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Taurus Solar Eclipse

This is your Horoscope Highlight for the week of April 25 – May 1, 2022, with world-class astrologer, historian, and author of The Cosmic Calendar, Christopher Renstrom.

This is your Horoscope Highlight for the week of April 25 – May 1, 2022 with world-class astrologer, historian, and author of The Cosmic Calendar, Christopher Renstrom. This week, we can expect a solar eclipse in Taurus on April 30th. Christopher details the sign of Taurus and its symbol, and shares two stories that reinforce the importance of honoring a pledge and the permanent power it holds both inside and outside of us.

✨Timestamps

0:00 Intro

0:29 Taurus as a Sign

6:13 The Bull

11:49 Minos & the White Bull

30:52 Honoring Benefic Planets

34:29 Pablo Picasso & the Painting of Guernica

52:06 Broken Pledges

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated. Some miswording might be present.

Christopher Renstrom 0:13
Hello, my name is Christopher Renstrom And I’m your weekly horoscope columnist here on astrology hub.

Christopher Renstrom 0:19
And this week, I wanted to talk to you about the solar eclipse and Taurus taking place on April 30. Taurus is a wonderful sign is the sign that is connected to the heart of spring, when basically, flowers are blooming and plants are looking most verdant, and essentially it’s the time of year, April 20, to about roughly may 20, when Spring has sprung. So everything associated to tourists is is verdant. Everything associated to tourists is lush. Taurus puts us in mind of those marvelous marvelously Arcadian days of, of ancient times when shepherds tended their flocks, and fruit could be grasped from the trees, and everyone was like living in peace, and holistically with life here on Earth. So this is the time of year that is associated with the zodiac sign of Taurus and Taureans are basically people that are associated with prosperity or with life that is growing, or with the earth delivering its fruits or it’s actually technically beginning to get towards the time when it’s going to deliver its fruits. It’s right before summer, so things aren’t too hot, things aren’t too dry. This is the time of year when gardens are really springing to life and, and as I said when things are most bereted Taurus is an earth sign. And all Earth SIGNS whether it’s Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn, are associated with life here on Earth. So, basically life here on earth is is a life in which you have to work in which you have to toil in which you are working towards basically harvesting the crops or the fruits of your labor. So all earth signs are associated with the body. All earth signs are associated with money. And all earth signs are most importantly, associated with producing something of your efforts. Okay? Other zodiac signs might talk about the things that they’re going to do one day or, or imagined the things that they’re going to do, or, or maybe plan with someone, things that they hope to accomplish. But the earth signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, the earth signs are not happy, unless they have produced something that can be weighed in the palm of your hand at the end of the day. And usually that thing that can be weighed in the palm of your hand, at the end of the day is money. Okay, so this is something that’s very important to the earth signs now of all three earth signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, of all three earth signs, the earth sign that is the most comfortable with money, the most comfortable in its own skin. The most comfortable with being physical without apology is a Taurus. And so that’s why I often associate Taurus as being the most optimistic of all the earth signs. The other two earth signs, Virgo and Capricorn tend to be more focused on the problems, the trials and the difficulties of living in this world, and the things that you have to do to make something work. Taurus almost seems to have this very innocent ability to apply itself to toil and to hard work and to become successful at it. It’s, it’s, it’s a zodiac sign that’s very successful at whatever it really applies itself to. And I think Taurus also has a real love of money. Now that might sound a little bit like love of money, you know, does that mean that Taurus is very materialistic and, and guarding over over the things that it produces over the money that it makes? And actually what I found with working with tourists over the years that the love of money comes from the simple fact that Taurus is really good at making it and so there isn’t a tendency to be a guarded about it, or to be tight with it or anything along those lines. Taurus can actually be rather benevolent about about money and will and will spend it but it always points to how hard it worked for it. Or if it’s taken friends out to a meal, it will hold up the bill and say, I’m treating, but look at how much money I’m spending on all of you tonight. Okay, so So there’s always sort of that reminder that Taurus has that that, you know that that it worked really hard, and that it’s being very generous, but it wants you to know how how generous it’s being actually in terms of the dollar amount. So there’s that that side to Taurus, but Taurus really does have a green thumb, it has a green thumb with the garden, and it has a green thumb with the green, meaning money, these are things that it just naturally is very good at. So when we talk about tours, we’re really talking about the sort of pastoral view of the world, a world that is lush, a world that is coming to life. Actually, it’s a world that is bursting with life. You summer is around the corner. So it’s about to produce things. But this is a time when when it’s just sort of celebrating life and the growth of life, with with an anticipation towards the abundance, the abundance of summer, which is the season that follows spring. Nevertheless, when we really think about Taurus, and when we really think about the image of the bull, which is what Taurus is, the bull is a very complex figure. When when you really think about it, first of all, when you look at it astrologically it’s a bit of a hmm, because we know that Taurus is a feminine sign, it’s an earth sign. So all earth signs are feminine. So something that used to make people sort of like laugh at astrologers was earring like Taurus, the bull is a feminine sign well, to anyone who’s familiar with bows, there’s nothing remotely feminine about a bowl, it’s very masculine. Okay, so so that was always something that would give a little chuckle to people hearing that, oh, Taurus is a feminine sign like since when, but but the bowl nevertheless is a complex figure on one hand, it is masculine, it is strong, and it is sturdy. So so we we associate stability and security to the zodiac sign of Taurus, it is also a bowl it can also be very aggressive. And if you get a bowl riled up, it can be very angry, and it can charge right at you. So there’s a lot of power that’s associated to the bowl, what you want is a bowl in a pastoral setting, sort of like chomping on grass and being very happy. But if you get a bowl angry, it will charge at you and it will get really quite aggressive. So the bowl has always had this powerful element. In mythology, you see the bowl show up a lot in Greek mythology, and, and and a lot of tales and legends.

Christopher Renstrom 7:57
But but in Greek mythology, particularly the bowl is a very powerful figure, in Mesopotamian mythology, in the story of a Nana, the bowl, is a very, very powerful figure. So So here you’ve got this kind of like, powerful can charge figure this this, this, this creature that which can sort of like command the turf, that it is in that it is in charge of. But at the same time, the bowl is often a victim, okay? The bowl is a victim Like for instance, in bullfighting where it goes up against a matador and will eventually end up speared and killed. The bowl has since ancient times been sacrificed in rituals. So it’s been led, and sacrificed and from its blood was was people felt potency and virility have poured forth, poured forth from it, or the bowl was reduced in power by men, by mankind by civilization, turned into a beast of burden turned into plowing the fields, and in modern day led to the slaughter, to feed to to feed people with beef and food and things along those sorts. So, on one hand, we have the balls a very powerful figure, a figure of of fertility, and of hard work and and aggressive and then on the other hand, we have the bowl as being led to the slaughter and and being a foodstuff and and and of being sacrificed. So these are two ideas that I want you to sort of keep in mind as we talk a little bit more about tourists today. Now cattle were seen as a sign of wealth in the ancient world long before stocks and bonds. It was cattle that was seen as wealth, and indeed the word cattle and the word chattel, both derived from the medieval Latin word capital, which is where we get the word capitalism. So the root of capitalism kaput, okay? The root kaput means head. And as every rancher knows, head is the word you use when you’re counting the number of cattle that you own. It goes further bullish is how Wall Streeters will describe the market when the price of stocks is going up. So you want a bull market a bull market is very aggressive and it’s wonderful and, and it’s going to return a lot of money. cash cow is what we call any profitable venture that produces regularly and with little effort like going out and milking a cow. Okay. So, so, you can see that the symbol of, of Taurus, you know, the bowl and cattle and herd, these have all been associated with wealth since ancient time. So this is before, you know, the affiliation with second house or anything along those lines. All the earth signs are basically associated with life here on Earth. And with wealth as it shows up in in its different forms. What you have basically is cattle for Taurus, you have the harvesting of the crops, for Virgo, and then you have minds for Capricorn. Okay, so so all of the all of the three earth signs are associated with with wealth as it appears here on earth or in our day to day life. So, in Greek mythology, in Greek mythology, my nose was a king of Crete. And this is very interesting. My nose was a king of Crete, and he was the son of Zeus and Europa. Now, some of you may recollect the myth of Zeus and Europa. Europa is a beautiful, commonly made in princess who kept catches the eye of Zeus who, you know, is like, Oh, she’s a, she’s a cuddly looking maiden princess. I must seduce her, okay. And Zeus is always seducing

Christopher Renstrom 12:24
people, nymphs, princesses, young boys, Zeus is always descending from heaven and seducing and, and making love to people. It’s an allegorical representation of literally mixing heaven and earth, in the body of Zeus. So Zeus shows up and as his as wante, he cannot appear in his true godly forum because it’s too brilliant and anyone who sees him will be reduced to ashes. So what he does is that he turns himself into a white ball, alright. And he sort of shows up, where Europa, I guess these Princess maidens are always sort of collecting flowers or something like this. This like what Persephone is doing anyway. So he shows up as this white studly board, you know, very majestic and Europa is attended by her princess friends. And they’re collecting flowers and they and they see this bowl who’s so gentle and kind and, and they put garlands of flowers is very Tory and they put garlands of flowers on the horns of the bowl, and, you know, sort of chuckled laugh. Oh, you know, as they as they do this, they’re so innocent. And so your, your rope is sort of climbs on the back of the bowl, you know, her friends are kind of like, oh, the bowl, genuflect to you, the bowl will do your bidding. Why don’t you climb on the back of the bowl, Princess Europa, and, and, and we can all celebrate this gay moment. Okay, so, so she claims on the back and, and she’s like, oh, you know, I can hold his horns and things like that. He’s so kind and gentle, you know? And they’re like, oh, you know, and things like that? Well, they’re always before it takes a turn for the worst. And so what basically happens is that she she sits on his back and holds to his horns and is laughing with her friends. And suddenly the ball boat boats for the ocean, okay, and it starts galloping towards the ocean, and the friends are like your rugby wrap up, okay. And so it goes into the waves. And Europa is like completely terrified. And she’s clinging to the horns of this bowl, and she’s like, Oh, my God, we’re gonna sink or something like that, but they don’t sink. Instead, the bowl sort of like swims, gallops through the ocean, on this bright, lovely sort of spring day, and Europa is terrified, but also full of wonder. And so the boat crosses the ocean and shows up on the island of Crete. And that is where Zeus and Europa come together in a moment of order. And, and Europa ends up having Three sons by Zeus. Okay, so this is one in a series of conceptions divine conceptions in which a mortal woman gives birth to, to a divinity or half divinity child. And so Europa gives birth to three, three sons, and subsequently becomes the queen of Crete. And Crete becomes a very, very wealthy nation in or city state or island city state, in ancient Greece, and, and it’s known for its prosperity, and it’s known for its wealth. And so one of her songs is my nose, okay, and my nose wants to be king of Crete. And so, in order to become king of Crete, he goes, and he speaks to Poseidon, who is the god of the ocean, which surrounds the island of Crete, and he says, I would like to become the king of Crete, I beg of you to show me some sort of favor. And if you will do this, I will repay you. And I will reign in your name and and be a good and wise king. So Poseidon Neptune hears minuses of plea, and he favors minus. Remember, Poseidon or Neptune is a brother to Jupiter, he’s a brother to Zeus. And Neptune also happens to be one of the CO rulers of Jupiter rule Pisces, okay, so, so we have a Poseidon hearing this play, and he says, I will, I will give you a beautiful bowl. And so from out of the ocean comes this gorgeous, gorgeous bowl. It’s It’s It’s huge, it’s robust, it has power, you know, and again, obeys or is, is obedient to, to, to minus. And so with this reappearance of this magnificent white ball, the two brothers fail in their pursuit of becoming king of Crete. Because here again, we see the reappearances of this magnificent white bowl, which is looks very much like the same white ball that Europa rode the oceans over and became the queen of Crete. And so this was basically the gods sanctioning.

Christopher Renstrom 17:26
mitoses rule. Okay, so everyone’s like, Oh, want to be brothers. Forget it. King King, my nose, we applaud you and we will follow you and you are clearly the designated ruler. And so my nose is happy. But beside it says to my nose, I’m going to lend you this bowl. Okay, I’m going to give you this bowl for X amount period of time. And at the end of this period of time, I want you to sacrifice this bowl to me. Okay, so you will leave this bowl out and you will sacrifice this bowl to me, because that will be your way of acknowledging me as your deity. Okay? And so minus is like, sure, sure, sure. Absolutely, of course. So time passes. And minus is just like looking at this bowl. And he’s like, this is the most magnificent creature. This is the most extraordinary bowl. How can I how can I possibly sacrifice this bowl like, like, lead it like, like, like cattle just slaughter and treat it like any other member of the herd. It’s just so magnificent. I, I can’t do it. I can’t part with this bowl. I’m going to hide this bowl, in my herd of cattle, and I will sacrifice an equally wonderful bowl, and Poseidon. Poseidon isn’t going to miss it. He’s got so many bowls. And and he’s not going to miss it. And actually, what’s important is the sacrifice, you know, sacrifices, after all sorts of metaphorical gestures. So you know, that’s what I’m going to go ahead and do. Okay? This is never a good idea. All right. If Greek mythology teaches us anything, it’s never a good idea to go back on your promise. Okay to break a pledge. And as you might recall from earlier podcasts that we’ve done, Venus, who is the planetary ruler of Taurus and Libra, but nevertheless, the planetary ruler of Taurus, okay, we’re talking about Venus in her Taurus rulership here. When you make a pledge, when you make a promise, you don’t break it, ever. This is something that actually both benefic planets insist on. Jupiter is also a planet of pledges. Actually, Jupiter is like, an oath. Okay. Pledging of allegiance. That’s actually probably the best At our way to demonstrate Jupiter you pledge allegiance to you pledge allegiance to your city state. You pledge allegiance to our flag, you pledge allegiance to a king. You pledge allegiance. Jupiter is also the planet of hospitality you greet strangers and you don’t treat them poorly. Alright, so so this is Jupiter and then Venus is I’m betrothed to you, I gave an oath I gave a promise and I will I will fulfill this I gave you my word and I will, I will keep my word. Okay, so this is what the two Pacific’s insist upon. And in Greek mythology, bad things happen when you don’t. When when you don’t welcome a stranger into your house properly. Or when a stranger comes into your house. And a duck’s your bride, like in the case of Paris, and that starts the Trojan War. Or here where you don’t keep your end of the bargain, which is to sacrifice the bowl, no matter how beautiful and magnificent to God. I think we’ve all kind of like had moments of pause in our life where maybe someone has loaned us money or given us money. And, and so we kind of think, or loaned us an object, a book or shirt, a sweater, something like that. And we might think, Oh, well, I can take my time paying this money back, this person’s better off than me, they’re not going to miss it. Or, oh, I can take my time returning this sweater or this borrowed object. This person is doing so much better than me and has so many sweaters like this and has so many objects like this or books like this on their shelves, they’re never going to miss that, you know, there are those moments, okay? These are moments that Taurus, by the way, is acutely aware of okay, which is why they never lend things, okay. But this is a moment which is being demonstrated here and the Greek myth. And so minus has this moment where he’s like, beside them to God, he’s got plenty of bowls, he’s not gonna miss this, I’m gonna hold on to this, okay, and, and give a substitute. Okay, as I said, never a good idea in Greek mythology,

Christopher Renstrom 22:09
never a good idea in life. And indeed, what we have with the zodiac sign of Taurus is the idea of repaying your debts, okay? That if someone loans you something or you borrow something from someone, it is in your custodianship for a period of time, you know, for your use for you to wear for you to wear the sweater at a nice, you know, night or for actually, for you to wear the sweater because it’s a cool night, you give it back in the morning for you to read the book, you give it back after you’ve read it for you to repay the debt, you pay it back after you spent that money which you needed, because you had come up short, or needed to pay bills or something like that someone out of the generosity of their spirit has lent you this. And the expectation is that you return it. And when you don’t return it, that is not a good thing. Now, some people might say, Well, we, you know, credit cards don’t need that money back or you know, X amount of money has been given to me or whatever the government doesn’t need that back person has more than enough for things like that. The problem with that thinking, and I know it’s a challenge. I know, it’s a challenge. I was a kid in New York for years. And you know, you had to do whatever, you could stretch that box, and things like that. But what happens is that it diminishes you. It diminishes you and it diminishes your worth and your value. But more than that, what it does is that it is a bad form. It’s rude. It’s disrespectful, it’s not showing proper thanks or gratitude to the person who lent you that in the first place. And this is a very the Newseum thing. Venus is all about showing the proper gratitude. And, and and the proper reciprocity, because the idea of money in the ancient world and even nowadays, is that money wasn’t created to stay put. Okay, money was created to circulate. Okay, it’s created to circulate through the body of society, through the economy of the world. It’s made to circulate. It’s like blood, it’s like oxygen, it circulates within the body, okay. Money obviously doesn’t circulate within our physical bodies, but borrowing from the idea of the body like the body politic, okay, money is meant to circulate through the body, it creates a healthy society, just like good blood circulation, and good oxygen circulation, creates a healthy body, good money circulation, creates a healthy society. All right, and So, so this is what’s expected. And this is where my nose fails, okay, he doesn’t do this, and Poseidon sees it. I didn’t know what minus was thinking. But anyway, Poseidon sees that he was like basically given, you know, this trashy sacrifice, you know, rather than the return of his precious bowl, which was on loan to my nose, which was to show that my nose had the favor of heaven. So when you do something like that, you go from the favor of Heaven column to the disfavor of Heaven column, okay, and so Poseidon has a real you know, Matt on about this and, and he’s, he’s insulted. And he’s, he’s furious at, at at at my nose. Beside and again is Neptune’s Greek name. Neptune is the Roman name and Poseidon is the Greek. And so Poseidon turns to Aphrodite. Okay. He turns to Aphrodite. And he says, I need you to curse my nose. Okay. And so this is fascinating because he turns to Aphrodite, who happens to be Venus, who happens to be the ruler of Taurus, and this is all a spat about a bowl. All right. So he turns to Aphrodite and he says, I want you to curse my nose. And she’s like, well, but he did do and he explains everything. She’s like, Oh my goodness, that’s awful. Okay, of course, I’ll curse him. But actually, I’m not going to curse him. And he’s like, Okay, who are you going to curse? I’m going to curse. His wife really?

Christopher Renstrom 26:39
Just watched me. I’ll take care of this. Okay, so she turns to minus his wife, queen, passivity. And he and she Aphrodite, curses Queen Pasiphae. So she can only all gods can only bless or curse according to the properties or the or the areas of life that they are associated with. Works the same way in astrology. All planets can only bless or curse according to the provinces that they rule over in your astrological chart. So what Aphrodite does, we know that she’s the goddess of love. And we know that Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty. So what Aphrodite does is that she puts the love of the beauty of the ball into pacifiers, heart. Okay, so pacifier is all of a sudden, like, possessed with this lust for this magnificent white ball. Okay, and so Venus or Aphrodite rather than taking it out and minus actually knows if you take it out on someone who’s close to my nose, who might have loves you cause even more pain, you cause even more anguish you cause even more agony so passively who was this very beautiful woman and very classy woman held in very high regard all of a sudden is like trolling around the pastures looking at this bowl. Okay, it gets a little Okay, so we’ll we’ll just sort of like go through this very quickly. So she’s Sebastian he’s hanging out in the in the in the in the pastures prowling around checking out this ball. And she turns to Data Lists Who is this great architect, and she asks him, if he would construct a wooden bowl for her to go inside and, and, and, and basically mate with the white bowl. So that was does this and and so she makes with the white bulb, Alright, in this wooden bowl. Okay, it’s kind of a Trojan horse thing, but we’re doing it with a wooden bowl instead of a horse anyway, so the bowl mates with her and she gives birth and she gives birth to a magnetar, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with the term or the name Minotaur. Minotaur is a savage creature, which is half full half man and eats and devours people. Okay. And and and, you know, once it’s born, it runs roughshod over the over Crete. It’s devouring people and things like this. And so my notes and possibly have to commission doubtless once again to build a labyrinth which is a maze which is underground where the where the Minotaur is kept. And so and so that’s the way that they corral or control the force or the power of the Minotaur. Now obviously, if you look or hear the word or the name, magnetar, you can see right away that it’s minnow tar, so it’s minuses bull. Okay, that’s what Minotaur translates to exactly minuses bull, okay. And so this is the product of minus not having sacrifice Bull correctly to preside and in a true act of reciprocity, he is now been cursed with minuses bull. And so minuses bull is cannibalistic, or it’s not really cannibalistic, it preys on human flesh. Okay. And so we see the opposite, we see the opposite of this sort of pastoral grass, a grass fed beef, which is, which is the ball in the pasture. And now, instead of the bowl being consumed by people, the bowl is consuming people, it is acting opposite to its nature. And it’s seen as this rapacious predatory figure. And so we go through a whole story, which is the story of the Minotaur and the slaying of the Minotaur by Jason, that’s actually not where I wanted to put the focus on today, I actually wanted to put the focus on this idea of what happens when the when, when, when the benefits are not honored in life, when the benefits are not honored in your chart, that when they are not honored that they take a turn, they take a turn for the worst, and not honored, for instance, in the case of when we’re talking about Taurus is reciprocity or the paying back of a debt the paying back of a loan. And so, this this is this is the result, what happens

Christopher Renstrom 31:31
is that minus who at some point is at war with Athens, he wins this war with with with Athens, and, and so he sets up this deal with Athens with King a genius of Athens, that every nine years, King a GS has to pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Crete to be fed to the Minotaur in the labyrinth, okay, that that, that that in order to feed this debt to Neptune in order to feed the embodiment of this debt to Neptune, seven young men and seven young women have to be sent to Athens and or have to be sent to Crete and put into the labyrinth. And they may escape or whatever for a while the Minotaur, but the Minotaur eventually hunts them down and and devours them and seems to be sated with with seven young boys and seven young girls. And again, this is something which really outrageous the citizens of Athens because King Jesus I think like had only one kid which is like Jason but doesn’t have like, more more sons and daughters. And so they’re the ones who are funding this debt. Okay, so it’s their families in which these seven young sons and seven young women are being taken from. So what we’re getting here is an image of future errors that are being sent, like cattle to the slaughter to Crete. Okay. So again, the bowl transforms or inverts from a peaceful you know, when it’s not getting upside in charges, but basically a pastor or a peaceful figure into one that is rapacious and hungry. And we all know that bowls and candles do one thing and one thing 24/7 all the time in that eat. Okay, so now this, this, this appetite is being focused on the children, it’s being focused on future generations. And here you can see an analogy for a lot of things, how the debt of a society is passed on to the future generations, that if debts aren’t repaid, or or good economy isn’t maintained, that is passed on to future generations and the future generations become the sacrificial southern boys and the sacrificial southern girls, which are being fed into the Mall of the great debt. So this is something just sort of this is this is an idea that they were playing around with back then. And it’s an idea that is still very pertinent today. But I do I do want to sort of pause here for a moment. I do want to pause here for a moment to talk about the idea of, you know, what was once sacrifice is now being sacrificed to Okay, and and and this idea of future generations being sacrificed to, to, to fulfill or to satiate the appetite of this rapacious beast. And I want to bring up put So, okay, I’m want to bring up the artists Picasso, Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist, probably, if he’s not the most famous artist of the 20th century, he’s one of the most famous artists of the 20th century a Scorpio. And in true Scorpion fashion, transforms the whole the way that we even look or understand art, I mean, very few figures have transformed art. You know, many, many artists have created a masterpiece or something, which is really, but very few figures have actually transformed all of art. And in his life, and in his career, Pablo Picasso, I think, we can pretty much say, transformed art and the way that we understand art magnificently. And dramatically. Picasso was once quoted as saying, quote, If all the ways I have been along, were marked on a map, and joined with a line, it might represent a minotaur. Okay, I want to share that quote with you. Again, if all the ways I have been along, were marked on a map, and joined with a line, it might represent a magnetar.

Christopher Renstrom 36:21
And for Picasso, if you have any sort of familiar with his work, the Minotaur or the bowl, is a figure that keeps showing up again, and again. And again. And a lot of people say, you know, because it’s associated with Spain, and, you know, with his various sexuality, and you know, all these sorts of things, it might also be associated with the fact that, if I’m remembering correctly, I think Picasso has a stellium of planets and Taurus in the 10th house, I know that he’s got, um, I’m pretty certain that he has a Saturn and Jupiter and a Pluto there, I think. And I think there might be one other planet that’s there. So if it’s not a stellium of planets in Taurus in the 10th, it’s like three, you know, planets, in Taurus in the 10th. And they’re very, very powerful planets, and they dominate his 10th house, so So you see a lot of that bowl or that Minotaur imagery with Picasso, but what I wanted to sort of share with you today, you know, when we think of future generations, paying this debt to this rapacious hunger, this rapacious hunger, that that is a result of not having kept a pledge, of not having, of not having kept a promise of not behaving in a way that is good for society. Okay. So that’s something that I want you to keep in mind. In 1937, in 1937, Picasso was living in Paris. And in 1937, Picasso was living in Paris, and he was commissioned, commissioned by the Spanish Republic, to create a large mural for the 1937 World Fair. And the 1937. World Fair was going to run from like the end of May to like the end of November, something like this. And so. So he was commissioned by the Spanish Republic. And this is important because there was a civil war, a very bloody civil war that was taking place in Spain at that time, between the nationalists and the Spanish Republic. And so it was the Spanish Republic, which was sort of seen as the more liberal side it was the one that was made up of socialists and anarchists and things like this. It was the Spanish Republic that had commissioned Picasso to do this mural for this World Fair. And Picasso agreed, but he was like, not really into it. He was kind of like, upset and inspired. Or I’m just like, not getting into it. And he’s doing different drafts and things like that. When suddenly, when suddenly, on April 23, in 1937, the Nazi Air Force carried out an aerial bombing on the Spanish town of Guernica and, and the Nazi forces did this bombing at the request of the Spanish nationalist faction, the other side of the Civil War. Now, there’s different versions of this but you know, some some of it is like, the men were away fighting the civil wars that they weren’t in were in a car, which is kind of like this, this village, okay in Spain. The other idea or the other thing that is reported to us is that women were at market during this time, in fact, were in a car for the most part was populated by women and children. Okay, who I think the understanding the general understanding is that they were at market and there was this furious bombing From the skies from the Nazis on these helpless, innocent, going about their day, women and children. And so it was it was it was horrific. There’s no two ways about it. It’s completely horrific. And the attack caused controversy because it was a military attack on a civilian town. It wasn’t a military target. It wasn’t associated with factories renditions or something like that. It’s an attack on a civilian town. The exact number of people killed remains disputed, but it is known that several hundreds died in what was then regarded as an unprecedented war crime, okay, this this bombing from the sky, on the civilians at market and all of these people are slaughtered and all of these people are killed, and they are for the most part, women and children. So Picasso in response to this, begins his work

Christopher Renstrom 41:17
on what will probably become, will probably come to be known as his greatest masterpiece. The title of it is Cuernavaca and Guerra, Anika in many ways, is regarded as the Mona Lisa of the 20th century, it’s regarded as the greatest work of art of the 20th century, done in a surrealist style, it’s not done in a typical in the literal style. And what it shows is that on the left hand of what it shows, basically are these figures. These Picasso figures, these these fanatical, fantastical figures of women screaming up to the heavens. Along the bottom of this of this painting, is a man who’s been chopped up into pieces, who lies outstretched his mouth and horror, he’s, he’s dead, there is a horse in the middle, which is rearing and buckling up and it’s being stabbed, perhaps by the horns of a bowl, certainly over the body of the horse is is drawn this kind of like skull, which you can sort of make out and the horse looks up to the sky and over the sky is this bear lit light bulb, okay, it’s this bear lit light bulb of which is just sort of up in the painting. And then to the left to the painting is a bowl. And this bowl is standing and it is not alarmed, like the other figures are. But in front of this bowl, and it’s standing with it’s it’s standing. And in front of this bowl is this woman, you know, she’s like, she’s she’s holding her child. And she’s been profiled the child’s dad and she’s holding it up, and she’s screaming up to the skies. And it’s hard to tell if this bowl is like a dominant or an enemy figure, but my suspicion is it’s actually a sheltering figure, because it stands over this woman, it’s not standing on her. Picasso has no problem getting, you know, showing people being dismembered or cut up or, you know, whatever. But it actually is almost like this sheltering figure, and she’s crying up, you know, this figure standing, standing there. And it’s fascinating, because the bowl is very prominent in the left hand part of this picture. And this woman is sheltered or protected, perhaps by it, that’s how I interpret it. So the bowl is it’s the only figure that’s not alarmed, okay, all the other figures are are alarmed and shrieking and crying out or in pain. And then above is this this this bear light bulb. Okay, so So we’re actually seeing, you know, like, on the left hand, you kind of like see these fiery buildings and, and this woman running on out with a torch or, or something like that, you know, to see or like a lamp to see and, and she’s bearing witness to you know, she’s running out through a door and she’s in shock, and she’s bearing witness to these strewn bodies and things like this. And there’s this bear light bulb. And I find it fascinating. We see this bowl, and we see this bear light pole. Well, if you remember that Uranus is a planet that is associated with electricity. Okay. Uranus is discovered in 1781. It’s discovered at the midpoint between the American War for Independence and the In a French Revolution, okay, it’s discovered right there at the midpoint. And, and, and it is the lightning come down from heaven that was actually an image used by people in the French Revolution to symbolize revolution, the overthrow of of kings and despotic rulers. And there’s even a quote about Benjamin Franklin, you know, who’s the ambassador from the United States in Paris during this period of time, and, and a French person refers to Franklin as the electric, the electric ambassador, you know, he’s he,

Christopher Renstrom 45:38
he showed us how we can, you know, take lightning, which was always seen as, as a sign of divine disfavor, you know, lightning would zap unpredictably and he would take lightning, and he could harness it into electricity and make a bowl light up. And so so the French praised Franklin from the success of the American war for independence as like overthrowing the despotic King George and and setting up the power of the people. And so this is the height of the Enlightenment. So electricity lit bulb connected with the enlightenment, okay, and so this was seen as a very positive aspect of Uranus. Uranus is a planet of revolution and change still in astrology, but it’s also a planet of enlightenment. And so here we see this, this bear bolt, this electricity in the sky, you know, where one would expect a deity to be or a planet if you’re an astrologer, and then this dominant figure of the bowl, okay, and of course, if you go and look at April 23 1937, you’ll see that Uranus was in Taurus was indeed in Taurus. And in fact, if you count off the years, between 1937 and 2022, or you just look in your Ephemeris and as an astrologer, you will see that this is the year of Uranus has returned to the place where was in the sky when Pablo Picasso painted Weronika okay, it’s exactly 85 years. So it is a Uranus return, okay. So, so this image becomes very pertinent to us now, I mean, certainly you must recognize references from the news and Uranus is always Uranus is a wheel it can it can be that what was down is up and that that what was up is now down. So it’s the turn of the wheel. It’s it’s an overthrow wheel fortune of Fortuna, you know, the vicissitudes of fortune, you can be on top of the world wheel one day and at the bottom of the next, okay, but revolution is not just the overthrow revolution was also in the 1600s in English astronomical term, referring to a planet completing its orbit around around the sun, and returning to where it was in the sky at the beginning of its of its orbit. So Uranus is not only the overthrow of something, but it can be the return of something. And here we have Uranus return in Taurus. As from an astrologer, as I depicted here in the painting, I really don’t think that because we’re meant to do it. I think it’s one of those marvelous astrological synchronicities and and how it is playing out in our world today. Where knockout was really an unprecedented war crime. And we have had a recent experience of this with the bombing of the hospitals in Ukraine and the killing of women and children and citizens on a colossal level. And it’s, it’s interesting. Guernica, was hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And Picasso said it was going to stay in the Metropolitan Museum of Art until the Civil War in Spain had either ended or had been resolved. And after he died, and in 1981, with the death of Franco Guerra, Anika actually travels from the metro politan Museum of Art and is now housed in Spain. From that painting was a tapestry that was commissioned by the Rockefellers. It was actually commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller in 1955. And it has it has hung in the UN into February of last year when it mysteriously disappeared and everyone was really shocked, you know, like where did it go, and then it was restored in February this year 2022. Simultaneous with the return of Uranus to where it was at the time of the of the bombing, or in 1937 and it had actually been taken out for cleaning and restoration but but a Rockefeller descendant said that the UN will remain the artworks permanent home. And he’s talking here not about the painting of the tapestry of America, which is proudly hung in the UN to signify the horrors of war. Rockefeller said that the UN will remain the artworks permanent home, though he hopes to loan the peace to other institutions as well, in an effort to reach a broader segment of the world’s population, and magnify its ability to touch lives and to educate so again, we get the loaning

Christopher Renstrom 50:27
thing you know that this tapestry will will go out and it will be returned with the understanding that it will spread the message of, of what it has to say. The final quote that he made was the Guernica tapestry with its probing symbolism, its depiction of horrific aspects of human nature, wrestles with the cruelty darkness, and also a seed of hope within humanity. Unquote. Rockefeller finished by saying it is meant to be experienced and interpreted. With Picasso refusing to share its message when asked. And that’s, that’s, that’s an interesting thing, because it was often interviewed, like, what is the message where an echo what did these things symbolize? And like a true artist, it’s like, you don’t explain it. You experience it. And so he is like, look at it, and you tell me what you feel. Or you tell yourself what you feel. This is the beauty of art. This is what makes art art, it’s not going to be explained away or, or turned into propaganda or cataloged somewhere, you know, like this painting means this and whatever. We like an astrological chart, we contemplate the symbolism, and we work with interpretations. But I think what’s so important about the image of Weronika not only because of it was created, it was created by the way in May in the month of Taurus with Uranus in Taurus, okay. And and, and we are now talking about this eclipse in the Uranus return to where it was in 1937 at the creation of it. But I think what’s also here, what I would add, or what I would offer as part of an interpretation here is the idea of that if you don’t honor if you don’t pay back debt, if you don’t participate in the circulation of what is good in society to make society, the body of society healthy and good. And this has gone from just our society to the entire planet, because we’re talking about earth here. Okay, so we’re actually talking about the planet Earth, you know, if you don’t do what you can to make earth a better place, we’ve heard this all of our lives, you know, make the world a better place. And then what you saw when you showed up here, well, now it’s taken on very dire stakes, we’re playing very, very high stakes when people can all of a sudden go nuclear are talking about going nuclear and it’s not just to idle threat, it actually could be a possibility or when the atmosphere is suffering or climate or all those things, whatever your positions are on that the earth is now in the hands of us and not in the hands of God. Okay, so let’s in our hands, we have been lent Earth. Okay. And how was it doing under our custodianship? How is it doing under our cure curatorship. But then there’s an added message was Trosset comes from the notion of of Guernica, and also comes from the story of my nose, which is, if you don’t take care of this, if you don’t honor the pledge, if you don’t honor the promise, then that debt becomes an open law, okay. And it feeds off the lives of future generations. Okay. And so, you know, it’s not only a debt that we sort of owe the planet, which is housed us, and a debt that we owe each other in terms of creating good society, but it’s also a debt. It’s also a debt that we owe the future generations that that will come afterwards and whom we will never meet, which of course, gets back to the placement of Saturn in Aquarius. But these are the things that I want you to sort of contemplate, these are the things that I want you to contemplate how you honor your pledges. We can’t do this. on a world scale. We’re not world leaders. We’re not huge captains of industry. You know, many of us aren’t great influencers and and maybe we influence through our spirituality or our who we do business with, or our politics or whatever. There are different ways to do that. But we’re not in charge of the world. Although we’re in the very frustrating In a frustrating position of being in charge of the world’s

Christopher Renstrom 55:05
curator ship, where each of us has a responsibility towards the care of this world that we live in, and that’s where we look, we may not be able to affect things on an international or large or global level. But this is also the story of Taurus. Taurus is about your territory, it’s about your turf, it’s about your corner of the world, and that from your corner of the world, you affect the other corners of the world, you affect the other spaces that are around you. So you might not be able to say, you know, I’m going to do this or that or affect this change or whatever. But if you make your corner of the world a better place, if you make your corner of the world a better place, than the world is made better, just as a result of it.