When I woke this morning, I had two bits of information that were featured in last night’s dream:
The term “extra merit”; and the flag of Mexico.
On their own, these bits don’t yield any direct meaning to me, but they do help me to remember the rest of the dream, which took place in a strange town in England. The timing was middle-to-late 1986, because of the ages of my girls, and the way my second wife looked. We were trying to order food from a take-out restaurant, after picking up an empty food tray from another restaurant. We couldn’t make up our minds, and while I tried to return the food tray to the previous establishment, Suzann decided she didn’t want to eat at this new place, so she and the girls left. I spent (seemingly) hours trying to track them down, only to realize that they were in the rear of the restaurant, behind some heavy curtains.
So what? When I heard the term ‘extra merit’, my brain added ‘al’ making it “extramarital”. Oh-ho, says I. Now I know what this is about. But the flag of Mexico is a blind for me. Maybe something is going to be news today, involving Mexico, or else that confusing take-out menu on the wall was Mexican.
At any rate, my advice is (if you can) to always try to remember your dreams, as they contain coded messages that will need reviewing later. And lucid dreams can mean that you are really there in spirit.
Maybe this is a stretch, but I see a symbolic representation of Gnosis in this childhood game.
Directions
This game requires four or more players and a large, open area of unspoiled snow.
Stomp a big circle in the snow and two intersecting paths through the middle of the circle. Where the paths meet, stomp out a small safe zone. The figure should look like a circle with an x in it, with a stomped-out circle in the center. Choose one person to be the fox; all other players are geese. The fox chases the geese and tries to tag one of them. All players must run only on the paths, and geese can’t be tagged when they’re standing in the safe zone. As soon as the fox catches a goose, that goose becomes the new fox.
When we were children in the 1950’s, the circle had at least six radii, and it was an exhilarating game, with lots of running around. The following video shows how it works.
The Circle as Spiritual Initiation
The radii, representing individual psyches, terminate at the circumference in individual bodies. But at the centre is a shared essence. When we look outwards to the psyche-body we each appear separate, but actually our centre is the centre. As Plotinus teaches, if we ‘hold through our centre to that centre of all centres’, we will discover that our consciousness is the one Consciousness of God.
Jesus and the Lost Goddess (page 64)
See what I mean?
Plotinus explains: ‘All beings may be thought of as centres uniting at one central centre. The centres appear as numerous as the lines starting from them, and yet all those centres constitute a unity. Thus we may liken conscious being in their diversity to many centres coinciding with one centre. They are all one because they share the same centre, but appear to be many because of the many radial lines which lead from the centre.’
Ibid (page 65)
A Personal Illustration of This Oneness
In the past couple of days, I was discussing the life and death of Sharon Tate in regards to reincarnation. My point was that she may have come back after her horrific murder as literally thousands of people. In my work here, I’ve had a least two people who remember a past life as Sharon. I mentioned this in an email. Overnight, I got an email response from one of those women, describing more about her feelings (and fears, if I’m being honest). This seems to be a pattern that has happened previously with the reincarnated MM. I call it a ‘trick of the Universe’, but now I’m thinking that the synchronicity is ‘proof’ that I’m getting closer and closer to the centre: Cosmic Consciousness.
If we go back to the game of Fox and Geese, the symbolism becomes quite clear. The Fox is the psychic Bogeyman; the Geese are ordinary folks; and the Safety Zone in the exact centre is where we realize that we are safe from death and destruction. We were never born and we will never die. We are eternal.
This Crop Circle Started Me on the Inward Path to the Centre
Rune symbols
And One More Thought
I am not there yet.
But I appreciate that the term Gnostic Christian is becoming more applicable every day.
The column up the middle is the way I’m approaching the Centre (via 6 Beauty)
H.L. Hunt Jr (February 17, 1889 – November 29, 1974)
1965
It’s meant as a joke, my post title. This man is supposedly the model for J.R. Ewing on Dallas.
He even looks a bit like Larry Hagman, doesn’t he?
This chart is built on a speculative time of birth, 12:26:40 AM CST. The Scorpio Rising with Neptune and Pluto conjunct in the 7th House is significant for Hunt’s uncanny ability to make money at whatever he put his hand to. There are three inconjuncts, two of which involve Neptune/Pluto and Jupiter in the 2nd House. The third connects the Moon and Venus. Hmm.
Moon Inconjunct Venus
You need to be loved, even more than most people, particularly by your mother or another woman who takes the place of your mother. This need for love will be the force behind many of your actions. If you don’t find the love you are looking for, you will develop an insecure hunger for love from everyone you meet. However, you may express this in very strange ways, such as a desire for food, especially sweets, which unconsciously represent love to you.
There is also the danger that if you spend so much time and effort trying to get what you need, you will not be able to give love to others. Thus this aspect can mean that you indulge yourself and expect others to do everything for you. Of course, if people think that you are looking at things this way, they will not be inclined to help you. That will drive you to seek love even more and make the pattern even stronger.
While still married to Lyda, H. L. Hunt is said to have married Frania Tye of Tampa, Florida, in November 1925 by using the name Franklin Hunt. Frania claimed to have discovered the bigamous nature of her marriage in 1934, and in a legal settlement in 1941, Hunt created trust funds for each of their four children, and she signed a document stipulating that no legal marriage between them had ever existed.
You are an idealist with very vivid dreams about how you want your life to be, and at certain times in your life you will follow those dreams with all your energy. But sometimes these idealistic dreams will let you down, because you are not concerned enough with what is real and possible.
Probably you should not gamble or take excessive risks at any time in your life. Your dreams in this area also will probably go far beyond reality, and you will take chances that can’t possibly be realized.
Jupiter Inconjunct Pluto
You have a great deal of creative power, and the major challenge of your life will be learning how to handle it. First of all, you must realize that you will get the most out of life if you direct your energies toward helping the people around you and those you love. You will want to change many conditions in the world, which is fine as long as your reasons are not purely selfish ones.
You may have a natural talent for dominating others, but don’t fall in love with this talent and be motivated by it. You can be effective at influencing people only if you use your power to help others and yourself achieve desirable goals together. You must be an agent for betterment at all times, and even so you must listen to others’ ideas about betterment to be sure that you aren’t just seeking power in a more roundabout manner.
Even at best you will get a certain amount of resistance from others, because they will feel your energy and be afraid of your motives. Unless you show them that your motives are good and that you can be reasoned with, you will run into opponents who are more powerful than you, who will stop you and make your efforts futile.
(This really does sound like J.R., doesn’t it?)
Hunt’s Death was Four Years Before Dallas
I set the clock for 12:00 noon on the day of Hunt’s death. There are two inconjuncts: the one between Jupiter and Pluto means that he really didn’t learn his life lesson about power and manipulation. The ‘new’ one is between Saturn and the Ascendant, which implies that is might not actually exist.
It is only when you compare the two charts together that an interesting dynamic appears.
That’s quite the stellium of Sagittarius energies in his natal 1st House. And the ‘fatal’ Mars transiting his natal Ascendant is why I wrote the jokey title of this piece. His natal North Node is conjunct his ‘fatal’ Saturn, And the ‘fatal’ South Node conjunct the Moon in Gemini is transiting his natal Part of Fortune @ 10°. I can only presume that his next life will be more difficult.
A scandal emerged in 1975, after his death, when it was discovered that he had a hidden bigamous relationship, with his second wife living in New York.
Ibid
Despite this unassuming demeanor, Hunt was often overheard introducing himself to strangers by proclaiming: “Hello, I am H. L. Hunt, the world’s richest man….”
This film was suggested by a family member. We watched it on Netflix, last night. Personally, I got a lot of insight into the world of schizophrenia that I have only imagined up until now. This is brilliant.
The diyd diyd* that I’ve embedded into the title of this post is an acknowledgement of the problem an individual has when treating one’s condition with prescription medicine. Without the meds, the patient suffers from hallucinations, in this case both visual and audible. Adam can usually only cope by cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He wants to be a chef, someday, but that seems improbable once he’s diagnosed with schizophrenia. So he starts a course of treatment using a new drug. The noises diminish, the visions disappear, and for the first time in his life, he wakes up to peace and quiet, quite literally.
But here’s the rub: the pills are making him experience motor tremors in his hands and legs, and his natural talent for cooking with the correct balance of spices is impaired, so he decides to stop taking the drugs, but he forgets to tell anyone else (except his psychiatrist, you the viewer). He is suspended from school on the day of the school prom, but goes anyway, resulting in a full blown psychotic episode and he is rushed to hospital and strapped in a bed (for his own safety and for others’ peace of mind).
He’s been having some difficulties at home because his mother, who was always his safety net, is now living with a new man, and expecting a new baby. Adam doesn’t like his step-father. So, home is unsafe.
Throughout the film, he is accompanied by the visions of Rebecca (new age hippie), Joaquin (the best friend) and “The Bodyguard”, as well as a deep threatening voice.
His three psychic companions are there to help him survive. Rebecca is like a love guru, telling Adam how to woo Maya, his love interest. Joaquin is the perennial slacker who always advises Adam to take a chance at life. And the Bodyguard protects and warns Adam to get ‘outta here right now’ if things start to blow up. In reality, they may be projections of different sides to his personality, but sometimes their help is a hindrance, and Adam has to tell them all to be quiet because he needs to think.
The Voice is another matter completely. It undermines his confidence, constantly. This manifestation is the absent father’s voice in his head. When seen it is a dark rolling mist of bad spiritual vibration.
Adam’s mental health is constantly under attack. But it’s bad enough to hear threatening words: to actually see them written out on bathroom walls must be (literally) maddening. Such are the effects of schizophrenia.
Conclusion
In reality, we cannot truly know how it feels for someone else in their life until we walk a mile in their moccasins. This film gets us as close as possible to what it must be like for a teenager suffering from schizophrenia. Other ‘adult’ films have tried to show the same thing, to a lesser degree: The Number 23; Memento; and even that old black and white classic, The Snake Pit. But, in my opinion, they never got to the heart of the story: it’s a lonely world that the schizophrenic inhabits. We should remember that.
And the point that Adam makes during his graduation speech is so true: when a child is dying from cancer, everybody wants to rush to grant their last wish; but a child with schizophrenia is shunned.
On this day in 1860: The Pony Express mail service makes its first run between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.
This mail service only lasted 18 months, but it lives on as a memory of the Old West, no doubt perpetuated by thousands of westerns. I’m curious about what its ‘event’ chart looks like.
April 3, 1860 was a Tuesday. That is why I have chosen 7:15 PM as the time, although the July 1, 1861 poster shows Wednesday and Saturday @ 11:00 PM as setting off times, while suggesting these are new times. I’m sticking with the way I originally raised the chart (and it is confirmed on Wikipedia):
St. Joseph Mayor M. Jeff Thompson, William H. Russell, and Alexander Majors gave speeches before the mochila was handed off. The ride began at about 7:15 pm. The St. Joseph Gazette was the only newspaper included in the bag.
So, with the accuracy of the timing confirmed, here are the inconjuncts that show up: one Yod pointing at the Ascendant; and one inconjunct between Mars and Uranus.
Venus Inconjunct Ascendant
You should realize that others will respect you if you stand up for yourself and ask for a reasonable return in a relationship. If you constantly seem to be apologizing for who and what you are, people begin to wonder if they have overlooked something that is wrong with you, and they begin to lose confidence in you. Thus you may bring about the criticism that you are afraid of. You are as good and as worthy of being loved as anyone. Be yourself with others, and many people will love you.
Neptune Inconjunct Ascendant
This aspect can be a sign that you feel you must give way to others in order to get along with them. This can take two forms, both of which will be difficult to handle while you are young. The less positive form is simply yielding to all outside pressure and always giving in to others’ desires. This will produce unconscious feelings of resentment that you can’t express, but that make your relationships with others rather difficult.
But the other, more positive, way of dealing with this energy is by giving freely before others try to take it from you. In the highest expression of this aspect, what you gain for yourself will not mean as much as what you gain for others, which is the effect you should work for.
Mars Inconjunct Uranus
You have a tendency to be rash and impulsive, which may get in your way. If matters proceed too slowly, you are likely to make a sudden move that upsets the whole situation and forces you to start over again. You must learn to be patient if you want to achieve your objectives.
The energy may also be expressed as a hot temper, especially when you have to endure restriction or limitation. You have a rebellious streak that needs to be disciplined, because everyone has to endure some restrictions, and it takes so little to trigger your temper.
We’ve come a long way in 162 years. Overseas airmail takes about the same 10 days, but email allows us to deliver our message in about 10 seconds. Now that the real Pony Express!
On Thursday, Ian, from our Faith and Science group, sent us all a link to a Goodreads post about this book. I recognized the title instantly, since it has been sitting in my library, unread, for a couple of years. I started reading it yesterday. Oh, boy…
Over the years, I’ve shared with you on these pages that I am a Gnostic Christian. That puts me in a very precarious position. Either Jesus is a real person, or he’s not. So, the question is, can I have it both ways?
Blurb from the Back Cover:
Why were the teachings of the original Christians brutally suppressed by the Roman Church?
* Because they portray Jesus and Mary Magdelene as mythic figures based on the Pagan Godman and Goddess
* Because they show that the gospel story is a spiritual allegory encapsulating a profound philosophy that leads to mythical enlightenment
* Because they have the power to turn the world inside out and transform life into an exploration of consciousness
Drawing on modern scholarship, the authors of the international bestseller The Jesus Mysteries decode the secret teachings of the original Christians for the first time in almost two millennia and theorize about who the original Christians really were and what they actually taught. In addition, the book explores the many myths about Jesus and the Goddess and unlocks the lost secret teachings of Christian mysticism, which promise happiness and immortality to those who attain the state of Gnosis, or enlightenment. This daring and controversial book recovers the ancient wisdom of the original Christians and demonstrates its relevance to us today.
Jesus and the Lost Goddess
One Small Illustration
At the bottom of page 15
I’ve written about the initiations before in the context of “The Star of Bethlehem”. Perhaps, I knew more at the time of my book manuscript’s writing in 1996 than I was consciously aware of. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Moses (and Joshua) in Exodus are being ‘echoed’ in the New Testament Gospels as Jeshua (Jesus).
In Hebrew the name Joshua/Jesus is written with the letters Yod Heh Shin Vah Heh. The letters Yod Heh Vah Heh, known as the Tetragrammaton, were extremely significant to Jewish Gnostics, as they were used to signify the unpronounceable name of God, usually rendered today with added vowels as either Jehovah or Yahweh. As Philo explains, when the middle letter Shin, known as the Holy Letter, is added, the name means ‘Saviour of the Lord’.
Ibid (page 14)
The basic structure of the Exodus allegory, representing the fundamental stages of Gnostic initiation, is the framework upon which the Jesus myth was constructed. The first stage of initiation is one of purification and struggle. In the Exodus myth this is the crossing of the Red Sea, which inaugurates 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. In the Jesus story, this stage is represented by Jesus’ baptism, followed by his 40 days in the wilderness. The nest stage in the process of initiation is the ‘death’ of the old self which precipitates Gnosis. This is represented in the Exodus myth by the death of Moses and in the Jesus myth by the death of Jesus on the cross. The experience of Gnosis is represented in Exodus by Jesus [Joshua] crossing to the Promised Land and in the New Testament by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension to Heaven.
On a whim, we watched this film on Netflix last night. In some ways, I wish we hadn’t. It makes depressing viewing, but it is informative as to how to take on a manufacturing giant with a class-action lawsuit.
Plot
Robert Bilott is a corporate defense lawyer from Cincinnati, Ohio working for law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Farmer Wilbur Tennant, who knows Robert’s grandmother, asks Robert to investigate a number of unexplained animal deaths in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Tennant connects the deaths to the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont, and gives Robert a large case of videotapes.
Robert visits the Tennants’ farm, where he learns that 190 cows have died with unusual medical conditions such as bloated organs, blackened teeth, and tumors. DuPont attorney Phil Donnelly tells him he is not aware of the case but will help out in any way he can. Robert files a small suit so he can gain information through legal discovery of the chemicals dumped on the site. When he finds nothing useful in the EPA report, he realizes the chemicals might not be regulated by the EPA.
Robert confronts Phil at an industry event, leading to an angry exchange. DuPont sends Robert hundreds of boxes, hoping to bury the evidence. Robert finds numerous references to PFOA, a chemical with no references in any medical textbook. He then discovers that PFOA is perfluorooctanoic acid, used to manufacture Teflon, used in American homes for nonstick frying pans and carpet flooring. DuPont has been running tests of the effect of PFOA for decades, finding that it causes cancer and birth defects, but did not make the findings public. They dumped thousands of tons of toxic sludge in a landfill next to Tennant’s farm. PFOA and similar compounds are forever chemicals, chemicals that do not leave the blood stream and slowly accumulate.
Tennant has been shunned by his local community for suing their biggest employer. Robert encourages him to accept DuPont’s settlement, but he refuses, wanting justice. He and his wife both have cancer. Robert sends the DuPont evidence to the EPA and United States Department of Justice, among others. The EPA fines DuPont $16.5 million.
Robert, however, is not satisfied; he realizes the residents of Parkersburg will suffer the effects of the PFOA for the rest of their lives. He seeks medical monitoring for all residents of Parkersburg in one large class-action lawsuit. However, DuPont sends a letter notifying residents of the presence of PFOA, thus starting the statute of limitations running, giving any further legal action only a month to begin.
Since PFOA is not regulated, Robert’s team argues that the corporation is liable, as the amount in the water was higher than the one part per billion deemed safe by DuPont’s internal documents. In court, DuPont claims that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has found that 150 parts per billion is safe. The locals protest and the story becomes national news. DuPont agrees to settle for benefits valued at over $300 million. As DuPont is only required to carry out medical monitoring if scientists prove that PFOA causes the ailments, an independent scientific review is set up. To get data for it, Robert’s team tells locals they can get their settlement money after donating blood. Nearly 70,000 people donate to the study.
Seven years pass with no result from the study. Tennant dies and Robert becomes destitute following several pay cuts, straining his marriage. When Supervising Partner Tom Terp tells him he needs to take another pay cut, Robert collapses, shaking. Doctors tell Sarah he suffered an ischemia, brought on by stress. She tells Tom to stop making Robert feel like a failure, since he is doing something for people who need help.
The scientific panel contacts Robert and tells him that PFOA has been linked to two cancers and four other diseases. At dinner with his family, he is informed that DuPont is reneging on the entire agreement. Robert has to take each defendant’s case to DuPont, one at a time. He wins the first three cases with multimillion-dollar settlements, and DuPont settles the remaining more than 3,500 disease cases for $671 million.
The use of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” at the beginning was inspired. It made me stay with the film. The song is the best bit.
So, the warning is this: if you had a Teflon frying pan in the 1980’s, you may have been been poisoned, too. Such was the corporate greed of an American icon that it didn’t admit to anything until it finally came unstuck.
Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875)
1869
Today is his 217th birthday. And I never thought to do his birth and death charts before. Silly me.
This time is based on his birth certificate, so it is considered ‘excellent’. When I initially raised his birth chart, the randomization showed a Yod pointing at Saturn from Pluto and the Moon. At 1 am, the inconjunct to the Moon is missing, but only by a very short measure (1°). Perhaps a slightly later time would have yielded the same thing. However, I am not going to contradict the Danish authorities, am I?
Venus Inconjunct Midheaven
You have a strong need to be loved and to love others as well, but this may create some problems in your life. You are afraid that if you appear to others as you really are, they won’t accept you. This problem can be corrected only by the most careful upbringing, such that your parents correct your behavior in ways that help you feel self-confident rather than undeserving and unworthy.
Saturn Inconjunct Pluto
Even under favorable circumstances, this aspect usually means that you are resistant to change, that you hold on to any situation, no matter how bad, until it is totally intolerable. Then when change does take place, it has to create a revolution and a total breakdown of everything that came before it. You must learn to adapt to circumstances a bit more gracefully and not be afraid of occasional compromise.
This aspect usually does mean that you are tough and can contend with a great deal of adversity, but don’t develop an attitude that makes adversity inevitable.
You may find it difficult to get along with others, because you are unnecessarily afraid of what they want from you. Learn to associate only with people whom you can trust.
The Ugly Duckling (a self-portrait)
When the story begins, a mother duck’s eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the other birds and animals on the farm as an ugly little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from them. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen tease and taunt him mercilessly, and once again he sets off alone.
The duckling sees a flock of migrating wild swans. He is delighted and excited, but he cannot join them, for he is too young, too ugly, and he cannot fly. Winter arrives. A farmer finds and carries the freezing little duckling home, but the foundling is frightened by the farmer’s noisy children and flees the house. He spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over. When spring arrives, a flock of swans descends on the lake.
The ugly duckling, now having fully grown and matured, is unable to endure a life of solitude and hardship any more and decides to throw himself at the flock of swans deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been not a duckling, but a swan all this time. The flock takes to the air, and the now beautiful swan spreads his gorgeous large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family.
This is the first time in many a year that I’ve seen a triple interactive Yod in a chart. Starting with Saturn (what else?) the inconjuncts point to Mercury, back to Mars, over to Pluto and then back to Jupiter (conjunct the Ascendant @ 28° Libra). That’s the full journey of Ugly Duckling to Literary Swan…
If you’ve been reading my posts for the past seven years or so, this man will need no introduction.
This video is a tad long, but worthwhile watching if you wish to understand where he is coming from.
This timing of his chart is considered ‘good’. When I originally raised it, last year, I randomized it. Now, I see that that randomization may have created a ‘false’ Yod, so I’m sticking with this ‘new’ time.
There are two inconjuncts.
Sun Inconjunct Saturn
You will have to learn the difference between having self-control and discipline, on the one hand, and totally denying yourself any self-expression, on the other. This aspect can mean that you feel extremely unworthy, which undermines your self-confidence and makes it hard to face obstacles in life with confidence and determination.
You may even feel that persons, forces or circumstances are conspiring to prevent you from doing what you want. You may be limited by fear or by the belief that you don’t deserve to get what you want. With this aspect there is a danger that your frustrated energies will turn into physical ailments that further limit your freedom of action.
Mercury Inconjunct Mars
You often find it difficult to separate yourself from what you believe. You fight very hard for your ideas, even when you suspect you are wrong. You must learn that you are not your ideas, that you have them but are not them. If you do not learn this, it will be difficult even to have a friendly talk with friends, because you are always trying to make a point, defend your opinion or prove somebody else wrong. It also makes you irritable and touchy, so that others prefer not to be around you. Of course, you should not give in about something you seriously believe in, but it is unlikely that you would make that mistake.
(Ah, now I understand.)
* a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles.
