Of Fire, Energy, Passions, and Tears that Run Dry

Once again Skybar22 shares with us her enormous knowledge of Astrology, and relates it to Clay's chart. The next new moon begins July 24, 2006 and should be an interesting period.

I've been sitting here for the last month anxiously awaiting news about his upcoming CD and tour. We're making progress - we know the name of the new album is A Thousand Different Ways. Here's hoping that by the next new moon we'll have the album release and tour dates. And since wishes are a dime a dozen, I'll spend a dollar wishing for new Clay appearances on my 55 inch Sony Hi Def TV, a thousand different ways.


After you read about Clay in the Astrology section, I hope you stick around and read the next piece on genealogy. I talk about some Civil War Pension files I was able to research and the information in them was surprising.

New Moon July 24, 2006
Skybar22

As this new moon begins, we are coming to the end of the Mercury retrograde period. A few more days and energy directs but it also has to travel over the degrees of the Zodiac it backtracked over so unfinished business is still the order of the day with some direct motion to help it along. Mercury, the messenger , travels around the sun creating cycle after cycle of predictable energy that we can learn to understand and even work with as we plan our projects and communications and deal with our everyday reality. Mercury will reach new zodiacal territory on August 12th. If you know the positions of the planets in your birth chart, it is very interesting to watch the Mercury cycle as it transits the Sun. The most significant impact is felt when Mercury is going retrograde or direct (also known as stationary retrograde and stationary direct).

The new moon of July 24th takes place in the fixed fire sign of Leo. The full Moon takes place on August 9th in the fixed air sign of Aquarius. The Sun entered Leo on July 22nd. Leo is ruled by the Sun. Qualities associated with this fixed fire sign are creativity, warmth, showmanship and generosity as well as enthusiasm and an ability to persevere (fixed sign).

Besides Mercury, this lunation begins with the 3 outermost planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, still retrograde and with Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius direct. Jupiter is now going to move swiftly through its transit of Scorpio and enter its own sign of Sagittarius on November 23rd. There is much to discuss about that as the time approaches since Jupiter is a planet known in astrology as the greater benefic. Think about the possibilities for those who have Sagittarius prominent in their charts. Keywords are optimism, expansion, abundance, and integration of higher knowledge.

This month will find several planets moving through the sign of Leo. Along with the Sun, Mercury enters Leo on August 11th, Venus enters Leo on August 12th and Saturn continues its slow movement through Leo. That makes a total of 4 planets in Leo by the 12th. Fire is prominent as the month moves on and Mercury directs. This month should be good for the fire signs, Aries and Sagittarius as Leo trines these signs. The more planets a person has in these fire signs, the more flowing (trines) the energy will be.

More about Clay’s energy:

In last month's blog entry I discussed the meaning of the new moon phase and how it indicates potential. Clay was born with not only the new moon conjunction but also with what is known as a stellium. Stelliums involve 4 or more planets falling in the same sign of the zodiac. In Clay’s case there are 5 planets in Sagittarius all forming a conjunction. The planets in a chart represent functions that are common to all of us. The sign these planets are in describes how these functions manifest in our lives. The aspects, (conjunction, square, trine, opposition etc.) tell us how challenging or flowing these energies will be. Since Clay has Sun, Moon, Neptune, Mercury and Mars conjunct in Sagittarius, all of these functions represented by these planets work as one.

With this stellium, Clay is able to integrate a complex blend of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. It is a powerful grouping of planets which contains inner planets, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars with an outer planet Neptune in a configuration that gives innate potential for continual growth and expansion. If we add the trine from the ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter, to this mix, it makes for an ease in self expression. This is not to say that Clay never feels challenged or that things are easy for him, but with this energy, he is more than capable of handling all of life’s challenges. Remember this is innate potential and is always available to him. With Mars being a planet in this stellium, Clay is strongly motivated as Mars is the planet of motivation, assertion/aggression and action. With Neptune also being a part of this stellium, Clay generally finds a way to understand his experiences from a spiritual perspective. Confusion, disillusionment and lack of focus (Neptune) give way to higher truths and understanding as well as acceptance. Inclusion is a fitting term for this energy as well.

As mentioned above, there are 4 planets moving through Leo this month. Since Clay has all that Sagittarian fire in his chart, he will benefit greatly from the Leo energy. Trines bring opportunity and it would be a great time for him to return to the public. He would be received with a warm and welcoming energy as he would be expressing himself through the qualities of fire and the expression would come even more easily than usual. Fire is his element and when the transits are in your element it bodes well for whatever you are doing. Since Saturn is trining Sagittarius, the energy is very stable and grounding for Clay as well as expressive. I expect to see a new found confidence and maturity in his demeanor. Now add the long term square (challenge) from Uranus and I also expect to see the unexpected.

Skybar22

WANT TO SEE some of that expressive energy at work? Then watch this Youtube video I took of Clay singing Tears Run Dry at the last night of the Juke Box Tour in 2005 in Atlantic City. Tears Run Dry was one of four songs Clay previewed during the tour as possibly being on his upcoming album. He also signs "Thank You" in sign language at the end. Will it make the album? Your guess is as good as mine.

I Thought I Was Reading A Dime Novel

My husband’s great great grandfather was a Civil War veteran, having served in the 95th Ohio Volunteers from August 13, 1862 - August 14, 1865 with his two of his brothers. He was also a deserter who was ultimately found and brought back to his unit. They didn't shoot him or court martial him. Just made him pay the $32.50 it cost the US to bring him back to his regiment. He wasn't even dishonorably discharged at the end of his service.

Desertion was more common than not – conditions on the battlefield and along the march and encampment were hellish and unbearable, with sickness, especially dysentery, running rampant through the corps. Very few men escaped being ill at some point.

When I learned that he had served in the Civil War, I was able to check pension index records and found that he had indeed applied for a war pension. However, in order to view the documents that he and his wife filed as part of that application, I had to travel to the National Archives in Washington, DC because those records weren’t online.

The file I was handed at the National Archives was thick with 100+ year old original papers. In order to apply for a pension from the Civil War, affidavits were often required to support residence, medical condition, marital status, number of children, etc. His file, filled with affidavits, read like a dime novel. Here’s what I found, just from that file.

My husband’s ancestor was a colorful character who couldn't seem to stay in one place very long. He was always moving his family about, mainly back and forth between Missouri and Illinois. He emigrated to Missouri from Ohio by way of Indiana, with his mother and father, sisters and brothers.

John (the ancestor) married his first wife, Rachel, and had 5 children with her. When she died, he went back to Ohio and married her sister, Mary, and had two children with her, one of whom died at birth.

John was a hard-drinking man, who apparently took up with his dead brother’s wife while he was still married to Mary. He tried to get Mary to prostitute herself with other men to earn money, but she would have none of it, and left him when he came up with that scheme.

By his own children's admission, John drank away any money he had, often leaving them without money for food or clothes. Mary was the only stable influence on their lives, and they seemed to have a great deal of affection for her. They testified on her behalf, against their father, when he tried to stop her from getting 1/2 his pension.

He lied to the pension people about her (Mary), claiming that she left him and took up with other men, when the opposite was true - he left her. He tried to divorce her when he learned that she was trying to get half his pension (they were separated, and he was not supporting her) but she fought his accusations, and proved to the court that he was the offender. The court ruled in her favor, and refused to grant a divorce. This meant that she was able to receive 1/2 his pension. For all of that effort she received $8.00 per month.

He had a stroke later on in his years, and ultimately had to be sent to the Soldier's Home in Danville, Illinois when his condition became so bad that he couldn’t live on his own. He admitted to his children that "drink got the better of him" and that he did care for Mary. He ultimately died at the Soldier's home in Danville.

Reading the files on John, and on the other ancestors of my husband who also served in the Civil War, gave me a new found appreciation for what these men (and some women) went through because I was able to see it through their eyes, and not some dry history book which recounted battles, and casualties, and politics, and war strategies. These were men who went in healthy, and came home sick, if they came home at all. Meanwhile, their wives and children subsisted at home on only the meager money the men could manage to send back to them. Obtaining a pension later on in life for this service practically took an act of Congress to achieve.

Thanks to these records I have an insight into what these soldiers experienced that I would never have had if it weren’t for my genealogy interest. For that one thing alone I am profoundly grateful I discovered this "hobby."

MommaJudy

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