Beyond the Veil

Chiron • Eris • Pholus • Nessus • Hylonome • Borasisi • Sedna BEYOND THE VEIL by Eric Francis Coppolino the deck chairs on the Titanic.’ First was Mercury when Colbert made of all, that is a terrible metaphor. his speech? On the spot I looked When Stephen Colbert took This administration is not sinking. up the data and cast the chart. (See the podium at the White House This administration is soaring! If Chart 1, page 24.) Correspondents Association Dinner anything, they are rearranging the I had to blink my eyes a few at THE10:30 p.m. on MINORApril 29, 2006, PLANETSdeck chairs on the Hindenburg. IN” ASTROLOGYtimes because I could not believe nobody was expecting an ambush. From that moment on, any what I was seeing. I double-checked At most, people familiar with Col- hope that Bush had of being taken my data. Mercury was partile con- bert, whose program on Comedy seriously seemed to evaporate. As junct Eris ( ) — Eris, the goddess Central had begun just six months he listened to Colbert dismantle him, we remember from Greek mythol- earlier, figured that a pretty good Bush looked like he wanted to crawl ogy only because she rolled the comedy routine was coming. Col- under the table, but one of his for- apple of discord into the wedding bert is funny, but at that time most mer aides said he had the expres- of Peleus and Thetis, leading to the people had not figured out that he’s sion that he was ready to blow a beauty pageant of the goddesses. also serious, which in part accounts gasket. The apple was inscribed, “To the for why he was invited to speak. At a recent astrology conference, Fairest,” and with everyone’s full His act involves playing the role of I was in Richard Tarnas’s “Astrol- cooperation, its arrival incited a a bombastic, egotistical “conserva- ogy of the Comic Genius” intensive, bonfire of the vanities that we still tive” commentator — a fact that where we watched the video of Col- talk about today. This was a clev- apparently got past the censors. bert’s presentation, studying his natal erly designed sneak attack, made What the audience witnessed chart. I had just one thought: Where of pure cunning. The implications was a searing takedown of both were profound, among them the President George W. Bush and his Trojan War. administration and the press and Colbert’s apple of discord, slyly then the hapless public, broadcast rolled into a room full of the most nationally on live television. It was prominent members of American more akin to a coup d’état than society, was more of a peace pro- satire. test, lambasting the president for his Addressing the press, he said: lies about weapons of mass destruc- “Really, what incentive do these tion, his tax cuts for the rich, and people [in the administration] have his overall incompetence. It was a to answer your questions, after all? knockout punch, and Mercury was I mean, nothing satisfies you. in prime form that night, conjunct Everybody asks for personnel a newly discovered, about-to-be- changes. So, the White House has named body that hardly anyone personnel changes. And then you had heard of yet. Adding a touch of write, ‘Oh, they’re just rearranging elegance to the chart, the Mercury– photo by David Shankbone Steven Colbert Oct./Nov. 2012 * The Mountain Astrologer 23 Gradually, the two gas giants, Uranus Minor Planets and Neptune, were assimilated into If you want to astrology. The asteroids — most of them Eris conjunction was square asteroid understand what the named after goddesses — fell by the Pallas Athene in Capricorn, illustrat- wayside for a long time, though they ing this direct challenge to the political minor planets are finally started to get attention in the establishment. saying, the best thing 1970s when ephemerides and computer This event does not define Eris for programs became more commonly us, but is what I would call a proving you can do is to look available and gender equality became a moment: a moment when a planet’s and listen and collect cultural theme. themes emerge in a visceral way. Prov- One difference between the tradi- ing is a homeopathic term, meaning to information. tional and the modern planets is that test a remedy, demonstrating some of you can see the traditional planets its effects. I think of a proving moment more upheaval, progress, and conflict with the naked eye. I asked Rob Hand as (borrowing language from Geof- than anyone (except maybe Nostrada- about this recently, and he said that the frey Cornelius) a spontaneous eruption mus) could have predicted. The prem- zodiac and the traditional planets “deal of symbolism. The meaning of a new ise of astrology is that the shape of the with normal consciousness. An invisible body does not end there — indeed, solar system reflects both the state of the planet requires the expansion of con- many times that’s where it begins. Any world and the shape of consciousness. sciousness in order to be seen. They minor planet, once discovered, enters a With the discovery of Uranus, the time- cannot be seen by the normal senses, phase of what Erminie Lantero, refer- honored container of Saturn had been and that is very important.” As we dis- ring to Chiron, described as “continuing breached, and the age of science and cover and delineate these bodies, imag- discovery” (in her book, The Continu- industry had begun. ine that we are gradually expanding our ing Discovery of Chiron). Often the Interestingly, the second-ever plan- awareness into the invisible, non-normal themes emerge when we’re least expect- etary discovery, on January 1, 1801, realms. ing them to — or when we spot some- was of a minor planet, though it was In a sense, we are going beyond the thing in the world and cast a chart to see not called that: Ceres (first described as veil of the senses and the usual shape what’s going on. Here, we had an Eris- a comet, then a planet, then an “aster- of consciousness. This lack of tangibility like event of historic proportions in the oid”) is now designated minor planet 1, may, at least partly, account for why the year that Eris made her big splash, just written (1) Ceres. Four more asteroids minor planets tend to be so controver- four months after Colbert’s infiltration of were discovered between that time sial. And given how many minor plan- such an important event. and the discovery of Neptune in 1846. ets there are, we are getting the hint that When deciphering minor planets, (Astraea, the fifth asteroid, was dis- there is a lot going on beyond the veil synchronicities (sometimes bold, other covered just one year before Neptune — a very busy universe beyond the lim- times subtle) count for a lot. If you want was, after a 38-year gap in discoveries.) its of the normal senses. to understand what the minor planets Speaking of controversy, that’s one are saying, the best thing you can do is way to describe Chiron’s relationship to look and listen and collect informa- to astrology. Chiron was discovered in tion: Pay attention to which of them 1977, sparking the imagination of some are prominent in the charts of salient astrologers and the skepticism of world events, or which ones turn others. Books came out in rapid up in charts like the New Moon succession, and a conscious effort or Full Moon. Then, see what was made by a small group of develops. Look for the minor astrologers to research Chiron’s planets’ known themes mov- meaning and integrate it into ing through the news and Chart 1: their work. Others felt that it the lives of your clients. Note was too small, too new, or too the patterns. Listen for their Colbert’s White poorly defined to be mean- hoofbeats in the street. House Speech ingful. Gradually, it has come into more common use — in The Shape of a sense, leading the astrologi- Consciousness cal field from behind. By this When the age of planetary I mean that, while Chiron itself discovery began with the sight- was not accepted by many astrol- ing of Uranus in 1781, we were ogers, the ideas about Chiron grad- not just on the brink of a radically ually infiltrated astrological thinking: changing solar system. We were on the using astrology as a healing art; holistic edge of a world about to go through consciousness; and a spiritual purpose All charts use Koch houses and the True Node. 24 www.mountainastrologer.com to the work that many practitioners had Pholus got catalogue number 5145, missed along the way. and its discovery was followed by a Chiron was designated (2060) Chi- We now have many sequence of rapid sightings of other ron, being the 2,060th object in the cat- planets available to work minor planets (a property that aligns alogue. At the time, all of these objects with its main energetic quality, which were asteroids, including those in the with in the class of Pluto we’ll come to in a moment). main belt between Mars and Jupiter and Chiron, both of which In 2000, Varuna was discovered and some called Trojans that orbit with orbiting in the Kuiper Belt; this was con- Jupiter. Chiron was a salient discov- have been demonstrated sidered such a significant event that the ery because it didn’t fit any previously to be significant new body was given a special place in known category of asteroid (though, the minor planet catalogue — number due to its elongated orbit, it was simi- influences in astrology.

Load more