All day yesterday I was wondering what the Yes Men were up to. Late Monday I came back upstate and, with a few aches and pains from trooping all over the city with cameras and gear, and missing a bit of sleep, I finally heard from Mike last night.
“Today, a cadre of Survivaballs took the UN by storm! Success! Not. Seven of the guys were given summonses for mischief, and one lucky guy got arrested: Andy!” He may still be in the can; I have not heard a legal update but I know they have that angle covered handsomely.
The photo at left is someone posing in a Survivaball. This concept was presented several years ago by the Yes Men impostering “Halliburton” officials at a business exec conference somewhere; as a concept for how the wealthy capitalists who are causing climate change can deal with the consequences. If The End arrives, you step out of your building and inflate the device, and you’ll be fine. You can float, you can crash, you can bounce — no matter what happens.
Donning this outfit and bouncing into the United Nations is how Andy and seven others got arrested/ticketed yesterday. (I could imagine them floating up to the west side of the UN in the Harlem River, but I think they took the sidewalk.) This means somebody else has to cover the city in promo literature for their film, which opens at one theater in Manhattan on Oct. 7. More about that another time — I am proposing a New York City field trip to the opening. I am pretty sure they will have lots of volunteers to pass out their leaflets for The Yes Men Fix the World.
Let’s go to the astrology. The Sun is still in the first degree of Libra, at 39 arc minutes as I write, which is to say that today is the first full day of autumn in Hemisphere North and of spring in HemiSouth. The Sun is also about to square Pluto, exact now to about four arc minutes applying, which is the defining theme of this equinox: our first Libra equinox with Pluto in Capricorn. The next of many firsts associated with Pluto in Cap.
There is something relational about the Libra Sun. There is something independent and a bit lone wolf about the Sun square Pluto. This aspect is about relating to one another in a meaningful way, as individuals. This is actually the conversation that’s the subtext of all our relationship chatter; the skill to get, which is a skill based on maturity or a natural gift, not just on a concept. And that is: relating to another person as a self-contained, self-directed individual. You can so very often size up the crisis of our relationships as: we get involved and lose our independence; what we can experience now is what it might be like to have it back and relate to others intimately at the same time. Imagine that.
Meanwhile, Mercury retrograde is the leading actor in a scene taking place in Aquarius and right next door, across Virgo/Pisces. Here is what it looks like. You know about the Saturn-Uranus opposition, right? That is in Virgo (Saturn) and Pisces (Uranus), and it’s very exact right now and that’s really the engine behind the Climate summit as well as the Yes Men’s message back to it.
On the Virgo side, we have Pallas and Mercury conjunct Saturn, opposing Uranus, and that, as we are discovering, is liberationist and sparky and Mercury is providing the means of expression for all the tension of those two huge planets facing off. Pallas Athene adds a political theme; that is what she does. Political, legal, ethical, guardianship, the law in action. Exactly conjunct Saturn in Virgo today. We are seeing the astrology that is the keynote of our era; what’s called a T-square of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto is coming into focus, and this is the energy, the vibe, that will take us into and through 2012. From the Western astrology viewpoint, it’s the equivalent of the flying saucer that everyone is expecting.
The Neptune connection is that it’s aspecting the Saturn-Uranus opposition, by semisextile and quincunx. In other words, it’s in the conversation, granted, in a way that requires some adjustment and conscious integration, but the “we are one” factor of Neptune in Aquarius is indeed present in the mix.
What we are also getting is a tap into an earlier era, the time of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction that spanned the mid-Sixties, wherein all the same players were involved. This is going to set off, as in activate (among other people) everyone in their mid-40s (among whom I number) because we have so much astrology piled into this zone of the zoo: to wit, Uranus-Pluto (in Virgo) opposite Chiron-Saturn (in Pisces).
It’s having its affect on everyone. I am seeing people in their early 20s and early 30s just as stirred to consciousness, though some are figuring out that they are squares, which is painful at first, until one makes the choice to wake up, forgive oneself for the past, and get on with the adventure of existence. You can do it, because you want to.
maybe it’s the coldi have, but i’m feeling a little random:
anyone else wondering why the survivaballs have nipples???
“It’s having its affect on everyone. I am seeing people in their early 20s and early 30s just as stirred to consciousness, though some are figuring out that they are squares, which is painful at first, until one makes the choice to wake up, forgive oneself for the past, and get on with the adventure of existence. You can do it, because you want to.”
I screamed out loud when I finished your posting and came to the above conclusion….I have been experiencing this too and I LOVE YOU Eric.
Fun!
Awareness; with dance music to go along with it. Count me in.
Loving the UN reports, as I did the Burning Man ones, and the sub–this blog is great when it takes to the road!
I make a lot of playlists, and I made one when the sun hit the Aries Point. So I made another for today, called The Opposition. Tho actually for me the other side was the more the opposition. I have sun at 0 Libra (26 Gemini ascendant, 26 Libra Mars and Mercury, 0 Virgo Venus, 26 Pi. Moon, 26 Aq. South Node…all made for a fun year or so!)
Anyway, this is The Opposition mix for any who would like to try it at home. It’s about relationships of all kinds, and being a Libra mix, anyone can dance to it.
There There, Radiohead; Pusherman, Curtis Mayfield; The Wonder, Golden Palominos; Tomorrow Never Knows, Beatles; Beautiful Stranger, Madonna; Never Never Gonna Give You Up, Barry White; Golden Years, David Bowie; Alone Again Or, Arthur Lee and Love; Hold On, Hold On, Neko Case; Town, Richard Buckner; Be Thankful For What You’ve Got, Massive Attack; Make Love All Night Long, TV on the Radio.
(This was the Aries Point mix: Europa and the Pirate Twins, Thomas Dolby; All My Friends, John Cale and LCD Soundsystem; Nearly Lost You, Screaming Trees; Out of the Blue, Roxy Music; This Night’s For You, Go-Betweens; I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight, Lucero; Poet, Cassandra Wilson; Conversation, Joni Mitchell; The Sensual World, Kate Bush; Vertigo Love Theme, Bernard Hermann; Spell, Patti Smith; Mystic’s Dream, Loreena McKennitt; Shambala, Three Dog Night.)
The older you get, the more you have to choose from.
Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I AM WIDE AWAKE! This is fabulous writing and astrology, as always, Eric, and it looks like you’re having a blast! Keep up the good work and thanks for helping me build the bridge between my brain and my heart. You, and all the Planet Waves team, are doing such good work!!!!
Angela in Montana
Bridgit – yes.
Our culture, including “spiritual” culture, pushes externals, and we have a love affair with cataclysm. Some, not all, people still believe that if something bad happens, we will become enlightened. But we’ve witnessed the devastation of lower Manhattan, the destruction of the southeastern US, epicenter New Orleans and its port, and the Asian tsunami for good measure. Are we any more enlightened?
Similarly, if UFOs land on the White House lawn in mid-2011, or whenever, will we really care? Or will it be another TV show, and their arrival programmed and expected by everything from War of the Worlds forward through Close Encounters and District 9? Does seeing a picture of a “real” UFO bring you closer to God?
Similarly, when MTV or The Independent say that polyamory is good, does that make it acceptable in your household? Does it take away the emotional work of dealing with your own insecurities?
Nothing of the kind. At the end of the day, we fall asleep in the company of our own thoughts, dreams, needs, fears and whatever companionship we can draw to us; which is in turn largely dependent on our capacity for intimacy.
The “UFO” is awareness; it’s making the conscious choice not to fit in, but to participate: first in our own lives actively, and then in community/society. These are not one and the same, but they are very nearly so.
..And it’s about time the moon hit Sag. My lunar gravitational pull isn’t well. That’s the quickest one too surmise.
I’ve got a lot of meditating to do.. this imbalance needs to be solved, internally.
And I trust now you guys will continue on toward the onward.
Steppin’ out for a few to get my head straight.
Love ya, Peace
J
Just watching Obama’s live speech to the UN.
…..” the flying saucer everyone is expecting “……. I think that`s a metaphor for owning and using your own personal Higher Consciousness to navigate in the world.