Newsletter August 2009

Content:
Quick Look at the Sky
October 3 Workshop
Reception for Dorian Greenbaum
Julia Child -- Ted Kennedy (semi-archive)

Just a few weeks ago Jupiter was opposing the Sun, sometimes called by astronomers “at opposition”.  This means that, like the Full Moon, Jupiter gets the fullest light of the Sun from Earth’s vantage point and is the brightest heavenly body in the sky except for the Sun and Moon.  We can still see it brightly in the sky but further to the west with each passing night.  Now descending to the middle degrees of Aquarius, Jupiter will go direct at 17 Aquarius on October 13.

Well, shortly after you read this Mercury goes retrograde, September 7, and its position is 06 Libra; when it’s direct a little over three weeks later its position will be 21 Virgo.

Pluto, alas, goes direct shortly after on the 11th, and its position is 00 Capricorn 39 – finally Pluto begins to move farther along in Capricorn.  (Full disclosure: my Sun position is 00 Capricorn)

And here’s something to look forward to: on October 29, the 80th anniversary of the first day of stock market crash of 1929, Saturn leaves Virgo and enters Libra.  (Later it will be in square to Pluto).  Is this important?  That may depend on your chart and relevant mundane charts.  More awaits on this mat

And, you may ask, what stars in the sky will be important at this time?  For that I introduce the next offering:

This is the beginning of a new series of quarterly workshops: what does the night sky look like at this time of year?  We will orient ourselves to the stars that are most visible at the time – where they are, when they appear, how to find them.  We will also explore the astrological meanings of these visible stars.

 We will also look at planetary activity during the time; again, when you can see interesting movements, what some important configurations may be and how they manifest in your chart. You will find out where the planets will be, and what they will be doing during the season.  We will then discuss how you might interpret some of these occurrences in the light of your astrological chart and life.

During this workshop we will train our eyes to look at the skies and train our minds to look at the rhythms of the sky’s movements.  Premium astrology and astronomy software will come to our aid!

Bring your natal charts and you can also discover how the autumn skies will affect you.

                Workshop Time and Place:

                October 3, 2009, 1:30-6:00 PM

                Abby Goodman’s in Wayland, Ma.

                Fee is $50

Reception and Party for Dorian Greenbaum

October 3, 2009 (after the workshop), 7:00 PM to whenever

                Same place: Abby Goodman’s in Wayland, Ma.

                                (If necessary we’ll work out carpooling arrangements.)

                You are welcome to contribute a food offering and something to drink.

 Please join in to congratulate Dorian on the completion of her doctoral program. Here’s a chance to forge and renew social acquaintances with people of like backgrounds and interests in astrology.                 

Surely we’ll include some reminisces and maybe an astrological delineation of Dorian’s time at the Warburg.     

Contact Joseph Crane above, Dorian Greenbaum at dorian@goldtel.net or Abby (especially for directions) at abbyscapes@comcast.net.

Now we have this month’s profiles.

At first glance there are many surprises in this chart.

The Leo Sun seems pretty obvious for her although one would have thought it would be in a more prominent house.

You can see on You Tube some clips of her kitchen disasters, and she certainly had a gift for improvisation – any good cook does.  Yet her chart has Saturn conspicuously at the Ascendant in aspect to Mercury and Venus in Virgo (in the 4th) and Jupiter (in the 7th).  As with a musician, however, the foundation of improvisation and informality is much previous focused and confident hard work, and Julia Child certainly never shrank from hard work.

And what about all that Virgo?  Clearly Julia Child was a perfectionist in her own style.  On an interview I heard of her, she also stated that French cooking is “good cooking technique” – that’s a quintessentially Virgo sentiment.  It’s important to note that of the three planets in Virgo, Mercury is dominant: although retrograde, Mercury is in its own sign and exaltation and is the ruler of the Ascendant.

It does turn out that although she does not have the Sun in a powerful house, she has five of seven visible planets in angular houses 1, 4, and 7.  This is particularly interesting because so many are quite close to one another, forming a classic “t-square” – there’s an opposition from Saturn in the first to Jupiter in the seventh; both planets are in square to Mercury in Virgo. 

There are many ways of seeing this. To me it seems that Mercury receives the influence of both Jupiter and Saturn and in both cases there are positive features.  Jupiter is the great benefic (and may represent her husband and her excellent marriage) and Saturn in Gemini is governed by Mercury.  Both planets are out of sect in this nocturnal chart; this could have signified that success for her didn’t come until later in life.  (Although she characterized her work for US intelligence overseas as purely clerical, it turned out that she had been involved in some espionage operations.  I am trying to imagine a woman spy over six feet in height in Asia…) 

Let’s not forget the position of the Moon; at first a Libra Moon doesn’t tell us much, although Julia Child certainly maintained a sense of elegance from her rather upper-crust childhood.  I also notice that Moon and Mars are of equal degrees from the Aries/Libra axis and are in that way brought together.  Don’t be fooled by the “nice guy or girl” image of Libra – it’s often not true and especially for someone who’s Moon is tied into Mars!  I would expect a good deal of drive and perhaps fierceness from her.  One may also consider that Moon and Mars are planets of cooking and eating respectively.

Another factor concerns the Moon – it’s about her Lot of Spirit (a.k.a. Lot of Daimon) in Cancer governed by Moon.  Because Moon is in Libra, she is angular to the Lot of Spirit/Daimon.   This may attest to a blend of the affable and the independent.  I suspect that she was hard to dislike, although no “unauthorized biography” has yet come out.

Let’s start with her progressions – those would be in the middle-most wheel (her natal positions are on the very inside wheel).  The previous March there was a progressed third quarter square.  This would signify some kind of turning point and certainly was the fulfillment of many years of previous hard work.  You will also see that her Sun and Mercury had come together by progression and both planets were to sextile Jupiter shortly – here is the combination of the Sun with her dominant natal planet and both coming into aspect with the great benefic Jupiter.    All this tells a lot about how previous work would bring about greater worldly success.

Her transits at this time don’t seem much like a big deal.  Uranus was on her Sun but has since moved on.  Pluto was in Virgo at this time but not greatly affecting any planet at this time.  Transiting Saturn was opposite Neptune but that doesn’t tell us much.  But what comes up is very important!

Uranus moves on – to a conjunction with Mercury.  This happened in 1962 when she began to work with the unusual medium of television.  On the other side of the zodiac, Jupiter was to move through Aquarius and in the autumn of 1962, was retrograding to a station in the early degrees of Pisces.  This means that her Ascendant and planets Saturn, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter were all receiving transits from Uranus and Jupiter at the same time!  To me this sounds like a new career in new media.

I want to note others factor from the Hellenistic predictive tradition.  (You can study these indicators in detail in my book Astrological Roots: The Hellenistic Legacy.)  In the summer of 1960 her decennials were Mercury/Jupiter, befitting somebody getting a book out and having moved to a new area.  On July 30 1961, however, the planetary periods became Mercury/Saturn and would continue until 1964.  During this time the circumambulations of the Sun, signifying fame and reputation, were in the bounds of Saturn and also in trine to Saturn.   Ordinarily this would be difficult, especially for somebody with a nocturnal chart.  However, Saturn is such a prominent planet for her that it became more the positive result of previous hard work, not the push-back that if often is.

Now onto to a matter very different:

I am writing this just a few hours after Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral. Shortly after he began treatment for cancer in the early summer of last year I wrote about him for this newsletter (6/09).  From an astrological point of view, I could find only difficulties on his road ahead.  Here is an adaptation and update from that article last year.  I will keep the first paragraph in its original font and will keep it unchanged; subsequently I will change the font and make content changes as appropriate.  

Since Ted Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a brain tumor and subsequent (so far successful) surgery to have the tumor removed, there have been many notes of appreciation for the long-time Senator from Massachusetts.  On a personal note, Kennedy became Senator from my state since I was seven years old, and although I moved to Rhode Island seven years ago, I have always felt he was sitting there in the Senate for me.

Kennedy’s astrological chart shows much of his complexity, his strengths and his weaknesses.  Here it is:

You may look at Kennedy’s oratorical gifts, his puffy body that is perpetually out of shape, and his role as American’s liberal icon and wonder, “Is this Capricorn and Saturn?”         Many things come to mind when I see Kennedy’s Capricorn and Saturn: perseverance and ability to climb back from major personal and political obstacles, an emphasis on productivity and pragmatism, endurance in one job, and tendency toward overwork.  All these are saturnine qualities.

Saturn isn’t only in the all-important First House: it is in its own sign Capricorn and it is oriental, i.e., it rises before the Sun on the day of his birth. As a result, Saturn’s effect is more pronounced.  Saturn is also out of sect here – this is a diurnal planet in Kennedy’s nocturnal chart.  This might give a tendency toward melancholy, but since Mars with Mercury also governed by Saturn, he would rather fight very patiently.  These qualities of Saturn in the first may also indicate his unhealthy appearance, but up until his cancer he had been reasonable healthy -- for somebody who has not taken very good care of himself.

Many years ago I presented Kennedy’s chart to an astrology group, and one person looked at Neptune/Moon opposite Sun and quickly exclaimed, “What an alcoholic!”  There is no argument that Kennedy abused alcohol at certain points of his life, yet there is much more than addictive pathology to this configuration.

There are other negative possibilities: Moon may also indicate the body, especially since the Lot of Fortune and Lot of Spirit are governed by the Moon. Yet, as just mentioned, he has been fairly healthy physically and psychologically throughout his life.  The configuration of Moon and Neptune can indicate some kind of psychic delusion that, to my knowledge, Kennedy had never manifested.  He may overlook his own lunar needs for physical and emotional regularity and moderation: in his case, this may be closer to the mark. 

The positive qualities of Moon-Neptune came forth in much of the positive publicity during the time of his sickness and after he died: his sympathy and maybe identification with the difficulties experienced by ordinary people.  This came through in many ways in his life.  There are many stories of Kennedy personally intervening on behalf of people who had been unfairly treated by the government or whom he could do a favor toward.  Kennedy’s consuming interest in national policy toward poverty, education, and health care may be also indicated by his Moon-Neptune combination.  Kennedy’s nocturnal Moon is in its triplicity in Virgo, and his Lot of Exaltation is also in Virgo.  Virgo helps this combination express itself in positive ways: in his attention to detail and ability to find and take what is positive from situations that looked intractable.

The opposition of Sun to Moon-Neptune may indicate his failure to forward his larger political ambitions and may have led him to subordinate his ambition to his sense of greater purpose that Neptune would indicate.

You may well be wondering, “What the hell is this?”  Simply put, distances between planets (“arcs”) have number values that are often divisible by smaller numbers that have specific symbolism.  For example, one fifth of the 360° circle is 72°, and from this we have 18, 36, and 24 – all these are in the “five family” within the circle.  The chart above places the planets in relationship to each other based upon these numbers. In the modern style of interpreting harmonic charts, we are solely interested in aspects between planets.

Here it is difficult not to notice a strong grand trine configuration between Jupiter and Uranus and his Mercury/Mars conjunction.  (Since in Kennedy’s “radical” chart Mercury and Mars are a degree away from each other, in a Fifth Harmonic chart they are five degrees away.)

Planets connecting in this harmonic will give indications of a person’s modes of operation, the abilities or talents someone will use to forward his or her purposes.

Here we get the picture of someone with original ideas who is willing to carry on a crusade – one kind or another – to forward those ideas.  His intellectual curiosity and sharpness and fighting spirit have not diminished at all during his long tenure as Senator and leading liberal politician.  When one combines this strong intellect and the saturnine penchant for hard work and thoroughness, you get the historically effective politician he will be remembered for.

Back to his “radical” natal chart:

Do Kennedy’s midpoints complement or add to the information already uncovered?  One that is wholly positive  is Node=Jupiter/MC.  Ebertin describes this as “an engaging manner in contact with other people; successful and fortunate associations.”

Kennedy’s oscillation of triumph and difficulty is indicated by two midpoint configurations involving both Jupiter and Saturn: both planets have the MC degree as their midpoint, and Jupiter is the midpoint of Sun and Saturn.  Interestingly, Ebertin adds that the latter combination will tend one toward corpulence.

Kennedy’s natal Mercury-Mars conjunction is the midpoint of Saturn and Node, itself a dyad of isolation and personal loss.  There is both articulation of and desire to gain release from loss and depression.  Further indications of emotional difficulty are Moon=Venus/Saturn (more about women and relationships) and Neptune=Saturn/Ascendant.  That Kennedy was about to get married again and settle down in late middle age was a fortunate (and probably life-preserving) development.

When we see Kennedy’s Sun opposite Moon and Neptune we could also note that Pluto also has a role: Pluto is a half-square 90°  (semi-square) from Moon-Neptune and a square-and-a-half 135°  (sesquiquadrate) from the Sun. This makes Pluto also part of the action.       But there’s more: Uranus is in semi-square with Sun, and thus also connects with Pluto.

When we note the semi-squares and sesquiquadrates, Kennedy’s chart has an eighth harmonic configuration involving Sun, Moon, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Below is a list of transits during July 1969.  Mars has entered Sagittarius and has been in contact with Uranus, Sun on the morning after the accident, and coming up to Pluto.  Mars will square Moon/Neptune coming up.  Any combination of Mars and Uranus can point to an accident; Mars can bring up impulsiveness and recklessness to a Pisces Sun; Pluto can makes things very dangerous.

(Yes I really like screen print and cropping.)

This would be difficult in itself except that previously by solar arc Pluto had formed an opposition to Mars!

Now let’s move closer to the present.

At the time of Kennedy’s medical diagnosis last year, Saturn was contacting his Moon-Neptune conjunction and was recently stationary, opposing his Sun. Clearly this combination – and many combinations that involved both Saturn and Neptune – indicates sickness of some kind, and quite possibly the lingering weakening sickness that so often occurs with cancer. 

When we look to the week of his death, two thing stand out astrologically.

In July 2009 there was a very strong solar eclipse at 29° Cancer.  This eclipse opposed his natal Saturn in the 1st house of the body’s health and viability.

During this past week Mars had entered Cancer and was opposing transiting Pluto in the sky in the first degree of Capricorn. Mars could trigger activity if a transit from Pluto had been already active.  (I personally have survived this encounter to my Sun’s position at 0° Capricorn.)  Kennedy, however, had Jupiter at 15°  Leo in the 8th house that is associated with death.  Mars, when it entered Cancer, formed a semisquare to Jupiter which also had a Pluto transit by sesquiquadrate during the time of his illness.

Although I am a traditional astrologer and tend to hold onto the Ptolemaic aspects very tightly, I must admit that the eighth harmonic aspects and transits of the semi-square and sesquiquadrate can have a major role to play.

I think I will end it here and I do hope that the newsletter of September 2009 can end on a far happier note.