Obama, 2012 and the Saturn-Uranus face-off

You may ask, what has Obama to do with 2012 and today's exact Saturn-Uranus opposition, which has been much touted across the Astroblogosphere in the past six months. Here's the connection that I can see - and bear in mind that I don't profess to be an advanced astrologer (though I'm slowly getting there - just took NCGR's level one exam towards professional certification this past Sunday):

Re. 2012 and the dreaded end of the Mayan Long Count, etc: President Barack Obama could be the metaphorical pole-shift which the survivalists are expecting to end this present age on December 21, 2012, according to that ancient Mesoamerican calendar. Except Obama's presidency will only just have got cooking by the time the next election date swings round - November 6, 2012 - only a month away from the fateful Winter's Solstice that the doomsayers have marked down on the calendar as the end of the age.

My guess is that, irrespective of whether Obama gets a second term (since I'm counting on him to make history today) or not, his election will have set in motion a change (Uranus) so profound, that it will not merely challenge the traditional hierarchies (Saturn) of our globalised world, but force international leaders to confront the limitations of power to such a degree that the current patterns of geopolitics will have to shift in response.

Of course, I would hate for the survivalists to be right anyway - just take a glance at some of my earlier posts - on the other hand, the cultural paradigm shift has already begun, given the unique nature of how this election was waged. Check out the following from today's New York Times online:

After Epic Campaign, Voters Go to Polls
by Adam Nagourney

The 2008 race for the White House that comes to an end on Tuesday fundamentally upended the way presidential campaigns are fought in this country, a legacy that has almost been lost with all the attention being paid to the battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage — and withstand — political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.

The size and makeup of the electorate could be changed because of efforts by Democrats to register and turn out new black, Hispanic and young voters. This shift may have long-lasting ramifications for what the parties do to build enduring coalitions, especially if intensive and technologically-driven voter turnout programs succeed in getting more people to the polls. Mr. McCain’s advisers expect a record-shattering turnout of 130 million people, many being brought into the political process for the first time.

And so on - you can read the rest here.

Meanwhile, Lynn Hayes, one of my favourite astrobloggers has a great, more technical analysis on the Saturn-Uranus face-off here, and includes some very positive transits for today, too. Not least, a Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn - which bodes well for the masses (Moon) electing a more inclusive, expansive (Jupiter) government - trined by a supportive, responsible Saturn in Virgo, and sextiled by a compassionate, humanitarian and progressive Uranus in Pisces.

Well, that's the positive spin, at least, and I'm going to erase thoughts of a potential GOP Old Washingtonian (Saturn) last minute victory over the forces of Change (Uranus). Then again, as any modern astrologer will tell you, no planet, symbolically, is all positive or negative. It all depends on how its energy is harnessed. So Uranus is less-than-warm-and-cuddly in its association with sudden 'liberation' from people/situations, whether you're ready for such freedom or not, and Saturn is not-as-limiting as the bad astro-press would have you believe, given his connection to the structures that ground and support us.

Basically, I'm not expecting a miraculous, overnight Shangri-La when Obama takes the White House, but hope, rather, for the best blend of the opposing planets' energies - namely a creative, positive dialogue between the forces of tradition, conservatism and strong government and the powers of innovation, radical change and individualism.

Meanwhile, I'll be glad when today is over and we get the final result.

Pan's Labyrinth Revisited - Plutonian Goat and The End of Innocence

It's true that Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (or El Laberinto del Fauno) has now been out for a bit (released on my beloved one's 26th birthday - October 11, 2006), but it suddenly struck me how well the central mythical creature - Pan (or 'the faun' if you're sticking to the Spanish) - hinted at the Pluto in Capricorn ingress later this month.

Goatish Pan (Capricorn), in this film, is a creature of darkest (Pluto) fantasy, and while he reveals himself to the young heroine, Ofelia, from the depths of a crumbling well in a bid to help her 'reclaim' her kingdom as a fairy queen, he bars her access (Saturn - ruler of Capricorn) until she has successfully passed three arduous tests.

Named for the drowned, mad-driven lover of Hamlet, I associated Ofelia with the sacrificing, emotional, mystical element of water. While Pan, to me, was a creature of deepest, darkest earth.

Having come out of the highly confusing, chaotic frustration of the recent Saturn-Neptune opposition, it was interesting to think of this dynamic mirrored in the movie. Pan and his call for Ofelia to return to her kingdom as its rightful queen (the past, monarchs, Capricorn, Saturn) both challenged the depths of Ofelia's imagination and fantasy (Neptune) and demanded sacrifices (Neptune) of her in the brutal 'real' world of general Francisco Franco's fascist Spain.

But more overtly, Pan's mission for Ofelia - to reclaim her kingdom through ordeals, facing even death - seems to me to have been a remarkable metaphor for our imminent plunge into a Capricornian Underworld. Not to mention that the struggle between Franco-allied soldiers (Saturn) and Spanish rebels (Uranus) also could be deemed a prescient representation of the upcoming opposition between these two planets.

But why am I talking about a film that is a less-than-a-recent release (and, therefore, out of sight, out of mind)? Well, it just happened to come up in an intense conversation with a cousin of mine this afternoon, a conversation chiefly concerned with the impending paradigm shift in civilisation, the collapse of our current economic model for living and the dire threat posed to humanity's survival by global warming, earth changes and over-population.

The world of Pan's Labyrinth, like the one we, the audience, are living in, is a dangerous place. The threat of death and annihilation is all around. The environment is harsh and unwelcoming. The authorities and powers that be (Capricorn) brutally suppress (Pluto) democracy, civil rights and self-expression.

But even though the crises and horrors mount in the film, Ofelia eventually triumphs - albeit paying a heavy price.

So, it remains for us to confront our collective fears of extinction (in the film's instance, Ofelia's voluntary journey to the Underworld), resist attempts by the powers that be to strip of us of our freedoms and accept the possibility of a sacred, new world that is both terrifying and magnificent.

In this way, we can work with the Plutonian and Capricornian energies to willingly die to our old way of life, and emerge (become resurrected) into the new.

Når Vi Døde Vågner...

... better known in English as, When We Dead Awaken, is the last play written by the great Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen.

I have yet to read it, but have been fascinated by the title ever since I first heard of the play, given my own consuming need to engage with death, transformation and meaning.

Just for fun, here are some quick facts about When We Dead Awaken.

• It was published in 1899 and first peformed in 1900 in Sttutgart.


• Some have attacked the play as being a mere 'echo' of Ibsen's earlier, superior works, due to the lack of realism of its characters and its exaggerated symbolism - something he had apparently rejected as an approach in his writing.


• It is also said to be Ibsen's most dream-like play, suffused with existential yearning, regret and, perhaps, transcendence - though the work apparently does not answer its seemingly most urgent question: how can we 'awaken' in this life, in which we are encouraged, in so many ways, to remain in a state akin to death?

Borrowing from Wikipedia's synopsis of the play:

"Arnold Rubek, a celebrated sculptor and his wife, Maia, find themselves tense and ill at ease while traveling. Maia finds herself drawn to Ulfheim, a brutal hunter who contrasts sharply with her cold, withdrawn husband. Rubek, for his part, encounters Irene, a beautiful woman from his past. Awakening memories, desires, and an acute existential crisis in Rubek, Irene leads him to a mountaintop. As they approach the summit, both are killed in an avalanche. From the valley below, we hear Maia singing exultantly."

So, you may ask, what am I getting at? Why is this play on my mind and why am I blogging about it this evening?

Put simply: I was thinking about Awakening with a capital 'A' and how, in a myriad of different forms - and from a truly diverse set of sources - there is more and more talk of it.

Indeed, whether we like it or not, humankind seems to be rapidly reaching some kind of turning point in its collective history.

And if we tune in to the slightly-less-mainstream news analyses and reportage of day-to-day events, gussied up by the usual number crunching and token quotes, we find that people are heralding a dramatic shift in how we are to experience each other, time, our planet, our understanding of the universe and even, for those open to it, God.

Time, itself, is apparently changing. I say 'changing' to cover the various claims that is speeding up or slowing down or due to stop altogether. Linear time, that is. Once it does - and depending on whom you read or listen to, it could be October 28, 2011 or December 21, 2012 - the world's 'time' counter restarts from 'zero' or we enter a multidimensional, 'timeless' state or both or neither.

And this comes about either through a cataclysm such as pole shift, or a catastrophic global economic recession (eg. when Peak Oil is reached or Global Warming speeds up to such an extent we have to discontinue unclean energy even before we have the necessary technologies in place to continue our way of life), which sets of WWIII (Armageddon) for resources, or wave upon wave of different energy vibrations (which affect us and, hence, the earth - which is an extension of our consciousness).

Or all of the above.

What most seem to agree on, though, despite disagreements on how the 'awakening' will manifest, is that a grand paradigm shift is on its way - a breakdown of the dualistic, left-brain perceptions of the world, and a rise of a feminine, diversity-embracing perspective and a new awareness of the staggering interconnectedness of life.

And it makes sense that religions such as Baha'i, which stress the dawn of a new unity, knitting together our diversity, are growing steadily.

Awakening.

I wonder how this will all shape up. Lately, nothing at all seems certain. Life seems very fragile, and things I took for granted regarding the future seem like dreams.

Perhaps this is all a dream we are dreaming collectively, and we're about to be (rudely?) awakened.

Will those now alive - my parents' generation, my generation, and all those younger and still being born - have to live through a global conflagration? A physical, economic and societal breakdown (and hopefully rebirth)?

And will our awakening - that we are all one and interconnected and interdependent - be born from an ultimate calamity, or arise in spite of it, or merely concurrent with it?

Or will we awaken and avert or ameliorate a calamity?

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

I have just finished reading a non-fiction book: The Psychology of Spirituality by Baha'i author and psychiatrist and lecturer H. B. Danesh (http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Spirituality-H-B-Danesh/dp/1895456053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199044724&sr=8-1) that was a little dense, though interesting and well-written nonetheless.

One of the things he talked about a lot was how humankind was beginning to enter the age of maturity after going through a rebellious, individualist and self-centred stage. When I say interesting, I mean from the point of view that so many writers from different camps are, today, talking about a new paradigm shift that's very close to coming to pass.

The New Age community is abuzz with the energy and conciousness changes that are apparently affecting earth and humankind, and the potential for a new, enhanced, creative and loving existence for all beings. Scientists, environmentalists and economists are predicting a dramatic shift in world infrastructure - the breakdown of an unsustainable model of living the world over and a possible return to an earlier, agricultural society. And now, I stumble on this psychiatrist talking about our spiritual maturity to come.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

If we are truly on the verge of new understanding, a new walk with God, with fellow human beings and with all of creation - as I believe more and more that we are - why am I so scared?

Well, I'm scared because the 'shift' can mean anything. Change is in the air, and I'm terrified. Will there be dire world poverty and woe as economies on a mass-scale collapse? Will there be wars over scant resources and pandemics and crippling waves of immigration?

These are certainly some of the scourges of climate change predicted by scientists today.

Will there be pole shift in 2012 and wipe most of us out?

And if any or all of this comes to pass, will that truly prompt a spiritual breakthrough?

I dream of a world where problems are dealt with in true cooperation. I dream of a world where everything is powered by clean, renewable energy; where natural spaces are protected and revered; where war is unheard of - as is any kind of violence; where children are always wanted and brought up in the midst of a loving, wise community in which young and old are both respected and represented.

I dream of a time where the planet will be blessed by the commonplace awareness on the part of all living beings of the interconnectedness of everything.

I dream of a world that is motivated and run by love. And yes, I know that, right now, such a place can only exist in my imagination. But that's what keeps me going to reach beyond my fear of the unknown, deprivation, pain, sorrow and death.

"Après moi, le déluge" or "After me, let the floods come" is a quote attributed to the French King Louis XV who preferred, in his reign, not to tackle the serious problems he saw affecting the monarchy, allowing them to proliferate and fall on the lap of his successor.

World government-wise, this is where we seem to be at right now - and how I wish the US elections were done with and that we didn't have a year to go.

But this is where we're at. Waiting. And on almost the eve of the New Year, I know that change and the unknown are very, very ordinary, common things. Change is the one constant and the best way to embrace it is with hope, faith and love.

I guess the Christian take on things filters through whenever I least expect it...

The Danesh book was lent to me by my former teacher; I returned it today to him on the occasion of a gathering he and his wife were holding at their village home to mark the Baha'i feast day of Sharaf.

After a tasty lunch, we set off for a walk in the countryside along a path that followed the river. Along the way, we were each asked to reflect on a quote from the Baha'i writings. Mine was as follows:

"The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion. Wars shall cease between nations, and by the will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers."

As we continued on our way, we came to a place where there were dignified olive trees, laden with fruit. And I gazed at their beauty, and the heavy, ripe olives, ready to be picked and pressed to oil, and the richness of the mud and water and stones and rocks around me. And I marvelled at how the natural world somehow manages to keep its purity, despite the indiscriminate garbage dumping and pollution that abounds. I guess some places are still sacred.

This is all rather strange and new in terms of outlook. I never used to be such a green freak before. I was always respectful of nature, but didn't think about it as intensely as I do now. I guess the thought that it might be ruined beyond all measure - and to wake up to how much we are dependent on the natural world to sustain us - has changed my view on things entirely.

Actually, my life has never before been so focused on survival, death and resurrection as it is now. The death of a beloved biology teacher when I was in my early twenties took years to get over, but the drastic life-or-death scenario that I believe the world is confronting today is something altogether different.

But then, I'm also older. My parents are older. My life has no particular shape or direction and, for the first time, I realise I have no real claim on the future - only an expectation.

For so many, that is a fact of life they live each day.

How many in Bangladesh or Indonesia or Africa or Pakistan or Afghanistan or Iraq or Kurdistan or Gaza really feel like they have a future?

Their best hope is for tomorrow. Not ten or twenty years. Just tomorrow. Or, perhaps, just getting to the end of the day.

I have never lived that way, and have no idea whether I could. I suppose if I had no other choice...

Sometimes I wish I could switch off my brain. Mercury in Aquarius, Virgo-rising, Moon within five degrees of the Sixth house and Cancer Saturn squaring Pluto and Venus do little to curb my ability to dream up horrors.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2007.

May the new year bring us understanding, peace, goodwill, wisdom, compassion and cooperation. Our future depends on it as never before.