The element that made the 20th Century shine

Chromium is the chemical element of modernity - the key to innumerable gleaming, spotless surfaces. Yet it also harbours a dark secret that featured in one Oscar-winning Hollywood film. In the late 1920s, on either side of the Atlantic, two very different companies had the same idea - to play an architectural prank on the general public. In London it was the Savoy Hotel & Theatre, while in New York it was the giant carmakers, the Chrysler Corporation. The prank was to secretly clad their buildings in a shocking new material - stainless steel. May 23 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32809173

This news comes to us from London. A chart for the current New Moon at London is shown here. The New Moon not only  highlights a Mars-Saturn opposition on the horizon axis square Neptune but  is also conjunct the Ascendant [27ta] and the star  43 Cassiopeiae [27ta] in the constellation of the glamorous Queen often shown bedecked in her glittering jewels [2].

In astrology, Mars rules iron [1].  Steels are alloys of iron (Mars)  and other elements like carbon and chromium etc. These elements act as hardening agents (Saturn) and increase the strength of steel as compared to iron.   It is well known that when positive Saturn aspects to Mars  increase strength and stamina. Meanwhile, Neptune is linked to glitter and glamour so that we are not only dealing with strength but also beauty and glitter.

But its early uses were far removed from the silvery sheen of Art Deco architecture. Indeed, Vauquelin named this new metal after the Greek word for colour, chromos - because chromium is associated with an extraordinary array of colours. The ore from which Vauquelin isolated his first shiny nuggets of pure metal was discovered in Siberia. Called crocoite, it resembled bright orange-red needles. The mineral consisted of lead oxide and lead chromate, and the colour it produced became known to artists as "chrome red".

On the MC of the New Moon chart is the star gamma Pavo of the colourful Peacock!

[1] http://stockmarketastrology4u.blogspot.in/2008/04/astrology-and-stock-markets.html

[2] http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Cassiopeia.html

[3] http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Pavo.html

PS: Louis Nicolas Vauquelin who is credited with isolating chromium was born on 16 May 1763 and had his radix Sun [25ta]. Notice that the current New Moon [27ta] fell within just two degrees of his radix Sun.