Astrological Forecasts

Sending love and prayers to our friends on the East Coast as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall.  I am hoping that this storm will be a repeat of the hurricane that hit New York last September.

This is especially chilling, personally, because it is but seven blocks west of the 48 story luxury high rise, which, at that time was still under construction.  It was my job to close up the models, which were the only apartments that were finished. Since I had access to the elevator key, and being quite  young and adventurous, I loved nothing more to go up to the higher floors and sneak out to the balcony of an as yet unfinished apartment and look down and out across at the great metropolis of New York from as high a floor as the elevator would allow me to step out onto, as the papers blew across the apartments, because the windows had not yet been installed.

I am still optimistic that despite the wind and storm surge that the damage from Hurricane Sandy will not take a huge amount of lives. My reasoning is that we were lucky to have an exceedingly benign Spring Equinox Chart.

The reason that I do not believe we will see an enormous death toll, despite Saturn smack dab on the New Moon chart set for New York, is that the lunation, is on the most beneficial fixed star in the universe, Spica. Let us pray that this is the case.

I will send up the charts, in a bit, but please pray that I am not out in left field on this one. Pray for everybody on the East Coast.  Update at midnight nyc, time. I understand that the lights are out and there will be no subway service for several days to come. The storm made landfall at 8:00 pm local time.  According to Marc Lavorgna,  https://twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice, the surge of water crested at almost 14 feet high at the Battery (the far south end of the Manhattan penninsula) and the waters are now receding at 9 feet. I am sorry to say that there are five deaths reportedly due to Sandy, which has now been downgraded from a hurricane to a superstorm. The good news is that reports of a fire at a hospital on Coney Island, are erroneous.

The first place we look to when forecasting or trying to explain great events of any kind, from weather to finance is the Spring Ingress chart. Generally we can set that to the capital. I tend to use New York City as the capital in many charts, because it was in presently flooded lower Manhattan that George Washington swore to uphold the Constitution, and where he fought his initial battle with the British for Independence.

The concept of prognosticating with Spring Ingress and all charts is based on the ancient concept of ‘ as above, so below. In other words, whatever happens down here  on terra firma is written well advance up in the heavens above us.  We look to the day that the Sun arrives at 0 Aries in the tropical zodiac, to ascertain what the coming events in any given year will be.  This date is known as the Spring Equinox, because the days and the nights are exactly the same length in time. It marks the beginning of the astrological year.

Right from the ‘get go’ we can see s that 2012 is going to be very unusual in the city that never sleeps, the Spring Equinox Chart’s Sun is associating with the planet of surprise, Uranus sits right there at the ground level of the chart, the 4th. Now, this is why, I am praying that the storm does not take as many lives as it might have. For evaluating deadly events, we always want to look to the 8th house, of death. In this case, using Regomontanus House Cusps, we see that the 8th house has Cancer on its cusp. Thus, the Moon will rule death and destruction. If we look closely, we will notice that the Moon is in Pisces. Since the Sun is in Aries, this indicates that the Moon is in its last days of light, what we call a waning Moon. A waning Moon is a weakened Moon. And thus, when it rules the house of the grim reaper, a dark Moon is a good thing to see. This is the first sign of hope for this storm. The next thing we see is that the Moon is in a cadent house, the third, where she joys. The Sun and Uranus conjunction, itself is in Aries a hot and dry sign, and yes, most of the country experienced the hottest driest Summer on record, but in New York City with Uranus placed at the ground zero, so to speak, we saw something different, flooding. This is because death and destruction, i.e., the 8th cusp, is ruled by a very wet Moon in Pisces, which is made even wetter by it’s conjunction with the planet of the seas, Neptune. It is this combination that brought this enormous tidal surge.

Why now? Well, one look at the previous New Moon set for October 15th 2012, in New York City will provide those ‘who are in the know’ about about that icy  ringed meanie, Saturn, the answer.

Notice that Saturn, the natural ruler of the grave, is situated smack dab on the cusp of the Ascendant. In mundane charts, the Ascendant rules we the people. Whenever we see Saturn in the first house, of any mundane map, be it Spring Equinox, to New or Full Moon Charts, we can expect trouble, and trouble Sandy brought.  And she is wet trouble because Saturn has just entered the wet sign Scorpio. Some might say, Saturn is not yet on the cusp of the first. Well, I refer you to the article below on the dark degrees.  Although Algol is on the cusp of destructive 8th house, I am praying that most of the people of New York will be okay when I wake up in the morning. I pray that South Node, also known as the Dragon’s Tail will hold Algol in check. We shall see in the morning. Please pray for all on the East Coast.

The upcoming vice presidential debate should be a more lively one than the first presidential debate. Both of the vice presidential candidates,  incumbent Vice President, Joe Biden and Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, seem to have little qualms regarding sharing their opinions. At the same time, their views for the future and their backgrounds are radically different from one another.

The debate is scheduled to commence at 9:00 p.m. EDT live from Danville, Kentucky giving us a rising of 28 Taurus. However, those who remember the first presidential debate will note, it did not start exactly on time. First there are the obligatory, niceties, which we gauge from the last debate last about 5 minutes.

This changes the rising sign, from Taurus, to the verbal Gemini. Once again, like the last time, we simply divide the chart straight down the middle. We give the left side, or the rising side of the chart, home field advantage to the seated vice president, Joe Biden and the setting side to the Republican challenger, Ryan.

The new chart has Gemini right on the Ascendant, representing Joe Biden, the seated vice president, will make Mercury, ruler of the first house, his designated player. Mercury is in the steady, Scorpio, which we noted last time, spells trouble for Joe Biden right off the bat. After all, a debate is a war of words. When a debater’s significator falls in a sign without a voice,  as we recently witnessed with Obama in the first debate, the words just do not just spring out at us. Further, Biden is also situated in a weak house, that of the sixth, of illness, and more importantly, on Ryan’s side of the chart. Even though at a disadvantage, when so placed, it makes sense, because the sixth is the house of the common worker and Biden worked his way up from his blue collar roots to become vice president. His father cleaned furnaces in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Even though his ruler is weakly placed,   Biden is not completely helpless.  According to the Indians, the sixth house is called an ‘upachaya’ or growing house. This implies Biden starts out slowly, but gains momentum. In addition, the rising lunar mansion is none other than the hot and fiery Krittika. In a situation where nice guys finish last,  it is advantageous  to have a mansion rising.  The ancient Indians said Krittika has razor like tendencies.  Krittika people burn others out with their ceaseless energy. It seems like they get up and have glass for breakfast, then ask for more. This hidden lunar mansion may help Biden, overcome his mute ruler.

The republican challenger Paul Ryan, will get the right or setting side of the chart. With Sagittarius on the cusp, the Republican contender, will be represented by fat cat, Jupiter in the talkative Gemini. Needless to say,  Ryan is  vociferously against entitlements to the poor.  His plan also calls for  privatization of Social Security,  repealing Obama-care while leaving military spending the same. Ryan’s Jupiter is in the in the, ‘do as I say, not as I do, sign, Gemini. This is one of the poorest places for the truthful, Jupiter because it is so hypocritical.  It is no surprise that Ryan’s plan to gut social spending, keeps the Bush era tax breaks, that garnered his presidential running mate, Romney a nice $26,000,000  yet only had to pay 14% in taxes.  Even though Ryan is clearly against government spending,  his family, from his grandfather, who built highways,  to his wife, a former lobbyist for Price Waterhouse all made vast sums from Uncle Sam!

Since nice guys finish last,  Ryan gets a tremendous edge over Biden,  initially,  with that Mars right on his first.  Ryan will put in a good fight, and will come right out of the box punching.  At first it may seem he makes mincemeat out of Biden. However, he walks a fine line. If he goes too far, he falls in Vice Presidential Biden’s lap, because Ryan’s Jupiter is in Biden’s own house.  Many of Ryan’s core beliefs,  alienate much of the female population.  Too much aggression,  will turn also turn the the elderly away, as well. The Moon is the designate for ‘we the people’ in any mundane charts. And the Moon is already hostile to both candidates, but the Moon is especially antithetical to Ryan because it applies by partile (exact) square to Mars in Ryan’s first and at the same time, she opposes his house ruler, Jupiter.

With so much on each other’s side of the chart, this should prove to be a lively debate.   With Ryan in  Biden’s first, neither side has a distinct edge.  With that angular Mars, we will see both pull punches. That aforementioned lunar square to Ryan’s Mars is a nasty one.  Even though Ryan will keep swinging,  the chart implies, Biden gets his own way. I may be wrong,  but I sense this will be so close a debate, that some will say, draw, but  I think Vice President Joe Biden has a slight edge with the Moon heading towards Venus, who as almuten of Biden’s hopes and wishes.  We shall see.

Brian, the excellent moderator at Political Astrology mailing list,  asked me to explain what I meant by ‘dead degrees.’ By dead degrees, I am referring to any planet that comes within 5 degrees of the next cusp, following Ptolemy, was considered as already doing the work of the following house.  One of the members of Political Astrology suggested that we need to see it over time, and to experiment with it. I agree, and so I present an example of how this concept works, using the natal chart of Barack Obama.

First look at Obama’s progressed Mercury on Oct 3 2008, above. It is just separating from fiery Mars,  on the lucky Spica at 23 Libra, and by all agreement situated in his 8th house, giving him that rhetorical verve, that easily left his opponents in the dust.

Four years later,  in his first debate with Romney, Obama is said to have seemed removed, and not really engaging in the manner he did during the first campaign. Even the most generous commentators said Obama seemed very ‘far away’ off in his own world, on October 3, 2012.

If we look to the chart, below, we will  see Obama’s progressed Mercury has separated from Mars, and is now at 27 Libra 47 min easily within the 5 degrees of the 9th house cusp of 01 Scorpio. This affects Mercury enormously, because,  it sure seemed, at least to this viewer, that Obama’s mind was off in the clouds, and looking at the chart, below, we can see that Obama’s mind is off in ‘dead degrees of the next house, doing the work of the 9th house.

So what happened to the silver tongued wonderkund in last night’s presidential debate? Four years ago, Obama could not even utter a word that would not be dubbed the golden tongued. He was a fresh face jam packed with a comprehensive vision for the future, convincing us, ‘yes we can.’ Even the left winged San Francisco Chronicle conceded, “Obama seemed vacant and distracted while Romney scored his best performance yet: The former Massachusetts governor delivered a confident, often aggressive and energetic performance. It was among the best of his campaign and in clear contrast to the president, whose delivery was more muted, measured and, at times, meandering.”

If he had not shown so brightly, four years ago, we might be able to blame his poor performance on his reticent personality.  Surely with Aquarius rising and the South Node in the first house, we see that Obama is very altruistic, but will tend to hold back, giving the other side the benefit of the doubt. When debating an assertive woman, this quality might make him look chivalrous, and dignified, but when debating against a male opponent, that same South Node seemed to make him whither.

Looking at Obama’s chart, in essence we can see that his relaxed oratorical style is well depicted by the charming Venus is in charge of the communications department of his chart. Placed in the mute sign of Cancer, this will tend to make Obama hold back, sort of sniffing his opponent out, preferring to win others over with charm rather than pugilism.

So what happened to the golden throated wunderkind last night? Still holding back? How could a person who could never utter a dumb remark four years ago, manage to look so, well, confused, last night? Well, one thing we know is that when we read natal charts, we are looking at all the karma or activity that any particular person has decided to take on in this life. That is a lot of karma! The natal chart was never created to tell us everything. Natal charts, can only shows us the essential or bigger strokes in our lives.

We cannot judge a singular event by the natal chart, alone For the smaller more succinct events, we need other tools to determine how our golden throated new hope, could appear so confused and out of sorts last night.

There are several ways of examining the ‘smaller events’ in our lives. Horary is one of the quickest methods to understand the smaller strokes. What we do is we take the time of the debate and divide it pretty much in half. The left side, or the Ascendant side of the chart, from house 10 to house 3 will be the ‘home team’ or that of the favorite, i.e., the seated president.

In this case, Obama, since he is  the man to beat, and owns the all important tenth house of president.  Since a debate is a two person operation, the first house, will specifically represent Obama, while the 7^th house, will represent Romney. Strength is everything. So what we are looking for are strong planets, even malicious planets and we want them on our side of the chart.

22 Aries rises in the chart. Mars will rule Obama. This is a great start.  In debates, just as in war, nice guys finish last. Having mean planets helps to win.  Mars is a killer. Even better, Obama as Mars, gives him an initial edge, strong by essential dignity, placed in its own sign, Scorpio.  This makes sense. After all, Obama is the is the president, ahead in the poles, and so he is the man to beat.

Which brings us to the obvious, if this is so, why did Obama come off as such an empty shell? One of the problems of being in one’s own sign, is there is little or no need for others, which can result in a bit of complacency. Because a debate is basically a war of words, it is essential to clearly voice the issues. As strong as Mars in Scorpio is, it is a mute or voiceless sign.

Being strong of sign is great, but if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, no matter how strong, you die. This is where what the ancients called accidental dignity comes in.  Accidental dignity measures placement. It is all about, where you are and who you are with and or being influenced by. Feast your eyes on where Mars is placed – all the way over on Romney’s side of the chart!

Whenever we see our planets on the other guys side, we are in the other guys territory. This is a major sign of loss in war charts. Here Obama is not handing Romney his power on a silver platter, he is literally shooting himself in the foot, because as astute astrologers will notice, Obama is smack dab at the cusp of the deadly 8^th house.  Modern astrologers, and some others might say, ‘hey,  Mars is not in the 8^th, but the 7^th but following the ancient precepts of Ptolemy we know that planets thrust forward. Ptolemy taught us that any planet within 5 degrees of the next cusp is already doing the work of that house. And clearly, Obama was on the ropes last night, a confirmation of Ptolemy’s teachings in action – despite the differing signs on the cusps.

Finally, as we said, debates are nothing more than a war of words. Whichever party is more impressive with his words, wins the debate. And so the house of communications, the third cusp, is all important. Once again,  we see even more in the way of problems for the seated president. So the 3rd cusp, with Gemini, Mercury will show the effectiveness of Obama’s words. Here again, Obama is stymied with Mercury, not only on Romney’s side of the chart. To anybody watching, Obama seemed wooden, and there we see Mercury right smack next to cold and removed Saturn.

Romney on the other hand, will be ruled by Venus. Situated in her fall in the 6^th house is very weak by sign. However, at least Venus is on her own side of the chart and very importantly, even though she is fallen, in debates words are everything. Even if the voice is highly critical, its better to have one than to be mute.

However, as Yogi Berra said, “it is not over until its over.” This chart seems to imply that no matter how great Romney’s performance was last night, nor how dismal Obama’s was, Romney has a long road ahead of him. Notice, the 10^th house, or prize for Romney will be the 4^th, not the 10^th. Here we have Cancer on the cusp of the 4^th, and ruler, Moon on that remove of head’s Algol, and heading towards the South Node. One debate does not an election make.

Heads Up!

The Writer’s Astrological Almanac

by Kathy Watts

October 2012

Happy October. We somehow survived that zinger of a full moon that ended last month.  It that didn’t kick-start your independent spirit, troublesome or no, I don’t know what will. Now we get to do a lot of it all over again, only different. Way different.

October 1 is a Monday, the Moon’s day. Remember to make this a month to be good to people, (continue reading…)