Assange: Entire nations intercepted online (video interview)

In this interview conducted inside the Equadorian embassy, whistleblower Julian Assange reveals some disturbing facts about government spying on citizens on the Web. If you're a Facebook fan, you may wish to note his remarks about FB, a social networking site I left about two years ago because it gives me the creeps:

Yes, America was 'born' in 1776 with a problematic Mercry-Pluto opposition and the US government has developed ways of making full use of its surveillance obsessions!

A Note to FB users who read my blogs: Anyone who is tempted to tag me in a photo or mention me on FB--please refrain. For some reason, Stars Over Washington still gets referral links by way of FB though I've posted nothing there in about two years, therefore my previous content (which the site holds onto as if it belongs to Mr. Zuckerberg) should not be accessible to public view. Thanks, JC

11.29.12 Romney's lunch w Pres Obama: Neptune rising

How yummy! Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is invited to the White House today to lunch with President Obama and many reporters are wishing they could be flies on the wall during this super-private chow down and meeting!

Well, I'm no fly either but I do sashay into the use of Political Astrology now and then to uncover a few things not always seen with the naked eye, fly or otherwise.

Today at *12:30 pm est at the White House, the ascending sign and degree = 4Pis33 which, of course, brings up Fixed Star Fomalhaut (potentials: success through noble ideals; karma; magic; fame or infamy) along with Mr. Romney's natal Mars in Pisces followed by his n Mercury and Sun in murky Pisces.

Yet even closer to the luncheon Ascendant at 12:30 pm is President Obama's natal Chiron 5Pis19 Rx (in his n 1st house of Self; he's in the midst of his five-fer **Chiron Return, as you know--dates listed below) And with transiting Neptune @00Pis27 ('1Pis' = "A Public Market"), some acting and pretending may take place, along with Neptunian idealism and creativity--will fraud also be discussed? Is the Neptunian dish Oysters Rockefeller on the menu?

Well, my blogging time is brief this morning, so let's merely consider a few factors about today's Sun-Moon blend including what Charles and Suzi Harvey give as the blend's Image for Integration which seems to me to apply rather closely to the situation at hand. See what you think about this persuasive, idea-filled Fire-Air "live wire" combo of "bluster and bombast" (Sun Sign-Moon Sign:

As with yesterday's Lunar Eclipse, today is imprinted by a Sun Sagittarius-Moon Gemini blend denoting wit, intellectualism, irony, and sociability; a negative is spreading oneself too thin and not completing projects. Its Image for Integration reminds me of Republican charges against our Democratic president concerning his "redistribution of wealth" tendency, as they call it. And of course, this applies to the current 'fiscal cliff'/Bush-tax-cuts-expiring impasse now occurring in Washington DC as the clock inches nearer and nearer to January 1, 2013 12:00 est.

Sun Sag-Moon Gem: "Robin Hood as a young boy plays truant from school to go to his archery lesson, but ends up teaching his card tricks to his master."

Ha! Wonder what soup today's secretive lunch will begin with?

Oh, and by the way: the Moon's Sabian Symbol at 12:30 pm is quite descriptive of the White House table of plenty:

'20Gem' = "A Cafeteria"; keyword = SUPPLY.

Positive expression: a fullness of contribution and an effectiveness of requisition in all personal relationships;

Negative (unconscious/shadow side--jc): a chronic inability to make decisions or a hopelessly dilettante spirit. (Jones, The Sabian Symbol in Astrology.)

*My use of 12:30 pm est for setting up today's horoscope is based on hearing Richard Wolffe give it last evening on MSNBC as the time of today's White House lunch.

*President Obama's Chiron Return dates: May 21, 2011; June 27, 2011 Rx; Feb 26, 2012; Oct 19, 2012 Rx; Dec 10, 2012; natally, Chiron in mystical Pisces gives him a "knight in shining armour" glow which may "perform heroic deeds at great personal risk" (R. Nolle's Chiron.) May this include having a White House lunch with Mitt Romney?!

Update 1:50 pm: serving Mr. Romney Oysters Rockefeller might be too deliciously ironic if my theory that the Nov 6, 2012 election was about President Obama being a 'Rockefeller Democrat' vs Romney as a monarchic 'Rothschild Republican' is correct! jc

Horoscopes: 'Fiscal Cliff' w Full Moon Dec 28, 2012

A 'Fiscal Cliff' Resolution Around the December 28, 2012 Full Moon?

by Jude Cowell

A few days ago, Mother Jones published an enlightening article What's Happening: Fiscal Cliff Explained, in case you missed it or haven't been paying much attention to the end-of-2012 Political Theater performances about to continue on Capitol Hill.

As you know, it was Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke who coined the term "fiscal cliff" back in Summer 2011 during the last performances of America's debt and deficit crises which, thanks to the grandstanding gridlock acted out by Republicans and the Tea Party congressmen they hide behind--plus, their foils, the Democrats--our nation received its first-ever credit downgrade since records began to be kept in 1918. We can thank the GOP for that. Apparently Mr. Bernanke wished to spur Congress on to doing their jobs efficiently and stop the political-ideological stalemate but as we know, it didn't have that effect in 2011.

That this is a set up to force an unacceptable agenda upon the American people may be the case, and in fact, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr calls the "fiscal cliff" a "foolish austerity bomb" created by the US Congress with Democrats playing 'good cops' and Republicans starring as the 'bad cops'.

Now with the re-election of President Obama this November 6th, most Americans must pin hopes on his determination to protect our working class families while assuming that Congress will actually govern as per Capitol Hill tradition, yet who can say? The "fiscal cliff" (or, hill, slope, curve, whatever) won't actually take quick effect precisely at 12:00 am est on January 1, 2013, of course, but will soon become more obvious as the November 2011 sequestration cuts affect social programs, the Pentagon budget, and other programs--the dispensable and the indispensable alike--and lead us back into recession (aka, depression.) The tactics being used in Washington are like a slow austerity throttling of the US economy not unlike the European model if carried to extremes as 2013 proceeds.

Unless the White House ploy to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on January 1, 2013 @12:00 am est and then pass new tax cuts for the 99% after we slip slide into 2013 is an honest plan.

America's Militant Mars Must Cool His Heels

Of course, astrologers know that America's natal Geminian Mars (war, action, energy, initiative, police forces, etc) turned retrograde by progression in 2006 (in Libra) while Bush was 'manning the helm' and his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were in full swing and overtopping the national credit card, creating in large part our fiscal problems Now. The Rx period of our Mars will last approximately another 74 years--80 years all together--and it echoes the same Mars condition of Germany during their difficulties decades ago. You've probably noticed recent references by US pundits and journalists to the Weimar Republic (natal chart data given below), begun by the socialist revolution of 1918 which preceded by two decades Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s. (That's a second mention of 1918 in this post.)

Now political pundits on my TV say that even the GOP doesn't want sequestration to take effect for it would slash our military budget though I suspect it has as much to do with their share holding status in weapons companies and other war-profitting endeavors as it does maintaining America's hold on global territories and the natural resources and antiquities of other nations. Feel free to disagree, but there it is.

Horoscopes shown: January 1, 2013 12:00 am est ('Fiscal Cliff'/Tax Cuts Expire) and December 28, 2012's Full Moon

Before we consider the horoscope of the December Full Moon, let's view the later horoscope for January 1, 2013 at 12:00 am est, set for the Capitol Building. The chart's Midheaven @8Can16 (MC = The Goal; Aspirations) highlights the December 28, 2012 Full Moon, and I believe the Full Moon chart (below) shows most clearly the "fiscal cliff" potential and what is so far another congressional stalemate as a major YOD pattern (crisis; turning point; crossroads; special task; karmic opportunity) involving Jupiter Rx(planet of money, bankers, generals, professors, priests, beliefs, ideals, and ideologies); Jupiter also happens to conjoin US natal Uranus 8Gem55 placing both planets at apex in the YOD configuration with a Saturn-Pluto sextile at its base.

Since Full Moon phases bring culmination or fulfillment, perhaps the January 1, 2013 expiration (sunsetting) of the Bush tax cuts with tax increases for All, and the purposefully engineered "fiscal cliff" threat, may not be addressed by our barely functioning Congress until around December 28th or in the few days prior to New Year's Day 2013--or after. Our political thespians do like to keep We the People on the edge of cliffs of all kinds, don't they?

Actually, investing Jupiter doesn't perform his Direct Station (when financial matters can move forward) until January 30, 2013 @6Gem19 (in the foundational 4th house of the chart set for DC.) Tr Jupiter will again conjoin US n Uranus 8:55, a favorable time for politics, finances, and group endeavors (more on this transit, below.)

Image above: January 1, 2013 12:00 am est Capitol Building Washington DC; Hour of Mars; Mercury @00Cap57 (a Cardinal Point of Manifestation which spotlights Winter Solstice 2012 with Sun 00Cap00:00) disposits Jupiter and is out-of-bounds of the Earthly plane--plans beyond reason? Intellectual folk working alone? Unusual accomplishments? Unlawful trading? Journalists out of the loop? All, none, or other?

Below you see the chart of the December 28, 2012 Full Moon @7Can05 (conjunct Fixed Star Mirzam (The Announcer; rises before Sirius which you see in the 8th H of Finances, Credit, Debt, Shared Resources, and Transformation--its Cancer cusp indicates changes/fluctuations and the stock market may be very upset by then. Plus, the 8th cusp and the Full Moon are snugged within America's natal planets in Cancer: Venus, Jupiter, Sun (3--14 Cancer) which may show that eventually We the People will be pleased with the results of this latest manufactured embroilment on Capitol Hill--as long as upper class toffs begin paying more of a fair share. Markets may improve as well once the fiscal dust settles.)

Yet There's Trouble Before We Rest

Yes, it's an Hour of Mars, planet of conflict, and the ASC @8Sag33 brings up Royal Star Antares (quarrels, suspicions, violence) opposite Aldebaran (military leadership, courage, warmongering) which sets with Jupiter 8Gem07 Rx, tr Midas, tr Pan, and US natal Uranus--quite a fiscal and political pile-up. The December 2012 Full Moon is the Syzygy Moon (last lunation prior) of the January 1, 2013 'fiscal cliff' horoscope, shown above.

More Chart Details:

This Full Moon perfects at 5:21:10 am est; horoscope set for the Capitol Building Washington DC; Hour Mars (@1AQ52 Mars energizes US Inaugural Sun 00AQ+ or, in 2013: 1AQ+, 'the president'); Mars is in 2nd H of our National Treasury, Values, and Earning Ability indicating initiating action and a potential for conflict in these matters; chart-ruler Jupiter is weakened, his beneficence delayed in the preparatory 6th H @8Gem07 of Military and Police Service, Work, and Health, and conjoins by transit US n Uranus 8Gem55, an extended period of independent actions and thoughts when involvement in group endeavors or causes may bring gains as our personal networks expand.

Difficulties and adjustments come from a very close Sun-Jupiter inconjunct (1A01) showing potential for generosity to the point of wastefulness, rigid legalisms, relationship problems, and/or making promises that are hard if not impossible to keep (so typical of politicians and other Jupiterians.) Given Washington's purposefully engineered 'fiscal cliff' scenario, the 'promises' may relate to social programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

As you see, the Sun also applies to conjoin powerful, wealthy Pluto (2A06) (the power behind the throne) and forms a helpful sextile with authoritative Saturn (2A09.) The Sun-Pluto combo denotes policy changes foreign or domestic, influence coming from crime organizations and from plutocrats, extreme amounts of corruption, and/or the use of secret police to control others. A Sun-Saturn sextile shows a tendency to be careless over large expenditures and programs, yet uncompromisingly penny wise-pound foolish over smaller matters. Limits and boundaries are of prime concern with this sextile so Washington's usual overstepping tendencies may be held in check, at least for a while.

Yes, the pairing of Sun-Jupiter relates to our national reputation on the world stage, religious or philosophical concepts that tie our country to predetermined outcomes (congressional sequestration; the Norquist no-tax-increase pledge, disadvantageous trade deals, etc), and/or an executive leader battling the justice system of a nation (because of Election Day 2012 re-counts or fraud? Other?) This Full Moon casts a silvery reflection upon January 1, 2013 at 12:00 am est when the foolhardy, unaffordable 'Bush tax cuts' are set to expire (as originally set up in 2001) unless a lame duck session in December is used by the president in some way, or a deal is made to fight that fight in 2013 while extending in 2012 much-needed tax cuts for those with incomes under a certain amount such as $250,000 for a couple.

As you know, tax cut monies the Middle Class and workers receive are soon put back into the economy while additional funds for the wealthy only sit sunning on a Cayman Islands beach while having a cocktail and good belly laugh over the forcing the fallacy of 'trickle down economics" on us again.)

Jupiter orbits faster than quirky Uranus as chart-ruler is involved in an applying sextile with 4th H Uranus (Uranus = radical reformers and zealots when in Mars-ruled Aries) denoting valuable opportunities for success and growth which may be presented by those of a different generation. This condition echoes the generational conflicts and uprisings the world now experiences through the Uranus-Pluto Cardinal square. Original, adventurous ideas are indicated by the Jupiter-Uranus sextile in fields such as teaching, politics, philosophy, finances, science, religion, and astrology though some of those affected by this sextile may become resentful and harshly critical of others even though it's the beam in their own eyes that need attention. The Republican Party comes to mind.

Planning Mercury @25Sag10, ruler of 7th and 10th Hs, is in 1st H and in Nodal degree (fated or karmic; NN-SN @25Sco-Tau29 across the 6/12 axis); Mercury rules commerce and trade as well as communications and is related to stock markets, with the Nodal axis related to encounters and to future and past directions. And since Mercury and the separative SN are inconjunct (need for adjustments), we may expect a falling back on past behaviors ('debt-default crisis' of August 2011?) at SN even though such neurotic behavior does the American people no good and may further undermine our country's future.

Now as you see, there is a Kite pattern in the chart (a Grand Trine, plus) with the Sun-Moon opposition of the Full Moon part of the high-flying picture. In fact, Sun and Pluto make up the nose while the Moon is the Kite's tail and is conjunct, as noted, Fixed Star, Mirzam (aka, Murzims; Beta Canis Major: carrying a message--Brady) which may relate to a message from We the People directed toward our government, or a message concerning a myriad of various things as conflicts turn up (Jupiter square Chiron) and the oppressive, violent Plutocracy duo of Pluto and Chiron, here in an opportunistic sextile aspect, keeps 'its' finger on the public pulse and contacts us through spokesmen/women who, though they may wish to hide it, are agents for the promotion of global governance more than they are American politicians with We the People's interests on top of their to-do list.

Now since chart-ruler Jupiter is retrograde, the delays and stalling it causes will be mitigated or released once the planet's Direct Station occurs on January 30, 2013, as noted. Applying Jupiter forms an inconjunct with the Sun 7Cap05 (1A01), a square with Chiron (2A14), a sextile with Uranus (3A24), and a helpful trine with Mars (6A14.) If we take the Sun to signify President Obama, we see that he will meet with Pluto of the plutocrats and/or, the underworld, by year's end. A Sun-Jupiter inconjunct shows those who must be on guard for opportunists using the ideas of others as their own; taking over what should be the responsibilities of others may be evident, and moderation in all things is advised.

At MC (The Goal), we find America's problematic n Neptune 22Vir25 and our Progressed Neptune 26Vir12 Rx, too. This places Us natal Mars 22Gem in 7th H of Partnerships and brings with it the difficult Mars-Neptune square our nation is famous for: misdirected energy; unconscious motivations; self-deception; the fog of war.)

Now you see the Kite pattern with the Full Moon as Kite's tail; Sun and Pluto are at its head with restrictive saturn ruling both, plus the 2nd H of Earning Ability and Resources, while Saturn himself @9Sco15 is posited in 11th H of Hopes/Wishes, Groups and Associations. Mars 1AQ52 in 2nd H is ruled (or, co=-ruled with Uranus) by Saturn as well and has just conjoined US Inaugural Sun, a time of increased energy and determination for the president.

As you know, Kite configurations are modified Grand Trines and are indicative of success--a 'creative outpouring' is possible (B. Tierney.)

So what of the midpoint pictures found in the December 28, 2012 Full Moon horoscope with which we end Year 2012? Let's list them with a few details and include the YOD's base, the Saturn-Pluto sextile, for a fuller explanation.

Let's close by detailing a few of the primary midpoint pictures formed by planetary patterns (YODs, T-Squares, etc) in the Full Moon chart and other pictures with planets or points at apex--details are gleaned from Noel Tyl and/or Reinhold Ebertin--any, all, or none may apply but notice the last picture, the one that most concerns me about events of the last few years and Washington's entire 'fiscal cliff' scheming:

T-Square--Sun-Saturn = Jupiter: fortunate separations (from Over Grover and The Pledge?); good fortune of old, ill, or serious persons.

Sun-Saturn = US n Uranus: crises; unusual circumstances; fluctuating attitudes; separation; imprisonment; seclusion; mourning.

YOD pictures--Saturn-Pluto = Jupiter: adoption of the austere (White House agrees to 'entitlement' reforms that harm the weakest among us?); trying to save what's left; trouble with authority.

Saturn-Pluto = US n Uranus: brutal efforts to start a new order; an attack regardless of potential losses; sudden violence.

Weimar Republic natal data: November 9, 1918 1:30 pm CET Berlin, Germany; source: Campion's The Book of World Horoscopes and historical record.

Thom Hartmann: Time to Jump Off the 'Fiscal Cliff'? (video)

Nothing But a "Speed Bump"? The Over-Hyped 'Fiscal Cliff'

Here's a view of what can happen after January 1, 2013 and what is good about America going over the so-called 'fiscal cliff' presented by one of my favorite progressive broadcasters, Thom Hartmann:

As Mr. Hartmann says, This can be fixed--let the new Congress do it!

Famous Words for Corporate Welfare CEOs and Jupiter-Neptune

Of Fiscal Cliffs, Tax Pledges, and Jupiter-Neptune-Pluto

by Jude Cowell

As the New Year with its fiscal problems looms, I'm certain you've seen the very descriptive Huffington Post article on hypocritical CEOS who want to cut your Granny's food budget and de-fund Little Timmy's physical therapy sessions even though CEOs themselves have taken--demanded--outrageous bail outs, subsidies, and tax breaks from the hand of US taxpayers, aka, corporate welfare.

Keep the Charlatans--Gimme Those Old Time Republicans

Justice Earl Warren (March 19, 1891--July 9, 1974) was a highly popular Republican governor (in the days when Republican office holders actually governed) when President Eisenhower placed him upon the SCOTUS bench. Perhaps you'll that find one of Justice Warren's more famous quotes applies to America's greedy plutocrats and corporatists who can't get enough American abundance--which they bolster by perpetrating tax evasion and skewing laws in their favor--yet all the while working and lobbying so very hard to deny even the most basic crumbs to the needy as our nation approaches 2013:

"Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism."

How true. Now I'm looking in the back of my copy of Marc Edmund Jones' The Sabian Symbols in Astrology and there he is pre-SCOTUS, listed as, "Earl Warren politician." His birth date and hour are given and I will list his natal planets below for the mildly curious, and you'll note the humanitarian Aquarius components of his psyche along with his compassionate Pisces facets:

Earl Warren March 19, 1891 2:00 am (PST) Los Angeles CA; ASC 10Cap50 (where tr Pluto now approaches); MC 1 Scorpio; Sun 28Pis32; Moon 21Can32; Mercury 24Pis01; Venus 14AQ33; Mars 7Tau50; judging Jupiter 2Pis38; Saturn 12Vir38 Rx; Uranus 00Sco35 Rx (conj MC); Neptune 4Gem20; Pluto 6Gem00.

Of course, his year of birth--1891--puts him snugly within the Robber Baron generation by way of the Great Conjunction/s of Neptune and Pluto (1891/92, 3x @7--9 Gemini, conjunct US natal *Uranus 8Gem55.) And since horoscopes of deceased people continue to be triggered by transits ad infinitum, Justice Warrens' natal Jupiter @2Pis38 (in his natal 9th house of Legal Affairs, Higher Education, Philosophy, etc) is currently under the influence of transit Neptune (with its effects of illusion, deception, yet possibly inspiration) very active in its own sign of Pisces.

This transit highlights idealism and a need to keep a proper perspective on things as it points to the Jupiter-Neptune combination of energies which so easily tend toward grand schemes (which may not be valid or practical), charlatans (including Jupiterian gurus like no-tax-pledger Grover Norquist, or, hypocrites of the religious kind), large social projects, speculation, gambling, and the wasting of what is usually other people's money.

So! Is America a nation of her brothers' keepers? Or is she a nation of corporate raiders, outsourcers, tax dodgers, vultures upon the needy, and morally bankrupt psychopaths who work to undermine and shrink the US government into oblivion?

~:~

Related: a few astro-notes on Grover Norquist.

*Here's one planetary imprint upon the 1890s in relation to America--all, any, or none may apply: Nepune-Pluto = US natal Uranus: unusual, adventurous, mystical, and supernatural experiences; hypersensitivity; peculiar discoveries. (Ebertin.)

And of course, now as they move in and out of a fated or karmic septile aspect (51 degr 26 min), the 492-year cycle of veiled, undermining Neptune and transformative underworld figure, Pluto, continues its dance...

Dec 21 2012 and McKenna's Time Wave Zero Theory (video)

Here's a video suitable for the approach of December 21, 2012, if you're fretful or merely curious:

Featured is consciousness explorer Terrence McKenna (1946--2000), the ancient I Ching, and McKenna's Time Wave Zero theory which he used for predictions and by which he implies a re-birthing point on December 21, 2012, with the I Ching's 64 hexagrams repeating 64 times throughout history.

For further reading you may wish to try this.

Are You "Surviving Progress"? (video) w brief notes on Uranus

Mercurial Thoughts on Uranian Progress

by Jude Cowell

Based on Ronald Wright's 2005 book, A Short History of Progress which includes Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya with a theme of 'civilization is a pyramid scheme', here's Part One (14 minutes) of a presentation, Surviving Progress:

For a plethora of interesting videos concerning a variety of topics visit Forbidden Knowledge TV.

Uranus in Myth and Astrology

In Astrology, the concepts of progress, progressivism, and other futuristic ideas belong in the exalted realm of planet Uranus yet isn't it curious that the Enlightenment planet's natural spin in the heavens is backward?

As the higher octave planet of thinking-communicating planet Mercury, Uranus is connected to reasoning ability, intellectualism, and genius. The Greeks considered Ouranos, the sky god, to have no parents--to be born of Chaos, something astrological Uranus seems disruptively capable of creating in our times especially since it now traverses Mars-ruled Aries and is in square aspect with transformative Pluto in Capricorn causing civil unrest and uprisings the world over.

Sighted in 1781 by William Herschel, Uranus, then in Gemini, is what I tend to call America's 'totem planet' since its discovery and principles are forever imprinted upon both the American and the French Revolutions with freedom, independence, liberty, and equality the hallmarks of Uranus' domain.

Of course, crankiness, contrariness, and self-willedness are also typical traits of those possessing a strong Uranian nature. So perhaps you may wish to check out a previous post from 2005 which was inspired by the quirky stubbornness of the neocons, Karl Rove, and the rest of the warmongering Bush-Cheney administration: Chiron-Uranus Types in Government.

And if you, brave reader, have perused very many of the 3,000+ posts published here on SO'W, you're almost certain to have been irked at some point by something this Uranus-in-Gemini typed at you. Yet I guess I'm free to blame most of my own quirky ideas on being born with a Mercury-Mars conjunction in Capricorn inconjunct a 10th house Uranus in Gemini!

Well, wouldn't you?

~:~

America's natal Moon (We-the-People in Mundane/Political Astrology) is in Aquarius, the sign traditionally ruled by Saturn and co-ruled by modern-day Uranus. Our natal Moon in Aquarius gives the American people a humanitarian streak (when a natural human tendency toward selfishness and detachment aren't being exploited by partisan politicians), a wealth of ideas, good powers of observation, a love of independence, a sympathetic readiness to help others, and an abundance of hopes and wishes. Therefore, in spite of the fact that it's the 49th anniversary of the JFK assassination, I wish all Americans an abundant and happy Thanksgiving Day 2012!

Yet many Americans are now decimated by the destruction of Hurricane Sandy and are facing a difficult Day of Thanksgiving this year. How better to celebrate our own Thanksgiving Day than to provide what we can for an excellent hands-on organization the Dr. Atlas Foundation of Staten Island? No, Ayn Rand's survival-of-the-fittest Atlas can't shrug with lack of sympathy for our fellow Americans over this one! jc

Horoscope: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (updated Dec 5, 2014)

President Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address on the afternoon of November 19, 1863 on the ceremonial occasion of the reburial of Union soldiers, and approximately 4 1/2 months after the Battle of Gettysburg had been fought.

Asked to make a 'few remarks', and feeling ill with headache and subsequent fever, Mr. Lincoln may have given his ten sentences that summed up the war and echo through the centuries while suffering with a mild case of smallpox. The first Wikipedia link, above, provides the text which takes little more than the shake of a lamb's tail to read but of course you know how Lincoln ended his just over 2-minute Address--with, "--that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Since beginning Stars Over Washington on October 16, 2005, I assert that this has been my clear blogging objective as well while holding on to a sovereign United States of America. Yet there are forces, ancient forces, that remain determined to overtake and dissolve our nation's sovereignty and as we see in the 'New Millennium', they are now far along that path. Our educational system, financial system, religious institutions, family traditions, and the US government have been under attack for many years with a goal of using our nation to set up a global government, what some call a New World Order; a "revived Roman Empire." some say, and the last on planet earth.

Perhaps you're aware that Bush Sr considered his 1990/91 Operation Desert Storm invasion as a heralding of the 'new order' so here's a handy timeline of the events leading up to the invasion though you'll find no NWO mention on its list.

So with recent interest in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln film stoking the Lincoln legend (based on the book by Doris Kearns Goodwin), I thought you might wish to view the horoscope of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address with a few brief astro-notes--a bunch of my scribbles marked on the chart (please click image to enlarge.) Mr. Spielberg gave the keynote address at the 149th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address which was an honor for him as it would be for anyone. ABC news has details of the event here if you missed it.

Rising in the Address horoscope is Mr. Lincoln's natal Venus in Aries, ruled by war planet Mars, and with the Address' rising sign, his illness is denoted by Pisces, sign of contagion and infection (it may have been smallpox).

Yet the inspirational nature of his words is also shown by Jupiter-Neptune-ruled Pisces for on a sacred level, the duo represents the Grand Spirit called forth by Lincoln's words:

Horoscope: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863 2:00 pm LMT PA; Hour of warrior Mars which conjoins Jupiter 11Sco13/57 in 8th house of Death along with Mercury (oration) and Sun 27Sco00 (leader) which conjoins the Moon's North Node @27Sco48 (public contact); Sun in Nodal degree indicates a fated or karmic encounter for the President and the people including the millions who read his brief speech in newspapers across the country quite soon after it was so modestly delivered.

Plus, Saturn, considered to be a karmic planet (reaping what's been sown) @14Lib14 is in process of returning to its natal position in America's July 4, 1776 natal horoscope (14:48)--a national Saturn Return. This actually occurred three times in 1863 and 1864: 6 days later on November 25, then the Rx Return on April 3, 1864, and the final conjunction on August 19, 1864. And of course our nation's Saturn Returns always stimulate the natal promise of our Cardinal Sun-Saturn square (90 degrees, from Cancer to Libra) with its obstacles, fears, and difficulties which must be responsibly addressed with maturity, resolve, a sense of accountability, and patience. The Gettysburg Address illustrates these qualities (and I wish America would exhibit more of them now--edit: 12.5.14--jc.)

Our nation's last Saturn Return was a three-fer as well: December 3, 2010, March 22, 2011 (Rx), and August 28, 2011--all during the Obama administration. And you know how August 2011 turned out with the self-inflicted credit downgrade thanks primarily to Republicans and their spiteful antics, plus, a deficit brouhaha which resulted in the forming of a so-called "Super Committee" being set up from within Congress and threats of sequestration which have been carried out.

Marked, upper right you see, "Sun rises with (Fixed Star) Ras Alhague (desire to heal a wound; to create balance), a star linked to Lincoln's natal Mercury (10Pis18) by paran for as Ras Alhague rose on his day of birth, natal Mercury was at Nadir showing that healing the wounds of the Civil War and of slavery is one of the primary actions he is most remembered for after death.

My December 5, 2014 Update begins here for the most part:

If only such healing would continue! But now it's December 5, 2014 and the 6th of 7 exact Cardinal Squares between riotous Uranus and Pluto will perfect on *December 15th as protests and uprisings continue to occur the world over and generational clashes are fought, often with violence. In America we march against the brutality of the Police State--the same issue as in 1999 under Bill Clinton--as the energies stream forth from the Uranus-Pluto conjunction/s of the mid-1960s, the Civil Rights era--yet they are frustrated and blocked (square = 90 degrees) making conflict even more likely.

And making current matters more complex and confrontational than in the 1960s, America's natal Mars (22Gemini), the archetypal Warrior, turned retrograde (inward) by progression in the summer of 2006 though its punishing effects could be felt about two years prior to the actual Station Rx (18Libra.) This condition of our once-Direct Mars may be applied to many levels of society such as our wounded vets returning from wars (another legacy from the 1960s and 1970s), decreasing the size of the US military (if it's true that they are), the regressive politicians (mostly testosterone-driven males) trying to re-turn our nation to pre-Civil War days ("Oh, Rhett!"), violent acts perpetrated on US soil, the anarchists and zealots now undermining our government, Klan and Nazi activities--and obviously to a slew of police departments now trained to use excessive force against the American people...not to "protect and serve" but to "shoot first, ask few if any questions later."

This includes state prosecutors who defend police officers who gun down or choke to death unarmed citizens rather than presenting the facts to Grand Juries--then prosecutors decline asking for indictments so that trials by jury may be held--such anti-societal 'good ole boys' of The Brotherhood come under the Mars Rx category as well resulting in combative Martian energy and motivation being turned inward toward our nation's own citizens with one of the power elite's goals depopulation and another to stack as many Americans into overcrowded privatized prison cells as possible in order to exceed shareholders' dreams of vast wealth.

Oh, and criminalizing a massive jail population is also one method of keeping millions of marching males off the streets and under lock and key. Yet another Mars Rx image? A prisoner being held (often arbitrarily) in solitary confinement.

~:~

Ras Alahague details from Brady's Book of Fixed Stars.

Abraham Lincoln February 12, 1809 6:54 am LMT Hodgenville, KY.

*The 7th and final waning square between 'new' Uranus and 'ancient' Pluto occurs on March 17, 2015. After that date, their dynamic power struggles begin to ease up through resolution or exhaustion though other cosmic influences reflecting societal meddlings will manage to keep all pots stirred and simmering.

When natal Mars symbolically turns Rx by progression it takes approximately 80 years for the Red Planet to turn Direct again so either We the People must act with determination to demand corrections to such convoluted conditions being forced upon us via our government officials (as ordered by distant entities) or we'll have a long slog that will only become more difficult as plodding saboteur Pluto creeps toward America's natal Pluto out-of-bounds and in late Saturn-ruled Capricorn (sign of government, law, and business). And since our nation has never experienced a Pluto Return before, no one knows precisely what to expect by 2022. :(

But let us not forget that thanks to the 2014 Midterm Elections, the neocon war hawks are re-turning to Washington in January 2015--swords drawn and lands to conquer. How tragic for our nation that US Mars Rx also describes the voters who didn't excercise their right to vote on November 4, 2014--and the various election tricks and targeting of misleading campaign ads that helped Republicans 'win' a majority in the US Senate so that the Pentagon can happily re-turn to an expanding empiric war. They won't be sufficient but get the national credit cards out! Because World War III will cost us the world.

The Power Principle: Empire (video) plus, Clinton Inauguration 1997

It may be difficult to fully agree with all the concepts presented in The Power Principle Part One: Empire but if you were around during the Clinton administration and remember the February 1, 1999 release of the Clinton budget which was particularly heavy on military spending and light on domestic (social) spending--you may wish to view the following video (Part One) for a hindsight view of what America was being used for and set up for at that time.

Mr. Clinton had promised us a "peace dividend" but you see on which 'garden path' that has misled our nation. It isn't for nothing that the US performs its much-touted "peaceful passing of the baton" every four years on Inauguration Day and few can fail to see that our old bosses and new bosses share more than they differ upon.

Now 1999 was during Bill Clinton's second term, of course, and if you have the software to set it up and have never viewed his Inauguration 1997 horoscope (January 20 noon Capitol Building DC) please do so in tandem with this video presentation for you may wish to consider that transiting Neptune, with its tendency to undermine, seduce, cheat, merge with, and/or dissolve what it touches, conjoined America's natal Pluto 27Cap33 in the Inaugural chart at Midheaven (The Goal.)

Plus, We-the-People's Inaugural Moon 1997 @28Gem13 is in 2nd house of Earning Ability and Values (Moon = fluctuations; changes) and of course it was President Clinton who signed the US-job-killing NAFTA--not that it was his idea alone for he had global plutocrats to inspire him. As you know, '28Gem' = BANKRUPTCY in the Sabian Symbols, an apt description of what often occurs to people (Moon) when their jobs are outsourced to cheaper labor markets. Yes, a great hollowing out has occurred and we see the shreds of it now.

Guess the difficult energies of the Grand Cross between the Moon, Mars (4Lib23 in 6th house of the Military), Mercury (6Cap32 in 9th H of Foreign Lands), and Saturn (2Ari37 in 12th H of Politics, Self-Undoing, and Back Room Deals) in the Inauguration 1997 chart have had their way with us, y'might say.

Okay, I'll hush for now about the Astrology of it all and hope that you, dear reader, may find an hour and a half (!) to view Part One of The Power Principle: Empire. I'll add a few notes on the Sun Aquarius-Moon Gemini blend in effect for Clinton's Inauguration 1997 to denote his second term, in case you're curious.

Sun AQ-Moon Gem is a double-Air combo of clear-headedness and reason. Culture and elegance are notable, and 'never at a loss for words' describes its mental, intellectual energies; idealistic visions and political, philosophical, and/or ideological schemes are on the Airy menu.

Sun AQ-Moon Gem is the blend of New Age thinking (exs: New World Order; global governance; "free trade") and contains witty, cerebral, friendly, and progressive vibes though 'detached' is a word often used for it. Tackling the world's most demanding problems and changing the world are its aims with radical ideas easily and persuasively communicated. This blend is good at advertising, journalism, speech writing and delivering, and related endeavors such as Politics and it can be flippant at times.

This double-Air combo is shared natally by social activist and community organizer Saul Alinsky, golfer Jack Nicklaus, lawyer, statesman, and politician Elihu Root, and by none other than Founding Enlightener and Propagandist, Thomas Paine, who informed us of a paradox that still rings true:

"The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately."

One of Sun AQ-Moon Gem's Images for Integration in the Harveys' book, Sun Sign-Moon Sign may be quite appropriate for our current "fiscal cliff" (or, slope, curve, whatever) made dramatic by last year's 'sequestration' cuts that the Pentagon (and private military contractors) are sweating if things aren't resolved by Congress no later than January 1, 2013 at 12:00 am est:

"A white blackbird charms the garden with its song."

Well, some folk always liked to say that Bill Clinton was our first black president. And during Campaign 2012, he's been charming all over again, NAFTA notwithstanding.

Ron Paul leaving Capitol Hill (video)

After twenty years of delivering consistent messages on freedom, the Fed, outrageous war costs, and other topics, Rep. Ron Paul leaves public office. Those meddlers on Capitol Hill won't have him to ignore any more:

If you're curious, here's a previous post concerning Paul's natal chart with images of his solar and a rectified chart included. The post is from way back in 2007, folks, so my typos are left intact!

The Fed doesn't own the US government (video)

Popular ideas aren't always correct ideas! So standing corrected am I as the following video explains a few things about the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States:

Given today's conspiracy-theory-laden atmosphere, and if the above information is indeed the case, it might have been much smarter of the politicians and big bankers back in 1910 not to have met in secret on Jekyll Island, Georgia (where they'd travelled incognito by midnight train from New York) to set up their plans for a Central Bank in the US, something that many lawmakers of the day opposed.

Due to the Fed's beginnings in extreme secrecy (and the Federal Reserve Act passed in December 1913 when most lawmakers had left Washington for the holiday break)--plus, the bubbles-n-busts that have followed--it's become difficult at best for many Americans to view the Fed as an above-board institution that isn't 'up to something' such as a larger agenda that is not in the best interests of the Little Guy.

My thanks to Online MBA.com for the heads-upon this video.

Secrets of the CIA (video)

The following on-video presentation for your consideration is not a 2012 production but given the David Petraeus scandal now rocking Washington DC--or at least some political partisans are hoping it will rock the White House--and in light of tomorrow's Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, sign of spies, secrets, and betrayals which conjuncts US natal 12th cusp of Politics, Secrets, Karma (reaping what's sown), Self-Undoing, and Large Institutions (exs: the Pentagon; the US government), I thought you might be curious to view it if you haven't.

For as you know, eclipses tend to reveal hidden activities and secrets and November 2012's Solar (and Lunar Eclipse coming up on November 28th) are certainly busy doing just that and it's only November 12th! Their 'uncovering' effect will last for at least 6 months until the next Solar Eclipse on May 10, 2013 @20 Taurus in the 15 South Saros Series (15S theme: release of tension; sense of collective loss or grief--Brady.)

You may also wish to view the current Solar and Lunar Eclipse horoscopes set for Washington DC and may do so by scrolling down the sidebar to the Most Popular Posts list, or by entering 'Eclipses' in the Google Search Bar. Thanks!

Nov 11 2012: Neptune Direct Station at 00Pis21

Neptune Direct Station Conjoins US Pre-Natal Eclipse Series 00Pis33

by Jude Cowell

With today's Neptune Direct Station @00Pis21 and "1 Pisces" having "A Public Market" Sabian Symbol, I want to mention once again America's Pre-Natal Eclipse Saros Series, the 12 South, with its theme of: 'successful outcomes to long-term worries or illness; things seem worse at first then clear' (paraphrasing Brady's Predictive Astrology.)

A Solar Eclipse in the 12S last manifested on July 11, 2010 and you may remember that the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout had occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and under the influence of 12S, a 'cap' was finally installed successfully to stop the millions of gallons of oil releasing into the waters. The compromised well has leaked of late but that's beyond the scope of this brief post on oceanic Neptune, King of the Seas.

Neptune's Direct Station occurred at 2:52:36 am est while many of us were sleeping which is appropriate for the nebulous planet of the Unconscious, sleep and sleep aids. Note: if by now you haven't caught and released that giant green moth flying around you bedroom, please do so! Unless you're on the East Coast and are made homeless by Hurricane Sandy, that is. Then Neptune's rulership of water and flooding is all too real for comfort with your pillows and beds washed out to sea.

And the Winner Is...Barack Obama

To add more of an unconscious flavor to Neptune's Direct Station today, mindful Mercury Rx forms an applying square (blockages; obstacles) aspect with Neptune which provides the Collective Unconscious with difficulties in seeing things clearly just when we need to as 2012 ends. In Washington, we find many bubble-living Republicans who are having more problems than usual ignoring realities they don't like. But facing truth--not one of Neptune's talents yet a Direct Neptune tends to be more honest--is an imperative now and political progress of the GOP will be limited until they do. Yet as in Summer 2011, they may decide to take America down with them as they go, kamikaze-style.

As for reality-based Saturn @4Sco22 in 2nd house in the Neptune Direct Station horoscope set for Washingotn DC, Mr. Lesson-Bringer and Neptune are in the trine stage of their approximately 33-year cycle. They last met in Great Conjunction/s in 1989 three times: March 3, June 24, and November 13 in the 10 to 12 degree range of Capricorn. As you know, these degrees of Capricorn are within orb now of transiting Pluto so we have a midpoint picture to consider for a snapshot of these energies when combined and which time links 1989 with 2012/13:

1989 Saturn-Neptune = 2012/13 Pluto: difficult growth or development; heavy emotional depression (Ebertin); feeling downtrodden; tremendous awareness of loss potential (Tyl.)

Actually, you may wish to review a list of major events which occurred in 1989 such as the Exxon Valdez tanker running aground--a deja-vu in 2010 and mentioned during the BP Deepwater Horizon fiasco that killed eleven workers, if memory serves.

Now for more information on today's Neptune Direct Station (without the aggravating political tidbits provided here) visit expert astrologer Dipali Desai who will be glad to fill you in!

~:~

Aid is needed for our returning vets: visit the Wounded Warrior Project.

Horoscope: GOP Delusion in Nov 2012 Progressed Chart

Delusional GOP Loses White House: SP Moon-Neptune Opposition

by Jude Cowell

My blogging time is brief today but I want to publish a copy of the Secondary Progressed (SP) Horoscope of the Republican Party set for November 6, 2012. Below you see that during Campaign 2012 their SP Moon was within orb of an opposition to SP Neptune with Neptune at '14Pisces' ("A Lady in Fox Fur" --Jones; that's FOX fur! --jc; Dr. Jones gives the negative expression of "14Pis" as: "amoral opportunism" which describes the GOP, FOX News, and Rupert Murdoch to me. Yet some say that Mr. Murdoch and FOX are happy Mr. Obama won because it means more profits for them! Who would they complain about and undermine with their ridiculously obvious 'echo chamber' of lies if Mitt had won?)

The following progressions issue from the natal chart of the Republican Party: July 6, 1854 5:00 pm LMT Jackson, MI:

Horoscope: GOP Progressions for Nov 6, 2012; Hour Venus; Mars out-of-bounds of the earthly plane and up to who knows what in governmental Capricorn; Sun conjunct Venus (self-satisfaction.)

Another factor is that the Nov 13, 2012 Solar Eclipse @21Sco56 (theme: "joy through commitment"--Brady) conjoins GOP SP South Node of separation and loss; the Pre-Natal Solar Eclipse of their SP chart manifested on Nov 20, 1854, the horoscope of which contains a character-implicating midpoint picture involving wealthy 'Jupiter-Pluto' ('special achievers, big financiers, those who mount grand projects, religious leaders', etc)...

Jupiter-Pluto = Neptune (transit Neptune @13Pis10 Rx--in FOX fur!): deceiving, seducing, cheating others; loss through others without being aware of it (Ebertin.)

Now if you can, please click to enlarge the image and read a few more basic details scribbled around the chart. The 'my correction' refers to the mess I made when writing 'NN/AS = Saturn' in the midpoint pictures list, upper right.

As you see, the SP Moon on Election Night was in process of moving beyond an exact opposition of a few months' duration (Moon @14Vir39, Neptune 13Pis15) and since aspects are stronger as they apply (approach), the delusion and deception indicated by the Moon-Neptune opposition have begun to fade as the re-election of President Barack Obama gave the GOP a well deserved Wake Up Call (to which they remain as of yet, determined to ignore--when the president called Boehner and McConnell after the results were announced, Mr. Obama was told that both men "were asleep"--puh! another sour-grapes instance of GOP rudeness and disrespect shown toward the president.

Another factor I shall mention is the inconjunct (or, quincunx, 150 degr = adjustment, strain) between thinking-planning Mercury @00Sag03 in 6th house of Military Service (@"1Sag" = "A Grand Army of the Republic Campfire") and the SP Ascendant (the party itself) indicating that the Republicans won't discuss their shortcomings when they're brought up in conversation and they primarily deflect doing so by changing the subject to other topics.

Yet most realistic folk know that you can't repair problems unless you first admit they exist and correctly identify them! This week's constant stream by the GOP and party surrogates of blaming Hurricane Sandy disrupting Mitt Romney's imagined "momentum", Governor Chris Christie's appreciation of President Obama's aid and attention in New Jersey after Sandy hit, the Democrats' "supressing the vote" (they're joking on that one, right?!) is no way to fix the party's considerable problems which are platform-based and attitudinal.

Look at that SP Mercury--it's your harsh and antiquated ideas, stupid! And by SP Mercury's Sabian Symbol we may infer that war was/is a big part of their hoped-for strategy especially since the neocon Vulcans were set to ride in on Mitt's white horse and take over the White House and Pentagon if they'd won the presidency.

So with one of Neptune's realms being mass media--FOX News in particular, in this case--we can see that the people (Moon) were awash with the faulty propaganda and bubble-protected ideas of the Republican Party put out for those gullible enough to be swayed.

And though the Democratic Party has few members of a saintly nature, I'm glad the delusional GOP got beat on November 6th as heartily as they did. Now as the weeks go by, we'll see how disruptive Election Day 2012 Mercury's Retrograde period will be with lawsuits and threats of recounts already being announced. A good example is Rep. Allen West who sees "communists" lurking about the halls of Congress.

Which is amusing because I see Crazy Nutzoids lurking about the halls of the Republican Party...

Nov 13, 2012: Congress Returns with the Solar Eclipse

November 2012: a Month of Two Eclipses and a Returning Congress

by Jude Cowell

In modern Astrology, eclipses are not often considered 'bad omens' as in olden days and yet the 112th Congress returns for its two-week lame duck session on November 13, 2012. Lawmakers' priorities include taxes, FY13 appropriations bills, the federal debt, and the dreaded sequestration (drastic automatic cuts across the board including the Pentagon budget) which Congress and the White House set up in 2011 after the 'Super Congress' couldn't come to agreement on our debt and deficit situations. That daftly irresponsible tactic was influewnced by the November 25, 2011 Solar Eclipse @2Sag in the murky 14 North Saros Series with its key themes of confusion, drained energy, despair, delusion, lack of clear judgment, and a 'peculiar turn of events'. (B. Brady.)

Yes, Congress acts quite peculiarly these days yet we must hope for better and more mature actions now that President Obama has been re-elected with a 'mandate' from the people. If Romney had been elected, we can be certain that the GOP would tout his 'mandate'--but it would be a mandate from billionaires, a very small percentage of the US population!

Plus, the horrid meningitis outbreak caused by tainted steroid injections (contagious Neptune of poisons and contamination now in early degrees of its own sign of Pisces) and Medicare provider payment adjustments are also potential issues for the lame duck session of 2012. And if the American people are fairly treated for a change, these issues should be addressed during this brief two-week session though of course the artifical "fiscal cliff" must take precedence since the end of the year will be soon upon us.

That Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell intend to fully cooperate with President Obama and the Democrats on these "fiscal cliff" issues is doubtful but much needed. The tainted steroid injections aren't baseball steroid use but surely Congress can spare a few hours of attention to it.

As for their "fiscal cliff" political theater, another finagled credit downgrade of our economy could be disastrous though apparently the GOP presumed their justification for their obstructionist behavior back in 2011 would merit them the election of a Republican president come November 6, 2012. But as you know, it did not.

Here are a few astro-notes on the natal horoscope of Scorpio John Boehner who has a birthday coming up on November 17th!

Now if you wish to view it, here are details and a horoscope of the Solar Eclipse in Scorpio of November 13, 2012 which imprints upon the day that the 112th US Congress reconvenes in lame duck session before their extensive holiday break (no, I did not realize that when I typed the post but you will!) As previously mentioned, the Nov 13th eclipse degree of 21Sco56 conjoins the 12th cusp of Politics, karma, large institutions, and backdoor deals in the US natal horoscope (5:10 pm LMT 'Sibly' version), and triggers the natal Midheaven of Thomas Jefferson.

Next from The Cosmos on November 28th is a Mercury-ruled Lunar Eclipse in Gemini which will continue uncovering secrets, scandals, and/or plans not previously divulged.

A Drop of Peach State News

As for my home state of Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal is "unlikely" to set up a health insurance exchange as required by the Affordable Health Care Act but what else to expect from an ethics-challenged Republican politician? Cooperation? Hah!

As you may remember, Representative Deal resigned from Congress in March 2010 just minutes before the Ethics Committee deadline to 'deal' with Deal, and the state of Georgia has been saddled with his muttonheadedness ever since. Lucky us, she typed drily.

Meet 'The House of Rothschild' (video)

Now that yesterday's 2012 Election dust appears to be settling for the most part, how about a 55-minute video detailing the history of the House of Rothschild? As international financiers they've taken both sides in many wars and conflicts with their preference for win-win odds, so maybe the world should know a little more about these secretive, morally deformed, politically active power elites:

If you wish to uncover more info on just such topics, I highly recommend Nicholas Hagger's centuries-encompassing book, The Secret History of the West. Especially since November 2012 brings us two eclipses, a Solar Eclipse (Nov 13) in Scorpio, sign of secrets, spies, betrayals, and Big Business, and a Lunar Eclipse in Gemini on Nov 28th--and eclipses do tend to uncover what some would prefer to keep hidden!

President Obama Declared Victor with a Leo Moon Rising!

Congratulations to President Barack Obama!

by Jude Cowell

Last evening at 11:12 ET, TV's Chuck Todd declared President Obama the victor in the fiercely fought 2012 Election, and several new congress men and women will be taking Capitol Hill seats in the New Year. Yet with Obama-Boehner gridlock in Washington still a distinct possibility, the Republican morning-afters of "we must find our identity" whines and bemoanings caused by the shellacking Mitt Romney and Paul 'Austerity for the Working Poor' Ryan took as the president reached and surpassed the 270 electoral college votes needed to win bring me little if any assurance that the GOP has learned any lessons at all.

Like Mitt Romney caught in a lie, the Republicans will probably do what they're famous for when they should be doing something better: double down on their madness. the party is marginalized already with 'not enough angry white voters' so it may be astounding to watch if they insist on continuing down their uncooperative path which leaves so many Americans in the lurch.

Now this I must ask: what happened, Wisconsin? A GOP Retakes State Senate and Full Control of State Government headline bodes ill for the people, imho. Haven't Wisconsin teachers and other public sector workers suffered enough? Apparently not though I'm assuming that there's no hint of a re-count needed in the state though not all votes across the country are tallied and there may be legal challenges and re-counts yet with voting Mercury Rx as of about 6:00 pm EST last evening.

Still, it would seem that my guess that yesterday's VOC Moon showed that voters (Moon = the people) had made up their minds and no further scurrilous ads or arguments could sway them away from President Obama whose natal 4th house Moon @3Gem21 was opposed by November 6th's Mercury Station Retrograde and will be again once Mercury turns Direct and re-opposes that degree. Like me, you probably heard some "heart vs head" talk from pundits and reporters as the election coverage proceeded...heart = Moon, head = Mercury. And yet, Mercury squares Neptune denoting confused thinking, a need to avoid harsher realities (like the Ryan Budget Plan?), and probably some deceptive voting machines in the political brew.

November 6, 2012 11:12 pm EST Rockefeller Center, NYC

Congratulations to Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren! And as Jon Stewart called it on The Daily Show last night, this was the "Re-Presidenting of America" with Chuck Todd's pronouncement occurring as the public's Moon @16Leo55 arose at 11:12 pm EST (ASC 17Leo19) along with Barack Obama's natal Ascendant (his nibs himself.) A Moon in Leo is a happy, shiny thing!

And of course you know that Jupiter Rx @14Gem33 was upper (nearer the chart's MC than Saturn @3Sco53 in 3rd house) so if we use generous Jupiter to indicate the Democratic Party as I've been doing ("Invest in America")--with the GOP as the Saturnian austerity enforcement league a la Ryan's so-called Budget Plan--we find the Democratic Party being lifted up career-wise onto the world stage (MC.)

Here are a few more basic details from the 11:12 pm EST "Obama wins" horoscope set for Rockefeller Center NYC--aka, "Democracy Plaza"--where MSNBC was headquartered for their election night coverage:

ASC 17Leo18; Hour of Mercury (the voter!) with Mercury Rx @4Sag18 in 4th house, the Foundation of the Matter; MC 8Tau09 which places President Obama's natal Neptune at IC 8Sco09 (not so stable a portent yet potentially inspiring for him); Sun-Mars = Mercury: desire to bring plans to realization; ready for action; a thinking leader or fighter in a struggle. (Ebertin; any, all, or none may apply); challenger Mars @22Sag33 is OOBs of the Earthly plane and on his own; Sun-Moon angle = 271 degr 45 mins = 3rd quarter, the 'crisis in consciousness' phase.

Chart-ruler Sun makes no applying aspects of any kind (though it does square the ASC--2A09) so its sign and house position are all-important: Sun @15Sco09 (the Eagle Point and the degree of Thomas Jefferson's natal Pluto (just thought I'd toss a little historical footnote in!) is posited in 4th house of Homeland (past time for "nation-building" at home!), Domestic Scene, and Real Estate, an industry which seems to be healing now unless there's interference down the road.

You know it would have been amusing to me how the GOP campaigned on "Obama will turn America into Europe" nonsense when it's the Romney-Ryan Budget Plan that determined to enforce austerity upon the American people as governments and banking houses have done in the EU. A wacky argument and I suppose the American people were expected not to notice the craziness of it! But we did.

Now the horoscope shows a bunch of squirrelliness around the 8th cusp (8Pis57) of Shared Resources, Debt, Credit, Corporatism, etc with Jupiter ruling and Neptune sub-ruling the confused, changeable sign of Pisces. Plus, transiting *Uranus @5Ari09 is posited there near the 9th cusp, a karmic spot for the planet of sudden upsets and uprisings. And with the 11th house Jupiter Rx in Gemini and Neptune Rx @00Pis22 in 7th house, there may be just what many economists and mundane astrologers are predicting ahead: more financial scandals and loss thanks to vulturing plutocrats with 2013 in the crosshairs.

After all, America's natal Pluto-Chiron midpoint of oppression and disenfranchisement @8Pis50 conjoins this 8th cusp along with our national Ceres (grains, foodstuffs, security issues, nurturance) so the rest of 2012 may be less joyous than everyone would prefer since the plutocrat-elite class are still around to bedevil us.

Another significator of financial shadiness (perhaps campaign use of funds will be questioned more as the weeks go by) for Mr. Obama's second term going Forward! is the so-called 'hidden square' (256 degr) between Jupiter and Neptune which last met in Great Conjunction/s three times through 2009 is creative yet may indicate unstable tendencies, overextending oneself credit-wise, and the rejection of social burdens; gullibility is an issue as the ideas of others are too easily adopted. Hopefully, with his re-election, President Obama won't cave so readily to Tea Party demands promoted by the GOP and will stand up for the social safety net of the American people.

Yes, the Jupiter-Neptune duo make quite a 'confidence team' of grand plans yet that's just what Americans and markets need most right now--confidence that our economy will continue to improve under the presidency of Barack Obama--and all obstructionists of the people's business should go ahead and take the hindmost!

If you're determined not to govern, then get out of politics.

~:~

*Uranus in Aries is described by Reinhold Ebertin as, "Utopians, fanatics, blind zealots." I leave it to your discretion as to whether Uranus in Mars-ruled Aries describes certain factions in one party more closely than it describes others. Plus, on Election Day 2009, Saturn opposed Uranus. Now with the transiting Saturn-Uranus inconjunct (150 degr), we may expect that further adjustments will be required between status quo Saturn and progressive Uranus as priorities concerning our obligations are decided upon, and holding on to old concepts becomes more and more ineffectual.

Our nation's problems are many, long-standing, and primarily self-created (ex: two wars fought on credit card) so Saturn-Uranus cantankerousness must be gone--and let's nation-build at home for a real change! jc

Jon Stewart's interview with George Carlin! (video)

Once upon a time, I saw the hilarious and thoughtful George Carlin in concert and have been a Jon Stewart fan for several years. Yet somehow I missed this interview!

Election 2012's Void-of-Course Moon (We the People)

Election Day November 6, 2012: a VOC Moon and Voting Mercury Rx

by Jude Cowell

It's Monday, the day before the official voting day in the US presidential and congressional elections, a General Election. As I watch and read pundits prognosticating on electoral college votes, state polls, and such I think of all the words I've typed on the subject and don't feel there's much else I can say about the November 6th Mercury Station Retrograde, the V.O.C. Moon, or the 1st Vote at Dixville Notch, New Hampshire (with Jupiter Rx 'upper' = investment but delays = President Obama?

Fortunately, Dipali Desai has taken on the task with a fresh look at the astrological portents of November 6, 2012 and its planet of voting, Mercury, changing to a backward direction as it was on Election Day 2000--and gumming up election results until possibly mid-December when transiting Mercury moves beyond its Rx (shadow) degree of November 6th: 4Sag16.

A V.O.C. Moon: void-of-course meaning Luna completes no further aspects to other planets until entering the next sign (though the traditional definition of VOC is a little more complicated than that but let's stick with 2012.) This condition can be a bit of a head-scratcher in Astrology yet one of the best real-world examples of a VOC Moon is, of course, the morning and events of 9/11/01 when plans were put into motion and past a certain point in time, nothing could stop them.

Yes, VOC Moons usually show events which are 'set' and with which no one can interfere to change their outcome--or, indicating events that have a different outcome than expected. As you know, in Political (Mundane) Astrology, the Moon represents We the People, or the public so it would seem that by or before tomorrow, our minds are made up as to whom to vote for.

Actually, the VOC condition can apply to any planet, and in DeVore's Encyclopedia, we find that a VOC Moon "denies fruition to much of the good otherwise promised by the Figure" (horoscope.)

Plus, "In Horary Astrology a planet so placed is said to indicate a person devoid of objective or purpose, hence one who abandons himself to aimless endeavor."

Well, I can think of a variety of levels on which that last definition could apply--the losing candidate, for one. Or, to Romney as a president who is only required (by Grover Norquist) to be able to hold a pen and sign what's placed in front of him as he adopts the aims of others. Yes, Mitt Romney's triple planets in cameleon-like Pisces can make him seem quite 'aimless' and impressionable to whatever environment he's floating through at any particular moment, agreed? And yet it's the Moon--We-the-People--on November 6th who may be the aimless ones after the election dust settles.

My suspicion is that changeable Etch-a-Sketch candidates make malleable, easy to control Etch-a-Sketch presidents who campaigned by doing or saying anything to get elected!

Why, even veteran journalist Robert Parry thinks we may be Risking a Repeat of Election 2000...but not for astrological reasons, I presume.

Back to EST Sunday Nov 4 2012 at 2:00 am

Our Time Change Weekend

by Jude Cowell

On Sunday November 4, 2012 at 2:00 am, we'll turn back our clocks and 'reclaim' the hour of sleep we lost in the Spring.

Sounds good but in spite of the elusive "extra" hour we gain, this blogger won't be sleeping much at all if the plutocrat-neocon bunch that Mitt Romney shills for is allowed to reclaim the White House and shaft the American people with four more years of Bush-Cheney wars and policies on steroids!

Have you early voted? Can you help on November 6th? Because America's overly long campaign season has me really quite sleepy!

Astro-Notes November 4, 2012 2:00 am est

Sun in Scorpio and Moon in Cancer graciously trine one another and create a blend that has a "mailed fist in a velvet glove" flavor. Deeply perceptive (Water signs are intuitive, imaginative, and emotional), Sun Sco-Moon Can tends toward sincerity, emotional strength, subjectivity, and shrewdness, and can be more than a little secretive.

In their excellent book Sun Sign-Moon Sign, the Harveys give the Scorpio-Cancer combo of energies these illustrative 'Images for Integration':

"A mother eagle defends her babies with immense courage...A surgeon develops life-saving methods...A mother passionately defends her delinquent child and pleads for a compassionate verdict."

Sun Sco-Moon Can is shared natally by body-builder Charles Atlas, heart-transplanter Christian Barnard, journalist Dan Rather, humorist Will Rogers, and President Theodore Roosevelt who advised us that, "There is a handy adage which runs, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.'

And here's one of my favorite Will Rogers quotes which seems to apply no matter which election year we're in:

"In 1928 the Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it's been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking."

Amen!

Horoscope: Lunar Eclipse Nov 28 2012, plus Election Day 2012 Mercury

A Lunar Eclipse November 28, 2012 and Election Day 2012

by Jude Cowell

Above you see an image: the Horoscope of the upcoming Lunar Eclipse of Nov 28, 2012 @6Gem46 with an impaired Jupiter 11:54 Rx nearby (click to enlarge.)

It's an Hour of Jupiter, and Mars OOBs of the Earthly plane closely conjoins powerful, wealthy, string-puller Pluto @8Cap10--this pair of force and weaponry rise in Washington D.C. and as the eclipse perfects, enters the 12th H of Politics, Karma, Self-Undoing, and Large Institutions (wounded veterans in hospitals and soldier suicides come sadly to mind.) A desire to face danger may be in evidence as well.

Moon = the Mood We're In

A Gemini Moon shows We the People are of two minds as lively attention is paid to all forms of news and communications--we are straining to hear some good news and hopefully the populations of our cities and towns affected by this week's Hurricane Sandy will have heard good news by November 28th! Yes, Moon approaching Jupiter is a happy combination and here Jupiter rules the Sun posited in expansive, broad-minded Sagittarius. Plus, this Lunar Eclipse occurs 2 degr 7 mins from America's natal Uranus @8Gem55 which may serve to increase our excitement and our restlessness.

Indicative of turning points, crossroads, and/or crises are the two interlocked YOD patterns, one with Saturn 6Sco21 and MC at apex (focal points) and a second focused YOD (aka, the 'Finger of God' = an imperative to deal with) pointing toward the Moon (the people) and opposing the Sun (leader.)

Midpoint pictures for these YOD patterns include potentials for irritability, suppressed excitability, self-willedness, desires for separation, and a striving for independence (you'd think we Americans had that one under our belts before now! yet we're under threat once again.) Also denoted are: suffering sudden damage, great energy, ambitious aims pursued, readiness for action, and/or sudden interference in the business of others (an American specialty thanks to our tiresome imperialist plutocrats who wish to rule the world--from the White House, it seems.

Additionally, there are karmic or fated implications for planets when they appear in a chart at the same degrees: Moon-Sun-Saturn (6th degr) and Mars-Pluto-Venus (8th degr.)

A very dynamic picture of tense development is shown by midpoints aimed directly at the Sun (leader) @6Sag46 in 11th H: Pluto/MC = Mars/MC = Sun = Saturn/Pluto = Mars/Saturn indicating potentials for: power to attain success, authority, a strong will, giving orders to others, overcoming resistance or obstacles, sparing no pains in work, renunciation, privation, physical separation, toil, or an inability to meet all demands due to weak vitality.

Of course, this is a Lunar Eclipse so its midpoints also affect the Moon (the public) so we may find ourselves dealing with such issues as: feminine leadership, premature action, deep emotional reactions, lack of deliberation, imposing one's will upon women, independence of women, melancholy, depression, tragedy especially relating to women, illness, and/or a lack of courage (or charges of cowardice.) Looks like the GOP's 'war on women' with its backward-facing legislative proposals will have us stirred up even more in November, as it ought if America intends to remain a 21st century, non-Talibanesque nation!

Now with serious Saturn as chart-ruler (ASC 11Cap22), we take note of the karmic Lesson-Bringer's only applying aspect, a sextile to 12th H Pluto (1A49.) A sextile between these two karmic planets denotes that a challenge is involved--to persevere without becoming obsessive and single-minded. Defending the rights of those who are being victimized is a positive trait of a Saturn-Pluto sextile, yet both Moon and Sun (people-leader/s) may be in victimized (apex) positions here--or may describe those who use the sextile to achieve positive results!

Spotlighted are organization of info and intelligence reports, plus, 'proper management' issues. Top of the to-do list for a Saturn-Pluto sextile are: self-reliance, financial independence, and total control of all decision-making; perseverance will eventually turn around vulnerabilities, disorganized enterprises, and/or plans, and will result in the release or leaking of withheld information.

And since all eclipses are universal 'wild cards' with a Uranian nature and act as catalysts that serve us by uncovering hidden secrets and scandals, perhaps we'll be amazed by what we will soon find out.

Since a Lunar Eclipse that occurs after a Solar Eclipse tells us about our reaction to the Solar Eclipse, you may wish to follow a link to my recent post on the karmic November 13, 2012 Solar Eclipse @21Sco56 which conjoins US natal 12th cusp of Politics and Secret Deals (Sibly chart 5:10 pm LMT), and also conjoins the Midheaven of Thomas Jefferson's natal chart.

Speaking of YOD patterns and Thomas Jefferson, here's a top post on SO'W which concerns the YOD in Jefferson's natal chart, if you're curious.

November 6, 2012 and Voting Mercury's Station Rx

Now in a previous post or two I've groused astrologically about Election Day 2012's Mercury (votes, voters, ballots, polls, decisions, etc) performing a Station Retrograde (when a planet seems to stand still before turning direction and is made stronger while in Station mode.) Mercury's Station Rx occurs around 6 pm ET on November 6th and with you, dear reader, I await with baited breath to see if this Mercurial planetary condition again affects election results, both presidential and congressional--as it did in the Bush-Gore brouhaha of 2000. Especially since it Stations at '5Sag' this time which opposes President Obama's natal 3Gem21 Moon and conjoins Mitt Romney's natal South Node (SN) in Sagittarius in his n 7th house (Mitt's natal DESC = 1Sag01) and thus opposes his n NN, a Jupiterian point which has positive joining qualities.

Is Mercury's Station Rx showing American voters reviewing his record and 'turning back' to President Obama to gift him a second term as president? Does the separative Mercury-SN contact for Mr. Romney describe his ideas as old-fashioned and 'behind the times' such as rolling back Obamacare, minority rights, and women's reproductive rights? Well, Mercury-SN shows one who often has trouble gaining support for his ideas and plans (Mercury) so my hope is that the lesser of two evils--Mr. Obama, apparently--will benefit from Election Day 2012's Mercury Station Rx and that the Supreme Court doesn't get an opportunity to step in and decide the presidency on behalf of the plutocrats and neocon warmongers we so recently suffered under for eight years, a bad deal for American society which continues its negative influences to this day and beyond.

And this pertains, no matter how hard Florida's Jeb Bush tries to snow us with his glowing assessment of his disastrous brother, Dubya! Here's Jeb on Meet the Press a while back not showing the slightest sense of irony or discomfort that he even has to defend his brother!

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