This was one of the first 'earthrise' pictures, taken on 24 Dec 1968 as Apollo 8 went into lunar orbit. No one had thought to schedule in this photo, so consequently the first picture was taken in black and white.
It is a Uranus moment, when perspectives are suddenly and surprisingly changed. This picture has been called the most important environmental picture ever taken. It occurred under a Uranus-Jupiter conjunction, square to the Sun. 20 years earlier, under a Uranus-Jupiter opposition, the British astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle predicted that when spaceflight enabled us to see the whole Earth from space, the view would change us forever.
7 months after this photo was taken, on 20/7/69, the first Moon landing took place, with Uranus 4 minutes off an exact conjunction to Jupiter at 1 Libra, and the Moon also in conjunction to these planets, naturally!
Neil Armstrong's natal Moon is at 25.24 Sagittarius, the sign of long distance travel and new horizons, as well as being very close to the Galactic Centre, naturally! His Moon is square to his Virgo Venus, reflecting his distaste for the fame accompanying the Moon landings. He was born under the Uranus-Pluto square of the 1930s. The landings took place at the end of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the 1960s. 40 years later, as Uranus and Pluto approach a square, there are calls to revive the Moon landings.
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The chart for the 1st Moon landing (set for Washington, as it was the Americans who did it!) is one of those rare charts where no planets are in hard aspect to each other.
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There is a Pluto-South Node conjunction in Virgo, showing the transformative power (Pluto) of technology (Virgo) that created the event; it also then points us to the North Node in Pisces, opposite Pluto, that takes us out of the narrow, analytical mindset of Virgo and into the soul-wisdom of Pisces. If you listen to the astronauts who went to the Moon, they were all changed by it (though we don't know about Armstrong, who has always shunned publicity.) But it is interesting that the Nodal Axis shows on the one hand the sheer technological power behind the event, and also that technology leading to something beyond itself.
1 comment:
Very interesting about the Pluto/nodal axis there. pluto/South Node are also on the fixed star Avior in Argo Navis, which has been associated with space exploration. Copernicus was born when Pluto was on Avior.
I also think the tight Jupiter/Uranus conjunction may be relevant with expanding our horizons.
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