Frances McEvoy Remembered

Many of our readers know that Fran McEvoy, who was an astrology leader on a national and local scale, died last week at her home in Belmont, Ma.. Fran was a gifted teacher and writer and an astrological guide and mentor for many people over a long career in astrology. She was also an exemplar of a generation of astrologers who helped astrology become much better known and reputed within our modern culture. Fran also shared her likes and dislikes freely, in the spirit of being helpful and genuine to her calling. Fran was also tireless in finding accurate birth data for many prominent (or infamous) people which contributed much to ongoing astrology's research. She also pioneered work in asteroids, declination, and planetary cycles.

As a large personality, friend, and a very very good astrologer, Fran McEvoy will be missed by all of us who knew her.

In the few days afterFran's passing, people circulated her natal chart and the time of her death. Looking at both charts together was quite an experience. We will talk below about the about the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in the last degree of Sagittarius. At the time of her death Moonwas also a the same degree. This certainly highlights the potency of that major expanding and transformative configuration in the skies.

Most telling, however, was that this major conjunction was the same degree as Fran McEvoy's natal Saturn! �This dark grey and melancholy planet is the lord of her tenth and eleventh houses, which, among other things, help connect her with the larger universe. �From this information, the picture appears to be of somebody shedding earthly appearances and not dying but soaring into the universe, or, in the words of many a funeral liturgy, being called back.

Like myself, Fran McEvoy loved the visible sky and loved astrological technique. This newsletter is awash with both, and so is dedicated to her memory.

Sunset on December 23

In the last issue you read about Mars going retrograde, which is always the case when Mars (or any other outer planet) is on the other side of the zodiac and horizon as the Sun. �On Sunday 12/23 we get a real treat: not only is Mars closely opposite Sun in the zodiac, being "at opposition", but Moon joins Mars, providing a spectacular evening sky on that day.

On an astronomy program, this is how it looks. Note that the direction is east, on the other side of the horizon as the setting Sun.

And here is the same place and time, cast as an astrological chart.

Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction

In the chart above you see that Pluto is 29 Sagittarius and Jupiter has moved into Capricorn.Previously, both planets were in the last degrees of Sagittarius. These would be powerful transits for people with birthchart positions in the last degrees of Sagittarius (conjunction), Gemini (opposition), Virgo or Pisces (square).

Jupiter will remain in Capricorn for all of 2008; Pluto will straddle the last degree of Sagittarius and the first degree of Capricorn during this coming year.

[My Mercury is at 29 Sagittarius; I have Sun at 0 Capricorn, so times have been interesting I have much to look forward to -- with some trepidation.]

Reviews for Astrological Roots: The Hellenistic Tradition

So far the reviews of my book have been quite positive. Pat Taglilatelo wrote one that appears with the book on amazon.com; Paula Gassmann wrote on for NCGR e-zine and for the Boston NCGR Newsletter; Donna Van Toen wrote on that appears in the NCGR national newsletter.

If you wish to read them, you can find Pat's review on amazon.com, and the other two are enclosed here.

Early 2008 Offerings

I "celebrate" the potent Pluto-Jupiter contact by offering several programs during the winter.

On Thursday January 17 is an evening talk on Dante and astrology. The following Saturday is a day workshop on the basics of Hellenistic astrology.

These are offered by the Astrological Society of Connecticut (ASC) and we'll meet in Wethersfield, which is south of Hartford. For more information consult their website at http://www.myasc.org/

At the end of February is a full weekend's program that will happen in Texas. I am planning on this being a small-group intensive that will give people a lot of practice using ancient western techniques and understanding its tradition. Many of you have seen the publicity for this conference. Here is the notice.

On the Auspicious Day of February 2: Relocational Astrology

This day will bury the notion that Joseph Crane only does traditional astrology! I've never stopped being a modern astrologer -- really.

Some of the most interesting modern work done today is in this field. In is only in the modern era, with easy transportation and communication worldwide, that we look at astrology of place. This program will be 2-6 in Arlington, Ma. There will be more information about this after the beginning of 2008. However, I can present some of the material I have been working with and will present at this workshop.

 

Three Limbs of Relocational Astrology.

Although we cannot elect a different time to be born, we do have some control over where we travel to and where we live. Increasingly, people are interested in these matters.

There are three basic techniques that I will present on February 2. Two have to do with the changing Ascendants and Midheavens from ones birth place to another; the third has to do with the directions of the planets from the place of birth, extended outwards.

Julia Child will show us how midpoints from the relocated Ascendant and Midheaven give us information about the qualities of a place different from one's birthplace. Ronald Reagan's chart will illustrate how astrocartography works in general and how well California worked for him; Mozart's changing fortunes in Paris and Vienna illustrate local space astrology.

\Midpoints were a major contribution to astrology in the early twentieth-century and work with midpoints continues to the present day. Here I present a straightforward form of midpoints: we simply look at conjunctions and oppositions, the closer and farther arcs.

Although she was born in California, Julia Child's career carried itself out mostly in Cambridge, Ma,. where she wrote cookbooks and was the lead for a very popular cooking show on television. Of interest here, however, is her relationship with Paris, for it was there that she discovered and first developed her life's work -- bringing the genius of French cooking across the pond to a fast-food-ridden America.

Her natal chart displaysa far more precise and disciplined person than she would sometimes appear: she has Saturn rising in Gemini, governed by Mercury highly dignified in Virgo and accompanied by Venus and Mars in Virgo. A Leo Sun and Libra Moon show a more sociable and charismatic personality. Onto midpoints: the dry discipline of Saturn on the Ascendant is balanced by the Ascendant being the midpoint of Moon and Uranus, displaying a more emotional and perhaps impulsive nature. The Moon itself is the midpoint of Ascendant and Midheaven: more evidence of a more strongly emotional nature than is first indicated by her natal chart.

A relocated chart is just that -- what if she was born in Paris, not Pasadena? (Please note that we do notchange the time of birth, just the location.)

I present her Paris chart here in a quadrant system, so that the Ascendant axis (including the Descendant) is the horizontal line and the Midheaven the line going up and down. Here I will not look at the entire chart but simply the midpoints to the Ascendant and Midheaven.

(Near midnight in California is mid-morning in Paris.)

You may be able to find the relocated Ascendant's midpoints simply by looking at the chart. Moon is 21 degrees from the Ascendant on one side, Mercury and Venus are on the other side. In astrologers' lingo, that would be AS=Moon/Mercury and Moon/Venus. We see a strong emotional and learning connection with the area of Paris, and, with the Moon so prominent, it's not so hard to see her future presence as an outstanding teacher of the culinary arts.

Now we go to another way of working with relocation: astrocartography. Developed in the 1970's by Jim Lewis, this technique notes every place on earth where every planet rose, culminated, set, and anticulminated. In other words, at any given time every planet is somewhere at some angle. Studying the lines in an astrocartography chart, and noting natal positions, is a wonderful way of learning about how astrology intersects earth and sky.

Nowadays most astrology software has a map function so that one can see planetary lines over the globe for a particular �time of birth.

The example chart is that of Ronald Reagan. Although we think of Reagan as an archetypal Californian, he was born in Illinois!

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We have gone from Sagittarius rising in Illinois to Scorpio rising in California. You may also notice that because of this Jupiter is conjunct the Ascendant and Moon is conjunct the Descendant, and also that the nodes are very close to the Ascendant/Descendant axis. We easily see that California would bring out grander and more personable qualities than if he simply stayed in Illinois.

Below is the same information but from a map, not a natal chart. You will notice the Sun line goes straight up and down -- which all Midheaven and IC lines will do -- and is somewhat west of Los Angeles. You will see a Jupiter Asc line and a Moon Dsc line curving slightly west of Los Angeles.

Ordinarily, these maps span the entire world, and one can find planetary influences not only for possible residences but also places to visit or to be interested in. This does not mean, however, that because a Jupiter line goes through Pakistan or that the Sun was rising in Mongolia when you were born that you should go live there.

The third technique and one I've found particularly effective is local space astrology. It is less frequently seen in current astrological software, which is unfortunate. I am also attracted to this technique -- one maintains the natal place as a crucial factor. Here one notices the planetary positions along the horizon, which is called "azimuth." At any time in the sky, planets can be found in different directions, proceeding from the IC, which is 0 in the Northern Hemisphere, to the Midheaven, which is 180. From the north/south lines of the meridian axis, planets between them can be found east or west of this line.

In the chart below I have cast Wolfgang Mozart and the azimuth position of the angles and planets in his chart. For this purpose I used the meridian house system, since the positions there correspond visually to their meridian position. ("AS" on a meridian house chart is the EquatorialAscendant.)

Below are the lines of Mozart's local space chart. Note that the planetary lines on the map correspond to the directions and relationships of the planetary positions in Mozart's chart. However, the planetary lines do not stay on one side of the horizon but cut through the place of birth and can influence both sides.

I was particularly interested in Mozart's chart because of the dissimilar experiences he had in Paris and in Vienna. Note that his Saturn line goes through Paris, and indeed he hated the place, its music and its musical audiences. To make matters far worse, Mozart's mother died in Paris while accompanying him on a tour in search of permanent employment for him. Paris it would not be!

You will notice that the Uranus line goes through Vienna. The modern musical audience often thinks of Mozart's music as more pretty than interesting and certainly not eccentric. During his years in Vienna and in the company of great musical talent, including Franz Joseph Haydn, Mozart often burst the bounds of musical convention and what the audience would be comfortable with. He also produced a few operas that would offered a modern anti-establishment perspective in the Europe before the French Revolution.

Obviously there's more to say, particularly about the Jupiter line that runs through today's Czech Republic.

Local space astrology is very useful for specific locations in an area. If you live in Worcester, Ma., is it better to go to Framingham, Greenfield, or Hartford, from an astrological view? The other two techniques often cannot give information about specific areas around the place of one's birth.

That's all about this for now. I look forward to continuing research through January and look forward to the formal presentation on the auspicious day of Groundhog Day.