For two years, Professor Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany studied the hunting behavior of eighty-four wild red foxes. He discovered that the foxes have a higher success rate catching prey when their heads are oriented north.
He suggests that the fox tweaks its head position, using ear canals to ‘estimate the distance of its prey by moving forward until the sound source is in a fixed relationship to the magnetic field’. Directional preference biology here.
Hunting was observed in different seasons, habitats, times of day and vegetation. Of 592 jumps observed, 72.5 percent of successful attacks were made when the foxes aligned themselves about 20 degrees off from magnetic north. Attacks from other directions were mostly unsuccessful.
The study adds that grazing and resting cattle and deer prefer to orient their body axes in north – south direction. This may be to provide constant directional reference, which helps to quickly synchronize movement of individuals in herds when danger strikes.
Fascinating !
I am a 9th house Virgo Sun/Uranus/Pluto, intrigued by polarities, solar magnetics, earth energies such as the Taos Hum etc.. Investigation of this natural directional preference phenomena is ongoing with me.
North is ruled by Cancer; South by Capricorn
Foxes are ruled by Mercury; Magnetics by Uranus
Mercury / Uranus are lower / higher octaves of one another, respectively.
I am Capricorn rising with Mercury at MC, Mars rising in Sagittarius quintile Uranus. I have a great sense of direction, rarely get lost, naturally, inexplicably, ‘know’ where magnetic north is.
A friend of mine with Capricorn Moon opposite Cancer Mercury in poor aspect in the 11th has a terrible sense of direction, can’t even give directions to get to her house from work. Curious quirk when viewed through the lens of astrology, yes ?
From the first time I did reiki I chose / knew to orient myself North – South, with North at my back. In my natal chart, Moon is (exalted) in Taurus in the North(west) quadrant acting as a fulcrum – opposite biggie Neptune in 11 & trine (Sun/Uranus) Pluto in 9.
Perhaps this is why I intuitively chose it as a position of starting strength.
I have read many differing opinions regarding which direction to sit for heightened meditation, which direction provides more restful sleep, but I still choose North-South because it feels right to me.
What is your take on homing in on directions / magnetics… any ideas ?
Notice any difference…?
C’mon…Moon is in Aquarius, pop me a fly ball outta left field !
peace
GMA
Gneiss Moon Astrology 
Always sleep with my head north. Moon, Chiron, Lilith and Juno conjunct in Aquarius in 10th, but 26 Cap is on my MC. Need north for stabilization.
Thank you for replying ! What you said makes sense with so much kinetic energy at the south axis. Restless sleep perhaps ..? Head at nadir would help balance of psyche, natural night placement.
I am a night owl, most productive around midnight with most of my planets above the horizon. Are you a early riser or night owl ?
Worth considering that too…hmmm…I will give it ponderation.
I have noticed a few things when I sleep head east with my Mars rising in 12 Sagittarius in that sector
1 makes it harder to wake up, 2 makes my dreams more vivid + 3 divination seems snappier, more crisp.
I will try divinating with other directionals, see what happens.
Hey Gneiss this post is soooo interesting, I love it! I’ve had to get a few Merc retch glitches unglitched. 1 included shorting out my power system and taking an electrician couple of days to realize I had drilled through an electrical cable. Luckily not the positive thank-you Angels! He also warned that the very next lot I was going to do contained cables. So I needed him there and I’m here to pay the bill.
I love foxes. I watched 1 beautiful fox from the bedroom window standing outside in front of a tree…then it disappeared. It didn’t move behind the tree, it just shimmered and went invisible, just blended into the background. I thought any animal cards should say this incredible feature about foxes.
I have solar panels that face North. I have an average sense of direction, but I can’t read maps. Way too left brain. What I have noticed I can do is home in on where I want to go. I don’t live in a big city though, but I can find things. I noticed I was doing this when I volunteered for a while with Meals on Wheels and the driver would give me the map and I couldn’t read it but would say “Let’s just follow my nose” and we would would find the place.
Castaneda I think in his book “Tales of Power”, has some really interesting stories to tell re: how Don Juan, realigned his students to their particular directions in order to become empowered. La Gorda changed from a fat, mother into an incredibly powerful sorceress who dropped at least 20 years. Don Juan showed her how to rebuild her bedroom and the direction in which she was to sleep.
He also manipulated slightly the necks of his students so that they would change the direction in which they looked. Again to become more empowered. I think he also considered the various winds very powerful too.
There is a lot in that book about aligning yourself with your natural source.
Holy WoWs THERE you are – I was worried you bought the farm ! Thank you angels, indeed ! xx Glad you are ok and still swinging now that Merc Rx got kicked outta the house into Gem’s yard.
I love Love LOVE your story of finding your way via your nose – higher octave Uranian sense ya think or more Neptunian ? Curious. I used to work a local gas & sip – hardly anyone reads a map anymore. It’s all go three miles turn left mapquest babble, people got lost all the time. probably why I love the astro so much – gives my brain context – Saturn ruler likes a ‘place’ an X marks the spot if you will. Then I move freely and go weird from there. haa
Fascinating fox story – I will investigate further . . .
Love that you mentioned Tales of Power – I have the set downstairs, read in HS and need to re-read – fascinating stuff ! Wind divination is linked on the sidebar, also very interesting. You have been offline – did you hear about the rare double tornado in Nebraska ? Uranus rules + two at that – crazy !
So glad you are ok ! HUGS xx
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Mars in Libra moving to oppose Aries Uranus while both square Pluto in Capricorn
Nebraska is a Pisces Sun, Capricorn Moon
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Sheesh look at that double tornado! “Tales of Power”…I remembered as soon as I posted woman called Josefina I think. La Gorda also has a fascinating story she tells of how Don Juan totally transformed her to a woman of awesome power.
Neptune 12th. wider, slower sensing. Maverick Uranus, lightening rod earth grounding, can be fast bodily reactions, operating pre consciousness. E.g. will turn to home in on someone observing me at Supermarket before I know I am on the scent. Spooks ’em a bit, heh, heh. Feel the spot centimetre across, Atlas? spot on top of spine, joining skull.
Fascinating !
Made me think of The Hum. I heard it – but I also felt it.
The low register hum / rumble was vibrating my innards – felt really weird.
Saturn ruler with Merc at MC ? Dunno
Preception is totally different – like being in a bubble of dimensional shift, my ears and headspace open up first, then the rest of me. That is def. Uranian.
Thanks for adding, love new perspectives !
I don’t know what the Taos Hum is, but I know that movement of the Earth’s plates pre earthquakes sets up an ultra low frequency sound that I hear as a tone just like a tuning fork sound. Ultra low frequency sound can be felt and make people sick. So I wonder if perhaps there is some underground movement in that area?
Whole thing is a mystery – only 5% hear/feel it. Feels like a whammy base line, an ongoing deep vibration. Many people in that area have reported feeling sick – oddly enough it is worse/louder inside buildings and enclosed spaces. Makes my brain gyroscope, if that makes sense..?
World faults here
I’ll see what I can find for four corners area.
Found it – New Mexico faults here – Taos in NE corner.
Not a quake event though, ongoing. So, I dunno.
Interesting! It is on a fault line a bit north of a junction of 3 fault lines. Maybe there is some low level movement constantly happening? Although that would be detected on a seismograph. It’s curious. I wonder how the animals, dogs, cats. horses, birds react to it?
Good questions all, I’ll investigate.
This describes exactly what I heard – idling diesel engine with a pulsating sound pattern.
It says possibly heightened electromagnetic fields sensed by microwave hearing (which even the deaf can hear).
Yes, they mention erratic bird and dog behavior related to the hum.
Be back with more.
Another here states: As far as piezoelectricity, electrical stimuli will cause the skeleton to flex, perhaps in minutely measurable amounts, and cause it to be microphonic, not unlike a string on a musical instrument.
Weird.
So maybe it is my Saturn ruler trine backdoor Sag Mars quintile Uranus.
So my bones/ inner eardrum were being tuned… ? Whoa freaky man !
It could be electrical from power lines and perhaps the geography magnifies it? I could NOT live there. Oh no.
Some people are incredibly sensitive to geophysical whatever influences which they have learnt to decipher depending on varying physical reactions.
It must drive the poor animals insane living there.
Reading a more recent study that says it may be Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves used for naval communication which can penetrate materials/water at a great distance. Local geography and geology as well as night/day or summer/winter cause variations in the strength of VLF signal.
You wouldn’t want to live near a hum – it is (at least it was for me) very loud and jarring.
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Quite a bit here.
World Hum Map and Database. HERE
Fantastic ! Taking the survey in the am.
Strange it happens all over the world, and now I am reading intermittently for some.
How Curious.
Reports from all over the world here.
There must be animal info inside this page…will get back !
All of those articles are really interesting. Thanks for that info. I really do think that we need to becoming more aware of noise pollution and its effects on us. The effects on the skeleton were interesting too. I have noticed I react firstly in ear canal but yeh probably tension/ flex in bones when I pick up sensitive sounds.
Back to direction awareness…this has just made me remember that we all have tiny crystals in our brow area which are affected by direction.
Funny to think of a town where debates prob rage at the pub between the Hearers and the Deafies!
Yes !
Biomagnetite in our brains thanks for mentioning it, I forgot to link my previous biomagnetite post here. There is a great link with much info inside text.
Thanks herongrace xx