Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Fog of Neptune

Transits to the U.S. Chart – November 2010

This month, in the weeks following the election, Neptune stations direct on U.S. Moon, bringing up the notion of the ways in which the U.S. public (represented by the Moon in the national chart) might be either living in a dream world of their own making, or perhaps just outright deceived.

Other important transits are happening in this end-of-year period, and they serve to remind us that the wheel’s still in spin, and that although the hour is growing late, no die is finally cast. It is up to us to make the most of this moment, just as it is up to us to make the most out of every moment. In the first week of December, Uranus stations direct as well, making a strong aspect to U.S. Pluto as it does so. The New Moon of November 5th, just after the election, aspects both Uranus and Pluto, just as Pluto conjuncts the North Node and while the Uranus-Pluto square, hibernating during the winter months, is getting ready to make an enormous come-back in the spring and later, on into 2012. At the same time as the Uranus station on December 5th, the U.S. Chart is experiencing its Saturn Return, an occurrence that takes place approximately every thirty years. The last time this happened, there was a preliminary hit in November 1980, followed by the actual completion nearly a year later in October 1981. It is useful to recall the election cycle of 1980 that put Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1981 and ended the somewhat idealistic presidency of Jimmy Carter. Are there any similarities that we can find to our own times?

In other postings I have written extensively about all the Neptune influences on the U.S. chart these days, and what they might imply for the natal U.S. Neptune-Mars square, and for issues of deception in high places and with respect to the military. Specifically, transiting Neptune on U.S. Moon: Neptune has been hovering around U.S. Moon for many months, since roughly the beginning of 2010, continuing into 2011; transiting Uranus opposed to U.S. Neptune, which was active for 2008 and 2009, but has steadily faded in 2010 to be replaced however by Jupiter – active now and until mid-December; and there was also the Saturn transit in conjunction with U.S. Neptune in the summer of 2009. All these taken together represent a great deal of Neptunian confusion throughout the land.

It does indeed seem like there has been a fog of unreason in the national psyche for these last few years. First we had the very hopeful time of the election of President Obama, with the implied liberal fantasy of equality and energy policy reversals from the excesses of the Bush years. But, not so. Some feeble efforts at passing a health care bill with teeth in it. Lip service to ending one of the two costly wars that have gripped the nation since 9-11, but the results there seem more than a little muted, with permanent bases in Iraq still manned by U.S soldiers under slightly different orders of engagement and a civilian mercenary presence that is still very real and perhaps even stronger than before the summer of 2010 when things were supposed to be winding down. Then there is climate change – perhaps the most important priority of all, given the state of the planet, but the least successful of all, with little if any progress from the first years of the new century. Why? Because corporate interests do not run in the same direction, and money talks very loudly in 21st century America. But it is not so much the influence peddling that is the problem, but the lack of recognition on the part of the population. Again, the fog, the unawareness.

In all of this there is really no-one to blame but ourselves. It is tempting to blame the Obama White House, which after all is said and done has in many ways resembled the Bush White House, especially in regard to foreign and energy policy. The regulatory agency tasked with overseeing off-shore oil drilling – and what a great job they are doing – in the early part of the year referred to what they called the “third Bush term.” But all politicians are basically weather vanes, and the wind in present-day America just isn’t blowing hard enough to change the existing status quo.

This brings us back to the question: do these times that we are living through right now resemble the era of the 1980s, when it was said that “greed is good” and when conservative ideas of non-government triumphed to the joy of the very wealthy, and could this be the case even though we have a Democratic president in the White House? It does seem that the nation is even more off-course than when Reagan took over, wresting it from the liberal, albeit short-lived, policies of his predecessor and ripping the solar panels off the White House roof. Obama plans to put them up again, in a largely symbolic gesture, but will he succeed in making alternative energy a true priority? Of course, this is the real issue. It does seem that the corporate hijacking of the American government will continue, with the help of unconscious Tea Party advocates of “less government,” unless and until the public throws off their blinders and makes the courageous act of looking the ugly facts of the matter squarely in the face. With the powerful transits coming up over the next few years – which I have discussed in previous postings and will describe more fully in later ones – I think that there is a real chance for change, but it will take all of us, and it will take everything we’ve got.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Coming soon...

Henry's blog will be returning in October...