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.