The trouble with an out-of-bounds Mars

The Earth's orbit as viewed from the Sun is called the ecliptic and when a planet goes beyond 23 degrees 28 minutes in either north or south declination, that planet is said to be outside the boundaries of the ecliptic, or out-of-bounds (oobs.)

In astrological terms, the energies of a planet when oobs tend to act in an exaggerated fashion and its effects may be extraordinarily distorted.

With Mars' archetype as the god of war, an oobs Mars engages in violent events, extreme aggression, and incendiary acts. Then we see such things manifest as world leaders assassinated, arson perpetrated, bombs planted and triggered, and vicious disagreements wherever we turn--and our news sources are filled with them.

And fighting Mars understandably represents military forces--the soldier and the mercenary.

In a natal chart, Mars represents determination and drive, energy, action...one's desire nature. Natally an oobs Mars indicates unusual drive toward self-expression and self-preservation. Other chart factors such as sign, house placement, and aspect influence an oobs Mars either positively or negatively.

The more negative expression may be a violent or sociopathic temperament, while a positive use of Mars' energies could be someone who becomes a famed explorer, an astronaut, or an Olympic athlete--physical exploits beyond the ordinary.

When I look at "political" or national charts, I consider all the planets as archetypal actors in a play. Mars (a male between 25 to 35 years old, give or take a year; the activist; the instigator or the one who disagrees, etc) has his role to play, while Jupiter (the judge, lawyer, guru, professor, preacher, priest, thespian, rich man, Republican, etc) has his well-rehearsed part in the theatrical performance as well.

Sun in a national chart is the leader, as we know, Mercury is the messenger, scribe, young person, trader, orator, and so on.

An oobs planet in these charts may be considered as not acting in concert with the rest of the chart's energies (performers in the production.)

So when the world finds violent events and actions in the news day after day, we may be fairly certain (even without consulting an astrology chart) that testy, incendiary Mars, the activist, is out-of-bounds and raging beyond control against society once again...and that we are sure to receive something of a break from the pain and horror when crude Mars finally rejoins the panoply of the reasonable universe.

The Power of The Vote

This in from Intrepid Liberal Journal:

Supporting a presidential candidate for me is deeply personal. It’s not simply deciding which candidate I will pull the lever for in the privacy of a voting booth. Rather I approach the decision as an activist and ask myself: after weighing all the virtues and flaws of the declared candidates on whose behalf am I willing to devote my free time?

In my darker moments I’ll ask myself, “Do any of these lying corporatist whores deserve my support? Why bother with any of them?” The ship has long sailed on my days of being a "true believer."

Ultimately, in spite of my disenchantment, I believe in the power of the vote. Even with the sordid history of stolen elections and broken promises, I remain convinced the best way to change the system is through participation in the political process. And the best vehicle for progressive reform is by leveraging the Democratic Party – flawed as it is. Which means I have to finally stop creasing my butt, get off the fence, and choose a candidate.

Read Sitting on the Fence is Creasing My Activist Butt in the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

government's cousins and fools

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out...without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

--H.L. Mencken 1880-1956 American journalist, satarist, social critic


The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

--Bertrand Russell 1872-1970 British philosopher, historian

Above quotes compliments of Information Clearing House


More cousinship revelations of the mind bending kind:

WaPo is revealing Mike Huckabee as a 9th cousin of George Bush bwo Connecticut grandfathers. So did Bush win Iowa? (see post just below--seems the void-of-course Moon took Hillary to the 'nowhere' of 3rd place!)

And we heard months ago that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are distantly related. Did Cheney, on some weird level, win Iowa?

Can this, on a mysterious and hidden astrological level, be why last evening's caucus chart had Bush and the Rs all over it? Shall I wig out now or wait for later?

Hold on, Aint Bea, there's more:

Huckabee is also reported to be a 10th cousin once removed of Mitt Romney. Now that's even weirder...a Baptist and a Mormon go into an diner in Iowa, they both order Kool-Aid straight up...is America buyin'?

Iowa's void-of-course Moon and George Bush

UPDATE 8:57 pm EST: ABC News projecting Huckabee for the Rs, and "preliminary" results for Ds: Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, in that order. Seems kind of early to me, but we'll see if their projections hold out.

Original post here:

You know it's after 8:30 pm, Iowans must be in the throes by now, and the void-of-course Moon at 7:00 pm CST (when the throes began) has me stumped.

I mean, we know that chart-ruler Sun (*13Cap02) is *opposite US natal Sun (and Bush's natal Sun, of course) and it's clear that with 8Leo49 rising at 7:00 pm CST the natal Mercuries of the Republican Party, George Bush (and Gonzo--remember our ill-starred AG?) are rising as well--and not so far from Bush's n ASC "8Leo" ("A bolshevik propagandist") and all that, but how well can things go with a void-of-course Moon which leads to nowhere?

'Sup, Iowa? Can this be a negative for the only woman (Moon) in the bunch?

Will the final results from tonight be a long time comin'? And who's watching Karl Rove and Dick Cheney skulking in the shadows?

Now the 'caucus' Sun does apply to an opportunistic sextile with techno-savvy Uranus in 8th house...and Uranus, the reformer, certainly reminds me of the Bushies. But why is Dubya smeared all over this chart? What is the power cyclist up to?

If we consider Bush's natal conjunction in 1st house of Mercury and Pluto (10Leo35) blended with tonight's 7:00 pm Ascendant, a midpoint picture emerges...

Pluto/ASC = Mercury: exercising influence; lording it over others; intellectual domination.

He does so love being a consequential leader and with a 12th house Sun in Cancer, he's something of a meddling busybody from behind-the-scenes...comes by it naturally...yet he's a master at scuttling out of the way when the buck begins to stop...have you noticed Mr. Crabby doing just that?

Looks to me like a very busy, competitive night for old street-fightin' George and his minions.


*Sun transiting opposite Sun is when one's direction for the year should be reassessed and adjustments made if things aren't on track. If you're not sure of that date for your own chart, count exactly 6 months from your date of birth, give or take a day.

**Sun conjunct asteroid, Siva, the destroyer or creator.