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Grand Cross!



August 6-7 marks the final cardinal grand cross of this year’s massive “shootout in the sky” which with Venus and Mars entangled could make for agonizing tension followed by obliterating release, whether it’s love or war, sex or death, or a mix of all four. New against old, restriction against expansion, blind force against wild emotion, furious arousal mixed with devouring desire, those are the locked-up planetary watchwords, so mind where you are, who you’re with, and what you’re doing when that cross ignites the angles, four times that day. It could be a risky formula, but not one to waste, as its likes won’t be seen again for some time. Only one more, faint echo of the cross with Mercury retrograde over Labor Day/Bank Holiday weekend will remind us of its passing. Once it’s gone, this year’s frozen, fist-like planetary phenomenon breaks up for good as Saturn flees to mid-Libra, and Jupiter and Uranus back off into Pisces, not to repeat the encounter.

Play it for what it’s worth, a daring dip into the heart of the fire, followed by an opening road with brand-new possibilities released as fall approaches. The final, shattering end to this sky drama will leave lots of pieces to pick up to build new directions, new careers, and new loves in the wake of the physical, emotional, and economic wreckage left behind. It’s not been fun so far, but it will feel so good when it stops, maybe even better at the very moment of final resolution, liberation from the unbearably intractable bondage of the sky. A pressure-drop to remember, a naked, open-eyed explosion into the inner and outer void. La petite mort, one hopes, not la mort définitive

For a full article on the big O and the cardinal cross, click here…

Read our expanded take on this month's mileposts, or just...

Scroll down...and click on the latest

Daily-updated News Stories Below!...


Link to News 1

Plant Tea, or Die… (ShanLand) -- …says junta guided by astrological spells to quell possible uprising in Burma…


Link to News 1

Corrupt Colonel Turns To God… (Mid-Day) -- … and to an astrology site to get him out of Army kickback scandal…

Link to News 1

Mahurat C-Section (Times of India) – Prepick your baby’s horoscope, then go under the knife…but watch for complications…

Link to News 1

2013 Dangerous (Punjab Newsline) – The world won’t end in 2012, says scientist, but 2013 will be perilous, indeed…

Link to News 1

Time Circles (The Paranormalist) – Stone circles don’t just track the stars, they swallow time…

z Link to News 1

Spacequakes (NASA) – Brace yourself for this astral phenomenon…

The Spiritual Supermarket (DNA India) – In a country known for its spirituality, a new generation is getting lost trying to find it…


Other Recent Stories:

Neptune’s Black Eye (MSNBC) – Looks like the mystic planet got smacked by a comet a while back…

Cardinal Climax (MarketWatch) – Arch Crawford says “all Hell will break loose” in the markets as the cardinal cross comes together…of course, there is another kind of climax…

Planet X or Dark Star? (Fortean Times) – The recurrent question, is something big lurking nearby? Yet another look…

Stonehenge Twin (AOL) – It takes a lot of henges to keep track of the stars…

Nemesis No More (MSNBC) – The oft-proposed destroying star may not exist at all…

Neptunial Water (Softpedia) – Coming to a lab near you, a little drop of Neptune…

Sparrowmancy (FocusTaiwan) – Why use a parrot to pick out cards, when a sparrow will do?…a Chinese variation on an Indian favorite…

Baby Killer (Times of India) – She tried to pin it on a mysterious astrologer, but the truth came out

Superstition (My Bangalore) – It’s not the way, but awfully amusing…here’s some to mull over: look out for Rahu and Ketu, but keep the baby out of the hot oil…

Star Cars (CarTradeIndia) – Buying a car? Here’s a wonderful rundown on how astrology can help you pick your new wheels…

Dates To Remember (MensHealth) – A humorous, but insightful, look at dates you’d better know if you want to date…

The Man Behind The Bird (AsiaOne) – The astrologer behind the parrot who was bested by the octopus. Well, we’re bird-lovers, even if the astrology is sometimes a stretch…more advising animals here…

Hijacked (YourTango) – Help! Astrology destroyed our otherwise happy relationship...

Planets On Board (Gambit) – The head of the World Chess Federation is deeply into astrology, has a minor planet named after him, among other oddities…

Parrot Predictions (InfoCuts) – Paul the Octopus isn’t the only animal weighing in on the World Cup, with a finals prognostication favoring Spain. Mani the Parrot begs to differ, choosing the Netherlands…a chimp, a hog, and another octopus agree…[to no particular avail, as Spain wins]..

Mysterious Moon (Popular Mechanics) – We may have walked on her, but she still hides her biggest secrets…

Zombie Comets (New Scientist) – They explain Zodiacal Light…

Lasting Caste (Deccan Herald) – Is the upsurge in the likes of astrology on the Subcontinent a reflection of a backslide to nonrationalist precolonial thinking?…

When The Stars Go Crazy (Deccan Chronicle) – Maybe here’s an example…

Fake Astrologers (ShutterVoice) – Malaysians are being duped by rash of phony practitioners…

Tyranny Unmasked (Radio Australia) – New book explores story of Burma’s dictators and their addiction to astrology, among other things…

Dam Busting (The National) – An astrologer is lead role in new disaster film about dams bursting and all hell breaking loose…

Khona (Daily Star) – Female astrologer is the star in this new, but tradition-inspired play…

Sacred Science (Chronogram) – Egyptologist John Anthony West opines on the planetary meanings as evolved by the early Egyptians…

Plato Code (Manchester Univ.) – A researcher has discovered a key to early science,  music, and the planets in Plato…

Ice Age Shift (PlanetSave) – Our shifting poles do more than mark the astrological ages, like the Age of Aquarius, they mark the ice ages. More research…

Moonlit (Mediabistro) – Astrologer’s son and partner use astro-algorithms to chart couple compatibility all the way to the bank…

“Astrology Involved” (Deccan Herald) – It would appear astrology-prone French coach Domenech has not got his team sufficiently in sync with the stars over this World Cup…a bad ending...

Probe Jupiter Mystery (Hubble) – Missing belt and sudden blast on Jupiter is being investigated…last time (when the two spots collided) much happened down here, so could be important…

Ancient Oceans (U of Colorado) – On Mars. The original study…plus ice spirals explained…

Shadowmancy (Indian Express) – Here’s a new form (to us) of divination which, and astrology spinoff that, not surprisingly, has been around for centuries…

Fear…(Mumbai Mirror) – …that’s what’s driving devotees to this deity on a rare astrological opportunity…

A Visa…(Hindustan Times) -- …is, on the other hand, what devotees to Hanuman the Monkey King will get, says noted astrologer…

An Earthquake…(Bangkok Post) – Current planetary alignment is spreading angst over another possible quake and tsunami…

Stocks Rock Celestial (Gulf News) – Financial astrology, and astrology in general, is big business in India like nowhere else…

Begs For Release (AP) – Man who barely missed beheading in Saudi Arabia for Lebanese TV prediction show may eventually make it home…

More Mangliks (Market PR) – A badly-placed Mars makes you unfit for marriage, and 45% of the populace has it. Just about matches the divorce statistics…

Headed for Hollywood (DNA India) – American astrologer-musician collaborates on a musical rewrite of the classic Hindu epic the Mahabharata, and it’s destined for the silver screen…

Outlanders (Nova) – Comets may be visitors from other worlds, as astrologers originally thought, not from our own Oort Cloud as recent astronomy theorized…

Jupiter’s Black Eye (Hubble) – Not only did the daddy planet lose a belt on the way to meet Uranus, it got smacked by an asteroid, with a hit as big as the Pacific Ocean…

Stormy Weather (NASA) – As the Sun gets back into high dudgeon after deceptive quiet, space experts are keeping a wary eye out for the damage that may ensue…

Can’t Find Uranus? (Christian Science Monitor) – It doesn’t take much to see Uranus…a sharp naked eye or a pair of binocs. Galileo could have spotted it easily, if he’d known where to look… Here’s how you can see it with Jupiter’s help…

Gateway Gig (NDTV) – Astrology as stepping stone to greater things – like narcotics and car theft? When the fortunetelling business got slack, this former chicken farmer moved on to the hard stuff…

Star Togs (Real Bollywood) – Astrological designer clothing does not come cheap…

Agora Debuts (NY Times) – The Gray Lady reviews the lady astrologer from ancient Alexandria, played by Rachel Weisz in film’s New York opening…”sad, but also chilling…” Washington Post likes it, too...

Crazy Astrologer (Washington Post) – Also in the arts, also in the Big Apple, an opera with an astrologer debuts at Avery Fisher Hall…

AstroCamp (The Hindu) – Not a summer retreat for astrologers, but an affiliate scheme to pull cash from the astroblogging community…

Moon-Mars Crash (MidDay) – Not the stock market crash, a lethal aerial disaster, blamed on the stars…

Ruined Marriages (Telegraph India) – Good marriage aspects and good weather aspects apparently aren’t the samea cyclone has washed out the best of the marriage season, at great cost to all…

Mix and Match (San Francisco Station) – The local press notices another practitioner…slow news day...

Planetary Dissonance (The SunBreak) – In this neo-Zoroastrian composer’s model, the planets harmonize (sort of) in tritones…

Doomsayer On Trial (Novinite) – Bulgarian astrologer who caused panic is on trial in Sofia…

Police Protection (Deccan Chronicle) – This starcaster is officially guarded, maybe because of the officials he serves…

When Astrology Lost To Archery (KuenseOnline) – Maybe it’s the arrow of time…

No One Expects… (Catholic Review) -- …the Spanish Inquisition, to quote Monty Python…astrologers most among them, once they got the gist of it…

Wedding Rush (BBC) – As good aspects end, couples crowd the altar…

Losing A Stripe (MSNBC) – Jupiter appears to be stripping down for its historic encounter with Uranus, a mystery to NASA…maybe it’s tidal…

Unnatural Conjunction (NASA) – When the Moon conjoins Venus this weekend, there will be two other bright objects involved…

Starting Point (DNA India) – How Subcontinent superstarcaster Bejan Daruwalla got his first gig…

Sun Same Size (IFA) – Despite humongous storms, flairs, spots, and eruptions, the reliable ruler of Leo hasn’t changed size a bit… for the moment

Old-Time Horoscope (Star Tribune) – A sample of a starcaster column from May 10, 1916, great stuff…got the warlike part right, the gigantic naval Battle of Jutland was just around the corner…

Explaining Astrology (SoFeminine) – A long, thoughtful  pop journalistic essay from the UK doing just that…

Fancy Names (Telegraph India) – Astrologers accusing other astrologers of nominative deception…of course, if you’re not local, the point may be lost…

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (Rediff) – It’s not just employers’ HR departments who are eying the stars, so are the applicants…

Vedic Live (Financial Express) – Indian astro-leader Ganeshaspeaks has a new competitor in the phone consulting business, mPandit.com. Strangely, it bears the name of Ganesha’s own CEO, Hemang Pandit, who may or may not be amused…

Cricket Capers (DNA India) – Cricket champion team’s owner team will win, but only if he doesn’t watch the game, says his astrologer…

He’s Back, Almost… (Nation MultiMedia) – That would be Thailand’s former PM Thaksin, whom astrologers predicted would return…

Who Will Win? (The Telegraph) – In UK’s highly-Americanized, tight election, journalists are consulting the stars, and everything else, to get ahead of the news…

Legalizing It (The Sun) – While Chicago considers banning astrology, Macon has OK’d it…

The Secrets of the Universe… (DNA India) -- …will be revealed soon, with a little help from the Hadron Collider, among other things, says superstarcaster Bejan Daruwalla…

Mustn’t Be Banned (DNA India) – Move to stifle astrology in, of all places, India heats up…

Hired By The Stars (Indian Express) – Human resources departments may be asking your birth data to decide if you’re fit for the job…

Chicago To Ban Astrology? (Chicago Current) – Another well-meaning proposal throws everybody, legit or not, into the same pot…

Snakes (One India) – We’ve heard of parrot astrologers, but snakes?...kissing King Cobras, even…

It’s Written In The Stars (WND) – The Second Coming, that is…except it’s somehow astronomical, not astrological…a matter of judgment (day), we reckon…

Starry-Eyed Stocks (Wall St. Journal) – What, Indians use astrology in the stock market? This journalist must be a newbie…

Soothsayers Denied (3news New Zealand) – The war against the wackos in Kiwiland has legit astrologers caught in the middle…

Twitter Trend (Mashable) – Astrology is number three on Twitter’s most popular subject list…

One Piece Of Advice (Sunday Times) – For the skilled astrologer, choice of words is everything…as this lovely tale demonstrates…

Mystery Molasses (NASA) – As Pluto enters its northern summer, murky markings have appeared. Could the planet of Death harbor proto-life?...

Zodiacal Light (SETI) – The mystery glow of the Zodiac has been finally accounted for…more w/pix here…

Astrologer On Trial… (Novinite) -- … for misleading predictions that caused panic evacuation in Bulgaria…beats beheading (see Saudi story below)…

Saturn Mystery Explained (PhysOrg) – The strange, massive hexagon encircling Saturn’s north pole turns out to be an artifact of fluid dynamics…with video example…

Retrograde Everything (ESO) – What if all the planets were permanently retrograde?…turns out, this could be the case elsewhere, setting planetary formation theory on its ear…

Russell Gets Richer (Transworld News) – British boffin inks big deal to make stardcaster more profitable…he’s even doing cooking shows…

Planetary Music (NPR) – Listen to the proportional relative tones of the planets, the music of the spheres, as they circle in this marvelous musical animation…

Stamp Signs (India Post Office) – India is issuing a set of astrological stamps…pictures to come on release…

File In June (Flash News) – Astrologer Shelley Ackerman thinks you should delay filing your taxes, because of April 15th’s dire sky, until June…when there will be, actually, an even worse grand cross overhead...

Terrible Tiger (Phnom Pen Post) – The Year of the Tiger looks just awful, at least as seen from Cambodia…

Venus Is Alive (Space.com) – The planet of love may be hot inside as well as on the surface, with active volcanoes still spewing lava, more Earth-like than ever…

Dwarfed Again (Science Alert) – New definition of “dwarf planet” may let dozens more into the solar systems pen, crowding Pluto even more…

Why Vulcan Vanished (Post-Gazette) – The mysterious intra-Mercurial planet, long-sought by astronomers and astrologers alike, was probably an artifact of relativity…

Rubbish, Again (Facebook) – Astrologers defend their art against another dismissive “rubbish” attack on a BBC program, as skeptics blog back…the usual, unresolved arguments, not really addressing each other…

Manhandled (Sahil Online) – Crooked astrologer slapped silly by a group of women after attempted scam…sounds like he deserved it…

Lucky Planet (DNA India) – Our man Bejan (Subcontinental superstargazer) likes Jupiter in Pisces…

Hard To Get (AP) – California biodynamic wines, grown and produced according to lunar phases, among other things, are especially delicious, but there’s just not enough to go around…

The Red Sun (Thunderbolts) – Were the ancient Egyptians seeing a very different Sun than we are seeing today?...

Orbital Weather Cycle (Examiner) – If there’s a change in the weather, it’s because there’s ever a change in us…

Was Quaoar an Asteroid? (New Scientist) – Among the newer “planets” in the Kuiper Belt, this piece of rock may have wandered from a bit closer by…

Bend It Like Beckham (Daily Mail) – Victoria “Posh” Beckham, that is…and bending means an astrology-yoga combo that promises, promises…Jennifer Aniston does it, too…

Comet Catastrophe (RedOrbit) – Finally, hard evidence of a massive comet strike a little less than 13,000 years ago. Claims of this one and its traumatic historical effect (extinctions, legends of fire from the sky) have been bubbling under literally for decades…complete paper here...

Behead Fortuneteller (Pattya Daily News) – Saudi Arabia will behead popular Lebanese TV forecaster for over-the-air “sorcery,” after luring him in on pilgrimage. This nation is supposedly our ally…

Lost Bird (ExpressBuzz) – Local violence leaves an aging “parrot astrologer” searching for his life companion…

Feelie App (New Zealand Herald) – A new biometric phone application uses your natal chart, among other things, to tell your daily fortune…

Dodgy Doings (3News) – A suspicious set of starcasters have set up shop in Auckland…

Political Challenge (This Is Leicestershire) – Anti-astrology candidate will run for MP election in Britain, after expenses scandal…

Planetary Oddities (AOL) – Strange doings in our celestial neighborhood this year…

Nab Rapist (Deccan Herald) – Astrologers can be criminals, just like anybody else – and more often in a culture with more astrologers…

Hungry Planet (New Scientist) – Neptune may have eaten an earth-size planet and stolen its moon, Triton…or, it might have been Uranus…

Bangalore Bonanza (Mid-Day) – Astrologers make hay while the stars shine as politicos flock for election-time readings…

Mystery Manuscript (Fortean Times) – Zodiac helps date ancient document discovered by bookseller in 1912…

Dark Asteroids (NASA) – What you don’t see definitely can hurt you…

Star Wars Behind The Scenes (Pattaya Daily News) – Political forces in Thailand have astrologers working for both sides, like the mysterious “E.T.”,  similar to the English Civil War…

Burning Socks (Christian Science Monitor) – We’ve heard of some strange rituals associated with the spring equinox, but this one is a foot ahead…

Hurricane Neptune (Technology Review) – Like Saturn, Neptune is a windy place indeed…see pix and videos...

Moonwater (NASA) – The Moon is always associated with water, ruling the cardinal water sign Cancer. Hardly the dry, barren place the astronauts walked on.  Shouldn’t it be chock full of water? Well, maybe it is…

Software Test (Trak.in) – It takes an Indian news source to report on an American astrologer’s program to validate astrological concepts – it’s about harmonics, and by our old friend David Cochrane…

Death Star Collision (Scientific American) – A rogue star has been spotted headed our way on direct collision course. It won’t hit soon, but it radically shortens our time left here in this solar system…

Blood Protest (The Guardian) – Bizarre blood-spilling event is sympathetic magic, say Thai astrologers

For previous monthly overviews, predictions, and newslinks from earlier this year and previous years, see our colorful news archives here...

Three brand-new totally tailored astro-reports:
 On Sale Now Here!
 

Also, see newly expanded music and maritime sections...
 

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Today's Transits

August 2010 (EDT)

Along with the current daily transits daily advice for each and every one, click here...




Astro Calendar

For Void-of-Course Moon information, click
here...
or...        
the month's calendar page and ephemeris here!

Or, calendar and ephemeris for all of 2010 here!  (NEW)

           NEW:

This month's sky video!
(5 meg view/download)
           and also
Complete 2010 sky video!
(14 meg view/download)



John's Blog Here!

or, for select recent entries:


Just Out!!

La Petite Mort:
The Big O In The Sky!


Artful Dodging:
More Crisis Tips!


Opportunities:
A Time To Glean...


Immediate Advice:
What To Do When the Sky Is Falling!


Review:
When Jupiter Meets Uranus


Birthday Stars

Show Me

The Money!

...the Real Astrology Gold Mine 

An Astrologer's Tale

A Bio-triptych!

Can I Help You?
The Astrologer's Quandry...


Many Rainbows
Multi-Scaled Perceptions

Composite Charts:

They
Grow On You!


Sun Sign Sins

Arc Transforms:
The Ultimate Harmonic Charts


The Breathing Tide
surviving the storms...

Circles & Stones:
Sky Shrines

...and more...


Windowpanes:
Mystery Music

Gathering Sky:
Aspect Dynamics



which include some:
Lagrange Points:

a planetary mystery solved! 



plus the series:
Planetary Order:
#3...islands in the sky
#2...your ducks in a row
#1...rising ahead of the sun

Celebrity Astrology
what does it mean?

and visit our huge celebrity archive at Matrix Astrology Software...

Cedar Skies:
Beirut Astrologer Carmen Chammas


or enter:
The AstroBlogosphere
it's exploding!...


for astrologers only:
Small Aspects, Big Clout

Mars-Uranus!
The Next Crisis Is On The Map!

and

New "Rectification" Article:

Fixing Your Chart...

then...

understanding your cosmic family: 

"Threads Of Destiny"


or how about your:


...and don't forget the rest of our full-length






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Reviews




Soul-Sick Nation
by Jessica Murray -- An astrological view of America, and how we got into all this trouble...you haven't read anything like it...




Cosmos and Psyche
by Richard Tarnas -- Astrological foundations reinvestigated by academe's leading humanistic philosopher...heavy duty!



by Wendy Leigh -- With Princess Grace's horoscope by John Townley



Sunshines

by Michael Lutin -- The Vanity Fair Astrologer adds the South Node to the usual Sun Signs for a new pop take...



The Fated Sky

by Benson Bobrick -- An eye-opening history of astrology as never before attempted...
 



Home Astrology
by Paul Wade 
-- Give your house a makeover from start to finish...a new astrological trend...



Biological Time
by Bernie Taylor -- A watershed in scientific thinking that astrologers should be thankful for...




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Liaison Officer's Journal -- Complete journal of 40 days across the Atlantic on Zawisa Czarny, with over 60 photos

To Anacreon In Heaven -- The drinking song that became the "Star Spangled Banner."

Saigon Girls -- A scythe song of the sixties sounds like deja vu all over again...

Apostolic Studios -- the tale of the pioneering multitrack studio where Frank Zappa recorded Lumpy Gravy and Uncle Meat...

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Stare Dzwony At Liverpool -- the complete album recorded at The Alber Dock.

Maritime Matters International -- all things maritime (papers, museum programs, Confecderate Navy, and more)

Our Newsletter Series:

The Trines Of Spring -- how grand crosses turn into grand trines.

Which Side Are You On? -- Saturn and the outer planets paint the great struggles in history.

To The Manor Born -- Barron Trump is only part of a fortunate time-litter with good progressions all their lives.

All Kinds Of Trouble -- The Israeli-Arab Wars have all been characterized by afflicted Mars...until now...

Dark Days: The End Of The Beginning -- the first part of fate reining in America is about done...now comes the rest...Mars, Saturn, and Pluto all put in their contributions...

The Scythe In The Sky -- A rare pattern hangs over the world that bodes revolution, or has before...

The Penultimate Year -- Jupiter in Sagittarius is often the lull before the storm, this time evoking  the 1936 Olympic year...







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