NY Philharmonic and North Korea

I have been captured by this visit to N. Korea and checked out some of the astrology. The trip was planned over a year ago, when “relations” were a bit warmer than they are now, but it appears that the experience was a great success (see below, text and photo compliments of today’s New York Times).

The chart for North Korea, formally known as the DPRK is based on a US state department website. I have chosen a time that puts Mars in the first house.

The first thing you notice is the mars on the south node, in scorpio. this is a signature of tremendous suspicion, violence, power struggles and militance. and it squares venus in leo, suggesting that the country takes all these threats very personally and with high drama. but the history of Korea (a unified state for centuries before Japan occupied it in WWII and the US and Russia divided it) is one of great creative expression and sophistication, which is echoed in the neptune/mercury conjunction in libra as well as the saturn in leo in the 10^th. some clues about the current situation in North Korea can be found in the chart of Kim Jong Il who is given two birthdates and two birth locations in wikipedia. Surprisingly, (or not) both show a taurus stellium (saturn/uranus with either jupiter or mars making the 3^rd member) which explains the incredible paranoia about security. mars aspects the nodes in both charts.

On feb 26, the NY Philharmonic visited:

It was the first time an American cultural organization had appeared here, and the largest contingent of United States citizens to appear since the Korean War. The trip has been suffused with political importance since North Korea’s invitation came to light last year. It was seen by some as an opening for warmer relations with the United States, which North Korea has long reviled.

The concert brought a “whole new dimension from what we expected,” Mr. Maazel told reporters afterward. “We just went out and did our thing, and we began to feel this warmth coming back.”

mercury, venus and neptune are currently in aquarius, the ‘collective creativity’ sign, and the sun and uranus are in pisces, the ‘we’re all in this together’ sign. pluto has moved into capricorn, opposing DPRK’s natal uranus in cancer exactly. this will continue for quite a while… I like to think it signifies DPRK’s need to join the global family and transform its rigidity into a more mature form of strength. uranus has just transited into a tight orb of opposition to DPRK’s virgo sun, highlighting the need for a more enlightened and tolerant management. For me, however, the most interesting aspect is the nodes on DPRK’s natal saturn at 28° leo . the aquarius/leo nodal axis is about integrating mind and heart through recognition of one’s own as well as others' creativity. my creativity is not the only contribution to the cosmos; yours is needed as well for evolution of our souls. standing apart and merely criticizing others is a self limiting use of energy. life requires participation, exchange, learning from others’ achievements, and the desire to leave something behind once we’re gone. this concert seems to have been one of those exceptional moments when, through heart-felt emotion, progress was made.

Three Cups of Tea

I have just recently read this amazing book with my book club and became so interested in greg mortenson, the mountaineer turned school/peace-builder that I searched the web until I came up with his birth data (sans birthtime). using placidus houses, here is the chart.



i freaking love astrology, mostly because it works! here is a guy who was born in the US but raised in africa, became a mountaineer, a nurse, and found his life's work after a failed attempt to summit K2 left him in a tiny remote village in Pakistan, being taken care of by people who were to become his second family.

evolutionary astrology starts by looking at the nodes of the moon and pluto to attempt to understand one's soul's purpose. with his nodes in taurus/scorpio, greg is concerned with life and death issues; the basic needs of life - shelter, safety and resources (taurus) and an acute awareness that the lack of those basic necessities can lead to struggles, conflict, reliance on others, even death (scorpio). uranus, the planet of modernization and community creativity, is in the sign of leo which rules children and other creative activities. uranus is square his nodes, signifying that the way for greg to integrate the opposing energies of the nodes lies in "improving the lives of children" (among other possible meanings). this is exactly what he has devoted his life to do.

venus is also in a close opposition to uranus, in aquarius (ruled by uranus). venus rules our relationships and our money, and in aquarius, it can mean that one is very attracted to the finer things in life. in greg's chart, however, this signifies his love of the global community and his desire to improve that community through his own unique creative gifts. it is interesting that the original donor to his activities was a self-made millionaire who made his fortune in technology (ruled by uranus) and greg's work is supported by hundreds of donations from the global community.

with his sun in capricorn, he is stubborn, pragmatic and has earned great respect in the global community. his pisces moon speaks to his ability to have compassion for others and his feeling of being a global citizen (as well as indicating his ability to accept any and all food/environments/hardships during his work).

finally, his pluto in virgo, which indicates the soul's purpose, signifies his need to find "the right work". it is squaring his mars in sagittarius, which urges him to seek meaning in his life, be adventurous, and be interested in other cultures and ways of life. squares require action; as a result, greg is a man who has found his path in life and is following his bliss. it has been dangerous, and not without sacrifice, but it has been a huge success.

if you are interested in learning more about greg, his work, or his book, here is the link.

cancer moon baby

the little grandson has arrived! and, he has a cancer moon inconjunct neptune in aquarius.

astrology is such a rich symbolic language; cancer rules nutrition and food, and the moon signifies the mother (among many other tangible and intangible meanings). neptune can signify the public, impersonal things in life, or the public arena. it can also indicate difficulty achieving something, or a lack of something due to its dissolving and dissipating nature.

for this little boy, it meant that his feeding had to be supplemented by donor breast milk while his mother recovered from a c-section. his nurture/nutrition (cancer) could not be satisfied by his own mother (moon inconjunct neptune) so he had to go to donor milk, provided by anonymous mothers, all mixed together and kept in a modern 'milk bank' (neptune in aquarius).

this is one of several indications that this little aquarian will benefit from modern technology; he was due to arrive when the sun was still in capricorn, but was breech, and required a c-section to be delivered, allowing him to enter only after the sun had moved into aquarius. this suggests to me that souls do know what they want!