The Planet That Wears Its Heart on Its Face

Friday, September 23, 2011

Have an Exquisite Equinox!

Apologies for the sparseness of my posts this month, but I was busy preparing for a featured poetry performance that finally happened last night. With the Moon transiting my Sun Sign of Cancer in my 10th house, and the Sun at 28 Virgo just past a sextile to my Mercury and Neptune, I daresay it was one of my better performances, and I will post a link to the show once it's been archived.

Another equinox is upon us. Although this one ushers in autumn, not spring, other aspects tomorrow indicate it will feel more like spring and summer: the Moon in fiery Leo conjuncts Mars and trines Uranus in Aries just a few hours before the Sun moves into Libra at 5:05 a.m. EDT. And just a few hours after that, Mars forms an exact trine with Uranus.

This translates into a feeling of high "yang" energy and a desire to take a few risks. Romance, creativity, and innovation: snap, crackle, and pop! The first major solar aspect occurs over the weekend, with the Sun-Uranus opposition throwing a spanner in many a relationship. Ego clashes are likely, and desire for freedom feels more important at this moment than harmony and "making nice"; the irony is that these things are exactly what the sign of Libra strives for (as well as balance), but the fiery Martial-Uranian energy from 9/23 through 9/26 will trump "typical" Libra.

Even the New Moon on 9/27 will not be a gentle, restful conjunction, for Mercury in Libra opposes Uranus that day, and the Sun squares Pluto -- and the following day, Moon squares Pluto, Mercury squares Pluto, and the Sun conjuncts Mercury. Any resentment and/or feelings of manipulation need to be dealt with as directly as possible before they fester. Blackmail, either overt or subtle, and misunderstood communications are unfortunate side effects of these combinations, as is a sense of danger and distrust. Without any water in current transits, it will be a challenge (particularly for those individuals who lack water in their natal charts) to know exactly what you are feeling, let alone follow your intuition. Try not to overthink things -- but just as crucial, do not underthink things.

Not until the 29th, when Venus in its ruling sign of Libra conjuncts Saturn (exalted in Libra) will any sense of balance and justice feel within reach. So pace yourself, and brace yourself...the first week of autumn is going to be one wild, rough ride.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Ten Years Later...

As much as I do not wish to contribute to the cult of 9/11 hoopla as far as exploitation and fear-mongering are concerned, I do feel compelled to convey some of my feelings about where we were ten years back and where we are now.

I very much wanted to share with you two astrology posts I wrote ten years ago for PlutoRising.com, which I founded and managed via Webseed, a long-defunct dot-com publisher that did not survive the dot-com bust of the early aughts. Unfortunately, I cannot open those two Word files, because they are from an earlier version of Word and I was unable to make head or tail of how to allow my 2007 version to open them. Fortunately, I can remember the gist of the weekly post I wrote for the week of 9/5 to 9/12: that with the Moon in Gemini strengthening the recent Saturn-Pluto opposition, criminals would prevail.

On September 11 itself, I may have gotten the last available cab going down Second Avenue in Tudor City, where I worked then. I remember gently pushing a few sobbing fellow legal secretaries from the office into the the same cab, which dropped them off at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge after letting me off at the corner of Tenth Street. I rushed up to the roof of my building, where a few of my neighbors were congregated. The view was unobstructed. It looked as if someone were erasing the South Tower from top to bottom. Everyone on the roof was uttering the same thing: "Oh my God."

The only person who was able to get through to me on the phone during the next few hours of horror and disbelief was my friend who lived thousands of miles away in Berlin. I had the TV on; after numerous viewings of the same surreal images of planes crashing into the Twin Towers and people jumping out windows, I started packing a bag, even though I knew full well that I could not escape, as the city was in lockdown mode. I decided the only thing to do to keep sane was to post a live update on my astrology blog. Even though I could not get through to anyone on the phone, my dial-up connection worked like a charm; I was able to post without delay.

The Saturn-Pluto opposition, denoting cruelty and extreme abuse of power, obviously bore monstrous fruit that we have been digesting ever since. For a brief time, it seemed the US had the sympathy of much of the world; yet we squandered that goodwill so quickly. The War on Terror, which included hunting down Weapons of Mass Destruction where there were none, invading Iraq, and so on only hurt our global reputation -- and deservedly so, in my opinion.

The city did feel different for a short while after 9/11 -- quiet, if not completely beaten down -- and somehow unified. When the wind changed direction on the 12th or 13th and I could smell death out my kitchen window, I remember feeling "one" with strangers on the street, on the subway. Some people moved out of the city as a result of the mass tragedy downtown, but most stayed. Parties for a certain subsection of singles in the city got wilder, while families cocooned.

Despite the fact that Osama bin Laden is now fish food, the havoc wrought from 9/11 remains. In a sense, the terrorists won: witness the decline of US civilians' personal freedom in a nation built on that very premise. The mantra of the past decade has been "Security above all." We are all now presumed guilty until proven innocent -- in airports, in wiretapping. And many individuals now act like "sheeple" and are willing to be passively herded en masse to whatever new indignity the TSA or the feds have concocted. Security above all.

As a person who also happens to be an astrologer, I do not believe we are any "safer," just more afraid and oppressed. Pluto moving from freewheeling Sagittarius into conservative Capricorn has made so many sheeple afraid of rocking the boat...of becoming unemployed...of being thrown in jail without just cause...or just put on some sort of watch list.

But ready or not, the Uranus-Pluto square (aka "2012") is coming, and with it the ultimate karmic shit may finally hit the cosmic fan. It may only be after the square, once the ashes settle from another explosion, that we will actually be able to break the 9/11 chain. But if not, then we may be even deeper in the collective toilet bowl than I dared imagine.

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on US civilians on their home soil, we are approaching the Full Moon in Pisces (exact on Mon. 9/12 at 5:27 a.m. EDT). This is also the Harvest Moon: a time to reap what we have sown. With this Full Moon, there will be plenty of self-criticism and attention to detail and ritual (Virgo) combined with high emotion, fantasy, sadness... and possible forgiveness. Beware of those with martyr complexes, or those who call upon you to sacrifice for their own benefit.