Category Archives: Life

Saturn in Libra meets Pluto in Capricorn: The Marriage Amendment

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gay marriage astrologyHere in North Carolina citizens are voting on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.  I have been listening to some of the conservative talk radio shows in an attempt to find out the reasoning behind the necessity for this amendment.

It seems to me that if people are so concerned about the sanctity of marriage the first thing to be outlawed should be divorce.  This is really less about marriage and more about the perceived “wrongness” of homosexuality.  But since we are in a Saturn in Libra phase where the Celestial Taskmaster (Saturn) is dealing with issues of relationship and partnership (Libra), it’s no wonder that the boundaries of conventional social mores in relationships are being tested.

Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, and both share a love for the status quo and The Way It’s Always Been.  The people who are speaking out for this new constitutional amendment tell us that marriage has been between a man and a woman since the beginning of time, so why change it?  (Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that marriage between people of different races was illegal in North Carolina until 1971.) This is where Pluto comes in, because Pluto is the destroyer of things that no longer serve us, and in Capricorn Pluto is knocking the heads off of all of our  sacred cows.

At the same time the square of Uranus to Pluto is creating rebellion of all kinds, and even staunch conservatives are refusing to toe the party line on this and many other matters.  This is a time of change, and change will be inevitable.  Those who try to anchor to  the shore will find their boats shredded in the tides.

 

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Happiest age said to be 33, but I’m not buying it

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happiest ageA survey by the British social networking site “Friends United” concludes that more people were happy at the age of 33 than at any other time.  Evidently 7 out of 10 respondents “over the age of 40″  selected age 33 as the time when they were the happiest.

I was unable to find anything that outlined the methodology of this study.  Were respondents given a list of every age between birth and death and 7 out of 10 selected 33 at random?  Or were they given a selection of ages and 33 was the one that spanned, say, from 30-35?  Without that information the study is useless astrologically.  But naturally, I’m going to try to make it relevant anyway.

The Saturn Return transit event happens when we are 28-30 years old, and then again at 56-59 or so.  Saturn, being the planet of discipline and responsibility, creates situations in our lives that force us to grow up during the Saturn Return.  For some this means the most difficult time in their lives – for others, the ones who use this time to focus on career achievement and family live, it can be the most successful.

Jupiter Returns occur more frequently, about every 12 years.  Jupiter is the planet of expansion, confidence and optimism, and the Jupiter returns correlate to a general feeling of happiness and faith in the way that life is turning out.  The first Jupiter Return after the Saturn Return occurs at age 34-36 and is a welcome respite after the pressure of the Saturn Return.

We don’t usually notice when everything in our life is flowing under a Jupiter transit – I always say that no one comments when the temperature in the room is “just right.”  When doors are opening and opportunities are coming our way – we feel good about life, but we don’t generally observe that fact.  We typically only notice when we’re uncomfortable or challenged.  But after a 2-3 year cycle like the Saturn Return, when we go through a period of expansion and good fortune under Jupiter it becomes much more apparent.

I hope that this group will publish their survey so that this can be analyzed in more detail.  Respondents were said to be only “over 40.”  It is sad to me that people look back at their youth as being the time when they were the happiest rather than finding the gifts that are given at every age.  I’m in my second Saturn Return now, so you can see how old I am at this point, and I can truthfully say that I am happier than I have ever been.  As we age and mature and hopefully work on unraveling the bounds of our personality conflicts and issues we become more comfortable in our own skin – happier with who we are and the life that we’ve made for ourselves.

Another UK study quoted in Psychology Today found that it was people over 60 who were the happiest.  Here again we have the Jupiter return following the second Saturn Return and resolving many of the issues that we face as we enter the Third Age of life.  This study found, not surprisingly, that the happiness quotient is at its lowest in the mid-40s, the time of the “midlife crisis transits.” The 40s are an intense time of challenge and pressure to evolve, and it can be the worst of times as well as the best of times as we let go of our past selves.

If in our 50s and 60s we are still longing for our 30s, something isn’t right and it’s quite time to do something about it!  I will leave you with this excerpt from the Psychology Today article:

In old age, a large number of the psychological attachments which normally support our sense of identity fall away. One of the major ones is the attachment to hopes and ambitions. At the end of their working lives, knowing that they may not have many years left, old people stop imagining alternative futures for themselves. They stop striving to become something else, and begin to accept themselves and their lives as they are. Rather than living for the future, they become more present-centred. In addition, they’re likely to lose their attachment to their appearance, to become free of the pressure to ‘look good’ and to stop using their looks as a way of seeking affirmation. They’re also forced to give up their attachment to our careers, along with the status and identity they gave. And now that their children have left home, they’re forced to give up their role as parent-carers too.

 

Of course, these losses can be painful, at least initially. And we’ve all met old people who never recover from them. They become bitter and cynical, wishing they were young still young and attractive, that they still had their jobs to make them feel valued and important, or that their lives had turned out differently.

But for many others, this process of letting go brings a new authenticity. It brings them into contact with their ‘core selves’, the essence which was obscured by all of these attachments. Now that they’re no longer focussed on finding happiness outside themselves, they begin to find it inside. They begin to realise that they don’t actually need external things for their happiness, and find a natural contentment in simply being.

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Mercury retrograde March 13th: Two steps forward, one step back

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Mercury retrogradeGet ready folks, Mercury is preparing to turn retrograde on March 13th and its motion has been slowing down for a week or so now as it prepares to make that U-turn.  You may be thinking: “I thought it already WAS retrograde????”  Communication and plans have been thrown awry since December when Mars turned retrograde, and Mars continues to appear to move backwards across the sky from our perspective on earth.  Read more about retrograde Mars here.

Mercury is in Aries now, and if you know an Aries you will recognize that this is one sign that does NOT like to move in any direction other than forwards.  ”Shoot first, aim later” my Aries friend tells me, and that is the motto for these fiery types.  Mercury in Aries needs to get the point across and to come up with ideas and plans that are immediately put into action.

This has been exacerbated by the transit of Mercury past a conjunction to Uranus last week, and because of the retrograde turn of Mercury this conjunction will remain in effect for the next couple of weeks.  Uranus is the “awakener,” waking us up from a sleep of denial and complacency as our awareness and understanding shifts and new ways of visioning the world make themselves known.

Uranus also tends to bring surprise, and when tied to Mercury, the messenger god of communication, there could be actual messages in the form of letters or emails that shock or disturb us in some ways, or which open doors of perception so that our awakening can truly take place.

The second conjunction of Mercury to Uranus occurs on March 18 just before the Spring Equinox.  The chart for the Equinox contains a triple conjunction with the Sun, Mercury and Uranus in early Aries suggesting a very exciting spring full of surprises!  Mercury slips back into Pisces on the 24th, but for the next two weeks the mental realm expands and blossoms.

This is a beautiful time for writers and anyone with an imagination, since new ideas are flooding the Universal Consciousness.  I suggest carrying a notebook to write down any intuitive flashes of wisdom that make themselves known, because the veils between dimensional thought are thinner right now than usual.

The retrograde periods of Mars and Mercury do not promote ease and comfort, but they serve a valuable role in human life.  We can’t always be moving forwards, hastening through our life.  At times we must rest – we must re-examine the beliefs that we hold true, we must re-design aspects of our lives which are stale.  We often need to re-negotiate our agreements in relationships, and re-assess their importance.  Mercury retrograde serves a valuable role by encouraging us to look backwards and re-do that in our life which may need re-doing.

So no complaining!!  Let’s embrace the gift of Mercury Retrograde instead.

For daily planetary updates please visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Samhain – a day of remembrance

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Samhain (an ancient Gaelic word pronounced Sow’-en) is the ancient Celtic holiday that has come down to us as Hallowe’en (derivation of “All Hallows Eve”).  Although it is associated today with witchcraft and doings of the devil, in pre-Christian times Samhain was simply the time when the veils between the worlds were at their thinnest.  It was a time of reverence for the process of death and the mysteries of life. The astrological Samhain actually occurs at the midpoint of Scorpio which is the “cross quarter” between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice and falls on November 8th this year rather than October 31st.

The women that some now call “witches” were the wise women – the ones who understood the mysteries of the stars, the ones with an affinity to the healing powers of plants…the ones who helped to heal the sick and comfort the wounded.  The ones whose power came directly from nature and bypassed the power structures of the Church and were therefore dangerous.

“History is written by the winners,” and therefore most of us were never told these tales of the brave and wise women and men that were healers of souls and teachers of the spirit. Instead, we were fed stories of evil witches and devil-worshipping pagans that were meant to frighten the masses into toeing the line of the political and religious establishment.

Samhain is a time to remember the dead, and I can’t think of a better way to remember our ancestors on the path of spiritual growth and wisdom than to watch the Burning Times Documentary.  This is a beautiful film that depicts the struggle of women and men to survive the long period of the Inquisition that lasted several hundred years, and is an inspiration to continue to fight for the right to worship and honor the divine in all of Its many forms.  If you can’t view the flash movie, visit the direct link here.

 

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The world has still not ended, but the renewal is at hand

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rapture Uranus PlutoDespite lots of hysteria in some circles over Comet Elenin as a harbinger of doom, and more predictions by evangelical preacher Harold Camping that the world would erupt in flames on October 21st – we are still here.  Comet Elenin broke down into small pieces as it zipped by Earth, and with the disintegration of the comet the theory that Elenin was actually Niburu, the lost planet disintegrated as well.  And Mr. Camping’s prediction that the apocalypse would occur yesterday appears to have been incorrect – for the third time.  Now that is persistence!!

We seem to be in the midst of more “end of the world” hysteria than at any time since the Millenium.  Perhaps this is because as word spreads of the end of the Mayan calendar on the Winter Solstice 2012 it becomes tempting to frame the concept of “the end of the world” in our own reality.  For Christians perhaps it’s the Rapture; for conspiracy theorists it is the return of our brethren from space.  For followers of New Age spirituality it’s Ascension into other dimensions.

There’s no doubt that there is an acceleration of energy as we hurtle more completely into the Age of Aquarius.  The shift of Uranus, ruling electromagnetic energy, into Aries which is so dynamic and initiatory has intensified the experience of human life.  It’s impossible to deny that Something Important is happening on the planet, but the experience is larger than anything we can hold in our human brains.  But still we try.

I could be wrong, but I don’t believe that the world will end on the Winter Solstice next year.  But I do believe that life as we know it, and civilization as we have understood it, is undergoing a major transformation.  For many people, having lost their jobs and their homes, the world as they know it has already ended.  And now something new must take its place.

The next three years are an important time for humans on planet Earth under the influence of the square formation of Uranus and Pluto, just as the 1960s were during the conjunction of those two transformational forces.  Not one of us will be left unchanged.  But is that the end of the world?  For some perhaps – but it is also a new beginning.

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Pluto in Capricorn: Passing through the gate of wisdom

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Wisdom of the elderlyMy friend Gary shared this article by Michael Meade and it’s so applicable to the current passage of Pluto through Capricorn.  Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, also known as the Greek Kronos, also known as “Father Time.”  Saturn and Capricorn remind us that our life is short and that we must be smart about how we spend the time that is allotted to us.

In traditional cultures, the elders are expected to remember the essential things that everyone else keeps forgetting. After “growing up,” a person is supposed to grow down and become rooted deeper in the ground of being, like an old tree that draws from ever deeper resources. In traditional cultures, the elders were considered to be a valuable resource without whose guidance the whole society could lose its way.

Yet in modern life, instead of people growing “older and wiser,” people can simply grow older and older. People can live longer and longer without becoming any wiser for it. When there is no genuine growth in growing older, aging can become all about loss. The longer people live the more of life they seem to lose. Instead of developing wise and seasoned “elders” who can help others find meaningful ways to live, modern societies are in danger of producing “olders” who blindly seek ways to hold onto life at any cost.

This can be seen as the problem of the olders vs. the elders. Traditionally, elders carry a greater vision of life because they develop insight into their own lives. The elders are those who found threads of purpose and meaning amidst the illusions and delusions of life. Amidst the inevitable troubles of life, the bubble of the “closed ego” bursts and a deeper, wiser self is born. Such psychological maturity involves a shift from a self-centered life to one of genuine meaning and of greater service to others.

Yet, in a culture where older folks are in the majority and people tend to live longer and longer, there seems to be an increase of fear as well as a loss of wisdom about life and about death. There seems to be a lack of knowing elders who can recall essential things in midst of the great crises troubling both nature and culture. What is the point of living longer if it doesn’t mean becoming wiser and being more able to serve something beyond one’s little-self?

This is what Pluto in Capricorn is teaching us, and since it follows the passage of Pluto through Sagittarius, in which entertainment and “bigger is better” ruled the days, there is a fair amount of contraction that needs to be done now in order to make that passage between “little-self” and the deeper wisdom of the elder.

This process is probably particularly difficult for the Pluto in Leo generation, my own generation (1939-1958) for whom developing the ego and the little-self has become an art form.  But we are the generation that is looking now towards the abyss of old age and wondering how we will be able to find our way.  Meade says:

An old idea suggests that the only ones more idealistic than young people are the elders. It’s not that the elders naively believe that the great ideals of humanity, peace and justice, healing and compassion, are simply attainable. Rather, the idea is that without a commitment to such ideals a culture simply collapses into political infighting and economic warfare. The gridlock in the nation’s capitol may be an increasing national shame, but the grid lock on American imagination may be a greater tragedy in the making.

While the political parties fight over who might be the “adult in the room,” there is a desperate need for elders in communities throughout the country. Whereas the ’60s were characterized by change brought on by a youth revolution, the current morass may only be changed by an elder awakening. The revolution waiting to happen in this country may involve an awakening to the necessity of the role that elders can play in the great crises facing both culture and nature.

We are these elders we’ve been waiting for.  It’s time to step up.

 

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Androgyny and the Aquarian Age

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I have always found it interesting that the worldly definition of “Uranian” according to Wikipedia is

Uranian is a nineteenth century term that referred to a person of a third sex — originally, someone with “a female psyche in a male body” who is sexually attracted to men, and later extended to cover homosexual gender variant females, and a number of other sexual types.

Delving a little deeper, I find that the origin of this association with the word Uranian with the “third sex” originated with a German scholar named Karl Heinrich Ulrich who was what we could today call transgender, meaning he identified as a woman Oscar Wilde in a man’s body.  The term Uranian was picked up by Victorian writers such as Oscar Wilde, who wrote: “”To have altered my life would have been to have admitted that Uranian love is ignoble. I hold it to be noble – more noble than other forms.”  (Ulrich’s chart shows Venus opposite Uranus, and Uranus squares the Moon in Wilde’s chart.)

As we transition into the  Aquarian age, it’s not surprising that gender roles are blurring and homosexuality is becoming more openly accepted.  Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, the planet that inspires us to live a life that is authentically true to ourselves as possible.  Uranus governs radical behavior and rebellion against the status quo, and this includes greater acceptance of lifestyles that don’t fit into the rigid social norms that fall under Saturn’s domain.  With Pluto, lord of destruction and regeneration, traveling through Capricorn, Saturn’s sign, these rigid social structures (Capricorn) are being pummeled and demolished.

As an astrologer I use the term “Uranian” to describe any person or trait that reflects this desire to move past old ways of thinking and manifest an authenticity in one’s thoughts and behavior patterns and this goes far beyond gender issues.  But a strong Uranus in a birthchart does tend to indicate a person whose gender identification is less than rigid although this doesn’t always manifest as homosexuality.

Justin Vivian BondAndrogyny is nothing new in the rock world (David Bowie, Marilyn Manson), but a new singer has taken gender neutrality to a new level.  Justin Vivian Bond (Moon square Uranus) is not only trangendered, but uses the neutral pronoun of “v” to describe “vself” and says:  ”I like my penis, and I am keeping it, but I am creating a transbody — a physical record on my body and a medical record that I am a transgendered person.”

Our local alternative paper reviewed a recent performance by Justin Vivian Bond, saying:

The gender-ambiguous voice is unrepentant, a queer mixture of the sexes, “monstrous.” Monster comes from the Latin monstrum, meaning an aberration within the natural order. In other words, the so-called monster defies categories. Not surprisingly, what we call monsters are often only reflections of our most profound terrors and desires. Less obviously, monsters reveal the fact that we each contain something of the other; elements of “you” lurk within “me.”

And with the hermaphroditic, we are reminded that even in our differences, we all possess male and female attributes. Writing about Michael Jackson’s violation of the rules governing racial and gender identity, James Baldwin offered that perhaps what is truly monstrous is not ambiguity but the fight against androgyny in an effort to reinforce conventional gender roles. What is terrible is a restrictive gender regime; a terrorist is someone who polices the borders of gender.

This is just the beginning, and the more radical societal changes become the stronger the backlash of conservatives who fear this kind of extreme alteration to their world view.  This is part of what we will be seeing over the next four years as Uranus squares Pluto and takes us deeper into the Aquarian Age.

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Uranus turns retrograde today!

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Uranus turns retrogradeI had been meaning to write about Uranus turning retrograde and then I read Beth Owl’s Daughter’s blog post from a couple of days ago:

I have been somewhat surprised to find that I am on becalmed waters.

Not because of a lack of things to do. On the contrary, I should be busy gearing up for the Fall launch of my next series of classes, both in-person and through teleconferencing. I have a deadline looming for my next article for The Meta Arts Magazine, preparations for my teaching session I’ll be leading with the Gaian Tarot Circle in a couple of weeks, and a myriad of other tasks and projects sitting on my desk. Some of them fairly urgent.

And yet…nothing seems to be happening. Is this the dreaded resistance? Self-defeating procrastination? Depression?

I told myself, okay.. Maybe I just needed to take a few days off around the Independence Day holiday. I did.

Then maybe I could do some long-term strategizing for the coming year or two, as I am very definitely feeling some fundamental shifting going on in my practice and how I intend to serve in these changing times in which we find ourselves.

And with the appearance of The Magician this week, I thought – okay! Here we go!

But instead, I still find myself on hold. I find myself dragging my feet, in maintenance mode only; not really wanting to start anything new. I sit down to my planning worksheets .. and I turn away. Instead, I feel a deep hush inside my spirit, as if waiting for something.

And what’s funny about this, is that during this same past week or so, my friends and my clients have been echoing the same theme:

Can’t seem to get the old engine to turn over… None of my customers seem to want to come back from out-on-holiday mode… Indecisiveness… Absent-mindedness… Seem to have lost my motivation and drive… Things feel flat… Stale… No one is returning my calls, and frankly, I am relieved…

How about you? Do you feel a sort of stasis right now? Is it just me and a dozen or so people who have confided in me, while everyone else is in high gear? Is it just lazy Summertime? Or something else?

Yes, dear Beth, it IS something else. It’s the change of direction of the planet Uranus!

Uranus has been stationing retrograde for a couple of weeks now, making it more difficult to begin those new projects. Uranus inspires change and the infusion of new energy, but when retrograde it’s harder to get those engines to turn over because we first must go back over old ground to see what can be preserved and can come along with us into the new energy, and what must be left behind.

As a planet prepares to change direction its motion slows down to a virtual standstill, and because Uranus has the effect of infusing us with a desire to create change we’re feeling the edges of that inspiration but not quite able to get things going. There is likely also a sense of being scattered and moving in many directions at once.

After Uranus picks up speed again those new ideas will begin taking root. Until then, keep the engine running and wait for the express train to pull in!

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“Tell me something good.”

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It’s human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain.  Nobody wants to feel bad, or go through difficult situations.  I have been an astrologer for more than half of my life now, so it’s hard for me to remember what it was like before I new about planetary cycles that were likely to bring challenges that required adjustment and change, but I imagine that it is pretty confusing.  Life is going great, and then all of a sudden here comes a curve ball and suddenly I’m feeling depressed for apparently no reason.

Some of you have heard me say that I have the hardest chart I’ve ever seen, and I like to think that’s so that I can bring some understanding to the table when consulting with clients.  When I talk about healing the core wound, or dealing with depression, it’s not just a concept – I’ve been there.  I know what it’s like to consider suicide.  I know what it’s like to feel that life will never get any better.  But I also know what it’s like to have moved through these horribly difficult times and come out the other side with great joy and happiness.

Sometimes in a consultation the client will say “I’ve just had a terrible time but now I want to move on.  Tell me something good.”  And it would be easy to help her to forget about where she has just been and talk only about the Jupiter transits that are coming, or the fact that her Moon has just progressed into Sagittarius which will make it easier for her to avoid the pain that she’s feeling.  But my experience tells me that before we can REALLY move on, we have to understand what just happened.  Where did those feelings of despair come from?  What was happening in the client’s chart when his wife had an affair?  And perhaps most importantly, when will these bad feelings start to subside?

To me, this is the magic of the astrological consultation: to take the distress of feeling bad and transmute it into an excitement over the transformation that is occurring.

This may be a bad example, but I have been dieting for the past several weeks.  I gained twenty pounds when I married Rich, and I’m ready to let go of that extra weight.  At first I felt very panicky when I was hungry, so hunger felt “bad.”  It was nearly impossible to tolerate.  But when I started losing a few pounds I started to reframe that sensation of hunger and started to think of it as a feeling that is associated with losing weight.  If I’m a little hungry, I will lose weight and feel better about myself and more energetic.  I will be eating within a few hours so I won’t starve.  That sensation of hunger brings less panic now and more excitement that the diet is working.

It’s the same when we are working through a deep core wound.  We know it’s a core feeling if it seems out of proportion to the event that triggered it, or if it just erupted by itself.  Sometimes this happens to me during yoga practice – all of a sudden I start weeping.  This feels “bad,” but we can reframe the experience so that it instead feels like welcoming an old abandoned part of ourself into our heart.  As we allow the ancient pain to fill our experience instead of use all of our coping skills to avoid it, we release the pain and become more integrated with abandoned parts of ourselves.

So don’t worry, I’ll tell you something good.  But it might not be what you think!

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The War on Drugs = War on Consciousness?

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So says Graham Hancock, author of many popular books on the search for ancient civilizations, most of which reside in my own bookshelves.

War on Drugs

Hancock writes:

We are told that the “war on drugs” is being waged, on our behalf, by our governments and their armed bureaucracies and police forces, to save us from ourselves. “Potential for abuse and harm” are supposed to be the criteria by which the use of drugs is suppressed – the greater a drug’s potential for abuse and harm, the greater and more vigorous the degree of suppression, and the more draconian the penalties applied against its users. …

The notable exceptions to this system of ranking according to perceived “harms” are, of course, alcohol and tobacco, both highly addictive and harmful drugs – far more so than cannabis or psilocybin for example – but yet socially accepted on the grounds of long customary use and thus not placed in any schedule at all.

Hancock’s recent book Supernatural is an accounting of otherworldly experiences in indigenous cultures throughout the world that he attributes to the ingestion of psychedelic drugs in order to expand consciousness.

Having grown up in the 1960s and indulged in the expansion of consciousness through chemical means myself, I have mixed feelings about the use of these drugs to facilitate the experience of higher states.  There’s no doubt that psychotropic drugs offer experiences that are outside the realm of ordinary reality (thereby taking us into the realm of Neptune), but there is no guarantee that the psyche will be prepared for what is experienced there.

In addition, there is no guarantee that having once visited those Elysian fields through psychotropic substances we will be able to return with any kind of regularity or consistency as is possible if consciousness expansion is achieved through more natural, spiritual methods such as meditation or ecstatic dance.

Hancock’s point that the so-called “War on Drugs” has certainly failed to achieve its stated goal and in fact, has resulted in social harms that would not have otherwise existed.  He writes:  ”In the United States for example there have been more than 20 million arrests for the possession of the Schedule I drug marijuana since 1965 and 11 million since 1990. The pace of arrests is increasing year on year bringing us to the astonishing situation where, today, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 38 seconds.”

Being blessed with a naturally skeptic and suspicious mind with Mercury (the mind) in Scorpio (needing to venture into dark places to find Truth), I, like Hancock, am suspicious of the reasons behind the so-called “War on Drugs” which has put billions of dollars into the hands of people in all levels of society, from police to judges to the drug dealers on the street.

I’ve noticed since Uranus (planet of liberation) moved into Aries (planet of individuality) last year, talk of liberty and personal freedom has reached an all-time high.  A key in this discussion of personal liberty is the legalization of mind-expanding drugs.

Neptune in Pisces has the potential to cloud our judgment as it enhances the desire to transcend ordinary reality through any  means necessary.  But as long as Uranus is in Aries for the next six years, the quest for personal liberty has made the field for legalization of drugs a fertile one indeed.

Hancock’s closing quote is a clear expression of the upcoming square of the urge for personal freedom of Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn, representing the concentration of power:

Meanwhile it’s no accident that the war on drugs has been accompanied by an unprecedented expansion of governmental power into the previously inviolable inner sanctum of individual consciousness. On the contrary it seems to me that the state’s urge to power has all along been the real reason for this “war” – not an honest desire on the part of the authorities to rescue society and the individual from the harms caused by drugs, but as a means to legitimise increasing bureaucratic control and intervention in almost every other area of our lives as well.

This is the way freedom is hijacked – not all at once, out in the open, but stealthily, little by little, behind closed doors, and with our own agreement. How will we be able to resist when so many of us have already willingly handed over the keys to our own consciousness to the state and accepted without protest that it is okay to be told what we may and may not do, what we may and may not explore, even what we may and may notexperience, with this most precious, sapient, unique and individual part of ourselves?

If we are willing to accept that then we can be persuaded to accept anything.

 

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