Astrology and the Kentucky Derby

I picked Kansas as the winner of the NCAA Final Four using astrology. Can I do the same thing for the Kentucky Derby? I don’t know the birth dates of the horses, but using www.kentuckyderby.com, I’ve checked out many (but not all) of the birthdays of jockeys scheduled to ride the favorite horses.

Based on names alone and the transits in the sky, I like Cool Coal Man, because I think the name reflects the ongoing grand trine in earth signs involving Saturn in Virgo (a worker), Pluto in Capricorn (coal), and Venus in Taurus (cool, as in sexy or admirable, not cold). But as my husband will attest, I hardly ever win at the track when I make my choices based purely on names that appeal to me.

I like the fact that the Mars/Ascendant line of Frenchman Julien Laparoux, who’s slated to ride Cool Coal Man, runs not far from Louisville, Kentucky, where the Derby is being held. That means he’ll be put to the test and is capable of performing heroic deeds at Churchill Downs.

He’s a Cancer born July 15, 1983, and he’s getting a nice boost from the Mars/Jupiter opposition right now. Here’s his chart from Astrodienst with a noon birthtime: http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?cid=41laaaa19347-s971800598&lang=e&gm=a1&nhor=222&nho2=12&btyp=24&mth=gw&sday=3&smon=5&syr=2008&hsy=-1&zod=&orbp=&rs=0&ast=

But it will be hard to beat Calvin Borel, who’s riding Denis of Cork. What sells me on Borel is that he’s got the North Node at 16 degrees of Taurus. The Sun will be close to Borel’s Node tomorrow and will be right on it on May 7. Transits to the North Node can bring strong connections with the public. If Borel wins, he’ll be basking in media glory for several days after the event and presumably enjoying speculation about his chances for a Triple Crown.

Borel won last year’s Kentucky Derby with Street Sense, but I don’t think his winning streak is over yet.

He’s a Scorpio with a big stellium in Virgo that’s getting beneficial aspects all around from the Jupiter/Mars opposition in Capricorn and Cancer. Here’s his chart from Astrodienst, set for a noon time of birth, with tomorrow’s transits around the outside: http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?cid=41laaaa19347-s971800598&lang=e&gm=a1&nhor=223&nho2=12&btyp=24&mth=gw&sday=3&smon=5&syr=2008&hsy=-1&zod=&orbp=&rs=0&ast=

I think Borel’s got a good shot at bringing home the roses.

The third member of my box trifecta is Tale of Ekati, based on the horoscope of jockey Eibar Coa, who is supposed to ride him. The town in Venezuela where Coa was born isn’t in Astrodienst’s ephemeris so I ran the chart for Caracas. The astrologers out there know that the location isn’t very important if you don’t have the time of birth, which I don’t. Coa’s chart is set for noon.

Here it is: http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?cid=41laaaa19347-s971800598&lang=e&gm=a1&nhor=224&nho2=12&btyp=24&mth=gw&sday=3&smon=5&syr=2008&hsy=-1&zod=&orbp=&rs=0&ast=

Now, Coa was born with the North Node conjunct his Aquarius Sun and is basically having the transiting North Node conjunct his Sun on May 3. I like that a lot, but transiting Neptune in Aquarius is in the picture, traveling with the North Node right now and sitting close to Coa’s Sun. If he were a musician or a minister, I’d be very optimistic about his chances on May 3. But such a prominent Neptune in the chart of a jockey could spell confusion, a downpour at the track, even allegations of illegal drug use by him or his horse. I hope I’m wrong.

I think the Neptune/Node aspect will play out with “close, but no cigar.” Coa’s name will be in the news, but there will be disappointment because he won’t come in first.

One astrologer is working the birthdates of the horses, not the jockeys. I will note that the Moon is in Aries on Derby Day, which might favor horses born under that sign. Check out the post on Aries horses here: http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/blogs/caroline/05/02/aries-contender-horoscope

As much as I love the ponies, I can’t imagine that with Jupiter conjunct the horse’s Uranus, you’re going to seem him celebrating his unexpected win! I know, he could kick up his heels. Animals are people too, especially under Saturn in Virgo, but there’s only so far you can go in anthropomorphizing (there’s a $5 word for you!) horses.

If you pressed me for a real trifecta, I’ll say Denis of Cork, Cool Coal Man, and Tale of Ekati. Keep in mind that my predictions for the horses don’t work unless they are ridden by the jockeys I’ve specified. Don’t bet the farm on this forecast and send me a mint julep if you win! If I hit pay dirt with my predictions, I’m going to get more systematic about this.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s Bully Pulpit

Well, you’ve got to give Reverend Jeremiah Wright credit: I haven’t heard this much discussion about race in America since the O.J. Simpson trial. Before the firestorm dies down, I want to put up a chart for Reverend Wright, who was recently denounced by his former congregant, Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

While I’m surprised that Reverend Wright has chosen this moment in time for his closeup, I’m not stunned by some of his “outrageous,” to use Obama’s word, theories. I’ve had black friends who wouldn’t put their money in the bank because they were sure they were going to wake up one morning and it would be gone.

Guess what? That’s basically what happened to Jews who lived in Nazi Germany. And, as South Africa proved for years with its apartheid system, it’s possible to have state-sanctioned racism. Some would argue that Israel falls into that category with its treatment of the Palestinians, but I don’t want to stray too far from my topic into even more incendiary areas.

While such allegations by Reverend Wright that the U.S. government may have been involved in creating and spreading AIDS may not constitute racism per se, his paranoia highlights the fears, justified or not, of the “black church” about the white Establishment.

Lest we forget, racism is a two-way street. There’s suspicion of whites among African-Americans just the way there is discrimination against blacks, Latinos, and other people of color by whites. What’s always amazed me is the preferential treatment that light-skinned blacks get within the African-American community, perpetuating the discrimination based on skin tone begun by the oppressors.

When I traveled in India, I couldn’t help but noticing that the folks born into lower castes, the so-called untouchables, usually had darker skin than those further up the Hindu food chain, i.e., the Brahmins.

In parts of Asia such as India and the Philippines, the cosmetics companies do a brisk business in creams that promise a “fairer” (lighter) complexion. It goes without saying that discrimination based on skin color is a worldwide problem, not just a U.S. one, despite what the America-bashers would have you believe.

Here’s Jeremiah Wright’s chart, courtesy of Astrodienst. He was born Sept. 22, 1941 in Philadelphia. We don’t know what time he was born, but even if he were born close to midnight, he’s still a 29 degree Virgo. Maybe after all those years of service (Virgo), he decided it was time for his moment in the sun. He certainly doesn’t seem to care about the effect of his inflammatory remarks on Obama’s Presidential prospects.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the last degree of a sign is a wild card. It can’t be controlled. I know, I’ve got Mars at 29 degrees of Sag and have been frequently branded a “loose cannon” despite my staid Capricorn self-image.

As you can see, the transiting Jupiter/Mars opposition in Capricorn/Cancer has been forming a grand cross with Wright’s fiery Mercury/Mars opposition at 22 degrees of Libra/21 degrees of Aries. You know what happens when there’s a cross around? Someone gets crucified.

Here’s the link to Jeremiah Wright’s natal chart, set for noon on Sept. 22, 1941 in Philadelphia because we don’t have the time of birth. Transits of May 1 are on the outside.

I’d feel like a real blogger if someone commented on the chart or looked at the composite chart for Obama and Wright to see what the astrological trigger was for the rupture between the two.

Jenna Bush’s Texas, Taurus Wedding

Remember how Don Regan made Nancy Reagan look like a nut for consulting astrologer Joan Quigley? (No surprise about Nancy’s secret adviser. Lots of Hollywood types rely on astrologers. Lest we forget, the former First Lady was the actress Nancy Davis in a previous life.) 

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the Bushes have their own cosmos consultant. The wedding chart for the nuptials of First Daughter Jenna Bush and Henry Hager, a former aide to Karl Rove, looks dang purty, if you ask me. So purty an astrologer might have had a hand in it.

The practice of selecting a time for a specific event based on the stars is known as “electional” astrology, and it’s not easy. I know from experience. I picked a time for my first wedding and the chart looked pretty good. But then a heat wave occurred. As the mercury (not the planet) moved past 100 degrees, we decided to move the wedding from a park into the inn where the reception was scheduled, thus delaying the ceremony by an hour and a half. That produced a chart with a jealous Moon in Scorpio in the twelfth house of secrets. When that Moon progressed to hit natal Pluto in the first house, you can guess what happened. And it wasn’t pretty.

I have a feeling things are going to work out much better for Bush and Hager, who are getting married on May 10 at 7:30 p.m. at President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex. Here’s the chart, courtesy of Astrodienst.

Like my first wedding chart, this one has a Scorpio rising, making Pluto the ruler of the chart. In the case of the Bush-Hager nuptials, I read this as a union that creates a “power (Pluto) couple.” The Scorpio rising is also consistent with the fact that this is a private wedding being held away from the glare of the media, and that security was obviously a factor in choosing the venue. 

The wedding chart has got Venus, which rules love and beauty, in earthy Taurus on the descendant in a wide conjunction with the Sun, which is solidly in the seventh house. What a beautiful placement for a wedding chart! In the chart of a person or an event, the seventh house rules relationships. The people coming into Jenna and Henry’s life will undoubtedly bring them good fortune.  

And the Taurus twosome is trining Jupiter, the planet of expansion, in practical Capricorn. Interesting with this earth sign emphasis that the ceremony is on a ranch (I know, it’s not a REAL ranch, but it’s a pastoral setting, nonetheless). It’s a perfect backdrop for a Taurus wedding.

Pluto, the chart ruler, is on the world axis at 0 degrees of Capricorn in the second house of resources, trine Saturn in service-oriented Virgo in the tenth house of career. I don’t know much about Hager’s family, but it seems to me the happy couple is going to be blessed with abundant resources.

There was a fair amount of speculation, some of it partisan, that this is a shotgun wedding. The engagement was announced Aug. 15, 2007, so the math doesn’t really add up on that one, unless the bride is going to be wearing an empire-waisted dress. 

Still, the wedding chart has surprising Uranus in Pisces, in the fifth house of children and fun, sextiling Jupiter, so there could be some sudden announcements about offspring. Also, there’s a Moon/Mars conjunction in Leo, which can symbolize childbirth, in the ninth house. A baby could be coming along quite soon.

Of course, Moon/Mars in Leo could be some conflict (Mars) about Jenna’s (Moon) love of parties (Leo), and it’s broadly square, suggesting tension, with the Sun/Venus in Taurus.

Neptune (the mystic or the addict), the North Node (groups and the public), and Chiron (the wounded healer) form a stellium in Aquarius, at the base of the chart. This Aquarius group squares the Sun in Taurus, and broadly opposes the Moon/Mars in Leo, forming a T-square in fixed signs.

There’s plenty of illusion here, no question about it. I don’t know anything about Jenna’s personal life, other than what I read in the papers, but this lineup also holds the possibility of healing addiction issues, perhaps through a 12-step program. Of course, I don’t think this is going to happen at the wedding!

Certainly, Jenna’s drinking has appeared to be more than a youthful fancy. Given the family genes, it’s possible she’s an alcoholic. One sincerely hopes that the earth planets in this wedding chart will give her the grounding she needs.

For those of you who smell the continuation of the Bush political dynasty along with all those Texas wildflowers in bloom, I  think you’re right. After all, Hager’s father is chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, and it’s likely that the groom will pursue political office at some point. Certainly, marrying into the Bush family can’t be bad for someone with political aspirations, despite the mistakes and misadventures of the second Bush Administration. (Bush I wasn’t that great, but it looks like a golden age in comparison to Bush II.)

Remember, the American public has a very short memory. You get a couple of Democrats in the White House and a whole new set of problems and folks may forget the GWB follies. We don’t know what’s coming down the pike. I don’t see Hager as president, but he certainly could serve in Congress or function as part of the Beltway lobbying cartel.

Interesting that the publicity about the wedding coincided with the release of a children’s book that Jenna has written with her mom, Laura Bush. With all the earth in this wedding chart, this marriage is about mixing business with pleasure. 

In GOOG We Trust?

Over the holidays, I went to a friend’s house for dinner and her husband’s cousin was visiting from Denmark. We started talking about the U.S. and whether the country can compete in the face of low-cost wages and formidable brainpower from China and India. He said that even though he grew up drinking Coke and wearing Levi’s, there was just one American company today that he couldn’t live without today: Google.

Ever since its shares began trading publicly on Aug. 19, 2004, Google has been almost a religion with Wall Street investors. I recently talked to an old friend and she tells me the value of her house has declined in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis. “But that’s O.K.,” she says with a smile. “I’ve got Google in my portfolio.”

I nodded. Even though I don’t own Google, I understand what it’s like to get a warm and fuzzy feeling from a great stock.

Until recently, the search engine giant was a juggernaut, immune to the forces of gravity.But there have been some downbeat reports about Google lately. It seems the search wunderkind is experiencing a slowdown in its paid “click” traffic. That isn’t surprising to me, with Saturn in Virgo hanging around Google’s Mercury/Mars. No matter how great Google is, if the U.S. is going into a recession, Internet ad clicks will decline because people don’t have as much disposable income to shop.

If you want to read more about what’s been ailing Google, here’s a good BusinessWeek story: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_15/b4079021321853.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_top+story

Google may be down, but it’s not out. Google shares rose 4% on Apr. 1, to $465.71, on the news that Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell assumed coverage of the search engine giant and issued a “buy” recommendation. I was doing a little research myself on GOOG (its ticker symbol) on Mar. 31. I was trying to figure out why the stock market darling was down about 30% from its high of $747.24, set Nov. 7 last year.

As with most companies, Google has more than one “birth chart.” There’s the chart for when Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company on Sept. 7, 1998 in Menlo Park, Calif. Incorporation charts are usually set for a noon birthdate. Here’s that chart, courtesy of Astrodienst.

Another chart, which I prefer, is when the stock began trading on Nasdaq, the day after its initial public offering. That Google first-trade chart is set for 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2004 in New York.

I think this chart is a better reflection of the public company than the incorporation one. The Libra Moon rising in the first trading day chart is an accurate depiction of the partnership between Page and Brin. The Sun in Leo is apt for a stock that has almost a “rock star” status on Wall Street. Furthermore, the Mercury/Mars conjunction in Virgo opposing Uranus in Pisces is a perfect planetary aspect  for an Internet search company.

I’m not a financial analyst, but the good news is that Pluto is going back into Sagittarius on June 14, moving retrograde toward a trine with GOOG’s Sun in Leo. I think that aspect will get Google on the acquisition trail again and will be beneficial for international expansion.

In terms of the stock price, Google has Jupiter at 22 degrees of Virgo in the first trading day chart. Transiting Jupiter in Capricorn will be making a station trining Google’s Jupiter on May 9, a positive aspect, so I’m looking for GOOG to regain some lost ground then.

Transiting Saturn in Virgo will be quite close to Google’s Jupiter toward  the end of December, which could mean some kind of real estate news — perhaps acquiring land for a regional headquarters or announcing a new building or a major expansion of the Googleplex, as the company’s headquarters is known. We’ll see.

The transiting Saturn/Uranus opposition in Virgo/Pisces which is exact on Election Day, suggests sudden separation at Google. Perhaps there will be a management shakeup or the company will be forced to divest part of its operations to obtain regulatory approval for a megamerger of some kind. Something or someone will be leaving the company.

This post on Google does not constitute a buy recommendation for the search engine company. Talk to your investment adviser before loading up on Google.

Under the Buttonwood Tree

First, Bear Stearns. Now, all eyes are on Lehman Brothers. Where will it end? That’s a good question. To get some guidance, let’s look at the chart for the founding of the New York Stock Exchange,  set for May 17, 1792 at 10 a.m. in New York City. Obviously this chart governs the exchange itself, but it’s also a useful proxy for Wall Street and the market in general.

Despite the fact that today the NYSE is a publicly traded company and lots of lip-service has been paid over the years to its vital role as a public institution, make no mistake: This is a private club. Finance writer Chris Welles called his book about the end of fixed commissions on May 1, 1975 The Last Days of the Club, but the club defied the skeptics and has managed to endure.

On that morning in May many moons ago, a group of brokers gathered under a buttonwood tree in lower Manhattan and pledged to do business exclusively with one another. The Sun was at 27 degrees of Taurus that day and Mercury was at 23 degrees of Taurus.

Given that strong earth sign placement, I’ve always loved the fact that the Big Board’s roots can be traced back to a tree. We could spend hours discussing the chart of the NYSE and a very thorough examination is available here, with an excellent timeline of major events through the years.

What’s going on now? Well, the first thing that jumps out at me is that transiting Neptune, now at 23 degrees of Aquarius, is sitting on the Big Board’s Seventh House Pluto, which squares natal Mercury. There’s a lot of confusion about what’s going on and no doubt a lot of deception.

But it’s safe to say that the Fed isn’t going to let the house of cards fall down anytime soon. And for those folks who are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the next crash, I don’t think it’s going to play out like that.

Transiting Neptune in Aquarius is going to leisurely make its way to a square with the 27-degree Taurus Sun of the NYSE chart in 2009. So things are going to muddle along for awhile. Of course, you can’t just look at a single aspect in a chart, but the Sun/Neptune contact as well as the Sun/Mercury square Pluto in the natal chart suggests that Sugar Daddy Ben Bernanke could keep the ship afloat for awhile longer. 

Forget the old saw about the Fed — that its job is “to take away the punch bowl” at the party — Bernanke has just called the liquor store for another delivery!