#80 Sedona Through The Millennium Contraction
Sedona's Vedic Astrology Sedona was founded on June 26, 1902, when the U.S. Postal Service approved the name Sedona for mail service in the tiny settlement. See, About Sedona -- Early History. This first official use of the name was thereby the birth of Sedona. The 9:35 time results from applying 9:00 AM, (when business hours begin) and then adjusting (rectifying) it slightly to fit the community's qualities and events and trends in Sedona's history. The alternative birth is Sedona's incorporation as a city on January 4, 1988, but coming 86 years after the founding chart naming Sedona, the baby burg had already matured into the community we know today. Further, that chart simply doesn't fit with Sedona, even after considering birth times before and after 9:00 AM. The incorporation chart is thereby not considered here.
There is another dagger behind the cloak. Mars and Venus are powerfully placed in the tenth house of career and the public, stimulating passion in all things. Mars’ aggressive and energy demands selfish greed and unbridled passion, especially for money, property and the arts. Jupiter and Saturn are the two big planets, the former signifying wealth, wisdom and teachers, and the latter being restriction and loss, but also duty, responsibility and authority. Together, these opposites produce power, and in this chart, they sit in the sixth house of healing, disputes, expenses and debts -- making these qualities a focus. This explains Sedona's health and medical business. Saturn brings long term debt and a stubborn nature. Jupiter’s is weak for being in its fallen sign of Capricorn, which stimulates foolish spending and compromises wealth and judgment. This Saturn/Jupiter combination also brings unrealistic leaders, puffed up with Sun/Mercury ego, and false gurus. These powerful karmas actualize in both the private and public sectors, where disputes are endemic. Sedona suffers from delusions of grandeur -- a puffed-up belief in the community's appeal that brings too-large real estate projects that fail, private/public boondoggles like the Cultural Center and costly public investments like the Uptown improvements program. Taking these influences together, Sedona has a boom and bust history. Enchantment Resort, for example, went bankrupt twice before the current owner made it successful. With its recent expansion, Enchantment could go under again. There's another provocative quality about Jupiter and Saturn, that they are both retrograde. This apparent backwards motion turns the focus inward, which is great for spirituality but reduces these planets’ capabilities to exert their influences in the world -- and also distracts from reality. Note too the Mercury is also retrograde, adding to these karmas. One result is that Sedona is a late bloomer, taking 68 years to incorporate in 1988, and only then beginning to grow into a well known destination. However, this too has a downside, for when Sedona's growth began to accelerate, it went out of control due above explained karmas. The perceptional and social Moon is in the seventh house of relationships, bringing more nurturing karmas and a welcome to visitors. As the Moon rules the sign of Cancer, which in this chart is the twelfth house of enlightenment, nurturing and hospitality stimulate spiritual healing and visitors coming to Sedona for personal growth. However, many are lured by the above-mentioned false gurus. As the twelfth is also bed pleasures and the Moon is romance, there's a lot of sex, much of which is ostensibly for personal growth -- tantra practitioners. The final of the nine Vedic planets are the eclipse points, known in astronomy as the north and south nodes. In Hindu mythology, these are two halves of a serpent, the head being Rahu and the tail being Ketu. Rahu’s head desires to experience everything and relates to the future. Ketu, the brainless tail, however, is otherworldly and only good for insight. Although Rahu and Ketu are eclipse causing shadows, they are so powerful in Vedic Astrology that they are treated as planets. Rahu is well placed in the third house of desires and the arts, further stimulating Sedona’s artistic capabilities and also giving a great desire to communicate. The fifth house of art in general and entertainment is also powerful for being aspected (glanced upon) by Mercury, Mars and the Sun -- a warrior energy that also schemes. Spiritual Ketu, though, is poorly placed in the ninth house of the wealth, teachers and higher knowledge, giving confirming the karmas Jupiter's false gurus and foolish actions. There's an old saying here about how to make a millions dollars -- bring six million. However, Ketu is very good for spirituality in the ninth house, again confirming a powerful Sedona karma.
Tail-of-the-dragon Ketu ran his 7 year cycle until 1968, and little occurred during this cycle of that other-worldly planet disinterested in the world. It's likely, however, that the New Age vortex interests began to germinate then. Venus' long twenty year cycle ran from 1968 to 1988, bringing a blossoming of all the arts, which gave a strong impetus for the community to guide its own future through incorporation. In fact, incorporation came right at the end of this Venus cycle -- in January 2008. Mars’ influence upon Venus created that passion, lots of arguments and the selfish greed. Let's be our own masters and keep the wealth for ourselves. Interestingly, it was also during this last sub-cycle of Venus, that of Ketu, the community used its higher mind to break from the the two counties. Provocative is that Sedona incorporated to build its own sewer system, which has resulted a large chunk of the huge debt that now threatens to sink City government. The solar egocentricity also operated here -- we're going to incorporate to do what we want to do, and we're naming our little town the City of Sedona!!!
Next came the Sun’s 6 year cycle, until 1994 and Sedona began to grow and flourish during this interval of big ego, opportunities and gains. Then the Moon’s 10 year cycle ran until 2004, bringing visitors who often then moved here, cementing Sedona’s identity and stimulating the healing and personal growth qualities. Sedona began changing from a sleepy little town of 5,000 to an overinflated one of 11,000 -- still a small town but pretending to be a city. Finally, Sedona began running it's seven year Mars in mid 2004 -- selfish greed and unbridled passion, especially for money, property and the arts. The Rahu subcycle began in late December that year, and Mars with Rahu turbocharges desire. While real estate prices had been edging up, during the first six months of 2005, prices exploded! Jupiter subcycle came next, fueling the boom with foolishness and great debt until its end in late 2006. The restrictive Saturn subcycle ran from December, 2006 through January, 2008 -- to crush the real estate boom -- but also to stimulate more debt as people continued to refinance their homes. (Note: during this Mars cycle, the City also expanded its activities and debts.) The real estate market began to crumble, although Sedona kept itself in egocentric denial, It’s different here. Mercury subcycle ran for calendar 2008, another period of egocentricity that denied the crash, thus making it worse. Keeping asking prices high stopped purchasers in their tracks. Ketu subcycle began in late January of this year, harming wealth and stimulating more foolishness.
The Remainder Of Mars' Seven Year Cycle What’s ahead? The Venus subcycle began in June of this year and continues until late summer 2010. This could provide some respite from the decline in real estate and business in general. Yet, with desirous Mars conjunct Venus in this chart, there’s risk from too-quick and greedy choices that turn out badly. Buy now! Prices are at rock bottom! And, Venus' disposition also hides a dagger of catastrophe. Planetary cycles, called Dasas, are the underlying karma, like the river of life. Transits are passages of the planets in today's skies and are thereby like weather conditions. This analysis has focused exclusively on the Dasas, but two transit stands out. Saturn is finishing its long two and one half years in Leo now, and this period ending September 9 is particularly harmful, as Saturn acts like his Hindu Deity, Shiva -- the destroyer and the creator. Shiva destroys that which is no longer needed to make room for the new. So, expect more economic woes in the Red Rocks over the next few weeks. Of even greater concern is Mars' upcoming eight month transit through its fallen sign of Cancer, which is the Sedona chart's twelfth house of loss. This Mars transits was described in the July 6, 2009 Celestial Wheel Commentary, in the section, Yet Another Millennium Contraction Hit - October To May,
Because Sedona is running its Mars planetary cycle at the same time this very difficult Mars transit occurs, the karmas are confirmed. Sedona will suffer a major financial crisis from October 2009 through May 2010. A natural disaster is also likely. (Note: the swine flu is likely.) Sun subcycle runs during the last half of 2010, which blinds the mind to reality and focuses attention strictly on the self. The combination of Mars with Sun is also militant. Expect a lot of discord about money, goals and in groups, which will only bring more economic harm. The Moon is the final subcycle, starting at the end of 2010, but this is more of a spiritual, than worldly, Moon. Don’t expect much from its sub cycle, which ends in the summer of 2011. In the Moon being the home and ruling the twelfth house of loss, this would be the interval when foreclosures would take out the rest of the real estate excess. Economically, Sedona has been reeling from the real estate collapse -- houses that were $250K in 2004, peaked at $600K+ in the summer of 2005 and are now sliding back to 2002 levels, which is real because that price represents replacement cost. Tourism has suffered from the twin harms of the national economy failing and high gas prices to this out-of-the-way location. During the boom, hotels, restaurants, tours, other services and retail stores blossomed like desert flowers after a wet spring. Now they are wilting away with the business drought -- down about 40%. Worker income is following suit, forcing folks to leave town. Sedona relies on sales tax, not property tax as it should, for it chose to soak the tourists. Those revenues are already down 20%. Expect sales tax revenue to the City to also slide 40% down, bringing default on some of the whopping $76,000,000 in long term term debt. (The City Hall complex alone has a $4 million mortgage!) By the end of this Mars cycle in June, 2011, Sedona may have shrunken by 1/4, with the City bankrupt. The August 26, 2008 Celestial Wheel described a literally haunting scenario,
The Upcoming Rahu Cycle The eighteen year Rahu planetary cycle begins in late July 2011. As explained above, Rahu is well placed in the third house of desires and the arts, further stimulating Sedona’s artistic capabilities and also giving a great desire to communicate. Rahu will signal the beginning of Sedona's reinventing itself -- much like a company emerges from bankruptcy smaller and leaner and with a new, hopefully sustainable, business model. While it is impossible to see the specific shape of the metamorphosed Sedona, the above mentioned qualities of artistic expression and communications will be prominent. Too, unusual and intense creativity will be seen, and this would be expressed in foreign things and/or technology. There are two caveats. First, Sedona will begin rebuilding from a very low base. So, it may never return to its boom days' size and affluence. Second, the Millennium Contraction will not end until 2015 in the U.S. -- which means tourism and other outside financial support will not bring a return to growth. Sedona, instead, will have to rely upon its own resources and produce services and goods for both local consumption to export out of the area. If you're involved with Sedona in any way, use your own crystal ball to imagine what you can do and create for this little town with delusions of grandeur. |
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