Leo New Moon and Mars into Sagittarius - Steve Judd video

August 2, 2016: UK astrologer Steve Judd discusses today's (or tonight's in the UK) New Moon in Leo, its connection to the ongoing Saturn-Neptune square, and the entrance of transit Mars into Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius which will hopefully be more forthcoming in the truth department than Mars in intense, secretive Scorpio has been.

And tomorrow Steve hopes to have a look at the nomination of Hillary Clinton which promises to include interesting perspectives coming from abroad--especially since Mars @00Sag+ conjoins the natal Jupiter of Hillary Clinton and suggests her already improving poll numbers since the DNC!

~:~

Related: August 23, 2016: a Mars-Saturn-Antares Conjunction @9Sag52.

Court Throws Out North Carolina's Racist Voting Law As 'A Cure For Problem That Doesn't Exist - clip

Having family in Raleigh, North Carolina, this court ruling sounds to me like a big improvement over racism-inspired voter suppression. Thom Hartmann reports:

August 23, 2016 Horoscope: Mars-Saturn-Antares conjoin

August 2016 Lunations, a Mutable Grand Cross, and a Triple Conjunction

Well, it's an ugly situation but here it is, the horoscope of Mars conjunct Saturn conjunct royal star Antares at a moment no one but the violent have been waiting for. The chart is set for the White House (to represent our nation as well as our capital city) on August 24, 2016 at 7:26:09 am edt Washington DC. It's an Hour of Mercury posited in its own sign of Virgo in the first house and lined up with North Node, Venus, and Jupiter--aggressive Mars @9Sag52 conjoins Saturn and the IC and is out-of-bounds (OOBs) of the earthly plane. Read on if you dare...(and please pardon my typo in this post's title..if corrected the link won't work!)

First, let's list the August 2016 Lunations:

August 2 New Moon @10Leo57 4:44:30 pm edt White House; New Moon in 8th house trined by a 12th house Saturn Rx (9Sag52); Hour of Venus which is at the end of Leo (26:35, also in 8th house); ASC 17Sag13 makes Jupiter chart-ruler from its own 9th house @22Vir24 conjunct US natal Neptune suggesting inspiration, but negatively hinting at unwise speculation, paranoia, fanaticism, inflation, and scandal. This Jupiter also conjoins the natal Mars of President Obama which can cause overestimation of strength, having a large part to play in proceedings, and/or success if moderation and caution are used. The midpoint of Jupiter and Neptune rise in this chart so the potentials for speculation and lack of realism are increased.

August 18 Full Moon @25AQ51 (conjunct US natal Moon/We the People) 5:26:30 am edt White House; Full Moon in 7th house of Partnerships and Open Enemies so the 1/7 polarity is emphasized between Self and Others with the Sun rising @25Leo51;ASC 13Leo23 conjoins Mr. Obama's natal Sun, and the Virgo line-up is in the 2nd house of the National Treasury, Earning Ability, and Values; Jupiter and Neptune rule the 8th house of Corporatism, Credit, Debt, Shared Resources, Legacies, Transformation, (Death, and the Occult) so there's a money/wealth emphasis across the 2/8 axis--and fraudulent Neptune @10Pis02 Rx is in the 8th house as is Wounded Healer Chiron @24Pis08 Rx (suggesting a mentor or mentors); Neptune and the Saturnian South Node are conjoined (1 degree 41 min orb) in 8th so the implications of loss through fraud or through weather disasters such as floods and storms are increased. Gas, oil, and toxic fumes are also possibilities as are catastrophes related to drugs, poisons, contagion or epidemics, and/or to soil erosion or upheaval (see Antares, below).

As for the horoscope you see here with its Mars-Saturn-Antares flavors at the Ending or HOW? Point of the chart, their conjunction adds to the likelihood of natural disasters, quarrels, suspicion, belligerence, military action, violence, fires, explosions, shipwrecks, tectonic shifts, and/or other natural or man made catastrophes. Not a pretty picture at all, is it? Well, Mars-Saturn is often said to be the 'death axis' in a horoscope and as malevolents, one or both planets tend to be active during times of extremism and violent measures especially when Angular as they are here in Washington DC.

Add Antares (alpha Scorpii; Watcher of the West) to the brew and the negative tendencies of Mars-Saturn with its frustrating stop-go energies can be invigorated toward destruction (including self-destruction), obsessive behavior, and dramatic turns of events. Murder (or worse, mass murder) and executions cannot be ruled out with such a turbulent trio which could very well affect masses of people. Plus, miners and laborers may be in the spotlight since the trio is in the 4th house.

Two Royal Stars in a Mutable Grand Cross

Opposite Antares is royal star Aldebaran (alpha Tauri; Watcher of the West; success through integrity; in Arabian Astrology, 'the one who follows the Pleiades') at the very visible Midheaven would seem to be related to The Goal (the WHY? Point of the chart) so there we have two royal stars completing a Mutable Grand Cross that expresses at the Public angle at MC. Please enlarge the chart for more details such as the actors in the Grand Cross: Mars/Saturn/IC/Antares, Neptune/SN/Descendant, MC/Aldebaran, and the Ascendant/NN conjunction. Also note the Seesaw shape of the planets weighted on the Virgo side which denotes the capability for major achievement while working under contrasting and antagonistic polarities (Jones).

Obviously a few T-Squares are formed via the Grand Cross planets and points and these can be read as midpoint pictures which contain a variety of positive and negative potentials such as: recognition, success, bringing ideas to fruition at all costs, muddled aspirations, corruption, failure, wrong arrangements, peculiar circumstances, disappointment, depression, mayhem, suffering, mourning, a lack of clarity, links to others via unfortunate conditions and...a love of humanity. (I prefer the last potential, don't you?)

Not included in the Grand Cross pattern are an unaspected Sun and Uranus (Rx). Unaspected, each planet tends to work within its own sphere of interests--the Sun in the karmic 12th house of Politics and Back Room Deals, and Uranus, anarchistic in Aries and possibly causing turns of fortune or fate in the 8th house realms already mentioned, above. Other actors (planets) don't moderate or affect the solar and Uranian energies in this chart so that they are expressed without the support or interference of others.

A Moon Exalted in Taurus

Aided by three applying trines, the Moon @22Tau45 is in the 9th house and signifies the populace in a Mundane chart. Practical Earth trines to the Moon coming from the 1st house trio of Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter in Virgo suggest that commodities markets, cyclical ups and downs, and legal matters are involved, and that fluctuations are being planned for. Taurus looks for preservation of values, increased development and growth, comfort, luxury, and possessions and these are the reigning needs of a Taurus Moon. (btw: 22Taurus is just beyond a Lunar Return for former president Bill Clinton whose natal Moon position is @20Taurus+.) Actually, a Taurus Moon in 9th house trined by two money planets (Venus and Jupiter) and the planet of negotiations and trade (Mercury) brings a hint of lawsuits with favorable outcomes to mind.

Also not part of the Mutable Grand Cross is wealthy, powerful manipulative Pluto @15Cap11 Rx which precisely conjoins the 5th cusp, the house of Risk-Taking, Gambling, Speculation, and Creative Ventures. However, Pluto is connected to the Mutable Cross since it is disposited by major player Saturn via Capricorn, planet of structure, authority, control, government, law, and business. Of interest is the fixed star that Pluto conjoins, lovely Vega (alpha Lyrae) which provides such potentials as: good fortune in Politics, wealth via dealing with the government, double dealing, fleeting fame, and mother problems (A. Louis). Hmmm. Seems likely to me it might just as often indicate father problems with Saturn-ruled Capricorn involved!

2016 Solar Eclipses Spotlight the Virgo-Pisces Victim-Savior Axis

Now running in the background in August is the current Solar Eclipse (18 South) which manifested on March 9, 2016 @18Pis55 with its themes of endings, separations, and partings (Brady). Sadly, such themes support rather well the more difficult Mars-Saturn-Antares energies of August, don't they? And we've already seen 18 South manifested in both the Republican and the Democratic campaigns as staffers and officials have been let go or stepped down (ex: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz). Yet 18 South includes a ray of hope for positive outcomes may result from the new conditions created under the influence of the eclipse.

However, since August 23rd is within 2 weeks of the next Solar Eclipse (September 1st @9Virgo), its 19 North themes may affect the harsh trio conditions as well. Plus, a conjunction on an Angle such as we see here in DC can act disruptively itself in similar fashion to an eclipse or to the planet Uranus. In other words, these are 'wild card' energies being discussed here and the potentials may or may not express at all, one of the qualities of quirky Uranus which can act as a catalyst early, on time, late...or never! Plus, we can never reliably predict what Uranus is up to, can we? Especially when The Isolationist planet is further detached by being unaspected!

The Saturn-Neptune Square Links 2016 with 1989

And yes, the off-on Saturn-Neptune square applies again (1A00) which links back to their last Great Conjunction/s all through 1989--3 times from 10Cap22 (#3) to 11Cap14 and 11:55 where transit Pluto crept for the last few years leading to deep fears of loss and/or a feeling of being downtrodden--which is more than a feeling thanks to draconian measures taken by governments across the globe and to the degradation of moral standards in society (imho). My feeling is that repressive governments with hidden agendas are the main problem, not the people! For without racketeering governments and their enablers, war would not exist. Meanwhile, profiteering 'leaders' provide mere lip service to the cause of peace!

Now perhaps you remember that for the first time since the late 15th century, the year 1989 saw a triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, thus thickening the planetary plot beyond the scope of this post although we should note that workers' and civil rights and a fair and just society were obvious areas of interest then and are on society's front burner again, often as 'income inequality' issues. You know, lowering the IQ score for entering police academies hasn't improved society at all for it represents degraded standards.

As for hotheaded Mars, the confrontational warrior planet applies to nebulous Neptune (1A00) in murky Pisces, an aspect that echoes America's natal Mars-Neptune square of misguided or misdirected energies, confused motivations, though occasionally inspired actions. However, we may expect this square to blow the fog of war up our apathetic (noses) as usual. Tragically for humanity, perpetual war is a primary goal of the power elite. And corporate planet Jupiter conjunct starry Denebola in 1st house tells the tale: to go against society.

Okay, I'll hush for now and hope that this downer post serves to inspire moderation, a strengthening of our community spirit, and perhaps thoughts for safety precautions during the month of August 2016 into September. After all, we have the September 1st Solar Eclipse of realism and tackling the truth approaching as we each ruminate upon which of two sub-par presidential candidates we'll vote for on November 8th--so please do not stay home!

~:~

FYI: the last Mars-Saturn conjunction I remember is the one in late August 2014 @17Sco41; there was a Quarter Moon @24Taurus on August 17th reflecting a cycle of rigid, stubborn Fixed energies. jc

A White-Clad Hillary Clinton Accepts the Democratic Nomination for the Presidency

Hillary Clinton Visualizes Helming the White House

by Jude Cowell

Last evening, July 28, 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination of her party for the presidency of the United States while dressed all in white. The time stamp on my phone registered these times: introduced by daughter Chelsea @10:27 pm edt; Hillary begins speaking @10:30 pm edt; accepts @10:47 pm edt; ends speech @11:27 pm edt, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For those who prefer an 8:02 pm CST natal chart for Hillary with its 29Pisces12 Moon, her acceptance speech began (10:30 pm edt) as this lunar position was precisely rising in Philadelphia with a 29Pis10 Ascendant. Not conclusive testimony for an 8:02 pm chart, yet in the constant search for her accurate, confirmed birth data (though most astrologers use the astrodatabank hour of 8:02 am, not pm, with Scorpio rising; view her chart here along with a second version set for 8:00 pm which gives her 29Gemini rising--yet I cannot see her with a nervous Gemini Ascendant and adding 2 minutes = 00Cancer rising). Yes, I have suggested here and elsewhere that the evening birth of 8:02 pm gives her World Point 00Cancer of fame and prominence on the Ascendant which describes her Moon-shaped face.

Plus, white, as you know, is a color of the sign Cancer and its ruler, the Moon, which relates to the White Goddess. Did the audience last evening infuse Hillary Rodham Clinton with applause, cheers, and adoration as if worshiping her?

For me, the proceedings favored a modern day idolization ceremony if not a (pagan) worship service though of course you are free to disagree as you wish. Even rock goddess and Isis stand-in Katy Perry performed just before Chelsea, then Hillary, took the stage. And no one can say that mother goddess Ceres was not well represented via verbal and imaged reminders of Hillary's care, concern, and sympathy for the ill, the weak, the young and old, the injured, and the victimized in our society. Plus, symbols of Ceres and Virgo, the goddess sign, are found sprinkled all over Washington DC architecture--do they on some level point to eventual matriarchal rule in America?

Well, as you've noticed, our Founders' Venus veneration is seen in statues such as Columba (the Dove) on the Capitol Dome, aka, Lady Freedom (not Pocahontas, they say.) Yes, evidence of early American paganism is hard to miss unless we try really hard! Especially since the gift of French Freemasons, the copper-clad Statue of Liberty, so obviously pays homage to goddess Venus whose metal is copper.

(See: Horoscope: Founding of the Federal City 1791.)

But Hillary as 'white goddess'? Seriously? Aiming for a matriarchal White House?

Well, perhaps it's just a feeling of mine. Though perhaps you're familiar with poet Robert Graves and his study of The White Goddess and matriarchal religion. Can anyone deny that a patriarchal to matriarchal shift is in store for America if Hillary Clinton is inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Paganism or not, her Methodism notwithstanding, and US secularism aside, this basic change cannot be ignored or denied if a Hillary coronation is held!

Now I wonder if the Sabian Symbols can provide information on this topic? Is there a symbol, a word picture, that applies to the lady and the situation? How about the symbol for '30 Pisces' if we round up for a 29 Pisces+ Moon and a 10:30 pm acceptance speech? Let's blend Dane Rudhyar's description of this degree with that of Marc Edmund Jones and see what we can come up with for Hillary in an all-white pantsuit while adoring fans shouted their praise and the goal of her life is nearly realized and fulfilled:

'30Pisces': "The Great Stone Face...Destiny is character. Keyword: DISCERNMENT; positive expression: self-integrity in its irresistible impact on the course of events; negative/unconscious/shadow side: wholly inarticulate and ineffectual self-realization."

Actually, as far as Politics goes, on its surface I thought her acceptance speech was quite good and reasonably effective though not for her many detractors who are steeped in decades of her opponents' accusations and insults. Her Mercury-South Node conjunction (and Ascendant in the 8:02 am chart), plus, her Sun in Scorpio attracts or describes much of the blame and discredit, it seems--perhaps correctly so since Mars-ruled Scorpio is the sign of betrayal, subterfuge, vengeance, and/or crime--if one does not evolve to a higher plane. For Scorpio has a higher side, too, of the Eagle or even, the Phoenix, both of which are associated with the founding and the symbolism of our nation.

To '30 Pisces', Ruhyar adds notes on Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The Great Stone Face" in an "allegorical sense to show the capacity for self-transformation latent in man. This power can be developed through visualization, when the emotions and the will are poured into the visualized mental image." He goes on to speak of "God-like beings" (a White Goddess, perhaps?) starting "a new universe" (which could be the "new world order" the power elite have been implementing under our noses; whoever helms the White House has no option than to follow the global government 'new world order' script--or else; methods used are the only difference between Rs and Ds--if any since the end game is about to be won.)

Now echoing back to what I posted yesterday about the New Year's Eve ceremony when the Clintons 'seeded' the New Millennium, Dane Rudhyar adds, "Within the end of the cycle the seed of a new beginning exists in potency--unless the entire cycle has proven to be a failure. This is the last stage of the last scene of the great ritual play of cyclic transformations. It brings to us a realization of the power of archetypes as factors conditioning life processes. Thus we could use as a final Keyword: ARCHETYPALIZATION.

Then there's stationing Rx planet, radical political Uranus, something of a Utopian, blind zealot, and anarchist when in Mars-ruled Aries. A catalyst of change and revolution, Uranus is rising in Hillary's speech, acceptance, and end-of-speech charts (actually conjunct Ascendant as she ended at 11:27 pm edt), the symbol for '25Aries' is quite relevant to our topic of hidden, subconscious messages delivered during a public event, as we saw last evening (Moon = Mercury-Neptune: subconscious pictures and ideas emerge--Ebertin.)

As you know, mundane Uranus is The Awakener and The Witness (that sense of self-observation and self-consciousness) and is active during times of illumination, shifts, and changes in society such as patriarchal to matriarchal rule, so let's close with a consideration of the symbol for '25Aries':

"A Double Promise Reveals Its Inner and Outer Meaning"...Keyword: SENSIBILITY; positive expression: a facility of adjustment by which everything in a given situation may be brought into the fullest co-operation with everything else; negative/unconscious/shadow side: compromising insincerity and a lean to chicanery in all human relationships."

Let's hope for a positive expression even though the negative seems to hint at her lack of trust issues and/or a superficial agreement on the more progressive Democratic platform that Hillary Clinton's rigid, stubborn, Fixed Scorpio Mercury-South Node conjunction has been finagled into accepting. And a "lean to chicanery"? We'll all have to suffer through that even if it's if mainly due to constant accusations and threats of lawsuits that will be hurled at a President Hillary by her enemies who will again be sore losers if they can't finesse the White House in November!

Pundits React to Hillary's Speech.

Image: '30Pisces': Temple of the Great Stone Face on loan from my art gallery Secret Moon Art.

~:~

Please note that for further clarification, "unconscious/shadow side" has been added by yours truly to the negative expressions of the symbols found in the Jones version, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology. I hope you don't mind. jc

Who Should Bernie Voters Support Now? Robert Reich vs. Chris Hedges on Tackling the Neoliberal Order

For you, a 36-minute intellectual discussion on an important and timely question sans insults and schoolyard bullying:

July 28, 2016: "A Woman Rises from the Ocean, a Seal Embraces Her"

As former senator Hillary Clinton delivers her history-making presidential nomination acceptance speech tonight at the DNC, yours truly will be wondering about many historical things such as the obverse (unconscious; feminine) side of America's Great Seal with its Eye of Horus (son of Isis!) and the 13-step pyramid of power. Another wonderment is the hidden meaning of our nation's long list of male presidents (covert side) which, unless there's a Republican coup of the Venusian Oval Office or a landslide for Trump (and there could be either or both), will soon flip over to a female Commander-in-Chief.

Political Pundits: Why Has It Taken the US So Long to Elect a Woman President?

The political class ask this with eyes wide as if they weren't in on the game! For it seems to me that this change was meant to be and its timing no accident. My assertion is that the 'breaking of the glass ceiling' imagery used in the DNC video to signify a woman breaking through to the top tier of power brings to fruition more symbolism than the American people are allowed to glimpse or understand--it's the nature of mysticism with secret motives to hide information in plain sight.

Actually, such esoteric topics as the Mystery of the Great Seal's Eye of Horus have turned up previously on Stars Over Washington.

For the curious, here is a 14-minute presentation on The Story of The Great Seal of the United States (part 1 of 2) which includes its history, the selection of mystical symbols on its covert and obverse sides, and how VP Henry Wallace (a 32nd-degree Freemason and occultist) brought the seal's obverse Illuminati-inspired symbols to the attention of President Franklin Roosevelt (also a 32nd-degree) who, with little if any public explanation, had the symbols placed on the back of the dollar bill, as the legend goes:

"A Woman Rises from the Ocean, a Seal Embraces Her" is the Sabian Symbol for 1 Aries with 'the ocean' a well known symbol of the unconscious in dreams, and more universally of the Collective Unconscious in the Mundane Astrology lens through which I tend to view Politics here on SO'W. Obviously the symbol's 'seal' represents America's Great Seal, and the 'woman' is, as it turns out, Hillary Clinton who seeded the New Millennium at midnight on New Year's Eve with husband and President Bill Clinton as the calendar of a new century turned over and our national phallic symbol and Egyptian obelisk, the Washington Monument, was decked out in celebratory lights. Our then-First-Lady has waited through 8 years of the Obama presidency to reach this point in 2016--the year which was always part of the game plan, imho.

For it's possible that the significance of switching to a lady president is at the very Foundation of America via our natal horoscope if we use July 4, 1776 at 5:09 pm LMT Philadelphia, PA (where the DNC 2016 happens to be located) for this moment places a Cardinal World Point of 00Aries+ on the IC, the Basis of the nation's founding. Round up the degree to 1 Aries and we get the above pregnant-with-meaning symbol. Of course, a horoscope's IC Point also reveals hints about the Draining and the Ending of an endeavor but that's a fret for a distant day. jc

5 Stages of Grief: Bernie or Bust - Hillary Gets the Nomination - Randi Rhodes clip

July 27, 2016: As I return from one week of no Internet service, moseying around YouTube and political sites today has been interesting to say the least. Did I miss last week's RNC and this week's DNC? No, because I had other means of following the proceedings, the speeches, the booing, the cheers, the videos, and the nominations.

But since Stars Over Washington for the last year or so has given considerable space to the campaign and the common-good, progressive ideas of Senator Bernie Sanders, and since Hillary Clinton snagged the Democratic nomination in part via the collusion of an allegedly neutral DNC, I searched for a broadcast related to the principled divide within the Democratic Party and what I found is a progressive broadcaster previously unknown to me. Her name is Randi Rhodes and she seems to be a live wire sort of lady (perhaps born under a Fire-Air personality blend!?) who comes to us from Florida and has quite a lot to say about political matters.

Here is Randi Rhodes on the 5 Stages of Grief for Berners, and a few other observations:

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As you've heard, tonight's DNC spectacular from Philadelphia will include President Barack Obama speaking on behalf of Hillary Clinton who remains for him, one assumes, "likable enough."

Video: Trump Failed Air Kiss Most Awkward Convention Moment?

Here's David Pakman with what may be the most awkward moment at the RNC so far. But wait! Donald Trump's acceptance speech is tonight and you never know with Trump whose quirky Uranus in Gemini leads all the rest of his planets: