New Moon December 7, 2018

DC Horoscope: New Moon @15Sag07 December 7, 2018 2:20:15 am est White House Washington DC; Hour of the Moon (fluctuations; changes) with Venus in Scorpio rising in 1st house and leading a BOWL shape of the planets, emphasizing the lower hemisphere, and denoting signs Taurus through Libra as representing “challenges to existence” (The Guide to Horoscope Interpretation, M. E. Jones).

Taurus through Libra includes several of Mr. Trump’s natal planets, plus his natal Midheaven with nasty Algol conjoining @24Taurus. Gemini, of course, includes Trump’s natal Uranus-NN-Sun trio; Cancer includes his nibs’ Venus-Saturn conjunction, Leo includes his natal Mars and Ascendant (conjunct royal Regulus), and Libra brings in his problematic Neptune-Chiron-Jupiter trio of fantasy, schemes, and speculation (see chart, upper right–this trio is rising along with America’s natal Saturn @14Lib48, followed symbolically by US SP Mars Rx @18Libra (SP = Secondary Progressed–our Mars regressed and turned inward against ourselves since 2006).

This difficult, weakening condition for US Mars the warrior lasts until 2086 and tragically describes unlawful shootings by police against citizens, the ongoing crises of students vs students, parents vs children and vice versa, citizens arming up, death cults, and other violent events on US soil. That transit Neptune now floats through its own sign of murky Pisces only confuses issues, masks fraud and deception, and engenders contagions of fear and paranoia in the population.

New Moons Seed and Begin a New Cycle of Activity

As for December 2018’s double Fire Sun Sag-Moon Sag combination of conscious-unconscious energies, it’s the ‘comedian-preacher’ blend suggesting optimism, questing minds, and faith in the future as befits sign ruler Jupiter. Insincerity, cruelty, and corruption are unbearable for Sun Sag-Moon Sag folk who are full of good advice and need ‘fun’ and adventure within their relationships. And if memory serves, comedian Jon Stewart was born under it! Also born with this personality blend: Ludwig van Beethoven and philosopher-physicist Max Born. Here are two quotes, one from each:

“Give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that.” – Beethoven.

“Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the impossible.” – Max Born.

For more info on Sun-Moon blends see Sun Sign-Moon Sign by Charles and Suzi Harvey.

Image: ‘False Senator Wrasse’ a botanical drawing by Jude Cowell and descriptive of this Neptune in Pisces period of political corruption, deception, cover-ups, scandals, and leaks.

Moon Art, a Moon Poem, and Moon-Pluto!

Moonlight Path

There have been and remain many ‘John Freemans’ in the world and one is Georgian poet John Freeman born on January 29, 1880 in London, died September 23, 1929, a fellow who left a successful insurance career for the sake of Poetry.

Here’s a lunar-esque verse by John Freeman lauding the celestial lantern that lights our earthly paths, titled ‘It was the lovely Moon’:

‘It was the lovely moon – she lifted
Slowly her white brow among
Bronze cloudwaves that ebbed and drifted
Faintly, faintlier afar’

(No, my drawing above doesn’t begin to illustrate Freeman’s poem for it would never be so brazen as that–but I do admit to using Luna as a main theme since 2005 over at Secret Moon Art!)

As I type here in Georgia USA (edt), the lovely Moon sails through the last degrees of Gemini and will reach the accustomed and nurturing waters of her own sign, Cancer, at 2:53 pm edt.

Then at 12:10 am edt (9.21), Luna @ 4Can54 will line up across the Cancer-Capricorn axis (Security-Career) and oppose powerful, spying Pluto which will create a Cardinal Grand Cross of planets between Moon, Pluto, Venus, and Uranus.

This indicates potentials for sudden relationships with seedy characters of dubious reputation so watch out around midnight if you plan to hook up for all may not be as it seems and you may not like how things turn out.

And with Venus and Uranus across the Partnership axis (Libra-Aries), break-ups may occur in relationships weighed down by lots of old emotional baggage (Moon-Pluto.)

Actually, compromises of all sorts are usually quite difficult or lacking under a Moon/Pluto stand-off and defiance of authority may be noted. Great demands are made and partners may become alienated especially with Venus/Uranus involved in the planetary pattern. Being eccentric or erratic with money may also be part of the picture.

In Politics and Business, the Moon/Pluto combo shows such things as how the people view crime, war, and internal secrecy, the role of women in controlling self-destructive impulses, and popular promises concerning the end to war, waste, and in appeals to the people. (Munkasey.)

Moon/Pluto contacts tend to encourage violence and crime and women are often the targets; exerting controls over criminals and terrorists may be featured in the news, and misuse of resources (Deficit Commission) are obsessed over if not actually cleared up.

Yes, deep (Pluto) feelings (Moon) surface under passionate, even romantic Moon/Pluto contacts but it may be better to step back and take a deep breath before proceeding late tonight!

Pluto knocking at Humanity’s door

Most people who care to know have already ferreted out the astrological info that Pluto recently entered Capricorn, the sign of Pluto in America’s natal chart (1776), and that Pluto’s transformative action breaking down structural Capricorn, ruled by status quo Saturn, is under-girding the ongoing economic crisis.

Astrologer Jessica Murray has published an article on such themes which I recommend highly to you as Pluto knocks at our collective door and makes himself unavoidably at home:

http://www.daykeeperjournal.com/murray.shtml

MarketPlace turns to Astrology!

The ears of this reluctant astrologer perked up this evening to hear my public radio station broadcasting MarketPlace with  – gulp – a feature on – yeeks – Astrology.

More specifically they spoke of using Astrology to interpret what’s going on with the economy. Is all this difficulty in the stars?

Being sensitive to such things as media bias, I noticed a particular slant – as if the third astrologer quoted was somehow disagreeing with the others who, the narrator’s voice seemed suggestively to intone, were foil-hatted and slightly off-beam.

The counseling astrologer’s gravitas fared best of all. She gave Pluto in Capricorn information which some folk will be glad to be made aware of, if it’s been beyond their radar screens ‘ere this.

The last astrologer, a $20 per 15 minutes insta-astrologer who promises not to get into all that personality stuff with ya, but specializes in the What’s Coming Up mode of Astrology. This style can be of practical value (if not misguided) and it sounded to me as if the lady was well-versed.

Wonder why their interviews contained not the first  financial astrologer? Too…scientific? Or perhaps the ones with big clients know how to keep their mouths zipped!

Well, I thought you’d like to know of this odd radio occurrence – that the efficacy of using astrological cycles to determine, track, and understand cyclic markets of the financial persuasion (well-known of old as it is)  isn’t as far-fetched as most Wall Street practitioners would have us believe…and now PRI’s MarketPlace has given Astrology a polite, if slight, nod.

Thanks, MarketPlace. I enjoyed that. (I’ve listened to your program for years. How about blowing the lid off Financial Astrology’s handiness?) 

For as old J.P. Morgan once said, “Millionaires don’t use Astrology, billionaires do.”

And I must suppose he didn’t intend to leave out ‘trillionaires’ from his knowing pronouncement. Perhaps he simply hadn’t conceived of them yet.

Read or listen:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/31/astrological_economy/

Double Flyby plus Venus-Jupiter – and add the Crescent Moon

Space Weather News for Nov 28, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

DOUBLE FLYBY ALERT: Space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station this morning, and the two spacecraft are now orbiting Earth in tandem. Endeavour is scheduled to land in Florida on Sunday, Nov. 30. Between now and then, many sky watchers (especially those in Europe) will be able to see the shuttle and the space station cutting across the night sky together–a rare and beautiful “double flyby.” Get predictions for your hometown from the Simple Satellite Tracker: http://spaceweather.com/flybys .

SPECTACULAR CONJUNCTION: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. You’ll see something very pretty: Venus and Jupiter beaming together through the twilight. The two closely-spaced planets are about to be joined by the slender crescent Moon for a spectacular three-way conjunction that arguably ranks as the best sky show of 2008. Check http://spaceweather.com for sky maps, photos–and be sure to keep an eye on the sky in the evenings ahead.
 
~:~

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?  Yet astrologically speaking, Dec 1’s triple conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon 22Cap35 is more complex than a moonlight stroll in a starry meadow.

I’m using ’10:43 am’ because Moon and Venus meet at 22:35, with Jupiter 22:18…Moon has translated her glowing moonbeams from Jupiter to Lady Venus. An enchanted sprinkle? A secret meeting perhaps?

Could be all of the above and then some.

At the White House (locating the chart here specifically and as a stand-in for America) the three often-benefic bodies have just arisen on Dec 1, 2008 at 10:43 am est, thus lying hidden within the Behind-the-Scenes 12th house.

Pluto 00Cap10, a World Point, is ahead of them in the celestial order of this day although all grace the Saturn-ruled sign of the mer-goat, Capricorn. The mystical side of Cap is seldom mentioned here but has been noted elsewhere a time or two.

Sun 9Sag50 (conj Antares, ‘obsessed with success’ – one of the Royal Stars of Persia), Mars 11Sag03 (degree of Pluto-Chiron’s Great Conjunction Dec 30, 1999), and Mercury 13Sag09 (conj US natal ASC, ‘Sibly’) are in 10th house of ‘The World’ (Tarot card 21); Career; Public Status. Midheaven’s degree is 22Sco00, and 00AQ13 rises, the degree of US Inaugural Sun on Jan 20 in DC…and for 2009, Inaugural Mercury Rx, too.

’22’ is the number of Mastery and with Mc 22Sco:00 sextile all three – Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in Cap – a YOD pattern is possible for (anyone having) a planet at 21 – 23 Gemini in the apex position.

Glaringly, this includes America’s natal Mars (energy; action principle; direction), so a few midpoint pictures are formed which we may wish to consider; Reinhold Ebertin shall direct us…

Moon-Mc =  n Mars: devotion to a cause, body and soul; actions based on feelings; industriousness; spirit of endeavor; a man desiring to possess a woman’t soul ( I say, get yer own);

Venus-Mc = n Mars: strong desires; sex;

Jupiter-Mc = n Mars: clarity of purpose or objectives; successful cooperation; engagement; a desire to create one’s own good fortune; abundant creative powers.

Inauguration 2009’s 00AQ+ Sun and Mercury Rx are rising thus linking the triple conjunction to president-elect Barack Obama, with Sun as rep for ‘the leader.’ (And I still don’t know quite what to think of Mercury Rx on Jan 20, 2009!) Plus, 00AQ+ brings Obama’snatal Jupiter to the Ascendant with his late-Capricorn Saturn, planet of authority and control, rising just after Venus-Moon-Jupiter.

Ascendant 00AQ13 has not one, not two, but three planetary combos rising…All involve progressive if quirky rebel Uranus, erratic and electric planet of genius and originality…and you know the Saturn-Uranus opposition is still within orb, here across the 2/8 axis of Resources, and possibly signifying the ‘haves vs have-nots’ stand-off we’re under, but also traditionally linked with Israel, Palestine, and the region of the Middle East); both planets are connected to the scientific, futuristic sign of Aquarius…

Sun-Uranus = Asc: sudden experiences; easily excited persons; new associations.

Mercury-Uranus = Asc: organising ability; prudence or deliberation; circumspection; a sudden contact of thoughts with others (cell phones?); the application of practical principles in the creation of the environment;

Mars-Uranus = Asc: an upsetting event; accident; violence; an excitable  person inclined to commit violence; arrest.

Next is a rather squirrelly picture involving North Node, a joining point showing future direction or ‘the path’ or ‘destiny’…

Neptune-Asc = North Node: suffering from falsehood, fraud or malice through one’s association with disharmonious people (like Wall Street and Fed bandits? or pocket-lining politicians? more “bailouts” of the rich and dishonest?); an accessory to a malicious scheme (ahhh..now that echoes like the buzzing of wasps and hornets infesting Mumbai and elsewhere as they make their explosive point with cruelty – or: the world bank and investor crowd of thieves and crooks who have the money-lender scales tipped their way and Fort Knox wiped clean.)

We know the sociopaths and psychos are on the loose like wolves lying in wait (and proud of it!); meanwhile, a slightly different arm of the syndicate runs the political side of things – but they tend to split into factions – esp the D-Party whose edges are fraying as I type. Doltbrains. Egoism reigns!

Other midptpics with testy, testosterone-pumped Mars, the god of war who likes to blow things up while taking as many down with him as he goes… 

Pluto-Mc = Mars: great striving for the attainment of power; career crisis; the urge to dominate others; the misfortune to be forced into an uncongenial profession or occupation (‘occupation’ – of a country? profession – terroist? creative accountant who knows too much?);

Sun-Mercury = Mars: the will to fight life’s battles; thinking critically; agitated thoughts; excitement, upset, argument, or quarrel.

Midheaven has three planetary combos upon it so we know these duos of combined energies have a place to manifest…the Angular 10th house…

Moon-Saturn = Mc: sense of duty; self-control; feeling lonely or deserted; being ill or sad (don’t know about you but when I’m ill, I’m sad. And sad feelings can make people ill.)

Venus-Saturn = Mc: irritability; inhibitions; reserve; jealousy; separations in relationships; seeking solitude.

Jupiter-Saturn = Mc: fluctuating success; changes; losses; the philosopher; desiring solitude; love of seclusion; loneliness.

Obviously, Venus-Jupiter = Moon: charm, good nature, cordiality, and affection; the bride or mother.

So. As usual with our Lesson-Book-of-the-Universe planet, both good and bad are on our menus.

Last but not least, an Unaspected Pluto is tied into the energies of the chart bwo a midpoint picture (as it relates to Moon-Venus-Jupiter conj over Washington – or everywhere really), so we see the most expanded ego point of the chart (Sun-Jup) pointing to the god of Hades, lord of the Underworld…so distant and unaffected…

Sun-Jupiter = Pluto: acquiring wealth (at whose expense?); expectation of good fortune; pursuing happiness and fortune.

As you know, lone reader, I tend to use Pluto as a rep for the richest of the world’s denizens, those power elitist string-pullers who may be referred to only in hushed tones as…the secret hand. Distant royal cousins? Brethren in a super-secret alliance to ensnare the world’s masses? Both?

Thing is, they too will take as many down with them as they go. Innocents included.

That’s what really keeps me in a snit of miffdom about the propagandisticlly-named ‘WOT’…that, and the fact that the common good of humankind is no more than a joke to them, suitable for after-dinner banter and brandy…

In the library. With a candelabra.

~:~

Sunday Night Update: tomorrow, Monday, Dec 1, 2008, the president-elect is to announce his cabinet picks including, one presumes, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. The scheduled time I’m finding for his announcement is ’10:40 am ET’…three minutes into the Moon-Venus-Jupiter conjunction! Wha-a-aaa?

Financial astrologer Ray Merriman on the next 15 years

Margot the Mystic has it linked – expert financial astrologer Ray Merriman on the economic situation for the next 15 years which includes Pluto’s re-entry into Capricorn ‘for good’ this time – meaning that Mr. Underworld will be done transforming fiery Sagittarius in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

You’ll find some interesting astrological comments weighing in, too, $o check it out:

http://margotmystic.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/financial-astrologer-ray-merriman-predicts-15-year-period-of-financial-hardship/?referer=sphere_related_content/

If above link isn’t live, go to Mr. Merriman’s site here for several interesting articles including his comments for the week of Nov 17, 2008:

http://www.mmacycles.com/

Or better yet, try:

http://www.mmacycles.com/articles/articles/pluto-in-capricorn/

Financial article round-up

The Point of No Return

By Mike Whitney

Neither China nor the Saudi princes are buying any more failing investment banks.

They’ll leave that to the US taxpayer.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20811.htm 

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The Party’s Over

By Patrick J. Buchanan

The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.

~
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20809.htm 

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Hey US, Welcome to the Third World!

By Rosa Brooks

It’s been a quick slide from economic superpower to economic basket case.

~
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20808.htm 

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Paulson and Bernanke Stampede Washington – Continue Raid On The Public Purse Citing Grave
Financial Threats, Officials Ready Massive Rescue

By Binyamin Appelbaum and Lori Montgomery

The Bush administration is urgently preparing a massive intervention to” revive” the US financial system, including a plan to sweep away the unpaid loans that are choking banks and blocking the flow of money to borrowers. – Paulson and Bernanke presented a “chilling” picture of the state of the financial system, according to a participant in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.

~
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20807.htm  #

Did you vote for George Bush? Just wonderin’ since he’d never succeeded at any business venture before 2000 and look at him now – bailed out by US taxpayers again.

Of course, conspiracy theorists think this economic collapse is part of the one-world-government plans that were put in place decades ago. Or centuries ago if you subscribe to the Great Seal’s reverse-with-its-all-seeing-eye theory.

Watching Bush, Cheney, Greenspan, and now Bernanke and Paulson in action, I find it difficult to discount the conspiracy theory that they know what they’re doing and that the economic, governmental, and social net failures of America were on the menu all along.

If so, these social tinkerers think that the chaos they are creating is “worth it” especially since they will never suffer as will we, and that their longed-for New World Order is only possible by destructuring society’s systems to make way for for a new start.

Pluto in Capricorn.

You know I still use Bush’s first Inaugural chart 2001 to represent all of his tenure with its 8th house (debt, credit, insurance, finance, shared resources, death, transformation, etc) full of Pluto and Chiron snugged around the Moon in Sagittarius…the People, crowded by the violent and oppressive corporatism/fascism pair, Pluto/Chiron. Its ‘too close for comfort’ flavor is out in the open now, isn’t it? Too late, the trap is sprung!

So my facetious “thanks” goes out to all who voted for George Bush. Now will you compound the issue and give Bush a vote of “confidence” by voting for John McCain? Pluto may be in Capricorn but we don’t have to hand them our heads on plates. Actually we already did that in 2000 and again in 2004. Yeeks. And we couldn’t even get Bush-Cheney impeached to show our displeasure!

But it’s 2008, and as I always say: a vote for John McCain is like a vote for Karl Rove – and that most definitely includes Sarah Palin, the lure. The Angler has spoken (aka Cheney, who must be quite smitten with Palin.)

So even if Barack Obama moves into the White House, his opponents ‘have ways’ and have shown themselves capable of ANYTHING to keep their grasp on power and their agenda on track.

Another option is that Obama plays the game their way and the American people are still in the soup. Rise up? Laws are in place to tamp us down. They call it ‘martial law’ but by then most people will realize what it really is – if they don’t already. Perhaps we’ll be too cowed and hungry to murmur our disapproval. “A hungry man is not a free man.” I disremember who said it, but it’s all too true.

Woo! After seeing the lovely and hilarious Craig Ferguson in concert last evening, you’d think I’d be in a lilting mood today. But one quick look at this morning’s news and the Craig glow fades all too soon…just a glance at the latest doings of those cheeky monkeys of Washington who are ruining our children’s and grandchildren’s lives puts me back in my political snit of miffdom all over again.

Got the Wall Street willies?

Seems Wall Street is almost dead and I’m not feelin’ so well myself…howbowchu?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_09/014719.php

Is the August 16 Lunar Eclipse’s paranoia making itself felt? Emotions play a large part in meltdowns, so stop it, Y’all. Calm down. You know the good folk of England are suffering now as well, and in New York tomorrow, time is running out for Lehman Bros, among others.

The fact that so many institutions and systems are global makes the fall – worldwide. Not such a brilliant plan unless you Want the crash to be worldwide. And it is. Congratulations, world bankers.

Well, in the olden days of ritzy Robber Barons, JP Morgan rode to America’s rescue. Yet all the power elite can blab now is: Obama’s tax relief plans would use taxation to “redistribute wealth.”

Isn’t that what America needs? this blogger asked innocently enough.

Yet if a pittance of the Robber Baron class’ wealth were shared with the middle class (forget the poor for now) we’d all be out spending and the country would be in better financial condition instead of the mess the financial “experts” have plunked us into. That it was purposeful I don’t doubt (all for the NWO), but even they may miss us when we’re gone as they laze about Dubai high rise balconies and lounge around on their Paraguay patios, umbrella drinks in hand.

Nah. They won’t miss us. They’ve ‘got theirs’ by hook and by crook. And there seems to be no JP the Second riding in on a white horse to share the moola and keep our nation from drowning underneath the waves which the monied class helped create with usury interest rates on loans that never pay off, and by buying off the US Congress to pass legislation balanced totally in their favor and against the common good.

You know, if several of our well-heeled, oft-touted, and much-toasted billionaires – the ones who made their wealth on our backs – would conglomerate a few of their big bucks together, some honest bailing out could make a real difference about now.

But what are the odds that old JP will rise up and ride again to the rescue?

His modern progeny don’t seem to be interested in anything but forcing and finagling a new economic system, and with the help of Pluto (soon to be in Capricorn again) the deconstructing of all systems is right on track for all but the common good.

~:~

Read my Page on JP Morgan’s natal chart and transits where I blabbed more about the current financial crisis than I remembered until just now when I read it again myself…it was written at the time of the Bear Stearns farce and is still the current Lunar Eclipse season  (the next one is on Feb 9, 2009 at 21Leo):

https://judecowell.wordpress.com/jp-morgan-apr-17-1837-transits-32408/

You’ll find details on the Lunar Eclipse of August 16 and its market paranoia in the sidebar, too.

And you know what I always say (actually you don’t but I’m about to tell ya) – playing stock market with the criminals of the Wall Street gentry is nothing but gambling, it’s just as stacked in favor of the house as Vegas is, and you know where it all eventually leads. To the alms house.

And let’s remember that all through 2009 we’ll have the Great Conjunctions of Jupiter and Neptune, the Speculating pair, which will occur upon the US natal Moon in Aquarius. Their last conjunction was at 27Cap09 (Jan 9, 1997), conjunct US n Pluto; and on Jan 19, 1984, they met at World Point, 00Cap01 – where Pluto soon will return during the last week of November, ’08.

This gives a midpoint picture of no comfort whatsoever, but you may as well know…

Jup/Neptune = Pluto: plans unreasonable beyond measure; far-reaching speculations; a great loss; major adjustment of life circumstances; self-projection out of hand (Ebertin; Tyl.)

And in 2009: Jup/Neptune = US n Moon: dreaminess; an emotional swoon; going with the wind (or is that, Gone With the Wind?); losing oneself in plans; involved in speculation; instability; wastefulness.

The point is, this triggering of a past hook-up of ‘the Speculators,’ indicates similar issues from 1984 cropping up in 2009.

1984 was a year of two Solar Eclipses: 4 North (29Tau) and 4 South (1Sag)…I must bark more about these Eclipses as time permits…and please remind me if I forget!

Rolling back the Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment (1724 – 1752) led initially by Voltaire and Diderot, marks a time when philosophers popularized the ideas of the ‘new science’ and when classical music was created around the time the period kicked into high gear in 1741.

We who live now are Children of the Enlightenment, primarily due to our tendency to question authority and inherited traditions, testing them as we go. The Enlightened philosophers didn’t simply champion the ‘new science’ – they led the march toward the use of new scientific ideas as a means of helping, improving, and liberating society.

Is this part of the decontruction we’re now facing with transformative Pluto in Capricorn, sign of government, law, and business, the structures of which seem to be due for break-down and rebuilding?

FDR’s New Deal may be considered a Child of the Enlightenment, too, and we know how certain politicians are allergic to its care of society (less money for their overflowing coffers, I assume.)

Are current radical political and economic reformers part of an anti-Enlightenment script which threatens world society as it totters on the verge of plummeting back into a dark dark cave of duh-dom?

Yeeks, the weekend is here!! So why am I thinking of this crap now?

Because I read George Washington’s Blog and this particularly thought-provoking article:

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-time-is-it.html

~:~

note: the chart for Monday’s ‘Full Moon 22Pis54 9.15.08’ is now on my Pages list with but a scant amount of details…to be cont’d…

Measles on rise in US after decades

Having almost been taken to the Great Beyond as an infant by Red Measles, then later having a raging case of German measles, it was not my favorite story from NPR’s Morning Edition today to hear that 131 cases of measles have been treated in the US this year, and that the number is over 3x the number reported in 2007…a “dramatic increase.”

Seems the formerly declared ‘eradicated’ virus is on the rise in the US through travel, and because of parental concerns of risk involving autism. What a decision to have to make. My kids were vaccinated for it, but my intuition tells me that genetic markers may eventually tell us which children are vulnerable to the vaccination. And it only takes coughs and sneezes to pass it on.

Being hospitalized with measles may then put children who can’t tolerate the vaccine due to chemo treatments, in double peril. Small infants are especially at risk of this contagion.

The audio of this report will be available at approximately 9:00 am ET, but you can read about it right here, right now at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93866209#share

Then knowing that there exists a Sabian Symbol for “An Epidemic of Mumps” for ‘2 Leo’, I consulted Dane Rudhyar’s ‘An Astrological Mandala’ for information on the phenomenon of this serious illness.

‘2 Leo: keynote: The spreading power of individual crisis through a collectivity.’

Rudhyar goes on the say that this Symbol should be interpreted on two levels – the physical one, obviously, that can be spread “in some cases all over the globe” (most quickly by travel.)

He continues…

“Why then an epidemic of mumps? A childhood disease is implied, but it may have very serious complications for adult men who catch it, since it affects not only all lymphatic glands, especially in the neck region, but also the testicles….Leo represents (at least potentially ) rebirth – at the level of the conscious and mind-based individuality.

Thus in Leo man, in this sense, is as yet only a ‘little child’ – one might say a would-be initiate, an infant in spirit. The relation of the mumps to the sexual glands is characteristic, for the entrance into the realm of the conscious and individualized mind can affect the sex force, either through overstimulation and irritation, or in terms of a deliberate ascetic deprivation.

What was an individual issue is now seen as a collective danger. Thus we are dealing with THE INFECTIOUS SPREAD OF INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES.” (DR’s Caps.)

Here are more possibilities: Lynda Hill gives The Caution for this degree as: rampaging *gossip; widespread fear or upset; embarrassment; obsession with health; impotence; contagious thoughts; negative thinking and compulsive actions.

You’ll find Lynda’s Sabian Symbols site here: http://www.sabiansymbols.com/

Any way we view it, this degree indicates situations which may affect large amounts of people and may spread quickly.

NPR’s spread of campaign tidbits this morning included a story of threatening hoax letters that were sent to John McCain’s Denver (contained ‘powder’) and New Hampshire (no powder) offices and which may have been sent from a “detention facility.” But not from the Hanoi Hilton, one may assume.

Then there’s the McCain ad against Obama and his reputed ties with 1960s Weatherman Bill Ayers (sp?), a story you’ve probably heard before. Trouble is, Barack Obama was a small child in the 60s – a Sun in Leo child, actually – so how much unfitness for the White House he could’ve caught from the radical organization, is unclear.

Mumps, perhaps. Radicalism against the US government? Now come on, McSame!  A scandal can this you make?

Perhaps McCain or an aide forgot this small yet significant detail. Or did they mean: Obama – so dangerous to America, he started as a little child!

So can threatening hoaxes make you a sympathetic figure to the American public, or do they simply spread fear?

And yet, of course, if a case can be proven (?) against someone (?), the culprit will be facing serious federal charges. No news on what to do with a zealous staffer if found to be attempting to make McCain look more…needed.

Since we assume that the mumps-spreading headline is no hoax, let’s get back to it for I’m fond of children and take it hard if they’re harmed.

Okay, so if I put my tin foil hat on (yes, I can fashion one just by moseying to a kitchen drawer) I’d say that the specter of population control springs to my ~admittedly~ overly suspicious mind.

For as you know, the Sabian Symbol (’28Cap’) for US natal Pluto is: “A Large Aviary” which from under tin foil hats might sound a bit like avian flu fears periodically spread by the Germanically named ‘Homeland’ ‘Security’ (Moon/Saturn, a combo of energies which contain health and hypochondria influences),  and an image of a large bird as an airplane or jet, suitable for transmission of contagious disease.

Not that there’s no real threat, just that we may never find out from whence it actually came. Free floating fear? Is that a bit like free-range chickens?

As to parents’ autism concerns about innoculating children for mumps, I don’t know what I’d decide to do if my children were still whippersnappers, but suspect I’d take the risk esp considering the dangerous ordeal the virus put me through. Plus, another consideration with mumps complications is heart valve damage (Leo = heart!)

~:~

Here’s an out-of-time yet timely definition for this 2008 presidential campaign season from dry wit and brilliant playwright Oscar Wilde:

* Scandal: gossip made tedious by morality.

~~> Got your text message from Barack Obama yet? Everyone will know by Saturday in Springfield, IL when the next leg of BHO’s tour starts with VP choice on the stage. What a relief that will be.