Dear Friend and Reader: Sometimes I wonder if humanity is not a puppet, subject only to the influences coming from outside. I say this because as we approach the first exact square of Saturn and Pluto, events of recent days are so characteristic of this aspect that it leads me to wonder how, exactly, these things are scripted.
The Saturn-Pluto cycle, which had its last peak in the summer of 2001, is described in Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas as a cycle of crisis and contraction — a time when reactionary movements thrive on fear and narrowness. Fueled by our anxiety about change and our obsession with clinging to the supposedly little we have, those with an agenda we refuse to look at eat human energy like the cannibal scavengers they are; bless their tortured souls.
We also tend to let the same energy consume us from inside. This of course produces change, but not necessarily of the kind we say we want — progress toward a more pleasant and egalitarian world. Sunday is the first of three exact squares in this cluster, and this autumn has come with the feeling of a squeeze or the attempt to push things to a head. The confluence of events included the massacre at Fort Hood last week, where a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist opened fire on his peers, killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 others. The massacre is being used to foster a bunch of new anger and hatred directed toward Muslims, and more justification for why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan at all: there is a jihad movement and it’s out to get us. This, as President Obama considers proposals for exactly what to do with Afghanistan — such as whether and how to increase troop levels. Here is something to consider: he won’t be able to pull the troops out without a wide public consensus that we don’t belong there at all; and that these wars are doing nothing but damaging the world and our own society.