Mars-related Murmurings

 From Astrological Oracle Cards by Antonella Castelli

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 astrological Mars as pure energy, a driving force to 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.

Ancient Romans unashamedly celebrated Mars and all it stood for, including war. Some of us have moved on since then, but all of us still need the assertiveness, courage, urge to compete, and all-round physical energy traditionally associated with Mars. The trick,which we, as a species, have yet to learn, is how to properly harness our innate Mars energies.

Astrologer Liz Greene in her book Mythic Astrology wrote:

"In the myths of every ancient people, the gods of war have always occupied a prominent and honored place. War was personified by these fierce gods as the glorious expression of the human fighting spirit - not merely bloodthirsty and cruel, but also disciplined, courageous, honorable and directed towards a noble goal. The war gods of myth are almost always portrayed battling with a monster - an image not merely of the outer enemy, but also of the bestial dark force within human beings which must be conquered for the sake of humanity."

Astrology aside, the rotational period and seasonal cycles of planet Mars are similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons, though Mars is smaller than Earth, the planet's diameter is around 4,200 miles, double the size of the Moon.

 Mars Overseeing Aries and Scorpio

It's probably pure whimsy on my part, but drawing the astrological and astronomical together, I have wondered whether those similarities between Mars and Earth have contributed to our species' easy and strong reflection of the attributes accorded to planet Mars from ancient times until today.
(Illustration, right is from Medizinisch-Astrologisches Hausbuch, 1429. Nuremburg. (Medical Astrology Housebook).

Mars was the planet most clearly represented in results of research by French scientist Michel Gauquelin (1928-1991), in his attempt to test what validity, if any, there is in astrology's basic claims. For a brief outline of Michel Gauquelin's "Mars Effect"
see Aquamoonlight's piece HERE.


Mars-driven wars have wreaked havoc on all parts of Earth over centuries, eras and aeons, but in some instances aggressors and their energies have left behind artifacts, ideas and plans which, in time, proved helpful to developing civilisations. The Roman Empire, for instance, gets deservedly bad press for its brutality and acquisitiveness, yet it did leave in its wake much that was helpful and inspirational to later civilisations.

“Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to the shimmering red presence in the clear night sky...”
― John Noble Wilford, Mars Beckons

The Red Planet Mars by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The star of the unconquered will,
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art,
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.

Oh, fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know erelong,--
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.

Staying with the arts but returning to myth, a representation in classical art: this one by early American painter John Singleton Copley (1738 – 1815)

 Mars, Venus and Vulcan

Arty Farty Friday ~ Dale Messick and Brenda Starr

I'm not a fan of newspaper comic strips, so not surprised that I'd never heard of Dale Messick or Brenda Starr. Husband loves the "funnies" as he calls them and recalled Brenda Starr at once when I mentioned the name. "Brenda Starr, Reporter" was, apparently, a very popular comic strip, its heroine, born in 1940 from the pen of Dale Messick, and lived in comic strip land for some 43 years until Messick retired. Messick died, aged 98, in 2005. After 70 years on the funny pages, the strip was retired for good by its syndicate, Tribune Media Services, in 2011.

Dale Messick, born 11 April 1906 in South Bend, Indiana, was a pioneering newspaper cartoonist who had fought her way to the top of a predominantly male profession by creating a glamorous red-haired journalist who, like her creator had fought her way to the top, albeit in more fantastic and exciting ways.

Dale was a shortened version of Messick's birth name, Dalia, adjusted to counter the discrimination she had come up against in the cartooning biz. Messick had not been a whiz in academic subjects in school, but was always keen on drawing. Her talent was polished at The Art Institute of Chicago, followed by employment as a greetings card designer. She became her family's sole provider during the early years of the Great Depression.

"Though she had drawn comic strips during her school years, she began creating a comic strip with a woman as the lead in earnest. After learning from the New York Daily News ' award-winning cartoonist C.D. Batchelor that his newspaper was looking for a new comic strip, Messick sent in her comic strip about a female bandit for consideration. It was rejected by the publisher of the New York Daily News , Joseph M. Patterson, who was also the head of the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. He threw away her work, but his secretary, Mollie Slott, recovered it and encouraged Messick. She told Messick to make a few changes including changing the female bandit into a reporter, and also changing her name from Dalia to Dale. She took Slott's advice, and resubmitted her work to Patterson. He did not give her a daily slot, nor did he allow her strip space in the New York Daily News, but he did run the strip on Sunday in other newspapers. "Brenda Starr, Reporter" debuted in June of 1940."

Brenda Starr's face, figure, legs up to here, and and red hair were inspired by glamorous film star Rita Hayworth. Brenda's exotic exploits were no less fantasy-ridden - kidnapped and escaping, jumping out of planes, talking back to her boss, always the sassy, aggressive, crusading reporter who managed to end up in the middle of some outrageous news story.

"I used to get letters from girl reporters saying that their lives were nowhere near as exciting as Brenda's. I told them that if I made Brenda's life like theirs, nobody would read it."
(Dale Messick)

Messick sometimes hired other artists to draw cars and other mechanical items, or animals and nature scenes, but for decades, it was only she who drew Brenda Starr's face and body; later on when Messick retired other artists took over. Brenda Starr seems to have become more sexy and glamorous later on - possibly in the hands of younger artists with more modern sensibilities.

"Brenda Starr, Reporter," at its peak, was included in 250 newspapers and read by more than 60 million readers. When Starr and her long-time boyfriend, the mysterious Basil St. John, finally married after 36 years in 1976, President Gerald Ford sent a congratulatory telegram. "Brenda Starr" was twice adapted for the screen, first as a 1945 serial with Joan Woodbury, and later as a feature movie starring Brooke Shields. Shot in 1986, released in 1992, to dismal notices. Messick warned everyone she met not to see it.

In the 1990's, Messick developed a new comic character called "Granny Glamour," who appeared in a single-panel cartoon in a publication for the elderly in California. In her 80's, she boasted of juggling three boyfriends simultaneously. "All three wouldn't make one good man," she told an interviewer, "but at my age, you can't be too choosy."

(SOURCES: Notable Biographies; New York Times; dalemessick.com)

ASTROLOGY

Born in South Bend, Indiana on 11 April 1906. No time of birth known, chart is set for 12 noon.

Dale Messick was definitely a woman of her time - and for her time - born as Uranus and Neptune formed opposition and the world began to transition into 20th century patterns of invention, discovery and struggles related to a variety of social causes. Ms Messick's natal Mercury in Aries linked by square aspect to that Uranus-Neptune opposition in Cancer/Capricorn to form what astrologers call a "T-square". This is, one could say, symbolic of her constant effort to challenge a predominantly male environment in her own career and in the fantasy life of her creation, Brenda Starr. Jupiter in Gemini sextiles Mercury and could be said to indicate the reach and expansive nature of her creativity (250 newspapers, 60 million readers).

Ms Messick's natal Sun in Aries and natal Moon quite likely in Scorpio, both ruled by Mars reflect her pioneering aggressive "can-do" spirit. Mars and Venus both in Venus-ruled Taurus link by helpful sextile to Saturn (planet of work/career) in Pisces and add a certain Earthy stubborn streak to her nature, allied to a lively imagination.

Fixed Stars in Aries

I mentioned in February, in THIS POST, that it might be worthwhile to do a monthly post about Fixed Stars in each zodiac sign. That was back in Aquarius-time, and I forgot Fixed Stars in Pisces. Now's as good a time as any to start though, at the beginning of the zodiac with Aries.

There are various and variable lists of Fixed Stars in Aries around the internet, I'll show one here, it might not be exhaustive. Exact positions of Fixed Stars move very slowly. Most lists give positions for the year 2000, some give comparisons with 1900, or 2010. A good overall list, with ancient interpretation, is an updated one from Rob Tillett See HERE. A word of caution: ancient astrologers were either a tad gloomy or way over excitable about a person's prospects. Take the interpretations with a large pinch of salt!

Anyway, here's a compact list of stars in tropical zodiac sign Aries, extracted from THIS website

 Hat-tip HERE for illustration

Two stars stood out, for me, as deserving a little more scribbling: Alpheratz , the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda, located northeast of the constellation of Pegasus; and Erakis also called Mu Cephei, known as Herschel's Garnet Star, a red supergiant star in the constellation Cepheus, and one of the largest and most luminous stars known in the Milky Way.

I don't have a planet close to Erakis (I think 1 or 2 degrees would be the widest to consider a conjunction for Fixed Stars), but my natal Saturn at 12.55 Aries could qualify as conjunct Alpheratz. Alpheratz was at 13.28 of tropical Aries when I was born (it's now around 14.26).

From HERE

Alpheratz is a purplish-white double star of the2nd magnitude located at 14 degrees Aries 26minutes. It is benevolent, with the overall nature of Venus. A part of two constellations, both Andromeda and Pegasus, Alpheratz has the added distinction of being among the fifty stars catalogued by the Elizabethan astrologer William Lilly in his book Christian Astrology. Alpheratz is also noted by the 1st-century astrologer Manilus in his work Astronomica where it appeared on the title page in a drawing of the constellation Andromeda..........
......When a fixed star conjoins a luminary or planet it will dominate the outcome of events or the path of an individual’s destiny. Consider only the conjunction when placing a fixed star in a birth chart, and the orb is just three degrees.

Some keywords showing the significance of Alpheratz’ influence in the
natal horoscope are listed (See site linked above). What relevance might be attached to my natal Saturn conjunct Alpheratz? -

With Saturn
Frugal, seeks popularity, domestic harmony, to health problems involving the head.

Hmmm! Well, I seek domestic harmony anyway! I did have a scalp problem last summer, during the Uranus/Pluto square times, but I also had a foot problem soon after too, so.... If throat counts as head my recent fall to Earth might count too.

The article linked above goes on to say:

Alpheratz will exert a great deal of influence during 2014–15. Uranus will be in orb of a conjunction with this fixed star most of the year. The aspect will be strongest when Uranus is at 14 degrees of Aries during April 30 – May 19, 2014; September 26 – October 20, 2014; and again February 20 – March 11, 2015. The total lunar eclipse on October 8, 2014, will also be in very close proximity to Alpheratz. At these times those practicing ritual magic can invoke the myth archetypes of the rescue of Andromeda by Perseus as well as the power of flight through calling upon Pegasus.
Magical workings to save those in distress, especially for the sake of love, and travels for the sake of pure and virtuous motives would be favored.
– Dikki-Jo Mulle.

There's mention of Alpheratz in natal charts in an archived post of mine about Shel Silverstein. (Scroll down to the astrology paragraphs there.)

Erakis called the Garnet Star & aka Mu Chephei, currently at around 9.50 tropical Aries.
Click on image for larger, clearer version.

 Hat-tip HERE for illustration

From HERE

Conjoining Algenib and marking mid-sidereal Pisces [tropical Aries] is the Supergiant Garnet Star, Erakis. Most people naturally tend to notice the bright stars of Cepheus when looking into the heavens, but the blood-red Garnet Star of Cepheus is often missed — a beauty, especially through binoculars. Similarly, we miss seeing the opportunity for attainment or solution when only watching the obvious around us.

The Garnet Star lies at the head of King Cepheus forming a triangle with Alderamin and Zeta Cepheus. Erakis imparts a quality of royalty, prominence, largeness, passion, prosperity, abundance and wealth; and the appreciation of such. North of and conjoining Algenib, Erakis exemplifies the role or crown of the King — to govern without being lost in the drama of that which he may need to govern. As a supergiant star (about 1420 times our Sun's radius), Erakis imparts a significant astrological influence along with fortuitous Algenib, especially regarding financial affairs and opportunities.

Astrological reflections of the constellation Cepheus, of which Erakis is a part, as given by Manilius are listed at Constellations of Words.


Sidelight: Frank Herbert, in his famous novel Dune used a similar-sounding name for planet Arrakis (see Wikipedia). Perhaps the author took inspiration from Fixed Star Erakis.

Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose noble family accepts the stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis. As this planet is the only source of the "spice" melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe, control of Arrakis is a coveted — and dangerous — undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its "spice"

Woo-Wooing Hillary

The final paragraph of yesterday's post linked Hillary Clinton to the far-outness of UFO culture. If we have ahead of us some 18 months of presidential campaigning with Hillary Clinton heading the Democratic wing of the USA's duopoly, it's going to be a boring 18 months indeed. How can we withstand months on end of trouser suit jokes eh? A bit of woo-woo will be needed.

During the 2008 go-around I posted a bit of woo about Bible codes and Hillary Clinton's prospects, relevant post is HERE. That "prophecy" didn't turn out well! I wondered whether any bright spark had yet investigated the codes for news of 2016. There's THIS, as well as a few YouTube presentations of the same thing.

Daft or what?

Another of my old posts on Clinton was a tad more sensible (well, I thought so) - I spotted a few similarities between her natal chart and that of John Adams. See John Adams & Hillary Clinton.

Ms Clinton has not yet declared her intention to run, though most journalists seem to think it's a foregone conclusion - more's the pity! If she declares her intention to run, The Powers That Be, and their pet media pundits and writers will make certain she will be the party's nominee, crushing the hopes any populist upstarts early on. Any fun to be had will have to come from t'other side. I wonder if anyone has searched bible codes for Ted Cruz or Rand Paul yet?

FAR OUT!

A good proportion of our TV time lately has been taken up visiting
The X-Files, via Netflix, starting from the pilot episode of Season 1, first aired in 1993. It's surprising how fresh these old episodes still feel, in spite of the clunky looking computer monitors, cellphones, and some of the fashion styles of Dana Scully and other female cast members. None of that takes away from decent dialogue, engaging plots and fascinating subject matter. We're now into early episodes of season 2. Lots more still to enjoy! And, slipping back to yesterday's topic, there's that haunting theme music.

Maybe a steady diet of X-Files encouraged me, last week, to click on a heading which eventually led me to its source in The New Scientist -

Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space (31 March 2015 by Sarah Scoles). "Mysterious radio wave flashes from far outside the galaxy are proving tough for astronomers to explain. Is it pulsars? A spy satellite? Or an alien message?"

"BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.
Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have been detected so far, most recently in 2014, when the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught a burst in action for the first time. The others were found by sifting through data after the bursts had arrived at Earth. No one knows what causes them, but the brevity of the bursts means their source has to be small – hundreds of kilometres across at most – so they can't be from ordinary stars. And they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.
The weird part is that they all fit a pattern that doesn't match what we know about cosmic physics....................................
Michael Hippke of the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, and John Learned at the University of Hawaii in Manoa found that all 10 bursts' dispersion measures are multiples of a single number: 187.5...................."

More in another article HERE.

Maybe, just maybe, those signals are echoes of messages sent by our far-future selves; or perhaps remains of messages bouncing back, sent long, long ago by far distant ancestors of ours, about whose civilisation we know absolutely nothing, yet. Is the truth really out there?

I spied a little more far-outness yesterday, this at Mother Jones website:
ETs for Hillary: Why UFO Activists Are Excited About Another Clinton Presidency

Memorable Musical Signatures from Radio & TV

So many! Too many! I asked the husband which ones flew straight into his mind - he came up with a rather obscure one first, from an old radio programme he used to hear in his home town, Salina, Kansas long ago: "Let's Dance" played by Benny Goodman, opening signature tune of a favourite music show. Urged to recall something more mainstream he chose TV's The Lone Ranger theme music, and that from MASH.









Too many vied for first place in my own memory - a couple from British radio in the 1940s and 50s came up, but not many will recall these so I'll link without embedding: Dick Barton, Special Agent (The Devil's Gallop"); and Paul Temple (Coronation Scot).

Theme from long-running (1960 to present) British TV soap opera Coronation Street has stayed in memory long after I last saw the show in 2003/4.




From this side of the Atlantic, though watched from the other side initially (and more times than I'd care to count) the beautiful theme from Lonesome Dove, composed by Basil Poledouris.
And another old American favourite, Dallas and its signature theme.





So... which themes from radio and TV shows stick in your memory?

The Week That Was

What has been exciting the nattering classes on Twitter and the net in general this week?

The "comedian" set to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show had a set of Tweets from his Twitter feed emblazoned around the net, Tweets which indicate that either a) he is sexist; b) he is anti-Semitic; c) he is both and/or immature; or d) those by whom he was chosen to pick up JS's crown were seriously bad judges.

Most of today's comedians (and script writers) aren't witty enough or clever enough to be funny without being mean, cruel or outright gross, so Mr Noah's attitudes ought not to be surprising. What does puzzle me is why replacements for a couple of shows (The Daily Show and the Late Late Show on CBS vacated by Scot, Craig Ferguson) could not have been found among American comedians or presenters. Why go to English (James Corden) and South African (Trevor Noah) individuals?

The net was also excited by a legal matter - what I'm thinking of as "Son of Hobby Lobby" - for reminders about the parent see archived posts here, here and here.

This week's bout of chattering and nattering included Indiana's Religious Freedom Law

From link above:

If you’ve been following the controversy over Indiana’s new religious freedom law, you might be confused about what it really says and what it will actually do.

Some people describe the law as a “sword” that would allow discrimination against same-sex couples. Others say it’s a “shield” that would give people more freedom to follow the dictates of their faith.

Some say the law would give businesses more leeway to pick and choose which customers to serve. Others say it won’t make much difference -- that even with the law in place, virtually all businesses will end up behaving just as they would have before.

Some say the statute represents a significant change in the legal landscape, enacted at the behest of the Republican Party’s most conservative supporters. Others say it is strikingly similar to existing laws, including one that Congress passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities and that a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, happily signed more than two decades ago.
Which one of these statements is correct? All of them.

Here we go again then, on a slightly different track from Hobby Lobby, but heading in the same direction...trying to get rid of that pesky (to some) separation of church and state.

The most popular example of what Indiana's (and some other states') laws might bring about has been related to wedding arrangements for a same-sex marriage. For example, a business refusing to provide flower arrangements or wedding cake, etc. to a same sex couple on religious grounds would not be liable to legal proceedings brought on the basis of discrimination.

Never having been in the market for either wedding flowers or wedding cake, in spite of having been married twice (fluffy weddings are not my thing, marriage I can just about tackle), I can still see how insulting and hurtful it would be, at such a happy time in life, to be refused service on such grounds as sexual orientation. There'd be a rather odd, counter-productive business practice going on, on the part of the other party too! While same sex marriage pairs are free to vote with their feet and purses to go elsewhere with their business and obtain their wedding fineries from more enlightened retailers, a scar from that refusal will remain, and it'd be one that surely ought to be unthinkable to have been caused by any business person claiming to follow the paths laid out by Jesus Christ.

A comment under another Huffington Post piece struck me as worthwhile saving - it was by one Fran Moore:

These laws are clearly a promotion of religion. They provide those who profess a particular religious belief the privilege of being exempt from the law...a privilege not granted to those citizens who don't have that particular belief.

That would give ALL those found guilty of illegal discrimination either an appeal based on claiming a sincere religious belief or even the basis for claiming the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws violates their XIV amendment protections of equal protection!

It was interesting that in the Hobby Lobby case five members of the court that is supposed to determine the constitutionality of a law ignored the constitution and cited congressional legislation instead.

What is even more remarkable about that is the law they cited was held unconstitutional as applied to the states in the City of Boerne v. Flores decision in 1997, which ruled that the RFRA is not a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power.

So why did those justices decide that their "interpretation" of that law and not the Constitution had jurisdiction in that case?

They not only avoided applying the Constitution to the Hobby Lobby case, they did so by ignoring the serious constitutional problems of the law they used to justify their ruling.

As Ginsberg implied...what now see what the obvious motivation behind using the RFRA was...the five conservative Justices wanted to grant states the precedent for establishing their own RFRAs...
These ideological justices feel they have now addressed the previous ruling against the federal RFRA in 1997 without addressing the underlying constitutionality of providing exemptions to constitutional law.

RFRAs clearly violate of the establishment clause and the XIV amendment...so all the SCOTUS did in the Hobby Lobby case was to delay the inevitable ruling on the constitutionality of the federal RFRA and subsequent state enacted religious "freedom" laws.

If that comment was a bit too sober and serious, and you have a spare few minutes still, do go take a look at what blogger Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station had to say about this topic in his post headed Dear Christians: A Modest Proposal.

And FINALLY...some good news!

Though the deal will not be sealed until later this year, a framework agreement, relating to Iran's nuclear program, was announced in Switzerland on Thursday. Agreement was reached between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the USA, plus Germany). It could be indication of better days ahead unless, of course, opponents manage to derail the agreement. Nothing is ever certain, but there is now at least room for hope. See HERE.

Arty Farty Friday ~ Monet in Spring

For this Arty Farty springtime Friday, rather than featuring an artist born around this time of year, I've chosen a famous painter - one of the most famous in fact - whose work does real justice to the best aspects of springtime: Claude Monet.

Spring is all about light, both light the opposite of darkness, and light the opposite of heavy.
Spring has a light touch, colours are light, feelings and hearts after a long winter are light, the sky is lighter for longer. I think Monet, founder of Impressionism, caught all of this lightness better than any other painter.

"Claude Monet (1840-1926) exemplified Impressionism more completely and pushed it further than any other painter. The style’s radicalism lay in the determination to paint not just reality but the seeing of reality, the act of perception itself, by showing how light, especially bright light, tended to dissolve the colors and forms of the world. The key to this effect lay in spontaneous, broken, skipping brushwork — preferably registered in paint applied in front of the subject, en plein air.

The images produced are so familiar now that it’s possible to forget that Impressionism created a newly complex awareness for its original viewers. The experience of light was enhanced, but so was the physical assertiveness of the painted surface. Paint and reality co-existed in heightened tension.

In terms of sheer physical gifts Monet was superbly skilled at maintaining this tension. Cézanne’s famous summing up is still the best: Monet, he said, “is only an eye, but good God, what an eye.” — From "Monet Arrives and Ripens," by Roberta Smith, The New York Times, May 4, 2007 "

In his later years Monet developed cataracts.

"As his lenses degraded, they blocked parts of the visible spectrum, and the colors he perceived grew muddy. Monet's cataracts left him struggling to paint; he complained to friends that he felt as if he saw everything in a fog. After years of failed treatments, he agreed at age 82 to have the lens of his left eye completely removed. Light could now stream through the opening unimpeded. Monet could now see familiar colors again. And he could also see colors he had never seen before. Monet began to see--and to paint--in ultraviolet." (See HERE)

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” ― Claude Monet

Rather than adding more dry facts this week (they can be read HERE; also at Wikipedia, and elsewhere, I'll post a handful of images of his springtime paintings, with a quick look at his natal chart. I shouldn't omit to mention, though, this artist's great love of gardens and gardening. Two good articles on this are at NPR, and at The Culture Concept Circle. His home and beautiful gardens in Giverny are open to visitors. It is said that these are absolutely breathtaking: "The moment you step into the garden you feel as though you have stepped into one of his paintings."

A few of his springtime impressions:

 Spring

 Springtime

In the painting above, Monet was less interested in capturing a likeness than in studying how unblended dabs of color could suggest the effect of brilliant sunlight filtered through leaves. (HERE)

 Spring at Giverny

 Spring

 An Orchard in Springtime

ASTROLOGY

Born on 14 November 1840, at 7:26 PM in Paris, France.
Natal chart has rectified time only...see astro.com

Monet has been described as strongly built, with handsome dark eyes, a fine voice, and a dominant personality, he stood about 5'5" according to Army records from his youth (cited by Charles F. Stuckey). It's said that he had had an "iron constitution", and that the calmness depicted in his paintings often belied the sort of chaos that Monet could stir up in his personal dealings. He married Camille in 1870, she died aged 32 in 1879; in 1892 he married long-time friend Alice Hoschedé, who had helped him raise his two children, along with her own.

If light was Monet's "driver" it'll show up in his natal chart. Light, surely, has to relate to the element of Fire. While Monet's Scorpio Sun was in Water sign Scorpio, there were three personal planets (Mercury/Venus/Saturn) forming a stellium in Fiery Sagittarius, next door. These linked by trine aspect to Pluto in Fiery Aries. If the rectified time of birth is near correct his natal Moon would have been in the other Fire sign, Leo.

A Yod links his Watery Sun and sextiled Earthy Mars to Pluto in Aries symbolically perhaps reconciling differences in sensitivities, and highlighting the difference mentioned in a quote earlier between the calm sweet depth of his paintings and his occasionally chaotic and dominant personality.

Easter's a Comin' In...

 Preparing bags of Maundy Money

Day before Good Friday in the Christian calendar is Maundy Thursday. This day in the UK is marked by a tradition of the Monarch distributing Maundy Money (see Wikipedia)

For us in government offices, Maundy Thursday meant the start of a lovely extra-long weekend off work. Most had a half day off on Thursday, then on Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon offices remained completely closed. In our legal-based office, even the following Tuesday was quiet, because in the city where I worked local lawyers, or some of them, following a peculiar local tradition, took Tuesday as holiday too. Easter was the longest and best best Bank Holiday of the year. Nowadays, in retirement, all days are much the same.

Easter. One doesn't have to be a devout Christian to appreciate the reality of resurrection and re-birth happening all around.

“In the oddity or maybe the miracle of life, the roots of something new frequently lie in the decaying husks of something old.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“It’s hard to walk briskly at this time of year; the accelerating pace of unfolding spring slows my own. I repeatedly stop- to watch what’s moving. Soon the torrent of migrants will completely overwhelm my ability to keep up with all the changes. But it’s easy to revel in the exuberance and the sense of rebirth, renewal.”
― Carl Safina, The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World.

“There is a fragrance in the air, a certain passage of a song, an old photograph falling out from the pages of a book, the sound of somebody's voice in the hall that makes your heart leap and fills your eyes with tears. Who can say when or how it will be that something easters up out of the dimness to remind us of a time before we were born and after we will die?”
― Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale.

“If anyone or anything tries to curse or kill the Goodness at the Center of all things, it will just keep coming back to life. Forever Easter.”
― David Housholder, The Blackberry Bush.

Day of Venus

It's All Fools' Day, but it's also Venus's day. Ancient Romans celebrated The Veneralia on this day, in tribute to Venus Verticordia ("Venus the changer of hearts") and Fortuna Virilis ("Manly" or "Virile Fortune").

It was the Romans who named the month Aprilis, possibly a reference to the Latin verb aperire, to open (the season when trees and flowers begin to open); or perhaps as April, being sacred to the goddess Venus, and her Veneralia being held on the first day, Aprilis was originally Aphrilis, from the name of Venus's equivalent Greek goddess, Aphrodite (Aphros).

The cult of Venus Verticordia established in 220 BC, during the last years of Rome's Punic Wars, was in response to advice from a Sibylline oracle. A series of prodigies was taken to signify divine displeasure at sexual offenses among Romans of every category and class, including several men and three Vestal Virgins. Tsk tsk!!

"A series of prodigies"...hmm, obviously not referring to a band of baby mathematicians or lyre players, nifty beyond their years. Collins English Dictionary clears that up:

prodigy
1. a person, esp a child, of unusual or marvellous talents
2. anything that is a cause of wonder and amazement

3. something monstrous or abnormal
4. an archaic word for omen.

Ceremonials during Veneralia entailed all women, both married and unmarried, visiting the men's baths. It was a day for women to seek divine support and aid in their love lives. Wearing myrtle wreaths, they would make a libation of poppy with milk and honey and drink the potion while praying that Venus would bring them harmony and peace. Incense was also offered to the goddess in hope of hiding any perceived physical imperfections from view while the women were in the baths.

In 114 BC Venus Verticordia was given her own temple. She was meant to persuade Romans of both sexes and every class, whether married or unmarried, to cherish the traditional sexual proprieties and morality known to please the gods and benefit the State. During the Veneralia, her cult image was taken from her temple to the men's baths, where it was undressed and washed in warm water by her female attendants, then garlanded with myrtle. Women and men asked Venus Verticordia for her help in love, sex, betrothal and marriage.

See also: Wikipedia

Happy Birthday Al Gore!

Today, 31 March, is the birthday of Al Gore. Some months ago I suddenly felt a wild enthusiasm for him to run in the 2016 presidential election, posted about it and placed a little "Run Al, Run" pic in the sidebar. After a while, I realised that it wasn't going to happen, at least, not without some intervening changes. For instance, Hillary Clinton declining to run, or some huge climate-related calamity occurring in the USA. Thankfully the latter hasn't happened (yet), the former still could, but it's an outside chance at best. The other day, while planning a post, I noticed a few fairly recent references on the net mentioning Al Gore as potential presidential candidate. He has not indicated any intention, nor will he, I guess, and yet I still cannot give up hope completely. To me he seems like the obvious president we need.  For some reason I cannot explain, he inspires confidence in me, something few other politicians can do, even the best of the rest.

Here are links to three references mentioned above, and a related video from MSNBC.

Al Gore could challenge Hillary Clinton for presidency
Why the GOP Should Fear Al Gore in 2016
The Case for Al Gore in 2016 (MSNBC) (VIDEO)
The Case Against Al Gore in 2016

My own posts on Al Gore, since 2007, can be accessed via Label Cloud in the sidebar.


Another look at Al Gore's natal chart, using data from astro.com.

Blog friend mike's comments under my post in June last year (Run Al, Run!) included these astrological pointers:

He does have some very beneficial astrological transits in the coming couple of years. Jupiter will be in his first-house of Leo conjuncting his natal Mars-Saturn-Pluto and forming sextiles and trines to other natal planets. Several eclipses will be on his Sun-Neptune opposition, as the transiting North-South Nodes conjunct these two planets. He has transiting Chiron on his Mercury (Chiron just went retro at this point, adding more significance). The recent grand cross involved his Sun-Neptune, which may have invigorated his philosophical interests...and the ongoing Uranus-Pluto square has just finished with his Sun-Neptune involvement. The transiting South Node was conjunct his North Node about a year ago, which tends to induce a re-evaluation of responsibilities to the self.

There's a straightforward interpretation of Al Gore's natal chart by astrologer David Railey at Star IQ, HERE. I don't know when it was written, but I suspect several years ago. I don't immediately agree with all of it, but then, I wasn't in the US in the days when the adjective "wooden" was attached to Gore. I've not perceived this about him at all. The last paragraph of Mr Railey's piece is a nice summing up:

In his heart of hearts (Sun in Aries), Gore would probably like to be more aggressive and direct, but would that ring true for him? His Pisces Mercury adds empathy and imagination, while his Capricorn Moon brings restraint, both very un-Aries traits. Yet, a balanced combination of Aries’ pioneering edge, Capricorn’s sense of duty and Pisces’ compassion suggests a range of power, commitment and caring that could serve the nation well.

What's missing in that summing up, for me, is mention of the Leo stellium in Gore's first house: Pluto/Saturn/Mars in Fiery leader-oriented Leo - transformative intensity (Pluto); authority, science, status (Saturn); dynamic energy & natal Sun's ruler (Mars). Oh my!

Memorable Con-Trick Movies

Last Sunday, while in Alamogordo NM, we went to the flicks, saw Focus, starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie. It's an entertaining story about confidence tricksters. Nice change from the current trends for mega-slam-bangers and Young-Adult-style dystopias.

Con games have long been a popular theme for movies, and books - in fact con games have been part of life too - though far less entertaining when they're for real! There's a little more about confidence tricksters in general partway down an archived post HERE.

My most memorable movies (or TV fare) with con-trick themes:

First memory surfacing is from the wonderful 1970s TV mini-series based on James Michener's long novel, Centennial. In part of the story, in late 19th century Colorado, Mervin Wendell (Anthony Zerbe), his wife Maude (Lois Nettleton), and young son Philip (Doug McKeon) arrive in Centennial. They appear to be itinerant actors but turn out to be charlatans and con-artists working their way across the new railroad towns a step ahead of the law. Their favorite con is called the "badger game".


An earlier movie (1966), not seen by me until later on has remained clearly in memory: Big Hand for the Little Lady - it stars Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards. The con involved here is part of another popular film theme - the card game.

Another -

The Skin Game (1971) with James Garner and Louis Gossett features a con game involving the slave trade. This sounds like a very unpleasant idea, yet in the hands of James Garner and Louis Gossett the film turned out to be one of my favourites of this genre.

Later on -

Primal Fear (1996) with Richard Gere and Edward Norton stayed in memory, mostly due to its ending - and Ed Norton's great acting. It's not a typical con trickster story, but comes within that broad category....as does


The Producers (1967) - an old Mel Brooks film seen very recently on Netflix. Not typically con-trickster fare but involves a memorable con-trick.

There are lots more, but those are the ones wedged securely in my own memory banks. Are any wedged in yours - including films, books and confidence tricks in general?

The Da-di-da of Uranus

Without as much time as usual to research and prepare an Arty Farty Friday post for yesterday, I posted something else. I've since dug out this post from 2007, it was really about art, but there's brief mention of Uranus transits in Aquarius, Pisces and Aries. At that point in 2007 our current Uranus in Aries transit was still to come. I had to grin as I read my 2007 words "...Rebellion needs a hard edge - Uranus in Aries could well bring it forth in future years." I experienced that hard edge myself recently - see Thursday's post! My Saturn and Moon in Aries were not doing me any favours this week, courtesy of my Sun's ruler Uranus!

Here's the archived 2007 post:

A recent short article by comedian Richard Belzer, "I Want My Dada" led me to Google-search Dada, and wonder about Uranus in Aquarius transits.

I'd heard about Dadaism before, but had never fully understood its significance. The Dada movement was short-lived. It survived roughly from around 1915 to 1920, founded by a group of European artists, writers and creative thinkers with the basic intention of protest against the World War then raging, the establishment and current bourgeois attitudes and values. ArtLex defines Dada thus -

"An early twentieth century art movement which ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art forms. The movement was formed to prove the bankruptcy of existing style of artistic expression rather than to promote a particular style itself. It was born as a consequence of the collapse during World War I of social and moral values which had developed to that time." ("Republican Automatons" by George Grosz, right)




From Belzer's article:
"All (so-called) modern thought was called into question. It was reasoned that at that point in history we had become so barbarous that precious human life was chillingly expendable for the most ill-conceived and deceptive purposes."

Astrologically I think it's very significant that during those years Uranus was transiting the sign of its own modern ruler, Aquarius. This is the planet of rebellion, invention and revolution, much strengthened in its home sign. That Uranus transit through Aquarius coincided almost exactly with the time-span of Dadaism, also, of course, with the first World War (1914-1918).

I'm not sure that Richard Belzer's call ("I implore, I compel, and I all but beg those in the creative community to once again question and challenge") to follow in the footsteps of Dada is going to get very far. Uranus is now (2007) transiting the more philosophical, softer hearted sign of Pisces. I doubt that a new and improved Dada movement can be expected anytime soon. Rebellion needs a hard edge - Uranus in Aries could well bring it forth in future years.

The more recent Uranus in Aquarius transit which occurred between April 1995 and March 2003 included the fateful September 11 2001, and events which reverberate still. As far as I know, there was no movement comparable with Dadaism during that transit. There were protest marches against the proposed invasion of Afghanistan, and later, Iraq but no definable movement which could be labelled as an "ism". We are still too close to that period to see it properly in focus, and importantly, in context with what is to come next. Historians of the future may detect things in that period which are invisible to us now.

More examples of Dada art can be viewed via Google Image.

A few words more to add, now, about Dada art in general:

From HERE

Dada and Surrealism were two movements that developed as a reaction to the confusion following World War I. Dada started in the neutral city of Zurich in Switzerland immediately following the end of the War. Dada, however, was not intended to be a new art movement. According to Tristan Tzara, one of the founders of the movement, “The beginnings of Dada were not the beginnings of art, but of disgust.” People were confused and angry after the Great War, and their rage fueled their artistic creativity. They sought to break down conventions in the arts in order to bring forth a new, improved culture. Even the name “dada” mocked the time period because the name for the movement was decided upon by randomly choosing a word from the dictionary. The Dada movement made thorough use of obscenities, satire, humor, puns, and everyday objects (usually with a little tweaking) to evoke feelings of rage or shock. It was whimsical and original, which is perhaps why the public enjoyed the movement while it lasted. One of the most famous artists of the Dada movement was Max Ernst. One of his most famous pieces was called “Celebes,” painted in 1921 (see below). The painting is of a creature that somewhat resembles an elephant. It shows darkness (via the colors) and mockery (disfigurement of the creature), which are key aspects of Dada art. The Dada movement subsided around 1923, which gave way for a similar movement to prosper in its place: surrealism.

It seems the idea for this painting originally evolved from a smutty German short poem about an elephant- read the poem HERE.

Celebes

[Dada] Participants claimed various, often humorous definitions of “Dada” — “Dada is irony,” “Dada is anti-art,” “Dada will kick you in the behind” — though the word itself is a nonsense utterance. As the story goes, the name Dada was either chosen at random by stabbing a knife into a dictionary, or consciously selected for a variety of connotations in different languages — French for “hobbyhorse” or Russian for “yes, yes.” (HERE)

Ophi-Curious?

Flamin' Nora (as we used to say in Yorkshire), not again! The Ophiuchus issue. What brought forth a re-play of this - it has whiskers on it? Slow news day ? That's hard to believe.

Seemingly something in a newspaper in the UK, or maybe the BBC - not certain, but something recently annoyed my favourite Sun sign astrologer sufficiently for him to get his Mars on and tell 'em what's what and what isn't.


Are you Ophi-curious? See Jonathan Cainer's piece HERE.

Unlike Fox News I shall attempt to really be fair and balanced and provide a slightly alternative view from UK astrology blog Astrotabletalk, HERE.

What I think, as if anybody cares, is that nobody, even the most erudite of astrologers, of any stripe, knows what astrology really is. How it's possible to feel certain about that, and all it entails, has to rest with what each individual finds most persuasive, relying on their own life experiences, and those of others. While this will not tell the hows and whys of it, it will give confidence that there is, for whatever mysterious reason, some validity in the most basic parts of astrology's claims.

As mentioned several times in these posts, my own interpretation/theory of astrology is that it's all about the cycles. Cycles of time in space. The planets and the 12 zodiac signs act as markers in time and space, separating possible "atmospheres" of different sorts, differences which affect us on earth, as we come into earth's atmosphere from the womb, continuing to affect us and our body/mind chemistry all through our lives, as we experience, to varying degrees, other atmospheres and mixes of atmospheres as they cycle along, mixing, colliding easily or with difficulty. Something like that, anyway.

The standard 12 sign zodiac, and its astrological elements (Earth/Air/Fire/Water) and modes (Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable) has worked for me, in my life and experiences - not always, and not always exactly, but pretty nearly so, enough that I retain belief that "something is going on". Therefore, I'd support the astrologers who do not wish to incorporate a 13th sign.

Barry Goddard's point, at Astrotabletalk, about using Ophiuchus in a divinatory sense, if that's what strikes an astrologer as being important, can hardly be argued against. Not being of a divinatory persuasion myself, I'm not qualified to say more.

I don't see any great objection to treating that part of the 12 sign zodiac which covers Ophi's realm as another questionable area such as, say, the Via Combusta (if an astrologer or astrology fan sincerely cannot bear to ignore Ophiuchus altogether).

PS - I scribbled a bit about this old issue in January 2011 when it had surfaced (again) - see
Sun signs, Ophiuchus and all that jazz