Astrology and Synchronicity

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Trish and Rob

We had a  new roof put on our house during a Mercury retrograde. I’d hoped the process would start before the trickster planet went nutty. But with the damage around here inflicted by Hurricane Irma last September, roofers were backed up and you take a number and get in line.

Our number came up less than a week after Mercury turned retrograde in Leo. Astrologers generally advise not to undertake stuff like this when this planet is retro. But over the years, we’ve ended up doing the other stuff you aren’t supposed to do under a retro – signing contracts, selling a house, making travel plans, buying a car, a computer. The results have been annoying, time-consuming, weird enough to make you scream. At times, though, the results have been strangely enlightening, comical, and have brought back old friends.

Astrology is a kind of divination system and, according to Carl Jung, divination falls in the domain of synchronicity. Every divination system operates on the same premise. In the moment when you ask your question and toss the I Ching coins, draw the tarot cards, erect a transit chart – or take your first breath as you come into the world – a moment in time is frozen. A pattern intrinsic to that moment is created. If you understand the language of that divination system, then you’re able to interpret the pattern. But like with any divination system, the correct interpretation depends on how well versed the interpreter is in the particular language and whether it holds meaning for you.

On November 7, 2000, Mercury had been retrograde since mid-October – first in Scorpio, then it slipped back into Libra and at 9:20 p.m. on that night, it turned direct in that sign. When Mercury stations – which means it’s about to turn retrograde or direct – the potential for miscommunication is strong. But for that date, the station caused bedlam because it was election day in the U.S.

Astrologers were predicting chaos and, sure enough, at 7:49 p.m., NBC decided they had enough data from exit polls in Florida and Tom Brokaw called the state for Al Gore. With Florida’s 25 electoral votes, it meant he had won the election.

However, shortly after 10 p.m. – less than an hour after Mercury had turned direct – Brokaw backtracked and said that George W. Bush had won the state and the election. We all know what ensued after that – the endless dispute over the chads on Palm Beach County’s ballot and the eventual decision by the Supreme Court that Bush was the 43rd president of the U.S.

That’s how Mercury retro can work on a global scale. On a personal scale, the stakes can also be high, the experiences just as weird. Some years ago or so during a Mercury retro, a vitriolic battle ensued on our blog between a skeptic of the James Randi ilk and some people who had experienced encounters with aliens and UFOs. That exchange ended with us filing a report with the FBI.

Other Mercury retro stories – you get laid off, travel snafus, your book is rejected, a neighbor calls the cops on your dog – are also common.We’re happy to report, though, that other than a few delays with the roof, things went smoothly. So did the repairs on the inside of our house.

The next retro is in November. Fortunately, it doesn’t start until after the mid-term elections – November 17 to December 6.

 

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Trump Showdown…

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Trish and Rob

 

I see that PBS has a special tonight, Oct. 2, called Trump Showdown, a deep analysis of Trump’s rise. When I heard about it, I couldn’t help recalling the publicity last year  related to a 1950’s episode of a Western about the Texas Rangers called Trackdown that featured a con-man named Walter Trump who warned the townsfolk that the end of the world was coming and he is the only person who can save them by building a wall.

The episode so resonates in strange ways with the current scenario of politics that it seems as if the episode must have been altered to insert the name Trump as the con man. In other words, a con about a conman. But I’m glad to see that Snopes verified that the episode is in its original form and was not changed by CGS magic.

That makes it quite an incredible synchronicity. I’ve watched the entire episode a couple of times, and —spoiler alert—it end with Trump being arrested.

Vanity Fair in February 2017  published a related article entitled, This Television Show Predicted Donald Trump…in 1958.

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Connecting with Coincidence with Bernie Beitman

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Trish and Rob

On September 27, we spent an enjoyable hour talking with author and psychiatrist Bernie Beitman about synchronicity and spirit contact.

 

 

 

 

 

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Astrology’s Divination System

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Trish and Rob

 

Horary astrology is the divination part of the field. It’s the equivalent of asking a question and pulling tarot cards, tossing coins for an I Ching interpretation, reading the patterns of leaves in a teacup. At the moment a question is asked, a chart is erected – date, time, place. But there are particular rules that must be followed.

In the chart at the top of the post, I asked if a particular writing project would sell. The first step in interpretation is to look at the rising sign – that point to the far left of the circle, smack in the middle that looks like a ram’s horns. That’s Aries at 11degrees 30 minutes. Aries is ruled by Mars, so we have to look at where Mars falls in this chart – 10 house, at 1 degree and 52 minutes Aquarius. The 10th house is career. So this fits because the question concerns a career matter. Mars also represents me, the person asking the question.

Now we have to look at the very top of the chart, the line that divides the 9th and 10th houses. That’s called the Midheaven, the cusp of the 10th house. The sign there is Capricorn, ruled by Saturn. You’ll see Saturn’s symbol in the 9th house at 2 degrees and 40 minutes of Capricorn. The 9th house represents publishing. This also fits the question since I’m asking about the sale of a publishing project.

The moon in horary astrology represents the question. This one is in the 10th house, too, at 18 degrees 17 minutes Capricorn. Again it fits with the career question.

The next thing to look at is the angles these various planets make to each other. On the positive side, we’re looking for 60 or 120 degrees angles – sextiles or trines. On the negative side, 90 degrees or oppositions, 180 degrees.

Since the moon in Capricorn symbolizes the question, I now look for other planets close to or at 18 degrees of anything. And I see Jupiter in the 8th house at 19 degrees and 456 minutes of Scorpio. Jupiter symbolizes, among other things, publishing. The 8th house is other people’s money. The Capricorn moon forms a strong sextile to Jupiter and it’s applying – meaning it’s degrees are less than Jupiter’s, so it’s coming up to form a perfect 60 degree angle. Moon: 18 degrees and 17 minutes of Capricorn; Jupiter at 19 minutes and 56minutes of Scorpio.

All that is a plus in the YES column.

What are the other important planets in this chart doing? Well, Saturn (which rules the career question) is in house 9 at 2 degrees and 40 minutes of Capricorn and forms a sextile to Venus in the 7th house at 6 degrees and 1 minute of Scorpio. The 7th house is about partnerships, both business and personal, and Venus is about $, romance and love, beauty, and women. This angle tells me that a woman is most likely to buy this project. Saturn also forms a trine – 120 degrees – to Uranus at 1 degree and 52 minutes of Taurus in the first house (self, in this case, the book idea). Any time Uranus is involved in the equation, it suggests an unexpected and unforeseen element, a surprise.

So far, this looks positive for sale. But then I see that Mars at 1 degrees 52 minutes Aquarius is exactly square (90 degrees) to Uranus at 1 degrees and 52 minutes Taurus in the first house. Squares are challenging. If this project happens, there may be some unexpected hurdles to overcome.

So the answer seems to be YES, then MAYBE BECAUSE, then, well, one more look. Right next to the moon is Pluto at 18 degrees 47 minutes Capricorn, making these two conjunct. Pluto is about power, the absolute bottom line. The moon is about emotions, intuition, and both form a beneficial 60 degree angle to Jupiter in Scorpio in the 8th house, and Jupiter rules publishing.

I believe the answer to my question is yes, the project sells, but there may be glitches – initial rejections, perhaps, or caveats. Something. Now we’ll wait and see. I’ll report back. Stay tuned…

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Creativity and Real Life: a Head-on Collision

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Trish and Rob

This is one the strangest and most immediate incidents we’ve heard of where creativity and real life don’t just intersect, but have a head-on collision.

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In the 1970s, prolific comic book writer Doug Moench wrote and worked on Planet of the Apes for Marvel Comics. It was Marvel’s longest-lived series and featured original Ape stories as well as adaptations of the various movies. In 1975, it ran eleven issues that included color versions of the adaptation of the first two films, which Moench wrote.

On one particular day, Moench had just completed writing a scene for a Planet of the Apes comic book about a black-hooded gorilla named Brutus. In the scene, Brutus invaded the hero’s home, grabbed the man’s partner by the neck, and held a gun to her head so the hero would do what he demanded.

Just as Moench finished writing the scene, he heard his wife calling for him from the other side of the house. He thought her voice sounded strange. He hurried across the house and when he entered the living room, saw a man in a black hood with one arm around his wife’s neck and his other hand clutching a gun that he held to her head.

“It was exactly what I had written…it was so immediate in relation to the writing and such an exact duplicate of what I had written, that it became an instant altered state,” Moench told Jeffrey R. Kripal, who wrote about the incident in Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. Kripal’s book is filled with stories like this.

We initially felt this incident was precognitive, but it occurred so closely to when Moench was writing the scene that it’s more likely it was telepathic or clairvoyant – seeing events at a distance. The intruder, after all, had to find a way to enter the house, then get inside and seize Moench’s wife. Or, was the intruder already inside the house as he began writing the scene?

After the experience, Moench found it difficult to write. He was afraid that whatever he wrote might happen. “It really does make you wonder,” Moench said. “Are you seeing the future? Creating an alternate reality? Should you give up writing forever after something like this happens? I don’t know.”

Moench didn’t give up writing. But Kripal noted that the black-hooded figure became his obsession for months, then years.

This kind of experience isn’t uncommon when it comes to artistic expression and real life. It’s one example from our book in progress, Visions: A Thoughtful Guide to Paranormal Experiences.

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More 11s!

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Trish and Rob

Recently, we posted a piece on 11,111, and it precipitated emails from several people. I’m always curious about how these numbers play out in other people’s lives. Various meanings have been attributes to 11s – the number of angels, spirit contact, a sign that events are going to unfold. I don’t think there’s any one interpretation. The meaning seems to be as individual as each of us is.

Here’s Melissa’s experiences in a single day that started with seeing 11:11 as she headed out her front door.

9/16/2018
11:11 AM on my phone when checking the time on my way out the door.

I headed out of the house and while I was walking this man — he was black, tall, skinny but not sure if homeless or crazy or both, I couldn’t tell — smiled at me. So, I smiled back as you do. Then he lifted his hand making a gesture like a gun and fired it in my face. I just looked at him and he continued to smile and I walked away. He said nothing, I said nothing. He watched me because when I turned the corner I could see him in my periphery.

I got on the train and headed toward my destination, MoMa (the Museum of Modern Art) to renew my membership and see some art. I was going there specifically to see the 12:30 performance of ‘Yvonne Rainer: Early Dances 1961-1969’ but the trains were all be rerouted in weird ways, due to maintenance and construction. I swear that the particular re-routes were not on the MTA site when I checked before heading out. I was annoyed.

I basically got off a stop much farther away than I had wanted – 17 or 18 blocks, about a mile. I made it there in 15 minutes after speed-walking and having to stop at almost every crosswalk for the light, but I was able to renew my membership and snag a spot for the performance, so it worked out.

I studied Rainer’s film work in college. Her career began in minimalist dance and she incorporated film into her pieces, which eventually segued into film making. She was a frequent topic in my feminist film studies classes.

As I waited for the performance to begin, I noticed an older woman standing to my right, it was Yvonne Rainer!

This is significant to me because shortly after I graduated college, I was still living in Gainesville and Rainer came to UF’s Harn Museum for a screening of her film ‘MURDER and murder’ accompanied by a discussion and Q&A afterward. Of course, I attended and that evening, probably 18 or 19 years ago, I was seated in the back of the audience next to an older woman. At the time, I had no idea what Rainer looked like, having only seen her on the screen from the 60s and 70s, much younger. When the film ended, I exchanged pleasantries with this woman as one of my film professors gave an introduction. Then that same woman stood up and went to the podium. The woman on my right was Yvonne Rainer!

Yesterday, before the performance, we exchanged brief pleasantries once again, nothing too significant. And I should have asked for a quick photograph, but I didn’t.

And, after I shared this with you on text last night, I looked at my phone to check the time and it was 11:11 PM! Nice closure to the day.

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Full Moon in Aries

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Trish and Rob

 

On September 24, at 10:52 p.m. EDT, we’ve got a full moon in Aries. Full moons are generally times of harvest, culmination, news, illumination.

This one may have something of a bite to it, though. Saturn forms a challenging angle to it, suggesting trouble or confrontation with a boss, parent, or other authority figure. Avoid confrontation. Any news you hear may require some flexibility or adjustment.

Aries: The news you hear should be personally satisfying, but with the above caveat. This is the harvest time of the month and if you’ve laid the groundwork throughout the rest of the month, the payoff should occur on or around the time of this full moon.

Taurus: The full moon illuminates an issue or belief that you should deal with so you can move forward in your various endeavors. If you’ve held a grudge, resolve it. Pay close attention to your dreams.

Gemini: This full moon ramps up your social life. You and a group of friends or colleagues may do some brainstorming about a joint project. Your passions run fast ands furiously during this full moon.

Cancer: This full moon lights up your career area. There should be career news or news about someone with who you work. A project you’ve been working on is completed. Avoid confrontation with your boss.

Leo: Overall, this full moon should be a good one for you – if you can avoid disagreements. Aries is also a fire sign, so this one stirs your passions and thrust for independence. You may travel suddenly on or around the time of this full moon and because it falls in that area of your chart that rules foreign countries and travel, the trip could be overseas. Or, you hear news about a publishing project.

Virgo: This moon highlights your finances, in particular the resources you share with others – a roommate, partner, parent. If you’re trying to figure out how to make your money go farther, the news you hear may help that to happen. New client? A sale?

Libra: This moon brings culmination of some kind with a business or personal partner. You may decide to cut ties or to deepen your commitment. With both the sun and Mercury, the planet of communication, in your sign, there’s plenty of conversation about the direction in which the relationship is headed.

Scorpio: There may be news about a work-related project or about a job. You could be called back for a second interview or learn that you landed the job. Since Saturn forms a challenging angle to this full moon, it’s wise to carefully consider what the job entails before you commit to it.

Sagittarius: This moon shines a light on your love life, creative endeavors, and kids. There could be news connected to one or all of these areas. You may complete a creative project on or around the time of this full moon. Your passions are heightened.

Capricorn: Expect news about your family/home or, because Aries is involved, about some entrepreneurial venture in which you’re involved. You may feel more impulsive and impatient and that’s may lead to a discovery of something exciting and entirely new. A word of caution: don’t speed while driving.

Aquarius: News arrives about a sibling, neighbor, or friend. You finish up a project you’ve been working on and approach everything with a kind of fearlessness. With mars in your sign now, you’re physically energetic and ready to take on the world.

Pisces: This full moon lights up your financial area and could bring news about money. Perhaps it’s a new source of income or a raise or you’re paid the remainder of what you’re owed. With Neptune still in your sign and Jupiter forming a beneficial angle to it, or you land a raise, the news may seem too good to be true! Pay close attention to the details.

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Michael Moore’s 11/9

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Trish and Rob

Is there a synchro here? Well, maybe.

I can still recall when we went to see Fahrenheit 911, Michael Moore’s documentary on the Bush presidency, the biggest grossing documentary of all time – $222 million globally. At the end, I stood up and cheered. I remember that at the end of Sick-O about health care in this country, I also cheered. Now, I’m eager to see his take on the Trump presidency, a documentary that opens today, Fahrenheit 11/9.

When I first heard about the movie, the numbers struck me, 11/9 as the reverse of 911. I thought the 11/9 referred to the date of the 2016 election, which would be an intriguing numerical  synchro that connected to 9/11. But when I Googled it, the election in 2016 fell on the second Tuesday, 11/8, not quite the same thing. But Moore,  as adept as self-promotion as trump is, apparently selected 11/9 not only because of what the numbers are in reverse, but because it was the day after the election when we all understood that trump had won the electoral college and would be our next president.

In other words, what looks like a number synchronicity was manufactured. The synchro may actually lie deeper. Harvey and Bob Weinstein initially had control over the documentary and were blocking Moore from finding a theatrical distributor or broadcast outlet.

From Deadline Hollywood, in November 2017: “Sources said the brothers paid just north of $2 million out of the $6 million pledged in a docu deal Moore used to get the film to this point. That deal was made before TWC was hobbled by the testimonies of numerous women that painted Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual predator. Sources describe the crux of the dispute this way: the Weinsteins want their money back, while Moore and his WME reps want them to step aside, chalking the loss up to the price of scandal.”

Read the whole article. The synchro may lie in the behind the scenes machinations, when Michael Eisner of Disney had stood in the way of the Fahrenheit 9/11 release and then the Weinsteins  stood in the way of the 11/9 release. As the article says, “To Moore’s camp, cutting a check to the disgraced mogul would be wrong, morally, and their feeling is that Weinstein is ironically positioned similarly to where Eisner stood years ago, when the former Disney chairman stood in the way of the Fahrenheit 9/11 release.”

I’m still drilling down on this one. Synchronicities often appear in the global spotlight and I’m sure there are some glaring ones here, but I suspect they won’t be obvious until I see the movie. Stay tuned…

In the meantime, the trailer for Fahrenheit 11/9 is pure Michael Moore.

PS. We saw the movie this evening. It’s the most disturbing movie I’ ve ever seen. And after seeing it, Moore picked the right title. At 2:16 a.m. on 11/9, trump became the winner. I remember: I was still awake, watching.

 

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September 19 & #137

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Trish and Rob

 

On September 19, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill experienced an abduction that became one of the hallmarks of alien abductions in the 20th century.

What’s interesting about this date to me as an astrologer is that whenever I meet someone born on September 19, I take notice. Nancy Pickard, writer and friend since 1985, was the first person I’d met born on this date. At the time, I though it might be important, but didn’t know enough to figure out why. Nancy’s books have been enormously popular and a movie was made of her wonderful novel, The Scent of Rain and Lightning. Her books aren’t about aliens or anomalies or the strange stuff, but rather on the vagaries of the human heart, which obviously possess their own alien language.

Several years after Megan moved to Orlando, I did a chart for one of her close male friends, Ryan. Well, surprise, Ryan was also born on September 19. He’s as brilliant as Nancy is, but in a different way – with programming and computers rather than novels – and now works in San Francisco for a tech company, developing apps.

Two others people have come along since then, each with a particular skill or talent. This cluster has me wondering if there’s an archetypal energy to his date that ties back to the abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. Worldwide, there are probably millions of people born on this date. But I haven’t met millions. I have run across a cluster of 4 people with this birthdate. It’s the equivalent of meeting someone born on your own birthday, a synchronicity that speaks to an underlying archetypal energy.

The other thing I’m wondering concerns birth times. I’ve erected thousands of natal charts over the years, but have never encountered a 1:37 birth time. Maybe the odds are within norms, I don’t know. But I was struck by the birth time in a chart I recently did for a woman’s daughter.

We’ve written about this number before.  In quantum physics, it’s known as the DNA of light. For Nobel laureate Wolfgang Pauli, it was a riddle, a mystery, and ultimately, his nemesis.

For me, seeing 1:37 as the birth time suggests the individual is here to do something special, something that impacts others – the collective of humanity – in a major way. I feel this same thing when I do charts for people born at triple times – 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 etc. All of these numbers represent archetypes in the Jungian scheme of things and I probably need another few lifetimes to figure them out.

But if you know your time of birth and it’s 1:37 or any of those triple numbers like 1:11, 2:2 etc., let me know. Show me a picture of your birth certificate. In exchange, you’ll get a free natal chart interpretation.

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2 new novels

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Trish and Rob

Rob’s newest novel will be available October 16. It can be pre-ordered now from Amazon.

Trish’s newest novel will be released October 23. It can be pre-ordered now from Amazon.

The other day, someone asked me why we don’t write mysteries anymore. My response is that we do! It’s just that the nature of the mysteries has changed. Who did it and why is couched within the larger picture of what sort of reality matrix are we living inside of, anyway?

Tulpas. The word is borrowed from Tibetan mysticism, and is about how the dream world becomes the real world through the machinations of powerful dream beings.

Skin Shifter. An alien race realizes the best and easiest way to invade a planet is to seize the bodies of the inhabitants so you look like them. And they look like you.

Stay tuned. We’ll be posting the prologues  here  on the blog.

Thanks to David Dodd of Crossroad Press for the terrific covers and to David Wilson for his tireless scrutiny of details!

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