George Washington; Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Origins of the Washington Family, plus, the Stricklands
by Jude Cowell
The Washington family's Coat of Arms was adopted by an ancestor of our country's first president named William de Wassington and you've most likely perused the Wikipedia page of the Washington Family so you know that George Washington's great-grandfather John Washington (1633--1677) was first of the family to reach the shores of Colonial Virginia in 1657 after surviving a shipwreck.
So as an armchair genealogist, naturally I wanted to check the geni dot com website to see if I have a direct or an in-law family connection to first President George Washington - both as it turns out for President Washington is my 9th cousin 8 times removed. So we may as well face it: said to be sterile from an early case of smallpox, The Father of Our Country may be your cousin, too!
Now on geni dot com, I couldn't resist following George Washington' paternal line back to his ancestor Robert de Washington, Sr who married one of my Strickland family members, Joan, daughter of Sir William Strickland, Knt, and Elizabeth d'Eyncourt (circa 1240 - circa 1273: my 21st great-grandparents). Elizabeth was the only heir of her father, Sir Ralph d'Eyncourt, also a Knight. Sir Ralph is my 22nd great-grandfather, as I'm told.
Then if memory serves via my past research forays into the ancient, misty past concerning my too-ancient-DNA-to-affect-me-now indications, Sir William's is the marriage into the d'Eyncourt family that brought Sizergh Castle (Manor, really) into the Strickland family where folks may visit the 12th-century structure and stroll its beautiful gardens, if they wish!
Of course, nowadays, Sizergh Castle and Gardens are under care of Britain's National Trust, Grade I listed, so perhaps let's close this post with a link to an 8-minute video tour plus history of the stately home as an enticement for a dear reader such as yourself!
A Previous Post regarding the The Death Horoscope of George Washington may be of interest, and by the way: with transit Pluto @29Capricorn right now, the primal planet of power, wealth, and stealth, sits upon the natal Midheaven of George Washington, while conjuncting the natal Mars of yours truly as I type this post which has involved a measure of research into a more primal period of family origins. So there ya go, dear reader!
Photo: Glamis Castle; Ian Robinson, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; 2009
September 9, 2022
When Ancient History Tags Along with Genealogy
by Jude Cowell
The world is saddened today by yesterday's passing of Queen Elizabeth II and for my Friday post of the week, here's a slight departure for SO'W because I've been doing a bit of genealogical research concerning the Scottish side of the family of Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022) via her mother's paternal line of Bowes-Lyon, originally the Lyons of Strathmore, and this leads us to their ancestral estate of Glamis Castle (pronounced "Glahms"), a distant, beautiful, and haunted castle in mystical Scotland.
Reportedly, multiple apparitions roam the family's ancestral home, and in fact, you can hardly do better if you're searching for a ghost-infested castle that even Sir Walter Scott decided to leave after a short while, publishing an account in 1830 that his stay in 1790 had been - shall we say, unnerving. He wrote, "as I heard door after door shut...I began to consider myself as too far away from the living and somewhat too near the dead." No, the famed author's search for isolation in order to do some uninterrupted writing didn't pan out for him at Glamis Castle!
So if you're curious, follow the above link for an extensive list of ghosts that haunt the family's ancestral home including the first John Lyon's wife, Janet Douglas ('The Grey Lady') who was accused of witchcraft by King James V (fearful of conspiracies against him such as being poisoned) and who was burned at the stake on Castle Hill on July 17, 1537. Then keep scrolling for other hauntings, plus, an account of "The Monster of Glamis," a child born with deformities on October 21, 1821 but reputed to have been stillborn.
Check out Truthstream Media's 13-minute report concerning mass manipulation using tactics such as trigger words (aka, 'dog whistles' or 'code words') and mass hypnosis which is revealed in part by political 'echo chamber' campaigns as pundits and politicians tout the exact same wording in every broadcast on every channel ad nauseum. For me this tactic is a heads-up that fibs and/or half-truths are being told repeatedly in order to force people to accept them without question. It can also be a clue that we should look in the opposite direction at what 'fib promoters' wish to hide by distraction and misdirection!
And if we look to America's natal planets concerning such sneaky topics we instantly find our national Mercury (the mental plane; thought processes; communication; commerce and sales) @25Cancer ("A Man Wrapped in an invisible Mantle of Power") opposed by powerful puppet master Pluto in the governmental, legal, and business sign of *Capricorn with Pluto the planet of Psychology, manipulation, surveillance, control, transformation, and obsession. Pluto's out-of-bounds condition on July 4, 1776 only suggests a more hidden and sinister flavor lurking within our society and hints at secret societies, invisible control, and subversion of government into the picture.
With our retrograde Mercury in Moon-ruled Cancer, the sign of self-protection (security), nurturing, family, and business, the influence of the changeable Moon (emotions) upon our thinking (Mercury) denotes a tendency to harbor unconscious desires which can cause us to consider some facts but ignore others (rationalizing for reasons we don't consciously understand), bias and prejudice that interfere with decision making, an unconscious acceptance of lies and falsehoods--and advertising which sometimes deserves the label 'false'.
Last but not least: Donald Trump Is Using the 'Big Lie' Tactic Invented by Goebbels (video) and of course you know of Trump's Mercury-Neptune square with its distorted perceptions, indiscretion, and warped truths--an undermining aspect that master astrologer Alan Oken has labeled, The Sneaky Mind.
~:~
*US Pluto Rx @27Cap33 with the rounded-up Sabian Symbol: "A Large Aviary" but yours truly prefers the degree itself because its word picture seems more applicable to America's obsession (Pluto) with expansion and conquest to the point of collapse, and to the Illuminati symbol, the pyramid of power placed on our paper money by Freemason President Franklin Roosevelt: "27Cap": "Pilgrims Climbing the Steep Steps Leading to a Mountain Shrine...UPREACHING" (Rudyar; the 'mountain' symbol = the pyramid--and this degree appears at Midheaven, the Goal Point, in every US Inauguration horoscope along with US natal Pluto since FDR's 1937 swearing in).
And of course, this reminds us of America's intrepid Pilgrim Fathers who settled colonial America. On a personal note, it was with great surprise during recent genealogical research that yours truly, a southerner, discovered that there are a few New England Pilgrim ancestors hiding in my family woodpile whose descendants eventually headed South!
So naturally I looked up the horoscope given in The Book of World Horoscopes (N. Campion) for the Pilgrim Fathers (chart #362): December 21, 1620 6:00 am LMT Plymouth Massachusetts with Winter Solstice Sun @00Cap09 and Moon @2Sag11. There are two conjunctions in force and combining their strengths: Mars-Neptune in mid-Libra and Jupiter-Pluto both @11Taurus+ Rx. My guess is that the Mars-Neptune pair shows their deep motivation and the energy to cross the sea and actions inspired by spiritual beliefs while Jupiter-Pluto suggests religious fervor but also an enormous determination toward success, the financing of the adventure, a desire to exploit resources and expand their wealth and possessions (plutocrats), and an obsession to control everyone around them...lest someone be caught having fun while avoiding work.
July 10, 2017 Update: note that the year 2009 timed the congressionally mandated switch from analog to digital which was thus cosmically imprinted by the Great Conjunction/s of Jupiter and Neptune. Since then, subliminal symbols and images can be more easily slipped in on us. This, from a Jude's Threshold post:
Due to retrogradation, all of 2009 will be flavored with this visionary, fortune-hunting combo of planetary energies which may also signify spiritual things, rumors and scandals, and tricky legalisms--quite a catalyst if the pair aspects a person’s or a nation’s planets. The dates of exact conjunction are:
1. May 27 @26AQ29;
2. July 18 @26AQ02;
3. Dec 21 @23AQ18, all of which positions conjoin US natal Moon (the public) depending on which US natal chart you prefer – all for July 4, 1776 have the Moon in the 24-to-28-degree range of Aquarius.
And so the US Moon formed a midpoint picture with Jupiter-Neptune, and, vice versa:
Jupiter/Neptune = Moon: an emotional swoon; going with the wind; dreaminess; little sense of reality; losing oneself in plans; instability; wastefulness; becoming involved in speculation (Ebertin).
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch Descends from English Kings
Yes, many Americans have royal heritage although they may not be aware of it.
Well, recently in my family research, I ran across a digitized book about early American immigrants who had Plantagenet Ancestry and found a tiny handful of my own family surnames including some spot-on early settlers (exs: William Farrar who founded Farrar's Island, VA and Kent-born Col. William Claiborne, surveyor of Jamestown Colony and founder of Kent Island, MD) on the list who sailed to Colonial Virginia and Maryland with royal lineages tucked away in their back pockets.
Then, thinking I had never heard the name 'Gorsuch' until now-Justice Neil Gorsuch hit the news cycle, a surprise awaited me for on the Plantagenet list of kingly descendants is Anne Lovelace Gorsuch who immigrated from England to America as a widow with children. (Anne's father was Sir William Lovelace, Knight). Wondering how many branches of the Gorsuch tree there can be, I searched and discovered that, yes, Justice Neil Gorsuch is indeed descended from immigrant Anne Lovelace Gorsuch and her husband, the Reverend John Gorsuch. You may climb their family tree if you dare.
And since Justice Neil Gorsuch will be 'with us' on the SCOTUS bench for decades, if you're curious enough about this illustrious family of London merchants and attorneys-at-law (and one, John of Baltimore, Maryland, was a labor arbitrator!) and would appreciate a fuller accounting of them, here's a JSTOR link which takes you way back to Bishopsgate Ward, London, England, Northumberland, and beyond. Included you'll find allied families such as the Coles, the Ensors, the McGills, and the Lovelaces (which reminds me of Ada, Countess Lovelace, daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron).
So now I must wonder if Anne Lovelace Gorsuch (circa 1610--1652) is related to that particular bunch of Lovelaces in some way. After all, how many Lovelace branches could there possibly be?
Image: Remains of Historical Jamestown Colony {public domain}
Please be advised that you are cordially invited to visit the Genealogy and Family Ties effort of yours truly at Stricklands' Blog for articles and links concerning Claibornes, Farrars, Taylors, Stricklands, Jamestown Colony, and more!
The US government, aided and abetted by the global corporate syndicate, is working to undermine the US Constitution. Tyranny has been the result of this infiltration and the time for resistance is Now.
Update Dec 5, 2022: the video by Anonymous has been deleted from this post by unseen forces and, as it turns out, it's the Republican Party of Herr Tr*mp wanting to delete the US Constitution because the orange albatross thinks destroying it will shove him back into the Oval Office again so he can steal more national security documents and make mega-profits off the Office of the Presidency. Again. Oh, this would greatly please his foreign handlers. jc
Original post continues here with mild edits for clarity:
The main purpose of Stars Over Washington: "Astrological comments on America, on Washington DC, and on the politicians who infest them..."; so types yours truly, A Child of the Revolution, whose ancestor, Francis P. Power of Maryland (1756--1818), joined John Glover's Marbelhead Mariners and risked his life participating in the ferrying of George Washington and 2,400 troops and artillery across the icy Delaware River, December 25/26, 1776, and who fought in the Battle of Trenton which changed the tenor of the Revolutionary War.
Therefore, writing SO'W is the least I can do for the sake of America! Jude
Related posts include: Christmas Day and a 'Double' Ancestor (the natal chart of my 4th-great grandfather (paternal and maternal!) David Barnett born that auspicious day, December 25, 1776 in Christiansburg, VA); The Solar Eclipses of Valley Forge 1777; and the natal Horoscope of the US Constitution set for September 17, 1787 4:00 pm LMT Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and showing the document's Sun Virgo-Moon Sagittarius blend of 'moral certitude' -- which is one of the reasons that criminals are determined to be rid of it and We the People must be even more determined to defend it.
September 2016 begins on the 1st of the month with a Solar Eclipse @9Virgo21 uncovering what may be stark facts and secrets and this provides constructive conditions conducive to a tackling of the truth. (Brady)
Two weeks and a day later, a Lunar Eclipse @24Pisces manifests and further spotlights the Virgo-Pisces polarity of the victim-savior axis. Naturally, Mercury (Virgo) and Jupiter (co-ruled by Neptune if we wish to call it so since we are typing about larger trends in society). The transiting Neptune-South Node covers much intrigue, loss, propaganda, and crime (with a Neptune-Saturn flavor) but the period will pass although its effects will last a while until they fade and dissolve.
19 North: The Virgo Solar Eclipse of September 1, 2016
With this particular 19N Solar Eclipse, a Virgo filter allows the sign's energies to express in such a way that discrimination, discernment, purity, and a sense of duty are sought, engaged, or, in some cases, neglected. As an Earth sign, Virgo indicates physical demands of some kind are presented or called for. Keen observance and deep perception are best utilized wherever possible while the 19 North themes are in effect if forward progress is to be made--themes of realism and constructively tackling the truth. Harvest is a word often associated with (goddess) Virgo and there is actually a *karmic asset here if things are kept in perspective for too much criticism, degradation, (--"that's disgusting!," says Mr. Trump quite often); plus, neglect of health, and/or overuse of restraint when action is called for may interfere with progress.
Note that Virgo health connotations also involve Genetics, DNA, Family Roots, and Genealogy Research into them. Those like yours truly with a current Saturn transit to natal 4th house may be involved in such an investigation as I type!
The September 16th Lunar Eclipse in Pisces suggests the primary reactions and instincts of the Collective concerning events and conditions that the Solar Eclipse has wrought. Compassion, confusion, infection, mystification, denial, and other Piscean characteristics will come up for air as a result of the Virgo Solar Eclipse which, as it happens, is the Pre-Natal Saros series of both Election Day 2016 and Inauguration 2017 so that eclipse themes will apply to both events and have actually begun to express early in tandem with the current 18 South Solar Eclipse which perfected on March 9, 2016 @18Pis55 and includes themes of separation, endings, and partings--yet new situations may lead to positive results so that all may turn out in the end (paraphrasing Predictive Astrology, Brady).
~:~
Blog Note: * as always, here on SO'W "karmic asset" and "karma" are used in the sense of reaping what's been sown, a natural law of the Universe, and since Virgo-Pisces and the 6/12 axis are all about that, there we have it, with Genetics, Heredity, Cells, and such reserved for Astrology's Saturnian branches of study rather than the Uranian past-life model created within the Strain At a Gnat Swallow a Camel School of Philosophy. jc
But if you do, here's today's post from Jude's Threshold concerning a new observatory site called Deerlick Astronomy Village, a stargazer's paradise located under the darkened skies of rural eastern Georgia, USA.
Added to the post is a little early Georgia-Virginia history with a slight genealogical flavor from yours truly, reluctant astrologer and native Georgian these many years.
