The Astrology Of "My Secret Life"

The Astrology Of "My Secret Life"
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

4:08 AM 2/26/06 Sun

Because I know at least a few of you have an interest in the subject matter, I'm sending this to you.

As many of you know, Sexuality, and the role that Astrology plays in it, has been something of a pet interest of mine; recently, I've devoted a series of essays to the topic, writing on a variety of subjects and so on from an astrological perspective. In addition, I have collected somewhere over 300 charts of those who in way or another have worked in the Sex Business, & this doesn't count the other charts in my database that speaks to those who, while not working in said business or otherwise noteworthy, have nevertheless a high index of sexual activity and interest.

Some years back I ran accross an online version of the book(s) called "My Secret Life: The Sexual Memoirs of A Victorian Gentleman", written by a man who called himself "Walter". It was first published in 11 volumes of about 23 chapters each, in Amsterdam in 1888 and finally concluded in 1894, the height of the Victorian Era. However, it was immediately banned, and remained so for decades; in New York City in 1932, a publisher was arrested for attempting to introduce the work to an American audience. Finally in 1966, "My Secret Life" was released without censure or rebuke, and came complete with a commentary, which included speculation about who the author really was.

In 2001 yet another book was written about the "My Secret Life" volumes, with yet another commentary given, and had definitively declared that "Walter" was in fact Henry Spencer Ashbee, a Victorian gentleman, publisher, writer and bookseller. According to Wikipedia, Ashbee was born on Apr 21 1834, in Southwark, London, England. No time is known, but the Solarscope says it all:

1. Sun in Taurus, disposed by Venus also in Taurus, which makes it the Final Dispositor of the date; it in turn conjuncts Jupiter

2. Venus in Taurus sextile Mars in Pisces; keep in mind, that Venus-Mars are among the Sexual Aspects in the Magi School lexicon

3. Pluto=Venus/Mars(!!!), AP=Node=Mars/Pluto; these are powerful midpoints denoting an ultra-strong sexual drive; keep in mind, that the Mars-Pluto pairing in particular pertains to what the Magis call a Male Super Sexual Aspect; also, keep in mind that, going back to the Solarscope, Pluto is in Aries, disposed by Mars

4. The Sun squares Neptune, Mercury sextile Neptune (emphasizing "secret lives", etc.)

On the day Ashbee was born the Moon was changing Signs from Virgo to Libra; from what I've read about this man and his own writing (I have all 11 volumes of "My Secret Life") it's my opinion that he could have the Moon in Virgo, joining the other 3 planets in Earth Signs, and putting his birth somewhere between sunrise and about Noon. That would give us several Ascendants: Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, more specifically. It makes sense that Ashbee could have had a Gemini Asc - it would fit his career and activities, that of writing and so on, and would have put his Taurus planets in the 12th House ("secret lives").

Putting on my astro-thinking cap, I tried my hand at rectifiying Ashbee's chart, while I wrote this, taking about 20 minutes, and using the 3 main events of his life: his marriage in 1862, the publishing of his sexual memoir in 1888, and finally his death in 1900. On the basis of these events, it seems that 6.36AM LMT is a good starting point to narrow down the astrology at work in Ashbee's life. In this option, 9 Gem 58 rises, putting the Sun, Venus and Jupiter in the 12th House, putting Sag on the 7th, putting the late Virgo Moon in the 5th along with Saturn in Libra, and perhaps most important, putting Mercury in charge of both the Asc and the 5th House. The Moon rules the 3rd House of writing, Saturn rules the 9th House of publishing, Gemini on the Asc would suggest an interest in such things overall, made even moreso when taking into account the sharp Mercury-Saturn opposition along the 5-11 House axis.

In 1862 when he got married, transit Jupiter was in Virgo and conjunct his Moon in the 5th, between the months Jun-Aug; he also had SA Venus=Asc; in 1888, when his memoirs were published, Ashbee had transit Jupiter opposed his Asc, with SA MC=Moon (keep in mind, that the Moon rules the 3rd - writing, especially appropriate here: "memoirs"); and in the year of his death, 1900, he had transit Jupiter and Uranus would conjunct his Asc, transit Neptune would square his Moon, SA Saturn=Asc, SA Uranus=Sun (applying) and SA Neptune=Saturn. All of the Uranus and Saturn symbolism suggests death as a result of stroke and/or paralysis that would follow...but the details of his death are not given in the Wikipedia account.

In some of the more classical texts, Mercury in connection to the 5th is considered "kinky"; in my recent piece on the 5th House and Sexuality, I suggested that Mercury in connection with the 5th suggests strongly, that the Mind becomes important; communication and so on, perhaps extensive use of the mouth and/or hands is important. Again, in the option birth time I've selected for Ashbee, we can see that Mercury plays a very prominent role.

The Moon and Venus often give key clues as to what a man finds attractive in a woman, physically and on from there. In Ashbee's writings, he very much likes voluptuous, "zaftig" women, in their au natural state. Venus in Taurus, Moon in Virgo, Venus conjunct Jupiter. It must also be said, as Zam has pointed out, that whenever Venus is connected to either the 6th or 12th House, one must be mindful of STDs, all the moreso if that Venus is in any way connected to the Sexual Houses of the chart (5th & 8th) and/or in association with the other Sexual Planets (Mars or Pluto for both sexes, Uranus for men) and/or in its own or exaltation Signs. Ashbee recounts several bouts with "the clap" and so on in his memoirs. Venus in Taurus in the 12th, etc.

Ashbee also talks about performance anxiety, of impotence and having issues about his penile size, and so on; note Saturn in the 5th, in opposition to chart ruling Mercury, Mercury in turn sextile Neptune (who itself trine the Moon accross the signline). Saturn-Neptune combos can usually have a marked effect on a person's sexual life if they're in someway tied into the 5th or 8th Houses of the chart.

Also, from his writings, Ashbee was very unhappy in his marriage; the ruler of the 7th, Jupiter, is in the 12th House in my rectification option, and is in a Sign completely different from Ashbee's Asc ruler. I've found that when this happens, the native and the people they get involved with are essentially "out of synch" with each other. The 12th House part of it brings in clandestine affairs, letdowns of one sort or another, and so on. A 12th House Venus is also "hard to please"; difficult to find in the real and everyday world, that which finds in fantasy.

Of course, one cannot really take into full account one's horoscope without also taking into account the times in which one lives; Ashbee came along at the time of the Victorian Era, a period of extreme puritanical views and prudery regarding sexuality and so on. It's interesting to note that Queen Victoria had Venus in the 12th in Aries, and while Mars was also in Aries it was much too far for a conjunction. She also had Uranus trine Venus, but the trine from Neptune was closer, and there you go. The Sun, ruling the 5th, was in Gemini (there's that Mercury connection again!) and conjunct the Moon, suggesting a self-absorbed focus; she did remain in mourning for years - and the Sun sextile Saturn, itself in Pisces. Sublimation was the watchword for an entire country, for an entire Era (Queen Victoria May 24 1819 4.15AM LMT London England; Placidus 5 Gem 58, Rodden) .

And we can go further: looking at the chart for England (Dec 25 1066 3.20PM LMT, Westminster; Placidus 2 Can 35, Tyl rect. option) we note that again(!) Mercury rules the 5th, and is trine and in Mutual Recption with Saturn; Mercury is in the 7th and Saturn is in the 4th. Saturn rules the 8th and holds Venus in Aquarius, its only aspect being a sextile to the chart ruling Moon in Aries (at the Aries Point). Venus rules the 12th (which flows along with Queen Victoria's Venus in the 12th). Britain has always presented the "stiff upperlip" to the world, the Victorian Era is the stuff of legend, but beneath it all lies a stultified sexuality, fighting to get out. Even now, over a century after the Victorian Era ended, the UK isn't the first place one thinks of when the subject of love, romance or sex comes up.

Just to add balance to the whole thing, I thought to mention the chart of another very famous writer on sexuality and the role it played in her memoir: Anais Nin, born Feb 21 1903 8.16PM LMT in Paris France; Placidus 3 Lib 19, Rodden. Like Ashbee, she wrote extensive and very detailed accounts of her life and her numerous affairs and sexual liasons, and her chart backs up every bit of the written word: note Uranus, the ruler of the 5th, is square the chart ruling Venus, itself exalted in Pisces and placed in the 6th (and Nin had no kids, suffered a stillbirth in one instance, presumed to have either STD trouble and/or congenital reproductive problems); Venus disposes of Mars in Libra, Rx and ruling the 8th; and Venus square Pluto. Pluto rules the 3rd (in Gemini), holding Uranus in the 3rd, Mercury in Aquarius disposed by Uranus. Like Ashbee, Nin's Neptune is highly elevated, and ties into her 5th House. Venus and Mars are parallel, Asc=MC=Venus/Mars, and Saturn=Venus/Pluto. Again, like Ashbee, Nin had all three primary Sexual Planets connected to each other; again, her track record speaks for itself.

Taking into account the chart of France, we see a very different picture emerging on the sexual front than that of England (France Sep 21 1792 3.30PM LMT Paris; Placidus 25 Cap 33, Campion): Gemini is on the 5th (again!) ruled by Mercury, itself in Virgo, Rx, Peregrine (Tyl designation) AND in the 8th House trine the Asc (Mercury also rules the 8th); Venus is also in the 8th, in Libra, and also Peregrine (again, Tyl), disposing of the chart ruling Saturn in Taurus, itself also ruling the 12th House; and perhaps most importantly, Mars in Scorpio squares Pluto in the 1st, Uranus in the 7th. Jupiter (in Scorpio!)=Venus/Mars. The very words, "Paris, France" is synonomous with erotica, romance, passion, sex. The history of French prostitutes and mistresses and the like are now subject matters at major universities; the "French Maid" costumes and the like are a popular staple at places like Frederick's of Hollywood and so on. Ashbee himself speaks at considerable length his liking for French ladies.

At any rate, I thought again to offer these insights to those who are interested; if you get a chance, checkout "My Secret Life" found online; there's a link to the whole text at Wikipedia.

Suggested Further Reading: The Magis Book on Love & Money; Martine's Sexual Astrology; Sexuality in The Horoscope

Salaam,
Mu

The UAE: Bush's Done Dubai Deal

The UAE: Bush's Done Dubai Deal
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

10:26 AM 2/26/06 Sun

With the Moon and Neptune in exact conjunction overhead Penn's Landing, I thought this would be a perfect time to write this essay...

This week's column by Charles Krauthammer accurately frames the issues swirling around the now held-up ports deal brokered between the Bush Administration and the United Arab Emirates, which is the home of the shipping giant Dubai Ports World. As we all know, some 6 key ports in the USA are up for grabs, with the former outfit being British-run, out of the picture, and the UAE's boys in. But, not so fast - both the loyal opposition Democrats, AND not a few Republicans, are bent on at least slowing the deal down, if not killing it outright. For now, they have the first round. It remains to be seen whether they will, however, win the bout.

Krauthammer is correct in saying that the very same people who made such a stink about Racial Profiling in airports and subways, are the ones who now demand that out ports be run only by folks who look like Americans - and since not many Americans run ports these days, the Brits would do (as long as they were White, or at least not Arab looking). He's also correct, on the other hand, to point out that not only would DPW, but ANY ports outfit would by definition have access to critical security information. Of course, and these are my thoughts here, the fact that DPW has successfully run ports for other countries around the world without incident (while countries like uh, the UK have had subway bombings in "Londonistan") doesn't matter in the slightest; lest we forget, we mustn't be confused by the facts. Forget the fact that the UAE has been one of the USA's largest allies in the Middle East and Islamic World against Terrorism; true, they aren't as democratic as we'd like them to be - but then again, Pakistan isn't a paragon of free electoral virtue either, and yet, President Musharraf has literally risked his life on more than one occasion to help the USA out.

Still though, the fact remains that out of some 4 million people in the UAE, only two have been involved in the Terror Attacks on Sep 11 (compared with at least 5 times as many who hailed from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden - oh, and by the way, the Saudis have really gone out on a limb to fight Terror, too.). Not to make light of the situation, but really, come on folks - two people don't a Terrorist State make.

While conspiracy theorists, party loyalists, nativists, stomp-down racists, hard-core leftists and Islamophobes, astrological or non, yammer on about this wholle thing, it might be useful for the rest of us free and clear thinkers to consider the astrological evidence:

United Arab Emirates Dec 2 1971 12PM USZ3, Dubai; Placidus 27 Aqr 44, Campion

This chart represents the founding of the UAE, and plays a crucial role in our examination of the DPW ports deal. It's interesting to note that this chart, like so many charts representing the Middle Eastern countries, has significant planetary activity in the Mutuable Signs; in this case, that of the UAE, no less than 7 planets are in Mutuable Signs. Which means that the UAE, for better or worse, would be effected in a big by the transits of Pluto, Uranus and eventually, Saturn.

According to The Rulership Book by Rex Bills, the Moon and Neptune represent "ports"; by extension, we can add the 4th House as well. In the UAE chart, we can see the Full Moon in Gemini (the UAE being a conglomeration of smaller kingdoms) in the 4th House, opposing Neptune and Jupiter, and square Mars, rising in the 1st House in Pisces. Mercury, the ruler of the 4th, is placed in the 10th at the 28th degree of Sagittarius - the Pluto transit in conjunction is right around the corner.

The radical jihadist elements in its midst can be seen by noting the planet ruling the 12th House of secret enemies and terrorists; here it is Saturn in Gemini, which, if we go back to the astrological moment when the WTC was struck, had Saturn in Gemini. There's our tie-in of the UAE, in the form of a few of the hijackers, coming from that particular country. Pluto would play a role as well, since Saturn makes an easy trine to Pluto in the 7th House, itself at the Aries Point. The terrorists want their cause and deeds to be well known. And we can't forget Neptune, in the 9th House of Religion, in opposition to this Saturn placement - again, the terrorists act out of warped understandings of Islam.

However, note that the terrorist element in the UAE is not only a minority (Gemini symbolism, small) but so too it is vehemently in opposition to the UAE government - Saturn opposes the UAE Sun!!! AND, Saturn in this chart is not in conjunction with the UAE Moon, which moves away from Saturn. Saturn itself is Rx...suggesting a degree of isolation, of being outcastes. This is hardly a chart that would condone Terrorism.

Now, contrast that with the chart of Iran: Feb 1 1979 9.50AM IRT, Tehran; Placidus 11 Ari 30, Campion. As we all know, Iran is a terrorist-sponsoring State, giving aid and comfort to such groups as Hezbollah and others. Note Uranus, ruling the 12th House, again of secret enemies and terrorists, disposing of the Iranian Sun, Mars, and Mercury - the seat of power (Sun), the military (Mars) and media apparatus (Mercury) all explicitly help the terrorists! Note too the Iranian Moon IN the 12th House, with Uranus itself Peregrine (Tyl), running wild in the chart, dominating it in terms of its symbolism ("the revolution", etc.). Iran's astrology clearly and emphatically points to a State Sponsor of Terror. The UAE, on the other hand, clearly is not.

If you consider the charts of Syria and Libya, you'll see similar things with regard to their 12th Houses and the tie-ins they make to either the 10th House and/or Sun.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's consider the big question: will the UAE deal go through?

Going back to the UAE's chart, it would appear so: SA Venus=Jupiter/Pluto last month, a major signal of financial success, and could indicate that that was the time when the ports deal was greenlighted by the Bush Administration (deals being signed - Venus rules the 3rd); and coming up in Apr, SA Pluto=Sun/Venus, yet another strong signal of success in business, this time with clear reference to international business (Pluto ruling the 9th). The current stink about Arabs running American ports shouldn't last much longer - remember, all this happens as Uranus squares the UAE Full Moon axis. Uranus isn't a flood like Neptune or longstanding plauge like Pluto, it's more like a twister. It'll hit and be gone, as swift as it came. The UAE has been gracious in allowing US lawmakers and so on time to review the deal, but in the end, it'll go through.

But back here at home, the American public is all in a tizzy over the whole thing, and it smacks dangerously close to Racism to me. Using the Sibly chart for the USA, we see that Neptune, representing phobias, is in the 9th House of "other people", religions and cultures. Mars, ruling the 4th - ports - squares this Neptune position from the 7th, and there you go. However, big money is on the line, shown by the upcoming arcs of Pluto=Uranus/Neptune and Mercury=Asc, both coming due in Apr. Mercury and Pluto are in the 8th and 2nd Houses respectively, and with the exactness of these Solar Arcs near, we can be sure that the deal is likely to go thru around that time, if not sooner.

As for the American public's phobia of Islam in general and Arabs in particular, we can expect to see all of that come to head around the sametime, Spring of this year; there will be much conversations, tv & radio shows, internet discussions and roundtable forums, on exactly what Islam is and isn't, and how that goes to distinguish between folks just trying to live their lives and those who want to snuff out ours (Mercury co-ruling the 9th, in opposition to Pluto natally, ruling the 7th).

Now, take a deep breath...relax...and carefully read Charles Krauthammer's article. It makes a lot of sense.

Salaam,
Mu

Harbour exit
Feb 24, 2006
by Charles Krauthammer ( bio | archive | contact )

Email to a friend Print this page Text size: A A WASHINGTON -- If only Churchill were alive today, none of this would be happening. The proud imperialist would have taken care that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., chartered in 1840 by Victoria ("by the grace of God ... Queen defender of the faith'' on "this thirty first day of December in the fourth year of our reign''), would still be serving afternoon tea and crumpets on some immaculate Jewel-in-the-Crown cricket pitch in Ceylon.

The United Arab Emirates would still be a disunited bunch of subsistence Arab tribes grateful for the protection of the British Navy in the Persian Gulf.

And we hapless Americans -- already desperately trying to mediate, pacify and baby-sit the ruins of Churchill's Empire: Iraq, Palestine, India/Pakistan, Yemen, even (Anglo-Egyptian) Sudan -- would not be in the midst of a mini-firestorm over the sale of the venerable P&O, which manages six American ports, to the UAE.

This has raised the obvious question of whether we want our ports, through which a nuclear bomb could come, handled by a country two of whose nationals flew into the South Tower on 9/11 and which has a history of laundering money and nuclear secrets from bad guys to worse guys.


Congress is up in arms. The Democrats, in particular, are in full cry, gleeful to at last get to the right of George Bush on an issue of national security.

Gleeful, and shamelessly hypocritical. If a citizen of the UAE walked into an airport in full burnoose and flowing robes, speaking only Arabic, Democrats would be deeply offended, and might even sue, if the security people were to give him any more scrutiny than they would to my sweet 84-year-old mother.

Democrats loudly denounce any thought of racial profiling. But when that same Arab, attired in business suit and MBA, and with a good record running ports in 15 countries, buys P&O, Democrats howl at the very idea of allowing Arabs to run our ports. (Republicans are howling too, but they don't grandstand on the issue of racial profiling.)

On this, the Democrats are rank hypocrites. But even hypocrites can be right. There is a problem. And the problem is not just the obvious one that an Arab-run company, heavily staffed with Arab employees, is more likely to be infiltrated by terrorists who might want to smuggle an awful weapon into our ports. But that would probably require some cooperation from the operating company. And neither the company nor the government of the UAE, which has been pro-American and a reasonably good ally in the war on terror, has any such record.

The greater and more immediate danger is that as soon as the Dubai company takes over operations, it will necessarily become privy to information about security provisions at crucial U.S. ports. That would mean a transfer of information about our security operations -- and perhaps even worse, about the holes in our security operations -- to a company in an Arab state in which there might be employees who, for reasons of corruption or ideology, would pass this invaluable knowledge on to al Qaeda-types.

That is the danger and it is a risk, probably an unnecessary one. It's not quite the end of the world that Democratic and Republican critics have portrayed it to be. After all, the UAE, which is run by a friendly regime, manages ports in other countries without any such incidents. Employees in other countries could leak or betray us just as easily. The issue, however, is that they are statistically more likely to be found in the UAE than, for example, in Britain.

It's a fairly close call. I can sympathize with the president's stubbornness in sticking to the deal. He is responsible for our foreign relations, and believes, not unreasonably, that it would harm our broader national interest to reject and humiliate a moderate Middle Eastern ally by pulling the contract just because a company is run by Arabs.

This contract should have been stopped at an earlier stage, but at this point doing so would cause too much damage to our relations with moderate Arab states. There are no very good options. The best exit strategy is this: (1) Allow the contract to go through; (2) give it heightened scrutiny by assigning a team of U.S. government agents to work inside the company at least for the first few years to make sure security is tight and information closely held; (3) have the team report every six months to both the executive and a select congressional committee.

Not nearly as clean as the Harriet Miers exit. But as I said, there are no very good options. There have not been very many since Britannia stopped ruling the waves, and it all fell to us.

Charles Krauthammer is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winner, 1984 National Magazine Award winner, and a columnist for The Washington Post since 1985.


http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/charleskrauthammer/2006/02/24/187679.html

On Haiti: Civilization, or Barbarism?

On Haiti: Civilization, or Barbarism?
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

9:57 AM 2/12/06 Sun

Last week Haiti held its first elections since the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The elections themselves have been rescheduled several times, and when the word got out that they might have been pushed back yet again, the general populace of the country, some 80% of which are among the most poor in the entire world, threatened to revolt in protest. At present, Aristide's protege' and former president in his own right, Rene Preval, seems to be leading the early exit poll results. If he can hang on to his majority lead, no rundoff election will be held.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, ranked 155th out of 171 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index. The 2nd country in the Western Hemisphere to declare independence after the United States, it is the world's first African-descent democracy.

Yet it has many, many problems, among them the continued legal, social and economic dominance of the non-African minority at all levels of life; many pundits and commentators from around the world have suggested that Haiti has been punished by the world's wealthier and White nations via a policy of benign neglect, for rising up against its White and Mulatto former slavemasters, condemned to a life that Dante' himself couldn've have conjured up.

Haiti declared its independence on Jan 1 1804, in Gonaives; no time known. Using a noon time mark, the chart is very instructive (12PM LMT, Placidus 13 Ari 00; Source: Campion):

- There's a 4 planet cluster in Capricorn, with the Sun in the 10th square Uranus in the 7th, a suggestion of great governmental instability, revolution, upset, turmoil, with decided outside intervention in the form of other countries. While Aristide, who was initially elected 1991 and ousted in 2000, was assisted in returning to power by the Clinton Administration, it has been speculated that the current Bush Administration did little to assist Aristide from being ousted a second time in 2004 (and some even suggest that the Bush Administration might have facilitated Aristide's ouster, in favor of the business elite on the island nation).

- The Moon, representing the Haitian public at large, is in Virgo, and opposed Pluto; this aspect is a vivid portrayal of the overwhelming class divide in Haiti, between the abject poor, Black majority and the minority riche, almost always White, Arab and/or Mulatto; note that both the Moon and Pluto aspects the Sun in the 10th - both groups vying for government favor, access and power.

- Mars in Capricorn in the 9th (very important as Mars is the Asc ruler), square Saturn in Libra in the 6th, suggesting Haiti's militaristic bent; this signature, along with the aforementioned Sun-Uranus square, supports Haiti's reality of at least two dictatorships of longstanding and which brought much pain, strife and upheaval to the country (Papa & Baby Doc, respectively).

- Venus sextile Neptune, Neptune=Asc/MC: these symbols point to Haiti's longstanding reputation for being an artistic and musical center in the Carribean region.

- Jupiter in Scorpio, ruling the 9th and trine Pluto (the rich) and sextile the Moon (the poor), a reflection that while the country acknowledges and professes a strong streak of Catholicism, it too actively encourages and participates in Voodun, an ancient form of pre-Islamic/pre-Christianity era religion in parts of Africa.

At the time of the elections, there seems to be no transits or Arcs in play for Feb 2006; however, looking down the road a piece, we note that in Jul and Aug, SA Uranus=Saturn/Pluto and SA Uranus=Mars/Pluto, symbols that augur tremendous pain and strife, even fighting in the streets, perhaps connected to greviances on the part of those who feel that the eventual winner of this month's elections cheated, perhaps connected to outside interests in the form of other nations and/or business entities refusing to deal with the new government in power, perhaps due to radical elements within Haiti polity. Given Haiti's history in this regard, these arcs can be more probable than the following SA Asc=Jupiter, also exact in Aug 2006.

Perhaps the SA Mercury=Sun/Moon (Sep) & SA Sun=Venus (Nov) will see the beginnings of a flourishing democracy that will be for all of Haiti's people, the Black, White, Arab and Mulatto, the greatly rich and grindingly poor, lead in the main by Haiti's student and artistic communities. If so, this will pave the way for a true transformation of Haiti as we've known it for the better. If not, and the Uranian arcs win out, the upcoming Pluto in Capricorn transits to Haiti's Asc ruling Mars and 10th House Sun, between the years 2009 and 2013, can prove to be the most destructive setback the island nation has ever seen.

Time will tell...

Salaam,
Mu

Instability In The Philippines

Instability In The Philippines
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

9:02 AM 2/26/06 Sun

The past few weeks have seen Fillipino President Gloria Arroyo deal with both a massive landslide that killed hundreds of people, and as well, a coup attempt to remove her from power. And while natural disasters are all par for the course in that area of the world (and some could well argue, here as well, in light of Hurricane Katrina), the fact that coup de'tats remain such a large part of political history is troubling indeed. The Philippines in particular, is vulnerable to such instability, per the indications of its horoscope.

The Philippines got official independence and recognition on Jul 4 1946, at a changing of the flags ceremony, at Manila. Nick Campion gives 9.15AM CCT as the crucial time; however, in his "Predictions For a New Millennium" Noel Tyl suggests a 9.26AM CCT time be used, on the basis of testing the chart against Fillipino history. This is the chart-time I've used here.

Here's what Tyl had to say regarding the "astro-profile" of the Philippines:

"The Astro-profile of the Philippines is demoralizing: it portrays a nation of power struggles, clashes for control, internal warring activities and financial corruption (page 75).

In the accompanying footnotes he adds the following:

"Saturn=Sun/Pluto=Uranus/Asc; Pluto=Sun/Mars; Pluto conjunct Mercury, ruler of the Asc (the people) and the MC (the government) in the 12th House; Neptune in the 2nd square the Sun; Saturn in Cancer and without aspect (insecurity and domestic upset); defensive eastern orientation guarding the Asc; Mars rising in Virgo (dogma reinforcement)".

Indeed, the astrology of the Philippines does show a marked tendency towards volatility, radicalism, authoritarianism, graft, violent uprising. It is within this vortex that President Arroyo now finds herself.

Curiously, and again Tyl points this out in his work, the Philippines also have a strong astro-marker for the prominence of women in its government, with Uranus tightly conjunct the Lunar Axis in the 10th House, square the rising Moon in Virgo; to date, there have been at least three women leaders of the island nation: Corazon Aquino, Imelda Marcos, and now, Gloria Arroyo.

Last week Arroyo declared a national State of Emergency and announced to the nation that she had discovered a plot to overthrow the government; the key leaders in this effort came from the military, they were arrested, and their co-conspirators within the government were being sought out as well. But great unrest continues on the streets of Manila and elsewhere; there are demonstrations by the thousands (small in comparison to those that saw Ferdinand Marcos flee the country, after he tried to rig election results in his favor against the widow of his longtime political enemy, Beningo Aquino, but still significant nonetheless), with allegations of Arroyo herself rigging election results back in 2004, of political patronage and indeed, of financial corruption. Even former Presidet Aquino, a one time ally of Arroyo, has joined in the street demonstrations calling for her ouster. One has to wonder how long can she hold on?

According to Wikipedia, the online resource for historical (and for our purposes, oftentimes very useful astro-data) information, Gloria Arroyo was born on Apr 5 1947 in Manila; no time as yet is known, but her Solarscope gives us many clues:

1. She has the Sun in Aries opposed Neptune (a clear echo of the Fillipino national Sun-Neptune hard aspect - corruption???) in Libra, also trine Pluto, the planet of big (and power) politics; Arroyo was born on a Full Moon in Libra, with the Moon possibly conjunct Neptune as well

2. Mercury in Pisces square Uranus in Gemini (tendency to be fast and loose with the facts; along with the above mentioned Neptune aspects, bending the truth or outright lying is not out of the question)

3. Sun=Uranus/Pluto, Uranus and Pluto parallel, Pluto ExDek (again, a strong focus on politics, power, potential for authoritarianism)

4. Saturn in Leo - VERY important here, because of the fact that it matches the Saturn position be transit in skies above (in other words, it's Arroyo's 2nd Saturn Return, a very profound time for any politician's career and life)

It seems that the astro-evidence, as far as we have it, does not look good for Arroyo's innocence; and indeed, this seems to be bourne out: after initially strongly denying any communication on her part with election officials during her 2004 campaign, she was forced to acknowledge that she did speak to one of the officials by telephone but swears she did not in any way influence the elections. Additionally, shortly after assuming Office for the 2nd time, Arroyo appointed a key election ally against a longtime supporter and member of her administration, to a Cabinet level position. Not only that, but the so-called "Holiday Economics" scheme has been met with much public disapproval. These are but a few of the many grievances the Fillipino people have with the current President.

Arroyo was inaugurated on Jun 30 2004 on Cebu Island; no time is known, so a Noon chart was set by me for that date (Placidus 9 Lib 22). The resultant chart shows much strife, agitation, uprising: Venus rules the Asc (the people) and participates in a Grand Mutuable Square involving Jupiter in Virgo, Uranus in Pisces and the Moon (the people again) in Sagittarius. The Moon rules the 10th and holds the Sun, Saturn and Mercury, all in Cancer; Mercury rules the 12th House (again, another echo of the national astrology), suggesting again the president making moves in secret. Venus, again representing the people, is trine Neptune; Pluto=Sun/Moon, AP=Sun/Pluto, Saturn=Neptune/Pluto, all points again, to power struggles, an authoritarian bent, and an administration that is weakened considerably from all the strain and scandal (Saturn again, in the 10th IN CANCER, yet another echo of the national astrology).

Last week Arroyo had transit Pluto going just past square to her Mars; transit Saturn sits only a few degrees away from her natal Saturn. Transit Pluto will return for yet another pass in square to this same Mars between Aug & Oct of this year. Assuming she can weather the assault of transit Saturn on her Pluto, which will occur in Mar, it is hard to see how she can resist the people calling for her to step down in the late Summer and early Fall, as transit Saturn again moves to conjunct her natal Pluto; Pluto to Mars, Saturn to Pluto, a Saturn Return, it's all too much to take in stride.

Something's got to give.

Her Inaugural chart shows strains as well: SA Mars=Pluto exact in Jan, foresaw the "blowout" she's had with the people, as well as the military coup attempt; then, we have SA Pluto=Sun/Moon in Jul, SA Sun=Uranus/Neptune in Sep, SA MC=Saturn/Uranus in Oct, and finally, SA Pluto=Sun/Uranus and SA Pluto=Uranus/MC, both in Nov. The Philippine national chart shows SA Pluto=Saturn/Uranus in Jan of this year, and will take another few hits from transit Saturn passing over its national Mercury and Pluto.

We can fully expect to see Arroyo stepdown from Office if not early this Spring, then in late Summer/early Fall (mid to late Aug-early Oct).

This is one to keep an eye on - they'll be more than just monsoon storms going on in Manila this year...

Salaam,
Mu

Dick Cheney: Shooting At A Lame Duck Issue

Dick Cheney: Shooting At A Lame Duck Issue
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

11:47 AM 2/19/06 Sun

The past week has been a whirlwind of news activity surrounding Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident, wherein he shot companion Harry Whittington, a longtime Houston area lawyer and GOP contributer, spraying the elderly 78 year old gentlemen with birdshot pellets in the face, neck and chest last Saturday, Feb 11 2006. Despite the fact that hunting accidents happen all the time (and this comes from one who has hunted, albeit with a bow and arrow, and not a gun - I am a Sagittarius, afterall), it wasn't long before the conspiracy theorists, partisan hacks, astrological or otherwise, and general haters of anything and everything Bush, came crawling out of the woodwork, scurrying around like roaches in a slum tenament when the lights are turned on. Eager to pin this unfortunate incident, who even Whittington, the man who was shot, asked what the fuss was all about, onto something larger about the Bush Administration, soon blogs ran accounts of Cheney's long record of supposed alcoholism, and the even more hot and heavy secret affair Cheney's had with a US ambassador. Democrats, both within astrology circles and outside, cheered when David Gregory, White House correspondent for NBC News, went toe to toe with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan in the wake of the incident, and while for a brief moment Mr. Whittington suffered a mild heart attack as the result of the accidental shooting, it all appears that he now will live out the rest of his days in relative comfort and health, having made a strong and vibrant statement before the cameras upon his release from the hospital only a few days ago.

Cheney was born on Jan 30 1941, at 7.30PM CST, in Lincoln Nebraska; Placidus 2 Vir 54. His long record of health problems are well known and documented, with Cheney's Sun in Aquarius in the 6th House, opposed by Pluto sitting on the cusp of the 12th, and squared by Saturn and Jupiter from the 9th. Everyone knows of his heart conditions and attacks, and Cheney has both a Secret Service detail and a fully stocked and equipped ambulance with him wherever he goes.

The Moon sits in Pisces in the 7th House and is opposed by Neptune, clearly reflecting Cheney's more reclusive nature - and in all fairness, can also indicate a prediliction toward alcohol. Moreover, the Moon-Neptune opposition can also indicate clandestine affairs, made all the moreso as Venus in Capricorn in the 5th House, sextile the Moon in Pisces in the 7th.

At the time of the shooting accident, transit Mars, in the victory lap of its long "walk" through Taurus, was sitting at the top of Cheney's chart, his MC; the accident would soon be consumed in 24-hour CNN fashion, not only here, but around the world. Transit Saturn is only a few degrees away from conjunction with his natal Pluto, almost always a major setback for anyone, in someway; and transit Pluto is square his 7th House ruling Neptune. All of this plays itself out while Cheney is at first reluctant to come forward to the media with the incident, and then finally agreeing to give Fox News' Brit Hume an exclusive interview several days after the fact. While the aforementioned transit movements don't necessarily promise foul play or some other form of subterfuge in and of themselves, at the very least they, along with the upcoming SA Neptune=Asc (exact in Jul 2006) makes Cheney look very bad in the eyes of the public, and especially, the press corps.

But the big question is: can the partisans hitch this shooting accident onto a larger wagon? It seems for the moment, the answer on that score is "No". But again, as pointed out, Cheney does have the Neptune=Asc arc to contend with later down the line, as well as the continued Pluto and Saturn transits. His best bet is to, as much as he can, be as transparant as possible in a post-Sep 11 environment. For him to continue on the previous track of being unaccessible, of being unapproachable, can only do him and the larger Bush Administration more harm in the press' eyes and possibly that of the wider American public. In such a polarized political climate that is Washington DC these days, both sides, Democratic and Republican alike, will take any foothold they can, in an effort to one-up the competition and make the other side look bad.

A final point. On today's "Meet The Press" David Gregory acknowledged that he was wrong for attacking Scott McClellan, saying that he was frustrated with not being given straight answers; Tim Russert played a further exchange between the two men that was not on camera, where Gregory really went off the deep end. It's been suggested that Gregory is emblematic of the mainstream news media, one that is at the very least suspicious of the Bush Adminstration, if not out and out pro Democrat/Left. Whether one agrees or not with the assertion, what is woefully evident is that there IS indeed a strong anti-Bush view within the ranks of American and I would augur, some international astrological forums, venues and clubs. So many are so eager to pin anything and everything negative in the Universe on the Bush White House, that it's difficult to see where the actual astrological analysis begins and where the partisanship ends; no wonder astrology has such a hard time being taken seriously by a once-removed skeptical public. No matter what one may think of Gregory, if nothing else he restored a bit of credibility when he apologized for his going after the White House; it would really do astrology a great deal of good if those on the Astrological Left followed his example.

Salaam,
Mu

Brokeback Garden: Will Gay Marriage Come To New Jersey?

Brokeback Garden: Will Gay Marriage Come To New Jersey?
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

7:16 AM 2/19/06 Sun

The past week saw a heated exchange between Gay & Lesbian activists and Pro Traditional Marriage advocates, as the New Jersery Supreme Court heard arguments for and against the right of Gay & Lesbian citizens to marry within the Garden State. Although "civil unions" do exist in a few States in the Union, the Gay & Lesbian activists want full legal and social marital rights, recognition and privilege, as hetero couples. Both sides filed "friend of the court" briefs, and held voiceferous demonstrations outside the State Supreme Court building in Trenton, the Garden State's Capital. With the Court's decision to be announced later this year, this case could prove very crucial in the ongoing national debate over Gay Rights and in particular, as they relate to Marriage.

While the GOP backed State Legislature argues that for appointed State Officials (judges) to simply rule on something that the people of the Garden State should ultimate say in, in the form of their representatives being able to vote on it (and even in the form of a direct referendum) is inherently antithetical to the electoral process and a further example of "judicial activism". The Gay & Lesbian group, on the other hand, argues that the laws that exist in New Jersey, regarding domestic partners, the adopting of children and so on, already sets in motion the right of Gays & Lesbians to lawfully marry, with all the rights that implies.

One needs not be a Political Science Major to know that New Jersey is essentially a "blue state", having Democratic roots going way back; though the Garden State does have its share of GOP faithful, they have not been able to fully implement their plans and agendas. This fact alone makes the Gay & Lesbian cause all the more likely to come to pass. The recent election of New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, makes it all that much tougher for the Garden State GOP to turn back the tide.

New Jersey was admitted into the Union on Dec 18 1787; locating the chart for Trenton and using a noon time mark, the chart yields an Asc of 25 Pis 36 (Placidus). This chart gives striking witness to the current events, and points the way to how things will ultimately go regarding the Gay Marriage issue.

The Sun is in late Sagittarius, in the 9th and conjunct the MC, also in late Sagittarius; Mercury, ruling the 7th (Marriage) is in the 9th, and forms a trine to the rising Moon in Aries (the people). Neptune is in the 7th/Libra, and square Mars in the 5th, itself in turn conjunct Uranus, also in the 5th House (children, sex, romance) in the Sign of Cancer (family). This Neptune configuration, strongly supports the Gay & Lesbian position, and in fact this is what I had to say regarding astrological signatures of Gays and Lesbians, in an essay on the matter last year:

"In my own personal study of gay and lesbian charts, I've found that often, the Signs Gemini and/or Pisces are involved with the 5th House, and/or Mercury or Neptune; also, Uranus and/or Neptune will play a role, either with the aforementioned planets/Signs/Houses/Rulers, and/or, with Venus and/or Mars. Lots to look for, right? So, let's look at some charts.

Since that is the case, a look at the movements of the Outer Planets of Western Astrology deserve a look. At the time of the Stonewall Inn Riots (Jun 27 1969 1AM EDT, Greenwich Village, NY; Placidus 12 Ari 06) , a seminal event in the history of the American Gay Movement, Uranus was at 00 Libra, opposed the Asc (and thus at the Aries Point!!!); note that Uranus also rules the 12th House - "coming out of the closet". Uranus has long been associated with homosexual behavior, etc.

That being said, let's go back to the Stonewall Inn Riot chart. As already mentioned, Uranus is at the Dsc and at the AP in Libra. But it's also sextile Neptune accross the signline - and - note that the Moon in Scorpio is conjunct Neptune in the 8th, the Moon ruling the 5th! Also, note that Mars is the Asc ruler and sextile Uranus, and the Sun is square Uranus as well.

Then, there's the Uranus-Neptune Conjunction of 1993 (Feb 2 1993 3.05AM EST Washington DC; Placidus 9 Sag 31): the conjunction itself occurs in the 2nd House (national values) and square the Asc ruler Jupiter in the 10th (confusion and alteration of traditional values along these lines for the entire country). Note also that Saturn and Uranus are in Mutual Reception...and Saturn conjuncts Mercury, ruler of the 7th. The Moon is in Gemini in the 7th and Venus is in Pisces at the AP. Also, and I mentioned this in my essay on Mars Rx, Mars in this chart is in Cancer and also Rx! This I feel accounts for a great deal of the sexual confusion on the part of many men in American society, the "downlow" etc. Recall, you didn't hear that phrase prior to 1993; now, it's old hat. Capricorn represents traditional family values, and Uranus-Neptune, as we have seen, plays a huge role in the gay and lesbian lifestyle. Capricorn represents men, too, so again, this conjunction would contribute to a period of confusion accross the board insofar as men are concerned."

- Thoughts On The "Gay Way" 9:14 PM 10/29/05 Sat

The "Union" chart of New Jersey clearly supports Gay Marriage outright, not in the piecemeal, stop-and-go way that other states like Vermont have done. The key elements of the union chart, says it all.

But where are the State GOP? Can they force the issue out of the courts and onto the House floor? The GOP are represented in this map by Saturn, classically dignified in Aquarius (traditional family values, etc.) and participates in an Air Grand Trine along with Jupiter in Gemini in the 3rd House, ruling the 9th House of Judges and Courts, and Neptune in Libra in the 7th, representing I feel, the Gay & Lesbian Lobby at this time, but also representing the State GOP's vision of a return to the Ozzie & Harriet Era. But the GOP, represented by Saturn, are also muffled quite a bit - Saturn is in the 12th House. In its best light the GOP can wage an effective clandestine, behind the scenes effort to forestall the Gay Marriage issue; but a "frontal assault" on the issue is likely to fail. The people, represented by both the Asc ruling Neptune and the rising Moon in Aries, seems to be fully on the side of the Gays & Lesbians. With transit Uranus having already squared the NJU's Mercury, ruler of its 7th, and transit Pluto at present square the NJU's Asc, and going on to conjunct its 9th House Sun and finally MC (Corzine & the Democrats - Party in Power), its very difficult to see the courts not ruling in favor of Gay Marriage in the Garden State. News reports have stated that the court will announce its decision in "months" from now; I say we can expect to hear their ruling between May & July of this year, at the very latest towards the end of this year, when transit Pluto will make its final pass over the NJU Sun and MC. Additionally, checking the Solar Arcs for the same time period, SA Saturn=Pluto in Jun 2006 (the old order breaking down, a terrible loss for the NJ GOP) and SA Venus=Sun/Moon in Aug 2006. For Corzine, he too has SA Saturn=Pluto at around the same time period; in that Saturn plays a crucial role in his chart due to its rulership of his Sun, it suggests that he will play a direct hand in all of this.

All of this hinges on the 1st Gay Marriage ever performed in New Jersey, between two gay men, Ric Best and Louis Navarrette, on Mar 8 2004, in Asbury Park, NJ. Word quickly spread among the Gay & Lesbian community, and in total 16 marriages were performed down at City Hall before the State Attorney General declared that they were illegal and rendered null and void. Still, this event remains as a powerful symbol in the minds and hearts of the Gay & Lesbian public; the astrology of that day is interesting (casting a chart for 12 noon; Placidus 8 Can 14):

- Saturn rising in Cancer, ruling the 7th and trine Uranus

- Venus in Taurus, the final dispositor of the chart, sextile Uranus and Saturn, disposing of Mars in Taurus, ruling the 5th

- Neptune trine the Asc ruling Moon, itself in Libra

- Sun conjunct Mercury, both in Pisces, squared by Pluto and opposed Jupiter in Virgo

- AP=Sun/Moon=Saturn/Pluto, Node=Venus/Mars, Uranus=Venus/Saturn, Venus CP Pluto

A few parting shots: with 2006 being an important election year for the House and Senate, as well as a number of Governorships nationwide, the competition will be fierce for the hearts and minds, and most importantly, votes of the American public. The last Presidential election of 2004 saw the rise of "values" playing a prominent role in the outcome of said elections, and it appears that this year will be no different. Clearly, should Gay Marriage become the law of the land in New Jersey, activists from that side of the fence will attempt to take the case to the US Supreme Court in a bid to have Gay Marriage recognized nationwide. Here's what I had to say regarding that possibility, again going back to my piece on astro-signatures of Gays and Lesbians:

"I've said elsewhere that I don't think Gay Marriage will happen here in the USA during Pluto's transit of Capricorn; therefore, if it happens at all, it'll be either before the end of Pluto's sojourn of Sagittarius, or, when Pluto moves into Aquarius. In the latter case, Uranus will have moved out of Pisces, so it's still up in the air as to whether Gay Marriage will ever happen here. Although the country natally has Uranus right on the 7th cusp, it also has a very strong Saturnian vibe to it, with the national Cancerian Sun square Saturn from the 7th. So I'm not sure that GM will happen here regardless of the astrological trend.

At the time Pluto enters Capricorn, Pluto sits at the bottom of the chart, in the 4th House and opposed the MC; this is a classic signal of the party out of power coming to to the forefront in some way, perhaps through landslide elections? Mars is Rx in Gemini and right on the MC over Washington DC; Virgo is rising, with its ruler Mercury tightly conjunct Neptune and both in the national 5th, with Neptune ruling the 7th; and Uranus, ruling the 5th and 6th, is in the 6th. At the very least, the whole hubub over Gay Marriage will have reached a fever pitch by then, which is only a few years away...maybe it will be the meat of much of the debate between whoever the candidates for both parties?"

Something To Keep An Eye On: In the New Jersey Union chart, Jupiter, which rules both the 9th and 10th Houses, is in Gemini at 20 degrees, in the 3rd House of public opinion; in the year 2008-09, transit Uranus will have squared this Jupiter position, suggesting a reversal in current judicial thinking, lead in part by the party in power and by the people's overall mindset. If indeed the current State Suprement Court rules in favor of Gay Marriage, there is every reason to believe that it could be reversed between the Spring of 2008 and mid 2009, the times when Uranus in its transit will make its squares to the aforementioned Jupiter position in the NJU chart. The NJ GOP will have gathered up its resources and refined their strategy, and will be in preparation to take back the center of power in the Garden State, concomitant with the building Uranus transit square to the NJU MC. All of this occurs in a Presidential Election year, one that promises to be very, very important on home, social and values-based fronts. This is one to keep an eye on, y'all.

Salaam,
Mu

On The Coretta Scott King Funeral Controversey

On The Coretta Scott King Funeral Controversey
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

2:12 AM 2/13/06 Mon

With the late Mrs. King laid to rest, I think it's now the right time for me to weigh in on the controversey surrounding comments made by former President Jimmy Carter and the Reverand Joseph Lowery, in the presence of fellow attendee and mourner Preside George W. Bush. As you know, their comments have set off many conservatives, particularly those in the media (primarily Fox News, The Weekly Standard and other print publications, and of course, talk radio), who have charged Carter, Lowery and others with partisan potshot taking at what they consider to be a most inopportune time; simply put, these conservative pundits argue that the Democratic Left's hatred and vile for Bush is so virulent, that they will take any opportunity, use any occasion, to attack him and the wider conservative agenda.

Most people who are in agreement with Carter's and Lowery's comments - who, I think it safe to say, are for the most part at least partially are in step with the Democrats - saw their remarks as emblematic of what both Kings, Martin and Coretta, stood for. In their minds, to simply offer platitudes over the body of one of the most important personages in Civil Rights Movement, would be to cheapen her legacy, and to turn one's back on her struggle for equality and social, economic and legal justice.

Carter and Lowery's comments were met with thunderous applause, with Lowery's observations regarding the Iraq War and the failure to find the much touted WMDs in particular getting a standing ovation; Carter's comments on the Katrina tragedy and the thousands of African Americans affected in its aftermath garnered similar response. Held at one of the United State's largest "megachurches", the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Lithonia, GA, it's some 10,000 attendees - mostly African American - seemed to be in full agreement with the comments. And while many conservatives lamented the Democratic party line's hand in all this, I noticed that even most of the pundits and opinion makers on the red side of the aisle tip-toed around the very obvious truth on Feb 7 2006:

That the racial divide is still very much with us in America, well into the 21st century. That alone, if nothing else, should tell us all, no matter where we fall on the debate, that perhaps in many ways those comments accarately reflected Mrs. King's life, following in the tall shadow of her late husband.

Casting a noon time chart for the Coretta Scott King Funeral, Feb 7 2006 at Lithonia GA (Placidus 24 Tau 04), we see immediately Mars rising in the Asc, square Mercury in Aquarius in the 10th; a strong signal of bickering, arguments, a sense of being attacked for comments being made. It is also interesting to note that the 10th House of this chart - which could be used to describe President Bush - seems to be weakened somewhat with the presence of the Sun-Neptune conjunction. The Sun is in detriment and its dispositor Uranus in Pisces, also denotes a less than assertive stance.

If the 10th House represents the President and by extension the GOP, then the 4th House of this chart can be said to represent his opposition, the Democrats. In this chart, the Sun rulkes the 4th, and Saturn is actually in the 4th House, in Leo and Rx. Classically, Saturn is said to rule Aquarius, and like the Sun, it too is in detriment. Its Rx status in this map suggests that the Democrats are weaker at the present than the President and the GOP, which is factually the case; The GOP dominates all three branches of American government. It is interesting indeed to note that so many event charts that feature the President also happens to feature tensions along the 4-10 House axis.

Interesting also in this chart is the rising Moon in Gemini, reflecting the divided nature of the controversey arising out of the funeral, a larger commentary on the racially, politically and socially divided nature of our country at large. And we can also note that Venus, the ruler of this noon time event chart, is at the Saturn/Pluto midpoint, signifying loss, death; Venus in Capricorn certainly represents Coretta Scott King, a long standing fixture in the movement, a classy lady indeed.

I believe that the reason why so many conservative pundits have strayed away from noting the fact that so many African Americans are in tacit and essential agreement with Lowery and Carter's statements - and why they roared in approval of the Clintons as well - is because of the image problem that continues to bedevil the GOP. The Southern Strategy was developed and deployed in the wake of the massive Civil Rights Legislation of the mid 1960s, granted to African Americans to ensure their rights to vote, etc. White Southern Democrats - known then as Dixiecrats and featureed prominent figures such as Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd (both of whom had Klan associations and both of whom renounced same years later) - defected to the Republican Party out of disgust and in retaliation to President Lyndon Johnson's legislative achievements. While it's true that more Republicans at the time supported Civil Rights bills and laws than Democrats/Dixiecrats, this truth was overshadowed by the time Richard Nixon came to power, in the main by way of extensive use of the Southern Strategy (initially formulated in the Barry Goldwater campaign). Johnson knew what was coming down the pike, before Nixon was ever elected; as he signed the historic bills into law, he said that he had just given away the South for the next few generations.

In truth, the GOP knows that it does not need African American electoral support to win; the Nixon, Reagan and both Bush's electoral victories have proven this to be the case. But what they DO need is the perception that they are no longer the Party that encourages blatant racism, and not necessarily because they need to appeal to African Americans; they need this cleaning up of their image to appeal to middle America, middle class WHITES, who despite their own misgivings and views regarding "race relations" and the like, still feel uncomfortable giving their new or continued support to a Party that carries the tones of the Goldwater Era, the hardline "law and order" veiled references of Nixon, the "Welfare Queen" stereotyping of Reagan. As Al Franken, Joe Conason and others point out in their books, this is an object lesson not only in the Psychologial Age in which we live and how it has pervaded every facet of our lives, but so too about just how far we have indeed come from the days of MLK. Keep in mind, that no less than four Presidents were present - and spoke - at Mrs. King's funeral; her body lay in state at the Capitol in GA, a first for any woman or African American; and all this follows only months behind the grand national tribute Rosa Parks received at the national Capitol.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party is caught between a rock and hard place; since the 1960s their core base of electoral support has been the African American Vote, with every passing year seeing fewer and fewer White votes going in their favor, particularly in the South and Heartland America areas; the last Presidential election saw considerable White male and married "Soccer Mom" support going to Bush, while unmarried younger and older women, African Americans, some Hispanics, and Gays and Lesbians supporting Kerry. The Democratic Party is becoming more and more viewed not as the John Kennedy era classic liberal, but the Ted Kennedy era Liberal Ideologue, a Party that is essentially out of step with the values, convictions and aspirations of an America at the 21st century. Surely, Democratic pollsters know how important the Black Vote is and continues to be to them, yet they desperately need to appeal to votes outside of that rubric; Hillary Clinton's much touted run for the White House has to be at least based on the fact that she has the Democratic Party's best campaigners ever, Bill Clinton, who continues to enjoy colossal support in Black America.

Last year, I said the following about the notion of a colorblind America, in response to a then recent poll regarding "interdating":

"With the issues framed within the proper context, we now turn to the astrology of these events. I present the following 3 horoscopes for your consideration: The Declaration of Independence, which represents the intention of the original colonies/states to seperate from Great Britain and become a union unto itself, framed, founded and intended originally by and for White male land owners, thinkers, financiers and military men (Jul 4 1776 5.10PM LMT Philadelphia, PA; Placidus 12 Sag 19, Campion, Sibly Variant); The Statue of Liberty, a gift to the United States from France in the 19th century, shortly after the end of the Civil War, and represents the American Immigrant Experience (and includes various White ethinic groups as well as non-White, such as the Irish, Italian, Polish and Germans; Oct 28 1866 4.05PM LMT New York, NY; Placidus 14 Ari 11, Tyl Rectification); and finally, the horoscopic representation of the moment the first African slaves were offloaded at Jamestown, that moment which would eventually evolve into what I posit is "the" chart for the African American people (Aug 30 1619 10.15AM LMT, Jamestown, VA; Placidus 4 Sco 21, Penfield Rectification). These three charts I contend, bear striking witness to how interdating and intermarriage actually plays itself out despite flowery polling results.

Comparing the USA's chart to that of American Slavery's, however, tells a different tale; there is little "middle ground" between the two charts. First off, AS's chart has, as noted earlier a Fixed Sign emphasis, while the USA's chart highlights the incidence of Cardinal and Mutable Signs, suggesting that the modalities of these two charts is vastly different (and we often hear how Black folks "live in the past"; "we need to move on", etc.). Note the Moon positions, essential for any positive synastric analysis to work - the USA's Moon is in Aquarius, interested in innovation, social service and relevance, modernity; while the AS's Moon is in Taurus, interested in tradition, conservatism, "keepin' it real", etc. Astrologers have long known that it is next to impossible for two people (in this case two entities) to live under the same roof for any length of time when their Lunar placements are such at variance with each other. Next, note that there are no Venus-Mars connections accross the charts, unlike that of the earlier noted USA/SOL synastry, and what 7th House related connections that are present speaks to alienation, pain, seperation: AS's Saturn EXACTLY conjunct USA's Mars in its 7th. Further, note that AS's Uranus is conjunct the USA Mercury, ruler of its 7th; and the USA's Uranus square AS's Sun. All of these contacts undeniably speak to the USA's segregation of Black folks, and in any event, hardly would qualify by any astrologer's standard as ties of comfort and stability. Put all this together with a Sagittarius Asc in one chart (USA), and a Scorpio Asc in the other (American Slavery), along with what we know about the rules of Synastry, and it's very difficult to see these two charts coming together to make a happy marriage - and is completely reflective of the real world reality on these fronts with respect to Black and White in America."

- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?: Astrology, In Black & White 4:53 AM 10/14/05 Fri

Because of the enduring nature of the King Funeral (Fixed Signs on the Angles) I suspect this issue of the Lowery/Carter comments will remain with us for sometime in the media, particularly on the conservative side. In a major election year, such things will figure prominently in the voting public's mind as to who they will ultimately choose as their leaders congressionally. Mrs. King's long arc of life just goes to show us all how far we've come, and how so very far we have to go.

Lastly, it's interesting to note, as of this writing, that none of the King children have objected to Lowery's or Carter's comments; neither has any siginificant voice in the African American community.

Hmm...

Salaam,
Mu

An Astrological Tribute To Coretta Scott King

An Astrological Tribute To Coretta Scott King
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

3:50 PM 2/11/06 Sat

Earlier this week, the widow of Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, was finally laid to rest beside her husband at the monument she had built for him and his life's work in Atlanta, GA. Her funeral, which was attended by no less than four Presidents, luminaries and the like, has been the topic of much conversation accross the country, both in memory of what Mrs. King stood for, and as well, for the many comments made by the VIP attendees at her homegoing service. The following is what the online resource, Wikipedia, had to say about the affair:

"Over 14,000 people gathered for King's six-hour funeral at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia on February 7, 2006 where daughter Bernice King is an elder. The megachurch whose sanctuary seats 10,000 was better able to handle the expected massive crowds than Ebenezer Baptist Church where King had been a member since the early 1960s up to her death and which was the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral in 1968. Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, their wives and numerous other political figures attended the service. In addition to the presidents, speakers included former FBI director William Sessions, chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women Dorothy Height, poet Maya Angelou, Dr. Joseph Lowery, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, Bishop T.D. Jakes and former Ambassador Andrew Young. Music was provided by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and vocalists Stevie Wonder, Michael Bolton, BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans. Bernice King delivered the final official eulogy with Dr. Robert Schuller providing the closing benediction.

Some conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with remarks made by several of the speakers, including President Carter and Rev. Lowery, who were accused of injecting current politics into the affair. Lowery, referencing King's vocal opposition to the Iraq war, noted the failure to find WMDs in Iraq. Carter, referencing King's lifelong struggle for civil rights, noted that her family had been the target of secret government wiretapping. Their comments were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations, as President Bush looked on and smiled weakly."

We'll let others hash out the rightness or wrongness of the remarks made by certain attendees; in the meantime, it's very useful to consider some of the following questions astrologicallly:

1. Can we see Mrs. King's widowhood astrologically?

2. Can we see the infidelity in Mrs. King's marriage to the late Dr. King?

3. Can we chart Mrs. King's passing astrologically?

4. Finally, what is the astrological legacy of Coretta Scott King, whom many have dubbed "the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement"? Where do African Americans in particular, and America as a whole, go from here?

To answer our first three questions, we enlist the aid of Vedic astrology...

Coretta Scott King Apr 27 1927 4PM Marion AL; Lahiri 13 Vir 36, Rodden

1. Mrs. King's Vedic chart does indeed answer our questions. First, we can see that her 7th House of marriage and the husband is considerably challenged. Lagnesh Mercury is placed in the 7th in its debilitation Sign Pisces, and associates with Jupiter, also in the 7th/Pisces. However, Jupiter is weakened by degree (00:13) and therefore is unable to render much assistance to Mercury. Although Mercury is technically Neecha Bhanga Raj Yoga (a combination that is said to lift the status of a "fallen" planet to that of a royal) what help it got by way of this celestial exception is not enough to turn back the tide of Mrs. King's marital woes, pain and eventual witnessing of her husband's passing. Indeed, it is well known in Vedic astrological circles that benefic planets that are in some way greatly weakened can and often do serve as malefic forces which can bring discomfort and pain into the native's life. So we can see that Mrs. King would get "name and fame" from the death of her husband, it is still death by any other standard. Jupiter is also to be taken as the planet of the spouse in a female chart, and again, in this case, Jupiter is weakened by degree, a confirmation of the overall 7th House scenario. Rotating the chart so that the Moon is now the Asc (what is called Chandra Lagna) we see that the Sun is now the 7th lord; from the birth Asc the Sun is exalted in the 8th, and from the Moon Mercury now becomes the 8th House lord...the 8th House is that of death, particularly of the spouse. Finally, we can check the Navamsa chart for final confirmation of Mrs. King's marital life; in that sub chart, Saturn and Rahu are both in the 7th, in Scorpio no less. Note how MLK passed away in the Jupiter Dasa (Aug 1959-Aug 1975; Vimshottari Dasa calculated from Lagna position).

2. We can answer our next question by assessing again Mrs. King's 7th House, and then turning to MLK's chart in comparison to hers. First, we have to consider that whenever a weakened planet exists in the 7th House of someone's chart, it is an indication that the person's spouse is "weakened" in some way, be it educationally, healthwise, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc., and that this weakness will almost certainly manifest itself over the course of the union between the two people. Because Mercury is Mrs. King's Lagnesh, we could suggest that perhaps MLK found her to be "weak" in the sexual department in someway, and since Mercury again is in the 7th House, also representing MLK himself, we can also say that he gave in to his weakness in this regard. Turning now to his chart (Jan 15 1929 11.21AM EST Atlanta GA; Lahiri 7 Ari 43, Lewis) we can see even more signals of trouble in marital/sexual bliss for this couple. For one, his Asc is in Aries, Coretta's in Virgo; they fall 6 and 8 Houses away from each other. This causes misalignment not only in terms of who they are as individuals (the respective Asc's) but also in every other area of life (represented by the following Houses in both charts). In Vedic astrology a concept known as Planetary Relationships is vital, because it assesses how well (or not) planets work together; the resulting relationship between any two planets, will spill over into the House they rule. This concept is extremely important and helpful when matching two charts for marriage. In this case here, we can see that MLK's 5th lord is the Sun, while in Mrs. King's case it is Saturn - in the Vedic planetary relationship scheme of things, these two planets are dire enemies. It means that they will get along only begrudingly. In that the 5th House is one of the main Houses to consider in terms of Sexuality in a Vedic chart (the other being the 12th) this alone sends up red flags. One would think that the infidelity, found out by way of wiretaps and other forms of surveilliance on the part of the Hoover Era FBI, would break the King Marriage, but it did not. We can surmise that the reason for this lay at least in part due to Mrs. King's chart, where we can see that while weak, the Mercury-Jupiter presence in her 7th House forms both Bahu-Stree Yoga and Satkalatra Yoga, combinations that promise marital stability and love. It's difficult for people with such combinations to break away from a spouse, even when they've done wrong.

3. Mrs. King fell ill to a stroke in Aug 2005; at the time this happened, she was having Mercury/Rahu, which ran from Feb 2004 till her death last week (it would have ended in Aug 2006). Very often Rahu plays a hand in cases of stroke, and both planets, Mercury and Rahu, represent the central nervous system. As noted earlier, Mercury, which is Mrs. King's Lagnesh, is considerably weakened; it was hard to see her recovering fully from the stroke, if at all. We can also consider the transit of the sub lord Rahu, passing thru Mrs. King's 7th House. In the System's Approach method, the sub lord of any Dasa is the main timer of events, especially when their transit passes over key areas in the chart. The 7th House is a Maraka, or Killer House (being 12th from the 8th, the House of Longevity), and both Mercury's Dasa running, and sub lord Rahu's transit going thru there at the same time, augured the time of Mrs. King's passing.

4. Finally - where do we go from here? With the passing of Rosa Parks and now Coretta Scott King, it is truly the End of an Era, the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans have made great strides in American society and life: home ownership by married African Americans is at all time highs; a burgeoning Black Middle Class is becoming more and more prevalent; and Black folk from Oprah to Russell Simmons to Condoleeza Rice are becoming more and more a part of the American mainstream. But, on the other hand, the rift between the haves and have nots in Black America continues to grow, exacerbated by the recent Katrina tragedy; out of wedlock births in the Black community are at 70% with no end in sight; and, as my hometown Philly shows, gun violence claims hundreds of lives each year, by Black, on Black - in most instances, young males. Many of these questions will not be answered by government alone, and indeed, many pundits and observers on both sides of the color line suggest that Black America is facing a significant moral crisis.

The key horoscope for the African American people - the moment when the first African slaves were offloaded onto what would become American shores - may provide some clues as to where we go from here. We need to switch back into "Western" astrology mode in order to properly analyze this map:

American Slavery Aug 30 1619 10.15AM LMT, Jamestown VA; Placidus 4 Sco 21, Penfield

At the time of Mrs. King's death, in the AS chart, Solar Arc Sun=Pluto, a fitting symbolism of the occasion, as well as soul searching, discovering a new power within oneself (in this case, the Black community realizing that it's time to continue the next leg of the great task at hand that the Kings put into motion); and in the year ahead, exact in Oct 2007, SA Moon=Sun and SA Mars=Sun, perhaps an energetic new start to address the many social ills that have afflicted the Black community for decades? The long and painful Neptune transit, in square to the AS Moon-Pluto conjunction from the 4th House (soul searching again) has finally moved on, with transit Saturn coming about for more hits later this year. No matter what happens, we can be sure to hear about Black America in the major national headlines in the aforementioned target time of Oct 2007, as the major arc pictures come into sharp analytical focus.

Hmm...

Salaam,
Mu

A Few Parting Shots About Mars In Taurus...

A Few Parting Shots About Mars In Taurus...
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

8:10 AM 2/18/06 Sat

Mars has finally ended its some 8 month long sojourn through Taurus, having finally moved on into Gemini, on Friday, Feb 17 2006; it will make another Rx transit thru Taurus in July 2037-Feb 2038, a little 30 years from now (coinciding with Saturn's Return transit thru Leo, where it is now). It was a most interesting period, one which I wrote at considerable length to explain and contextualize ("Mars Rx & The Incredible Disappearing Man"; muminspeaks.blogspot.com, Oct 2005 entry). I wanted to go beyond the usual stuff astrologers write about whenever Mars, or for that matter, any planet goes Retrograde, to take the planets out of the "cosmic" realm and bring it down to Earth in meaningful ways. My essay on Mars, dealt specifically with the changing landscape, in just about all sectors, for men and boys - in terms of work, school, one's place in society.

I suggested that, during Mars' Rx transit thru Taurus in particular, we all would be grappling with these themes and issues.

That was in Oct 2005. In early Jan 2006, just a few weeks after Mars went direct in its motion still in the Sign of Taurus, the first of what would be several coal mining accidents happened.

Initially believing that the majority of the miners trapped some two miles below the surface were alive, we were all shocked to learn that only one miner survived, the rest perished. Other mining accidents occurred, with the mining industry being put on hold until some seriously large kinks in the system were worked out.

I can think of no better imagery for Mars in Taurus, the coal miner, the general laborer, the construction worker; the guys who do the heavy lifting of our society to make it possible for the rest of us to enjoy our lives and fret over petty things that, in comparison to what these men have to deal with on a daily basis, seems so silly and sophmoric.

Also, during Mars's transit of Taurus, a film about coal miners came out; called "North Country" and starring Charlize Theron, the move is about the first women coal miners in America, who had to deal with considerable discrimination from knuckle dragging men on the job. As I told a friend recently, while discussing another Hollywood creation, "Something New" Tinseltown has an uncanny knack for dealing with the improbable and contrived, rather than grappling with gritty and real. While being discriminated on the job is certainly something no one should have to put up with, the chilling events on the coal mining front in Jan 2006 just makes things like "North Country" look downright silly in comparison.

Let's see if these men's stories will ever make it to the silver screen...

Some reading this will say with an exasperated groan, "there goes Mu'Min again", but it just wouldn't be right to let Mars leave Taurus without at least commenting on the very real state of affairs our society is in with regard to work and the value of it, the value we place on it. So often, so much in our world, shown through the lens, the prism, of multimedia, is so assumed; we assume that everyone jokes around the water cooler; we assume that everyone has a 9 to 5, corner office gig. And let's face it, our society has vacillated between treating guys like the ones who died recently with benign neglect on one hand (pretending like they don't exist) or with outright contempt on the other (again, bringing back the North Country film).

Americans are in denial about Class. It's a real thing, just as real here as it is in anyplace else in the world.

I belong to many forums and newsgroups online. One of them is owned and ran by a man named Glenn Sacks, a Father's Rights advocate, writer and radio talk show host. He recently sent out a letter he received from the wife of a coal miner in the light of the recent tragedies on that score. It's both a fitting tribute to Mars in Taurus, a sobering account of someone who lives with such danger on a daily basis, and gives us all something to seriously think about as the bastions of our economy continue to crumble, to whither away, to die on the vine.

Salaam,
Mu

Woman Whose Husband Was Trapped Underground in Recent Mining Accident Has New Appreciation for Men

The sacrifices men make to support their wives and children are greatly underappreciated both by the media, our family courts, our politicians, and by women themselves. Jennifer sent me the following letter:

"Through my most recent life experience, I have found a brand new appreciation for so many men.

"My husband was stuck underground in a fire 1/2 a mile below the earth's surface at a Potash mine. It was in a 25 mile radius of tunnels under there filled with black smoke so thick the rescue teams could not even see their lights on their hats. The smoke was so thick at the shaft (cage, or elevator) that the second rescue team had to go down to rescue the first team.

"It was the world's largest oven with heat so hot the earth was shifting under their feet but these men did not stop. Thirty-two men were missing and presumed dead (those men were contractors for a company called Dynatec) The foreman at Dynatec who was down there with the 32 when the fire broke out instantly ordered the men to fight the fire. They were nowhere near equipped to do so. With the heat and the smoke, they never had oxygen masks or anything--just fire extinguishers.

"Realizing this, the foreman ordered his men to start setting up Brattice (sealed off smoke proof walls). They made 7 walls of Brattice and sealed off all air vents so the smoke couldn't come through then went to refuge in a room that had oxygen tanks (enough oxygen for only 36 hours max). Our rescue teams (11 total) were out for 27 hours, some down well after their oxygen limit.

"They did finally get our men out. Nobody was killed and I tell you it was sheer intelligence that saved every last one of those lives. Even men who drink beer everyday after work and who are often belittled saved the lives of our men.

"Crazy things that ran through my mind all night. We didn't know if we were going to see our husbands again. Sure they told the media they were perfectly safe but they didn't really know that for sure I know now just how much I really do love my husband and just how smart and brave he is. I haven't left his side since 7:00 AM Monday morning and I think we get along a lot better. I did take him for granted and I plan on treating him like gold for the rest of our lives.

"You are right--we do belittle men. Thank God we left that night on happy terms and didn't have an argument before he left for work. Never leave on bad terms, because you never really know if you are going to see that person again. And always kiss and hug your spouse when you say good bye. I was sure happy I did and I know 72 wives that will from now on.

"Just thought you might want to hear something about men on a more positive note. I know you are sick of men being cut down. I deeply love my husband and I will treat him like gold from here on in."

Jennifer's story reminds me of Terry Helms, one of the Virginia miners killed in January. According to the Associated Press' "After Reports to the Contrary, Only One Miner Survives" (1/4/06):

"Nick Helms, who waited all day for news of his father, Terry, said his father, a strapping 50-year-old, had endured numerous injuries in a 30-year career and hated mining because of the dangers, but refused to quit because the job put food on the table.

"'He gave his life in there so I could go to the movies,' Mr. Helms, 25, said of his father. Switching to the present tense, Mr. Helms added, 'He is very selfless.'"

For generations men risked their safety and their lives to provide for their wives and children, and some still do today. In my column Hate My Father? No Ma'am! (World Net Daily, 4/8/02), I wrote of the "feminist re-writing of the pre-feminist past as a virtual dark ages where men lived like nobles and women were their serfs." I noted:

"Tens of millions of male blue collar workers--who put their bodies on the line in the coal mines and steel mills so their wives and children could live in safety and comfort--have been turned into oppressors. Their wives and children, for whom these men sacrificed so much, have been turned into their victims.

"Edited out of our history are the tragedies of millions of American men who were killed or maimed on what early trade unionists called the 'battlefield of labor.' The miners who died in cave-ins, explosions, or of black lung disease. The sailors and fisherman who died at sea. The oil refinery workers killed in explosions. The factory workers killed in industrial accidents. The construction workers who died carving train tracks and then highways through majestic mountain cliffs or the scorching desert. The construction workers who died building our bridges, dams, high rises, stadiums, and apartments. "

Also on the subject, see my column The Price of Fatherhood--a Father's Reply to Ann Crittenden's 'Mothers' Manifesto' (Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Francisco Daily Journal, 1/10/02) and my co-authored column Indiana Woman's 'Housework Strike': Maybe It's Husbands Who Should Strike (Gary Post-Tribune, 11/8/02).

Seeing "Superhead" In Action (Yeeow!)

Seeing "Superhead" In Action (Yeeow!)
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

9:54 AM 2/5/06 Sun

Perhaps you've heard of the porn video circulating around on the internet featuring Karrine "Superhead" Steffans, the Video Vixen who penned a tell-all book naming names last year; she was given the nickname "Superhead" because of her penchant for giving ferocious fellatio. I recently had the chance to do a bit of TV watching, about 3 hours or so of documentaries featuring Steffans and which included what she called a "one shot deal" foray into porn...yea, girlfriend is the truth.

I wrote about her last year, in an essay called "Astrology of A Gold Digger" (it's on my blog: muminspeaks.blogspot.com, Oct 2005 archive); that essay got me into all kinds of trouble. Here's what I said:

"At about the same time that "Gold Digger" was released and played on the radio, a book called "Confessions of a Video Vixen" dropped in stores nationwide. It was the supposedly tell-all by "video-ho" Karrine Steffans, also known as "Superhead" for the obivious reasons. Promoted as a "cautionary tale" to young girls about the perils of living in the fast lane, one can't help but get the feeling that Steffans is using this as a springboard for greater fame and moola. No time is known for Steffans, but checkout the date - a TRIPLE conjunction of Venus, Mars and Pluto, all in Libra!!! A very rare and close aspect, that...well, you can see for yourself. Even the release date for her book had a sharp Sexual Aspect active on that day (book release Jun 28, 2005; Karrine "Superhead" Steffans Aug 24, 1978): Mars=Venus/Pluto!"

My essay in particular focused on the Venus-Pluto aspect, what the Magis call a Sexual Aspect for both sexes, and a Female Super Sexual Aspect in particular, for women. Here's what the Magis have to say about this aspect, coming straight from their book on Love & Money:

"This is a Sexual Aspect for men and women, and it is the most powerful Sexual Aspect for a woman. It is therefore called the Female Super Sexual Aspect-the sign of the insatiable woman. However, the insatiability extends beyond sex; this aspect is indicative of the most intense level of for success and power as well as sex, and also provides the ability to obtain them all. Women with this aspect are fabulous lovers, but remember that they also love money and power. If you are a man without money or power, avoid falling in love with a woman who has this aspect or you will be hurt so badly you could be tormented for life; she would leave you for someone who has the money and power and would not be nice in the way she does it. Interpretations: love of power, love of sex, obsessive love (but not the power to love), love of competition. This aspect creates very high energy levels and provides great money-making abilities. WARNING: If you are a woman married to a man who is a boss, do not let him hire a woman with this aspect; such women do not care if a man is married, and will go after him even if she does not really want him." (page 316)

The documentaries I saw on Steffans, and the wider issue of "video girls" in the Hip Hop world, were done by VH1, and both the producers and Steffans talked at great length about the intense competitiveness on the part of so many of the young ladies, so desperately wanting to be seen apart from the pack on a video shoot. Steffans got her rep by being the standout, getting her first big break in Jay-Z's video "Hey Papi", by wearing the skimpiest outfits or nothing at all, and the rest as they say is history. If ever there was a living embodiment of the Venus-Pluto aspect, especially as the Magis describe it above, it is Karrine "Superhead" Steffans.

The porn video features her and Mr. Marcus, one of the Sex Biz's hottest Black male actors, or "woodsmen" as the name goes. Steffans performs fellatio on him so intensely, that he - a pro male sex actor with hundreds, if not thousands of videos and women under his belt - has to pull away from popping too soon! But it's all to no avail - in the several scenes they do together, Steffans has the man looking like he's an 18 year old. Not only that, but Steffans exudes nothing but pure straight-up sex - the "F" word - almost like she was a machine. After she drains Mr. Marcus, she looks into the camera and says "he can't hang". From what I saw, I'm not sure many men could.

Steffans was born on Aug 24 1978, in the Bronx, NY; no time as yet is known. From her demeanor and appearance - her brashness, independence and daring, and dyed blonde hair that's been a staple of her looks now for more than 5 years, along with her bodytype - my guess is that she could be an Aries Rising. Such an Asc would put the chart ruling Mars in the 7th in Libra, in conjunction with Venus and Pluto, all in the 7th; at the time she wrote the book and got involved with Bill Maher, transit Jupiter would have been passing thru the 7th and touching all her Libra planets. Further, her Moon would rule her 4th, while Saturn would rule her MC - this speaks vividly to her difficult childhood at the hands of her parents, who she contends abused her (particularly her mom if I recall). The Moon is in Taurus - one of the most sexually inclined Moon Signs a person can have (the other being Scorpio) - and opposes Uranus in Scorpio, a strong generational signal of extreme sexual focus, activity and intensity. The Sun-Saturn conjunction is a sort of echo of the Saturn Rx occurance we've all come to know so well, about "daddy issues", abandonment, incompleteness, and so on. If my theory about Steffans having an Aries Asc is accurate, the Moon in Taurus would probably be in the 2nd House of Self Worth and Esteem, vitially important for women, with Uranus in Scorpio in the 8th, the worth and values of others...Steffans has said repeatedly in interviews that she sought her self worth and value in the sexual favors and pleasing of men. All of this is a strong setup for the extremely rare triple conjunction of Venus, Mars AND Pluto in her chart, made even strong by noting the fact that Venus is in Libra and disposes of the Taurus Moon, promising that Steffans would use the sexual world as a provong ground as her worth as a person.

An Aries Asc would also call attention to her Leo 5th House, with the Sun ruling it and Mercury possibly contained therein. I've said before that Saturn in connection with the 5th doesn't always mean that the person having it has a lower than average sexual drive, indeed, it can mean the opposite - but it's deployed for strategic means. In this case with Steffans, clearly this was the case, to use sexuality and her "skillset" in this area to catapult her into fame and stardom. And it worked. Mercury in the 5th, and Rx, also suggests a "hidden agenda" from everyone else, as well as pointing to the areas of the body that would be emphasized in sexual activity - the hands and mouth. Note that in this speculative chart we're discussing here, Mercury would most likely rule the 3rd, and is tied into the Super Sexual Complex in Steffan's chart by way of a sextile to Venus. Finally, again we can put this togther with the Moon in Taurus, and it all speaks to a very, very, sexual woman, a rarity for sure. (recall Linda Lovelace - Deep Throat).

The video with Steffans and Mr. Marcus is an object lesson in what I've been talking about in terms of being sexually matched with another person. Mr. Marcus was born on Sep 4 1970, time and place unknown (I set the Solar chart for Los Angeles CA). He was born with a Venus-Mars sextile accross the signline, with Venus in Libra, AP=Venus/Mars and Venus and Mars in aspect in the declinations. Yet, he also has Mars square Neptune, also accross the signline, and in any event, even when taking his Sexual Aspects into account, when comparing his Solarscope to that of Steffans, there's really no comparison - girlfriend beats him under the bed. Not only that but, aside from Mr. Marcus' Mars sitting right on Steffan's Sun, there's no real "sparks" flying between them. This case is a good example of what it means to always take into account what the two people's sexual levels are like, even when timed charts aren't available. The Solarscopes will do just fine.

In closing, I'd like to point out the fact that the Magis also state clearly that even the best of aspects have their downsides - the Venus-Pluto aspect certainly does - because people, and in this case in particular, women who have them rarely if ever have happy, longterm marriages and relationships. Their pursuit of wealth, power and sex seem to be their main focus and relationships that are more stable, but may be less sexual or powerful or wealthy, hold little if any interest for such people. Nothing but Time, Age and Wisdom gained thru hardknock experience can temper such tendencies such aspects suggest. Even now, as Steffans claims to be a "different person" she no less uses her book as a springboard for more climbing up the social and economic ladder. In one of her radio interviews (HOT 97, New York City) she states that she has both a reality TV show and talk show in the works. Her very public affair with Bill Maher can't hurt her ambitions either.

We'll know more about Steffans' transformation during and right after her 1st Saturn Return, to begin in the Summer of 2007 and to end in the Fall of 2010. Perhaps by then the rigors and stresses of living life in the fast and furious lane will have finally taken their toll, if not physically sure mentally, emotionally and possibly spiritually as well.

Hmm...

Salaam,
Mu