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by WolfStar

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April 3, 2006

Echoes from 1846

Last week the U.S. Senate wrestled with two competing bills about how to deal with the nation's 11 million illegal Hispanic immigrants. Both bills were submitted by Republicans, but one emphasizes border security and law enforcement, while the other sets the path toward legal status. Meanwhile, in cities across the nation, hundreds of thousands of Latinos rallied against the harsher laws.

Astrologers can tell this story has legs, since the interface between Mexico and the United States has strong resonance with 1846, which was the last time Neptune was in the U.S. fourth house while in dynamic aspect to Saturn. Neptune is currently just entering the U.S. fourth house, and later this year, transiting Saturn and Neptune will oppose each other. Since Neptune takes 165 years to make one orbit, the last time it made this important ingress was in the 1840s when America's "Manifest Destiny" became common currency.

When Saturn conjoined Neptune in the nation's fourth house in 1846, President Polk got practical (Saturn) about America's expansionist dreams (Neptune), and initiated war with Mexico. At the time, Mexico included Arizona, California, and the Republic of Texas, but when the war ended, the U.S. claimed all these territories as its own. The same year featured the fixing of the northern border with Canada at the 49th parallel, while Brigham Young led his Mormon flock into the Mexican territory of Utah.

The Saturn-Neptune pairing with reference to the U.S. fourth house bridges 1846 with 2006. In the U.S. Scorpio Rising chart, the Moon (symbolizing the people) is found in the fourth house, and is the ruler of the ninth house of foreign countries, which astrologically defines America as a nation of immigrants. Under the growing Saturn-Neptune influence, the demand for law and order (Saturn) and the porousness of the borders (Neptune) raises the difficult question: who is "us" and who is "them"?

Chiron and The Power of Prayer

The most scientifically rigorous study on the power of prayer proved disappointing to researchers and mind/body advocates, when results released last week indicated that patients who knew they were being prayed for actually fared worse than those who knew they weren't being prayed for. The statistically significant difference was rationalized by researchers as "performance anxiety" due to the high expectations associated with prayers.

Astrologers have long associated the various mind/body therapies to Chiron, the planetoid named after the heroic teacher/physician in ancient Greek mythology. Last Friday, when the much-anticipated study was posted on the internet and became a lead story in newspapers across the nation, transiting Chiron was at 8º35' Aquarius, where it formed an exact square (orb 0º00') to the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant.

The square points to the disappointment felt by many religious groups and those attempting to scientifically correlate prayer with healing. Skeptics say that studying prayer is a waste of money, since it presupposes supernatural intervention, which by definition, is beyond the reach of science. However, the study did prove that prayer influenced health, the results just weren't what they expected.

Chiron turns retrograde at 9º46' Aquarius on May 16, and then squares the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant again on July 1. Chiron is therefore in a long-term square to the nation's Ascendant. In the geopolitical realm, the nation grapples with its image (Ascendant) of being "wounded" (Chiron) for creating such a mess in Iraq. In the mind/body realm, we can be assured that researchers will continue to fine-tune and improve the way science maps our multi-dimensional reality.

The Mercurial Naomi Campbell

Supermodel Naomi Campbell was arrested in New York last Friday on charges of a felony assault. Apparently, she accused her recently-hired housekeeper of stealing some jeans, and then hurled her cell phone at the back of her housekeeper's head. Naomi told the judge she's being extorted – although she has a history of throwing phones at assistants, and actually pleaded guilty to a similar charge in 2003.

Naomi Campbell was born with her Sun, Venus and Mars in mercurial Gemini (May 22, 1970; 1:00 am*; Westminster, UK). As in most models' charts, Venus is prominently placed, but in Naomi's chart, Venus is extraordinarily well-connected to the rest of her planets and angles. Venus aspects all five of the outer planets, including a tight inconjunction to glamorous Neptune at her Midheaven.

Having a Venus so magically placed is only half the battle when you want to be the best in the business. Having a dynamic Mars gives the drive and energy to get what you want. Naomi's Mars squares Pluto and trines Jupiter, giving her an athlete's competitive edge. However, the Mars-Pluto square is well-known for using too much force, for annihilating what appears to be enemy action.

On the morning of the phone-throwing incident, transiting Mars was returning to its natal place, activating this Mars-Pluto signature. Also, her progressed Sun was exactly squaring volatile Uranus, ushering in a phase of sudden career developments. These measurements indicate the potential for instant celebrity status (and she was scheduled to appear on Oprah), though in this case, it arrived in an unexpected, unwelcome manner.

* birth time is posted on the French astrology site astrotheme, though no source is given. However, Neptune at the MC sure fits her career and her treated addiction to cocaine. More.

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