Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the antibiotic penicillin which was described as the “single greatest victory ever achieved over disease”, was born on 6 August 1881 at 2am Darvel, Scotland. He was knighted for his scientific achievements and was named in Time magazine’s list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.
He had a Leo Sun square a 10th house Saturn Neptune conjunction in Taurus – Saturn Neptune being known for healing and health in one of its effects (around now until 2027 in Aries). Even more serendipitous he had Jupiter in Taurus conjunct Algol on one side and Chiron on the other (both within a degree) – a healing victory over death. His Jupiter was also in a confident conjunction to an unshakeably determined Pluto Mars conjunction. Plus he had an innovative Uranus trine Neptune Saturn.
His discovery came on 28 September 1928 when, with delightful astrological precision, Neptune had just moved into Virgo, sign of health.
At that point his Mars Pluto conjunction was by Solar Arc crossing his Ascendant as was tr Pluto for a momentous break and a life-changing moment. Tr Neptune was square his Mars. Tr Jupiter in Taurus was moving through his 10th/11th about to cross his four Taurus planets.
Saturn Neptune in the past: Medical advances are highlighted under Saturn–Neptune, with Louis Pasteur helping to discover the anthrax vaccine in 1881, the year of Fleming’s birth.
But it also has a dual face coinciding at times with major outbreaks of sickness. 1021 – an epidemic of St Vitus Dance (chorea) in Europe 1 when Saturn and Neptune were in Aquarius. The plague that devastated Europe and Asia during the 1340s also Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Aquarius of 1344, and the Uranus–Pluto conjunction at the same time. The outbreak of bubonic plague in London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London a year later both took place when Saturn and Neptune were together in Capricorn. In 1846 in Aquarius, widespread famine in Ireland followed the failure of the potato crop. During the 1917 and 1918 conjunction in Leo, there were massive casualties in the First World War, especially at Passchendaele, and the Spanish ‘flu epidemic of 1918 killed 20 million in Europe, the United States and India. By the conjunction of the late 1980s in Capricorn, the AIDS virus was running amok, causing countless deaths in Africa, Europe and the United States.
I have family members who are allergic to penicillin. They get rashes, itch, urticaria even from the newest iteration of penicillin family (amoxicillin). It is interesting that one has a Saturn in Scorpio opposite Fleming Saturn in Taurus. And the other one has Uranus in Scorpio opposite his Saturn in Taurus. I have just had a quick look at synastry. I did not look at the composite yet. But I am seeing those sesquisquadrate/165 aspect from synastry of the penicillin date.
They are finding out, through research, that vaccines against shingles, pneumonia and the flu can reduce the risk of dementia by a significant percentage. The flu vaccine has to be repeated, annually, to reduce the risk most effectively. They’re not exactly sure why yet. Also, I’ve read the earlier in life that one receives a flu vaccine, the better the risk reduction is overall later in life.
I am allergic to some antibiotics. My brother needs to carry an epi pen to prevent respiratory shock as he is allergic to the legume family. Some people are allergic to eggs, shellfish, and so on. I am not allergic to the covid vaccines, thank goodness. Many people are allergic to various substances but this is not a devious plot devised by an evil state or members of an elite shadowy group bent on the manipulation of the human population. Covid vaccine antagonism and fear is misplaced anxiety about our human vulnerability. We don’t stop driving our cars even though thousands of people die in them every year.
Replying to Susan H, an old friend moved to the same place the Flemings had a second home in 1929 (the year after the discovery) so knew the family well and was told the petri dishes from another experiment had been omitted when clearing up and were left unwashed – the following morning on looking at same dishes the change was noticed, the observation was passed on to Alexander Fleming by the person who noticed the change – no windows were ever left open overnight when the rooms were locked. Just wondered where your source of information was taken from.
DW thank you for commenting on the often overlooked facts – Although Fleming received most of the credit, it was Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford who analysed the composition of penicillin and made it into a viable and effective drug. They shared the Nobel Prize with Flemming for their contribution.
Hi Angela,your source is certainly better than mine! I read it in a book while still at school (more than 50 years ago!) doing a project on the discovery of penicillin. I became fascinated by the serendipity of the discovery. Your info shows that misinformation is not a new phenomenon. Presumably the book’s author didn’t know the exact details and filled in the blanks for themselves. The book said nothing about unwashed petri dishes! Thank you for putting the record straight.
Just an added thought: where did the mould spore that caused the bacteria to die then come from? Perhaps both versions of the story have elements of truth in them.
I have given up arguing with anti-vaxxers since it is a waste of time. But I will not have damaging nonsense on this website in comments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-vaccine_activism has some useful pointers for those whose minds have not already been padlocked shut.
‘Anti-vaccination writings on the internet – characterized by:
Promiscuous copying and reduplication.
Ignoring corrections, even when an initial report or data point is shown to be false.
Lack of references, difficulty in checking sources and claims.
Personal attacks on individual doctors.
A high degree of interlinkage between sites.
Dishonest or fallacious arguments.
***
Disinformation is more likely to be believed after repeated exposure. Disinformers use this illusory truth effect as a tactic, repeating false information to make it feel familiar and influence belief.
Whether people will update a mistaken belief is complicated and involves psychological factors and social goals as well as accuracy of information.
The cultivation of critical thinking, health and science awareness, and media literacy skills are all recommended to help people more critically assess the credibility of the information they see. People who seek out multiple reputable news sources at local and national levels are more likely to detect disinformation than those who rely on few sources from a particular viewpoint.
Both the 19th and 20th century anti-vax arguments included “vaccine safety issues, vaccine failures, infringement of personal liberty, and an unholy alliance between the medical establishment and the government to reap huge profits for the medical establishment at the expense of the public.”
Hear hear Marjorie! Thank you for directing readers to actual scientific evidence!
Primary Directions for Alexander’s Penicillin Discovery
Z,P,,Hygiea,0L,D, =>,dex Sextile,Sun,0L, 46 22’50”,Pto, 24 Dec 1927, 05:58
Z,P,sin Trine,Jupiter,0L,D, =>,,Sun,0L, 46 36’05”,Pto, 13 Mar 1928, 22:07
Z,P,sin Sextile,Saturn,0L,D, =>,,Jupiter,0L, 46 49’33”,Pto, 3 Jun 1928, 20:12
Z,P,dex Sextile,Uranus,0L,D, =>,,Jupiter,0L, 46 57’25”,Pto, 21 Jul 1928, 18:41 “Eureka moment.”
“Sinister means a natal planet moved to the trine Position, to form a sextile w/ Sun.”
“Decter means a natal planet moves to sextile its own position the is direct to Jupiter.
Decter directions move clockwise against the directions of the Signs.
Sinister directions move counterclockwise in same directio as the Signs.
I rember it this way…..dexter directions move towards your right hand, whereas\
sinister directions move towards your left hand.
Fleming was born during a Sun hour. Using the Chaldean order of planets…..Sun, Venus,
Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars….and allowing 1 year of life for each planetary hour….we get this sequence:
….0 yr old Sun; 7 yrs Sun; 14 yrs Sun…….42 yrs Sun; 43 yrs Venus; 44 yrs, Merc; 45 yrs Moon; 46yrs Saturn; 47 yrs Jupiter…. He was 47 when he discovered penicillin, so this period of his life was ruled by Jupiter (success). Jupiter rules his 10th house of fame and 6th of health, work. His Jupiter throws a quincunx, health aspect to his 6th cusp, and
sextiles Hygeia, the health asteroid.
Actual there are a number of highly qualified professionals who are questioning the
long term safety of mRNA vaccines who can’t be dismissed as cranks and “conspiracy theorists “ more information coming out all the time.
We seem to be living at a time of mass revelations no doubt reflected in the astrology
How ironic, when Trump would need that research. I read his mother and sister had experiened dementia type behavior before their deaths. Fred Trump’s case was already documented. Trump’s latest released health news, with swollen extremities, possibly a vascular dementia. I wonder if there’s a medical astrology trigger(s) for dementia
And the discovery itself was pure serendipity. He was checking petri dishes that had been left on a window sill in front of an open window before throwing them away, when he noticed that the bacteria in one of them had receded. His analysis revealed that a spore of fungus blown in through the window had caused the bacteria in the petri dish to die. So it was his observation that made the discovery but it was ‘a clumsy accident’ which created the circumstances for that discovery. Had someone not opened the window while the experiment was in progress he would certainly not have discovered it at that point in time. Nowadays it would be very hard for something like that to occur. I am always fascinated by accidental discoveries.
Although Fleming received most of the credit, it was Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford who analysed the composition of penicillin and made it into a viable and effective drug. They shared the Nobel Prize with Flemming for their contribution.
One story of Fleming was that in his later years he opened a brand new laboratory. His comment was that the lab was neat and tidy yet penicillin would not be discovered in it, because of its tidiness.
Looking at the charts I suppose the Neptune Saturn conjunction opposite uranus helped to make the the discovery concrete though the technical ability of the chemists was needed to make it practical.
I read this morning about a discovery by a Harvard medical team that lithium could reverse the aging of the brain and therefore Alzheimer’s. This despite Trump’s war against universities and RFK Jr’s cuts to research funding. Civilization will hopefully survive them.
RFK is cutting the public’s funding of mRNA research to private pharmaceutical companies ,most of which are worth 60 billion dollars- and should be responsible for their own financing of studies.
And,important studies from Israel,Japan,Switzerland,and a Nordic study of 23 million people found the risk of hospitalisation post-vaccination in 16-24 year old males was up to 28 times higher than the risk post-Covid.And ,high risk of mRNA covid vaccination injuries of myocarditis and cardiovascular issues.
As well as recent study by researchers from Harvard, Oxford and Johns Hopkins University (among others) found that the mRNA vaccines are up to nearly 100 times more likely to cause a person of student age serious injury than prevent him or her from being hospitalised with COVID.
This is what RFK is referring to with this decision
Antonia, That is nonsense. If you are going to spout studies – go read a whole long list in
https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-rfk-jr-cancelling-500m-of-funding-for-mrna-vaccines/
Two experts below out of a long list:
“mRNA vaccines were first used on a large scale to combat the threat of the COVID virus infection, with great success. They were given to 50 million people in the UK and reduced infection rates by over 70%. Three doses reduced mortality in the elderly by 93% and in the UK 400,00 lives were saved. Mild side effects were found in about 10%, serious side effects in around 1 in 800; deaths around 1 per million. I personally have taken that risk 7 times.
“mRNA vaccines do not increase the virus mutation rate, that is impossible.
mRNA vaccines have the potential to be targeted at parts of a virus that do not mutate, and ceasing their development is throwing away a major advance in vaccinology for utterly spurious reasons.”
Bravo Marjorie. I regard RFK jr as one of the more heinous and unhinged members of the Trump cabinet. He is popular among the more extremist conspirituality and truther movement unsurprisingly.
Yes, he’s basically nuts.
Thanks Marjorie, I remember all this starting up during Covid, and how surprised I was by some of the (well educated) people I knew who jumped on the anti-vax bandwagon. Also, as we saw back then, this movement’s history goes way back to the smallpox inoculations of the 19th century. The arguments and fears are identical. A long history, so I’m unsure about what dates are relevant. But of potential interest – a large demonstration in 1885 in Leicester against smallpox vaccine brought thousands from all over England. 23 March 1885 had Sun 2 Aries, opposing Uranus Rx 0 Libra conjunct Nodes 4 Libra, with Pluto 0 Gemini, conjunct Chiron 5 Gemini. I thought that was interesting in view of our current airy and fiery pattern in early degrees, and those appearing in the chart for Penicillin itself. Recent discussions of low uptake of the measles vaccine may also be connected to this pattern?
Back in 1885 there was also Mercury, Venus and Mars in Pisces, square Saturn in Gemini. And unsurprisingly, Jupiter in Leo square Neptune in Taurus.
The Anti Vaccination Society of America was inspired by UK protests and movements. It was founded in 1879. I don’t have an exact date, but Uranus was in the first decan of Virgo that year, and trined Neptune.
Recently I read about the two youngest sons of George iii who both died from what sounded like anaphalactic shock after being given the smallpox vaccine. The youngest who was 2 years old was given it first, and he collapsed fairly quickly and died. Six months later his 4 year old brother died in exactly the same way.
I don’t blame Queen Charlotte who was very keen on vaccinations, but to have it happen again must have been soul destroying!
While I am sure that vaccinations help more people than they kill, there are still a significant amount of people, for whom it doesn’t work out that way. And the scientists and doctors need to work out how to deal with the problem, prior to the injection, and do something preventative that will actually help these people, and not just a, ‘that’s too bad’ attitude when patients inconveniently develop horrible side effects or die. One size does not fit all!
Thanks so much for standing up for science, Marjorie.
You can be as reactive as you want -but staying on track with my post-there are studies that exist and the evidence mounts in the international scientific community-on cardiovascular risks for the young who have had the mRNA shot.
RFK is just the messenger.