This morning was the first of my Blast workshops, both on locational astrology.  I found the lecture by Scott Wolfram particularly interesting as I had never heard of the Geodetic maps which place the zodiac around the globe based on the longitudinal map with Greenwich at zero degrees, offering clues to the way different cultures organize by geodetic zones.  For example, the Aries Midheaven line runs through Europe, which values individual freedoms whereas Russia and the middle east countries fall in the Taurus Midheaven line, valuing stable social structures more than individual freedoms.  He drew a few fascinating examples, such as that of the Ukraine which straddles the cusp between the Aries and Taurus midheavens and is split between the portion of the country that wants to stay aligned with Russia, and the portion that wants to join NATO and be independent.  Another interesting example was that of Peter the Great, who established his capital Petersburg right on the 0 degrees Taurus line on the cusp of the Aries/Taurus sections, and called his new city the “Window into Europe” (Europe being in the Aries portion).  

Got to run now, I’ll post more later!!