Posts by Alex Miller

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House Diary: Yule 2024 – Back to Basics

2024 is rapidly drawing to close, and the holidays are upon us!  Here, my TLS (short for Tchotchke Lust Syndrome, an incurable disease common to inveterate collectors) has kicked-in fulltime over the past few years, leading to a circumstance whereby the breadth and depth of the Yule/Winter/Christmas collection has swollen to such a size that it can no longer be displayed all at once.  There simply isn’t room, and the collection has had to be divided into three themes, displayed on a rotational basis.

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2024 Nobel Prizes Awarded

At first glance, it may seem odd that the inventor of dynamite, one of the most destructive forces known to man, should go on to establish one of the world’s most prestigious awards, focused on acknowledging contributions for the betterment of mankind, but Alfred Nobel was many things.  Born 21 October 1833 (no time available), the Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer and businessman, holder of more than 350 patents, was a man of many hats, who on his death in 1896, donated his considerable fortune to a foundation to fund the Nobel Prizes, which annually recognize those who “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”  So it’s no surprise to find his 27 Libra Sun is involved in a T-Square, opposed Jupiter (philanthropy) at 0 Taurus and squared Neptune (humanitarianism) at 26 Capricorn.

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Bashing Bashar: The Collapse of the Assad Regime in Syria

On Sunday, 8 December 2024, Syrian rebels occupied the capital of Damascus, effectively overthrowing the government and ending half a century of rule over Syria by the Assad family.  Dictator Bashar al-Assad, in power since 2000, hot-footed it to exile and asylum in Russia, under the protection of bestie Vladimir Putin.  His overthrow also represents the end of a civil war that began in 2011 with a pro-democracy uprising against Assad’s entrenched rule, and cost the lives of half a million Syrians, with 12 million more displaced from their homeland.

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The Mars Retrograde Station: Conflict in Flux

The planet Mars comes to its station retrograde on December 6th, appearing to slow its motion, come to a standstill, and change direction.  Planetary stations are optical illusions, created by the triangulation between Earth, the sun, and any third celestial body (nothing ever actually reverses course in the cosmos), but astrologically, they represent important power points where the energies embodied by that planet imbue a particular area of the zodiac for longer than normal.  Focused and concentrated, these stations become metaphoric “turning points” in how that planet’s energies are expressing, affording opportunities to reassess, make adjustments or change direction in the affairs of that planet.

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Barbarians at the Gaetz

Donald Trump’s post-electoral Retribution Tour hit a snag on November 21st, when Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz suddenly withdrew from consideration in the wake of some GOP-generated heat in defiance of his candidacy.  Withdrawal is something Gaetz knows a bit about, with the primary scandal in which he’s embroiled involving his attendance at drug-fueled sex parties with underage partners.

Trump nominated Gaetz, himself a subject of a years-long federal criminal investigation and a House Ethics Committee report, on November 13th, along with a spate of controversial nominees, such as Fox & Friends weekend anchor Pete Hegseth for Defense; Bashar Al-Assad and Vladimir Putin apologist Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence; and vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Robert F. Kennedy Jr to head Health and Human Services.  If these choices seem “out-of-the-box,” consider that asteroid Troemper 2813 at 11 Leo (our celestial referent for The Donald) is currently travelling arm-in-arm with asteroid Pandora 55 at 10 Leo, noted mythically as the hapless naif who, against good advice, opened a box containing all the evils of the world, thus releasing them.  Archetypally, there are no cosmic accidents.

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Scandal in the Cathedral: The Resignation of Justin Welby

On 12 November, 2024 Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the 85-million souls in the global Anglican Communion, resigned after a Church of England investigation report was released, which found that he failed in his duty to tell police about serial physical, psychological and sexual abuse by a staff member at the Iwerne Christian summer camps, as soon as he was made aware of it.  The scandal had been building for nearly a week after the report’s release, with calls for accountability from Welby increasing daily. 

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