MUSICAL MONDAY ~ 4 Sons of Aquarius

Four singer/songwriters with natal Sun in Aquarius are enjoying the presence of helpful Jupiter in their Sun sign. Jupiter entered Aquarius soon after New Year 2009 and will remain in the sign until mid-January 2010 when it'll slide into Pisces.

The four guys have each made news this year:



Garth Brooks (7 February 1962) has recently come out of several years' retirement to star on-stage in Las Vegas. Reports say that Garth mused that his fans might have moved on. He was wrong! Tickets for his first 20 shows sold out in less than five hours.















Robbie Williams (13 February 1974) has recently released a new album which is looked on as something of a re-launch for him, after spending some years in the doldrums, and periods of fighting addiction. It was anounced last week that Robbie will receive an award for outstanding contribution to music at the 2010 Brit Awards. He has already won 11 Brit Awards in the past, but this one is special.








Neil Diamond (24 January 1941) played to a still adoring audience at Madison Square Garden in his hometown, New York a couple of months ago, the concert was also shown on TV and there's a cd/dvd of it avalilable. His new album was released earlier this year too. I recall that Neil 'tweeted' nervously "....but will they still like me?" The answer was plain to see: "You betcha!"













And the newest star in the Sun Aquarius stable, Adam Lambert (29 January 1982), is featured singing the theme song "Time for Miracles", in the new movie "2012" due for release next month. His first solo album, since being declared runner-up in this year's American Idol, will drop on 23 November and is titled "For Your Entertainment". His album is rumored to be quite different from the "2012" song in style - more avant garde, as befits Aquarius.

Fortune has smiled on this talented and charismatic young man all year long, and continues to do so. By the time Jupiter leaves Aquarius, Adam will have established himself firmly, and will be heading for superstardom. That's one prediction I can make without the aid of astrology.

Interestingly, Adam's first album title, "For Your Entertainment" bears a close resemblance to the title of a single from Robbie's first album - "Let Me Entertain You", (from "Life thru a Lens"). All four of these guys are spectacular entertainers and a credit to Aquarius!

Below: a taste of "2012" and Adam singing "Time for Miracles" (if it isn't taken down by the copyright police.) I understand that the song was written by a husband and wife team, when the wife was fighting cancer. She has since died. That makes the lyrics even more pognant than when applied to a general "end of world" scenario.


Time For Miracles

Adam Lambert | MySpace Video

(No astrology).SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT ~ Remembering a life change.....

It's exactly 5 years since I arrived in the USA to live here permanently. Looking back, I realise that it was one of those situations where I'd had to switch to mental auto-pilot. I do a similar thing sometimes at the dentist's or doctor's office, a useful habit of blocking out peripheral stuff, and thoughts in the subjunctive, about things that could possibly go wrong; retaining focus on a time in the near future with awkwardness gone. I stayed that way for a while, then, one day the enormity of the move hit me. I was worried. My husband was worried. Adding even more chaos to an already daunting situation, we decided to move house from my husband's home of many years. That occupied my mind and blocked out the nerves for a while. I took two brief visits back to the UK in the spring and fall of the next year, which helped a lot. I haven't been back to England since.

I've now got the hang of light switches being "up" for "on"; it's the opposite in the UK. I no longer go to the driver's door to get to the passenger seat, because for my hardwiring, in the US the driver sits on the "wrong" side. I'm still, even now, finding it difficult to use American terms for things like taps (faucets), car boot (trunk), footpath (sidewalk) and so on. American spelling comes and goes in my writing, depending on where, when and to whom it's directed. I'm not going to worry about stuff like that - I kid myself that it'll all add to my (ahem) old world..... charm.

Much cursing and complaining accompanied a four-year, very frustrating, trek through the US immigration process to citizenship. I'm thankful the trek is behind me now. If I'd known in 2004 what I know now, would I have tried to persuade my husband to stay in England with me? I often think I should have done. I'd have missed such a lot by so doing though, even if I could have succeeeded. The USA is a vast and beautiful land - can't help but love it. I've left my shadow among the petroglyphs in Arizona's Painted Desert, stood inside The Alamo, explored the Anasazi dwellings at Mesa Verde, explored the wonderful Rocky Mountains National Park, beautiful Santa Fe, travelled in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming. Who'd have thunk it? And there's still more adventuring to be done.



Some attitudes here continue to rankle though, and I still have to perfect a way to ignore what irritates me most. "Take the rough with the smooth"....is the best advice for me I guess.

Emigration from my homeland was probably my destiny - my fate. A fortune teller told my mother, when I was still in early teenage, that I'd marry a foreigner and end my life abroad. I remembered it, but didn't ever really believe the last part. Marrying a foreigner wasn't difficult - I did it twice! I'd toyed with the idea of spending my retirement in Spain, but deep down knew that was not much more than a pipe dream.

If I could, would I go back to England? I ask myself this sometimes, then realise it's all hypothetical and hypothetical questions can be dangerous and misleading. There's nothing there for me, my family and loved ones are all gone. My family is here now. I can't go back, and that's good.




Scuffling through an old purse the other day I came across a card bought just before I left England. It bears this piece of prose by Vicki Silvers; I read it over and over then, and again in my early days here in the US. I'll copy it. Perhaps a passing reader who is also on the brink of a big life change might find it helpful:

"There comes a time in your life when you realise that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by. Life's circumstances are not always what you might wish them to be. The pattern of life does not necessarily go as you plan...

Beyond any understanding, you may at times be led in different directions that you never imagined, dreamed, or designed. Yet if you had never put any effort into choosing a path or trying to carry out your dream, then perhaps you would have no direction at all.

Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the "why's" and "what if's", and rid yourself of confusion. Whatever was - is in the past. Whatever is - is what's important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.

Walk your path one step at a time - with courage, faith and determination. Keep your head up and cast your dreams to the stars. Soon your steps will become firm and your footing will be solid again. A path that you never imagined will become the most comfortable direction you could ever have hoped to follow.

Keep your belief in yourself and walk into your new journey. You will find it magnificent, spectacular, and beyond your wildest imaginings."

Signs within signs, wheels within wheels. Bells within whistles?

Pulling a slim bright yellow volume from my bookshelf I considered writing about its contents. "The Zodiac Within Each Sign" by Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker focuses on the division of each zodiac sign of 30 degrees into 3 cells of 10 degrees (known as decans or decanates), then into 12 two and a half degree cells (known as duads). I'm in two minds as to whether this astrological tool is useful. If we're not careful, bringing in everything but the kitchen sink could result in being able to make, or force, anything to mean anything. That's why I stubbornly stick to a minimalist system.

Still, decans and duads can be an interesting study, and I understand that it's a time honored system stemming from ancient astrological doctrine.

Each decan, or third of a sign is thought to have a different ruler. The first decan of any sign is ruled by the whole sign's ruler. Using myself as guinea pig, and for simplicity sticking strictly to the Sun's position: 27 January, 6.46 degrees of Aquarius, first decan, ruled by Aquarius's ruler Uranus. The second decan is ruled by the ruler of next sign in the same element - Air in this case, so it's Gemini's ruler, Mercury. The third decan is ruled by the ruler of the next Air sign Libra, so = Venus.

Taking another example - Aries: 1st decan ruled by whole sign ruler: Mars. Second by the next Fire sign Leo's ruler: Sun. Third decan by next Fire sign's ruler, Sagittarius = Jupiter.

And so on for each of the 12 signs. Diagram below is from the excellent website Skyscript.




Taking the system a layer deeper, duads split each sign into 12 cells. One theory is that rulership of each 12th goes like this - first 2 and half degrees ruled by whole sign ruler. Second by the next sign on around the zodiac, moving one sign for each 2 and half degrees. there's a helpful list to assist in calculation at Wikipedia HERE.

This system reminds me of.....



Using myself as an example again, as my Sun is at 6.46 Aquarius I'm in the third duad of Aquarius, ruled by Aries. Taking whole sign ruler, decan ruler and duad ruler into consideration gives me a Uranus/Mars or Aquarius/Aries flavour. Which is fine because my Moon and Saturn are both in Aries, so it would have been apparent without the decan/duad calculation that I have both Aquarius and Aries traits. Things might not be so simple for another person though.

I'll try my husband's chart - Sun at 1.48 Aries - first decanate ruled by Mars - he's an Aries-Aries. 1.48 Aries puts him in the first duad also, so again Aries, he's a triple Aries! That didn't tell us much that we didn't know already, and by the way he also has a strong Pisces presence in real life.

My mother's Sun was at 4.16 Libra - first decan - A Libra-Libra. Second duad though so duad ruler is Pluto (Scorpio's ruler - next sign along). Now that fits - and yet her Mercury was in Scorpio, so we could already have known she'd have a touch of Scorpio.

My father might be a better example - Sun was at 18.52 Aquarius which is 2nd decan, ruled by Mercury (Gemini's ruler). He's 8th duad, ruled by Virgo's ruler - Mercury again! Now I don't see that as accurate for him. He wasn't a great communicator, he was a quiet, shy guy. He was a self-employed master baker for most of his life, then a sub-postmaster, so I guess he was versatile (a Mercurial trait), but I'd have seen a better reflection of him had his duad ruler been Moon/Cancer.

Anyway, the theory is that taking into account another, more subtle, layer of traits associated with the ruling sign of your natal Sun's decan and/or duad could explain why your basic standard Sun sign description isn't a good fit. There are many other, possibly better, reasons of course. And the system of decans and duads can be used not only for the Sun's position, but for every planet and point in the natal chart. This promises to throw up an unintelligible soup, which doesn't appeal to me one bit, and could end up making anything mean anything.... and nothing!

As it happens, I did once make use of this system in a 2007 post about Dick Cheney: see here. I made it work for me then. If you go in deep enough, almost anything can be made to work in favor of the result you want to see, and that's the problem with bringing in too many astrological tools and methods. There's more than enough potential for complexity in a straightforward natal chart, no bells, no whistles.

Arty Farty Friday ~ William Henry Jackson

Nowadays tourists flock to the American West and Yellowstone, cameras at the ready, from the most expensive Nikons to cheapo pocket models. Once upon a time though, people of the eastern states and Europe had little or no idea of the wonders of the West. Any sketches of western scenes, geysers, rock formations, hidden canyons etc were often thought to be fanciful exaggerations. William Henry Jackson's photography in the region changed all that, and was instrumental in persuading Congress in 1872 to establish Yellowstone as the United States' first National Park .

Jackson was drawn to artistic pursuits from an early age; he painted in childhood, later worked as a photographic retoucher, and served as a staff artist in the 12th Vermont Infantry, for the Union army in 1862. After the war, in 1867, he opened the Jackson Brothers studio, with his brother Edward in Omaha, Nebraska. Two years later he photographed along the newly opened Union Pacific Railroad.


William Henry Jackson was a true pioneer in his field something of an adventurer as well. As a professional photographer of the 1870s he had the ability to do everything: composing, focusing and exposing the picture, to sensitizing the plate and developing it. Heavy equipment needed hauling to the scenes: huge cameras, glass plates for negatives, lenses and tripods, chemicals and a tent to use as a darkroom. It was a far cry from today's digital photography!

In 1870 Jackson began an eight-year assignment as official photographer to the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of Ferdinand V. Hayden, producing important views of the grandeur of states in the American West. He went on to become a photographic publisher and entrepreneur in Denver, specializing in commissioned landscapes for the railroad. In 1893 Jackson was the official photographer for the World's Columbian Exposition.

In later life he reverted to painting; his vast collection of memories must have provided ample inspiration. He lived to the grand old age of 99.



What can we see from William Henry Jackson's natal chart then? A few words in the above serve as clues. Pioneer? Aries. Photography? Pisces/Neptune. Adventure and travel? Sagittarius. Breaking new ground? Uranus/Aquarius.



It's all there! Sun in pioneering Aries, along with Pluto. Sun in Aries is trine Mars in Sagittarius. The pioneer, the drive (Mars) and the traveller combine. Venus planet of the arts, Mercury (communication), and Uranus (breaking new ground) all lie in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, the photography planet. Nextdoor in Aquarius we find Neptune and Jupiter conjoined - the ruling planets of photography and travel/expansion in groundbreaking Aquarius, blended together and reflecting once again what we've seen from the foregoing sentences.

Sometimes natal astrology can be breathtakingly accurate!

Saturn, planet of structure and work, lies in its home sign of Capricorn and in helpful sextile aspect to Mercury and Uranus - bringing the discipline of hard work into what could otherwise have been a rather haphazard and flighty scene, likely to achieve little of value.

Without a time of birth it's not possible to know the Moon's degree, but unless Jackson was born before 1am Moon would have been in flexible Gemini. That's a good fit for his versatility and willingness to bend his talents in different directions, taking on a variety of projects as need dictated.










Man With Sheepskin (in India)




Mount Moran



Yellowstone



In the Rockies



The Hayden Survey Party



One of WHJ's paintings: Chimney Rock & North Platte River (we saw this scene, minus wagons, on our last trip!)



Portrait of two Cheyenne



Shoshone family at South Pass, 1870.



More information at
http://www.bbhc.org/wgwa/WHJ.cfm
http://www.clemusart.com/exhibit/legacy/bios/bios-jl.html
http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2FJackson

Zodiac Sign SCORPIO

The Sun moves into zodiac sign Scorpio today. Sandwiched between charming Libra and happy-go-lucky Sagittarius, Scorpio can't compete in any feel-good way, but it provides the sharp salty bite between the two.

Scorpio is the eighth of 12 zodiac signs - and it's important to remind myself that it is A SIGN, not a label to be put upon a person born between 22/ 23 October and 22/23 November (give or take a day, as it varies slightly from year to year). Scorpio is one of twelve areas marking the Earth's presence at a certain point on its orbit around the Sun. When Sun, Moon, planets or sensitive points in a natal chart are found in the area of Scorpio, or any other sign, astrology tells us that the properties or "atmosphere" of that area are "absorbed" and mingled with the properties of the celestial bodies or sensitive points present there.

When the Sun lies in the sign of Scorpio, astrologers consider that the properties of the sign are usually most apparent in an individual born during those 30 or so days. This is how the shorthand expressions "he's a Scorpio", or "she's a Leo", etc. came about. It is only shorthand though, and as any secretary from days of yore will know, shorthand leaves out a lot of detail and nuance. Not every person born with Sun in Scorpio will exhibit all the traits traditionally connected with the sign. Some Sun Scorpio people will even seem like foreigners to their Sun sign, due to strong emphasis elsewhere in their natal charts.

Some keywords, positive and negative, for the Fixed Water sign of Scorpio are: penetrating, incisive, secretive, investigative, transformative, passionate, intense, erotic, stubborn, tenacious, hard worker, intuitive, paranoid, suspicious, mystical, cynical, destructive, unforgiving.

I try to give examples of people I've known personally to illustrate my monthly diatribes on the signs of the zodiac. In the case of people born with Sun in Scorpio, I haven't much to offer. Perhaps they are not drawn to me. I'm not especially drawn to them in person, though I have found myself drawn to the writings of some Scorpio-heavy authors. The two friendships I've had in my life with Sun in Scorpio people have ended badly. In both cases I inadvertently said something which upset them and was not forgiven for it; we never crossed paths again. I have to admit to a streak of this in my own nature too, courtesy of Mars in Scorpio, but it is usually, not always, kept in check by milder traits. Interestingly, both Sun Scorpios I've known well were also married to Sun Scorpios, and both had serious marital difficulties - so "were" is probably the operative word! There's a lesson there somewhere.


Astrologer Alan Oken, in his book "Complete Astrology" writes that

"Scorpio is the sign most easily susceptible to the forces of Dark or the illuminations of Light."

Which neatly explains why Scorpio has two symbols: the scorpion and the eagle, representing the dark and light sides of this complex, and sometimes misunderstood sign.

Circles and Extremes

There are no straight lines in astrology, only circles and cycles. Some are so huge that we never again get to see the point from which we started out. Others, such as the cycles of the Moon, come around many times, even in a comparatively short lifetime.

In the circle of the zodiac, around which our planets and lights travel, the first and last signs are opposites, they are also neighbours. Aries, the initiator, full of energy, impatient to get things started; nextdoor is Pisces the loose, visionary dreamer in no hurry to, as they say in the USA, "haul ass".

Circles don't have extremities, only departure and return points, which means that opposites - extremes, are liable to bump into one another, even co-mingle, not in individual viewpoints but in effect.

In the case of political opinions, the further left or right one moves in entrenched viewpoints, the more liable one is, without even realising it, to be assisting the very causes one started out to oppose, thereby damaging one's own best interests.

Take the so-called "progressive" liberals in the USA. Please! I'd wager there are few more lefty than yours truly in this fair land, yet those "progressives" get up my nose.

Some of them are undermining the current Democratic administration. They whine incessantly that the politicians in power are not doing enough and not doing it fast enough.
They criticise every word and every move made by prominent congress people and the President. I do seriously wonder whether these people are really conservatives in disguise.....Trojan horses. It's a tempting idea! Or is it just that they don't realise that they have slipped through the almost non-existent divide into a murky, putrid extremist soup, good for practically nothing. The extreme right and extreme left are neighbours in the circle of opinion, just as Aries and Pisces are neighbours in the astrological zodiac. I'd better make it clear that I am not comparing the signs to political viewpoints, only in the way that extremes are liable to co-mingle and produce an effect compatible with their opposite.

Just as extreme left-wingers can do more harm than good to their more moderate colleagues, and inadvertently assist the aims of the right, extreme right-wingers can end up helping their perceived enemies on the left by being so extreme that their words and actions leave nothing but ridicule in their wake and, in the end, serve only to assist the left.

“Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme heat kills, and so extreme cold: extreme love breeds satiety, and so extreme hatred; and too violent rigor tempts chastity, as does too much license.”
George Chapman, English poet and dramatist c.1559-1634.

Homeopathy & Dr. Samuel Hahnemann

HuffPo carried an article at the weekend, "Homeopathy for Allergies: Nothing to Sneeze At" by Dana Ullman. Due to my own affliction it set me on a trek across Google in search of more information. After reading several articles and reader comments I realised that homeopathy and astrology have a lot in common when it comes to the way they are perceived and criticised by a certain faction of skeptics. Similar outrage, accusations and sneers are thrown around in both cases. I note that both are classed by those who pretend to know better, as "woo" or "woo-woo". If that's the best label they can come up with it points to a serious lack of creativity.

My own view of homeopathy and astrology is that there is a certain amount of validity contained in both, shrouded in a vast fog of supposition and make-do practices. There's so much we still don't know about our life and our universe, its energies and how the whole kaboodle links up and works. I try not to exclude anything but the most fluffy and woolly ideas....and even some of those might have substance. If it works and you can see it working, time after time, then it works - simple as that.

Homeopathy is a theory, belief, system - whatever, founded by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann. (Left:Memorial to Dr. Hahnemann in Washington DC). He was born in the mid-18th century in the days when medical practices were crude and cruel:

As the protective father of many children (Note: he and his first wife had 11) facing a host of diseases and illnesses, Hahnemann became increasingly uncomfortable with the medical techniques of the day, later dubbed the "Age of Heroic Medicine." Lack of medical knowledge coupled with a belief in evil spirits and curses led well-meaning physicians to prescribe such treatments as blood letting, in which doctors would remove nearly all of patients' blood. Another popular treatment was blistering, an attempt to draw toxins out of the body through the application of hot substances. Doctors also dispensed huge doses of drugs including mercury, arsenic, opium, and alcohol, often trying to induce vomiting and emptying of the bowels. "Massive doses of calomel," noted a writer for FDA Consumer, "not only cleaned the bowels, they also caused teeth to loosen, hair to fall out, and other symptoms of acute mercury poisoning. Such 'heroic' therapy often prolonged the illness, if it did not kill the patient outright." In the United States, George Washington died in 1799 after being treated for sore throat. His therapies included bloodletting and blistering with cantharides, a concoction made from dried beetles.

He experimented with the idea that like cures like: ("similia similibus curantur", as engraved on his memorial, above left.)

For years, Hahnemann enlisted his family for experiments that involved inducing various symptoms, testing out more than 2,000 substances ranging from herbs to snake venom, and carefully recording the results. Finally, he began to apply his remedies to actual sick people, administering concoctions he hoped would mimic the symptoms already being exhibited by the patient. At first, Hahnemann noticed that his patients actually became sicker from his substances. This prompted him to dilute his medicines into smaller and smaller doses to find the tiniest possible portion that would still trigger the body's response. To his own surprise, Hahnemann discovered that the more diluted remedies were actually more effective at treating diseases. This became his Law of Infinitesimals, which holds that even though none of the original molecules may remain in a particular dilution, the vital forces, or healing power, of the substance remains.
Hahnemann's remedies were created systematically, in a process that included placing one drop of the substance in 99 drops of water or alcohol, then shaking the container vigorously, and repeating the process several times. In theory, after several dilutions, not a single drop of the original substance was left. However, scientists in the 1970s used a nuclear magnetic resonance machine to prove that "even though there is no substance left in most homeopathic remedies, their footprint remained in the alcohol/water that the substance was diluted in," wrote homeopathic physician and M.D. Jeffrey Migdow in New Visions Online.

From HERE

So - let's have a quick look at Dr.Samuel Hahnemann's natal chart. He was born in Meissen, Germany on 10 April 1755, Wikipedia tells us that some sources state the early hours of 11 April as his time of birth, but others "around midnight" on 10 April. This'll mainly affect his ascending degree, and maybe degree of the Moon. As far as I can tell, unless he was born well after midnight and into 11 April, his rising sign would always be Sagittarius. I've set the chart below for 11.57pm on the 10th.









His Sun, Moon and Mercury, three of the most important placements in the chart are in Aries, sign of the energetic initiator - which he certainly was. Venus, Mars and Uranus, also important factors in any chart lie semisextile (mildly helpful position) nextdoor in compassionate, gentle Pisces.

Aries and Pisces seem like uncomfortable bedfellows, one all drive and go-getting, the other soft, dreamy and creative. When they do blend in one personality though, the result might well be someone with the initiative to bring about change in a compassionate and caring manner....which is what we have here. Uranus (the inventor of the zodiac, the avant garde) is linked closely to his important personal planets too.

His ascending sign is almost certainly Sagittarius, sign of the philosopher and visionary, ruled by Jupiter which in this case is right at midheaven, in the area of career and public status, and in in Virgo, sign of the practical perfectionist, which Hahnemann needed to be in conducting his his experiments and researches.

Pluto lay close to his ascending degree at 11.57pm, and whatever his exact time of birth, at "around midnight" Pluto wouldn't be far away from this angle. Pluto is traditonally connected to death, but also to transformation of all kinds. Hahnemann's life's effort was directed to transforming crude medical practices.

Saturn in its home sign of Capricorn is exactly in trine with the axis of the Moon's nodes in Virgo/Pisces at 28.18* - I'm not sure how to interpret this in my minimalist style. The Moon's nodes are sensitive points, and in this case the axis is similar to the opposition of Jupiter to his Pisces cluster of planets, which are also semi-sextile his Aries cluster. So I'll simply say that Saturn, representing science and discipline is linked in to a dynamic network, relating to the basic thrust of his life's work.

MARS, for good & ill.

Astrologers have various eloquent ways of describing how the position of Mars in a natal chart reflects back in the personality. Stripped down to its bare bones, I see Mars as pure energy, a driving force that can be used for good or ill. The "ill" half of that, in its worst form is, of course, violence and war. As Mars is with us always, war and other forms of violence are with us always. The seed is within us all. Romans celebrated Mars and all it stood for, including war. We (or some of us) have moved on since then.

As it happens today, 19 October, was a day set aside in Rome to honor Mars:

The Armilustrium was a festival in honor of Mars, the god of war, celebrated on October 19. On this day the weapons of the soldiers were ritually purified and stored for winter. The army would be assembled and reviewed in the Circus Maximus, garlanded with flowers and the trumpets (tubae) would be played as part of the purification rites. The Romans gathered with their arms and armour on the Aventine Hill, and held a procession with torches and sacrificial animals. The dancing priests of Mars known as the Salii may also have taken part in the ceremony.

I guess we could all spare a thought today to honor the positive energy and drive that life bestows on us (aka Mars energy), while at the same time reminding ourselves that it has a dark, very dark, side which needs always to be kept in check.

Coincidentally, Michelle of the "Crows Feet" blog has just produced a lovely video which fits in well with my last point. With her permission, here it is. Thank you, Michelle for a beautiful piece of work:

Love, love, love.......

Continuing yesterday's thought about universal togetherness, I recalled writing, some time ago, about the three kinds of love, which are really the metaphorical ribbons that could bind us together universally - if we do them right. Three variations on love, linked by the heart, awareness (- and the signs of the zodiac?)


Eros = romantic and sexual love. The word "erotic" originated from this.

There was passion, there was laughter
The first morning after
I just couldn't get my feet to touch the ground
Everytime we were together
We talked about forever
I was certain it was Heaven
We had found.
-- LeeAnn Womack, "Why They Call It Falling"

Philos = friendship, affection, brotherly love, any non-sexual love. I guess that "philosophy" derives from this, and Philadelphia, known as "City of Brotherly Love".

If you only have one smile in you, give it to the people you love.
~Maya Angelou

Agape = the highest, the ultimate, unconditional love, and love encompassing all humanity and all of life.

He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.
-Edwin Markham, Outwitted

Is it possible to relate these three concepts to the signs of the zodiac - those most compatible with them? We each have all 12 zodiac signs in our nature, and are capable of experiencing all three types of love. Most relationships evolve. An eros relationship can evolve, eventually, into a philos relationship after lust and excitement have subsided. A philos love could develop into eros - and back again. Agape, if I understand it correctly is the ultimate evolution of love, not necessarily in connection with a one-to-one relationship, but with mankind, all living things, and the world.

Aries, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio seem to mainly connect with eros love - self-oriented, sex-oriented.

Aquarius, Gemini, Libra and Cancer seem more akin to philos - brotherly, motherly, friendly all spring to mind here.

Sagittarius and Pisces have, to my mind, most in common with agape. They are somehow more evolved, outward looking, compassionate and humane. Aquarius might fit here, as an alternative - with Sagittarius moving to join either of the other two groups - ruled by expansive Jupiter, Sagittarius is probably the "all-purpose" sign when it comes to love.

Oddly, I don't see Capricorn and Virgo as clearly connected to any one of the above, but they're bound to fit somewhere, possibly everywhere, bringing some much-needed practicality into every scene.

Ribbon In the Sky

I like the idea of a ribbon around our solar system. It's symbolic of a univeral togetherness. Our home place in the cosmos is wearing a ribbon, just as we humans do sometimes to support a cause. There couldn't be a better cause than universal togetherness.

Giant Ribbon Discovered at the Edge of the Solar System
10.15.2009

"October 15, 2009: For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the "heliosphere," it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one has actually seen it.

Until now."

AND: HERE

"Even more exciting is that this solar wind ribbon appears to be highly concentrated in some areas, as if the magnetic fields of our interstellar neighborhood are creating eddies and whirlpools of charged particles. Researchers poring over the IBEX data say they need to spend much more time analyzing what they've found before they can make any definitive statements about what all of this means. But one thing they can say for sure. Our solar system's weather - and by extension our solar system itself - is far more affected by nearby stars than anyone realized before."(via Southwest Research Institute.)

"Are we etched in stone or just scratched in the sand
Waiting for the waves to come and reclaim the land?
Will the sun shine all sweetness and light
Burn us to a cinder, our third stone satellite?
I'm on a tightrope, baby, nine miles high
Striding through the clouds, on my ribbon in the sky."

(from "Tightrope" - Stone Roses)

Arty Farty Friday ~ William Morris

William Morris was a pioneer of socialism and ecological thinking in 19th century Britain, as well as being a multi-talented artist, member of the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood, and Arts and Crafts artistic movement, a poet, novelist, translator, embroiderer, calligrapher, engraver, gardener, decorator, dyer, weaver, and architectural preservationist. He designed furniture, printed and woven textiles, stained glass, tiles, carpets, tapestry, murals, wallpaper, books and type. He believed that art should be affordable and available to all and that every craftsman was an artist - he eschewed any form of elitism. "My hero" on all counts. Before I looked at his natal chart I just knew there'd be Aquarius in there somewhere.




William Morris was born 24 March 1834 in Walthamstow, Essex, England. No time of birth known, so chart below is set for 12 noon.



I was right! William Morris has an Aries stellium: Sun, Venus, Mercury and Pluto in the energetic sign of the initiator, and Neptune, Mars and Uranus in Aquarius, Mars and Uranus being conjoined - Mars energy drives a leaning towards the new and unusual (Uranus, unsullied in its own sign, Aquarius). Jupiter in Taurus and Saturn in Libra are in exact quincunx (150*), Saturn represents work and discipline, Jupiter is excess and expansion, these two in uncomfortable quincunx aspect = a tendency to overwork and overstretch oneself. In addition Saturn is in opposition to Morris's Aries stellium, adding further to the work dynamic.

Moon was in Virgo at 12 noon, it's not possible to be sure of the degree without a time of birth, if he was born in the very early hours it might be that Moon was in late Leo, but I suspect Virgo is correct - it matches that tendency of his to overwork - the one we've just seen in Saturn quincunx Jupiter. In his own words he confirmed this: "Give me love and work - these two only."

So, William Morris was a dynamo, physically and mentally.

"When William Morris (1834-1896) died at the age of sixty-two, his physician declared that the cause was "simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men." This multi-faceted man was at one time or another (and sometimes simultaneously) a designer and manufacturer of furniture, stained glass, tapestries, wallpaper and chintzes; an accomplished weaver; a pioneering preservationist; an active Socialist and social reformer; a successful poet and novelist; and in his last years, the founder of the Kelmscott Press. Yet all of these activities were of a piece, unified by several threads in the tapestry of Morris's life.
One continuity, dating from early childhood, was his love of nature, evidence of which may be found in the fond natural descriptions of his letters and poetry, the patterns of his tapestries, and the vining borders of the Kelmscott book. There was also his passionate devotion to the Middle Ages and to everything they represented; romantic Medievalism informs Morris's literary output, as well as his arts and crafts work and the books from his Kelmscott Press.
A third thread was his belief that it is impossible to separate esthetic issues from social and political ones. Morris often contrasted the social organization of the Middle Ages with the present condition of England, which led him to advocate a complete reform of industrial society. At first, he advocated an overhaul of the flawed esthetics of the age and later, realizing that such reform alone was insufficient, a thoroughgoing political revolution." See HERE.

"News from Nowhere", Morris’s famous Socialist novel, is a Utopian fantasy that tells the story of a man who awakes the morning after a Socialist League meeting in a Socialist paradise, where people are free and equal and poverty has been abolished. At the book’s end, the man returns to his own time, but is inspired to bring about what he has dreamed.



Wisdom from William Morris, equally valid today, long after these words were spoken or written :

I hope that we shall have leisure from war, -- war commercial, as well as war of the bullet and the bayonet; leisure from the knowledge that darkens counsel; leisure above all from the greed of money, and the craving for that overwhelming distinction that money now brings: I believe that, as we have even now partly achieved liberty , so we shall achieve equality , and best of all, fraternity , and so have leisure from poverty and all its griping, sordid cares.

History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.

I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.

I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.

If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

No man is good enough to be another's master.

La Belle Iseult by William Morris




A William Morris sofa:





Venus and Adonis, from "The Poems of William Shakespeare" Published by Kelmscott Press, 1893, by William Morris.