• Focus on War on Terrorism, fear of foreign religions, a common threat
• A more widespread awareness of the corruption within governments and their hidden agendas.
• Sept 11, 2001 - the catalyst that opened our eyes to corrupt governments, cover-ups, conspiracies, the war on terror, the central focus-point of modern political mythology and propaganda, in which the scale of deception and popular ignorance is frightening in its magnitude.  The most flagrantly hypocritical moral stances on issues of global concern – humanitarian law, climate science, weapons of mass destruction, religious fundamentalism, economic largesse and piracy
• The rise of religious fundamentalist groups - Jihad defending Islam.
• Suicide bombers reintroduced to our psyche – dying for their beliefs.
• The rise of terrorism - we must defend ourselves, fight for our freedom, in the name of God
• Weapons of mass destruction, and weapons of mass deception
• The sectarian and racist riots in  Cronulla, Sydney in Dec 2006 

The Church and  Religion

• 13 March 1996 - The Dunblane Primary School massacre - was a multiple murder-suicide Sixteen children and one adult were killed, in addition to the attacker,
• 1996 – April 28th, Port Arthur massacre – Tourist attraction Tasmania - was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded 37 others mainly at the historic Port Arthur prison colony, a popular tourist site in south-eastern Tasmania, ( Australian gun laws introduced soon after) the disarming of the people, many conspiracies theories develop.
• 1999 - April 20 - Columbine High School massacre. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide.
• 2004, -September 1, - The Beslan school hostage crisis began when a group of armed rebels, demanding an end to the Second Chechen War, took more than 1,100 people (including some 777 children)hostage at School in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania,
• April 16, 2007 - Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting consisting of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on that took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide.

Consciousness and the introduction of a New reality:

Major World Events – Effecting the global collective

Books  – that challenged our thinking, changed our view or helped us believe that there is something more.

Movies – that challenged our thinking, changed our view or helped us believe that there is something more.

Moving On:

Looking back on the calendar of events we ask ourselves how we tread into the next Pluto cycle and its movement through Capricorn. Have we been awakened, enlightened, is our future secure, or are we scared of the future, have we planned enough, have we set the right goals?  What do we now collectively believe?  Do we know who to trust?  We are confronted with so many unanswered questions.  Our best option is to absorb what we’ve learnt, in terms of what has given rise to a renewed consciousness, and proceed into the future with a renewed sense of what really is necessary, what is not, and how we go about manifesting that when Pluto enters Capricorn.  In due time we will see a transformation of global societies  rebuilding  structures that have for so long nourished the rich, the powerful and the unjust. The world of banks, increasing debt,  property prices, world stock markets crashing and destabilising have already given us a glimpse of the makings of Pluto in Capricorn.

As Pluto forces us to strip away the superficial and come face to face with the real essence of the global issues at hand, it makes sure that we progress to a world more vital, making us all more aware of the price that we will all pay if we just continue to fulfill our desires and passions, and it seems that we have indeed all become more aware of the price that needs to be paid.   The Sagittarian lesson has a great deal to do with what our hopes are for the future, and what our expectations are for tomorrow.  While new truths have emerged, the challenge is now to ground them when Pluto moves to the testing ground of the earthy sign of Capricorn.

For a historical timeline of Pluto in Sagittarius from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, to the burning of the library of Alexandria and the first encyclopaedia  follow this link :http://www.alabe.com/plutosag.pdf

If you would like to add anything to this article please email info@cosmicintelligenceagency.com

Agent 12 Julija Simas

© Julija Simas 2008

 

 

Cancer Ingress 2008

 

Pluto has slipped back into the last degree of Sagittarius, for a final farewell for a few months, before entering Capricorn to stay for the next 16 years.  At the Ingress moment, the Sun is opposing Pluto within only 11 minutes of orb.  This is the closest that Pluto comes to aspecting the Sun at any ingress in the current decade, only seconded by the Libra Ingress of 2009, when the orb will be about 40 minutes.

Neptune sits at 24º05’ Aquarius, retrograde, closely opposed by Mars at 23º42’ Leo.  This very tight opposition also aligns with the nodal axis at 19º26’ and with Chiron at 20º47’ Aquarius.  Mars and Neptune are both on the Moon/Uranus midpoint.  Uranus is about to turn retrograde (in about a week), at 22º39’ Pisces.

Saturn is starting to gather pace in its direct motion through the first decan of Virgo, at 3º41’ and is closely sextile Venus, at 3º15’ Cancer.  Jupiter is retrograding through Capricorn, at 19º44’.  Mercury has started moving direct from its station 2 days previously, and is unaspected at 13º03’ Gemini.

The Moon is just past full, at 25º09’ Capricorn, loosely conjunct Jupiter.

 

Digital Cornucopia - Moon and Jupiter in Capricorn - should be enough for all

 

The two main themes of this ingress are the Sun-Pluto opposition and the Mars-Neptune opposition lying on the nodal axis.  Oppositions are representative of the energy of tension, conflict, division, polarisation and projection, and both of these oppositions involve the pitting of a personal, active energy against the forces of the collective.  This is most likely to manifest as decisions and actions taken in the face of powerful group dynamics, where people can be easily swept up into energetic defence of extreme ideological positions or fanatical identifications.  The challenge is to remain aware of both sides of the debate, and to try not to be riven into opposing camps when that only serves to divide people further rather than resolve tension more productively.

The nodal axis is pointing towards Aquarius, with its arrow pointing straight at Chiron.  There is a sense that the way forward is not easy, but somehow it will have to involve an admission of problems and a willingness to examine collective denial and illusions before progress can be made.  There is a feeling of fakery or over-glamourisation affecting events, especially political gatherings and meetings, which may provoke strong feelings of anger or impotent rage in certain quarters.  Perhaps a pervasive feeling of a ‘make-or-break’ situation may develop, complicated by violent venting of idealistic fervour.  It may be useful to meditate on the collective nature of our pain right now, and try not to scapegoat those unfortunate individuals who seem as though they should be picked on to carry the burden of group shame.

The Sun in opposition to Pluto, so close in orb, brings a paranoid and conspiracist tinge to events.  People may be making important decisions based on assumptions that they are being coerced or forced by the powers that be into doing something contrary to their interests.  This is an aspect of obdurate opposition to authority, of refusal to tow the party line, and of deliberate antagonism to the will of those who are perceived as being in control.  There may be a criminal or underhanded aspect to events or things may seem as if they are being manipulated from behind the scenes by some unknown force or powerful interest.  Accusations of secret dealings float around and a dark mood of distrust prevails.  We should try to see that these powerful forces actually lie within ourselves and it is at times like this that we are being called to recognise that we must take the responsibility to use our power to change things around us, rather than expect that others will do it for us, and then feel manipulated by them.

Mars-Neptune can indicate deceptiveness and sabotage, and the opposition especially may bring such activities into the public eye.  Actions pursued to further a political or religious ideology – up to and including violence – can be suggested by this configuration.  With both Mars and Neptune sitting on the Moon/Uranus midpoint, it seems as though there is a popular mood for change, perhaps change at any cost, and this may be achieved through less than edifying means.  It would be better to use this time to act through gentle persuasion, with the highest of ideals in mind.

With both of these oppositions, it may be that the period around this ingress, and especially the months of July, August and early September, may be periods of exceptional division in popular opinion, fuelled by feelings of being able to engage with collective forces of political ideology and collective will, and turn them around somehow.  There is a possibility of violent clashes with establishment forces and a prevailing feeling of victimisation and paranoia.  The approaching Venus-Saturn sextile may mitigate to some degree, perhaps providing a possibility for constructive dialogue, a space for diplomatic engagement and maybe some opportunity for a lasting agreement; even the forging of a new alliance.

A message on the streets

The focus of intention at this upcoming solstice should be on acknowledging our tremendous capacity to change things around us if we only stop telling ourselves that we can’t; on accepting that we have made mistakes as a collective and that these need to be admitted rather than dumped on a particular person or minority; on realising that the powers that be can only be powerful if we let them have power over us.  When we think about what is wrong with our world, we can get so easily overwhelmed with the sheer madness and incredible stupidity of our fellow men and women.  We need to recognise that it is within our power to reverse things, but it starts with each one of us, in our own decisions and actions.  So, at this solstice, remember to stay cool, try not to be polarised into artificial factions, and act with the magic of a cosmic wizard! 

And as ever agents - put this information where it belongs:             

OUT THERE!!!

A37

 

Join our Solstice Mission and be part of sending a collective wave of Intention - during this June Solstice Mission Solstice June 2008

 

For more inspiration and ideas on our changing world dynamic and how to be more consciously involved please visit:

http://www.conversationweek.org/top-ten-questions/ - the top 10 questions on how to help create ichange in the world.

www.jointhegreatshift.com - The Great Shift campaign brings together the most visionary leaders to find dialogue about how we can all create a Great Shift in the years ahead.

 

Back to Top

 

 

Neptune, Pluto and Peak Oil

Melbourne - The price of oil has been increasing at a significantly accelerated rate in the past two months.  Worldwide, prices at the petrol-pump have been following this trend and recent parliamentary debate in Canberra has been conducted over ways of relieving the financial pressure this has been causing families.  Is this just a blip in the market, the result of transient interruptions in supply in unstable places like Iraq and Nigeria?  Or does it represent a reprise of the oil shocks of the 1970s, resulting from artificially elevated prices controlled by the cartel of major oil corporations currently responsible for production of oil throughout the world? 

Within the last 2-3 years, there has been a developing consensus amongst experts in the petrochemical industry, geologists and economists that the era of cheap oil is coming to an end.  Although this notion of ‘Peak Oil’ has been described and written about at least since the 1950s, it is really only within the last decade that it has started to receive the widespread attention that it deserves.  This is unfortunate given its profound ramifications for our civilisation and our current way of life.

Essentially, oil is the accumulation of organic hydrocarbons – the remains of life forms - in cracks and crevices in the rocks of the earth’s crust, which has been subjected to the telluric forces of heat and pressure over the millenia.  Trapped in the chemical bonds of these simple hydrocarbon molecules is energy which can be released by oxidation when oil is burned.  Oil has proven to be an exceptionally convenient source of energy because it is relatively pure, compact, easily transported, abundant and easily accessible.  Where coal was the energy source that fuelled the Industrial Revolution, oil was the fuel of modern industrial, electronic and biotechnological civilisation, including its most recent development into computerisation and virtual reality.

While oil has been, and still is, used as a fuel for electricity generation, probably the use that has caused it to most spectacularly transform our society is transportation.  The car has not only transformed our everyday work and leisure, it has caused us to completely re-design our cities and towns along the model of suburbia, especially in places like North America and Australia, where pre-existing urban structures were not of great antiquity.  Air travel has become relatively cheap and has enabled millions to travel around the globe for very little expense.

However oil has also been the essential starting point for a whole range of chemical derivatives which have become so commonplace in their everyday use that most of us have forgotten about their origin:  plastics and all that has been made out of them, pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, antimalarials and pesticides, cleansers and detergents, fabrics such as nylon, fertilizers for modern agriculture.  A cursory look around our homes and a brief list of our typical activities in a week will show just how dependent our modern lifestyles have become on this incredibly potent substance, a substance sometimes called ‘black gold’ or ‘concentrated sunshine.’

Looked at in this way, we can see that the phenomenal rise in human population over the past century (2 billion in 1930, 6 billion in 1999) has been intimately tied to revolutionary advances in medicine and in food technology, or the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s.  Both of these advances have been dependent on abundant availability of petrochemicals.

The problem is that, while there are still huge reserves of oil left to be tapped, produced and brought to market, these reserves are becoming increasingly difficult to utilise.  The first oil-wells spurted out oil under its own pressure, requiring practically no energy to be invested in order to extract the substance.  However as a typical oil-field matures, and the easily extractable oil is depleted, the remaining reserves take much more energy to be invested in a variety of technologies in order to pump the remains to the surface.  Inevitably, there comes a point where the amount of energy invested in the oil extraction process exceeds the amount of energy obtained in the oil extracted, making the activity pointless.  When this occurs in any given oil-field, the field is said to have ‘peaked.’  In 1956, exactly this was predicted to occur in 1970 by geologist Dr M. King Hubbert with respect to the total oil production of the lower 48 states of the USA, to much derision from his contemporaries in the oil business.  He turned out to be right, and the total production of oil from this region has continued to decline ever since.

Similarly, Russian oil production, that of Mexico and the North Sea have all peaked.  There is uncertainty about the largest oil producers in the world currently, namely Saudi Arabia, Iran and the other Gulf states, in terms of whether they have reached peak production.  However a number of prominent geologists and oil industry figures have been reaching increasing consensus that the world as a whole either will reach peak production in the next 5 years or so, or is actually at peak now.  It is not a simple matter to determine this, as different players have different economic and political interests invested in their oil and in what information they release about their reserves.  It does appear, however, that an ominous sign is sustained and very substantial rises in oil prices, together with fairly large fluctuations in prices, but an underlying inevitable march up the price scale.

To this analysis must be added the extra demand on oil supplies represented by the rapidly growing economies of China and India, together accounting for some 35% of world population.  If anything, this will tend to bring the peak closer than if world demand remained the same, or if not, it will naturally cause prices to rise even further ahead of the actual peak.

Other energy sources are also widely used by our modern civilisation, such as natural gas, coal, wood, hydroelectric, nuclear, solar and others.  These are almost exclusively used to generate electricity, but they are generally poor substitutes for oil for purposes of cheap and fast transportation.  Hence, as the world navigates the ‘oil descent’ curve post-peak, it will likely be in the area of transport, and all that is dependent on it, that we will see the most serious problems looming. 

For example, the greater population of Melbourne and other large spatially spread-out cities, resides in suburbs which are highly dependent on cars for transport – transport to work, to shops, to hospitals, to schools.  Food retailing and fresh food supplies are totally dependent on road haulage, such that basic food prices will rise with the cost of petrol.  Public transport exists, but is insufficient to meet the needs of suburbs of such large magnitude.  Airlines find it hard enough turning a profit even with relatively stable fuel prices, but are already laying off staff, placing planes in storage and closing routes as well as raising ticket prices by up to 3-4% per month.  Analysts are seriously talking about a doubling in the price of air travel by the end of this year.

This is just a small taste of the basic theory and implications of Peak Oil.  Often dismissed as a ‘conspiracy theory’ as recently as 3-4 years ago, it has suddenly become mainstream news in the most famous broadsheet newspapers around the world in recent weeks. 
This may be related to two distinct, but inter-related astrological alignments this year and next:  Pluto’s ingress into Capricorn and Neptune’s return to its discovery degree, which takes place in April next year.

 
Neptune
Neptune is often said to hold dominion over oil, but the reasoning behind this is somewhat obscure.  It is true that the start of the modern oil industry and the birth of organic chemistry that followed on its heels both took place not long after Neptune’s discovery in the mid-nineteenth century.  Neptune’s relationship to drugs, gas, liquids and overpowering vapours and smells is probably well-recognised.  The panic over rapidly rising oil prices and the increasingly deceptive actions of world leaders in disguising their grabs for the last remaining oil deposits are redolent of the Neptunian chaos waiting to be released as the world begins the inevitable slide down the oil production curve post-peak. 

Neptune stationed retrograde on 28 May 2008 at 24º15’ Aquarius, right in the middle of Australian federal government arguments over a ‘price-watch’ scheme to assist motorists identify the cheapest petrol on sale from service-stations. Neptune has been in conjunction with the Moon’s North Node and, more loosely, Chiron over the past 5-6 weeks, as oil prices have risen by about 20%, and internet blogs have been full of people asking when society will wake up to its collective madness in continuing to consume so much oil for such extravagant and unnecessary reasons.  Next year, however, Neptune will finally reach its discovery position at 25º53’ Aquarius, on 11 April 2009, while partile conjunct Chiron and about 5 weeks short of a very exact and rare Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune conjunction. Is it possible we are coming face-to-face with the reality of the over-abundance, the over-population, the over-use of material resources and the painful truth of the shadow side of excess?

Pluto
But there is a darker side to oil that I think transcends the realm of Neptune and is more suited to the symbolism of Pluto.  Oil comes from the depths of the earth, from forces of great heat and pressure, and contains tremendous amounts of energy which originally derived from the sun’s rays trapped in plant life.  This energy has been the fuel behind the enormously accelerated growth in human life on the planet as well the huge impact of human choices – and mistakes – on the planetary ecosystem as a whole.  This characteristic of enormous power deriving from something as superficially insignificant, even disgusting, as a slimy black fluid seeping from a hole in the ground, is classically Plutonian in its imagery and symbolic resonance.  This is reiterated by the association of Pluto with great wealth, and indeed oil has really become the currency of the world (as instantiated in the petrodollar).  The unseen manipulations and machinations conducted by the powers that be, lying behind some of the major wars of the past hundred years, have to some extent been connected with the need for nations and peoples to gain access to more oil so that their technological development and military and economic prowess can grow ever more mighty.  Again, this seems to evoke the invisible and powerful work of the archetype of Pluto.
The conjunction of Neptune with Pluto in the late 1880s and early 1890s – followed by the long-drawn-out opening sextile from the 1940s to the 1990s – seems to be significant in that it occurred in the sign of Gemini, the sign of transportation, commerce and telecommunications, all of which have been utterly transformed by the impact of cheap oil.

Now that Pluto has moved into Capricorn, the phenomenon of Peak Oil is suddenly front-page news, and the degree to which the symbolism is concretised is almost trite:  Capricorn is the peak and Pluto is the oil.  Beyond the other looming difficulties such as water and environmental spoilage, species extinction and climate change, all of which are rooted in the common need for some sort of planet-wide taking of responsibility for our excesses, Pluto in Capricorn also represents scarcity and the societal impacts of ‘energy descent.’  The most common predictions for Peak Oil seem to converge around 2006 – 2015, with most of them around 2008-2010.  If the analysts are correct, and the models replicate the behaviour of individual fields and countries around the world over the past 50 years, Pluto’s move into Capricorn has coincided with a momentous and defining point in our civilisation’s sense of history.  This is the time when we have to start cutting back, when we have to be more responsible in how we use the vast wealth of millennia of stored energy beneath the ground.  This is a problem of social organisation, of physical lifestyle change, of rationing, of re-defining the responsibility of the individual towards the group.


This will not be an easy time, and the first major period of difficulty will probably coincide with the prolonged Uranus-Pluto squares of the early 2010s, perhaps kicked off by major events in July/August 2010 when the cardinal t-square reaches maximum exactitude (Jupiter/Uranus conjunction opposite Mars/Saturn conjunction, both square Pluto).

Useful websites to look up if you want to learn more about Peak Oil include The Oil Drum (www.theoildrum.com), LATOC (www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net), Energy Bulletin (www.energybulletin.net), www.oilcrisis.com and many others you can find linked from these.  The more informed you are of what’s really going on, the better you will be able to weather the coming storms; take the responsibility to educate others about this important information, so that we can initiate some real change in our attitude to the resources that sustain us.

Agent37 - June 2008

Back to Top

 

Uranus and Neptune - The Mutual Reception - A36

Because Neptune’s orbit is almost twice as long as that of Uranus, each time Uranus has transited Pisces since the 16th century, Neptune has been located in either Leo or Aquarius.
With every second transit of Uranus through Pisces, a long period of mutual reception with Neptune is thus formed. The last time these planets were in mutual reception spanned the years 1836-1843 and before that 1668-1676.
The current mutual reception will continue until 2011 when both planets change signs.
It has been said that mutual receptions intensify the energy of the two planets involved.  Personally, I agree with this interpretation, but would add that there seems to be far more to mutual reception than simply a strengthening or intensification.
I first became interested in mutual receptions in their mundane context in 1985. At that time Jupiter was in Aquarius and Uranus was in Sagittarius. I was just getting into mundane astrology at the time, in fact the first astrology article I ever wrote was on this topic, so the events are clearly etched on my mind.
In the middle of 1985, there was a spate of airline disasters1.  In a seven-week period between June and August there were four major air disasters throughout the world, with a loss of over 1100 lives.2
I began searching for an astrological correlation for these tragic accidents and noticed that Uranus and Jupiter were in mutual reception. Both planets were retrograde and they were making a sextile aspect.
The haste and exuberance of the energy had somehow led to these disasters. Since Uranus rules accidents and aviation, while Jupiter governs travel, it seemed apparent that this was the astrological signature.
The sextile aspect is however a positive one, suggesting a harmonious relationship, yet there didn’t seem to be much in the way of harmony here. I concluded that the nature of the mutual reception itself was somehow causing the problem. It was as if the two planets were having trouble functioning, and yet were being pulled together and had to relate to each other. I formed the opinion that mutual receptions are like a catch-22, that in trying to express its energy, each planet has to defer to the other, creating and endless loop, all the while they are trying to work out how to work together.
In terms of lives lost, 1985 was the worst year for air disasters on record. The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster also occurred while Jupiter and Uranus were in mutual reception, on January 28, 19863 Interestingly, this was just four days after the Voyager spacecraft made its closest approach to Uranus.
But now with Uranus and Neptune we have two planets intrinsically very different from each other. The only “relationship” they have is that they are located in adjacent signs, signs which have nothing in common, being of a different element, polarity and quality. They could not be more different. Hence they are having even more trouble relating to each other, and yet they must.

In Mundane Astrology, Charles Harvey describes the essential differences between Uranus and Neptune as;

“Uranus- Individualistic, independent, self-reliant, encourages free enterprise, also seeks autonomy and is liable to rebellion and revolution. Tends to be right-wing, but equally to the ‘fascism of the left’. Once in power can be autocratic and totalitarian.

Neptune -Universal and utopian tendencies, collective values, communal, communistic, collectivist, pluralist, left-wing. Can be politically unrealistic, seeking soft options, avoiding confrontation.”

It was 2003, just as Uranus entered the peaceful sign of Pisces that the coalition of the willing went to war in Iraq, which was, as it turns out, a war based on the myth of those weapons of mass destruction. The powers that be had convinced themselves of the truth, even without evidence, projecting Neptune onto Iraq.
Right wing governments were in power in the US and in Australia, and were re-elected in 2004 though many people protested against the war and the polls showed that the vast majority knew they were being lied to, but we still voted for them anyway. 
Denial and confusion seem to be part of this mutual reception, but what is the cosmic message? Perhaps it is to learn that scientific thought and spiritual understanding are not mutually exclusive.
Now we are more than half way through this cycle. Collectively, we are no longer in denial about the war, nor about climate change, we have grown in awareness, and we’re beginning to understand that we are all connected by a common bond of humanity.

CYCLES OF URANUS IN PISCES

1668-1676 (Mutual reception with Neptune)
1752-1759 (Neptune in Leo)
1836-1843 (Mutual reception with Neptune)
1919-1928  (Neptune in Leo)
2003-2011 (Mutual reception with Neptune)

CAMILLE FLAMMARION

Astronomer and Spiritualist

One man who seems to have understood that science and spirit were equally worthy paradigms, was Camille Flammarion who was born in 1842 with Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius.
Uranus was conjunct a retrograde Mercury in his 4th house close to his I.C. in a water sign and house, while Neptune was in his third house, so in an air sign and house.
Flammarion was a rather unusual character. According to Wikipedia, he was the first person to suggest Triton as the name for Neptune’s largest moon, though the name was not adopted until much later.
Though he was an astronomer living in an age of science and reason, and his job at the Paris Observatory was a scientific one, Flammarion firmly embraced the spiritual dimension. He was deeply interested in the psychic and spiritual realm.
He wrote some 60 books, both science and science fiction. Some of the titles seem to exactly symbolise the mutual reception of Uranus and Neptune.
 ‘Dreams of an Astronomer’, which includes chapters entitled; ‘A Voyage in the Sky’, and ‘Ideas Concerning Communication Between Worlds’ are not the stuff one normally associates with astronomers. There is also a full chapter discussing the possible existence of aliens and speculating as to their chemical composition.4
In his book, ‘Mysterious Psychic Forces’, Flammarion describes a séance at which he asked the medium for information concerning the motion of the planet Uranus and its moons.5  

In this same book, he logically puts forward his case for investigating the unknown.

‘There are observers like myself (not many of us) who are incredulous by nature but who have been obliged to admit in the long run that Spiritualism concerns itself with facts which defy any present Scientific explication and who therefore apply themselves to the study of the facts.’6
(His own parentheses and italics)
If one man can consciously express both Neptune and Uranus at the same time, then so can we all.

LESSONS FROM HISTORY

Sir John Herschel, son of William Herschel the discoverer of Uranus, coined the term ‘photography’ in 1839. He was one of several inventors who were pioneers in this new field of the arts.
Years before Herschel senior had made improvements to the reflecting telescope, which he used to discover Uranus in 1781. Isaac Newton had invented the reflecting telescope in 16687 a year when Uranus moved into Pisces and formed a mutual reception with Neptune.
That same year, 1668 across the channel, Benedictine Monks were busy inventing champagne. Literally putting air (Uranus) into alcohol8 (Neptune). Between 1668-1676 Charles II was on the throne of England, which was a time of indulgence and escapism.
The first Opium War between Great Britain and China too place in 1839. The British waged war against China to force them to open their ports to opium from British India. This came about because Britain had a substantial trade deficit resulting from the importation of Chinese porcelain, silk and especially tea. The first Opium War resulted in the cessation of Hong Kong to Britain and the Chinese were forced to import opium. British exports of Indian opium made addicts of many Chinese citizens and created major social problems in China.
During this mutual reception, free trade became the new ‘god’. John Ralston Saul says in his book, The Collapse of Globalism.

‘In the case of modern free trade it began with a confusion of religious beliefs - both Protestant and economic - among leaders of the movement.’1

It was not just thought, but believed, that the new model of free trade would provide the answers to every possible social problem across the globe. Free trade was our ‘saviour’. The free market would redeem us.
Free (Uranus) trade (Neptune) expanded rapidly in the 1834-49 period. Because free trade was seen as a kind of saviour, everything and anything was done in its name and so Britain forced opium onto the Chinese markets, leading to the Opium wars.
At the same time that the proponents of free trade were sure they had hit upon the answer to create an ideal future, Karl Marx thought the same thing and at the same time wrote his Communist Manifesto, which appeared in 1848. Both the political right and left assumed that their ideology was right.
Neptune was discovered in 1846 while transiting Aquarius. It will be the 165 year anniversary of its discovery in April 2009. Perhaps we are about to enter a new era of spiritual understanding.

IN THE NEWS
The events below took place after March 2003 when Uranus first crept into the early degrees of Pisces and before it retrograded back into Aquarius in September 20032.

The following events took place after Dec 31, 2003 when Uranus had moved completely into Pisces.

One day’s headlines
The following headlines from The Age, exactly as they appeared on Tuesday 20, July 2004. (Except for parentheses)

A random collection of news stories and events from 2004-5

Another day in the life of Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception

 

Actual headlines from The Age April 15, 2005

REFERENCES AND NOTES:

 

 

Pluto Ingresses - Capricorn Jan 2008 back to Virgo 1956

At 3:34 PM, AEDT on 26 January 2008, Pluto moved out of Sagittarius and into Capricorn. It was last in Capricorn in the years 1762-1778, and last changed signs (from Scorpio to Sagittarius) in 1995.

I have cast a chart for the ingress moment, at Melbourne, but with natural angles. Notable patterns in this chart are: 
(1) Jupiter-Saturn trine in earth
(2) Mercury-Neptune conjunction, trine Mars in air
(3) Stellium of Sun, Chiron, Neptune, Mercury (and North Node) in Aquarius
(4) Moon-Uranus opposition

Before trying to see what this may mean, let us first review previous ingress charts for Pluto and compare them to the events that took place in their aftermath.

Pluto’s ingress into Virgo took place at 4:23 PM AEST on October 20, 1956. Symbolizing the entire sixties generation, this chart shows a grand cross in fixed signs involving a Moon-Neptune opposition and a Chiron-Uranus opposition. Mars is opposite Venus, and Saturn is exactly square Pluto. This is suggestive of the ecological activism, esoteric mysticism and perhaps the strong desire for escape that fuelled the psychedelic movement throughout the decade. The Mars-Venus opposition evokes a potent sexual tension throughout the period, and the square of Saturn to Pluto (especially with Saturn in Sagittarius) may represent the struggle for human rights and law reform.

The Libra ingress took place at 4:30 PM AEST on October 5, 1971. This chart is interesting because of the extraordinarily airy emphasis. Libra itself contains a stellium of Pluto, Mercury, Sun, Uranus and Venus. The close Sun-Uranus conjunction in Libra trines Mars in Aquarius, and Saturn in Gemini. The Aries Moon opposes Venus, and the Jupiter-Netune conjunction in early Sagittarius sextiles Pluto. I see this as a sort of turning point or re-balancing of the power between opposing sides of conflict. A fundamental will to restore fairness in all dealings between groups. The seventies was a period notable for the rise of feminism and gay rights, as well as the advent of the most notable work of philosophy in the area of justice since the utilitarian writings of Mill: John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness. The swashbuckling escapades of space-age science-fiction as portrayed by the Star Wars series brought the real-world binary division of the Cold War into archetypal resonance with the imagery of two great powers battling for supremacy in the cosmos. Despite the Libran penchant for peace, the Aquarian Mars trine Uranus, together with the Sun-Uranus conjunction, correlated with militancy amongst those who felt unfairly dealt with, whether they were nationalists in Northern Ireland, trade unionists in Britain or ideological radicals in South-East Asia and the Middle East. The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 reinforced the reality of the way power could see-saw between different interests depending on their willingness to achieve a diplomatic compromise.

Pluto entered Scorpio at 8:41 AM AEDT on 6 November 1983. This chart also has a stellium, this time in Scorpio (Pluto, Saturn, Sun, Mercury and Moon). Jupiter conjoins Uranus in Sagittarius, and a Mars-Venus conjunction in late Virgo squares Neptune. The heavy Scorpio stellium at a new Moon was perhaps a warning of a new era in matters of sexual and financial exchange, one tinged with themes of responsibility and death of old ways. AIDS and the transformation of attitudes to sexual behaviour that it brought in its wake, although first described in 1981, did not become a widespread epidemiological concern until around 1984. A harder-edged, less forgiving approach to financial management in the business and corporate worlds became noticeable as market liberalisation and privatisation of state assets swept through western capiltalist economies, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. A new level of development and popular availability of microcomputers took off in the early 1980s and was perhaps correlated with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, preset at this ingress. The ideological struggle of the previous decades finally resolved itself in the death-throes of the communist states in Europe and the triumphant merging of the two alienated halves of the continent, as if in a chain of events in an unstoppable biological reflex. By the time Pluto left Scorpio and entered Sagittarius in 1995, the political landscape was utterly transformed.

Entering Sagittarius at 9:52 PM AEDT on 17 January 1995, Pluto was in conjunction with Jupiter and Venus, and square Mars and Saturn. The Sun was conjunct Uranus and Neptune and opposite the Moon. Two major developments took place in the common understanding of power and the collective will during the Pluto in Sagittarius era. Firstly, there was sense that moral hypocrisy had reached new levels. Western political leaders developed a sense of incorrigible arrogance and infallible righteousness that persisted in the face of widespread popular knowledge of evidence that contradicted their claims. Starting with the shenanigans surrounding the Clinton impeachment in the US, and continuing through the manifestly undemocratic 2000 US Presidential election, the inadequately invesitigated 9/11 events and the subsequent manufacture of lies and deceptions leading up to the invasion of Iraq, which still continues to this day, it was the sheer breathtaking scale of the audacity of judicial and political corruption that was suggestive of the workings of Pluto in Sagittarius. I associate this development with the T-square involving Mars, Saturn and Jupiter-Pluto.

The second major development was the dawning understanding of the power of global networks, whether instantiated through the internet, the common atmospheric perturbations of climate change, or the giant casino of global capital exchange and speculation. I associate this aspect with the Sun-Uranus-Neptune conjunction in late Capricorn. The difficulty with such pan-global structures, or, moreover, their essential characteristic, is that they are decentralised, and therefore lack leadership or management hierarchies. And it is precisely this idea that acts as a perfect segue into the Pluto in Capricorn era.


For it is during the next 16 years that the reality of the pan-global networks and communities and interdependencies will no longer be doubted; not only will it be the everyday reality for everyone on the planet, it will require leadership and reponsibility to maintain it and to ensure its ongoing viability. There will ensue a transformation of what it means to be in an executive position. To lead will no longer be synonymous with capitalistic, exploitative and wasteful enterprise, for this notion of leadership dies with the deep acceptance of limits to our existence. Rather, leadership will be more associated with the development of a sense of responsibility to contribute to the public good, but in a manner that is flexible to change, that is willing to forge new paths, to try alternative courses of action. Pragmatic adoption of what works and what is sustainable will be the order of the day. Older hierarchical structures depending solely on values of deference and respect of authority for authority’s sake will not survive, because they have become too crystallised to respond to the rapidity of the changes affecting our globalised systems. Ultimately a new sense of personal autonomy and citizenship will emerge, one which may strip away the power of nationalism and tribalism, but promote the power of individual achievement, duty and reward.

I think the emphasis in both Capricorn and Aquarius bears out these themes. The Jupiter-Saturn trine in earth is suggestive of future growth and prosperity being brought about by means of restriction or shrinkage, perhaps shortage. The Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius is redolent of the new faith in collective problem-solving, but also perhaps the fraud and deception that may emerge in such global efforts as carbon-trading and emissions reduction. Trine Mars, this Mercury may also symbolize a quantum leap in speed and complexity of communications, taking connectivity in the collective to a new level.
With Venus conjunct Pluto, and Jupiter not far off, all in Capricorn, perhaps the most immediate and obvious issue for everyone in the next few years is the diminishing pool of wealth and resources available for the members of our species to survive. Throughout the next 16 years, it is the duties that we individually shoulder towards our overpopulated and fouled environmental matrix, and the actions we take to discharge these, that will determine how we deal with the shifts of collective will during this time.

Agent37

Back to Top

 

C*I*A - Anima Mundi Solstices and Equinoxes

 

The Anima Mundi relates to the whole globe. When looking at planetary ingresses (when planets change signs) at equinoxes and solstices, traditionally astrological charts were cast at these potent times of the year to have a look at what was in store for the year or months ahead. In mundane astrological (mundus meaning the world) traditions a chart would be cast for a particular town, city or national capital and this would be looked at to indicate the flavour of what's ahead politically, nationally, collectively , economically for that city or country's year ahead. Will the government be overthrown? Will there be threats of war? Or will there be floods that destroy the harvest?

The movement of the sun into the cardinal signs of Aries, Cancer, Capricorn and Libra coincided with the change of seasons from summer to autum (Aries/Libra), autumn to winter (Cancer/Capricorn), winter to spring (Libra/Aries), spring to summer(Capricorn/Cancer) depending on which hemisphere you lived in. As western Astrology developed in the northern hemisphere, our zodiac coincides with the northern hemispheres seasons.

Our global natural environment seems to be somewhat out of sync with the old change of seasons, having been severely affected by humanity's impact on the natural environment. The equinoxes and solstices however still occur at these times and due to precession are moving slowly backward through the zodiac at about 1 degree per 72 years. At these turning points of the year the C*I*A puts out an intention for the year or 3 months ahead by an analysis of the astrological signature of the Solstice, Equinox or other majaor planetary ingress or combination. An astrology chart is a moment in time that continues to live and breathe as everything does symbolically and metaphorically, seeded at a particluar moment in time carrying with it a particlular astrological signature. Therefore at the C*I*A we see our focus at these times to be an honouring of and a conscious participation with the "Anima Mundi" and the times ahead.

At the C*I*A we are concerned with global awareness, therfore for Anima Mundi purposes, when looking at ingresses, as this is a global exercise, when we cast a chart for viewing the astrological flavour of what’s ahead, we will use, what is called a natural, neutral wheel, a chart with zero degrees of Aries as the ascendant(rising sign), equal houses and equal signs, of 30 degrees each. This way all signs and houses carry with them an equal amount of energy and meaning. This is therefore the same for any place on earth and this way no country or capital on the globe is more significant or important than any other. Our mission is to promote the message of the Anima Mundi as seen through the ever moving astrological mandala, and help to promote a global unification of our thoughts and actions.

Back to Top

 

 

 

Saturn in Virgo Sept 2007 – Nov 2009 -April 2010 – July 2010

Saturn spends about 2.5 years in the sign of Virgo. Saturn the planet of structure, form, restriction and authority is quite comfortable in the sign of Virgo. Virgo is the sign of health, service, fixing things, doing things right and meticulously and getting on with doing what is needed. We all feel the need for no more talk but action in the areas that affect climate change, sustainability and our part in the solutions. Virgo is in tune with the sacred earth and receives Saturn into her realm better than many signs. Saturn’s energy is demanding and strict, builds structures and forms that are made to last and whilst  in Virgo, Saturn  is in a place that caters better to his demands. Together their earthy natures’ combine in a productive and practical sense and both are capable of responding to what is necessary. The astro –signatures timely as usual, reflecting our dire need to focus on the healing of Gaia. In the Saturn in Virgo time ahead we will notice significant steps toward improvements in the areas of health, technologies and work practices that are sustainable, ecological, earth friendly and a move toward economic strategies with more ethical practices and  greater responsibility and  care of precious resources. Saturn however is slow and concerned with the old tried and tested systems that will make it difficult to move on or ahead in many fields, the frustrating resistance to change, that seems beyond our influences left in the hands of bureaucracy, plutocracy and corporate and governmental agendas, leaves us waiting till the agent of change Uranus confronts Saturn from November 2008. That’s when we may see more progress made in these areas, but until then know that your little bit helps, your daily service is part of the big solution.

Saturn’s entry into Virgo on the 2nd Sept 2007,  coincided with a conjunction to the karmic South Node, (symbolic of Karma, and past actions), a retrograde Venus ( re-evaluating what we hold dear and valued) and happened in between a total lunar eclipse on 28th August, and a solar eclipse on the 11th Sept,  all profoundly adding to the symbolism of Saturn’s entry into Virgo.  Saturn Lord of Karma demanded to be noticed, and together Venus and South Node herald a time that brings up the past and our global karma.
One of the many wonders of astrology is that every moment in time has a unique and once off expression, as well as a correlation to the past that never repeats in exactly the same way, but can still inform us of a few things to expect with a planet returning to a sign. The last time Saturn was in Virgo, 30 years ago, the eclipse cycles were happening also at the Virgo /Pisces polarity, but the nodes were reversed, the North Node was in Virgo and the South Node in Pisces. Saturn conjuncts the South Node about every 11 years, but in Virgo rarely. This time the conjunction of South Node in Virgo reflects the dire need to do something very constructive about the healing of the planet. The cosmos reminds us that this event tunes into the past catching up with us and humanity is now paying the price and the karmic debt for past wrongs and bad decisions. We are being asked to look at these mistakes, it is not necessary to repeat them, the consequences of continuing on the same path leads to the destruction of potential growth and further global prosperity.

The last Saturn transit of Virgo was from August 1978 till Oct 1980, and there were noticeably a few moves made  toward the healing of the planet, improvements in the field of health and technologies and we noticed women strengthening their voice and influence in a world dominated by men. Sweden banned aerosol, insulin was invented, our first human was born from invitro-fertilisation. In 1979 James Lovelock published his book “Gaia: A new look at life on Earth”. Gaia was based on an ecological hypothesis proposing that living and nonliving parts of the earth were a complex interacting system that could be thought of as a single organism. This hypothesis postulated that all living things have an effect on the Earth's environment.

We also noticed women becoming more influential around the world, mother Teresa won the Nobel peace prize for her great unrelenting care and service of the underprivileged.  In the political arena Margaret Thatcher became a force to be reckoned with as the first female prime minister of the UK. Many more females were elected in parliaments around the world, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo became the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal and Lidia Geiler the first woman elected President of Bolivia. Before this time there had only been very few, in 1960 Siramavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, 1966,  Indira Gandhi in India, 1969 Golda Meir in Israel and in 1974 Maria Estela Martinez de Peron Argentina. The trend for women in politics had been set and now we see Hilary Clinton as candidate for top position in the USA at the 2008 presidential election. Now in Nov 2007 we see Benazir Bhutto opposition leader of Pakistan arrested for pushing for free democracy(assasinated 27/12/07)and Aung San Suu Kyi also under house arrest for pro-democracy movements in Burma. Women in the limelight fighting and standing up against impossible odds, military regimes too powerful and heartless to overcome. In a different vein, back in 1979 we saw many women like Blondie, Siousxie of the Banshees, Lena Lovich, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders all become icons of strong tough women that appealed to and encouraged many young women around the world to toughen up, show their stuff, say it like it is. Feminine expression through music reflected that women could also wear the pants like they’d never been worn before.

During the 1950’s Virgo transit we saw antihistamine invented and the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese. The peaceful Buddhist world of Tibet, the roof of the world, a sacred spiritual place was exiled from the rest of the world by the imposing Chinese, who set up their own rules of how Tibet should further develop, China now perhaps the most powerful global force. Duringthe 1920’s Saturn Virgo transit, prohibition was introduced in  the USA and many other countries, the League of Nations was formed  and  women were finally given the right to vote in the USA.

The geocosmic correlation between the past few Saturn in Virgo periods gives us an idea of what to expect and what is possible over the next two and a half years. Virgo represents the harvest and Saturn comes down hard on our attitudes and respect for what we sow and what we reap, how we process, what we waste, food and precious resources. With the solar eclipse new moon of Sept 11th in Virgo opposite Uranus at 18 degrees Pisces we got a strong message that the way to restore balance and create the changes we need is to get every cog in the system (all of us have been eclipsed)and put ourselves to work as part of our service and duty as earthly inhabitants where all of us contribute to healing the planet.
An excerpt from ”New scientist” website on  Oct 3 2007, reports on  a  research project of 30 years(a whole Saturn cycle) informing us that:
“The world is failing on sustainable development"
 - It continues-  “If the world is to start developing in a sustainable way, we are going in the wrong direction. The message from the first study shows the ecological impact of our changing lifestyles. The international team looked at 93 nations over the last 30 years and found that just one nation - Cuba - was developing sustainably. Cuba was the only nation found to provide a decent standard of living for their people without consuming more than its fair share of resources”
 A strong message to the western world and it’s excessive behaviour, highlighting our need to reassess production, the hungry, waste and excess. We are all called to action, as is the message from Leonardo Di Caprio’s movie  “The 11th hour”.

The time ahead asks all of us to question the usefulness of our jobs, the utilisation of our skills and their effect on the greater good. Sure we all need to make a living, pay our mortgages, feed our children, but we are all called to action to do something also more constructive, to be conscious of our footprint, our carbon emissions, our waste and our consumption, as a mere cog in the world wide system. Many of us will consciously be seeking more meaningful work experiences, jobs that are worthwhile or can make a difference. If you work in healthcare, the powerful corporate structure or the public system, or work for yourself, whatever you find yourself doing, when you notice something not quite right, unfair, fixable, helpful, you too can I be of service and put your stamp on helping all things work just that little bit better.

Saturn entering Virgo calls to service and authority, perhaps more than others those born with Virgo planets. They are the people now 30 and 60 year olds, born with Saturn in Virgo, an older generation of people born with Neptune in Virgo, the generation born with Pluto in Virgo now turning about 50, and the generation born with Uranus in Virgo now about 45 to 38. I speak from a generation born in the mid sixties with Uranus and Pluto both conjunct in Virgo, a generation in revolt against the destructively egotistical forces of previous generations. My generation are having a huge reaction to the standards, protocols and systems that are in place that seem to be running our lives, we feel the need to change the standards of work and stress, money and power, sacred spaces, spending time on meaningful tasks, doing what is necessary and not superficial. We are naturally concerned for the earth, it's enviroment and the plight of the world. Our protocols are somewhat different, we seek alternative ways to get what we want and are not very conventional, perhaps with a bit more guts to be unconventional.. We have an urge to be of service and to get a few things working better. We are interested in saving the world, not for gratification but as our need for healing and contributing. As a generation, you could say we’ve come of age and are now ready and confident to play the roles we were born to , before now we may have complained and had lots to say, but now feel the need to act on what we’ve been thinking all these years. We are the children of the 60's and now want to see more of what was seeded and achieved back then to continue to progress, as there is still a long way to go with women’s rights, civil rights, sexual rights, democratic rights, govermental rights, corporate rights and the rights of the natural world.

Mercury the ruler of Virgo, reminds us to think clearly and focus on the task ahead. Virgo doesn’t give up, neither does Saturn until the job is done. We can hope for a further awakening into the science of the mind and how it works, everyman’s awareness that our minds create the reality we live in will continue to bring forth the message  and  reason for all of us to question what we store in our minds and how that may be detrimental to further growth and future vision. A discipline we can all implement that suits Saturn in Virgo is the practice of intention. Intention helps to create the reality in our everyday. In our daily routine we can consciously align ourselves through mindfulness and  awareness. The power of our minds is incredible, if we had more time to still them and focus on the future and its possibilities, imagine what we could create. If we all realized, woke up or understood that we are so capable of creating of influencing what happens in our world, the world could indeed be a much better place.  Like the Voodoo effect, if we imagine doom and gloom, if we fear the future, the media never helpful in this department, we create doom and gloom and we create a fearful future. Create reality? If only we knew we did or we could, an awareness that may take quite a few more returns of Saturn to Virgo to be fully realized. For those of us attuned to this, practice makes perfect, so keep it up.

The past is forever influencing the future, we take what is necessary and shed what is not, it can be explained in the idea, that we all live at the edge of Chaos, in constant flux between the past and the future. The edge of Chaos is random yet creates patterns, a paradox of being and becoming. Chaos can explain to us the  essence of being that involves an understanding that what we create comes from the past, how we’ve been informed, influenced,  nurtured all add to the addictive patterns that keep repeating in random and we continue to manifest our world. With Uranus coming up to opposition during Saturn’s time in Virgo, like lightning is essential to the development to new life on earth so Uranus is to Saturn and the next challenge begins. Pluto re- enters Capricorn fully also around November 2008 when we begin a cycle of decay and regeneration in the world of corporations and the big business of economics. We’ll witness the traditional power structures like banks, governments, corporations, institutions (Capricorn) radically challenged, altered and  slowly transformed (Pluto) by the changing world, worldview and collective psyche.

Saturn in Virgo carries with it a barren flavour, it’s not about surplus, but necessity, it’s not at all wasteful and indeed very difficult time because we just aren’t used to it. It seems as though we need to work at getting on top of things now, get ready for the change and a post material world. Saturn in Virgo reminds us that the time is right to focus on and be mindful of our everyday thoughts, our intentions and our actions. So get on with it everyone, do what you can, you’re an important cog in this world wide global system.

From the edge of Chaos – Agent12

Back to Top

 

 

The Saturn-Neptune Opposition

 

How difficult it can be to stand up for who we really are.  Do most people even have an inkling of what it is that they uniquely contribute to the world?  Or do they even dare to think that they might be unique and not merely elements in a statistical study? 

We are living in an age when the common aspects of our humanity, the things that unite us and define our idea of our very human-ness, are being so reified and elevated to the highest idealisation, that we are becoming homogenized, neutered, deprived of the features of individuality that make us stand out from the crowd.  We are told that we are from a certain demographic, that we constitute a given value of risk, that we are an atom amongst a sea of predictable reactions.

The result of this seduction by scientism is that we have lost touch with our wholeness as individuals.  It is only through believing in ourselves as individuals with something to give, that we can have the courage to stand up and be counted for who we really are, what we really want, and hence to lead the way for others.

Saturn in Leo is asking us:  ‘do you really have what it takes to stand up for yourself and show people who you are, to demonstrate yourself in all your aspects as a person that inspires a following, that attracts attention, that pulls others into your sphere of influence on some level?  Because if you don’t, not only will you regret your own failure to live your life with honesty, you will cede your very right to live to others whose leadership is malign.  You cannot moan and complain and carp about how our leaders are taking us down the wrong path, when you have not earned the right nor taken the responsibility to offer an alternative.’

We are everywhere faced with the reality that those who we have entrusted with leadership are exceeding their authority.  They are acting like monarchs, like kings of dynastic cabals, usurping the rights of the people with abandon.  We are being presented with the hard cold truths about leadership on the world stage, truths which concern each of us as individuals, not just as members of the polity.  Things will remain this way unless we assert our own capability to provide leadership and to challenge the authority of these unscrupulous people.

This is made doubly difficult by Neptune opposing Saturn.  Since 1998, Neptune has been transiting through Aquarius, spreading the fashion of the lowest common denominator, the idealisation of everyman, promising everyone that he too can be a star.  Part of this process has involved establishment of a mass delusion of technological utopia – the seamless interconnectedness of the collective mind via the internet – underpinned by the uniformity of political discourse and the progressive erosion of true democratic process.  We have been told that there are no more serious arguments or debates about ideology, about how resources should be allocated, how human rights should be defined and guarded; that everyone has come to a consensus.  We have been sent to sleep by our dreams of technological progress, not recognising the gross inequities of power, of resources and of political representation that have resulted from unquestioning faith in the future as created by the scientific vision of humanity.

And now we have reached the tipping point, the point of maximum illumination of our quandary, the time when the reality of our dilemma hits home with all its force.  Like the time of the full moon, when we can all see the moon (and the reflected light of the sun) in all its glory, we are now in a segment of time lasting about a year during which the contrast between Saturn in Leo and Neptune in Aquarius is displayed around the world for everyone to see.

The Neptunian chaos and confusion of an interconnected world is being deliberately, coldly and cunningly harnessed by the current crop of leaders, instilling fear in the common man and demanding blind obedience to authority in return for promises of protection.  Gross and increasingly desperate acts of deception are being instigated to manipulate people into believing that they are in mortal danger from a deliberately vague group of people whose identity changes as the months advance. 

At the same time, our deeply-felt, intuitive but ill-defined belief that we are increasingly being called to come together as a global and communitarian society in order to meet the challenges of the future, is being criticised or simply ignored by those in positions of leadership, who are in fact unable to provide the leadership that is required to meet the converging world catastrophes that we are already starting to feel uncomfortably close at hand. 

In some ways our current circumstances are demanding us as a population, as a group of individuals, to make a decision about how we really see our world, about whether we really want to see it as it is, or as we may have been manipulated into viewing it.  It can be very difficult to suddenly detach from the technology that we have being using to mainline our collective fantasy of who we are, where we live and what we face in the future.  Our television is a drug like any other and many millions of people do not want to live without its hypnotic trance.

We are truly entering a time when our faith is being tested.  Our collective vision of redemption is being brought into sharp focus by the hard reality of the vast scale of the damage we have inflicted on our environment, and we are being challenged to make a decision about how we define our identities in light of our intuitions about the future.  We are finding ourselves at a point where we have to stand up and be counted for the choices that we make, choices that define how we respond to the collective anxiety of our time.  Do we give in to fear, focus on palliating the psychological symptoms of participation in the mass delusion; or do we take a stand and assert our belief that we can do better than this as a group, as a society, as a population, that we can actually displace those who are peddling this fear and instead generate courage in the ability to change direction and take back the positions of leadership at all levels.

Ultimately, do we have the courage to create?  Creativity is generally not encouraged in our society, it is generally frowned upon as disruptive, bohemian, left-wing or