As the US presidential election looms ever closer, Jupiter and Uranus are conjoining in the sky. The mass mood is agitated, electric, prickly.

Will we meet this moment with insight and enthusiasm, or with frazzled burn-out? It depends on our understanding of the forces at play.

Uranus, the planet of disruptive change, signifies the sense of urgency upon us. Jupiter, the planet of religion, signifies higher principles, gods and devils.

Right now, it’s urgently necessary to name our devils, and to make allies of them.… click here to continue reading.

There was an earthquake last night here in San Francisco. It felt like the Earth was shuddering from the violence occurring on the other side of the globe.

It was the eve of the Blood Moon. Full Moons like this are said to bring to light to that which has been lying dormant. The light could arrive as a flash of understanding, or as a burst of blazing and blinding.

It has arrived this month in an orgy of suffering.… click here to continue reading.

Until the end of the year, Pluto is back in Capricorn, the sign of skulls and spines.

Like a drunk staggering up to the bar for one more round, the dark god is retrograding back to the degree of the US Pluto Return, the transit that’s melting the country’s bones.

What’s happening to Uncle Sam is very baffling and distressing. But it is deeply worthy of our curiosity. After all, it’s happening on our watch.… click here to continue reading.

Where I live, in San Francisco, the sky is roaring with war planes.

Fleet Week is upon us. Every year, tourists come into town to watch the magnificent men in their lethal flying machines. An air force tradition from the days when American superpowerdom was undisputed, the show seems to recall a simpler time, when war was — I don’t know — fun?

Maybe military recruiters pass out little American flags for people to wave, like the ones that unaccountably appeared in the hands of bystanders when the Saddam Hussein statue was pulled down.… click here to continue reading.

So they finally got their way. The dogged little cadre of religious fascists who vowed fifty years ago to re-outlaw abortion played the long game, and finally scored. ⁽¹⁾  They were the tortoise and everybody else was the hare.

These guys know full well that the American public is overwhelmingly in favor of legal abortion. But this wasn’t ever about the will of the majority. The Christian cabal and their black-caped crusaders have never been much interested in democracy.… click here to continue reading.

In the world’s most enduring stories, moral certainty is the secret sauce. We take comfort in a nice, clear dividing line between Right & Wrong.

David vs. Goliath, white hats vs. black hats, Ivan Drago vs. Rocky Balboa. And the God-vs.-Satan story, which has kept Big Religion afloat for millennia.

It’s especially gratifying to root for our team together with our fellows, which is why spectator sports are so cathartic. As a plus, we get to indulge in forgetting.… click here to continue reading.

As the new year began, a lot of people were watching a movie about the annihilation of Earth. “Don’t Look Up” is a wake-up call movie, that’s clear.

What isn’t so clear is how wake-up-able its audience is.

Life as parody

It must be galling to make satirical art in a society where every headline already reads like a joke. How do you improve upon the dark humor of a country where captains of industry argue over whether saving the planet makes economic sense?… click here to continue reading.

Every generation has its traumas. My parents had World War II. My peers and I had Viet Nam and Watergate.

Our children — the generation now in charge  — arrived when wars had gone digital and stateless. Their worldview was framed by 9/11. Foreign-policy-wise, those two burning skyscrapers set the template for the American epoch we’re all currently in.

The U.S. response to 9/11 was corrupted by a toxic soup of revenge, imperialist ambitions, war profiteering, systematic brainwashing and sheer stupidity.

Joe Biden found himself unable, for whatever reasons, to keep up the tradition of kicking the bloody can down the road to some future president.

Under the Full Moon of August, he struggled to explain the origins of the occupation of Afghanistan (it’s being called a “war,” but that doesn’t seem the mot juste when superpowers try to steal countries), claiming that the USA’s mission had never been nation building. “Okay,” retorted John Oliver, ”then I guess not-Mission not-Accomplished.”… click here to continue reading.

Feeling a tad used up?  Working too hard, and too thanklessly? You may be one of the waitresses or teachers who are making economists so nervous right now, by deciding to not return to your pre-pandemic job. Or a worker in any industry who has come to realize the extent of your emotional drain.

Over the past chaotic year, we’ve all been struggling to keep our footing in the face of wild disruption.… click here to continue reading.