(Video above: Mercury's "farewell" weekly astrology roundup. He temporarily retired 1 1/2 years ago to complete work on personal and literary projects. However, as an Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe News tradition, he looks ahead to the new year around The Occupied Zone.)
A visionary in more ways than one, Michael Mercury had a lot to say about the Ranch and its "ambiance" as well as future when he did a "community reading" recently.
"I really don’t know anything about Rancho Santa Fe," Mercury said. "I made sure not to look it up on the Internet so I could let intuition guide me. But, I feel I really tapped into the community."
Accepting the challenge to read the community, Mercury used 1 p.m. June 7, 1922 as the community’s birth date. That is the moment groundbreaking occurred for the new community of Rancho Santa Fe, according to Elise Esprit of Ah-Ha, based on Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society documents.
Mercury, who also goes by Clint Cochran, mystic, is a yoga instructor and former restaurant owner, A Sacramento resident who has developed a wide and enthusiastic following among astrology enthusiasts. For many years, he hosted America’s only radio astrology call-in show at KDVS-FM, the UC Davis station.
Mercury is further known around the state Capitol for his weekly astrology forecasts on KXTV-Channel 10, Sacramento’s ABC affiliate. He continues his radio astrology experience with "Spirit Speaks" that can be accessed at his Web site www.michaelmercury.com and is a member of the Conscious Media Network.
And now...The Mercury Report on Rancho Santa Fe, now and in the years to come...
FIRST OF ALL let me state up-front, what I am going to try to do here actually what I am going to do here not just try, but what I am going to do is read the chart of Rancho Santa Fe as if it were a person and see how I can relate to the community at large what’s going to happen to the community in this coming year.
OK, so, Libra rising is the ascendant of Rancho Santa Fe, so the personality of Rancho Santa Fe is considered to be Libra-like and what does that mean, it means that relationships are very important. What is also interesting about this chart is that Saturn, the planet Saturn which deals with limits, limitations, authority, structure, is sitting right on the ascendant.
This is a very powerful position, so it kind of indicates that people who live in this community relationships are very important, however also finding balance within this community is extremely important as well.
There is a tendency within this community to maybe be a little bit one-sided in its presentation in the way it represents itself. If it’s extremely affluent maybe it is in its best interest as a community to make sure that those who are in need within this community are also being taken care of, not that it isn’t being done but that there seems to be a lack of variety, or dexterity of many, many social levels in this community due to there’s a need, an interest in doing this but it’s kind of like there is a contradiction in this community as well.
It’s kind of like it wants to expand, but it wants to contract. It wants to follow the rules, but it also wants to make rules. It doesn’t want to live by rules but somehow it wants to get around and somehow have its cake and eat it too by being unique being unusual and yet being structured. There seems to be this quality about this community.
The moon is in Scorpio in the second house of property, money and resources. There’s a strong emotional tie to the property, money and resources. People really love their homes. People come to this community to find their soul in their home, to make their home more than their castle but to represent who they are. There is a sense of secrecy, a sense of privacy in this community. People tend to be very private.
People don’t want other people necessarily unless they are invited to know about themselves. They want to keep themselves private. This is a community on the one hand wants to welcome the outsiders but at the same time want to be very private.
Mars in the third house, this is the natal chart I’m talking about, I’m just giving you a glow then I will talk about maybe what’s coming up in the next year. Mars in Sagittarius makes it a more philosophical open intellectual curiosity in terms of the community at large. It can have a very vocal voice in terms of what it represents and what it believes in and what it thinks should be done. It tends to be more open-minded, not necessarily liberal or conservative but certainly having an open mind from either camp.
Uranus in the sixth house really speaks to the idea of electronics of advancements. Uranus in Pisces in the sixth house of this chart of Rancho Santa Fe indicates that, again, innovative technology is a part of this community, but at the same time there is this kind of hometown kind of feel so that it wants the advances of the future but it wants the feel of the past. It wants to have a sense of community like in the old school but at the same time it wants to take advantage of all the high tech gadgets and technology that helps make life so much more pleasant.
Now, when it comes to relationships, we have Chyron, the south node in the seventh house of relationships, partnerships, marriage, all this kind of thing. One has to kind of be aware relationships, partnerships, things of this sort, it kind of makes the community a little bit, oh what’s the word, maybe a little bit apart from other communities, yet it wants to be a part of other communities, but at the same time it doesn’t want to be a part of the other communities.
So, there is kind of, again, contradiction within this community because of what one would call affluence. Based on this chart there is a real positive sense of affluence in this community but there is also a contradiction here, not that it feels guilty about it but there is a responsibility that comes with having so much.
The sun in Gemini -- the sun. What is the sun sign of Rancho Santa Fe, it’s Gemini. The sun sign is in Gemini. The rising sign is in Libra and the moon is in Scorpio. These are three important positions for this chart. It speaks to more air than water and no fire in the three important elements. However, Mars which represents fire in Sagittarius gives it a nice balance.
The real focus also is at the crown of this chart and we’re talking about Venus, Pluto, Mercury are all in Cancer. The sun is in the ninth house of education and travel. Mercury is a the crown of this chart in cancer, so home schooling looks like it is going to be a very important part of this community.
There is probably more people doing home schooling than people would recognize. Education is extremely important in this community, but at the same time there seems to be two sets of forms of communication. There is maybe the formal, regular type of schools, high schools, public schools, but there seems to be a really strong private school element in this community as well.
Pluto, Venus in Cancer in the 10th House of home, communication. Tenth House represents vocation, but with Venus in Pluto in Cancer, a very family oriented sign Cancer, it tells me that people are working out of their homes a lot more in this community than most communities, that authority can be derived, because of technologies concerning this community that one is maybe running their businesses out of their homes more than one would realize or that is certainly going to be an important part of this community as time goes on with technologies the way they are.
Neptune is in the Eleventh House of friendships so there is a real romantic quality, a charmed quality to this community. There is a basic feel if you will that borders on quality, romance, story-like making it a much more of a visual as well as a heartfelt community,. There is a real sense of sentiment also in this community. So, this is kind of a quick overview what I look at the natal chart of this community to be.
THE FUTURE, MICHAEL...
Now, what’s happening right now in this coming year as we look into the year 2012, the real focus is going to be on work and health issues. I’m just pointing out that Uranus, this year, Rancho Santa Fe is coming up to what is a very unusual return and that’s what we call Uranus return. It takes approximately 84 years for Uranus to arrive at the same location as when it was born.
When you gave me the date for June 7, 1922 when the breaking of the ground, Uranus was at 13 degrees Pisces. Right now in the sky Uranus is at 11 degrees Pisces. So, in this year it is going to have a Uranus conjunct. It is going to return to its original position. So, there is a major cycle that is being completed in this community.
It is a cosmic cycle. It is a larger cycle. It is an evolutionary cycle of this community. This community has now matured in a complete way and at the same time now it’s trying to look at how do we continue into the future with our boundaries set, with our limits set. We have our personality is set basically.
It has an ambiance that has evolved organically and now where do we go. So, there is a completion that is literally happening in this community as we go into the year 2012, a total recognition that OK we’re saturated, we’re terrific, we have all these things, now where do we go from here, how do we refine the qualities the joys the things we associate with family with home with community, how do we address this in a new way in an innovative genius-like unique way without destroying the home sentiment, the communal sense of family that we have established for this community.
There is also Neptune is going through the Fifth House of children, of recreation of short trips and I have to say now my intuition is kicking in here somewhat and I am also saying this because of what I anticipate in 2013. Pluto, the planet Pluto will go into the Fourth House of home concerning, so I am looking a little bit further ahead besides the year 2012 because what I am anticipating here is that if you maybe you already have a sister city, maybe Rancho Santa Fe has a sister city somewhere in the world.
You may Want to take a look at this to see what is their sister city, but it seems to me there is going to be more of a focus here on if they haven’t picked a sister city they are not sharing with whether it is in Africa or Europe or South America wherever they have chosen to adopt another city and kind of exchange keys and all of that stuff for some reason that is coming up in this chart for me. I am either seeing there is going to be a renewal of that, there is going to be some kind of recognition of that coming up or there might be an establishment of that if that hasn’t happened already. Or maybe the city adopts another sister city or vice-versa, a kind of city exchange. I don’t know why this is coming up, but it is.
If it doesn’t happen this year, I see 2013 will become a very important year because Pluto goes into the Fourth House of home and Pluto represents revolution, change, death, rebirth, so there might be in 2013 looking down the road because of the concept of real estate, the concept of housing, the concept of family that there could be some kind of new revolutionary approach as to how families are going to deal with families, properties and their homes in the year 2013. This could be technologically related or this could be some sort of philosophical awareness that this community is going to re-evaluate where do they go from here.
There seems to be a real emphasis that keeps coming up in this chart of some kind of pinnacle, some kind of peak, like this community is reaching the top of the mountain. It can see, start looking at what it could be like going down the other side of this mountain but it hasn’t quite reached the end and is preparing for some kind of awareness of some kind of overall view of ah-ha, here we are, now what.
A culmination is also indicated in this chart that this community is coming to some kind of saturation, some kind of total blossoming of fullness, of ripeness, something that is being ripe is ready to drop from this community. Jupiter is moving through the Third House of communication right now as I look at this chart. Mars has been as it ends the year of 2006 has been going through the Third House of communication. Pluto is going through the Third House of communication. Mercury also and the sun leaving the Third House of communication as the year ends and the new year begins it all goes into the fourth house.
This new year we have the sense of structure, of family, of a movement going forward but again putting a focus on home, on family, the importance of family in this community. So, this community has the opportunity it seems to me embrace itself in a unique way reinforcing its values but also having an eye toward the future.
Saturn by the way is moving through the eleventh house of friendships, of hopes, of dreams so there is a realistic approach to what the hopes and dreams for this community can be making it structured, making it work making it practical so this is a community that has not only imagination but also has the talent and the financial wherewithal to make things practical and yet idyllic at the same time. That is also being emphasized and being realized at this time.
I would say, however, that starting at the end of 2011 going into 2013 this is going to be a kind of a plateau period in this community where more examination rather than results will start to take place. I think that the community is getting ready to re-examine where it’s been, where it’s going and do this for many years. If a new master plan hasn’t been done, or is being spoken of maybe it’s time for a new master plan to be looked at of where this community is going to be going 10, 20, 30 years from now or if that hasn’t been done maybe that is being re-looked at this time to see OK we made this plan X number of years ago how will we have fulfilled those plans to where we are now.
That also seems to be an emphasis for the community from the governmental bureaucratic point of view of what’s happening with this community. If there isn’t a city council or something, there seems to be some need of some kind of government structure. If it’s not there it needs to be created.
If it’s informally loose, some kind of guidance to who or what is this identity. Do we become our own city, Do we create our own community. Do we have our own city council or how are we relating to the overall neighborhoods that we are sharing.
That’s pretty much, a lot of material to work with...
