Brilliant Sun Signs Tuesday, Jan 29 2008

OK. After watching this, I am slightly tempted to erase everything I have ever written about sun sign astrologers. Because it is such a wicked response to this skeptic.

(hat tip: The facebook horoscopic astrology forum)

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Yet Another “Astrologer” to Princess Diana Stripped of Faculty of Astrological Studies Diploma Monday, Jan 28 2008

I am going to London in March for a week and a friend, who was awarded a Certificate from the Faculty of Astrological Studies in London last year, sent me the link to the Faculty’s Annual Open Day in case I might like to purchase a ticket and attend.

While scrolling down the program page, I noticed at the very bottom that yet another Faculty Diploma holder has been stripped of her D.F.Astrol.S. This would make Debbie Frank the second astrologer to late Princess Diana to be stripped of her Faculty Diploma–the first being Penny Thornton in 1995–for violating several clauses in the Faculty’s code of ethics(pdf), the most serious, of course, being the violation of client confidentiality by speaking and writing publicly about their work as astrologers to the princess.

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Polling Astrology Friday, Jan 25 2008

Arianna Huffington has launched a new section at the Huffington Post called HuffPollstrology, to push back against the pollsters by treating “them as lightweight diversions on par with horoscopes and political betting lines.” Says Arianna:

To this end, we are introducing a new feature today: HuffPollstrology. It will keep you up to date on the latest poll results, along with the candidates’ latest horoscope predictions, the latest online political betting lines, and the latest weather forecasts for key primary states (and we know how accurate those often turn out to be!). Pollstrology is a great way to see who is hot and who is not — and which candidates’ stars say they might be lucky in voter love today.

So you can feed your poll habit every day, but in the right context — the way people who check their horoscopes every day know (unless they’ve checked their sanity at the door) that they have to take them with a large pinch of salt.

This way, you’ll be well-armed with the fun ways to start a conversation that polling and astrology provide: “I hear Hillary is ahead in California… What’s your sign? I bet you’re a Scorpio.”

The Huffington Post currently hosts two rather superficial astrology features: one a rather typical canned sun-sign treatment, courtesy of iVillage and the other by Michael Lutin (which I commented on here).

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Cockroaches for Mikey (Updated) Friday, Jan 18 2008

One of most common justifications offered by sun-sign columnists is that they perform a valuable public service by introducing astrology to the public and representing it in a positive way.

So, how does one jibe this rationalization with the misogynistic and hateful pseudo-astrodiatribe typed by former Vanity Fair sun-sign columnist Michael Lutin in the popular political blog, The Huffington Post. He writes:

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Moving Foward… Thursday, Jan 17 2008

A year ago, when I posted a video of Fred Mittle of Young@Heart singing Fix You by Cold Play, I was aware that I was entering a crucial Saturnian period in my life. Not only was I in the midst of a 2 year Saturn period via Fidaria, but transiting Saturn in its detriment, was hanging out in one of my angular houses and hitting a number of personal planets by hard aspect. Etc. But I did not expect that a whole year would go by without a single post, even though Saturn is about slowness, halting and yes, even reversals.

But all that is over, I am now in a Jupiter Fidaria (woo hoo!), transiting Saturn is in a Succedent house, and well, the world out there seems a lot more interesting…as I scroll the astrological ‘net, I notice a few things out there that I am looking forward to having some fun with.

Fun being the operative word! To that Jupiterian end, I have taken the liberty of “rectifying” my nome de Blog from daimones to Sunrunner.

(Photo credit: Foundations of Alter to Zeus at Pergamon from Sacred Destinations)

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Kronos: Lights Will Die & Ignite Your Bones… Friday, Dec 29 2006

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Science Friday Politics Friday, Sep 15 2006

Following hot on the heels of the recent (and to some, heretical) demotion of Pluto to dwarf planet status, and the promotion of Ceres from asteroid to dwarf planet, the International Astronomical Union (via the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams!) has finally seen fit to rename the dwarf planet UB313, more commonly known as Xena:

Following near-unanimous acceptance by the Committee on Small-Body Nomenclature and the Working Group on Planetary-System Nomenclature (in consultation with the discovery team), the IAU Executive Committee has now approved the names Eris for (136199) and Dysnomia for its satellite (136199) Eris I [formerly S/2005 (2003 UB313) . . .

But hold on to your horses! A wing-nut fighting keyboarder has uncovered a liberal plot in choice of the names Eris and Dysnomia.

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Scorpionic Exile or the Death of Plutocracy? Tuesday, Sep 5 2006

Okay. I just have to say a few words about this. My Scorpio friends are beginning to suspect that there is a plot afoot to cut them adrift, to cast then into exile with no planet to call home.

All over the globe this week, charts were redrawn to reflect the change. Unlike astronomers, astrologers seem to have no problem contradicting each other, so there was no need for a convention.

Last weekend in the Miami Herald, Madalyn Tillis-Dineen, president of the dubiously-named Massachusetts-based National Council for Geocosmic Research reassured us, “You could argue that [Pluto’s] demotion would cause a problem for people whose charts prominently feature Pluto, but I don’t see those people suddenly losing their jobs or falling on hard times.”

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ElsaElsaElsaElsaElsa oh Elsa! Tuesday, Sep 5 2006

One good word can do wonders for blog traffic (blogstats at 220 so far and still climbing)!

Thanks Elsa!

And this is . . . well, about as good as it gets.

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Malpractice Sunday, Sep 3 2006

As a whole (except when privately kvetching between themselves behind another’s back), astrologers are quite allergic to criticism; whether providing it thoughtfully or accepting it. It is just not done, constructively or otherwise.

My personal theory is that since the word “astrology” is synonymous with pariah, most astrologers find themselves operating as a kind of functional outlaw, living somewhere on a continuum between a healthy capacity to question authority and a pathological disdain for accountability of any kind.

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Plutomomentum! Friday, Sep 1 2006

Although not widely reported, Pluto did make a (sort of) concession speech:

Tomorrow morning, our campaign will file the necessary petition with the International Astronomical Union so that we can continue this campaign for a new astronomy of unity and purpose. I will always do what is right for my orbit and Solar system regardless of what the political consequences may be.

Tomorrow is a brand new day. Tomorrow we launch a new campaign — Team Pluto — Asteroids, non-conforming celestial objects and planets.

So this should come as no surprise:

Only a week after Pluto was stripped of its status as a full-fledged planet of the Solar System, rebel astronomers have launched a campaign to have it restored in pomp and glory.

A petition already signed by more than 300 professional researchers is attacking the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decision to expel Pluto from the Solar System’s A-list and doom it to the status of “dwarf planet”.

“We as planetary scientists and astronomers do not agree with the IAU’s definition of a planet, nor will we use it. A better definition is needed,” says the protest, placed on the Web . . . .

After all, as Clyde Tombaugh pointed out, “It’s there. Whatever it is. It is there.”

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A Real Collector’s Item (Only $1,955.89) Thursday, Aug 31 2006

That’s right, $1,955.89 (And .89!) making it perhaps the world’s most expensive contemporary astrology book.

I do own a copy of Melanie Reinhart’s Chiron and the Healing Journey. Slightly yellowed due to the oxidation of the bad Penguin paper, but otherwise in pristine condition.

I would be willing to part with it for only $977.60. At just half of the Amazon.com price, a phenomenal bargain, doncha’ think?

Update (Sep 3, 2006): The price has now increased to $2,121.54! My offer to sell my personal copy for only $977.60 still stands.

Update (Sept 14, 2006): the 2,121.54 copy has presumably been sold.

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A Retrograde Mercury Signals Disaster Friday, Jul 21 2006

According to Sheldon Drobny (of Air America) over at the Huffington Post, the recent outbreak of war in Lebanon can be at least partially understood by the fact that the hostilities commenced while Mercury is [apparently] traipsing backwards.

The global crisis has intensified recently with the recent Israeli military incursions into Gaza and Lebanon. This intensity of human crisis has fallen into an astronomical period in which the planet Mercury is in retrograde. In astronomical terms, retrograde is a time when the planets appear to have a backward movement in the sky.

Before I get into the meat of this post, I just have to mention a few factoids:

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Anyone Can Do Astrology on TV Friday, Jun 30 2006

Even voice-overs named Greg Tufaro.

Yesterday’s New York Times features a hilarious article about about how a Brooklyn, New York couple gamed a new reality show “What’s Your Sign? Design” (debuting on cable’s Home and Garden channel) to get a free do-over done on their neglected front parlor.

Alex (wife) and Andrew (husband) Postman put their heads together to present a captivating (for a tv producer, at least) dilemna. She hates color and likes it, though in reality, he doesn’t much care and she really really doesn’t like it. It didn’t hurt that they are a good-looking couple (Alex is “glamorously Pregnant”) and (theoretically) it can’t be hard to make a front parlor room of a Brooklyn Brownstone look good. Eventually they were chosen to be the headline couple:

Can a practical Capricorn and a headstrong Taurus really agree on the look of a room? Find out on What’s Your Sign? Design where zodiac charts and fresh paint mix to create incredible makeovers. Watch an expert designer and a talented astrologer make it work using creative design and a little help from the stars in this innovative series that brings design harmony to couples all over the country.

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The Magi Society Jumps on the ID Bandwagon Thursday, Jun 29 2006

I gotta tell you — even though I thought I had seen every single possible kind of stupidity which falls within the signification of stupid, nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for this.

The secretive Magi Society (which I have heard from a number of well-placed sources is really nothing more than the latest venture of Henry Weingarten, formerly of 666 Fifth Avenue in NYC) is trying to find common cause with the likes of Pat Robertson and James Dobson. Now referring to him themselves as The Christian Guardian’s Fellowship, they have announced that “Evolution is nothing but a hoax.” The site basically says that since the Magi visited the baby Jesus in the manger, and because the Magi were astrologers, astrology can prove that, according to the Bible, the universe was designed by an Intelligent Designer. Then (as any good salesperson will, they ask money question and immediately answer it):

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