Hard Progression for U.S. 'Splains a Few Things

Hello lovelies and uglies,

Been disinclined to astrologize during the Sun-in-Scorpio period, not because there hasn't been anything going on, but the opposite. It's been an overwhelming month, especially with a Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, and Mercury retrograde in Scorpio till 11/10 only served to confuse matters. Here in the U.S., there has been a sizeable kerfuffle regarding the ACA (aka Obamacare) rollout and various presidentially applied "I promise that you can really, truly keep your insurance if you like it" Band-Aids and "it's about politics" votes by 39 House Democrats to extend substandard health insurances till the Sun goes supernova. Also this month, the new American Heart Association guidelines for diabetes and heart-disease risk are coming under fire -- even among doctors, not just the millions of patients who are now suddenly prime candidates for a statin prescription.

Finally, it occurred to me to peruse the progressions in the U.S. chart to see what the hell was going on.

To backtrack just a bit, it has always bothered me that the U.S. is so backward concerning health care for all its citizens, as the U.S. Sun is in Cancer, the most maternal sign of the zodiac! U.S. also has a truly beautiful Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Cancer, which is even more significant because the U.S. has Sagittarius Rising, which makes Jupiter its chart ruler, and Venus-ruled Taurus is on the U.S. 6th-House (work and health) cusp. However, the U.S. also has a prominent Mars-Neptune square from Gemini in the 7th House of relationships and contracts to Virgo (the sign of health and work) in the 9th House of philosophy and law. The U.S. may talk the talk (Gemini), but can't walk the walk, and this square gives an extremely inflated sense of its abilities and a distorted sense of self. Indeed, the U.S. is so "exceptional" that it still cannot manage to give every citizen national health care (in the form of public option or Medicare for all). Even now, with improvements made such as not turning away people with pre-existing conditions, it is still about health insurance, not real care as is the case for virtually every other first-world nation! Interestingly, Medicare was introduced in the mid-1960s, when the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo was sextile U.S. Sun (indicating a positive opportunity that ultimately succeeded because, unlike ACA, it was given a chance despite all the opposition).

What stands out like a malignant tumor in U.S.'s progressed chart is the Moon-Saturn conjunction in early Scorpio -- it is exact at 3 Scorpio (considered to be the degree of the Moon's "fall," or worst possible placement) in approximately one week (Happy Thanksgiving!). Of extreme significance is the fact that Mercury turned direct earlier this month exactly on U.S. progressed Moon at 2 Scorpio, which is precisely when the floodgates opened on how horrible the ACA website is, and how millions of people were getting screwed over with health insurance cancellations, and how Obamacare is a disaster that will kill the spirit of the U.S., et cetera, ad nauseum.

Obviously, this progressed Moon-Saturn conjunction trining Obama's Venus at 1 Cancer (yes, the president's Venus is very close to U.S. Venus!) and also trine transiting Neptune at 2 Pisces has just not been enough to override all the bad PR, nor has it somehow forced otherwise intelligent people to understand that in terms of health insurance, if everyone covers everyone else for everything, instead of only covering their own selfish, "I've got mine so screw you!" asses, everyone wins -- or at the very least, no one will lose their house over a serious illness or accident (both of which can strike anyone of any age at any time). And in this era of instant gratification, the glitches, snafus, and downright fuckups to be expected in a major plan like ACA are simply unforgivable.

Just last month, transiting Saturn took a metaphoric poop on my natal Moon in Scorpio, which literally made me sick; now that this aspect has passed, and I have had altogether too many doctor appointments, I must start taking better care of myself if I want to keep ranting and raving. I would like to think that this aspect will also serve as a wake-up call for the U.S., and that as this rigid, black-and-white aspect passes, sanity will prevail. Perhaps next year, once individuals with their old health insurance see firsthand how little they're getting compared with those on the state exchanges, and people living in states that cruelly refused to expand Medicaid will get angry enough to vote accordingly in next year's midterm elections, this will all come out in the wash, and be a crucial first step toward true health care for all in the U.S., and the U.S. will finally live out its Venus-Jupiter conjunction beyond "Mom, apple pie, and the girl-next-door."