Good bye, Banko

Banko was an internet friend that I met online, and we shared interests in Astrology and in Carl Jung's theories, so we connected. I was stunned and greatly saddened to hear that Banko died on Christmas night, from injuries he received when his house burned down due to an electrical fire in the wall of his house - the house burned down to the ground in an hour.

Since Banko was so open about much of his life and was a sage and a teacher - I don't think he would mind if I posted and discussed how the transiting planets impacted his natal chart.




When I studied the chart, I noticed that the Uranus in Pisces/Saturn in Virgo opposition that has been impacting us all was now in a T-square with the Moon in Sagittarius, forming a T-Square. A T-Square is a closed negative aspect formation - with 2 planets in opposition to each other and both planets are square to a third. This usually denotes drama - especially with the emotional Moon involved.

We all have been dealing with the opposition of Uranus, the planet of abrupt and radical changes, striving for balance against Saturn, the Karmic Task-Master. Uranus also rules electricity - and the Ancients have named Saturn the Great Malific - due to it's association with death. So we have the balancing act of the two heavy weights (long term changes since these are outer planets) - Uranus & Saturn - and we get an intense short burst of negative emotional energy from the fast moving moon. Yep, drama for sure.

Now we see how this interacts with Banko's natal chart. His natal Uranus is also square the transiting Uranus/Saturn - meaning his Uranus makes this now a Grand Square for him - and this is a most powerful negative closed aspect formation. He had Uranus square Uranus - a lot of negative electrical energy. Interestingly, he had Hygenia conjunct his natal Uranus - and Hygenia represent health issues. Also - Saturn is associated with structures - like houses. And the Moon was in a fire sign as well.

In addition to this Grand Square - transiting Mars was conjunct with Pluto & the Sun - a powerful, transformational energy. Mars is associated with violence, and Pluto is associated with transformations - including from life to death. These three plantets were conjuct Banko's moon - he was having powerful emotions...

One very nice thing to point out - transiting Venus was conjunct his Natal Venus in Aquarius.

Banko found his joy - his Sofia.

Zen thought

Listen,
all creeping things -
the bell of transience.

~ Issa

I always like these smell articles

Love skews your sense of smell



I smell - ROSES...

When you're in love, everything seems different – and that includes your sense of smell. Women who are deeply in love struggle to recognise the body odour of male friends, but their ability to distinguish their partner's smell is unaffected.

Body odours are known to play a role in human sexual attraction. But how does falling in love affect our perception and processing of these smells?

To find out, Johan Lundström and Marilyn Jones-Gotman of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, asked a group of 20 young women with boyfriends to fill in a Passionate Love Scale questionnaire (pdf format) to determine just how much in love they were. Meanwhile, the women's partners and male and female friends slept for a seven nights in a cotton T-shirt with pads sewn into the underarms to soak up their sweat.

In a series of trials, each woman was asked to pick out their lover's or a friend's T-shirt from three garments, two of which had been worn by strangers. The women's scores on the Passionate Love Scale made no difference to their ability to recognise a lover's shirt, or that worn by a female friend. But those who were more deeply in love were less good at distinguishing a male friend's odour from those of strangers.

The deflection theory
This backs a theory of romantic attraction known as "deflection", which argues that being in love with someone entails a reduction in the amount of attention we give to other potential suitors.

But different mechanisms may be at play with the other senses. Previous brain imaging work has suggested lovers do focus more attention on each other, judging from their reactions to pictures of each other as opposed to those of friends of the opposite sex.

Lundström, now at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, next plans to investigate what happens in lovers' brains as they perceive the odours of their partners, friends and strangers. "I'm not really a love guru," he admits. "The main focus of the project is to look at how the brain processes odours."

"It's an interesting starting point for more work," agrees Claus Wedekind of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, who ran a pioneering study of body odour and human attraction back in 1995.

Journal reference: Hormones and Behavior (DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.11.009)

The Feast of the Epithany - my favorite

“Epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning…” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary). The word stems from Greek for "to manifest" or "to show". So the Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the the revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ - and the Magi were the ones who through their knowledge of the stars realized that the signs in the sky pointed to the birth of a Divine King.

In the gospels, the story of the Magi is found only in Matthew, ch 2:

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."

Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem, the place which the priests said had been predicted by the prophet:

"and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary the mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way."

The Magi - or Astrologers

From the Jewish historian Josephus, the Greek historian Herodotus, and the writings of Strabo, a picture of the people called the magi appears. The magi first appear in history in about the 7th century B.C. in the Median empire (Herodotus I, ci). At the time of the birth of Jesus they were an ancient priestly caste dwelling within the Parthian empire that practiced astrology. They were adept at interpreting dreams. Also at the time just prior to the birth of our Lord, the magi formed the upper house of the council of the Megistanes, whose duties included the election of the king of the Parthian empire (Strabo, XI, ix, 3). Thus, the magi at this time were very possibly "king makers." (Sources: D. W. Jayne, "Magi," The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 4:31-34; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War; Herodotus, The History of Herodotus; A. Holmstead, History of the Persian Empire).

Magi were priests, serving an ancient priesthood, astrologers, interpreters of dreams, and government officials who had the authority to elect the Parthian king. They were 'king-makers' but not kings. In the context of the times, because they served these roles and had such amazing knowledge of mysteries as these, they were considered to be the scholars or 'Wise Men' of the day.

This is a day to look to our inner 'wise man' and seek our own epithany - and astrology can help!

Contentment

Health or reputation: which is held dearer?
Health or possessions: which has more worth?
Profit or loss: which is more troublesome?

Great love incurs great expense,
And great riches incur great fear,
But contentment comes at no cost;
Who knows when to stop
Does not continue into danger,
And so may long endure.

~ TAO TE CHING - Chapter 44

Happy New Year!

Hope 2009 is full of peace, prosperity, health & happiness for you - it WILL be full of life-changing transformations!

Molly's Astrology has put out some good astro-predictions for the month - but look what she says about Jupiter entering Aquarius (Jan. 5th):

The planet Jupiter enters the sign Aquarius on January 5, 2009, where he will stay until he enters Pisces in January 2010. Jupiter’s last journey through Aquarius was January 1997 – February 1998. Before that, February 1985 – February 1986, February 1973 – March 1974, March 1961 – March 1962. If you can find a common thread of similar events, you may be able to anticipate the kinds of energies you will be dealing with this time around. Of course, there are many other planets in the sky, many other factors to consider that are different now than in these other times.

Jupiter indicates where in your life growth is taking place. Jupiter is larger than life, optimistic, loves adventure and risk. He can be an accomplished gambler, weighing risk against reward, or a foolish spendthrift who presses his luck and loses it all at the track. Jupiter shows an urge to grow, adventure and expand your horizons. Sagittarius and Pisces natives are likely to respond very strongly, and likely very positively, to Jupiter’s movement into this new sign.

When Jupiter enters Aquarius, he is also coming out of Capricorn, a sign where his larger than life energy has to work within strict boundaries and rules. Now that we have firmly planted our moorings, we can use the traditions of the past as a springboard to jump forward into the future. Aquarius is a sign of freedom, reform, and innovation. Visionary and forward looking. This represents a spirit of reform that is hopeful and sociable, instilling a sense of social justice and fellowship. It benefits groups and communities, especially those with a humanitarian bent....If we think of Jupiter as growth, then we can predict that those areas of industry associated with Aquarius are due for a growth spurt. Those industries are technology, aeronautics, astrology, automobile manufacturers, energy (especially alternative energy), broadcasting, science and scientific research.

And Aquarius is also associated with music...