Dear Friend and Planet Waves Reader:
For the second week running, a major terrorist event happened on a Thursday night. This occurred right after last night’s edition went to press.
News reports are saying that someone drove a huge truck along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, last night at about 10:30 pm local time. The street was closed for Bastille Day celebrations, and the driver of the truck managed to kill at least 84 people — again, according to news reports.
Chart for the incident in Nice, France, Thursday night, with the Moon and Mars high in the sky. The purple lines connect Mars to the Uranus-Eris conjunction on the lower left (a quincunx) and to Vesta on the lower right (another quincunx). This forms a yod pattern, which translates to: take care of yourself and be mindful of your safety under these conditions. The Sun, yellow and to the right, is about to pass through the entire aspect pattern, so this energy will be hot all weekend.
The way that we are now interconnected through devices and media networks spreads the pain, anguish and insanity of this fast.
Just about the entire Western world went to bed last night thinking about this. We’ll see little else in the news for the next three days.
France, which was on the mend after two horrific recent incidents, is now once again in a state of shock.
The chart that I published in last night’s edition was loaded for this event: the Moon was about to move through the aspect Mars quincunx Uranus, which was exact early Thursday and has been in effect for well over a month — though Thursday was the last peak.
When this event happened, the Moon was about a degree from Mars about to make the conjunction; the chart is a bomb. You can see the Moon-Mars conjunction high in the sky in the chart, as people in France could see it in the sky.
Today and through the weekend, the Sun is moving through the pattern, in the form of Sun square Uranus and Eris. This can be charged-up and agitating, and it can also bring breakthroughs. Yet I can tell you this, and it doesn’t take a genius, though it may take an empath: we are all exhausted from this nonstop violence and all the political rhetoric that surrounds it.
Mars is now separating from the Uranus-Eris conjunction, which represents the easing of one source of provocation. Mars is also trine Chiron, which opens up a tap into healing energy, particularly around warfare.
Yet the Uranus-Eris conjunction, which has been brewing for years, still has two more contacts to make, one later this year and another earlier next year. We have just entered this new era. The conjunction is an ongoing process, and it involves claiming back self-awareness from this massive tribe that humanity has become.
Someone wrote on my Facebook page today that, believe it or not, the world is less violent per capita (that is, per person, on average) than it was 500 years ago. He said this is true despite the horribly violent 20th and 21st centuries.
I’ve heard that before. One little problem is that there are a heck of a lot more capitas than there were 500 years ago.
Consider this. In 1500 there were about 500 million people on the planet.
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Seafront in Nice, France.
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Today there are about seven billion people, an increase of 14-fold. And now most of those people share a common electronic nervous system, feeling the pain of every incident instantly.
Just a short time ago in places like Paris, a fun evening was lighting a fire and throwing in cats. Public executions were commonplace. We don’t do those things most places anymore.
Yet there is domestic violence, there is gang violence even in small towns, and there are a heck of a lot of shootings and suicides every day, especially here in the United States. There is plenty of rage suppressed below the surface, held down by sedatives, by boredom and by various forms of disconnect and trance. It’s no wonder that people are afraid to let go of even a little inhibition.
Here is the problem as I’ve come to see it. The decrease in violence in recent centuries — to whatever extent that is true — has followed a trend toward introspection and self-awareness, which Eric McLuhan and his cohorts posit is the direct result of literacy; in particular, widespread use of the book as a tool for conveying knowledge.
Literacy cultivates self-awareness by pushing the subject-object divide, which is necessary to recognize what is written on the page. That consciousness, in return, also reveals how a person is separate and distinct from the world. Book literacy in particular also provides contextual knowledge: the ability to frame issues and see them in relationship to one another. It allows for a complex rather than simplistic worldview.
Since the advent of broadcast media, particularly in the last 90 years (one Uranus-Eris cycle ago), this has been collapsing. Tribal awareness is taking the place of individual awareness. As Eric McLuhan said in Planet Waves last week, tribal awareness is fragile; offend the tribe, which is easy, and the whole tribe comes after you.
Further, younger people are not reading books. Even astrology students are barely reading books. Everything is on the ‘net, short form, summarized, tweeted, and maybe discussed a bit,. rather than carefully studied, and so on.
Even if there is less violence than there was 500 years ago (pre-mass literacy and therefore inner awareness), whatever literacy there may be today is greatly watered down and in a sense inverted by all this tribalism that’s going on, which has radically increased under digital conditions.
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Kids on their phones with Rembrandt’s Nightwatch above. We need to be paying more attention to the impact of digital media on consciousness. It’s not what we think it is. This photo was not staged, according to its creator, Gijsbert van der Wal.
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This has come with a rise in fundamentalism, be it Islamic or Christian. Just this week, the Republicans proposed, among other grand ideas, teaching the Bible as part of history class in school.
It’s also arrived with brainwashing the past three-ish generations that sex is a moral abomination, in the form of abstinence indoctrination; so we have lost, in many people, yet another mode of introspection. New Republican proposal: declaring porn a public health crisis.
Therapy has has also gone the way of the dodo bird: now it’s all about mood-altering pills. Again, less introspection, self-awareness and self-responsibility. The Republicans can bleat all they want about individual responsibilities and rights, and it starts to sound like southern slave owners screaming about liberty.
So we may just be seeing the beginning of this trend. The very inner core strength that we need to have for this not to happen is being cut away, washed away, corroded and eroded. Combine this with polarization, a rise in mental illness and the availability of weapons (and trucks), and we do have an issue on our hands.
It may take less effort and awareness to get out of this than we think. That’s not an invitation to do less, though; rather, it’s a reminder that our small gestures count. It will help if we stay available rather than pull in and hide. That is, tap into the inner awareness that you’ve trained over the years and make it available.
Many, many people have spiritual training that it’s now time to put into use. Start with your family, your co-workers and your friends. Pay attention to children, critters and hurting people. Notice the ones who are not speaking up. Guide the conversation to a productive place. Make your personal choice in favor of something else. Visualize and do what you can to make your personal world a saner and more peaceful place.
Above all, I think that what we need to learn is that our lives are precious, worth living and worth living well.
Thanks for reading. I plan to be back next with Planet Waves TV on Sunday afternoon. I’ll be present on my Facebook page if you want to correspond.
With love,
It s all about honouring our mother… the material plane on which we dance and swim… honouring our bodies… for pete s sake… love your self with all your might. I s a very simple act… nature herself is bountiful, balanced, and powerful. Kick ass most of all
with the grace of a lady willing to reap all the goodness around her, yeah, sometimes we sweat but so what!…. (same goes for you guys 
The answer always resides in the feminine. But masculine is how we ACT.
LindeeLou
Masculine has nothing to do with killing anyone or disrespecting the Earth. We don’t need to emphasize masculine or feminine. And in my personal experience and study, I have seen no evidence whatsoever that ‘the feminine’ is taking responsibility for itself, such as training her sons not to kill or rape.
I see exceedingly little evidence that women are sincerely interested in teaching men about sex. I see it rarely, occasionally. Mostly I see moralism and resistance to an honest discussion on nearly all parties.
Yin is as out of balance as yang is now. Individuals seeking a saner planet can start first with inner gender balance.
As a tantric practitioner I live the truth that women are the initiators and the teachers. But as my mentor asked, what do you do when nearly all of the women feel crushed, bitter and held down? What are they teaching in that case? Who is initiating them as teachers? We have some real questions to ask, though we are far from having answers.
Eric you read me all wrong. I only referred to the beauty of nature herself… certainly not referring to what has become as our non-human society. Far from bitter, held-down , and whatever else yukstuff this one. What do you need to take a look at?
Your article is informative as always. Much Gratitude. LL
if so…apologies. I so often hear men counted out or counted down, and the statement made that men are “behind” and by inference inferior. For some 20 years I’ve been hearing the word “man” gradually be conflated with “rapist.”
Women need men right now. We have something for you. And you have something for us. I suggest we get together with that roller skate and key.
Absolutely Eric!!
Men inspire manifestation in all its glory!!
ll
p.s. it will be a brand new key
I could not help but notice that the chart looked like an Eiffel Tower … apologies for such a silly reply in the midst of all this horror and profound thought. this must be my aquarian nature that sees patterns in charts … still. I am feeling called to find resolution outside the box.
m.
Actually that kind of visual symbol makes astrology all the more vivid.
It’s really impressive that Moon-Mars in Scorpio was directly overhead when this happened. This kind of chart signature is, at least, encouraging in that the chart fits the event: that argues against “false flag,” which is a lot worse than some nut case doing this because he was in pain. It’s not better for the victims and the survivors, only for the world.
If I may chime in on the feminine/masculine issue: I agree that men have been getting a bad rap which I feel is not at all always merited. At the age of seventy, I’ve watched & participated in the social evolution (& setbacks) for some decades now.
I’ve seen too many little boys taught from the age they can understand language to not feel, to “suck it up”, be tough. This conditioning in masculinity is toxic to both men & women & to life on this planet right now.
Women/mothers are complicit in this way of raising sons, whether because they’ve absorbed the values themselves or are over-ruled by the father’s conditioned version of what it means to be male. Daughters raised in that atmosphere learn to expect & accept such males in their lives as they grow up.
My heart aches when I see a hurting little boy who needs a hug but instead goes & hits another kid. Everybody & everything becomes a victim. Both & all genders need much healing.
When the lid blows on a corked bottle of years of stuffed, denied feelings, what comes first seems to be the anger & rage. The sorrow is further down, deep in the wound.
i agree with you Bette.
I think the profession of “Mothering” is the most deficient or bankrupt of them all. Until mothers have the courage to cut the cord of their own, this absurd humanity will remain, well, …. until Our Mother brings the population back down to 500 million (which has been predicted for around 2020 btw).
The sorrow is further down, deep in the wound, in the belly of Our Mother.
Forgive me for repeating myself, but it is all in the honouring of our own material plane, our body. We all know how, we have for a long long time.
Bless you, Len, bless you. Am so touched by your words, also because they confirm that I’m on the right track. I’ve had problems with a colleague at work, who can be a bit difficult. Am so stressed out at the moment that I didn’t behave very well towards her in these last days. But yesterday, I was so devastated by what happened in Nice – and I know that this woman has a little boy. Somehow, I felt I had to change things around – so I went into her office and apologized for not having behaved very well in these days, but that I was so stressed out. She gave me this enormous, beautiful smile, and was clearly surprised, and perhaps a little touched. it’s easy to be nice with charming, lovely people – but I reckon that the real challenge is turning the other cheek with the difficult ones (without of course, letting them walk over one). It also ties in beautifully with Eric’s great words, “Make your personal choice in favor of something else. Visualize and do what you can to make your personal world a saner and more peaceful place.” Thank you, dear ones.
Very interesting article here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36807283
In the spirit of polarization I’m inclined to add Sedna at 25+ Taurus to the partial chart image above. In all the violent events that have included the recently retro-turned-direct transiting Mars, Sedna has been opposite him. The bad rap (or polarized reputation) that Mars’ has long endured could possibly be counter-balanced by Sedna’s reputation for having been preoccupied with brushing her own hair.
These one-dimensional images that have developed from the cultures and societies that spawned them, images that have become accepted by most, reflect our views or bias toward “the other”; the Good the Bad and the Ugly. It would seem then we have gone as far as we can with stereotyping the two ends of the spectrum symbolized by male and female.
Sedna was not a terribly complicated deity compared to the Greek gods and goddesses, but she nevertheless had something in common with Ceres/Demeter in that she provided nourishment. Reduced to that basic formula then, she might be thought of as Sea Mother just as Ceres is often referred to as Earth Mother. Reproduction for the Masses we might accept then as key to her image, whereas the major role of Mars the Warrior might be to defend the Masses.
Because of the shock that these kinds of events create, we are forced to focus our attention on what appears to be the madness our societies are producing. Within the deranged logic of the perpetrators of these crimes there is likely to be a sense of defending the clan or a revenge for perceived wrongdoing. If the Universe is determined to bring this awareness to the forefront of Humanity’s attention (which seems the case) then astrology is doing its best to keep it simple. We have our polarized male – female, yin – yang, good – bad, powered – disempowered, smart – dumb, rich – poor symbols by the bucket full.
At the same time, this event’s grand trine of planets in water signs utilizes the power of feeling to absorb this knowledge, not the mental air signs. The Sun, now in Cancer (whose ruler Moon conjuncts Mars the Defender) symbolizes Consciousness, right? Sun trines Chiron who symbolizes Healing (from the sign of Pisces that symbolizes Compassion) and they both trine Moon (also a sign of reproduction and nourishment) -Mars in the sign of Transformation. The Grand Trine in any mode of operation is going to symbolize ease and simplicity.
The astrology keeps making it easier and easier to for us to become conscious of the imbalances that have been holding our societies together, because societies have now reached the point they can no longer bear those imbalances. Societies are coming undone at the seams so they can reform and realign with a more balanced, humane and Aquarian-leaning approach to life on planet Earth; a planet that is made up of solid Earth and porous Water. Who better to symbolize that dichotomy than Mars and Sedna? Who better to facilitate its repair than Sun, Moon and Chiron?
In the pursuance of Evolution, we must do more than just think and then talk about our thoughts. We must feel the passion enough so that we get to the stage of doing what needs to be done, but there is always (in a polarized world) a right way and a wrong way to feel the passion. Until we can stop seeing each other only in such extremes of polarization we will continue to act in extremes of polarizations. It’s that simple.
be
Bravo B
So nicely written and detailed. I feel not a single ‘t’ was left uncrossed…. i know sounds funny in english … i think the correct translation would be… not a stone left unturned. (That was a french expression)
ll