Asteroid-World Summer 1990

Zip Dobyns

I’m only home for two weeks between the AFA conference in Orlando, FL and the ISIS conference in San Francisco, CA, so had planned to postpone the summer Asteroid-World until I return in mid-August. But a couple of developments seemed important enough to rush an Asteroid-World out to our friends.

Development one involves news about the Russian astrology conference this fall. They have received the word that the prices are too high for astrologers, and they have reduced both the conference fee and the hotel costs by about half. The conference is now priced at $250 and the hotel is $40 a night each for a shared room. A single room is $60. The food is $25 a day which includes all three meals and bar privileges. I’m not sure how many drinks are included in that. Transportation between the airport and the hotel is also included in these prices. The conference will be held outside of Moscow to permit the cheaper hotel prices. I’m still not going to be able to go—too much happening with our prospective purchase of property near San Diego, and other trips already planned, but if any of our readers are able to go, I would be delighted to get a report which we could include in either The Mutable Dilemma or Asteroid-World. To register for the conference or to receive additional information, write to International Joint Venture “Intercontact”, Luzhniki 24 BSA, room 86, 119048 Moscow, U.S.S.R. If you are in a hurry, try a Fax to 200 22 16, att. Farida #001539 or Fax: 9230748.

I talked briefly with Farida, the Russian psychologist-astrologer who attended UAC and is sponsoring the Soviet conference. She is visiting the U.S. again, and called from Philadelphia. I was finally able to get more information on the chart for Gorbachev which she is using. As was previously suggested, the 11 Aries Ascendant she is using was rectified by a Russian astrologer. Another Russian astrologer’s rectified time gives Gorby Libra rising. In her latest newsletter, Lois Rodden reports that De Lescaut gives 2 A.M. for Gorby based on “personal information,” whatever that means. And David Fisher says that the FAA Journal in Australia is using 3 P.M. with a time zone of -3. Gorby will no doubt collect as many different rectifications as Reagan and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Farida favors an Aries Ascendant, and she said that though it was third-hand information by the time it got to her, she was told by an American astrologer from Santa Fe NM that Gorbachev had told an inquiring reporter that he was born about 8 A.M. The chart that has worked best for me is set a little after 8 A.M., so I will stay with my 16 Aries Ascendant for the moment.

The other reason for pushing ahead with this Asteroid-World is that the recent Data News from Lois Rodden reports a typo in the information on Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Unfortunately, I did not look for the noon chart I had once done for Prophet. I remembered a fire emphasis with an Aries stellium, assumed that Lois’ data was ok and used her information for the chart delineated in the last The Mutable Dilemma. It is pretty amazing how appropriate the wrong chart was, but I have seen that happen often in astrology. According to the new information from Lois, Prophet was actually born in 1939 instead of 1919. The earlier year put progressed (P) Jupiter on the Ascendant for years. The 1939 chart puts P Jupiter on the MC for years. Instead of P Elizabeth conjunct Neptune, we have it opposite the Ascendant (along with P Michel for Mikhail) as Prophet prepares to take her followers underground to escape a potential attack from Russia. So please mark in the article on Prophet in the Gemini 1990 Mutable Dilemma that the chart is wrong, and that the correct (we hope) chart is to be found in this summer 1990 Asteroid-World.

The 1939 chart lacks the grand trine in fire found in the mistaken 1919 chart, but it does have the Moon in Sagittarius in the Leo house forming a series of trines to Mercury, Sun, Saturn, and Pallas in Aries in the tenth house. The creativity and pioneering initiative are strongly shown, as well as the potential for a power position in the world which Prophet has certainly achieved as leader of a world-wide spiritual movement. The Moon, ruler of the Cancer Ascendant, in Sagittarius shows the identification with God and the search for Truth, while its position in the Leo house repeats the power drive of the Sun (also ruling part of the first house of identification) in the tenth house conjunct Saturn, the natural ruler of the tenth. Mars, natural key to identity, in Capricorn repeats the identification with power. As has been often pointed out in past writing, the one-ten combinations (Mars in Capricorn, Saturn in Aries, first house ruler in the tenth house, first house ruler conjunct Saturn) can be manifested as “my will is law and I will make the world be the way it ought to be,” or as “the world has all the power and I might as well give up and not try.” Women often and men less often tend to start with the feeling that the world has the power, and to discover their strength later. If I can trust my memory of Prophet’s life, she initially chose a husband as a guru, and only moved into the position herself after his death.

The choice of religious work is suggested by Jupiter conjunct Vesta (our super-Virgo asteroid) in its own house and one of its own signs. As already noted above, P Jupiter moved to a conjunction with the MC and remained there for years. If Prophet’s birth time is accurate, P Jupiter would have been on the MC from about 1978 through 1989. Venus rules part of the tenth house of career or role in society, and its natal placement in Pisces in the ninth house is another indication of a possible career involving ideals, as is the Sagittarius on the sixth house cusp. To further highlight the focus on faith and the spiritual side of life, Prophet moved to Montana where her local Ascendant is closely conjunct the midpoint of Jupiter/Neptune. Since Jupiter and Neptune opposed each other at birth, the local Ascendant in Montana produced a mutable T-square. Mutable conflicts can involve uncertainty over beliefs, values, goals (less likely in a chart with a strong fire emphasis), or conflicts between different beliefs, goals and values, or conflicts between beliefs, goals and values and the limits of what is possible in the physical world. Possible opposite extremes include being overly skeptical (the atheist) or overly gullible (the “true believer”). P Neptune holds a long opposition to natal Vesta, repeating the message as a lifetime issue. Neptune, Pisces and the ninth house all emphasize faith. Virgo, Vesta and the third house all emphasize seeing the world objectively, as it is. P Urania (which seems to be similar to Uranus) is holding a conjunction to the local Ascendant for some years, so it has been reinforcing the T-square to the Jupiter-Neptune opposition, calling for rethinking the mutable dilemma.

Additional emphasis on the search for ideals or issues involving faith is shown by a long P Chiron sextile-trine to the true nodes of the Moon and a square to natal Mercury and Icarus. The harmony aspects to the nodes fit Prophet’s ability to sway people while the squares suggest a possible conflict involving dependence versus power. Icarus is often connected to some sort of overreach or premature action, and here it is conjunct the key to the conscious intellect in a sign of personal power but a house largely associated with the power of the world. The conflict could involve faith (the 12th house symbolizes our unconscious faith in a higher power, or our lack of such faith) versus fear (the 10th house is associated with fear when we see the world’s power as beyond our control and as potentially hostile). The exact square of Saturn to the Ascendant at birth and its quincunx to Neptune further support some sort of issue involving faith, fear, and power, and additional clues are present when we add the planetary nodes. In the natal chart, S (south node of) Jupiter and S Pluto are opposite the Ascendant within one degree, and S Saturn opposes Pluto. P S Mars for some years is in Libra holding a grand cross opposite Saturn and square Ascendant, S Jupiter and S Pluto. The movement of P Mars into the seventh house is also an indication of the need to handle issues of personal power versus the power of other people. We may give away our own power, try to keep too much, or avoid closeness to feel safe. We handle the issue by learning to share power, to have healthy (game-playing) competition, and to help people. I’m sure that Prophet sees her life as devoted to helping people. To handle the competitive side of life, she is “fighting for her beliefs” as her cause. And she is married, so she may be working out the power issue constructively. But the purchase of an arsenal of guns and the building of bomb shelters looks as if some of the faith-fear-power issues are still lurking in the unconscious and coming out as prophesies reportedly from “ascended Masters.”

I found it interesting that the “wrong” chart seemed to show more psychic ability than the “right” one. But Prophet does have a lifetime (so far) trioctile of P Pluto to natal Moon, thus connecting two of the water “planets” which signify the unconscious side of the mind. The Cancer Ascendant trine to Jupiter in Pisces and sextile to Neptune are an additional indication of psychic potential. The East Point in Cancer in the twelfth house adds more water, as does Venus in Pisces trine the north lunar node in Scorpio in the Cancer house.

Of course, there are lots of interesting asteroids in Prophet’s horoscope. In addition to the ones already mentioned, the current belief that Karma-time has arrived would fit P Themis on the MC and P Jupiter, while P Nemesis is on the Moon and trioctile Pluto. Themis was a goddess associated with the LAW in ancient Greece, and humans who flouted the LAW were found and punished by Nemesis. I was eager to locate the asteroid Russia, since Prophet seems to see that country as the major threat if we can believe the newspaper reports. Natal Russia is 17 Taurus 27, so P Uranus remained conjunct it for many years though it is now out of the one-degree orb. P Russia was at 7 Gemini 22, just 3 minutes of longitude from Prophet’s P Sun on April 23, 1990, the day reported to be the beginning of Karmic reaping for the world. Natal Moskva (Moscow) was at 10 Aquarius on Prophet’s eighth house cusp, and on April 23, 1990, P Moskva was 29 Aquarius 41, conjunct P Juno which is very Plutonian and quincunx P Pluto to the minute. P Byelorussia (the U.S.S.R. Republic where Chernobyl was located) is at zero Leo, within one degree of both P Pluto and P Ascendant in Montana as well as opposite P Mars and square natal Pandora. On the day before the “karmic due date,” the quotidian (Q) P MC in Montana formed a grand cross in fixed signs and cardinal houses involving the factors just mentioned: P local Ascendant, P Mars, and Pandora (who opened the box of the world’s troubles in the myth). The grand cross in mixed cardinal and fixed qualities is an indication of power struggles and it is important to look for “healthy” game-playing ways to have them. Quotidian angles move about a degree a day since they circle the wheel plus one degree more in a year.

I am almost certain that Prophet does not have our asteroid program though her official astrologer does have our CCRS astrology program, yet the extra asteroids do have appropriate positions for someone worried about possible violence involving Russia and nuclear power. I have found the asteroid Atlantis involved in many charts where there was abuse of power, especially involving nuclear energy. Prophet’s P Ceres is conjunct her natal Atlantis in the twelfth house and P Atlantis is opposite natal Elizabeth, square natal Phaethon (another overreach myth) which is just one degree and one minute from Prophet’s natal Sun, and P Atlantis is also octile P Hiroshima. The latter is trioctile Elizabeth and Phaethon. We could read such a combination as a real case for the threat of violence or as a fear of it at the mental level even though there is no likelihood of it actually happening on the physical level. Only time can determine whether one of the preceding interpretations is accurate. One of the fascinating “coincidences” of this whole scenario is that the move to Montana put a natal conjunction of Megaira (slaughter), Helio (a sun god, so associated with fame and power) and Hiroshima (named for the city destroyed by the first use of an atom bomb in war) on the local IC. Remember, I only mention one-degree orbs. The fear of atomic slaughter which led to the collection of weapons and the building of bomb shelters has certainly also led to fame in Montana as well as in Los Angeles. P Megaira is conjunct P Ascendant currently and will hold the aspect for some years. P Mercury is currently conjunct Prophet’s Montana East Point as well as on her natal MC/Ascendant midpoint, fitting the media attention she is getting there. The patterns keep reminding us of the mystery of astrology; of our inability to differentiate between our mind-games and possible events which could take physical form.

When Prophet’s Church bought the land in Montana, her P MC was conjunct the asteroid Montana and the local (Montana) Antivertex. P Montana is currently octile P Antivertex and will soon be octile the natal Ascendant. P Antivertex moved to conjunct the Ascendant in June 1990, fitting a re-thinking of both personal identity and close relationships or “open enemies” as the P Vertex is of course simultaneously crossing the seventh house cusp. P MC is now conjunct the midpoint of Jupiter/Ascendant and square P Icarus in Aquarius but trine Neptune. I know it is hard to visualize a string of aspects involving asteroids which are not printed in the wheel, and since we have full page charts in the Asteroid-World, I may write in some of the interesting ones described above. I keep saying that this world is stranger than anyone realizes, and wondering if there really is a boundary between the mental and the physical realms of being. Many more asteroids could be mentioned, but we have to stop somewhere. The number of relevant asteroids in Prophet’s chart seems to support the importance of her role in the world, however her prophesies turn out. To end with a very basic aspect, immediately after the “doomsday” date, when Russia obviously did not bomb the U.S., Prophet’s P Moon formed an opposition to P Saturn for about two months and it continued into the square to Pluto and then to P Mars through this summer of 1990 along with an octile to natal Moon. These patterns could mark a time of fear, or of struggles, but the only struggles that I have heard of have been her media interviews in which she claimed that she was misquoted in earlier coverage. So, for the moment, we will go on watching the world and our amazing asteroids.

In the article on the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope which was in the Gemini 1990 issue of The Mutable Dilemma, I described a variety of stress aspects which emphasized both a troubled time of two months and of two years, with a few conflict aspects that would last for many years. The July 6, 1990 issue of Science reports that it was during the weekend of June 23-24 that the scientists monitoring the telescope from the Goddard Space Center near Baltimore, MD discovered that there is a far worse problem than any mentioned in my article. One of the mirrors is so flawed that it is impossible to get a clear photo, and the scientists are temporarily stymied. Many of the planned experiments can be carried out, but the primary goal of really clear pictures may be delayed until the shuttle can be sent up to replace the cameras with new ones which will be designed to overcome the distortion in the defective mirror. An article in the July 9, 1990 issue of Newsweek described the shuttle’s vision as similar to having a cataract. A panel headed by a JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech in Pasadena, CA) scientist has been appointed to look for someone to blame for the problem. But JPL also claims that they can modify the internal optics of future instruments and remove the telescope’s distortions entirely. NASA is also looking for a way to speed up the schedule of the shuttle flight which had planned a visit to Hubble for 1993. In the meantime, out of about 60 projects which were planned for the “faint object camera,” 10 will be impossible and about 40 will be impaired. The “wide field planetary camera” is producing results that are hardly better than earth telescopes. Astronomers in Tucson, AZ, Cal Tech, and many other areas are mourning the dashing of their dreams, and Washington is fuming, but NASA insists that 95% of the planned science will eventually be carried out.

Some of the current uproar is suggested in the launch chart. In addition to the aspects mentioned in the Mutable Dilemma article, Neptune in the eighth house of joint (including public) resources was closely quincunx the Ascendant calculated for Washington, DC where Congress is threatening to stop funding NASA. The asteroid California, (the state is the home of the head of the investigating committee), is square the Washington, DC Ascendant. Icarus squares the natal Ascendant and Soyuz-Apollo which is on the Ascendant. The latter asteroid was named for the successful joint venture into space some years ago of Soviet and U.S. astronauts. Oliver, the scientist in charge of the Hubble Telescope has an asteroid with his name and it was in 1 Gemini in the twelfth house, square Nemesis and moving into a square to Mars. Urania in Gemini in the first house was quincunx Uranus in the eighth house, fitting the upset over technological problems and expensive cost overruns. Gaea (earth) opposes Herbert, squares Uranus, but trines Urania.

The heliocentric asteroids are also interesting. California was on the MC, an appropriate position as the Cal Tech scientists take over the search for culprits and the designing of new instruments. Atlantis was on the IC, fitting the technology trouble, and Sapientia (wisdom) on the Descendant pointed to a lack of itself in the first house of personal action. Heliocentric (H) Osiris (Egyptian god of the dead) on H Mars and Geocentric Osiris on the MC are not very encouraging aspects, but a resurrection is still possible.

Another world development has been the failure of Newfoundland to ratify the Meech Lake agreement in Canada, leaving the future unity of the country in some doubt. The spring 1990 Asteroid-World discussed the situation and commented on the tension and potential for change, especially in the chart for the Canadian Constitution from 1982. No one knows what Quebec will do now that their demand for “special” status has been defeated, but several of the aspects in the Constitution chart suggest that the urge toward separation will not be resolved for many months or even years. I hope that wisdom prevails over ethnocentricity.

Southern California has been plagued by a rash of fires in recent weeks, along with record heat, as our asteroid namesake has been transiting through Aries squaring the major planets in Capricorn and Cancer. An explosion and fire in a tunnel being dug for our prospective Los Angeles subway erupted as Atlantis exactly squared the Ascendant. Atlantis does turn up with technology problems, and so does Vesta when there are issues involving competence in workmanship. Vesta was exactly opposite Pluto when the fire started in an area supposedly unoccupied during the night. One member of our small mundane study group had a program for the ceremony at the beginning of the subway construction. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 9:30 A.M. on September 29, 1986. By estimating the time it would take for short speeches, prayers, songs, etc., we guessed that the actual ground-breaking moment might have been shortly before 10:30 A.M. But even if we are off a few minutes, the asteroid Atlantis is dramatic—in the same degree as it was for the fire which started at 1:50 A.M. on July 13, 1990. The destruction occurred at an exact Atlantis return to its position in the original subway beginning! The Moon in the initial chart squared Venus exactly, and Pluto in the fire chart was conjunct the initial Venus so the Pluto-Vesta opposition in Scorpio-Taurus formed a T-square with the initial Venus-Moon square. The damage was severe, setting back the hoped-for completion date for the subway and adding to the already immense cost overruns.

I am not sure about my data for the Iran earthquake, but I am working with a time of 0:31 A.M. on June 21, 1990. The epicenter was north of Rasht, but hundreds (or thousands) of people were killed over a wide area. The Ascendant in Rasht was just moving into a square to Uranus and the rising Mars in Aries had recently left the one-degree-orb square to Neptune and was exactly opposite the Arabic Part of Uranus. The latter is calculated by adding Uranus to the Ascendant and subtracting the Sun. It is possible to use the same formula with each of the planets. It produces the Part of Fortune when the Moon is added to the Ascendant. I interpret the different variations as a place of personal action (Ascendant) of the nature of the added planet without drawing on the growth potential of the Sun which is subtracted in the formula, so the part of Uranus implies Uranian activity. Though the major damage and the deaths occurred in the northern part of Iran, the angles at the capital, Teheran, were quite striking. Some of the reports suggested that some of the authorities actually blocked material sent by other countries to aid the stricken people. The Teheran Ascendant at the start of the quake was square Uranus within one degree as well as square N Jupiter and it was exactly opposite Gaea (earth) and S Mars.

I have been watching charts of earthquakes to see whether some of the asteroids might give us advance warning of possible times and places, but they were not very helpful in this case. When we add midpoints and planetary nodes, we get relevant aspects to Richter (the name of the man who developed a scale to measure earthquake intensity), but it did not have any traditional aspects to the traditional planets or to the angles. Richter was on the S node of Pluto and in a double quincunx (yod) to the Ascendant/MC midpoint and to the Saturn/Pluto midpoint; all potentially keys to earth activity. Pele, the Hawaiian earthquake goddess, was square Mars and the S node of Juno, our Plutonian asteroid. Arabia was conjunct the Part of Death but otherwise, the latter only had a square to Pallas which could refer to the political interference with assistance. Chaldaea, an ancient country which included much of what is now Iraq but also some of Iran, was at 0 Aries conjunct Icarus and trioctile Pluto on the eighth cusp so a clue to death. Paradise was on the Rasht Ascendant and square the Teheran MC, perhaps another hint that people in power positions helped send some other people on a fast trip to the Moslem heaven.

The Philippine earthquake was reported to have occurred at 4:30 P.M. on July 16, 1990, but there were also many strong aftershocks which did additional damage. It also has some interesting asteroids. Of course I looked first for the asteroid Philippina, and found it in the eighth house within one degree of Atlantis with both holding a quincunx to the rising Saturn and a trioctile to Uranus which is even closer to the Ascendant. The death toll keeps rising, at this time of writing having topped 600. As is usually the case, most of the deaths must be blamed on poor construction of the buildings, including several modern U.S. hotels in Baguio. Vesta was within two degrees of the opposition to Pluto which was mentioned in the subway fire, and it was trioctile the East Point in the first house. Pluto was also on the midpoint of the Ascendant/MC, considered one of the most important midpoints. S Vesta as well as S Jupiter were within one degree of the first house Uranus, reinforcing the message about questionable workmanship and values. Mars was quincunx the MC from the cusp of the fifth house but still barely in the fourth house. The Moon was just three degrees beyond Mars, showing the tension of the people, and the lunar nodes also squared the Moon to repeat the message. Many people claimed that the government was very slow to act and incompetent when it did. Other stress aspects included the Jupiter-Sun conjunction on N Saturn and their opposition to both Saturn and S Saturn. (Saturn repeatedly crosses its own south node this year). Richter and Pele were just over one degree apart in Leo in the eighth house, but both were in a one-degree-orb octile to Vesta for the crisis connecting health and workmanship. Hiroshima was on the Ascendant, and the pictures of the collapsed hotels really did look as if a bomb had hit them. The Arabic Part of Jupiter was also on the Ascendant while Venus exactly opposed it. So much for the “benefics” on the angles.

Other planetary node and midpoint aspects included Chiron, just a little earlier in Cancer than Jupiter-Sun, on N Pluto and opposite S Pluto. With all of these “extra” factors, I only mention one-degree orbs. Ceres was on N Neptune and opposite S Neptune. Uranus/north lunar node was conjunct Saturn and opposite Jupiter, and two Uranus midpoints squared Saturn and Jupiter while Icarus turned the combination into a full cardinal cross. I am still hoping to find time to check the preceding Capricorn ingresses at the sites of major quakes to see if they provide clues to the coming disasters, but I have only spent a little time on the ingress charts for the sites of these very destructive quakes. In a very limited examination, I noted that in the Philippine ingress for December 1989, the asteroid Philippina was exactly on the eighth house cusp and quincunx the Ascendant. Atlantis was in the eighth house trioctile the East Point (an auxiliary Ascendant). Medea and Iphigenia, both associated with the sacrifice of children, were on the MC. Dolores, Spanish for sorrow, was on the Part of Death. Gaea was square the midpoint of Neptune/Saturn. Uranus was octile the Antivertex. Richter was quincunx the Ascendant/MC midpoint for the town near the epicenter of the quake. That seems like enough aspects to call for attention, but I would not have been confident enough of the chart to think about issuing a warning.

The preceding Capricorn ingress for Iran had Neptune (along with Icarus) on the IC in Teheran and square the East Point in Rasht, with Saturn square the Teheran East Point. Gaea was at the midpoint of the two East Points. The midpoints of Ascendant/MC and Sun/Moon, generally considered the two most important ones, were exactly square each other with the Ascendant in Teheran at their midpoint, octile both. The combination certainly suggested a difficult year ahead, but whether anyone could anticipate a coming earthquake seems pretty doubtful. The exact Moon square to Mercury involving the first and fourth house might be considered a clue since the Moon and the fourth house signify the land and buildings. Of course the planetary aspects are identical for an ingress and only the house positions and aspects to angles offer local information. I mostly just use the Arabic Parts (described earlier) which include the Ascendant in the formula, so they are unique for the locality. In Rasht, the Part of Neptune was conjunct the Moon square Mercury, and the Part of Saturn opposed the Part of Death. Chaldaea in Capricorn in the fourth house was quincunx the midpoints of Ascendant/ MC in both Teheran and Rasht. Of the asteroids named for towns which were destroyed by earthquakes, Herculina was prominent with a square to the Teheran MC and Neptune-Icarus, and an opposition to the Rasht East Point. Ani was not aspecting an angle, at least with a traditional aspect, but it was octile Pluto. Pele was over one degree from a square to the Teheran Antivertex, but the angle moved into the aspect within a couple of minutes after the reported time of the quake so the buildings would have been still collapsing. However, Richter had only a trine to Venus unless we bring in planetary nodes, Arabic Parts, or uncommon aspects, so either the asteroid or the technique is less than reliable.

To finish with some odds and ends or “news notes,” I was intrigued to note in the June 25, 1990 issue of the Los Angeles Times that a doctor was using a copper vapor laser to treat spider veins and other skin blemishes. The single small paragraph said that the newly developed Vasculase CVL system emitted a type of yellow light that was safely absorbed by vascular structures such as veins and small capillaries. The treatment was also said to be fast and comfortable. Talk about Venus! Venus is traditionally associated with veins, capillaries, copper, yellow, and being comfortable. I also think it “rules” the skin.

The latest (August 1990) issue of Omni magazine reports that two engineers have proposed a car that would run on chilled liquid air and a little natural gas. They claim it would be like the old “Stanley Steamer,” that the air-gas mixture could be sold for about the same price as gasoline, and that it would produce no smog. However, the auto manufacturers are not interested in retooling their whole industry. Maybe when oil prices are pushed back up and pollution gets worse, we’ll be able to put some pressure on.

I heard a couple of interesting speakers at the AFA conference, but think I had better save them for the Virgo Mutable Dilemma. This issue of the Asteroid-World was put together too hastily to get a contribution from Seraphita on asteroid names, but we hope to have one for the fall issue.

Copyright © 1990 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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