September 3, 2001
The Galactic Center Attacks Racism
The World Conference on Racism opened last Friday in Durban, South Africa
surrounded by angry demonstrators and an extraordinary array of minority
groups promoting their various causes. President Bush kept Secretary of State
Colin Powell from attending the conference, citing anti-Israeli language in
draft proposals.
The U.N sponsored event takes place under the celestial auspices of the
confrontational, long-term Saturn-Pluto opposition. These two outer planets
in the argumentative signs of Gemini and Sagittarius are being activated by
the fast-moving Sun in analytical Virgo. Delegates from 166 governments will
attempt to sort out the causes and prescribe a cure as the Sun squares Pluto
and then Saturn before the Conference ends on September 7.
This year the United Nations (October 24, 1945; 4:45 pm; Washington DC) is
absorbing the energy from a powerful influence not often discussed in
political astrology: the Galactic Center (GC). Located at the center of the
Milky Way at 27 degrees Sagittarius, this point can be thought of as a kind
of Mission Control for humanity. Individuals with planets aligned with the GC
"hold the potential to make massive changes in the direction of human
affairs."*
The U.N. progressed Sun is now perfectly aligned with the GC and being
activated by transiting Mars, making the U.N. a turbulent channel for Mission
Control. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (April 8, 1938) has his Chiron,
the Wounded Healer, aligned with the GC. This astrological fact is evident in
his recent comment that the Conference "must help heal old wounds without
reopening them; it must confront the past, but most importantly it must help
set a new course against racism in the future."
Israel's Troubled Homeland
Israeli helicopter gunships targeted the chief of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine last week, killing him with a single missile strike.
The execution set off renewed gunfire around Jerusalem, followed by Israel's
armored takeover of the Palestinian town of Beit Jala. Meanwhile, President
Bush ended his month-long vacation with no plans to intervene in Middle East
affairs.
Israel's stormy political atmosphere is being generated by a confluence of
planetary factors, but most immediately by a high-voltage, volatile condition
surrounding its natal Uranus (due to a square from progressed Mars). In
Israel's natal horoscope (May 14, 1948; 4:37 pm; Tel Aviv) Uranus is opposed
to Jupiter (at the GC), setting up the controversial equation that Zionism is
racism.
Last Monday when the Moon and Mars were conjunct in Sagittarius, they were
exactly opposite Israel's Uranus, providing the astrological trigger point
for the assassination of the top-ranking Palestinian leader. The violence for
the last few weeks may wane for a brief spell as transiting Mars leaves this
terrorized degree zone.
Astrologers should be able to observe waves of violence when any faster
moving planet hits Israel's Uranus between now and early 2002. Note that with
Aquarius on its fourth house cusp, Uranus is the natural ruler for the home
territory. Any challenging Mars link to Israel's Uranus (like the progressed
Mars) can bring mayhem to the homeland. An exceptionally traumatic phase can
be expected when transiting Chiron opposes Uranus during the first two weeks
of October, especially October 8-10.
Ann Heche, "Call Me Crazy"
In an upcoming interview with Barbara Walters, Ann Heche says she was insane
for 31 years. Now, at age 32 the former lover of Ellen DeGeneres has switched
her sexual orientation to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon. Her autobiographical
book "Call Me Crazy" is scheduled for release on September 5.
Ann Heche was born under the split-personality sign of Gemini (May 25, 1969;
Aurora, OH; time unknown). The sign of the Twins is an unusually accurate
archetype in Heche's life, made apparent in her first starring role as the
Vicky/Marley twins in the soap "Another World." Then, since childhood Heche
believed that she was two people, with her secret half named Celestia, and
who spoke a different language directly to God.
As a child the Sun represents the father, and Heche's father led a double
life: in the day he was a choir director in a Baptist church, and at night he
frequented the gay bars. Heche reveals that the creation of Celestia was an
attempt to escape the sexual abuse her father heaped upon her since she was a
toddler.
Heche's Sun and Mercury are opposed to Mars, a combination that generally is
extremely expressive. But with Mercury and Mars both retrograde, the mental
energy is internalized, leading to deep anxiety. The turning point in her
life came last August when Pluto, the planet leading to deep personal
transformations, entered this Mercury-Mars axis. That was when she and
DeGeneres split, and she began seeing her cameraman.
* Philip Sedgwick in The Astrology of Deep Space.
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