Today would be the 110th birthday of my godmother, Josephine Nicastro Sharp, known to everyone as Aunt Josie. She was born in Sicily on April 4, 1904. Though the place is uncertain, I received an astonishing astrological confirmation that I was in the right place when I put my feet on the ground in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, one day in 1996.
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Me with Aunt Josie outside her home in Brooklyn, 1992, when she was 88 years old. Photo by Sabine Ferandou.
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As an immigrant from the Old World, Aunt Josie is my most direct root into my mother country and gives me some claim to being a first-generation American.
Aunt Josie was my godmother in the true sense of the word, taking the place of my parents, particularly my mother, in various times of extended absence. She also helped raise my father, and was his mother’s sister, so she knew something of the family influences that were at work in my life.
Josie was the most interesting blend of forgiving and shrewd; faithful and worldly; loving and insisting on integrity, particularly from herself. A deeply spiritual woman, the Roman Catholic Church was her spiritual home, particularly in her relationship to Msgr. Jolly, who ran the local parish.
Before being married, Josie worked scrubbing floors and then was in the typing pool of Westinghouse. She never finished high school but was highly literate and an expert secretary. Like many of her generation, she scrimped and saved and could stretch a dollar. She was a clever stock trader and made something of her modest, handmade fortune. My father said that she insisted on having a separate stock account from her husband, my uncle Howard Sharp, because their theories of trading were so different.
Aunt Josie was something of a mystic, and we had many fun experiences of psychic contact, such as she standing by the phone waiting for it to ring the moment that I called. We talked for hours and in the process I learned much about life, and the past, from her and told her about my perspective from the viewpoint of someone 60 years younger.
That 60-year age difference made us both green dragons (element wood) in the Chinese system of astrology. We were definitely a couple of odd birds of a feather, with more in common than really seemed possible or practical for our age difference. There were a few points on which we disagreed, such as cast iron frying pans (which she didn’t think were sanitary) and chop sticks (which struck her as a bit uncivilized). We definitely agreed on chicken and rice.
Aunt Josie believed in me, in my talent and in my leadership skills. When I was working my way through the ranks of the campus publishing community at SUNY Buffalo, she would regularly send me care packages, complete with her amazing oatmeal and/or oatmeal peanut butter cookies and various treats. These were always a big hit with my staff.
After I graduated, I told her that I was not really into sweets and shared all the stuff she sent with my crew, a bunch of college students who devoured it voraciously. She said she understood the politics involved.
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Estimated natal chart for Aunt Josie. Time was whispered in my ear while making breakfast this morning. She and I have many contacts between our charts — we both have Jupiter in Aries and Saturn in Aquarius. Her Mercury is exactly conjunct my Jupiter. She has several planets including Venus conjunct my Sun and Juno conjunct my Moon, exact. I would venture a guess we’ve known one another before.
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Several times in my writing career, Aunt Josie intervened to make sure I could keep going. She paid for my 5th year at SUNY Buffalo. She purchased my first Macintosh, which in 1993 got her a mention in The New York Times, her favorite newspaper (on page one of the Metro section, no less).
Mike Winerip wrote: "In 1989, as a graduate student here, he founded Student Leader News Service, covering the state and city university systems. It was really just Mr. Coppolino, a computer that his Aunt Josie bought him and three buddies who worked the phones in exchange for a place to sleep. They did good journalism. Mr. Coppolino was one of the few people not on the state payroll who understood the budget."
On several other occasions, she made it possible for me to keep going at what I was doing. After she died in 1994 at age 90, an inheritance of 333 shares of Exxon stock funded my becoming an astrologer, laying the foundation for Planet Waves. I dread to imagine what my life would be like without her consistent love, faith and her support of my work.
Astrologically, here is some information. She had the Sun, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars in Aries — an independent woman far ahead of her times. She knew who she was and nobody could shake that.
It’s unclear whether she had a Scorpio Moon or a Sagittarius Moon. Her shrewdness, psychological insight and cleverness with money argue for Scorpio; her vibrant spirit that nothing seemed to sink, and her mystical bent, all argue for Sagittarius. So let’s count her as both. She had Saturn in Aquarius and was always a fair judge, taking her time before making up her mind about anything. And she had a Venus-Nessus-Eris cluster conjunct my natal Sun.
I would say that Aunt Josie was the early influence who was never ambiguous in how she felt about me, or treated me. There was no double edge. She was straightforward and put love first. She was consistently an adult. She understood that most of the time the world offers a dirty deal, and insisted on holding the place of faith and warm welcome for me till the present day.
This is the part of fortune which is in conjunction to the Moon?
For the number 333 is a very great master number
Properties of the number 333
Symbolism
The first divine man.
In one of the messages of the Virgin Mary gave to Don Stefano Gobbi, of the priestly Marian movement, it said: “the number 333 shown once, i.e. by one, expresses the mystery of the unity of God. Figure 333 twice, i.e. by two, indicates the two natures, the divine nature and human nature, United in the divine person of Christ. Figure 333 three times, i.e., indicates the mystery of the three divine persons; that is, it expresses the mystery of the most Holy Trinity. Thus, the number 333, expressed one, two and three times, expresses the principal mysteries of the Catholic faith, which are: i. the unity and Trinity of God. 2. the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the number 333 is one indicating the deity, who wants to get above God even is indicated by the number “666
Peace has its soul <3
Eric – This is a beautiful tribute. What a blessing to have had such a loving and steadfast supporter. Thank you for writing about her.
I love this story, because every important development in my life was preceded by a dream from loved ones who have passed on. All of us have at least one person who loves us unconditionally. I believe you just received Aunt Josie’s blessing for the work you are doing, especially as referenced by the cavern with intricate designs and sunlight coming through the top. Yours has been a long journey. I feel like I should say, “Welcome home, brother.” That is the greeting my husband gets from other VN veterans when he wears his VN veteran hat. So, welcome to Grandmotherland Eric. The spirits are very pleased with you.
What a beautiful and moving portrait, Eric.
I am aware that my Venus is in the discovery degree, yes.
I am not aware that she wants me to visit Sicily. However, were it true, I would probably feel that as something inclusive of my own wanting to visit Sicily, which is on my top three list of places to travel to when I resume traveling. There are several places in Sicily that I want to go, and a few on the mainland. It would be about a month of travel in all.
When I get the drop everything and go message, I know it.
Eric, did you notice that the Moon in the Dream chart is in Chiron’s discovery degree, 3 Taurus? When you put the Dream chart’s Moon in Aunt Josie’s chart it sextiles her Neptune in Cancer and then the two of them, the Dream Moon and Josie’s Neptune, form a yod to the single degree between her Moon (symbol of Mother) and her Pallas (symbol of motherless daughter). Does that mean anything to you or maybe to Aunt Josie?
Once again, Aunt Josie’s Mars is prominent just below the surface (ascendant) at the time you dreamed about her and opposes the Dream Vesta (workaholic, dedication, ongoing) which conjuncts the Dream Ceres (mother without child) and the north node (path of opportunity) and I thought this might reflect your unconscious (at the time) pull between “absent” mother and “present” Aunt Josie from an earlier part of your life. Or. . . .
You say Aunt Josie was your most direct root into your mother country and the “root” of Josie’s chart is about 10+ Cancer, where transiting Jupiter stationed direct last month. Since Jupiter hasn’t moved far and is the most conscious part of the present cardinal T-square and since Jupiter symbolizes long distance travel, do you think Aunt Josie wants you to go back to visit Sicily?
She doesn’t look 88 in her picture.
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On Tuesday morning I woke up with the following dream, as described just after awakening in an email to Karen Pardini, matriarch of the Grandmother Land:
“I dreamed that I told my grandmother (Vera, my dad’s mom) and a sister of hers that I did not recognize, that I would be taking them to the Grandmother Land.”
The scene was the home of Vera and her husband Sam in Warwick, NY, not so far from where I live now. The two were sitting side by side on an enclosed back porch that was a distinctive feature of the house — the thing that made it a country house.
Neither said anything. Both gazed at me intently. I remember a few things distinctly: their childlike fascination with my being a mature man; their acceptance of what I said about traveling up to the land; and that I made an analogy between the small half-acre Vera’s home was on and the parallel world of the Grandmother Land, that this was the ‘other part of the land’ or something close to that. (Technically the Warwick house was in my grandfather Sam’s name — so this was the Grandfather Land. That would imply that I was about to take them to their land, the land of the matriarchs.)
The sister of Vera’s did not immediately seem to be Aunt Josie (the two had about 10 siblings; Josie was the oldest and Vera the youngest), but after looking at her photo all day, I realize that’s who it was — so there was this ambiguity of her/not her. But her round face and small stature — it was Vera and Josie.
One other thing. There was another segment of the dream where I was being shown around inside an underground cavern but one that would be more like visiting the hollowed out root ball of an enormous tree, that is, an area with just the roots and the earth cleared away opening up a vast space. it was distinctly underground, the walls were of earth, and a top level of the cavern, perhaps 50 feet up, was intricately designed. Sunlight was coming through at the top. It was a beautiful and interesting place to be. I believe this segment was before the Grandmother Land area of the dream.
So yes — the Grandmothers have been in the neighborhood, in this season of Pan.
Chart is above.
God bless Aunt Josie, you were most fortunate to have her Eric. I see that the transiting south node (release) is conjunct Aunt Josie’s Mars in Aries on this anniversary of her birth day, so perhaps you are channeling her spirit by writing about her on your blog!
Since I was researching asteroid Cruithne (activates special gifts of powerful women shamans) anyway, I plugged in Aunt Josie’s birth info and learned that she had this asteroid in Taurus conjunct Persephone and Phaethon while squaring Quaoar in Leo. Probably helped her make those shrewd financial decisions. 🙂
I also saw that asteroid Karma was conjunct Aunt Josie’s Mars and trine her natal Uranus in Sagittarius. So I would agree that you and your aunt must have “known one another before” and it appears she is making an extra effort to contact you today. Thanks for sharing.
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