Al Gore - "An Inconvenient Truth"

I may sound like a film critic, but I urge you to go and see Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth". It is essential viewing and is yet another wake up call to the fact that global warming is happening now. Not some time in the future, but right now.

The film is based around Gore's current tour of world cities where he is lecturing on global warming. It's his way of spreading this "wake up" call. The material he shares is scientific fact, intermingled with his own personal experiences and explanations of why he's doing this. In 2006, the film has become a runaway success. The bare and true facts about global warming are set out clearly. Gore's presentation and delilvery is graphic and clear, and it was his impressive presentation, plus what he shared of his personal life and upbringing (all spliced into the lecture theatre scenes) which made me want to look at his chart.

He was born on 31.3.1948 in Washington DC, at 12.53 EST. His chart is visually striking with an "active" strong flavour of someone striding forward, carrying a large wide load in their arms. The direction is predominantly vertical, suggesting his motivation is to individualise, yet he has Moon conjunct Jupiter in the 5th House and closest to the DC, offering the capacity to make contact with others easily. Using the combined sensing ability of these two planets he can connect with prevailing moods and feelings out in the world as well as put what these planets pick up to good use for others - the Moon is approaching the 6th cusp and both planets will be more attuned to and interested in being of service to others. Significantly, his Age Point was conjunct Moon/Jupiter in 1976 when he went into politics.

Gore has a Medium Learning triangle which includes the powerful stellium of Pluto, Saturn and Mars in the 1st House. It is from here that the learning of any new skill or information will start and it will finish here as well - it's where his own sense of "I" will be focussed, and is likely to be constantly under review, growing, changing. This stellium links to the other aspect pattern in his chart, the Single Ambivalence figure, and suggests to me that it will be to himself that he will return time and time again when he needs to review things and check out his own life experiences. He will have the ability to assess himself against what life throws up for him, and with Pluto, Saturn and Mars there at this fulcrum point, he can stay the course, on a personal level, and transform.

In the film he speaks of two significant happenings in his life, both of which brought the importance of family life and how we treat each other as human beings into sharp focus. The first was in 1984 when his sister, 10 years his senior, died of lung cancer. He speaks passionately of how the tobacco companies were allowed to promote smoking, even though there was much evidence of it as a cause of cancer. He was 36; his Age Point was crossing the DC, signifying an opening up of greater consciousness.

The second life changing event was in April 1989 when his 6 year old son was seriously injured when he was hit by a car. Gore speaks in the film of how he spent a month sleeping by the boy's hospital bed, and how this experience brought home to him the importance of life and what we do in life. His Age Point was square Venus, which rides high in the 10th House in his chart but is intercepted. It relies on its quincunx aspect to Jupiter for expression as it has no natural outlet into the world in the 10th House - so we are back again with the Jupiter/Moon conjunction which helped usher him into politics when he was age 28. It's interesting to note that Venus sits along with Uranus in a red/green linear aspect, and that both home in on that Jupiter/Moon conjunction, emphasising its importance.

Venus, too, crops up at significant times in Gore's life - his Age Point was opposite this planet when he married in 1970, was square to it at the time of his son's accident, and in 2006 was conjunct when "An Inconvenient Truth" became the unexpected box office hit of the year. Venus is often described as the planet associated with balance and harmony: Gore's book on the state of the environment is entitled "The Earth in Balance".

There's more - his Nodal chart reveals some signficant correspondences with the path his life has taken, and bears reference and further study in the context of the 2000 Presidential election that he "lost" to Bush.

I could say much more about Gore's charts - both House and Node chart reflect and support many of the points he himself makes in his narration of the film and in the lecture scenes. All I wish to do is to whet your appetite to go and see this film - it may repeat many of the things you already know, but it's likely to tell you a whole lot more too, and it closes by suggesting practical ways that YOU can make contributions to help slow down the process of global warming and help preserve our precious planet.

But without political will, what we do may not be enough. As the person who saw the film with me said: " ...as Gore himself says, the trends have been clear for many years. What is missing, and still seems to be missing despite moving from denial to displacement/ projection, is the political leaders willing to take a leadership role in promoting a way forward. Who will be the environmental Churchill?"

Further suggested astrological reference and reading (books by myself and Bruno and Louise Huber):
Aspect Pattern Astrology; Moon Node Astrology; LifeClock; The Astrological Houses - Man and his World; The Cosmic Egg Timer; Aspect Patterns in Colour; Using Age Progression.
Available from the APA Book Shop.