Category Archives: declination

The Astrology of a Derailment

Whenever a horoscope in longitude doesn’t reveal the obvious, I turn to declination, our alternate measurement in astrology. Declination can help us better understand the tragic train derailment in the Bronx on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at 7:20 AM.

The regular horoscope for the crash has the Moon, Mercury and Saturn in Scorpio conjunct the 12th house (an intense experience), Sun rising in Sagittarius trine Uranus (unexpected events in travel) and Mars opposite Neptune (engineer dozing at the controls?). But it doesn’t really have the most obvious things we expect from an accident of this magnitude. Four were killed and over 60 injured, many critically.

Turn on the declination grid and everything stands out more clearly. The Sun in Sagittarius is parallel Pluto and closely parallel the Ascendant. Then powerful Jupiter in Cancer contraparallels Pluto and tightly contraparallels both the Ascendant and the Sun. This pattern more clearly presents a situation where destruction (Pluto) from excessive speed (Jupiter) is possible. In addition, there’s an exact Mars parallel Uranus as well, the two planets most often associated with accidents and sudden crises.

Venus in Capricorn had been Out of Bounds in declination (beyond the planets’ usual path on the ecliptic) for a number of weeks at the time of the accident. The odd coincidence is that the train’s engineer has this placement in his birth chart as well! Venus OOB generally represents one with an artistic temperament or the tendency to “love not wisely but too well,” as Kt Boehrer put it. Extraordinary relationships are possible. Certainly the engineer is now unfortunately in the midst of unusually challenging relationship issues involving the passengers, his employers and government authorities (transiting Venus OOB in Capricorn). Venus goes Out of Bounds only once every 8 years or so for a few months.

Perhaps the prominence of the benefics Venus and Jupiter in this disaster accounts for the fact that not many lives were lost. At the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, there were fewer passengers to the City than usual at such an early hour.

Declination measures planets north and south of the equator and their aspects in parallel and contraparallel. This may at first appear a bit simplistic, but as we can see, declination can provide information that we may not find in longitude. It truly adds another dimension to astrology.

JFK Redux

The media has been having an orgy, feasting on the 50th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy.  Does astrology show our obsession with him?  Of course. 

Kennedy’s South Node in his 9th house closely conjoins the U.S. Sun.  Judith Hill says in her book, The Lunar Nodes, that the Sun entity (the U.S. in this case) “…may cause you grief or trouble at some point.  Or sometimes they drain you.”  This seems appropriate, if understated, for Kennedy.  Obviously he would not have been killed had he not been president of the U.S.!  Hill also suggests that “It can be a karmic bond.”  For us, the country as a whole, Kennedy as a South Node person seems to be someone that strikes us to the core; we don’t seem to be able to let go of him.  Since the Nodes are diametrically opposed, those who want to know more about his position (North Node) or his at times creepy lifestyle (South Node) are both fascinated. 

The natal connection existed for a long time.  But why is it gaining momentum now?  Not all anniversaries are celebrated.  Transiting Pluto is within a degree of conjoining JFK’s natal North Node in Capricorn, dredging up his past.  To once again quote Judith Hill on this combination, “Pluto brings very deep, intense energy… Some individuals may experience an enhancement of personal powers… Your dharma may be pointed out…”  And Pluto can be obsessive. 

Of course, these are just a few of the many connections between Kennedy’s horoscope, the U.S. chart and current transits.  One symbol that I like is his Mars in Taurus conjunct his 8th house, representing the eternal (Taurus) flame (Mars) at his gravesite (after death – 8th house), being activated now by the transit of Saturn in Scorpio. 

But enough already!  Let’s put this guy to rest. 

There have been a lot of books lately on the Nodes.  I haven’t read them all, but I highly recommend Judith Hill’s excellent book, The Lunar Nodes (Stellium Press, 2009).  It describes eastern, western and contemporary approaches, natal placements and transits.  She really speaks from her own and client’s experiences.  It has a great Table of Contents and Bibliography though unfortunately no Index.  Buy it at Amazon.com:  The Lunar Nodes: Your Key to Excellent Chart Interpretation

Neptune and the War of the Worlds

Orson Welles’ broadcast his War of the Worlds Halloween radio show on October 30, 1938 at 8:00 PM from the CBS studios in New York City (see the data here).  The radio play was carried by affiliate stations across the country. Some people assumed the story of Martians invading the Earth was real. While historians today tend to feel there was less panic than we’ve been led to believe, the incident demonstrated the power of technology to influence the public, and Orson Welles became famous.

The illusion of truth comes under the purview of the planet Neptune. Some people initially felt uncomfortable with the new radio technology because people could be “there” and yet “not there” at the same time, something like disincarnate spirits. Interestingly, transiting Neptune at the time of Welles’ broadcast was nearly exactly conjunct the U.S. Neptune (a Neptune return, which occurs approximately every 162-164 years, give or take). It was also nearly exactly parallel its own place in declination.

I use Evangeline Adams’ Gemini rising U.S. chart, which has Neptune square the Ascendant. Saturn is also closely contra-parallel Neptune in many U.S. charts. To me this reflects Americans’ preoccupation with image, the proliferation of celebrities, glamour, advertising and marketing, and the conflict between illusion and reality. And so the transiting Neptune in 1938 reiterates and accentuates these themes.

Orson Welles was born on May 6, 1915 at 7:00 AM in Kenosha, WI according to his birth certificate (see the Astrodatabank entry). With Gemini rising himself, he had an immediate resonance with America. His Jupiter in Pisces in the 10th made him a teller of tall tales, especially as it squared his and the U.S. Ascendants.

Welles’ powerful Jupiter in the 10th was also closely parallel a perhaps even stronger Mars in Aries in his 11th house, both in their ruling signs. And transiting Neptune activated these, nearly exactly contra-parallel Welles’ Jupiter and parallel his Jupiter at the time, bringing up the Neptunian ideas of deception, misunderstanding and image vs. reality. Welles gained great notoriety as a result of the broadcast, and become seduced by Hollywood. His first film Citizen Kane came out in 1941.

Some of the exaggerated response from the public to The War of the Worlds in 1938 was probably due to the disturbing events in Europe that would soon lead to WWII. Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin were already in control and Jews were actively persecuted in Germany. But that is a much larger Neptunian story.