Jupiter Neptune Chiron Conjunctions

Throughout 2009, Neptune and Chiron will be conjunct in Aquarius highlighting a time that is optimal for spiritual (Neptune) healing (Chiron). With Jupiter spending the year in Aquarius it will also join that conjunction three times magnifying it and blessing it as it moves direct, retrogrades and goes direct again. While the exact conjunctions will take place in late May, early July, and late December, it is already within orb and will remain so through the end of the year. It looks like Time magazine's staff astrologer recommended this as a good time for this Mind & Body Special Issue.

The blurb on the main article reads:
Science and Faith: The Biology of Belief Science and religion argue all the time, but they increasingly agree on one thing: a little spirituality may be very good for your health.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1879016,00.html

There is also a photo essay:
How The World Heals Across countries and faiths, the devout believe the power of the spirit can heal the ills of the flesh.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1878443_1842216,00.html

And a forum:
Three experts--the Rev. George Handzo, a chaplain with the HealthCare Chaplaincy of New York City; Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist and psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Richard Sloan, a psychiatrist at Columbia University--discuss the role that belief should play in science.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1879202,00.html

And some miscellany (books, links, etc.), including one of my favorites:
"Pilgrimages. When a spa is spiritual enough, thank you very much."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1879175,00.html

Aquarius Stellium: We Are All Socialists Now

On the date of this Newsweek cover, 2/16/09, there was a significant stellium in Aquarius, namely in order of degree: Mercury, North Node, Mars, Jupiter, Chiron, Neptune, and the Sun. The Newsweek cover line on socialism was a perfect manifestation of this as Aquarius is the sign that rules the human collective. With the collapse of the global economy, we are seeing the irrational side of Adam Smith's rational self-interest, and perhaps the time has come to consider how government can promote the interest of the community for the benefit of all. Now more than ever we should consider that "Unenlightened self-interest can result in the tragedy of the commons." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

The poem that comes to mind,
America Was Promises by Archibald MacLeish:
http://zerogeminimoon.blogspot.com/

Full text of article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/183663

Saturn in Virgo: Women at Work

New York Times Front Page 2/6/09:

U.S. Women Set To Surpass Men In Labor Force

While Pluto's (death/rebirth) ingress into Capricorn (corporations/financial institutions) last year has clearly affected the world economy, it is also notable that Capricorn's ruler, Saturn, manifesting its traditional role as a malefic, in Virgo (daily work) is reflected in rising unemployment rates. However, this recent NYT article points to another interesting manifestation of this, namely Saturnian authority being conferred on the Virgo archetype of the independant woman: "women are now bearing the burden--or the opportunity, one could say--of being breadwinners."

Full text of article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html

Coming Soon...(after UAC)

More Saturn in Virgo (what else?)

NYTimes editorial:

"The Biggest Beef Recall Ever"

Washington Post front page:

"Food Costs Leave a Hundred Million Deeper in Poverty,

U.N. Official Says"

Time magazine:

"Corn-based ethanol, the eco-friendly fuel, is actually a bio-disaster."

(See photo; click to enlarge and read captions.)

Saturn in Virgo: Farmers' Bank

In depictions of the constellation, Virgo is shown holding a sheaf of wheat, and indeed she is associated with grains. A recent article in Time magazine about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault reflects yet another archetypal manifestation of Saturn in Virgo with Saturnian responsibility being applied to the seeds that bring forth all that sustains our existence. Go Norway!

"It's a maxim that's as true for farming as it is for your home PC: always back up your data. In agriculture, data take the form of seeds, and farmers have been saving seed varieties for millenniums. If disaster struck and an entire crop were lost, a cache of seeds could mean the difference between survival and starvation.

We still save seeds today, mostly in national seed banks that often specialize in native crops: pistachios in Iran, rice in the Philippines. When a disaster like the Irish potato blight of the 1840s hits, scientists can search the seed bank for an old variety that might prove resistant. Since pests and pathogens are constantly evolving, a well-stocked seed bank 'is our best line of defense,' says Geoff Hawtin, director-general of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia.

But that defense is in peril. Often, the seed banks with the richest collections are located in unstable countries that don't take care of them. When Afghanistan's seed bank was looted during the Taliban's rule, rare varieties of walnuts, cherries and apricots were lost. Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an agricultural NGO, estimates that as many as half the seed banks in the developing world may be at risk.

To ensure that an agricultural doomsday never comes, Fowler and his colleagues have organized the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an international seed bank built into a mountain on a Norwegian island in the Arctic. A Fort Knox for seeds, the vault will be a backup for the backups and will eventually be expanded to include genetic samples of every crop on the planet. The first shipments, from more than 36 African nations, arrived at the end of January, and there will be room for as many as 4.5 million samples once the facility opens Feb. 26. The specimens will be kept very dry at around 0°F. Properly stored, some seeds can last thousands of years; even if the facility lost power, the seeds are likely to remain viable in the Arctic climate. The cost of construction—mostly borne by the Norwegian government—is less than $9 million. 'If you think of it as an insurance policy for the world, you can't beat the value,' says Fowler.

The need for the vault grows even greater as industrial agriculture continues to narrow the genetic diversity of plants, focusing on select, high-producing crop varieties. Global warming will also create demand for a stockpile of seeds that may not be suited to today's growing conditions but could be just right for tomorrow's. 'We'll need crop varieties for hotter, dryer, wetter and colder climates,' says Fowler. Sometime in the future, the vault of last resort could end up more like an ATM."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1708817,00.html

Saturn in Virgo: Green City

The last batch of Saturn in Virgo entries explored the manifestations of this transit archetypally in the concerns with global hygiene. This recent New York Times article begins, "In an ever more crowded world facing environmental limits, the push is on to create entire communities with reduced needs for energy, water, land and other resources. The latest effort comes not in some green hub like Portland, Ore., but in the Persian Gulf, fueled as much by oil wealth — and the need to find postpetroleum business models — as environmental zeal." While the article itself is notably interesting, it was particularly amusing, as this blog is being written in said "green hub" by an agent with immediate ancestral roots in said "gulf".

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/earth/05city.html?scp=1&sq=Masdar+City&st=nyt

The God of the High Mountain

Astrologers know that much can understood about the planets by way of the mythical gods and goddesses for which they were named. While the third zone blog has been understandably excessively concerned with Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto, we interrupt our usual seriousness for a little shout out to the Big Daddy himself, Jupiter! Well, before Jupiter was Jupiter, he was Zeus, and now there's news of who he was before that.

"The excavators were astonished. They were digging in a sanctuary to Zeus, in Greek mythology the father of gods and goddesses. From texts in Linear B, an ancient form of Greek writing, Zeus is attested as a pre-eminent god as early as 1400 B.C. By some accounts, the birthplace of Zeus was on the heights of Lykaion. After reviewing the findings of pottery experts, geologists and other archaeologists, David Gilman Romano of the University of Pennsylvania concluded that material at the Lykaion altar 'suggests that the tradition of devotion to some divinity on that spot is very ancient” and “very likely predates the introduction of Zeus in the Greek world.' As Dr. Romano remarked, quoting a quip by a friend, 'We went from B.C. to B.Z., before Zeus.'"

Read more about their findings at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/05zeus.html?scp=1&sq=Lykaion&st=nyt