The following video presentation by Niall Ferguson is 4 hours long and covers the history of money, Financial Collapse 2007-2008, trust in paper money, and more. If you watch all of the video, you may 'never get back' your 4 hours but you will be better informed:
~:~My thanks to the excellent Forbidden Knowledge TV for alerting me to Mr. Ferguson's enlightening presentation.
On the topic of who really runs America, on May 14, 2012 TruthDig published a not-to-be-missed article by Chris Hedges, Colonized by Corporations, which makes the point that it's the declasse among us--the educated now left by the power elite with no position and few prospects--that the corporate class fears most. I provide the article link in case you missed it.
Here's a brief excerpt from Mr. Hedges' article:
"--those who hold power, real power, are not the elected mandarins in Washington but the criminal class on Wall Street."
Jupiter-Neptune Describes New York Stock Exchange
The quote from Chris Hedges 'outs' a concept that is one of the main reasons I created Stars Over Washington in 2005 (to vent frustrations!) so putting on my Political Astrology hat, I'll say that the birth horoscope of the *New York Stock Exchange shows just what Capricornian cynics like me might expect: a frothy Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, with both planets retrograde in late Libra (22:57/27:42.)
This means that the Buttonwood Tree agreement in NY was formed under such influences as speculation, waste, grand schemes (including 'bubbles'), idealism, over-extension, over-promotion, and fraud. Sad to say that the Obama administration is imprinted by a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction as well with their three exact conjunctions occurring on May 27, July 10, and December 21 of inaugural year 2009. There are no Great Conjunctions in 2013 to imprint the next presidency with different energies so unfortunately the Jupiter-Neptune themes are to be continued--plus, Neptune now resides in its own murky sign of Pisces which indicates the heights or the depths, and contagion of all sorts.
(Next up will be Jupiter conjunct Saturn once on December 21, 2020 @ 00AQ29--prominent at Winter Solstice--which hits the January 20th US inaugural Sun.)
As you remember, in 2009 all three conjunctions directly hit US natal Moon 27AQ10 (the public) which provided We the People such delights as: instability, becoming involved in speculation, losing oneself in plans, dreaminess (oh Barack!), little sense of reality, and uncertainty. Some people have experienced great loss through floods and gas damages to water tables (fracking chemicals), all provinces of Neptune with Jupiter expanding the negative effects and the size of the fraud and loss. Naturally much disappointment has resulted since inflated Jupiter-Neptune bubbles must pop eventually.
Now they say that how a person, event, or entity begins shows how things will end...the end is in the beginning. If so, We the People (and other disenfranchised populations across the globe) have already suffered grievously and lossed unfairly from the predictable actions of the weak characters of current and past Wall Street titans and traders whose natal Jupiter, planet of banks, large amounts of money, growth, gurus, and ideals, has been undermined from the start by gaseous Neptune which, according to astrological principles, wouldn't know how to provide stability if it tried. Unless it's in the spiritual realm and I think we can safely rule that out when it comes to those who worship gold, love money, and lust for power.
~:~*NYSE birth data: May 17, 1792 NYC; I tend to use the '7:52 am LMT' time which appears in various places online though I've seen some who favor 10:00 am LMT as does Celeste Teal in her book, Eclipses, in which she cites Maggie Hyde for her rectifcation work on the chart which gives ASC 9Leo38 with Uranus 15Leo09 rising in 1st H, and MC 27Ari59 conjunct Saturn 26:23 in 9th house which places Neptune Rx on the IC (Endings; The Drain) but on the 3rd H side with Jupiter Rx. Neptune conj IC is descriptive of what I groused about, above, with its unstable roots and shady beginnings. A Saturn-Neptune opposition indicates trust issues, lack of confidence, and exploitation; Jupiter opposite Saturn shows fluctuations in values and worth, and a need for 'yes-men' for any criticism is deemed unmerited, the titans think.
Yet looking at a '7:52 am LMT' birth hour, ASC 13Can51 conjoins US natal Sun with 1792's Chiron 15Can25 rising and MC 23Pis21--so that NYSE's Career and Public Standing are ruled and sub-ruled by Jupiter and Neptune! In both natal charts a midpoint picture emerges: Jup-Nep = Saturn: feeling abandoned by one's luck (as you will if you gamble in the rigged casino on Wall Street); false hopes; plans that come to nothing; losses; disappointments; self-delusion; pessimism; combining the real with the unreal in one's activities. (Tyl; Munkasey; Ebertin.) Plus, by transit, Saturn in late Libra has catapulted off-and-on this difficult midpoint picture into 2012 for present-day expression!
Does the behavior of the members of the US Senate and House of Representatives ever make you wonder whose influence and on whose behalf they act under? Votes like this show their main influence cannot possibly be We the People:
Fabulous news! An older than dirt Mayan Calendar has been found in the deepest jungle and its moon cycles and other calculations do not support the hype over the alleged Mayan 'prophecy' of the end of the world occurring at Winter Solstice 2012, the Galactic Center Alignment we've all been waiting for. No seriously, we have.
And curiously (for astrologers!), one of the archaeologists involved in the amazing discovery (click link above for smashing photos) is William Saturno. How's that for being aptly named since Saturn rules rocks, stones, dirt, old relics, and the study of Archaeology itself? Wonder if he knows of this synchronicity...
My thanks for the article link to the excellent Crystal Pomeroy who writes a regular and meditative column for Daykeeper Journal, as you probably already know!
Of Venus Transits and Unions with Feet of Iron and Clay
by Jude Cowell
When Venus transits or occults (like a little black speck) our solar system's Sun, associations and alliances which aren't quite normal or usual tend to be formed as has been noted since Venus Transits were recorded. Thirty-one years ago, on January 1, 1981, Greece joined the EU and Constantine Karamanlis stated that Greeks were being "called to build the new Europe."
He believed, or propagandized that he believed, that "the unification of Europe will be the greatest political event in the history of our continent. For it will stabilise relations between the powers of the world, it will guarantee Europe's independence and contribute to the strengthening of world order and peace." (My italics.)
Wow! There was a lot riding on Greece's entry into the EU though the part about "world order" kind of gives the game away, doesn't it? Tsk on these eternal Utopians and their Great Plan for Global Domination! The EU has been a 'new world order' experiment on a grand scale but cracks are showing.
Plus, if you believe in Bible prophecy such as that found in Daniel and Revelation, you may remember King Nebuchadezzar's dream which Daniel, through God's inspiration, interpreted for him as being "a great image" with a head of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and of clay. (Daniel 2:31-33.)
My studies indicate that the image's feet of iron and clay represent the kingdoms of the European continent after the break-up of the Roman Empire, and to the King Daniel declared, "They shall not cleave to one another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."
Yet for centuries powerful men such as Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler--and the EU boys--have attempted to overthrow Daniel's prophecy by uniting Europe. And in recent decades they've pretended--or convinced themselves--that the feat had been accomplished.
We who now live may not see the break-up of iron and clay--the European Union--or, Greece and perhaps other member nations may fall away right before our very eyes as an expectable result of the current 'European debt crisis' and the vexing, cruel austerity measures which powerful men, who lack for nothing but consciences and compasssion, have now put in place to weed out the populations of Europe.
So this reluctant astrologer is keeping a close watch on the June 5/6, 2012 Venus Transit as a timing mechanism relating to an unusual forming or break-up of association since the 2012 Transit is the 8-years-later companion to that of June 2004, a Venus Transit which also occurred during a much-touted world-leader summit (Sea Island, Georgia) as will this one. And since astrological Venus relates to valuations, money, relationship, and the attraction principle, we shall see if Greece stays in or leaves the EU, their mutual attraction dissolved.
There may be hope for the EU, however, later in the year since the November 13, 2012 Solar Eclipse has a "joy through commitment" flavor which may portend the above-mentioned "strengthening" of the Union, a temporary circumstance at best, no matter how gloriously their and our politicians choose to spin it for their own world order purposes.
Reuters reports on the "fiscal cliff" that Washington 'lawmakers' are in process of setting up for January 1, 2013, a re-run of Summer 2011's dramatic debt limit-default theater that caused the US credit rating to be downgraded thanks primarily to Tea Party members of Congress and those who bankroll them.
Yes, these are basically the same tax and budget matters left over from 2011, a summer with two Solar Eclipses one month apart (June 1 and July 1. The issues must be re-negotiated in November and December 2011--just in time for Election Day November 6, 2012 and the Solar Eclipse of November 13, 2012 (more on that later including its horoscope set for Capitol Hill; see 2012 Eclipse list below.)
For shopping and the US economy (assuming America has an economy by then once these play-acting jokers get done scoring what they hope are points on November 6), we may find Christmas 2012 to be a casualty of Washington along with the paychecks of the working class, plus there's Winter Solstice 2012 and the Galactic Center Alignment to be concerned about, if you pay attention to such things.
Well, I do declare! How easy to type scathingly when you're in a major snit of miffdom over a most sorry US Congress and the super-corrupt system of government that certain operatives and agents have engineered to fail on purpose!
A Total of Four Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2012
1. 14 South Solar Eclipse May 20 @00Gem21 conjoins Fixed Star Alcyone (potentials: mystical but judgmental; exiled; unlucky; something to cry about); (has a Mercury influence)
2. Lunar Eclipse June 4 (intros the rare Venus Transit June 5/6 in mid-Gemini) @14Sag conjunct US natal Ascendant (Sibly); Moon = We the People; (has a Jupiter influence)
3. 15 North Solar Eclipse November 13 @ 22Sco (sign of Big Business; Corporations; the Underworld; Endings; Regeneration and Healing (has a Mars-Pluto influence); conjoins two Fixed Stars: Unukalhai (Alpha Serpentis; potentials: achievement, then a fall; legal problems; accidents; success in Politics, war, writing; shipwrecks; forgeries; and Agena (potentials: honors; success with the masses; high status; scandal and gossip)--A. Louis;
4. Lunar Eclipse November 28 @7Gem conjunct US natal Uranus 8Gem55, and transiting Midas and Pan; Sun/Moon = Uranus: unusual twists of fate; sudden developments or conflicts; acting independently; the urge for freedom--Tyl; Munkasey; Ebertin; (a Mercury influence aqain which may affect communications, planning, trade, commerce, and vote counts and re-counts);
Well, 2012 is turning into an eventful year both below and above, isn't it?Hope you and yours are faring well.
As usual, Professor Reich explains it very clearly and in barely over 2 minutes:
Plus, here's a brief consideration of the natal planets of Robert Reich along with an interesting quote of his from 2009 concerning the 'top tier' and their antics.
For the one reader who may have the time and the Astrology software, check out the December 2010 Lunar Eclipse at 29 Gemini which was the precise degree at Midheaven ('The Goal'; Aspirations) over the White House at 3:30 pm edt today (5/15/12) when President Obama and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner are said to have met for discussion.
As you know, 29 degrees is considered a critical-crisis point in the zodiac for all signs and we may expect that real-world events such as JPMC's *out-of-bounds risk-taking and CEO Jamie Dimon's being called upon to step down from the Federal Reserve Bank board is part of the crisis here described and which leads back somehow to late 2010, first quarter 2011 in particular. And at 29 Gemini, a World Point of Mannifestation is being triggered since 29 Gem rushes to reach 00Can00, a signpost pointing us toward Summer Solstice 2012.
Let me know what you discover, okay?
UPDATE 5:00 pm et: see Boehner lays down markers on year-end fiscal cliff which notes the Obama administration's extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy--in December 2010. So as things now stand, the end of 2012 is expiration time since the over-generous tax cuts (for those who don't need them and will not pass on the largess to any of the 99%) had already missed their sunset...
~:~*Out-of-bounds now of the earthly plane is only one planet--Venus (valuations; money; relationships; the attraction principle) about to perform her rare Transit (Occultation of the Sun) on June 5/6, 2012 in mid-Gemini. Unusual alliances may be made--or broken, perhaps one or some relationships which were formed in June 2004; we'll see. Either way, Venus is in a class of her own and can be astrologically and mythologically represented on certain levels as Isis, Columba, Inanna. Not very comforting, is it?
