Attention Aries Men: If you have a moment and are willing to talk a bit about yourself, please drop me a note at info@planetwaves.net. Please include your birth data, your phone number (s) and a good time or two to call. Depending on how many responses I get, I may or may not be able to get back to everyone…but I will do my best. Thank you and happy birthday! — efc
Dear Friend and Reader:
Today Mars in Cancer is square Pallas Athene in Aries — the very image of a clash of the unbridled emotional will with political sensibilities. The aspect feels like that crack in the Antarctic ice shelf that we learned about yesterday. It feels like Wal-Mart suing a former employee, who was severely brain damaged in a car accident, and winning the trust fund that was set up to provide for her long-term care.
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We live in an era that is post-political. While politics is a neurotic game, it is at least reasonably predictable when played. It has rules; those rules to some extent limit greed and the appearance of impropriety. And they provide a forum, however corrupt, for getting things done. If you want a good, old-timey laugh, get yourself a copy of Plunkitt of Tammany Hall. It’s supposed to be about government shenanigans at its very worst, but these guys back from 19th century New York City look like Jesuits compared to the infidels we have in office now.
In politics, you may not care, but at least you make it look like you do. This may seem duplicitous, but it at least serves the purpose of setting a boundary on hypocrisy, which is usually the sense of what the public can stomach. You act, and you know your act can only go so far.
You don’t merely take advantage of your office; you give something back. Political is you trade jobs in your neighborhood for volunteer help on your campaign. You take bribes, and then you pay for the burial of a poor person who dies in your community.
Post-political is you’re just a fucking jerk. You steal, you poo all over your constituents, and then you laugh in their faces.
Post-political is when you deliberately flaunt the public will because you feel like it, or because that is the message you want to send. In other words, in the post-political world, leaders do things intentionally to disgust people. I am pretty sure that (for example) the handlers of George Bush spin his image not only to make him appealing to those with base sensibilities, but also to make him particularly disgusting to anyone with a shred of sensitivity. Well, maybe they don’t have to go that far, but that’s certainly what it seems like. Anybody remember “three minutes of hate” from the novel 1984?
An old example that comes to mind is the United States backing out of the Kyoto Protocol (problematic as that agreement is) even though the Bush administration knows most Americans want the federal government to take part, because we know all that ice is melting. A recent example (about two days old) is Dick Cheney saying, “So?” when told that two-thirds of the American public does not think the war in Iraq is worth it.
In Mars square Pallas Athene, we get an interesting astrological image of this kind of attitude.
Mars is about drive, yang energy, passion and initiative. Pallas, or Pallas Athene as she is usually called, is about strategy, mental calculation and the effective practice of law and government. When you see Pallas making an aspect, look for the political motivation or political role of her placement and other planets in the aspect structure.
Mars in Cancer (it’s been in Cancer a lot for the past few months, because of a recent retrograde) has an emotional bullying property. Cancer is a sign closely associated with the government of the United States (the famous Sibley Chart for July 4, 1776 has the Sun in Cancer) and the current president (Bush is a Cancer Sun). Imagine all the greedy, emotionally driven sensibilities that both Bush and the United States have come to represent. We have grown accustomed to nearly a decade of a guy whining like a baby in a business suit on national television and distinguishing it with a fancy title like The State of the Union Address. When we feel bad about it, Mars in Cancer says go out for a Slushy.
Pallas in Aries may be out for her own good, or the public good (she is still near the Aries Point, which is both personal and public; in politics you always have to make one thing look like the other) but she’s going to be clever about it. Pallas always comes from a strategic viewpoint. But there is usually that element of common ground.
When you put the two factors together, you get something distinctly impolitic. It’s like the game of politics gets so bad, you simply can’t run the city this way. At a certain point, things come to a halt.
In many respects we are seeing this with the economic news that was a big deal last week as the Full Moon was waxing and suddenly the recession was all over the media. Note that with the passing of the Full Moon the sense of panic and emotional drama is currently waning (with the Moon), but just like the Moon, it will be back.
Below are today’s aspects and a selection from the Planet Waves Oracle. Unlimited use of The Oracle is free to all subscribers. If you sign up, it’s good for you; you get to use the Oracle. If you sign up, it’s good for me; I get to pay for new keyboard every two weeks because I wore the old one out. The option above is for three months. I know what you are thinking: if the world ends, I don’t want my subscription to keep coming for no reason.
Have a fun day. Remember, it’s the first and last time you will experience March 26, 2008 ever again, and that is pretty special.
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Sun (5+ Aries) trine Hylonome (5+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sisyphus (29+ Libra Rx) semisquare Ixion (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (16+ Pisces) quintile Ceres (28+ Taurus)
Venus (16+ Pisces) trine Hidalgo (16+ Scorpio Rx)
Pallas (8+ Aries) semisquare Neptune (23+ Aquarius)
Saturn (2+ Virgo Rx) sextile Kronos (2+ Cancer)
Asbolus (29+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mars (8+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Neptune (23+ Aquarius)
Mercury (17+ Pisces) trine Varuna (17+ Cancer Rx)
Mars (8+ Cancer) quintile Logos (20+ Virgo Rx)
Atlantis (25+ Libra Rx) trine Hades (25+ Gemini)
Eros (25+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Pholus (10+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (25+ Aries) quincunx Psyche (25+ Scorpio Rx)
Venus (17+ Pisces) quintile Ceres (29+ Taurus)
Juno (28+ Sagittarius) trine Orcus (28+ Leo Rx)
Amor (17+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Saturn (2+ Virgo Rx)
Arachne (6+ Libra Rx) quintile Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mars (8+ Cancer) square Pallas (8+ Aries)
Jun 03, 2005 – Leo – Weekly
Whatever has been going on in your life lately the reasoning behind it is suddenly becoming a lot more transparent. There is nothing random about the path of your existence even though it’s had its erratic or unpredictable moments lately. You can now see the extent to which other people both friends and colleagues are poised to be far more helpful than you may have imagined and you may also be noticing how eager they are to go along with your strange or creative plans. Whatever you are scheming it has the power to benefit everyone. But you have a good track record so you don’t need to do any sell jobs.