APRIL APOCALYPSE

Three weeks.  Two eclipses.  Intensity.  Upheaval.  Frightening fourteen.  An unstable T-square that clicks into place as an action-driven Cosmic Cross timed by Mars, the God of war in the sign of peace.  The USA absorbs a direct hit, but not the government – the people.  The polarization before fulfillment.

Let’s walk through it step by step.

It starts on April 8 with an opposition between the Aries Sun and Mars in Libra.  Stalemate for awhile but the call ultimately goes to aggression.  Chest-beating plays a role.  Drama and ego.   Outrage increases but remains background for now.

The intensity continues to build as transformative Pluto targets institutions and stands still to get better aim.  Provocative and explosive words disrupt peace and balance on 4/14 with a lunar eclipse – tellingly visible in the USA – in the pre-dawn hours of 4/15.  Everyone is thrown off balance.  There may be natural disasters – earthquakes, tornados, generally violent weather. The astronomical fact that it will look red just underlines the astrological interpretation of violence.    To repeat – it is the people not the government being disrupted.

Up until this point, the configuration that involves key planets in cardinal signs, remains unbalanced and wobbly.  The most vulnerable point is family and tribe – Cancer is in the middle of the battling.

Energy seems to ease for a couple days up until Easter – 4/20 and 4/21 – when the 5^th of the several years’ series of Uranus/Pluto squares occurs.  It has particularly powerful impact.  Established forms are blown apart as original truth is sought, demanded.  Actions are taken to the brink to force dramatic change.  Fanatical power plays are the norm. Explosive releases of anger are aimed at forcing change and freedom.  The pattern is still unbalanced until Mars in Libra moves into place, closing the circuit and making a form that is fixed in place – the powerful cosmic cross.   Reckless aftershocks: natural, cultural, human – continue for a couple days constantly initiating action.   Often the conflict is between group and individual.

The energy smooths and starts trending positive on 4/24.  That opportunity for elevated thought, words and action continues and culminates in a solar eclipse on 4/29.  The full moon of Taurus, this is the esoteric festival of Wesak symbolizing the transference of blessings from Buddha to Christ and its distribution to all humanity.  The effect lasts a year and it will be spoken.

By May 1, we’re home free.

Jeanne Mozier • 4/8/14

WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA:
HAVE HOPE AND TAKE ACTION NOW!

as interpreted by Jeanne Mozier • Berkeley Springs, WV

Over decades of successfully doing prognostication, I’ve observed that the cosmic plan is like the Hanged Man card in Tarot –- the Great Beings in charge of Earth’s evolution often have a very different point of view than we do.  Occasionally they lose patience with the inability of their human charges to “get the message.”  They resort to drastic events to make a point.  That’s what I think happened in Charleston on January 9 – actually, the 8^th if the stars are right in their timing.  An over enthusiastic angel checked the calendar, saw that the time for transformation of West Virginia was now and decided enough was enough – people needed to be kicked awake.   As Kate Long pointed out in one of the countless messages shared among West Virginians over the past several weeks: people in the coalfields have been cursed with toxic water for decades, why the uproar now?  The stars say, the time was right.

I delivered three Oracles prediction lectures for 2014 in West Virginia during early December 2013.  I never mentioned an environmental disaster because one does not show up in the cosmic pattern.   In fact, the stars have nothing negative to say about West Virginia this entire year.

What does West Virginia’s star pattern say about this situation that has thrown the lives of hundreds of thousands of people into disarray, despair and chaos? Two words: HOPE!  ACTION!

Between February 2013 and November 2014, West Virginia’s destiny is positive and hopeful.   A profound shift can happen – and happen easily especially in sectors related to physical resources and the state’s position on the world stage.  Difficulties will be faced with strength, a truth often stated and occasionally disparaged.

For transformation to occur, action is required.  There is an admonition to “probe to the core.”  Take a stand, the stars insist.  Power is available.  Moving forward is easier now than ever before.  There can even be financial gains.

I predicted that 2013 would be the year of the woman in West Virginia and it was. All partisanship aside, West Virginia will send a woman to the U.S. Senate in 2015, something many thought would never happen.  That “power to women” pattern continues and is very active from early February through late March of 2014.  We observe that much of the leadership, the powerful words and rallying action in this toxic crisis are coming from women.  That will continue.  And the women are unexpected faces not the political leaders who should be taking the lead.  As upheaval causes institutions to crumble, the chance for easy change is offered.

The star-marked unfolding of this drastic event gives a very specific game plan for the action.  It is a time for making creative change, for reforming and remodeling the immediate surroundings so they better reflect the true soul of West Virginia. Considerable energy is exerted to gain power and control that can achieve what the collective needs. The state is elevated to a higher level; selfish action will NOT succeed.  Spontaneous changes are happening and we MUST take advantage of them.  There will be surprising support from some in positions of power, a factor to be exploited.

This seemingly devastating event and the subsequent actions taken can transform us, our friends, our neighbors and our everyday surroundings says the guidance of the stars.   Everything occurring is concrete, practical and offers a good chance for success.  Old habits can be gotten rid of easily and the face of West Virginia can change.   Our state’s soul tends to be under the surface – it is time to bring it to the light and to the view of the world.

All this fits within larger patterns affecting the entire planet; patterns that outline ongoing disruption, water crises, secrets revealed.   The stars identify a period in mid-April as one of great turmoil and upheaval among the general population in the USA that sweeps away the old and outworn.  The transformation of West Virginia can lead the way.

Jeanne Mozier is a noted astrologer and trends analyst who lives in Berkeley Springs, WV where the magic healing waters are clean and protected.  More than two decades ago, she addressed West Virginia’s cosmic pattern in both a feature article for Graffiti and in the WV Public TV special: “Giligan’s Appalachia.”   She’s been tracking it ever since.

Key Points of Upheaval  2012-15

Jeanne Mozier   8/17/11

The planets Uranus and Pluto conjunct every 100-150 years.  The first time they conjuncted since Pluto was discovered in 1930 was 1965-66.  Both planets were in Virgo.  The upheaval represented by the conjunction of these two planets took place in the realm of daily life patterns.  It was aptly named in China – the Cultural Revolution.  It was, in fact, a true cultural revolution everywhere.  Daily life was never the same again.

Seven times in 2012-15, these two planets meet in a square.  This is a 90º hard aspect that is always a challenge to the trends set in motion at the conjunction.  The world will be facing its first challenge to the patterns emerging from the 65-66 Cultural Revolution.

The generic meaning of this square between Uranus and Pluto is a sudden, radical and often explosive change that sweeps away all the old and outworn structures.  It will create a total revolution in life.  Although these are historical forces, they will impact every individual life.  Specifics are determined by how and where this revolutionary force hits an individual pattern (or country or corporation or institution etc.)  However, since the signs involved are Aries and Capricorn, the actions will be explosive and deal primarily with established institutions of all sorts.  Although earth changes and natural disasters are part of this pattern, their prime purpose is to alter human structures.

The direct connection with the mid-60s is the most intriguing part of the pattern.  How do all those “new age” philosophies fit with a disaster-riddled world?  Will they be able to create functional and sustainable new institutions?

Much more can be postulated and pondered but the dates are key.

Each of these dates identify when the aspect is exact.  Each will have epicenter haloes of at least a week on either side not to mention, of course, the almost constant repercussions.  Each of these dates has a somewhat different profile depending on what other planets are doing.  I’ve made some very broad observations but this is complicated and generates far more detail than I will go into here; such analysis will be part of each year’s outline.

6/24/12 – extreme imbalance
9/19/12  — more intense structural/institutional destruction
5/20/13  — earth changes/water.  Also more psychic disruption
11/1/13
4/21/14 — take it to the brink.  Forcing the change.
12/15/14 – covert manipulations
3/17/15  — clear purpose

I also want to address the “new humanity.”  My astrological interpretation is that this entry of “new” souls came with the Uranus/Neptune conjunctions of 1993.   I wrote a series of essays and did lectures about several topics at that time: the new education, the new art, etc. etc.

Always, the most significant effect of any major astrological aspect is the souls that enter incarnation bearing the mark of that aspect.  I postulate that ALL souls incarnated from 1993 on are “new humanity.”  In simple terms, these beings are the ones already having access to a much larger percentage of their brain/cognition.

Several implications of this postulate are most significant.
— Who teaches the “new human?”
— The cutting edge of these beings are the ones born in 1993 who actually carry the mark of the conjunction.  They are now entering college/life/jobs/adulthood.  They are the ones who will teach the new humanity because they are it.
— The old humans will “age out” within the century no matter what.

We, the baby boom generation (which is marked astrologically as being 1942-56) are John the Baptist to their Jesus, the Savior.

The question of critical mass is crucial here and the work of Nobel chemist Ilya Prigogene is illuminating.  His work concerning the leap of molecules to “the next level” when stimulated defines critical mass.  It is also essential to know that there is no guarantee critical mass will be achieved in time for humanity.

Identify the time by what buildings are present -- or not.

The opening chapter of “Images of Berkeley Springs” is called Overlooks.  Betty Lou and I had a great time marking the year of the photos by picking out which buildings were still there and which were gone.  We plan to offer that same fun to anyone who wants to partake.

On Wednesday, August 31 at 7pm and Saturday, September 3 at 11am and 2pm, we’re staging a free “overlook” event at the Ice House.  We’ll be projecting more than a dozen photographs to giant size on the walls of the Paradox Room, point out the various buildings and invite people to explore the historic streets of the town in detail. We are numbering the first 100 and will offer them for pre-publication sale at these events.

“Images of Berkeley Springs” is due out September 19.  We will be set up to sell them on the street in front of the Star Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, September 24 and 25 plus we’ll be set up at the Apple Butter Festival.  There will be plenty of chances to buy copies of this historic book in time for Christmas.

The price is $21.99 plus tax.

When we began the Images book project in February 2010, we selected a deadline for completion of our part — April 5, 2011.  It seemed plenty of time. At the end of 2010, I began looking at the time remaining and stepped up the pace.  As an astrologer, timing is essential so I was committed to getting the text and images and layout to the publisher before the energy began slowing down on March 30.

On March 30, the crucial pieces were in place.  The cover design was decided — an image Betty Lou and I had selected the minute we saw it.  A few additional lines to the text and it was submitted to production meeting both my deadline and a bonus one from Arcadia that earned us some free books.

General scheduling guidelines and next steps were outlined that, if held to, should produce a book for sale before the end of summer.

A little at loose ends, I force myself to drift for a moment or two.  What lies ahead is part two of the project: selling the book, making appearances, doing talks, working on our legend as a pair of history heroes.

Approved cover for Berkeley Springs

Last night — March 10, 2011 — nearly a year after we began, I finished the manuscript for the Images book.  Now Betty Lou reads it over.  A few tweaks happen and then it is off to Arcadia Press.  We should know a publication date soon!

Even to the last minute, there were stories being added.  The most fascinating, particularly given current events with union busting in Wisconsin, was the story of the strike that ended Berkeley Springs’ period as a company town.  I heard it first from Connie Perry.  I called her to get dates and background for a photo of the strike we were including in the book.  When I tolkd Connie’s amazing story to County Commissioner Stacy Dugan, whose father and husband both work/ed at the sand mine, she decided she wanted to hear more.  She assembled a group of about a dozen men, past and present sand company employees and we heard their stories too.

The time was 1967-70.  The situation was unionization of Pennsylvania Glass Sand workers by the Teamsters.  It resulted in the lock-out of 38 men and a three year ordeal eventually ended in the workers’ favor by a Federal trial in Berkeley Springs — with a female judge no less.  “She was realy tough,” remembered one man who also had words of praise for the National Labor Relations Board lawyer who persisted and won the case.  The men returned to their jobs.  The family -owned PGS was soon sold to mega-corporation ITT and the company town attitude — with both its many benefits, and its limitations — existed no longer.

Memories last long in situations like this even with many of the players no longer with us.  Some folks still shop at Pittman’s in Hancock because they supported the strikers.  Some remember hassles among the kids in school.  Whichever side one was on, the PGS strike was an important piece of local history and I was glad to hear it. 

As we near the finish line and I start actually writing the historic photos book, I am repeatedly grateful for my experience with doing the text for the two West Virginia contemporary photo books I wrote for Steve Shaluta’s photos.  I learned from that process that good text for photos is not text that literally describes what you are seeing — redundant — but adds value through back story information.  For “West Virginia Beauty,” with its 170 plus photos, I engaged in 170 plus mini research projects.  “Berkeley Springs Images” is being the same except for a larger number of photos — more than 200 — and a more demanding research task.  The history needs to be correct.

There’s another experience that has made the history part MUCH easier.   In fact, I cannot imagine being able to do the historic photo book without this previous experience.  About a decade ago, I took on the job of writing a Walking Tour of Berkeley Springs.  Being manic about having to be right, and discovering that local historians tend to reject the distinction between oral memory and original documents, I set out to find the ultimate information source.  I bought a microfilm reader, set it up in my living room, and spent every night from about 11pm to 2am reading the local newspaper from 1879 through 1939.  Fortunately I knew enough to keep good, date-based notes.  All those news notes, covering virtually the same period as our photos, have proven to be invaluable sources of both accurate and obscure pieces of information.

The point?  Experience pays off — and nothing you do is ever wasted.

Case in point — this Tomato Festival photo we had original rejected because it seemed too staged and what would we say?  Then, in reading news articles in 1939 about the festival, I discovered the photo, which was staged for the 1938 event, was picked up and used as the cover photo for the 1939 Stokes Seed Catalog — a national company.  Now we had a great story to go with a good photo.   We call them the Tomato Hoers.

Haven’t posted for a while but that doesn’t mean Betty Lou and I have not been working on the book.  We’ve sorted and sifted and collected a few more photos.  We sent batches to the publisher to make sure they were usable and had to rescan a few more.  But, we now have the final 208 photos that will make up the book.  They are sorted into 10 chapters by topics.

And what are those chapters:
OVERLOOKS — both of town and the rivers.
TAKING THE WATERS — the park, bathhouses and playing in the park.  One of these most probably will serve as the cover because what is more significant to Berkeley Springs than the springs.
FAIRFAX ST – always the prime street with shops, Courthouse and more.  Over the century of photos, it has changed …and has not changed.
INDUSTRY AND FARMING – from early tanneries to the sand mine to the farming that made up peoples daily life for most of the region’s history.
FIRES & FLOODS – drama.
FESTIVALS AND PARADES – the Tomato Festival is a biggie but there were others including a 1925 Veterans Day celebration that offered some exquisite images.
HOTELS – the reason the town was formed in 1776 was to encourage the development of lodging for the ailing who came to take the waters.
TOWN LIFE – fun in town
AROUND AND ABOUT – what folks did in the county
PEOPLE – because it’s always been about the people.

It was a challenge to decide what photos within each chapter should be together; which one should be on the title page and which the final page leading to the next chapter; and what the order within a chapter should be.  There are little “secrets” that Betty Lou and I wove into the arrangement of the photos that it will be interesting to see if anyone figures out. We had lots of chuckles about them.

Now the writing begins.  We have a deadline of mid-March so the work moves into high gear.  If we turn down requests for us to do something else in the next two months…you’ll know why.

It's harder than it looks to find the right photo for the right place.

There are no coincidences.  As a pattern unfolds it sets up force fields that draw into the pattern farflung or hidden pieces that need to be a part.  That’s what happened when we began looking at the Buzzerd family photos.  I had gone through the albums and loose photos that Linda and Warren Buzzerd uncovered.  I was brining them to show Betty Lou.  Independently, or not, she had a file folder of SS Buzzerd’s As I Recall columns written circa 1949-51.  We looked through the photos.  Betty Lou was able to identify a number of people including – Pearl Buck at lunch at the Park View Inn after a visit to the Berkeley Springs Library.

There were several photos of camping excursions along the Cacapon River.  A historians dream, they were labeled, dated and the people identified.  Usually a group of young men, in one, a collapsed hammock was visible.  Another series was a photo shoot at Buzzerd’s Morgan Messenger at about the time he was writing the columns.  They are wonderful photos, sharp and clear showing SS at the linotype, setting type, and at the typewriter.

SS still at work

I started reading through SS’s columns when I got home and was astonished to read a section dealing with a camping trip when he was a young man.  The date on the photo was 1900.   And the story…

Perhaps the first time I ever went on a week’s camping and fishing vacation was some 50 years ago.  The party was made up of brother Charley, cousin Henry Fisk, Johnny Casler, Irvin Dawson and myself.  We pitched camp at the Ziler springs where the pure, cold mountain water empties into Cacapon Creek just below where the Club House now stands.  We had no tent so for a shelter, we carried boards from what was at one time a sawmill nearby.  The hastily built shelter, being poorly constructed and with the weight of hammocks in which we tried to sleep, fell down on us early one morning.  Fortunately, no one was hurt; also fortunately it did not rain while we were there.

Most fortunately…they had a camera with them.

The makeshift shelter collapsed taking down the hammocks.

Week of Aug 8

I knew who John Moray was.  His famous 1889 panoramic lithograph of Berkeley Springs can be found on local walls, notecards and online.   The most recent limited edition was reprinted and sold by the Chamber of Commerce.  It may be Berkeley Springs’ most durable piece of art.

In my marathon newspaper reading ( “The News” – 1870 through 1939 on microfilm) I had discovered more about him and his work.  And then, in the search of historic photos that is Images,  I found a Moray worthy of turning into a Museum exhibit.

John Moray was an artist, sign painter and photographer who apparently wanted to do his part in spreading the word about Berkeley Springs.   He was a photographer when he arrived from Rome, Pennsylvania in 1885 and was first mentioned in The News where he advertised himself available for sign painting or picture enlarging.  He worked with glass negatives.

The News reported in September 1887 that Moray was busy taking pictures of prominent places in the town and county.  By April 1889, he had turned these images into the now legendary Moray Print.  In his later years, Moray became a devotee of James Rumsey and was instrumental in creating and placing the Rumsey millstone monument in the park.

Back to the present and the fascinating unearthing of both photos and stories.

The Mendenhalls were a prominent and wealthy family in Berkeley Springs with a homeplace in Sir Johns Run.  Their brick house on Wilkes St., built in 1884, has been restored and is on the National Register.

When I saw the roughly treated image of the older woman in a box of stuff at the Museum, I knew it was a painted photograph and immediately thought of Moray.  Then I turned it over and saw the writing: John Moray, 1887 of Mrs. Mendenhall.  I had my suspicions confirmed by a couple folks who agreed it was a photograph that had been painted.  Then, I found the tiny photo in a metal case common to the Victorian era.  It was the same woman.  The same pose.   Must have been one of the “enlargings” he mentioned in his ad.