As promised, a brief comment on the Aries New Moon. Mercury has already entered Aries, and the Moon will join it just past 1 am New York time. This Moon-Mercury conjunction commences the Aries New Moon, with a spectacular little conjunction on the Aries Point. Luna and Mercury join Venus, Eris and the Sun already in Aries.
At this moment the Sun is conjunct Achilles, a minor planet associated with crisis of false lack of self-confidence. An impressive array of other minor planets is in range of this conjunction, including Apophis (near-miss catastrophe), Bienor and Nemesis. Amidst much uncertainty and doubt there is strength.
The New Moon will be trine the South Node of the Moon, which is in Leo. Of note, this is also the interior conjunction of the Sun and Venus. The proper term for this is inferior conjunction, but as with a few other things in astrology, I am taking the liberty of improving the name (there nothing inferior here but there is definitely something interior). In plain English, Venus is exactly between the Earth and the Sun. There are not too many more of these — I haven’t worked it out yet, either one or two — until the Venus transit of the Sun of June 2012. Here is a little more about the most recent Venus transit of the Sun (which can only take place during Venus retrograde, and involves Venus coming between the Earth and the Sun, only near one of the nodes of Venus; yes, just like the Moon, Venus has nodes — as does every planet).
The exact moment of the New Moon is just past noon Thursday Eastern Time.
For those with their mind on Kaila and her community, I spent a really excellent afternoon with Tobi (Kaila’s mom) and Simone (her childhood friend and lover). We looked at pictures, told stories, played Under Pressure, and kept our hearts and minds tuned to Kaila as she makes her transition. Thank you again for all the emails of love and support. — EF, at Dominick’s Cafe in Kingston NY.
PS, just about everyone knows this song for its bass line, maybe even your grandmother. Here is the last fire-breathing stanza, apocalyptic and free. Play it loud, you will feel better. Kaila, we love you.
Insanity laughs under pressure we’re cracking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance
Why can’t we give love that one more chance
Why can’t we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
‘Cause love’s such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure
This song became a hit during Live Aid, a truly blitzed-blissed moment in the dazed and confused dawn of the 1980’s where ’60’s idealism and ’70’s hedonism fought it out with the numbing agent of neo-conservative politics and a glut of scary news of just what was wrong with the environment and with “the economy,” for starters. I see this duet between Bowie and Mercury (!) directly addressing their decision to channel personal pain into planetary awareness and compassion, a healing that had previously been mis-applied through dangerous drug and sex drama. Perhaps it would all be forgotten, coked away, but to grab another line from Mr. Bowie, “We could be heroes/ Just for one day.” After Freddie Mercury’s death from AIDS, the song was reprised on stage with George Michael singing Mercury’s part. I broke into tears, seeing this as one of the few unclosetings Michael would allow himself. Even to this day, that divine singer is still so consumed by self-loathing that he refuses to be tested for the disease that killed so many of his peers. The closet is a direct cause of death among youth. And I mean the closet the way Eric does. Drug addiction and suicide/murder/accident/intent destroy people, especially young people, that despair at loving and being loved as the people they are. I lost a friend to heroin and the closet when I was about the same age as your friend, Simone. My heart hurts for her and what she must be going through. I am glad that she has a friend in Tobi (and you, Eric), and some awareness to give her soul-healing rituals to handle this grief.
Hey Eric et al, I’ve only been away for a few days and it feels like a long, long time. So much has happened in that brief gap – on here particularly.
Such a sad and moving tale, Kaila – sending love to her family, her friends and her extended family, the community.
Fe – all the best on your journey, await your stories…
On a sunny rainy day, H.
There was a processional wobble last week (19th march) a birth pang on our path to the 2012, and these days we are truly under pressure. Retrograde venus hopefully will encourage us females to take responsibility for our competitiveness and ruthless drive to be top dog. If we are really going into a golden age, we can’t be blaming men all the time. When it comes to addiction, a painful heart can be masked by substances, but its only when we shine the clear light of the rational onto our problems can we begin to give love one more chance.
Holy fuck. These lyrics. He is Mercury.