Jupiter in Leo (an "unhyped" interpretation...)

                                                        (Courtesy: Bill Attride)

There has been too much hype over the entrance of planet Jupiter in the sign of Leo - a few days ago. Supposedly all things are going to get better now and the optimism will sky-rocket among the people! But how can this be? According to the astrological tradition Jupiter was in a far better position in the previous sign, in Cancer where it is EXALTED! This means that from the moment Jupiter left Cancer and passed in the sign of Leo it was somehow "demoted" energetically - since Jupiter neither rules Leo nor is exalted in this fiery sign!

Undoubtedly Jupiter is not in its most privileged position when in Leo. On the other hand it is not in its most inopportune position either ... You see, according to the Hellenistic astrology (and to the Medieval / Renaissance one) Jupiter is the nocturnal ruler of the fiery triplicity (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius). Consequently, it acquires in Leo certain titles and offices. Not though the ones most astrologers are thinking of. If you noticed before, I wrote that Jupiter is the nocturnal ruler of the fiery triplicity. Which means that in the sign of Leo it exhibits somehow distinctively its properties but ultimately in a different - "esoteric" I would dare to say - manner. And in any case not so exuberantly and visibly as many would expect. This is pointed out by the law of "Tao" as well: The extreme "Yang" energies (the combined ones of Jupiter and Leo) are converted - from some point on - into "Yin"ones!

The main "obstacle" for Jupiter in Leo to manifest its exuberant side stems out of its most archetypal / fundamental property: the one of "opening up" and "expanding", the ever going on process of "dilatation and expansion". Such a property though is not particularly compatible with the sign of Leo, which generally works in favor of the "centrality" (Leo is ever promoting the "centralization" of all things). Therefore, there can never be a true"expansion" in the essentially "centripetal" sign of Leo, which is pushing the energies from the periphery to the center - and not from the center outwards, as  the expansive planet Jupiter desires. The often narrow minded, stubborn and inflexible nature of Leo offers anything but a breeding ground for the spiritual and idealistic Jupiter, which needs a lot of dialogue, movement, freedom and open-mindness in order to flourish!

Jupiter somehow stands for the "complexity" while Leo opts for the "simplicity" (Jupiter ever interrelates isolated ideas, composing out of them complex and advanced concepts - and this mecchanism lies at the foundations of philosophy). On the other hand Leo is removing the more complex layers in order to get to the very core of a situation. Thus the two work at crosses purposes here. In addition, Leo (together with Virgo) is the sign of "purification". It wants to purify things out of any "spurious" element. But it is imperative to define first here what is a "spurious" element according to the Leonian perspective - because what exacly is "spurious" is often debatable. And what might seem spurious to the sign of Leo might seem quite indispensable to Jupiter so that it makes a "conceptual interconnection" and extrapolate something "higher" out of various randomly lying and apparently unrelated ideas.

On a "mundane" level Jupiter has to do with goals, belief systems and ideals (the ideals of a certain society, of a state, country etc). With the presence of Jupiter in Leo the social / national ideals might fluctuate and become more rigid and authoritarian - permitting thus extreme ideologies to surface. And as Leo is a conservative sign (remember that in the zodiac it is diametrically opposed to the "radical" sign of Aquarius) it is now likely to trigger a more rigid spirit worldwide. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the first "tsunami" of conservatism / monetarism in the Western world appeared in 1979 - when Jupiter was in Leo again - with the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of England.

Despite the fanfare of many astrologers the periods of Jupiter's presence in Leo have not been the brightest in human history! In March 2003 we had the American-British invasion of Iraq (who can really forget the hysterical Bush's and Blair's cries / calls to war?). In January 1991 we had the war in the Persian Gulf, with the Americans leading both the liberation of Kuwait and the invasion of Iraq. While in June 1967 we had the "six days of war" between Israel and Egypt that almost sparked an international armaggedon. All these major wars were conducted in periods when Jupiter was in Leo! And the two wars in Iraq were apparently "justified" by the pretense that the Americans had to impose their own "democracy" upon Iraq (how much "Jupiter in Leo" is this thing - enforcing my own "democracy" upon others? No true democracy is ever enforcing anything to any one!)

On another level, perhaps it is not so surprising that the unusual and deadly heat wave that swept Europe in 2003 (that has allegedly caused more than 70,000 deaths) took place under the dominion of Jupiter in Leo (representing the somehow excessive manifestation of the "fiery element", of the "heat").

Clearly therefore, a lot of energy is released globally when Jupiter is "transiting" in Leo. But the question is how to manage all this exuberant energy, because if it is diverted in warfares - like in the periods mentioned above - no creative results can be obtained. Obviously all this "excess energy" is better channeled  in activities like sports (which are consistent with the spirit of Leo), in recreational purposes and in "games". Also, with Jupiter in the sign of "spectacles" there will be a "booming" in film industry, fashion and in "spectacles" in general.

However, with Jupiter in Leo ​​some historical peace efforts were made too (such as the famous "Camp David" treaty  in 1978 between the Egyptian President Sadat and the Israeli Begin, the nuclear disarmament agreement of 1979 between the U.S. President Carter and the Russian Brezhnev and the historic west/east Germany unification in 1990). Perhaps this unifying trend stems from what I mentioned before as the "esoteric" aspect of Jupiter in Leo.

Ultimately that may be the best gift Jupiter in Leo will bestow upon us: the ability to work "esoterically" with ourselves and find our true inner core, our "center" so that in all purity we follow our hearts!

Thomas Gazis

What is a patronage made of ? (the Da Vinci's - Duke's of Milan Synastry)

                                                     (Ludovico Sforza - Duke of Milan)

To the best of my knowldge, there has never been a thorough study revealing the extent to which the natural attraction or repulsion between two casual individuals that are interacting (professionally, financially, socially etc.) affects the quality and the outcome of their interaction! According to my own experience, how people feel about one other profoundly affects the course of their interaction! Often, it is the spark of sympathy among the participants in a given setting that transforms i.e. a job interview into a cozy talk, that results in unexpectedly successful partnerships, collaborations, and enterprises (and the other way around)! Thus, if we wish to have a positive interaction between two individuals, we must examine first how harmonious their intrinsic "frequencies" (their "Synastries") are.

When Hades reached the top of the firmament (the "dark" 2010 - 2020 decade)!

As you most probably know Hades is the mythical god of the underworld. Therefore Hades (or Pluto) should be normally dwelling under our feet, within the farthest depths of the earth. How would you feel then if I told you that Hades has actually left his gruesome kingdom and is currently residing on the top of the sky, over the very "Zenith of the world"? If I told you that Hades is currently hovering over our heads, invisibly exerting its tight grip on our societies?

Having a crush on society! (Jupiter - Sagittarius - Ninth House)

Most astrologers are describing Jupiter as a "beneficial" planet of "wisdom", a planet that is "magnifying and expanding" things and situations. Furthermore, Sagittarius (the sign ruled by Jupiter) is generally described as the sign of "religion, higher education and distant traveling". I always thought that these interpretations were somehow weak and fragmentary, not shedding much light to essential facets of the archetypes that they are supposedly illustrating! There are some other important dimensions to Jupiter / Sagittarius / Ninth House and we are apparently ignoring them. Thus, we should start thinking “out of the box” in order to get the wider possible spectrum of meanings out of the afore-mentioned archetypes!

As you probably know, the zodiac is a "dynamic" entity! Each sign in it is representing an "evolved" stage of the preceding one. In this respect, the sign of Sagittarius is located immediately after the two so-called "unifying", "pairing" signs (Libra - Scorpio). Consequently, the main trait of Sagittarius should be the one of "uber" UNIFICATION! But not that much on the interpersonal level. You see the "Archer" is located  just a "click" before the "universal" signs (Aquarius - Pisces), which are more concerned with the "collective". Therefore, Sagittarius is actually representing a highly unifying "intermediate step", a stage where the individuals should move past the "romantico-sexual pairing" (which tends to isolate the two individuals, driving them often into a state of "gridlocked stagnation") and thrustingly open themselves up to society!

This is a vital dimension to Sagittarius (and to the Ninth House) that we often neglect: its impetus towards sociability! In other words, the trend to enthusiastically open up to the "unknown others" and to unconditionally mingle and interact with the people and the groups around us! Those individuals having in their charts a strong Sagittarius, Jupiter or Ninth house emphasis are somehow under the spell of this unique "geist", which we might call "a crush on society"!

The Sagittarian energy  is thrusting us forward, beyond the often "petty" and claustrophobic company of our "buddies", of "our own people". It is enticing us to open up to the wider world, to indiscriminately socialize, to become good-spirited, elevated human beings. It advises us to overcome our narrow horizons, our selfishness, the "Samsara" of our micro-routine and gradually ascend to the higher state of becoming a "universal being". It is at that state that we feel ourselves twinned with our unknown fellow-humans, ultimately enjoying their company instead of merely being annoyed by it!

Thus, the sign of Sagittarius is inducing a major "consciousness shift", urging us to go beyond the (often raw and immature) "pairing" or the "we are buddies!" thing,  to move onto the broader and more mature stage of "socializing"! In other words, to start experiencing our intimate "likeness" to our totally unknown fellow-humans. But this is something extremely difficult for an "average Joe/Jane" to achieve,  unless s/he has in his chart elements conferring to him this kind of "social crush" quality! That is why the "geist" of Sagittarius (Jupiter and Ninth house) is ultimately so important to our society! As much as a classical Scorpio is longing to meet his/her much desired lover, a Sagittarius is longing to meet an unknown to him/her group of people (and the more unknown the people around him/her the more s/he longs to get to know them and exchange energies!)

So the "Archer" is a collectively unifying force, a very strong, cohesive, elevated / elevating "societal link"! In order now to be sociable, to be able to comfortably stand beside unknown individuals, one should have an open, elevated mind and display a rather friendly and benevolent attitude to his/her fellow humans! You see, the over-sensitive people, the touchy, immature, suspicious ones tend to be anti-social (as they somehow fear the contact with any kind of people they don't know). Thus they usually enclose themselves within "petty-groups" and environments they are familiar with! This kind of people are automatically set to a rather phobic mode when found in an "open" social environment. So, each time an opportunity arises for them to go out and meet unknown people they mostly overlook it thinking: "why should I go to an alien environment, full of people I don't know, who might put me down, hurt me etc."...

This mentality is characterizing an awful lot of people who are ending up being "couch potatoes", watching TV or "procrastinately" surfing on the net (losing thus valuable opportunities that their participation in a social event might have given them - i.e. to find a good job, a lovely partner etc.). So, we need to overcome this anti-social trend, which is by default prevailing to an average individual. The energy now needed to overcome this "social inertia" is provided to us by the sign of Sagittarius (and on another level, by the sign of Aquarius, whose Sagittarius is somehow a "proto-form", an early "fiery" version)!

Most people do not possess in their charts a surplus of Sagittarian, Jupiterian or Ninth House energies  and thus they lack this kind of openness to their unknown fellow-humans. People, in general, have a tendency to "close in" and mistrust those who do not make part of their own regular company. This means that our societies are largely composed of isolated groups/companies of people, who do not readily exchange energies and do not fully communicate with each other (thus these groups are easily degenerating into fractions, cliques etc.).

Such a situation is not producing a healthy social fabric at all! Where narrow minds prevail people tend to isolate themselves in small groups and then the vital "societal energies" do not flow freely - they get "coagulated" instead - creating within the social fabric all kinds of gaps and "polarizations". Consequently, the society as a whole cannot function properly and is ultimately driven into decline and collapse. 

This is the case of our modern western societies, which over the past decades have somehow collapsed and led us to the current  mega-crisis (a crisis that is not just financial but largely a social/ethical one)! We may detect at the core of this social crisis a deficit of sagittarian "social crush" geist! Actually, this seems to be a major problem in our contemporary western / westernized societies: the peoples' lack of a guileless opening to their unknown fellow humans (without aiming that is at any kind of monetary, professional etc. gains). You see, this unconditional, trustful (but not gullible) "opening up" to our neighbors is imperative, in order to produce an "unclotted", uplifted, full of possibilities collective environment around us!

Thus, the stronger the presence of Sagittarius, Jupiter and Ninth house in our charts the more we have a "crush on society", the more we open up to our fellow humans, the more we feel attracted by the large and unknown to us groups of people! In such a way, we ever more partake in the collective life and in the powerful energies flowing in it - ultimately contributing to the shaping of a more congenial, progressive and elevated society!

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazes

This is a newer version of a Thomas Gazis article that was published οn the December 2013 issue of the Greek magazine "Astrologiki Pyxida" ("Astrological Compass").

The Grand Cardinal Cross of April 2014. Αn historical event!

The crucifixion has been the central theme these days within the christian communities. As we speak though a unique "Cosmic Cross" is ever more precisely formed in our skies - climaxing to the April 22nd perfect (partile) Cross configuration between the planets Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars (all of them being exactly at the 13th degree of the corresponding sign. And it is interesting to know that both the USA's natal Sun and the Russian President's Vladimir Putin Sun stand at the 13th degree of Cancer and Libra respectively)!

Seventh and Eighth House: the mating "niches" in our charts!

Please join the (free) online Thomas Gazis lecture "SEVENTH AND EIGHTH HOUSE: THE MATING NICHES IN OUR CHART!" on Sunday March the 9th, at 10 pm GMT (Greenwich Time).

You don't need to have some special software or equipment. Simply click on the "GoTomeeting" link below and it will take you straight there. If it doesn't, it means that I am not there yet (very possible), or it is simply too early.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/683577213

If it is the first time you have been to a GoTo room, you will be asked to download a bit of software first. It only takes a few minutes and is very small and quite safe.

Don't forget these days you need to be early if you want to get a "seat" in the lecture, as the room does only hold 24 people and these days it fills up fast. If you are too late, keep trying as people do leave early, and you may get in if there is a vacant seat left.

If you don't know what time 10:00 pm GMT is in your area, go to

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Enter 9 March 2014, 10:00 pm into the time and date, make sure the Time Zone is GMT (click on Time Zone, then GMT). If your town is not already entered into "place to convert to", click on other locations, click on your country, then find either your city or a town in your state or Time Zone,
click on it, then click on "convert time", and voila!!!

- You will be connected to audio using your computer's microphone and speakers (VoIP). A headset is recommended.

Meeting ID: 683-577-213

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Deciphering astrologically "the most beautiful suicide" mystery!

The above photo has profoundly impacted millions of people. It shows a young and apparently beautiful woman, a few minutes after she committed suicide falling over the top of the Empire State Building! It is somehow an eerie image. The woman seems placidly and peacefully sleeping, not dead at all! But the violently crashed car under her - that somehow has taken her body shape - attests otherwise!

I saw this picture just recently (my friend Theo Phalieros sent it to me in an e-mail) - although it is out there for more than 50 years...And being an Astrologer the first questions that came to my mind were: what kind of natal chart Evelyn McHale (her name) had? What kind of transits she were receiving to commit such a deperate act? If I only knew her birth data! But how? She was not a celebrity - although she somehow became one after her death! Fortunately, there is nowadays a "Genie in a bottle" that is called "the internet"! Thanks to it I found a lot of info on Evelyn McHale (there are even a couple of facebook pages created in her memory).

Evelyn McHale was born on September 20th, 1923 in Berkeley California (we don't know her time of birth but given the adverse conditions that's probably too much to ask). She was a Virgo (her solar sign) with Moon in Aquarius! My first thought was: Oh! she must have had a lot of Scorpio and Pluto in her chart. But that's not the case, as you may see in her natal chart (conventionally set for midday) below:

She wasn't much of a Scorpio (she had just Jupiter in Scorpio) nor she had any major aspects between her "Lights" and Pluto. She was rather a low profile, discrete Virgo. Of course - since we don't know her time of birth - she might have had i.e. a strong Eighth House emphasis (if her Ascendant were Aquarius - Pisces then a planetary stellium would "fall" in her Eighth House. Although something like that is very plausible, apparently we have no way to ascertain it). In any case, not only she had an "electrical" and anti-comformistic Aquarian Moon but a very rebellious and disruptive Mars - Uranus aspect too!

The "beautiful suicide" took place on May 1st, 1947. So, let's see in a bi-wheel the major transits Evelyn was receiving on that fatal day (the inner wheel is Evelyn's natal chart and the outer wheel the planetary transits of her "long jump"day):

Well, the aforementioned "Pluto factor" is triumphantly entering the scene here, since transiting Pluto is (probably tightly) aspecting her Moon in Aquarius (by an opposition aspect). Transiting Saturn as well is beginning to aspect her Moon - not to mention transiting Uranus her Sun! And that's heavy because the Moon represents our soul, our feelings, our mood! On the other hand Pluto and Saturn are considered the toughest, the "darkest" and most "malignant" planets in Astrology. We begin to understand now that Evelyn was going through a very tough, extreme, depressive and "dark" period of her life in the period she killed herself!

But that's not all! Evelyn was engaged to Barry Rhodes and they were about to get married. By sheer serendipity I found out her fiance's date of birth too! The day before she committed suicide they celebrated together his 24th birthday! So, apparently he was born on April 30, 1923! You may see his chart below (of course no time of birth is provided).

It strikes us right away the fact that both his Sun and Moon are forming ultra-discordant square aspects to Evelyn's Aquarian Moon! Barry might have been a great guy otherwise but definitely Evelyn was not feeling happy with him! She was probably perceiving him as a too single - minded, possessive and oppressive person, as someone who was taking away her liberty. Although a Virgo woman and a Taurus man traditionally go well together, in their case her Moon (in the beginning of Aquarius) was tremendously clashing with his respective "Lights" in Taurus and Scorpio. Meaning that their relation was often getting into a very awkward ground, making her utterly unhappy! And him as a young man was not perceiving this so much as she was! And ultimately (as a Virgo) she took the blame of it!

They were about to get married in June 1947. But with her Aquarian Moon - and with her Virgonian "I cannot split from him now, people will criticize me bitterly!" attitude -  she chose to perform the tragically liberating act of jumping to her death!

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis

Scorpio's "quantistic" nature!

Scorpio is a mysterious sign, representing certain "oddities" and situations that apparently do not seem to be compatible with life itself. And as we will see here, it bears in its nature a somehow "quantistic" dimension!

To make you realize what I mean, just take a look at the painting above. It is made by a Scorpio painter, the Belgian Rene Magritte. It is a rather bizarre image...It shows a woman riding a horse in a forest. But it is not a "realistic" image, because the woman and the horse are crossing the trees in a rather "quantistic" manner...They themselves are "split" and they are crossing the trees on several planes...

I don't know whether Magritte had studied quantum physics or not, but this painting of his is a very good metaphor for what happens in the microcosm (on the sub-atomic level). The particles there are apparently "splitting" and crossing simultaneously different dimensions and planes...Scorpios - being "tiny" and representing the paradoxical nature and the power of the tiny and invisible things (i.e. of the subatomic, of radioactivity etc.) - are instinctively aware of this quantistic dimension of nature...

So, we might say that the sign of Scorpio represents certain "quantistic" fields of our lives. Take death for example. If you go downtown in the city you live and you walk among the generally careless crowd you will realize that death - although a powerful human phenomenon - seems to be totally absent in such a social context (unless some tragic event has occurred). And yet, just a few meters from where you are walking people might be dying in the private settings of some house, clinic etc.

Sex is  another "quantistic" activity associated with Scorpio. When we walk downtown or we find ourselves in some specific social (professional etc.) context then we realize that sex - although omnipotently dominating the human nature - is actually absent there. Every person around us is dressed and behaves "decently", avoiding any acute reference on this subject, which all in all still remains a taboo. And yet most of these seemingly "unscathed" from sex men and women - whom we see standing strict, proud and dignified in the everyday social contexts - they are having sex like frenzied steaming engines, once they find themselves with their usual or casual partner (or partners) in the privacy of an apartment, a hotel etc. This is what I call a "scorpionic quantum paradox" ...

It is not so hard to understand why death is a "quantistic" phenomenon in our lives. Meaning that it exists alright but at the same time "it doesn't exist"! Obviously, this "quantistic" dimension of death is somehow convenient and comforting to us humans. Eschewing death as some procedure that has nothing to do with us right now but constantly postponing it to some fuzzy and remote place and time in the future, certainly out of the reality plane we are living right now, that's an extremely convenient thing to the phenomenon of life! Otherwise, the ominous overwhelming heaviness of death would be constantly crushing us, every single day and moment, not permitting us to live, to feel good, to do things.

Alright so far. But why is sex "quantistic"? Because it actually is our ultimate resort against death! Through sex we become ONE with our partner, we experience the ONENESS of everything, of the entire Universe and we thus overcome the fragile destiny of the mortal individuality we are "entrapped" in! Not to mention that it is through sex that we somehow "multiply" and immortalize ourselves, that we propagate our species. And the undeniable fact is that the "quantistic" dimension of sex, its "social hypocrisy" and "dirtiness" adds a lot of fascination and power to it, it makes sex far more important and special to us!

Just picture what would happen if there was no "quantistic" dimension to sex and various passerby's were freely falling upon you the very moment you were getting our of your house - or walking on the street -  in order to have sex with you right on the spot! Wouldn't that be - as soon as the initial "bacchic libertinity" phase would tear off - a nightmare? Wouldn't that weaken sex? And the fact is that we human beings need sex to be unique, "dirty", fascinating and powerful, because ultimately we need a powerful antidote to death!

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis

Mercury astrologically - Striving to restore Unity

I am a Gemini man living in Athens, Greece. The ruler of my solar sign is Mercury. So, you understand why I love getting out of my house and going on shopping…The task to purchase the daily groceries provides me with the opportunity to justifiably go out of my house, to change environment and experience at first hand what’s going on in the “world”, to walk towards the market and interact with so many and diverse people

The street where I am buying most of my daily groceries - and I am having a cup of coffee too - is called “Hermes”. Actually “Hermes” is the Greek name of Mercury. So, I find it very appropriate that the central street of my neighbourhood, the one with the most intense commercial activity and social interaction is named after the ancient god of commerce and communications. I even conceived the content of this article in between my daily purchases and social interactions in the “Hermes” street…

In this daily itinerary of mine (and yours) to the market place several key functions of the Mercurian archetype are prominently present: getting out of our house, being on the move, experiencing the sights and sounds of our neighbourhood, meeting new things or persons, engaging into a (somehow superficial) conversation with our neighbours or any acquaintances we casually meet in our short itinerary to the market place or in it, exchanging money for goods. There is a lot of Mercury in all these activities, as this is the god of change and mobility, of communications, of reasoning and dialectics, of itineraries, of crossroads, interactions and commerce.

Names say much…Thus, we may deduce a lot of  Mercury’s astrological nature just out of its English and Greek name. Mercury has to do i.e. with the element mercury (quicksilver), with a strange metal that is fluid and is ever changing its form. There is even the word "mercurial" in the English language meaning "changeable, volatile, erratic, quick-witted"! And of course Mercury has to do with the word "market" (they both share the Latin radix "merx")! A "market" is a place where many and diverse people gather, where you can trade something, where you can deal in, sell and buy things and services.

The Greek name Hermes might not ring any particular bell to you. It will though if I tell you that the English word “sermon” is related to it! Thus Mercury has to do with a talk that has been properly methodized and structured, a talk containing irrefutable arguments so that it directs the audience to some specific, desirable conclusion. Under this point of view we all give small “sermons” everyday to the people around us so that we convince them for something, so that we achieve something out of them…

You see the Mercurian archetype is highly individualistic. It mostly takes care of our own personal interests. But its individualism has a gentler aspect too, as Mercury is constantly striving to restore some Unity between us and the others, to maintain a contact between us and the Wholeness.....

The Greek language will help us further to understand the astrological properties of Hermes / Mercury. The Greek verb “hermenevo” is tightly related to “Hermes” and it means “to interpret”…The “interpretation” of something, of a sentence, of a situation, behaviour etc. their “deciphering” and rendering in a clear, lucid and comprehensible manner is quintessential to Mercury - and absolutely essential to every human being.

To explain what I mean let me write you a sentence in Greek:

«H νόηση, η κινητικότητα, η αλλαγή, η διασύνδεση είναι κάποιες από τις βασικές ιδιότητες του Ερμή».

No doubt, that's “all greek” to you…You are suddenly “in the dark” here…You probably look at the above phrase but neither can you read it nor make any sense out of it. You might even feel confused and disorientated about it, urgently needing some "interpretation". Thus, most probably you will open a “Google translate” page and copy - paste the above phrase from Greek to English. You will get then something that goes like this:

"The cognition, mobility, changing the interface are some of the basic properties of Mercury"

This definitely makes some sense to you now. Of course the phrase "changing the interface"  is not very clear. The "Mercury in you" is immediately alerting you that there might be something wrong about it. Actually, the google's translation has not been very accurate in this case - it hasn't done a very good "interpretation" of the Greek phrase (I can see this thanks to my own Mercury). What I actually wrote in Greek is:

"Reasoning, mobility, change, interconnections are some of the basic properties of Mercury"

What you just experienced with the Greek phrase you actually experience constantly, everyday, almost at every single moment of your life: you try all the time to decipher things and situations around you (and in you), to figure them out, to make sense out of the innumerable and diverse instances and situations you encounter in your life: from the very moment you wake up in the morning and try to figure out where you are and what time it is, to you walking to the kiosk to buy a newspaper and to chat a little bit with the newspapers man, to the shortcut you take while driving with your car in order to get faster to your destination e.t.c. In all these instances you strongly activate your Mercury, trying to reason what's going on, trying to figure out how can you better adapt in your environment and take advantage of the circumstances around you in order to establish a good interconnection with the things and the persons around you and thus more easily and fully achieve your personal tasks.

Thus, a major Mercurian function is to bring things and situations into consciousness and to “reason” them out. Actually "to reason" is to try to understand a situation or a person, to make judgements upon it based on practical facts and situations you previously experienced. Meaning that a good "reasoner" must be curious and observant, a discerning person collecting and accumulating data and judgements over a wide spectrum of situations and facts. And that entails that s/he should have developed a multitude of virtual "information shelves" in his/her brains where s/he has inserted and catalogized those judgements and conclusions. Furthermore, s/he should be able to readily retrieve and combine - under any circumstances - the proper information, in order to smoothly interconnect with his/her environment and efficiently carry through any possible situation s/he encounters!

But where from do things spring out to our consciousness? Out of our own unconscious! Out of the “underworld”! And Hermes / Mercury has a lot to do with the underworld (and consequently with our unconscious). You see, according to Greek mythology he is the god who escorts the souls of the deceased to the underworld! Thus, we might say that he stands at the very threshold between consciousness and unconscious. He somehow partakes of both. He stands high on the Olympus but he comes often down to earth - visiting regularly the underworld too! This mobility and flexibility of his - and his acute reasoning - is rendering Mercury the most suitable god to bring things into consciousness (out of our vast unconscious) and into the Light, to "decipher" the things (the situations etc.) and make them clear, comprehensible, understandable.

Hermes is an Olympian God but a somehow particular one. He does not have a permanent abode in Olympus (heavens) as the other eleven gods have, nor in the underworld. He is rather constantly  on the move. And he actually permeates all the three levels of existence: the heavens, the earthy world and the underworld (as we mentioned before he goes often "down under" as a "psychopompos", as the carrier of the souls). Actually he doesn't enjoy a very high status among the gods of Olympus as he carries the rather undignifying job of being their messenger - meaning that he is the one that most often gets in contact with the mortals. But exactly for this reason Mercury was much worshipped by the plain people. They were feeling that Mercury was better supporting and protecting their personal interests! He was even a trickster god (he stole Apollo's cattle) and he was thus favouring any kind of tricksters, like the merchants (they still trick us alright, at least most of them...).

Mercury is the youngest of the Olympian gods and he has thus to do with youth - and more precisely with adolescence. Adolescence is a transition stage between childhood and adulthood. And Mercury has a lot to do with transitions, crossroads and ambivalence in general. Mercury is ever seeking to reconnect us to Wholeness, to somehow return us to the state of absolute Union. You see during the first months of our life we innately carry within us this sense of "Union with everything", as we descend  and incarnate in our earthy bodies. But we loose this sense later on in our infancy and we then experience a very painful and traumatic sensation of “fragmentation” (which actually is the very first step in the process of us becoming fully conscious and independent individuals). The only "remedy" for a child to restore some sense of Unity with its parents and environment is to develop communication skills. By developing communication skills, by even rudimentary speaking and exchanging information with its parents the child develops a sort of cognitive “tenticles” that somehow interconnect it with the huge world around it and thus elementarily restore his/her lost sense of "Unity with Everything"…

Strange as it might sound, the astronomical hierarchy of our Solar system says a lot about the properties of each planet. Mercury is the first planet in that hierarchical order, barely out of the Sun. It is showered by the torrential "consciousness" energies of our Luminary but crucially it resides just a bit out of the Sun so that it doesn't get totally blinded by it! This fact has a major astrological implication: planet Mercury is able of "peeping" through the blinding "solar curtain", taking thus a glimpse of the rest of the solar system and of the dark, immense space lying beyond it! And while the somehow "autistic" Sun is totally absorbed by its own existence Mercury realizes (thanks to the strong "consciousness" energies he receives from its nearby star) that there is something beyond the Sun, something proportionally powerful and meaningful! Thus, Mercury is trying to reason over this world that lies "beyond the Sun", to understand its nature and to establish connections with it!

This stage, of Mercury becoming aware of the existence of non Solar words actually corresponds to the stage of the child loosing its primordial sense of "Unity with everything". They both are fragmenting and traumatic stages. So, what immediately does Mercury in order to "remedy" the fragmenting experience is to attempt restoring some sense of unity with those "alien" to the solar kingdom words. Mercury stands at the very boundary between these two worlds and it somehow has to bring them together, to interconnect them. And to achieve this he has first to understand the nature of these "newly found" non solar worlds and consequently spot any possible "dialoguing" elements between them and the solar kingdom he serves. That is why properties like "reasoning", "dialectics", "interconnection" are ultimately so important to Mercury! There are mere means to the end of restoring some sense of unification between the partial and the whole, between us and the vast "world out there".

Under this point of view, Mercury seems to be an earlier stage of Venus. Venus is aiming to bring  together similar (or complementary) things and to unify them. Mercury on the other hand is striving to achieve some elementary "dialogue" between any kind of disparate elements...

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas Gazis

RECOLLECT THE ASTROLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE YOU INNATELY POSSESS!

(An "International Academy of Astrology" online course by the IAA's instructor Thomas Gazis)

Since I was a kid I had an intellectual fond for the “bearded guys”. I mean I loved the 1960’s hippies alright but I had a very special kick for the ancient Greek philosophers. Some great philosophers were living almost next to my house in Athens. And they were speaking a language very similar to the one I was speaking. So, from early on in my life I felt a particular connection to them. My little adolescent “getaways” consisted of me visiting the ancient “Agora” (forum) under Acropolis - a vast area full of ruins lying below the majestic Parthenon - day daydreaming there that I was suddenly meeting on a street turn Socrates and that I was engaging on a conversation with him…

Back then little did I know that the Greek philosophers (and mainly Socrates, Plato and Heraclitus) would come very handy to me later on in my life, when I started teaching Astrology. You see the major complaint of my astrology students is that astrology consists of so many diverse and disparate elements that the student is hardly able to memorize the properties of each one of them, let alone proceed to a proper synthesis of all those disparate elements, and thus to an effective natal chart interpretation! As an eternal “parroting” adversary I am totally sympathizing with my students. Personally, I have always been a fervent advocate of the “critical thinking” and even of the “sentimental approach” to knowledge.

From the “bearded guys” I knew that true knowledge means inter-relating the disparate elements and unifying them instead of fragmenting them. But back then - on my late twenties - I did not know any available method that would help me to unify the so many and apparently inconsistent astrological elements.

Then an epiphany occurred to me! I started studying thoroughly the teachings of the foremost humanistic astrologer Dane Rudhyar. Rudhyar helped me enormously realize how unifying the astrological knowledge is and how much is based upon principals that in reality are not just astrological but universal. And I knew from the aforementioned great philosophers that those principles are somehow “implanted” in every human being’s brains! Actually, Socrates and Plato advocated the thesis that we human beings harbor inside us a primordial “super knowledge” of all things - although on a somehow fuzzy state. Thus, the only thing we have to do, in order to get “knowledgeable” on some field is to bring into focus and make conscious in our brains the respective fuzzy knowledge we already possess!

That was it! Suddenly I realized that I didn’t have to “impose” any kind of “knowledge” to my students. I just had to become a sort of “intellectual midwife” and simply assist them in delivering on their own the astrological knowledge they already possessed! And that meant that I had to work with them in a totally opposite way, “from inside out”. I had to avoid at any cost the “academic teaching” (to present them stuff that they should uncritically accept and memorize) and help them “give birth” to those astrological principals they already possess! And consequently expand and “build” upon those principals, which the students carry “incorporated” in them. Because whatever is “unconsciously incorporated” in us carries the potential of becoming crystal clear to us at some point - if properly “triggered”!

My firm conviction is that students don’t have to “be taught” astrology, they don’t need to painstakingly memorize hundreds of properties, qualities and attributes of signs, planets and symbols! They already know astrology and the only thing they have to do is simply “recollect” it!

To read more please visit the IAA website to read the syllabus as well as to register for my new course.

Thomas Gazis

Astrological Concepts in Ancient Greek Folklore - The "Keares"!

The ancient Greeks were energetic, optimistic and fun loving people. They were very pious and spiritual as well! Their attitude towards destiny was an advanced and rather modern one. Not only they deeply believed in destiny but they had developed some elaborate theories, myths and overall a particularly rich literature about it! When we come down to astrology, they did not conceive one, but they amazingly conceived certain so-called "proto-astrological" views.

Actually, the ancient Greeks were using a very descriptive and fascinating term for destiny. They used to call it: «HEMARMENE». Well, that's a term we cannot easily render in English. You see, the word «hemarmene» is the present perfect participle of the verb «Meiromai», which means: «from a dividable whole I am taking a particular portion that has been exclusively allotted to me». «Hemarmene» then is «that particular set of experiences that has been predetermined to occur to each one of us, for some deeper purpose».

This deeper purpose was defined by the Greeks as «NECESSITY» ("Ananke" in Greek). The law of ananke - necessity was above every other law. "Even the gods don’t fight against ananke" they used to say. But if the law of «Necessity» was omnipotent, man was powerful too (and this fact alone differs «Hemarmene» from «Kismet» or from any other kind of "destiny"). To the Greeks, each man was a unique, autonomous, highly valued «unit», a unit that almost rivaled the Gods!

Man however was but a part of a greater whole, a part of a process in evolution. Necessity is an almighty power that imposes specific, individual destinies to each man, so that the totality of these destinies pays tribute to the evolution of the «Whole». We indeed encounter here some original and advanced ideas, which are largely shared by our modern astrological worldview too. Thanks to these ideas the road was somehow open to astrology, in the ancient Greek world. Maybe we begin to understand now the fact of the rapid diffusion of astrology in Greece, soon after the military expedition of Alexander the Great in Mesopotamia.

The way was already paved centuries ago, as the Greeks profoundly believed in a predetermined by a superior force destiny - from the very beginning of their history. They would not take any important step unless they were first assured that the "geist" was propitious to them (and by "geist" I mean the moment, the place, the people, the overall conditions etc.). Thus, they were continuously studying the omens to find whether destiny was in their favor or not. And they were so obsessed with it that they often journeyed hundreds of kilometers, in order to reach the two famous oracles of "Delphi" and "Dodona" and learn about their future. Predicting the future somehow became a holy art to them.

So, even if astrology was not indigenous, the soil in Greece was fertile for its diffusion. Actually, the widespread concept of «Hemarmene» immensely facilitated the introduction and diffusion in Greece of a doctrine that apparently was worshiping the stars - and thus was initially regarded by the rational Greeks as barbaric. But astrology soon became rife in this ancient land, bringing forth radical changes in Greek culture. Already in the 3rd century BC the Stoics were regarding «Hemarmene» as an astrological rather than as a religious - theological concept.

All in all, the Hellenistic Greeks had developed a very propitious to astrology philosophical frame and an "astrology-friendly" general outlook on life. And this they achieved having no actual astrological background at all, led only by their advanced awareness and penetrative logic!

Before proceeding, I have to admit here that this is a new field and much research has to be done in the future. I personally drew my conclusions mainly out of the work of the famous English archeologist and author Jane Harrison. Harrison studied attentively some secondary figures in ancient Greek folklore called «KEARES» («KEAR» in its singular form). Some «Keares» are represented on ancient Greek pots and urns and most of them look like fast-paced feathered women, like ugly fairies or some sort of giant bees bearing a human face. Very similar to the Keares seem to be the so-called "Harpies".

A pair of  Harpies

The ancient Greeks had a very strong tendency to «anthropomorphize» everything! They were actually attributing human characteristics to their gods, to invisible entities, even to abstract concepts!  No surprise then that they had "anthropomorphized" even the viruses and the "bad vibes"!

For instance, when someone was falling seriously ill in ancient Greece people would say: "s/he has been possessed by the "Keares"". And with the word "Keares" they did not mean some kind of demons. They rather meant microorganisms or viruses! Surprisingly enough, the Greeks had invented a virus concept two thousand five hundred years ago!

Furthermore, the Greeks had «anthropomorphized» even the vibrations of each elusive moment! According to the ancient Greeks, when we experience some dark, "heavy" and bad moments it is because the "Keares" have intruded the place we are in, festering the atmosphere! And as long as they are present, every ongoing moment becomes unpropitious and adverse and things get really precarious!

The Keares are not necessarily bad. Good Keares exist as well. We might say that the Keares somehow represent the good or the bad astrological influences of the moment. There is ample testimony of this in certain preserved ancient pots and urns with Keares depicted on them. These depictions elucidate pretty well the nature of the Keares.

Hercules slaying a Kear

The figure you see above is easily recognizable, I think. He is the famous hero and semi-god Hercules! As you can see, he is about to slay a strange creature, which actually turns to be a Kear! This Kear has a grotesque, ugly face and can be taken either as a virus or a "bad vibration", a bad moment. In both cases, Hercules eliminates the virus - or the negative vibration.

There is often an interchange between the "Keares" and the "Harpies". The following representation (taken from a vase)  is depicting a scene from the famous banquet that the blind prophet Fineas held in honor of the Argonauts. According to the story, everything was flowing smoothly at this banquet when suddenly some "Harpies" invaded the hall and festered the atmosphere. You can notice Fineas on the very right, lying stunned on his couch, while two good daemons (or "Boreads") are chasing away the Harpies, brandishing their swords.

The famous Fineas banquet (with the "Harpies" on the left chasen away by the Boreads)

Luckily for us, the ancient Greeks were one of the most civilized and cultured ancient people. They bequeathed to us a plethora of works of art and literature, so we have today a clear picture of their culture and folklore. And sometimes, as we browse their enormous inheritance, we stumble upon true "gems". You may see below, for example, an amazing scene hinting to astrology. It is a scene painted on an ancient Greek vase and it depicts one of the most dramatic scenes of  the famous Homeric epic of Iliad. Achilles and Hector are dueling to death, while god Mercury stands amidst them balancing on a scale the influences of the fleeting moment, in order to decide whose soul he should escort to the underworld!

God Mercury weighing the fate of each warrior

If we observe well this picture then we will notice that on the plates of the scales (held by god Hermes/Mercury) there aren't the usual weights but two Keares instead! These Keares represent the current Hemarmene of each hero, the way he is fatally related to the "spirit" of the ever shifting moment (that now becomes victorious and now becomes deadly to him). Thus these two Keares on the scales might very well represent the natal charts of the two heroes and their current "transits"!

Apart from the Keares, another astrology related figure in ancient Greece might be the wine god Dionysus. Historians and archeologists agree that Dionysus and Orpheus (with the latter probably being another  personification of Dionysus) are the most enigmatic gods in the Greek Pantheon. We know for sure that Dionysus was the god of nature's «Augmentative Force», the god that was assisting beings and plants to grow, prosper and thrive. Thus, Dionysus personifies life's vital forces. The remarkable thing is that the Greeks used to represent Dionysus in four distinctive forms: one as a bull, one as a lion, one as a snake or an eagle and one as a drunken, joyful man!

Tim Shaw's modern sculpture of a Dionysian frenzy (Dionysus depicted as a Bull)

Now, obviously, these four representations have something to do with the four zodiacal signs of the fixed cross (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. The Eagle stands for Scorpio since it is his alternative occult symbol while the slightly drunken - and thus somehow transcendental - and euphoric man stands for Aquarius).

What is the deeper meaning behind all this? Today we know that the determination of the year’s duration was of paramount importance to ancient people (think only of Stonehenge). In remote antiquity, equinoxes and solstices were taking place in the constellations of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Thus, these four constellations were considered by the archaic people as the four «portals» that are opening the respective seasons.

The concept of the «four portals» is central to the teachings of the prominent 20th-century astrologer - philosopher Dane Rudhyar, as well! Rudhyar posits that the four fixed signs represent the release of the four fundamental universal powers:

«the power released toward the formation of an individual being (Taurus), the power released by the individual being (Leo), the power released toward the formation of the universal being (Scorpio) and the power released by the universal being (Aquarius)».

My own hypothesis is that Dionysus personifies these four distinctive universal powers, so depending on the occasion he is represented by one of the aforementioned "zodiacal" images. Oddly enough the same theme of the four fixed signs is repeated in the gospels and in Byzantine icons, with the four apostles taking, in this case, the part of Dionysus.

The four "beasts" of the gospel

With what we have said so far, it becomes obvious that the Greeks had developed a philosophy and a religion that comprised many astrological (in essence) concepts. Although astrology was not rife in Greece until the third century BC we have indications that certain Greeks were thinking astrologically already back in the so-called archaic period!

Take Homer, for example. In many of his verses (written around the 8th century BC) he emphasizes the fact that the destiny of each man is predetermined. But what really surprises is us is a particular verse, where he literary makes a rather astrological statement!

Homer actually writes:  

«Then among them, wise Polydamas was first to speak, the son of Panthous; for he alone looked at once before and after. Comrade was he of Hector, and in the one night were they born: howbeit in speech was one far the best, the other with the spear»!

(the translation courtesy of  the "Perseus Tuft" project)


Although I do not exclude the possibility of this "same night  birth" of Hector and Polydamas having some simpler, "hemerological" connotation (people born on the same calendric day sharing same fates), it seems an astrological statement to me. You see, Homer was born in Ionia, Asia Minor, in an area that had straight ties with both the Middle East and Mesopotamia (where astrology was rife).

This Homer's "astrological" statement is not the only one we encounter in the archaic Greek literature. The Orphic Hymns (written even before Homer’s epics - but comprising certain subsequent additions) include several astrological hints. In the «Hymn to the Stars» for example, there is a verse that goes:

 «Oh stars, you that determine the fate of everything!»

Don't you think that this is an astrological statement? A statement made more than 2500 years ago...

The important fact is that the Greeks - although they never developed a proper «astrological body of knowledge» - they had conceived astrological concepts long before astrology’s official diffusion in Greece.

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis


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(This article is an excerpt from the lecture that Thomas Gazis gave at the international Astrology conference of Arousa - Spain in June 1998).

December 21st, 2012: the gist behind the fuss

Tomorrow December 21st, 2012 a very long Maya calendric "cycle" - that lasted over 5000 years - is coming to its completion! At the same time tomorrow (by coincidence? If it's not a coincidence then we have to admit that the Maya had an "ultra advanced" knowledge of astronomy) a VERY IMPORTANT cosmic alignment will occur between the Earth, the Sun and the Center of our Galaxy.

On its own, this cosmic alignment (which ultimately is not that accurate) does not portend a major catastrophe for humanity. Almost the same cosmic alignment occurred in the previous 10-12 years (on December 21st) and nothing happened to Earth (not to mention that many scientists argue that the true, as accurate as possible cosmic alignment occurred back in 1998)!

In his (pdf) booklet: "An Essential Guide to the December 21st, 2012 phenomena" author Thomas Gazis is explaining in a clear manner all the phenomena associated with the tomorrow's "end" date . He reveals the deeper psychological meaning of December 21st, 2012 and he analyzes a rather strange astronomical phenomenon: tomorrow the planets Venus, Mercury and the Sun - and largely all the known to the ancient people planets - will rise in our sky almost in the same sequence they had risen in the "base date" of the Mayan calendar (on 11 August 3114 BC, that is). Meaning that in the very first day and in the very last day of the marvelous "Long Count" Mayan calendar a quite similar planetary configuration is taking place in the sky! Since the Maya were excellent astronomers we're not sure at all this is a pure "coincidence"...

Thomas Gazis

A school tragedy: the Newtown mass shooting and the astrology of Adam Lanza

                                         (apparently this is a childhood photo of Adam Lanza)

Although I live many thousands of miles away I am shattered by the Newtown tragedy! 20 little angels dead is more than the mind and the heart can bear...

Let's see the astrology of the young gunman Adam Lanza. He was born on April 22, 1992. He was a Taurus with Moon in Capricorn. There is another famous man having a Taurus Sun and a Capricorn Moon like Lanza: Adolph Hitler! This does not mean of course that if you - or someone you love - have this combination you will become a mass murderer (millions of people around the world have this very combination and they don't go that berserk). But is says something about the nature of Adam Lanza.

It says that he somehow lacked empathy, that he could not easily "feel" the feelings of the people around him (according to the astrological theory, the Moon in Capricorn is in "detriment", in "exile") and that he could not easily express his own feelings! Another important element in his chart is the Taurus Sun. I am always telling my students that there is a lot of anger in a Taurean person. And this because this is a "feminine" sign, a very "introverted" one that tends to keep his feelings, emotions and states of mind hidden in him, avoiding in general to express and exteriorize them. Thus a Taurus might harbor in him/her a lot of negative energy, resentment etc.- for long time periods. Until s/he suddenly "snaps" (with no apparent reason) and s/he then becomes a raging bull in a china shop... The Taurean "anger" is kept deep within the person and by the healthier individuals is mostly "sublimed" (i.e. within the context of their professional activity) and generally controlled - making thus the Taurean person appear calm and placid outside, as its ruler Venus demands.

Venus is a major player in the way we relate to the "others", to the people around us. This celestial seductress is ever seeking to smoothly connect us with the "ones out there". And in Adam Lanza's case Venus is even more important, as it is the ruler of his Sun sign. The fact is though that his Venus was in Aries, in a sign that is not easily promoting the "smooth", "uniting" kind of energies but rather the impulsive, "dividing" and stirring ones. And what is more amazing, his Venus was receiving a partile (perfect) square aspect by the planets Uranus and Neptune - who in their turn are forming a partile (perfect) conjunction in his chart! Both Uranus and Neptune are harboring collective energies and when properly located in our chart they bestow upon us a deep sense of "community" with the people around us. They provide us then a "smooth merging" capacity necessary to befriend the people around us and "merge" with them - in a group environment etc. But in Lanza's case Uranus and Neptune were utterly discordant to his Venus. Thus, he had a major difficulty in smoothly connecting and "uniting" with the people around him. Each time he was about to meet "other people" he was experiencing a turmoil inside him, as extreme psychic energies were torrentially unleashed in his soul! His very "individuality" was somehow threatened by the "other people".

In astrology death is related to Pluto (and in greek mythology the other name of Pluto was "Hades" - the god of underworld). Currently we don't know Adam Lanza's time of birth (thus we don't know the specific sign of his Ascendant, of his MC etc.). Working  with what we have in our disposition, we see no Pluto emphasis in his natal chart (apart from the fact that Pluto is in the sign it rules). (Not very) surprisingly though there is a so called "transiting" Pluto (the one moving in our sky right now) perfectly conjuncting - most probably - his natal Moon in Capricorn (depending on the exact time he was born). At the very same time, Adam Lanza's progressed Sun was - during the last months - in the 22th degree of Taurus PERFECTLY opposing his natal Pluto!

You can see above transiting Pluto conjuncting Lanza's natal Moon (both in green cycles) and his progressed Sun perfectly opposing his natal Pluto (both in red cycles). What this over-emphasis of Pluto actually means is that Adam Lanza was currently going through a very extreme period of his life! Probably he had slept into depression and diven into a profound existential crisis. Everything around him seemed meaningless. The feelings of negativitiy and resentment - for which we talked about before - had disproportionally grown in him. He was probably feeling that nobody loved him, that everybody hated him instead! He should have sought some psychiatric help (when one receives such strong "Plutonian energies" s/he might be radically transformed if therapeutically treated). But apparently he didn't...As a raging bull he chose the other dark and evil Plutonian path: the one of insane tragedy....

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis

An essential guide to the December 21st, 2012 related phenomena

                               (the blissful Mayan god "L" of the underworld  in the hero twins scene)

If we put aside all the December 21st mumbo jumbo, there is trully something significant to this date. But it gets lost in all this fuss going on.

The plain and essential guide that you may purchase here - written by the international speaker and author Thomas Gazis - is putting things in their right perspective. Actually it might be one of the best guides written on the December 21st phenomena and on the true meaning of the "Apocalypse" date. You will find original stuff here, not published anywhere else: i.e. the psychological reasons that lie behind the December 21st hype, the amazing astronomical similarity of the first and last date of the Mayan calendar and a lucid explanation of the notorious Galactic Alignment (which very few people on Earth actually comprehend.)

 Chapters of the pdf booklet A plain & essential guide to the December 21st, 2012 phenomena:

 - The Mayan cosmology
 - The cyclical nature of the "Long Count" calendar
 - A whole new discovery of Thomas Gazis on the astronomical similarity between the "base" and the "end" date of the Mayan calendar
 - The deeper psychological meaning of the 2012 hype
 - The scenario of the planetary alignment
 - The scenario of the planetary clustering
 - The Galactic Alignment for dummies
 - The Earth crossing the galactic mid-plane scenario
 - The Nibiru - Sedna - planet X scenario
 - Deciphering the notorious Mayan "Deluge" scene (and its planetary glyphs)

(The booklet is comprised of 34 pages and contains many explanatory illustrations. You may download some sample pages of it) 

The notorious "deluge" scene on the Mayan "Dresden Codex"

There is so much mumbo-jumbo these days over the December 21st, 2012 “doomsday”. Almost everyone has a different doomsday scenario, a different story to tell about what exactly will happen on that “fateful” date - as if s/he was projecting his/her own most intimate fears and phobias upon it (this is exactly the case, as we explained in page 12. There is a psychological urge lurking behind such a behavior). With all this fuss though we have somehow neglected to listen to the voice of the very experts, of the ones that lie at the root of this hype: the Maya! What was THEIR idea on the last day of their prodigious “Long Count” Calendar?

It turns out there are two original Mayan sources somehow "portending" the December 21st, 2012 day! An inscription on the so called “Tortuguero monument” and a Maya book! The “Tortuguero” inscription is largely unreadable. It mentions the 2012 “Completion Date” and it ends with a phrase that the scholars interpret as: “This will be not the end of the world”!

The second source is a booklet that is known as the “Dresden Codex”. This codex is actually one of the few authentic Mayan “books” that have survived. It contains an almanac (for practical and agricultural purposes), an astronomical section with the Venus cycles, Eclipse tables etc. and an astrological (or rather “hemerological”) section with many kinds of prophecies. In the very last page (74) of this booklet there is a full page illustration that apparently portends the events that will occur on the End Date of their current “Long Count” calendar (on December 21st, 2012) (you can see this illustration above).

As exotic as it might appear this scene to you, try to go beyond its folkloristic aspect and treat it as an artifact of a human being thinking the way you do. There is a human being behind this image trying to send you an important message through the symbols s/he has depicted. The artist is actually trying to tell you what will happen on the very last date of the current “Long Count” (5125 years) calendar - a date that actually was utterly remote to him/her but it happens to be excruciating close to us!

Our attention is immediately caught up by the two apparently old (and rather gloomy) human figures and by the appalling huge reptile on the upper part of the illustration. Our immediate response most probably would be: “hey, something bad is portrayed here! No good outcome could come out of such a gloomy image”. Well, this would be our modern perception of this image. Remember that if we want to find the deeper meaning of this illustration we should start seeing things the way the Maya did. And to do so we need to properly decipher the symbols comprised in the illustration.

Let’s start by saying something about the two gloomy elder figures. They actually are the Mayan Moon goddess Ix - Chel (which is usually represented as an elder) and below her a black elder man (with a bird on his head). This elder figure has been identified as the “god L” of the Mayan underworld. You would think now: “Wow! An underworld god present in the image that depicts the very “doomsday”? That’s not a good omen at all!” We will see about that…Let’s do first a remark concerning the two elder figures.

Do you remember that the December 21st, 2012 is the last day of the Mayan “Long Count” calendar? And indeed this calendar is a “long count” if you consider the fact that theoretically it has been around for 5115 years - since 3114 BCE! What kind of representations would you expect to see in a scene symbolically representing the ending of a very long time period? Babies perhaps? Kids? Of course not! Like our modern cartoons which on the New Years Eve depict the departing year as an old man, we should expect to see elder figures in this “End Date”, elder figures denoting the maturation and completion of a cycle!

On the upper part of this illustration there is a strange reptile. It looks like a giant snake or like a crocodile. But even if it were a crocodile it doesn’t seem to have the typical crocodile’s short claws. It rather seems to have hooves, like the deer’s hooves. In fact this is the so called “Starry Deer Crocodile” which to the Maya represents the sky, the celestial energies!

As ominous as it looks this “starry deer crocodile” (or rather caiman) it has a “soft” side. Deers were usually sacrificed during major “transition” periods, like at the end of a Mayan “century” (the 52 years “Calendar Round” period), at the end of a Mayan “millennium” (the “Baktun”, almost 400 years), at the ascension on the throne of a new dynasty etc. So the deer hooves of this starry caiman denote that this is actually a sacrificial victim, a gift to the gods so that they propitiate the relative “transition ceremony”! In major ritual instances the Maya were performing the decapitation of a caiman - which was considered the “totemic counterpart” of the cosmic caiman that was sustaining the earth and the starry sky. Through the decapitation of the caiman they were somehow “breaking the skies” and consequently they were prompting the creation of a new cosmological order!

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis

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PLEASE NOTE: This is an excerpt from the Thomas Gazis booklet "A plain and essential guide to the December 21st phenomena". You may purchase the full pdf booklet here 

A lecture on the Mayan and Babylonian Venus (and on their amazing similarities)

The mega event of this period is the "Breaking Down The Borders" international online astrological conference, that will take place between November 30 - December 2nd. 

This will be a great occasion to listen to foremost astrologers like Robert Hand, Michael Lutin, Nick Campion etc. Remember that you may attend this conference from your own desktop! 

The lecture I am presenting in this conference is entitled:  "The amazing similarities and discrepancies between the Babylonian and the Mayan Venus"  I will be honored by your presence.

Thomas Gazis

The Petraeus scandal explained by Astrology!

Bottom line of the Petraeus scandal is (provided there isn't something nastier there) that even the most strict and disciplined people (like the high ranked - and senior - military people) do it! Blame it on the ancient Greek God Ares (Mars ) who apart from being the God of war was the hottest guy on the block too! Even goddess Venus succumbed to his irresistible sex appeal! You see if you are a fierceful warrior and a very decisive person, in command of so many tough soldiers, that means you have a lot of testosterone in your blood stream! Your lust is triggered piece of cake and you resort often to venusian hugs and caresses to quench your thirst...

Astrologically speaking, general David Petraeus belongs to the tough, enigmatic and somehow fatal sign of Scorpio. Not many people know this but Scorpio is the sign that represents the absolute UNION of two people (especially lovers), the complete MERGING of their bodies, souls, feelings, desires, assets etc! Scorpios are well aware of the tremendous energy that can be unleashed out of an intimate relationship, of the utter joy and stunning transformation that the merging of two "attuned" partners always brings forth! Thus, to a Scorpio his life seems empty if his does not have beside him/her his/her other TRUE half! With their companion Scorpios are experiencing a metaphysical kind of merging and union that goes well beyond the physicallity of sex! And think now that Scorpio men and women are considered the kings and queens respectively of sex (although they are methodically hiding it).

So, Petraeus as a typical Scorpio represents all the above attributes. He constantly needs to MERGE with a companion in order to feel complete, alive! Many people (belonging i.e. to the so called "Earthy" signs) can go on with their lives without ever truly "merging" with anybody. Not Scorpios! This sign prioritizes more than any other its intimate affairs. This element might give you a totally new perspective on the Petraeus affair. And things get "heavier" if we put on the scene the general's paramour too, his biographer Paula Broadwell. Because she is a Scorpio as well! We are not talking here about a superficial affair but about a very profound and passionate one, about the two of them becoming (in so many ways) ONE! In the pinnacle of their affair I bet both of them were thinking of divorcing their respective spouses so that they live together for ever. My guess is that it took a lot of self-discipline and titanic efforts from Petraeus part to end this love affair. And when it ended it it definitely caused both him and her a lot of (Scorpionic) pain...

Let's stay in Petraeus "backyard" and take now an astrological look at the second most talked couple in these days, the alleged couple formed between Petreus successor in Afghanistan general John Allen and the impressive Miami lady Jill Kelley - called by the media a "social climber". Things are quite different here. We don't find in these two people an equally strong "Synastry", a deep longing for union - nor the amazing merging power that we encountered in Petraeus - Broadwell case. In Jill's natal chart there is an over-emphasis of the zodiacal sign of Capricorn - which is very ambitious and indeed acts sometimes as a "social -climber"!

In general Allan' s chart there is a predominance of the sign of Sagittarius (a very open, sociable and sensitive to foreign cultures zodiacal sign that gave him the capacity of skillfully and very effectively negotiating with the various tribesmen in Iraq and Afghanistan). Capricorns and Sagittariuses are rather neutral... Allan - apart from being a Sagittarius - is strongly influenced by the fiery and bellicose sign of Aries as well (his Moon is in Aries). But this part of him seems quite discordant to the Capricornian Kelley (according to the astrological tradition the signs of Aries and Capricorn are very hard to match). The fact is though that - no matter what - there is a HUGE SEXUAL ATTRACTION between Allan and Kelley (her Mars is conjuncting his Venus, while his Pluto is - most probably - conjuncting her Moon)! This kind of planetary interaction is ultra-powerful on a "libidical" stage and attests to the fact that there must be a torrentialy visceral attraction between the two! Thus, they would be a rather awful long-term couple but they would definitely make two great short-term lovers - experiencing fireworks over their bed!

To conclude, not always the people we have good sex with are the ones we mostly cherrish in our hearts...And not always the partners we cherrish the most are our ideal bed partners...

Thomas Gazis