Readings at New Age Fair

Because the readers are such popular feature, tickets to sign up for a reader are handed at on a first come, first serve basis. Many people arrive early just to get a ticket to sign up. Readings are set up in twenty minute blocks and are very reasonable. If you’ve been looking for a place to get a reading, but not sure what kind you would like, this is the place to come to choose and sample what is available.
So pull out your Blackberry or your Daytimer and make sure you don’t miss the date.

When: May 20, 2012
10 am to 4 pm
Where: The Keeney Memorial Center
200 Main Street
Old Wethersfield, CT

New Age Fair Speakers – Sunday, May 20, 2012

11:00 a.m. Neptune’ in the chart-How to make friends and use the energy on offer – Ruth Finizio
Do you ever feel unsure about reading a situation correctly. What is reliable, and what is trust-worthy? Neptunian energy is about supporting the development of non-traditional (ie. not prioritized by society) methods of gathering information. Tapping into the unconscious, and tapping into psychic energies, is not a replacement for rational thinking but is in tandem with rational thinking. You are invited to bring your chart with you.

Ruth Finizio is a lifetime student, and teacher, of both physics and metaphysics. She holds a B.S. in Physics, and M.S. in Mathematics and Computers, and MBA, and has completed the coursework on a Doctorate in Mathematics (Mathematical Physics). In addition to her scientific work, Mrs. Finizio is a meditation teacher and a consulting astrologer.

12:00 p.m. What Astrology Can Do for You – Alphee Lavoie
For over 46 years Alphee Lavoie has earned his reputation as a national and international MASTER ASTROLOGER. He Is a certified astrologer that has lectured on astrology all over the world. In 1977 he began The Astrological Institute of Research, the first astrology school in Connecticut and center for counseling with astrology. For almost half a century he has made his living exclusively from counseling and teaching astrology. He has made numerous appearances on local radio and network television as well as CNN, Bloomberg , The Hartford and Connecticut magazine. He also authored a column in the Hartford Courant. He has also appeared ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox news. For 12 years Alphee had a radio show on astrology at the University of Hartford.

1:00 p.m. Charles Edgarton – Past Life Regression
The discussion will range from the basic – what is reincarnation, through a common sense approach to why it only makes sense, to different methods of accessing past lives and examples of characters and lives from peoples’ past that have had direct bearing on their present. He will be open to questions and comments throughout his presentation.

Charlie first regressed over thirty years ago and has been regressing clients professionally since 2005. He has been through over 30 of his own past lives and has regressed over 100 people through theirs. He honed his practice under Roger Woolger and since 2003 maintains active training with Pat Walsh.

2:00 p.m. Aromatherapy for Body Mind and Spirit – Gayle Nogas
Explore the many ways of using some basic essential oils. Gain knowledge of how the oils affect the body, mind and spirit. We will discuss safety, blending, and creating.
Gayle Nogas, M.H; is the founder and proprietor of Gayle’s Thyme Herbal Apothecary in Enfield, CT. Gayle’s Thyme opened in 1995 as a small herb shop and has now grown in size carrying over 500 varieties of herbs, spices and teas, as well as essential oils, candles, incense, jewelry, metaphysical & spiritual supplies. Gayle has studied and taught classes in many aspects of herbalism for almost 25 years.

3:00 p.m. The Journey of the Fool: A Medieval Tarot Myth – Lisa Morrison
Have you ever wondered why there are Jokers in a regular deck of playing cards? Long before Poker, Black Jack and games of chance, there was the Journey of the Fool in the Tarot cards. You could experience the adventure in life by enacting the 22 Trump cards, starting with The Fool (card 0) and ending with the World (card 21). Come and see the mystery behind the Fool, and watch the story unfold. Participate in a creative storytelling, be the Fool who asks questions along the way or be the audience who lauds the decisions that are made. Either way prepare for a purely creative and spontaneous Tarot experience!

Lisa Morrison is Tarot and Rune reader who offers Goddess healings and Past Life facilitation. She frequently teaches classes on the Tarot, Mediterranean goddesses and Shamanism, Renaissance art, Medieval history and the Grail. Lisa studied and taught these subjects in Italy where she led tours to sacred sites in Tuscany and Veneto. She has traveled throughout the lands of the Mediterranean Sea. You can contact Lisa Morrison at 203-248-8767 or email CelticHorseWoman@live.com to request workshops, parties, readings and Goddess healing sessions.

Directions: Take I-91 to exit 26. Follow signs to Old Wethersfield Historical district. At the intersection of Main Street (flag pole), turn left. The hall is the third building down on left. Plenty of free parking in rear of building, on the street, and across the street behind the fire station. The fair is on the second floor.

The Astrological Society of Connecticut is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization; one of the largest and most active local astrological organizations in the United States, it is dedicated to educating people interested in astrology, sponsoring lectures, workshops, fund-raising fairs, and social activities.

Melanie Reinhart

It’s a large ball of dirty ice and only a temporary visitor to our solar system. Discovered by astronomy in 1977, in a lightning fast 10 years the first major astrology book was published on Chiron, and a new player in the astrological lexicon was born.

On Thursday, May 17, 2012 award winning astrologer Melanie Reinhart will lecture, titled A Centaur among Centaurs – Introducing Chiron for the Astrological Society of Connecticut at Keeney Cultural Center, 200 Main St., Wethersfield, CT at 7:00 PM.

Melanie will review the meaning of Chiron, with its astronomy and mythology. We will take a personal and inward view, considering how the energy and meaning of Chiron is reflected in our own lives and in our horoscope.

On Saturday May 19, 2012 Melanie will continue with her Chiron material in a workshop titled Healing Journey – Transits of Chiron from 10 AM to 5 PM, Fisk Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT.

In this workshop, Melanie will focus on the transits of Chiron, as well as the ‘Centaurs’ Pholus and Nessus, demonstrating the sometimes astonishing literalness of their astrological symbolism. In addition, the ancestral dimension of Chiron’s meaning along with suggestions about how to work with this important material.

Melanie Reinhart was born in Zimbabwe, whose night skies inspired her astrological vocation. She holds a B.A. in English, Music and Drama and has been a professional astrologer since 1975. She is a recipient of the prestigious Charles Harvey Award for ‘exceptional service to astrology’. Melanie has taught world-wide and maintains a busy consulting practice and runs her own program based in London. www.melaniereinhart.com

If you would like a single question answered on these pages, please send your birth date, birth place and birth time to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent answers to anything else than a specific question.

Hecate

(Astrology Explored)

note: play YouTube video at the end while you read

Dave Matthews sings:

The space between what’s wrong and right
Is where you’ll find me hiding, waiting for you
The space between your heart and mine
Is the space we’ll fill with time

Twenty-five years ago, I visited a friend who was doing quit a bit of channeling work. Halfway into the reading she said, “Ooh, this is quite unusual. Someone is coming through, and she is dressed all in black. She is saying that you came here to learn astrology. She is quite stern and serious. She is saying you need to learn astrology, or else!

It didn’t take me much prompting to get serious with my astrology studies, even with the “or else” ringing in my head whenever I started to slack on my studies even a second. Soon I found an astrologer giving weekly classes in a mid-level group who took me on with some reservation. Her reservations however didn’t last long.

Who is entity was, though, eluded me many years until I stumbled upon a Celtic goodess the Morrigan, and her earlier incarnations, one of them being Hekate.

Modern times has Hecate, the third of the goddess triad of the mystery religion, the Elysian mysteries as a crone, or hag associated with witchcraft. However, there is evidence that the ancient Greeks did not view Hecate as an old woman, but rather as a young maiden and her role was very different from that of a purveyor of magic.

The ancient role of Hecate is obscured by the very veil of mystery the congregants of the Elysian Rites spread over their practice. Only a few scrapes of the rituals remain in texts, though it appears to be a religion based the idea of resurrection and the return to the source of life.

Hecate, in the Greek myths attends to the wife of Pluto, Persephone, the daughter of the earth mother, Demeter. Persephone’s essential role is that as a bridge between life and death, spending half of the year in the underworld with her husband and half of the year on the earth with her mother.

Hekate assisted Demeter in her search for Persephone, guiding her through the night with flaming torches. After the mother-daughter reunion became she Persephone’s minister and companion in Haides.

Hecate’s twin flaming torches are said to be twin aspects of ever present Venus, as the morning star and evening star, the beginning and the end of the day.

But what is Hecate doing with these torches and why is she guiding goddesses in their quests and journeys? The answer to this question reveals Hecate’s essential nature.

In Greek statuary, Hecate’s image would be shown on panels in a three sided triangular column and placed at door posts and crossroads. Thus Hecate could watch the road in front of you, in back of you and the place in between front and back.

The places “between” were of special concern to the Greeks. In the story of Ulysses, he and his crew had to pass through the channel containing Scylla and Charybdis. Wikipedia tells us:

Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer; later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were regarded as a sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. According to Homer, Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait; he opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship in the whirlpool.

In traveling to the Underworld, the soul would first pass through and underground passage to encounter the River Styx, the dividing line between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Once a soul crossed the river, they would be forever bound to the realms of the dead, and their ultimate fate.

Hecate herself seems to a version of the Sumerian war goddess Innana, and later Istar, who were identified with the planet Venus. In Innana’s own story is an episode where she died in the halls of the Underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal and was resurrected by actions taken by other gods. Thus identified with a version of Venus, it is not so unusual for a dark aspect of Venus to be bearing the torches that associated with Venus.

With Persephone’s essential role is that as a bridge between life and death, spending half of the year in the underworld with her husband and half of the year on the earth with her mother it was Hecate’s specific task to act as a guide as Persephone journeys taking her through the places “in between”.

The place ‘between” then was a place of transition, the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Hecate, in bearing the torches of beginning and ending, was the guide through the place “in between”.

What then can we say about Hecate in our charts?

In astrology, Hecate is asteroid 100. To find the position of Hecate in your chart go to Serennu’s asteroid page and enter your chart info and the number of the asteroid.

In my personal chart Hekate is buried deep within my twelfth house, poised between my Mars in early degrees of Taurus and my Ascendant in late degrees of Taurus. Talk about your prophetic utterances! She is sextile my Moon in Pisces and squares my Sun/Chiron combination in Aquarius. This Sun/Chiron combo is opposite my Uranus is the marker in my chart for my profession as an astrologer. With Hecate in challenge aspect to this no wonder she said, “Or else!”

If you look up your Hekate, don’t get too worked up if you don’t find a direct connection with other planets in your chart. If I was counseling on Hekate’s position, I would look to see if she was making a conjunction or tight aspects to any personal planet and check out where she was by house. If nothing was going on currently but I saw that there was a transition coming on, I would look to her house position and the ruler of the house to see where you might get guidance on handling the transition.

Despite Hekate’s fearsome reputation, there is no need to fear her. If she is grim, it is because she’s walked places few mortals have tread. Nontheless, there is no better guide for the places “in between”.

If you would like a single question answered on these pages, please send your birth date, birth place and birth time to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent answers to anything else than a specific question.

The dramatic result that the moon appears larger in the sky than at other times during the year. However, while it is a great visual display, most modern astrologers typically don’t ascribe meaning to the size the moon appears to be in the sky.

One astrologer who does watch supermoons, Richard Nolle is in the fact the person who coined that term. This is what he tells us about them:

SuperMoons are noteworthy for their close association with extreme tidal forces working in what astrologers of old used to call the sublunary world: the atmosphere, crust and oceans of our home planet – including ourselves, of course. From extreme coastal tides to severe storms to powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the entire natural world surges and spasms under the sway of the SuperMoon alignment – within three days either way of the exact syzygy, as a general rule. SuperMoon solar eclipses tend to have a wider sphere of impact, extending roughly a week before and after the actual event. And other lunar extremes (of declination, for example) can extend the geocosmic stress window by a day or two here and there in any case.

The USGS tell us this about the sublunary world:

“The distance from the surface of the Earth to its center is 3,700 miles. The thickness of the ocean lithosphere or the relatively solid skin of the earth under oceans is only 41 miles, which in relative terms is much thinner than the skin of an apple.”

If you take a look at the USGS (United State Geological Survey) website, you’ll see that earthquakes of various magnitudes happen all the time. Only if there is dramatic loss of lives and property (and maybe if its a slow news day) will the media tell you about them.

Figuring out if there is going to be a news worthy event is the trick. Astrology depends on a date, time and a place to draw up charts. You can look up a date, but what are you going to do about time and place? For a time you could use sunrise, a standard convention in the astrology world when a time is not know. But place? What are you going to do for that?

You can start with a chart of 0 longitude, Greenwich, England to get a whiff of what’s up in the world. After you do that you can choose the capital of the world of what country interests you for further study and insert that in your chart.

I use the Astro*Carto*Graphy feature on my astrology program to draw up a map of where the planets fall “on the angles,” of the chart. These angles are the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Descendant and the IC, also known as the 4th house house cusp.

In my program, which is from Time Cycles Research, the lines are marked by the planet glyphs within triangles. A triangle pointing up is is a Midheaven line, down, the IC, right is the Ascendant, and left is the descendant.

Click to enlarge

In this map you’ll see the planetary lines and also circles in the background. These are recent earth quakes as reported by USGS. There are two things that strike me in this chart. First,the largest of these quakes happen near Mars lines. Second is how the cluster of earthquakes seems to group for the most part in the areas where planets cluster such as over Alaska.

Click to enlarge

1964: March 27: The Great Alaskan Earthquake and Tsunami, Alaska: 90% of the deaths in Alaska during the 1964 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis were due to the tsunamis; largest earthquake in North America and the second largest ever recorded (largest occurred in Chile in 1960); 9 deaths attributed to earthquake; 8.4 – 8.6 on the Richter Scale; 106 deaths due to tsunamis; 115 total deaths in Alaska; other resulting deaths: Newport, Oregon – 4; Crescent City, California – 11; Kalmath River, California – 1

It’s nearly the same, but this time, Uranus, the planet of the unexpected is there too.

Thin skinned earth is poised to shake, rattle and roll during this Supermoon period. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

If you would like a single question answered on these pages, please send your birth date, birth place and birth time to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent answers to anything else than a specific question.

Monthly Forecast

As a person with only one planet in fire in my chart, I understand very well this state of affairs. I’ve been taken to task on occasion for not being enthused enough, not enough of a cheerleader. Personally I’ve always wondered why this was so important. Put the impossible in front of me, I’ll get it done. It will be pragmatic, it will be logical, it will be sensible, but no one will be waving flags about what a wonderful job I’ve done. There is substance but little flash. People often underestimate me because I’m not running around telling people what I do. Sometimes they just take me granted.

So it you are wondering where the spark, the joie de vie is, it is here right now. But with the nice grand trine in earth sign, earth and water zodiac signs have all the power they need to get things done. Getting them off the couch to do it is another matter.

Others back the power play, but unfortunately that isn’t you dear Aries this month. You are always independent, Ram. However this month the people around you see your actions as down right rebellious. You wonder why people are taking things so seriously, giving you the smack down at every turn. Aren’t you just being wonderful you? Perhaps, but sometimes we’d rather have vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate. This is one of those times.

Oh look at you, Taurus with the planet of luck, Jupiter in your pocket, and the planet of power, Pluto standing behind you. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself. Don’t let old fears or old ideas hold you back. Hesitation will only rob you of a limited time offer for you to achieve your goals.



You make it look easy. What is that? Anything you want. Your brain is awhirl with exciting, groundbreaking ideas. You are so excited about them you can think of nothing else lending a focus you don’t normally have. Your friends and your bosses get on the Gem bandwagon, leaving other, more timid souls to grouse about your good luck. Just remember to slow down and speak slowly to the rest of us mere mortals so we can appreciate your genius in all its glory.

It’s a good thing that your home provides a sheltering nest, because you find the outside world a chaotic mess. You don’t understand why people have to rush around so or create so much drama. It’s important during this time that you don’t attempt to match the speed of light when carrying out your appointed rounds. If this means you are out of step with the pace of life so be it. You have other things to do rather than pretend you are a mere mortal. Meditate.

Should you take the shiny, exciting, but most likely temporary thing? Or should you keep to stable yet small yielding thing? Decisions! Decisions, dear Leo! Recognize that your head has been a bit up in the clouds of late, and you have uncharacteristically fumbled the ball at times lately. Normally sure of yourself is an unhappy state of affairs for you. Listen to the advice of good friends or an older mentor. They have your best interests at heart, even when you seem determined to against them yourself.

Your keen insights normally lead you to sound decisions, but this month you find a flaw in every plan and every person associated with them. Virgo always does this, but this month, thanks to our friends the planet of illusion, Neptune and the planet of wounds, Chiron, you are especially vulnerable to this major glitch in your personality. Does it help to know that the Universe absolutely supports every thing you do right now? It should, and if it doesn’t then it really is time to make that appointment with a good counselor.

It seems like everyone has their hands in the cookie jar but you. You are stuck with an on again off again relationship, and an assortment of physical maladies that defy diagnosis. The Universe wants you to rest your bones and reassess your situation, Libra. This is why you aren’t getting anywhere. Come the beginning of July you’ll be able to take action. Until then, alternate ice packs and heating pads on those sensitive areas, including that of your heart.

Everyday you ask this one question. What is really going on? For normal mortals this month confounds and confuses, but you see through the mists better than anyone. For this reason you can use those mists for your own benefit by finding some new hidy holes or to provide a stabilizing influence to those around you. Like the card The Hermit in the tarot deck only you understand the secrets of the human soul, and you can hold up the light for others to follow.

You have a date with destiny, that is, as long as you can get you head out from up your hind end. The problem with Sag is that you often let transient pleasures interfere with the big picture. This month the big picture involves putting your nose to the grindstone, not your latest glass of beer or lover. Does that seem harsh, Archer? It’s only for your own good. Rarely are there chances for this kind of advancement, so listen up. You’ll be glad you did.

You don’t need my advice. You’d hardly take it if you did. Everything is going so well, you need not listen to anyone else. Then why did you find yourself literally bumping into walls? Why are your bones aching in the morning before that first coffee? Ding, ding, ding! Capricorn, you’ve got to r-e-l-a-x. The world isn’t going to end without your 24-7 ministrations. It might actually breath a sign of relief. All that is required right now is that you eat right, get your 8 hours nightly and get some exercise. Loosen your grip on the joystick for your own sake.

Problems from the past rear their ghostly and ugly heads. You can’t seem to get past, “If only I did . . .” Forget about it, Waterbearer. What was, was. Your past has already been judged and there is nothing to do about that. Playing mind games with yourself won’t change the past and won’t enhance the future. So do this. Do something different. At the very least, you’ll have satisfied the Aquarian moral imperative of “Do it my way!”

There are two ways to go this month. You can slip into the general stream of humanity looking to improve its own lot in life or you can hide out. I’d opt for door number one, but that’s just me. However, should you choose to do so, you have marvelous opportunities to make new friends, new money and new powerful opportunities for change. Why then do you resist the light, Pisces? Oh, that is the question of our times, isn’t it?

If you would like a single question answered on these pages, please send your birth date, birth place and birth time to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent answers to anything else than a specific question.

Computer and car mishaps are common fodder for Mecury Rx high jinx, less often are accidents, unless of course it hooks up with other planets.

Eileen Nauman, medical astrologer wrote on her FB book a few weeks ago as Mercury was about to go direct:

THE DOWNSIDE of Mercury direct on 4.4 at 23 Pisces, Pluto retrograde at 9 Capricorn and Mars direct at 3 Virgo. I’ve already posted the “up” side of this combo of planets. Now, for the dark side. Hope it don’t come true, but astrology is a forecasting tool, so here goes. Accidents of all kinds and types are in the air from 4.2 through 4.16. With Mars in the mix, it is tendons, ligaments and muscle injuries. And these won’t be acute accidents. If you injure yourself in any way during this period, it can mean a long rehab and could turn chronic on you. Car/airplane accidents, tripping, falling, etc., are in the air for all signs.

Had I not already had my first accident a few days prior to her post I would have called her words prophetic. As it was I was dealing the consequences of a freak fall in my kitchen where I ended up dislocating my right shoulder and severely spraining my hamstring, and inner thigh muscle. Why mine happened earlier was that transiting Mercury hit my progressed Midheaven which is at 23 degrees of Pisces conj my prog moon at 22 degrees Pisces.

The progressed chart is not shown at the bottom. You’ll just have to take my word for it. But as you look at the chart below you’ll see that transiting Mercury, Uranus the planet of sudden accidents, ant the transiting sun are grouped together and making an inconjunct, the stress aspect to Mars Retrograde. Notice that this Mars is lined up with my Moon (my home) in Pisces (self inflicted injuries), with Chiron, the planet of wounds, sitting on it! And Chiron and Mars are in challenge aspect to my Saturn in Sagittarius. Yikes!

My left leg led the action as it was extended forward as I fell, twisting in a way that reminded me of the contortions of that poor girl tortured by demons in the Exorcist. My shoulder, dislocated previously 20 years prior, found the forward then backward motion of the fall too much to handle and I felt that sickening pain that only comes from a dislocation. When writers talk about “searing pain” it is an understatement. Fire runs up and down your body as your body desperately tells you something is wrong.

“Yikes!” pretty much conveyed what I was feeling at the time, though there was a bit of swearing and loud shouts at the time. Fortunately my son was still home and after a call to emergency services, where I hiked up onto a board and transported a very bumpy 4.5 miles to the our local hospital. More swearing (and apologies to the paramedics) ensued.

My own impressions of my injuries were confirmed by x-rays. I was sent home with a prescription for painkillers and instructions to call my doctor, who prescribed more pain killers a few days later leaving me to deal with the uncomfortable business of healing from these sprains. Astrology tells the tale of the various sprains. Saturn rules sprains, tendons, knees and knee caps. Sagittarius rules the thigh. But this tales doesn’t end here.

For one month I was recovering well, gaining back all my range of motion in my arm and my leg. Then, seemingly inexplicably, I fell again, this time in the living room.

Again the same forward twisting motion with the left leg, but this time, with more force and more dire consequences. The knee suffered a sprains to the ACL ligament, one of the bands on the inside of the knee that helps to hold the knee together and the quadriceps tendon at the top of the knee.

So why did this happen again? Notice that Mars now direct hits the position of retrograde Mars at the first accident drawing in all the elements of the first accident.

Darn it Mars, when I want to do again it has nothing to do accidents!

Photo published under a creative common license from User sportex as expliaed

Tied together by the harmonious energetic connection of a trine, the Sun, Mars and Pluto provide a powerful engine for progress for the next seven days especially for earth and water signs. Or you can space out and let life wash over you like a lovely dream. Your choice.

For those that don’t know, three planets tied together by trines is called a Grand Trine. Grand Trines happens in the same element, fire, air, earth or water. This time we have an earthy Grand Trine, so we tend to focus, especially if you have planets in the earth element, on those aspects of life that provide stability and comfort to our earth bodies.

Grand Trines are a blessing and a curse, because while you have all that power at hand for use, many of us succumb to the easy flow of energies to bask in the glow of earthly pleasures. I’m all for a good staycation but geez folks, PLUTO is part of the equation. The earth sections of our charts are now super charged with the nuclear power of the planet of transformation. What better time to effect change in areas of our chart that have resisted reformation? Let’s take a look at the house to look where you can make some nuclear powered changes, that is, if you can put down that candy bar.

To look at these delineations you would need a copy of your chart and find on which houses the earth signs fall. If you don’t have a copy of your chart you can go to Astrodienst and get one for free. Or you can consult your friendly neighborhood astrologer.

Houses One, Five and Nine–Those who are feeling restless and dissatisfied can find that creating something in the physical realm will help turn that around. Take a class in one of the creative arts, painting, or pottery or the like. There is nothing like getting your hands in the physical process to reconnect with life processes. Be wary of friends who make negative comments about your efforts. They don’t mean for their words to hurt, but they just don’t understand where it is you want to go.

Houses Two, Sixth and Ten –These are your money and work boxes. Your position is stronger than you think, so you can actually get a promotion, raise, or some other perk like a few extra vacation days. If you desire to find another job, do it and do it now! In fact, despite your best efforts to stay under the radar something surprising happens that brings you in the spotlight. Don’t shy away from the light. Everyone deserves their place in the sun.

Houses Three, Seven and Eleven–Tricky situations with children, siblings and in-laws require smoothing ruffled feathers. Though a calm, and logical approach is required to deal with these situations others are so consumed by their own drama that they will be upset with you for taking the high road. Don’t take the bait and you’ll come off as a shining star with others marveling at your patience and loving attitude.

Houses Four, Eight and Twelve You sense there is something percolating under the surface and there is! You struggle over home versus work issues, especially since the people you count on to help you choose this time to flake out. A mother/sibling issue becomes tense, and everyone wants to get into the middle of it. You clearly understand the issues involved, but no one wants to hear your views. Best to keep your opinions to yourself and lend calm support in this chaotic atmosphere.

Photo published under a Creative Commons License from user argonne as issued by Flicker.

ILLEGAL OPERATION UNDER SUSPENSION, IMPROPER USE MARKER PLATE, OPERATION UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLE, FAILURE TO WEAR SAFETY BELT — On April 19 at 6:58 p.m., Sansal Gokcek, 23, of Century Avenue, Bridgeport, was seen by an officer speeding while driving a Honda Accord on Randolph Road without wearing a seatbelt. His plate wasn’t registered to the car, the report says. Gokcek, who delivers pizza for Roberto’s Pizzaria, said he tried to register the car at DMV but couldn’t because his license was suspended. The next day, he was stopped on Saybrook Road for operation of an unregistered vehicle and while license is suspended and failure to wear seatbelt.

Some people just don’t learn their lesson, the above gentleman, a case in point.

While I can’t comment on Mr. Gokchek’s chart, the chart for the incident is telling.

Mars is at the top of the chart in the full light of day. The moon is in Aries, a common time for people to speed on the roads. Mercury representing the young man is conjunct Uranus. Uranus is the ruler (sponsor) of willful and stubborn Aquarius. The young man is going to do what he wants and doesn’t think the law applies to him. In this case, Mercury and Uranus applies in an inconjunct to Mars. Inconjuncts to Mars point to arrests. Why the car wasn’t towed being unregistered and uninsured right then and there was a function of the planet of the boned headed moves, Neptune in the zodiac sign of Pisces no less, opposite that Mars. Chiron sits there too revealing the defect of the original arrest. But that Mars was in Virgo, and Virgo, ruled by Mercury can be as smooth as a smooth talker as any Gemini or Sag. Supported by trines from Pluto and the Sun, this guy was let off easy, the first time.

This incident is oddly reminiscent of when in the original Star Wars, Obi-Wan used his mind bending skills with the Force to shut down the limited thinking skills of the Imperial Troopers holding them at a checkpoint.

Still, we wouldn’t want to label the brave constabulary of my local police force as clones, would we? Though the question remains, did they let this guy drive off in his car the first time?

And then people wonder why I am so nervous driving around my hometown.

Photo published under a Creative Commons granted by user bobsfever on Flickr.

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The New York Library Copy of the Gutenberg Bible

Uranus/Pluto Conjunction–Breaking the Vessel part 3 Its purchase price was 30 florins, which was three times the yearly salary of the average worker. In today’s dollars, it sold at about $95,000, more than a car, less than a house. And only about 150 to 180 copies were printed. Yet the mass production of the Holy Bible by Johannes Gutenberg was as revolutionary in how people received information as as the introduction of Facebook to the American Public.

Tracking down exact dates is impossible. The passage of time and the paucity of written records obscured what happen when. We know that Gutenberg had a working press with movable type in 1450. !450 is when Pluto and Uranus moved within ten degrees of each other in the zodiac sign of Leo. In March 1455, completed sets of 1272 unbound pages of the Bible were available for sale.

The march the Black Plague through Europe loosened the economic shackles of workers tied to the land, and eroded the faith of common and nobility alike in the power of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The social contract between the workers and the wealth holders was broken. Wages rose for workers squeezing the profits of the wealth holders. Social unrest fermented.

The gap between the rich and the poor widened as the elite closed ranks to protect their holdings and positions. Close-knit and exclusive guilds were organized by occupation to regulate workers and eliminate outside competition.

Attempts by the nobility and mercantile elite to legislate the wages and services of the peasantry and to protect their market monopolies led to violent revolts that were often ruthlessly suppressed. The French Jacquerie of 1358 was followed by the Florentine Ciompi Revolt in 1378 and the English Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Similar popular uprisings occurred in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Still, the ruling classes managed to maintain their power.

On the spiritual front, things weren’t looking good either:

During the 1300’s and 1400’s, many Christians lost faith in some of the teachings of the Catholic Church and its religious leadership. The Middle Ages is also referred to as the Age of Faith because it was a time when most members of European society believed not only in the Christian concept of God, but in the notion that the only way to salvation (going to heaven) was through the Catholic Church. This fact put the Church in a position of tremendous power, as few Europeans would dare doubt the institution that could ensure their eternal life, or more ominously, banish them to damnation

The most lucrative and controversial corrupt practice used to raise funds for the Church was the selling of indulgences. Developed during the 13th century, indulgences were based on the idea that a truly repentant sinner could work to reduce his or her years in purgatory. The notion was that the pope had control over a treasury of merit, or spiritual wealth, which could be dispensed to the faithful for the remission of sins. When a Christian was deemed to have sinned, he or she could confess the sin and perform good deeds, or pay a certain amount of money to the local church in place of doing standard penance, to work off time in purgatory. The practice of offering indulgences easily lent itself to abuse. Initially, repentant Christians who purchased indulgences would receive documents, signed personally by the pope, absolving the purchaser of his or her sins. In time, however, a person could buy what amounted to a form letter from any number of Church officials, who were usually attended by bankers in charge of calculating the proceeds. Although the Church never officially stated it, some clergy taught that all sins could be forgiven by indulgences, for yourself, for deceased family members, and even sins that you were planning to commit in the future.

Many Christians found these events most troubling and the notion of trusting the Church was a long forgotten idea. No longer was the Catholic Church seen as the being in the position as Protector of the Truth.

That the start of the practice of selling indulgences coincided with the time the Plague was ravaged Europe is telling. The ranks of the clergy were so depleted by the Plague that essential holy rites to cleanse the dying and dead of their sins could not be performed. Those that could afford it were forced to buy their heavenly reward from the the very church that promised obedience to the church would ensure entrance into heaven. This “double dipping” into the social contract corrupted it.

In the early centuries of the first millenium, the Catholic version of the bible, stitched together by committee, was meant to unify the various Christian churches, each practicing their own flavor of Christianity. Once, however, the composition of the bible was decided on, and the central authority of the Roman Church established, the book become the sole province of the clergy to control the message of the church. Though various attempts were made from 1000 CE to translate the bible in languages other than Latin, church official forbid making and owning such translations. Only monasteries hand scribed copies of the bibles, sealing the monopoly on the flow of information.

Particularly in the 1400s, learned churchmen disagreed about such fundamental issues as God’s sovereignty, the place of human effort in gaining salvation, and the effects of sin and grace on the human soul.

Who authorized a layman to print the Bible? What were the motivations behind the decision to print the bible? Where did Gutenberg get a rare copy of the bible to copy the text? These are the mysteries, perhaps Plutonian in nature, that surround this singular event in history. We know that Gutenberg was commissioned, as his early work on his press, to mass produce plenary indulgences, so he had some connections in the church that patronized his work. However, the names of any patrons are lost to history. Maybe, because of the trials of the age, some important cleric was angling to redeem heaven through introducing mass produced copies of God’s word to the faithful. We don’t know.

However, we know the effect. The mass production of the Bible for the first time made the complete bible available not just to the clergy but into the hands of the intellectuals and philosophers for study and discussion. This laid the groundwork of Reformation where the emphasis switched from total obedience to church authorities to criticism of and separation from church practices.

The chart below is an approximation of when Gutenberg’s started work on (1450) and completed first copies (1455) the bible were available for distribution. As such only the outer planets are close in position for the actual events.

Next–The American Experiment and The Breakdown of Puritanism

Photo of Gutenberg Bible published under a Creative Commons license as issued by Wikimedia.

Sadly, Mr. Frid recently passed on April 13, 2012 weeks before the scheduled release of Tim Burton’s remake film “Dark Shadows” based on the iconic character Frid brought to life.

Running after the daily soap operas their mothers watched, the half hour, Monday through Friday show captured a previously untapped audience. Up to this point the only programming that played to pre-teens and young teenagers were shows like American Bandstand. But this wasn’t how the show started out. The original premise of the series, that of a young woman with a mysterious past looking to discover the secrets of her life as the governess of a rich but reclusive Maine family, failed to capture the interest of the housewives of the day.

The campy daytime soap was a year old and struggling in the ratings in 1967 when series creator Dan Curtis took his daughter’s advice to “make it scarier.” He introduced Barnabas Collins, and the ratings took off.

World War II interrupted his studies at Hamilton’s McMaster University, and after serving in the Royal Canadian Navy he graduated in 1948. Frid attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London the next year and returned to Canada in the early 1950s.

After earning a master of fine arts in directing from Yale University’s drama school in 1957, he appeared in many classical regional and touring productions. Twice in the late 1950s he shared the stage with Katharine Hepburn.

In the beginning, his intentions had been to get a lot of acting experience in order to become a great drama professor. In 1967, he returned home to New York after a long national tour, planning to move to California and find a teaching position. But his agent called him to go on an audition for an ABC soap opera called Dark Shadows. The job would be for just a few weeks. Interested in the extra money for his move to California, he decided to go on the audition. Frid won the role of vampire Barnabas Collins.

The ratings, which had been near the cancellation point, shot up overnight, and Jonthan Frid became a household name and a national phenomenon. And the “few weeks of work” turned into four years.

Frid never quite understood why the baby boomers found his character so fascinating:

In 1970, 45-year-old Frid told Women’s Wear Daily, “I always feel like an ass being a teenage idol in a teeny-bopper magazine.”

Yet his character had a multi-dimensional complexity that was unusual for the television of that time:

Barnabas proved himself to be a man of contradictions many times. Although capable of great kindness and foresight, he could also be vindictive and sufficiently passionate to commit severe blunders for purely emotional reasons.

Barnabas Collins was horrified by the vampire monster within and driven by his human passions. In one sense this character mirrored the struggles of his young audience trying to make sense of a Mom and Apple Pie society that denied important rights to major segments of the population while engaged in a brutal war in a foreign land splayed across the nightly news.

Barnabas Collins was introduced to the American public on April 17, 1967 the episode starting at 4:00 PM.

Jonathan Frid was was born on December 2, 1924 in Hamiltion, Ontario, Canada, time of birth unknown.

At first glance, the Sagittarian Sun of Jonathan Frid seems to belie the dark character he came to play. Though Barnabas’ Sun was in Aries, trine by zodiac sign to Frid’s Sun, it was an Aries that was shadowed by placement in the eighth house of transformation. Looking a Frid’s chart, with its three planets in the zodiac sign of Sagittarius and a Grand Trine in fire signs one gets the sense a naturally sunny and fun loving disposition, with a love of words, drama and the spotlight. With his Mars in the zodiac sign of Pisces, he was an gentle man, reticent to display anger, and with a natural instinct to help, even against his own best interests.

What ties the myth to the man though is a strong association with the nodal axis of the character. The south node of the Barnabas character was in the Pluto ruled sign of Scorpio, while Barnabas’ eighth house sun was conjunct the North Node. This symbolism is rich with underworld and supernatural themes. Any point in Scorpio talks about the Plutonian propensity to be aware of how very thin is the veil of reality. Scorpios live with one foot in earth plane and the other in other dimensions. Trying to walk the earth while resonating with other realities does strange things to a soul. Aware that most other people do not experience life in this manner, they develop a crusty shell that attempts to hide the secret that makes them different. Scorpios think of themselves as guarded, but other people sensing there is more to the Scorpio may experience them as cold, withholding, or even deceitful. With Frid’s Venus and Saturn in the sign of Scorpio he certainly understood all about secrets and lies. He talks about the the character of Barnabas thus:

“Still, Barnabas, for all of his ‘oddities’, would never ‘fluff’ what he had to say. Hesitate, yes. After all, he had to use caution with every word he uttered. Remember, as a vampire his life was one long lie.”

Prior to Jonathan’s portrayal of Barnabas Collins, vampires were simply villains, agents of disruption and death.

Frid came to this role in midlife, during his Uranian Opposition. Amy Herring tells us about the Uranian Opposition:

You have come to roughly the middle of your life. In the cells of your body, you recognize this fact and are filled with a sense of urgency. . . we sense that we don’t have any more time to waste going in the wrong direction.

In Frid’s case, the Uranus that opposed his natal opposition was conjunct Pluto. Not only does this stress the Plutonian theme of his character, it also mirrored the unrest of the times, where the population at large sensed that “a big lie” stitched together the fabric of society. The Uranus/Pluto opposition signals dissatisfaction with the status quo. It accompanies dynamic changes in the social contract between the larger population and authority. While the audience held it breath waiting to see how Barnabas’ humanity held out against his destructive inner demons, we were also waiting to see how humanity at large held out against our own.

Photo published under a Creative Common’s license issued by Photobucket from the account of user monolithzero.