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Dear Friend and Reader:
TODAY I AM PLANNING to cover some astrology developments — among them the Taurus New Moon, Mercury coming out of storm phase, and Jupiter in Taurus. There’s something in here about the “reality principle,” especially when we bring Saturn in Pisces into the picture.Saturn in Pisces is the answer to Neptune, which has been in Pisces since Spring 2011. I don’t think I’ve said a word about cannabis suddenly becoming legal, just like that. Well, it wasn’t exactly sudden but it seems that way, if you rewind back to the days of buying it from a guy in the park at midnight.
For decades, that pot was illegal has always been something of a joke, unless someone was caught in the “stop and frisk” campaign against minorities; or was stupid enough to leave their pipe and a baggie in the glove compartment, then crash their car. Suddenly making it legal reveals how ridiculous prohibition was — especially during the decades of suburbanites selling pot as a second career.
People have been toking up forever, but like most cultural developments, it seems few are considering the wider implications of legalized weed.
From the Park to the District Attorney Debate
To go from the drug dealer to the gas station head shop — mostly under Neptune in Pisces — is a little strange. How strange? Try this on. A few years ago, I was covering a debate between two candidates for District Attorney, the tough-on-crime county prosecutor department.
In the room was a city police detective I knew, who told me he would soon be retiring as a cop and going into the cannabis business. That was a “what planet am I on?” moment. How many cereal boxes did he dump out, looking for a quarter-ounce as evidence?
Legalization will be a potential improvement over black market, until pot is wholly corporatized. The usual trend in the United States is for things to go from forbidden to mandatory.
People have been toking up forever, but like most cultural developments, it seems few are considering the wider implications of legalized weed.
Maybe I missed the invite, but there has been no ‘End of Prohibition’ party. We are in this odd moment between realities. In fact, even in states where recreational cannabis is legal, under federal drug laws, cannabis is still considered a Schedule I substance (along with heroin and LSD, said to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”).
Not everyone cares; not everyone is interested; not everyone is happy about it. However, the legal, wide-scale availability of cannabis is an environmental shift that affects everyone, directly or indirectly. We’re all along for the ride.
Weed makes fantasies seem more real, blurring consciousness and creating a psychic opening that shifts perception. So too does digital consciousness. That cannabis is entering mainstream acceptance during the peak of the digital era is a significant conjunction of events.
Overstimulation Without Risk
Today, all weed is hybridized cannabis indica. I am familiar with the homeopathic notes on this substance, when it’s potentized (meaning diluted thousands of times) and turned to a remedy and the deeper psychological properties come out. One cannabis indica keynote is overstimulation without risk.
We could use the same words to describe the internet, which has wholly swallowed existence. The digital environment offers access to a risk-free fantasy world where anyone can get their kicks, and just about everyone does.
Weed makes fantasies seem more real, blurring consciousness and creating a psychic opening that shifts perception. So too does digital consciousness. That cannabis is entering mainstream acceptance during the peak of the digital era is a significant conjunction of events.
We are no longer in the Reefer Madness world of the “new drug menace” with someone lustfully playing piano at triple-speed while people frenetically dance the Suzie Q and then — descend into the pits of paranoid moral depravity, fall asleep on the couch, wake up, and commit homicide.
The fundamental lie of the infamous 1936 anti-weed propaganda film (long a cult classic that many people believed) is that cannabis makes people violent and aggressive. Closer to the truth is that it relaxes inhibitions and allows people to feel sensuous, and sexually curious. My old friend Betty Dodson believed that the only reason cannabis was illegal (despite all the other excuses) was its property of enhanced libido.
Fused with cannabis consciousness, we all have one foot in the Metaverse in all its various forms, all the time: a fully controlled, contrived, sterile, corporate script designed to swallow awareness and identity — no dancing necessary because in digital, no body is necessary. Something can seem exciting or threatening, but there is no risk involved.
The World as Porno
Blend that with porno (still up there with the most popular online “content”) and the result can be the neutralization of desire — especially the desire to connect. Under the influence of the internet, much of the world has been reduced to porn — something fake that you watch rather than partake in.
One danger of mixing cannabis consciousness with digital is that cannabis is porous and introspective. Digital consciousness is sly, invasive and domineering. It turns the introspective world inside-out. Digital exploits the psychic openings created by cannabis. Cannabis is soft; digital calcifies and turns feelings into crystal.
We already live in times when appealing to fantasy is an accepted argument that things are real. You could say this has long been true of human nature — believing what has no basis in existence, because we’re exposed to it over and over again. Digital consciousness, with its epoxy-like properties, has pushed this quality beyond any prior limit.
Fused with cannabis consciousness, we all have one foot in the Metaverse in all its various forms, all the time: a fully controlled, contrived, sterile, corporate script designed to swallow awareness and identity — no dancing necessary because in digital, no body is necessary. Something can seem exciting or threatening, but there is no risk involved.
No truth, no dare — no existence. Without an actual challenge, there is no growth. Without a way to express feelings in physical form, they will become pent up and tend to attack one’s own body.
When people are flushed out (or locked out) of their own self-awareness, they often become aggressive and violent in order to re-establish their identity.
Fantasy is not imagination. It is sleepy and passive, accepting what comes along; imagination is active and aware, creating thoughts in a fertile way, and lending itself to expression.
Saturn, The Reality Principle
In astrology, Saturn is one factor that represents the reality principle. We could say the same thing about Chiron, but no other factor that I can think of would serve, standing on its own.
Saturn entered Pisces this past March (among many other changes), moving in where Neptune has been infusing its vibes since the Spring of 2011.
Neptune melts the structure of reason and logic, especially when amplified by Pisces. Neptune in Pisces is big, though it has a way of making itself invisible. Think of it as flooding awareness with an ocean of random data and emotion.
Fantasy is not imagination. It is sleepy and passive, accepting what comes along; imagination is active and aware, creating thoughts in a fertile way, and lending itself to expression.
Saturn has begun to introduce some limits to the world of raging fantasy. It’s providing some pointers to where the edge is. It’s not easy to sweep water, or to limit out-of-control emoting, but that is what Saturn is working toward. I see it as providing some psychic structure to the digital fantasy we are living through.
Actual understanding is still off-putting to many people. To strive for real understanding is a struggle against what one already believes. Learning involves unlearning, and for some, demolishing their prejudices.
Therefore, Saturn often represents a fear factor. Many people do not like to be awakened from their fantasies. It can feel like having their psychic envelope cut, and is usually avoided.
Saturn can come to represent a dependable container defined by the bounds of what is so. It’s the bannister along the stairs; the natural limit; some objective reference standard; the concept of a “reality check.” Saturn is the expression of an idea, and of the discipline that it takes to get there.
With an 11,400-year orbit, Sedna is also a reminder not to get caught in the hype of the immediate news, and to remember that the world itself runs in very long cycles. One theme of Sedna in my view is worrying less about “the planet” and more about our relationship to it.
More Signs of Substance
Mercury stationed direct in Taurus a few days ago. As it moves out of retrograde, it forms a stable, collaborative aspect with Saturn (called a sextile, or 60-degree meeting). This has been in place for a while, though it comes into full focus at Friday’s New Moon in Taurus.
This pattern describes actual thinking; reasoning; and imagination applied to solving problems. This includes the challenge of figuring out what to do next.
The Moon and Sun queue up for the Taurus New Moon on Friday, a bit before noon Eastern time. The New Moon is conjunct a distant point — Sedna — orbiting our Sun far beyond Pluto. Sedna is a reminder to stay in touch with your feelings.
With an 11,400-year orbit, Sedna is also a reminder not to get caught in the hype of the immediate news, and to remember that the world itself runs in very long cycles. One theme of Sedna in my view is worrying less about “the planet” and more about our relationship to it.
Mostly, humans are not damaging the Earth. We are damaging its ability to sustain us.
Jupiter is now in Taurus. This is a symbol of abundance — of all wealth — coming from the Earth. In the age of bitcoin, it’s difficult to remember that the digital realm is powered by oil, and that we can eat neither money, oil or electricity. You cannot eat fantasy.
With love,
