By Amanda Moreno

There is a difference between life as you dream it and life as it is. Sometimes it can be difficult to reconcile that difference, especially when the contrast is stark. Yet, imagination is critical. Our ability to bring the image of what we desire into full detail in our minds is what can help it to actually manifest.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

Sometimes, however, the difference between life as we dream it is so different from reality that it seems all we can do is shut down. This has been one of those weeks.

I’ve learned over time that when there is a natural disaster with mass casualties it’s best for me not to tune into the news. I feel the shock and trauma pretty viscerally as it is, as it ripples out from the epicenter of the event, around the world. I don’t particularly need an onslaught of media hype and 24/7 shock-and-awe coverage to help me understand that the losses have been extreme. I feel it in increased emotionality, exhaustion and despair.

After the quake in Nepal, I turned my browser to cnn.com just out of curiosity (I never go to CNN for news. Ever.). What I saw was the word “SHATTERED” right above an image of rubble and bodies. I then worked an earth-stabilizing, loving kindness guided meditation into a class I was teaching, made a decision to focus my inner work on the same for the days to come, and decided not to tune in to any more media. And then…Baltimore.

So we currently have volcanic eruptions, a major earthquake, and another outbreak of violent mayhem in America all amid a constant hum of genocide, ecocide and suffering on Earth. I wonder so often how it is that people aren’t just walking around wailing — and I suppose there are some who are.

As this is the first round of catastrophe since my new and improved emotional body has risen to the surface, I’ve been curious about how my empathic self might respond differently this time. What I’ve noticed is not an increase in emotion, as I’d suspected, but that it’s brought me into contact with my own capacity for avoidance, particularly in the form of stuffing (food, drink) and sitting in front of my computer for hours without really knowing what I’m doing there. I’m not paying attention to the news. I’m just avoiding my emotions.

In an attempt to keep this column relevant, I started going through links people had emailed me and links I saw on Facebook in order to try to grasp the core of what’s going on in Baltimore. The effort didn’t last very long, however. It’s not for lack of caring. It’s more due to an intolerance of all of these dualistic perspectives I kept reading. The issues are so complex and yet there it is — right/wrong, good/bad, us/them.

I read something a few weeks ago that discussed the difference between duality and polarity. It said that duality is a mechanism that excludes knowledge of one side from the other. Polarity, on the other hand, or the act of polarizing, invites the individual to consider all sides of the discussion or possibility, therefore incorporating knowledge of both or all into the polarity. As I read articles about citizens defending cops, the misplacement of the use of non-violence, and all kinds of really intelligent and well-written perspectives, I couldn’t help but think that what I was seeing was quite dualistic, even if it meant well.

I also became very much aware of my own privilege. Although I’m predominantly non-white, I grew up in a very privileged community. For the first time in my life, a description of white privilege has made sense to me. That is, that white privilege is what allows one to ignore events in the world that are important or impactful to others. It made me think — and then pay more attention.

It seems like what we really need to be doing right now, or at least what I need to be doing, is listening. And probably allowing myself way more time for tears and anger about the state of the world, but that’s another discussion.

Life as I dream it has seemed so distant lately that I have felt depression for the first time in 15 years or so. Depression in that sense of not feeling connected to the heart, of feeling like I’m spending so much time repressing fear, anger, hate and shame that there is no energy left for anything else. It’s been hard to motivate myself to stand up and do things like laundry, or dressing, or feeding myself — even though that difficulty doesn’t last that long and I can push through it. I think this is at least partially because although I’ve been able to deal with the world situation in the past, that’s been largely due to the fact that my personal life situation has been pretty fabulous, or even just good.

Right now the two are colliding — the world situation feels like it’s getting worse and worse, and my personal life… well, there haven’t been any catastrophes, but it’s been getting increasingly difficult for a while now and I need to make some “adult decisions” about how to move forward. In my dream world, if I just focus on what I love I’ll be able to make it sustainable. I haven’t totally given up on that dream, but am realizing it is feeling further and further as obstacles seem to stack up and overlap in untenable ways.

I just reached over and chose a tarot card for some help determining where to go from here in this column: Seven of Pentacles. Hard work. A return on investments. Having a long-term view and being focused on the sustainability of results. That rings true for me on the personal level as I reevaluate the way I’ve arranged my life and changes I need to make in order to make this alternative relationship/career/living situation thing sustainable. But at the collective level…

Well, I think of the articles I’ve seen that have to do with non-violent protest and its misuses in Baltimore. They are really intelligent discussions. But…non-violence is also what I strive for and what I believe in unapologetically and without reservation. It’s one of my few totally stubborn beliefs.

Imagine what would happen if every human agreed that every life is sacred and therefore worthy of safety, food, water, shelter — and of living without harm? Going deep enough into the context and history of why things are the way they are is a daunting task, but something we have to do in order to change them. How do we address the deep-rooted and entrenched facets of our culture that have led to an institutionalization of violence, militancy, rioting, slavery, hunger, homelessness and inequality? That have led us to think there are ever situations where violence is OK?

I in no way mean to attack anyone’s beliefs, and those sentiments are not meant as accusations. But what are the root issues and how do we heal them?

The drive to protect and to kill, as defense and as a means to providing food and resources, is a deeply embedded remnant of our recent past. It has been pushed down into our unconscious and made ‘bad.’ We ignore it, but it still exists — as psychopathy, as warfare, as abuse and rape, as rioting, as “rough rides.” That urge is essentially exploited and exacerbated by the institutionalized slavery system we call “Capitalism.” We have to figure out how to bring that energy up, acknowledge it and do something constructive with it.

I imagine a time when we can recognize those instincts coming up and then go dance, or shout and yell, or make some art or do some chanting or exercise and use the energy to manifest something in alignment with a vision for a culture that is sustainable. Or hell, have an argument with real live communication and respect. I imagine a time when those instincts can be held and transformed in the container of like-minded communities where those who feel grief for the world are encouraged to express it.

Some would call that idealistic. I just call it realistic. If we keep refusing to listen, to change, to meet the other with compassion for and acknowledgement of suffering, letting go of our own persecutor/victim complexes, we are not going to make it.

There is something in the Seven of Pentacles that also reminds us of the importance of stopping to appreciate the work we’ve done. This is particularly important when frustration arises. So to any and all who feel the world situation in those deep and emotional ways — thank you for feeling, thank you for existing, and thank you for your honesty and for the work you do. It makes a difference. I really do believe we are working towards a worthy goal. It’s just taking a long time to get there.

By Sarah Taylor

In this week’s reading, the seed of the third card — the card on the right, the Six of Cups — is found in the first — the card on the left, The Magus (The Magician in the Rider-Waite Smith tarot). This feels important to note: what is to come has its roots firmly in what has just passed.

The Magus, Death, Six of Cups from The Röhrig Tarot deck, created by Carl-W. Röhrig. Click on the image for a larger version.

Because it might not be easy to hold to this idea when you start to move through the deep inner transformation of the card at centre, the Death card.

Remember: you might temporarily lose sight of perspective, shifting as you are into the underworld or cocoon in order to emerge, skin-shed; the old wintriness of your outer husk removed to reveal something altogether more colourful.

And someone altogether less alone, it seems.

The Magus is Mercury. He is the principle of action that comes after the stepping into the infinite potential of The Fool. He takes the energy of that quantum field of possibility and starts to shape it into manifest reality. In the Rider-Waite Smith version of the card, the Magician stands before a table that has on it the four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. He has one hand pointing up towards the heavens, the other pointing down towards the earth: as above, so below.

Above The Magician’s head in the RWS card — and in this version just below his hand — is the lemniscate, or infinity sign. You, as The Magus, represent an endless mode of creation. You use the flow to form your world — this flow coming from a masculine connection with Spirit, depicted in the light that radiates from The Magus’s crown. You are creating yourself into a metamorphosis. Your mind is about to undergo a shift, moving away from something light, airy, Mercurial and in constant motion, and towards a downward movement into emotional embodiment.

But first, before embodiment, the Death card, which you are currently moving through. It might seem that the activity of The Magus is a distant memory as you immerse yourself in the sloughing off of a particular way of being. There might be a felt sense of having ‘gone to ground’. Maybe there is grief — maybe a sense of ‘not-knowing’ — at the falling away of what once felt so much a part of you. It was a part of you, indeed — and it still is, even as it dissolves, changes and reveals what you are becoming.

Again, bear in mind the phrasing: “as you immerse yourself.” Yes. You are immersing yourself. This isn’t happening to you. You are happening to yourself. Through any confusion, there is a part of you that is complicit in your own transformation. The most obvious wording on the Death card is not “death,” but “rebirth.”

And so, finally, you are reborn — into communion with the beloved, or the Beloved, or both; this may be something you experience alone, or with another. What is clear, though, no matter the nature of that communion, is that this love affair is one that you have experienced before in different ways. It might feel new but at the same time deeply familiar. You fall into the arms and embrace of a presence that feels like a home-coming. And it is passionate, surrendered, love-infused. You are filled with love. The Six of Cups is the heart-based knowing of what you only knew intellectually in The Magus. It was a whisper that has now become blood flowing through your veins, beating through your heart.

You have come around again, and you are held. Feel the warmth as you re-emerge from the chrysalis and into the light once more.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: The Magus (Mercury), Death (Scorpio), Six of Cups (Sun in Scorpio)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Once again, it’s been a week of tit and tat, point and counterpoint, our cultural divides apparent in the halls of justice and on the streets, our emotions flowing from sorrow to anger and back again. Seems like we move from challenge to challenge without time to consider our shifting attitudes, but if we step back a bit, the picture of our growth becomes a bit clearer — and much more impressive.

We’ve hit a turning point in recapturing realism, even as proponents of the old mythologies bite and claw to regain their stronghold. Freddie Gray’s death has been ruled a homicide, for instance.

Yes, it took Baltimore burning, and 22 charred patrol cars, to get a grip on the fact that we can no longer tolerate another unarmed black man being killed by police without consequence.

It took viral video of the mother of a young protester, descending on him like an unexpected storm, to turn the nation’s ’tisk tisk’ mentality away from the destruction of rioting ‘thugs,’ and toward examination of her fear and concern over his safety from the police presence, some quite obviously past the point of reason. As Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told Charlie Rose last evening, while some may propose this woman for “Mother of the Year,” others only see how completely prior generations have failed the disenfranchised youth who faced off against the cops in the streets of Baltimore.

It’s taken astounding confrontation with mainstream media to press the point that things must change, here and here, offering a surprisingly candid view of the racial violence at hand and the tone-deaf response. It took the President finally having a no-nonsense moment about the chronically tolerated structures behind racial disparity. And it took the previous deaths of Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, Walter Scott and hundreds, even thousands, more like them to get our attention.

We’re being challenged to grow. We’re being challenged to feel. We’re being asked to see our cultural diversity as strength, not weakness. We’re being asked to find our commonalities, rather than our differences. And while many of us are meeting that bar with grit and determination, others are being pulled toward it, kicking and screaming.

We can see that conflict in the Supreme Court, for instance. In some of the lamest pretense for intellectual discussion I’ve heard lately, the Supremes, hearing oral arguments on same-sex marriage, questioned whether or not this is the ‘right time’ to force states into compliance, given how quickly public opinion has shifted on this topic. This seems to me a riff on the parental notion that tolerance and/or acceptance of civil rights on gender issues is “just a phase” the nation is going through, no doubt fostered by the certainty on the right that allowing same-sex marriage to go forward is a grievous mistake and Biblical offense of gigantic proportions.

The Federalist argument that approval should remain a province of the state falls flat for those of us interested in establishing that “level playing field” Mr. Obama and Ms. Warren speak of so often. Essentially, the handful of states unwilling to accept same-sex marriage as a civil right are the same ones that always throw a monkey wrench. They’re the same ones that put Mr. Lincoln on high alert in centuries past, that resisted mixed-race marriage, that refused integration of public schools — and not so very long ago. Waiting for them to voluntarily allow their LGBT citizens marriage equality is the equivalent of waiting for Godot.

This ruling is meant to be definitive, finally settling the legalities of a problem that has had us stymied for a couple of decades, and sure fodder to stoke the fires of culture war. Granted, the issue is older than that by centuries but remember, we only came to terms with our gay brothers and sisters because the AIDS crisis forced us into awareness.

Prior to that, in most of the country this demographic existed under cover, “in the closet” and reluctant to make waves. To be sure, the average citizen was encouraged not to look. Safer to think that our wonky old great-aunt and her life-long roommate were just eccentric, than suppose anything ‘perverse’ happened in their household. Best to think of cousin Henry as a confirmed bachelor that no woman would have than one of those sissy-guys, seldom invited to reunions and NEVER asked to baby-sit. We were ALL in the closet, weren’t we?

Upright (up-tight) jurist Sam Alito seemed to be fishing for some way to split the difference on mandating same-sex marriage this week, rather than go all in, which signals the weakness of the defense. Indeed, there is little actual defense than can be offered against allowing those who love one another to legalize their commitment, unless one delves into the mythology surrounding this issue. Most of these arguments are provided by the evangelicals in their ardor to prevent America from suffering the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Biblical tale in which the family patriarch threw his virgin daughter to the lust-filled Sodomites rather than surrender his angelic visitor. And — seriously — you’d think evangelical women would get a clue right there, wouldn’t you?

Indeed, it is the gender role of women that has come under close scrutiny in this sea-change known as marriage equality. And leave it to the redoubtable Justice Ginsberg to spell it out in no uncertain terms. When one member of such a legal arrangement is defined as subservient based on gender, then how can that possibly work with two people of the same sexual persuasion? Hence, when traditional definitions no longer apply, it’s time for a new definition — and a new tradition.

Josh, the oldest of the Dugger children (the “19 Kids & Counting” reality-show family that practices “quiverful” living in order to populate the world with true believers) has taken on the fight against gay marriage as a form of discrimination against his faith. So, to cut to the chase, he’s outraged that his ability to discriminate against others is being discriminated against? Yes, exactly. Everything that threatens his traditional (cultish and regressive) definition of family is an attack on his faith. He’s joined by most of the radical-right churches — and the politicians who curry their favor — in his belief that Christianity is under attack by secularism, a notion the founders would have batted down like a pesky fly, given their experience of religious oppression and desire for secular, egalitarian government.

Yet, after years of being manipulated by the Christocratic arm of the political spectrum, it’s no longer possible for the public to ignore fundamental Christianity’s thumb on the scale of equality. A deserved backlash may eventually become the fulfilling prophecy of those Christians whining about persecution. Thanks to the dust-up that Indiana Governor Mike Pence moderated with his failed Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the spotlight has turned to examine how the evangelical movement negatively impacts the whole of national politics.

Forever fussing about assaults to his Christian (superiority) exceptionalism, Mike Huckabee has announced this week that “We are moving rapidly toward the criminalization of Christianity.” Ted Cruz, speaking to the faithful, informs that “There is a liberal fascism that is dedicated to going after believing Christians who follow the biblical teaching on marriage!” One amicus brief filed by a number of conservative lawyers and professors, revealing its fundamentalist underpinnings, makes so little sense it wouldn’t make it across the desk of a 7th grade debate teacher. It posits that there is a link between same-sex marriage and abortion, with some 900,000 “unborn” projected to die as a result of such a ruling over the next thirty years.

As pointed out by Daily Beast contributor Candida Moss, understanding this far-fetched abortion argument requires in-depth knowledge of the Armageddon dialogues and their black/white, good/evil absolutes, while Bob Cesca offers a fine history lesson, patiently deconstructing the possibility of being both liberal and fascist at the same time. It would be helpful to the real world if those passionately opposed to same-sex marriage had an actual defense to offer, along with examples of victimization that involved real people and not simply a perceived assault on religious dogma. It would at least make the angst and struggle and money spent in an effort to limit these marriages credible.

And Mammon, being served regularly both privately and from the pulpit, seems to have pulled the old switcheroo! Mike Huckabee and others who pander to the religious base have taken exception to the many powerful corporations who have recently perceived discrimination against gays as dangerous to their bottom line (profit margin). Business concerns seemed to quickly mobilize against gay-bashing in Illinois a few weeks back, breaking traditon and tearing down one of those counted-upon walls linking the business class with the religious.

While some, like Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, have announced that business is not the boss of them — well, we know how this goes, don’t we? Of course I’d rather see this church/state backlash take form from a point of principle, but I’ll take what I can get. If the money boys see religious pandering as a losing investment, then — God Bless America! — the needle has begun to move from the bias of the elders to the clear-eyed acceptance of gender equality among the youngsters. There’s no fighting it. It’s here to stay.

I received a change.org petition about a gay teacher at a Catholic high school in Omaha, Nebraska (deep in the heartland, let me remind you) who lost his job when he announced his engagement to his boyfriend. He was not surprised to be fired, but he did not expect what happened next.

The kids at the school counted him among their favorites, and they rallied against the administration’s decision, wearing T-shirts that read “I support Mr. Eledge,” along with the Human Rights Campaign logo on the front. And, very much to the point of their religious education, the back quoted Jesus from John 13:34: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Student Darya Kaboli-Nejad, interviewed by a local television reporter, put it this way:  “We can’t force a change, but we can inspire a change.”

The decision to legalize gay marriage at the federal level, expected in June, seems all but certain. The arguments against are incomprehensible, and like it or not, this issue has finally taken its rightful place as a matter of civil liberty. The change was inspired awhile ago, with 38 states having already received the memo. Those who hold out only serve to marginalize themselves, yet again.

So here we are, waiting to see what the court decides, but this time it doesn’t seem to be so big a deal. Those of us who think we’re forever stuck in dysfunction and chaos need to look very carefully at how things are beginning to shift. Years of baby steps eventually move the needle, bringing what appears to be sudden change, none of which could have arrived without months, even years, of advocacy that smoothed the way for progress.

I suppose that those who have so little confidence in their own marriage practice that they must deny others the same privilege will continue to fight tooth and nail, but it’s too late now. Love wins in this matter of marriage, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.

And eventually, perhaps not so long from now, the white and privileged citizens of this nation will understand that loving one another, as they are loved, includes even those who have been marginalized, disenfranchised and victimized by systemic disinterest and disregard, projected from subconscious guilt and fear. The promise of this nation cannot be realized until we’ve moved the needle to include us all.

By the way, Happy Beltane and May Day to all! Go here to read about how American activism gave the world an eight-hour work day, and how that victory is universally celebrated while we ignore it. Renewing the rights of the working class needs to move to the top of our national To Do List.

The Moon entered tropical Libra earlier today. It will move on to Scorpio as Saturday segues into Sunday. Then, as Sunday transitions into Monday, the Moon will have moved far enough into Scorpio to oppose the Sun (which has been moving in Taurus, the sign opposite Scorpio, since April 20) for a Full Moon.

This particular Scorpio Full Moon will be especially suited to help you literally grasp how motion in the sky matches motion on the zodiac circle, in the world and in your life.

Every Full Moon is the midpoint between New Moons. A New Moon is when the Sun and Moon briefly share the same degree of the same zodiac sign while moving through the sky alongside each other. That last happened back on April 18 with the New Moon in Aries.

You can’t see the Moon when it is moving through the sky alongside the Sun during a New Moon. In contrast, Full Moons are easy to see because the Moon is on the opposite side of the sky reflecting the Sun. That’s a direct correspondence to the Sun and Moon in opposing signs on the zodiac.

If weather permits, it will be worth watching both the Sun and Moon beginning with sunset this evening and for every night through the weekend. If you can do that, you will be able to actually see what it means for the luminaries to move into opposition at the midpoint of their cycle.

With a little imagination and some help from Jupiter, you will also be able to see with your own eyes and understand in your own body the solar and lunar motion through their respective tropical signs.

The Sun is now setting one to two minutes later every night in the Northern Hemisphere and a minute or two earlier every evening South of the equator. No matter where on Earth you are, the Sun is also setting a little farther North on the Western horizon at the end of every day.

Additionally, the Sun is approximately (not precisely, but close enough) at a midpoint of its own. Back on March 20, no matter where on Earth you were, the Sun was setting precisely to the West. That was the vernal equinox, when the tangible Sun was directly over the equator and the symbolic Sun was entering Aries on the zodiac.

Today the tangible Sun will be setting about halfway between precisely West and as far North on the Western horizon as it will ever get. Correspondingly, we are about halfway between an equinox and a solstice, and near the midpoint between seasons. In correlation, the symbolic Sun is about halfway through Taurus on the zodiac, at the midpoint between the first degree of Aries and the first degree of Cancer.

Should you watch the Sun go down over the next several nights, tell yourself “this is what the middle of solar Taurus looks like every year.” Then, ask yourself how it feels. You might sense an enhanced connection with the Earth. You could even experience a more visceral bond with life itself. What your body answers will give you a connection with and appreciation for what astrology tells you about the Sun at the midpoint of Taurus. Then, astrology will cease to be only abstract — it will become at least a bit more real. 

It is not every year that the Moon opposes the Sun in the middle of solar Taurus, but you can watch it move into opposition over the next several nights. Begin tonight. After you have finished watching the sunset, when it gets dark enough for the stars to become visible, look to the East. The waxing Moon will already be significantly above the Eastern horizon because it rose before sunset. Note the time.

Tomorrow night, the Moon will rise about an hour later and be correspondingly lower in the sky as compared to the same time tonight. On Saturday night, the Moon will rise approximately an additional hour later yet. On Sunday night Moon will be rising at about the same time the Sun is setting.

What you will in fact be watching as the Moon rises later every night is the Moon moving through Libra and into Scorpio. That’s the symbolic translated into the real. That will be your real-world correspondence with the symbolic Moon taking about two and a half days to move through a sign on the zodiac. It will be your in-the-body experience of the Moon moving into the midpoint of its cycle with the Sun even as the Sun is moving into the midpoint between seasons.

That does not happen every year. That is what will make this particular Scorpio Full Moon special. That, and Jupiter near the midpoint of Leo.

To make the Scorpio Full Moon even more special, Jupiter will be visible at the midpoint between the opposing luminaries. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, after spotting the Moon tonight, look straight up, then slightly South. Jupiter will be the steady (non-twinkling) light brighter than any star. It will correspond to tropical Leo being the sign halfway between Taurus and Scorpio. Then, you will have a representation of half the zodiac circle before your very eyes.

By Sunday, you will be able to point one hand at the setting Sun and say “Taurus, illuminated by the Sun in what I see.” You will then be able to point your other hand at the rising Moon and say “Scorpio, reflected by the Moon in what I feel.” With your hands thus extended, you will then be able to look up with the perfect bodily posture to embrace what Jupiter is all about and say “Here’s a hug!”

After several nights of observing the Sun and Moon moving toward their respective midpoints, Sunday night should be a very special experience. While in your posture of embracing Jupiter even as your hands are physically extended towards the opposing luminaries, take a moment and think about your relationship to each corresponding point in the sky and where your life, and the world, is in relation to it all.

Ask yourself, “What is rising?” “What is setting?” What is at its highest point?” and finally, “What is halfway through?” Allow your answers to convey astrology off the page and into your life. Words at that point will not be necessary. In and through your body, this Scorpio Full Moon will allow you to understand its meaning precisely because you will be standing under it with awareness and (hopefully) appreciation. 

Offered In Service                   

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