Pennies from Heaven

"All writers starve to death!" my Taurus father said. It was his response to my wanting to be a writer -- after an eighth grade English teacher rewarded me with the only A in her class for an "outstanding vocabulary and writing talent." With his encouragement, the journey to become a full-time creative artist would take more than 30 years.

And on December 16, 1994 I counted 34 pennies, 2 nickels, 9 dimes, 3 quarters and 2 dollar bills found on the streets of Chicago; on March 31, 1995, 38 pennies, 2 nickels, 14 dimes, 2 quarters and one dollar bill; on February 10, 1995 a ten dollar bill; on April 1, 1995 a twenty dollar bill and on June 17 another ten dollar bill.

In 1977, when I first left the Christian Church (for a California writing locale), I was unaware of the financial difficulties for an ex-clergyperson without a parsonage, group medical insurance, professional license and Social Security benefits. Self employment was a challenge.

But a legal mediator in California bent the rules and okayed unemployment insurance. A friend provided space in a Mendocino County cabin overlooking the Pacific Ocean. And I roamed around hippie-style to redwoods, rugged mountains, scenic beaches, Zen temples and counseling seminars.

Uranus was in the Second House (1967-1973) which brings "great changes in your economic and material situation" with "changing values"; Uranus in the Third (1973-1981) when "you will be forced to look at life in a new way, to see things that you have never seen before and to communicate with others in new ways" (Planets in Transit by Robert Hand).

Uranus jump-starts the "artist whose work is obviously a form of self-expression.... Though the medium may be different, physicians, carpenters, salespersons, bicycle repairmen, anyone who uses his work as a means of self-expression, will gain the satisfaction of growth and self-understanding, and will single himself out from the crowd" ( Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetar).

During those Uranus transits, I attended Eastern religion and Humanistic Psychology seminars in California. A heretical church program attracted members who balanced the budget and became lifelong friends -- including the one who offered her basement apartment in the 1990s.

Uranus and other astrology transits are "pennies from heaven," opportunities for working through our karma (or lessons) toward our dharma (soul career). They often precipitate a leap into a life-transforming abyss by closing one door and opening another -- with financial benefits.

However, a Self empowering leap into the unknown doesn't guarantee material success. Nor does a knowledge of astrology, an academic degree or friendly counsel assuage the ego's fear of self-annihilation. Courageous risks are the result of previous astrological growth.

For example, Uranus was trining my 11th House Moon (which conjoins my 10th House Mercury) in 1977 ("an excellent opportunity for you to make changes in your emotional life and personal surroundings, such as your home", Planets in Transit) -- after squaring my Moon.

The nature of the soul, as reflected in the zodiac, is a phoenix-like flight over many lifetimes. Richard Bach dedicated his Jonathan Livingston Seagull to "the real Jonathan Seagull who lives within us all" (1970) -- after Pluto's conjunction of Neptune and Uranus in the 1960s.

"The paradigm of the Aquarian Conspiracy sees humankind embedded in nature. It promotes the autonomous individual in a decentralized society. It sees us as stewards of all resources, inner and outer. It says that we are not victims, not pawns, not limited by conditions or conditioning. Heirs to evolutionary riches, we are capable of imagination, invention and experiences we have only glimpsed" (The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson).

When Pluto moved to the higher levels of Cancer in the 1930s, we were more at home with our Inner Voice. Woody Guthrie was singing "This land is your land" over radio (ruled by Uranus) and Dorothy, "Over the Rainbow" in the film version (ruled by Neptune) of The Wizard of Oz. Telecommunications was expanding our creative universe.

Pluto was in Leo (1937 to 1971) when it conjoined Neptune and Uranus. The "passion for Leo lies in creative self-expression: making visible to society every detail of one's inner universe. This process can thrive in the realm of the arts....achieving meaning in one's life through the device of having one's story noticed" (The Book of Pluto by Steven Forrest).

In the 1970s, Eastern religions and Humanistic Psychology facilitated a global movement away from hierarchical religion, psychology and education toward one's Inner Story. After leaving my clergy dreams behind in Chicago, I also left a group therapist career in California -- to meditate and write in a rural Illinois church.

Without a Ph.D., there was a lingering fear that my heretical voice would not be heard. But I was determined to express, as Richard Bach said, the Self-healing Spirit "within us all" -- by using my auto mechanic, Northern Appalachia, bluecollar Chicago and Midwestern farmland experience.

So, I listened to Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad, Carl Sandburg's The People, Yes, Loretta Lynn singing "Coal Miner's Daughter" at a nearby county fair and Mike Royko's Chicago newspaper columns. Royko, a high school dropout, grew up in his father's tavern and never attended college.

Marsha Sinetar suggests "self-acceptance" of one's "idiosyncrasies" -- "for so many who were taught that they must become 'professional' people or gain a certain credentialed standing in the community, but who -- deep within themselves -- longed for something simpler and less complicated as an occupation" (Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow).

A New England farmer once said, "In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking" (Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau).

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were transiting the subjective half of my horoscope, focusing on our Inward journey. They moved through the Second (money), Third (communication) and Fourth (home) Houses; squaring, trining and then opposing my Tenth House (career) stellium.

When Pluto was in the Third House (1980-1994), the natural House of Gemini, there were "important changes in [my] intellectual concepts and manner of communication." Instead of preaching theological sermons, I began telling stories -- and later, writing about them in a new age magazine.

Uranus, in the Second House, was trining my Midheaven, "when you can make creative changes in both your professional and your personal life.... able to change your life direction and do something that more truly expresses your individuality" (Planets in Transit).

In the 1990s, when Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were moving through my Fifth House (the natural house of Leo), I began writing such books as Whole Earth Hoboes. And counseling psychologists, businesspersons and artists, "After receiving our Ph.D. in Tibet, we intuitively express our Selves as a riverboat captain (Mark Twain) or dance hall floozy (Shirley MacLaine)."

And on March 31, 1995, I counted 38 pennies, 2 nickels, 14 dimes, 2 quarters and 1 dollar bill; on June 7, 1995, 22 pennies, 2 quarters, 8 dimes, 7 nickels and 3 dollar bills; on July 31, 1995, 46 pennies, 9 dimes, 6 nickels and 1 quarter; on March 30, 1996, 33 pennies, 14 nickels, 28 dimes and 11 quarters.

Watch for Part III - Aka Brock Elk Horn

Brock Elk Horn does clairvoyant readings, astrology and holistic counseling that facilitates healing of mind, body and spirit. Telephone: (773) 338-3329. For more information, see the Chicago Pulse - Practitioners in this issue of TMA.

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