Manila flood - Astrometeorology

Although I am not an expert in astrometeorology, the basic techniques used are the following: First you cast the season ingress chart, that is the exact moment the Sun enters the signs of Aries (spring), Cancer (summer), Libra (autumn) and Capricorn (winter), which gives you a general overview of the weather of each season. Then, if you want a forecast for a more specific period of time, you cast a chart for every phase of the Moon, that is the New and Full Moons and the charts for every Sun/Moon square, which will give you a forecast for 7 days approximately. However, these are not stand-alone charts and must always be interpreted with the season ingress chart in mind and, of course, the general climate of your area and the season you are in. If the summers of your area are hot and humid, no matter what configuration is there in the charts, you will not predict a snow blizzard and temperatures below zero. What you can say is that this will probably be an unusually cool summer.
I don't want to go into details, because, as is the case with all the other branches of astrology, there are conflicting views. There are some astrologers who use every aspect between all the planets, even semi-sextiles and quintiles, before they make a forecast and there is disagreement regarding which house is the most important one, the 1st or the 4th. My personal preference is the 1st, because in every other branch of astrology this is the most important house and I don't see the reason for changing that in astrometeorology. However, since I haven't tested these techniques extensively, I can't say who is right and who is wrong with any degree of certainty.
This is the Libra ingress chart for Manila:



We immediately see the Saturn/Uranus opposition on the Ascendant/Descendant axis. Uranus, as you might expect, is accused of producing freak weather. That should be enough, but it gets worse. The ruler of the chart, Mercury, natural ruler of wind, is retrograde and conjunct the Saturn/Uranus opposition. We also have a tight Sun/Pluto square, but I think this is much less important, since this is the same for everywhere around the world and what's more, it's not angular. We can predict, therefore, possible extreme weather in Manila at some point in the next three months, or, at least, weather that cannot be described as "normal" for the area and season. If we need to be more specific we can cast the chart for the previous Moon phase, which in this case was a New Moon in Virgo. This is the chart:


Here, the ruler of the chart is the Sun, which is exactly conjunct the Saturn/Uranus opposition and closely conjunct Mercury! So, no doubt about this being a week of danger.

This doesn't mean of course that every day in Manila for the next three months is going to be like that. But, should there be an equally "dangerous" moon phase chart, we should take notice. It doesn't seem very likely, however, as Saturn and Uranus are separating and the influence of their opposition is weakening.

Mika - The boy who knew too much (about fun)

Mika is back with a new album entitled "The boy who knew too much". I think he is one of the most interesting - to say the least - young artists of today. The much-maligned pop music has found a new icon who is not a ready-made X-factor or American Idol finalist, who writes his own songs and has a personal style. What more can anyone ask? Already the accusations have started, that he rips off other artists shamelessly. Which can only mean one thing. That he is a true artist.

Who doesn't rip off others anyway? Everybody has been influenced by somebody else. Actually, that was always the magic of pop. Pop is the place where all the other music genres can meet and come up with songs that everybody wants to sing. And that's what Mika does and he does it beautifully.

What first strikes you about Mika and his music is that he knows very well that pop music, above everything else, is about fun. The astrological element that is connected with a true sense of fun is the element of fire. Some of you may disagree, but, in my opinion, it is only the fire signs that carry this childlike enthusiasm into adulthood. We can therefore expect to see fire in Mika's chart. Oh, dear me, yes.



Sun in Leo, Mars in Leo, Jupiter in Sag, Uranus in Sag, Neptune in Sag and possibly Moon in Sag as well. I say "possibly" because we don't have his birth time and this is a noon chart. Nonetheless, that's still a lot of fire. Mars trines the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction and the Sun trines Neptune. Really impressive, and this may explain how easily he became successful. The Sun and Jupiter are in rulership, Mercury in Virgo, in the sign of its rulership and exaltation and Saturn is in Libra, the sign of its exaltation. People would kill for a chart like this.

Two planets can potentially cause problems for him. The Moon, only if it is in Capricorn, the sign of its detriment (provided he was born after 4 pm approximately) and Venus, which is retrograde and in the sign of its fall. We don't know which houses Venus rules, but if we only consider her as the natural ruler of love matters, his love life may present him with problems. What's more it squares the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction and the square with Uranus is partile, that is, within the same degree. According to Bernadette Brady, a modern interpretation of a planet in detriment or fall would be that this planet has a tendency to act in a way different from the norm, which would be disastrous in the more black and white societies of the past. Nowadays, however, this is not such a tragedy, considering that we have supposedly grown to be more tolerant to all sorts of deviations. Mika is very secretive about his love life and rumour has it he is gay. According to a recent interview, he came out as bisexual. Quoted form wikipedia : "I've never ever labeled myself. But having said that, I've never limited my life, I've never limited who I sleep with. (…) Call me whatever you want. Call me bisexual, if you need a term for me." Leaving the question open ended with, "you should be as free as you want". Who cares, anyway?

We may attribute his sexual behaviour but especially the above statement to the aspects Uranus makes to both Mars and Venus, with Venus being in fall and retrograde. The Sun/Neptune trine is also averse to saturnian labels. However, Saturn, being in Libra, is strong in his chart. We don't know his Ascendant sign, but in the few interviews that I've seen, I've noticed that he is quite reserved, very well-behaved and quite possibly a bit shy, a complete contrast to his stage persona. In a nutshell, he seems to be good-mannered, which indicates Saturn is also functioning well in his chart. Not surprisingly, since it is in Libra. Could it be that his Moon is also in Capricorn? Perhaps.

*Mika's photo was taken from here

US Open ladies final - contest horary

This is the horary chart that I cast for the US Open Ladies final that takes place today. The opponents are: Kim Clijsters, a former World No 1, who has recently made a very successful comeback, and World No 8, Caroline Wozniacki, in her first Gran Slam final.

Following the John Frawley method, Clijsters gets the first house, since she is the player I support and Wozniacki the 7th. Let's begin.

Planets in the above houses: None.

Essential dignity (although much less important than accidental dignity in this sort of questions): Mars (Clijsters) is in Cancer, the sign of its' fall, but also it's own triplicity. Not good, but could be worse. Venus (Wozniacki) in Leo, peregrine. Not good.

Receptions: This can help us decide who has power over whom. Mars is in no dignities of Venus and Venus is only in the face of Mars. Mars seems to have a very slight advantage over Venus, but nothing as important as to determine the winner.

Accidental dignity: Wow! Venus (Wozniacki) is conjunct the MC! Mars (Clijsters) is in the 9th house. A definite, very clear advantage for Wozniacki!

Aspects: Mars makes no significant aspects, just a trine to the Ascendant. Does this strengthen him? Hardly. He would have fared much better had he been in an angular house. Venus makes an opposition to the triple Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune conjunction in Aquarius. If we decide to use the outer planets, this could be somewhat weakening. If not, the only opposition that counts is the one with Jupiter, who is retrograde, but not completely averse to Venus, since he is in her terms and therefore not much debilitating to her.

Antiscia: Mars' antiscion is in Gemini, trine Jupiter. However, we do not use aspects to antiscia and contrantiscia, only conjunctions. Venus' antiscion is right on the cusp of the 7th house, her house. Another point for Wozniacki.

Conclusion: Even though I didn't think it was likely before casting this chart (Clijsters, after all, ousted Serena Williams in the semis), Wozniacki should win, judging by her significator's placement on the MC. Any testimonies in favour of Clijsters pale in comparison.

Let's see how this turns out.

The trouble with Chiron

One of the most annoying planetary energies is that of Chiron. The annoying part is that astrologers talk about a wound that can't be healed. In a world full of self-help books, where we are told that "Anything is possible" if we just turn a switch in our heads and change our mentalities, the meaning of Chiron seems completely outdated. We don't want to be told that all that psychotherapy, all that astrology, all those metaphysical studies actually amount to nothing. What's more, what is the nature of that wound? Astrologers talk about a collective wound, but since Chiron is supposed to be a mediator between Saturn and Uranus and Saturn is not an outer planet, how does this wound become personal?
I think the term "collective" really means that we are born in a world that it's just the way it is. It may be that, at a deeper level, we are all responsible for everything that's going on in the world, but from a personal viewpoint it's not our fault that evil, misery and sadness exist. Yet, we are thrown into a world where what other people think or do has a profound effect on us. And because of this interaction we become the people we are with all our strengths and weaknesses. Chiron is interested in exactly these weaknesses. And what he's telling us is that these weaknesses never actually go away. We are stuck with them and there is nothing we can do to change that.
What can we do? We can become conscious of them. We can shed light to them (Uranus) and try to keep them in check (Saturn). But they don't disappear. If we are proud and arrogant, we will always be proud and arrogant. We will always be susceptible, that is, to our personal "sins". But if we realize what we are doing (Uranus), then our weaknesses cease to have such an enormous power over us and we can stop them from harming us and other people. But this is an ongoing struggle (Saturn) and we can never claim that we are cured. The moment we become too sure of ourselves, this is the time that they take over our personalities and cause havoc. Our personal demons cannot be vanquished. They can simply be controlled.
This becomes clearer when we think about alcoholics or drug users or smokers even. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. You may give up drinking completely, but in moments of crisis, when you desperately want something to cheer you up, you will always feel the urge to reach for the closest bottle. You can never become a social drinker or the sort of person who just drinks a glass of wine during meals. That's not your reality. Even if you do manage to become a social drinker, you know instinctively that you always stand in great danger of relapsing, unlike other people. Drink is always going to be your weakness, even if you never have another drink for the rest of your life.
The benefit of all this is knowledge and consciousness. It's infinitely better to know where your weaknesses lie than to remain ignorant of them throughout your life. You learn to avoid whatever threatens your well-being. You learn humility. You learn to forgive yourself and others, because everybody's going through a similar hell. You become a healer, not by waving a magic wand, but by understanding and showing empathy. You can't truly heal them after all, since you can't heal yourself. But you can be there for them and share their pain. Most of the time, that's enough.