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"The natal chart is like a seed and progressions are the unfolding in time of that into the plant it is to become. Transits, are like a daily weather report. In political astrology, these three factors have to be taken into account!"
Comments, questions, suggestions? Let us know what you think. Email wolfstar@neptunecafe.com
Recent NewsScope columns
Jan 2, 2012 - Obama-Clinton in 2012?, Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Maryl Streep as the Iron Lady
Jan. 9, 2012 - Rick Sant-orum, Eris and the job market, Stephen Hawking's State of the Universe
Jan. 16, 2012 - Corporations are people, Americans Elect hold online nomination, the glamorous Marlene Dietrich
Jan. 23, 2012 - Gingrich wins in SC, the Costa Concordia disaster, Eris and Madonna: Chaos as art
Jan. 30, 2012 - Gingrich's 12th house Mars, top five astro-events for february, and the journey of OR-7
Reader feedback
re: Part of Misfortune - Okay, please say more about the Part of Misfortune. I don't remember ever hearing the Part of Fortune called that. Your quote: Transiting Neptune conjunct the USSS Part of Misfortune shows an unmitigated scandal.
A. The Part of Misfortune is the same as the Part of Fortune except that it's badly placed or aspected. I first came across this term in Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson's book Simplified Horary Astrology. She writes that "The Part of Fortune becomes the Part of Mis-fortune when afflicted by being in the unfortunate 12th or 8th house or in the 12th sign Pisces or the 8th sign Scorpio". She goes on to refine the definition so that when the Part of Fortune is badly aspecting Mars, Neptune or in the 29th degree of any sign, or the same degree as the nodes, it becomes the Part of Misfortune. Presumably, one could add a hard aspects from Pluto.
re: Ann Romney - I liked your chart for Ann Romney. I know it's your rectification but it seems correct. It also looks like the chart of someone whose husband is a winner in November. But we don't have a timed chart, that I know of, for Michelle Obama. Have you got a timed or rectified chart for her? If so, could you post it?
re: Bobby Petrino - It would be interesting to those of us who are College Football Fans to know the "astrology" surrounding the recent firing of Coach Bobby Petrino, the football coach at the UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS. Coach Petrino has had a "history" of deceit, and "baring false witness". Although as a football coach, he's definitely a "winner". I believe it might make a good and interesting astrological piece for NewsScope as there's an interesting mixture of "human" failures and success all present in this one person.
re: Sumatra earthquake - Well, you called it. You said in your Cascadia earthquake article that the April 6th Full Moon was a trigger date, and now we have Indonesia. Does one consider Indonesia in the 'ring of fire?'
A. Absolutely!
re: Obamacare - You wrote: "[Kennedy's] most famous reversal took place on June 29, 1992, when he changed his mind and sided with those supporting Roe v. Wade." Since Roe v. Wade was decided in January of 1973, I don't understand the reference to June 29, 1992.
A. Pennsylvania passed a law called Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act that was being challenged as unconstitutional based on Roe v. Wade. For details, see wikipedia/Planned_Parenthood_v._Casey
Justice Kennedy voted to uphold Roe v. Wade in a 5-4 decision, made public on June 29, 1992. Had he voted the other way, as he initially intended, Roe v. Wade would have been struck down.
re: Obamacare - You wrote: "Kennedy’s expressed interest is about establishing limits to the individual health insurance mandate. Since his progressed Sun in Libra conjoins the U.S. Saturn (orb 0º02’), he will most likely find the limiting principle and uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare."
If he's concerned about the limiting principle, doesn't that suggest that he'll shoot down the individual mandate, thus applying constitutional limits to government power? Upholding the Obamacare mandate would further advance unlimited government. (If they can force people to buy government-approved insurance plans, what will they force us to buy next?)A. My understanding is that Kennedy has come around to seeing that everyone is essentially already in the medical care system. His reasoning is that when an uninsured individual goes to the ER, the state picks up the bill, which in turn is paid by taxpayers, meaning that everyone is already paying into the medical system. The limiting principle is that it's not establishing a commercial enterprise and then requiring everyone to join, but that everyone is already in this system.
During the hearings, Kennedy at first questioned the government's power to force an individual to act, that is, to buy health insurance. But later, he said this: “I think it is true that, if most questions in life are matters of degree, it could be that in the markets for health insurance and for the health care for which insurance was the method of payment, the young person who is uninsured is uniquely proximately very close to affecting the rates of insurance and the costs of providing medical care in a way that is not true in other industries. That’s my concern in the case.”re: Obamacare - You write that the Supreme Court decision will be made public around June 26.
However, the Justices met on Friday, March 30 to "decide" the case, and to make assignments regarding the writing of opinions. Those opinions will be made public around June 26, as you pointed out. Although a Justice may "change their vote" between the time they meet to decide an issue (in this case, it was March 30, regarding "Obamacare"), and the time the decision & opinions are made public, they seldom do. Does the fact the Justices have already met and "decided" this issue, and are now writing their opinions, does that change anything regarding what was written in the April 2 NewsScope?
A. - Yes, I read that they voted last Friday. From now until late June, they will send notices back and forth to each other, trying to persuade others to change their mind. It rarely changes as you say, but in a critical 5-4 vote, it's worth trying. This is why I mentioned Roe v. Wade, because Kennedy did change his mind on that one. I looked at the astrology very deeply, and there are powerful indicators pointing in both directions. I may be wrong on my forecast, but what I wrote is the way it seems to me.
February 6, 2012 - Pluto stimulates the U.S. economy, Israel tempts fate, a UFO in the Baltic Sea
Feb.13, 2012 - Santorum and Super Tuesday, Whitney Houston slips away, Linsanity spreading
Feb. 20, 2012 - Xanax: addictive and profitable; Assad and the Lunar Eclipse; Bobby Brown
Feb. 27, 2012 - Obama's progressed Mars, Top Five Astro-events for March, will Jeb Bush save the GOP?
March 5, 2012 - Obama's Interview, the swing state Ohio, Maria Menounas - something to talk about
March 12, 2012 - Billionaire Sara Blakely, Rush Limbaugh and the feminazis, yoga teacher Kristin McGee
March 19, 2012 - the Goldman Sachs elite, journalist Chris Hedges, George Clooney arrested
March 26, 2012 - Afghan War chart, April's top five astro-events, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence
April 9, 2012 - Ann Romney and Gender Gap, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer-man, Matt Damon's guru
April 9, 2012 - Ann Romney and Gender Gap, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer-
man, Matt Damon's guru
April 16, 2012 - The Chiron-Pluto Generation, Bobby Petrino's issues, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
April 23, 2012 - The Secret Service scandal, May's top five astro-events, and the Titanic 100 years later
NewsScope for April 30, 2012
By Michael Wolfstar
China’s Uranus Cycle
U.S.-China relations took a complex turn last week when the blind activist Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest and found refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Chen’s case is overshadowing this coming week’s state visit by Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner, and comes on the heels of the Bo Xilai affair, which exposed corruption at the highest levels of party politics. What’s going on?
Astrologically, China* (October 1, 1949; 3:01 pm; Beijing) is in the midst of a major planetary cycle that has previously brought radical, violent and historic shifts. Uranus, the planet of sudden change, is a primary player in China’s chart since it has Aquarius Rising, and the Libra Sun squares Uranus. About every 21 years, transiting Uranus forms a hard aspect to its natal Sun-Uranus square, and each time it does, serious disruption follows.
About the Bo Xilai scandal, commentators are saying that it’s the worst crisis faced by the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. In fact, this was the last time that transiting Uranus activated the natal Sun-Uranus square. Previously, Uranus was in this critical degree zone in 1971
when China opened its doors to capitalism by welcoming Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon.
Currently, transiting Uranus in Aries just finished squaring natal Uranus, and is about to oppose China’s Sun. Complicating matters, transiting Pluto has recently entered China’s 12th house of secret activity and is currently squaring China’s Sun. The 12th house Pluto transit has unearthed corruption, exposing it to the light of day. This transiting Uranus-Pluto square is a double whammy on China’s well-being, as the world’s fastest growing economy shakes within a hyper-reactive, over-controlling political structure.
* For more info on China’s 3:01 pm birth time, see China. About the Bo Xilai scandal, read David Ignatius at the washingtonpost
Francois Hollande, France’s Next President
Europe’s tough austerity programs have led to a growing backlash across the continent, with the people throwing out the governments that made the deals. Last week, the coalition government in the Netherlands resigned, and Romania’s government was toppled by a no-confidence vote. On May 6, the French presidential run-off election will most likely replace the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy with socialist Francois Hollande.
Francois Hollande was born with a reform-minded Sun-Pluto conjunction in Leo (August 12, 1954; 12:10 am; Rouen, France), which is energized by a trine to Mars. With Gemini Rising and strong placements in the 3rd and 9th houses, Hollande is a technocrat who has published a large number of books and academic papers. Mercury, his chart’s ruling planet, squares methodical Saturn, leading to what one political opponent called a “complete lack of intellectual curiosity”.
Hollande became the presidential candidate from the Socialist Party when he won a runoff election on October 16, 2011, defeating, among others, his former domestic partner and previous presidential candidate Ségolène Royal (but that’s another story!). The Midheaven’s favorable
conditions brought this victory: transiting Jupiter was squaring his Aquarius Midheaven, and transiting Uranus (the ruler of his Midheaven), was conjunct his progressed Midheaven.
Similar favorable conditions are aligning for the May 6 runoff against Sarkozy. Transiting Uranus is sextile Hollande’s Midheaven, and his progressed Moon in the 10th house is perfectly sextile natal Mars. Even more auspicious is that his progressed Ascendant is closing in on a progressed Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, promising not only victory, but celebrity status and an exciting, action-packed first year. A Hollande win could very well lead to economic turmoil, since he’s promised more regulation of the financial markets and a tax increase on the wealthy.
Katherine Jenkins,
the DWTS Frontrunner
Katherine Jenkins has been a favorite in the U.K. since 2003 when she sang at Pope John Paul II’s silver jubilee. Her seven top-selling albums cover a wide range of styles, and in recent years she’s performed in a variety of English TV shows. Now that she’s the frontrunner on DWTS, she’s become an American favorite and a veritable triple threat - an actor, singer and dancer.
Katherine Jenkins was born with a Sun-Vesta conjunction in expressive, emotional Cancer (June
29, 1980; Neath, Wales; time unknown), a combination that brings immense focus and devotion to her vocational interest in singing. The sextile to Jupiter opened doors for her, facilitating her path to fame and fortune. However, this relatively easy aspect doesn’t provide the relentless drive to succeed, which necessarily comes from more dynamic placements.
Jenkins’ Venus in multi-talented Gemini and her Moon in ambitious Capricorn provide the motivation to become a superstar. Venus aspects all four of the outer planets, enhancing her image as an iconic goddess-type. Venus squares a Mars-Saturn conjunction, which gives her toughness and discipline. Venus in Gemini explains her interest in studying foreign languages as well as her sensational Italian version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”.
As an individual who feels comfortable with the outer planets, Jenkins is thriving as the current Uranus-Pluto square hits her Cancer Sun. Her professional partner, Mark Ballas (May 24, 1986), has Venus in Cancer near her Sun, which fosters a close, affectionate bond between the two. Also, his Mars in Capricorn conjoins her Moon and trines her Mars, giving the duo a natural, synchronized rhythm that could very well earn them the coveted mirror ball trophy.
