philosophers stone

BRITAIN'S BIGGEST BANKS USE ASTROLOGY TO PLAY MARKETS

Source: News Monster

Britain's biggest banks use astrology to play the markets

Paranormal & Unexplained,
Written by Danny Penman

Christeen Skinner blinks at the screen of her computer and takes another slurp of coffee. It’s half past seven in the morning and she’s preparing for a crucial meeting with the chief executive of the High and Mighty fashion chain.

Apart from the black cat dozing on her lap, the only clue to Christeen’s occupation as a 21st century astrologer is a copy of an Ephemeris that lies open at a page marked “Mercury March 25th”.

“The financial crisis has ensured that I’m busier than ever,” says Christeen. “People in the City need to know what is just around the corner. I can help with that.”

Christeen is one of a growing, albeit secretive, network of astrologers who work for seemingly conservative British institutions such as high street banks, City investment funds and retailers. Desperate to avoid financial meltdown in the ongoing ‘credit crunch’ and to spot fashions and consumer trends before they start, these institutions have turned to the stars to divine the future.

“Most academics distrust astrology and regard it as mumbo-jumbo,” she says. “The thing is, it works. Nobody’s sure how it works but it does. Most of my clients are businesspeople who are very canny. If it didn’t work for them, then why would they use it?”

One of Christeen’s clients is Judith Levy, chief executive of the High and Mighty retail chain.

“I’m fairly pragmatic,” says Judith. “I will only spend money on an astrologer if the decision I have to take is very important - the kind of decision which will cost me a lot of money if I get it wrong.

“When we launched our Kayak brand a few years ago we used astrology to decide the launch date. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength. It’s one of our best selling brands.”

*SNIP*

Read rest here:

http://www.newsmonster.co.uk/paranormal-unexplained/britains-biggest-banks-use-astrology-to-play-the-markets.html

I can't think of a better day for the New Moon in Virgo with a partial solar eclipse—a time to consider one's responsibility to serve, heal, and educate others—than September 11; a day which calls up so much pain and sorrow to so many around the world. I am not just speaking of the WTC tragedy, but all the tragedies that have ensued since that day stemming primarily from the decisions of a few ignorant, but powerful men—acting from fear, hate, and greed—at a time when the world needed the leaders of America to act with caution, wisdom, faith, and compassion. And this year Saturn in Virgo will add a greater sense of heaviness, disgust, and exhaustion to this already heavyhearted day. 

Add to Saturn in Virgo a grand square of immense proportion: Moon/Sun in Virgo opposing Uranus in Pisces and both squaring the Mars in Gemini, Pluto in Sagittarius opposition. I have to admit, it makes me tired to think of the implications of this grand square because I have so little faith that anyone in power in this country will tell the truth, apologize for their mistakes, or try to right a situation gone so wrong. It will probably be a day of major spin and no progress.

So, how can you best use this grand square? Try this on for size: committing to heal and serve others to the best of your ability (Sun/Moon in Virgo,) question, analyze and shake out your old beliefs (Pluto in Sagittarius,) act with an openness and intelligence sourced in non-judgmental curiosity (Mars in Gemini,) and revolutionize your life by breaking the illusion of separation and committing fully to love all beings (Uranus in Pisces.) Look at your body, your mind, your heart: where is your pain? How much compassion and love are you willing to bring to bear upon that pain? How much can you extend that compassion and love out to the ones you most care about and then to the ones you least care for? Imagine everyone having the courage to do this? What a profound change we would see in our world.

This last eclipse of 2007 will be visible from parts of South America, Antarctica and the South Atlantic. To find out more, visit NASA's eclipse page http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html. This solar eclipse represents the energy of the Virgo Sun being hidden from view by the Virgo Moon. So the readily apparent qualities of Virgo become subsumed by the unconscious properties and propensities of the constellation. It is easy to consider the dark side of Virgoan qualities like perfectionism and idealism; I know my inner critical tyrant quite well.

What is not so easy is to imagine the dark side of the desire to serve and/or heal. The New Moon in Virgo is asking each of us to look deeply at our own inner agendas, with a critical eye toward whether we do this work to get our own emotional and egoic needs met? Consider how much you walk your talk? Do you teach others to live better, healthier lives and still find yourself unable to change your own physical, emotional and mental condition? Do you empower or dis-empower the people you help? With a Grand Square, the call to let go of self-gratification is quite big on this New Moon.

So let's move on and talk about Virgo. When most astrologers speak about Virgo (usually through gritted teeth and with more than a bit of negativity) they use descriptives like perfectionistic, critical, analytical, organized, discriminating, scientific, empirical, and calculating. Well, show me one person who hasn't wished to have any one of these qualities when they were badly needed! In truth, we all express our Virgo side when we strive to be our best. (Which I might add is not such a bad thing.) Sometimes, when referring to Virgo, we are lucky enough to hear astrologers use words like healing, service, sacrifice, and mentoring. Virgo is the healer, the doctor, the nurse, the teacher, the therapist, the worker, the researcher, the scientist, and the engineer. For Virgo, caring comes in the form of finding workable solutions to everyday problems. Virgo is the true healer of the zodiac because for Virgo, if something causes pain, it warrants serious attention and a real cure.

This is the New Moon to connect with the part of you that expresses the values of service and selflessness. Virgo rules compartmentalization, perfection, science, medicine, health and healing, engineering, teaching, working for the common good, and aiding the poor and sick through research, development and humanitarian aid programs. Virgo recognizes the value of healing oneself and the world. Though it can be hard to do, this is the New Moon to realize that we each have a duty to heal ourselves by reaching out to heal others. And by the way, you can't heal the planet if you won't take responsibility for your own health and well-being.

If health and well-being is your goal, this is the New Moon for you! Virgo rules the physical body, the temple of the spirit; and Virgo cares deeply about bodily purity. If we view the body as a sacred vessel to house the mind and heart, it becomes almost impossible to consider doing it harm. Long ago, a Virgo native must have coined the phrase, "A healthy body creates a healthy mind." In extremis, Virgo is hypochondriacal and often follows a compulsively restrictive dietary regime. In balance, Virgo is attentive to good health and ingests deliciously healthy foods in moderation. Don't underestimate the power of Venus (beauty) in Leo and Saturn in Virgo (the long view about achieving your goals) as helpmates in the effort to get healthy. Under the right circumstances, vanity, a normally negative expression of Leo, can have positive consequences.

This is the best New Moon for initiating an intention to deal with substance abuse, weight problems, and eating disorders. This is the New Moon to get serious about seeking medical attention for symptoms or illnesses you have been avoiding or denying. Bring happiness to your loved ones by committing to illness prevention and better health. This is the time to investigate dietary changes, daily exercise programs, and improving sleep and learning relaxation techniques. Make no mistake about it; the mind-body connection is the most powerful medicine for healing and the true wisdom of Virgo.

If you are one of those people who find it hard to do for self, then do it for your loved ones. Uranus (alternative thinking) in Pisces (peacefulness, unconditional love), Neptune (immune system) and Chiron (wounding) in Aquarius (alternatives), and Sun/Moon in Virgo all support achieving total health through activities like Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, or Aikido, all of which integrate the Virgo/Pisces polarity by simultaneously healing the body and centering the mind. Getting healthy is one of the highest forms of self-love.

Remember that in order to make your commitments stick you must continue to give your goals lots of attention and energy during the two weeks while the Moon is waxing to full. So, get working to heal your body, mind and spirit on this most amazing New Moon!

Since Virgo usually takes something very personal and expands its sphere of influence out into the communal/transpersonal realm, here are a couple of examples to inspire you to get on the Virgo health and healing bandwagon. Choose to walk instead of driving to work or to the store, and you will increase your own health while helping the planet. Join AA, OA, NA and other support groups and get help for your own addiction while playing a part in the healing of others. How about this: buy your normal allotment of groceries but eat half of what you would normally and give the rest to a food bank. Buy less, save more, invest your savings and help stabilize our economy.

The New Moon in Virgo is also the right time to deal with unrelenting self-criticism and perfectionism. Virgo tends to suffer from a sense of never being good enough; nothing it does, creates, thinks, or feels is worthy and therefore it constantly questions and critiques itself. If this sounds like you, this is the New Moon to take your inner critic in hand and tame it. With Venus (creativity) in Leo the artist, any effort to take on the inner critic will reap huge creative rewards.

Here is something you might not know: the Goddess Astrea, the "Starry One" symbolized Virgo, the sign which rules the physical world and by extension, our bodies. Virgo knows that all life comes from star-stuff. Everything you are existed 15 billion years ago at the time of the Big Bang. Virgo and Pisces enjoy a deep connection around this realization. Pisces understands the oneness of all life through a deeply spiritual lens. Virgo understands the oneness of all life through the physical realities of cosmology, mathematics and physics. The potential of the entire cosmos lives within the body… and we all have the same body, made of the same particles, sourced in the same oneness.

Higher Primates Can Program After VB.NET Training (reprinted by permission)
Smarter Software Leads to ‘Primate Programming’ Research

SAN DIEGO, CA — Here by the San Diego zoo, experiments last month with baboons have proved that higher primates can perform software testing, traverse complex menus, and code simple XML schemas. The finding have implications for the entire software industry, with some scientists predicting routine programming such as maintenance and report writing will be performed by teams of primates within 10 years. McAuliffe’s work builds on research conducted in 2003 at several research universities. This university research supports the view that higher primates can learn language and perform complex cognitive tasks.

Dr. James McAuliffe of the Stamford school of Zoology performed a series of experiments on the baboons using laptop computers. What he discovered was amazing. His findings were reported in the Journal of American Zoology this month.

“Baboons and chimpanzees can use computers, do software testing, and even program,” explained Dr. McAuliffe. But they had some problems handling simple menu navigation. “Higher primates are very intelligent, but we found that they had problems with deeply nested menus. We found that these animals had trouble with multi-way branches beyond 2 levels. At first, these primates simply could not repeat a multi-way menu navigation.”

“However, when male baboons were shown multi-way branches leading to certain GIF, JPG and BMP images of interest, we found the male animals could quickly navigate and recall up to seven levels of deep menu nesting, with each level containing up to 27 menu items.”

According to McAuliffe, “that’s about 35 million possible paths. Clearly, the experimental menu navigation results, if repeatable, cannot be random.”

After simple training in Windows® menu navigation, McAuliffe presented the baboons with modern development tools. Predictably, they were baffled by anything to do with modern Java IDEs such as SunONE®, Visual Age® and Jbuilder®. None of the animals understood the Java programming language, even the ‘alpha’ animals.

However, most subjects immediately understood Visual Basic 3.0, and even displayed some comprehension of the VB3 debugger and simple VB data types.

***** SNIP *****

: The return of Christ may not be 1 man but rather all those who
: oppose the beast. Those who WAKE UP and look inside
: themselves to find and develop the compassion that is
: buried inside themselves. People become Christ when they
: put there ass on the line for a principle. The Return of
: Christ may just happen on a mass scale as we wake up to our
: true nature.

: The Anti Christ is probably not 1 person either.. but rather
: those who have the opportunity to CHOOSE a different path
: but instead choose to side with the Beast system. Anti
: Christs are those that worship the created rather than the
: creator, who have sold there tele pathy out for tele
: vision.

: Find yourself and choose your BEing.

: Everlasting Heaven or Eternal Hell is created when we are
: trapped by our choice of psychic being.

: Love

The Branch...

THE HIDDEN SECRETS OF YOUTHFULNESS 

Health Freedom Publishers, Ltd. of San Juan Capistrano, CA announced today that in-depth analysis conducted by it of current and ongoing health research has revealed secrets to youthfulness apparently missed by professionals conducting the studies.

One recent study published by the journal of the Canadian Public Library of Science, PLoS One, found that energy-producing skeletal muscle cells called mitochondria can be revitalized with weight training exercises.

In the Canadian study, seniors averaging 70 years who were active and healthy were led in exercise programs twice a week for one hour of general exercises involving weight lifting for a period of six months. Biopsies of their thigh muscles were taken both before, and after, the program.

When the weight training is done by seniors, the study further reported that this mitochondrial matter could be returned to a condition similar to that found in much younger people.

*SNIP*

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=28085

THE SECRET DESTINY OF AMERICA

KNOWN BY THE ANCIENTS?

This video takes you back more... 425 years to the real origins of America, when Sir Francis Bacon and Queen Elizabeth I in 1580 began to plan to create the most powerful nation in world history from the North American colonies. You will learn the truth behind some very interesting historical oddities: 1) Why Washington, D.C., was precisely located on the 77th Meridian West; 2) Why the original 5 Colonial Cities -- Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., were built in precise alignment with each other, with Stonehenge across the Atlantic, and on a specific occult Ley Line 3) If America was founded as a Christian nation, why are many of its symbols based on Pagan traditions? Why are there no Christian symbols in the architecture of Washington, D.C.?

4 MEGALITHIC SUNDIALS: GEOMETRICAL/ASTRO ANALYSIS

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/sundials2007b.html

Four megalithic sundials: geometrical and astronomical analyses

The unexpected appearance of a novel "sundial" type of crop picture at Oliver's Castle on April 15, 2007 has stimulated much excitement and wonder around the world.

Charles Mallet and others have carefully investigated the flattening of fairly-thick plant stems there in oilseed rape; and have concluded that many of those plants were smoothly bent at a 90-degree angle to the ground, just above their roots (by unknown means), leaving them still alive yet growing horizontally.

Another "sundial" type of crop picture appeared next to Avebury Ring four years ago, on the night of the summer solstice June 21, 2003. A large crowd of people were celebrating nearby, yet no one noticed any human activity in the field where that picture was later found. One month later on July 20, 2003, yet another "sundial" (resembling Avebury) appeared at Hackpen Hill.

Then two years later at Avebury Ring on July 27, 2005, a "solar-lunar" type of crop picture appeared, which showed 19 small mini-circles in its very centre, evidently meant to symbolize the 19-year Metonic cycle of the Moon.

Could we be receiving messages today in Wiltshire fields, from a group of unknown crop artists who are more technologically advanced than ourselves? Or could all of these amazing crop pictures just be the work of clever human fakers?

In order to distinguish between those two hypotheses, I carried out careful geometrical analyses on all four solar-lunar crop pictures from 2003-2007. It seems that a deep astronomical code, based on megalithic astronomy from the ancient British Isles, was embedded carefully within all of them. Yet no one took any notice for the past four years, until a new picture at Oliver's Castle brought the subject more closely to our attention!

Over ten years ago in the 1990's, astronomer Gerald Hawkins likewise found a "hidden geometrical code" in many early (and much simpler) crop pictures. It involved five geometrical theorems which were demonstrably true, but which ancient experts such as Euclid had missed. Hawkins provided good evidence from that work for a paranormal origin of certain crop pictures, but still a slim possibility for human fakery remained. Now however, in light of this new work, the possibility for human fakery seems to have become almost negligible. Those "hidden astronomical codes" (which no one could decipher for the past four years) are more powerful and complex than the earlier codes found by Hawkins. They tell us the precise latitude North of the unknown artists who made such pictures, as well as (in one case) their approximate historical epoch.