Da Vinci’s Astrological Zodiac Secret in his ‘Last Supper’ Masterpiece

By Milky Way Maid

Probably everyone has seen or heard something about da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper supposedly providing proof that Mary Magdalene was his wife. While I am not going to get into that discussion right now, I would like to point out an unexpected proof that that the fifth Apostle from the left really is Mary Magdalene, and it involves astrology.

First go to this web page and copy the image of the painting that appears there: www.LisaShea.com/hobbies/art/images/lastsuppernames.jpg  Keep it handy for reference.

That image is of the Last Supper with the names of the Apostles above each one, plus Jesus.

Now, you may not know that you can read the Zodiac in the painting from left to right, skipping over Jesus; start with Bartholomew (Aries)  on the left and end with Simon Pisces) on the right. 

It is interesting that some of the saints are associated with, or are in some kind of pose, that in some way evokes that sign of the zodiac.

The third Apostle from the left is Andrew, representing Gemini. He is in a pose with his hands up, palms forward. Gemini rules the hands.

The fourth Apostle is Judas (going by where the head is, not the body), who represents Cancer. He holds a bag of silver, and Cancer is associated with acquisitiveness and saving money.

Fifth is Peter, as Leo. Leo is often a boss in the office setting, like Peter was boss of the Apostles after Jesus departed.

Now here’s the surprise – Sixth is Virgo, which happens to be the only female in the zodiac. So the Apostle, supposedly John the Beloved, is really Mary Magdalene after all.

Seventh is James Major, representing Libra, the Scales. His arms are outstretched to either side like the arms on a balance.

Eighth is Thomas, whose finger is pointing up like the stinger on the Scorpion.

Tenth is Matthew, whose former occupation was as a tax collector. Matthew is the patron saint of civil servants, among other things, and Capricorn is the sign of government.

Last is Simon the Zealot, representing Pisces. Simon is sometimes identified with two fish. Also one tradition about him says he was martyred by being sawn in half lengthwise.

This article is just the result of a quick bit of research after finding a reference to the apostles representing the signs of the zodiac, and that da Vinci incorporated that information into his famous painting. Sorry I did not find specific links between all of the apostles to every sign. But perhaps at the time it was painted, there were associations between the signs and certain careers or attributes that have fallen by the wayside. For example, the second Apostle was James Minor, who had been a fuller before joining up with Jesus. (A fuller is someone who softens and sometimes dyes cloth.) Perhaps Taurus was once thought to rule clothing or haberdashers.

Some of the oldest Christian churches had representations of the zodiac with the apostles going around a central image of Jesus, with Jesus sometimes represented as Sol Invictus (the Sun). Very rarely, Jesus as the Sun was accompanied by Mary Magdalene as the Moon. For the former, see images of the Beit Alpha church (mistakenly called a synagogue) and the church at Hamat Tiberius in Galilee.  For the latter, check out images of the central panel in the church of “Our Lady Mary” in Galilee, Israel.

Tags- Mary Magdalene, early Christian churches, zodiac, apostles

Notes on Natal and Solar Return Charts for Katharine Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post

By Milky Way Maid

(I started this article several weeks ago and finally hurried up to finish and post it now, in August. Well, now the movie is rather old news, but I thought it’d be fun to look at the main character, Mrs. Graham.)

I have been enjoying repeated viewings of the new film “The Post” starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradley. Probably because the film covered a pivotal year in the lives of Graham and the newspaper, I decided to run a natal chart for Graham plus a solar return chart for the year 1971, when the issues surrounding the hunt for and publishing of the Pentagon Papers determined whether the Washington Post would grow or shut down.

Lacking an exact time of birth, I ran a noon chart for Graham. Her birth data is on record as June 16, 1917 in New York, New York. I ran a Placidus chart.

NATAL CHART	ASPECT	SOLAR RETURN CHART
Mars-Mercury at 1-2 deg. Gemini	Conjunct Opposite	Venus at 5 deg. Gemini Neptune at 1 deg. Sagittarius
Sun at 24 Gemini (trine Uranus at 23 Aquarius)	Trine (conjunct)	Mars at 18 Aquarius
Jupiter at 27 Taurus	Conjunct Opposite Trine	Saturn  at 29 Taurus Jupiter at 28 Scorpio Pluto at 29 Virgo
Saturn at 29 Cancer	Sextile Trine Conjunct	Saturn  at 29 Taurus Jupiter at 28 Scorpio Juno at 26 Cancer
North Node at 10 Capricorn (opp. Venus at 8 Cancer)	Square Square	Uranus at 9 Libra

If you have read my article on late degrees, you will quickly recognize the placement of the planet Saturn in late Cancer as an indicator of a family business, inherited by the subject. In this case, Graham’s father Eugene Meyer owned the Washington Post and handed over the business to Graham’s husband, Philip Graham. Not until Philip’s untimely death did Katharine take over the business that really was rightfully her – and which in my opinion she was born to run.

[By the way, Eugene Meyer bought the newspaper in a bankruptcy auction in 1933. The presence of Jupiter in late Taurus might be a family signature of a benefit from a bankruptcy action, which winning the auction certainly was. ]

The film portrays Katharine as having great difficulty speaking up for herself until when amid the pressures not to publish the Pentagon Papers, she finally finds her own voice in time to order their publication. So it is a bit surprising to see an argumentative Mars-Mercury conjunction (in Gemini) in her natal chart!! Perhaps that energy was channeled into her early reporting career. The conjunction is opposed by Neptune, which makes me suspect that Neptune might be near her Ascendant. Neptune placed near the Ascendant can make one very quiet, nearly mute, especially in childhood.

• The solar return Venus and Neptune activate issues of expanding (Neptune) the financial support of a more aggressive and active journalistic presence (Mars conjunct Mercury).  
• Solar Return Mars trined Katharine’s Sun, making her dig in her heels in the legal fight to print the Pentagon Papers. This became more exact with the later controversy over the Watergate investigation.
• Solar Return Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto all aspected Katharine’s natal Jupiter, expanding the paper’s influence nationally and greatly raising its prominence. 
• Solar Return Saturn, Jupiter and Juno all aspected her natal Saturn, which also tended to give her the ambition (Saturn) to invest in and assign the many man-hours of investigative work to cover the stories that begged to be told. 
• And Solar Return Uranus helped throw light on those stories in unexpected way, helping the paper (and Katharine) grow into the major voice that it became in national news.

The movie “The Post” is not only a good film about journalism history; it also shows a pivotal slice of time in the personal and professional growth of one brave lady, Katharine Graham.

Retrograde Planets and Opportunities to Erase Karma

By Milky Way Maid  -- for June 12, 2018

Hello, Star-Children!! I’ve been reading and watching material on Vedic astrology and it is FASCINATING!! And even if you have no interest in converting from the Western system, there is much to be gained by listening to the better communicators about the Vedic system.

One of the more interesting astrologers on Youtube is someone who tapes sessions under the name Astrology KRS. As a side note, one of the things that caught my attention was one lesson on Mars retrograde conjunct Ketu (their name for the South Node).

Mars, as you know, is retrograde this summer from June 26 to August 27, in the same sign as the South Node. This is a very dangerous time to be in large groups such as at concerts, ball games, festivals, etc. due to an increased chance of fights breaking out (we are seeing some of this already with fights at sporting events or taverns). Mars is very frustrated and looking for a fight; with the South Node nearby, the result can be a personal loss ranging from loss of a job or driver’s license, to serious injury or even death. Note also that the eclipses this summer are on the Leo-Aquarius axis, too. KRS says that this summer is also not a favorable period for surgery, either.

Now for my main reason for writing an article this week. This has to do with a karmic opportunity while  Jupiter and Saturn are both retrograde this summer. Jupiter (I see you checking your ephemeris) is retrograde from March 8 to July 10, and Saturn is retrograde from April 17 to Sept. 6.

According to KRS, these planets watch our actions far more closely while they are retrograde – with the goal of cleaning up our Karmic records a bit. Jupiter especially wants to reclaim his kingdom and kick out the bums who began squatting in the palace while he was away! And Saturn likewise would like us to live by the rules he set out for us – things like, “Be nice. Share. Help others. Hold the door open. Pay it forward.”

Now, if you are gifted with an opportunity to help someone, ESPECIALLY if it is someone you normally would not give the time of day to, then you really must stoop to help that person. In terms of the caste system of India, a Brahmin would normally have nothing to do with someone of a lower caste, especially an untouchable. But even a Brahmin is obligated to help an untouchable during such a retrograde, in hopes of erasing some old, bad Karma. This is especially true if the recipient of one’s good deed is handicapped or poor, elderly or seriously ill.

Even in our supposedly open Western society, too many of us are locked into our social classes and often treat those of lower status like dirt.  We are all likely to run into at least one opportunity to help someone who really needs some assistance. It may be something as simple as helping a handicapped person across the street. It may be something like listening to someone who just needs to talk. Maybe a few “random acts of kindness” are called for (which are a lovely habit to have, no matter if the planets are retrograde or not!!) And keep this in mind during political discussions in the nation’s capital over cutting Social Security or Medicare!!

Saturn and Jupiter are watching us much more closely while they are retrograde. They would like to erase a bad mark or two from your grade book of Life, so watch for them to toss out some ideas for Extra Credit, lol! Saturn is in charge of the grade book, and Jupiter is waiting to hand out rewards for Good Samaritan-ism. So let’s treat this like the wonderful gift that it is and be on our best behavior, people!!

Hello Again, from Milky Way Maid

Dear Readers,
I put all articles in draft mode several months ago because I expected to have another activity on a Google site, and did not want any confusion or conflict between them.... Well, it appears that the new site or social platform might not ever get off the ground, so enough about that.
But today I have restored many of the articles by republishing them. So you can revisit or review the popular articles like the ones about Late Degrees, or Prince William, or Pope Francis... Enjoy!!
I cannot believe it has been about two and a half years since I wrote a regular column as Milky Way Maid!!!! How time really does fly. I had no real reason for stopping, I just seemed to have burned out.
I have recently gotten my interest piqued by Vedic astrology. So it may be that I will eventually convert over to being a Vedic astrologer myself, so that I can offer not only keen insights into personality and persona, but also curative activities to balance out your planetary energies.
In the meantime, since I hate to leave you without anything, I do want you to please visit Alphee's website for an interesting article on a corrected birth time for Donald Trump.
You will have to go to this page where he lumps all his articles together and scroll down to the pertinent title --- http://www.alphee.com/articles/
TITLE IS: Donald Trump’s Rectified Birth Time
So please read and see what you think about it.
Bye for now, Milky Way Maid

Transiting Mars and Saturn Conjunct in First House Scorpio, A Personal Narrative

By Milky Way Maid

Experiencing a Mars and Saturn conjunction this year was a first-ever event for me. My ascendant is Scorpio, which is just where the conjunction was to occur. I thought maybe there was some chance of an accident, but I did not feel particularly fearful. 

First let's get some details out of the way. 

The Mars-Saturn conjunction was on August 25, 2014, at 17 degrees Scorpio. The exact time was 3:30 pm Eastern. Coincidentally, there was a New Moon that day: 2 degrees 19' of Virgo at 10:13 am. Mars and Saturn sextiled Mercury earlier in the day. Also, four days later (Aug. 29) the Sun opposed Neptune which was at 6 degrees Pisces. 

None of these points were conjunct any natal planets, but 17 degrees Scorpio closely opposes my natal Sun and applies to my natal North Node – the latter seems to be rather auspicious. The New Moon was sextile my natal Ascendant and trine natal Mars. So the outlook seemed to be on the whole pretty positive, even if I had trouble guessing what kind of event might take place. 

ALSO- 17 degrees Scorpio is exactly square my natal Chiron in Aquarius. Chiron in Aquarius has accounted for some arthritis in the knees and other ailments and injuries in that area. This time around, the square to Chiron seems to indicate a surgical intervention of some kind, but I thought some other transiting aspects referred to a series of injections to the knees that started in August. Turns out, I was in for some other surgeries besides those injections, even though they were all quite minor. Minor, yes, but for me it was very unusual to have such a cluster of medical interventions. 

Online articles on transiting Mars conjunct Saturn said things like “go on a diet,” or “much energy spent putting out annoying brush fires.” I have been trying to lose weight, but have been stuck on a plateau for several months; we will see if this transit brings any success. But the latter stuff about brush fires is true. I have had several things happen, one of the most annoying was a package that went astray and difficulty getting anyone to look into it. 

Consulting my trusty copy of “Transits In Reverse” yields many valuable nuggets, such as: “You may run into all kinds of frustrating irritations . . . and will be doubly frustrated because you'll have little chance to vent any resulting anger,” be careful of sharp tools, “not a day for risky ventures or investments,” low energy, a lack of stamina.

But nowhere did I run into mention of what actually happened that month. I had two minor surgeries which are notable because of a near-total lack of any previous surgical interventions other than assorted biopsies.

It is also interesting to note that the areas where the surgeries were performed are those ruled by Scorpio: the reproductive organs and the colon or excretory system. In both cases the items removed were negative for cancer, so that would tie in with the positive contacts to my natal chart. 

The list of Progressions also produced some hits to the 17th degree: Progressed Sun was at 14 Cancer, Progressed Mercury was at 17 Cancer, Progressed Ceres at 18 Gemini, Progressed Vesta and Progressed Part of Fortune at 15 and 16 Aries (in the sixth house of health). That is quite a list! 

Looking ahead, transiting Mars will conjunct natal Saturn in Sagittarius about the end of September or beginning of October, so I will have to keep an eye peeled for what transpires at that time. At any rate, Mars has already moved out of my Ascendant sign Scorpio, and Saturn will follow around Christmas of this year. So YAY, I will be glad of that. A second Saturn return does not come till 2016, so I will not worry about that right now. 

I would like to note once again that regarding good aspects for diets or weight loss, one of the most remarkable in my experience was a transiting Sun-Saturn conjunction for the day that I began a rather physically-demanding job. I believe I lost about 30 pounds in the first two months on that job. Of course I regained them much later, but that's how it goes.

—————————————————-

LATE DEGREES – see my popular article on late degrees of all the signs. Link: http://milky-way-astrology.blogspot.com/2008/08/planets-in-late-degrees-what-do-they.html
POPE FRANCIS – I finally posted a little article on the new Pope Francis and also a kind of book review on a book that accidentally talks about ancient astronomy. The article on Pope Francis is here: http://milkywayastrology.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/a-look-at-the-new-pope-franciss-astro-charts/ And the article on the best book that both is and is not about ancient astronomy is here: http://milkywayastrology.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/the-best-book-about-ancient-astronomy-that-isnt-about-astrology-per-se/
COOL WEBSITES – In no particular order of importance: Check out Astrology.com – free lessons online. Watch astronomic animations at http://shadowandsubstance.com/. Go to http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ for a view of our solar system and nearby stars. This guy called the correct winner of the 2012 election, and he puts out a monthly column: http://www.howardbeckmanvedicastrologer.com/wordpress/

Ripped from the Headlines: Jupiter in Leo 2014

By Milky Way Maid

Now that Jupiter is firmly in Leo, it is fun to see ways in which Jove (and Venus too) are beaming their positive rays on that sign.

I noticed an article in a recent copy of the Wall Street Journal that detailed how two companies were returning bountiful profits for investors. What companies were they? Two movie studios – MGM and Lion's Gate!!!

How perfect is that? MGM's trademark is the iconic Leo the Lion roaring a greeting at the start of each film, and Lion's Gate, well that one is obvious, too, with the name of the animal that represents the sign Leo.

MGM has seen huge box-office receipts on the strength of films like the James Bond thriller “Skyfall” and “The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey.” Each one brought in over one billion dollars, and continues to sell tickets overseas. MGM also has the TV show “21 Jump Street” and a deep catalog of films in its library to sell copies in international channels and digital services, according to the WSJ.

This is a major turnaround since it was forced to file bankruptcy in 2010. 

MGM was born on April 17, 1924. I was surprised to see so much cardinal energy in their chart. The Sun is at 27 degrees Aries, square Mars at 25 degrees Capricorn (a strong placement for that planet), opposite Saturn exalted in Libra (29 degrees), and trine its North Node at 29 degrees Leo, a perfect placement for an entertainment business.

Not only is the T-square a strong driver for the chart, the planets involved are also in the very late degrees of the signs. Let's see, what did I write about late degrees of these signs? 

The Sun in a late degree of Aries denotes someone that is a pioneer in some way, and MGM was very much a pioneer. It had not only the most glamourous collection of stars (with names like Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, the Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals, Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and many more), it also boasted several firsts. While it was one of the last studios to adopt sound, it was the first to make a complete film in Technicolor with sound (The Viking), as well experimenting with it for portions of Ben-Hur and a few other films. They also virtually owned the big-budget musical segment of the film industry. 

Mars in late Capricorn has high energy, which would have made for an excellent athlete in an individual chart. Any planet in late Capricorn is powerful for building a business, especially a business that survives the death of the founder. And indeed, the fact that this company is 90 years old and still going strong is a testament to a strong Mars here.

Saturn in late Libra: Saturn in Libra is exalted anyway, meaning that it is strong, and the energies of that planet find ease in expressing itself in a positive way. Venus-ruled Libra is known for famous dancers and other entertainers. Famous dancers with a planet in late Libra include Ben Vereen, Fayard Nicholas, Arthur Duncan, and Juliet Prowse. Libra looks for the beautiful and tends to shun the gritty side of life. This was the philosophy of co-founder Louis B. Mayer, who preferred the glorious color and musical spectaculars like Show Boat, the Andy Hardy films, The Ten Commandments, An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Brigadoon.

And having the North Node at 29 degrees Leo would be an obvious boon for any company in the entertainment industry, and for major growth and even dominance in the minds of the public. It did not hurt that its Stable of Stars included The King, Clark Gable! MGM gets a boost from both Jupiter and Venus transiting Leo, contacting the natal Neptune (glamour) at 17 degrees and the North Node at 29 degrees.

MGM emerged from bankruptcy in December 2010, when Pluto at 4 degrees Capricorn passed the square to natal Moon at 3 Libra and natal Ceres at 3 Aries. During the lean years, Neptune was opposing its natal place in Leo; now that Neptune is transiting Pisces, that transit no longer depresses box-office receipts. 

Lion's Gate profits have rested on properties like the “Hunger Games” franchise (with two more in the works). Lion's Gate's birth date is listed as July 3, 1997.

The Lion's Gate natal chart also has a strong cardinal component, with Sun at 11 degrees Cancer, the Moon at zero degrees Cancer, Mercury at 21 degrees Cancer, Mars at 6 degrees Libra, Saturn at 19 degrees Aries, and Neptune (glamour) at 29 degrees Capricorn. Neptune is the only planet at a strong late degree, and promises that the company will survive through thick and thin. 

Transits that have lifted its fortunes: the main one is the progressed Moon (now at 9 degrees Aquarius) has recently conjuncted natal Uranus at 7 degrees Aquarius; this would account for lucking onto the Hunger Games franchise, with its strange, even bizarre public appeal. The other is that progressed Sun at 28 Cancer opposes natal Neptune, added a high gloss of glamour to its offerings. 

A caveat to those interested in investing in the company now: progressed Mars is applying to an opposition to natal Saturn. That seems to me to be a negative for financials, especially in regard to handling debts and commissions. In the short term, Jupiter in Leo will contact the natal Venus at 6 Leo, and sextile natal Mars at 6 Libra; that should prop up the business in the short term; once Jupiter leaves Leo though, public appeal will probably deflate in short order.