AT 29 (32 page)

Jimmy pulled out the chair and sat down. Hines leaned forward, opening with a description of astrology's historical roots.

“Many civilizations unearthed from antiquity, have practiced one form of astrology or another. Despite the fact that most of the earliest practitioners never came in contact with one another, their techniques and interpretations are remarkably similar. Until the scientific method took over, thankfully debunking all the pseudo-sciences that came before, astrology was deemed a high discipline. Many of the greats, Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Kepler, Aquinas, and a long list of other notables practiced it. You might find it interesting that the most powerful and prominent financier in American history, J. P. Morgan, was an open proponent.” Hines went on for five minutes, holding Jimmy spellbound with his history lesson. He concluded with the central theme of the practice. “Astrology presupposes two enduring beliefs that until some recent organized religions made them taboo, were central to past spiritual thought, reincarnation and karma.”

“Past lives?”

Hines smiled and nodded his head. “Past, present and future. The two beliefs are intertwined. Some astrologers believe in a universal consciousness, a benign spirit from which each of us has separated to some degree. We are engaged in lifetimes of effort to reunite with this spirit. Getting back to God, if you will. We switch back and forth in a cycle of physical manifestations such as you and me sitting here today, and spiritual manifestations, perhaps in another dimension, gaining in wisdom along the way. That's the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, in another word, reincarnation.

“Karma is simply the law of cause and effect. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Hence, from life to life if we do good deeds we receive positive results in return. The opposite also applies. In astrological terms, aspects called sextiles and trines, which are helpful and squares and oppositions, which can be challenging, depict this concept. The former are gifts that can be used to overcome the latter.”

“Sounds like religion, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“Exactly.”

“So you counsel people using the sun, moon and stars?”

“It's not like what you read in the newspapers. People come to me with questions. My friend and his wife want to know about their new baby's personality. Like me, they don't necessarily believe everything the chart suggests, but they find astrology interesting. Call it a parlor game.”

“Can you tell me if I'll survive the triathlon on Saturday?”

Hines chuckled, “No, but astrology might suggest why you're doing it.”

“Can you do a chart for me?”

“Do you know what time you were born?”

“No, just the date and location.”

“Most people don't and it's too bad because birth time enables astrologers to identify the departments of activity that are most active in a person's life. It also allows them to identify the rising sign.”

“What does that mean?”

Astrologers also call it the ascendant. It shows how other people see you, the way you present yourself to the world. Your sun sign is almost the opposite, how you see the world. The best I can do is a sun sign chart. It won't give you a complete picture, but there may be a few nuggets of interest.”

“I'm leaving Sunday.”

“Give me the date and location. I'll draw it up tonight. Can you come back tomorrow around mid-afternoon?”

“Yes.” Jimmy gave him the information. Hines sat back in his chair, a knowing look on his face. “Something about the date?”

“You're twenty nine.”

“Yes. Is that significant?”

“Could be. It's when Saturn returns to the original chart location it occupied when you were born. It's another aspect called a conjunction, symbolizing action. With Saturn making its twenty nine year return it's no wonder you happened by.”

“I don't understand.”

“I'm one of those people who believes nothing happens by chance in life. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

***

A cold front moved through northern New England overnight presaged by thunderstorms and heavy rains. By dawn on Friday hot muggy weather blanketed the area. After breakfast he drove to Malletts Bay to register for the next day. He signed some forms and received a bright orange swim cap.

“You'll go into the water with the third group at 8:20. Link up with the others at the beach no later than eight.”

“Anything special about Orange?”

“It identifies the first timers.”

“Oh.” Jimmy felt slightly embarrassed.

He reappeared at the former pub at the appointed time. Hines slid a sheaf of papers across the desk. The cover page depicted a circular chart with Jimmy's name, date and location of birth neatly printed at the top. Lines bisected the circle, creating twelve spaces of equal size. The odd markings Jimmy had noticed the day before were penciled in at various points inside some of the spaces. Other lines of different colors connected many of the symbols.

“We're the same age so we're facing a similar crossroad.”

“What kind of crossroad?”

“Where we go from here, decisions, that sort of thing.”

“So you're twenty nine, too?”

“Yes.” Hines began his explanation, “Each space represents one of the twelve signs of the zodiac such as Aires, Taurus and so on. Since we don't have the time you were born, the spaces also represent the houses of your chart and, like the signs, are a uniform thirty degrees. Aires, as the first sign, corresponds to the first house. Libra, being
the seventh sign, corresponds to the seventh house and so on. If we knew your time of birth, these houses would not be a consistent thirty degrees.

“This symbol,” he pointed to a tiny circle marked with a dot in its center, “represents the sun.” It's in Aquarius, which corresponds to the eleventh house. Thus, you are an Aquarian. I'll let you read what that means in my write-up. In short, you tend to deal with your world on a large scale, either directly or indirectly. Many politicians, performers, writers and publicly oriented people have Aquarius prominently in their charts.” Jimmy peered down at the symbols, interested.

“The eleventh house represents friends, hopes, wishes, and income from individual efforts, such as self-employment. Consequently, there is a great deal of activity involving these areas in your day-to-day affairs. Neptune is also here.” Hines pointed to a three-pronged symbol, “It's right on top of your sun. That's called a conjunction, and as I said yesterday about your Saturn, denotes action. Neptune has to do with imagination, dreams, creative thought, illusion and sometimes, self-deception through artificial stimulants. Neptune also rules music. As you can see, all of the planets, signs and houses have both positive and negative possibilities.”

Hines went on for several minutes, describing each of the signs and houses and stopping to explain the significance of any planets that were found in them. Jimmy listened with surprise as the other man detailed things that only he could know about himself, tendencies he knew he had, but never before had been predicted by a stranger. When he finished Hines leaned back in his chair, playing with his pencil.

“What do you think?”

Jimmy picked up the chart. “I find it hard to believe.”

“It doesn't ring true?”

“Quite the opposite. I'm stunned by how accurate it seems.”

“Good. You can read my report later.”

“What about Saturn?”

“Oh yes, how could I forget?” Hines reached over and took the chart. He set it down on the desk and pointed to the symbol for Saturn, a small figure that looked like a lower case ‘k'. “Saturn is commonly called the taskmaster. It represents the career as well as the primary focus of one's lessons in life. Wherever it's placed in a person's chart, that's where the challenges are most profound and where there is the greatest opportunity for personal growth. You have it in Leo in the fifth house conjunct Uranus, an interesting placement and aspect.

“Saturn tends to tamp down the influence of everything it touches, causing us to dig deeper into ourselves. Leo is the lion, desirous of attention, the key character on the stage, commanding notice from his audience. The fifth house is creative expression, love affairs, sports, children, the spice and pleasures of life. Uranus is sudden change, originality, electronics, restlessness and desire for freedom without restrictions. You can imagine the kind of tension that comes into play when the wet blanket of Saturn is thrown over the independence of Uranus. Mix in Leo's craving for attention and the fifth house's spice for life and you have a recipe for almost anything.”

Jimmy shook his head. “Sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

“Not necessarily. Saturn brings discipline to the attributes of everything else so they can be tamed and controlled for meaningful achievement. To me, it's a fortunate
placement especially with Uranus in the same place. Which brings me to a question.” Hines looked over at Jimmy as if waiting for permission.

“Shoot.”

“Are you facing some sort of personal crossroad right now?”

“You could say that.”

“I thought so. That's your Saturn return doing its thing.”

“Meaning?”

“Saturn makes one complete loop around the zodiac every twenty nine years. Therefore, it comes into conjunction with its natal position, that is, the spot it occupied in your chart when you were born, at around the time a person is twenty-nine, fifty-eight and, with good genes, eighty-seven. At each of these intervals we are forced to take stock of where we are in our life, what we have accomplished in the previous twenty-nine year cycle. In traditional astrology, back thousands of years, people didn't live much beyond twenty-nine so Saturn's return often signified the end. Nowadays, with longer life spans, it simply symbolizes the end of one life cycle and the start of another.”

“A bad time?”

“That depends upon your point of view and what you've done with the previous twenty-nine years. Most times, when we look back on it, we can point to some seminal event or series of events, marking a turning point.”

“For example?”

“Marriage or divorce, having a child, losing a child starting a new job, losing a job, a serious illness, a cure, taking up residence in a new place, returning to one's roots, losing a loved one, falling in love. Take the couple that just had their baby. They tried to have a child for years with no luck. They almost gave up, but the miracle happened. During her pregnancy there were complications. She spent the last three months flat on her back with the likelihood she could lose the child or even her own life. It was a very difficult time for them. As it turned out, all went well, but she can never have another baby. They're both twenty-nine just like us. For them, the new cycle is beginning life as a family and raising their little boy.”

“Nothing like that in my case.”

“Me, either, but I'm at a turning point just the same.”

“What's your issue?” Jimmy's interest piqued.

“I'm waiting on tenure from the University of Vermont.”

“Is it in question?”

“It's always a crap shoot, but I made it more uncertain when I rattled a few nerves in a paper I wrote for the Journal of Theology. You know the publish or perish thing.”

“Theology?”

“Yes, I have a Ph.D. I teach courses on world religions.”

“What did you write?”

“I did some post-doctoral work in Israel and Palestine so I'm particularly sensitive to anything I come across that doesn't exactly square with what I encountered over there. My department head is a Rabbi, well known and respected. He's written several papers about the struggles in the Middle East. Anyway, I published a paper that countered some of his conclusions. He didn't like what I wrote. Now, since he has a major say on my tenure, I'm sweating it out.”

“That doesn't sound so bad.”

“The academic world is every bit as competitive as business or the arts. In retrospect, I think I might feel threatened, too, if some newcomer challenged my views.”

“When will you know?”

“In the fall. What's your story?”

Jimmy laughed. “Sex, drugs and rock ‘n' roll.”

Hines smiled. “I like your issues better.”

“Well, more like one woman, booze and rock ‘n' roll.”

“Care to share the particulars?”

Jimmy hesitated. “Let's just say alcohol had a detrimental impact on the other two.” Jimmy gestured to the chart on the desk. “I'm curious, can your analysis help me figure out what to do about it?”

Hines became serious again, thinking. “This may sound unsatisfactory, but you don't need astrology to tell you what you already know. Most of the time we merely ignore the facts surrounding our personal challenges. People usually know intuitively, the right or wrong of their circumstances. The hard part is overcoming the innate tendencies that brought us into the predicaments we face.

“I saw an aspect in your chart and knew right away that we had a common challenge, Sun opposition Saturn and Uranus. We both have a propensity for unwise action at the most inopportune times, often when we are on the verge of achieving something that we've worked very hard to attain. We tend to sabotage our progress at the last moment. Take the paper I wrote, I could have published it after I made tenure. Then I would have been safe from my department head's perfectly human reaction. Now, I'm kicking myself. If I am denied, it will be a very hard lesson for me. If you examine some of your past actions at critical times, you'll probably see a similar pattern.”

Jimmy let his words sink in. “You said I already know what to do about my problems. It doesn't feel like it. Actually, I feel lost.”

Hines tapped two more symbols on the chart, each opposite one another. “These are your north and south nodes. They represent destiny brought into this life from previous lives. Your north node is in Pisces. It indicates that you have a vague inner guilt, perhaps a sense of personal inadequacy. Its placement in your chart calls for you to seek spiritual depth from previous experience to help you confront and overcome your problems. On the flip side your south node is in Virgo. It indicates that if you learn to let go, have faith in the spiritual side of existence, that is, something bigger than yourself, you can be quite successful in anything you try. In other words, look within for answers.”