I watched “What’s Your Sign Design” today, and am sorry to report that real astrology did not survive the editing floor. This first episode attempted to reconcile the design style of a Scorpio and a Pisces. The first clue that things were not going well was when the show referred to the Scorpio as “playful” and the Pisces as “grown up.” Astrologer Greg Tufaro brought charts and did readings for both participants that were mostly off-camera, but the show basically... Read more

Laurel proposed looking at the charts of Israel and Palestine to compare the two, which brings up an interesting question. What exactly is Palestine? What birthtime would you use for the Palestinian people? This is a difficult question and impossible to ask without deep political implications. During World War I, Britan obtained the support of Arabs living under the control of the Ottoman Empire by promising their independence. In 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France divided the Arab... Read more

Skywatch, the monthly astrological forecast for July is now posted on my website. An excerpt: As July begins, the difficult patterns of the June cycles are behind us, but with five planets in retrograde motion (Jupiter, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), we are still looking backward to make sense of it all. When planets appear to move backward from our perspective here on earth, the issues associated with that planet become more pronounced and require greater attention. When Mercury turns... Read more

Today I’m working on the July Skywatch article, so watch for that to be posted tomorrow as well. Meanwhile, I found this interesting article covering the attack of one galaxy by its neighbor that sounded eerily apropo of what is happening in the middle east, including this quote: When galaxies interact, it’s never a pretty picture. But it can be a source of rebirth and renewal. The tidal forces between galaxies cause huge clouds of gas and dust to compact,... Read more

Thanks to Astrococktail’s news section for this tidbit: “What’s Your Sign? Design,” a show premiering at 9 p.m. Saturday, looks to the zodiac to bring harmony to star-crossed couples, roommates and homeowners. Hosted by Steven Lee, the show features interior designer Nicole Facciuto and astrologer Greg Tufaro, all Manhattanites, and who together will demonstrate that the solution to decorating dilemmas may lie in making your space more Aries than airy, adding pieces of Pisces or letting your inner Leo roar.... Read more

Last night Israeli forces stormed into southern Gaza, attacking three bridges and knocking out a power plant in an effort to force the release of an Israeli soldier who had been kidnapped by Palestinian militants. Ironically, yesterday Hamas and Fatah (the two Palestinian political factions) came to an agreement on a shared political platform which formally recognizes the State of Israel. It’s doubtful, though, that last night’s attack will secure the peace process. The astrological chart for Israel (from astrodatabank)... Read more

You can read this article on the National Ledger site (turn on your popup blocker!). I’m going to post today on the escalating violence in Israel instead. Read more

Art by Lynette Hensley Pluto turned retrograde (appeared to move backward) at the end of March, and as it slowed down before changing direction (the “stationary retrograde period”) the issue of secrecy regained prominence with the disclosure that the National Security Agency had been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans. Pluto, like his mythological namesake, rules the dark Underworld of secrecy and that which is hidden. In the journey of human evolution, Pluto’s role is to expose anything... Read more

My husband’s favorite TV channel is the Weather Channel. He loves to watch the changing patterns of the radar, and attempt to predict what the weather will be that day. In North Carolina, weather forecasts are notoriously inaccurate, and I always tell him I have a better chance of predicting the weather with a tarot card than he does with the Weather Channel. So I was very interested to see this article (turn your popup blocker on!!) about a new... Read more

We are currently experiencing the second phase of the Jupiter/Saturn cycle, an event which will conclude in September. Jupiter represents expansion, freedom, our search for meaning; Saturn rules conventional morality, social and governmental structures. Over the past week as reported below, Mars (warfare, aggression) joined with Saturn where it created irritations and challenged the established power structures. Because of the square between Jupiter and Saturn, Mars made a square to Jupiter as well. The aggression of Mars is expanded by... Read more