November Election, A Shift in Stagnation

I find specific predictions in astrology to be lucky at best and discrediting, all too frequently, at worst.  So when I think about and engage in future considerations it is with thoughts towards energy patterns or energy waves (so well described in Understanding the Future: A Survivor's Guide to Riding the Cosmic Wave*The Major Astrological Predictions from Now to 2020 and How They Will Shape Our World - Paperback (Sept. 2, 2008) by Lyn Birkbeck).  The Tea Party is a perfect fit for a specific kind of energy wave coming more and more into play as Lilith approaches Uranus, leading to an exact conjunction in March of 2011.  Since the exact conjunction is a good ways out, I am inclined to think that Tea Party/Republican wins will be substantial, but not enough to move the gridlock in the American political scene that never wavered after the Obama election (only 58 Senators were Democrats, two were independents, then Edward Kennedy died and a Republican, Scott Brown, took his seat).  Republicans will need to pick up 17 seats to get to the majority needed to override Presidential vetoes.  I doubt this kind of change will happen, so we will essentially experience what I want to call a Shift in Stagnation.

The stagnation comes from the fact that both parties support a welfare state and debt.  For Democrats the welfare state revolves around Civil Service and for the Republicans the welfare state revolves around Military Service.  Actually, the Democrats don't have much luck cutting the welfare state of the Military, but the Republicans can seem to make inroads into cutting social programs.  Neither will make actual cuts to the overall budget; any cuts made will be to welfare programs of the other group or outside the big "untouchables": military, social security, and medicare.  What we will see is more removal of the old political guard, and we need that to happen so the American electorate can learn that old or new congressmen and senators DO NOT MATTER.  Governments are,  in essence, behind the times, slow to the game, sound and fury signifying ... well ... not much.  Why?  Because Democratic candidates and Republican candidates will get their campaign contributions from the same large pot (Corporations and Banks) and often from the exact same little pots (Merkel will give 1 million to the Democratic AND Republican candidate).   Really, what does it matter to a corporation or bank, which can move fluently worldwide, without much regard for borders, who PRETENDS to run the country so long as their agendas are covered based on campaign payments.

The Tea Party members will not be immune to this influence and their presence in politics will NOT represent a major shift in American economics.  For this reason, I do not see the impending energy shifts, begun first with Pluto's ingress into Capricorn, to be followed by Uranus' ingress into Aries (finally and fully in March of 2011) and Neptune's ingress into Pisces (finally and fully in February or 2012) as having their full on impact until the end of 2012 or 2013.  Since we are talking about some pretty big movements of energy, I am comfortable with a leeway of 2 to 3 years, observing as I do that rock bottom probably won't occur until 2014/2015.  If balance sheets in countries do not begin to show some kind of decline between now and 2013, the next Recession will be a Depression and the illusion of government "control", "policing", and "care of the public good" will be revealed in such a fashion that truly radical change may finally be possible.  Expect some violence to rear up during that time as it often does when times get truly desperate.

Now, can a dark scenario be prevented and even turned into a positive scenario?  Of course.  These energies are forming and playing out for that very reason, for humanity to take advantage of the lesson and emerge into a brighter future.  But we will face the toughest challenge of all, and its not about resources, technology, or "growing our way out of the problem", but about CHANGING BEHAVIOR, the most monumental of all tasks!  Hopefully Uranus in Aries is up to the task because Pluto in Capricorn is certainly putting to task all the "big structures" and their presumed hubris of being "too big to fail."  We will absolutely need a completely "new and shocking" way of thinking while Pluto and Uranus move in parallel in the cardinal signs of Capricorn and Aries until March 2019. 

US Astrology: The November 2nd Elections (2010)

A look at the transits and progressions active in the United States astrology chart for November 2, 2010 reveals a tremendous amount of important pressure being exerted on key energy points of the US birth chart.  There continues to be ongoing debate about the exact time to attribute to the birth of the US and I am comfortable accepting that all well-researched times reveal various important truths about this nation.  For my own work I have found the Sibley Chart, which assigns a birth time of 5:10PM, to offer highly significant interpretations in line with current events.  I want to provide an interpretation of the upcoming election day within the framework Steven Forrest and Northwatuppa provide in their videos about the Cardinal T-Square (see my previous blog to view the videos). Forrest talks about the amount of pain we must encounter and endure before we are ready to face our difficulty and seek the proper healing.  Northwatuppa discusses the Uranus/Lilith conjunction that reveals kinky dark energy prepared to shock us by coming forth more openly over the next year.  I relate this energy to the expression of the Tea Party movement currently active in American politics.  So what does the 11/2/2010 US transits and progressions chart show us along these lines and others.  Below is the chart; I am using the whole sign system as written about by Demetra George in her book Astrology and the Authentic Self.

To view a larger image of the chart, click here.

There has been plenty of time given to general discussions of the T-Square of Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus and other transits.  In this post I want to put these and other relationships into context against the birth chart energy of the US.  This chart includes a second set of evolving energies, progressions.  Progression calculations allow us to slow down the faster moving planets and see their energy impact over longer periods of time, much in the same way we look at Jupiter through Pluto because they cover time ranges from 1 year to 15 years per sign.  Progressed Sun to Progressed Mars, gives us the same 1 to 10+ years of duration.  The chart above is one of the most "complete" astrologers can cast because we see all the energy points apply over longer durations of impact.  While it is very important to note the transit and progressed aspects (like the tPluto square with tUranus and pMars oppositie pVenus) in and of themselves, the most powerful aspect to consider is the conjunction, when energies merge, not only transit to transit or progression to progression, but transit and/or progression to the birth chart energy point.  As you can see we have two powerful transit to transit conjunctions occurring currently and on 11/2 (tNeptune/tChiron and tUranus/tJupiter).  And, of especial importance, the tNeptune/tChiron conjunction is also conjunct the natal US Pallas Athena and Moon (nPallas and nMoon)!

Suffice to say, the 11/2 elections are going to be a big deal!  A lot will be happening, a lot of potential and possibility, all with strong implications for lower and higher vibration expressions.  I like the Sibley whole sign chart because the transit of Pluto occurs in the 2nd House of values and security, personal home security (your individual wealth and material needs/standing).  A Capricorn 2nd House is very fitting for a nation that believes its home should be its castle.  We are driven (Capricorn) to achieve in our personal material gain and put forth our own values (privacy and independence, getting what is ours).  Pluto rocking this house reflects the kind of personal transformation in values and status that comes in a Recession and Depression.  Of important note is the conjunction tPluto will have at this time with the tNorth Node.  The North Node represents a need to express something while lacking the full understanding of how to express it.  Basically, we need to find new values (or more appropriately revive some very important old ones ... frugality, savings, integrity), we feel this energy deeply but remain unclear how best to manifest it (North Node).  It is times like these that open the door for charlatans and opportunists (like Mussolini, Hitler, or Stalin).  We will hear many simplistic solutions to complex problems and the "easy" choice will present itself as very attractive, especially to a society grown "fat" with entitlements unearned (debt Supercycle unwinding). The Tea Party is an excellent manifestation of this energy combination.  Once you move beyond the "stop government spending" slogan, the details become very antagonistic to specific groups (for the Nazi Party it was the Jews, for the Tea Party it is the Immigrants and Liberals ... and the parallels are tLilith eerie, noting that tLilith is in the 4th House of the US chart).

We can only wonder if this Lilith expression can either gain majority support or have enough focused minority support (while the majority remains largely apathetic) to gain control of government decision making.  Considering some of the moral character shown by Tea Party candidates, I suspect Big Business and the Banking Industry will be very happy to have these people available to their lobbyists.  The candidates we need elected are the ones NOT receiving large donations from special interest groups, but the irony in the current age is that a candidate cannot run unless he or she has a very large "war chest".  We face real limitations in change due to the design of the current system, which is why tPluto is making is move through Capricorn, to bring about fundamental change to large systems.

Let's get back to the chart and two progressed energy points that stand out, both for their current aspect with one another and their conjunct/opposition aspects with the US chart energy points.  I am referring to pMars (Libra/11th) opposite pVenus (Aries/5th).  Here's why everything in this country feels polarized; the masculine energy and feminine energy are in direct opposition and they are in opposing sign energy (Libra is ruled by Venus and Mars is ruled by Aries), so the energies are in mutual reception.  More than ever we need collaboration, not compromise or combat.  Unfortunately, energetically, pMars is conjunct nSaturn and nJuno, making the desire to change very difficult.  With these energies in the 11th House of Community, pMars inclines us to think we will best help society by doing what we want selfishly (the shadow expression) or by restoring local community health (higher vibration expression).  Libra's shadow expression is "follow the rules" no matter what while its higher vibration is about making proper judgments as circumstances change.  Think of the financial crisis this way; government has done all it can to hold up the very institutions and their behaviors with as little change to the rules as possible.  Note too that tSaturn will be conjunct nSaturn during this election cycle as well.  Change to the "status quo" is available, but may only turn out to be apparent.

 

Saturn and Mars have a "go to war tendency" and we can certainly feel and see that energy in American politics.  Opposite this energy is pVenus conjunct nChiron, which means we are in touch with our wounds via our relationships.  Who now does not know someone adversely affected by the economic downturn.  Seemingly independent adult children are moving back in with parents and parent retirements suffering financial hits are forcing new conversations with children about end of life plans.  This whole configuration (pMars/nSaturn/nJuno opposite pVenus/nChiron) could be summed up as, "we are our own worst enemy."  The great potential of this configuration could be using the drive of pMars to make changes in our laws (nSaturn) and our personal contracts, of which marriage is the most fundamental, (nJuno) for the betterment of society (11th House) while balancing (opposition at the higher vibration) the healing opportunity (nChiron) with our familial and cultural relationships (pVenus) in the area of our creative self-expression (5th House).  It is a matter of conscious choice.  What do you think is most likely to happen?

Finally, for this entry anyway, I want to focus on perhaps the most powerful transit scenario in play on 11/2, the tNeptuneR (R for retrograde) conjunct tChironR conjunct nMoon in the 3rd House near the ingress point of the 4th House.  Having a natal Moon so close to the 4th House is, I think, indicative of Americans passion about and for privacy.  Our Sun in the 8th House and in the Northern Hemisphere, along with our Sagittarius Ascendant gives this country its profound outward expression in the world.  The Cancer Sun gives us our Hero complex.  But the Moon near the cusp of the 4th House shows how deeply private and personally hidden we often want to be.  Neptune deals with dreams/delusions and compassion/insanity while Chiron is about healing/wounding and collaboration/compromise.  Both of these energies have been in conjunction during the time of this Recession and both have been dancing over the end of Aquarius/3rd House and beginning of the Pisces/4th House.  Their final movement through the sign of Idealism unveils the wounds of our dreams/delusions.  Many articles written about the financial crisis use the phrase "The End of the American Dream".  During the Bush Presidency, the American cache of goodwill was not only spent, but also put into debt.  Being the lowest part of the chart, we are wounding ourselves and deluding ourselves.  Much of the rhetoric of the upcoming election will likely include a "return to glory" theme.  We need to "go back" ... to smaller government, protectionist policies, and states rights strength.

In the positive, I think the current energy of this configuration is trying to tell us to slow down, refocus on local community, and turn reflectively inward (not fearfully inward).  Forrest does not directly say we have not yet experienced enough pain, but I think he gently implies that our country and the people worldwide have not actually hit rock bottom yet.  And we most likely need forces outside us to help us along the way, like global warming that moves coastlines into fertile soil or resource depletion that begins to affect our ability live our "normal" lives.  It has been written that, in America, the children of my child's generation may be the first to have a shorter life span than her/their parents, thanks largely to a lifelong artificially (not organically) provided diet.  We are seeing the signs of "too much of a good thing is bad" and feeling the effects of over extension.

In the end, I think the fact that the 11/2 elections will occur while four energy points are Retrograde (Jupiter, Chiron, Uranus, and Neptune) and they are "back" in the sign they are leaving, we will see votes being cast to try to get us "back to where we were before" instead of "ahead to where we are going."  I expect very reactionary voting which will lead to further reactionary decision making at all levels of power in an attempt to staunch the inevitable change that Pluto is bringing to our most powerful institutions.  The financial crisis and subsequent bailouts nakedly revealed the true power governing the world, and it is not world governments.  They tooled up to protect the real power managers.  All the potential for higher vibration fundamental positive change is very much present, but it will require, thanks to the various configurations, a great deal of conscious effort to bring about the positive manifestations.  Paradoxically, we may need more darkness (tSaturn on nSaturn, tLilith approaching tUranus, tNeptune/tChiron on nMoon, pMars on nSaturn, and tPluto approaching nPluto) before we see the light.  Even so, everyday, we can choose to see the light whenever we want in front of or ahead of any victimizing darkness.  In my life I'm choosing to see the light and trying to be beacon, however small for others.  I hope you will too.