Author: Joan Porte

Pluto – Dark and Light

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, Pluto moved into Capricorn late last year. Pluto, that cold, distant – sort-of planet, makes a huge impact on society. Because it is so far away from the Sun, it takes a long, long time to transit the solar system and stays in each sign for a good, long while. Pluto rules change and transformation and as it grinds through the solar system it makes deep changes in the areas of our lives influenced by that sign.

For example, when we baby boomers were born, Pluto was in Leo. Ruled by the Sun, Leo people want the spot light on them – they want everyone to see them shine. What better sign to birth a generation of self absorbed whiners (remember “30 Something”?) than Leo? In the early ’60’s Pluto moved into Virgo and we saw the rise of the environmental movement and huge changes in the workplace. Its recent foray into Sagittarius saw the rise of spiritualism – as well as its shadow, fundamentalism.

Capricorn rules the very structures that hold society together – our government, our banking system. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was 1762 – 1777 – a time of great revolution here in America and abroad. The most obvious sign of Pluto Capricorn this time around was the election of our first African American President. However, for every positive there is a shadow. Right now we see that play out in the tea-baggers and those people who wish to blame our current economic woes and “government take over” of business not on the guy they supported who created this mess, but on said first African American President.

A more frightening development was the death of the 51 year old census worker who was found with “FED” on his chest. That is anger at it’s worst, most irrational and tragic. Anger among people short on facts and shorter on judgement – fueled by vested interests who are out to keep their piece of the pie safe – can create situations where vigilantism and domestic terrorism reigns.

Pluto will remain in Capricorn for another 10 years – that is a long time to stir up anger. With a wise leader, we will come out the other side with great reforms to make these “big guys” more amenable to the needs of those they are to serve. With fools in charge all bets are off and uncontrolled anger can lead to many tragic circumstances like the death of the census worker, Bill Sparkman, or worse.

Let’s hope that we remain as smart as we were at the polls as we were in November 2008.

Wherefore Art Thou Mercury?

“My computer is crashing and I am losing my work!”
“I can’t complete a phone call – it keeps cutting out.”
“Everything I say is coming out garbled – my thoughts are all loopy.”

I have been hearing a lot of that lately and lay the “blame” for these little life events at the quick little feet of Mercury. It happens to be in retrograde right now – meaning that is appears to us Earthlings as we peer out into the universe to be going backwards in the sky. Of course, it isn’t going backwards but sometimes – because of how planets are spinning around the Sun – they appear to be retrograding back. It is that motion – that makes the area influenced by that planet to go a bit goofy. Retrogrades make us find a new and different path for our work.

When Mercury, which influences communications and the thought process, spins backwards a bit – we find ourselves not getting our words out the way we want, or misunderstanding others, or losing our written words. Instead of getting aggravated try to find a different way to express yourself — back up your computer and then take time to go for a walk.

Mercury will right itself on September 29 and move from airy Libra into Virgo. Libra, the sign of the Scales, adds to our mental confusion – “should I shouldn’t I, will I won’t I” but solid Virgo with its feet on the ground will make it all clear to us again.

http://soulsign.com/tools/practitioners/joan-porte

A New Year’s Eve Blue Moon

I just wanted to give you a little heads up. On this New Year’s Eve there will be a blue moon. While there are several definitions of a blue moon, the most common is the second full Moon in one calendar month. What does this mean astrologically? Well, not much – other than the implications of any full Moon on your chart. If the full Moon is sitting on top of one of your personal planets (Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars) then you are going to feel it emotionally whether it is blue, green or chartreuse. If BOTH full Moons in December (the first being Dec. 2, 2009) impact your personal planets, well it will be a wild holiday season for you for sure!

The reason I bring this up is twofold. One, can you imagine what a full Moon will do to already crazed New Year’s revelers? Two, I might suggest a more meaningful way to ring in 2010; instead of joining them in drunken revelry why not sit outside and look up at the beautiful Moon and see what messages it has to tell you for the future.

Ted Kennedy – Capricorn Tenacity

When I heard of the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy I did what I always do – I ran to my computer and looked up his chart. While it may seem odd to some, death times in karmic astrology are as important as birth times. (More on that issue later, I promise.)

What struck me so much about Sen. Kennedy’s chart was the high concentration of Saturn in his first house (the house which dictates how we present ourselves to the world.) The ancient Sumerians, who are credited with being the first known astrologers, didn’t deal much with a Sun sign because when the Sun was up they couldn’t see the rest of the stars. It was your first house – your ascendant – that was key to them.

Sen. Kennedy had Capricorn on the cusp of his first house and its ruler, Saturn, in the first house. That is a lot of Capricorn! At first it seemed bizarre. Capricorn is known to giving form and structure and being very much “within the lines” while Senator Kennedy had been known for – how shall I say this – living outside the lines for a long period of his life. I “credit “that to his heavy Piscean influence – the escapist. However, it was that strong Capricorn which gave him the courage to go on when things felt hopeless and which allowed him to prevail even over his fatal illness when he mustered the strength to speak at the 2008 Democratic Convention.

If it weren’t for that Capricornian tenacity (symbolized by the sure-footed mountain goat) he never would have been able to face and ultimately triumph over life’s traumas and his own self inflicted wounds.

Gemini South Node Shadow – Gemini South Node Shadow

Yes, I repeated that twice. Why? Simple – Gemini is all about duality – it is symbolized by the twins. Gemini is also about speed – ruled by Mercury that speedy little planet that zips around the sun at quite a good clip. At home in the third house – the house of communications and the processing of information – I often think of Gemini as the computer of the Zodiac – quickly moving information from one point to the other — IF it is working! When Gemini goes awry – when we are stuck in the shadow of a Gemini South Node, we exhibit nervousness, gossipyness (information gone a muck is gossip, isn’t it?), multitasking to the detriment of concentration on any one thing and learning problems.
Those of us who are Gemini South Node (yup I am one – Gemini 9th House South Node – more on what karmic identity that brings later) need to focus and allow ourselves to get into life instead of skating across the surface. In a phrase we need to “stop and smell the roses” instead of just stomping on them or racing past them thinking, “Did I just see a rose? oh well i will look at it later.”

Me and My Shadow – Taurus

You got me JF! I was showing the shadow of my Gemini South Node — jumping around too much. Your comment was correct – I SHOULD go to the opposite of the Scorpio North Node now – not jump to another nodal axis. Ah ha – I tossed in another word – Nodal Access. You know one thing I hate about astrology is when people try to make it totally confusing and inaccessible. The zodiac is a circle – go look at a chart – it is round – right? So, if you have a North Node on one side of the circle – the South Node has to be on the opposite site – that whole north and south thing. Therefore, that is a Nodal Axis. See? Easy.

So the opposite of Scorpio is Taurus. The last post dealt with a Scorpio South Node…so now we will like at Taurus. Taurus is the Bull, to me the ultimate Earth sign – content to laze in the pasture – feeling the wonderful Earth beneath it. They can stay in the pasture all day and look at the pretty colors of the fields. How wonderful. Well, to an extent.

If you have a Taurus South Node, some of the traits you may become too reliant on are stubbornness, materiality and just be stuck in stuff. Come on, you know someone like this – they hoard materials either actually like having a hoarding illness, or they are people stuck on collecting possessions. “See my toys – I have all of these possessions so I must be good – see what I just bought. You must think me valuable now because I have all of these valuables.”

Taureans also have a hard time turning away from the table. People who eat and eat despite having to reinforce the bed, the car and the house frame – are stuck in a gluttonous past. As are people who can’t change their situations no matter how miserable they feel.

Think of the bull, eating in the pasture all day, enjoying all that surrounds him -never moving – taken to extreme that is a person stuck in a Taurus past.

Remember, our South Node is comfortable to us – no matter how detrimental it is to our soul development in this lifetime. We have lived in that existence for so long that we subconsciously crave to go back there. However, the longer we reside there the more shadow aspects develop as the soul development stalls.

So all you Taurus South Node people – get out of your pasture – and into the drama of the world… embrace your Scorpio North Node passion!

Me and My Shadow – Scorpio

I have a friend into whom I have tried to pound the basics of astrology for months. Being born with a Scorpio South Node, she constantly gets lost in the minutia of each astrological concept despite my urgings to see the big picture. Scorpios are the detectives of the Zodiac – they love to root out the secrets – all of the details. (The South Node, remember, is where our soul has come from in previous lives and from which we need to evolve.)

So this Scorpio South Node, Moon Child rising friend is regaling me in the many projects in which she is immersed right now – providing food for friends, shelter for people coming in from out of town for a political campaign and battling bureaucrats over the building of a new church. Does it surprise you that Moon Child are the mothers of the zodiac? At the end of the list she said with exasperation, “I wish I weren’t addicted to the rush of doing all this stuff.”

“That’s it! That is Scorpio South Node – addicted to the thrill, addicted to the drama and the passion – that is what I have been trying to explain to you!” I think she got it.

All signs have their flowing and shadow aspects — Scorpios have a tremendous talent for connecting with nether worlds – they are physic antennae beaming out to all of those frequencies and worlds others can’t even imagine. They are also passionate warriors for justice especially for the underdog. However, the shadow of Scorpio is a lust for, often inappropriate, passion and an unnatural pull to the unusual and dramatic — the passionate fight.

This particular friend is addicted to fighting for her church and being the uber mother (remember, she is Moon Child rising) on all political campaigns. I have another Scorpio South Node friend who married twice –both times to difficult men with whom she battled for years. One husband was foreign – feeding her attraction to the unusual. Recently, she has met another man whom she describes as unusual and bizarre and the warning signal went off in my head again.

We tend to live in the shadow of our South Node because that type of existence worked for us in the past and in this lifetime we want to go back to it. However, like old shoes, our South Node identity no longer fits us in this lifetime. We need to evolve.

Scorpio South Node people have Taurus as a North Node. So instead of seeking other worlds and passionate fights, they need to ground themselves on this planet and find their creative heart.

Next time – a South node that I know so well – my own….Gemini.

Meditation Retreat at Homestead

A Special Invitation from Mimi Malfitano,
Master Healer and Gifted Meditation Teacher . . .
RECHARGE & REJUVENATE YOUR LIFE
at The Homestead, a Premier Mountain Resort
October 9-12, 2009

In the spirit of the Homestead and
Hot Springs, Mimi is offering a
special 3-day healing experience
that might even change your life. This
retreat is for everyone—novice, beginner,
or experienced meditator. If you
are looking to . . .
• Reduce stress and re-establish
balance and clarity in your life OR
• Jump start a meditation practice OR
• Reenergize an existing practice OR
• Give yourself a meditative tune up
. . .this Meditation Retreat is
for YOU!
The program is group taught with each
participant leaving with an individualized
meditative practice that fits their needs.
Your Weekend Includes:
• 5 Meditation teaching & practice
sessions
• 3 Nights–Deluxe Accommodations
• Friday evening welcome reception
• Saturday & Sunday dinner
• Breakfast every morning
• Snacks during day sessions
Private Reiki Healing sessions with
Mimi available upon request.
$100 per hour.
Your Weekend Investment
Bring a Companion to enjoy Virginia’s
premier mountain resort while you destress
with meditation. Meals with the
group are included as well as a $75
credit to help your companion jump
start their adventure. While you
meditate they can enjoy golfing on
one of three championship golf courses
or hiking the gorge or pampered spa
treatments. And of course, the Homestead’s
sought after southern
hospitality is included.
$767.00 per person/double occupancy
Share a Room. If you are attending the
retreat solo and want to share a room,
we will try to pair up meditators–
though we can make no guarantees.
$767.00* per person/double occupancy
*Call for single occupancy rate.
For more information or to book your
reservation, call Joan at Joan’s Travel
703-533-2210.
Or email: joanstravel@verizon.net

“I Have A Dream” Neptune’s Whisper

I have been so taken by the Inauguration of President Lincoln, I mean President Obama, and the talk of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” and the dream realized that I took at look at the astrology behind the day.

I was struck with the realization that it was singer Mahalia Jackson who whisper to Dr. King, “tell them about the dream” as he was speaking to the participants in the March on Washington. His “I have a dream” was ad libbed – not a part of the original speech. Amazing. What made her do that – what was the connection between the two?

The problem with the analysis revolved around timing. The accepted data for Dr. King’s birth is Jan 15, 1929 in Atlanta at 12 noon. I am always suspicious about noon birth times as they are the fall back when time is not known. I researched it a bit and found some citations that he was born – around high noon — or “late morning” – so I am not sure if 12 noon is accurate.

We know that Ms. Jackson’s timing is off as well and as I looked on every website and every book I can find and her birth time wasn’t recorded. She was born Oct. 26 (wonderful day :)) 1911 in the “Negro Section” of New Orleans. No one found the need to record the time.

Also, the time of the speech is fuzzy. The closest information I got was from going back to a “New York Times’ piece and it said the people marched to Washington and were addressed by Dr. King – later that afternoon. I chose 4p as a time but again that is a guess.The date was August 28, 1963 in Washington DC.

Sadly I was not an enlightened 7 year old so I don’t remember hearing the speech first hand.
____________
OK that being said when I ran a triwheel of the three – his known birth information, hers and a transit chart for the stars and planets overhead when he made the speech.

But what I did find is in a way even more interesting.The North Node was transiting the 3rd house on that day — what a way to say a speech will live in the evolution of the planet, right? Ms. Jackson’s Neptune was close to Dr. King’s Pluto – (and may even be closer than the charts show considering the time difference) – so I can almost see Neptune (dreams) reaching over and and nudging his Pluto, his transformative planet. “Tell them about your dream Martin,” – Neptune nudging Pluto to make a great transformation for all of us – making this transformative speech for the ages.

Dr. King had Saturn in the his 8th house, the house of change and transformation – the house of power and powerful transformation – in Sagittarius – the sign of expansion, growth and cultural understanding. At the time of the speech, Ms. Jackson had her Sagittarius Moon transiting his Saturn – (can you hear the emotion in her voice – “Tell them about your dream, Martin.” Now is the moment – seize the emotions – and then on the transit chart we see Moon conjucting her natal Moon also in Sagittarius. To me the arrow – the glyph of Sag. is like a arrow shooting from his Saturn – and giving structure to her and our dreams for cultural unity.