tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79567437934788876242024-03-14T05:02:20.851+00:00The Oxford AstrologerCulture, society, astrology from mythopiaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger624125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-85427004810640960032014-06-20T22:01:00.007+01:002014-06-20T22:01:57.677+01:00Dominion Over New DomainThe Oxford Astrologer has moved to its own domain <a href="http://www.oxfordastrologer.com/">http://www.oxfordastrologer.com/</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-10796859312157770932014-06-05T16:51:00.001+01:002014-06-20T22:00:24.288+01:00Moving HouseThis site has now moved to<a href="http://www.oxfordastrologer.com/"> http://www.oxfordastrologer.com/.</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-69389058097716813892014-05-31T22:16:00.002+01:002014-06-01T10:59:38.931+01:00June Horoscopes<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkQk-S04pVNVgdHJR82jRJd_DfzCXVWFZ03vaTf-tnUqrppdsITsB56OwEzNjMR3E3caogmChidII0W7Kf2zTNKctflMZtJHrs8KTryCKPV4QPhpGuSYZN4kTvyStDc88G7x8QrGoXFZT/s1600/Lebasque+la_lecture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkQk-S04pVNVgdHJR82jRJd_DfzCXVWFZ03vaTf-tnUqrppdsITsB56OwEzNjMR3E3caogmChidII0W7Kf2zTNKctflMZtJHrs8KTryCKPV4QPhpGuSYZN4kTvyStDc88G7x8QrGoXFZT/s1600/Lebasque+la_lecture.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henri Lebasque, La Lecture</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With Mercury, the planet of mind, in retrograde motion from June 7, and in the sign of memories and nostalgia until June 17, it's hardly surprising if you feel the need to wallow in sweet reminiscence. All of us will feel more than usually susceptible to poetry and pictures now. Watch some old films and cry for goodness sake; it's one of modern life's great pleasures.<br />
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Then Mercury snaps back into fizzing Gemini and your mind may turn to stories you once read long ago. Gemini is, of course, a sign associated with childhood, with Peter Pan himself, the boy who never lost his milk teeth.<br />
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It's tempting for all of us to retreat to the garden of childhood, real or pretend, because around us this month, there are battles raging. Mars is moving forward again and already he is reigniting the Cardinal Cross that made April rather, well, awesome for many of us. And there is nothing wrong with retreat when we cannot win in open battle.<br />
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I'll leave you with this aphorism from Greek via Latin.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Life is short.</i></div>
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<i>Art is long.</i></div>
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<i>Opportunity flies by.</i></div>
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<i>Experiment is perilous,</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>and decision difficult</i></div>
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To read your horoscope for June, <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/p/monthly-horoscope.html">click here.</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-8628865814832847362014-05-31T13:44:00.002+01:002014-05-31T13:44:52.149+01:00On Walt Whitman's Birthday... and on the subject of great American poets, it's Walt Whitman's <b>birthday</b> today. What a great expression of the joyful Gemini soul. This is from the beginning of <i>Leaves of Grass.</i><br />
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<pre style="margin-left: 10%;" xml:space="preserve"><span style="font-size: 12px;"> Come, said my soul,
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after return,
Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying Earth's soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas'd smile I may keep on,
Ever and ever yet the verses owning—as, first, I here and now
Signing for Soul and Body, set to them my name,
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<pre style="margin-left: 10%;" xml:space="preserve"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">
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<pre style="margin-left: 10%;" xml:space="preserve"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBaXVyrKwuvANO6BvfOVbIi6Ckqm9cuhFE_oRSjVFrnILCqQG7Y7E1d3DqTbmXGX5oP4nuAIrF4YSod8z5y2Uabm39zyKyoc9TkNZbmXbrDPzrIUq0Zgm_NEYatap_bfPQNV3p7CW5m72/s1600/whitman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBaXVyrKwuvANO6BvfOVbIi6Ckqm9cuhFE_oRSjVFrnILCqQG7Y7E1d3DqTbmXGX5oP4nuAIrF4YSod8z5y2Uabm39zyKyoc9TkNZbmXbrDPzrIUq0Zgm_NEYatap_bfPQNV3p7CW5m72/s1600/whitman.jpg" height="640" width="502" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the fact that Leaves of Grass is his most famous work -- and Ceres, ruler of grain and grassy stuff, conjuncts his Sun exactly in the sign of the balladeer Gemini. It's also interesting that <i>Song of Myself</i> is his most famous poem yet the Sun is not aspected (except by Ceres). There is though a neat sextile to the ASC.</td></tr>
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<pre style="margin-left: 10%;" xml:space="preserve"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-1236657245314431972014-05-28T22:29:00.005+01:002014-05-29T11:18:06.120+01:00Maya Angelou: Phenomenal Woman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z_7IVh-hXGv74taogN97OVYnKlPsk-JeRrTl6Ctjqr8gg23g3WnJFeL28dVFGVMXKvgG-ZWHLaclA05PAAG-I5YEZsc0on8oC_cQ90ikk8TAkzo1oUpkgqEHhreTH9_PPh0Gav-dog3T/s1600/792-1bmh3e.AuEm.55.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z_7IVh-hXGv74taogN97OVYnKlPsk-JeRrTl6Ctjqr8gg23g3WnJFeL28dVFGVMXKvgG-ZWHLaclA05PAAG-I5YEZsc0on8oC_cQ90ikk8TAkzo1oUpkgqEHhreTH9_PPh0Gav-dog3T/s1600/792-1bmh3e.AuEm.55.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<b>Poet, dancer, dreamer, darer, storyteller, Maya Angelou, died yesterday. Her life was a hero's journey from mocked child to lauded grand dame. Her own life story became a mirror for America to reflect on. And then there are her pithy observations on everything from creativity, intelligence, politics, sex, racism.... She fulfilled the promise of her North Node in Gemini...</b><br />
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Some of us live our charts more fully than others.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xz3kjduOe5MGkAwBMfYxXa2tFjm9fqpzRzDt1o2dZX7fucp5WHG1RpyEC88SdFxSHZWLAkW8fuFRWWW8UTO6dJu5tY5r9iPRV_qqDq4fueURvbFKYDz5gaKfI9byZKlu89f_VYCDyii3/s1600/astro_2gw_428_maya_angelou_adb.74675.1447.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xz3kjduOe5MGkAwBMfYxXa2tFjm9fqpzRzDt1o2dZX7fucp5WHG1RpyEC88SdFxSHZWLAkW8fuFRWWW8UTO6dJu5tY5r9iPRV_qqDq4fueURvbFKYDz5gaKfI9byZKlu89f_VYCDyii3/s1600/astro_2gw_428_maya_angelou_adb.74675.1447.gif" height="640" width="432" /></a></div>
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Here is Maya Angelou in her own words from the poem <i>Phenomenal Woman </i>with some astrological observations in parentheses.<br />
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<i>Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. <br />I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size </i></div>
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(Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Aries) <br />
<i>But when I start to tell them, <br />They think I’m telling lies. </i></div>
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(Neptune Rising)<br />
<i>I say, <br />It’s in the reach of my arms, <br />The span of my hips, <br />The stride of my step, <br />The curl of my lips. <br />I’m a woman <br />Phenomenally. <br />Phenomenal woman, </i></div>
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(Ceres on the Descendant, Juno Rising)</div>
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<i>That’s me.</i> <br />
(Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Aries, Leo Rising) <br />
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<i>I walk into a room <br />Just as cool as you please, </i></div>
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(Aquarius on the descendant with Mars) <br />
<i>And to a man, <br />The fellows stand or <br />Fall down on their knees. </i></div>
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(Libra Moon)<br />
<i>Then they swarm around me, </i><br />
<i>A hive of honey bees. </i><br />
<i>I say, </i><br />
<i>It’s the fire in my eyes, </i><br />
<i>And the flash of my teeth, </i></div>
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(Leo Rising)<br />
<i>The swing in my waist, </i><br />
<i>And the joy in my feet. </i></div>
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(Venus in Pisces)<br />
<i>I’m a woman <br />Phenomenally. <br />Phenomenal woman, <br />That’s me. </i><br />
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<i>Men themselves have wondered <br />What they see in me. <br />They try so much <br />But they can’t touch <br />My inner mystery. </i></div>
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(Venus-Mercury in the 8th, Lilith on the IC)<br />
<i>When I try to show them, <br />They say they still can’t see. </i></div>
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(Neptune Rising)<br />
<i>I say, <br />It’s in the arch of my back, <br />The sun of my smile, </i></div>
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(Sun in Aries)<br />
<i>The ride of my breasts, </i></div>
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(Pluto in Cancer)<br />
<i>The grace of my style. </i><br />
(Venus in Pisces again)<br />
<i>I’m a woman <br />Phenomenally. <br />Phenomenal woman, <br />That’s me. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Now you understand <br />Just why my head’s not bowed. <br />I don’t shout or jump about <br />Or have to talk real loud. </i></div>
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(Saturn in Sagittarius)<br />
<i>When you see me passing, <br />It ought to make you proud. </i></div>
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(Full Moon in Libra opposite Jupiter-Sun Aries)<br />
<i>I say, </i><br />
<i>It’s in the click of my heels, </i><br />
<i>The bend of my hair, </i><br />
<i>the palm of my hand, </i><br />
<i>The need for my care. </i><br />
(Pluto in Cancer)<br />
<i>’Cause I’m a woman <br />Phenomenally. <br />Phenomenal woman, <br />That’s me.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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To hear her reading her own poem, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFfhH83_RE">click here.</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-25136620602498982872014-05-26T20:39:00.002+01:002014-05-26T20:40:14.905+01:00Politics: A Tidal Wave of Emotion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswGsZVm4ywt7bqV1_W1eypJY-qoO7aDkO82-fnh75tCMCRDaN9RG-fhi75RnsXOpB-iEHSBUcTU4eAYSJGTCXdKvhdBdH0vUN8GPkS6hKQ9-43VoD3Xdy66RvpF6K6c4Zz3Cfge9fDjVl/s1600/UnionJack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswGsZVm4ywt7bqV1_W1eypJY-qoO7aDkO82-fnh75tCMCRDaN9RG-fhi75RnsXOpB-iEHSBUcTU4eAYSJGTCXdKvhdBdH0vUN8GPkS6hKQ9-43VoD3Xdy66RvpF6K6c4Zz3Cfge9fDjVl/s1600/UnionJack.jpg" height="452" width="640" /></a></div>
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Right-wing nationalists have won the elections for the European parliament here in the UK. This is the <b>first time a fourth party</b> has won a nation-wide election <b>for more than 100 years. </b><br />
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For anyone living in England, this victory has been quite obviously on the way, an unstoppable freight-train rolling down the tracks. Every conservative or liberal voter that I've spoken to -- outside Oxford itself, but in the countryside -- planned to vote for the <b>UK Independence Party</b>. It was simply a matter of UKIP not messing up too much before the election.<br />
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UKIP's promise is <b>Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.</b> Across Western Europe -- with a few exceptions -- voters have sent the same message: we don't like the EU. In Germany and Spain far right parties took a chunk of votes. In France and Britain, far right parties won. In Greece, the winners were left, but the message was the same: we hate the EU.<br />
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<b>Politics is all about emotion. To win an election, you need to reflect the nation's the mood; and then you need to stoke it. </b>This is something that Goebbels understood, of course..<br />
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Here in Britain, the people are sick of the traditional parties. The Conservatives are led by a tiny cabal of ham-faced public school boys; the Labour Party is led by the same tiny cabal that wrecked the economy; and the Liberals reneged on their promises just too outrageously.<br />
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This vote for UKIP is a protest vote, but it's bigger than that. It's a sea- change.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVeFXG80cJ67ZKb0eU56OxD3aNJBBFVn2mTelre3pUD8L-L8RNdZBY5fVzd0p7O1CN_VCKCWXsSH-bE9I7M89Wfh1Of1dFNUfo5yhgUpNUzAXv8XJmuMACm3E4yIVTBtM981iNFy3zb4_/s1600/UK+plus+transit+of+May+23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVeFXG80cJ67ZKb0eU56OxD3aNJBBFVn2mTelre3pUD8L-L8RNdZBY5fVzd0p7O1CN_VCKCWXsSH-bE9I7M89Wfh1Of1dFNUfo5yhgUpNUzAXv8XJmuMACm3E4yIVTBtM981iNFy3zb4_/s1600/UK+plus+transit+of+May+23.jpg" height="400" width="318" /></a></div>
Astrologers have been waiting some time to see how the Cardinal Cross shakes down on the UK chart, since it actually hit the angles exactly a few years ago now. We can see that Gordon Brown's time in Number 10 may have marked the beginning of an unravelling of the British political class and perhaps the electoral system. Pluto destroys first; the transformation usually trails behind.<br />
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Pluto is still within orb of the UK Sun and the IC -- but he has gone past the exact conjunction and will not be returning for about 200 years.<br />
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<b>The planet that is striking the UK chart with some force this week is Uranus</b> -- who upsets, disrupts, shakes down. Uranus is conjuncting the UK's North Node in the house of partnerships. Despite what UKIP made have us believe, Europe is the UK's most important trading partner by far.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_laDY7TzLtAEuqB3xZSi6wvPJ8Vap3uKOOe8BiAMj8pFG7ajNcU6GrK6mw7YL-l0cbH9gUxSfInSrHI0htpwlYfHmYvT17CIeH2XblCPxIfkUrWeXk8zjjCyy9XpJ-UABo-sj2puv628/s1600/Am+Aspect+Traditional.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_laDY7TzLtAEuqB3xZSi6wvPJ8Vap3uKOOe8BiAMj8pFG7ajNcU6GrK6mw7YL-l0cbH9gUxSfInSrHI0htpwlYfHmYvT17CIeH2XblCPxIfkUrWeXk8zjjCyy9XpJ-UABo-sj2puv628/s1600/Am+Aspect+Traditional.jpg" height="400" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nigel Farage's birthtime is courtesy of astrodatabank.</td></tr>
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Now the leader of UKIP Nigel Farage is an Aries, and guess where his Sun is -- yes it lines up exactly with the UK North Node and his Sun is currently being by Uranus the Awakener. The Cardinal Cross is jet-propelling him. And he is realising a destiny to affect the destiny of this country.<br />
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Then there's the emotional temperature in the country at the moment. Jupiter, the planet of exaggeration, and expansion is conjuncting the UK Moon. The Moon in a mundane chart is the populace, it's the mood of the mob. The people are feeling extreme. But there's more astrologically. That Moon in the natal chart is trine Neptune in Scorpio: this is what gives the UK it's romantic bent, the dreaming imagination that we export so expertly in the form of books and music.<br />
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Transiting Jupiter is part of a Grand Trine in emotional water, right now -- Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, Jupiter in Cancer. This is affecting everyone, but it is locking right into the UK chart. Neptune, the earth-shaker, is a little wide to be part of the current configuration, but because the UK's natal Neptune is involved, the feelings are still large.<br />
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The body that's really linking in from Pisces is Chiron, trining both the UK Moon and Neptune from the 6th House of service and health. Well, the National Health Service is certainly being wounded (possibly mortally) at the moment, but it's more than that. It's that people are feeling hard done by on a personal day-to-day level which is also the province of the 6th house. So that feeds the emotions of the Moon, mix it up with idealistic Neptune and you conjure up a get-out-of-jail-free card: UKIP.<br />
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To read a previous post on the wobbling EU, <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/europe-oh-rose-thou-art-sick.html">click here.</a> It's from 2011 but still relevant.<br />
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We'll take a closer look at Farage's chart in another post, but one weak spot could be a lack of management skills. I'd guess that this birth time is rounded up or down.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-49918260087950003832014-05-26T16:38:00.004+01:002014-05-26T16:38:47.969+01:00Moving The Site<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBkLxr9GUPhpgkq9vafY3TtnvYLNulPaE1oqLHIw3HiviEIjsIB8AlThSt154x9HZSb3IJ37GFYgRbvI3if-CrMNvRB-To6vojck23LHW3bP1fThc7iQMESG4Fz85u-USwNr0YiGxGCZI/s1600/Osiris-nepra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBkLxr9GUPhpgkq9vafY3TtnvYLNulPaE1oqLHIw3HiviEIjsIB8AlThSt154x9HZSb3IJ37GFYgRbvI3if-CrMNvRB-To6vojck23LHW3bP1fThc7iQMESG4Fz85u-USwNr0YiGxGCZI/s1600/Osiris-nepra.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rebirth of Osiris</td></tr>
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We are in the midst of moving <i>The Oxford Astrologer </i>over to WordPress. This should make the archive more accessible and commenting easier. It's been in the offing for a few months, but it's almost crunch time now. I'm hoping the move will be done by the end of this week.<br />
<br />
Subscribers should be moved to the new site automatically. This site will direct to the new one for a while.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-21171952969242977482014-05-21T11:30:00.001+01:002014-05-21T11:30:39.420+01:00Mary's Month of May<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>May Magnificat</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtUMuG1NEhW59lo-d3xeIa2Kwlb4oukAYq-H97FU1i4yW1UJt7_fTEOC_j9htBZ8-YWUoYXteRnLlAzWckZHUMjMl2q1Gm5EYZ9n2n4QMgqrXys6qETGy6a2xOv-tsjANG2U6nSqFMhNr/s1600/Mary+by+jan+van+eyck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtUMuG1NEhW59lo-d3xeIa2Kwlb4oukAYq-H97FU1i4yW1UJt7_fTEOC_j9htBZ8-YWUoYXteRnLlAzWckZHUMjMl2q1Gm5EYZ9n2n4QMgqrXys6qETGy6a2xOv-tsjANG2U6nSqFMhNr/s1600/Mary+by+jan+van+eyck.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paradise garden, c 1410. Master from the Upper Rhine</td></tr>
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<i>May is Mary's month, and I <br />Muse at that and wonder why: <br />Her feasts follow reason, <br />Dated due to season—<br /><br />Candlemas, Lady Day; <br />But the Lady Month, May, <br />Why fasten that upon her, <br />With a feasting in her honour?<br /><br />Is it only its being brighter <br />Than the most are must delight her? <br />Is it opportunest <br />And flowers finds soonest?<br /><br />Ask of her, the mighty mother: <br />Her reply puts this other <br />Question: What is Spring?— <br />Growth in every thing—<br /><br />Flesh and fleece, fur and feather, <br />Grass and greenworld all together; <br />Star-eyed strawberry-breasted <br />Throstle above her nested<br /><br />Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin <br />Forms and warms the life within; <br />And bird and blossom swell <br />In sod or sheath or shell.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />All things rising, all things sizing <br />Mary sees, sympathising <br />With that world of good, <br />Nature's motherhood.<br /><br />Their magnifying of each its kind <br />With delight calls to mind <br />How she did in her stored <br />Magnify the Lord.<br /><br />Well but there was more than this: <br />Spring's universal bliss <br />Much, had much to say <br />To offering Mary May.<br /><br />When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple <br />Bloom lights the orchard-apple <br />And thicket and thorp are merry <br />With silver-surfed cherry<br /><br />And azuring-over greybell makes <br />Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes <br />And magic cuckoocall <br />Caps, clears, and clinches all—<br /><br />This ecstasy all through mothering earth <br />Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth <br />To remember and exultation <br />In God who was her salvation. </i><br /><br />Gerard Manley Hopkins</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-11289177908667770882014-05-20T10:13:00.000+01:002014-05-20T10:13:05.415+01:00The Balkans Under Water<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC9gDHoEPt4_OE8iWrzigTqM9vlO-1cFv6WqFboRqKJW7LO0GYExyj5tCyyfnLSFy-Ng0Z5sHN_q4dlIzRsIik6KB0ClTFpigcltWyk3PBP3UFHkzApTRlorKmqTLlaCswUC8OmkmA0c-/s1600/taf_flood1_248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC9gDHoEPt4_OE8iWrzigTqM9vlO-1cFv6WqFboRqKJW7LO0GYExyj5tCyyfnLSFy-Ng0Z5sHN_q4dlIzRsIik6KB0ClTFpigcltWyk3PBP3UFHkzApTRlorKmqTLlaCswUC8OmkmA0c-/s1600/taf_flood1_248.jpg" /></a></div>
At least 50 people have died in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27465175">the catastrophic flooding </a>that began last week in the Balkans, including entire families swept away by the rising water. Around a million people have been displaced and millions more are without clean water.<br />
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Last May it was Central Europe that was under water. Every year now since 2005, and at least every other year since 1999, somewhere in Europe has been devastated by floods. Previous to 1999, these would have been once-in-a-lifetime events. This is climate change and it's costing lives.<br />
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Neptune rules flooding, of course, but the progress of this planet through Aquarius and Pisces -- the signs of engineering and oceans -- is not explanation enough. The god of the sea went through these signs in the 1840s and 50s, when there were some floods but nothing out of the ordinary.<br />
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The trigger for <a href="http://www.dw.de/balkan-floods-wreak-devastation/av-17645890">these floods</a> was an incredible amount of rain 14-16 May, that is at the <b>Full Moon in Scorpio, </b>another water sign. Three-months' worth of rain fell in three days.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87LhNEPQ2DHY0w1S4B8ESwQCAw1tkrYPBm3vFL0WNHZuVre_A01ncXNQ_MRtvyAGRQuUkn5Fo1MIgh90M1pxLAeVFOg6cXktZDPF520YP4RG8lugsR9pKtau7cGomPNgzTBr5nqViZwVB/s1600/Transits+of+20+May+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87LhNEPQ2DHY0w1S4B8ESwQCAw1tkrYPBm3vFL0WNHZuVre_A01ncXNQ_MRtvyAGRQuUkn5Fo1MIgh90M1pxLAeVFOg6cXktZDPF520YP4RG8lugsR9pKtau7cGomPNgzTBr5nqViZwVB/s1600/Transits+of+20+May+2014.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Today's transits</td></tr>
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Clearly, the sheer scale of this current inundation is influenced by Jupiter in watery Cancer which is currently squaring Ceres, the goddess who binds the land with the people. Both these planets are to do with abundance and excess and here we have too much water.<br />
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Ceres is currently also in Rx conjunction with Vesta, the domestic goddess, who normally protects our homes. The conjunction <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/19/serbia-floods-threaten-biggest-power-plant">opposes Uranus, the planet of accidents and surprises and powerplants.</a> This plus the square to Jupiter locks them into <b>the Cardinal Cross</b>. Vesta turns direct on May 27 and Ceres on June 1.<br />
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These two have also been quincunx to Chiron in Pisces -- pain by water.<br />
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Another factor is Mars quincunx Neptune in Pisces. Neptune in Pisces seems to be a particularly dangerous planet to contact, and Mars has been stationing at this awkward angle, razzing Neptune all month. He moves forward today, which is kind of worrying, since the flooding has not reached its peak yet.<br />
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So we see that there is a theme of Libra and Pisces contacts here. Balance and water -- or imbalance, because the planets in Libra are all retrograde.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjjzZS5uN1TgwndMj3UzOHHPfcuErAV3veW-7tm7WjLCeWaxfQS77dBBdhYu1ds-mei_RhA2IhLfwhw5iOqVPl76pjf2ZyYgYXKZIbeVN2TtLXN4S6qxk2hgcRtAaq4Ekz-RYALq3Fips/s1600/Leonardo_da_Vinci-_Vitruvian_Man.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjjzZS5uN1TgwndMj3UzOHHPfcuErAV3veW-7tm7WjLCeWaxfQS77dBBdhYu1ds-mei_RhA2IhLfwhw5iOqVPl76pjf2ZyYgYXKZIbeVN2TtLXN4S6qxk2hgcRtAaq4Ekz-RYALq3Fips/s1600/Leonardo_da_Vinci-_Vitruvian_Man.JPG" height="200" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leonardo's Vitruvian Man</td></tr>
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All of this current astrology is relevant, but it does not deal with the larger picture of increased flooding across Europe over the last decade and a half. We all know this is about the shift in climate.<br />
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In astrological terms one shift that has taken place which may be as large as this is the move of Regulus, the royal star from fixed Leo, where he's been for 2000 years or so, to mutable Virgo. This is extremely significant because it is <b>the last of the four royal stars to move from a fixed to a mutable sign.</b> The other three moved around 500 years ago and 250 years ago, that is at the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. Among other things, humankind's relationship with Mother Nature shifted at these points.<br />
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Just a thought but a move from fixed to wobbly does have implications.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-26573711945988941662014-05-19T17:55:00.003+01:002014-05-19T19:19:24.489+01:00Astrology of Now: Coming Unstuck<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZesFaNe9Wt2I6QxYKhUo6ZW-rsFxO7mLHiB-lUuBzP82daFBGnmvit47ytrnH2wQ1RzUjCVBmKiskoAfsra3UrJCzYcpaL2GXTg814AOcmcLU7dFdSspWY-HAQWUcxNUrK9SVH5b_zlVq/s1600/the-rite-of-spring-1945-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZesFaNe9Wt2I6QxYKhUo6ZW-rsFxO7mLHiB-lUuBzP82daFBGnmvit47ytrnH2wQ1RzUjCVBmKiskoAfsra3UrJCzYcpaL2GXTg814AOcmcLU7dFdSspWY-HAQWUcxNUrK9SVH5b_zlVq/s1600/the-rite-of-spring-1945-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rite of Spring by Nicholas Roerich. He designed the original set and <br />
costumes although this painting was done much later.</td></tr>
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We all know it's been a right old spring so far, or should that be a rite of spring (a ballet which ends with a ritual sacrifice)?<br />
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With Jupiter in Cancer, emotions have been huge, billowing things, like overfilled water balloons leaking all over the place. Then there were the eclipses in April and the Grand Cross. It's been tough. And frankly, if it hasn't been tough for you, count yourself blessed.<br />
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So there are some important events over the next two days. Today <b>Venus, the planet of love and money in Aries, the sign of just doing it, is squaring the aforementioned Jupiter.</b> Obviously, you could find yourself out of pocket, or out of love or just overdoing both or either in some way.<br />
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But there is more. Ceres, the planet of abundance, fertility, mothering and land, has been in retrograde motion for months now -- since February 27. She has been backing into the Grand Cross. Now fortunately for her, the only planet she's actually going to square in that Cross (this time around) is Jupiter, who is also deeply into the whole abundance thing. Put them together though and things could just become, well, <b>super-abundant.</b> I do not follow the stock market, but I suspect commodities -- say cereals -- might be quite interesting right now.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYejh4Kgw22dpu7sSX016ashEcPUAu8rKImGOz2N8B3bXeOgYtGBzhGR15ZirvA_LswVMZGNAkEeB8Aq9xpzFYnROVUVDPlw9MtQn9zInTAkNSxwRagcKf184s2VRPg1ggZ3blWgpnEOof/s1600/Stravinskydone_1429979c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYejh4Kgw22dpu7sSX016ashEcPUAu8rKImGOz2N8B3bXeOgYtGBzhGR15ZirvA_LswVMZGNAkEeB8Aq9xpzFYnROVUVDPlw9MtQn9zInTAkNSxwRagcKf184s2VRPg1ggZ3blWgpnEOof/s1600/Stravinskydone_1429979c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Royal Ballet's interpretation of Stavinsky's Rite of Spring was kind of orange.</td></tr>
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Here's the other thing, <b>Ceres is opposing Venus tomorrow</b>. Ceres and Venus - the archetypes of mother and daughter (for Venus read Persephone). Libra and Aries: you and me. Put simply there could be a bit of conflict there between parents and their children, between the giver of nourishment and the receiver. And with those two signs involved it could be kind of personal.<br />
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Ceres is about to station direct, so she is moving very slowly and deliberately. On June 1, she will start to move forward through the Zodiac again, going back over the second half of Libra where she has spent so much time this spring.<br />
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And she is not the only planet changing direction <b>in Libra</b>. <b>Most importantly of all, Mars the action planet is finally about to come unstuck and lurch into forward motion on May 20</b>. This is an i<b>mportant moment</b> in the year because <b>Mars makes stuff happen</b>, real stuff, not just a change in energy but actual events. If you have felt as if nothing you have done this spring has had any consequence -- even if it was kicking your brother-in-law in a lift -- then prepare to start seeing and feeling some consequences now.<br />
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(Jay-Z has that Mars stationing right on his Uranus-Moon conjunction -- I guess the lift-kicking must have been a bit of surprise. Beyoncé has Ceres stationing on her Venus -- interesting, since Ceres rather blesses Beyoncé as the highest planet in her chart. Ceres does rather suggest a family affair. The Knowles sisters have a nice trine between their earthy Cereses, suggesting that their mother is a pretty steadying influence.)<br />
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But back to Mars in Libra moving forward. It's a definite shift and it's time to start putting your own plans into action. Since both Ceres and Mars have been stirring up the sign of the scales, that is putting things out of balance, it follows that May/June may be something of a rebalancing act for all of us. Some Librans, say Vladimir Putin, may now act. It may not seem as if they were sitting on their hands before, but things are going to be much more open now. Ukraine is a breadbasket, a huge producer of wheat (ruled by Ceres, of course). It'll be interesting to see what happens when Mars and Ceres meet in Libra in July.<br />
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In this household one of the unexpected effects of Ceres retrograde was the fact that we have all gone gluten-free -- the results for my eldest have been little short of miraculous.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-44374736665268091982014-05-18T09:07:00.001+01:002014-05-18T09:07:10.199+01:00Ceres TalkI am giving a talk about the asteroid Ceres and its astrological influence on May 22 at the Aquarius Severn Astrological Society in Cheltenham.<div>
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If you're local do come. I hope I'll have time to put some charts up from the audience so bring your details too.</div>
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For details of how to get there etcetera, <a href="http://www.aquariussevern.com/">click here.</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-57867409178090358452014-05-15T11:37:00.004+01:002014-05-15T11:37:41.734+01:00Venus in Aries: Icons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1NRrmldjWXM2F0oz-sHpXDNZi1rATHWUSRNguGtVuqTbZ8alqSxLFSmsUUQv1z1xaKysD602qzHQzBIJQa0kCeJlQLOA8RZxKBvm4-VG1iJ9-AsGJy8hZZKDk79DteI_y4itpNBBciyU/s1600/968full-audrey-hepburn.jpg" height="640" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="441" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audrey Hepburn. Taurus Sun, Aquarius Rising (allegedly, <br />although it's 2° from Pisces and I'd bet the Pisces is right -- just look at those eyes.)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1NRrmldjWXM2F0oz-sHpXDNZi1rATHWUSRNguGtVuqTbZ8alqSxLFSmsUUQv1z1xaKysD602qzHQzBIJQa0kCeJlQLOA8RZxKBvm4-VG1iJ9-AsGJy8hZZKDk79DteI_y4itpNBBciyU/s1600/968full-audrey-hepburn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1NRrmldjWXM2F0oz-sHpXDNZi1rATHWUSRNguGtVuqTbZ8alqSxLFSmsUUQv1z1xaKysD602qzHQzBIJQa0kCeJlQLOA8RZxKBvm4-VG1iJ9-AsGJy8hZZKDk79DteI_y4itpNBBciyU/s1600/968full-audrey-hepburn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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The word icon is applied haphazardly to every passing celebrity these days, but there are some modern faces that have unarguably become iconic. It might not be what you expect from Venus in Aries, but there are more icons in this group than any other. <b>Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney:</b> these actors have, and had, faces that have been imprinted in the popular imagination. Then there's <b>Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and Bob Marley</b>. You think of their faces right away don't you?</div>
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It's so interesting - and not what I expected. I imagined that a search for Venus in Aries would turn up a crop of flame-haired beauties -- say Rita Hayworth, Julianne Moore and Amy Adams. Nope.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03e3wMSW3ZyLjgtlzUp79FfQUfael5Tho5Qv5pQcGkLS8O8L4hr_mrfgMK06g0H7eucl7oWc8jd5llysS5RzO9lB_QeHzFzhFWcJoTUjl63lGD1Vsi6P_Dc0phdu29CjHfZo75jcsGZw7/s1600/teodora2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03e3wMSW3ZyLjgtlzUp79FfQUfael5Tho5Qv5pQcGkLS8O8L4hr_mrfgMK06g0H7eucl7oWc8jd5llysS5RzO9lB_QeHzFzhFWcJoTUjl63lGD1Vsi6P_Dc0phdu29CjHfZo75jcsGZw7/s1600/teodora2.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
The word <b>icon</b> originally referred to religious images - like this one from Ravenna of the Empress Theodora. These images were, and still are in some churches, integral to religious worship. During the Easter break, I watched Greek Orthodox worshippers reverently kiss their icons.<br />
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The <b>penetrating gaze</b> of Byzantine icons and the way they are revered in the Eastern Mediterranean to this day reminds me of Hindu practice also. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar%C5%9Bana">Darshan,</a> seeing the god, maybe in a vision but also a statue or picture of the god, is an important part of the Hindu religious experience. A pilgrimage is not complete without Darshan, which is almost like an exchange of energy with the god. You see the god, and the god sees you.<br />
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The gods have often been embodied by real people -- look at Empress Theodora there. In earlier times, our kings and queens did this for us, but now we look at celebrities. And maybe from these photographs, the gaze is returned.<br />
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<b>Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac and, as such, rules the head, the face,</b> so Venus in Aries is likely to give someone a beautiful, or at least a charming or alluring, face. It's also the sign of the baby, and there are quite a few baby faces here: sweet round foreheads, wide apart eyes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtkAH-1NUs9D2Wbph1sTcJcfXnnAGyO6bynUzJu8JL_FWzwImQ4CyrAzIRyS-081NKLn3UplNwmMkw05Yt0CFd4Eqi5hVJ7PfWtIwAWl5toAv4xTTTUOUXbNaUTDchbFn7Npw-XNWvPt4/s1600/106050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtkAH-1NUs9D2Wbph1sTcJcfXnnAGyO6bynUzJu8JL_FWzwImQ4CyrAzIRyS-081NKLn3UplNwmMkw05Yt0CFd4Eqi5hVJ7PfWtIwAWl5toAv4xTTTUOUXbNaUTDchbFn7Npw-XNWvPt4/s1600/106050.JPG" height="640" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marilyn Monroe. Gemini Sun, Leo Rising (golden halo).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCo2cUYEW_UnhU62ouWo6VCs4u-qZ-qFlY-6AFWg4118ccI7BR13PEd6H_HoMNNgYLXiL0scyjl1t5p0qjezeU876hzFCiczfzvk1QZwXq4NSn244nhpET2BPKOhRSJ6pWK8SClBcgBq5n/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCo2cUYEW_UnhU62ouWo6VCs4u-qZ-qFlY-6AFWg4118ccI7BR13PEd6H_HoMNNgYLXiL0scyjl1t5p0qjezeU876hzFCiczfzvk1QZwXq4NSn244nhpET2BPKOhRSJ6pWK8SClBcgBq5n/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" height="249" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rihanna. Pisces Sun, Gemini Rising.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSIsk0vx-BYGM58RZbmU9akNGpk7I3IZF3dYFlo4fK0s6plS_nP9Ldic5C2vYULOcPkk2RQOiMdZAiL-9805aLe19Dfq9JeZ2e72Tt8vuhhAItNpZkDKnH9G-nQHjUdHj22QUDPPOIj5M/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSIsk0vx-BYGM58RZbmU9akNGpk7I3IZF3dYFlo4fK0s6plS_nP9Ldic5C2vYULOcPkk2RQOiMdZAiL-9805aLe19Dfq9JeZ2e72Tt8vuhhAItNpZkDKnH9G-nQHjUdHj22QUDPPOIj5M/s1600/images-1.jpeg" height="400" width="391" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Taylor. Pisces Sun, Sagittarius Rising.</td></tr>
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<div>
<div>
There's also a thing going on here with eyebrows and heart-shaped faces.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOrozR4T_GgyurX9omgFRGINvHpNtEhwcPSRIZLhjF9xG5W_cjQr-iQiy8WXQoBN5lzCBUP6vbR3gtzD_RkcIXl3qggKzuPblJcmQzcTveoZQ2mqF5Fu0niVIKjZHhMRi-HbUfFqArgQl/s1600/images-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOrozR4T_GgyurX9omgFRGINvHpNtEhwcPSRIZLhjF9xG5W_cjQr-iQiy8WXQoBN5lzCBUP6vbR3gtzD_RkcIXl3qggKzuPblJcmQzcTveoZQ2mqF5Fu0niVIKjZHhMRi-HbUfFqArgQl/s1600/images-4.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christina Ricci. Aquarius Sun, Virgo Rising</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the charms of Aries is <b>innocence</b>. Aries comes to the world fresh and unsullied, eager for experience. This brings with it a certain <b>vulnerability and openness</b>, which seems to show in the Venus in Aries face.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6_xulKqRqNzUDmJIbDv6HKAa4OtGgljlJ6b3oLke6RwMuGfv8zet6iA2mAmBdqLNQ5LBeDHAj2euEuOz84IXvX2hTR47WmLFnFWcnnwzDumsAB8_zCRpjA8lNQqCWeJnY6lmlM2WT1cy/s1600/belmondo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6_xulKqRqNzUDmJIbDv6HKAa4OtGgljlJ6b3oLke6RwMuGfv8zet6iA2mAmBdqLNQ5LBeDHAj2euEuOz84IXvX2hTR47WmLFnFWcnnwzDumsAB8_zCRpjA8lNQqCWeJnY6lmlM2WT1cy/s1600/belmondo.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jean-Paul Belmondo. Aries Sun, Gemini Rising.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course, for looks, <b>the Sun sign is important and so is the ascendant.</b> George Clooney and Audrey Hepburn have birthdays a few days apart and they certainly share a warm, doe-eyed, strong-boned Taurean beauty.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUD78ym370JbIBkm9siEuLVGJCea2Z1AtsY67Q6pCJ60clNvpmDj073GTH7UDDNW9n6Lux1LDgMRm7hEOSB1FVSlzcYle74_8SrdgHo3-p691q6_IoByaSWiHtfNrFohXH90VGE6RP2Ku/s1600/george-clooney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUD78ym370JbIBkm9siEuLVGJCea2Z1AtsY67Q6pCJ60clNvpmDj073GTH7UDDNW9n6Lux1LDgMRm7hEOSB1FVSlzcYle74_8SrdgHo3-p691q6_IoByaSWiHtfNrFohXH90VGE6RP2Ku/s1600/george-clooney.jpg" height="278" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Clooney. Pisces Rising, Taurus Sun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Wa3NHrPw2p4ZUiJz_NVh9BqDRnTx3gnZnrGdFPvSH0vGogHFTbgCARrLoA-IPuT2IdfjY3VpB4Pzpc_Socw3e1VsY_nc5dYmVHpU42IQOzisqglNE5El-AxGFMJtD8QPZ0QSNipt9fcw/s1600/49e23d74c5bd677f_robertdowneyjr.xxxlarge_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Wa3NHrPw2p4ZUiJz_NVh9BqDRnTx3gnZnrGdFPvSH0vGogHFTbgCARrLoA-IPuT2IdfjY3VpB4Pzpc_Socw3e1VsY_nc5dYmVHpU42IQOzisqglNE5El-AxGFMJtD8QPZ0QSNipt9fcw/s1600/49e23d74c5bd677f_robertdowneyjr.xxxlarge_2.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Downey jr. Aries Sun, Leo Rising</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vcyldwdckTX-RpB0etHWSgYMT7S2UeNdaVxyNktTjWMFM0FE9bnQBNjHQEdkll_fXHS7BiNN-RYRyBQATHrH3HobwgXl7BLffRpoJ_5qaa1rr3w-aeJLaLyzU44r9eT9gMjDvFWdCLXM/s1600/Jack-Nicholson-jack-nicholson-20161979-331-500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vcyldwdckTX-RpB0etHWSgYMT7S2UeNdaVxyNktTjWMFM0FE9bnQBNjHQEdkll_fXHS7BiNN-RYRyBQATHrH3HobwgXl7BLffRpoJ_5qaa1rr3w-aeJLaLyzU44r9eT9gMjDvFWdCLXM/s1600/Jack-Nicholson-jack-nicholson-20161979-331-500.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young Jack Nicholson, Leo Rising, Taurus Sun. <br />Wide-set eyes, round forehead, pointy chin again.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now there's definitely another look for Venus in Aries which is not the one that Jack Nicholson exemplifies here. The penetrating gaze is the same though.<br />
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A clutch of the most successful female TV character actresses from the late 90s have Venus in Aries. All of these women will forever be identified with one particular part.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhER5IrECQbnDNaaM8Oe8S_sXMBcpwhCSMLHt2GQ05Wr8MHDkpDBbm4p1HoXbtH6q4-UKne4ULCBDle5Z1T7jEdE3ptUxyJwIw1px086EUEvacNR6AtmdLVG_KK5ep4BzqGnR_P9m8PVfDT/s1600/Sarah-Michelle-Gellar-043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhER5IrECQbnDNaaM8Oe8S_sXMBcpwhCSMLHt2GQ05Wr8MHDkpDBbm4p1HoXbtH6q4-UKne4ULCBDle5Z1T7jEdE3ptUxyJwIw1px086EUEvacNR6AtmdLVG_KK5ep4BzqGnR_P9m8PVfDT/s1600/Sarah-Michelle-Gellar-043.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Michelle Gellar. Aries Sun, Aquarius Rising. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9lxdhUGT3B9MUazhC0ISOlL4s-RQMBcaBDfO7TDUO7KbciFaZ3ZOmVlf8sq2L_-yW4vhAZ6vdWSaw65yi5CpaD1nQJen5eOwkkfiTi82LSx7ojUGEbo5N737rexnbloEhhC9TykwEzwL/s1600/jenniferaniston2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9lxdhUGT3B9MUazhC0ISOlL4s-RQMBcaBDfO7TDUO7KbciFaZ3ZOmVlf8sq2L_-yW4vhAZ6vdWSaw65yi5CpaD1nQJen5eOwkkfiTi82LSx7ojUGEbo5N737rexnbloEhhC9TykwEzwL/s1600/jenniferaniston2.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jennifer Aniston. Aquarius Sun, Libra Rising. "Rachel"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPWKAY0nVS_6iEGbRclgG5ZV4sRcMP2nEc4sFnHvtUF7z30hFzsL9MByGlFuMlUPOteV4fp3f7Qou-8fryZvuc6q7rc13kQH4omsshw_4e1SOl22O_NN_IAR0s8tbfsZnZUkg7tqXZTfZ/s1600/sarah-jessica-parker-72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPWKAY0nVS_6iEGbRclgG5ZV4sRcMP2nEc4sFnHvtUF7z30hFzsL9MByGlFuMlUPOteV4fp3f7Qou-8fryZvuc6q7rc13kQH4omsshw_4e1SOl22O_NN_IAR0s8tbfsZnZUkg7tqXZTfZ/s1600/sarah-jessica-parker-72.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Jessica Parker. Aries Sun, Gemini Rising. "Carrie"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Aniston and Parker do look similar -- narrow faces, long noses, bright blue eyes -- but they don't look much like any of our earlier icons, nor do they seem vulnerable or innocent. Parker's character Carrie in <i>Sex in the City</i> did exemplify a kind of Aries in Venus quest for love though.... always willing to try again.<br />
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On the other hand both Aniston and Parker have had long post-TV careers as cover girls (or women). There was a time in this country when you couldn't walk past a magazine rack without having <i>darshan</i> with either Aniston or Parker or possibly both at once. They certainly have the gaze.<br />
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And here is blue-eyed, long-nosed Abe, giving us the look again.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMv-Jr2uEnjM12hRhhKBxEzkRM8HSPqYBNMEmnbMla4p8Lowz2vWrLeYjoTC1hBxNTYhmWfV05kGxqrM2LTFACgjR8TP5u6Ni235AFdEceKlErIC5r5Olxn9A-l-FX9LqVOPNtapM-cUE/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMv-Jr2uEnjM12hRhhKBxEzkRM8HSPqYBNMEmnbMla4p8Lowz2vWrLeYjoTC1hBxNTYhmWfV05kGxqrM2LTFACgjR8TP5u6Ni235AFdEceKlErIC5r5Olxn9A-l-FX9LqVOPNtapM-cUE/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" height="275" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abraham Lincoln. Sun and Ascendant in Aquarius.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Speaking of bone structure - a gift to Abe from Aquarius Rising and Moon in Capricorn -- both ruled by bonemeister Saturn - how about our first genuine redhead.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYklXFynbebp7b33HmAwPtSfSjxqr2fo15_glZ3_nBrOBSxD4xNfykmLmJj3GKGuvT87M-yQ05DijeO1kx7DfcLzeJq1EWXlq4pFciInwwWMwHsGAJ8qRUAkRXG-gU6Ow2Mm9tnjCVpTUp/s1600/katharine-hepburn-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYklXFynbebp7b33HmAwPtSfSjxqr2fo15_glZ3_nBrOBSxD4xNfykmLmJj3GKGuvT87M-yQ05DijeO1kx7DfcLzeJq1EWXlq4pFciInwwWMwHsGAJ8qRUAkRXG-gU6Ow2Mm9tnjCVpTUp/s1600/katharine-hepburn-9.jpg" height="640" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katherine Hepburn. Taurus Sun, Scorpio Rising.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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She was played in a recent biopic by Cate Blanchett -- back to the long, piercing blue eyes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUyfDnSHXS0HRrPxxf56BuFLo1nz6ozrg5im4pRYdsfMP7Bji8WSUcQlJAIM3hj67W3aWmkqMrG17hZaGIrDi7ZmAQHCMGtPUk4Efw2d6kumRPYs8lM1B5Km49Ri5dPWeF0LFcVQXdcpH/s1600/Cate-Blanchett1-225x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUyfDnSHXS0HRrPxxf56BuFLo1nz6ozrg5im4pRYdsfMP7Bji8WSUcQlJAIM3hj67W3aWmkqMrG17hZaGIrDi7ZmAQHCMGtPUk4Efw2d6kumRPYs8lM1B5Km49Ri5dPWeF0LFcVQXdcpH/s1600/Cate-Blanchett1-225x300.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cate Blanchett. Taurus Sun, Rising sign unknown.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Finally, a couple more genuine 20th century icons.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fo-_wOB-dt2eOAYZcyQXD-0rg1ucKtCR2sZN0TnhRxbrYzgyG_QZTjuc1gmzk8stXVMV_DAeyLY-N5z9eyT6qBSoWRwa70EWpM5an2wFwU8b6aVwHbDuEMV6FXVZR1s0nIMflMxzV31z/s1600/einstein2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fo-_wOB-dt2eOAYZcyQXD-0rg1ucKtCR2sZN0TnhRxbrYzgyG_QZTjuc1gmzk8stXVMV_DAeyLY-N5z9eyT6qBSoWRwa70EWpM5an2wFwU8b6aVwHbDuEMV6FXVZR1s0nIMflMxzV31z/s1600/einstein2.jpg" height="400" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albert Einstein. Pisces Sun, Cancer Rising.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0YQAt5bF83jornvcgq9tSoj5-FIuftNMENt6Q1uioMzklzWnpGBIY56ziFxxMHCQc9lrlaTctLD6cmCerVcmmE0Q-mLSTkF_0G9Jk7CtAChk9S0uzC7atSHUDpK9kULkaKAUFbnTlUiv/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0YQAt5bF83jornvcgq9tSoj5-FIuftNMENt6Q1uioMzklzWnpGBIY56ziFxxMHCQc9lrlaTctLD6cmCerVcmmE0Q-mLSTkF_0G9Jk7CtAChk9S0uzC7atSHUDpK9kULkaKAUFbnTlUiv/s1600/images-2.jpeg" height="248" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Marley. Aquarius Sun, Sagittarius Rising.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-78615324294677934192014-05-11T11:30:00.002+01:002014-05-12T10:35:36.921+01:00Boko Haram and the Nigerian Schoolgirls<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYoBgrDdZuqcSAINcSDXVEFduiyXENxmbhcMOdeR-viLJHHJNPJVyAY-lJWomTKJYTB-33Mx1Xize7pxdv0h3pkwFR59UgvrZHLCSTLQEav7n4F7-nc6K-9FChNipYa1Cq2XcXTj5MhE67/s1600/GTY_nigerian_girls_tk_140505_16x9_608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYoBgrDdZuqcSAINcSDXVEFduiyXENxmbhcMOdeR-viLJHHJNPJVyAY-lJWomTKJYTB-33Mx1Xize7pxdv0h3pkwFR59UgvrZHLCSTLQEav7n4F7-nc6K-9FChNipYa1Cq2XcXTj5MhE67/s1600/GTY_nigerian_girls_tk_140505_16x9_608.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please help with the attribution of this photo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the night of the full moon of April 14/15, armed men broke into a school in the Nigerian town of Chibok and abducted almost 300 schoolgirls. The girls were forced into lorries at gunpoint and driven deep into the forests of northern Nigeria. They have been swallowed by darkness.<br />
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We recognise this story. It is the tale of grown men abducting young girls, and it has every mother in the world enraged and saddened. We are looking at the archetypes of Persephone, Hades and Demeter.<br />
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Ceres (Roman Demeter), the asteroid of motherhood, was exactly conjunct the Moon at 25° Libra on the fateful night. Pluto (Hades) was exactly squaring Uranus (freedom) and Mercury (flight and children) at 13° Capricorn-Aries.<br />
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We have seen Ceres and Pluto -- planets of equal heft - duking it out before in these abduction stories, and also in the tale of<a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/from-beneath-earth.html"> the Chilean miners</a> lost underground (the Cardinal Cross was part of that story too). Pluto swallows, Ceres rebirths.<br />
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Today, American Mother's Day, Ceres quincunxes the Sun in Taurus. But she is still retrograde, as she was at the time of the abduction. She will not move forward until June 1.<br />
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I hope the girls are liberated before then. They are represented astrologically by the planets Venus (young women) and Mercury (children). When the abduction took place, Venus was transiting between the arms of the Pluto-Uranus square at 10° Pisces. At the next full Moon on May 15 in Scorpio, Venus will conjunct Uranus and the following day exit the square, which may bring freedom. But not until May 30, does Mercury move into Cancer, the arms of the mother.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-30680906853041380392014-05-10T00:20:00.001+01:002014-05-10T00:20:51.122+01:00Astrology of Now (and Then): Weaving Together Body and Spirit<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JN2mdjB67xIwmqrMysei2ZTHdM_5_H7yoEWX_a8_LpKcTiczhyphenhyphenm8lZm9WBIMB3QMgwNezv7JjJCsQ0jKSZWnAtp7-246sXnNyGsgRuF5HhigcVxBPFLuNFuF3WwRzVFbAs8-_y8uTHAz/s1600/Tree_of_Diagnosis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JN2mdjB67xIwmqrMysei2ZTHdM_5_H7yoEWX_a8_LpKcTiczhyphenhyphenm8lZm9WBIMB3QMgwNezv7JjJCsQ0jKSZWnAtp7-246sXnNyGsgRuF5HhigcVxBPFLuNFuF3WwRzVFbAs8-_y8uTHAz/s1600/Tree_of_Diagnosis.jpg" height="640" width="528" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tibetan Medicine Thangka. The "Tree of Diagnosis"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our attention has been on the cacophony of the Cardinal Cross of late, but another actor in the solar system has been playing a subtle role in drama of the skies.<br />
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<b>The asteroid Chiron -- teacher, martyr, medicine man -- has been sextiling Pluto for much of the past three years.</b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Modern astrologers often assign Chiron's rulership to Virgo, the sign of service and healing, citing the centaur of myth, who was a healer and a teacher. This would fit with the actual astronomy. Chiron reaches 0° declination (the equivalent of the Sun at 0° Aries) every 20 years in either Virgo or Pisces. This is </span>the polarity of the body and the spirit, the 12th and the 6th houses.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Here Chiron's journey ends or begins.</span></b></div>
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<b>Chiron has an erratic orbit, weaving between Saturn, Uranus and Mars. Because of this inconsistency, he spends much, much longer in some signs. So at the two extremes, he stays <b>in Pisces for about nine years</b>, and in <b>Virgo for just over one</b>. This certainly puts an emphasis on these signs for Chiron. Virgo is the sign of physical healing and Pisces of spiritual healing or, if things go wrong, the reverse, spiritual disintegration.</b></div>
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Currently Chiron is direct a 17° Pisces and will move just one degree further before turning retrograde on June 20°. If you have planets at this point or in mutables at 17°/18°, pay attention. Chiron has been in Pisces since 2010, and he leaves in 2018. He spends longer around the mid-degrees of the sign than at either end, so right now <b>Chiron is moving very, very slowly.</b> When a planet (or asteroid) does this, you have to ask yourself, is he trying to make a point?<br />
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Much has been written about Chiron, but astrologers often seem to <i>want</i> him to mean something even if that does not quite fit the facts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4RcmbpsHB2aNf8Fwg7fMTl7tqIPKmE6mqvGshKvoJE6DvrpSIpXJXhyphenhyphenZ-nQ4RGS8a7YRhIe19Pubus69ckCKVbUFvFEHyAVnqBm5QFagnZLevCBh7DZet0fHiDkGsUyrQfXNtADAizLi/s1600/ps258938_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4RcmbpsHB2aNf8Fwg7fMTl7tqIPKmE6mqvGshKvoJE6DvrpSIpXJXhyphenhyphenZ-nQ4RGS8a7YRhIe19Pubus69ckCKVbUFvFEHyAVnqBm5QFagnZLevCBh7DZet0fHiDkGsUyrQfXNtADAizLi/s1600/ps258938_l.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horse from Hallikarnassos</td></tr>
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From my experience with <b>real charts</b>, Chiron is definitely involved in both <b>physical healing <i>and</i> physical wounding</b>. Chiron is involved <b>with pain</b> and <b>with medicine</b>. It is common for people in the healing professions, alternative and orthodox, to have Chiron on the MC or ASC or in the 6th house. It is common for a Chiron transit to bring some kind of pain - physical, emotional or mental. For a personal story on the Chiron transits around my broken foot, <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/how-i-broke-my-achilles-heel.html">click here</a> – (although I'd add that my love affair with Solar Arcs ended soon after this post). Chiron can be Healing <b>Wounder</b> as well as a "Wounded Healer".<br />
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The last time <b>Chiron was in Pisces was between 1960 and 1969,</b> when he was in occasional opposition to Uranus and (widely) Pluto in Virgo. This was a decade when for some, drugs (Virgo) opened the doors of perception (Pisces). But Virgo is not just about medication but also about meticulous, daily practice and ritual, such as meditation or prayer. This was the decade when the hippie trail might lead to a sufi mystic in Morocco or a hare krishna ashram in Goa or a zen monastery in California. A place of religious retreat is ruled by Pisces.<br />
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It was also a decade when the modern environmental movement got started, thanks in part to the work of Rachel Carson and her seminal book <i>Silent Spring</i>, published in 1962. Environmentalism is, of course, connected to the earth signs, particularly Virgo and Taurus, those green-fingered gardeners. Uranus' entry into Virgo in the 1960s awakened us to the way many ways we were destroying the planet. For some, Chiron in Pisces connected this physical destruction to the spirit of Mother Earth as well as her body. James Loveolock began playing with ideas that became the Gaia Hypothesis in 1965. Although he may not consciously have wanted his theory to have a religious dimension, by using her name, he invokes her.<br />
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Piscean-style spirituality is, more than any other, about the immanence of the divine. Henry David Thoreau, the great-granddady of mystical environmentalism had Chiron in Pisces. And Chiron himself is half man-half beast; half-tame-half-wild, the product of a union between humans and wilderness.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvsQODgtntgUD-Soeyp9OXtIJy_WOm4F3LSC4KFnJ_BN6rMt61MlvLi65li76UIO-rP7IhwdofRO1AvN31mjnwI7hoP1GZTInICGLG8HafWjaVYiBo0mMLlLZWbtGt9oEuPsxQfDmN52JY/s1600/72789725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvsQODgtntgUD-Soeyp9OXtIJy_WOm4F3LSC4KFnJ_BN6rMt61MlvLi65li76UIO-rP7IhwdofRO1AvN31mjnwI7hoP1GZTInICGLG8HafWjaVYiBo0mMLlLZWbtGt9oEuPsxQfDmN52JY/s1600/72789725.jpg" height="320" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easier said than done.</td></tr>
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If in personal charts and with personal transits Chiron often shows <b>a wound or a wounding,</b> <b>how does pain work </b><b>for the collective</b><b> when Chiron is in Pisces?</b> Two of the nastiest wars of the 20th century took place under Chiron in Pisces: WW1 and the Vietnam War, both of which were notable for the use of chemical weapons - poisoned gas being a Piscean murder weapon. Both wars would now probably be characterised as <b>psychically wounding</b>. The unresolved wound of WW1 led straight into WW2, when Chiron was racing through the opposite side of the Zodiac. Just to be precise: when war was declared in 1914, Chiron was at 17° Pisces; in 1939, he was at 17° Cancer (don't forget that Chiron moves very fast through these signs) in a perfect emotional trine aspect to the WW1 Chiron. By the end of WW2, that is VJ day, Chiron was at 17° Virgo back exactly opposite to where it had been at the start of the Great War. Astrology can be very neat.<br />
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Back to kinder themes, Chiron in Pisces helps open the path to numinous spirituality and spiritual environmentalism which in the 1960s linked to a Virgoan need for ritual and practice. But today the path will be different since the current long-term aspects Chiron has made this time around are <b>a conjunction with Neptune in Pisces (now over) and a sextile with Pluto in Capricorn (ongoing) </b>– both different from the opposition to Uranus that was a feature of the 1960s.<br />
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The asteroid Chiron was only discovered in 1976. So this is <b>the first time that Chiron has transited through Pisces when we have known of his existence. </b>We have a new Chiron-consciousness now. It is especially important for the generation born in the 1960s, who are having a <b>Chiron Return</b> that lasts far longer than most people's, but also for those with <b>Chiron in Virgo</b> – born in 1943/4/5 and 1993-1995 -- who are having the opposition for far longer than most people.<br />
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It will be easier with hindsight to trace the larger story of this decade of Chiron in Pisces, but it is certain that we are dealing with the potential for both <b>the healing and wounding</b>. Already one of the features of the suppression of the uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain and Ukraine has been the unprecedentedly heavy use of <b>tear gas</b>. It's a little unnerving to see that Chiron is approaching 17° Pisces again, where he will station in June.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-54743704402715996532014-05-07T10:11:00.001+01:002014-05-08T15:19:56.300+01:00The Luminaries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBZ1cCCXq4arobfY9S_64COer0y5zzOQ_E6lpj3Cgd9x6UZZ_iSADegqDNWdEUknJrHc2nwwCxQburBl_9m3uDxs5vIbLkCIUpLv5jwbi6p2igXIFaavNGEifVThMb06j0Oq-KNzFYddC/s1600/200px-Theluminariescover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBZ1cCCXq4arobfY9S_64COer0y5zzOQ_E6lpj3Cgd9x6UZZ_iSADegqDNWdEUknJrHc2nwwCxQburBl_9m3uDxs5vIbLkCIUpLv5jwbi6p2igXIFaavNGEifVThMb06j0Oq-KNzFYddC/s1600/200px-Theluminariescover.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
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<b>What would happen if you pieced a story together from 12 different points of view, using each of the Zodiac signs?</b><br />
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For a start you'd end up with a great big doorstop of a book even if half of it was simply a dissection of one day. And you'd also end up with more in-depth characterisation -- both physical and emotional -- than might seem possible to a lay reader.<br />
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Then what would happen if picked a time and a place to set your story, say the goldfields of Western New Zealand in 1866 -- and drew up an astrological chart for that time? You might just be able to imagine a plot that would encompass the actions of all seven visible planets, including the waxing and waning of the Moon.<br />
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If you have <b>even the slightest interest in astrology</b>, you must read <i>The Luminaries</i> by Eleanor Catton. It deservedly won the Man Book Prize this year: it's a great read -- gripping, lucid and funny. It's an adventure mystery set during the New Zealand gold rush of the 1860s which will keep you puzzling and guessing right up to the last page. At the heart of the story are a death, a disappearance, a lost treasure or "bonanza" in the slang of the time and a couple of love stories, one of them "star-crossed".<br />
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But the real bonanza for astrologers is Catton's love of astrology, its language, its archetypes, its patterns. She has used the charts of 1866 over the Hokitika gold fields to structure her story, titling each chapter according to the planet e.g. "Mercury in Sagittarius", "The Greater Malefic" and so on.<br />
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The storytellers are clearly shown in the astrological charts* that open each of the 12 (decreasing) sections of the book, and on a page at the start labelled Character Chart, so you are in no doubt as to who represents which sign.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2SQ8fQUek8brVOunK0WoBl3OrRo2E9zsZWSeKkrXJlWCJuhIyBIoKD_gaZdb5LgRizWOAqq0A4c1lpTpq39bqWjoBgnJStyzgxZdf27o_plGbAwTc1FftXEQ5P75GOQE5XWwYupBMine/s1600/Eleanor+Catton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2SQ8fQUek8brVOunK0WoBl3OrRo2E9zsZWSeKkrXJlWCJuhIyBIoKD_gaZdb5LgRizWOAqq0A4c1lpTpq39bqWjoBgnJStyzgxZdf27o_plGbAwTc1FftXEQ5P75GOQE5XWwYupBMine/s1600/Eleanor+Catton.jpg" height="400" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Saturn Return, Eleanor. Nice to see the <br />
conjunction of Venus & Mars -- which is pivotal to the plot <br />
-- in Virgo, the novelist's sign. Also Jupiter and Moon in Aquarius: <br />
Catton is brilliant at people's stories, but short on emotional depth.<br />
No birth time is available. This chart is set for noon. </td></tr>
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Each of these men - they are all men - is carefully delineated using basic astrological characterisation. It's a delight to have these archetypes in the hands of a brilliant storyteller like Ms Catton. So for example, Sagittarius is a shipping agent, of course; Cancer a hotel-keeper; Scorpio a chemist; and Gemini a journalist. Catton really goes to town on the detailed descriptions and uses astrological archetypes in unexpected and creative ways. For example, Thomas Balfour, the Sagittarian shipping agent, started life in a saddlery and was orphaned as he entered his 12th year. Another small example, Clinch (!) the Cancerian hotelkeeper expresses his love by running someone a bath.<br />
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You will find yourself agreeing and disagreeing with how Catton has represented the signs. She seems to have much more sympathy with some. Poor Leo gets a really bum character reference and Capricorn seems a little unlikely, but Pisces as a preacher is perfection and the young Taurean banker (naturlich) rings true. These are not complete expressions of each sign, that would be beyond the scope of any book, but these are far deeper explorations of what each sign means in terms of psychology than you would get from a textbook. I couldn't help thinking of Linda Goodman's <i>Sun Signs</i> -- I bet that would make the Man Booker judges gag.<br />
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There is more to <i>The Luminaries </i>than the signs of the Zodiac though. The real actors in the tale are the planets. Venus and Mars are the baddies, with Venus emerging as one of the most thrilling wicked women in fiction in a long time. There must be fist fights in Hollywood over who gets to play Lydia Wells, madam, owner of a gambling den and manipulator of men, in short the dark side of Venus. The book will surely be made into a brilliant miniseries. The two kings, Jupiter, a pelican, and Saturn, a jailer, vie for power.<br />
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But the action, it transpires, around <b>the luminaries</b> -- the Sun and the Moon. I don't want to give away any of the plot because it's too good to spoil, but there's no doubt that understanding the astrology makes it much easier to keep all 19 characters plus one Crosbie Wells (aka Terra Firma) in your head.<br />
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How does the story begin? With <b>the arrival of Mercury</b> after a long journey, of course, and the telling of tales around a hearth.<br />
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<i>*A note on these charts. They are backwards, which is not especially helpful. There are reasons for this choice, I'm sure, but it does seem a bit perverse.</i><br />
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<b>Use this link to buy the book and help fund The Oxford Astrologer.</b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-23259664512746566192014-05-05T20:41:00.001+01:002014-05-05T20:41:27.908+01:00May Horoscopes<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9UJqLoRrGHV7njpDtZ0MGIXF_wF_ynF_nNvGK6CUJleOAtkH8YVx1sO0AvpSxg6IeJlU0AhnF5bkjGiG4zoHJjB_gI_dOqKszkInaDKyydCxkw6VPDlhWAUTJAPeWdIWMbIJL8B26TKV/s1600/pierre-auguste-renoir-poppy-field-1343749531_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9UJqLoRrGHV7njpDtZ0MGIXF_wF_ynF_nNvGK6CUJleOAtkH8YVx1sO0AvpSxg6IeJlU0AhnF5bkjGiG4zoHJjB_gI_dOqKszkInaDKyydCxkw6VPDlhWAUTJAPeWdIWMbIJL8B26TKV/s1600/pierre-auguste-renoir-poppy-field-1343749531_b.jpg" height="153" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Renoir. Poppy Field.</td></tr>
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<b>This month's horoscopes are short and sweet as the month of May itself. But it is all rather passionate...</b><br />
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<b>Click<a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/p/monthly-horoscope.html"> here</a> to read them.</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-1562010529054390832014-04-16T01:13:00.000+01:002014-04-16T08:07:04.367+01:00Easter Break<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ9SLxVHu8QDmQ5sDVJwKEHxyqbyibrxlO3W1_1HiQUC5_JwiRhTK40ZiB3LgoVBHy87qoh8GFcU5g4gSP6tXtIscqu6x9HeQEWTlmbJvijZlBLbj7b8VgRZcTlk0Qi0ayDXjiqgAOC6gy/s1600/Big-Bunny-Vintage-Image-GraphicsFairy-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ9SLxVHu8QDmQ5sDVJwKEHxyqbyibrxlO3W1_1HiQUC5_JwiRhTK40ZiB3LgoVBHy87qoh8GFcU5g4gSP6tXtIscqu6x9HeQEWTlmbJvijZlBLbj7b8VgRZcTlk0Qi0ayDXjiqgAOC6gy/s1600/Big-Bunny-Vintage-Image-GraphicsFairy-1.jpg" height="320" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This rabbit is from the <a href="ttp://www.backgroundfairy.com/2012/03/digital-scrap-easter-bunny.html">Graphics Fairy</a>.</td></tr>
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The Oxford Astrologer is taking a break until May 5.<br />
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In other words, I'm going on an electronics-free holiday. (This eclipse took place in my third house of communications.) The May horoscopes will go up late, but they will be back fresher, stronger and full of ozone.<br />
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Meanwhile,<a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Uranus-Pluto%20square"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"> here </span></a>are some previous posts on the <b>Uranus-Pluto square.</b><br />
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And <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eclipse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">here</span></a> are some useful posts on <b>eclipses. </b><br />
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I wish all of you a happy and safe Easter-tide.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-71950104824774938632014-04-15T13:39:00.000+01:002014-04-15T22:44:55.132+01:00The Lord of Wealth: Pluto in Capricorn<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbX14yfJG5us8r9EikeY1aC6gW-DNobFmJB19nJgf3eceMRJHr3wWsrm97OxAa6NLNnw6PsIcJ_DPvZPGkXILPZe-6f7GXTfCTZINLmTdZs_K0VPsZ44geSmHSoz4pnYvQIB0VF8E7Yi0k/s1600/gate+of+hell+blake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbX14yfJG5us8r9EikeY1aC6gW-DNobFmJB19nJgf3eceMRJHr3wWsrm97OxAa6NLNnw6PsIcJ_DPvZPGkXILPZe-6f7GXTfCTZINLmTdZs_K0VPsZ44geSmHSoz4pnYvQIB0VF8E7Yi0k/s1600/gate+of+hell+blake.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enter Pluto's realm at your peril<br />
Dante and Virgil at the Gates of Hell by William Blake</td></tr>
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Three things are changing right now that will have an affect on every single citizen of this planet. They are <b>the global economy, the climate and power.</b><br />
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I'm writing this as the Lunar Eclipse in Libra completes, and Pluto, the planet of transformation appears to stand still in the sky. The Lord of the Underworld is "stationing retrograde" at 13°35 Capricorn.<br />
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Pluto will not move on a single minute until April 22, reversing then into 13°34. So<b> Pluto is in position</b> right now ready to face a challenge from <b>Jupiter on April 20, Uranus on April 21, and from Mars on April 22. </b>Come and get it...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7cCEPURe80Xw248-f3cqaAI3rjfadXAqf9ZDW_RrXSHQ90pQ8fqjBtqBCj_jYvSlncoFq9Sed8WL3MpW4YH6DpUcg7399nXESz4hXQwofVMHWrqRuTiGSsZbAS6zq0tnnlK1yVWR627p/s1600/Unknown-6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7cCEPURe80Xw248-f3cqaAI3rjfadXAqf9ZDW_RrXSHQ90pQ8fqjBtqBCj_jYvSlncoFq9Sed8WL3MpW4YH6DpUcg7399nXESz4hXQwofVMHWrqRuTiGSsZbAS6zq0tnnlK1yVWR627p/s1600/Unknown-6.jpeg" height="172" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ali Baba enters the cave of the 40 thieves. <br />
If you are brave and clever, <br />
you leave Pluto's realm with riches.<br />
<i>from Andrew Lang</i></td></tr>
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Pluto is associated with wealth, <b>with capital</b> -- not with money, that is the realm of Venus. <b>Pluto controls assets, Venus goes shopping. </b>Plouton means wealth in Greek, that's why we talk about rule by a wealthy elite as a plutocracy.<br />
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The capitalist system under which most of us live was born some time around 500 years ago in the early modern period, but it really started to kick with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution -- about 240 years ago. This fits roughly with cycle of the planet Pluto through Capricorn. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was during the 1770s and before that the 1520s.<br />
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Last time Pluto was in Capricorn some important switches in ownership of various portions of our globe took place. America won <b>independence</b>, but meanwhile in India and China, the <b>reverse was happening.</b><br />
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The British <b>East India Company</b> was <b>a private enterprise so powerful</b> that it had its own army, its own ports and eventually its own states in India. In 1772, Warren Hastings, a poor boy who had worked his way up through the ranks of the Company, became <b>the first Governor of Bengal</b>, appointed by the Crown. In other words what had been a private company became an arm of the British government that year. In 1773, the Company got a corner on opium grown in Bengal and began smuggling it to China. This led to a terrible epidemic of drug addiction in China and eventually China's forced entry into trade agreements with the West.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEO_f-VoPy_3FPlGj1N0dbMC2ngIpDCuyKJfy-GuuGNDU-HVKYELDBl9CEQeOYFBeOVOMCfyF70JhKNDeTznT9_i1a8gBtPfyPoGzJtHHvXfi0O9ELlGpqWnfl9EJUkFMqpneXxGjUza_/s1600/dodd_indiaman_dover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEO_f-VoPy_3FPlGj1N0dbMC2ngIpDCuyKJfy-GuuGNDU-HVKYELDBl9CEQeOYFBeOVOMCfyF70JhKNDeTznT9_i1a8gBtPfyPoGzJtHHvXfi0O9ELlGpqWnfl9EJUkFMqpneXxGjUza_/s1600/dodd_indiaman_dover.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Indiaman by Robert Dodd.</td></tr>
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India would be under the British yoke until 1947; China would be locked into trade agreements with the UK for more than a hundred years, and the consequent secession of territory lasted much longer.<br />
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So we see <b>a transnational corporation with more power than most governments</b> (sound familiar) <b>the loss of the American colony</b>, released the manpower and weaponry needed to take on India and China -- and, of course, <b>colonise Australia</b>, a process which also began under Pluto in Capricorn.<br />
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and China and India brought into the capitalist system. In short, a massive shift in global power took place at that time, which played out slowly over the next 200 years. In fact </div>
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Capitalism. Without the global trade created by imperialism, all the factories of the Industrial Revolution back in Manchester and Leeds and Birmingham would not have had enough raw materials or markets. The British Empire was a massive expansion of capitalism, a huge rocket: UK plc was born under Pluto in Capricorn.<br />
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<b>Pluto in Capricorn: watch what is happening to capitalism. </b>The banking crisis began as soon as Pluto went into Capricorn in 2008. But the bankers did not pay. In fact what we have seen is the greatest <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/03/31/140331crbo_books_cassidy?currentPage=all">concentration of wealth</a> in the hands of the fewest in more than a century in the <b>developed world.</b> This growing inequality has been happening since the 1980s, but when Pluto went into Capricorn it accelerated.<br />
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(A caveat here. You only have to travel a little to find that in many, many poorer countries things are better than they were in the 1980s: there is better health and a growing educated population.)<br />
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We have the Occupy movement (Uranus in Aries) to thank for familiarising all of us with the idea of <b>the "one-percent".</b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-a1PHKQmc8cT-bWyxOs_eZztRkEBVW0sZ9Rn6mhQ-Kn11e9HOjOvICbXhyphenhyphenmYYbBQDdP1TOq_2Y7ZLI6mvGERsw-BtQpkOKLzKA656HpPS3liMYl9GLrILfOpuR7eRBoS3tVzot97GCCP1/s1600/366px-Robida_-_Aladin_illustration_page1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-a1PHKQmc8cT-bWyxOs_eZztRkEBVW0sZ9Rn6mhQ-Kn11e9HOjOvICbXhyphenhyphenmYYbBQDdP1TOq_2Y7ZLI6mvGERsw-BtQpkOKLzKA656HpPS3liMYl9GLrILfOpuR7eRBoS3tVzot97GCCP1/s1600/366px-Robida_-_Aladin_illustration_page1.jpeg" height="320" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aladdin trapped underground. <br />
Albert Robida</td></tr>
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The French economist <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty">Thomas Piketty </a>has shown that <b>assets generate more money than labour</b>. In other words, owning a flat is going to earn you a better income than making something and selling it. Since the latter is the engine of traditional capitalism, this is a problem. Piketty's data is making waves with economists right now because it stands the usual model of capitalism on its side. If you just have stuff, you end up with a so-called <i>rentier</i> economy, like the one that led up to the French Revolution. Not good.<br />
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Now money equals power. One of the jobs of democratic government is to <b>stop the rich from having all the power</b>. There has to be a separation between political power and financial power. Pluto doesn't like that. Without good legislation and a decent court system, every time a wealthy person committed a crime, she would be able to buy her way out of jail. In other words, no law and order.<br />
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So we need Jupiter to ensure justice. <b>Right now Jupiter is in Cancer, t</b>he sign, among other things, of the mother country, patriotism, the nation<b>, opposing Pluto.</b><br />
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Now law and order is in part a social contract between the members of a community. We could never have enough policemen to stop us if we all decided to live lives of crime, so we all have to agree not to do that -- and expect some people to break that agreement. But what happens if the very people who are supposed to be preventing crime are, in fact, the criminals? We end up with a place run by gangsters, say Russia or Zimbabwe. All the power and all the money concentrated in the hands of a few families. Pluto again, and Pluto does also rule both crime and crime-busting.<br />
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So in this Cardinal Cross, we have Uranus, the spirit of individual freedom, Jupiter, the spirit of justice and Mars lining up against Pluto. How does Mars fit into this brew? Mars is currently in Libra, the sign of justice and law, fairness and equality. Although Mars is no match for Pluto in the long term, he can easily square up to him now -- and win. <b>Mars fights battles, Pluto fights wars. </b>Mars in Libra is strength in the service of the law and of fairness.<br />
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We need this Cardinal Cross to balance the power of Pluto in Capricorn.<br />
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<b>This fortnight between the two eclipses is special.</b> This era is special. What is happening now is so huge, it is likely only with hindsight that we will be able to see it clearly. In 200 years, an astrologer will be able to say. "That Cardinal Cross in April 2014 was a pivotal moment for capitalism because the consequences were thus and thus..."<br />
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Right now, it's the privilege of astrology to simply be able to feel the cogs changing.<br />
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<i>(A discussion of climate is for another post.)</i><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-49135047018988852122014-04-11T23:21:00.002+01:002014-04-11T23:21:36.362+01:00Astrology of Now: Taken At The Flood<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfuzp7lIy415qTOPaNN0LbJZUQDihBfr69dYu9LkEd4tjwcJDkLXookLQBkfcgb-WhnHC37-WqGII11YMahtsjZmorRAMs4PQBc0Oc3jVCBHitVf3nuCkzpoD_Yz_pZUCp_2xktW_yptU/s1600/440px-Francesco_Salviati_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfuzp7lIy415qTOPaNN0LbJZUQDihBfr69dYu9LkEd4tjwcJDkLXookLQBkfcgb-WhnHC37-WqGII11YMahtsjZmorRAMs4PQBc0Oc3jVCBHitVf3nuCkzpoD_Yz_pZUCp_2xktW_yptU/s1600/440px-Francesco_Salviati_005.jpg" height="400" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kairos, depicted by Francesco Salvati.</td></tr>
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<b>"There is a tide in the affairs of men.<br />Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;<br />Omitted, all the voyage of their life<br />Is bound in shallows and in miseries.<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">On such a full sea are we now afloat,</span><br />And we must take the current when it serves,<br />Or lose our ventures."</b><div>
--- Brutus in Shakespeare's <i>Julius Caesar</i></div>
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<br />According to the Greeks there were two types of time: Kairos and Chronos. The latter: the boring hours and minutes and seconds that we know, the days ticking past in an orderly fashion. The former describes the quality of time, the ripe moment, opportunity.</div>
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Chronos is Father Time, an old man, stooped over a stick. In astrology, he is Saturn.</div>
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Kairos is quite another matter, depicted as a runner with a ridiculously long forelock. Kairos races towards you, you have to pounce, ready to grab that flowing forelock as he flies by, because if you miss the moment, you find that the back of his head his bald, smooth as a billiard ball. There's nothing to grab hold of.</div>
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Sometimes, the Kairos moment is obvious. Everything seems to work together to make a special opportunity flower. You miss the bus, you trip as you get on the wrong one, you look up into the eyes of a stranger and find that it's your true love. This really happened to a friend of mine, and reader, she married him. But if she had not said hello, Kairos would have run past her on his winged feet and the moment would have gone.</div>
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How many such moments have we all missed in our lives? Who knows. You get to a certain age, you'll have regrets. Maybe small ones -- I hope so. Or maybe big ones: usually why didn't I say yes? Or turn back just once? Or wait a moment?</div>
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One of the uses of astrology has always been to point out the times when Kairos is running towards you.</div>
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Right now, we have a spectacularly scary month -- two eclipses and violent Cardinal Cross at Easter -- the air is fizzing with electricity. Things look worrying on the world stage, but the fact is there's little most of us can do except pray that our leaders make some good decisions. However, in our own lives we have some free will. With planetary energies this powerful, there are bound to be opportunities.</div>
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If Kairos comes running towards you this month, grab his forelock and don't let go.</div>
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Of course, things went a bit pear-shaped for Brutus -- but at least he lived his destiny.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-17296770632921042212014-04-09T09:01:00.001+01:002014-04-10T10:18:00.409+01:00Enjoying Venus in Pisces<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHP5JibXkatFT6oF7j5feF4iBaEkU-4gKj3rCNgVKgud2_pzteygOd-9gHSuam4Hvsv5G854-N3t7x6o4mIKScTZe2E98QNLNDvgm3zJUBuDkBZtPJmW_xg3n4nSZDlINFavY7hiPtSHxd/s1600/ursula-andress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHP5JibXkatFT6oF7j5feF4iBaEkU-4gKj3rCNgVKgud2_pzteygOd-9gHSuam4Hvsv5G854-N3t7x6o4mIKScTZe2E98QNLNDvgm3zJUBuDkBZtPJmW_xg3n4nSZDlINFavY7hiPtSHxd/s1600/ursula-andress.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ursula Andress - Venus in Pisces.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #134f5c;">Since, apparently, the end of the world is upon us, it seems like a good time to indulge oneself a little. </span></b><br />
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<b>Venus – the planet of indulgence, luxury and lolling about on a chaise longue having one's toes oiled by light-fingered lovelies – has just slipped into Pisces, the sign where she is said to be exalted. Lolling does seem to be an exceptionally Piscean sort of non-activity...</b></span><br />
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<b><a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/ten-things-to-do-with-venus-in-pisces.html">Click here</a> for some suggestions that I made last time the goddess of love graced the sign of least resistance. </b></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-27173283982672590872014-04-09T08:48:00.001+01:002014-04-09T22:08:02.238+01:00Redux: What's Your Job On The Ship Of Life<div style="text-align: center;">
I thought it might be good to revisit this post about the uses of astrology. To read it <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/whats-your-job-on-ship-of-life.html">click here.</a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2TBZ8JqSYu6PPQQ28e11Ydd5lbHMjSBY4QPWY0kxtQ0m26NPjD8f1CfDxzQCSBMYQDUHDBSwOmZ_yCoLsvAyp-koIL_1mJzALVRCxehiI5l9YX0IiGPRZR71jsOc12gh32_EBiaxq2f2F/s1600/master-and-commander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2TBZ8JqSYu6PPQQ28e11Ydd5lbHMjSBY4QPWY0kxtQ0m26NPjD8f1CfDxzQCSBMYQDUHDBSwOmZ_yCoLsvAyp-koIL_1mJzALVRCxehiI5l9YX0IiGPRZR71jsOc12gh32_EBiaxq2f2F/s1600/master-and-commander.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you master and commander or ship's cook? Russell Crowe in <i>Master and Commander.</i></td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-34510368166785745572014-03-31T23:52:00.001+01:002014-03-31T23:52:42.394+01:00April Horoscopes<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ltv6ceJHbedZoIafih9cieErxG1bVsUp2quiESbeAUTpVHcDRIcc8MmkEOyK0OScN-zJSCJP2Sb2i6NNcl9s4gdUKcjIWCZmbQGLo1I_pGw0dStLJyu_g3lJT33cgSIo9uGlkpNfQeFt/s1600/Resurrection-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ltv6ceJHbedZoIafih9cieErxG1bVsUp2quiESbeAUTpVHcDRIcc8MmkEOyK0OScN-zJSCJP2Sb2i6NNcl9s4gdUKcjIWCZmbQGLo1I_pGw0dStLJyu_g3lJT33cgSIo9uGlkpNfQeFt/s1600/Resurrection-1.jpg" height="640" width="575" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Resurrection. Piero della Francesca</td></tr>
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Two eclipses and the Cardinal Grand Cross. That's quite enough drama for one month surely. To read your horoscope <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/p/monthly-horoscope.html">click here.</a> Do read the long intro first this month because it explains a bit more about the Cardinal Cross and shows you how you can think about it for yourself.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-54250812124164343862014-03-29T09:32:00.000+00:002014-03-29T09:53:57.950+00:00A Myth To Ponder This New Moon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnq05ZUDx3nEyk11NgGqiC6ODtMrFIh08vNGiKlTRx04Go-ADTTbnOmP7L1Hrk1l7kRrzUVkwR5pv7qUaLLXWzDJifGkX2sbX_NWlZ13to6eghNp7A9Mup2s5ei-dwxv7nQU-G-u3zPfhI/s1600/1280px-Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnq05ZUDx3nEyk11NgGqiC6ODtMrFIh08vNGiKlTRx04Go-ADTTbnOmP7L1Hrk1l7kRrzUVkwR5pv7qUaLLXWzDJifGkX2sbX_NWlZ13to6eghNp7A9Mup2s5ei-dwxv7nQU-G-u3zPfhI/s1600/1280px-Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg" height="402" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Botticelli's Birth of Venus.</td></tr>
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Before time began, gods emerged from chaos. Uranus, the god of the sky, made love to the earth, Gaia, every night, and from their union were born giants and Titans, both hated by their father, who, consequently, imprisoned his children in the deepest depths of the earth. One, Saturn, escaped.<br />
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Gaia, the earth herself, begged Saturn to stop his father's insatiable desires, so she helped her son castrate his father. The operation was a success. From Uranus' testicles, cast into the sea, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, was born on a foaming wave.<br />
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<b>Saturn took over as top god. Time began.</b><br />
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<b>Tomorrow's New Moon is in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, itself the sign of beginnings. </b>It conjuncts old Uranus, a god outside time. But this same god, sires both love (Venus) and work (Saturn). These two planets are in a dynamic square this weekend. This would be a thrilling moment -- <b>despite everything</b> -- to begin something good.<br />
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To read a wonderful retelling of this tale, <a href="http://oxford-astrologer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/how-i-made-friends-with-saturn.html">click here.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-67725455724182616442014-03-26T13:43:00.002+00:002014-03-26T13:45:49.726+00:00Conscious Uncoupling: Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZF61dhDrEasKEK8ccTOPGxsp1PscZI3DO0xADPhjzZ2ndrWkJ9RIJGPUj69NeQuSJSv2Y9bxzTrUm_yK85gf5qu15vRdtszTpPw2ttxNDSkGgSINOXxqdlvpt81YSesIflCBu80Q4JJV/s1600/anna-lea-merritt-1844-1930-love-locked-out-1889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZF61dhDrEasKEK8ccTOPGxsp1PscZI3DO0xADPhjzZ2ndrWkJ9RIJGPUj69NeQuSJSv2Y9bxzTrUm_yK85gf5qu15vRdtszTpPw2ttxNDSkGgSINOXxqdlvpt81YSesIflCBu80Q4JJV/s1600/anna-lea-merritt-1844-1930-love-locked-out-1889.jpg" height="400" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love Locked Out -- Ann Lee Merrit</td></tr>
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<b>The rest of the world divorces, separates, splits up, breaks up, calls the lawyers, tears each others eyes out; film-star Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin "<a href="http://www.goop.com/journal/be/conscious-uncoupling">consciously uncouple".</a></b><br />
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<b>We may all roll our eyes at the (conscious or not) superiority of their announcement, but let's be sympathetic. Even for the wildly privileged, breaking up is never easy, especially when children are involved. </b><br />
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Paltrow has a focused, airy chart. Libra Sun, Gemini Moon and Pisces Rising. Those three certainly describe her public image well: an ethereal airy beauty (Libra) with a need to communicate hence the blog and the interviews (Gemini Moon) and Pisces Rising is extremely glamourous. Then she has the <b>chart rulers -- Neptune and Jupiter</b> -- sandwiching her MC: she was made to be in the public eye. There's more glamour in that blinging Venus in Leo working hard in the 6th house, and given a little extra frisson by a neat sextile from Uranus in the 8th house of sex. Paltrow loves work with Venus in that position but also receiving a tight sextile from Saturn.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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She is not a lazy person by any means, but with all those trines and sextiles you might think that life has been handed to her on a plate, so what drives her? What's she hungry for?<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_BTSi_FF-8_wLPhr2VUGwvY3sor3_b4uAWcVCpvhyphenhyphenxGXIrR5bLoSET157J_g58uPMeH6qkUSUxo9GPcg6-IVPglKbE2SBzTuhZA4uTdIkAR19oLloO62iWsrTAa1QwMoyrfv9_5qmYrK/s1600/astro_2gw_427_gwyneth_paltrow_adb_hb.44087.3679.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_BTSi_FF-8_wLPhr2VUGwvY3sor3_b4uAWcVCpvhyphenhyphenxGXIrR5bLoSET157J_g58uPMeH6qkUSUxo9GPcg6-IVPglKbE2SBzTuhZA4uTdIkAR19oLloO62iWsrTAa1QwMoyrfv9_5qmYrK/s1600/astro_2gw_427_gwyneth_paltrow_adb_hb.44087.3679.gif" height="400" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Data from astrodatabank</td></tr>
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I'd make a guess that she's hungry for power (or influence). She's driven, not by the need for adulation or confirmation from an audience, but more by the desire to sway people. (Sun-Pluto conjunction and Part of Fortune (or Hunger) in the 8th house of hidden power.) Not very many actresses decide to have their own website to expound their opinions on how we should live -- that's Martha Stewart territory.<br />
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With all those planets in the seventh -- notably the Sun-Pluto conjunction -- she actually finds her identity through other people, but that is on a one to one basis, not as a "star".<br />
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So when she met Chris Martin (just after the death of her father) it must have felt a little like coming home. He reflected her back at herself. His silvery Pisces Sun is close to her ascendant and exactly on his own descendant. He too finds his identity through his personal interactions. His <b>Sun is at the point of a powerful yod</b> -- quincunxes from Pluto and Saturn, power and work (I think you can literally see this yod at work in the videos, many of which feature Martin walking towards the camera so the lines of perspective hit him in a quincunx). But the Sun's position there on the descendant makes him an ideal partner, a team player, better together. What is more, Martin and Paltrow have an exact trine between their fiery Venuses. This means they get along like a house on fire; they like each other.<br />
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So they both have Sun-Pluto aspects, and they also both have Moon-Saturn conjunctions. This can be quite depressive. Paltrow did have postnatal depression apparently. But it also give a degree of seriousness about emotions and commitment that tends to make marriages stick.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjWvRQkeBtVEd6DdKnR5o5wvPWqWlqo8Yn4cWjfU4WH2XApxrzn0PNJnz8rX7v7fvxk784b3-a62KwryXYRYSi68hb_e0Jybf6hxiLGDDBE_TeQUdfny_2UBq2RTqUsbGRY9kxDVAFDG2/s1600/astro_2gw_428_chris_martin_hb.47519.41361.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjWvRQkeBtVEd6DdKnR5o5wvPWqWlqo8Yn4cWjfU4WH2XApxrzn0PNJnz8rX7v7fvxk784b3-a62KwryXYRYSi68hb_e0Jybf6hxiLGDDBE_TeQUdfny_2UBq2RTqUsbGRY9kxDVAFDG2/s1600/astro_2gw_428_chris_martin_hb.47519.41361.gif" height="400" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Data from astrotheme</td></tr>
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There must be many temptations in Hollywood and clearly there are third or even fourth parties involved in this break up. It's not about uncoupling, but recoupling. Paltrow's Libra Sun does not do single.<br />
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The phrase "conscious uncoupling" is, of course, silly. It's pretentious and it's weird. When we talk about two humans coupling,we mean sex. So to uncouple means to disengage from sexual congress. To call it conscious implies that for the rest of us unevolved souls, divorce is done in a fog of unknowing.<br />
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So why the reference -- unconscious, we suppose -- to sex? Well, there's Pluto, of course, so active in both charts. And then there's Ceres, the planet of plenty. She plays an important role in Paltrow's chart right in the middle of that Libra stellium. Ceres is about food and nourishment. In this chart, she conjuncts Mercury, the planet of communications, so it's no wonder that Paltrow has written so much about food. In fact, she probably puts more emotional energy into this than she does into acting. Her Gemini Moon-Saturn trines the Ceres-Mercury conjunction. She also nurtures to feel stable. Creating her own family must have been very important for her, specifically having babies.<br />
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The person with whom we have children may not be the love of our lives. Sometimes the purpose of a relationship is the offspring. Martin's Ceres is at 8° Libra, nestled right in with Paltrow's stellium. Having children was an essential part of this relationship. This is the part that endures for both parties. Both Ceres are in aspect to the Moon-Saturns: emotional stability.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4JvhNYC_D8KJPWrWQpMixsZwrI3uZMjKMiOUFL0FN25Wgcy6PZgphE7_gqIegQj14owDPnHM9kXi0fz5EMNgG-bGh4rwnaY1ifXTfZ9_S5jI-h9AyPiNbG2twI9CGjg-ivqCPI1cbF9b/s1600/astro_621gw_428_427_chris_martin_gwyneth_paltrow_adb_hb.47645.47878.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4JvhNYC_D8KJPWrWQpMixsZwrI3uZMjKMiOUFL0FN25Wgcy6PZgphE7_gqIegQj14owDPnHM9kXi0fz5EMNgG-bGh4rwnaY1ifXTfZ9_S5jI-h9AyPiNbG2twI9CGjg-ivqCPI1cbF9b/s1600/astro_621gw_428_427_chris_martin_gwyneth_paltrow_adb_hb.47645.47878.gif" height="400" width="271" /></a></div>
The product of coupling is children. Children made: coupling over. Ceres is the goddess of agriculture: dead practical.<br />
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It's interesting that their first child was called Apple: in some stories, Ceres is the goddess of orchards as well as the harvest.<br />
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Finally, take a look at the composite chart. It's enough to persuade anyone that composite charts work. Jupiter, exalted, in Pisces on the MC: a glamourous couple. Jupiter loves itself in Pisces, so a self-regarding glamourous couple. It is exactly on Martin's Sun, so the relationship made him famous -- he was reasonably well known already -- but marrying into the Paltrow dynasty took him to super-celeb status.<br />
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Juno, the marriage asteroid, is in Scorpio in the 6th house of work, so it looks like the marriage quickly became a job of work. In the natal charts, both have Juno in Scorpio -- a pretty serious placement -- but as far apart as can be.<br />
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The Moon-Saturn moves to Cancer here, the sign of family, so we have repeated testimony of the importance of children. Pluto-Ceres conjunct on the 5th house cusp, the house of children. Venus in the first, again a lovely-looking pair, and opposite the Sun, a good testimony for love. The angles are mutable though, so you might guess that the relationship was part of a process for both of them, rather than the end of a fairytale.<br />
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Oh and a quick word on the transits. Clearly this is just the announcement of the break up, so we have Mercury, the planet of communications, going across the top of their joint chart. Mars, the planet of action, is retrograde in Paltrow's sun sign, Libra, the sign of marriage. This is a good time to unpick a marriage.<br />
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Chiron, the planet of pain, has been hovering around poor Christ Martin's Sun for around a year already, and it's just burst that Jupiter balloon at the composite MC. But Chironic misery is fuel for Coldplay. In Martin's chart it's at 28° Aries, fiery and motivated (and at an odd but exact angle to Juno, the marriage asteroid), so he's got some good material out of this.<br />
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Chiron has already passed Paltrow's ascendant, so you can believe her when she says she's sad, and Neptune is there now too, which often brings grief. She must be grieving for what might have been, but that will all be swept away now as she integrates this difficult energy. Once she has let her silvery fish go, she will have to try to hold that energy in her own heart and make it part of herself.<br />
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Both parties may find the pain of this break up strangely inspiring.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7956743793478887624.post-57612052406307376922014-03-25T09:47:00.003+00:002014-03-25T09:48:14.466+00:00Seize The Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFeHJ9j1jke-ONBqO2Hp4gXWq3NIusjEwitx9lLwWbc_VSRfj0VVFmchp0tA4k23XaeQp_2-o8s4oO_x4ZoK6XqGG1cv4u_sgzhJFUUZzzg1b6j2ZnImt-U7DRC4RkYm6SeChuf7WbXLN/s1600/a-declaration-1883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFeHJ9j1jke-ONBqO2Hp4gXWq3NIusjEwitx9lLwWbc_VSRfj0VVFmchp0tA4k23XaeQp_2-o8s4oO_x4ZoK6XqGG1cv4u_sgzhJFUUZzzg1b6j2ZnImt-U7DRC4RkYm6SeChuf7WbXLN/s1600/a-declaration-1883.jpg" height="293" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Declaration by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">Don't ask to know what is forbidden, </span></span>Leuconoë: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">what </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">end </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">the gods have assigned to you, or to me. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">Don't mess </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">Babylonian numbers. Better to let happen what will happen. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Jupiter may allot you many more winters -- or perhaps this very one, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">which breaks the Tyrrhenian </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">Sea on those rough rocks, is your last.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">Be wise, drink wine, trim your hopes to fit this short life;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">while we chitchat</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">, envious time runs away</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">; </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">so seize this day, tomorrow may never come.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Odes_1.11">Horace's Ode 1.11</a>, a loose translation with a nod to Louis Macneice and <a href="http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/horace-ode-111-from-latin.html">AZ Foreman</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;">One of the misuses of astrology is as a distraction from living, as Horace so eloquently explains. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">But the use of astrology is to enrich our hours and days, to help us to choose those moments that are most ripe for plucking, and to savour the fruits of time when they are plucked.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f4549;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6