Mind Your Step, NYC!

One of my favorite charts in the whole world is the incorporation chart for New York City’s five boroughs (Jan. 1, 1898, 12:01 a.m., New York). It has a lovely Venus/Mars conjunction in Sagittarius, which picks up my own Mars.

This weekend’s accident on the Staten Island Ferry got me thinking about how the current Saturn/Uranus opposition is making New York very prone to accidents until May 26. So if you live or work in the Big Apple, look both ways before you step into the crosswalk.

Of course, I’m going to read this post out loud and look into the mirror. I’m looking out for the other guy more than usual these days.

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The Fragile State of the Union

Anti-taxation tea parties, Texas governor Rick Perry making noises about succession: This week’s Mars/Uranus conjunction in Pisces, broadly opposing Saturn, coincided with signs of fissure in our great union.

With three planets in Sag, I’m a big picture person and I’m sometimes too impatient to do my homework, in this case, plotting all the aspects formed by transits to the U.S. chart. I like to shoot from the hip. Here’s my take on the situation:

Last year, when the race for the Presidency came down to Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, I decided that if a Republican won, the electorate would zig left, and that if a Democrat prevailed, the voters would zag right. Why? The prevailing Saturn (conservative)/Uranus (revolutionary) opposition must make itself felt.

Of course, this is an incredibly simplistic view because the lines between right and left and Republicans and Democrats have been blurred over the years. For instance, in California, where I’m living right now, anti-tax forces were out in full force at tea parties, but they were protesting the policies of a Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has instituted a slew of new levies to try and address a huge state budget deficit.

In terms of the succession talk, we’ve heard it before from former Republican vice-presidential Sarah Palin, who addressed a meeting of the Alaska Independence Party.

In fact, one of the most widely read stories in The Wall Street Journal at the end of 2008 quoted a Russian analyst who predicted the U.S. would break up into six countries.

Is the end of the U.S. really a possibility? I don’t think so, but we’re in for some interesting times as transiting Pluto in Capricorn opposes the Cancer stellium in the U.S. independence chart.

FYI, in case you don’t know, the last time Pluto was in Capricorn was when we made our break from Great Britain. Tea parties are definitely back in fashion.

Dancing With the Stars and Saturn/Uranus

Is there anybody else out there who sees a correspondence between the injuries, breaks, and deaths in the family suffered by members of the Dancing With the Stars cast and the opposition of Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces?

Just wondering.

On another topic, every afternoon, my downstairs neighbor in Palm Springs comes back from the pool and blasts C-Span, the TV station that covers Congress. I counter by streaming WWOZ, the New Orleans radio station, on my laptop. Saturn in Virgo oppose Uranus in Pisces, anybody?

It Can Happen Here

Here’s an article from The Guardian of London predicting a nasty summer on the other side of the pond because of unemployment. I know we’re in the midst of an Obama lovefest, but let me be the first to say, “It can happen here.”

Here’s the Guardian article, which tops the paper’s list of most-viewed articles over the past 24 hour

All Eyes on Oscar

I’m back in California and made the mistake of going to a Trader Joe’s this afternoon in Cathedral City to fill up the refrigerator and the freezer. (My progressed Moon in Taurus is activating my Ceres and all of a sudden I’m eating nothing but fresh produce and fish.)

What was I thinking? Every Baby Boomer in the Coachella Valley had decided to go shopping for his or her Oscar party tonight. As I said to my husband, in California, the Oscars are viewed the way the Super Bowl is in the rest of the country.

I made it back home in one piece. Barely. Meanwhile, here’s a rehash of the Oscar predictions that Pamela Cucinell and I made on AstroChatterRadio a couple of weeks back with some brief astro explanations.

Slumdog Millionaire — Best Picture and a slew of other awards. Why? Look at India’s independence chart. It’s being lit up like a Christmas tree by today’s stellium in Aquarius, which opposes the Independence Sun.

Remember how in the film everyone is watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire on TV, from the slums to the posh skyscrapers of Mumbai? It will be that way with the Oscars. A collective roar will emanate from the Subcontinent when this rags-to-riches tale brings home the gold.

According to the Wiki, Los Angeles is 13.5 hours behind Mumbai. So by my calculations, the cheer will go up around 10:30 a.m. in Bollywood (India’s answer to Hollywood) since Best Picture is usually announced close to midnight Eastern time.

Kate Winslet — Best Actress. The Aquarius stellium trines her natal Libra lineup. I did a double-take in the Houston airport yesterday when I saw Winslet on the cover of Time with the headline “Best Actress.”

Until I read the deck on the headline, which made it clear that the magazine thinks she’s the best actress whether she wins the Oscar or not, I thought I was in some kind of time warp.

Mickey Rourke — Best Actor. I’m going out on a limb here. Everyone thinks Sean Penn is a shoo-in for Milk, a gay-themed picture that is a favorite with the Hollywood crowd. Also boosting Penn’s chances is the fact that the transiting Aquarius stellium opposes his Leo Sun, guaranteeing a high-profile night for the actor.

However, I think dark horse Rourke, who’s getting the Saturn/Uranus opposition in Virgo/Pisces on his Virgo Sun, could walk away with an award for his comeback performance in The Wrestler.

As someone very wise said to me in the past week, 99% of the people in the audience are waiting for their comeback. Aren’t most of us?

Footnote: Slumdog won eight Oscars tonight and the Times of London is crowing “Hail Britannia.” I still think this is a victory for “In-ja,” as the Duke of Windsor referred to the former British colony.

My next prediction? That Bollywood-style dance classes will take the U.S. by storm. It’s already starting to happen, according to this article from an Indian newspaper.

Here’s a fun clip with the stars of Slumdog Millionaire dancing to Oscar-winning song Jai Ho on the set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

California is Ready for Its Close-Up

Interesting story on the wires this morning about the clout of California politicians in the new Obama Administration. Right now, the Golden State is experiencing Saturn on its Virgo Sun, which is being opposed by Uranus in Pisces.

Saturn is leading to the severe budget deficit here, while Uranus, which brings fame and fortune, is creating the buzz about California’s politicos. You can see the California chart here.

Gay Rights: A Setback in California

Well, the votes have finally been tallied and California’s Proposition 8, a citizens’ referendum banning gay marriage, has been approved.

This is bad news indeed. As readers of this blog may know, I’m not gay, but I believe lesbians and gays deserve the same rights as other Americans. I view their struggle for respect and recognition in our society in the same light that I viewed the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Why the sudden reversal in California, where 18,000 same-sex marriages already have taken place, and where back in May, the California Supreme Court overturned a previous voter-approved ban on gay marriage?

The opposition of Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces, which was exact yesterday, was tied to the Virgo Sun of the California statehood chart.

On a geographic level, the Saturn/Uranus opposition could also stir up wildfire activity and trigger earthquakes in California. There have been quite a few minor ones in the state lately, as this map shows.

I’m not making any predictions because I don’t have the quantitative chops to do the work required for earthquake forecasting. (In my next life, I’ll go to MIT or Berkeley.) Having said that, I don’t like the early morning of Nov. 9 in Southern California for a variety of reasons. Just be alert, O.K.?

With Saturn on California’s Sun right now, voters are feeling conservative and the state faces a $7 billion budget shortfall. I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t some class antagonism being reflected in the approval of Proposition 8, in addition to far-right religious fervor.

Gays and lesbians are prominent in California’s prosperous entertainment and technology industries, perhaps leading some voters to conclude that all gays are “rich,” a stereotype long associated with Jews because of their success in the creative, legal, and financial professions.

Of course, with Pluto in class-conscious Virgo, I tend to see things through the prism of class. I think gay rights organizations need to broaden their ranks and incorporate lower-middle class voters and Hispanics in their struggle if they are to prevail in the Golden State.

As gays know, there is tremendous resistance against homosexuals, particularly men, within the Latin culture, which celebrates machismo.

Evidently African-Americans, who know what it’s like to face prejudice, were big supporters of Proposal 8, with an overwhelming majority of California’s black voters favoring the discriminatory measure. There’s irony for you!

I don’t know enough about the referendum process in California to know what happens when voters approve a ban that was previously overturned by the State Supreme Court. Can it face legal appeal? SFMike at Civic Center, I’m depending on you to educate me.

Speaking of SFMike, I was just reading his coverage of the election and I was struck by his observation that the Mormons, who have been victims of discrimination because of their belief in polygamy, spent big bucks to get the anti-gay marriage vote out in California.

I still think the better off folks are financially, the more tolerant that they tend to be of lifestyles that differ from their own. When people are struggling to fill their gas tanks, pay their toxic mortgages, and make the minimum credit-card payment on time so their interest rate doesn’t get jacked up to 30%, they are in a bind.

When your mobility is limited, then you want to make sure everybody else is toeing the line and following the rules you believe in, regardless of what “good book” you found them in, whether it be the Talmud, the Bible, or the Koran. Anyway, that’s the way I see it. I’m not saying I believe religion is the opiate of the masses, but I do think money and class figure into this equation.

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day

Saturn in Virgo: The Arrest of the Skinheads

Interesting that the news wires are reporting that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have made arrests in a skinhead plot to assassinate Presidential candidate Barack Obama as the culmination of a shooting spree across America.

Just last week, I was musing on the connection between Saturn in Virgo and skinheads.

And, guess where those skinheads met? That’s right: on the Internet. Sounds like Saturn in Virgo opposing Uranus in Pisces to me.

Forget CSI. ATF rocks! Hey, I wasn’t saying that after Waco. But let’s give credit where credit is due.

Rupert Murdoch and Election Day: The View from Brazil

Here’s the latest report from Gian Paul, our fearless Brazil bureau chief. Gian Paul and I don’t agree on everything, but we both consider Rupert Murdoch to be one of the most powerful men in the world. Over to you, GP:

Rupert Murdoch is a man who fits America like a glove, astrologically speaking. Whoever dislikes him should either not read what follows or read it twice. As the saying goes, “Know your enemy.”

In my life, at least, nothing happens without some stellar connection. Monica was recently teasing me about having rightist tendencies. This is not true at all. I was once a member of a Swiss Communist cell in my youth. I admit that my wallet has subsequently drifted a bit to the right, but not my open mind.

I suspect that Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul, soon will be in the news himself, and not because of his own making, this time at least. I formed this opinion after studying his horoscope and a few other related ones.

Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia on Mar. 11, 1931, at 11:55 p.m. His ascendant is 1 degree 31 minutes of Capricorn. Other features of the chart include a very strong Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in Cancer (like another corporate titan, Warren Buffett) that receives a potent Mercury/Sun trine and a Saturn opposition natally.

What gives Murdoch the punch everybody in the media business either fears or appreciates is Uranus conjunct the North Node in Aries, which squares his natal Jupiter/Pluto. Squares with Uranus, for the fearless at least, are extremely productive, and Murdoch has proven that throughout his life.

One reason why Murdoch’s fortunes are so closely tied to those of the U.S. is that his natal Pluto falls on America’s Mercury in my preferred chart. In my experience, the chart that has always yielded very good results is the one set for July 6, 1775, at 11 a.m. LMT in Philadelphia.

Using this chart, Murdoch’s visionary Neptune conjuncts the U.S. Neptune and Mars. His Ascendant conjuncts America’s Pluto while his Venus opposes the U.S. Venus. This may explain why Murdoch’s adversaries say his chief motivation is money.

Now, to unveil a bit of the mystery about why I think Murdoch will soon be making headlines: On Nov. 4, he will experience the following transits: Pluto will be at the midpoint of his Moon and Ascendant. Meanwhile, the Moon will be conjunct his Saturn and opposite his Mars.

In addition, Venus will be conjunct his Moon. Jupiter will be almost exactly opposite his Pluto and natal Jupiter. And finally, Uranus will be conjunct his Mercury/Sun, while Saturn will be making a favorable trine his Saturn. Thanks to his control of The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and what have you, Murdoch around Nov 4 will experience a sense of power that he could never have imagined, even though he is a dreamy Pisces.

Thanks, Gian Paul. We’ll keep our eyes firmly focused on Murdoch as Americans go to the polls on Election Day and Saturn in Virgo opposes Uranus in the sky. By the way, Sky is the name of one of Murdoch’s TV properties.

If you’d like to read a post that I did on Murdoch that gives a lot of background about his life, you can find it here under “Citizen Murdoch.” G’day, mate!

Saturn Returns: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs!

I caught a preview performance yesterday of Noah Haidle’s poignant play Saturn Returns at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater yesterday. I didn’t bring any Kleenex, but I should have.

Directed by Nicholas Martin, Saturn Returns is a triptych of the life of Gustin, a Grand Rapids, Mich., radiologist in 1948, 1978, and 2008, as he experiences his first, second, and third Saturn returns.

Astrology is never mentioned, but the playwright, who appears to be experiencing his own Saturn return, has a keen understanding of the language of loss and loneliness that the planet of restriction speaks so eloquently.

As befitting a play called Saturn Returns, it’s a sparse production, with Gustin at age 88, 58, and 28 played by three actors — John McMartin, James Rebhorn, and Robert Eli, respectively. The women in Gustin’s life are portrayed by the same thespian — the beautiful, versatile Rosie Benton. No other players are on stage and there are no intermissions.

Film buffs may know Rebhorn from his numerous screen and TV roles, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, My Cousin Vinny, and The Scent of a Woman. Throughout his career, Rebhorn has often appeared as the nerd or expert, a guy with a plastic pen holder in the pocket of his starched white shirt. Sure enough, he’s a Virgo born Sept. 1.

I like the fact that Gustin is a radiologist because that embodies the current opposition of Uranus in Pisces and Saturn in Virgo.

I’m no drama critic, but if Saturn Returns is representative of what Haidle is doing at 28, I can only imagine what his future holds. Is he the next Edward Albee? I took a friend who is an accomplished actress, Anney Giobbe, with me and she was also blown away by Haidle’s talent. Like Saturn, Haidle’s not going away.

Hey, this gives me an excuse to reprint my poll, “What Happened During Your Saturn Return?”