Category: astrology

heber bartolome (1948-2021)

i met him in a Banyuhay concert tour, bicol to baguio, sometime in 1978 (if memory serves) but it was in ’79 that i sought him out because i read somewhere that he was an astrologer pala, founder mismo of the UP Astrological Society.

i had gotten into astrology in 1976 when my TM teacher dropped a pile of books on my lap.  he knew of my psych background (he was one of my subjects in a rorschach class), and he thought astrology would complement clinical personality tests.  among the books was a Julia & Derek Parker manual (fallen apart now) that taught me how to cast birthcharts.  i started with my own, of course, using a compass to draw the wheel and a protractor to get the 30-degree sections just right.

after a couple of years self-studying and finding astrology to be not just compatible with psychology but also revealing not only of personality but of karmic patterns, i found myself looking for a mentor of sorts, someone who would tell me if i was casting charts correctly and if i could ever be good enough at “reading” them for a living, or something like that, while  also writing on the side.

i don’t remember who gave me heber’s phone number, but by the next day i was on my way to his place somewhere in U.P. diliman, with my chart and notes, and feeling like a student again.  not that he treated me like one.

after some 15 minutes or so checking out my calculations, and cross-checking the data with his own ephemeris, he declared my casting correct and assured me that the exact conjunction of my mercury and neptune in libra in exact opposition to my moon in aries in the 8th was my window to the occult, so to speak.  praktis lang, sabi niya, darating ang araw, hindi mo na kailangan mag-notes.  he also warned me about my uranus-ruled 7th house, LOL.

in parting, he showed me a wheel template he had designed, offered me a ream for just a hundred bucks, and i grabbed it, of course. it was like an imprimatur from the pope!

salamat uli, heber, it was a privilege knowing you.

Way to live. Way to die. Way to write.

In 2019, when Greta Thunberg, 16, was scolding, thundering at, global leaders about the sorry state of the planet and warning of climate change coming, astrologers were warning of a worrisome conjunction of planets Saturn and Pluto—both malefic in ancient lore, transformative in current thought—culminating in January 2020 in Capricorn yet, the earth sign associated with governments, the global economy, the establishment, the patriarch.

The forecast that most resonated was of a black swan event that would shake world powers-that-be into seeing, acknowledging, that the status quo is NOT sustainable; that the planet, and the poor and the homeless, can take only so much abuse; that CHANGE is inevitable.

I was imagining a sudden escalation in global warming that scientists hadn’t seen coming, a surprise package from mother nature’s deep state with disastrous geopolitical and economic effects worldwide.

But, as it turns out, COVID-19 is no black swan – scientists and fictionists both, and the likes of Bill Gates, too, had been warning of a health pandemic such as this for years.

As it also turns out, the killer virus is only indirectly related to climate change, and more likely directly a consequence of the way we humans have cut down forests with arrogant disregard for our fellow creatures in the wild and the ecology of the whole, all in the name of ‘development,’ because, you know, it’s the economy (that matters) stupid, or so the capitalists preach/ed and practice/d.

Said to have jumped from bats through pangolins to humans, if not custom-made in some lab for biowarfare purposes (as conspiracy theorists insist), the culprit is a tiny replicating beast of a virus that we can’t even see except through a high-powered transmission electron microscope, but which is so contagious a challenge to the human immune system, it has been impossible to downplay the spread and the dead, the dread and the panic, around the globe.

Life is dramatically different, ang daming bawal. We are not to touch our eyes nose mouth in case our hands (wash hands!) are carrying the virus (from something / someone we touched, among other possibilities). It’s not easy because our eyes nose mouth are exposed, and sensitive, to the elements, and it takes a lot of control not to scratch that itch now and then.

Suddenly we have to wear masks and avoid human contact, the idea being to contain and delay the spread of the virus until a cure is found or a vaccine developed that is both safe and efficacious, and the only way is to stay home and keep every other human at arm’s length or two. Even family. Even in the confines of home, in case anyone turns out to be asymptomatic a carrier. Which is all so counter-intuitive for us humans who by nature like to touch, need to touch, thrive on touch, particularly in anxious times like this when the impulse is to huddle and cuddle and hug for strength and comfort. Pa-konsuwelo sa urban poor in cramped hovels, argh.

As if being locked down in our private spaces were not bad enough, it’s been a trial worrying about, problematizing the logistics of, access to food and meds and other essentials. Ang daming nawalan ng trabaho. Worst hit are the majority poor who pre-COVID-19 barely subsisted kahig-tuka from meal-to-meal, day-to-day, a drop here, a trickle there, consequently reduced to lockdown hunger, no kahig, no tuka. Asa na lang sa, hintay na lang ng, manaka-nakang hulog ng langit na madalas ay kakarampot na nga, nananakaw pa. And let me not get started on our overworked healthcare workers who deserve better care and better pay.

The good news, finally, maybe, as 2020 draws to a close, is of vaccines coming, raising hopes that things can go back to normal sooner than later.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Getting access to enough vaccines for at least 60 (some say 70, some 80) million Filipinos in order for the herd to achieve immunity is going to take some doing. Ang pangako ni Dutz na Pamaskong bakuna, malamang ay sa Semana Santa pa at the earliest.

As above, so below. The year 2020 closes with another important conjunction. Jupiter, (benefic) planet of expansion and imaginative vision, and Saturn, (malefic) planet of structure and discipline, align in the first degree of Aquarius, the air sign associated with higher aspirations, humanitarian concerns, the collective good, ruled by Uranus, the “awakener” who brings unexpected shocks in aid of raising human consciousness.

There will be changes, maybe new beginnings, over the next two, three, years. We will be reminded again and again about the interconnectedness of all things. Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay sakit ng buong katawan. We will be reminded again and again, over and over, until we get it right, that it IS the economy, stupid, liberal capitalism, to be precise, that has messed up the planet and humanity.

A new socio-economic order is the new grail.

Way to die

There was that video clip on cable TV of an angry, grieving daughter whose father had just died of COVID in hospital: “My dad was a good man, he didn’t deserve to die like that!”

Indeed. No one, except perhaps a jack-the-ripper, deserves to die a painful and lonely COVID death. I would rather die painlessly and happily, in my own good time a la Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green, but not to be processed into food for the masses please, rather, straight to a crematorium, ashes to ashes.

In that 1973 film of a dystopian future—forests gone, oceans drying up, humidity all year round, the greenhouse effect in full swing—assisted dying is the norm, and Edward G.’s character, after saying goodbye to loved ones, is hygienically dispatched with his choice of music (light classical) playing in the background and film footages of rich green fields flashing on a panoramic screen. The payback: government gets to convert his remains into green wafers to help feed a hungry populace—”Cannibalism!” the critics screamed. So yeah, cremation is good. Dust to dust.

But seriously, when I first read of some conservatives in America saying NO to quarantine and social distancing and YES to just letting the elderly die of COVID-19, even encouraging them to welcome death for the greater good, for the sake of the economy, this senior-cit went WTF! Talaga? E, kung ganoon ang scenario, let the elderly have a choice naman: either to run the risk of dying painfully of COVID, or to die ahead painlessly and in the company of loved ones. To be fair, and humane. Konting puso naman.

It’s life-changing enough, growing old and counting down. The added threat of COVID-19 and the forced early retirement is a monumental hassle, freak-out, bad trip. And given so much time and reason to dwell on things existential, it’s disconcerting, because otherwise taboo, to be talking and thinking about death.

Why nga ba are we discouraged, warned against death-talk, or the mere mention of the word? Sabi ng matatanda noong bata ako, baka kasi akalain ni Kamatayan na tinatawag siya, kaya rin may kasunod dapat na knock-on-wood three times to drive away any evil spirits summoned.

The notion of death as a bad thing. As misfortune. As punishment even. Needs rethinking.

Way to write

When the lockdown happened, I stopped work on a half-done Ninoy Aquino book project because suddenly there was no time. Suddenly the husband and the daughter who were usually out all day if not all night were home 24/7. A whole new world, LOL. Goodbye, solitude.

There was, besides, a scary virus to read up on and avoid catching, pandemic news to keep track of, a non-performing prez to rant at and about, COVID-19 (and other) deaths to mourn, healthcare workers to champion, relief work to help with, there was just no extra time.

I did try to sneak in a blog post, essay a reading of the new normal unfolding, pero hindi ako makabuo-buo, hirap na hirap mag-wrap-up, a measure I suppose of how uncertain I was about everything. Malay ko, baka naman the Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 knew what it was doing, baka naman kayang gawin ang ginagawa sa Vietnam at sa South Korea, baka naman by Christmas ay maayos-ayos na (so to speak) ang buhay-buhay, as the prez promised.

Natauhan ako bandang katapusan ng June. On the 25th nabalita na gustong palitan nina Cong. Paolo Duterte, Lord Allan Velasco, at Eric Yap ang pangalan ng Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), gawing “Pambansang Paliparan ng Pilipinas.” Dapat daw kasi ay pambansang wika ang gamit at dapat daw ay malinaw agad na ito ay nasa Pilipinas.

“We want it to reflect the legacy of the Filipino people, our everyday heroes. The name bears no color, no political agenda. It only signifies our warmth as Filipinos in welcoming our own kababayans and foreign visitors,” sabi ni Pulong.

“House Bill No. 7031 is part of the efforts to reposition the Philippines as a choice tourist destination once the COVID-19 pandemic is over and travel restrictions are lifted,” sabi ni Velasco.

No political agenda. Bola. Clearly the agenda is to deny Ninoy his place in the nation’s and the airport’s history. If we allow this to happen, what’s to prevent them from eventually renaming it FMIA [Ferdinand Marcos International Airport] —in Imelda’s lifetime, they imagine; in a Bongbong presidency, they hope.

Biglang nabalikan ko tuloy si Ninoy. These last months have been all about reviewing and updating the 1980 to 1983 timeline in particular, and reading up on the Agrava fact-finding reports (majority and minority 1984), the Sandiganbayan and Supreme Court rulings (Marcos and Cory times), a convict’s belated full-of-holes “confession” that pointed to Danding as promotor (1995), the early presidential pardons by GMA (2007 to 2009), and Fe Zamora’s seven-part special report for the Inquirer (2010). Close readings for the nth time, and now I’m seeing the signs of long-term planning for both the assassination and the cover-up, how Machiavellian, how Marcosian.

Yes. Much easier to write about the past, no matter how maddening. A kind of escape from what’s turning out to be an endlessly harrowing and painful present.

Except that there is really no escaping the present for long. No ignoring the COVID threat, no shrugging off climate change, no excusing state terrorism and historical revisionism.

Without losing sight of the past, writing in, on, the present is the urgent challenge of these trying times.

*

This essay was written for the e-book IN CERTAIN SEASONS: MOTHERS WRITE IN THE TIME OF COVID, handog ng CCP at Philippine PEN.

Free e-book download link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/07tdoup69koebsw/In_Certain_Seasons_012321b.pdf/file?fbclid=IwAR0Y42SPJsUzNaTOIZDBPYowntgaXJ06h6jT3N12t_koOHyd4537riY8qzs

The Great Conjunction

JEANNIE JAVELOSA  

Tonight and tomorrow dawn will be a perfect time to intensify prayer, meditation, positive intentions to kickstart positive shifts and look up to the sky to see a fantastic rare celestial event called the Great Conjunction of the planets Saturn and Jupiter (in 0.29 degrees of the Aquarius constellation). This degree position can be likened to a seed which holds the potential of the great tree that the seed can grow into.Just google the internet to learn more but this event as everyone is talking about it.

In a nutshell from my astro-evolutionary understanding: this event pushes humanity into intensified changes plus a new trajectory and paradigm of consciousness: the “new norm” that we are all struggling to define now. It is about creating new sustainable structures that benefit the many and not just one; of drawing in spiritual energies into the practicality of our daily lives; of choices that support life aligned to the planet and not just profit; of collaborations for the good and that the way is collective and not alone.

More remarkable in its timing, the great conjunction happens at the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year and the annual cycle of “deepest slumber of the soul”. How potent a timing this is as the planetarial alignments trigger a new awakening of humanity’s soul at its galactic connection to God’s multiverse.

Ancient and present day astronomers and astrologers have followed and studied similar events in the past identifying these points as the beginning of a new leap on consciousness on the macro level where new socio-spiritual-cultural movements begin: as it was seen as the Bethlehem star highlighting the Christos Light descending into human form,

Galileo’s study of this that began the intense studies of space and the beginning of the Renaissance period in the west. Some say last this was seen was back 400, 600, 800 years back. With so much info online what we can say is that on a personal level, it will mark intense changes towards a new and different trajectory whether you are ready or not.

As someone who reads the stars, I can only marvel in awe at the perfection of timing of the Divine Intelligence. So let us take the shift with no fear, let the old structures that do not work…go, let healing embrace you and be open to the radically different. (For those who know their birth charts, check the degree and house where Aquarius is in your chart, that’s where you will see the push where the shift of your life will come from.)

of speeches, dissent, arrests (mercury retrograde)

it’s been one of those times when so much is going on on the family front, there’s always something else more important to think about or attend to than blogging, even on independence day, when i had always managed to post something everytime june 12 came around, to celebrate it kahit paano.  or maybe it’s just that planet mercury is in retrograde motion, as above so below, i’m just not thinking straight, rather, paatras, compelled to go back over old ground, rethinking things, mostly unresolved issues.

i do know that the president celebrated independence day in robredo country where i suppose the widow leni keeps the yellow flame alive, except that he was hounded and heckled by leftists anyway, “Patalsikin ang Pork Barrel King! Walang pagbabago sa Pilipinas!” and the noisiest one was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct.

napaka-mercury retrograde kind of event, basta bawal ang dissent.  i can almost hear the president justifying the arrest along the line of:  “medyo bastos, di po ba?  in the middle of my speech!  sana nakinig muna sila, baka naman nasagot ko pala ang ipinaparatang nila sa akin…” in that self-righteous tone.   but but but what if the noisy minority had simply been ushered out, so the president could finish his speech in peace?   bakit kailangan pang arestuhin at kasuhan?  bakit masyadong violent ang reaction?  nakaka-tense na ba?  so so so uncool. 

before that, i found the time, out of idle curiosity, to listen to the privilege speeches of bong revilla and jinggoy estrada.  swan songs baga?  not really.  i switched off when revilla was introducing his music video, but that lengthy thank you list — lahat magaling, walang masamang tinapay — and the special thanks to the millions of supporters that voted him into office, tells me he will run again, even from jail, a la ninoy no less, and oh okay trillanes.  estrada, in contrast, was quite dignified and seemed quite confident that he would be proven innocent.  tells me we’re in for some serious legal calisthenics.

wag tayo maniwala na handang-handa na silang makulong, as in, i’m all packed and ready to go, bring it on, so we can defend our innocent selves and clear our names.  in fact, since the three cases were raffled off sa sandiganbayan last friday, delaying tactics have come into play, and i bet st jude, patron saint of hopeless cases, if not the virgin, mother, lady of this and that are being stormed with novenas left and right, let not arrest warrants be issued.  ma-delay lang ng mga abogado nila ng isang taon, they could all just run again in 2016, yes, even enrile maybe, kahit for congressman lang uli, and if they win, then for sure they will claim vindication, exoneration, by their constituencies, and what a mess that will be for our institutions.

so, is there absolutely no chance that the three senators will be arrested soon?  at first i thought absolutely no chance.  but on second thought, significant things do happen during mercury retro (na parang moving-on naman ang mode) though it usually means that things won’t go smoothly, for either government or the accused.

so, yes, there’s actually a chance that the three senators could be arrested sooner than later, and that’s mostly because, come to think of it, it won’t be the first time for either enrile or estrada to be arrested, which means it is more likely to happen again than not.  si bong revilla, who knows, baka naaresto na rin siya in some pelikula, haha.

but of course it would all hinge on the president’s preferred strategy.   who knows, he might be up to putting the pressure on the sandiganbayan justices to take the word of the ombudsman na lang on probable cause, the sooner for the arrests and trials to proceed, the better to distract us from butch abad and those allegedly missing DBM records.  because , really, cavite rep elpidio barzaga jr’s defense of abad just really raises more questions.

Barzaga said Abad was not even the budget secretary from 2007 to 2009, the coverage of the CoA’s special audit report. … Barzaga said Abad was not even the budget secretary from 2007 to 2009, the coverage of the CoA’s special audit report. the DBM has already said before that it cannot locate the documents pertaining to PDAF transactions during the previous administration.

He stressed it was possible that the documents have been intentionally destroyed to avoid leaving any evidence of irregularities in the disbursements of congressional allocations.
The veteran solon stressed that Abad should not bear the brunt of the law because he was not personally involved in any anomalous transaction.

“In some cases, the public is aware that once there has been a change of power in the government, for anomalous transactions, documents are being destroyed to evade criminal prosecution,” Barzaga said.

straight from the horse’s mouth, ika nga.  and while mercury’s retro yet.  hmm, everyone’s suspect, of course, admin and opposition, who were in congress and who used their PDAFs 2007 to 2009.

by the way, heard through the grapevine that mar roxas is absolutely clean vis a vis PDAF, which means what?  never used his PDAF?  used his PDAF but never accepted kickbacks?   interesting if true.