Star Guide

It looks like a fireball has been travelling through the sky. Not so: this is actually a cloud that was captured earlier this week (Jan.24) by photographer and weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He published it on his blog and described the cloud as "the hand of God". http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160129-the-cloud-that-resembles-a-fireball-in-the-sky A chart for the Full Moon of Jan.25 drawn for Madeira is shown here.  The luminaries are placed on the meridian axis and form a T-square with Mars and TNP Poseidon on the Ascendant. Martha Wescott links TNP Poseidon[1] to religion and spiritual influences and therefore by extension to God. Let us remember that the colour associated with Mars is  “fiery red”.  Completing the jigsaw puzzle is beta (β) Cassiopeia, Caph [5ta] of the middle eastern “Tinted Hand” on the descendant of the chart [2]. [1] http://marthalangwescott.com/basic-resources/ [2] Secrets o

Sophisticated geometry - the branch of mathematics that deals with shapes - was being used at least 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, a study suggests. Research shows that the Ancient Babylonians were using geometrical calculations to track Jupiter across the night sky. Previously, the origins of this technique had been traced to the 14th Century. The new study is published in Science. Its author, Prof Mathieu Ossendrijver, from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, said: "I wasn't expecting this. It is completely fundamental to physics, and all branches of science use this method." The Ancient Babylonians once lived in what is now Iraq and Syria. The civilisation emerged in about 1,800 BC. Clay tablets engraved with their Cuneiform writing system have already shown these people were advanced in astronomy. Jan. 29 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35431974 All planetary stations are loaded with potential and power and Me

The Pentagon will publish 198 photos of tortured detainees in the US prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan on Friday, a top American civil rights group has said. The release comes after a decade-long lawsuit ended in the group’s favor in March. Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s Center for Democracy, announced on Wednesday that the US Department of Defense (DoD) would provide public access to previously disclosed images of prisoners being tortured in US detention centers after more than 10 years of staunch resistance to do so. Jan. 28 https://www.rt.com/news/330444-pentagon-torture-photos-release/ The planet Mercury stationed on Jan.25 and subsequently once again triggered the Uranus-Pluto square in direct motion. Mercury with Uranus-Pluto can be interpreted as the coming to light of information that was previously hidden.  The upcoming last quarter Moon phase at Washington, DC  carries the combination as part of a T-square on the angles. As in  the previous post  th

Residents in Sebring, Ohio, can commiserate with those in Flint, Michigan, considering their water supply has also been contaminated with lead that “exceeds the action level,” according to the state’s EPA. Like Flint, the case of Sebring — involving some 8,100 water customers in Sebring, Beloit, Maple Ridge, and parts of Smith Township — already has the appearance of criminal negligence and a possible cover-up. Jan. 28 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-28/another-town-just-got-caught-covering-lead-contamination-its-water-supply We present two mundane charts drawn for Sebring, Ohio. The first is that for Last Quarter phase of the Moon on Jan. 31 and the second is for Mercury square Uranus which takes place just a few minutes later.  Notice that both carry a prominent T-square on the angles containing  Mercury-Uranus-Pluto and the TNPs Kronos-Hades. Mercury-Uranus-Pluto can be interpreted as the sudden revelation of information that was p

Japan's Economy Minister Akira Amari has said he is resigning amid corruption allegations. Mr Amari unexpectedly made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. But he again denied personally receiving bribes from a construction company, as had been alleged by a Japanese magazine. The development will be seen as a significant blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Mr Amari, who has been minister of state for economic and fiscal policy since late 2012, has been widely described as one of Mr Abe's most trusted members of parliament. Jan.28 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35427563 The news above comes at the Waning Gibbous Moon phase (also known as the Disseminating Moon) of Jan. 28. A chart for the Moon phase at Tokyo is shown here. Notice that Moon is conjunct Jupiter and the North Node on the descendant. About this area Nick Fiorenza writes [1]: The Jupiter North Lunar Node Disseminating Moon conjoins Denebola of Leo, Alpha Antili

Rape of Persephone by Pluto: Classical mythology A 17-year-old Danish girl who said she was sexually harassed in Denmark now faces a fine for using pepper spray against her attacker. The man who pulled her to the ground and tried to undress her fled the scene without any charges. The incident took place in the center of the small town of Sonderborg in southern Denmark at about 22:00 local time Wednesday (?). The teenager told police that an English-speaking man knocked her to the ground, tried to unbutton her pants and undress her. However, she was apparently able to protect herself as she pulled out pepper spray and used it against the man. The sexual attacker escaped the scene of the incident and hasn’t been charged.  https://www.rt.com/news/330264-denmark-girl-rapist-fine/ In mundane astrology a chart  becomes significant for a place when planets aspect the horizon or meridian (angles). The attack took place just  a day after Mercury stationed direct.

Dewdrops on a line - hidden strands of meaning What makes astrology supremely relevant is that it discloses an unsuspected dimension of the world we think we know so well. It is as though we have become accustomed to see only the horizontal yarn of the weaving, the weft, and are largely unaware of the warp. We are accustomed to break down our world, in order to understand it, into certain categories, recognizing what belongs to this category, what belongs to that. That is ‘scientific’. However, astrology is about learning to think in new categories. It embodies a system of new categories that are as different from the ones to which we are habituated, as the warp is from the weft. In this system objects and events that at first sight appear to have nothing whatever to do with each other are shown to be intimately connected. Conversely, things we naturally tend to associate may be distributed otherwise in the astrological scheme. Understanding the world around us depends on o

Footage has emerged of what could be the most deadly crab in the world making a desperate break for freedom to avoid certain doom. This crustacean was filmed wielding a knife in its claw in what is believed to be a restaurant in Brazil, backing away from people off-camera and waving the weapon. The hilarious clip, posted on LiveLeak, is causing a storm on the internet with viewers suggesting the sea creature has armed itself to fight off hungry seagulls. Jan.21 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3409800/Brazilian-crab-wields-knife-bid-escape-restaurant-video.html Most ancient cultures saw pictures in the stars of the night sky. The earliest known efforts to catalogue the stars date to cuneiform texts and artifacts dating back roughly 6000 years. These remnants, found in the valley of the Euphrates River, suggest that the ancients observing the heavens saw the lion, the bull, and the scorpion in the stars. And as we shall see in this post, the pictures that the

'Beauty and the Beast' When the Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales in the 19th century, Wilhelm suggested that many dated back thousands, rather than the accepted view of just hundreds, of years. Researchers believe they have now proved him right. While two of the best-known tales, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Rumplestiltskin”, were written down in the 17th and 18th centuries, new research using mathematical modelling has traced them back 4,000 years and they are not even the oldest. Jan.20 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fairy-tales-could-date-back-thousands-of-years-research-says-a6822021.html The lead author of the study is Sara Graca da Silva, a folklorist from the New University of Lisbon. A chart for the current New Moon at Lisbon is shown here. The Moon is placed in the 3 rd house which rules all forms of communication including story telling.  Nick Fiorenza tells us that the Lyra-Aquila New Moon is about inspiration fo

The Great Storm Bird National Weather Service warns of "life-threatenting conditions" and "impossible" travel in Washington, with snow also expected in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. A blizzard of historic proportions is expected to hit Washington, Baltimore and other East Coast cities beginning on Friday, with snowfalls of more than two feet predicted in some areas. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard watch for the Washington area, warning that "potential life-threatening conditions are expected Friday night into Saturday night." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/12111695/Historic-blizzard-expected-to-strike-US-east-coast-on-Friday.html On Friday, January 22, a retrograde Mercury conjoins Pluto just three days before its direct station. A chart for the conjunction at Washington DC has the Mercury-Pluto-Uranus T-square aligned with the meridian. Recall that the Uranus-Pluto i

Rohith Vemula (26), a second year PhD student at University of Hyderabad, committed suicide on Sunday evening. According to The New Indian Express report, Vemula was active in student politics, but had grown increasingly silent after the disciplinary action was initiated against him by the university. The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of various student groups said Rohith was highly depressed due to suspension and expulsion from the hostel. According to the latest CNN IBN report, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and University vice chancellor have been booked under SC/ST act. JNU students are protesting over this issue near the HRD ministry and have written a letter to Smriti Irani about the same, seeking resignation of the Hyderabad University's VC.  Jan. 18 http://goo.gl/t3QDBx Security forces have ended a gun and bomb attack on a university in north-west Pakistan in which 19 people were killed and 50 injured. Four suspected attackers also died in a battle that lasted n

Five French Foreign Legionnaires were killed Monday during a training exercise in the French Alps, the second mountain tragedy in France in less than a week. Another six soldiers were injured near the resort of Valfrejus, with one in intensive care in hospital after suffering hypothermia. They were among a group of about 50 soldiers taking part in the skiing exercise. Jan.18 http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/alps-avalanche-kills-5-foreign-legionnaires-160118.htm The cardinal ingresses of the Sun have a traditional reputation as  important  mundane events. Of these the Capricorn Ingress has a special place and is considered by many to be the  annual chart. Shown here is the sidereal Capricorn Ingress chart for Valfrejus. Notice the Uranus-Pluto square straddling the meridian. Richard Tarnas associates Uranus-Pluto with “the unleashing of the elemental forces of nature in various senses” and this includes volcanoes, earthquakes, avalanches among o

Iran "has opened a new chapter" in its ties with the world, President Hassan Rouhani said, hours after international nuclear sanctions were lifted. The move came after the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said Iran had complied with a deal designed to prevent it developing nuclear weapons. Jan.17 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35336707 Reproduced below is an extract from an earlier post [1] dt. Sept. 29, 2013 that is relevant in the present context. The Iran-US  Davison relationship chart (Iran [1 Feb 79; 9:00 am IT, Tehran] and the US Sibly [4 Jul 1776; 17:14 LMT, Philadelphia) is shown here. The following points come to attention immediately. The upcoming lunar eclipse [25ar] falls opposite the composite Sun [25li18]. The eclipse is conjunct the star Acamar, theta Eridani often shown as a dam in the river of life. Since eclipses are known to end old chapters  and begin new ones, it appears appropriate that this eclipse is hi

Legendary singer David Bowie has died at the age of 69 after battling cancer in secret for 18 months. The star, who released a new album last week, was known as the creator of glam rock and was one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. During his illness, which was not made public until his death yesterday, he continued to record and last week he appeared in a haunting video which contained the lyrics 'I'm in heaven'. Following Bowie's death a flood of celebrities and other public figures such as politicians and even the Archbishop of Canterbury rushed to pay tribute to the impact he had on the cultural landscape of his era. Jan. 10 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3393470/David-Bowie-dies-18-month-battle-cancer.html The current New Moon [19cp] is conjunct the star Sheliak [19cp] of Lyra.  Lyra, harp of the angels, is often found to be prominent in the charts of musicians and singers. David Bowie was born 8 January

After the unseemly bankruptcy of the Espirito Santo Group and the associated bank, then Portugal’s second biggest (likely a result of not praying enough, see: “Big Portuguese Bank Gets Into Trouble” and “Fears Over Banco Espirito Santo Escalate” for the gory details), Portugal’s state-run deposit insurance fund basically ran out of money. It turns out that Europe’s new Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD for short) came just in time for Portugal. At the end of 2015, another Portuguese bank bit the dust, the country’s seventh largest lender by assets, Banif. Portugal’s government once again decided to bail the bank out, but with strings attached. Subordinated bondholders and shareholders were essentially wiped out, which is as it should be. Jan.10   http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-10/eu-bail-directive-dark-clouds-are-gathering To understand this important news coming in from Portugal, I take my readers back to the last solar eclipse. Notice that it fell

Adolf Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf was an instant sellout when it hit bookstores in Germany for the first time since the Second World War. More than 15,000 advance orders were placed, despite the initial print of 4,000 copies, with one copy even put up for resale on Amazon.de for €9,999.99 (£7,521.43).  Mein Kampf, which means My Struggle, returned into the public domain on January 1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3391827/New-edition-Hitler-s-Mein-Kampf-goes-sale-German-bookshops-instant-sellout.html Hitler’s Mein Kampf returned into the public domain on January 1 as Mercury stationed to go retrograde just a few days later. A chart for Mercury station square Mars on Jan.5 drawn for Berlin is shown here. Notice that Mercury-Mars-TNP Vulcanus form a T-square that  straddles the meridian. The “reaction point” of the T-square  which is the empty leg opposite the apex planet (here Mars) is occupied by Hitler’s radix Sun [0ta48].  Mercury rules books an

Six months after tunneling out of the maximum security Altiplano prison, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera was re-captured for the third time by Mexican Marines on Friday in a high-risk raid of the drug lord's compound, and later a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis, Sinaloa. Jan.9 http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/us-world/border-mexico/article/Gruesome-photos-show-aftermath-of-Joaquin-El-6746664.php#photo-8827647 A chart for the Waning Crescent Moon of Jan.6 drawn for Los Mochis has the  luminaries aspecting  the Uranus-Pluto square which is significantly placed on the angles. In simple terms the Uranus-Pluto square represents a war between rebels or renegades (Uranus in Aries) versus the government (Pluto in Capricorn).  In Capricorn, Pluto symbolizes the overwhelming power of the government . Quite often when an individual (Aries) pits himself against the government (Capricorn) he is simply overpowered and jailed  as has happened with El C

The federal government on Thursday told Americans not to worry so much about cholesterol in their diets, that lots of coffee is fine and that skipping breakfast is no longer considered a health hazard. The recommendations were part of a new "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," the influential nutrition advice book that, updated every five years, expresses official thinking about what constitutes a nutritious meal. In what may be the most striking change, the new version drops the strict limit on dietary cholesterol, stepping back from one of most prominent public health messages since the ’60s. Jan.7 https://goo.gl/OmnvvZ The US Government revised dietary guidelines just two days before the New Moon of Jan.9. A chart for the New Moon at Washington, DC is shown here. Notice that the Moon triggers the Uranus-Pluto square which makes hard aspects to the Ascendant.  Ebertin’s  keyphrase for Uranus-Pluto is relevant in the present context. Uranus-Pluto: The

Heavy rains have started to fill Australia's vast Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and are bringing the desert to life. Pictures captured by pilot Trevor Wright show water filling dry salt plains that lie 700km (435 miles) north of Adelaide. The area around the lake has been inundated with rain over the last week, with falls of over 150mm reported. Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre fills only a few times in a century. When this happens it is Australia's largest lake.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35203730 Lake Eyre, officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, contains the lowest natural point in Australia, at approximately 15 m below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, is the largest lake in Australia. A chart drawn for the exact  Sun-Uranus  square at Lake Eyre is shown here. In mundane astrology, it is important to pay attention to exact planetary aspects. Over the last couple of days, the Sun conjoined Pluto and squared Uranus. One of the mani