Not Out of the Danger Zone Yet

2.17.03


I find it difficult to find any new sentiments to share this week that I didn't cover last week or the week before. Still awaiting war. Still trying, on a daily basis, to make sense of contradictory messages, partial reports, uncompromising attitudes, a sense of impending something. I purposely held off writing this week until the last minute, in anticipation of some late-breaking news to illustrate that, "Yes, see right here? That's what I've been talking about! Here's the unexpected shock. Here's our perfect example of opposing forces finally erupting into conflict." As if, secretly, shamefully, I want something to happen, not only to prove the astrological trends correct, but to break the energetic stalemate.

Of course, something has happened—in the form of millions of anti-war protesters worldwide, taking to the streets this past weekend to make their voices heard. For Uranus, the planet that asserted its defiant presence in conjunction with last Sunday's Full Moon, is not merely the ruler of eccentric change-inducing shocks like electrical storms, earthquakes and explosions. Uranus symbolizes revolutions of all sorts, among them rallies of large numbers of people who take power into their own hands, in chaotic rejection of the ruling status quo. I should have made this connection earlier, rather than assuming Uranus would manifest through some kind of bomb. It's not as if the protests hadn't been planned in advance. I guess I was letting fear of the worst take hold.

But, this past week, nothing occurred as I had imagined it would. In fact, surprises did abound. And so, my assessment of the Uranus influence is confirmed after all—because to foretell that surprising events will occur is one of the safest predictions to make. I do sincerely believe that, right now, we all face a greater number of unforeseen circumstances, linked to a more significant sense of unsettling change, than usual. Yet, the only thing of which I can be sure during this intensely Uranian period is that there are quick-paced electrical impulses shooting at random through my body, unpredictable, recurring, reminding me to stay alert. I can't help my particular sensitivity to the electrical charges of Uranus.

The second peak of the Jupiter-Neptune opposition certainly showed its colors as expected. Jupiter, with its bold expansive quality, and Neptune, which governs a realm of yearning dreams and faith-filled illusions, combine to produce notions of grandeur that may or may not correspond with actual realities. Such an idealistic aspect as Jupiter and Neptune in opposition inspires the hopes of peace-lovers that their unified stance will make a difference. Jupiter and Neptune also inspire fear and confusion, as evidenced by the raising of the US terror threat level from yellow to orange—to our unprivileged eyes, an arbitrary (though scary) change in a cryptic coding system. First, the heightened threat level sent nervous nellies to their local Home Depots to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting as meager protective measures against a biochemical attack. Next, we learned that, just maybe, this upgrade to orange was a deleterious effect of a fabricated tip from terrorist suspects. Then President Bush urges us not to panic after all over the new threat of terrorism at home. What should we believe? How should we feel? (If you're interested in trying to figure it out, I suggest wading through the government-provided propaganda available at the Department of Homeland Security home page.)

This week, we shouldn't expect any notable shift towards greater clarity. In fact, the clouding of our clear vision continues, with Mercury in Aquarius moving into conjunction with Neptune. Mercury, the ruler of our communications and thought processes, gets itself smack dab into the thick of the Jupiter-Neptune opposition—and with it, what we think and say and assume we're hearing are affected by the tendency for obscured truth, whether through wishfulness or out-of-hand fear. It may not be the best time to attempt to be deductive or overly precise, but it's a great time to use our words artistically, through metaphor or song or romantic proclamation. Keeping quiet and letting our minds explore the intuitive side of things also works well—as long as we remember that meanings might get lost or corrupted if we try to make logical sense of those glimpses of cosmic insight. The Neptunian influence is only amplified by the Sun's movement from Aquarius into Pisces, the ruling sign of Neptune, on Tuesday. We are now drifting through the final sign of the zodiac before starting afresh with Aries, come the spring equinox in March. In our muddled sensitivity, we are finishing old psychic business in preparation for new action in the spring.

Yet all new actions may not wait until then. Just as we continue bearing the confusion of Jupiter and Neptune, we also still face the full brunt of Mars, Saturn and Pluto, conspiring in cahoots to force their powerful aggressive energies into difficult, potentially painful transformation of our current situation. Saturn and Pluto still hover within orb of their repeat performance of opposition. And while Mars hit exact conjunction with Pluto last week, it moves along into true opposition with Saturn this week. By no means have we passed through the serious period yet. Threats of violence still linger. And with Saturn, which has been traveling retrograde since October, turning direct again on Thursday, events with enduring ramifications will begin moving more quickly and with a degree of harshness. These Saturnian events could involve a renewed enforcement of authority and the decisive culmination of plans that have been months in the making. In other words, we confront another week of edgy energy, during which we must do our best to stay as calm as possible, to live each moment as it comes, and to remember that this, like everything, shall also pass. I wish you peace.