The Original “King of Hollywood”

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939)

After writing yesterday about “America’s Sweetheart”, Mary Pickford, it only seems appropriate to look at the astrological chart of her ‘one, great love’.

This chart was on my Kepler 7.0 computer program, but it was timed for the sunrise of the day. That didn’t look right, so I rectified it to match (as close as possible) to when he married Pickford @ age 37, represented by Venus in Taurus. Here we have yet another stellium in Taurus, starting with Venus, and including Neptune and Saturn/Pluto conjunct. This man was dynamic, and magnetic, for sure.

First These Artists United, Then They Married

Have you ever wondered what astrological aspects bring two people together? The combined charts of Pickford and Fairbanks shows how connected they were, in spite of their age difference. But, nine years really isn’t that difficult to overcome, is it?

Mary’s Sun is conjunct Douglas’ Mars. His Part of Fortune/Venus aspect is conjunct her Mercury in Taurus. Her Venus is conjunct his Sun/Saturn/Pluto aspect. Her Mars is opposite his Midheaven. His Uranus is midway between her Moon and Saturn in Virgo. And most importantly, his Uranus is inconjunct her Sun, while his Mars is inconjunct her Saturn. I’m surprised that they managed to stay married for 14 years.

His last words:

Posted in history, showbusiness | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Can I Be Manipulated? Can You?”

The Great Hack (2019)

From Wikipedia:

The Great Hack is a 2019 documentary film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, produced and directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, both previous documentary Academy Award nominees (The Square, Control Room, Startup.com). The film’s music was composed by EMMY Nominated Film Composer Gil Talmi. The Great Hack premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Premieres section and was released by Netflix on July 24, 2019.

The documentary focuses on Professor David Carroll of Parsons and The New School, Brittany Kaiser (former business development director for Cambridge Analytica), and British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr. Their stories interweave to expose the work of Cambridge Analytica in the politics of various countries, including the United Kingdom’s Brexit campaign and the 2016 United States elections. 

Trinidad and Tobago Election Interference

How It’s Done

Conclusion

We think we’re immune to political or social influence, but when posts are delivered to your Facebook page, they are intended for you and you alone, in order to help you make up your mind, if you’re sitting on the fence, or to reinforce your position, if you’ve already decided how you feel about something/anything/political parties/social divides.

So, when it comes to the questions raised in the title, how can we not be manipulated?

(And, just so that there is no contrary influence from sources other than the ones they want you to see, Facebook has changed its terms and conditions, so that starting on the 1st of October, they can close any accounts that are spreading ‘fake news’.)

Is it time to shut Facebook down?

Posted in paranoia, Science and Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“America’s Sweetheart” was Actually Canadian

Mary Pickford (Gladys Louise Smith) April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979

You might call this inspired, you might not, but I was thinking about one of the most famous women of the 20th century, and this lovely lady suggested herself, to me.

There was a birth chart in my Kepler 7.0 computer program, but it was dated April 9th @ 3:00 am. I’ve rectified it to the correct date and the Moon representing her childhood disease, and baptism, is shown as just before 4 years of age. Her father deserting his family is represented by Saturn, and he later died by the time she was 6 years old. I believe this chart is now correct by the position of Mars in the Virgo 7th House: this would have been around the time she got involved with Douglas Fairbanks when she was 25.

The details of her life were then the subject of vast amounts of publicity and notoriety, until her brain hemorrhage in 1979, when she died.

Again, the exact time of her death is not known publicly, but I suspect Pluto conjunct to the ‘fatal’ Ascendant kind of locks it into place @ 3:33 pm.

Note that the Parts of Fortune from both charts are ‘exactly’ the same @ 0 Sagittarius. The freedom she sought was finally achieved, I believe.

Let’s give her the last word:

Posted in history, showbusiness | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Television is a Gift of God.”

Philo T. Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971)

Today in history (in 1927), Philo Farnsworth demonstrated, to his lab assistants, the first image (of a single line) on a television receiver. “There you are – electronic television!”

And our lives have never been the same.

1971

Do you want to see the birth chart of a boy genius?

I rectified his chart by noting his marriage to Pem as happening @ 19 years of age with the position of Venus in Libra (6th House). The stellium of planets in Leo (Mercury/Mars conjunct and Sun/Moon conjunct) probably accounts for his “boy genius” reputation. The double Yod pointing at Saturn and Mercury shows the correctness of this designation. This man was the gift from God.

Now, look at the invention chart: that inconjunct between the Moon and Neptune is the broadest hint we have that television would be used to fascinate the masses. A similar stellium to the one in his birth chart is active in Virgo (10th House). This time Venus and Mercury are conjunct. At the same time, Jupiter and Uranus are conjunct in Aries.

There is lots of energy here.

Putting the two charts together, we get this:

That significant Yod pointing to the ‘invention’ Moon ties Farnsworth’s Sun and Pluto together. There are other inconjuncts, but the Sun/Pluto trigger is what is interesting.

I suspect that the Devil had a hand in it.

The final word is Philo’s:

Posted in history, Science and Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spiritually, There’s No Denying Evolution

The Shack (2017)

Having read the book years ago, I never got around to seeing this film, until last night, on Netflix. Of course, I’d seen the promo videos, but they gloss over the important stuff.

Essentially, this is a Near Death Experience, wrapped up in a fantasy, hiding as a psych session of one week’s duration. Literally, you cannot take your eyes from the screen during Mack’s conversations with the Holy Trinity at the shack where his daughter Missy was abducted and killed. When Mack asked “Why here?” Papa answered, “This is where you got stuck.”

Grief and guilt need to be worked through, and that is why Mack is back at the scene of the crime, only this time, he thinks about committing suicide.

In truth, he’s angry with God for allowing his daughter to die. Then he gets to meet the Trinity at a different version of the shack.

Sarayu takes Mack to a garden, which turns out to be as wild and messy as his own life.

Then Jesus takes Mack on a journey across the lake to meet his destiny.

Sophia (Wisdom) helps him understand about judgement and consequences of choice.

Having chosen wisely, Mack is then given a glimpse of how the Trinity see human souls.

‘Male’ Papa teaches Mack to forgive the killer of his child.

With the help of ‘male’ Papa, Mack gets to recover his daughter’s body and lay it to rest.

Conclusion

I’ve basically shared the whole film with you, only because the lessons are so powerful and meaningful, at the same time. We blame ourselves, we blame other humans, and we blame God, for the things that go wrong in our lives. What we usually fail to see is that is how we learn our life’s lessons. There is no spiritual evolution without pain.

Amen.

Posted in reviews, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

February 23, 303 AD: The Day Fascism Was Born?

The Empire Strikes Back at Christianity

I’m reading a book about the New Testament, called Encountering The Manuscripts, by Phillip Comfort. There is a passage describing what Diocletian did on this day:

What we do know is that by the time we get to the Diocletian persecution, Roman authorities were well aware that there were many copies of New Testament Scriptures throughout the empire. Thus, Diocletian attempted to rid his empire of Christian sacred books and thereby rid the empire of Christianity. Diocletian believed the old Roman religion would help to reinforce imperial unity. His policy formed the background to the persecution against the Christians. An edict issued at Nicodemia on February 23, 303, enjoined the demolition of churches and the burning of Christian books. This was the first Roman persecution that was designed not only to destroy Christians but to eradicate their sacred text, the New Testament.

Comfort, Phillip. Encountering the Manuscripts (Kindle Locations 1411-1416). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Here’s what the chart looks like:

Notice the Mars/Pluto conjunction @ 26 Capricorn, both inconjunct to the Midheaven. That, my friends, is what Fascism looks like. The last time Mars and Pluto were this close in Capricorn was on March 26, 2020. OK, have I got your attention, now?

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed even ‘gentle’ governments like Canada to take heavy-handed actions, all in the name of the health and welfare of the people.

So, what have we learned from history?

Nicomedia is now called Iznik, today.

Posted in history, Science and Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Around the World in 1,122 Days

Victoria

Today, in history, Victoria (the ship) returns from circumnavigating the world in 1522.

Since the times of embarking and returning are my own invention, I wouldn’t have expected to see any significant. But. come to think about it: this is the ‘first’ time anyone (or anything) went around the world and it took only another three decades after Columbus set out to do the same, by way of the Americas.

Magellan didn’t survive the trip, but his plan worked. Now, for sure, the world knew the planet earth was round.

Posted in history, Science and Mathematics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Banking Return: Not Sufficient Funds

In my dreams last night, I assisted my friend, David, and his wife, Jenny, with their business sideline, banking. My guess is that David had too much on his plate, so I took over the returning of unpaid cheques for a couple of days.

On each day, there were five or six overdrawn accounts. Before all else, I had to ensure whether the account holders had any other accounts, such as savings, in order to transfer funds, if required. Then, I needed to try to contact the others to advise them of their accounts’ status. After that, the cheques needed to be stamped NSF and then prepared to be returned in that evening’s clearing post. Then a service charge was to be applied: GBP 18.00 for personal cheques; GBP 22.00 for business cheques.

Sounds like a lot to do, doesn’t it?

In my dream, no one had savings accounts with sufficient funds in them, no one answered their telephones, and all the cheques went back, each day.

I think this dream is about how precarious finances are after six months of this pandemic. Our economy is in dire straits. How will we ever get back to ‘normal’?

If only we could send the whole COVID-19 situation back, stamped NSF.

Posted in paranoia, personal | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Where Has The Time Gone?

[Translation:] Time Flies – Remember To Die

The title of this post was suggested by my first wife, recently. It’s timely. We married 50 years ago on Valentine’s Day. Wow, eh?

A lot of water has passed under the bridge; a lot of sand has slipped through the timer. Whichever works for you…

Our child is a middle-aged man with a child of his own. His son, Avery, will be starting his second year at university next week. That just seems so weird.

And, yet, we’re still here.

I am reminded, by this image of the Tempus Fugit clock in Prague, that time is cyclical. What goes around, comes round again. As an astrologer, I am forever mindful of that.

We’ve been here before, and, most likely, we’ll be here again, sometime in the future. Life goes on, especially through our family units, and the memory of our lives will live on (digitally) on ancestry.ca.

Or in the words of Norman Petty:

Love is love, Not Fade Away.

Posted in family, personal | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

When Cornelius Won Over the Skeptics

Scepsis, Mysia (now Kursuntepe, Turkey)

The history is non-specific, but the details are legendary:

[Cornelius] accepted the Christian faith and joined the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church thanks to the preaching of Apostle Peter. Having acquired the genuine experience of the ecclesiastical spirit, he decided to embark on a tour to teach Christianity himself.

He taught in Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch and Ephesus. He was ordained hierarch of the Church of Scepsis in Mysia. Thanks to his courageous confession among pagans, many were the ones who wanted to and decided to be baptized Christians. This, of course, caused a storm of reactions, as well as the devil’s envy.

So, Provincial Governor Demetrios arrested him and led him to the temple of idolaters, which at that time was full. He publicly pressed him to deny Christ. But Cornelius found the opportunity to teach the Gospel and herald an earthquake that would not harm Governor Demetrios, his wife, and his son who were in the temple. And so it was: whoever was in the temple was killed except the family of the Governor, who after the event was convinced, confessed the true God, and they were all baptized Christians.

I must admit that the timing of this event is totally speculative on my part. I looked for a coming together of dates when I did the research, and 60 AD seems to be the one that ‘fits’. Some of the earthquakes in this part of the world seem too early in the story to be correct: Antioch 37 AD; Ephesis 47 AD; Apameia 53 AD. Only the Colossae earthquake of 60 AD connects with Peter’s Letter to the Ephesians since Peter died in Rome in 64 AD.

The other part (the date) I selected from Cornelius’ earliest Feast Day, February 2nd, and the time is the moment I erected this chart. See, all speculative.

And yet, in spite of this being only a figment of my fevered imagination, there are some significant Yods in this image. Funny, that.

So, let me just say that this really has nothing to do with my being an astrologer, and everything to do with being led by the Holy Spirit.

I am grateful. Amen.

Posted in history, paranoia | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment