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FULL HARVEST MOON TONIGHT!

How many ways can you say emotional? Tonight the Full Moon is in Pisces and is in conjunction with the wounded warrior Chiron. A Pisces Full Moon is always an emotional time as it occurs in the month when we go from the full bloom of summer to the dying process of autumn. While this is indicative of the entire birth-death-rebirth process of life, there is something sad to many of us when we see it materialize before us. Pisces is the dreamer sign and the sign that tends toward feeling victimized. It is easy to just pout and dream of the recently gone summer days then get on with life during this transit.

The Moon with Chiron, the asteroid of the wounded warrior, where we keep our deepest pain submerged from ourselves, creates a lot of stick our head in the sand and dream of a prettier world type of energy. Chiron in Pisces stirs up painful memories of the long ago and far away, that we would rather keep buried.

Those people prone to depression, drug dependency and other escapist temptations should be very careful for the next few days. This is a highly emotional time of balancing deep feelings and can be too much for those easily effected by this type of upheaval.

If you need to keep your eye on something for stabilization use that Virgo Sun. Virgo is the worker of the zodiac, the practical, Earth Keeper. Hey, there is a good idea, get out of your sadness and go do something good for Mother Earth. Harvest the last of your garden; go buy some winter rye to protect it this winter. If you do not have a garden then visit a farmers market, get some mums for your front door. Go dig up your mother’s favorite autumn recipe and balance the sadness with fond memories.

Speaking of a good and happy autumnal recipe check out my:

Zucchini, Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen large cookies

1-cup applesauce

2 eggs plus 1 egg white

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups coconut flour

1-cup chocolate chips

½-cup coconut flakes

1-teaspoon baking soda

½-teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray cookie sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix well the ingredients except the zucchini. Once well mixed, fold in the grated zucchini. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

These freeze well!

Joan and Johnny - the Feud

With the sudden death of Joan Rivers, I decided to look at her battle with Johnny Carson that lives as one of the Hollywood's great feuds. The story unfolded when, after years of being his fill in host, Joan Rivers took a job with the new Fox Network to host her own late night show. According to Rivers, she had inside information that NBC would never give the show to a woman and her contract was ending. Whatever the details, Carson hung up the phone when she called him and never spoke to her again. 

Karma anyone?

Of course, I had to look at their charts to see what forces could have led to him first giving her career the boost it needed to take off and then almost destroy it. 

The biwheel of their chart tells me three things immediately - karma, power and jobs. Let's do the juicy stuff first - karma. Her retrograded Juno, the goddess of loyalty and partnership, is on his Mars, the warrior, in the 12th house. There is no more karma house that the 12th because it connects us to the universe and carries our karmic history. Hmm, it seems like this played out once before. She was in an inferior position (because of the retrograde) and royally annoyed him by defying his power. Mars is the leader, the epitome of male energy, so it seems Johnny just didn't like this happening again! I wonder if they are doomed to repeat the situation although she always said she appreciated what he did for her career and a good deal of pain over the whole thing. Has he moved on? Guess we will have to wait and see.

OK we had karma how about power? Look at the eighth house, the house of personal power. He had Pallas and Vesta there, ironically they are two female asteroids named for the goddess of war and the goddess of the devotion to a cause, respectively.  These two gals gave him drive and determination as Vesta gives us the desire to overcome all obstacles. However, right on top of these powerhouses are Joan's Sun, Mercury and Venus; her inner energy, her communication skills and her creative energy. That makes sense in light of the encouragement he gave her to reach her creative goals in the entertainment business. I do find it funny that they have their Vesta's in conjunction meaning they could have - and they did indeed- work together for a long time to overcome power obstacles. He boosted her career and she was a reliable co-host. However, playing with that much energy and that much power is a little bit like dancing with burning torches - you can get seriously burned at any time. 

Finally, Carson had a retrograded Chiron in Aries, the wounded warrior, in his 6th house, the house of day-to-day work. This accounted for his colossal temperament and touchiness when on the job. He was carrying an enormous chip on his shoulder in the workplace. Mars rules Aries and he was always looking for people who were threatening his power. Well along comes her Uranus, the rebel and it plunked right down on that wound issue. Uranus is the rebellious teenager of the Zodiac. Who better to stick a pin in Aries ego?

The stars show the battle that ensued. Why there was no kiss and make up between the two might have something to do with his Mars and Saturn in stubborn and vengeful Scorpio in the first house. Mars and Saturn in conjunction is not a good placement - it is warrior energy and authoritarian energy (see my recent blogs on the current Mars/Saturn conjunction and the havoc is it causing to the planet right now.) Johnny may have been the king of late night but he was a difficult man, a secretive man, an insecure man and a man of vengeance. She got on his wrong side and there was no going back.

Maybe now - maybe now - they can meet on the other side and put a stop to this. Maybe...

Robert Smalls from Slave to Member of Congress

In reading my “American History Magazine,” I came across the name of a man I am ashamed to say I never heard of before. Robert Smalls was born a slave on April 5, 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, although his father was likely the owner of the plantation. While we do not have his birth time, it is a small miracle that we even have the correct date and location, as such things were not bothered with much when dealing with a slave birth.

In May of 1862, Smalls commandeered the CSS Planter when the white crew went on shore. Using his skills as a seaman, he steered the boat past Confederate guards and toward the Union ships blockading Charleston harbor to freedom. He would be the first African American appointed captain of a military ship and would go on to lobby President Lincoln to allow black soldiers into the army.

With the Civil War over, Smalls served first in the South Carolina legislature where he was instrumental in establishing the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States in South Carolina and help found the Republican Party of South Carolina. In 1874, South Carolina elected him to the United States House of Representatives.  (Note that was when the Republican Party was for universal suffrage and freedom.)

A personal moment of great satisfaction came in 1863 he purchased the home of his former owner and father Henry McKee for his mother. Members of the Smalls family would live there for 90 years and the house is now part of the National Historic Trust.

Even without his birth time there is a lot we can learn astrologically about Robert Smalls. He was born with the Sun in Aries, of course; however, his Sun also makes a strong conjunction to Pluto. Pluto Sun conjunctions in birth charts are indicators that person must undergo change in their lifetime. This doesn’t mean everyone will – we have to take into account that pesky idea of free will – however, if one is attuned to that energy the possibilities for growth and change are endless.

I find his retrograded Mars in Virgo very interesting. Mars does not enjoy being in Virgo. It is after all the warrior, the fighter and Virgo is far too reticent for battling Mars. Add to that a retrograde, an inward motion and a karmic pause that often makes people unable to channel their anger. He could have seethed under slavery and given up but he use his Aries Sun and heeded the call of Pluto to make great changes for himself and his society.

This is an important point about retrogrades. Too often people use them as excuses. They take on an attitude of I cannot do anything about this situation because I have a retrograde and well it stops me. No! Retrogrades are meant to be overcome. Smalls’ master and father hired him out in Charleston when Robert was just 12 years old. Over the years, became a lamplighter on Charleston's streets and then became a stevedore and a wheelman. There is something very “Shawshank Redemption” in him using his Aries spark and that Mars in retrograde to control his emotions, learn the trades and build the knowledge he needed to utilize when the moment for freedom presented itself.

With a South Node in Virgo, Smalls had experienced service before. Not necessarily a slave in prior lives, he was someone who was honed skills of hard work and common sense. Someone with a South Node in Virgo is moving toward a Pisces North Node – going from service to a particular person or career to large, worldly and other worldly issues. It is moving from life of control over a small portion of Earth to letting go and taking a risk – reaching out and trusting the universe will protect you. He did that on that night in Charleston and his continued work on behalf of newly freed slaves showed his continued dedication to powerful issues of the time.

Robert Smalls died in Beaufort at the age of 75 in 1915.

August 25 - The New Moon - No More Excuses.

We have a new Moon coming up today. The New Moon is a good time for setting intentions and decide on ways we will manifest those intentions. This New Moon is in Virgo – the worker bee of the zodiac – and the health maven of the zodiac. Think of Virgo as the one who has control over how you feed, work and care for the body. SO – what a great time – as we head into fall – to make the intentions for better health – avoid winter overeating -- and better work habits.

Now here is the trick. We now have a very strong - Mars/Saturn conjunction in the very intense sign of Scorpio. Mars and Saturn is one of the true malefic in the zodiac because they bring about the intense force of Mars, the god of war, and Saturn, the cold task master. It is the classic smash up of hot and cold. If I see Mars and Saturn clashing in marriage charts I always have to raise the touchy question of abuse. Think militaristic task master! Yes, this is activating Issus, Ferguson – you name it.

Ah, but you know how I hate to talk about the negatives only and we can use this force for good! IF the tragedy of Ferguson leads to a constructive change in police tactics and the militarization of police forces and finally to some racial understanding – that we can make an evolutionary jump.

If Congress can stop bickering and help the President address Issus and Syria – well, I can hope can’t I?

For each of us personally – think of where you need to be a task master with your health, your body, your eating habits, and your work. Where have you been slacking off? Where do you need to make some hard decisions? Scorpio is the sign of going within and making deep and profound changes. Mars used to the ruler of Scorpio before poor beleaguered Pluto came into our view – as was Saturn long ago.  This is a time to make WONDERFUL changes that you have been avoiding. No excuses anymore.

Here is my Pluto in Capricorn note: I get so many questions about the world falling apart around us and keep having to say Pluto in Capricorn gang – so I decided to add a little periodic Pluto note to my blogs. Pluto in Capricorn brings changes to authority structures. We saw that with President Obama’s election and the subsequent Tea Party backlash. We saw it with the banking system collapse. Now we are seeing it with the police. Change is not always good – I don’t’ think any long term good has come from the banking collapse – we are still destroying the middle class. Will that be the change or will we adopt more populist movements in the upcoming years? That is up to us! 

Uranus Square Pluto Until 2015 - How Can We Forget?

A client recently sent me an email in which she bemoaned the rise of ISIS and the general nonsense in the world. She reminded me of a blog entry I made in April during the dreaded “grand cross” when I said we don’t know what evil is being brewed up now that will come to light in the near future. She asked me could this be ISIS. Yes, of course, it could. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the bigger issue here and that is the blasted Uranus-Pluto square that has been going on since 2012 and will continue until well into 2015.

Uranus is quick electric change – the desire to leap ahead and progress at all costs and Pluto is slow, grinding meticulous change. To say it another way it is radical vs. conservative, slow against fast. No matter how you put it there are two forces that don’t agree clashing up against one another. The last Uranus Pluto Square was in 1933 – 1934. Does anyone remember someone named Hitler – who rose from the German ashes of WW I and promised fast change and a new way? Yeah, it isn’t a pretty time. 

With Pluto now in Capricorn, the sign of government and authority, we are seeing the clashes. The clashes are in the middle East,  in the Ukraine and yes, in Missouri, where people are tired of the old way, tired of feeling marginalized and may jump at any chance to follow any movement, any person who promises a new way – now.

I refuse to predict the gloom and doom repeat of 1933. I hate astrologers who say everything must happen the same way again and again. That is absurd. We are seeing positive government changes here with the rise of the acceptance of LGBT marriages and hopefully the empowering via the voting booth of minorities and women to finally put an end to “fuddy-duddy” politicians. Perhaps out of the anger over more shootings of African American men we can see more people expressing their anger at the voting booth!

The US is in it's Pluto return - meaning Pluto is back where it was in 1776 when we broke away from England. That is something that always brings great change - we are transforming as a nation - and no matter what people want - we will never go back. By 2040 we will not be a white majority nation no matter what the Tea Party wants. This is adding to the tinderbox. 

The Middle East, the Ukraine? We are talking about centuries of tribal warfare. Will Iraq fall apart? Will ISIS take more control of areas? Will Afghanistan come under the rule of Taliban 2? Well those of us who predicted disastrous outcomes to our intervention in the Iraq kind of always knew falling apart would be a distinct possibility.

The key to remember is to keep your head together during this time and keep YOUR eye on the positive change you want to be and see. The more of us who are aware and remain centered the better we all have to get through this for the most part with positive, albeit painful, change at the end of the square.

Robin Williams - The Two Faces of Pisces Duality and Ultimate Triumph

Ah, another great talent and great humanitarian gone. I don’t know why great talent is hindered by great torment.

His addiction problems are evident to even the most neophyte of astrologers with his Pisces Moon, Neptune in the 12^th house. Neptune rules Pisces and vibrates to the 12^th house – that is just a lot of Pisces with all of its escapist, addictive tendencies, for one person to handle. Pisces is a sign of duality symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions. It is a tough sign to handle here on Earth.

The great ability to take on so many personas on stage and play so many varied roles is clearly seen in his Pluto Mercury conjunction in the ever “on stage” 10^th house. Pluto the change artist and Mercury the communicator together in Leo – the sign of creativity in the house that seeks societal approval was just one key to his talent.

What I find most poignant about his chart is his Pisces North Node. Robin’s past life indicator (his South Node) was Virgo in the 11^th house – meaning that he came from a life of service in which he sought to perfect himself. In fact, Virgo can be quite the task master, always critical, always demanding perfection to a person. He spent lifetimes managing his social circle (11^th house) – keeping them together, doing everything to keep his friends – his tribe – happy and functioning. You know the guy who always plans the birthdays, keeps everyone in touch.

In this lifetime he needed to learn the lessons of Pisces North Node in the 5^th house. The 5^th is the house of personal creativity and Pisces is an expansive sign. Moving from Virgo to Pisces one must broaden themselves – jump into the bigger world. These are the notes I made when studying this nodal placement. “This person must learn that all the world is a stage and everyone is a player. There is no need to stay in control of his little group but learn that personal, creative expression is the highest path to God. One way they can do this is to reach people with great art.”

For all of his Pisces demons, no one with a heart or brain can doubt that Robin Williams fulfilled his soul’s evolutionary goal in this lifetime and brought joy to millions by doing so. RIP.