Skyscript Newsletter #12 - September 2023

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#12 September 2023

Newsletter Edited by Deborah Houlding

The Sun is in Virgo www.skyscript.co.uk/virgo.html

– Contents – • Skyscript News & Developments • Respect to Hamish Saunders & the Pioneers of Astrology House • Leaders needing Lawyers?

• Mercury in Virgo & the Mysterious Woman in the Sky • Parsley & Virgo • Libra Ingress Charts • AI Rising: is artificial shaping … leading to Mercury Poisoning?

• Mysteries of the 9th House • Planetary Themes for September & October (& eclipse prelude) • Horary Judgement: A Question of Theft

Contributors: Abigail Joy • Jason Burns • Michele Debs • Dru Ish • Sheila Roher Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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Skyscript News – FORUM UPDATED! I breathe a sigh of relief as the internet remains in-tact following the Skyscript forum update. I was too busy to notice (Wade pointed out) that this occurred as the Sun entered Virgo, with Mercury conjunct my natal Moon (23°Ñ). Mercury then stationed on the trine of Uranus (23°Ä), which stationed itself the next day on the degree of my natal Sun. I expected some creases to need ironing out after the roll-out, but following a frantic week of tweaks, everything is fully implemented now and working well.

MERCURY & MOON AT ODDS OVER DAYS “One of the oldest mythological fables tells of Mercury playing at dice with Selene and winning from her the five days of the epact (thus totalling the 365 days of the year and harmonizing the lunar and solar calendars)”

The existing forum was so old that the sensible thing was to scrap it and start again.

But it held so much valuable content, contributed since 2003, which I didn’t want to lose. To update rather than replace meant the site platform needed shifting to the latest version of php architecture, with the knowledge that this would cause problems elsewhere. To implement safely, the whole site had to be replicated on a new server, where development work was trialled and tested out in various ways to discover the problems that would unfold in the wake of the change. There were many – we moved through plans A, B, C, before realising that a long route, D, was the only option left. We still have cosmetic enhancements and minor changes to make, but everything is functioning as it should, and the healthier architecture means paths are cleared to update content and navigation for the rest of the site more effectively now.

~ Richard Arnold Epstein Theory of Gambling & Statistical Logic, p.171 (The myth is related in Plutarch’s Isis & Osiris, V.12 and Ashton’s History of Gambling, intro., 1898.)

STA WORLD ASTROLOGY SUMMIT ONLINE CONFERENCE

In association with Skyscript

Sat 23rd & Sun 24th Sept, 2023

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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Not a bot, wot?

The timing of the server update was out of my hands. I hadn’t planned the forum rollout to happen as Uranus and Mercury stationed on my Sun and Moon – that’s a wave you have to ride; you can’t control it. The crazy configuration manifested as shock, as I watched hundreds of new forum account requests flood in after the update. I manually checked and authorised each new account, so it was total overwhelm. In panic, I disabled new account creation while I worked out what was happening.

All but two of nearly 500 registration requests that came in over three days were generated by Bot Farms, a vivid example of Dru’s point in this issue about the rampant intrusion of uncontrolled AI. Bot Farms profit by creating fake social media accounts to create a fake sense of online presence for fake IDs that serve political or commercial agendas.

If you want to exert a social media influence (and are willing to pay a premium), these farms guarantee a voluminous, supportive following.

The top end of this shabby industry – used to sway political opinions, create new fashions or get headlines in papers – rakes in millions.

Some of their fake IDs are painstakingly manufactured, displaying detailed life histories and showing active social media involvement in many issues (so they don’t appear single-focused when activated to champion the point they seek to push). For every carefully customised account, another hundred will be created with less care; these exist simply to echo, giving the pretence of mainstream support to the point being made by the crafted account. Bot Farms run automated programs that get masses of fake accounts listed on all SM apps, and they also target community forums because the more illusion they can give to their phoney accounts being ‘present’ across the web, the harder it is to differentiate bogus accounts from those of real people. I didn’t have this problem before – the old forum code was so outdated, it blissfully fell off the radar of the Bot Farm code.

The companies operating Bot Farms are the same ones that pursue the scourge experienced by myself and many other astrologers lately, where astrology SM media accounts are duplicated by scammers who steal our identities and tout for business in our names, supported by fake testimonies and reviews provided by fake satisfied customers. It was a shock to witness first-hand just how prevalent this issue has become. It is also disturbing to realise that Facebook and other SM media platforms are not simply failing to respond to this issue, but instead seeking to normalise expectation of it, indeed, finding ways to profit from it (bots inflate member numbers and perceived activity, boosting ad revenue and satisfying stakeholder demand for quarteron-quarter user growth).

It is estimated that about 40% of all SM accounts are fake, and around 90% of all new Facebook accounts are created by bots (my experience was 99.6%). According to the Tech giants it’s impossible to solve the problem of account verification. Of course, it’s not, it’s just impossible to affect the numbers without affecting the numbers. The objective for Skyscript is quality, not quantity, so the problem was easily resolved by eliminating reliance on automation. I removed Captcha and forms of image verification (bots sail past those) and ask new users to check the forum policies page and report a word displayed at the top of that page. Bots don’t know how to do something they are not coded to do.

A Uranusy-Mercury revealed the problem but it also provided the answer: where there is an overwhelm of mindless automation, power is had in being a little different. Set against the gushing uptake of AI, perversion, or refusal to be predictable, is set to be where value lies.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

MERCURY & VENUS DEFLATING EACH OTHER

“Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies, and Venus sets, ere Mercury can rise” That lovely snippet comes from Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the English satirist whose Essay on Criticism gave us “to err is human, to forgive divine” and “A little Learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring” (Pierian Spring: mythical source of occult knowledge) The `-_ quote comes from Pope’s ‘Imitation’ of Chaucer’s Wife of Bath.

Chaucer’s original (below) explicitly references the planetary exaltations, mirroring the 2nd-century account of Antiochus that Venus exalts where Mercury falls (ä), and Mercury exalts where Venus falls (Ñ), because Mercury is “master of arguments” while Venus oversees “desire and intercourse”. So “where the intellectual increases, desire and pleasure in intercourse is depressed.

And where the … pleasurable is exalted, there the intellectual is depressed” (Thesaurus, ch.7).

Here (slightly modernised) is the passage relayed by Chaucer: The children of Mercury and of Venus Are in their working full contrarious Mercury loves wisdom and science, And Venus loves riot and expense.

And, because of their diverse disposition, Each is fallen in the other’s exaltation.

And thus, God knows, Mercury is desolate In Pisces, where Venus is exaltate, And Venus fallen where Mercury raised.

Therefore no woman by a clerk is praised The clerk, when he is old, and cannot do Of Venus works with his old shoe (penis) Then he sits down, and writes in dotage That women cannot keep their marriage!

The Wife of Bath; Her Prologue (l:369)

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Check your forum membership

Next step: SSO (Single Sign-On)

Reflecting on the spambot kerfuffle and the urge to root out insincere memberships, testifies to the value of the Skyscript forum. It is unique as a place where informative, ‘of the moment’ astro-discussion can be civilly entertained, free of character limits, commercial angles, ardent affiliation with particular branches or schools of astrology, or spammy manipulation, whilst moderated by informed practitioners willing to act as sentinels for the subject and guides for new students.

Thank you everyone for supporting the site with a membership of Patreon. This is extremely valuable although Patreon is not the ideal long-term solution for hosting membership, facilitating discussion or sharing resources among us. With the site platform updated we can move towards hosting everything on-site, providing a single sign-on experience. This will give easy access to all resources and improve on the notification and discussion facilities of Patreon.

I can’t think of anywhere else where informative discussion can be shared and developed communally, then easily referenced at a later date so easily. There is still work to be done, including pruning out weeds in some of the older memberships and the older pointless posts, but now that the forum includes an easy ability to upload charts and diagrams it is clearly a community space worth polishing.

Do you have an active forum membership? If not, please be willing to create one. Why? See right è

It will take time to roll this out, so please don’t cancel your Patreon membership or worry about renewing your subscription with them – carry on as usual; all will be seamlessly rolled over in time. If you have an existing forum account you obviously want the same login to work across everything, so I’ll contact each of your personally over the upcoming months to check this. Other than confirming whether you already have a forum account or not, you won’t have to do anything.

So this is just a heads up – now forget all about it.

Might you feel inclined?

UPCOMING PRESENTATION Monday 4th September 2023

As we move to the next stage of site development, I’ll be looking to increase community involvement, and build a task force and steering committee to help secure the site’s long term future.

I would love to hear from anyone who feels motivated to offer any kind of help or voluntary support. There’s a wide range of tasks that could be allocated: I would like to see certain sections of the site falling under the eye of appointed custodians, and aim to establish at least three moderators for each section of the forum (so the task is light and enjoyable for all). With the plan to introduce audio and video content, anyone with experience and time to spare for video, soundediting, or recording article voice-overs is keenly welcomed.

THE STANDING OF PRESBYTERY: What it was & why it mattered

Or maybe you have ideas and skills that could aid the newsletter production, would like to help out with translation projects, or feel up for proof-reading or contributing a column?

The strapline for Skyscript is “Written by Astrologers for Astrologers” and my task will not be complete until I know the site is assured of a long term future without my presence, safeguarded by astrologers who care about the internet presentation of astrology as much as I do.

If you feel moved to volunteer in any capacity please get in touch, and do make suggestions freely or let me know the kind of thing you would be up for. This is open brain-storming stage so no idea is off the table.

I’m not quite ready to allocate tasks yet, but it would help tremendously to know who out there has ideas or might be willing to get more actively involved.

Most horary astrologers are vaguely familiar with William Lilly’s horary ‘If Presbytery shall stand?’ but few know the historical background of the issues asked about, or fully appreciate the intricate points of art detailed in this judgement. Tune in to find out why it was this prediction that rightly secured Lilly’s reputation as the most gifted astrologer of his era.

Start: 3 pm UTC – New York: 11 am | London: 4pm [check other local times on this link] duration ≈ 75 mins

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

Respect to Hamish Saunders & the Pioneers of Astrology House, NZ The astrological community lost a light this month when Hamish Saunders died, aged 66, after developing a rampant form of Cancer. Hamish is known to many as the developer (along with Angela Thomas and Mark Griffin), of Janus Astrology Software, a product of Astrology House, Auckland, a vibrant centre of astrology since 1980, which established the Astrology Foundation Inc. (AFI) in 1983 as ‘A Society of Friends Setting Standards in NZ Astrology’.

Many of today’s astrologers have benefitted, knowingly or unknowingly, from the work of Hamish and Astrology House, especially those of us interested in judicial or traditional techniques. For years, I recommended my students to work with Janus, as it was the only software fully catering to the needs of horary and electional astrology, and the first to introduce a host of features that facilitated traditional techniques.

If other software developers then followed suit, it was because Janus was willing to set the lead and develop for that market when that market wasn’t worth the cost of the investment. This was largely steered by the will of Hamish, who was so much more than a software developer: practising astrologer, a very energetic and active astrology teacher and community builder, society president, lecturer and journal

editor. Head tutor of the New Zealand College of Astrology (19881999) and president of the AFI (1988-2005), he was an engaging international conference presenter and frequently on TV and radio.

This is why Janus was designed to be economical yet feature-rich – this software was only one of many ways Hamish dedicated himself to the needs of committed astrologers, being as passionate about the subject as anyone. Unlike some of today’s dominating astrology apps (which seem to be propelled by ‘Wallstreet’ motivation), Janus was built and steered by a small, friendly team of practicing astrologers whose ethos centred on being helpful and approachable, rather than socialmedia-loud, with an impetus that came from being genuinely invested in their astrological community.

Hamish first started studying astrology in 1973, at the age of 15.

His formal studies spanned the Medieval Astrology course of Robert Zoller, and Reinhold Ebertin’s Cosmobiology (as taught by his close friend and colleague Doris Greaves and his inspirational mentor Owen Avis, who helped establish Astrology House, and whom he always spoke about with the greatest respect).

Hamish combined astrological wisdom with a deep interest in the Eastern traditions of Zen, Buddhism and Taoism, and he was a dedicated practitioner of yoga and meditation,

Above: a youthful Hamish (right) with Mark Griffin (left) and the late Owen Avis (centre), founders of the AFI along with Angela Thomas, who became an integral part of the team.

The natal chart replicates that provided by colleague Peter Burns on Facebook (18 August).

I am informed that Hamish passed on 11th August; at that time transiting Mars (19°Ñ) opposed natal Mars, and 6th-ruler Saturn (5°ä) exactly conjoined the natal 8th house cusp.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

essentially seeing astrology as a tool to increase self-awareness so people could make better-informed choices.

I presented at Astrology House a few times in the 1990s and resided with Hamish and Angela in NZ as well as hosting them as guests here in Britain.

I was fortunate to count him a friend.

He was amusing, wise, warm-hearted, generous and lovely; a truly sincere and ethical person who walked the walk about living in a state of activated consciousness.

Hamish was perfectly balanced by his life partner Angela (the most aptly named person I ever met). Heartfelt sympathies go to Angela, his friend and business partner Mark, and all his friends and family, with good wishes for the continuation of Astrology House and the future development of Janus. I would expect that at this sad time, technical support response may be impeded, but I have heard that the Janus software will be continuing and is, in fact, about to release a major update with the launch of Janus 6.

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CHARTS TO NOTE

LEADERS NEEDING LAWYERS? Back in June, Jason nudged us to keep our eyes on Venus. Her “prolonged sojourn in Leo brings focus to flaming Venusian issues for the rest of the summer – women’s issues, relationships between nations, arts and leisure industries, &c, – all such concerns become exposed and entrenched under the diurnal, fixed and fiery theme of Leo” (#9, p.20).

Leo is the sign of leadership, and the symbolic themes of Venus include gifts, and sensual indulgences and extravagances which turn to greed, indolence and over-indulgence, with a failure to be responsible and circumspect when Venus is strong yet lacking dignity.

Venus has been hovering around the square of Jupiter, the planet of justice, for most of the time it has tarried in Leo, firing up a surge of legal challenges against high-ranking figures in ways that play out this ‘seedyside-of-Venus’ theme.

The first perfection of this square, on the 11th June this year (` at 5°É37, h at 5°Ä37), brought a riveting week of leaders being formally charged or held to account for past digressions. In the UK, Boris Johnson (view chart) ended his parliamentary career on 12 June, when he resigned rather than face the penalties of a Parliamentary investigation into Partygate. This found he had lied as Prime Minister, so was recommending a 90-day suspension and removal of his Parliament pass.

Johnson has a combust Venus ruling his Libran midheaven and the Partygate scandal caused his resignation as British Prime Minister last year, when he lost the support of his party for being too much of a ‘party member’ (most crucially, during the height of the Covid pandemic, as his own residence continued to host weekly ‘wine-time Fridays’ and boozy socials while he was instructing the nation to lockdown and isolate).

News of Johnson’s departure came only one day after Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland between 2014 and 2023, was arrested by police investigating misuse of the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) finances; specifically: what happened to £660,000 of donations given to the SNP to help fund a future independence campaign? On the day of Sturgeon’s arrest, 11th June, police seized a £110,000 luxury motorhome from her mother-in-law’s home.

Sturgeon denies all fishy ‘goings on’ and there has since been curious media interest concerning her relationship with the previous First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, long-time leader of the SNP before Sturgeon, who had been his deputy, took over.

This pair dominated Scottish politics for more than a decade when they led the (unsuccessful) campaign for Scotland’s independence from the UK. Once viewed as a match made in heaven, Salmond was forced to resign after Sturgeon brought public attention to sexual harassment claims made against him in 2017 and initiated harsher government policies on those issues.

He denied the allegations but was later charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault. This ended Salmond’s political career, though he maintained his innocence and was later cleared of all charges in a High Court case that concluded on 23 March 2020.

Arguments that Sturgeon should be spared trial by media are undermined by the judicial review into her government’s handling of the investigations into Salmond, which was found to have been unlawful, unfair and “tainted by apparent bias”. Sturgeon and Salmond both have Venus afflicted natally, and interesting synastry whereby Salmond’s JupiterUranus conjunction enlivens Sturgeon’s Sun, but they bring each other down through opposing Saturns.

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At the same time in the US, Donald Trump was indicted by the Department of Justice on charges relating to mishandling classified documents. On the 13th June he became the first former US president to face federal charges. That these concerned retention of national defence information smacked of Venus payback given how the prosecutors cited his remarks during his presidential campaign of 2016 when he demanded (through chants of “lock her up”) that Hillary Clinton be charged with similar crimes for storing classified information on her personal email server.

The mythic drama playing out around Trump means he now faces over 90 criminal counts, and could face hundreds of years in prison (more about his chart on p.31). Trump denies all charges, claiming them to be part of a massive, politically motivated fraud, designed to block his return to the presidency, and extending from the workings of an “illegal Kangaroo court”.

A “Kangaroo Court and Biased Judge” was also the response of Imran Khan’s political party in Pakistan, when the ex-Prime Minister (2018-2022) was handed a 3-year prison sentence on corruption charges in August and barred from contesting a political election for 5 years, after failing to declare money earned from selling gifts received in office. The gifts – reported to be worth about £500,000 – included Rolex watches, a ring and a pair of cuff links. “His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt”, Judge Dilawar wrote in his ruling, whilst outside the courthouse, pro-government demonstrators chanted “your show is over Khan”.

Except the extraordinary show of Oxford-educated past-cricket star Khan is far from over; with Mars about to transit his stellium in Libra, expect more drama and tussles with the military-controlled government of Pakistan to reach headlines throughout September, as opposing factions pull judicial strings in all directions to keep him in or out of custody.

The latest twist is that Khan’s 3-year-sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court on 29 August, which should have seen his release, except a new case

was immediately brought against him, so he is retained in custodial remand on charges of leaking state secrets.

This latest, ‘cypher-case’ relates to a diplomatic document that went missing whilst in Khan’s possession and has since been used as evidence that a US-led conspiracy with Pakistan’s powerful military was used to oust him from his presidency. Keep your eye on this one; it is likely to get even more dramatic and very international. The Jupiter end of the transiting Venus-Jupiter square falls on Khan’s natal Jupiter (which disposes his fiery Mars) as he battles the justice system. The end of December this year looks critical, as he experiences a Mars return as transiting Jupiter stations on his natal Moon whilst retrograde Uranus transits his natal Jupiter.

A different kind of leader, Luis Rubiales, President of the Spanish Football Federation, faces fury and uproar after his World Cup Final unsolicited kiss of team player Jenni Hermosa became women football’s #MeToo moment amid claims of her being assaulted. With only a noon chart for Rubiales (23 Aug 1977; Las Palmas, Gran Canaria) we see Saturn opposing the degree of his Sun (0°Ñ14), where it stations in early November.

There was something about the commencement chart for that match which made me unable to judge if it favoured the British team (the Lionesses – surely Venus in Leo speaks their name?) or the Spanish team (the Red Furies – Mars angular, squaring the MC screams fury in its grand trine with Uranus and Pluto); either way female “uproar and fury” is evoked in this chart.

With the commenced angles so focused on end degrees my ‘family prediction’ was I had no idea who would win but something controversial was set to happen at the end of the match; it was all about endings. Family pahhhed as the match ended without incident – but the real spectacle was about to begin and is captured by the Moon of this chart. I don’t see this one settling down anytime soon.

Vv DH

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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_= MERCURY IN VIRGO & the Mysterious

Woman in the Sky by

ABIGAIL JOY

www.seebystarlight.com

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SEEBYSTARLIGHT.COM

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It is somewhat paradoxical that while Mercury is the only planetary deity that is explicitly hermaphrodite, its sign Virgo is the only member of the zodiac whose imagery is explicitly gendered. A young woman, Virgo is typically depicted holding a sheaf of wheat or corn. The seed in the grain is held outside her body, instead of the seed of impregnation being contained within.

Rather than bearing children, Virgo expresses fertility in agricultural production. She is the celestial prototype for women who are focused on careers or externally expressed creativity.

Ancient authors also associate Virgo with physical fertility. Valens assigns the belly and internal reproductive organs to this sign1 whilst “the womb with its contents” are attributed to Virgo by authors such as Al-Biruni.2 The connection between Virgo and the womb did not carry over explicitly into modern medical astrology, however, so today Venus (and ironically, Scorpio, the sign of Venus’ detriment) assume control of the reproductive organs, and we mostly associate Virgo with the intestines. Authors such as Lilly list Virgo among the barren signs when related to matters of pregnancy, which makes earlier connections of the womb with the childless Virgin seem strange.

It is worth considering that the word virgin became laden with connotations of chastity in the medieval period, so modern use of the word may not convey its more ancient implication. The Latin virgo feminises vir, the word which describes a virile man – someone vigorous, creative and potent; so originally, this word and its equivalents appear to have simply implied a healthy and virile young maiden, whether sexually active or not.

Still, over time the word acquired strong symbolic resonance with self-contained purity and abstinence from sexual union, so it is usually expected to depict a woman who has not given birth. This leaves us puzzling over how a sign labelling a pre-fertility stage of life development should be so closely associated with the female reproductive organs. What cultural and spiritual mysteries are being expressed?

To quote a 2,800-year-old prophecy, “behold: the virgin shall conceive”.3 Indeed, many myths across time and in various parts of the world echo this paradox. Zoroaster, Romulus and Remus, Garab Dorje, Jesus Christ, Quetzalcoatl, and the Yoruban Ẹq là are a few of many mythical figures claimed to be born from virgins. The religious significance of a virgin birth has been interpreted in many ways. In modern terms, it would be a miracle, since human parthenogenesis has never been observed. For some cultures, it might indicate parentage of lowly status, or a focus on purely spiritual pursuits instead of social attainment, since property and titles were usually passed down from the father. But what to conclude from the fact that this mythical motif has repeated so frequently over time? Is it connected to the constellation of Virgo?

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One of our earliest historical clues comes from the Ancient Egyptians. As mentioned in the recent Skyscript presentation by Roz Park, the heliacal rising of the fixed star Sirius coincided with the flooding of the Nile, which marked the beginning of their agricultural year. Their New Year might occur anytime between (what we call) July and September, so usually happened as the Sun traversed the constellation Virgo. This is the largest zodiac constellation, covering about 45° of the ecliptic, so it would have been prominent for much of the Egyptian flooding season. Thus, the mysterious woman of the sky oversaw the birth of the Egyptian agricultural year, with the rushing of river waters analogous to the gushing waters of childbirth.

The imagery does not stop there. Since a 360° circle does not exactly coincide with the 365 days of the year, the Egyptian calendar included five ‘extra’ days which marked the birthdays of their most prominent deities. These five days were placed at the beginning of their New Year, celebrated with great gusto and overseen, as mentioned, by the Virgin. The connection between the first days of Virgo and the birthdays of the gods and goddesses may be the origin of the many religious myths that claim certain deities to be born of a holy virgin. Virgo may not be a particularly fertile sign for humans, but she does give birth to gods!

Comparative size of the constellation Virgo (above) with neighbouring Libra (below)

The Egyptians honoured this religious significance in their mythologies of the Sphinx, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, which was revered as a mighty symbol of supreme royal power and wisdom. Once the Nile flooded, the planning of the upcoming year would begin, since farmers could not know how much seed to plant until they had assessed that year’s flood. The Pharaoh and all the city planners would need to be very involved with the decisions made around these matters since Egypt was a highly agricultural society. The Sphinx, representing the transition from Leo to Virgo, may have been related to the importance of careful, rational planning of the state’s domestic affairs.

While for the Greeks the Sphinx was usually a woman, for the Egyptians, the human side of the creature could be male or female. Many Pharaohs had sphinx statues carved for them, with their own faces placed on the head, indicating their oversight of the crucial workings of the kingdom. Of course, the Pharaoh was usually a man, but there were also prominent female Pharaohs. Queen Hatshepsut, who reigned as Pharaoh around 1480 BCE, had a sphinx in her tomb (shown below) which survived in especially good shape – like all pharaohs, she wore a ceremonial false beard to indicate royal authority.

The transition from Leo to Virgo is clearly represented in this image, and Mercury the hermaphrodite shows fluidity again, expressed as either gender. Whether man or woman, the broader mystical point of the Sphinx is that the rational mind (human head) manages the bestial nature (lion’s body). The millenniadeep, profound symbolism that a woman tames the beast and assumes a pinnacle of rationality seems glaringly apt; so much for the traditional sentiment that women are too emotional to rule!

Images of Hatshepsut as a sphinx (left) courtesy metmuseum.org, and as a seated statue (right) courtesy Wikimedia

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Today the mystical implications of the transition from Leo to Virgo survive in the Tarot card called ‘Strength’, in which a lion is shown tamed by a young woman. The passions of the heart, represented by Leo, can produce an excess of heat and irrational behaviours. These passions must be tempered by reason and earthly practicality, for our full humanity to emerge.

Remember from previous articles, Galen’s model of how the spirit or soul develops as it flows through the body – the ‘spirits’ produced in the heart rule the passions, and flow through the arteries. They eventually make their way to the brain, where they undergo their final process of purification and transform into the rational, fully-conscious mind.

Astrologically, this is reflected by the movement from the feral, bestial sign of Leo to the humane sign of Virgo. Mercury rules the rational processes that make us fully human and separate us from the animal kingdom. When the heart produces a roiling roar of directed desire, Virgo says, “hold on, it is not so simple.

Let us keep a cool head and analyze the complexity of this situation”.

Complexity is a good word for Virgo. Virgo rules the tangled intestines, which some scientists nickname ‘the second brain’ because they house so many nerves and produce a vast amount of neurotransmitters. In fact, the guts contain roughly 30 million more nerves than the spinal cord!

The intestines are the only organs capable of functioning independently when removed from the body and disconnected from the brain. (Please do not test that theory at home!) When Strength: Rider-Waite tarot deck (1909) people advise you to “go with your gut” this is not purely a figure of speech. In a way, the guts can literally think for themselves. Recent modern scientific explorations show the profound connections between mental health and gut health, which would have seemed absurd to scientists a few decades ago.4 And yet, these truths have always been available for the mystics who knew where to look. Virgo and Mercury’s rulerships over both the guts and the brain, and their associations with rational thought, are centuries old.

Notes & references: a Valens, V., Anthologies, (2nd c.); tr. M. Riley 2011; ed. Jane GCA, 2022 (online at Skyscript), p.187.

2 Al Biruni, Book of Instr. in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (1029, tr. R. Ramsay Wright, 1934), p.359.

3 Isaiah 7:14, KJV Bible. Probably written in the 8th c. BCE, but heavily editorialized during the Babylonian

captivity in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. For a fascinating look at the intersection of Jewish and Babylonian astrology, see Courtney Roberts’ book The Star of the Magi.

4 Clapp et al., ‘Gut Microbiota’s Effect on Mental Health: The Gut-Brain Axis’; C&P 7, 4 (Sep. 2017): 987.

5 See the Journal of Ethnopharmacology articles ‘Assessment of in Vivo Estrogenic and Anti-Inflammatory

Activities of the Hydro-Ethanolic Extract and Polyphenolic Fraction of Parsley’, Slighoua et al. (265, Jan. 2021: 113290) and ‘Antihypertensive Activity of Petroselinum Crispum through Inhibition of Vascular Calcium Channels in Rats’, Ajebli and Eddouks ( 242, Oct. 2019: 112039).

6 Munch and Barringer, ‘Deodorization of Garlic Breath Volatiles by Food and Food Components ….’; Journal

Abigail Joy is trained in Horary & Medical Astrology (STA) and Family Herbalism. She offers a practice aimed at client empowerment and finding joy. Find more of her work and services at:

seebystarlight.com

of Food Science 79, no. 4 (Apr. 2014): C526–33. Hildegard (next ref.) also noted: “one who is in pain from eating garlic, should soon eat parlsey, and he will have less pain”.

7 Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica: The Complete English Translation of Her Classic Work on Health and

Healing. Priscilla Throop, trans. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1998, p.42.

8 Felter and Lloyd, King’s American Dispensatory, vol. II, 3rd rev. (Ohio Valley Company, 1898), p.1454.

9 The properties are mainly in the oils of the plant, which don’t extract well in water, and are concentrated

mostly in the root and seeds, so normal doses of parsley leaves in food/tea are safe for pregnancy.

10 Sajjad, Y., ‘Development of Genital Ducts and External Genitalia in the Early Human Embryo’; Journal of

Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research 36, no. 5 (Sep. 2010): 929–37.

11 Nirumand et al., ‘Dietary Plants for the Prevention and Management of Kidney Stones …’; International

Journal of Molecular Sciences 19, no. 3 (2018): 765.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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Tying it together and bringing it to earth

I PARSLEY & VIRGO After such a wide-level inspection of historical tradition, let’s look at one small plant that embodies all these complicated concepts. Parsley is a Mercurial herb particularly beneficial for all the Virgoan processes described so far: intestinal digestion, tonification of the reproductive organs, and cooling mental clarity. The Latin name is Petroselinum, and several varieties are used in herbalism: P. crispum and P. sativum being the most common. Both the curly and flat leaf types are interchangeable in use. The leaves are excellent as a nutritive food, while the root and seeds are more potent medicinally.

Forget adding a tiny sprig as a decorative garnish – go ahead and chow down on this nutrient-dense leaf! It is high in iron, potassium, vitamin K, vitamin C, and many other important building blocks of good health. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and reduces blood pressure, which ties into the theme of Virgo cooling the excess heat of Leo’s heat.5 Famously, parsley supports healthy digestion in the intestines, keeping post-meal flatulence and bloating at bay.

Illustration adapted from Kohler’s Medicinal Plants, Vol II, 1883

Petroselinum purifies not only the winds below, but the upper winds as well. If you’ve gone a bit crazy in warding off vampires, and are now also warding off your friends with your garlic breath, Parsley can bring you back to your correct smell, because its enzymes metabolize the chemicals that cause that distinctive garlic odour (one of the practical reason why garlic butter is usually made up with chopped parley).6 Speaking of going crazy, Parsley may also help service the mind. Modern herbalists don’t usually think of parsley for mental problems but there are intriguing references in older texts pointing in that direction. Hildegaard von Bingen (who did not identify as an astrologer, so had no concern about fitting herbs to astrological theory) noted Parsley’s power to cool excess heat and restore rational clarity: “When it is eaten it attenuates the fevers which lightly touch a person when they strike him. Nevertheless, it generates seriousness in a person’s mind”.7 The calming and focusing effects on the mind may come from two essential oils in parsley, apiin and apiole which, according to the Eclectic chemists in the 19th century, have a stimulating effect on the cerebrum similar to coffee.8 No modern studies have sought to confirm this, and herbalists’ usage of Petroselinum for mental focus seems to have fallen out of fashion; nonetheless, it makes sense for a plant so strongly associated with Mercury and Virgo to be supportive of rational thought.

The essential oil apiole seems to be at least partly responsible for the fertility-controlling properties of Parsley.

In high doses, Parsley seed or root (not leaves) can induce abortion.9 Still, the paradoxical nature of Virgo as both barren and fertile is reflected in Parsley as well, since Parsley can help balance deficit hormones, which actually support a healthy reproductive system. Parsley is not hostile to the womb; in fact, at smaller doses, the seeds reduce heavy menstrual bleeding by tonifying (tightening and strengthening) the uterus. Parsley can tonify the reproductive organs of either sex, not just women. While it is often mentioned in old herbals as useful for drying up the milk of wet nurses to wean the baby, it is also noted for its ability to shrink swollen glands in men, which may refer to prostatitis or similar male conditions. Male and female reproductive organs are corollaries of each other in the same species, not completely distinct, so herbal actions in the bodies of one sex will be similar in the other.10 Most herbals note Parsley’s particular ability to increase urine output and reduce kidney stones, and this has been confirmed with modern studies.11 The mystical connection of Virgo as overseer of the flooding of the Nile matches Parsley’s diuretic effect, while her earthy nature keeps the body’s minerals in their proper places instead of accumulating where they ought not to be.

Like the earthy side of its ruler Mercury, Parsley is cold and dry. It keeps the body toned and tamed, with all organs, especially the reproductive organs, in their proper places. Petroselinum also seems to support the nerves and rational life of the mind. Honour the powerful, ancient woman in the sky by adding some Parsley to your dinner tonight! ? òòò Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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LIBRA INGRESS CHARTS If Putin’s data can be trusted, there’s an inverted MC-IC alignment between his and President Zelensky’s chart that is highlighted in the Libra ingress. Note how both leaders have Msm across Ö/â, disposed by Saturn, (exalt/ruler), which in both charts falls on Pluto in the other’s (also note the fiery trine between Putin’s Mars and Zelensky’s Saturn).

q

r

` is also caught between squares of h and - in the 7th, which it rules. All this centres on Putin’s natal h=(19°Ä44|) which is pivotal in his chart (grand trine with M-i and m/IC) and currently afflicted by - which stations upon it in Jan 2024. A summary judgement is that Putin becomes enmeshed in attempts to seek a more peaceful settlement, although the methods of diplomacy employed are subtle, sinister and potentially lethal.

The mirroring of the Russian ingress angles with Putin’s own angles adds to the ingress chart’s significance. The culmination of ` on the MC shows an autumnal period where diplomatic activity will supersede direct warfare – but note how `=acts as 12th-ruler (espionage) as well as ruling the 7th and 8th; and observe its sextile with asc-ruler c in the 12th house, which falls on Putin’s 12th house Saturn=(17°Ö) as well as Zelensky’s natal Pluto.

vvv DH

INTERNATIONAL L

INGRESS CHARTS

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AI RISING Is the artificial shaping of a real world leading to Mercury Poisoning ?

by DRU ISH

C

ollectively, we’re on the precipice of monumental change with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Where that change will lead us and how it will present is yet to be seen.

The only thing guaranteed is that it will be irreversible. Over the years technology has gravitated closer as it integrates into our physical bodies. Grandparents sat around gramophones listening to the cricket on Sundays. Parents watched TVs transition from black and white to colour.

Today, we walk around with computers at the end of our arms, while brain chips are developed on monkeys and Mars is being prepared for colonisation. AI is catapulting us: our future ancestors will live in a world we haven’t yet imagined. And what might we expect for astrology?

The rapid onset of technological growth and innovation via AI begs many questions about what consciousness and technology are, and what place meaning has going forward. For Astrologers, it positions us in vulnerable terrain. What is the function of the Astrologer when AI can read ancient texts, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and delineate with relative accuracy in seconds? As we collectively transition from the reliability of an Earth era into the intangibility of an Air era (within the h-i cycle), our long held safety nets no longer exist and fluctuation and change have become the new norm.

Writing this piece has inspired the horary astrologer in me. I have come to realise there are important questions to be asked about AI because of the lack of education and open discourse from governments, and governing bodies. Most people I talk to have heard of AI as a buzzword, but have little to no understanding about what it is, what it does, and what its real impact will be. Currently, we receive a trickle of information from developers, who cherry-pick what we’re exposed to and cast censorship around the rest. If AI impacts everyone on the planet, surely we should all get to decide what we consent to and what we put on the back burner? My hope is that this piece inspires questions in you, and discourse with others, so we consciously steer this ship to safety together.

The meaning of meaning – who decides?

Astrologers have long benefited from technology. The invention of the astrolabe, telescope, printing press, calculator, and more recently computer and software have all expanded our scope of possibility, while pushing us to fine-tune our expertise. Technically, AI should be good at astrology because at its core it is pattern recognition. But will it be good for the Astrologer? While the proliferation of AI has promised to remove ‘meaningless jobs’ it will inevitably leak into the meaningful, but who decides what is and isn’t meaningful? What AI does that differs from technologies of the past, is remove the need for the astrologer altogether.

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This poses endless philosophical questions pertaining to what divination is and what it requires, as well as an understanding of what technology and intelligence actually are. The etymology of technology comes from the Greek tekhnologia, meaning a systematic treatment of an art, craft, or technique, with the suffix teks meaning to weave or fabricate. According to Daeyeol Lee, intelligence leads to a notion of self. Is the universe aware of itself, and therefore the sky is a form of intelligence and technology, too?

The steep learning curve that took many astrology conferences online over the last couple of years allows far more access to people around the globe. It also signals the beginning of a new era. CoStar asserts that AI is the future of astrology. The app start-up installed a working AI astrological predictive machine in New York, in July 2023, that generates answers to pre-programmed open-ended questions. While AI is currently accessible via devices and headsets, it’s beyond doubt that delineation and prediction, as well as consultations and conferences, will change shape exponentially in the coming years. When there is the option of attending a lecture that uses either PowerPoint or an immersive AI experience, innovation will be the draw card for attendee numbers, placing pressure on astrologers to ‘keep up’ and engage with new technologies. We will potentially lose some valuable practitioners who don’t want to, or can’t, participate, and experience a new style of conference, or ways that we gather, as well as an increase in AI-generated astrology which presents new challenges with regard to ethics and their implementation.

Furthering the scope of meaning, death has been erased and synthetic eternity is now possible via AI. Padre Pio and St Frances are some of the Saints available for questions via GPT, while in Germany, the long held position of Priest as mediator between God and lay people was erased in June.

The reigns of Mass were handed over to ChatGPT who was instructed with prompts: “We are at the church congress, you are a preacher … what would a church service look like? …

Include psalms, prayers, and a blessing at the end.” The AI began its sermon with

“

Dear friends, it is an honour for me to stand here and preach to you as the first artificial intelligence at this year’s convention of Protestants in Germany…

… and continued the sermon with a focus on leaving the past behind, overcoming fear of death, and never losing faith. A digital human was displayed on screen.

Sorry, what?!

___________

Synthetic replication of organic life The introduction of new technology is oft met with resistance.

As a kid growing up in the 80s I recall the debate about the use of calculators. Some argued we were losing the skill of mathematics, others postulated it would be more important in the future to know how to use a calculator than to actually calculate. Turns out, both were true.

AI service: Fürth, Germany, created by ChatGPT

The bounds of AI, however, are undefinable, and the scope of change it will initiate is currently unknowable. This is potentially triggering great unconscious insecurity in us while simultaneously offering us immeasurable positive potential. As AI erodes boundaries across the personal, cultural, national, financial, spiritual and intellectual lines, we are experiencing a concurrent increase in the assertion of nationalism and personal identity. It is both a knee-jerk fear-based response to loss of identity, and a simultaneous statement about outdated limits and norms of a world we are rapidly leaving behind.

The synthetic replication of organic life that is AI confronts us to define aspects of our existence along a very broad spectrum, from morals and ethics, to faith, meaning and truth, questioning simultaneously our Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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origins and future evolution. While these theoretical debates continue, many remain unaware that AI, and the internet, requires mining for parts and massive physical banks to function and store all our data. The environmental devastation, coupled with the displacement and cultural erosion imposed on the landscape and its peoples is only hidden from view for some. The convenience we are getting accustomed to, while invisible, has a very real and tangible impact.

The fusion of robotics with the organic world is also expressing multi-directionally.

Robots are being created in the likeness of humans, while humans are fast losing organic functions such as critical thought, decision making and discernment.

Technology in and of itself is genderless, yet gender essentialism is repeatedly projected onto AI and ChatGPT while living, breathing gender non-conforming humans are denied autonomy outside the heteronormative framework.

First humanoid robot, Sophia, an Aquarian, activated 14 Feb 2016

We have clearly reached a significant turning point in our human evolution. Put into real-time context though, we currently live on a planet that is on fire, some people still don’t have access to clean drinking water, or the internet, and an increasing number of people cannot afford basic housing. The mass amount of energy and resources that is being funnelled into AI is astonishing. Where is the logic in creating new problems before dealing with the ones we already have? We cannot underestimate the potential for this to backfire on us royally. If AI has the potential to break Capitalism, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has suggested, what else will it break?

Sam Altman CEO of OpenAI has an interesting cui which picks up the Moon of the 2020 hoi= = = = The Dec 2020 ingress of the h-i ‘GC’ into Air was special: it fell in the 1st degree of â in an almost exact alignment (closest for 400 yrs) which occurred on the solstice, so the world marveled at what looked like a bright Christmas star

___________

AIR ERA: words no longer have to align with action AI exists today because your data has been scraped from the internet like a fishing trawler dragging a net along the bottom of the ocean. This creates an intrinsic moral dilemma whereby it’s impossible to interact ethically with AI, posing more questions about what ‘free’ actually means in a ‘free market’ (evident in Zoom’s recent messy Privacy Policy changes). Just as we don’t eat copious quantities of bottom feeding fish due to high levels of toxic mercury, the AI we’re currently offered has been built by both theft and potentially high levels of misinformation. This reinforces a powerlessness dynamic between us and the big-tech companies, and subsequently erodes trust whilst increasing the likelihood of frequency bias.

When fundamental breaches of our social fabric proliferate, truth is debated and AI could be used as a propaganda tool. It will be interesting to see which truth AI supports; If you believe the Earth is flat, will it reflect your truth, that of the developers, or its own?

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Social media, the most recent prolific form of technology we’ve been exposed to collectively, has had both positive and negative impacts, and yet we still do not have access to the algorithms that dictate trends and usage, and despite clear statistics about the negative impacts on certain demographics, it is increasingly part of our 21st century social and business life.

One of the most impressive aspects of AI is also, not surprisingly, the developers’ main selling point: speed.

We were sold the same story with the introduction of the internet: life would become simpler as technology would “take the jobs you hate to do”. Life hasn’t become simpler – it’s become increasingly fast.

The moments of stillness and silence required for personal recalibration and reflection are now easily filled with information consumption, scrolling, binge watching, notifications, and Zoom meetings where we only know each other from the shoulders up. We’re busier than ever with less parameters to define where play ends and work begins, and as a result we have higher than ever levels of anxiety and depression. The speed of AI will raise the bar again, forcing us to keep up and complete tasks in competition with something super-human. The replacement of ‘lower-level jobs’ by AI will inevitably not create more free time, it will instead create a new kind of labour.

The streamlining that accompanies speed also decreases the potential for coincidental magic to unfold.

When life is orchestrated by algorithms and manufactured experiences it rounds the edges of that which makes us unique, and we no longer benefit by learning from mistakes. There is no place for the uncomfortable terrain of shadow work, or the uncontrollable nature of grief and overwhelm when AI is curating life into a seamless, predictable landscape. We see this in urban gardens: weeds are often medicinal yet considered wild, untamed and in need of control. When AI is not open-source it is not free to co-create with us because we are only offered a deliberately manufactured garden to grow within. We are bound by the limits of what big-tech condones. AI has opened up massive debate about consciousness, what it is, if it’s possible for there to be other forms of it, and if AI itself is sentient, or conscious. To think that AI is only contained within the computer or device far underestimates the impact it is having.

___________

Life hasn’t become simpler – it’s become increasingly fast.

Astrology & the singularity timeline With enormous revenue attached to the advancement of AI, when ‘important people’ in the industry called for a pause of AI’s release & development, literally nothing changed. If they can’t stop it, who can? The speed at which AI is being developed and released means that the singularity timeline is moving closer and closer. With regard to technology, singularity is the point where AI supersedes us in intelligence. From that point onward it is uncontrollable and irreversible, and the technology will develop itself. In 2017, Sam Altman gave a 2025-2075 ballpark timeline, but since the release of ChatGTP late last year, he now predicts we will have super human intelligence by 2032. This makes Stephen Hawking’s prediction back in 2014, that AI could spell the end of the human race, seem eerily close. As Astrologers we can track this approaching timeline for when and how this occurrence may unfold.

The recent boom of AI is characteristic of the waxing phase within the long 20/200/800 year JupiterSaturn cycle. Initiated at the conjunction, the first 10 years tend to produce great advances in innovation that are driven by optimism and a desire to expand. At the midpoint opposition, Jupiter hands over to Saturn for a more sobering waning phase; fine tuning and reigning in the expanse: asserting the practicalities necessary for ideas to manifest with longevity. We’re currently in the third year of the current 20-year cycle that was seeded in the Air sign, Aquarius (chart, previous page). Technological advancement is pouring forth generously from the Water Bearer’s jug, impacting literally everyone.

Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius in March 2023 accelerated the waxing energies of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle, or Air era. Second to this, game-changer Uranus also amplifies the air triplicity when it moves into Gemini in July 2025, suggesting profound changes coming through the intangible realm of technology, information, learning and space travel. Being a principally eastern triplicity, this Air emphasis suggests we are in the youthful stages of growth with much moisture to foster rapid increase.

The current co-presence of Saturn and Neptune in Pisces perfects in a conjunction at 0° Aries in February 2026, on a point in sextile to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 2020. This initiating degree of the zodiac suggests a fresh start, new beginnings and a break with the past. Looking back to events of the previous

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Saturn-Neptune conjunction 34 years ago, there was a flood of consumers released into the global market as the iron curtain came down in 1989. Drug administration laws changed in the US, reinforcing the class divide between street drugs and prescription pharmaceuticals, while in China the Tiananmen Square massacre was erased from history by the CCP. The conjunction does not typically point to a time of optimism and buoyancy.

Saturn, with its excessive cold and restrictive nature expresses in direct conflict with the boundlessness of Neptune’s idealistic breaching of boundaries into the unknown. This combination of energies colliding corresponds to Sam Altman’s other prediction that we won’t know we’ve reached singularity when it occurs because there will be a gradual immersion and normalisation up until that point. Over the next 2 ½ years, as these two planets traverse the final degrees of double-bodied Pisces, in direct opposition to practical, data-driven Virgo, there is potential for us to experience a split, or division, whereby some opt-out and we live in a world of dual realities.

While we are in the early stages of exciting growth and innovation, some will benefit more than others from these advancements. This conjunction occurring at the ecliptic degree of fixed star Scheat suggests the possibility of a sense of drowning in the overwhelm as inequity is reinforced by furthering the gap between rich and poor, creating greater need for social services and mental health support. The distortion of reality that AI introduces poses great potential for collective depression and disillusionment, characteristic of Saturn-Neptune conjunctions, and existential crisis’.

___________

Sam Altman: “Only those who knew caution without fear made it through” (X, 14 May, 2021)

Bread & Circuses

Frequency bias - continual reinforcement of something, true or not; the frequency of hearing it reinforces the belief of truth.

Normalcy bias - the tendency to underestimate the likelihood or impact of a negative event. This prevents understanding of the seriousness of a crisis and can lead to the belief that nothing serious will happen, so we may not make appropriate preparations for a crisis or put ourselves at risk.

Jupiter-Saturn 20 / 200 / 800 year cycle: h and i meet by conjunction every 20 years. Every 240 years or so these conjunctions transition into new elements, in the order: Fire, Earth, Air, Water. A complete cycle of all four elements takes approximately 800 years.

Scheat – fixed star at 29°ä43.

Ebertin-Hoffman report of it: “…of accentuated Saturnian character.

Tied up with a malefic, this could lead the native to lose his or her life in a catastrophe such as a flood, ship-wreck, mining accident, airplane accident or maybe by suicide…. On the other hand, it is possible for a positive influence to emanate from Scheat, but only for some people and having an effect on their mental creativity if these people are ready to receive such an inflow….” – Fixed stars & their Interpretations (AFA, 1971), p.80.

As long as AI is presented to us as a toy with creative function, it will be impossible to retrieve from our grasp. Considering we know the workings of AI better than we know the workings of the human brain, it has the potential to help us know ourselves better, and expand our understanding of our place in the cosmos, too. For astrologers, this appears as a double-edged sword. While AI may revolutionise astrological organisations, and within that redefine ethics, the astrological community will have to decide where we remain flexible and where we draw the line. The choices we make in the coming years will be crucial for us as a community and profession, as well as for the planet. AI developers also need to be clear about their promises, and they need to be able to be held to account. Without transparency and open-access we cannot make informed choice, both, for us and future generations. With the Air era in full swing and innumerable channels for communication active and open, our collective voice may be the most powerful thing we have.

Dru is a consulting astrologer hailing from Melbourne, Bunurong country, with a specific interest in the intersections between astrology, technology, queer theory and pop culture. There is a very useful ‘Glossary of Terms’ of relevance to the use of AI on Dru’s website at: https://druish.com/ai-glossary/ Find more weird & wonderful things at www.druish.com

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Mysteries of the 9th House

by Sheila R. Roher, MPH astrologyforgrowth.com

Dreams as a Portal: A Case Study Title image shows detail from ‘Penelope’s Dream’ by John Flaxman (1805)

In astrological circles, the 8th, 12th and 4th houses are often considered the most mysterious houses. And yet, in practice, the 9th house can be utterly confounding and shocking. Given strong planetary placements, aspects and/or transits, engagement with the 9th house may force or inspire us to ask disturbing questions about the nature of reality and our participation in it.

T

raditional significations of the 9th house include long-distance travel (with the emphasis on ‘foreign’, leaving the familiar for the unknown), religion, law, medicine, and methods of divination (e.g., astrology, dreams, tarot, etc.) Most importantly, it is the house of god, of deity. (Sometimes, horaries concerning critical health situations may show the ill person entering the 9th house; s/he has ‘gone to God’.)

Sometimes, contemporary students of astrology view 9th house topics as a laundry list of unrelated concerns rather than a complex of related topics. Let’s take a hint from the 12th-century astrologer/scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra, who was a walking temple of 9th house concerns. He travelled widely and wrote extensively about matters of faith and Torah, astrology/astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and other sciences, all of which he identified as 9th house topics. He offers useful details about the study of sciences, noting:

“

The science of Saturn is measurements (geometry); the science of Jupiter is religions (philosophy); the science of Mars is medicine; the science of the Sun is the law; the science of Venus is music; the sciences of Mercury are the grammar of language, logic, philosophy and mathematics, and it partakes of all [the other] kinds of sciences; the Moon indicates knowledge of stories and tales.”1

Ezra reminds us that the sciences – like stories and tales, astrology and dream interpretation – are all organized human efforts to understand the mysteries of the universe. With its trine to the ascendant, 9th house matters offer the promise of illuminating our path. But it may come at a price, transforming our relationship with the world. What do you do when you encounter the 9th house in ways that shake your soul?

Consider this dream, reported by a 22-year-old man about his younger brother Henry. Sam, the older brother/dreamer, reports that he had

“

Seen Henry as a corpse. He lay in a metallic burial case. He was dressed in a suit of my clothing, and on his breast lay a great bouquet of flowers, mainly white roses, with a red rose in the center. The casket stood upon a couple of chairs.2

1 Avraham Ibn Ezra, Book of Nativities and Revolutions (12th cent.), trans. Meira Epstein (Arhat, 2008), p.62.

2 Quoted in Ron Powers, Mark Twain: A Life (Free Press, 2005), p.84.

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The dream was so vivid that, upon awakening, Sam got dressed and prepared to attend the funeral. He was out walking on the street before he realized it had been a dream. The dream affected him so deeply that he recorded it in his journal and spoke of it at the time to several relatives with whom he was living.

A few weeks later, Henry was mortally injured on a steamship due to a catastrophic boiler explosion. His brother rushed to his side in time for a last goodbye. When he entered the funeral room the morning after Henry’s death, he noted:

“

I recognized instantly that the dream of several weeks before was here exactly reproduced, so far as these details went—and I think I missed one detail, but that one was immediately supplied, for just then an elderly lady entered the place with a large bouquet consisting mainly of white roses, and in the center of it was a red rose, and she laid it on his breast.3

The specificity of matching details was stunning, including the fact that Henry wore a white suit of Sam’s (which Sam hadn’t known Henry had borrowed) and lay in a metallic coffin (unusual for the time, a gift from nurses who cared for Henry). Who could have such a precognitive dream about a brother’s death without inevitably asking uncomfortable questions about the nature of time, fate, and the power of dreams, to name just a few topics raised by Sam’s precognitive dream of his brother’s death?

Sam is Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known by his pseudonym Mark Twain. Celebrated as a satirist and comedian of the first rank, his life reveals a profound relationship with 9th house experiences and concerns that dominated his life and work. And his chart shows it!

Natal chart themes: 9th house emphasis Clemens’ chart is rated ‘C’ according to Astro Databank, the original source is now lost but portrait photographs (overleaf) show why the Scorpio ascendant seems appropriate and reliable. According to Lilly, Scorpio tends to give “a dusky, muddy complexion, and sad, dark hair, much and crisping, a hairy body”.4 Those born under Mars generally have “but middle stature”, again with ruddy complexions, and crisping, curling hair, and with a bold confidence (“the man active and fearless”) and sharp, piercing eyes, an occular feature apparent in all of Clemens’ photographs. He was reportedly 5' 8½" in height, lean and strong. Mercury rising and Jupiter trining the ascendant both suggest a high forehead and long visage – they typically add more height than Clemens had, but Scorpio, as a water sign, inclines towards the short or ‘squat’ to counter-balance. Clemens was born prematurely at seven months, and was a sickly child; indeed, health issues and concerns plagued him throughout his life.

Before diving into an exploration of his 9th house, let’s do a few broad stroke delineations of his chart: Mars and Jupiter run the show, with no planets in earth to weigh them down Using traditional rulers, six of the seven classical planets are ruled by Mars (R, _, i, plus ascendant) and Jupiter (M, c, and ` in á), with Jupiter in Cancer where it is exalted (so, more Jupiter!). The strong Jupiter theme emphasizes optimism and the search for knowledge and truth, while the Scorpionic side brings an equally passionate need to doubt, poke and prod towards a deeper understanding.

With all seven planets in water or fire, we can immediately see an adventurous, passionate man.

Like Zeus who seemed inexhaustible in his pursuits, Clemens lived many lives and experienced many career ventures: printer, steamship pilot, publisher, journalist, fiction writer, lecturer, inventor, and business entrepreneur. Mars and Jupiter in cohoots will always have another scheme or ambition up their sleeve. Clemens and Nikolas Tesla shared a decades-long friendship centered around their love of inventions and new frontiers in science. As Mark Twain, Clemens is remembered most today as the United States’ first celebrity writer/lecturer with an international following. (Even Sigmund Freud attended one of Sam’s performances in Vienna, and wrote a rave review about it to a friend!)

3 Ibid., p.90.

4 Lilly, W., Christian Astrology (1647; hereafter CA), p.43. References to Mars are from p.67, Mercury, p.78 and Jupiter, p.63.

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Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here –widely attributed to Twain,

source unknown

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Mercury rising plus Saturn in Scorpio: barbed tongue, with depth Mercury rising in Scorpio speaks to his gift for satire (can anyone toss a stinging barb as well as Mercury in Scorpio?). Mercury trines Jupiter, bringing in the larger vision, and falls on the Sun/Saturn midpoint within 25': Sam’s ‘voice’ was a powerful expression of a solar sense of purpose, a Jupiterian love of ideas, and a Saturnian sense of discipline. Like many satirists, he was a deeply moral man. Inspired by his wife and her progressive family, Sam became involved with the abolitionist, women’s suffrage, and anti-imperialist movements of his time. He famously condemned the United States war in the Philippines when it was happening, saying “I am opposed to the eagle putting its talon on any other land”.5 Sam’s Scorpio ascendant is exactly on the Mercury/Saturn midpoint (within 4'), which adds long memory to his mercurial powers: he was famous in his family for his lifelong ability to recite long passages from books read in childhood. However, the blend of Mercury with Saturn also adds a tendency towards anxiety and worry (not unfamiliar to Scorpio ascendants anyway) from which Clemens suffered periodically. He was anything but a calm man, surfing the high waves of fiery enthusiasms and certitudes and then plunging into Scorpionic depths of feeling and doubt.

Even with these powerful signatures, I would argue that the 9th house and its aspects are driving this nativity.

Jupiter is the highest planet in the chart, and strongly aspected.6 It trines the Ascendant and Mercury, as well as squaring the Moon/Pluto conjunction in the 6th. It’s extraordinarily dynamic, linking the Moon’s intuitive powers and restless travels (especially in Aries), Mercury’s gifts of curiosity and communication, and Jupiter’s aspirations for the greater good. The Moon also trines the Sagittarian trio of Sun, Mars, and Venus, so any transit to one will trigger, like strings on a guitar, the resonances of the other planets. Pluto conjunct the Moon adds intensity and emotional depth, something which Sam’s humour often masked but which comes through loud and clear in his private correspondence and many of his writings. Themes of justice elevate Huck Finn from a boyish adventure novel to a much more complex work of art, and the same could be said about The Prince and the Pauper, and Puddin’head Wilson.

Jupiter, ruling the 5th house, nicely describes Sam’s apparently unlimited stream of creative ideas for stories, business projects, and inventions. We can easily see how these planets work on more mundane levels, describing his writing/travel/industrial bent. His business life and love of inventions reflect his love of sciences (plus his belief in ‘progress’ through science). But what about the more divinatory aspects of Sam’s personal experiences?

Dreams as a portal to the 9th Sam wrote many times about Henry’s death. With his strong Sagittarian streak, the story of the steamship explosion and Henry’s death got bigger and bigger with each retelling. However, the core elements of his precognitive dream remained stable, as if the dream experience was frozen in his memory.

He kept a dream journal all his life, and frequently re-read them, seeking greater insights. He was fascinated by the work of William James and the psychology of the unconscious. (Later in life, he met William James through their shared interest in the British Society for Psychical Research.)

In May 1858 (the same period as the precognitive dream), 22-year-old Sam met 14-year-old Laura Wright on a steamship. His description of her is deeply admiring, and the tone is more ethereal than erotic. The girl’s family prohibited contact after Sam had met with Laura a few times. But Sam never forgot her and dreamt of her periodically. In a 1912 Harper’s magazine article titled ‘My Platonic Sweetheart’, Sam described a series of dreams throughout the course of his life in which he felt he and Laura met and communicated on some ethereal dream plane. Though the locations of their dream meetings vary in landscapes and time periods (some of which seem to be in the future), as do the names by which they address each other, their connection is always instant and profoundly caring on a soul level. Sam concludes that:

“

…everything in a dream is more deep and strong and sharp and real than is ever its pale imitation in the unreal life which is ours when we go about awake and clothed with our artificial selves in this vague and dull-tinted artificial world. When we die we shall slough off this cheap intellect, perhaps, and go abroad into Dreamland clothed in our real selves.7

5 He was vice-president of the Anti-Imperialist League, a controversial stance at that time www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/twain.html.

6 See Ray Grasse’s ‘Decoding the Most Elevated Planet in the Horoscope’ in StarGates (Inner Eye, 2020) for a fascinating discussion of

this issue; also available as an online article at www.astro.com/astrology/tma_article180419_e.htm.

7 Mark Twain, ‘My Platonic Sweetheart’, Harper’s Magazine, 1912; free extract: www.harpers.org/archive/2022/04/dreamland/.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

22

We lack exact dates for either Sam’s meeting with Laura or his precognitive dream about Henry’s funeral, but both occurred in the latter half of May 1858. Jupiter and Uranus were having their 13-year conjunction and did so exactly on Sam’s North Node on May 21; at the same time, transiting Venus (North Node dispositor) opposed his natal Venus from the 8th house (biwheel above). An astrologer counselling Sam at the time might have said, “hm, high potential for some disruptive triggering of fated relationships involving the 8th house, that are somehow linked to an expansion”. The experience of meeting Laura Wright and the dream about Henry profoundly affected his view of reality and how we participate in it.

‘Mental telegraphy’ By his mid-thirties (c. 1868) Sam began using the term ‘mental telegraphy’ (riffing on the hot new technology of his day8) to describe experiences that might be called ‘psychic’, ‘paranormal’ or ‘synchronistic’ today. His examples included: • • • • •

Receiving a letter and knowing exactly what the message is going to be; Having an idea for a new story and knowing that a close friend will have the same idea (and receiving proof shortly afterwards); Having an urge to write to someone but instead pausing, with internal certainty that the person in question is writing to them at that very moment (and receiving such a letter within days); Seeing someone, only to find out that the vision was an apparition, and that the person in question was thinking of them at that time; Meeting people at a time when that person was being talked about (even when they hadn’t seen each other in many years).

Sam used the term ‘mental telegraphy’ because he thought these experiences reflected some natural ‘electrical’ way in which the universe worked, but which we hadn’t yet understood. That’s exactly what the term ‘paranormal’ was meant to convey (it was coined in 1903 by a French scientist investigating poltergeist phenomena).9 This new scientific approach to what had hereto been the domain of religions inspired the formation of the British Society for Psychical Research in 1882 (which Sam joined in 1884). He begun documenting these experiences in his mid-thirties but hesitated to write publicly about them for fear of ridicule. But the issue mattered deeply to him, and finally he permitted Harper’s Magazine to publish two articles on the topic in 1885 and 1891.10 Sam used his Moon (stories and tales!) and his Mercury (logic, philosophy) to explore what was, for him, the edge of modern science. Despite his sometimes jocular tone, these mysterious events shook him deeply, causing him to question the very nature of reality.

Faith, deity, and the book you never heard about With his exalted Jupiter in the 9th, Sam Clemens was profoundly spiritual. However, his love of adventure and search for truth made him allergic to orthodoxy, and his Scorpionic honesty could not resist skinning sacred cows of any variety. Yet the last book he published was his testament to the mysteries of faith. You may not have heard of it, but it’s the book that Sam counted as his best by far. The novel, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte (1896), purports to be the personal recounting of Joan’s page and lifelong follower. Unlike anything else of Sam’s, it is completely serious, with no satire or hint of humour.

Although the book was well received at the time of its publication, later literary critics dismissed it as ‘sentimental’. Some were outraged that Twain, a well-known critic of the Catholic Church, wrote an admiring book about a Catholic saint. But they missed the point. Indeed, far from defending papal orthodoxy Sam underscored a very different aspect of Joan’s spiritual life; something recognized in the 15th C. and verified by historians. The novel’s narrator (who was, like Joan, born in Domremy, France) tells us early in the story:

8 Samuel Morse sent his first telegraphic message in May 1844, an event which electrified (pun intended!) the imagination of the world

as well as 9-year-old Sam Clemens.

9 Jeffrey J. Kripal, Comparing Religions (Wiley Blackwell, 2014), pp.243-245. See also Kripal, The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future

of Knowledge (Bellevue Literary Press, 2019), pp.22-33 for a fascinating discussion of the history and evolution of the term.

10 The two articles are ‘Mental Telegraphy: A Manuscript with a History’ (Nov. 30, 1891) and ‘Mental Telegraphy Again’ (Aug. 31, 1895).

Both are available as pdfs to digital subscribers: harpers.org/archive/1891/12/mental-telegraphy-a-manuscript-with-a-history/.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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“

… from time immemorial all children reared in Domremy were called the Children of the Tree… when the Children of the Tree die in a far land, then –if they be at peace with God – they turn their longing eyes toward home, and there, far-shining, as through a rift in a cloud that curtains heaven, they see the soft picture of the Fairy Tree, clothed in a dream of golden light; and … you know the message that has come, and that it has come from heaven. Joan and I believed alike about this matter.11

Sam’s last book is his most profound exploration of someone guided by their direct personal experience of mysterious messages from the divine. And his figure of Joan is a beautiful expression of Moon/Pluto in Aries squaring Jupiter in Cancer, a young woman remarkably courageous and responding to ‘higher truth’ despite the dangers it brought.

It will surprise no one reading this article (but still stun us in the way that astrology – that 9th house wonder – does over and over) to note the synastry between the charts of Samuel Clemens and Joan of Arc. The biwheel (left) shows the seven classical planets of Sam’s chart on the inside and Joan’s on the outside.

Joan’s Roh, r`, forms a grand cross with Sam’s hrR. This was the only book for which he did extensive research, for over 12 years, including long sojourns in France – it helped that her i=directly opposes his _.

Joan’s data is 5pm LMT, 6 Jan 1412, Domremy Le Pucelle, France. It is rated ‘DD’ using Lois Rodden’s classification system but this date is cited in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and was the one Sam Clemens used in his novel. He made a point of giving his narrator a birthdate exactly two years after Joan’s.

Revelation & the 9th House Sam Clemens’ 9th house ‘drove’ his chart. But my purpose in writing this is not to portray him as unique, but rather as an extreme example that should encourage us to pay more attention to the 9th house for ourselves and our clients. What does the 9th house, for example, say about the type of astrologer you are and how you pursue astrological knowledge? What does it tell you about your own search for meaning? So many of our clients are seeking a sense of meaning in life, and the 9th house (including its ruler, any planets emplaced or aspecting the 9th or its ruler) can help us identify what path will help that person find meaning.

But let’s do this with immense respect for 9th house matters. The ‘foreign travel’ associated with the 9th is not the curated tours of comfort but rather those journeys that leave the familiar behind or cause us to see the familiar with new (often shocked) eyes. The search for meaning may involve experiences or events that vvv shatter the limits of our known reality. What is your 9th house telling you?

Sheila Roher, MPH has been studying and practicing astrology for three decades, whilst pursuing a lifelong fascination with the way our stories (personal and collective) frame our experience. A playwright and social activist with a Masters degree in public health, Sheila’s availability for consultations, workshops, and speaking engagements can be found on her website: www.astrologyforgrowth.com

11 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by the Sieur Louis de Conte, ch. 2. There was indeed a legend in Domremy about a sacred tree the

Fairies would visit. During her Catholic trials, Joan was questioned about her relationship with the trees as the Church tried to establish whether her voices were from the Christian view of God or demonic beings. Sam was clearly familiar with all this material.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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PLANETARY THEMES FOR

[SEPTEMBER]

by Jason Burns of astraiosmirror.com 1 & 5 turn together (4th September) Early September brings a noteworthy juxtaposition of benefics when Venus stations direct at 12°É on the same day Jupiter stations retrograde at 15°Ä. With only 3° separating their recent square, the two switch course and mutually reapply, doubling up and drawing out the effects of their tense alignment. Recall that when Venus entered Leo in June, it squared Jupiter almost immediately, so the theme of these two bright planets in fixed Leo and Taurus has coloured this whole season. Our June issue forewarned of Venusian issues becoming entrenched for the rest of the summer (issue #9, p.20) and concerns relating to partying, gifttaking or ‘too-easy’ over-indulgence of liberties have been noted in the political nativities featured on pages 6 and 7. Will September tie up loose ends or bring climaxes to stories that started gaining attention back in June? Let’s explore how the configuration is likely play out in terms of headlines and world astrology.

The natural rulerships of Venus most notably include women, marriage, childbirth, sexuality, pleasure, and the arts. Jupiter naturally governs wealth and fame (including the wealthy, banks, or wealth- institutions), judges, religious leaders, interpreters of philosophies and law, and those who promise the amplification of peace and order as a means of protection.

The clash of `-r-h can certainly be seen in this season’s headlines: Women and queer people facing oppression due to judges or religious sects considering them second-hand citizens; US voters striking down anti-abortion laws after the Supreme Court nullified Roe v.

Wade last year; actors and artists (including the glamour industry) stifled by a strike against wealthy Hollywood producers and major motion picture companies; Meghan and Harry being cut from Spotify’s major wealthgenerating podcast deal; Justin Trudeaus’ marriage oaths dissolved; Lizzo, a known champion of plus-sized girls (h–`) caught up in scandal; artist Sinead O’Connor’s death and subsequent overdue media acknowledgment of her early role in calling out clergy discrimination and abuse; the Pope speaking out about paedophilia in the church; Trump, his coffers (supposedly) depleted, now at the mercy of female judges in his indictments; pleasure (`) islands known as playgrounds of the wealthy (h) in Greece and Hawaii burned down in climate turmoil; the box office smash

Barbie making waves good and bad (depending on the country involved and its taken-for-granted morals).

So much has been going on connected to this Venusian-Jupitarian motif it is impossible to keep up!

Regarding the slippery issue of donations affecting morality or smacking of bribery, here in America there has been understated but nonstop coverage of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ acceptance of luxury gifts from questionable sources. A glance at his chart (below) shows the south node on the Marsruled MC, with Mars placed in the unfortunate 8th (also descriptive of others people’s’ resources’). This tethers 10th house issues of honours and career with martian contentions and controversies. The nature of those controversies is illustrated by the mutually applying square of Mars with Jupiter, ruler of the 2nd (finances), 12th (hidden, troublesome matters), and 11th (friends, allies, and favours bestowed by them).

That natal storyline is currently exacerbated in a cruled profection year which has profected Mars conjunct natal Jupiter as transiting Jupiter opposes the MC and trines natal Mars. It’s no wonder to any astute astrologer that an inquiry into his finances and friends has come under public scrutiny at this time!

Skyscript newsletter # 11: August 2023

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HIGHLIGHTS (UT) 6 St. Dir. 5L8 8 St. Ret. 3F5 3L8

4th: 01:20 4th: 10:29 4th: 14:11 6th: 11:09 8th: 11:13 New Moon 15th: 01:40 5 St. Dir. 15th: 20:21 3L16th: 01:24 6K8 17th: 06:10 3a= 19th: 11:18 3L; 21st: 05:21 5 GEW 22nd: 13:16 Eqx: 3→ O 23rd: 06:50 5L8 25th: 12:10 Full Moon 29th: 09:58 6K29th: 17:53 5L30th: 16:56

SEPTEMBER 2023 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Another fall, another turned page: there was something of a jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer – Wallace Stegner

4

6 St. Dir. 5L8 4L3 4K6 8 St. Ret. 4L5 4F8

5

4F4J= 4L; 4→T

6

Friday

Saturday

1

4J4F= 4J; 4→E 4a7

2

4L6

Sunday 3

4K; 4→R 4J0

4K0 4L7 3F5 4J6 4K5 4K3

7 4K=

8

4→Y 4L0 3L8 4K7

9 4J5

10 4 J -

4J8 4J3

4L= 4a; 4→U

11 4 J 7

12 4 K -

13 4 → I

14 4 L 8

15 4 F 3

16 3 L -

17 6 K 8

18 4 K ;

19 4 a 8

20 4 a -

21 3 L ;

22 5 GEW

23 3 → O

24 4 K 7

4F6 4K8

4→P 4L0 4J5

25 4 L 3 5L8 4K8

3a= 4K6

26 4 L 7 4a6 4K-

4a0 4F5

4L= 4J3 4J; 4→M 4K0

27 4 → W 4F0 4J8

4K5 4J7 4L6

28 4 a 5

4J4F= 4J;

4L4a= 4L; 4→O 5 St. Dir. 4K= 4K3 4→} 4J0

29 4 → E 4a3 6K-

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

4F7 4J6

4L5 4L8

O 30 4 a 7 4L6 5L4K;

4L4J= 4F; 4→Q

COMING UP

26

October 2023 5 " 6 " ; SD 7 " w S Ec 5 " 6 GEW q L Ec

00Ö00 00Ñ00 27à53 00Ü00 21Ö07 00Ü00 13Ñ52 05Ä09

5th 9th 11th 12th 14th 22nd 23rd 28th

00.09 01:11 01:10 04:04 17:55 06:49 23:15 20:24

November 2023 0 SD 6 " 5 " w NM 7 " q FM

00ä30 00Ö00 00á00 20Ü43 00á00 04Å51

4th 8th 10th 13th 24th 27th

07:03 09:31 06:25 09:27 10:15 09:16

December 2023 5 " 00à00 1st 14:32 5 GEE 03à19 4th 14:29 6 " 00Ü00 4th 18:51 = SD 24ä53 6th 13:22 w NM 20á40 12th 23:32 5 SR 08à28 13th 07:09 3 SOL 00à00 22nd 03:28 5 " 00á00 23rd 06:18 q FM 04Ç58 27th 00:33 6 " 00á00 29th 20:24 8 SD 05Ä34 31st 02:41 Does it mean this, does it mean that, that’s all anybody wants to know. I’d say what any decent poet would say if anyone dared ask him to analyze his work: if you see it, darling, then it’s there!

- Freddie Mercury (3 in Ñ chart)

EPHEMERIS

SEPTEMBER 2023

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The New Moon (15th September) According to Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (II.12) in matters of weather phenomena special attention falls on the New or Full Moons that precede the solstices or equinoxes. Note how the mid-month New Moon, at 21°Ñ, coincides with Mercury, the lunation dispositor, stationing direct the same day (8°Ñ). The symbolism suggests a period of disturbance ushering in changes, and as Mercury moves to the trine of Jupiter we might hope for improvement or stabilisation in weather patterns, but not without the expectation of some upset or disorder first. This lunation conjoins the fixed star Denebola, a star reported by Robson to portend “misfortune from the elements of nature” (Fixed Stars & Constellations; p.161). Occurring in the midst of hurricane season, the lunation’s M-R and _ lines on an ACG map show their IC influence (related to land and weather phenomena in world astrology) to be potent in the region of the Atlantic Ocean where hurricanes form. This could make for a notable hurricane season on the islands of The Greater Antilles and the eastern coast of the US and South America.

Not sure how to read an ACG map? See the introductory article by Martin Davis: skyscript.co.uk/acg.html

1 shining bright For early risers, the week beginning September 17th is a perfect time to catch Venus at its greatest brightness as a morning star (‘Venus at greatest brightness’: -inthe-sky.org) Interestingly, the 17th is also the day that Venus perfects its square with Jupiter. Slow, bright, and pushing virtue to Jupiter in Taurus; expect news concerning Venusian themes to continue as Venus dominates astrologically and grabs attention in the sky!

Venus has given a fantastic show this year for observers at mid-northern latitudes. After a brilliant long-lasting evening display, she regains strength as a morning star in September and remains bright for the rest of the year.

The Full Moon (29th September) The Full Moon at 6°~ at the end of the month brings highlight to the `-c sextile that becomes partile at this period yet doesn’t actually perfect (the ‘completion’ of the aspect is evaded as slowmoving Venus starts to gain speed and pulls ahead of fast-moving Mars at this time). Having the two luminaries disposed by Mars and Venus while these planets are aspecting but not fully uniting, draws attention to issues of relational turmoil.

Mars is in its sign of detriment, Libra, while under the dispositorship of Venus – at the same time, the Sun is in its sign of fall, yet receiving the opposition of the Moon from its sign of exaltation. The two feminine planets gain the upper hand: with Venus and the Moon in fiery Leo and Aries, fierce individuals are likely to ignite important discussions, perhaps breaking expectations in a challenge to those who rule with might, and in regard to who gets to come out on top.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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HIGHLIGHTS (UT) 5a= 5L; 5→O 7K; 6→I 6a0 ; St. Dir. 7→P 7L0

2nd: 15:35 3rd: 19:20 5th: 00:09 9th: 01:05 9th: 01:11 10th: 06:11 11th: 01:10 12th: 04:04 13th: 12:29 Solar eclipse 14th: 17:55 3F5 20th: 05:38 5K; 21st: 00:51 3K; 21st: 14:10 6L8 22nd: 04:33 5→P 22nd: 06:49 5L0 22nd: 16:13 3→P 23rd: 16:21 6 GEW 23rd: 23:15 3L0 24th: 07:14 7a8 28th: 16:03 Lunar eclipse 28th: 20:24 5a8 29th: 03:45 5F7 29th: 14:22 6L31st: 12:52

OCTOBER 2023 Monday

Tuesday

30 4 F -

31 6 L -

4J= 4L; 4→T 4K0

2

4F8 5a= 4F4K6 4J= 4L5

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die: Autumn frosts have slain July.

Sunday 1

4→R 4J0

8

4J5

—Lewis Carrol ‘A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky’

3

4L; 4→T 4K0 5L;

4

4L3

5

5→O 4L7 4K= 4J6 4→Y 4K5L0

6

4K3 4J8

7

4J4L= 4K7 4a; 4→U

9 7K;

10 6 a 0

11 ; St. Dir.

12 7 → P

13 4 " O

14 4 F 5

15 4 K ;

16 4 a 8

17 4 a -

18 4 K 6

19 4 K =

20 4 → }

21 5 K ;

22 4 F ;

23 4 K 8

24 3 L 0

25 4 J 8

26 4 F =

27 voc

28 4 K ;

29 5 a 8

6→I 4K8 4J3 4K-

3→P 4K6 GEW

4J7 4→I 4a0 4F6

4L= 4J; 4→M 4K0

4→W 4F0 4L3 4L5 4L7

4L8

4a6 4J-

4L4a= 4L;

4J5 4J3

4J; 4→E

7L0

4J0 3F5 4J7 4L6 4L8

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

4F3 Solar eclipse

3K; 4L4J=

4→R 4J0 7a8 4a3 Lunar eclipse

4→P 4L0 4F7 4J6

4K3 6L8 4K5→Q 5→PL0 4K7

4F8 4a5 4a7 5F7 4L6

COMING UP

29

November 2023 0 SD 6 " 5 " w NM 7 " q FM

00ä30 00Ö00 00á00 20Ü43 00á00 04Å51

4th 8th 10th 13th 24th 27th

UT

07:03 09:31 06:25 09:27 10:15 09:16

December 2023 5 " 00à00 1st 5 GEE 03à19 4th 6 " 00Ü00 4th = SD 24ä53 6th w NM 20á40 12th 5 SR 08à28 13th 3 SOL 00à00 22nd 5 " 00á00 23rd q FM 04Ç58 27th 6 " 00á00 29th 8 SD 05Ä34 31st

14:32 14:29 18:51 13:22 23:32 07:09 03:28 06:18 00:33 20:24 02:41

January 2024 5 SD 7 " w NM 5 GEW 5 " ; " 6 " q FM - SD

22á10 00à00 20à44 28á25 00à00 00â00 00à00 05É14 19Ä05

2nd 4th 11th 12th 14th 21st 23rd 25th 27th

03:08 14:58 11:58 14:38 02:50 00:51 08:51 17:54 07:35

Corn and grain, corn and grain All that falls shall rise again - Wiccan harvest chant

EPHEMERIS

OCTOBER 2023

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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OCTOBER ECLIPSES (New Moon/solar eclipse: 14th October | Full Moon/Lunar eclipse: 28th October)

On October 14th, an annular solar eclipse occurs at 21°Ö, with its ruler, Venus, at 5°Ñ. Though viewed as ill-omens traditionally, eclipses in signs ruled by benefics are thought to be protected from some of their typical misfortunes. Exploring the state of Venus, we find connections with trade in its state of ‘generosity’ with Mercury (i.e., mutual reception without an aspect) and a theme of lively negotiations in sought-for targets as it pulls away from a sextile with Mars in Scorpio and moves towards the trine of benefic Jupiter in Taurus. Venus universally signifies attempts to find agreement, which will be a key component underlying this eclipse at a mundane level, though Venus is in its sign of debility, and the symbolism of the follow-up lunar eclipse is sharp and stinging, so less promising of easy compromise.

Eclipse symbolism can go in many directions, but it is worth noting that the solar eclipse path runs through the US and Mexico, as well as several South American countries and Brazil. Currently, the US, Canada, and Mexico (the leading importer of US yellow corn) are set to have hearings over trade disputes due to Mexico’s proposed limits on imports of genetically altered corn. Libra, where the eclipse falls, is symbolized by scales and has long-standing associations with weights and measures, including their use in transactions. With the eclipse falling near the fixed star Spica (24°= Ö), the luminaries highlight the ear of wheat or spike (of corn?) held in the Virgin’s hand. Venus is in its fall in Virgo, which could be seen to symbolize a collapsed agreement, specifically regarding an agriculture issue, due to Virgo’s crop symbolism.

Jupiter, in Taurus, adds themes of cattle. And check that partile Mars-Jupiter opposition in the lunar eclipse that follows two weeks later: Mars is strong in dignity in Scorpio and lends its flavour to Mercury, which joins it.

Eclipses in moveable signs are expected to express their effects sooner rather than later, so as this solar eclipse plays out over the coming months, keep an eye on these developments and their effect on the North American Free Trade Agreement. vv JB

Images above and left show the October 2023 and April 2024 solar eclipse paths across the US – courtesy of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5073 The more complete path of the October 2023 solar eclipse, including its sweep Skyscript 12: September across South newsletter America, is#shown in the 2023 image to the right.

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GET READY FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE The October New Moon is an annular solar eclipse, which happens when the Moon is at apogee (greatest distance from Earth). The extra distance makes the Moon appear smaller than usual, so as it crosses the body of the Sun its disc is unable to obscure the Sun’s light completely. A ring of light remains around the rim (hence the term annulus, Latin for ‘ring’).

from Portland in the northwest, through central USA to South Carolina. There hadn’t been such a USAfocused total eclipse since 1979, the year of the Iran hostage crisis, which led to the 1979 energy crisis, which contributed to the downfall of President Carter.

After next year, there won’t be another total eclipse so centred on North America until August 2045.

There is a huge difference in visible effect between an annular or partial eclipse and one that achieves totality, so this eclipse is being seen by astronomers and the media as a primer to next year’s ‘Great American Eclipse’, when a total eclipse crosses Canada, North America and Mexico in April 2024.

There are obvious dots to connect between 2017 being the year that Trump became the US President (and riots broke out across the nation), and 2024 being the year he will face multiple court cases as he battles for re-election.

Trump is extremely responsive to eclipse symbolism – he was born on an eclipse, and the loss of his presidency was foreshadowed by a lunar eclipse at 23°á that opposed his natal Sun and joined his natal Moon (ï chart left). The April 2024 eclipse chart for Washington DC has the eclipse falling into the 9th house (below), showing its stresses invoke concerns about legal matters. The eclipse lands on the cusp of Trump’s natal 9th-house, the ruler of which (c) rises with Regulus upon his ascendant. Noting the conjunction of Mars-Saturn in the eclipse chart 8th house, disposed by Jupiter which is joined to Uranus in the 10th house, and that Uranus is transiting the degree of Trump’s nativity as he faces prosecution in spring next year, a very dramatic, unsettled political scene full of legal tension is marked as a certainty for the US election year! vvv DH

NASA’s images (previous page) show the eclipse paths of the October 23 and April 24 solar eclipses. Note how ‘X marks the spot’ in San Antonio, Texas, where the two eclipse paths cross. Astro-tradition teaches that where the eclipse is visible, that nation will be strongly affected by it. On average, any location on Earth experiences a total eclipse once every 375 years, so this double sighting in Texas is pretty remarkable.

Although eclipses occur regularly, and the paths of many will touch such a large nation as the USA, a solar eclipse crossing a large belt of the United States mainland is a rarity. This October eclipse is one of three to do this within only seven years. Next April’s total eclipse follows hot on the heels of the August 2017 ‘Great American Total Eclipse’, which passed

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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A Question of Theft Was an old family friend the culprit in the case of the missing pearls?

The querent is an artist whose home is filled with her work: wild, intriguing pieces for which she has a lifetime collection of valuable materials. While preparing to create a new piece, she went to the shelf where she kept a large plastic bin full of pearls for her art, but the bin was empty: the pearls were missing.

She was quite angry when she called, afraid that a friend had stolen the pearls, as she already suspected him of removing a few other valuable items that she had been unable to locate. They had parted on bad terms just before her mother’s funeral some months before, and she had not had contact with him since.

She wanted to know where her pearls were, and if her friend had taken them.

by

5:40 pm CDT (+5), 21 May 2022; 29N25 / 98W30 | Regio

MICHELE DEBS

Background note: The suspect was a longtime family friend who had suffered a minor stroke. He had stayed with the querent for a few weeks while recovering, and during this time the querent was often away from her home, visiting her mother in hospice.

Her mother passed away not long after the family friend left her home, and the querent noticed that he started acting strangely after her passing. He developed a strange obsession with death, argued over such things as her mother’s casket choice, and started to complicate the funeral arrangements. After the funeral, he just disappeared.

day: 0 hour:7

The Judgement For this judgement, I used the 1st house to signify the querent and the 11th to signify the long-time family friend, with the expectation that associations with the 7th house (of theft) would offer confirmation of the friend acting as an enemy or the pearls being stolen. The querent’s possessions are signified by the 2nd house, with extra attention given to the Moon as a universal significator for all lost or missing items1 (and noting the Moon’s natural signification over pearls in particular).2 1 2

Lilly, W., Christian Astrology (1647; hereafter CA), p.332; Al Biruni, The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (1029, trans. R. Ramsay Wright, 1934), ch.410, p.243.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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Libra rises close to the fixed star Spica (24°Ö), which denotes skill in art and is associated with the effect of Venus with Mars.1This and the querent’s significator (`) in the Mars-ruled sign of Aries2perfectly depicts a female artist specialising in luxurious but avant-garde bestial designs featuring dangerous animals and insects, while incorporating provocative materials such as horns, bones and broken glass.

The placement of Venus on the 7th cusp appropriately displays the concern of the question (the prospect of theft)3 while also hinting at a negative outcome for the querent – having a significator in the house opposing its own was noted by Bonatus as showing the querent will not experience gain from the affairs of that house, “but rather expense and loss”.4 A theme of muted disappointment is also shown by the applying sextile of Venus to the heavily emphasised Saturn, which is strong in rulership and triplicity.

According to Lilly, how the missing goods became lost is indicated by the planet the ascendant ruler separates from.5 Interestingly, Venus had no non-lunar aspect after separating from the sextile of 11th-ruler, Mercury, two weeks earlier.6 Since then, its only contact has been from the Moon (the last aspect was the square of the Moon as it transited Capricorn), the lunar theme suggesting the loss of a commodity that was made too openly available. This fits the case that the pearls were left in an easily accessible common area; they were kept in a plastic bin on a closet shelf, now sitting empty.

It is also telling that the family friend is signified by an afflicted Mercury, the natural significator for a ‘lightfingered’ thief.7 Although in the first degree of its own sign, Mercury is in a very unfortunate condition: combust and retrograding out of all dignity in the 8th house, where it opposes the querent’s possessions.

Mercury moves from the conjunction of the Sun to the aspect of both malefics as a peregrine planet; its mutually applying sextile to 2nd-ruler Mars adding to the other classic signatures of theft and suggesting that the pearls were intentionally targeted.

As for motive: given the report of the recent stroke, it is relevant that both the Sun and Mercury represent the brain. Mercury combust, retrograde and heavily afflicted is descriptive of the effects of a stroke, especially in Gemini, a sign of ailments concerning blood flow as well as mental disorders.8 The friend’s obsession with death and the casket argument are showcased by Mercury’s placement in the 8th and its applying trine of Pluto, pivotally placed on the cusp of the 4th house of endings. Pluto’s partile sextile with Mars suggests the pearl-attack was some means by which he expressed his emotional distress or psychological disturbance.

The state of Mars and the Moon helps to describe the condition of the pearls. Mars has dignity by triplicity and face, showing intrinsic value, but is weakly placed on the cusp of the dark 6th house, appearing hidden or obscured by its conjunction with Neptune. The Moon has only minor dignity by face and is joined to Saturn, so the pearls do not appear to be in good condition.

The horary left no doubt the pearls had been stolen.

One major testimony of theft, which denies prospect of a full recovery, is the union of the South Node with the 2nd house cusp.9 The Moon’s application to angular Saturn also testifies to theft while indicating this was not the first event of this kind, supporting the querent’s suspicions about the other items that had gone amiss.10 However, the first thing that jumped out at me in this horary is the Moon’s next aspect: a sextile to Venus, the querent’s significator. The friendly aspect involves two angular significators and perfects in just over 2°, arguing a quick recovery.11 Retrieval is also denoted by 2nd-ruler Mars being in trine to the 2nd house cusp while about to enter its own sign of dignity (again, in just over 2°).12 I found this interesting because even as the theft testimonies started to pile up, I realised good prospects for the pearls to be discovered. The cadency of Mars and the Moon’s lack of dignity and conjunction with Saturn made full restoration unlikely, but the sextile to Venus from the Moon in the 4th suggested that at least some of the pearls were still in the home, though perhaps with some missing or damaged.

1

Guido Bonatus lists 14 indications that “thou mayest examine and rightfully discuss, and discover the truth of what the stars shall show” within his 143rd Consideration, point 10 being “Whether the Lord of the Ascendant be in the House of the thing enquired after, or with its Lord”. This indicates that the chart symbolism is fitting and should reveal a reliable answer.

Bonatus, Anima Astrologiae or, A Guide for Astrologers; (13th cent., trans. H. Coley, 1675, ed. WM C. Eldon Serjeant, 1886; reproduced online STA, 2020; hereafter ‘Bonatus’), p.25, consideration 143, #10.

4 Bonatus, p.16, consideration 104.

5 CA., p.321: ‘How the things or Goods was lost’; when the separation is from the Moon, the loss may involve “…too frequent use, showing the commodity or thing lost, or the party made it too common…”.

6 Venus was then at 4°~04', Mercury at 4°Å04'; at the location of the horary the sextile perfected at 12:40 am on the 6th May 2022.

7 CA, p.78. In natural signification Mercury is “sometimes thieves”, most especially when afflicted: “cheating and thieving everywhere”.

8 CA, p.94. Affliction in Gemini is associated with diseases arising from “corrupted blood” and “distempered fancies”, the latter describing emotionally or psychologically disturbed imaginings and strange fantasies.

9 CA, pp.357 and 358 (see also Bonatus, p.16, considerations 116 and 117).

10 CA, p.361: ‘Whether it be the first act the Thief hath committed’: “If the Sun and Moon do behold the Lord of the house where the Moon is [here i] from an angle, he hath played the Thief more than once”.

11 This R-` aspect demands special attention in a matter of missing pearls. It is interesting to note that Lilly’s rule for discovering what was stolen (p.354) is to consider the ruler of the 10th house, which in this horary is the Moon, the significator of pearls.

12 CA, p.357. It is a sign of restitution of missing goods when the 2nd ruler applies to its own house.

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Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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The Discovery I called the querent to let her know that it did seem her suspicions were correct, but that another search should result in the recovery of the pearls, with the expectation that some would be missing or damaged. Considering the moveable signs on the angles (an indication of swiftness)13 and that the Moon was fast in motion as it applied immediately to the sextile of the angular Venus, I judged she would find them quickly; my own expectation was that the 2° separating the perfection of this aspect was earmarking a discovery in a couple of hours or days.

The Moon in the 4th house relates to the direction north,14 so I suggested starting with the north part of the house and to look in places that were near to both heat and water, focussing on messy or dirty areas that were dark and hidden, at ground level, in or under something like a box or shelf. Mars as 2nd-ruler placed in a water sign indicated the heat and water, and Capricorn on the IC with the Moon in the 4th house and Mars cadent suggested ground level. The strong disposition of Saturn and all round emphasis on Mars and malefic planets presented the theme of messy or dirty. I also suggested she look around places where she kept her tools or materials made of heavy metals like iron or lead, considering both Mars as significator and the Moon in Aquarius received by Saturn in the 4th. That it was dark, hidden, and within or under something was again related to Capricorn on the IC and Mars (conjunct Neptune, sextile Pluto) in a mutable sign.153 However, the Sun is casting its trine to the 4th house cusp, so I suggested she search in an area that had lighting available.

The querent called me back just a few minutes later stating that within two minutes of hanging up the phone she had found the pearls – they had been taken from their bin and stuffed into a torn up, dirty shoe box, on the part of the floor that the AC condenser line ran through, in an area brightly lit by a large window during the day, and by the bright lights hanging from above that she used for her work. They were on the north wall of the house, under a shelf that held a torch, an iron, and a bottle of water, all of which are nicely described by Saturn in Aquarius in the 4th house, Capricorn on the IC, and Mars in a water sign. The pearls had been removed from their packaging and dumped in the torn box – as expected, some were missing.

The way the natural significators for the question showed up in this chart clearly contributed to the unfolding story: Venus, the natural significator for artists and jewellery representing the querent, the Moon, natural significator for pearls making its next aspect to Venus, and Mercury, the natural significator for thieves appearing as lord of the 11th house of friends while sitting in the 8th house to depict the sickly, angry thief; all of these were obvious indications that the querent’s Did my suspicions were correct. I also appreciated friend steal how the chart as a whole perfectly my pearls? encompassed the deeper underlying themes of life-threatening illness, funerals and death obsessions, as well as the beastly eclectic artwork of this talented and trailblazing artist. vvv 2

Michele Debs holds the STA Practitioners Level Certification in both Horary and Medical astrology, and is currently completing the STA’s Advanced Level Horary Diploma. She can be contacted by email at michele@skyjinn.com.

13

CA, p.267.

142 CA, p.364.

153 CA, p.357. The mutable signs are traditionally termed ‘common’ because their symbolism evokes the notion of things that are shared

or nestled within other things, such as a “covered place” or a “chamber within another chamber”, &c.

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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SKYSCRIPT MEMBER TALKS Thursday 28th September 2023

COMPOSITE CHARTS: YOU, ME & US SHEILA ROHER Let’s face it, there is a mystery to relationships. They work, they don’t work, they come to life when you’ve given them up for dead, they make no sense to our friends, but seem essential to us, etc.

As astrologers we generally consult natal charts and synastry between two charts to provide illuminations about these mysterious dynamics. We compare, in effect, ‘you’ and ‘me’. But there is also ‘us’, the energy of the relationship itself. The composite chart (a chart based on midpoints between two charts) captures this mysterious ‘us’ and offers an additional and compelling perspective on the purpose, personality, and challenges of a relationship. Composite charts also raise profound questions about the nature of the universe and fate.

This presentation will dive into composite charts and to explore when and why they offer something important in consultations.

Start: 8:30 pm UTC – San Francisco: 1:30 pm | New York: 4:30 pm | London: 9:30 pm | Sydney: 6:30 am [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Wednesday 25th October 2023

NODAL SPICA In eclipse season it is always worth exploring the symbolism of the nodal axis – whether the true or mean node is calculated, the south node is currently upon the fixed star Spica, adding an exclamation mark to the effects of that star. Spica, (Alpha Virginis) has always been astrologically important: the brightest star in the southern constellation Virgo, the 16th brightest star in the night sky, and one that illuminates an otherwise poorly lit area of heaven, it outshines all of its celestial neighbours. This talk will take the opportunity to explore the historical, mythological and astrological associations of Spica and the constellation Virgo, to consider what we might expect by it adding emphasis to Caput Cauda, the ‘Dragon’s Tail’.

Start: 5 pm UTC – San Francisco: 10 am | New York: 1 pm | London: 6 pm | Istanbul: 8 pm | Sydney: 4 am [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 75 mins

MANILIUS READING GROUP - monthly We continue to set a little quality time aside each month, to gather together and explore the poetic expression of the Astronomica, the first century astrological text of Marcus Manilius. Join this friendly group led by Mireille Crossly – it lasts about 75 mins. We are currently working through book I, comparing the 17th century versified translation of Sherburne with the 20th century prose translation of Goold. (Check details in the member’s area) Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023

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Thursday 16th November 2023

MUNAKARA (“MOON KAI”) PLANETS IN CONTENTION JOY USHER Sharing with us some research for a new manuscript she is working on, Joy Usher will present her findings on a traditional technique described by authors such as Al Biruni, which he calls munakara (pronounced "moon kai"). The notion is tied up with planetary sect, the English translation for the Punjabi word being ‘contention’, which provides insight into how a planet might experience this condition. Contention implies friction, agitation, dispute or dissent, and even though a planet can be in otherwise good condition – in exaltation or even in ‘hayz’ – it experiences a sense of being in a state of constant wariness, carries with it a need for caution, borders on rebellion, or is quick to react to trouble or incoming hostility.

Joy will lead us through the underlying philosophical principles of this condition, explain how to calculate/recognise it, and illustrate it with some notable examples.

Start: 7:30 pm UTC – San Francisco: 11:30 am | New York: 2:30 pm | London: 7:30 pm | Sydney: 6:30 am [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Saturday 9th December 2023

SKYSCRIPT BRAINSTORMING All members are invited to this open meeting – a chance to recap on developments made so far and planned for the future on Skyscript, and to get member feedback on user experience: what works and doesn’t work? What do you want more/less, of? What ideas do you have that are not being considered? Who wants to propose what for the year ahead? This is an all-ears-open gathering for friendly, collaborate interchange. How to ensure Skyscript site still proving useful to astrologers in 10, 20, 30 years time, and able to adapt under safe hands without having its values compromised?

Start: 6 pm UTC – San Francisco: 10 am | New York: 1 pm | London: 6 pm | Istanbul: 9 pm | Sydney: 5 am [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 75 mins

ALL MEMBER-TIERS INVITED TO

Saturday 21st December 2023

RECAPPING ALCABITIUS The 2nd book of Al-Qabisi (Alcabitius) was serialised over our first 10 issues, along with a tour of the transmission of that work, which demonstrated the historical relayof astrological ideas from Arabia to Europe. This presentation will explore the various manuscripts of the work and recap some of the valuable points concerning this work and its author that have been covered so far.

Start: 8 pm UTC – San Francisco: 12 pm | New York: 3 pm | London: 8 pm Sydney: 7 am [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Skyscript newsletter # 12: September 2023