Everyone has a Uranus.

  One of my earliest memories is from when I was around six or seven years old. I was with my Grandmother Evelyn shopping for an Easter dress at South Park Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina when I saw her. Her hair was short like a man's, and bright red. She had a row of small earrings all the way up one ear. She was wearing a leather jacket and some kind of weird lace up boots like nothing I had ever seen before. She was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Despite never having seen anyone who looked like her before, my first though when I was her was, "That person is like me." My Grandmother Evelyn saw her too. She pulled me closer and whispered in a voice so low only I could hear, "I saw you looking at her." My blood turned to ice. I knew she knew what I'd been thinking.  Not long after that, I happened to see an episode of Geraldo about "Club Kids" people who frequented New York City nightclubs that wore elaborate homemade costumes paired with outlandish hair and makeup. They looked like the most beautiful, glamorous mimes I had ever seen, and their reason for dressing up like that was... I wasn't too clear on that, but it furthered my hypothesis that there was maybe a whole universe of people out there who didn't shop at Belk. Fast forward ten years, and I was the one scaring grandmas at the mall.

Pretty scary, right?

   So what is that strange energy that makes us resist the status quo? Some people have a lot of it. Some people don't seem to have it at all, but it's there, just hiding waiting to surprise us with a flash of insight like the one my Grandmother had, or maybe with a sudden eruption of rage over something that feels huge to the individual, but seems inconsequential to everyone else. Well from an Astrological perspective, that's Uranus. Uranus is The Great Awakener. Uranus was discovered when the Industrial Revolution was happening in Europe. Uranus facilitates revolutions on an  international scale, and encourages you to to be the revolutionary in your own life story. Uranus gifts us with a need for personal freedom. Everyone has a Uranus! The House and Sign that Uranus falls in your natal chart, as well as it's relationship to the other planets will determine the area of your life where Uranus is the most influential. Maybe you're like me and Uranus (the Planet the rules Astrology, incidentally) is in your First House of Identity. Maybe you have Uranus in the Twelfth House of the Unconscious and you're plagued with spot on intuition or prophetic dreams you wish would stop? Uranus can take many forms, but his job is always to keep you from being ordinary.

  Who is Uranus? Uranus was the original Sky God, husband to Gaia, and father to the twelve Titans. He was a devouring father until his youngest son Cronus/Saturn castrated him and banished him to the outer edge of the Universe. His genitalia was thrown into the ocean and later reemerged as Aphrodite/Venus. Maybe in a future blog post we will explore Uranus' role in the unpredictable nature of Venus ruled human sexuality.

  What is Uranus? Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the fourth largest planetary mass in the Solar System. The discovery of Uranus was announced on March 13, 1781 by Sir William Herschel. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered by a telescope. This is appropriate because Uranus rules technology. The Uranian axis of rotation is unique to our Solar System. It's North and South Poles are where most planets have their equators. The other planets in our Solar system's axes resemble spinning tops, Uranus is more of a rolling stone. So it should come as no surprise that Astrologically speaking, Uranus is the Planet that says, "Do your own thing!" but there's more to Uranus than just being weird.

  From an Astrological perspective, Uranus, the Great Awakener is the planet of chaos and change. Some keywords to keep in mind for Uranus are original, perceptive, idealistic, rebellious, unpredictable and eccentric. A few words you will never hear associated with Uranus are practical, convenient, patient, or down to earth. Uranus is an outer, "destiny" planet. Mercury and the Moon affect our day to day, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto affect us powerfully, but more in a big picture sense. Uranus encourages us to participate in revolutions great and small. Uranus is unpredictable and that teaches us to be creative and resourceful and also to be strong. Uranus wants you to question authority and that takes bravery. Mars is the planet of Aggression, but Uranus gifts us with it's own steely resolve. Uranus is the coldest planet, and can cause us to be cold and emotionless at times, depending on where it falls in our chart. Your birth chart will also tell you what area of your life Uranus likes to keep original and  interesting. Last month we took a look at Yoko Ono's chart and learned she has Uranus is the Seventh House of partnerships. Her marriage to John Lennon certainly had the revolutionary spirit, they even spent their honeymoon advocating for peace. David Sedaris has Uranus in extroverted Leo which explains how being weird made him famous.

  In order to learn more about the ways Uranus affects us on a personal level, let's take a tour of the Zodiac and the Twelve Houses .Irrepressible Uranus has an irregular orbit and does not stay in each sign for the same length of time. In order to learn your Uranus House Placement you need to know what time you were born. The websites astro.com and astrotheme.com will both pull up your natal chart for free. Here we go!

URANUS IN ARIES: (1927-1934, 2010-2018) People born with Uranus in Aries come on strong. They tend to be enthusiastic, headstrong, intense, and at times, idealistic. Self control can be an issue. They also tend to be accident prone. The last generation of these people really challenged the status quo and it will be fun to see how the children being born with this placement now will go on to change the world. Some famous examples include: Martin Luther King, Elvis Presley, James Dean and Grace Kelley.

  URANUS IN TAURUS: (1934-1942) Uranus is said to be in it's "detriment in this sign. It's definitely true that sudden upsets may affect these people more than others. On a positive note, a lot of these people have a special gift for making money in new and original ways! Earthy, practical Taurus can help visionary Uranus bring their plans to fruition. This placement brings the gift of determination, and they also tend to be lucky in love. Some famous examples include: Napoleon 1, John Lennon, Bruce Lee, and Tina Turner.

  URANUS IN GEMINI: (1941-1949) This is a fun placement and these people have the gift of gab and tend to be well liked despite or because of their many eccentricities.This placement also brings the gift of a very original mind. These people are usually gifted writers and good with technology. They have a tendency to overtax their nervous systems. Some famous examples include: Freddie Mercury, Cher, Elton John, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

  URANUS IN CANCER: (1948-1956) This can be an uncomfortable placement. Cancer is the mothering sign and Uranus needs to be free. Uranus in Cancer can give a person the strength to cast off the oppressive elements of their past. It can also make them fiercely protective of their loved ones. A challenge for these people is to learn to channel their powerful emotions into something productive. Some famous examples include: Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Steve Jobs.

URANUS IN LEO: (1955-1962) These  people tend to be pretty brazen, but ultimately pretty lovable. The last crop of  these people born when the Free Love movement was beginning to take hold- and it shows. The phrase 'Dare to be different' also comes to mind. They possess amazing leadership ability, but don't take criticism well. Some famous examples include: Prince, Axl Rose, Madonna, Sharon Stone and Barack Obama.

  URANUS IN VIRGO: (1961-1969) A tense placement. Many of these people tend to shoulder more than their share of the world's burdens. They are also prone to struggles with perfectionism and depression. They can also be quite intuitive, but also very practical and are natural information gatherers. May have an interest in alternative medicine. Some famous examples include: Albert Einstein, Michelle Obama, Whitney Houston, Johnny Depp, and Curt Cobain.

  URANUS IN LIBRA: (1968-1975) These people are fun and charming. They are gifted at working in group situations without losing sight of their individuality. These people definitely need equality in their relationships or they may prefer to remain single. Some famous examples include: Javier Bardem, Angelina Jolie, Jay-Z, and Cameron Diaz.

URANUS IN SCORPIO: (1974-1981) These people are suuuper emotional, I know because I am one. Many people with this placement are fascinated by transformations and usually experience a powerful one at some point in their lives. Many feel a strong desire to be of service. An interest in occult studies is generally indicated. Some Famous examples include Charles Darwin, Heath Ledger, Beyonce Knowles Carter, and Natalie Portman.

 URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS: (1981-1988) These people are courageous and optimistic. They have a strong desire to express themselves as individuals, and they also need religious freedom. These people tend to crave new experiences trough travel and larger numbers of them may be drawn to study abroad or exchange programs. Some famous examples include Salvador Dali, Nicki Minaj, Mark Zuckerberg, and Lindsay Lohan.

  URANUS IN CAPRICORN: (1988-1996) A blessing of this placement is being able to take big ideals and translate them into practice. These people have the gift of perseverance. These people also tend to be well organized, self-disciplined, and at times, shrewd. This new crop will probably rework our political system. There can sometimes be a desire to accumulate possessions. Some famous examples include: Julius Caesar, Jules Verne, Frida Kahlo, and Greta Garbo.

URANUS IN AQUARIUS: (1995-2003) Uranus in it's home sign of Aquarius brings many blessings. These people are friendly, intelligent, and creative. They tend to have many friends and admirers despite or because of their unconventional personalities. These people tend to be very progressive and are natural humanitarians. I am excited to see what this new crop will accomplish! Some famous examples include: John F Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Edith Piaf, and Vivian Leigh.

URANUS IN PISCES: (2003-2010) These people are  dreamers. They are compassionate, sensitive, and intuitive, many are psychic. They tend to be religious and self sacrificing, but their approach may be unconventional. They make great Astrologers. Some famous examples include: Nostradamus, Pope John Paul II, Malcom X, and Marilyn Monroe.

URANUS THROUGH THE HOUSES

"Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by it's immediate surroundings, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance." Nikola Tesla, Uranus in House 1.

URANUS IN THE FIRST HOUSE: Astrologer Howard Sasportas says that for people with this placement, life will not be ordinary! The First House rules appearances and people with this placement tend to have intense burning eyes regardless of what color they are. They may also have a more unusual personal style. This may be the result of a carefully crafted persona, as was the case with singer Johnny Cash. Or it may be that these people seem to be on a different plane of existence than the rest of us and clothes are the last thing on their mind, as was the case with Nikolai Tesla and Edgar Allen Poe. These people are intuitive. Their special gift is building on or innovating older, more established concepts. At times their behavior may seem eccentric or even shocking. A few other famous examples are Che Guevera, Bill Gates, and Shannen Doherty.

  URANUS IN THE SECOND HOUSE: Second House rules material possessions and people with this placement may be some sort of prodigy or have an unusual ability or gift that enables them to become quite wealthy. They may also be very intuitive about stock market trends or have some other way of making money grow. These people are generally not materialistic. To them, money represents freedom. Quite often they are philanthropists.  A select few may eschew materialism all together. A word of caution, with this placement, a unexpected financial upset at some point is possible. Luckily these people are natural survivors. Some famous examples include: Simone de Beauvoir, Barbara Streisand, Paul Newman and Tiger Woods.

  URANUS IN THE THIRD HOUSE: Wherever Uranus falls in your chart will highlight where you are gifted with intuition and original thinking. Third House rules friends, siblings, early life and early education.  These people are usually very charming with quirky, childlike mannerisms. They are excellent judges of character and problem solvers. As children, they may have had a hard time sitting still. Uranus brings the spirit of restlessness to wherever it falls. This placement can denote disruptions in early life, or a non-traditional family set up, like an unusual or even uncomfortable family of origin. As adults, they may be drawn to less traditional forms of education and may opt to homeschool their children. Some famous examples include: Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Jane Fonda, and Christina Ricci.

 URANUS IN THE FOURTH HOUSE:  These people come across as deeply unconventional.The Fourth House is the Mother's House. These people tend to have unusual relationships with their mothers which for better or for worse will affect their outlook on life. They tend to have a fascination with all things metaphysical which may not outwardly manifest until later in life. Some famous examples include: Elizabeth Taylor, Jim Morrison, Angelina Jolie, and Kanye West.

 URANUS IN THE FIFTH HOUSE: Very creative. These people's quirky individuality shines through no matter what they do. It can be hard to predict what they will do next! The word "captivating" comes to mind. Fifth house rules children and these people tend to be the fun adults that children want to sit beside at family gatherings. These people will usually take a pretty nontraditional approach to parenting, and many will choose not to become parents at all. Some famous examples include: Bob Dylan, Drew Barrymore, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Chris Brown. (But don't let him sit with your kids.)

  URANUS IN THE SIXTH HOUSE: The Sixth House rules Service and your day to day existence. These people are usually  very diligent workers, but have a tendency to overextend themselves. Many have issues with food allergies and nervous system disorders. The good news is these people respond very well to natural homeopathic treatments, and some eventually become gifted practitioners in this field. The issue is that these people have a powerful need to be of service. One of their live's challenges is to make sure their own needs are being met. And because small animals are under the rulership of the Sixth House, it's worth mentioning that many of these people have unusual pets. Some famous examples include: Condoleeza Rice, Mariah Carey, Micheal Phelps, and Micheal Jackson.

  URANUS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE: The Seventh House rules Relationships. Marriage, but also close friendships, business partnerships and open enemies. So clearly unconventional relationships are indicated. Elizabeth Taylor had this placement and clearly her approach to marriage was unconventional for her time. Sometimes this can indicate a person who chooses relationships that are misunderstood by the rest of the world, but are loving and sustaining to the people involved as was the case with Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon. Sadly, this can sometimes indicate a person who is misunderstood by their partner. Others with this placement may know monogamy is not for them. Some famous examples include: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Rhianna, and Oprah Winfrey.

  URANUS IN THE EIGHTH HOUSE: The Eighth House rules Sexuality, Secrets, and Transformation. These people have intense personalities. They have a tendency to be quick tempered and accident prone. They may have a pretty unconventional attitudes about sex and a select few may actually be drawn to celibacy as a way to free themselves from the constraints of sexual drama. These people are drawn to probe beneath the surface of everyday life and many are drawn to the occult or have a fascination with death. A sudden reversal of fortune through an inheritance is likely with this placement. Some famous examples include: George Harrison, Trent Reznor, Coco Chanel, and Kristen Stewart.

  URANUS IN THE NINTH HOUSE: The Ninth House rules Religion. This placement is really beautiful and can encourage an individual to be spiritual, independent and philosophical. At times this philosophy may not translate into everyday life. Ninth House also rules travel and this placement may provide opportunities for adventure off the beaten path. Because Uranus rules sudden shifts and the Ninth House rules higher education, a person may experience sudden insights through education that radically alter the course of their trajectory. Some famous examples include: Mahatma Ghandi, Prince, Ilona Staller, and Tori Amos.

URANUS IN THE TENTH HOUSE: The Tenth House rules Honors so these people are most likely career focused an big picture oriented. They usually prefer to work alone. At some point, most people with this placement will experience a surprising philosophical shift that renders their present goals meaningless, but they will have very little difficulty starting over if necessary. These people are also naturally drawn to humanitarian causes. Some famous examples include: Pope Francis, Muhammad Ali, Tina Turner, Winona Rider.

  URANUS IN THE ELEVENTH HOUSE: The Eleventh House rules your Relationship to the World and Uranus is very powerful here. These people generally feel a kinship with the whole human race and maybe the animal kingdom as well. People with this placement usually have pretty radical values. They may also attract unusual companions. These people are generally well liked with many friends either despite or because of their rather eccentric personalities. At some point someone with this placement is very likely to experience a "lightning bolt" moment of clarity that may compel them to abandon their current life to be of greater service to humanity. Some famous examples include: Victor Hugo, Prince William, Prince Harry, Courtney Love, and Gia Carangi.

  URANUS IN THE TWELFTH HOUSE: The Twelfth House rules the Unconscious. People with this placement often come across as very unusual. These people can be pretty mysterious and may be drawn to learn about secret societies. Many have trouble staying grounded the here and now, especially when they're younger. With time and discipline they can become more adept at staying in the here and now. These people may be very gifted in the field Psychology. They are prone to experience powerful dreams and insights, and generally make excellent friends and partners. Some famous examples include: Edgar Cayce, John Travolta, JK Rowling, and Madonna.

  So there you have it. Everyone is weird, it's not just you. I hope you all have a beautiful weekend and that you all have the opportunity to let your freak flag fly in whatever way is most meaningful and appropriate to you. Namaste.

Happy Birthday Aquarius! Spotlight On...Yoko Ono!

  Hello all! I hope you all had beautiful Valentine's Days or if you hate Valentine's Day I hope you were able to successfully ignore it completely and do your own thing!  And speaking of doing your own thing, Happy Birthday Yoko Ono! Yoko Ono is a Japanese Artist and Peace Activist who lives in New York City. Her late husband John Lennon once referred to her as "The world's most unknown artist. Everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does." Yoko Ono was born on February 18, 1933 at 8:30PM. Her family was very well to do, but for a time after the Srecond World War they had to seek refuge in a remote mountain village. Yoko and her family were on foot for most of that journey, and were forced to barter their possessions for food. It was during this time that Yoko began to identify as an "Outsider."  This feeling only intensified years later when she relocated to New York State to be closer to her family who had preceded her there. Her family was excited that she was planning to attend Sarah Lawrence College, but dismayed by the bohemian lifestyle she was cultivating in the city, and that was only the beginning.

  In many ways Yoko Ono is a textbook Aquarian. She goes her own way, like I said before. People tend to have strong feelings about her, some positive, some negative. As we know, Aquarius is ruled by eccentric Uranus. A look at Yoko's chart shows Uranus falls in her Seventh House of Partnerships. Not surprisingly, a person with this placement is going to have a non-traditional approach to relationships. This is intensified by the fact that Uranus is Sextile the Moon in her chart. This angle tends to make a person attracted to unique individuals and it also creates a need for freedom and autonomy in a relationship. Yoko Ono was married twice before her prominent marriage to Beatle John Lennon, first to composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and later to jazz musician Anthony Cox. Her marriage to John Lennon was famously unorthodox. They met at the Indica Gallery in London in 1967 and regularly corresponded after that. They spent a passionate weekend together in 1968, recording what would become the Two Virgins album. The couple officially married on March 20, 1969, but in 1973 spent over a year apart, each seeing other people.

  Yoko Ono's Rising Sign is Libra and this is no surprise. People with Libra on the Ascendant want to create peace and beauty wherever they go. Ono's more austere sculptures also have a very Libran feel. Libra is ruled by the Planet Venus, making Venus her chart ruler. Venus is also Trine her Ascendant and Sextile her Moon. These angles tend to make a person very sensitive to beauty and also bestow the individual with artistic ability. An individual with a Venus this prominent also rends to be a very loving partner.

Yoko Ono's Moon is in Sagittarius, Which tends to make a person very freethinking and philosophical. This may also account for her autobiographical approach to her art and music. Interestingly, she has more hard aspects to her Moon than any other planet. Her Moon is Square Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune. These challenging influences are going to make an individual who at times is not completely in control of their emotions and may struggle with their mental health at times. Yoko Ono was hospitalized for clinical depression between her first and second marriages and has spoken openly about the benefits of therapy, particularly hypnotherapy. The Moon is also the Planet that rules motherhood and Yoko has experienced struggles with that as well. In 1971, her second husband, Anthony Cox disappeared with their then eight year old daughter,  Kyoko. He was a member of a pseudo-Christian religious organization that was actually a cult, and it would be over a decade before Yoko would see her daughter again. In 1975, when their son, Sean was born, Yoko and John dedicated themselves to being parents and didn't work for the first five years of their son's life.

  Yoko Ono has experienced many extremes in her life: Wealth to poverty and back, relative obscurity to world famous, she has been the target of racism and sexism and accused of breaking of the Beatles, (About that, seriously you guys, the Beatles broke up the Beatles, and guess what? It wasn't the end of the world, let's move on.) but she has emerged from the ashes to become a popular recording artist who tours the world promoting peace. To better understand how one could experience such highs and lows, we need to take a look at Lord Pluto, the Planet of Transformation. Pluto falls in her Tenth House. The Tenth House is the house of honors. Planets that fall there give us a clue as to what our greatest achievements can be. Pluto in the Tenth House bestows the gifts of leadership and also a powerful need to change the world. Pluto in the Tenth House can bestow the gift of removing any obstacle. This influence can make your triumphs more public, but the flipside of that is that your personal tragedies are shared with the world as well. In her chart, Pluto is also Sextile Jupiter the Planet of Gifts. This bestows the individual with a strong personal code of ethics and a spiritual responsibility to leave the world better than you found it.

  Last month, when we looked at David Sedaris' chart, we learned that he has four Retrograde Planets. People with three or more tend to stand out from the crowd and maybe even come across as a little peculiar. Yoko Ono has five Retrograde Planets in her chart. She never quite fit in with her traditional family, and her chosen mode of expression is all about rule breaking. I didn't intentionally profile two people in a row with this rather unusual influence in their charts. I guess I just love freaks? In any case, I hope you have a beautiful eighty first Birthday, Yoko Ono, you are a gift and a treasure to us all. Namaste.

Super Bowl XLVIII

Hey y'all! The three or four of you who were reading my blog this time last year may recall that I attempted to use Astrology to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl. And as those three or four of you may recall, I was wrong. I made natal charts for The Ravens and 49ers, and tried to gauge which team had more beneficial aspects shining down on them that Super Bowl Sunday. I also tried to take into account any challenging influences that would be affecting either team that day. The slippery thing about that method is that most Astrological influences last more than a day. And BOTH teams had a lot of auspicious planetary placements going on around that time, that's why they both made it to the Super Bowl in the first place! So this year, we're doing things a little bit differently. This year I'm using the Tarot instead of Astrology .I love Tarot, I've been using cards since I was a preteen, there's a lot of Astrology in the Tarot,  it's where my interest in Astrology originated. Today, I am using a Minchiate Deck. This ninety-seven card deck differs from a traditional seventy-eight card Tarot deck in that it has cards for all the signs of the Western Zodiac, and a few other extras as well.

Celtic Cross Spread for The Denver Broncos

  Let's do this alphabetically and start with the Broncos. The Broncos present situation is represented by the Hope Card and also the Six of Cups. The Six of Cups is a happy, nostalgic ca
rd, so my guess is the Broncos are feeling excited and hopeful which isn't too surprising. The force in their favor is the Aries Card which I would guess represents archetypal star athlete Peyton Manning. Their Near Future Placement is The Eastern Emperor. This card, known as The Hierophant in some other decks, brings blessings for people of faith and honors the honorable. It's a Major Arcana card which means the energy is stronger. My guess is, the Broncos will be ahead at Half Time. After that we see the Eight of Coins, which Page of Swords, and Libra. Seen together, I think they will continue to play well, but there will be some  kind of upset or interesting twist. The Broncos have the Four of Coins as their Outcome Card which doesn't really suggest a win. It's a Minor Arcana Card and typically has to do with holding on too tight to something for fear of losing it. My prediction is, the Broncos will play admirably, but lose by a relatively narrow margin.

Peyton Manning

Celtic Cross Spread for the Seattle Seahawks

  On to the Seahawks! The Seahawks have all Major Arcana Cards representing their present situation. The Moon, The Magician, and Capricorn. This says to me that they are a very cohesive team, possibly even blessed with some sort of psychic bond that allows them to communicate wordlessly at times. With Watery Cancer in their Near Past placement, my guess is that their journey leading up to this day has been extra emotional. They have Gemini as a Force For or Against them. This is interesting because it is lying across the Magician Card in the present placement. Both Cards are strongly associated with the Planet Mercury. Mercury/Hermes in mythology is the playful, youthful, intelligent Trickster God. To me, this sounds a lot like Head Coach Pete Carroll. He may have gray hair, but his spirit seems really youthful and fun to me, as evidenced by the fact that there is a whole Youtube channel devoted to him playing pranks on his team. The Magician is a typically auspicious card. It means raw power and tells the reader that it is possible to manifest anything with enough focus.Gemini as a force for or against is an interesting placement because at it's highest Gemini helps us balance opposites, at it's lowest it can be a polarizing influence. The Near Future Card in the Seahawks spread is the Four of Swords .Not the best. This card means solitude and may represent a splintering of the teams resources, my guess is the Seahawks will be behind at Half Time.

Pete Carroll

   Their Future cards are Water, Eight of Swords, and Nine of Wands. This says to me that after a disappointing First Half, they will pull together and utilize their unconscious bond. The Eight of Swords is a challenging card and can imply a feeling of being stuck and unable to move forward. BUT the Nine of Wands is known as the Discipline Card, it is a lower vibration of the Magician Card, it tells us that with hard work anything is possible. Their Outcome Card is the Wheel of Fortune. This is a major Arcana Card that typically implies Success, that may or may not be deserved. It also reminds us that all Success is fleeting. A very appropriate card for a question about a sporting event, IMHO.

RECAP: So I didn't watch a single football game this season, and I'm not even entirely sure how the game is played, but according to the spreads I did, The Broncos will play well and most likely be ahead for the first three quarters. The Seahawks will have a  weak start and things will not look good for them at Half Time. They will pull ahead marginally in the Third Quarter but things will not really get interesting until the Fourth Quarter. My Prediction is the Seahawks will steal the game, quite likely at the last possible minute, maybe even in overtime. If the Seahawks do win it is my sincere hope that this will bring greater attention to Pete Carroll's focus on the mental health of his players and the mediation and visualization techniques he is said to encourage. Wouldn't that be cool? I hope you all have a fun, safe weekend! Namaste!

Happy Birthday Capricorn! Spotlight On...David Sedaris!

 

Hello friends! I hope you all had a beautiful Holiday Season! Not to brag, but this may have been the best Christmas of my life. I didn't have the best Holidays growing up, and for most of my adult life, I've either skipped Christmas or grudgingly gone along with it. But just like everyone said it would, having children changed me, and what do you know? Christmas is actually pretty fun! But now the party is REALLY over and it's time to get back to work. And speaking of hard work, it's Capricorn Season!

  Capricorn is our Cardinal Earth Sign, ruled by Saturn. The Sun enters Capricorn December 22 on the darkest day of the year, and stays there until January 19. Capricorn is the Tenth Sign of our Zodiac. If you looked at a horoscope wheel they way you would a clock, Capricorn would occupy the 12 O'clock placement. Which is interesting because most Capricorns love to seek the highest points. Having Saturn as a ruler makes them naturally hard working and achievement oriented.Which is not to say they can't have fun, but Capricorn fun still tends to be results oriented, as in "Let's see where this nature trail leads!" (Capricorns are the hikers/climbers of the Zodiac.) or "Let's go check out this restaurant I've read good things about." Capricorns do their research and don't like surprises.)

  Capricorn is known as the Sign of The Father and many Capricorns, both male and female, will take a paternal approach to their relationships both personal and professional...with mixed results. Some Capricorns do seem to have a rescuer complex and would rather spend their emotional energy "saving" their more troubled loved ones instead of devoting that energy to themselves and their own inner work. Other less evolved Capricorns can come off as judgmental and dismissive- Richard Nixon, perfect example. Most Capricorns have strong, complicated feelings about their own fathers, but whether these feelings are mostly positive or negative falls to the individual and usually tends to evolve over time. Capricorns themselves tend to make great parents; (and aunts and uncles) loving, nurturing, and encouraging, but with enough fortitude to release their cubs (kids?) into the wild when the time is right. My Father in Law is a Capricorn and he's transitioned into a parent of adults really gracefully. I've never heard him speak to either of his grown children like they were anything other than grown ups, but he's still able to be playful and fun with his young grandchildren. Earthy Capricorn tends to have good boundaries.

  It's been said that Capricorns are born with the hardest path in front of them. The actual Capricorn Constellation is a Mountain Goat with a Fishtail instead of back legs. This is meant to symbolize that hearty Capricorn is destined to rise up from the darkest emotional depths and eventually scale the highest peaks. Most Capricorns I know and love have definitely experienced those watery depths, but have also amazed me with their strength of character and their ability to move through and away from the most challenging of circumstances. Because most Capricorns have experienced some kind of physical or emotional trial by the time they reach adulthood, they tend to have a lovely grounded, stable energy of a person who has really been through something. They also make great storytellers.

"If you aren't cute, you may as well be clever." 

  Which brings us to David Sedaris. Happy Birthday David! David Sedaris is an American born humorist and essayist. His writing has focused on his boisterous eccentric family, growing up in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, drug use, his struggles with obsessive compulsive behaviors, his adventures with his boyfriend Hugh, and life as an American ex-pat, first in France, now in England.  In typical Capricorn fashion, success found David closer to the second half of his life. His big break occurred when he was invited to share his experiences as an elf in Macy's Santaland on NPR's This American Life. In addition to being a professional elf, Sedaris has also written about his work experiences as a teacher, and apple picker, a publisher's assistant, a professional mover, and a housekeeper. In his essay Smart Guy, Sedaris writes about working for a landscaping company with a man who claimed to have a high IQ, his coworker told him that while this work was temporary for him, but that Sedaris would still be doing manual labor when he was forty, which turned out to be true. Sedaris quips in his essay, "Oh, but that was years ago.Two years ago, to be exact."

  David Raymond Sedaris was born on December 26, 1956 in Johnson City New York. Sadly, his birth time is not known, so we don't know his Rising Sign. The software I use requires a birth time, I have set his  at noon  so we can have something physical to look at, but Sedaris' Rising Sign and other House Placements will not be discussed today.

  In many ways, David Sedaris is your typical Capricorn. He has written before about his struggles with phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder. Capricorns crave order and routine, (Just ask my two year old daughter!) and this can be taken to extremes, especially in early life. Cardinal Signs tend to be high strung, and their Cardinal placement makes Capricorn the most anxious of their Earth Sign Brethren. Substance abuse can be an issue, but because Capricorns tend to respond well to treatment programs and the routine of Twelve step meetings, recovery is easier for them than most. Sedaris' Capricornian self-deprecation is on full display when he writes of his speed use, "Speed eliminates all doubt. Am I smart enough? Do people like me? Do I really look all right in a plastic jumpsuit?" Through his essays, Sedaris has taken us along for the ride as he quit doing speed, stopped drinking, and eventually even gave up cigarettes. It's in long sighted Capricorn's nature to want to lead by example.

 In Astrology, writing is said to fall under the Moon's domain, maybe because our Moon is said to determine how we express our feelings. The placement of a Moon also describes a person's relationship with their mother. David's late mother, Sharon, was the star of many of his essays. He once described her as possessing a haunted quality that he very much admired. So it's no surprise that Sedaris' Moon is in Scorpio. Scorpio rules secrets, and also sex and death. A Moon in Scorpio is going to give a person a very intense quality, a fascination with the darker aspects of human nature, and possibly even an interest in the macabre. Sedaris has written before about purchasing a skeleton, owning taxidermied animals, and wanting a Victorian era model of a human throat for Valentine's Day. In another essay, he writes about a lost tourist coming into his house in Normandy for directions, and how it made him consider how much his home resembled a serial killer's lair. His often talked about love of Soap Operas and the various bizarre entanglements their various characters find themselves in, could also be aided my his Moon in Scorpio. It's hard to keep your feeling a secret around a Moon in Scorpio and David Sedaris has proven through his writing to be an excellent judge of character, picking up on the qualities of people around him that others may have missed. Sedaris' Moon is also Sextile his Sun, which brings blessings of creativity, and his Moon Conjunct Neptune helps him be sensitive to the moods and energies of the people around him. (The better to study them!)

  Mercury rules communication. David Sedaris' Mercury is in Capricorn along with his Sun. (Having a Sun and Mercury in the same sign is actually pretty common because Mercury is never too far from the Sun.) According to Astrology Guru Robert Hand, Mercury in Capricorn can result in a person who is basically serious, but also quite funny. Truuuuth. I think Mercury in Capricorn is what helps Sedaris write about his history of substance abuse, his recovery and other uncomfortable topics in a way that is simple, unemotional, and not self pitying. He once said that at fifty he's afraid of  "almost everything" but I don't really think that's true. Mental illness, specifically addiction, is unfortunately still a very taboo subject in our culture, and it takes a certain kind of fearless to share your journey with the world.

"I just looked at the pattern of my life, decided I didn't like it, and changed."

  David Sedaris didn't become the literary superstar he is today until he was in his forties. Later in life success is generally attributed to Saturn, the Planet of Hard Work that rewards Perseverance. Sedaris' Saturn falls in Sagittarius. Free Spirited Sag is made more conservative and traditional by the presence of Saturn. People with this placement can come off as a little old fashioned and they crave routine. His Saturn in Sagittarius is Square his Pluto in Virgo. This can be a somewhat difficult angle, because it can cause a person to hate/fear change and also possibly struggle with depression. The blessing of this influence is that it can give a person a steely resolve that can help them overcome almost any obstacle. This makes me think about when Sedaris wrote about how after he met his future boyfriend Hugh for the first time, he raised his fist and proclaimed, Hugh Hamrick you WILL be mine!" Interestingly, Mars is Trine Saturn in David Sedaris' chart, and this influence tends to make a person the aggressor in relationships.

  In an interview with Slate a few years back, Ira Glass said that something that he really enjoys about Davis Sedaris is that he is gifted at describing situations where he doesn't quite fit in, and quite often these situations are self created. Like working on an apple farm in Washington, visiting a nudist colony, living abroad in France and England, his sabbatical in Japan, or his adventures traveling in general. Whenever someone consistently swims upstream or regularly stands out for whatever reason, we need to take a look at what good ole Irregular Uranus is up to in their chart. In Sedaris' chart, Jupiter is Sextile Uranus. This is an extremely favorable influence that brings the blessing of an interesting life. Opportunities for travel are common with this influence, as well as acclaim for creative endeavors. Uranus is actually Sedaris' most strongly placed planet with a total of 7 aspects to other planets. A many aspected planet in one's chart is going to impact a person's daily life and personality, as well as their life's journey. David Sedaris certainly seems to have been shaped by Uranus, the planet of Eccentricity. Venus Trine Uranus probably gives Sedaris an affinity for other eccentrics and a desire to lead an unconventional life. Mars Trine Uranus probably helped cement this quality and also gave him the courage to be himself even in the face of adversity or intolerance. This aspect probably also helped him accomplish some of his more daring feats like hitchhiking across the country several times in his twenties.

  David Sedaris was born with Uranus in Leo. Uranus stays in a sign for around seven years, so this is almost a generational placement. The gift of this placement is that it allows people to have pride in their individualistic tendencies. Leos may think they're a gift to the world sometimes, but Uranus in Leo's gift to all of us is an example of creative, passionate, people living unconventional lives on their own terms. A few other people born under this intense influence are David's sister Amy Sedaris, President Barack Obama, Gary Oldman, Micheal Jackson, Oprah Winfrey Carl Jung, and Aleister Crowley.

  I guess my favorite thing about David Sedaris as a writer and as a person is that through his essays and short stories, he takes you on these weird little journeys where somehow he's the normal one and everyone else is strange. When I was a young adult reading his books for the first time, they really gave me hope that it would be possible for me to move through life just being  my weird self and that I could still be happy and loved. Or at least end up with good stories to tell. So Happy Birthday David Sedaris and all you other weird, wonderful, wound up Capricorns out there, I hope you all are feeling well rested, centered, and excited about the next chapter of your life story.I'm glad you're here. Namaste.

Happy Birthday Sagittarius! Spotlight on...Bruce Lee!

  Hey y'all! I'm looking out my window right now and there's snow on the ground. It's not snowing, it snowed the other day, and it's just been too cold to melt. V exciting for a Southern Girl like me. I hope you are all enjoying this festive time between Thanksgiving and Christmas (even if you don't celebrate either one, they're still pretty hard to avoid- trust me I tried for years.) otherwise known as Sagittarius Season. Sagittarius Season comes when we need it most, helping us rise from the moody, inward depths of Scorpio Season and encouraging us to live it up with fun celebrations for people of all ages. On my part of the planet, it's also the darkest part of the year, and we compensate for that by having lots of parties and festivals of lights. And isn't that the role of most Sagittarians you know? To shine their special light and bring the fun?

  And shine they do! Sags take fun to a whole new level, it's their calling. With a Sagittarius, anything can become an adventure. A more elevated Sagittarian can infuse your typical night on the town with a philosophical energy and transform it into a magical memory you'll treasure always. My best friend since high school, Julia, is a textbook Sagittarius. She was fearless and shone like a diamond. (Still does!) She hung out with the freaks, but she was a Varsity Cheerleader. Centaurs are cool with contradictions. She could even turn driving past her ex-boyfriend's trailer in the middle of the night into a hilarious caper. Julia's Rising Sign is Capricorn, making her an excellent judge of character, except when it came to relationships. Then she had that famous Sagittarian blind spot. Plenty of boys in our school were in love with her, but she was too busy chasing douchebags to notice. (Sorry girl, you know it's true.) Our ninth grade English Teacher told her she had a special light inside of her, and that if she wasn't careful some people might try to keep it all to themselves, or put it out all together. Does that sound like any Sagittarian you know? They shine bright, but there's a certain fragility there as well, no?

  Sagittarius is the Ninth Sign of the Natural Zodiac. It is a Fiery, Mutable Sign. Fire Signs are naturally creative and tend to be on the more extroverted end of the spectrum, but not always. (The Rising Sign is the better indicator of an introverted or extroverted personality.) Mutable Signs come at the end of a Season, in the case of Sagittarius, Fall turning into Winter. Mutables tend to be more low key, spiritually inclined, and fascinated by transformations. Sagittarius is ruled by the Planet Jupiter, the planet of Gifts and Luck. Sagittarians tend to be born with both. Jupiter also rules Philosophy and Religion, and Sagittarians are the Seekers of the Zodiac Sagittarians are always on the move, one way or another. They have fast, intellectual brains and can be extremely perceptive.They love to learn and grow, and their quest for knowledge tends to have a spiritual component. New experiences are like food for them, they need it to live and grow. Some other Sagittarius keywords are: Honest, Philosophical, Energetic, Enthusiastic, Optimistic, aaand Irresponsible.

  Because most Sagittarians prefer to stay active, and because they tend to bring their unique brand of creativity to whatever their chosen field is, many Sagittarians are standouts as Athletes. A few famouse Sag-thletes (Gong!) include: Joe DiMaggio, Larry Bird, Jason Collins, Tracy Austin, Jackie Stiles, and of course Bruce Lee. Like most Sagittarians, he defied categorization. He was born in San Francisco, but raised in China. He was a Martial Artist, an Actor, a Teacher and an Author. Like the Centaurs of Mythology, he was many things at once. It's worth mentioning that above all else,  he considered himself to be a Philosopher, and  Martial Arts was his chosen medium to express his life philosophy.

  Bruce Lee, born Lee Jun-Fan was born November 27, 1940 at 7:12AM  in San Francisco. According to Chinese Astrology, he was born in The Year of the Dragon at the Hour of the Dragon. According to Western Astrology, He was born with his Sun and Ascendant in Sagittarius, and his Moon in Scorpio. It's worth noting that his Sun was in the Twelfth House of the Unconscious at the time of his birth. I call that placement The Midnight Sun, and I think it's so cool. It tends to mean that the way a person's expression as an individual is inspired by something deep within that they may not fully understand themselves. These people tend to pay close attention to their intuition and dreams. They usually have a specialness about them that is made all the more appealing by the fact that they have an enigmatic quality that leaves you wanting more. Andy Warhol had a Midnight Sun. Moving along, Bruce Lee was your typical Sag in a lot of ways, fiery, charismatic, creative and extremely disciplined, and always in motion. When he starred in the short lived series, The Green Hornet, producers had to ask him to slow his movements because they were too fast for the American audience to follow. My son is a Sagittarius, he actually shares a Birthday with Bruce Lee, and he literally never learned to walk. He went straight from crawling to running, and he still runs everywhere. There's no point in asking a Sagittarius to slow down. The rest of us just have to learn to catch up.

  Sagittarius loves knowledge, and is ruled by Jupiter, the Planet of Expansion. It's no surprise then, that Double Sag Bruce Lee wanted to share his unique brand of martial arts to the world, not just in the form of entertainment, but also in the form of instruction. Bruce Lee owned two martial arts academies in his lifetime, and his dream was to oversee a national chain. Sagittarians don't like to be told what to do, and Bruce Lee was no exception.When members of the martial arts community demanded that he stop instructing non-Chinese Americans, he refused. Probably contributing to his go-your-own-way mentality was the fact that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto were all Retrograde at the time of his birth. Having four retrograde planets in a birth chart is rare. One or two is average, and that's where a lot of our most important life lessons come from. Three or more is results in a more eccentric personality that defies categorization, a person who stands out from a crowd, for better or for worse. Activist Angela Davis, for example has seven retrograde planets in her chart. Bruce Lee's four retrograde planets may explain then why his unique fighting style was inspired in part by his street fighting experiences as a youth in Hong Kong.

  Despite his scrappy past, Bruce Lee expressed many high minded Sagiattarian qualities. He studied Philosophy at the University of Washington, he wrote poetry, he was an avid reader all of his life, famously stating that all knowledge leads to self knowledge. Sagittarians prefer to live in the present and not hold grudges. They're not easily offended. When Bruce Lee was passed over as the lead for the television series, Kung Fu, he didn't take it personally. Saying,"They think business wise it is a risk and I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether acceptance would be there."

 Bruce Lee's Martial art Philosophy,  Jeet Kune Do, or The Way of the Intercepting Fist, has many Sagittarian qualities.The ultimate goal is formlessness, and Bruce Lee preferred to call it the style of no style. His goal was to move past the formality of traditional Martial Arts, and included elements of fencing, boxing and street fighting. His vision was fighting style that could not be defined and therefore could not be limited. So Sagittarian!

  In addition to being a Double Sagittarius, Bruce Lee had four planets, Moon, Mercury,Venus and Mars in Scorpio, all in the Eleventh House. When four or more planets are in the same sign or house this is called a Stellium. A stellium in a person's chart can tell us a lot about them. It brings tremendous energy to whatever life area those planets fall in. The Eleventh House rules Groups, Organizations, and our Relationship to the World. Bruce Lee's relationship to the world was not just as an entertainer, but also as a teacher. Scorpio is the Sign of Secrets, and Bruce Lee's life's work was demystifying ancient martial arts secrets and making them available to anyone who was interested. Mercury is in Scorpio especially loves a good mystery. His Mars in Scorpio probably contributed to his famous intensity, while Mars square Pluto in the Eighth House gifted him with boundless ambition.

  Bruce Lee was very Sagittarian in that he abhorred any kind of limitations. I think all those planets in secretive Scorpio helped him conclude that mysterious or privileged attitudes about martial arts were a form of limitation. I think he saw himself as being someone who could eradicate those boundaries and making martial arts available to everyone. The fact that he had Neptune in the Tenth House, a placement that unconsciously draws one to serve others probably helped.

  My hope is that in his sadly brief, intensely lived life, his personal life was fulfilling as well. His chart ruler, Jupiter was in the Fifth House of Love and Children, suggesting a happy, supportive, adoring family.

  I hope you are all keeping warm this Sagittarius Season. Let us be inspired by our Sagittarian brethren, and not be limited by the cold weather and lack of daylight. Instead let's fill our homes with warmth and light, and maybe take some time to learn about a new subject we've been meaning to study. Remember: All knowledge eventually leads to self knowledge.

Happy Birthday Scorpio! Spotlight on...Edith Bouvier Beale!

"There are some really nice people in the world you know, I just don't happen to be related to any of them."

  Hello friends! Happy Edie Beale Day! Edith Bouvier Beale, in case you didn't know was a socialite, model, singer, fashion icon, noted eccentric and the subject of the 1976 documentary, Grey Gardens. She was born November 7, 1917 and passed away sometime in early January 2002. Her Father Phelan Beale was a successful lawyer in New York City and her Mother, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, "Big Edie" came from a wealthy, well respected family that claimed to be the descendants of Fourteenth Century French Kings. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was her first cousin. Little Edie's early life was one of privilege, with private school educations, shopping trips to Paris, attending galas and other high society events in New York and summers by the sea in the Hamptons. She was the only girl in her immediate family, and was obviously her mother's favorite. She once missed almost a year of school, ostensibly because of respiratory problems, but many speculated this was just Big Edie's way of keeping  her daughter close. On New Year's Day, 1936 Little Edie made her official Debut to Society wearing a white silk gown with gardenias in her hair.

  Edie Beale lived in New York city until the age of thirty-five, pursuing singing, acting and dancing opportunities. She modeled briefly for Macy's Department Stores, but her fun hating dad shut it all down because modeling was considered by some to be a shameful profession at the time. During this time, Edith claims to have dated many rich and powerful men including J Paul Getty, Bruce Cabot, and Joe Kennedy Jr. She famously stated that if Joe Kennedy Jr had survived the war, he would have gone on to become President, and SHE would have been First Lady instead of her cousin Jackie.

  In 1952, Edie Beale said goodbye to New York and moved into Grey Gardens, her childhood summer home. She was thirty-five. In the documentary Grey Gardens, the argument over whether Little Edie returned home, as she says, to care for her ailing mother, or whether she "had to" as her mother says because she was never able to find success in the entertainment industry is a subject of frequent and heated debate. The once world famous and immaculately maintained estate had fallen into disrepair and continued to disintegrate around the two women for the next twenty-five years. The Edies lived on a very modest fixed income and simply could not afford the maintenance the home required. Raccoons and feral cats took over. Garbage piled up because they couldn't afford the waste pick-up fees. The home became largely uninhabitable, with the two women sharing a couple rooms on the first floor and cooking on a hot plate. In 1971, Gray Gardens was on the verge of being condemned, but Little Edie's cousin and possible nemesis Jackie Onassis intervened and paid to have the house brought up to code.

"I can tell what's inside a person right away." EBB 

  The 1975 release of the film Grey Gardens was met with much critical acclaim and Little Edie with her unconventional fashion sense (skirts worn upside down, sweaters repurposed as headwraps) and intense personality became a cult celebrity of sorts. In 1977, Big Edie passed away and Little Edie was free to sell the home that had become a prison and move on with her life. She first returned to New York City and experimented briefly with a cabaret career, and then moved into a small apartment near Miami Beach. She lived there, swimming almost daily, until her death in 2002. She was eighty-six. Edie Beale was a Sun in Scorpio and the Astrological sign Scorpio is closely tied to the mythology of the Phoenix,who dies, but then rises up from the ashes. Little Edie lived up to that archetype, on a larger scale than most.

  Scorpio is possibly the most maligned sign of the Zodiac, and I've never been able to understand why. I'm mean really, Scorpios tend to not give a shit what anyone thinks and will have your back for life, what's not to love? Personally, I enjoy the company of people who go their own way. My daughter is a Moon in Scorpio. Her rising sign is Cancer, so initially she comes across and gentle, dreamy and sweet, but underneath that placid exterior is a stubborn, strong willed, steely resolve and I love that about her. I tend to struggle with being too much of a people pleasing pushover at times, and hopefully she won't have that problem. Scorpio is a Fixed Water Sign and is ruled by Pluto, the planet of Transformation. Little Edie certainly experienced a lot of that in her life.

  Edie Beale was intense, strong willed, charismatic, unafraid to speak her truth and extremely loyal. In many ways, she was your typical Scorpio. Her rant in "Grey Gardens" about how she's a 'Staunch Woman' who comes from a long line of staunch women had a nerves of steel, Scorpionic quality to me. She also possessed the  infamous Scorpio trait of being a survivor. Other Scorpio survivors include Theodore Roosevelt, Kurt Vonnegut, Larry Flynt, Grace Slick, and Hillary Clinton. Little Edie's notorious head coverings were a result of a stress induced hair loss condition. Though, according to her cousin, John Davis, after an altercation with her mother, shortly after her return to Grey Gardens, Little Edie climbed a tree and intentionally set her hair on fire, greatly contributing to her hair loss. Did you know the Scorpion is the only animal on Earth capable of stinging itself to death with it's own venom?

  Scorpio is the Sign of Mystery and Scorpios are the detectives of the Zodiac, regardless of their chosen profession. Because Scorpios are naturally secretive, they possess a better than average ability to suss out other people's secrets. Under the wrong circumstances, this can manifest as paranoia, like when Little Edie becomes convinced someone has stolen her journal. Scorpios are also gifted at picking up on the hidden motivations of others, like when Little Edie tells her mother that the neighborhood boy only wants to use her for sex. Claiming, "It's all they want!" (Spoken like a true Scorpio.) To which her mother replies, "With you?!" Little Edie was in her fifties at the time and the young man in question appeared to be in his teens. A challenge for any Scorpio is to learn to separate the ego from intuition. Being a Fixed Water sign means Scorpions can be pretty stubborn when it comes to their emotions. Scorpios tend to be some of the worst grudge holders of the Zodiac, another challenge  for Scorpio is learning the importance of forgiveness.

  Unfortunately, Edie Beale's birth time is unknown, so we'll never know her rising sign or House Placements. All the same, let's take a look at her chart to see what can be learned:

  Edie was a born performer, so it's no surprise to see she has three planets in Leo, including her Moon. Our Moon is said to be our truest self and Leo is the sign of the entertainer, so I think it's fair to say Little Edie had the soul of an entertainer. Our Moon Sign also tells us what we seek in life and Leo rules the heart. At the deepest level, Edie probably equated attention with emotional validation. Many people wanted to share the story of Grey Gardens, but the only film about her life she gave permission to be made was for was the documentary, stating, "If anyone is gonna play Edie Beale, it's gonna be Edie Beale!" Multiple planets in Leo tend to bestow one with a childlike, playful imagination, and a desire to love and be loved. She was also born with Neptune Conjunct Saturn in Leo. Neptune is Leo is a generational placement and people born with it are said so be idealistic and have a deep appreciation for art and beauty. Saturn in Leo is an interesting placement for one who seeks fame because Saturn rewards hard work, and tends to pay off later in life. Little Edie was experiencing her second Saturn return (A Saturn return is when Saturn returns to the sign it was in at one's birth.) in 1977 when her mother passed away. Two years later, Saturn had moved out of Leo and Edie's new life with an apartment in New York and a nightclub act bore little resemblance to the years she'd spent in her decaying childhood home. That's the transformative power of a Saturn Return. Sadly, Saturn in Leo can also indicate an emotionally distant father.

  Little Edie was born with Jupiter, the Planet of Gifts in Gemini. This placement gives the blessing of an intelligent, curious mind. Edie was obviously very smart and an avid reader. When the Maysles Brothers originally came to her home, she recognized then immediately  because she'd seen them in the New York Times. Her love of reading and writing poetry was also probably  aided by this influence. A volume of her poetry was posthumously published in 2008.

  Everyone will experience highs and lows in their life, but those who choose to be born under the sign of Scorpio tend to experience them more dramatically than most, and they generally have a lot of interesting life lessons to share.To me, it feels like Edie Beale's enduring Scorpionic  lesson to us is to live life to the fullest, and never give up hope. After all, she never did.

Sister Lara Presents... KISStrology!

Well it's Halloween and my plan was to profile somebody really scary for you guys. My Facebook friends elected eternally terrifying Suge Knight, but sadly his birth time is unknown. Serial killers stress me out, and Alice Cooper's natal chart is about as dry and boring as a dirt sandwich. My information gathering Gemini husband suggested KISS and when he told me their first show wearing full makeup was in Amittyville (!) I figured their chart was worth a look see. Please note this reading is for the ORIGINAL lineup of KISS only. Here we go!

  KISS: b. March 9, 1973 22:00. Sun in Pisces, Moon in Taurus, Scorpio Rising. (OF COURSE.) The original members of KISS are Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss. This configuration lasted from 1973 until 1980 when Peter Criss left, followed by Ace Frehley It is worth .noting that in 1978, the band did something that had never been done before and simultaneously released solo albums. These were met with less success than anticipated.  Motivated by a surge of 1990s KISS nostalgia, the band reunited in 1996. Peter Criss left again over contract disputes in 2000.

  Scorpio in the First House: This is very interesting, because as we know, Scorpio is ruled by the Planet Pluto. The Mythological God of the Underworld, Pluto rarely appeared above ground, and when he did, he always wore a helmet that covered his face. Our Rising Sign is our "mask" that we show to the world, so how appropriate for a band with Scorpio on the Ascendant that their "mask" is an actual mask! Well, full make up. ( Fun Fact: I too have Scorpio on the Ascendant and have always been fascinated by the transformational power of makeup. I spent many an afternoon as a teenager poring over world famous Makeup Artist, Kevyn Aucoin's books at my local Borders, and now I own them all. The relationship between Scorpio and makeup, and people who love makeup is a subject I may have to follow up on for a future post.) Having Scorpio on the Ascendant also makes Pluto, the Planet of Transformation the Ruling Planet of KISS. More on that later.

  Sun in Pisces: The Collective Sun Sign for the original lineup of KISS is Pisces. Pisces is ruled by the Planet Neptune, the Planet of Music and Dance. Not all Pisceans are musicians, but many of them are, and generally even non-musician Pisceans have a greater than average appreciation of music. The explanation for this is that Neptune is also the Planet of Intuition. Pisceans are often able to express what our Collective Unconscious is experiencing, often through the medium of poetry or music. KISS has their Neptune Sun Squaring Saturn in their chart which can indicate a need to challenge authority figures, this probably helped influence their chosen genre of music. Pisces is considered an introverted sign, but KISS's Sun in Pisces lands in the Fiery Fifth House. The Fifth House is ruled by the Sun and gives Shy Pisces a boost of extroversion, a flair for the dramatic, and a need for recognition. For musicians seeking fame, I can't really think of a better Sun Placement than Pisces in the Fifth House.

  Moon in Taurus: The importance of The Moon in a Horoscope cannot be overstated. The Moon will describe how we express and deal with our emotions. The Moon is said to be our truest, deepest self, the self we only share with those we love and trust. Keywords for Moon in Taurus are Comfort, Security, Stability, and Material Accumulation. It's a placement you would expect to find in an Accountant's chart! Sun in the Fifth House is proof that KISS are natural born performers, but on a deeper level, they're also savvy businessmen.Their Taurus Moon is in The Seventh House of Partnerships, an indication that their energy as a collective is what helped them achieve financial security. They also have Fiery Mars Trine their Moon which helps one freely express emotions without holding back, a fortuitous placement if you're a rock band.

  KISS has overwhelmingly masculine energy, so let's take a deeper look at what Mars is up to in their chart.  The role of Mars in a chart is to show how we exert our individuality.Mars also indicates where we will be most active. Because Mars rules our ability to assert ourselves, it can also indicate where and how we have difficulty relating to or accepting others. The Pisces Sun of KISS is Sextile Mars in Capricorn. This gives them almost boundless energy and a gift for motivating and inspiring large groups. Mars in Capricorn gives the gifts of ambition combined with courage.Mars in this chart is also in The Third House of Siblings which can indicate discord or infighting between brothers, or in this case, bandmates. Huh. They also have Mars Square Uranus which indicates a strong need to be free, and a need for excitement and new experiences. This can also cause an individual to dive headfirst into uncharted territory without fully considering the consequences, as is evidenced by the solo albums fiasco.

  Pluto, The Planet of Transformation and the Band's Chart ruler falls in Libra in The Eleventh House. Libra is the Friendship Sign and The Eleventh House determines our relationship to the world. This would indicate that initially, their collective chemistry had an alchemical quality, causing the energy of their collective to be far more powerful than the sum of it's parts. Powerful enough to achieve lasting and international fame.

  The most challenging aspect of  their natal chart is (surprise surprise) Saturn. Saturn, The Planet of Restriction falls in Gemini which can indicate a lack of self-discipline and and challenges with communication. Saturn also falls in The Eighth House of Shared Resources, indicating challenges with sharing and distributing their collective earnings. Adding to the drama is Venus Square Saturn, indicating an inability at times to relate or empathize. Saturn is also Opposite Neptune which brings a competitive energy that sows the seeds of distrust and paranoia. It would seem Saturn was the Planet of Undoing for the original lineup of KISS. Saturn takes 28 years to cycle through the Zodiac. When Saturn completes this cycle and returns to it's point of origin in a chart, this is known as Saturn Return. Saturn Returns force us to confront the truths that we've been hiding from ourselves. Peter Criss left the lineup for good in 2000, when Saturn had returned to Gemini, 28 years after the band's first show. Astrologically, this suggests the end of an era. Moving forward, any Astrological assessments or predictions should be based on the natal chart of the first time the current lineup played together.

TL/DR? Astrologically speaking, the original lineup of KISS were talented musicians with a flare for the dramatic, who at the deepest level were savvy businessmen who ultimately parted ways over mistrust about shared resources being divided fairly. Happy Halloween y'all!

PS- You can now email me at  sisterlarablog@gmail.com so holler if you have any questions, or requests for future posts!

Satanic Panic!

  The 80s and 90s were a strange, dark time for many Americans. The poverty rate for people in Rural America had risen to 18% in 1988. (Twice what it was in urban areas.) The economic stress on rural Americans was taking it's toll on Family Life. For many Americans, one's family could no longer be counted on as a central source of stability and safety. Poverty combined with shifting gender roles contributed to marital tensions, divorce, and parent child conflict. Teenage drug use, which had primarily been an issue in larger cities, reached rural towns. We had more single mothers and small children in daycare than ever before. People were overworked, exhausted, and anxious about the future.  Interestingly, around this time The New Fundamentalism was taking hold. Focus on Family and the Moral Majority campaigned for and helped elect conservative Christian politicians across the country. This combination of unfortunate circumstances laid the groundwork for a shameful epidemic that is now known as Satanic Panic.

 *My use of the words Satanist and Satanism throughout this post are in reference to the common parlance of the time. No disrespect to followers of Anton Lavey. I am well aware that the Church of Satan does not promote murder or any other form of lawbreaking.*

  What is Satanic Panic? "Satanic Panic" describes an era that covered most of the 1980s and 1990s when people became very concerned about Satanic Conspiracies all over the country. "Ritual Satanic Abuse" became a catchphrase. Cattle mutilations, vandalism, abductions and more were all attributed to a vast conspiracy of Satanists who lived and worked among us. Teenagers with unconventional appearances were assumed to be the foot soldiers of the movement, always on the lookout to convert their friends and classmates to Satanism, or worse yet, to lure them away to some remote location to be sacrificed and eaten. People traded stories with their neighbors and coworkers about Satanic gatherings where animals and humans were brutally sacrificed by soulless devil worshipers who would then have a blood soaked orgy on the corpses of their victims. "Satanism Experts" estimated that Satanic sacrifice resulted in 50,000-60,000 deaths a year. Startling numbers, considering the annual murder rate in the US hovered around 25,000  for most of that time. 

 The spark that ignited this insanity was the 1980 now thoroughly debunked memoir, Michelle Remembers. In it, the author Michelle Smith (now believed to have multiple personality disorder) recounts memories that were recovered through hypnosis of a truly horrific childhood. She claimed to have been tortured, locked in cages, witness to many murders, and smeared with the blood of the deceased. She claimed to have witnessed many orgies as a child, that she was later forced to participate in. She also said she had been impregnated many times, always forced to carry the child to term to be sacrificed on the altar of Satan. Her vivid account was so disturbing that the Vatican launched an investigation. The Christian magazine, Cornerstone traveled to her hometown to interview  her family and childhood friends and concluded that the book was nothing more than a "gruesome fantasy". But it was too late.

  In 1983, employees of the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach California were accused of grisly crimes similar to the ones mentioned above. Children who attended the preschool were asked leading and disturbing questions, usually without a parent present. Everyone accused in the McMartin preschool scandal was found innocent, but this kicked off a rash of Ritual Satanic Abuse allegations in schools and preschools all across small town America from 1983-1995 Hundreds of people were arrested. There was never any evidence to back up these claims, and no teacher or daycare provider was ever found guilty, but they all lost their jobs, and many lost their homes, savings and communities as a result of these allegations. One employee of the McMartin preschool could not afford bail and spent two years in jail away from her young children awaiting trial. Another tragedy in all this is that investigating all these salacious rumors wasted valuable resources that could have been used to help children who actually were endangered.

  The Satanic Panic hysteria reached a fevered pitch on November 19, 1987 when NBC aired a two hour Geraldo special on Satanism. It was watched in 19.8 million home. Geraldo Rivera looked into the camera and stated, "Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in this country. The majority are linked in a highly organized, very secretive network. The odds are, this is happening in your town." This gave credibility to what before had only been spoken about in whispers. Pastors taped the episode and showed it to their congregations. Small town police officers took correspondence courses to become "Satanism Experts", or more to the point, witch hunters. It's worth mentioning, that during the Satanic Panic Scare, (about 1983-1997) a handful of teenagers actually were arrested and found guilty of Satanism inspired crimes. It was almost always vandalism (though in a couple cases animal mutilation was involved) and it was always pretty obvious that the teenagers acted alone and were in no way part of some vast conspiracy.

"It's like Salem all over again." Damien Echols, on trial for his life in 1994.

  Undoubtedly, the people who suffered the most due to Satanic Panic hysteria were Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols, or the West Memphis Three. In 1994 the three teenagers were convicted of the 1993 murders of three eight year old Boy Scouts in their community. They all had alibis and there was no evidence linking them to the victims or the scene of the crime, but none of that mattered. They were disliked and mistrusted by their community before any crime had ever been committed. In his memoir, Life After Death, Damien Echols recalls the repeated harassment he received from West Memphis  Juvenile Officer, Jerry Driver, his town's so called "Occult Expert". Their trial and subsequent convictions were a total media circus including false testimonies, "evidence" leaked to the press, and a jury that had heard all the gory (and at times made up) details before the trial ever started. Jessie and Jason received life without parole. Damien Echols, the alleged "ringleader" was sentenced to death by lethal injection.What had we become? New forensic evidence submitted in 2007 lead to the eventual release of the West Memphis Three in 2011 after having spent 18 years and 78 days each in prison. This was in large part due to the HBO documentary Paradise Lost about the crimes and subsequent trial. It painted an unflattering picture of small town America and the ignorance at the heart of the Satanic Panic scare. The movie helped the case gain national attention and  inspired several high profile celebrities to get involved as well as many average Americans who saw the movie and thought, "That could have been me!" Without their support, the new DNA evidence may never have been submitted.

   By the late 1990s, the Satanic Panic Scare was waning. There simply wasn't ever any evidence. News outlets that had previously reported alleged Satanic activity, were now running stories debunking myths about Satanic Panic. In 1997, employees of a daycare center in  Wenatchee Washington who had been falsely accused of Satanic inspired sexual abuse, were awarded a $3 million settlement. Sanity was returning. 

  Full disclosure: I've actually had my own brush with Satanic Panic. When I was fifteen, my dad overdosed on prescription pills and alcohol. He had been Atheist for most of his life, but not long after he got sober he started attending one those big stadium churches out in the country.  My first thought was, "Good for him, I guess." But things got weird pretty fast. I first became nervous when he informed me that the members of his new church had preformed a laying on of hands and told him he never had to take his bi-polar medication again. Then he started pacing the halls of the small apartment we shared, bug eyed and muttering about "swollen genitals". Then he hid my Tarot cards which was especially odd because he had given them to me as a gift less than two years before. (That just goes to show you how unpredictable untreated manic depression can be.) Then the accusations started. Mostly he accused me of smoking crack and participating in "orgies for Satan". (Seriously, what is it with these people and the group sex allegations? Gross!) It would have been funny, if I hadn't been terrified. And I was angry too. I'd been putting up with allegations of Satanism from classmates and teachers for years, but I never expected to have to deal with that BS in my own home.  My dad had been absent for most of my life, and even when he was around he usually ignored me. Now for the first time in my life he was paying attention to me, but only so he could call me a devil worshiping whore? It was too much. One day I had the most powerful intuitive feeling of my young life, something inside me said, "Whatever you do, don't go home after school today." So I didn't. I went to a friend's house instead, and the day after that I moved in with my mom. Later, I found out from my school's Guidance Counselor that my dad had been home waiting for me that afternoon. The plan was to tell me he was taking me to a family counseling session, but he was actually going to have me committed at a private mental hospital. Shudder. Fundamentalist parents having their children who didn't share their worldview institutionalized was a regrettably common occurrence during the Satanic Panic scare. 

Me, in High School.

  So what caused so many of us to lose our collective minds? For an influence lasting this long, (1983-1997 or so) we need to take a look at the slow moving outer Planets, or the Destiny Planets. A few months back, I wrote a little bit about Pluto in Scorpio, but let's recap: Pluto is the smallest, but generally considered to be the most powerful planet of the Zodiac. Astrologically speaking, Pluto is an upsetter that occasionally leaves a scorched Earth in it's wake. Pluto rules Regeneration and Transformation. Pluto is the natural ruler of Scorpio. Pluto was in Scorpio from 1983-1995. Scorpio rules Sex, Death and above all, Secrets. The accusations made in 1983 against the McMartin preschool employees had all that in spades. Scorpio's rulership of secrets includes secret societies. A Powerful and evil cult that sexually preys on and murders the weakest and most innocent members of a society has all the hallmarks of the lowest, darkest energy of Pluto and Scorpio. The thing is, none of it was true. What made so many people believe and in some cases actually "recover memories" of such atrocities? 

  When examining a period of our history when confusion reigned supreme. we should always take a look at what our old friend Neptune, the Great Dissolver was up to during that time. Neptune entered Capricorn in 1984, the year the investigation into the McMartin preschool was officially launched. Neptune is the planet of Confusion as well as the planet of Mysticism. Earthy Capricorn is cautious, conservative, and can be a little judgemental. Which is to say, Neptune in Capricorn is not a great fit. Neptune seeks to escape, Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, seeks to confine. A growing interest in the Occult, Mysticism and World Religions had been happening in the US since the 1960s. But Neptune entering Capricorn dovetailed with the Rise of the Christian Right, and attempted to snuff out anything that wasn't traditional. Capricorn is the Sign of the Father, and as I mentioned before, the 1980s saw more single mother household's than ever before. A lot of young people were searching for Father Figures, and sometimes they found them at Church. Teenagers who wouldn't or couldn't fall in line were sometimes scapegoated as Satanists. Scapegoating teenagers who stand out from the crowd is nothing new, but accusing them of being actually evil was.  Neptune rules the Masses. One of the lowest vibrational qualities of Neptune is that it can hide important truths and help spread Misinformation to the Masses. With Neptune in Capricorn we have this Misinformation coming from trusted male authority figures. Capricorn seeks to gain recognition, and with this influence we had individuals exploiting rumors of Satanic activity in order to elevate their status within their community. 

  When I try to think of one phrase to describe the influence of Neptune in Capricorn, the one that I keep coming back to is, "Fear of the Unknown". Neptune was in Capricorn from 1984- 1998 and it was a fearful time for a lot of people. Many were nostalgic for a past that actually wasn't so great, but in retrospect seemed simpler and more stable. I think conspiracies about a secret, evil society were a comfort to some people because it strengthened bonds within communities. (Unless you were unfortunate enough to be considered an outsider.) Also it meant that if this supposed evil could be exposed, then maybe it could be eliminated, and things could go back to normal, whatever that was. We all have a Neptune somewhere in our birth charts, and it's lesson for us is to learn to recognize the difference between intuition and delusion. Currently Neptune is at home in Watery Pisces and Astrologers are predicting that children being born now with this influence in their charts will have the attribute of the Peacemaker and in general will be very loving, kind and accepting of each others' differences. The hope is that these old souls will be born already knowing the truth is that we're not that different.