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NEWSMAKERS


February 2003

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"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merge of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." --Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II



February 3, 2003

Grieving Columbia

"As we speak, I have a terrible sense of foreboding, because last weekend a stunning omen occurred in this country. Anyone who thinks symbolically had to be shocked by the explosion of the Columbia shuttle, disintegrating in the air and strewing its parts and human remains over Texas -- the president's home state! So many times in antiquity, the emperors of Persia or other proud empires went to the oracles to ask for advice about going to war. Roman generals summoned soothsayers to read the entrails before a battle. If there was ever a sign for a president and his administration to rethink what they're doing, this was it. I mean, no sooner had Bush announced that the war was "weeks, not months" away and gone off for a peaceful weekend at Camp David than this catastrophe occurred in the skies over Texas. " The Salon Interview: Camille Paglia

Columbia's Maiden Voyage


Photo of Columbia Launch 4/12/81



"Columbia, the oldest orbiter in the Shuttle fleet, is named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop captained by American Robert Gray. On May 11, 1792, Gray and his crew maneuvered the Columbia past the dangerous sandbar at the mouth of a river extending more than 1,000 miles through what is today south-eastern British Columbia, Canada, and the Washington-Oregon border. The river was later named after the ship. Gray also led Columbia and its crew on the first American circumnavigation of the globe, carrying a cargo of otter skins to Canton, China, and then returning to Boston.

"On a more directly patriotic note, "Columbia" is considered to be the feminine personification of the United States. The name is derived from that of another famous explorer, Christopher Columbus. Nasa on Columbia.

As befitting a shuttle craft designed for pioneering a new era of space exploration, Columbia's maiden voyage horoscope has none of the earth element and only one planet in water, Uranus retrograde in the probing sign of Scorpio.

The 12th house stellium of Aries planets (exploration) finds Mars-ruled Mercury in the degree of the lunar nodes shows that news (Mercury) about this shuttle craft would issue from nodal contacts involving Mercury's ruler, Mars.

Mars is dignified in its own sign and is combust the Sun and the Ascendant ruler, Venus. The 12 house planets (the house of self-undoing, or a space shuttle tearing itself apart) is locked into a grand fire trine (explosions) with the natural 12th house ruler Neptune in the 8th of death and the Part of fortune at 23 Leo (ruled by the Aries Sun) in the 4th house of "the grave/endings."

Neptune at 24 Sagittarius is in the natural 9th house sign -- long distance journeys including sailing the high seas and traveling through the oceans of space. A shuttle craft is a ship. An air ship, and Columbia's maiden voyage is a chart loaded with the fire of enthusiasm and the air power to launch her into the deep oceans of space.

Columbia's launch corresponds to another highly important cycle in the USA: the 1981 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Libra. Pluto was also in Libra and lies in opposition to Mars, Sun and Venus in the 12th house of the chart. Pluto is about irrevocable change; death; ejection from the body or from a craft; metamorphosis into something ineffable (Neptune in Sagittarius in the 8th house of transformation).

Columbia's launch corresponded to the Reagan Era in politics; his subsequent survival of an assassin's bullet; a reborn pride in America's space program and a gung-ho attitude towards probing the depths of space for scientific and economic gain.

Four Aries plaents: "To boldy go where no one has gone before." [Captain Picard, Star Trek: TNG.]

The 9th house of the chart has Capricorn on the cusp and it's Saturn ruler is retrograde in the 6th house. Saturn is also ruler of the 10th house of the chart: what the Columbia will become known for. Saturn retrograde opposes Mercury in Aries, which leads us to surmise that the news will someday be very bad. Particularly when noted that the Midheaven of the chart, 27 Capricorn, is conjoined to the USA's natal Pluto. Saturn in rulership of the 9th house of space and the 10th house's resonance with the USA's Pluto is cruel and unforgiving.

To make matters worse, astronauts Chawla and Clark had their natal Saturns at 27 Capricorn. Astronauts Brown and Ramon had their natal Uranuses in opposition to the USA's Pluto. Astronauts Anderson, Chawla, Clark, and McCool had their Uranuses in Leo opposite transiting Uranus in Aquarius. Astronaut Brown's Jupiter is 21 Leo. Clark's Jupiter is 29 Capricorn. McCool's Jupiter is 27 Capricorn. Ramon's Pluto is 22 Leo and fits into the maiden Voyage's grand fire trine by hooking into the chart's Part of Fortune. There are many more cross-aspects that link these astronauts to this fated event. The depth of this inquiry should be the subject of a separate article.

Saturn and Pluto are presently close enough again to be considered in opposition to one another in the signs Gemini and Sagittarius. Transiting Saturn retrograde (23 Gemini) is opposite Maiden Voyage Neptune in the 8th of death. Saturn opposing Neptune is like sticking a pin in a balloon. Bang. And as shown in the Heliocentric chart (below) the Ascendant for the crash, as seen from the Sun, is 27 Aquarius, the degree of the USA's natal Moon. Uranus at 28 Aquarius. The January 16, 2003 Full Moon launch of Columbia had Mars at 29 Scorpio in square to the Heliocentric Ascendant and Uranus. Mars also shifted quickly to 1 Sagittarius after liftoff. Mars's shift conjoined Brown's natal Saturn at 1 Sagittarius retrograde. Chawala's Mars is 1 Virgo, in square to Mars at 1 Sagittarius. Mars and Saturn, as you know, are the two malefics in mundane astrology. We will consider Mars and Uranus in connection to other charts as we move along.



Columbia's Maiden Voyage -
Tertiary Progressed and Solar Arc Directed
to Crash of 2/103 in Triwheel

Tertiary progressed Chiron at 7 Gemini (first house) is in the degree of the maiden voyage's lunar nodes. Chiron is also hooked onto our current transiting Gemini South Node. Both of them are conjunct the USA's natal Uranus.

Chiron in Gemini equates to damaged intelligence; improper assessment of data. In nodal degree, we know that bad decisions (Mercury as ruler of Gemini in nodal degree) lead to tragedy.

Columbia was to land at 9:16 AM, EST at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Transiting Chiron at 13 Capricorn is conjoined to Mercury at 17 Capricorn in the 10th house of the chart (not shown). Retrograde Saturn in the 3rd house (Gemini's natural home) rules the aforementioned and the chart's Midheaven (1 Capricorn). Venus in the 9th house of the chart at 26 Sagittarius (Galactic Center) is ruled by retrograde Jupiter in the 5th house of gambles taken. The Moon was New, which means it was combust the Sun and Neptune. There would be no good news and no success under such planetary weight.

It was not known to the astronauts that the left side of the craft had been damaged during take-off when insulation from the fuel tank hit the heat deflecting tires under Columbia's left wing. Because there is a wide trine from Jupiter to Venus in the 9th house of the ULTIMATE journey, we may speculate that the explosion was so fast that the astronauts did not know it happened. That is all that is of any hope in the charts.

Tertiary Saturn is att 22 Libra conjoined to natal Pluto; Solar Arc Pluto at 26 Libra conjoins Tertiary Pluto. Note that the aforementioned opposes the 12th house Aries Stellium and is part of a T-Square to tertiary Venus in Capricorn conjunct the USA's natal Pluto and opposite its Mercury in Cancer in the USA's 8th house of death. Those who follow my columns will note that the Cancer/Capricorn axis in the USA chart impacts Mr. Bush's natal Sun and Saturn in his Cancerian 12th house.



Columbia's Launch: Last Voyage 1/16/03


Photo of Columbia Crew 1/16/03

All four chart angles are at 29 degrees of the mutable signs. Therefore, the launch chart itself shows that this would be Columbia's last voyage.

Late degrees in event charts show that a process is concluding; a phase of life is ending. It also shows that what is happening now is already in motion and the time for change has passed. In horary it means that the querent can do nothing about the matter. It is out of one's hands.

Hence, when you see Chiron and Mercury again linked together in the 10th house of the chart: what Columbia will be known for, we are reminded again of what we were discussing here on January 28, 2003, President Bush's State of the Union Speech. We noted that Chiron and Mercury (and Venus in opposition to Saturn) cloaked the speech and the evening in melancholy -- in a withdrawal of energy. In a kind of sadness.

January 28 was also the 17th anniversary of Challenger's explosion during lift-off from Cape Canaveral (chart below). We are reminded that this was Columbia's 28th mission. We are reminded that on January 28, 2003, at 11:39:13 AM, the crew of the Columbia paused in space to remember their fallen Challenger comrades. We are reminded that the Moon on September 11th was 28 degrees of Gemini. We are reminded that transiting Uranus is conjoined to the USA's Moon (near 28 degrees) and that Mars on launch day was square the USA's Moon and transiting Uranus. I remember stating in my State of the Union article that Moon in square to Mars always gets hurt.

Mars and Uranus, of course, are the signature planets of explosions.

The Lunar nodes are at 7 degrees in the launch chart pinging with resonance to Columbia's natal Mercury at 7 Aries. The Moon is applying to Full Moon with Sun at 26 Cancer, just shy of its annual conjunction with the USA's Pluto at 27 Capricorn. Launching huge missions of any kind at New or Full Moons is not a good idea. Eclipses are either full or new moons (but not all lunations are eclipses, of course) and even a novice astrologer knows to lay low during eclipses. The same rule applies to the rebirth of the Moon at new and the harvest at Full.

Moving onward, we note that Mars' fast shift to 1 Sagittarius takes on new rulership via retrograde (no luck) Jupiter in the 5th house of gambles. There was no way NASA should have risked launching Columbia when at least a year prior alarm bells had been sounded by scientists who said that Columbia was too old to fly and was in bad shape. Just as Challenger's O-ring problem was buried inside agendas and beaurocratic nonsense, so were the lives of seven shining human beings. Here is where Icarus (at 17 Capricorn now) falls from the sky because he did not listen to his father's warnings. (Chiron, Mercury, Saturn hitting Gemini and Capricorn).

It is worth noting that the Ascendant/Midheaven midpoint in this chart is 14 Aquarius which squares the Tertiary Midheaven (14 Scorpio) and Solar Arc Directed Pluto in Columbia's maiden voyage chart. This midpoint formulates a T-square because Solar arc directed Mars, Sun and Venus in Taurus are all well within orb of such a configuration. The Aquarian midpoint, then, becomes the release value and it is directly opposite gambling Jupiter (retrograde: YOU LOSE) in house 5 of the Launch chart.


Columbia Spotted by Tony Beasley,
Astronomer at Cal-Tech

Tony Beasley reported that he saw debris falling off Columbia when he spied her at the Owens Valley Observatory (Cal-Tech) at 5:30 AM, PST, February 1, 2003. 19 Capricorn rises giving us retrograde Saturn (bad news, bad endings) as chart ruler.

Saturn also speaks of old things; things damaged; things in disrepair. It is the ruler of Chiron and Mercury in Capricorn hidden in the 12th house where things tear apart -- Columbia's self-undoing. Saturn is the skin of the Shuttle. The protective shield. The defense mechanism. The craft's structural integrity. The Part of Fortune at 18 Capricorn on the Ascendant (the place for it at a New Moon in the first house) tells us that there will be "no good luck" as the defining feature of this shuttle craft landing.

Columbia was damaged from the moment of lift off. Chiron and Mercury have been telling us so. The chart for her maiden voyage already told us what would happen when she reached old age. Twenty-two years is a long life span for a space craft that runs on the computer technology equivalent of a wrist watch. My PC with a microprocessor running at 2.6 Gigz could run the whole Mars project from my livingroom. And that is not to mention shuttle's airframe. These craft take a beating when leaving or re-entering earth's atmosphere.

Continuing on, the Neptune, Sun, Moon, Uranus stellium in Aquarius in the first house is impacted by the fact that retrograde Saturn is the ancient ruler of Aquarius. There is so much Saturn; so much air; so much fire in the planetary line-ups. An increased penchant for explosions, fires, tempers, war, irrationality and errors in calculation of consequences are leading us to the brink. I am not the only astrologer or even ordinary American who views Columbia's demise as an Omen.

The 11th house, which is the crew (people bonded for a common enterprise) has the South Node at 6 Sagittarius.

Anderson, Chawala, Clark's Pluto is 6 Virgo, in square to the transiting South Node. Clark's North Node is 6 Virgo, so her natal Pluto was conjoined to her natal North Node. Clark's natal nodes, therefore, were square our transiting lunar nodes. McCool's Pluto is 8 Virgo. Husband's natal Uranus is 6 Leo.

The New Moon has already occurred in the first house of this chart -- perhaps over India, Chawala's birth place and Columbia's re-entry zone. Neptune of gases and vapors, such as liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen, linked by COMBUST degrees to the Sun, Moon and Uranus at 27 Aquarius, are in conjunction to the USA's Moon. The Moon is in the 3rd house of the USA's chart -- Gemini's (communication) domain.

Communiation from Columbia that something was wrong occurred at about 7:53 AM Houston time (Johnson Space Center is located there) and 8:53 AM Cape Canaveral time. Using the JSC/Houston time of 7:53 AM and its longitude and latitude, we find the Mercury-Chiron conjunction (bad news) in the 11th house (the shuttle crew) [Chart not shown.] Retrograde Saturn at 22 Gemini was in the 4th house of that chart (where things end) and North Node, Mars and Pluto were in the 10th house of the chart in opposition to "things go badly" Saturn.



Columbia Explosion - Largest Debris Field

Using JSC coordinates and Houston, Texas CST time of 8:03 AM, this chart shows the break up of Columbia over the widest distribution field of Nacogdoches, Texas.

The Ascendant has reached 27 Aquarius, conjunct Uranus and the USA's Moon. The Part of Fortune at 29 Aquarius reiterates the degree of the Launch chart's 29 degree angles and says, "Suddenly, it is all over. The end."

Saturn retrograde is still in the 4th house of endings with bad news Chiron-Mercury in the 11th house signifying Columbia's crew members. Mars at 9 Sagittarius is conjoined to the Midheaven and opposes the USA's natal Uranus at 8 Gemini. There is no greater signature of explosion than the repeated Mars-Uranus contacts throughout the study of Columbia's 22 year life span.



Columbia Explosion - Heliocentric View

The Earth conjoins Jupiter in the 6th house of bodily integrity opposing Neptune in accidential dignity in house 12. This is another signature of over estimating Columbia's structural integrity in favor of launch and the subsequent self-undoing as Columbia broke apart above Earth.

Helio Mars at 6 Scorpio is in the degree of the transiting lunar nodes and is a reminder of the astronauts who have planets and nodal contacts at 6 degrees of the signs. M/p> Note the grand air trine between Uranus-Ascendant, Saturn and Mercury in the fire houses: 1, 5, and 9. Pluto of ejection from the body and irrevocable change is in the 10th house in trine to Jupiter and sextile "the oceans of space" Neptune.

Juno at 29 Libra seems to say that the 22 year marriage of astronaut to Columbia is at its end. Juno trines both Uranus and Saturn of "divorce and separation."




Challenger Explosion 1/28/86

For those who wish to study event chart analysis further in relation to NASA's STS program may enjoy analyzing the chart for the lift-off of Challenger. The shuttle exploded at 1:39:13 after lift-off.

Note Mars's position at 27 Scorpio, square the USA's Aquarius Moon.

Saturn is at 7 degrees of Sagittarius, the degree of Columbia's lunar nodes and its natal Mercury. The Part of Fortune is 9 Sagittarius, the degree of Mars and the MC for the explosion of Columbia. Mercury at 6 Aquarius resonates with the astronauts' 6 degree planets. Mars at 27 Scorpio does also to planets at 27-29 degrees in the charts of the astronauts aboard Columbia.

Uranus is at 20 Sagittarius, conjoined to the current position of transiting Pluto.

The Virgo Moon, at the time of Challenger's lift-off, was applying to a square with Uranus and to 2003's Pluto.

The Virgo Moon applies to a T-Square formation to Bush's Inauguration chart Sagittarius Pluto and Moon in square to Venus at 17 Pisces. Inauguration Chiron at 24 Sagittarius conjoins Columbia's Maiden Voyage natal Neptune. These factors and more alert us to the fact that Bush would face such a NASA disaster during the first term of his presidency.



Written in gratitude for the 7 Astronauts of Columbia, and to the astronauts of Israel, Russia and India for your contribution to humanity. May we continue to boldly go where no one has gone before.

February 3, 2003 -- Starcats.




Keep Track of Bush!

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2/3/03 Updated Bush Time Table

  • January 27, 2003 Hans Blix delivers U.N. Weapons Inspection Report to United Nations.

  • January 28, 2003, G.W. Bush gives State of the Union Address, 9:00 pm, EST, Washington, DC.

  • January 28, 2003, Israel holds elections for Prime Minister. Polls open at 1:00 am and close at 1:00 PM 1/28 in the capital, Tel Aviv.

  • January 31, 2003, G.W. Bush meets with British PM Tony Blair in Washington, DC

  • February 1, 2003, New Moon at 12 degrees of "New World Order" Aquarius conjunct deceiving Neptune opposite Jupiter of exaggerations and hubris.

  • Space Shuttle Columbia crashes over Palestine/Nacogdoches, Texas

  • February 4, 2003, Memorial Service for Crew of Columbia

  • February 5, 2003, Colin Powell presents evidence of WMD held by Iraq before United Nations Security Council

  • February 9-14, 2003, Hajj. Pilgrams make annual journey to Holy Site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

  • February 11, 2003, Mercury at 28 Capricorn coming out of shadow, or the degree at which it turned retrograde on January 2, 2003. Mercury to "New World Order" Aquarius on February 23, 2003.

  • February 15, 2003, Worldwide Antiwar protests. Tony Blair in Glasgow, Scotland to speak at Labor Party's Spring Conference.

  • February 16, 2003, Full Moon at 27 Aquarius/27 Leo -- "King of the One World Government." Aquarius Sun conjunct Revolutionary "Off With Their Heads" Uranus; Sun-Uranus opposite Common People Moon. "I have the right to do what I want when I want" Jupiter Retrograde at 11 Leo is in exact opposition to "confuse them" Neptune.

    Note: From February 16 to March 2. Full moon wanes to dark (new Moon). Expect Bush to launch pre-emptive strike on Iraq about this time. Other estimates take us to a mid-March attack, but March 18, 2003 is a Full Moon at 27 Virgo/Pisces. Military advantage rests upon an increased number of days to attack while the Moon is dark. Therefore, I think that Bush gives the order earlier rather than later.

  • Jupiter-Neptune, of extreme politico-religious fundamentalism falls across G.W. Bush's 1/7 house axis. Saturn, "the chief executive/executive decisions," at 22 Gemini (talks out of both sides of his mouth) is retrograde and opposite "by any means necessary" Pluto which conjoins bloody, warmongering Mars at 19 Sagittarius. Pluto and Mars conjoin G.W. Bush Inauguration Moon at 19 Sagittarius in the 8th house of death and destruction in that chart, and both square progressed Inauguration Venus of diplomacy at 19 degrees of sacrificial Pisces.

  • March 2, 2003: New Moon at 12 Pisces.

  • March 4, 2003, Mercury conjunct Uranus at 29 Aquarius, 4:10:03 pm, EST, Washington, DC. Sun 13 Pisces square G.W. Bush Inauguration 8th house Pluto at 14 Sagittarius.

  • March 10, 2003, Uranus enters Pisces and remains in mutual reception with Neptune until 2011. This marks the 84 year return of Uranus to the position it held when the Nazi Party was officially formed in Munich, Germany.

    February 24, 1920, 7:20 PM, CET -1:00, Munich, Germany, 28N08, 011E34, Ascendant, 24 Virgo. Urnuas 01 Pisces 51. Neptune 09 Leo.

    Uranus in Pisces:

    1668-1676, in mutual reception with Neptune in Aquarius
    1752-1760, Neptune in Leo
    1835-1844, Mutual reception with Neptune in Aquarius

    1919-1928, Neptune in Leo. This is the Neptune position for Mussolini's Founding of Fascism in Italy, March 23, 1919, 12:00 pm (no time known) Rome, Italy. Neptune was on the USA's North Node in its 8th house. WW I saw the use of Mustard Gas by the Germans as a chemical weapon. It marks the advent of prohibition, bathtub gin, the roaring 20's, and women getting the right to vote, and the formation of the Nazi Party.

    By 1933, after the burning of the Reichstag, The Third Reich was formed: Jan 30, 1933, 11:15 AM CET-1:00, Berlin, Germany, 52N30, 013E22, Ascendant, 25 Taurus. [Uranus at 19 Aries]. "Inflatus:" South Node, Neptune, Mars and Jupiter all conjunct in "Purity of the Vision of the Master Race = Virgo." Mercury, ruler of the Virgo stellium, is in Aquarius conjoined to scientific Saturn (horrible medical experiments) and "New World Order" Sun.

    Daddy Bush used the term "New World Order" during his presidency. He got it from Hitler, who was the first to use the term. Daddy Bush was also secretly involved in eugenics in the United States -- the forced sterilzation of countless people of color in North and South Carolina and in the State of Oregon. This is what the organization, "Planned Parenthood," was originally created as the "front" for.

    BTW, IBM created the computer database of every name of every jew in Germany for Hitler. Bayer Aspirin helped I.G. Farben make the gas cannisters for the concentration camp showers. That's the soul of American capitalism for you! Helping bidness worldwide!

  • June 10, 2003, Saturn to Cancer

  • June 20, 2003, Saturn in Cancer trine Uranus in Pisces, exact on June 24, 2003. Saturn and Uranus trine again on April 4, 2004, but the closest the trine gets is within a 1 degree 52 minute orb.

  • August 27, 2003, Jupiter to Virgo for a 12 month stay.

February 3, 2003 -- Starcats




Newsmakers 2003 Archives

January 1, 2003 Happy New Year and Welcome to the World of the Weird: Bush & Saddam; January 2003's Lunations

January 18, 2003 Full Moon 1/18/03 and TIMELINE

January 25=27, 2003 Hans Blix Reports to U.N. and Bush's State of the Union Address



All Under One Roof!
Newsmakers: 2002 Archives



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