Monday, March 05, 2007

More thoughts on Via Combusta


Continuing the line of thought from Saturday's post, I've been doing more research regarding planets in the (supposed) Via Combusta degrees, specifically in charts of journalists, commentators and authors who regularly express highly critical views on politics and politicians. I've checked a few more natal charts and come up with the information below. These degrees certainly seem to contain some extra "fire", which could be utilised in many ways, I guess. The journalistic slant presented itself quite by accident.

As in most things astrological, there is no single theory about Via Combusta - where it is/was, why it has/had an unfortunate connotation. Some sources explain that the Via Combusta's reputation stems from the allegedly malefic, or unfortunate, fixed stars in the same area. But...there's the problem of precession. Is Via Combusta still where it used to be? I think that depends on whether the effects observed by the ancients stemmed directly from fixed stars, or from some other "cause". I prefer to think that there is something special about that section of space, and its relation to Earth. In ancient times the area was identified by the fixed stars lying within it - perhaps now it is just space.

In Skyscript's Glossary of Terms we are told that :
Al Biruni wrote of it: "The combust way is the last part of Libra and the first of Scorpio. These two signs are not congenial to the Sun and the Moon on account of the obscurity and ill-luck connected with them and because each of them is the fall of one of the luminaries. They also contain the two malefics, the one by exaltation (Libra, Saturn) the other by house (Scorpio, Mars)." This may be a very ancient aphorism, originating from the period when 15 Libra corresponded with the autumn equinox.

Whatever the reasons for the bad reputation of this stretch of our zodiac, I shall keep an eye on it in future. If the area has special significance for the Sun and Moon in horary astrology, then I'd conclude that there has to be something special about it in general. Could it be simply that these degrees carry a more concentrated version of accepted Scorpio traits ?

I don't see the common thread, observed in the named individuals, and in the three females discussed in Saturday's blog entry, as exactly unfortunate, or malefic. A tendency towards maliciousness, perhaps. An overly passionate desire to get points across, deeply held opinions with a need to express them in exaggerated fashion - yes! Unfortunate only for the objects of their commentary.

For much of 1925 Saturn hung around the Via Combusta degrees of Scorpio, it was a fertile time for the birth of acerbic journalists ! (Assuming that Via Combusta (The Burning Road) stretches from 15* Libra to 15* Scorpio.

Gore Vidal
Born 3 Oct. 1925. West Point, New York. (SATURN 12*SCORPIO)

Art Buchwald
Born 20 Oct. 1925. Mount Vernon, New York. (SUN 26* LIBRA, MERCURY 5* SCORPIO. SATURN 14* SCORPIO)

Nat Hentoff
Born 10 June 1925, Boston, Mass. (SATURN 8* SCORPIO)

William F. Buckley
Born 24 Nov. 1925. New York City. (MARS 7* SCORPIO)

Pat Buchannan
Born 2 Nov. 1938, Washington DC. (SUN 9* SCORPIO)

Bill O'Reilly
Born 10 Sep 1949 New York City. (VENUS 25*LIBRA)

Rush Limbaugh
Born 12 Jan. 1951, Cape Girardeau MO. (NEPTUNE 19* LIBRA)

Michelle Malkin
Born 20 Oct 1970 Philadelphia PA. (MERCURY 22* AND SUN 26* LIBRA, JUPITER 12* SCORPIO)

Others, who are not journalists:
Martin Gardner (well-known skeptic and author) Born 21 Oct. 1914, Tulsa, Oklahoma (SUN 27* LIBRA, MARS 15* SCORPIO)

Dennis Kucinich (presidential candidate) - 8 Oct 1946, Cleveland, Ohio. SUN, MERCURY, JUPITER AND MARS ALL IN VIA COMBUSTA.
Other presidential candidates -Hillary Clinton has Venus and Mercury there, Barrack Obama has Neptune there, John Edwards has Neptune and Saturn there.

There are no planets in the "burning" degrees of my own natal chart, but the North node of the Moon is there. What, if anything, that signifies is anybody's guess!

(The illustration at the top of this post (from a book cover) is a Jack Davis cartoon of Art Buchwald, who died in January this year.)

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