New Jersey and New York
by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Before I begin this chapter on Hurricane Sandy’s effects on New Jersey and New York, I want to deliver what I promised at the end of chapter one, an explanation of the * note that started in the material about the birth of Hurricane Sandy and appeared several more times in the continuing material. I chose not to disturb the narrative of the evolution of Sandy because it was so intricate. The * note refers to two horary astrology techniques, which appear to be quite valid in application. They are rarely thought of and even more rarely used in other astrological techniques, including our usual natals, progressions and transits. I think that could be a mistake, and a poor utilization of what could potentially be useful tools.
Any “rule” that is truly a rule and not just a theory should have widespread application and not just a single use or application. There is nothing wrong with theory, but theory is not “fact” or a “rule.” You can see both techniques working in the series of non-horary charts I have already shown, and those that will be presented as we progress through the balance of the charts and chapters. The two techniques are called Collection of Light and Translation of Light. For more information, if you have access to a computer, look at the web links listed at the bottom of Chapter 1.
“Collection of Light” When a faster moving planet aspects (any aspect) first one and then another of two (or more) planets, which are not themselves in major aspect, it collects the lights as an intermediary. It then forwards information from the first planet contacted to the second (or more) planet(s) contacted similar to a third-party transaction in everyday business – you write a check to a vendor, the bank takes the money from your account and places it in the vendor’s account. The bank acts as a third-party mediator between the two primaries – you and your vendor.” (see diagram) Excerpted from my Astrology: The Symbolic Language, chapter 11.
“Translation of Light” A planet midway between two or more other planets, with these other planets in aspect with each, unites the three (or more) planets by virtue of being a mediator. These planets may be in a stellium or may be in adjacent signs. Use degree of orb for determination. Look to the nature of the planets to determine which two (or more) energies need to be mediated and the energy or method of the mediator (the translator). Excerpted from my Astrology: The Symbolic Language, chapter 11.
This is a brief definition of techniques that are used specifically in horary astrology. Descriptions of the pattern and opinions as to use vary among authors. In these applications, look particularly to the fast-moving Moon, Mercury and Venus as common possibilities. I have also noted the much faster-moving angles as personal connectors as well. While speculative in application, they are working well in the instances cited.
We now return to the narrative of Hurricane Sandy’s effect on New Jersey and New York.
The combined Hurricane Sandy / Nor’easter was one of the most devastating mega storms in recorded history and did severe damage to the U.S. NE seacoast and adjacent areas. I live in Florida, and I have experienced the destruction of hurricanes. I do not wish to minimize or neglect the impact on all those countries, states and people affected, but I must limit the scope of this particular material to specific effects on New Jersey and New York.
Teaching Moment: Statehood I had been studying statehood astrologically in the last few months. New Jersey and New York were two of the original dozen British colonies that separated from the Crown through the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, PA. After extensive research, I prefer 9:36 AM LMT for the Virgo rising chart.
- New Jersey became a state on December 18, 1787.
- New York became a state on July 26, 1788. Both states were under the jurisdiction of the forming, but not yet fully functional, U.S. government.
Congress was elected and seated and the U.S. government as we know it now was official on March 4, 1789, in New York City. The power of the presidency passed on that date and moment as well. Our government was physically located in New York City during that time; but do note there had been shifting of the seat of power between 1776 to 1789, particularly during the war years. During those years, each American patriot was considered a traitor by the British Crown, so mobility and secrecy was paramount. But… at the pre-selected moment, the power for the presidency passed, President Washington was in Virginia, and travel was long, and arduous. It took him six weeks to arrive in New York City for his personal inauguration, held on April 30, 1789. Both dates are relevant and deserve our research.
Teaching Moment: With time unknown events, mundane charts such as those for countries, cities and physical events are cast for noon, which is the middle of the business day. That choice also allows even distribution of both time on the clock and planetary travel from midnight-to-midnight ephemerides as well.
Physical location of the birth of the U.S. state chart: Traditionally for a business natal chart, the then current capital (where state law decisions are made) would be assumed to be the location: longitude, latitude and time standard. What if more than one city incorporation occurred simultaneously? Hmm… To me cities usually have very individualized personalities and functions, so I would expect individualized charts. Is there an alternative?
For U.S. colonial statehood, there are two possibilities for location in the year of birth at the then current U.S. Capital as the physical location of any legal incorporation. If multiple city incorporations were to happen simultaneously, I might also research the incorporation using the individual state capital latitude and longitude. A list of the state capitals and dates of incorporation is provided as a spreadsheet with this article. This is the choice for this study. We are researching, so doing both methods can provide two views, or can help you determine your choice. I will consider hard action aspects for this application because hard aspects are the active, determinant energies in a chart. As we study the New Jersey and New York “statehood” charts, remember the official beginning for the Constitution was 1789. Much of our ongoing political history (basis for charting) was the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776.
Statehood New Jersey
December 18, 1787, 12:00 PM LMT
Trenton, NJ
New Jersey Statehood December 18, 1787, noonmark LMT, Trenton
According to the Trenton city website: “Trenton dates back at least to June 3, 1719”, so the emerging city was already in existence when statehood was established in 1787. It could be interesting to research that early history, but my choice was “legal establishment”.
New Jersey chart thumbnail
- New Jersey is Sagittarius Sun, Pisces Ascendant, Aries Moon, intercepted in the 1st. This can translate to brash, direct, possibly pugnacious or confrontive, with a long span of the state directly on the ocean (Pisces), the Jersey shore.
- Sun conjunct N Node opposite the then visible ruler Jupiter retrograde in Gemini in the 3rd – remember what I said about brash.
- At that time, undiscovered co-ruler Neptune was in Libra in the 7th, intercepted. Until a planet is located or seen (“discovered”), its energy is subliminal in the chart, present but not visible, effective but in a sub- or unconscious way.
- Note as well the Mars / Uranus in Cancer, both retrograde in the 5th, square then-invisible, but angular, Neptune in Libra in the 7th. Dare I repeat: brash (square)… but in an unconscious or not easily understood manner.
It is not possible or purposeful to do a full natal reading here. For our purposes, the natal chart provides the activating points that both the progressions (current and changing status), with the mega storm itself represented by the transits or diurnal positions, that will activate. Six hurricane development charts were given in the previous chapter. Because the landfall time is questionable, I will continue to look at both possibilities for each comparison. Sandy made landfall either 8:00 PM October 29th or midnight Oct 29-30, 2012, and devastated the southern part of New Jersey both before and after its landfall. Remember the storm was 1100 miles in diameter.
- Sandy made landfall with a Sun / Saturn conjunction opposite the Full Moon. The tides are always highest during New and Full Moons, and this moment was no exception. Major storm, highest possible storm surge.
- The natal Moon represents the people, their homes and the clan in general taking the brunt of the damage. The very difficult Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn that had been holding the world in thrall, was activating that natal Moon in Aries with transiting Uranus conjunct that natal Moon, which can happen once every 84 years as a transit. It would be interesting to look at each of the previous transiting Uranus activations to the natal Moon to see what New Jersey was experiencing at those times. Anyone up for a research task?
- A good word for negative Pluto is devastation. Uranus would provide the unusual hybrid storm, and the square requires no explanation. Activations by stationing and retrograde planets literally dance with the natal positions activating multiple times and over longer periods. The devastation will take years to resolve and restore, if ever. Time marches on.
Surprisingly, transiting Neptune and its potentially deadly flood did not trigger any of the New Jersey natal points. Please remember the angles in any noonmark chart are always speculative and there might be some activations we are just not seeing with this noonmark chart. We must stick with what is available to us at this point. A full rectification process would be necessary to find those new angles; but is not part of this material. More rectification work: anyone want to volunteer?
- At times the transits and progressions will trigger the natal.
- At times the transits will trigger the progressed positions.
- Then there is always progressed to progressed to show emerging energy and evolution of an entity, whether that entity be human or mundane.
For this study, I used Naibod secondary progressions, one of the available techniques called “a day for a year” activations. Each day after the birth of the chart owner represents one year in the life. Starting with the birth date as zero year, ten days after birth would represent the 10th year of life. Your computer should have this selection as a choice.
For this study, I used the diurnal format for transits. Diurnals represent a single day in the personal chart / life of the chart owner. It is the transits as they apply to a specific individual on the day of the event. The math technique is to plug in the natal chart information and change only the birth date to the date of the event in question. The generated Ascendant, Midheaven and Moon become specifically personal. The other planetary positions will work reasonably well in just about any chart constructed for that day.
What about the progressions and diurnals for New Jersey, indicative of the New Jersey of 2012 also known as the current and emerging (progressed) or that day’s (diurnal) New Jersey?
New Jersey Progressed
October 29, 2012, 12:00 PM LMT
Trenton, NJ
New Jersey Diurnal
October 29, 2012, 12:00 PM LMT
Trenton, NJ
New Jersey progressions (as described) and diurnals, which are the state’s personal transits.
- The Jersey progressions reflect a stellium with four planets and the Midheaven in Leo: Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus, with Uranus square the progressed Ascendant / Descendant axis. The progressions denote the general year period, and the diurnal / transit activates the day. Diurnal Saturn of the Hurricane Sandy Full Moon partnership is conjunct this progressed Ascendant.
- The diurnal T-square of Venus opposite Uranus square Pluto completes a grand cardinal cross with the progressed Moon.
- The diurnal Ascendant is opposite progressed Jupiter and square progressed Neptune… ah, there is Neptune. Still no diurnal hit by Neptune. Remember: only the old rulerships were in play at the incorporation of New Jersey. Neptune was not visible, but it did exist, subliminally. That would leave us with the old ruler, Jupiter, for what we currently consider Neptune’s purview.
- Diurnal Mars is conjunct the progressed N Node.
- Diurnal Jupiter is conjunct the progressed S Node, the diurnal Mars / Jupiter opposition.
- Progressed Saturn is square natal Mercury separating (history), this would indicate an ongoing challenge as progressed Saturn aspects last for years in human or mundane experience, perhaps even for a lifetime.
- Progressed Mercury opposite natal and progressed Pluto mirrors a similar pairing in the U.S. chart which will be studied in our U.S. chapter.
- Progressed Moon squares natal Moon for the following three months. This progressed Moon square the natal Moon is also conjunct the diurnal / transiting Uranus square diurnal / transiting Pluto.
- We must add diurnal / transiting Venus to this picture as well, turning this complex into a cardinal grand cross. Winter was settling into New Jersey as I wrote the first draft, lack of normal function and opportunity to repair became more difficult and almost impossible.
- This progressing Moon aspect to the natal placement completed itself in January but the transits / diurnals were still active. This will naturally extend the period of devastating damage while under repair. It is not finished for New Jersey.
In this New Jersey charting, the progressions activated by the transits / diurnals seem to tell the tale.
New York Statehood
July 26, 1788, 12:00 PM LMT
New York, NY
New York Statehood, July 26, 1788, noonmark, LMT, New York City; Albany became the capital in 1797, after statehood, Hmmm… more choices to investigate!
New York’s natal shows four planets: Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Uranus and the Midheaven in Leo. What a strange thing just happened to my mind. I just read the New Jersey progressions with four planets in Leo and it turns out the New York planets are the same four planets of the New Jersey progression, and in an eerily similar arrangement. All positions except the New York natal Moon are within 3˚. I have seen that type of connection occur in relationship charting, but had never even given the possibility a thought for mundane astrology. Repeating: the states were born 221 days apart. New Jersey had progressed to the point where its progressions are quite close to New York’s natal positions.
Reminder: the timed angles could be different than the noonmark angles we are using, as is also true of the specific Moon. WOW! It is amazing to me that two states sharing a common border can have charts that morph into an almost common chart. The two states have always been both close and competitive. I am originally from New York and did live in New Jersey for a time. I know the history and social diversity of both.
Make a note to research the 221-day difference between NJ natal (oldest, so static) and NY natal (which will always progress identical to the 221-day old NJ progressing positions). You research this; my plate is on overload!
Back to reading the NY chart.
New York thumbnail:
- New York has a lot of pizzazz with the four-planet stellium in Leo (Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Uranus) and possibly the noonmark Midheaven.
- Natal Mercury in Leo opposite Pluto in Aquarius – and those communication, power and control planets reflect the U.S. Mercury in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn. Resonance! Think of Wall Street with its stock markets, banking industry, port to the world, media markets, power brokering and you can see the effect. To me Mercury / Pluto is the power of persuasion for good or for ill.
- The natal Moon in Taurus is widely square the Leo Sun / Mercury, rock steady and slow building energy collides with verve and pizzazz and theatrics.
- The natal Ascendant 27 Libra 42 provides the broader connectedness, cooperative, and social functions of the “city that never sleeps”. Remember what I said about cities having personalities!
New York Progressed
October 29, 2012, 12:00 PM LMT
New York, NY
What about the progressed chart for New York State?
- Progressed New York has a new Pisces stellium: Sun, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, which also includes the questionable noonmark Midheaven – theatrical, creative, fantasy, imaginative, the melting pot for world cultures. Saturn conjunct the Midheaven can also give a more business-like, authoritarian connotation, if our noonmark choice is reasonably accurate.
- With early Cancer rising, the separating Moon / Jupiter conjunction in the progressed 1st has promoted the state as America’s cultural family. Ellis Island is the gateway – we are a nation of immigrants. My grandparents were part of the European immigrant flood at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The erection of the Statue of Liberty illustrates the world view. I think it is interesting that Ellis Island was claimed by both New York and New Jersey for many years. A judicial ruling eventually decided it belonged to New Jersey.
- Note that a Moon / Uranus conjunction is becoming perfect, with 1˚ of advance of the Moon equaling one month of elapsed time, perfecting itself by March of 2013. Look for breakthroughs or confrontation for our collective family in New York. As I was editing this at the time, I remembered New York just became the first state to put a new gun law into effect.
- Note also that there is a separating progressed Moon / Neptune square that will no longer contribute more damage to an already tragic scene. This square is historical information and not pending disaster. Good news there!
- Uranus in the 2nd has about five or so more years of upsetting the financial picture as this is a slow-moving Ascendant which controls the motion of the house cusps. This state should be able handle five more years. New York is experiencing a progressed bucket pattern, so it should be able to remain focused on its objectives. But do notice that the outlet / focus is Neptune of creativity and imagination.
- Progressed Mars 1 Pisces 41 is square progressed Nodes 01 Gemini / Sagittarius 40R, a fierce (Mars) destiny (nodes) aspect. Bingo!
- As both an historical and upcoming combination, the progressed Midheaven at 14 Pisces 51 and Saturn at 14 Pisces 03 are just past conjunction as cusps move faster than planets, perhaps showing the effects of a sluggish national economy. The good news is that it reflects a piece of New York’s history. The Sun at 17 Pisces 52 moved past Saturn about 3.5 years ago, and that timing certainly fits with the national economic picture. The Midheaven and Sun will remain in juxtaposition due to this being a noonmark chart. Mercury at 19 Pisces 44 is retrograding back to that combination. This represents a cluster that has been acting out over several years, much longer than our usual viewing because of actual motion and the multiple aspects.
- The reason this is important to understand is because New York’s natal N Node is 15 Sagittarius 47, with the axis receiving the square energy of that fluctuating yet progressive Pisces cluster, elongating its effect. What makes that combination doubly important is that the ongoing cluster is directly on the degree of the Hurricane Sandy Mars / Jupiter opposition that has contributed so much to the storm’s effect on the state of New York. I have just mixed transits into our progressions and natal because this is a critical activation. Know that with transiting Mars passed the opposition to the retrograde Jupiter, this aspect was complete. History!
That is progressed to progressed, what about progressed to natal, aside from that last comment?
- Progressed Moon 26 Cancer 53 is within a 1˚ square to the natal noonmark Ascendant 27 Libra 42, excellent second hand of the clock timer for the event called Hurricane Sandy.
- Progressed Mercury at 19 Pisces 44R has been opposing natal Mars 20 Virgo 02, again historical information, not pending disaster. More good news! Note: Having said that it is historical, I never underestimate the lingering effects of an aspect that has just completed itself. As close as I can tell, things are not ever “over” on the day of exactitude. There are tendrils of effect that can still influence the ongoing scenario as the last elements of that aspect work themselves out. If the aspect is past, there is no new contribution, but there may be some ongoing clean-up or resolution effect.
New York Diurnal
October 29, 2012, 12:00 PM LMT
New York, NY
Diurnal / transit: What did the diurnal / transits bring to New York State?
- Diurnal Sun / Saturn conjunction opposite the Full Moon is square natal Sun / Uranus / Midheaven, just as it did in the New Jersey progressions. The two adjacent states shared a common destiny.
- Diurnal Ascendant opposite natal Jupiter – remember that Neptune was invisible at the time of birth of New York, so Jupiter would be the position watched for non-visible Neptune activities.
- Diurnal Jupiter conjunct natal S Node.
- Diurnal Neptune conjunct progressed Mars and square progressed Nodes.
- Diurnal Jupiter / Mars opposition square progressed Sun / Midheaven / Mercury and Saturn.
- Diurnal N Node square progressed Venus.
Clusters Both the New Jersey and the New York progressed charts show something else worth pointing out. Astrologers know and use stelliums on a regular basis. But I have met only a few astrologers who know about and use clusters. Clusters are beautifully enumerated in Neil Michelson’s Tables of Planetary Phenomena book, which I highly recommend, particularly if you are a researcher. Clusters occur in tight areas of space and may incorporate two or three signs.
- The New York natal cluster involves Jupiter / Uranus / Midheaven / Sun / Mercury / Venus all within 38˚ of space.
- The New York progressed cluster involves seven positions ranging from 18 Aquarius to 20 Pisces or 32˚ of space: Pluto / Venus / Mars / Saturn / Midheaven / Sun / and Mercury.
- New Jersey’s progressed cluster of Moon / Jupiter / Uranus / Midheaven / Sun / Mercury and Venus is slightly wider, 47˚. However, the Moon will move approximately 12˚ in a progressed year, averaging 1˚ a month. The progressing Moon is tightening this cluster throughout this next year of progressions, eventually producing a 35˚ cluster by the end of the year.
Multiple positions close together reinforce the energy in one area of space offering tremendous impact for the collective through sheer intensification. I see this as a very defining year for New Jersey, starting with the hurricane. It will take that type of intensification and focus of energy in order to recover from the storm’s devastation.
Please look at the chapter two spreadsheet following to see all this information in a color-coded format (helps with aspecting).
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