By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
I like to watch Charlie Rose on PBS, not because I’m a big Rose fan but because — in this age of sound bites, tweets and wall-pinning — one becomes privy to a full, hopefully in-depth conversation. Or mostly, anyhow. I feel the same way about Charlie as I did about Phil Donahue, back in the day: he’s really good at what he does until he hits his own personal wall of understanding, and then we’re all blocked from moving farther down the road. Because I’ve always been eager for that bit of conversation on the other side of the roadblock, I’ve been known to disturb fellow watchers by upbraiding the host at length when that gate swings shut.
This week Rose interviewed Kenneth Branagh on the final days of his production of MacBeth at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. MacBeth, like King Lear, is one of those epic plays that serious actors must mature into and Branagh and his Lady MacBeth, Alex Kingston, spoke to that issue, as well as their feeling that their characters aren’t so evil as they are passionate players at life and love, caught up in an epic mistake (murder) for which their guilt and regret ultimately destroy them.
As Joseph Campbell put it, “Regrets are illuminations come too late.” Key words: too late. Makes for a messy end. That’s a very nuanced reading of the Shakespearean classic, more often portraying MacBeth and his Lady as ambitious, conniving and unredeemedly villainous. No denying the couple were killers and, yes, they paid the price in madness and death. Probably the reason that even during those repressive periods of history in which Shakespeare fell out of fashion, the church approved MacBeth as a “morality play” that aligned with it’s own notions of sin and the sure punishment of the Almighty.
I’m inclined to agree with Sir Kenneth, although Rose had to poke around the concept of this infamous fictional couple as victims of their own flawed desire, looking for easy entry into an alternate psychology (he never quite accomplished.) Indeed, Lady MacBeth’s famous “out damned spot” soliloquy shows a capacity for self-reflection missing in the purely sociopathic, reducing her from the Elizabethan equivalent of Cruella de Vil, bent on skinning puppies for the sheer pleasure of adornment, to a merely flawed human creature for whom redemption is possible.
Too bad our own collection of villains — Dick Cheney, Paul Bremer, Doug Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Tony Blair, and others including he who fancies himself a maverick and former Iraqi ex-pat, Ahmed Chalabi, who wooed a too-willing Dubya into thinking the Iraqis were counting the minutes until Shock ‘n Awe — aren’t similarly impacted by their previous errors in judgment. Me, I’d like to see a bit of hand-wringing about now. So would Truthout’s Will Pitt, who finds the attempt to pin culpability for Iraq’s devolvement on Obama an infuriating example of Republican pathology, with no cure in sight.
Cheney in particular has caught the public eye, not for his unsurprising disapproval of Obama’s foreign policy — calling the Prez both treasonous and a fool — but for his dogged denial of culpability during the Bush years, and now. He and his daughter (who seems about the last of his unquestioning supporters) have birthed a group called The Alliance for a Strong America, pitching U.S. vulnerability since we are no longer stomping across the face of the planet like a rogue elephant.
The Alliance considers itself a “mission to educate and advocate for the policies needed to restore American preeminence and power in the world.” You can watch Uncle Dick here, forced to present his newest idea on YouTube (to flagging interest, with a mere 62,000+ hits. Wrestling kittens get a bigger audience. And why, I wonder, have comments been disabled?) Evidently, preeminence and power ain’t what they used to be.
In tandem with his group’s roll-out, our former Machiavellian Veep gave us this clever quote in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, regarding Obama’s foreign policy: “Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.” This from the man who told us the decade-long, trillion-dollar war in Iraq would likely be over in “weeks, not months.”
A few days later, asked about Cheney’s blunt criticism, and in response to that quote, retiring press secretary Jay Carney finished his tenure by delivering the best line of the century, thus far: “Which president was he talking about?” I have obviously under-appreciated Mr. Carney. There was laughter at the quip, but I believe it deserved, at minimum, a standing ovation!
Harry Reid, referring to everyone’s least favorite Dick as the ‘architect of the Iraq war,’ told Congress, “The wrong side of Dick Cheney is the right side of history,” and even FOX News’ Megyn Kelly confronted Cheney on his glaring mispronouncements during BushWarII, a somewhat combative exchange. Dick can’t get no respect these days. Final nail in the coffin? Glenn Beck told his audience that Liberals were right about the war.
Can’t you just hear Cheney’s private thoughts with so little apparent support, and after all he’s done for this ungrateful nation? “Oh, sharper than a serpent’s tooth ….” Whoops! Hold on, that’s King Lear. Gotta wait another decade for that level of regret and breast-beating, if ever. And since privilege got Cheney a nice new heart to wait it out with, he’ll probably outlive us all. If God/dess is good, some day that stranger’s heart will ask him to rethink his position. But us, you and me? We can ‘t wait that long.
Thanks to the Libertarian leanings of the Baggers, who value isolationism almost as much as gun rights, no one seems overly eager to engage further American blood or treasure in a country reluctant to deal with its internal strife. That holds true in Iraq AND Afghanistan, where the billions spent to train a fighting force seem money down the drain. Still, there will be a vote soon in the House about the viability of sending in combat troops to a war theatre considered ‘won,’ and that requires our making our wishes plain to lawmakers. Far fewer will vote for such an action this time around, but we can’t take a chance that group-think from yesteryear wins the day! Write a quick note to your legislators. Let them know where you stand!
I suspect that those hearing the internal political details of this Middle Eastern dilemma will be impressed with its seriousness, and surely they’ll be cautioned that the concerns of ‘American interests’ are at stake. If that doesn’t set off nuanced yellow flashers for the average citizen, by the way, then s/he hasn’t connected all the dots. American interests usually involve quashing those of others, a legacy of our faltering colonialism and lately masked as a desire to liberate everyone from any political construct unlike our own — and for their own good, or so we tell one another.
It’s also clear that Obama is caught between a rock and a hard spot in his role, as Will Pitt has it, of First Mate handed the wheel to the Titanic AFTER hitting the iceberg. Besides considering the use of missiles and drones, he has sent in 300 U.S. advisers to help out. This is, as usual, a misnomer of the first water. The 300 are Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and other high ranking officers, essentially an elite fighting force. Some are finishing up the removal of those in danger at our Vatican-sized embassy, but I’d bet money they’re preparing for Malaki to step down — or BE stepped down — in favor of someone less polarizing. The obvious vacuum of power in this sectarian throw-down begs something or someone to come rushing in. Whoever that turns out to be, we can’t allow it to be us!
Populist House member Alan Grayson recently sent out a memo in support of two amendments to the defense spending bill proposed by Representative Barbara Lee. If I’d stayed blooming where I was planted, she would be my representative now and that makes me proud of my home town. Lee was the only person not to vote approval for Bush’s Authorization for the Use of Military Force way back when, and this week she offered defense amendments defunding further military action in Iraq. She continues to stump for peace, despite the conflicted nature of our times: these remarkable times that are as full of Joseph Campbell’s archetypes as any Shakespearian play.
Like Michelangelo, Tesla and Einstein, it’s said that Shakespeare wasn’t “one of us,” in the mortal sense. These souls brought impressive other-dimensional credentials into this lifetime of which we, and perhaps even they, were unaware. They thought outside of the box, and their legacy of revelation and societal revolution invites us to do the same. They were moved to risk, to experiment, to push past the comfort of tradition. Their level of creativity could be compared to meditation: time folded, concepts blazing with Light and possibility, following their bliss.
Joseph Campbell was such a one, when he told us:
“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
That bliss comes with an added awareness not of the little self, but the larger Self. It understands its place within the whole, to both create and advocate — able to walk and chew gum at the same time — because the bigger picture compels us to act within the flow of life on a multidimensional level. Said Campbell, “We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.” We need only taste a little of that in order to realize that our path lies in the same direction.
Marianne Williamson recently lost her bid as representative for California’s 33rd District. Within days she had returned to her earlier responsibilities as a motivational speaker and spiritual advocate. She wrote a piece for Huffington that spoke to her experience, the implications of her branding as a ‘spiritual guru’ and a few days later, put out another at Common dreams titled “War, Iraq, Enlightenment.” I take some pleasure in these reads because she inevitably goes farther down that road of possibility, pushing past the shut gate of mundanity, of unwilling minds and closed hearts, to enter the rarified air of untapped possibility.
Williamson asserts that we have come to that place where the gate is swinging open and asks if we’re willing to take our journey farther down the road. Those who complain that faith-based actions don’t get us where we want to go need to re-think what faith is about. How far have non-faith-based actions taken us, I wonder? We’re going to put our faith in something, why not the infinite? Why not the extraordinary, the spontaneous, the remarkable?
We won’t find that highly-charged unified field in discussion of the mundanities, my dears, nor in the experience of conflict, not that we can pretend those things aren’t part of our daily life and consciousness. It’s a constant challenge to honor our Higher Self and our ability to connect with heart-energy while living in a world steeped in the dark remainder of 3D conflict. We’ve had plenty of experience there, haven’t we? The first years of this century were an unexpected lesson in polarization, in losing balance, and consequently, losing our way. Life isn’t black/white, it isn’t either/or. It’s both/and. It’s All That Is.
Our continuing journey of polarization has only just begun. We need to be constantly on guard to maintain balance, personal and political. Williamson gives us five principles for spiritual activism:
l) Atone in your heart for your own warlike nature – any thoughts or behavior of judgment or attack — and seek to change your life where necessary.
2) Spend at least five minutes a day in prayer or meditation, knowing you are part of a global field of consciousness at work on the inner planes to bring about world peace.
3) Seek to organize your own community of like-minded individuals to join you in prayer or meditation groups for world peace.
4) If it applies, atone with others for the behavior of your country if it has in the past, or is now, participating in unjust military activity.
5) Practice mercy and compassion towards yourself and others, particularly resisting any temptation to monitor someone else’s journey rather than your own.
As much as we think it’s THEM — over there — responsible for all this conflict, it starts with us, it ends with us. The opposite poles that define love and war live within each of us, swinging wildly if we aren’t aware of our internal process and thought system. If we want to change that, we have to change ourselves.
Campbell puts it this way: “Instead of clearing his own heart the zealot tries to clear the world.” We’ve seen a lot of that lately, haven’t we? A Course in Miracles puts it similarly: “God is very quiet, for there is no conflict in Him.”
Campbell’s “hero’s path” asks us to devote ourselves to something larger than ourselves if we are to find fulfillment. And as he advised us, in The Power of the Myth:
“Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.
The inner world is the world of your requirements and your energies and your structure and your possibilities that meets the outer world. And the outer world is the field of your incarnation. That’s where you are. You’ve got to keep both going. As Novalis said, ‘The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet.”
It’s solstice, and it tugs at us to remember who we are. Even as we long to throw ourselves into the deep Cancerian waters of feeling, it’s déjà vu all over again in our heads, the logic and persuasion of competing opinion trying to trap us in repeating cycles that, lately, speak with Dick Cheney’s voice and John McCain’s convoluted rhetoric.
Let’s not forget that when we act from our authentic selves, the wind comes up to meet our wings, changing not just our trajectory but our destination. All the great ones tell us we’re not alone, we’re a part of the whole. This is a day to push farther down the road, to see what we can find — within and without — to bring peaceful change and wholeness into our awakening world.
Jude: It has taken me a few days to digest this fully. Probably because (like the talk show host you refer to) i have trouble making my way as far down the road as you adroitly do. Please, however, allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me stumble a few paces farther than ever before with this, one of your best and most inspiring essays ever. You and your work are truly magnificent and i remain in humbled awe.
Last word. Mercury is the Trickster. Sometimes I forget that but Mercury is commerce, information, quick thinking and they always include the possibility of trickery. That can be infuriating to the one who is being tricked.
If you didn’t see the PBS 2-part special “The Escape Artist” try to catch it in re-run. You will see the perfect example of Mercury the Trickster but you must wait until the very end to understand.
be
Here you take the word “polarization” and give it a face Jude. Thanks for that. Too often a good “shortcut” word (like an astrology symbol) gets lost when it’s strayed too far from what it’s a shortcut for. Here, one end of the spectrum of polarization wants freedom from corporate plutocracy, the other end from big government. Jupiter is the freedom part and Saturn speaks to corporate plutocracy and entrenched big government. As wonderful as astrology is, it can’t replace the full expression of the situation in real-world terms.
Through a careful alchemy – blending together the two ends of the spectrum while adding the catalyst, sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once – change happens. In the right hands that change can be for the better but it’s not much fun if you’re the one in the pot.
be
Big themes, today, and that’s good because we’re peeling back layers, getting to the heart of the thing. On a purely mundane level, I yelled at the television this morning as politicos discussed the possibility that the US had “missed” the growing discontent in Mosul, to their detriment. Why don’t we EVER talk about the real question, the one we’re asking in our hearts and minds and living rooms? This isn’t about the US missing any clues on Iraqi escalation, this is about the US evaluating its need to be involved in an inevitable philosophical clash, happening half a world away, that’s none of our damned business.
Some of us are newly aware that America put it’s thumb on the hold button preventing a religious civil war for 10 years, which is erupting now. And after a trillion dollars out of national coffers — with a couple trillion more due to pay the piper for veteran care and whatnot — no one but those who still fancy the US as the Cruise Director for the whole world want any more of it.
Bill Maher keeps talking about this as the Muslim chance to get over itself; much as the Catholics and Protestants did back in the teen-centuries in Europe. He’s right. It took a lot of bloody war and loss to make Christianity accept it’s schisms, reluctantly, as part of its whole. And ultimately, as nasty as this looks and as dire as the projections of a new ‘Caliphate,’ dangerous to the US, this HAS to happen if the pending lessons are to be learned.
And — once again — if we stayed the hell out of Mid-eastern affairs, we wouldn’t be their favorite bull’s-eye! Why do they hate us? Remember that heady scream of anguish in 2001? Isn’t that evident by now? If we want to stay out of danger from extremists, we need to stop backing the political extremists that exploit them, for our own geopolitical gain.
Indeed, be — sound and fury, a growing amplification of our struggle to reconcile our internal strife. This is that moment in time when our exercise of personal freedom — both testing its limits, and giving ground, during these last decades — meets entrenched and increasingly unstable institutional authority. Both ends of the spectrum, right and left, want their liberty — one from corporate plutocracy, the other from ‘big’ government and, at this juncture, at least, never the twain shall meet. We have a way to go before we find our commonality … much as do the people of the Prophet.
We’re locked in a sociopolitical firestorm, the one that gobbles us alive every so often and spits us out the other side, hopefully wiser. Both Pluto and Uranus have their positive pole, and their negative (although each have a stinger, even on their best day.) I don’t think of that activity in terms of good and bad as much as expansion and contraction. Perhaps that’s the Saturn/Jupiter connect, be: not the gun, which doesn’t shoot itself, but the finger on the trigger instead.
We can obviously expand too far, much like our [profoundly secular yet quasi-religious] corporate dependence and our covert [and overtly overlooked] security culture, seeking control of all social and/or political perimeters. And we can quickly become too contracted, suffering stringent thinning, starving our ability to fund creativity or meet essential needs. Ironically, our current government situation is giving us both. We each have a piece of the puzzle, and we withhold them from one another at great risk.
Bill Herbst is one of my favorite astrologers. In discussion of these energies, and specifically to the debate over climate change, he says this:
“Oddly enough, both sides in this debate see themselves as fighting for the rights of the individual by opposing the collective status quo, which they feel to be destructive. Although completely contrary, each view tends to regard itself as the underdog (Uranus), standing bravely (Aries) against the drastic and extremist upwelling (Pluto) of an oppressive business-as-usual born by heavy-handed herd-instinct beliefs about “the way things should be” (Capricorn).
“Nearly every major developmental challenge in society these days can be accurately interpreted in this fashion: a lone crusader fighting for truth and justice against a tidal wave of unconscious but socially-accepted sentiment. The irony is that our lone crusader can usually be seen also as representing his/her own brand of unconscious and manipulative power-mongering that is harmful to society.”
Thanks for so much thoughtful insight, be, and for linking this for us. Invaluable to our process, not just to understand but to … eventually … come to balance.
And, oh-my-goodness Jere! Here’s the crux of it, eh? I went to bed last night pondering this question, and not for the first time.
Ultimately, I can only answer as an individual and that’s because each of us would meet such a moment with the whole of our experience defining it. I suspect the child of a Holocaust survivor wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate such a threat, but look at Israel, as the ultimate survivor; its proactive defensiveness has created it as an infamous bully. And look at Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, anticipating danger so maniacally it not only courts it but provokes it. That’s the stuff of warring, that’s the fear within us dictating our response.
So it seems to me that it depends on how much each of us has conquered our own fear as to how we respond to threat. Some are quick on the trigger, some less so. But — speaking only for myself — I am not above defending with prejudice, albeit reluctantly, should the need be apparent, especially if it involves danger to someone I love. I guess you could say I come from the Kwai Chang Caine school of peace-keeping. Google the name (or the series, Kung Fu) to get quotes, a good many lifted from the Tao, from that old series and most all apply to this question.
From a Shaolin Master:
“As we prize peace and quiet above victory, there is a simple and preferred method [for dealing with force] … run away.”
and
Master Kan, teaching young Caine:
“Perceive the way of nature and no force of man can harm you. Do not meet a wave head on: avoid it. You do not have to stop force: it is easier to redirect it. Learn more ways to preserve rather than destroy. Avoid rather than check. Check rather than hurt. Hurt rather than maim. Maim rather than kill. For all life is precious nor can any be replaced.”
Seems to me that much of the ethic prized so highly by Gandhi, Jesus, and Buddha was a rejection of primitive self-interest (which is the ultimate self-interest) in order to align with compassion and right-use-ness. The three seem, as avatars and heroes, fearless in this regard. Here’s the Shaolin equivalent: fear creates the victim.
None of the Big Three were victims and very little of their life was “by accident.” If we know ourselves, then we know what is part of our bundle and what isn’t. I, for instance, refuse to be overrun by Nazi’s ever again, and in order to do that, I’m certainly going to work to prevent the folly of lax gun laws and the continued arming of a fearful world.
That’s preserving rather than destroying, checking rather than hurting. When we urge for responsbile activism, we are checking the possibilities of such extremes — and when we urge for reconciliation and collaboration, searching for the middle ground, we are practicing a form of peace … certainly peace-making.
So the answer to your question is, seems to me, much about self-mastery, Jere. Do we act from fear or do we act from an inner confidence that we can do what the moment requires of us? We can have compassion and still defend our survival. Here’s a little snip of Kung Fu that pulls the conflicting pieces together.
If there is no way around a conflict — no middle ground on which to mediate — then I’m with Kwai Chang Caine: “To fight for yourself is right. To die vainly without hope of winning is the act of stupid men.” But that does not change my desire for peace nor does it dishonor my practice of it, as best I am able.
This is, evidently, “one of those things” that resonates me, Jere. About 180 degrees away from Zen-like topics, from a handful of important movies from my childhood is an oldie from 1956, Friendly Persuasion, in which a Quaker household attempts to sit out the Civil War even as it arrives at the door. It’s one of those “entertainments,” like Kung Fu, that never leaves the back of my mind. All of our memories and emotions are engaged in such a Divine mission as taming our war-like nature. It isn’t simple, but as I said, dearheart, that question is the crux of it — the most sane question I can think of, by the way — and I’m honored by the query.
Always glad to add fuel to your fire, Aword — always happy to be of service. Hugs!
And thank you, Mia and Patty, for your contributions. About humility, Patty, it requires an enormous respect for life. May we all get there soon! I hope your solstice has been peaceful.
To us all, I wish sane and peaceful days.
Jere, I like the website energeticsynthesis. You might find some useful info. For myself, I find that love isn’t always about letting people do whatever they want. Here is a quote about humility that feeds the forces of tyranny from Energetic Synthesis.
“The vices opposed to humility are:
• Pride (by reason or defect).
• Too great obsequiousness or abjection of oneself; this would be considered an excess of humility, and could easily be derogatory to one’s character; or it might serve only to pamper pride in others, by unworthy flattery, which would feed the weakness in others such as tyranny, arbitrariness, and arrogance. The virtue of humility is not to be practiced in any external way that would feed, support the consent to the predator forces or vices in others.
HUMILITY IS A VIRTUE which is one of the generated blessings or qualities of the Spirits of Christ.”
We have spent a couple of years looking back at the 60’s when the Uranus-Pluto conjunctions began their present cycle. We look back for answers and reasons. What are these two planets, now crashing against each other in an effort to awaken humanity, telling us? As regards the “first years of this century” the 9/11 chart has Jupiter at 11+ Cancer, the same degree the north node was in when JFK was assassinated 38 years before 9/11. The north node is symbolic of future possibilities. Perhaps this connection between events is common knowledge, but it’s a first for me. Whatever the north node was referring to in 1963 showed up on 9/11/2001 via Jupiter.
Both charts have Mercury and Jupiter at an important point in their cycle; they were trine at the time of the JFK murder and square at the time of the 9/11 disaster. Because of this I’m taking the Mercury-Jupiter major aspects as indicative of historical times, maybe even markers of historical events. In any case, they both rule mutable signs which always indicate a time of transition.
Jupiter in the 1963 JFK chart was in the 2nd house of money and square the nodes, just as trans. Jupiter squares the nodes today. In the 9/11/2001 chart the north node was conjunct the U.S. Sibly Venus (money) and where today’s Mercury started his retrograde. Both of these U.S. disasters were influenced by Saturn, Jupiter, money, north nodes and connections to each other.
Saturn was on the ascendant (and co-ruler of the ascendant with Uranus) when in 1963 JFK was assassinated, while the 9/11/2001 chart ascendant conjuncts the U.S. Sibly Saturn. Both charts tie Saturn the Grim Reaper to the ascendant.
The 9/11/01 Mercury was on the ascendant (and conjunct U.S. Saturn) and also trine 9/11 Saturn, while Mercury in the ’63 JFK chart was trine Jupiter and square the co-ruler of the ascendant, Uranus (who opposed Chiron). Both ascendants are tied to Mercury.
The 9/11/2001 Uranus in Aquarius made a sextile to Chiron in Sagittarius which formed a yod with the U.S. Sibly Mercury in Cancer. In the 1963 JFK chart Uranus opposes Chiron and squares Mercury. Both charts connect Uranus with Chiron and both charts connect Mercury with Uranus.
The cycles of Mercury and Jupiter are small potatoes compared to the Uranus and Pluto cycles, and yet these gods of information and thinking form us and reshape us on a daily basis. They are the baby steps compared to the giant steps of Uranus Pluto transits. What we read, watch and listen to affects who we are becoming and I invite you to become more conscious of the squares, trines, oppositions and especially the conjunctions that Mercury makes to Jupiter as they could be turning points in your own development.
be
Jude, I’ve a plague of a question, (I figured you might have the where-with-all if anyone).
What “should” one do if presented with murderous assholes on their doorstep? Think Nazi B.S.. What if the threat comes to kin, or a friend one holds dear?
I’m a prescriber of Gandhian, Jesus, and Buddha ethics but, I’m hella confused.
When I was on the streets in Santa Cruz (I had a “FUCK WAR” patch on my backpack) some cat came up to me and (accusatorily) asked, “What happens when the nazi’s come?”,.. I stepped up on him, slammed my fist into my palm and said, “Then we crush them!”.. I felt as torn apart in that moment as I do now.
..Some cats never stop.. (or do they, eventually?) Is there ever a time to fight? Or do I exit this reality knowing that I couldn’t react in a harmful manner even if someone else’s life/well being depended on it?
Sorry for the crazy depth… (don’t worry, I’m still sane 😛 ),
PEACE, and LOVE,
Jere
Jude, you’ve brought up so many remarkable points that are deep and dear in my heart that I will be reading this piece all weekend in order to absorb it all. Great positioning, great grounding. And a nod to the shift that is happening, even if Marianne Williamson didn’t win the bid this go’round is yet another reason I appreciate how you manage each week to mention so much of the news-that’s-meaningful in this space.
G’day Jude! When you say Shakespeare wasn’t “one of us” you’d be speaking the language of the Aquarius Moon that the U.S Sibly chart boasts; a “buck the system” attitude akin to “follow your bliss” in spite of what your parents, teachers, preachers, government told you. The way Randall H. Miller in the introduction to his book Buck The System puts it. . . .
” ‘Bucking the system’ is an expression with multiple definitions, so let’s be clear about what we’re talking about here. We are not talking about breaking the rules and thumbing our noses at authority just for the sake of doing so. There are a myriad of other phrases and words that describe those people. For our purposes, one who bucks the system respectfully questions authority and constantly looks for newer and better ways to get things done. They are methodical and thoughtful. They look before they leap. They overcome their fears and execute their ideas instead of merely thinking or talking about them. Someone who bucks the system CHALLENGES [my caps] the status quo and societal expectations (i.e. your an X so you must do and say what Xs do.) They rarely take no for an answer. They do not waste time, make excuses or blame others. They accept full responsibility for their own success and happiness. They know that life is a one-time gift not to be wasted on passionless pursuits.”
So that would be a positive expression of the Moon in Aquarius, a negative expression would be a Clive Bundy grazing his cattle on government property.
A long drawn out period of sub-consciously examining needs (symbolized in astrology by the Moon and the sign Cancer), or Campbell’s “requirements” was symbolized first by transiting Neptune conjunct the U.S. Moon (symbol of the People in a country’s birth chart) in 2010, and more recently by transiting centaur Nessus, has left the People of the United States uprooted somewhat from their past traditions and questioning the motives of those in charge of their wellbeing. Now a new transit between Mars in Libra (both of us) opposite Uranus in Aries (just me) who rules the sign Aquarius (along with Saturn) further confounds the U.S. People.
It is this dichotomy between tradition (Saturn) and change (Uranus), expressed by the quincunx (adjustment) aspect between the present trans. Saturn and trans. Uranus that we see expressed through the People (the Aquarius Moon in the U.S chart) as they choose who will represent them in government. Now transiting Mars in Libra comes along (with teammates Vesta and Ceres and the North Node) pushing those Uranus in Aries buttons, who in turn pushes Saturn in Scorpio – still retro at this point – to give a little. Saturn give? Scorpio give? Get real.
The U.S Sibly Sun in Cancer has simultaneously been in the crosshairs of the recent Cardinal Cross, with more to come. Do we even have a clue as to what our “needs” are at this point? I think we have come to realize the most basic of those needs like food and shelter and, of course, water. But wait, there’s more. Beyond survival we need to belong, to be part of something greater than ourselves, but until we can resolve the differences between the past (Saturn) mistakes and the future (Uranus) we want to manifest, the gawd-awful screeches from the discarded past will rise up to haunt us.
We have a Cancer Solstice today and a Cancer New Moon next week, followed by a new U.S birthday, and following that a new Mercury-Jupiter cycle begins. The old cycle that is ending in August featured a Moon in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Scorpio forming a yod with the Sun in Gemini, and it was precise. Moon (past, people, emotion) in Cap was firmly locked up and Saturn (social structure, past) in Scorpio was undergoing transformation. These two were demanding (quincunxes demand adjustment) the Sun (consciousness) in Gemini (information, talk, data) as the point of the Yod, express that purpose. Hence, talk, talk, talk, cacophony.
Gemini is nimble, bi-lingual (if not bi-polar) and in the “real” world, basically superficial. We have almost reached the end of this cycle between Mercury (elementary) and Jupiter (advanced) and soon their new cycle will feature a different imperative. It will no longer require the services of a Dick Cheney or a John McCain. Maybe not even a Clive Bundy.
The old Jupiter-Mercury cycle coming to an end began at 23 Gemini 12 on May 27, 2013. Present day transiting Mercury will back up to that degree (24+ Gemini) in his retrograde, like scrubbing the floor to the very edge in order to get out all the dirt, before stationing direct. One last scrub forward and we will begin the new cycle between Jupiter and Mercury at 3 Leo 51.
On August 2 there will perhaps be drama (they will square Mars in Scorpio who is conjunct Vesta and Ceres who is conjunct the transiting Moon) but we will be stepping out of the old flexibility of Gemini and into the fixity of Leo. There will be a permanency about this new cycle. There will be creativity in the thinking and talking (as well as boasting and bombast). In the U.S., the new cycle between Jupiter and Mercury will begin in the 8th house of the Sibly chart. It will be 3 degrees away from the Sibly north node (opportunity for growth) and it will conjunct the U.S. (Sibly) PROGRESSED Hera (aka Juno) and Ophelia (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. . to be or not to be) suggesting future themes discussed include equality between male and female or yin and yang.
As for today, “It’s a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
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William Rivers Pitt had this to say about Obama in his piece, “The Ocean Is Coming,”
“I believe President Obama, who talks about the environment while pushing the Keystone pipeline, who talks about economic inequality while demanding fast-track authority for the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, is a Hall-of-Fame worthy bullshit artist. I believe the sooner people see this truth for what it is, the better. He is not your friend. He is selling you out.”
Obama is a Hall-of-Fame worthy bullshit artist. What is interesting is these days one can see by the look on his face that he knows he is bullshitting. There are many cracks in his façade. The first time I saw it was when he gave his speech at West Point announcing the escalation of the troops in Afghanistan, breaking a promise to bring them home. These days he looks like a bad actor. We are in Afghanistan for the drugs, for the heroin that brings in 80 billion dollars a year to fund black projects.
Look for the darkness in yourself. Don’t be afraid to find it, embrace it, neutralize it. When you see your truth, good and bad, you can identify it in others.
DC politicians are not your friends. They are in office because of deals and spend the majority of their time working to stay in office. They are busy putting away perks for their retirement. Truth be told a number of them are involved in drug and human trafficking.
Recently a friend shared the loss of someone close to him. In addition to mourning her loss, he was struck by the fact that now not only were his parents on the other side and privy to all of his thoughts, words and deeds but so was this loved one. He increased his commitment to live as his better self because he now had three people he did not want to disappoint. Not that he ever could. He’s a very good person. Something for all of us to consider.
Mia