Mercury
– god of travel
A taxi driver is being hailed as a hero online
after his televised rant struck a chord with people across Armenia. In many
places around the world, taxi drivers are seen as founts of common sense - as
grafting small businessmen who meet folks from all walks of life and are
somehow uniquely qualified to pontificate on the issues of the day. In fact,
it's such a common trope that quoting a taxi driver to gauge the mood of the
public has become a certified journalistic cliché. Well, an extreme version of
that view has catapulted a previously anonymous Armenian taxi driver into fame
and considerable influence. Arman Galstyan was attending a protest earlier this
month in the Armenian capital of Yerevan against new taxi licensing rules
which, the cabbies thought, included unfair fees. Television channels at the
scene interviewed Galstyan who gave an impassioned monologue about the problems
he and his colleagues faced and suggested practical solutions - proposing lower
taxes and standard rules for all taxi drivers. Transport regulation is not a
subject that would seem to have wide appeal. But when the videos were posted on
YouTube they were viewed more than 300,000 times - a huge hit in a country with
a population of about 3m. May 17 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-32628876
How
appropriate that this news comes to us when Mercury, the god of travel, is
stationing retrograde in its own sign Gemini linked to oratory. A chart for the
Mercury station at Yerevan is shown here. Notice that it has Sun-Mars on the Ascendant opposite
Saturn. With Mars in Gemini, the sign ruled by Mercury, we have a taxi driver
with skill in public speaking (Gemini) aggressively voicing his point of view against governmental rules (Saturn). In
addition Mars[5ge] is conjunct the star Prima Hyadum[6ge]. Gamma (γ) Taurus,
Prima Hyadum, is the chief star of the Hyades about which Manilius writes:
"The Hyades
are a stormy star group and was regarded as a separate constellation. Those
born at this time take no pleasure in tranquillity and set no store by a life
of inaction; rather they yearn for crowds and mobs and civil disorders. Sedition
and uproar delight them; they long for the Gracchi to harangue from the
platform, for a secession to the Sacred Mount, leaving but a handful of
citizens at Rome; they welcome fights which break the peace and provide
sustenance for fears. Such are the qualities engendered by the Hyades at
the rising of their stars". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book
5, p.308-311].
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