Remembering 9/11

As so many in our nation wish to reflect on the events of a year ago and what this means to us and to our world, I would like to share with you the perspective of astrology. The events of this world are every bit as much a dream as those of our sleep. It is as rich in symbolism both personal and archetypal. We can simply look around us and grasp where we stand within the cycle of the self relative to our collective nation; our nation to our world, and our world on its journey around a greater cycle of space and time. Last year at this time, we shared a collective dream that many would consider a nightmare. However, as we expand as a collective soul, we will always reach a point of confrontation with our inner demons; Guardians of the Threshold to aspects of ourselves that have lied unconscious for an era, to make itself again known to us as us in accordance to divine astrological timing. In our nation, in September of 2001, these guardians dare us to see the terrorist within, the terrorism of our own government, and removes any borderlines of distinctions between “us and them” perceptions. We are expanding towards a greater oneness as people of the earth, and because of the ego, or nationalism in this case, with this comes growing pains.

The Saturn/Pluto opposition during this attack was right across the ascendant of the United States of America's birthchart. With Saturn, there is a vulnerability and a need to sell false promises and security to its people out of fear of losing the security in having its people...its source of sustenance. Pluto seeks to obliterate the shell and reveal the truth, forcing Saturn to face its shadow and come clean with who he really is, no longer basing the who on the needs of his people.

The entire world is still in the critical stages of assimilating the energy of the planet Pluto, which was discovered over 72 years ago. Within one month of the Sept. 11 event, the sporting world provided one of the most appropriate dream symbols for this event. Barry Bonds wished the planet happy birthday by setting a new record for most homeruns in a season at 73, one for every year since its discovery.

Let us first come to a better understanding of the energies of Pluto. Energy never dies, it continues to change form. The One energy of the universe moves through a series of differentiations, which eventually crystallize into individual forms; microcosms. “Form” in this way becomes a temporal dwelling for an energy as it journeys from Oneness to Individual and back to Oneness. This Form includes our personal soul, the soul of a nation, and the soul of our earth; each of these a greater dimension of the former. There comes a time when energy is ready to move out of its old form and into a new dwelling, however, the dwelling itself is alive. A good example of this is the snake shedding its skin periodically; slowly changing form. Pluto is an energy of transformation; of renewal. It is associated with birth and death, and of regeneration.

Within the earthly sphere, the planets Jupiter and Saturn represent the principles of expansion and contraction respectively. Pluto can in one way be seen as a higher dimensional expression of both of these. The soul, the nation, the planet are each expanding in its own dimension; growing in its capacity to encompass a greater Oneness.

The principle of expansion can be active or passive, just as the earth moves us without effort of our own. In this case of Sept 11th, the karma came to our door, and many who are unaware of Americas intentions in its global expansion are gullible to the propaganda that tells us why. However, these particulars of the mundane are of little concern for this article, for the modalities of expansion have always had similar themes ranging from love to war. This is the stage in which the angel in the case of love, or devil in the case of war, acts as the Guardian of the Threshold, one daring the other to acknowledge it as a part of self; to become more whole. We move about our lives, touching many in the process. After every powerful Plutonian experience in relationship, we are no longer the same. The old skin is shed, we absorb the essence of the other, whether we made love to them or killed them, and are never the same. Eventually, our soul can no longer hold the identity that you perceive you have in this life, and another Plutonian transition is made. So the ball moves out of the stadium, the Sagittarian arrow runs its course towards the unconscious, the human leaves the nest, the city that has been his/her home, the safe job, expanding their field of experience; expanding the circumference that is the greater self. Saturn then takes effect, building a new boundary of circumference for the transformed entity.

In September of 2001, Pluto was at the 13th degree of Sagittarius (the archer whose arrow aims at the unconscious – expanding to new frontiers which are greater dimensions of ancient frontiers), the same degree as the ascendant of the United States. This is the 73rd degree of objective reality (out of 180), the half of the circle of life dealing with relationship. Again, 72 years after its discovery, as Barry belts 73 balls out of the “Ring-Pass-Not” called a baseball stadium, planes flew out of Boston (72 degrees W. Longitude), one of which struck one side of the Pentagon (destroying 72 degrees of the Pentagons circumference). The importance of the number 72, which is one fifth of 360 (degrees), goes much deeper and is beyond the scope of this article.

The nature of the homerun, to hit the ball outside the “Ring-Pass-Not”, is a perfect picture of Pluto’s influence. This “Ring” represents a closed plane of perception (a limitation of Saturn). The ball is the Sagittarian arrow fired towards the unexplored depths of the unconscious. As we expand to the limits of our own ego, and shed our skin, or move through the transformative ring via death, we do not truly die, but become greater than what we once were. It is human nature to perceive energies outside the ring as angels or demons; their influence or nature almost controlling or beyond their control. Picture the “Ring” as an atom, the outer most ring containing an electron, a mode of energy considered part of yourself by your ego. The rings outside of this containing electrons with labels of our relationships, the outermost becoming increasingly archetypical (Jesus, Satan, etc.) In the mind, these “others” can shoulder a burden of responsibility; only temporally, for circumstances or experiences in the life. Return is inevitable however, and the Saturn shell of the outer ring will break like the eggshell it is once the consciousness has incubated in its present state for its duration; and these people with whom we live, and deities in whom we hold counsel, will be and have always been a part of the self, separation only an illusion, or matter of perspective.

How do the simple events of our lives become so symbolic of our cyclical position in our collective evolution? Our consciousness, no matter how differentiated, is always connected to the greater picture; to divine timing. Our intuitions, the deepest of motivations and inspirations come from these regions of the self. We are consciously expanding into a form of a “new world order”, not to be confused with the current definitions of this as they have yet to solidify outside of dominating, egotistical bounds. World War is now all domestic. It is important to know that no one “invaded our home” last year. The timing happened to be right to draw the inner terrorist to ourselves. We must own this karma, and ultimately acknowledge that we are all sisters and brothers of earth, and we must create peace, security and provisions on the earth in consideration of all that lives. Loving your neighbor as yourself has become loving your neighbor who really is yourself. The empathic of this world really know what I am talking about. Theft, greed, hatred and war can only temporarily and illusorily benefit a focalized, egocentristic part of the self; always to the detriment of another part of us. It is like loving your feet so much you get a pedicure daily, while smoking cigarettes and destroying your lungs, and this statement is key, because people unconsciously take this duality out on the earth and on others. May the growing pains be lessened with rapid realization of truth.

Mercury Retrograde

The current Mercury retrograde period began on August 3rd and ends August 26th. During this period, Mercury moves briefly into Virgo, and then retrogrades shortly after back into Leo making a conjunction with the Sun on August 17th.

As you move forward communicating your wants, your needs, your beliefs, etc, is your child self present? As a child of God, are you bringing into your practical mundane day to day life

the gifts that you were given by the universal source? It is time to hear the desires of the inner child. This may include communication as to the need for more play, or it may be that you aren't putting your heart into what it is that you do..... for your child will want you to follow your heart. You may have forgotten, but the inner child has not forgotten!

If you have children, are you hearing them? Or are they just an obligation you ground into everyday? It is very possible that you have refined your obligations to put your children first, but if doing so means that you slave away so that they can eat and go to school etc etc without letting your hearts deepest desires show itself, without play and communication from them that you deeply take the time to listen to, then you are denying your child-self and your child at the same time...and perhaps passing onto them the very dynamic that they may bring into their relationships and ultimately their children, and this is absolutely the primary lesson with Saturn in Libra at the same time. In fact, Mercury is currently in a semi-square with Saturn in

Libra, which will accentuate that very dynamic!!

In late November, Mercury retrograde will move through the sign of Sagittarius. Mercury goes retrograde just as the Sun enters Sagittarius, and Mercury begins its retrograde pattern just as it enters the 3rd decant (Leonine), and moves through the 2nd (Arian) to make its conjunction with the Sun at 12 degrees of Sagittarius (on the United States ascendant). What is the collective purpose that we as a nation are moving towards?

Initially, any relationships that we are involved in where a foundation of purpose and direction is necessary will show its weaknesses due to selfish or manipulative motives. Many relationships will end at this time because of this, and the Sun's strain free aspect to Uranus at the start of Mercury retrograde will allow for unconscious synchronicity to bring people together of like mind and of common drive/ purpose. There will be a greater drive towards intentional communities in rebellion against our current government, and at the same time unified lobbying towards common special interests. Uranus goes direct after having been retrograde for 5 months, bringing a strong wave of rebellion as strength of purpose in individuals will become more well

defined, as will the lack of common direction and representation from the nations leaders.

As we are duality and represent the creative power of the universal lifeforce, or God if you will, we are Mercury! It is often important that we check the beliefs, expressions and needs that we put out into the world with the source. Mercury retrograde brings us face to face with a duality, and gives us the opportunity to reintegrate a particular polarity or crisis in consciousness in order to move forward.

We are currently in the 2nd of 3 Mercury retrograde periods in 2011, each moving through the 3 fire signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Each time we are taken back through the inner fire of desire. We receive communication from God/ the unconscious collective mind/ the universe/ or whatever you prefer...of the difference between the reality that we have created and the reality that we want to create. It is easy to lose ourselves with all the bullshit the physical reality can drag us through. Are you feeling a breakdown of communication during these periods? Then shut up! and listen!!!

Intro to the Unconscious Psychology of Poker

Anyone that plays poker regularly has butted heads with the mystery of its cyclical nature. The rational mind justifies a short term experience as standard deviation from normal expectation, but the spiritual nature of all of us cannot help but feel that there is something deeper at work that laughs in the face of mathematics and logic.

A poker player that plays regularly for profit, especially the professional, seeks to make their game as complete as possible. What is meant by a complete game? First, mastering and balancing a great number of skills. Second, analyzing the information derived from a great number of variables that create the overall poker situation. A small sample of these variables include the cards one holds, position, stack size relativity, opponent profiling, opponents knowledge of you, the profile and position of who has acted in the hand, the act of each subsequent player and how their knowledge of previous players who have acted filter their potential range of holding. The situation in each poker hand is incredibly complex. However, there is a hidden world containing a vast ocean of variables that are rarely, if ever, considered by the player. This world is the unconscious mind. Before breaking open into how the unconscious mind dictates the true poker situation, it is important to give some examples from everyday life. The following are case studies from my own client base:


1) A client broke her arm in an accident involving her bicycle and a car in traffic. This was the second time the client had broken the same arm in the exact same way. Comparing the two times, the cyclical components in nature that triggered her unconscious complex was found, and this was rooted in a date in time when she was 9 years old. She revealed that her parents worked all the time and gave her no attention. She had a great deal of anxiety about feeling loved. On the date I asked her about when she was 9, she was climbing a tree in her yard and feel and broke her arm. Her parents dropped what they were doing and made her a priority....only until she got well.

2) A client fell in love with a woman that had a passion for music, bringing out an untapped talent in him that led to their eventually performing together. The timing of the two meeting was a return of a natural cycle which triggered a previously conditioned emotional need. Because these cycles can be measured mathematically, it is easy for the trained practitioner to chart back to the moment in time of the original conditioning. Upon asking my client about the dates in time I came to, he responded that he was a very young child, and as it turned out had an older sister who played a musical instrument in her school band and was the pride and joy of her parents. Wanting approval himself, he received it the most from his sister, who taught him how to play and expressed the talent she saw in him. The client later met this woman, named Amy, at a time when the unconscious emotional need was seeking the validation given by the sister that was an important part of the development of his self-esteem. He was amazed that this connection was made, and even more so that his sister's name was Amy as well

3) A female client had 3 relationships in a row that began seemingly as true love, and all ended painfully. Ironically all 3 of these men were born between September 3rd and 8th. Mathematically this requires a method of relativity between cycles. Given that the known variable are common birth dates which yield a common position on the cycle of the Year, a principle of cyclical relativity was used to find the timing of the unconscious root. A period of time was derived at in which the client was 10 years and 10 months old. That month, her father walked out on her family. The father's moon position at birth was in the same ecliptical position we find the Sun between September 3rd and 8th.

4) I will give a final example to demonstrate future predictability. A very skeptical client had a childhood history of serious abuse, but none more serious than an occurrence when he was 8 years old. Among the parting advice, I gave him a date that was 9 months in the future that was important for him. On that date, the experience he had when he was 8 would be triggered again by natural cycles, and a great deal of the repression could come flooding into the consciousness. He wrote it off completely, but on that very date police were called to his home as he committed a similar act on his roommate's 8 year old child. He spent time in prison soon after.


For poker players, the difficulty in gaining acceptance of this material is that players do not want to believe that there are periods in which they have little to no control over the outcome. Truthfully, it is the unconscious that gains primary control. From what you learned from the case study examples given, it may be easier to relax the ego and yield to the variables that unconscious psychology will bring to the table. It can be quite frightening to explore the depths of the unconscious, as it can drag you through cycles of experiences with the ego kicking, screaming and looking for escape. Truthfully there is no escape, and the cycles will continue to repeat themselves until the deeper causes are learned and integrated. When my client learned that there was a connection to the men she was drawing and her feelings surrounding her father, she was able to work on forgiveness and to bring healing to her relationships. While your ego may believe that the motivation behind your poker play today is the same as it is everyday, to rip the game apart and win as much money as possible, unconscious memory may be triggered which bring a number of unconscious motivations into play. The following provides some simple examples:

1) Your poker skill set was passed onto you by a father, who wanted the best for you and always saw your ability to be great. However, you have gifts deep inside of you that your mother encouraged that would require temporarily giving poker far less of your time. This battle between the mother and father has been going on inside of you since you were a child. Today, your connection with your mother as well as those other gifts are triggered unconsciously as dictated by inner and outer cycles. You begin a losing streak that makes your father question your ability to carry on his legacy, but this only forces you to build your own

2) Your parents seemed to relate more to the physically dominant traits of your siblings, and your siblings certainly rubbed that in growing up. While they played sports and gained notoriety, you were a compassionate, feeling oriented child. Today you found the game of poker on the cyclical return of a time when your awareness of your siblings emotional state enabled you to gain an upper hand in situations that athletic skills couldn't touch. Your opponents at the table try to bully you. They are your virtual siblings. Your ability to feel a situation and read your opponents puts you on the road to great heights in a sport that favors these traits. Your parents finally get to watch you shine

3) You wake up one morning ready to make the drive to the casinos. For some reason though, you feel completely drained and the idea of doing some home projects sounds more appealing. However, there is money to be made, and you press on. You run as unlucky as you've run in years, and the problem is that you continue to wake up with the same feeling. After experiencing a few consecutive losing days, you are forced to reassess things and take a few days off. You see a commercial for a new casino that for some reason instills some excitement in you. The new environment, colors, layout of the poker room, etc all seem to trigger a strengthening feeling when at the same time the thought of your own favorite card room makes you sick. Playing at the new card room, you are back to your winning ways. In charting back to your root unconscious influence, I discover that under a previous cycle you were with a lover with whom you lost your comfort sexually. You met a new lover that rekindled that spark, and you remembered once again what it was like to be so in tune with another person's body. This experience has its reflection in the balance between the masculine and feminine within, and with your attunement with your own intuitive awareness.


Doyle Brunson was onto something when he mentioned ESP in his book SuperSystem. All of us experience periods of time when we have more of this than at other. Some people of course have greater abilities in this area than others. We all have days where we see the cards we are about to get dealt before they are dealt to us, and we know given the feeling in our body we are about to win a huge pot with them. I am here to tell you that through an analysis of your astrological birth chart and some one on one counseling, I can tell you WHEN you are most likely to be attuned to these frequencies. I can tell you WHY you are moving through a two month losing streak, or why you are tearing up the tournament circuit this year.
Your question as a logical thinker is this: If each session is an independent trial with positive EV given proper game selection and sound decision making, then how do the streaks follow such a cyclical pattern? Can it really be that the assimilation of certain unconscious content really affects luck?

My study is founded on the truth that the system of the human being is interconnected with all of life, nature, as well as with the cosmos. In order to understand our cycles of emotional needs, intuitive perception, ESP, mental focus and concentration, self-worth and conviction of belief structure, we must not only expand our self-awareness, but our very definition of the Self. Let us use for example the client that needed to feel once again the validation given from the sister. This 'unconscious memory' can be seen in the same light as a plant that begins to flower at a detectable day/night differential which equates to an exact time of year. If an elder plant told a first year plant that it would undergo this intense physical change on June 18th, the younger plant may project a psychic awareness onto the elder. When a true astrological counselor gives a client a date in future time when psychological or physiological changes can be expected, s/he is measuring a repetitive cycle that moves within each of us as well as outside of all of us. The late depth psychologist Carl G. Jung coined the term 'Synchronicity' that refers to this acausal connection between psychic and physical phenomenon. All planetary and lunar cycles have a detectable resonance that we are unconsciously attuned to, and these cycles are in 'sync' with inner cycles which trigger unconscious memory, needs, beliefs, and psychic phenomenon. I like to think of all the natural cycles as a part of our greater body. Yes, there is a 'magic' generated by the unconscious needs and reality that you project. In terms of luck, I will add that the unconscious needs will dictate the situations that you are drawn into. For example, if you are wrestling with a belief that people cannot be trusted, you are more likely to be drawn into a relationship with a con artist. If you are wrestling with feelings of unworthiness, you may be drawn to play at a blackjack table with a dealer that on a better day your body would get a feeling that this would not be best for you.

I have spent the last 13 years as a professional poker player and astrological counselor. A combination of astrology and one on one counseling allows me to determine the dynamics that will determine your likely experiences at particular moments in your life. I can bring deeper self awareness to you, and give you greater control over forces that at times have had an adverse effect on your poker game and caused a seemingly magical shift in your luck. I am reaching out to regular poker players through this blog, and I invite you to try out my service free of charge. I would like to offer you a free consultation and complete astrological birthchart complete with several important peak times for unconscious assimilation of personal dynamics for you. In return, you will be providing me with more case study material to revolutionize our understanding of unconscious psychology and the science of luck!

As with any counselor, all consultations are completely confidential. Only with permission from clients do I ever publish any findings such as the examples above, and always in an anonymous manner.

Thank you for visiting my new blog entitled 'The Complete Game'. From here on out, we will be exploring in detail topics that will help you to further understand the connection between unconscious psychology and personal experience. I would like to hear from any and all of you, especially professional poker players who keep journals and have personally wrestled with the cyclical phenomenon I have described. Even if you do not take advantage of my offer, I would love to hear your personal experiences that have been powerful and shaped you as a player and as a person.