Dear Friend and Reader:

BARACK OBAMA'S inauguration next week is the chart of a world in transition, or one about to unravel. These may amount to the same thing, necessary aspects of the same process: though if you ask me, this is a dangerous chart. We live in dangerous times and most of us have no clue the extent or depth of this fact, nor its profound virtue. This chart contains both the idealism of the election and also references to the mess that we are going to be left to clean up in the wake of what amounts to either an eight-year military dictatorship or abusive marriage.

Before I get into the chart, I want to offer a little background material on inauguration charts in general. And first, a bit about the word: it's related to the concept of augury, or divination by the flight of birds. Etymology Online says the roots go back to Latin: "consecration, installment under good omens," from inaugurare, "take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable."

It's unfortunate that astrologers cannot choose the time of the inauguration; rather, the time is constitutionally fixed, at noon on Jan. 20 after the election. This year it's on a Tuesday, that is, this coming Tuesday. In our current era, the Sun is always in the first degree of Aquarius for the inauguration, and Taurus is always rising. The degree 14+ Taurus has been the rising degree since the second Nixon inauguration in 1973. (The position of the Sun and ascendant for a chart cast for the same time and place, year after year, will gradually drift due to something called precessional movement of the Earth; that is, our planet wobbling on its axis makes even fixed positions drift gradually over the centuries. There is a nice animation at the wiki link that I've highlighted.)

The Sabian symbol image associated with 14+ Taurus is a man braving a storm. The degree associated with the first degree of Aquarius is an old Adobe mission in California. One is a personal symbol, an individual facing adversity; the other is about the selfless legacy we leave behind for the benefit of others, symbolized by the California system of missions that has endured through many decades til the present day. We have images of both the personal and transpersonal experience of the new president. We're reminded we're acting on behalf of the future.





A NEARLY FULL US Airways flight crash landed in the frigid waters of the Hudson River off the West Side of Manhattan Thursday. According to early reports, all 156 people aboard, including the crew and an infant, survived the crash. The plane was an Airbus 320. Overwater landings with survivors are extremely rare. Several people were hurt, including a flight attendant with a broken leg and several people with hypothermia.

Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk. No wait... Icarus and Daedalus.

The crash is believed to have been caused by geese getting caught in an engine, possibly both engines, though an investigation is underway. The pilot may have been heading for Teterborough or Newark airports in New Jersey but had to drop the airplane into the Hudson, which is a major flyway. The airplane cleared the George Washington Bridge by 900 feet, according to CNN.

Many factors contributed to everyone surviving, including ferryboats and tugboats getting to the crash scene almost immediately. Life vests and seat flotation cushions were actually used. The pilot was Chesley Sullenberger III, a 29-year veteran captain and former fighter pilot. He also owns a consulting firm promoting safety in high risk businesses.

Now for the obvious question: what does the chart of a plane crash where everyone survives look like? Cancer is rising in the chart, setting up an initial image of water. This makes the Virgo Moon one of the chart rulers. What stands out right away is the Moon is void of course, kind of like it's floating. Void of course is a perhaps unkind description (ancient term, really) of the Moon being done making aspects to major planets before it enters the next sign. My own theory for void of course planets, particularly the Sun and Moon is, unusual or unlikely things can happen. It is indeed rare that everyone survives an overwater crash landing; this may be the first time.

[Note, we have received a reader comment purporting that this was a staged event. It is entirely within my belief system that such is possible, and the first place I look for guidance there is the astrology. I don't see it in this chart. We night wonder how the chart has a packed 8th house and everyone lives; Jupiter was there offering protection. And it is noteworthy that the Moon in late Virgo is exactly square that famous position of 28+ Gemini (Sept. 11, the tsunami and the Democratic National Convention) but to me that is a reference to history and an interesting synchronicity. We will watch for oddities and inconsistencies in this story as develops, however, and please let us know if you see anything strange. -efc]

Here are the minor planets. In that rising sign is contained Varuna, lord of waters and one of the great gods in the global pantheon. Though his realm is the celestial ocean, in the walking, swimming world he has dominion over rain, rivers and floods.

Asteroid Daedalus is associated with air travel and transportation in general. We also find it in the ascendant, in the first degree of Cancer -- exactly square the Aries Point. If you use whole sign houses, this is stunning: the first degree of Cancer speaks for the whole sign. Icarus, the son of Daedalus (associated with flight, flight impulse and peak experiences), was in a conjunction to the Sun; not exact, but a three-degree conjunction.

Many commentators are saying that it's a miracle that the airplane did not break apart. The asteroid associated with the issue of keeping the parts together is Isis, which is exactly conjunct the Galactic Core. Notably, the Galactic Core is prominent in the chart for the first flight at Kitty Hawk: the Sun and Uranus were conjunct the Galactic Core when Orville Wright first took to the air way back in 1903.

At the time of the crash landing the Sun was exactly trine Makemake, a deity with a bird's head. And the Moon was making a three-degree conjunction (exact a few hours earlier), one of  the last things it did before drifting over into Libra. We haven't had time to check the position of Makemake in air crashes with a lot of survivors, but we will keep this one in our files. For now we will chalk this up to the Bird God smiling on humanity.

-- with Mandy Hall & Genevieve Salerno contributing.



By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

I listened to one of my favorite songs the other day, "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday. It was written when Ms. Holiday was in a financial battle with family, so her lyric, "God bless the child that's got her own," has to do with substance; but it has a higher meaning to me. God Bless the Child is about the ability to stand in our own authentic essence and power, knowing that our spark of divinity is both timeless and secure in the most profound of ways. When we are struggling with survival issues, it is easy to forget that circumstance comes and goes, but it is neither here nor there to the authenticity that remains at our center -- we ourselves are our most important resource.

Every moment of every day, we have a choice of what to think, feel, do and how to respond to stimulus; these are the causes that will manifest as effect in our lives. We may face challenges that are larger than we are, but what we bring to the mix will define our experience of them. The more our personal energy constricts, the fewer options we will have. With my prayer lists, for instance, I always ask for highest and best outcome in any situation; can we step away to be so objective that we can say what is best in the larger scheme of things? We must trust, and tap, that larger awareness of which we're capable, that informed intelligence that is just an acknowledgement away.

If we short-change our definition of what and who we are, we end up without the entire spectrum of possibility that can lead us to our passion and our purpose; that is eager to help us meet our needs. We must broaden our definition of ourselves and others. Consider: when we meet a new person, one of our first questions is, "What do you do?" Think about how that conversation might ignite if you asked, instead, "What do you love?" We have so much to discover about one another; about ourselves.





HAVE YOU ever wondered why so many minor planets are being discovered? It seems like every time you turn around, there's a new one.

The answer has something to do with various skywatch projects searching for near-Earth asteroids that might crash into us. There are several such projects, organized through NASA and various universities. In part due to their efforts, the number of catalogued planets orbiting our Sun has increased from 6,353 in 1995 to more than 200,000 today.

One such project, the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, has been awarded a new $3.16 million NASA grant to continue protecting Earth from killer asteroids. The grant was announced by the university on Thursday and will fund the survey through 2012.

The survey tracks and identifies near-Earth objects, which are asteroids and comets that have come or are predicted to come within 130 million miles of the Sun, making them a risk to hit Earth.

Scientists are looking for objects that are at least the size of 10 football fields. An object that size could disrupt the food chain because of the huge amount of soil and rock it could send into the atmosphere, which could then block the Sun's rays for years.

However, what we might do about such a thing coming toward us is another question. We currently lack the technology to get to the Moon, which closer than any asteroid and easier to find.

-- Eric Francis w/ Associated Press report




BIG MOMENTS in history deserve a good comet, and now we may have one on its way.

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3) is approaching Earth, currently in the sign Scorpio. At the moment a mid-sized backyard telescope is probably required to see it, but it is at the threshold of naked-eye visibility under a dark sky. At closest approach in February, Comet Lulin is expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility.

Comet Lulin is a non-periodic comet. In other words, it does not return; it's just passing through. Interestingly, it's moving backwards through the constellations. It's currently in Scorpio, soon to be clipping through the sky at nearly five degrees a day.

It was discovered in 2007 by a collaborative team of Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers. In China and Taiwan, the comet has been hailed as the "Comet of Cooperation."

Chinese astronomer Quanzhi Ye co-discovered the comet from three images taken by Lin Chi-sheng in Taiwan on July 11, 2007. (The discovery happened quite close to the minor planet discovery of 2007 OR10, which was announced just recently. The discovery image of 2007 OR10 was taken on July 17, 2007, less than a week later.) Quanzhi Ye was only 19 years old at the time of the discovery.

At closest approach (0.41 AU = 61 million km, just under half the Earth-Sun distance) on Feb. 24, the comet should brighten to dimly visible to the unaided eye and it should be easily seen through binoculars. Comets can be unpredictable though. (Remember comet Holmes in 2007, which experienced a massive outburst in visibility.) The hyperbolic orbit of comet Lulin suggests that this could be its first visit to the inner solar system. At this point we can only guess how it will behave. Also, the chance of seeing the comet again is rather small, since things with a hyperbolic orbit are basically grazing past the solar system rather than caught in the Sun's gravity.

The comet has a bright tail and an "anti-tail." Quanzhi Ye mentions several tails in his blog. The orbital inclination of comet Lulin is about 178 degrees, so it is virtually in the same orbital plane as the Earth, but moving in the opposite direction. The fact that it's moving backward is not unusual when talking about comets.

Near its peak brightness, around February 23-24, Comet Lulin will pass 2° south-southwest of Saturn.

-- Universe Today, Kirsti Melto & Eric Francis

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, January 16, 2009, #749 - By GENEVIEVE SALERNO

Aries (March 20-April 19)
People are picking up on an aspect of you that you may not be aware of at your workplace. This may be the root of any frustration you encounter this week. Imagine how the traveler to a distant land must feel when no one speaks the traveler's language, and no one is impressed by anything the traveler finds amazing. Then one day, the natives of this distant land notice the brass buttons on the traveler's pea coat and suddenly, everything changes for the better. In this instance, it is not what you say, but what you put out that will get your message across.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aries
and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
What you do for a living is something that's been on your mind recently. More and more it seems as though you are finding yourself on a quest to find the best way to present yourself to society at large. For many people, this is the ultimate sign of growing up, but it's not like that with you. You are coming to the realization that you are the sum of all your parts, and so you have a desire to make everything work in harmony. This week might be a good time to start researching an area of interest to you. Keep the fire going. It will most likely be slow in its progress, but if anyone can handle it -- you can!

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
This week is the time to do some exploring geographically and mentally for the benefit of your life's purpose and outlook. There is a part of you that expects those you are involved with to do the same. The only problem that may arise is a misunderstanding regarding your breezy appetite for adventure. Be aware that it may come across as cold distance and practice patience, instead of discouraging yourself. It's true the people that love you will miss you wherever you choose to go if they cannot follow. But the will be pleased with the wisdom you return with when you begin to share the new outlook you have access to.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
There are times when what you really need cannot come from another person, even if you have a specific exchange in mind that requires another person's participation. Oftentimes the roles you assign to people in your life are facets of your own personality. To demand loyalty to a certain extent limits your own need to shift and change as you see fit. This week is a prime time to do some creative work for the purpose of expressing your place in the world. Proclaim who you are before you get into any sort of exchange with another person. Remember who you are and you will be surprised how much easier it is to accept what the other people offer you.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
See if you cannot take that hard work you've been pouring into everything else and bathe yourself with it instead. It's clear you've got a lot going on and perhaps it has been showing in your health. Try to listen to the people you are in relationship with if they tell you they are worried about you: even if you don't want to hear it, in a way it's like a compliment. On the other hand, a chance to have an important conversation with someone you are close with may arise this week. The results will be flexible and not at all as grim as you may expect.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Leo
and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, something will happen to foil the plan. Even the best strategies are open season for chance. It's important when things don't go the way you expected them to not internalize. The benefit of a mistake or a bump in the road is the sense of flexibility that can come out of it. Remember: when architects build skyscrapers and bridges, they try to make them flexible to the elements. Rigidity is a structural weakness. Bring a sense of humor to your workplace this week: it might just be the perfect grease for that squeaky machine.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Virgo
and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)
Have you ever heard the expression "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye?" Usually that's the reason we tell little kids not to run with sticks. While I don't see any cause for concern over your physical well-being this week, I do see a chance to discuss the rules of your game to those with whom you engage. There is an imbalance where service is concerned: service to yourself and also those in relationship with you. Someone, somehow, is reverting toward childish behaviors and what could be a pleasant trip to the playground is on its way to becoming a real temper tantrum. Be sure to take a step back and invite open discussion about what you expect and what is expected of you. Obligations and rules are easier to follow when everyone has a part in designing them.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Libra
and libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
There is a strong sense of camaraderie surrounding you that has the ability to turn your home into a social hotspot. You have the energy to mingle and by doing so, you'll be able to make some stunning realizations. This week is going to be a good time for you to express your emotions and concerns. You are beginning to realize the source of a conflict near your home has strong connections to your own family pattern. You know that saying about how mud runs downhill? You have some time-tested theories about the way patterns tend to repeat themselves over and over again until someone does something different. Speak up about it.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Don't get frustrated by the feeling that nothing is going on around you. Something is most certainly brewing, but like a train that rumbles on the outskirts of town, you have to stay still and keep your ears trained for the vibrations. Subtlety is key. You're going to begin to notice a lot about the communication network of your immediate surroundings this next few weeks -- and most importantly, how you handle them. Those moments that arise where you feel the familiar sense of loneliness may be a call to engage the intuitive side of your nature. Oftentimes, when this side of us has something to say, it creates the moment we feel as loneliness.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
Don't be afraid to put your philosophies out in the open. The best way to craft a personal code of ethics is to involve the ideas of as many people as possible. That includes the great philosophers and book makers as well as the humble diner waitress who always knows what you're going to order. Everyone has a bit of wisdom to share. You have a wealth of values and opinions and while some of them may not get the response you'd like, the ones that do get it will be the ones to hang on to. Think of a shoemaker: if everyone told this shoemaker the soles were flimsy, but (s)he continued to make the same shoes, what kind of business would the shoemaker get? To share is to grow. To incorporate is to fortify.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
You might have a hard time expressing yourself this week while at the same time, you have an awful lot to say. You have noticed things about yourself, about those around you, and about the world that are so pressing that you've got to share what you know. Take your time. Looking at your chart right now I see a lot of room for confusing other people. Communication only works if everyone understands each other. Being open to other people's questions will give you ample chance for the mental sparring you are ready for this week. You may also be part of an exchange with transformative qualities. I suggest looking for the metaphor in everything.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
The fish living in the darkest depths of the ocean do not rely on light to navigate their way -- as a result, they have poor sight. Much like the deep ocean fish making its way, you seem inclined to navigate your own personal depths with capacities other than sight. When it comes to the hidden side of your nature, sight is practically useless. Instead, utilize the other senses you were born with. Your subconscious at this time is a lot like the ocean floor: laden with treasure. Having this kind of self-knowledge will benefit you greatly in your quest to find a place in your community. Like all manner of wealth, wisdom benefits the owner nothing if it is not shared.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Pisces and Pisces rising here.