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Monday, July 21, 2006
Skull
logos
A recent
article in the New York Times analyzed ubiquitous skull logos. According to the article, skulls have
lost their sting. Instead of being fearsome death symbols, they have become almost as meaningless as yellow smiley-faces.
I beg to differ.
The Pluto in Scorpio generation (current ages: 10-22), fast-metabolized through the retailer Hot Topic, brought skulls into the mainstream. Pluto in Scorpio is of course a
signature for death-obsession, but death can take many metaphoric forms, not just physical ones. The last generation of Pluto
in Scorpio, born 1737-1749, featured the artist Goya (click
to see his painting of Saturn, but be careful—it’s
not for the squeamish), a painter who was fascinated with death and the dark side of humanity. Scorpio's not afraid to face
the darkness.
The skull logo is death imagery surfacing in culture at a time when death is closer for many. Pluto is
all around us. War, natural disasters, and simple aging have brought death up on the radar screen. Horror movies are plentiful,
and Pirates of the Caribbean has popularized the skull-and-crossbones. I am also mindful of the Saturn-Neptune opposition,
which will be exact next month (August). It gives form to the formless—and vice-versa.
I love Hamlet’s
Plutonian meditation on a skull, as he recalls Yorick’s fun-loving human form now reduced to bone in a graveyard. This
scene is lightened by the gravediggers’ Comedy Central-type humor—Shakespeare’s more literate version of
Wal*Mart skull party lights.
Venus
in the World Today
I
mentioned in a blog a couple of days ago that Venus rules the
most recent 2000 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Taurus. This
may help to account for the increasing expression of the earthy,
sensual side of Venus.
Neptune is sometimes referred to as the “higher octave”
of Venus. Perhaps this idea comes from the fact that Venus is
traditionally exalted in Pisces, and Pisces’ modern ruler
is Neptune (exaltation is a sign placement where a planet can
most fully express itself). However, Pisces’ traditional
ruler (before Neptune was discovered) is Jupiter. Jupiter is
a planet that has to do with morality, philosophy, and democratic
laws which keep us in balance and harmony. The Libra side of
Venus—anyone who is a Libra has Venus as the ruler of
their Sun—reflects these considerations.
George Washington, the first U.S. president, was a Pisces Sun
who also had his Venus in Pisces just two degrees from its highest
point of exaltation. He really showed the Jupiter-Pisces side
of Venus in his embrace of a new nation founded on laws which
promoted freedom.
Venus is of course the feminine archetype in the horoscope.
It is for each of us the anima, the feminine aspect of the soul.
It is a planet most strongly associated with love. Venus’s
sign also shows the image of an ideal lover that we carry around
inside of us. According to Liz Greene in a book she co-authored
with Howard Sasportas titled The
Inner Planets, Venus “influences
what kinds of experiences you tend to meet in relationship—your
attitude to love and other social interactions.”
Venus in ancient times was also associated with the garden,
nature, and fertility. She is the planetary ruler of Taurus,
an earth sign, as well as Libra, an air sign. The Libran side
of Venus is what we commonly think of as the goddess of beauty.
Venus has to do with the pursuit of beauty and pleasure, peace
and harmony, worth and value. Its Taurus side is more sensual
and down-to-earth, enjoying the luxury of soft cushions and
a good remote control.
Venus’s sign in a horoscope shows what we desire and value.
Venus in Cancer, for instance, will probably value home and
hearth, and enjoy “nesting.” Venus in Capricorn
may value work, organization, and career, as well as the wisdom
of older people.
Charles Carter, the pre-eminent political astrologer and author
of the classic An
Introduction to Political Astrology,
said that Venus in time of war denoted victory. This is probably
due to the Roman goddess “Venus Victrix” who was
supposed to bring victory—a condition associated with
worth, pleasure, and peace.
Venus is a musical planet and this seems to be an expression
of both the Libra and Taurus sides of Venus. Libra is a harmonious
sign, while Taurus is sensual and rules the throat. The singer
Bono is a Taurus. I commented in a recent blog that many singers
are also very good-looking, which seems to be due to a powerful
Venus.
Venus rules games, dolphins, coral, and fountains.
In modern American culture, Venus is a powerful planet. The
acquisition of money and the pursuit of love are dominant forces
in the Western world.
If anyone is troubled by “bad aspects” to Venus
in the horoscope, take heart from Bill Gates. He has Venus in
its detriment (Scorpio, supposedly a not-so-good sign for Venus)
conjoined by “malefic” Saturn. Many astrologers
who saw such a configuration in a horoscope might say that it
shows difficulty with money, an inclination to penury, renunciation
of material goods, etc. For Bill Gates—although there’s
much more to his horoscope—this “bad” alignment
has helped to make him the richest person in the world. It’s
also enabled him to start giving away his wealth.
The
Alternative Becomes Mainstream
There is an ongoing shift in human consciousness which
can be attributed to many astrological factors:
- the after-effects of the mid-1960’s Uranus-Pluto conjunction
- the 1893 Neptune-Pluto conjunction
- the early 1990’s Uranus-Neptune conjunction
- the discovery of ever more planet-like bodies in our solar system,
symbolizing an expansion of human consciousness
- the advent of the Aquarian Age
- the transition from the Vedic Kali Yuga to the Dwapara Yuga (according
to Swami Sri Yukteswar in his book The Holy Science)
I know there are “true believers” in one or more of these
astrological events or cycles. Personally, I do not have a strong bias in favor of just one particular astrological explanation
for the transition the world is experiencing. It’s more complex than that. I'm working on an article for my website about the astrological significators for the Middle East conflict.
I
recall buying organic fruits and vegetables in 1968 from a vendor in the San Francisco Bay Area. At that time, it was the
ONLY place around where you could buy organic produce. Now even my local Vons supermarket has an organic produce section.
Borders and Barnes and Noble have an entire magazine section just for alternative, New Age, and healthy living magazines.
There
are also magazines devoted to spa treatments and massage (magazine titles are wonderful indicators of trends in different
areas). Compared to just a decade or two ago, there are a lot more massage schools, and alternative treatments like Reiki
are much more mainstream than they used to be.
While vacationing in Hawaii, I noticed the prevalence of massage and
spa therapies. Near where we stayed on Maui, there were several massage tents set up along the ocean front walk, and it seemed
every hotel had a spa. I took
a picture of a bulletin board in Paia—a wonderful, small hippie beach town on the way to Hana—because
it seemed to show, through the “grain of sand” of a local Hawaiian old-fashioned community bulletin board, how
much the world has changed (note the ad at the bottom, "Need help financing your holistic business?" as well as ads for yoga
and Vedic astrology). I used to live in Hawaii (on the Big Island) as a 60’s yoga hippie and we were the social dropouts.
Now the whole state seems to have adopted the 60’s as a way of life. This is part of the larger consciousness-expanding
trend I mentioned at the beginning of this blog.
The positive sensual quality of spa and massage treatments—as
well as the new economy of health-consciousness—makes me think of Venus-ruled Taurus and the 2000 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction
in Taurus. Venus, as the ruler of earthy Taurus, is very grounded in the five senses. When associated with the sign of the
bull, it is also a planet of material acquisition. Both attributes of Venus are blending into a large trend.
The
Long Tail and Neptune-Pluto
I’m
about half way through Chris Anderson’s The
Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.
You
can read Anderson's excellent blog here.
The basic premise of the book is that a confluence of factors,
from bar coding to the iPod, have transformed business through
the Internet, allowing niche products to flourish. Obscure books
sell on Amazon and equally obscure songs are downloaded with
surprising frequency from Rhapsody. This is the “long
tail” on a graph, showing the thousands of titles which
sell just a few copies.
This book is in synch with Thomas Friedman’s The World
is Flat, which is about how technology has flattened the
global economic playing field.
Both these books do not have much to do at all with the real
world in Somalia or Rwanda, but from the perspective of techno-literate,
connected Westerners, they are interesting.
Anderson traces the “long tail” of niche marketing
back to the beginning of Sears Roebuck and their amazing catalog,
which he says had over 200,000 items. Sears Roebuck began around
the time of the Neptune-Pluto conjunction, a rare event that
only occurs every half a millennium.
The 1891-1892 Neptune-Pluto conjunction was in Gemini, the sign
of variety, novelty, and multiple things happening at the same
time. The Neptune-Pluto conjunction was really when cultural
segmentation began. Think of the big picture of the world in
the past 110 years. It’s an expression of Gemini, with
rapid development of technology and distribution, movement of
populations around the globe, communications, splitting of nations,
and a heightened emphasis on inventing individuality. Since
Anderson sees the long tail as having its genesis with the Sears
Roebuck catalog—which was actually a response to changing
demographics and culture in the U.S.—we can see how companies
like Netflix, eBay, and Google are really linked to the Neptune-Pluto
conjunction.
I’ll be away on vacation for a week, enjoying the tropical
breezes on Maui. When I get back, I’ll write about Venus
and Mars, two planets which have become relationship clichés
but actually have deep meanings in our own horoscopes as well
as in the world.
Astrology
and Genetics
I
began reading a book called Challenging
Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers
of Life,
by Lee Silver. Silver is a biogeneticist who reports on the
newly-formed alliances being arrayed against biotechnology,
from the opponents of stem cell research to protestors against
genetically modified agriculture. He remains steadfastly scientific,
yet at the same time is willing to get “outside the box”
of the scientific community to explore the real world of people’s
spiritual beliefs—which are not in a lab. He traveled
to many different parts of the world to find out how people’s
spiritual beliefs are dealing with new biogenetic discoveries.
I am not in agreement with all he says, but it is interesting.
I found this
article in Science and Theology News, which is from
a lecture Lee gave based on his book.
In the article, Lee says,
“A woman I met in Sumatra, Indonesia, calls herself a
Muslim, but her beliefs are purely Eastern. She says that she
is reincarnated in her grandchildren. A quarter of her spirit
goes into her grandchildren and other quarter portions of their
spirits come from the other grandparents. And when I heard this,
interpreted through her son, I realized that what she called
spirits I would call genes.”
To extend this to astrology, perhaps the potentials which are
in our horoscopes at the moment of our births are also in scientific
terms our genes. Astrologers are reading a celestial genetic
code in the horoscope, a code which is actually available to
anyone. I am not trying to reduce astrology to genetics. Not
at all. I am simply suggesting that there is a scientific corollary
for the horoscope and that the gap between science and astrology
can be bridged at least partly through genetics. The planets
are our genetic codes on a cosmic DNA strand.
Saturn-Neptune Mind
Control
Thought control of objects is no longer science
fiction. It’s now science fact. The following
is from the New York Times, which was reporting on an
article in Nature magazine:
“A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able to
control a computer, a television and a robot using only his thoughts, scientists reported…In separate experiments, the
first person to receive the implant, Matthew Nagle, was able to move a cursor, open e-mail, play a simple video game called
Pong and draw a crude circle on the screen. He could change the channel or volume of a television set, move a robot arm somewhat,
and open and close a prosthetic hand…
“The sensor measures 4 millimeters — about one sixth of an
inch — on a side and contains 100 tiny electrodes. The device was implanted in the area of Mr. Nagle’s motor cortex
that is responsible for arm movement, and was connected to a pedestal that protruded from the top of his skull.
“When
the device was to be used, technicians connected the pedestal to a computer with a cable. So Mr. Nagle was directly wired
to a computer, somewhat like a character in the ‘Matrix’ movies.”
New Age seers have long forecast
an age in which people would be able to control objects with their thoughts, like Matilda in the Roald Dahl story. As it turns
out, that’s true, but not because of advanced psychic development. Rather, it is being done through science. This seems
to be very much in line with the Saturn-Neptune opposition—giving form to the formless, mind over matter. This scientific
advance is occurring in connection with the Saturn-Neptune opposition (becoming exact next month, but the effects of which
we have been feeling for awhile now).
It is important to note that, in keeping with the symbolism of Saturn-Neptune,
this brain control is being developed not for use in a Las Vegas showroom but to assist medical patients who have spinal cord
injuries or conditions like Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception is also part of this, creating
an acceleration of new medical inventions. I’ve written in recent blogs about Neptune’s role in the brain, and
one of the qualities of Uranus--in addition to invention--is projecting outward.
Great
New Website: Visualize the Zodiac
Check
out a wonderful new, interactive website called Visualize the
Zodiac at http://zodiacdegrees.com.
You click on a zodiac sign degree and get artist Lyle Van Loon’s
picture of that degree symbol, as well as a re-visioning of
the textual Sabian symbol. Van Loon and the amazing astrologer/software
developer Michael Ax have constructed a website which blends
the Sabian symbols (based on the writings of Dane Rudhyar, Marc
Edmund Jones, and Martin Goldsmith). The drawings are black
and white, intuitive and simple. Ax’s commentary is outstanding.
For example, you can display all twelve sign pictures in a particular
degree, arranged by element, with Ax’s commentary on the
overall intuitive pattern created by this display.
Here's what they are offering, according to the homepage:
"This is the site where you can see the neighborhoods your planets
were visiting when You came into Your chart. You need only have
a horoscope and point into the grid to find Your Self in pictures
from the Zodiac. You don't need myth when you can see sketched
stories you've known in your life. Symbolic Astrology, done
like this, is about as powerful a tool as astrologers have had
to date... Please try this new and visual way of approaching
your chart. We're working to make this site work with full charts,
not just a single point at a time .. and to have it make custom
symbolic pdf reports/books which you can take to discuss anyone's
chart with. The hope is that by 'spelling it out' we can correct
some of the misconceptions people have about what it is like
to 'think astrological'. People want to know their potentials
in the right way.. Now You Can Show Them!"
Van
Loon’s art outside of the website
can be complex, colorful, and grand, but here he has taken the
route of “simplicity speaks volumes.” For example
1° Virgo is “Critical Ideals.” That’s tough
to convey in a picture, but Van Loon pulls it off, taking a
very amorphous concept and giving it a simple form. Very Saturn-Neptune.
You can also click on an angle, like the square (or even the
quintile, a creativity aspect), to display degrees which are
of that aspect, to see the inter-relationships among the illustrations
and word symbols. Very interesting and appealing to the pattern-chaser
in me.
Keep in mind that if you are trying to get a picture of a degree
in your horoscope, you need to add 1°. That is, an Ascendant
at 15° Aquarius would be read as 16° Aquarius. That’s
how the Sabian symbol system works.
Have fun with this site!
Working
in a Cloud
I wrote yesterday about the polarity of Neptune
and Saturn, now being felt as these two planets move into exact opposition with each other. Neptune is the imaginative, intuitive
side of our brain, while Saturn is the logical, factual, linear side. This merging of polarities is metaphorically conveyed
by a new portable room, the Cloud, featured on PopGadget and available (for a very hefty price) on UrbanPeel, which says that it …”can be used as a relaxing workplace
retreat, a unique meeting place, for meditation, or as an ideal escape for creative brainstorming. A space of its own that
can be used within any space, Cloud instantly defines an area and a mood apart.
“Easily transported from place
to place, when the Cloud is unpacked, a silent fan continuously keeps the chamber inflated as long as required. The room inflates
in three minutes and stays inflated until its folded away into its connected carrying bag. Cloud is entered and exited via
a self–closing slit door alowing ample ventilation. The Cloud is made of rip-stop nylon and includes the carrying bag
with integral fan unit.”
In a recent
article, the New York Times reports that the Cloud is “an inflatable conference room that closely
resembles its namesake meteorological phenomenon…Cloud is meant to heighten the creativity of the workers who gather
inside its pliable nylon walls.”
This seems to me to have a lot of Uranus-Neptune in it, too, but I like the
synchronicity of this product receiving notice so close to the Saturn-Neptune opposition. The Cloud/Neptune “room”
is really an inflatable projection (opposition) to take workers on a more imaginative journey out of the Saturnine workplace—without
physically leaving it.
Saturn,
Neptune, and A Whole New Mind
Neptune’s
importance in our future cannot be underestimated. With the
Saturn-Neptune opposition (which becomes exact next month),
the phrase that most often comes to mind is “giving form
to the formless.” That is what I have been seeing a lot
of lately.
Dan Pink is the best-selling author of 2001’s Free
Agent Nation and former chief speechwriter for Al Gore.
Pink’s new book is called A
Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.
A Whole New Mind says that the keys to success in the
future lie not in the old left-brain, linear model, but rather
in developing and cultivating six “senses” of design,
story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Pink compares this
upcoming “Conceptual Age” to past periods of intense
change, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance.
Our U.S. economy has been very much based on the notion that
Saturnine left brain, linear jobs and education will lead to
the greatest progress. We have placed a high premium on engineers
and scientists, computer programmers and accountants. But our
future progress, according to Dan Pink, will be determined more
by designers and creative individuals—in a word (although
not the word chosen by Dan Pink), Neptune.
I believe that the Saturn-Neptune opposition shows this polarity
between logical form and the formless creative imagination,
but the cycle of these two planets—they are not always
in opposition—demonstrates that the two forces of imagination
and practicality can be merged. Look at Google, for example.
They depend on incredibly complex mathematical algorithms and
thousands of servers, yet Google is fluid and imaginative. Or
the iPod, which merges graceful Neptunian design, music, and
basic engineering.
Our collective future will reflect a lot more Neptune, but we
will still need Saturn.
Mercury
This is another in an online series I am doing on
the planets and luminaries. It is not meant to be definitive, but rather broadly inclusive. There are so many different approaches
to astrology today and so many different ways of looking at the planets. I am just trying to provide an overview that incorporates
the basic interpretation of each planet or luminary, along with a bit of its mythology, traditional interpretation, and even
on occasion its Vedic meaning. When I am done, I will post a new page (or pages) on my website with basic background information
on the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.
Mercury rules both Gemini, an air sign, and Virgo, an
earth sign. We are currently in a retrograde phase of Mercury, which began on July 4 and will continue through July
29. See
Rob Tillett’s excellent article on Mercury retrograde. Mercury retrograde, an astronomical phenomenon in which the planet
appears to be going backward from the perspective of the Earth, is becoming a more common cultural reference point. During
Mercury retrograde, the planet’s communication wires get crossed. Many individuals with little interest in astrology
beyond their own Sun sign have become aware—through Mercury retrograde, when there is an increased likelihood of communication
mishaps —that Mercury rules things like communication and electronics. The Internet, fax machines, and cell phones are
all ruled by Mercury.
Mercury is indeed the communication planet, and its placement in the horoscope shows how we communicate
with others—and with ourselves.
Mercury is very good at details and things which require technical expertise.
This could be anything from accounting to piano playing. It enjoys tinkering and figuring out how things work.
Mercury
is also an excellent mimic and can take on the personas of other planets it aspects in a horoscope. Mercury has plasticity.
Howard Sasportas writes (in The
Inner Planets: Building Blocks of Personal Reality) that, “Mercury represents the archetype that can be any of the
other archetypes.”
The mythological Roman Mercury—whose Greek equivalent was Hermes—was associated
with music and with mischief. Mercury is the trickster, an archetype with both positive and negative expressions.
He
was also the god who was able to travel back and forth between the underworld of Pluto and the upper world of gods and mortals.
Thus, Mercury is a planet which allows us to traverse levels of consciousness and experience, to be a messenger within or
without. A well-aspected Mercury in the horoscope can describe the potential for disseminating news and information from one
level to another—between strata of personal consciousness, work hierarchies, social circles, etc.
Mercury symbolizes
intellectual curiosity and enjoys sharing its findings with others. Many journalists, for example, while working in the Jupiter-ruled
field of news publishing, are innately Mercurial. Mercury is an excellent student, but often requires no teacher because it
values learning for its own sake.
Although Libra and its planetary ruler Venus are most-often associated with being
social, Mercury is a planet which enjoys social banter and good, quick-witted conversation. President Kennedy was a Mercury-ruled
Gemini who was curious about the world around him and enjoyed a humorous repartee with reporters and others.
Mercury
is said (in William Lilly’s classic text, Christian
Astrology) to rule bowling alleys and tennis courts, as well as tempests and earthquakes.
Bruce
Springsteen
Bruce
Springsteen’s new bestselling CD, We
Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,
has some great music. My father was a big fan of American folk
music and I grew up listening to Pete Seeger. Many of the songs
on this new compilation were familiar to me, and probably to
many other listeners as well. The CD is a dual disc, meaning
that on one side is an audio CD and on the other is a DVD. The
DVD shows Springsteen recording some of the songs and reflecting
on the creative process.
I got Bruce Springsteen’s birth data from AstroDataBank,
which says it is from his birth certificate. Bruce Springsteen
is a triple air sign. He has the Sun and Moon in Libra and the
Ascendant in Gemini. His Sun is actually on the Aries Point,
a powerful placement where a luminary or planet is at 0° of
a cardinal sign (in Springsteen’s case, Libra)—in
other words, on an angle of the cardinal square.
On the DVD, there are close-up camera shots of Springsteen which
show him thinking through a song and how to arrange it. He does
this spontaneously, with the band—three horns, fiddle,
accordion, backup singers, etc.—gathered in front of him.
You can see his quick, agile, intensely focused musical mind
quickly cutting through to the essentials and putting together
an opening song arrangement in less time than it took me to
compose this sentence. He says he prefers to work this way because
it gives the musicians—including himself—more potential
for creative invention.
There has been a resurgence in American roots music ever since
the release of the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou
and its bluegrass soundtrack, both which I enjoyed very much.
Bluegrass music festivals have sprung up around the country
and singers like Emmylou Harris—who I saw recently—have
led a revival of American country music-poetry. This reminds
me somewhat of the country rock revival of the late 60’s
and early 70’s when the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, and
even the Rolling Stones explored American country roots music.
It is no coincidence that this also happened to be the time
when Eastern meditation practices—finding an inner home—were
embraced in the United States. This is not a periodic trend,
but rather a basic part of the American character—its
Cancer Sun—which continually seeks expression in the culture.
When I read the lyrics to “Shenandoah” on the insert
in Springsteen’s new CD, I learned it was written very
early in the country’s history. The song tells of a pioneer’s
longing and ache for home, describing something basic and elemental
in the American character—the wandering far from home
and consequent heartache of distance. This is true for Americans
in ways both literal and metaphoric. We move so fast we lose
our sense of self--an inner home, roots--and thus long for Dorothy’s
Kansas. This longing for home is most certainly symbolized by
the U.S. Cancer Sun. In fact, the words to “Shenandoah”
can stand as a lyrical U.S. Sun: “Away, we’re bound
away,/ ‘cross the wide Missouri./ My Shenandoah, I long
to see you…”
Springsteen has an 8th house debilitated Jupiter singleton in
Capricorn. It’s the only planet he has above the horizon.
He wrings the emotion dry in every word.
Saturday,
July 08, 2006
Radical
brain surgery
A recent article in the New Yorker magazine recounted a number of successful hemispherectomies—surgeries in which half the brain hemisphere is removed,
most often to prevent life-threatening seizures which do not respond to medication. The most amazing thing about this procedure
is that most of the hemispherectomy patients survive and thrive. The article does not say that a
person with a missing right brain hemisphere has an impaired ability to synthesize or that a missing left brain hemisphere
results in a reduction in logical thinking. What is clear from the article is that the brain is
remarkably adaptable, malleable, and has a high degree of placticity:
“When [the reporter] asked the surgeons
how it’s possible for people with half a brain to live, let alone have a life, each of them spoke about plasticity,
flexibility, redundancy, and potential, and then they smiled and said the same thing: ‘We don’t really know.’
The
brain can change. It is mutable—Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius—Mercury and Jupiter. It is also capable of Plutonian
transformation. Lifelong learning keeps our brains going and changing. Lack of stimulus causes our brains to stagnate. People
who have suffered severe speech impairment through strokes which have killed the language part of the brain can learn to talk
again.
Life is quite miraculous and the horoscope represents this miraculous regenerative quality for each individual.
When we speak of potential in the horoscope rather than destiny—i.e., “You can change your life” rather
than “Get ready—this is GONNA happen!”—we are speaking of reality. Life’s a miracle and the
horoscope should be seen in that way. If somebody can live a good life with half a brain, I can certainly get through “whatever”
with my full brain. An individual horoscope contains regenerative, transformational potential—for everyone. I really
believe that to be true.
Uranus-Neptune
and the Virtual World
More on the planets in the days to come, but there
are several things I want to blog about first.
The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception is turning the virtual world inside out. The creation of new online worlds is a trend that will grow and morph in startling
ways. These are more than just online games, although that is a big part of this phenomenon. The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception
creates a longing for a Utopia and, since the everyday real world sorely lacks such perfection, the online world is becoming
the closest thing some people have to a Utopian community. Of course, once one raises the idea of Utopia, the Platonic ideal
immediately opens up for debate—the imperfections in MySpace are already glaringly apparent when we read about a 16-year
old girl enticed to fly from Michigan to Jordan to “marry” a man she met on MySpace.
Habbo
Hotel is a Uranus-Neptune Utopia created mainly for teenagers—50 million
of them. Habbo Hotel allows members to create a fully customized online persona called a Habbo. Habbos can explore the hotel
where they can hang out and make friends with other Habbos, play games, party and dance, or create and decorate their own
room with furniture. They pay for stuff in the Habbo Hotel with credits bought with real world currency.
Kids’
Utopia Neopets, which also fits nicely with Uranus in Pisces (the Pisces-Virgo axis
being a pet-loving polarity), claims to have 70 million members. Kids can create their own imaginary pets, choosing from over
fifty possibilities such as Poogle or Gnorbu.
The ability to don multiple identities, create online personas, “avatars,”
personalized icons, etc., is also a growing trend discussed in my new book, Cosmic Trends. This is part of a new fluidity of identity. The digital artwork of these online worlds is often imaginative and creative,
making a new world out of the old. If anyone has seen the movie Cars, there are scenes in that movie which show the
desert or a neon-lit small town with a digital beauty more exquisite than real life.
The alternate reality of the online
digital world is going to have a huge impact on culture and the world. When individuals can access this world anytime, anywhere—via
cell phones and wireless mobile devices—it will be more difficult for some to separate the virtual and real worlds.
The Astrological Moon, Part Two
The house and sign where your Moon is placed is
where you are able to deal with life on life’s terms. For example, someone with the Moon in the 6th house or Virgo has
the potential to do well at a job--sometimes to the point where work becomes one's only "food," resulting in the workaholic.
Not only does a 6th house/Virgo Moon individual feel nurtured by being useful in a job, they are also better able to withstand
the buffets of office politics, incompetent coworkers, etc. For such a person, the Moon is grounded in the 6th house or Virgo.
Similarly, a person with the Moon in Libra or the 7th house is fed by relationships. This individual will also be more accepting
and able to withstand the inherent imperfections in human relationships. The Moon is very protective and wherever it is placed
we find some protection there.
However, the Moon’s challenging aspects with Mars or the outer planets can also
cause problems. Uranus in square aspect to the Moon, for example, can cause moodiness and a need for emotional space, and
Mars opposite the Moon can indicate projected anger. It is important to note that challenging aspects (mainly the square and
opposition) in the horoscope do not condemn one to a difficult life in those areas. That is where we have the most opportunity
for growth in life. The pearl grows where there is an irritation.
William Lilly says in his book Christian Astrology,
that when the Moon is well-placed in a horoscope, the individual can be “a searcher of, and delighter in novelties.”
However,
Cancer—the sign ruled by the Moon—is not one of the mutable (changeable) signs. It is a cardinal sign, meaning
that it initiates.
Cancer is marked in the northern hemisphere by the summer solstice, the first day of summer, when
the day is longest and the night is shortest. Read Australian
astrologer Barry Perlman’s very interesting discussion of the reversal of the solstices in the southern hemisphere and what
it means for an astrology based on northern hemisphere solstices. In the northern hemisphere, it is paradoxical that the Moon
should rule a sign where daylight predominates.
The Moon
is strongly linked to the most human of initiations, birth, and with the feminine or goddess archetype. The Moon is instinctive. It is how we react to things and events through
our feelings.
The Moon has to do with feeling comfortable and secure, our personal retreat in the world, how and where
we find our own shell. It is easy to see why it is given rulership of the sign of the crab, its protective shell insulating
the crustacean’s sensitive insides from a rough world. It is also this shell, however, that makes the lunar type able
to go through life’s ups and downs with an inner equanimity and serenity.
It also has to do with our roots, our
family tree, the plot of land upon which we have staked our identity, the community or tribe to which we belong. The Moon
needs to belong, to be a part of, to be nurtured and to nurture in return.
The
Astrological Moon, Part One
This
is a continuation of a blog series I am doing on the astrology
of the planets. I will be discussing the Moon in two parts because
it got kind of long for a blog. It also occurred to me that
I will probably have to stop at Jupiter and not write about
the outer planets. The reason is because my new book, Cosmic
Trends, discusses the outer
planets at length and I don’t think the publisher would
appreciate it if I put even some of that into my blogs. Even
if I wrote completely different stuff from my book, I’d
still be using my keywords for the outer planets. One of the
drawbacks of having a preponderance of fire (I’ve got
half my horoscope in fire signs) is that I sometimes (well,
more than sometimes) get ahead of myself. So our astrological
journey through the solar system will only take us as far as
Jupiter. I apologize if you were waiting for us to arrive on
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. Although it may seem otherwise,
this is not an intentionally planned
promo for my book, like buy the book so you can read about the
rest of the planets.
Also, I get so interested in things happening in the world around
us that I will probably have interrupt our journey to write
a few blogs about other things, too. I just started reading
a
great article in The
New Yorker
about what happened when a child had one brain hemisphere surgically
removed to save her life. It seems to relate to some earlier
blogs I wrote about Neptune, Saturn, and the brain’s frontal
lobe.
Well, after that long digressive intro, here we go with the
Part I on the Moon.
Moon—It rules Cancer, the constellation of the
crab. The Moon symbolizes that which nurtures and feeds
us. The sign the Moon is in describes what it is that feeds
us and where we look for nurturing. The Moon controls the tides
of our emotions. Because the Moon is a reflector of light, it
represents an individual’s inner mirror, how a person
sees himself or herself. The Moon can make individuals strongly
attuned to the needs of others and to the changes around them.
A number of great performers and leaders have a strong Moon
which enables them to intuit the public’s needs. It is
associated with the 4th house--our roots, origins, and common
ground.
Whereas the Sun always appears the same—eternal—the
Moon is changeable and inconstant--although, as we shall see,
there is much more to the Moon's inconstancy than meets the
eye. Juliet compared Romeo to “the inconstant Moon, that
monthly changes in her circled orb…” Chiaroscuro
is a word borrowed from Italian to describe art which has a
strong interplay of light and shade through reflected light.
This was a way to strengthen an illusion of depth. Leonardo
Da Vinci was an important artist in the development of chiaroscuro
(see
some examples).
The Moon is like a chiaroscuro, a play of light and shadow through
the reflected light of the Sun. It is this reflected quality
that allowed people to gaze at the full Moon and project a face,
the man in the Moon, onto its surface.
Individuals with the Moon strong in their horoscopes are attuned
to the changing, shifting nature of reality. Unlike the stereotype
of the Moon as fickle, many individuals who have a strong Moon
are very grounded and well-suited to navigate the constantly
shifting tides of life. The Moon is exalted (where a planet
or luminary can best express its energy) in Taurus, the sign
which is most down-to-earth and grounded. People with a strong
Moon tend to be more accepting of life’s inherent messiness
and troubles, and thus better able to deal with life on life’s
terms.
Next blog: Part Two on the Moon.
The Astrological Sun
As
I mentioned previously, I am going to post some information about
each of the planets as they are used in astrology. This is not meant
to be comprehensive. The aim is to help readers of this blog learn
a little about the planets in astrology. I know that many readers
already have a very good understanding of the basics of astrology,
so I am going to try to make these brief explanations broad and
interesting enough to also be of interest to more experienced astrology
students and practitioners. When I'm done, I'll post a new page
on my website all about the planets in astrology.
The Sun rules Leo, the sign of the lion. It symbolizes
the hero’s or heroine’s journey and our core identity.
Leos or persons with the Sun strong in their horoscopes will try
to shine brightly. They do not like to be dimmed.
The Sun is on a journey, a mission. Like Apollo’s chariot,
which from the perspective of the Earth appeared to course across
the sky, the Sun is cyclic destiny.
The Sun symbolizes an inner journey. Liz Greene, in a book she co-wrote
with Howard Sasportas, The
Luminaries,
said that the
Sun was the mythic hero
with a need to experience life as “special and meaningful.”
Literature abounds with heroes on mythic journeys, and we can see
how a character like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, following
the Yellow Brick Road, was on a hero’s mission, trying to
get back home. Everyone she met became part of her journey and served
a greater purpose. Harry Potter is another literary Sun hero, as
is Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. Very often,
the Sun hero or heroine must break through their own clouds. Hamlet
was on a hero’s journey of self-discovery.
The Sun acts before it thinks and in that way is like a child. Its
power is to burn away the mists of fear and negativity.
The Sun has a deep need for unifying patterns. It can often see
the path of its own destiny by intuitively glimpsing and understanding
how seemingly random events in life are connected to a deeper, underlying
pattern. It lights the other planets and thus “sees”
the unity in the cosmos. The Sun is what enables us to look back
on a life of seemingly random, accidental events—a life of
seeming serendipity—and see how everything was connected to
a hidden destiny that may only become clear in hindsight. Or earlier
through the divination of astrology.
The Sun needs to create. It can create through art, writing, drama,
or music, or in some other way. The key is that it has to express
its own nature. The Sun cannot simply sit back and let others do
its work.
The Sun is very faithful. You can count on it rising every day.
That’s one thing that made eclipses such disrupters of faith.
The Sun is loyal and will stick with someone or some task far beyond
the tolerance levels of most. It is the ruler of Leo, which is a
fixed sign. The Sun, however, can also be blind in its loyalty—to
people, ideas, leaders, goals—with a proud arrogance which
will not hear opposing views.
It rules the heart. The Sun in Renaissance astrology was also said
to rule a number of plants and herbs which were supposed to dissolve
malignant influences. According to the great 17th Century astrologer
William Lilly, among
the plants ruled by the Sun is Saint John’s Wort,
which is now used (especially in Europe) to relieve depression.
In Vedic astrology, the Sun is considered a malefic planet—cruel,
actually— because of its scorching heat. The Sun is said to
be exalted (at its greatest strength) in Aries and debilitated (weakened)
in Libra, where it has to compromise.
Spiritually, it rules the soul.
See online:
The
Sun-God and the Astrological Sun,
by Liz Greene
Deborah
Houlding’s Skyscript website adaptation and annotation of
William Lilly’s text on
the Sun
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