Dark Night of the Soul with David Letterman

Actually, my heart goes out for David Letterman. Not because I condone his actions as he cheated on his wife at the very place where I'm sure she hoped he could be trusted: at work. (Though I'm also convinced that is the place where most affairs start.) Now it's come to light that he putatively has a bedroom at the studio. Of course, his alleged extortionist, Robert J. Halderman, has drawn more ire for now, but it looks like Dave may get more heat.

Dave's Mars, his Sun's ruler is very strong in his chart. Mars is not only a warrior, but a paramour as well. He's very virile and sharp. Dave isn't a warrior, per se, but he's been able to build the empire he has because it helps to have a strong Mars, who represents our ability to assert and define our desires in the world. Weeeeelll, it looks like his Mars is about to get a visit from two ruffians: Pluto and Saturn. Pluto is "squaring" his Mars, meaning he's facing an internal struggle to hold on to his power; Saturn is "opposing" his Mars, meaning he's facing an external struggle to hold on to his power. When Saturn and Pluto team up, there's a showdown. Things (and people) get busted and roughed up. Astrologers like to say nice fluffy words like transformation and getting in touch with our own authority. But it's really a nice way of saying that the "fit is about to hit the shan." But it isn't the end of the world.

Never forget that what the planets want of us: they want our respect and to heed the Divine messages they have for us. We show "them" that we've heard the messages in action, either in ritual or taking proactive steps to honor the message. Dave's message is clear with Pluto and Saturn coming around: take ownership of your actions and face the consequences. And here's where I feel for Dave. He did that and he's still gonna hafta pay the piper, but not the extortionist. I wonder if Dave will be able to keep his job.

This is the second time in a year that Dave's had to eat his humble pie on national TV. His show is starting to feel like a late night confession box. I'm glad he can admit to his errors in judgment, but say sorry more than a few times and people start to feel like you're messing up on purpose. Or you're incompetent. I don't know if either conclusion directly applies to Dave, but his extortionist left him vulnerable at a pretty bad time astrologically. (I don't believe the planets CAUSED this; they reflect the truth of the moment!) So there's blood in the water and many, mostly conservatives, have had it in for Letterman for years. And I think they're going to go in deep.

Here's exhibit A from the New York Post: Andrea Peyser is not one of my favorite columnists, but she usually gives me a feel for how conservative mainstream America might feel on an issue. With Hollywood rallying around a convicted pedophile, it won't be too hard to get protest votes from smug, self-righteous or even conveniently ethical people of Middle America on an easier target. Hollywood is NOT going to rally around Dave like they do Polanski, because he's not committed a crime (which is high drama) and Polanski is no one that Hollywood has to fear. Dave is.

Show business can be dirty business and when you have power, as Dave does, he can expect that some people are going to want to take him out. I'm not saying that there's a conspiracy to do so from Hollywood itself. I'm saying there are some people who have been trying to get rid of Dave, since even before the Palin-Bristol episode, and he's now given them a smoking gun. Now, I don't think Dave can count on the measured support of Hollywood to back him as he's not really a cause celebre. He's a guy who got caught with his pants down, literally. I mean, can you picture Madonna coming to Dave's rescue after this: Madonna vs. Letterman. Yeah, I know it's 1994, but I'm sure her memory is long. She's been on the show several times since then, but there's always some measure of tension between those two. Regardless, I don't think people will be coming out the woodwork to help good ole Dave.

So I think as Saturn comes closer to opposing Dave's Mars during the month, we can expect the heat to go up on Dave. I like Dave, as he's really the only late night guy I will watch four or five times a year. (I'm either already in bed or out.) But he's dealing with the self-righteous judge (Saturn) in what we call exaltation (in Libra) and his bailiff (Pluto). I hope he has a good lawyer or a whole team of PR wizards to help him get out of this before Saturn directly opposes his Mars at the end of the month. He did as much damage control as he could by being upfront about his dalliances, but he's gonna hafta repent and convince TVland that he's serious. Or else we're gonna have some long, dark winter nights without Letterman.

Click here for Dave's chart.

Saturn (not Satan) has come for Roman Polanski this time...

A crazy student of mine (who I will talk about frequently) just texted me asking me about Roman Polansk's chart. I texted back "Why?" as in why should I care about a convicted pedophile who makes good movies. He didn't know why I should care. Wanted to see what I had to say. Well, considering Roman Polanski made one of my favorite creep out movies, Rosemary's Baby, I'd at least look at it, since he's in the news and all, facing possible extradition.

Here's a link to the data from astrodatabank.com: http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Polanski%2C_Roman

A brief look of this Leo's chart shows a couple of disturbing things. First, it is likely that he did rape this young woman. With his Mars square to Uranus and that same said Uranus trine to the Sun, he has a natural sense of entitlement and doesn't like anything encroaching on his own sense of freedom. His Venus and Jupiter conjunction tell me that he has a big appetite, especially regarding lust. Well, interestingly, transiting Uranus is opposite to his Venus and Jupiter, heralding a sudden shock and challenge to that lust. As a topper, transiting Saturn is all over that Venus and Jupiter, suggesting that it's time for him to deal with his karma and past. (Can you say Judgment day, boys and girls?!)

So, to my crazy student, I say: do the crime, pay the time. It's what his own chart says. It's likely from what I read that he may not do the time, but Uranus is giving a shock to his monkey to let him know that he's not above the law. I don't know the astrology looks like he's kinda screwed. (Or is that wishful thinking?) We'll see...

Top 10 ways to get a Libra to a decision...

Top 10 Ways For a Libra To Make a Decision

(Letterman Style)
by Samuel F. Reynolds

10. Call up your best friend at midnight to run “the question” by him/her one more time, then your therapist in the morning and finally your psychic at noon.

9. Talk the decision through until you forget what you were talking about.

8. Let your husband/wife/partner do it.

7. Shop, and see if it goes away

6. Imagine you’re making the decision for someone else, then make the decision for him or her, I mean, you.

5. Write down the pros & cons of the issue and “weigh” out what makes sense.

4. Ask yourself, WWSD?: “What would Satan do?” 
Then do the opposite.

3. Pay an Aries to make the decision for you.

2. Avoid it.

1. Look at all your options until you (and those around you) can’t stand waiting for you to make up your mind anymore. Then make a decision and change it 5 minutes later.

From Paranoia to Pronoia

From Paranoia to Pronoia

Lately, I’ve been counseling a lot of people who have strong Scorpio elements in their chart. By this, I mean that they have the zodiac sign, Scorpio, featured in a prominent place, like their ascendant sign, their moon sign or Sun sign. Most people know their Sun sign as that’s the sign the Sun was traveling in when they were born and the most commonly discussed in pop astrology columns and articles. So when I tell you, “I’m a Scorpio,” which I am, you can trust I’m saying that the Sun was traveling through the sign of Scorpio when I was born. But the Moon was also traveling through a particular sign when you were born, which most likely is not the same sign as your Sun sign, and your rising sign is what sign was coming above the horizon at your birth. All three are important and can give an astrologer a thumbnail sketch of your life’s purpose, how you’re likely to fulfill it, and what kind of challenges you may encounter in fulfilling it. I call these three key points “the legs of a chart.” So when any one of these three legs have the “flavor” of a particular sign, then there are certain themes that will emerge that prove to be very important in a person’s life. For Scorpio, we must talk about paranoia.

First, we should probably say a few words about Scorpio, before Scorpios get more paranoid and think I’m just picking on them. I’m not. Scorpio, astrologically, represents that universal principle that is pre-occupied with life and living itself. This pre-occupation can happen in three ways: thinking about generation (creating or pro-creating); re-generation (coming up from the ashes of something traumatic); or death itself (life coming to its cycle of closure or permanent transformation). The first way, generation, is what earns Scorpio-influenced people the claim as the sex-crazed people of the Zodiac, or in street parlance: freaks. I won’t debate the merits of that claim as I think it’s enough to say that I’ve met freaks in all 12 signs and no real statistical data on Scorpionic freakiness is forthcoming. The second way, re-generation, is all about how Scorpio-influenced people (either by rising sign, Sun sign or moon sign) will usually go through severe trials and literally have to re-build their lives. They must find a way to begin anew and sometimes they do that a lot! Lastly, Scorpios may have a deep abiding fear of extinction, death. This fear may compel them to think that death or extinction may loom at every corner, in some form or fashion. If someone isn’t literally attempting to kill them, then someone may be attempting to demoralize them or extinguish them mentally, emotionally or spiritually. I will not say that this may not be happening or have happened to Scorpios, as it certainly does, but perhaps not as much as they much think. When that thinking goes too far, paranoia is born.

Paranoia literally means besides-thinking, or thinking that is flawed or skewed. However, the real error in paranoia is not the idea that someone may be out to get you, but that everyone is out to get you or that certain people are out to get you all the time. It’s error of judgement in measure, not process. This leads to really narrow thinking as it becomes hard to distinguish or trust friend from foe. It’s equally hard to appreciate the goodness of life as the paranoiac comes to suspect the worst, in nearly everyone and everything. What might have started off as a correct hunch or intuition about a person or situation transforms into an ongoing life manual for dealing with all situations and people. We get locked into a loop or belief system that the world or universe only means us harm and not good; we also come to believe that whatever seeks to destroy us actually will most likely and certainly destroy us as well. This is where the natural instinct for survival and self-preservation that Scorpio represents gets out of control.

There are at least a couple of ways to address paranoia when it becomes rampant. (Providing it’s not drug-induced. Those who know, know what I’m talking about! ;-) ) First, I’d like to introduce you to pronoia, paranoia’s good sister, if you will. Paranoia is the idea that there are hidden meanings or forces that seek to spell out your doom. Pronoia is a forward type of thinking to see other hidden meanings that are “conspiring” for your benefit. You can imagine someone watching you through your mirror, as I knew a Scorpio who believed that, for the benefit of the government, or you can imagine Angels watching over you as you walk home late at night. Both ways of thinking include real possibilities that are really hard to prove, but one clearly leads to less stress. Again, I don’t want to debate whether the perceptions of paranoia are true as it depends on how much we think the universe is conspiring against us. You have and will, indeed, encounter again people who don’t aspire the best for you. On a group level, many Black people in America know about the FBI’s COunter INTELligence PROgram (COINTELPRO) in the mid-20th century that was designed to study and foil the efforts of Black organizations deemed revolutionary (but perhaps progressive for Black people). This is documented. However, it’s one thing to intuit or even encounter danger in the past, and it’s another thing to always suspect danger in the future. Pronoia keeps the equally valid idea that there is as much that conspires for you as against you. Pronoia is a testament of faith, while paranoia is a testament of fate. Faith honors the Spirit, while fate is what appears in our lives as mysterious and unalterable. Pronoia realizes that there is something in you that cannot be destroyed and is Divine. Paranoia recognizes that life is ephemeral and requires constant vigilance and investigation. The key is to be able to hold space for both. If you think everything is a conspiracy, then you abdicate power in your own life. If you think nothing is mysterious or malicious and beyond one’s own power, then you’re bound to be disappointed and seriously caught unawares, to put it mildly. Too often, Scorpio-influenced people, think too much about the paranoia and conspiracy toward menace than the good.

So what maintains that balance? I hate to sound cliched and cheesy, but survival only happens in one moment: NOW. The more we can be present with whatever reality we face in the moment, the more we can trust to find the wisdom of the appropriate moment. We can choose the kernel of goodness that Pronoia teaches us that is our birthright and we can equally embrace the kernel that lets us know that life is ephemeral and mysterious. But it’s rarely a matter of life and death, as Scorpio-influenced people might like to think. There is something in us that can never die, and we may have as many hidden friends as we perceive foes. The blessing of the journey of this thing called Life is forging the wisdom to know that. But only embracing paranoia can only lead to more paranoia and that’s no way to live a life. It ultimately is a self-fulfilling prophecy of self destruction. Scorpio-influenced people seem to have to learn that lesson a lot, but they aren’t certainly the only people to have to do so. We all could.

Samuel F. Reynolds