Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever / Part IV: Forging A Fishy Future

Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever

Part IV: Forging A Fishy Future

By Brad Kronen

Will Neptune's trek through the sign of the Fish bring cosmic consciousness to society?

(Turning on ceiling bulb switch) See, it’s right here! Observe, Everyone! Now that we have “Neptune 101″, “The Discovery of Neptune”, and “The Romantic Era That IS Neptune” covered, we are ready to embark upon this linearly designated, VERY clear path that runs past my person, down that overgrown flight of mossy and very wet steps (how ummm rustic?), to that puddle filled ravine, although which, from here, I can’t really see past,due to the Neon arrows of Cosmic Guidance being temporarily short circuited, but in any case, beyond that, humanity’s path obviously leads us to………

a flowing body of thick water which dissolves whatever path was left, sending it straight out to open sea?

No matter how much we think we know about Neptune, all roads lead to muddy waters. That which we believe is linear and defined, becomes nebulous and dispersed.

Being born under the element of air, which reacts to the world first and foremost through the use of the rational mind, this washing away of the linear and clearly defined into an ever flowing circular whirlpool of the blackest of mop water – was simply unacceptable. There HAD to be a way to define, categorize, and/or label Neptune’s influences on the human race,surely as there were 12 segmented portions of the wheel of life, otherwise known as the signs of the Zodiac. It took this rationally minded person nearly losing his rational mind before he came to the overdue realization that things such as: emotions, intuition, and spirituality function best outside the domain of Man’s control, and optimally work through the means of surrender and acceptance, versus any kind of active force or willful manipulation.

Much can be gained by analyzing all we can about this furthest most planet from our Sun, which is still very much a mystery to we Earth folk, right up to the present day , but we must not, and karmicly speaking, cannot make expectations of Neptune based on crystallized assumptions we have made about its overall essence.

Neptune’s essence flows through all, waits for none, and shall not be contained!

Neptune In Pisces: February 4th, 2012* – March 31st, 2025

*Neptune entered Pisces for a brief stint beginning on April 5th of 2011, but then dipped back into the sign of Aquarius as it went into Retrograde motion and remained in the sign of The Water Bearer for the remainder of 2011

Highest Aesthetics and The Inspiration for High Art

In Part III, I discussed the changing of the artistic and cultural atmosphere in the mid 19th century where an explosion of heightened inspiration occurred to anything we humans deem to be “High Art”, resulting in a prolific array of masterpieces from every thinkable artistic medium. During that time, the world was given a double whammy of 2 of the strongest Neptunian influences possible: the discovery of the watery planet in 1846 and its subsequent 14 year transit through the sign of its rulership, Pisces, 7 months after its discovery. This force of Neptunian influenced artistry is also known as The Romantic Era.

The watery planet will once again be deep sea diving through the sign of its rulership, Pisces, beginning on February 4th of this year for the next decade and a half.

Will the world see a Renaissance of Romanticism?

In my humble opinion, not likely.

Society had 2 of the most powerful Neptunian influences occurring almost simultaneously in 1846. Since the modern world is already aware of Neptune’s existence, the same propensity of masterpieces being cranked out by the Art World as during the Romantic Era is highly doubtful, BUT look to see some of the greatest works emerging from the artistic mediums and outlets that were not in existence in 1846, ranging from digital photography to Hip Hop.

As far as those war horses of High Art that actually were alive and kicking in 1846 – CODE BLUE! CLEAR!

KILL THE WABBIT, KILL THE WABBIT!

I proudly tell people that my professional career in opera is rooted in Bugs Bunny. Most adults today were first exposed to the highest aesthetics of Art by the cartoons of their childhood throughout the 1960′s – 1990′s. Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and The Simpsons exposed numerous children to the worlds of opera and classical music through their oddball, but very acceptable interpretations of Wagner, Liszt, Beethoven, and Rossini in such toe tapping, memorable cartoons as “The Bunny of Seville” and “What’s Opera, Doc?” (click on the video of a live orchestral performance of the Warner Brothers classic cartoon, upper left). Hearing the melody line of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony in The Simpsons motivated me to find and hear the entire piece, and I still embarrassingly remember exclaiming with glee “I know this from Bugs Bunny!”, the first time I heard The Pilgrims’ Chorus from Wagner’s “Tannhauser” at the opera house.

We may not see another Romantic Era, but Neptune’s aquatic trek through Pisces might resuscitate those highest of art forms that were present at the time of its discovery in 1846 by having kids introduced to them through their cartoons, video games, and whatever form of virtual entertainment that has yet to be created over the next decade and a half.

Charity Versus Cult

Both Neptune and the sign that it rules, Pisces, take charity to an extreme level if they perceive the recipient of most of their worldly goods to be on the lowest rung of societal status – the truly downtrodden, better known as the “underdog”.

Added to that inherent quality, both planet and its ruling sign need to have some form of “escape” from the outside world due to their sensitivities being overwhelmed by all the aggression, stress, and noise, of this mean old, real time thing called Life.

Put the planet and its sign together like chocolate & peanut butter and you get – Charities or Cults!!!

I predict the next decade and a half should see a marked rise in people dedicating more of themselves to charitable causes by either going to the actual spot of a location hard hit by disaster or by extending themselves to charitable or non profit organizations beyond the act of contacting them and making a financial pledge.

The BBC recently presented a series of reports to mark the two year anniversary of the 2010 earthquake that decimated Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince. I was stunned to hear how close to 500,000 Haitians are still living far outside of the city, in temporary enclaves, or worse, in cardboard shacks. Throughout the report, a number of inferences were made hinting that a goodly portion of the charitable funds for Haitian relief either never made its way to the victims or were never paid by those who pledged them.

Neptune may be putting a change to all that – hopefully by gathering all those saintly, non paying pledgers on one big cruise ship to the Bermuda Triangle at the height of hurricane season, for starters.

Using the term “Cult” for my header title is a tad hardcore. A better, more toned down phrase is “Charity and Cloistered Groups” but it looses all its uumpf in my book. Anyhoo, to be fair, my prediction should read – over the next decade and a half, expect to see a rise in the resident populations of both cloistered groups and cults, both new and pre-established.

Keeping in mind the “world = harsh, I must escape” trait shared by both Neptune and Pisces, when that planet enters that sign, expect to see a whole lotta people just up and go – either to the more sane, evolved version of a group of people that lives and functions outside of society’s parameters, such as a Benedictine Abbey or a kibbutz, or by joining a group more along the lines of Jim Jones’ unmerry band of followers or David Koresh’s one, big, unhappy family.

The Institution

The 12th House is the House, or section of life, naturally ruled by the sign of Pisces and its planetary ruler, Neptune. Housed within the 12th are any and all things “institutional”. An institution is an established building or location which embodies the Neptunian traits of sacrifice, charity, and unconditional concern for the downtrodden.

It’s no coincidence that the concept of “the institution” became a reality soon after the discovery of the watery planet. Just as Neptune’s existence came in the wake of Uranus’ path, society’s awareness for the downtrodden and the poorest of the poor came after observing how the Uranian revolutions of the late 18th century (American, French) had affected those who had the least. The welfare of the poor followed suit subsequently after revolutionary statements of Uranian equality of the masses were boldly made to the world with The Communist Manifesto in 1848 and The Emancipation Proclamation in 1861.

Thus, when astrology and sociology converged first with the discovery of Uranus, which mirrored its volatile influence on Earth with bloody revolts and even bloodier screams demanding equality for all, it was then threaded through the discovery of Neptune, with its reflection on the water’s surface showing the emergence of the first institutions: orphanages, prisons, asylums, “poor houses”, and modern day hospitals, all being officially established during the latter half of the 19th century.

Many of the standard institutions of the 19th century no longer exist today, with orphanages and mental asylums being transmuted to foster homes and halfway houses. When making 2010′s predictions, I saw a rise in funding for this country’s prison systems as well as the national health care bill being passed. Unfortunately, the health care bill is still in a bi-partisan tug of war and alarmingly, the spiked funding allocated to our prisons occurred simply to make more room for a spiked influx of inmates, with not much thought or money given to programs advocating prison prevention.

Neptune’s traversal through Pisces over the next decade and a half might remind us that the institution was brought into being as a tangible solution for those who had no other choice for survival or means of living. For those who do have the possibility of alternatives to continue functioning in this world, Neptune’s Piscean trek may alter the institutions of the 21st century into places of positive transformation through reform, rehabilitation, and productive change instead of representing mere dead end, final exits.

“The Other” – The Gateway To Either Heaven Or Hell

In Part I of Brad’s version of Water World, I wanted to make clear that during this upcoming 14 year period of Neptune transiting its ruling sign, everyone, but even more so, water signs, but even more so than that, Pisceans, will be feeling the pull of the watery planet’s most powerful influence over humanity – the need for the Self to completely lose itself in “The Other”.

As we soon shall see, the effects from this watery pull will be truly heavenly or pure Hell.

Remembering the inherent trait of both planet and sign alike, where the world is often seen as far too harsh a place and the need for escape is necessary, “The Other” will take many forms, both evolved and unevolved. Two of the most evolved forms have been discussed in detail – Inspirational High Art & Charitable Actions. For quite some time, many popular figures in the esoteric world have spoken about a period of evolutionary change which is soon to come, one that will transform the most evolved souls into a unified entity of higher consciousness that some call, “The Cosmic Christ”.

Putting any kind of organizational religious approach aside, the concept of “The Cosmic Christ” is incredibly simple. To encapsulate everything into one astrological formula:

Christ, be He factual to some, or fictitious to others, was a Pisces.

We have seen Christ’s essence brought up in many ways in my 4 part Neptune Series with the Neptunian/Piscean concepts of: The Messiah, The Saviour, He who speaks for the downtrodden and the underdog, He who acts with true charity, Being an institution to those who have lost everything and have nowhere else to turn for survival.

Mind numbingly, more people died during the Age of Pisces in Christ’s name more than any other way of exiting this plane of existence. But I should specify, this occurred by those claiming Christ’s name through the man made concept of organized religion. Christ, the man, the myth, the entity is truly a Neptunian institution since He promoted unconditional love and a spirituality that was Universal through its connectedness to all living creatures.

It’s been said that Evil is the absence of Light. I see it also as the absence of connection. I won’t pretend by saying Neptune’s upcoming travels through Pisces will be a glide through the kiddie pool, rough waters lie ahead for many.

The next decade will also most likely see an alarming increase in the number of suicides, drug overdosed deaths, sex crimes, and ritualistic murders – all of these brought about by those being pulled by Neptune into “The Other” of that which is dark, desolate, and completely un-connected.

Soon, Neptune will be changing our senses from inside out to outside in. That which is external and on the mere surface, can no longer be perceived as reality, since its limitation blocks the flow of connectedness. The more society relinquishes the trappings of the external surface of our world, the more connected we shall be.

So come on everybody! Get ready to hold your nose, close your eyes, and leap into the sea of spiritual connectedness!

Neptune is already waving from the distance, telling us to dive in, the water’s fine.

Neptunian Cultural Update, 11/3/2011 - This article discusses the importance of exposure to classical music at a young age, which for many from my generation came about by watching classic cartoons. I predicted in this piece that with Neptune entering Pisces, classical music would be re-introduced to the cartoon medium, video games and whatever other prominent piece of electronics that are/will be the current rage over the next 14 years. Over the course of 2011 alone, more and more of the cultural world is recognizing the critically important role classical music plays in the medium of the cartoon by having many of this country’s and Canada’s finest philharmonic orchestras such as Cleveland, Fort Worth, San Francisco, Baltimore, Nashville, LA, Vancouver, and Toronto give concert evenings of live orchestral performance entitled, “Bugs Bunny Goes To The Symphony”, or simply, “What’s Up, Doc?”. Similarly, on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, Neptune is fluidly re-emphasizing the importance of the cartoon as a tool of expression for its influence over the highest forms of art when The Brooklyn Philharmonic presented an evening of Russian Cartoon music. I was stunned to see that the program listed a score written by one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Dmitri Shostakovich, for the 1939 children’s cartoon, “The Silly Little Mouse”. Feeling rusty with your classical music knowledge? Watch this article’s video, the incomparable “What’s Opera Doc?” a live screening at the historic Hollywood Bowl of the Warner Brother’s cartoon, with its accompanying score of epic Wagnerian proportions played by The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

A Live Concert Performance of What’s Opera Doc? at The Hollywood Bowl

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Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever / Part III: Neptune’s Tsunami Of Aesthetic Glory, The Romantic Era

Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever

Part III: Neptune’s Tsunami Of Aesthetic Glory, The Romantic Era

By Brad Kronen

Millais' "Ophelia", One of the best examples of Romantic High Art where Neptune's most powerful influence over Man is captured, The Self being fully immersed into "The Other".

“Ertrinken. Versinken. Unbewusst, Hochste Lust!” –
“To drown. To fully submerge. Unconscious, Utmost Ecstasy!”

-The final words from one of the best examples of Neptunian aesthetics from the Romantic Era, Richard Wagner’s 1856 masterpiece,”Tristan Und Isolde”.

 

Wuthering Heights. Frankenstein. Faust. The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. The Raven. The Flight of The Valkyries.

What do the above all have in common? Each of the transmutations your mattress underwent those choice times you went above and beyond your comfort zone for being intoxicated? Hmmm, maybe, but that response no matter how valid at the time, is still far too personalized.

The above are some of the best examples of High Art created during that particular time period of heightened human creativity better known as The Romantic Era, which occurred during the decades immediately following the year Neptune was officially discovered in 1846.

From a historical perspective, anything which defines a particular time of human history, be it art, architecture, clothing, political propaganda, hair styles, or even enlightening yet side splitting articles from your most admired of astrologers, CAN NEVER BE REMOVED FROM, OR TAKEN OUTSIDE OF, THE CONTEXT FROM WHICH IT WAS CREATED.

This rule is Universal, meaning planetary gas-balled giants of the bluish-green variety are not exempt! With anything concerning the watery planet, this contextual classification is critical due to the straight-jacketed way Neptune’s fluid nature slides unevenly back and forth between scientists, centuries, even technological innovations, leaving a path of boundary-less frustration and extremely unclear deductions in its hazy and heavily foamed wake.

As we saw in Part II, there were more than a few times when the watery planet’s waves came critically close to breaking over the seawall of Man’s conscious awareness, but despite its trickling through humanity’s fingers during those close calls of planetary discovery, the Law of Context dictates Neptune’s waters are forever pinned in the bell jar of Man’s Knowledge of the Working Universe with a base placard labeled “1846”.

Part of Neptune’s karmic legacy for us on Earth is that the watery planet was DESTINED to be discovered in the year 1846. For as above, is below.

The “As Above, Is Below” Conditional Effect Behind the Discoveries of the Generational Planets

It’s no coincidental cosmic fluke that Uranus, the planet which in Astrology embodies the archetypal energies of anarchy and rebellion, was discovered in the year 1781, smack dab in the middle of 2 of the bloodiest revolutionary wars in Western History, the American in 1776 and the French in 1789. Nor can one say it was simply a matter of random cosmic timing that the planet which astrologically oversees all things taboo, forbidden, subconscious, and power obsessive, Pluto, was discovered in the year 1930, a time when organized crime was reaching the height of its power over American society by controlling anything made illegally taboo through prohibition and when the collective subconscious of entire countries were being brainwashed by the growing displays of absolutist power of rising totalitarian regimes in Europe.

Neptune’s Influence Strengthens, Then & Now

The endless volley of debate over the discrepancies behind the discovery of Neptune are greatly reduced to lesser significance when observing how immediately following the date of its discovery on September 23rd, 1846, the watery planet’s influences washed over the Mind of Man, sweeping society’s actions and thoughts far out to the sea of emotionalism, aesthetic inspiration, and instinctual sensibilities. This societal tsunami of Neptunian change can be seen quite clearly in many aspects of mid 19th century society, but nowhere was the watery planet’s power as concentrated and blatantly bold than through the cultural and artistic movement known as The Romantic Era.

Back when I was an incoming junior astrologer, I voraciously digested an awareness of Neptune all at once and only now am I able to see the stupefying subtleties the watery planet’s influences had on our world. As mentioned with the other “generational” planets, the occurrence of their discoveries were reflected tangibly by the societal events and trends happening at that particular moment in Man’s history. I applied the same “as above, is below” theory to Neptune, but mistakenly lumped everything together, thinking the Romantic Movement was the overall societal result due solely to the watery planet’s discovery.

Over and out, Gemini brain buzzes to another unlearned subject to pollenate…..

Fortunately I noticed the error of my mental ways, since these undercurrents of the watery planet’s influences must be applied to the upcoming, astrologically altering times! Neptune’s discovery in 1846 is a catalyst for humanity becoming aware of the watery planet’s existence. However, the all encompassing thrust of Neptune’s influences becoming powerful agents of cultural and artistic change for the residents of Earth came as a result of Neptune’s movement into the sign of its rulership, Pisces, 7 months after its discovery.

We are currently poised at this moment of space and time once more, but with a difference that is both subtle and karmicly ground breaking. Neptune will once again be entering the sign of its rulership, Pisces, as it did during the years of the Romantic Movement, however this will be the first time in Man’s recorded history that Neptune will be entering Pisces after making a full orbital cycle since its discovery.

Perhaps sprinkling a few drops of an overview of how intrinsically Neptunian society became during the watery planet’s last dip in the sign of dippiness might sway your individual sprigs of sea -weed….

The Tsunami Of Aesthetic Glory – Neptune in Pisces

In the decades immediately following its discovery, Neptune the planet literally became “The Other” by transforming into Mankind’s Muse as evidenced by the prolific expressions amongst the highest aesthetic forms of human creativity: Poetry, Opera, Painting, Literature, Ballet, Orchestral Music, Philosophy, & Written Prose. We have come to categorize this tidalwave of High Art that swept over every dimension of culture in the mid to late 19th century as The Romantic Movement, or Romanticism. Astrologically, the range of years that produced the best examples of Romantic ingenuity, from 1846 to 1861, are otherwise known as Neptune’s most recent transit through the sign of its rulership, Pisces.

“The Spontaneous Overflow Of Powerful Feelings”

Romanticism in English Literature is said to have begun with the publication of “Lyrical Ballads”, by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the preface, Wordsworth describes Poetry as a whole as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

A tad Neptunian sounding, no?

The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience and was rooted in the German “Sturm und Drang” movement, which prized intuition and emotion over Enlightenment rationalism.

Beginning with that most Piscean of art forms, Poetry, and eventually washing across every other form of creativity we humans deem as “Art“, The Romantic Movement produced aesthetic works which many within the cultural elite still consider to be the highest standards of creative self expression to this very day.

A short list of just a few of the major innovators of The Romantic Movement emphasizes the cross cultural power the watery planet had over every artistic medium known to society in the mid 19th century:

Emily Dickinson, Marquis de Sade, Ludwig van Beethoven, Goethe, Frederic Chopin, William Blake, Richard Wagner, Mary Shelley, Hector Berlioz, Victor Hugo, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Alexander Pushkin, Robert Schumann, Caspar Friedrich, James Fenimore Cooper, John Everett Millais, Friedrich von Schlegel, Gaetano Donizetti

Romanticism not only stood as a cultural movement in its own right, it also was a communal reaction to the hyper-intellectualized periods which emphasized Man’s Rational Mind that had just previously occurred with The Age of Enlightenment, and were looming soon afterwards with The Industrial Age.

It’s A Daniel Day Lewis Thing…….In Mostly Mutable Form

If I may,can this most humble of soothsayers ask you to per chahnce scroll up a few millimeters northwards, to the listing of Artistic Masters from the Romantic Movement, once again?. Yeah, all of them made stuff and came up with junk during the Romantic Era, but my list is far more stupefyingly cohesive in a Neptunian cultural kind of way….

Wow, give the genius a prize who just shouted “They’re all dead?”

More specifically, they’re all dead Creators of the most sublime artistry from The Romantic Movement, and they were ALL born under any of the 4 mutable signs – Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, & Sagittarius.

As your intrepid astrologer discovered in Part II, all but one of the key players which lead to Neptune’s observational discovery were born under mutable signs, including the man I fully accredit for receiving the laurels of discovering the planet of the intangible by the most intangible of mathematical ways, Piscean, Urbaine Le Verrier.

I have tirelessly tried to relay Neptune’s “fluid” nature by coming up with every watery word known in the English language. Of the 3 astrological “qualities”, Fixed, Cardinal, & Mutable, Neptune’s un-real, intangible, formless, hazy essence can only be housed under the quality known for adaptability, change, and anything considered non-regimen, Mutable.

“As above, Is below” fits in almost too tightly with Neptune, since the mutable planet which rules over the last of the mutable signs, displayed its most potent influence on our world through the numerous examples of some of the greatest works of Art of all time, a majority of which were created by mutable signed artists.

The Quintessential Neptune Captured in Romantic Music and Painting

With SO many examples to choose from of the expressions of High Art created during the Romantic Movement, I thought it best to present 2 of my favorites, from the mediums of Opera and Painting, which to me, embody the impassioned force of artistic inspiration raging in the hearts of artists in every medium during the Romantic Era and also capture that fiendishly difficult to describe and/or pin down through the tangible senses – Neptune’s most influential force over humanity, The Self Being Immersed Completely Into “The Other”.

Both were created within 5 years of each other, the first made 5 years after Neptune’s discovery, in the year 1851.

Ophelia

“When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.”

– The death of Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

English society discovered the detail rich, heavily Neptunian influenced art of John Everett Millais the same year Neptune was discovered, when the young Gemini artist first exhibited his work at London’s Royal Academy in 1846.

Despite having his share of fierce supporters, “Ophelia” (the centerpiece image for this article) was not well accepted upon its completion in 1851. Millais paints one of Shakespeare’s most dramatic moments, which we never actually witness on stage in the play, we only hear about the girl’s tragic demise in retrospect from Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, who witnesses the Neptunian scene from afar.

At the time of her death by drowning, Ophelia’s weak and overly sensitive state of being has been driven thoroughly insane by Hamlet’s relentless mental torture. The young prince constantly questions if his former girlfriend’s virginity is in tact by barraging the fragile girl’s ear with dramatic asides, at one point famously hissing that she should join a very Neptunian establishment, “Get Thee To A Nunnery!”.

By the time Queen Gertrude witnesses Ophelia from afar, she is so mentally removed from reality, that she wanders about in a hazy Neptunian La La Land, singing sing songy rhymes only a child would utter. The thick Neptunian fog of Ophelia’s misperception causes her to miss the branch she was reaching for and fall into her watery grave.

Millais’ portrait captures Ophelia for those few moments where she is uplifted by Neptune’s element, before the very stuff associated with the emotions and any kind of psychosis or altered emotional state drags her down beneath the surface, making her a permanent fixture in her own dream world of death.

The evolved and unevolved powers of Neptune are simultaneously and equally represented in Millais’ painting. One may see the pitiful side of the watery planet, and like Gertrude, regret the “poor wretch” had to even exist, or one can take another route and see a girl in a state of peaceful bliss, who relishes leaving this lonely plane of misunderstood existence as she is immersed to at last be one with Ecstasy, itself.

Liebestod – “The Death of Love”

Many of the Romantic greats looked to the past as a way of expressing their emotional core selves, and, in turn, most of them turned to the Middle Ages, a time filled with magic and uncertainty. This is definitely the case for both “Ophelia” and the “Liebestod” from  the opera,  “Tristan Und Isolde”,  by German Gemini composer, Richard Wagner.

T&I is for the most part “Romeo & Juliet” with a lot of magic thrown in. Instead of the action occurring within Verona’s walls, a more appropos locale would be Hogwart’s School from Harry Potter.

T&I , like R&J,are star crossed lovers, the son and daughter of 2 warring families in ancient Ireland. Whereas Shakespeare’s Friar Lawrence makes remedies and false potions based on his knowledge of herbs, flowers, and plants, the tragic foundation of T&I is purely magical. The Knight and Maiden unknowingly down a magic love potion and with their first gaze of each other, fall hopelessly and helplessly in a state of undying heavenly love!

And when you’re in a state of pure joy due to having your love utterly fulfilled and equally reciprocated – there’s going to be Hell to pay!

The 2 are separated and Tristan being that big Knight of a softie that he now magically is, cannot possibly see any reason in continuing to live if Isolde is nowhere within 500 ft. of his person. His only alternative is to stab himself in the heart. In the process of said ripping one’s own heart to shreds, who should pay a surprise visit but Izzy herself!

Isolde arrives just on time…..only to have her Love of Loves expire in her arms.

Remembering that we are in the R rated version of Harry Potter, Isolde whips up a secret, deadly blend of Love Potion #9, (more like #8, since the 8th House deals with Sex, Death, god like ambrosian drinks and overall bliss) and downs every drop of her poisonous draught.

As her physical self sinks under the poison’s heavy grip, her spiritual self rises with inspiration, knowing she will soon be freed of this veil of tears and will reunite with her Tristan through the complete immersion of Death.

The last musical segment of the opera “Tristan und Isolde” is the “Liebestod”, in English, “The Death of Love”, an aria Isolde sings as she dies in a state of transfixed ecstasy. The father of the modern full scale orchestra, Gemini Richard Wagner, begins the Liebestod with barely a whisper, Isolde sings the opening words with a hushed tone of acceptance, “Mild und Leise” , “Mildly and Quietly”. As Isolde’s consciousness swoons, Wagner’s lush music expands into a sweeping sea of sound, completely surrounding the Irish heroine as she takes her last breath. The words which begin this article are the final things exclaimed by Isolde, as she is washed away into the “utmost bliss” of unconsciousness, surrendering herself completely to the Neptunian “other”, as we, the audience, are swept out to the sea of the sublime with the closing chords and majestic notes that end Wagner’s masterpiece of Romantic genius.

The video version of the “Liebestod” I have chosen is performed by the great Jessye Norman, a soprano who happens to be born under the mutable sign of Virgo. A mutable signed artist interpreting the Neptunian opus of a mutable signed master of music. Ms. Norman’s interpretation of Isolde astounds me every time! For those brave enough to watch the piece in its entirety of 9 whopping minutes, observe the soprano’s face as she sings the final words “Unbewusst, Hochste Lust”. Jessye Norman’s expression is one of total and absolute transcendant bliss.

Doesn’t get more Neptunian than that folks…….or does it?

As during the Romantic Era, Neptune will be traversing through the sign of its rulership, Pisces, come February 4th, 2012 & for the 14 years following. As the watery planet makes its powerful presence known to us more and more, do we:

- deep sea dive into a current of cultural change and establish a new artistic movement that is uniquely ours in the 21st century?

– Or does modern society get swept out to the remote seas of individualized isolation, only to be further fractured by Neptune’s jagged, non-artistic modes of societal influence: chaos, confusion, & deception?

As above, is below……

With Neptune’s condensed background laid before us in Parts I through III, The Fourth and Final installment of Brad’s “Neptune Returns Home” Series will discuss the watery planet’s influences on all of us as a unified whole going forward, as Neptune returns to the sign of its rulership, Pisces, in early 2012 and stays there for the next 14 years.

Jessye Norman Sings The Liebestod From Wagner’s Tristan Und Isolde

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Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever / Part II: Clarity Beneath The Deception Of Discovery

Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever
Part II : Clarity Beneath The Deception of Discovery

By Brad Kronen

According to the Universe, there is no debate as to who discovered Neptune: Le Verrier The Piscean

What good is trying to grab big handfuls of Neptune’s watery essence without approaching the Slick Willy of our Solar System as a unified whole of planetary power and astrological influence? As with any behemoth that holds influence over the actions of Man, we must investigate its source beginnings before analyzing its possible potential to affect our future.

As mentioned in Part I, Neptune rules over all that is Un-real, confusing, and undefined. Based on these “cake walk” areas of human existence, it is practically a set in stone Universal guarantee that the discovery of the watery planet by we squabbling, jingoistic Earthlings in the mid 19th century is a point of confusing contention that still is heatedly argued over to this very day. However, the details of karmic clarity that lie just below the surface layer of hazy debate and miscomprehension are divine affirmations which confirm the potent significance this heavenly body holds for humanity and the influential role it will play forever more in the evolution of Mankind.

“Last Call (or is it the first?), All Aboard the SS Stupefied!”

The year Neptune was discovered? That’s an easy one! It’s the same year Disneyland opened, the Florida one, right?!

I’m sorry.

I totally have it dude! Neptune was discovered around the same time Atlantis sank and basically said to the Universe “Our work here is done.” and that was most righteously during the year 5000 B.C., bro.

Damn Buddy! That was amaz-ummm no.

The answer is it hasn’t happened yet because Lindsay Lohan only recently purchased Neptune and its official discovery year will be when construction is completed for the “Lindsay Lunatic, Or was it Looney Lohan Rehab Centre for Wayward Alien Starlets”.

Smiling very hard while walking away backwards o so slowly……..

When you’re an astrologer, it’s assumed: Any information regarding Neptune is confusing at best and almost never has a standard, “accepted by all” conclusion – ESPECIALLY regarding its discovery!

It was only a few weeks ago that I realized the year 2011 would mark the first time in Man’s recorded history that Neptune would be returning to its ruling sign as well as make its first complete orbital cycle since the date of its discovery in 1846. Since I wrongfully presumed Neptune must have butterfly stroked through the adult sized uber pool that is the sign of Pisces during a not so distant earlier point in time, my Gemini mind went into overdrive and revisited a subject matter I usually left as quickly as I approached, with the same closed eyed iccks as if I had to down a heaping ladle of cod liver oil – the raging controversy behind the discovery of The Watery Planet.

Which continues to this very day….

The unique and thrilling bits which I discovered on my own regarding this very debated-to-bits planetary discovery has left me positively stupefied.

Or, if I could get away with saying it, my piecing together of  the events which led to the discovery of The Watery Planet,  as well as putting an astrological personality behind each of the prominent cast of characters’ names of the men responsible for leading  humanity to that most auspicious day in late September of 1846,

… has left me positively Neptunified. Or should I say, allowing myself to Neptune turn in while also Neptune tune out, has permitted me to come up with my own unique theories as to who should be deemed the rightful discoverer of Neptune.

And I do believe these theories are all firsts of their kind….or I could have recently been given a tidalwave backhand by The Lord of Ocean’s Depths and could be THAT currently delusional and just am not fully cognizant of my Neptunian nuttiness, just quite yet…..

Wen You Say “Discovered”, Do You Actually Mean Discovered?

Remember that whole “ruling over UN-reality” quality Neptune has? You’ll be dazed and confused to know that Neptune was the first planet of its kind to be discovered solely by theoretical deduction, or said another way, Neptune is the first planet of our Solar System discovered through the use of astronomical non-reality, which is to say, the tool of hypothetical intangibility.

Already things sound unnerving, but I must conject, at the same time everything fits so perfectly in a most cosmicly glorious way, when providing description for the planet that calls intangible unreality its home turf!

Although comprehending Neptune’s overall essence has a murky quality that is anything but clear, over the span of a few centuries, various people have independently theorized or mistakenly and unknowingly stumbled upon the existence of the watery planet. Remarkably, although each person deduced every correct portion of the astronomical formula where the grand total at the end of the “=” was the discovery of the planet itself, for various reasons ranging from mistaken identity to outright distraction , none took that final step of follow through and either abandoned or ignored their composited work efforts, all of which led them right to Neptune’s watery door step!

A source of minor debate regarding one of those possible Neptune discoverers, who by far was the first person to technically perform every correct step leading to planetary discovery except actually saying the words, “I think I discovered a planet.”, astoundingly was the one who had the most concrete proof of his work of near planetary discovery AND all without a telescope!! One of many examples of mental genius being displayed despite its clarity spewing from the very bottom of Neptune’s muddiest depths!

Hey, Was That A Planet? Nah, Couldn’t Be!

A smaller portion of discovery debaters insist that Neptune was found over 2 centuries earlier than its official discovery date by a man born under the sign whose domain he is accredited with, the father of modern science, Aquarian Galileo Galilei. On December 28th, 1612, Galileo, for all intensive purposes, found the exact positioning of Neptune, but because of its close proximity to Jupiter during that time of year along with the watery planet newly beginning a cycle of retrograde motion that very same night, he mistook the mighty planet for a fixed star and regardless of making thorough drawings of that particular winter’s night sky, never gave his virtual discovery of a planet’s work a 2nd thought.

The Good, The Badly Distracted, & The Ugly Crybaby

Moving 231 years further down the cosmic pike, a convergence in the time and space continuum occurred between 2 men, each independently hypothesizing that something was off with the orbit of that recently discovered oddball of a planet, Uranus, beginning in the year 1843. From the seeds of these 2 genius minds, whose outer shells were comprised of nothing but intangible mathematical hypotheses, 2 other men of science were thrust onto the world’s stage based on their association and individual work with the intellectual leaps of faith of the original two, all of which stumbled, tripped, and burst together, leading to the night of the watery planet’s observational discovery on September 23rd, 1846. All 4 people were born under 3 of the 4 mutable signs, Gemini, Sagittarius, and one you may have heard me mention a few million times earlier, Pisces. (Thus begins the Mystically Significant portion of Brad’s program, boys and girls).

Gemini John Couch Adams began the chain reaction of planetary discovery in England in 1843, using data that had already been established regarding the erratic orbit of Uranus. At that time, if a person had a burning hunch about a heavenly body, one had to begin a tedious and time consuming process of making official “requests” versus taking a spin to the nearest Observatory to verify things with some of the latest and greatest models of high powered telescopes. When you were an official subject of the United Kingdom (aka a Brit) in 1843, one had to most honorably ask in the most drawn out of flowery language for the “Astronomer Royal” to verify your findings as well as provide whatever latest and greatest astronomical updates which had occurred during the 100 or so years which passed while waiting for a royal response by mail.

Since the Astronomer Royal was technically the astronomical authority in all of Great Britain, he was the final determinant as to who did what work and provided whom with whatever astronomical information was most pressing at the time. Since Adams was a “commoner” and was not familiar with the proper path of request for royal astronomical assistance, he asked his Sagittarian buddy, James Challis, who took over the job of director of the Royal Observatory in Cambridge when his boss, Leo Sir George Airy (unfortunately not an air sign) became Astronomer Royal in 1835, to mention Adams’ ideas to his former boss in order to begin correspondence.

With James Challis’ assistance, a proper path of discourse was established between John Couch Adams and the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy. Although a formal and official gateway of communication was built between Adams and Airy, the dynamic between these 2 major players cannot be categorized as anything BUT Neptunian! Both may have thought they had a working relationship of acquaintanceship with each other, but allow Brad to clarify:

There was no relationship between Adams and Airy, it simply didn’t exist.

The two men are always associated together by default whenever there is debate over the discovery of Neptune, and I actually think both men deceived themselves into thinking they had some sort of working relationship, but these 2 people never met and any attempts made for any kind of direct communication between them was mysteriously thwarted. Being a Gemini, Adams’ mind had revved into a hyperactive frenzy over his initial deductive work regarding Uranus’ orbit, however, when Airy first replied to Adams and asked in more than one letter for further information on Adams’ Uranian orbital theories, they were ignored, and in quintessential Neptunian “I’m just going to act like it doesn’t exist” fashion were not addressed as if Airy never asked Adams for anything to begin with!

Years after the Neptunian discovery wars had ebbed, John Couch Adams was asked why Airy’s multiple requests were blatantly ignored. His response is so thoroughly Neptunian since it is completely matter of fact with an implied assumption that his actions were above reproach. Adams responded that his black hole of non-accounted for, non actions was due to the young Gemini summing up the Astronomer Royal’s requests as “trivial” and not worth even acknowledging their existence.

By the way, if you ever want to perform mental torture that is most effective by being truly cruel – ignore what a Gemini says, it’s tantamount to negating their very existence, since Geminis apply the most worth to their words and communications.

Test my little theory – next time you’re on the phone with one of your Gemini friends or relatives, hang up on them while they’re in mid-sentence, you’ll see what I mean.

The volley of the Neptunian “communication? what communication?” game of negation between Sir George and John Couch Adams resembled a tennis match comprised solely of serving faults at Wimbledon, since Sir George served up his own version of information negation right back into Adams’ court!

The Astronomer Royal never acknowledged Adams’ findings. When push comes to scientific shove, John Couch Adams deserves the credit for starting the process of discovering a trans-Uranian planet by theorizing through mathematics that the irregular nature of Uranus’ orbit most likely was due to the gravitational pull of another heavenly body – close to 2 years before the French mental giant who will be introduced a little later theorized his similar, yet independent, genius hypotheses. Even when the very real and threatening Neptunian competition, Le Verrier, approached Sir George about inputting the mathematical coordinates at the Observatory at Cambridge in order to find the location of what the Frenchman adamently insisted was the discovery location of a new planet, The Astronomer Royal conveniently forgot to mention not only that Adams had more or less deduced similar mathematical findings prior to Le Verrier’s, but that there even was a John Couch Adams at all, in this tidalwave of passive aggressive, retributive non-communication! Here we see one of Neptune’s favorite and most obvious tools of confusion – deception.

Non-acknowledgement of Adams’ truly ground breaking and first of its kind work drove Adams’ Geminian impatience into such a frenzy, he set off to personally visit Sir Airy’s offices to hand deliver the calculations which he originally intimated in his letters of introduction to the Astronomer Royal. Things become incredibly Neptunian for Adams when he was curtly told that Sir George was “unavailable” and again when the scenario of De ja (Verrier) vouz is repeated when Adams attempts a 2nd visit to speak to a very uncurious Sir George a few weeks later. The Gemini genius who had no problem negating other people’s communications is crestfallen when his request to hold audience with the Astronomer Royal is negated a 2nd time as if he never made the effort to see Sir George to begin with. Adams concludes that leaving hard copies of his mathematical hypotheses with one of the Astronomer Royal’s secretaries is the very best he can do.

Meanwhile, over in France………..

While the passive aggressive mushroom cloud of missed mark communication expanded between Adams and Airy, a son of the planet that was soon to be called Neptune was mathematically deducing that all was not c’est magnifique with the orbital path of the planet whose name his people thankfully did not constantly feel the need to reduce to potty humor. Piscean Urbain Le Verrier independently deduced the same mathematical hypotheses Adams had done a few years earlier, but put a smidge more effort into mutable follow through by publishing his thoughts in June of 1846.

Simulataneously skimming across the English Channel…….

Who should be perusing Verrier’s findings whilst sitting on the royal astronomical throne but the Astronomer Royal himself, Sir George not an air sign Airy! Fully aware that the race was officially on with not a second to spare in the impending discovery of a new planet, Sir George summoned his former underling, a certain Sag you may be acquainted with, John Challis, to drop everything and scour the summer evening skies so that England could win the spoils and the credit for discovering the latest and greatest planet known to humanity! Adams is not even asked nor considered to drop everything and assist Challis with the fruitless frenzy that ensues for the next 2 months of blindly stabbing into the dark of outer space with no end result. Adams who?

Unfortunately for England, even if you ask a mutable signed person to drop everything for the purpose of focusing on a single task of the most all encompassing critical importance, they’re still going to manage doing said critical task while simultaneously riding a unicycle while at the same time juggling some wine bottles along with a few Ginsu knives for a little thrill factor.

The Brits insist to this very day that over the course of those 2 summer months in 1846, John Challis observed Neptune not once but four times, but failed to make the proper identification due to “lack of diligence”. Allow me to shed some light as to why there was such a non existent diligence factor, actually I’ll let Challis himself explain since he fire sign whined enough about it in his letters to Airy afterwards. Per Challis, the planetary prize of discovering Neptune was blundered in a major Sagittarian way, why John?:

“I have been greatly mortified to find that my observations would have shewn me the planet in the early part of August if I had only discussed them. … I delayed doing this … chiefly because I was making a grand effort to reduce the vast numbers of comet observations which I have accumulated and this occupied the whole of my time.”

Neptune knows! the multitudes of dinky comets that can get in the way when you’re hell bent on discovering a planet that is 17x larger than Earth!

Being ruled by the planet that revels in telling “the guppy who ends up being the great white shark who got away” tall tale, Jupiter, I must admit I find the regretful sob story of retrospect bad enough, but insisting that Challis came across the planet numerous times over, to me ends up looking like a big ole’ bowl of sour grapes peppered with some very generous portions of poor loser and doused on top with WAY too much Jupiterian exaggeration. (Brad just said the Sag dude pretty much lied.)

Logging In Lateness and Ligntning

Snobishness isn’t just for Brits, boys and girls, there have been rumored cases of it amongst the French as well, cross my heart with Poseidon’s Triton! If Adams’ was perceived to be a snob by his fellow Brits, when the race for Neptune’s discovery commenced, Le Verrier was seen as Lord King Snob amongst his fellow countrymen, and that’s saying a lot, given that 8 out of 10 commoners consider France to be the birthplace of the sterotypical snob! Once again, I must interject by playing Le Advocate de Devil, by stating many Pisceans are often mistakenly perceived to be the most obnoxious of snobs, when in reality, they are desperately trying to cover up their intense shyness and paralyzing fear of having to interact with those they don’t know well.

You say stuck up elitist, I say shy water sign with an inherent lack of social skills, the French intelligentsia called the whole Neptunian thing off no matter how anyone interpreted Le Verrier’s caustic behavior! Realizing that the British were coming and now were surpassing all of his efforts by frenzily searching for the missing planet he had independently deduced, along with garnering no interest or assistance whatsoever from his countrymen, Le Verrier sought help from that ethnic grouping of people that wielded efficiency like a deadly weapon against any kind of force of Neptunian confusion, the Germans.

This particular portion of the discovery connection displays Neptune’s chaotic influence over the motion of time, ranging from the most painfully slow of snail’s paces to a speed more brilliantly fast than lightning.

In the late spring of 1845, German Gemini astronomer, Johan Galle, finished his Ph.D. thesis on meridian transits of stars and planets of which he sent a copy to Le Verrier, who was known as an authority on celestial physics at the time.

Over a year passed.

Be it the extra number of holidays taken by the Parisian post, or most likely, Le Verrier temporarily emerging from his Piscean space case fog to actually notice the physical presence of Galle’s paper or to actually pay attention and absorb Galle’s words this time around, Le Verrier sent back an obscenely overdue reply to Galle who happened to work at the Berlin Observatory, asking if he would be at all interested in checking out this little idea he came up with about the presence of some planet or other.

A little side note, while in Deutschland, I have personally witnessed Germans become FURIOUS over a train being 3 minutes late, the efficiency of time is THAT big a cultural deal in Germany.

Good ‘ole time efficient Galle logged in the time of everything he did it seemed, which adds so much to how totally confusing Neptune can be with the passage of time. He logged in receiving Le Verrier’s bizarrely late, but tangibly received, none the less, response on the 18th of September, 1846.

For all you Pisceans who are habitually late and say you can’t help it, things change mighty quickly when you Fish Kids want something bad enough. Le Verrier must have practically sprinted to the Paris Post Office upon receiving Galle’s prompt response agreeing to investigate his mathematical hypotheses which now contained the actual coordinates regarding the location of a possible new planet, since Galle logs in receiving this momentous 2nd correspondence with the morning mail of September the 23rd, 1846.

Besides having his people’s cultural demand for efficiency within his genes, Galle had the mental and physical speed only someone born under the Mercury ruled sign of Gemini could possess. Galle worked at the Berlin Observatory, but was not in charge of it. Not only did he have to ask permission to be allowed to use the German observatory’s telescopes, approval needed to be given for the purpose of his request, which was denied at first due to an overall Neptunian-like haze that covered the scientific world that highly doubted anything of its kind like the planet Neptune even existed.

Galle boomeranged back, and within the span of a few daylight hours from receiving Le Verrier’s coordinates by mail theorizing that a planet should be at the 26th degree in the sign of Aquarius that morning, was given permission to use the Berlin Obervatory’s 9-inch Fraunhofer refractor telescope to verify Le Verrier’s hypotheses on that very evening of September 23rd, 1846.

Sprinkling Some Cancerian Crab Claw Mix Generously into the Coordinates Concoction…

And Vois-La!….Neptune!

Over the course of that momentous September day, a student of Galle’s was asked to assist with the relaying of the evening sky’s coordinates, Cancerian, Heinrich d’Arrest. D’Arrest made a suggestion that was simple, efficient, and karmicly profound. He suggested comparing their observations with the positions recorded against a very recently made drawing of the night sky called the Hora XXI star chart. When the sky finally darkened to an acceptable level of observation on the evening of September 23rd, 1846, Galle moved and observed the telescopic lens to the pinpoint area of the heavens which translated to Le Verrier’s coordinates. He then called out the coordinates to d’Arrest, who checked them against the star chart.

First attempt – Nothing.

Galle then adjusted the movement of the lens by one degree, to which he breathtakingly observed an 8th-magnitude star. When Galle called out its position, d’Arrest exclaimed, “That star is not on the map!”.

The discovery of the planet Neptune technically occurred in under a half of an hour’s time.

In my predictions for the year of 2011, I mentioned that the countries that had wreaked the most havoc and destruction by war throughout the history of Western Civilization, England, France, and Germany, were all ruled by the sign ruled by the God of War, Aries.

Use your imagination to conjure up the battles of debate that quickly ensued over which scientist, and vastly more importantly, which country that scientist hailed from, deserved the laurel prize of staking claim as the discoverer of this newly found planet after the evening of September 23rd, 1846 and still continue to this very day.

Germany said they found it, then they discovered it.

France said they told Germany where to look.

England told France they came up with the whole thing to begin with.

And so on, and so on, and so on. What must be emphasized is, none of the sparring ever occurred between any of the actual core players involved with the discovery of Neptune. Amongst them, all undisputed credit clearly went to Urbain Le Verrier as the discoverer of this new planet.

This Planet Shall Hereby Be Known as: “The Planet Exterior To Uranus”

The naming of this discovery that stupefied the entire scientific world to its core begins the divine decrees of karmic clarity. Le Verrier was the first approached to name the planet. Most say his first attempt was embarrassingly uncreative, I say it’s thoroughly Neptunian – “The Planet Exterior To Uranus“. For a person who came from a culture that frowned upon any kind of poo poo jokes associated with the planet that was discovered before this one, Uranus, the Pisces’ first naming attempt certainly wouldn’t have helped things in that vein. Brad shudders to think how beyond miserable his world would be if everyone agreed upon Le Verrier’s space case Piscean first choice of a name for his discovery, which would be the butt of every Uranus joke already out there.

When Le Verrier was told to go back to the drawing board, his 2nd naming attempt was certainly acceptable, but too controversial. Professor Haley had just discovered that new comet and named it after himself, why can’t this planet now be called “Le Verrier’s Planet“? Thank Neptune for the controversy amid the chaos!

3 times a winner, folks – and we have NO IDEA why, but out of frustration for his first 2 picks being rejected, Le Verrier impatiently said to just call it “Neptune” and be done with it.

Amidst the din of all the Neptunian confusion and haze, the karmic clarity emerged. For at the same time that Le Verrier pulled the name Neptune out of the air, our distracted Sagittarian friend across the mini-pond was being asked what HE would name this new planet being that he actually observed it first without realizing it, to which James Challis proposed the name, “Oceanus“, a lesser Roman water god.

This new planet was clearly of a watery nature.

The Astrological & Numerological Significance Behind The Discovery of Neptune

Astrologically, there is no doubt as to who deserves credit for the controversial discovery of Neptune for reasons that are both obvious and powerfully esoteric. A sufficient core of the scientific community assign credit to the man who mathematically deduced Neptune’s location and was off by 1 degree. Looking at an Ephemeris for the year 1846, along with Galle’s loggings, Le Verrier was exactly correct given that Neptune indeed was at 26 degrees of Aquarius on the day he hurriedly replied to Galle’s letter. The planet had moved one degree in the time it took for the mail to arrive to Galle in Germany 5 days later.

Of all the key players there is only one who was born under the sign that Neptune rules over – Piscean Urbain Le Verrier. When I verified the birth and death dates of each of the men involved behind the controversy of the discovery of Neptune, I was stupefied in a most Neptunian way when I came upon Le Verrier’s.

Born on March 11th, 1811. (This date will be most noteworthy exactly 200 years later when The Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami occurred off the Honshu coast of Japan, rocking the Earth off its axis and when Neptune and Uranus were positioned at the highly karmic 29th degree of each other’s ruling signs, otherwise known as  Planets being in “mutual reception”.

Died on September 23rd, 1877.

Neptune will both be re-entering the sign of its rulership for the first time in recorded history as well as making its first complete orbit since its discovery over the course of 2011, which marks the 200th anniversary of Urbain Le Verrier’s birth which occurred on the 11th day of March, when the Sun is astrologically placed in the sign ruled by the planet he discovered. The Universe clearly put an end to the debate of Neptune’s rightful human discoverer by marking a man who was born under that planet’s rulership and found it by the most Neptunian of intangible methods, but also by having the date of his exit from this plane of existence be the very same date his planet was discovered – September the 23rd.

Speaking of September 23rd

The discovery of Neptune’s existence fits right in under the domain which that planet rules over astrologically, confusion, but your undaunted astrologer discovered that just like that planet’s surface, diamond like gems of astrological clarity were a mere hair’s length’s distance if one was willing to investigate what lay just underneath the atmosphere of hazy fog.

Just as 2 centuries mark the time between our current Neptunian happenings and the birth of its discoverer, the journey of Neptunian discovery began 2 centuries prior to the actual discovery of our chaotic planet in question. If conditions were slightly different, Neptune would have been discovered in the early 17th century by the man whom we attribute modern science to – Galileo. One of the main reasons why Neptune was both overlooked as well as drew negative reactions from those in science prior to its discovery was the belief that nothing would be found amongst fixed stars.

If we take the thread of each key player’s astrological sign’s quality, and follow it through the Minotaur sized labrynth of confusion through the centuries, we come to a full circle completion at the time of Neptune’s shocking discovery in 1846.

Galileo begins the debated trek. He was born under the fixed sign of Aquarius and correctly finds Neptune, but confuses it as a “fixed” star.

The quality of fixed continues as the force of inhibition behind the discovery of Neptune when the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, who was born under the polar opposite fixed sign of Galileo’s, Leo, ignores John Couch Adams’ initial mathematical hypotheses assuming they would not amount to much given the held consensus of most scientists in the mid 19th century that no other planets existed beyond the orbit of Uranus.

The quality of fixed holds on the longest to anything pre-established. The only quality that Neptune’s fluidity could be housed under is that of multi-dimensional change, Mutable.

With the exception of one, the key players behind the discovery of Neptune were all born under mutable signs – beginning with Gemini John Couch Adams, then Sagittarian James Challis and ending with Gemini Johann Galle to the final source, Piscean Urbain Le Verrier.

The last links of unobvious but finalizing cosmic clarity deal with the last of the mutable signs hitherto unmentioned as well as the person considered the bottom of the totem pole of importance regarding the discovery of Neptune.

I mistakenly assumed the date of Neptune’s discovery, September 23rd 1846, occurred when the Sun was positioned in first degree of Libra. On September 23rd of that particular year, the Sun was in the last and very karmic degree of the 4th and final of the mutable signs, Virgo. Anytime a planet is placed at the 29th or last degree of a sign, it is a karmic indication of high significance. The date of Neptune’s discovery occurred when the heavenly body that astrologically represents enlightenment and illumination, The Sun, was positioned at the 29th degree of the sign of tangibly based details, Virgo, which also is the polar opposite of the sign that Neptune, the planet associated with all things lacking details and intangible, rules over naturally, Pisces.

As we have seen, many confusing factors covered the atmosphere of discovery leading us to September 23rd, 1846. The hazy fog was finally pierced when a mere astronomy student, Heinrich d’Arrest suggested to his mentor they compare their findings to a drawing of the evening sky. d’Arrest is the only one of the key players behind the discovery of Neptune who was not born under a mutable sign. Galle’s star student was born under the cardinal sign of Cancer, the sign which is associated with the night sky due to it being ruled by that heavenly body which Mankind has always been able to see at night without any kind of mechanical assistance, The Moon.

How wondrous is it that the person least involved by association in the raging debate over the discovery of Neptune was born under a watery sign that is associated with the night sky at large, and fully completes the circle by suggesting they use a tool which is exactly what Galileo, who was born under the sign that Neptune was positioned in on that September night in 1846, used the night he came across the slick eel of the Solar System – a drawing of the starry evening sky.

Galileo’s date of birth is February 15th, 1564, which, by the Julian calendar, puts that date into the sign of Neptune’s rulership at 5 degrees Pisces, and by the Gregorian calendar, translates that date as the same place in the sky where Neptune was discovered in 1846, at 25 degrees Aquarius.

Heinrich d’Arrest was born on July 13th, 1822, one day off, but still intrinsically connected to that history altering night in which the boundaries of the Heavens expanded even further outwards when the young Cancerian shouted with joyous disbelief “That star is not on the map!”; since Neptune will be completing its first full orbit since its discovery on this upcoming July 12th, 2011.

Blessed Be.

In Part III of the Cosmic Water Ride, Brad discusses the effect Neptune had on society at the time of its discovery as well as proposes the possible influences the watery planet could have on all of us quite soon, as Neptune is about to enter the sign of its rulership, Pisces.

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Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever / Part I: The Poseidon Adventure

Neptune Returns Home….For The First Time Ever
Part I: The Poseidon Adventure

By Brad Kronen

In Brad's version of the 70's disaster classic, one survives only by the productive use of one's intuition.

Water.

This formless substance has no defined color nor texture, yet it is an imperative component for humanity to both survive and exist.

When our ancient selves created the earliest archetypal structure of the Forces of Life which reside outside of Mankind’s control, the 2nd most powerful personality in the most primitive pantheon of Gods was The Lord of All Things Watery. How is it then, that as time progressed, the divine being who controlled the Seas and the Rain and whose power was 2nd only to the supreme King of Deities, dissolved by virtue of his physical presence, so that modern man possesses only a mere handful of myths dealing with the God of Water?

“Ever”.

A simple word in the English language that bears heavy significance by its implication of a condition that has never previously existed or of one that shall never exist again. This simple word is frequently used in the modern day, yet almost never in its proper context.

Taking into consideration the preceding thoughts, I would like to make an announcement in the most karmicly profound of deliveries to all living creatures within the known Universe:

“ON FEBRUARY 4TH OF 2012, THE PLANET NAMED AFTER THE ROMAN GOD OF WATER, NEPTUNE, WILL BE ENTERING THE SIGN OF ITS RULERSHIP, PISCES, AND ON JULY 12TH, 2011, WILL COMPLETE ITS FIRST ENTIRE ORBITAL CYCLE SINCE ITS DISCOVERY IN 1846 FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN MANKIND’S RECORDED HISTORY.”

Many, if not most, may be left unphazed by my intergalactic announcement. Some of you may be thinking “What’s the big deal about stuff happening to a distant ice ball in outer space?”

Neptune is technically the planet which is furthest from our Sun (Pluto’s highly erratic orbit brings it within closer Solar proximity than Neptune’s) and it takes 165 Earth years for this coldest of planets to fully orbit around the center of our Solar System. However, since this gas giant’s orbit extends well beyond Saturn’s, the planet whose location in the Cosmos ancient Man considered to be the end of the Universe, Neptune, along with Uranus and Pluto, is categorized as a “generational planet”. In other words, the planetary changes which Neptune experiences are astrologically believed to have a generational influence, or when re-worded from a more societal slant, changes affecting the planet Neptune astrologically can affect entire generations of those who reside on planet Earth.

The upcoming Neptunian changes are HIGHLY significant for us as a societal whole, since not only will Neptune’s energies be their most strongly felt by the denizens of Earth, especially those born under the element of water (most especially those water signs whose planetary ruler is Neptune, aka Pisces) but this will also be the first time these naturally strong Neptunian influences will be occurring amongst entire generations within the civilized construct of today known as post-modern Man!

A deep sea tumbleweed slowly swishes by………

Even I, your astrological announcer of Universal Zeitgeists, discovers hitherto unknown and oftentimes stupefying deeply hidden treasure chests of information whenever I need to research anything regarding the 4th largest planet by diameter in our Solar System. Although Neptune’s fluid nature does not allow any kind of “set in stone”, defined categorization, some basic astrological premises as well as a few astronomical statistics must be relayed in order to begin comprehending how darkly deep the influential waters of the 3rd largest planet in our Solar System by mass lie within the psyche of Modern Man.

Neptune 101

If it were even possible for Brad to boil down the essence of that watery planet which, of itself, is truly undefinable, 5 words come to mind:

“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.”

OK, Technically, there were actually 3 boiled down words since a double repetition was used for dramatic emphasis, but overall, I… (record player needle shockingly being ripped across vinyl)

HOLY POSEIDON, DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN??!! EVERYTHING GETS SO FREAKING CONFUSING WHENEVER DISCUSSING ANYTHING NEPTUNIAN!!

- In Astrology, each planet within our Solar System bears influence or “rules” over a particular area or domain of Earthly existence. Neptune rules over that which is intangible as well as anything dealing with UN-reality. Simple enough, right?

- That is NOT to say that Neptune isn’t ever or can never be associated with the human senses! It is….but only when our senses are turned inside out and observing from the outside in. Isn’t Neptune a snap?!

- The greatest psychological pull Neptune has on the collective unconscious of Mankind is the desire for the Self to completely be immersed in “The Other”. Depending on the kind of karmic route taken, “The Other” can be some of the most life affirming aesthetic or mystical experiences, or “The Other” can be some of the most deadly aesthetic or mystical experiences. Natch!

Bell Buzzer Blaring.

This concludes our Neptune 101 overview survey. Good-bye.

Since none of you have even attempted getting up from your chairs, let alone leave the building, and since the only audible responses to be heard were some very distant and confused “Whuhhhhhhhhhhh?”‘s, we’ll dedicate a smidge more attention to the pre-requistes which comprise Neptune 101, but for extra credit only, considering how upfront and straightforward Neptune’s energies are, (hacking cough).

Did I also happen to mention that Neptune is closely associated with the psychologically delusional conditions of projection and denial? No, but you’re simultaneously responding that all of you figured that out already? See? I told you this Neptunian stuff was just one big planetary piece of cake!

Neptune 101 – Brad’s Version

During the Holiday Season of 2010, I published 12 separate articles for each sign of the Zodiac and called the entire grouping of my Astrological Christmas love slaps, “Goodwill Towards Men” Horoscopes. In my article written to the sign of Pisces entitled “Riding The Waves Of Vishnu’s Dream“, I not only gave the sign that is ruled by Neptune a karmicly big “fish head’s up!” by giving them an early press release of Neptune’s next stop on his Intergalactic Tour of Soul Submersion (aka, their sign), but did a Cliff Notesesque rundown of my personalized version of “Neptune 101″. To quote myself:

“I’ll be the first to admit, I am no friend of that blue greenish gas ball! Most astrologers do not prescribe to my theoretical belief which considers Neptune THE most challenging astrological planetary force – BY FAR! Let me explain.

Neptune is the planet of UN-reality. Anything Neptune touches or is near becomes hazy, fuzzily glossed over, or is viewed with the same camera that was doused in Vaseline whenever fellow Piscean Liz Taylor filmed any of her “White Diamonds” commercials – the view is THAT distorted! Neptune oversees illusion, fantasy, deception, and addiction amongst other power players in the negative spectrum. Conversely, Neptune rules over such positive things such as Psychic Abilities, Unconditional Love, Charity for the Underdog and Downtrodden of the World, Spirituality that is Universal, as well as the highest of Aesthetics or Art Forms.

In either spectrum of positive or negative, evolved or unevolved, Neptune’s strongest power over the psyche of Man which I consider to be one of the most dangerous of any of the planets’ influences is the need for the Self to escape reality and lose itself in “The Other”.

“The Other” when applied in the positive spectrum could be losing oneself while dancing ballet, singing opera, doing volunteer work for your favorite charity, studying Astrology or Tarot, taking a Yoga or Meditation class, keeping a dream journal and training the mind to remember more and more of your heightened dream states, going on retreat to a Buddhist monastery or with the cloistered Sisters of St. Clare, etc.

When applied in the negative spectrum, “the Other” transmutes to actions and things which the modern human can in theory lose oneself in, but are also brain cell destructive and potentially life threatening such as drugs, alcohol, video games, soap operas, television, pornography, sexual compulsion, etc.

To bring that astrological point across as harshly as I can: Neptune’s power in the negative spectrum that successfully pulls a person to completely lose oneself in the “Other” can also be described as a 25 year old dying from an overdose of heroine, or the unemployed person who jumps from a bridge due to their annebriated brain thinking there was no other alternative.”

“Karmicly tricky “does not even scratch the surface of trying to impart the power of Neptune!”

One of the best books I have ever read just happens to be one of the best resources for all things Neptunian. Liz Greene’s phenomenal book, “Neptune: The Quest For Redemption” discusses the astrological importance of such factors as the implications of Neptune’s positioning in one’s natal chart, but also discusses the effect Neptune’s influences have had throughout the history of Mankind sociologically, religiously, aesthetically, etc.. By looking at the Universe through a Neptunian lens, Liz Greene has endowed to us an opus of knowledge that relays Neptune’s role in overseeing humanity’s need for such things as : charity, spirituality, A Saviour or Messiah, martyrdom, self effacement, escapism, addiction, mysticism, intuition, the occult, High Art, and, of course, Redemption, amongst other things.

To make one last attempt at swiping up some basic comprehension handfuls of Neptune 101 fluid, I’d like to take one big basic step back as well as one theoretical leap forward, which hopefully will make me thoroughly soaked!

Brad Directed “The Poseidon Adventure”, Really?

Although Neptune has the quality of the slickest of eels whenever trying to fathom this planet’s core essence, the most basic of foundations should always be applied. In Brad’s version of the Poseidon Adventure, the story did not unfold with Shelley Winters elbowing her way to the front of the line saying she could hold her breath the longest, it began with one simple word, “Water”. EVERY astrological implication or philosophical interpretation involving Neptune must have a watery feel or essence at its core! There are 4 elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Neptune is a watery planet that rules over the last of the water signs, Pisces. In astrology, “water” as a term is more or less interchangeable with a particular kind of thing which is thoroughly human – Emotion. A water signed person’s inherent reaction to any kind of external stimuli from the outside world is “to feel” first and foremost. We must always remember, HUMAN EMOTIONS ARE NOT RATIONAL AND ARE A FORCE OF NATURE UNTO THEMSELVES! Many people, including a curious number of males who just happen to be born under the element of water, will convince themselves emotions aren’t THAT big a deal. To that, I simply present before them a picture of The Grand Canyon, an almost alien-like world created by erosion, a process where entire land masses are altered based on the flow of naturally running water, which by the way, is also a natural by product of human emotion (with a little saline mixed in to remind us of Neptune’s domain).

Although my Adventure doesn’t end with Ms. Winters’ demise a la The Death of Shamu, it DOES close this first part of the voyage with Gene Hackman! In the awesome underwater action film, “The Poseidon Adventure“, which in my opinion is the epitome of that particularly fascinating, but short lived film genre which Brad categorizes as the 1970′s “disaster” film (“The Towering Inferno“, “Earthquake!“, Any of the randomly yeared “Airport” movies or anything with Karen Black in the cast), Gene Hackman plays a fallen preacher who fights against the rational consensus by using his powers of intuition to find a safe passageway for himself and a small party of people he persuades out of a doomed ocean liner which has been overturned by a massive New Year’s tsunami. At the end of the film, we come to see that only a small handful of passengers from the SS Poseidon survive the depth defying journey, and they are those who trusted their intuition, even when it defied anything that appeared life saving in a most obvious, rational way.

Gene Hackman’s character is not on the small list of intuitive survivors. His beyond obstinate manner of viewing any given problem or solution with a “set in stone”, all knowing perspective is both his hubris and the source of his character’s very Neptunian untimely end. Towards the film’s finish, the preacher’s party is thrilled knowing they are so close to reaching the bottom of the ship (which is now the top), when suddenly, all movement is thwarted due to a hatch valve being stuck in a pocket of beyond boiling water.

The fallen preacher realizes the only way the group can continue and in effect be saved, is by the loss of one. In a renewed baptism of water heated to the level of fire and brimstone, the preacher sacrifices his entire being by throwing himself onto the valve and into the boiling pool of self immolation, allowing the others to escape an impending watery death. Even though freedom above the water to the clear light of rationality was within reach, all was lost for the preacher due to his inability to let go, shut up, and allow the Universe to be his guiding force.

Only recently, I came upon one of the best descriptions of the influential power of Neptune. It said that Neptune can be likened to a blind person who may not be able to see what is directly in front of them, but can experience the world in ways which those with functioning sight could not possibly fathom.

The Universe will be giving all of us some powerfully compelling changes in the near future. Soon, Neptune will wield its influential power of persuasion to Modern Man in the clearest of ways: by acting as both our Universal Ambassador of Spirituality as well as taking the form of the deadly sea monster of myth, the Siren, who seductively sings from far out to sea, summoning us to finally free ourselves from the shackles of Earthly existence by embracing her and completely submerging deep beneath the murky ocean waves. As Neptune sails ever closer to its home waters, from here on in, we must trust the workings of the Universe while also accepting nothing at face value nor assume we are perceiving anything in its entirety from the water’s surface level.

In Part II, Brad will relay his recent discoveries regarding the controversy that still rages over the discovery of Neptune and how even in that sticky liquid, there is a divine decree that lies beneath the tempestuous waves of debate that is very applicable to the watery planet’s upcoming passage to its ruling sign as it comes into making its first complete orbital cycle since its discovery in 1846!

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Whitney Houston : Despite The Greatest Love Of All

Whitney Houston: Despite The Greatest Love Of All

By Brad Kronen

May the soul of Whitney Houston find The Greatest Love Of All which she sang about during her time on Earth.

“Then from his eyes, Spring fire flies. Breathing Life, Into a roaring disguise.” – S. Sioux, “The Killing Jar”

These are trying times in which we live. From a battered economy which refuses to budge from non-growth to a ruling body of government whose only productivity seems to be dissent from within, our scope of the future seems cloudy at best.

According to the Law of Duality, nothing is all good or bad. Everything in the Universe has the potential to express a positive, or in karmic terms, “evolved” side and, just as equally, a negative, “unevolved” side can be tapped into as well.

The planet Neptune and anything under its domain is no exception to this cosmic rule. But with the heavenly body named after the god of the ocean’s depths having very recently crossed into its native waters otherwise known as the sign of Pisces on February 4th, the dualistic perspective of the world still applies, except now, the polar ends of opposition are at their utmost extreme.

Ask astrologers which planet has the most detrimental influence over we residents of Planet Earth and almost every one will reply with one of 2 responses – Saturn or Pluto.

I do not concur with either.

In my opinion, the planet whose energies hold the highest threat to the human condition is that heavenly body which oversees such potentially dangerous things as Un-reality, escapism, deception, illusion, and addictions of every kind – Neptune. To be fair, in dualistic counterbalance, Neptune also rules over those soul sustaining and life affirming things such as unconditional love, spirituality which surpasses any kind of organized religion, charity – especially those which help the lowest level of society’s underdogs, along with the highest forms of artistic, “Muse-like” aesthetics.

Since February 4th and for the next 14 years ahead, we will be hearing quite a lot from these Neptunian themes, both light and dark, evolved and unevolved. In the 4th installment of my 4 part series entitled, “Neptune Returns Home: For The First Time Ever” which I penned exactly a year ago last week, I made the following societal prediction:

“It’s been said that Evil is the absence of Light. I see it also as the absence of connection. I won’t pretend by saying Neptune’s upcoming travels through Pisces will be a glide through the kiddie pool, rough waters lie ahead for many.

The next decade will also most likely see an alarming increase in the number of suicides, drug overdosed deaths, sex crimes, and ritualistic murders – all of these brought about by those being pulled by Neptune into “The Other” of that which is dark, desolate, and completely un-connected.”

It must be noted this is not Neptune’s first re-visit into its home waters. Neptune entered Pisces in 2011 and went retrograde back into the sign of Aquarius before entering its home turf once and for all this most recent February 4th. What must not be overlooked are the occurrence of 2 recent events, both similar in theme and both taking place when Neptune was at the first degree, or 0 degrees of its own sign. Since both events happened when The Lord of The Ocean’s Depths was positioned at the first degree of its own sign, they each serve as Neptunian calling cards of warning to society at large.

The first was the drug and alcohol caused death of a celebrity born in the sign of Neptune’s polar opposition when Virgo Amy Winehouse died on July 23rd, 2011.

The second is the death of a celebrity born with Neptune as her chart ruler and with Pisces as her Ascendant when Whitney Houston left this world yesterday afternoon.

The cause of Ms. Houston’s death has not been confirmed, but from an astrological perspective, the singer’s demise cannot be anything but Neptunian, given that Neptune was her chart ruler since she was born with the Ascendant, or Rising Sign positioned in the sign of Pisces, as well as her natal Neptune was placed in the sign of death, Scorpio, in its ruling 8th House, otherwise known as the House of Death, along with the fact Neptune had just newly entered its own sign one week prior to her passing.

This is most definitely not to say that those who have their natal Neptune in Scorpio, or Neptune in the 8th House, shall die anytime soon! (Should a sudden palpitation of panic still occur, please refer to the previous sentence and repeat aloud to oneself a minimum of 5 times.)

With many sudden deaths, a holistic picture needs to be painted astrologically, which involves the person’s birth or natal planets and how they were influenced or angled by the positioning of each of the planets in the sky at the time of their death. Here are some of the more prominent astrological features involving Whitney Houston, her natal chart, and the current mapping of the heavens as they were on February 11th.

WH Leo Sun opposed by the Sun in Aquarius – Whitney Houston was born a Leo, the fire sign ruled by the Sun. All of the fire signs, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, have had a rather rough go of things for an extended period of time due to the retrograde or backwards motion of the fiery planets for 80% of the calendar year of 2010, ¼ of 2011, and the first 1/3 of 2012. The fire signs are “action” oriented, and with the fiery planets having an extended dynamic of non-forward motion, many a fire sign has not been feeling their action-oriented self for quite some time, due to listlessness, exhaustion, and a general sense of being unmotivated to “do” anything. This was especially so for Ms. Houston given that all this week, the present day Aquarian Sun was in opposition to her natal Leo Sun, further flaring that pervasive sense of unenergized malaise and overall Retrograde blah to be acutely felt more than usual. Unfortunately, the fire signs, especially those used to being in full control and royal-like leadership, aka LEOS, do not take this retrograde business lying down and simply allow the world to unfold around them. The inability to freely go into action creates within far too many a Leo an overall sense of frustrated irritation, where the fire sign’s internalized agitation makes it close to impossible for them to partake in the most beneficial non-activity during retrograde times like these – rest.

Mars Retrograde Exactly Conjunct WH’s Vertex – The planets which rule over the fire signs that periodically move into retrograde cycles are Mars and Jupiter. Jupiter was in an extended retrograde cycle in 2011 from August until the day after Christmas, December 26fh of last year and soon after ringing in 2012, Mars went into its own extended retrograde cycle, beginning on January 24th continuing until this upcoming April 14th. Mars is the ruler of Aries and I personally call The Red Planet, “the planet of the body”. Mars rules over our physical drives – how hot we get, how hungry we are, how fast or clumsy we can be, how motivated we become by factors such as sex or competition, and most general but quite crucially, how energetic we are overall. The pilot flame of every fire sign has been at the lowest of flickers for quite some time, but especially so these days with Mars in yet another retrograde cycle.

Although the toxicology portions of Ms. Houston’s autopsy will not be made known for a number of weeks, some of the latest updates regarding the state of her death have been given by her bodyguard, who stated he came upon the singer in the bathtub of her hotel room, where he states at first look, she appeared to have drowned. According to her doctors, Whitney was prescribed the anti-anxiety drug, Xanax, whenever she had to make a major public appearance. Witnesses state she had been drinking heavily over the course of her stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In what may have been a ritualized regimen of preparation for a spotlighted public appearance, could very possibly have gone in a very different dynamic direction considering the current astrological climate of the Mars Retrograde along with the Sun opposition. Instead of calming her usual reaction of nervous anxiety before a big appearance, the overall astrological atmosphere along with the intake of Xanax and alcohol may have relaxed Ms. Houston to such an extent, that her body could very well have immediately descended into a state of long overdue deep sleep upon drawing her bath.

A Pattern of Demise Amongst The Most Fondly Loved Fire Signs of Highest Fame

Here it must be noted that an astrological event occurred 4 years ago that bears a striking similarity to Ms. Houston’s passing, but with some key karmic differences. Much like today’s astrological climate, in 2008, the Sun was in Aquarius and Mars was in a retrograde cycle, and then as now, a much beloved and immensely talented celebrity was taken from this world far too early. Like Whitney, this artist of renown was a fire sign, an Aries to be exact, and as Time will most likely tell, both performers expired from the same overall cause of mixing alcohol with anti-anxiety medication during a period of extended agitated unrest, resulting in both of their rest-deprived bodies to react most aversely. To this day, I use the death of acting great Heath Ledger on January 23rd of 2008 as a prime example to warn every fire sign against the dangers of making themselves busier during a Mars retrograde cycle, where they falsely convince themselves that the addition of being actively busy will remedy their physical Retrograde state of chronic listlessness and near non-existent motivation.

But where Heath Ledger’s untimely end acts as a moral tale of cosmic warning to all of society, most particularly those born under the element of Fire, the deaths of both Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse serve as cosmic markers as The Lord of The Ocean Depths enters a 14 year period of having the most powerful of planetary pull over those of us who reside on Earth.

A Death Heavy With Neptunian Influences

As stated earlier, Whitney Houston was born with the Ascendant, or Rising Sign placed in the sign of Pisces. The sign in which one’s Rising Sign is placed at the time of a person’s birth determines which planet shall hold the most influence and karmic importance over the course of that person’s current life cycle on this plane of existence. In other words, the planet which rules over One’s Rising Sign is known as “The Chart Ruler”. Whitney Houston’s chart ruler was The Lord of the 7 Seas, Neptune, given the singer was born with Pisces Rising. When the chart ruler is determined, the positioning of the chart ruling planet in a person’s chart should bear a strong amount of influence at various times throughout said person’s current life cycle. Whitney Houston’s chart ruler would play the most significant role at the time of her death, given her natal Neptune was placed in the sign of death, Scorpio, and positioned in the House which Scorpio naturally rules over, the 8th House, otherwise known as the House of Death.

Neptune’s influence is already beyond significant with what’s been discussed so far, but the life, and just as importantly, the death of Whitney Houston transcends to a cosmic event for all the world to mark and remember when further considering the current placement of Neptune in the Heavens, as well as taking into big-pictured consideration that a highly karmic point involving the fiery portion of her astrological self was activated at the exact moment of her death, “The Vertex”.

Over the next 14 years, the world which we know shall greatly alter as Neptune transits through the sign of its rulership, Pisces. In my 4 part series entitled, “Neptune Returns Home, For The First Time Ever”, I discussed the effect the watery planet had on we Earthlings when it was discovered by the non-tangible method of mathematics which led to its physical discovery on September 23rd, 1846, to the sweeping societal effect the planet had on Western Culture at large when Neptune last entered its ruling sign of Pisces 7 months following its discovery, from 1847 until 1861, a period otherwise known as “The Romantic Movement”, when a vast majority of the best examples of every medium of Art were created.

Our world has the potential to experience a veritable Renaissance of Art and Culture that would be of a futuristic, global mindset with Neptune returning to its same position of optimal planetary influence above us during the next 14 years. But remembering The Law of Duality, there is an equal amount of potential for the structure of modern society to be completely dissolved by the eroding waves of escapism, delusion, and individualized self obsession caused by Neptune’s equally powerful planetary pull of unevolved influence.

At the moment of Whitney Houston’s death, Neptune was placed at the first degree, or the 0 degree of its ruling sign of Pisces, just as it was when Amy Winehouse died. When applying transiting Neptune in the current skies as it entered its own sign to Whitney’s chart, the watery planet’s presence is keenly intensified, given that 0 degrees Pisces falls practically in the middle of Houston’s natal 12th House, the House which Pisces and Neptune naturally rule over.

Ms. Houston’s artistry was dearly loved by most of the populace on this planet, but we must not forget the incomparable singer’s life had long been catapulting in a downward spiral. A spiral which was given dynamic motion by the most unevolved influences of Neptunian disconnection: addiction, escapism through drugs and alcohol, vanity which bordered on self obsession, as well as a total disregard of consideration for others, amongst other things. The unbearable disintegration and veritable absence of her once magnificent singing voice along with her obstinate denial of the reality that was her current Life was proof that Neptune, and not the Sun, oversaw Whitney Houston’s life path at the time of her death.

This is further reinforced by an astrological factor which played a significant role at the time of the artist’s death. The Vertex is for the most part completely overlooked by most astrologers, but due to the Universe making me keenly aware (by brass knuckled force) of its heavily karmic existence in my own natal chart through the life events and people fatedly placed upon it, I have no choice but to always be cognizant of its presence. Karmicly short and sweet, The Vertex is simply “a karmic cause and effect point” in a person’s natal chart, which could have a million definitions as to what exactly that means per million birth charts. Fascinatingly, The Vertex is determined mathematically and does not hold an actual place in the material plane, but it holds a highly karmic symbolism for each person’s soul. At the moment when Whitney Houston left this world on February 11th, the planet which had been causing so many annoying obstacles and physical challenges by being in Retrograde motion, Mars, was exactly conjunct the singer’s Vertex.

Exactly interpreting what that means for Ms. Houston and for us is not possible, since The Vertex is both highly karmic for the individual and powerfully cosmic with Universal meaning should there be a planet of significance positioned right next to it when a person either enters or exits this world.

I personally interpret this subtly overlooked astrological feature as a sign that regardless the cause of death, Whitney Houston was destined to leave this world yesterday, and her exit from this plane of existence acts as a calling card from the planet Neptune itself. A calling card which dualisticly serves as a marker of both warning and hope to all the world: It warns us as a hint of what shall come to further pass should society continue down its current path of erosion, eventually drowning in the choppy waves of unevolved disconnectedness. But from an opposing perspective of extreme duality, the death of Whitney Houston also serves as a marker of hope for the world’s potential going forward. A cosmic marker meant to guide the soul’s path of each person on this planet towards the warming waters of that which this abundantly gifted artist so eloquently sang about during her time on this plane of existence, “The Greatest Love Of All”.

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Celebrity Spotlight – It’s in the Stars

Stanley Behrens    12/19/46 – 10:00 pm, Bronx, New York

Stanley Behrens is a Sagittarius with a Virgo rising. His North Node is in Gemini in the 10th House of Career, which means that his destiny is to master learning how to communicate his wisdom with all people and to make a career doing this. In many lifetimes, he has been an explorer, traveling to distant lands and socializing with the natives of those regions, learning their cultures through colorful experience and adventure. This lifetime is all dedicated to master writing, speaking, and to sense when people are ready to hear his solutions and how to present them in the right way so that he’s understood correctly. Optimistically seeing life as fun and spontaneous is a strong gift – which he relies on to help him in the music industry. Having had lifetimes of traveling is what enables him to spend most of his life on the road touring and performing with such famous musicians and groups like War, Canned Heat, Ruth Brown and Bonnie Rait.

His life purpose of writing with and without lyrics will be the way that he communicates to all people – invoking emotion working with Willie Dixon and Cash McCall and contributing to the classic sounds that you hear on Alice Coopers albums. Having Jupiter and Venus in Scorpio in the 3rd house is what gives him extra luck and money in the communications industry which has manifested itself in playing harmonica, saxophone and flute on many TV Show and Movie Soundtracks – some of them being ‘My Name Is Earl’ and ‘The Rum Diaries.’ Continue reading

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Love & The Angels

Wendy Allamby

Post by Wendy Allamby

Ahhh….L’amour.  February is a time that evokes images of romance and what can only be described as the most powerful force on earth; LOVE.  C’est magnifique!

It makes our soul sing and our heart skip a beat.

As I’m sure we all have heard, true love begins with the self.  Now I’m not suggesting that you will get butterflies in your stomach whilst admiring yourself, just that you shall have a nice healthy dose of self-appreciation & self-worth for example.

Try looking into a mirror at the reflection staring back at you and being able to say those three little words ‘I love you’.  If this exercise is challenging for you, I like to advise my clients to  ‘fake it ‘till you make it!’  The more you practice taking those baby steps towards self-love, the more you will begin to feel it and eventually believe it.  You can also tell yourself (in the mirror) how proud you are of yourself, how you appreciate your kindness or how grateful you are for choosing to take that beautiful walk in nature.  Treat yourself with some flowers or one of the many self-care items at Mystic Journey Bookstore like romantic rose incense, rose quartz crystals and candles. Continue reading

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Death, The Great Beyond

By Sylvie Steinbach

Ben Breedlove passed away on Christmas night 2011 at 18 years old after his heart finally gave up, a week after sharing on the web videos about his 3 prior near-death experiences, turning the series into a prophetic and spiritual farewell that went viral around the world. Ben suffered from a heart defect that made his young life fragile and uncertain; in his visual testament, he describes the bright light following him, when as a child, he was being rushed in the hospital hallway with his mother by his side even though she did not seem to notice anything unusual except her son smiling along the way. Ben continues on, sharing his feelings about the place of Peace he visited, adding he can’t find the words to describe and how that experience made him want to not ‘wake-up’ again…

Around 250,000 Americans’ hearts stop beating in any given year and 95% of them will not come back to life. Cold therapy, a method of inducing hypothermia to resuscitate a patient after a heart attack has been proven to increase the odds for a full recovery by slowing down the death process on the cellular level. Thus this revolutionary technique leads to an increasing number of resuscitated individuals who were technically ‘dead’ and who share, like Ben, similar feedback of ‘conscious death memories’ that now triggers an important medical issue: how can unconscious, ‘dead’ patients have memories of their stay at the hospital for example? Some of those people reported conversations between doctors and nurses as the staff was working on their dead body while others described specific objects set in the emergency room even though they were officially ‘flat line’.

Continue reading

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How To Really Lose Weight: a spiritual and practical approach

A few weeks ago, on the first of January, many of you may have set a New Year’s Resolution to lose some weight (or size, really a much better barometer, since muscle is denser than fat) and finally achieve your goals of getting fit. Or maybe you think about it all year. Either way, you go into things with the best of intentions, vowing that THIS time you will give up sugar or eat healthy balanced meals or start yoga and exercise regularly. But somehow…other things happen. So you beat yourself up, condemn yourself for not having enough willpower, and the cycle begins again. Sound familiar?

Here’s what I say to this, based on both my own experiences and my professional experience based on working with weight loss clients. Stop beating yourself up. It is not more self -condemnation you need, it is more SELF LOVE and CONNECTION TO SPIRIT.  Currently, you have some not-optimal programming in your subconscious mind. Continue reading

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The Code – A Key to your Dreams

Some people seem to sail through life’s calm waters and life’s storms, minor or raging, with true peace of mind. As if they were born with the delight of being a seasoned captain who loves his job, who follows his true calling with all his or her heart. A joy to have them around, a more or less silent envy in the eyes of others, who trudge and tread through life with their glasses half empty at all times and without ready access to the sources of optimism and love for life. Follow me for a few minutes and I will acquaint you with one of the major reasons for this difference and I will disclose a working access Code to cross over into the coveted company of the great captains of life and you won’t have to spend a fortune, be it time or money. Hidden talents exist within you, you were born with them, they showed up in your earliest dreams, and they deserve to come to light. No longer will you have to pay the price for ignoring them.

In 1991 my wife Johanna Paungger and I achieved an extraordinary breakthrough. We made available to the public an ancient knowledge Johanna had grown up with in a Tyrolean mountain farmer’s family – a knowledge pervading all walks of life, from the beneficial timing of surgeries right down to the art of cutting hair in harmony with natural rhythms. Our ten books on the subject so far became the basis for a minor revolution. Today millions in the German speaking countries consult them before visiting a surgeon, a hair dresser, a dentist, a carpenter. We had presented a 1001 small ways and methods for improving and transforming anyone’s life for the better. Today, after over 20 million copies sold in 24 languages, we are extremely happy to offer one of these treasures for the first time to an American readership. What has been passed down from a long lineage of the wisdom of our forefathers we are blessed to pass on to you.

Our tenth book “The Code – Unlocking the Secret Power of your Birthday” (Beyond Words) deals with the most exotic part of the ancient lore. To sum it up: Each number in your birthdate points to a very special set of talents that you were born with from day one. The challenge and blessing involves their harmonious discovery and unfolding in the course of your life. Continue reading

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