Category: Art & Culture

Saturn Enters Pisces at Vedic New Year 2025

By Edith Hathaway © 2025

Vedic New Year 2025 began March 29, 2025 and runs through March 19, 2026.  It is both dramatic and full of hope.  This date occurs annually with the last New Moon in Pisces prior to the Sun entering Aries.  (All planetary positions are sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha.)   Vedic New Year 2025 was not only a Partial Lunar eclipse at 14°47’ Pisces, but coincided closely (within 5 ¼ hours) of Saturn’s entry into sidereal Pisces.  Tr. Saturn spends an average of 2.3 years per sign, so was last in Pisces on April 18, 1998. Continue reading →

Censorship Enforcers Attack Defenders of Free Speech: Elon Musk & Pavel Durov

By Edith Hathaway © 2024

As we march rapidly towards arguably the most consequential Presidential election in U.S. history on Nov. 5, 2024, we observe the specter of totalitarianism closing in around us, notably in the form of censorship as an accepted way of life in the Western world.  Closely intertwined is the sense that U.S. elections are no longer fair or secure. There is much evidence to confirm this fact, including now the threat of non-citizens voting in our elections, no voter ID of any kind required in 14 states (including CA and NY), and millions of non-citizens being intentionally flooded into the U.S. since Jan. 2021 – a veritable state-sponsored invasion.  Most recently, over 430,00 convicted criminals were released into the U.S., and the first-ever non-citizen has now become law enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Do we remember this is how the Roman Empire went down? (See Elon Musk’s new 2-minute ad released Sept. 15, 2024.) Continue reading →

Matthew Perry & Tucker Carlson: Two Approaches to Addiction (Part 2)


By Edith Hathaway © 2023

The senses (horses) desire pleasurable things. The mind (reins) is not exercising restraint on the senses (horses). The intellect (charioteer) submits to the pull of the reins (mind). So in the materially bound state, the bewildered soul does not direct the intellect in the proper direction.

Chapter 3, Verse 43 – Bhagavad Gita

In the Vedic chart the mind is viewed from the Moon, which is considered much more important in Eastern philosophy and astrology than the Sun.  Thus, the study of the Moon-ruled Cancer Ascendant chart provides an excellent opportunity to observe the workings of the Moon, as ruler over the both the physical and emotional realms.  As the Bhagavad Gita reminds us, only the mind can rein in the senses.  The charioteer cannot be successful otherwise, nor the soul. Continue reading →

Matthew Perry – A Lifelong Battle with Saturn (Part 1)

By Edith Hathaway © 2023

On Saturday afternoon Oct. 28, 2023, the 54-yr. old American actor, Matthew Perry, died suddenly of an apparent drowning or heat stroke in his jacuzzi in Pacific Palisades, CA.  His death occurred very close to the time of the exact Lunar eclipse at 1:24 pm Pacific time at 10:57 Aries (sidereal zodiac).  The eclipse in turn was within a few degrees of a very pivotal planetary pattern in his chart, natal Saturn debilitated in Aries opposite natal Moon in Libra, as we shall soon discuss. Continue reading →

Jupiter Dasha – A Study in Contrasts

By Edith Hathaway © 2022

Jupiter Dasha can vary radically, even for the same Ascendant chart.  In this study we compare the charts of two individuals, each with Scorpio Ascendant, focusing in particular on the Jupiter Vimshottari Dasha.  Both are famous people who achieved a high degree of accomplishment, celebrity and long-lasting reputation in the field of music:  George Gershwin, composer, pianist, orchestrator, conductor; and Maria Callas, opera singer.

Continue reading →

Rhapsody in Blue – Breakthrough Moment in American Art & Culture: Feb. 12, 1924

By Edith Hathaway ©2017

There are cultural flashpoints in every era. And since musical tastes typically take the longest to develop, flashpoints may be recognized at the time as such. But they can also take many more decades before their impact is fully understood. One such moment was on Feb. 12, 1924 at a concert in New York City, now referred to as “a defining event of the Jazz Age and the cultural history of New York City.” (Wikipedia: Aeolian Hall) The concert became known as a “jazz concert” only years after the event. It was also the world premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Up to that time, Gershwin was largely unknown to the classical music world. Continue reading →

PRINCE OF BROADWAY – LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA brings Alexander Hamilton to (musical) life

By Edith Hathaway © 2016

On a recent trip to the Caribbean, and while staying on the beautiful island of Nevis, I learned that Alexander Hamilton was born there – a surprise to me and perhaps to many people. So we had to visit his birthplace and the museum there. Coincidentally, upon our return to the U.S., Public television was showing a documentary film on the Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. He in turn was inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, first published April 26, 2004. The musical Hamilton had its World premiere on Jan. 20, 2015 at the Public Theater, New York City and its Broadway debut on Aug. 6, 2015. Continue reading →

Citizenfour

Best Documentary Film Award for Citizenfour:  Laura Poitras & Glenn Greenwald

By Edith Hathaway © 2015

e_snowdenThe Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015 yielded the usual Hollywood glamour and theatrics, along with some surprises. The subject of the film Citizenfour is NSA mass surveillance and Edward Snowden, now living in Russia due to a pending federal case against him as NSA whistleblower. Continue reading →