The Cosmic Monica, Bill, et al
Jacob Schwartz Ph.D
Just when you thought it was safe to open a magazine without seeing any more media attention consumed by Bill and Monica, when it all fades from current politics into historical commentary, here's another account. But this approach is truly different, literally and figuratively. What could possibly be different? The names. The names are in the sky! Not written by sky writing airplanes, not emblazoned on blimps. The names are placed there by astronomers naming asteroids decades before the recent white house events! There's a Monica in the sky, you ask? Yes, and a Paula, and a Williams, and a Hillary, and a Starr and a Gingerich too. There are also asteroids named Lust, and America and Washingtonia. And astronomers at Harvard's prestigious Smithsonian Institute for Astrophysics or the U.S. Naval Observatory can confirm all of this!
How did these names get there? About 200 years ago, new year's eve 1800 to be exact, astronomers began discovering large chunks of rock in our solar system orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Some were as large as 600 miles in diameter, others the size of a two car garage. What made them different from comets that streak by Earth on their way to the Sun and back home to outer space, is that asteroids are solid rock usually traveling around the Sun in a fairly circular orbit very far away, although a few exceptions stray from that field and come close to terra firma. But one approach is enough, like the one that did the dinosaurs in 65 million years ago, or the one in 1908 flattening hundreds of square miles of Siberian forests near Tonguska. Comets, on the other hand, are mixtures of rock and ice making an elliptical orbit close to the Sun showing a vapor trail. Any comet has the possibility of impacting Earth, while very few asteroids ever can.
Discoverers of asteroids usually have the honor of choosing their names. At first names were chosen by astronomers from among female mythological deities, but when they ran out of deities, names were chosen to honor colleagues, friends and family, historical personalities, athletes, artisans, plants, animals, cities, nations, lakes and rivers, as well as ideas and philosophies. Asteroid names are chosen and approved by a special board of the International Astronomical Union gathering periodically at the Minor Plant Center, a division of Harvard University's Smithsonian Institute for Astrophysics. Asteroid names cannot be bought, unless you want to endow an observatory, wait a few decades, and keep your fingers crossed. In contrast, a commercial operation does purport to market star names, but these have no use among astronomers who continue to identify stars by their ancient classical names or alphanumerically. Officially recognized asteroid names are only chosen by astronomers and their colleagues.
Over 6,000 asteroids have been named in the last two centuries. These names include Monica (#833), Paula (#1314), Williams (#1763), Hillary (#3130), and Starr (#4150), names relevant to each of characters in the media circus of 1998. Some of the names of the characters are not available as asteroids. There is no asteroid named Clinton, at least not yet. However there is an asteroid named Clintford (#3185) which can serve in lieu of. There is no asteroid named Bill, so Williams is the closet approximation. There is no asteroid named Lewinsky, so asteroid Monica serves the family. There is no asteroid named Kenneth, so asteroid Starr represents the independent council. Likewise there is no asteroid Linda, but there is a Rosalinde (#900) which will be used for Linda Rose Tripp. There is even an asteroid named Gingerich (#2658, the former Speaker spells it without the e), and another named Lust (#4386) for the family name of a contemporary German astronomer. Asteroids America (#916) and Washingtonia (#886) will represent the United States and the nation's capitol in the cosmic drama about to unfold. The numbers in parentheses are their official numbers and approximate their sequence in discovery. There is no asteroid named Impeachment.
Finally, there is an asteroid named for a former director of an astronomical observatory in Nice, France. So what, you ask, what has that got to do with the story? Just that his family name is a word frequently used for the anatomy part so highly publicized in this story. This word may be offensive to some, but employed here in the interest of studying the relevance of cosmic events to human experience. It usually generates a chuckle anyway. And perhaps it is through humor that we all can find common ground. The apparent arbitrary assignation of names to asteroids by astronomers does relate to the human condition on Earth. For example, four asteroids discovered and named by an Argentine astronomer for Eva Peron appeared directly overhead in the skies over Bay City Michigan a decade later when and where Madonna was born.
The French observatory director was Jean Claude Pecker and an asteroid (#1629) bears his family name. Prior to the publicity surrounding President Clinton's genitals, the most media attention given this part of human anatomy was in the castration of John Bobbitt by wife Lorraine. On the night of the castration, asteroid Pecker was lined up with the planet Mars symbolic of the mythological god of passion as well as sharp objects like the penis and the scythe that severed John Bobbitt's; asteroids named Pecker and Johanna (there is none named John) were lined up that night with Earth and Saturn, named for the deity who castrated his father Uranus in Greek mythology. The asteroid Lorraine that night joined attractive Venus, the planet of values and honor.
Now for the goosebumps. And with apologies to the prologue to Henry V, may we cram within this cosmic O the very names that did affright the air at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When asteroids are clustered together in the sky, the implication is that of a bonding, like an alloy of elements so intrinsically woven together that nothing separates them. For example, when Peter, Paul and Mary first performed together in Central Park in July 1961, the asteroids named Peter (#1716), Paul (#3525) and Mary (#2779) were together in the theatrical constellation Leo. When President Clinton was born (19 August 1946, 8:51 P.M., CST, Hope AR, 33N40, 93W35), the asteroids Monica, Paula, and Williams were within nine degrees of zodiacal arc, signifying the bond between those names in his life. Oppositions of 180 degrees could likewise represent challenges of opposites or open differences.
Any connections between Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and Bill (William) Clinton was almost destined to be challenged, according to the pattern of asteroids at his birth! When Bill Clinton was born, the stellium of asteroids Monica, Paula and Williams was exactly opposite asteroids Hillary and Gingerich. The highest point in the zodiac at any moment, called the Meridian, can represent aspirations and what one wants to be when he or she grows up; asteroid Washingtonia (#886) was on Bill's Meridian adjacent to the planet of personal goals Saturn.
What rises on the eastern horizon at birth represents the appearance of that which comes into being as the appearance of the baby comes into being as the planets and stars become visible in the east. When the President emerged from his mother's womb, the planets of affection and passion, Venus and Mars, and asteroid Lust were clustered with his rising degree and the planet connected with ideals and dreams Neptune. Adding asteroids to the interpretation, we would say Clinton wants to appear to be super heroic, super lustful, and super strongly motivated with an impulsive disposition to blend passionate and affectionate behavior into his personal life. Where was President Kennedy's asteroid Lust?
Back in the 40's and 50's, before satellite dishes identified electromagnetic storms in the upper atmosphere disrupting global communications, an RCA engineer John Nelson was employed to search for an easy way to signal when these storms would occur so transmission energies could be boosted. What he found to everyone's amazement was that when certain planets formed a 45, 90 or 135 degree angle with one another, there would be severe storms in Earth's atmosphere. It just so happened that these angles, called a semisquare, square, and what sounds like a disease eligible for health insurance, a sesquiquadrate, are the same ones that purveyors of more mystical crafts have been using for centuries to identify stress, or motivational drive. Nelson also found angles of 60 and 120 degrees corresponded with a lack of disturbance, and relative ease of communication. And by golly, those same angles, called sextile and trine, are also used by students of ancient crafts to identify gentleness in human behavior. Nelson was a stranger to the correlation with ancient craft, and his craft became one of predicting storms when a combination of stressful and harmonious angles prevailed.
When Bill breathed his first breath, asteroids Starr and America clustered together in stressful square to the asteroid resembling Clinton's family name Clintford, but both Starr and America are sextile asteroid Washington. Who said life would be simple? Clinton's middle name of Jefferson is represented by asteroid Jeffers (no asteroid is named Jefferson yet), and Starr and America form a stressful sesquiquadrate with asteroid Jeffers. Finally, Washington is the place where Bill's genitals are challenged: asteroid Washingtonia and Pecker are in opposition in his birth pattern from the cosmos! Paula Jones may have begun in Little Rock, but the matter surfaced when Bill was in DC.
Less is publicized about the personal life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Perhaps the inexplicable correlation of asteroid names with human experience may suggest descriptions. Anyway, it's fun to check out even if science pooh poohs the effort as coincidental rubbish. The First Lady (26 October 1947, 8:00 P.M., CST, Chicago IL, 87W39, 41N52) has the planet of independence, individuality and specialization, Uranus rising at image identifying eastern horizon as she emerged from the womb, blending an aggressive Martian energy, Plutonian intensity, and Saturnian discipline in a tight cluster. Creative Sun and gentle Venus joined together too, and then her verbal Mercury and expansive Jupiter blended to provide abundant discourse when called upon.
But what draws her to Bill in the first place? Her receptive and reflective Moon joins his rising/setting axis suggesting her attraction to his appearance and his social persona, and in her marriage to him she agreed implicitly to receive and nurture (that's what the Moon means) risings and descents. Her Mars-Pluto-Saturn stellium joins his creative ego Sun.
What do asteroids add to the description, and what is revealed about her romantic and sensual life? Quite unlike the President, her Mars and Venus are not joined by Lust or idealistic Neptunian visions. No way. Hillary's intensive passion is reflected by Mars-Pluto in stress to loving Venus, and there is the drive to achieve release and harmony far stronger than the President's. Asteroids Jeffers, Washintonia and Clintford were clustered with asteroid Hillary at her first exposure to Earth outside the protective liquid enclosure of mother Dorothy. Asteroid Williams joined loving asteroid Amor in the domestic sign of Cancer. Indeed Monica is the challenge; asteroid Monica was then was in direct opposition to the stellium of success oriented Saturn, strong Mars and powerful Pluto. Hillary has a very active and intense sexual need not easily satisfied. Asteroid Lust is prominent on the setting horizon but in stress to the Washington-Clintford-Jeffers group. The vulgar references to male genitalia in the grand jury and the media de-romanticizes the sweetness of intimacy as revealed by asteroid Pecker in stress to both asteroids Hillary, Williams, Amor, and America, and asteroid Lust forms a stressful connection with Clintford and Washingtonia. Asteroid Starr was where you might expect it to be, opposite her asteroid Williams, and asteroid Paula directly challenged Hillary's idealistic Neptune. How eloquently the cosmos reflects human experience. In the beginning, one has goosebumps when looking at the relevance of asteroids, but after the fourth news event where asteroids predictably describe the relevance, one almost assumes they will work; respect for the infinite order of the universe goes well beyond being awesome. The order is beyond words.
Research by two Sorbonne statisticians in the 1950's and 1960's clearly indicated, with sample sizes in the thousands, a correlation between planetary positions and earthly success in specific occupations was determined. In spite of initial rebuffs from professional skeptical scientists who at first claimed inappropriate methods but they later made a not very humble apology and affirmed the accuracy and validity of the findings. The apology may have been published on page 33 of your local paper compared with front page for their objections. Not unlike the apologies afforded Immanuel Velikovsky after years of harassment by the scientific community. Francoise and Michel Gauquelin demonstrated that folks born when certain planets are near the horizon or the meridian axes at birth tend to have a significantly greater chance of success in certain occupations. For example, if you were born with Mars near those angles you have a greater chance of being a famous athlete or military hero. Saturn at the same places connected with scientists, Jupiter with jurists and publicists, and the Moon with writers and other artisans.
What about Monica (23 July 1973, 12:21 P.M., PDT, San Francisco, 122W25, 37N46)? Passion and the national scene are her strong geocosmic connections. Asteroid Lust, mental Mercury and proud Sun were on Monica's upper meridian at birth while asteroid America was opposite, and asteroids Amor and Washingtonia were tightly joined from Earth's perspective in stressful aspect to asteroid Monica. Two names surely to be forever connected with her are Starr and Paula, and asteroids with those two names were together too. Where does Bill Clinton figure in all this? Asteroid Monica opposes Bill's middle name Jefferson (represented by asteroid Jeffers) and the rock with the male genital moniker opposes the family name Clintford. Asteroid Williams was joined by the leadership planet Saturn, and perhaps she has, or at least until now, looked to persons named William with great respect.
When the Starr report was released (21 September 1998, 9:00 am EDT, Washington DC, 38N50, 77W01), asteroids Monica and Paula were exactly together again, and in the same part of the zodiac, late Scorpio, that they occupied at Bill's birth!! In fact, when the Starr report was released, asteroids representing the President and First Lady, Clintford and Hillary, were actually very close together, presenting a united front so to speak, joined by asteroids Washingtonia and Clintford in a huge stellium in service oriented Virgo that morning. Asteroids Clintford and Amor were positioned then at 14 degrees, next to affectionate Venus at 18, next to Washingtonia at 23 and articulate Mercury at 24, with asteroid Hillary at 26, and proud Sun at 28. Wow! Resignation? Forget it? The very same day, United Nations delegates in a rare show of unity and support presented our president with a standing ovation. What an image of survival, courage, and strength. And Linda Rose Tripp was the catalyst for the whole event, and her asteroid was represented at 14 Virgo adjacent to Clintford and Amor. If you look at Judas as the necessary catalyst for the Messiah story, then Linda Rose Tripp is the necessary catalyst for the Clinton-Monica-Paula story and its consequences. Approval ratings for the President, according to opinion polls, rose following the release of the data while approval ratings for his congressional opposition declined and reflected in election polls too. As if to highlight the star of the show (no pun intended), the asteroid with the genital name was overhead on the meridian opposite asteroid Lust below when the Starr report was released, how descriptive can it be. And indeed, so it came to pass. A retrograde asteroid Gingerich, the speaker soon to resign, were in opposition to the Clintonian stellium in Virgo. Asteroid Starr was in a stressful square with the Moon which also represents the general public who, did not want the report released.
Remember that astronomers name asteroids. They choose names based upon personal preference at the time to honor people, places and ideas important in their lives. According to director of the Minor Planet Center at Harvard, Brian Marsden, in a personal telephone conversation, astronomers do not relate the asteroid names to events on Earth. The reference to the names of asteroids mentioned above had no direct reference to any of the characters involved in the hullabaloo about the President's personal life. All of the asteroid were named at least decades ago; asteroid Monica was named in 1916!
Coincidence or Purpose? Since scientists have not found purpose in their laboratories, they tend to deny it exists, although some recent genetic research gives promise a gene for purpose. The important concept here is that the seeming arbitrary nature of the naming of asteroids is not as whimsical as it first appears. Asteroid names relate to events on earth with the names in a totally inexplicable way. Yes, it seems like a funny coincidence the first time you notice the connection. But when the coincidences become too frequent to dismiss as chance, more serious questions are raised about how holistic the universe is.
Was Princess Diana's destiny described by the heavens by name? Indeed, and more eloquently than we human mortals could ever portray. When Diana and her romantic partner Dodi Al Fayed were fatally wounded together in a violently impacted Mercedes driven by suddenly recruited chauffeur Henry Paul, and driving at several times the speed limit on 31 August 1997, asteroids bearing names relevant to all the characters were in places corresponding symbolically to the events. Goosebump time again.
Asteroids Diana and Paul were within one degree of each other, applying to the asteroid Atropos known for her mythological shears cutting the cords of life (like the sharp edges of a crashed car) all in Taurus, just one corner of a grand square in unwavering fixed signs. Asteroids Diana and Paul were opposite violent Mars in Scorpio, and that opposition was square excessive Jupiter and unpredictable Uranus in Aquarius opposite to a Leo Moon and the bright paparazzi lights of asteroid Photographia in flashy Leo.
Asteroid Fayeta, sounding like Fayed, was one degree from restrictive Saturn, both opposite asteroid Mercedes conjunct the goddess of death Moira with sweet and romantic Venus in between, as if to say their lovers' union in death would forever be undisturbed by mortal qualities of aging, sickness, and betrayal. Asteroid Dido was only two degrees from the crash moment's ascendant, exactly square the karmic lunar nodal axis. Asteroid Paris was three degrees from the setting descendent. All of these details can be verified by astronomers! Anyone for bridges