Interesting that with transiting Mars in Cancer making a T-square with the Aries Sun and Mercury and Jupiter in Capricorn over the last week that skyrocketing food prices have come onto the media’s radar. Here’s a good CNN piece that wraps up the food news..
In Haiti, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis was forced out of office in a weekend vote by parliament because of food riots in that country. In Haiti’s chart, set for Jan. 1, 1804, you can see that transiting Mars near the Midheaven is squaring natal Uranus in Libra in the first house. Translation: Anger about food or home issues leads to sudden changes. Here’s Haiti’s chart, courtesy of Astrodienst.
Having visited Haiti several times myself and having made the acquaintance of many journalists, historians, musicians, and filmmakers who are very knowledgeable about the place, I feel guilty about the superficial interpretation. I could spend weeks looking at this chart and studying the history books. But I’m facing some time constraints. I’ve put analyzing the Haitian independence chart in depth on my to-do list.
In the meanwhile, at the risk of sounding blithe about suffering in a country where people are subsisting on mud cakes, I’m going to digress here and point out that on Jan. 1, Haiti’s Independence Day, it is traditional to make, serve, and eat pumpkin soup.
Back in the Nineties, after a trip to Haiti, I was scouring the Internet for the Soup Joumou recipe and couldn’t find it. Now, thanks to the explosion of blogs, I can find hundreds of recipes for the soup, which usually includes meat. Here’s one that I’m going to try:
http://www.fouyerecipes.com/recipes.php/1706
I really should have gone into broadcasting because I have a tendency to inject a little happy talk into my news. Back to the grim reality, though. Egypt, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon have been hit by unrest because of rising food prices. Americans are also waking up and smelling the pricier coffee.
Here’s a link to an interesting radio interview on rising food prices by Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. Goodman talked to Raj Patel, the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, about the current food crisis: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/8/stuffed_and_starved_as_food_riots
Barry Ritholtz, my favorite money guy, has a lot of interesting stuff on the implications of runaway food prices for governments around in the world. Click on The Big Picture in my Blog Roll to read his excellent analysis. Over the years, I’ve posted comments on Barry’s blog and have tried to gently introduce him to astrology, but he’s having none of it. That’s O.K. I still love his economic analysis and his book and music selections. He’s a hip dude!
If you’re one of those who believe that New York real estate is immune to the forces of gravity, I’d advise you to check out Marjorie Orr’s excellent post on Gotham, which she twinned with an astrological forecast for London in A Tale of Two Cities approach. You’ll also find Orr in my Blog Roll.
Astrology Mundo 