Happy Earth Day, earthlings! April 22, 2009

People. Of. Earth.

Here is NASA's famous - and first ever - Earth from space photo. Just look at the watery, lonely little thing! And yet...You Are Here.

Hope no one minds if I publish this image in honor of Earth Day, Wednesday, Aril 22, 2009. Since the planet belongs to us all, shouldn't the photograph?

~:~

Scroll just below to my previous post for today's SpaceWeather News alert concerning Earth Day 2009's early morning celestial displays - from Lyrid meteors to a lovely Moon-Venus Occultation! And lusty Mars will be lounging nearby.

Here's an Art representation for '30 Pisces' (where all the action is at the moment) called 'Temple of the Great Stone Face' if you should find yourself in the mood for Sabian Symbol details concerning '30 Pisces' along with a smidge of artwork tossed in just for you from me.

And the above 'People. Of. Earth.' greeting is from TV's Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show.

4.22.09: Lyrid meteors and Moon occults Venus

Wake Up, you Sleepyheads! It's time for the...

Space Weather News for April 21, 2009

MORNING METEORS: Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher, the source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Wednesday, April 22, with a display of 10 to 20 meteors per hour over the northern hemisphere. Occasionally, Earth passes through a dense region of the comet's tail and rates surge five- to ten-fold.

In 1982, for instance, observers were surprised by an outburst of 90 Lyrids per hour. Because Thatcher's tail has never been mapped in detail, the outbursts are unpredictable and could happen again at any time. The best time to look, no matter where you live, is during the dark hours before dawn on Wednesday morning April 22.

Visit SpaceWeather for full coverage.

LUNAR OCCULTATION OF VENUS: Even if the Lyrids fizzle, there is still something wonderful to see on Wednesday morning, April 22. The Crescent Moon and Venus are going to have a close encounter of jaw-dropping beauty. Look low and to the east just before sunrise. Observers in western parts of North America will see a lunar occultation: Venus will disappear behind the Moon's limb just after 5 am PDT and reappear again an hour or so later.

Details may be found in this Science@NASA story.

:~:

Can a return of particular meteors and comets bring past issues to the front burner again?

Astrogically the year 1982 saw a bleak Saturn-Pluto conjunction on Nov 8 at 26Lib36. Theirs is an approximately 33-year cycle and tends to bring difficult or even brutal events which demand much endurance.

We know that the culmination of the 1982 cycle is well-marked by the attacks of 9.11.01 with the Saturn-Pluto opposition falling across America's natal ASC/DESC axis (in the so-called Sibly chart - 12Sag/Gem) 'personalizing' the opposition for the USA and heralding the New Millennium for America and for the entire world.

In late November of 1982, Pluto entered Scorpio which brought intense focus on financial issues and other confidential matters.

That year there were military coups in Guatemala and Bangladesh, and Israel invaded Lebanon in retaliation for the wounding of the Israeli ambassador in London.

And the endless cycle of violence and revenge goes on.

Also in 1982 was the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentina and subsequently its recapture by British troops. PM Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Pres. Ronald Reagan in the US were at the tops of their heaps if not their games.

Plus, the NYSE saw a record day in trading in 1982 but - surprise! - what goes up must come down. Oh, and Prince William was born in England, and a burglar broke into Buckingham Palace and frightened the Queen.

So if you hear mention of any of these events or persons in coming days - a Comet Thatcher reference having just occurred above bwo SpaceWeather News - perhaps you'll think '1982' - and how cool Astrology blended with Astronomy can be for pointing out similarities and synchronicities...for As above, So Below!

Astrology of the Oklahoma City Bombing

Here you see the Astrology chart of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

With yesterday being the 14th anniversary of the horror of April 19, 1995, I've slightly updated by adding to my Astrology notes concerning the event and left the original post intact.

The link will lead you to my WordPress blog, Jude's Threshold, which isn't allowing a lot of image enlargements these days - at least not in my browser. So I'm publishing the chart for you here as well but my notes are in the WordPress article, if you'd care to check it out.

Nuremberg Trials verdict: film video

If you can spare 6 minutes please watch Spencer Tracey portraying the Nuremberg Trials judge passing verdict on what the world had hoped was left behind in the 20th century - but alas the demons have followed us here.

As a child I watched the film Judgment at Nuremburg with much fascination especially since I'd read The Diary of Anne Frank (at much too early and impressionable an age), plus, my Uncle Bill was living in Germany. Actually it was common to hear a lot about the Holocaust and the subsequent trials when I was a pup although it all had been a few years prior.

The marvel is that Spencer Tracey didn't win an Academy Award for his portrayal - but Maximillian Schell, giving a wonderful performance, did! The film also contains stellar turns by Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, and Richard Widmark, among other familiar faces.

Somehow I suspect that if a current-day Hollywood studio made a film about The Diary of Anne Frank now, they'd probably name it 'I Shall Call You Kitty.'

The Crystal Ball of Meghan McCain

John McCain's 24-year-old daughter Meghan McCain is making predictions of a civil war within the Republican Party as factions collide - not a new occurrence for the GOP certainly but the themes in 2009 vary greatly from their past dust-ups.

Ex: the contentious 'Stalwarts' vs 'Half-Breeds' division of the party in the 1890s comes to mind (if I think of the Rs at all.)

Taurus New Moon this week: April 20 - 26, 2009

The Tranquil Dark is upon us this week as surface lights and deeper shadows play hide'n'peek with our conscious/unconscious minds. Follow the link to Julie Demboski's excellent column detailing the week's planetary energies as the Dark of the Moon begins April 21 PDT and leads us to a New Moon of fresh starts.

In Washington, DC the New Moon 5Tau04 of April 24 (11:22 pm edt; Hour of the Moon) falls in the domestically-inclined, security-minded 4th house yet it conjuncts the chart's 5th cusp 5Tau29, the house of Risk-Taking, Gambling, and Creative Endeavors. This means that new beginnings will affect the 4th and 5th houses in Washington with 4th cusp/IC 7Ari28 ruled by Mars and the Taurean 5th cusp ruled by Venus.

And there's the lovey pair, Venus 00Ari13 = AP (World Point of prominence) conj Mars 1Ari59, hugging the IC they so recently crossed during the Dark of the Moon. Orchestrating asteroid Terpsichore is conj IC, the Foundation/Basis of the chart, aka the HOW? Point.

The WHY? Point = Midheaven (MC) 7Lib28, and WHAT? is the Ascending degree: 17Sag59, Pluto 3Cap12 Rx in 1st house. Pluto is also focal or apex planet of a Cardinal T-square which forms a midpoint picture - a feisty little number for getting things done...

Mars/MC = Pluto: power; promotion; the big picture; extraordinary zeal; great vigor; a desire to bring immense tasks to successful conclusions; publicity.

In Dynamics of Aspect Analysis, Bil Tierney gives an apex Pluto in a Cardinal T-square as an intense loner, a high-powered and ruthless executive who demands penetrating insight into all phases of operation - he has no intention of sharing control with anyone, thanks; and because of the outgoing Cardinal energy, there may be explosive displays and broken relationships with this apex Pluto.

The Partnership angle, the Descendant or 7th cusp conjuncts the Venus Occultation degree of June 2004, the G-8 Summit on Sea Island, GA. So this New Moon relates to unusual partnerships that were formed then which created unsuspected associations between those whose identities would be a big surprise were we privy to such world-dominating information...Desc 17Gem59 ('18Gem' - think China.)

Chart-ruler Jupiter makes only two applying aspects in the New Moon chart...

Jupiter conj Chiron (2A28), and Jupiter readying for his Great Conjunction with Neptune (3A03 = first conj on May 27.) Both Chiron and Neptune are in 2nd house of Earning Ability, Values, and Self-Worth along with expansive Jupiter. Did I hear you say, excess liquidity? Or perhaps, inflation? Grand plans do abound!

So where is restricting put-on-the-brakes Saturn? 15Vir19 Rx in 9th house of Philosophy, Higher Education, Religion, and Foreign Travel and acting as the bucket pattern's handle.

The 'bucket' stretches from the 1st house Pluto 3Cap12 Rx to Mercury 25Tau15 in 6th house of Work, Service, and Health - and someone (Mr. Saturn - an older person: a manager or professor, and possibly a Democrat) - someone needs control and is being driven by unrelenting demands.

Yes, Saturn is carrying the whole shebang and makes no aspects in the New Moon chart except for a *quindecile (165 degr = obsession-compulsion) to luxury-loving Venus...

Venus QD Saturn: ambitions and goals may be used as substitutes for relationships; fear of material loss; ambitious and materially successful but lacks trust in others.

Now there could reside Saturn's 'unrelenting demands' in this financial climate, and we know the big bankers and Wall Street thieves are having a doozy of a time trusting one another long enough to transact business.

And of course the T-square mentioned above means that Pluto squares Venus which gives a compulsive desire for complete control in relationships, a wayward and wasteful handling of money to the point of destruction, and a conscious or unconscious tendency to undermine partnerships and associations.

Pluto squaring Mars isn't much easier energy to handle: violent tempers flare and destruction of all sorts may ensue. Projects are often aborted under this influence, yet it contains tremendous energy for successful accomplishments if the zealous side can be channeled into positive enterprises on behalf of the collective rather than against it.

Since neither Sun nor Moon apply to another planet (or point) in April 24's New Moon chart, the sign and degree of the lunation increases in importance which emphasizes the 4th and 5th house areas of life (as mentioned above), and highlights the Sabian Symbol for '6Tau'...

"A Bridge Being Built Across a Gorge"...CHANNELSHIP...

positive expression: the directness and the practical instinct by which personality achieves ultimate benefit of its powers;

neg/unconscious/shadow side: a love of short cuts and every possible escape from the obligations of daily living. (The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, Dr. Marc Edmund Jones.)

Dane Rudhyar gives the Keynote for '6Tau' as: 'The conquest of separativeness through group cooperation.'

And while we're at it, let's look at the New Moon's opposite degree, aka the Illumination Point which may give some interesting unconscious information concerning the New Moon in Taurus - and relates rather well to Julie's two levels of awareness for the week's planetary energies (for brevity's sake I shall use only the Jones version with my italics)...

'6Scorpio': 'A Gold Rush'....AMBITION...

pos: instinctive self-dedication to the unseen potentials of everyday existence;

neg/unconscious/shadow side (this one is hidden deep in our psyches - the unconscious of the unconscious): a lack of practical discrimination and an irresistible desire for easy money.

Well, Taurus is one of the money signs and likes good value for its money - though it's seemingly impossible to assess value on the current mystery-meat financial 'instrument' plate. Or so the 'experts' tell us.

The Sun Tau-Moon Tau blend is double-Earth, therefore it is practical, slow and steady, and seeks certainties which are frustratingly in short supply these days.

It's a calm, kind combination unless and until you see steam escaping from Ferdinand the Bull's nose, so the New Moon may relate to a bull market - we'll have to see how the next two weeks play out financially until the culmination of the next Full Moon on May 9 at 12:01:21 am edt in DC.

Keep your red cape tucked away for there may be some foot-stamping and ground-pawing going on prior to May 9's Full Moon 18Sco41/Sun 18Tau41 opposing one another across the 4/10 axis in DC. The Moon will have 'spilled out of the bucket' by then and Mercury will be retrograde at 1Gem35.

More on this particular Full Moon later except for one thing: its Sun Tau-Moon Sco blend is shared natally with Pres. Warren G. Harding who helpfully intoned:

"Our country needs not heroics but healing, not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration."

Healing, normalcy, and restoration for America? Where do I sign?


Now back to this week's New Moon where we find the Tau-Tau blend's Images for Integration, one of which may well relate on some level to bucket-handle lesson-bringer Saturn, who shall function properly by closing this post...

'A successful baker is surrounded by delighted children eating fresh bread rolls...A loving teacher resolves an angry dispute.'

~:~

* The Quindecile, by Ricki Reeves (see slide show of Amazon books in sidebar. If the sidebar's content isn't displaying properly perhaps you can refresh the page and/or update your browser! I'm using IE8 now.)