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    The Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster:
    A Tribute to The Seven Who Died

    It must be said at the outset that the astrological perspective on events is not fatalistic and in no way implies that any event has to happen from the conventional point of view. To look at the astrological configuration for an event does not mean that that event had to happen. An event manifests only one possible outcome of a wide range of possibilities implicit in any planetary arrangement.

    Astrological parameters indicate significant and particular focusing of those ranges of possibilities in terms of various planetary movements. This is in fact precisely what astrology is about. Outcomes, that is, experiences and events, however, are determined in all cases only by freely generated intentions and actions of people through natural forces.

    As an astrologer, I must say that it is fully possible that this tragedy could have been avoided. This in fact can be said of any tragedy. It appears, however, that the occurrence of tragedies is inherent in the historical evolutionary process of collective learning. Astrology contributes to our ability to take the lessons of tragedies toward the interest of preventing yet greater tragedies from happening in the future.

    The chart below shows the solar-planetary configuration for 07:53 AM CST at Houston, TX (Tropical Zodiac/Koch Houses). The location selection is appropriate for obvious reasons. Below the chart is a broad-stroke interpretation, by no means complete, of my assessment of its general meaning. Most readers are not expected to be familiar with all the astrological terminology that must be used to secure the objective components of my analysis. It will still be there if you choose to study it more thoroughly to gain a better understanding of it. The straight English statements, however, should make ready sense to all readers.

    The Display

    The Midheaven at the top of the chart and the entire Tenth House of public display are covered by the Fire sign Sagittarius, with Mars and Venus on either side of Pluto contained therein, with Mars at the Midheaven: A passionate, fiery display of polarized power (Mars and Venus) framing the potential for quantum (spiritual) consciousness (Pluto) of inspired and expansive collective ideals (Sagittarius).

    The Issue

    Uranus rising in his own sign of Aquarius says in no uncertain terms that this event is about the advancement of technology and humanitarian, egalitarian agendas in the United States and throughout the global community. This event is a virtual announcement by Uranus, the Global Patron of Modernity, for the installation of his New World Order to meet the physical and spiritual needs of humanity in our pursuit of excellence for ourselves and for the world through our reach into infinite space, which must always exceed our grasp.

    The Mystery

    The New Moon in Aquarius closely conjoined to Neptune in the Twelfth House indicates a very powerful impetus toward the deployment of a mysterious transformative purpose for this event. This purpose comes within the purview of rising Uranus by virtue of the conjunction occupying his sign of Aquarius. Neptune, in turn, rules the Ninth House of religious understanding by virtue of his sign of Scorpio on its cusp. This implies the religious understanding (Ninth House) of death (Neptune/Scorpio) as a driving force (New Moon) for understanding as the meaning of the mystery (Twelfth House) of this event, governed by rising Uranus in Aquarius.

    Social Implications

    A very important feature of the gestalt of the whole chart is the balanced and accentuated opposition of the two major social planets, Jupiter and Saturn, to the entirety of the rest of the solar-planetary system, distributed within 78 degrees of the zodiac between Mars in Sagittarius at the Midheaven and Uranus in Aquarius at the Ascendant. This means that the defining social parameters of life on Earth (Jupiter and Saturn, yet emerging from their conjunction among the seven visible planets in May 2000) are in a counter-balancing, tension-producing position in relation to the combined personal and transformational planets gathered in the socially demonstrative Fourth Quadrant of the chart (Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Houses).

    Jupiter in Leo in the Sixth House exactly opposes the New Moon conjunction with Neptune in Aquarius in the Twelfth House, and Saturn in Gemini in the Fourth House opposes both Venus and Pluto in the grouping of planets including Mars in Sagittarius in the Tenth House.

    In general terms, these oppositions accentuate the social grounding (Saturn in the Fourth House) and problem solving capacity (Jupiter in the Sixth House) stimulated by the publicly visible specter of this dramatic event. Furthermore, the trine (120 degree angle) between Jupiter in Leo in the Sixth House and the Tenth House grouping of planets in Sagittarius accentuates the fiery facilitation, the heating up, as it were, of the formation of this phenomenal image of personal transformation.

    Thought and Analysis

    Mercury is the odd man out in the whole configuration, which indicates that thought pertaining to this event will be independently focused toward social cohesion (Capricorn and the Eleventh House), left somewhat out of the fray and thereby afforded a greater measure of exacting objectivity. The mutual reception (planets in signs ruled by each other) of Mercury in Capricorn and Saturn in Gemini shows a remarkable facilitation of strategic analysis of the social and conceptual issues implicit in this dramatic display of both the glory and the agony of technological prowess and ingenuity.

    The many inherent meanings of this event can thereby easily and clearly be defined and assessed in specific and comprehensible terms. The placement of Chiron in Capricorn, conjoined by Mercury, indicates a subtle yet meaningful facilitation of mental assessments that bridge the seen and unseen realms of existence. The potential for a relatively new and exacting way of thinking about the reality of the unseen is inherent in this event. This implies a kind of synthesis of scientific and transcendental thinking not foreign to the pragmatic branch of our global philosophical heritage.

    The Key

    The Lunar Nodal Axis is aligned exactly with the Meridian of the chart, with the North Node (Dragon's Head) in the degree of the Imum Coeli at the bottom of the chart, and the South Node (Dragon's Tail) in the degree of the Midheaven at the top of the chart. The Lunar Nodal Axis, the Dragon in an astrological chart, is always the key to its interpretation. It shows the direction that the vital force of evolutionary intent flows through the configuration. For the break-up and burning in the sky of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the Dragon was headed directly into the earth-centered death point (the grave, taproot to the collective unconscious) of the configuration.

    This shows a living will to die to demonstrate a display, that is, to leave behind (Dragon's Tail) an historical legacy of transcendence; a cosmic thrust of the will to spiritual power through death. Mars in Sagittarius at the Midheaven, conjoined to the Dragon's Tail, emphasizes the exemplification of the warrior's courage and valor that transforms death into social and spiritual power, death that instantly inspires and glorifies a spiritual ideal.

    This event is about not only death, but by virtue of that, and because of that, the triumph over death. This is the ultimate source of optimism and the core meaning that inspires all religious values. This truth has been demonstrated in various ways by various people for various purposes, mostly, if not entirely for the advancement of spiritual and physical evolution. This is the meaning of the generation of spiritual power through death and martyrdom.

    The fiery, instantaneous deaths of seven of the finest exemplars of human excellence and courage, from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, in the peaceful pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of humanity, can only serve to galvanize the spiritual aspirations of all who are capable of being inspired by this profound martyrdom for positive science and global cooperation toward the advancement of knowledge and our reach for infinite space, to inspire us to continue in this advance. We are challenged by the deaths of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia to determine what we stand for, individually and collectively, in a world on the brink of global metamorphosis.

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