The sensation of an opposition is often described in astrology as feeling like being pulled in two directions. Planets in opposition also mirror each other in some way. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun, for instance, mimicking it in a less bright, more-tangible way. Something like that seems to be afoot with this week’s opposition between Jupiter and the Galactic Center — though it may be more like a fun-house mirror.
With both Jupiter and the GC, the energy is working on a scale that might feel overwhelming or incomprehensible. You might be faced with too many options on the one hand, and an inability to see all the way to the edges of what you’re looking at on the other.
Both are something so big and widespread, you can’t quite wrap your brain around it.
Jupiter in Gemini represents the more worldly manifestation of this, illustrated by the public’s response to the news that the NSA is collecting an unprecedented amount of phone and Internet data about everyone. How many people in your Facebook news feed are actually talking about it, passionately demanding accountability? Heck, how many people do you know who have even registered the news enough to feel fear or paranoia about their privacy?
As Eric has mentioned before on Planet Waves, there is a lesson from A Course in Miracles that says there are no private thoughts. The NSA would seem to agree, though they’ve twisted the concept. Most people, however, are not on that wavelength, and are still mighty sensitive about the idea of their sexting, email rants and hot phone conversations being common knowledge. Culturally, we are far from ‘okay’ with being known fully.
That idea from ACIM brings us back to the Galactic Center, hanging out in late Sagittarius and currently opposed by Jupiter. The GC acts like our cosmic homing signal; it’s where our Milky Way galaxy essentially spawned itself, and where new stars and various radio waves are still being generated. Astrologically, it represents ‘source’, ‘spirit’ and the sense of universal connection underlying everything.
We can’t see its edges. We can’t see its actual center (there’s too much space dust in the way) and can barely conceive of the distances involved. But if we have the science right, then everything we know on this planet has its long-distant origins in the GC — and long before its discovery, whole branches of spiritual thought had evolved around this idea of universal interconnectedness. For some, that idea is incomprehensible.
The NSA’s data mining may also feel too big to comprehend, making it hard to react to emotionally. You may be struggling to make visceral contact with this event, yet the NSA is made up of a bunch of people, just like you. They are using the Internet on computers, just like you. They follow the instructions of their bosses (well, one didn’t), just like you. Even their bosses are just people, just like you.
So what sets you apart from someone who thinks it’s okay to spy on millions of regular people going about their regular day? Are you willing to claim that, and recognize it in others? Can you see yourself more clearly in the mirror of the Galactic Core or in Jupiter in Gemini? You may find clarity, comprehension or perspective between the two of them — and then you can use it.
Fe, I was a contractor for 3 years. I made 36,000 in a job where I was chewed out for not catching mistakes of GS 13s and GS 14s, with salaries ranging from 100,000 to 140,000. One woman I worked with (a GS7) called in sick once a week. I called in one time in 3 years and my contractor employer sent a scathing letter warning me that I had failed their terms of agreement with the agency for completion of its mission (because of the one day absence). My husband told me to tell them to stick it up their ass, but I wrote a nice resignation instead. During the 3 years I was there, all of the contractor employees were fired except me and one other person, and replaced by other new contractors. There was zero tolerance for us as a group, for just about any issue you can name. Three contractors were fired in one day because they complained about their tax withholding (not enough had been withheld). I only accepted the job because I was retired and thought I wanted something to do. My opinion still remains LOW even a year and a half later. I’ve intended to write to the OIG all this time about all the mistakes I encountered, but something tells me the GS system will be protected no matter what. Now, don’t be confused that I was a low salary employee – I was, but….the contractor received double my salary for hiring me. See? There is no money savings – it is all about productivity. I held a low level job, expecting to just do some data entry and make a little extra money without the headaches of being a supervisor or a decision maker. I worked in my prior job for 37 years, which was also federal. It is a well-known fact that about 10 percent of employees are hard workers, willing to work independently. Supervisors are trained to ask the 10 percent to do more, and even to apply pressure. The reason is because that after employees complete probation, they are virtually employees for life and can’t be fired unless they break the law or violate some standard or other. Most agencies hire temporary employees to supplement. Having the shoe on the other foot for 3 years was pretty horrifying. I’ve been pro at-will employment ever since, and think federal employment regs need to be revised.
I hope it isn’t just the morning coffee talkin’, but I sense a real change in the air with this event. Snowden is 29, has visible integrity, has served and served his country, and is being handled respectfully by the press (contrast Assange and Manning). He’s cracked the door, now let’s all *push*. Just for today, notice where your ‘unreasonable search and seizure’ is happening and redirect it. (I’m not thinking resistance so much as redirection.) Maybe I’ll go buy a purse-sized copy of the Constitution today. Just in case the opportunity pops up to use it (hah!!).
Dear marymack,
I feel your fatigue and frustration and I have been there. I have had periods of illness and loss of income, loss of my home, loss of all of my belongings. As long as my animals were safe and healthy, all was well with my world.
From grammar school days on I have been of service to others in one form or another. I came from an affluent family who created their own success and fortune. I was not prepared for hardship, or at least I thought I was not prepared for such hardship. My soul knew better. In fact, I believe that these things have specifically happened to me because I have experienced both ends of the spectrum and am articulate enough to be able to express what happened to me. Our fatigue and frustration can find empowerment through action. We are being called to action to save ourselves. No one is coming to our rescue.
From time to time I have a day or two when I feel fed up and disgusted, with the situation, with myself, with everyone. It passes as soon as make a move towards something that is important to me. I encourage you to consider that. When I was down, total strangers time and again brought truck loads of hay so I could feed my horses. People I had helped paid my rent. Total strangers sent checks, food, whatever was needed. Because of my life in the contemporary art world I received grants from organizations like the Gottlieb Foundation. I received a grant from Robert Rauschenberg the week before he died. My faith has always been strong and each and every day, no matter what it was I needed, it came to me. The Universe is one of abundance if we tap into it. I am living proof of that truth.
Like the hero in the film, “Slum Dog Millionaire,” our lives are full of messages and sign posts we need to pay attention. Our current journey is one of consciousness and we need to learn how to work with our own energy to keep ourselves strong. I don’t believe we have hit bottom yet, so even more will be asked of us.
Keep the faith.
Mia
while everyone’s on to the next thing, here I am replying … just in case you’re listening, Amanda, here’s my 2 cents — people aren’t pissed off because it’s their choice to be / find the peace within. As I type that I realize how little I know about anyone else, so I should just keep it to me and my personal situation. I was born and raised in Washington and there was just so much rancor that one can abide before there’s shut-down. Take care of what I need to take care of, what’s immediately before me in my personal life and that takes up a lot of energy and effort right there. For me, for such a long time it was getting a freaking JOB and while many who put out this newsletter are incredibly aware of life’s journey, until you are without a job for a long period you just cannot imagine what it’s like for so many unemployed people trying to make it day to day. There’s just too much stress already to take on such seemingly unwinnable battles.
mm
Flouride stops the pineal gland from working properly. It is in most water supplies and toothpastes.
If you have not seen it I strongly suggest watching the Charlotte Iserbyt interviews on the secret history of Western education and the deliberate dumbing down of the population.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZI2JOPoTZA
This process has been in the works for more than 100 years.
Patty:
What you wrote supports the case in point. Well done!
Contractors work along-side the federals. Sorry to disagree but the contractors are treated like 3rd class citizens, and expected to do the most difficult work. Obviously that is especially true in the case of defense contractors.
Diva Carla:
Its not something in the water. Its something that we were lulled into forgetting by the mass distraction. If you’re starting to feel angry, find the true targets for blame. The work is in not going for the obvious ones. Its the bigger ones we need to target. It looks as though the national security of the US is stationed somewhere in Virginia. This is where it starts.
The NSA hired out to the private sector, specifically Booz Allen — Snowden’s employer — to do their surveillance work. Its not that the NSA or its workers were lazy. It hired contractors to do their work for less money than it takes to pay salaries of government employees. That was the privatization of national security that began in early 2000, modeled after the successful privatization of the military.
This NSA controversy is the result.
i want to know why more people are not pissed off –Amanda
It’s something in the water,
the food,
Who really cares who sees my information as long as my media is still streaming through my high speed connection?
It’s a drug.
I am with Karliecole. Increase the pressure, turn up the heat, make diamonds. It’s a soul decision.
yes, for sure, things like this have been happening for over 10 years now. but the last couple seem to have seen a mini-boom in whistleblowing.
i’m not asking why people are not shocked — i want to know why more people are not pissed off — and not so much PW readers, since this community is pretty tuned in and aware. but what is going on with everyone else?
why am I not alarmed? I don’t listen to the news these days — wow, what a new day! and I only hear “the sky is falling” periodically and I let it fall away.
There is something about the job title and pay grade, as well as security clearance, that makes federal employees believe they are above the rest of their fellow citizens – to the point they don’t even acknowledge the existence of fellow employees who have ‘contractor’ status instead of a GS status. They TOTALLY look down on the contractors. I sort of think that may explain some of the rage of those who set out to blow the whistle on the lazy scumbags that are protected by tenure. Why do they need so many contractors? Because the regular GS employees are lazy, know-nothing, scumbags that can’t be fired. Witness Lois Lerner – asked to resign, all she had to do was say “no” – end of story. Hello! These people take the rest of us for a bunch of suckers, which we must be since we allow it to go on. Federals work for us, not the other way around. And how is Mr. Clapper allowed to lie to congress when everyone else who ever lied under oath was charged with a crime??? The least untruthful answer was how he put it. Bloody hell!!
That’s my rant for the day.
Oops, comment vanished. Anyway, I don’t think shutting up or shutting down is the answer. I think, support whistleblowers, even if that means someone you love telling you something right into your ear.
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/qa_with_laura_poitras_the_woman_behind_the_nsa_scoops/
This doesn’t mean I’m against privacy and mystery. It just means you do “if you see something, say something” like a Gemini ninja.
And here:
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/digital_blackwater_meet_the_contractors_who_analyze_your_personal_data/
These are the best compilations of these instances. There are more out there–people have been talking and working with this one for a while. If you see something, say something, right?
My ascendant is 27 Gemini. Far from the source, waaah. As cold and outlier as you get. But chattery! So you bet I’m paying attention and trying to figure all this out.
It’s not ok, and has been happening since the Patriot act. I don’t know why most are shocked. To be shocked holds some element of surprise, and I was not shocked, nor surprised. Over 10 years now…
Lists are helping me name all the facets and use the pressure to hone the creative edge. Not to do lists – connections lists – all thing people and ideas and earthly elements I’m connecting. It is a wild ride and mostly fun for me as a Gemini sun – though I did pretty much hit the exhaustion wall this weekend. Felt like even that had purpose though and I emerged with new creative synergies that if manifested (working on that) may be able to help many more people out more pressure more easily and effectively towards addressing climate change and moving forward to greater sustainability in all aspects. Going for the diamond I guess – turning our carbon problem into something verdant, vibrant and resilient….