Friday 4 July 2014
Sun in Cancer; Moon in Libra; Foci in 3, Communication and Neighbors and 10, Honor and Career
/moon void-of-course **
until it enters Libra at 2:44a PT | 5:44a ET | 9:44a UT ***
}Independence?{
Song of the day: I Ain't a' Marchin' Anymore by Phil Ochs
I consider this to be one of the finest patriotic songs ever written, and the performance here is superb, Phil Ochs at his best--and a superb video, filmed live with him singing among a group of young people hanging on every word. The song is patriotic because it is perhaps the most stirring anti-war song of all time, and every true patriot has to be anti-war at this period of history.
Of course, I have to obtrude that we need to defend ourselves from real threats. But how many of the threats from which Americans are now defending themselves are self-created threats? How many Muslim fundamentalists would be hating Americans except for the ridiculously short-sighted and unethical policies of past administrations, including the George W. Bush administration most dramatically? Obviously, we created this hatred of ourselves and then pretended we didn't know where it was coming from! The dependence on foreign oil and machinations of oil billionaires were, in a nutshell, the lever behind our support of one tyrant after another who would supposedly serve "our"--that is, the oil companies'--purposes, long before George W. Bush. But he as a Texas oil man carried this extreme ethical illness to its ultimate extreme in the Iraq war, from which we and the world have not recovered.
Now we have the absurd spectacle of our current administration rushing around the corners of the Iraq enigma or morass, if a morass can have corners, bowing and scraping to both sides, Sunni and Shi'ite, looking for another dictator or petty tyrant to support because the last one is no longer serviceable. Once, of course, Saddam Hussein was "our" tyrant; later he became our enemy; "we" eliminated him and in doing so forced the exodus of more than a million Christians, among others, from Iraq (they were safer there under Saddam than they were in the endless warfare and tribal fighting "we" precipitated in our utter ignorance). The great "Christian" George W. Bush was responsible for more Christian suffering and persecution than anyone else in this century.
From the Christian Science Monitor Weekly (June 16, 2014): "Studies show that 20 to 30 percent of the 2.8 million US troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, severe depression, or a related condition. In January the VA revealed that from 2009 to 2011 the number of suicides among veterans under age 30 spiked by 44 percent . . . (Overall, 22 veterans commit suicide every day, with the annual toll exceeding 8,000.)"
The Monitor put that last sentence in parentheses. I would put it in bold italics: Overall, 22 veterans commit suicide every day, with the annual toll exceeding 8,000.
That might mean that one of them is committing suicide while you are reading this.
Now listen to Texan Phil Ochs's masterpiece again. Was he right?
For a "happy Independence Day," we need to be independent of entanglement in foreign wars and squabbles and tribal feuds, as more than one Founding Father indicated we ought to be. Our ridiculous policies of intervention in any or every nation on earth, pursuing some hopeless dream of forcing them all into our form of government (but really for the sake of greedy U. S. corporations), are not making us "independent" but dependent on petty tribal chieftains and tyrants everywhere, while we make more terrorists who hate us and put our young men through pointless ordeals to the point of suicide.
With that in mind, I wish us all a happy Independence Day.
Cosmic Piper
Saturday 5 July 2014
Sun in Cancer; Moon in Libra; Foci in 4, Home or Foundations and 9, Travel or Comprehension ****
Moon enters the Via Combusta (possible loss of morale during a cosmic reshuffling) at 8:05a PT | 11:05a ET | 3:05p UT (until Monday afternoon) ***
}Helter-Skelter Human Display{
There is a lot of uneasiness. Common sense and calmness are recommended big-time.
The economy and stock market have been doing well. So most are feeling financial well-being, insurance as it were. You might notice interesting compatibilities among those of differing races or national backgrounds.
It is amazing how fickle the public can be--from being in love with Obama (when I was not very happy about him) to, now, seemingly rejecting him (when I am quite happy with him in view of the immense difficulties he faces). If the prosperity of the country has anything to do with the Presidency, his six years have been highly successful. Our slow but sure economic recovery is all sunshine. On the world stage, he has to deal with leaders who are tyrannous and solidly determined, with fanatical backers, and probably no one at all could have done any better than he. His restraint is one of his strong cards. He knows that no U. S. President can force those of another culture into some mold "we" think would be best for them. Those who think he can control what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan are grossly uninformed. Defending our own shores and population is paramount and in that he has been successful. The frosty attitude toward him now is most likely temporary. Given the hostility of Congress and its unwillingness to support him, his sustenance of benefits we already have is about all that could be expected. Meanwhile there has been enormous progress in new and renewable energy resources.
Today there is a curious combination of old and young--laid-back restraint, with deep thinking, on one hand, and gregarious display of beautiful bodies on the other. We get exhilaration from one or the other trend or both. A danger (linked with the Via Combusta) is unstable questing or running in circles, somewhat hysterically, which you may see others doing if not yourself. Too much is too much, and cutting back on a multiplicity of interests could be wise.
Song of the day: I'm a Mess by Ed Sheeran
This singer has a bright future. The title does not convey the depth of the Venus-trine-Mars message of the song (hopeful love-relations now and through the 26th). But "I'm a mess" also conveys somewhat of the day's aspects and the Via Combusta.
Feelings are combustible sometimes (sun square Uranus and opposite Pluto), but there is a profusion of randy self-display plus appreciation of others' self-display (Venus sextile Uranus while forming a trine with Mars). So there is a harvest of lively human interest. It would be well to discard oversensitiveness and timidity in order to bask in blessings available.
{Saturday} {Helter-Skelter Human Display}
Cosmic Piper
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