Good evening. I recorded this before learning that Scott Walker had won his recall election in Wisconsin today — the first governor to do so (there have been two others). For tonight anyway, Planet Waves FM will stand in for Daily Astrology — I’ve said what I have to say here. Catch you soon — efc
35 thoughts on “Planet Waves FM :: Mid-Transit of Venus”
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I did not see the rest of this conversation until just now, but I felt I needed to correct some incorrect information about generations — given that I have been studying this topic for nearly a decade. Given that I did not see this until much later, it’s sort of unfair not to give Carrie a chance to respond to this. So if anyone wants to reach out to her to give her a chance to respond (and let me know if she does), I would have no objection. Respectful debate and discussion should be encouraged.
“Generation Jones” is a generation invented by marketing professionals, not legitimate generational scholars, academics, or demographers. This is extremely evident just by looking at the website of the guy who came up with it. (BTW, the fact that he cites/uses Rasmussen polling data in and of itself should be cause for enormous skepticism.)
Marketing professionals came up with “Generation Jones” (and also Generations Y and Z) to help them sell more products to cuspers — those who were born in the final few years of one generation and the first few years of the next and often exhibit posses traits exhibited by both generations. The fact that cuspers exhibit some traits of of both generations does not make them a distinct generation unto themselves.
“Generation Jones” does not fit into any coherent framework for how generations are created, how they are demarcated from one another, how they behave and evolve over time, how they relate to other generations another over time, and why they even exist in the first place. The lack of a coherent theoretical framework is problematic because it’s quite easy to handpick and massage the data to group together any arbitrary age bracket and label it a generation.
There is absolutely no question, no doubt whatsoever, in the legitimate generational scholarship that Barack Obama is an early member of Generation X, whose birth years are 1961 through 1981. His biography and behavior fit the standard Gex X life cycle profile with almost uncanny precision.
I would also point out that under the “revised” set of generational parameters proposed by the marketing pros, both John Kerry and Newt Gingrich are no longer Boomers — which kind of flies in the face of common sense.
Astrodem has brought up a very important point–one that applies to every urgent issue confronting the planet today.
For the first time in history, capitalist cannibals have contrived ways to wreak environmental, economic, social and political catastrophes faster than we can organize and fight them one-by-one. Whether you’re talking about whale poaching or chemtrails, if you run each battle out to its logical conclusion, it becomes clear that they can outlast us in any arena, simply because they own all the arenas: finance, politics, courts, energy, food, water, military, transportation, even religion.
We cannot fight this thing in conventional ways. It’s bigger than all of us combined, and like the movie “War Games” … the only way to win is not to play.
I’ve pondered this situation as if the survival of the planet were my own personal responsibility, and the only solution that appears to have any chance of success is what Einstein exhorted us to do: transform our consciousness.
To solve all of our problems, we must reach higher than we ever have as a species. There are no historical equivalencies that come close to what we need to achieve at this critical hour, collectively, and soon–not the Renaissance, not the Enlightenment, not the New Age which, in truth, has not even broken its water yet.
Any organizing movement that stops short of a Global Enlightenment Event will fail to stop what the patriarchal hegemony is mounting, and conversely, any global domination effort by the so-called elite that meets a massive human enlightenment surge will be absorbed and transmuted.
I believe it’s just that simple. We either wake up as a species, or the human experiment will self-terminate.
Fortunately, the astrology and a whole slew of indigenous wisdom systems support a positive outcome to our collective drama –a deus ex machina of (literally) galactic proportions–and what could be a more perfect climax than a mass consciousness shift!
So, if you really want to make a difference in this endgame battle for planet Earth, put down your banners, stop petitioning a deaf Congress, and do whatever brings you closer to enlightenment. Pray. Meditate. Write. Develop a conscious relationship with your soul. Support outlets for intelligent inspiration like Planet Waves. Be quiet. Listen to the ocean. Get to know a child.
Whatever brings you closer to your awakened self … doing that is your most valuable gift to the world at this time. And as you well know, the world has never needed your gift more than it does right now. Please, be generous. It means everything.
Categories are great for conversation. Not so great for dealing with actual people. I found myself falling into that little pit of going nowhere on Saturday afternoon. Categories don’t surprise… Because we (I) define them. People surprise every step of the way… Because they define themselves.
Much love. xm
Astrologically, the Boomers are the Pluto in Leo generation. I think the Gen Jones generation is Pluto in Virgo/Uranus in Leo; and Gen X is Pluto and Uranus both in Virgo. Gen Jones also has Chiron in Aquarius or Pisces. Gen Jones is roughly 1956/7 – 1961/2.
“Pray for us, we don’t fit in” the Big Boys, Austin, TX 1981
🙂
Also, when congress raised the age people could get Social Security, it hit the Gen Jones group directly. Gen Jones folks have to wait until 67 or older to collect Social Security.
My husband is a Boomer (born in 1952) so he can collect SS at 65 but I was born in 1960 (Gen Jones) so I cannot collect until age 67 (and as a stay-at-home mother, I cannot collect anyway unless I work the last five years before I reach 67).
Mystes,
Gen Jones was first so called by Jonathan Pontell and embodies these characteristics:
It embodies the idea of a large anonymous generation
It was this generation—as teens in the 1970’s—which nationally popularized the slang term “jonesin’” (meaning a craving or yearning)… which has turned out to be a core personality trait of this generation of huge expectations left unfulfilled
Between the personality extremes of the Boomers’ idealism and the Xers’ cynicism lies the more balanced mainstream “Jones” quality
This generation is responsible for popularizing the sense of irony which gives the “Jones” name its generic cool
The “keeping up with the Joneses” connotation reflects a collective competitiveness resulting from the very populous GenJones birth years
It is said that Jonesers were given huge expectations as children in the 1960s, and then confronted with a different reality as they came of age in the 1970s and 1980s, leaving them with a certain unrequited, jonesing quality.
One reason sociologists make this distinction is because the tail end of the Boomer generation constituted people who came of age in the 1970s after the Vietnam War began winding down and were too young to be confronted with the draft. In addition because they were under the age of 18 during the height of the counterculture movement, limiting their participation in it compared to Boomers born in 1946-52. Some sociologists have also argued that anyone who had not attained puberty yet during the counterculture era cannot be considered a Boomer.
Key characteristics are less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism.
Obama was born in 1961 so that makes him a Gen Jones.
Less idelistic than Boomers and less cynical than Gen X; Jonesers are the first generation to embrace computers and the internet. They are equally at home with technology and the old values and ways. They can straddle the older values and the newer generations’ tech savvy which makes them bridgers. They tend to be mediators instead of protesters because their teen years were in the conservative 70’s. They came of age in the late 70’s and early 80’s to de-regulation and the off-shoring, pink-slipping, downsizing of America’s workforce. As a result of that, they have no loyalty to companies or employers because they saw their parents or Boomer relatives lose their upper level jobs and have to start over for less. This is why Gen Jones raised their kids with the thought “Don’t work for the money, do what makes you feel good.” So their kids (some of whom are coming of age) will not remain in a job if they are not happy.
Gen Jones were raised by the Silent generation; Silents were the ones who were also too young to fight in the Great wars but who, as adults, got the benefits of the post war economic boom. This means Gen Jones grew up with only one parent working (for the most part) and their parents were still able to buy a modest house and have a middle class life. Yet when they became adults, it took two incomes for Gen Jones to get what their parents had with one and the excesses of the 80’s meant that the American dream was now supersized. So Gen Jones has this feeling of being cheated of the life they were promised (based on the old “work hard, go to school, and you can retire with health bennies and a good pension” paradigm).
They are swing voters so it is difficult to figure out which way they will vote in any given election.
Does that help?
Carrie, I have a question… what does “Gen Jones” mean? Obama seems to be about 5 years older than my GenX friends – who are now in their 40s. So help me with this distinction, please.
The terms “liberal” and “conservative” are meaningless bywords.
The difference between MSNBC and FOX News is not the political position; it’s the analytical platform they use or don’t use. To critique feminism is not conservative, as we think of the concept “conservative.” To attack it for political gain is. To claim that analyzing feminism is “conservative” is just bullshit dogmatic “liberal” doctrine.
Astrodem,
Obama is not GenX; he is Gen Jones and we are notorious swing voters. Some are conservative, some progressive, some a bit of both. I find myself being mostly progressive but sometimes I sound conservative (esp. when I talk about making stay-at-home-mothering a career choice with social safety nets such as SS). Some call me the anti-feminist because I keep saying feminism didn’t elevate traditional women’s roles. Doesn’t that sound conservative? Anyway Obama is Gen Jones so he goes either way and it is hard to predict which way he will go in any given scenario.
Just saying.
I didn’t know that the 6th house is also everyday routine, habits and work. I thought it was ‘only’ health. Well, Gemini is 6th house for me. And everything is happening there, right?!?
Hello everybody. I don’t know where to post this (the oracle is not there yet), so I’ll post it here.
Habits that the earthquake (ongoing), Venus, the eclipses, all the circumstances made me let go – suddenly and unexpectedly, with no desire to look back:
1. I don’t take the elevator (whenever possible). I climb 6 storeys twice a day, very good for the health. (No, I couldn’t think it doable, before).
2. I don’t take the subway but buses. I had to take it today after many days, and helas! What a horrible experience. Can’t stand the energy down there anymore.
3. After my computer died (and has not been replaced yet) I am translating with pen and paper! And with a paper dictionary!! Wow! My eyes are grateful. And it’s much more pleaurable. I had forgotten. Incredible.
4. Just before the V transit, the internet connection at the other computer I could use, died too. It should be fixed today. I am at the library right now. I spent two evenings without internet. Amazing: how addicted have I become? I don’t have a tv. And I have been living for decades without internet. What did I use to do in the evenings? Maybe reading *books*? This one was the most surprising.
5. There are other habits that I can see very well the Universe is urging me to abandon. Those are a little harder to let go, but I will make it.
Love!
As far as I can see, the Dems have no playbook, and no offense. They do have a moral compass which counts for less and less since the W days.
Change happened in the 60’s because the left became violent. Some say it lowered the bar. The right is satisfied, prepared, appeased, etc. by violence.
So Dems play defense.
images and footage of the venus transit from different parts of the globe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2155140/Transit-Venus-2012-Spectacular-seen-time-2117.html
Eric, I completely agree, and I don’t think I said anything contradicting that. Scott Walker’s playbook was straight out of Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine. It’s a very effective playbook that one.
Astrodem —
Let’s not forget about how the “budget shortfall” was created by giving tax breaks to companies.
It was a synthetic fiscal crisis, and the solution was to gut the unions.
You can fool most of the people most of the time.
Astrodem,
Thank you for the response, and another WTF moment for me regarding the information on the Millenials. The one consolation (it it can be called that) is it is one factor among many, many others. Redouble? More like *re-sextuple* our efforts.
JannKinz
No problem zerosity.
Almost as soon as they won the 2008 election, the Obama transition team made a strategic decision not to use their largely Millennial base of support as a tool of governance. Instead of engaging with Millennials further and asking them to pressure Congress to pass his agenda, Obama outsourced his list supporters to the DNC where it was used for fairly conventional, uninspiring, and un-motivating email updates and small-dollar fundraising. In effect, they told the voters who elected him, “Go home. We don’t need your help. We got this.” Ever since then, Millennial interest and engagement in politics has been rapidly declining. This is what I’m talking about when I say that Democratic leaders deliberately deactivated their Millennial supporters. It was a major strategic mistake, and I said so in real-time as it was happening. In my opinion, it was Obama’s original sin.
As for problems with Diebold, I have heard nothing about this and very seriously doubt it is an issue. Wisconsin Republicans did deploy in their usual bag of dirty tricks, but the margin of victory in this race (7 points) was large enough that it’s nearly impossible to argue these tactics were in any way decisive. We lost. It sucks. Instead of making excuses, let’s redouble our efforts.
Amanda: Somewhere I read (maybe in a comment posted at PW) that the news of the federal investigation of Walker could not be publicized because of campaign laws. Don’t know if that is accurate, but will say that regardless of the legality, it appears that manipulation of the release of the information was intentional to influence the recall – that is the information was not part of the “news” so that Walker could benefit.
Astrodem, I haven’t heard any vote totals for the Wisconsin recall, but can only wonder if Diebold is somehow involved and all that infers. Thank you for your astute observations, which bring a bit of understanding as to how the results came to be. I’m not sure that I understand how the Millenials were deactivated by the Dems in 2009, but do understand the timing of the recall election and “school’s out.” (Timing of elections: another whole discussion about day of the week, legal holiday, etc.) As noted by Eric, “This is what happens in the post-Citizens’ United world, Amanda. No limit to the money spent, no limit to the violations of common sense.”
Then again, if common sense were really common, everyone would have it. (And sorry about the mistyping of Astrodem in my prior post, though maybe “Astroderm” was because you gave the skinny on the recall??)
JannKinz
Liminali and Huffy – I did feel somewhat refreshed on waking (from the “couch nap” last evening and again this morning), but like Huffy, it’s all going weird again.
Thanks for the wiki link, which I had read. (Love the word “syzygy”…) Without knowing the nodes of Jupiter, I can’t confirm the occultation. My question is more about the astrology of a Lunar occultation of Jupiter, and the significance, similar to what we have learned about the Lunar/Pluto occultation.
I also noticed that the EDT time of the beginning (not the midpoint) of the Venus transit of the Sun last evening was 6:04 p.m., the same time that Mercury will station retrograde on Election Day, November 6, 2012. It’s almost exact to the degree of Sag (14 Sag 16) as the Lunar Eclipse of June 4, 2012 at 14 Sag 14. Is there any significance to this timing or the degree placement?
So, seeing synchronicities. At least I’m not seeing double at this moment in Gemini.
JannKinz
Just to clarify something: exit polling analysis shows that large numbers Wisconsin voters didn’t think a recall was legitimate in this situation. Recalls, in their view, should be reserved only for official misconduct. The fact that most voters in a fairly progressive state don’t consider stripping union rights to be official misconduct tells you all you need to know about the future of the labor movement.
Last night’s results also show that when an election is relatively close, huge amounts of money on one side will make a difference. In this case, the power of money successfully exploited people’s preexisting discomfort with the very notion of a recall election. Also Millennials — having been politically deactivated by Democratic leaders in early 2009 AND having been away from university on the day of this particular election (it’s summer) — did not turn out, even though they had the numbers to potentially change the outcome of this election.
The unions are proving just how outdated they are. It wasn’t very smart to go up against the taxpayers, especially with unemployment and underemployment so high. They are clueless regarding how angry people are about federal and state wages and benefits. The occupy movement seems to represent more of the population, if they can figure out how to organize without becoming mafia-like, ie, top heavy overpaid thugs.
At the place I worked before retirement, the overpaid thug union president made more than the CEO.
“I went to bed much earlier than usual, and slept soundly and well for many more hours than is normal for me”. Me too, Liminali! Woke up feeling better than I had for a long time as well. Though have gone all weird again.
Zerosity, I, too felt completely exhausted during the transit of Venus. I went to bed much earlier than usual, and slept soundly and well for many more hours than is normal for me. Woke up feeling GREAT!
Here is the wiki link for occultation, it’s syzygy! 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occultation
well said, astrodem. the hogs are proving: it pats to be narrow. greed is simple.
well said, astrodem. the hogs are proving: it pays to be narrow. greed is simple.
Loose ends and misc niggling questions:
The Lunar occultation of Pluto has been in the PW pages and also in Eric’s podcast. I notice in Jim Maynard’s calendar that for Monday, June 17, the symbols indicate a Lunar occultation of Jupiter at 1 Gemini. Am I misreading the glyphs? Or is it an error, merely a conjunction and not an occultation? If it is happening, what is the significance of a Lunar occultation of Jupiter, another eclipse like event in Gemini just before second New Moon in Gemini and the Summer Solstice?
Any info on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, PW.
JannKinz
Eric, thank you for the podcast. The tone of your voice was calming this morning as I listened, trying to quell the rising nausea, disgust and angst of my reactions to the daily WTF factor. Today’s, of course, is the Wisconsin recall. Then I opened email, and a friend had sent this link regarding Senate Republicans voting down discussion of pay equity legislation: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/politics/senate-republicans-block-pay-equity-bill.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120606. When will it stop, or even just let up a bit? (See Astroderm’s comment: organize. And to that I add “OCCUPY”.)
The last several days I had been infused with energy and a comparatively positive attitude (unlike a week ago when anxiety was rampant and depression lurking around the edges). Last evening, as the Venus transit of the Sun was happening, from about 6:00 p.m. EDT until about midnight, I was drained, exhausted beyond description. It was as if all life and energy was being sucked right out of me, my bones like willow switches, and almost unable to stay awake. Alert? Not even in the equation. Was I being pulled into some other dimension or consciousness? I don’t know. All I do know is that I was exhausted beyond exhaustion.
My chart has all of this eclipse activity clustered in Gemini and Taurus at my MC. Tr Venus and Sun quintile my natal Jupiter in Aries – the Jupiter that is the focus of a funnel pattern. Tr Jupiter is opposite my Scorpio Sun at the IC.
Eric’s observation about the South Node having the feel of a catharsis, a letting go AND as a gift from the past is encouraging in looking at the eclipse charts (and my own) that all is not as bleak as it seems in the morning light of the day after, that some good will come out of this as the eclipse effects are felt and known as time marches on.
When I consider the Nodal observation with Eric’s comment that eclipses are interventions, I thought of what often happens when an intervention is staged with an addict. The scene is often generally tumultuous and rife with screaming denial of the “reality” of the situation, but there is always the possibility that the addict will choose the option of recovery.
So, I am committing to more specific visioning of erotic phantasms, detailed pictures of a better and unified world without poverty, without hunger, without greed, without war and with good health and pure food for all – among other things.
Again, thank you, Eric, for providing an anchor is the turbulent astrological sea.
JannKinz
This is what happens in the post-Citizens’ United world, Amanda. No limit to the money spent, no limit to the violations of common sense.
=====
Re the Transit of Venus — Carol van Strum writes:
Wow! The sun just set on the experience of a lifetime. We got to see the amazing spectacle from the outset, the clouds parting and drifting away minutes before the start. With solar protectors and binoculars we could see it all clearly, and when our eyes got tired we came in and watched the webcam from the observatory in LA. It gives new meaning to the phrase “worlds away.” Needless to say, not much work got done this afternoon!
music-mad tonight – and luckily i have friends who deliver:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRnvn0_L1FI&feature=related
from here:
http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2012/06/of-thee-i-sing/
further to. i am in a fight against a union. i’m on the radio after the court decides to give them a bit more time to do the right thing and two seconds later there’s a union ad telling everyone how they are all about community. my legislative assembly is talking about this and about revisiting legislation becasue the union is *on the wrong side.*
it’s all upside down over here (compared to over there). so i’m thinking there is an interpretation issue…
blech. i am confused.
i have a question.
you talk of pluto moving into capricorn and leaving all of his friends in saqittarius.
but we all have that business moving through different houses? groups of us? so i have all of them in the 5th… pluto and his buddies. perhaps someone else has that moving through the 6th…? wouldn’t we have totally different takes on the energy? or any house…
i am curious about this because i have never quite managed to reconcile the larger energy with my own energy. i feel the larger… but i’m never quite in synch. i can see it (by the behaviours aroud me) but… meh. just got lost in the cosmos.
GAK!!! SPUTTER!!!
i had seen a friend on FB make a vague comment earlier that suggested the worst, but i *really* did not think it would be possible for him to win after all that’s happened. ugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oaUBKWx3BY&feature=related
that is all i can currently think of. it played in my head last night, played for real tonight, and this popped up now…
no words.
Look, even if Walker had lost this thing, the American labor movement is locked in a long-term death spiral that has been going on since the late 1970s. Unless an alternative progressive movement with the same organizational and fundraising capacity emerges very very soon, the American middle class faces the same fate.
If you watch Maddow’s coverage of the Citizens United angle to the Wisconsin story, she has gotten one very big thing wrong. She is right that Walker’s attack in labor is about attacking the organized political and economic opposition to big business and to the Republican Party. But she is wrong in concluding that if Republicans succeed, then Democrats will have no alternative source of funding or organization and will not be able to compete electorally. What will happen is that business will simply fill in the financial and organizational gap left by the absence of labor — as they have already been doing for the Democratic Party since the 1980s.
What this means in practice is that ordinary Americans and the economic interests will be even more walled out from political life than they already are. Think about how extreme the Republican Party’s agenda is on economic issues today: radically anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-spending that benefits ordinary people, and wholly subservient to business and the richest 1%. The decline of labor means that the Democratic Party’s positions on economic issues 10 years from now will look a lot like the Republican Party’s positions on those issues today. The GOP will continue its sprint to the right. Without some new organizational counterweight, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to follow.
This process is going to be accelerated and reinforced by the rise of Generation X to positions of national leadership and political power over the next 10-30 years. Walker is a case study. Generation X is libertarian when it comes to social issues, but on economic issues they are EXTREMELY conservative and temperamentally inclined to take big risks to get their way on the things that matter to them. Even the liberals of this generation are considerably further to the right on economics than their Baby Boomer predecessors. (See, for instance, Obama’s eagerness for a grand bargain gutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in exchange for tax reform.) My reading of generations in power is that once a generation seizes control of Congress, they do whatever THEY want with that power, regardless of the cross-pressures they may be receiving from other generations active in the national electorate.
There’s no way to sugar coat this: without a sustained, organized, politically mobilized, national popular movement of the left to stop it, the achievements and protections of the Great Society and the New Deal are being and will continue to be dismantled. A kind of high tech neofeudalism will likely be the end result. Sorry to be so pessimistic, but to the organized go the spoils.