When I wrote in my last post about Northern Illinois University as my “nourishing mother,” I had not yet located the data for the founding of NIU. According to the Wikipedia article on NIU, it was founded on May 22, 1895 in DeKalb, Illinois. Lacking a time, I cast a Noon chart.

There are a lot of things to look at here, and because I’m still processing this event emotionally, I’m not really of a mind to be analytical right now.

However, I’m struck by the synastry between NIU’s chart and my own. It’s not surprising at all that I, a Cancer, would tap into the “nourishing mother” aspect of the words Alma Mater. We all filter our experiences through our own lenses, and Cancer the sign of mothering, nurturing, and nourishing is one of my lenses. In addition, my own mother died recently at the age of 95. I blogged about that last month and will again. And yesterday, Valentine’s Day, was the birthday of my oldest child who died 16 years ago at the age of 22. Thus, mothering and grief are presently strong themes in my life. Well actually, mothering and grief is a theme of my life.

And here it is again. My natal Sun is at 13:17 Cancer. NIU has a 3-planet stellium in Cancer: Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, all conjunct my natal Sun. NIU’s Jupiter, Venus, and Mars conjunction represents a capacity to be generous, warm, nurturing, and motherly. (Note: I am not going to give an integrated interpretation here. Saturn in Scorpio opposite the Taurus Moon is another message.) With NIU’s Cancer planets conjunct my own natal Sun, it is no wonder that I felt taken care of by that university’s education and that it empowered me as a mother in my own right. And it is also no wonder that I identify with NIU AS a grieving mother, or that I perceive NIU, an entity with three planets in Cancer, as a grieving mother right now.

The energies in our own natal charts interact with the energies of everyone and everything we come in contact with: people, places, schools, corporations, organizations. Different people can experience other entities be they people, places, or groups in different ways. My experiences at NIU were almost all good, and here I can see why with its Jupiter, Venus, and Mars in Cancer all conjunct my Cancer Sun. If that all sounds too touchie-feelie to have anything to do with education, consider that Venus in my own chart rules my 9th house, higher education, and Jupiter rules higher education in general. NIU has four planets in Gemini: Sun, Mercury, Neptune, and Pluto; I have Mercury, the ruler of my Virgo Ascendant, Mars, and Midheaven all in Gemini. I enjoyed my time there soaking up knowledge and indulging my eclectic curiosity. NIU’s Saturn and Uranus widely straddle my Scorpio Moon, giving me a foundation on the one hand while kicking me out of the nest and into my future with the other. The kicker is NIU’s Nodal axis which sits exactly–within 1′ of arc–on my Ascendant/Descendant axis, which many would consider a karmic connection. What’s intriguing about that is that the coming Saturn-Uranus opposition in Virgo-Pisces is going to be right there, on NIU’s Nodes (and my Ascendant-Descendant).

After yesterday’s tragedy, Northern Illinois University will never again be the same, and it has a long and difficult road of recovery ahead. NIU’s Chiron at 03 Libra squares its Jupiter at 07 Cancer. That’s a natal potential for that generous, nurturing, protective nature to incur a huge wound and with transiting Pluto, i.e., Pluto in the sky at 00:33 Capricorn at the time of the shooting beginning to square NIU’s Chiron, that wound was inflicted. I believe, however, if NIU draws on the positive qualities of the sign of Cancer, a sign of healing, compassion, survival, deep feeling and sensitivity, and protection, that it will heal, and in fact be utterly transformed as Pluto in Capricorn opposes those Cancer planets during the next few years.

Peace to you–Doreen