or, go to the entire Archive Index

Coming in December: the race is on...

December skies see all the planets tucked in between Saturn and Uranus, except for an outsider Moon (Dec.6-18), with the Sun, Mercury, and Mars racing into Capricorn in a (mostly) vain attempt to make catch speeding Jupiter and taking a first-time wallop from newly-changed Pluto en route to the New Moon. It’s like a breakneck race to see if you can somehow catch the brass ring, despite the lame horse you’re riding on. Mercury gets there, but the others don’t quite make it before Jupiter changes sign and a new dispensation begins.

It won’t arrive a moment too soon, and likely not soon enough. It’s one of those situations where changing horses in midstream is more than just desirable, it’s critical, even if some participants get swept away by the current in the process. With the ongoing opposition of Saturn (old) and Uranus (new),  begun on election day, for the moment new has the speed, as Saturn slows to go retro right after New Year and Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars only increase their forward motion.

The planetary peak of the month is the Moon-Mars-Pluto conjunction on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26) and the new Moon the day after, with five planets in shivering Capricorn. Remember what good King Wenceslas saw when he looked out? That’s the picture…except now we’ll be seeing the younger, more aggressive version coming to grips with it…

Tricks along the Styx: Pluto’s final fare, as Jupiter sweetens the pot.

For those who have been eagerly awaiting Pluto’s final crossover into Capricorn (and for those who have been dreading it as well), this is the month. Change, big time, is finally under way. Sometimes that happens gradually, but this time with Saturn opposite Uranus exact right on American election day, there will be plenty of fireworks as a power exchange firefight between the old and the new peaks on the front lines to the accompaniment of Pluto’s inexorable artillery from the far bank. And, by month’s end new Moon, Mars finds itself in the middle of everything, headed for a general race into Capricorn next month.

But the stabilizing element, if you can call it that, in the middle of all this is Jupiter moving vigorously ahead in Capricorn, nicely sextile Uranus and solidly trine Saturn (at what older astrologers called the steadying “Thales Point”), making it seem like all will be well and recovery is on its way. In its fashion, it’s a go-between in the midst of uncertainty, giving a positive spin to the whole operation of shifting gears socially and economically, a welcome balm to an agitated and conflict-weary world. But, it’s a little like those delicious pomegranate seeds a hungry Persephone devoured before leaving her confinement in the underworld – for these happy snacks the piper is yet to be paid and there will be many revisits to and from the past before we’re clear of the recent sins of the fathers, especially where the U.S. is concerned. But there is real hope to hang your hat on, and visible evidence that things are no longer the way they were – there’s a course, however uncertain the current, for our individual and collective boats that have been seemingly rudderless in the stream for some time.  

...and a changing tide

Last month we pointed out, both here and in our Matrix monthly, that we are returning to a period with a bowl chart in the sky (edged by Saturn and Uranus, with all planets inside them) for half the month, and a lunar bucket the other half, the first time since 2001. When the Moon is inside the bowl, we return to Saturn-led bowl chart order, and when the Moon is outside of the bowl, our satellite becomes the wildly emotional handle of a bucket chart, and everybody gets crazy. September proved to be uncannily on time, as Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy was announced just when the Moon passed Uranus (surprise!) on 9/14 and broke into the open. All hell broke loose and the world economy went nuts for two weeks until the Moon finished her crazy trek and tucked herself back into the bowl with the conjunction to Saturn on 9/28 and the accompanying massive bail-out bill – the first version of which itself failed, from being introduced on a terminally old Moon, but will eventually in some form put things temporarily back on  firmer footing.

The Moon, associated with mass behavior (hysterical or otherwise) is very much the focus as we move back into another similar round in October. The weekend of October 11-12 opens up the next round (two weeks of various panicky forms of “October surprise”), which then closes with the weekend of October 25-26, as again only one-half of the sky is inhabited until after the election. As we also pointed out, Pluto headed for its momentous sign change and the Saturn-Uranus opposition (the edges of the bowl) becoming exact on U.S. election day November 4 also give an extra feeling of ground-swell change, within which we all have little room to steer, the “following sea” of last month’s editorial.

Imagine yourself on a ship in heavy weather – when you’re on deck, it seems like chaos (Moon outside the bowl) but when you go below it feels so much cozier and safer, but you know it’s really not. Go up for air again, if you’re getting a little seasick, and the whole experience repeats. Get used to it, because that will be the rhythm for the next few months and into mid-February, after which the Sun and inner planets begin to spread out of the bowl for a six-month hiatus, before it begins all over again. It’s the pumping rhythm of major change, whether it’s the kind you want to believe in or not…

...and a following sea

"There is a feel in the water," said Frithiof, "that I cannot understand. I think that we run downhills or somethings. She steers bad this morning."
Nobody seems to know the laws that govern the pulse of the big waters. Sometimes even a landsman can tell that the solid ocean is a-tilt, and that the ship is working herself up a long unseen slope; and sometimes the captain says, when neither full steam nor fair wind justifies the length of a day’s run, that the ship is sagging downhill; but how these ups and downs come about has not yet been settled authoritatively.
"No, it is a following sea," said Frithiof; "and with a following sea you shall not get good steerage-way."
– Many Inventions, by Rudyard Kipling, p. 184

A fair wind and a following sea: that’s the image for September. With Mercury, Venus, and Mars all running in tandem in Libra for most of the month, it’s like sailing under sunny and breezy skies with the wind and the swell behind you, everything all sparkly and bright with energy, ideas, and love bursting out all over. But, at the same time, there’s another undercurrent that makes you a little nervous. When you stop and think about it, you realize you’re being so carried along by events that you couldn’t stop and turn around or even alter course very effectively.

That’s because change is really in the wind, with the better part of the skies transforming into a Saturn-led bowl chart for the first time in many years, as Saturn heads to tuck itself inside a single hemisphere with Jupiter, Mars, and the outer planets by November. Only the Moon strays out of the bowl for half the month, transforming the sky into a lunar bucket or a Moon or Saturn-led locomotive chart. The result is you lead with your heart or your pocketbook, not much in between, and there’s a strong feeling that you’re not entirely in control of either as the swell sweeps you along. Jupiter trines Saturn and Pluto begins to move forward again on Sept 8 and irrevocably heads for Capricorn, so the feeling of movement is palpable. Lunar T-squares put a kink in things Sept 7 and 20, and the magic triple stellium fades during the last week as Mercury goes retro and the looming Saturn-Uranus opposition that will rule the rest of the fall begins to take shape. For the moment, enjoy the rush and the opportunity to play while the planets glitter and dance along the wind…

Last month’s Mars-Saturn conjunction in Virgo turned out as projected to be lots of detailed, filtered-down strife and hostilities even in the war-torn Middle East, and not a big, single event like the previous one in Leo. So what about August?

The main story is that it’s silly season again, with a solar eclipse at 9 Leo on the opening day followed by a lunar eclipse at 24 Leo-Aquarius on August 16. If you’ve got planets near any of those degrees, you’re in for some change and surprises. And, the effect is highlighted this month by the fact that the whole sky is a see-saw of planets in summer signs opposite planets in winter signs, with only the Moon as a go-between as it migrates from summer (8/1, new Moon, eclipse) to winter (8/16, full Moon, eclipse) and back again (8/30 new Moon). As if eclipses weren’t intense enough, the quarters will bring a fixed T-square on Aug 8-9 and a mutable grand cross on Aug 25 (at the opening of the Democratic Convention). So, it’s going to be a month of tension/release, and more tension/release with a lot of turnarounds and shifting of sides going on in the process.

Developing underneath, however, is a positively charming gathering of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, finally free of Saturn by mid-month and heading together into a sparkling brew of sex, talent, and celebrity by the first week of September. So, once all the grappling and posturing is over with, it will be time for a show of internal charisma and ability set free from the narrow bonds of responsibility in Virgo and ready to partner and make the most of it in Libra. Like the playground seesaw, it will be up and down, up and down, and then rush off to play in a new game where all get a proper and well-earned share of the fun, at least until the later fall showdown of Saturn and Uranus overtakes us all...

Mars opens July with a swing into Virgo on its way to conjoin Saturn on the tenth, setting the tone for a polarized sky with Sun, inner planets and Saturn in summer signs opposite Jupiter and the outer planets in winter signs, as the Moon shuttles between them throughout the month. It’s all about taking sides and defending positions, with the Moon aiding and abetting the situation, depending on its momentary hard or supportive aspects.

The dynamic here is a gathering sky with the Mars-Saturn conjunction as its fulcrum, to which all else is either preparation or follow-up, something like St. Crispen’s Day, October 25, 1415 (also a period with Mars in Virgo heading to square Pluto) when the battle of Agincourt rocked the Western world. It’s a biennial conjunction which last time, two summers ago, coincided with the unexpected and explosive war in Lebanon. Expect another of that ilk, probably in a nearby theater of operations (the last Mars-Uranus conjunction suggests the Middle East again), but with a more specific quality that suits Virgo, perhaps less showy but equally as difficult, fraught with intransigent details. It will be most obvious where it hits the headlines, but the energy tends to filter down to everyone’s life in one way or another, so walk warily. The temptation will be strong to make big confrontations out of small issues, mountains out of molehills, so take the broader view, be inclusive, tolerant, and gently persistent.

All of this is itself a harbinger of August’s eclipses in Leo and Aquarius which will spin everybody around twice more before the polarized skies at last regather into the first true bowl patterns of the century, when political and spiritual progress together can again become a real possibility. On the way, however, expect to see lots more of the ongoing pressures that will finally force that brotherly realignment of the happy few (do read the speech!) to happen on earth as it happens above…

Last month’s merry-go-round Maypole is history and June opens and closes with the last grand trines of Saturn, Pluto, and the Moon for the next twenty-three years. It happens in earth at the start of the month with an out-of-sign version at the end, and then it’s good-bye to the fleeting friendship of the establishment (Saturn) with ineluctable fate (Pluto). Pluto is then in for a final stint in Sagittarius, a last parting shot at the wreckage of truth-telling it has created since its entry in 1995, and on to grind down Saturn’s own sign of Capricorn by year’s end. We’re in for a big change, whether it’s the kind you can believe in or not.

But that’s the big picture. This month is all about reestablishing polarities, realigning loyalties for the summer’s coming siege, as it becomes clear who is on which side. May’s musical chairs are over, and it’s time to find your place and buckle your seat belt. Mercury retro for the first three weeks heightens the effect with people re-editing their lives, changing their minds, and going back on their words, highlighted by the Moon joining the Mars-Neptune opposition right after Mercury direct – slippery stuff, and a prelude to the Mars-Saturn conjunction that will highlight July.

By the time the month is over, you’ll know who your real friends are – and enemies – just in time to engage in the coming actions. All in all, June is about polarization, electro-magnetic reversal, and an end to the spring’s planetary switchfest, moving from a full, inclusive, splash-pattern sky to another see-saw of opposition between planets in summer and winter signs. So, time to settle down and secure your seat…the show is about to begin…

Merry Month

May is a merry-go-round, a celestial musical chairs, a spread dance around the maypole that marks a seasonal sky-shift. We’ve been in a pattern of oppositions, with the Sun and inner planets joining the outer planets in a playoff against Mars and Saturn. In a single month, all this shifts, as four planets reverse field – Saturn (St.D 5/2), Jupiter (St.Rx 5/9), Neptune (St. Rx 5/26), and Mercury (St. Rx 5/26) – and the Sun/inners move to join Mars and Saturn opposing the outers and Jupiter, in another confrontational see-saw sky by the summer. This is the period the quicker players shift allegiances in pretense of enlightened largesse, only to realign for another fight.

Watch for lots of people playing both sides against the middle, changing loyalties, and plenty of room for repositioning until the summer locks it all down. As with a maypole dance, it begins with a joyful spread around the circle but tightens up as you wind around until there’s not room for everyone by the end, rather like musical chairs. It’s great fun stepping lightly at the start, but you don’t want to be the one to choose too late and get pushed out or knocked over in the end.

While everyone jostles for a new position based on immediate convenience, it might be a good idea to take a second look at the big picture before you decide which side you’re on. In the end, the concentration of the outer planets calls the long-term shots, and shorter alliances of the inner planets and even heavyweight Saturn turn out to have been sometimes-devastating but ultimately passing maneuvers. Such will be the summer, so think twice this month lest you jump onto one of the several wrong bandwagons available. Once Saturn gets inside a bowl with the outer planets (by year’s end, at its opposition to Uranus), this seasonal shift will become much less marked for a while and real progress will become available.

For now, however, remember that sometimes when the colorful ribbons get wound up really tight, the beleaguered maypole actually crashes down on someone (yes, it really happens), and if that’s you, it kind of spoils your party. Be sure to let go your ribbon in time and gracefully dance away...

April Fools!

"Ship of Fools" by Hieronymous Bosch...

April is the foolest month...no, that’s not right, but it rhymes. Perhaps its vaunted cruelishness is born of our inclination toward certainty in this season when that is indeed a fool’s errand. This is in part what the skies promise for this April, so be warned, but don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself, anyway. After all, it’s April.

March saw a re-sorting set of mystic rectangles and a huge grand cross that made for major jockeying for position and resultant lockups. This month is both harsher yet looser, resulting in perceived progress that itself is a window to yet a different world. An assembling T-square involving Sun and inner planets opposite Mars and Jupiter becomes a grand cardinal cross with Venus, then evolves into a full Moon by April 20, when the focus in the nick of time shifts to fixed signs and away from the cross. Beneath all this, however, is a grand earth trine of Mercury, Saturn, and Pluto which continues to be supportive with strong trines of Sun, Saturn, and Pluto with Moon by April 25. What looked like March’s mess repeated will seem like resolution by its end. Agreement out of discord. Saturn and Pluto at the root of it, however, will be moving along shortly – Saturn forward into mid-Virgo and Pluto back to Sagittarius for a last blast, making April’s vaunted hopes cruel, indeed. We’re in for it, come summer, with a final repast of almost-dated, so-yesterday conflicts that will only begin to resolve when Pluto finally gets back into Capricorn at autumn’s end.

Still, it’s progress of a sort. Those who have arrogantly played the fool will be chastised, yet included, and the clueless will be rewarded, as the nodes come to Neptune. Issues of purity and cleanliness will come yet again, because it’s going to be a grubby summer, and you never know when a cistern may turn out to be a cesspool. When the waters are poisoned, those who carry their own canteens journey past unsullied. Fill up now, so you will drink well later…

The Ides Of March!

Last year we noted Mars making its surge (October: Mars Attacks!) followed by the beginning of a long retro period (November: Mars Retreats!), and this month the planet will finally make up its lost ground and prepare to take new territory as it closes on its original 12 Cancer station point for rendezvous in the first week of April. Its namesake month March will be the time to start the motor again and generally gird all loins for the next push. The spring-off point is in the first week as Mars makes its last opposition to Pluto just hours before the new Moon conjoins Uranus (at the “Nones,” or March 7th), seeing literally months of pressure build-up come to its final squeeze and sudden release. This explosive combo mushrooms into a grand earth trine on the 10th, further formed into a “kite” or “cupid’s bow” by the Mars-Pluto opposition. By the “Ides” (of Julius Caesar fame, the 15th) the shrapnel should be finding its marks, be they physical or political, in time for a full-fledged fracas approaching the grand cardinal cross formed by the full Moon of the 21st. This is definitely a month for pushing forward and locking horns at every level, a crush of comrades, a clash of titans, a battle of behemoths.

Throughout, the overall sky is drifting in and out of a Saturn-rooted “mystic rectangle,” the name for two oppositions in trine/sextile to each other, which proffers both progress (in partnership) and paralysis (from shock) at the same time. If you were stultified by the stagnation of January, then frustrated by February’s desultory dissembling, this one should have you rising to your feet, though perhaps with mixed feelings. Nevertheless, there is a piquantly precocious side to the month, as Mercury and Venus running tight together over first Neptune, then Uranus, show an inventive and charmingly artistic streak running the length of the month. Babies born now will be uniquely talented, and trends begun now will be extra trendier.

Vying  For  Votes!

"Election Entertainment," by William Hogarth, 1754

It’s electioneering weather this month for sure, with the Sun charging through the “people’s” sign of Aquarius while Venus spends most of the month in Capricorn along with Jupiter schnurring contributions from well-heeled (or otherwise) supporters. That may be a sometime thing, as although Mars is finally direct after a long and painful retro and everyone’s ready to charge ahead, Mercury has just gone retro so it’s also time to change your mind. Then throw in two eclipses on February 6 (solar) and 20 (lunar) just to add some more chaos to the confusion and you’ve got the makings of democracy.

Nevertheless, while all that gets thrashed out, there is plenty of momentum to be gathered on both sides of the aisle as the Jupiter-Saturn trine makes a grand earth trine with the angles daily and with the Moon on February 12-13. That’s the cooperation side. On more pugnacious ground is Mars coming back into a power-grabbing opposition to Pluto for the third time, as both Mars and Saturn stand out together on one side of the sky, with everything else on the other. It’s enough to heat up this mid-winter month with unexpected storms both physical and political, even though the sky is decidedly lacking in fire, meaning the battles are going to be a bit less spiritual than might be, more gut-level wheeling and dealing.

All of this is just the beginning of Pluto putting its toe into Capricorn before a 16-year spell there, when general deconstruction (see our article) will be the order of the day, resulting in a seriously new way of doing business and politics worldwide by the end of it. A one superpower-dominated hegemony will become a shifting triumvirate vying for position with a host of runners-up nipping at their heels for a piece of the global pie. Those who are aware of what is already happening will dodge the falling timbers and join the healthy new growth on the ever-renewing forest floor, as the snows of winter melt to reveal the green shoots of spring.

Get Down To Business

The Young Martyr, by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)

January has fewer crazy changes than December did – instead, it’s about getting used to the new order of things, particularly the new relationship of Jupiter and Saturn, a nice earth trine which supports good business all the way, making a grand earth trine with the Ascendant every day around lunchtime. The sky is short on water, with only Uranus holding out in Pisces, so the supposedly rational and reliable takes over and trumps the heart. Mercury goes retrograde at month’s end in Aquarius and Mars finally goes direct two days later in Gemini, so there are some seriously shifting grounds at month’s end.

The larger picture, however, is that Jupiter is with Pluto in early Capricorn for the first time since 288 A.D., when Saturn and Neptune were each exactly opposite where they now stand. Jupiter and Pluto have been in Capricorn together more recently – 1771, 1522, 1273, 1024, and more back into the Dark Ages – but not so extremely early in the sign since the year St. Sebastian was martyred and Roman emperor Diocletian took over from Maximilian, just before the Roman Empire flipped to Christianity. It was time for big changes, and people meant business, often deadly business, especially including the Christians who were willing to die in great numbers for their faith until at last they took over the empire. At the time, the winning business hand seemed to be the classical Roman status quo, but it turned out otherwise.

Weak Wind (Spaceref) – The spots may be back, but the solar wind is only three-quarters as strong as it was a decade ago…is it affecting us?…

Decoded, Again (CNN) – Stonehenge, it would appear, was a healing center, say two Brit scientists…guess all that planetary alignment stuff was just Neolithic tourist trappings…

2012 Thesis (Skepsis) – If you want the full skinny on the Mayan astrological calendar end-of-the-world fuss, here’s an entire master’s thesis on the subject…

Pack Up, Palin! (OpEdNews) – Indian astrologer weighs in on U.S. candidates…

Color Coded Candidates (Bangkok Post) – Politicians are using their astrological colors as themes to garner votes…

Cosmic Crackdown (Human Rights Tribune) – Burmese junta used astrology to pick day for repressing dissidents…

Ruinous Restoration (Sify) – Repairs to Jaipur’s breathtakingly accurate national monument astrological/astronomical observatory are being bungled by bureaucrats who won’t consult the experts…

Full Moon Boosts Birds (Discovery) – Birds get antsy when the Moon is full, according to new ornithological study…

Diffuse Definitions (Spaceref) – New IAU debate leaves what a “planet” is less certain than ever…

Astrologers Eye Terrorists (India Interacts) – The Indian government has hired astrologers to help in security efforts…

Sing Out! (YouTube) – The signs, done in everything from country to neo-Neil Diamond…been around for a while, but just brought to our attention…

Cosmic Migration (Science Now) – The idea of galactic ages/cycles may be out the window if it turns out we’ve moved…

Another Sun, Another Planet (NY Times) – A stunning pic of a farr-off solar system complete with orbiting planet…

Hello Haumea (The Register) – Another dwarf planet joins the gang…

Everybody Believes (Baylor Univ.) – New repeating study says nearly everybody believes in a god of some sort, hardly any in astrology…wonder who they interviewed…

The Business Of Astrology (The Hindu) – Online and in person, star services are undergoing a sea change – here’s an analytical look from the leader in the market…

A Glorious Time (Wall St. Journal) -- …for astrologers in Thailand, that is, as political unrest has everyone looking for the right future…

Astrology As Evolutionary Gambit (New Scientist) – Along with other beliefs which skeptic call “magical thinking,” it confers a survival advantage…

Red Stars (Thai Indian) – Communist Party leader checks out the nadi leaves on the sly…

Is It Our Fault? (American Chronicle) – Our Sun is without spots for unusually long – is it the calm before the storm or is global consciousness-raising to blame?…

Apocalypse Not (Times Online) – The Hadron Collider does not appear to have ended the world. Here are thirty other times it didn’t happen, across history, with astrologers often in the wings…

It Was All About Astrology… (Young Turks) – …Christianity was, and every other religion, according to new movie Zeitgeist, which you can view online…

Guided By Stars (Mangalorean) – Pakistan’s new president puts off swearing-in date on astrologers’ advice…

The New Leader (The News) – All kinds of starry speculations on Musharraf’s successor…

Thumbprints and Palm Leaves (The Telegraph) – Another form of divination which, like card-picking parrots, is often labeled astrology…

Feeling Ill? (Hindustan Times) – It could be the planets, says government study…

The Stars Are Aligned (Christianity Today) – For McCain, from his own video? Christianity Today is nonplussed – and don’t miss the “superstitious” link…

Don’t Deny It (Times Of India) – Everybody who’s anybody on the Subcontinent uses astrology, but too many pretend otherwise…

Ghost Story (10 Zen Monkeys) – A 55-year-old astrologer claims to be hearing from recent suicide D.C. madam’s spirit. Will she reveal in death what she didn’t in life? A spectral tell-all may be in the ether…

Laptop Guide (PhysOrg) – Looking to find the planets and signs in a confusingly starry sky? This little device guides your laptop and points right at them…

Backwards Orbit (New Scientist) – Here’s a new planetary object that doesn’t just appear retrograde, it actually orbits that way – and at right angles to the ecliptic…

It’s Legal! (AP) – Previously banned, astrology and other forecasting methods are OK’d in one Vermont town, part of a nationwide set of repeals…

A Black Moon (Wikipedia) – Similar to “blue Moon”, a “black Moon” (one just happened Aug. 30) is two new Moons in the same month…

Wet Moon, Dry Moon (Wikipedia) – More lunar types you should know about…

Kiwi Convictions (NZ Sunday Star Times) – From this survey about beliefs, it would appear that the fairer sex is also a little more in tune…

Prisonscopes (Wales Online) – Jailbirds look to the stars…

Crazed Lawsuit (Phllyist) – From the guy who said Bush plotted 9/11, here’s a supportive “electional astrology” take (see the YouTube link) on his latest against Obama…things our art doesn’t need, indeed…

Planetary Importance (New Scientist) – Is Pluto’s support for “planetary” status an artifact of astrology?...

The Horoscope Channel (Brand Republic) – UK astrologer Russell Grant will soon have his own channel to tell fortunes over the air, following the example of India and Europe…so where is the USA?...

London Signs (Wealth Bulletin) – In a new survey, Capricorn rules in London while Aries avoids it…

Reasonable Theories (The News Magazine) – The ancient Egyptians were on to something when they emphasized the Sun and its inclusive effects…

The Smart Catch On (Baylor University) – New university study shows the more educated you get, the more you take astrology seriously…

Who Believes, And Why (ScienceBlogs) – There are reasons why the reasonable take a second look, and a third..

Olympic Bunk (ScienceBlogs) – “Good Math, Bad Math” blog doesn’t think much of the newly-touted astro-stats about Olympic athletes…

Lots Of Democrats (Aljazeera) – Aljazeera consults an astrologer about what’s going on in Denver…

Olympic Bunk (ScienceBlogs) – “Good Math, Bad Math” blog doesn’t think much of the newly-touted astro-stats about Olympic athletes…

Frigid Winter, Or Not (AP, Charleston Daily Mail) – The Farmers’ Almanac and the National Weather Service do not agree about what’s ahead…

Free Consultations (The Telegraph) – World astrology conference in Asia will feature free reading from experts around the world…

Kismat Konnection (Times Of India) – Astrology only gets matchmaking sixty percent right, so why not hedge your bets with other approaches?…

Stars Guide Through Choppy Market (Times Of India) – It’s a simple concept, but only a few can do it well…

Princes And Paupers (Fox Business) – New statistical survey puts Leo, Taurus, and Cancer over $100k, Aquarius and Capricorn under $35k. Go figure…plus more on traits, birth order…

Living With A Star (NASA) – The planets don’t just circle around each other in a void – we’re all connected together inside the Sun’s atmosphere, and it’s crackling outside…

Pisces for the Pool, Taurus for the Pole (Reuters) – Your mathematically conclusive astrological key to Olympic winners…oh, why not?…

Off The Cusp (Boston Globe) – There’s more to cuspiness than one might imagine…

Picking Your Litter (Sindh Today) – When electional astrology means a C-section…

The Forer Effect (Business Line) – Are we just fooling ourselves when we indulge in astrology or other kinds of personality analysis?…

Star Tech (Times of India) – The number of techies studying astrology has rocketed…

Presidential Prognostications (ABC News) – Astrologer Susan Miller throws her hat into the political prediction arena…

Madonna’s Next Fifty Years (Hollywood News) – A whole new cycle is headed her way…

Perception Of Pluto (Astrobiology Magazine) – More debate on just what constitutes a planet. Under the right circumstances, Earth wouldn’t qualify…

There’s Life On Mars (NDTV) – Not in ancient history, but right now, says noted scientist…

Eclipse Mix (Beliefnet) – Lynn Hayes, now on Beliefnet, notes that it’s the planetary combo that makes or breaks an eclipse…

Astrology Mall (Times of India) – A veritable soothsayer’s supermarket, ten of them in fact, soon to open in Bangalore…

Because It’s Round (MSNBC) – That’s what should be what determines what’s a planet, no?…

The Eights Have It (New Straits Times) – 8/8/2008 has astrologers and numerologists jumping, not to mention the carefully-chosen Olympic opening…

Getting Down With The Candidates (Huffington Post) – Astrologer Philip Sedgwick has some advice for McCain and Obama, and the rest of us: get down with Pluto…

Haywire Stars (Merinews) – The Gujarat bomb blast, viewed from a Vedic chart set…

The Tale of Brother Twelve (North Island Midweek) – Unlikely history: legendary fleshpot guru of the Northwest was finally done in by a wronged astrologer…

Lucky Sultan (Adnkronos) – Astrologer risks reputation to declare one of the wealthiest men in the world has a prosperous future…

Drunken Astrologer Beheaded (Newindpress) – By his wife, yet, with his own sickle…it’s the same the whole world over…

Trouble, Trouble (American Chronicle) – Guy who uses Gemini Rising USA chart thinks we should abandon hope, and the minimum wage…unless, maybe that’s not the chart to use…

Eclipse Shuts Down City (Times of India) – Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in an eclipse day’s sun…

Tatters In Timbuktu (Der Spiegel) – The rush to save ancient astrological manuscripts crumbling in the desert…

Gasps And Nervousness (AFP) – That’s what greeted the solar eclipse along its path in Asia…

Bucky Fullerscope (Chronogram) – Buckminster Fuller was born on the day of the first prediscovery photo of Chiron, and other interesting astrological notes…

Solar Cheers (International Herald Tribune) – China has its special take on eclipse, including recent earthquake…

Fact And Superstitions (The Peninsula) – Various eclipse lore from a newspaper in Qatar…

Olympic Starcaster (USA Today) – The still-mysterious Antikythera mechanism plotted the stars for the earliest Olympics in ancient Greece…

Medieval Starcaster (The Herald) – A somewhat newer star calculator from Chaucer’s time has sold for half a million dollars…

The Real Saturn (Thunderbolts) – Maybe the reality of the time tells us more about the myth…

Off With Their Heads! (National Geographic) – Astrologers who failed to forecast Chinese eclipse paid with their lives…

Doomsday Warnings, Again (NY Sun) – New York astrologer claims that Saturn-Uranus opposition will bring back the turmoil of the 1960s…ah, the good old days…

Black Dog Syndrome (Binnall of America) – In the West, nobody wants them, but as we have reported before (though this article doesn’t), they’re a sellout in the East because of Saturn rulership…

Not A Good Time To Do Anything (The Star) – That describes July 16-August 15, the month of Adi, according to Vedic thinking. And we’re not even to the dog days…

Thanking Her Stars (Reuters) – India’s PM should credit the heavens for her close political call…

Victimized by Astrology and...Veganism? (ABC News)-- Web site warns of the dangers associated with odd, and not so odd, beliefs…

Stars And Czars (Economic Times) – “Life without astrology can be compared to a journey without a road map…”

Heavenly Footwear (Express India) – This shoe designer has seven consulting astrologers working on her line…

Divine Impulses (Newsweek/Washington Post) – Sally Quinn talks to astrologer Caroline Casey…

Football Faith (Newindpress) – France again puts its faith in coach Domenech, who puts his faith in astrology, to some specific players’ disadvantage, including Libra, Scorpio, and Leo…

The World on a String (Thunderbolts) – Did ancient humans actually see the influence of the Sun and the planets, as filaments in the sky?…

Ceres An Impersonator? (Science News) – Is the largest asteroid really an undocumented outer planet that moved in?…

New Dwarf In Town (New Scientist) – Trans-Neptunian planet (formerly “Easterbunny”) becomes the third named “Plutoid” after Pluto and Eris…now called Makemake, after an Easter Island god… the next one, unofficially “Santa,” will be harder…

Guru Moon (SFGate) – This special summer full Moon will transform the human race, says “YouTube Guru”…vedically speaking, it’s really a big deal…

What The Stars Don’t Tell (Business Standard) – It’s not about fate, it’s about control, as this columnist discovers…

Haircut Moon (Phase) – Cut your hair at the full of the Moon, plus other good times for coolest coiffing…

Jupiter Loses Spot (New Scientist) – Third big storm on the giant planet has met a sudden fate…

Like A Parrot (Rediff) – Parrot “astrology” is a strange beast, but are legit financial advisors actually playing the same game?…too true…

Mercury Revised (NASA) – The planet looks like the Moon on the outside, but rings like Earth on the inside, and it’s shrinking, crinkled…

Ice Age Asteroid (Physorg) – More physical evidence of an extinction-triggering asteroid impact from very recent history…

Signs and Seasons (Roanoke) – Increasing evidence shows disorders vary, depending on what time of year you were born…

Nixon And Dixon (Newsweek) – The Reagans weren’t the first – a decade before, astrologer and psychic Jeanne Dixon had the ear of Tricky Dick, mostly on the subject of terrorism…

Pluto’s Comeback (Newsweek) – The “plot” to reinstate Pluto at the IAU is spearheaded by the observatory that discovered it…

When The Sky Fell (NASA) – It’s the centennial of the day the heavens really came down and touched the earth…

Caesar’s Moon (Texas State Univ) – The invasion of Britain was timed by the Moon…

Astrology and Rebellion (Asian Tribune) – The Burmese junta moved out of the way of disaster, thanks to astrological advice…but two U.S. Marines are on their trail…this part hasn’t been in the newspapers here, yet…

Two Faces of Mars (BBC) – Mars rulership is known for its rough, sometimes misshapen exterior, maybe because the very planet got badly smacked and damaged early on…

Liverpool Orrery (YouTube) – Liverpool, all the planets circle around it, didn’t you know?...part of Liverpool ’08, the Orrery will travel to Glastonbury this weekend…

Planetary Epicycles (Commodity Online) – Ptolemy’s original astrological theory fits nicely with economic cycle views…

Homer’s Eclipse (Scientific American) – Homeric reference was real, pushes ancient Greek astronomy back a few years…

Aurora’s Appearance (Matrix Software) – That was our forecast for George Carlin only last month, just didn’t know the “widely scattered light toward morning” would be on the other side…

Health And Your Birthday (Chicago Tribune) – When you were born really does affect your metabolism, and more…

When Were You Born? (Los Angeles Times) – A look at mystic and astrologer Manly P. Hall and the occult rage in early Hollywood days…

Intoxicating Results (Journal Alive) – Some of the reasons why winemaking by the stars is so, well, satisfying…

Seeded From The Stars (Men’s News Daily) – It’s called “panspermia” and it means we came from the stars, not just raw elements but our actual DNA…latest evidence brings new support…

Stressed Election (Reality Sandwich) – Princeton astrologer Barry C. Orr takes a long look at the coming contest in the fall…all kinds of options…

Finding the Body (Kuensel Online) – Consulted on mystery illnesses, astrologer said there was a body to be found, and there was…

Forecast Most Foul (Canada.com) – The astrologer warned him against the marriage, but he didn’t listen, and now he’s a murderer…

Astrollywood (Smash Hits) – Bengali filmmakers follow Bollywood and catch the cosmic connection…

Lurking Planet