Esoteric Astrologer Newsletter Aug 03

The Esoteric Astrologer Newsletter
~ Commentaries on Living through the Science of Esoteric Astrology and the Seven Rays ~

www.esotericastrologer.org

Friends and fellow students of esoteric astrology,

You will notice that this regular email has assumed newsletter proportions now, as I often receive questions about other topics that are worth commenting upon astrologically. The aim is to put this out once a month, coinciding with the full moon periods, but this may not always be possible. Please indicate to me if you wish to be taken off the email list, and likewise for new email addresses to be added. Suggestions and feedback are also most welcome, as are donations.

As a disseminator of information I have been becoming increasingly aware of a need to provide esoteric commentary on news topics that are not so prominent in the media. Unfortunately our mainstream media deal with the most sensational stories that focus continually on the negative, whether it is your local broadcaster reporting on car accidents, rape, violence, murder, disasters, corruption and crime, or the global networks that are reporting on world crisis points such as the Middle East or Africa. These desperate issues of Humanity must be addressed, and hence focused upon to determine their underlying causes, yet they cannot be the only thing that demands our attention.

The continual and ongoing barrage of traumatic stories eventually makes us shut down and tune out because it is not uplifting to the soul. (And we have all had plenty of that since 9/11 and the invasion of Baghdad) In fact, if we are not discriminating, we can think that this is the way the world is – when in fact it is not quite so. An undue focus on one or two trouble spots can blow out of proportion the reality of some truly great developments in the rest of the world. This is the maya of media from which we must free ourselves.

The world media networks certainly need to seek some higher ground, as do the film and video game industries that perpetuate a similar recipe. They have a moral, ethical and sacred responsibility to do so. It is a fact that what we think changes our biochemistry – no wonder there are so many debilitating illnesses that have emerged in the past twenty years.

Saturday Review editor, Norman Cousins says: “If news is not really news unless it is bad news, it may be difficult to claim we are an informed nation.” Geneva Overholser of the Washington Post says: “Are we supposed to be boosters or promoters? What are we supposed to be? Not destroyers of community; not extinguishers of hope. We need to think about our impact. We tend to say we don't have one; we just pass along the news. Readers say otherwise.”

There is a growing feeling around the world that is demanding an expression of that which is beautiful and positive in people’s lives – and there is much to report! – “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…” (St. Paul)

The following series of articles is a step in this direction, though in the first few stories there is no astrological commentary.

Palestinians and Jews have finally found a place where they can safely meet and listen to each other’s grievances and understand each other’s pain while in the same room -- a living room.

As their governments grapple with suicide bombers and military invasion, 40 groups of Palestinians and Jews are building relationships of caring and mutual respect in living rooms across the US and the Middle East, with the goal of building trust between peoples who have rarely known each other.
      Israelis have told Len and Libby Taubman, who started the first Living Room Dialogue Group 10 years ago in San Mateo, CA., “I never knew a Palestinian in all the years I lived in Israel.” During the 192 monthly meetings held in the Taubman’s living room since 1992 the 30 Jewish and Arab participants have become close friends. “What war is about is lack of communication. It is both sides trying to be heard and not being listened to,” insists Libby, “and that’s what we do in Living Room Dialogue. Dialogue is not conversation, or debate. It is open listening to the other person’s narrative or story.”
     Taubman explains how frustrations are eased through the dialogue. “Especially for our Palestinian friends from Ramallah. They have families there. Some of them have had their houses broken into by Israeli soldiers and they’ve been locked in their bathrooms for hours. So, coming here and getting to express it in the group -- and educate all of us -- helps. It has become a support group. People are feeling very depressed, angry, or fearful.”
      But the most significant benefit of Dialogue Groups is when members speak up back in their own communities, showing support for both sides. “Right now you can see everybody is choosing sides and if you’re not on my side, you’re a traitor -- and that is going nowhere.
      Being for only one side and shaking your fist is not solving the problem. Until we can want the best for each other, understand the needs of both peoples that are unique to them, be for both peoples equally... nothing is going to be resolved.
      One of their stated goals is to wake up the American public and their representatives to realize there are two narratives and suggest that before they lobby for one side they need to hear both peoples’ stories. Then, the U.S. can be in a better position to be the peace broker.
      The dialogue groups use technology to network with each other and to earn new supporters. An e-mail list of over 900 persons regularly receives positive stories from the Taubmans about Palestinians and Jews working together for mutual benefit. In internet chat rooms the groups exchange news with folks back in the homeland. Libby tells of Palestinians, who in the beginning of the conversation say ‘you’re the enemy.’ “They use profanities and say ‘I’d like to kill you.’ We say wait, wait, wait. Let us tell you about our dialogue group -- and with the Webcam we can show headlines about the group and hold up pictures of the group. After a really intense hour, they begin to change, and then all of a sudden you have this amazing new friend who can’t believe he’s talking to a Jew who cares about him. It’s very powerful. So we feel like we do have an impact over there.”
      How can they hold meetings when things back home are deteriorating?
       Everybody tells Libby, “ ‘This is where I experience hope.’ We see what is possible” She points out that there are reasons for hope because of things like the more than 400 refuseniks in the Israeli Defense Force who are refusing to serve in the occupied territories, because of the peace rally in Tel Aviv -- the first one in a long time -- that drew 60-100 thousand demonstrators, because of the Saudi peace proposal, because of the 1000 phone calls flooding a New York radio station after a story about a Brooklyn dialogue group, because there is a long waiting list of people who want to join their own group, and because the Palestinian people -- like the Jewish people -- are a very determined and resilient group. “They are kind of mirror images of each other... cousins going back to Abraham!”
(June 1, 2002) Web site for Living Room Dialogue Groups

Israeli-Palestinian Experiment Recovered Among Space Shuttle Wreckage
(www.goodnewsnetwork.org)

When the space shuttle Columbia burned up over Texas, all seven astronauts perished, including Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space. Also aboard Columbia's last voyage, almost unnoticed, was a cooperative biological experiment launched by two students -- a Palestinian and an Israeli. The good news is, the experiment dedicated to peace survived the fiery catastrophe and was recovered among the debris strewn over two states.
      The experiment, named Growth of Bacterial Biofilm on Surfaces During Spaceflight, or GOBBSS, was designed to explore the origins of life on earth by seeing whether simple life forms could grow on minerals like those found in meteors.
      In a statement by the Planetary Society, the group that sponsored the experiment, David Warmflash, a NASA Astrobiology Institute member, said the sample "looks good and viable." He said that while extreme heat changed the conditions of the experiment, it may yet give us new knowledge of our shared origins and how we came to be.
        That a space experiment was linked to an idea like peace, should not be surprising, said Louis Friedman, executive director of the society which he co-founded with Carl Sagan in 1980. The plaque Americans left on the moon in 1969 was inscribed with the words, "We came in peace for all mankind."
      An experiment involving young scientists from such a troubled corner of the world points to Friedman's belief that space exploration is, ultimately, about "hope for the future."
      Jerusalem Post writer Lauren Gelfond reported on the excitement, then pain, of Palestinian biology student, Tariq Adwan, and Israeli medical student, Yuval Landau, who together watched their cooperative experiment blast off with Columbia on Jan. 16. And she reported on their shared feelings of humanity.
"'I wasn't surprised to meet an open-minded Palestinian,' says Landau. 'I understood that most of the problems derive from a minority of people, and that is the saddest part, because they have the primary influence. I knew there is a silent majority that thinks and behaves differently.'
"Still, he says meeting Adwan did affect him. 'It is a different kind of learning to get to know a person as a human being.'"
Adwan's father, Sami, says he's long "realized that the only way for Palestinians and Israelis to see each other as humans is to have sympathy for each other's disasters."

For more info: http://www.planetary.org/gobbss
Jerusalem Post writer, Lauren Gelfond - LGelfond@zahav.net.il

     There is a new conversation breaking out between Israelis and Palestinians thanks to a new, toll-free telephone service. Large numbers of Arabs and Jews are picking up the phone and talking to people “on the other side” about reconciliation, tolerance and peace. Over 48,000 calls were placed in less than three months.

     Sammy Waed, a Palestinian, never thought he would become friends with an Israeli soldier, especially one who had occupied his hometown of Ramallah. But using the new hotline, the 20-year-old ended up speaking to Arik, a 23-year-old from Tel Aviv.
     “Arik told me how much he hated his army service, because he was in the middle of a civilian population, policing children and causing harm to innocent people,” Waed told New York Daily News special correspondent, Deborah Blachor. “Before, I thought Israelis didn’t care at all when innocent Palestinians suffer and are killed,” he said. “But now I know they do care and I have hope that there can be peace.”
    Hello, Peace! (Hello Shalom-Hello Salaam!) was launched in October 2002 by the Parents Circle -Families Forum, a joint group of over 400 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents who believe peace is still possible despite having lost a child or loved one in the conflict. Hello Peace! advertisements appear on billboards and in newspaper ads in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
       The power of dialogue is leading to friendships. Callers reconnect with each other after terrorist attacks, making sure their friend is okay. It influences children. One Palestinian asked a Jewish Israeli to speak with his two children. He wanted them to learn that Jews were not monsters.
        Callers will hear a voice message: Hello, you have reached Hello, Shalom, Hello Salaam. If you wish to talk to an Israeli about reconciliation, tolerance and peace, dial 1; if you wish to talk to a Palestinian about reconciliation, tolerance and peace, dial 2. They can listen to the hundreds of voice messages and decide whom they want to contact, and remain anonymous. They can call as often as they want.
From Israel, Gaza or the West Bank, just dial *6364 from any Bezeq or mobile phone and listen to the instructions.
“It's time to stop the killing and start talking again.”

     Farmers in eastern Africa gave up pulling weeds. Now they plant weeds along with their crops and, as a result, harvest 60 to 70 percent more food than before. The idea was developed at the Mbita Point research station in Kenya. The logic of this technique is simple: give the insects something to eat so they don't need to graze on valuable maize.
      Mexican farms raise their yield by planting squash and beans in with the maize. When crops are combined there is less damage from insects and more efficient use of water.
      In Bangladesh rice paddies double as fisheries, with results so successful they are being implemented in other countries.
      British researcher Jules Pretty of the University of Essex studied the use of sustainable agricultural solutions in 52 countries where the cost of high tech solutions is too expensive for most farmers. His analysis of more than 200 projects has shown that innovations like the above have increased average crop yields by 73 percent, with no peripheral damage to people or the environment. He notes that such projects are “cheap, use locally available technology and often improve the environment. The solutions most help the people who need help the most -- poor farmers and their families, who make up the majority of the world's hungry people.” - Jane Hersey, Pure Facts newsletter, The Feingold Association.

UPDATE: AFGHANISTAN
Factions Turn in Their Weapons -- Students Return to Classrooms
(www.goodnewsnetwork.org)

Children - both boys and girls - returned to school in massive numbers around Afghanistan. Nearly 1.25 million children are now attending school in 20 provinces, according to preliminary data collected from two thirds of the country, covering some 2,744 schools. UNICEF believes that the final number of children in the classroom will exceed all expectations. 30% of pupils now attending school are girls. Enrollment of girls prior to the Taliban era was negligible. Over 27,000 teachers are back in school. 36% are women. (07/02) United Nations Children's Fund
Three Afghan factions began turning over their weapons in the first voluntary disarmament exercise ever in the country. In a process supervised by Afghan elders, the weapons are being delivered to collection points, registered and kept under guard by appointed leaders of the three factions. The district has been the scene of four separate conflicts over the past six months. The United Nations reports unanimous public support for expanding disarmament in the region. (July 18) www.un.org/news
(Afghan reports submitted by http://www.goodnewsagency.org/ Editor- Sergio Tripi, Rome, Italy)

Prediction in Astrology

On Tuesday 19^th August, 2003, two massive bombs were detonated in Baghdad and Jerusalem, wiping out around fifty people altogether, including the ‘best and brightest’ of the UN political wing, led by Sergio De Mello.

The astrological indicators for these events are worth looking at in retrospect, to give us an idea of the patterns that were triggered. Some ask that if astrology is about prediction, why cannot these events be continually foretold? They are sometimes, but the fact remains that there are many trigger points that occur everyday and in many nations. The sheer amount of number-crunching to keep tabs on all those possiblities, is astronomical if you will excuse the pun. Even if predictions are made, is that going to be useful or prevent nations and individuals from taking predicatable actions – albeit based upon their free will? Maybe, maybe not.

Individual astrologers who keep abreast of what is occurring in the charts of a few nations or individuals frequently do make predictions – for negative and positive outcomes, though this is only a part of astrology. Prediction based upon future transits and progressions triggering birthchart patterns, and upon the probability of past behaviours of that entity, can be fairly accurate.

Of course this brings up the factor of free will and the fact that an entity can choose to manifest their destiny as they please. Yet because we are so slow to change, astrologers can predict with some certainty the outcome of a transit upon a horoscope.

With a difficult transit, less fatalistic astrologers are not going to box their clients in to some unredeemable situation, and will stress the need of being able to make a free choice. Yet at the same time, to point out to the client that they may have to put a little more work than usual into a challenging situation – of moving from where they have been, to some new place where they could be. This takes courage and is never the point of least resistance for most.

What is this inability and slowness to change? Consciousness that emanates from the will of the soul must find a form in which to express itself and function; hence the mental, emotional and physical forms which are the sum of personality, that relatively integrated entity which functions as an expression or executor of soul purpose.

It is these old patterns within these elements of personality which have crystallised to such an extent that change is slow or non-existent. These ABC’s of occultism are an important reminder to us that crystallisation eventually shatters and that there comes eventually a complete ‘breakdown’ allowing change to occur – quite often painfully and traumatically.

Israel and Palestine

Old behaviour patterns are most marked in the Middle East, in both the Israeli and Arab worlds. Looking at the bus bomb in Jersualem on August 19, 2003, there are the most intransigent elements being triggered again. For a review of the Israel Palestine conflict, please see a previous essay on the subject: www.esotericastrologer.org\EAessaysPGL6.htm#ACS

Entity	Sun	Moon	Prog. Sun
Israel	23 Taurus 59
Palestine Proclamation 1988	22 Scorpio 52
Palestine Autonomy 1994	13 Taurus 40		21 Taurus 20
Sharon		25 Taurus 35	20 Taurus 23
Arafat		22 Taurus 31

In the above tabulation the Taurus/Scorpio axis is most marked, paricularly around 25 degrees Taurus. On Tuesday at 9.00 pm the Moon at 23 Taurus 16 was the trigger for the blast, falling right on Israel’s Sun, Sharon and Arafat’s Moons, etc etc. The same degree of fixedness is demonstrated once again – monotonously!

The transiting Moon was also squaring transiting Sun Venus and Jupiter, which were all hovering around Israel’s natal Mars; in other words the Sun square Mars aspect was ‘set off’ from either end of the square.

The Sun is the expression of the personality in esoteric astrology, and any planet aspecting it will colour that personality. In Israel’s case you have an entity with a war-like personality. Bear in mind that this Sun-Mars configuration was present on the day that Israel proclaimed herself a nation in 1948. This incurred the wrath of the Arab world and immediately she was plunged into her first crisis as the Arab nations unsuccessfully attacked her.

As Mars (ruler of the sixth ray) is in Israel’s seventh house of relationships, the challenge of this square aspect is to enter into right relations with her neighbours through negotiation and the adoption of peaceful attitudes. A difficulty that prevents this from occurring can be seen in her Moon-Pluto-Saturn conjunction on the cusp of the seventh house, giving much national pride and a somewhat ruthless outlook on relationships. As Israel moves into her second Saturn return in 2006, these issues will demand attention. Of course the Islamic Jihad of Hamas has much to answer for, intentionally breaking the accord and slowing down the peace process.

So Israel’s Sun-Mars square was activated again on Tuesday, and Israel responded militarily to the Palestinians by blowing up a Hamas leader. Hence the peace talks are off and its back to the old cycle for both sides – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. What will it take to break this pattern?

Several hours earlier than the bomb in Jerusalem described above, with the Moon about two degrees earlier in Taurus, a large UN contingent headed by Vieira Sergio de Mello was wiped out by a truck bomb. Kofi Anan, paraphrased from a news bulletin, said: “Words cannot describe the agony that we feel in our souls”. The UN Secretary General went also said: "The loss of Sergio Vieira de Mello is a bitter blow to the United Nations and to me personally. The death of any colleague is hard to bear, but I can think of no one we could less afford to spare than Sergio."

Indeed, Anan must be feeling somewhat in his darkest hour, reflected perhaps by his progressed ‘balsamic’ Moon moving back to conjoin his natal Sun in the next three months. This is always a period of groping one’s way through the dark before the light of the new moon phase kicks in. He had chosen de Mello not only for his skills as a diplomat and multi-lingual abilities, but primarily because of his compassion.

De Mello (15 March, 1948, Rio de Janeiro - time unknown) was born with the Sun in compassionate Pisces, and had been involved with many UN missions around the world, most notably the recent East Timor crisis where he is fondly remembered and sadly missed.

For a midday chart he has the Moon in Taurus, in fact it would still be in that sign for any time of that 24 hour period. A Taurus Moon is one of fixed determination and a formidable force, shared also by Arafat and Sharon. His friend, Kofi Anan has five planets in Taurus, with Venus at 16 Taurus, perhaps giving us a hint as to the degree of De Mello’s Moon, and hence also the time of birth. If this is extrapolated then de Mello’s rising sign comes up as Aries, appropriate for a leader and trailblazer, although the opposite sign Libra the Peacemaker could well be the rising sign.

Sergio De Mello’s rays are definitely and obviously along the 2,4,6 line: The second ray of compassion and wisdom, the fourth ray of bringing harmony from conflict, and the sixth ray of devotion and idealism. Indeed, his dying message, among his last words to a rescue worker, "Don't let them pull the mission out", could be construed as a sixth ray ‘missionary’ statement. De Mello also expressed this sixth ray quality in his devotion to the UN and his boss, Anan. If he was Libra rising, co-ruler of the sixth ray, Neptune, would be conjunct the ascendant. This would have been a powerful astrological interface for a soul on the sixth ray.

His Pisces Sun is a conduit for the sixth ray and square second ray co-ruler Jupiter in Sagittarius. This could give a powerful expression if he had a second ray personality, but his character would have to be studied a little more in depth than this overview.

Similar to Israel, his Taurus Moon is square to Mars in Leo. De Mello lived and worked in many dangerous war-torn, Mars-ruled areas of the world, and it is said that he had a great reluctance to go to Iraq, perhaps sensing his fate.

The third ray seems also to present with de Mello’s high educational achievements and linguistic abilities.

In the space of a few hours in the same part of the world, two leaders from different ends of the spectrum were killed – one a terrorist Hamas leader, and the other a person committed to reconciliaton and peace.

As an entity the UN has been discussed before.
(See www.esotericastrologer.org\EAessaysPGL9.htm ) There are two major charts: a more esoteric horoscope for the convening of the UN at the Wesak full moon of 1945, and an exoteric one for October 1945. Both charts have Saturn in Cancer.

The UN Convening chart (25 April 1945 – Taurus full moon) is currently undergoing its Saturn return, starting in July 2003 through to May 2004. Natally, Saturn in Cancer relates to responsibilities for the Family of Humanity, most apt for such an organisation. The most challenging aspect Saturn makes in this chart is its square to Neptune in Libra. Neptune is the soul ruler of Cancer, and placed in Libra relates to the ideal vision of right human relationships being established and birthed.

Hence the Saturn return of 2003 is going to trigger this major natal factor which relates to Cancerian themes of nurturing and compassion. Saturn also sextiles the Sun in Taurus –Taurus has been prominent in many horoscopes in this current newsletter. The Taurean influence with Saturn gives a persistence and determination – remember this Taurus Sun position was that of the Wesak full moon in 1945, when the whole Hierarchy deliberately focused their intention through the UN conference in San Francisco.

It is said that Taurus rules the world aspirant – Humanity, and the opposite sign Scorpio rules the world disciple. The Path of Aspiration is trodden before the Path of Discipleship, although from one point of view we are all aspirants.

The exact time of the Saturn return determines a horoscope that shows general trends for the next 28 year Saturn cycle. For July 21^st, 2003 the Sun and Venus are also in Cancer, strengthening this theme, and the Moon in Taurus almost at the same position of the natal Taurus Sun. Leo is rising conjunct the degree of the fixed star Regulus, intimately associated with the Greater Plan as it emanates from Sirius. Currently Jupiter, in its 12 year cycle, sits on this degree also, perhaps magnifying the situation of the UN, yet broadcasting its great benficence upon the Earth.

Phillip Lindsay © 2003

Also on the news recently, computer viruses multiplying at a rate never seen before, with predictions by analysts that worse is yet to come. Some experts believe that it is the work of organised crime, saying that the viruses are amongst the cleverest and most devious they have seen. As related before in other essays, the world wide web is the province of the third ray, indeed, the externalised mental body of Humanity.

The first transmission horoscope for the ‘Arpanet’ (22:30, October 29, 1969), precursor to the internet, has Cancer rising with Moon in Cancer sextile a Taurus Sun, no doubt emphasising the labyrinthine third ray nature of the net. Saturn will be proceeding through the twelfth house of ‘hidden enemies’ for the next two years and may well reflect some of the ‘viral infections’ arising from human consciousness – externalised as viruses.

Phillip Lindsay © 2003

Far right-ish Australian politician, Pauline Hanson (27 May, 1954, Brisbane. 3.10 pm), was jailed for three years last week for fraud involving campaign funds. Ironically, many of her former opponents have said that the sentence was too tough. Hanson experienced a breakdown on her first night in prison and was under medical supervision in the prison hospital.

Hanson is fairly Saturnian in that she has Saturn in Scorpio exactly conjunct a Scorpio ascendant. Her hardline stance on immigration and Aborigines, as well a recent push for tougher sentencing within the legal system seems to have rebounded upon her.

Saturn, the keeper of the law was not surprisingly, prominent by transit, along with progressed Mercury, in their opposition to Hanson’s Mars in Capricorn. As Mars is the exoteric and esoteric ruler of her Scorpio Ascendant, this transit is a most important soul opportunity. Her progressed Moon in Capricorn points to emotional isolation and/or incarceration, and was conjunct her north node, a somewhat ‘fated’ aspect.

Her progressed Sun in Cancer is in the late ninth house of legal matters, conjunct her midheaven, giving much public prominence. As the progressed Sun is also square to Neptune in the twelfth, she may well be made, or make herself a martyr - even now followers and friends are exclaiming such. With the progressed Sun about to break into the midheaven and her tenth house and conjoin her progressed Uranus, she will probably be in the headlines for some time. Whether she has a major epiphany as a result of her experiences, time will tell.

Phillip Lindsay © 2003

To end on a lighter note, ‘flash mobbing’ which started earlier in 2003, is picking up in popularity around the world, with one latest stunt involving a 100 or so people turning up at a Macdonalds in Hong Hong and dancing in the restaurant for several minutes. Before bewildered mall security staff could do anything about it, the laughing crowd disappeared into the city.
Flash mobbing or ‘smart mobs’ could be quite liberating for many who feel the constraints of too many laws and conventionalities in modern society:
“Flash-mobbing, in case you aren't on top of the latest fad, is the sudden but orchestrated appearance of a crowd in a public place. The crowd acts out a loosely defined, often bizarre script and then abruptly disappears. Flash mobs could be considered part performance art, part guerrilla theater, part prank or part desperate cry for attention. Think of it as telephone-booth-stuffing for the 21st century.
And yes, the Internet has something to do with it. The mobs are created and coordinated by Web sites and chain e-mails forwarded to friends and fellow jokesters.” (Twin Cities flash-mobbing online: www.geocities.com/minneapolismob)
Identifying astrologically social phenomenons like this can be a bit of a challenge, but one obvious one that comes to mind is Uranus in Pisces – ‘flash’ (Uranus – sudden, quirky and innovative), mobbing (Pisces – mass, theatrical). There are many people who take this as just fun and others who see it evolving into something culturally or politically useful. Uranus’s transit through Pisces for the next seven years may yield the full potential of this phenomenon.