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.