ASTROLOGICAL NOTES ON THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
by Juan Antonio Revilla
http://www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 19:10:35 -0600
Subject: [Centaurs] Second Vatican Council
I have had for some time the intention of studying astrologically the Central
and South-American-born phenomenon called "Theology of Liberation", a dissident
offshoot of the Catholic Church, object of very hot controversies and very
powerful in certain circles of the Latin-American priesthood to this day,
but especially during the 70's and 80's.
I want also to examine the case of Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of El
Salvador murdered in 1980 for his very confrontational denunciation of the
genocidal government of his country, during one of the most violent periods
of contemporary Central American history. His assassination was left in impunity,
although it is widely accepted that it was orchestrated by an army officer
named Roberto Dabuisson, head of the "Death Squadrons" acting under CIA orders. Romero became a
martyr and a symbol of Liberation Theology.
I learned to admire him mainly by reading his courageous homilies, which
are all published, and through a very good film ("Romero") of 1989 acting
Raul Julia and directed by John Duigan. Contrary to the boring ideological
--often typically Marxist-- discourse of other theologians of "liberation",
his language was direct, poignant, and vital.
Trying to understand Romero has taken me to the origins of Liberation Theology,
to the Third Episcopal Conference of Puebla in 1979, where it can be seen
reigning, to the seed from which it sprang, the Second Episcopal Conference
of Medellín in 1968, and above all, to that momentous, revolutionary
set of events or "acts" which gave birth to the Documents of the Second Vatican
Council, held in Rome from 1962 to 1965.
The Second Vatican Council, or 21st Ecumenical Church Council, consisted
of 4 sessions held yearly in Autumn. The 1st session opened October 13 1962,
and lasted until December 8th. The last (and more productive) session opened
September 14 1965, and the Council was officially closed December 8, 1965.
The 16 "Documents" that resulted from the Council, whatever one believes
about the performance of the Catholic Church or of its priests who are supposed
to implement them, constitute an unprecedented revolutionary "seed" of enormous
historical significance. John XXIII called it "a new Pentecost".... its concrete
fruits and results are still a matter of debate, but the weight and spiritual
transcendence of the doctrine contained in those documents is unquestionable.
NOTE: The opening of the 2nd Vatican Council is listed in Astrodatabank's
"Newsmakers", but the date given (Oct 13th) is wrong without any doubt. October
11th is given invariably in all sources. However, one could use the Astrodatabank
time (9 a.m.) as a reference. We have:
Sun = 17,32 Libra
True Black Moon = 17,21 Libra
TL66 = 3,27 Pisces
Jupiter = 3,22 Pisces
Uranus = 3,41 Virgo
I will try to interpret these aspects later (alternative interpretations
by others are welcome). More data can be obtained from the opening speech
given by Pope John XXIII:
<<As regards the initiative for the great event which gathers us here,
it will suffice to repeat as historical documentation our personal account
of the first sudden bringing up in our heart and lips of the simple words,
"Ecumenical Council." We uttered those words in the presence of the Sacred
College of Cardinals on that memorable January 25, 1959, the feast of the
Conversion of St. Paul, in the basilica dedicated to him. It was completely
unexpected, like a flash of heavenly light, shedding sweetness in eyes and
hearts...>>
[ref.: http://www.dailycatholic.org/history/21ecume1.htm
]
For January 25 1959 (12h GMT), one obtains:
Pluto = 3,39 Virgo (see Jupiter/TL66/Uranus above)
Quaoar = 18,14 Libra (see Sun/Black Moon above)
--> the Council was the "incarnation" of Quaoar at the time of its conception.
Sun = 4,46 Aquarius
Saturn 11 Oct 1962 = 4,43 Aquarius
TX300 11 Oct 1962 = 5,38 Aquarius (a giant cubewano of about 1000 Km)
--> the "flash of heavenly light" of that day (Jan 25 1959) "incarnated"
TX300 and Saturn of the Council that was to happen later, it was the "premonition"
of TX300 and Saturn of the Council. Saturn "consolidated the spiritual light",
or rather "promise" (larger orb) of TX300.
Jupiter 25 Jan 1959 = 28,05 Scorpio
TL66 25 Jan 1959 = 29,04 Aquarius
--> Jupiter/TL66 that are at conflict here were united or integrated at
the opening of the Council. By itself, this aspect dramatizes the significance
of the Jupiter/TL66 conjunction at the Council's opening.
In Dec 2000, I examined the rare Jupiter/TL66 triple conjunction of 1962 in the context of the "Cuban missile crisis":
http://www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs/posts/notes/96tl66.html
Here, instead of "war games", we are seeing a religious aspect of TL66 inspired
by "the End of Time" sociological thinking. This is especially the case if
we see it from the perspective of "old" John XXIII, who criticized the pessimism
of the "prophets of doom" inside the Church and at the opening speech clearly
sided --to the happy surprise of many participants-- with the progressives
and reformists.
Recall my suggestion for naming TL66 "Typhon". I hadn't thought before of
the association this has with "ruach", the "strong wind" that is the manifestation
of "the spirit of God" in the Old Testament, and later, of Pentecost:
<<... And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing
wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting...>> [Acts...]
Angelo Roncalli, John XXIII, was nearly 77 when he became Pope in 1958. Nobody
expected him to be such a refreshing, revolutionary breeze in the history
of the Catholic Church. The expectations by the younger reformists were very
low at the time of the Council's opening, but the old Pope surprised everybody,
and is now remembered as one of the most popular and most beloved popes.
Note the Sun/Neptune conjunction when he was elected, Oct 28 1958:
Sun = 4,37 Scorpio (12h GMT)
Neptune = 4,35 Scorpio
... in exact square to the time when the order to arrange the Council was given.
This conjunction could well represent the unprecedented "catholic" nature
of his short-lived (4 years) but revolutionary papacy: there were present
2000+ bishops from every continent and race, the largest, more universal
in Church history, and for the first time, observers from 17 non-Catholic
Christian factions were invited by the Pope and offered a seat. It was also
the first Council ever whose deliberate purpose was not condemning heresy
or affirming "infallible" dogma. The Neptunian emphasis can be seen in his
opening words at the Council:
[BEGIN QUOTE]
<<We see, in fact, as one age succeeds another, that the opinions
of men follow one another and exclude each other. And often errors vanish
as quickly as they arise, like fog before the sun The Church has always opposed
these errors. Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity.
Nowadays however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine
of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs
of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than
by condemnations.>>
[END QUOTE]
Angelo Roncalli was born November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo.
I have a time "10:15" a.m. but without a source. He died in the evening of
June 3, 1963:
natal Sun = 3,17 Sagittarius
tr. Hylonome 11 Oct 1962 = 3,48 Gemini (precession-corrected to 1881)
tr. Hylonome at death = 4,04 Gemini
see how clearly Hylonome/Sun opposition marks the Council and his death.
The Council was ended officially by Paul VI December 8 1965 in the morning
(NOTE: I don't know the exact time of the closing, but the speech has a passage
that says <<... note what is taking place here this morning...>>.
So I will assume as reference 9:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. GMT (positions are precessed
to 1881):
closing Moon = 10,00 Gemini
closing Hylonome = 10,00 Gemini !!
death Sun of John XXIII= 11,23 Gemini (using 20h GMT)
Consider that John XXIII had dedicated the Council to "the Immaculate", the
celebration of which by the Church is on December 8th (this is the reason
why the sessions always ended on Decembert 8th). The full quote mentioned
above is:
<<But note what is taking place here this morning. While we close the
ecumenical council, we are honoring Mary Most Holy, the mother of Christ,
and consequently, as we declared on another occasion, the mother of God and
our spiritual mother. We are honoring Mary Most Holy, the Immaculate One,
therefore innocent, stupendous, perfect. She is the woman, the true woman
who is both ideal and real, the creature in whom the image of God is reflected
with absolute clarity, without any disturbance, as happens in every other
human creature.>>
[ http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/v18.html ]
Now consider what we have commented on several occasions about the relationship
between "the Virgin" and the centaur Hylonome, evident in the keywords:
"eternal youth, longing for Paradise, lost innocence, purity, tragic beauty,
redemption, the cry of the poor, political and religious messianism, the
virgin and the prostitute, the voice and the cry of animals..."
The last document of the council, issued on December 7th 1965 ("ON THE CHURCH
IN THE MODERN WORLD - GAUDIUM ET SPES"), deals with global economic matters,
social injustice, inequality, and above all, poverty and the poor, and in
my opinion is one of the most enlightened documents in the history of mankind.
As always, it is mainly pretty words on paper, but nevertheless, in spite
of the contradictions, its long-range impact on the history of the Church
is without measure. If interested, you can read it here:
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/v4.html
"The cry of the poor" and "political and religious messianism" will take us directly to Theology of Liberation.
Juan
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Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2003 19:10:40 -0600
Subject: [Centaurs] Second Vatican Council, 2
>Sun = 17,32 Libra
>True Black Moon = 17,21 Libra
Before going into the Conference of Medellín, I would like to say
at least a few words about this conjunction. Everything I am going to say
is only tentative, and I would very much appreciate any insight or intuition
that you might have about it, because its meaning does not come readily to
my mind.
But before I start speculating about it, I will recapitulate some things
that from my perspective have come to the surface so far:
The Council was officially opened during the rare triple Jupiter/TL66 conjunction
of 1962. I suggested that this was related to "the end of time" sociological
thinking. The Catholic Church, with its doctrine of Salvation, Judgement
Day, the Community of Saints, The Kingdom of Heaven, the Mystery of Death
and Resurrection, etc., has a natural affinity to TL66. Maybe the whole of
Christianity has this affinity if we think on the last book of the Bible
(Apocalypse, Revelation), which, I feel, is "paradigmatically" TL66; or in
other words: the Book of Revelation contains many of the themes, imagery,
symbols, archetypes, etc., that I feel are naturally related to TL66.
Another aspect of TL66 that could be related to the optimism and "joyful"
and/or "youthful" energy of Jupiter is the "aggiornamento", the "updating"
or rejuvenation of the Catholic Church. The Documents of the Second Vatican
Council incarnate the effort of the Church to fulfill its promise, or its
pastoral and escathological task. One can imagine the "fortress", the defensive
Church that had become stagnant, deaf and blind to the real needs of people
and of the times, rigidly fixated in its "absolute power" (another aspect
of TL66), epitomized by the dogma of "Papal Infallibility" that had been
proclaimed in the previous Council one century before.
The Second Vatican Council of 1962 can then be seen as the more positive
spiritual side of TL66. The Council was not only an event of enormous historical
significance in the history of Christianity, but also an act or action, something
that blossomed in the current of time (the "New Pentecost") and the fruits
of which will be lived by future generations.
Logically, non-Catholics will not see it that way, but not only them: the
tendency is that the majority of the world will by-pass its spiritual significance,
because it is not something immediately physical or economical or political
like war or pestilence that can absorb the world's attention. Its significance,
however, is undeniable in the light of the documents that resulted from it:
I mentioned the last document, entitled "GAUDIUM ET SPES" read publicly on
Dec. 7 1965, 1 day before the Council closed, and called it "one of the most
enlightened documents in the history of mankind".
I feel that this document, which paved the way to the flourishing of Liberation
Theology in Latin America, has the clue to the meaning of the Black Moon
at the Council's opening. The Black Moon, by itself is not a point of transcendence
or transformation as, for example, TL66; the Council, then, owes this to
Jupiter/TL66 and to Quaoar. Let's remember the significance of Quaoar on
25 Jan 1959, when the Pope announced the event and ordered its preparation
<<like a flash of heavenly light, shedding sweetness in eyes and hearts>>
(the position are shown here in the sidereal zodiac):
Sun opening = 23,19 Virgo
True Black Moon opening = 23,08 Virgo
Quaoar 25 Jan 1959 = 24,04 Virgo
My feeling is that the "fulminant" (solar conjunction) focus of the Black Moon relates to the following:
a-) the emphatic prominence in the document of "the poor and the afflicted"
, the sufferers or victims of social injustice, as the reason for being of
the Church. This is more easily understood if we consider the case of Emiliano
Zapata (and the film director Elia Kazan, who was born with an exact Sun/Black
Moon conjunction, too). This is seen in the very first words of the document
[reference mentioned in my last post]:
<<The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of
this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are
the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.>>
b-) the role of the Virgin Mary, not just in Catholic doctrine but in the
feelings of precisely those people referred to, as the spiritual reality
or spiritual being that encompasses or absorbs all those "joys and hopes,
griefs and anxieties". This devotion to Mary is enormously strong among the
poor, the peasants, the Indians, etc., in Catholic countries.
NOTE: some of these "virgins", like Our Lady of Los Angeles here in Costa
Rica, are black. We call her "La Negrita" (the little black), in an expression
of both intimacy and devotion; and the whole of Mexican culture is permeated
by the cult of their Virgin of Guadalupe...
The 2 things (a and b) are really one and the same. They are the same expression
of our ancestral relationship with "Mother Earth", that the Catholic Church
absorbed in its mariology. Interestingly, the cult of Mary is a fusion of
2 very ancient archetypes: "Mother Earth" (the Black Moon, or the lunar orbit
in general probably including the node), and the ancient "Isis" (TL66); one
is completely chtonic or teluric (Black Moon / Mother Earth), the other completely
celestial or spiritual (TL66 / Isis).
In my previous post, it was made evident that Vatican II and the life of
Pope John XXIII were also very strongly related to the centauress Hylonome.
Hylonome and the Black Moon incarnate different aspects of the same feminine
energy, in the same way that I have maintained in the past how Chariklo also
incarnates an aspect of the Lilith archetype not found in the Black Moon
or the purely Lunar realm. Both Hylonome and the Black Moon can incarnate
both a virgin and a harlot, and the differentiation between the 2 energies
is a necessary step in order to understand them both.
I am all open to what others can say about this distinction.
Juan
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Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 08:30:53 -0600
Subject: [Centaurs] Second Vatican Council, 3
The document "Gaudium et Spes" (I don't know what that means) I have been
talking about is mentioned in "Liberation Theology: Chronology":
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/chronology.html
and is referred to as <<the longest and most influential document>>
of Vatican II. This page has some quotes from the document that I think help
clarify the meaning of Hylonome and the Black Moon:
<<Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources
and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world's citizens are
still tormented by hunger and poverty...
<<While an immense number of people still lack the absolute necessities
of life, some, even in less advanced areas, live in luxury or squander wealth.
Extravagance and wretchedness exist side by side. While a few enjoy very
great power of choice, the majority are deprived of almost all possibility
of acting on their own initiative and responsibility, and often subsist in
living and working conditions unworthy of the human person...
NOTE: remember Hylonome is "the cry of the poor"...
<<God intended the earth with everything contained in it for the use
of all human beings and peoples... The Fathers and Doctors of the Church
held this opinion, teaching that men are obliged to come to the relief of
the poor and to do so not merely out of their superfluous goods. If one is
in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs
out of the riches of others.
NOTE: now we are coming to plentiful "Mother Earth" --the Black Moon-- expressed
here in the idea of "property", especially with regards to land:
<<...it is the right of public authority to prevent anyone from abusing
his private property to the detriment of the common good.
<<By its very nature private property has a social quality which is
based on the law of the common destination of earthly goods. If this social
quality is overlooked, property often becomes an occasion of passionate desires
for wealth and serious disturbances, so that a pretext is given to the attackers
for calling the right itself into question.
NOTE: in the following paragraph one can see the description of what was
the main struggle of Emiliano Zapata, or more accurately, the reasons for
the Mexican Revolution of 1910, conditions which exists today all the same
in that same part of Mexico and which are the justification for the modern
"Movimiento Zapatista":
<<In many underdeveloped regions there are large or even extensive
rural estates which are only slightly cultivated or lie completely idle for
the sake of profit, while the majority of the people either are without land
or have only very small fields, and, on the other hand, it is evidently urgent
to increase the productivity of the fields. Not infrequently those who are
hired to work for the landowners or who till a portion of the land as tenants
receive a wage or income unworthy of a human being, lack decent housing and
are exploited by middlemen. Deprived of all security, they live under such
personal servitude that almost every opportunity of acting on their own initiative
and responsibility is denied to them and all advancement in human culture
and all sharing in social and political life is forbidden to them. ...Indeed,
insufficiently cultivated estates should be distributed to those who can
make these lands fruitful...
NOTE: This means agrarian or land --Black Moon-- reform, and in many respects,
social revolution. Now the part of Hylonome refered to as "political and
religious messianism" --the Christian theme of "liberation":
<<...the greater part of the world is still suffering from so much
poverty that it is as if Christ Himself were crying out in these poor to
beg the charity of the disciples. Do not let men, then, be scandalized because
some countries with a majority of citizens who are counted as Christians
have an abundance of wealth, whereas others are deprived of the necessities
of life and are tormented with hunger, disease, and every kind of misery.
The spirit of poverty and charity are the glory and witness of the Church
of Christ.
Note this last sentence "The spirit of poverty and charity are the glory
and witness of the Church of Christ", although obviously not practiced my
many inside the Church, traditionally allied in Latin America (and most of
the world) with the ruling class and the wealthy.
The overall significance of Vatican II is summarized in:
http://www.vts.edu/2004/ClassNotes/CH1/CH_Event6.PDF
I would like to quote this summary, which I think illuminates the meaning of the Jupiter/TL66 and Sun/Quaoar signature:
<<Until the 1950’s Roman Catholic theology was stuck in the counter-Reformation
way of thinking. None of the discussions, debates and struggles of the Protestant
Reformation had much impact. They were tied to centers of power and worked
against the various revolutions which over-threw monarchs. Modern biblical
scholarship was only accept in the first half of the 1900’s and most theological
progress was repressed until Vatican II. This was a major change in Roman
Catholic thought and practice. Up until this time the ecumenical movement
had existed without any participation of the Roman Catholics. Either you
were Roman or you were wrong. With Vatican II the Roman church recognized
the other churches as Christian, but inferior because they didn't ally with
the pope.
And now the Moon/Hylonome signature:
<<The colonial period saw a huge expansion of the Roman Catholics into
other countries, but they were usually allied with the colonizers rather
than the indigenous people. Vatican II saw all of this change, with local
churches and Bishops being granted greater power.
<<This increased local power led first in South and Central America
and later in Africa to the rise of liberation theology. This theology challenged
the traditional support of the church for those who were oppressing the poor
for their own monetary gain.>>
With these demonstration quotes, I will pass to the Conference of Medellín.
Juan
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