Personally

Last week I, rather inadvisedly, risked contributing an astrological comment on a political website. I say "risked" because I thought it a good bet that my comment would achieve, if anything, only a barrage of sneering about astrology in general. As it happened there wasn't a lot of that; then another, astrologically-literate, commenter joined the thread. I'll not get into the topic involved, that's not the purpose of this post. This other astro-commenter, as well as expanding on what I'd written - a brief sketchy outline, enough, I'd decided for readers not into astrology - he/she also corrected something I'd written relating to "personal planets".

Now, I have always thought of all the inner planets, as far out as Saturn, as being personal, while the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are generational. I hesitated to argue with someone who was, in all probablility, better informed than I, but remain convinced that my own view is not 100% wrong, even if vulnerable to different framing or definition. I've since checked several sources online. Most astrologers do agree that only Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars are, properly, "personal planets"...though this website tends more towards my view.

I had not come across this "fact" about personal planets before now. My blog title fits! However, I do still think there's room for some mild argument. Who defines/frames these things anyway?

I've posted, several times in the past, that I believe the positions of Mercury and Venus ought to be attributed far more weight in personal chart interpretation, even to the point when they could be given a place in that Sun/Moon/ascendant short-hand interpretation group. I've never believed that Jupiter and Saturn are not "personal" though. For instance, Saturn returns are very darn personal, as anyone who has felt their influence would attest!

I guess it all rests on how one or other of us defines "personal", and on whether textbook rules are to be considered chiseled in stone.

Planetary Ponderings

Perhaps it's today's alignment of Earth-Mercury-Sun that has me in pondering mode.

Does Mercury Retrograde really screw up communication lines and cause computerised items to act strangely? (We're in the midst of a Merc-retro period right now, the retrograde period will last until 9 October).


All about Venus - a good piece about the planet by Charles Q. Choi, from space.com:
Planet Venus Facts: A Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet.



Will some form of life be found on Mars ?
Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing Water, Possible Niches for Life, NASA Says.


As for Jupiter: Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission to the planet Jupiter. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 5 August 2011 and will arrive on 4 July 2016.
See HERE - a short video, and HERE.


Saturn has recently transited from Scorpio into Sagittarius - thankfully at last hauling its ass off my natal Mars at 28.54-ish Scorpio!

Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years. Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of “Lubadsagush” from the ancient Assyrians. The name means “oldest of the old”. (HERE)

Planet Plotting

Happening upon this video advert for a $330,000 watch that has all the planets rotating in real-time, I thought about older artifacts with similar purpose. I know their names, but have difficulty remembering which is which. I mix up an orrery with an armillary with an astrolabe, and so on. To remind myself, and maybe others who suffer from the same problem, I've collected images of them, all together, to act as a memory aid.

Additional information on each is available at the links provided at each heading.

The Armillary Sphere

Variations are spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil. A model of objects in the sky (in the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth, that represent lines of celestial longitude and latitude and other astronomically important features such as the ecliptic. As such, it differs from a celestial globe, which is a smooth sphere whose principal purpose is to map the constellations.

The Orrery

An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also represent the relative sizes of these bodies; but since accurate scaling is often not practical due to the actual large ratio differences, a subdued approximation may be used instead. Though the Greeks had working planetaria, the first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented to the Earl of Orrery — whence came the name. They are typically driven by a clockwork mechanism with a globe representing the Sun at the centre, and with a planet at the end of each of the arms.

The Astrolabe

An astrolabe (Greek:astrolabos, "star-taker") is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa, surveying, triangulation, and to cast horoscopes. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance for all these purposes.

The Quadrant and Sextant
An astronomical quadrant is essentially a graduated quarter of a circle, set up to measure the altitude of celestial objects above the horizon. The graduations from 0 - 90° are on the circumference, or limb of the instrument, over which usually a sight or index arm moves. While the quadrant was a quarter of a circle, the sextant was a sixth of a circle (60°) and its smaller arc meant that it was often more portable than a quadrant.

 Hat-tip to Daily Mail

More on celestial navigation HERE.

I really ought to include in this list the ephemeris (plural ephemerides) - hardly an artifact, often in book form, or nowadays available online, it serves much the same purpose as some of the above: tables giving computed positions of Sun, Moon, planets and other celestial bodies for every day of a given period, past, present or future - weeks, years, centuries.

Down the Rabbit-hole with Saturn & Myth

Down the internet rabbit hole, keeping out of the sun and heat, I came across, via an astrology forum, a long video narrated and compiled by David Talbott:
Symbols of an Alien Sky. The video is a hour and 20 minutes long, so not for the faint-hearted. At the link provided, rather than directing straight to YouTube, there's more information and some illustrations. There are, apparently, two further video episodes on the topic, I haven't yet investigated those.

Just watching a few minutes of the video gives some idea of its content. I watched it in full, was as intrigued as I was many, many years ago, when I read Erich von Däniken's first book Chariots of the Gods. With his subsequent books my fascination turned to cynicism though, perhaps the same might happen in this case. Sometimes, when an imaginative author finds a fascinating theme, which might in fact have some ghostlike validity, the author tends to keep flogging the horse with follow-ups until it's....well - dead.

For anyone unable to watch the video, there are articles available on the "Saturn Myth" at its heart - basically it proposes that long, long ago Saturn was Earth's sun, and the configuration of planets was different from the orbits we know today. Three examples of such articles: HERE, HERE, and HERE. Numerous others appear on line, both supporting and rubbishing the theory.

The video mentioned above concentrates on how ancient petroglyphs in many countries of the world can be seen to match proposals put forward, and how world myths might have grown up out of planetary events far back in time, beyond current human knowledge.

David Talbott's ideas, which closely follow theories of Immanuel Velikovsky propose that Saturn, Mars and Earth were once in the far, far distant past in alignment, and outside of the current Sun's heliosphere, probably for millions of years with Earth inside Saturn's plasma sheath. When the Saturnian system entered the Sun's Heliosphere, Saturn began flaring, Venus was ejected from Saturn and the ring system was born and the beginning of the breakup, and much of Human mythology began. Things ripped apart, planets found new orbits by exchanging electrical discharges until it settled into the system of planetary orbits we know today. Our current understandings of physics and cosmology are, apparently not yet advanced enough to fully understand these things. Proposals involve the addition of electrical factors ("The Electric Universe".) The planets, it is thought, were held in alignment electro-statically countering effects of gravity. The breakup left the system electrically "dead", gravity took over as primary system force.

Just as I'd wished to believe what Erich von Däniken proposed about early space travel and visits from other worlds, I'd love to believe what David Talbott and others propose about the origin of certain world mythologies, religions and the formation of our current planetary configuration. I've often pondered about the origin of myths. Was there more to it than, in the case of our best-known Greek variety of myth, sages and philosophers getting together to concoct a set of fictional stories of gods and goddesses for the delectation of listeners and readers, with maybe just a hint of moral or philosophical truth embedded? Were those sages actually carrying on, in different form, more acceptable, accessible and likely to survive as religion or myth, tales of planetary change and catastrophe handed down from...from whom though? Perhaps the origin of such knowledge was lost, along with much else, in the burning of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, but some special knowledge, known to a select few, had been passed on by word of mouth?

LOOK IN

Something interesting to peruse -





A collection of wonderful satirical illustrations by Pawel Kuczynski - there are even more from the same artist around the net. Three samples:

ALSO this video: an invention with great possibilities, if not now, then later.


And...Spurious Correlations offers several chuckle-worthy correlations. I don't know how factual these are, but they're fun. Think how many of these we might be able to construct using astrological stuff....if we had some useful data that is.


Finally...I noticed this vintage photograph among husband's collection at Flickr and for some reason, with tongue in cheek, the planets sprang to mind. "Why?" I hear a passing reader ask.

Look - The sun has got his hat on (front right), Moon in the dark above looks outward ready to move quickly. At centre back - cannot miss Saturn standing adamantly straight, unmoved and sure. To Saturn's left there's Jupiter always ready for a journey, scanning the route.
Next to the Sun are sweet pretty Venus, and open-mouthed Mercury. To Mercury's right - has to be Mars looking determined and a bit grim. The two young outliers to left and right have to be Uranus on the left and Neptune almost too far out to see on the right. (Click on image for a bigger version.) See?

Ruling Principles

Why does planet Venus rule zodiac sign Taurus - and for that matter why does it rule Libra also? I asked myself this question, have asked similar ones many times before, worrying that the allocation of ancient gods to zodiac signs might have originally been a quite arbitrary exercise :-

Ancient astrologer to his apprentice: "Verily verily... The Sun must be ruler of the times when he's at his strongest, (Leo)...our other strong light, Moon must stay by his side(Cancer). So...what've we got left?
Apprentice: Erm...Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, sir.

Ancient astrologer: Oh, let's put 'em in order of their daily motion as we see it, two signs each, outward from Sun and Moon. Fastest mover Mercury must have governorship of signs nearest Sun's and Moon's, so he rules Gemini and Virgo. Next fastest mover, Venus must rule Taurus and Libra. Mars will govern Aries and Scorpio. Slowing down now....Jupiter will rule Sagittarius and Pisces. Now for the coldest and darkest months of the year, Saturn's slow motion leaves it to govern what remains: Aquarius and Capricorn. That'll all fit rather well!"

Ancient astrologers, who were also astronomers in those days, largely ignored an even more ancient allocation of certain gods to a zodiac circle of 12 moths, one month apiece.

There's more erudite and detailed information at Skyscript's article by Deborah Houlding, The Philosophy of Sign Rulership.

The best online article on this topic, best by far in my opinion, is from the late 1990s by Ken Gillman: Twelve Gods and Seven Planets. It's a long, but very good read.

SNIP

THE ALLOCATION of the Signs to the planets appears to have been an exercise in planetary symmetry, without regard for the corresponding natures of the planets or the Signs.

Readers may respond by saying: "OK, so perhaps the initial allocation of planet to Sign did not reflect life experience, but astrologers have been using the scheme for 2,000-years or so, and in the process have made it work."

Have they? Does this rulership scheme really work? Sign rulerships are an essential part of Horary astrology, for instance. Is this branch of astrology as effective as its practitioners claim? We hear of their successes, many of which are often due to planets in the Horary chart being close to angles or to the Moon's next aspects and so not requiring use of the ring-a-rosy rulership system of querent, dispositor, etc. But what of the many failures?

Nearly fifty years ago, a Mr. Ionides, the author of "One Day Telleth Another" (I don't have the author's first name or the book's publisher), suggested the 12-fold division of the ecliptic "was not natural at all, but had been imposed upon Nature by man's belief in them and have so acquired a certain validity." Discussing this, Charles E. O. Carter, an astrologer for whom I continue to have the utmost respect, commented:

In other words, let man believe a thing long enough and strongly enough and Nature, so to speak, accepts it from him. Thought, being essentially and always positive, can work upon the passive anima mundi and mould this to its will.

 If this notion has any basis in fact, then its practical (as well as theoretical) importance would be considerable. We should certainly, in that case, do well to foster in ourselves the highest possible conceptions of the planets....

We should have to distinguish, in the case of such a planet as Neptune, a natural quality and an impressed quality. The former might cover such Neptunian tendencies as poetic inspiration, interest in the occult, and the propensity to states of confusion and involvement, confinement and retirement, none of which appears to have any connection with the mythological Neptune, while the latter would include all relationships with the sea, which would be invested with validity because astrologers, learning that the planet was to be called Neptune, immediately combined to think of it in terms of that god.

The proof would be, what did Neptune Signify in the horoscopes of those who lived before it was discovered? Did only the 'natural' meaning appear, or did what I call the 'impressed' Significance also manifest itself? Because, according to the hypothesis I have, very tentatively, put forward, the latter Significance could not be there.

I know that Neptune was in transit upon King James's ascendant at the time of the Gunpowder Plot, exhibiting the 'treachery aspect' of Neptune, which is not, I think, at all mythological.

Uranus does not convey any distinct mythological conception to the average man, and perhaps that has allowed us to preserve in more or less pure form its natural qualities. But Pluto does most certainly mean something even to those whose studies in mythology have been strictly limited and it is true that most of us are, so to speak, hard at work trying to make him into a planet of death and darkness.

If man's belief makes something so, then surely it will be the belief of the majority of humankind that does. Believers in astrology have been relatively few since the days when a much larger proportion of the world's population believed, and had done so for hundreds of years, in the existence and natures of the Twelve Gods.

The proposal mentioned in that snip, made by C.E.O. Carter, still comes up from time to time in articles attempting to explain why astrology works. I've never quite been able to accept the theory myself, but thinking on it now, I'm wondering if it is actually a form of two-way brainwashing. We are told something is so. We test it, find that sometimes it is so. We start to believe it. We tell others about it. As word spreads, sometimes picking up all kinds of moss and fluff in the process, are we in the process actually forcing certain outcomes through sheer belief? I'm still not convinced that's possible to do, not with regard to astrology's basic principles anyway - perhaps it would work in regard to some of the additional bells and whistles added to the astrological basics at different stages by various schools of thought.

Speaking of other schools of thought relating to zodiac signs and planetary rulership, some believe there are links to Kabballah/Jewish mysticism, and/or to Biblical stories such as that about the 12 sons of Jacob. Indian astrologers have different methods and definitions of signs and rulers, coinciding somewhat, only broadly, with Western astrology. So there are really no hard and fast rules. If it works for you, it works, I guess.

My own miniscule of thought proposes that astrology isn't really about planets themselves at all, they serve only as markers on various sized waves of time/space/atmospheric changes which roll around the universe at different rates. Our zodiac signs are like months on a circular calendar or figures on the face of a watch, helping us to keep track of our human time-lines which will interact with these universal, maybe even inter-universal, rolling waves. At the moment we are born and take our first breath of the atmospheric wave then in session, our personal blueprint begins to form, eventually taking in considerations of distance from, and/or angles to, the rest of the rolling universal waves. There ya go - all sorted!

Dis-ease by Any Other Name

During internet wanderings related to genealogical matters I came across a Glossary of Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death, which is, no doubt, used by those family history detectives who have discovered a death certificate of one of their forebears bearing what seems, to 21st century eyes, a very peculiar cause of death. I've extracted a few of the more colourful terms from the long list presented. There are images of actual entries of these on a death certificate at the website.

Covent Garden Ague
Venereal disease: The Ladybird disease. He broke his shins against Covent Garden rails, he caught the disease. [Grose1823].

Covent, or Convent Garden, vulgarly called Common Garden. Anciently, the garden belonging to a dissolved monastery; now famous for being the chief market in London for fruit, flowers, and herbs. The theatres are situated near it. In its environs are many brothels, and, not long ago, the lodgings of the second order of ladies of easy virtue were either there, or in the purieus of Drury lane.


King's Evil
Morbus Regis. A scrofulous disease, the curing of which was formerly attributed to the king of England, from the time of Edward the Confessor. This practice was called touching for the evil. [Hoblyn1855].

An old, but not yet obsolete, name given to the scrofula, which in the popular estimation was deemed capable of cure by the royal touch. The practice of "touching" for the scrofula, or " King's Evil," was confined amongst the nations of Europe to the two Royal Houses of England and France. As the monarchs of both these countries owned the exclusive right of being anointed with the pure chrism, and not with the ordinary sacred oil, it has been surmised that the common belief in the sanctity of the chrism was in some manner inseparably connected with faith in the healing powers of the royal touch. [Britannica1911].


Scrofula, a tubercular infection of the throat lymph glands; also sometimes syphilis. The name originated in the time of Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the disease could be cured by the touch of the king of England. [Webster1913].


Rising of the Lights
The Croup (in some parts of England).
An old popular term for pleurisy. A vulgar name for croup. [Appleton1904].


Autumn / Autumnal Fever
Autumnal Fever generally assumes a bilious aspect. Those of the intermittent kind are much more obstinate than when they appear in the spring. [Dunglison1868].
A fever that prevails largely in autumn, such as typhoid, typhomalarial, and malarial fevers. [Appleton1904].


Illuminating Gas Poisoning
Toxic asphyxiation due to the displacement of oxygen from oxyhemoglobin by carbon monoxide. [Medical Dictionary Online].

Illuminating gas: was a synthetic mixture of hydrogen and hydrocarbon gases produced by destructive distillation (pyrolysis) of bituminous coal or peat. It was used for gas lighting, as it produces a much brighter light than natural gas or water gas. Although also sometimes called coal gas, it should not be confused with water gas or syngas, which are made from anthracite coal or coke plus water, and chemically quite different. Illuminating gas was much less toxic than these other forms of coal gas, but less could be produced from a given quantity of coal.
Illuminating gas consists mainly of methane, ethylene and hydrogen. The experiments with distilling coal were described by John Clayton in 1684. George Dixon's pilot plant exploded in 1760, setting back the production of illuminating gas a few years. The first commercial application was in a Manchester cotton mill in 1806. In 1901, studies of the defoliant effect of leaking gas pipes lead to the discovery that ethylene is a plant hormone. [AllExperts Encyclopedia].

And, as Carl Jung wrote, “The gods have become our diseases” - so there's

Saturnism Lead Poisoning

and

Mercurial Tremors Workers in mercury, such as water-gilders, looking-glass makers, and the makers of barometers and thermometers, are apt to suffer from a peculiar form of shaking palsy, known as the trembles, or mercurial tremor. This disease affects most frequently those who are exposed to mercurial fumes. The victim is affected with tremors when an endeavor is made to exert the muscles, so that he is unable, for instance, to convey a glass of water to the lips steadily, and when he walks he breaks into a dancing trot. The treatment consists in removal from the mercurial atmosphere, baths, fresh air, and the administration of iron and other tonics. [Britanica1911]

Hmm - So Saturn and Mercury get name checks; Venus, of course is the root of Venereal, which does seem unfair, Plutonic might be nearer the mark, but Pluto hadn't been discovered when venereal disease was first named sometime around the 15th century. Jupiter and Mars, as far as I can see, didn't lend their names, or characteristics, to any disease.

Grace & Fury in Myth and Dance

Last week we attended a performance by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at our local theatre. Dancers were cross-cultural: from China, Moscow, New Jersey, Korea, Cuba, Japan, and California , their choreographer and artistic director is Nai-Ni Chen who was a renowned traditional dancer in the Republic of China and served on several ambassadorial culture missions around the world. The show was a blend of traditional and modern dance.

Looking through the photographs my husband managed to capture with his pocket camera during the performance brought to mind an old post of mine featuring the Three Graces and The Three Furies. Dug it out, combined an edited version with our photographs.


One of Raphael's paintings depicts The Three Graces. In mythology these were goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, said to rule beauty and charm in nature and humanity. Aglaia represents radiance or splendor. Euphrosyne represents joy. Thalia represents fruitfulness or good cheer.


Which planets might the three sisters personify ? I'd guess Sun for radiance and splendor, Venus and Jupiter for the other two, not sure which is which though.

We all embody a potential for both grace and fury.


Here, with delicate grace the dancers performed Raindrops: Choreographer Nai-Ni chen drew inspiration from her childhood memory of the Taiwanese city in which she was born, Keelong, also known as the "Rain Harbor".



The exquisitely graceful and elegant Peacock Dance. The peacock is considered a sacred bird among the Dai people in the Yunan province. Movements derive from real actions of the peacock - drinking water, walking, running, grooming feathers.
Dancer was Min Zhou.





There was a lovely dance: The Way of Five - Fire which we didn't manage to capture. The photo is from the Dance company's website linked above.

A leaflet provided tells that this was Nai-Ni Chen's first exploration of the ancient Chinese theory that the cycles of creation and destruction correspond to the ever-changing phenomena of nature. the "Five" refers to the five elements: wood, water, fire, metal and earth. Each element as part of the forces of nature, creates another in harmony and destroys another in conflict.

(I wonder why Chinese elements do not include Air, as in astrological elements in western tradition?)




And so to The Furies:

Another trio - The Three Furies, the Greek Erinyes, daughters of Gaia (Earth) sprung from the blood of Uranus could be said to represent the shadow sides of the Three Graces. This painting is by W. Bouguereau Orestes and the Furies. Tisiphone (avenger of blood) Alecto (the implacable) and Megaera (the jealous one). Said to be merciless goddesses of vengance whose punishments continued after death. Which planets might carry the attributes of these three lovelies? Mars, Saturn, and what about "the jealous one"? The Moon, perhaps? I tend to give the Moon a positive interpretation, but in tarot,the Moon card isn't one of the true "goodies". The Moon is changeable, temperamental, could easily be jealous. Yes, I'll choose the Moon to represent "the jealous one".


In dance:
Lu Wen-Long, the Warrior. (A Warrior is nothing if not a symbol of fury!)
This dance is taken from the 500 year old Chinese Kunqu Opera. Legend goes that Lu Wen-Long was abducted from his Han military family by Manchurians, grew up among enemies of his family. After aiding the Manchrians in many victories he defected to become a famous general of his own Han people. The high platform shoes of his costume, and head dress of long bird feathers symbolise a courageous young general. The short white stick symbolises his white horse, and the double spears are his special weapons. Dancer: Yao-Zhong Zhang.





The Lion Dance (not exactly furious though) - Said to have originated in the Tang Dynasty 3,000 years ago. Seen as a prayer of peace because during the dance a child playfully leads a beast. Child and beast playing together symbolises harmony on earth. The Lion Dance is always performed at Chinese New Year. there are many different styles of the Lion Dance, this was the northern style.



The show finished with a colourful dance, Festival, based on the Dragon Boat summer festival. The spinning, floating ribbons symbolise prosperity of the village.

New Planet To Play With?

We should brace ourselves for an onslaught of daft articles and commentary about the "new" planet, which may or may not exist in the outer reaches of our solar system. The body temporarily goes by the name Tyche. If confirmed, in due course the body will be re-named. Let's not rush to the assumption that naming it Tyche, who was goddess of good fortune, is of any significance. Likewise in respect of any future name it acquires.



The Mail on Line told us yesterday:

Scientists believe they may have found a new planet in the far reaches of the solar system, up to four times the mass of Jupiter.
Its orbit would be thousands of times further from the Sun than the Earth's - which could explain why it has so far remained undiscovered.

Data which could prove the existence of Tyche, a gas giant in the outer Oort Cloud, is set to be released later this year - although some believe proof has already been garnered by Nasa with its pace telescope, Wise, and is waiting to be pored over.

One commenter said:

....well this will make the astrologers seem more stupid than they already are...if that's possible!

I'd say rather that it'll make commenters seem more stupid than they already are!

Even if this body is confirmed as being within our solar system, I read somewhere that its orbit is well over 3000 years. It's hardly likely to have any astrological interpretation other than in a VERY long-term historical context.

Another report on this topic from UK's Independent newspaper.


It's very tempting to mention Nibiru - but I'm not going there - not yet! I must guard against appearing more stupid than I actually am.

KALEIDOSCOPE-WISE

In childhood, my kaleidoscope was a favourite toy. I still find in them a source of fascination....which led me to an archived post from summer 2008. It seemed to beg for a complete update.

Done! The theme is here dragged kicking and screaming into 2010 ~~~

These days there's an uncomfortable feel to things in general. The "enticing new possibilities" spied by Ms Kanter in the following quote are thin on the ground just now, especially in politics - unless you happen to be entranced by the antics of that group of people with a thing about tea bags.

“Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility."
(~Rosabeth Moss Kanter, American social scientist & business expert)

Still... I'll try tweaking Ms. Kanter's thought and look at some of our astrological "floating bits and pieces", otherwise known as the seven planets ancient astrologers traditionally used. Let's see what emerges, kaleidoscope-wise. Focus will be on the USA mainly, but passing readers will no doubt be able to orient patterns towards their own locations.

Our "floating bits and pieces" - how do they shape up ?

Sun, in general represents leadership. Newly moved into Libra, it signals an emphasis on either diplomacy or indecisiveness. In the USA's current leader traces of both traits can be detected. The President panders to his masters, the corporations, bringing forth weakness of resolve and an appearance of indecisiveness, as he tries, at every turn, to satisfy his masters and the Republicans over the needs of what was once his "base". His diplomacy leans only towards those who finance him, not those who worked hard to support him in 2008, in fact, on more than one occasion he, and his underlings have mocked this faction's hopes and wishes.


Moon -I'll use it as representing the public, I understand it does so in horary astrology. A public sharply divided (and sub-divided) in the USA. It was ever thus, but possibly never more clearly sub-divided than now. Further sub-divisions have merged in the 2 years since the General Election. Under the Republican "umbrella" the aforementioned Tea Bag movement has found a place. They differentiate themselves from middle-of-the-road, old-fashioned conservatives. As for the Democrats, they now sub-divide into those for whom the Obama Kool-aid hasn't yet worn off, and those for whom scales have fallen from their eyes. One faction still insists that "he's doing his best in shitty circumstances", parrot buzz words such as "small steps" and "lesser-evil". A more clear-eyed sub-division on the far-left, seminal group of radical left-wingers, theorise that is there is no true difference between the two parties, both are bought by, and run by the corporations, and shadowy figures at the top of an elite pyramid.

Mercury represents all forms of communication. Even since 2008 new lines of communication and networking possibilities have continued to mushroom. Facebook and Twitter have become a bigger part of the fabric of everyday life (for some). A metaphorical wolf may be approaching the door though. Net neutrality is essential for things to remain as they stand currently. The forces who appear to be controlling politics will, sooner or later, also demand control over the internet.

Venus the arts and love planet ought to provide some softer pastel background colour to what is so far a sombre kaleidoscopic pattern. Even here though, there's a harshness in evidence. Modern musical styles could hardly be described as "soft and pastel", modern style in the arts tends towards dark satire and cynicism. Love, in many cases takes a back seat to lust and sexual gratification.

Mars represents energy, war, aggression. The reddish hues of Mars almost overpowers the view these days, leaving little room for much else. No need to peer too closely, or even to name specifics.

Jupiter, planet of excess, religion and long-distance travel. Religious fundamentalism in both Christianity and Islam continue to mushroom, while long-distance travel becomes less accessible for working folk and the unemployed. Past excesses are now having impact upon the environment as well as the economy. Jupiter, as benign a planet as it is considered to be by astrologers, has dark undertones as the result of decades of excess are recognised.

Saturn, planet of laws, restrictions, limitations and authority in general. The US Supreme Court springs immediately to mind. This year's decision of the Court, overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, bitterly divided the Justices when it ruled that the government may not ban or limit political spending by corporations in candidate elections, thus making it even easier for the corporations to buy politicians and parties, so tightening their stranglehold.

So, gazing upon the kaleidoscopic picture presented by our planetary bits and pieces, it's not hard to see how one piece leads to, and relates to another. The whole forms a pattern, pictorially and, as metaphor, politically. I've seen far more pleasing patterns in my time. However, trying to find a positive angle, it's a pattern which, if given a gentle shake (continuing the kaleidoscope motif), could change beyond recognition, and morph into something quite different.




(This is meant to be a moving image, but I'm not sure whether Blogger's platform will crank it up - if not.... it's pretty anyway.)

Planet Sleeves

Those of us who remember the days of LPs (long playing records), before the birth of CDs and DVDs, sometimes mourn the loss of the wonderful creativity often to be found in LP covers. The art on the record sleeve, and the occasionally hilarious purple prose on the reverse, reviewing the record's contents and performers, offered additional value and encouragement to buy. Some LP sleeves have become valuable, rare, and sought after by collectors.

Here are some examples of the art from a few of those old LP sleeves, chosen to represent our planets and luminaries. I hope they'll bring back memories for the few who remember, and serve as an introduction for those who don't.

In no particular order:

MARS



Illustration: Wilson McClean (1976)


VENUS



Design: Abie Sussman; Illustration: Larry Kresek. (1975)


MERCURY



Clearlight Symphony. Illustration: Jean Claude Michel (1975)


SATURN



Design: Dieter Fischer; Illustration: Peter Lorenz. (1975)

JUPITER



Quintessence. In Blissful Company.
Design: Barney Bubbles/J. Moonman; Illustration: Gopala. (1969)


URANUS



Design; Hardie/Hipgnosis. (1976)


NEPTUNE



Design: John Pasche, Gull Graphics; Photo: Phil Jude; Re-touching: T.&S. (1975)


PLUTO



Santana - Santana(3 set).
Design: Heavy Water Light Show/Joan Chase & Mary Ann Mayer. (1971)


SUN



Hapshash & The Coloured Coat.
Design: Hapshash & the Coloured Coat; Photo Ekim Adis. (1967)


MOON



Thelonious Monk - Monk's Blues.
Design: John Berg; Illustration: Paul Davis. (1969)


~~~Small pic, top of post = Jefferson Starship - Dragonfly.
Illustration: Peter Lloyd. (1974). My own favourite.

Quality, Character or Tone of the Planets.

In his book "Astrology for the Millions" American astrologer Grant Lewi put forward a theory which I hadn't come across before, but which makes a lot of sense to me. He considered that, especially with regard to transits of the outer planets, it is the length of time they spend in a particular position which is paramount in their influence upon matters on Earth, and not any inherent differences in the planets themselves.

He believed that the nature of the experience under transits of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto is substantially the same. "It is in reconciling the similarity of the experience with the lengthening out of the time process that you achieve an understanding of yourself, and of how to handle the influences"... of Uranus, Neptune, etc. as they come through the signs and houses and over the planets in your chart. He feels that, for instance, a Uranus transit to the Sun is essentially the same as a Saturn transit or even a Mars transit - the difference is in the time the planet remains in one place (over or in aspect to a natal planet or point).

Our bodies and minds are naturally conditioned to the fast transits of the inner planets and the Moon, and even to the relatively fast transits of Jupiter and Mars. By adulthood we have experienced several of these and instinctively, or subconsciously understand them. But when we experience a conjunction or hard aspect involving one of the outer planets, which lasts for much longer, it seems different. It is, but not in the ways we might first suppose - i.e. because Saturn's influence is said to be severe, Uranus brings the "unexpected", and Pluto is the transformer....etc. It's different because it lasts so much longer, but in truth the influence itself is the same in each case. Or so Mr Lewi theorises.

(From chapter 12 (page 376)"The Grand Strategy of Living - part 1: The Nature and Meaning of the Planets")

"It used to be stated, or implied, in the older astrological texts, that each of the Planets had a different quality, character, or tone, because of something inherent in its nature, Thus Saturn might have been said to have the quality of iron, hardness, weight; the character of sobriety or gloom; the tone of G-sharp Minor below middle C, or of the rumble of distant thunder. Mars might have been said to have the quality of hot steel, the character of courage or recklessness, and the tone of an awakening bugle. Whether these attributes emanated from the physio-chemical structure of the planets, which caused them to emit rays of a certain quality, or from other causes, was not clarified.

The premise seems to have been that each Planet had a quality inherent in itself, differentiating it and its influence from that of other Planets because of this self-contained quality.

Over a long period of study, in contact with numerous charts viewed experimentally and clinically, I have come to the conclusion that, so far as their astrological influence is concerned, the Planets do not differ in inherent quality. We know from the astronomers, physicists, spectrum-analysts, and chemists that the physical structure of the Planets is different, quantitatively, with respect to the percentages in which the elements are found in them and their atmospheres; and qualitatively, with respect to their stages of hotness, coolness, age, youth, formedness or non-formedness. It is possible that these differences do bear on their astrological influence.

However, consistent observation of planetary effects in a very large number of charts leads me to the conclusion that, whether or not Planets differ in their inherent character, their chief observable difference as they act in the chart is traceable directly to the difference in the rate of motion with which they pass through the Vitasphere...................." (Grant Lewi calls the natal chart, or "map of your birth" the Vitasphere.)

"Once we disabuse our minds of the idea that Planets differ in quality, and base our view of the chart on their differences in rate of motion, we come to grips with the basic realities of the Vitasphere, with the meaning of planetary influences in the forming of character and the timing of opportunity."

That the effects of outer planet transits might have more to do with the length of their stay than with the traditional definition of the nature of that planet, seems logical enough. Pluto, Uranus and Saturn are broadly similar - they bring changes. This isn't surprising. Their motion is so slow as to make a visit from them to natal planets something unusual - a change in itself, and fundamental changes of outlook do occur at these times. Neptune is not as easy to see as a bringer of change though, or if it is, that change is of a particular type, specific to Neptune.

It's quite difficult to turn off the definitions imprinted in memory, in spite of trying I still tend to fall back on the traditional interpretations. I like Grant Lewi's theory though, it's well worth keeping in mind.