Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrology and Monsanto Dear Friend and Reader: Venus stations direct Sunday after a six-week retrograde. This is one of the rare Venus retrogrades I've experienced when it felt like, and where many people described it feeling like, Mercury retrograde.
I've noticed that the deeper levels of intelligence are connected to a strong Venus placement; this takes the mind to the body level, what you might think of as innate or somatic knowledge that's connected to the senses and also to memory. In recent years the concept of emotional intelligence has gained some acceptance in society -- rather than being all about smartness, emotional intelligence is a wider-spectrum sensibility that can feel like intuition. I've seen in astrology that this can be described by Venus, among other factors. I've heard descriptions of mixups and a scattered feeling with this Venus retrograde, which to me feels like it's churning things around on a deeper level than Mercury. It has some of that tricksterish quality, though, which is uncharacteristic of Venus. The retrograde started in a Mercury-ruled sign (Virgo), so that may be a connection. For its part, Mercury goes retrograde in Libra on Sept. 17 and has been in what's called its shadow or echo phase since it entered Libra on Aug. 28, so you may be feeling some of that too. Sept. 17 is a busy day -- Saturn ingresses Sagittarius to stay for more than two years. The lunar nodes contact the Aries Point exactly. The Sun is approaching the Libra equinox. The astrology of the autumn, and indeed of the coming year, is a whole new dimension compared to what we experienced under the Uranus-Pluto square. It's a different environment, both mental and of circumstance. There are all new stories.
Nessus adds the thought: check and double-check what you feel. Listen to yourself. Consider the potential invisible implications of what you say and do. The signs involved are all mutable -- Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. Two of the planets involved are those associated with Pisces (Jupiter and Neptune). We've gone from an era of Uranus-Pluto in the cardinal signs, to one characterized by Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in the mutable signs. This is a cooler, slower-moving and less manic environment. It's also likely to be confusing for many people, in terms of determining what is real, and what is relevant, and what is not. True, this is subjective -- that is the whole issue. Saturn-Neptune patterns such as this require sincere emphasis on discernment and paying attention to both facts and intuition. Saturn and Neptune working on one another can go a few different ways. One is potentially the struggle to keep a grip, which must be met with new approaches to your reality. This can involve the relationship between the seen and the unseen world. Another is tension between what builds and what melts. Another is the drive to accomplish something that seems impossible. In my research into the Saturn-Neptune cycle, plenty of that seems to happen. Given this and the multiple inner-planet stations, I think we are in an extended moment of "the truth comes out" -- one of my favorite ideas of Mercury stationing retrograde or direct, which currently I'm applying to Venus as well. In that light, I have a story to share, involving Neil deGrasse Tyson. He's currently the top-of-the-pops astronomer, and many think he's following in the footsteps of Carl Sagan, except for one not-so-small point -- Sagan actually honored the core principles of science.
I was not aware that he was a debunker of astrology until I was doing a Google search back in March and came up with a page from his book The Pluto Files where I am mentioned. Here is that page. He quotes me from an article in The Wall Street Journal, suggesting that I'm using minor planet discoveries to lure people out of their own power. I thought that was so funny I wrote a spoof on the Astronomy-Astrology Debate for April Fool's Day, my favorite holiday. In my fictional scenario, deGrasse came out as an astrologer. I was the defender of astronomy. In a live event before a full house at Columbia University, I would discover and name a centaur planet (controlling the Very Large Array of telescopes in New Mexico from my laptop). Then he would tell us what it meant on the spiritual level. I think this was my favorite parody ever. This week, I learned that deGrasse has an ongoing campaign against astrology. I asked around and started getting YouTube videos of his various attempts to assail astrology. They have one thing in common: his facts don't check out. He claims that astrology is debunked by science, without defining astrology or citing any studies. Instead, he states hypotheticals and claims that two-thirds of any audience would agree with any newspaper horoscope, without giving any specifics. He does not address the issue that you cannot prove a negative. You cannot prove that there are no purple swans; you can only say after a careful search of all five continents and every island in every ocean, nobody has found one yet, that we know of. Tomorrow, we just might find one, playing chess with an orange swan. Or somebody found one back in 1312 but his notebook got lost. Negatives are not subject to logical proof. You can only say what is so. No matter how many studies have failed to show an astrological effect, somebody may come up with one tomorrow. But he also has issues with basic fact-checking. In one interview, he was attempting to debunk the notion that due to some astrological effect, there are more births at the Full Moon. I'd never heard that claim, but he took it on.
There's just one problem. The human gestation period is on average 280 days, two weeks shorter than he claimed. Two weeks is half of the lunar cycle, which reverses his theory. Based on the real gestation period, there would be a lot of New Moon births resulting from all that saucy Full Moon sex (which is speculative anyway; he claimed that "nobody doubts that the Full Moon is romantic" and therefore people have sex). After hearing a bunch of these absurd claims, I took to the airwaves on my podcast Tuesday with a message about scientists ignoring data, focusing on deGrasse but expanding the issue. You can listen to just that segment in the second player on the page. I recognized his ignore-the-data point of view from my work on dioxins and PCBs -- wherein you discover fast that the most deadly chemicals are said to be the very most healthful. However, a scientist declaring a chemical safe is something entirely different from a study that says what the known effect threshold is. But we hear from scientists all the time, claiming that vaccinations are safe or that they would feed pesticides to their kids, though without citing specific data.
For my program, I dug out of my files an interview with an attorney who worked on PCB and dioxin cases, Paul Merrell. Because of conflicts in scientific studies -- many of which are bought and paid for by polluters -- he said you can never really declare something safe. Rather, "There's only the social policy question what to do in the face of missing information." But so-called scientists frequently make claims without data. "For them to take on the power, or to assume the power, to decide for other people what risks they're willing to take with their health is incredibly arrogant at the very least, if not evil." Monsanto takes this further; the company is famous (but not famous enough) for ignoring and manipulating data, and creating fake data. Monsanto pays for people to do fraudulent studies, and then submit them to medical journals where they are consecrated as holy scripture. If you're curious, here is an article about that. I made this comparison between Tyson's position on astrology and lies told by Monsanto merely on the basis of his reasoning; using the pulpit of science to debunk astrology, but without data, Tyson is using the same line of thought that Monsanto does. This is done systematically. Many large companies, including Monsanto and General Electric, have an MO of placing scientists in positions where they will get calls from the press (such as at various fake institutes and nonprofits). The job of those Ph.Ds is to say that the chemical is safe (and you can trust me because I'm a scientist). I have a whole document set related to GE-sponsored scientists serving as what are called "ringers" who tell the press what the company wants the public to hear.
Then I checked my email. A discussion had sprung up on the Planet Waves editors' list (called the Eco List) about Tyson's position on GMOs. Apparently he is one of the most outspoken advocates of accepting them as safe. I had no idea. "I'm amazed how much objection that genetically modified foods are receiving from the public," he said in one presentation. "It smacks of the fear factor that exists at every new emergent science, where people don't fully understand it, or don't fully embrace its consequences, and therefore reject it." Aah, spoken like a true Monsanto shill. But it gets better. "What most people don't know, but they should, is that practically every food you buy in a store, for consumption by humans, is genetically modified food." You can probably see where he's going with this. He's going to say that ordinary farming is the same as Monsanto spending billions of dollars on its "life sciences" program. "There are no wild, seedless watermelons," Tyson continues. "There's no wild cows. There's no long-stem roses growing in the wild, although we don't eat roses. You list all the fruit and all the vegetables and ask yourself, is there a wild counterpart to this? If there is, it's not as large, it's not as sweet, it's not as juicy, and it has way more seeds in it." [By the way, there are wild cows and humans do eat roses.] "We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals, that we have eaten, since we cultivated them. It's called artificial selection. All of a sudden we're going to do it in a lab and now you're going to complain? If you're the complainer type, go back and eat the apples that grow wild. You know something? They're this big [he gestures with two fingers], and they're tart. They're not sweet like Red Delicious apples. We manufacture those. That's a genetic modification."
Note the absolute lack of data in his discussion. Note the lack of balance; he acts like there is no other side of the story -- and there is one. Note that he is an astrophysicist, with no degrees or publications in biology, botany, plant genetics, human genetics, immunology or toxicology. Like most things deGrasse says, you need a whole book chapter to unravel the deceit, but I will sum it up briefly. He's comparing Indians gradually breeding better corn and squash over thousands of years to a single genetic snip that distorts evolution and forces changes that might not have happened over millions of generations (and then the pollen is turned loose on the world, in an uncontrolled experiment). Further, hybridizing a tomato over time in greenhouses is not the same as mixing its genetics with those of a fish. Usually, the worst lies are those of omission. What he's leaving out is that genetic modification is used to turn plants into pesticides -- such as the New Leaf Potato, or Bt corn, which are formulated to be deadly to insects. Both are registered pesticides. The concept of a pesticide potato was so disgusting, even McDonald's and Burger King would not serve it, so Monsanto dropped the product. This is not Indians crossbreeding corn. But GMO corn is everywhere. Depending on your diet, you might eat it 10 times a day. Here is the real problem -- the global problem. Most genetic modification is designed to allow plants to withstand heavy applications of chemical herbicides; that is "Roundup Ready Corn." And when you have a lot of that growing, you have a lot of Roundup getting into your nacho chips, your corn flakes, or anything with corn starch or high fructose corn syrup -- and therefore into your gut flora, which it messes up (along with your immune system). Roundup, also called glyphosate, was originally registered with the EPA on the basis of fraudulent safety testing data fabricated by the infamous Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories.
This, despite the fact that 2,4-D is known to be contaminated with dioxin, and that it, too, was certified safe by Industrial Bio-Test Labs. The essence of Tyson's argument is that if you think GMO corn sprayed with Roundup or Agent Orange is any worse than an organic apple, you're anti-science and anti-progress; you probably think the world is flat. And if you follow astrology, you're the same kind of fool. I am still astonished at this discovery. Calling him out on lying about astrology and discovering that he's a ringer for Monsanto is a story beyond my wildest dreams. It's like a cop pulling someone over for a tail light and finding 20 pounds of heroin on the back seat, or catching Son of Sam because he got a parking ticket. Tyson's position on astrology is the least of our problems. Along with Bill Nye, the "Science Guy" (another GMO advocate), we now have a new class of corporate ringers: wildly popular people who play scientists on TV advocating for lies masquerading as science: that is, without data, and ignoring the established dangers -- and belittling widespread public concern. As one person commented on YouTube, apparently sincere: "Who needs God when you've got Neil deGrasse Tyson?" Lovingly,  -- Additional research: Lizanne Webb. Additional research and writing: Carol van Strum. PS -- A few years back I did an article on the astrology of Monsanto, which you can download here. I tell the company history, the history of GMO foods and I read the chart carefully. On Tuesday's Planet Waves FM I plan to put Tyson's chart around Monsanto's and see what turns up. Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.
  "One day more! / Another year and one more planning day. / As we start this road to the end of May; / These students who in spring were here / Will surely come to school this year. / One day more! / I am not ready for today. / What shall I do once school has started? / One day more. / Tomorrow you'll be halls away / Because the summer now has parted..." Full parody lyrics to the flash mob can be found on the YouTube page; click "show more" below the video.
Don't Be Les Miserables -- It's Only Back to School!By Amanda Painter For most kids, having the Sun in Virgo is not about the harvest or healing or service. It's about one thing only: going back to school, with its potpourri of excitement over new clothes and supplies; nervousness about how their peers will react to those clothes and supplies; some mix of anticipation and fear at being in an older grade; and, perhaps, sadness over summer's end and the loss of a (relatively) carefree existence. Is it much different for teachers? This video of some educators in the West Des Moines Community School District taking over the superintendent's "welcome back" speech with a parody of "One Day More" from Les Miserables certainly suggests that teachers and students share some common ground this time of year. The video also indicates something else that relates to Virgo: devotion. That word gets used with the asteroid Vesta more often. But you can't have service without devotion. And the teachers and staff who put on the beautifully sung flash mob clearly show that devotion -- both to their career calling and to their playful creativity -- in the fact that they voluntarily went to school to rehearse in June and July to prepare for this performance.   Official promotional poster for the Eric Francis-Neil deGrasse Tyson debate series. Actually this is an April Fool's Day prank; art and concept by Lizanne Webb. Neil! Let's get it on!
Oliver Sacks, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Venus conjunct Mars In this week's edition of Planet Waves FM, I honor the life, the work and the astrology chart of Dr. Oliver Sacks, who died recently at age 82. He was the author of numerous books and essays, including Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
By the way, Tyson repeats the old Ophiuchus canard. It's a hoax, as in a joke, which started in England. If you're curious you can read about it in this article, called You Are Who You Are. My musical guest is Jeff Bujak, an electronic and ambient artist. Here is his website. The link takes you to a Soundcloud stream of more recent work. In the second segment I look at the current astrology: Venus conjunct Mars, Venus stationing direct, and the Sun-Neptune opposition. While I'm doing that I look into the questions of how we know anything at all from astrology. But I read the aspects at the same time. This is hinting at a deeper question -- the epistemology question -- how we astrologers know what we know. More on that another time. In the third segment, I look at the Saturn-Neptune square that's about to manifest. It's this aspect on which I will be basing the 2016 annual edition, Vision Quest. A Special Kind of Mirror: Complimentary Virgo Birthday Reading Dear Friend and Reader: Eric's Virgo readings always strike a deep chord with listeners: Wow! Thank you so much, Eric, for your sensitive and wise interpretations of the 2015 Virgo Cosmophilia, validating everything I have known about myself. I have taken away a lot from this reading. -- Cath Millage
If you or a Virgo loved one would like that kind of assistance this year, I invite you to listen to last year's reading as a gift. After that, you can pre-order the 2015 Virgo Birthday Reading for only $24.95. The price will increase after the reading publishes, and Eric will be recording it soon -- so you'll want to lock in that lower price now. Virgo, connected as it is to its opposite sign Pisces, can work this equation between dreams and logical, linear parts of our brains brilliantly. Some people call it 'creative vision'; others just call it 'problem solving'. Whatever you call it, the ability to connect our imaginations with the facts of our current reality and the tools at hand is essential. With Jupiter now in Virgo for the next year or so, your Virgo loved ones may be wondering what to do with all the energy coursing through. How do you get clear on all you've accomplished in the past year, then apply it to current dreams, goals and insights? Anyone with a Virgo Sun, Moon or rising sign will benefit from listening to last year's Virgo birthday reading -- on us, as a gift from Eric (with greetings from Jupiter). We've waived the login and password for that 2014 reading because we know how helpful a little review can be when you're on the threshold of a new solar year. In addition to two full segments of astrology in your 2015 reading, you'll receivea third section with Eric's unique, intuitive tarot reading for Virgo this year, using the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless -- plus Eric's charts and photos of the tarot spread. Thank you for doing your metaphysical shopping at Planet Waves -- and for being willing to put your dreams for what could be into motion. Yours & truly,  Amanda Painter P.S. Since Pisces is the relationship house of Virgo, I'd like to offer you a limited-time, special discount on the 2015 Pisces Birthday Reading, for that extra layer of insight. ALSO -- anyone with a Virgo Sun, Moon or rising sign can pre-order this year's Virgo Reading here.  Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes Your extended monthly horoscopes for September were published Thursday, Aug. 27. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for August on Thursday, July 23. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Pisces Full Moon were published Tuesday, Aug. 25 Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.  Weekly Horoscope for Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015 #1065 | By Eric Francis
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