Yesterday, I gave a presentation on how to use the minor planets in your work. I used this chronology of planetary discoveries as a basis for the class. Here is the chronology used as the basic structure for the class.

Prediscovery sighting of Neptune by Galileo. This chart displays only slow-moving points -- Mars, Venus and so on, are left out.

Planetary Discovery Chronology

Dec. 28, 1612 – Galileo makes first sighting of Neptune, while stationing retrograde, in conjunction to Jupiter, in Virgo.

This is during the incredible winter of 1612-1613, when he discovers the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus and individual stars in the Milky Way. He is not credited with the discovery of Neptune because it’s presumed he mistook it for a fixed star.

However, later research indicates that he may have been aware it was a planet. Neptune appears and disappears many times from the perception of astronomers during the next two and a half centuries.

1781, official discovery of Uranus, the first modern planet. This is credited to Sir William Herschel, a Brit; as with many discoveries, I am aware there is a debate, but Sir William is the one we remember. The earliest recorded prediscovery sighting was in 1690, when John Flamsteed observed the planet at least six times, cataloging it as 34 Tauri (thinking it was a star). The French astronomer, Pierre Lemonnier, observed Uranus at least twelve times between 1750 and 1769, including on four consecutive nights. I guess it’s hard to know what a new planet is when nobody has ever discovered one before.

(Minor planets 1-4) Discovery of Ceres, Juno, Pallas and Vesta 1801-07 – re-emergence of the feminine; birth of the minor planets (then called asteroids). True fact: Ceres, discovered on Jan. 1, 1801 was the second planet discovered orbiting our Sun, besides those obviously visible. Most astrologers unto the present day pretend it does not exist, or that it doesn’t quite mean anything. It is currently classified not as an asteroid but as a dwarf planet. I have a question. Vesta, though small, is the brightest asteroid. One can supposedly see it with the bare eye. So why wasn’t it discovered in the days of much darker night skies, when people had less to do, and were constantly looking at the sky for entertainment?

(5) Astraea, 1845, the fifth asteroid, is discovered after a 38 year gap; predicts the discovery of Neptune the following year. Astraea is named for the goddess of justice — the one you see in Libra and the Justice/Adjustment tarot card.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Virgo monthly of May 31, 2007

The direct quality of your encounters is once again jumping to another level. For one who has lived in a maze of ideas for so long, you’re certainly taking an affinity to the bold and straightforward approach to communication, and to allowing that sharing to directly change your existence. No matter what may seem to be the setup, however, your creative fire is the center of the story of your life. This is centered in your heart, and inside the four walls of your home. Maintain devotion to both, and any influence from the outside will arrive in its most positive and beneficial form.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

Fire stairs leading down from the 16th floor at the Hyatt Regency, Cambridge. Photo by Eric.

I am a big fan of the fire stairs in hotels. I always make sure I try them a couple of times during any hotel stay, in case I really need them. I also count the stairs between floors, to check if they are a consistent number, or if the number varies. I took this photo after a huge mob got out of the Rob Hand lunch keynote and there was not elevator capacity for 200. The steps were marked “Staff Only,” and I gave the break bar a push to see if an alarm would go off; it didn’t, and in a moment befitting a mock of a Stephen King novel, I led a posse to escape from the 16th floor of the Tower.

It was a fun day at the conference; I attended a talk that I will summarize and hopefully get the presenter in for an interview about the parallels between church dogma and astrology in the early 17th century — when the New World was being settled. As mentioned, I attended Rob’s talk on “why we do astrology” — truly fabulous as usual. My own presentation on using the minor planets was this afternoon at 4:15, and I’ve given Anatoly the MP3 to post — should be tonight or early tomorrow (check the database listed in links below — mine will be the bottom-most post, about 75 minutes long).

I am now sitting in a jacket, tie and proper dress pants, about to go to the banquet and awards dinner/graduation and Michael Lutin entertainment interlude. Back with more coverage of NCGR tomorrow.

This morning’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile occurred on the eve of the Full Moon. Many earthquakes happen with in a day or so of the New Moon or the Full Moon, including some of the most famous in history — such as the Banda Aceh / Asian tsunami event in late 2004.

Notice how the Moon in Leo is opposing a grouping of planets in Aquarius and Pisces. That’s a lot of weight thrown to one end of the solar system — and the Sun is aligning with Jupiter (which is about 1,200 times the size of Earth and 317 times heavier).

Just to give you an idea of how Sun-Jupiter alignments work, Jupiter in its orbit of the Sun makes the whole Sun wobble. Our Sun basically shakes as Jupiter orbits (which is how our scientists spot other stars with large planets — they look for the wobble). So if Jupiter is big enough to wobble the Sun, the gravity of Sun-Jupiter is enough to have some effects on Earth, and when you add the Moon (and regrograde Mars) pulling in the opposite direction, that is stress; and it’s stress that people are feeling as well because the whole concept of astrology holds that these events have biopsychic effects as well as physical effects.

There is also a triple conjunction of Mercury, Chiron and Neptune; that’s a lot of concentrated gravity because Neptune is enormous and Mercury is right close by. (Chiron at about 160km in theory does not have a lot of gravity, but I don’t discount the effect of anything.) So altogether, that is a lot of stress on our planet. Chile is way to the south of South America, and one of my concerns is that the melting of the ice cap is taking pressure off the tectonic plates and allowing them to slide around a bit more than usual.

I guess you could call this a typical earthquake chart, though at an unusual time in planetary history.

Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Pisces monthly of October 1, 1999

I know that angels exist, but I don’t quite believe in them. This is entirely a reflection of me rather than of reality. Regardless, it seems clear enough that you are in line for some angelic assistance in your process of getting where you are going, wherever that may be — and it is very much your call. Destiny has a wildcard property to it these days, which means that the synchronicity factor is working behind the decisions you make. You are taking some kind of step into real visibility, and quite possibly, authority, so prepare yourself accordingly for such encounters. But power and reputation are useless without guidance to direct them, and we always exist within a context that includes many people who seem to have significant influence over our fortunes, for good or ill. Recent experiences may have only heightened your sense of boundaries and need for security, but shoring up your borders and drawing on your sharper discernment, you should be able to spot certain key individuals who are ready and willing to provide support and assistance for what everyone instinctively knows is right. You can count on them. But then there’s the matter of those angels, who are not only real and present, but looking for you to open up to their miracles. Since these are love angels, money angels and career angels, I think I’ve just become a believer.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

Now that the Friday edition of Planet Waves is on its way to subscribers, I can get back to audio coverage of the NCGR conference. (This will update about four times a day, so check back regularly.) NCGR stands for National Council for Geocosmic Research; that’s a fancy way of saying a bunch of astrologers get together every couple of years and share notes, teach classes and workshops, and several hundred punters come from around the country and listen to what we have to say.

This is one of the main ways people learn astrology — at these hotel conferences put on by different organizations. It’s one of the pre-internet methods, another being reading books, classes in the dining room, and mail correspondence courses. So this kind of event is a bit of a throwback to the days before the iPhone.

NCGR has been around for 39 years and has about 20 chapters in the United States and abroad — from New Jersey to Turkey to Mexico to New York City. I’m not sure what karmic connection I have to this bunch, but it’s friendly and useful; it started with one of my best early (and current) astrology mentors, David H. Arner. He has been involved with NCGR for decades.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Sagittarius weekly of August 19, 2005

The actual fact that you live in a universe that is both fair and benevolent is becoming an obvious reality but you’ve yet to see the most tangible rewards. I suggest you be patient for about two more weeks set your house in order and as the Runes so wisely advise Wait on the will of heaven. The great spirit of Love and Abundance is smiling on you. Keep clear and leave the doors and windows to your heart open. And perhaps keep a little meditation going about what you really want out of life the very most.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

Hi there…I’m now doing audio coverage of the NCGR conference. The first three posts are samples of talks during the research symposium. Here is a link to the audio database. The audio will begin immediately. Once I’ve filed Planet Waves Astrology News with our editors, I’ll resume audio in interview format. The first speaker as of this posting is Robert Hand. He’s describing late in the second millennium BCE. If you’re into this stuff, I suggest checking back every few hours. Over the next few days, I will be interviewing some of the most interesting minds in the field.

By Len Wallick

The Moon is a fast lady about now. Up to nearly 15 degrees a day, soaring back up towards the ecliptic. She starts off playing favorites by enabling (trine) Uranus and snubbing (quincunx) Neptune, who knows what sort of dues she is accumulating as she leaves them in her dust? Luna has bigger fish to fry, and we mean fry.

Porpoising out of the sign she rules before the end of the day to smack into Mars coming at her in the early second degree of Leo. Seems fast and loose, wet and hot. Can you keep up? Can you handle the ride, mister? Whoo whee, she is on a roll towards the Virgo Full Moon that will preside as February becomes March.

Meanwhile, the Sun is heading towards a another conjunction that will be concurrent with the Full Moon. This time the partner will be Jupiter. It has been said that March comes in either like a lion or a lamb (ending the opposite way). Unless Luna runs out of gas, your stalwart correspondent is leaning towards the leonine beginning. Caution could be advisable, however. Before the end of the end of today, Sol will form a square with the asteroid Hybris in Sagittarius.

Hybris is another way of saying Hubris, a rich literary tool of the ancient Greeks. The equivalent of pride before a fall. Basically it says if you get too angry, too arrogant, too confident, you will do something that will bring you back down to reality with a thud. Those consequences are referred to an Nemesis. The Sun is due to square the asteroid of that same name, just before the Pisces New Moon (on the Ides of March, yet) at about the same time Mars turns direct. So, that’s when we will find out if synchronicity is a beach or a bea-tch. Meantime, play it safe. Don’t go crusin’ if you can’t take the brusin’.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Scorpio monthly of November 1, 2000

All the setbacks in the world can be compensated by recognizing a single moment of opportunity, luck or visionary political genius. Take your pick. Unfortunately, you may be plagued by something wavering between doubt and paranoia. Give it a few weeks and you will see that what you were dealing with was desire rather than fear (the distinction can be subtle). But penetrate your fear and you will discover what you want, and are likely to acknowledge that you are ready for this now, not in the future. In other words, anything more than a little delay, perhaps a week or so, is unnecessary, especially if you are merely hesitating. But with the Sun in Scorpio supporting your every move, you have reason for confidence.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)