Author: Joan Porte

The Dark Moon May 10 – 13

The Dark Moon also called Lilith is astronomically the three days before the New Moon appears. The Moon, of course, cycles around us and appears with different “faces”, the full Moon, half Moon, quarter Moons. A new Moon is when it lies directly in the path between Earth and Sun, and appears to us to be in conjunction with the Sun. However, the three days before the Moon goes “new” every month it disappears totally from our view. To the ancients, it was a dark, mysterious time. Unfortunately, over the years as we moved from matriarchal religions to more male dominated religions, the dark and mysterious Moon has become demonized. It became the symbol of the “bad girl” and the baddest of them all is Lilith.

First mentioned in Sumerian mythology about 3000 years ago, Lilith was seen in Hebrew stories as the first wife of Adam. She was not too happy with the plan that she should submit to Adam and be that happy helper stuff that Eve fell for so she said “bye bye Adam” and went off to make her own way in the world. So forevermore, she was called the bad girl – the fallen woman – of the Hebrew Bible. Because the Moon has always been associated with the feminine the dark Moon, the time of mystery and secrecy eventually bore the name of Lilith.

Astrologically, the time of the dark Moon is the time when we should get in touch with the hidden side, with the side we hide from society because it is not acceptable. This is the time we need to assess why we keep the side hidden and why we dance to the rules of society.

Where Lilith is on your astrological chart indicates the area where we will often have a spiritual crises because we are hiding a part of our true self so as not to risk disapproval. Is it in Aries? Well, where is your fear of charting new courses? Gemini? Well, always seeking the unusual in travel is fun but are you running away from something? Scorpio Lilith brings passion and pushes us to be free of sexual inhibitions.

So use those dark days to see what you have kept hidden from yourself for fear of repercussions and assess if that is still working for you.

Michelle Obama – A Very Piscean First Lady

OK purists don’t pounce. Yes, Michelle Obama, born January 17, 1964, has her Sun was Capricorn. I know, I know. (Rats, it is terrible when the first lady is THAT much younger than you. That is a first for me! But I digress.) However, she has a lot of Pisces in her “personal signs” namely the Moon and Venus. Sadly, the time of her birth is not published and astrologers will need to hound her to get it I am sure. Regardless of the exact time, we know that the Moon and Venus were both in Pisces that day and it a very tight conjunction, only about one degree away from one another. Obviously, this will be a very strong influence on her chart.

With Pisces comes compassion and the ability to reach out and solve other people’s problems. Pisces remember is what connects us to the cosmic awareness – it is that great cosmic soup from which all spirituality emerges. It brings a deep desire to connect and meld itself with the universe. When she “defies protocol” to reach out to the Queen of England or hugs children of the Haitian hurricane she is honoring this Piscean desire to bring together – to touch a feel the universe around her. Pisces is a deep water sign and water does all it can to penetrate and encompass its surroundings.

With Venus and the Moon connected in Pisces, her emotions, her compassion and her love are all driven by this desire to unite – to help – to encompass.

Carried to the extreme Pisces can martyr itself – give itself totally for another person or another cause. Any Pisces Moon person has to watch not to allow others to pull on their emotional strings to the point that they become emotionally abused by them. Believe me I know – Pisces Moon here has been a real pain in my chart. However, I am a double water person – Scorpio Sun, Pisces Moon. Michelle has the steely determination of her Capricorn Sun — a Cardinal, Earth Sign. Cardinal signs are the rulers – the ones that initiate action. So that will give her the ability to set personal limits.

Still, how much of herself has she given up for love? I am in no way painting her as a victim. However, she did give up her career as a lawyer, which kept the Obama’s afloat during his community activist days, for his political career. That would not have been a decision made with such apparent grace had she been given an Aries or Leo Moon/Venus conjunction. Those fire signs would find the prospect of losing their position of prominence in the partnership a most distasteful proposition.

Also, regardless of her birth time, her North Node (where her soul is evolving toward) is in Cancer, another Water Sign. Cancer (or Moon Child) rules the Moon and is the sign epitomized as the care-giver, the mother. Moon Children want to mother (and can sometimes smother) people in their care – making sure they get all the essentials of life like a mother does for a child. In less than a year into her husband’s administration our Pisces Moon/Venus First Lady has quietly swum her way into the forefront of the childhood obesity debate. She is clearly evolving on a soul level in the direction intended in this lifetime which accounts for the ease in which she has slipped into this role. (When you are following your Node, the universe smiles on you!)

This also leads me to play with her chart a bit. What if she was born around 2:45 PM? What would her chart look like then? Well, first it would put her North Node in Cancer in her first house and would make her ascendant – her rising sign – her life force – also in Cancer. A water rising sign just intensifies her compassion but it also makes her rising sign Cardinal – like her Sun sign. So that compassion and concern is given a double dose of leadership ability. This is a perfect placement of someone destined to be the caring, compassionate but no nonsense mother figure for an entire nation.

This time also places Ceres, the Roman symbol of Mother Earth in the 6th house – the house of health and healing and places Pallas Athena, the warrior healer on the cusp of the 6th house.

I have no idea if this is the time she was born – so the chart below is NOT official in anyway. It is just what I see makes the most sense.

The important thing to remember is that we know she has the compassion of two of the water signs, with the strength of Capricorn abundant in her chart and right now she is using them for the benefit of all of us. No wonder she has said she has the fun job and seems to be thoroughly enjoying her tenure in the White House.

What’s up with the Earth? Volcanos and Earthquakes and Sinkholes Oh My!

Since I am NOT heading to the airport to catch a flight to Stockholm as I thought I would be doing today thanks to a “friendly neighborhood” Icelandic volcano- I decided to take some time and ponder the question, “What is the deal, Earth?” From earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Mexico (among others) to this volcanic eruption, it seems “terra firma” isn’t so much these days. If you listen to Pat Robertson (and, why would you) he would say it is a sign of the “end of times.” Why do these guys love the end of the world so much? Could it be it is all the better to control terrified people? But I digress.

If you are a beloved follower of this blog you will know that I have spent some time on the movement of Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto is a pokey, mini planet that packs a punch because it deals with transformation and change. Because it moves so slowly, Pluto has time to get into the “guts” of the sign it inhabits and really penetrate to the core making changes to long standing beliefs.

Capricorn is the sign dealing with the authority structures that keep society in place….the structure we live within.

In previous blogs I have talked about the changes Pluto in Capricorn is bringing to politics from the sublime – Obama – to the ridiculous – the Tea Party. (NOTE to the Republican Party, while you are trying to harness the power of the Tea Party while keeping them at arm’s length, just keep in mind the last time we had Pluto here we had the French Revolution. It was the epitome of gang revolt that went too far and feed off those who brought it to power.) All things have a positive and shadow outcome – it is the yin and yang of life.

Pluto here also changed the monetary system and brought around failures to long standing financial institutions.

However, let’s take this another step. What can be more “Capricornian” that Earth – the actual structure of the land on which we stand? Right now, Pluto and Saturn are making a “trine aspect” a flowing aspect of 30 degrees and both are in Earth signs. Saturn is now in Virgo. Because Saturn rules Capricorn – we are now in a period of double dose of change to our structures. What better time for earthquakes and volcanoes? Remember last week I spoke of “aspects”? This is a very powerful one – Saturn, ruler of Capricorn is trine to Pluto in Capricorn – that is whole lot of shaking up going on.

Pluto will remain in Capricorn until 2024, the Earth won’t keep rolling the whole time but it will be an active time and when strong aspects like this come around we will be more susceptible to this kind of natural “disaster.” I put that in quotes because while these things are devastating to the people in the area, the Earth changes it is the nature of the beast.

When Pluto was in:

Sagittarius 1995 – 2008 – the time of spiritual awareness – the shadow being fundamentalism.

Scorpio 1983 – 1995 – the time of the sexual revolution – the shadow being sexual prevision made more public.

Libra – 1971 – 1983 – the time when relationships and the ideas of romance changed – the shadow being our obsession with youth, beauty and cosmetic alterations.

Virgo 1958 – 1971 – the time of the rise of the women’s movement – and environmental movement –
The shadow being the growth of “fast food” and environmental pollutants.

Leo -1939 – 1958 – the time when the “baby boomers – the ME generation was born.” It was the time when the individual came into focus – the value of one person was learned but can you find a more self obsessed, ego centric group of people than we boomers?

If you feel a little loopy on April 13……

blame it on aspects….or the lack thereof. On April 13 few planets will be in “aspect” to each other. An aspect is simply the appearance of planet orbits intersecting one another. For instance, have you ever looked up and spied Mars and Jupiter shining brightly in the sky together? Well their orbits are in conjunction with one another at that time. As planets zip around the Sun, their orbits can appear close to one another – a conjunction — or be in total opposition to one another. There are other aspects such as trine, and square…but the thing to remember is that aspects really impact how those planets play out in our lives. If you are born with Pluto conjunct the Moon, then the influence of Pluto – the need to change and transform – will cause you to feel the need tear down your emotions. You will always question your emotional response to issues and always double guess your reactions.

If you have no aspects to a particular planet that planet will run wild in your chart. For instance, someone born with no aspect to their Sun (our life force) will often not develop a strong sense of self. A famous unaspected (also known as peregrine) Sun person is Hillary Clinton. I always laughed when I saw her thousands of hair style changes while first lady…that is classic unaspected Sun. Who am I? How should I appear to the world?

For years she battled with the concept of am I a “traditional first lady” or do I want more? Then she seemingly settled into a role of Senator she decided to run for President. Remember what happened when her Presidential campaign started to go south? She became a chameleon and in the end was a populist stumper! Who was that masked woman? Unaspected Sun under pressure -manifesting in almost a textbook style.

On April 13, 2010 the planets will be making no exact aspect to one another. If you are born with an unaspected planet you are going to feel it big time that day — you won’t be able to find any grounding. If you have an unaspected Mercury you may find yourself babbling away or unable to concentrate, unaspected Mars people – watch your temper. It will be a day of free reigned energy!

Martha Washington -First of the First.

After looking at Dolley Madison’s chart a few weeks ago, I decided to take a look at the charts of other first ladies. So why not start with the first of the first….Martha Washington? This first lady, born June 2, 1731 at Chestnut Grove, Virginia at 10:29 AM, is known mostly for her quiet, regal reserve, her generosity especially to the Revolutionary war soldiers and her devotion to her husband.

First glance at her chart shows a domination of planets and asteroids in her 10th house, the house of society and government and the 9th house, the house of “searching” – reaching beyond ourselves and our borders. (I know that is a nutshell description but hang on.) She has the Sun in Gemini in conjunction with Mars and Neptune in the 10th. So her life force energy, her Sun, was in the house that generally rules social structure and government – gee, think that would account for an attraction to a outrageously ambitious man involved in government building? To that, she has Mars -raw energetic power – but that is influenced by the spirituality and compassion of Neptune. It was that Neptune, with its influence from Pisces compassion and caring for others, that lead her spend many a frigid winter and boiling summer caring for her husband’s soldiers. Mars gave her the fortitude, Neptune the desire.

Martha Washington was a very wealthy woman – mostly from her first marriage. Ah yes, first marriage – look at Pisces on the cusp of her 7th house. That usually portends karmic marriages – people we have gone around with before. (One of these days I will get around to doing a synastry chart on George and Martha. Ah so many charts so little time!) Pisces on the 7th also shows the possibility of more than one marriage in a lifetime. Martha’s first husband died leaving her very wealthy and socially positioned.

With her Moon in Taurus it was a good thing she was left wealthy. Taureans love possessions – they love comfort – just think of the Bull in the pasture lying in the sweet grass. They are very happy when they have “things” around them. Taurus resonates to the 2nd house – the house of self worth and possessions – so they have a natural affinity toward that connection – comfort and goods. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that she had Jupiter, the planet of expansion in her first house – the house of personality.)

Uranus in the 4th house indicates a unique home life that will change suddenly. With her husband off fighting wars and then retiring only to come out again to be President – I guess you can say her home life was unique. Sadly, Martha Washington buried several children -and that ability for Uranus to pull the rug out from you suddenly can manifest with this kind of loss as well.

While she deplored the hardships, all of those planets in the 9th house, the house of expansion, of learning other religions and cultures. She reveled in the opportunity to meet other people and explore their cultures. Stories of the stream of visitors at Mount Vernon are legendary. Had there been a White House in her day, she would have imprinted a legend of gracious hospitality.

Shortly before her death, Mrs. Washington burned the private letters between her and her husband much to the chagrin of historians. We will never know the Washington’s as we do the Adams. Well, blame that on Leo. Her Leo ascendancy gave her the regal gentility for which she was famous but it also gives a sense that there is a piece that the “king and queen” can’t share with the populace. Leo is the Lion – the king of the jungle remember. While the shadow of Leo can be haughtiness and snobbery – even the most elevated of Leo’s have that sense of class difference, if you will. So while she was able to share her husband, share her home and share a great deal of herself there was still that sense that you can’t have it all.

As a freak for history I can lament her decision, as an astrology I totally see where she was coming from.

What is it with April?

The “shot heard around the world” which started the Revolutionary War was fired on April 19, 1775. The shots at Fort Sumter which started the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. Does April 19 ring another bell to you? Well, that was the day of the final attack at the Branch Davidian Ranch in Waco in 1993 and it was also the day of the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The Falkland’s War started in April. Abraham Lincoln was shot in April. Heck, Adolph Hitler was born – and died – in April. For a month of new life and new beginnings it can be a bit on the violent side. Why? Blame in on Mars, the ancient god of war.

Mars is the ruler of Aries, the constellation in which the Sun enters at the Vernal Equinox, March 20th. So April is the time when the Mars archetype of male, aggressive warrior energy is at its peak. This year, I am particularly concerned with the march on the D.C. area by the radical right wing. These people are announcing that they are coming with their “guns loaded but they won’t shoot first.” Gee thanks. With the increase of right wing violence and the threat of more, what we do not need is a gun march anywhere!

Here is a biwheel – the chart of the United States combined with the transiting planets over Washington, DC on April 19 – at high noon. I figured that would be a good time. At the time of the its’ birth, America’s Mars was in Gemini in the 7th house – no wonder we can’t help getting involved in other people’s business – 7th house is the house of partnerships. At the time of the March – the Moon will be opposite Pluto – a time when hidden emotions will come to the surface. These two planets are making a square to the US’s Neptune – so reality won’t be the order of the day. Neptune is all about illusion and confusion.

So this will be a highly charged – electric day but what about Mars? Mars will be in Leo in the 8th house – the Sign of Fire and “me first” in the house of power. More importantly, this year Mars is moving VERY SLOWLY – and is in retrograde. (A planet is retrograde when it appears to be going backwards in the sky.) A retrograde slow Mars in Leo – a fire sign…..Can you see the scenario? Rising emotions, illusion, confusion -and Mars surrounding by fiery power . It could get tense.

Fortunately, there is little to intersect with the major planets in the chart of the U.S. so it doesn’t appear to be destined to be a memorable date in history – any more than it already is.

Just everyone please remember, we don’t need any fuel added to any fires in April – Mars is taking care of that himself quite well.

More to come on the outlook for the rest of the year for the US and President Obama,

Happy Equinox and the origins of the word Easter.

Tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox, a time for renewal and resurrection. Astronomically and astrologically it is when the Sun is at zero degrees in the constellation Aries. Astrologers call Aries, the baby of the zodiac, the first sign of the twelve…the beginning of things anew.

I remember being shocked at the first Passover Seder I attended when I saw hard boiled eggs on the table. Eggs? Isn’t that for Easter? How little I knew. We all have the same concept- eggs, fertility, rebirth and resurrection – they are all celebrated at the Equinox.

It is all about eggs – The Druids dyed eggs red – the color of the “returning” Sun. The Celts dyed their eggs blue in spring and the Ukrainians started dying eggs thousands of years ago. Spring is the time when the Earth comes back to life. It is symbolized by the goddess at her youngest – sowing seeds that will bloom in a few months.

In fact the word Easter comes from the Anglo Saxon goddess Eostre. Now there are two stories about Eostre. In some parts of the ancient Saxon world she was a goddess in the maiden stage who wandered the country side with her hare sowing seeds. This is also the beginning of the Easter bunny legend. In other parts she was a goddess who transformed herself from maiden to hare as she brought the return of spring and promoted the growth of crops. However, you get the general drift – spring is the time for renewal and growth.

The concept of resurrection was not new to the Christians – check out Osiris and Isis for the Greeks and Oden for the ancient Norse. Sorry, but there just is nothing new under the Sun – in any season.

But be a part of the ancient tradition, dye some eggs, plant some seeds – it is SPRING!

Dolley Madison – A Total Taurus.

Recently, the local PBS channel ran a biography of Dolley Madison, a woman who ruled Washington, D.C. in her day and still lives in our folklore (and kitchen cabinets in the form of cupcakes) to this day. This First Lady, married to one of the most reserved and bookish of our Presidents, transformed the White House and Washington society both physically and psychicly, twice.

While watching the show I chuckled when the spoke of how she scandalized her Quaker family by wearing dresses that were low cut and revealed what they felt was too much of her bosom. “Taurus” I said to myself. “She had to have a lot of Taurus in her.” Taurus rules the chest and many people with Taurus ascendants and Suns have strong well-developed bodies and chests. When I looked at her chart, I was stunned at how strong was the Taurus influence on her!

Born May 20 1768 at 3:45 AM at Guilford, North Carolina – we see the first taste of Taurus in her Sun Sign, which was in the first house of her chart. In addition, her rising sign – the sign on the first house cusp – was also in Taurus. Remember that the ancients paid much more attention to the rising sign (or ascendant) than the Sun Sign. So even had her Sun been in another sign, they would consider her a Taurus. In addition, her Mercury, Ceres, Venus and Uranus were all in Taurus and all clustered around the first house and first house cusp. She could not help project Taurean qualities!

Taurus rules the second house, the house of possessions and how they relate to our self worth. Taureans seek comfort and warmth in their homes — the key is comfort. Think of the Bull (the symbol of Taurus) sitting in the pasture on the comfortable grass just soaking in the beauty of life and nature.

Yes, she was a sparkling hostess but look deeper. What was the first thing she did as First Lady? She charged James Hoban, the architect of the White House to redesign all of the public rooms. It was she who made the Blue Room blue – the Red Room red -etc. and who decorated them to ensure the best use for socializing and the comfort of her guests. Do you see the Taurus influence? She was not just a great hostess who made her guests at ease and then introduced them to her shy husband; she transformed the possessions around her. She changed the surroundings.

When the War of 1812 broke out and the British were marching toward Washington with torches in hand, Dolley reacted in a total Taurean way. She ordered the dinner table set with the finest of china. She was not going to appear afraid and harried. According to William Seale’s “The President’s House”, “Several kinds of wine in handsome cut-glass decanters were cooling on the sideboard; platters stood by the fireplace, filled with dishes and plates awaiting immediate use; everything in short was ready for the entertainment of a ceremonious party.” No matter how terrified she was of capture, Dolley Madison would not betray those fears to the British and reminded them that this was a home of comfort and grace.

Of course, before she left the White House, she had the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington taken from its frame and removed. That was the most prized possession of the White House – and that good old Taurus knew how to save it! She had a sixth sense about what had value. (Of course, she also stuffed silver and china in the carriages before they escaped but hey, a girl has to have her bling.) That too was Taurean- she was not saving papers or mementos — she was saving the good stuff.

When the War was over, and the White House just a shell, she and Hoban started from scratch and redid the interior. Could we have had a better-equipped First Lady to do the job?

Sadly, Dolley would lose all of her possessions to an unscrupulous son and his gambling debts. She lived long enough to see the invention of photography and in all of those shots, she is wearing the same dress and blouse -he literally took the clothes off her back. She has an intercepted fifth house, which vibrates to creativity and children. That means that the sign on the cusp of the house does not extend through the whole house and another sign cuts the house in half. That is always a pause for karma. She has Leo intercepted in the fifth house indicating in past lives she was placing her needs about others and always got what SHE wanted regardless of how. There was no idea of WE it was all about ME. Sadly, her son chose to pay back that karma in spades. I just hope they do not continue on that cycle.

With her Moon in Cancer, the ultimate sign of mothering, gave into him and smothered him with a love that did neither one of them any good. It was not until the very end of her life when her friends in Congress passed legislation to pay for her memoirs on the condition that he could not get access to that money did she wise up. Her son was furious about losing the gravy train and when he attached her verbally for it, she finally had enough of him. I just hope that at some point they get over this tit-for-tat anger and stop following each other in lifetime after lifetime playing the game of give me your money!

Dolley’s North Node (the indicator of where a soul should progress) is in Capricorn in the ninth house and boy did she progress into it. Capricorn is the sign of the government power – power structures in general – and the ninth house is all about reaching out to people beyond our immediate environs. Stories are legendary about her diplomatic efforts. Again, I quote Seale. “Washington life was greatly spiced by the diplomatic community…the diplomats entertained frequently…touches of foreign finery came to characterized Washington interiors.” She brought the world to Washington and Washington to the world – bingo –North Node Capricorn ninth house.

The Rise of Ceres and the Feminine

Hi there – Happy March!

You know that I always look at the four “girls” – the asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta. Well, now Ceres is a dwarf planet because of her size and gravitational pull. While this brings back bitter memories to me of the downgraded of Pluto from full planet to dwarf, I will put away my rage for a few minutes to praise Ceres.

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter and appears to have some water frost activity on the surface. We won’t know much more about what is really going on until the unmanned Dawn Mission arrives there in 2015. Launched by NASA in 2007, the mission will also explore sister asteroid Vesta in 2011!

When the Greeks ruled the Western world, they prayed to Demeter, the Goddess who is the equivalent to Mother Nature. She made the trees and flowers bloom and the crops grow and when she went into the underworld to rescue her daughter, the blooming stopped and winter was born. In a deal to get her daughter released from the God of the Underworld, Pluto (boy they always picked on Pluto even then!) — she would return once a year thus bringing the winter every year. The Romans swiped the concept and renamed her Ceres.

More than two millennia later, the asteroid named after this archetypal mother energy is being elevated to planet just at the time the concept of the sacred feminine and the balancing of the male energy so dominate for so long. What a “coincidence.” The interesting part to me is that we are discovering a planet that deals with rather traditional female roles – that of nurturer and mother. That would seem to be incongruous with the rise of the power of the sacred feminine. However, think about how the power women have as creators, as those who keep life flowing, has been (and continues to be) undervalued. Indeed, it has been the fear men have for this ability they do not share, that has lead to the marginalization of the female for so long. You know the old joke that if men could give birth it would be done in the town square with cheerleaders- but because it is a female task, it has been consigned to scary dark rooms. Remember the days when a pregnant woman was not seen in public?

As the power between man and woman – yin and yang balance on a universal scale, woman must be mindful not to lose or themselves diminish that power which makes us so separate from the male. We don’t need to become men or lose what makes us uniquely female.

Neptune and Chiron- What a Pair

Have you been having odd dreams that you cannot quite understand or are you waking up with a disconcerted feeling but you don’t remember dreaming? Are you thinking about things from the past — I don’t mean Christmas I mean long ago and far away before you were born? Is there a period in history that you can’t stop thinking about – way back in your mind – yes, right there where you normally never go? If so, blame it on the current conjunction of Neptune and Chiron in 26 degrees Aquarius.

Neptune, the planet of illusion, the one best suited for dealing with matters spiritual and karmic instead of physical is sitting right on top of the asteroid Chiron right now – and both are 26 degrees inside the constellation Aquarius. Chiron indicates where we hold a deep physic wound, so deep and painful that we don’t want to go near it but we must if we are ever to heal the wound.

These two giants now in the constellation Aquarius that is full of highly charged energy can cause quick insights into the wound patterns that we have long forgotten but are deep within our subconscious. We can suddenly remember days that we may have lived 1000 years ago or feel drawn to the history of that time. We can have odd dreams or wake up in the middle of the night frightened by something although we don’t have a clue what it is. We can suddenly have fears arise from situations that we never thought twice about before.

All of these reactions are possible in people whose birth charts have a great deal of interaction with one or both of these planets. If you have many aspects to either you will be feeling these effects. While this can be a bit nerve wracking, however, just remember it is helping clear old karmic patterns to make way for new life!