Indonesian Upheavals

Indonesia has suffered two deadly disasters after a tsunami and volcanic eruption struck in separate regions of the vast archipelago. In the first, rescue workers and fishermen searched for survivors in waters west off Sumatra after a powerful earthquake and a resulting tsunami late Monday killed at least 113 people, left hundreds missing and thousands more homeless.

About 800 miles to the east, on the island of Java, thousands of villagers were fleeing multiple eruptions of Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, after it began spewing clouds of hot ash early Tuesday evening.

Much of Indonesia lies in the seismically active Pacific “ring of fire,” a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

The tsunami, set off by a 7.7-magnitude undersea quake, slammed into the southern part of the remote Mentawai Islands, wreaking havoc in villages and sweeping scores out to sea. The surge reached as high as 10 feet and advanced as far as 2,000 feet inland.

The earthquake occurred along the same fault that produced a 9.1-magnitude quake on Dec. 26, 2004, spawning a tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean. The hardest-hit area was in Aceh Province in northern Sumatra.

These recent events appear related to the activation of Indonesia's national chart by the transiting Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, and the applying Pluto-Node contact. As Indonesia is predisposed to geological eruptions by it's location- any intense stimulation of it's horoscope can result in more extreme circumstances then we might see elsewhere.

Although Pluto and the Moon's Nodes won't be exactly conjunct until 11/9, this alignment seems relevant now, as it's closely square Indonesia's 4th house(the land & foundations) Neptune- mythic god of the seas. The Nov. 5 Scorpio New Moon is a profound seed moment, that's intensified by the corresponding Pluto-Node contact(11/9) that alludes to mass destiny and extreme events or upheaval.

From Asia & Mideast

As Vesta Turns...

The asteroid Vesta was discovered in 1807 and named after the mythic goddess of the hearth flame. "Astrologically, Vesta describes the ways in which we face the issues of personal integration, work, devotion, commitment, sacrifice, alienation from personal relationships, and a range of sexual complexes based on denial and fear of intimacy."(Demetra George)
Vesta rules vigilance, security, being vested and invested in someone or something.(D.K.)

Myth as a Foundation for Astrology:
Demetra George

As of today, Vesta(Hestia) is located at the 9th degree of Scorpio, and enters the sign of Sagittarius on Dec. 2(PST).

From SPACE.com:
"New views of the second-biggest asteroid in the solar system are giving astronomers a better sense of how the object spins– information that will come in handy when a NASA spacecraft arrives at the space rock July 2011.

NASA researchers combined 216 new photos into a video of Vesta as it rotates once every 5.34 hours. The images show that Vesta has a tilt of approximately 4 degrees more to the asteroid's east than scientists previously thought. The data will help NASA plan the arrival of the unmanned Dawn spacecraft at Vesta next year.

"While Vesta is the brightest asteroid in the sky, its small size makes it difficult to image from Earth," said Dawn mission science team member Jian-Yang Li. "The new Hubble images give Dawn scientists a better sense of how Vesta is spinning, because our new views are 90 degrees different from our previous images."

The new spin and tilt information suggest that seasonal conditions in Vesta's southern and northern hemispheres may take place about a month later than previously expected when Dawn is orbiting.

The asteroid Vesta is about 329 miles wide and second in size only to Ceres, a huge space rock in the asteroid belt that is so large it qualifies as a dwarf planet. The Dawn spacecraft will visit both asteroids, starting with Vesta, to get close-up look at the huge rocks.

The goal of Dawn's mission is to take images of the entire surface of the asteroid and to measure the elevation over most of the surface to an accuracy of about 33 feet, or the height of a three-story building.

Knowing about the extra tilt is important because it affects the pattern of sunlight Vesta will receive.

Launched in September 2007, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is approximately 134 million miles away from Vesta. The spacecraft will enter polar orbit around the 330-mile wide Vesta and stay there until May 2012 before moving on to the Texas-sized Ceres, which it should reach by February 2015.

Vesta and Ceres are the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Spherical Ceres is the only asteroid large enough to be considered a dwarf planet, making Dawn the first mission to a dwarf planet.

Scientists study these celestial bodies as examples of the building blocks of terrestrial planets like Earth. NASA also expects that close examinations of space rocks will help the agency plan its next mission of sending astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025."
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Prague Astronomical Clock

Video-mapping show on the Astronomical Clock in Prague's Old Town Square to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the clock's construction.
YouTube

Oct. 22 Aries Full Moon

The Oct. 22 Full Moon in Aries is the first of five that fall at the 29th degree of their respective signs. The final degrees of each sign are considered challenging by the fact that they lie in the terms(subdivision of each sign by roughly 6 degree segments) of either Mars or Saturn- the two malefic planets in traditional astrology. But the underlying theme of this particular lunation seems to suggest an energetic drive to fulfill one's ideals and aspirations with quick determination.

Be great in act, as you have been in thought. ~Shakespeare

A Full Moon is always the climax of an emotional cycle that ideally brings a more complete awareness to the affairs at hand- but can also be a polarizing time, as the Sun(conscious) and Moon(unconscious) face off from opposite signs. In this case, the impulse to initiate one's personal agenda may take precedence over the Libran need to cooperate and make nice. Do what you will or what you must, without ruffling the feathers of those around you.

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others. ~Baltasar Gracian

Astronomers Find Light from Oldest Galaxy

Astronomers, aiming a ground-based telescope at a target spotted by the Hubble in space, confirm the find as the oldest galaxy so far. It's light was emitted at a time when hydrogen and helium fog still filled the universe.
CSMonitor.com

CERN Scientists Eye Parallel Universe Breakthrough

Reuters - "Physicists probing the origins of the cosmos hope that next year they will turn up the first proofs of the existence of concepts long dear to science-fiction writers such as hidden worlds and extra dimensions.

And as their Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva moves into high gear, they are talking increasingly of the "New Physics" on the horizon that could totally change current views of the universe and how it works.

"Parallel universes, unknown forms of matter, extra dimensions... These are not the stuff of cheap science fiction but very concrete physics theories that scientists are trying to confirm with the LHC and other experiments."

This was how the "ideas" men and women in the international research center's Theory Group, which mulls over what could be out there beyond the reach of any telescope, put it in CERN's staff-targeted Bulletin this month.

As particles are collided in the vast underground LHC complex at increasingly high energies, what the Bulletin article referred to informally as the "universe's extra bits" -- if they do exist as predicted -- should be brought into computerized, if ephemeral, view, the theorists say.

Optimism among the hundreds of scientists working at CERN -- in the foothills of the Jura mountains along the border of France and Switzerland -- has grown as the initially troubled $10 billion experiment hit its targets this year."
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National Strikes Disrupt France

Almost half a million people have taken to the streets of France in a sixth national day of disruptive strikes against planned pension reforms, that will raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension from 65 to 67. Unrest has intensified since last week when unions for railway and refinery workers called open-ended action, joined now by truck drivers and delivery workers. Tuesday is France's sixth national day of protests since early September.

The Libra ingress(Autumn Equinox) chart conjunction between the Moon(the public), Jupiter(large), and Uranus(protests & rebellion), appears especially focused in Europe, where the financial crisis has lead to harsh reforms that are seen as intolerable by the general public. The transits of Jupiter and Uranus to the Moon(at 28 Gemini conjunct the star Betelgeuse) in the horoscope for France, reflects the nation's current tendency for mass disruptions, and a highly charged impulse to rebel against the imposition of oppressive conditions.

The first strike on Sept. 7 corresponded with radical Uranus applying to France's Moon- ruler of the Cancer Ascendant, and therefore an important indicator of the state of the state and it's people.

From 2010 - 2012

Although we would assume that the situation there will have been resolved one way or another by the Dec. 21, 2010 lunar eclipse that conjoins this Moon, the contact is cause for speculation. In the eclipse chart cast for Paris, we find Mars, Pluto, and the Moon's Node, all on the local Ascendant. This is clearly a powerful combination- while the Nodal axis straddling the horizon here, would seem to suggest that this eclipse will have a direct influence on national affairs.

From 2010 - 2012

The transit of Saturn to France's natal Sun and Mercury which begins in October and ends Aug. 2011, is a period wherein President Sarkozy's government may be under some heightened pressure- as are finances(Sun rules the 2nd house), and the nation's transportation system(Mercury rules the 3rd house).

From 2010 - 2012

The Sagittarius Mars ingress of Oct. 27 occurs the day before the inferior conjunction of the Sun with retrograde Venus, that rises in Paris as Mars enters the adventurous sign of the Archer. Venus is at the midpoint of her 42 day retro-period through Scorpio that mirrors Persephone's mythic journey through the underworld, and her eventual reunion with her mother Ceres-Demeter- the earth goddess. But at this point in her cycle, Venus tends to express her angry, aggressive side more readily, and this energy appears directly linked to France through the Sagittarius Mars ingress. (The exact inferior(interior) Sun-Venus conjunction of Oct. 28 is rising in Delhi.)

If the situation in France is not diffused soon, the last weekend of October looks potentially violent and confrontational, as transiting Mars opposes it's position in the national horoscope.
What Would Americans Think of the French Strikes?
BBC News Oct. 23

Hubble: Window on the Universe

Giles Sparrow narrates an audio slide-show of spectacular images from his book Hubble: A Window on the Universe, which marks 20 years since the space telescope was launched.
guardian.co.uk

Venus Station-Retrograde ACG

Venus appears to stop and change directions(station-retrograde) at 13 degrees of Scorpio on Oct. 8 at 7:06 am, GMT. She makes her direct-station Nov. 18 at 28 Libra.

In her book Retrograde Planets (Traversing the Inner Landscape) Erin Sullivan wrote about Venus retrograde: "The degree of discord that arises within one's personal life during the retrogression signals the distance that one is from one's core values and higher creative inspirations.

"The sudden imbalance can tilt one towards an opposing pole, creating tremendous upheavals in relationships and in one's personal experiences.

"The mysterious 'ideal' can interrupt and tear apart what one has found to be loving and nurturing -- flaws and faults in others can become enhanced, and one might see all the dangers of intimacy rather than the supportive aspects of it.

"The call to war after the inferior conjunction of Venus with the Sun might bring forth the dead and one may be recalled to times in the past when rejection and emotional pain conspired to erect an emotional fortress which for current circumstances might be quite inappropriate."

The possibly violent potential of the Venus retrograde phase, appears focused around India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan- with most of the outer planets angular in that region. Today's Libra New Moon also shows multiple angularities in this same area.

From 2010 - 2012

The actual interior or inferior conjunction of Venus and the Sun occurs at sunrise in Delhi, on Oct. 29. This would seem to suggest prospective events in India that are infused with a passionate intensity(Scorpio emphasis) that could easily turn aggressive or violent. Venus is closest to the Earth at this point in her orbital cycle.