Trouble I'm Not Warning You About

4.21.08


I'm not exactly sure there's anything to warn you about, folks…

Inherent to a 'warning' is the notion that, with the advance notice being offered, we might want to alter our behavior so as to decrease the potentially disruptive fallout. Warnings imply we're supposed to ward off danger.

Per my judgment, however, we've got nothing to 'ward off'. The initiating gusto—instigating, even—promised by the week's cardinal t-square should be welcomed as one more big step away from months of stymieing stuckness.

Mars still ain't his happiest, finishing up another 2½ weeks in Cancer before finally making it to Leo, more than seven months after he first entered the crab's sign. Talk about being so ready to move on already!

At least Mars is trooping through some fresh ground… though, still under the aqueous Cancerian influence, he's more than a little exhausted from trying to get anywhere, each underwater movement taking more-than-should-be-necessary effort and, even then, not yielding reliable results due to the forceful countercurrents. At this point, he'll try almost any maneuver, if it'll disturb the surface tension with any promise of progress at all.

Sounds like he's verging on desperate, eh?

Well, with Mars's opposition with Jupiter, he's not above inspiring us to attempt 'desperate measures'… though, from other people's vantage-points, we might seem to go unnecessarily over the top. A Mars-Jupiter opposition often brings exaggerated actions, the type we carry out to ensure our intent cannot be overlooked.

Telltale signs? Glaring lacks of subtlety. 'Always/never' thinking. You're either with us or against us. Jupiter paints the scene in bold colors, distracting from the finer facets of reality with its revved-up zeal, disguising important distinctions beneath the antsy anticipatory banner of 'details to be worked out later'.

Under this Mars-Jupiter faceoff, we're liable to behave as if (1) there's an enemy or obstacle we must pummel past before we know we've been 'heard', though this opposing force may not actually exist, or (2) we've found tried-and-true allies to join our fight, though they may not actually agree with us as closely as we imagine. Presumptions about 'the other side', as half-true (or completely false) as they may be, power our attitudes with extra oomph. Impatience, considering our last many months, is also a motivating factor.

Venus adds some heat to this picture, squaring both Mars and Jupiter on Wednesday (Apr 23) from Aries, in another resounding endorsement of 'almost any maneuver—as long as it happens now and gets something going versus, say, a pleasantly-paced and consensus-oriented approach to testing the waters or maybe dipping one foot in. ('Fuck that!' she retorts.) Venus in Aries is neither courteous nor conciliatory, and bears no particular interest in waiting around for the quorum, to call the vote or ask for permission. She likes to do it however she likes… and whenever the impulse moves her.

Like Mars in Cancer, Venus is in the sign of her detriment (opposite the ruling sign and not an especially comfortable placement) in Aries… and, as such, is often subject to critiques of her unabashedly self-serving posture. After all, Venus is the planet that usually brings us together with others. But in the act-first, consider-later sign of Aries, she isn't so bashful to stop herself from put her desires right out there—only later to discover what else she must do to appease the other parties involved, so they'll give her the desired goods. She's already stirred the pot on her own behalf before establishing rapport or fostering an agreement.

Yet, in this energizing T-square with Mars and Jupiter, Venus serves herself well with this cruder, unblushing manner. She, like many of us, is tired of waiting. She, like us, will gladly 'make it all about her' before she'll sit through one more episode of politeness… only to watch her part go to somebody else who was far more willing to be a pain in the ass, while she sat back applauding others' achievements with routine resentment. She, like us, intends to stand in the center of the shot. Won't step aside. Won't pretend not to care. Won't tone it down either.

Trouble is better than nothing.

So we push outward, in whatever direction feels good at the time. We expand our immediate domain. We claim fresh territory. In the process, we are bound to hit another exploring party… or, if not that, then angry natives or wild animals, a steep ravine impossible to ford, or dwindling supplies that offer no guarantees all the valiant souls will be fed. What will we do? How will we survive? How can we make it to the next camp?

These are questions that can only be answered once we get there… or at least until after we've set off. (Referring back to your recent common-sense planning, however, will certainly hold a clue or two.)