John Herschel Glenn, the last of NASA’s original Mercury Seven astronauts — the first group of Americans to pilot manned spacecraft — died yesterday. He was 95 years old.

John Glenn in his Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch of the Mercury Atlas 6 (MA-6) rocket. Photo: NASA

Glenn is perhaps most famous for being the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft in 1962. Later, at age 77 in 1998, he became the oldest person in space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

A U.S. Marine combat pilot, test pilot, engineer, astronaut and four-term U.S. Senator, Glenn fought in both WW II and the Korean War. It was in that later conflict that he earned the nickname “magnet ass” from his apparent ability to attract enemy flak. Glenn also completed the first supersonic transcontinental flight in 1957.

Glenn was born July 18, 1921, at 4:00 pm in Cambridge, Ohio — putting his Sun in late Cancer. (Scroll down to see his chart.) Almost a Full Moon baby, his Moon is in mid-Capricorn; his ascendant is early in exploratory Sagittarius. Of note, Glenn also has hypothetical point Transpluto, asteroid Pallas, Mars, Mercury and Pluto all in Cancer.

One might not expect someone with a strong Cancer signature in their chart to be quite such a high-stakes risk taker. But as with real estate, one key to interpreting planetary placements is location, location, location:

All of those Cancer planets and points are in the 8th house of death, sex and transformation.

As Eric quipped in an email last night, “No wonder he was not afraid to sit on top of that untested Atlas rocket. He’s practically a shaman. Alive? Dead? Same difference.”

Len Wallick further suggested that Glenn’s natal Mars, in particular, speaks to his courage.

The Mercury astronauts were the subjects of Tom Wolfe’s famous novel The Right Stuff (and the popular movie of the same name), which shows the men to be the rather wild thrill-seekers that they were — despite NASA’s attempts in the 1950s and ‘60s to present them all as perfectly clean-cut, All-American boys.

In conversation, Eric mentioned, “Funny how Tom Wolfe portrays Glenn as a pious prude.” Yet, not only did he not die due to reckless behavior (cause of death has not been disclosed, but his health was declining, as one might expect at 95), he also has never been known for personal reckless behavior. His one “scandal” involved taking an ill-advised donation from Charles Keating while a Democratic Senator. Not only was he exonerated for that, he was still able to win reelection afterwards.

No doubt Glenn’s Cancerian influence and North Node in Libra contributed to his long and reportedly solid marriage to his high school sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor, who survives as his widow. And while a Capricorn Moon can hide a deeply sexual side to a person, it might also indicate a great ability to compartmentalize. Glenn might not have been out getting into trouble the way his fellow Mercury Seven astronauts were, but as Eric noted further, “He worked the edge his way.”

As indicated by Jupiter and Saturn straggling his Virgo Midheaven, the ‘right stuff’ in John Glenn’s case may have been a precise, detail-oriented combination of expansion and discipline. If you’re going to burn hard and not burn up, apparently you need to know exactly where those limits are so you can dance along them into old age.

Natal chart for John Hirschel Glenn, Jr. View glyph key here.

Atop his horse, Prophesy, JJ Stadel of the Cheyenne River Sioux of South Dakota celebrates after learning that permits would not be approved for a section of the Dakota Access pipeline, at the Oceti Sakowin protest camp, just outside the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, December 4, 2016. (Photo: Alyssa Schukar / The New York Times)

Continue reading →

Today the Earth and the Sun align with the Great Attractor, the center of our local universe. The Great Attractor, associated with the Laniakea Supercluster, a pool of subatomic particles located in deep space. It’s so vast that it serves as the central feature of a cluster of 100,000 galaxies, including our own.

The Laniakea Supercluster of Galaxies. See a video presentation on our home in space at this link.

The alignment is exact at 4:21 pm EST [21:21:21 UTC] on Monday, Dec. 5. At that time, the Sun aligns in a conjunction with the Great Attractor at 14 degrees of Sagittarius and 11 arc minutes.

This happens once a year. If you’re curious about Laniakea/Great Attractor, you can hear an interview with Dr. Brent Tully, one of the leading scientists studying the phenomenon, on an archived edition of Planet Waves FM.

Later in the week, the Sun aligns with Saturn in Sagittarius. This occurs at 6:51 am EST [11:51 UTC] on Saturday, Dec. 10, though it’s a defining feature of the week. The Sun-Saturn conjunction can feel like psychological pressure or a struggle to express oneself. Yet the results of effort and focus go further than you might think they will.

Under this astrology it’s helpful to narrow your focus to certain specific goals that you work toward. Under Saturn’s influence in Sagittarius, it will help to question your assumptions and beliefs rather than to accept them or let them go unnoticed.

More on Tuesday’s edition of Planet Waves FM.

Just hours before the Monday morning deadline to end the Standing Rock protests, the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday that the federal government would not approve permits for construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a dammed section of the Missouri River.

Continue reading →

On Dec. 4, approximately 2,000 veterans plan to arrive at Standing Rock as part of the Veterans Stand for Standing Rock effort, according to The New York Times. The veterans’ aim is to peacefully protect protesters, and so will have no weapons.

U.S. Army veteran Loreal Black Shawl, 39, of Rio Rancho, N.M., on the Veterans Bridge in Mandan, N.D., in August. Photo courtesy of Loreal Black Shawl via The New York Times.

Instead, the intention is to serve as human shields, to “give the Sioux a breather from the abuse they’ve been taking,” according to the group’s operations order.

The announcement came after a mandatory evacuation order from the Governor Jack Dalrymple.

Officials may begin issuing fines to prohibit supplies from entering the camp. The Army Corps of Engineers also issued a plan to restrict access to the campsites. According to the order, anyone found on the land could be charged with trespassing.

The self-described ‘cavalry’ of veterans consists of officers and commanders ranging in age and representing nearly every war. The veterans and protesters will follow an operations order congruent with military practice while there — following a “chain of responsibility” rather than a chain of command — and will refer to each other by their first name, rather than their command rank. The group has done their own fundraising in an effort to be as self-sufficient as possible.

“There will be civilian and tribe members watching us from behind but nobody supporting us,” says the operations order, which outlines objectives, guidelines for conduct, an assessment of the situation and other details.

Organizers of the event are Michael A. Wood Jr., a former U.S. Marine, and screenwriter and activist Wesley Clark Jr. — son of Wesley K. Clark, the retired Army general and onetime supreme allied commander in Europe for NATO.

Their intent, according to the operations order, is:

…to honor the giants on whose shoulders we stand, such as Gandhi’s salt protest or MLK’s Selma protest. In the ultimate expression of alliance, we are there to put our bodies on the line, no matter the physical cost, in complete non-violence to provide a clear representation to all Americans of where evil resides. The Water Protectors are leading the way against this same evil which we must all face globally, saving ourselves and our children from the apocalyptic outcome of climate change.

— Planet Waves staff

This has been a challenging year. Everyone is feeling it. We all need a break.

Change is catching up with us fast — with each of us as individuals, and with the grand experiment of modern society: that is, of freedom and of responsibility.

Astrology describes this beautifully — for those who are interested. Astrology is big enough to encompass anything, particularly if contemporary methods and planets are used. Best of all, astrology reaches into who you are as a person, and helps you see your options.

Continue reading →

Dear Friend and Reader:

The election is behind us; the dust is settling; Fifth Avenue in the East 40s is a huge traffic jam, huge, believe me.

Through the endless election season I’ve done my best to be an impartial observer of the facts and the currents of society. I’m also hearing people say they missed many of what I consider to be key articles that strive to get handle on what was, and is, happening.

Given that you may have a few extra minutes this holiday weekend, I want to put that coverage into your hands. I’m going to link to what we call “test pages” — simple, clear pages with no sidebar (all of which include weekly or monthly horoscopes). Each opens on its own page; refer back to this email (or free-standing page, as it may be) for the links.

Continue reading →