California fires

Dorothy Kovach, who lives in California, asked horary question: "When will the forest fires come under control?"

Mars, being ruler of 8th house of death danger placed in 12th house, is a significator of Californian fires. It changes the sign from fiery Leo for earthy Virgo, and earth is an enemy of fire, one of possible methods of fighting it. The Mars position gives us about three time units; this is fixed sign of Leo (slow timing) but cadent house (fast timing). Therefore, I would take it as weeks. Since horary was asked on 26th June, I would say that possible date of ceasing fire is 15-20 of July.

UPDATE OF JULY 15

Here is the Fire Overview by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, stating that by July 15, 1983 out of 2010 peak fires (i.e., more than 95%) have been contained.

Timing in horary

I was taught that in horary (usually used for short-term predictions) the dynamics of planets should be considered not further than in the next zodiacal sign. And this is what I did when a friend of mine asked me (at the end of February when Clinton was underdog before winning the March primaries): “Who among three candidates, Clinton, Obama, and McCain, would become president?”

USA is a foreign country, so it is signified by 9th house. Its royal power is 10th from 9th, i.e., 6th house of the horary, with cusp in Gemini. Its ruler Mercury is in reception with retro Saturn (with Ketu) and in tight conjunction with Venus sharing minor receptions. I assigned Venus to Clinton, Mercury to Obama and Saturn to McCain as significators.

Saturn was peregrine, afflicted by Ketu, in 12th house from 9th, and moving retro – this candidate looked hopeless, most probably due to the weak program and problems with health. I should find who among Venus and Mercury would be the winner.

I looked at the dynamics and saw Venus heading Pisces, its sign of exaltation, where Mercury is fallen. Also, Moon, the significator of people, was in the sign of Mercury’s detriment.

My conclusion, using dynamics in the next sign, was that Clinton would become president. As we know in June, she has lost – and now look at the Venus dynamics after Pisces! First, it moves into Aries, sign of its detriment. Further, elevation again, in Taurus, and finally it heads the domicile of Mercury, Gemini: Venus heads into the power of her rival. If we propagate the chart through time, we can see something interesting:

In the domicile of Mercury, Venus and fully-powered Mercury meet each other – and not alone but with the significator of royal power Sun. Clinton and power are coming to Mercury! When? On Saturday, June 7, in the afternoon. What happened then? It was the exact time of Clinton’s speech, when she abandoned her campaign asking her supporters to join Obama.

This horary confirmed my feeling that each chart has infinite dynamics with significators traceable long ahead. Although in many temporary questions one-sign dynamics is more than enough, it does not stop evolving after that.

P.S. In fact, for judging questions like elections, one should have the natal chart of the candidates. Unfortunately, they are usually unavailable, and confident predictions are hardly achievable in such circumstances.

Cambridge Tour

The MetOffice forecast for this bank holiday was, as expected, cold and rain. I was thinking about cancelling the planned tour, but the horary was not bad at all:

I, as Venus, was in watery Cancer, but 3rd and 9th houses were fine. I didn’t like Moon with Rahu (undecided?) and Mars in 6th, which, besides possible health issues, indicated my 2nd (the bicycle) and could cause technical problems. But I saw how dignified Mars was and believed it could stand – I just took additional spare tube and heavy toolkit.

With this horary, I was not surprised when the initial weather forecast was later adjusted promising at least the first day of the holiday to be nice. So, I started the tour.

I first came to the far Thames wharfs where I never reached before – my usual walks ended near the Tower. This area, which was noisy and dirty in the past, now is a prestigious living district.

I reached Greenwich and saw poor Cutty Sark damaged by the recent fire

Then I passed 100-years-old foot tunnel (10 metres under the Thames)

and entered the Lea Valley, which belongs to the National Cycle Network. If you read Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three men in a boat”, where he and his friends travelled the Thames Path from London to Oxford, you should remember his stories about the river locks:

This area is so peaceful and beautiful that I forgot about time and travelled too slow, gazing at flowers

and birds

But the road itself was not joyful at all. The path was made of gravel, and at the end of the valley route, when I left the park, I realised that my back tube was punctured, and what was even worse, the vibration crashed the bearings in the back wheel, so that it was not tight and made noise.

Well, I didn’t regret I came to the park anyway. I repaired the repairable and moved on. I had to rush because in such conditions I couldn’t tour for three days and had to arrive at Cambridge by the evening to catch the last train home.

The roads leading to Cambridge are not as picturesque as in Norfolk, but still I got some nice shots, as this straw-roof house:

Road A1301 is parallel to motorway M1, so car drivers prefer the fast connection, and most of the time I was alone on this way. Finally, I came to Cambridge

and soon boarded to the train. One day, 130 km, and unforgettable Lea Valley. Yet another fulfilled dream…

Norfolk Tour

For several months, my cherished dream was to use the May Day bank holiday for a bicycle tour. Three days off is just a perfect timeframe for exploring the county. I decided to take a train to Cromer as a nice start with sea view, and to choose the departure time, I found a trip election (within available train times):

It is not that perfect, but at least 9th house is ok. Departure time at 1.45pm looked late, but it was only for better, as I realised quite soon. Another unpleasant feature was Mars in 8th, which ruled 9th, in watery Pisces, and in square with Moon, but I hoped that Jupiter would support the Moon in any case. With this election, I had purchased the train ticket and was waiting impatiently for the holiday.

Ah, Mars was watery… Two days before the weekend, I read MetOffice forecast promising rain and cold over the weekend. The circumstances were confusing: I didn’t feel well, the weather was expected to be bad, and finally, just before the trip I got a puncture in front wheel – and realised that old tyre should be replaced as well.

I cast horary: Shall I go for the tour?

See 3rd and 9th houses? There was no doubt: I should. Great wandering, as well as great learning, was inevitable.

In the morning of the tour day, I rushed to bicycle shop to buy new tyre and spare tubes, sorted everything in hurry, and was ready to start. Afternoon train was just right!

Our team of passengers experienced a weird incident: when we had boarded into the train on the proper platform, three minutes before the departure we were told to move… to another train which was delivered ahead. So, I grabbed my chained bike and run into the train ahead. Nice beginning? Mars in 8th, remember?

Fortunately, this was the most dramatic episode of the tour. Less dramatic was the rain, most of which fell at night between Sunday and Monday when I peacefully slept in a B&B. Well, I got four or five hours of it next morning, too. But warm drizzling is rather a fun for a biker – just don’t forget to shake glasses from time to time.

I saw many wonders of beautiful and diverse Norfolk, and below are some of the photos that I took on the way.

The famous Cromer pier:

Still active 10-inch rail in Wells-next-the-sea:

Village where Horatio Nelson was born:

The Norfolk Coast Path in marshland (too narrow and uneven for biking, really)

Marvellous Hunstanton Cliffs:


Famous Norfolk Lavender (too early for blooming, but already lilac)

Then I came to the Norfolk Retreat of Her Majesty The Queen, Sandringham

and saw parade Rolls-Royce, which served Her Majesty for 40 years

Castle Acre near Swaffham

Ancient Peddar’s Way is real off-road (the red bin is for cleaning after dogs!)

Medieval Buckenham is well and alive

In total, I have done about 300km in three days. It was a relaxed trip, rather slow compared with marathon 200km a day, but slow biking is great for learning – just as the horary promised.

If you are still wondering about the meanings of that Mars in 8th, I can report that on the way I saw five funeral services, one burial park, and numerous churches with graveyards…