Archive for June, 2017

New Moon in Cancer — June 24, 2017, 02:31 UT

Monday, June 26th, 2017

The New Moon in Cancer on June 24, 2017, was opposite 330836 Orius, a centaur discovered in 2009 at Baldone observatory in Latvia. The orbital period of Orius is almost 100 years, and the orbit crosses those of Uranus and Neptune. The naming took place in 2013. In Greek mythology Orius was one of the centaurs killed by Heracles in the battle at Pholus’s cave. Heracles had asked Pholus to open a jar of wine, which was a shared property of all the centaurs.

What do the examples below have in common? The words disobedience and resistance came first into my mind.

Orius examples:

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was started on March 17, 1948, in Fontana, CA. In the chart there is a Sun-Orius conjunction in Pisces. The club is considered an organized crime syndicate, though it fights to present a more benign image to the public. They even organize charity events. In 1966 the organization was registered as a corporation, which aimed to improve motorcycling and traffic safety. Hells Angels played a part in the counterculture movement of the 60’s in San Francisco.

Wikileaks website was launched on Oct. 4, 2006. The Sun-Orius conjunction is in Libra. Wikileaks is a media organization, the goal of which is to bring important news and information, provided by anonymous sources, to the public. The chart data is from Planet Waves site. The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been demonized as a criminal or terrorist by various governments.

Julian Assange (born July 3, 1971, in Townsville, Australia) has Orius in Taurus opposite his Moon and in conjunction with Pallas, the asteroid named after the Warrior Queen, and symbolizing political activism.

Greenpeace, the environmental organization, originates from The Don’t Make a Wave Committee, which was formed in Canada in 1969. On May 4, 1972, the group officially changed its name to the “Greenpeace Foundation”. At the time the Sun-Orius conjunction was in Taurus, Jupiter in trine to Orius.

Mikhail Bakunin (born May 30, 1814, in Pryamukhino, Russian Empire), is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism. His Gemini Sun opposes the Uranus-Orius conjunction in Sagittarius.

Dmitri Shostakovich (born Sept. 25, 1906, in St.Petersburg, Russian Federation) is regarded as one of the great composers of the 20th century. He achieved fame during the Soviet period, but had a complex relationship with the government. It is not quite certain to what extent Shostakovich expressed his opposition to the state in his music, but it has been claimed, that many of the composer’s works contained coded anti-government messages. His Sun-Orius conjunction is in Libra.

James Dean, the iconic young rebel (born Feb. 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana) has a triple conjunction of the Sun, Damocles and Orius in Aquarius.

Jim Morrison (born Dec. 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida), the anarchistic front man of the Doors, has a tight Sun-Orius square in his chart.

Garry Kasparov (born April 13, 1963, in Baku, Azerbaijan) is a Russian chess grandmaster. After his retirement from chess in 2005, Kasparov turned to politics and created the United Civil Front, a social movement whose main goal is to “work to preserve electoral democracy in Russia”. He is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Kasparov has a triple conjunction of the Sun, Orius and Typhon in Aries.

Karen Ann Quinlan (born March 29, 1954, in Scranton, Pennsylvania) was an American coma victim who became an important figure in the history of the right to die controversy in the United States. She was kept alive for years on a respirator, until her parents won a landmark case to have equipment removed. She had a triple conjunction of the Sun, Eris and Orius in Aries.

Shahla Sherkat (born March 30, 1956, in Isfahan, Iran) has also a triple conjunction of the Sun, Eris and Orius in Aries. She is a feminist journalist, one of the pioneers of Women’s rights movement in Iran.

”Tank Man”, an unknown Chinese protestor, stands in front of military tanks on June 5, 1989, the morning after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 by force. There was a quadruple conjunction of the Sun, Jupiter, Orius and Pholus in Gemini.

Tianasquare

This photo was taken on June 5, 1989, by Jeff Widener (The Associated Press).

Summer Solstice – June 21, 2017, 04:24 UT

Wednesday, June 21st, 2017

The Solstices and the Equinoxes govern the seasons. The Sun reaches its most northern position around June 21 each year. This is the day of the Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year. The Sun enters Cancer.

The first degree of Cancer is one of the Cardinal Points. The other three of those points are the first degrees of Libra, Capricorn and Aries. They are sensitive points in the chart, which tend to connect us to the larger world around us.

Last summer in mid-June, a new little object came in to our consciousness, 2016 HO3. In the 2016 Summer Solstice chart it was occupying the first degree of Libra, in a perfect square to the Sun. It is exactly in the same position again.

2016 HO3 is our constant companion, circulating around us. It is not a real moon, but a quasi-satellite of Earth. It actually orbits the Sun, and at the same time is also looping around our planet. It has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to be for about three hundred years more. 2016 HO3 spends about half of its time inside the Earth’s orbit, and about half of the time outside of it.

I started to study the orbit of 2016 HO3 in the astrological chart and was astonished. 2016 HO3 resides mostly only in the signs of Virgo, Libra and Scorpio. Sometimes it may visit also Leo and Sagittarius, but it seems it has not been in Sagittarius since the 60’s. In Leo we are not going to see it until in 2026.

First, let’s track the path of 2016 HO3 through the current year. The Capricorn Sun squared 2016 HO3 in the mid degrees of Libra around Jan. 5, 2017. 2016 HO3 was sliding outside the Earth’s orbit. In the beginning of March it started to retrograde in Scorpio. On April 5 it was in opposition to the Sun, still retrograding, again in the mid degrees of Libra, in the same position where it had been at the time of the square. 2016 HO3 visited Virgo, turned direct in May, and now at the Summer Solstice it has just ingressed Libra again. It is proceeding inside the orbit of the Earth. In August it will turn retrograde in the mid degrees of Libra. The conjunction of the Sun and 2016 HO3 happens in September at 24 degrees of Virgo while 2016 HO3 is still in retrograde motion.

This same repeats every year, only the degree numbers gradually change. In 2019 at the Autumn Equinox the conjunction of the Sun and 2016 HO3 happens in the first degree of Libra. In 2021 and 2022 the opposition takes place around the Vernal Equinox while 2016 HO3 is in the beginning of Libra.

Our tiny companion 2016 HO3 seems to have a relationship to the equinoxes and the solstices, and to the Cardinal Points. Its manifestation and abridged appearance in the signs may refer to a distinct message, which is essential to humanity during the next couple of centuries.

Full Moon in Sagittarius — June 9, 2017, 13:10 UT

Saturday, June 10th, 2017

The Full Moon at 18+ degrees of Sagittarius has brought us a phase of faith and optimism. The Moon is in tight conjunction to Varda, Lady of the Stars, whose face radiates light.

174567 Varda is a trans-Neptunian object named after principal goddess of the elves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional mythology. Varda created the stars and constellations, and also set the vessels of the Sun and Moon upon their courses. In light is her power and her joy.

“Of all the Great Ones who dwell in this world the Elves hold Varda most in reverence and love. Elbereth they name her, and they call upon her name out of the shadows of Middle-earth, and uplift it in song at the rising of the stars,” writes Tolkien.

174567 Varda is highly likely to be a dwarf planet. Dr. Mike Brown has ranked it as the 15th largest object on his dwarf planet list. The orbital period of Varda is around 310 years. It is usually classified as a cubewano, a classical Kuiper belt object. Minor planets in this group do not cross Neptune’s orbit, and they are not controlled by an orbital resonance with Neptune. However, the boundary between the classical objects and the so called scattered disk objects is blurred, and there is no official definition of a cubewano. According to the Deep Ecliptic Survey’s (a project to find Kuiper belt objects) classification Varda has been referred as a detached object.

The sign of Sagittarius is symbolized by the centaur, half man and half horse. In the Sagittarius Full Moon chart the planet of love, Venus, is at 3+ degrees of Taurus, which was the discovery degree of Chiron, the first centaur planet. The Sabian Symbol for the degree is “The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”. The keynote by Dane Rudhyar is: “Riches that come from linking the celestial and the earthly nature.”

When I was doing my research for this Full Moon in order to find good examples on Varda, one event rose above the others, namely the discovery of Chiron. Chiron was discovered on Nov.1, 1977, by Charles T. Kowal from images taken on Oct. 18, 1977. It was named after the wise centaur Chiron in Greek mythology. In the discovery chart for Nov. 1, 1977, the Sun in Scorpio is in conjunction with Uranus and couple of minor planets, one of which is Varda. Varda’s prominent position in this chart fits so well with Chiron’s tendency to raise awareness. It is difficult to see in the dark. We need light in order to become aware of something.

Yusuf Islam (born July 21, 1948), previously known by his stage name Cat Stevens, has Varda at his ascendant in his birth chart. It is a Full Moon chart (Rodden Rating A). He sings:

“I think I see the light coming to me,
Coming through me giving me a second sight.”