Craig Robinson: Connecting the Dots

Followers of this blog know that there’s no TV here in the Palm Springs condo. I watch streaming video on the Net and catch up on the tube at the California Pizza Kitchen downtown.

Today, ESPN was on (as usual) and I didn’t feel like bugging the staff to change the channel to CNBC or Fox Business News to get a stock score, I mean price.

So, I’m eating my Cobb salad and looking up at the screen and all of a sudden there’s Michelle Obama’s brother. I recognized him because he was at the Democratic National Convention. I even know his name is Craig Robinson. What I didn’t know is that he’s a basketball coach for Oregon State University.

O.K. How many of you knew that? More on Craig’s chart and maybe some synastry with the First Lady later in the week.

I made my reputation by calling Kansas as the winner of the NCAA last year — when the bracket was down to four teams. (I’m not that good!)

So I’m getting my March Madness game on. Given the “synergy” in the world, we can’t leave out Oregon State. (Don’t ask me what their record is this year.) Maybe the First Brother-in-Law can go all the way.

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The DNC and the VOC Moon: Sasha Says

I just received such a well-written and thoughtful comment from Sasha, who claims to be a dabbler, that I’m putting it up as a post, not just as a comment. You may recall that Sasha commented on my post “What Time Does the Democratic National Convention Really Start?” Over to you, Sasha:

Well, it’s Wednesday, Aug. 27, and we will see if the Democrats are able to nominate their candidate without the moon being void-of course (VOC). A check of the schedule for today’s convention events indicates that the nominations and roll call vote are supposed to take place between 3 and 5 p.m. MDT (5-7 p.m. EDT).

The Moon is expected to go VOC at 6:13 p.m. MDT (8:13 EDT). If Barack Obama is nominated by acclamation or possibly even on a first ballot with a full roll call vote, then the Democrats will have dodged the bullet. If there is a floor fight, then I suspect all bets are off. While Hillary Clinton may have conceded, many of her supporters haven’t.

A new chart set for 3:01 p.m. 8/27/08 offers only slightly differences from the Democratic National Convention opening day chart with one exception. On Monday, Aug. 25, Pluto and the Moon opposed each other. Today, they are inconjunct (150 degrees), with Pluto retrograde at 28 degrees of Sagittarius and the Moon at 26 degrees of Cancer.

On the Astrology Weekly Web site, this aspect starts off with the following explanation: “The inconjunct between the Moon and Pluto indicates a personality that is precariously balanced. ” The same could be said about the situation between Obama and Hillary supporters.

At CafeAstrology.com this aspect is described as: “You confuse intensity with desire, and need with love. As a consequence of this, your relationships with others (especially romantic partners) can be powerful and ‘spicy’ without engendering much closeness. It takes time for you to recognize the habits that get in the way of intimacy; it takes time to alter them once recognized. Letting go of negative history lays the groundwork for change. Give others permission to be different than everyone else has been before. Through this, you give yourself permission to be different.”

I believe that it could be said of the convention that powerful emotions are at work and the calls for unity are not bringing about the desired “closeness” at this point. Either the Hillary supporters need to let go (acclamation vote) or the Obama supporters need to let the Hillary supporters be different (a full roll call vote).

The Mercury-Pluto square also mirrors the competing voices clamoring for attention at the convention: “You are very incisive and aggressive with your opinions. You have a tendency towards fanaticism and often want to impose your ideas on others, sometimes in a subtle manner and sometimes more imperatively” (also from the CafeAstrology.com Web site). This aspect also seems to be contradictory to the implications of the Pluto-Moon inconjunct — Hillary supporters won’t let go; Obama supporters try to close down the opposition.

This link at AstrologyWeekly goes into further detail and deserves a read IMO as it sums up the convention situation.

This is a crude analysis on my part as I am not an astrologer myself, just a dabbler. I have borrowed heavily from others’ work and hope I have credited their efforts sufficiently.

Astrology Mundo Loves Denver

Maybe I should move to Denver. Here’s why:

Until the record was broken on Sunday, I got the best traffic on my blog during the United Astrology Conference in Denver in May.

Elsa, the Queen of All Astrology Media, lives near Denver and has been very good to Astrology Mundo.

When my husband and I flew to Denver for a wedding in June, I learned that Astrology Mundo had been quoted in Time magazine.

On Aug. 24, the day before the Democratic National Convention started in Denver, I was all excited because the number of hits on my blog broke 700 for the first time. That record was shattered yesterday, when I got 1,492 hits.

Today, traffic is back to normal, but I still love Denver. Maybe Pamela Cucinell and I need to broadcast our weekly astrology talk show AstroChatter Radio from the Mile High City. Denver rocks!

Pamela and Monica Parse the Democratic National Convention

Pamela Cucinell and I have moved the time for our AstroChatter BlogTalkRadio show from 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays to noon. Today, Pamela and I chatted about the speeches of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Ted Kennedy, and Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention last night.

If you want to listen to our spirited exchange, you can click here. (Even though this is called BlogTalkRadio, it’s actually a podcast and you can actually listen to it anytime, not just while it’s being recorded.)

Pamela delivers a great interpretation of Pisces Ted Kennedy’s chart and the Massachusetts Senator’s continuing commitment to health care as a right, not a privilege. Last night, Kennedy fired up the crowd assembled at the PepsiCo Center with a rallying cry: “The dream lives on!”

Although the Senator recently had surgery for a brain tumor, he promised delegates that he would be in Washington to see Obama sworn in as President in January. Kennedy’s speech brought tears to the eyes of his niece Maria Shriver. Was that Jon Stewart standing next to her at the convention? It certainly wasn’t Shriver’s husband, California Governor Arnold Schwarzegger.

In our broadcast, Pamela and I take a page from The View and get girly by dishing whether Michelle Obama is a Pisces or Aquarius Moon based on the blue-green color of the dress she wore last night for her DNC keynote. We’re leaning toward Aquarius, which is getting the transit of dreamy Neptune. Here’s the thinking: Aquarius Moon equals cobalt-blue dress, which gets watered down to a seafoam green or turquoise by Neptune.

Those waiting for Michelle to deliver the baby news were let down last night, but her speech praising the virtrues of the working class was a triumph. I wonder who’s feeding Rush Limbaugh the story about Michelle expecting? There was no sign of a bump under that clingy dress.

I haven’t seen a time of birth for Michelle, but evidently Stars Over Washington has got one and confirms that she’s a late Aquarius Moon. Stars Over Washington is one of the many places that Jude Cowell of Jude’s Threshold hangs her hat.

Another highlight of today’s AstroChatter broadcast: Pamela talks about the solar return of the U.S., based on the Sibley chart.

Michelle Obama’s Moment to Shine

A lot has been written about Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, and most of it hasn’t been very nice. Furthermore, the photographers who seemed determined to make Hillary Clinton look pear-shaped like to catch Michelle Obama in a pout or a scowl.

Well, tonight I think she’s going to positively shine at the Democratic National Convention. There will be no stopping the Democratic candidate’s wife, as transiting Venus and Mercury in Virgo trine her Capricorn Sun. With the Virgo emphasis, I think Michelle will make inroads with female working-class voters who supported Hillary but haven’t yet jumped on board the Obama bandwagon.

Here’s Michelle’s natal chart (no time of birth), courtesy of Astrodienst, with transits for today.

Transiting Neptune is on her natal Saturn tonight so I think she’ll be able to soften her hard-nosed image, and it’s traveling with the North Node and Chiron, so I think she’ll strike a chord with the public.

There might be some technical disruption as transiting Saturn is sitting between her natal Uranus/Pluto. Will she face a TelePrompTer malfunction the way her husband did in Bristol, Va. on June 5? I wouldn’t be surprised. But I predict whatever happens, she’s going to come out smelling like a rose.

Rush Limbaugh (my birthday twin but not the same year) is speculating that Michelle is pregnant and that she’ll mention it tonight in her speech. Interesting that both Limbaugh and Michelle are Capricorns. If Michelle is indeed expecting, it would be a good reflection of the Moon/Mars on the Ascendant opposing Uranus on the Descendant in her husband’s solar return.

In my post on Obama’s solar return, I noted that Reinhold Ebertin’s The Combination of Stellar Influences says Moon/Mars equals Uranus can be a “sudden experience in a woman’s life.” That prompted commenter Mandelay to predict that Michelle would have a baby in the White House the way that Jacqueline Kennedy did.

Maybe an Obama pregnancy is what the Democratic candidate needs to show voters that he’s got cojones.

When Does the Democratic National Convention Really Start?

I’ve spent about two hours doing research into the exact time that the Democratic National Convention will officially open in Denver tomorrow, Aug. 25, and haven’t come up with a lot of hard evidence. Yes, there are official DNC “schedules” with speakers’ names, but they don’t mention times. Arghh!

I’ve learned that there are some caucuses at 10 a.m. The rules and platform get read starting at 5 p.m. and must be finished by 7 p.m.

While I came away from my Web search empty-handed, reader Sasha has unearthed a press release that shows a gavel time of 3 p.m. on Aug. 25, which could be considered the official opening of the convention. (See Sasha’s comment to this post for some good analysis.)

Since I first posted this, Sasha has written in to say that Howard Dean kicked everything off at 3:01 p.m. Bravo, Sasha! Here’s the 3:01 chart, courtesy of Astrodienst.

The chart has a 15 degree Sagittarius rising, making Jupiter in Capricorn the ruler. So far, so good. As Sasha and others have pointed out elsewhere, the chart barely misses having an ineffectual void-of-course Moon. The Moon in Gemini (talk, talk, talk) opposes intense Pluto in expansive Sagittarius. It’s part of a grand mutable cross that involves Mercury and Venus in Virgo opposing Uranus in Pisces.

With Uranus in Pisces opposing Mercury/Venus in Virgo, this promises to be the most blogged convention in the history of politics. We’ll all be feeling the love with the trines between Jupiter in Capricorn and the slew of Virgo planets.

Sitting at the midheaven in Libra, Mars is quite angular, which gives it extra oomph. This is a partnership-oriented event — the teamwork between Michelle and Barack Obama will be highlighted, and, of course, the partnership between Obama and his new vice-presidential pick Joe Biden.

The ninth house packed with Virgo planets speaks of a mission to educate (ninth house) voters that this ticket understands the concerns of the working class (Virgo). Obama can’t afford to be bogged down with the elitist image that sank John Kerrey, Michael Dukakis, and other well-meaning Democrats before him.

Despite all the good vibrations that will be coming from Denver, keep in mind that the team that bats last still can win the game. The Republicans will be holding their convention in Minneapolis from Sept. 1-4, close to the powerful Sept. 7 Jupiter station. So don’t get carried up, up, and away in the beautiful balloon taking off from Denver’s Invesco Field.

The Astrology of the Democratic National Convention

Astrologers have begun to look at the constellations surrounding the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 25 in Denver. I haven’t weighed in on this myself, but I plan to after I put my niece and nephew on a plane on July 16.

In the meantime, here’s a link to Elsa P.’s blog, which has a thread going on the subject.

Jude’s Threshold also has a page on the convention and is inviting readers to comment.

I encourage readers to post their comments at Elsa and Jude’s site and to comment here, if you’d like. The chart has a grand mutable cross formed by the opposition of Venus/Mercury on the Ascendant in Virgo and Pisces on the Descendant crossed by the opposition of Moon in Gemini and Pluto in Sagittarius, depending on what time you use for the Aug. 25 chart. Sounds like a recipe for lots of surprises!

I’m not the first person to have observed this, but that Venus/Mercury conjunction rising indicates a woman will be making some important remarks. With Uranus opposing the conjunction, the comments may be construed as controversial. So what woman will be talking? Hillary Clinton? Nancy Pelosi? Michelle Obama?

It’s safe to say a woman will have center stage at the convention. You know how I like to go out on a limb. I don’t think it’s Hillary, but perhaps Barack Obama will ask a woman to be his vice-presidential candidate.