The Link Between Me and the First Century: Henry II
The difficulty in tracking down past-life connections is one’s unwillingness to accept unpalatable truths. That is why I have been reluctant to see myself as Pontius Pilate. Somehow, I couldn’t believe that I would have been the one to crucify Jesus. But, then, I tried Cornelius on for size, and he didn’t fit me, either. Finally, out of desperation, I turned to Saint Andrew. Nice idea, if it were true. However, I knew in my heart I hadn’t been an apostle, or a saint, for that matter. I had been a Roman soldier, that I knew.
What strikes me as significant is Vespasian‘s conquest of the South West of England. It may actually be this part of my history that caused me to return to this area in 1986.
So, can I actually be the reincarnation of Vespasian? I will need to show you the triple combination of birth charts to let you see for yourself.
In very simple terms, my natal Mars and Neptune are echoed in both charts: first of all with Henry’s Uranus and Neptune; and then with Vespasian’s Saturn and Pluto. All other links are secondary and subjective (like, my natal Uranus, conjunct Henry’s Ascendant and Vespasian’s North Node in Cancer). And as I’ve said many times before: does any of this really matter? The answer to that question is ‘no’.
Saturn in my birth chart is indicative of a life that began in or around 10 AD. Vespasian’s Part of Fortune is conjunct this planet at 18 degrees Virgo. That’s a direct hit, for me. My Roman Governor turns out to actually be a Roman Emperor. Who knew?
So, my search for a life in 1st Century Jerusalem is at an end. I’m going to let it rest now.
Yesterday’s proceedings in the Senate at the Capitol Building made for some very uncomfortable viewing. The videos, and police radio calls, were upsetting. It’s one thing to experience an insurrection from one’s personal point-of-view, quite another to see it set out as a time line of events. It’s a wonder more people weren’t killed on January 6th.
However, I have some sympathy with Republicans in this matter. Their party chose Trump as their Presidential candidate in 2016. I don’t think they really knew who they were dealing with. And now that it’s all over, bar the shouting, they want to move on.
Now, I’m going to suggest something that most people will think of as strange: the only thing Trump is guilty of is being himself. That’s it. A leopard can’t change his spots, and the Donald was doing what he’s always done: ‘negotiate the deal’. Coercion of Republican political leaders with the noise of a rowdy crowd of supporters was his only intention. But not stopping them when their behaviour became violent and deadly was the sin of omission, not commission. He was so focused on overturning the election results, he didn’t see what he was really doing: inciting an insurrection.
So, will he be found guilty?I doubt it. The Republican Party is hoping to sweep this crap out the door and down the street. “It’s over and done with.” No collusion here, then…
Besides Trump’s already out of sight on the horizon and a new day has dawned.
I was reading a story of a young First Nations boy who went out on a vision quest (a time-honoured rite of passage into adulthood). He had been told that he would meet seven totem creatures who would teach him about life. (Nothing new there, for me.)
One of the creatures was Sabe (okay, that got my attention): we now know this creature as Bigfoot. (A-ha, says I.) If kemo means ‘friend’, then Tonto was calling the Lone Ranger his big hairy beast companion. So, Jay Silverheels was right when he hinted that the word meant idiot. So, now we know for sure.
Robert Dempster Pretty (September 7, 1930 – June 14, 1988)
Oil painting on canvas, Robert Pretty as a boy. Cor Visser. Companion to portrait of his mother Mrs Edith Pretty.
Robert is not a public figure, but his story is intrinsic to the Netflix film. His birth chart has been rectified to reflect losing his father at 4 years (Saturn) and his mother at 12 (Moon). Usually, these details are not so easily shown in a birth chart, hence my unstated question: Before he died in 1988, did Robert have his birth chart done?
As you can see, there are three inconjuncts:
Sun Inconjunct Uranus
There is a side of your personality that is very restless and impatient with rules, even when you know they are for your own good. You want very much to go your own way and do your own hing, even when you aren’t entirely sure that it is the right direction for you. So you rebel in subtle ways by having sudden fits of obstinacy and moods of feeling very contrary, especially to your parents or other authority figures.
Sometimes the energy of this aspect comes out in other ways as well. At times sudden upsets may occur in your life that totally alter your plans, so that you have to change course entirely. When this happens, you must learn to yield to the pressure and flow with the change. It may be difficult for you to realize it, but such an upset occurs because you have blocked much-needed changes in your life, or they have been denied you. However upsetting these changes are at first, they will give you the freedom you need to grow as an individual. Unfortunately, if you always wait for changes to come in this manner, they are likely to be very startling and unsettling. If you learn to assert your individuality more directly, the changes will not seem so upsetting.
Moon Inconjunct Mercury
As you grow older, you will have to learn o make your feelings and your reason work together. The problem is not so much that they come into conflict withe each others, but that your reason and feelings represent to very different sides of your personality. When you are calm and collected and able to reflect carefully, you make decisions in one way. But when you are emotionally involved in a situation, you are likely to make up your mind very differently, which could cause you to seem inconsistent to others and make it difficult for them to understand you.
For the same reasons, it may be hard for you to put your feelings into words, because your emotions are so different from your intellect. Of course, there is nothing really strange about your feelings, but that part of your mind is quite different from he reasoning part. In fact it would be very unfortunate if you decided to listen only to your reason, because your intuition and imagination. both of which are more related to the Moon, can be of great assistance to you. They can tell you much about the world that your reasoning mind cannot.
Moon Inconjunct Ascendant
You tend to put your own emotional needs and wants second to whatever you feel has to be done. In other words, you are likely to be more disciplined emotionally than most people your age. But this is not good if you feel that your emotional needs are not important. Your needs must be fulfilled as much as anyone else’s, particularly because your feelings are really very powerful within yourself.
This aspect also ties together in you a Moon sign and a rising sign that are very different. this indicates that the image you project to other people does not reveal very much about your real feelings. When you are upset, you surprise people by showing a totally different side of your personality. If you read the descriptions of your Ascendant sign and your Moon sign, you will see the differences between these two aspects of yourself.
There are very few glimpses of the young actor who played Robert as a 9-year-old in this film, but the script covers two important elements of his story: his upset at being unable to change the course of his mother’s illness; and his foresight into space being a future frontier for mankind. It is said that he followed the stars, both astronomically and astrologically. So I think the answer to my question would be a resounding “Yes!”
Due to the planetary lineup this year, I can honestly say this birthday is one of the most important of my life (so far). I’m not in ‘perfect’ health, but I’m feeling better than I have in years. So for students of astrology, here’s a comparison between 2021 and 1950.
Having been born in Toronto, and now living about 100 km north of there, the Ascendant and Midheaven are within a degree of their original positions, effectively the same. But having the Sun, Venus and Jupiter all back near their birth positions in Aquarius ‘feels’ good. The North/South Node is now aligned with the Descendant/Ascendant axis of my birth chart, and today’s Part of Fortune is almost 3 degrees from my natal Moon. My natal Mercury is still being influenced by the transiting Pluto, as it has been for almost all last year, culminating in an exact conjunction just after midnight on New Year’s Day. And today, the Moon will transit my natal Mercury and then will catch up to transiting Pluto later. All very auspicious.
There are three Yods: natal Neptune and Pluto inconjunct with today’s Neptune; transiting Mars and Neptune inconjunct my natal Neptune; and natal Neptune and Ascendant inconjunct the transiting Mars. There is one more double inconjunct: my natal Saturn is inconjunct the transiting Sun/Mercury conjunction. Oh, bloody wow!
As we are still in a COVID-19 lockdown, I’ll be staying home today. Happy Birthday, me.
Sometimes, you just have to ask yourself: how come I know about this, even though it happened in 1939? We watched The Dig last night on Netflix. The sense of deja vu was extreme, at least for me. I’m putting that feeling down to watching Detectorists.
There are many great things about this film, not the least of which is the treasure that they found. But the fact that it’s based on a true story makes it even more remarkable.
Edith Pretty and Basil Brown
There were a couple of details that were hinted at, by never explicitly shown that might make this story a bit more interesting for some. One thing is the ‘feeling’ that Edith had about which earth mound to dig out. What was not shown was that Edith may have been consulting with the ‘other side’. At the grave side of her husband’s remains, she can be seen speaking aloud, but we do not hear the words. The other thing is the sudden change of mind that Basil has after being buried alive by a land slip: once he’s resuscitated, he decides that the mound Edith wanted to work on first is the right one. I suspect his NDE may have given him an insight into which one had the treasure.
The juxtaposition of the upcoming WWII with a race to uncover the ship’s remains gave the slow-burning story line some added oomph. And the younger people in the story knew their lives might never be the same again after the dig, so everything took on a special poignancy. We are not told at the story’s end what happened to them.
images of the buried treasure (British Museum)
The use of dialog in this film gives an almost out-of-body-experience for the viewer. Most of the time, we watch two people sitting together in silence but having a heartfelt conversation (as if we’re listening to their thoughts). As this happened several times with different people, I can only surmise that it was the director’s decision to do so.
Original photograph of the digArtist’s impression of the original burial scene
The film does a very decent job of recounting the story, without crossing any lines. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wonders what history is really all about.
Richard the Lionheart (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199)
Courtesy of Wikipedia
The mental flash I got yesterday about the Henry II, Richard I and John being connected with the unholy trinity of Flavian emperors hasn’t gone away. Let’s call it the irony of it all: Titus conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple there. Richard joined the Third Crusade to rescue Jerusalem from Saladin’s control. Richard failed in the end.
The timing of this chart is rectified to show the ages he got interested in fighting battles (Mars @ 12) and when he finally got married (Venus @ 33). Three inconjuncts are seen.
Mercury Inconjunct Jupiter
You like to think big, and you have great ambitions, but you don’t always make sure that your thinking is clear or careful. When you make any kind of plan, be careful. Don’t try to take on more than you can handle and make sure not to overlook details, for that could hurt what you are trying to do. Careful planning will help you develop disciplined habits in other areas as well. This aspect can mean that you are sloppy in your personal appearance and in your work habits, especially schoolwork.
On the other hand, if you do learn careful mental habits, you can have creative ability with this aspect, because you are able to see and understand all the elements of a situation. You take a broad and far-seeing view of a situation, which is unusual for someone your age. Most of the time you are willing to let other people think what they choose, as long as they leave your ideas alone. However, you may be inclined to preach about morality, because you enjoy being right and letting others know that they do not live up to your “high” standards. But sometimes you fake it; you aren’t as “good” as you pretend to be. Be careful of this, for you could be known as a hypocrite. It’s fine to set high standards and live up to them, but do not pretend to be better than you are. And let others decide on their own moral standards.
Mars Inconjunct Neptune
With this aspect you must learn to stand up for yourself and demand your rights forthrightly and directly. Often you feel that you don’t have enough energy to assert yourself or that any such effort would be futile. Unfortunately, some people with this aspect learn to work behind the scenes or dishonestly. Others simply give up or take a defeatist attitude toward life.
Mars Inconjunct Midheaven
This aspect can mean that you have mixed feelings about all authority figures, including your parents. You may feel that you have to violate the rules laid down by your parents in order to get your way. This is a significant problem, because if it continues into adulthood, you will have great difficulties with employers. Therefore it is very important that your parents teach you how to express your self-assertive drives without going against their teachings. Unfortunately it is impossible to state how that should be done, because the conflict between self-will, on one hand, and self-denial and work, on the other, is different for each person.
Clearly you should spend a lot of time releasing your great energy in vigorous play. The more energy you use up in this way, the less you will need to assert yourself destructively. You must learn what society demands, such as going to school and doing schoolwork, learning to obey instructions for your own good and so forth.
Richard I effigy – Church of Fontevraud Abbey
Now, to that other issue concerning Jerusalem and the Jews in 70 AD: was Richard Titus in a previous life? It might explain this peculiar series of events…
Richard I was officially invested as Duke of Normandy on 20 July 1189 and crowned king in Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189. Tradition barred all Jews and women from the investiture, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. According to Ralph of Diceto, Richard’s courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court.
When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London attacked the Jewish population. Many Jewish homes were destroyed by arsonists, and several Jews were forcibly converted. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape. Among those killed was Jacob of Orléans, a respected Jewish scholar. Roger of Howden, in his Gesta Regis Ricardi, claimed that the jealous and bigoted citizens started the rioting, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury, reacted by remarking, “If the King is not God’s man, he had better be the devil’s”.
Offended that he was not being obeyed and realising that the assaults could destabilise his realm on the eve of his departure on crusade, Richard ordered the execution of those responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions, including rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes. He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was only loosely enforced, however, and the following March further violence occurred, including a massacre at York
Coronation and anti-Jewish violence (from Wikipedia)
Comparing Richard’s birth chart with Titus’ shows some very strong connections. Richard’s Sun is conjunct Titus’ Uranus in Virgo; Richard’s Uranus is almost exactly conjunct Titus’ Mars in Capricorn; Titus’ Neptune is conjunct Richard’s Ascendant in Aquarius; and finally, Richard’s Part of Fortune is conjunct Titus’ Ascendant in Pisces.
The proximity of the date of Titus’ death (new style September 11th) with Richard’s birth (new style September 15th) might explain some of the connections between these two charts: Titus’ ‘fatal’ Sun/Midheaven conjunction is within a few degrees of Richard’s natal Sun (obviously); Titus’ ‘fatal’ Ascendant is within 8 degrees of Richard’s Neptune; and Richard’s Part of Fortune is conjunct Titus’ ‘fatal’ Uranus. Even Titus’ ‘fatal’ Moon is about 5 degrees from Richard’s Pluto. But I saved the best for last: their Libra Mercury’s are within 1 degree of each other. This makes them mentally on the same wavelength.
Titus conquered Jerusalem and scattered the Jewish population. Richard didn’t do so well. His mission as a Christian Crusader was meant to secure the Holy Land from Saladin’s forces. Instead, he was captured and ransomed. When he finally returned to England he had to have a new coronation to remove the shame of defeat. Quite different results. So, my question is: did he remove a karmic debt? I think so.
You might be tempted to gloat that we don’t have such a taxation, but that shows you’re not paying attention: wastewater is part of our water bill. Some places even have a small fee for using restrooms. So, the joke’s … Continue reading →
