GETTING BACK TO THE SECOND CONJUNCTION OF URANUS AND PLUTO ON APRIL 4, 1966
The event chart for the second conjunction of Uranus and Pluto on April 4, 1966 shows that the two planets are both in retrograde at the time and conjunct in the 17th degree of Virgo. one degree prior that of the first conjunction.
To really do this thoroughly i have to cast charts for the moment each planet went retrograde as it will reveal through the Sabian Symbols found for the point of retrograde what the given precept is that each planet isn't ready to complete and the North Nodes' Sabian Symbol reveals to what greater purpose it is all applying for
The Sabian Symbol for the 17th degree of Virgo, according to Dane's interpretation, is given as... [ibid.]
"VIRGO 17°: A VOLCANIC ERUPTION.
KEYNOTE: The explosive energy of long-repressed contents of the subconscious.
We are dealing here with the dramatic release of energies which have been kept in check by the outer shell of the ego controlled consciousness. It may be a spectacular catharsis, but it often takes paths of destruction. Yet unless some form of purification by fire is experienced, the inner pressure of the karmic past or of more recent frustrations would shake up perhaps even more destructively the very foundations of the personality.
At this second stage, the objective confrontation with an image of the karmic past is replaced by a subjective irruption of repressed memories and primitive cravings. Everything must be released from the psyche seeking to attain the transfigured state. The soul must become empty, the mind translucent. The Keyword is EXPLOSION."
AS I POINTED OUT URANUS AND PLUTO WERE VERY CLOSE TO POSSIBLY BEING CONJUNCT WITHIN A ONE DEGREE ORB WITH THE SIDEREAL PRECESSED USA NATAL CHARTS' PART OF WAR/RAGE
Which derived from the natal chart is at 14* Virgo 48' 51' but when adjusted for the 189 years and 9 months that had occurred since July 4, 1776 at the rate of the Sidereal precession of one degree every seventy one and a half years, or 4.1958041 seconds of a degree per average month, then on that day the USA's Part of War/Rage would have been at apprx. 17* Virgo 28' 05" {at the time of the October 9, 1965 conjunction the Sidereal precessed Part of War/Rage was at appx. 17* Virgo 27' 40"] and Uranus and Pluto at 16* Virgo 27' 48" is so very close that a slight error as to over-estimation as to the exact amount of sidereal precession could mean that the two planets were very well within that one degree orb I contend is necessary for an Astrological Part to be affected...but that is only my theory and despite how much I'm presently inclined to believe in it ...that doesn't mean that it's an accurate assessment that I made.
Even still, the Ascendant of the event chart is conjunct the natal position of the USA natal charts' Part of War/Rage and as such it shares the same Sabian Symbol.
I believe that despite the necessity of a precession adjusted point of conjunction to any natal charts coordinate be it planetary, Astrological Part, or House cusp the Sabian Symbol for the natal charts coordinates remain valid throughout the life time of the individual in question. I am extremely confident of that as for what I know of my own natal chart and the fact that I am 66 years 4 months and three weeks old. Presently, nearly a full degree is added to all natal placements on my own natal chart in order to adjust for the Sidereal precession that has occurred since I was born but the Sabian Symbols for all my astrological Parts are still fully in effect. The symbolism found in ones natal chart axis is about a lifetimes' transformation from the "WHO" represented by the Sabian Symbol found for the Asc. to the "WHERE-TO" [or "WHOM-TO" as I sometimes prefer to say] given symbolically by the Sabian Symbol found for the Desc. I'm still of the belief that the progressed natal chart gives a symbolism that is for the current situation however.
So, let's look at the Sabian Symbols for the chart axis of the event of the second conjunction.
The Ascendant, in the 15th degree of Virgo at 14* Virgo 14' 55" is in the same degree as that of the natal Part of War/Rage so this should be doubly interesting to all.[ibid.]
"VIRGO 15°: A FINE LACE HANDKERCHIEF, HEIRLOOM FROM VALOROUS ANCESTORS.
KEYNOTE:The quintessence of deeds well done.
Root strength produces beautiful flowers. The neophyte who acts with determination, courage and discrimination while following "in the footsteps" of his predecessors receives a symbolic prize from the Brotherhood ready to welcome him when he has fully proven himself on the battlefield where he meets his past, which tries to block his way. The mystic Beloved hands him what she has woven for him out of spiritual threads.
This is the last stage of the thirty-third sequence which also ends the eleventh scene, "Characterization." This scene began with the revelation in a portrait of salient features in a man's face. It ends with symbols which bring out the ultimate validity of the many efforts of generations of men toward the building of a beautiful and significant CULTURE. The Man of Culture is, in the deepest and best sense of the term, the Aristocrat. He is the flowering of a line of ancestors who have accepted responsibility for a group or community. Likewise, the true "disciple" is the blossom that crowns a long series of incarnations."
I find it quite the coincidence that the natal Part of War has in the definition, provided by Rudhyar, the words "when he has fully proven himself on the battlefield where he meets his past, which tries to block his way." as it refers to a "battlefield" but the adversary is "the past" as it is blocking the way to spiritual evolutionary transformation.
The Ascendant is symbolically implying that American society had to become, [or reaffirm, that we were that... although, "honestly"?, I certainly doubt it.] the idealistic, democratic, republic which our founding ancestors dreamed, planned, worked and even sacrificed for and gave it the foundation to be and to endure as the archetype of a nation where-in all people are considered to be equal and that all have the inalienable right to pursue happiness in their own way... in so much as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Although there were, call them, "ghosts of the past" or "karmic visitations", that were 'blocking our way' and they had to be eliminated.That was the 'WHO" of the event chart, the precept that was needed to work in harmony with the energies produced by the conjunction of Uranus, "The Great Awakener" and Pluto, the "PLANET" of death and destruction, or more simply "transformation" at that time.
That the two planets were both retrograde at the time does give me cause to say that some further analysis of individual planets activities from their point of going retrograde, the point of their going direct again and the Sabian Symbolism of the Moons North Node at the point of their "Final Returns" is in order. As the retrograde action of a planet is indication of an impasse as to what is the symbolic precept given by the Sabian Symbol at the point where retrograde motion begins and returns to a previously transited one to reinforce itself with the energies of that previous precept in order to break through that impasse point later on, the mutual retrograde conjunction thus is a focal point of much frustration and likely to prove itself to be of exceptional notice among the three conjunctions.
The Desc. of the event chart is the desired, cosmic compelled, transformation that is described by the Sabian Symbol, in this instance, by the 15th degree of Pisces... it is the ""WHERE-TO' [or "WHOM-TO", if that works better for your understanding?] that we were need to arrive at [ibid.]
"PISCES 15°: AN OFFICER INSTRUCTING HIS MEN BEFORE A SIMULATED ASSAULT UNDER A BARRAGE OF LIVE SHELLS.
KEYNOTE: The need for thorough rehearsing before any complex and inherently dangerous social ritual in which power is used or evoked.
In this fifth symbol of a series dealing with the confrontation with superpersonal group or occult power we see a picture which once again synthesizes what the four preceding symbols have implied, rather than stated. In social life, as well as occultism, conflict is always to be expected; one must prepare for it. At the close of the great cycle — in the zodiac, the sign Pisces — a deep-seated struggle is inevitable at least to some extent. It can be a struggle against the ghosts of the unfulfilled past, the 'unlived life', or a confrontation with accumulated and often-eluded karma. Indeed, Pisces refers to a period in the year during which many generals and admirals have been born. The rules of the game, at least in traditional forms of warfare, can be known. One may have to rehearse the dangerous play, just as our astronauts endlessly rehearsed every step in the moon-landings. Individual rashness cannot be tolerated. Even a deliberate sacrifice must play a well-conceived part — like the sacrifice of an important piece in a game of chess.
This is the last symbol in Scene Twenty-three. The entire scene dealt in various ways with the process of integration of the individual into a social Whole, a community, an occult Brotherhood. A concluding Keyword could be VALORIZATION. The concept of group-value dominates the entire scene."
The key points here are in the passages which read as "conflict is always to be expected; one must prepare for it." and "It can be a struggle against the ghosts of the unfulfilled past, the 'unlived life', or a confrontation with accumulated and often-eluded karma."
What the Sabian Symbol for the Asc. was stressing in regards to battling the past is further emphasized here in the symbolism for the Desc.
The Sign and degree of the I.C., in the 12th degree of Sagittarius, gives through the Sabian Symbol found for it the "HOW" to achieve this transformation of being in collective readiness for the struggle against the "ghost of the past", "accumulated and possibly eluded karma" as to the mundane process [it is the "WHY" of this process in a spiritual evolutionary sense] [ibid.]
"SAGITTARIUS 12°: A FLAG TURNS INTO AN EAGLE; THE EAGLE INTO A CHANTICLEER SALUTING THE DAWN.
KEYNOTE: The spiritualization and promotion of great symbols of a New Age by minds sensitive to its precursory manifestations.
In the background of this strange allegory we can recognize the deep-seated belief that the American nation and its basic democratic institutions were constituted to be the cradle for a new step in human evolution. The 'flag' is the abstract symbol of the nation; it becomes an 'eagle' — another U.S. symbol — when the concept is made alive by bold and transcendent action. The eagle symbolizes spiritual will and the power to rise to the highest possible altitude of consciousness and purpose. Flying at such an altitude, the eagle is the first living creature to perceive the rising sun. Having perceived it, it heralds it — and by so doing is identified with the crowing chanticleer, who had convinced himself that his resonant cry was responsible for the rise of the sun and the coming of a new day.
This second stage symbol contrasts with the first in that it is completely future-oriented. It speaks of 'peak experiences' instead of the wisdom found in the organismic depth of the body- consciousness. It urges us to bring our noblest ideals to actual life through the power of the spiritual will. A Keyword might be ANNUNCIATION."
Rudhyar's "Keynote" puts it perfectly "The spiritualization and promotion of great symbols of a New Age by minds sensitive to its precursory manifestations." The "New Age symbols" that emerged from the time were many and had quite the impact The one that comes foremost to my mind is the "PEACE SYMBOL", another is the raised fist of "BLACK POWER". THE SYMBOL FOR THE SIGN OF AQUARIUS is yet another. Many of the symbols , new icons, were reflective of the different confrontations, and struggles against, that which were "ghosts of our past", 'karmic manifestations'... our adversaries on our personal battlefield as a society
The Sabian Symbol for the M.C., in the 12th degree of Gemini, is one I just covered a few posts back...that is the Sign and Degree that the Moons North Node was in during the Watts Riots, in Los Angeles in August of 1965, just eight months prior...and interestingly there had been a flare up of more rioting in Watts on March 15th
The Sabian Symbol is thus the "WHY" of the process of transformation from Virgo 15 to Pisces 15, in regards to the 'mundane interpretation and it is the "HOW"" of the process for the interpretation regarding the spiritual evolution for American society at the time. As I didn't post the entire description and definition given for the Sabian symbol of the 12th degree of Gemini, as written by Dane Rudhyar, I'll do so here. [ibid.]
"GEMINI 12°: A ***** GIRL FIGHTS FOR HER INDEPENDENCE IN THE CITY.
KEYNOTE: Liberation from the ghosts of the past.
While 'newly opened lands' theoretically offer virgin fields for experience, in fact those men and women who reach them find themselves conditioned by their own past. They carry the ghosts of their former lives and the memories of collective social patterns with which they had identified their egos. Every new beginning is surrounded with ghosts (or personal and social karma). The racial struggle for equality of opportunity must go on, even if this equality is officially guaranteed by the Law. The struggle is within and takes many forms. The Puritans brought to the theoretically 'New World' the fears, the fanaticism and the aggressiveness of their European existence, and these often grew more virulent under the conditions found in the New World. But no field of activity is ever totally 'virgin'. It has its inhabitants, and they cling to their possessions or privileges. Whoever seeks to be truly an individual must be liberated from the past.
Here at this second stage we have the usual contrasting type of symbol. The new lands are opened, but they are filled with lives, and the pioneer's mind filled with ghosts, preconceptions, and prejudices or expectations. What is needed is a total LIQUIDATION of the past; virgin minds for virgin fields."
...and all that talk at the Asc. and Desc about battling ghosts of the past...those very "ghosts" that were sustaining segregation, discrimination, racial prejudice... uh huh... DANM SKIPPY
Like I wrote some posts back in answer to one of the forums' members that seemed to imply I might manipulate what findings I have to make it sound relevant to the facts of history... "a child could see this" as to how relevant the Sabian Symbols found in association with the degrees of the Zodiac that were in play at the time of the three events of Uranus Pluto conjunctions in 1965 and 1966>
I owe member Phoenix Venus an inestimable amount of gratitude for making me aware of, and convincing me of the importance of, that one should give equal ,or almost as much, importance to both the mundane and spiritual processes of interpreting a chart. In the belief that working for the "HOW" of the transformational process in both manners doesn't produce a conflict between the two, but rather, they work complimentary to one another...as after all, no matter how spiritually evolved we may become we are still living in a mundane world.
Phoenix Venus would likely be able to write it much more eloquently and to a greater depth of understanding... but, I think I've provided you all with the the "gist of it".
The Part of Fortune from the event chart,for April 4, 1966, is in the 6th degree of Pisces, and the Part of Fortune always reveals symbolically what will provide the most fortuitous circumstances to assist in producing an outcome by which to achieve the transformation from that as given symbolically for the Asc. as to that as given symbolically for the Desc. [ibd.]
"PISCES 6°: A PARADE OF ARMY OFFICERS IN FULL DRESS.
KEYNOTE: The dedication of human beings to the service of their community, and the assurance that it will be emotionally sustained by the people at large.
Here we see at work the emotion-rousing appeal of social activities which demand the surrendering by the individual of his personal way of life, his opinions and his comfort. The socializing process is pictured in all its intensity but what is implied even more is the support that the socialized person can expect from the collectivity if he is ready to act and to sacrifice himself for the nation or the group.
This is the first symbol of the sixty-eighth series. It allegorizes the power generated by a totally accepted and enforced collective discipline, and the exaltation and mass response which he who has achieved this self-surrender to a social tradition can expect in return.
The Keyword is GROUP-RESPONSIBILITY."
Yes, it took "'GROUP RESPONSIBILITY"... and GROUP SOLIARITY, TOO. As it took mass protests to end the war, to end segregation [or at least the start of it and maybe the most of it.
I want to cover that retrograde to direct motion process that both Uranus and Pluto were in at the time of the second conjunction and will do that in my next post.
So, I'm not quite through with the analysis of the second conjunction, just yet. But it only served to, in a sense, further "colour" the transformational process of the second conjunction and not alter it.
One could even also analyse the New Moon cycles that were happening at the time of each of the three conjunctions as to understand what were the "eddys" to the "undercurrent" at the time of of those transformational processes... but I'm not that ambitious, at least not at this time.
After enduring a last week of September that gave us temperatures of over 90* and even as much as 100* f weather, here in Northern California this Fall season has now definitely arrived here, it's beautiful outdoors, and I'm so easily called away by Mother Nature.
In the meantime, here are some...
NOTABLE NEWS EVENTS THE MONTH PRECEDING AND FOR THE MONTH FOLLOWING,THE SECOND CONJUNCTION, WHICH INCLUDED...
MARCH 1ST. THE APPROPRIATION OF AN ADDITIONAL 4.8 BILLION DOLLARS FOR THE "WAR" IN VIETNAM WAS APPROVED BY BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, 392 - 4 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND 93 - 2 IN THE SENATE
MARCH 3RD FOLK - ROCK BAND BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD FORMED AND THEY WOULD SOON RELEASE WHAT HAS EVER SINCE BEEN REGARDED AS AN AMERICAN ANTHEM, THE SONG ABOUT PROTESTS "FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH" WHICH WAS RELEASED 8 MONTHS LATER ON DECEMBER 7TH, 1966. [The following from wikipedia] "For What It's Worth" is often considered an anti-war song, Stephen Stills was inspired to write the song because of the Sunset Strip curfew riots in November 1966—a series of early counterculture-era clashes that took place between police and young people on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California, beginning in mid-1966, the same year Buffalo Springfield had become the house band at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip. Local residents and businesses had become annoyed by how crowds of young people going to clubs and music venues along the Strip had caused late-night traffic congestion. In response, they lobbied the city to pass local ordinances stopping loitering, and enforced a strict curfew on the Strip after 10 p.m. The young music fans, however, felt the new laws infringed upon their civil rights
MARCH 4TH, JOHN LENNON MADE THE INFAMOUS REMARK AS TO HOW THE BEATLES HAD BECOME MORE POPULAR THAN JESUS CHRIST. ALTHOUGH IT WASN'T A DIRECT REMARK BY THE TIME THE MEDIA GOT A HOLD OF IT IT WAS TURNED INTO BLATANT AND BLASPHEMOUS DISRESPECT.
MARCH 6TH, THE SONG THE BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERET BECOMES THE NUMBER 1 ON THE CHARTS WHERE IT REMAINS FOR THE NEXT 13 WEEKS
...IRONICALLY...
MARCH 10TH. NORTH VIETNAMESE TROOPS CAPTURE A GREEN BERET CAMP IN ASHAU VALLEY
MARCH 12TH THE LOS ANGELES BASED BAND. "LOVE" RELEASES ITS FIRST ALBUM TITLED, "LOVE".
MARCH 14TH THE BRITISH FILM "BORN FREE" BASED ON THE BOOK OF THE SAME NAME BY AUTHOR JOY ADAMSON, IS RELEASED.
MARCH 15TH MORE RACIAL RIOTS ERUPTED IN THE WATTS DISTRICT OF LOS ANGELES.
MARCH 17TH CESAR CHAVEZ AND 75 FARM WORKERS BEGINS HIS FAMOUS 340 MILE MARCH FROM DELANO, CALIFORNIA TO THE STATES CAPITAL, SACRAMENTO IN EFFORT TO BRING PUBLIC AWARENESS AND SUPPORT TO THE EFFORT TO UNIONIZE FARM WORKERS AND SECURE THEM THE RIGHT TO BE PAID AT LEAST THE MINIMUM WAGE AS A CONTINUATION OF THE 'DELANO GRAPE STRIKE" THAT BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1965. IT WOULD NOT BE RESOLVED UNTIL JULY OF 1970
MARCH 23RD THE FIRST MEETING BETWEEN THE VATICAN AND THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OCCRS AFTER 400 YEARS
MARCH 25TH. THE SUPREME COURT RULES THAT THE "POLL TAX" IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
MARCH 26TH. LARGE SCALE ANTI VIETNAM WAR PROTESTS ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES INCLUDING 20,000 PEOPLE THAT RALLIED IN NEW YORK CITY'S CENTRAL PARK AND THEN MARCHED DOWN FIFTH AVENUE AFTERWARD. AN ESTIMATED 2,000 PEOPLE MARCHED DOWN STATE STREET IN CHICAGO, ANOTHER 2,000 MARCHED IN BOSTON AND THERE WERE PROTESTS AND MARCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO, DENVER, ATLANTA, OKLAHOMA CITY AND HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
MARCH 31ST ANOTHER ANTI VIETNAM WAR PROTEST AND MARCH IN NEW YORK CITY THAT HAD AN ESTIMATED 25,000 PEOPLE INVOLVED IN.
"
April 1st. General Pham Xuan Chieu, a member of South Vietnam's 10-man military junta who was appearing as an emissary of Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ to seek popular support, was surrounded by a mob of 1,000 students and Buddhist activists as he arrived at city government offices. The group then held him captive, transported him around the city in a cycle rickshaw, forced him to make a speech at the local radio station, and then released him unharmed
April 2nd. Ten thousand protesters (including 2,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and sailors in uniform) marched through the streets of Da Nang in South Vietnam and denounced both the United States and the South Vietnamese government of Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky. Da Nang Mayor Nguyen Van Man, who had allowed protesters free use of city offices, motor vehicles and printing facilities, was accused of treason by Ky, who said that he planned to have Man executed by a firing squad.
April 4th. A deadly tornado family affected the I-4 corridor in Central Florida from the Tampa Bay area to Brevard County. Eleven people were killed across the state in what remains one of only two F4 tornadoes ever to strike that U.S. state. {I wish to add that Uranus, the Higher Octave of Mercury, and thus the co-ruler of the Sings of Virgo and Gemini and that Gemini being representative as an "Air Sign" is "AIR ON THE EARTH" , as each of the four Elements to be found to be represented in the Zodiac is of one of three sub-classifications, the other two being Aquarius r.e. "AIR ABOVE THE EARTH" {thus explaining why it is also known as the "Water Bearer" sometimes depicted symbolically as "an Angel pouring down succor from above" as being that of the "Air above the Earth" it is what carries the rains, which are ruled by Pisces r.e. "WATER ABOVE THE EARTH"}, and Libra r.e. "AIR UNDER THE EARTH"...See my thread "A Runic Explanation of the Zodiac' for more about that... I believe Uranus is what rules tornadoes through that Gemini influence.]
April 5th. Soviet Union Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin said in a speech to the 23rd Communist Party Congress that the nation would begin measuring economic success by profits rather than by achievement of production target quantities. Starting in 1967, Kosygin said, nearly one-third of factory workers would be eligible for incentive bonuses, and asked the Party Congress to approve a new Five Year Economic Plan implementing the changes.
April 6th. The Beatles began their "Studio Years", discontinuing public concerts in favor of simply releasing new albums and singles for sale, as the first song was recorded for their upcoming album Revolver. That session, with John Lennon singing "Tomorrow Never Knows", marked the first use of automatic double tracking (ADT), invented by EMI recording engineer Ken Townsend,[33] and the first to include music played backwards
April 8th. In one of the most controversial covers of Time magazine, the national newsweekly's cover for Good Friday, 1966, had a black background and, in bold red letters, the question "Is God Dead?"
...also...The last poll tax in the United States was outlawed when a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voided the requirement in Mississippi, in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections. Since 1890, a registered voter had to present receipts showing payment of the poll tax for the two preceding Januarys before being allowed to cast a vote in a Mississippi election. Ostensibly, the law had been justified as a fundraiser for the "common school fund", but the poll tax accounted for only 0.43% of Mississippi's education revenues. As a practical matter, the poll tax was a deterrent to participation by low income Southerners, and most African-Americans. Earlier in the year, similar decisions had outlawed the taxes in Texas, Alabama and Virginia.
April 10th. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved a directive that disapproved of almost all of the literary and artistic works that had been created since the 1949 founding of the People's Republic, on the ground that they reflected an "anti-party and anti-socialist black line... that combines bourgeois literary theory and modern revisionist literary theory" that was contrary to the thought of Chairman Mao. The ruling, sent out nationwide, made criminal suspects of China's artists and writers during the Cultural Revolution.
...also...New Jersey became the first U.S. state to create a Public Defender's Office to pay for free criminal defense for anyone charged with a crime and unable to afford a private attorney.
...and...The march of grape farm workers from Delano, California came to a conclusion after 250 miles and 25 days as the original group of 65 was joined by thousands of supporters at the State Capitol building at Sacramento, where union leader Cesar Chavez announced the successful negotiation of a favorable contract between the National Farm Workers Association and Schenley Industries.
April 11th. Emmett Ashford made his debut as the first African-American Major League Baseball umpire, appearing in Washington, D.C. at third base in the Washington Senators' season opening game against the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland won, 5-2, before a record Washington baseball crowd of 44,468.
...and... Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, the only licensed distributor in the United States of LSD discontinued all further American sales of the hallucinogenic drug. According to a spokesman, Sandoz had "released it only to highly qualified clinical investigators", but voluntarily quit due to "unforeseen public reaction".
April 12th. For the first time, North Vietnam was bombed by American B-52 planes, after years of bombing runs by smaller planes. In the largest bombing mission by any nation since World War II, 29 B-52s dropped 585 tons of bombs on the Mụ Giạ Pass through the Annamese Mountain Range, in an attempt to break the supply line that was nicknamed the "Ho Chi Minh trail"
...and... A symbolic act... The first reported instance of a flag burning in the course of protests against Vietnam took place in a theater in New York City, where an antiwar skit entitled LBJ was being performed."
April 14th. The three convicted assassins of Malcolm X were each sentenced to life in prison, after having been found guilty of murdering the Black Nationalist leader at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965.
April 18th. The Cultural Revolution was officially proclaimed in the People's Republic of China, with the publication of the government announcement that gave the name that would define the era of upheaval. The official People's Liberation Army daily newspaper, Jiefangjun Bao published a front-page editorial with the title "Hold High the Great Red Banner of Mao Tse-tung's Thought, and Actively Participate in the Great Socialist Cultural Revolution"
...and... The first official sporting event ever played on AstroTurf, the original artificial turf made to resemble grass, took place at the Houston Astrodome in Texas. Originally, the turf was installed only in the infield. Astros outfielder Jimmy Wynn would later comment, "You could already feel the difference in how quickly the ball moved when it took its first good roll or hard bounce off that surface. It occurred to me that big changes were coming."
...and... Bill Russell became the first African-American head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), when the Boston Celtics named him to the helm at the end of the regular season. Russell, who would continue to play for the Celtics even while coaching them, was named after Red Auerbach decided to retire from coaching in order to spend full-time as the Celtics' general manager.
April 21st. For the first time, an artificial heart was installed in a human being.
...and... Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie, known before his ascent to the throne as Ras Tafari Makonnen, a Ras in among the Ethiopian nobility, was and remains a Messianic figure among thousands of adherents to the Rastafarian religion, primarily in Jamaica. When he arrived in Jamaica, thirty years after Rastafarianism took root, he was greeted at the Palisadoes Airport in Kingston by more than 100,000 people. The anniversary of his visit is still celebrated as "Grounation Day", a holy day in the Rastafarian religion.
April 25th... [and please recall that the Sabian Symbol for the 17th degree of Virgo in which Uranus and Pluto made that conjunction in, on April 4th, is "A VOLCANIC ERUPTION.] The Kelud volcano in Indonesia, in East Java, erupted, sending lava and hot ash over into the surrounding area.The final death toll, after the cessation of the eruption on May 7, would be 215.
April 29th...and the "BEAT WENT ON"... The total number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam reached 250,000 with one-quarter of a million Americans committed to the war there, as 4,000 members of the 25th U.S. Infantry Division came ashore at Vũng Tàu.
...AND...
..ON...
...And on, APRIL 30TH. "Anton LaVey of San Francisco founded the Church of Satan, declaring April 30 (the pagan holiday Walpurgisnacht) as the beginning of the first day of the first "Anno Satanas".
...to be continued,
