Book Recommendation - Soul Sick Nation by Jessica Murray

It is rather easy to find a essential books for Astrologers to read, such as Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand or Astrology and the Four Elements by Stephen Arroyo.  It is much harder to find essential books for both Astrologers and non-Astrologers to read, and so far, I have only found two.  Perhaps readers of this blog will have some other suggestions; if so, I hope you will share them.  Up until two weeks ago, I had only one book on this rarefied list, Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas.  Today, I want to add Soul Sick Nation by Jessica Murray.

Why should you ... no, no, why MUST you read this book?  Ms. Murray eloquently captures the true State of the Union for America and why it matters to the rest of the world.  Like it or not, as she says, so goes America, so goes the World.  And America is rotting from the inside and spreading that rot out to the rest of the world.  Condemn us though they may, most people and most countries would like to have America's level of overindulgence.  The problem, as Ms. Murray so astutely points out, is America's arrested spiritual development.  We are a nation that has devolved into a country run by adolescent behavior.  Spiritually speaking 13 year olds are at the helm of the ship, driving the car, and piloting the plane.  And she gets at the root of the problem with Astrological incisiveness; America is living the shadow of its Pluto in the 2nd House, where "getting mine" is taken to a dark level in the pursuit of control of resources.

From a Super Size Me philosophy to a Wag the Dog war, America has pushed self-interest to darkly divine status, where "Greed is Good" and acting immaturely is revered.  Murray chooses the Sibley Astrological chart for the Birth of the Nation and shows both America's potential and how the shadow side has erupted into the behavior of the common way.  The Bush presidency is the purest, unadulterated expression of America's dark side, where all the world is either "with us or against us."  No attempt was made to hide the fact that the rich have completely dismantled the safeguards that created a better country than had existed world wide, on the whole, for the benefits of its citizens.  And from an Astrological perspective, we need more blatant disregard to wake up the world.  I often joke that no one will really believe in Global Warming until the subways of New York are filled with ocean water and even then a large number of people in America will still believe it is a terrorist plot.  People in this country, generally, have embraced an i"gnorance is best" policy that is shamefully astounding.

If you want to see the deep power of Astrology, not only to point out how and why things are F'ed up, but also the answer that is the way out, then go buy Ms. Murray's book RIGHT NOW!  Really, no kidding, ALL CAPS.  And if you do and you do read it, I want to talk with you about it.  She has her pulse on a America and it's pretty erratic and headed towards cardiac arrest (can we say "implosion" of entitlement programs - Social Security and Medicare).  But she also has a very fundamental solution that calls of us to action at a level we can all manage if we choose to take up the call.  I am trying and I hope you will too.