Dear Friend and Reader:
Nov. 4, 2008.В В The tears streamingВ down the face of the Rev. Jesse JacksonВ told the story.В That night 250,000 people atВ Grant Park in Chicago watched BarackВ Obama give his victory speech as the newly-elected President of the United States. In Jackson’s eyes you could seeВ the mirror ofВ history.
JacksonВ wasВ witness to theВ nation’s struggle for civil rightsВ that included being on the same balcony of theВ Memphis hotel 40 years earlier, when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.В was murdered. That November night in Grant ParkВ he watchedВ as an African-American ascended to theВ Presidency of the United States. JacksonВ witnessedВ yet anotherВ wave in the powerful flow of time.
When we hear the words, “I Have a Dream,” as spoken by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,В we’re not only recollecting the life of one of the most revered civil rights leaders of the 20th century. We’re hearing the world-deep echoes of the cry for justice, a cry that has arisenВ throughout the course of recorded history.В It is the call of Uranus-Pluto.
In “Epochs of Revolution,” chapter four of Richard Tarnas’ landmark 2006 book, Cosmos and Psyche, he notes throughout the history of civilization, the few years leading up to and through Uranus-Pluto alignmentsВ there wereВ great leaders and movements born for social reform and revolt against injustice: Spartacus’ slave rebellion in the Roman republic 73-71 BC, Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad 1810-1850, Thoreau’sВ essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Gandhi’s non-violent resistance to British imperialism, and the non-violent civil rights movement in America in the 1960s, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and the Reverend King shared a common theme in their birth — they were all born during Uranus-Pluto squareВ close to exact or within a 10 degree orb.В All of them met their life’s work and destiny by the time Uranus andВ Pluto were in alignment.В For Tubman and Douglass it was the rise of the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad from 1845-56. For King, born in 1929, it was the the 1960s.
All of the efforts towards social justice, particularly those led by Tubman and Gandhi, as well as the writings of Thoreau and Tolstoy,В played a part in King’s earlyВ studies seeking to find an answer to social and economic injusticeВ for African-Americans inВ theВ 20th century. These individuals were a focal point for social reform in their day. It’s no wonderВ King found in themВ an inspiration while studying as a divinity student at Morehouse College.В King, Tubman and GandhiВ were kindred spirits. I can imagine these books and writings in King’s study. It was Uranus and Pluto giving the lecture.
Social revolution andВ reformation are the very signature of Uranus-PlutoВ alignments. This signatureВ does not produceВ flash-in-the pan revolts that quickly subside andВ are easily forgotten. TheseВ are enduring movements that reverberate across thresholds of generations. We’re still watching the effect of King’s legacy, yetВ from a short telescope — 40 years in time.В Imagine being the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr. watching the next chapter of the American civil rights movement unfold, but instead of a hotel balcony, it’s from the stage he shared with Barack Obama on that November night in Chicago. One’s heart would be flooded.
King’s story is now a branch of the same treeВ which includes Thoreau, Tubman, Tolstoy and Gandhi,В andВ extends further upward, with a President Barack Obama, another one born duringВ aВ Uranus-Pluto alignment, the conjunction of the 1960s.
The American civil rights movement led byВ Reverend King, with non-violentВ civil disobedience or “love in action” at its core will continue long into the future.В The effects of his work are still being measured not just here in the US, but anywhere and with anyone who has taken a cue from the Reverend King to create long-needed and long-lasting change. Who knows, ifВ Obama assumes a second term, whatВ might happen for him and for us and the worldВ as we encounter seven Uranus-Pluto squares starting June 24, 2012,В Sept. 19, 2012, May 20, 2013, Nov. 1, 2013, April 21, 2014, Dec. 15, 2014, and March 16, 2015. What challenges will we face and how will we face them? Will we be fearful or will we rise to meet the road ahead?
The call for social justice and revolutionВ is not about the acts of a few small disparateВ bands of people.В These areВ movements that bubble and come to full boil, generated in and nourished by these two planetsВ inВ alignment. As a child of the sixties, I can attest.В When Uranus and Pluto align, it’sВ a vital, provocative and immensely creative time for everyone. You will feel the revolution in the atmosphere. Social upheaval and floods of creativityВ in theВ history of our world’s civilizationВ are written with these two planets as the pen.
As Rosa Parks said of her famous refusal to budge on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama, “I had no idea history was being made.” We too, are on the threshold of a great movement in time and the discovery of our true potential as individuals, as a nation and as a world in transition. We don’t know what we’ll create,В whether its history or not, but these years leading up to the next cycle of Uranus-Pluto alignments will invite us to walk, step-by-step, in the path like the one walked by so many in that other Uranus-Pluto invention, the Underground Railroad, to freedom and justice for all. Let’s make that ride through steep hills and deep valleys as bold,В powerful, meaningful and as full of “love in action” as we can.
Yours & truly,
Fe Bongolan
San Francisco
Fe:
I understand. I guess we all do. Several years ago I had a good friend, a little older than me, and she had been an actress in her youth. She had lived in New York for a few years, and she would tell you those were her happiest years. She would also say “I miss my men friends”. Perhaps it was the common career goals among the theatre clan that made them close, and at the same time the extraordinary freedom they experienced (& the fact they were mostly very young!) held them together like family.
Not sure e x a c t l y what she missed(about her men friends), but probably conversation and laughs. She had Gemini rising. She never married. She couldn’t have, or at least not for long. She loved her independence too much for marriage. Our generation of men WERE threatened by that quality. . and attracted to it too.
bk:
Male identification is what we’re talking about. Being attractive to men, worrying about what men think, caring too much about what men would be threatened with about you.
Feh.
And I’m straight and still love men. I love a man right now but I’m not so willing to give my independence up yet for just a man. And even if I’m with one, I would like to retain that independence, as he would have his.
Safe communities for women will mean where women sharing common interests can begin to connect. But that also means getting women out of their safety zones of home-work-kids-man/mate-routine. Talk about breaking through. But I think it will happen if we make connecting for women in the self-actualized zone of 50s and 60s cool.
When I get a little blue over being alone in the world, a little teetering too much over the edge closing in on self-pity, I focus on Georgia O’Keefe. Then I re-take my stride.
Fe,
Well, first, these are wonderful ideas . . .safe networks of women. You, and other people like you could initiate a discussion and it could take off in all directions. Like it does here!
And the building up of communities; even the pioneers out west would get the “wimmin-folk” together at church functions, knowing it was dangerous to distance oneself from the community.
My only explanation for the on-line dating (type) services would be that it has been bred into us that we will never feel complete or be socially accepted until we have our man . .any man. That dies hard in a lot of women. The fear of being without a man. “What will they think of me?”
I guess that would be the first step, to build self-confidence and self-worth in women. It is hard to believe that any gal under 35 should feel she’s failed if she isn’t married, but I’m sure they are there. The tv series “Mad Men” come close to depicting this brainwashing, unconscious social ritual. It was prevelent through the ’50’s and started dying (albeit reluctantly) in my age group in the 60’s. I mean, there’s “being in love” and “fear of being alone”. The myths and illusions begin to fade as a woman approaches 50 or so. That’s IS a vulnerable time.
I know women who would never dream of doing what we are doing; “talking” and “listening” to strangers – sometimes about very personal stuff. Instead they withdraw. What would it take to get them to overcome that fear of sharing?
bk:
I wonder if there’s a real possibility of setting up safe networks of women just chatting with each other. It may have to be through blogs and informal networks. We can also build up the communities we inhabit as well.
You know, its surprising how many women of many ages are willing to put themselves out on line to tens of thousands of strangers to meet a man for a date, but are less enthusiastic about getting involved with each other. What’s up with that?
Fe,
Access to information. . . . .good information . . . .I think one goal should be to help the many many people (who are searching for the truth) find it. I’m honestly shocked at how many web sites offer a view of life, events, or just anything. But so many of them spread lies and fear. . . just like the past U.S. administration. Some folks just give up trying to figure out who’s telling the truth. This site is great for steering you straight (and yes victoria, it’s sometimes scary too) and clearing up confusion, when possible.
Fe, somewhere you talked about the networking. . . .that’s it. Getting people into the network to get the good information instead of remaining in the dark. I know women who would never dream of doing what we are doing; “talking” and “listening” to strangers – sometimes about very personal stuff. Instead they withdraw. What would it take to get them to overcome that fear of sharing?
Fe, I would not be surprised if Jeb is in the wings. But then again alot can happen in the next four years.
My body reader said Bab’s looked pisssed. Hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned. Their coalition is not in the seat, but they still exist and I know I shouldn’t say it because we want to be all positivey and everything, but I’ll be watching.
It is hard to imagine going backwards and once again putting up with lawmakers who want to abolish everything 60ish and peaceful. But election results like this alone do not change the war going on between individuals for what they think is power. Corporate america is not that far ago in my past and it was playing out there. It still plays out in my family dynamic. We have work to do. It’s the old “shared power vs power over” thing. I start by checking myself and my intentions and move from there the best I can.
I have a crow that flys through every morning and caws at me from outside the kitchen window. He tells me, there is power in numbers. Let’s keep it moving everyday, everyway.
bk:
The world IS different than the one our parents had. And knowledge is the way through this. Good information is the key. Access to information and keeping the flow of information globally democratic is critical. I think that’s going to be the difference.
victoria:
Wasn’t it both strange and sad to watch the Bush Family Shakespearean drama play out in such a stately manner? Will Bush Sr. and Barbara realize their era is now over?
I got my inaugral rundown from a body language sister. She’s all over that stuff.
None of you mentioned Madame Barbara Bush trucking on ahead and leaving her hubby behind tripping down the stairs with his cane. Mr. bill to the rescue. Ahhh, the father he never had. That was a service, two way. That’s good.
She also mentioned bab’s face as she came on stage and saw the huge crowd.
Now, about that inaugral oath screw up. I thought maybe the astrologers got to them to throw the timing out of the void and into the Sag. No? Yes? Somebody must have been watching the clock. You all talked about it.
Fe,
You said “In the process, we have also made the world a smaller more connected place.” Those words made me realize the many ways the world is different and more accessible to me than it was for my parents, say in the 30’s and 40’s. No wonder they and all Americans were so frightened by the news of the day. Through no fault of their own, they were generally ignorant of the views, values and concerns of people in other countries, not to mention their own neighbors. They also had so much less exposure to what our government was actually doing, and, it seems to me, were more trusting and pliable than we are today. (On the other hand, they were less exposed to commercials, etc. that so influence the beliefs and views of so many now.)
I’m realizing just how big and remote the world must have seemed to them. I guess I’m trying to say that I can see how knowledge can reduce fear, therefore thinking can expand and allow creativity to flourish. The young will have to lead the way, as you say, because so many of us older citizens have become so cynical. Also as you say, first the clean up, then the basic, ground level work can begin. Indeed, “how Capricorn.”
So how do you think these Pluto square Uranus challenges will play out? I’m thinking “individual or new groups” (Aries) versus “government or corporation” (Capricorn) but my fear or lack of imagination won’t let me go any further with that.
bk:
While writing the article I talked to Eric about the next Uranus Pluto alignments abit. We agreed that this will be alot like the Sixties–but even more so, and without rigid Saturn so much as stern taskmaster, like we had when we were “fighting the power” during the actual 1960s.
Our parents’ generation went through the Great depression and a world war, so they knew abit about countries in peril first hand. That shaped them and their stern cautiousness of world view. We nearly took ourselves to the brink, using axis-power frames of reference–the us-them thinking of Allies versus fascists, the free world versus the Soviet bloc, the non-aligned non-Christian states versus the western Christian world, etc. The capability for mutually assured destruction and asymmetrical warfare has tempered that antagonistic world view.
In the process, we have also made the world a smaller more connected place. I am amazed I can talk to Anatoly in the Ukraine on an article in the virtual world while going over contracts in San Francisco. Obama built up his campaign’s groundswell using the social networking tool of Facebook and MySpace.
We can look at these next Uranus-Pluto alignments as doors to the future–to be as daring and creative as possible. In a way, looking at the timing of the spheres, this first four years could be about “regarding the safety rail” as we transition to new ways of thinking. Lots of cleanup first. Looking at what does and what does not work. Making it work on basic, ground up levels. How Capricorn. I think the first four years can be seen as a lathe to mold us.
The subsequent Uranus Pluto phase will be the new tool used to write the next chapter. This is not a thing to fear. In fact, if we use creativity as our roof, our foundation and our frame of reference, it may be exhilarating. We had the advantage in that we were wise to trust our younger generations to make the decision this time. We decided not to be the old fogeys who we railed against in our youth. We aren’t the parents our parents were. We didn’t have the world they had to contend with. We have ours.
I hope we give to our young what we always wanted for us. I look forward to the day we watch them feel themselves empowered to shape the world without our baggage.
I’m loving these reads, so a big thank-you to Fe and all. I taped the whole day practically, but missed DF’s “oaf of office”, so will have to play that back!
Fe, I agree that 40 years time is a short telescope view, but to these “kids” who are ardent supporters of Obama, and who maybe just voted for the first time, it probably seems like ancient history.
So how do you think these Pluto square Uranus challenges will play out? I’m thinking “individual or new groups” (Aries) versus “government or corporation” (Capricorn) but my fear or lack of imagination won’t let me go any further with that.
I thought Hillary looked a little peeved, probably over Joe Biden’s wife blabbing too much. The Carters totally ignored the Clintons – really what a comedy!!
Gardener:
How true. The Senate and the White House are two power clubs. And I’m sure the Clintons haven’t forgiven Jimmy Carter for calling the Clintons on their various and sundry salted-earth campaigning, as this last year can attest.
Hilarious about Jill Biden. But I think it might have more to do with Neptune on Hillary’s chart. She will get the nod but not without the Republicans trying to show her who’s boss.
And you can never tell what kind of tit-for-tat childish pranks the republicans are up to, trying to prove they still have the biggest “member” in the yard. This from the party that gave you big pharma and ED cures.
I thought it was a case of curious nerves for one so practiced in speech making. She may have been thinking ‘oaf’ in the back of her mind, about him – but I don’t know her history with him.
I thought she looked happy too, like being recognized finally or something. It’s overdue for some of the women.
I thought Hillary looked a little peeved, probably over Joe Biden’s wife blabbing too much. The Carters totally ignored the Clintons – really what a comedy!!
Hey G… since CJ Roberts *isn’t* the Oath, much less the oaf, I’m not sure this amounts to anything. But Feinstein is a curious case in herself. When I was writing grants for a non-profit in SoCal last year, she was on our advisory board ~ pretty hard-boiled little chickadee. But on the other hand, she actually looked *happy* today.
Diane Feinstein said ‘oaf of office’ when she introduced the chief justice.
mystes:
Ahhh, Le retrograde–I wonder if it wasn’t Roberts being so hung up on saying “Barack HUSSEIN Obama” that made him jump to that part of the sentence. Was he afraid of having a gag reflex?
And so the mischief begins… CJ Roberts fluffs the oath, and Obama just patiently (and knowingly) waits for it to be offered correctly.
Intentional or not, this was a glimpse into the ongoing undertow.
“Hey Fe, does the communication factor of say a Mercury or Sun or whatever factor figure into any of this? Where does the personal come in? I would think the leaders would have to be a reflection or manifestation of a larger growing force? Or could it be a culminating force that they moved along with? If this doesn’t make sense, it’s okay to say so.”
Victoria:
If anything, I think those who had the ability to encapsulate the feelings of the time and were able to crystallize it into form that moved people, literally and figuratively, were those people around who the energy of the Uranus-Pluto alignment condensed. So there is a special relationship between the community calling for change and the ones brave enough to voice it and act on it. I think its energy between the two, like a call and response, that makes movements grow and explode into action.
I think the ability to give name to a crisis or a cause is a true talent. I would dare call it a spiritual gift. Its not an easy one to have, many were killed because they spoke out, but they all had moral courage to accompany that communicative ability. In fact, that would be the pre-req for anyone who would want to do battle against the forces of status quo working against you on a global level.
The second most emotional Historic Site in the US, after Ellis Island:
The MLK Jr Visitor Center in Atlanta. Stand in the middle of it and just start crying, because you can’t help it.
Hey Fe, does the communication factor of say a Mercury or Sun or whatever factor figure into any of this? Where does the personal come in? I would think the leaders would have to be a reflection or manifestation of a larger growing force? Or could it be a culminating force that they moved along with? If this doesn’t make sense, it’s okay to say so.
I’ve been thinking about the theft of the last two elections. And considering the Franken experiment going on, and the close elections we’ve had for some time, there could have been errors happening all along. But the last two were out and out steals where select groups of voters were kept from the polls. Like if we had a fair count, the selected candidate would have reflected where the country was at. And I know it is water under the bridge, but might the true voice of the people have eased this transition we are in? I guess I’ll never know that answer for sure. But it is a reason to ensure our election process remains the voice of the majority of people.