Neither the right nor the left wants to talk about Afghanistan. The staunchest supporters of Obama’s military policies right now are Republicans, and they sure don’t want to come out in favor of this president at this moment. Meanwhile, three-fourths of Congressional Democrats oppose the war, and they’re trying just as adamantly to avoid coming out against him.

Friday’s New Moon (9/18) is no standard-issue New Moon. Up in the sky right now four planets are gathering together in opposition to Uranus. This grouping gooses up the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition, signature of America’s red-hot culture wars. The opposition reaches exactitude five times, and the hit today — Sept 15th — is the most critical of the five. The

Things are starting to cook. Over the next few weeks we’ll have a series of short-range transits that will serve as triggers for the dramatic long-range ones that have been the subject of so much astrological buzz: the transits of 2010-15. These are the years singled out by many ancient traditions as the make-or-break threshold for humanity.

The healthcare reform brouhaha that now engulfs the USA is a cosmic in-joke. It is pointing our attention to the fact that the country itself is deathly ill. In Soul-Sick Nation I make the case that the USA is one sick puppy. If we’re seeking an understanding of why the national discourse is so surreally off-track right now, I propose that

Astrologically, it wasn’t hard to see that health care was going to be the issue of the year. Consider the makeup of the Super Conjunction of 2009: Neptune (universality), Chiron (healing) and Jupiter (reform) in Aquarius (medicine). All the ingredients were there. This was the set-up long before this summer’s astonishing partisan antics enflamed the debate like a mad doctor setting

The phrase “doom and gloom” is in heavy use these days. As in “I’m so glad to see this front page story about rescued puppies instead of all the usual ‘doom and gloom’ stuff.” But there’s a false equation between the lines here, and we need to be wary of it.

With its every frantic pop, bleat and bang, television proclaims itself to be the wellspring of all things shiny and new. But in reality it’s the primary tool of the old paradigm. At this point in history the video screen has replaced institutionalizedreligion as the single most powerful hypnotic in the world. In the USA it serves as an efficient

For some of us who identified whole-heartedly with the ideas of the late 1960s, this year’s Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius is particularly evocative. It’s a celebration of our entry into the wonderful world of astrology. And it was the sign Aquarius that held open the door. Forty years later, the hippie theme song “The Age of Aquarius”

Everybody I know is heavy’d-out right now, which I see as very encouraging. It’s Eclipse Season. If you’re feeling the intensity permeating the atmosphere it means you’re not shut down. The first lunation of this series was at the Solstice last month, when the Sun was in its full-throttle summer dignity. (The word solstice derives from the Latin [sol]+ stare [to stand].

The Super Conjunction is about to be broadsided by the Goddess of Love and her consort. As July opens, Venus will square the conjunction from Taurus to Aquarius. On the 6th, Mars will do the same, and on the 10th Jupiter and Neptune reach exactitude again. This puts our focus on relationships; with all the heat (Mars), attraction (Venus), pain (Chiron)