World Astrology Network

We tend to hear a lot about ‘essential dignity’ and dispositors in traditional astrology, but very little is said about that all important piece of our astrological puzzle, the all ‘dasturiya’ which is the planet that rises directly to the east of any given planet. In traditional astrology, we come to take for granted that the disposing planet, that planet which owns the sign the planet or luminary we are examining. The disposing planet is often called the ‘lord’ because the disposer tends to ‘lord’ over said planet.  Let’s take Venus for example. She is said to be soft, and ever sweet and full of ardor. Place her in the sign, Virgo, and Mercury will act as her director.  Since Mercury is neuter, the person with this Venus may be more  drawn to the library, than to the boudoir.

Disposition, of course, is ‘old hat’ to most traditionalists and moderns alike, but what Abu Massar referred to as the dasturiya, seems to have vanished from the traditional lexicon. Hopefully we can remedy this situation, because the dasturiya, (especially of the Sun) is one of the most potent planets in the entire chart, goading the person to achieve. In a sense, the dispositor acts like a lord, while the dasturiya acts like a nagging wife. You just cannot avoid it! The ancients felt that the dasturiya of the Sun, especially important. According to the ancients, the Sun was the fountain of divine fire, which inspired man to find his purpose in life. To get a fire going, we need a spark. We might say that the dasturiya, especially that of the Sun, will act as a  divine  spark, igniting us to find own special greatness. To find the  dasturiya we need only look just east. In the case of the Sun, we look to the planet or luminary which rises directly previous to the Sun.

For instance, we can look at the chart of Abraham Lincoln, who according to the note in his mother’s bible was said to have been born ‘right at sun up.’  Thus, we notice, his Sun is right at the eastern horizon. Having the Sun here, btw, according to the ancients is one of the  the best places for the Sun, and it alone will give young Abraham the vigor to live a long and productive life. It will add to his ability to ‘get ahead’ because so placed it will enhance his sense of purpose, and most importantly, placed on the strongest angle of the chart, gives him the ability to act.

With the Sun rising, Lincoln will have a healthy ego, but placed in Aquarius, the Sun’s detriment, Lincoln will think in terms of the bigger picture. Such a person will not be what one could consider warm and gregarious, because when the Sun is in Aquarius, it is ruled by the grim Saturn. So Abe will be aloof, and considered even a bit cold. Perhaps given his Aquarius Sun, he might be well ahead of his time, and not afraid (to parody the Apple commercials) ‘think different. Given his times, he might have become a reformer, or even an inventor, one who would go far, because the dispositor or ruler of his beautifully placed Sun, the ringed planet, Saturn is also very strongly placed up at the Midheaven, or the noon position. The combination of the Sun in Aquarius disposed by Saturn in Sagittarius, will give him the zeal to push through is goals.  With Abe’s Sun placed at dawn position, and dispositor at noon, we already have confluent indicators that Abe will be an ambitious and mature young man who will take the long view, and have what it takes to go very far in life.

However, what sets Lincoln apart from other men of determination and ambition is because of his dasturiya. Money is a powerful elixir.They say that ‘power corrupts totally.’ There is a reason for this. Let’s face it, when a person gets to a certain stage in life, it is easier to keep the wheel going. Once a person ‘gets to the top’ it is human nature to try to keep on accumulating; to protect ‘whats mine.’   This is where the adage, ‘the rich get richer’ came from, because once most people get to the top of the pyramid, they spend the rest of their born days, grabbing more and fighting off competitors. It is Lincoln’s dasturiya,  the Moon which at sets him apart,  not just from other successful politicians, who ‘make it’ but from all presidents because she forces him to remember his roots. Detrimented in Capricorn, and also disposed by that powerful 10th house Saturn, it becomes the goad that sparks his altruistic zeal that made Lincoln stand up for every one of his subjects, not just the rich and powerful. When he said,  ”that government, of the people, by the people and for the people, will not perish from this earth”   it was his Moon talking. We know from mundane astrology that the represents the common man. Because he did what the Moon forced him to do, take care of everybody in need, black, white and in between. And because of this, Lincoln stands out above all other presidents.

Now mind you, even though the Moon is Lincoln’s royal goad in life, we do not see ‘lunar’ features or temperament outwardly. This is because of ‘accidental’ placement. In charts, when it comes to ‘what you see’ it is the angular planets.  So with Lincoln, we see the overt characteristics like his very dark angular, some would call, Saturnian features (the Sun in Aquarius, angular 1^st with dispositor Saturn in angular 10). And indeed, Lincoln was not what you would call a touch feely kind of a guy. In fact, he was said to have been dumped by his first girlfriend who said he was ‘no gentlemen’ when they had returned from long walk with a pregnant woman, toting sleeping babe in her arms, and had never once offered to carry her load. When confronted with this, he said something to the effect of, ‘well, I figured if she wanted help she woulda asked.”  So instead of seeing a soft and round personage, the lunar dasturiya is placed in the 12^th a cadent, house, and nstead, acts like a subtle voice whispering from the shadows. In addition, like his Sun, Lincoln’s Moon is also detrimented. Since Lincoln is a man, the Moon will represent the women in his life. Mary Todd Lincoln was known to have suffered emotional stress, some said she was unstable. In addition, his mother was considered a ‘lose woman’ because it was said that she cohabited with Lincoln’s dad, prior to marriage.  Thus she was shunned from society, which out in the ‘frontier’ meant company. It was also said that she was a cultured and literate woman, but also a sad woman because of all the isolation. We see this in Lincoln’s placement of the detrimented Moon in Capricorn (the sign opposite its home base of Cancer). I think it in many ways, given that the Moon is his dasturiya, that he was deeply affected by her being an outcast, so that he remembered all the other outcasts and became a president who was ‘of, by and for the people’ not just some of them, but every last one of them.

This post was inspired by the brilliant work of Silva who did an amazing piece on the doryphory at our list Angelicus Merlin. Her astrological work,  each an exquisite lesson in itself, of which I am forever indebted, is not to be missed. Enjoy!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/angelicusmerlin/

Go for it!  Heads Up

Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Coburn and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today as you examine some of the causes and consequences of the financial crisis.

Today, the financial system is still fragile but it is largely stable. This stability is a result of decisive and necessary government action during the fall of 2008. Like other financial institutions, Goldman Sachs received an investment from the government as a part of its various efforts to fortify our markets and the economy during a very difficult time.

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Everything is coming up with green bounty on this St. Patrick’s Day, at least for the banks.

Financial pundits tell us that the market has now managed to climb up and over the wall of worry, better known as the ‘resistance’ level. They tell us, statistically, it is now close to impossible for us to have any sort of a ‘crash’ after 13 months of an up cycle. The  the ‘resistance level’ can be likened to the line of scrimmage in sports. It is created by taking a daily average of whichever index you are studying,  for any given period of time. Whenever the market gets closer to this line of demarcation, it is not unusual to see the bears come out in force,  and the market then tends to pull back. This can happen several times, until finally after a matter of weeks or months, like a football player climbing over bodies, the market rushes in for the touch down.  In bear markets, the resistance level can remain in place for months, years or,  as in the case of post crash of 1929,  even decades.  About a week or so ago, we managed to cross the resistance level on the Standard and Poors 500 (SPX). Now that the resistance level has finally been crossed, investors can breathe a sigh of relief.  According to the math, the odds for another crash of the magnitude of 2008, are now quite minimal.  While this recovery is still very tenuous, the pundits tell us that the odds of having a crash from this point (i.e., one year after  the last down day of the 2008-9 bear market)  are pretty much nil.

As Cramer would say, ‘Boo Rah!

Is it time to ‘go all in?’ Before you get out your savings and cast your fortune to the fates,  I would still be very careful This recovery is a little different than others.

In a rather eerie and solemn warning, money continues to pour out of the US even with the recovery triumphet call getting shriller and shriller by day.

In 2010, investors around the globe have pulled $15.3 billion out of U.S. stock funds, according to data from EPFR Global, which tracks money flows. Meanwhile, roughly $2 billion has gone into emerging-market stocks — after inflows of $65 billion last year — and $20 billion into U.S. bond funds.

Especially notable is the aversion that individual, presumably longer-term, U.S. investors have had to their own stock market.

This year, $4.6 billion has been pulled out of U.S. stock mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute, whose data doesn’t include exchange-traded funds. At the same time, world equity funds have taken in nearly $14 billion and bond funds more than $56 billion. This comes after investors pulled more than $53 billion out of U.S. stock funds in 2009. .

This is a far different pattern than in the wake of other recent bear markets, where investors had viewed market declines as a chance to buy cheap stocks that would inevitably rise.”   -The Investing Contrarian… MORE

However, everything is not just coming up roses.  As we have seen the American investor is not investing in the stocks of good old USof A. In addition, there is a growing concern about the rise of ‘naked’ trading.  Naked” access, a controversial trading practice whereby the big traders, like Goldman Sachs, are executing their trades with high-speed ’super computers.’ It is estimated that more than 40% of U.S. stock trading volume comes ‘naked’ access. Now that term may sound very sexy, but it should be a wake up call to the small investor.  This is like playing black jack in Las Vegas, you are betting against the house. Ever seen the great chess masters try to beat the computer? How fair and robust can markets be when such an enormous chunk of it is being performed by robot computers programmed to move in milliseconds, while the little guy is left to wait?  We might say there are now two sets of rules, one for the big boys and another for everybody else. From all this, it would appear that the recovery is in full swing., for the banks, that is. Bottom line, if you do not have access to high frequency computers to trade for you, be careful out there!

Another thing we should not forget is that we are still enjoying the affects of last year’s positive annual charts.  Depending on which annual chart you prefer,  we either have 9 days left in that cycle, or 4.  Let’s start with the closest, which begins next Monday Pacific Time.

Most western astrologers,  set the beginning of their year at the Vernal Equinox, which takes place the millisecond that the Sun hits tropical Aries.  Also known as the Spring Ingress Chart, it has been looked upon as a major indicator of the upcoming year by astrologers from ancient times. It can tell us everything from how the weather may be in any given season to the financial ups and downs. As great an indicator as the Ingress charts are, Ptolemy also mentions another predictive chart to determine the fates of the coming year.

” I refer to events that happen yearly in connection with the seasons. In the investigation of this subject it would be appropriate first to define the so called new Moon of the year.”

This is a chart which is drawn up for the moment that Moon is one with the Sun. Interestingly enough, while too many westerners have forgotten Ptolemy’s recommendation, astrologers in India, following 5th century astrologer, Varahamihira, still use this chart to determine what is in store for the year ahead.

Since history is a great teacher, let’s take a quick look at last year’s New Moon of the year, to how that chart came to past.

The recovery of the banks  was  clearly indicated by the presence of the very positive Jupiter in the 8th house of banks. In addition,  the very magnetic and very materially positive North Node joins Jupiter in the house of banks. These are two strong indicators of the regeneration of banking.  Notice also that President Obama, as depicted by ruler of the 10th, is ‘in the pocket’ of the bankers as indicated by his emplacement in therein. And as we saw, Obama pretty much allowed the banks to do as they please.

While banks flourished, the buying power of the average citizen diminished.  When Tim Geitner says, ‘we saved the economy, but we kind of lost the public’ he’s not kidding.  So far, the little guy Obama pledged to save, is barely treading water. Notice, the draining South Node in the house of the citizen’s money, the 2nd. Real estate prices remain flat to decreasing, as evidenced by Saturn in the 4th house.  Notice the Moon ruler of the people in any mundane or financial chart, is obscured in the Sun’s rays, and prohibited from contact with money.  It was good for the market because co ruler of the speculative 5th, is trine the Parsfortuna, which resulted in a 70% recovery.

What’s in store for 2010? Stay tuned……

Wicked Witch of the West with the Part of Fortune!!!

Dorothy J. Kovach will be presenting a special Halloween lecture at 7:30 pm, Thursday the 29th of October at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. She will be discussing that hidden gem of the horoscope, the Lot of Fortune.

Once relegated to the dusty recesses of history, the last two decades have seen a revolution in ancient techniques. Amongst the most beneficial, if not controversial, is the Part of Fortune. The ancient Greeks considered it to be the lot we chose, before descending into matter. Also known as the Part of Fortune, this little equation is invaluable, for getting to the heart of the matter, in both forensic and horary astrology, but when applied to natal charts, it is also the key to finding, the gold lying inside deep within our own charts, waiting to be mined.

Celebrate the Feast of the Spirits of the Beyond by letting your inner ghoul fly free. Consider dressing for this festive occasion.

Bring your questions, and a copy of your natal chart, as we plunge the deep, and find the treasures and the traumas deep within. Join us and learn how astrology can be a beacon of light in spooky times. (continue reading…)