Grandpa's book

I'm doing Storyfinding about Grandpa Peek -- my Grandpa, George T. Peek. There's always been a George T. Peek. One of them, brother to my forebear, Robert Peek, supplied guns for the Revolutionary war. His female descendants who care for that sort of thing can become members of the D.A.R.
But... like the Sacketts (Louis L'amour), there were lowland Peeks and Highland Peeks. I take it, our bunch were mostly the Higland Peeks. Many moved among their relatives in the lowlands, but kept missing the high mountains and would go back again before they could accidentally amount to anything.

There is a book about the Peeks of Macon County, North Carolina, where Grandpa Peek was born, and several stories in that book about my relatives on that side of the family. If anything was ever written about the Halls on Mom's side of the family, I don't know about it. Maybe I'll write one. But for now, I'm winnowing through the astro-notes for things I can verify. And I can verify some of these because Grandpa wrote a book. In fact, he wrote a few. Only one was about his life, and even it was more religion than otherwise. As much as I hate to admit, we've got a lot in common.

Grandpa was born on a Sunday -- a good omen. I guess the prevelant God of that time saw him and said, "Mine", because Grandpa became a preacher. Well, they were all preachers, on back through, in that family; Grandpa, Great Grandpa, Great Uncles and Great Great Uncles. They were Baptists, mostly, but every so often, one of those apple would imagine themselves falling far from the tree and become a Methodist or a follower of the Church of God or something like that. Grandpa belonged to a denomination that didn't believe in denominations. He also didn't believe in neckties and preached against it. But his strongest railing was against cigarettes. He'd smoke them himself, and as he puts it, "was delivered" from the tyrant. Well... maybe... but he died of cancer. In his book, he tells about a row he had with a church member over tobacco. It must have been a doozy to have made it into the book of just 122 pages.

Grandpa was born February 18, 1872. Grant began his second term in office the year Grandpa was born. Corn meal was 1 cent a pound, beans were 9 cents a quart, sugar was 10 cents a pound, lard was 13 cents a pound, and potatoes were a dollar a bushel. He was born the year Boston burned. He probably learned the song about Mrs. O'Leery's cat. He was born one hundred years before I graduated. I was 20 days old when he died, onTuesday, January 5, 1954, and I believe I am his youngest grandchild.

George T. Peek February 18, 1872

Sun 29 Aquarius 26
Moon 28 Gemini 17
Mercury 13 Aquarius 24
Venus 22 Capricorn 22
Mars 20 Pisces 28
Jupiter 21 Cancer (retrograde)
Saturn 17 Capricorn 26
Uranus 27 Cancer 58 (retrograde)
Neptune 21 Aries 55
Pluto 17 Taurus 58
True Node 19 Gemini 14
Chiron 8 Aries 29

I don't know the houses involved, don't know the rising sign, because I don't know what time of day he was born. In his book, he says, "The light of day dawned on me..." but that's just a way of saying, "I was born..." He was in charge of his own life and ruled the roost, so I'm guess he was born between midnight and noon, not between noon and midnight.

His wife, my Grandma, Maud Boserman Peek, may have been born between noon and midnight. At least according to him, she was an obedient wife, and so allowed someone else to make her decisions for her. When their youngest son was two months old and fell sick, she asked him what they were going to do and he wouldn't let her go get a doctor. He told her God would heal -- or not -- as he saw fit. According to him, she said, "I know it" and would "brace up". There was some question as to whether the neighbors would get him for manslaughter if the baby died. The child lived. He was my uncle Porter, who later in life was murdered while he was drunk. All of the Preacher's sons were alcholics and most of them died with cancer, the same as the Preacher.

I think I'd like to write what Grandma Peek actually thought when her husband told her God would heal -- or not -- their baby son. I doubt she "braced up" and agreed with him.

For sake of finding story, I rearrange the planets, according to degree -- ignoring the sign for the moment.

Chiron: 8 Aries 29
Mercury: 13 Aquarius 24
Saturn 17 Capricorn 26
Pluto 17 Taurus 58
True Node 19 Gemini 14
Mars 20 Pisces 27
Jupiter (Rx) 20 Capricorn 56
Neptune 21 Aries 54
Venus 22 Capricorn 22
Moon 26 Gemini 17
Uranus (Rx)  27 Cancer 58
Sun 29 Aquarius 26

I also note his scout planet, Mercury.

His sun is in the final degree of Aquarius, only 4 minutes, 15 seconds from Pisces -- so for all practical purposes, I have to figure him as a Pisces, rather than Aquarius. His Mercury being in Aquarius would have given the "my way or the highway" mindset, though. I should rephrase that, a strong sense of his own thoughts being the right ones. Pisces would have given him the genuine empathy for other people that drew him toward being a preacher. His south node in Sagittarius would have drawn him to look to the foreign, rather than local -- which is why his religion was not the same he was raised in, and why his empathy lay more with those outside his own familiar territory.

His moon, in Gemini ,gave him the restlessness that kept him on the go, kept his thoughts always one step beyond where he found himself at any given moment. It gave him the preacherly gift of talk, and would have backed up the scout planet, Mercury. The moon and Mercury are in compatible signs, both Air signs, but not trine because of the 13 degrees difference between them, just out of range. Still helpful to each other. These are the only two planets truly in Air signs (since I don't count his sun as Aquarius, but Pisces).

With his Sun counted in Pisces, this gives him water as the strongest element. He named all of his kids in such a way that their intitials were P.P. which, he said, in music, means "very soft". He hastens to say it's not true, they are very bright and married mates who were as bright as the ordinary. Music was important to him, and so he denied it to himself. His church didn't believe in instruments, and his church's beliefs were set by him. Nevertheless, he did some work for a fellow one time in exchange for giving his son piano lessons. My dad could play piano and he didn't stop with church music.

A humorous thing Mom liked to tell on her father in law is that he did not allow "stringed instruments" inside his church, but they had a piano. He had Venus in Capricorn (the same as Beethovan).

Mars in Pisces would also have given a love of music. Also, a gift for healing, but he expected healing to happen every time. He had some success with faith healing and because of this success, didn't believe in doctors, counting "God as our physician".

I'm getting ahead of storyfinding, though. Granted, I have his story in the little book he wrote. I'll be able to get dates and facts from there, slanted according to how he wanted to tell them. I'll be able to see what's behind them.

For storyfinding, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, and when the birth time is known, the Ascendant, are the main things -- along with the Scout planet.

Another thing I do is find the cardinal cross in a chart and deal with I AM (Aries), I AM, in relation to Others (Libra), Privately, I Am... (Cancer) and Publicly, I Am (Capricorn).

Going to save this for the next entry.