Eddie Long's chart
I don’t know Rev. Long’s actual birth time, but I’ve guessed him to be an Aquarius rising, because I understand he’s fond of having an entourage, his unconventional approach to his faith and how the planet of confusion and illusion, Neptune, rests on his rising sign right now. It also makes sense to have the ruler of his ascendant, Saturn, in the sector of his chart that relates to religion and spirituality and ironically bound together at the hip with Neptune. But the standout aspect for me is his Sun-moon conjunction in Taurus.
In an astrological chart, the principle of the Sun represents the Divine or the Spirit in our lives, our sense of purpose and our willpower. The Moon represents how we reflect and embody that Divinity in our day to day lives. This entails how we respond to the world around us with our physical, mental and emotional bodies. When the Sun and moon are conjoined in one sign, as in Rev. Long’s case, there’s an convergence of a Divine sense of purpose and how we respond to that sense of purpose in our daily lives. But this convergence can be blinding and we, in turn, lose objectivity. We see ourselves as Divine rather than realizing that we reflect the Source.
This is what an earthen treasure looks like!
(Under)Armor of God!
This lack of objectivity is exactly what I see when I look at these photos. Considering that Eddie Long has this Sun-Moon conjunction in Taurus, an Earth sign, it seems clearly evident that he’s enamored with the forms that Spirit takes, whether that be his own body or other material forms, like money or exquisite clothes, furnishings, etc. (Earth signs deal with the material realm and forms.) The strong Earth flavor of his chart would also heighten his love and interest in sensual delights and pleasures.
Beyond his fascination with the physical (and his current legal woes), where he may be doing his flock a greater disservice is confusing his role as a pastor as the Sun itself rather as a reflection of the light, like the moon. I believe a pastor’s role is NOT to stand in for God at anytime for anybody, but to stand in for his or her congregation’s own humanity as they strive to realize their Divinity. In the Bible, “Ecce Homo” was a key moment for the public to behold an all too human Christ, not a “covered” one or a stand-in for God who couldn’t be seen as frail, weak or even “passing gas.” This is where Rev. Long is too beholden to his chart and himself to see clearly.
Using the “Long” way of a “non-denial denial’ and I will not speculate, using his chart, about his guilt or innocence with his upcoming lawsuits. However, I will predict that he’s going to need more than 5 smooth pebbles for each of his lawsuits. (And I do hate how he’s positioned himself as David against Goliath. Who’s Goliath? His young accusers? Really? I think not.) It’s not that I don’t think it’s impossible that Rev. Long could do such a thing as he’s been “portrayed.” Actually, it’s an all too human thing for Rev. Long or many in power to do. It always has been. For the sake of his congregation, his family, his accusers, his forward-marching hairline, and his out of control ego, I hope he realizes this, stops “covering” and let us behold the man, clothed in his own humanity.
What did you learn during this past Mercury Retrograde?
September 13, 2010 — return2thesourceSomehow I knew this Mercury retrograde would be personal. Mercury has gone direct right near my Jupiter and my descendant. I wrote earlier about my Jupiter and a bit about my descendant or 7th house. (More here.) But I’ve had some interesting reflections on Mercury-related issues of late. I feel like sharing a few.
1) There is such a thing as a le mot juste (the right word) and it’s well worthwhile to find it. I’ve known a lot of cyber-bullies in my lifetime on the net, and I’ve spent many keyboard clicks tackling them. Hell, I’ve been called one myself. But I saw something this Mercury retro cycle that I’ve never seen before. I saw a cyberbully get effectively “taken out” with the precision of a sniper, in pretty much two tweets or a total of 280 characters. I won’t bore you with the details, but this cyber-bully (loud-mouthed, know-it-all Sag) went barking up the wrong tree one Sunday morning with some really vicious, violent and unprovoked name-calling against a Virgo woman. She didn’t have to do much but uncover some of his strange shenanigans with his multiple profiles on twitter and the public fact that he had been disbarred. All in two tweets, less than 280 characters, not words. The rest was just other people retweeting her or addenda from other people based on what she had uncovered. He disappeared for week, claiming that his absence was unrelated to her tweets. (Oh, okay!) He hasn’t apologized publicly, but he also has been quiet as a church mouse too, relatively. Brevity is indeed the soul of wit…and kicking ass.
2) People will often do as much as you allow. If you don’t want to get “it” from all sides, then reduce the fallout by setting boundaries or being much more circumspect in what you give out. I definitely had some Mercury-related problems this cycle. One problem I had with clients is that a few were either seriously late (one by an hour) OR who just didn’t show up. So for the first time I had to compose a written policy about cancellations or lateness. I have always had a very folksy practice. In some ways, I will continue to do so. Some fellow astrologers suggested that I ask for deposits and that jazz, but I’m not doing that. I have to keep some measure of trust as a recovering cynic. I think my new policies will work well enough.
I also had to create a more uniform policy for friends in contacting me. That may be harder to fully implement, though. First, you should know this about me that only those close to me know well enough: I HATE THE PHONE. I have pretty much always hated the phone (like since being a toddler), but I’ve wrestled with how to deal with that for most of my adult life. I also didn’t have the right technology to deal with my phone aversions. Screening calls was a godsend when we had answering machines, but the advent of voicemail on a cellphone didn’t allow that to happen. Caller ID helps, but really my problem isn’t really the who. It’s the what. I’m not a chatterer, so I don’t really care who it is: I don’t want to be on the phone unless I have to be. I’m especially impatient with people who live near me. I will travel 2 hours to meet a friend by train and have lunch, but I won’t travel 2 seconds across the room to chat on the phone with a person who’s around the corner. (I’m more forgiving with friends who are farther than a train ride away.) Has nothing to do with the friend or how I feel about the friendship. It’s the phone! So during this retrograde, I gave out my google phone number so I could text people more even from my computer than get on the phone at all. I also did something dumb until I got clear on what I’ve been doing. I got a new and more expensive phone. It hit me that I get high-tech phones to make being on the phone a more palatable experience. But I can’t pretend anymore. I so hate the phone. So I’ve explained to more friends that the best way to reach me is via email or text. All I need are vectors–the where and when to meet. Interestingly, this led to me meeting up with more friends. That felt good. In fact, my best friend and I hung out for the first time in months, instead of crossing paths or texting each other, at the US Open to see Federer fall and Nadal rise into the finals. That was awesome! How’d that happen? You guessed it: by direct message on twitter, text or email. I felt like these things had become real tools for live connections rather than substitutes. I got clear that I can’t do anymore substitutes except for family and friends hundreds of miles away and even then none too much. I’ve got to accept that, and I guess they do too.
3) Name-calling might feel good in the moment when you’re aggressive, but it’s not progressive when you want to solve problems. So you gotta ask yourself as soon as you want to call anyone a name outside of their own in anger: do you want to feel good at someone’s expense or find peace at the benefit of you both? And don’t get it twisted. I am not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t ever call someone out their name. I called Rev. Terry Jones, the guy who wanted to burn Qur’ans in Gainesville, FL, batshit crazy. I still feel good saying that. But I’m a lot more resistant to calling someone anything except their name.
What did you learn during this Mercury Retrograde?