In this “sampler,” we’ve bundled together four shorter Cosmophilia pieces by four different authors. Below is the beginning of Audrey Yeardley’s piece; its ending, along with the essays by Phil Brachi, Michael Mays and Bill Harvey, can be read on the Cosmophilia website. — Amanda P.

You Belong Here

by Audrey Yeardley

“This is an Old Soul,” said the midwife, when she handed you to me.

Which was just as well, given that I felt so alone.

And me thinking, If it hadn’t been for you coming, I’d have gone elsewhere.

Not blaming you, you understand. This you must understand. It was you coming that had kept me from going, so tired was I of waste and delay; the passing of time.

And me thinking I never thought it would be like this, after all that wanting to bring you back.

When you were nine months old and, so obviously a wise and observant child, you spoke to me.

Before this our communication had been through glances, your small fingers pointing at things, a strange kind of intuitive sharing of what was happening — or not happening — but, on this day (in this moment) I had gone so deep into unhappiness about what was not happening that I had become unaware of anything but myself.

You were in your highchair, sucking your thumb in your usual reflective way, absorbing my mood. I feel bad about that, but things were not good at that time.

I had washed my hair, wrapped strands around bright pink curlers, and I know my eyes were bright with unshed tears.

You were nine months old and you had never strung words into anything but quiet mutterings, practising sounds as you sat in your small playpen.

Continue reading here.

If ever there were a time to understand how square aspects might be welcomed rather than dreaded, it will be during the lunar last quarter tomorrow at 10:49 pm EST (03:49 UTC on Thursday). That’s when the Moon, already in Scorpio today, will reach 23+ degrees of that sign and close to 90 degrees of separation from the Sun at 23+ degrees Aquarius.

A separation of 90 degrees on the zodiac is also a separation of 90 degrees in the sky, defining a square aspect. When the Sun and Moon are the constituents, you can see it.

Weather permitting, the fact that you can readily see the luminaries (Sun and Moon) makes the Moon at quarter phase the template through which all square aspects are naturally and commonly interpreted.

At its last quarter, however, the Moon is a bit more trouble to view than at first quarter. During the first quarter phase, half-lit Luna is only one week and 90 degrees separated from its New Moon conjunction when it shared the same degree of the same sign with the Sun. At first quarter, the Moon is already high in the sky at about sunset when most people are still awake.

By contrast, the half-dark Moon on the night of its last quarter phase is closing in on (rather than separating from) the Sun. At last quarter the Moon does not rise in the East until `round midnight, reaching its highest point in the sky at about dawn.

Even if you are not awake to see it, this impending last quarter Moon will be worth working with. You may accomplish that work best on the day immediately before or after by applying yourself to both the timing and aspects that will distinguish this closing luminary square as different.

First, the timing of tomorrow’s lunar last quarter is downright auspicious. The closing square aspect from the Sun to the Moon will come just hours after Mercury nearly slows to a stop before resuming direct motion after what has been a rodeo-opera retrograde back through the first half of Aquarius for the last three weeks.

Mercury tends to manifest its best characteristics when moving, and usually the faster the better. Consequently, the apparently stationary moments (or ‘stations’) just before a change in Mercury’s perceived direction often correspond with the sort of frustration associated with feeling overwhelmed and stuck.

That’s where the timing of the lunar last quarter promises to come to your rescue. Square aspects get their undeservedly bad reputation because of their undeniable association with a four-letter word: work. Nonetheless, it is work on your part (and the harder the better) which will overcome the frustrating inertia often associated with Mercury at direct station.

In addition, the last quarter Moon will be getting some help from Mars in the form of a water trine aspect. That’s because Mars will be occupying 23+ Pisces (the mutable water sign) precisely when the Moon arrives at 23+ Scorpio (the fixed water sign) to square the Sun.

Mars corresponds to energy. It’s the energy that makes life possible. Mars expresses as the desire to live, distinguishing the everyday miracle of your effort to overcome an environment that all too often threatens to overwhelm and bring your life to a halt.

Trine aspects connect signs that share the same element (fire, earth, air or water) as part of their separate identities. The implicit connection of a trine conducts energy. That conductivity allows the energy to flow. Nothing flows quite like water, and when the flow of emblematic water is from the Moon in a fixed sign to Mars in a mutable sign, it’s a clear indication that the passion necessary to overcome obstacles will be supported from above.

Hence, instead of being frustrated to a flowing of tears, tomorrow’s lunar last quarter (with a little help from its friend, Mars) will implicitly support your getting some sweat flowing instead.

That’s how, with effort on your part, the impending luminary square will support you in overcoming whatever challenge corresponds to Mercury stationing direct, until your perception of life can get back up to speed again. If that is not just what you are going to need, just when you are going to need it, what is?

In this case, at least, the square aspect in its most prototypical expression (through the Sun and Moon) is the best celestial friend you could possibly have.

Offered In Service

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

Here’s the latest installment from our series of Cosmophilia Featured Articles, which are open to all readers. In this piece, Maria Jawan recounts her personal journey back into her body, through various therapeutic modes (including free-dance) after having dissociated from it for many years. Read the full article here. — Amanda P.

by Maria Jawan

Let me shout this right now from the rooftops: This is not about waiting it out! Life is not about “transcending” our bodies, disrespecting them, dragging them around like empty sacks, waging a relentless war against their needs; it’s about inhabiting them.

It’s not about putting up with numbness and frustration, fantasizing about all the good things that will come ‘eventually’, but claiming our right to joy, authenticity and contact through feeling our every cell, right now. Claiming tenderness, caring, loving touch, and acknowledging the beauty of our bodies.

These are basic rights, they are blessings to give and receive in this life, and we all deserve them.

I’ve spent my twenties and most of my thirties trying to do ‘the right thing, at the right time, in the right way’, while in practice disengaging from all activities pertaining to the living — relationships, fun, a job I could actually enjoy. I’ve lived for more than a decade in an empty house, alone, in contact with very few people, having sex only once in a while and only after being considerably drunk.

This has created a huge and very painful void in my life, made bearable for what now seems to me a surprisingly long time by living in my mind. I hoped that sometime, after I’d had enough therapy to ‘solve my issues’, or after I’d finished my PhD, things would finally fall into place.

I’ve felt like I have no right to experiment with or enjoy all the things so natural to the people around me — falling in and out of love, meeting someone new, having fulfilling jobs, having babies — but also simpler pleasures like going out for a drink, going to the movies or on vacation. Not only that, but I was also convinced I had to transcend all these experiences, and the feelings that come with them of course, as if they were natural and valid for everyone else…but not for me. I even avoided discussions about my personal situation regarding love or sex, utterly embarrassed that I almost never had something worth reporting and slightly baffled at how the whole thing seemed to work for almost everyone except me.

Continue reading here.

By Amanda Moreno

Mercury is clearly still retrograde. I say that, tongue in cheek, because my words are still not working. Any time I get more than a paragraph into anything, I get restless and angry and flustered and the flow just ends. Chalk it up to the added stress of Saturn squaring my natal Mercury as well, possibly?

Or perhaps it’s the result of two and a half weeks of spontaneous releasing rituals that have brought up stuff I could have sworn was healed; energy and spirit attachment work; new frontiers in the realms of relationship and kink; and the realization that I have exactly no space in my life for anything to go wrong.

Well, except there apparently is space. I have had no choice but to make it, and to give myself the silent alone time that my soul has been demanding, with lots of gratitude that those to whom I’m responsible understand that my path is…weird. Being able to write about the experiences I’ve been having, however, still seems a ways off.

I’m pretty clear that public expression is part of my path, particularly in the form of writing, but there are more Leonine forms as well. New layers of my own Mercury complex, however, are being revealed all of the time. Mercury is tied intimately into my karmic patterns with both planet and house heavily emphasized in my chart.

I’m familiar with patterns of having the wool pulled over my eyes by loved ones, of trusting their words only to experience epic betrayal — or betrayal that is small but stimulates the deeper wounds — but I’m just recently beginning to tune into and work on the patterns that point toward imbalances in my own words and expression. There are, of course, subtleties and paradoxes galore.

I’m reminded of the beginning of my work in graduate school five years ago, as I first began to experiment with ritual. I had felt a huge lump of fear come up during a dream-tending session with a mentor and decided to amplify the fear in order to get to the bottom of it. I uncovered a major fear of losing control, in the sense of going insane, as well as a fear of being left completely alone in that insanity. So I figured I would do a ritual to release the fear. I sat down on my couch one night, in a very loosey-goosey ritual, said some words to release the fear, and called it good.

Two weeks later I found myself in my own personal little nightmare in a situation where I had lost control, experienced something awful, and then was pretty much abandoned by friends and family-of-choice as I dealt with the aftermath. The fears that I released essentially came right on back so that I could live through them. All in all, I learned a lot about self-reliance and my unfailing belief in love, but it was a really harsh lesson. A lesson that to this day makes me really think about the words I use in ritual (what if I had said “letting go” instead of “release”?), as well as things like containers and intention and all of that good stuff.

Now, fixation and compulsive distrust in words can definitely be a problem for a third-house Libra Pluto person such as myself, as fixation can lead to inertia among other things. So I look to the polarity — Aries and the 9th house — to provide context for ways to reframe. Finding an overarching paradigm and belief system (9th house) in which to orient my personal experience (Aries) has been key.

These days, when it comes to ritual I think more about the container and intention than anything else. Because I have participated in so much spontaneous ritual as of late, I’ve been forced to rely on that belief rather than fixate on the words I use in the rituals, as they’ve taken place very much in the moment.

When it comes down to it, as you’ve probably figured out if you’ve read my writing before, I believe in love. I believe that love is what ties us all together and that love and gratitude are the best containers for any transformation, large or small. My experience shows me that looking for love in everything is a powerful antidote to all that ails, even though sometimes it’s hard to tap into. In this way, intending to do ritual, writing, teaching, or whatever the case may be in the spirit of love and for the sake of the highest good usually helps me to stop fixating on the words I’m using, or a fear of being misunderstood or having something come back to me in a way that is…well, nightmarish.

Still, though. I have a reverence for words and a respect for their power. Language is such a beautiful thing. Words are archetypes all their own, and the way they are strung together provokes a magical sense of meaning that goes far beyond their concrete definitions. Being able to tap into that flow is one of my favorite experiences. I look forward to it returning.

This week’s sex-and-realtionships guest-post comes from Kristin Luce via elephant journal. Here, she opens up to readers about the amazing healing that can happen with deep surrender and the resulting union between lovers. — Amanda P.

By Kristin Luce

I was in a committed relationship for 20 years when I locked eyes with a man and something shattered inside of me. We had worked together during an internship over a decade before and were both now married, and now here we were reminiscing over Indian food. He looked at me and said something simple, something honest, “When I told you back then that I wasn’t attracted to you, well, that wasn’t entirely true.”

Then everything suddenly stopped.

My appetite vanished and I would have sworn that I had dropped a tab of acid. What started happening between us became altered, intoxicating and undeniably sexual.

We didn’t act on it until later, after we had both divorced which took more than a year, but when it did happen the kind of sex and communion was utterly unlike what I had known before. It was transcendental which — though many people may claim this — was different from almost anything I have heard described.

It’s actually difficult to recount what happened now because the particular flavor of the intimacy obscured the ability for normal, chronological thinking. We would look at each other and somehow hours would pass like minutes — as though we had entered a different reality. Each meeting was drenched with meaning, with connection, and yes, outrageous ecstasy. But most profoundly, our communions were healing in a way that I cannot imagine experiencing in any other way.

This was my initiation into how deeply open sex has the power to heal.

I want to note that this wasn’t just our own, subjective experience of it. When we entered this state together and were out in public, people around us would light up. Their attention was drawn to us such that they became open and extremely friendly, as though we were already part of their inner circle.

We once had a waiter so smitten with us that he exclaimed, “My God you can’t even order, you are so in love!” He later brought us their best dessert, on the house, to honor whatever was happening between us saying that we had proved to him that love was real.

What I discovered in this relationship is that there is a kind of healing that can only happen in intense sexual union.

Most of the men I have known seem to share a need to be strong, in control and actually helpful to women. I love this, I’m moved by it, and I am definitely turned on by it. But there seems to be an equally strong desire in men to dissolve into the lap of a woman, and just as men seem to feel the need to help and protect women, women seem to have the need to hold, open to, and utterly adore men.

What I also notice is that most men are often too scared to allow themselves to surrender and just take the one thing that they most need, even when it’s offered.

In fact, the times that the men in my life have allowed a full dissolving into the feminine have all been times of intense transition. One was starting his life over again after his marriage and business failed; one had recently been left by his long-term partner; and one had just buried his only brother a few weeks before. All were split open by the realities of their situations. None of them could muster the wherewithal to resist their desire to return to the womb, which for most of us, only fully happens in sex.

I remember a particularly potent time when I discovered how healing sex could be.

In the dead of night I woke up next to him feeling him awake, stirring and not at ease. He was clearly wrestling with his demons and seemed more than a little embarrassed to be witnessed in this vulnerable place. When I turned to him he brushed me off, saying “this happens sometimes, go back to sleep,” but everything in me awoke further and moved toward him. He let me hold him, and then soft sobs came. Then bigger ones. We moved wordlessly into a kind of reenactment of something from his past, though I didn’t know what it was.

I was his mother; I was his friend; I was his lover; I was his angel; I was something indefinable, fluid and totally willing.

After a long time the spontaneous drama between us began to slow and I cradled his head on my bare breasts. It felt right. His sobs subsided and he began to root for my breast with his mouth. That felt right too. For a while we were on an edge of not knowing if this was mother-child or lover-lover and that, I think, is where the healing was. He was like a baby, totally owning his right to his Mom, to nurse, be loved and nourished. Then, after a while, he transformed into my lover, owning his right to love me, to take me, and we communed in love-making in a way that is both impossible and too beautiful to describe.

In playing out this drama there was some kind of completion.

We seemed to go all the way to a core vulnerability and then make the full journey home, without skipping any steps — moving, making sounds, being witnessed, total union, feeling, touching, and healing the impact that this wounding had had on every level. After a long journey, we finally came home to hear the perfect sound of a gate clicking shut. Something primal had come to completion.

It was as though we had entered a different world, one in which all of our needs were met — finally.

We didn’t orchestrate any of this. It happened all on its own — the same way that gashes in our skin heal themselves, naturally and organically. Something healed in me too, though I cannot tell you what. Maybe it was being so let in to the visceral healing of someone else, or maybe it was experiencing my own healing vicariously as he got his deepest needs met through me. But my best guess is that entering a non-dual space together — one that is so connected on every level that the word “connected” no longer applies — is just inherently healing.

Since that time, I have had other experiences of the closest kind of healing, the kind that can only happen through sexual union. Truly deep sex reaches our baby selves as well as our adult selves, and everything in between. It invites every vulnerability, grief and memory of harm that has ever come to us — and how else can healing happen, except to expose and then care for the wound?

Through these encounters it began to occur to me that only in sex do we touch each other in the same place that we were conceived, that we were born, that we were nursed, and only in sex can we be held, adored and physically met in that same place. Perhaps that kind of sex is the only way that certain kinds of healing can take place. Our bodies themselves need to know that we are truly met, along with our hearts and minds.

Nothing convinces the senses like physical experience, and in this case, deep, human contact.

You can’t lie about it. The body knows when it can trust all the way down to the core, and being met on the inside is perhaps the only way to touch, love and heal such wounds.

Another, slightly different version of this kind of healing happened when I met a man whose marriage had just ended, and he was still reeling, unnerved and open. I felt an intense draw toward him, though I could see that it wasn’t personal for me — it wasn’t about “starting a relationship” — and yet something was calling me to take him in.

It reminded me of the time I nursed my niece when her mother was away longer than expected and she cried with hunger and need of comfort. For a moment I thought it would be odd to nurse her because she wasn’t “mine,” but as she suckled what struck me was how totally normal it was. Without a moment’s hesitation she availed herself of me and I lovingly gave what was needed, discovering an unanticipated feeling of rightness.

This man wasn’t “mine” either, and I don’t mean that in a possessive way. I mean that I sensed it was unlikely that the meaning of our connection had to do with each other personally.

When I made love to this man, a man in transition, raw and open, it wasn’t selfish — I wasn’t looking for what I could get out of it. I was meeting him not just physically, but on multiple, unspoken levels including, “you are welcome; you are lovable; you are wanted; you deserve; it’s not your fault; there’s nothing wrong with you; I love you,” and many more. I wasn’t thinking this or making it up, and I didn’t speak any of it. What communication we had arose wordlessly, spontaneously and offered itself honestly through our love-making.

It happened again, just a few weeks ago.

A man I’d known for some time had just returned from burying his young brother and unsurprisingly he was changed. I had liked him and felt connected to him before, but now his being was ripped open in a way that he couldn’t dress up or hide. His innocence shone brightly as he showed up, simple and astonished, clearly lacking any ability to comprehend what had just happened.

There is a quote from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun when the Italian, Martini, says to recently divorced Frances, “Please stop being so sad. If you continue like this I will be forced to make love to you. And I’ve never been unfaithful to my wife.”

Openness and true need invite the light of the sun.

This man received my loving him in a way that I had not experienced with him before. He asked me to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him as he dissolved. He knew exactly what he needed, and again I was reminded of an infant, powerfully, clearly and innocently demanding just what he requires. This man needed to be not only met sexually but to know that he was loved at the same time, and because his heart was ripped open by death he had no choice but to let go enough to allow his full vulnerability into the mix. He let himself be loved all the way through.

Nothing else touches our core wounds like true presence making love to us, the full communion of body, heart and perhaps some levels that we don’t yet have names for.

When someone takes us in that completely only then do we know that we are truly welcomed, that all of our being is totally loved. As children, most of missed the full connection we needed — being held, soothed, breast-fed, co-sleeping, as well as just the basics of physical and emotional ease and safety with our parents. Many of us were pushed away, yelled at, punished, blamed, hit, shamed, or undermined — and sometimes even brutalized or incested — at a time when we were the most vulnerable.

Being treated this way is deeply in contrast to our normal, human need for comfort, love and safety. It appears to me that the way to heal some of those wounds is by reversing the way that they were inflicted — by being deeply, honestly met in the most intimate of ways.

We long for communion with each other, with one who genuinely wants our best interests — something very much the opposite of exploiting or being exploited. When we finally know in our cells that we are deeply wanted and loved, and that no harm will come to us, only then does something let go and healing can happen.

Union will do that.

———————-

Kristin Luce is slowly going sane by using her actual life and relationships to wake up. Her quest for truth has led her through a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in Buddhist Psychology, intensive retreat practice, certification as a Meditation Instructor, two life-changing relationships and two life-changing kids. She now provides in-depth coaching for individuals and couples who want profound and dramatic transformation. An avid writer, she has been featured in such publications as Mothering Magazine and The Buddhadharma, and is a regular contributor to elephant journal. Friend her on Facebook, Twitter, her website or contact her at info@kristinluce.com.

 

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Despite the documents eaten, the computer glitches and snafus that have me contemplating my love/hate relationship with Mercury and the constant need to feed the gods of technology, this has been a very satisfying week. I’m not sure I remember the last one. I’m talking politically, of course, trying to recall when something progressive happened without hindrance from the regressives. I think we accomplished a few things with little effort some time in 2009 or ’10, before Congress was infested with government-hating Tea Baggers and their march toward obscurity. And despite the fact that they’ve captured even more law-making authority, it’s been a very good week, surprisingly, packed with positive signs and omens.

No, nothing actually happened on the floor of Congress except the House voting for the 56th time to kill off Obamacare, proving yet again that with so much that’s imperative to accomplish, little has changed in the party on the right (not to mention a striking lack of imagination). They’re as stuck in their retro agenda as is their senatorial leader, Mitch McConnell, when he pitches the necessity of coal to America’s future and touts the safety of mining to a public increasingly aware of its carbon footprint and newly convinced that corporations (think mining executives) are not their friend.

But this is also the week when the President let loose a progressive bombshell of a budget, putting to bed any speculation that he wasn’t serious about ending sequester. Obama wasn’t quite Greece to the horrified Pubs’ Germany, but close. The right met his optimistic proposal with a scramble for their own budget and national medical plan, which has turned out to be, thus far, bupkis. If they keep this up, they won’t be able to duck the truth that they have no talent for governance and a real disdain for public affairs.

Among some of Obama’s many proposals was a six-year $478 billion public works program to repair and replace national infrastructure, including highways, bridges and transit upgrades. Not a new idea or even a new proposal from this president, this qualifies as a ‘jobs plan’ of the kind the Pubs insist Obama never offers, while they laugh behind their hands and block implementation each time he suggests it. An invigorated economy — along with obviously collapsing infrastructure — makes it more difficult for them to deny such activity this time around.

Obama proposed paying for half of the program by imposing a one-time mandatory tax on overseas profits of U.S. companies, calling our attention, once again, to money sheltering and the enormous amount of corporate revenue the nation can no longer depend upon. The Pubs will lock up over the word ‘tax,’ but the truth is, government doesn’t run without renewing revenue, and taxing is how that’s accomplished.

Along with a full plate of progressive action, Obama has proposed a new government agency to watchdog food safety, not addressing the concerns of those of us working against Frankenfoods, but a move of the needle on inspection and national oversight, and — most importantly — its necessity. He’s proposing that Social Security benefits be extended to all married same-sex couples, he’s reassured the Dreamers that he will not abandon them or their cause (even as the Pubs ready their lawsuit), and he’s put billions in place for climate concerns.

Of course all of this has to make its way through a congress reluctant to even discuss most of it, so nothing is assured. Once again, it isn’t so much what the Republicans do that instructs, these days, it’s what they don’t do, and they’ve made it their focus in these early days of their mid-term ascendency to prove that they can govern (to which I say, good luck with that, I’ll believe it when I see it). There are a few topics — like tax reform — that the two parties might agree on eventually, but little else. Still, these are issues that illustrate the differences between what the nation wants and needs and what the Republican Congress intends to deliver. All part of the Cosmic Wake Up Plan, me thinks.

So while Obama’s budget offers progressive action, packed with the possibility of realization down the road, that wasn’t the best of it this week. Amid tragedy and brutality across the world, and continued international intrigues, a couple of long-term projects that many of us have supported and worked toward  — and for so long that we’ve forgotten just how grueling has been the push — are finalizing with excellent prospects.

The first is the campaign to secure net neutrality, which has been a long-shot since the beginning, given the power of the telecom and cable industries. We’ve been petitioning, positioning and fretting for years now over the possibility that the interwebs would be turned into a pay-for-play commodity, the highest bidder getting the fastest access. This was a bit of a squeaker, since up until recently it appeared that FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler, was coming down on the side of big business.

A few weeks ago, Obama came out quite forcefully for net neutrality, which seems to have turned Wheeler’s attention toward its viability. In a recent opinion piece for Wired, Wheeler announced that he is going to propose that the FCC use its authority under Title II of the Communications Act to protect consumer broadband Internet, allowing the agency increased authority to police providers and equalize access. According to a Huffy article:

Until recently, a Title II plan was a pipe dream for net neutrality advocates. But President Barack Obama came out in support of Title II reclassification and bright-line rules in November, and Wheeler, who had reportedly been considering alternative approaches, appears to now be on board.

A senior FCC official addressed the effect of the president’s announcement on Wheeler’s decision-making on a call with reporters Wednesday. “It was actually the aftermath of the president’s announcement that proved to be so important,” the official said, citing reactions from financial analysts and ISPs such as Sprint. “That reaction demonstrated convincingly that Title II could be tailored for the 21st century without harming investment.”

And on February 4th, Wheeler announced:

“. . .the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC. These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever—those bright-line rules to mobile broadband. My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission.”

Here in the US of A, where corporate influence is rarely bucked, this is a remarkable call from Mr. Wheeler. The FCC stands alone, not directed by the White House, but obviously influenced by it for the public good. In this particular instance, free speech and the best interests of the little guy seem to have won the day, but nothing is, as yet, written. If you have opportunity, reinforce Wheeler’s decision with continued letters, calls and petitions. Wheeler’s recommendations will go to vote by agency commissioners later in February. We need signatures on dotted lines before we can take that full, free cyber-breath.

The next bit of terrific news impacting a long-term project is the EPA’s long-awaited report on the environmental impact of the XL Keystone Pipeline. You may remember an early, and disturbingly benign, assessment by the State Department (the pipeline crosses international borders) that seemed to have been pulled together by Koch employees.

This week, spitting in the eye of State’s laissez-faire attitude toward the project, the EPA delivered a letter to them stating that, “Until efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of oil sands are successful and widespread, developing the tar sands crude represents a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.”

The business class is calling the EPA recommendation sabotage, but to those of us who have already assessed the projected damage to the environment, and to climate scientists who have warned about the proposed pipelines contribution toward global warming, the EPA’s review is a godsend.

Congress is ready to deliver a bill to the President’s desk approving the pipeline, but Obama has made it clear he will veto any legislation passed to him until he has a full understanding of the environmental impact, most importantly any increase in carbon pollution. He has already poked a stick at one of the Pubs’ talking points — job growth — by exposing the fact that only 35 long-term jobs would be created (job creation is the point my own Dem Senator has used as argument for her vote).

Since 2013, Obama has continued to promise that he will reject the TransCanada project if it leads to a significant increase in carbon pollution. The EPA just gave him cover to do so.

We can expect a continued full-blown lobbying effort to turn Obama’s head — even some dramatics — since the Kochs are knee-deep in this project and want, with all their grinchy little hearts, to close down the Environmental Protection Agency, which regularly thrusts a stick into their gears. This letter no doubt made them spit pea soup and renew their commitment to killing off environmental regulations. A growing public awareness is critical to keeping that from occurring.

And in a hail-Mary pass, TransCanada announced today that it will enter the oil-by-rail business, thumbing its nose at the possibility that it won’t have access to move its gunk across this nation. Not an actual ‘thing,’ as we’ve already seen the dangers of this kind of delivery system, which is neither feasible to meet TransCanada’s needs nor cost effective. While resisting the temptation of a shadenfreude moment, their discomfort is clearly a moment for celebration by climate scientists, environmentalists and any citizen still interested in breathing decent air and drinking clean water. While we must still support our Canadian brothers’ and sisters’ objection to tar sands, we may well have prevented their access here in the USA.

So, no — we don’t have a decision on XL or a clear win on net neutrality. We don’t have a public works program that could boost the chances of the long-term unemployed gaining a foothold, or a lock to reign in corporate money to pay for it. We don’t have a nod for needed billions to deal with climate change, threatening our very existence. All those things are in the ‘pending’ file, awaiting a final push toward completion.

But they’re also on our lips, in our conversation, displayed on websites and television screens around the world. Over 90 percent of the public understands that climate change has us in its cross-hairs, and wants government to deal with it in whatever way possible. Even many Republicans have come to sobriety over this issue, looking for answers to climate emergencies. As well, in November, pollsters found that over 80 percent of the public — Democrat and Republican alike, young and old, all races and religions — want net neutrality without interference from corporate overlords.

Those numbers — along with a clear message to come to the aid of the middle-class and make investment in a more environmentally sensitive future while strengthening our economy — can’t be ignored forever. While it feels as if this divide between parties has come to its widest breach, it also seems that the difference between the needs of real people in communities across the country and the needs of faux-people as the Supremes have designated corporations, has finally been noticed.

With this overwhelming disparity between the haves and the have nots — the machinery of government and the intent of governance — becoming more obvious by the day, can a Hundredth Monkey u-turn toward government of, for and by the people be far off?

Yes, it was a very good week.