“Zip” (Zipporah) Dobyns' Astrological Insights
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“Zip” (Zipporah) Dobyns’ Astrological Insights AN ONGOING TRIBUTE TO ZIP’S TEACHINGS By Bill Wrobel [typing session commenced 2 pm Tuesday, August 26, 2014 from old hand- written transcripts from tapes of intensives attended.] NOTE from Bill Wrobel: I’ve known Zip since at least 1978. She passed away in 2003. Since her death, about the only remaining testament of her teachings are the books she wrote that are still available, old tapes that are available here & there, and her website: http://www.ccrsdodona.org/ While this site of course has not been updated for years, it is nevertheless a treasure drove of material. This especially applies to the free availability of all issues of her quarterly astrology periodical, THE MUTABLE DILEMMA (probably called this because she stated in talks that the mutable dilemma was her signature in her chart) and also Asteroid World. As it so happens, the site is hosted by a professional group that also hosts my own Film Score Rundowns site: http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/ But oddly, I noticed, there’s really nothing else going on that perpetuates the “Zip” code teachings. I google her name periodically, look for news from her family & old students in Facebook and other social sites, and so on…..basically nothing, or nothing new. Even forums I visited barely discuss the Zip Code or the Zip legacy anymore. Sadly it appears that Zip’s teachings and fresh developments (say, from old students) pretty much disappeared once Zip died. Well, I’ve tried to remedy that in the past by periodically typing up Word transcripts of her old lectures and private teaching sessions I had from her right up to early 2003. Even before she passed away, I asked her if it was okay if I put up her teachings I culled from her Intensives & our private class sessions on my Film Score Rundowns site (online since January 1999) in the "Other" back page section since it is obviously "Off Topic" from the film score analysis website it was designed for. She gave her blessings, so over 1 time I put three such documents on my film music website in the “Other” back page that partially includes the "Off-Topic" astrology papers: http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/other/index.html And now towards the end of August 2014 I decided that it was time again to offer another paper showcasing Zip’s excellent work. Someone has to stoke the fire and carry the flame! My goal this time around is to type hopefully 200 pages at the minimum. We’ll see! [9-18-2014 postscript: I managed to do 245 pages that included a few unintended repeats from other papers] Now: Zip’s chart and mine had interesting connections in terms of synastry. Her nodes of the Moon in Libra-Aries was across my Ascendant- Descendant axis, as well as her vertex-antivertex axis. Her Venus was on my MC on the 9th house side. Her Lot of Fortune was exactly on my Pluto, and Lot of Exaltation trine it. Her Uranus is exactly on my Jupiter in Pisces. Her Pluto was precisely on my Sun in Cancer. Etc. But perhaps my favorite similarity of our charts is that she too had a Mars-Neptune conjunction (hers in Leo, mine in Libra in the 12th). As she said once: “The best way to integrate a Mars-Neptune conjunction especially is to be identified with a cause and let your full power out for the good of the cause.” And, as she also stated, her cause was fighting for good astrology! And that is what I’m doing in my small way here with these tribute documents: Fighting for good astrology—Zip’s astrology! : )—and trying to keep it alive with fresh material. Enjoy! Bill Wrobel *********************************** *********************************** 1-12-1977: th ZIP: “With Letter Ten (Saturn-Capricorn-10 house) we really do have to face Law & Limits. We 2 do have to be realistic about what the limits are: know what we can do, can’t do, and have to do in life. Saturn is not the big bad malefic you read about in the old books because it represents valuable feedback & the consequences of your actions. Once you do get that feedback, you can do something different to improve your situation if you want to. Saturn can be our greatest friend or teacher, a chance to get accurate feedback on how we are doing. And one basic feedback is pain, which means you are breaking natural or human law or limits. You can keep on doing those painful things, or you can change. Saturn is not something to run away from but something we have to pay attention to.” [[COMMENTARY BY BILL WROBEL: (Back so soon! : )….NOW: Zip is quite correct about Saturn. One of the paradigm differences between Zip’s approach and the old traditional books—and this includes the current revival of Hellenistic astrology (supposedly the NBT—Next Big Thing in astrology) based on ancient writers such as Valens and Rhetorius—is to automatically & unquestionably label both Saturn and Mars as “malefics” by the latter. Saturn is especially considered as the “Big Bad Wolf” in astrology. Even if you factor in sect and take into consideration that Saturn is less of a malefic in a day (diurnal) chart, that’s just putting a sort of “happy face” on Saturn in those circumstances. The same applies to Mars, the so-called “lesser malefic” that is considered less bad in a night-sect (nocturnal) chart! Most current Hellenistic revivalist astrologers are wary about ever putting themselves in a tight corner with a fundamentalist position of Saturn and Mars being malefics without some sort of qualifying statement. Usually the qualifier is, as just given, “Oh, Saturn in a day chart is much better for a Wall Street/businessman type”---but watch out, night time sect charts, your chances of being successful in business are less likely with that Saturn. Same Saturn but the wrong sect—even if you become a night sect by just several minutes! : ) 3 Moreover, the literal-minded traditionalist Hellenistic types consider a substantial number of houses (or “Places”) as “bad.” The 6th Place, for instance, is labeled the place of “Bad Fortune.” Within that categorical label are subset associative terms: troubles, injuries, sickness, enmities, plots. The 8th place or house is considered the house of death. The 12th place is considered the worst house, the place of “Bad Spirit.” It too includes the subset of “enmities,” “suffering,” “secret enemies,” “weakness,” “dangers” and “downfall.” Whereas the 11th house or place is the place of “Good Spirit.” You can’t go wrong here because it involves “friends” and “gifts” and “hopes.” In fact, the 11th place from the lot (part) of fortune is considered the house of Acquisition—so great potential gain ascribed to this place. The 10th place or house was also largely granted great esteem by the ancients as well. 10/13/2014, 9:54 am Postscript: I am now finishing up on a 24 page special paper on this subject titled "Hellenistic Astrology: Second Thoughts." It will be positioned next to this "Zip Dobyns" special paper on the front page, and also in the "Other" back page: http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/other/index.html Thanks for your indulgence reading my short commentary as a prelude to my special long commentary paper on Hellenistic Astrology. Now back to Zip herself!]….. Bill Wrobel ****************************** [CHART DONE CIRCA 1981] ZIP: Now: The initial theme that I pick up when I first look at this chart is the drive for knowledge. That’s said by the nodes across Gemini-Sagittarius right on the Ascendant-Descendant angles. That marks the perpetual student, natural teacher, writer, traveler, the person who’s just curious about life. Gemini wants to know about everything; Sagittarius wants truth with a capital “T,” the philosophical part of life. And since Jupiter, ruling the Sagittarius rising, is in its own house conjunct Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, 4 in Virgo, we’ve got three of the mutables right all together there. Tremendous focus on the mind, the need to know. And of course that’s a potential dilemma at the same time. Gemini is satisfied with knowledge for its own sake, and wants a little bit of everything, but it’s going to be superficial & scattered if it does that. Virgo has got to do something thorough, do it well, be productive, be practical, get tangible results. So it’s quantity versus quality, knowledge for its own sake versus knowledge applied in a useful way. And then Sagittarius wants the ultimate & that takes us beyond the Mercury realm. Mercury starts with the conscious mind, physical sense evidence & logic. Jupiter-Sagittarius-9th house says, “That’s not enough.” They make the leap of faith, beyond evidence, and say, “I believe it even if it’s only tentative, even if it’s only a hypothesis. For the moment I will accept this as truth, the nature of reality.” This is because we have to go beyond physical sense evidence. We never get all truth in a laboratory. So we can say “I believe”—as I do in the beginning of a horoscope session: “I believe in reincarnation; I believe that we are doing it & not the planets.” These are beliefs that I can’t prove but I like to lay them out so you’d be clear where I’m coming from since our whole life is conditioned by our beliefs. And the chart shows a fascination with that, the quest for that, as a dominant theme to understand, to be clear about it.