Growing Pains in Action

How interesting, with the Moon conjunct Mars in Leo, Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio that today’s headlines are about Britain’s hungry school children. The poor little mites are coming to school hungry and are resorting to stealing sandwiches from the canteen to feed their starving families later. The teachers are even feeding them biscuits to stave off hunger pains!!

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/19/breadline-britain-hungry-schoolchildren-breakfast

This term I had a bit (an understatement) of a to-do with my school over designer school bags. I mean if Adidas or Nike want our school to promote their products, I think they should:

a)            Pay us for doing so or,

b)            Give us some of their products for free

But neither of these things has happened.

Anyhoooo, after a standoff that I eventually lost (*snork snork*), our pupils are once again parading around with £40-50 Nike or Adidas bags.

Really Alex, I hear you ask, don’t you have something better to do than to deprive our future generation of their much loved and needed toys?

Well no. I reckon nearly £400,000 (that would be the total sum forked out for school bags for each pupil in a school of 1,000 children) of someone’s hard earned money ends up paying for some CEO’s weekend in Monte Carlo. My idea was that our pupils utilise our local market so parents can buy decent bags at a fraction of the price and the profits from said bags go into the pockets of our local business men and women rather than into the coffers of an international corporation. That way the hungry men and women of Walthamstow benefit by having a bit more jingle in their pockets so the whole community can benefit. That way some child not on free school meals does not have the opportunity to flash his/her affluence in the face of our many, many pupils who are on free school meals. You know, exercise a little equality.

But oh no, that’s not how capitalism works.

It has to be that the large multinational corporations exploit child slaves in third world countries and we in the first world are so brain washed that we can’t even think about telling our parents to put two fingers up these corporations and buy local. After all, school children NEED their bags with logos!!

As my Australian friend said: “Are you serious? A family can’t afford to make a sandwich for their child’s lunch but can afford to buy an Adidas bag or two?”

I know poverty exists in a first world country but for crying out loud, let’s get our priorities straight! Get parents to feed their children first and then worry about the damn bags!! And don’t even get me started on mobile phones!!

I would really welcome some much needed dialogue on how we can support parents in making a decision between a necessity and a luxury. Such is the lesson of Saturn in Scorpio and Jupiter in Cancer. . .spare a thought for the adolescents who are experiencing their first Jupiter returns or Saturn oppositions and have a big lesson to learn.

 

 

Growing Pains: Out now!

Well, it's been a long journey. . .but I am finally a published author! "Growing Pains" is now out and can only say the title rather reflects the process of getting a book into print. There are still some adjustments that need to be made for the next edition but the first 100 copies are sold or in shops waiting to be sold.
I also feel the book launch at Treadwell's was a great success (even though we were melting in the heat and humidity) with an unheard of 14 copies sold on the night! Here is the video of the launch with not only an endorsement from but an interview with Roy Gillett.
Here is the video:

 

So what now? I hear you ask. Well, I'll be busy promoting the book in local astrology groups, starting with a small group in Pitsea later this month. Then Bury St Edmonds, Southend, Exeter, Bath, Brighton, Cheltenham, Wessex and a few others. I do have a few more books in the pipeline and hopefully those will see the light of day in the near future. But for now, I feel my cup runneth over and I am taking a short break at my favourite place in Glastonbury next week then heading over to Oxford University for the Faculty of Astrological Summer School for a day visit and of course later, the Astrological Association of Great Britain's conference from 27-29 September. In a few weeks, I will be back to the previously scheduled programme with my job as a History teacher.
So life is hectic but when you have a book to promote, that's a good thing.
I do need to enlist in the help of my friends from all walks of life!
Please like and share the video on youtube, retweet the video on twitter, add the book to your wishlist on Amazon. . .and keep telling your friends!
Thanks so much!
 

Dear Brain

Dear Brain,

It's OK now, school's out. You don't have to think about finding a skirt to wear, putting on mascara, wearing shoes, getting change for lunch money, feeling guilty and over indulgent for calling a cab because Alex overslept again, getting to staff briefings on time, red reports, subject reports, checking on all the tutor groups and/or planning trips and/or checking on the happiness and safety of 180 pupils plus 12 members of Alex's team (but Alex having a stellium in Cancer means you worry about everyone!), break and lunch duties, planning lessons and giving out homework, marking 390 books, pretending to be afraid of ofsted, answering 100 emails every day, remembering to do late detentions, attending staff/departmental meetings (and acting enthusiastic and interested), sneaking onto facebook hoping Big Brother doesn't notice, nudging Alex to remember to run to the loo at 11:08, reminding Alex to fill the kettle to make tea in the middle of lessons (as well as reminding her to grab enough milk, tea and sugar to last until 3:00pm), no need for another reminder to Alex to run to the loo at 2:08 as her bladder can cope, turning off maternal instincts and pretending not to be a mother (my my my that's hard work), making loads of phone calls and being overly polite when the person on the other end only has to read their child's homework diary once in a while, sparkly earrings, pink socks, trainers, baseball caps and bags with logos are now absolutely fine so you don't have to fill in yet another confiscation form, chewing gum is also OK so no community service is necessary, it's also perfectly legal for people to run down the corridor like maniacs because if someone gets hurt you don't have to do a thing about it, if you see a fight look the other way and carry on walking, you do not have to respond immediately to anyone calling out "Miss!!!!", you can now turn off the alarm and let Alex sleep in until way past 7:30am, you can now let Alex write what she wants, use the phone at will, let her eat breakfast at 4pm and drink as much tea as she likes until then.

So. . .lots of empty spaces in the timetable. Relax. It's the summer hols!!

And thanks for all your hard work this academic year.

Love,

Alex

Algol Strikes Again

OK, maybe this time next year, I'll stay indoors!!

Algol on Mars/Sun midpoint (27 Taurus)!!!

Breast Ripper

So there I was, teaching the finer points of medieval torture to overly interested year 7s, when the subject of "breast ripping" came up. Now I've been watching the asteroid Vesta very carefully and was wondering what might happen as Vesta entered Cancer. So I took it as a sign of the times: breast ripping, when German MEN thought it a suitable punishment for women accused of adultery, inducing a miscarriage, heresy, blasphemy and/or witchcraft should have a nasty, claw-like torture device used to effectively shred their breast tissue. Yes well, Vesta in Cancer might very well relate to breasts and their symbols of womanhood. I made a mental note to look into women for whom "breasts" was an issue. I thought of women who might be strong advocates of breast feeding or central figures in the formula milk debates or women who might be over or under endowed in the breast department. . .

But back to breast ripping. . .

"Gosh," I thought, "I sure am glad I don't live in those times." And so I moved on to more pleasant subjects  . . .  like crocodile shears, for example (by the way, I'm only being facetious).

So as my enthusastic pupils hit their assessments, I had a rummage on the internet for the latest news.

And, lo and behold, Angelina Jolie had an elective double mastectomy as she carries a faulty gene and might develop breast cancer.

My first thought, as Ang features in my soon to be released book Growing Pains, was "hold on, she was a self harmer" followed by "she used to want to be an undertaker." Already familiar with her chart, particularly her Mars-Moon-Jupiter in Aries square to Saturn and opposite to Pluto, I waited for details for the date of her surgery so I could see just where Uranus was. And I wasn't disappointed: Uranus was exactly opposite her natal Pluto and both planets were in square aspect on the day (as they will be for the next few months). This triple conjunction was previously activated by transiting Jupiter during her self harming days. . .and all squared by Vesta on the day the mastectomy became public knowledge.

And now, with Vesta in Cancer, the shock of one of the most beautiful women in the world effectively deciding to eliminate the most prominent symbol of her femininity is attracting praise for her bravery. And she's announced she's bounced back (oh the irony) from such a radical surgery, is filming a new movie and has the utmost respect from the delectable Brad Pitt.

Whoa. . .head spin!

A perfectly healthy woman with the money to have the best possible preventative health care has chosen to have the best possible health care to remove perfectly healthy tissue and replace it with some sort of artifical enhancement because some day she might develop cancer. Well good luck to her but today I'm thinking of all the substantially poorer women who are going to take a shower one morning and find a lump, those who will become depressed because life has dealt them a shitty hand because they don't have the money for reconstruction and their idiot husbands walk out on them because the next door neighbour still has her tits. . .and then have some insenstive bastard in Parliament vote to refuse quality post operative care on the NHS because the most beautiful woman in the world bounced back without a tear after her double mastectomy.

I won't be so cynical to accuse Ang of attention seeking but I will say there seems to be a self destructive pattern in the behaviour (such as the tacky tattoos) that have a potent astrological connection.

So how about a few female names with Vesta in Cancer I hear you ask?

How about:

Marilyn Monroe

Madonna

Shakira

Jennifer Lopez

Rihanna

Helena Blavatsky

Bjork

Here's a bi wheel of Angelina and the day she had the surgery:

Oscar Pistorius

He amazed us with his determination to overcome severe physical disabilities. We couldn't take our eyes off of him during the Paralympics. If we were shaking our heads in wonder at his athleticism, we now we can't stop shaking our heads in disbelief.

Oscar Pistorius, aspiration for anyone who has ever been told they can't do something because they have a disability and all around inspiration for everyone has reportedly "descended into hell" and is on suicide watch after being charged with the murder of his lover. It sounded about as plausible to me as Bruce Jenner marrying the ex wife of OJ Simpson's lawyer. . .

I don't think astrology should ever or will ever be used to decide if anyone is a murderer (because we all have the potential to do horrible things) but as I am a creature of habit, I had to see his birth chart.

And my jaw dropped.

By star sign, Oscar is a Scorpio with his natal Moon in Leo. He needs secrecy and yet he craves attention. He needs control and yet he wants to be admired. Aquarius rises, with the traditional ruler, Saturn, in Sagittarius in the 10th and the modern ruler, Uranus also in Sagittarius but in the 11th. This is all about wanted to build a serious reputation but at the same time an I-will-do-it-my-way attitude. But what really grabbed my attention was Venus in Scorpio conjunct Pluto bang on the midheaven. Control freak extraordinaire! No wonder he lived in a gated community. Tangled up in this is also the ruler of the 5th, Mercury, also in Scorpio.

Now in astrology over the past few years, some of us astrologers have tried to view Saturn a little more sympathetically but I will say when the god of time who ate his children is transiting a stellium in Scorpio, it doesn’t look good. A descent into hell indeed! We are looking at a man whose soul is going to trouble him for eternity.

Although I am not going to be drawn into a did-he or didn’t-he debate, I wouldn’t want my Moon’s ruler (the Sun) conjunct my natal Mars (co ruler of the MC) in the 1st house on the morning of my hearing for premeditated murder.

Of course, I wish for a fair trial and if he is found guilty may he be punished soundly but I have a horrible feeling a spell in jail will be no match for what he will put himself through.

Where I've been. . .

Well, I've been a little busy. I know, I know. . .no excuse for neglecting my blog.

So these are my excuses. . .

Firstly--and this is more a boast than an excuse--my book "Growing Pains" will be out soon and it even has a front cover.
Just have a look to the left.

Yup, that's my baby with only a few more edits (I keep finding mistakes and adding things) to go. But it has a front cover I love and it sort of merges my career as a teacher and astrologer in 70,000 words.

Way back in September, just a few days before we were due to return to the classroom, my beloved turned to me and said: "Let's go check out this guy who thinks he has found an ancient alien skull!"

Oh boy, I thought, I can think of more useful things to do during the last few days of summer hols. but Nonetheless, I tagged along and was treated to a presentation by the really lovely Lloyd Pye and his Starchild presentation. What an eye-opening experience!

Next, over the summer I had my beloved trumpet, Wynton, fixed up and shined up so I could start playing in the South London Jazz Orchestra again. Well he shined up like, uh, a new penny. He looked so good that I just had to take him on a tour to Liverpool for a gig. And what a blast (geddit?) was had. We played at a beer festival on the Saturday and in a giant greenhouse on the Sunday.

It was such fun and the really cool thing is that we have been invited back again.

And there's more gigs to come.

Just before Christmas, the very same beloved who dragged me off to see Lloyd Pye, turned to me and said: "Let's go see the Nutcracker!"

This time I balked a bit more strenuously.

"Ballet!!" I scoffed. "Yuk!"

I save the details of my protestations but am I ever glad he persuaded me to go.

The music, the costumes, the dancing!! Halfway through the show, my face itched so I gave a quick scratch and realised the tickle were my tears. Yes I was moved!

Next, I went to Venice (yes Venice) for Christmas. It was spectacular and it was perfect: very few tourists, nice people and the weather wasn't too bad.

So, you see, I have been living out my Venus in Gemini and have kept busy doing the things I love to do.

Now can someone just tell me to get cracking on the FAS exam?

Please?