Bonnie Durrance
According to astrologer Walden Welch, who has lived in Sonoma since 1968, cities and states and countries have horoscopes just like people. So, for those who understand the charts, Sonoma’s future can be read in the stars.
“What we do,” Welch said, presenting a set of computer printouts—an oddly discordant form of delivery for the arcane diagrams representing celestial bodies and their movements and their “houses”-“is we take the date the town was incorporated and use that as the birth chart. Sonoma was incorporated June 2 1, 1885, and the documents were signed at 1:05 p.m. So Sonoma is a Cancer.”
For those for whom the significance of that fact is obscure, he explained. “The main thing about Sonoma being a Cancerian city is that it’s extremely traditional. It’s about families. And it’s about food. It’s about wine. And it’s about tradition. Those are Cancerian things. So forever, the villas and the old wine families are going to be revered here.”
Sonoma’s moon and its rising sign are both in Libra. “So what is basically becoming very popular with Sonoma right now,” he said, opening a yellowed newspaper from the ‘80s and adding that he predicted back then that this would be the case, “are the arts. Sonoma is becoming extremely well known for its creative aspects right now.”
“But there is conflict, too,” he said, returning to his print-out chart, and pointing to a cluster of figures at one end of the large circle that represents Sonoma’s astrological portrait. “Right now, Saturn, Mercury, Pluto and Mars are all in Gemini. If you view this house here,” he taps on the cluster, “and this house here,” he points at another cluster, Mars rules the seventh house. Which means hostility and arguing and bickering. So we’re not a welcoming community. There’s a lot of resentment for outsiders here. They don’t like new folks coming in here. They don’t like the tourists coming in here.” But the hostility is not limited to outsiders. “I don’t go to town meetings,” he said, laughing. “There’s too much fighting going on. It’s best represented by this hospital thing that’s going on now.”
Now there was a question many would like answered. What will happen with the hospital in the coming year? “I was checking that out,” he said, “and you know, we may be going through that till about June of 2010 before that finishes.” He turned again to his old newspaper. “I was just looking at some predictions I made back in the ‘80s [that] Sonoma may end up having two hospitals by the end of the decade.”
He then suggested that since Saturn rules the fourth, or home-base, house, it means this town could become divided. “Because of the Gemini aspects here, there is a danger that we try to divide between the west side and the east side. Probably at Verano Avenue.”
Welch mentioned tax issues as well. “You’ll see a lot of issues about property taxes, as we had several years back, with Proposition 13. You’re going to find everything being passed on to the taxpayer. And so there’s going to be a lot of controversy about these issues.”
Despite the conflicts in the coming year, things would settle down, he said, “Once we get into June of 2010, Saturn goes into Libra, and you’re going to find the whole community balancing out.”
But what about water? The effects of climate change? “Part of the problem with Sonoma is the [influence of] Mars. That means fires. Sonoma has been plagued with fires. And of course, we’re going back into this drought period again. So everything is about conserving again.”
Welch is not pessimistic though. “I’m always a believer that if something happens in our society, there’s something positive that can come through it. If you look at this horrible real estate crisis we’re having, this is not really affecting Sonoma. Our property values are not that hurt.” This is not to say some aren’t being hurt quite badly. “Many of my clients in Sonoma are losing their homes, yes. But we’ve been overpricing property in California. Something had to moderate it. But still, the best bank in the world is California property.”
In conclusion, taking the very long view, he said he could see BART reaching as far north as Cloverdale, and property values in Sonoma and the Russian River area going “sky high.” While development, over the long term, will reach from San Jose through Marin through Santa Rosa, Sonoma will remain the most desirable of resort towns. Regardless of its Gemini aspects, or the influence of Mars, Welch seemed to feel that Sonoma was a pretty good place to be.
“I’m amazed how I watch Sonoma constantly improve itself,” he said. “It’s much more sophisticated than it used to be, it’s much more tolerant of minorities, that’s one of its positive Gemini aspects. A lot of people complain it’s becoming more expensive, the plaza is filling up with real estate companies and wine tasting, and we’re losing that little family thing, but the whole world’s losing that. It’s just part of progress.”
Gathering up his charts, he smiled. “I find honestly, with Sonoma, very little to complain about!”
