Wednesday 1 February 2017

^Challenges Met Successfully^

Moon in Aries

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues   * |

until 6:41a PT | 9:41a ET | 2:41p UT   **

There is a lot of strength, and a lot of wacky energy going in directions hard to control. We want freedom from anything and everything; but need to remember that real freedom is based on respect for the rights and needs of other human beings; otherwise it is lost into un-freedom---bondage---because of the repercussions of karmic law.

It is wise to remember that we are judged not only according to how we judge others but according to how we judge ourselves. (Hmm, that seems relevant considering that a new Supreme Court "judge" or justice has been nominated and needs to be approved by the Senate.) In other words, judging others harshly means we will be judged harshly; judging ourselves harshly means we may gain divine grace to help us overcome the faults we have discerned in ourselves.

Discussions with people are important and helpful, whether directly in ordinary conversation, on the Internet, or over the phone. People are basically friendly and good so we need to recognize that rather than wilt away into an absence from human interaction. If we are really strong and free within ourselves, that strength and freedom will not be diminished when we interact with people honestly. Rather, it will be increased.

There is a need for interaction but also a need to be, and feel, safe at home. Privacy and social aliveness somehow meld or blend. You bring the world into yourself when you are truly yourself in your own domain.

Neighbors are not excluded from that private world because they are naturally ancillary to it when your attitude to them is correct. "Love your neighbor as yourself." If neighbors present problems, one can challenge them to cease being problematic if one does it with kindness. (Sometime this is just through prayer; sometimes through conversation and interaction.)

Late morning and afternoon could be a peak time for understanding and feeling who we are, where our current plans are headed, and how to further our goals intelligently. Later, we may get tangled in complications---unless we insist on knowing the Truth rather than subsiding into imaginations, suspicions, or a baseless dream-world. People find it hard to understand one another's thinking agendas and value-systems. 

There is a need to pull back, while being courteous. Ambitions are sustained by the universe when they contribute to the fulfillment of the universe! Still, at times they will be misunderstood or resented by some. We need to be exacting on ourselves in order to meet others' expectations, which is a way of expanding and fulfilling our own. But we cannot insist that our efforts will get recognition immediately.

{Wednesday}  ^Challenges Met Successfully^

Cosmic Piper

Message for Tuesday 31 January 2017

Tuesday 31 January 2017

^Talk to Walk^

Moon in Pisces-->Aries

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until forenoon Wednesday)   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 9:37a PT | 12:37p ET | 5:37p UT   * / |

until it enters Aries at 1:48p PT | 4:48p ET | 9:48p UT   ** |

People are losing their heads.

Partly it is because of the |difficult third| of this week, coinciding with the uproar over immigration policy. Partly it is because of the Monthly Directions (a method I am using more definitely now than ever before) which feature, focalized on the final days of January, sharp aspects emphasizing international affairs and money (the stock market was way down on Monday). Partly it is our old enemy Venus square Saturn, which always brings out anger, resentment, frustration, and disaffection. Disaffection is pretty much an excellent term for what happens. (Because we still have not learned how to respond to this aspect, which really demands from us a higher and less selfish form of love or caritas.)

Not only Muslim versus Christian but secular or atheist versus Christian (for some reason in the U. S. atheists despise Christians more than Muslims, although it is the Muslims with their Sharia laws that would have atheists stoned to death, not the Christians). 

Yes, people are losing their heads. The temporary immigration ban lasts only four months, and affects only a little more than a hundred individuals so far, but people are treating as the end of the world. Also it does not single out Muslims, as opponents lie, but only entrants from seven demarcated countries where terrorism is rife. Many other Muslim countries are not on that list. I am surprised to find myself on Trump's side on this one, but his order is being inaccurately reported, and criticized for wrong reasons. 

Meanwhile we would be smart to look to our personal individual lives and drop the pointless strife between varied religious or philosophic outlooks. That is going nowhere fast, my friends. Isn't mutual understanding and love taught in all of these traditions? Who walks that talk?

It appears that legal matters go well today and so perhaps the Supreme Court pick to be announced by the president will go over fairly well. 

The fertile garden grows more pleasing as the moon waxes.

In the house a tastefully furnished room has a candle on

A table in the center. Through the door in both directions tumble

Children of brown and black and white complexions. 

A map on the wall shows cameos of national types within

Their respective boundaries, the better to be exploited.

On the table, three gorgeous glasses of tempting wine.

A soldier looks away, armed for what he hopes is peace.

A man standing off on a rocky height, proud, feels the dark

Cloud behind his back as a threat, yet senses invisible

Rays of truth holding him strong against death. Can he know

When to send armed men and when to withhold them?

Where is the peace-war barometer? How will the children fare?

Will the soldier shun the wine and light the candle?

{Tuesday}  ^Talk to Walk^

Cosmic Piper

Message for Monday 30 January 2017

Monday 30 January 2017

~Enhanced Organization~

Moon in Pisces   **

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week begins at 1:16a PT | 4:16a ET | 9:16a UT  (until mid-morning Wednesday)  ** |

It is fascinating that President Trump's concern about making it easier for Christians persecuted in Muslim countries to immigrate to the U. S. is coming while Venus in Pisces (Christianity) is exactly square Saturn in Sagittarius (Islam). Anyway, for centuries (see Marc Edmund Jones's book on Horary Astrology) Arab countries have been considered Sagittarius-ruled, in a general way, and Christianity has been considered a Piscean religion (again in a very general way although many fervent Christians have no Pisces emphasis in their birth-charts).

As a Christian (or an esoteric Christian if you will) I have in fact been upset over the horrid persecution of Christians in Muslim nations, and over the flimsy, incomplete, half-hearted, never-outraged reporting of it in the media. One tends to believe that in fact the media of the U. S. are anti-Christian, in fact, I myself am convinced of that and have been for decades. So here is one case where I agree with Trump, to some degree, on something; and I also agree on the evil of abortion. (Although I am not at all sure how much laws ought to restrict it. Some things which are wrong, such as smoking, have to be permitted legally.) And I believe that the organizers of the Women's March on Washington a week ago should not have banned Pro-Life women from the march, as they did. That was seriously wrong, and just serves to build "walls" between American citizens on either side of the question. 

Nor do I believe in unlimited immigration, nor has our or any country I know of been open to unlimited immigration in the past, and there have often been quotas on various nationalities or regions. Nor do I believe in Sharia law, nor do you, and most certainly not that it should be imposed on non-Muslims, but huge numbers, millions, of Muslims worldwide believe that non-Muslims in their countries ought to be subjected to their Sharia law. I would support a requirement that Muslims entering this country be required to sign a statement affirming that they do not wish to impose Sharia law on non-Muslims. Indeed, that would be totally contrary to the constitution of our nation and to our religious liberty.

So, I do like certain emphases of Donald Trump's agenda which seem to me just common sense. You know that I oppose him on large numbers of other matters, of course. 

The tie-ups of immigrants, or just returning green-card holders, at airports, are represented also by the squares of Venus (and also Mars within orb) to Saturn in Sagittarius, often the major sign indicating international travel. It is significant that all the concern and disagreement over immigration---not just in the U. S. but in Europe and elsewhere---is happening while Saturn is in Sagittarius (September 2015--December 2017). 

On Monday, serious matters are afoot during this |difficult third|. They are represented in Donald Trump's chart as challenges to his authority. 

For most of us, however, it will be straightening out business details, for one thing, and pulling information out of the dark into the light. It will be organizing files, data, or material. It will be budgeting realistically.

All that can be done with success and satisfaction.

{Monday} ~Enhanced Organization~

Cosmic Piper

Message for Saturday and Sunday 28-29 January, and Fortnight through February 3

Saturday 28 January 2017

Moon in Aquarius    ** 

Sunday 29 January 2017

Moon in Aquarius-->Pisces   **

/moon goes void-of-course at [9:53p(F) PT] | 0:53a ET | 5:53a UT  * /

until it enters Pisces at 8:11a PT | 11:11a ET | 4:11p UT   **

I am deciding that the square between Saturn and Venus is more intense and important than I had assumed.

People seem to be under a cloud: suffering and worrying, perhaps about interpersonal relations, perhaps about money, or both.

I have seen this in several individuals, in myself, and in people's faces on the street. (If you train yourself, you can be aware of mass moods determined by astrological aspects by just walking down a town or city street, or going into grocery stores, coffee shops, bars, or restaurants and observing the moods of people. It is not that hard.) 

So we have to cope with the "nobody loves me" side of Saturn and Venus in a square. Is it an illusion? Yes, ultimately, because Love according to philosophers since Plato, that is, the ones in the idealistic tradition, have said that Love is the foundation of everything, and so does Sri Aurobindo, the most brilliant and perfect of all Hindu teachers. (I say that after 60+ years of solid research.)

But it sure seems as if people reject us, or snub us, or give up on us.

So we are dealing with that. The aspect is exact within a degree on Friday and Saturday; then lessens, theoretically, although it remains in effect for the coming week.

What does this have to do with the "crowing of the Rooster" I celebrated in Friday's forecast?

It just means that our mood in terms of our relations with people is going to be less firm, more questionable, more morose, than our mood in connection with things we can do in the business world, or things we can do in our favorite pet projects. When we are alone we may feel we are "getting it" and ready to go out and conquer the world---because of the Bright Hermetic Epoch which began Friday along with the New Moon. But when we are with others, we may feel that they are somewhat alien to us or not in sympathy with our own hopes. 

It is a phase, and not something to be seriously upset about. People separate, and ignore one another, for various reasons, and sometimes we cannot determine why. That is hard to bear. But we have lived through it before, and we can live through it this time.

You are not a monster because someone seems to reject or ignore you.

On Saturday we have the trine of the moon with Jupiter and its sextiles with Saturn and Uranus to help us. Moods may improve over what they were on Friday.

On Sunday the moon in Pisces give us somewhat of a withdrawal phase, or a willingness to be alone although not unsympathetic to others. Since Luna is both in Pisces and close to Neptune, one's spiritual life is important and can be uplifting, reassuring.

Here is the forecast-meditation for the current Fortnight (of the dark or crescent moon) from January 19 to February 4:

[All of the changes in typeface, from bold to all caps, etc., have been forced upon my somehow by Gmail and Blogspot and I cannot change them. A very strange glitch.]

There is loyalty to enduring values, and to special individuals or groups who have been supportive in the past and deserve your support or attention in return. This has to do with career, but also with happy communication and friendship. There is uninhibited acting, without the restraints of convention. You can spend resources wisely to further group dimensions of joy and entertainment which open up human consciousness to shared freedom.

Making use of things in the light of one's own experience is both an achievement and a gift of the gods. They want to give us that gift this fortnight, through challenging us to maintain common sense when feeling deprived of anything, knowing that deprivation (of love or money) is the basis of pyramiding rewards which come through learning how to cope patiently. The limiting structures of reality are there for a reason, to benefit us even when we complain of them. So any absence of love or of money is just a clue that we can live without them (in the particular way we had hoped), to gain them again in some better way which we would not have thought of or planned. Giving some things up is a prelude to getting them back multiplied. Integrity is a thing that has to be learned by rising above temptation.

Inner consistency in one's own personality is enhanced through the world's cooperation. This you may expect in fullness if you just maintain your personal balance and psychological aliveness in the face of the things you are sensitive about. People share their wisdom and maturity. They give when the giving makes them aware of their competence, and that benefits you. Then you respond in kind. Friends surprisingly share their personalities with you, enriching you no matter how down you feel at first. 

[Blogspot is messing up the format here, of the text, so I cannot get it the right consistent size. I am not "shouting." They ought to apologize to us.] 

People are instinctively drawing together. Using your energies for your own well-being has to be done in subconscious alliance with others. You have had a great love in your past. She or he is in your consciousness, as someone whom you missed, or who is missing, and yet this does not feel sad or poignant so much as merely a transition phase. You are ready to use your initiative in fresh competition, to show your worth by following up individual ambitions. Some of this is not understood by the person you care about. Yet other friends, some perhaps new, will "get" what you are doing and feel exalted by it. Some of your energies will go into supporting a community spot of entertainment and joyous sharing.

I do not know why we have all-caps and a strange typeface for the following, but I cannot change it. It is some kind of glitch with Gmail and Blogspot. No matter what I do I cannot fix it. 

YOU ARE EMBELLISHING YOURSELF THROUGH RAPPORT WITH YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND WITH THOSE TO WHOM YOU ADHERE OR WHO ADHERE TO YOU. SOMETIMES THESE ARE SURPRISING. ESTHETICS IS IMPORTANT, REFINING YOUR PERSONALITY TO MAKE IT PLEASING, AND THEN YOU WILL BE NOTICED AND APPRECIATED. FRIENDSHIP IS INDEED ONE OF THE GREAT HUMAN VALUES. IT IS READY TO BURST OUT THROUGH YOUR SYMPATHY FOR OTHERS' EXPERIENCES. WHEN YOU ARE IN A PLACE (YOUR HOME, OTHERS' HOMES, A COMMUNITY CENTER) WHERE PEOPLE ARE WANTING TO RELAX AND HAVE FUN, YOU CONNECT WITH SOMEONE WONDERFUL. THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUS ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE ALL TEND TO BE IN A SERIOUS MOOD (NOT NEGLECTING RESPONSIBILITIES), AND YET THE CONNECTION, SHORT OR LONG, CAN BE HEAVENLY. 

THE WORD "ANTSY" SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR THE URANUS-JUPITER OPPOSITION WE ARE EXPERIENCING. IT REMAINS STRONG THIS FORTNIGHT. IT IS TENSION TO PURSUE THE BEST, AND ONE NEVER FEELS THAT ONE HAS PURSUED IT SUCCESSFULLY, BUT IS ALWAYS ON THE BRINK OF A BETTER WAY. THIS IS FLUIDITY IN SEARCH OF THE NOVEL OR THE FRESH. THIS CAN OPERATE THROUGH RECONCILIATIONS AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE EACH HIGHLY INDIVIDUALISTIC AND YET FIND THE "OTHER" ENHANCING THEIR INDIVIDUALISM. THIS HAS TO GO BOTH WAYS TO BE LASTING. PROVIDING A SERVICE IS MET BY SOMEONE PROVIDING A SERVICE FOR YOU. FRIENDS WEAR VEILS, AND YET AT MOMENTS OF INCANDESCENT JOY THERE IS LAUGHTER AND MUTUAL ACCEPTANCE. ALL WANT TO BE MASTERS OF THE WORLD, BUT SENSE THAT TO DO THAT THEY NEED TO ACCEPT THE OTHER'S MASTERY IN SOME REALM AS PART OF THE DEAL. IT CAN HAPPEN.

{Weekend of January 28-29, and Fortnight concluding February 3, 2017}

Cosmic Piper

Message for Friday 27 January 2017

Friday 27 January 2017

}Ready to Crow{

Moon in Capricorn-->Aquarius

/moon void-of-course

until it enters Aquarius at 0:38a PT | 3:38a ET | 8:38a UT

The beginning of a new Bright Hermetic Epoch (fast-forward Mercury cycle) at 8:58a PT | 11:58a ET | 4:58p UT (lasting until March 27)

The New Moon of Aquarius happens at 4:08p PT | 7:08p ET | 12:08a(Sa) UT

This is also the beginning of the Chinese New Year of the Rooster!

A lot is happening! Not only a new BHE, for the coming two months, but a New Moon and Chinese New Year. These follow close upon one another within an 8-hour period. 

So, what should I say, except:  We have a clean slate! 

That suits me, because I feel I need to relax tonight rather than labor over a daily report. The report for this Fortnight is available (posted last Friday). 

An article in the New York Times quotes a Chinese woman interviewed as saying "The rooster, the 10th year of the zodiac, is symbolic of hard work and diligence."  Yes, that fits with what I have read, and what I have seen in the Rooster best-known to me, who just two days ago wrote to 

me "I'm working as always. Always working............."  And we were not discussing the Rooster at all. 

So roll up your sleeves . . . 

But I'm sure the Rooster finds some time to amuse himself also. (No naughty jokes, please.)

Anyway, Happy New Year! 

{Monday}  {Ready to Crow}

Cosmic Crower

Message for Thursday 26 January 2017

Thursday 26 January 2017

\Control as Growing Confidence/

Moon in Capricorn   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 11:19p PT |  [2:29a(F) ET | 7:19a(F) UT]   ** /

It seems imperative to keep considering the birth-chart of Donald Trump. Like it or not, he is the president of the U. S. A., and one major astrologer, Marc Edmund Jones, believed that the destiny of a nation was elucidated not so much by its birth chart (such as July 4, 1776) as by the birth chart of its current chief executive officer. 

It should be a project for all serious American astrologers, not to make flippant or sarcastic comments about Trump's chart, and leave it at that, but to delve deeply into it and try to understand the man's thinking, motivations, predilections, and tendencies from a broad perspective. These reports are intended for everyone on planet Earth, insofar as I can deduce trends and significant implications from the daily positions and aspects, as well as the longer-term ones such as Fortnightly charts. At the same time, we cannot neglect or ignore the fact that we are in a very changeful and destiny-laden situation with an unusual man at the helm of the U. S. A. and we ought to try to comprehend what that means. 

We have already discussed Trump's rising sign, Leo, with Mars there; and his natal square between Neptune and Mercury (the confusion between facts and hopeful imaginations which can lead to what looks to be [and probably is] lying [if not extraordinary self-delusion]). We have looked at the amazingly accurate predictions and characterizations of his zodiacal moon position by two extraordinarily sharp 19th-century clairvoyants. 

Today, let's think about the fact that he has two planets in the sign Cancer, Venus and Saturn, very close to each other (conjoined). I do not want to demonize the sign Cancer. It produces some wonderful people. But it has a negative side, which can be positive if used in the right way. One of those negativities is over-protectiveness, or in other words, paranoia. An astrological friend long ago, when we were both aspiring astrologers in New York City, always called Cancer the sign of paranoia. Witness Donald Trump! Two of the ten planets used by most astrologers (I give little or no attention to asteroids or Chiron, etc.) in one sign means a very strong emphasis in that sign. Cancer rules the breast and the chest and its bones. That is, the shield protecting us. It is a defensive sign, often. I have been perplexed by the seeming conservatism of Cancer individuals. They want to preserve what is best from the past, and seem frightened of change---and sometimes of anything foreign or likely to upset their settled way of living. 

Now, here it comes:  The Wall! Mexicans are potentially drug-dealers or rapists; Muslims are potentially terrorists; let's keep them out!  Now no matter how the internationalist or "liberal" commentators spin this to mean racism, it has a certain plausibility, especially perhaps to Americans since our country (I do not entirely ignore the birth-charts of nations) is Cancer (July 4). We have natural protective walls, the two oceans, and cannot even imagine what it is like to be surrounded by hostile or dangerous nations, as the Europeans frequently have been, and Middle Easterners, Asians and Africans are at present. We are so lucky in our "natural protective walls" that we have become hysterical about the slightest infraction of them. And so Trump won his campaign to build a wall to the South, no matter how ridiculous that seemed to many. It struck home to the paranoia of a (partly) Cancer-ruled nation.

Venus in Cancer shows a love of one's homeland (and family). Saturn there is more dire: It shows a (perhaps) over-sensitiveness to dangers to one's homeland or family. Obama had Venus there, also; but not Saturn. Trump is the one with an extreme sensitiveness (a keyword of the planet Saturn) to borders, that is, protection from outsiders. He said today, "A nation without borders is not a nation." And that we need to "get back our borders"---just before he announced executive orders to build that wall.

I am often surprised that more astrologers do not read and study Paul Foster Case's book The Tarot, published in 1947 but as relevant today as it will be in 2147. The correlations of the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot to the 22 signs and planets (12 signs, 10 planets) are amazingly relevant in every way. Case's book is the classic on the subject. (He goes into even further detail in lessons issued by his group, The Builders of the Adytum.)

Here is some of what he says about Key 7 of the Major Arcana, The Chariot (or Charioteer), ruled by Cancer: It corresponds to the Hebrew letter Cheth, which "means a field, and the fence enclosing it. 'Fence' suggests enclosure, protection, defense; specific location; an area set apart for cultivation. It implies shielding, safeguard, refuge, safety. Thus it corresponds to the ideas represented by the words carapace and shell." Hence, it corresponds to the sign Cancer, the Crab. (Have you noticed something in Donald Trump that is a little crabby?!)

The Tarot picture of Key 7 actually shows a fence in the background. The charioteer wears a cuirass (defensive armor; breastplate). Dr. Case: "Cancer, the Crab, a cardinal, watery sign, is attributed to Cheth. Here we see the connection between the letter-name,"fence," and the crab's hard carapace." And here we see the connection between Donald Trump's two planets in Cancer and his defensive posture in regard to borders, immigration, and trade. 

Dr. Case: "In the background is a walled city. The wall is a stone fence." "The wall . . . is what most clearly establishes the correspondence of this trump to Cheth, the Fence."  And it appears that Donald Trump is not content with a symbolic wall of trade protections and immigration policies, but insists on an actual physical wall! 

It is fascinating. And I must say, before we judge too harshly, we must admit that when things are "written in the stars" and the Tarot so credibly, they have a meaning and purpose. I myself do not "get" Trump's paranoia and defensiveness and "America first!" mentality, but perhaps they have a place and function in overall history at the present time. They remind us that America is a Cancer country (with of course other signs of major importance in its horoscope) which considers itself unique (Trump's Uranus, planet of independence, is close to the U. S. Mars in Gemini). The Trump presidency must be fulfilling some purpose or other, even if it is to awaken forces and principles which oppose it or define it while defining themselves more perspicuously. We shall see.

Thursday:  At the risk of repetition, today is the last day of the Dark Hermetic Epoch, and the Bright one begins tomorrow (until March 27), which also happens to be a New Moon day. So today, although we have good plans and hopes for the coming two months, we may coast a bit toward those happy prospects, not feeling extremely pressured, and finding it relatively easy to keep up with necessities. 

Otherwise, there are mixed signals. Venus is square Saturn within less than a degree, the "nobody loves me" aspect, but I believe most of us are not feeling that as intensely this time around because Venus and Mars are coasting along together. Also, today Luna is sextile both planets and not afflicting Saturn, so we may be feeling that whatever the toils and travails of our loved one, we are solidly linked together in meeting the world's insults. Love has met its test, passed it, and feels triumphant, though in a quiet, calm, self-effacing manner. 

{Thursday} /Control as Growing Confidence\

Cosmic Piper

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Wednesday 25 January 2017

\Gradual Focalization/

Moon in Capricorn   ***

A forecast for this Fortnight from January 19 through February 3 was posted last Friday and is still available and applicable.

Critic’s Notebook: Everything Is a Rating for Trump   This comes from the New York Times on Tuesday. Remember what I posted yesterday, the reading from the 19th century on the position of Trump's moon in his birth-chart, 21 Sagittarius 22:

A May-pole with a crown of flowers at the top, and a man climbing to procure it.          Denotes one whose sole object in life is popularity, and in whose organism the love of approbation dominates. 

This is so true of Trump that it in itself ought to be enough to validate the insights of Charubel, or John Thomas, the 19th Century Welsh seer. "Everything is a rating for Trump" because he continues to climb that May-pole toward the crown of flowers, which seems ever out of his reach---or he grabs one crown but that is not enough, and he is still climbing to procure another. The crowds were bigger than the media reported! The photos were wrong! There was voter fraud and so I really won the popular vote, not just the electoral! I am going to get that crown of flowers and if the world says I can't the world is lying! 

It is getting rather wearisome.

"The president is playing with fire," says Roger Cohen. Yes, he has Leo rising, a fire sign, and Mars, the ruler of Aries, another fire sign, right there within three degrees of the ascendant, traditionally the most sensitive point of a horoscope. It is amazing how the assessments of savvy media writers about Trump sound as if they were taken from astrological textbooks. Then Cohen goes on to speak of his "banal belligerence." Of course belligerence has always been associated with Mars, the male planet, although there are other and higher significations of it, such as bravery and determination to defend one's loved ones. Let us hope Mr. Trump may tune in to those at some point. 

The "banality" in "banal belligerence" is not caused by Mars but by a misuse of Martian energy. 

Then:  David Leonhardt says that Trump displays "a shocking disregard for the truth." Astrologically, this can be traced to the natal square between Mercury and Neptune in his horoscope. This has always been considered by astrologers to indicate liars, or, if not that, then those who live by creating fantasies. Lying is allowed in fiction; then it is creativity. Likewise in poetry. Likewise in song-writing and drama. For such creative individuals, a square between Mercury and Neptune can give them an ability to live out their dreams and share those dreams with others to enrich their lives.

But when that aspect goes wrong, it is just what Leonhardt says, "a shocking disregard for the truth." Fantasies---"I got the largest crowd ever for an Inauguration!"---"I really did win the popular vote regardless of the numbers!"---are touted as realities, and there is no way to label this but self-delusion or else sheer untruth, that is, lying. If Trump is not self-deluded, he is a liar, and if he is not a liar, he is self-deluded. 

In either case, he cannot blame his horoscope, but should learn from that horoscope how to live out that aspect in a better way. Putting a creative spin on things is not the same as lying about them. He needs to learn the difference.

Wednesday:  Business which has a research component, and also a friendly component, is favored. The Old Moon is dying, as it were, so we may need to regenerate ourselves in silent contemplation or rest. Then the New Moon of late-afternoon Friday will coincide almost exactly with the beginning of a Bright Hermetic Epoch extending to March 27 (exactly two calendar months this time). So we may expect to see things becoming clearer, less confusing, and more susceptible to definite organization in two more days. Today is serious and yet basically friendly. It is analogous to the period of a bud becoming full and robust before starting to open. 

{Wednesday}   /Gradual Focalization\

Cosmic Piper

Message for Tuesday 24 January 2017

Tuesday 24 January 2017

\Tangles Tangle and Untangle in Friendliness/

Moon in Sagittarius-->Capricorn

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until forenoon Wednesday) ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 9:34a PT | 12:34p ET | 5:34p UT   * / |

until it enters Capricorn at 2:44p PT | 5:44p ET | 10:44p UT   ** |

Some may wonder at my use of the symbols for the 360 degrees of the zodiac arrived at by 19th century clairvoyants (one Italian, one Welsh). It looks like a superstition, perhaps, or at least highly questionable.

Like everything else in astrology, I use these symbols only after testing them extensively. A fourth set of symbols invented by a living astrologer does not work at all for me and so I reject it (although if it works for someone else, go for it.) Of course I try to be as objective as possible in judging. My natural preference would be for the Sabian Symbols created by Marc Edmund Jones and the psychic Elsie Wheeler. I knew Dr. Jones for a period of 20 years and corresponded with him throughout that period. Yet although his set of symbols would be my sentimental favorite, I do not find it to work as well in many situations, or if it does, it seems more obscure or "spiritual" in its implications. 

Here is a way for you yourself to test what your reaction to two of these sets of symbols might be.

Many years ago when I was a young astrologer in New York City a group of also-young students of astrology met monthly, usually in my apartment, to discuss our viewpoints and discoveries and yes, to have a party. I studied the horoscopes of all these individuals, about 10 or so, and looked up the symbols for the ten planets in their birth charts. I found that the planet which won out as the most obvious, with the Sabian Symbols (the only set I was using at that point), was the moon of our earth, Luna. I felt that if I put the symbols for the moon position of each individual in the group on slips of paper and asked the other members to try to choose which fit with which, they would be able to do so. I did not see the same clear correlations with the other nine planets commonly used in astrology (including the sun). (I did not use the ascendant because I find it hard to believe that every child is born while the attending physician or nurse holds a stop-watch to record the time of the first breath. In other words, birth-times, even if on birth certificates, are not likely to be exact to the minute, and since the ascendant moves to a new degree every four minutes, the chances of getting the exact birth degree on the ascendant are rather slim. By contrast, the moon is in one degree for two hours and so the chances are good that one has the correct degree for the moon's position.) 

Now, the test, or experiment: I will give you the symbols for the position of the moon in both Barack Obama's and Donald Trump's birth-charts (times of both have been well-vetted by researchers), in the two different systems from the 19th century which I believe to be most reliable. You can try to guess which symbols belong to Trump and which to Obama. (Looking ahead might spoil the experiment). 

First, from Charubel's symbols (the Welshman John Thomas, 1826-1908):

a.  A profile, with only one eye in view.    An active, sharp intellect; an exact or accurate observer of men and things. He would make a good detective; a practical mind; no mere theoriser.

b.  A May-pole with a crown of flowers at the top, and a man climbing to procure it.          Denotes one whose sole object in life is popularity, and in whose organism the love of approbation dominates. 

Which represents Trump, and which Obama? (I put them in the order determined by a coin-toss.)

Now, from Senior Borelli's symbols, with commentary by Sepharial (Walter Gorn Old, 1864-1929):  

c.  A man dressed like a Minister of State, of venerable and kindly aspect.   This degree will produce a person of kind and noble disposition; one who will occupy positions of trust, and, by his own merits, rise to eminence in his own sphere of work. It is a degree of Dignity. 

d.  Two arrows crossed.   This is the symbol of an aggressive spirit, a mind given over to contention and strife, and a soul that is set against the current of public feeling and opinion. Such an one will run counter to the established laws of social life, and be continually engaged in the pursuit of his own eccentricities. There is danger of litigation and a menace of a violent end. It is a degree of Strife. 

Which is Trump, and which Obama? (Again, the order of these two was determined by coin toss.) 

ANSWERS:  (Please do not read until you have guessed and marked your answers somehow):

a. and c. are the degrees of Obama's natal moon position, 3 Gemini 4 

b. and d. are the degrees of Trump's natal moon position, 21 Sagittarius 22.

How did you do? Or, rather, how do you think the two clairvoyants from another century did? 

To my mind, Borelli's symbols, with their interpretation (c. and d.) fit the two presidents perfectly. How could anyone miss guessing correctly?

The other two, Charubel's, a. and b., might seem a little more ambiguous. Yet when one thinks of Trump's obvious narcissism and his resentment that anyone would reject him, his insistence that he had more people at his inauguration than photographs recorded, for example, it's pretty obvious that the "one whose sole object in life is popularity" designation fits him (b.) As for climbing the Maypole: Well, he builds and climbs his own Tower! Whereas Obama's "active, sharp intellect" (a.) has always been noted. He seems unflappably brilliant in his speeches, press conferences and interviews. 

So now perhaps you can see why some of us admire, almost revere, and utilize these amazing symbols derived clairvoyantly so many decades ago.

Tuesday:  It's a contest of forces. We want to do the right thing (|challenging third of this week|) by people we care about, and in our jobs or careers. The seven-hour void-of-course period may make us feel helpless, or conflicted, or unable to make firm decisions. It could be a good time for rest, meditation, and reflection or prayer, at least before doing things, and those should be ordinary things rather than chancy ones. 

Let's remember that the Bright Hermetic Epoch does not begin until Friday this week (through March 26), so we are still floundering somewhat in the toils of catching up with things and reorganizing them. (Witness what is going on in Washington for a pretty clear example of that!) 

It seems there is a lot of friendliness, even when people are feeling challenged. We help one another through the challenges. 

{Tuesday}  /Tangles Tangle and Untangle in Friendliness\

Cosmic Piper

P. S. Some might wonder why the symbols given by the two clairvoyants are so different, and then of course the Sabian Symbols are another set which also "work" but are very much different. My answer is that each focuses on one facet of each degree, but that there are more facets which the other sets of symbols focus upon. For example, Donald Trump chases popularity up the Maypole, and he won it in the election, and in Celebrity Apprentice; he also represents the crossed arrows, as in "You are fired!" and of course all the endless squabbles and feuds he has started either on Twitter or in person. (And perhaps in international affairs; G*d save us from that.) The two sets of symbols complement rather than contradict each other. The Sabian symbols offer further light, in many cases, but for most of us two sets of these symbols are enough to contemplate without getting sidetracked or muddled. 

Message for Monday 23 January 2017

Monday 23 January 2017

^Blithe Hopes Challenged^

Moon in Sagittarius

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until mid-morning on Wednesday)   * |

People are feeling under much pressure, with the squares between Venus-Mars in Pisces and Saturn in Sagittarius continuing. Do people seem a little crazy? Off on tangents of their own? Thinking in ways which seem alien to you?

Mercury sextile Neptune gives spiritual insight, which is solace for woes.

Jupiter sextile Saturn shows that karma is working out reliably and wisely, no matter how it may look to us. The extremes on both sides of the political spectrum are getting wearisome, to say the least. The anger and battle is karma working out. When a chemical process is going on it looks frightening until it settles down and something new has been achieved in the test tube. 

A reader asked whether the beginning of the Trump reign was something like Aries after the Piscean rule of Barack Obama. That is, a point of beginning as in the zodiac.

I see what he meant. Obama was not Piscean in his horoscope, but his mild manner and quiet consideration for everyone was Piscean or Neptunian in some way. What makes sense with the Aries part of this question is that Donald Trump has Mars rising, within three degrees of the ascendant, which is the strongest place for it in any chart, and Mars is the ruler of Aries. He even used the color red not only in his caps but in his speech, "the red blood of patriots," etc. Mars of course is "the red planet." Yes, it is a more selfish and self-centered Administration, for sure.

The Saturn aspects, accentuated today because of the |challenging third of the week|, can make us lose faith in G*d or ourselves or both. Nothing seems to be working? God seems to be failing, or maybe doesn't care? Those are common questions and feelings during such times. But we still have the good aspects of the period I called Celebratory (not ended) to lean back on. There is plenty of hope. 

Venus moving closer to Mars by the day in Pisces is something like lovers feeling "It's us against the world." The world is Saturn, squaring both of them. Yet love survives and could grow stronger under the pressure, shorn perhaps of its more brutish or lustful side; deepened into caring or caritas. 

The following is derived from the symbolic degrees of the planets on this day (Monday):

In the field of corn standing high and ripe a girl

Lush and dashing as a cherry tree in bloom wanders;

She is thinking of far scenes, a voyage to be

Taken for harvesting and selling foreign goods.

She espies the moon shedding its light and grace

In early evening; and notes a fellow-wanderer gazing

At the stars. He seems like someone from her dreams

Of distant ancestors seeing clear to blue discovery.

They hear a rumble rolling, punctuated sharply;

An earthquake, or just thunder? Near the moon a

Flash of lightning cleaves the air, the mood,

Their hopes. Are their plans, their travels, doomed?

They had seen themselves in water as in mirrors

And loved themselves. Now who loves them?

{Monday} ^Blithe Hopes Challenged^

Cosmic Piper