Ecstasy and Apostasy
I don’t begrudge America for its over-the-top bliss-fest yesterday after eight hideous years of degradation any more than I’d begrudge a Gitmo survivor a vacation on a tropical isle. But after several pina coladas, even the most exultant celebrant will get a headache. And though I risk sounding like a crab, at best, and a […]
It's about Palestine, Mr Obama
We are now making our way towards the climactic Full Moon of January tenth. Our much-beloved Obama is focusing heatedly on the economy right now, harried the while by the embarrassment of his lone Latino cabinet member being caught up in a (dare we say it?) less-than-shocking pay-to-play scandal. In between these troubles he has […]
Ground Invasion
(This is a post script to my New Moon posting, below.) I watched the quarter Moon in the darkening sky as the speakers’ voices rang out. Tonight we marched again down the streets of San Francisco in support of the besieged people of Palestine, this time to protest the ground invasion that had just begun. […]
January 2009
The Dream that Fades Upon Waking
Now that Pluto is in Capricorn to stay (for the next 16 years), and approaching an exact opposition with the USA Venus and Jupiter, it is appropriate that Americans should be obsessing (Pluto) about their values (Venus). This most materialistic of nations is facing ugly truths that would be much less distressing to a culture that cared less about money.
New Moon Massacre
The new year began, astrologically, with the New Moon of December 27th. Astrologers had been watching its approach with bated breath. Like its parallel transit exactly a year ago, when Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan, we knew this latest Pluto-Mars duet would stimulate a vision of civilization breaking down. It was widely expected that […]
Dec 2008
Service or Slavery
Value and worth
For those sky-watchers tracking the trajectory of the world economy as it careens giddily under the influence of Saturn and Uranus, the next chapter in the drama will arrive with Pluto’s opposition to America’s Venus and Jupiter (Sibley chart).
Coming to a head in March and April for the first of several peaks, this opposition suggests a radical shift downwards in the value of – of what?
Joy is great, isn’t it?
My neighborhood went nuts last night. A street party spontaneously combusted as the reports came in of Obama’s win. Whoops, whistles, howls of joy. And pots and pans! Love it when people bang on pots and pans. On New Year’s Eve it happens too, but this was way better. Congo drums in the streets of […]
Nov 2008
The Lightning-Struck Tower
Picture lightning striking a sturdy old clock tower.
The cataclysmic Saturn-Uranus opposition gave us the perfect modern symbol of this ancient tarot card image, when the most reputable banks in the world (Saturn) collapsed (Uranus) like a house of cards at the Full Moon in September.
Oliver Stone's "W", which I haven't seen
October 2008
The Bubble Bursts
At this writing, the gargantuan Wall Street “bail-out” has proven itself to be anything but the panacea its proponents claimed. Washington’s attempt to cut interest rates in tandem with international central banks has been revealed as too little too late. Whether the US government’s partial nationalization plan will do anything to slow the downward spiral remains unclear, while the prospect of putting bank ownerships into the hands of a government as corrupt as this one are ominous indeed.