Time of Birth

Commenter Bob's mention of rectification with regard to Bernie Sanders' natal chart, (see last weekend's post), reminded me that it's been some 6 years since I last posted on the topic of astrological rectification - that is, determination of a person's exact time of birth using dates and times of events in their later life. Rectification techniques are also used by astrologers in cases of public figures, such as Bernie Sanders, whose time of birth, though probably known, has not been made public. I noticed, during Google searches, that there's another astrologer working on rectification of Senator Sanders' natal chart too . See HERE.

Now's as good a time as any for a re-run on the topic of astrological rectification in general:

Rectification in Astrology

Knowing your exact time of birth is key to being able to use astrology at its most accurate. Unfortunately it's not easy to obtain information exact enough for detailed astrological purposes. In the USA time of birth is routinely recorded - but whether this is always accurate to within 5, 10, 20 minutes (or more) is anybody's guess, and relies on the efficiency and care of hospital staff (unless a relative is present at the birth and also interested in astrology). In some cases just a few minutes difference can mean a different rising sign, sometimes even a different Moon sign, which, in turn affects the time when transiting planets conjoin or aspect natal planets and points.

The rising sign, also known as the ascendant, is the zodiac sign which was coming over the horizon at your place of birth, at your exact time of birth. It is thought by astrologers to be one of the three most important factors in the natal chart, along with positions of Sun and Moon.


There's an imponderable involved here though: is the exact time of birth when the baby's head appears, when the umbilical cord is cut, when the baby takes its first breath? Or should we, in truth, be more concerned with time of conception (almost impossible to establish)? We can only do our best, follow our own feelings on the matter.

Professional astrologers can be of assistance in establishing a likely time of birth for clients who lack the information. If the client lists exact dates of highly significant life events (serious illness, operations, marriage, birth of offspring, divorce, moving home, change of career) the astrologer can use these to estimate a birth time, using various complex methods. Any rough time span the client knows, from conversation with parents, would be of great help. If a client had no idea at all of their time of birth, not even day/night or morning/afternoon, the task would be extra difficult, but I believe an estimate could still be made.

I had problems discovering my own birth time. My birth occurred at home. The story, as told by my father misled me somewhat. He said he thought that I was born "around tea time" - in our world that would have been around 5pm. A birth time of approximately 5pm in the city where I was born would mean Leo was rising. My mother had no reliable memory of my birth time; not surprising as she suffered a hemorrhage and almost died. She did offer once: "I think it might have been about 3 o'clock, but I'm not sure".

I struggled with the idea of having Leo as rising sign for many years. The only link with Leo tendencies I could identify in myself was a tendency to hanker after the most expensive version of anything I went out to buy. "Champagne taste, and beer money", my Mum used to say.

Many years later, after both my parents had died, my mother's sister who had been present at my birth told me that she felt fairly sure I was born around 2.30pm. Unwilling to go against my Dad's estimate completely, I decided on a rough time estimate, splitting the difference. With this estimate, Cancer became my rising sign, and it did fit my personality better, especially the way I was in youth, and to some extent even now.

There must be thousands of people in the UK with no clear information on their times of birth, it's such a pity there's no requirement for authorities to record birth times. After I moved to live in America and started learning the finer points of astrology, I paid a professional astrologer who specialises in rectification to look at my chart. After considering a list of some 10 to 12 life events, and with the time span I offered: 2pm to 6pm, the astrologer estimated a birth time of 2.27pm. He said that although he was not as sure as he'd like to be about the exact degree, he was certain that Cancer was rising at the time of my birth. I suspect my true birth time was somewhere between 2.27 & 3pm, and nearer to 3pm than 2.27, but decided to work with the time the astrologer came up with - doubt has to stop somewhere!

Accentuating Bernie

Any ideas on how best to encourage more positive thinking on the
Bernie 2016 front? I've read so many pessimistic comments on the net lately, damning his efforts before he's had a chance to break into a run. "Oh", they say, "big money will choose the candidate and it won't be Bernie". Or they'll categorise him as "sheepdog" herding stray Democrats disenchanted by President Obama's two terms, back into the fold. Or they'll say that Sanders is just the token left-winger this time around - "there's always one", they'll add: "Kucinich for instance". In past election seasons all or any of those propositions could have been true.
That was then, this is now.

I seldom comment on any politically-slanted blog or website, but I'm thinking that a good thing to do, for anyone who seeks a way to support Bernie Sanders' campaign, would be be to respond to comments on blogs and websites where negativity about his chances are expressed. Some well-chosen lines will be essential. So far I've tried this once or twice, but haven't quite hit the notes I wanted to hit, in the best way. Comments need to be clear and concise, not liable to be misunderstood or open to criticism on something such as word-choice. Long, complex responses won't work. Someone whose mind is bent on damning Sanders' campaign will not take the time to read more than a short paragraph from anyone else. Their aim is either to herd votes to Clinton or the GOP, or for some nefarious reason to generally depress the atmosphere, make the masses feel powerless rather than motivated to change society. For me the latter is by far the worst motivation!

There's an opportunity arising now, if it slips away through spread of negativity and pessimism, I doubt there'll be another such clear starting point for change to happen in the lifetime of anyone currently alive. Frank Herbert in his novel Dune wrote that "fear is the mind killer" - negativity and pessimism are mind-killers also.

Any thoughts on this? Any ideas for inspiring come-backs to negative comments about Sanders' campaign and his chances? If so, do please add them in comments here. Then later, anyone similarly inclined could make use of the ideas for inspiration, in composing a prompt response to negative comments elsewhere.

Background music for thinking on these things...

Poetry, Lifetimes and X-Files - Oh My!

I wouldn't have expected to hear Robert Browning quoted in an episode of The X-Files, but in episode 5 of season 4 he was! The episode is titled The Field Where I Died.

Hang on a mo 'til I explain how I come to be posting, yet again, on an X-Files episode.

My intention for today was to scribble a bit about The Pleiades star cluster, aka The Seven Sisters or to astronomy geeks, Messier 45 or M45 - the cluster is located currently on the cusp of Taurus/Gemini. However, after skimming through a variety of ever more fantastical ramblings on the subject, entertaining as they may have been, I decided to give the topic a miss. Then, that same evening we watched the aforementioned episode of X-Files - The Field Where I Died. I enjoyed it. We decided the writers had stitched together ideas from some real life events and characters (Waco, Jonestown, and the Bridie Murphy stories) then added a touch of the ol' X-Files magic. The name of a cult in the episode, reflection of those involved in the Waco and Jonestown events, was The Temple of the Seven Stars. Hmmm - Seven Stars? The Pleiades by any other name? Alrighty then, this has to be my alternative blog post!

The episode opens with Mulder (David Duchovny) reciting words from Paracelsus, a long poem by Robert Browning. The passage refers clearly to the concept of reincarnation. As he speaks, Mulder gazes at two vintage photographs from the time of the US Civil War .

"At times I almost dream
I too have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
An age ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by Death,
That life was blotted out — not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories; as now, when seems once more
The goal in sight again."

Wikipedia's page, here, outlines the episode's full storyline.

Fascinating stuff - the idea of reincarnation has always intrigued me, even though I'm not sure I can give the concept full credence. The version of reincarnation depicted in this story indicates that not only do our spirits live on in other bodies, time after time, throughout history, but that we associate with the same group of spirits in each incarnation, though in different ways, different "roles". I've come across this idea before - don't recall exactly where....the movie Cloud Atlas was a recent example, but I'm trying to recall something earlier.

Melissa, one of the cult members and a wife of cult leader of The Temple of the Seven Stars, during investigation and questioning by Mulder and Scully, had been displaying periodical lapses into what appeared to be some kind of multiple personality disorder; her voice and attitude would change abruptly and dramatically. Mulder suspects there's more to it than multiple-personality disorder. He feels something mysterious himself, and undergoes deep hypnosis. He discovers that he was once a soldier, Sullivan Biddle, in the Civil War killed in battle while his wife watched. His then wife is now Melissa of the cult. Dana Scully, Mulder's current FBI partner was, back then, his father. He progresses through other lifetimes outlining how Scully and Melissa, and others known to viewers fitted in various "roles". Scully, in another lifetime, was Mulder's sibling, with Melissa playing some other part.....and so on. Later, Scully is able to establish, from documentation, that Sullivan Biddle and his wife Sarah did indeed exist in that area at the time of the Civil War, and the photographs seen in the opening scene were among the records of that period. The soldier's portrait bears an eery resemblance to....yep - Mulder.

It's a romantic notion, and one I want to believe, but can't -not quite. A wee story from my own experience. The first time I met my now husband ("anyjazz"), face to face, was at the airport in Oklahoma City when I ventured to OK for a week's vacation, after having corresponded with him online for quite some time. Husband is in no way given to flights of metaphysical or supernatural fancy, but just about the first thing he said to me after "Hello" and a chaste kiss was along the lines of, "You know I do really think we have met before". (Yeah, I know - classic pick-up line!) I think I mumbled something about other lifetimes, then laughed nervously. Who knows? Maybe I was his mother, father, brother, sister, or the woman who washed his shirts in the 1920s, or a fellow-prisoner on a prison ship from Scotland, sailing to the USA in the early 1700s; or perhaps we were friends as Roman soldiers during the Roman invasion of Britain... don't get me started! Believing or imagining such things could make for a harmless enough pastime. There are far worse things to believe in.

Previous posts touching on reincarnation can be read HERE, HERE and HERE.

Music Monday ~ "This country's bigger than Texas"

In the UK, in the 1990s I became interested in country music. Back then country music there was a scarce commodity, known to few. In those days, before I owned a computer, I got my information from a monthly country music magazine; I'd search high and low for records and buy a few "bootleg" tapes someone acquired, recorded foggily from American TV shows. BBC radio programmes would occasionally feature a popular country-ish record, a rare treat.

The song title from which this post's heading comes is a little-known number sung by Gene Watson. Embedding has been disabled for the video, but here's a link.
The lyrics tell how country music has no boundaries - an apt thought for this post.

Over several years I managed to familiarise myself with a bunch of American singers nobody I knew had ever even heard of. Heck, back then in England few had even heard of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings! Willie Nelson? Yep, some had heard of him!

Within the songs I grew to love, were words in the lyrics I couldn't quite understand. I guessed from context, but was never confident I had guessed correctly. So, for Music Monday today, three of those songs, with notes of the words that used to make me wonder.

Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley

My wonderings:
What is Georgia overdrive? I've discovered the answer to this one while preparing the post!

"Georgia Overdrive" is truck driver slang for placing your trucks transmission in neutral at the top of a large hill. Then you allow the truck to coast down the hill. Gravity pulls the truck faster and faster, the truck will continue to build speed until the the truck reaches the bottom of the hill. This is a dangerous practice. (See HERE)

And what about
I just passed a 'Jimmy' and a 'White'

Husband enlightened me that these are two brands of big trucks: "Jimmy" is slang for GMC (General Motor Corporation).

I.C.C. is checking on down the line - I gathered that his must be some authority figure, and discovered it stands for Interstate Commerce Commission, the federal authority regulating transport companies who do business across different state lines.





Georgia in a Jug - Johnny Paycheck

First line:
Mason jar on the dresser filled with dollars and quarters

I didn't know what a Mason jar was - now I do! And "jug", for me meant a ceramic vessel for holding milk to put in my cup of tea. I know better now.





Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

In spite of the context ("I hear you singin' in the wire, I can hear you through the whine") I originally had a vision of a railway line repair man. Electricity linemen are not as common a sight in Britain, where most power lines are buried rather than strung across the land.

BERNIE 2016

"Progressives" are I guess a group of voters, would-be voters, once-were-voters, including some more left-leaning Democrats, some registered Independents (like moi), and some optimistic 3rd party supporters (the Greens for example and Democratic Socialists). This progressive group, which I'd like to bet is much larger and more wide-spread than many people suspect, hasn't had a leader for many decades. Dennis Kucinich tried in 2007/8 but was shouted down before he could gain even the most wobbly of foot-holds. That was then, this is now. Bernie Sanders has come forward, a respected Senator of known record.

However Senator Sanders' campaign develops, however far he is able to reach, if nothing else he will have made it easier, and success that bit more likely, for whoever steps up to take a progressive lead in the future. Not only that, but if Bernie can make a decent stab at beating the Clinton machine, it could inspire others outside the mainstream, nation-wide, to try for congressional, state, county, or city offices. That'd be invaluable - the message that there is a way, when there's a will, to beat the billionaires at their own game.

A few points I picked up from reading a piece by Yves Smith and thread of commentary at Naked Capitalism website this week have inspired this post, by the way.

There are many ticked boxes to Bernie's record, and a few that have to be left blank for now. Personally I'd like him to be more anti-war, anti-military and most definitely anti-drone use. Oh - and less nice towards Israel - but as he is Jewish, I can kind of understand his feelings on that score, even if I disagree. I'll take what I can get, for there's unlikely ever to be a candidate with whom I'll agree on every point.

It's no use being a Pollyanna on this though. If Bernie were to win his way through, as far as the White House, would he crumble or fold under the weight of corporate power, the military industrial complex, and what might still be a hostile congress? Huge, huge challenge!

Any success Bernie Sanders achieves this time has to be considered a first step. It would prove to be a much easier and longer stride if congress were to reflect a public confidence and change in mindset bleeding into the rest of the votes on their ballot sheets.

Whatever happens, it's becoming clear that campaign dialogue and political dialogue in general is going to shift now; consequently so will conventional thinking.

Those who wish to damp down enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders' campaign will, among other ploys, liken him to Obama in 2007/8. He's not comparable in any way! Bernie is not the unknown quantity Obama was. Those of us with open ears and minds have been listening to Bernie for years, know exactly what he stands for - and what he doesn't. He has long experience of speaking with and to the people - as one commenter at Naked Capitalism observed "He very well may know the citizens of this country better than big media understands." That is a very, very big plus!

Bernie's natal chart is available in a 2013 post - SEE HERE.

Arty Farty Friday ~ Julian Schnabel

Although the name did ring a distant bell in my head, I really knew nothing about artist and film maker Julian Schnabel before beginning this post. Schnabel's heyday seems to have been during the 1980s. As well as for his artwork, he's known for the films he has directed: Before Night Falls, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the latter was nominated for four Academy Awards. Schnabel insists he is a painter first and foremost though. His artwork includes a series of "plate paintings", large-scale and set on broken ceramic plates. "Painting is like breathing to me. It’s what I do all the time. Every day I make art, whether it is painting, writing or making a movie". See Wikipedia.

Schnabel's signature works contain an underlying edge of brutality, while remaining suffused with compositional energy. Schnabel claims that he's aiming at an emotional state, a state that people can literally walk into and be engulfed.

A reputation for making brash pronouncements about his importance to the art world - I'm the closest thing to Picasso that you'll see in this fucking life - engendered contempt from both colleagues and the viewing public.

It isn't possible, from posting small images here to get a proper idea of Schnabel's paintings, which are all quite huge. This page at Arts Observer shows a few of his paintings in slightly bigger format than I can; and see the artist's own website. Alternatively, Google Image shows many examples, with access to enlargements.

In 1987 Kristine McKenna, in the LA times article - Julian Schnabel - Artist as Bad Boy began:

Around 1980 the art world became much more corporate and big-business tactics began to be used, and Julian was blamed for a lot of that. But he really did open things up for other artists. "

.......The only thing everyone agrees on when it comes to Julian Schnabel is that it's essential to have an opinion about him. An audacious young painter who skyrocketed to stardom in the early '80s, Schnabel reintroduced the grand, romantic gesture to an art world starving on a diet of '70s Minimalism, and grateful collectors ravenous for high drama feasted at his table. The fact that Schnabel was a flamboyant bon vivant who carried himself more like a pop star than a painter made him an attractive piece of work to the press, which anointed him as the first certifiable art star of the decade.

An outspoken man of provocative opinions, Schnabel titillated the press with his stormy relationships, and his feuds--with dealers Mary Boone and Leo Castelli, and artists Robert Longo, Eric Fischl and David Salle, among others--are well documented. Schnabel resisted, for example, being included in a 1985 Calendar article on young New York artists because, he said, he didn't want to be "corralled with the other jerks."

And ended:

However, for every critical dissection of Schnabel's work, there are reams of outraged prose attacking his personal style. In wading through the volumes that have been written about him, one is struck by the fact that people object to Schnabel not so much for his work but because he somehow violates the mysterious code of behavior that governs the art world. Dozens of lesser artists are allowed to crank out mediocre product in peace, but when it comes to Schnabel, the umpire invariably cries "Foul!"

Ingrid Sischy 's piece in a 2008 issue of Vanity Fair, The Artist in Residence tells of Schnabel's
home, Palazzo Chupi:

...a Pompeii-red palazzo, atop an early-20th-century factory building on the western edge of Greenwich Village. ............
The artist Julian Schnabel is famous—too famous—for possessing such a big ego that he thinks he can do anything....... a stop-you-in-your-tracks work of architecture he’s just now finishing up in Greenwich Village. Plunked smack on top of the early-20th-century factory building where the artist has long lived and worked on far West 11th Street is a Pompeii-red palazzo, stuccoed on the outside, with five huge residences, plus a studio for Schnabel, some serious exhibition space, and a swimming pool fit for Citizen Kane. The place looks as if it began life in Venice on the Grand Canal, somehow floated up the Hudson River, moored on the West Side Highway, then hoisted itself atop its three-story “pedestal.” The building even has a fanciful name, announced on its front: Palazzo Chupi, after the nickname of Schnabel’s Spanish wife, Olatz.
"I do what I want and I guess that makes some people nervous," says the 36-year-old artist during a conversation at his cavernous Manhattan studio.

Adding to the air of eccentricity Schnabel enjoys, he wears pyjamas as daywear.

ASTROLOGY

Born on 26 October 1951 in Brooklyn, New York - no time of birth is known, chart is set for noon.

 Hat-tip for photograph  HERE

I wouldn't immediately see this as the natal chart of an out-and-out eccentric - Schnabel isn't one of those anyway. True eccentrics don't know they are being eccentric, Schnabel knows exactly what he's doing when he acts in ways that are not "mainstream", even for those in his arty farty circles.

The Scorpio/Virgo mix, which makes up a large part of his personality, isn't as contrasting as one might at first suspect. The intensity and passion of Scorpio Sun/Mercury can sit fairly easily with Moon/Mars/Venus in Virgo's demands to organise, work hard, seek perfection.

The undercurrent of non-mainstream in Schnabel's nature comes, I believe, from Uranus, the planet of eccentricity in Cancer, situated in sextile to his Virgo cluster, and in trine to Mercury in Scorpio.

Jupiter, planet of excess and expansiveness, out on its own in Aries, seems to form a "handle" or "funnel" for the main grouping of his natal planets, as well as sitting in opposition to Saturn, planet of restriction and structure. Schnabel's large-scale artwork smells of Jupiter to me! The Jupiter-Saturn opposition adds a little something to that non-mainstream undercurrent already mentioned - it's a symbolic tug-of-war between opposite traits: expansiveness and restriction.

UK EVENTS

Cute as wee Princess Charlotte is, I can't work up any enthusiasm for the Royals of Britain (or anywhere else). For any passing reader who can raise enthusiasm there's a post by British astrologer Barry Goddard at Astrotabletalk, and a piece by my favourite astrologer, Jonathan Cainer.
Links:

The Royal Family and State of the Nation by Barry Goddard

The New Royal Baby by Jonathan Cainer

My non-enthusiasm spills over into today's General Election in Britain. Should I care who "gets in"? It could affect my two pensions from there a little bit, one way or the other, via ups and downs of currency exchange (GBP/USD).

I guess if I were still living in England I'd be voting Labour - or whatever it's called nowadays, but definitely not UKIP. As for the astrology, Barry Goddard has a post on that also, at Astrotabletalk:

Why David Cameron will be the Next Prime Minister.

The Rabbit Hole of a Wandering Mind

Wikipedia's list of events for 6 May includes this entry:
"6 MAY 1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath". That novel's title has always impressed me. Delving further into Wiki's store of knowledge I find that:

While writing the novel at his home.... Steinbeck had unusual difficulty devising a title. The Grapes of Wrath, suggested by his wife Carol Steinbeck, was deemed more suitable than anything by the author. The title is a reference to lyrics from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", by Julia Ward Howe:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored......

These lyrics refer, in turn, to the biblical passage Revelation 14:19–20, an apocalyptic appeal to divine justice and deliverance from oppression in the final judgment. This and other biblical passages had inspired a long tradition of imagery of Christ in the winepress in various media.

My mind wandered on, to other similar descriptive phrases from another book, a much older one: The Pilgrim's Progress: by John Bunyan

...the allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, written during Bunyan’s twelve-year imprisonment although not published until 1678 six years after his release, that made Bunyan’s name as an author with its immediate success. It remains the book for which Bunyan is best remembered. The images Bunyan uses in The Pilgrim's Progress are reflections of images from his own world; the strait gate is a version of the wicket gate at Elstow Abbey church, the Slough of Despond is a reflection of Squitch Fen, a wet and mossy area near his cottage in Harrowden, the Delectable Mountains are an image of the Chiltern Hills surrounding Bedfordshire. Even his characters, like the Evangelist as influenced by John Gifford, are reflections of real people.

There's a post in the archives expanding on such descriptive phrases...
.. Stops on a Mythical Journey.

While reading The White Monkey, one of John Galsworthy's continuation novels from his Forsyte Saga I noticed this lovely pair of descriptive phrases and jotted them down for an occasion such as this:

"The chrysalis of faint misgiving becomes so readily the butterfly of panic."

And ain't that the truth!

The mind wandered still further, into allegory and its history...the path became murky - too tangled for a simple blogger's blog post. Enough to say that allegory, as a concept, has been around since at least the days and philosophers of ancient Greece, and quite likely, undocumented, long before that. Its use and appreciation in matters religious, moral, political and general, seems to be another of our innate human characteristics.

One of the 20th century's most popular authors, J.R.R. Tolkien wasn't a fan of allegory (or so he said):

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”

Personally, I don't care what an author intended as allegory. If I read a novel I see in it what I see in it, and if it's something different from the author's allegorical intention - tough! I'll be doing applicability.

Lilith - The Black Moon & Pamela Geller

I'd never heard of Pamela Geller until I read reports of the shootings on Sunday at a Muhammad Art Exhibit & Contest in Garland, Texas, organized by her. The event was, in my opinion, deliberately provocative - a means of stirring up trouble disguised as something related to "free speech". Pamela Geller is, apparently, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, an anti-Islamic organization that is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

I looked at Geller's natal chart at Astrotheme (HERE), noticed first that Black Moon Lilith is shown, conjunct Geller's natal Mars in Aries. Interesting!

Coincidentally, I had intended to re-air an old post of mine this week on that very topic: Black Moon Lilith. In that post, tidied up and re-posted below, I mentioned not being too keen on using mythology to interpret possible meanings of Black Moon Lilith in a natal chart. However, some might say that Ms Geller's case does rather fit the mythology - what do you think?



BLACK MOON LILITH

 Hat-tip for diagram to Mountain Astrologer

I have the uneasy feeling that a lot that is of dubious value to astrology has been written about Black Moon Lilith. I've pontificated on the subject in the past, but a re-airing of my thoughts for 2015 wouldn't be out of line.

Black Moon Lilith (aka here as BML) is a mathematically calculated point in an astrological chart, the point at which the Moon is at its farthest from the Earth - known as the Moon's "apogee". Some astrologers view the Black Moon as being not the apogee of the elliptical orbit, but the empty focus of the ellipse.....In practice, the Apogee and the Empty Focus can be thought of as being in the same place on the chart, but the difference in symbolism can be relevant. (See http://serennu.com for more detail).

I can accept the notion that this may well be a sensitive point in a natal or other type of chart, in the same way the angles,Vertex and Moon's Nodes are sensitive points. Anything more than that, for me, has to remain nebulous.

There are two ways of calculating BML - its True position and its Mean position. Some software uses one, and some the other. This adds further room for doubt about somewhat iffy cookbook type interpretations assigned to the Black Moon. Most of these appear to be based purely on mythology.

Even more confusion can arise unless it's realised that other celestial bodies also bear the name Lilith. There's an asteroid Lilith, as well as a hypothetical and controversial second Moon of Earth, often referred to as Dark Moon Lilith.

The astrological glyph for Black Moon Lilith (the Moon's apogee) is a thick black crescent Moon atop a cross. Asteroid Lilith has a different glyph which looks like a four-pronged fork with a tick at the right hand side of its base.

Astrologers who use BML seem to consider its significance to be somewhat negative, based purely on the mythical name it bears. "Lilith" - a storm demon, prostitute goddess.... name anything female and negative, and Lilith is it! I'm sticking to my theory that Black Moon Lilith is simply another sensitive point in the chart. Mythology? Bah humbug!

Hat-tip HERE for illustration

"Lilith is a female Mesopotamian night demon believed to harm male children. In Isaiah 34:14, Lilith is a kind of night-demon or animal, translated as onokentauros; in the Septuagint, as lamia; "witch" by Hieronymus of Cardia; and as screech owl in the King James Version of the Bible. In the Talmud and Midrash, Lilith appears as a night demon. She is often identified as the first wife of Adam and sometimes thought to be the mother of all incubi and succubi, a legend that arose in the Middle Ages ".
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith)

Black Moon Lilith in my own natal chart lies in Aquarius (early or late in the sign depending on True or Mean version). The early version is only 2 degrees from my natal Sun; the later version is 1 degree from my relocated ascendant, so BML has followed me around! I'm not, and have never been, anything like a storm demon, night demon, femme fatale, or prostitute goddess, I promise! But the fact that BML is close to my natal Sun might have added to the intensity of effects I've experienced when Uranus and Neptune have transited natal Aquarius Sun in the past.

NOTE: There's an online ephemeris showing True and Mean positions of Black Moon Lilith in the 20th century, courtesy of Chris Mitchell - see HERE. Alternatvely Astrodienst can calculate BML's position in your natal chart, using their Extended Chart Selection.

Music Monday ~ Who Have You Seen Performing Live?

My husband, and some of his family, have seen literally dozens of famous musicians and vocalists performing live. Once they begin reciting their lists I listen enviously, trying hard to remember anybody nationally or internationally famous at all that I've seen on stage. Best I can do is say I saw British crooner Dickie Valentine, back in the 1950s; then many years later, sometime in the 1990s, I saw country music star Don Williams perform in Harrogate, Yorkshire. I think that's about it!

It wasn't that I was never enthusiastic enough, I just never had opportunities to attend concerts, often due to where I was living, or my work hours, or travel difficulties, or expense. In the UK, in those days, and still, I guess, most big name stars performed only in London, and that was always out of reach for me, due to all of the listed reasons.

I have enjoyed listening regularly to a number of locally-known vocalists during vacation times abroad (abroad from the UK that is) who, though well-known in their little corner of the world, were not household names. Those artists were more real to me, anyway, than some "big name" big shots. I could chat to them, have a drink with them, sing along even....more fun altogether than sitting in the cheap seats of some huge theatre or arena.

Ye gods, I do so hate arenas! We went to an arena concert in Tulsa to see the American Idol concert in the year when Adam Lambert was runner up, 2008 I think (he should've won!) We could scarcely hear the singing for the incessant screams and screeches all around. Simply unpleasant, it was!

I've done much better on the live performance front since coming to the USA. Thanks to husband, his daughter and son-in-law we've seen Leon Russell, Elton John, Ricky Lee Jones, and Boz Scaggs - all but one in nice, smallish venues.

Husband and I took a coach trip from our town to to Branson, Missouri some years ago, included in the tour was a show featuring Andy Williams & Petula Clark; and another with country singer Mickey Gilley. Still on the country music front we saw an old favourite of mine, Gene Watson singing at a small casino near Norman, Oklahoma. We also saw David Alan Coe "singing" in a small venue in Oklahoma City several years ago. What possessed us to make the effort for that I really don't know. Ooooh, but it was LOUD and pretty darn BAD! We staggered out into the car park at half time never to return. I was deaf - completely for a while, a very strange experience - new to me! Husband had constant ringing in his ears for a while too.

I've been wondering who, among those living and still performing, I'd pay good money to see on stage, but I came up empty. CDs and/or DVDs will suffice! What I'd really love to see would be top notch live peformances of two favourite musicals, Les Miserables and Evita. Not much hope of that though, I suspect.

Anyway - who among musicians and singers have you seen performing "in the flesh" as it were, or alternatively, who do you wish you'd seen or might still have the chance of seeing - any offers?

Seeing signs......

When we're out and about and see signs, husband can never resist snapping them. Here are a few examples, signs of life as she is lived in "flyover" America. Captions are mine. Clicking on an image will take you to its original location on husband's Flickr pages ~~~





"gods' "....which ones are involved in this I wonder? Mars, Jupiter, Apollo?





Hmmm...erm...(never mind)






We're like...spontaneous ya know, unpremeditated - or maybe meditating.






I do not want to wonder if there is a connection!






Just...LOL!






"No worries"? I'd be very worried indeed having a massage in that place, on my back or on my front!






Do we have to tick a box as we enter the store then, to indicate our preference, should it come to that? (Hope they're getting me on my best side.)





(We're mere reflections of ourselves in this one).
As husband (anyjazz) responded to one of his commenters, "..if no one tells you to get stuffed, you're not trying hard enough."


PS...Next post will be on Monday. It's our wedding anniversary (11th) today, 30 April so, weather permitting, we'll be slipping into north Texas for a couple of days in celebration, and for a change of scene.

Fixed Stars in Taurus

Continuing the series of monthly posts on Fixed Stars in each tropical zodiac sign.

Data for Taurus from Astroweb (HERE), showing star positions in 1900 in the left-hand column and in 2000 on the right. Click on the list for enlarged view.

Alternative lists of Fixed Stars are available online, most give star positions for the years 1900, 2000, or 2010. A good overall list, including traditional interpretations, is an updated one from Rob Tillett, see HERE. Repeating a word of caution: ancient astrologers were either a tad gloomy or way over excitable about a person's prospects. Take the interpretations with a large pinch of salt!

I'm picking just a couple of Stars about which to scribble further. I was tempted to choose Algol, but there's already a detailed archived post on that Star of ill repute - SEE HERE. Also, clicking on "Algol" in the label cloud in the sidebar will lead to other posts where Algol has been mentioned.

I've chosen to scribble a bit today about Fixed Stars Hamal and Menkar, underlined in yellow on the star map below. Clicking on the image should bring up a slightly sharper version.

Hamal (roughly translates to head of the ram/sheep), is the alpha, brightest, star of constellation Aries, though its current zodiacal position is in Taurus. The star marks the ram's forehead. Long ago, between 2000 and 100 BCE, Hamal held more importance for astronomers, and presumably astrologers, than it does today. Back then the Sun aligned north and south with Hamal at the spring equinox (northern hemisphere) in March.
See EarthSky HERE and Wikipedia HERE.

Ptolemy, for some reason likened the stars in the head of the ram to Mars and Saturn in nature, whereas those in the tail were likened to Venus, those in the hind foot to Mars, in the mouth Mercury and Saturn. (Skyscript HERE).

Hamal was generally considered unfortunate in interpretation, associated with violence, danger, and head injuries. Ancient astrologers were a gloomy lot, couldn't see a positive side in anything! Modern astrologers might be inclined to interpret Hamal, if tightly conjunct a personal planet natally, as indicating a headstrong independence in some area related to the conjoined planet or, perhaps, as emphasis on great strength of mind or body, in sport for instance -as in a boxer, wrestler or athlete.


Menkar
I had originally intended to scribble about The Pleiades but there's so much related and interesting information on that star cluster it'd need a full post. So I changed mind and, as I happen to have Menkar conjunct Uranus and south Node of Moon, thought I'd use this star instead - not out of self-interest particularly, but to discover and show whether Fixed Stars might have any interperative value when highlighted natally. In my case, because the star is conjunct an outer, rather than a personal planet, it's perhaps not an ideal example (my generation will all have Uranus conjunct Menkar), but as that outer planet is my natal Sun's modern ruler and is also conjunct South Node of the Moon - it might be more significant.

Anyway... first where is Menkar? It is the second brightest star of constellation Cetus, the Whale or Sea Monster. Menkar is located on the creature's nose. Cetus is one of the 48 original constellations charted by Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 constellations recognized by the


International Astronomical Union. The majority of the constellation is just below the ecliptic plane, bordered by Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Sculptor, Fornax, Eridanus and Taurus. The whale is said to represent the human collective unconscious.

In an article in Mountain Astrologer magazine in 2013: Thoughts on a Few Fixed Stars, its author, Mary Plumb opened with this:

I have always thought of the fixed stars in natal astrology as operating at a deep stratum in the psyche. That impression was in part formed by experiences of people in my life with Menkar, the brightest star in the constellation Cetus the Whale, in a prominent place. The early myths of this constellation connect it to a massive sea monster that is destructive and all-powerful. He arises from the depths of the sea, unannounced and terrible. We understand that the sea is a symbol of the unconscious. Of Menkar, Bernadette Brady writes: “The unconscious becoming conscious. The sudden emergence of deep unconscious issues.”

I have seen Menkar (13°37’ Taurus) conjunct the Sun in the radix of someone who suffered from devastating mental illness and someone else who is an astute psychological astrologer. Another person has Menkar conjunct Jupiter (the Ascendant ruler); this is the nativity of a psychologist who focuses on bringing the unconscious into consciousness in quite dramatic ways.

I heard John Frawley say once that the fixed stars influence the body, not the soul (except in rare situations).

I found an interpretation of my own Menkar placement at Constellations of Words website :

With Uranus: Active mind, artistic, scientific and mystical interest and ability, troubles through opposite sex, loss through fire and false friends, good fortune and misfortune alternately, severe injuries from animals. [Robson*, p.177.]

Well...I've not had any severe injuries from animals - a nasty bite from a dog when I was a child has been the worst, I can still detect a faint scar on my arm - but it didn't put me off loving dogs! As for the rest, yes indeed, I can relate on some level, especially to "loss through fire". I lost everything, absolutely everything except the few clothes I was wearing, my purse and our car, as a result of a fire in 1996. Whether Menkar's input to events has any bearing isn't clear - the fact that transiting Uranus was 2 degrees from my natal Sun at the time....well!

Bernie's Going Into the Fray!

YAY!!!!

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will launch a campaign seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 on Thursday.

Sanders will be the first official challenger for the Democratic nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who launched her campaign earlier this month.

Sanders' decision was first reported by Vermont Public Radio, and confirmed by The Huffington Post.
From HERE

There's a 12 noon natal chart for him in THIS 2013 post.

Now...let's see who else is game for a fight....

Dramatically Licentious Syzygy

In an X-Files episode titled Syzygy, Episode 13 of Season 3 (via Netflix) astrology played a role!

Scully and Mulder were sent to investigate a series deaths all involving boys from the same high school. They find the town in uproar, rumors of a satanic cult are spreading. Everyone in town seems to be acting slightly out of character, including, eventually, Mulder and Scully.

Mulder's visit to a local astrologer, Madame Zirinka, reveals that an unusual planetary alignment is currently in place. The astrologer tells Mulder that the planets in question, Mars, Uranus and Mercury come into such an alignment only once every 84 years. If certain additional alignments are present, anyone born on January 12, 1979 (birthdate of two female school friends mentioned in the episode) will have all the energy in the cosmos focused on them.
See HERE and HERE.

The planetary alignment which was stated to be the cause of the problems was between Mercury, Mars and Uranus. The alignment was shown onscreen in the episode and was depicted at night near a full moon. A full moon is always opposite from the sun and so Mercury could never be in a visual alignment with a full moon. Additionally, Uranus is not visible with the naked eye.
(See HERE)

Dramatic license was obviously in play, but did the episode's writers bother to consult an actual astrologer, I wonder? The 84 years equates roughly to the time it takes Uranus to orbit the Sun, so it's Uranus' party we're dealing with, I guess. On 12 Jan 1979 Uranus was at 20.7 Scorpio, but that doesn't tell us much. It's all about those "additional alignments" happening on the uncertain date of these X-Files events. Crafty scriptwriters!

It was nice to see astrology given a role in an X-Files episode. Not before time! It was all a bit nutty, lots of X-File in-jokes, an episode not meant to be taken too seriously. Whenever astrology manages to edge its way into drama, the only way the writers know to go is "nutty". Pity! Still, I did enjoy the Syzygy episode.

Music Monday ~ Actors brave enough or good enough to get up and sing...

We watched a DVD of a movie from 2000 the other night: Duets, one of my favourite actors, Paul Giamatti, surprised me by singing! The film in general is a bit clunky, but Paul Giamattti, never disappoints - it was worth the price of the DVD for his part alone! His character in Duets gets himself involved in a karaoke competition, singing with a hitch-hiker who, it turns out, was on the run from the police. Here's his duet, Paul does not lip-sinc, though his partner does.

The actors who sang their own tunes in the film...: Huey Lewis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti, and Maria Bello. Arnold McCuller sings all of Andre Braugher's songs [Paul's partner in the duet]....
(Wikipedia)

That got me chatting to anyjazz and remembering other actors who have surprised us by being able to sing - sing well that is!

My second contribution, from another favourite actor, Robert Downey Jnr, in his part in the TV series Ally McBeal. He got up to sing to Ally, a song written by Sting - and Sting joins him on the stage as he sings. As someone, somewhere, wrote "you don't just get up and sing with Sting"...well, not if you can't sing!



AND

Here's a link to RDJnr singing with Sting again, elsewhere, to prove he wasn't doing a lip-sinc for Ally.


Anyjazz rumaged in the garage for a few minutes and came back with two LPs, one by Robert Mitchum, one by Rhonda Fleming. Hmm - oldies eh? I found a couple of YouTube examples of their singing talent:

Robert Mitchum, live on a British TV show - he warms up considerably after the halfway mark!



Ms Fleming could definitely sing!




Throwing this open to any passing readers. There are several lists online to refresh memories, by the way.
Who, among well-known actors, has surprised you by demonstrating their singing talent?

Jim Webb - a 2016 Contender?

So far, although several Republican presidential hopefuls have eagerly thrown hats into the 2016 ring, with others "still considering" doing so, Democrats remain coyly reticent, possibly unwilling, or financially unable to face the colossus that is the Hillary Clinton campaign. Bernie Sanders hasn't yet said a definite "No"; Elizabeth Warren has, several times. This piece by Andrew Levine, at Counterpunch, puts another name, Jim Webb, into the mix: The Last Chance to Derail the Clinton Juggernaut?

SNIPS

Now would be a good time to dust off an old idea: “critical support.” That idea, along with much else associated with the Left, effectively went missing during the 1980s.

It may seem like splitting hairs, but critical support is not quite the same thing as unqualified support. When critical support is offered, support is qualified and disagreement is expressed. With straight out support, disagreements, if any, are overlooked.....................................

However, there is a candidate running for President in the Democratic primaries next year who will merit at least critical support from the Left — what is left of it, that is.That candidate is Jim Webb, the former Senator from Virginia. Webb has not yet declared his candidacy, but he is showing all the signs.

Voters who could care less where a candidate fits on a left-right spectrum – the majority of voters nowadays – may find, as they learn more about Webb, that they have no problem supporting him outright.

But those of us who look forward to a time when an authentic Left reemerges, do care. We care that Webb is soft on capitalism, not that any other Democrat is better; and we are queasy about where he still stands on the Vietnam War. He may not be the best candidate in the field on gender issues either, though the evidence on that is ambiguous at best.

In any case, the plusses swamp the minuses – to a degree that is unprecedented in recent decades. This is why, for us, critical support seems about right...............

A complete natal chart isn't possible without a time of birth, which isn't known at present, but here's a 12 noon chart for Jim Webb's date & place of birth:
9 February 1946, St. Joseph, Missouri. Let's see what his astrology has to say:

There's a nice Airy circuit going on! Sun/Mercury/Venus conjoined in Aquarius; Jupiter in Libra; Uranus in Gemini. This guy is not lacking in mental acuity - thinking "on his feet" comes naturally to him, as easily as deeper, analytical, thinking. His natal Moon could be in Gemini too, depending on time of birth, otherwise in late Taurus.

Mars conjunct Saturn in Cancer links to his military family background and career.

I like what we know of his natal chart! The two planets in Cancer will have been "feeling" recent opposition from Pluto in Capricorn, also linked to the pesky set of Uranus/Pluto squares of recent times. Beyond that, I don't see anything major coming up for him soon, though by November 2016 Pluto will be back at 15 Capricorn, opposite natal Mars after a few months of to-and-fro.

A piece, The Jim Webb Story, mainly a book review written in 2008 by Elizabeth Drew on one of Webb's books, A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America, includes dozens of clues about Jim Webb's personality, aims and more about his Scots-Irish and military background, his entry into politics. It's an all-round interesting read, and one I'll go back to, if and when Webb confirms he will run in the 2016 presidential election.

A few snips from the piece:


Relating to his campaign for a Senate seat:

Webb ran an unconventional campaign, going more with his intuition than with the advice of Democratic Party professionals, who at times despaired over him. He chose his own pacing and for a stretch in the summer evinced little interest in campaigning at all. He is not one to be guided by focus groups; he doesn’t play the angles. Like a boxer or a military man, Webb decides on his targets and charges straight at them. “We picked our themes and stuck with them,” he says. His three campaign themes were the war, the growing chasm between the wealthy and the working class, and the exceptionally high rate of incarceration in the US.........

Reid considered Webb such a valuable new asset to the Democrats—a moderate with military credentials from a swing state—that he also took the unusual step of inviting the freshman to give the Democrats’ response to the President’s State of the Union address. Webb tore up the draft supplied to him by the Democratic leadership staff and wrote his own speech. He gave the staff members fits by refusing to show them his version until shortly before the speech was to be given. In his speech, Webb went straight at Bush over the war in emotional and somewhat personal tones,

So Jim Webb arrived to the Senate with a reputation for being unpredictable, even a little weird, a little bit out of control, a little hotheaded. The sense in Washington that he was—well—different was enhanced by his famous first encounter with President Bush after the election, when at a November White House reception for newly elected members of Congress, Webb refused to shake Bush’s hand....

The author of the piece found a different personality:

When I was about to meet with Webb for the first time, in 2007, I expected to find someone who would be difficult to talk to, a little bit strange—someone with whom I had to be very careful not to put a foot wrong, lest I set off some land mine. What I found was completely surprising. Webb turned out to be an easy conversationalist with a low, gentle voice, a ready smile, and a sometimes very full laugh. During an hour-and-a-half-long conversation over sandwiches in his office, I kept waiting for him to be weird, but that never happened. Even Webb’s looks are surprising: on television his large, flat face, with its broad forehead, looks like a potato—pale and pasty. In person his complexion is ruddy—with piercing blue eyes that suggest a man who might in fact have a wild side, a man whom one doesn’t want to cross. Yet there is an air of almost preternatural calm about Webb, of a man who knows who he is. He is reserved; one gets the sense that he’s seen things he just doesn’t want to talk about. (This is a characteristic shared by other Vietnam veterans.)

From talks with his colleagues and others in and around the Senate, it became clear that his reputation belied the actual Webb. A senior Senate Democratic aide said, “He’s proven all that wrong.” Others described Webb in unusual terms, as applied to elected politicians: “polite” (I heard this several times), “shy,” “modest,” “a very nice person.” His close friend Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, also a Democratic freshman senator, told me, “The fact that Jim is so grounded separates him and makes him seem more complicated than he is. He’s not a complicated person.”

This different kind of senator doesn’t much share in the folk habits of the body he serves in. He’s not a back-slapper; he doesn’t engage in the touchy-feely behavior of most of his colleagues on the Senate floor, and, as McCaskill put it, he’s “not much of a schmoozer.” He knows that a certain amount of collegiality is necessary to being effective in the Senate, but he doesn’t go overboard. Webb is as plainspoken on the Senate floor as he is elsewhere; he observes the required courtesies, but his speech is unadorned with the flummery of much senatorial oratory.

Well, well, well....I'm now hoping for Jim Webb the presidential candidate - it'll make the "race" as a whole and especially the struggle for Democratic nomination far more interesting!