MuMin Bey AstroBlog

Mackenzie Phillips: FRAUD

2009-10-24T17:37:00.004-04:00

By now I’m sure you all have seen or at least heard of former child/teenstar actress Mackenzie Phillips’ account of drug addiction and more importantly, her multi-year incestuous relationship with her father, one of the founders of the 60s music group Mamas & Papas. Among the many places she’s hawking her book, have been Larry King andof course, Oprah.

Phillips asserts that she was first raped by her father after a night of boozing and taking drugs with him, and after that continued an ongoin sexual relationship for years until, as a married woman, she had reason to believe she was pregnant by him, and aborted the baby. According to her, this effectively ended their incestuous affair.

Of course, the big problem about all this, is that her father is not able to refute or even speak to any of this, as he’s DEAD, and curiously enough, only her younger sister seems to support her; all the other family members don’t or are standoffish on the matter.

So-could astrology give us some clues as to whether Phillips’ claims are indeed legit? Afterall, given that Oprah seems to have problems getting guests who’s stories are straight, and given that Phillips herself has had a long record of drug addiction (read, NOT the most reliable source of information), it makes sense to check in with the horoscope to see if it tallies with the party line.

According to Astro Databank, Mackenize Phillips was born on Nov 10 1959 9.35PM EST Alexandria VA; Placidus 26 Can 54.

Our eye is drawn immediately to two major areas of Phillips’ chart-the Cancer Asc, and the 4 house. In both cases, it is an indication that familial themes loom large in Phillips life one way or another, and upon further inspection we see that Neptune in 4 does indeed speak to Phillips’ "strange family ways"-for example, she was exposed to drugs, by her father, at a very early age. This Neptune placement, also reflects the artistic nature of the family; moreover, study has consistently shown that Neptune angular or in some other way prominent in the horoscope almost always correlates with those who windup working on stage or in movies, in music or in some other way the arts.

But does any of this speak to "incest"? From what I’ve seen over the years, I don’t think so, and here’s why: I have found that womn and youn girls who were sexually assaulted almost always tend to have Mars and Pluto very active in the chart, usually in terms of hard aspect, and often connected to the following houses: 1-7, 5-11, or 4-10. In Phillips’ case, we note that Mars is indeed the ruler of the 10 house (father) and in the 4 in Scorpio-however, it doesn’t make any aspect to Pluto, who just happens to be in he 2 house (money???). Pluto however, does aspect Phillips’ Mercury-Jupiter conjunction in Sagittarius in the 5 house, squaring both.

As any first year astrology student knows well, Mercury-Jupiter aspects are usually known for its tendency to over-exaggerate things. And here, with this conjunction in the 5 house (sex), we can see the possibility of Phillips stretching the truth or even outright making stuff up outta wholecloth, to SELL BOOKS. Why do I say that?

Well, aside from the aforementioned 2 house Pluto squaring the 5 house Mercury-Jupiter conjunction, we also note that Phillips’ Moon is in Aries and in the 9 house-and at the Aries Point to boot. This is a promoter like nobody’s business, and Phillips has been doing just that of late. The 9 house of course, represents publishing of all kinds, hence the appearance of her book, just in time for the recent transit of Pluto squaring this all-important position.

BUT, with transit Saturn about to head into Libra, and opposing her Arian Moon, some hard questioning (3 house) is sure to come, and indeed we’re starting to hear murmers already as to the veracity of Phillips’ statements.

So, as Saturn dips its toe into Libra for the rest of this year, and the early part of next year, and then return for good in the early fall of next year as well, it will be very, very interesting to see how Phillips holds up under the mounting pressure with regard to her allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Saturn and Pluto acting in tandem on a central point in the horoscope is usally not a very pleasant thing. And it doesn’t augur well for making money either.
Talk about reaping what you’ve sown...whew...

Mackenzie Phillips: FRAUD

You heard it here.

Salaam
Mu

Prediction On Violence In Chicago Fulfilled

2009-10-07T12:04:00.002-04:00

Last April, I wrote an article taking up the matter of rising violence in the City of Chicago, which appeared on this blog and other astrological venues of interest. The basis of my piece was the incorporation date of the Windy City, sourced by Wikipedia, and in the absence of accurate clocktime data, I used the astrologically customary noontime mark. That yielded an Asc of 4 degrees in Cancer.

Seeking to test the veracity of this Asc Sign, I then sought out other key times in Chicago's history where crime waves were prevelant, and found that in each instance, the Cancer Asc came through quite forcefully. Satisfied that my researches were indeed valid and working, I then wrote the following:

"Prediction: Chicago’s Crime Wave Escalates Over Next Two Years
With an established astro-pattern of crime and violence for Chicago, the short term future for the city does not look bright. Beginning in the Fall of 2009 we can expect the crime rate to rise, yet again in the Windy City, as transit Mars enters Cancer yet again, conjuncting the Chicago noontime Asc, at the same time that transit Pluto has been moving in and out of orb range in opposition to that same all-important Asc Sign and degree. SA Mars=MC Dec 2009, while transit Mars in Leo, slowing down to prepare to go Rx, squares Chicago’s Saturn.

Then, beginning in Jan of 2010 and continuing throughout the first half of the year, we note that transit Saturn will square, and transit Pluto will oppose, the Chicago Asc, while transit Mars, now Rx in Leo, moves to square the city’s Saturn and oppose the city’s Moon, in Jan and again in May of that year. The key period may very well be Apr-Jun 2010, when SA Pluto=Saturn comes into focus. The city administration will be stretched to its limits in its efforts to stem the tide of murder and mayhem on the Windy City’s streets."

'Nuff said, indeed.

However, what I didn't say in my original article, was that the source of the current problems in Chi-Town are easily seen in its chart...

In our astrology, the Moon and Saturn represents the parents - mom and dad, respectively. In the Chicago chart, we note that the Moon is in Aquarius - the eptiome of the "singlemom" - and is in tight square to Saturn (and applying to boot!), which is itself Rx, in Scorpio. And, as if to yet again validate the noontime mark chosen for this chart, note how Saturn is placed in the 5 house (kids, youth), while the Moon occupies the 8 house (death).

We astrologers know and understand very well, that whenever we see either the Lights, or in this case, Luna and Saturn, in hard aspect to each other, that the native's chances of experiencing strained relations between his/her parents are quite high. Furthermore, we also know, that when Saturn is Rx in the horoscope, the chances of the native experiencing the painful absence of his/her father in some major way, is quite high indeed.

All manner of sociological study have shown what happens when there are no fathers in the home - the kids left behind are almost always are significantly highly risk for all manner of social pathologies, including running afoul of the law, teenage pregnancy and promiscuity, and involvement in crime. Simply put, as Larry Elder says so well, more Dads, less crime.

Period.

As local and national authorities attempt to grapple with Chicago's crippling crimewave, it remains to be seen whether any of them are willing to skewer the Sacred Cows of Political Correctness and say that we need to restore Patriarchy back to its proper place in Society. Matriarchal-based families, by and large, dont work - not only that, they are often deadly, as recent events in Chi-Town have shown. How many more young people - particularly young Black Males - will we need to loose before we see that the PC Emperors have no clothes?

Salaam
Mu

Mu'Min Debates A "Feminist" Astrologer

2009-08-26T09:32:00.001-04:00

Mu’Min Debates A "Feminist" Astrologer

Readers of my humble missives know well that unlike far too many astrologers in our time, I like to deal with that which is actually relevant in our times, taking up themes and issues that are ripped right from the headlines, and are part of the cultural zeitgeist. One of them, has been the ever-increasing Feminization of our Craft, Astrology. I have written extensively on these matters, and have more to say in the coming weeks ahead; but for now, the following realtime dialogue, will serve as yet another prima facia example of that which I mean.

On Sun Aug 23 2009, at 12.53PM, I decided to write and send blog comments to one "Lucy", a self-styled feminist astrologer out of New York City, and who writes a blog, Lucy Watch The Sky, hosted by Wordpress. Her post, which I present in full on the recent George Sodini tragedy, prompted me to write a piece of my own on the affair. The following exchange between us clearly shows the serious lapses in thinking most feminist possess, and is becoming an increasingly large area of concern for astrology, since it harbors so many who adhere to its views.

I’ll post up the astrological representation of the "debate" in due course; for now though, as you read the exchange, ask yourself why you’re hardpressed to ever see any feminist of any reknown, ever going head to head with a William H. Buckley type (who was a man after my own hear - a Sag)? Well, now you know the answer.

Lucy’s post about Sodini himself will appear in my Sodini thread.

Comment and reply, as always, invited!

Salaam
Mu

LUCY, SELF STYLED FEMINIST ASTROLOGER: Hi ……,

Thanks for visiting and for your comments. I definitely appreciate your perspective, and your analysis on Sodini’s chart, especially the consideration of the outer planets. It’s true that expectations for what each gender desires in a partner have radically changed, in that working women don’t necessarily require a traditional “provider” anymore, which is probably very different from what Sodini’s generation grew up with. Indeed, since the family model is often a subconscious guide to what we want in a partner, it’s probably additionally confusing for people of his generation still seeking relationships. Not only is the traditional patriarchal model not really the norm anymore, but the current economy just does not support it.

What I take issue with is 1) the assumption that feminism is not concerned with the male perspective, and further, your seeming perplexity as to why most female astrologers would be understandably rattled by such a cold-blooded and specific tragedy and 2) the fact that you, like many men blogging on the subject, seem to view this as a further sign of how WOMEN AT LARGE need to modify their behavior to better accommodate men.

I’m shocked that you buy into this whole “nice guy/bad boy” fallacy. I want to point you to two brilliant articles on this exact subject as it relates to Sodini. Basically, he was not really a “nice guy.” He was someone who was seriously disturbed, and who was perfect bait for these R. Don Steele types who pitch the snake oil that men are entitled to anything and anyone they want, and if they’re not getting it, it’s the fault of women as a whole. Furthermore, twelve women who had nothing to do with Sodini suffered as a result of his sense of entitlement. No one knows if those women preferred “bad boys” or “playas.” It doesn’t matter. Some of them are dead now.

I am terrified that you really believe there will be more “rage killings” like this one. (Personally, I don’t think the term “hate crime” is that far off the mark.) And if they continue to happen such as this one did (that is, innocent women being gunned down in a public place by a lunatic), that will say even less about how Women As A Whole (you know, because we all regularly convene and plot how we’re going to continue to mess with men’s heads) need to modify their choices. What it really ought to address is this exact kind of entitlement shown pretty exclusively by men, and how one man’s personal rejection does not justify globalized venom towards all women, just as much as one woman’s violent experience of men (such as the one I had) does not necessarily justify globalized hatred towards all men.

From what I read on your blog, particularly your analysis of “alpha,” “beta,” and “omega” men, I would imagine that you buy into evolutionary psychology, which I personally think is fundamentally flawed because, in addition to being based on extremely ethnocentric and sexist assumptions, it implies in not so many words that people will never really change. I find those kind of absolute statements about gender to be limiting as far as psychological growth goes. It also makes me wonder- to really, intellectually excuse someone like Sodini and mean it, which one do you believe you are?

by lucywatchthesky August 23, 2009 at 5:28 pm

MU’MIN BEY: Hi Lucy,
Yes, I’m quite familiar w/both the Salon piece and the Alas, A Blog post, which also dealt w/an alternative perspective from another blog that I read from time to time, and to which I might refer you: Roissy in DC has taken up the Sodini issue and offers a compelling analysis that, no surprise, raised a rather violent reaction from corners familiar to you. You might want to checkout what he and other commenters have to say about Sodini. Its worth a read.

As for evo-psych, for my money it makes far and away more sense than the grave misnomer known as “evolutionary astrology” which you might be familiar with and may even be cool with. If so, what a case of the pot calling the kettle black that would be.

Finally, let’s be clear. I did not excuse Sodini’s actions, indeed I went out of my way to speak to this. And as for what I said about what Women Really Want, only a grossly naive or perniciously disengenuous individual would attempt to explain away what we all can easily see w/our own eyes. History is replete with the simple fact that rakes, cads and badboys get far and away more Women than meek, mild guys like Sodini, presumed mental illnesses or not. To even have to entertain such a discussion among obstensible adults, is kind of laughable on its face, really.

Lastly-in no way do I wish Women to have to change anything about themselves. I don’t want them to do anything they don’t want to do, etc. All I’m saying is that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, that even minute changes to the social-ecosystem can radically alter the way human beings do business, and that we all, Men and Women alike, would do well to think about this moving forward.

I think it’s very unfair of you to give Steele short shrift. Though I’m not particularly familiar with him, I applaud him and other Men who in their own way, have attempted to help Men like Sodini-who are legion, make no mistake about it-in a make or break area of their lives. For all the talk of compassion in other things, even animals, some of whom can be dangerous to human beings, just a bit of compassion for the plight of Men like Sodini from us astrologers would be a nice thing to see.

August 24, 2009 at 8:21 am

MU: Oh, and I meant to speak bout your assertion that I do not think feminism isn’t concerned w/Men, etc. Well-for the most part, they aren’t, lol. Nor am I saying that they should be. I’m only pointing out a fact-that astrology has within its ranks, a heck of a lot more folk like you, than of me, and its up to folk like me to raise up. And so, in my own small way, I do.

August 24, 2009 at 8:37 am

MU: Lucy,
I thought you might find this interesting. Sueng-Hui Cho, who killed more than 30 people and wounded upwards of 50 before commiting suicide, was born on Jan 18 1984 in Seoul, South Korea. No birthtime, but we see some similarities btw his chart and Sodini’s:

First, note that both Men had Mars in Water Signs. Second, both have their Mars in aspect to both Neptune and Pluto, the latter being very important, because of the fact that it forms a formidable Sexual Aspect-and because Pluto disposes of key planets in Scorpio. In Sodini’s case, Venus and Neptune are in Scorpio; in Cho’s, Mars, Saturn and Pluto are in Scorpio.

We see in Sodini’s case that the Sun is square a Mars-Saturn axis, a clear indication for the potential for violence. In Cho’s case, we note that while not technically in conjunction, we can see that Saturn being in the same Sign as his Mars and Pluto play a powerful role in explaining his frustration sexually.

As we both know, Scorpio is among the most powerful sexually-inclined Signs. Had both these Men had help-and Sodini was closer to that help than Cho-things might have turned out differently. A lil Nookie goes a long way toward soothing the savage beast.

Think on it.

August 24, 2009 at 8:47 am

L: You know, I have to say- I was listening with full attention until this: “Had both these Men had help-and Sodini was closer to that help than Cho-things might have turned out differently. A lil Nookie goes a long way toward soothing the savage beast.”

What a nauseating thing to say. Really. You write that you don’t think women need to modify their behavior, but a statement like this implies that Sodini and Cho (and all men, really) are ENTITLED to sex, and if only some women had put out, this could have been avoided. No individual is entitled to sex, regardless of gender, nor is it women’s responsibility to be sexually available, for any reason, but especially not to be vessels for seriously mentally disturbed men’s aggression. I’m not at all surprised that you read Roissy in D.C., which I have no desire to revisit. He and R. Don Steele and countless others only think they are helping men, but in fact they are worsening the problem. They are driving men and women further apart by convincing vulnerable men that women are less than their inferiors, that they’re pure commodity.

I do have compassion for Sodini; clearly he was mentally ill. But I’m also not going to excuse that his killing spree was deliberately planned to target women, and the fact that he did, in the truest sense of the word, hate women. Because I have met men like him before, and when something like this happens, it reminds you that you really can never know how deep someone’s hatred goes, and what kind of things they might do if in their megalomaniacal minds they believe they have had enough. As a woman, it worries me. And just like Kate Harding wrote in her Salon piece, I will not concede that he was “really a nice guy,” because he WAS NOT. There WAS something wrong with him. Same with Cho. Same with more guys than I even have room to list that I’ve personally dealt with. And that’s exactly the problem- no one is telling these guys that there is something wrong with them, which would solve far more of their difficulties than trying to make them into Pick-Up Artists.

by lucywatchthesky August 24, 2009 at 10:24 am

MU: Lucy,
Just got finished reading Kanazawa’s piece, and while you made it clear you disagreed with him, you didn’t layout specifically WHY. I would like for you to do so, we can have a more informed discussion on the matter, as I’ve found Kanazawa’s work to be an interesting read.

As for Sodini, again, I am not excusing what he, or Cho, did. But let’s be frank. Please name me a Sodini or Cho-like figure, say, 40 years ago? And no, Charlie Manson wouldn’t cut it, because he had far and away more access, sexually and otherwise, than either of these men did.

The truth of the matter is that there have ALWAYS been guys running around w/a screw or two loose, Lucy. What is different in our time, are guys like Cho and Sodini who decide to take their pain out on those whom they believe are their tormentors-women. I don’t agree w/them, but that doesn’t change the fact that, as I’ve said before, times have changed, and with it, both the good and bad.

And finally, if I may-if you have such a long list of men in your life that you can instantly recall off the top of your head that are in your view psychotic, perhaps they aren’t the only ones who need to be told about themselves.

Please don’t hate on the PUAs or Game; they’re doing a serious Public Service.

August 24, 2009 at 1:03 pm

L: Thanks very much- you’re banned.

Your sexism is disgusting, and personally attacking me is uncalled for.

Get out of my blog.
…………………………………………

*Back To Mu*

As we can see, such tactics are commonly employed by feminists, with the ultimate trump ca(na)rd being banning - and censoring (which is preceeded by all manner of shaming tactics, namecalling and goalpost shifting-again, common amongst the feminist ilk). Lucy, greate advocate of Free Speech that she is, has since "erased" our exchange. But, being the all wise, all knowing guy that I am, I had the foresight to save the record, knowing what to expect from such types.

My friends, make no mistake - Uranus in Pisces has been a horrible time for our Astrology - and its Feminization has brought it to an all time low. When we can see folk like Lucy out there, saying the kinds of stuff you see here and on her blog, it makes one wonder how astrology ever dug itself out of the Dark Ages to begin with.

Come on, Uranus in Aries!

Salaam
Mu

A Few Thoughts On George Sodini

2009-08-26T09:25:00.003-04:00

A Few Thoughts On George Sodini

Sunday Aug 23 2009

Earlier this month, George Sodini, a suburban Pittsburgh PA native, walked into a local gym and proceeded to shootup the place, kiling three outright and wounding nearly a dozen others, before turning the guns on himself. His grisly acts of violence immediately hit the news.

I’ve been a bit busy of late tending to other business, but closely followed the blogosphere in the days and weeks to follow, and no surprise, the usual suspects were quick to condemn and vilify.

But this time said usual suspects were met w/a clear, present and growing voice coming from the Male side of the Internet, who makes a very convincing case that Sodini’s travails, and ultimate demise, requires just a bit more examination than he’s currently getting.However, sad to say I might add, the astrolosphere, if I may call it such, is still woefully behind-packed to the gills w/practitioners who are female and thus have little understanding or real interest in life from a male point of view, much of their offerings on the affair are little more than mere astrological sprinkles on warmed over feminist boilerplate; one astrologer even includes the word “misogyny” in her subject title on Sodini.

Sigh. What else is new.

Readers here at Sasstology (I'll have more to say about *them* very soon) and elsewhere know and understand well that my key interest is in assisting Today’s Man on the astrological path and, when the spirit moves, to astrologically opine on the state of our times from an unabashedly male point of view. So, on this lazy afternoon-after respects to the deceased have been paid and laid to rest, and after all the sound and fury from the usual suspects, astrological and otherwise, have had their say and have died down-I thought now would be a good time to offer some thoughts on the very sad life of George Sodini.

According to various sources online, Sodini was born on Sep 30 1960, no birthime as yet known, and presumably in or around Pittsburgh PA. Several astrologers have noted his Lights being in Air Signs (Sun in Libra, Moon in Aquarius), his Venus-Neptune conjunction in Scorpio, and the t-square involving his Sun, Mars and Saturn (among other things), and have rightly noted the inherent challenges indicated therein with regard to these astrological configurations.But what I noted w/keen interest, was the utter lack of commentary on the role the Outer Planets played, not only on Sodini’s life, but for us all. We astrologers know well that the Outer Planets-Uranus, Neptune and Pluto-have tremendous importance, because they represent not only the Modern Era for Humanity, but also the ways in which our world will continue to change. One of the biggest ways it has changed, has been respect to Dating and Mating.

Of particular note here is Neptune, on Sodini’s birthdate, at about 8 Scorpio; as mentioned above, its conjunct Venus and, at 6AM (the time I use for setting Solarscopes), is also square the Moon. Astrologers have noted the “personal” implications for these aspects, and they are largely accurate-often it can speak to unrealistic or even irrational ideas or notions concerning Women-but it can also represent being deeply disappointed, “letdown” by Women as well.

Clearly, this too was the case wrt Sodini, per his very lucidly written blog, since taken down, but can still be seen in excerpts thanks to the efforts of various bloggers online to save them. They are easily Googled.Neptune represents the “dream” or ideals that a society aspires toward, which can often incorporate spiritual/religious themes as well. In a modern, democratic society, it represents the idea or belief, that said system can work for anyone, if they apply themselves.

However, in Sodini’s case, we see that Neptune’s aspects to the two foremost “female” planets we have in astrology-the Moon and Venus-that he felt betrayed, or letdown in love.And because an Outer Planet is involved here, and is seen making a prominent appearance at the moment of the shootings themselves, rising in the Aquarian Asc and square the MC, it gives us astrologers cause to consider in what way Neptune, and quite possibly the remaining Outers, have played a big role here.The simple truth is, that the dating and mating landscape has greatly changed. A Man like Sodini-law-abiding (up until the shootings), successful (net worth of 250K at the time of his death), and very well gainfully employed as in a law firm-simply doesn’t have the kind of cache’ he once did even a quarter of a century ago. The idea that being on the straight and narrow, “nice” and so on, is becoming more and more, something that is not only no longer relevant, but something that is actively eschewed by Women enmasse, because Women in our time no longer need to temper their mating choices due to financial considerations, since they are fully self-supporting, and since social censure is at an all-time minimum. In short, this means that Women can choose mates on criteria that they really want-and the evidence is in-often those “wants” are NOT what Sodini, and so many Men, were taught all their lives.

If we consider Sodini’s birthdate from the point of view that it represents a “bigger” chart than merely his natal, and instead gives commentary on the state of Women in our time, this makes sense, both on the macro level, and as well on Sodini’s “micro” level. Again, we’ve noted how Neptune is conjunct Venus, both in Scorpio. Keen astrology students know well, that Venus isn’t at its best in Scorpio; techinically, its what is known as being in its Detriment. It suggests that Venus is kinda “brought low” in some way or another-in this case, that it will tend to be attracted to the rakes, badboys and ne’er do wells that Sodini, and millions of other American Men were drilled not to be like. The Neptune part of this then, represents the “rude awakening” Sodini got, and again he explains very clearly on his blog, with regard to Women and what they really want.Also, consider that Sodini’s Moon is in Aquarius-which is very, very interesting when we note that this same Moon Sign shows itself again on the night he went on his shooting spree, and, matching the same Moon Sign as that found in the chart for the United States(!)-a very powerful commentary, astrologically speaking, about the very changed world in which we live along these lines, especially for Women.

Since we’re on the national level in this discussion, it is also interesting to note that, in the American horoscope, we see that its Moon, at 27 Aquarius, is getting “primed” by transiting Neptune’s imminent conjunction, to come very soon. In the 3rd house, we can expect to hear more and more about American Women being “letdown” in someway with regard to their lovelives-and of course, blaming Men for it. Not ever considering the role they themselves might have played in the way things are, right now.

This is the lesson of Neptune, both collectively and individually-to have an ideal, live up to it, but not to deify it, and when human beings fall short, not to grow embittered, blame others or in some other way, rationalize their failures on someone else. For all his pain and real insights shared on his blog, in the end, Sodini’s actions are his own, and he must be held accountable-not his mother, not his brother or father, not even the Women who spurned him, real or imagined.That said, American Women must now understand, that in all things, there not only must be tradeoffs, but there also must be accountability-the badboy, the cad, and the playa may indeed be “hotter” and just not “boring” than the Sodini types (again-good looking, gainfully employed for years, and considerable net assets), but these kinds of Men come at a price.

Postmodern, postfeminist America has afforded you the chance to choose who you really want-but all choices carry with them, consequences. Some good, others, not so good. One of them, will be the occasional “flipping out” of the Sodinis, Chos, and others of the world, who after being shown the truth for themselves, can’t or won’t handle it, and decide to go make right via violent means. With transiting Uranus and Pluto due to square each other very soon, I suspect we’ll see quite a few more “rage killings” centered on the very themes of this post. It will be the “tax” Women in our time will have to pay, because clearly, they don’t want to “go back”, nor do I think they should. Instead of merely condemning the Damned, they instead might want to consider what their New Grrl Order will really look like.

Comment and reply, invited.

Holla back

Salaam
Mu

Ryan Jenkins: The Flipside Of George Sodini

2009-08-26T09:20:00.001-04:00

Ryan Jenkins: The Flipside Of George Sodini

Tue Aug 25 2009 8.40AM EDT

With the ink barely dry on Sunday’s missive with regard to George Sodini, new details have emerged in what now appears to be a murder-suicide case of former “reality tv” contestants Jasmine Fiore and her hubbie, Ryan Jenkins. Their case is a powerful study into astrology and the vastly changed nature of our times, themes already raised in my previous Sodini piece.
But, before we get to the astrology, please allow me to share with you some razor sharp insights from one of my personal favorite minds-blogger Ferdinand Bardamu, of In Mala Fide, writes the following about the Fiore-Jenkins affair; notice the clear linkages to my thoughts on Sodini:

“Jasmine Fiore and the feminist blood tithe

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Ferdinand Bardamu

I was going to post on this yesterday (hat tip: Lawrence Auster ), but I got sidetracked with outside concerns. We have another Scott Peterson on our hands :

Authorities were able to identify a slain swimsuit model’s body through her breast implants, after her former reality-star ex-hubby allegedly chopped off her fingers and knocked out her teeth to slow down investigators, it was reported yesterday.

Once cops were able to identify Jasmine Fiore’s body after finding it stuffed in a trash bin in a Los Angeles suburb, they immediately focused on her wealthy ex-husband, Ryan Jenkins, who had reported her missing and then disappeared.

Jenkins and Fiore, 28, were briefly married in a quickie Las Vegas wedding this year — months after he appeared on the low-rent VH1 reality program “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” about a woman seeking a wealthy bachelor.

Also via View from the Right , it was reported that Ryan Jenkins killed himself yesterday :
In what seems to be the final macabre twist to the bizarre and brutal murder case of Los Angeles model Jasmine Fiore, her fugitive husband, Ryan Jenkins, has been found hanged. Jenkins’ body was discovered in a Hope, British Columbia motel room, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The L.A. Times reports that U.S. authorities had traced the former reality TV show contestant’s escape into Canada via a speedboat.

Here’s a picture of the couple in happier times:

We know all about the sexual dystopia’s effects on beta males, but what about the other side of the coin? To quote Whiskey :

For women, and particularly younger women, something has been lost. Good judgment about men, including the natural trade-off between intelligence and testosterone. It’s true, that there is a correlation between higher IQ and lower levels of testosterone and aggression. Making smarter men who are less aggressive less sexually and romantically desireable for women. But women far too often, in our politically correct society, overestimate their ability to exert control over men with high levels of testosterone and aggression. Writer “Theodore Dalrymple” (his pen name) in “Life at the Bottom” recounts a conversation with one of his patients, in the hospital in London where he worked. A girl of 17, who had her arm broken by her boyfriend. He questioned her, and she admitted she knew the boyfriend was violent and prone to abuse when she started dating him. That was the attraction, the danger, and the excitement. Dalrymple’s question was what if that aggression was turned on herself? Her response was that she could look after herself. Dalrymple’s reply that men are stronger than women (as her broken arm indicated) produced the retort that such words were “sexist.”

This pattern persisted even with Dalrymple’s educated, professional nurses. Who chose men who abused them, even at work. They confessed to Dalrymple that they knew the men were violent, they could see it at a glance from the scars from fighting, the tattoos proclaiming a love of violence, and their behavior, dress, and friends. Still they chose them, because ordinary, decent men were in their words, “boring.”

With economic emanicipation, women are free to chase men who make their p*ss*es wet. The problem is that a disproportionate number of these men are inclined to violent and sociopathic behavior. For men like Ryan Jenkins, killing a woman and stuffing her mutilated corpse into a garbage bin is as second-nature as inhaling and exhaling. Because their thought processes are dominated by their crotches, women wander into relationships with these men without consideration of the consequences. The exact same qualities that make these men attractive to women is what makes them capable of abusing and murdering them. An additional part of women’s attraction to these brutes is the delusional belief that they can change them, that their vaginas have the magic power to turn a sociopath into a normal human being. When you tangle with a rattlesnake, you risk getting bit. Jasmine Fiore wandered into the rattlesnake’s lair, and it cost her her life.

Some of you are probably thinking, “how DARE you blame the victim? No woman deserves to be murdered by her husband!” Please, take your thought-terminating cliches and shove them where the cheese is cut. It’s this “don’t blame the victim” bullsh*t that resulted in Fiore’s death.

Every other month, there’s a story in the news about a young woman getting killed, and the unmentionable thread connecting all of these stories is that every single one of these girls engaged in behavior that lead directly to their deaths. Natalee Holloway died because she climbed in the back of a car with three strange men. Imette St. Guillen died because she was wandering around New York City drunk at five in the morning. Jasmine Fiore died because she married a psycho because he got her hot and dripping. None of these women deserved to die, but none of them would have died had they exercised proper judgment instead of letting their genitalia lead them around. Shouting “DON’T BLAME THE VICTIM!” allows people to avoid any introspection about why these killings happen, and as far as I’m concerned, anyone who uses that phrase is an apologist for evil.

The media labels these murders “tragedies,” which is an insulting misuse of the word. The true tragedy is the dystopian configuration of society that makes these murders happen. Per Spengler’s Universal Law of Gender Parity , the counterpart of the angry, sexually frustrated beta male rage shooter is the ignorant, clit-led young lady killed at the hands of her abusive lover. Both George Sodini and Jasmine Fiore are products of the same sick system – the system that deprives beta males of romantic companionship also fails to educate young women as to why they shouldn’t follow their loins into the arms of dangerous men like Ryan Jenkins.

Much like there will be more Sodinis in the future, there will be more Fiores. Akin to how the Aztecs demanded daily human sacrifices to appease their cruel gods, women like Jasmine Fiore are sacrifices to the false idol of sexual egalitarianism. And when the next girl dies, the chattering classes will wring their hands about how horrible it is, not stopping to consider the social structures that result in these women being fed to the meat grinder. Men like myself are misogynists according to the feminists, yet they adhere to an ideology that has killed and will continue to kill countless women. Who are the true misogynists?

If Jenkins had lived long enough to be tried and convicted, I would have bet a wheelbarrow of Canadian loonies that within an hour of being jailed, he would’ve been besieged with dozens of calls from women begging him to marry them. Poor things. They know not what they do.”

Indeed, brother. Indeed.

OK-now for the astrology.

Ladies first…

Jasmine Fiore Feb 18 1981 Orange County CA, no time as yet known, Wikipedia.

Yes, she’s an Aquarian w/the Moon in what appears to beLeo, which definitely fits, given her chosen profession (drama, acting, modelling, “being on stage”, etc.), and in possible opposition to her Venus in Aquarius, again highlighting her chosen career interests. If indeed she was born with these “shiny” planets in aspect to each other, it then brings to bear the potential for self-indulgence and even narcissicism, and a desire to live the good life-she did meet and marry her husband as the result of a reality tv show that focused on “catching” a millionaire, afterall.

And now, its Jenkins’ turn:

Feb 8 1977 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, no time known, Wikipedia.

Yes, they’re both Water Bearers, and while some may think that couples born under the same Sign is cute, I’ve found that it isn’t a good idea if a couple hooks up that have too many planets in the same Signs. It becomes a case of what I call “planetary overload” a kind of “celestial inbreeding” that isn’t good for the Zodiacal gene pool, if you will. I’ve found the best combos tend to be opposites, because they then compliment each other. But I digress.

Going back to Ryan’s chart, several key features leap right out at us. First, note that his Moon, as of 6AM on his birthdate, is about 16 Libra, a mere two degrees away from exact conjunction with Pluto. This is a strong signal that Ryan may have deepseated power struggle stuff going on with the female figures in his life-and indeed, we’ve already learned, that not only did he have such struggles, literally, with Fiore, but that he had them in the past up in Canada as well.

The second standout feature in Ryan’s chart is again, his Venus placement-like Sodini’s, notice that its in Detriment, this time in Aries. This again suggests that Venus is “brought low” somehow, either directly via the native himself, and/or via the women he chooses to surround himself with. I think in Ryan’s case, we can safely say that it was a bit of both-he clearly was attracted to “hot babes” who had all the outer pomp and flash, but not a heck of a lot else going for them. Moreover, as Venus is the dispositor of his all-but certain Moon-Pluto conjunction in Libra, we can say that Ryan himself used this very same Venus to present himself as silver-tongued devil, a, as one of the reality shows called him, “Smooth Operator”. Which brings us to the third most important feature of his Solarscope…

Neptune. Notice how its in aspect to BOTH his Lights-sextile both the Sun and Moon. Whenever an Outer planet comes into contact with both Lights, the native often is kind of a living embodiment of said planet, for better or worse-even Jenkins’ “final act” was Neptunian-he commited suicide. In this case, Neptune played itself out as the classic “other than what it seems” vibe. With Neptune plugged into the heart and soul of Ryan’s chart, along w/a runaway Venus and a Libran Moon, he was Smoothness Personified…until the inner demons were unleashed, as they invariably are, when the prospect of an LTR rears its head.

Before I go back to Jasmine’s chart in light of my “guest’s” comments, I’d like to briefly compare and contrast Ryan’s chart to that of Sodini’s, whom I wrote about the other day. When I first looked at Ryan’s chart, the first thing that came to mind was Bizarro, Superman’s mirror-image and one of his toughest enemies. In many ways, Ryan is the “Bizarro” mirror-image of Sodini.

Let’s count the ways:

Both have Venus in Detriment-Sodini in Scorpio, Jenkins in Aries

Both have Neptune in aspect to the Moon-Sodini, Neptune square the Moon, Jenkins Neptune sextile the Moon

Both have a highlighted Mars-Sodini’s Mars is in Fall (Cancer), while Jenkins’ Mars is Exalted (Capricorn)

And finally, if you haven’t noticed already, their Sun-Moon placements are the opposite from each other-Sodini’s a Libran Sun w/the Moon in Aquarius; Jenkins is an Aquarian Sun w/the Moon in Libra.

Clearly, we can see where Jenkins excelled over Sodini-the Venus and Mars placements in his chart versus Sodini’s says it all. Jenkins exuded a kind of masculine charm that Sodini desperately tried to acquire via self-help Game-style seminars and books. Jenkins had naturally what Sodini did not. Venus in Aries/Mars in Capricorn, meet Venus in Scorpio/Mars in Cancer. Among other things.

And yet, both men ended up killing women. We’ve already examined the “why” in Sodini’s case-now let’s consider the “why” in Jenkins’.

As our guest blogger Ferdinand Bardamu suggests above, the vastly changed social environment is such that young women in our time no longer have to consider other qualities in a man, for the simple reason that they are now fully self-supporting; in addition, the Pill, Abortion on Demand, and muscular legal protections, from the workplace to the bedroom, have all worked to free up a woman’s sexual choices to the maximum-the sky’s the limit. Under this rubric then, only one real factor remains: what some have referred to as “Gina Tingle”.

If we go back to Jasmine’s Solarscope, we note that Mars is in Pisces, a usually benign Sign, and for Mars a “diffusing” of its more wayward energies. However, the keen astrological eye notices something-Mars makes no standard aspect to any other planet. When such an occurance is noted, the planet is said to be “Peregrine”, per astrologer Noel Tyl’s research; said planet is akin to a bucking bronco in a corral, a live wire, the lone guy shouting to the top of his voice on the other side of the room from all the other folks in attendance. Such a planet will greatly “color” the life of the native in nearly everyway-for example, we already know that Fiore was planning to open a gym, and her body was discovered mutilated. Two very Martian “themes”.

And, as Mars represents men, literally, in a female chart, its condition must be carefully considered. In Fiore’s case, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she went for guys who had a certan charm but their “beastly” ways were lurking just beneath the surface. It makes for steamy romance novel reading, but living w/a “beast” day to day can get a bit old to say the least-if not out and out life threatening. Without any restraints to keep things in check, such guys can really be dangerous-as Bardamu points out above, and as, unfortunately, Fiore found out, first hand. Finally, note how her Mars in Pisces comports so well to Jenkins’ Neptunian persona. Deep.

A final word on someting I raised in my piece on Sodini, and that’s the role that the Outer Planets-Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, play with regard to our ever-changing world. Each was discovered at a crucial time of development, particularly in the Western world, and represents concepts and ideas that weren’t around, or if they were, weren’t fully developed prior to said planet’s discovery. For example, democratic ideas did exist prior to Uranus’ discovery, but it took full shape after it was sighted. Currency exchanges and economic models existed before the discovery of Pluto, but these systems really got a “boost” after 1930.

In the case we’re examining, the greatly changed dating/mating sphere, badboys never went lacking for female company-but in the modern era, as Bardamu rightly notes above, they are now swimming in “vaj”. Why?

The answer to that question lies in a celestial event that occurs every few centuries or so, the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto. Its last “hookup” was back in 1966 or so, in the Sign of Virgo, the Virgin. And what immediately happened after this conjunction?

Yup, that’s right, you guessed it, The Pill was born. Scientifically proven, medically safe, and highly reliable birth control was now available for women everywhere-and the best part? It didn’t have to rely on men to use it.

This “seed” conjunction then followed through the mundane transits of Uranus, then Pluto, into Libra in the late 60s and early 70s, when the landmark Roe v Wade decision came down. Now women countrywide, had access to an abortion whenever she wanted it, and again, without the consent or even knowledge, of her lover-even if it was her husband. The “right to choose” was hers, and hers alone.

Then, in 1993, “The Year of The Woman” happened-more women were elected to key positions in the US govt at all levels, than ever before in American history, and with it, corresponding advances in the social, work and legal spheres. This occured as Uranus and Neptune were in conjunction in Capricorn, the “patriarchy” itself, and while Mars, planet of men and males, was at its lowest ebb in Cancer, AND Retrograde. This was a dramatic and heady time for women, particularly the young, while for men and boys, the results were devasting (the “slacker”, Grunge Rock like Nirvana/Kurt Cobain and Pearljam/Eddie Vedder were born, among a great many things). In so many ways, Women’s Lib was embodied in America’s first Metrosexual President, Bill Clinton (who himself, had a long history of being the very cad and rake feminists professed to rail against; more on him and another famous cad feminists just can’t get enough of, in due course; stay tuned…), who pandered to women to such an extent that they swooned whenever he walked into a room.

The keen astrological reader will note that in the aforementioned epic conjunctions cited, Earth Signs were prominent. And with the involvement of Uranus each time, a “disruption” was in play. Earth represents structures, the ideas and concepts that undergirds a society, its traditions and mores. Here, we can clearly see the breaking down of said traditions, mores, values, with regard to contemporary American life, and its direct impact on dating and mating.Which brings us to the present, where women like Jasmine Fiore, are free to reject George Sodini and instead pick Ryan Jenkins. Sure, wag your finger if you must, be keep in mind one thing-in Nature, the male displays, and the female chooses.

And choices, always have consequences.

Comment and reply, invited.

Holla back

Salaam
Mu

Steve Sailer's New Book On Barack Obama An Interesting Case Study For Astrologers

2008-11-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

Steve Sailer's New Book On Barack Obama An Interesting Case Study For Astrologers
mumin_bey@yahoo.com, isteve.blogspot.com

With only a day or so to go before the big elections, online blogger and journalist Steve Sailer has come out with a book on Obama. Based on Obama’s own Dreams Of My Father: A Story Of Race and Inheritance, Sailer gives a guided tour of Obama’s inner landscape in his own words, borrowing large tracts of Obama’s first book, written when he was just 33 years old.

Astrologers are greatly helped when they can get access to such biographical works. Sailer has done a good job of breaking down an otherwise arduous read in the over 400 page journey that is Obama’s "Dreams".

The "official" data for Obama is Aug 4 1961 Honolulu HI with a clocktime set for 7.26PM ASHT. This gives an Asc of 18 Aqr 42, and an early Gemini Moon in the 4 house, at 3 degrees, 23 minutes. I’ve always been very skeptical of this birthtime option, and have chosen to stick with my trial rectification time of 3AM ASHT, giving an Asc of 29 Gem 49 and a Taurus Moon at 24 degrees, 37 minutes.

In this option, the Moon squares Uranus, ruler of the 9 house; in the "official" version, the Moon squares Pluto, ruler of the 9. Both chart options speak undeniably to Obama’s racial focus and obsessions. In the "official" account, Aquarius on the Asc and a Gemini Moon account in large part for it, both being Signs that are caught up with racial and interracial themes; in my own test chart, Gemini on the Asc, and the Moon square Uranus ruling the 9, again speaks to the same themes (plus the Gemini Asc, representing the point of entry into the world, the identity and literally, the body of a person, is as about "biracial" as it can get!).

In the "official" version, we have to note that Uranus is angular, in the 7 house, and ruling the Asc. In either chart option, the Leo Sun squares Neptune in Scorpio. Nuff said, insofar as astrologers are concerned. Sailer, for his part, is no stranger to controversey. Eversince his brush with death in a fight with cancer in the 1990s, he turned his attention to his true loves, writing about, among other things, Race. His efforts would gain him scorn in some quarters and acclaim in others, such is the way of anyone born under the Sign of the Archer (Dec 20 1958, Los Angeles CA).

What follows below is an introduction to Sailer’s book. Comment and reply, including any astrological commentary, invited!

Salaam
Mu

The Introduction to my book: "America’s Half-Blood Prince: Barack Obama’s Story of Race and Inheritance" We’ve posted online my entire 264 page book, America’s Half-Blood Prince: Barack Obama’s Story of Race and Inheritance. You’ll be able soon to order a paperback copy for $29.95, but in the meantime, you can start reading it online here:http://www.vdare.com/half-blood_prince/To give you a taste, here’s the first chapter. (The killer chapter, though, is the second, which tells why Obama’s mother indoctrinated him in the dreams from his father.)

1. Introduction
I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them. Which perhaps indicates a second, more intimate theme to this book–namely, how I, or anybody in public office, can avoid the pitfalls of fame, the hunger to please, the fear of loss, and thereby retain that kernel of truth, that singular voice within each of us that reminds us of our deepest commitments.

Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope, 2006
The fundamental irony of Sen. Barack Obama’s Presidential candidacy is that no nominee in living memory has been so misunderstood by the press and public, and yet no other candidate has ever written so intimately or eloquently (or, to be frank, endlessly) about his “deepest commitments.”While journalists have swarmed to Alaska with admirable alacrity to ferret out every detail of Sarah Palin‘s energetic life, the media have drawn a curtain of admiring incomprehension in front of Obama’s own exquisitely written autobiography, Dreams from My Father. Because few have taken the trouble to appreciate Obama on his own terms, the politician functions as our national blank slate upon which we sketch out our social fantasies.Although many have supported Obama in 2008 because he seems to them better than the alternatives, he has also famously electrified throngs of voters. Yet, the reasons for their enthusiasm are often contradictory.For example, many Americans, whether for Obama, McCain, or None of the Above, appreciate the patriotic, anti-racialist sentiment in the most famous sentence of Obama’s keynote address to the 2004 Democratic Convention: “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America.”

Yet, Obama’s white enthusiasts are often excited by the candidate’s race, and for diverse motivations. More than a few white people, for instance, wish to demonstrate their moral and cultural superiority over more backward members of their own race. As Christian Lander’s popular website Stuff White People Like acerbically documents, white people strive endlessly for prestige relative to other whites, scanning constantly for methods to claw their way to the top of the heap. In this status struggle, nonwhites seldom register on white people’s radar screens as rivals. Instead, white people see minorities more as useful props in the eternal scuffle to gain the upper hand over other whites. High on Lander’s list of stuff white people like is:8 Barack ObamaBecause white people are afraid that if they don’t like him that they will be called racist.As one of Hillary Clinton’s advisers explained to The Guardian:If you have a social need, you’re with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you’re young and you have no social needs, then he’s cool.

Other white Obama devotees have very different rationales in mind. Some are eager to put white guilt behind them, assuming that Obama’s election will prove there is no more need for affirmative action. Stuart Taylor Jr. exulted in The Atlantic in an article called “The Great Black-White Hope:”

The ascent of Obama is the best hope for focusing the attention of black Americans on the opportunities that await them instead of on the oppression of their ancestors.

And some white Obamaniacs wish to enthrone the princely Obama to serve as a more suitable exemplar for young African-Americans than the gangsta rappers they presently idolize. (Don’t be so black. Act more Ba-rack!) Jonathan Alter rhapsodized in Newsweek:[Obama’s] most exciting potential for moral leadership could be in the African-American community.

Remember the 1998 movie Bulworth, where Warren Beatty … tells astonished black Democrats that it’s time for them to “put down the chicken and the malt liquor…”That the candidate is black offers the country a potential advantage: it makes his intellectual facility and verbal adeptness more acceptable to the bulk of voters, many of whom found Al Gore and his 1355 SAT score too inhumanly cerebral to trust. If Obama, a superb prose stylist, were white, he’d be written off as an effete intellectual. But white voters are hungry for a well-educated role model for blacks. And blacks hope that his wife Michelle and his long membership in Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.’s Trinity United Church of Christ are evidence that he is, as Michelle says, keeping it real.

Whatever their reasons, conscious or unconscious, white Obama zealots are prone to assume that Obama is the Tiger Woods of politics: as the postracial product of a happy mixed race family, he must be the anti-Jesse Jackson. His election will enable America to put all that tiresome tumult over ethnicity behind us.

Since 2004, Obama has himself stoked the popular hope among whites that his admixture of black and white genes means that “trying to promote mutual understanding” is “in my DNA,” as he asserted at the April 29, 2008 press conference in which he finally disowned his longtime pastor.

Obama’s 2004 keynote address tapped into an omnipresent theme in our popular culture, which is currently dominated by fantasy and science fiction epics largely about orphans predestined by their unique heredity and/or upbringing to save the world, such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Superman, Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and Batman.

Likewise, in politics, a fascination with breeding is both very old (going back to the days of hereditary monarchy) and very contemporary. The main qualifications for the Presidency of the current Chief Executive, Mr. Bush, and the Democratic runner-up in 2008, Mrs. Clinton, consist of being, respectively, the scion and consort of ex-Presidents.

More subtly, Obama launched himself on the national stage at the 2004 convention by devoting the first 380 words of his speech to detailing the two stocks, black and white, from which he was crossbred. He implied that, like the mutual heir to a dynastic merger of yore—think of England’s King Henry VIII, offspring of the Lancaster-York marriage that ended the War of the Roses—he is the one we’ve been waiting for to end the War of the Races.

In Richard III, Shakespeare concludes his cycle of history plays with the victorious Lancastrian Richmond (Henry Tudor, now to become King Henry VII) proclaiming his dynastic marriage to Elizabeth of York:

We will unite the white rose and the red …
All this divided York and Lancaster,
Divided in their dire division,
O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house,
By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together!
And let their heirs—God, if Thy will be so—
Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,
With smiling plenty and fair prosperous days!

Correspondingly, America’s half-blood prince reassures us that, as the son of what he called his parents’ “improbable love,” he will unite the white race and the black.

In contrast, many African Americans, after an initial period of uncertainty about a man sequestered throughout his childhood thousands of miles from any black community, have come to view Obama as their racial champion. They hope he will do in the White House what he tried to accomplish in his earlier careers on the left margin of Chicago‘s one-party Democratic political system as a community organizer, discrimination lawyer, foundation grant dispenser, and inner city politician: namely (to put it crassly), to get money for blacks from whites.

That Senator and Mrs. Obama donated $53,770 to Rev. Wright‘s church as recently as 2005 through 2007 suggests that this hope is not wholly delusionary.

Nonetheless, judging by his predominantly white campaign staff, the circumspect Obama would likely field an Administration in which minority appointees would not hold all that much more power than in the Bush Administration of Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Albert Gonzales.Which one is the real Barack Obama? How can we decipher The Obama Code? What is the Rosebud that reveals the inner Obama?

The overarching thesis of my book is extremely simple: that there’s no secret about Obama’s big secret. He spelled out exactly what he considers the central mandates of his existence in the subtitle of his graceful 1995 memoir Dreams from My Father. To Obama, his autobiography is most definitely not a postracial parable. Instead, it is A Story of Race and Inheritance.

The then 33-year-old Obama who wrote Dreams from My Father is obsessed with ethnicity and ancestry, as he relentlessly documents across nearly each of the book’s 460 pages. For 150,000 words, nothing diverts Obama from the subject of his racial identity.

What is the precise concern about race and inheritance that galvanizes Obama’s innermost emotions?Once again, it’s not exactly a mystery.Obama’s 1995 memoir reveals a genetically biracial young man raised by his white relatives who incessantly interrogates himself with the same question that the 139,000 mostly turgid articles and web postings catalogued by Google have asked about him: Is he black enough?

In particular, is Obama black enough to fulfill the dreams from his father and become a leader of the black race? Or will his half-blood nature and nonblack nurture leave him forever outside the racial community he treasures?

Doubts over whether he is black enough have tormented Obama since his youth. His psychological trauma helps make him a more captivating personality to contemplate than, say, his vanquished rival for the Democratic nomination, Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor. Richardson‘s unusual life story (raised among the elite of Mexico City, the descendent of one WASP and three Mexican grandparents) would seem at least as relevant to contemporary American politics as Obama’s famously exotic background. Yet, nobody paid Richardson any attention. That’s partly because Americans evidently find Hispanics less interesting than blacks, even though Latinos now significantly outnumber African Americans—and partly because Richardson is a hack, while Obama is something more refined and intriguing.

Despite Obama’s aesthetic talents, his actual politics aren’t terribly innovative. As conservative literary critic Shelby Steele, who is also the son of a black father and white mother, points out in A Bound Man, “For Obama, liberalism is blackness.” To be black enough is tied up in Obama’s mind with being left enough. As someone brought up by whites far from the black mainstream, Obama lacks the freedom to be politically unorthodox enjoyed by men of such iconic blackness as boxing promoter Don King, or funk singer James Brown and basketball giant Wilt Chamberlain, both of whom endorsed Richard Nixon in 1972.

(Why Obama being “black enough” would be in the interest of the 7/8ths of the electorate that isn’t black has never been answered. That’s hardly surprising, because the press has barely even thought to ask why Obama’s 460 pages about his feelings of race loyalty might concern any nonblack. It’s a question that wouldn’t occur to the typical 21st Century reporter. That’s the kind of thing that just isn’t written about in polite society.)

Remarkably, much of Obama’s campaign image—the transcender of race, the redeemed Christian, the bipartisan moderate, etc.—is debunked in Obama’s own 1995 memoir. Obama’s potential Achilles heel has always been that he has such a gift for self-expression combined with so much introspective self-absorption that he can’t help revealing himself to the few who invest the effort to read carefully his polished and subtle (but fussy and enervating) prose.

For example, Obama has spent millions in 2008 to advertise his mother’s race in order to ingratiate himself to whites. Obama supporter Matthew Yglesias blogged that one of the candidate’s June 2008 TV spots laden with pictures of the white side of his family should have been entitled “My Mom’s White! And I‘m from America!” Yet, Obama boasted in the Introduction to Dreams (p. xv) that he had “ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of twelve or thirteen, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”Similarly, around Obama’s 27th birthday in 1988, between his three years as a racial activist in Chicago and his three years at Harvard Law School, he traveled to his father’s Kenya for the first time.

On his way to Africa, he spent three weeks touring Europe. But his racial resentments made his European vacation a nightmare. He found sightseeing amidst the beautiful ancestral monuments of the white race to be wounding to his racial team pride:And by the end of the first week or so, I realized that I‘d made a mistake. It wasn’t that Europe wasn’t beautiful; everything was just as I‘d imagined it. It just wasn’t mine. [pp. 301-302]Obama in Europe was like a Boston Red Sox fan in Yankee Stadium in New York. Sure, the House that Ruth Built was magnificently large and echoing with glorious baseball history, but that just makes it more hateful to a Red Sox rooter.

In Europe, I felt as if I were living out someone else’s romance; the incompleteness of my own history stood between me and the sites I saw like a hard pane of glass. I began to suspect that my European stop was just one more means of delay, one more attempt to avoid coming to terms with the Old Man. Stripped of language, stripped of work and routine—stripped even of the racial obsessions to which I‘d become so accustomed and which I had taken (perversely) as a sign of my own maturation—I had been forced to look inside myself and had found only a great emptiness there. [pp. 301-302]

On the other hand, Obama may be home free, because it can take a lot of effort to follow his Story of Race and Inheritance.The main happy ending in Dreams, for instance, occurs in Kenya when a friend of his father points out to him that even Kenyan culture isn’t purely authentically black African (the tea they love to drink was introduced by the British, and so forth). That even Africans aren’t wholly black by culture means to Obama, that, despite his background, he can be black enough to be a leader of the black race. He summarizes this revelation in his memoir’s brief but almost impenetrable Introduction.

So far, I‘ve minimized the number of lengthy quotes from Dreams from My Father because large dollops of Obama’s calculatedly perplexing prose can be daunting and disconcerting to the unprepared reader. Obama, who was already planning his Chicago political career when he published Dreams, eschews any sentence that could be turned into a soundbite. He has little desire to assist those readers and voters with merely normal attention spans grasp who he feels he is.

In his Introduction, Obama uncoils two serpentine sentences of importance. The first explains what his book is about, while the second reveals a primary lesson learned.

"At some point, then, in spite of a stubborn desire to protect myself from scrutiny, in spite of the periodic impulse to abandon the entire project, what has found its way onto these pages is a record of a personal, interior journey—a boy’s search for his father, and through that search a workable meaning for his life as a black American." [p. xvi]

Okay, that sentence wasn’t too hard to follow: Obama, like one of those questing orphan-heroes elucidated by Joseph Campbell (the professor of comparative mythology who influenced George Lucas’s Star Wars), goes on a semi-metaphorical journey in which he learns how to be “a black American.” Not, bear in mind, “a postracial American” or “a mixed race American” or “a black and white American” or just “an American American.” He wasn’t looking for “a workable meaning” for any of the identities that a citizen whose knowledge of Obama doesn’t go back farther than the reinvented image debuted during his first statewide campaign in 2004 might assume. No, Obama’s accomplishment was becoming “a black American.”

Next, after some literary pedantry about whether or not Dreams could be considered an autobiography, Obama delivers this doozy of a sentence in which he unveils, wedged between dashes and obscured by lawyerly stipulations, something crucial he’s discovered about himself:

"I can’t even hold up my experience as being somehow representative of the black American experience (“After all, you don’t come from an underprivileged background,” a Manhattan publisher helpfully points out to me); indeed, learning to accept that particular truth—that I can embrace my black brothers and sisters, whether in this country or in Africa, and affirm a common destiny without pretending to speak to, or for, all our various struggles—is part of what this book’s about." [p. xvi]

That’s the kind of sentence that Sister Elizabeth, my 8th grade English grammar teacher, would force kids who shot spitballs in class to diagram on the blackboard.

Let’s unpack it slowly. Obama says that “part of what this book’s about” is “learning to accept that particular truth.” And what’s that truth? That, even though his life is not at all “representative of the black American experience,” he still “can embrace my black brothers and sisters, whether in this country or in Africa.”

What then does he want to do with his racial brethren and sistren in America and Africa? “Affirm a common destiny.” And what does our Nietzsche-reading Man of Destiny mean by that? That’s where Sister Elizabeth can’t help us anymore. With Sen. Obama leading in the polls as I write this in mid-October 2008, it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see.

Obama’s most primal emotions are stirred by race and inheritance, as this overwrought paragraph from Dreams’ Introduction about how the “tragedy” of his life is also the tragedy of us all illustrates:

"Privately, they guess at my troubled heart, I suppose—the mixed blood, the divided soul, the ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds. And if I were to explain that no, the tragedy is not mine, or at least not mine alone, it is yours, sons and daughters of Plymouth Rock and Ellis Island, it is yours, children of Africa, it is the tragedy of both my wife’s six-year-old cousin and his white first grade classmates, so that you need not guess at what troubles me, it’s on the nightly news for all to see, and that if we could acknowledge at least that much then the tragic cycle begins to break down…well, I suspect that I sound incurably naive, wedded to lost hopes, like those Communists who peddle their newspapers on the fringes of various college towns." [p. xv]

Of course, it is possible that since Obama published Dreams while preparing to run for the State Senate in 1996, he has transformed himself ideologically and shed his racialism.

After all, he suffered a soul-crushing rejection by black voters in his early 2000 primary challenge against Rep. Bobby Rush (who had been trounced by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1999). In emulation of Obama’s hero, the late Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Washington, who had progressed from the Illinois state senate to the U.S. House to the mayor’s office, Obama tried to wrestle the Democratic nomination from the aging Rush, a former Black Panther, in a district that was 65 percent black.

Rush scoffed at Obama in the Chicago Reader, “He went to Harvard and became an educated fool. …Barack is a person who read about the civil-rights protests and thinks he knows all about it.” The third candidate in that race, state senator Donne Trotter, laughed, “Barack is viewed in part to be the white man in blackface in our community.”

Obama carried the white minority, but the Panther thumped the Professor among blacks.

Overall, Obama lost 61 percent to 30 percent.Obama reacted to this racial rejection with “denial, anger, bargaining, despair,” as he described his long post-defeat grief in The Audacity of Hope. Obama apparently realized then that he would never have quite the right pedigree to appeal more to black voters than other black politicians do. (Moreover, Obama’s dream of using a House seat as a stepping stone to reclaiming for the black race Harold Washington‘s old post as mayor of Chicago seemed increasingly implausible for a second reason. It was becoming evident that local voters considered Richie Daley to be the trueborn rightful heir to his famous father’s throne of Mayor-for-Life.)

Eventually, Obama snapped out of his depression. He seems to have decided that even if he weren’t black enough to best Bobby Rush in the hearts of black voters, he is white enough to be the black candidate whom white voters love to like. In 2001, Obama gerrymandered his South Side state senate district to make it, as Ryan Lizza wrote in The New Yorker, “wealthier, whiter, more Jewish, less blue-collar, and better educated,” snaking it all the way up from his base in Hyde Park to include the affluent whites of Chicago‘s North Side Gold Coast.

So, maybe Obama has changed what he called in Audacity his “deepest commitments.”

Or maybe he’s just learned to keep quiet about them …In his 2004 Preface to the reissue of Dreams, the older Obama denies that he has gained much wisdom in subsequent years:

"I cannot honestly say, however, that the voice in this book is not mine—that I would tell the story much differently today than I did ten years ago, even if certain passages have proven to be inconvenient politically, the grist for pundit commentary and opposition research." [p. ix]

Perhaps one of the hundreds of journalists who have followed Obama around for the last two years should have asked the Presidential candidate about the gaping discrepancy in worldview between his two books. When there’s a dispute between a man and his memoir, shouldn’t the burden of proof be on the man who wants to become the most powerful in the world?

Why hasn’t Dreams proven “inconvenient politically?” Why have so few in public life noticed that Dreams from My Father is (as it says right there in the subtitle) A Story of Race and Inheritance?

Besides the sheer intricacy of the prose style, racial condescension plays a major role in the conventional misinterpretations of Dreams. Middle-aged white liberals in the media tend to assume that being an authentic black male is a terrible burden for which nobody would aspire. Yet, around the world, hundreds of millions of young hip-hop and basketball fans struggle to reach African-American levels of coolness.

In 2000, without much insight into the real George W. Bush, America elected a pig in a poke to be President. How has that worked out for us? Putting partisan divisions aside, wouldn’t it seem like a good idea, on general principles, to try to understand clearly what a Presidential nominee has written about his innermost identity?

Obama spent the first four decades of his life trying to prove to blacks that he’s black enough. If the public were finally to become well-enough informed about Obama’s own autobiography to compel him to spend the four or eight years of his Presidency trying to prove to the nation as a whole that his “deepest commitments” are to his country rather than to his race, America would be better off.

This book serves as a reader’s guide to Obama’s Dreams from My Father. The would-be President has written a long, luxuriant, and almost incomprehensible book, so I have penned a (relatively) short and brusque book that explains who Obama thinks he is. I mostly follow his life as it unfolds in Dreams, up through his marriage to Michelle in 1992.

I especially emphasize the little-understood but critical four years he spent in Indonesia from age six to ten, during which his white mother, for surprising reasons of her own, set about systematically inculcating in him the racial grievances, insecurities, and ambitions that make up the pages of Dreams.I had once thought of tracking Obama all the way to the present, but I finally realized that book would wind up even longer than Dreams. Like Zeno’s arrow, it would never arrive at its destination. I respect Obama’s 2006 bestseller The Audacity of Hope as an above-average example of the traditional testing-the-waters campaign book. The test-marketed themes he ran by his strategist David Axelrod and dozens of others in the draft stage of the unaudacious Audacity, however, don’t hold my attention the way his lonelier first book does.You may be wondering by what authority I presume to challenge the Presidential candidate. Yet, this isn’t a debate between Barack Obama and some guy named Steve.

Fundamentally, this book consists of a debate between Obama and Obama’s own autobiography. I’m emceeing that debate. In what follows, I‘ve included big slabs of Obama’s prose for two reasons. First, if I just summarized what he wrote in my own words, you wouldn’t believe me. You’d think I was making it up. Second, I enjoy Obama’s writing style. As a professional writer, I envy the sonorous flow of his prose and his eye for novelistic details. I can’t write that mellifluously.

Of course, I don’t want to, either. By personality, I‘m a reductionist, constantly trying to state complex truths as bluntly as possible. Dreams, in contrast, is allusive, elusive, and inconclusive. Together, between my predilection for Occam’s Razor and Obama’s for Occam’s Butterknife, we make a pretty good team at explaining who Obama is. (I justify borrowing thousands of words of Obama’s copyrighted prose under the legal doctrine of “fair use.” If he doesn’t like it, he can sue me. Just make sure to spell my name right—it’s “Sailer,” with an “e,” not an “o.” I do urge you to buy your own copy of Dreams from My Father to read along with this book, so you can see if I‘m leading you astray. It’s quite lovely in its own self-absorbed artiste way.) Moreover, both Obama and I have written for many years on the knotty questions of race and ethnicity, of nature and nurture. Most people just think and talk about them, whereas Obama and I have written about them at vast length. Nevertheless, as Obama’s rise, jet-propelled by his race and inheritance, in four years from the Illinois legislature to the threshold of the White House suggests, everybody, deep down, is engrossed by these matters.

I spent many years in the market research industry, to which I was attracted because I have a certain knack for pattern recognition. During a sick leave for chemotherapy in the 1990s, I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life, however long that might be, as a writer. Looking around for a market niche to specialize in, I noticed that among topics of great importance, the weakest journalism, in terms of quality of evidence and logic, was found in discussions of race. I set out to become the most intellectually sophisticated writer in that field. (I soon learned, however, why there is so little competition at writing honestly about race: it doesn’t pay.)

My approach is that of an empirical realist. I suspect that that by this point in our lives, Obama and I wouldn’t disagree much on the facts about race. We would likely differ on what to do about them. Unlike Obama, I advocate colorblind government policies. Of course, ever since he left community organizing in the slums of Chicago for Harvard Law School, Obama’s solution to his failing to solve racial challenges he has set himself has been to get himself promoted.

I don’t spend much time banging the drum for my political philosophy because factual matters are so much more engaging, but in case you are wondering, I advocate what I call “citizenism“ as a functional, yet idealistic, alternative to the special-interest abuses of multiculturalism.

Citizenism calls upon Americans to favor the well-being, even at some cost to ourselves, of our current fellow citizens over that of foreigners and internal factions. Among American citizens, it calls for individuals to be treated equally by the state, no matter what their race.

The citizenist sees little need for politically correct browbeating. Today’s omnipresent demand to lie about social realities in the name of “celebrating diversity” becomes ethically irrelevant under citizenism, where the duty toward patriotic solidarity means that the old saying “he’s a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch” turns into a moral precept.

As I finish my portrait of the politician as a young artist, it’s a few weeks before the election and the financial markets are tottering, likely ensuring Obama’s election. John McCain doesn’t seem to have noticed that the Grand Strategy of the Bush Administration—Invade the World, Invite the World, In Hock to the World (or as blogger Daniel Larison put it, “Imperialism, Immigration, and Insolvency")—has driven us into the ditch.

In the event that Obama manages to lose the 2008 election, rendering this book less immediately relevant, I can console my bank account with the knowledge that Obama will be younger on Election Day in 2032, six elections from now, than McCain is in 2008. So, I suspect this book will remain electorally pertinent. Moreover, if Obama somehow loses in 2008, we will hear forever that white racism was the reason, so it would be helpful to have a handy record of Obama’s own feelings on race.

This is not a book about who to vote for in 2008. In case you are wondering, in 2004, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either George W. Bush or John Kerry, so I wrote in the name of my friend Ward Connerly, the campaigner against racial preferences.

In any event, the significance of Obama extends far beyond politics. Win or lose, Obama’s life will continue to illuminate much about modern America.Nonetheless, the question remains. Would he make a good President?There is still one secret about Obama. We know how cautious and capacious his head is. Those of us who have read him faithfully know how fervent and unreasoning his heart can be. What we don’t know is which will win: head or heart.Obama may not know that yet, either.

Fortunately, politics never ends. Much to the disappointment of Obama cultists, January 20, 2009 would not mark Day One of the Year Zero. Obama’s inauguration honeymoon would merely provide a brief lull before mundane struggles begin over seeming minutia such as appointments to federal agencies, maneuvers in which Obama’s more racial and radical impulses can be tied up … if enough of the public understands his story of race and inheritance.

You can find my whole 264-page book at:http://www.vdare.com/half-blood_prince/

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

By Steve Sailer on 10/30/2008 Cited by 27 comments Labels: Obama

The Rise & Fall Of WaMu

2008-09-27T13:15:00.000-04:00

The Rise & Fall Of WaMu
*From The University Of Astrology Forum on MySpace*: http://groups.myspace.com/uoaforum

10:11 AM 09/27/2008 Sat

Last week's reports of yet another financial behemoth biting the dust, this time the nation's sixth largest bank, Washington Mutual, gives us astrologers yet another chance to watch the stars at work on the Markets. I've been spending the better part of the morning so far astrologically tracking the rise and fall of WaMu, and I must say, the results have been striking to the eye.

So far in this tutorial thread, we have been mainly focusing on the ongoing movements of the planets thru their Signs and in terms of the aspects they make to one another, to give us cues as to the ebb and flow of the Markets. On certain occasions, we've also made use of particular horoscopes, such as that of nations, or institutions, such as the NYSE and DJIA. And, we've seen a bit of how Incorporation and First Trade charts work as well, often as a compliment to the aforementioned transit movements.

The WaMu chart is no exception. It both ties in nicely to the current transit scheme, and as well, works perfectly as a diagnostic and timing tool in its own right:
Washington Mutual Sep 25 1889 Seattle WA 12PM LMT; Placidus 10 Sag 12, Wikipedia. No time is known, so "12PM" is used.

Right off the bat, we can see why WaMu was so big, and its size contributing to its eventual downfall; Jupiter both rises in and rules the Sagittarius Asc, and is the Final Dispositor of the horoscope. Jupiter represents banking and credit. Note the close trine between Jupiter and Saturn in this map it mirrors that of the ongoing trine between Jupiter and Saturn in the skies as we speak. One line of thought in astrology circles is that one can expect major events to take place when natal configurations are "repeated" in the skies after one's birth. Known as "recurrance transits" these events are carefully watched for by some astrologers. I've been quietly observing this for myself, and I have to say, that it is indeed something to lookout for, as the WaMu meltdown shows.

Saturn in the WaMu chart rules the Noontime 2nd house of finances and banking, and its position in detriment in Leo, combined with its trine to Jupiter in Sag, speaks to its overdoing it in the acquisition and more importantly, *subprime* areas. Saturn in turn conjuncts Venus, ruler of the Noontime 10th house - the CEO - and is in Mutual Reception with the WaMu Sun, itself fallen in Libra. Another signal of bad decisions made at the top.

Venus is dispositor of no less than four planets in the WaMu chart - including the Sun, we also have the Moon, Mercury and Uranus all in Libra. This extreme emphasis on the Sign Libra brings our attention to that area of the Zodiac; in more recent years, WaMu was dedicated to lending to *everybody*, a classic Libran focus insofar as fundamental fairness is concerned. Yet, a major tenet of good banking is to assess risk properly; lending to those who have little ability to repay loans or credit, is a cardinal sin in the banking world. In short, it doesn't pay to "be nice" in the world of Finance, as WaMu has clearly learned.

Another key feature of this map is the rare Neptune-Pluto conjunction in Gemini, something that happens only once in some three centuries or so. Note how this conjunction is trine the Sun, and Pluto also trines the Moon. Neptune, as has been observed before, is not friendly to the World of the Markets, and almost always promises scandals, cooking of the books and other nefarious dealings, layoffs and downsizing, takeovers, mergers, and so on. And interestingly enough, a quick look to WaMu's Solar Arcs reveal an applying SA Neptune=MC!!!, to be exact only a few short months from now. The handwriting was on the wall for this bank. It was only a matter of time before it was going under. JP Morgan Chase ended up buying the bank for little or nothing, at $1.9B. Only a few years ago, WaMu posted up assets of more than $300B. My, my, what a difference a year makes.

We've observed that Venus, Jupiter and Pluto are the Money Planets, and their condition in a chart gives very strong clues as to said chart's fiscal health. For example, in the chart of the United States, it is telling that Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction, with the latter exalted and also ruling the Asc, while Pluto is in Capricorn, which for this astrologer, may suggest an exaltation placement, on the basis of the "higher octave" theory of the Outer Planets. It would certainly help to explain how the USA is among, if not the, richest nation on Earth.

In the WaMu chart, please note the following with regard to its Money Planets:
Jupiter, while angular, ruling the Noontime Asc and dignified, nevertheless is in tight aspect to a planet who both rules the 2nd house and is also in detriment, Saturn.

Venus, although also in tight aspect to Jupiter, is conjunct the same 2nd house ruler who is "hurt" by being in detriment, Saturn.

Pluto, is conjunct Neptune, and what's worse about this is that both planets are Rx.

Therefore, it was easy to see that the fiscal health of this institution was in question, on the basis of a simple assessment of its Money Planets.

Casting a tri-wheel chart that features the natal, Solar Arc and current transits, we see the following for Sep 2008:

Transit Pluto conjunct WaMu Jupiter
SA Saturn=Jupiter(!!!)
SA Neptune=MC(!!!)

Later I'll post up an astrological timeline of the history of WaMu; in the meantime, here's what journalist Steve Sailer had to say about WaMu's demise earlier this week:

"Washington Mutual's Last - Press Release - Ever By commenter demand, here's a commercial from the late, not-so-great Washington Mutual bank:
Thanks to a commenter, here's the last press release from the nation's 6th largest bank on the day before it finally went under:

WaMu Recognized as Top Diverse Employer—Again Company ranks in top ten of Hispanic Business’ Diversity Elite and earns perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index SEATTLE, WA (September 24, 2008) – Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), one of the nation’s leading banks for consumers and small businesses, has once again been recognized as a top employer by Hispanic Business magazine and the Human Rights Campaign.

Hispanic Business magazine recently ranked WaMu sixth in its annual Diversity Elite list, which names the top 60 companies for Hispanics. The company was honored specifically for its efforts to recruit Hispanic employees, reach out to Hispanic consumers and support Hispanic communities and organizations.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights organization, also awarded WaMu its second consecutive 100 percent score in the organization’s 2009 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which measures progress in attaining equal rights for GLBT employees and consumers. WaMu joins the ranks of 259 other major U.S. businesses that also received top marks in the annual survey. The CEI rated a total of 583 businesses on GLBT-related policies and practices, including non-discrimination policies and domestic partner benefits.

In both surveys, WaMu earned points for competitive diversity policies and programs, including the recently established Latino, African American and GLBT employee network groups, all of which have a corporate executive sponsor and champion.

“Diversity is an integral part of cultivating a welcoming, innovative and dynamic workplace here at WaMu. We are proud to be recognized for the opportunities and benefits we offer to all of our employees, including the specific efforts we have made to engage Hispanics and the GLBT community,” said Steve Rotella, WaMu president and COO. “We are committed to diversity at WaMu and pledge to listen to our customers and work closely with our employees to continue to make progress.”

These two recent honors build upon diversity recognitions WaMu received earlier in 2008. WaMu was named one of 25 Noteworthy Companies by Diversity Inc magazine and one of the Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity by Hispanic Enterprise magazine.

About WaMu

WaMu, through its subsidiaries, is one of the nation's leading consumer and small business banks. At June 30, 2008, WaMu and its subsidiaries had assets of $309.73 billion. The company has a history dating back to 1889 and its subsidiary banks currently operate approximately 2,300 consumer and small business banking stores throughout the nation. WaMu’s press releases are available at http://newsroom.wamu.com.

Rex May has a cartoon take on WaMu.

The NYT reports:
Until recently, Washington Mutual was one of Wall Street’s strongest performers. It reaped big profits quarter after quarter as its then chief executive, Kerry K. Killinger, enlarged its presence by buying banks on both coasts and ramping up mortgage lending.

His goal was to transform what was once a sleepy Seattle thrift into the “Wal-Mart of Banking,” which would cater to lower- and middle-class consumers that other banks deemed too risky. It offered complex mortgages and credit cards whose terms made it easy for the least creditworthy borrowers to get financing, a strategy the bank extended in big cities, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. With this grand plan, Mr. Killinger built Washington Mutual into the sixth-largest bank in the United States.

Okay, Mr. Killinger, but perhaps by now you've noticed the fundamental difference between Wal-Mart and WaMu: Wal-Mart takes money from lower- and middle-class customers, while you gave money to them.

While our increasingly diverse lower- and middle-class American residents have been spending a lot in recent years in our vibrant, globalized economy, they haven't been making a lot. (You may have noticed that our elites were united in their horror of "wage inflation" and did their best to combat it through encouraging massive immigration, outsourcing, cutting tariffs, and the like.) In the long run, that's a problem. To cover the difference between what the bottom 2/3rds or whatever of society was spending and making, they've been going more in debt to, say, WaMu.

You were able to mark that up as profits, which Wall Street celebrated, but eventually the clock struck twelve and the carriage turned back into a pumpkin.

To broaden the subject slightly, it's interesting that we don't yet have a name for this decade yet, even though it's almost over. All other decades for the last 80 years were named directly from the third digit (e.g., The Sixties), but nobody has agreed upon a quantitative title for this decade.

Therefore, we should feel free to recommend a qualitative name. Pardon the vulgarity, but at this point I can't come up with anything more descriptive and accurate than The Bullshit Years.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve SailerBy Steve Sailer on 9/26/2008 Cited by 52 comments Labels: political economy"

Alpha, Beta & Omega Males: An Evolutionary (Astrology) Look

2008-09-21T06:06:00.001-04:00

Alpha, Beta & Omega Males: An Evolutionary (Astrology) Look

Posted: 20 Aug 2008, 06:45 AM on The Evolutionary Astrology forum on MySpace:
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=67029506&categoryID=0&IsSticky=0&groupID=100071296&Mytoken=C4B18A79-E396-4B9D-9C802B931DC97EAD37285848

One of my usual haunts on the Web is a blog called Half Sigma, which I got turned on to while checking in w/another haunt of mine, Steve Sailer’s blog. Half Sigma often takes us themes and issues that greatly interest me, and I suspect, interests others but would never openly so say in public, such as Race, Class & Sex, to name just a few. Yesterday while "thumbing" through his archive, I ran accross something that seems perfectly fitted for a forum entitled "Evolutionary Astrology".

HS posits that instead of usual dichotomy of males, ie, Alpha and Beta, that there was a third catergory, Omega. He suggests that these three catergory of human males are an interesting study in how the human race gets on w/the business of reproducing itself. I agree.

As we all know, the Alpha Male catergory is pretty straightforward, even though we’ve live in an Industrial age now for a little more than a century, and the Alpha Male’s heyday was back during the Hunter/Gatherer and early Agricultural eras. Alpha Males are, simply put, usually bigger, strong, and/or had access to maximum resources so as to be more appealing to and thus, have the most access to femles, especially the choice females.

Beta Males, those second tier guys who weren’t blessed w/such great genes, nevertheless were good guys, reliable, dependable and so forth. Back in the day their only chance of sending their genes off into the future was to hope for the Alpha Male to go off on the hunt or something like that, sneak into the harem and get a quickie before the Big Man came back. Other than that, it was the end of the genetic line for most Betas, until the Industrial Age, when male resources (wages) were more or less equalized and more guys had the chance to get a bride. Although she may not be the cat’s meow, it sure beat beating off for the rest of one’s life.

Oh, btw, Alpha Males make up roughly 10 to 15% of any population; Betas, roughly 70%. And another thing-Alphas do have one drawback, they tend not to be great nuturers, dads, and providers, whereas the opposite is true largely for Betas. This has given rise to what some Evo-types call the "Beta Strategy" where females would hookup w/the Alpha Male to get his genes and then get w/a Beta Male because he can provide better for the Alpha’s seed. In other words, Cuckoldry. But that’s another topic for another time.

Then we have what HS terms Omega Males. Again, these guys makeup about 15% of any given population, and are both lacking in sufficient genetic material AND material resources/social skills and thus are completely out of contention for copulating with females. These are generally the guys who live at home in Mom’s basement doing all kinds of geeky stuff, and looks it. Women wouldn’t give these guys the time of day, and that includes women who hangout in places like this one.

OK, so since we’ve briefly outlined the three types of males, the question becomes-how do we see this astrologically? I have a few theories, but I invite those reading alone (especially the ladies!) to chime in w/their thoughts. It seems pretty clear to me that Sexual Aspects play a huge role here. A male w/a lot of such aspects usually has the corresponding "animal magnetism" to attract females and get them to say "yes" moreso than Betas and definitely more than Omegas. So, when it comes to Alphas in general, that’s what I would expect to see, lots of Sexual Aspects, perhaps w/an additional refinement of said aspects occuring in Beastial Signs: Aries, Taurus, Sagittarius (at least the first half of the Sign anyway LOL), Capricorn, Leo.

Because Betas don’t have the raw Sexual power that Alphas have, I would expect to find an average amount of Sexual aspects at work here, along w/more "nuturing" astro markers-perhaps a strong Moon, or Jupiter, maybe a strong Neptune, something like that.

W/Omegas, hmm. That’s a good one. I suppose I would be looking for "outcaste" signals astrologically, but I’d need a bit more time as to how to formulate a postualte here. This is where we all can really jump in and toss the ball around.

So there you have it, the Three Male Types per Evolutionary Theory as set forth by Half Sigma. I think its a lot more valid than we may want to admit. And, there’s one more thing:

We have to remember that we Humans are only at the top of the foodchain, not apart from it. The Zodiac means literally, Circle of Animals, and we’re a lot closer to the Animal Kingdom than we think. This is especially true when it comes to things like "Synastry" which in so many ways, is a proxy for saying that we want astrology to help us get laid, and/or get laid more often.

Just keepin’ it real, y’all.

OK, that’s it. Discuss, and Holla Back!

Salaam
Mu

Is Today's Astrology "Gynocentric"?

2008-09-21T05:57:00.000-04:00

Is Today's Astrology "Gynocentric"?

Posted: 21 Aug 2008, 09:22 AM on The Evolutionary Astrology forum on MySpace
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&groupID=100071296&page=0&EntryID=67047370&CategoryID=0&get=1&adTopicId=0&lastpagesent=1&Mytoken=F780B4C8-DF06-4570-BE881C195ED2789136649436

Since it appears that my suggesting so has raised the hackles on Astrology’s Quasi-Feminist Contingent, I thought to devote an entire thread to this topic. For those who might have missed it, I’ll recap briefly. In my Open Letter to Zane Stein thread, I made the case that astrology in our time-and by that I mean, the Modern Era, since Rudhyar, and the following rise of Psychology being used in astrology analysis, study and work-is what I called Gynocentric, or in other words, astrology in our time is more and more seen, evaluated, communicated and written/presented, in a way that is more favorable to women.

Now, as you might guess, I’m prepared to defend my proposition, and to offer the most basic evidence of this, one only need look at the extant literature on the subject; note how its written, the word choice, perspectives and point of view therein. Moreover, consider the bulk of attendees at conferences, retreats and the like, you will find invariably that they are women in the main, even if by a simple majority.

Now, before the howling starts, let me say that I’m not-NOT-arguing that this is in itself a bad thing. What I am saying, however, is that astrology runs the serious risk of painting itself in something of a corner, because its this astrologer’s view that a lot of guys would be interested in seeking what astrology has to offer were it not for the Girly Perspective and Presentation.

What has occured in astrology over the past three or four decades is the notion that a kind of "unisex" approach can be adopted, and that the symbols we see can equally-keyword here-apply to both sexes. All the while claiming individuality, no less! Yet even hard science has proven again and again that men and women are PROFOUNDLY different, and the astrology must follow suit.

Of course, I suppose it doesn’t help much that many of the men that fill up the ranks of astrology, either as leading voices (considerably more at this level than are women, see for yourself) or as hardcore hobbyists, for lack of a better word, either don’t seem very interested in this topic because their interests in astrology take them away from dealing directly with people and more into the area of abstract concepts, like Mundane astrology, etc., or they have a more "feminine" view of the world, or, more cynically, they go with the flow because as that famous bank robber once said, that’s where the money is. And its no accident who pays a working astrologer’s bills, and from this standpoint, a business model, it makes sense to focus on your target market. But as a self-professed Anomaly, I like asking pesky questions of our craft. That’s what Cosmic Pests do.

So-is Astrology Gynocentric? You make the call.

Comments?

Holla back

Salaam
Mu

Suggested Further Reading: Astrological Eye For The Regular Guy, muminspeaks.blogspot.com, or Google it

Yao Ming: Successful Eugenic Experiment, Or Successful Astrological Timing???

2008-09-21T05:26:00.000-04:00

Yao Ming: Successful Eugenic Experiment, Or Successful Astrological Timing???

Posted: 16 Aug 2008, 08:22 PM at The Evolutionary Astrology forum on MySpace:
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=66985794&categoryID=0&IsSticky=0&groupID=100071296&Mytoken=24AF687D-3161-48B1-962DA24C2B23EA2A33711626

Steve Sailer’s done it again, w/his coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games at Beijing China. Here’s his take on Yao Ming: http://isteve.blogspot.com/. Its the second post down the page, can’t miss it.

In it he talks about how Yao Ming came to be; Ming is the product of an essentially arranged marraige between the centers and captains of the men’s and women’s basketball teams in Shanghai. Ming’s dad is 6’11"; his mom, 6’3". Ming himself weighed in at ELEVEN POUNDS, TWICE THE AVERAGE WEIGHT OF A CHINESE NEWBORN. His head was huge and square shaped, and his hands and feet were that of a three year old. At 10 years old he was 5’5"; in his early teens he was over 6’ tall.

And, according to the book, Operation Yao Ming, we have a pretty good crack at Ming’s birthtime, "shortly after 7PM" at Shanghai Hospital No. 6. The rest of the data is Sep 12 1980. This gives an Asc of 13 Ari 02 using Placidus houses and Tropical Zodiac.

Matchmaking, or arranged marriage, is a lot more common in the world outside the USA/West than most of us know or care about. Of course, w/feminist indoctrination here, arranged marriages have gotten a very bad rap, by way of the relatively few horror stories they trot out to dissuade anyone from hooking up that way. But if one takes the time to actually study the thing, one comes away w/the view that it ain’t all as bad as some would try to make it out to be. And besides, w/the American track record of marriage, no American should even be thinking about turning their nose up at the option, one that has a much better track record, I might add.

At any rate, Yao Ming’s story raises all kinds of questions for astrologers. As the Olympic games, especially the Summer events, since they’re much more racially and ethnically intergrated, shows us, Human Biodiversity is Real. There is no getting around the different body types and aptitudes, talents and inclinations, of so many groups of players and atheletes. There’s no denying that certain groups clearly dominate certain events (like sprinting and long distance marathons, where West and East Africans continue to dominate the field, for example), and while other groups lockup others. All of this points to an undeniable, if not brutally politically incorrect Truth:

That the horscope MUST accomodate these particularities, or astrology will have proved itself useless. Additionally, we can see that astrology, especially as practiced in the West, has to contend w/the idea of "matchmaking"-arranged marriages-w/the particular intention or purpose of producing children w/an edge. In a word, eugenics.

Largely discredited after the horrors vistied on the Jewish people by the Nazis in the Holocaust, Eugenics nevertheless is a deep area of human concern, and will in this astrologer’s view never go away.

The ever expanding fertility industry, w/ever increasing arrays of IVF options, is just one such example of this fact. Women can choose the sperm of high IQ achievers if they wish, and many have done just that. To wit, one Jodie Foster. Look it up.

To select for the best potential mate is fully human, and as noted above, as Foster is a lesbian, even among gay folks this is true. So we astrologers need to get busy talkin’, because there are lots of people out there not only looking for a match but one that can produce Kids w/the Right Stuff.

Again, Yao Ming: Sep 12 1980 "shortly after 7PM" CCT Shanghai China. Placidus 13 Ari 02. Comments?

Holla back

Salaam
Mu

Mu'Min Returns

2008-09-21T05:06:00.000-04:00

I deeply apologize to readers of Mu'Min Speaks, aka The Mu'Min Bey Astroblog. I've been busy as I don't know what over the past four r five months working like a dog, and haven't had the time to do as much as I'd have liked. This meant that blogging on the astrology of the day has fallen a bit by the wayside. But the good news is that I'm back - and I've got afew things to post up to prime the pump a bit, if you know what I mean.

Over the Summer, I've had the good fortune to spend a bit of time over at the Evolutionary Astrology forum on MySpace, and the moderator there, Cristina Smith, a grand lady, has been very nice and kind to me. Please go and check her forum out if so inclined, lots of really good discussions going on there.

Anyway, the next series of posts will be taken from wider discussions that I sparked off that happened there at EA. I'll post up the links to each one so as to enable th reader to go there, see the whole discussion and chime in if they so choose.

Stand By...

Salaam
Mu

Jana Mackey - Death Of A Feminist

2008-07-13T03:45:00.000-04:00

Taken from the Evolutionary Astrology & University Of AStrology Forums on MySpace...

I began this thread to once again highlight the fact that the Feminists in our Midst have some splainin' to do on a whole host of levels, and this Y chromosome native has had enough of the BS as to why they're unwilling to man up.

I've said numerous times that alot of women get into trouble because of stuff THEY DO, such as they're liking for what I like to call Thug Wood.

Well, in what can only be called an amazing display of synchronicity and astrological presicion, only two days after my ouster from Feministe, this post appears on their website:

"Thank You Jana MackeyJul 9 2008Posted by: Jill in Crime, Domestic Violence, Feminism http://www.feministe.us/blog/page/2/

We lost Jana Mackey last week, a young feminist activist who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Adolfo Garcia-Nunez killed her, and after he was arrested killed himself.

There’s a facebook group about Jana, where people are posting pictures and anecdotes about her. Her funeral will be held today. Her family is asking that if you wish to donate, you can send donations to:

Jana Mackey Support for Public Advocacy Fundc/o Dean of LawGreen Hall1535 W. 15th St.Lawrence, KS 66045

Thanks to Veronica for letting us all know about Jana. My thoughts are with Jana and her family."

Following the links provided, here's what went down; again, quoting directly from the websites denoted by their links:

"Family, friends and educators on Saturday remembered Jana Mackey as a passionate and motivated woman who was dedicated to community service.

Mackey, 25, of Hays, was found dead Thursday inside a home at 409 Mich.

She was a second-year law student at Kansas University.

“Everybody that knew her ... is really going to miss her,” said Beth Cateforis, a Kansas University clinical associate professor.

Mackey was a devoted advocate for women’s rights and worked in the Statehouse as a lobbyist, said Sylvie Rueff, who worked with her in the National Organization for Women, where Mackey was dedicated to reducing violence against women.

“It appears now she’s been the ultimate victim,” Rueff said. “I really could not believe she got killed because she was just such a remarkable woman.”

Sarah Jane Russell, executive director of the Ga Du Gi Safe Center, said Mackey worked as volunteer advocate for the nonprofit organization that provides support for survivors of sexual assault.

“Advocates are people who are on call 24/7 ... they do the front-line work with victims; they’re the ones who have heart. It takes a heart, and it takes being honey on steel, and she had that ... she had everything, and above all she had compassion for others,” Russell said.

Mackey was still on the list of advocates but was on hiatus during law school, Russell said.
“There are no answers. There are a thousand questions, and there always are when it involves domestic violence and sexual assault issues,” Russell said.

Mackey was enrolled this summer in the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at KU, where she represented federal prisoners in appellate and post-conviction litigation in state and federal courts.

“I think we have pictures of her dog up in our workroom,” said Cateforis, supervising attorney for the Defender Project. “It’s going to be very weird to clean up after her. I really don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Cateforis said Mackey was vibrant and had a lovely sense of humor.

“She was a pleasure,” Cateforis said. “I always looked forward to walking into class and seeing her smile and hearing what she had to say or hearing her big laugh.”

Mackey also was a singer and actress, receiving honors as an undergraduate for her theater performances. She was also given several scholarships for her law school work.

— 6News director Cody Howard and staff writer Janet Reid contributed to this report."http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul/05/victim_had_worked_reduce_violence_against_women/

Here's more info, this time on Mackey's ex:

"The suspect in the death of a 25-year-old Kansas University student has committed suicide while in police custody in New Jersey, according to Lawrence police.

Adolfo Garcia-Nunez, 46, was arrested Friday night in New Jersey, according to Lawrence Police Sgt. Paul Fellers. Fellers said in a news release Saturday afternoon that Garcia-Nunez committed suicide in custody.

Lawrence police traveled to Elizabeth, N.J., where Garcia-Nunez’s white Ford F-150 pickup was located unoccupied. Lawrence police received word Saturday morning that Garcia-Nunez took his own life.

“No further information will be available until our investigators return from New Jersey,” the release said.

Garcia-Nunez — a Lawrence artist who also went by the name Fito Garche — was suspected in the death of the student, Jana Lynne Mackey. Mackey was a second-year law student at KU from Hays.

Friday night, Lawrence police had issued an arrest warrant charging Garcia-Nunez with second-degree murder.

Mackey’s body was found late Thursday night in a home at 409 Mich., where Garcia-Nunez lived. Mackey and Garcia-Nunez had recently broken off a relationship.

After hearing of the arrest and apparent suicide, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Law School Dean Gail Agrawal issued the following statements.

“The resolution of this tragedy leaves us all stunned. I hope that everyone will remain considerate of the needs of the family and friends of Jana Mackey during this terrible time," Hemenway said. "I thank the Lawrence Police Department as well as other authorities for their efforts in the investigation.”

Agrawal said the law school community continues to be grief-stricken by Mackey's death, and remains focused on getting through the tragedy together.

"While we are shocked at recent developments in the investigation, we remain focused on doing all we can to support her family and friends through this terrible time," Agrawal said. "We are making every effort to inform our students, faculty and staff of available counseling and emotional support. Jana was strongly committed to social justice, and in her memory, we hope to inspire others to share her cause."

According to police, about 4:30 p.m. Thursday one of Mackey’s friends reported her missing. About two hours later, Mackey’s vehicle was found in the parking lot of Lawrence Memorial Hospital. About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, her body was found inside Garcia-Nunez’s home, which is near the hospital.

Jana MackeyVictim had worked to reduce violence against women (07-05-08) "http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul/05/suspect_ku_students_death_commits_suicide_while_ne/
Here's Mackey's obit:"ObituariesJana Lynne Mackey 1982 - 2008 Lawrence Jana Lynne MackeyA celebration of life for Jana Lynne Mackey, 25, Lawrence, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Thursday in Fairview Cemetery in Danville.Miss Mackey died Thursday, July 3, 2008, in Lawrence.She was born July 20, 1982, in Harper, the daughter of John M. and Christie J. Patterson Mackey. She graduated from Hays High School in 2000 and received an undergraduate degree in women’s studies in 2004 from Kansas University. She had completed her first year of law school at KU.Miss Mackey worked as a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women for three years. She was a volunteer advocate for the Ga Du Gi Safe Center. She was also a singer and actress.She was also involved with the Public Interest Law Society, Women in Law Society, Kansas Equality Coalition, Kansas National Organization for Women, KU Commission on the Status of Women, KU. Student Senate and Delta Force.Survivors include her mother and stepfather, Christie and Curt Brungardt, Hays; her father and stepmother, Mike and Anita Mackey, Anthony; four brothers, Todd Mackey and companion Sarah Bohm and Travis Mackey and companion Erica Washburn, both of Hays, Drake Brungardt, Baldwin City, and Bruce Adams, Camdenton, Mo.; and two sisters, Sara Brungardt, Hays, and Kimberly Minor and husband Ryan, Wichita. Friends may call from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. The casket will remain closed.The family suggests memorials to the Northwest Kansas Domestic & Sexual Violence Services in Hays or the Jana Mackey Support of Public Advocacy Fund at the Kansas University School of Law, sent in care of the funeral home.Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.

E-mail this obituary"http://www2.ljworld.com/obits/2008/jul/07/jana_mackey/

OK, boys and girls, now we gotta start asking some hard questions: what was a second law student, an vowed feminist dedicating her life to DOMESTIC ABUSE issues, doing w/a much, much older, felon, who's past crimes included DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, specifically, his last girlfriend before Mackey came along?

Maybe Mackey's chart can give us the answer:

Jana Mackey Jul 20 1982 Harper KS, no time known, source obituary available via Google search online

Right off the bat we see the deal - the New Moon in Cancer squares a Mars-Pluto conjunction in Libra, and we can include in this Mercury's square to these plaents as well, explaining Mackey's life focus on women's issues, domestic violence and law. Venus opposes Neptune in the last degree of Gemini, which of course means, that transit Pluto was opposed this Venus at the time of her death last week. The Venus-Neptune axis here of course, relates to a "something is other than it seems" vibe with regard to relationships; I'm pretty certain those who *thought* they knew her best really didn't at all; keep in mind also, that Venus is in Gemini, literally being two-faced along relationship/sexual lines.

Mackey's Mars-Pluto conjunction in Libra is key here, and goes to what I've explained over and over in regard to Thug Wood. Women who have such aspects in their charts tend to attract "dangerous" guys; Mars-Pluto combos are thee most prominent in the case of rape/DV victims. In an of itself, it does not function in a sexual sense for women, UNLESS Venus, the only female Sexual planet, is involved. Here, we can clearly see that it is, both due to the conjunction's Sign placement in Libra, but also because of the fact that its dispositor, Venus, is also trine to this very same conjunction, only making the links here stronger. This would mean that Mackey has quite a strong Super Sexual Aspect at work in her chart, for all three Sexual planets are tied together. Note again that Venus is opposed Neptune - I'm telling you, her friends never knew she got down like that.

Casting a morning Solarscope for Mackey, we see that Capricorn is on the Solar 7 house. This means that Saturn would be its ruler, and on her birthdate we see that it is exalted and Peregrine (Tyl), dominating the chart. Here's the link to a much older man, and with all these overtly Male planets - Mars, Saturn and Pluto - all in Libra, the Sign of Artisans, we see Nunez fitting the description to a T.

Interestingly enough, according to his MySpace page, Nunez was a Libra Sun!!!

Also, very interesting that Mackey would die as the Mars-Saturn conjunction in Virgo was forming, a recurrence transit that I've been reading up on of late. I tip my hat to Best and Blaschke. Additionally, Mackey had several very difficult Solar Arcs this year, that suggested very strongly, the possibility of violence or physical threat in some way.

And of course, Mackey was headed for her Saturn Return in only a few short years.

Mackey's birthdate reveals that she is all Water and Air, Emotions and Ideology, with NO EARTH to counterbalance things. Therefore, she had a very strong disconnect between the ideal and the real. And it ultimately cost her life.

I've said that my main reason for opposing the excesses - and let's be clear there ARE excesses of Feminism - was to challenge those who would craft public policy in its name. Already in the wake of her death, renewed calls for even more draconian measures are being floated in an attempt to pass more and more DV laws that hurt as many as they help, obstensibly. For those steeped in emoting and ideology, this is all par for the course, but for the rest of us sane thinking people, it was clear to see that Mackey didn't need more laws, just some commonsense. Warning bells should have been deafening for this young woman, but her emotions and ideology, to say nothing of her "hots" took control, and we all see the result.

I don't think it's an accident that all of this, my foary into Feministe, their posting of the Mackey murder, and Mackey's own life story, would all fall in line so dramatically. They serve to once again prove my point, that unless or until women start taking personal responsibility seriously, all of the laws in the world won't help them.

Including Jana Mackey.

So sad.

OK, folks - holla back

Salaam
Mu

Big Russ & Me: A Tribute To Tim Russert

2008-06-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

Big Russ & Me: A Tribute To Tim Russert

6:25 AM 06/14/2008 Sat

Yesterday the nation was shocked to learn that one of its most powerful media voices, the venerable Tim Russert of Meet The Press had died suddenly of an apparent heart attack while at work. He was 58 years old.

I got word of this after I got back home from work yesterday, about 9PM, via email from a colleague and good friend. She asked if I was aware of this and if I had a birthtime for Russert; my answer had to be "no" on both counts.

Like all Americans, I too spent my Sunday mornings in my PJs, waffles at the ready, a stack of newspapers and magazines on the side and tv remote in hand tuned in to MTP, eager to see who Russ was gonna put on the hotseat this week. As the many tributes came in throughout the night attested to, from politicos like Bush and McCain and Obama, to rivals like Sean Hannity, Russ had both a keen eye and sharp mind as well as an Everyman sensibility and work ethic that, in a time of high post elites and blowdried hair, was a welcome change of pace for a locale as plastic as Washington DC. Tim Russert was, without a doubt, the real deal.

Born on May 7 1950 in Buffalo New York, Russ was a Taurus through and through, from his propensity for weight gain to his downhome roots and never forgetting where he came from. His Mercury in Taurus, interestingly enough, also Retrograde as is the current Mercury position in the skies above, gave Russert a thoroughness in a kind of Columbo way of doing things, always coming back to ask just one more question, in a way that belied his formidable intelligence and razor sharp mind (Jupiter in Pisces trine Uranus in Cancer, Sun trine Mars, genius). The first of his family to attend college, Russert was discovered by New York Senatorial powerhouse Daniel Patrick Moynihan and rose through the ranks to become to Senator's topmost aide. From there, Russ worked for then NY Governor Mario Cuomo in a similar capacity. True to Sun square Pluto and the Moon in Capricorn, Russ had politics in the blood.

But it was with his move to NBC in 1984, that Russ would literally, find is voice. With his extensive knowledge of political and American history, contact-networks and instincts honed over years of working the halls of Congress, Russert quickly rose through the newsroom ranks by getting all the inside dope on the political comings and goings of Washington, getting the juiciest scoops as a result. It all really paid off for Russert when, in the year 1991, he ascended to become Meet The Press' host, where he would remain until his most untimely death. From there, it was one heck of a ride - who could forgot Russ putting avowed racist David Duke on the spot during his failed gubernatorial run, or, better yet, Russ breaking out the yup, you guessed it, little whiteboard during the 2000 Presidential Florida debacle? True to all the Earth in his chart (Sun and Mercury in Taurus, Moon in Capricorn, Mars and Saturn in Virgo) Russ kept it real, which meant, in an age of "magic boards" and high technology, that he used the KISS rule - to great effect.

But perhaps his biggest noteriety came from an unlikely place; in 2004 Russert wrote what would become a runaway bestseller, Big Russ & Me, a book about his life with his father, Tim Russert Sr., and the lessons he'd learn from "Big Russ". Russert took a chance writing and promoting such a book in an age where men in general and dads in particular are portrayed as everything from Deadbeats to Dimwits, to everyone's surprise the book became a huge hit, with Russert being crowded by people wanting pictures and wanting him to sign their books, not because of Meet the Press, but because Russert's book brought home to so many Americans, the meaning of fatherhood and the good memories so many of us have, of the unsung heroes of the American landscape, the guys who worked from can't see in the morning till can't see at night in order to make a better way for their families and their kids. Big Russ & Me was a loving tribute from the son to the father, and it is with a very bittersweet pill that I contemplate all of this, on the day of my own son's 3rd birthday, and on the eve of Father's Day nationwide. Russert had Saturn Rx in Virgo, a fitting image for his dad, a man who worked two fulltime jobs and couldn't attend those special moments and occasions with young Tim, but did what he had to in order to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Its something millions of us can relate to. I know I can.

Because this month is also the one in which my own father, Robert Lindsey, would be born, Jun 26 1935 in Savannah GA. And like Big russ, Bob never took me to a baseball game, we never went fishing or camping, none of those things. But he taught me many things that I would carry on into adulthood, one of them being a strong work ethic (since I was conscripted into working with him on the weekends rehabbing homes), sticking to a job until it's done, and standing up for oneself when the time came to do so. Like Big Russ, Bob was from the Old School, who never had much of a formal education, but seems so much smarter than the eggheads of today, and who's life experience was priceless. This year also marks the tenth anniversary of my dad's passing, and so when I heard of Russert's yesterday, it really took some wind out of my sails. The nation weeps, and so do I.

As Pluto continues its sojourn through Capricorn, as the United States experiences its first Pluto Return in this Sign, as Pluto squares the MC, and as it prepares to make one of the most profound choices in its national history in choosing between a man who is shaped by the profound lack of a father in his life, and one who is undeniably shaped by the wisdom of his, Russert's passing at such a crucial time (Russert died during his Saturn Return - so fitting in light of a heated debate I'm currently engaged in elsewhere on the Web!) will act as yet another signpost to look back at the past with an eye of carrying forward its best parts into the future. Perhaps the fictional Jedi Master Yoda said it best, in his last words to Jedi trainee Luke Skywalker:

"When gone am I, the last of the Jedi you will be; pass on what you have learned."

The job of any father, indeed, all fathers, is to pass on what they have learned to their sons.

Big Russ up there in Buffalo NY passed something great to his son, the Big Russ we all knew. Let's keep on passing it on.

Go get 'em, Russ!

Salaam
Mu

Don't Beleive The Hype, Part Three: Post-UAC Analysis & Comments

2008-05-24T16:52:00.001-04:00

Don't Beleive The Hype, Part Three: Post-UAC Analysis & Comments

3:45 PM 05/24/2008 Sat

And so, the Week that was - the world's largest gathering of astrologers ever, taking place last week at Denver CO; some 1600 astrologers in attendance from accross 45 countries, all gathered in the spirit of comraderie and learning, a good time to be had by all. I've been reading along the various websites, blogs and chatrooms/forums about the week's festivities with great interest, and have already weighed in on what I call the Joni Patry Problem in my last two installments. In this, the final installment on 2008's UAC, I intent to revisit the Patry issue, along with some key things that stuck out at me as an observer watching it all go down from my perch on the World Wide Web.

But first, before I begin with what some would consider a searing critique, let me extend a strong biggups to those who organized the event, and to give congrats to this year's winners of the Regulus Award, chief among them Ms. Bernadette Brady and now we can officially say, Dr. Robert Hand. Additionally, I would like to recognize all the younger folk at this year's events, and Mr. Lutin's apparently quite successful stageplay, "Plutopia". And, I want to just say to my friend Nick Dagan Best, now you see why we brothas like our trucks so much, hmm? LOL!

Now, with all that out of the way, to the good stuff...

Dispatches From The Center Of The Universe
Here's astrologer-reporter Eric Francis' May 16 2008 "dispatch" from the UAC convention floor; he asks a very good rhetorical question...

"Second, there appears to be no serious discussion of sexuality. I have not read the whole catalog, but I have not seen anything even coming close to the topic. This verges on astonishing, given the number of people who come to astrology for sexually-related subject matter, and the even greater number for whom it surfaces as a theme or issue they need to address. How, exactly, are astrologers supposed to help anyone if they are not informed? How are they supposed to keep their composure and objectivity if they have no training or experience with these kinds of very necessary discussions?"

Ahhh, a very good question indeed; but I have to remind my Piscean brother Mr. Francis, that the answer is only an Occam's Razor's arm length away - the astrology business' biggest consumer are women, most over the age of 40. And women as a rule are quite sensitive about having open discussions about sex, especially when the face on the other of said discussion is a male's, which remains the case for the bulk of astrologers of any real consequence (and I've written about this, too, something you will NOT hear discussed in any real way at ANY astrology conference) - hence recourse to roundabout talk about "relationships and synastry" and so forth. And if you're an astrologer whose lifeblood is dependent on that demographic helping you to keep the lights on, well, you adapt to market conditions accordingly.

If anyone doubts this, go and see for yourself. As long as its couched in "romantic" terms, you can get away with it, perhaps moreso if you happen to be a woman astrologer; but in general, given the Sexual Harrassment times in which we live, it would be suicidal for a Hand, or a Brennan, to *really* go there within an astrological analysis of astrology's biggest consumer block. What to do about it, you might ask? Well, talk about why we don't talk about it, would be one. But what's the chance that'll really happen, hmm?

Astrology's Young GunsPerhaps one of the highlights, and indeed, rising stars at this year's UAC, was the emergence of a young and vibrant contingent of astrologers, headed up in the main by Christopher Brennan, a Hellenistic astrologer and scholar. My understanding is that quite an impressive showing was made by Brennan and crew, who was put in at the last minute as presenter after initially being peed on for being too young; as it turns out, he is now UAC's youngest faculty member. Good on him!

But, being the dour man that I am, I gotta raise some questions, difficult ones, I'm afraid before the cheering starts - astrology, at its base, is not about lectures or techniques or fresh faces, but about LIFE itself. And no amount of pyrotechnics will take the place of actual life experience. This is why the Saturn Return is so important, and why in many circles, especially the more Eastern ones, doing astrology "for real" is frowned upon *until* one has had enough life experience.

I'm not just pouring water on the parade either, I speak from my own experience, as a early twentysomething starting out in astrology. As I look back on it now, there's just no way I could have made any real sense helping people, because while I knew the symbols and Signs and whatnot, I didn't know LIFE. No dis to Brennan, but really - what can he tell some over 40, a man let's say, about Love? Loss? Death? A mortage? A divorce? Not saying that he should know all things, certainly not. But without life experience, its hard to really put the symbols we see into proper context for the client. Which is probably why Brennan doesn't lecture much about actually working with clients. It is wholly understandable.

Moreover, the current love affair with the Young Guns papers over other things as well, which I'll save for a future installment. But I'll say for now, that one of them is the tendency not to drill into them the importance of getting life experience along with their astrological education. I wish the Young Guns well, and would exhort them, with all the knowledge they get, that they also get understanding.

The Joni Patry Problem Revisited
In many ways, my critique of the Young Guns trend ties itself intimately into the Joni Patry problem. As is well known world wide by now, on May 16 2008 according to Eric Francis, Patry announced that she had Barack Obama's birthtime - only, the "time" turned out to be little more than a grown up version of what we used to call "Telephone". You know the game - someone whispers something to you, and you pass it on to someone else, and so and so on, and after awhile, no one knows where it came from and the whole thing done got twisted. It's a fun game for kids. It's a disaster for astrologers, who suffer from a huge inferiority complex as it is due to astrology still struggling to process its feelings of being so roundly dissed in the Western world for the past few centuries, and sporadic assaults by Skeptic Tanks like the Amazing Randys.

One of the reasons why I spoke so forcefully and vociferously as I did in relation to Patry was because of several things, her being a highly regarded Vedic astrologer by many, among them - but another reason was because the manner in which she was given carte blanche to do what she did shows a huge gaping problem in the basic mindset and utter lack of critical thinking in the whole of the astrological community - a "name" astrologer makes a grand announcement to the world about the birthtime of a presidential candidate, based on heresay and secondhand information, if one can call it that -

AND NO ONE CHALLENGED HER. AT ALL.

I'm not talkin' 'bout after the lights go off, I'm takin' 'bout right then and there - why didn't somebody, anybody, get off their duff and say, uh, hold up Ms. Patry. Exactly where did you get this time from? Why can't we see the document? Why can't we at least know the names of your client and "campaign manager" he/she claims to have gotten the time from? I mean, why didn't the whole darn production STOP until this was sorted out? What the buck is up with that???

You mean to tell me that we can be suckered that easily? For all of our computer this and young astrologer that and Plutopia the other - it was all for a secondhand account of something that cannot be proven, in any way, at all? Lois Rodden has got to be doing backflips in her grave - and it's my view that we all took a collective dump on it if this is the best we can do. Talk about a regression to the mean.

And then we wonder why we still get chumped by Skeptics?

The Obama Panel - And The 800LB Gorilla In The Middle Of The UAC Living Room
But the Patry Affair was but one of UAC's highlights. Another, that attracted a bit of news coverage, was the star-studded astrologer panel on the 2008 Presidential elections. As you might guess, I have some thoughts to critiques of this as well, but to set things up, please share with me this insight by a colleague and friend of mine, the man known to the astrology world as Astrobarry:

"Another confounding condition, making such 'prediction' a dicier proposition still, is the glaringly blatant bias with which most astrologers come at this question of who'll be our next president. Would you be surprised to hear that the UAC tides were overwhelmingly in favor of Obama? Hardly. From lectures to coffee-break chatter to the official entertainment, no pretenses toward objectivity were made. A leftist/Democratic bent was presumed by virtually everyone in every context… and while that presumption was likely true as far as the participants' personal views were concerned, it isn't an especially open-hearted way in which to approach sociopolitical astrology. (I was admittedly flabbergasted when one of my favorite astrologers quickly glossed over discussing Obama's challenging astro-transits, in order to focus on ripping Clinton's and McCain's charts to shreds.)

Isn't our job as astrologers—cultural commentators with cosmic consciousness, really—to shed light on how things are and could be? When our egos get intimately woven into the formula, however, it often instead becomes a variation on that theme: an exposition on how we personally want them to be. Which isn't necessarily a 'bad' approach, as it's relatively rare for our egos not to jam their grubby little fingers into every last pot… but if we don't fess up to that upfront, we have the potential to confuse our wishful thinking for reality."

Uh-oh. He ain't supposed to talk about THAT, afterall, such things aren't good for one's career, don't you know. But I deeply thank Astrobarry for his sage insight for it pierces a veil that has long shrouded our community. And that is this:

Why DO we have such a hard Left leaning community groupthink? Is it simply a natural outgrowth of being interested in astrology...or is it a sign of something a bit more, shall we say, political? What happened to all those lectures I'm sure was to be had at UAC, about "professionalism" and "objectivity" on the part of the astrologer? Hmm?

And, why is there so much gushing and love for Obama, in a setting that is for all intents and purposes virtually White? Now, I don't know about anyone else, but my highschool Psych class covered this, it's called Overcompensatory behavior. Don't nobody fall on a sword here, just keepin' it real. Folks who try to get a handle on their stuff often go overboard in the other direction and we all do it to a lesser or greater degree. Maybe that's the other reason astrologers in general are likened to the "on its side" orbit of Uranus, hmm?

I for one was struck by the outpouring of support, obstensibly, for Obama by the panel and the general attendees on one hand, and the virutal absence of people of color, especially African Americans, at UAC overall. Talk about a disconnect. Talk about cognitive dissonance. To say nothing of virtually any talk about the very racial times in which Obama finds himself, now officially dubbed as "the race candidate".

Very, very, interesting, says this astrologer.

I could go on, but I think the above suffices as to just how far we've come as astrologers, and just how far we've yet to go. Here's another quote I found on the internet some months back that I think really gives us all some food for thought as UAC 2008 fades into memory; think it over for yourself, and ask some hard questions:

""White liberals are openly, breathtakingly hypocritical. The appearance of racial rectitude is perhaps America’s most highly-regarded virtue, but it comes at essentially no cost.
You don’t have to have black friends, you don’t have to have Mexican neighbors, you don’t have to send your children to schools where no one speaks English, and you don’t have to invite Hmong refugees to your dinner parties. You can be racially respectable without doing anything. Just gush about the things you, yourself, carefully avoid: integration, multi-culturalism, and diversity.

"This is the Clinton/Kennedy/Bush racket.

"People get away with it because everyone is in on the charade. By any real racial test, by any measure that requires sacrifice, everyone fails, so whites never apply real tests to each other. Mouth the right clichés and you’re on the side of the angels. Racial rectitude is therefore the most cheaply bought virtue in American history— and also the most easily forfeited. Because only words matter, not deeds, a single sentence can wreck a career."

- Jared Taylor, in an online debate he had with Steven Sailer

Here's to UAC 2012.

Salaam
Mu

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part Two - Vedic Analysis

2008-05-20T19:08:00.000-04:00

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part Two - Vedic Analysis

7:53 PM 05/19/2008 Mon

Having laid the groundwork for my argument that the "new" birthtime for Barack Obama is highly suspect, even flatout false, I will now turn to the Vedic astrological evidence supporting my contention. Here I should like to note to those unfamiliar with my writings, that I have, for nearly the past two years, worked intensely with a rectification "test" time of mine which yields a 29 Gemini Asc using the Tropical Zodiac. It has come through again and again with regard to timing measures and captures the symbolism of his life very well. But, because I could never be 100% certain of Obama's birthtime, I have resisted offering a Vedic analysis of his chart.
Until now. Fate it would seem, has forced my hand.

For earlier today, as I was doing a bit of research in preparation for these essays, I ran accross Ms. Joni Patry's (the source of the "new" birthtime for Obama) Vedic analysis of his chart. Of course, per the Sidereal Zodiac, she uses a Capricorn Asc for Obama, placing both Jupiter and Saturn in the 1st house, with the Sun and Mercury in the 7th. And while she finally concludes that should Obama be the nominee of the Democratic Party, he will loose against Republican nominee Sen. John McCain - and while I agree with her that it is my contention that McCain is the likely winner, at least at this point - I most vociferously disagree with her astrological reasoning for Obama, on the basis that the birthtime she uses yields a chart that does not comport in the least with what we know about Obama's life.

So, as I layout my case now, please let me say that a fundamental premise of astrology, any kind of astrology, is simply this: if the planets don't fit, you must aquit. Period. If the chart doesn't match the reality of the native, then you can be pretty certain that you have the wrong chart. This is the core reasoning behind Horary in the Western tradition, and as far as Vedic goes, with its long and strong reputation for getting pinpoint accuracy in predictions, the same thing goes.

Here is the timed data, again, based on my rectification tests, for Barack Obama:

Aug 4 1961 3AM AHST (NOTE: I had previously listed the time as 4AM and used daylight savings time; I have since learned that Hawaii does not and has not used DST for many, many years. It was NOT in effect at the time Obama was born. My bad.) Honolulu HI; Lahiri 7 Gem 41; Mrigshira, rising Naksatra.

I begin.

In the book Light on Life, a must-have introductory, yet comprehensive, text on Vedic astrology, Hart Defouw offers the chart of slain Prime Minister Indira Ghandi, whose birthtime still is a source of great debate and controversy among astrologers in India to this day. Defouw shows how a skillful use of the houses and graha yogas (planetary combinations, or formulas, not unlike midpoints etc.) can aid the astrologer in coming to the right conclusion in the rectification process. The reader is kindly asked to compare and contrast my analysis of Obama using a Gemini Asc and Ms. Patry's using a Capricorn Asc, and see for themselves.

With regard to Obama, let's quickly note some very basic, yet highly signficant facts about his life:

1. He is bi-racial; his mother is White, his father is Black; his mom from Kansas, his dad from Kenya.

2. He is the author of two highly successful, bestselling books, the source of his wealth according to widely published reports. One of his books is an autobiography which at the center, are the longings for his father; the other takes its title from the only father figure he's ever known, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright's sermons.

3. He came out of nowhere to become a serious Presidential candidate, at this point all but certain to be the Democratic nominee.

4. He has two children, both girls; his marriage to Michelle Robinson Obama is stable and without scandal or incident.

5. Both his parents died at relatively young ages, and when Obama was young himself. His mom died when he was in his early 30s; his dad died while he was still a boy.

6. Both parents remarried; his mom once (two marriages), his dad at least four times.

7. Obama has attended among the best schools IN THE WORLD, from a very early age. He is the first African American ever to be on the Harvard Law Review.

8. A major scandal erupted over the nature of the church Obama attended, to which he was first forced to address in the form of a "race speech" in Mar 2008, only to come back to address the situation again a month later.

OK. I think we have enough bare-bones info on Obama to begin an astrological examination.
First, the Asc - Gemini is the perfect fit - the bi-racial identity, the "two faces" he seems to show the public, especially in light of the Rev. Wright scandal (note 9th lord Saturn in the 8th house of scandal! More in a sec), the book and speech writing, the education and even his *two* daughters, when you take into account Venus, as 5th lord, sits in the Gemini Asc. Its all there. Not so for Capricorn rising.

This Asc position makes even more sense when one considers Mercury, the Asc Lord, is placed in the 2nd house, long known in Jyotishical circles as a house of classical learning. It forms a Budhaditya Yoga with the Sun, amplifying his innate intelligence. Mercury rules the 4th house of formal educational degrees; Venus, as the 5th lord of intelligence and bookwriting (along with the 2nd house!), again is in the Asc. Obama has studied at Occidental College, Columbia and Harvard Universities, and holds a degree in Constitutional Law.

For the parents, we would want to see the 4th and 9th houses, that which represent the mother and father, respectively. Here we can easily see what the problems were. As Mercury is both Lagnesh and 4th lord, it is right to take the karaka, or universal significator, or the mother and use that planet instead of Mercury, leaving it to represent Obama alone (we will employ this method yet again in another key area of Obama's life; stay tuned). The Moon represents the mother in all horoscopes, and in this one we can clearly see that it is damaged by being placed in the 12th house, arguably the singleworst place to be by house for the Moon. Among other things, Obama's mother spent much of her life away from the land/country of her birth, living abroad and mainly in and around Indonesia, where she would meet her second husband and give birth to a second child. The 12 house represents foreign lands. The 12th house also represents sorrow, misery and suffering, even death. But the Moon's exalted! Shouldn't that account for something? Well, not a lot - that's because the Moon itself has just entered its Sign, meaning that its still a beat weak because it's at a junction point between two Signs; this is known as Rasi Sandhi. One thing that I always remind people of, is that an exalted planet may not be all its cracked up to be; one must make a careful inspection of the houses and other planets involved before proclaiming all the promised benefits of such a planet. However, we can tell that Obama was indeed very close to his mother, as Moon Sign Lord Venus is placed in the Asc and very close to the rising degree.

As for father, things don't look so well either - Not only does the 9th lord, Saturn, sits placed in the 8th house - one of the worst houses for a Vedic chart - but Ketu, another first rate malefic, actually sits in the 9th. This is a perfect symbolism for the father, Barack Obama Sr., a man who had many wives (at least two of whom were White - note Rahu in the 7th from the 9th, i.e., the 3rd house), who had a drinking problem, and who eventually died in an automobile crash which severed his legs, and whom Obama the Younger only met ONCE in his entire life! ALL of the themes of the Nodes - Rahu and Ketu - come alive in this chart using the Gemini Asc insofar as the parents are concerned. Saturn is closely conjunct Jupiter; although Saturn is dignified, Jupiter is not, and placed in the radical 8th house will suggest that Obama the Elder may do things he's not too proud of later. Among them were his taking wives unbeknownst to his current ones. The 8th house has long been known as that of disgraceful acts. Jupiter represents one's morality and ethics. Both are heavily involved here in the Gemini chart option. This position does not bode well for the father's health and longevity, as the 8th house is the 12th from the 9th. Loss.

If we no consider the 7th houses away from the 4th (radical 10th) and 9th (radical 3rd) and keep in mind what Parasara said about combinations for multiple spouses, it is easy to see using the Gemini rising chart how Obama's parents could remarry so frequently. Parasara says, that if the 7th lord is conjunct or aspected by a benefic, there will be many spouses; the same will be true if the 7th lord is exalted.

Looking at the 7th house from the 4th, as note that Jupiter is aspected by the "multiple-minded" planet Mercury. For the 9th, we can see that the 7th lord is conjunct this same Mercury, and is now aspected by Jupiter to boot. Hence we see the multiple marriages.

What about Obama's marriage? Surely the Gemini rising chart must give some clues there, right? And indeed it does - Jupiter rules the 7th and is aspected by Mercury, This not only joins the 1st and 7th houses together by rulership, but also brings in some added "benefits" in the form of additional yogas, namely Satkalatra and Bahu Stree, both of whom are highly favorable for happiness in marriage. Also, note Venus' aspect on the 7th house as well, and Venus is Darakaraka (planet of the spouse) in a man's chart.

Lastly, before we move on to Dasas, let's consider Obama's meteoric rise to fame as a politician and serious contender for the White House. To be able to do something like that must indicate some powerful Raj Yogas, or "king making" combinations, yes? And we find them in this map, in this way:

As mentioned many times before, Venus is the 5th lord of political issues, and sits closely conjunct the Geminis Asc point; this accounts for his huge popularity.

Lagnesh Mercury gets the full aspect of Jupiter and Saturn, who both form a Dharma Karma Adipati Yoga, as these planets rule the 10th and 9th houses respectively. Jupiter is no doubt fallen, but Saturn "lifts" him up somewhat by himself being in his own Sign to act.

Note how this combination - Jupiter and Saturn - become strong again in the Chandra Lagna, or Moon Ascendant chart, now sitting in the 9th from the Moon.

And note how strong the Navamsa chart is, lifting the qualities of Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu! That is very rare to see in Jyotish, a Navamsa that strong. And the exalted Nodes, sitting in the 1-7 house axis in this chart, guarantees that Obama will not only mesmerize the mass media and public at large, but that he will also be "the race candidate". Indeed, he has. On all fronts.

Let us now consider the Dasa scheme of some of the key events in his life. Obama was born at the very end of Mars Dasa, not a good sign for the father sticking around, as Mars lies in the 7th from 9th. Obama himself reports that his father left him and his mother at the age of two - just as Rahu Dasa was getting off the ground (beginning Sep 1961). Obama Sr. would divorce Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, in 1963. Rahu was running both its major and sub periods at this time - and please note again, that the 7th house from the 9th is activated, as both Mars and Rahu are placed there. Both Mars and Rahu represent severing, especially when placed in a Sign like Leo, ruled by the malefic Sun.

Now, if we consider Obama's mother's second marriage, which ran from 1966 or so, till about 1980, we can clearly track the events by way of the Dasas operating in Obama's chart at that time. For the earlier period, we can see that Saturn sub period in the Dasa of Rahu was running. Saturn is conjunct Jupiter, who is 7th lord from the 4th house of mother in Obama's chart per Gemini rising. For the divorice from the second hubbie, we can see that Jupiter Dasa was just beginning. Keep in mind please, that Jupiter is not well placed in the Rasi, or birthchart, for Obama.

Obama's father died in 1982, right in the midst of Jupiter-Saturn Dasa(!); Obama's mother died in Nov 1995, right after the onset of Saturn Dasa began. Please note that, from the 9th, Jupiter and Saturn are in the 12th from the 9th, aspect the 10th which is 2nd from the 9th and aspect the 7th lord - all Marakas. In the case of the mother, please note that Saturn aspects the 7th from the 4th, is conjunct the 7th house (from the 4th) lord, and finally aspects the 2nd house from the 4th as well (radical 5th).

It was during the latter time, that Obama began to get interested in politics. In Jyotisha, there are two major planets that speak to political aims; one is the Sun, and the other is Saturn. And in Obama's case, both impact strongly on his Lagnesh Mercury.

Obama won his US Senate seat in the largest margin ever in Illinois state history, some 70% of the vote. Saturn-Venus was running at the time; please note how both these planets are friends and rule trinal houses for the Senator, per the Gemini rising chart.

It would be under this same combination that Obama would give his riveting address at the Democratic Convention at Boston in 2004. This was when he reached national prominence.

He then decided to run for the Presidency with the Moon running its sub period in early 2007; in Mar 2008, the Rev. Wright scandal broke, as Mars sub period in Saturn Dasa began. Please note two very important things here - Mars sits 8 houses away from Saturn, Bhavat Bhavam; and that when two natural malefics run their major and minor periods at the same time, lookout! We can also add that Mars is an enemy to Mercury. Saturn rules the 9th house of preachers, churches and father figures. That Obama would be forced to cut all ties with Wright only a month after his famed "race speech" is again another testimony of both the Dasa scheme at work, and as well, the Gemini rising chart.

And that brings us to the present time, with both these planets still very much in operation, to last until the Spring of 2009. With both Mars and Saturn aspecting Obama's Piscean 10th house, and with the 10th lord debilitated in the 8th house, it is hard to see eventual victory for him; in this I would agree with Ms. Patry. But the point remains, that until we can actually see a birth record that confirms that which she told the world the other night at Denver, I then maintain that the evidence I have offered in this essay is every bit as valid as anything she or anyone else has said. As I've said earlier, if the Planets don't fit, you must acquit!

Comment and reply, invited.

Salaam,
Mu

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part One - Horary Analysis

2008-05-20T18:58:00.000-04:00

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part One - Horary Analysis

6:48 PM 05/19/2008 Mon

With the 2008 United Astrology Congress, which was held in Denver CO this year, about to go down in the history books, perhaps now is the time to (re)consider this year's Main Event of sorts - the revealing of a "new" birthtime for Democratic Presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. According to noted Vedic astrologer Joni Patry of Dallas TX, Obama's point of entry into this world occured at 7.11PM local time at Honolulu HI. For Western astrologers, this clocktime yields an Asc of 14 Aqr 21.

Although I did not attend the proceedings, I am told that this event was attended with much fanfare and pomp; the local and national news covered the event; and it appears that Ms. Patry is getting quite a bit of press mileage out of it all. But there's just one small problem with all of this:

The time she reported, is not so.

How can I be so sure, you may ask? Of course, if you're as intense an astrology enthusiast as myself, you already know that Ms. Patry's "reveal" sounds quite dubious - she gets wind of the birthtime from a client who got it from a "campaign manager" in the Obama campaign, by way of a "closed-access government website" - meaning, that no one can actually get a hardcopy of the birth record that actually has the birthtime on it.

It reminds me of the "telephone" game we used to play as kids.

According to reporter and astrologer in his own right Eric Francis, who was in attendance at the time of the announcement, the matter is being investigated by Astrodatabank, with Patry assisting. As it now stands, the birthtime is being given a "DD" rating per the late great Lois Rodden's grading system for astrological birthdata. "DD" is considered highly suspect, and until or unless someone can come forward with the goods, rightly so.

But this alone only says that the data is a bit shaky; it does not necessarily mean that it is false.

Or does it?

That's where astrology comes in.

Being the good man that he is, Francis punches up a chart for the exact moment that Patry gives out the "new" birthtime, Fri May 16 2008 at 9.39PM MDT Denver CO. The resulting Asc, using Placidus houses, is 15 Sag 56, and while Francis does give a bit of an analysis of this chart, and opens the door as to whether the time given by Patry is indeed correct, he holds off from giving a definitive judgment, saying that he wants to defer to British Horary Master Geoffrey Cornelius. I can't blame him; Cornelius is the man.

But when one has been doing Horary as long as I have, all that is needed is a trusty copy of Christian Astrology - William Lilly's magnum opus - by one's side. The answers lay therein.
On page 70, Lilly gives clear instructions as to whether a report or rumor be true. Here's what he said, regarding a report he got that the town of Cambridge was taken by the King's army:
"A Report that Cambridge was Taken by the King's Forces; if true?"

Question background: "In the yeer 1643, His Majesties Army being then Rampant, severall Reports were given out, that his Majesty had taken Cambridge, &c. a wel-affected person enquires of me, if the newes were true or false? Whereupon I erected the Figure ensuing, and gave Judgment: All that we heard was untruth, and that the Towne neither was, or should be taken by Him or his Forces."

Horary chart data: April 21, 1643 GC, 4:29 pm GMT, London (00w10, 51n30) Placidus 4 Lib 47

Lilly gives his analysis:

"First, I considered that the Angles were all moveable, and that Mars did vitiate the cusp of the 10th, and Saturn the cusp of the 7th, one argument the Report was false.

Secondly, I found the Moon cadent, and in Gemini, a Signe wherein she nothing delights; a second strong evidence of a false rumor.

Thirdly, I found North Node on the cusp of the Ascendant, a Signe of good to the Parliment, for the 1st house signified that honorable Society: I found Venus Lady of the Ascendant, and our Significatrix, in her Exaltation; but Mars, Lord of our Enemies Ascendant, viz. the 7th, entering his Fall, viz. Cancer, and afflicted by Square of Saturn; I saw the Moon seperating from Jupiter, placed in the 7th and transferring his light and virtue to Venus, which gave me reason to expect, that there would come good to us or our side from this report or Rumour, and no benefit to our Enemies: I saw Mars and Saturn in a Square, which assured me our Enemies were so full of division and treason, and thwarting one anothers Designes, that no good should come unto them upon this Report; and so in short, I judged Cambridge was not taken, and what we heard of its taking were lyes."

If one casts the chart in question they can clearly see that the 7th house, representing the army, is in bad shape, as its ruler, Mars, is fallen in Cancer. The King himself, is represented by the 10th house, ruled by the Moon, Cadent by house and peregrine by Sign. Finally, we can see that another fallen planet, Saturn, is moving toward the 7th cusp. All of these factors do not look good for the rumor to be true, and in fact may be indicative of a lie. At the very least, false.

Hence Lilly gives the astrologer some very strong points and tips as to ascertain whether a rumor or report be true or false. In this case, whether the rumor/report that Barack Obama was indeed born at 7.11PM, is true, or not.

So, let's now consider the moment Ms. Patry annouced her "new" birthtime for Sen. Obama:
Again, as Francis notes, Sagittarius rises, making Jupiter its ruler. The Asc in Horary always represents the "Querent", the one who is asking the question. Since there was no such question in this case, we can take the Asc to represent Patry herself, which seems to fit, given that she has a very "firery" look about her. Jupiter is fallen in Capricorn, and Rx to boot, something that does not bode well for her information being accurate, as she is the source, being the one who is announcing to the world what time Obama was supposedly born. To make matters worse, Pluto, a malefic planet, rises at the Aries Point in Capricorn (opining on matters relating to Politics before the Public) and is also Rx. In a Horary, such a thing to see is not a good augury for a favorable outcome.

Next, the Moon in this chart is at 24 degrees Libra - right in the path of the Via Combustia, held by many to be among the Strictures Before Judgement of a Horary Figure. Moreover, the Moon is Void of Course, having trined Neptune as its last aspect. As Francis rightly points out, Neptune itself is within "striking distance" of the 3rd house cusp itself, and in any event rules the intercepted Sign Pisces in the 3rd. Moon does indeed rule the 8th house of secrets. A VOC Moon is another of the Strictures, and almost always is a signal that what is demanded of the querent will not come to pass - in this case, that Patry's announcement that Obama was born at 7.11PM, is in someway false.

But wait, there's more!

On Mon May 5 2008, at 10.49AM MDT, Moses Siregar III, a prominent astrologer in his own right, announces on the Horscopic Astrology forum, a discussion group on MySpace that boasts upwards of 6,000 members, that he has Obama's birthtime but cannot reveal just what it is yet; it will be revealed soon. Casting a chart for this data, as I did when I first got word of the matter, we again find some interesting things:

1. The Moon, ruler of the Asc, is exalted in Taurus and placed in the 11th house of forums and groups; this shows how important Moses is to the astrology community, that he is a part of its "establishment". This feature alone, suggests that the chart is indeed radical and fit to be judged. It is also interesting that the Moon moves to sextile Uranus, ruler of the 8th house of secrets, holding Neptune there as well.

2. That 18 Can 30 rises, holding a deeply fallen Mars in the Asc. This represents the impulsive nature of Moses on that day, running forward with the news of this false report. As Moses is now the "source" we can clearly see that the information he brings cannot be relied upon.

3. Please note that Jupiter is again fallen in Capricorn and in the 7th house - Obama. This is the first sign that the birthtime Moses has is not accurate. Also, please note that Jupiter is in a Mutual Reception with Saturn, which is in Virgo - the Sign of Jupiter's detriment - and yet another signal that the birthtime Moses has on Obama is suspect.

In other words, both the Patry Announcement chart and this one above, both have some strong things in common: both have the Moon heavily involved, per Lilly's rule; both have fallen planets associated with their Ascendants at the time of their respective announcements, suggesting that they got the wrong information. In that we now have two such "announcement" charts, one made as a kind a "sneak preview", we can be fairly certain that the data that is now the rage throughout the astrology community, cannot be relied upon as accurate in any way.
But there's one final loose end...what about Mercury in the Patry chart?

Indeed, Francis refers to this winged planet as "the trickster", and that "he's looking right back at us". I take that to mean, as the great George Orwell so elegantly put, that to recognize the truth that is front of one's nose, requires a constant struggle. Mercury is very much dignified on that night Patry made her earthshaking announcement. Mercury, in its own Sign of Gemini, in the house that represents the great man himself, Barack Obama, has to point to only one conclusion -

That he may very well have the Sign of the Twins rising in his chart. And that will be the subject of Part Two of this essay.

I would just like to close out by saying that I for one am quite a bit disturbed, annoyed and disappointed by the actions of both my colleague Moses Siregar, and Ms. Patry, whom I have never met but have heard a great deal about. Both of these people have been around astrology around long enough to know better - they both should have done a much better job of vetting astrological birthdata, especially when its as important as who the next Leader of the Free World is likely to be. We astrologers work so hard - Lois Rodden in particular has worked so hard - to bring exacting standards of competence and precision to our Art. And for it to be put aside in the name of "scoops" is to my mind, the chief reason why astrology has not yet been taken seriously by the public at large. I find then, quite a bit of irony that all this would go down as the world's largest gathering of astrologers takes place; a bit of information that is procured secondhand and that cannot be verified in any way at all for a public figure.

Lilly has got to be rolling over in his grave.

Coming up: If the Planets don't fit, you must acquit!

Salaam
Mu

Attack Of The Crones

2008-05-13T04:07:00.000-04:00

Attack Of The Crones

2:24 AM 05/13/2008 Tue

As the Moon Hour approaches, and as the Moon herself occupies the Sign of the Virgin Maiden, I thought it appropriate to opine on an exchange that took place within a wider discussion on the life and times of Senator and former First Lady - to say nothing of current Presidential Candidate - Hillary Rodham Clinton.

About a week ago, next door at the HA Forum, veteran astrologer Robert Blaschke posted up some thoughts on the seeming "inevitability" of Mrs. Clinton's political demise, at least in terms of this year's nomination contest. Mathematically, as the current situation stands, she cannot win, and as of yesterday, her chief rival, the young and charismatic Senator Barack Obama has officially surpassed Clinton in both pledged Delegates AND Superdelegates. Even if Clinton were to win all of the remaining primary contests in the country, it would not be enough, mathematically speaking, to turn back the tide.

But that wasn't Blaschke's focus; instead, he chose to focus on how Clinton has managed to morph herself time and again, into whatever character is needed in order to come out on top in electoral contests; most notably, and most recently, she has successfully transformed herself from a Wellsley grad and Ivy League-educated lawyer, to a whiskey-swilling around-the-way-gal - and it has worked, by any stastical measure. White working class voters - particularly the males - favor her in electoral contests by a factor of at least two to one.

Perhaps most damming of Blaschke's observations however - and which garnered the most howls of derision, which I will get to in a moment - was Clinton's overt shows of "manning up" in terms of Foreign Policy. As we all know, Clinton was an avid supporter of both the Iraq War and the nooks and crannies of the US Military system, as she is a member of the Armed Services Committee in the U.S. Senate. Moreover, her recent "oblierating" comments - said in response to a question as to what her response to an Iranian attack on Israel would be - has won her a solid majority of hawkish Democratic voters, again at a clear margin over Obama. Blaschke observes, that all of this - the constant morphing and changes Clinton has put herself through - has come at the price of her "femininity". This comes as no big whup to junkies of political science - it has always been known that any woman who aspires to the throne, literally or otherwise, has to be as tough *if not tougher* than any man; at least most. The history and facts, speak for themselves: Golda Mier, Indira Ghandi, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Angela Merkl and of course, the Iron Lady herself, Margaret Thatcher. Simply put, it is commonly accepted conventional wisdom that no woman has any real shot at becoming the leader of a major world power *unless* she's proven - or at the very least gives the very strong impression - that she can be a you know what, ala Glenn Close's character on Fox.

Oh no, he didn't. The elder statesmen in the astrology world (Blaschke) let loose a politically incorrect (that's a codeword for "true") comment in an overwhelmingly female - an over 40 years of age female, I might - environment (HA Forum boasts upwards of 6000 members, the majority female). And the ladies of HA where quite keen to let him know it.

Leading the charge was Ann Clancy, a budding professional astrologer in her own right. Her missives, dripping w/disgust, had at their center the proposition that Clinton still labors under the "Patriarchy" as a woman vying for the spot of top dog in a man's world. But worse, Ann contended, was the fact that "society" shows no love for what she called "the Crone". Indeed, to let Ann tell it, society is youth-obsessed, and has value for and interest in, younger gals in various states of undress, such as Brittney Spears or Linsday Lohan. The "wisdom" of an older woman isn't needed or wanted, so contends Ann, and is soon joined by a rousing chorus of others. And while Blaschke rightly and poignantly notes, that once a man has entered into the third and final phase of his life in an ever-changing, ever-increasingly competitive culture like the USA, his value greatly diminishes as well, it is of no consolation one bit to Ann and her forces. Nope, the Crone done got dissed, and there be Hell to pay for it, full stop.

It should be of no small surprise to those who regularly read my musings, why "the crone" is of interest to me.

Although the "crone" - or perhaps better known as the "hag" - has been around in myth and story for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and is pretty much universally deried as a malevolent figure, in our Revisionist, er, Reconstructionist era, she has been transformed into the equivalent of a female Solomon - the Wise Woman who is the keeper of the Mysteries of Life. Part of the Womanhood Cycle if you will, the Crone - the third and final stage - is to act as a kind of teacher and guide to th next generation of women coming along. She can impart hardwon wisdom to the young wife and mother, and general life guidance to the young maidens who have yet to be deflowered. At least, that's how the story, ahh, myth, goes.

And in truth, there is something to be said for all that - midwives were often older women who had been there, done that, and were quite helpful to younger gals have an easier go of it when having babies of their own - or, of disposing of inconvenient surprises. It seems that the "crones" were quite involved in, if not adept at, abortions too.

But that's another essay for another day.

Anyway, the "crones" of the family also had another highly useful function, which only recently seems to have completely disappeared off the landscape - they prepared younger women for not only motherhood but for marriage. Because while the fellas had the bachleor parties, the gals gathered around and shared "old wives tales" with the prospective bride, and cued her in on all that she could expect as a wife and mother. As is often the case in gynocentric concerns, much of this wisdom, real or imagined, isn't codified or written down - rather, it is handed down from mother to daughter through the ages orally, often in the form of andecdotes or stories. And, I have to say, there was much good to be had from those meetings that took place the night before the Big Day.

So, the question I have for the Anns of the world, who are convinced that Hillary Clinton is getting short shrift because she can't get her groove on, or back, as quick as Paris Hilton can, is this: what really *is* "the crone" worth in our world? What "wisdom" has she imparted to the next generation? If we use Clinton as the measuring stick - and by all accounts, given the number of votes she's garnered, to say nothing of the blockbuster bestseller status of her books, where one can find the oft-repeated African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child" - Clinton would be valid in that regard - what evidence can any of us point to, that "the crone" has proven her value?

Perhaps Kay Hymowitz has the answer. In her article Desperate Grannies, Hymowitz observes that today's "crone" has interests that aren't unlike those of the gals who are young enough to be her daughter, if not moreso. Perhaps that might explain, at least in part, *why* Brittney goes about with no undies on (and lets everyone know it), or why there's so many reports of teenage girls knocking each other out on YouTube. If the Crone sets the Tone (sorry, I couldn't resist) for the rest of the Sisterhood, then perhaps it *is* time that we all take a breath to assess what we're all really in for.

This is an important question and area of concern for Americans in particular. Born with some four planets in the Sign of Cancer, this is a country where its women will have more than the usual amount of say in its national and cultural life, to name just a few. For while the Anns of the world continue to bemoan the kicked-to-the-curbness of the "crone", the sales and social stats beg to differ.

For example, women live on average five to ten years longer than do men - which means, there'll be alot of "crones" around, as medical science continues to find ways to extend not only the duration but the quality of human life.

Here's another - women of all ages, and particularly those over 40, hold a virtual monopoly on the spending budgets of their households. If you don't believe me, consider where the bulk and mass of consumer advertising done on television is actually done. If you said in those hours between morning drive and dinnertime, you'd be right. As a general rule, guys aren't watching TV then.

And women enjoy federal legislation men can only dream of; there is no male VAWA; there is no male Breast, Cervical or Ovarian cancer initiatives, despite the fact that more men die as a direct result of Prostate cancer than women effected by the aforementioned combined. Ever paid a visit to an old folk's home recently? If you did, you'd notice pretty darn quick something that even Stevie Wonder could see - they're more women in residence than a little bit. Being old might not be great, but it's better than being dead, which is where most old guys end up. And there are no male Sexual Harrassment laws, even in the face of growing concerns about female teachers making strong passes at young male students and so on, and that's just for starters.

Finally, and this brings us round robin to the topic of our discussion at the outset, there's the Women's Vote. Or, should I say, there's the *older* Women's Vote - which explains why so many people over 50 support Clinton.

So, in closing, I should like to say, that Clinton is hardly experiencing some throwback timewarp of June Cleaver proportions, and neither are her "sisters" - those women of approximate age. But, as Hilton, Spears, and the female beatdown of the week, to name just a few continually shows us, The Crone's got some splainin' to do, Lucy.

If she's really serious about gettin' some respect.

Here's Hymowitz's article. Enjoy...

Salaam
Mu

Kay S. Hymowitz: Desperate Grannies

Baby boomer feminists say they want sex and self-actualization, new freedoms and 'Second Adulthoods.' They also might want to consider growing up.

03:15 PM CDT on Sunday, August 6, 2006

Time passes, and we get old. Our faces wrinkle, our hair goes gray and MIA, our teeth yellow, our knees ache, we forget the names of people we said hello to just yesterday on the way to pick up the Geritol, and there are days when a nap sounds real nice.

At least that's the way it's been for most of humanity. But rumors that boomers will be joining the great biological stream turn out to have been greatly exaggerated. Boomers – especially feminist-influenced women of a certain class who are now publishing their philosophy of life after 50 – will not be growing old. And it seems equally inaccurate to say that they will mature.

They are going to season, as Gail Sheehy puts it in her most recent book, Sex and the Seasoned Woman. They will "develop"; they will "grow." Ms. Sheehy and her sister scribes have come forward to tell you that today's older women are a new breed. They're busy, busy, busy! They go to the gym! They work in animal shelters! They travel! They get divorced! And, yes, (Yes! Yes!), they have orgasms!

And in their own inimitably modern, American, follow-your-bliss, self-absorbed way, they want to tell you all about it.

Not so long ago, enlightened women of the boomer generation were known for worrying about equal rights, equal pay, Roe vs. Wade, Title IX and the location of the Masters Golf Tournament. Today, not so much. As they shuffle off into their golden years, many appear to be turning inward. As the title of a catalog that arrived in my mailbox recently put it, they want "Time for Me" – time that appears to involve a lot of anti-aging formulas, herbal supplements, figure-shaping undergarments and vibrators.

Don't get me wrong. Boomer fems continue to be enemies of the patriarchy. They still want men to do the laundry. Their tone remains defiant. But their personal is no longer very political; even their political isn't very political. Nobody's putting it this way, but it seems that liberation politics have become irrelevant to what is now their most pressing concern, which – depending on your emphasis – is: how to bring meaning to their dwindling years, or how to avoid being mistaken for their grandmothers.

It probably should have been clear that Second Wave feminism would be changing direction a while ago. In 1992, Gloria Steinem, who just happened to be staring at 60 at the time, published Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem. With its talk of the inner child and "authentic selves," the book was a noticeable break from Ms. Steinem's usual menu of feminist topics. A year later, Betty Friedan gave us The Fountain of Age, in which she proposed that we consider the years past 50 not as a time to play golf and show off pictures of the grandchildren, but as "an additional stage of development," a time of further emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth.

But despite Ms. Steinem's and Ms. Friedan's legendary history as trendsetters, no one paid much attention at the time, doubtless because boomers, who had yet to receive their AARP cards in the mail, were still in a "what, me worry?" mode.

But now that Newsweek has made it official with a cover story announcing the first boomers' arrival at age 60, the signs of a revolution going inward are unmistakable.

"Our record is impressive," writes Suzanne Braun Levine in Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood. "We fought discrimination in the workplace and popularized the notion of family leave and flexible work schedules; we forced our way into institutions and professions and levels of leadership that even the most optimistic didn't dare predict. ... But for many, enough activism is enough. They want to stop fighting the system and invest their energies in themselves."

Ms. Levine takes the phrase "Second Adulthood" from Gail Sheehy. Ms. Sheehy, you may remember, mapped the "stages of adult development" in 1970 in her megahit Passages – though she stopped at age 50, because, at the time, the post-50 years didn't seem worth the price of ink. For obvious reasons, she has changed her mind, and in New Passages: Mapping Your Life Across Time, she has announced the discovery of Second Adulthood, a new "frontier" that encompasses the years from 45 to 85+. (Oh, the "passage" evoked by that "+"!)

Now, Second Adulthood does not – repeat not – suggest a decline. It does not bring inevitable loss, nor does it suggest that we should turn to the consolations of philosophy, religion or arthritis medication – because Second Adulthood is nothing like your grandmother's 50 or 60 or 70. According to Ms. Levine, Ms. Sheehy and the numerous coaches, therapists and lifestyle gurus who are banking on the idea, it is a thrilling time of growth and change, an exciting opportunity to redefine our lives and ourselves – "a second chance – to do it better, to do it differently, to do it wiser," in Ms. Levine's words.

The women of the Second Wave already were highly evolved – liberated yet sensitive, strong yet compassionate – but in Second Adulthood they are ascending into goddesshood. So profound are the changes that a woman goes through as she passes into Second Adulthood that she must first pass through what Ms. Sheehy has dubbed "Middlescence," a term that may sound to cynics suspiciously like "obsolescence" but is actually meant to stand for "midlife adolescence." Through the elixir of pop sociology, Ms. Sheehy offers boomers what they have most wished: They now can remain teenagers into old age.

The shape of midlife teen turmoil is well on display in Ms. Levine's Inventing the Rest of Our Lives, a book of such stunning banality it makes Ms. Sheehy look like Hannah Arendt. What's striking is that Ms. Levine is actually not only a woman of significant accomplishment but also one who has personified the feminist dream. She was the first editor in chief of Ms. and went on to helm Columbia Journalism Review. She has published in major magazines and serves on boards. She also has been married for decades to the same man, with whom she has raised two sons.

Yet in Inventing the Rest of Our Lives, she trembles like a wallflower. She worries about what to do with her life. She frets about how timid she has been in saying what she really thinks. There is not the remotest hint of the authority or insight that you'd expect to emerge after 35 years of successful struggle in the trenches of the New York publishing world and the post-sexual-revolution marriage culture. More striking, though she does not repudiate the feminism of her First Adulthood, there is no indication that the success it inspired did anything to bring her the satisfaction of a life well lived.

On the contrary. Like other Desperate Grandmas, she now sees careerism as a distraction from finding her "real self." In First Adulthood, say the acolytes of Second Adulthood, women figure out how to please the people who have power over them – parents, teachers, mates and bosses. But when they are in what Ms. Levine labels "The [Expletive] You Fifties," they need "no longer care what other people think, only what I think."

"If our 20s were about our physical peak and our 30s and 40s about work and productivity, after that it is about being and becoming you," Alexandra Mezey, a Second Adulthood life coach, promises on her Web site. Turning in your office keys can be "a chance to shift from work to the self, from responsibility to freedom," say Alice Radosh and Nan Bauer-Maglin in Women Confronting Retirement: A Nontraditional Guide .

Somehow, though, the word "retirement" seems inadequate to the task of describing what happens to Second Adulteers when they cash their last paycheck. The Greatest Generation retired; they took up hobbies, joined book clubs and went to lecture series near their Fort Lauderdale condos. Maybe they volunteered to read to poor kids at nearby schools.

But Desperate Grandmas don't retire. They "pursue the passionate life," in Ms. Sheehy's words. They "follow their dreams." Ms. Levine celebrates a human rights lobbyist who becomes a devotee of "Neuromuscular Integrative Action" (a trendy mishmash of martial arts, yoga and dance), a woman who is volunteering in an animal shelter, "a high-powered corporate executive" who at 55 joins the Peace Corps and goes to the Ivory Coast, and the psychologist Carol Gilligan, who is writing a novel: "Now 68, she has only just begun to explore new aspects of her talents."

The Desperate Grandma who really wants to pursue a passionate life might try something even more dramatic. She might file for divorce. Since the 1970s, Ms. Sheehy has been an enthusiastic promoter of the notion that divorce is not the tragedy once imagined but rather a fabulous opportunity for growth. A 50 percent divorce rate and the heavy damage inflicted on legions of children haven't dampened her enthusiasm.

Ms. Sheehy eagerly cites a study showing two-thirds of divorces among couples over 40 initiated by women. That's because women, like men, "love the freedom that being single brings – citing independence, getting to keep their houses however they want and not having to compromise with another person." Sex is at the center of the passionate life of the Desperate Grandma. When they were young, boomers famously discovered female sexual pleasure. Now they are discovering that the fun never ends. Along with Sex and the Seasoned Woman, we are seeing a slew of books about sex and the 60-something, including Still Doing It, Better Than I Ever Expected, Jane Juska's A Round-Heeled Woman and Erica Jong's latest orgasm dispatch, Seducing the Demon – all of them filled with examples of how today's hip grandmothers are spending their leisure time.

Ms. Jong and Ms. Juska write only about themselves, but the other writers go out hunting for horny females of a certain age interested in discussing their sex lives with a stranger. They find hordes of them.

Part of what is driving all of this early geriatric ink-spilling are the altered demographic realities of Americans living longer and staying healthier. There are 37 million women in their 40s, 50s and 60s living in America today, many of them single and many of them financially independent. With more affluence, better health care and advanced medical technology – Viagra, hip and knee replacements, Viagra, hormone therapy, face lifts, silicone, tummy tucks, hair color, Viagra – it's now a cinch to fool Mother Nature.

Not so long ago, Yankelovich Inc. surveyed baby boomers, asking them when they believe old age begins. The most common answer was 85 – three years after the average American can expect to be dead and buried. In a world where a 60-year-old woman can give birth and the biological narrative – you're born, you reproduce, you get old and you die – has gone haywire, inevitably some people will imagine that old age is history.

And that's not an altogether bad thing. There is something supremely American about these aging boomer women. Freedom, possibility, frontier, change – you see these words over and over again in Second Adulthood tracts. Second Adulthood reflects a zest for experience, for the new, for the personal gumption that is rooted in our national character and that has been the source of many of our blessings.

It also would be curmudgeonly not to admire the energy and young-as-you-feel verve that Ms. Sheehy and her ilk want to bring to growing old. Who can entirely resist such determined optimism in the face of the harshest of realities? Yes, women might lose their memories, but they "gain insight." Yes, their stomachs fold into accordion pleats and their upper arms sag like forgotten balloons, but they know better than any Jennifer Aniston wannabe how to please a man.

No, what grates about the Desperate Grandmas is not their optimism. It's their enthusiastic display of that chronic boomer disease: narcissism. Tom Wolfe once dubbed the 1970s "the Me Decade." Desperate Grandmas seem determined to make every decade a Me Decade.

With its consciousness-raising, its denigration of family life, its rejection of the past, feminism has always flirted with excessive individualism, bordering on mere selfishness. Now, as Second Wavers like Ms. Steinem and Ms. Levine filter out politics, what's left of graying feminism are the dregs of self-actualization, passionate pursuits and sexual self-expression.The memoirs by Ms. Jong and Ms. Juska in particular illustrate how feminism's narcissistic promotion of self-actualization makes it particularly ill-suited for women – no matter what their politics – who are racing toward the day when they will become deeply and humbly dependent on the kindness and love of others. Narcissism is the last thing a society needs from its graying population. Their job is in part to counter youthful egotism, especially in an individualistic society like ours.

No one should understand better than those getting on in years our dependency on one another. And no one should have a stronger intuition of our own fundamental inconsequentiality. We "fill a slot for a time and then move out; that's the decent thing to do: make room," John Updike's Harry Angstrom muses in Rabbit at Rest.

Desperate Grandmas may not need to move out yet. But it would be decent – quaint word! – if they would make some room.

Kay S. Hymowitz is a contributing editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal (www.city-journal.org), from whose new issue this article is adapted. Her e-mail address is editor@city-journal.org.

© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co.

An Astrological Meeting With The Merovingian

2008-05-11T01:03:00.000-04:00

An Astrological Meeting With The Merovingian

11:48 PM 05/10/2008 Sat

The Matrix Reloaded, without a doubt one of the most successful films ever made and a pop cultural fixture, contains two of my favorite cinematic scenes: one is the first meeting between Neo and Seraph (which serves as a most compelling metaphor for astrologers and the need to what I like to call "qualify the client" - but that's another lecture for another day), and the other, is the epic meeting between our heroes Neo, Trinity and Morpheous, and a truly interesting character called The Merovingian.

As I'm sure you will recall, Neo is told by the Oracle that he and his friends must find and liberate the Keymaker from the clutches of the Merovingian, and to place the Keymaker into position at a specific location at a specific time; however, as is born out in the meeting with Merovingian, the three do not know *why* they must have the Keymaker. Without knowing *why*, our heroes don't really have any hope of having any power to effect change.

This classic meeting (and I just LOVED the Merovingian character!) in one of Hollywood's most successful sequels on record, is a deeply profound metaphor and lesson for us astrologers, for in many very real ways, we are not unlike the Merovingian - like him, we too are traffickers in information, and we make it our business to know everything about the heavens that we can. Yet, as I have found in
my travels throughout the astrological landscape, it appears evident that not many astrologers really know *why* their clients come to see them.

And to make matters worse, many people who approach astrologers, seem at best fuzzy on *why* they want to have their horoscope done; when asked, many will respond with vague answers, if any at all, while others will give misleading responses. If the astrologer is not clear on what to look for as to *why* a client approaches him/her, and if the client isn't sure *why* they are sitting in the chair at the astrologer's desk, what are the chances that this "epic" meeting will yield any results which result in real change?

In his immortal work, the Brihat Samhita, the 6th century Indian astrological savant Varamihira gives what he considers are the qualifications of those who would become astrologers; among them is the line "a knower of time and place". The Merovingian, indeed!

Over the years, I have learned that it is of the utmost importance for the astrologer to first, get clear on *why* he or she is doing astrological work; to what end, for what purpose; and then, when taking clients, to not only do their homework in preparation for the consultation, but to ask the client one very simple question:

Why are you here?

This is important, for the answer the client gives can, and often will, determine to what extent the meeting between client and astrologer will yield practical, impactful results in the days, weeks and months ahead. Here the old, tried and true Horary maxim applies: a muddled question will yield a muddled response. Clarity of purpose, intent, of thinking and approach, are key.

But of course, there will be times when the client will not be able to have as clear a head as the astrologer will like, or, indeed, may be covering over concerns that are too sensitive to put out there on the spot in such naked a fashion. It is in these circumstances, that the astrologer must be prepared to clear the clutter so to speak, and to be able to ferret out the *why* that the client is there in front of them.

There are quite a few methods to do this of course - as any astrologer knows by now, get ten astrologers together, get ten astrological approaches! - but here is one that I've found very, very helpful that can get right to the point, in almost every instance.

And that focuses on the shrewd use of a very simple tool - Transits.

As we all know, a transit refers to the ongoing movement in the sky of the planets through the heavens that we call the Zodiac. It is a method that is old as astrology itself yet in many ways, they are applied in what can only be described as sloppy ways. Here is how one astrologer makes use of the transits to great effect on a birthchart, to determine the *why* a person approaches me for my assessment of the events in their life.

The Outer Planets - Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - are so called because they exist beyond the orbit of Saturn, the "end of the line" planet used by astrologers classically. In my Western astrological work, the Outers have proved indispensible in aiding me spot, "with the quickness" the hotspots of the chart, and to determine to what degree of importance the meeting with the client will be. Because these planets move so slowly through the Zodiac, their making contact with significant points in the horoscope represent major life milestones - a once in a lifetime kind of thing - and as such, call the client's attention to whatever planet is making the contact to whatever natal planet or point in the chart.

Here, I focus the Outers in transit in relation to the client's Angles - the Asc, IC, Dsc and MC - as well as to the client's Lights - the Sun and Moon - and if I find any hard aspects being made, I can then tell immediately what's going on and subsequently, *why* the client comes to see me. Almost without any prep at all, I have a very good basis for meaningful conversation with the client - although of course, a Tropical Capricorn Rising individual like myself, would dot all the I's and cross the T's before the client comes for a sitdown!

But the point is made - the Outers in relation to the Lights and/or Angles of the chart, really sets the tone as to how important the client's visit is likely to be. For all of the "pyrotechnics" of today's computer-assisted astrological wizardry, it really is as simple as that. Most of life's profoundities, usually are.

By now, the astrologer should be well acquainted with the meaning symbolically, of the Outers: Uranus, individuation; Neptune, idealization/rationalization; and Pluto, perspective/empowerment. Keeping these simple "pictures" in mind in relation to the Lights or Angles of the chart, intuitively guides the astrologer's hand from there.

The Matrix series of films is a huge hit among the Astrological Set, and rightly so; study the Merovingian scene well, my colleagues and dear readers. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Salaam
Mu

Quick Post-Primary Clinton/Obama Notes: NC, IN

2008-05-07T04:02:00.000-04:00

Quick Post-Primary Clinton/Obama Notes: NC, IN

3:35 AM 05/07/2008 Wed

And so it was: with nearly all of the votes counted, the North Carolina and Indiana Primaries were a "split decision", with Barack Obama winning handily in the former, thanks almost entirely to the formidable Black Vote, by a 56% to 42% margin, while Hillary Clinton wins Indiana by a hair - 51% to 49%.

By all accounts, this is the Final Chapter for Clinton, who had hoped for a big win in Indiana, and to keep the game close in North Carolina, her only remaining legitimate case she can make to the Superdelegates. But with such a poor showing in Indiana tonight, it's hard to see how the remaining Primary contests will be of any real help to her in terms of the popular vote or pledged delegates; surely, tonight's election results will cause yet more Superdelegates to switch sides. The simple mathematical facts don't help Clinton; the momentum is clearly on Obama's side.

Throughout this Campaign Season, interested readers know that I have relied in the main on the birthdata for the candidates that have at their base, a good degree of uncertainty; I have stretched my astrological skills, awareness and experience to the limit in an attempt to capture the symbols and their relevance to their lives, and I have to say, that, so far, so good!

There are two very brief astrological notes, in light of tonight's decisive chapter in this year's campaign, in the following manner:

Hillary Clinton has SA Sun=Uranus/Neptune building now, and will be exact Jul 2008. It is an augury of diminished status, being off-trackpassed over, kicked to the curb. It is partile just after the official end of the campaign, the final stop being in Puerto Rico where Clinton is said to win - but it will be a Pyrric victory. And Sun=Venus/Saturn in Aug 2008, at the same time as the Convention in Denver, does't look good for Hillary and her supporters either. The question at this juncture is - how will Hillary respond to defeat, after such a long, hard fought campaign?

Barack Obama, for his part, has been struggling to come out from under SA Venus=Saturn/Pluto, exact last month, as the "Pastor Disaster" continues to dog him - tonight's voters, roughly half in both states, openly declared their concern over the Rev. Wright issue. In the 1st house, Venus plays a most important role for Obama, in terms of his popularity and ability to appeal to the public. However, this same Venus appears to be strong indeed - at the Aries Point, right up front in the Asc, and in Mutual Reception with the exalted Taurus Moon, who itself has been beseiged by the transit square from Neptune in as many weeks, nevertheless, this Venus position appears to be strong enough to weather the storms of controversy, and indeed, if tonight is any indication, it has.

I should also like to note that word on the wires has it that Obama's birthtime has been confirmed, and is scheduled for release to the general public soon. As my interested readers know well, Obama's birthtime has never been confirmed, the closet thing astrologers having to it being the unclear word of a now deceased fixture of the astrology community, Frances McEvoy. In the weeks and months since her demise, several birthtimes, based on the varied rectification attempts by astrologers, have surfaced, mine among them. To date, so far as I'm aware, I am the only astrologer who advocates for an early morning birth, with a late degree Gemini Asc. All of my writings on Obama to date, have been based on this birth time, and thus far, it has stood up well to the most rigorous of testing. But in light of yesterday's breaking news, the biggest test is yet to come. How close did this astrologer get, to the truth of Obama's moment of entering this world?

The answer, so says one who is close to the source, is due in just about two weeks from now. When it does become available, I will be sure to post it here.

Stay tuned...

Salaam
Mu

The Reverand Jeremiah Wright Speaks

2008-04-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

The Reverand Jeremiah Wright Speaks

8:39 PM 04/27/2008 Sun

In a truly electrifying speech just delivered at the annual NAACP Dinner at Detroit MI, the Reverand Jeremiah A. Wright, Senator Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor, outlined his views on the differences between Black and White in terms of grammer, learning styles, musical tastes and expression and more, all the while delineating the tradition of the Black Church and how that tradition enriches the overall American Tradition. The speech was carried live and in its entirety, unedited and uncut, on CNN and was attended by no less than a sellout crowd of an estimated 10,000 people.

In what can only be described as a display of amazing astrological precision, Rev. Wright took the podium after an amazing introduction by Rev. Anthony at 7.49PM, Sun Apr 27 2008 at Detriot, yielding an Asc of 1 Sco 28. This Sign should be familiar with frequent readers of my missives, for it is the very same Asc Sign of the chart that I have contended for some time now, that most represents the Aftrican American community, to which I refer as the "Black America" chart, based on the astro-historical work of noted astrologer Marc Penfield, given as Aug 30 1619 10.15AM LMT at Jamestown VA. The Asc in this map is 4 Sco 21, only a mere few degrees away from the Asc Sign of the speech tonight.

The speech chart also contains a newly ingressed Moon, having just moved into Aquarius at 1 Aqr 13, squaring the Asc. The chart of the United States has its natal Moon in the same Sign position. This in my view is another astrological reflection of Wright's attempt to bridge the racial divide and to give more context to his much repeated soundbite statements, including the infamous "Goddamn America!" remark.

What is also remarkable to note, is the position of Mercury in this map - the closest aspect in the entire chart is a sextile between Mercury and Uranus - and Mercury forms three other APPLYING aspects: Mercury sextile Mars in Cancer in the 9th; Mercury trine Jupiter in Capricorn in the 3rd; and Mercury square Neptune in the 4th.

Pluto has moved by retrograde motion back to 00 Cap 59, precisely upon the Aries Point; this mundane transit of the strongest of the standard astrological planets we astrologers use holds special meaning for Americans, for Pluto was discovered in America, and Pluto in Capricorn, returns to its "birth" placement in the chart of the United States of America. It is the opinion of this astrologer, that Pluto is exalted in Capricorn, since it is the "higher octave" of Mars, and accounts in part for the USA's tremendous wealth (Pluto in Cap in the 2nd house), prestige and power. But it also accounts for its continuing struggle to reconcile its racial past, the Black and the White - for the USA was born of its founding document, the Declaration of Independence - where it defined both the equality of Man, and the second-class citizenship of its African slaves, officially recognizing them as three-fifths of a man.

Astrologers recognize the principle of planets returning to their birth place; things have come "full circle" as it were; the circle is now complete. It is only fitting, as the nation seriously contemplates possibly electing its first African American President, that Pluto would return to the very place it was born at the birth of our nation. And it was no accident that that same man - Barack Obama - would give what many agree was the speech of his political career, in the days following the Wright scandal, in the nation's birthplace, Philadelphia - a SCORPIO city.

Pluto without a doubt rules the the Wright speech chart's Asc; could it be possible, that it also could BE Wright's personal Asc ruler? Afterall, Wright was a Marine, and the USMC was born with its Sun in SCORPIO.

This has been a whirlwind weekend for the Reverand, who appeared on the Bill Moyers program for an extended interview for the first time since his comments were first aired last month and created such a furor. Then, Rev. Wright made a number of high level appearances which will culminate tomorrow with an address at the National Press Club at Washington DC. CSPAN has reported that they will be carrying the proceedings live beginning at 9AM EDT.

The Reverand Jeremiah A. Wright was born on Sep 22 1941 at Philadelphia, again, a Scorpionic city. Wrights birthdate astrology is defined in the main by a Sun-Neptune conjunction in Virgo; a Moon-Mercury conjunction in Libra, both opposed Mars in Aries; Venus in Scorpio square Pluto in Leo; and, as astrologer Robert Blaschke astutely notes in quoting the work and research of the late great British astrological giant Charles Carter, Wright has one of the "Sacred Six" aspects of high intelligence - his Sun, no matter what Sign it may be in, is closely trine Uranus in Gemini. Wright is the holder of multiple degrees and honorary degrees, and is said to be fluent in at least five languages.

So, we return to the question: could Wright have a Scorpio Asc? If so, it would place his birth between say, 8 and 10AM or so. His Sun at 6AM is in the final minutes of Virgo, an energy that speaks to refinement and discrimination - perfect for a scholar. On the other hand, if the Sun shifts to the Sign of Libra, it would join the Moon there, and would signal a focus on eloquence, concensus building and coalition seeking, which would seem to be a bit out of joint with what we know of Wright via the media coverage of him in recent weeks.

If we consider a 9.45AM birthtime for Wright, we would get a 15 Sco 19 Asc and a 24 Leo 54 MC - which puts it right in line with the current Neptune transit at 24 Aquarius. Neptune movements to the Angles and Lights to one's chart in the political arena often speaks to scandals of one kind or another bustin' loose. If we consider the Solar Arcs for this time-adjusted test chart, we can see SA Asc=Mars, which will be exact in July 2008, and which suggests a robust, fighting spirit. Clearly, by all accounts, Wright has been really chomping at the bit to get his side of the story out and boy, he's been doing just that this entire weekend. Note SA Mercury=Sun exact this month!

This Scorpio Asc option would place Pluto in Leo in the 9th House of Religion & Higher Education, perfect for what we know about Wright. And in this option, the Sun remains in the final degree of Virgo, still in conjunction with Neptune (which explains his time in the Navy, transferring from the Marines, as well as his potential scandal in recent weeks).

And, we have to note that Pluto movements, by transit or arc, to the Angles or Lights, often brings the potential for prominence before the public in some way; keep in mind that part of my reasoning for suggesting the early morning timestamp for Barack Obama was based on the fact that, at the time of his "coming out" before the American public at the 2004 Democratice Convention at Boston, transit Pluto was square his proposed MC. For both Obama and Wright, transit Pluto would be in full force in terms of their respective horoscopes, thrusting them both into the limelight of public noteriety and scrutiny. For Obama, transit Pluto hovers back and forth in opposition to his proposed late Gemini Asc and early, all-important Venus in Cancer; for Wright, transit Pluto will square his late degree Virgo Sun all this year.

This test chart also forms some really strong ties to the Black America chart, putting Wright's test Asc almost exactly on the BA Mars and tightly opposed the BA Moon-Pluto conjunction, squaring the BA Venus; his proposed Asc ruler, Pluto, would be conjunct the BA MC; his Venus would be conjunct the BA Asc; his Sun-Neptune conjunction would be conjunct the BA Mercury (giving voice to the thoughts and feelings of many African Americans); and, most interestingly, if this time option is anywhere near correct, say, within an hour or two, that Black America's Neptune, at 8 Libra, sits right on Wright's Sun/Moon midpoint! Hmm.

Of course, the question now has to be, what, if any, political fallout from Wright's speech tonight, and his media appearances these past few days, will mean for Obama's campaign? The North Carolina GOP plans to air what they call the "Extreme" ad, which features Wright's "Goddamn America!" YouTube snippet, starting on Apr 29.

As mentioned earlier elsewhere on this blog, Obama is still grinding it out under SA Venus=Saturn/Pluto, while Pluto by transit moves back ever closer in opposition to his Asc degree point. If we compare the charts of these two men, we note that Obama's Neptune exactly conjoins Wright's Venus, and Wright's proposed Asc opposes Obama's Taurus Moon, and more, much, much more.

I could be very wrong, but I don't think this appearance, and the weekend overall, won't be as injurious as some pundits might suggest. In May, Wright will have SA Mars=Sun/Neptune, and SA Venus=Uranus, pictures that suggest considerable charisma and popularity. Now that the nation has had the chance to view Wright in a more fuller way, I don't think he will be as hurtful to Obama's chances in the final weeks of the primary campaign.

Finally, a quick consideration of the chart of the NAACP, which was found 99 years ago on Feb 12 1909 - Abraham Lincoln's birthday - at New York City. At noon, the Asc is at 15 Gem 25, with an Aquarian Sun and a Scorpio Moon, at 13 degrees. By now the ties accross all these charts should become quite obvious to even the most casual astrological observer. And even more interestingly, transit Neptune sits right on the NAACP Sun, and transit Uranus applies to square the Mars-Pluto axis in the NAACP chart.

Salaam
Mu

Chi-Town: 21st Century War Zone

2008-04-27T01:42:00.000-04:00

Chi-Town: 21st Century War Zone

10:20 PM 04/26/2008 Sat

The nation's Windy City has been wracked with unbelievable levels of gun and gang related violence recently; so much so, that Chicago's Police Department has been issued M4 carbine assault rifles - the same weapons used by SWAT teams and the US Marines. In just the past week alone, some FOURTY shootings have occured, leaving a dozen dead. In the past year, upwards of 60 students have been killed.

According to Wikipedia, the City of Chicago was incorporated on Mar 4 1837. Using a noontime mark, we get an Asc of 4 Can 38, the Sun at 14 Pis 00 and the Moon at 14 Aquarius 44. The Asc Sign gives us a strong clue as to what ails the Windy City.

For this Sign, Cancer, is the place where Mars has been spending an inordinate amount of time, entering its Fall in Oct of last year, turning retrograde in motion toward the end of that year (2007), and re-entering Cancer again last month, immediately opposing Pluto in Capricorn. At present Mars continues its sojourn of Cancer at 23 degrees, and will finally conclude its transit next month. Mars, representing both guns and young men, has been "living" in Chicago's 1st house for more than six months. And as we astrologers know well, anything in a chart's 1st house is always an "upfront" concern.

It's also interesting to note, that in the Chicago horoscope, Mars is conjunct Jupiter, both in Leo and both Rx. Getting away with murder, bigtime.

Checking the Windy City's Solar Arcs for this year, we find SA Sun=Pluto exact in June, and SA Mars=Sun/Uranus, exact in August. Transit Mars will be moving through Chicago's natal Mars location, Leo. It is an augury of a long, hot Summer indeed.

While a beefed-up police department grapples with an out of control homicide rate, theories abound as to the source of the city's problems; where is all this crime coming from?

Social science academics, community organizers, activists and clergy all seem to agree, that the mammoth highrise housing projects, like the imfamous Cabrini Green, which both housed the vicious gangs and isolated them and thousands of the city's African American population, has now been unleashed on the South and West sides of the city in the months since their demolition. Columbia sociologist Sudhir Ventakash writes eloquently about the complex and often deadly gang networks in Chicago's highrise project culture, in his book Gangleader For A Day. Voices on all sides note that these events, coupled with chronically high unemployment, poor performing schools and Third World living conditions all add up to an attitude of despair and a kind of case-hardened bitterness - all of the ingredients one needs to make a gang of very angry young men. Even killers.

According to the Wikipedia entry, Chicago's had to contend with high crime rates several times in its history, and gives us astrologers material with which to track cycles astrologically.

For example, in 1974, with a city population of more than three million people, Chicago's homicide rate was 970, or 29 per 100,000 people. Checking our ephemeris for that year, we note that Mars and Saturn were forming a conjunction in early Cancer in May, while both square Pluto; the former conjunction was sitting precisely on the noontime Asc for the Windy City, while Pluto square the same. SA Saturn=Moon Jan 74, SA Sun=Mars/Pluto Jan 74, SA MC=Neptune Feb 74, SA Moon=Mars/Saturn Aug 74.

Another major crime wave hit Chi-Town in 1992, with 943 murdered, or 34 per 100,000 Chicagoans. This period of time is like a dog whistle to astrologers, for it was this time that the epic Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn was forming in the heavens, at the same time that Mars was once again in Cancer - and just like now, it was spending a good bit of time there, due to its being Rx. In Chicago's chart, Pluto is at 14 Aries and thus was squared by transit Uranus at the same time transit Mars squared it as well, in the Fall of that year in particular. Transit Saturn was going over the Chicago Moon and building up its square to the city's natal Saturn position at 17 Scorpio - the city authorities and administration. Please note that this position is also Rx (this, along with the Sign position of Saturn, suggests a high degree of corruption, "pay to play", etc.). Checking the Solar Arcs for that year, we find SA Neptune=Mars/Pluto in Jan, and SA Pluto=Moon in Feb.

So, we find a recurring pattern of violence and death for the Windy City - Mars, Saturn and Pluto are clearly involved, along with Neptune, underworld activity. The Noontime Asc of 4 Cancer seems to be responsive to transits, and, most importantly, Mars' transit of Cancer seems to play an important role in this city's ebb and flow with regard to its crime levels.

Knowing all of this, we can then project ahead into the near future for Chicago along homicidal lines...

Prediction: Chicago's Crime Wave Escalates Over Next Two Years
With an established astro-pattern of crime and violence for Chicago, the short term future for the city does not look bright. Beginning in the Fall of 2009 we can expect the crime rate to rise, yet again in the Windy City, as transit Mars enters Cancer yet again, conjuncting the Chicago noontime Asc, at the same time that transit Pluto has been moving in and out of orb range in opposition to that same all-important Asc Sign and degree. SA Mars=MC Dec 2009, while transit Mars in Leo, slowing down to prepare to go Rx, squares Chicago's Saturn.

Then, beginning in Jan of 2010 and continuing throughout the first half of the year, we note that transit Saturn will square, and transit Pluto will oppose, the Chicago Asc, while transit Mars, now Rx in Leo, moves to square the city's Saturn and oppose the city's Moon, in Jan and again in May of that year. The key period may very well be Apr-Jun 2010, when SA Pluto=Saturn comes into focus. The city administration will be stretched to its limits in its efforts to stem the tide of murder and mayhem on the Windy City's streets.

We'll see.

Salaam
Mu

The Astrology Of Planned Parenthood

2008-04-27T01:41:00.000-04:00

The Astrology Of Planned Parenthood

11:52 PM 04/26/2008 Sat

Fox News Channel has been airing a series of reports that Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of family planning services to women, is patently racist in its practices, with the bulk of its offices placed in inner city environments. A team of college students had called a series of Planned Parenthood offices posing as donors. In one taped conversation in particular, a student, again posing as a donor, specifically requests that his donation be earmarked for use with African American women, because, he states in the phone call, he doesn't want his kids to have to compete with Black kids who will most likely make use of Affirmative Action laws. "The fewer Black kids the better", he says, and on the receiving end of the call, a higher up in the Planned Parenthood organization, chuckles and says "Understandable", and assures him that such a donation can be made, with promises of it being used in that way.

After these and other taped phone conversations were aired on Fox News, Planned Parenthood sent out written press statements saying that personnell involved in the phonecalls were reprimanded, but refused to be interviewed by Fox News reporters.

If it's one thing in American Politics that's more explosive than Race, its Abortion, and here the two intertwine in a way that is troubling. The astrological ties are just as striking.

Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, seen by many as one of the most important figures in the Women's Movement. A tireless supporter of birth control and seeing that women have the power to decide when, if ever, they have babies, Sanger was arrested numerous times for her advocacy in this regard. According to the Astrodatabank, Sanger was born on Sep 14 1879 2.30AM LMT at Corning NY; Placidus 13 Leo 43. Her chart does indeed reflect her interests as an activist and advocate - the Leo Moon rises in the Asc, and squares a Mars-Pluto conjunction in Taurus in the 10th; the Virgo Sun also trines this same conjunction.

But its also been noted that Sanger was a virulent racist, who supported eugenics-based ideas to limit or prevent the breeding of "undesirables" in American society, namely those of African descent. Her meeting with the Women's Auxillary of the Ku Klux Klan is the stuff of legend, and gives much fuel to the fires of many African American and other pro-life supporters that Sanger, and by extension Planned Parenthood, has but one major goal, the decimation, if not outright genocide, of African Americans.

It should be noted that, per capita, it has been reported that African American women have a higher abortion rate than White women of same age, and again, that there are more Planned Parenthood offices located in areas where large numbers of African Americans live.

The 9th house governs all matters related to Race, one's attitude and outlook on these fronts. A difficult 9th house is often seen in the charts of those who hold bigoted or racist views. When we inspect Sanger's chart in this regard, we find that she had Saturn in its fall in Aries and Rx, Peregrine (Tyl), unaspected in the horoscope! This means that since it is not connected into the rest of the chart, it "acts out" much like a bucking bronco; it is the tail that wags the dog.

Hmm.

Saturn's dispositor is Mars, itself classically detrimented by being in Taurus, and conjunct Pluto; as noted earlier, they both square the all-important Moon position in Leo. Often, the charts of racists and bigots have either planets in the 9th and/or their rulers under stress in the form of hard aspects, etc. Clearly, the astrological evidence in regard to Sanger's views racially are quite substantial.

Sanger founded the first ever family planning and birth control clinic on Oct 16 1916, in Brooklyn NY; from there, she would form another wider organization, and finally, Planned Parenthood. It is this date in my view, that the astrologer can use to gain a greater insight into Planned Parenthood as we know it today.

Setting the chart for Noon at Brooklyn, with an Asc of 19 Sag 26, we find several key astro-signatures befitting the organization's purpose: the waning Moon in late Gemini is both declinationally out of bounds, and at the Mars=Saturn midpoint!!! In my survey of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision, which granted women in the United States the right to Abortions, I noted a similar configuration:

"The Roe v. Wade decision came down on Jan 22, 1973 in Washington DC, according to a Google internet search. No time is known, so the time I used is set for Noon (Plac 16 Tau 24). In that map, Venus rules the Asc and is placed in the 9th Peregrine (unaspected, dominating the horoscope in terms of its symbolism - clearly, this represents women) with Jupiter in the 9th (Supreme Court) square Uranus in Libra in the 6th (Jupiter-Uranus anything connotes technology, in this case, reproductive techology; this period also saw, among other things, "The Pill", etc.; The Uranus-in-Libra period saw massive upheavals in the American social, marital and particularly familial fabric that we are only now beginning to comprehend), and, the event is defined in the main by the t-square of Moon-Mars-Saturn, the Moon in the 5th, square the Mars-Saturn axis. This aspect, then - Moon=Mars/Saturn - is the abortion signature in astrological terms. The Moon is in the universal Sign of Health matters, Virgo, and classically, the Moon in Virgo was not considered a particularly fertile Sign. The Mars-Saturn emphasis suggests "matters of death", and abortion is indeed the willful termination of a pregnancy."

The Astrology of Roe v. Wade: Three Decades Later Jan 23 2005 entry, muminspeaks.blogspot.com

Clearly, the Moon represents fecundity and birthing, infants and babies; its condition in the chart of a woman will give strong clues as to her ability to and approach toward, being a mother. Classically, the Sign Gemini is not favorable in this regard, and this is the Sign position of the Planned Parenthood Moon in late Gemini.

Also of note in the Planned Parenthood astrology, is the Venus position in Virgo, its fall, and ruling the 5th house - children. Virgo is considered one of the worst Signs insofar as fertility is concerned, and we have to note an ominous pattern repeating itself here - Venus is Peregrine (Tyl) and placed in the 9th house!!!-mirroring Sanger's runaway Saturn, also fallen, in her 9th. And, please note the ruler of the 9th, Mercury, in Mututal Reception with Venus, and also square Pluto, the planet of reproduction, big business, big politics, and Race. Its also interesting to note that the PP Uranus position is opposed Sanger's Asc; Jupiter, ruler of PP's Sag Asc sits atop her MC; and PP's Mars opposes Sanger's Mars and Pluto, squaring her Leo Moon. Also of note for Planned Parenthood: AP=Moon/Pluto and Mars=Venus/Uranus - and the fact that, as of fiscal year ending 2006, Planned Parenthood received some $300MIL in government money.

As mentioned earlier, African American women have a higher rate of abortions than their White counterparts; when we consider the astrology of Black America, predicated on the horoscopic beginning when the first African slaves were offloaded at Jamestown on Aug 30 1619 at 10.15AM LMT, astrology comes through yet again in confirming what is widely believed and reported. Please note the strong Moon-Pluto conjunction in Taurus in the Black America chart, with both opposed Mars in Scorpio, rising in the Scorpio Asc! Neptune is ruler of the Black America 5th house, its birthrate and parenting approach, and here we can see it on the cusp of the 12th house, while also sextile the 12th's ruler, Venus, at the apex of the chart and square the Moon/Pluto-Mars axis. Please note the following midpoint picture in the Black America that is highly pertinent for this discussion: Moon+Mars=Saturn/Neptune!

Turning now to the synastric ties between Planned Parenthood and Black America, we find many, many strong connections, only a few of which I will mention here. PP's Asc opposes BA's Saturn; PP's MC conjuncts BA's Neptune; PP's Jupiter, and keep in mind please, is its Asc ruler, is opposed BA's Asc (and in the same Sign as Black America's Asc ruler, Taurus - MONEY; again, it receives more than 300 million in gov't aid); PP's Venus sits on BA's Sun; PP's Uranus opposes BA's Venus and squares the BA Moon/Pluto-Mars axis, and much, much more. It seems that the charges levelled against Planned Parenthood mentioned above, has astrological legs.

With the 2008 Presidential campaign now coming down to the wire, with both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both being strong supporters of "a woman's right to choose" this issue looks to explode all over the place, as it deepens the polarities between two of America's two principal special interest groups - (White) Women, and African Americans. How is this likely to play itself out?

Going back to Planned Parenthood's chart, we note that the story about the phonecalls and the like broke on Fox News this month; in the ephemeris we can see that transit Uranus has just passed square to the PP Asc, and as transit Neptune sits on Planned Parenthood's Sun/Moon midpoint(!) - a vivid witness of the scandal that envelopes the nation's premiere abortion provider. And, later this year, just in time for an October Surprise, transit Saturn moves to square the Planned Parenthood Asc at the same time transit Uranus makes its second pass in square to that same Asc.

Prediction: Look for more headlines regarding Planned Parenthood, especially from Labor Day on through the rest of the Fall, highlighting the Presidential General Elections. Whoever emerges as the nominee on the Democratic side will be pressed to answer to charges of deepseated racism on the part of Planned Parenthood, and how they can justify its high government financial support. Expect more protests along these lines, by a coalition of Black activists, pro-life religious groups, and Conservative politicians, which are likely to be quite boisterous. As Saturn rules the 2nd house in the Planned Parenthood chart and holding its Uranus, we can expect the support its getting to be the primary target.

Salaam
Mu

Ain't Mis-Behavin': An Open Letter To Maurice Fernandez

2008-04-22T03:55:00.000-04:00

Ain't Mis-Behavin': An Open Letter To Maurice Fernandez
mumin_bey@yahoo.com, myspace.com/muminbey

2:48 AM 04/22/2008 Tue

As the torch is passed from the Baby Boomer generation of astrologers to the GenXers, as we are called and beyond (the much ballyhooed "Millennials"), an interesting contrast emerges; one side of the new bunch seems enamoured with an astrology from a more ancient and some would say, elegant, age, the Hellenists; and on the other side, we have the "Evolutionaries", as I like to call them.

Of course, what I am referring to is is the form or style of astrology popularly called Evolutionary Astrology, a term originally coined, ironically enough, by Financial astrology specialist Raymond Merriman, but has been adopted by astrological legends Jeff Green and Steven Forrest. These two men have formulated their own principles and concepts, cobbled together from a patchwork of Eastern philosophies and spiritual disciplines, and is now quite popular in the astrology community today.

For some time I was curious to get to actually interact with this bunch, since both Forrest and Green seem to be elusive men, and besides, what interested me more was whether the "new generation" of "EAs" as they are known, would have anything to offer on the topic, as well as to engage in some hard question and answer with regard to their technique. As you might guess, I soon found out.

Maurice Fernandez is perhaps the better known of the GenXer lot of EAs; he lectures quite a bit, has a burgeoning website and has a book out, though I cannot say for certain how popular that is. It seems that Dave Roell over at the Astrology Center for America, perhaps the country's largest seller of astrological books, didn't think very highly about the tome in his review, and to which I've heard Fernandez didn't take to kindly to. But then I can't really blame the guy, even if what Roell said was true; we all are a bit touch feely about such things.

Anyway...

A colleague and peer of mine, Raymond Andrews, had mentioned my name on Fernandez's site; I had ran accross it last month while doing a Google search for my name, which I do every so often to see what comes up (and if you haven't done this yet, you really, really should). Since I was being talked about, and since Fernandez was an EA, I decided to spend a bit of time there.

And boy oh boy, what a time it was.

Because you see, I've always had my deep suspicions about "Evolutionary Astrology", and to save the reader the time of wading through my reservations I'll just kindly refer them to Dr. Glenn Perry's excellent critique of this approach which appears in several internet venues, as well as his website. I should like to also note, that to my knowledge, Perry has yet to receive a rebuttal in writing, to his paper.

That makes someone like myself very, very wary. By the way, in case you missed it, you can check out my rebuttal to Perry's critique of Vedic astrology on my blogsite, muminspeaks.blogspot.com.

OK, so going back to the point of this open letter, the cheif premise of "Evolutionary astrology" - to be open to the wonderous possibilities of human manifestation, to be open and tolerant of all points of view, to be open to this, and to be open to that - is all a crock. As Perry points out, rightly in my view, EA is a way for people to convince themselves of how "spiritual" they are, sans the rigamorole of conventional religion. Which isn't a crime per say, but it is deeply problematic. Why do I say that? Because astrology is one of the first sciences known to man, governed by many of the same principles that science adheres to, such as comparison, observation, method, and above all, REASON. And Reason, which involves questioning, critique, inquiry, are strenuously stamped out in EA. Perhaps this, more than anything, explains why there has been written response to Perry from any EA of any repute - and that includes Fernandez - to date, nor is there any likelihood that such will happen.

If one goes to the "Forum" section of his website and scroll though the past month or two of the postings, one will find my name there, making contributions and posing questions challenging Fernandez's thinking and method. Read for yourself his responses. Compare and contrast.

And while I'm on the point, please note that at no time did I say that EA should be run outta town on the rail; that Fernandez was a criminal; that he didn't have a right to exist or earn a living, or that those who wished to consult him didn't have a right to do so; that I didn't crack on his Momma; none of that. I simply but forcefully (as I'm a vociferous man, what can I say?:) ) presented a counterpoint to his positions, backed them up astrologically, and then questioned the validity of the "Evolutionary" method beyond his simply saying "because I said so". Again, go there and see for yourself - mauricefernandez.com - provided of course, he hasn't deleted all evidence of my existence yet.

On April 7 2008, Fernandez issued his "Forum Rules", his way I suppose, of bullying me into silence; my responses to his "rules" will appear in paranthesis:

MF: In the light of multiple misunderstandings currently occurring on the forum, I believe it is time for more clarifications. (Clarity is more preferable to agreement; its the words I live by)

MF: Before we get to part II, please read Part I:
http://www.mauricefernandez.com/forum_eng/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=8852 (I haven't done this, but if anyone out there wishes to do so, have at it!)

MF: I'm stressing out once again that this forum is designed for the study of evolutionary astrology, as I teach it. This is not a multi-discipline medium where other techniques are learned and discussed, though it is acceptable to mention them if they add to the given context. (Which is what I did, give context and texture to the topics discussed, and in any event, please note that at no point in the direct exchanges between MF and myself, was he "teaching" any discernable EA principles. If anyone out there sees something I dont in this regard, please inform me! Thanks!)

MF: The forum is not a place for political, social or any other form of debates. If you have ideas, articles, or views you would like to share or propose (not impose) - use the GENERAL FORUM. The ideas discussed will have to be considered appropriate according to my standards, and if these debates derail to personal accusations or negative charge, they will be systematically deleted. (Note the totalitarian tone here - you cannot question anything, you must accept EA dogma without question, or you will shown the front door; also, please note that MF brings up political issues all the time - it's just that it's OK FOR HIM TO DO IT, no one else, and especially not for someone like me)

MF: Adding to the above - Debates about the validity of Evolutionary Astrology will not be tolerated. If you are here, it means that you respect this discipline and find value in it. If you have doubts, educate yourself first and ask learning (not judgemental) questions. If the answers do not satisfy you, you are not meant to resonate with Evolutionary Astrology and your place is not here anymore. (Again, please note the above; you must accept, without question, the EA method, full stop. Aren't these the same characters who give us Vedheads a workout about "Free Will"? Wassup wit dat? Also, note the patently anti-intellectual modality here, which is also easily explained in MF's astrology, which I'll be getting to in a moment)

MF: Consider that since this is my forum, its content and quality will naturally be colored by my personality, insights and value system. While different ideas can surely be discussed, the main orientation will naturally go with those who resonate more with my approach. As you know, noone forces you to stay if this is at odd with your personal value system... You are encouraged to find a more suitable forum/website for you or create your own; doing so, you will naturally attract participants who will resonate with your orientation. (In other words: Segregation. I happen to know quite a bit about such things, don't you know. People have died to end it, and rightly so. I want everyone to be in the same room - then we'll see who's on point, and who isnt. But even if you don't agree with my take on it, notice the Scorpionic power play in evidence here. Scorpions sting when they're pressed into a corner. Hard questioning of a Scorpionic "Evolutionary" astrologer will do that)

MF: LENGTH OF POSTS: consider the flow of the forum depends on being concise and to the point. Harness your Mercury (3rd House issues) and avoid getting carried away in unecessary details or unrelated discussions. People (myself included) don't have the time to read overly extended posts or stray into the different corridors of your brain. I will not define what long or short consist of... I trust you will know what is reasonable and within context. If you are out of line, I will let you know! (As w/everything else of an "Evolutionary" sort, nothing can be defined in any actual terms that can be measured and thus HELD TO ACCOUNT. Nice, huh? Gotta love Spirituality! And oh, please note that MF is free to opine, at will, ad infinitum. Where I come from there's a word for such a practice)

MF: Those who know me and my work, know that I'm usually flexible and do not "enforce" these rules, unless things really get out of proportion. These days, they have and for this reason I will be much more rigorous in applying these rules. (Again, checkout the site and my direct exchanges with the man, and come to your own conclusions)

MF: I don't mean to offend anyone, but the flow of the forum has been upset and it has generated frustration among participants (and myself). I don't have the luxury of time to deal with these dramas and address the emails I received charged with concerns. (Meaning, please don't confuse me with any facts or data which intrude on my idyllic notions of how Life works, thank you very much)

MF: Thank you for understanding! We all mean well, but we have to understand each other and the space we are in.

I sincerely hope that participants will continue to contribute meangfully to the study in adapting to those requirements.

Blessings (Ahh, there's the "Blessed Be" kiss-off...like I said, what a joke.)

Perry has said that the main problem with EA is that it is a "self-sealing doctrine", meaning, that since it refuses to play be any established rules of astrological investigation, there is no corresponding way to critique it - and that is the point. It is clearly evident here. And woe be to the person who does question such a practitioner like Fernandez - they're likely to ban you, in a most loving, kind and nonjudgmental way, of course.

And, true to his 12th house Asc ruling Moon in Gemini, that's exactly what Fernandez did, around April 18 or so. Guess he couldn't take the heat - but with an exact square between Mercury in Scorpio and Mars in Aquarius, both at the very last degrees of their Signs, he certainly can dish it out! LOL!

Looking at his synastry with mine, its interesting to note that my Pluto tightly square his Moon, while his Saturn opposes my Sun. My chart is Earth dominant; he has none. In fairness, I have very little Water element, he has quite a bit. We both share Neptune=Sun/Moon - Ideological differences writ large. And, his Sun is opposed my Moon.

Well, you might say, Mu, the man has a right to run his forum anyway he wants! And who are you to question him?! And of course, you'd be right. Absolutely.

But you see, my point is that I care very deeply about astrology, not just where it is now in this time, but for its future - and from where I sit, from what I see, that future does not look very bright at all. So much of what goes on in the astrological world simply is not relevant to the lives of people being lived on the ground. There persists a "Boy in the Bubble" mentality, a gross and patent denial of so many things, like Race and Class, to name only a scant few, to say nothing of the strident anti-intellectual and kneejerk reactionary stances taken on by so many in our midst. That this is at least AS evident among the much vaunted "next generation" as it is among their Baby Boomer predecessors, is prima facie evidence that the fruit don't fall far from the tree. As I've said before, and I maintain the position, the ONLY thing that has changed between the Astrological Generations, is there are now fewer wrinkles and male pattern baldness. And of course, they remain virtually all White. Almost forgot to mention that part.

I thank Mr. Fernandez for continuing my ongoing studies in my education on the state of the astrological community, Spring 2008.

Comment and reply, invited!

Salaam
Mu

The Eliot Spitzer Sex Scandal: A Lesson In Sexual Astrology

2008-03-16T15:21:00.000-04:00

The Eliot Spitzer Sex Scandal: A Lesson In Sexual Astrology

mumin_bey@yahoo.com, myspace.com/muminbey

3:27 AM 03/16/2008 Sun

The past week saw shocking revelations that New York Governor and former State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, dubbed "Mr. Clean" and the "Sherrif of Wall Street" for his beyond-reproachable character and relentless pursuit of malfeasence in the business world - and who was responsible for shutting down several prostitution rings himself - was involved at the highest levels of a prostitution ring that was international in scope. Within days of the announcement made on Mon Mar 10 2008, Spitzer would resign his post as governor and now faces a slew of federal law violations, including money laundering (also known as "structuring") and conspiring to transport a prostitute accross state lines (the Mann Act, 1910). These events puts Spitzer in the same camp as Clinton, Vitter, McGreevey and Foley, all politicians who also fell from grace due to their sexual pecadilloes. And as the current investigation into Spitzer's sexual dealings continues to unfold, the whole case presents an excellent opportunity to teach astrologers the importance of Sexual Astrology in our work, since Synastry - the astrology of love, romance, relationships, marriage and sex - is arguably the most popular branch of our craft. Yet, Sexual Astrology seems to get short shrift by so many of us. The Spitzer scandal shows all of us, that we need to pay much more attention to this area of our Art, and this article will attempt to demonstrate exactly how we should do just that.

Monday Announcement

On Monday afternoon, Mar 10 2008, the news broke that Spitzer was involved in a prostitution ring. I got word of this around 3PM and while I didn't have my notebook with me at the time, I always make it a note to commit to memory the transit positions before heading out for my day. Along with this, an intimate understanding of astrology and other means, I was able to get a pretty good handle on the situation (for more about this, please see my article "Jason Bourne-Style Astrology", found at muminspeaks.blogspot.com).

The Moon (ruling Monday) would have just moved into the Tropical Zodiac Sign of Taurus, its exaltation - a high priced woman - and the Sun was only a few degrees out from exact conjunction with Uranus. Since the Sun represents all people in power, and Uranus represents sudden or shocking events, these few details alone alerted me to the strong possibility that Spitzer could be forced to step down as more information came to light. Several days later, he did just that, in a brief announcement made with his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer by his side.

What's also interesting to note on that fateful day, Mon Mar 10 2008, is that several Sexual Aspects were forming - Venus was applying trine to Mars and sextile to Pluto, while the Mars-Pluto opposition was just beginning to break up, but still with range of orb. Therefore, all three of the Sexual Planets were in aspect to each other on the day of the announcement of Spitzer's wrongdoing. But we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit. First, we need to clearly understand, exactly what Sexual Aspects are, and the role they play in the lives of men and women.

What Are "Sexual Aspects"?

In their book written on the topics of Love, Money and Sex, the Magi Society, a team of astrologers based in New York City, lays out the results of their extensive researches into the astrology of these three matters, and concludes that there are a distinct catergory of planetary configurations that speak specifically to high degrees of sexual activity, interest and capacity. They note that Venus, Mars and Pluto are the "Sexual Planets" and that any aspect formed between any two is deemed a "Sexual Aspect". People having such aspects are inherently more inclined toward greater degrees of sexual behavior than the average person in society.

But they go further, noting that when all three Sexual Planets align to form aspects to each other in some way, a "Super Sexual Aspect" is formed, making the native a force to be reckoned with, and will definitely manifest high degrees of sexual behavior. But wait - there's even more...
The Magis also assert that their research points to marked differences in the way men and women respond to said aspects. In the case of men, the aforementioned planets, plus Uranus, inclines them towards higher than average sexual activity and interest, whereas for women, only pairings involving Venus-Mars or Venus-Pluto do the trick (yes, its biologically true and astrologically confirmed - men are more hornier than women, on average!); Mars-Uranus or Mars-Pluto, in and of themselves, do not. The strongest of these aspects for each gender, are Mars-Pluto for men, and Venus-Pluto for women, respectively, and men and women who have these aspects are really to be watched out for in terms of their sexual capacity.

In my own researches on the Magis' work, I have to say that they are definitely on to something there!-and gives us astrologers a powerful tool in our synastry work. With it we can properly align couples in a way that minimizes infidelity and marital unhappiness and strife, something that quite a few couples that have come before the public could have definitely made use of. The Spitzers are an excellent case in point.

Eliot & Silda Spitzer - A Prima Facie Sexual Mismatch

As soon as the birthdates of the Spitzers became available it was very easy to see why Eliot stepped out on his wife - and we can be sure that what we found out wasn't the first time. Eliot Spitzer was born on Jun 10 1959 in New York City NY; Silda Wall Spitzer was born on Dec 10 1957 in Chapel Hill NC, according to Wikipedia. No birthtimes are yet known, but the birthdates give us all the info we need to know about just how badly matched they were sexually.

Why do I say that? Just take a glance at Eliot's Solarscope, and note the triple conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Mars, all in Leo. Now, compare that to Silda's Venus in Aquarius and Mars in Scorpio, which is not in aspect with the former, and neither is Pluto - one clearly has strong Sexual Aspects present in his astrology, while the other, the wife Silda, clearly does not. This alone is enough to tell us what we need. But a bit more explanation is in order here.

It has been my personal experience that Sagittarius women are not exactly the most highly sexed women around, on average. The men of this Sign definitely seem to be, but not so much the women. My own reason for why this is lies in the Venus situation when the Sun passes through Sagittarius - as we all know, Venus can never be more than 72 degrees away from the Sun, or, in astrological terms, Venus can never be more than three Signs away from the Sun, in either direction. Therefore, for a Sagittarius Sun birth, Venus can either be in Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn or Aquarius. Only two of these Signs are inherently sexual, Libra and Scorpio (and note how both are ruled by one of the Sexual Planets), and thus perhaps explains my observations over the years. Another potential piece of the puzzle is that when Venus is in Aquarius or Capricorn, both Male Signs and ruled by Uranus in one case, and is the exaltation Sign of Mars in another, perhaps again we can see why Sagittarian males seem to be more sexually inclined than the females of this Sign, again on average. In and of itself, I have not observed females with Venus in Aquarius or Capricorn to be very sexually inclined.

When we pair a Sagittarius female with a Gemini male, things get even more dicey. Why? Because for a Gemini birth, Venus can be in one of five Signs - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer or Leo. Again, the first two Signs are ruled by Sexual Planets, Gemini craves variety and Leo being a Fire Sign, craves excitement, daring and demonstrable overt displays of affection and sexuality. When the birth is that of a Gemini male, the inherent male desire for sexual variety is increased due to the core Gemini energy for diversity and variety, made even more strengthened in the sexual arena by the Sign placements of Venus already mentioned. This makes a Sagittarian female/Gemini male union very difficult, unless horoscopic conditions are such that the female has balancing Sexual Aspects in evidence in her chart to offset his. This was not the case in the Spitzer astrology. And it shows.

We've seen sexual mismatches before - Prince Charles had Sexual Aspects in abundance while Princess Diana did not; Charles had a longstanding affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, an older woman who did indeed have very strong Sexual Aspects. Everyone knows Bill Clinton's voracious sexual appetite and is easily shown in his astrology, yet Hillary Clinton barely registers as sexual in that regard - but Monica Lewinsky and for that matter, Gennifer Flowers certainly did. Even in the case of Martin Luther King and his wife and widow, Coretta Scott King, the sexual mismatch was in evidence - and the proof of this was seen in King's documented and numerous trysts, courtesy of the J. Edgar Hoover era FBI wiretaps.

So, why does it seem that so many men have this "problem" and not so many women? A very good question, and deserves a section all by itself to explain...

Astrology, Plus Biology, Trumps Ideology

In our age of Political Correctness and Egalitarianism, we are taught and led to believe that all people are equal no matter what the attendant circumstances were or are surrounding them. No more is this true than in the Sexual and Gender Politics arena, where for the past four decades or so, the West and America in particular has been spoonfed steady and hefty doses of ideological formula that obstensibly serves to equalize the sexes, when in truth all it does is provide for more confusion, bewilderment and unhappiness. For all of the "re-education" that has taken place, the fact remains that men and women respond to sexual things in vastly different ways, and despite howls of sexism and misogyny, recent medical science has confirmed some things: one of them, is that men are much more sexually inclined, on average, than are women. There are evolutionary reasons for why this is so, and if so inclined the reader can easily look these up on the Internet. Our point in this discussion is to note that Astrology, in its best light, is not to present the world as we would like it to be, but to reflect the world as it really is. Doing this gives us all a clearer understanding of ourselves and others, and better prepares us to deal with life on its own terms.

So, if men are "hardwired" to want sex more than the average woman, astrologically this has to be explained, hence the Sexual Aspects in general, and Male Super Sexual Aspects in particular, Mars-Uranus and Mars-Pluto. For women, there is only the Venus-Mars and Venus-Pluto aspects, the latter being the Female Super Sexual Aspect. And since among all the aforementioned planets, only Venus is Female in orientation, this again makes sense as to why, in astrological terms, men are more sexually inclined than women, again on average. There are always exceptions. The following case is one of those glaring exceptions...

Ashley Alexandra Dupre' & The Female Super Sexual Aspect

In the days following the announcement of Eliot Spitzer's involvement with an outfit called the Emperor's Club VIP (a fitting name given Spitzer's stellium in Leo if there ever was one!), the name and background of his favorite call girl became known to the world - her name, would be Ashley Alexandra Dupre' orignally Ashley Yousman, of Monmouth County NJ, and while working for Emperor's Club VIP, was known as "Kristen". An aspiring singer looking to make her fortunes in New York City, Dupre' told a tale of familial abuse and escaping said abuse at the age of 17. Within the past few days, she has made an estimated million dollars due to the many downloads of her demo songs, and is primed to make even more in the days and weeks ahead; Larry Flint has offered big money to her if she bares all in his Hustler magazine, and there is talk of a book and movie deal. But exactly who is Ashley, and are the Sexual Aspects mentioned above at work in her astrology? Read on...

Ashley Alexandra Dupre' was born on Jun 24 1985, according to the research work of astrologer, teacher and writer Robert P. Blaschke. The birthdate reveals a number of interesting details; for example, her Cancer Sun is exactly opposed Neptune in Capricorn, a tell-tale signal of things not being as they seem (and is most interesting to note in light of the Monday Mar 10 2008 Spitzer Sex Scandal announcement Moon position - Moon rules Monday and is exalted in Taurus, therefore the Sign Cancer, ruled by the Moon, could be indicated in the then-unknown woman's astrology. Dupre' is a Cancer Sun - witness the photo of a busty Ashley in a white bikini - the color white is also ruled by the Moon). Indeed, only a few days after her self-professed tale of abuse and running away from home was broadcast to the world, an indepth special report done by MSNBC this weekend reveals that Dupre' grew up in a well-adjusted upper middle class home of a mother and a stepfather, who worked as an oral surgeon; Dupre' left home of her own accord to live with her biological father in the South, then left again to seek fame and stardom as a singer. These truths dispel any notions promulgated by certain special interest feminist groups, that Dupre' and other high-profile, high earning women are somehow being put upon, forced into sexual slavery and the like (and for the record, I don't deny in the least that there ARE sex slaves, and low level hookers in existence; but we must make the distinction between them and the Ashleys of the world); if "opression" is what Ashley and others like her have faced, we all should be so lucky to earn $1000-plus an hour for such "opression"!

The truth of the matter is that Ashley Dupre' became a high-post call girl because she wanted to; the astrology proves it. She was born with Venus in Taurus, and Pluto in Scorpio - two of the Sexual Planets in their Dignity by Sign. But there's more.

According to German astrologer Thomas Ring, and re-discovered by American astrologer Noel Tyl, the Quindecile aspect, 165 degrees, is one that connotes obsession, compulsion and upheaval, more specifically related to the planets, signs and houses involved. In our case with Ms. Dupre', we can see that Venus is quindecile Pluto - an obsession with all that these planets represents, among them being a deep craving for sex, and another being a strong desire to live the good life.

On Geraldo Rivera's program "Geraldo at Large", which aired this Saturday night on the Fox News Channel, he had on as a guest Jason Itzler, a former self-professed "pimp" who himself was shutdown by Spitzer in his days as New York's Attorney General. One of the girls in his stable, was Ashley Alexandra Dupre'. When asked what she was like as a person, Itzler reported that she was very nice and congenial (Cancer Sun, Moon in Virgo), but loved sex and loved to spend money - in his words, "she spent money like a champ" - and this is on his personal eyewitness account of having been out shopping with Dupre'. When asked as to how often Dupre' worked while a part of his organization, he reported that she had at least 60 appointments a month, and as many as 80-in a 30-day month, assuming she worked 7 days a week, that's at least two appointments a day. Keep in mind now, Dupre' has the Moon in workhorse Virgo, along with the aforementioned Female Super Sexual Aspect of Venus quindecile Pluto! He vehemently shoots down any notions of girls being forced to be high profile call girls - they want to be there, they love the sex and they love the money, he insists. He ought to know.

In their book Love, Sex and Money, the Magis assert that women with a Female Super Sexual Aspect - like that which Dupre' has - aren't above sleeping their way to the top, or to put it another way, using what they got, to get what they want. We've seen it all too many times - Madonna had no problem at all using sex to sell her music, neither did Jennifer Lopez or Brittney Spears. All of these women have Venus-Pluto aspects. And of all the charts of porn stars and sex workers in my database - now totaling about 400 - the really "hot to trot" ones are those who have Venus-Pluto aspects, roughly one third of them. You can be certain, that the really well known porn stars and the like, have such aspects operative in their birthcharts.
When comparing the sexual synastry between Dupre' and Spitzer, one sees right away her Pluto, again dignified in Scorpio, squaring Spitzer's Leo planets, and important for our discussion, his Venus-Mars conjunction in Leo specifically. This creates a super-strong sexual linkage, especially for Spitzer - he couldn't get enough of her. And at $4000US-plus a pop (pun intended), you can best believe, that Ashley had no problem with Spitzer being a repeat client!
Which brings me to yet another point - Venus and Pluto are among the Money Planets of Astrology. When they combine, a higher than average interest in money is indicated in the chart. Women with such aspects are much, much more inclined to be money conscious and aware than the average woman, and again, are not above sleeping their way to the top to get it.

Enter The Astrologer

So, what do we do when an estimated two thirds of all men, and only roughly one third of all women, have Sexual Aspects? Counseling, this astrologer says, and lots of it.

I firmly believe that any couple who is contemplating marriage or even a longstanding relationship should consult at least one astrologer to discuss their charts with. Doing so can help the couple better understand each other's needs and desires, their quirks and not so pretty sides, and gives each partner in the situation an option - is this something they can, or would want to, deal with for say, the next 20 years of their lives? Can they handle that? As noted so many times before in so many ways, and is repeated above, biology trumps all else ultimately. What is supressed or repressed will eventually come out, as it did in the case of the Spitzers, and as it has in so many other cases we've seen - and when it does, it will not be pretty. Here's what such a pre-marriage astrological couseling session with Eliot and Silda, might have sounded like, more than 20 years ago:

"Silda, there is no question that you seem to love Eliot very much. But I have to be candid with you - and inform you that according to all that I have studied in astrology, you and he are likely to have problems in the sexual areas of your union, should you two decide to go ahead with the marriage. Eliot has strong sexual needs, that calls for daring, audaciousness and overt shows of affection and adoration. His needs for sex of this sort will be frequent, and YOU NEED TO LOOK GOOD FOR HIM, which can in itself be demanding for any woman, let alone one such as yourself (her lack of Sexual Aspects). Because of the lack of the aforementioned aspects in your chart in relation to his, after the initial blush of romance and the honeymoon, your joint sexual life will begin to wane. This will not be so much of a problem for you (Venus in Aquarius exactly square Neptune in Scorpio, supression of the sex drive, potential for delusion), but it will be for Eliot. And because of his tendency to gloss things over or to keep things to himself (Neptune in Scorpio square the Leo cluster) he might give the appearance of being OK too with life after the honeymoon. Trust me, he won't. It will manifest in other ways - ways that could wind up hurting you and the family you hope to have together. Now is the time to have two conversations - one with Eliot, and one with yourself. You must ask Eliot to be honest - brutally honest - about his sexual self. And you need to ask yourself, simply put, if you are up to the job over the say, the next 20 years or so."

"Eliot, Silda is no doubt a very good woman - I'm reminded of Proverbs here, and the verses about a "virtuous woman" - as she will make an excellent wife insofar as being supportive of your career, nuturing and a great mother is concerned (Cancer Moon); moreover, she will stick by you through thick and thin, with a high moral sense and keen judgment (Sun conjunct Saturn in Sagittarius, disposed by Jupiter in Libra). However Eliot, I have to say two things. First, you may find that she isn't the sexual sparkplug that you think she is now...maybe you already have come to such a conclusion, and see her as an important asset to you in your ambitions (Leo stellium). Whatever the case, the bottomline here is that Silda does not have the same capacity or interest in sex as you have. This is bound to create problems in the marriage, especially after the children come along and she focuses all her attention on them; she can't help it, she has a very strong maternal streak (Cancer Moon), and it's not meant to intentionally snub you, but the effect is likely to be there nonetheless. Second, Eliot...I don't think you've been completely honest with Silda about your sexual self. And because men tend to have a greater interest in sex than do women on average, the responsibility falls to men to be candid with the women in their lives, to tell them the truth about themselves, and then to stand back and allow the ladies to make a choice. If you love Silda Eliot, you owe it to her to tell her everything about yourself, and then to give her the right to choose."

Who knows how things would have turned out had the Spitzers had such a visit with an astrologer prior to jumping the broom - but if nothing else, they would have had the information crucial to making an informed decision about their lives. The most important decision any one of us can make.

A Final Word About The National View

The Spitzer Sex Scandal breaks at a crucial time in American history, when Pluto in its transit has just entered Capricorn for the first time in nearly 250 years, returning to its "birthplace" in the American horoscope which is Capricorn. In astrology, planetary returns are times to take stock of where one is in life; where we've been, where are now, and where we want to be in the times ahead. Politically, we are in groundbreaking times, with a woman and an African American running for the highest office not just in the land, but arguably the world, and against this backdrop, with this scandal, another groundbreaking of sorts is taking place.

The world's oldest profession has, along with everything else, changed with the times; Emperor Club VIP is just the tip of the iceberg, as was the DC and Hollywood Madames, and by all accounts, are only getting bigger in scope, influence and earnings. As Pluto moves ever closer to squaring the USA MC and opposing the USA Venus in Cancer, sitting in the 7th house, we can expect more and more public discussion of whether to expand the legalized prostitution that currently obtains in Nevada (a Scorpio state LOL!) nationwide. Others will want to revisit the idea of Open Marriages and Polyamory. Some will argue for a wholesale dumping of Marriage as an institution, on the grounds that monogamy is a biological impossibility. And still others will argue for a "return to Normalcy", suggesting that the root of American infidelities lies not in "opening up" marriage, but redeeming it from a multi-decades long slide into the moral abyss. These and other arguments will be advanced by all sectors of American polity, Left, Right and Center, and for my part, I tend to side with the old fuddie duddies, LOL. But no matter what side you come down on, know this - that Astrology has proven itself, time and again, down through the centuries, to be the singlebest tool for understanding oneself and others, known to Man. If we keep this truth foremost in our minds, we as astrologers will be always able to help people make better choices - one way or the other - about their lives.

Responsible comment and reply, invited.

Salaam

Barack Obama & The Jeremiah A. Wright Controversey

2008-03-15T12:56:00.000-04:00

Barack Obama & The Jeremiah A. Wright Controversey
by Mu'Min M. Bey mumin_bey@yahoo.com myspace.com/muminbey

15 Mar 2008, 03:15 AM

And the hits just keep comin’...

Last week here in the Forum we tackled the endorsement of Min. Louis Farrakhan of Illinois Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. As many of you know, that discussion was quite heated. This week’s discussion looks to be no less heated, because, unlike Farrakhan’s case, Obama has a documented and longstanding association w/Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, the Senior Pastor of Chicago’s mammoth Trinity United Church in Christ.

Wright has apparently given a number of sermons over the years from an Afrocentirc point of view that some would consider inflammatory; his final sermon before retiring last month, and shown widely on YouTube, shows Wright speaking some quite harsh words wrt race relations in America, and why in his view Obama is fit to be President.

For his part, Obama has been aggressivle making the media rounds, making clear his denunciation of Wright’s statements, and even going so far as to put his remarks in writing in an article Obama wrote on Mar 14 2008 for The Huffington Post.

Jeremiah A. Wright was born on Sep 22 1941 in Philadelphia PA, according to Wikipedia. The Solarscope gives witness to Wright’s firey temperment: Moon and Mercury in Libra opposed Mars in Aries Rx. He also has a Sun-Neptune conjunction in late Virgo, and interestingly, Wright stepped down as head pastor just as transit Pluto left Sagittarius and entered Capricorn, squaring Wright’s Sun, and SA Mercury=Sun, exact in Apr 2008.

For Obama’s part, as previously mentioned in postings by me wrt his astrological masurements coming out of Super Tuesday in Feb, we can expect him to come under increasingly tough scrutiny. In Feb, Obama had his Big Solar Arc Semi Square, SA Pluto=Moon/MC and SA Jupiter=Mercury exact last month; additionally, transit Pluto opposed his Venus, and for our discussion, TRANSIT URANUS SITS RIGHT ON THE "MU TEST" RECTIFICATION CHART!!! This is yet another confirmation of the 4AM birthtime selected by me, and written about extensively in previous articles and posts.

When we compare Wright’s Solarscope to Obama’s chart, we can note several key contacts:

Wright’s Saturn sits right on Obama’s Moon

Wright’s Pluto conjuncts Obama’s Asc ruling Mercury and Sun

Wright’s Neptune conjuncts Obama’s Mars

Wright’s Venus conjuncts Obama’s Neptune

These are some powerful contacts and speaks to the former’s considerable influence on the latter; keep in mind that the title of Obama’s book "The Audacity of Hope" comes directly from one of Wright’s sermons.

Going back to the astrological measurements for both men, here is hat e see:
Obama: SA Venus=Saturn/Pluto Apr 2008, w/transit Neptune square Moon and opposed Uranus, Apr-Aug 2008. These are harrowing pictures of a decline of popularity, confusion, bewilderment and worse.

Wright: SA Saturn=Pluto Nov, and SA Mars=Sun Dec 2008, w/transit Pluto returning to Sagittarius to square Wright’s Sun a final time, from Aug to Nov 2008. These pictures suggest great difficulty, setbacks, loss, duress and a sense of being "under attack".

The overall picture seems to be, as we head into the all important Pennsylvania Democratic Primaries, that Obama will have a harder and harder time attempting to divorce himself from Wright. This comes at the same time as his recent distancing himself from Farrakhan, and former Hillary Clinton Campaign staffer and Vice Presidential Candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s racially provocative remarks. As previously noted in my extensive piece on Obama (which can be found on my site: muminspeaks.blogspot.com), he has a difficult time bridging the divide between White and Black America.

Comments?

Salaam
Mu

Jason Bourne-Style Astrology

2008-03-15T12:14:00.000-04:00

Jason Bourne-Style Astrology
by Mu'Min M. Bey mumin_bey@yahoo.com, myspace.com/muminbey

02 Mar 2008, 01:17 AM

Movie watchers will be very familiar w/the name "Jason Bourne"; its the signature character role of actor Matt Damon, a CIA "Black Ops" agent who loses his memory while on a mission to assassinate the head of an African nation in France. Based on the hugely popular series of novels by Robert Ludlum, the movies series-The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum-focuses on one man's search to find the truth about himself and his past.
Along the way, we are treated to quite a bit of CIA "tradecraft"-the tools and skills CIA Field Officers use in their deepcover work. Bourne in particular is highly skilled in being able to make use of everyday items in his work, especially when he's in a jam and must defend himself.

In the Bourne Identity, we see Bourne turn a ballpoint pen into a dagger to equalize a fight w/an assassin sent to take him out; in the Bourne Supremacy we see him use a rolled-up magazine as a billyclub (and later uses that same magazine in a toaster in order to blow a house up); and in the Bourne Ultimatum, we see Bourne make use of a hardbound book, then a bath towel, to fend off a next-generation assassin.

The Bourne series of films emphaSizes one key point-that the best operatives aren't the ones who have the fanciest toys, or the latest gadgets, but rather they are the ones who can size up a situation quickly, move and think fast on their feet, and are able to improvise, in a pinch, and in a flash. And very often, a lot more often than not, they are quite "low tech".

Astrologers have much to learn from the Bourne series in this regard, and if I were still teaching at Temple U here in Philly, I would stress my students to carefully study said films. Why, you ask? Excellent question!

Its because so many astrologers I've found over the years-and this is especially true of my generation and the one coming up now-tend to have what I call a "dojo" mentality. What I mean by that is, they look good in the outfits and can go through the motions of the moves and exercises-but when confronted in realtime out on the street, their moves and exercises become ineffective. They look good, sound good, smell good, but they don't work.

Bourne's style of martial arts, on the other hand, is taught and studied in realworld environments, w/quick, efficient and lethal moves, designed to "get to the point" as quickly as possible, while at the same time, inflicting as much damage as possible. Known as Kali (which has direct astrological references), it is one of several Southeast Asian Martial Arts systems that is quite effective. It is the offical form of un-armed combat in use by the Fillipino Marines.

Very few astrologers employ a kind of "Kali-style" astrology, if you know what I mean. They remind me of the nice looking people out in the park doing Tai-Chi, gently swaying all in unison. They look good. But does it realy work in realtime...in crunchtime?

For example, there will be many instances where a confirmed birth time will be unknown and even in our time, impossible to procure. Does that mean then, that we cannot astrologize? Absolutely not! We have the Solarscope, we have Midpoints and Declinations...we have so many tools at our fingertips that makeup for the lack of birth time. And w/lots of patience and, here's the key, lots of studying of charts, timed and untimed, we learn to get a sense of what "feels right" given the circumstance.

Then there will be instances where a birthtime AND a birthdate will be unavailable. Again, are we to assume then, that we canot astrologize? Absolutely not!-We have Horary astrology, which, if slightly adapted, can be made to "fit" a given situation as needed. In fact, using this style of astrology w/the Solarscope above, can make for some powerful astrology indeed.

Far too many of my peers are too steeped in what I call "touch feely" astrology, and not conversant enough w/everyday objects, items and themes. This limits their astrology to what they know in new-agey or psychological terms, and hobbles them when they're faced w/a "Jason Bourne-like" situation. They can't improvise, can't think fast on their feet, can't get by on their wits. And it shows.

Getting hold of those old books, like the A to Z Horoscope Maker, or Rex Bills' Rulership Book, or Michael Munkasey's House Thesaurus is a must-have for an astrologer who spends most of his or her time out in the field.

This takes me to the ultimate in relying on one's astrological wits-what if you don't have a chart at all in front of you, and no computer to make use of? How do you then size up things astrologically? Simple.

First, the astrologer should always be aware of the current transits, and if possible, they should try to commit to memory the Sign positions of the Outer planets, Jupiter to Pluto, for at least the last decade. Doing this will help if one does get hold of a chart.

Second, learn the astrological rulers of the days of the week; their numerological and color correspondences; how they relate to Palmistry, and learn some of the basics of all of these. Additionally, learn the physical characteristics of the Signs and planetary aspects. With lots of practice, you'll find yourself able to astrologically size someone up w/little to no recourse to astrology.

Third, when you do have a chart, or not, try to focus on the "big tickets" predictively. In a pinch, the transit movements of the Outer planets-Saturn to Pluto-in hard aspect to the Lights and/or Angles-almost always does the trick. Don't worry about the rest of the chart-you want to hit the major points in as quick and efficient a manner as possible. Far too many astrologers get stuck on astrological predictive stupid by being bogged down in transits and progressions overload. Don't worry about all that other stuff, that'll come later when your back at the lab.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO BE WRONG. This is the one truly bad habit astrologers have, and they'd be best to drop it fast. Being wrong is a blessing in disguise, because it helps you get better at what you do. Use those times as golden opportunities to learn how to get better and refine your skills. Simply put, there's no easy way to get good at this-practice, practice, practice, is the key. The more you do it, the more charts you study, the more you give your "astrological wits" a workout, the better you'll get at this thing.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be listening to a bit of Moby...

Salaam
Mu

An Open Letter To Glenn Perry, Ph.D: Vedic Astrology 101 (Response To Perry's "Astro Fundamentalism" Essay)

2008-02-17T17:18:00.000-05:00

An Open Letter To Glenn Perry, Ph.D: Vedic Astrology 101 (Response To Perry's "Astro Fundamentalism" Essay)

4:07 AM 02/17/2008 Sun

"I'll be your Huckleberry; that's just my game."
- Val Kilmer/Doc Holliday, "Tombstone"

Introduction
Hello, Dr. Perry, it's very nice to meet you. You don't know me, so please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mu'Min Mustafa Qadir Ali Bey, and I am a Western and Vedic astrologer from Philadelphia PA. I have more than 15 years experience in astrology, and with regard to the subject under consideration, Vedic astrology, a solid decade of experience, study and scholarship, beginning under my guru, Vishnu Sharma, Ph.D, himself a sixth generation jyotishi of Punjab, India. I have taught astrology at Temple University's Pan African Studies Community Education Program for five years, from 1998 to 2005. And, in addition to having written scores of articles and essays on a wide number of topics, I also am the founder of the University Of Astrology forum on MySpace. My blogsite can be reached at muminspeaks.blogspot.com.

I've been reading many of your writings now for sometime; I came to know of your current piece that I should like to respond, by way of my colleague Christopher Brennan, a Hellenistic astrology specialist and scholar. Recently you wrote a paper critical of "traditional astrology" which prompted Brennan's response, and from what it seems, it has caused quite a stir in the astrology community. Last week, after purusing Brennan's paper, I decided to toss in my two cents, which Brennan got word of. He hipped me to the fact that you apparently had some choice words for Vedic astrology, too. Hence, the reason for this open letter.

Areas Of Agreement
First off, let me praise you Dr. Perry, for doing one thing that in my view is absolutely essential for the astrology community, especially now at this stage of our development - inspire debate. And you do that by asking questions and writing critiques. Contrary to many of my peers, I have long felt that one of astrology's greatest weaknesses, is its inability or patent refusal to be critical of itself, to question itself from time to time. The lack of peer review, debate, inquiry, all call serious attention to our ability to refine, improve and/or weed out those ideas and methods that inhibit our Craft from moving forward. For example, your recent paper raising questions as to the efficacy (and ethics) of Evolutionary astrology I for one greatly enjoyed, as I too have had many such questions about its structure and practitioners for sometime now. It was well constructed and arguments clearly presented, with attendant citations and source material. All of this, while it may be painful to some and unpleasant to others, is a necessary process for any discipline to stay alive and relevant in our ever-changing times.

Second, let me also agree with you that our modern times and modes of living are something that I, as a diehard Vedic astrological purist, not only enjoy but defend, as worthy editions to Human history; my peers know me to be one of the biggest proponents of the Western values of Freedom of Choice, Association and Thought. Our times have greatly changed, and our astrology, no matter what kind we employ, must change with it, if only for the sake of relevancy. While I have deep and abiding respect for astrological tradition, I am not straitjacketed by it. Nor do I believe that one need be a Vedic spiritual aspirant (I am a Muslim), or an Indian, to reap the benefits of Vedic astrology. While I am undeniably of African origins (African American), I am also undeniably a product of the 20th century Western world, and I embrace and celebrate that - as a Vedic astrologer.

Points Of Contention
So, that brings me to the areas of disagreement between us, on the basis of your paper, Astro Fundamentalism. In it you level several pointed charges at us Vedheads: one, that we're little more than "fundies" in our approach to astrology, and by extension life itself, by asserting a "divine revelation" component, and eschewing any sense or obligation toward modernity or agency; two, that we're behind the times in our so doing, rigidly cramming people into little boxes via our interpretation of their horoscopes; and of course, three, all of this makes us much more "fate" and by extension, "fear" oriented. In fact, I think it's fair to say, after reading your piece, that your biggest problem with Vedic astrology is this latter point, that of siding too much with the fate side of the ledger in the neverending debate between Fate and Free Will. Because this question/issue has been beaten to death, I'll not go into that today. Instead, I should like to take up your other arguments against Vedic astrology.

And that would be easier to do if in fact, you had actually read some of the classics of Vedic astrology you seem to take delight in dismissing, but then again by your own admission, you are a "historical chauvinist", a problem common, it seems, of those steeped in the conceits of the Postmodern Western world. The impression, as I come away from your piece, was that it was more like a semi-coherent harangue at worst, and the astrological equivalent of an ad hominem assault at best, with regards to Vedic astrology - far from a well-informed critique of the subject under examination. Neither bode well for such a highly qualified scholar such as yourself, doctor. But fear not. I'm in the mood to do a bit of teaching Vedic astrology, 101.

The Origins of Vedic Astrology
While it is true that many jyotishis (Vedic astrologers) believe that the classical texts that makeup the core of Jyotishical thought were derived via "divine revelation" the truth is that Vedic astrology's earliest beginnings can be traced back to the Hellenistic Greeks of Alexander's time. They brought the idea of casting individual horoscopes by placing the Ascendant on the Eastern horizon at the birth moment of a person, along with a few other key ideas and concepts. This fact is recounted several times in Jyotisha's ancient texts, among them the Yavanajataka and the Brihat Samhita, where the Greeks are mentioned by name and are credited with bringing these crucial insights to the ancient Indians ("Yavana" is a Sanskrit word for "Greek"). Although Indians had many other unique features of their system that we know of as Vedic astrology today, it is no doubt that their earliest beginnings are owed to the Greeks. These insights, Greek and native Indian, were combined into a number of important Vedic astrological classics; perhaps the most important is known as the Brihat Parsara Hora Shastra, said to be written by Parasara Muni, a Rishi, or Seer. Because definitive authorship of this work is not known, and because of the apparent addition of other later material, it has been speculated that a teakm of men have actually written this book, over a long period of time, adding to or taking from whatever they thought was relevant.

That said, it is true that there is a deeply profound spiritual or religious component that is fused with Jyotishical thought, but if one takes the time to do their homework it will be easy to see how Vedic astrology got its start and why it remains such a powerful tool not just in seeing what one's past and present is, but in helping the individual make the best choices to shape a better future - and that this is true one is a "true believer" or not. Like anything else, Vedic astrology got where it is today, a system of knowledge world reknown for its accuracy and precision, not by "divine revelation" but more from lots and lots of trial and error. But, since we're taking your point about "mythical figures" with regard to Jyotisha (among a great many other things), let's consider one man whom we know for a fact existed...

Varamihira: Crown Jewel Of The Nine Gems
In my UOA Summer Vedic Astrology Course, I wrote the following about the famed Indian scholar, astronomer and astrologer, Varamihira:
"Varamihira, who lived in the 6th century AD (505-587) and was born in Ujjain, was one of India's most famed astrologers and astronomers. He was known as one of the "Nine Gems" in the court of the famous king Chandragupta II, and was a contemporary of the great Kalidasa the dramatist and poet, often referred to as "India's Shakespeare". Varamihira wrote voluminously on all matters pertaining to astronomy and astrology, and his seven volumes are considered must-reading by all sincere jyotishis. Of particular note are his Brihat Samhita, an encyclopedia of mundane astrology, and his Brihat Jataka, which is a work focused on natal astrology. The latter book is considered an elaboration of the work of Parasara, and is so highly revered that it ranks perhaps second to it."

Varamihira was one of many Indian mathematicians who worked with numbers and theory in ways that Westerners only discovered relatively recently. For example, Aryabhatta is revered worldwide for his mastery of mathematics and astronomy, and proved the irrationality of Pi centuries before it was "discovered" in Europe! And even the most casual perusal of Vedic astrological/astronomical texts reveals a highly sophisticated degree of technical mastery and precision - so when you make the charge that clocks and the like were "recent" inventions, speak for yourself and all other "historical chauvinists", doctor - the Indians were keeping very good time for a very long time, before the Europeans ever even gave any serious thought to it.
Indeed, in India today there survives some of the world's most ancient - and accurate - tools for measuring the movement of the planets, often to within one minute of arc, or less! Ujjain, Varamihira's birthplace, contains one such instrument, the Jantar Mantar, and there are several spread out accross India. And they were constructed before the time of Lilly or Kepler or Placidus, around the times when clocks, printing presses, and ephemerides and tables cames on the scene in Europe. The ancient Indians were way ahead of the curve - the proof of this survives to this very day, seen and visited by scores of tourists every year. You might want to take a trip there to see them for yourself, doctor.

In fact, precision is a watchword for the Vedic astrologer, and jyotishis look to Varamihira for inspiration in this regard; so serious was he about making the proper calculations, that he said that it was a cardinal sin NOT to be accurate in this regard! And, as a result, he was and continues to be revered for his track record of verifiable predictions, something most of today's most technologically saavy and psychologically cosmopolitan postmodern Western astrologer would be wary to tackle. But if you think "Aha! I told y'all Vedic astrology is fatalistic!", don't get it twisted doctor. Here's what Varamihira says the qualifications of an astrologer should be, again, taken from my Vedic Astrology Summer Seminar:

"In the Brihat Samhita Varamihira gives credit to the Greeks who gave India its horoscopic astrological roots, and also gives his recommendations for those who are qualified to learn Jyotish: "He must be pure, skillful, bold, eloquent, possessed of a ready wit, a knower of time and place, filled with equanimity, not timid in assembly, victorious in debate with other astrologers, expert, free from vices, well-versed in palliative, preventative magic and bathing rituals, ever engaged in worshipping deities, vows and penances, possessed of great and unusual power as a result of his achievements, and capable of answering questions and prescribing remedies".

Question for you, doctor - if Vedic astrology is so "fatalistic", if it's so "fundamentalist", then why would a 4th century astrologer say that "prescribing remedies" be among the chief qualifications of an astrologer who operates on the basis of texts that are "divinely inspired"? Or, why are the last dozen or so chapters of the Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra devoted entirely to "remedial measures" if one's Fate is predetermined? Why is Vedic astrology known as much FOR its remedial measures, like the use of astrologically pertinent gemstones and metals, recitation of mantras and acts of charity and so on, as much as it is for its predictive accuracy, if, again, as you say, Vedic astrology is "fate oriented"? Wassup wit dat, Doc? Hmm?

Why is it that, in the Prasna Marga, a later classical work by an un-named Brahmin Priest from South India, he clearly states that should there be no agreement between the bride and groom astrologically (Vedic astrological synastry), but if the groom loves the wife, he still should marry her? Does that sound like a fatalistic approach to you, doctor? Or does that sound like the very essence of Free Will?

And, let's go back to Varamihira's "qualifications for the astrologer" statement above. Sounds a lot like a course in ethics, don't it? And this was, how long, before Psychology came along, doctor? Afterall, Psychology as a discipline isn't even a century old yet; there is much to be known, and has its own share of flaws and problems (as does its offshoot, Psycholoical astrology, but that's another open letter for another day). And please, don't get me wrong here - in no way am I saying that psychology cannot be useful, only saying that your appraisal of Vedic astrology is woefully ignorant, with all due respect, and reflects very poorly on you, given your credentials and standing within the community. As the Dalai Lama said so very well, one should know the rules well before they set out to break them.

Bringing Vedic Astrology Into The 20th Century: BV Raman & Hart Defouw
We can go round and round purusing the ancient Jyotisha texts and giving folks bleary eyes, so let's move on into the present. Although there have been a number of folk who have brought Jyotisha forward into the modern era, two names in particular are especially pertinent to our discussion - Bangalore Venkanta Raman, and Hart Defouw. Vedic astrology readers will be very familiar with these names, as they have been responsible, either directly or indirectly, for bringing new people, especially in the West, into the fold of Vedic astrology. I myself have cut my Jyotishical teeth on the works of these fine gentleman, and I strongly urge anyone reading this to avail themselves of anything they have written, and would especially urge you doctor, to do same.

Raman is a legend. The grandson of a prominent astrologer in Southern India, Raman had more than six decades' worth of experience and a field of scholarship that to this day remains unrivaled. He wrote more than two dozen books, was the publisher of the world's longest running (and first!) astrological publication, and was the first and to my knowledge, only astrologer to address the General Assembly at the United Nations. Simply put, to his peers, he was known as The Wizard.

Defouw is perhaps the best known Vedic astrologer of Western origins. His Light on Life is considered to be the best comprehensive, introductory text on Jyotisha both here and among many in India. He has a waiting list of clients, so I've been told, that's months, if not years long, is widely sought after as a lecturer and presenter at conferences, and his classes are well attended. On top of this, he has been doing Vedic astrology as long as I've been alive, coming up on four decades.

Neither of these men ever use the word "fate" in their writings. Raman is careful to note, in his autobiography for instance, that his grandfather always warned him that astrology was not an absolute but rather a matter of tendencies; Raman himself would come to agree with his grandfather's view, and, in the same text, he is seen advising clients to take up particular remedies, even recommending surgery for the wife of a man who was suffering mental problems. The surgery was successful. Defouw, while speaking of karma and the like, also is careful to note in another text, an anothology on Eastern astrology for Western astrologers, that clients could be referred to PSYCHOLOGISTS for further help if the chart indicated that (in a chapter called The Humanism of Vedic Astrology). In fact, and this is in response to your comments about evolution and progress and how the Universe works, Defouw clearly states, on page 307 of his Light on Life, that "Change is all that is permanent in our world". This is the first line in Chapter Eleven, which is devoted to the timing systems of Dasas and Gocharas (Transits). Again, question for you, doctor - do the statements these men are making, sound "fatalistic" to you? Heh!

Keepin' It Real: Vedic Astrology In Action
In my recent piece on the back and forth between you and Brennan, I suggested that Brennan and other Hellenists could do a much better job of promoting Hellenistic astrology if they actually DID it more instead of merely talking about it. What's good for the goose, is good for the jyotishi too, so in this final section I thought to give you and everyone else reading along a little "live fire" demo of just how Vedic astrology works.

And here, I have to say that I took note of the ONE chart example you cite in your paper, doctor, an example of a private client. Now, this I have problems with, for precisely the same reasons you cite in your critique of Evolutionary astrology - that your sole chart example, because its a private client, cannot be confirmed or denied. We simply are to take your word for it that what happened, happened. I find this to be deeply problematic, if your goal is to show us all the deep flaws inherent in Vedic astrology, and as well, the strengths of postmodern Western psychological astrology. So, I thought I'd focus on the charts of well known people whose data is easily accessible.

First up, Martin Luther King, Jr., since his birthday and national holiday was last month, and because this month is Black History Month (birthdata for all charts to follow at the end of this letter). In his Vedic chart, we can clearly see two major areas of concern for him - his potential for marital strife, and his strong potential for encountering violence. In both cases, Mars is the culprit, ruling the Aries Ascendant (head), and placed in Taurus and in the 2nd house. This combination not only creates what is known as Kuja Dosha for a male birth, but also resides in what we Vedheads call a Maraka, or Killer, house, and aspects the 8th house of longevity. Mars conjunct Rahu, the Moon's North Node, gave him tremendous, legendary status among the public (amogn other things), as well as a very strong sexual drive, which led to his numerous extramarital affairs, which the FBI used in an effort to discredit him (Rahu again). Dr. King was assassinated on April 4 1968 in Memphis TN, by a sniper's bullet to the face, just as he began his Mars Dasa.

Second chart - Benazir Bhutto. The first woman to ever head an Islamic country (the second was Tansu Ciller, of Turkey), Bhutto was assassinated on Dec 27 2007, in a suicide attack by Al-Qaeda after a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The Sun (political leaders) is conjunct Mars in the 7th house, and from there it aspects the 2nd, where Rahu is placed. These houses are known as Marakas, or Killer houses. At the time of her death, Bhutto was in Rahu Dasa, Sun subperiod. Stop. As we see in the case of MLK above, Rahu is involved. Among other things Rahu represents, are assassins and terrorists.

Third chart - Brittney Spears. She's been in the news recently for her mental health issues, and a quick look at her Vedic chart tells us why. Her Moon is in the 5th house whom some jyotishis associate with the Mind, and the Moon itself is one of the Mental Planets of Jyotisha (the other being Mercury). In fact, both her Mental Planets are heavily compromised by the "Malefics" - Mercury is combust by the Sun and aspected by Mars, while the Moon sits on the Ketu arm of the Nodal axis in the 5th. This combination goes under the name Matibrahamana Yoga, where the Mental Planets are damaged and suggests that the native is more prone than others to face some degree of mental health problems. Moreover, she was born in Kala Sarpa Yoga, a combination where all of the planets are caught between the Nodes of the Moon, Rahu and Ketu, and these points hold special meaning in Vedic astrology. They are called "Shadowy Planets, and represent the fears and phobias of the native in one way or another. Spears' climb to fame took place in 1999, just as Rahu Dasa was taking off, and at present she is in Rahu-Mercury, which last until Jul 2009. Rahu in particular can represent great fame and/or wealth and material goods for the native, but it can also represent the kind of mental health stress that Spears is undergoing at present. A keen Vedic astrologer, like in the cases above, could have seen all this beforehand, informed the client, and suggested strategies and "prescribed remedies" - in this case, psychological therapy - so that the client could better lead a more freer, productive, positive life. In the cases of King and Bhutto above, the keen, modern Vedic astrologer could have advised them both to beef up security at those times, and for King in particular, to advise on remedies to cool his sexual passions. Knowing the lay of the land is key, however, for no remedy or therapy is helpful if you don't know what to treat, correct, doctor? Vedic astrology helps us do just that, by zeroing in like a laser beam on the problem areas of the chart, putting that with the life being lived by the native, and then working to find real, practical solutions - not "fatalistic" or "fundamentalist" pronouncements or statements.

Conclusion
As Malcolm X himself said so well many years ago, history is best qualified to reward all research. It is no accident that Vedic astrology has persisted and survived so very long, Doctor Perry. Its permanence is a testament of its veracity and utility in helping people deal with and overcome real problems in our world, past, present and on into the future. It is my hope that this open letter will serve to shed a bit of light on one of the world's oldest - and yes, still very much relevant - astrological systems of knowledge known to man. Far from being the rigid, dogmatic, oldhat astrology you ignorantly attempt to make it out to be, Vedic astrology is in truth, one of the most profound systems of knowledge around. I invite you to see for yourself, doctor, even if it isn't for you. Learning something new is always a good thing.

Don't you agree?

Salaam,
Mu'Min M. Bey

MLK Jan 15 1929 11.21AM CST Atlanta GA Lahiri 7 Ari 43 CliffordBenazir Bhutto Jun 21 1953 7.59PM Karachi Pakistan Lahiri 15 Sag 52 StarIQ.comBrittney Spears Dec 2 1981 1.30AM Mahon MS Lahiri 9 Vir 47 Rodden

*Perry's essay, "Astro Fundamentalism can be found at http://www.aaperry.com/index.asp?pgid=51

In Response To Jessica Murray's "Fire At The Threshold" (The Jupiter-Pluto In Sagittarius Debate)

2007-12-16T10:06:00.000-05:00

In Response To Jessica Murray's "Fire At The Threshold" (The Jupiter-Pluto In Sagittarius Debate)

9:28 AM 12/15/2007 Sat

Earlier this week I took it on the word and high recommendation of a good friend and colleague to checkout the book "Soul Sick Nation" by West Coast-based astrologer Jessica Murray. Pulling the link up on Google and purusing what Amazon.com had to say about the book, I hopped over to her website (mothersky.com), where I was treated to a good deal more of her writings and views. Although there are quite a few I would like to address in due course, the one I want to treat in particular is her December 2007 "Skywatch" piece, "Fire At The Threshold: The Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction".

To those in the know, Ms. Murray is no neophyte; she's been around as an astrologer almost as long as I've been alive, and by all accounts is going strong, riding high on the sales and reviews of her book (of which I'll be reading and giving my own review in due course of time) and is quite popular in the New Age and Astrology community. However, I found the words in her article, taken along with other expressed sentiments, to be a bit problematic for me. Not because of the views themselves - this she has every right to express - but for the seeming onesidedness of it all.

Although Ms. Murray may not know me from Adam (a fitting phrase in light of the subject matter!), she does know one Gary Caton, an astrological peer and contemporary of mine; I see he is included in the "Links" section of her site. Mr. Caton and I have debated on related issues previously (and which can be seen on the University Of Astrology forum on MySpace: groups.myspace.com/uoaforum), and so doesn't surprise me in the least that he and Ms. Murray would be two peas in a pod; perhaps its Fate that has led me to her writings, and to provide a countervailing view - just in time for the cluster of planets in Sagittarius to bring an Archer* into her life!

Before I begin, let me say the following in the spirit of full disclosure: not only am I a believer in God, but that belief comes from a great tradition, though not without its bumps and bruises. Nevertheless, it has contributed mightily to the Western world, the whole of the Earth's peoples, and yes, to Astrology as well. This rebuttal will attempt to lay all of this out in astrological terms, as well as to take up other central themes that flow through Ms. Murray's writings, in a yet accessible way.

So, let's begin...

Areas Of AgreementMs. Murray is correct to point out the fact that the astrological Pluto, perhaps the "biggest" of the Mundane chronocrators, would bring out the ugliest in Sagittarius during its nearly 13 year sojourn. The Catholic Priest Sex Scandals, and the Radical Islamic Terrorist and Jihadist movements in particular, have punctuated the Pluto in Sagittarius period in ways that none of us are likely to forget. And Ms. Murray is correct to point out, as she does in other writings on her website, that Organized Religion - and let's be precise here, we're speaking of the "Big Three" - Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which in this astrologer's humble estimation is symbolized by Jupiter - have done their fair share of dirt. As a Muslim, I will be the first to openly acknowledge that and denounce the evils done in my faith's name. At every turn of History's page, one can find instances of wrongdoing at the hands of those who claim to be acting on God's behalf. It was wrong, it was immoral, and I do not hesitate to call it for what it is.

But what Ms. Murray seems to evade, not mention, overlook, is the tremendous GOOD that the Big Three have done over the centuries. The same Catholic Church that has had pedophiles in its midst for at least a generation also has educated millions of children worldwide, took the homless off the streets, and fed the hungry, often for free. Mother Theresa took up Jesus' words about tending to the "leper", those afflicted with AIDS, in Calcutta. Western Europe would a be pestilence-infested backwater without the direct intervention of Islam - the same Islam that in our time is in the throes of its own Reformation. The Mormons, and Evangelicals, the Quakers and Anglicans, all of whom have contributed immeasurably to both the West and America in particular, were the driving force behind many of this nation's greatest social and legal achievements - Abolition and Civil Rights for my people, African Americans, just to name a quick few (and really, can anyone deny the devoutness of Martin Luther King Jr.?) And while some of us may look askance at the Ten Commandments in our ever-increasingly sophisticated times, we all - Jew and Gentile, Believer and Non-Believer alike - have benefitted from the Golden Rule.

Pluto, the planet of Perspective, Depth-Psychology and all that is deep-rooted, has asked us all to reconsider our core Beliefs as Human Beings over nearly the past decade and a half. Doing so forces us to confront the ugliness in ourselves, on the group level, as well; but in so doing we REDEEM ourselves, and re-commit ourselves to uphold the Ideals that are the Eternal Truths that have been Divinely revealed to Mankind. True, I confess that the Pluto in Sagittarius transit has seen some very bad things with regard to religion. But it gives us believers a chance to repent, atone, and most of all, forgive. Pluto in Sagittarius is the prototypical "trial by fire" - what the Hindus call "Agni" - to burn the dross off of that which is no longer needed, or, needing an "upgrade". All institutions, beliefs, for that matter, people, need to go through such a time of rigor.

This is another area of contention I have with Ms. Murray, who seems to leave out this very important part of Religion, in particular the Big Three - Forgiveness, Repentence, and Redemption. And contrary to Ms. Murray's assertions to the contrary, I must say with all due respect, much of the world prior to this did not practice such ideals. We'll get to that later. But first, I want to draw the reader's attention to another area of contention I have with Ms. Murray...

Well, What About Atheism?
Since Sep 11, 2001, the West and in particular the United States, has seen an uptick in Atheism - the idea of Nontheism. Although there are many permutations of this worldview, basically, its the notion that God doesn't exist. There is no God, atheists claim, because It/She/He cannot be proven in any empirical way. Moreover, so say the unbelievers, that because human beings now exist in a time of unpreceedented scientific advance and discovery, Religion can, will and should go the way of the dinosaur. Hugely popular books like "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens, takes this idea a step further - he argues that anytime human beings bring in religion of ANY kind, things invariably takes a turn for the worse. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) Somali-born, former Dutch politician, is hailed for her break from a horrid and oppressive Sharia Islamic life. Richard Dawkins, another well known atheist, gets thousands of hits, if not a lot more, on his website and is widely published with regard to his views on religion and how it is a pall on Humanity. We even have a US Congressman in Peter Starks, whose district is in Ms. Murray's neck of the woods, coming out recently to proclaim that he is a "humanist" - which is the nice way of saying, that he doesn't believe in God.

According to noted astrologer Liz Greene in her excellent text, The Astrological Neptune, she posits that pairings of Saturn and Neptune seem to be correlated with Atheist themes; the "grand experiment" with Communism/Socialism in the last century and a half, occured after the discovery of Neptune.

In light of all the attention Atheism has gotten in recent times, and for our purposes those times were characterized by a recent Saturn-Neptune opposition, both of whom being tied into the umbrella transit of Pluto in Sagittarius, it's puzzling indeed as to why Ms. Murray didn't devote any time at all to this phenomenon and instead addressed only the Catholic priest scandals or the Jihadist terrorism of the Islamic world. Perhaps she felt that the latter two issues were of more import because they had the potential to more drastically effect more lives, and in this I wouldn't disagree. But to completely turn a blind eye the apparent Rise of Atheism, is to make a huge historical mistake. One that from all that I have read on Ms. Murray's site, she continues to make.

Although Atheism has been with Man as long as Theism, it seems that Atheism as we know it today - as a set of ideas and postulates - came into being in the latter half of the 18th century. Some put it closer to the tailend of the period, and present as an example the 1770 work The System of Nature, by Paul Baron d'Holbach. This was the first openly atheistic tract written and published as such. At the time, Pluto was transiting Capricorn, the Sign immediately following Sagittarius, and a fitting descriptor of one exalting the Material over the Sublime.

We can take matters a step further, noting the formation of the French State after its revolution to oust the Monarchy, with its chart featuring Pluto in Aquarius, rising in a Capricorn Asc, its ruler opposed both Jupiter and Neptune in the 9th house. In fact, it can be said that France was, in a way, the first modern state to at the very least, tolerate Atheism as we have come to know it today.

Then came Karl Marx, in some ways the quintessential atheist, and his Communist Manifesto, among a great many other works, was published in 1848 - just a few years after Neptune's discovery. At the time, Neptune was tightly conjunct Saturn, ushering in the Socialist/Communist era we've all known today. Please note that Jupiter is completely out of the picture, so to speak, at the time of Neptune's discovery.

This last feature is most important and central to the debate here, because Jupiter - the planet long associated with moral codes, and by extension to a large degree, the Abrahamic Faiths - greatly tempers any planet it comes into contact with, be it by aspect or dispositorship. This is especially true for Pluto, as it moves toward the end of its sojourn in Sagittarius and conjoins its "maker". Jupiter lifts up the quality of what it touches, and brings a higher perspective into the mix, all within an appropriate framework of established norms and customs. Neptune, on the other hand, searches for an ideal, and very few human beings realized said ideals; unless guided by Jupiter's hand, every Neptunian attempt to do this on a grand scale has met with failure.
We see this astrologically confirmed in the charts of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and even Albania, the only country that has officially proclaimed, at one time, to be officially Atheist. In China's chart we see Neptune sextile Pluto, the ruler of the 9th house, with Jupiter fallen in Capricorn and in the 12th (religion banished). In the chart of Albania, we see Saturn sextile Neptune; this same Saturn-Neptune pairing recurs over and over again astrologically in the charts of nation states who go the full out Atheist way. And the results of their (un)thelogical choices have been severe.

As Dinesh D'Souza recently pointed out to Hitchens in their debate on whether Christianity was the problem at The King's College in New York City in late Oct of this year, every society that proclaims there is no God, or is even fuzzy on the matter, takes a developmental step BACKWARD, not forward. Human rights are trampled, and abuses are commonplace. Civil liberties are a thing of the past. Mobility socially is contingent to what extent one is willing to tow the party line (the darker side of Neptune, to be sure!). And one other thing about Communism/Socialism/Atheism that those on the other side are loathe to admit - millions die in its name, in defence of its cause. Far more than anyone ever killed, or for that matter, merely mistreated, in the name of Judaism, Christianity or Islam. In fact, as D'Souza rightly points out, Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot were responsible for more human dead than the entire 100 year history of Crusades! Ho Chi Minh's massacre of millions of Southern Vietamese after the pullout of American forces makes even the most exaggerated accounts of European and American Witchunt Trials look tame by comparison.

And as we all saw with our own eyes, less than twenty years ago, State-backed and powered Atheism fell under its own weight - at the time, in 1989, the rare triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune was in the sky.

For Ms. Murray to conveniently sidestep all of this documented history, is again a bit odd. But perhaps there might be another reason for the omission...

Atheism & Paganism: Happy Together?
Perhaps the reason why Ms. Murray doesn't have too mean a word to say about Socialism and Communism might have something to do with the fact that while these two ideologies have been virulently against the Big Three, they were quite tolerant when it came to the old folk Pagan rituals. For example, while Albania officially proclaimed itself Atheist in the 1960s, it actually *encouraged* its citizens to go back to the "nature religions". In China, the same thing obtained, where folk traditions abound. This was even true in many of the Socialist states in Africa prior to the tremendous upheaval symbolized by the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the 60s came roaring through the Dark Continent. Even the most casual reading of the articles on Ms. Murray's website quickly lets the reader know where her religious sensibilities lie; the very name of her site, "Mothery Sky" says it all. A strong proponent of "Back To Mother Nature" faith(s), Ms. Murray has quite a bone to pick with the Big Three, and especially with Christianity in the form of the Church. I find it very interesting that Murray and others who think as she does - and there are quite a few in astrological circles - advocate a return to such faiths. As some of you reading this may know, I'm often accused of wanting to "go back to an illusory 1950s America" because of my Right of Center sensibilities. I'm told that we live in a New World, and that such notions are at best fanciful, if not outright dangerous, because I overlook the gross inequities that took place back then. And of course, Ms. Murray's chief gripe with the Church was that it was discriminatory or worse, to Women. Even if all of these things were true, Life would be, and has indeed been, far more worse, during the "good old days" of the so-called Nature Religions.

How so? Well, one simple example was in terms of Human Rights. As loathe as Murray and others are to admit it, ancient Greek and Roman theology - of which goddess worship played a huge role - did nothing to end Slavery, like Christianity did. As Murray points out herself in her article on the role of the "Asteroid Goddesses", the Vestal Virgins (from which we get the asteroid name "Vesta") were often buried alive on charges of unchastity. Spartans routinely discarded newborn babes who were misshapen or otherwise weren't deemed appropriate, left on the hill side to cry itself to death. And speaking of children, it is a documented fact that childbirth was a dangerous affair for both mother and baby - in the 1600s, for example, more than half of all babies and/or their mothers, died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. And as for Sexuality, we know now from official Communist teachings coming from the Soviet Union, the idea of "free love" was highly encouraged; according to Murray's writings on her site, this idea seems to be true of many aspects of "Mother Nature" religions as well, where transitory sexual unions were not only the norm, they were encouraged under the aegis of "higher spirituality"; any children born of such unions were to be taken care of by the Community as a whole - "it takes a village" - right? And while she may rail against the Church's stance to stamp these practices out, what she doesn't seem to want to acknowledge is the fact that the Church also brought a great deal of stability to communities by way of Marriage, the biggest benefactors being children. As the Communist countries from China to the USSR to Albania and Romania have shown us, "free love" doesn't work - and the biggest losers or the precious babies that Murray's musings claim to care about.

Once again we see Neptune's hand involved in all of this, and as Greene points out in her Astrological Neptune, Neptune represents the Maya principle - the longing to return to a womb-like state. This manifests in many ways personal and political and yes, even spiritual as well. In the chart of Albania we see the Moon conjunct Neptune in Cancer - a stronger signal for "Mother Nature" religion couldn't be stronger - in the chart of China, we see the Sun and Neptune in aspect. Jupiter is left out of the mix.

These romanticized notions, while sounding great in theory and look beautiful on the written page, are in fact "dead" for very important reasons - THEY DON'T WORK. And, as D'Souza points out again in his debate with Hitchens, it's not just that the Atheists don't believe in God - their bellicose militancy belies the fact that they in fact, HATE God. I would like to suggest that something similar with respect to our current discussion is happening, that it isn't that the Mother Nature folks just want to exist, they want to "kill" off the Big Three, and especially Christianity. It isn't enough that they simply go about their business and do their thing; they want to excoriate the Church. The astrological reader is reminded of the epic Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn of the early 1990s, a time of tremendous upheaval along many lines. It was during this time, for us astrologers, that Project Hindsight was born, and along with it a fervent interest in the Mother Nature religions of ancient Greece, Rome, the Celtic areas of what is now the United Kingdom, and so on. Much scapegoating was going on then, and from what I can see here, it's still going on now, attempting to lay at the feet of the Church every evil and blight on the Human Soul that the "alternative community" can find. And while the Big Three has come into account with what bad was done in their names, one is hardpressed to find an ardent supporter of Atheism or Paganism, who will be just as candid - in fact, as D'Souza says in his debate with Hitchens, not only do Atheists want Christians to be accountable for their own sins, but they also want them to atone for the sins of Communism! A greater conceit would be harder to find.

Astrology's Role
As noted above, the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn in 1993-94 ushered in a wave of "alternative faiths" as well as a period of re-examination of the world's largest ones. Astrology itself had long been dissociated from Religion, back during the Enlightement and the Age of Reason, around the last time Pluto transited Sagittarius. The Baby Boomer generation of astrologers, born around the time of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Leo, brought with them these ideas as well as those of the great psychologists of the period, most notably Carl Jung; by the mid 70s (when Saturn was in Leo), "Humanistic" astrology was the only kind of astrology discussed, and any notions of the Spirit in the modality of the Big Three was considered oldhat. But as Pluto left Scorpio to enter Sagittarius in this dispensation of time, from the mid 90s forward however, that began to change, thanks largely to the massive influx of Vedic astrology, with its keen focus on its awareness of the Spirit. This feature of India's ancient astrological system, sparked discussion and interest into Religion playing a role again within the astrological community, and as Saturn entered and travelled through Leo yet again in the early 21st century, this time opposed by Neptune, the Humanistic mode of astrology birthed by the Baby Boomers seemed to have gone as far as it could. With the entrance of Uranus into Pisces, the traditional Zodiacal Sign of Christianity, joining Jupiter's other Sign being tenated, Sagittarius, which is home of the Islamic faith, eventually the "next generation" of astrologers would at the very least take a look at the Big Three with fresh eyes. And indeed this has begun to happen - more open discussion about this is taking place more and more all the time.

Concluding Thoughts
As noted above, Ms. Murray is absolutely correct to point out that the Big Three have done some horrendous things during its watch; this is something no one can deny, and as said before, I will be the first to denounce it, apologize for it, and to work harder to make my faith better. And she is right to suggest that the Pluto in Sagittarius period brought a time of intense srcutiny to these Great Faiths, dredging up the undesirable elements in each, so that they can be rightly addressed. But what Ms. Murray doesn't seem to understand, with all due respect, is that every Great Religion undergoes its "trial by fire", its own brand of reformation. The Jews did it. The Church did it. And now, the Dar-es-Salaam, the Islamic World, is undergoing this process. It is painful and long, but in the end, Islam will be a much better Faith for it, just as Christianity and Judaism have beem much improved as a result of theirs. That the Catholic Church has grown in adherents in places like Africa and Asia; that Islam has been and continues to be the fastest growing religion not just in the USA, but in much of the Western world; that the Evangelical and Mormon Churches have grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade and a half here in the USA; and that Israel, despite repeated attack and assault by age-old enemies, continues not only to survive, but indeed to thrive, are all testaments to the endurance of the Eternal Truths these Great Faiths have come to represent to Humanity. Far from seeing the "death" of the Church, I see Judaism, Christianity and Islam being reborn - another Plutonian theme - into a much more transparent, vibrant and energizing force for Good in our world.

But Ms. Murray needn't be worried about this great rebirth, for one of the truths that will emerge out of this Pluto in Sagittarius period, is that none of these Faiths are valid if people come to them by force. Nor are they represented well when done in a spirit of intolerance. As a fellow astrologer and American, I affirm Ms. Murray's right to believe - or not to believe - in the manner that best suits her and her kin. I do not seek to "convert" her at the point of a gun, or sword, or bomb; rather, I seek to engage her in spirited, yet respectful debate. That, is the Islamic tradition. And one that will rise again out of the ashes of Terrorist failures.

Salaam,
Mu'Min M. Bey

*Mu'Min M. Bey Dec 2 1968 9.43AM EST Phila PA. I share a birthday with the legendary Jeff Green!

Financial Astrology Notes, Aug 2007

2007-11-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

I've been studying Financial Astrology now for the past year in particular, though I've also been collecting little tidbits here and there along the way. The following are excerpts taken from a running thread I started last Summer on the subject. I'll post up "digests" of my thoughts from time to time.

FA 1Aug 26 2007:
The past few weeks have been really tough on the World Markets, sparked off byshocks in the American banking system in connection w/what has become known as"sub-prime" loans-the lending of monies to people w/shaky or no credit in orderto purchase homes.

Many of these loans are what is called "rate-adjustable",meaning that if you buy a mortage at say, 10% interest, as time goes on theinterest rates can skyrocket. This is causing many Americans difficulty inpaying for their mortages; foreclosures are up in nearly every part of thecountry; this gives a bad signal to the markets tied into these loans; and hencethe run on the markets we've seen in the past few weeks in particular.Its my view that Financial Astrology, which is really an offshoot of Mundaneastrology, is the next and perhaps "final" frontier of the so-called "nextgeneration" of astrologers; contrary to the notion that the individual is prime,in truth the world is growing smaller, or as Tom Friedman said, "getting flat",as a result of mass interconnection of multi media, communication and financialties.

Surely in light of the events wrt the markets we've all seen in the past two weeks, one would be hardpressed to deny that the aforementioned areas ofastrology are somehow irrelevant or old hat.So, w/that said, I would like to present just a few thoughts on the situation asI see it.

Finanical astrology is an extremely tough nut to crack in terms oflearning the ins and outs for one very simple reason: its top practitioners arein the business of making money, and unlike their more "woo woo" humanisticpeers, have no qualms saying so. In this sense, they are the true mercenaries ofthe Zodiac, and their forthrigtness is something of a much need breath of freshair at a time when can easily get bogged down in astro-psychobabble speak.I've been conducting my own reasearches into the subject, aided by the works ofJack Gillen, considered to be one of the most important astrologers in thefield. I find his work to be clearcut and precise, which is what you need whentrying to divine the workings of Wall St. I also used elematary astrologicalcommonsense as well as a heck of a lot of observation. I welcome any feedbackthe Forum may have.

First, I noted the Saturn-Neptune opposition in Leo-Aquarius respectively,occuring in Aug-Sep 2006 and again in Jul 2007. If I'm not mistaken, the marketsresponded w/lows noted in the areas of the market connected to Housing. Forexample, Home Depot changed CEOs during this time, and Lowes, the former'sbiggest competitor, posted record lows in sales during this period.

It was alsoduring this time that the Dow Jones lost more than 300 points on a single day,followed up by the events of the past two weeks, where the Dow lost all of thegains it had made all year, falling from 14K points to just barely above 13K.According to Gillen, Saturn represents panic, paranoia, and market crashes.Per my researches, Saturn represents Real Estate of any kind. In Leo, Saturn isweakened, and in opposition to Neptune, weakened further still.

In FA terms,Neptune tends to over value whatever Sign its in and/or planets its connected toby aspect. So here we can see the overvaluation of real estate, the "real estatebubble" and so forth, including the highly questionable sub-prime loanbusiness-Neptune also represents nefarious business dealings.I saw all this in the Fall of 2005, as I was preparing my notes for the comingyear; immediately, I made plans NOT to make any major moves on the homefront.Then, two weeks ago, transit Saturn was in exact square to the NYSE's Sun, at 27Taurus (New York Stock Exchange May 17 1792 8.52AM LMT New York City NY;Placidus 26 Can 07 Gillen)-the market lost THREE HUNDRED POINTS IN A SINGLE DAYas the world markets tried to cope w/the sub-prime loan crash here at home. TheFederal Reserve Bank, trying to bring investor confidence back to the markets,lowered interest rates by one half a point and infused billions of dollars intothe market. Other world markets followed suit.

Interestingly enough, using the Sibly USA chart, we note that its Moon is at 27ºAquarius-meaning that transit Saturn would be opposed the Moon while at the verysame time square the NYSE Sun!!! It was a painful period indeed.Gillen also seems to lay emphasis on certain zones of the NYSE and USA charts.Although he uses a different clocktime for the USA (he prefers Libra Asc), histheory I have found to be sound. He suggests watching closely the Signs
associated w/the Asc/Dsc axis, the Sun and MC/IC axis of both charts; Saturn'smovement through said Signs portend difficult times for the markets in terms ofthe Sign Saturn is transiting at the time.Hmm.Saturn is about to move into Virgo.

Among other things, Gillen notes that Virgorepresents the healthcare/medical fields, civil servants, trade unions, andagriculture and poultry fields. Saturn's movement into Virgo can suggestdifficulty in these areas, all the moreso as Saturn tightens its opposition toUranus in 2008, for the first time in Nov 08, and a final time in the early Fallof 2009. Clearly the aforementioned areas will be hotly debated in the USAPresidential elections.

For me, Virgo also represents the Military. 'Nuff said there.On the basis of the "changing of the guard" ingress of Saturn into Virgo, alongw/Jupiter's movement into Capricorn in Dec and Pluto's ingress into the sameSign Feb 08, my guess is that the Real Estate/Sub-Prime Loan issue will havesettled down a bit as we move into the Fall.BUT-Gillen says that the movements of Mars can wreak havoc on the Markets,especially when it either makes hard aspects to Saturn, and/or goes Rx.

Gillen is also very wary of times when all three planets-Mars, Jupiter and Saturn moveinto either Mutuable or Cardinal Signs at the same time.Its very interesting to note that transit Uranus was sitting right on the NYSEMars as the markets tumbled two weeks back, and that Uranus will be square tothe USA Mars in the Spring/Fall of 2008. Hmm.Mars will go Rx at about 11 Cancer on Nov 15 2007, to last until about Jan 08 orso. Mars goes back into Cancer in Mar 08, joining Jupiter and Pluto inCapricorn. Cardinal Signs.I'll hold here. Would love to get any feedback anyone may have. I don't knowabout all y'all, but God I love this stuff!

Salaam
Mu

Aug 26 2007:

Although Gillen doesn't realy go into progressions in his work, I think theywould have to play a role. Its still in the early going for me in all this, butI just wanted to toss out something for your consideration:USA: SA Neptune=Saturn/Uranus Aug 2007-Tyl says for this combination "breakdownunder emotional pressure".

Hmm...NYSE: SA Mars=Moon Aug 2007, very interesting in light of Gillens comments aboutMars and its effects on the markets in generalPutting this all together w/the aforementioned in this thread, it all makes alot of sense in how to see the market correction in hindsight.We'll see if what I and Gillen notes will go down in the months ahead.Comments?

Salaam
Mu

Aug 30 2007: The Dow Jones took another hit today, losing over 200 points. Additionally, theS&P released its report wrt the housing and consumer markets-not good.I've mentioned earlier in this thread that per Gillen's researches, Mars has todo w/sharp dropoffs in the markets. Specifically, he was talking about Mars inmundane transit, in hard aspect to Saturn, and when it goes Rx.I've been quietly observing this for about a year or so, and so far it seems tohold. But there's something else that *might* be interesting......transit Uranus is sitting on the NYSE Mars and will continue to do so forawhile yet. I'll be able to be more specific when I'm back at the lab. But justoff the top of my head, the Markets seem to be headed for some morerollercoaster ups and downs."

Preleminary Astrological Thoughts & Analysis Of Pakistan

2007-11-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

Preleminary Astrological Thoughts & Analysis Of Pakistan

I recently offered some thoughts on the events taking place in Pakistan on the
UOA Forum. I do have plans to write a larger piece on the matter, so do stay
tuned for that one.

"Hi Sam,
Very good question, and I just got finished reading the thread over at the
Kiddie Table. Gary sounds like Cain in Kung Fu. You're right, I've been wanting
to do up a piece on Pakistan for a good long minute, but haven't been able to
sit still long enough to make that a number of other projects happen. But stay
tuned, maybe I'll use the following as part of that piece.

Now then, for some straight talk...

Pakistan Aug 15 1947 12AM IST Karachi; Placidus 17 Tau 32, Campion

General Pervez Musharraf Aug 11 1942 3.19PM IST Delhi India; Placidus 20 Sag 59
SPECIAL NOTE WRT MUSHARRAF: My source is my contact in Karachi, Muhammad Imran,
a very good Vedic astrologer based there. According to him this info comes
directly from the General's mother, and relayed to a friend of his, an
ambassador, who also happens to be a friend of Imran.

Benazir Bhutto Jun 21 1953 7.59PM PST (Pakistan Standard Time; +5), Karachi
Pakistan; Placidus 9 Cap 3, StarIQ.com

NOW - please note that Pakistan itself is rife with Fixed Sign activity, which
means that it will be effected by the transit of Neptune for some time to come.
Also keep in mind that the Neptune transit in square to its Asc accounts for the
massive earthquake a few years back that killed tens of thousands.

The extreme 4 house emphasis shows the powerful forces at work in opposition to
Musharraf; the Neptune Factor here, clearly speaks to both the Taliban/Terrorist
threat, as well as to the rife corruption, intrigue and the like in Musharraf's
gov't.

Uranus rules the 10/MC, in late Gemini. I've mentioned before, that the entire
Islamic World astrology can be summed up in massive activity in the Mutable
degrees. Checkout the charts of all the major players, from Israel to Saudi
Arabia, Iraq to Lebanon, all of them have this.

This Uranus position in the Pakistani chart has survived the Pluto transit
opposition, which brought even more assassination attempts on the general's life
(he just recently survived yet ANOTHER such attempt the other day!).

Mars in Cancer, Peregrine (Tyl), at the Aries Point, is as emblematic of the
role of the Military in Pakistani life and politics as it can get. Its hands is
in virtually everything there. Yet, it isn't very effective - in just about
skirmish they've had w/India, they've lost - badly. Plus, please note the
position of Mars in the 2 house - finances - and its rulership - the 12 house.
This is a grand signal of corruption and complicity on the part of many within
the hierarchy of the army in collusion with Taliban/Al Qaeda elements to
undermine the Musharraf gov't.

We can see in Musharraf's chart, that his Asc and Sun/Moon positions put him
right in the zone of the planetary activity that has taken place in recent
years. In fact, the Asc ruler and Sun being so strong by Sign has helped to keep
this man alive when he should have been dead long ago.

However the transit of Uranus in 08-09 in square to his Asc threaten to topple
him from power at the hand of the extremists. Note the tight synastry between
his chart and that of his country.

In the case of Bhutto, if the data supplied by Michael Wolfstar is accurate,
explains alot of what has been said about her. Keep in mind that she was never
much loved at home, due in the main to repeated allegations of rampant
corruption and incompetence during her tenures as Prime Minister. Neptune is in
conjunction with the Moon and Saturn all of which sit right on top of the chart
conjunct the Libra MC.

Bhutto's Sun at the very end of Gemini has to be looked out for in the coming
year; she's not out of the clear yet. The transit of Pluto ain't quite through
with her, there'll be more attempts on her life.

Bhutto's Solar Arcs look like this for 2007:

SA Pluto=Mars/Saturn Apr 2007
SA Sun=Pluto Apr 2007
SA Mars=Sun/Moon Jul 2007
SA Pluto=Mars/Neptune Aug 2007
SA Neptune=Mars/Pluto Dec 2007

All of these arcs speak to the use of force, violence, perhaps with a hint of
"assassination" to it. Note the last two hits, bracketing the time period when
she arrived from self-imposed exhile, last month. Mars, Neptune and Pluto, in
tandem, is a dead ringer signature for terrorists and/or assassins.

For Pakistan itself, lastr month, we note that SA Uranus=Neptune. Uranus rules
the 10. Neptune rules the 11, placed in the 6. Bhutto has maintained that someone
within the gov't wants to take her out.

You do the math.

Again, the synastry between her chart and that of her country is striking to the
eye. When we take a look between hers and Musharraf's, again the ties are very
interesting.

All of this means that Pakistan, no matter who's in charge, has a serious
Taliban Problem. The man for Pakistan is Musharraf. He's the only one who has
anything close to the wherewithall to deal with all this. How long can he hold
on though?

I'll have more to say about all this, very soon. Stay tuned...

Salaam
Mu"

Hatin' On Mu: An Open Letter To Astrologer Claudia Dikinis

2007-11-04T10:16:00.000-05:00

Hatin' On Mu: An Open Letter To Astrologer Claudia Dikinis

3:50 AM 11/04/2007 Sun

When you've dedicated your life to being an Astrological Public Intellectual, one who colors outside the politically correct, hard-Left partylines that are facistically imposed upon you by the groupthink of our current day Astrological Community like me, it ain't long before you run into a bit of trouble. People have problems with what you write and say, especially because they don't jibe with the prescribed notions such folks have - what?-me, an African American, a Conservative? Pro Life? A Muslim? AND an astrologer? Perish the thought for having the gall to speak my own mind!

As you can imagine, the hatemail is plentiful in my emailbox; I must get oh, about 5-10 such emails a week. One of these days I'll have to put them all together and post them up in the usual places for all to see. But for now I would like to take one such series of "letters", written recently by one Claudia Dikinis, an astrologer of some standing from Southern California.

I got wind of this by way of one of my many contacts throughout the Internet, and for those who think they know who it is, trust me, you don't. Most of these people have seen what Facism really looks like, and would never speak out publicly against the out and out bigotry, anti-intellectualism, and downright hatred many of these supposed "light and love" folks - folks like Dikinis - espouse, lest they too be tarred, feathered, and subject to a hi-tech lynching. People like Dikinis oppose all that they claim to stand for - freedom of speech, freedom of association, and most of all, the marketplace of ideas. So these folks, the un-named friends of mine, they never say anything publicly; they just send me emails and postings and the like from time to time, especially when they think I might be interested in the content.

Recently I got an email of some public comments Dikinis made about me, a supposed legal threat to take action against me if I attempted to contact her. Now, those of you who know me well know that I dont take too kindly to threats, even from those who are old enough to be my grandma. So I've decided not only to post this Open Letter on the usual haunts, but to send it to Ms. Dikinis - three times.

OK, so let me set this up and give a bit of background - back in the Spring of 2006 I ran accross a website called Astroworld.Us. Obstensibly it's supposed to be a Political Astrology website where bloggers get together and post their thoughts and analyses on the political happenings of the day. In truth however, it is little more than a shill for the Dems in astrological drag. The core of Astroworld are in the main a bunch of White, middle-aged hippychicks who never got over the Woodstock Experience and still think it's 1967 - and if you read the stuff that's on this site, they sound like it. The astrological analysis leaves a good bit to be desired, and most of the posts are little more than sycophantic cut-and-pastes from Leftwing blogs and sites. I was on there to do battle with the Astro-Radical Left for a few weeks before they acted like the true facists they are and banned me. Please notice that those on the hard Left hate to actually have to debate folks, a tacit admission that they have the weakest of rhetorical arguments.

Anyway, after being told by Astroworld's founder, Sally Cheyne McDonald, that they will not publish my articles because I was a Conservative (like I said, the REAL Bigots are on the Left), I decided to rifle through the astrologer's links section of the site, and came accross "Starcats", which is Dikinis' site. Clicking on it, I could see right away why she is one of Sally's ace boon coon. The site is a shrine to Anti-Bush Hate, and a Lesson in How To Swing from Al Gore's Left Testicle, 101.

Now, I saw on Dikinis' Starcats site an article written about the then-move by the state of South Dakota to challenge Roe v Wade. Dikinis's piece while well written, had some features about it I wanted to challenge, and decided to write her about it, as well as letting her know upfront who I was, what I was about, and the piece I had written about Roe v Wade a year earlier, which can be found at muminspeaks.blogspot.com, in the Jan 2005 entries. In fact, I invite everyone reading this to do a comparitive analysis of both my and Dikinis' pieces on the subject, paying particular attention to the timing factors mentioned by the both of us - and look at the results, several years later. The results should speak for themselves.

Maybe Dikinis might want to consider retiring. She's old enough for AARP membership, I believe.

SPECIAL NOTE: Since then I've written another piece astrologically tracking the ongoing Roe Debate; last month a piece called "Astrological Considerations Of Roe v Wade - For Men" appeared on my blogsite, and in other venues on the Internet. One has to ask, in light of the current row between myself and Dikinis - would she be as gung-ho for "Roe For Men" as she is for "choice" for women? Things that make you go, hmmm...

So, with that said, this is what Claudia Dikinis said about me, on the Astroworld site, Oct 14, 15 and 16, 2007, in the thread called "Albert Gore Jr.":

Dikinis Assault Number One:"I'd never heard of Mumin Bey or his crew until he showed up, uninvited, in my email a year or so ago. To make a long story short, he, like Michael and other Muminites who show up on this blog and others, are self-appointed astro-Jihadists who believe they have a mission to preach a backward, bigoted "truth" to we who are "unenlightened."
I was even set up by a Muminite who tried to pass herself off as a woman who'd had an abortion and desperately wanted an astrology reading from me. I declined (this all took place by email) and advised that she connect with a physician and therapist in her local area. This occurred right after I'd done an article on Starcats.com about Roe v. Wade.

It is obvious that I support a woman's right to choose, but this should not be confused with the Right Wing bait and switch game of "that means you're pro-abortion." Jesus Christ, having the right to choose also means having the right NOT to choose to have an abortion. The idea of choice voids the stupidity of the childish argument.

These types act as though a woman who has to choose to terminate a pregnancy is some kind of harpie that best be punished by rituals straight from the Malleus Malificarum (Morgana, ya' dig?) I mean, is the corn being blighted again by us bitches who believe in Age of Enlightnment reasoning?

The woman did not give up. She began pestering me for a reading and I'd pretty much identified her as a Muminite. What gave me chills:

She wanted my phone number and ADDRESS so she could "mail me a check" for a reading. This is after I'd already declined to read for her.

That scared me because it crossed another line. Why did she persist in getting my personal information when I'd already made it clear I would not read for her? Was this so that "someone" would have access to my house in order to harass or even harm me? That's when I contacted my attorney.

This is what I advise everyone on AW to do when you see Michael, or a Muminite or any other self-styled troll appear on this or any other blog.

DO NOT FOR ANY REASON RESPOND TO THEM. IGNORE HIM AND ALL LIKE HIM. [not screaming]. When he or others like him cease to attention in the community, they -- like THE BORG -- will move on to suck out some other universe.

It would be good to report any such harassers to AFAN's legal arm. Astrodatabank's complaints against Mumin Bey and others of his ilk are on file with AFAN and other such astrological organizations. We really don't need to suffer these asses.

It better not start up in my email again either or there will be hell to pay. I actually do have legal remedies available to me, per advice given me by my attorney (and a friend at AFAN) the last time the Pox People invaded my email account.

Claudia

Posted by Claudia at October 14, 2007 12:37 AM"

Dikinis Assault Number Two:"Micheal, Bullshit. You got nothin'. I haven't libeled MuMu and I haven't said anything that has had any negative impact on his capacity to earn his living. I mean, where's your proof for damages? Did he suddenly have to file bankruptcy in the last 72 hours because of posts on Sally's astrology blog!? Bwaahahahaaa!

If you're really a lawyer, how do you get "libel" from a truthful account I gave of his abusive emails to me? And of the phony reading scam one of his adherents tried to rope me into? That's not libel. That's simply truth -- I can prove it. And because I can prove it, you don't even have a simple MuMu defamation claim.

My attorney is in possession of the original emails complete with headers, so don't threaten me, little man. Not a good idea. Either you (or your Moomy) bring on a lawsuit against me RIGHT NOW or STFU.

You don't have jack and you know it.

He and that girl did exactly what I said they did. If harm were to come to me as a result of that harassment, I'm the one who would have a case. Give it up, Michael. I'm the injured party here. Not your dear little Moomy.

Why do you think I kept those emails? If that nutty girl turned up on my door step, or one her or MuMu's agents, representatives, assigns, employees, etc., showed up and caused me harm, or came simply to annoy, harass or vex me, I would definitely have a lawsuit. I can't stop emails from flowing to me, but I can hit back lawfully against someone who aggresses against my person. That was the point I was making. You know that. But you've been quick to misjudge me.You sought to intimidate by playing your bogus "libel" card. Baaaaaaaad idea.

Like I say, BRING IT, or STFU. You don't scare me. I spent 17 years working as a legal assistant and/or paralegal with some of the finest attorneys in the country. I have wide, wide access and plenty of favors I can call in."

(Back To Mu)OK. Let me stop laughing and address the completely assinine comments Ms. Dikinis has made here.

First, let's take it from the top - remember what I said about how I first got wind of Dkinis in the first place, and how I wrote her? Here's her response to that email, which was respectfully written by me, and then my follow-up, to which she never responded - nice.
Afterward, I'll answer her other charges.

Dialouges(?) With Claudia Dikinis, Mar 2006

"Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 18:15:09 -0800 (PST) From: "Claudia Dikinis" <cddstarcats@yahoo.com> Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com. Learn more Subject: Re: Roe v. Wade Astrology Articles To: "Mu'Min Bey" <mumin_bey@yahoo.com> Dear Mu'Min,
Thank you for your interest in my work. I appreciate your contacting me.

Here's my opinion, for what it's worth: I think that there is a vast difference between the practice of political astrology and esoteric (soul) astrology. To try and do both things at one time is a mixing of apples and oranges.

Political or Mundane astrology is about what's taking place in Saturn's realm. It's the dark earth realm, and it doesn't accommodate us one way or another. We have a right to express our opinions, but so far as Saturn and dense, material manifestation are concerned, politics and mundane issues are jolting and crass.

Esoteric astrology, on the other hand, seeks to explore the numinous, the divine, and to extrapolate from deep inner experiences and metaphysical studies, the meaning of life, the origins of life, etc., etc., etc. That is the proper place to opine on whether or not life begins at conception or in a petri dish in a lab. It can't be proven or disproven just as the existence of God can't be proven or disproven. Therefore, these become articles of faith. They are not evidence.

I advocate a separation of church and state even in astrology. Keep mundane with mundane and keep esoteric with esoteric. Christ said it best: "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's. Render unto me what is mine." I think he advocated pretty well for the separation of church and state.

You are free to do as you wish and advocate for what you want. Go right ahead and mix apples with oranges or water for chocolate. It is your right. I, of course, am going to continue doing exactly as I see fit, too. I think our divide is really so deep that there really is no reason to pretend a dialogue. The last time I said "yes" to someone who wanted to "dialogue, I was ruthlessly attacked by the very person who pretended to care. I found out the hard way that this was his intention all along.

I have learned to respond kindly and then let it go.....

Best of luck to you,
Claudia D. Dikinis"

Mu Follow-Up Email, Mar 2006

"Hi Again Claudia,

Been thinking much about our comments regarding the subject matter of Roe v. Wade; your comments in particular were quite provocative, and prompted yet another reply from me.
In your piece on your website regarding the recent South Dakota anti-abortion law's passing, you mention the role of Uranus in the SD chart; "big, bold new ideas" are in the offing for the state, you say, with the people there having "to make hard choices" regarding marriage and so on. Clearly, the reality shows us, that the people have indeed made those choices, within the context of the legislative process, which is how laws should be made, not by judicial fiat. Uranus, represents, as you well know, the people's right to govern themselves - and indeed, in our times these days, it is a radical notion to speak openly on one's preference for traditional marriage and all that it entails.

Your mention of the Neptune-Pluto conjunction in the SD chart, is also interesting and, when taken within the context of your following comments regarding Hitler's chart, also misleading, if not an example of hyperbole that often comes with what I call Astrological Left thinking. Indeed Claudia, if one were to study the charts of the those involved in World War 2 in a high profile way, one is bound to see many people being born Neptune and Pluto in conjunction. Charles DeGaulle, is but one example, and again, as you know, France as we know it today would not exist were it not for him; he was perhaps Hitler's greatest Western European enemy outside of Churchill himself.

Finally, in both your website article and in your recent email to me, you mention the role that Venus in Capricorn and Saturn play in mundane astrological affairs respectively; I say it's no accident that Roe v. Wade would be upheld by the US Supreme Court on a day when Venus would be in Capricorn - because this placement, which is one of the most maligned placements in all of Astrology, actually asks us to get our heads out of the airy clouds of intellectualism or rivers of emotionalism, and deal with some hard, often harsh truths here on the ground. While you suggest that my stance regarding abortion is more akin to articles of faith (not being able to make a hard case for it because I cannot prove when Life begins), I would suggest that my real beef with Abortion-on-Demand - and let's be clear here, Claudia, this IS what the debate is all about - reflects the reality of Venus in Capricorn. While it might have been a necessary evil to put up with Roe v. Wade in the early 70s - when birth control for both men and women were still very much in its nascent stages - in our times where availability of birth control is both so widespread and effective, there is simply no excuse for a woman to get pregnant if she doesn't want to. None. Not only is birth control highly effective as mentioned, but it's also in many cases low cost - and I happen to know for fact that where I live, here in Philly - women can get birth control (like "the pill" etc.) FOR FREE. Similarly, men can also get condoms for free, and this I know for a fact, because one of my best friends works in an anti-HIV group and once gave me a box of condoms so large it could have lasted me 5 years. Seriously.

This is what Venus in Capricorn, and Saturn by extension, asks of us - to be responsible and to be held accountable for our decisions. Simply put, ideas, actions, choices, all have profound, often life changing consequences for good or ill. Sex is in many ways the ultimate act of a free adult - and with those Uranian freedoms come responsibilities. You may have the "right" to your sexuality (something which I deeply question; I think it's fair to say that it's more of a privilege than a "right"), but you also have the responsibility/duty to deal with the consequences that flow from you exercising your "rights" in that arena. As one who was born with both Venus in Capricorn and Uranus in Libra, I have given much, deep thought to these issues for a very, very long time, and can truly understand the core of the current abortion debate.

Finally - you say the following regarding Saturn: "Political or Mundane astrology is about what's taking place in Saturn's realm. It's the dark earth realm, and it doesn't accommodate us one way or another. We have a right to express our opinions, but so far as Saturn and dense, material manifestation are concerned, politics and mundane issues are jolting and crass."

Yet, without Saturn nothing would exist in material form. For better or for worse, we need that which Saturn represents in our lives; and contrary to your stance regarding Saturn, from all that I have studied, Saturn represents and has a love of order, structure and everyone playing by the rules. I agree with you that it's impossible to "prove" matters of Faith - but, my Islamic tradition tells me that it IS possible to make an objective judgement about one's actions, which no doubt issues from some sort of mindset, belief or outlook on the world. Saturn represents the same principle; he is not interested with the philosophical underpinnings of a given action, only the action itself and what has resulted from it.

Furthermore, unlike Uranus, who is almost always concerned with the individual, Saturn asks what is best for "the common good". Therefore, one's "personal" actions have an effect on Society at Large, and indeed, in the years since Roe v. Wade came down, there have been a wave of social changes that have not been good for our country. As an African American, I can tell you of many of those changes and how they've greatly weakened and harmed the Black Family in ways that the Klan and Jim Crow never could (when Black father in the home rates exceeded 60%; today, it's below 40%); I need not make any of this up, nor is it hyperbole, and nearly everyone talks about such things when behind closed doors and assured of their company.

I could go on, but by now I'm certain you get my point, and again, there's no need at all on my point to antagonize you, etc. Just a desire to discuss these issues, which are important to us all in a calm yet candid manner.

Thanks again for the dialogue.

Salaam,
Mu"

As you might guess, Ms. Dikinis, you're not the only one who keeps their email exchanges.
Again, I invite all reading this to checkout her site and mine for the relevant articles, put them together with the above exchange, and come to your own conclusions.

Now, to Dikinis' charges levelled against me...

One: I have not emailed Dikinis since our exchange, which I have posted above, since Mar 2006. I have mentioned her, Sally and Astroworld in my writings, emails and postings, and there is no illegality in that regard as they are public figures who've made their writings and thoughts public, and to which I have the right to publicly, disagree. Therefore, her assertion that I have contacted her again since then, and until now, is baseless, without merit, unprovable at all, and is indicative of a hysterical old woman.

Two: "Muminites"??? LOL!!! Wow. Well, first off, anyone who knows me knows that I certainly don't need anyone to do my job for me, least of all a woman. I have no idea who that lady who was giving Dikinis a (much needed, from what I tell of the photo on her site) workout, and I certainly didn't (nor wouldn't) send her. And I'm willing to take a polygraph to that effect to prove it. But the trick here is, Dikinis would have to prove that I was behind such a wildeyed conspiracy theory to begin with - that's the way the law works, last time I heard. Good luck, you're going to need all those favors, from what I read on your site I don't think you could afford the lawyer's fees.

Three: The email exchange I sent is truthful and factual, and at no time did I say anything that anyone, anywhere, at anytime, could interpret as "abusive". Only delusional middle-aged women, who most likely don't have a man (hence all the cats) would even dream up such a thing. Then they have the gall to go and take potshots at me when they know I don't have a chance to defend myself. Oh yea, Dikinis, very brave - and sporting - of you. I'm quaking in my boots.

Four: I invite everyone reading this to compare now, Dikinis' site and mine, and then we'll make a determination as to who the court is likely to believe is the more rational and sane one here, especially when comparing the predictive outcomes of our pieces. Just for a few quick examples, Dikinis posts an email exchange about the probable birthdate of the wretched terrorist killer, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi; I took it a step further, by not only rectifying his chart, but also giving a prediction of his likely end, to within a few months of its actual occurance. She posts several articles on the probable future of Al Gore, the most recent of which is an exercise and exposition again, in swinging off one's testicles. If you go to marlenesniche.tripod.com, you'll find an extensive Vedic piece written by me on the future of Al Gore, written more than three years ago, talking about the strong likelihood that he wouldn't seek elective office again, and his probable future as some kind of humanitarian ambassador. In fact, just comparing the weight and heft of each site says it all - in just under two years I've published upwards of 100 articles and papers on my blogsite, and that's not including pieces like the one on Gore, ranging from local, national and international events and issues, utilizing at least two systems of astrology, Western and Vedic. My predictions are made public, and when they haven't panned out I say so. I have a demonstrated track record of teaching astrology for five years at one of the best known universities in the country, Temple, and I've founded two internet forums where ALL VOICES have a seat at the table, not just those who tow the partyline.

Here's the bottomline, Ms. Dikinis - if you think you have a case, then prosecute. By the time you've seen this, it'll be all over the Internet, plus you'll have it in your emailbox three times over. You'll have all the reason in the world to make a case, but the trick is to make it stick. I have your comments - character assaults and assassination attempts in truth - posted above and on file. I've been in contact with my legal team and have given them instructions to defend and to countersue with extreme prejudice. You have no idea on Earth who you're messin' with - I will wax that flat azz of yours like Mr. Miyagi. I see your challenge, and I pump up the volume to Cerwin Vega levels. You wanna make a fight, you know exactly where to find me.
Now - YOU bring it on, Grannie - or YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP.

And Have a Nice Day!:)

Salaam
Mu'Min M. Bey
November, 2007, Philadelphia PA
Founder & Inaugural Chairman, University Of Astrology groups.myspace.com/uoaforum
Blogmaster, Mu'Min Bey Astroblog muminspeaks.blogspot.com
Contact: mumin_bey@yahoo.com

Hillary's Rumble In The Jungle: The Philly Debate

2007-11-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Hillary's Rumble In The Jungle: The Philly Debate

6:20 AM 11/04/2007 Sun

The past week's Democratic Presidential Candidate's Debate here in my hometown of Philly finally brought home The Sum of All Fears to frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton. In a word, she got piled on by most of the Democrat field - Obama and Edwards, who sandwiched her on the stage, took repeated shots at her from everything from the Iraq War to her stance on Social Security. Fellow candidates Chris Dodd and Joe Biden brought up the rear and got in a couple of digs for good measure. But what really did Hillary in, was her Kerryesque "I voted for it before I voted against it" answer regarding New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's move to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It was almost as if Tim Russert's persistent questioning for clarity from the Junior New York Senator acted to hold Hillary in place while the the rest of the fellas took a rhetorical two-by-four to her head, cracking her over the top for every "nuanced" answer she tried to give.

What a night. What a fight!

Of course, this had to happen to Hillary, sooner or later - she's leading the pack by as much as 30-plus points, and her campaign has been working hard to give her candidacy the "aura of inevitability". This means that all of the rest of the pack - particularly Obama and Edwards - would have to take the kid gloves off and land some solid punches, now more than ever, since we're in the homestretch to next year's extra early Primaries.

All of the pundits seem to agree that Hillary dropped the ball bigtime the other night, and flows in lockstep with my published predictions for the former First Lady, written in Jan of this year:
"Just a quick glance at the transits tell the story - not only is Clinton in the midst of her 2nd Saturn Return - a key period in the lives of politicians - but so too, is she under the cloud of a Neptune transit, in square to her Asc and Mercury, and opposed her natal Saturn position all year long. Transit Saturn will also square her Mercury this year, and this, along with Neptune's role, as well as Mercury and the 3rd House, all point to Hillary possibly getting herself into some serious trouble either making gaffes and/or some kind of rumor/secret tumbling out of the closet that she didn't want exposed to the light of day. Neptune is the Planet of Scandal for politicians, and if anyone should know what that's all about, it's the Clintons."

- Hillary Rodham Clinton: America's Iron Lady? Jan 2007 muminspeaks.blogspot.com

It's too interesting to note that in Clinton's natus, we see that she has Mercury Rx in Scorpio - and during the debates, Mercury was still Rx. Mercury also represents documents like driver's licenses. Hmm.

This just might prove to be the Autumn of Hillary's Discontent, as she is in the midst of some very, very difficult astrological measurements; the hard times may just be getting started for her. On the basis of my researches into her life, I opted for the 8AM birthtime for Mrs. Clinton, and laidout my Fall 2007 Predictive Picture for the Senator, as follows, and taken from the same article above:

"Additionally, we can note four specific time periods that augur real challenges for Clinton this year: Apr with SA MC=Saturn/Pluto; Jul, with SA Sun=Mars/Saturn; Oct, with SA MC=Uranus/Neptune, and Dec with SA Sun=Saturn/Pluto. All of these measurements suggest extreme levels of discomfort, duress, setback, loss. Although Clinton is the unofficial frontrunner for now, it is by no means a lock."

If you will note the Oct-Dec "bookends", she is right in the middle of that period right now, and this is important since the earlier hit focuses on the MC point per the 8AM birthtime. Also, please note the 12 house position of Mercury in this early morning chart, suggesting a gaffe that she didn't want going out to the public; Russert made mention of the apparent fact that Hillary said to someone out in Iowa that she thought it was a good idea for Spitzer to give licenses to illegals. This was overheard by an AP reporter, and the rest, as we say, is history.

So - will last week's drubbing Hillary took stick? Will it act to drag down her poll numbers, and give an opening to her competitors?

From my researches, it would seem so. She's under some very heavy, difficult measurements that at the very least she her having to really grind it out just to keep her head above water. At the worst, another series of gaffes and/or secrets tumbling out into the open could really put Hillary up a creek. Recall the Norman Hsu Scandal - which might not go away as quietly as the "Hill Raisers" would like.

Last week's debate is supposedly one of six, and there'll be more before the Primaries. Here's the outlook, again from my Jan 2007 article on Hillary:

"Mu's Prediction: At this early juncture in the campaign, more events will have to transpire before we can go further. But what we know now is this - there seems to be rumors that Bill's up to his old tricks again, despite getting help for his sex addiction. Another affair on his part, brought out into public view could all but destroy any chance Hillary could have for becoming President of the United States. Additionally, Hillary has to walk an extremely fine line with respect to the War in Iraq, something that will become harder and harder to do as the year wears on, as both Obama and Edwards press their claims for being anti-war from the get-go. And then there's the "social issues" like Abortion and Gay Marriage, still very much in play, that threaten to rear their heads and force Hillary into a very real corner - somehow she'll need to hang on to both the Single Woman and Gay/Lesbian Vote, while at the same time, appealing to the Moderate American Vote, who seems to favor limiting Abortion, and putting the stops on Gay Marriage. Her best bet is to use Bill as sparingly as possible on the campaign, reserving him for stumping in the Black Community and her high level donor meetings and the like, but as noted above, the Fall of 2007 looks especially challenging, due to the aforementioned factors, although the better part of the year overall isn't rosy by all means. She will need to be extra, extra careful before the press, but doing this can also present the picture of her again being too scripted and controlling. It's a tough, rough spot for her to be in, and it's hard to see how it'll get easier over the course of the year. Nonetheless, Hillary Rodham Clinton is a force to be reckoned with, has proven herself to be a careful planner, and has put herself closer to the White House than any woman before her. She could indeed become America's Iron Lady - God help us.
Stay tuned..."

Indeed.

SPECIAL NOTE: My colleague Gary Caton recently wrote an article on Mrs. Clinton, where he gives his reasoning for why she was born at night, rather than in the morning, and uses as the basis of his views the ancient Hellenistic methods. This article appeared in Fall 2007 NCGR Newsletter, and, according to Mr. Caton, will form the basis of his talk at the upcoming UAC Conference in May 2007 at Denver. Since I'm a big fan of Peer Review and Critique, I thought to present an alternate view to his piece, which will be appearing soon. Watch for it.

Salaam
Mu

Oprah's School Daze

2007-11-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

Oprah's School Daze

6:49 AM 11/04/2007 Sun

Well, well, well, lookee here - seems that O's Academy's hit a snag. Word on the wires is that her school's come under some fire for a number of things, ranging from parents being concerned about the rules and procedures of the school, to allegations of sexual molestation and abuse on the part of at least one of the staff. That staff member has been removed from duty and turned over to the authorities I understand.

All of this goes down as transit Neptune sits on O's Mercury EXACT TO THE DEGREE, with Mercury ruling the 9 house of international affairs and places of higher learning.

Interested readers of my humble missives know well my discontent with Oprah, for reasons laidout in my pieces on her which can be found at muminspeaks.blogspot.com. In fact, here's what I said with regard to the timing factors taking place earlier this year, Jan 2007 to be more precise:

"Going to the astrology, as mentioned before, Oprah's having the milestone SA Pluto=MC, with transit Saturn sitting right on her 8th House Pluto, and transit Neptune sitting right on her 2nd House Mercury. The latter two measurements are those that can suggest a difficult time, particularly where communication, thinking, and one's point of view and perspectives are concerned. In Oprah's case, it certainly seems to tally with the measure of criticism she's received over the rapper controversey last year, the all-girls school and boy abduction this month, and so on. And, from what I can see here, the hits just keep comin' - this Spring she'll have SA Venus=Mars/Saturn with SA Saturn=Venus/Pluto (Apr), followed by SA Venus=Saturn/Pluto in Jul. These are NOT happy measurements, folks!-and in light of the fact that Venus rules O's MC, along with the aforementioned transits in play, it all adds up to O's reputation taking some more hits before the Summer's out. Look for yet more headlines with Oprah's name "above the fold" between early Spring and mid Summer."

- Oprah Udate, More Pluto On The MC, Jan 2007, muminspeaks.blogspot.com

One has to ask, in light of O pumping that book called "The Secret", what could the current fiasco at her school mean for her? What lesson is it teaching? Could it have anything to do with my piece "Welcome To Oprah University!" Hmm?

And while we're at it, what is in the cards for O over the next year?

Well, transit Pluto is nearing the end of its run in Sagittarius, and about to shift into Capricorn early next year. But before it does, it'll have to get by Oprah's late 29 degree Sag Asc, which occurs between Feb 2007 and Nov 2008. That buy itself is enough to signal a seachange in one's life, and this I have long held will be the time that O will finally give up the TV gig and move into a more promotional business venture of some kind, most likely the "Self Help" biz, where she already has a nice sideline of inspirational lectures and workshops - all for women, no less. Gotta love reverse discrimination.

But going further, we note that while transit Saturn has just past square to her Moon just a few days ago, it will go on to oppose Oprah's Asc ruling Jupiter, already placed in the 6th House, in a Mutable Sign (Gemini) and is Rx, all highlighting O's health concerns, mainly around weight problems, and is likely to come back roaring into the picture, since it will be joining Uranus, who's been opposing this same position since Apr of this year. There have been reports that O's been very stressed out over the past year, no doubt bedeviled by the school troubles, and perhaps the persistent rumors of relationship upset with her longtime paramour, Stedman Graham.

Please note that Mercury in O's chart rules the 7; transit Neptune coming to the 7 or its ruler is a classic indication of creepin', either on the part of the native, his/her sweetie, or both.
All of this goes down at a time (2008) when O has the following Solar Arc hits:

SA Saturn=Saturn Jun 08
SA Sun=Saturn Jul 08
SA Venus=Saturn Sep 08
SA Saturn=Venus Dec 08

When put together with the aforementioned transits of Pluto to the Asc, transit Uranus AND Saturn opposed the Asc ruler in the 6-12 house axis, and the heavy Saturn arcs - keep in mind, that Saturn exactly squares the Sun in O's chart - it all adds up to the serious risk of health threat for her. Indeed, her expected retirement from the air may have at its root, these concerns, if she doesn't breakdown from the strain already before then.

Mu's Prediction: Oprah Calls It Quits On TV, Possible Health Threat
Expect to see headlines concerning all of this in the late Summer-early Fall period of 2008, as the aforementioned astrological measurements coalesce and focus on O's health centers - the Asc, Asc ruler, and the Sun. O's popularity may continue to take a hit behind the girl's school if she can't get a handle on things by then (Venus in the mix of the arcs, girls/females, ruling the MC and the 5 house, teaching, children). Watch for reports of potential lawsuits/settlements being made between now and Jan-Feb of next year behind the girl's school business. With O's Neptune in the 10 and sextile the Asc, she'll make a good show to try and downplay all of this, but the strain will be very apparent for all to see, and if she doesn't hint at stepping down herself, others in her circle and pundits on the outside may begin to openly speculate as to just how long she can keep up the pace while weathering the withering assaults in the midst of the school scandal. Meanwhile, the rumors of continued relationship upset between Stedman and Oprah, if they haven't been cooled out by early 2008, will be just another one of the thousand cuts O will endure in the Fall of 2008. Experience has shown that being under so many Outer planet arcs and transits to key areas of the chart are telltale signals of a grand time of Transition - the only factor is whether the native goes with the flow, or goes kicking and screaming. It'll be a time for Oprah to take some of the sage advice she's offered up to so many, for so long.

Keep an eye on this one...

Oprah Winfrey Jan 29 1954 4.30AM CST Kosciusko MS; Placidus 29 Sag 41, Rodden

Suggested Further Reading:

Oprah: A Case Study Of Neptune In The 10th Oct 2006

Welcome To Oprah University! (Boys Need Not Apply) Jan 2007

Oprah Update: More Pluto On The MC Jan 2007

All found at: muminspeaks.blogspot.com

Salaam
Mu

Astrological Considerations Of Roe V. Wade - For Men

2007-10-28T12:42:00.000-04:00

Astrological Considerations Of Roe V. Wade - For Men
mumin_@yahoo.com

6:26 AM 10/28/2007 Sun

You knew it had to happen.

On Mar 9 2006, Matthew Dubay, a 25 year old computer programmer of Saginaw MI, filed a lawsuit against the State of Michigan with the help of the National Center for Men, a men's rights advocacy organization. Dubay and NCM contend that he should not have to be liable for paying child support for his daughter, on the grounds that he did not want any kids, and that his 20 year old ex-girlfriend had assured him that she was medically unable to get pregnant. The case drew wide media and internet attention, and created a firestorm of controversey surrounding the landmark case Roe v Wade.

In a nutshell, this is Dubay's and NCM's argument, taken from the latter's website:

"The practical intent and effect of Roe v Wade was to permit a woman to engage in intimate sexual activity while, at the same time, choosing not to be a parent, even in the event of a contraceptive failure...that is the fundamental right created by Roe. The Supreme Court specifically rejected the argument put forth by Wade, that a woman could make a procreative choice by abstaining from sex. Clearly, the Court intended for a woman to have a private, intimate life, without sacrificing the right to procreative choice. By its very nature, this is a fundamental right that must apply regardless of biology. It cannot survive both as a fundamental right and as a limited right, limited only to people with internal reproductive systems."

In essence, Dubay and the NCM are arguing that Roe as it now stands, violates the 14th Amendment of Equal Protection and hence, un-Constitutional; it defends the reproductive choices and rights of women, and denies the same when it comes to men.

Both Dubay and the NCM fully expected their argument to be rejected by the courts - it was - but in their view, they had hoped that the very act of bringing suit would force out into the open a much-needed debate regarding Roe and the issues surrounding it, chiefly, its open discrimination against men based on what Dubay and NCM view as outmoded norms and oblibations. And man oh man, what a debate it's been.

NCM proposes the following solution: grant a man the right to decide, whether he will "man up" and be a father, and this timeframe would be the same window women have to get abortions; should they decide "no, thanks", they can sign papers to that effect, and would be legally free from prosecution stemming from financial and parental responsibilities. This "Opt Out" clause gives men the same choices it gives women to be free from the consequences of their sexual activity, so the NCM says.

Ladies and Gentlemen, choose your weapons!

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows, Indeed
As it currently stands, and as has been the case for the past three decades, there have been three distinct views regarding Abortion/Reproductive Rights in the USA. The Pro-Life side of the debate, which is in the main comprised of Rightwing groups, regard Abortion as morally wrong under any circumstance; the Pro-Choice side, made up largely of Left of Center groups and organizations, view a woman's right to choose to abort (or not) to be a bedrock principle of American Democracy, rooted in individual Liberty, or, as those on the Left put it, "personal autonomy" - and under that rubric, cannot be impeded whatsoever.

Then there's the wide middle of America, who sees Abortion as necessary, but should have some limits, best characterized by former President Bill Clinton, when he said that Abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare". In the minds of many Americans, he struck the perfect-pitch note of the debate, something everyone, obstensibly at least, could get behind. In the years since he made that quote however, it seems that the debate surrounding Roe has become even more shrill, with moves in recent years to more openly challenge Roe on the state and federal levels - the US Supreme Court's overturning of Partial Birth Abortion, and the state of South Dakota's challenge to Roe being two glaring examples.

So, with all that said, one would think that the "Roe For Men" (aka "Choice For Men", or R4M/C4M, respectively) argument would fall along clearly defined lines - those on the Pro-Life side would flatly reject it, on the same grounds it argued against the original Roe ruling - if you didn't want kids, you should not have had sex. Moreover, since the Pro-Lifers tend to be quite religious, they would further contend that a man has a moral duty both to his child and to God to support him or her, and to do so within the confines of Marriage. Love or hate Conservatives, at least they're consistent.

The problem however, comes in when we examine the Pro-Choice side of the fence, where things get (predictably?) murkier; what one thought might be a slamdunk suddenly becomes a weak lay-up. Feminist groups, one would think, would be the first ones in line to side with Dubay and the NCM, on the grounds that women are independent, and don't need any man to help them fend for the kids, right?

Think again.

Throughout the Internet, one is bombarded by blogs and sites and chatrooms where Feminists congregate and the word "patriarchy" is a fixture, are livid at the Roe For Men challenge; there are several reasons for this outrage, of course, part of it being viewed as an assault on the very essence of Roe itself. But the real ire is saved for the argument that should Roe For Men come down the pike, it would let men off the financial hook for siring kids, rending Society asunder in the process - in fact, the Feminists make the same argument that their nemesis, the Pro-Lifers make - if he didn't want kids, he should have kept it zipped up! Or at the very least, used a condom.

The Feminist Conundrum
Then there are those on the Feminist Left who argue that since men and women are fundamentally different biologically, only women can and should have the final say as to whether a child is born (and that this fact should be protected by force of law), and if so, that a man must be compelled to support it (and this fact that should be enforced, by the power of the state). They maintain that a man's "choice" is when he makes the decision to have sex or not, and if he does, whether to use protection or not. Moreover, the most avowed Feminists say that the issue isn't the reproductive rights or choices of the man, but what is in the best interests of the child.

This line of reasoning, of course, takes us right into the heart of Conservatism, which makes the case that men and women are inherently different, that our actions public and private should be dictated by moral imperatives, that this is especially true in when it comes to areas surrounding sexual activity, and that our Society would be a better place if only individuals within it took more personal responsibility for their actions and life choices. Interesting, ain't it?
Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women, summed up the Feminist position this way:

"None of these are easy questions. But most courts say it's not about what he did or didn't do, or what she did or didn't do. It's about the rights of the child."

That was from CBS News. Here's another quote, this time taken from Gandy's bi-weekly column, "Below The Belt", Mar 22 2006:

"Nice, huh? Either way, he'd (Dubay) have zero consequences and zero responsibility. Now some men have been saying that since time immemorial, but this time Dubay and his lawyers at the National Center for Men want the courts to back them up."

"This lawsuit, which has been splashed accross the media recently, is supported by men who want to control women's bodies. The other side of Matt Dubay's coin is the men who want to force a woman to *have* a baby for him (i.e., block her from having an abortion) because that too, should be his "choice".

"The bottomline is that it's her body, so it has to be her decision. Once there's a baby, that child is entitled to support from both parents, plain and simple".

Uh, not really.

Roe For Men advocates can and will easily say that RVW effectively removed the "what about the kids" argument off the table by saying that women had the right to abort if they so chose, regardless of what anyone, including a married man, said. They would say that RVW granted women both the right and the freedom to have sex without any consequences whatsoever. They would also argue that there are thousands of single women nowadays, who both adopt and give birth to kids - single *by choice*, mind you - and that of those who make use of fertility clinics and sperm banks, the courts have upheld the right of donors not to be held responsible for the outcome of their donations. Moreover, RFM supporters would say that, since Roe come down in 73, women have vastly expanded educational and economic opportunities, making it easier than ever to afford to raise a child (or a number of children) completely on their own - all that is needed is the aforementioned few drops of DNA, administered by way of the turkey baster or done the good ole-fashioned way. They would say that the age-old saw about the need for economic support from the dad is old hat, gone the way of the typewriter and the hand-cranked telephone, since women now often earn as much and in increasing numbers, outearning men.

And in any event, it doesn't take Socrates to see that the Pro-Choicers are trying to have the argument both ways, even if you support Gandy's position. All of the rhetorical jiujitsu just says to a lot of men that the Double Standard, rightly or not, is alive and well.

C.R.E.A.M.
The oft-repeated argument, put forth both by the courts, Pro-Choicers and Pro-Lifers alike, is that it is the interests of the child that is paramount; this is why Child Support is so important. But is it really? Can anyone take a look around at the United States today - or at any point in its over 200-year long history - and honestly say with a straight face that we are concerned first and foremost, with the welfare of kids? Now don't get me wrong here. We're certainly not the Soviet Union, or India, or China. We do care about children. It's just that, well, we care about our own individual freedoms, too. A lot.

One gets the sense that while the rhetoric about "it's about the child" sounds good, in truth it's about the money - for the State, they don't want to get stuck with the bill if a kid is left high and dry by daddy; for the women, and especially, it oddly seems, Feminist Women, it's about holding those no-good incorrigably patriarchal men financially accountable (despite so many of them saying that the little bit that guys like Dubay pay out monthly couldn't possibly make up for the nine months of agony, lost wages and life chances that women go through to give birth to a child). In fact, when reading any of these comments throughout the Web, one can't help but get the sense of vengence on the part of these ladies - a "sock it to him!" tone that's very apparent in the posts, blogs and articles. For guys, the "it's about the child" piece rings hollow, especially in light of the aforementioned facts noted earlier with regard to the strides women have made economically. It's about the money.

And it's about something mentioned only in relation to men - Responsibility.

So - with all that said (whew!) - what does Astrology have to say about this Gordian knot? Can this age-old science/art sort out the issues, clarify things, and give us some clues as to how things will ultimately turn out? If you've made it this far in my humble missive, surely you're as interested as am I in this issue. Read on, interested reader - read on!

Astrological Specifics - A Quick Overview Of The USA
We begin with a quick astrological overview of the horoscope of the United States of America, founded on Jul 4 1776 at 5.10PM LMT at Philadelphia PA, per British astrologer Ebeneezer Sibly. This clocktime yields a 12 Sag 19 Asc, and is found in Nick Campion's Book of World Horoscopes. Although it must be said that the USA has quite a few charts based on important foundation and development times, the aforementioned option is the one which I have found works the best out of over a decade of the most intense study and observation of our country. It is here that we consider our approach to the question of children.

Astrologically, the Moon represents infants and young children, and of course, women in general, maternity, childbirth and all that is associated with it. The 5 house also represents children, as well as the sexual act that (usually) brings them about. Planets connected to these factors gives the astrologer strong clues as to how an individual, or in this case, a polity, approaches these matters.

In the case of the USA, the Moon in Aquarius, placed in the national 3 house, and participating in an Air Grand Trine, suggests that our approach to children is bit detached and intellectual, despite the four planets placed in the Moon's Sign, Cancer (Sun, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury); we see our kids more as "friends" and equals, rather than in a more traditional role, where children were seen and not heard. Indeed, recent studies show that more and more, children and young teens are having more of a vocal say in the home, especially when it comes to expenditures and so on. On the positive side this gives our kids more freedom to express themselves and to be heard, but on the downside, it can force them to grow up too fast, and in this case especially, it can suggest a familial breakdown due to extreme emphasis placed on individual drives, interests, aspirations and needs. This is especially true when it comes to the parents, since they are the ones most in a position to act - and here is where Roe v Wade comes in.

Because the Moon represents women, as noted earlier, and Roe granted personal autonomy to women - individual freedom - as to whether a woman will or will not become a mother. The Moon is in Aquarius, which means that it is ruled by the planet Uranus, which in this map is placed in the 6 house of health and illness, yet conjunct the 7 house cusp or Dsc. Note how Roe has been defined as "reproductive health" and so on - and how this choice is in play regardless of the marital status of a woman.

Uranus is Peregrine, per Noel Tyl's desgination. By this he suggests, that a planet is not connected by way of Ptolemaic aspect, and as such, is a "live wire" acting out all over the place in the chart; all of the attention is placed on said planet, and ends up being the tail that wags the dog, so to speak. Despite our fight as Americans to live up to the ideals of Familiy, the Uranian urge to take a walk on the wide side is strong indeed.

Aries is on the USA 5 house, ruled by Mars in Gemini - again, here we see the national view of children not as underlings of a sort, but more like junior adults. We encourage our kids to be independent thinkers, to have wide and varied interests, to speak up and out in their own voice. But with Mars square Neptune in the 9 house, we also have clouded or confused views regarding childrearing; the aforementioned values and ideas conflict with our religious and moral underpinnings that are very strong in American life. Nowhere are these underpinnings stronger than in the areas of children and sex.

And here we see the crux of the current Roe For Men debate, as both Aries and Mars are Male - Paternity - and comes into conflict with Neptune in the 9 house of both the Courts, and with our country's Morals. Remember, the word "responsibility" comes up only when the question of Men and their role in society is put on the table with regard to children; "choice" and "rights" are words that seem to be reserved for American Women. The Mars to Neptune square, involving the 5 and 9 houses then, clearly shows the confusing and convoluted nature of the Roe debate.

The National Organization For Women
NOW, as it is commonly known, was born on Jun 30 1966 at Washington DC according to its website. No time is known so 12 noon is used, giving an Asc of 22 Vir 57. Although NOW claims to have varied interests in the pursuit of protections for women, its centerpiece has been Roe v Wade. The astrology of NOW gives vivid witness to this fact.

Note the Virgo Asc, with the epic Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the same Sign sitting right on the Asc from the 12 house side. As we'll see below, Virgo classically is not considered a particularly fertile Sign, and in any event this Sign is that of the workplace, another huge area of interest for NOW. The aforementioned conjunction is in tight square to the Moon which is both in Sagittarius and placed in the 3 house of media communication, getting your message out, national debates, etc. NOW has been a powerful voice for women's interests on the academic, political and legal fronts now for more than four decades. The hard aspects of Uranus and Pluto to the Moon, even while the latter is nearing its Full phase, doesn't augur well for fecundity and childbirth; indeed, it suggests the opposite, of birth control and abortion.

Capricorn is on the NOW 5 house, which as we noted earlier, represents issues surrounding children, reproduction and sex. Capricorn is yet another Sign that is classically designated as "barren" - and note that its ruler Saturn, is placed at the last degree in the Sign of Pisces in the 7 house (Marriage) and widely square Mars in Gemini, who itself is at the top of the chart and conjunct the MC (fighting for a cause, through Geminian means, i.e., the media, internet, academia, ideas, etc.). Mars rules the NOW 8 house - death, in this case, of unborn children.
I have found in my years of study, that in the charts of females, the coming together of the planets Mars and Saturn by way of hard aspect, usually tends to suggest that the woman involved has "men issues" beyond the norm. In fact, over the years when women have approached me to have their charts done, that those women who seem to have the most trouble with men almost always have Mars and Saturn in very prominent hard aspect in their charts. Please note the Mars-Saturn relationship in the chart of NOW. It, along with the events that have led to its creation, speaks for itself. It has long been argued by Men's Rights Advocates, that NOW doesn't really want equality, but rather to turn the tables on men, and that the current Roe debate is just another, if not glaring example of just that.

Furthermore, I have found that in the charts of prominent Feminists and Feminist organizations, events etc, that the planets Moon and Venus tend to be prominent in some way, usually by way of aspect. Although the Moon and Venus are a bit too wide to form an opposition to each other in terms of orb, it is nonetheless telling to see this signature playing itself out yet again in the chart of the country's premiere women's advocacy organization. Although this combination can indicate a person or entity that is very pleasing and easy to get along with, the downside of such a pairing can be self-indulgence and selfishness. For years charges have been made that NOW seems to be interested in issues of "fairness" only when it is women who are aggrieved. Whether that is indeed the case for NOW, the perception persists nonetheless, and with the Moon in the 3 and Venus in the 9, the perception axis if you will, it certainly makes lots of sense.

Going Further - The Astrology Of Roe V Wade, 1973
The Roe v Wade decision came down on Jan 22 1973 at Washington DC; in the absence of an accurate time I've set the chart for the standard and accepted Mundane astrological practice of 12 noon, yielding a 16 Tau 24 Asc. This chart clearly and emphatically reflects the decision itself: note the Moon in Virgo in the 5 house, and square the Mars-Saturn opposition running from the 8 to 2 houses, respectively. The Sign Virgo has long been associated with reduced or no fertility, Mars in the 8 is a classic signal of death, and Saturn in harsh aspect to the Moon doesn't help the unborn much either.

Then there's the square between Jupiter in Capricorn in the 9 and Uranus in Libra in the 6 ("reproductive health/freedom" again) - the interplay between expanding the principle of the 4th Amendment, where the "right to privacy" comes from, as well as the 1st Amendment, where appeals to religion could not be used to bar or otherwise impede on a woman's "right to choose". "Personal autonomy" is seen here, in the Uranus in Libra placement, giving wide freedoms to women accross the board, if not in fact at least on paper. This mundane transit occured during the height of the Sexual Revolution of the late 60s and most of the 70s, when Uranus was passing through Libra, late 1968-1975. The Jupiter-Uranus combination, often brings with it unbounded freedom. But with Jupiter's placement in Capricorn, and Uranus' inherent "unintended consequences" vibe, women's "choice" came at a price - and not in the way they might have expected.

Most astrologers would agree that the Sun, Mars and Saturn are Male Planets, and here in the original Roe map, we can see that all three are significantly weakened. The Sun is in Detriment in Aquarius, Mars is classically Peregrine and in the 8 house, and Saturn is also classically Peregrine and Rx. Although both the Moon and Venus are also classically without Dignity, Venus is helped considerably by the fact that she both is the Queen of the Chart and is placed in the beneficial 9 house. The Moon is helped by the fact that it occupies the 5. All of these factors helps the cause of American Women getting the right to determine what happens to their bodies.

It is the weakness of the aforementioned planets that gave birth to Roe For Men, and give testimony to astrologers.

Roe V Wade For Men
Matt Dubay took his case to US District Court at Detroit on Thu Mar 9 2006; again, in the absence of accurately timed data, I've set the chart for 12 noon. This gives an Asc of 2 Can 13, and quickly explains why this issue would strike such a deep nerve on all sides - the event chart is defined in the main by a Water Grand Trine between the Moon in Cancer, the Sun-Uranus conjunction in Pisces, and Jupiter in Scorpio. To add fuel to the fire, Mars in Gemini is placed in the 12 house, and squares Uranus - Mars rules the 11 house of "community" and Uranus, the 9 house of the courts and morals - the debate sparked by the RFM case has had a great deal to do with with the effects of unbridled male sexual activity on Society, and the moral imperatives men have to care for the children they had a hand in creating.

The moral argument, expressed mostly in "in the interests of the child" and "his responsibility" terms, is also seen in the square between Jupiter and Neptune, with the former in Scorpio and Rx in the 5 house (a retreat from duty, if you will), Neptune in the 9 house - note that this square is exact! The Pisces cluster of the Sun, Uranus and Mercury Rx, all placed in the 10 house of the Father, speaks in vivid fashion to the issue at hand, whether a man has a right to decline any responsibility for a child he didn't want. Note the prominence of Uranus here, and recall its role in the previously mentioned charts - the USA, NOW and Roe 1973. Democracy is alive and well in the USA.

Note also the mundane signature of Saturn Rx in Leo - Saturn Rx has long been associated with "daddy issues" most often abandonment, lax involvement, irresponsibility and vagueness.
And note that Venus, ruler of the 5 house in this chart, is placed in Aquarius - sound familiar anyone? - and placed in the 8 house of debt. It opposes Saturn, placed in the 2 house, and ruling (and holding Venus) the 8. Despite the flowery rhetoric, the State doesn't want to get stuck with the tab. It's also interesting to note that Dubay's child is a girl; Venus again, rules the Libran 5 house.

This chart doubles both as a Mundane Event map and as well, as a Horary map, specifically, one having to do with litigation issues. In such charts, the Asc represents the Plaintiff, and the Defendent is signified by the 7 house. The 9 house is the Courts in general, the 10 house is the Presiding Judge, and the 11 house is the Jury, if there is one. Moreover, the old Horary Rule is in effect here: the chart must describe the situation in order to be valid. So, Dubay/NCM is represented by the Dignified Moon in the 2 house (monetary concerns), the State of Michigan is represented by Saturn in Leo Rx (also placed in the 2 - money again), and the judge is represented by the 10 house, where the Pisces stellium is.

That the judge ruled against Dubay is hardly surprising, given the condition of Saturn; it is placed in a financial house, rules another, is classically weakened by Sign AND is Rx. Saturn is disposed by the Sun in Pisces in the 10 - the judge - and that is that.
Or ir it? The aforementioned weaknesses of Saturn, plus the prominence of Uranus on the MC in the chart, suggests the high likelihood that the judge's ruling could be overturned on appeal; afterall, Dubay has a strong argument, shown by the dignity of the Moon. Note too Mercury's Rx status in the 10, again highlighting the strong potential for poor judicial reasoning, and the case being revisited.

Enter The Supremes
As of this writing, the Dubay/Roe For Men case is working its way through the Appeals process, with oral arguments being made in the Sixth Circuit Court at Cincinatti OH on Sep 15 2007. Dubay and the NCM intend to fight this all the way to the US Supreme Court, and win or lose, they say, they intend to continue to raise questions about a man's right to reproductive choice, rights and freedom, the same as women enjoy. They will continue to argue on the grounds that the 14th Amendment must be applied equally, or not at all, and will ask the highest Court in the land to give a final judgment either way. So, what will the Supremes do?

According to the superb research work of Mundane astrological specialist JohnTWB, the US Supreme Court was founded on Feb 2 1790 at 1PM LMT at New York City NY. Using Placidus Houses this gives an Asc degree of 20 Gem 28. Comparing the RFM chart to that of the Supreme Court, what immediately leaps out at me is the exact square between the RFM Jupiter and the SC Pluto - a combination that usually denotes grand success. It should also be noted, however, that the RFM's Neptune sits exactly upon the same SC Pluto - in the 9 house - suggesting a deeply divided court. What else is new?

Mu's Prediction: Roe Radically Altered
Considering the short-term astrological outlook for the Supreme Court, we note the following: transit Uranus sqaure the SC Asc in the Spring and Fall of 2008, suggesting a change of heart with regard to Roe (and several Conservative voices on the Court have openly expressed the desire to overturn Roe); SA Neptune=Jupiter Jun 08; and SA Saturn=Pluto, Jul 08. In that anything can happen, given the rather unusual nature of the case in question, we have to note that if history is any indication, Roe as we know it will indeed be significantly changed, either found unconstitutional, which kills the RFM argument, or, upheld while also granting men the right to "opt out". Back in 1973, the SC had SA Uranus=Asc, with transit Jupiter square Neptune, clear echoes between now and then. Either way, as I've stated in previous writings, it is very, very difficult to see Roe continue in the way it has come the end of this decade.

Conclusion
That the Roe For Men case, and the debate it spawned (pardon the pun) comes as a surprise to many on the Feminist Left reveals just to what degree they have failed to fully think through their most cherished prize, Roe 1973. It was only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, would challenge the idea that, no matter how it was worded, women and only women get to decide not only if they get to be parent, but also whether men get to be parents. Moreover, the common arguments that were used against Roe, cannot be applied to the Dubay case - not with a straight face, I mean. If men have to use birth control or abstain from sex in the first place, then so should women. If it's immoral to leave a kid high and dry, its at least as immoral to do away with an inconvenient pregnancy. If women and men are indeed fundamentally different based on biological realities, those realities should be clarified and upheld by force of law throughout the whole of Society, and not cherrypicked when it suits one side or the other.

Maybe the fierce opposition to RFM by Feminists, highlights the biological point brilliantly - no matter where anyone falls on this issue, it's generally accepted that while a woman's right to choose may or may not effect everyone else, what men choose to do with their nether regions can have grave consequences for all concerned. But since the Feminists have successfully tossed such an argument aside in the name of "progress", such an argument cannot be used here either. Here we see the flipside of the Outer Planets - the very ideas and new concepts Uranus, Neptune and Pluto bring, have within them the means to destroy a Society. In this case, Uranus - the Planet of Democracy, Individuality, and Identity Politics - is inherently at odds with notions of Family, Marriage and most of all, Childrearing. Left to its own devices, Uranus can tear down not only those structures that have outlived its usefulness, but destroy the structures a Society needs to survive.

The very argument used to advance Roe - that, should it be removed as an option, women would resort to back alley abortions - can be used with just as much vim and vigor by MRAs - that men are voting with their feet and wallets NOT TO BE DADS already, even in the face of awesome public censure, threat of garnishment of wages, and certainty of imprisonment. At present, some $100 BILLION is owed in back Child Support - a sum comparable to the amount of money spent in fighting the War on Drugs, and we know how that turned out, right? We used to think that these men were "deadbeat dads". Maybe it's because they don't want to pay for kids they don't want. It hurts to say that, it hurts to type it. But I think it's the nasty, ugly truth. Dubay's case only lifted the rock up for everyone to see. If we can't force women to have kids they don't want, how can we force men to support kids they don't want?

After more than a week of near round-the-clock intense study of this issue, I have to side with Dubay. But before the chorus of "Aha!!!-I KNEW Mu was a hate-filled Misogynist!" starts, please let me say that I don't do this with any sense of glee or "gotcha" at all. Matthew Dubay is no heroic Lone Ranger or Wyatt Earp for Men's Rights - in fact, in truth, at best he could be compared to the iconic yet anti-heroic character lionized by Clint Eastwood in those Sergio Leone "Spaghetti Westerns" of the 60s - a man who acts by purely selfish interests, who just happens to do the right thing along the way.

Here I'm reminded of the quote by Harvard scholar Harvey Mansfield, who said in his piece "Why A Good Man Is Hard to Find" the following:

"Of course feminism did not create male irresponsibility, and it is not the only cause that Dad is so often no longer around. But it gave him a license to take off. Women's liberation is liberation for men too, and not of the best in men. The feminists should have known that a tendency to promiscuity is in the nature of a male. You can call that tendency a "stereotype" and suppose that it need not be. But what if you are wrong? You are taking a big risk with the happiness of women who do not want to be deserted."

Word.

Salaam
Mu

P.S. For Astrologers: What does the chart of a man who would make a good father look like? Any ideas, observations, comments, suggestions? Any charts of good dads you'd like to share? How would you deal with the issues in this piece? Please let me know!

Suggested Further Reading:

The Astrology of Roe v. Wade: Three Decades Later Jan 2005

Who's Your Daddy? - The Primacy Of Saturn Retrograde Jan 2005

The USA Supreme Court: A Changing of The Guard... Sep 2005

US Supreme Court Upholds "Partial Birth Abortion" Ban Apr 2007

- all found at muminspeaks.blogspot.com

Mu'Min M. Bey is a Western and Vedic astrologer with 15 years training and experience, including 5 years teaching Western astrology at Temple University's PASCEP program. Mr. Bey lives in Philadelphia and is founder of the University of Astrology discussion forum found on MySpace: groups.myspace.com/uoaforum. Contact him at: mumin_bey@yahoo.com, or at his MySpace page: myspace.com/muminbey.

Venus In Virgo, Mars In Cancer & Domestic Violence

2007-10-13T10:59:00.000-04:00

Venus In Virgo, Mars In Cancer & Domestic Violence

6:17 AM 10/13/2007 Sat

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and this year it could not have come at a better time, as several major astrological events takes place that speaks directly to love, romance, sex and unfortunately so often these days, domestic violence and spousal abuse. This year is unusual in that both Venus and Mars go retrograde, and in their Fallen Signs, highlighting these issues surrounding domestic violence. As Mars and Venus spend extended time in their Fallen Signs, both sexes, men for Mars and women for Venus, will be called to closely examine themselves and others of their gender. Although admittedly I'm a "big tickets" kind of guy - I tend to focus more on Outer Planet movements and the like - I have to admit that so much activity among the Inner Planets is a sight to behold. The Inner Planets are called such because they represent those things that are close and dear to all of us; the term "intimate" clearly comes to mind when discussing the issue of domestic violence.

Astrological Overview
On July 15 2007, Venus entered Virgo, with Mars in Taurus; then, on July 28 2007, Venus went retrograde in the same Sign. On September 29 2007 Mars entered Cancer, and will go retrograde on Nov 15 of this year, to last until early next year. Venus, which had been transiting Leo by this time, had returned to Virgo on Oct 9.

To add more flavor to the mix, Mercury then went retrograde on Oct 11 2007, where it will remain until early November, just days before Mars itself goes retrograde. All of these patterns points to a period of time where heightened focus will be put on the issue of sex, domestic violence, and the like.

But not entirely in the way we all may have thought. Remember, all planets are subject to the condition of their dispositors, the planet that rules the Sign another planet is placed in. Said condition of a dispositor ultimately calls the shots as to how well or badly, a planet will perform. This is true no matter what style of astrology one chooses to use - Natal, Medical, Mundane, etc.

So, the recent retrograde transit of Mercury in Scorpio, puts added emphasis on Venus, due to it being in Virgo, the Sign ruled by Mercury. In Scorpio, Mercury tends to be darker in its thinking patterns, perhaps secretive, and can be quite controlling. Being retrograde, the thinking goes in before coming out - a lot of cards are kept close to the vest, so to speak.

But we can go even further in this analysis, as we note that Venus and Mercury participate in a Mutual Reception, as Venus finds its Detriment in Scorpio; romantic and love interests can either be deeply passionate, or darkly manipulative. The image of a "crime of passion" emerges easily. Put this together with a "flying off the handle" Mars in Cancer, and the mix is an explosive one for sure.

This gives us pause to consider one chilling fact - that while domestic violence is widespread, its not as clearcut as many would make it appear. True, there are many women who are abused. But so are men. So, why is so little of this documented fact known to the wider public?

Astrology Of The VAWA
Although domestic violence had existed in one form or another for as long as there have been human beings, in the year 1994 something special happened. President Bill Clinton signed into law the Violence Against Women Act, which gave special protections to women being physically abused by their mates. Clinton, long viewed as arguably the most woman-friendly President ever, was praised by the National Organization of Women, who called the new law "the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades". Among other things, VAWA provided some $1.6 billion in federal funds to ehance investigation and prosecution of violent crime against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, and imposed mandatory arrests of the accused.

The astrology of VAWA, which President Clinton signed into law on Sep 13 1994 at Washington DC, is striking to the eye - set for a noontime mark, Scorpio rises with Pluto in Scorpio in the 1st House and tightly conjunct the Asc point! Right off the bat we can see the imagery of power, control and manipulation, with deep sexual overtones; remember, it was during the Pluto in Scorpio period, that Domestic Violence became a household name.

We also note that Venus is in Scorpio(!) and Mars is in Cancer(!!), emphasizing the current astrological situation. The Mars in Cancer placement in the VAWA chart shows men in the worst possible light, as uncontrollable beasts out to destroy their wives and girlfriends. Mercury in Libra squares this Mars placement, a clear signal of bickering and arguments that lead up to violence in the home. But note that Mars, the classical ruler of Scorpio, disposes of Venus, who is tucked away in the 12th House - she is not without blame here. And note that this Venus is sextile the Moon in Capricorn - the women of the country are not only seeking government redress, but becoming more and more, part of the government aparatus and political process. However, despite Mars' rulership of Venus, the Moon has the upperhand, as it disposes of Mars - and with Mars tucked away into the 8th House, there was little men could do about the VAWA being passed.

The Moon-Venus aspect I have found to be very prominent in the charts of women's groups and in the charts of individual women's advocates and feminists. In a general sense, such an aspect denotes a very pleasing manner, but the downside is there can be a selfish indulgence about things as well. One of the chief criticisms feminist groups and the like have endured over the years is that they seem interested in advocating for *only* their causes, and not for the cause of human beings, read, men. In other words, they are interested in Spousal Abuse only if the victim happens to be a woman.

Dazed & ConfusedThis came along at the same time as the "Year of the Woman" theme in 1992, when more women were elected to both Houses of Congress than ever before in American history at that time, and when life became quite confusing for the American Male. This paradigm-shifting event occured as the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn was taking place in 1993, and as we can see here in this map, the conjunction is still well within orb. Note how they both oppose Mars in Cancer, and recall one of the catch phrases of the period, "The Angry White Male". Two years ago, when Mars was retrograde in Taurus, I wrote an extensive piece about it and the wider topic of men that relates to the aforementioned aspect configuaration:

"If you haven't already, I urge you to get a book called "Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man", by Susan Faludi (born Apr 18, 1959, New York City). Best known for her reporting work and her book "Backlash" this feminist writer spent the better part of the 90s taking a hard look at men at the end of the 20th century. While I don't agree with all of her premises, and definitely am shaky about her final conclusions, nevertheless, Stiffed is an important read at this time, and forms much of the backdrop of this essay.

Let's go back to the future, if you will - the roaring 90s. Bill Clinton was President, the Internet Bubble (and Economy) was just beginning to bloom...and men were in big trouble. The film "Falling Down" starring Michael Douglas showed a man who dedicated his life to his job and family, and was betrayed by both, finally driven over the edge, literally, by the end of the film, chillingly brought to life the much written about "Angry White Male". Other movies depicted the state of affairs men were in: "Boyz in the Hood", "Menace to Society" and "Colors" showed boys - in this case, in the main, African American young men - trying to forge for themselves the meaning of manhood in the midst of the rapidly shifting socioeconomic landscape of late 20th century urban America.

Astrologically, we can see this shift occurring with respect to men, in two "waves" if you will - the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 1965, and the Uranus-Neptune conjunction of 1993. As we all know, these conjunctions had massive social, legal and economic implications for all concerned. One of the most sweeping - and far reaching - was with regard to Women. The Women's Movement gained monumental steam during the 60s, and by the time the early 90s rolled around, more women were in every sphere of public life than ever before in American history. On the micro level, more women had choice in nearly every aspect of their lives than ever before, ranging from career choice to reproductive options. While we astrologers were caught up in assessing these conjunctions themselves, I posit that we might have overlooked their impact on the "inner planets", in this case, Mars; at the time of the Uranus-Pluto partile, Mars was conjunct Venus and trine the Moon (both female planets); and, perhaps even more ominous, at the time of the Uranus-Neptune conjunction, Mars was sitting opposed it in Cancer and RETROGRADE. Classically its sign of Fall, Mars in Cancer shows a much-weakened male population, made all the moreso by its retrogradation. The Uranus-Neptune conjunction, portended a protracted period of confusion, befuddlement, literally being in a fog, about what it means to "be a man" (and please note, that Faludi's book centers on this period!), as all of the "male" institutions - schools, colleges, corporations, industries, even the military (think VMI and The Citadel) - underwent massive and rapid change. Today, most men don't know whether to hold the door open for a woman or not; many men are chided for having "base" desires, such as the liking for buxom women; and we all have either heard about and/or read about the dangers of "patriarchy". Men have truly lost their "male compass" and it's my view that this Mars in Taurus Rx transit is pointing us in the proper direction to go - if we but would listen."

- Mars Retrograde And The Incredible Disappearing Man, Oct 3 2005 muminspeaks.blogspot.com

Critics of VAWA assert that it is a flagrant violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees that every American will get equal protection under the law; since men can be and often are abused just as much as women, many men's rights groups assert, the law should either be rescinded or changed to reflect that fact, in addition to other changes, such as due process and presumption of innocence violations. The American Civil Liberties Union derided VAWA as "repugnant" to the US Constitution; even the US Supreme Court ruled that parts of VAWA were unconstitutional. The group RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) has released reports which find that male DV victims are treated as criminals, restraining orders are issued with no claim or proof of physical violence and men often falsely accused.

In fact, the World Health Organization's study on the matter found that among the estimated 31% of couples worldwide who engage in physical violence, 68.6% of the time both parties are involved, and of that 21.4% of the time the violence was initiated by the female, versus only 9.9% of the times when the male initiated.

That's more than twice as many times. No wonder so many men are dazed, confused and often, very angry.

And still, depsite the mountain of evidence in this regard, VAWA still gets strong support at all levels of government, as well as funding, to say nothing of the general view held in the Public Mind, that in domestic violence situations, the woman is always the victim, and the man is always the attacker. And on those occasions where the woman did indeed use violence, it had to be as a last-ditch effort to get away from the man, or as retribution for a marital life in misery.

Often, women who blatantly abuse such laws and statutes, face little to no jailtime, censure or rebuke; indeed, the reverse can be true, where they are held up as examples of brave women taking matters into their own hands and striking a blow for aggrieved and put-upon women everywhere.

The Outrageous Case Of Mary Winkler
This was the case when Mary Carol Winkler, a mother of three in Selmer TN, murdered her husband, the Reverend Matthew Brian Winkler, as he lay asleep in the family home on Mar 22 2006. His death was by a close-range 12 gauge shotgun blast to the back, and his body was found by fellow church members who were worried when he didn't show up for Wed night Bible Study. By then Mary had taken the family's three daughters and fled to Orange Beach AL.

Though by all accounts from friends and church members, the Winklers seemed to be the perfect family, Mary herself and members of her family assert that Matthew was abusive. No hard evidence has been found to support this view, however, and as per usual, the woman's word must be taken as law.

Mary Winkler was eventually brought to trial, found guilty of voluntary manslaughter (after being released on bail!) and served a grand total of seven months locked away - four months in the country jail and two months in a mental hospital. She is now free and has vistation with her daughters. It must also be noted that when women murder their husbands, voluntary manslaughter is the usual verdict.

To add insult to injury, Mary then appeared on Oprah, to tell her story. Holding up a pair of white platform high-heeled shoes, Mary asserted that part of the "abuse" she endured was her husband's insistence that she wear them when they had sex.

Mary Carol Winkler was born on Dec 10 1972, presumably in or near Knoxville TN, according to Wikipedia. No time is known, but the birthdate is clear as day: she was born on a Full Moon in Gemini(!!!), with a Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Sagittarius in the Solar 12th! Astrologers know well that such combinations don't usually augur well for a sound mental state, or being completely upfront with the facts. Moreover, Mary has Mars in Aries, opposed Uranus, only six minutes from partile...and, get this...neither planet is Rx. This is highly unusual, and suggests that Mary could be prone to explosive outbursts of anger and violence. Her husband Matthew was born on Nov 21 1974 at Henderson TN, Wikipedia: the Jupiter-Neptune square in Pisces-Sag accounts for his interest and life's work in the Clergy, while a Mercury-Mars conjunction in Scorpio sits in the Solar 12th, along with Uranus in Scorpio. Matthew was born a Scorpion, so the part about the white high heel shoes makes sense - but enough to warrant him being blown away in his sleep? Both he and Mary shared Venus-Pluto aspects in their respective charts, and in Mary's case she had a Venus-Uranus Mutual Reception to boot; at the time of his death, Matthew had SA Venus=Jupiter/Uranus (Mar 2006), so I'm highly doubtful that sexual abuse was at the heart of why he is now dead. But money?-that could be the ticket, and there is documented evidence of wives knocking off their hubbies in order to collect on life insurance policies, wills, and so on.

By the way, in case you're wondering, if the date of Matthew's murder at the hands of his wife looks and sounds familiar, it might be because this grisly event occured only a week after the infamous Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal went down in Durham NC. A Black stripper named Crystal Gail Mangum accused three White and well to do male students of viciously gang-raping her, even when there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support her claims, and even when the prosecutor in the case, Mike Nifong, deliberately witheld key information that would have exonerated the three men in question, and stoking the racial tensions apparent in Durham in a bid to get re-elected. One of the men had to leave Duke, the lacrosse program was shutdown for a year and the coach left, millions of dollars were spent in the male students' defense - all for the eventual result of Nifong serving one day in jail, and no criminal charges being brought against Mangum at all - she's crazy, dont you know. On the night of the bizarre event, Mercury was Rx in Pisces, opposed the Full Moon in Virgo.

What Can Men Do? Organize - And See An Astrologer!
From these two cases, only to name a scant few, the keen astrologer easily sees a clear pattern - that the Mental Planets, the Moon and Mercury, are badly afflicted, and have to be carefully inspected when it comes to synastry and the like. This becomes very important for men, who at present little if any legal or for that matter, social protections when it comes to matters like DV and rape alleagations. Here is what I said to a good friend of mine, when he approached me with the chart of a young lady he was interested in dating:

"Years ago, my best friend and fellow astrologer Zam asked me to look into the Vedic chart of a young lady he had met online; they were due to hookup downtown on a date and see where things go from there. As soon as her chart came up on the screen, I could see she had what is known as "Matibrahamana Yoga" - a combination where the Mental Planets, the Moon and Mercury, are BOTH impacted by Malefics. On the basis of this, I told Zam, "girlfriend's a headcase, drop her". Well, it was too late - they already had the date planned.

A few days later, Zam let me know that they met downtown alright - and about 15 minutes into the date, girlfriend just snapped out on Zam, going ballistic. Now, such a thing might not make that much difference to me, with all my Fire and a kickass Mars, but for a guy like Zam, who has a million planets in Virgo and Libra, it's a HUGE turnoff."

- Astrological Eye For The Regular Guy 8:59 AM 06/18/2006 Sun muminspeaks.blogspot.com

In my time as an astrologer, I've helped lots of men avoid women who might prove to be problematic in the longrun. Its a wise investment when put against that which could befall you - being locked up on trumped up charges, having your reputation ruined, or worse, a fate like Rev. Matthew. When next you meet a lady, ask for her birthdate - the birthtime would be even better - but a birthdate will do. Most women happen to like astrology very much, so this shouldn't be hard to do, and there are many female astrologers who assist their female clients in being on the lookout for men who might exhibit over-agressive tendencies. If, per chance, she doesn't want to give you her birth information, you're still in luck - carefully note down the time, place and date you *asked* her to give you her birthdate. Take this to an astrologer. They will be able to tell from it if the woman you're about to go out with is playing with a full deck, so to speak. The astrologer will also be able to help you focus in on exactly what you want from a woman, how to go about it, and when the best times are as to when to proceed for the best chances of success.

One final thing here. Men need to learn how to organize, to speak up and out for their interests, and to work together to make that happen. Vote in all of your local and state and of course, federal elections. Know who your elected officials are. Ask them about the VAWA and about the blatant abuses of civil liberties therein. Ask them what are their stance regarding it all, and if they support seeing to it that the abuses are stopped? Also, get with Men's Rights groups and organizations. There are many on the Web, and one I would highly endorse is GlennSacks.com. Sacks is a syndicated columnist, writer, blogger and host of the popular radio show "His Side". His website has many resources for men and how to protect themselves from the current abuses in the VAWA system. The Mars in Cancer transit will go over the USA Sun twice between now and Spring 2008, signalling a time when men can be energized about these issues, as the USA Sun and transiting Mars will fall in its 7th House. Know your rights, get organized, and get involved, gentlemen!

Mu's Prediction: VAWA Overturned
Based on my study of the astrology of when VAWA was signed into law by President Clinton, there is every reason to believe that VAWA could be overturned in the coming year, if not by the end of 2009. Reasons for this are the following: transit Uranus opposed the VAWA Sun, Apr 2008-Feb 2009; transit Saturn conjunct the VAWA Sun, Nov 2009-Jan 2009, with a final pass in late Summer 2009; transit Neptune square VAWA Asc and Pluto, Mar 2008-Dec 2009. Key: SA Uranus=Sun, Feb 2008!

Conclusion
It should go without saying, that violence is wrong no matter who does it. It has no place within a marriage, relationship, or domestic partnership. Yet the myth persists that only men abuse, and only women are victims. This has to stop. In our time of heightened awareness of fears that our civil liberties as Americans are threatened by laws such as the Patriot Act, one would think that we all would be outraged by the day in, day out abuses of VAWA, but there continues to be relative silence, and makes this astrologer wonder if that is due to a political bias on those who play the role of the Squeaky Wheel. And while I'm sure there'll be lady colleagues who will take issue with me for this piece, I would remind them that they are hardpressed to find a man who sided with Scott Peterson when he killed his pregnant wife, or Stephen Poaches when he killed his pregnant girlfriend. Yet we all know of instances where men were killed in the manner Matthew Winkler was offed, and it was met with cheers by the Sisterhood, if not quiet approval. They need to understand that until both sexes are truly Equal under the Law, neither men nor women will ever truly be Free.

Salaam
Mu

Suggested Further Reading:
Of Mars And Men - The Other Side of Domestic Abuse...

Welcome To Oprah University! (Boys Need Not Apply)

- both found at muminspeaks.blogspot.com

Mu'Min M. Bey is a Western and Vedic astrologer with 15 years training and experience, including 5 years teaching Western astrology at Temple University's PASCEP program. Mr. Bey lives in Philadelphia and is founder of the University of Astrology discussion forum found on MySpace. Contact him at: mumin_bey@yahoo.com, or at his MySpace page.

Astrological Considerations Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran

2007-10-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

The following is by me, taken from the University of Astrology Forum, found at MySpace:

Posted: 22 Sep 2007, 12:28 AM

OK y'all, just wanted to toss in a bit of astrology as only Mu can:Islamic Republic of Iran Feb 1 1979 9.50AM IRT Tehran Placidus 11 Ari 30 Campion

United States of America Jul 4 1776 5.10PM LMT Philadelphia PA Placidus 12 Sag 19 Sibly Option, Campion

Please note that this month's Partial Solar Eclipse has fallen right on Iran's 9 house Neptune, highlighting its oil and energy woes, as well as its covert operations abroad, most notably wrt Iraq and Lebanon in conjunction w/Syria. Also, please note that Iran's first Saturn Return has begun, bringing full circle the ideas that the Ayatollah Khomeni brought into existence. Saturn is Peregrine (Tyl) in Virgo in the Iranian map, suggesting that the administration is one that is arch-conservative and pendantic (you also might want to note that China also has such a Saturn position-its undergoing its second Saturn Return). Saturn rules the 10, the Party in Power.

Transit Pluto had been sitting close to Iran's Venus in the 9, suggesting an opening in terms of international efforts at peaceful negotiation. However, now that Pluto has gone direct, chances for a peaceful end to the nuclear weapons program Iran has been building is getting dim. There seems to be a last chance coming up this year in SA Venus=Sun/Moon next month, and President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is on his way for the United Nations General Assembly soon.

Perhaps that might be the opening both sides need. Please note the Uranus position in the Iranian chart, in Scorpio, in the 8 and Peregrine (Tyl); Uranus rules the 12; and Pluto, Uranus' dispositor, is exactly sextile Neptune in Sagittarius in 9, ruling 8. The nuclear weapons program is there alright. Iran has been under increasing pressure from the international community wrt to its nuclear weapons program; we can see this most recently in SA Saturn=Asc exact in Aug of this year. If peace talks don't work in the coming weeks, we can expect Iran to attempt to stall for more time in some way w/SA Uranus=Neptune and SA Mercury=Uranus/Neptune both in Nov; Iran will try to keep the USA and its allies divided on the atomic energy issue by diverting to othr issues, such as Iraq, Lebanon, etc.

The horoscope of Iran shows it to be a very shrewd, albeit boisterous nation, w/its Moon in Aries in the 12, and a triple conjunction of the Sun, Mercury and Mars in Aquarius. The Islamic State gets its entire identity from Revolution and its "Death to America" stance. With Mars as Asc ruler and conjunct the Sun, Iran is a much stronger military power than was Iraq under Saddam Hussein, even at th height of his power and prior to USA-endorsed and UN-imposed sanctions. However, Iran has been having a host of problems in recent years, not least of which have been severe economic woes, increasing poverty and unemployment rates, further international isolation which hampers its import/export prospects, and continual freezes on its monetary assets overseas. Note that Venus rules the Iranian 2 house of national finances, Peregrine (Tyl), and having just been conjuncted by Pluto. Pluto sits in the 7 house-powerful nations and entities w/which the Islamic must contend with-and note that Pluto rules the 8-other nation's money and monetary services, as well as the national debt, which according to published reports, has ballooned during Ahmedinejad's tenure.

Additionally, there has been something of a shakeup wrt Iran's internal political workings. One of Ahmedinejad's rivals was recently appointed to the religious authority's high council seats, and is seen as both a moderate and potential rival for Ahmedinejad's position. If we consider last year's Solar Arc hits, we see that SA Moon=Uranus/Pluto exact Jul 2006. If memory serves, this was around the time that Ahmedinejad suffered a major defeat in parlimentary elections, as his party was roundly defeated at the polls, and allowed an opening for his rival Rasthanjani, to come back to the forefront. The Moon rules the opposition party 4 house.

Look ahead to 08, we see that SA Neptune=Pluto in Mar; given the relationship of these planets natally, and given the facts on the ground at Tehran, this can't be a good signal. By then, the rhetoric regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program will have reached fever pitch, w/the familiar actors unable and/or unwilling to take stronger action against the Islamic Republic. Iran is likely to keep stalling and/or being defiant in refusing to give up its programs outright. Transit Uranus will square Iran's Neptune FROM THE 12 HOUSE at that time. Neptune is co-ruler of the 12.

For the USA's part, of course military operations elsewhere in the region make it unlikely that a full scale ground assault is likely. But that doesn't take some kind of military option off the table, and in Nov of this year, we can expect to hear more talk of this w/possible action being taken, as SA Mars=Sun/Uranus comes into view. If not then, then definitely by Aug 08, as SA Mars=Satun/Uranus comes into focus. The plan is simple: bleed the Iranian government of resources through sanctions, international criticism etc, and then order targeted airstrikes on the suspected nuclear weapons sites. Cruise missle strikes from naval vessels in the Persian Gulf are also possible, probably in conjunction w/the aforementioned airstrikes. If it comes to that, and the astrological evidence suggests that it might, its definitely a better option than if Israel did it, who just recently had a border skirmish w/Syria, and where murmors were afoot that Syrians were attempting to test WMD. The link between Syria and Iran, is well established and documented.

Simply put, Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program-it would spark off an Arab arms race, truly destabilize the region, and provoke Israel into taking unilateral action in the name of asserting its right to exist in the face of persistent threats from hostile enemies all around. Overthrow of the current regime in Iran doesn't seem likely, the people aren't there yet and there aren't any signs of such a thing.

The USA will step in.

Comments?

SalaamMu