Election Day: Civil War II?

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

--William Butler Yeats (1919)

Dear readers, I plead guilty to the sin of procrastination. Yes, I have been run down, burned-out, too engaged in my paying work and with my drama-filled life, but I still feel obligated to try to make some sense of this crazy-ass election cycle...not so much to predict who will win the U.S. presidency today, or to reiterate what many of you might have already read about Mars being in the last degree of Capricorn on Election Day, and how the Moon will change signs from Aquarius to Pisces. Instead, I want to explore the U.S. natal chart and its progressions, transits, and its next Lunar Return (which happens today, 12:44 p.m. EST).

When I gaze a little ways down the cosmic road, I do not like much of what I see for America.

Over and over again on this site, I discussed the Uranus-Pluto square of 2012-15 and the more recent Saturn-Neptune square of 2015-16. I still believe these ridiculously horrendous aspects, operating on a mass level because they involved the outer planets, were what made this ridiculously horrendous election cycle possible.

What I somehow missed was that transiting Pluto opposed U.S. Sun throughout 2015 (a classic power-tripping aspect that also points to nefarious underground, illicit activity). This opposition was heightened by the fact that U.S. 1st and 7th Houses were involved, lending a highly polarized "you vs. me" flavor. Pluto has been transiting U.S. 1st House since December 2000; it was conjunct U.S. Ascendant on the heels of 9/11, with transiting Saturn opposing it in Gemini, the sign of the twins (or twin towers). It is safe to say that for the past decade and a half, America has been going through a classic Pluto-transiting-1st-House identity crisis.

Pluto does transform -- but not always for the better. Pluto first entered U.S. 2nd House in March of this year and will go back into the 2nd House for good in the first week of January 2017. So right now, we are at the tail end of this particular chapter of U.S. history, of Pluto transiting the 1st House. And in so many ways, America has become unrecognizable...not just in its appearance (downside: obese; upside: increased acceptance of transgendered individuals; downside: crumbling infrastructure and chain-store-ification; upside: more underground/alternative scenes) but in a deep-rooted sense that is not at all visible yet still palpable on a psychic level. Aside from blossoming shamanistic healers, the vibe has been dark, menacing, hostile, morbid, nihilistic. In other words, Plutonian.

Transiting Uranus has also been making plenty of noise in the U.S. chart. As Pluto slips into the U.S. 2nd House, Uranus remains in the angular 4th House and will continue to square U.S. Mercury, as it did in the summer of 2016, till April 2017. Interestingly, Uranus comes within a hair's breadth of squaring U.S. Mercury again at the very beginning of 2018, but turns direct just before the exact aspect. Given the signs and Houses involved (Aries/Cancer, 4th House to 8th), I suspect that we will narrowly avert a disaster of potentially apocalyptic proportions right around New Year's Day 2018. However, we may not be so lucky on that front this coming April. That does not mean I am predicting THE apocalypse when spring comes, but it suggests homegrown terrorism and/or Civil War II. The climate is very ripe for such brutal, intransigent tragedy, the likes of which we have not experienced in America since the 1860s. Even if we all breathe a collective sigh of relief in January 2018, transiting Uranus will have been squaring U.S. Pluto (June and September 2017) and will not finish doing so till April 2018.

So basically, Uranus has been, and will continue, triggering America's natal Mercury-Pluto opposition: one of America's worst aspects. (The other one is the Mars-Neptune square, which will soon be triggered by transiting Saturn in Sagittarius.) Uranus is genius but also insanity; Uranus is a rebel with a cause; Uranus is a lightning bolt that could zap America's collective brain, forcing some of us to wake up while encouraging others of us to succumb to violent paranoia and scratch an itchy trigger finger.

No matter who wins the U.S. election, I see the potential for mass deception, depression, and imprisonment, as transiting Neptune continues to conjunct U.S. progressed Sun in Pisces until spring 2018. (The conjunction began this past spring.) On the upside, I also see some wonderful movies, literature, dance, and other art forms being created and released -- though some of the art could well be banned or suppressed if it lacks the necessary propaganda and "spin." Another positive manifestation of this very strong Pisces conjunction could be increased medical or recreational legalization of marijuana in America. As you are probably aware, the issue of marijuana reform is on the ballot today for nine states. If all the measures pass, that would make almost a quarter of the U.S. population (not a quarter of the actual states) eligible to indulge in recreational pot use.

I see an influx of immigrants with U.S. progressed Moon in Sagittarius entering U.S. 1st House at the dawn of spring 2017, but also a wave of people emigrating due to religious or philosophical differences. More worrisome is the fact that U.S. progressed Moon exactly opposes U.S. Uranus in Gemini just two weeks after Election Day. Emotions will be running high and not at all rationally; at the risk of repeating myself, another read of this opposition is Civil War II. At the very least, some quarters will be experiencing a meltdown or nervous breakdown of epic proportions.

I implore those of you who can vote in the U.S. election to do so. Yes, the upcoming aspects are deeply troubling and downright alarming, no matter which candidate wins; but I am not saying that it does not make a difference who wins...far from it. It is also crucial that the Democratic Party regain the Senate. One cause I have for optimism is that the U.S. Lunar Return features the Sun and Mercury at the Midheaven in Scorpio, and Hillary Clinton is a Scorpio. Capricorn is Rising in the Lunar Return, with Mars close to the Ascendant and U.S. Mercury exactly conjunct the 7th House Cusp. This suggests that women voters will be particularly important, but that some poll centers will be a very unpleasant experience, with or without police presence.

What my study of transiting aspects indicates is that no matter which candidate wins, the hatred, extremism, racism, sexism, greed, and xenophobia that have moved from the lunatic fringe to the alt-right (which I refer to as alt-control-delete, since that better describes their agenda) will not magically vanish in a puff of acrid smoke if Hillary Clinton wins America's next presidency. There are simply too many of them to discount, and not all of them are uneducated and poor, either. It is conceivable that the inconceivable could happen; consider how British voters did not come to their senses earlier this year, resulting in "Brexit." According to Bill Maher, this election is a referendum on decency. I would go even further and say it is a referendum on evil. Unfortunately, as Yeats put it so well nearly 100 years ago, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity."

It would be pretty swell if those of us who aspire to be our best selves (human beings who, for example, do not grab the best piece of cake and put barbed-wire fence around the rest) dare to be passionately intense, intensely passionate. Now is the time for those of us who are compassionate and curious to stop numbing ourselves out with various panaceas, pharmaceuticals, and passivity. It will hurt, because Uranus and Pluto squares and oppositions don't tickle. Nor would another Civil War tickle. But the alternative is allow ourselves to believe that the rise of the alt-control-delete movement in America is the new normal, to sleepwalk into the 21st-century version of the Third Reich.

Ash vs ISIS: Saturn Square Neptune, Round 1

In the week leading up to Halloween, my cinephile sweetie introduced me to the first two Evil Dead movies, which I enjoyed so much (especially the first one) that I am now very deeply into the new TV show Ash vs Evil Dead. I guess the combination of over-the-top gory violence (that aficionados call "gruel"), the occult, and snarky humor really tickles my funny bone.

And on an approaching Saturn-Neptune square, the revival of Ash could not come at a more appropriate time.

(Warning: There Be Spoilers Here.)

Ash thought his job was done 30 years ago (interestingly, a Saturn cycle), but one night of stoned revelry spent reading from the wrong book of poetry with a foxy date has unleashed those damned demons...aka the evil dead, who specialize in taking over the bodies and souls of live and dead humans, who become puppets that kill indiscriminately and a lot. With just three episodes aired, there has been enough gruel splattered for three full-length films, with the addition of something suspiciously Neptunian afoot: Ash has to figure out a way to go within himself in order to undo the spell he unleashed while under the influence of the Demon Weed. Ash must go inside because the plan to conjure up a so-called lesser demon to get the answer went horribly awry.

With Paris reeling from last Friday's Islamic terrorist attacks, confirmation that a terrorist bomb had indeed been responsible for bringing down a Russian jet plane over Egypt on Halloween, the escalation of military retaliation in Syria, U.S. governors (who thankfully have no real say in the matter) opining that Syrian refugees should not be welcomed, and airline bomb threats, this is a job not for Superman, but for Ash: the Ash in all of us, the post-traumatic-stress-syndrome survivor of the still-warm Uranus-Pluto square of 2012-15.

Many souls did not make it through this three-year aspect of intense brutality and gross economic imbalance; the evil dead is alive and very unwell. Those of us who did survive may be bone-weary and going through survivor's guilt. But on a Saturn-Neptune square, there is no rest for the weary. And the key may very well be to go within (Neptune in Pisces) for the solution, for Saturn in Sagittarius is hard at work destroying whatever faith we may still have left in such Sagittarius-ruled institutions as universities and organized religion. And the most negative manifestation of Saturn in Sagittarius can be summed up in one acronym that has managed to usurp my favorite Egyptian deity: ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Please do not understand me too quickly; I am not trashing the vast majority of Muslims. I am taking issue with the twisted, oppressive, death-wish militants whose idea of good, clean fun is holy war culminating in an apocalyptic battle in Dabiq, Syria, where the "Roman army" (the West) will bite the dust. After that, ISIS maintains, Jesus shows up and kills an Iranian who is the anti-Messiah. We all die, and ISIS groupies get raptured and go to heaven.

Ponder how the recent Uranus-Pluto square has given more power to extremists in all areas of life: not just religion, but in politics, economics, education, popular culture, family values. There are no 50 shades of gray; "the new normal" is either pitch black or snow white. With nuance lacking, it is tempting to romanticize a past that wasn't all that great the first time around, and it is especially difficult to find true solutions, as opposed to Band-Aids, empty platitudes, and emptier promises.

The Saturn-Neptune square indicates that on a mass level, we are soul-sick, disenchanted, and/or deluded. Those of us with open minds may be unsure what to believe in, the very concept of "reality" up for grabs. Others will stubbornly persist in keeping their eyes wide shut. In the mutable signs Sagittarius and Pisces, this square cannot settle down. On a bodily level, our mass immune system is compromised; there will be more fallout from the anti-vaxxer movement, which was in the news earlier this year when Saturn first entered Sagittarius. Climate-wise, out-of-control fires as well as flooding are likely.

The first of three Saturn-Neptune square of 2015-16 is exact on November 26, which happens to be on Thanksgiving; the Moon in Gemini forming an opposition to Saturn and a square to Neptune might make freedom of movement, i.e., travel, quite difficult, as well as whipping up distrust between neighbors -- either on a personal level or between next-door countries.

As the phoenix rises from its own ashes, as the character of Ash must find his inner phoenix to break a doomsday spell, so must those of us who refuse to give up rise up from our own extinguished embers and find something authentic to believe in (Neptune) and commit to (Saturn). Something found not outside ourselves, but inside our souls (Neptune), something that can be structured and harnessed (Saturn), a war worth fighting. Something that could take a long time (Saturn) to bring to fruition, but must be started ASAP. Uranus is in Aries till early 2019; war against ISIS, whether on the ground or at arm's length (airstrikes, a puppet government in Syria) is inevitable though not enviable considering the loss of lives that will ensue. The Saturn-Neptune square is already defining the next U.S. presidential election. Both on a large scale and on a more personal one, lives should matter as far more than a hashtag. The stakes for survival have never been higher. May those of us who truly value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness lift our heads up high and rise to the challenge.

Love on a Square and Soul Sickness on an Opposition

Did you get through Monday's Mars-Saturn conjunction in Scorpio without breaking anything, especially yours or somebody else's balls?

Did you get through yesterday's Venus-Saturn square without sinking into a dark depression in which the very concept of love seems a deeply unfunny joke?

Congratulations! Now all you have to do is clear the hurdle of today's Venus-Mars square (exact at 11:46 a.m. EDT) and not drown either literally or metaphorically during the Sun-Neptune opposition (exact Fri. 8/29 at 10:33 a.m.) and you can enjoy a potentially sexy, shamanic, Moon-in-Scorpio Labor Day weekend.

Venus in Leo and Mars in Scorpio could get along and get it on wonderfully if only they could lay down their fixed-sign stubbornness and pride and truly give without strings attached. Yet glamorpuss drama queen Venus in Leo is so hung up on being in the spotlight and worshipped as the center of the "loververse" that Mars in Scorpio is not likely to relinquish its relentless master-of-manipulation will to power...and will instead bruise the huge but secretly insecure ego of Venus in Leo just to prove a pointless point. It is a standoff in which neither will be caught blinking first, and both will wear sunglasses just in case that unthinkable event occurs. Neither one wins; both lose. If you are currently in a relationship, my advice is to call a truce and head to a rock concert or opera -- or, if you are a badass and want to play with fire, a sex club to blow off some steam. The idea is to lose yourself in a bigger drama than yourself. If you are single and looking for love in all the wrong places, however, you may want to sit the Venus-Mars square out, as this is not a dateworthy aspect...though attending a costume party or beach get-together could be interesting.

The Sun in Virgo's normally cool, collected, organized self is thrown off balance by Neptune in Pisces; it just can't remain in its usual locked, upright position in Neptune's pounding, swirling surf. That may not be such a bad thing in and of itself...except that Virgo is earthbound and may panic underwater, losing all sense of its reality. Opposition aspects always indicate relationship issues as well as projection; in this case, Virgo steps on Pisces' toes, accusing the Neptune-ruled Fish of being too dreamy, passive, escapist, and unrealistic -- traits that the typical Virgo readily disowns instead of incorporating into its high-strung, repressed nature. Pisces responds by washing away Virgo's intricate sand castles and detailed plans. If these two signs can join forces, great love and creativity can result -- but it means that both signs will need to step (or swim) out of their respective comfort zones and learn something from each other. A word of caution: drinking, drugging, and abusing various prescription meds can easily get out of hand during the Sun-Neptune opposition, as suffering physical and/or emotional pain are likely. "Binge viewing" various TV shows and ODing on popcorn may be a safer bet. Depending on your chart, you may want to drown your sorrows alone or with likeminded company; either way, however, you will need to find a way to deal with your suffering, as well as acknowledge that others are also having a hard time in this hardwood world. Far better to err on the side of compassion (the Neptune-in-Pisces end of the opposition) than hair-splitting criticism (Sun in Virgo).

The Glorious Grand Trine in Water

With all the talk over the past year or so about the fearsome and feared Uranus-Pluto square, an equally important, powerful, and rare "good witch" aspect was ignored: a Grand Trine in the Water element involving Mars conjunct Jupiter in Cancer, Moon (plus North Node) and Saturn in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces.

As if this was not already enough Water, the Sun and Mercury are also in Cancer, bringing us to a total of seven planets in Water. Although the Moon in Scorpio triggered this Grand Trine on Tuesday evening, even after the Moon leaves Scorpio at 1:54 p.m. (ET), the Grand Trine will still be in effect, as Mars has yet to trine Neptune and Saturn on Saturday (3:53 p.m. and 5:34 p.m., respectively) and will then conjunct Jupiter at 3:35 a.m. on Monday, with the Sun in the last few hours of Cancer.

What this Grand Trine is about includes mastery of the emotions, as this is the domain of the Water element. Expansion, faith, and risk taking are in tune with contraction, structure, and hard work, which in turn supports dreams, inspiration, and intuition. This could be a watershed moment for popular (or unpopular culture) and the collective unconscious, but the Moon in Scorpio has made this Grand Trine highly personal -- and what is continuing to energize the Grand Trine is the red planet, motor of our the solar system.

Mars is said to be in its "fall" in Cancer, yet Jupiter is said to be "exalted" in this sign -- so this conjunction could go one of three ways: Mars could dominate (bringing much energy but possible conflict into the home and family), Jupiter could dominate (bringing blessings and bounty into the home), or Mars and Jupiter will manage to cancel out each other's worst and best qualities. However this conjunction plays out for you personally, there will be a magnification (Jupiter) of the emotions (Cancer), a spotlight on home and family (Cancer), and a DIY spirit toward home improvement (Mars in Cancer).

Discretion is the better part of valor (or is it velour?) so I cannot go into detail about how I managed to snap out of my Mercury Retrograde funk and dive headfirst into the waves of this extremely rare Grand Trine, but it was possibly the best post-birthday gift I ever gave to myself. Among many other things, I learned how to breathe.

Gathering Storm Clouds: Moon-in-Scorpio Thoughts on the Uranus-Pluto Square

The Uranus-Pluto square, the first of seven over the next three years, is exact in just three weeks, June 24. Yet we have been feeling its extremely difficult energy since last spring, when Uranus settled into its seven-year stay in Aries: the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Going Still Further Down the Toilet global economy, global climate crises, the apocalyptic mood that homes in on 2012 as the end-times. Never mind that the Mayans themselves have discounted that one fragmented tablet; thanatos, the death wish, seems stronger than ever.

Greetings, Uranus-Pluto square! Long time no see. In fact, most of us on Earth haven't ever had the pleasure of making your volatile aquaintance, for last time you were in town was back in the early 1930s. It was the Great Depression. The U.S. got FDR and the New Deal; Germany got Hitler and "the Final Solution." Where will the chips fall this time, keeping in mind that while history may not repeat itself, it frequently rhymes? (Shout-out to genius Mark Twain.) Thanks to the technological advances of the past eighty years, we truly are the world nowadays; isolationism, aka a nation's sticking its collective head in the sand, simply isn't possible anymore. Yet the U.S. seems to have a little bit of a complex about being the world's policeman. Where is the balance? Not here, bro.

During the last Uranus-Pluto square, Neptune was in Virgo; one manifestation of that "famine" placement was the Dust Bowl of the U.S. Midwest. But now Neptune has begun its transit of the opposite sign, Pisces. Over the next fourteen years, the world's collective immunity to disease will weaken; pandemics (think bird flu to the Hitchcockian degree) are likely, and oceans (and marine life) will become more vulnerable to toxicity. Throw in the Uranus-Pluto square, and this goes far beyond a tempest in a teapot (or Tea Party). Start building your ark or oxygen tent now, and for God's sake don't move to Venice, even though it is possibly the most beautiful city on the planet.

Everything seems to be spinning out of control, and no one seems to have any rational solutions to anything. Collectively, the mood is one of increasing panic. I wonder if any world leaders follow astrology, or have an astrologer on their staff? Based on the rankness that's been going down, aka "the new normal," I seriously doubt it. As personal liberty and the concept of having something called options are threatened or simply ripped to shreds, revolution is inevitable. The tipping point will be reached during the Uranus-Pluto square era of 2012-15. Within the next three years, and probably a lot sooner than that, previously apathetic people of all nations will join last year's early birds, the canaries in the coal mines. Heads will roll and blood will be shed (Uranus in Aries) in a growing battle of individuals, and individuality, against corrupt, rigid governments, banks, corporations, "the 1%," and the Old Guard in general (all representative of Pluto in Capricorn). The revolution will b not merely televised (that's so 20th-century!), but online 24/7, in Google-translated techno-color and mad-mashup YouTube clips.

Pick your battles wisely during the next three years...before they pick you. On a lighter note, here in the Big Apple, our billionaire mayor had better prepare himself for legions of protestors -- fat, thin, rich, poor, healthy, sick -- to hurl Big Gulp sodas at his head.

Last Call for Neptune in Aquarius

It is time to bid farewell to Neptune's transit of Aquarius. Are you ready for a moment or two of silence and reflection as I raise a metaphoric chalice and try to be articulate and eloquent?

Ladies and gentlemen, players and pervs: I for one am more than ready to say sayonara to Neptune in Aquarius. In 2000, transiting Neptune formed an easy-peasy trine to my Uranus in Libra (which manifested in the publication of my first novel, thanks to POD publisher Xlibris), but after that early high point, transiting Neptune formed only two other good aspects to my natal chart--the trine to my Gemini Midheaven in 2009 (which manifested in the publication of my first eBook on the now-defunct Paper Bag Press), followed a year later by the trine to my critical-degree Jupiter in Libra (another eBook and the start of my ascent on the NY poetry-performance circuit).

On second thought, given these undeniably positive manifestations of Neptune in Aquarius, perhaps I am being too hasty to want to write off the bulk of this fourteen-year transit, in which Neptune formed mainly squares and inconjuncts to my Scorpio, Cancer, and Virgo placements. Still, as a "mud" individual (except for Uranus and Jupiter, all my natal planets plus Asc. are in the Water and Earth elements), it has not been the easiest Neptune transit for me to understand and groove with. (Not that Neptune at 0 degrees of Pisces, which we experienced last year between early April and early August, was smooth sailing--Neptune came within half a degree of opposing my Venus before turning retrograde).

Neptune is the planet of the collective unconscious, the collective imagination, the collective soul, and All Things Pisces (including the arts, sacrifice, sleep, the seven seas, dreams, drugs, passivity, prison, hospital, retreat, and the Achilles' heel of the Fishes: self-undoing). It takes fourteen years for Neptune to pass through a sign, and whatever sign Neptune passes through has a huge influence on ideals and culture (understanding that not all cultures are identical--far from it). Neptune glamorizes all things associated with whatever sign it is transiting, but by the end of the transit, much of the glamour has dissolved (another Neptune effect) into disenchantment (ditto).

Aquarius, the Water Bearer, is not a Water sign as many people naturally assume; it is an Air sign, ruled by revolutionary, reform-minded, rebellious Uranus. Aquarius also rules large groups and friendship. Although Air signs have the reputation as being friendly and easygoing, there is nothing whatsoever "chill" about Aquarius. This sign manages to be both stubborn (due to its Fixed qualitity) and erratic (due to the influence of ruling planet Uranus). Actually, there is one chilly aspect to the sign: its ability to detach emotionally from everyone and everything, which can make more sensitive, sentimental signs shiver (interestingly, the Aquarius time of year, where we are now, is midwinter).

Perhaps the most important cultural phenomenon associated with Neptune in Aquarius is Facebook and other social network sites such as Twitter. I myself delayed opening a Facebook account till relatively late in the game (i.e., mid-2009), but for a couple of years before that it seemed to figure in nearly every conversation I overheard (as a writer, it is my job to eavesdrop) or took part in (i.e., having to explain that no, I still hadn't joined the Facebook party). "Friend" became a verb during this time (as well as "defriend"), and indeed, the entire definition of friendship became more fluid (Neptune). It used to be that a friend was someone who essentially knew you and had your back and vice versa; a close friend was someone you could also call at 3 a.m. or break down in front of when your world was falling apart. Now a friend could be someone who sat behind you in tenth-grade Social Studies, or someone you didn't even know but wanted to friend you because you had mutual friends (many of whom you also had zero to slight actual contact with). As of this writing, I have "only" 151 friends on Facebook; most of them are just acquaintances, and only a handful are from my checkered past (I was so unpopular in high school and college that I've rarely had to deal with old chums wanting to reconnect on Facebook--although it was just my luck that the creep who bullied me from fifth grade through middle school found me on an online dating site and then sent me a friend request). More gregarious individuals have anywhere from 300 to 2,000 friends on Facebook. (I wonder if there is a formula for figuring out how many of one's Facebook friends are actual friends.)

The mass e-mail and the Evite, both of which were born with Neptune in technologically driven Aquarius, foreshadowed the status update and the event invitation on Facebook. Neptune rules masks; paradoxically, as Facebook has enabled millions of individuals to make their most secret moments, thoughts, and feelings public, there is also a sense of distance and charade. Similar to online dating site profiles (which had lost its "only for losers" reputation and become a socially acceptable fact of life by the time Neptune was midway through Aquarius), many people craft their Facebook persona, especially as the need to privacy has become more important at the end of Neptune in Aquarius (thanks to the Internet and Google, plus ill-considered Facebook posts and photos, many of us can never run for public office). Status updates that receive the most comments tend to be witty, sarcastic, politically oriented "preaching to the converted" opinions, or involve cute or hip YouTube clips. "Popular" people on Facebook will get tea-and-sympathy comments for woe-is-me status updates, probably because the odds are in their favor that at least twenty of their so-called friends will be online (especially with the rise of smartphones--another Neptune in Aquarius happening) and care enough to comment at that moment.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Facebook and other social network sites as Neptune transits Pisces for the next fourteen years. Personally, I predict the fever has broken, and that one's privacy will become far more important now. Also, TV and film may improve enough in quality to succeed in pulling people away from social networking in favor of watching something really good either alone or with honest-to-god friends. There will probably be an increased need to unplug from the sights and sounds not just of the cyberworld, but the so-called real world (whatever that may be). Retreats, spas, hydrotherapy, and spiritual quests will all capture the popular imagination; and despite the presence of Pluto in authoritarian, conservative Capricorn, I predict that decriminalization of "soft" drugs such as marijuana will continue, especially for medical purposes (the Virgo-Pisces axis). And recently a study was released detailing how psilocybin (aka "funny mushrooms") can be used to treat depression. Roughly midway through Neptune's transit of Pisces, Uranus will move into Taurus, which may spark a "pleasure" movement leading to outright legalization (but I wouldn't hold my breath--i.e., don't inhale just yet).

Since 1998, global culture has been profoundly affected by terrorism--in particular, terrorist "cells," fanaticism, and use of technology, all Aquarian specialties. To be sure, Pluto is intimately linked to crime, but in the case of terrorism Pluto is more associated with the "power behind the throne," secret strategies, and the result of terrorism (mass death). Also, during most of the time Neptune was in Aquarius, Pluto was in free-range Sagittarius (the sign associated with, among many other things, long-distance travel, dogmatism, religion, philosophy, and the "culture wars"). Neptune, ruling both dreams and glamour, has assisted in giving untold numbers of individuals worldwide nightmares and delusions of grandeur regarding terrorism. I do not think terrorism will die with Neptune out of Aquarius, but it will definitely go underground, and biochemical warfare (particularly involving the water supply) will be of concern.

Well, I see that Neptune has officially entered Pisces, so I should wrap this up. My ex-boyfriend will be showing up any minute with the movers. Yes, he is moving out this afternoon. Coincidence? I think not.

As always, stay tuned...

Welcome Neptune in Pisces

For the first time since the mid-nineteenth century, Neptune is back in its ruling sign of Pisces. How apropos that Neptune was officially discovered as it transited Pisces back in 1846! And we can thank Uranus, the planet of genius and technology, for that discovery -- or rather, we can thank the two astronomers who mathematically proved that it was the presence of another, as-yet-unseen planet that caused Uranus's orbital irregularities.

Neptune, of course, existed long before its first sighting -- but once this mysterious outer planet entered the public consciousness, many Neptunian/Piscean things blossomed or gained in popularity, including photography, opiates and alcohol, impressionist art...and, in the United States, an increasingly divisive view toward slavery (Dred Scott was 1857) that would lead to the Union's dissolving (Neptune) and the bloodiest, darkest chapter of U.S. history: the Civil War.

We will only get our feet wet, so to speak, with Neptune once again in Pisces before it retrogrades back into Aquarius in early August, but the next four months may bring unexpected creative inspiration and an increase in compassion -- specifically, the desire for universal freedom, not just one's own. This does not mean we will all become artists and freedom-fighters (or flood-fighters!), but if either urge is already inside you, Neptune will act as its midwife. And the birth may very well be a long, bloody labor of love. For Neptune is also about universal love, and the pain an individual will endure, even welcome, for the sake of that giving life and expression to that love.

Peace.

PS: Literally as soon as Mercury turned Retrograde last Wednesday, I came down with the flu. I am beginning to improve enough to sit at my desk and post this blog, but going into the office to proofread ad copy is out of the question, even though I am losing money as a no-benefits part-timer. I haven't been this sick since I was a child -- my fever hit 103 before finally starting to moderate, but I am still experiencing localized overnight flooding (i.e., the right-hand side of the bed). I really should've gotten a flu shot last fall, since I knew that Neptune would enter my 6th House (at 29'09" Aquarius) in March, while it was still flu season. Very. Big. Mistake on my part. Please take this PS as a precautionary tale, and ponder this verse I just created: If ye know your own chart well / Ignore astrology at your own peril.