Any other boomers out there experiencing acute déjà vu? As children of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction, the transit that radicalized our generation, many of us are getting flashbacks from the Gaza protests happening right now. We might be remembering the Oscars in 1978 when Vanessa Redgrave caused such a stir, speaking out against Zionist extremists. The […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

  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 […]