Nay_ho_tze's Medicine Musings


Understanding Today's Sky

i am not an astrologer, i use cheat sheets, and i share them here with you
 in memoriam of my teacher: Darrell Martinie, the Cosmic Muffin

                                               Guercino - "Personification of Astrology" - circa 1650-1655
I'm a really lousy math student, so i needed to learn astrology without numbers ...
and while intuition couldn't pass muster in high school algebra classes
(i gave the answer, i just 'couldn't show the work), 
 as a student of astrology i discovered that intuition serves me very well ...

i learned the math-free astrology technique that i do use by listening to
Darrell Martinie, "The Cosmic Muffin"  who was 'discovered' one day 
when he called in to 
Boston's WBCN original rock radio station -
the host  Charles Laquidara of the  'Big Mattress',
in his own feeble attempt to bring astrology to Boston radio
mistakenly reported on some astrological tidbit,
and Darrell called in to correct him ...
thanks to Charles' mistake and his foresight to recognize talent,
 Boston listeners got their daily 'astrology' report amidst the news and weather -
delivered to them by phone from the Cosmic Muffin himself who,
in 1993 was appointed by the then Governor Bill Weld
as 
"Official Astrologer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts"
they were grand times


Darrell's was a unique brand of astrological interpretation for its time,
from a 'natal chart' drawn up for each day as though the day were a person -
his vision was a 'social astrology' distinguished from personal astrology
 because it gave folks relevant insights to and guidance
through the mood of the upcoming day ...


From this we Bostonians learned many things about navigating day to day life ...
like during the void of course (VOC) moon? 
No-one had ever heard of a VOC moon, much less how to use it. 
now everyone knows that during a VOC moon, shopping is a definite don't
but starting a diet is a definite do -
and if it's void when it's in Virgo,bargains and deals will abound ...
... way before the VOC moon or Mercury retrograde (MR) became Facebook memes, 
 pre-internet era minds of listening Bostonians
had already been deeply inscribed by the Muffin 
who taught us how to surf the waves of life

His daily reports allowed us to recognize the astrological debris of life
and encouraged us to sidestep those needless disasters -
at the very least he gave us permission to 'blame it on the stars' sometimes 
which alone inherently reduces stress levels

because i was homeschooling  my kids when it was illegal to do so,
i had to travel the country to stay ahead of the truant office -
and that meant i was no longer within earshot of Boston radio and the Muffin's guidance,
so it was out of necessity furthering my math-handicapped astrological learning,
that i thankfully discovered Llewellyn,
 the world's oldest and largest publisher of astrological materials, founded in 1901,
they still put out a print astrological yearly calendar -
 for some years back in the '80s (when i was homeschooling)
their calendars included aspect keywords -
they became my lifeline because  that's all it took to find
my inner Muffin and to grab hold with confidence  ...
just these little keywords and phrases ...

Admittedly not very technical,
its basic lingo rocketed my intuitive understanding of the art  --
  one year pre-computer, i crafted those notations into a handy well-worn 'booklet' 
(pictured below)
 which i consult to this day...

these 'cheat sheets' are my pathetic 'documentation' 
and the sole basis for any astrological insights i might share ...

may wisdom of the sky provide your astrological understanding
with as much insight as these pages gave mine ...
may it ease your day and guide your way as faithfully as they have mine...
and may my words pass on to you the comfort of my teacher, The Cosmic Muffin, 
from whom i borrow the words with which he closed each and every report:

"It's a wise man who rules his stars;
it's a fool who's ruled by them -- 
over and out" *


-NHT
©2016



-----------------------
*
from wikipedia:  
"On April 10, 2003, Martinie was diagnosed with cancer.
He died on July 26, 2006 at his home in Saugus, Massachusetts.[4]  
His words "over and out" were the last to be heard on WBCN on August 12, 2009
when the station went off the air."


NHT's infamous, cobbled together cheat sheets for the number impaired ...
related off-site reading:  
How WBCN changed American rock and roll 
       an article in Boston Magazine called, "WBCN: An Oral History" - a must read for any rock fan