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AN EMERGENCE FROM THE UNDERWORLDIt's been a helluva transit of Sun-Mars in Scorpio over the last month. It's been described outwardly by the deep scouring of Gaza by the Israelis. What gruelling unconscious contents have you been exposed to in that ...
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AN EMERGENCE FROM THE UNDERWORLD It's been a helluva transit of Sun-Mars in Scorpio over the last month. It's been described outwardly by the deep scouring of Gaza by the Israelis. What gruelling unconscious contents have you been exposed to in that time? There was an eclipse early on, and then an eruption around the 13th, as Uranus opposed Sun-Mars: the Gorgon finally showed her face.
We are moving to the sunlit uplands in the next few days as the Sun then Mars enter Sagittarius. You can look back from a brighter place and get perspective, understand yourself. The square to Saturn in Pisces will push you on this one to start with. Look to the bigger picture of yourself.It looks like being reflected also in a resolution of the Israeli hostage crisis and perhaps a scaling down of hostilities. AI and PLUTO in AQUARIUS Last autumn, as Pluto first moved towards Aquarius, ChatGPT was released and astonished us with its human-like AI abilities.
This autumn, as Pluto (empowerment) again moves towards Aquarius (AI), the AI world has been stunned by the sacking of Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, that created ChatGPT. Pluto will be moving towards his 3rd and final Ingress into Aquarius next autumn. I wonder what might happen then? Maybe legislation, and the hyping of apocalytic fears around an AI takeover? MUGGLES Muggles can only see from their own point of view. We magical people can see from many viewpoints. That is what magic does, that is its wisdom. So we don't fill the world with a cast of bad guys to blame, who we imagine to be in control.
We don't need to, because we don't suffer from the envy and powerlessness behind this Punch and Judy view of the world. So we can see everyone as humans like us. Our magic gives all the inner power and riches we could ever need. URANUS and THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
I think the outcome of next year's US Presidential election is impossible to predict at this stage. Not just because of the potentially tight race, but because of all the other factors involved. It is looking like Trump vs Biden. But who knows? There are Trump's legal problems and his Gemini trickster energy, Biden's mental capabilities, the family corruption hidden in his son's laptop.....you couldn't make it up.
This unpredictability is reflected in next year's hard transit of Uranus to the US Moon in Aquarius (the people, the voters); to Trump's Mars and Angles; and to Biden's Scorpio Sun. Watch for the Uranus station at 27 Taurus in Sept 2024.
SHAMANISM AT THE EDGE(From my other blog at shamanicfreestate.blogspot.co.uk)
I
just saw an ad for Contemporary Shamanism - Safe Practices. Harrumph!
Is the Sundance, where you dance until you are exhausted and your breast
torn open, 'safe'? Is a Sweatlodge, where you struggle to bear the
searing steam, 'safe'? Is a Vision Quest, where you are exposed to the
elements for 4 days, with no food, 'safe'? Is a trance dance that takes
you to the point of possession by the spirits, writhing on the floor and
speaking in tongues, 'safe'? No, the whole point of these things is
that they are not 'safe'. Think of the young Siberian Shaman, called by
the spirits to his vocation, and ill until he accepts the calling. An
illness that may kill him unless he yields: an offer he cannot refuse.
The
whole point of this shamanic path is that it takes us to the edge, it
dismembers and rebuilds us. There is risk involved. And in that process
we find gold, a source of guidance and connection that comes from deep
within - or without - that can be trusted, that renews us, and that
serves the world. If your shamanic practice is 'safe', it will remain
superficial. The role of teacher is often safe too, they hide behind it.
Enough of this coddling and safety. There will be trigger warnings next, and a #metoo group for anyone who has had a fierce power animal. We have been
prosperous for too long, we have cast out the warrior instinct as toxic
and patriarchal, and little that is real can happen in that context.
Though the groups we attend may serve our social needs and award badges
of shamanic attainment: everyone's a winner. Good luck with that😎
MARS OPPOSITE URANUS With Mars in Scorpio now tightly opposing Uranus, watch out for hidden depths of emotion revealing themselves. What have you been sitting on without even knowing it? What do you need to stand up for in yourself? Aquarius has contradictory rulers: Uranus, who wants to disrupt convention; and Saturn, who wants to protect it. The future and the past, liberal and conservative, at war with each other. In the mythology, Uranus imprisoned his son Saturn, who in his turn sliced off his father’s testicles, at the instigation of his mother Gaia, after he had broken free. Both planets have their tyrannical sides. Aquarians need to make peace between this primordial deity and his titan son. It can take most of a lifetime. Uranus has raw insight, he uses words, but they do not come from reason. They come from something he has seen directly. Saturn's first instinct is to recoil from and denounce this rude energy.
Uranus needs to find a way of adapting himself so that he will be heard. Saturn needs to be open to the continual modification of tradition that is necessary for life to remain healthy. Uranus' problem is that he is right, and therefore doesn't see why he should 'compromise', as he sees it. Saturn's problem is that underneath the rectitude his foundations are fragile, which is why he clings on to the known and, if really pressed, will slice off Uranus' testicles, burn him as a heretic. On the other hand, Uranus needs this treatment sometimes to get him off the spectrum. So I wish all Aquarians well in their wrestlings with these deities :) It is your path to balance and wholeness. All widely held collective beliefs are wrong, if only because they have been simplified to the point of falsehood. Our job as astrologers is to stand outside of these currents: that is difficult, because they are often like tidal waves that carry all before them. Political/religious views especially, and don't think we haven't got religion because of its formal absence: it finds an outlet in causes of all kinds. Protest gives purpose. It is the apocalyptic beliefs that I think we need to be particularly wary of. So it is a dance. Only if we can put our backs to the winds can we be clear channels for what the planets want to whisper in our ears. They are not bound like we are: humans have a tiny slice of consciousness, the planets speak for the whole cosmos.
Astrologers are best being in the world, but not of it. We have a choice as to which voices we are going to listen to. It takes courage to heed that still voice in the hurricane, and it won't always make you popular.
Venus recently entered Libra. You may have had some kind of epiphany of love and joy as Venus in Virgo opposed Neptune in Pisces. Now it is time to begin to weigh that up, particularly if your head was turned. Think the Temperance Card. Time to look outwards. Venus in Libra is very good at seeing and feeling from the other's point of view. She loves to do this. She brings qualities of imagination and empathy from her recent encounter with Neptune.
Fund-raising season seems to be over for now on Wikipedia. I'm always torn about giving to them, because I use Wiki a lot. But it is rude and disingenuous about astrology. Here is how the article currently opens: "Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century." What does it mean by 'recognised'? You use recognition for facts, like the gender of a child at birth. Astrology does not claim to be scientific, so it is disingenuous to call it a pseudoscience. It is fair enough, indeed necessary, to point out that many would call it a pseudoscience. You have to put in the critiques: that is a matter of integrity, as is also making a distinction between facts and opinions, which Wiki does not do with astrology. I think integrity lies not in adhering to Jimmy Wales' logical positivist stance, but in allowing the experts in a field to speak for themselves - rather than, as in the case of astrology, having the article controlled by a bunch of editors who are anti-astrology. That is just insulting. And then after that, as I say, you put in the critiques. Citizendium, an alternative to Wikipedia, is more scholarly, and shows more decency and integrity about astrology. It does not hold back about the strong cultural critique of astrology as a pseudoscience, but it presents it as that: a critique, not a fact. Thank you, Citizendium. JORDAN PETERSON
A fun prediction: Jordan Peterson will convert to Catholicism in 2031, when Pluto very publicly conjoins his Saturn, the ruler of his traditionally-minded Capricorn 9th House. In the run-up,the divide between his ultra-sharp rationality and his religiosity will become ever more apparent, but probably not to him.
Saturn square Neptune: there's a man who loves the crucifix 😅 I reckon I'm good on the astrology of Catholics, particularly Popes, and maybe Peterson belongs in that category. I called the resignation of the last Pope, and the current Pope's unusual relationship with the Madonna.
He takes himself too seriously (hence the photo.) But he does help me think outside the box, in an evidence-based way. I am grateful for that. PS Subsequent to posting this, I was informed that his wife will be formally converting to Catholicism next year. MY BOOK
A new review of my astrology book: as ever, you get a free reading if you buy it and leave a (genuine) rating on Amazon 😇 The same applies for my other book, The Medicine Wheel.
GOD IS DEAD: A SHAMANIC MANIFESTO Shamanism is my other big passion alongside astrology. For me, what is astrology but the sky spirits speaking through us? That is why astrology is for me essentially divinatory, rather than about following rules of interpretation - though I do not ignore them.
So here is what I called a Shamanic Manifesto that I wrote recently. (You can find my shamanic blog, with free email subscribe, at http://shamanicfreestate.blogspot.com/):
“God is Dead,” declared Nietzsche over 100 years ago. Who is this God who has died - or who, rather, according to Nietzsche - we killed? I think he was the corrupt invention of a desperate people. It goes this way. The Great Spirit is everywhere in nature. All is sacred. This is the universal experience of early peoples. It is how things are, and far older than God, the new kid on the block. The Jews, a slave race, flee the Pharoah, and spend years wandering in the desert wilderness: this is the book of Exodus. They have fled a tyrant, but tyranny is what is familiar to them. And so, in the absence of a tyrannical worldly ruler, they create a tyrannical Otherworldly ruler. It is the psychology by which adults replicate painful family situations from childhood, because that is what they know.
This tyrannical God is abstracted from the natural world, he dominates it from above. The Jews were living in a harsh, unforgiving reality in which the people's survival was at stake if they did not follow strict codes of behaviour. So there was a practical as well as a psychological reason for an authoritarian God. He is for the same reason jealous of the pagan god Baal. What eventually arose were the monotheisms of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which treat the Old Testament as a holy book. There is, of course, the New Testament, which has a less authoritarian flavour. But even there, right at the start, you have Jesus saying you can only reach God through him. So it is there also. Christianity hit the big time when the Roman Empire, which needed an authoritarian religion to unite it, adopted it. And the rest is history: crusades, inquisitions, witch burnings and so on. It has been said that monotheisms are desert religions, because their context is just one reality: the desert and the sky. In a jungle, by contrast, there are many realities, which therefore lends itself to polytheisms. Lots of spirit animals! It is why you got saints as Christianity spread beyond the desert. So good riddance to God and his authoritarian ways. It has left the western world floundering in a sea of uncertainties. Politics has taken its place. Extreme right and left wing politics are a substitute for religion: they give the sense of certainty and belonging, and the prospect of redemption, that religion once provided. We see it too in the causes that young people take up - it is natural to them to do so - but with a religious dogmatism that brooks no disagreement. You are, for example, quickly labelled a 'climate denier' or a 'transphobe' if you question the mainstream narratives around climate and gender. People get 'cancelled'.
Into this brew walks Shamanism, which represents a return to that which was universally true before the corruption of the monotheisms. Shamanism is not true in a rigid sense: it has no holy books or founders. It is nevertheless perfectly possible to become authoritarian about it: you see that on the internet, where some people are quick to correct others about what shamanism is and isn’t. That is just a power thing, that is people wanting to stand above others, and there will always be people like that. You can learn a lot by watching them.
Shamanism, in a way, begins and ends with the experience of the natural world. In that is everything you will ever need to know, but you have to find it for yourself. We are a part of nature, neither above it (as God would have us believe) nor below it, a kind of plague (as many environmentalists would have us believe). The latter is an example of what Jung called enantiodroma, in which one switches to the psychological opposite: from above nature to below nature. For the Chippewa Cree, we do indeed have a special place: the new-born ones, because we are the only animal that does not know who it is. And so we can learn to know who we are by observing nature – as part of it, not as separate to it – for animals and plants and rocks and streams all know who and what they are, and get on with it. The loss of our traditional religion has been a mixed thing, and its influence persists: in, for example the scientific quest for truth, with its unspoken implication that the truth will redeem us. It is this passion that drives research scientists. It will indeed redeem us, but not very much if we are using the narrow scientific definition of truth alone. I think the hatred of humanity often found within environmentalism has reverberations of Original Sin, in this case our sin against the Mother, the Earth, for which we must pay by dismantling our whole way of life. I think it is important to look at the mythological roots of what drives us. The collective needs a new mythology to live by, or it will continue to treat politics as religion, as a philosophy that can set us free. We saw how disastrous that was with Communism. (The far right is as nothing compared to the far left when it comes to mass murder.) We can only ever free ourselves individually. Trying to change the world is usually an avoidance of the responsibility we have for our own souls. Whether our huge modern collectives of people can have a mythology that is not to some degree authoritarian and crazed is something to which I do not know the answer. When there are fewer people, a tribe can govern itself more through relationships than rules. And that keeps things human, and keeps the mythologies softer. Most people will always want a simple belief of some sort about the universe and how it came to be; you need people who are listened to who can dance around that, in the knowledge that really we know nothing about how the universe came to be, and never will. The healers and medicine people, if you like. Or, in our context, the poets.
I think Shamanism does provide the necessary basis for any society to be healthy. The modern world needs Shamanism. We have a big mission on our hands, we have a whole world to convert! But I don’t mean that evangelically. It is more like a spirit we can convey in a natural kind of way, without actually trying to, simply by being ourselves, and letting people come our way rather than seeking them out. We do nevertheless have some ideas to convey: for example, that the whole world is alive, inspirited, and why would it not be? That we belong intimately to the natural world, there is nothing in us that is outside of that. And the simple, but world-transforming, idea of regularly expressing gratitude to the earth for her bounty.
Scorpio is the sign presiding over the current Middle East conflict, suggesting a side to it that is hidden. An obvious place to look is Iran. I am thinking of an unspoken nuclear threat from Israel.
Some technicalities. Natally: Iran's Moon in Gemini is on the 'nuclear axis', as it is known, of the chart for the 1st nuclear chain reaction. Its Uranus at 20 Scorpio is 1/2 a degree off the nuclear Mars.
By transit: The lunar eclipse of 28th Oct was on Iran's Chiron/MC. The New Moon of 13th November has Sun, Moon and Mars all on Iran's Uranus/the nuclear Mars, and on the MC too in Tel Aviv, while the MC in Tehran will be on the nuclear axis. All opposite transiting Uranus, giving Iran a Uranus opposition, a mid-life crisis, in which this New Moon will be a key point.
We know that Iran is implicated in this conflict. Trump warned Biden some time ago not to unfreeze $6bn of Iranian funds, because they would use it for terrorism. I know a lot of people cannot accept that Trump can be right about anything, but that is their own wilful blindness. We are seeing the results of Biden ignoring Trump's advice right now.This Scorpionic war is about survival for Israel, Mars in Scorpio being defensive rather than offensive. The bogeyman behind the war, Iran, denies Israel's right to exist. I don't think Israel would hesitate to use nuclear weapons to take out Iran's deep underground nuclear facilities if it felt there was an imminent likelihood of them having nuclear weapons. I am not concerned that there will be major escalation of this conflict. What can anyone in the region do against Israel backed by the US? Iran would be obliterated, and knows it, and the astrology suggests a nuclear dimension to that awareness. There is another chart for Iran, the symbolic founding of the Islamic republic, based on when Khomeini returned from exile on Feb 1 1979. It similarly has a Uranus opposition, but here Uranus rules the Aquarian Sun, enlarging its scope. And in the next few years, Neptune will hard-aspect all its Angles.
So even though there are gruelling Scorpionic times to go through in the short-term, I am hopeful that it will lead to long-term change in Iran, as its Aquarian religious fundamentalism is shaken by Uranus, and its incarnation through the Angles is dissolved by Neptune.After that, maybe, the Abraham accords, which began under Trump as a way of normalising Israel's relations with the Arab world, can be revived. They were low-hanging fruit waiting to be picked, and Biden ignored them, because they were Trump's achievement. By enabling this war, which was always going to be hopeless for Hamas, Iran has achieved the wider objective of halting, for now, any possible return to these accords.
Saturn will go Direct on Sat 4th Nov, after 5 months in retreat. You can probably feel it already. It is time to begin incarnating those nebulous Saturn in Pisces dreams, step by steady step, for that is Saturn's way. You don't have to know the goal, just the next step. Things are starting to become concrete, you know where you stand, what you want. Trust (Pisces) in whatever is or is not (Saturn). THE ASTROLOGICAL TASK OF OUR AGE The chart below is for the day that Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. It tells us something important about the theory of Evolution, for the Sun was in Sagittarius: namely that this theory is a belief (Sag) rather than a fact (Gemini). The Sun is opposite Uranus in Gemini, showing the ground-breaking nature of the theory, but also the presence of a trickster in the form of reason.
The word 'fact' is nowadays used to give authority to scientific beliefs, in the same way that 'God' or 'the Bible' was used as authority for religious beliefs in the middle ages.
But what is the world apart from our collection of beliefs and interpretations about it, as created by the brain, itself an artefact of our perception? As astrologers, we use sky stories, and they work. That is good enough for us. And it should be enough for science that science works. The bigger astrological theme around this state of affairs is the 490 year Neptune-Pluto cycle, the presiding influence, the context for all other astrological considerations. The last conjunction, in 1891, was in Gemini, as was the one before it. So we live in a Gemini Age: an age of facts. It is hard, by definition, for us to see collectively the shadow of that, which is the opposite sign of Sagittarius. Have you noticed how upset and angry people can get if you question eg the climate crisis narrative? It shows that they feel their belief system to be under attack. This does not make them right or wrong about climate. It is that it has become a belief that tells them who they are, that I am pointing out. It is the Sagittarius shadow of their Gemini scientific facts. Returning to the theme of Evolution, it has to be said that it is a good story and a useful story. But its mechanism is a mathematical impossibility. It is like the monkey at the typewriter producing Shakespeare. Life has such a complexity at the cellular level that it could not have happened in the time available. (Watch mathematician David Berlinski on this) So around the story of Evolution remains the bigger mystery of life and its origins.
There is nothing wrong with beliefs. We need them. The point is to be conscious of them, to choose them. Don't treat them as ultimate statements about the universe. Then you will have Sag and Gemini in balance: you will have accomplished the astrological task of our age. The collective can't help but have beliefs that are to an extent rigid. Our job is not to buy into that, but dance around them. As astrologers, our task is Uranian: to be the skilful trickster who can open up other, softer and more whole ways of seeing, without provoking a reaction. URANUS-PLUTO and ENVIRONMENTALISM The Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo of the 1960s is as good a place as any, astrologically, to trace the beginnings of modern environmentalism. There is the deep feminine, as found in the cycles of the natural world, Virgo as nature goddess: she gives us the power to live, and that is Pluto. It is Virgoan nature, which is seen as pristine, fragile and in need of our protection, rather than nature red in tooth and claw, which is more like Scorpio. Then there is the counter-cultural rebellion aspect, which is Uranus, that often brings its own anti-authority, anti-technology, anti-capitalist and even anti-humanity undercurrents, that has little to do with environmentalism, but uses it.
And there is the hair-shirt aspect of Virgo, which understands sufficiency and the inner joy to be found in moderation, but can go too far in her renunciation of the world: we see this at its most extreme in the reckless 'Just Stop Oil' attitude. The shadow of Virgo is compassionate Pisces, which would not be denying western levels of prosperity to Africa, by restricting their use of oil, as has been the case for many years now. The apocalyptic thinking around the environment is very Uranus-Pluto also: a disaster (Uranus) that threatens our survival (Pluto). The environmental movement is a complex thing; it is like a religion in many ways, and I think a lot of it can be unpacked using this 1960s conjunction.
I've recently created a video course for Watkins Books, as a companion to my book The Medicine Wheel. There are 11 sessions, and I had a fun time doing it: it brings something out in me that writing alone cannot. I think you'll find my style engaging - it's more enthusiastic fireside chat than polished talking head 🤣 ISRAEL WILL DO WHAT SHE FEELS IS NECESSARY
Here is the New Moon chart for 13th November, set for Tel Aviv. You don't need to know much astrology to see that it's pretty powerful. Sun-Moon-Mars in Scorpio, on the Midheaven. It is, however, easy to get down on Scorpio, and think this chart has to be pretty horrible, and what a nasty country Israel is. It probably will be horrible in many ways, but for a Scorpionic reason: Israel is attempting to ensure her long-term survival, which is a Scorpio issue. If this line-up were in Aries, I would say it is a war of conquest. But in Scorpio, it is defensive.
The line-up is opposite the Israeli Sun at 23.39 Taurus, so there is a national renewal, a re-setting of goals. Uranus is opposite the Sun-Moon-Mars, so it is impossible to predict how Israel will go about reaching its goals. But reach them she will, by whatever means necessary. It is a one-way fight, so as painful as it is likely to be, it could be a lot worse. This chart does not concern gratuitous violence: just whatever is necessary so that Israel cannot be attacked in the same way again. She is looking with an unwavering Medusa eye to this end. And she probably has the international backing to do so.This is not about fairness or justice or morality. This is about survival, quite a different thing. It is Pluto's realm, that is not human. By the same token, the New Moon will be in pretty much the same place above Gaza: in their case, it signifies the pulverising and dismemberment that is also Scorpio territory. What will be left to rise from the ashes is, at this stage, imponderable.
The Full Moon this weekend is an eclipse. So pay attention to the Taurus-Scorpio axis: do you need to lighten up from your dark broodings, and enjoy the pleasures of the senses and the natural world? Or are you consumed by everyday life as a way of avoiding your demons, and your deeper, more demanding gifts? THE VEIL BETWEEN THE WORLDS We are in Scorpio season, and Halloween aproaches. This is when, we are told, the veil between the worlds is thin. If the veil wasn't originally thin on Oct 31st, it is now, through the power of repeated ceremony. Scorpio is comfortable with death and blood and guts and transgressive behaviour, because she understands they are just part of life. She understands that there is in reality no veil between the worlds. Life and death are one. Death is completely normal, no-one even notices it, from the point of view of death. Or so I was shown in a dream a while back, where death was happening by the thousands every moment. "It is as natural to die as to be born", said the philosopher Francis Bacon.
So keep doing those things that give meaning to your life, while you have the time. If you do that, you will have nothing to regret. Just remember to have that coin in your mouth to pay the ferryman. MERCURY CONJUNCT MARS IN SCORPIO
Mercury will be in an applying conjunction with Mars in Scorpio until 29th October. Time to speak truthfully and directly all those things that need saying, but which get put to one side because they are inconvenient, or because you want people to like you. This is about the truth you see directly, that you know in your viscera. The force of that will prevail against those who can usually dance around you with words and logic. WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING IN THE BEDROOM.... Behind Venus, through which a man is attracted to a woman, lies the Moon, the mother figure that he seeks, who he imagines will take care of his emotional needs. And behind Mars, through which a woman is attracted to a man, lies the Sun, the father figure that she seeks, who she hopes will provide protection and financial security. Of course, this is schematic, and it's never that simple. It is generally unacknowledged, or it would kill the romance. And it may be necessary, it is not 'bad'. It is normal, it is where the idea of the 'other half' comes from.
A relationship begins in the 7th House, and then moves to the 8th House, the House of Sex and Intimacy, which catalyses our unconscious longings. You may find yourself there for many years, before you move into the clear light, the wisdom of the 9th. If indeed you make that shift. And you will probably find yourself on your own if you do.
Here is a link to me talking with the Aquarius Severn Astrology group earlier this
month. I had a good time, I always do when I talk Astrology. ISRAEL and MARS IN SCORPIO
Mars in Libra is responsive rather than offensive, and it was in Libra in Israel's 1st House when Hamas attacked last week. With natal Libra Rising, this militarily responsive position generally characterises Israel. Though when it does respond, it has a mighty Mars in Leo trine Jupiter in Sag with which to do so.
Mars has since moved into Scorpio, the other sign, along with Aries, that this planet rules. In Aries, Mars is offensive, in Scorpio defensive. Israel is now involved in an operation to secure its borders. Scorpio isn't always pretty. An animal or a human defending itself is at its most savage, for its survival is being threatened. I am not justifying what Israel might or might not do in Gaza: I am just trying to give an astrological picture of her motivations. 'RealAstrology'. CRAZY ASTROLOGERS and THE MADNESS OF CROWDS Who am I to criticise anyone's crazy beliefs, when I'm an astrologer, for heaven's sake? But I think astrology does for that reason teach us to hang loose to all beliefs, especially those rigid ones that ironically stop our vast collectives from going completely insane. It used to be religious beliefs, nowadays scientific and political beliefs are used in the same rigid way.
We don't really know anything about the important stuff, like where the universe came from, who we are and why we're here, how life started..... we console ourselves with the idea that science will one day tell us, or maybe God is the one who has the answers. Embracing the uncertainty is the way to go. But that isn't an intellectual position. It's about spending years doing the spade work so that you can tolerate yourself. Then there becomes no need to cling convulsively to those collective beliefs and the massive sense of authority behind them. It becomes natural to be open and fluid. And here's a thing: it means you can afford to think honestly and logically, because you no longer have anything to lose by doing so. ----------------------------------------- Pluto
is now moving forward. If you are having a transit from him, anything
you have begun recently that has not died is likely to have a long life,
for it has deep roots that go all the way down to the underworld source
of new life.
BAD GUY SCORPIO Why have astrologers designated Scorpio to be the bad guy of the zodiac? I think it is because we are afraid of visceral engagement, of those demons that the medieval Church said astrologers summoned. We keep our craft safely cerebral, to which it readily lends itself. Scorpios are the scapegoats. If it wasn't Scorpio, we would find some other sign to carry the shadow for us, because we are fallible human beings. Virgo gets a bit of a bad press too, we project our coldness onto them. Below is Holman Hunt's painting The Scapegoat.
There is no place for moral judgements in astrology based on the chart alone. It does not contain that sort of information. It is our job as astrologers to cultivate sufficient self-awareness that we can withdraw these projections, because the collective at large isn't about to. That is why people come to us: because we offer them something outside their usual prejudices. Of course, some come just to have them confirmed, and you can probably make more money as that sort of astrologer. Maybe traditional astrologers need to be held to account on this score, for perpetuating the myth of good and bad placements. It is psychologically primitive. ----------------------------------------- How much of the Venus journey involves finding that your soul partner isn't that after all? APOCALYPTIC THINKING and THE YOUNGER GENERATION
'Grim' Greta Thunberg, the pony girl of the apocalypse, has been arrested again at a protest. We don't hear so much of her nowadays, but she is still protesting about climate and fossil fuels. We do not know her time of birth, but Pluto is currently conjoining her Mercury - her mind - at 27-28 Capricorn. And how does her mind work? She has Aspergers, which lends itself to literal-mindedness. You can see how Capricorn, which is practical and serious, could describe Aspergers. The adults told her the world was in danger from a human-made climate apocalypse, she believed them and chose to try to stop it. Religious leaders fawned over her, and world leaders talked respectfully of her, but ignored what she told them they must do. Bad adults. Her thinking, like that of a child, is black and white. And has got stuck there.
She first began campaigning as a way out of the depression caused by what the adults had told her. (My son told me very early on not to talk to him about global warming. It was scary, and too much. I still feel sorry I did that.) So Pluto on her Mercury is changing how Greta thinks. Will she become obsessional? Probably. Will she have some kind of breakdown and stop campaigning? With any luck yes, if only for her own long-term mental health. When Greta began her campaigning by skipping school on 20 August 2018, Pluto was somewhere in the vicinity of her Moon, and the Moon was conjoining her Pluto that day. A double Moon-Pluto message. The signs were Sagittarius (religious belief, righteousness) and Capricorn (a heavy weight on young shoulders). And a betrayal (Pluto) of her childhood (Moon.) I think an honest position on climate has to include a degree of agnosticism. It is such a complex field with, inevitably, so many different arguments. The one thing I will confidently assert, is that if I am told there is a 97% consensus about anything, anywhere, I will not believe it: it is not how humans work. It only happens when dictators run 'democratic' elections: the 3% is for a show of credibility. I have a sneaking suspicion that global warming might turn out to be overall a good thing. But I won't insist on it: even saying it sometimes provokes a big negative reaction. What Greta shows us, I think, is that we need to be careful not to give messages of despair to the younger generation. It is the opposite of our adult responsibility to children, our duty of care.
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