John Townley's AstroCocktail News Archive 2015

December: high above and beyond the bustling streets below, the sky rains down its seasonal message of stillness and mystery...

As December skies flow ineluctably above, the holiday traffic bustles below, all but occluding awareness of the incessant tide of the planets that has been rocking the world of late. The good news is that the recent chaos of speeding, out-of-control Jupiter and resulting events is slowing down a bit, although the big planet still leads a locomotive sky and the Mars-Uranus-Pluto T-cross continues to cause choppy seas well past the first week of the month. Then there will be some time to catch up with and recover opportunities that may have slipped past in the fray, a trend the next few months will continue.

Thanks to Saturn firmly in Sagittarius squaring Neptune, however, it also means clearing away illusions and hopes that may have seemed supporting and now fade away or turn false entirely. Part of squaring reality with possibility is coming to terms with what’s true and what’s not, what you have and don’t have, especially in the wake of a recently-unsettled environment.

Still, the daily rush has to be kept pace with, and that’s the challenge – to keep up with crowding necessities while still trying to reach for the elusive moment of calm and universal peace which the winter holidays are supposed to celebrate, and which required celebrations often eclipse. We float upon the tides and pass, but the sky that brought us remains, enfolding us – this is the time to recall that mystery if we can…

November: high above the home fires, comets and fireballs decorate the sky as Jupiter, Venus, Mars deliver a full-tilt fall season...

November continues Jupiter’s mad rush, leading a locomotive sky with scintillating Venus and Mars right behind. Not without its rough patches – like last month, when Mercury turned the hostile Uranus-Pluto square into a dicey T-cross, Venus and Mars will do the same this month, feeling like you’ve got the pedal to the metal over a road full of periodic potholes and speed bumps. Press on, nevertheless, the excitement and reward are worth the momentary spikes of inconvenience and annoyance.

Underneath, Saturn newly in Sagittarius is working its way into a year-long square with Neptune in Pisces, which marks a trend of nay-saying and quashing of dearly-sought dreams, often through deceit and simple lack of resources. The trick is to spot it as it starts, abandon useless endeavors, and move quickly to make the most out of the least, turn lemons to lemonade, with the full force of Jupiter pushing from behind to help market it.

Regardless of the bumps and occasional pathway cutoffs, this month is full-tilt, so don’t sweat the small stuff (even if it seems big at first) and stay on the crest of the wave as far as it takes you.

October: Saturn begins shattering illusions in Sagittarius as boiling Virgo Jupiter teams with Venus/Mars for a full-tilt fall season...

October is a full-throttle month, at last, after a topsy-turvy “Blood Moon” September eclipse season and a generally disrupted and unpredictable summer’s end. After the first week, previously-shaky Libra Mercury goes direct and then big changes begin happening:

Jupiter is roaring full-tilt through Virgo, unimpeded by earlier Saturn and Neptune aspects, accompanied by the return of a lingering sexy and charismatic Venus-Mars conjunction. Together, they lead the sky out from the summer’s random splash pattern into a focused, “locomotive” juggernaut that makes for dedicated, motivated forward motion.

Saturn is back and finally seated in Sagittarius, which over the next two years should deflate a lot of bogus hot air balloons and bring pompous pretenders down to earth. That includes everything from bad politics to bad religion, though that won’t all happen this month alone.

The trick for the trend is to clear the deck for action, put unimportant distractions on the backburner, and scoop up opportunities while they are roiling all around you. And, be ready to keep on doing just that, as November is going to be a virtual carbon-copy of October. The leaves may be falling, but the Sun is shining, and Jupiter is smiling, so make plenty of hay before the skies begin to realign over the holidays…

September is a triple treat (or threat, maybe), thanks to fast-paced celestial developments, making it sexy, speedy, and surprising:

Sexy: it opens with the charismatic and sparkling Venus-Mars conjunction, the stuff superstars are made of and passionate encounters feed upon. It’s only at the early part of the month, but it returns for the entirety of October, so loosen up, anything goes.

Speedy: the planet of expansion, ambition, and bounty – Jupiter – is now just newly into Virgo, and it’s ripping along at high speed, so opportunities abound – but they also race past quickly, so be ready to catch the brass ring as it flashes by. Further, the continuing splash-shape sky means a never-ending string of new lunar aspects, making every day chock-a-block with new and changing developments.

Surprising: it’s eclipse season again, and both solar (9/13) and lunar (9/27) eclipses happen this month, tending to make events reverse field twice before settling in. And, long-retro Venus goes direct 9/6 (now you can move more sure-footedly to get what you want) while Mercury goes retrograde in Libra 9/17, meaning that you’d better think twice about your plans of going about getting it. Have fun with it all...

Jupiter enters Virgo, and Venus is retrograde all month, making another turnaround in its star-shaped progress through space...
...lots more on that here...

Looks like August will be another topsy-turvy month like July, thanks to Jupiter’s big bow wave mixed with generally choppy celestial seas. But this month adds a couple of new twists.

First: is Jupiter moves into Virgo just over a week into the month, putting a whole new spin on ambitions, aspirations, and general expansiveness. For the last year it’s been in roaring Leo, without much in the way of definition or boundaries except the brief square to Saturn just now, but once in Virgo the road to real progress will be a bit more clear. Instead of anything goes, it will be choose this, this, or that, then charge ahead – a choice of specific boundaries to expand, rather than no guidelines at all.

Second: Venus is retrograde all month, most of its occasional six-week backward stretch, and that puts a crimp on things, though perhaps a needed one. If your desires have led you a bridge too far and former pleasures and promises are no longer what they seemed, now’s the time to rearrange your needs so that you get what satisfies and not just sates. That can be in any area of life that is desire-driven: love, money, creativity, anything that you collect around you to make you happy. Basically, it means if you’re getting sick of something (or someone) now’s the time to reconsider and move on to more rewarding options. And, with Jupiter in more-specific Virgo, it may be a little bit clearer just what’s on offer, unlike this last anything-goes year.

Of course, all of this (for Northern Hemisphere folks) is happening in the slow, hot, “dog days”, so options aren’t as convenient as they might be, but the whole sky is warming up to a sizzling and sexy, rolling Venus-Mars conjunction lasting most of the fall, so start making your preparations now…

Rampant Jupiter, Venus, and splash sky make July a ship diving full-tilt into rolling seas. Adventure all the way...

JULY is a Jupiter juggernaut, with the now-speeding giant calling the shots and raising a general swell of change and activity that can’t be stopped as it finishes its run through Leo. Alongside it is usually-favorable Venus which is stumbling into retrograde motion, bringing six weeks of change of heart for all around. Add to that a splash sky with planets everywhere around the Zodiac and daily shifts are constantly in motion, like a choppy sea, with a big Jupiter swell rolling underneath.

The big picture over the next few months is Mars coming up to meet retreating Venus after which both move forward together in a hot, new passion to ultimately explode in a Jupiter catch-up meeting in the fall. It’s kind of like falling out of love with what you’ve got in order to make room for something much better and more exciting to come – and all on the deck of a rolling ship in heavy, but sunny weather. You have to maintain your balance from moment to moment in order to make forward motion to your next destination down (or up) the deck. And all with the wind and spray blowing about just to confuse things. It means being willing to constantly change momentary micro-course in order to adapt to a larger, evolving, ultimate direction.

People actually choose to pay for this sort of roller-coaster ride in amusement parks…this one’s for free, but there’s no choice involved. Enjoy (and profit from) the ride, as long as you can keep her steady as she goes…come August, more of the same…

June is the month we promised it would all start to happen, as Jupiter really starts ripping through Leo and breaks out of the quincunx with Pluto that’s been encouraging its dark side lately, especially in the Middle East. And, the inner planets and Mars have moved far enough along to provide a splash sky that means lots of aspects happening all day, everyday, without the dead spots of this year’s earlier bucket skies

Of course, not quite all systems are go until approaching mid-month and its three-week set of tangles get untied and wrinkles ironed out. But then Mercury goes direct and it’s anyone’s game who’s willing to jump into the middle of things and mix it up.

And even hulking Pluto displays a little more light to the rest of us as it gets its picture taken up close by the New Horizons space probe, scheduled to make final rendezvous in July. The planet of death and his multiple-moon consorts will be shedding some of their secrets, if not likely any of their power, for us to ruminate upon.

It’s been a tough and unsettling winter and spring this year, with fractious blockages on all sides, ranging from weird weather to horrific human behavior at home and abroad. But May begins a turnaround that can provide a boost for all as Jupiter takes off through Leo at an ever-increasing speed, on its way to multiple benefic planetary meetings as the summer arrives and evolves. A nasty eclipse season now behind us, all we have to get through is another three-week period of Mercury retrograde starting mid-month, during which we reset our schedules and ambitions, then on to greater hopes and accomplishments.

Also beginning its final wane will be the many-year Uranus-Pluto square that began the Arab Spring and has been shedding blood around the world ever since. It’s not going to wind down overnight, but the intensity has peaked and after a few more convulsions in unexpected places (propelled by Jupiter, which lends ambition to good and evil alike), a general weariness with strife with bring a breather, at least in historical terms if not necessarily on the ground in your neighborhood.

So, time to clear the debris from the last few months’ confusion and start to turn plans into realities, as Jupiter’s tide swells and invites you along for the ride…

If April Fool’s Day jokes turn out to be unexpected realities, don’t be surprised, as the month moves in with the third of the much-ballyhooed four “Blood Moons” that supposedly bring on the predicted End of the World, yet again. Not really all that red, actually, this eclipse of April 4 is a brief and shallow graze of Earth’s shadow by the Moon at its greatest distance. Nevertheless, it is conjunct explosive Uranus and makes a T-square with steamroller Pluto, so the going could get a little extreme early in the month. Expect turnarounds from left field, one moment calm, the next your world detonates, so keep a firm but flexible stance and be ready to charge ahead with confidence once the eclipse period has passed.

Especially so, as Pluto beats a retreat even as bountiful Jupiter bounds forward mid-month, and accordingly prospects should start to pick up and move forward as the weeks go by. In fact, Jupiter will race right out of Leo by July, so it’s time to bring to fruition and cash in on all those developments started in the fall that got put on hold by this strangely-harsh winter. April may start out as the cruelest month for those unprepared, but it will open up gateways of opportunity for those who are ready to spot them and dash through while time permits.

The seasons change and the planet heaves a sigh, another breath of life passes.

After a somewhat locked-down and wintry (in many places) February, March provides a big breather…in fact, it’s got the inhale-exhale rhythm of change written all over it. Here’s a quick overview:

1. February’s running Venus/Mars conjunction is running out, so get your hot licks in early in the month before this sparky, sexy, romantic combo moves on until its next meetup with Jupiter in the fall.

2. The biennial Mars-Uranus conjunction, harbinger of explosive trouble worldwide, and in your own life (if it hits your chart). Duck, lay low, wait until its several-day transit is done (see Skies link below for details).

3. Saturn goes retrograde, and a lot of the dishonest and creepiness it has started in its closing square to Neptune backs off, for a while. It will be back, so enjoy the lack of it for a while.

4. It’s eclipse season again, starting with a total solar eclipse at the very end of Pisces, making for some dramatic finishes and major restarts, with a complimentary lunar version tangled with Uranus two weeks later.

5. Jupiter is quincunx Pluto, started late last month, in and out until late spring, making for forceful, ambitious moves that don’t consider long-term results or the rights of others, not dissimilar to last summer’s runaway Jupiter.

6. But fortunately, by contrast, Jupiter begins to head for a break at being the only planet in the night sky over the next couple of months, instead joining the rest of the planetary family for the remaining majority of the year, bringing earlier long-shot, slingshot ambitions to fruition as the other planets finally get to cozy up to the behemoth.

All this in a single month, so it will seem like March comes in like a lion, indeed, and goes out like one, too…

This February is for lovers – and anyone or thing that sparkles with passion, love, charisma, and animal magnetism. That’s because Venus and Mars run together with a peak and shift into Aries the week after Valentine’s Day, a time coincidence that hasn’t happened in many years. Those born with this aspect, no matter what their specific career or path in life, sparkle and attract like no other. And anything you do under such skies will have more innate ardor and fervor than normal, so put on your Saturday night best and catch the fever! It happens regularly, alternating from once every two years to twice a year (it will repeat this late summer and fall, with Jupiter), but only rarely in sync with the holiday that celebrates it.

Viewed from Earth, a single circuit of Venus traces a heart-shaped path throught the sky and its complete cycle makes a lovely, five-petalled flower-shaped dance (see above animation), hence its traditionals association with both the heart and the rose, while Mars makes a more irregular eight-petalled shape, similar to the lotus. And when both meet, it’s a dynamic garden of celestial delight.

Elsewhere this month, the new Moon is an unusual, hairline phenomenon, happening at the utmost end of Aquarius just two minutes before both Sun and Moon tumble into Pisces. Throughout, Jupiter hangs at the very midpoint of the night sky, in company with the Moon early in the month, but otherwise with the rest of the planets lined out in a cluster unseen in the daytime sky. The planetary Big Daddy is temporarily retrograde, so it’s time to refine those new plans you developed when it was rushing along during the fall, in order to have them ready for final rollout once it turns direct again the the spring and makes the final pass over its previous track before speeding into Virgo come late summer.

2015: Pulsing, pumping, spiraling Jupiter crunch is fully underway...

January, 2015: Like last year, this New Year’s Day edges in with a grand cross (of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Moon in fixed signs) but that’s where the comparison ends. This one is a passing moment, whereas last year’s was an intensely abiding harbinger of months of trouble yet to come. This year’s driving pattern is altogether different.

What faces us now is an abiding Jupiter-driven “bucket” pattern where the solar system’s largest planet opposes all the rest, with Earth trapped more or less in the middle, receiving a constant gravitational pumping rhythm from all the rest that tends to drive things ever higher in pulsing spurts like a throbbing, hypertensive artery. Historically, what occurs in this repeating and somewhat risky Jupiter cycle is that events (and the economy) get pushed to the limit which can lead to new heights or (if things get out of control) total disarray and disaster. Like the runaway Jupiter train we described last summer, it’s a matter of sensing the timing and getting on board to ride the evolving events. If enough (and the right) people do that, it leads on to general success, and the high tide floats all boats. If wrong moves are made in critical places, the whole thing can get out of balance and it becomes more like a storm surge tearing things apart for everybody.

So, the keyword for the next several years, while Jupiter continues to ride high in this pattern, is timing. The waves of fortune are growing larger and will continue to, and if you can find your way to the crest of one, you can ride it to undreamed-of places. You just have to keep your eyes, ears, and mind open to sense exactly when and where those waves are building and mount them before they have moved past into the distance.

No Connection… (Red Orbit) …of full Moon with craziness, says new study. Editorially handled with all sorts of links that show that there indeed is a connection…

Dedicated Astrologer (Sunday Times) – Starcaster who wants to serve mankind with his art, while his wife just wants money is the subject of new teledrama…

Risky Business (The National) – Astrologers in cosmetically-modern Dubai practice in a dangerous, legally grey area, where conservative mullahs say it is a crime…

Bloodless Moon (Sydney Morning Herald) – Since this “blood Moon” barely passes through the edge of Earth’s shadow, it may not be red at all…

Heart of Iron (Space.com) – That’s not the way one thinks of the feminine Moon, but it’s the case, and about to be explored further with X-rays…

A Capricious Star (Universe Today) – That’s our Sun, this is a nice update on the why and how of sunspots, and our current weak cycle that nevertheless blasts us unexpectedly…

A Day in the Life… (Popular Science) -- …of Saturn. Until now, we didn’t really know how long that is…

Moon’s Former Orbit (Science News) – This is what Mother Moon used to act like…talk about fickle, but spectacular…

Back to Sleep (Daily Mail) – If we’d turn out the lights, we could get some sleep, according to the real, natural celestial timetables.

Tide of the Century (SMH) – At Mont-Saint Michel, thanks to Supermoon eclipse…

Fox, Seriously (Fox) – Fox News takes the four Blood Moons very seriously, like it was from one of the family…

End of the World Looms (Independent) – The third “blood Moon” that some think portends dire crises for Israel doesn’t seem to be affecting that country’s foreign policy…

Bloody Richard (LiveScience) – Richard III, it appears, didn’t do so well under the “blood Moon”, interesting historical note…

Medieval Is In (IOL) – Middle Ages astrology is suddenly hot these days…but then, so is Medieval religious and foreign policy, it seems…

Up On The Roof (The Guardian) – The key to the mystery monument to the stars may lie on what sat on top of it, and what they did there…

Lilly Unveiled (Pelicanist) – English astrologer William Lilly reimagined in new historical biography…

No Name Change… (Bangalore Mirror) -- …unless you disclose who your astrologer is…!

Cycles in Collision (SeeItMarket) – Stock market and planetary trends head for a mash-up…

Blood Moon Three (Israel News) – Passover lunar eclipse is third of four that are supposed harbingers for Israel…

Bad Year for Marriage (Times of India) – Get hitched soon or you’ll have a long wait until there’s another good time…

Robot Astrologer (New Indian Express) – What’s replacing the venerabe but waning “parrot astrologer” on the Subcontinent…

Animal Spirits (FRBSF) – Business volatility cycles are shifted by them…no kidding…

Four Hour Cycles (Psychcentral) – That would be a diurnal rolling sextile, even if it’s only mice…

Black Moon, Super Moon (Weather,com) – This new Moon is doubly special and weird, even more so as it changes sign two minutes after it happens…see our editorial and “Skies” for those details…

Avoid the Temple (Gulte) – Or you might lose your office, astrologers and experience reveal…only on the Subcontinent and environs…

Astromapping (Daily Mail) – The UK tabloid has its doubts, but plenty to say on the subject nevertheless…similar UK articles on birthday travel and on relocation give our own takes…

Astrologer Rescued (Deccan Herald) – After being kidnapped – cars set afire, robberies, attempted murder, this one ran the gamut…

Surviving A Full Moon Party (Times of Malta) – If you must risk life and limb to revel under the Moon, here are some tips for getting through safely…hilarious, and real…

Sunspot Cycle Dangers? (OUP) – View from Oxford about new info, and new risks, of of our rhythmically percolating star…

Jupiter Gold (ANS) – Short-term gold prices linked to the big planet in new study replication…

Second Murder (Phuket Gazette) – Astrologer nabbed for yet another murder, plus another one tries his hand at kidnapping…the astro police blotter booming this week…

More Planets Lurking (U of Madrid) – Trans-Neptunian objects suggest that there are more planets in the solar system…

Super New Moon (IB Times) – Full Moons aren’t the only “super” Moons. An extra-close new Moon has the same effect, and this, the first of five this year, will be on TV in Dubai…

Full Lion Moon (Boston Globe) – More on fear of the dark, the full Moon, and being eaten by lions…

Full Moon Tea (Brisbane Times) – If anyone down-under offers you something of that name, politely decline…it will kill you…

Retro Confusion (NY Times) – Grey Lady lady wants to get what astrologers believe Mercury retro is all about, but loses the thread by overstatement…

From Archimedes? (Charlotte Observer) – More interesting speculation on the Antikythera Device, plus video of working repro…

Sunspots Cripple Lifespan (Daily Mail) – Norwegian historical study reveals those born during solar minimum lived five years longer than those born during the max…early genetic damage???...a real bombshell, original study here…

Weather, People, Animals… (Weather Channel) – …the full Moon affects them all, and here’s how, according to the mainstream Weather Channel…

Astrology and the System (ANS) – Future times may better favor astrology, as they are a-changin’, says UK starcaster Adrian Duncan Ross…mostly looking at Jupiter-Saturn conjunction cycle shift from earth to air…

Quit Smoking (USAToday) – Get a boost from the monthly lunar/menstrual cycle to help toss out that pack of cigs…

Bill Meridian on Marla Maples (ctrnetwork) – Our favorite cycles analyst Bill Sarubbi is always worth a listen, in this hour interview available as a podcast…

Is It A Sin?... (MyNews24) – …to believe in astrology? The fact that too many people think so, for conflicting reasons, makes this worth a skim…

What Do The Cycles Say? (Benzinga) – How do the economic cycles dovetail in 2015? It’s complicated…

Moon Man (The Concourse) – Bad enough that clowns like Ronald can be scary, McDonald’s Moon Man campaign takes the cake…

New Moon Floods (The Star) – It’s not just the Full Moon parties that have been imperiling folks in Southeast Asia, the New Moon has been a problem, too, doubtless aided by rising global-warming waters…

Star in the East (Daily Mail) – Nice discussion of the Star of Bethlehem from a contemporary astrologer’s point of view…about heliacal risings and how critical they were back then, mostly forgotten now…original article here…

Death By Grindstone (New Indian Express) – 85-year-old astrologer beaten to death by disgruntled client…the Subcontinent can be a dangerous place for the popular profession…

Misunderstood (ABPLive) – In interview, “ Sun-sign rape” astrologer claims he was taken out of context…

Reasons To Believe… (Lifestyle) -- …in astrology. We might add a pinch, maybe a barrel, of salt…

Stellar Waves (NASA) – Astrologers should be reminded, it’s all about waves, as our spacecraft are revealing…

New Moon Mixup (Irish Independent) – Christmas cards often depict a new Moon, and get it wrong half the time…can you tell the difference?...

Party Down (9news) – What makes a full Moon even crazier? Try lots of drugs…report and video on Thailand’s recently-notorious Full Moon parties…

Planet X Ahead? (Weather.com) – The search for Planet X (or rather Xs) beyond Pluto may be about to bear fruit…

Rape By Sign (IB Times) – Ongoing furor over astrologer who classified rape circumstance by Sun sign…

Why Women Believe… (Mashable) – …in astrology more than men. Because they’re just dizzy broads, soft in the head, according to this…men, of course, trust hard science…

Above Science (The Hindu) – Of course, there are those who think hard science is a mere handmaiden to astrology…

Older Than Ever (Tech Times) – That’s the latest opinion on the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism that Greek Classical astrologers used to track the planets…

Sky Gods (Ancient Origins) – Tengriism, the worship of sky deities, is said to have been the world’s earliest and oldest religion…

Coincidence, or Something More? (Coincider.com) – Jung blended astrology and synchronicity as if it were acausal (which we don’t), but there’s new thinking afoot, and a Weird Coincidence Survey to take, at our friend Dr. Beitman’s site

Asteroid Day (Planetary Society) – Worried about a seriously-bad transit from a wandering planetoid? You’re not alone…December 3 marks Asteroid Day 2015 and the release of the 100x Declaration…stay tuned…

Astrology Reconsidered (ANS) – An interesting collection of essays on modern approaches to astrology from Astrology News Service…

Hot Moon (NASA) – The Moon may have a warmer heart than anyone had thought…

Astrologer Passes (Stourbridge News) – UK Astrologer Dennis Elwell, dead at 84…

The Sky Is Falling… (JPL/NASA) – …and here’s a world map of just where and when small asteroids have been impacting us, with implications past, present, and future…don’t look up, or be careful when you do…!

Animal Abuse (Herald) – It’s linked to the full Moon, according to new study…not surprising, considering people abuse is often already in that bag…

Giant Clock (Epoch Times) – Ancient Peruvian astro site continues to mystify, now more than ever…may go back to 15,000 BC…

Resonance Resolved (Phys.org) -- Physics is a step nearer to agreement on exact resonance, which is critical, ultimately, to how planets affects us (or anything, including each other)…

Cycles To Peak (Benzinga) – Multiple cycles come nicely to a head shortly, investors should make the most of it…

Mystery Underwater Structure (UK Yahoo News) – Allegedly aligned with megaliths, and presumably the stars, a strange “building” off Malibu may be emitting radio signals…

Unbelieveable (Chapman) – New Chapman survey shows Americans equally doubt evolution and astrology, while The Secret and UFOs are largely taken as reality…

Astrology in the White House (Washington Post) – In the wake of the death of Nancy Reagan’s astrologer Joan Quigley at 87, here are some amusing astro-tales of the First Residence…

Moody Sommerkinder (Leader-Post) – More evidence for seasonal-birth mood swingers…

Venus and the Moon (NoisyVice) –Astrological attachements fuel pop combo…

Flippy Times (Gismodo) – Magnetic field could switch in an instant, not just over a slow period…

Hot Moon (NASA) – New discovery of recent volcanism on the Moon will rewrite geological textbooks…

Moon Coins (Cryptocoins) – It appears bitcoin trading value peaks at new and full Moons…

Cycles Within Cycles (Summit County Voice) – This principle of nesting temperature cycle lengths at different scales could apply to planetary and psychological ones as well, so astrologers take note…

Contract Killers (Zee News) – London-based millionaire astrologer was mastermind behind multiple paid killings in revenge plot…now he’s on the lam in the UK…

Ten Problems… (Cosmo) – …that only an astrology-obsessed person could have…

Bigger Blood Moon (KTLA) – This “blood” Moon eclipse will be bigger than last, and it may cause a Philippine volcanic eruption… ...P.S., it did, lava oozing, not an explosion...

Uranus at Eclipse (Space.com) – Total lunar eclipse will allow peek at Uranus with just a pair of binoculars, it’s that close…plus, more on its “Frankenstein” moon…

Lunar Square (Huffington Post UK) – Not another fantasy simulacra on the lunar face, there’s really a giant square there…

Micro “Moon” (Daily Mail) – It could be interpreted as our own Moon, but it’s not, it’s just stalking us – plus nice look at planetary orbital resonances…

Fascinatin’ Rhythms (NPR) – National Public Radio looks at India’s love affair with the stars…

Gunned Down (Pune Mirror) – On way to testify in court, astrologer accused in murder case is assassinated by motorcycle gunmen.

Sign Prejudice (New Republic) – In China, your Sun-sign can determine if you get hired, or blackballed…

Pluto IS a Planet (CFA) – Yes, Virginia, it is…once again…pundits and populace at last agree…

Perilous Parties (Cosmo) – “The truth behind Full Moon parties”…they get too crazy, and dangerous, and that’s the truth…

Big Seven (WND) – Seven-year cycle is everywhere, according to new Biblically-based book…

Planetary Distances (ANS) – Robert Currey looks at some of the ways astrologers incorporate relative planetary distances as a judgment factor…

Suppressing Astrology (IBN) – New Thai dictators are consulting future forecasters to get their timing better at repressing them…

Rapper With Degree (Eurweb) – This hip-hop self-promoter claims a degree in astrology, and numerology…no wonder this profession has so little credence…

Inauspicious Day (Deccan Chronicle) – Bad day to change the district capital…more like, bad week, month, year right about now…

Local Bubble (NASA) – Think an asteroid strike is threatening? Try a supernova right next door…it happened, and we survived, and inhabit the remains…see video version…

Can’t Get a Break (MillstoneNews) – The last Super Moon allegedly laid some serious waste to this poor fellow’s life…

Old Rings (Nature) – Saturn’s rings: there at the start or more recently acquired? It appears to be the former…

Forecasting Frauds (Deccan Herald) – The Subcontinent takes its astrologers and their reports seriously, and so do Internet crooks posing as the real thing, raking in cash…

Sleepless Nights (CBS) – The full Moon makes you sleep less…a second, confirming, look at the matter…

Beltway Horoscopes (Mother Jones) – The bar-graph lists of Congress’s Sun-signs here actually mostly match average seasonal birth proportions, but there’s a nice link to the individual birth data of everybody in Congress, for your own probings…

Longest Month (EarthSky) – The next lunar month will be the year’s longest – it can vary by as much as a quarter of a day…

End of the World, Late… (Daily Mail) – So this asteroid is going to hit us 867 years from now…think we’ll have it in hand by then…

Dark of the Moon (New Indian Express) – Full Moon may bring lunacy, but old-time Subcontinental cops know it’s the new Moon that has people creeping around up to no good…cops in the West know, too...

Mars Meets Comet (NASA) – Martians will be all a-flutter to hear their planet is about to be grazed by a passing comet…and we’ll be there to see what happens…

Soft Core Moon (Daily Mail) – Does our supposedly cold, dead Moon really have a warm, creamy core still melting with change?...

Predicting Solar Cycles (UCAR) – Why use solar cycles to predict the weather, when you can use Earthbound weather prediction techniques to predict what’s going on in the Sun?…

El Nino Rewrite (U of Washington) – Earth’s orbital cycles supposedly make this often-devastating weather phenomenon a fairly recent thing…well, as it now appears, apparently not…

End of the World (InSerbia) – We haven’t heard that one seriously for a couple of years, but with all this current chaos, this Serbian astrologer is predicting it all, more or less right away…

Most Super (Mashable) – This second, of three, Super Moons is the closest with the mostest, so keep your eyes peeled and feet braced…as if things weren’t out of control enough already…

Lemon Moon (BBC) – If the full Moon makes you nuts, maybe it’s because it’s shaped like a fruit…and now we know how it got that way…

Pluto Redux (Newsday) – As Pluto probe approaches, debate over the status of this astrologically most heavy-duty planet reignites…

Astrology Rx (Independent) – British MP claims national health service should cover astrological services…

Drunken Capricorn (Cleveland.com) – Woman quotes her Sun-sign as excuse for driving under the influence…

Wealth and Worries (Times of Oman) – That’s what astrology keeps track of, claims writer…

Stripped and Slippered (New Indian Express) – Phony astrologer’s perverted ways get unexpected punishment from victims…

Prediction Rescinded (Hindustan Times) – …by the Grim Reaper. If your astrologer gives you an annoying read, maybe he’ll just die to prove it wrong…a funny personal tale, actually…

Bad News for Malaysia (IBTimes) – …or so predicted one of its top astrologers, and now it all seems to be coming true, with more to come, allegedly…

Dinosaur Killer (PSI) – Now we know what astral body didn’t extinguish the dinosaurs, thanks to recent Russian meteor strike…the division of astrological influence that really means business…

Sextrologists at War (NY Post) – Is there really such a thing as a “sextrologist”? These two publicity hounds think so, and they’re suing each other for the exclusive rights…

Navigating Down Under (Discovery) – Aussie aborigines used stars to guide them, predict emu egg supply, more…

Three SuperMoons (NASA) – In a row, this summer…should make the concomintant Jupiter breakout go to extremes…

Where The Land Is (Prince George Citizen) – Northern and Southern Hemisphere summers aren’t the same…perhaps a key to why the tropical signs aren’t flipped Down Under, though this author doesn’t go there…

Flattened Planets (Smithsonian) – Here’s a comparison graphic of the smaller planets, laid out like a flat map, gives a new feel for their size…

“Plus” Zones Confirmed (ANS) – New analysis portrays planets on angles (as per early Gaucquelin studies) as statistically significant…

Self-Deprecation (Channel 4) – “Thai fortuneteller who has lost faith in the future”, or rather, has figured out he’s a wealthy hustler...

Expanded Sun (TechnoBuffalo) – The Sun’s atmosphere appears to be seriously much larger and more influential than thought…

Planetary Beer (CWDetroit) – Inspired by the Holst suite and the orbs in general, these multiple microbrews sound delicious…we’ll take the Uranus black double IPA, though the Saturn barleywine sounds like a knockout, too…

The Threat of Astrology (io9) – Why, it’s turning our women (among others) into illogical, anti-intellectual mush (heard this one before), a little disappointing for usually-edgy io9, though there’s a nice rebuttal here…

Midsummer Merriment (IBTimes) – Summer solstice is an important milestone in all sorts of world cultures, since the dawn of history…

Predictions for the Pitch (New Indian Express) – All kinds of animals are getting in on World Cup betting, not the least the venerable parrot astrologers…

Shakespearean Astrology (ANS) – Was The Bard a fan of astrology? You bet…his times were soaked in a background of cultural symbolism involving the planets, and thus so was his material…

Nurture vs. Nature vs. Astrology (io9) – Says commentator Cosima Herter: "genetics is not a synonym for determinism any more that astrology is."

Slippery Customer (NASA) – Another narrow miss is caught by Earth’s growing surveillance CCTV net…

Only the Lonely (ANS) – Astrologers are a solitary breed, a misappreciated middle ground between science and philosophy…Grant Lewi’s take is timeless…

Theia Revealed (Space Reporter) – A piece of the Moon that isn’t the Moon may be traces of long-lost Earth-collision planet Theia…

Bangkok Futures (Bangkok Post) – The same astrologer that advised Thaksin is now predicting coup leader adversary’s futures…a country in crisis that really listens to its fortunetellers…

Skeptics Skepticized (ANS) – Aggressive astrology naysayers may have problems of their own…

Earthquake Tides (PittsburghCBS) – Solar and lunar tides trigger earthquakes, making them predictable, says author…

Stone Circles (Ancient Origins) – They’re everywhere, in Africa (who knew?) Not to mention, stone monoliths…astrological? Maybe, and maybe more…

Quantum Malarkey (Slate) – Real “scientists” are as goofy over “quantum consciousness” as some astrologers, it seems…

Winds Above, Storms Below (Science World Report) – Solar pulses drive the weather on Earth, in surprising detail…

Cycles Everywhere (Wall St. Sector Selector) – Everything is cyclic, you just have to know which cycles are the ones to watch…

Victory at the Polls (Island) – Most Subcontinental astrologers had the BJP correctly pegged as a big winner way ahead of time, and they will be reaping the rewards…

Sneaky Stars (Think Advisor) – Hiding astrology-based investment strategy gets advisor, already in dutch for astro-Ponzi scheme, in big trouble…

Lunar Trauma (Nature World News) – The Moon was knocked around in childhood, has had a tilted perspective ever since…

Monthly Moods (Slate) – Turns out that studies on women’s sexual taste changing with time of month may be invalid because they’re too broad…but that might not be the case with wider, concomitant lunar phases…

Attempted Murder (Indian Express) – Why doesn’t America have creepy starcasters like this? Or do we, and just nobody’s noticed?...plus more from the UK astro police blotter…

The Problem With Astrology (Times of India) – …is astrologers, says Indian chief justice, lamenting the trivializing of the profession…we must agree…

Near Miss Superstorm (NASA) – A “Carrington Event” sized solar blast missed us by an inch…if it hadn’t, all hell would have broken loose. What to do when it, eventually, does…?

Voodoo Scientists (Greater Kashmir) – What a great name for the profession, and maybe the parrot, too…

Liquid Consciousness (Extreme Tech) – If consciousness is an actual state of matter, as this MIT theorizer suggests, then the planets are likely tangled up with it…

It Takes A Village (Press TV) – A preponderance of astrologers and growing interest in the art puts hitherto obscure hamlet on the map…

Musical Fertility (NY Magazine) – Women’s taste in music, and musicians, changes with time of the month…

Thick and Fast (CBS) – Turns out we’re getting hit by a lot more asteroids than anyone thought, more reason to get a handle on it…nice video realization here…

Aries Atheists (OpEd News) – The four most militantly anti-religion atheists (and often anti-astrology, as well) turn out to be Aries…we’re not surprised…

Moon Gardening (Vancouver Sun) – If you’re doing your spring planting, don’t forget that the seeds could use a little lunar assistance…

Improved Mousetrap (Market Oracle) – That’s what Gann and other planetary-based market predictions systems are…

Crowded Sky (Next Big Future) – Dwarf planets in our system are gathering like Munchkins…or, rather, we’re finally noticing them…what’s important may be another matter…

Extraterrestial Vitamin (Latin Post) – Vitamin B3, it appears, may have come from the skies above us, the product of asteroids…

Precession = Life (Science aGoGo) – Turns out our astrological sign-defining tropical precession may be the very thing that favors life…here, and elsewhere…

Overpaid Help (Telegraph) – What The News of the World paid Mystic Meg revealed in trial…as is so often the case, pay is inversely proportional to talent…

Cosmos Misses the Mark (Religion and Politics) – The new science series gets the science part OK, but gets the cultural, sociological, religious, and political parts wrong...not to mention astrology...

Ghostwriters (Hollywood Reporter) – 1950s-60s Hollywood leading man Robert Mitchum and his wife Dorothy (just passed) started as ghostwriters for astrologer Carroll Righter…who knew??!!...

Go Full Moonwalking (The Guardian) – A lovely idea, take in some rays, we should all do it…or, for the more energetic, try running…

Backing Their Candidate (India Today) – In a rarity, astrologers not only predict a winner in national elections, they’re actively supporting him…

Indian Sea Change (NewIndianExpress) – Elections will bring major change, say Subcontinental starcasters, as politicos flock to find propitious dates and times…

Hurtling Through Space (io9) – New visuals of what the helical path of the Sun and solar system really looks like…

Bioweapons Connection (Miami Herald) – The 1995 murder of astrologer Lilian Rosa Morales may have been connected to her husband’s development of biological weapons for Cuba…a cold case heats up…

Red Moon (Sierra Club) – How, when to watch April’s lunar eclipse…first of rare four-straight “blood moons” that some think foreshadows…well, the end, of course…

Lunar Dreams (Scientific Computing) – New sleep research reveal full Moons make for a different kind of dreaming...

Medieval Multiverse (MNN) – Astrologer-philosopher was formulating precursor to leading-edge cosmology way back in 1225…

Myanmar Madness (Gulf News) – New documentary details astrological craziness that military junta enforced during dark days of Burma..

Falling Sky, Falling Man (Daily Mail) – Sometimes heavenly bodies are a near-miss…skydiver nearly hit by a meteorite, see video...

Close To Mars (NASA) – In the midst of the retrograde, by definition, Mars is bright, up front, and up close…

Solar Research Interview (ANS) – Astrologer John Townley discusses recent research about genetic developmental effects of the Sun’s magnetic variation…

New Planet, Plus (EarthSky) – The outermost-yet planetoid has been discovered, and nicknamed after U.S. VP, but its perturbations suggest a much bigger, monster planet out by the Oort Cloud. Turns out, Planet X may yet surface…

Vedic Takes LA (SCPR) – The City of Angels is becoming the city of astrologers, Subcontinent style…

An Astrological Triumph (Digital Journal) – That would be St. Peter’s Basilica, which is knee-deep in astrologal paintings, floors, and structural symbolism of the day…

Lucky Slot (Hindustan Times) – Dark-horse competitor sneaks in to steal politician’s pre-planned astrological spot for vote registration…the Subcontinent at its best…

Attacked! (Lancashire Evening Post) – Astrologers misbehaving migrates to the UK…

Cycle Crisis (Futures) – The Crimea landgrab has developed just as major financial cycles are coming to a head…

Malaysian Mystery (Gulf News) – Now that flight #370 remains missing, the astrologers and other more etheric experts are beginning to weigh in…

Near Miss (NASA) – Perfect storm that recently nearly hit the Earth, revealed…next time…

Regulus Eclipse (Sky and Telescope) – The tiny asteroid Erigone will black out the massive fixed star Regulus (the “Heart of the Lion”” on March 19-20, a rarity indeed. Read more about Erigone and figure out the symbolism, if you can…

Beatles Astrology (ANS) – Yes, the Fab Four were into the stars, and George even had his chart rectified…

Hunt For Planet X (Daily Mail) – Don’t worry, you don’t have to put that mysterious giant planet in your horoscope, it doesn’t exist…anywhere…

Dark Matter Done It (Arxiv) – That comet/asteroid impact that likely killed the dinosaurs…might have been triggered by dark matter, could be more…

Back To Bosnia (Waking Times) – More on the sky-aligned pyramids, if pyramids they be…

Shadows of Petra (Agencias) – The ancient monastery, and others of its ilk, are aligned with the signs and seasons…

World War III (ValueWalk) – Russian astrologers predicted it would coincide with the Sochi games…on Putin’s payroll?...

A Way of Thinking (Yareah) – That would be astrology…nice sentiments, indeed…

Your Own Planet (Washington Post) – Turns out, LDS folks may not actually get their own posthumous planet, after all…who knew?...

Moon Man (Stuff NZ) – A predictor being sued changes the goalposts…could (and has) happened to astrologers…

Mad About The Moon (BBC) – What the Moon has done for us, from the beginning on…nice, in-depth evolutionary piece from the Beeb, worth watching online…

Most Likely, Least Likely… (Washington Post) – …to think astrology is scientific, or believe evolution, or even know the Earth goes around the Sun. This study, reported earlier, is being jumped on by all sorts of interest groups and interpreted in the damnedest ways…

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