Voices on World Voice Day

Today is Voice Day - who knew?

World Voice Day is a worldwide annual event that takes place on April 16 devoted to the celebration of the phenomenon of voice. (Wikipedia)

Voice Day, of course, is all about actual voice, rather than the metaphoric voice we use online, "voicing" opinion via keyboard generated word.

Human voices in tone and "feel" are as individual as fingerprints - and as astrology's natal charts. To celebrate the day, I've gathered together below some descriptive phrases used by writers and novelists when describing voices of their characters or acquaintances. These do, occasionally, lapse close to silly simile territory, you know, the "Her eyes held the glow of a late-night laptop" kind of thing. Anyway here goes:

“The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

“Her laughter changed her voice from wind chimes to the jingling of sleigh bells.”
― Leland Dirks, Seven Dogs in Heaven

“The timbre of his voice went into that low register that made my insides curl in on themselves--it was like my uterus was tapping out a happy dance on the rest of my organs.”
― Cora Carmack, Losing It

“Tricky was a plain-faced man with a very handsome voice - a voice like the sound of a clarinet, at once liquid and penetrating, and lovely to listen to.”
― Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet

“She had a voice so husky it could have pulled a dogsled, and the gun she was holding gave me a bad case of barrel envy.”
― Patrick Major Dallas OR

“She was a voice with a body as afterthought, a wry smile that sailed through heavy traffic. Give her a history and she'd disappear."
Eric Packer about Vija Kinski”― Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis

“His voice is deep and gravelly. I once heard one of the girls say that he had the voice of a sex god, but because I've never really heard what a sex god sounds like, I can't verify that.”
― Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca

“His voice was cloves and nightingales, it took us to spice markets in the Celebs, we drifted with him on a houseboat beyond the Coral Sea. We were like cobras following a reed flute.”
― Janet Fitch, White Oleander

“The voice was cool, drawling, and insolent, but the eyes were something else. She looked about as hard to get as a haircut.”
― Raymond Chandler

“Such a voice this man has. The way he sounds isn't a sound at all. It's a river into which words are thrown.”
― Laura Bynum, Veracity

“The silkiness of his voice was a torturous caress that I could have endured for the rest of my life.”
― Melissa Andrea, Flutter

Pink Moon. & Another tragedy with a link to our town.

We stayed up binge-watching old episodes of Homeland so's we could go out and see the total lunar eclipse in the early hours of this morning. We saw the eclipse during its early stages then again when total and beautifully pink, in a clear sky, from our driveway, temperature around freezing. I've tended not to get excited about eclipses since a solar eclipse occurred slap bang on my natal Sun's degree some years ago -and nothing at all, nothing even vaguely interesting, happened. This one was a lovely sight, anyway.

The lunar eclipse, was in Libra. I read around the net, found this, part of a piece at About.com by David Emery:

As it happens, there's a total lunar eclipse on April 15, 2014, which means we'll experience not only a "Full Pink Moon" (any full moon that occurs in April, per Native American tradition) and a "Paschal Full Moon" (the first full moon after the vernal equinox, per Christian tradition), but also, thanks to the eclipse, a "Blood Moon."

Some Christians attribute a prophetic significance to the Blood Moon of April 15, because it will be the first of a lunar tetrad — four total lunar eclipses in a row — occurring in 2014 and 2015, and because each of those eclipses will fall on an important Jewish holiday, Passover or Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles).

Could it be a sign of the Apocalypse? Most Blood Moon prophecy advocates — Texas megachurch Pastor John Hagee, for one — won't commit to specifics, preferring instead to speak in terms of a "world-shaking event" or "the end of an age." Other Christians aren't so sure the Blood Moon tetrad has any biblical significance at all.

I doubt it - I'd say it's simply part of a pattern.

Yet another horrible shooting incident occurred on Sunday, in Kansas City. Dr W. Corporan, a family doctor in our SW Oklahoma town for many years, and my husband's family GP during that time, was one of the fatalities of the shooting, along with his grandson; a female, killed in a different location was the third victim. Dr Corporan and his grandson were, apparently, attending some auditions being held at the Jewish Center - though they were not themselves Jewish.

Sincere condolences to the families involved.

From Chicago Tribune

A man suspected of killing three people when he opened fire at two Kansas City-area Jewish centers on Sunday afternoon has been formally identified and is expected to face federal hate crimes charges as well as state charges, authorities said on Monday.

Jail records identified the suspect as Frazier Glenn Cross, 73 – a name also used by Frazier Glenn Miller, whom a major civil rights group on Sunday called a former grand dragon for the Ku Klux Klan with an extensive history of hate against Jews, among others.

Cross was arrested Sunday after a shooting spree that killed a 14-year-old boy and his grandfather outside a popular Jewish community center, and a third victim outside a nearby Jewish retirement home.

These recurring incidents are ugly and tragic symptoms of sickness pervading this country. Raw, senseless hatred against some other group based on ethnicity, colour, religion... whatever, flares up regularly. Maybe, though I hope not, it arises from something lodged permanently within the DNA of this nation, a DNA also containing old elements of my own native land, it has to be said. If only it could be bred out!

Music Monday ~ Michael Kamen

I wasn't familiar with the name, but must have been hearing his work regularly over the years without realising it. Michael Kamen, born on 15 April 1948 in New York, died, far too soon, aged 55 in 2003. He was a composer and arranger whose work has graced HM Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations; Pink Floyd's "The Wall"; dozens of "A" list movies and TV series; rock groups such as Aerosmith, Queen; Dylan, Bowie, Clapton, Pavarotti, ballet.....From an obituary written by Adam Sweeting in The Guardian in 2003: " Even a brief cross-section of his achievements suggests an artist driven by a feverish urge to resist typecasting."

Snips

The largely unexplored area between rock and classical music duly became Kamen's stomping ground, and he became a specialist in adding a classical-like sheen and gravitas to projects rooted in rock music. His orchestral arrangements for Pink Floyd's orginal recording of The Wall gave him a formidable calling card, and he subsequently collaborated with the Floyd again on The Final Cut and The Division Bell. When Metallica needed a conductor and arranger for their hook-up with the San Francisco Symphony, Kamen was the obvious choice, and the orchestrated version of their The Call Of Ktulu won him a Grammy in 2001.

With his flair for large-scale musical spectacle, he also found a natural home in the cinema. "He had a phenomenal talent for motion pictures," commented director and producer Richard Donner. "Who do you turn to when you need great music? You turn to Michael Kamen.".................................

Kamen, whose frizzy hair and beard betrayed his underlying hippy-era values - even when he was wearing a dinner suit - cherished an idealistic belief in the beneficial properties of music, as he explained to me in 1995 at a Pavarotti And Friends event in Italy. Though shortly due onstage, he was happy to sit and chat about opera, rock'n'roll, politics and why he enjoyed living in London, where he had had a home since 1982.

"Music has a great capability to heal and a responsibility to heal," he argued. "It's not just to make people rich, and it's not just to make people dance. It's to celebrate our ability to live in peace and harmony."

He put the sentiment into practice by establishing the Mr Holland's Opus Foundation in 1997. It was named after that movie to which he wrote the soundtrack, in which Richard Dreyfuss played a teacher dedicated to inspiring his students with music, and was designed to raise money to supply musical instruments to children.

He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, his death was due to heart attack

Freddie Mercury & Michael Kamen

ASTROLOGY

No time of birth is known. The chart below is set for 12 noon, New York City,
15 April 1948. Moon position not exact, ascendant angle would not be not as shown, unless...born at or near noon.

Music was his gift, his craft and his passion - Venus, planet of the arts has to play a leading part in his nativity. Let's see.....Venus was in versatile, eclectic Gemini at the time of his birth and in harmonious trine to Neptune (creativity) in Venus-ruled Libra. Venus was also in helpful sextile to communicative Mercury in enthusiastic, energetic Aries, with his natal Sun. This little lot is almost enough - but a little more is required to reflect his showman side. Mr Kamen wasn't the kind of composer/arranger who sits in his studio quietly beavering away at his compositions. He was often seen conducting with much vigour, he appears to have relished mixing and matching with the era's musical celebrities....Leo? Yes, he had a stellium (cluster of 3 planets) in Leo: Mars, Saturn and Pluto. Not a particularly benign sounding trio, I have to say, but Leo's shining goodwill had to have warmed them some! The Leo trio was in harmonious trine to Mercury and/or Sun in Aries, lending Leo's talent for the spotlight to Mr Kamen's two most personal planets in Aries where they would be welcomed with enthusiasm!

I think Michael Kamen looked very Leo-ish, with that wonderful mane of hair. Perhaps Leo was rising or at mid-heaven as he was born.

There are many videos featuring clips of his movie themes at YouTube, but somehow, without the movies' stories and images, context is missing, so his music is not experienced at its best there. The two videos chosen below represent two very different sides of Michael Kamen's work.

Being Ourselves

My copy of R.H. Naylor's Home Astrology, (1933) around 80 years old, pages yellowing and brittle, can still prove to be a source of interest, as part and parcel of the history of popular astrology.
R.H. Naylor (1889-1952) was the first Sun sign astrologer with forecasts appearing in British newspapers - that was in 1930.

In Home Astrology, a book written for readers with no knowledge of the subject at all, Mr Naylor at one point talked about personal magnetism.

"Some people are naturally magnetic, i.e. others are blindly attracted to them. This power of attraction often appears to be entirely independent of physical appeal or character".

He goes on later to warn that,

" There is no greater enemy of personal magnetism than the modern passion for imitation. The young people of today are so busy trying to model themselves upon their favourite film star, theatrical celebrity or public figure, that they forget to be themselves."

Oh Mr. Naylor ! Nothing changes! It was ever thus, and thus it will will be for ever more, I suspect!

"BE YOURSELF" he says "The real you is quite unlike anybody else, and for just that reason, it is naturally attractive."

Digging deeper into astrology than the Sun Sign, much deeper, using the many and varied tools and methods available to astrologers, it becomes blindingly obvious how unique - and I do mean unique in its literal sense - each one of us is. Nobody else is born in exactly the same place at exactly the second you took your first breath. Not even your twin, if you have one. Siblings have similar background and similar inherited genes, but astrology and experiences will differ. This is why astrology can never be capable of all-round proof of its validity - too many variables and imponderables.

So, you'd think it'd be easy to "be yourself". Nothing to it. Just....be! Human nature, though has this wee quirk: attraction to shiny objects and to other, shiny, personalities. I think R.H. Naylor was advising readers not to try to become carbon copies, "clones" of someone they admired.

It's not easy advice to follow though, for a young person: not to imitate others. Imitation is part of how we humans learn. We watch our parents and siblings, and imitate. Later we read and watch, and imitate when we write our first letter, or draw our first scrawly piece of artwork. Almost every great writer or artist has been inspired by someone else before them. It's the way life is. And, we never really finish "becoming ourselves", development slows but never stops, until our life stops.

I clearly recall, in my schooldays, trying to copy somebody else's style of handwriting, because my natural style didn't please me. School mistress fairly quickly recognised what I was up to, and gave me a lecture along the lines of Mr. Naylor's advice. I felt squashed and embarrassed for a while. Little by little I adjusted my handwriting until, though it did retain whispers of the style I'd so admired, it was different, and solely my own. This is what happens, I think. We take bits and pieces from all life's experiences and encounters with others, and use them in the development and blossoming of our original innate and unique characteristics.

Obliquely related to all of the above is the experience of finding oneself admiring, maybe even wishing to emulate, a certain style, or a certain smile, of someone whose planetary blueprint matches, complements our own. What I find absolutely fascinating is how this can happen without knowing anything at all about the other person, at the time of initial "attraction". I suspect that this phenomenon is related to the kind of "magnetism" Mr. Naylor mentioned in his book. "Like attracts like", or even "like attracts its opposite" has been attributed to several different sources, depending on a favourite theory of the person writing or speaking. I've noticed it being related to, for example, twin souls/old souls, psychic vibrations, body/sexual chemistry. I like to think, rather than, or maybe in tandem with, one or more of those factors, like attracts like/opposite springs from an astrological sensitivity imprinted in our DNA.

Arty Farty Friday ~ George William Russell aka Æ, Irish poet, mystic, painter.

Born this week in 1867, Irish poet, mystic, writer and painter, George William Russell, otherwise known by his chosen pseudonym AE (properly written Æ, but I cannot type it that way). He was part of the Irish literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

George Wm Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, in what is now Northern Ireland aka Ulster, on April 10, 1867. His family moved to Dublin in 1877, where Russell attended the Metropolitan School of Art. He met William Butler Yeats, and a chance reading of the Upanishads, along with a friendship with Charles Johnston, led Russell to a deeper study of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Russell was then drawn into Theosophical circles through Johnston and Yeats. He later met Mohini Chatterji This acquaintance encouraged Russell to pursue his study of Indian philosophy and literature further. In 1890 he gave up Art School, formally joined the Theosophical Society and dedicated the next seven years to pursuing 'the path of mysticism'. Hindu and Buddhist philosophy influenced his poetry and painting, though he was also inspired by his own visions and natural mysticism.

To make a living he worked, at various times, in a brewery, a draper's accounts office, and eventually became editor of The Irish Homestead (1902-23) and The Irish Statesman (1923-30). Collections of his verse were published in the late 19th century.

Russell died of cancer in Bournemouth, England, on July 17, 1935; his body was returned to Ireland for burial.

Sources: http://www.byzant.com/mystical/biography/Biographies.aspx?id=10
http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/george-russell-ae

Some of Russell's own words from Preface to his book: Imagination and Reveries:

......My temperament would only allow me to be happy when I was working at art. My conscience would not let me have peace unless I worked with other Irishmen at the reconstruction of Irish life. Birth in Ireland gave me a bias towards Irish nationalism, while the spirit which inhabits my body told me the politics of eternity ought to be my only concern, and that all other races equally with my own were children of the Great King. To aid in movements one must be orthodox. My desire to help prompted agreement, while my intellect was always heretical. I had written out of every mood, and could not retain any mood for long. If I advocated a national ideal I felt immediately I could make an equal plea for more cosmopolitan and universal ideas. I have observed my intuitions wherever they drew me, for I felt that the Light within us knows better than any other the need and the way. So I have no book on one theme, and the only unity which connects what is here written is a common origin. The reader must try a balance between the contraries which exist here as they exist in us all, as they exist and are harmonized in that multitudinous meditation which is the universe.—A.E.

His political leanings are made clear in a communication with the Irish Times on 7 October 1913 relating to the lockout of around 20,000 workers during the Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute with 300 employers in Dublin, the Irish capital. Part of his letter, included here because.....well, don't these words still echo with relevance to 2014?

The Dublin Lockout 1913

Sirs, I address this warning to you, the aristocracy of industry in this city, because, like all aristocracies, you tend to grow blind in long authority, and to be unaware that you and your class and its every action are being considered and judged day by day by those who have power to shake or overturn the whole social order, and whose restlessness in poverty today is making our industrial civilisation stir like a quaking bog. .. That you are an uncultivated class was obvious from recent utterances of some of you upon art. That you are incompetent men in the sphere in which you arrogate imperial powers is certain, because for many years, long before the present uprising of labour, your enterprises have been dwindling in the regard of investors, and this while you have carried them on in the cheapest labour market in these islands, with a labour reserve always hungry and ready to accept any pittance. You are bad citizens, for we rarely, if ever, hear of the wealthy among you endowing your city with munificent gifts, which it is the pride of merchant princes in other cities to offer, and Irishmen not of your city who offer to supply the wants left by your lack of generosity are met with derision and abuse. .. The conception of yourselves as altogether virtuous and wronged is, I assure you, not at all the one which onlookers hold of you. No doubt, you have rights on your side. No doubt, some of you suffered without just cause. But nothing which has been done to you cries aloud to Heaven for condemnation as your own actions. Let me show you how it seems to those who have followed critically the dispute, trying to weigh in a balance the rights and wrongs. You were within the rights society allows you when you locked out your men and insisted on the fixing of some principle to adjust your future relations with labour when the policy of labour made it impossible for some of you to carry on your enterprises. Labour desired the fixing of some such principle as much as you did. But, having once decided on such a step, knowing how many thousands of men, women, and children, nearly one third of the population of this city, would be affected, you should not have let one day have passed without unremitting endeavours to find a solution of the problem. ... you determined deliberately, in cold anger, to starve out one third of the population of the city, to break the manhood of the men by the sight of the suffering of their wives and the hunger of their children. ...You insolently demanded of those men who were members of a trade union that they should resign from that union; and from those who were not members, you insisted on a vow that they would never join it. Your insolence and ignorance of the rights conceded to workers universally in the modern world were incredible, and as great as your inhumanity............................

Read more of it at
http://www.lissadellhouse.com/exhibitions.html

Natal chart set for 12 noon, as no birth time is known.
George Wm Russell, born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK,
on April 10, 1867.

Nutshell Notes: Aries Sun conjunct Neptune (just!) what more do we need to signify a mystically-inclined individual, poet and writer? Alright then - Venus, planet of the arts in Pisces (ruled by Neptune) conjunct (just) Jupiter (philosophy, religion) in late Aquarius. If that's not enough, how about Uranus lying, quite possibly, conjunct natal Moon (cannot be sure without a time of birth) - Uranus planet of the unusual and unexpected.

There's a Grand Trine in Water (emotions) signs linking Mercury (the writer) in Pisces, to Mars and Saturn in Cancer and Scorpio, two signs which can slightly soften the usually harder "feel" of Mars and Saturn.

Examples of AE's paintings:

On his trips to Donegal, AE very often retired to his so-called ‘Fairy House’, a tiny building in the woods overlooking Sheephaven Bay. Scenes of dancing and leisure are common in his oeuvre. The painting has the whimsical quality, characteristic of much of his work.

The prominence of children in AE’s pictures is far from incidental. Their blithe energy and imagination point to a freedom of spirit consistent with the visions the artist had developed from Theosophy, Irish mythology, memory and waking dreams. In articles in the Irish Statesman, AE lamented the stagnation that he observed in rural Ireland, brought about by a lack of amenities and emigration, but saw promise in young people. AE was au fait with Modernist trends, and convinced of the veracity of his own expression.

(See HERE)

Fairies in a Wood

 Bathers

 The Hour of Twilight

 Shining Shallows

 Jumping Rope

Sidhe

 Mystical Figures

2020 in Oklahoma ?

Looking through my WordPad index for something else, I found a snippet I'd saved in 2012, from a thread of comments at Common Dreams under an article by George Monbiot headed "Stop This Culture of Paying Politicians for Denying Climate Change".
NC Tom's imaginative comment I'd stumbled across again, two years on, rings ever more insightful by the month. At present, in our drought-ridden south-western section of Oklahoma, outdoor watering of grass and gardens is restricted to just two designated days and must be done before 9 am. A complete ban on outdoor watering waits in the wings.

Comment written by NC Tom in 2012:

The year is 2020. 86 year old [James] Inhofe is up for re-election. Perryton and Woodward Oklahoma have been abandoned because of lack of water. The only farmable land is near the state's lakes, where they can be used for irrigation. The meager rainfall the state has been receiving for the last decade has not been able to keep those lakes full, and their level noticeably drops every year. The situation is unsustainable.

At a mid October campaign rally, the still defiant Inhofe railed against those "ecology nuts" that said man made climate change was getting so bad that within 10-15 years the heartland of the country would be uninhabitable. "What the hell do those idiots know?" He yelled as loud as his old man lungs would allow so he could be heard over the bank of fans that were doing their best to keep him cool. "This is just 'La Grande Nina'* causing this little heat wave. Plus it's mid October, and it's supposed to be hot!"

That first Tuesday in November most of Oklahoma was experiencing daytime temps of 140 − 145 degrees F. For safety reasons it was decided to hold the election at night, when the temps got down to the tolerable mid 90s.

Turnout was better than expected because everyone who went to the polls would get a free hand held fan with the image of none other than Jesus Christ himself on it, with the slogan "Jesus Cools" sprawled across the top.

The next morning the election results were no surprise, Inhofe won hands down. His campaign platform of "Don't let the environmental wackos, take away your pickup." was hugely popular.

Later that day a representative from Koch Industries congratulated him on his win. Inhofe thanked them for all the money they had given him over the years, and he also thanked them for the retreat they had built for him and his family in northern Alaska, called "Tulsa Two" or 2Ts for short.

He chuckled over the phone, "I don't know why everybody is whining about the weather around here, up there at 2Ts things are just fine..."

*Note: La Grande Nina was coined by the Heritage Foundation, in an attempt to explain away the high temps.

Then there's this, from Tuesday this week:

Oklahoma Being Swamped by Earthquakes, But It's Probably Just A Coincidence There's All This Drilling Right Nearby

A series of earthquakes rocked Oklahoma over the weekend - six Friday night alone - thus continuing an alarming trend: Already this year, the state's 252 quakes have "crushed" last year's record of 222 quakes.

Hmm.
“What you’ve got to understand, son,” says the doctor, “is it’s all the fault of the alien space bats.”
(Cory Doctorow, The Rapture of the Nerds: A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations.)

Linda Goodman

American astrologer Linda Goodman was born this day, 9 April, in 1925. She's the astrologer who lit the fuse under Sun sign astrology with her book
Sun Signs, first published in 1968. Sparks of inspiration from her book still fly far and wide, long after the author's demise in 1995. Back in England, I bought that book in the mid-'70s, enjoyed it a lot, due to her writing style and sense of humour. I passed it around work friends to spread "the word"; it was never seen by me again!

Most Sun sign astrologers, in spite of their continued popularity, and position as "gatekepers" to astrology proper, still receive a bad press. There are bad ones, some very bad ones, but those with a flair for writing in a style accessible to interested but low-information readers, who can show a modicum of humour and insight into the human condition, while tempting readers to find out more about their subject, continue to survive unfair ridicule and denigration. Linda Goodman was one such astrologer. In preparing this post I discovered more about her. Whether what has been published is 100% accurate only those closest to her will know, but it makes interesting reading, and paints a (possibly exaggerated) picture of a rather eccentric, driven, intense but very generous character.
Ms Goodman chose never to reveal full detail of her birth data, what she did reveal turned out to be inexact, once detail from her birth certificate became available.

I'll quote excerpts from each of the links below as samples, then take a peek at her natal chart.

Astro.com:Linda Goodman

Conscious Evolution - piece by Maria Barron about Linda Goodman (2000)

People.com - piece by By Sarah Moore Hall, Richard K. Rein originally published 1979.

From astro.com - notes regarding time of birth:

LMR quotes Kathleen Johnson for the date, from Goodman; confirmed by Frank C. Clifford by phone from the records bureau. Time deduced by LMR from her statement that she had Neptune right on the ASC. For the most part she concealed her own data, only dropping hints and clues to her colleagues.
According to Wikipedia, the magazine 'Today's Astrologer' writes on February 6, 2008, p. 11:
According to her birth certificate, on file at the American Federation of Astrologers in Tempe, Arizona, she was born on April 9, 1925 at 6:05 a.m. EST in Morgantown, West Virginia

From the Conscious Evolution link above:

...............Although Linda never revealed the full contents of her own birth chart publicly, a chart cast for around 8:23 a.m. on April 9, 1925, in Morgantown, West Virginia, matches all the aspects she did reveal about her natal chart and the circumstances she believed about her birth.

(NOTE: This time of birth is some 2 and a half hours later than the time on her birth certificate)

In Gooberz, Linda says she was born in the morning and that she always had a hard time really reconciling who she was because of her "somewhat afflicted planet in Libra." That kind of identity conflict fits the astrological description of a person with the Sun and Moon in opposite signs. In the chart as cast, it is the Moon, representing the emotional nature, which shows up as Linda's "somewhat afflicted planet" in gentle, beauty-loving Libra. It opposes her natal Sun in the fiery, independent and combative sign of Aries. The "graceful conjoining" of the stars Spica and Arcturus, which Linda mentions in the same description as a blessing in her chart, is there as well. The two stars are conjoined with her natal moon.

Linda also says her chart was blessed by trines from Gemini, Neptune and Mars. In the chart as cast, Linda's ascendant shows up at about 9 degrees Gemini, and indeed there are trines emanating from the point of her Gemini ascendant as well as from Neptune and Mars. Neptune, the planet of dreams, trines her Sun and Venus. The ascendant and Mars, both located in quick-thinking, communicative Gemini, trine the mid-heaven point in the chart. Suggestive of how one might be remembered in the world, Linda's mid-heaven point is in the New Age sign of Aquarius.
Also, in the chart as cast, Linda's ruling planet, Mars, sovereign of Aries, is conjoined with her ascendant, providing an explanation for why Linda would refer to herself, in newspaper articles and with friends, as a triple Aries. Only two planets -- the Sun and Venus -- are in Aries at any time that morning. But with Mars located at the point of the ascendant, the third dose of Aries Ram energy is added, conspicuously, to the personality...............................

Linda told interviewers that she began her career writing for newspapers in the eastern and southeastern United States. She also said she had written speeches for black American civil rights leader Whitney Young, who served for several years as president of the National Urban League. Her political activism re-emerged at various times throughout her life. In 1993, she whipped off political letters on both the national and local level. One, to President Clinton, advised him to study a particular experimental fuel additive as he formed his environmental policies. The other, a letter to the editor of Cripple Creek's little weekly newspaper, The Gold Rush, advised local voters to return incumbent city council members to office.

In her personal life, Linda endured the pain of loss time and time again. She had children who died in infancy and a daughter, Sarah, nicknamed Sally, who died or disappeared as a young adult.
........... during her final years, as she faced declining health caused by diabetes -- when her belief in the benefits of physical immortality would occasionally give way to a desire to move on from this earthly plain of experience -- she would call to the love of her middle years, her second husband, Sam Goodman, who had preceded her in death.

From the People link above:

As dawn breaks over her remote aerie high in the Colorado Rockies, Linda Goodman shakes off sleepiness, feeds wood into the stove against the chill and sets about a bizarre daily ritual. To the low recorded music of a Gregorian chant, she lights candles on a handmade altar and recites a mystical litany she created six years ago as a message to her departed loved ones. It begins with the prayer of St. Francis: "Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace..."

Goodman's life defies imagination. On the one hand, she is a very rich woman, made so by her wildly popular books on astrology. Her 1968 explanation of the zodiac titled Sun Signs sold four million copies, and paperback rights to her current best-seller, Love Signs, went last year for $2.25 million, equaling the record held by Mario Puzo's Fools Die. By any standard, Goodman at 54 is the most influential astrologer in the world. But she has also become a recluse, hidden away in Cripple Creek, Colo., haunted by the disappearance of the two most important people in her life within the space of 20 months. One was her lover, Robert Brewer, a marine biologist of 22 who fled to Mexico without explanation in the spring of 1972 and has not been seen since. The other was her daughter, Sally, officially listed by the New York medical examiner as a suicide just before Christmas 1973, a casualty of liquor and barbituates at 21.

Goodman believes Brewer will return soon of his own accord; she keeps a place set for him at the dining table. Her grief over Sally, a budding actress and drama school graduate, has taken a more obsessive turn. "I know Sally is not dead," says Goodman. "I've done her chart over and over again. An astrologist can't predict death, but I can foresee non-death. I don't know exactly why she was taken, but I feel the time is right for her to reappear. The only reason I'm talking now is hope that I'll find some lead to her." ........................................
.....................A well-known astrologer on the East Coast, provided (by PEOPLE) with the date and place of Linda's birth (West Parkersburg, Va., April 9, 1925) but not with her identity, describes "an Aries who has a tendency to spin dreams. She is not a liar—she just dramatizes things. She tries to make her fantasies come true." Indirectly, Goodman's explanation seems to agree. "I admit that to be an astrologer you live a great deal in the imagination," she says. "But about Sally I'm like any distraught mother. I just want my daughter back."

Natal chart using data from Astrodatabank (AA rating, confirmed by birth certificate)

Linda Goodman's birthname: Mary Alice Kemery. Born on 9 April 1925 at 06:05 AM in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The chart differs in detail from the time of birth Ms Goodman gave to interviewers, but doesn't differ a lot in spirit. (See the snips from the Conscious Evolution link above). The Sun-Moon opposition is here. Her rising sign isn't Gemini though, but Aries, resulting, as she had stated, but for different reason, that she was "a triple Aries".
Neptune isn't on the ascendant, but it forms a nice close trine to Sun on the ascendant. Her mid-heaven was Capricorn, not Aquarius - and Capricorn underlines the kind of business sense she must have had, in spite of her seeming eccentricities and quirks. Jupiter close to mid-heaven reflects her reported generosity.

Grand Cross, Gran Cruz, Großkreuz, di Gran Croce, Μεγαλόσταυρος, Grand-Croix,.... &c

The internet is awash with astrologers' articles about the Grand Cross formation due to become exact on 23 April. Most say the same thing in slightly different ways....well, they would, wouldn't they? The fact that this particular Grand Cross (it's not a once-in-a-lifetime event, they are not uncommon) is a wee bit special is because it occurs in Cardinal signs, with especially tight square aspects, between Uranus, Pluto, Mars and Jupiter at 13 degrees of Cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

Cardinal = dynamic, a get-it-done, let's get the show on the road, feel. So, with these particular planets involved: Uranus, Pluto and Mars - a trio of planets well-attuned to "getting it done" - with Jupiter, a planet known for widespread excesses, the developing scene sounds like something from one of those modern smash-bang Iron Man movies! To add to the drama there's also a Grand Trine in emotional Water signs going on at the same time, this involving Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (2 of the Grand Cross planets on double duty). I shall skim over the fact that there are eclipses before and after the event, over-egging the pud, that would be!

I like Eric Francis's clearly explained article at Chronogram.
Matthew Currie at Oh My Stars! has a very good 2-part piece on the topic too.

As for my own view, for what it's worth as a mere dabbler in astrological matters: while astrologers proper are seeing this astro-event in primary colours, I'm seeing it, in respect of likely "impact", and despite its cardinality, in more subtle, yet well-defined pastels. I'm probably alone in this (as in most else). I believe that an aggregate of events last year and this year, when looking back from a vantage point 10 years hence or more, will indicate a convergence of sorts, which, at the time felt as though things were trundling, stumbling, bumbling along in much the same way as we'd gradually become used to expect. Perhaps an apex or crisis point will show up around April 2014, or maybe this will prove to have been just a part of the overture to something else, something even more dramatic.

I've been searching for a "handy list" of Grand Cross formations experienced historically, Cardinal or otherwise. There doesn't seem to be any ready-made list. The coming Grand Cross is, I think, one of a set which has been forming for a while at varying intensities, so any "effects" in mundane terms, as well as personal, will have been noticed already and simply are likely to intensify for a while, then very slowly subside.

I found note of a Grand Cross in Fixed signs on 18 August 1999, cross checked with a list of events for August that year. There was an earthquake, bombings, plane crash, usual stuff that goes on, Grand Cross or no Grand Cross. It was 2001 when a truly unexpected and shattering event took place, wasn't it?

On a personal level, my natal Saturn is at 12.55 Aries, so it's part of the show, I guess. I stopped trying to predict stuff for myself long ago; I choose to do what comes naturally, then, maybe after 5 or so years look back with astrological hindsight. Only thing I can loosely relate so far is my change from using computer operating system WindowsXP, after almost 10 years, to using Windows 7; I did so on 1 April, in preparation for Microsoft's ceasing their support for WinXP on 8 April -today. I've fumbled through that change.

On a mundane level, as always, there are any number of world events up for Operation Intensify. Off top of my head: Ukraine; climate change; Lost Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 MH370; in the USA 99% v 1%; in the UK, Scotland's bid for independence....and on and on.

Music Monday ~ EVA, EVITA

Had I been left to my own devices, without taste development via input of friends and loved ones over the years, my first choice of music would have remained as it was right at the start, in early teenage: stage musicals and light opera. Though long overlaid, first by Sinatra, then by traditional-style country music, then by Beatles and some kinds of jazz, that love of music from the stage (and screen) has remained strong. Intending to check musical birthdays for today, 7 April, absent-minded I hit the page for 7 May, where I saw the name Eva Perón. She was born on that day in 1919, in the Los Toldos province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I'm a month early for the anniversary but never mind! It's still an opportunity to post some music from Evita , musical version of the story of Eva's tragically short, eventful life. She died in 1952.

High Flying Adored - I chose this the video for the several photographs of Eva Peron used as background. It's from the 1979 Broadway version of Evita with Che sung by Mandy Pakinkin and Patti LuPone as Eva.

In the 1970s Evita, written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, first hit the airwaves and record stores. I bought a recording of the original concept album of 1976, the London studio version with Eva Peron's part sung by Julie Covington. For me, this version has never been bettered. I was entranced by it, played it over and over.....and over! We saw the show on stage when a version of it arrived in Yorkshire, years later. I felt let down though, it didn't have the magic I had in my mind. More years later I saw the movie version, starring Madonna, and again felt let down. It simply didn't do it for me. I'd been spoiled by the version I'd first fallen in love with, all those years ago.

As for Eva herself, I think the "nutshell" astrological key to her undoubtedly powerful personality, and perhaps her early and eventual misfortunes, is Sun conjunct Mars; Jupiter conjuct Pluto; and Moon (possibly) conjunct Saturn. Moon's position cannot be established without a reliable time of birth which Astrodatabank doesn't have, so I've used 12 noon for the chart shown. Eva's very essence is heavily influenced by conjunctions involving planets which astrologers have, in the past, considered to be "malefic". I don't see that these planets, Mars, Saturn, Pluto, are merely bad influences though. Mars and Saturn especially have positive sides: energy, dynamism, necessary law and authority for instance. These two powerful planets are reflected in the story of Eva Perón's life, her rise from poverty to power through nothing but her own determined efforts.

Eva's husband Juan Perón (his chart HERE) has Sun conjunct Mars too, also Moon conjunct Neptune and Pluto; and Mercury/Saturn/Uranus conjoined! Powerful!



Rainbow High sung here by Julie Covington from my favourite 1976 recording, the original concept album:

Lament, sung by Julie Covington

Stuck in the........With.....7 Words

A recent Plinky Prompt proposed:

Khalil Gibran once said that people will never understand one another unless language is reduced to seven words. What would your seven words be?

My 7 words:
Give, Take, Please, Thanks, Love, Peace, Compassion.

Some years ago I used a Plinky Prompt question in a post too:
"Who would you not mind being stuck in an elevator with ?"

At the time many Plinky Prompt responders had answered, "my husband", I didn't recall anyone replying "my wife", but optimistically thought maybe most people attracted to Plinky Prompts would be female, but that's a guess. The next most popular answer was "MacGyver". Good choice, for those of us who remember that inventive genius whose pockets were always filled with paperclips, gum and bits of wire and string....he'd get us out in two shakes of the proverbial.

Giving that same question an astrological spin:
Who, astrologically, wouldn't I mind being stuck in an elevator with?

Someone with plenty of Gemini in their natal chart would be good, at least it wouldn't be boring as we waited for rescue. A Sagittarian individual would keep the optimism levels high. I'd hope not to have too much Pluto/Scorpio input from companions who can be too paranoid by far, the dark side has no place in that kind of situation! Ideally, if it had to be just one other person, and I was in a hurry to get out, keep an appointment, or whatever, I'd prefer my companion to have lots of Aries energy (to support the bit I have myself). Together we'd lead the Great Escape! As it happens the husband has Sun in Aries, so that could work out well, I doubt he carries string and paper clips in his pockets though. We'd be very happy to have MacGyver along for an interrupted elevator ride.

Arty Farty Friday ~ John Constable, Master of the English Landscape

John Constable was born not far from where one of my grandfathers was born. The last of the images below shows my grandfather's birthplace, Stoke-by-Nayland.

John Constable, self portrait (1806) left, was born in 1776 in rural Suffolk, in the south-east of England. He is one of England's best-known landscape painters. The artist's most famous works are based on the Suffolk countryside into which he was born and grew to love. His techniques and methods of capturing natural light and movement were innovative, modern artists still find them inspirational.

He was son of a prosperous miller, came to art as a profession fairly late in life, after working in his father's milling business, always with an abiding interest in art awakened by some early coaching from a local amateur artist. He never moved far from the south of England, where he found more than enough beautiful scenery and cloud-dappled skies to satisfy him. According to his first biographer, Constable was known in the neighbourhood as the "handsome miller", being "tall and well formed … with a fresh complexion, and fine dark eyes". Most of what is known about Constable’s personality comes from his letters. These show an emotional and affectionate man who was also capable of sarcasm and over-sensitivity. He married late, aged 40, in 1816, fathered seven children. His wife sadly died from tuberculosis in 1828, leaving Constable devastated. He died aged 61.


Born on 11 June 1776 in East Bergholt (8 miles from Ipswich), Suffolk, England. Astrotheme offers a time of birth giving Aries Moon, Aries rising, but Astrodatabank gives none. I've shown a 12 noon chart which is sufficient for a quick look.



Hmmm. 4 planets in Gemini, not exactly what I'd have expected to see. Gemini doesn't represent the staid stay-around-home mindset we are led to believe was Constable's. But balancing that Airy Gemini potential social butterfly image we have Mercury and Jupiter in home-loving, family-loving Cancer. In Constable's case it looks as though Cancerian traits beat down his Geminian traits. The quotations of Constable scattered between images of his paintings below indicate to me that he was no slouch when it came to putting words together: Gemini!

Constable had a Neptune/Pluto trine; it doesn't link cleanly to an Earthy personal planet, but does loosely aspect Venus by trine in early Gemini - which produces still, technically, a Grand Trine in Earth, and links Neptune's creativity and Venus's art with Pluto's passion and potentially dark side, perhaps reflecting the shadow from Constable's devastating early loss of his wife.

Examples of his paintings. We had several of these on the walls of our school classrooms, long ago.

Click on the images for bigger, better views.

The Cornfield (For US viewers - corn in Britain = wheat, not sweetcorn as in USA)

My art flatters nobody by imitation, it courts nobody by smoothness, nobody by petitelieness without either fal-de-lal or fiddle-de-dee; how then can I hope to be popular?
From letter to Mr. C. R. Leslie 22 June 1832

The Hay Wain

Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments?
(John Constable)

The White Horse

Light – dews – breezes – bloom – and freshness; not one of which... has yet been perfected on the canvas of any painter in the world. (John Constable)

How sweet and beautifull is every place & I visit my old Haunts with renewed delight... nothing can exceed the beautiful green of the meadows which are beginning to fill with butter Cups — & various flowers — the birds are singing from morning trill night but most of all the Sky larks — How delightfull is the Country.
Letter to his wife, Maria (20 April 1821); as quoted in Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable (Tate Gallery Publications, London, 1993), p. 28

Dedham Mill

There is nothing ugly; I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, – light, shade, and perpective will always make it beautiful. (John Constable)

But the sound of water escaping from mill-dams, &c., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things. Shakespeare could make everything poetical; he tells us of poor Tom's haunts among "sheep cotes and mills." As long as I do paint, I shall never cease to paint such places. They have always been my delight.
From letter to Rev. John Fisher (23 October 1821), from John Constable's Correspondence, part 6, pp. 76-78

Salisbury Cathedral

I associate my 'careless boyhood' with all that lies on the banks of the Stour. Those scenes made me a painter and I am grateful – that is, I had often thought of pictures of them before ever I touched a pencil... (John Constable)

Ive added the two below, even though they don't translate to screen well, because they are Constable's paintings of the birthplace of my paternal grandfather, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk.

"I am glad you encouraged me with the 'Stoke' [his painting 'Stoke-by-Nayland', circa 1835] What say you to a summer morning? July or August, at eight or nine o’clock, after a slight shower during the night, to enhance the dews in the shadowed part of the picture, under 'Hedge row elms and hillocks green.' Then the plough, cart, horse, gate, cows, donkey, &c. are all good paintable material for the foreground, and the size of the canvas sufficient to try one’s strength, and keep one at full collar."
From letter to William Purton (6 February 1836), as quoted in Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable (Tate Gallery Publications, London, 1993), p. 380

SCOTUS carries on piling it on.....

From Brennan Center for Justice website yesterday:
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted in McCutcheon v. FEC, the most critical campaign finance case since Citizens United, to strike down overall contribution limits, known as aggregate limits. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law released the following statement from President Michael Waldman:

"Today’s Supreme Court decision rejects decades of precedent and strikes a sharp blow against the interests of average voters. Once again the Court has struck down a law that curbs the corrupting influence of large campaign contributions in our politics. Sadly, the Court has also achieved a new milestone by striking down a federal contribution limit for the first time.

Our Founders feared corruption. They did not want government beholden to narrow, elite interests. Eliminating these limits will now allow a single politician to solicit, and a single donor to give, up to $3.6 million through the use of joint fundraising committees. Following the Citizens United decision, this will further inundate a political system already flush with cash, marginalize average voters, and elevate those who can afford to buy political access."

Ye Gods! Was I wrong or was I wrong about Chief Justice John Roberts back in 2008, when I, still naive as they come about US politics, wrote the following as part of a blog post about well-known people with a birthday on 27 January (same as mine)?
His natal chart is available at astro.com

US Chief Justice John Roberts has Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, with Aquarius' modern ruler Uranus conjunct Jupiter in Cancer. Jupiter is traditionally connected with law, and government. Incidentally, with his natal Moon almost certainly in Pisces, Sun in humanitarian Aquarius, and that conjunction in sensitive Cancer , I'd say Chief Justice Roberts is a compassionate man, it's good to see such a person occupying that lofty position.

Come back all I said!! Admittedly, Roberts is just one of 9, but it is his Court!

Here's a voice worth a listen:

Three Important Pieces (of an astrological portrait)

Sun, Mercury and Venus, their relative positions within a natal chart, I've rattled on about this more than once in the past, but not recently. I've often thought that enough attention isn't given to the "triumvirate" of Sun/Mercury/Venus. While perhaps not as important as that other astro trio Sun/Moon/Ascendant, there's a certain significance in the way that secondary group is configured. A limited, but varied, number of positions exist in which these planets can appear in a natal chart.

Because the orbits of Mercury and Venus lie within Earth's orbit, Mercury can never be more than 28 zodiacal degrees from the Sun (either in the same sign as the Sun or one sign before or after it); Venus can never be more than 48 degrees from Sun (in the same sign, or up to two signs before/after).

In my own chart, for instance, Sun is in Aquarius, Mercury is in Capricorn and Venus is in Sagittarius. In my husband's Sun is Aries, Mercury Pisces, Venus in Taurus. Some of my husband's immediate family have Sun, Mercury and Venus all in the same sign. As I see it, quite a large part of anyone's personality is defined by this mix of up to 3 consecutive zodiac signs - one quarter of the zodiac. This must produce definable groups. One could look on each group's similarities as a melody being played, while Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn play solo improvisations. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto retain the bass beat, aka a generational flavour. The melody, though, is what's most memorable for listeners and the player, therefore very important.

Pondering this, and using my own chart as example, would Aquarius Sun with Mercury and Venus both in Aquarius come over as more truly Aquarian than I do? I think so, somewhat - even if ascendant were in a conflicting sign. Would a Sun Aquarian with both Mercury and Venus in Capricorn be less restless, prone to travel than me? Probably. How about an Aquarius Sun with Mercury and Venus in Pisces? Different animal altogether I'd say; more overtly mystic, dreamy, less organised.

When searching for information in years past I found a good article on this very topic on a website now long defunct. The website was lifepathastrology.com. I failed to keep a note of the author's name for which I apologise profusely. The article follows:

"The Sun is the life force of a horoscope, the conceptual furnace that reaches out and draws us into the warmth it projects. It is our purpose in life, supported by the more immediate need of the Moon. The Moon we know well, yet at the Sun we become. But there are two planets in particular we look to in astrology that aid the Sun more intimately in many ways – Mercury and Venus. All together, the Sun, Mercury and Venus represent a crucially-important triad in the birth chart. In ancient Rome we would call such a triad a ‘triumvirate’ – a ruling council of three men. The first triumvirate ever included Pompey, a top general, Crassus, a wealthy citizen and Julius Caesar, ambitious politician. Together, they ruled Rome until individual, personal ambitions emerged to create problems.

In astrology, Mercury and Venus can never be far from the Sun. It is an astronomical reality that Mercury can never stray more than one sign, either side, away from the same sign the Sun is in. Venus can (but rarely does) jump out of this same boundary to inch itself into even one sign beyond. But they are bound by this reality. Let’s think about what this means, astrologically, this tightness of relationship to each other and apply it to lives lived. As we go along, think about your own chart and how this synthesis applies to your own life.

When all three planets are aligned in the same sign, the same archetype is being pressed into consciousness through our ego and core energy, our mind and our social antennae. There is a unified approach to life, a path and purpose that seems sure and right, whether or not this matches up with reality. For instance, consider the sign Pisces. With all three of these bodies in Pisces, there would be a deep-seated focus on things that can help one transcend – intense creativity, for instance. There is no doubt this theme means something to a Pisces. This is because the Pisces Sun is buttressed by Mercury and Venus. All together, they support a defining structure.

Those who have the Sun, Mercury and Venus in the same sign seem to have a strength of purpose – a focus that doesn’t waver as easily as those who have the three bodies in more than one sign. Certainly, this is not a value judgement. Consider that strength of purpose can also easily turn into willful stubbornness and intractability. It is what one does actual ability to stay focused that counts. Let’s look at an example.

To review, ‘harmony’ through the Sun, Mercury and Venus in the same sign simply means the same message, the same energy, is being pumped through the core of an individual. How one chooses to respond to this energy and message is what is at stake on an ongoing basis. When one acts with determination and focus, does he or she still retain the strength of will to change gears when necessary and see other possibilities? This is what will determine successful use of these energies.

Discord
Outside of harmony, there is discord. We might consider the astrological imprint of the Sun and Mercury or Venus in one sign but the third planet in a second sign as an example of discord. For instance, Sun and Mercury in Aries but Venus in Pisces. The Sun and Mercury are symbolizing ‘me first’ kind of energies in this example. There is courage and a willingness to engage the world in a fiery kind of way. Venus, though, as the social antennae, splashes some water on this notion and will react and behave differently than the Sun and Mercury. Of course, only one human being is being discussed here in the long run, and that person needs to assimilate energies that are fundamentally different. Consider Caesar with only the support of one partner. In the case above, only the wealthy Crassus supports him without question but Pompey, the general, does not – at least not with additional work.

Of course, let us realize this can be done, this assimilation of energies that are different. People do it every day – millions who go about their business. Some people may or may not be conscious of the subtle and not-so-subtle energies that pull and prod until we make choices and define who we are in the process. We are calling it ‘discord’ to create an image in our minds of two energies that work together while the third, renegade energy has to negotiate with the others every time a decision needs to be made! In the same example, the ego (Sun) is feeling the swell of Aries pride and the mind (Mercury) races on ahead with it, completely ready to wade into a crowd of people and talk about anything. Meanwhile, the social antennae indicator (Venus) is putting on the brakes. "Well, maybe I’ll just float about in the corner and see if anyone notices me instead." Venus won’t win all the time. But the fact is, it’s a constant mini battle to understand oneself and ones motivations.

Dissonance
(This applies to my own configuration, as above)
Three planets in three different signs I refer to as dissonance. Again, this is simply a descriptive word to understand symbols that are fundamentally different, all calling out for different needs to be fulfilled. Instead of one voice acting as the lone renegade, we now have three voices all trying to run the show, with the Sun calling out for most of the attention. It is Caesar trying to lead (one’s Sun) without Crassus or Pompey working alongside– of course it can be done, but it demands adjustment. For the person with this sort of dissonance, the adjustment is a lifelong work-in-progress but should be increasingly easier with growing self-awareness.
To review, let us be clear that the idea of dissonance to describe three different themes of expression is merely a different path to potential success. Just as we learned harmony of thought and intent can be a mixed blessing, dissonance between the Sun, Mercury and Venus is no different. Value judgements must be left at the altar of personal choice.

The Last Say
The politics of ancient Rome was a tricky business. As Caesar's military successes aroused Pompey's jealousy, the death of Crassus on top of this pushed history’s first Triumvirate to an end. Pompey and Caesar then set against each other in a bloody civil war.
The Sun, Mercury and Venus are a lot like the symbols of the ancient triumvirate in Rome, in many ways. But in our own internal ruling council, we have the last say. We get to determine our own fates, to avoid the chaos competing energies can bring. We have the free will to quash an inner civil war, to realize with grace that reaching the warm light of our Sun is the destination all energies must share."

While on the subject of Mercury and Venus, here are two more articles of interest, these by Michael R. Meyer: "The Four Faces of Mercury" and "Venus, Morning Star, Evening Star" by Michael R. Meyer. The articles discuss the cycles of Mercury and Venus in some detail.

Chariot ~ Eerily Relevant?

At the weekend we decided to catch up on the Bourne Series, a set of movies both of us had missed. After having watched the latest of the series on HBO: The Bourne Legacy our curiosity was aroused. That's not what this post is to be about though.

On our way out of the video rental store, three Bourne DVDs in hand, I noticed the cover of a DVD bearing illustration of a passenger plane in flight, with some kind of mayhem going on around it. As my mind has been on disappearance of flight MH370 and plane disasters in general a lot lately, I grabbed it just before arriving at the check-out, without reading the cover, which anyway isn't included with the rental video. The movie's title, Chariot, didn't give much away.

We watched the movie on Sunday evening, and regular commenter mike's term "quinky-dink" kept rattling around in my head throughout!

The movie, I now discover, is available online, for free. (LINK)

A little information, which I'll try to keep spoiler-free in case anyone reading this decides to watch the 90 minute film.

Chariot, released in 2013, is an independent film produced on a shoestring budget of around $42,000 by a Dallas, Texas based film company. Writer/producer was Eric Vale, director/producer, Brad Osborne and actor/producer, Anthony Montgomery. It was shot on a single set inside a non-functioning Boeing 727, with a cast of Texas-based, largely unknown but competent actors.

From information at prweb.com

In the film, seven strangers wake aboard a passenger jet in mid-flight and find themselves unwitting participants in a government evacuation program. As a seemingly devastating attack unfolds on the U.S. homeland, the passengers learn they have been chosen to be saved because of their unique skills and/or political connections. But from the beginning, the plan appears to be ill-conceived and for those aboard things quickly go from bad to worse.

"The film is-among other things-a commentary on the power and reach of the government" Osborne (producer) said. "But I never could have predicted the subject would be so top-of-mind in the public consciousness at the very moment of Chariot's release."

Osborne was referring, I guess, to the then recent NSA revelations of blanket surveillance. A year later, in 2014, the movie seems to have even more sadly weird relevance. From what's written here, perhaps such a weird relevance isn't obvious, but watching the movie, hearing dialogue of the passengers, at times made my skin crawl, bearing in mind the disappearance of MH370.

............ Unfolding in real time, Chariot boasts a number of surprising revelations and plot twists designed to keep audiences guessing to the end.

The end...or what passes for the end was a weak spot, for me.

"I just set out to write a thriller. But what was initially a fairly far-fetched plot now seems eerily believable," Vale said about his first screenplay brought to feature film status.

Again, in 2014, the film has gathered another layer of eeriness!

.....The real-life mystery of the disappearance of a passenger aircraft sparked the story idea behind Chariot. In 2003, an American Airlines Boeing 727 - registration number N844AA - vanished from an airport in Angola. Despite a worldwide yearlong search by the FBI and CIA, the plane was never seen again.