Newsmakers : Big Sky AstroBlog

Aug

23

Vacation was fantastic… restorative, refreshing, all that. But I cannot tell a lie: my full 9th house notwithstanding, I’m glad to be home again.

Partly it’s because I came down a pretty dreadful flu the minute we hit Wellington, and spent a good deal of our last week in New Zealand in bed, watching the Olympics. Not the worst way to spend four days - certainly not an indulgence I’d have allowed myself had I been at home - but not remotely the way I’d hoped to spend the last part of our trip, and in one of my favorite cities too. I’ll catch you on the flipside, Wellington.

I barely caught any news coverage while we were away, and read almost no blogs or news websites, so I’m still trying to figure out what all I missed. I was sad and shocked to read about the death of Bernie Mac, for instance - I’d missed that one altogether. (He died between two eclipses - one in aspect to his natal Uranus, one in aspect to natal Venus, ruler of his Sun/Jupiter conjunction. ) As for politics… eh. Getting away was fantastic from that point of view. Mostly I read and heard about New Zealand politics, which don’t seem substantively different from politics here, to be honest; but since it’s not my country, the usual parade of scandals and strident idealogues failed to resonate with me.

I’m still working my way through my inbox, so if you’re waiting for an email from me about something, please be patient with me. I hope to have returned my seat and tray to their full, upright positions by Monday - and hopefully, to be moving with a little extra speed and sparkle after my break. Or at least, to be fully conscious.

August 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

Aug

3

Fortunately the huge storm that battered New Zealand last week had just passed by the time we landed on the 1st, after a long but entirely uneventful flight on beleaguered Qantas. (By far the best food and nicest staff of any flight I’ve ever been on, by the way.) My friend Jeannel’s jet lag advice was a winner - I haven’t had a touch of the ‘lag, though I’ve never quite caught up on the sleep I lost the night before we left and the night we spent on the plane. Fortunately the coffee here is omnipresent and uniformly spectacular. Spent a little time north of Auckland, then a night in an enchanting seaside suburb called Devonport in a grand old Victorian hotel, the Esplanade, in a room with a rather chi chi harbor view and a frontside seat of Storm II: First Blood, which is trying to pick up steam but has mostly resulted in just a few spirited squalls here and there.

Spent most of yesterday running around trying to figure out how to get copies (sorry - photocopies) made of the handouts for my talk, and then last night met up with the incredibly cordial folks of the Astrological Foundation Inc., regaling them with tales of the joys of eclipses, including Barack Obama as an example. Because I’m a typically insular American I had no idea that the candidate for the opposition party in the upcoming NZ elections, John Key, was born just five days after Obama. Both have the Sun/Neptune square, of course, and the tight Saturn/Uranus quincunx, and the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. Key has the Moon in Cancer opposed Saturn, though, in contrast to Obama’s Moon/Pluto square. Their politics couldn’t be more different, but they’re both ambitious guys who grew up without fathers and have caught the imagination of a nation seeking “change.”

Off today to Coromandel, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, where I’ll celebrate my 47th birthday tomorrow - hopefully, after a really good night’s sleep. Missing home but happy to be here, if you know what I mean.

August 3, 2008 | 1 Comment

Feb

8

obama and me Other than cranking out reports for people, I hadn’t been paying much attention to Wednesday’s eclipse. “Not much in my chart sits at 17.44 of a fixed sign,” thought I… oh. Except my natal Sun, at 13.08 Leo, that is. Might that explain the uncontrollable tooth-grinding and exhaustion of the past week? Big week for my near-astrotwin Barack Obama, too, of course. Wonder how his teeth are holding up?

So here’s what you do with eclipses: Look where they fall in your chart, what they aspect, and the years when eclipses closely aspected this same point (I use conjunctions, oppositions, and squares within about 4 degrees). In the case of this eclipse, consider 2003/04, 1998-2000, 1993/94, 1990, just for starters. The overwhelming focus of the past few weeks for me has, of course, been the publication of le book. As it happens, this eclipse opposed my 9th house Sun - publishing, right? In 2004, the first of many articles I’ve written for the Llewellyn Moon Sign Book came out. In 1999, I started my website. In 1994, I published my first article in the Mountain Astrologer. In 1990 I started my first newsletter and went into practice as a professional astrologer.

See how that works?

On the other hand, here’s what Obama’s been doing with eclipses to his 9th house Sun at 12 Leo, prior to his stunning Super Tuesday performance: 2003/04, elected to the U.S. Senate. 2000: Mounted an unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives. 1998: Re-elected to the Illinois State Senate. 1993: Became of lecturer of constitutional law, University of Chicago Law School; 1990: Elected the first black president of Harvard Law Review. (And TWO books along the way. Showoff.)

What’s going on at about 13-22 of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius in your chart?

February 8, 2008 | 7 Comments

Jan

8

sensitive Cancer guy I remember my dreams infrequently, and they’re seldom populated by the rich, famous, or good looking. That’s why I get a kick out of it when, say, a Zach Braff or an Adrian Grenier stumbles into my nocturnal Second Life.

Mr. Grenier, to the uninitiated, is the handsome young star of HBO’s series “Entourage” (in which he convincingly portrays… a handsome young star) and guest star of “The Devil Wears Prada.” Last night he made a surprise cameo in a dream in which I was hosting a rather miserable party. It seems my brother (who in real life never comes to any of my parties, but then neither does Adrian Grenier - the bastard) had invited a bunch of his buddies to my bash, and they not only showed up well in advance of him but also polished off all the beer. Just as the last brewskie was popped open, my buddy Adrian arrives. Apparently he and I have such a warm, affectionate relationship that not only do I feel perfectly comfortable sending him out for beer, HE CHEERFULLY AGREES to the errand. Dreams rule!

Now if I were 15 years younger and Adrian Grenier had a walk-on part in one of my dreams, I hope I’d be putting him to work doing something a little racier than running to 7-11 for beer. But even in dreamland, when you’re an overwhelmed, tired, middle-aged woman with too many guests and too little grog, the likes of Adrian Grenier are little more than a pair of (presumably gorgeous) helping hands and a willing set of car keys.

Isn’t it fun to imagine our dreams are cast with celebrities who perfectly embody the transits and progressions moving through our charts? I’m not (much) given to magical thinking, but I like to believe something in my unconscious perceives the astrological matrix of a celebrity even when my waking mind has not given them a second thought. For instance, I’ve watched nearly every episode of “Entourage”, big old HBO whore that I am, and I enjoy the Grenier vibe - he seems like a guy who honestly likes women. Sure enough, a quick glance at Mr. Grenier’s natal planets reveals the Sun (conjunct Venus) at 18+ degrees of woman-loving Cancer - just a tad off an opposition to today’s New Moon in Capricorn at 17.33 Capricorn.

Thank you, Mr. Grenier, for your deft portrayal of the antidote to this New Moon (which happens to fall within shouting distance of my natal second-house Saturn in the 2nd house - can you say “scarcity complex”?). Trying to provide for the entertainment needs of scores of people but running short on the necessaries, like booze? Just ask for assistance from a young, sweet, straight-but-honestly-likes-women sensitive guy. And make it domestic beer, Adrian. Unless you’re buying.

January 8, 2008 | 6 Comments

keep looking »

Sign of Scorpio

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Moon enters Sagittarius at
12:12 am on Sep.6, 2008