Mercury Direct. Mars Square Neptune. Digital Conditions, Violence and the Quest for Identity.

Dear Friend and Reader:

DAY BY DAY, the world seems to be spinning off of its axis. Yet the strife that we hear about in what we call “the news” puts us into immediate tension and conflict with the basic necessity of getting through the day. We all must do our best to maintain some peace of mind and quality of life.

In the not-so-distant past, these things would have been mere rumors. But now, they are not only thrust on us; our senses are dragged directly to the scene of suffering to personally witness the worst of the devastation, whether of wars, accidents or seemingly natural disasters.

I reckon this is one of the most urgent spiritual lessons of our times: how to stay balanced within our own existence, and also be aware of what is happening in so many other parts of the world — about which we can do nothing. That may be the biggest challenge of all.

It is easy to turn one’s shoulder, pretend that none of it matters, or assume that it’s all someone else’s problem. But we know from depth psychology that the refusal to acknowledge grief is the primary source of psychic and emotional chaos.

This is a profound spiritual crisis, threatening the peace of mind of every person in our society. And my concern is that the result is paralysis that seemingly prevents people from acting on very basic matters of community that could have a truly positive result.

The Personal and the Collective

Yet we do not all have the prerogative of (for example) a public figure whose duty calls on them to push aside their personal existence for some period of time and address only collective matters.

We are private people being confronted with a version of the full onslaught of the collective sphere of existence, but no power to do anything about it. We are made to feel responsible for events when in fact we are not. And in that false sense of responsibility, we are taught to be powerless over our own lives.

Further, I think we suffer a loss when we expect people in public or leadership positions to sacrifice their personhood for some poorly defined collective mission, or to be the public’s piñata. This treatment is often justified by their exhibiting hypocrisy that the job requires. Maybe if we gave our leaders the room to be human, they would act more that way.

This is a profound spiritual crisis, threatening the peace of mind of every person in our society. And my concern is that the result is paralysis that seemingly prevents people from acting on very basic matters of community that could have a truly positive result.

Before we move onto the astrology, I have a thought to add from the Media Studies department. How much of the overwhelm we feel involves the tragedy of war and natural disaster, and how much involves the speed at which one incident plunges into the next?

How much of our sense of being ineffective or impotent about these events — or any — involves the ways in which we are all turned into a massive collection of nobodies by being reduced to datasets?

One facet of Aquarius is the electronic realm, and one is the social, which are now almost fully merged. In both, the individual is pitted against the collective, and either emerges with his or her identity made stronger, or swallowed into the digital mists.

Planets on the Move: Outer and Inner

Let’s check in with the impressive astrology of our moment, and see whether we can find anything useful in the symbols.

Remember that in the background of everything is Pluto now moving through the last degrees of Capricorn (where it has been since 2008) and the imminent beginning of the Pluto in Aquarius era this March. This commences a 20-year phase of one primary influence, associated with two things, mainly.

One facet of Aquarius is the electronic realm, and one is the social, which are now almost fully merged. In both, the individual is pitted against the collective, and either emerges with his or her identity made stronger, or swallowed into the digital mists. But in our time, the process of building identity often involves violence. I’ll come back to that in a moment when I discuss Mars retrograde in Gemini.

Mercury stations direct in Virgo at 5:07 am EDT Sunday, after a retrograde which began long ago, on Sept. 9. As the world is gradually swallowed by digital conditions, Mercury retrogrades seem to churn up more global turbulence. Mercury changes directions in a close opposition to Neptune, not quite fully caught in its grasp. The message is that it’s possible to use your intelligence to see through deception.

By any honest account, we must admit that weakness and suffering are often used by powerful authorities and many individuals as an occasion to take advantage of others.

Mars Square Neptune

At the same time, Mars is moving toward its retrograde that begins in one month, though we are already feeling the effects of that, and will increasingly as October progresses.

Mars square Neptune is now in close range, just a few degrees out. Usually such a square might last a few days; this will last for several months, as Mars will be moving through the square to Neptune extremely slowly. The first contact is Oct. 12. The second is Nov. 19. The third and most powerful happens March 14, 2023, just before Pluto enters Aquarius.

Mars square Neptune is an aspect of confusion and chaos. Its most distinctive property is the lack of attention to practical matters, and a suspension of reasoning. It has a self-deceptive and self-destructive property that is being piled onto humanity’s existing struggle to take care of itself in any meaningful way.

By any honest account, we must admit that weakness and suffering are often used by powerful authorities and many individuals as an occasion to take advantage of others.

Mars is the planet of both identity and of aggression. The square to Neptune will fog over that quality without diminishing it. That is to say we might not recognize the aggressive pursuit of identity when it’s happening — a veiled quality that is often true of Neptune aspects.

Mars retrograde in Gemini has a sense of brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, merchant against merchant. The sad part is that for many this will feel good, because mental, emotional and potentially physical violence are the only way for them to demonstrate to themselves that they are “real.”

Mars Retrograde in Gemini

When global powers responded to what they claimed was a cold virus in a way more suited to nuclear war, they revealed our state of mind.

Digital consciousness had been dividing people for decades. We have all scoffed at the scenes of whole dining parties in restaurants of people transfixed by their phones. We have become accustomed to people who only communicate by text message, including breaking up with partners and what they think are “therapy” sessions.

Mars retrograde in Gemini has a sense of brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, merchant against merchant. The sad part is that for many this will feel good, because mental, emotional and potentially physical violence are the only way for them to demonstrate to themselves that they are “real.”

Many have noted the inherent violence of the digital realm — going back many years. This is because people are robbed of their individuality, or surrender it willingly, and at the same time it is intolerable. So it’s considered socially acceptable to lash out at others for no reason in ways that would land them in the back of a police car if they conducted themselves that way in public.

The problem is that this digital mentality spills into the physical realm as a kind of never-ending grudge match.

The end result of the digital word is not convenience. It is total control over the individual — unless we intervene.

Pluto in Aquarius Will Amplify Everything

My assessment of Pluto in Aquarius is that it will amplify the conflict that is already inherent within us, and in our social patterns. These patterns are forming first online and then moving into the physical world. It may also represent some attempt by the techno-powers to further take over the world.

An honest assessment of what occurred in 2020 is that during that year, nearly everything previously physical was vacuumed into the digital realm. Kindergarten to Harvard graduate seminars alike were reduced to Netflix. Medical diagnostics became an entirely digital process, leading directly to the beginnings of a biosecurity state.

You don’t have to look far to see that there is a plan to replace money with “central bank cryptocurrency,” which can then be tied to vaccine passports. And believe that anyone who has the power to make this happen will try their best to do it. The end result of the digital word is not convenience. It is total control over the individual — unless we intervene.

We must at this time ask ourselves what kind of world we want to live in. This assessment of values will help guide our choices. Though we are told otherwise, much is dependent upon individual compliance. That, in turn, is dependent upon how we relate to one another: whether we think of individuality and personal will as something to honor, or something to conquer and vanquish. To a great extent, the choice is ours, if we take it up.

Faithfully,