Calamity on State Road 3

Like many of my life stories this reads like "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." I have several relating to cars but this one stands out as miraculous.

Having failed two grades I was twenty one years old when I dropped out of high school in my senior year. The principal wouldn't let me date this beautiful exchange student from Denmark so I used it as an excuse to get serious about my drinking.

I would drive my 1956 Pontiac from Merritt Island to Melbourne every evening and meet my friend Larre. We'd cruise around town drinking beer and hard liquor. Crusin and boozin we called it.

This went on for a few months. Then one night I learned there is more than one set of eyes looking past my nose and I should heed my intuition. Clearly an encounter with my Higher Self and the knowledge my body has an intelligence all its own.

I'd bought the car for eighty dollars from a little old lady who had put only forty thousand miles on it the twelve years she drove it. It was a big V8, I mean BIG V8. All I had to do was remove the front bumper, replace the radiator and the brake vacuum assist. Beyond that the car was immaculate with cloth seats and a great radio. It would float along at 130MPH all day long. I should have replace the bald tires in front.

On this evening I had a feeling of foreboding as I exited my apartment. I knew on some level I should heed this strong sensation. My ego was determined though and I pushed the body on right out into the car. I really enjoy driving.

My favorite part of the drive was State Road 3 South on Merritt Island. I would take it at night with my lights off, seeing by moonlight, keeping one eye on the line down the middle. The road was lightly traveled and this was daring and exciting. If I saw lights up ahead they were always around a curve as the road winds though oak and cabbage palm forest. I would switch on my lights get past the oncoming traffic then switch off again. At 90MPH this was a great fun.

At the very end, a mile before the road crosses the Banana River at Mather's bridge, there is a very curvy stretch barely two cars wide. The trees are thickest, lining the road like soldiers at attention. Its impossible to leave the road without coming to a near halt first.

I'm maybe two hundred feet from the beginning of that piece of road when someone backs out of a driveway with their lights off and turns them on. Surprised I touch the brakes to cut the forward momentum. My new vacuum brake assist multiplies the pressure and instantly the bald front tires peel off the rims, the front end goes down and the car flips over. It comes down hard on its top, crushing the roof to the dashboard. I'm upside down in the car, my belly laying on the ceiling of the car watching the road make sparks dance into the cab as the road whizzes by underneath. In my mind I think "Am I going to die?" Out of my mouth comes a loud and profound "NO!"

The car careens around the curves another two hundred feet spinning 360 degrees at the same time. Without touching a single tree the car finally coming to rest lodged cross ways in the road between trees on either side.

When the movement stops I quickly crawl out the back window and stand there on the side of the road looking at it with heart ache. A man comes out of the house behind me and asks me if the people inside the car are hurt. I say no, I'm not. He looks at me funny and says "YOU?! You were in that car?" I nod to which he says... there have been thirty seven accidents in front of this house and you're the only one who is not injured or dead.

Traffic was backed up for fifteen miles because there were no other exits from the Island until you got back to State Road 520 which runs East and West. I got a ticket from a trooper who, taking pity on me, made it for SPEED TO GREAT FOR CONDITIONS RESULTING IN AN ACCIDENT.

It took four hours for the tow truck to dislodge my 1956 Pontiac from the squeeze. The next day I went into a deli, realized I was very uncomfortable when I didn't have money for a beer and decided I had become addicted to alcohol. I stopped drinking until the craving ceased.

Personal Conflict, Astrology and "Stuff."

First consider: You are on an island in the great ocean. You were born there and so were your parents. There are no roads, just paths from one set of huts to another. All day you run along these paths, to and fro, playing with friends. Sometimes you carry wood or water or other items that contribute to daily health and happiness. You are blissful but obviously not informed of the world of television and cars. That world is the occult (beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or experience; mysterious).

This is the state of affairs that most humans find themselves in when they look at an astrological natal chart. "It's Greek to me. I have no idea what that means." is their first reaction.

So here are some words to encourage a little clarity.

Science shows us we are made of the elements found in that periodic chart you saw in your 8th grade science class. (Maybe you didn't see it but it was there). Science has also determined the source of those elements: Exploding stars left great clouds of dust which formed new stars, planets and organic life (that's you BTW).

Yes! Exploded stars are the source of all the atomic parts which comprise the human body. This star-stuff is all there is, materially speaking.

Science has also shown (the U.S Army actually proved this) that you can take a piece of flesh from your body, carry it great distances, lock it and you in separate lead lined rooms.Then they could poke you with a sharp object and the piece of still living flesh will react as if it was still attached to your body.

In other words we are all connected to all that is and no distance or barrier, perceived or otherwise not known, can separate us from the stuff from which we are made, the universe. The very word universe conjures this notion; uni = one, verse= song or utterance.

Now astrology.

We exist in a clock of sorts. Looking from outside the solar system this isn't a difficult image. Little balls of rock and gas, heavy and light relatively, swirling around in the medium of space (space, a misnomer if there ever was one, think "dark matter"), each having it's minute electromagnetic influence on the objects around it.

Actually some influences are not so minute. The earth swells up when the moon passes over head. And it's not such a small swell.

OK... what about you and me? The key is found in the heavenly bodies influence on the ductless glands, e.g. the adrenal glands. Read more about them here.

These glands vary in sensitivity to changes in everything from the physical to the psychic environment. They regulate the other functions of the body and hence impact the mind.

More basic astrology: Natal charts are round, representing the earth at the time you were born, drawn on paper. The left side of the circle shows the Eastern hemisphere, the upper half what was "above the Earth," the right half is Western side and the lower half the "below" the Earth. You, meaning your body-mind, are both the earth and on the Earth.

The moment of your birth becomes an impression that is so powerful it will last till your body dies. (Read more about that first impression here.)

If the planet Mars is in a positions that is called sensitive, like just coming up over the Eastern horizon the moment of your birth (rising, or dawning as it were) your body-mind will register this as a stronger influence than if it were at, let's say, the ten o:clock position. The adrenal glands which have to do with action and are strongly influenced by Mars will be "turned up" a notch. For the duration of your physical life.

The position of a planet in the chart tends to determine it's strength of influence. Hence "sensitive" areas. There have been scientific, statistical studies, see here.

Let's advance out thoughts on this. Keep the picture... Mars is shining on your "cute face" and hopefully mother has you in her arms, cooing and saying "what a beautiful baby." The rest of the planets are out there as well, all giving you a "first impression" of your new body-mind. One of them, Saturn, the planet influencing maturation of body-mind through crystallization (bones come to mind) is over on the Western side of the wheel of life (chart) directly opposite Mars. Adrenaline, from the adrenals ruled by Mars, is fluid metal (notice someone's breath after they've had a fright or got angry or been out playing hard at kick ball and you'll know what I mean by metal). Saturn influences the bones or, as one can easily see when things harden, resistance. So what we have is Mars inspiring action opposed by Saturn resisting, or... conflict.

This is just one perspective on a very complex scene: Mars (rising) in the Twelfth House opposite Saturn (setting) in the Sixth House. There could be a wide variety of potential experiences available; ranging from stifled action resulting in bone-breaking situations as it is projected onto the body, to the ability to act responsibly to mitigate karmic debts, and more. Much More.

Any body opposite any other body in astrology is referred to as opposition. Image it like two pebbles thrown into a pond at the same time, ripples spreading out to meet each other. They will have a tendency to change the surface of the pond in a more pronounced way than they would if dropped separately. If the ripples (vibrational influence) are not in accord by nature, as in the case of Saturn (resistance) and Mars (action), discord and turbulance is the experience. Will has to be constantly applied in some measure to balance the conflicting energies.



If the two bodies were Venus and Neptune you could get a conflict, especially if there are other influences of a less harmonious nature. However, these two planets like each other. Venus is the lower octave of Neptune (just like musical notes, planets vibrate at specific wavelengths). As a result you are more likely to get artistic (Venus) interests that have a spiritual or mystical nature (Neptune) and an "other worldly" quality to the personality.

So what's my point? It's this: If you find you have conflict in your life on a regular basis, whether it's with others, with an idea, or any two or more "things" that exist in either your material or mental universe, you can pretty much bet there are two or more heavenly bodies in opposition in your natal chart.

Learning how to cope requires help. No one comes to self awareness alone. And few study astrology and even fewer of those who study are good at it.

A note of caution: These planetary influences are not an excuse for "fussin and fighten my friend." Even though the influences of the heavens are often quite strong they are never stronger than a will to change. You choose the response, it never chooses you.

If you want to master conflict, I mean if you really want to... check this out. This is real help that puts you in the driver's seat!