Spiritual Impact
satisfied, destiny brought Richard to India
where through his meeting with his spiritu-
al teacher Neem Karoli Baba. ...
...Richard Alpert Is Upgraded to Ram
Dass: Initiation and Grace, 1967
In the latter part of 1967,the same year
that the Beatles made their sojourn to India,
Richard Alpert was turned upside down in
his encounter with Neem Karoli Baba. The
guru who fractured Richard’s discursive
mind with an accurate reading of his entire
life conundrum.
No precise day seems to be available for
that meeting. During that timeframe the
transpersonal influence of Uranus/Virgo
was hovering on his IC at 28 degrees
Virgo, overturning and re-imagining RA’s
core emotional foundation and sense of
identity. Physically, it re-oriented his life
away from Boston to India; psychically, it
revolutionized his interior. During the same
period, transiting Jupiter was on his natal
Neptune in Virgo, reflecting an expansion
of spiritual awareness. Neptune/Scorpio
was hovering in a long transit trine to his
atomically charged Pluto/Cancer Ascendant
at 18 degrees.
where his South Node resides, his habitual
retreat to harmony and balance, now under
assault. Most significant was the develop-
ing opposition of Neptune/Capricorn to
natal Mars/Leo, within 3 degrees orb. The
stage is set there for a forced surrender of
willful Mars energy, even in its most evolved
expression, to forces beyond his control.
The transit was a long one and the theme of
surrender has galvanized his life since then,
where he has declined to be anything but
ordinary and vulnerable, profoundly chang-
ing his teaching.
Transiting Mars/Libra was conjunct the
South Node in the 4th house and was
opposed by transiting Saturn/Aries/10th,
Stroke of Enlightening:
Baptism & Rebirth by Fire
& Water, 1997
When Ram Dass was 66, he experi-
enced a nearly fatal stroke on February
19, 1997. While a stroke is nothing to joke
about, unless you reside on Mt. Olympus
where human drama is the stuff of enter-
tainment, it did seem that whatever per-
sona resided around Richard Alpert or
Ram Dass as Teacher, ionized in the raw
humility that followed.
That day started out pretty spunky and
was a particularly good one for expan-
sive self-expression. There was transiting
Leo Moon on Leo Mars in the 1st, trining
Sag Moon in 5th and conjunct transiting
Pluto, and all trining Saturn/ Aries/S Node
in 10th. A double Grand Fire Trine it was,
quite a good day to be a public and pub-
lished teacher, and not one to be critically
hospitalized.
What also was present on that day,
though, was an ongoing transiting Uranus/
Aquarius opposition to natal Mars/Leo,
stressing the cardiovascular system for
likely months before. Also transiting Uranus/
Aquarius was in long duration square to
Mercury/Taurus, ruler of the 4th house
T he
Career
Astrologer
OPA’s Quarterly Magazine
V24 -02
JUNE SOLSTICE 2015
page
29