Pitch Perfect: Redford’s ‘The Conspirator’

Historical Events of 1865 Come Alive Before Our Eyes!

by Jude Cowell

The official website of The Conpirator may just inspire you to see this period film directed by Robert Redford and perhaps this film review will, too.

As an American born with four planets in Capricorn, the Saturn-ruled sign of Government, Law, and Business, and considering my ongoing interest in studying historical and current events through the lens of Astrology, I highly recommend ‘The Conspirator’ if you’ve not yet seen it.

The film begins with a quick view of battlefield conditions of the Civil War, then quickly moves to the treasonous deeds, and the arrest and trial of boarding house owner Mary Surratt, mother of participant John Surratt. These characters become the focus of the film and to good effect for costumes, accents, and scenery down to the period’s smoke-filled rooms are on view along with some mighty good acting by James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, and others–all are pitch perfect in their roles.

And this is being said by a southerner who is seldom impressed by the alleged ‘southern’ accents with which we’ve been regaled for years in film and TV! Mr. McAvoy’s thick Scottish brogue is nowhere to be heard as he plays lawyer Frederick Aiken, though between scenes, Mr. Redford states in his director’s commentary that no one could understand a word he said. ;p

The trial’s philosophical highlights are in evidence as well as Secretary of War Stanton (Kline) demands a rush to ‘justice’ for Mary Surratt (she, in lieu of her son who has fled) while Aiken’s mentor Reverdy Johnson (played by the excellent Tom Wilkerson) idealistically prefers the upholding of the US Constitution even during times of war. (The war was not to officially end until about two months after the trial and hangings of the conspirators in July 1865.)

Of course, anyone paying attention to current events in the New Millennium cannot miss the fact that themes from the time of 1865 have repeated throughout US history and continue to bedevil our views on the US Constituion, the rule of law, and military tribunal v civilian trial by a jury of peers, something Confederate sympathizer and Marylander Mary Surratt was denied.

What you may not find in this telling of the story of Mary Surratt’s trial by military tribunal is the answer to how involved she actually was in the plot to first kidnap President Lincoln then, after that failed, to assassinate him. I have my opinions and assure you that after watching ‘The Conspirator’ you will have yours, or at least have gounds for pondering the ongoing historical mystery of Mary Surratt.

This film tells part of a well-known historical event by showing the conditions surrounding the heinous murder of Abraham Lincoln. It gives the viewer a feeling of walking back into 1865 and you may wish to take that journey and get a feel for the little understood character of Mary Surratt who, if she was nothing else, was a mother protecting a wayward son.

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Astro-Note: these hangings by neck in 1865 took place under the auspices of powerful, sabotaging, murdering Pluto in Taurus, sign of The Neck. The lucrative ‘Reconstruction’ of the South could really get underway then with President Lincoln (who financed the war through printing of ‘greenbacks’, a maneuver which enraged the big bankers and their agents in America) gotten permanently out of their way.

For a little Astrology on the topic of the assassination and natal chart of Abraham Lincoln, click here and note that no edits have been made. If you study Astrology, also note that the assassination was perpetrated under a Jupiter Rx Station at a critical-crisis degree 29Sag+…’30Sag’ = “The Pope Blessing the Faithful. Yes, the Surratt family were of the Catholic persuasion but, as you know, Jupiter relates to bankers, generals, judges, and to philosophy and is posited in its own sign of Sagittarius, The Seeker.

For further reading on such topics, here’s a Timeline of The History of the House of Rothschild which necessarily includes The House of Rockefeller.

Read the Journal of John Wesley in Georgia

Now it’s always a sneaky thing to read other people’s journals or diaries yet these excerpts from the Journal of John Wesley concerning my home state of Georgia – what became the 13th Colony – are interesting to those who like early American history or are curious about the Native American tribes in the area, circa 1730s.

Methodist minister John Wesley’s Wiki bio gives a good bit of info on what became his unsuccessful mission in Georgia, his escape back to England after a breach-of-promise suit, and his turn toward a pietous group of believers, the Moravians, whom he encountered on the voyage.

A Little Astrology Perchance?

When we look at the horoscope of the landing of John and Charles Wesley in Savannah, Georgia on February 8, 1736, a mission taken on at the request of Governor James Oglethorpe (disclosure: my Dad’s Georgia ancestors came to Oglethorpe County in 1821, a few miles from where I sit typing at you), some interesting factors come to light using the lens of Astrology.

Moon was in ambitious Capricorn throughout the 24-hour period so we find a Sun AQ-Moon Cap combo of energies. And since Sun-Moon = ‘partnerships and marriage’, we may glean a little belated info concerning John Wesley’s broken-off relationship with fellow traveler Sophia Hopkey, and his proselytizing mission to the New World.

The Sun AQ-Moon Cap (Air-Earth) blend indicates steadfastness, resourcefulness, independence, honesty, and shrewdness with a broad-minded, deep-thinking approach to life. A dedicated search for the truth is notable along with firmness of purpose and an interest in society’s needs – traits laudable in a religious minister’s character and objectives.

There is an egalitarian quality within a natural sense of authority added to an ambition to perform one’s true vocation and hopefully to help others along the way. This blend presents an enormous appeal for all types of people whether superiors, inferiors, royals, strangers, or the down-and-outs, and is shared natally by some interesting people such as:

Abraham Lincoln, John Barrymore, Betty Friedan, Rosa Parks, Franco Zefferelli, Mia Farrow, and….often in the news of late…Ayn Rand, author of the distopian novel Atlas Shrugged and idol of Paul Ryan and Alan Greenspan, among other political figures.

Two quotes from Lincoln and Barrymore seem to apply to our topic – one primarily for Wesley’s mission in Georgia, the other for his relationship problems with Sophia (who married William Williamson):

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God give us to see the right…” – Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address March 4, 1865

“In Genesis it says that it is not good for a man to be alone, but sometimes it’s a great relief.” – John Barrymore

Yet Sun AQ-Moon Cap can exhibit an over-strict adherence to principles and a no-frills approach to social life which gives an uptight Spartan vibe and a tendency to remain aloof and self-contained. That, along with stubborn pride, may have been at the base of Wesley’s lack of follow-through with Miss Sophia who, upon reflection these 275 years later, may have been well-out of such a marriage. One hopes she soon came to the same conclusion and enjoyed wedded bliss with Mr. Williamson.

Sun AQ-Moon Cap’s ‘Images for Integration: A revolutionary is elected president…An alien civilization comes to Earth to rescue man from imminent destruction.” (Sun Sign-Moon Sign, Charles & Suzi Harvey.)

The ‘rescue’ must refer to Wesley’s desire to ‘rescue’ Native Americans from their religious errors, something he wasn’t able to do – perhaps because many tribes had their own relationship with our Creator before he arrived on the New World scene – he was the alien!

(Read the excerpts from Wesley’s Journal linked above for more details on the Native American conditions in Georgia and Wesley’s opinions on them.)

Interestingly, religious propagator Jupiter was posited at 00AQ33 upon Wesley’s arrival in the New World 1736 which is the zodiacal position of the Sun each January 20th when we hold presidential inaugurations with the Sun being the significator of The Leader (president.) And the Sabian Symbol for ’1AQ’ = “An Old Adobe Mission”, a reference to the Utopian corporatists whose vision of the New World included, as they now assert, a ‘New World Order.’

The influence of Moravian pietists upon Wesley’s religious principles (which famously began during the voyage to Savannah) may have had a hand in his fleeing back to England and opting out of the grand scheme of which James Oglethorpe was a part. (We’re currently dealing with long term effects of such a mission of Manifest Destiny as the America as we’ve known it is being collapsed and dismantled before our very eyes.)

Another general factor which affected Wesley’s 1736 mission in Savannah is the Solar Eclipse Saros Series in which his arrival fell, the 8 North @22Lib14. To me, its influence describes details of Wesley’s religious mission and his relationship troubles! See what you think in this paraphrase from Brady’s Predictive Astrology:

‘Flashes of genius, inventiveness, intuitive leaps, good ideas, vivid dreams, visions, and new-found inspirations (new-found – the Moravian influence which began aboard ship?) which pull us away from social life and relationships and cause strain in personal lives – freedom is needed’ (!)

The 8N Series began with an eclipse on May 17, 1501 with Sun/Moon @4Gem51. Two midpoint pictures from the initial eclipse may apply to Wesley’s situation in Savannah with manipulative, transformative Pluto at apex of both:

Venus/Saturn = Pluto (26Sco12 Rx): unusually strong tension in love relationships; passing states of chaos.

Moon/NN = Pluto: separation through a higher power or providence; fateful associations. (Ebertin; any, all, or none may apply.)

(Astro-Note: if you’re familar with your own Pre-Natal Eclipse Series, perhaps you’ve looked at the horoscope of the initial eclipse of that Series for further clues concerning its effects upon your life! My own is quite telling.)

Well, there’s an astro-snapshot of John Wesley’s experiences in America and hopefully some insights have been gained on the Methodist-movemnt-founding minister known for his preaching of personal salvation through Jesus Christ and justification through faith.

George Bush has ‘self-awareness of a bison’

With former cheerleader and bullhorn handler George W. Bush appearing everywhere these days to promote his rewrite-history book, there are some folk who feel sorry for his dim-wittedness and lack of self-awareness.

Matthew Norman’s How Did This Wastrel Ever Find His Way to the White House? has an interesting point of view.

My own p.o.v. on Dubya is not as generous since Bush, a cog in the Bush Dynastry syndicate, was installed in the White House by a complicit Supreme Court and served at the behest and enabling of the global power elite who used him for 8 years as a “propaganda catapulter”, as Bush described himself while in office.

If he hadn’t pleased them by making ‘decisions’ with few, if any, known facts and by his actions, he would have somehow been de-presidented with a newer, more accomodating model put in place.

In his interview with Matt Lauer, I did hear Bush admit to remembering that the financial crash and TARP both occurred under his watch. I see Financial Collapse 2008 as a crescendo at the end of the Bush Years of Wastrelhood, don’t you?

International bankers enabling Nazis

As I flitted around Twitter just now I ran across a blog that is new to me called American’s Journey.

One recent post stands out for its analysis of the circuitous subject of international bankers and their Nazi enablings which you may wish to check out especially if you have history interests or simply want our current crop of warmongering thieves to melt into the Hades from which they came.

Dots are connected between WWI, WWII, and the current mess they’ve engineered for the planet using their bogus, cruel anti-society ‘destroy in order to save’ mentality.

Walter Cronkite and the New World Order

Well, if the US media has to go over and over the passing of “the most trusted man in America’, his bio and reporting chops, let’s remember Mr. Cronkite’s revealing statement on the United Nations, less American sovereignty, and the New World Order, just to keep things within a more balanced perspective on the man.

Yes, Mr. Cronkite was a one-world-government promoter just like the rest of the corporate media types. To my way of thinking, this puts him in the category of ‘Terror Promoters’ as well.

Are you surprised?

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Heads-up on a post now in this blog’s sidebar in the Stars Over Washington feed: it’s a little Astrology on the birth chart of ‘Corporations Are People’ of May 10, 1886, if you’re interested.

Vince Foster

A new Category ‘Assassinations and Crimes’ has been added in the sidebar with its first and only listing on the Vince Foster murder and subsequent cover-up.

And the current Mercury (news; reporters; bloggers; announcements, etc) retrograde period is covering and recovering the ’1 Gemini’ degree – the degree of Mr. Foster’s murder’s Solar Eclipse Series, the 13 South, which occurred on May 21, 1993. In other words, his murder occurred under the auspices of the 13S Eclipse Series.

Vince Foster was murdered (perhaps inside the White House) on July 20, 1993 after giving Linda Tripp the rest of his M&Ms and assuring his secretary that he would return soon.

The legend is that he had a meeting scheduled with Pres. Clinton for the next day – to resign. Bill was on TV with Larry King, but Hillary, from Arkansas, spoke with a White House denizen just prior to Foster’s office being cleared out of incriminating evidence.

There is no White House Security record of Foster’s leaving the White House under his own steam (it would have been on record) and his remains were found later in Fort Marcy Park in an ‘arranged’ position. Firearms appear and disappear with this case, so you may want your notepad handy.

Brady’s ‘Predictive Astrology’ gives the 13S Series as expansive energy but with a sinister flavor underneath; striving for group endeavors either positively or negatively; possible constitutional crisis.

13S next manifests at ’11Gem’ on June 1, 2011. Will new evidence come to light on the Vince Foster case around that time? Will Hillary Clinton’s Rose Law Firm days be exposed as her heyday palling around with Rosicrucians?

Will Venus, whose totem flower is the rose, have her fatal flaw – her jealous vengeance – exposed so the whole world can see it in its full and ugly measure like a Medusa Head of Politics, snakes and all?

At the least, we may expect similar issues to come to the fore as mentioned above for 13S…with a sinister flavor undergirding.

And now a quote from President Harry Truman on secret power brokers:

“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the US, in the field of commerce and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”

- ‘The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People.’

Some of those ‘powers’, our contemporaries, are meeting May 14 – 17, 2009 near Athens, Greece. And in this form they call themselves…the Bilderberg Group.

Godfrey Hodgson on the Hundred Days myth

After reading an article by Godfrey Hodgson concerning Pres. Obama’s ‘hundred days’, which puts them into historical perspective from FDR to George W. Bush, I thought you might wish to read the article, too.

You may have heard or read Mr. Hodgson’s latest book ‘The Myth of American Exceptionalism’ and his article linked above is worth a few minutes of your reading time. You’ll discover where Mr. Obama’s ‘hundred days’ efforts, successes, and failures fall within FDR’s hundred days and the hundred days of…

…well, you’ll have to find out for yourself. And you may be surprised at a certain historical person’s name!

Of course, the mere title of Hodgson’s book might provide a subtle undermining of our nation in the vein of one-world-governmentism and the undermining of our national sovereignty, mightn’t it?

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Pres. Obama’s ‘hundred days’ in office: Jan 20, 2009 — April 29, 2009.

Press in the US

“The press is the hired agent of a monied system, and set up for no other purpose than to tell lies where their interests are involved. One can trust nobody and nothing.”

– Henry Brooks Adams 1838 – 1918 (grandson of John Quincy Adams, great-grandson of John Adams)

Now we may take the above quote of journalist, novelist, academician, and historian Henry Adams at surface value – until we spend hours last evening researching Mr. Adams and find that he was an anti-semite who believed that Jews controlled politics, the financial world, and the press.

Well, that’s fairly demonstrable in our era, as it turns out, but I’m not of the persuasion of detesting an entire religious body of people because of a percentage of its adherents. (Hebrew is the race, Judaism is the religion.)

I point out Adams’ anti-semitism because it explains his “monied system” reference in the above quote.

That Zionists’ interests override public policy in the US is becoming more and more clear, imo, and there are many people who would agree.

On my Political Astrology blog, Stars Over Washington, I remember posting last year the YouTube video of VP Joe Biden calling himself a ‘Zionist’ and I thought, uh-oh – more war even WITH a President Obama. We’re seeing results playing out now so Mr. Adams was apparently on to something.

Yet I’m surprising myself by posting the following two quotes from Mr. Adams, quotes that further illuminate a part of his character as much as his prejudices:

“With communism I would exist tolerably well…but in a society of Jews and brokers, a world made of maniacs wild for gold, I have no place.”

“I detest (the Jews) and everything connected with them, and I live only and solely with the hope of seeing their demise, with all their accursed Judaism.”

(There’s more to the last quote but I prefer to draw the line here at his vitriole. I do not promote such rhetoric normally but stay with me – there may be a point to all this.)

Before I continue on this track, how about a calmer bit of wisdom from the brilliant Henry?

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

Can this be said of bloggers, too (especially considering the abandonment of the public trust by the mainstream media)?!

But let’s get back to prejudices and monied systems…

Best known for his book, ‘The Education of Henry Adams’ the man lived a seemingly charmed life in his home on LaFayette Square across from the White House, enjoying social and political connections of the exalted kind of his day. His wife Clovis Hooper, daughter of a very wealthy Bostonian, interrupted the flow, however, by committing suicide on Dec 6, 1885.

Something of an auto-biography, ‘The Education of Henry Adams’ left out his marriage years entirely! The book, awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1919, concerns the ‘birth of forces’ that he saw as ‘replacing Christianity.’

Considering his many travels to Europe – including a Grand Tour after graduating Harvard in 1858 and serving as private secretary to his father who was sent to London by Pres. Lincoln as minister (ambassador) to the UK – my intuition says that Mr. Adams came in contact with the Freemasonry-Illuminati-Rosicrucian crowd/s that permeated the upper classes in which they moved in Europe (as did Franklin, Madison, and Jefferson.)

In fact, the works of John Stuart Mill were described by Adams to have convinced him of “the necessity of an enlightened, moral, and intelligent elite to provide leadership to a government elected by masses and subject to demagogery, ignorance, and corruption.” Just like America’s founders, especially Jefferson and Madison whose presidencies he chronicled so well.

And we know of Jefferson’s high regard for The Enlightenment in Europe and the French Revolution’s early principles: Voltaire and the gang. ‘Reason’ exalting the ‘Morals’ of man, however, never live up to their idealization. My own belief is that God knows best and that we’d be nowhere without Him and the Ten Commandments. Guess I’m no humanist – look what de-regulation of the markets has wrought as Wall Street had all controls dissolved. Even forgetting celestial precepts, where were human ‘morals’ then?)

Now showing! one of my own biases when reading of anyone and anything relating to politics – the word ‘enlightenment’ always seems an ‘Illuminati’ reference to me – and their stated mission is to destroy Christianity (and all other religions), governments, and the very fabric of society so that they can build it back – or let it grow wild as a destructured ‘Utopia’ where all men are ‘free’ – aka left to their own devices – but actually to be bossed around by a select few elites at the top of the pyramid!

So does man need God’s laws in order to thrive? Or can we regulate ourselves with manmade laws and devices?

Did you know that the Ten Commandments can be read as promises as well as limits?

For example: for those who love and serve God, “Thou shall not kill” is a promise easily kept without any trouble at all, if you love and serve our Creator!

And any parent raising small children knows how things will go if they give their beloved children No Limits to go by whatsoever. It makes them not very pleasant to be around besides setting them up for a shock when others don’t find their unbridled sassiness nearly as charming as their parent may.

Well, what is my point about Henry Brooks Adams?

That no one – even the famous, well-connected, and exalted – is perfect, yet we may still learn something valuable from them when it comes to what’s going on below the surface of politics…and now one of his most famous quotes, one of my personal favorites because it is so very instructive for modern times:

“Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organisation of hatreds.”

As it remains today, Professor Adams.

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A few astrology notes on Henry Brooks Adams are available at Stars Over Washington if you dare. They’re written in English so you should be okay.

Astrology of Lincoln’s Inaugurations

With this evening’s celebrations going on at Ford’s Theater in DC, I have published the chart of Pres. Lincoln’s 1861 Inauguration with notations added of his 1985 Inauguration, Lincoln’s natal placements, and America’s natal placements from the Sibly chart.

The feed for my Political Astrology blog, Stars Over Washington, is slow to update these days in spite of my recent tinkerings with it, so I’ll give you the link here in case you’d like to directly check it out in honor of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln:

http://starsoverwashington.blogspot.com/2009/02/horoscope-of-lincolns-inaugurations.html

Lincoln’s nickname, Abraham the Tyrant, is shown in the inaugural charts in several ways such as a zealous and violent conjunction of Mars and Pluto (1861), a trio of Moon, Mars, and Uranus in Gemini (1865), and his natal midpoint of Pluto-Chiron (plutocracy; oppression; racism; corporatism; primal violence) conjunct America’s natal Moon, which represents We-The-People.

And you may wish to visit the website of Ford’s Theater which has details of tonight’s celebration and more on our 16th president, plus news of the Theater’s own plans going forward:

http://www.fords.org/

Abraham Lincoln’s 200th anniversary

Yes, it will soon arrive, the 200th anniversary of the birth of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.

There is much to say on the subject of his inaugurations and on his assassination by actor, John Wilkes Booth, and I am currently studying the Inauguration charts for 1861 and 1865.

But for now I shall point you to the sidebar column of Pages for  ’Abraham Lincoln: natal + assassination chart’ which I have updated today with an article link to Byron King’s assessment of Booth, Booth’s grudge against tyrants and Mr. Lincoln, and the horrific proceedings which occurred a mere month after Lincoln’s second inauguration on March 4, 1865.

As you know, Lincoln was inaugurated back in the day when US presidential inaugurations were held in early March, thus the Sun in mid-Pisces was conjunct a difficult star, Achernar…keywords: ‘risk of rapid endings; crises.’

In 1861, Sun 14Pis11 (‘the leader’ in a national chart; and Moon = ‘the people’) was conjunct wounded Chiron 14Pis34 at the inauguration’s Midheaven. 

Chiron in *Pisces is a poster child for race relations and racism – and for being a victim on behalf of the collective, but of course Chiron was an unknown factor in Astrology until it’s discovery in November 1977.

Moon 16Gem38 is in the secretive 12th house conjunct warring activist Mars 17Gem15; rebellious chaos-creator Uranus 25Gem25 had just risen (at noon of Mar 4, 1865; Washington DC); ASC 2Can41 brought US natal Venus to the fore (based on US natal chart, ‘Sibly’ version) along with planet Venus’ issues such as: relationships, art-theater-aesthetics, money, and values.

My plan for the next several days is to publish both inaugural charts of Abe Lincoln  (1861 and 1865) – prior to Feb 12 – at Stars Over Washington, and the feed for the post will appear in the sidebar column here when I get the project done.

So I hope you’ll check out Byron King’s article – it’s definitely worth a read – and I’ll see you on the come-back!

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Note: scroll down for the text of Lincoln’s second inaugural address which is linked on this blog under ‘Speeches’ – the address is one that Barack Obama studied before giving Jan 20, 2009′s inaugural address.

*Pres. Obama’s natal Chiron is in Pisces.

UPDATE Feb 11 2009: now published at Stars Over Washington (see feed in sidebar) –  the Inauguration 1861 chart with notations added of the 1865 Inauguration, Lincoln’s natal planetary placements, and America’s natal placements, too.

Or try this direct link:

http://starsoverwashington.blogspot.com/2009/02/horoscope-of-lincolns-inaugurations.html