Star Guide

Eleven Nobel peace prize winners have urged the UN to "end the human crisis" of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims in a letter criticising Aung San Suu Kyi. In the open letter, the group said the government crackdown on the population amounted to "ethnic cleansing". More than 34,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee military operations in Rakhine state, according to the UN. Ms Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader, is accused of failing to protect the minority group. 30 Dec. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38470232 The Rohingya are Muslim Indo-Aryan peoples from the Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to the Rohingyas and some scholars, they are indigenous to Rakhine State, while other historians claim that the group represents a mixture of precolonial and colonial immigrations. The official stance of the Myanmar government, however, has been that the Rohingyas are mainly illegal immigrants who migrated into Arakan following Burmese independence in 1948 or aft

The Obama administration announced sweeping new measures against Russia on Thursday in retaliation for what U.S. officials have characterized as interference in this fall’s presidential election, ordering the expulsion of Russian “intelligence operatives” and slapping new sanctions on state agencies and individuals suspected in the hacks of U.S. computer systems. The response, unveiled just weeks before President Obama leaves office, culminates months of internal debate over how to react to Russia’s election-year provocations. In recent months, the FBI and CIA have concluded that Russia intervened repeatedly in the 2016 election, leaking damaging information in an attempt to undermine the electoral process and help Donald Trump take the White House. Dec. 29 https://goo.gl/8gs7Wl As  Obama takes retaliatory steps for alleged Russian interference in the US elections, we notice that transit Saturn [21sa] is making an exact opposition to radix Mars [21ge] in the US Sib

Yesterday we reported that, in what was the latest "PR fiasco" for the outgoing Obama administration, Turkey and Russia sat down, and appeared on the edge of hammering out a ceasefire plan for Syria between the two nations - something which the UN has been unable to achieve for years - in a deal which would not include the United States and be distinct from separate intermittent U.N.-brokered negotiations, which have so far failed to end the fighting in the proxy Syria war.  Then moments ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed an agreement has been reached on ceasefire in Syria and the start of peace talks. Quoted by AP, Putin said that Russia and Turkey will guarantee the truce, which is set to begin at midnight. He says it will be followed by peace talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition, and that the Syrian parties would take part in talks to be held in Kazakhstan, without specifying a date. Syria's military conf

Butte Falls, OR — An Oregon couple has been told they must destroy a 2-acre pond on their land — the property’s most attractive feature — because the government said so.  Although Jon and Sabrina Carey purchased the 10-acre property near Butte Falls two and a half years ago, the pond has been in place for 40 years — but that fact doesn’t matter to the Jackson County Watermaster’s Office.  “I basically bought a lemon,” said Jon, who became teary-eyed at the edge of the partially ice-covered body of water being targeted by government, in an interview with the Mail Tribune. “That’s how they explained it to me.” But the couple desperately wants to keep the stunning longstanding feature in tact, so, as the Mail Tribune reports, the Careys have “pleaded with the Medford Water Commission to adopt the pond and treat it as a municipal water source, something Jackson County Watermaster Larry Menteer has opposed because of the precedent it would set.  Dec. 26 http://thefreethoughtp

The Ballerinas of Cairo are refusing to be intimidated by the recent terrorist attacks that shook the Egyptian capital. Instead, they're taking to the streets.  The dancers' project to reclaim the streets for women went viral when they began twirling their way around the city, sharing photographs and videos online.   Dec. 21   http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38398746 A chart for the current New Moon of November 29 drawn for Cairo is shown here.  Notice that the New Moon  (a) forms a T-square with Neptune-Nodal Axis and (b) is anchored to a Venus-Pluto-Uranus-Jupiter T-square on the angles. The New Moon is placed in the 8 th house. The 8 th house rules fear, anxiety and loss.  In psychological astrology it is the house of inner transformation and growth.  But It should be remembered that true transformation follows the burst of creativity that occurs after the lessons of this house have been properly digested. Only by facing our innermost fe

More than 50,000 residents from the southern German city of Augsburg are being evacuated from their homes so that an operation to defuse a World War Two bomb can get under way on Sunday. It is the country's biggest evacuation for an unexploded bomb since the end of the war. The 1.8-tonne British explosive is thought to have come from a 1944 air raid, which destroyed the old town. It was uncovered during construction work.  Dec. 25 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38430671 In mundane astrology charts drawn for exact aspects between planets  are considered significant especially if important configurations are highlighted by the angles.  A chart drawn for Mars sesquisquare Jupiter on December 26  at Augsburg brings the Jupiter-Zeus-Uranus-Pluto T-square to the meridian. The exactness takes place just a few minutes before the first Jupiter-Uranus opposition  aligns with the meridian.The TNPs Hades-Kronos form an opposition to apex Pluto. In a previous post abou

A Russian military plane with 92 people on board has crashed into the Black Sea, Russia's defence ministry says. The plane disappeared from radar 20 minutes after taking off from the resort of Sochi at 05:20 (02:20 GMT). Fragments have now been found. The defence ministry said the Tu-154 was carrying service personnel, members of the famed Alexandrov military band, and reporters. Dec. 25 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38430164 The cardinal ingresses of the Sun are very important events in mundane astrology. Just a few days ago the Sun entered Capricorn and a chart for this event at Sochi is shown here. Notice that it has the current Jupiter-Zeus-Uranus-Pluto-Mercury T square straddling the meridian axis.  On the MC with Pluto and retrograde Mercury is the asteroid Icarus that Martha Wescott associates with aircrafts. For the combination Icarus-Pluto, a possible delineation is “radical events connected with planes”.  The TNP Zeus is linked with the militar

Just days after a dramatic explosion at a Mexican fireworks market killed 29 people, on Saturday another powerful explosion rocked a fireworks factory in Tangshan, a city in the northeastern Chinese province of Hebei. According to China National Radio, at least two people died in the in the blast. According to People’s Daily, the firecracker factory was illegal. The explosion took place at 1 p.m. state media reported. Footage and photographs circulated on social media showed large plumes of smoke drifting over a cluster of houses, one of which had been reduced to rubble as a result of the blast. Rescue workers were at the scene.  December 24 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-24/massive-explosion-rocks-illegal-chinese-fireworks-factory-least-two-dead The following extract from the previous post on the Mexico fireworks market explosion [1] is reproduced below: The incident has occurred at the Last Quarter Moon of December 20. A chart for the Moon phase  drawn f

The Nigerian army has driven Boko Haram militants from the last camp in their Sambisa forest stronghold, President Muhammadu Buhari has said. The terrorists are on the run and no longer have a place to hide," Mr Buhari said in a statement. The Islamists' camp fell at 13:35 local time (12:35 GMT) on Friday, he added. The army has been engaged for the last few weeks in a major offensive in the forest, a huge former colonial game reserve in north-eastern Borno state. Dec. 23 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38427462 This wonderful piece of news is best explained by the lunar eclipse of March 23. A chart for the eclipse drawn for Maiduguri, Nigeria about 60 kms from militant forest stronghold is shown here. Notice that the Uranus-Pluto square straddles the angles and is therefore significant for the place. The eclipse Moon is conjunct stars of the Virgin and Bootes. Theta Boötes, along with Iota and Kappa of Boötes, extending from Lambda Boötes, and which

A man in China has managed to cheat death for 25 years after only recently realizing a mysterious tool he was using to crack walnuts with was actually a hand grenade. The villager from Ankang, in China’s Shaanxi province only became aware of the dangerous item he possessed when he was handed a safety leaflet by police, advising locals on explosives that were illegal to possess. Amongst the items listed was one object that bore a striking resemblance to the man’s trusty nut cracking tool that he had been using for 25 years – a hand grenade.  Dec. 22 https://www.rt.com/viral/371327-chinese-cracking-nuts-grenade/ The news  from China comes just as the Sun enters Capricorn – an important  event in mundane astrology. A chart for the ingress drawn for Ankang, China has a skewed Grand Cross straddling the horizon axis. Uranus-Pluto is a combination that Ebertin associates with the possibility of sudden accidents including explosions.  Martha Wescott links the TNP Zeus to mil

The US military will hand over 9,909 acres (4,000 hectares) of Okinawan land to Japan on Thursday in what's been lauded as the largest return of US-occupied land since 1972. But there's a catch. As part of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the two countries, the United States is granted the right to certain defense facilities. In exchange for the land, the Japanese government built several new helipads for the US military to use on its southernmost island of Okinawa. Yet the handover has done little to assuage the ire of activists, who've campaigned for decades, to remove US bases altogether from Okinawa.  Dec.22 http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/21/asia/japan-okinawa-land-handover-us-military/index.html The September 1 solar eclipse fell in the 7 th house at the US military facility Camp Gonsalves, Okinawa. In mundane astrology the 7 th house rules the following. 7th House - foreign relations, treaties and/or disputes, busi

An explosion at a fireworks market outside Mexico City has killed at least 29 people, officials say.  Dozens of other people were injured as the blast hit the San Pablito fireworks market, about 20 miles (32km) outside the city. Video from the scene showed a large number of fireworks rocketing into the air as they caught fire. Dozens of paramedics and police attended the scene. The cause of the explosions is not yet known. Locals have been told to avoid the area and keep roads clear. Officials said a number of children were among those who were badly burned, on up to 90% of their bodies. Fireworks continued to explode after the initial blast, as smoke billowed from the area in thick black clouds.Dec.20 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38387239 The incident has occurred at the Last Quarter Moon of December 20. A chart for the Moon phase  drawn for Tultepec has the powerful  Jupiter-Zeus-Uranus-Pluto-Mercury T-square on the meridian axis.  Mercury  was th

Matteo Renzi has joined a long line of Italian prime ministers who failed to “reform” their country. This is another way of saying that he could not wave a magic wand and make Italy competitive with Germany. The grim reality is that no Italian leader stood a chance of changing their country once the fateful decision was made to peg its currency to Germany’s. At the time of the euro’s launch in 1999, I argued that the risk profile of Italy would change from being an economy where there was a high probability of many currency devaluations to the certain probability of eventual bankruptcy. Sadly, that moment is not so far away. Dec. 21 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-20/brace-yourself-italys-bankruptcy Italy’s  horoscope is presented here. Notice that Saturn is transiting over the South Node in the 2 nd and  beginning an opposition to radix Sun and Uranus in the 8 th house. The 8 th rules debt and a country’s financial solvency [1] so that a crisis of ban

Growing numbers of young gay people are being forced from their homes because their parents refuse to accept their sexuality, two leading LGBT charities have warned. Despite the apparent progress suggested by equality legislation and gay marriage, the Albert Kennedy Trust and Stonewall Housing have reported a “dramatic increase” in young LGBT people being forced into homelessness by parental hostility. Some young LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people are being “beaten out of their homes” by physically violent parents; others report being sent abroad in an attempt to “cure” them of their homosexuality.  December 19 https://goo.gl/nZzX4W The current New Moon of Nov. 29 fell on the MC at London highlighting the Last Quarter Saturn-Neptune square as the two planets begin the completion of their journey from one conjunction to the next. The Last Quarter square is possibly the most challenging of all astrological aspects. Dane Rudhyar called it the cris

IT was the ultimate bank error in a customer’s favour. Instead of serving two years in jail for spending $2 million wrongly credited to his account, Luke Moore is now a free man. The 29-year-old former bank teller took to Facebook to declare not guilty after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal overturned his conviction for fraud. December 1, 2016  https://goo.gl/wXsu01 The news comes just after the New Moon of November 29.  A chart for the New Moon at Golburn, Australia, where Luke Moore lives is shown here.  It is placed in the 5 th house square Neptune in the 8 th . The 5 th house is about extravagance and high living while the 8 th rules debt or borrowed money. The presence of Neptune implies a lack of clarity or a mistake by the bank is what led to the problem. But there are other indicators too.  The New Moon is also  in hard aspect to a Venus-Pluto conjunction that forms the apex of a T-square with Uranus-Jupiter placed on the angles. Ebertin gives the follow

Remember when The NYT reported that its ad hoc campaign to boost revenue by selling subscriptions in response to the vicious back and forth with Donald Trump, was said to be a smashing success? Perhaps it was subscriptions for the crossword puzzle because it appears the monetary success was not smashing enough, and according to a just released note from executives Arthur Sulzberger and Mark Thompson, the newspaper will vacate at least eight floors in its iconic building, allowing it to "generate significant rental income" because it is "frankly, too expensive to occupy this many floors when we don’t truly need them." Maybe the lesson here is that when the newspaper business model no longer works, one can just pivot into a REIT?  Dec.17   http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-16/new-york-time-will-vacate-8-floors-its-headquarters-generate-significant-rental-reve The cardinal ingresses of the Sun have a traditional reputation as  important  mundan

Three has become five. Laetoli in northern Tanzania is the site of iconic ancient footprints, capturing the moment – 3.66 million years ago – when three members of Lucy’s species (Australopithecus afarensis) strode out across the landscape. Now something quite unexpected has come to light: the footprints of two other individuals. “Our discovery left us without words,” says Marco Cherin at the University of Perugia, Italy. The find looks set to transform our understanding of the Laetoli site and the social dynamics of australopiths, as well as their style of walking.  Dec. 14 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2116050-oldest-early-human-footprints-suggest-males-had-several-wives/ The November 29, 2016 New Moon conjoins Juno, the  asteroid of covenant partnerships. A chart for the New Moon drawn for the Laetoli site is shown here. Notice that the New Moon is anchored to a powerful Venus-Pluto-Jupiter-Uranus T-square placed on the angles. Pluto is the

Russian President Vladimir Putin goes to Japan to meet PM Shinzo Abe for talks on the volcanic islands that have stood in the way of a peace deal since World War Two. After Japan's WW2 surrender but before any deal was signed, the Soviet Union invaded the Southern Kuril islands. Known as the Northern Territories in Japan, they lie between Hokkaido island and Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Tokyo has long demanded their return, so a peace deal has never been agreed. The USSR did not sign the 1951 peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers, but did sign a joint declaration ending hostilities and restoring diplomatic relations with Japan in 1956. With the Kurils standing in the way of a permanent peace, Mr Putin will meet PM Abe at the hot spring resort of Nagato and in Tokyo to continue a conversation that has been going for decades.  Dec. 15 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38311651 The Russian President Putin arrives in Nagato just a day afte

The entire Pacific Coast of the United States, Canada and Mexico has been contaminated with radioactive particles from Fukushima. And finally, it is being officially acknowledged. This is really happening…It is a stark reminder that the effects from Fukushima radiation continually spilling into the ocean have not been abated. The site continues to leak highly toxic radioactive material to this day. Nothing has stopped.  Dec. 9 https://goo.gl/C78WR7 The source in this story, as well as most of the other “big” stories on Fukushima over the past several years, is Ken Buesseler, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Presented here is (a)  the chart for the Mars-Saturn conjunction of Aug. 2016 drawn for Woods Hole MA (b) an extract from a previous post [1] wherein I indicated that a crisis involving nuclear energy (or by extension radioactivity)  was likely to occur when this chart was activated. Notice that Mars-Saturn  on the IC  fo

Larry Smith is a former cop who lives in South Dakota. He’s had Parkinson’s for 20 years, which gives him symptoms including severe dyskinesia (uncontrolled movements), loss of voice and tremors. This clip from Ride With Larry, a documentary about him and his extraordinary efforts to address his illness and raise awareness, has gone viral on social media—and it’s easy to see why. This article was originally published by The Influence, a news site that covers the full spectrum of human relationships with drugs. Follow The Influence on Facebook or Twitter. Smith is shown taking medical marijuana for the first time—it is still not legally available in South Dakota. After he puts a drop of cannabis oil under his tongue, the unedited, sped-up film shows the rapid change he undergoes. His involuntary movements end, his hands are steady and he can speak normally. December 9  http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/watch-man-with-parkinsons-uses-marijuana-for-the-first-time-and-the-result