Ceol agus Réalta

Winter Solstice 2011

2011-12-24T17:57:00.005Z

A few miles outside Dingle, up above the village of Lispole is a field with ancient standing stones that are aligned to the setting sun at the winter solstice. We have been participating in a little celebration there for several years with six or seven other people. This year about 200 people showed up due to the involvement of the Lispole Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The GAA is concerned about losing young people to emigration and have set out to make known some of the special features of this interesting and beautiful place and to bring people in.

After sunset we all went to the Seal Centre for refreshments and presentations, with slides, of local points of interest. Recent research shows there were people inhabiting Dingle Peninsula 10,000 years ago. And the cow was here 6,000 years ago. We have lots of old stuff here-come see for yourself.

Site Update

2010-10-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

My original intention was to have a blog about music and the stars. The Irish name of the blog Ceol-music and Réalta-star was chosen accordingly. However, after working with this for some time, I noticed that the two subjects attracted completely different people. I have decided therefore to move the music posts to a separate blog. Click on link for My Irish Music Blog.

This is a new referral service that I am trying out.

Saturn opposite Uranus

2010-07-22T17:48:00.006+01:00

A friend in the US recently wrote that he heard there is to be an important star configuration on 30 July 2010. He wanted to know what is special about this date. Here is my response:

The planet Saturn has been doing an opposition dance with Uranus since October 2008 and the last opposition in this series will occur on July 30, 2010. I will focus on these two planets for now. Saturn represents structure and form as well as conservative institutions such as banks, governments and orthodox religions. Uranus was discovered around the time of the American and French revolutions and it tends to have a revolutionary effect, tearing down old rigid structures. You only have to reflect for a moment on how the banks and the Catholic Church have fared in the past two years to see what can happen when Uranus opposes Saturn. Also, Saturn and Uranus were in exact opposition on US election day 2008 when the forces of change (Uranus) opposed and pushed out the more conservative party (Saturn.)

The star chart here is for 30 July, 2010 and it shows the opposition of Saturn and Uranus. You can click on the image for a larger, clearer view. The outer ring shows the zodiac constellations and the inner ring, the zodiac signs. Saturn is trying to maintain his balance in the sign of Libra while Uranus is in fiery Aries. You will see that Mars is conjunct Saturn and the Moon is conjunct Uranus. 0 degrees Aries and 0 degrees Libra are the points where the Sun stands at the spring and autumn equinoxes and are called cardinal points. Planetary events at the cardinal points are said to be more intense and dramatic. Also, Uranus is conjunct Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Astrological events connected with Jupiter tend to be big.

The Moon moves quickly relative to the other heavenly bodies and it could act as a kind of trigger at this time setting off the effects of the on-going opposition of the slower planets. You will see from the news, even now as the tension builds up, that the Catholic Church and the Pope are in trouble once again. This time there is an attempt to remedy the child abuse issue with a change to Canon law. However, included in the document is the statement that the ordination of women is a grievous sin and anyone even assisting in such a dastardly act is subject to excommunication. To make matters even worse, it appears that the punishment for child abuse by a priest is that he merely be defrocked. Putting the two issues in the same paper, somehow equates the two and this caused a revolt by various women's organizations, a Uranus-like opposition to an institution equated with Saturn.

The star chart shows also that both Saturn and Uranus are in a stressful square to Pluto. The latter might have been demoted to less than a planet but its effects are still powerful and volcanic. As the god of the underworld he forces that which is hidden in the depths up and out into the light. So, fasten your seat belts.

New Moon before Easter

2010-03-16T23:00:00.003Z

-----------New Moon before Easter -----------------------Ganganda Greida

The new Moon before Easter occurred this year on Monday 15 March. For a few nights after this you can see, in the west after sunset, the crescent Moon lying on its back in the form of a bowl or chalice. Within it can be seen, like the Host, a reflection of the whole Moon. Rudolf Steiner called this the Grail and used the Nordic name of Ganganda Greida.

Ganganda Greida, means something like provisions or nourishment. The expression occurs in an old legend of Parsifal written in the Nordic language similar to modern-day Icelandic. The legend originated in the 13th century and was probably based on Chrestien de Troyes’ book on Parsifal.

I was unable to take a photo this time due to cloudy weather. If you have a clear sky after sunset, it is well worth while taking a look as the mood is quite special.

Saturn square Pluto

2009-11-23T19:19:00.053Z

This blog post will deal with the relation of Saturn square Pluto to earth and to mankind in general rather than to the individual. The planet Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn and is associated with authority, the government, business and orthodox religion among other things.

Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio and it was discovered as recently as 1930. It is associated with some of the happenings of that time for instance organised crime and atomic power. It also has to do with sex and with mighty sub-earthly forces. Pluto acts like a volcano, it brings matters from deep beneath the surface out into the open.

Please note that the outer ring of the star charts shows the constellations and the inner ring, the signs. Click on a star chart to get an enlarged, clear picture.

--World War l-- Saturn conjunct Pluto------Huang He Floods--Saturn opposite Pluto

Charles Harvey in his book Anima Mundi indicates the importance of looking at the complete cycle of a planet through the zodiac. Pluto spends about 21 years in each zodiac sign. From November 1983 until November 1995 Pluto was in sign of Scorpio and AIDS was the big topic during that time. Then Pluto was in Sagittarius until November 2008 when the focus shifted to religious matters and it was during this time that the sexual abuse by the clergy was exposed. About the time that Pluto moved into Capricorn the large banks and building institutions started to come under the spotlight. Inappropriate lending practices and the overblown value of properties were exposed.

World War ll-- Saturn square Pluto----India & Pakistan Conflict--Saturn conjunct Pluto

In mundane astrology, we look at the current planetary positions and aspects in relation to events occurring in the world. At this time the planet Saturn is in the sign of Libra (constellation Virgo) and is square to Pluto in the sign of Capricorn (constellation Sagittarius.) The aspect was exact on November 15. Due to the retrograde movement of Saturn the square aspect will occur again on 31 January 2010 and once more after Saturn goes direct on 21 August 2010. With this last contact of the series of squares, the planet Uranus will also be involved being opposite to Saturn and square to Pluto.

Vietnam War Protests--Saturn opposite Pluto---Watts Riots--Saturn opposite Pluto

In his book Cosmos and Psyche, Richard Tarnas relates Saturn-Pluto contacts to very difficult and negative, even evil, events in the world, including the Cold War, First World War, India-Pakistan conflict, international terrorism, massacres, Middle East crisis, political corruption, Second World War and World Trade Center destruction. One event not mentioned by Tarnas, the Huang He Floods in China in 1931, is considered to be the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded. Human casualties were estimated to have been in the region of 3.7 to 4 million people.

World Trade Center Disaster-Saturn opposite Pluto

The book Results from the Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar by Maria Thun has a chapter on weather observations. She says that Pluto in square aspect to one of the old planets, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, causes volcanic eruptions and in regions with no volcanic activity there will be violent storms. Such an aspect with Moon or Mercury would be very brief whereas with Saturn it could last for several weeks.

We won’t know for some time what events will accompany the current Saturn-Pluto square. Here in Ireland we are experiencing the heaviest flooding in living memory and similar flooding is occurring in the UK. The swine flu vaccination program is in full swing with a product that, according to news reports, has not been properly tested while the manufacturer is being been indemnified by the Government. The first death attributed to the vaccination was reported yesterday in England and thousands of people have reported adverse effects. Some people might also be concerned that the Hadron Collider in Switzerland was started up again, after a previous aborted effort, last Friday.

November 2009--Saturn square Pluto----August 2010-Saturn square Pluto & opposite Uranus

I generally try to keep an upbeat mood in my blog but I think we do need to acknowledge that this is indeed a challenging time. By Autumn 2010 we should begin to see a change for the better.

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Planetary Birthdays

2008-12-23T23:33:00.014Z

Sun

Almost everyone is aware of their birthday and most people seem to enjoy the day. On our birthday the Sun returns to where it was in the heavens when we were born. Viewed from the earth (geocentric view) we can say the Sun has gone a full revolution through the twelve signs of the zodiac. Instead of just our birthday, we could call this our Sun birthday or Sun return.

Moon

We also have a Moon birthday, the day on which the Moon returns to the zodiac position it was in at our birth. This occurs once a month. Feelings of contentment, stable emotions, good mood and receptivity often accompany this return.

Mercury

The planet Mercury never wanders far from the Sun when viewed from Earth. Our Mercury birthday occurs therefore not too far from our Sun birthday. It can be before or after but can not vary more than a month and a bit. It encourages effective communication.

Venus

The planet Venus also stays close to the Sun but not quite as close as Mercury. Our Venus birthday or the return of Venus to its position at birth can be before or after our birthday but not much more than three months. Harmonious interactions with others, a state of cooperation, agreement, friendship, participation and aesthetic judgments are its signatures.

Mars

The planet Mars takes about 2 years, a little bit less, to complete its cycle. So about every two years we have a Mars birthday. The effects of this are most noticeable on the first Mars Return. The young child begins at this time to exert its will by saying “no” and even taking a step backwards for the first time. The drive to assert oneself, to survive, the desire to make things happen can manifest on this return.

Jupiter

The planet Jupiter takes a little less than 12 years to complete its cycle. Jupiter has to do with thinking, especially in a philosophical or religious way. It was at age twelve that Jesus went through a huge transformation and was then able to teach in the temple. A Jupiter birthday or Jupiter return is generally experienced as a good and beneficial time and can feel quite expansive.

Saturn

The planet Saturn takes about 29.5 years to complete its cycle. It could be considered the most important of the planetary birthdays and has a special connection to karma and destiny. A Saturn return is a time for us to realign ourselves with our pre-birth intentions. Life circumstances can change quite substantially at this time. See my previous blog post about Saturn return.

Ω

Moon Node

The Moon Node is the point where the Moon intersects the path of the Sun. Every month the Moon crosses the path of the Sun once on the way up-North Node and once on the way down-South Node. It takes about 18½ years for the Moon Node to return to its birth position. Rudolf Steiner stated that the days and especially the nights around the Moon Node return are the most important ones of our life and that at this time there is a thinning of the veil between the physical and spiritual world.

It is interesting and really worth while to look back over our lives, to pick out the significant events and see how they relate to the various planetary birthdays. To look up a previous or a future planetary birthday, you would need to have a computer program or you can purchase a booklet, called an ephemeris, that lists the position of the planets at various times. The computer program that I use is called Solar Fire.

Birth Chart Archetypes part lll

2008-10-25T17:31:00.013+01:00

A while ago I put up a couple of blog posts about four birth chart archetypes. To clarify and emphasis the types, I chose examples of unusual people that have several planets in one region of the Zodiac. (See previous post on Birth Chart Archetypes for more information.)

The four types are:
Harmonization-People that have a good social sense and people skills.
Equalization-People that can bring lofty ideas down into the manifest world.
Polarization-People who tend to be polarized and to cause polarization in their social interactions.
Duality-People that tend to see the world as black or white, good or bad or to have extreme religious views.

The different types should not be looked at as either good or bad. They merely show how a person is likely to behave and not what he will do.

The birthcharts below show the configuration of the planets at the time of birth and only the 7 classic planets are used. The outer ring shows the zodiac constellations and the inner ring the signs. For this exercise, the time of birth is ignored and charts all show the sign of Aries at the ascendant.

We have a wonderful example of one of the types, Polarization, in our current Taoiseach/Prime Minister. Brian Cowen took office on 7 May 2008, heading a coalition government led by his Fianna Fáil party. The coalition includes the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats, with the support of independent TDs.

The chart for Taoiseach Brian Cowan (10 January 1960) shows six of the planets in the polarization region and one in Duality. As a contrast, his predecessor Bertie Ahern (12 September 1951) has no planets in either Polarization or Duality. He has five planets in the Harmonization region and two in Equalization.

Taoiseach Brian Cowan-click on chart for clearer image

Since Mr. Cowan took office we have had a very contentious national referendum to approve or reject the proposed European constitution. It was rejected by the people and the result has strained relations with the European Community. The country is now in a financial crisis and the government has been forced to make a very severe budget. One of the features of the budget was to take away the medical card that gives full medical care to all people over the age of 70. There has been uproar in the streets and in the media. Mr. Cowan had to go before the press to modify the decision and to offer instead a proposal affecting only those that can afford to pay their own way.

Bertie Ahern Chart

As a contrast, the previous Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who is one of my examples of Harmonization, enjoyed very good relations with the European Community. Ahern succeeded Albert Reynolds as leader of the Fíanna Fáil party, the first unopposed candidate since 1959. He served in a very good economic climate and is credited with being one of the principle negotiators that brought about the Northern Ireland peace process. There were allegations of corruption but he had the reputation of being the Teflon Taoiseach which is not surprising given his Harmonization Archetype.

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Irish Politics Astrology Anthroposophy Brian Cowan

Death Horoscope-New Star Wisdom

2008-05-15T09:56:00.014+01:00

I have just read a very interesting book in German called Auf dem Wege zu einer neuen Sternen-Weisheit (On the Way to a New Star Wisdom) by Leo de la Houssaye published by Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland. The first half of the book gives an overview of how star wisdom changed in relation to changing human consciousness, from Egyptian times up to the present day. The second part of the book on “New Star Wisdom” has to do with the study of the death chart. This is not intended to be a book review but I will share some thoughts since the book is not available in English.

The birth chart can be considered as an image of what the human being brings into this life from the spiritual worlds. The chart is an indication of the sum-total of past experiences that had been gathered up and then worked through in the spiritual world. The death chart or, as Leo de la Houssaye calls it, the spirit birth chart, is an image of the fruits of the life just past. It is what the individual brings to the spiritual world.

Spiritual science views the cosmos as a living spiritual organism that needs nourishment. What the human being brings to the spiritual world at death is the nourishment that the Spiritual World needs. Death can be viewed as a spiritual birth.

People have been studying the effect of the stars on worldly events for over 5,000 years that is, since the time of ancient Egypt and Chaldea. However, the first proper horoscope for an individual person, with place and time of birth, was recorded in 70 BC. in Greece. Houssaye finds it astonishing then how quickly the Greeks developed a system of interpretation for the horoscope. Already by 150 AD the basic elements that are still used today were worked out:

The calculation of the birth constellation worked out for place and time.
The separation of the 12 houses based on the horizon with each house referring to a different area of life
The aspect study, the angle relationships between the planet positions in the horoscope (conjunction, square, triune and opposition)
Working with the 12 zodiac signs of 30⁰calculated from the Spring equinox instead of constellations

Chart #1: Pascal Death Horoscope

Although the basic approach did not change much, many astrologers have made refinements to the chart interpretation throughout 2 millenia since then. Today voluminous materials are available so that we are very well informed on the subject of the horoscope-birth chart. We now have to learn how to read the heavens at the time of death-the spirit birth chart.

Chart #2:Michelangelo Death Horoscope

Houssaye gives some indications of how to do this. He shows the spirit birth chart of Pascal, who spent his life on an inner path; the chart shows all of the planets to be below the horizon (see chart#1.) This is contrasted with the spirit birth chart of Michelangelo, who led a very public life and his chart shows all of the planets to be above the horizon (see chart #2.)

Another very interesting idea is to view the past life in relation to the spirit birth chart by tracing the path of Saturn backwards through the constellations from the moment of death. Significant times of the person’s life are shown to coincide with the conjunction of Saturn and planets of the spirit birth chart. Steiner has described Saturn as a planet that has no interest in the present or in the future; it is however passionately interested in the past.

Chart#3: Saturn transit to Pascal Death Chart

Numerous examples are given of the transits of Saturn in relation to the spirit birth chart for various individuals. I will show here Saturn transits for Pascal and for Michelangelo (see Chart#3 and #4)

At age 34 Pascal worked on his theory for the roulette wheel which caused fights among the mathematicians of Europe. Also he published his Provincial Letters, a series of eighteen letters that attacked Jesuit doctrines. At this time the planet Saturn was in the position of Mars at the time of death.

Chart #4: Saturn transit to Michelangelo Death Horoscope

Michelangelo at the time he was called to Rome in 1505 to begin his huge project of the Julius II tomb. Chart shows transiting Saturn to be conjunct both Jupiter and Saturn.

Please note! For the purpose of the spirit birth chart, only the classical planets are shown. Also, the zodiac constellations are used and not the signs that are generally used in Western astrology.

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Anthroposophy and Astrology

Quintile Aspects

2008-04-21T22:26:00.008+01:00

This morning I rose early to make the two-hour drive to Cork and returned in the late afternoon. I found that I could hardly stay awake on the way home and felt accident prone. This is very unusual for me so I decided to check what Maria Thun had to say in her Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar about the day. Sure enough, she has yesterday and today listed as “TR” days.

She uses this designation for days when there is a quintile aspect (72⁰) between a new planet (Uranus, Neptune or Pluto) and an old planet (Moon through Saturn). In this case the aspect was between Mercury and Neptune and the quintile was exact at 5 pm yesterday. (see chart above)

According to Maria Thun in her Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar, such an aspect brings a tendency towards dimming of consciousness and a tendency towards accidents. After working with this calendar for a while, you begin to notice when there is such a quintile.

Amazon UK describes the Calendar as follows: The original biodynamic sowing and planting calendar, now in its 46th year. This useful guide shows the optimum days for sowing, pruning, and harvesting various plant-crops, as well as working with bees. It is presented in colour with clear symbols and explanations. This year, for the first time, the calendar includes a pullout wallchart which can be pinned up in a barn, shed or greenhouse as a handy quick reference.

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Biodynamic Astrology and Gardening

Firdaria--Planetary Stages of Life

2008-02-08T20:28:00.000Z

Recently, I updated Solar Fire, the astrology program that I use, and I was delighted to find a new report called Firdaria. This report comes from the wisdom of a Persian sage called Al Biruni. I had read about this extraordinary personality before. He made contributions to a very wide range of human endeavors, from chemistry to math to astronomy. He knew that the earth rotated on its own axis and knew about both heliocentric and geocentric perspectives. He developed special instruments for astronomical measurements and he is said to have written over 200 books. There is even a crater of the Moon called after him. For more information on Al Biruni, go to Wikipedia.

Firdaria

Firdaria is a system of planetary periods derived by the Persians and associated especially with Al Biruni. The new Firdaria report in Solar Fire gives a description of what to expect in each of the planetary segments of life.

The periods of rulership are:

Sun: First 10 years

Venus: 8 years,

Mercury: 13 years

Moon: 9 years

Saturn: 11 years

Jupiter: 12 years

Mars: 7 years

North Node: 3 years

South Node: 2 years.

Abu-Rayhan Biruni 1973 Afghanistan

post stamp

The periods are applied differently to diurnal and nocturnal births. The above sequence is for a person born during the day. For a person born at night, the system begins with the Moon and then follows the same sequence. The planets are said to have an increased influence during their respective periods.

Ptolemy

In the second century AD Claudius Ptolemy also wrote about seven stages of life and related them to the seven classical planets. The sequence is different than that of Al Biruni and the length of each segment is also different.

Moon: Infancy to four years

Mercury: Childhood (4 to 14)

Venus: The Teens and Early Adulthood (14 to 22)

The Sun: Young Adulthood (22 to 40)

Mars: Mature Adulthood (40 to 55)

Jupiter: Retirement and Wisdom (55 to 67)

Saturn: Old Age (67+)

Rudolf Steiner

Steiner too related the course of a person’s life to the planets in the same sequence as Ptolemy but with seven year segments. He talked about this topic in his lectures on karma Karmic Relationships Vol. Vll, Lecture two.

Birth-7 Moon—after inheriting the physical body from the parents, it is now time to work on transforming it and to make it your own. The change of teeth is an indication that this period has been completed.

7-14 Mercury—birth of one’s own etheric body which should be completed after seven years, life develops outside the home, schooling begins.

14-21 Venus—birth and unfolding of the astral body, puberty, first love, developing esthetic life.

21-42 Sun—birth of the ego in three segments of seven years, sentient soul, intellectual soul and consciousness soul. It is interesting to note that the first Saturn return, the time to align oneself with pre-birth intentions occurs during this period at age 29+.

42-49 Mars—This is the time to exert the full force of the personality on career and on the world. There is the possibility now for the ego to work on the astral body to begin unfolding a yet higher member called Spirit Self.

49-56 Jupiter—a certain amount of wisdom should have been acquired by this time. The ego needs to work at the transformation of the etheric body to unfold Life Spirit.

56-63 Saturn—the second Saturn return occurs in this period at age 59+. There is an opportunity once more to align with one’s karma. Now is the time to unfold a yet higher member called Spirit Man.

More detailed information on this topic can be found in the book The Human Life (ISBN:092997901X) by George and Gisela O’Neil. This book is out of print but can be purchased second-hand. Also the book Phases:The Spiritual Rhythms of Adult Life by Bernard Lievegoed describes life stages in relation to the biological, psychological and spiritual development of the human being.

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Rudolf Steiner Al Biruni Stages of Life

UFO over Dingle

2008-01-27T22:25:00.000Z

Double click on picture for a clearer image

This evening, I took a walk along Dingle Bay just as the Sun was setting. My attention was naturally directed towards the west. However when I turned east, I was astonished to see a pink form that looked like a flying saucer. The object was quite large, looked to be circular and had three levels or stories with the largest one on top.

It was just a cloud formation but it was so well formed that it took my breath away.

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Sky phenomenon UFO Dingle

Saturn Return

2008-01-18T23:18:00.001Z

Recently a friend dropped in and said she needed to talk. She said that she felt that she has not been expressing who she really is and wants now to make some changes to her life. She described how she had led a gypsy-like existence when she was young and lived mostly in a caravan or other transitory domicile. When she got married and had children, she conformed more to usual conventions, living in a regular house etc. With these considerations in mind, we took a look at what the stars had to say.

Her birth chart shows the sign of Aquarius on the cusp of the fourth house and this would certainly fit with the unconventional home life that she preferred and had when she was younger.

Click on picture for a clearer image.

Current transit shows a Saturn return, which is when the planet Saturn returns to the place it occupied at her birth. Rudolf Steiner pointed out that during the life between birth and re-birth, a person goes through the various planetary spheres. It is when one is in the Saturn sphere, that one makes the decision to return to Earth. Then one condenses down through the spheres of Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and finally Moon before being born. Saturn has to do with our karma and with our intentions for this life and this is indicated by its position at birth. The sign or constellation is important as well as the house position.

Click on picture for a clearer image.

A Saturn return is a time for a person to realign themselves with their pre-birth intentions. It is not surprising that our friend would, at this time, experience that she was not really being herself and want to make changes.

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Saturn Return

Winter Solstice and Standing Stones

2007-12-22T22:33:00.000Z

Three Stones Approach

There are numerous ancient monuments in the vicinity of Dingle that are well visited by tourists and locals alike. Not so well known is Log na nGallán (place of the standing stones) on a hilltop called Arda Mór about 10 kilometers from our house.

Three Stones with Peader for perspective

Three standing stones close together in a straight line are aligned to the setting sun at Winter Solstice. There is a fourth stone that was a puzzle to me when I first visited the place several years ago. None of the locals that I spoke to knew its purpose.

Fourth Stone

After pacing over and back several times I discovered that the fourth stone indicates where to stand in order to see the setting Sun aligned with the three stones. If you put your back to the three stones and walk in their alignment, away from the setting Sun, until the fourth stone is at right angles to your path, this is the spot to view the setting Sun over the three stones.

Cup and Saucer pattern on 4th

Fourth stone has a cup and saucer pattern often found on these stones.

Moon nearly full opposite Sunset 1

Today I arrived there with my friend Peader about a half hour before sunset and we were joined by just five other people. The place is however fairly remote and there are no sign posts to get there. The Moon was up on the far side of the sky.

Sunset over standing stones

Peader read a poem in Irish that he had written describing this place and this event. One of the other people called John Ahern read a piece he had written that lead over into Christianity and to the Trinity.

Ireland is not known for its clear skies and such events can
sometimes meet with disappointment. Today we had some cloud that added suspense and drama to the event but we had a clear view of the sun for most of the time. There was no wind which is unusual for here and there was a very delicate peaceful atmosphere.

As soon as the Sun disappeared, Peader pulled out a penny whistle and played a soulful slow air. The event was simple and at the same time sublime.

Back at our cars, John provided us all with hot tea and raisin bread. Sin é(that’s it)

Winter Solstice
Standing Stones

Zodiac Signs for Anthroposophists

2007-10-06T18:53:00.000+01:00

Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy with its daughter movements of biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical medicine, Eurythmy and Waldorf education, was born with the Sun in the sign of Pisces. His wife Marie was also born with Sun in Pisces and so was his close collaborator in anthroposophical medicine, Ita Wegman, so was Ehrenfried Pfieffer, a leading figure in biodynamics and so was Emil Leinhas, a prominent figure in Steiner’s Threefold Social Order. I wondered if Pisces birth sign was dominant in these Steiner-connected movements.

Anthroposophists, followers of Steiner’s philosophy are often said to be walking around with their feet not quite on the ground and this may well fit with the image of the Pisces person. However an analysis of the birth charts of 306 anthroposophists shows that the most frequently occurring birth sign for both Sun and Moon was Taurus, the most earth-bound sign. I am building up a database of birth charts of people who were historically involved with anthroposophy and will continue to monitor this as the database grows.

Sun Signs-click on bar graph for a larger clearer image

Moon Signs-click on bar graph for larger clear image

The data was processed and bar graphs produced with the astrology research program JigSaw.

Anthroposophy Zodiac Signs

Sun and Moon

2007-09-28T23:15:00.000+01:00

Recently, a local sailor and fisherman came to see me to ask about the Moon. He said he really couldn’t understand the movement of the Moon in the sky.

We are given to understand that the earth moves around the Sun and the Moon moves around the earth. Interestingly, when you observe them carefully you notice that they seem to follow the same pattern in the sky. Let us take a look at the four seasons.

Spring: At the spring equinox the Sun rises due east at 0 degrees Aries sign and in the constellation of Pisces (see chart—Inner circle shows Zodiac Signs, outer circle Zodiac Constellations) The Sun goes medium high in the sky and then sets exactly in the west. Equinox means that the day and the night are the same length of twelve hours.

Summer: At high summer, when the sun is just going into constellation of Gemini, it rises in the northeast, goes high up in the sky and sets in the northwest. At that time we have a very long day and a short night.

Autumn: At the autumnal equinox when the Sun is in constellation of Virgo it behaves the same as in spring, rising due east and setting in the west. Once again, we have equal day and night.

Winter: In the middle of winter, when the Sun is in the constellations of Sagittarius it rises in the southeast, stays relatively low in the sky even at noon and then sets in the southwest. At that time of year we get a very short period of daylight and a long period of darkness.

Moon Pattern: The Moon follows a similar pattern but what the Sun does in a year the Moon does in a month. Once every month, when the Moon is in the constellation of Pisces it too rises in the east and sets in the west just like the Sun at Spring-time. When the Moon is in the constellation of Gemini it behaves like the Sun in the summer; when it is in Virgo it behaves like the Sun in autumn and when it is in Sagittarius it follows the winter pattern. The Moon goes through all of the constellations each month, whereas the Sun takes a whole year to go through them all.

Moon Phases: At new Moon, the Sun and the Moon are together in the sky so that if the Sun is in Sagittarius, then so is the Moon and they will follow the same pattern in the sky. Of course you won’t then be able to see the Moon because it is overwhelmed by the light of the Sun.

The Moon and the Sun are opposite each other at full Moon. If it is winter and the Sun is in Sagittarius then the moon will be opposite in Gemini. So you can see that if there is a full Moon in the winter then the Sun will stay low all day whereas the Moon will follow the pattern of the summer Sun rising high in the sky and spend a long time in the night sky.

This year we should be able to see a beautiful full Moon at Christmas time. It is exact on Christmas Eve morning at 1:15 AM--see chart.

Moon Phase at Birth

2007-08-15T23:00:00.000+01:00

In an earlier post A Vision - The Phases of the Moon I promised that I would present some data to see how the system works in relation to the birth chart. Yeats has 28 phases of the Moon, one for each day of the lunar cycle, He points out in his book A Vision that people with an early Moon phase are learning about the world and that people born at full-Moon know how to function in the public domain. For people born in the last quarter, there is a wish to leave worldly matters behind and to turn inward.
Here is a small study using the birth charts of 300 people involved in Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy.

The study showed:
62 people born during 1st quarter Moon,
89 during 2nd quarter,
70 during 3rd quarter and
79 during 4th quarter.

I wondered if there would be a tendency for people involved in a lifestyle encompassing a spiritual perspective to be born during a late moon phase. The results however show that the largest segment is the second quarter which would indicate a striving outward into the world. It is of course true that most of these people were actively involved in the world, caring for sick and the needy, active in business, teaching or the arts.

This bar graph shows the number of people born at each of the 28 phases of the Moon.
Click on the graph for a larger, clearer image.

Below is a list showing how many people were born at each phase together with the Yeats' descriptions for each phase of what he called the Will.

10 people at Phase 1-Complete Objectivity
12 people at Phase 2-Beginning of Energy
2 person at Phase 3-Beginning of Ambition
10 people at Phase 4-Desire for Exterior World
7 people at Phase 5-Separation from Innocence
11 people at Phase 6-Artificial Individuality
10 people at Phase 7-Assertion of Individuality
14 people at Phase 8-War Between Individual and Race
7 people at Phase 9-Belief Instead of Individual
14 people at Phase 10-The Image-Breaker
14 people at phase 11-The Consumer, Pyre Builder
11 people at Phase 12-The Forerunner
15 people at phase 13-The Sensuous Man
14 people at Phase 14-The Obsessed Man
10 people at Phase 15-Complete Beauty
11 people at Phase 16-The Positive Man
10 people at Phase 17-The Daimonic Man
6 people at Phase 18-The Emotional Man
11 people at Phase 19-The Assertive Man
11 people at Phase 20-The Concrete Man
11 people at Phase 21-The Acquisitive Man
8 people at Phase 22-Balance of Ambition/Contemplation
12 people at Phase 23-The Receptive Man
16 people at Phase 24-The End of Ambition
11 people at Phase 25-The Conditional Man
9 people at Phase 26-The Hunchback
11 people at Phase 27-The Saint
12 people at Phase 28-The Fool

Only two people showed up in Phase 3 and this Yeats calls a phase of self sacrifice.

He who bends to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy,
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.

The sample is relatively small, taken from the birth charts of 300 people. The time-of-birth was available for about 50% of the people which means that the phase could be off by ‘one’ in some instances. However, since my objective was to look for larger trends, I felt that this would not unduly distort the results.

W.B.Yeats A Vision Moon Phases

Zodiac Signs and Constellations

2007-05-29T13:38:00.000+01:00

The chart on the left was cast for 1:40 pm today in Dingle. You can click on image to enlarge it. I am happy that the astrology program that I use, Solar Fire, is able to produce a chart with both signs and constellations. The outer ring shows zodiac constellations and the inner ring shows zodiac signs.

Every time I make a presentation on the stars the question of signs and constellations comes up. There is the impression on the part of the more scientifically minded people that only the constellations are real. They posit that since, in our time, the Sun rises in the constellation of Pisces at the spring equinox, the claim- that the Sun goes into Aries at that time- is untrue. I would like to suggest that both viewpoints are true, just the perspective is different.

Zodiac Constellations are twelve unequal segments along the ecliptic (apparent path of the Sun as viewed from the earth.) The dividing points between the constellations were decided by a scientific convention in the early 1930’s. Once a year, at the spring equinox, the Sun returns to the same point on the ecliptic, but not quite; after 72 years, an average human lifespan, the Sun slips back about 1⁰in relation to the constellations of the zodiac. This is known as the precession of the equinox. The average size of one constellation is 30⁰and therefore it would take about 2,160 years (72x30) before the spring Sun rises in the next constellation back. In ancient India the Sun rose in Cancer at the spring equinox, ancient Persia in Gemini, ancient Egypt in Taurus, Greco/Roman times in Ariesand now it occurs in Pisces. The amount of time that the Sun takes to traverse all 12 constellations is called a platonic year (2,160x12= 25,920 years)

Zodiac Signs are twelve equal divisions of the stars along the ecliptic or apparent path of the Sun as viewed from the earth. The signs come about through the relationship of the earth and Sun. As you know, the seasons are brought about by the tilt of the earth’s axis and the rotation of the earth around the Sun. For those of us located north of the equator, summer solstice comes about when the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun and the winter solstice when it is tilted away from the Sun. The spring and autumn equinox both occur half way between these two points. One could say that the zodiac signs exist in time rather than in space. The first sign, Aries begins at the spring equinox followed by Taurus and Gemini. Cancer begins at the summer solstice and then you have Leo and Virgo. At the autumnal equinox Libra begins followed by Scorpio and Sagittarius. At the winter solstice Capricorn begins followed by Aquarius and Pisces. Then we are back to spring and to Aries.

Most Western astrologers work with the zodiac signs and in India, where astrology is widely practiced, they use the zodiac constellations. The latter approach is becoming more popular in the West and is known as Vedic Astrology. Anthroposophically extended astrology takes both signs and constellations into consideration. In general you could say that the signs in a birth chart have to do with this life, with the here and now whereas the constellations have to do with the life before birth (the other world.) Another way to express this in anthroposophic terms would be to say that the signs have to do more with the physical and etheric bodies and the constellations with the more spiritual parts, the astral body and the ego (I.)

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Zodiac Signs Zodiac Constellations

Esoteric Astrology

2007-05-19T19:17:00.000+01:00

There is very little information on anthroposophically extended astrology in the English language. However, in German, there is a vast body of knowledge; even on my own bookshelf there are 40 books on the subject. This therefore is a first attempt on my part to make some of this information available to those who have not yet mastered the German language.

There is a little book by Dr. Heinz Herbert Schoeffler Gibt Es Eine Anthroposophische Astrologie? (Is There Such a Thing As Anthroposophical Astrology?) The book has just 47 pages but is packed with information about his topic. Schoeffler points out that, in his early works, Steiner intimated that astrology would not be understood until the long distant future. However, this view changed over his lifetime. In January, 1914 he spoke of how the astrology of the third post-atlantean epoch (Egyptian/Babylonian times) was coming up again and that we would need to study it, taking into consideration the Christ event that occurred in the meantime. Subsequently Steiner wove man’s relationship with the stars into almost every aspect of his work, agriculture, medicine, eurythmy, education, special needs education and so on.

Towards the end of his life, in 1924, Steiner spoke about specific birth charts for the first time in public. This was in the lecture series Education for Special Needs:Curative Education Course. At that time he also formulated the relationship between the various bodies of the human being and the planets as follows:

Spirit Man--------------Neptune

Life Spirit---------------Uranus

Spirit Self --------------Saturn

Consciousness Soul----Jupiter

Intellectual Soul--------Mars

Sentient Soul-----------Venus

Sentient Body----------Mercury

Etheric Body------------Moon

Physical Body-----------Sun

A description of the various bodies mentioned above can be found in Steiner's book Theosophy.

Schoeffler goes on to show how Steiner, over time, touched on just about every consideration of astrology:planets, the ascendant, mid-heaven, zodiac signs and
constellations, beneficial and hindering aspects, the whole of Thema Mundi in all its details; but he never spoke of the twelve houses. Schoeffler gives a historical perspective of the houses and then proceeds to draw out of Steiner’s works a description of them. He concludes with the following descriptions:

House	Astrology	Anthroposophy
1	Own personality	Time of birth, physical body, own personality
2	Earnings through own abilities	Etheric body, above/below
3	Education, small journeys, siblings	Astral body, thinking/feeling/willing
4	House, home, heredity	Individuality (ego), opposition, essence of being
5	Children, art, lovers	Encounter, threefolding
6	Work, troubles, small animals, acute illnesses	Above and below, stars and the earth
7	Personality of partners	Reincarnation, warmth, time. Stepping over the threshold.
8	Chronic illness, dying, death, acquisition through marriage.	Dying, death, culmination
9	Science, books, publishing, large journeys, in-laws	Rising up to the starry world
10	Deeds, profession, position, power, victory.	The human being at the highest periphery
11	Friends, social gatherings, house of luck	Sojourn in cosmic heights and beginning descent
12	Enemies, prisons, hospitals, physical illness, large animals.	Adversity in confinement

In case you are not familiar with Thema mundi: Firmicus Maternus an astrologer and a christian from the fourth century wrote of the Thema Mundi. It is a 'birth chart' for the world with each planet in the 15th degree of the sign that it rules. The origin of Thema mundi goes back to a much earlier time.

Steiner spoke also of the planetary rulerships on 8 January 1918 in the lecture cycle Ancient Myths:" Every constellation of the Zodiac is related to a particular planet and must be regarded as belonging to that planet".

Dr. Heinz Herbert Schoeffler (1921-2003) was born in Leipzig, Germany. He was a medical doctor specializing in pedriatrics and anthroposophically extended medicine. He lectured on anthroposophical medicine and on astrology and wrote several books on these subjects in addition to the one referred to above. He saw it as one of his life’s tasks to reconcile astrology and anthroposophy.

Esoteric Astrology Dr.Schoeffler

Mercury Retrograde

2007-02-22T23:23:00.001Z

Mercury Retrograde (14 February to 8 March)

Viewed from the earth, all of the planets move around the zodiac in the same direction and following more or less the same pathway as the Sun. This pathway is known as the ecliptic. Strangely enough the apparent path of the Moon also follows this pattern. The planets Mercury and Venus move through the zodiac signs with the Sun, sometimes a little in front of it and sometimes a little behind it.

Sometimes the planets appear to move in the opposite direction to the Sun for a while and then they resume their forward movement. At the beginning of February, Mercury in the sign of Pisces was running ahead of the Sun which was in Aquarius. It was then visible as an evening star. On 14 February it came to a stand-still at about 15 degrees ahead of the Sun and began a retrograde movement. On 23 February Mercury will have moved back level with the Sun to a position known as inferior conjunction and will not be visible being too close to the Sun. A few days later it will appear as a morning star. It will continue to move backwards until 8 March when it will come to a stop again at about 22 degrees behind the Sun. Mercury will then have moved back into Aquarius and the Sun will have moved forward to Pisces. Mercury will then resume its forward movement once again and will disappear from view when it makes a superior conjunction with the Sun.

When Mercury is retrograde it is often hard to get new things started and travel arrangements can get confused or delayed. Communication, especially of a technical nature, often gets fouled up. Technical devices such as computers or telephone equipment are more likely to break down during Mercury retrograde. It is however a very good time to do things that begin with “re” such as revise, repair, renew and relax.

In her book Anthroposophy and Astrology, Elisabeth Vreede writes as follows: “In terms of the horoscope, the essential relationship of the inner planets to the Sun must be considered. The position of Mercury and of Venus in relationship to the Sun-whether a conjunction of elongation, whether as morning star or as evening star-determines a soul’s national and family feelings.” And further “For Mercury and Venus, the constellations in which they are situated are not as important as for the outer planets. The greater or lesser distance they have from the Sun in the birth horoscope essentially reflects the experience the soul had in passing through the spheres in question (before birth).”

Astrological literature does not usually deal with the issue of Mercury as morning or as evening star but I did find an interesting article on the web by Michael R. Meyer called The Four Faces of Mercury. He describes four types in relation to the birth chart: Mercury as evening star-retrograde, Mercury as evening star-direct, Mercury as morning star-direct and Mercury as morning star-retrograde.

Astrology Mercury retrograde

Astrology & Science

2006-04-23T20:22:00.000+01:00

It is not unusual to hear someone ask if I really believe in astrology. It is interesting to note that astrology has been relegated to the domain of belief, of faith. In contrast it is assumed nowadays that science is known and factual. However, since a very small percentage of people actually do research or experiments, for most people, science and scientific findings are actually part of a belief system. Science has become a kind of religion and a very dogmatic one at that. People who question the dogma are quickly and often aggressively disposed of. This is especially true today of medicine and also of the starry heavens. What ever happened to keeping an open mind and the free exchange of ideas?

A new book has just been published that suggests that it is time to reconsider the prevailing views on astrology--Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas. Tarnas takes a broad historical perspective in his approach. He draws on the ideas of Carl Jung regarding synchronicity and archetypes. He suggests that astrological patterns are not concretely predictive but rather archetypally predictive.

The book reports on extensive research done by Tarnas on the changing position of the planets in relation to each other and he relates specific relationships to major events in history. An example is the connection of the planets Uranus and Pluto at the time of the French Revolution and during the 1960’s.

He quotes Johannes Kepler as having said in relation to astrological aspects: Experience, more than anything else, gives credibility to the effectiveness of aspects. This is so clear that it can be denied only by those who themselves have not tried them.

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More on Birth Chart Archetypes

2006-03-25T15:31:00.000Z

Continuing with some ideas from Cosmic Aspects of Birth and Death by Gunther Wachsmuth:
The position of the planet Saturn is particularly important for science and philosophy in a person's birth chart, as is Jupiter for statesmanship and Mars for art. It is interesting to view this in relation to the four archetypes: Equalizing, Duality, Harmonizing and Polarizing that equate to the position of the Sun in spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively (see previous post on Birth Chart Archetypes for more on this.) We will take a look at three well-known Irish statesmen.

Eamon De Valera

Eamon De Valera's chart shows a people-person with four planets in Harmonizing but the planet Jupiter is in the Duality segment. This indicates that as a statesman his views would have tended towards the categorical and divisive-black and white with little or no grey areas.

Michael Collins

I had always thought of Michael Collins as the soldier and De Valera as the politician. Collins' birth chart however shows that he had good people skills with four planets in the Harmonizing segment. Saturn in the same area also shows a people philosophy. Jupiter on the opposite side in Equalizing would suggest that he had some ideas that he wanted to bring to manifestation in the world. Mars and Venus in Polarization would indicate some passion and polarity on a creative and personal level.

Gerry Adams

The chart of the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams shows very good people skills with five planets in the Harmonizing segment and his philosophy, as indicated by the planet Saturn, is in the same segment. However, as a statesman he continually finds himself in a polarized circumstance and this is indicated by the planet Jupiter. Even the Wikipedia article on the above link to his name has the following notice: The nutrality of this article is disputed.

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A Vision - The Phases of the Moon

2006-03-10T17:55:00.000Z

I have been working on the book A Vision about the phases of the moon by W.B.Yeats and his wife George. It describes 28 phases of the moon—one for each day of the moon cycle.

George was a member of the Golden Dawn. She was also an anthroposophist or a Steiner theosophist as they were called in those days. Four days after their wedding, George started to do automatic writing. It is said that she first did this to convince WB that, after so many years mooning over Maude Gonne, he did the right thing in marrying her. She was surprised however when, as she put herself into a kind of trance state, her pen took on a life of its own. Over a period of time, she worked on this together with her husband, he would pose questions and she would act as a kind of medium to provide the answers. Later she was able to answer the questions verbally rather than in writing. The result was an elaborate system involving the phases of the moon.

The premise is that an individuality progresses through the moon phases from one incarnation to the next. It is unclear though how Yeats calculated a person’s moon phase. One would assume that the phase would be determined by the moment of birth. This however does not work for several examples in the book. His examples for Phase 25 includes AE but if you look at AE's birth chart it shows him to be a Phase 6 and Martin Luther also shown as a Phase 25 was born at Phase 11. It is hard to believe that the Yeats would be mistaken about this but it is also hard to imagine how else to calculate the phase. I would be grateful for any comments on this.

I am preparing a database of well-known people showing the Moon Phase based on the birth chart. I don’t have enough data yet but there does seem to be a pattern. People with early moon phases seem to have certain freshness, people struggle at Phase 8 and by full-moon seem to really know how to function in the world. There is a struggle again at Phase 22 and a tendency to turn inward towards the final phases.

There is an extensive website on the subject put up by an advanced English studies professor in England.

There is an excellent poem called The Phases of the Moon that leads into the section on the The Great Wheel.

Technorati Tags: Yeats A Vision Moon Phase Astrology Theosophy

Birth Chart Archetypes

2006-02-25T15:11:00.000Z

Last year I gave a talk at Camphill Greenacres in Dublin on "Birth Chart Archetypes-how four aspects of the zodiac manifest in well known personalities." This talk was repeated several times closer to home in County Kerry. I wanted to see if I could demonstrate that there are different influences emanating from the different regions of the heavens. I started with a premise taken from Cosmic Aspects of Birth and Death by Gunther Wachsmuth. He posits that there are four distinct sectors in the heavens more or less the regions occupied by the sun in the four seasons.

The four regions are as follows: "Equalizing" (world etheric) includes the constellations of Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries; "Duality" (world astral) includes Taurus and Gemini; "Harmonizing" (world ego) includes Cancer, Leo, Virgo and Libra and "Polarizing" (world physical) includes Scorpio and Sagittarius. If a person is born with four or more planets in one of these regions they generally manifest certain traits. Please note that the zodiac constellations and not the signs were used and I used only the old or classical planets: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

I use a good astrology software program called SolarFire. The birth charts shown below were made with this program that can show both the zodiac signs (inner circle) and constellations (outer circle.) For easier comparison, all charts were constructed with Aries on the ascendant.

I did a search in my working database that has about 3000 names of well-known personalities looking for people with at least four planets in one of the above-mentioned regions and came up with 20 to 25 names for each of the regions. I gave a brief description of the personality as their birth chart was shown.

Equalization: People born with a lot of planets in this region tend to have the ability to incarnate a lofty idea and put it into the world in a practical way. Einstein is our birth chart example.
Other examples of this region are:Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci, Rudolf Diesel, Isaac Newton and Antonio Vivaldi.

Duality: Those born with many planets in this region tend to have very definite views or sometimes extreme religious views and often will experience the world as duality. Franz Kafka is our birth chart example.
Other examples are: John Ashcroft, Jean-Paul Marat, Benito Mussolini, Camilla Parker-Bowles and Igor Stravinsky.

Harmonization: Those born with many planets in this region tend to be "people" people with the ability to work out of their own individuality into the social domain. Bill Clinton is our birth chart example.
Other examples of this region are: Arnold Schoenberg, Mohandas Gandhi, Bob Geldof, Prince Charles, Jack Straw and Mother Teresa.

Polarization:Those born with many planets in this region tend to be extreme and polar. Our example is Ella Young who took an extreme position during the Irish revolution together with her friend Maude Gonne. She was a writer of wonderful fairy tales and of old Irish sagas.
Other examples of this region are: Beethoven, Humphrey Bogart, Al Capone, General Custer, Howard Hughes and Richard Nixon.

My audiences generally found the presentation amusing at first but became more engrossed and intrigued as the archetypes began to emerge. They had many questions at the end and often asked me to display the chart of someone that they were interested in.

If you have an astrology database, do a search for one of the groups, imagine that you are having a party and invite only the people with at least four planets in one of the regions and see who shows up.

Technorati tags: Astrology Birth Charts Archetypes