Russia and the Pussy Riot Verdict
NewsScope; August 20, 2012; Putin’s natural alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church was explored in NewsScope’s June 18 edition but it’s worth looking at Russia’s horoscope (June 12, 1990; 1:45 pm; Moscow) to see the larger context. After the collapse of the atheistic communist regime, the new Russia began falling back to its religious heritage to gain validation, as evidenced by the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in the 4th house of roots.
Mercury, the chart’s ruling planet, is found in the 9th house of religion, and a Jupiter-Chiron conjunction in the 10th house reiterates the theme of an empowered religious faction. One of the tightest aspects in this chart is the Mars-Uranus square, which pits radical conservatism (Uranus in Capricorn) against a bold, independent opposition (Mars in Aries in the 7th house). This configuration was activated last week by the transiting Venus-Uranus-Pluto dynamic. Plus, Russia’s authoritarian Saturn in Capricorn was squared by the transiting Mars-Saturn conjunction.
The issue of radical feminism can be asso-ciated with Black Moon Lilith. Feminist icon Helen Gurley Brown, who died last week, was born with a Venus-Lilith-Uranus triple conjunction in Pisces.
Vladimir Putin has his elevated Pluto conjunct Black Moon Lilith, so his task is to ruthlessly repress the feminist movement as best he can. In Russia’s chart, BML is placed at 24º Virgo where it forms a tight Yod with Saturn and the Midheaven. Last week when the judicial system handed down its verdict, transiting BML was opposing Russia's natal BML.
NewsScope; Sept. 10, 2012; In esoteric Hebrew lore, Lilith was Adam’s first wife. Lilith claimed to be the equal of Adam, and wouldn’t submit to his authority. So she was banished to the Red Sea where she consorted with evil spirits. Adam finds solace with Eve, who was created from his rib. Astrologer Kelley Hunter notes that Lilith “places a curse on anyone who would deny her presence and her validity.”
The myth resonates strongly with Israel’s chart (May 14, 1948; 4:37 pm; Tel Aviv), where Black Moon Lilith is located at 22º Aquarius in the 4th house of the home. From this placement alone, we can get a feel for Israel’s unequivocal demand for an equal place among the Middle East nations, even though it’s surrounded by enemies. BML forms a tight square to Israel’s Taurus Sun, making the symbolic essence of Lilith an intrinsic part of the Israeli character.
Astronomically, BML is an invisible point within the Moon’s orbit (its apogee). Similarly, her metaphysical essence is always felt but never seen. Lilith’s themes of autonomy, exile, extremism, denial, regret and betrayal live with Israeli politics on a daily basis, especially regarding its relationship with Iran which has threatened its very existence. Israel’s BML opposes Mars and Saturn and squares Chiron, deeply intensifying the potential for violent interactions.
LeAnn Rimes and Patsy Cline
NewsScope; September 10, 2012; The day after her 30th birthday, country singer LeAnn Rimes checked herself into rehab to deal with anxiety and stress. Over the weekend she fulfilled her commitment to a fall concert tour, but with a new edginess in her voice. Is LeAnn Rimes (August 28, 1982; 5:45 pm; Jackson, MS) the reincarnation of Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932; 11:15 pm; Winchester, VA)?
The BML influence over their lives carried tremendous resentment and bitterness when they weren’t treated equally in a man’s world. Patsy Cline divorced her first husband when he demanded that she be a wife and not a career woman. LeAnn Rimes sued her father and manager when she discovered that they were stealing her royalties. Patsy Cline died in a plane crash when she was 30 years old. Now that LeAnn is 30, perhaps she’s sensing the anxiety of her accidental death.
Astrologically, they have many similar placements and intra-aspects, beginning with the fact that they both have Sun in Virgo, Moon in Capricorn, and Venus in the diva sign of Leo. They were born exactly one Chiron cycle apart, and in each case, Chiron is adversely aspected to the ruler of the chart. They were both born with Black Moon Lilith on the cusp of the 12th house.
Black Moon Lilith is associated with the deepest, most primal desires of the soul. In the 12th house, it’s as if they were channeling a universally felt emotion which is expressed through their powerful voices. Should an astrologer include BML in the charts? We know that the 12th house placements signify a need for privacy and time to regenerate one’s batteries. LeAnn unexpectedly entered rehab when transiting Uranus was precisely squaring her 12th house Black Moon Lilith.
In Mysteries of the Dark Moon, Demetra George describes a three-fold process in the quest to find and redeem Lilith: "In the first phase we must confront all the ways in which we have been repressed and take a stand to uphold our integrity. The second phase of our archetypal journey leads us into exile of despair over our rejection, where the shadow plots and executes its revenge. And in the final phase of the process, Lilith cuts away the layers that obscure and distort her true nature."
1. Rebellion against Subservience - "When Lilith speaks through us she is the voice who demands absolute equality in whatever situation we find ourselves (relationship, job, family, group, and so on).... She will not cooperate in her own victimization, and will opt for no relationship as opposed to a bad one. Rather than be dominated and suppressed, Lilith accepts the loss of physical security, loneliness, and exclusion from society. In the forceful outburst of our repressed anger, we have the capacity to see and speak our truth."
2. Flight into Exile - "Like a caged and wounded animal fleeing from its captor, desperately trying to find a hiding place in which to heal itself, Lilith flies off into the desert to seek refuge. We may leave our relationship in an actual physical way; or if we cannot escape on an outer level, we may withdraw on an inner level by severing ourselves emotionally and psychologically from our oppressor. Feeling alone, betrayed, rejected, and wounded, we writhe in the pain of our anguish.... In addition, we are often ostracized from the social group in which our relationship existed."
3. Release and Redemption - "When we are secure in acknowledging and expressing our true self, we do not falsify ourselves in order to be accepted by others. We are then not as vulnerable to becoming entrapped in situations that deny and disempower us, which is where Lilith's self-destructive cycle begins.... After going to the root and cutting away all of the hidden and distorted aspects of Lilith's shadow self, who perpetuates the cycle of conflict and separation, the black Lilith places all of our ego attachments into her cauldron for transforming. She then transmutes the poisonous accumulation into the wisdom nectar of lucid perception and conscious participation in unification."
In Living Lilith, Kelley Hunter offers some guidance about interpreting the astrological Lilith: "Lilith resonates with other dark goddesses or witches of mystery and power. Clearly associated with magic, she ultimately regenerates us through direct experiences of sacrifice, surrender, sexuality and mysticism. Consider her themes of autonomy, exile, extremism, denial, and the clouds of regret and betrayal."
"Black Moon is related to karmic imprints and our 'calling'.... Black Moon shuts doors and opens only the One that is true.... She comes in dreams when our bodies and minds are asleep. Our thoughts are then turned off and she can whisper her secrets and images and even, perhaps, transport us to other realms. She reasons not with the rational mind but communes at a soul level."
"Our task is to unwrap the dark veils that mask the light of the soul. This is Lilith's strategy, to uncover -- to reveal the bare, naked Truth. How daunting and threatening this prospect can seem. The very alchemical process Lilith beckons us into is indelibly transformaitonal and can become the hallmark of our lives."
"As we consider Lilith in the signs, we can ask, 'What would be the impact of the 'uninvited' in each zodiac placement? This leads us to consider the difficult, challenging, darker territory of each sign, the shadow side. As these dimensions are worked through, the creative promise comes alive."
On this page... how to interpret Black Moon Lilith, and NewsScope articles featuring Lilith: James Holmes's rampage in Aurora, LeAnn Rimes and Patsy Cline, Clint Eastwood talks to an invisible chair, Russia and the Pussy Riot verdict, and Lilith in Israel's chart.
In her book exclusively devoted to Black Moon Lilith, Kelley Hunter writes: "Black Moon touches into super-conscious psycho-spiritual processes. In the chart, it identifies where we experience a subliminal state of continual spiritual crisis for having to be confined to an ego-identity. It is where personal desires may get in the way of how the universe wants to live out that energy through us; an area in our lives that we cannot make happen, but happens through us."
James Holmes
and the Aurora Shooting, a case study in Black Moon Lilith and Mars
Black Moon Lilith Rising
NewsScope, July 23, 2012; Any astrologer could readily tell you how extremely stressful the celestial conditions were last week when James Holmes went on a rampage at the Aurora, Colorado premiere of the new Batman film. After all, item #2 in this month’s Top Five Astro-Events accurately foretold the danger, warning of violence and to “watch out for crazy, impulsive acts from unstable individuals.”
Astrologically, Black Moon Lilith (BML) unifies the key elements in this event: the psychopathic nature of the actual crime, the film’s title “The Dark Knight Rises”, and the film’s psychologically tormented superhero. Black Moon Lilith* is not an actual planet, but a point in the Moon’s orbit furthest away from the Earth (the apogee). An activated BML can indicate a hateful, dangerous, ferocious and destructive phase in one’s life.
BML circles the zodiac in a little over nine years, moving much more slowly than the Moon itself. At the time of Holmes’ assault, transiting BML was at 24º Taurus, conjoining the evil star Algol. The combination of Algol and Black Moon Lilith leads to extreme danger, especially considering the concurrent Mars-Uranus-Pluto T-square. BML was unusually prominent in the U.S. chart as well, leading to this national news event.
In the U.S. horoscope, BML is located at 19º Virgo where it conjoins Neptune and squares Mars. BML here represents a delusional side (Neptune) of the American experience with periodic flares of insane violence (Mars). By secondary progression, BML is at 15º Libra, and was activated last week by the U.S. progressed Moon, also at 15º Libra. Relocating the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope to Aurora, Colorado puts 15º Libra on the Ascendant. Here we have a dramatic case of Black Moon Lilith Rising.
Black Moon Lilith (BML) is not an actual planet, but a point in the Moon’s orbit furthest away from the Earth (the apogee). An activated BML can indicate a hateful, dangerous, ferocious and destructive phase in one’s life. Everyone has BML somewhere in their chart, and most people navigate its challenges well enough. But in Holmes’ chart, BML is found at 8º Leo where it forms an exact square to his Mars (orb: 0º02’).
Black Moon Lilith is one of the Dark Goddesses, a genre that is becoming increasingly popular among many astrologers. A variety of online sources unveil the mystery of BML, which readers can google to find out more. The best book on the subject comes from Kim Hunter, who gives a mythological analysis of BML and how to interpret her in the signs and houses. The interest in the dark goddesses seems to emerge from the realization that we live in a patriarchal society that has suppressed the natural feminine instincts.
The result is that the energy turns inward and then can become destructive to the social order through outbursts of rage, violence, and mayhem. Those who are naturally tuned to the feminine powers have little problem expressing the constructive, truth-telling side of this archetype, although they may run into conflicts with the representatives of the patriarchal institutions (i.e., organized religion, the corporatocracy, political organizations).
According to Hunter, Black Moon-Mars individuals often have fascinations with sexuality and violence. Because Holmes BLM-Mars square is so tight and his Mars-Pluto conjunction is angular, we might expect this placement to dominate his psyche. Hunter’s description of BML in the 12th house is also quite revealing. She equates BML here with deep secrets and skeletons in one’s closet, like a karmic backpack carried throughout life. She adds that this placement gives an urgent need to withdraw from the impact of the outer world, although it may be difficult to tell if the solitude is mystic or neurotic escapism.
Withdrawal, however, does not eradicate one’s receptivity to the collective consciousness, but rather enhances sensitivity to it. In this way, Holmes became extraordinarily receptive to the mania over the Batman films, and was especially interested in the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Hunter gives a variety of celebrity examples to illustrate how the 12th house BML works in the real world. Her most relevant example is that of the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman who has Black-Moon Lilith conjunct Mars in the 12th house and square Pluto - very similar to Holmes’ set-up.
He spoke of his demons,” writes Hunter, “with whom he wrestled with in his dark and moody films with stark imagery and psychologically-nuanced characters…. He wrote his own scripts, drawing from his own religious questioning and existential sense of loneliness.”
Black Moon Lilith’s conditions in the U.S. chart by secondary progression look very troublesome over the coming years. She officially enters the 12th house in 2016, and then is less than two degrees from conjoining the U.S. progressed Mars. This conjunction will be exact in January 2023, but becomes a growing influence between now and then. As described in this article, the combination of Mars and BML is all about America’s fascination with guns and violence. When considering the mental health issues involved and associated with the 12th house, America is going to have a growing problem with how it manages its violent lunatics. Reasonable gun control legislation and a more vibrant economy would go a long way in softening Black Moon Lilith’s potential damage. Neither of these seems likely any time soon.
Michael O'Reilly's full length article on James Holmes and Black Moon Lilith will be published in Dell Horoscope magazine in early 2013.
Here's are two brief excerpts:
Black Moon Lilith in Israel’s Chart
Jessica Alba, who identified herself as a feminist at age 5, was born with her Venus opposite Black Moon Lilith, which when activated in 2000, brought her swift fame as TV’s Dark Angel.
Undoubtedly, this fateful Yod involving the irrepressible Lilith archetype will continue to shape Russia’s destiny.
What is Black Moon Lilith doing in your chart?
This biwheel segment shows the U.S. horoscope relocated to Aurura, CO on the inner wheel, with the progressed chart on the outer wheel. Notice how tightly the progressed Moon and progressed Black Moon Lilith are huddled on the relocated Ascendant. This telling alignment is true only if one uses the Scorpio Rising U.S. chart.
BML’s position here is determined by using the mean apogee. Some astrologers use the true apogee, while others consider both points to be significant. For more on Black Moon Lilith, see these web pages:
One of the closest aspects in the event chart is Mercury square Black Moon Lilith. Mercury is in Leo, where it communicates dramatically while picking up the repressed rage suggested by BML. In Eastwood’s horoscope (May 31, 1930; 5:35 pm; San Francisco, CA), this Mercury conjoined his Midheaven, his point of honor, while BML was in his 7th house of enemies. Mercury’s placement became powerful since Eastwood’s progressed Sun is in the same location, right on his Midheaven.
Natally, Eastwood’s Gemini Sun is trine Black Moon Lilith, showing how his brand of politics is about getting even, expressing anger, and being completely independent of tightly controlled conventions. Black Moon Lilith is an invisible point in the Moon’s orbit, which Eastwood addressed as an invisible Obama sitting in his chair prop. The practice is now known as “Eastwooding”, as discontented Americans across the country rage against empty chairs.
“theater of the absurd”. It may remind astrologers of the old adage that “someone is always fooled under a Moon-Neptune aspect.”
Eastwooding
NewsScope; Sept. 3, 2012; For many viewers, the highlight of the GOP convention was the mystery guest who appeared just
before Romney late Thursday night. Veteran actor, director and part-time politician Clint Eastwood came on stage with an empty chair, which he used as a prop to sarcastically address President Obama. The off-color shtick quickly became a social media target, generating many pro and con comments.
The event chart (August 30, 2012; 10:00 pm; Tampa, FL) took place during a Moon-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, which resonates with Eastwood’s rambling, unscripted remarks. Although Romney smiled backstage before the most important speech of his life, aides described Eastwood’s remarks as “strange”, weird” and
"Black Moon Lilith lures us into self-centered illusions and demonstrates the undesirability of such a stance, so that we seek a deeper desire within our hearts, following the yearnings of our soul."
~ Kim Hunter, from Living Lilith
Black Moon Lilith Snippets
Keywords, concepts, and interpretations
There's much more on Lilith interpretations and profiles for each of the twelve signs
LilithProfiles2 - Richard Pryor (Aries), Mark Twain (Gemini), Peter Sellers (Cancer), Groucho Marx (Leo), and Woody Allen (Virgo).
LilithProfiles3 - Jerry Seinfeld (Libra), Goldie Hawn (Scorpio), Lucille Ball (Sagitarius), Bob Hope (Capricorn), Charlie Sheen (Aquarius), and Ellen DeGeneres (Pisces).