The Collective Insanity of the USA: Why Gun Control Is Doomed Here

With another gun-fueled school massacre in the body bag, and with the responses including balloons, teddy bears, sympathy for the victims and their families, and calls for mental health vigilance and gun control, let me explain why the latter will never happen in the United States of America.

The nation's natal chart (July 4, 1776, 5:13 p.m., Philadelphia, PA) features a Mars-Neptune square and a Mercury-Pluto opposition. The opposition is separating thanks to the fact that Mercury is Retrograde in Cancer, but this aspect is strengthened because Mercury is in the 8th House (naturally ruled by Pluto). A Mercury-Pluto opposition is a hallmark of paranoid thinking; this aspect would prefer to beat the enemy with slanderous words, but whatever weapon is employed, obliteration is the aim. A Mercury-Pluto opposition also believes that playing fair is for suckers, while hitting below the belt (Pluto) is just plain smart.

The US's Mars-Neptune square is an even more dangerous aspect because it is closely approaching, with Mars in Gemini in the 7th House (manifesting in other people with itchy trigger fingers) and Neptune in Virgo, the sign of its detriment, in the 9th House of legal matters. Whereas Mercury thinks, plots, and communicates, Mars acts.

Any aspect involving Mars and Neptune can have a hard time telling fantasy from reality, and can entertain downright disturbing fantasies. When Mars-Neptune forms a sextile or trine, a powerful imagination and a drive to be creatively productive can result (I have the trine, and am very thankful for it), but the more challenging aspects can manifest in downright craziness. Please don't understand me too quickly; if you happen to have a Mars-Neptune square, opposition, or a conjunction in your natal chart, I am not saying that you should be taken away in a butterfly net. However, if you are truly honest with yourself (something an afflicted Mars-Neptune combo cannot always manage), you will see this is a downright troublesome aspect that often causes great conflict within yourself as well as with the people in your orbit. You might think the insanity is always coming from others, not from yourself, but you just might be mistaken. To repeat my earlier observation about US's Mars: placed in the 7th House of "others," it is always someone else who is the problem. The US simply cannot own (i.e., take responsibility for) its own Mars.

It is the US's Mars-Neptune square that glamorizes (Neptune) firearms (Mars). It is the US's Mars-Neptune square that is responsible for the "we're so exceptional" delusion (more Neptune). It is the US's Mars-Neptune square that also dictates the "pull yourself up (Mars) by your own bootstraps (Neptune)" attitude and therefore denies universal health coverage or anything else that smacks of "socialism."

At the dawn of the recent Uranus-Pluto square, back in December 2012, 20 kids and 6 adults died in Newtown's Sandy Hook school massacre. I figured that if gun control laws did not change then, with all the tears shed about those poor innocent children, nothing would do it. Nearly three years and a buncha massacres later, all we have is a graying, somber-faced president giving a speech about how this routine has gotten old and that we all need to vote smarter and safer. I suppose I can hope that will happen, but with an election year featuring a Saturn-Neptune square, I cannot say that I feel that hopeful. I would love to be proven wrong.

Post-Mercury-Pluto Opposition Update / New Moon on a Mercury-Uranus Square

At the time I wrote yesterday's post, I was unaware that a gunman had shot and killed seven people in Santa Monica...so I would like to apologize if my "fun time for snipers and vipers" comment sounded too flippant.

The New Moon in Gemini occurred just before noon ET, and was followed just a few hours later by the Mercury-Uranus square. If you made the mistake of not only writing but sending an incendiary e-mail, it is too late to take it back -- but on the bright side, we are free of squares till the Moon squares Uranus on Monday at 12:33 p.m. ET, and tomorrow we will get a preview of the Saturn-Neptune trine with the moon's trines to Saturn and Neptune (exact at 11:10 p.m. and 11:19 p.m., respectively).

What this grand trine in water (Moon in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio, Neptune in Pisces) is all about it stabilizing, not suppressing, the emotions, and using them in a constructive, creative way. It is a good time to address family problems; although the Moon in Cancer is extremely sensitive and prone to withdrawing when threatened, Saturn's influence will encourage meeting challenges halfway while Neptune's influence will soften jagged edges and encourage imaginative solutions. It is also an optimal time to work on confronting your emotions, your deepest needs and fears. You may even be able to begin reshaping your instincts and intuition if you have not been able to rely on them. Your environment will be more important than usual at this time, and you may feel the urge to improve your home or go to the seashore.

Secrets, Power Trips, and Self-Deception--Oh My!

We are approaching two challenging aspects that already have manifested in a political scandal that could be called "Big Brother Is Watching You, Part XLIV." I am referring, of course to the phone companies in bed with the Obama administration, since apparently everyone is a potential terrorist. Yet we should all be comforted to learn that, unlike various invasions of privacy during the Bush II regime, this one has been sanctioned by the courts. There, don't you feel much better about it now?

The Mercury-Pluto opposition (exact 6:01pm ET) cautions us that communications are neither open nor transparent at the moment. You may be keeping a huge secret, or you may be deliberately kept in the dark about something important. Either circumstance will lead to paranoia and an imbalance of power. It is also possible that you will blow the lid off very sensitive information if the price is right or the pressure to spill the beans is too intense. If you run with a particular type of crowd, you may find yourself at the bottom of the bay, feeding the fish. Even if you run with no crowd at all, you may have an unpleasant interaction with a neighbor or sibling. Even if you are alone, you may wind up arguing with yourself. This will be a fun time for snipers and vipers.

The Mars-Neptune square (exact 7:58pm ET) unfortunately will not assist you in terms of intuition and timing. Self-deception is very likely, as is the desire to tie one on. If you insist on hitting the bars, try to wait till after the square -- Happy Hour will be more like Crappy Hour. If you have another type of poison, you may not react well to it. This is definitely not the right evening to go out for sushi and sake.