by the mass, either by means of ridicule or of calumny. (Preface to "Don Quixote" Heinrich Hein a German poet of the 1800's)

I cannot think of one person in this administration who should not read these quotes, I can't think of too many in the media who shouldn't avail themselves of the wisdom of these men as well.

It's only Scooter Libby, Gonzales, Rove, Sampson and the top brass at Walter Reed, these are little men playing on the big stage of "Shoot em up" Dick Cheney and George "the decider" Bush but still it's the moment in the play when you feel the bad guys are really going to be stopped and the good guys will start to rise.

I thought I should put up a new thread since it would be a bit before either Morgana or I can write an article, as with most people I know today, we are up to our eyebrows in work related activity. Thanks for your patience.

The dice of God are always loaded (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

This has always been one of my most favorite quotes from Emerson and his poem "Compesation." You throw the dice of life and you really never know what will come up. Tony Snow, Alberto Gonzales, George Bush and Elizabeth Edwards discovered that this week

Lots of fire and earth in "her" chart, the steam roller of the zodiac. She doesn't "plod" she "plows" her way through without apology or a backward glance. "She" is the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, born March 26, 1940 in Baltimore, MD (no time) Aries Sun and Jupiter and a stellium in Taurus. Watch out Washington and GWB she is coming through and like the Dixie Chicks, she's not ready to make nice.

If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to forment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation (Abigail Adams to her husband)

The "massacre" of the Virginia Tech students has left me numb. There has been such a series of shocks over the last 7 years I can hardly take in more without seeming to lose a part of my emotional attachment to horror and shock. Still at this idyllic setting for a college in the valley between the Alleghanys and Blue Ridge Mountains. Not a likely spot for a massacre. And yet 33 students lie dead and a reported 29 critically injured. The age old questions surface "why, why this campus, why us?" Likely those questions will never be answered.

Virginia Tech opened October 1st, 1872, the recipients of one of the Morrill Land Grants given to states for colleges (an example of the generosity and understanding of education for all at one time in our governments history) one of the stipulations was a promise of an education for blacks. This was part of the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War.

France is going to the polls today and this is an important election for them as evidenced by 85 percent voting in the run-off election. Who will come out the winner and loser? It all depends on how France feels about herself as a country right now.

This may not seem like an important question for us, but it is. Germany, with the election of Angela Merkel a shift from Germany's liberal government to a conservative one; Tony Blair is finally stepping down as the head of the Labour Party (the supposed liberal party in the UK) and Brown stepping in to head that party and he is a clone of Tony Blair. The Labour Party in England under Blair has split the country in two with the Conservatives looking more liberal than Labour. Next election in the UK is sure to bring the Conservative Party back into power at the next election in their effort to stop the crumbling of their infrastructure. And now France, (Oct. 5, 1958 Paris 12:00am) The Chart of the Fifth Republic of France. Their government has changed many times since the First Republic between 1792 and 1958 and this chart represents the present government and the one to be used for this election.

First Republic Sept 26, 1792 9:00 AM Paris
Second Republic Feb. 24, 1848 8:00 PM Paris
Third Republic Sept. 4, 1870 3:00PM Paris
Fourth Republic Oct. 28, 1946 12:AM Paris

Tony Blair is reported to have said at a 2001 Labour Party Conference "the kaleidoscope has been shaken, and the pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order the world."

A broken kaleidoscope is a perfect metaphor for what we have experienced and continue to experience since September 2001. Instead of beautiful beads of color shifting into a perfect pattern we have broken shards of glass slashing and cutting through the world and leaving all bleeding, fearing we will bleed to death.

In 2001 Pluto and Saturn broke the fragile cylinder containing the colorful pieces and Tony Blair and George Bush threw the pieces to the wind leaving the world to try and gather them up and try to put them back into some kind of safe pattern. In just a few weeks, Saturn will be opposing Neptune and perhaps blowing the "sands" of confusion away over this next year.

The title of this piece is taken from a supposed comment by a baseball loving and betrayed shoe shine boy as Joe Jackson came out of the court that had banned him from major league baseball forever. Shoeless Joe Jackson and 7 other White Sox players were accused and found guilty of throwing the 1919 World Series game; The White Sox became known as the Chicago Black Sox and they left a stain on baseball that lasted for decades. Shoeless Joe Jackson himself said he took the money but he tried to give the money back and he did not participate in throwing the World Series but he was found guilty just the same. Whether he was guilty or not, has been debated since his verdict of 1920, but the fact remains a few baseball players sold out the National American pasttime for a few shekles of gold. Jupiter was conjuncting Neptune in Leo, making them think they could get away with it all.

What does this 87 year old blot on the name of baseball have to do with politics and the Democratic Party caving in to a corrupt administration yesterday, giving the President every slimy thing he wants to continue this unholy war? From my perspective, everything. We just witnessed the same stunning and shocking betrayal of a "team" we trusted and millions of Americans are saying today, "say it ain't so."

Thoroughbred racehorses are descended from just three stallions imported to England from the East some 300 years ago, although horseracing started much earlier than that. Organized racing in the US did not begin until after the Civil War, although thoroughbreds had been imported by the English to the United States in the middle 1600�s and the first racetrack laid out on Long Island around 1665. Racing was a popular pastime but not until After the Civil War and legalized gambling helped the sport grow by 1890.

Racing had been the sport of Kings and the rich, but for a few cents the poor man could place a bet and maybe get lucky. In the last 100 years horses such as Man of War, Secretariat, Seattle Slew all great horses � and Seabiscuit, the poor man�s horse, springing up in the middle of the Depression, bringing hope and inspiration to the masses that they could rise above their �station� and succeed.

Sir Thomas More: And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship? (A Man For All Seasons.)

Sir Thomas More was executed for refusing to accept King Henry the VIII as the supreme head of the Church of England.

We�ve been told time and time again that George Bush and Dick Cheney are following their conscious, doing what they believe �God� wants them to do. Do we believe that? Do 68 percent of the American people, who say they are against this war, believe God wants George Bush to mire this country in war, with massive murders of the innocent people in Iraq, and thousands of our soldiers marching to war for �his� God? And why do they think God wants them to do such a thing? For oil? For Halliburton? �My God� and the God of billions around the world do not agree. We cannot judge whether George believes �God� is demanding this of him, but if he is indeed following his conscious and we who are not following ours will ultimately take two different paths in what has become the war of religions, ideology, and illusions.

They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel

The literary dandy and savior of the aristocracy during the French violent reign of Robespierre, who sent hundreds of the aristocracy to the gallows, and The Scarlet Pimpernel rode to save them. And so has our own fancied Scarlet Pimpernel saved another self styled aristocrat from falling to the great un-washed. In literature, the poor had Robin Hood and the rich had the Scarlet Pimpernel. Robin Hood has been the more enduring legend. That says something.

IS IT REAL OR IS IT ILLUSION
If we were to look closely at an individual human being, we would immediately notice that it is a unique hologram unto itself; self contained, self-generating, and self-knowledgeable. Yet if we were to remove this being from its planetary context, we would quickly realize that the human form is not un-like a mandala or symbolic poem, for within its form and flow lives comprehensive information about various physical, social and psychological and evolutionary contexts within which it was created. (Dr. Ken Dychtwald in the Holographic Paradigm)

In his 1987 book entitled Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind, Dr. F. David Peat, a physicist at Queen�s University in Canada, asserted that synchronicities (coincidences that are so unusual and so psychologically meaningful they don�t seem to be the result of chance alone) can be explained by the holographic model. Peat believes such coincidences are actually �flaws in the fabric of reality.� They reveal that our thought processes are much more intimately connected to the physical world than had been previously suspected.

I don�t know if all who read these pages see the implicate and explicate order of the Universe the same way I do, I believe there are quite a few who do. For those who don�t my analogies might be a bit confusing. I have found in my experience, that there are signs and omens to what is happening in the world today and how the patterns all fit together. I see days of irritation and arguments all around with an ending of the day in the middle of a thunderstorm, as energies build and then culminate. In my study of quantum physics I don�t see any real boundaries between people or what we call heaven and earth or good and evil. My work with the dying has taught me the same things as physics. Different experiences, different signs all point to the same direction and if we carefully watch we can know the outcome to any issue any problem. It�s quite amazing.

There are many who would question my use of the title "Boy Wonder," but for a time and place in history Karl Rove will go down as that for the GOP. He has been working at making the Republican Party the only party for over 25 years and the stolen election of 2000 we the culmination of his Lee Atwater (his mentor) expanded dirty tricks. Karl Rove is a Capricorn (Dec. 25, 1950, 4:14am, Denver Colorado) and Capricorn's work to always build a foundation. Rove did build a foundation for the GOP, even getting some Democrats in the form of the DLC on board with his plan.

He didn't see then and he doesn't see now that the seeds for the destruction of his foundation are already crumbling.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

There is nothing men more readily give themselves to than pushing their own beliefs. When ordinary means fail, they add commandment, violence, fire and sword. (Michael Eyquem De Montaigne - French Philosopher 1533-1592)

Loyalty�is a realization that America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation. Our tradition is one of protest and revolt and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past�while we silence the rebels in the present. (Henry Steele Commager � 1902 and American Educator.

I don�t know about where you live, but there is a quiet here in the west. The trees are rustling with that wind that comes in the fall and can only move leaves in a way that says �change� is coming, even though the leaves haven�t started turning here. The day was warm, the sky bright blue, still the trees are rustling and children laughing and playing after dark, reluctant to leave one moment of summer behind.

Pluto and Venus have turned direct but are stationary, giving the world time to gather our breath from the last several months of floods, earthquakes, tornados, war, scandals, lies, corruption and everything else that goes on that list and here we are sandwiched between two eclipses. As the late Madeline L`Engle aptly named one of her books, we seem to be experiencing �A Wrinkle in Time,� and the energies around us are conducive to using them to find our own geometric Tesseract, over the next couple of days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract

Never fear chaos for out of chaos a new and better order is born. (Voltaire)

There has been much conversation this last month as to the impact MoveOn.org is having on the Democratic Party. Their impact has been huge since their inception. MoveOn.org is progressive, partisan and liberal group, absolutely bending toward Democrats. Not much GOP there. Their �General Betray-us� where they used the term of the field troops in Iraq for General Petreaus in a very unflattering ad; the ad wasn�t as nasty as the discredited �Swift-Boat� group who hammered John Kerry, but it was a spit-ball shot at a General who allowed himself to be used as a political shill and created quite a stir.

MoveOn.org inception chart fits well with the Democratic Party, as does the DLC and the DNC and the DCCC, just as the RNC, Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family fits with the GOP chart. They all rise and fall together. The GOP chart and George Bush�s chart and the GOP chart all have the same Cancer Sun indicating we as a nation rise and fall with the GOP and this President, right now transiting Jupiter is inconjuncting those Suns, they have a few expanded problems. When the American people see ourselves clearly, we will have a new body politic. (groups or individuals don't ban together unless they share a common point of interest and it's shown clearly in their astro signitures)

The most interesting aspect for the DNC, RNC, the chart of 1st Senate/House setting Nov. 17, 1800 at 9:00am in Washington, is the early degrees (up to 2 degrees) of Mutable signs in their charts, plus the Iraq War Chart and Saturn has just gone over those degrees, creating problems for the RNC, DNC and Congress. With the GOP Neptune sitting atop the Ascendant of the Iraq War chart at 14/15 Pisces you can be sure they have been part and parcel of the lies surrounding this war and when Saturn opposes that point you can be sure lots of those lies will be streaming out as Saturn opposes in the fall of 2008.

Al Gore's Statement upon winning the Nobel Peace Prize (born March 31, 1948 12:53pm Washington, DC

Statement of Al Gore on Winning Nobel Prize

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world�s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

I am trying to think if this is the strangest primary season I've seen and I think it might be. There have been other "odd" runs in Presidential history, but this is comic book fodder.

We have an actor, a woman, a guy with connections to the mob, an African/American, a Mormon recently endorsed by one of the most right of the right (Bob Jones University) a fading war hero, a hispanic, two outspoken and maybe cranky old men, a trial lawyer, and that's not even the complete field. The voters don't seem particularly impressed with endorsements only the candidates are chasing those. Not one group seems to have enough respect left in this country to swing voters behind one candidate.

We've been told that Hillary is going to be our candidate and that's who we will vote into office. It's been such a foregone conclusion for so many months I feel as if she has already served 4 years. In my neck of the woods I am not hearing too much excitement over Hillary but the media pundits have her as the candidate and going against whoever the Republicans decide. Even the Republicans have picked her as the winner. For the touted "most expensive" campaign ever we have a fairly lackluster pool of players from which to choose.

This is another new thread because I am up to my eyebrows in paperwork for a two day Board Meeting. Dave Barry once said "if there is one word to describe why a person cannot reach their full potential and will never reach their full potential, that word would be "Meetings." So I am just going to quickly make a few remarks here so that a new thread will be posted and try to do better next week.

I do want to make a comment on a paedophile astro signature. It isn't a good idea to define one as "anything" based on just one aspect, so many aspects must be taken into account. Yes Mars does have a great deal to do with sexuality of all types, so does the 8th house and its ruler, so does Chiron and believe it or not Saturn is a huge indicator of sexual expression where sex was learned as repressive leaving a huge potential for perversion. It's long been held that Saturn conjunct the Moon or Moon in Capricorn or in the 10th house, or Saturn in the 4th house points to a "gay and lesbian" orientation (which I don't consider "learned" behavior but born. I certainly have not found that to be true across the board of any of these aspects.

All that aside, there are many ways people express or feel a special love and understanding of children and most of them are not sexual. People who write children's books, make kids toys, play Santa, open play stores, the Mom who has all the children's parties in the neighborhoods. Labeling a specific aspect as only one way of expression can be and is dangerous, energy (astro aspects) can be used in so many different ways you have to watch and study how a person has used their energy over time or watch how events unfold historically to get a picture how a similar event will unfold.

The fires of California and the floods of Louisiana and Mississippi is a good study. You look at their state's aspects, and the aspects when say Hurricane Katrina came ashore and the date of the last disasterous Hurricane or all of them for that matter. Look at California and their aspects, when this fire started, when the 1993 and 2003 fires began and compare all those charts.

In Mexico, November 2 is called �The Day of the Dead.� A fairly dramatic look at life. The situation in parts of Mexico today would certainly give them reason to be dramatic. �Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink,� With parts of the South struggling to find every drop of water they can and the states of Chiapas and Tabasco in Mexico under water from torrential rains and flooding thousands of people out of their homes things are absolutely chaotic and into that the Writers Guild is threatening a strike because they are not being treated fairly in royalties from the producers, and the stock market is tanking along with mortgages; and George Bush is spending over a trillion on a civil war in Iraq and talking about Iran and WWIII. There is a sense of Nero; if I listen I can almost hear the strains of his fiddle. Actually I hope Dennis Kucinich is right and he did see a UFO from outer space, maybe they would drop on down and help us out here, we aren�t doing so well in this country as a people.

Many of the guests will eventually leave the table to watch football on television, which would be a rudeness at any other occasion but is a relief at Thanksgiving and probably the only way to get those people to budge. (Judith Martin: Miss Manners.)

May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all humankind. (Author Unknown)

Christmas isn't a season, it's a feeling. (Edna Ferber)

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it "Christmas" and went to church; the Jews called it "Hanukkah" and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy Hanukkah!" or (to the atheists) "Look out for the wall! Dave Barry

"The system is rigged and it's rigged against you. Do you really believe that if we replace Corporate Republicans with Corporate Democrats anything is going to change? It won't until we stand up for ourselves and stop this." (John Edwards)

You can certainly tell that the campaign is heating up for the presidential run, with Hillary going back to Obama's kindergarten statement of wanting to be president when he grew up and Obama slinging back. Edwards is running his heart out as is Biden and Dodd, especially Biden. The planets are beginning to line up behind different candidates with a tail wind, and pushing against others.

Actually there is good news and bad news. The good news is we are back up and running. The bad news is the necessity to register in order to post comments. Sadly there are people in the world with nothing better to do than create havoc for websites. We had one of the last websites not requiring registrations and that has now changed.

In order to post a comment, go to the bottom of the comment section and click on the registration site. It isn't necessary to register your true name but you do have to register a valid email address (WHICH WILL NOT BE POSTED ON THE SITE) your comments will be reviewed in the beginning by me and then I am able to mark the accepted comments as a trusted poster and I won't need to check them anymore. Almost all the posters we have now will be "grandmothered and grandfathered" in and will have automatic trusted poster status.

On the registration site you will see (to the left of the page) where you sign up your member name and password and the site will remember you for two weeks if you wish or you can sign in each day. To the right of the page is the registration page. As I have to initially approve each poster, my hope is to get everyone registered this next week before I have to go back to work.

The regular rules will still apply such as; no obscenity, no personal attacks of other posters, and hopefully polite discourse otherwise the offending post will still be deleted but not the "trusted poster" status.

As you can see on the comment page we now have a search engine, hopefully that will be helpful to finding past information.

Morgana, all of Astroworld and myself wish you a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or Happy Celebration, or just a good day on the 25th of December, we are not picky.

If you have any problems or questions, don't hesitate to email me with your questions and we will get this straightened out as we move into an advanced technological world.

The problems we had over Christmas are now resolved and I appreciate your patience I am counting on a great new year. I love the new site and am more than willing to put up with the time consumming glitches we've have to go forward into the New Year with a much improved site, I hope you are too.

I was awakened about 20 minutes with the sad news that Benazir Bhutto (6/21/1953, noon chart in Karachi, PAK) has been assassinated. I have not had the time needed to create a proper delination of her chart and what this means to Pakistan and the whole region. She had so many enemies it would be hard to pick "the one group" who did this but her chart tells a chilling tale. Transiting Pluto is in an applying opposition to her 29 degree Gemini Sun and her progressed Sun at 21 Leo was conjunct her Pluto. That is the fated degree of the Saturn/Neptune opposition of last summer and transiting Neptune is now direct again and is also in an applied opposition to her natal Pluto and progressed Sun and Retrograde Mars just went over her natal Mars.

Even without her birthtime it isn't difficult to see that this was and has been a very stressful period of time for her and I believe she has always believed or felt her life would end this way. I met her and heard her speak a couple of times about three or four years ago and she had a sense of resignation about this happening, she thought it would probably be her destiny like it was her father's. She also believed it to be her destiny to do as much for her people as possible. It's said that her husband used her to steal from "her people," I don't know. It seems as if death, intrigue, greed, lying and stealing is part of a belief system in this part of the world. The people of the middle East and far East have been treated like that for centuries and I think they learned to treat each other as well as others the same way in order to survive.

This is something to contemplate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901476.html?hpid=topnews

Michael Bloomberg is a double (Sun and Moon) Aquarian, born on Valentine's day in 1942. (Feb. 14, 1942, 3:40pm, Brighton,MA.) First a Democrat, then a Republican and now an Independent. A businessman, multi-billionaire (self-made) recently the mayor of New York. His Sun is on the US Moon in a square to Uranus (the ruler of his Sun) that would say he hasn't any loyality except to getting the job done his "unique" way and a love of breaking up impasses (we certainly have that now)As an Aquarian he has a greater interest in "group consciousness than individual consciousness" His Moon in Aquarius squares his Mars in Taurus my experience with this aspect is a person that needs the feminine but doesn't like the feminine so I would question his ability to bring a balanced view of the country, but it would be his view of the country. But what do we have now? The Aquarian Sun and Moon does give him a desire to try and broker a "win-win" situation, but again it would be his view and he would try to find a way to make every like it as best he could.

Remember, he is self-made, you don't become "self-made" without a certain amount of autocratic rule and making decisions based on your ideas and the fixed signs have a tendency to do that and work toward motivating people to seeing things "your way."

I do think it's a beginning of getting out of the Democratic/Republican see/saw we've been on forever and it's only getting worse and I have hope of change. However the list of people they have coming to this meeting (the article said the list isn't complete) seems to be the same old tired political voices with a distinct lack of strong female voice. All are people professing to be "centrists" middle of the road, but they all made their name and or fortune under the "old system" of government and politics, still the "good ole boys club." The question for the people is do we want that back or do we want something better and what does "the middle of the road" really mean?

One of the select committee Bloomberg has pulled together is David Abshire, the President of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, a great many advisors and trustees are already in the Bush Administration. Honorary members are George HW Bush, Clinton and Carter (that's not unusual) but some of their trustees and advisors are unusual. There seems to be a fairly large representation from the DLC and GOP in their trustee and leadership programs.

Leadership comes from people who are willing to step up and do something, we may not like what they do but they are doing something as opposed to sitting back and watching it all go by. If we like someone we watch with joy, if not we watch with fear, but they are doing something and that should give us hope, perhaps this Aquarian can find a way out of the mess we are in in this country.

Bloombergs Sun conjuncts the US progressed (retrograde) Mercury and natal Moon, and his Cancer Ascendant conjuncts the US retrograde Mercury. His message could resonate with the people of this country time will tell whether he has a message or is just another wealthy political hack, but we have to have hope.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in th true.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“Ring out the false, ring in the true.” I think this is what we hope for year after year, a ringing in what is true; but the enduring quality we see at the old year’s end and the New Year’s beginning is “hope.” Hope stays with us day after day and year after year, and no matter how battered and beaten it is the last few years, hope still raises its head to scan the horizon in an effort to confirm that it is right to keep showing up.

Each New Year begins with the sign Capricorn, the steady sentimental of foundations. Not a sign associated with renewal but a reminder to check our foundations and shore them up where we are able. Capricorn doesn’t build on “shifting sands” it looks for all he can find that might strengthen the year his persistence and determination gives a slow but sure rise to success and this year and next the ruler of Capricorn (Saturn) trines and provides an ease of accomplishment. Jupiter in this sign will make Capricorn seem a bit more hopeful than usual, which probably means the “wanna be masters of the universe” will continue skim off the top of the financial cream and leaving the rest of us to pay for them. Capricorn rules the 4th house of this New Year chart and the 2nd house in the US chart, so shoring up foundations, collective and individual, will be very much on the mind of the US population. Moguls and mega-corporations will intensify their march to own the world and garner all the funds for themselves. There will be a renewed interest in not paying for services they receive and in the beginning of Pluto taking up Capricorn residency for the next several years, the better qualities of Capricorn will be badly misused for the benefit of the few, leaving the many to scramble. It will be years before those mega-corporations tumble, but they will tumble in time. By the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009 we could be using a new form of money, something like the Euros. Countries don’t want to play with our dollar anymore thanks to the Federal Reserve (and that’s another story)

"Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties. ...Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto -- usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money. ... Democracy means free television, not good television, but free. ... And finally, democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head -- this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle." Johnny Carson

Here we are in a count down to Feb. 5 and Super Tuesday and the writers are out on strike, including the comedy writers. Who will mark time and tell us the truth about this messy run-up to Super Tuesday, it’s for sure to be a hilarious ride.

From Poor Richard’s Almanac right on down to Jon Stewart, we, the unwashed masses, have been treated to a level of comedy reminding us that we are not insane, it’s really the politicians and this political system. Late night comedy is a good thing; it’s good to go to bed on a laugh.

I love Full Moons, some have been kind to me and some have not, but I love them just the same. They are magical and mysterious. As a child I could clearly see The Man in the Moon on a Full Moon and he was always smiling. It seemed to me and still does that I could hold out my hands and the golden rays would fill me up and renew my spirit. When the sky is clear and one can see the Moon, the fullness of it stands out in stark relief against the blackend sky dotted with blinking stars and the power of it brings me closer to my center.

I am always mindful of the destruction a Full Moon can do with deaths, accidents, political campaign missteps, shocking experiences, etc. I am also mindful of the surprises they can bring, a new job, windfall, engagements, births, etc. Sometimes all those things can be experienced during the Full Moon cycle.

But what of this cycle, what has it brought?

What a day this has been, what a rare mood we're in.

Good grief, Florida is flip flopping from Guiliani to McCain to maybe Mitt and Florida doesn't count for the Dems but maybe in Hillary's magical world of winning it will count just like Michigan. The most liberal of them all, the progressives dream, John and Bobby Kennedy's brother, daughter, niece Ted Kennedy, endorsed Obama and probably fractured a 16 year friendship with the Clinton's. This primary season started with a Mercury direct and a Mars retrograde and will end on Feb. 5th with Mars direct and Mercury retrograde.

The Kennedy's endorsement for Obama came when Mercury went stationary retrograde giving power to their words and their endorsement, their passing of the JFK/RFK legacy torch. Fittingly, it went to the African/American, the group that RFK worked so hard to ensure their civil rights and Lyndon Johnson made sure the Kennedy brother's dream was realized. It's always been interesting to me that JFK announced his intention of overhauling the Federal Reserve Bank, ending Vietnam, and taking on the Mafia and a few weeks after that he was dead, none of those things were done. But Civil Rights was Bobby Kennedy's passion and he pushed his brother and ultimately Lyndon Johnson into passing that bill, and then he was dead. Now the remaining brother has passed whatever legacy the Kennedy's have left to Barack Obama whose Saturn is conjunct Bobby Kennedy's South Node. There is a bit of Karma in play here.

I started to write a poem but could not find the creative spirit within me to finish. That's disturbing as I watch myself and so many others sink under the weight of more betrayals by this administration and this Congress including Democrats as they give this administration a pass on the FISA Bill.

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Congress doesn't see it
But we are saddened by you.

The energy has shifted today with Mercury going direct and a Lunar Eclipse coming up in a couple of days at 2 degrees Virgo/Pisces. More on this later today but for right now there is a massive shift in energy and it will be interesting to see if it's played out on the Wisconsin/Hawaii Primary. Obama has lost some "steam" with the Mercury direct, specifically on the Mercury direct stationary period. It will pick up and move forward in the early morning hours and that could pick up the pace for him. If it does, that will give more credence to the "Obama" movement toward the "new." Because that would mean the people were carrying the energy forward, not the candidate. More on this later today, I just wanted to get this up tonight.

This will be brief. I am on number 2 set of twins tonight (this time it's my youngest son and his wife) and sadly I have to go to Dallas tomorrow for a business meeting that has been in the works longer than the twins and is the culmination of all that work. So by the time I return Noah John and Grant Robert (they already named them) will have made their arrival on the scene. That's why this will be short but there are so many posts on the last article and I thought you all might need a clean page.

"Mind boggles" seem to be the order of the day since the year 2000, more specifically Dec. 12, 2000 when we all seemed to be shoved down the rabbit hole and swirling around with the strangest of characters. Those characters turned out, for the most part, to be our government and their faithful minions. Much of the time I feel like Alice in America. We need a governmental department to check their meds on a regular basis and to make sure they take them or maybe they could drink more water and get their meds that way.

The crusader of Wall Street, the hero of the little guy, the white knight fighting corporate corruption, Eliot Spitzer has been felled. He was felled by his own sword and his enemies piling on top to make sure he is sliced and diced to death. It wasn't the far right evangelicals, or the keepers of rigid morals who brought him down, oh no, it was a bank. (Spitzer June 10, 1959 Bronx, NY N/T)

Just in case everyone is beyond tired of the primary's and the election bickering, just in case everyone is exhausted over the Iraq War, just in case we can't lift a finger anymore to stop the stealing of our money for the elites who bail each other out with our money, just in case all this has gotten to us, they have another threat for us. Corn. Farmers aren't planting corn because they say it's too expensive to plant and we are being told there is a shortage looming. This will be one of the first of the food shortages into which we will be led. It's April and April and October are historically tough financial times for the US, as the Sun squares the US money markets (the 2nd and 8th houses in the US Chart.) Money dramas rise, just tax season alone ensures that

On November 22, 1910 in the evening, a group of this country's leading financiers left from Hoboken, NJ by train to travel to what was known as the Millionaire's Club. Jekyll Island in Georgia was the luxurious destination for America's elite in the late 1800's and up until the Stock Market crash and on that night in Nov. 1910 several men, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, a member of the National Monetary System signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, after the monetary panic of 1907.

Bitter, better, separated by a letter, let’s call the whole thing off.

While watching the ever entertaining and exhausting primary season between Barak and Hillary the rest of the world and universe keeps marching on. Pluto’s last gasp through Sagittarius (it’s turned retrograde now and making it’s way back to the critical degrees of 0 Capricorn and 29 Sagittarius) is making itself seen through our antiquated airline service. With over 3,000 flights cancelled by American Airlines because they didn’t take the time or forgot or something, to inspect their airplanes, Southwest Airlines is suffering from the same memory lapse, thereby making it truly unsafe to fly their friendly skies. Frontier, my favorite airline, is declaring bankruptcy and United has been downsizing for quite some time putting all their money (we gave them) into small “elite only” chartered crafts. Along the same transportation theme, (Sagittarius rules transportation) gas is going sky high, making it very expensive for many people to even operate their cars for essentials much less trips.

The famous Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) wrote a poem called "Comin' Through the Rye" A poem of a bedraggled worn out life and dragging through the wet grasses of Scotland. America kind of feels like that right now, like we are coming through the rye. In Burns poem it's questionable whether "Jenny" ever dries out again and is it important if she does or can she just go on with life even with wet petticoats.

I said weeks ago that this period of time would see answers coming out and a glimpse of who people really are, and that has and is certainly happening.

This campaign is shaking up politics as usual, some of it has jumped beyond ugly at least to those of us who lived through the specter of political assassinations and what goes on behind the scenes of campaigns, politics that is. Scott McClellan (Feb. 14, 1968 Austin, TX N/T) with his Moon conjunct Jupiter at 1 degree Virgo certainly supports his claim of a tell "almost" all book as driven by his love of truth. He will absolutely pay a high price for his truth as he is in a Sadi Sate (Saturn in the sign before, during and after the Moon) right now Saturn is directly on his Moon and yes he will feel he paid a high price. Scott will often remind himself of "what profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul." In time, he will not regret standing on the side of truth.

Later I will be putting up a new article on Obama by Lynn Hayes but for now I received some interesting information from a client of mine in Europe. It's a couple of articles that our MSM doesn't bother to tell us or explain to us what's happening.

These articles are a warning shot for what is on the horizon for this fall, and it's not just for us (the US) but global problems; we're all in the same boat so to speak.

I and several astrologers have continually warned of the Saturn/Uranus opposition coming in November and the severe restrictions associated with that aspect, these restrictions may not be applied from outside of us, but applied to our life style by our own hand.

I don't know how many of you remember the article I wrote regarding the book "The Fourt