Both the written and audio readings for the beautiful 2016 annual edition, Vision Quest, are now immediately available. Order all 12 signs at a great value or choose your individual signs. You may access written and audio excerpts from the Vision Quest main page.
by Judith Gayle
Astrology bit me today. I had a finely-tuned think-piece coming along when I inadvertently wiped it away, along with all my notes. Saturn in Sagittarius is exactly opposing my natal Uranus at the moment, so I should have expected something more than a resurgence of an old health challenge that buzzes and snarls when that Uranus gets tickled, but I was flying by the seat of my pants, lost in the fumes of wordsmithing and point-shaping. So it goes, here on the cusp of change.
We are on the cusp of change in so many ways. Some of it is obvious, some of it too far away — still unclear, dallying in the light peeking in under the door — to determine, but it’s here and it’s due to bite us unless we deal with it now. Because tracking the specifics of change is a chore, rather than put further strain on my immune system or pounding head, I’m going to mention a few of the things easily noted on the radar and let that be enough today.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement was signed in New Zealand this week. It must now go through the process for a vote — an up/down vote, as won by Obama awhile back — that will take many months. Most of us know this is a disaster of a trade deal and needs to be stopped. There are many organizations attempting that now. Go here to find activist ops and community leadership.
John Kerry, along with his Russian counterpart, has proposed a temporary cease fire in Syria to allow the UN to deliver aid to millions of suffering civilians; and although the international community is encouraged by the opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance, Assad complained that interference by foreigners would just make the war longer. The Sunni/Shia schism that lies in the belly of this beast continues to stalk the Middle East and muddle any option for peace.
Our five conservative activist judges in the Supreme Court have thrown the e-brake on Obama’s Clean Power Plan, leaving it unimplemented through summer of next year when it will be heard by the appellate court. This is not just a catastrophic decision and one aimed at curtailing EPA power; it is an attempt to limit the power of the presidency and return pollution decisions to individual states. This suit, filed against the EPA by some 28 states and various industries led by the Chamber of Commerce, has resulted in an unprecedented, shortsighted and extremely dangerous decision.
Another of those unexpected firsts includes new House Speaker Ryan turning a blind eye to Obama’s last budget, making no provision to hold a congressional hearing on the matter. The level of hostility on record is quite remarkable, including this quote by House Budget Chairman Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga:
“Rather than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this administration’s previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies that have led to the worst economic recovery in modern times, Congress should continue our work on building a budget that balances and that will foster a healthy economy.”
With cooperation like this in Congress, it’s no wonder Trump and Sanders have broad public appeal. Seems worth noting we should probably prepare ourselves for another of those fabulous government shut-downs later in the year, as the nation prepares to hand off to new leadership.
Image by Mike Licht.
With a kind of strange clarity, there are many firsts to speak to now. Last night, two seasoned female reporters from PBS — one black, one white — hosted a Democratic presidential debate between a Protestant woman candidate and her Jewish male contender. Despite portents of inevitability, the woman had won an initial state primary by far less than a percentage point, while the man had won the next by over twenty, laying waste to the talking point that Democratic Socialism was anathema in America and that establishment politics cannot be challenged.
Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff not only aced the debate questions, but dug deeply into the issues at hand — the first time women had been tasked with the whole of the responsibility. Hillary Clinton congratulated all of them for breaking a precedent, and Bernie mentioned later that his own candidacy, along with his win in New Hampshire, was ground-breaking as well.
When we juxtapose this with the debates of the Republican candidates, Donald Trump running with his — ummm — hair on fire from the sharp questions of a savvy Megyn Kelly, it does seem as though intelligent discourse will find a way through the mosh pit of misogyny and retreat from reality that pretends at conservatism these days. When Ifill asked Sanders about social and racial issues that are compounding mental health problems for white (predominantly male) citizens in financially hard hit areas, it felt as through progressivism was still alive and well in the good old US of A and we had not given up on community.
Mrs. Clinton is depending on establishment connections to bring her to victory — ties to the black community, large funders like George Soros and Citibank and lots of Super-delegates who threw their hands in with hers long before they were sure who’d run against her. All share one thing: they don’t believe government can change, and many don’t want it to.
Mr. Sanders is depending on the older Democrats and Independents who remember that government is a social democracy, pulling from the collective pot to serve the needs of society. The Republican principle of privatized services, unwieldy and unresponsive to the order and protection of the larger unit, will not serve the common good. Without government, for instance, we have no public libraries or schools, no fire protection or police force, no postal service or garbage collection. We have no infrastructure, no roadwork or hazard protection, no parks, no museums or courts. Without a social contract with one another we have no checks and balances, no safety net, and no duty to one another. Essentially, we have no civilization.
The elders who remember when these things were not at risk honor Bernie’s vision, and for different reasons so do the youth. These are the youngsters who, to give them their due, probably don’t know that Henry Kissinger is the guy who said, ominously, “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” While they are not unaffected by history and all it teaches, like those who have yet to fully embrace their mortality, their concern is primarily the immediate moment.
Image by Stephen Ewen, from Occupy, 2013.
They are more worried about a government that had been declared inept by the right of the political spectrum (who then spent decades proving it so) and challenged by an old lefty with the instincts of an FDR Democrat who wants to return “public” to public policy, to put their well-being in the middle of the equation. They might not remember when the brilliant California educational system was the star in the crown of the nation, serving a growing middle class; but they believe it can happen again, and help relieve them of some of the crushing school debt that has left them hopeless and helpless. They have fewer concerns about the culture war than the class war, having become multicultural themselves.
The minority youth, by the way, aren’t on board with the Clinton elders so much as the elders had thought, nor the early feminists either; and that is by the very design of change itself. The millennial generation has its own concerns, and a fast-track into the future. They are easier with technology than previous generations and quicker to think outside the box. They aren’t weighed down by the past.
If they think Bernie can change the way government works, it will be because they are willing to apply themselves to those changes rather than have them provided. Should they turn out to be the ones who would push the progressive agenda forward, worries about Sanders’ ability to flex might prove moot. This isn’t a generation whose heart is set on war or conquest and they will be less interested in greasing the skids of the military-industrial complex than prior generations.
The people and events that seem to be shaking the American tree are the very first warning signs of the events to come. I was mouth-breathing at a conversation about how this seems very odd considering the ‘pitchfork’ response after the Wall Street debacle died away without too much muss and fuss, only to be replaced by serious anger from the left. Why the delay, the talking heads wonder? If people were so upset, what took them so long? Things are so much better now, they argue — but better for whom?
Then I wonder about them, their lives of privilege and insider connection, that allow them NOT to understand how inevitable it would be that those same white folks we spoke of, depressed and discouraged, turn to drugs and alcohol and suicide because the very foundation of their nation has given way beneath them. They certainly don’t understand that those loud and angry young people in Black Lives Matter are no longer willing to live with the current rash of murderous savagery for little reason other than authoritarian fear of losing white privilege.
Does no one remember the grassroots rise of pride and power demonstrated by the Black Panthers except the armed goons on the right? Are fear and loathing, contempt and violence all we can muster as the larger organism of our culture implodes? While armed civilian Peace Keepers protect the property of Ferguson, Missouri, from being vandalized by rioting youth, the city fathers of Ferguson reject proposals for a reordered police department by the Department of Justice as unworkable in their area. The DoJ is suing to bring them into line.
Yet we still fail to see how everything is changing. Quite remarkable, I think, that the establishment remains so totally tone deaf to what will be explosive at some point in the near future unless it is addressed. Open this link for a little illustration, an example of how this is being missed by those in authority, it’s stunning how clueless they remain.
My favorite story this week was by a woman who ran a political race against Bernie in Vermont years ago and won. She was a mother, and at some point that came up, with Bernie being somewhat stern on the matter. It was, he decided, sexist to deal with that issue on the campaign trail. Think about that awhile. It wasn’t that Bernie didn’t have kids himself or was unsympathetic to that condition. It was simply a part of the quotient that did not apply itself to the situation.
That explains a lot to me. It illustrates some of that curmudgeonry we’ve assigned to old Bernie. It isn’t that Bernie doesn’t see it or feel these differences — not to mention that he’s mellowed in his prickly opinions over the years. But for Sanders, this equality thing is the real deal.
I guess the question is: is it the real deal for us, as well?
If you have time today to listen to a remarkable YouTube, please listen to this one — especially if you are interested in meeting racism and classism head on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcDtq993J-E
Here’s Killer Mike, Cornell West, Nina Turner and Bernie Sanders talking about the legacy of MLK and the ongoing challenge to move the needle for the poor and disenfranchised. We make no change in this nation until we come to terms with this.
Great link, Jude. Great article too. Sorry the gremlins got you!
I can sympathize Jude. I’ve poured my energy into a piece only to have it snatched away by cyberspace and have concluded that there are gremlins or angels about, telling me “now is not the time for this” or “there is something you are missing that’s more to the point” or some such thing. We are being guided. Anyway, I’m lovin’ your essay today. And I’m hoping your headaches is gone by now and whatever else is straining your immune system too.
So many points you make here that could overwhelm us with concern if not downright apoplexy. Perhaps that’s what Saturn is asking of you and your Uranus; shock us with the scope of change in the works and then get to work on the rest. We have so much information coming in (or incoming) that it’s impossible to address all one would wish to address if one were capable of doing so and still get the chores done. It’s a version of chaos to be sure. And yet we know chaos foments creativity.
I look at what the transiting outer planets, those ambassadors of the universe, are focused on in our country and it is the U.S. Sibly chart square between Sun and Saturn (Pluto), the U.S. Sibly chart Uranus square Ceres (Neptune) and the U.S. Sibly chart Chiron opposite Juno (Uranus). Then I consider what the cycle of transiting Saturn and Jupiter are intent on accomplishing during the next 5 years. Jupiter has aligned with U.S. Neptune (square U.S. Mars) for this year’s focus and Saturn has set his sights on the U.S. ascendant for this year. So, it is the U.S. Sun, Saturn, Uranus, Ceres, Chiron, Juno, Neptune, Mars and ascendant that are targeted for immediate upgrading. Makes our personal challenges seem almost trivial by comparison.
Because the transits of Jupiter and Saturn are approachable on a more conscious level, consider that by the end of this year Jupiter and Saturn will be ALMOST (short by 12 or so arc minutes) exactly sextile (cooperative) and each will be exactly aspecting transiting Uranus; Jupiter by opposition and Saturn by trine. Perhaps it is trans. Uranus who will show us where the changes or the needed changes should be focused. Certainly U.S. Juno’s fierce defense of the disenfranchised and her goal of equality between the genders as well as the races and income disparity, are obvious to even the untrained eye. Chiron inevitably makes things hurt when it’s necessary to draw attention to something that needs fixing.
But before that can happen – that end of year sextile between Jupiter and Saturn, they will first have to square each other in March and May. Jupiter at 16+ Virgo in March and 13+ Virgo in May and Saturn at 16+ Sagittarius in March and 13+ Sagittarius in May. These mutable sign squares suggest transitions, or navigations in cultural/societal change, quite possibly brought about by the election process or even climate activity.
Like a big ole ship at sea, changing course for a nation isn’t instant. This year will see transiting Chiron addressing the U.S. natal square between Neptune and Mars in a tag-team approach with transiting Jupiter. You will recall that transiting Chiron (look here first) and Jupiter (excessive)joined transiting Neptune (blindness) in a conjunction to the U.S. Sibly Moon in Aquarius in 2009, and these passes now coming over the U.S. Mars and Neptune are part of the fulfillment of that legacy; the “warning signs”. Yes, we can add the U.S. Moon to that list of attack points in the U.S. Sibly. Not directly, but by inference, that which hit us (Moon = People) like an explosion in 2009 is being seen in a new light.
As for the real deal, we can only depend equally on our minds and our hearts to guide us. One without the other can lead to disillusionment in the whole process of change.
be
Judge Scalia has died.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/us-world/article/Senior-Associate-Justice-Antonin-Scalia-found-6828930.php
The world turns…
Amen
Judith, you’re amazing. Even as your system is depleted you inspire us to action, give clarity, insight, and focus so we can prioritize anew on the ever-changing issues that sometimes feel like the act of nailing jello to a brick wall. Thank you. Sending heartfelt healing cyber hugs for a quick recovery.
Unrelated; but somehow related.
http://freakoutnation.com/2016/02/democrats-bill-requires-men-to-have-note-from-wife-pledge-oath-on-bible-to-get-viagra/
(“A Kentucky democrat is schooling Republicans on family values in a very sarcastic but very creative manner. Rep. Mary Lou Marzian sponsored Bill 396 which would force men to visit a doctor twice and require them to obtain signed permission from their wives before obtaining a prescription for Viagra or other such drugs for erectile dysfunction.”)
Oh, that is just beautiful.
As a Canadian, still breathing occasional sighs of relief as I watch our new (as of last Oct.) Liberal, much more progressive government leading us back to our traditional values of peacekeeping, inclusiveness & fairness, I watch the presidential race with a mix of fascination, concern, disbelief, & some horror. I’m very thankful to live in a country that (as Eric observed) gets in & out of elections. It’s a short, simple process.
Given our many ties to America, from geography to trade relationships, what happens south of the 49th affects us in a host of ways. I’ve heard it said that when America sneezes, Canada gets a cold.
I’ve watched Donald Trump & his cheering fans, & am astounded that he can say what he does, yet his poll numbers rise. This surely does reveal the underlying rage of so many, & I see that as very dangerous. As for the rest of the Republican field, oh dear. I don’t see a bright light in the lot.
Then there’s Bernie Sanders, who I’ve come to admire for his courage, character, consistency, & kindness, to note just a few fine qualities I’ve observed. It’s true, he would probably not be seen as such an outlier, or so radical, in Canada, where universal healthcare & better workers’ rights already exist, but we could do better on those & other issues, too.
I’ve noticed over the years that some of loudest right-leaning people I know, who complain about high taxes going to pay for healthcare, are the very ones who make liberal use of that same healthcare system, taking any subsidy they can get on things like medications.
Judith, I hope it’s just the February blahs afflicting you & that you’ll bounce back soon. I’ve been having a bleak, low-energy spell myself (can’t blame it all on Saturn near my sun), which I’m trying to work through by going easy on myself, choosing small, manageable tasks as much as possible.
aWord, I just love the idea of a man needing his wife’s consent for a prescription for Viagra etc.! Traditional male privilege would suggest that it’s always his call, while I suspect many a wife would be relieved to be free of what too often has become a joyless obligation. Bill 396 may encourage some conversation about an issue that has been long unmentioned.
We no longer have an activist court in this nation — it’s all up for grabs now! A-MAZING!
Had a very challenging week…..and today is like freaking CHRISTMAS!
Unbelievable-cannot wait to hear what you all have to say about it…..head hitting pillow softly tonight with a sweet smile on my face.
Well. What a 24 hours, a mini-tornado that will become — I have no doubt — a bona fide shit storm of an election process and political donnybrook. My short take on this is, frankly, fascination, since these kinds of moments come very rarely in history.
There are three legs of government — legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative is in lockdown, the executive is being forced to act extra-legally in order to move the nation forward on anything of consequence and now the judicial has come to a screeching halt. We are, from a process point of view, dead in the water. And we are, it should be noted, closing in on constitutional emergency. Remember when Ben Franklin told an enquirer that we had established ” … a republic, if we can keep it?” THIS is how we could loose that grip on the democratic experiment.
Of all the Supreme’s, Nino Scalia was the superstar on the right — a strict constructionist, he never met a modern issue that could not be stamped into dust by returning to the anachronistic wishes of the founders in 1776. He is — and this is important — the man who turned the common sense reading of the 2nd Amendment as armament qualifications for militia into guns for all citizens. If the right had a hero, Nino was it, the heart and soul of conservative backpedal to all thing progressive.
News of Scalia’s passing (of a heart attack) coming in the hours before the South Carolina Pub debate — where Donald Trump all but broke a chair over the melon-head of competitior Ted Cruz while calling most everyone a liar and accusing Jeb!s big brother of knowing about the lack of WMD in advance of Shock ‘n Awe — found the candidates all agreed that no nomination can go forward without surrender to liberal mayhem. That’s because the right has depended on the high court to buoy their ideology — and support the plutocracy — for well over a decade. Even as the Republicans lost the confidence of the nation, they had the court. The thought of losing it is terrifying to them.
And — by the way — listening to Bob Woodward on CNN try to defend the ‘Publican vow to stonewall a liberal nominee in order to insure a ‘neutral’ pick to replace ‘intellectual giant’ Antonin Scalia is another of those moments when you wonder what happened to the mans brain cells. He spent WAAAAY too much time in the dark, kissing Dubya’s nether regions, getting that insider scoop that atrophied what was left of his journalistic sensibility (not to mention integrity.) A sad statement on a historical figure diminished by his choices.
The reprecussions of an 8-person high court is obvious — lock. We have, essentially, come to check-mate, with four liberals and four conservatives unable to decide a case. And, whatever work (it appears to be quite a bit) left half-done deciding cases prior to this moment is now lost, never announced and therefore nullified. With fifty-some cases critical to the democratic process coming up, reaching an ideological standoff WITHOUT REPLACEMENT FOR MORE THAN ELEVEN MONTHS seems unthinkable.
But, although Nino’s body was barely cold when Mitch McConnel swore NOT to allow such a vote, Senators crossing the line of such right-wing wisdom will pay a price. There are several up for election this time around that are imperiled. I think it’s clear that we can expect very little flex from this Senate determined to run out the clock, despite the best efforts of the Dems to prod them into following constitutional process.
As to the legislative issues, this is going to work out pretty well for many of the cases that had not come to closure on the left, including voting rights and unions, reproductive rights and immigration, etc. in which lower court rulings will hold. This is NOT good news for the EPA ruling on emissions we talked about, because the case was seeking release from an appeal stopping it from going forward.
As to possible candidates, two judges sitting on the appeliate court — bi-partisanly confirmed for that position 97 to 0 — are speculative prospects: Jane Kelly and Sri Srinivasan. Either are non-controversal picks BUT they are Obama picks, supposed ‘lame duck’ picks and fly in the face of high hopes for a Jeb! or Kasich establishment president in 2017. I doubt that even a right-leaning judicial pick would pass the “black guy” boycott at this point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Louise_Kelly
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/antonin-scalia-replacement-219271
Electability is suddenly the word of the hour. Making it plain that the next Prez gets the SCOTUS pick traditionally energizes the base on the right — and it BETTER energize the base on the left as well! We are going to see a lot of harsh rhetoric coming at us from the clown car on the right and, no matter how much like a World Wide Wresting event last nights SC debate appeared, Trump is STILL twice as popular as the next Pub in the polls — pundits say that if he wins in Carolina, there’s no stopping him. Whatever the public decides to do next, it should be clear that a man who is all brand and no substance standing at the top of the American pyramid is the equivalent of putting a fork in us and calling us done!
Clearly, Bernie’s cause just became harder and Hillary’s hopes to avoid being perceived as shrill are over. She is going to double down on all the reasons he CAN’T be considered a realistic candidate, and it ain’t gonna be pretty. She IS — I will grant — victimized by her sex in that she will be forced to use the Mommy Voice (one I have argued many times deserves, at bare minimum, respect for saving the day for those left behind when the Daddy’s lollygagged elsewhere) but we must all admit it grates. It’s like when someone uses your middle name, you snap to. It’s a subliminal discomfort that we’ve been ‘caught,’ somehow; a voice from the shadow side, snapping our leash. Added to her legal challenges and trust issues, it’s a volatile mix of dog whistles calculated to piss a lot of people off.
Here’s where I see Bernie stumbling at the moment — he’s got the information and he’s got the chops, but he waits for the questions to come to him. He’s got to start selling himself as well as his platform. Hillary is good at self-promotion. Even if that’s not his style, he’s going to have to get pro-active or be seen as reactive. This doesn’t align with our ‘leadership’ meme — which we will be hearing a LOT MORE about, with so much at stake — frankly, I expect a good deal more hysteria on all levels before this plays itself out. Long view, though — we’ll be talking about this for a loooooooong time!
There are more firsts to note, of course — we’ll be tracking them for awhile, it seems — but enough for now. Try NOT to let this level of angst impact your peace today, my dears. There is purpose under heaven!
That note-from-the-wife viagra plan has been around awhile, aWord. I like it as a washtub of freezing water over their heads (little or big, you pick) … but those who deserve it seem not to understand the problem. Which IS the problem, of course.
Thank you dearhearts for the good (health) wishes, I take them to heart and appreciate them … and speaking of heart, Be My Valentines today? You are loved and loveable, all!
PS — looky here, going viral:
“[Elizabeth] Warren, an acclaimed legal scholar, explained in a viral Facebook post that since the American people re-elected Obama in 2012, his power to nominate a replacement has already been approved by the voters.
“Warren referred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) claim that it would be undemocratic to seat an Obama nominee in the president’s last year. McConnell “is right that the American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice,” Warren wrote. “In fact, they did — when President Obama won the 2012 election by five million votes.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-scalia-supreme-court-seat_us_56c0a82be4b0c3c55051c5e1
The chart for the adoption of the Constitution will have Mars R moving back over it’s ascendant as the nomination issue will surely be playing out this Spring… Late in Reagan’s term he appointed Justice Kennedy, who McConnell and all Republican senators approved. Oddly, they reject the comparison: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/republicans-reject-comparisons-reagan-s-late-term-scotus-nominee-n518696
So here’s an Aries Point thing: around the Equinox, the Constitution chart receives Mars, slowing to station, on it’s Moon/Asc while Jupiter conjoins it’s MC. I assume high dungeon amidst attempts to literally obstruct (a) Justice…