The effect of electronic communication has been profound. Telegraphs shrunk the world. Commercial radio and telephones pervaded life. Television brought what was called a “vast wasteland.” The Internet made things more interactive.

Now, access to all the world’s media constantly accompanies anybody who can afford a personal electronic device. Yet, for all of its influence, the history of electronic communications has also been very short.

The first working telegraphs were not in place until the mid-19th Century, less than 200 years ago. After that, things happened ever faster. With the advent of oceanic cables, it was possible to send messages around the world by 1902. With each successive form of communication technology, change of all kinds accelerated.

Now we have a world distinguished by a very rapid cycling fostered by electronic communication. Personal electronic devices become obsolete very quickly. The term “yesterday’s news” has become almost quaint. News developments are now updated and rapidly replaced every few minutes by reports of new events. Trends in entertainment (which is now all but indistinguishable from news), the arts and even science turn and reverse repeatedly. Fortunes are made and lost in a day, every day.

If the same sort rapid cycling were taking place with your moods and thoughts, you might be diagnosed as mentally ill. Similar fluctuations in blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration or metabolism would certainly make you feel physically ill. Fortunately, you are not your electronic devices — not yet, anyway. You are not so fast, and that’s good.

It is also fortunate that Mercury is astrology’s most logical corollary for both your mind and its electronic extensions. It can move around the zodiac at a speed of more than two degrees a day, but that rate is not continuous. Often Mercury is not so fast. There are even times of its retrograde (like now) when Mercury retraces its steps as if to repeat, review and revise; and that’s good too.

Unfortunately, Mercury’s periodic retrogrades (usually three times a year for about three weeks at a time) have acquired a bad reputation, when the reverse should be true. It’s not natural to plunge ahead at breakneck speed. It’s not good for your health. You have to sleep. You need to eat.

There are periods when it’s appropriate to slow down. There are even occasions when retreating and repeating are not only desirable but necessary. You are nearly always the better for those times. Hence, there is no reason to think you and your life cannot be better for Mercury retrogrades.

As represented by the context of retrograde Mercury’s conjunction with the Libra Sun tomorrow at 10:38 EDT (14:38 UTC), now is an excellent time to overcome the conditioning of stereotyped, hand-me-down astrology — as well as what rapid-cycling electronic media hands you. You can do so by simply saying ‘not so fast’ whenever possible, and see what happens.

The actual planet Mercury passing between the actual Sun and the planet Earth always correlates with the symbolic Sun and retrograde Mercury occupying the same degree of the same sign on the zodiac. This defines their interior (some say “inferior”) conjunction. There is, in fact, nothing inferior about it.

The interior conjunction always marks the mid-point of any Mercury retrograde period. In the context of everything else, this particular interior conjunction tomorrow represents a perfect time to say ‘not so fast’.

There has been a lot of very rapid change in the world and in astrology since mid-September. You probably know of the changes in the world, at least superficially. Along with the unprecedented travels of Pope Francis in Cuba and the U.S., there have also been many other meetings of the world’s political leaders in the same, remarkably short span of time.

Neither is it every day that the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives up and resigns. It is as though several months’ worth of current events have taken place in about two weeks. All of it (and more, more, more) has been brought to you by, and through, the non-stop phenomena of electronic communications.

The astrology has been similarly busy. We had a solar eclipse on Sept. 13, which probably seems like a long time ago now. We have just come out on the other side, with a total lunar eclipse you might have had the chance to see late Sunday (or early yesterday, depending on where you were).

Between those eclipses, Mars changed signs to enter Virgo, which in turn aspected (or emphasized) Saturn; Saturn, in turn, concluded nine months of slow oscillation from Scorpio into Sagittarius on Sept. 17. Additionally, the Sun precipitated a new season and equinox by entering Libra less than a week ago on Sept. 23. And don’t overlook Pluto resuming direct motion once again. These couple weeks have been like a highlight reel featuring a rapid cycling through astrology’s biggest events.

Unfortunately, highlights give you no idea how things got to be the way they are, or where they are going. This is therefore a good time to emulate Mercury (which represented your mind and its versatility long before electronic connections existed) as it merges with the Sun (which, among other things, is emblematic of consciousness). Go back so as to re-read those speeches and review the issues for yourself.

Tell the the talking heads of television, “not so fast.” Exercise some critical thinking of your own. Don’t feel pressured to select a candidate so fast either. Rather, set aside some time to listen to them debate. If probable photo ops and possibly staged events seem like dreams come true, don’t believe them so fast. Take time to digest, integrate and dream your own dreams instead.

It is better to let the world go by for the present than get by you forever. There is a lot going on, and if you are going to do your part, you need to be selective and take it in and review it at your own pace. So maybe, to cite just one example, lay off the sports for the time being. You can catch up with scores and standings more easily than with other, more substantial things.

Give yourself until Oct. 9 (when Mercury resumes direct motion once again) to go back and catch up at your own pace, as much as you practically can, with practical stuff. You won’t be sorry. It will be worth it. For you are very probably living in a very different world from just a few weeks ago. Get to know it, and how your life fits in. Not through all those electronic communications that drag you from one thing to the next, but by being mindful and conscious — even if it means not going so fast for a while.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

I decided to pay attention to Pope Francis today, an action I have long been avoiding. It was good for me, but also helped me to understand just how deep my distrust of the Church goes.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

I was a part of the Catholic Church until the age of six when my Catholic father died. I loved going to Sunday school, although I found the old people’s services to be boring and always dreaded the day when I’d have to go up in front of people to take the body of Christ.

At some point several years after my dad’s death, my mom decided to take my brother and me to a Methodist church — the denomination she claimed to be a part of even though she wasn’t practicing. Five minutes in, I informed her that we needed to leave because they were doing it wrong, and she decided it might be best for me to stay away from Catholicism.

Through the twists and turns of my own spiritual path, through my staunch atheism in my early twenties, I still tended to maintain a “to each their own” policy when it came to friends and family members and their religious choices. There came a point, however, where controversy surrounding the Catholic Church and child sex abuse became more than I could bear.

I could no longer remain passive. I could no longer hide the fact that I could in no way understand commitment to and worship of institutionalized child rape, especially on top of all of the other atrocities committed in the name of the Church over the past two millennia, not to mention its key role in putting the marks of repression all over the bodies of women.

I have very loosely followed this Pope’s story, seeing headlines that speak of humility, opposition to global warming (hooray!), interfaith dialogue and even an openness to “non-believers.” My initial responses have been that it’s a trick or manipulation of some kind, and that I just can’t bring myself to trust anything the Church does — because even if the dude is a spiritual leader, he’s also a political head. And besides, to this day he still opposes abortion rights, is no ally to the rights of my LGBTQ friends, and has been alarmingly vague in his response to the epidemic of child rape in the clergy.

Sure, there might be something to be said for his approach to changing the formalities of the papacy. But perhaps the only thing that will begin to chip away at my distrust is the full-out embrace of all people and a move towards more up-front, open and honest conversations about sex and sexuality, alongside an honest discussion of the ways in which clinging to power have distorted the teachings of Christ.

This begs the question of what is good enough. We have to compromise, right? In our relationships, in our day-to-day decision making, in our approaches to our own spiritual paths. I mean, I know that sugar is essentially poison and that it makes my tummy slightly bloated, but it’s in everything and sometimes I deserve the enjoyment of a piece of key lime pie, right? Perhaps Pope Francis is inching forward, making headway, all the while trying to bridge the gap between committed believers and those who have defected, or those who might be swayed to the Church.

It just…doesn’t seem good enough for me. I feel the same way about political leaders. I don’t expect them to be perfect, but I do expect them to be open and honest about their flaws and the problems of the systems they are supporting, and to address how to go forward in ways that show me they are working on it. I’m not saying that I’m advocating outright hatred or refusal of the Church, but discernment seems key. We live in a world where a “yes we can” chant becomes a platform in itself. We are so eager to give someone else our power to change the world, when in reality the power to change always lies within.

When it comes to the Catholic Church and the Pope, I just keep wondering the motives are. We are talking here about an imperialist institution. Imperialist entities strive to extend their power either through military force or diplomacy.

Reading the transcript <> of the Pope’s speech to Congress, I felt a few moments of hope that we are witnessing a true spiritual leader — whatever the heck that means — inspiring the masses, bringing the focus back to personal and social responsibility. But then I almost immediately ran across a story condemning the canonization of Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary who apparently headed up efforts that killed about 90% of indigenous peoples inhabiting California in the 1700s <>. Elevating this man to sainthood was one of the primary reasons for Pope Francis’ visits to the states.

The volleying between diplomacy and military force — or genocide — seems to be a go-to for the Catholic Church, and I’m just so incredibly ready for a radical shift away from that. Perhaps there are beautiful and meaningful parts of the religion that can still serve. I’ll hold a little space in my heart that maybe the world is seeing the progression of a spiritual leader that can bring us back to the heart, and to a focus on love and forgiveness. For me, however, that path will have to be paved with something more than what I’ve seen so far.

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

“We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind.”

–Pope Francis to the United States Congress, September 24, 2015

Saturn in Sagittarius certainly hit with an explosion, drawing our attention to all things philosophical and preparing the landscape for fireworks as regards our various religious establishments. Stuff happened, and some so bizarre it’s hard for the Western mind to grasp.

For instance, over 700 souls died, over 800 injured, in a stampede of Islamic hajj pilgrims just outside of Mecca. They were on their way to the traditional ‘stoning of the devil,’ the importance of which might seem reasonable to some of our evangelical brothers and sisters, but leaves most Americans scratching their heads. Indeed, one gent interviewed was too traumatized to continue his pilgrimage and planned to hire someone to do the stoning for him (scratch, scratch, scratch!).

Autumnal Equinox brought pagans across the world together for a celebration. One event in Kentucky (which has had its share of bad press lately) included a Pagan Pride Day which seemed particularly satisfying and well attended. The earth religions continue to exist in small, quiet groups, still cloistered in — as one Wiccan suggested — the ‘broom closet.’

It tickles me that we have an annual Harvest Festival, here in the Pea Patch, piggybacking on the earth-religion traditions while entertaining consumers of Amish jams and produce, local barbecue and handmade goods with serenades of old timey Christian revival hymns. If they only knew!

Born a Baptist, I sang along while working the Democrat’s booth last weekend, handing out buttons urging progressive activism while appreciating the nip in the air, the falling leaves, and the deep fellowship of community gathering. Here in the country we’ve forgotten a lot, but not the fecundity and generosity of Mother Earth. Should we humans begin to deflesh our beliefs and traditions, we would invariably find the good strong bones of the natural world at their base.

Of course, the whole concept of religiosity lit up like a Christmas tree here in America as the Pope hit Washington D.C. like a dose of salts. Conservative politicians flinched, Progressives hoped, and lapsed Catholics reconsidered, as the force that is Francis arrived with his signature warmth and expected candor. Give the man his due, he’s fearless. He insisted on traveling in a little Fiat — no bubbled popemobile for him — lunching with the homeless rather than the Congress, and even working the crowd line, allowing the occasional selfie.

On a political note, you may be surprised to learn that tanning enthusiast and Merlot drinker John Boehner has only been leader of the House of Representatives since 2011. Funny, it feels so much longer to me — and for him as well, it appears. Bringing the Pope to town has long been reported as the top entry on his bucket list, so it’s no surprise to learn that John, a devout Catholic, burst into tears during their initial meeting. What was surprising, however, even shocking, was the announcement that John has had enough of wrangling contentious Baggers. He will leave Congress in October, throwing water on the growing fire in the belly of his more ideological comrades to depose him.

Baggers are hell-bent on shutting down government over the funding of Planned Parenthood, something neither John nor Mitch McConnell in the Senate have stomach for, given the ramifications of the last government shut down. This has resulted in an assault on John’s speakership. According to The Hill, sharks have been circling for several weeks, a number of Reps eager to step into leadership should a coup occur.

So here’s the bad news: you can bet all of them are more aggressively right-wing than John. In fact, Establishment politicians everywhere, take note: the fat’s in the fire now!

The timing is synchronous on this, since the Pope’s visit seems the goad that pushed the Speaker into a decision he’s delayed since Eric Cantor lost his seat as Majority Leader in 2010, primaried by a Bagger who has offered little but fringe politics since. The replacement Majority Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, would be the default to step into John’s place, but that’s not a sure thing. McCarthy has a reputation of being easily bought and sold to the highest bidder — something the Baggers call “succumbing to the Borg” — and it’s their votes that are needed to enthrone him. There are others lining up, of course. Paul Ryan, failed VP candidate and remaining ‘young gun’ from a decade past, comes to mind, and there are others just as philosophically constricted and ambitious waiting in the wings.

As covered so well in Fe’s piece, I suspect John decided to go out in the blinding light that is Francis, hitting a high note of sorts. He’s got a point. The El Papa persona is beloved even by those who have no use for his Church, thanks to this man who has brought his Jesuit sensibilities to the Chair of St. Peter. He is perceived as compassionate, temperate and flexible, although his attractiveness belies his seriousness. Appropriate, I think, to a man whose Sun sits on the mysterious and compelling Galactic Center.

While we can truly appreciate how much gravitas Francis brings to his plea to our better angels — as illustrated by these quotes — and how that has shone light on what our world and nation so badly need, there is surely little change in the repressive doctrinal imperatives of the Catholic Church herself, nor should we expect any. In fact, the remainder of the quote at the top of the page holds up a mirror not just for us, but for Francis and his church as well:

A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. That is something which you, as a people, reject.

Kudos all the way home for the Pope’s plea to world leaders to restore equality, opportunity and justice in a waiting world, but how can we attempt to come to equality when women are denied reproductive rights? How do we entertain equality of opportunity when women are forced to carry and care for ill-conceived children with few resources at their disposal? How do we contemplate justice when women have not been ratified into the Constitution, and are still treated as property on subliminal, even conscious, levels?

As a native Californian, I can tell you that the canonization of Padre Junipero Serra — who militarized the mission system to conquer the indigenous population under the guise of religious conversion, killing enough to constitute cultural genocide — has rubbed not just Native Americans the wrong way, but many of us who have carefully studied history. This controversial action may be a matter of Francis not seeing the larger picture of colonization, but that seems unlikely, given his previous commentary on American imperialism. More likely suspect is the infallibility of the Catholic priesthood in its hierarchical and paternalistic tradition that bestows upon ‘the chosen’ godlike qualities, no matter their personal sins.

What do we say to the survivors of sexual victimization who discover that this Pope praised his bishops this week for their handling of sexual scandals, characterizing their behavior as both courageous and generous? Vatican watchers argue that this was commentary on the (eventual) rapprochement of victims in response to the Pope’s launch of a Vatican tribunal to punish clergy who try to cover abuse, and his commission to discover how best to help survivors. Yet the Church continues to fight legal battles to protect priests from the consequences of their actions. Again, it’s important to note that in Church doctrine, priests are more than mere humans, subject only to the judgment of the Almighty, and add that there is a large contingent of clerics in the Vatican hesitant to see that judgment become secular.

Republicans, who have co-opted religion in the last thirty years and rewritten the Gospels to suit themselves, have gotten over their initial spit-take over the Pope’s comments and are making it clear that he should get his nose out of their business. In their view, secular matters and religious matters are evidently as unmixable as sacred oil and holy water. Hypocritical, much, you ask? Best not to forget that money is the god we worship on these shores and power is the exchange required for access.

The very fundamentalism Francis warns against infects us all, it appears. Still, he has VERY successfully succeeded in changing the conversation, taking the focus off so much that seems out of our hands while pointing us back to our responsibility to create with ethics and kindness, reestablishing the Golden Rule as the commonality that must prevail within the human spirit if we are to succeed as a species. Those with ears to hear, as our biblical traditions tell us, will hear, and others will drag their feet. That’s the way of the world, and, as we’ve heard it said so often: Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Yet many hands have come together to build it, now, more than we know. Last week we also celebrated the 34th annual United Nations International Day of Peace, with a focus this year on “different parts of society working together to strive for peace.” Here’s a link to Deepak Chopra illustrating that principal within a very small group, and another report from Forest Whitaker, actor, activist and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, discussing the one-on-one interactions that are required if we are to make the changes our hearts desire. Consider them the petrie dish upon which our evolution rests, growing and spreading as a gentle alternative to all the dispiriting things that howl and strut and beg our constant attention.

The Pope coming to the U.N. at such a time seems another of those synchronous moments, sternly urging cooperation toward international justice and compassion, end of conflict, and environmental stewardship. As is the custom of this Pope, he paints a big picture but he puts a human face on it; this week, the face of the crowd awaiting his touch are the children and the homeless. That is exactly the face we need to see, my dears. And this is where we all — you and I and those we interact with every day — must begin to lean in.

Somewhere along the way, the amazing phenomenon of will, along with the many ways people can relate with each other and the cosmos, got into a narrow rut. Will became something either to break or assert in connection with power. Equality in relationships went by the wayside in favor of roles. Options and alternatives were either forgotten or prohibited.

Cooperation, probably the single trait that contributed most to humans being able to survive and prosper on Earth, was distorted into a scheme where the will of many serves the way of a few.

Community turned into hierarchy. Relationships between people and to the universe became one-sided. Our previous solid connection to Earth, sky and each other was diminished.

There are exceptions to the rule of being in a rut. There are ways to get out of a rut of being ruled. The Society of Friends (Quakers) is but one example of how people can relate to each other and the universe in gentle ways without need for a willful few to dominate a submissive many.

Yet, in literal spite of the Quaker’s grounded model of participation, few seek to become one. Perhaps because being a Quaker is no way to get ahead of others. Maybe because Quakers most often employ will to pull with each other creatively (which is challenging) rather than push against each other destructively (which is easy).

Issues of will and ways are turning up in the astrology even as you read this. Yet, like the gentle Quakers, many of those issues are being dominated by images of easy power, which promise much and deliver nothing — except an ever more narrow and deeper rut, which betrays your humanity rather than nourishing your highest potential.

Witness all those who are infatuated with pushing the manufactured (and ill-defined) idea of a “super Moon.” Even more sobering is how easily the implicitly divine phenomenon of a total lunar eclipse is being corrupted by a distasteful, dubious and explicitly profane advertising campaign to promote and sell what is called a “blood Moon.”

Haven’t you had enough of violent motion pictures and video games? Haven’t bullies and the brutalities behind the euphemism “power politics” worn out their welcome with you at long last? Are our connections to the Earth, sky and each other beyond repair? Is your will only capable of argument and dispute? Is there not yet a way to be both human and humane?

Perhaps when willful Mars finally leaves the fiery ways of Leo behind and enters grounded Virgo shortly before 10:18 pm EDT tonight (02:17:29 UTC tomorrow), we will finally be able to begin experiencing our current astrology for what it is.

For it is as if the astrology of the entire year thus far has been compressed like a software file, to be efficiently downloaded into your consciousness during the final two weeks of September. The third of three Mercury retrogrades in air signs reiterates. The second of two paired eclipses elevates. Saturn finally getting off the dime and leaving its past behind substantiates.

The second of two equinoxes re-relates the year’s theme of transition — not as a destiny, but as an option and an alternative to being in a rut. But only if you will yourself to defy all the ways of intimidation and intoxication that will otherwise keep you in it.  

It is has been a year in which your life has been confronted with a choice between the difficult ways of transition and the easy rut of denial. That’s especially true as regards to how you see your own personal will and your own daily ways in relationship to the rest of the universe.

As with any compressed file however, the information from this brief and amazing period of astrology can be distorted or lost if it is not opened properly. As it always is with astrology, the will to open yourself to it and the ways in which you do will make all the difference.

You can make a difference in what remains of this month. If you will it, there is a way out of the rut — for you, and for all of us together.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.