Tales from the dark side...

Okay, now that I've finally succumbed (as of a month ago) to Facebook and have had my own turning to the dark side, here's what I find:

Facebook really IS cathartic and can provide opportunities which tribe (and MySpace, and Friendster, and pick your own poison...) cannot, namely contact with every-bloody-body in the free world, namely because it uniquely serves as a gathering place for friends, family members, and that old high school/where-are-they-now? tribes of individuals...everybody and their freaking dog resides in the cyberspace recesses of Facebook, and I cannot deny that it's been a thrill and a trip and an addiction and part spiritual therapy and joyous exploring this new avenue and discovering (or rediscovering) long lost souls and encountering unfinished business.

BUT...Tribe still rocks in that it a) Let's you blog your thoughts in more than a few mere sentences, so that we can pour out our souls with total authenticity and depth; let the good, the bad, and the ugly reign supreme! (and while letting you upload cool pics to boot!)b) Gotta love the testimonials, and the ability to recommend our favorite biz establishments and friendly neighborhood organizations, which let us shout our barbaric yelps across the rooftops of the world (or at least across the expanse of cyberspace) to give a HOLLA! to those we love and whom deserve the credit out there...c) we can rest assured that this is likely one of the few sites that doesn't cause moral conflict (i.e. are they realllly the CIA, or what?!)

...and...d) Facebook has almost every iota of its share of lame-ass technical difficulties as tribe (at least, of late) and, ergo, I do not buy this b.s. about people abandoning yee all tribe hope on account of it's breathing in it's dying breaths. COCK N' BULL, I say! Really, there are merits to all communities yet people want to abandon what's out of vogue and out of favor for the moment, to which I say that wherever you cut of the hydra's head, another will rapidly sprout in it's place, ha!

So that's the verdict, from one of you who has ventures to the dark side and sampled the goods...make of it what you will!

What A Great Day...

...to be american, to be alive on this planet at this historical point in time. It's not all sunshine and lollipops overnight, with the wave of a wand, and it's not up to one human to save us. Yet there's no denying that this is an exciting and uplifting time. Possibilities we hadn't dreamed of are now tangible, barriers are broken down and balance is being restored. It was always meant to be this way, there was no other alternative. And, whatever your beliefs are, a new leader takes office yet it is so much more this time around...the strong sentiment and inspiration which this chain of events arouses is symptomatic of a greater, underlying awakening which is happening, even in the midst of all of the collapsing of our systems...the blooming flower amongst the rubble. After wondering for a time now if I was born into the wrong generation, subscribing to the "it's all about me" philosophy; having endured the uninspired and apathetic 90's and bleak beginning of this century...yet to arrive here and now, having our moment in time...our Camelot. Watching the tide turn, finding our focus, stoking our inner passions, and entering this fascinating period on the road to enlightenment. Newly instilled hope and optimism, infectious enthusiasm, and the renewed belief in and commitment to life, and to bettering the world which we inhabit - this is the zeitgeist of our time. About time. And just in time...

More on Astrological Forecast 2009

Once every 45 years, two distant planets arrive at opposite points in the zodiac. As one rises in the East, the other sets in the West. Like heavenly giants, about to engage in a cosmic conflict, they throw down their gauntlets across the horizon.

Saturn and Uranus are not the only planets that 'face-off' like this from time to time. But while every tug-of-war produces a passing drama, large duels between such slow-moving dinosaurs have a long-term influence on us all.

One is the planet of order. The other rules chaos. Last November, on the very day that their first full showdown culminated, Barack Obama was elected to the White House. Four more times in the next nineteen months we'll see a repeat of these conditions.

The Credit Crunch is not, really, a symptom of the current heavenly alignment. It's more like an old, ongoing, problem that is being exacerbated by the situation, much as a smoker's regular cough gets worse during a bout of flu!

Our world's urgent need to cure an insane addiction to credit is a matter of great concern to us all... but really it is just the sub-plot to this year's soap opera, not the main story. Let us, then, return to it shortly, after properly meeting the two key protagonists in our tale of 2009.

Rising late each evening in Virgo (where it has been for many months) is Saturn. Saturn governs governance! It rules rules. It stands for all that won't stand for any nonsense. Meanwhile, rising invisibly each morning in the opposite sign of Pisces, there's even slower moving Uranus - the very spirit of rebellion. Gustav Holst, the great composer, called Uranus 'The Magician'. By this, he didn't mean 'illusionist'. Uranus doesn't symbolise sleight of hand. It foretells genuine, sudden change. Something out of nothing. The impossible, made possible right, in moments. If you want just one practical example of Uranian magic at work, think of 'the internet'.

Uranus, in Greek mythology, was the sky god, father of all things. Gaia, the earth goddess, was the mother. Yet Uranus was not kind to his offspring. He kept trying to bury them alive. Until, that is, Cronos came along. Cronos (some today call him Saturn, others know him as 'time') did something a little drastic to his father... after which he never rode a bicycle again. Then, he earned the right to create a new Pantheon, eventually led by his own son Zeus (or Jupiter). To this day, we see Saturn as a symbol of laws that must sooner or later cut us all down to size. Not just parliamentary laws but natural ones. Like entropy. Or gravity.

Over many years, the memory of Uranus faded. He became merely a symbol of some more mythical, magical yet chaotic era long ago.

Back in 1781, though, an astronomer called William Herschel looked through his telescope, saw a new planet and named it Uranus after the ancient sky god. Soon after, the first hot air ballon took off. Up, into... the Sky!

The old laws of time and space, as upheld for so long, so unerringly by Saturn, were all about to be gobbled up by a sky god, hungry after several thousand years, for revenge on his son. The law of gravity was just the appetiser. The spirit of Uranus now strode boldly into every domain ever occupied by Saturn, ripping up rulebooks and trashing traditions. The French revolution. The agricultural revolution. The industrial revolution. These, and many more, all bore the hallmark of a primeval conflict between Saturnine order and Uranian innovation.

Astrologers soon observed that that battles between the old and new, all over the globe, followed the pattern of conjunction and opposition between these two planets. I'm sure you cannot, dear reader, remember how the world was in 1965. You simply don't look old enough. But if you speak to someone who was around at the time, they will tell you how very different it had become by 1967. What happened in between? A Saturn/Uranus opposition.

The Stock market went down. The value of the pound shrank. The establishment felt itself to be under threat as never before. And The Beatles blossomed. And that, really, is my point about 2009. Whatever it's about, it's not about economic disaster. It's about change on a dramatic, radical, worldwide scale. Social change. Political change. Financial change. And change too, in fashion, music, art and theatre.

Once that change takes hold, it will develop its own momentum. And it will finance itself, regardless of what the experts think. We know what they expect. They're all singing from one hymn sheet like a traditional male voice choir. Not for them though, some rousing chorus of Jerusalem. The endless refrain goes, 'Doom and Gloom. Doom and Gloom. Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom... and Gloom!'

It is very catchy.

But although Saturn and Uranus won't complete their current series of oppositions till 2010 we won't all suffer too badly.

Whenever they fight and struggle like this, the winners are always the people who are most willing and ready to drop the old way of doing things and find new approaches or philosophies. Right now, it's clear that these are particularly needed in the world of banking... and busness. The sky god who creates magic out of chaos is helping us see that... and helping too, the earth goddess who desperately needs the human race to be less 'productive' at her expense.

House prices may plummet further, more jobs may well be lost and many traditional industries may have to scale back... but the changes need only be temporary. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are in a good position to pressure the banks into keeping foreclosures to a minimum. Over in America, the last thing Barack Obama wants is more tent cities while houses rot empty. Many of us may worry, but few of us will lose our homes and none of us will freeze or starve in 2009.

New technologies, especially those involving space exploration and energy efficiency will yet create work for millions.

And whatever kind of year it prove to be economically, culturally, spiritually, romantically, psychologically, scientifically and politically, it will be one of the most exciting and rewarding times we have ever lived through.
(from Jonathan Cainer)

2009, Year of Positive Change

Here's an astrological take on the year 2009 from Eric Francis' Planetwaves:

"With all things Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces coming under the microscope in 2009 and well beyond, we are going to see change of a kind that Barack Obama's campaign writers could not even imagine. Science does not, as yet, acknowledge the realities that the astrological signs represent: the energy patterns in the background of existence that provide the rough blueprints for the world we live in. These patterns can change, but they don't change easily. Usually, the agents of change are represented by planets. For the foreseeable future, the planets involved are Chiron, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto: the very gods of change themselves.

Let's organize the discussion by sign, taking Capricorn first. Families often try to push us into making the same mistakes they did; or we feel a massive guilt trip come on if we don't do what we think they expect us to do. Let's give this a name: ancestral guilt. The slightest proposed digression, the least notion of doing things one's own way, the meekest desire to challenge authority or experience an unauthorized pleasure, often are met with the sting of guilt.

Enter Pluto into Capricorn, long awaited, long revered, and the previous birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. Pluto sometimes manifests as Shiva, sometimes as Dionysus, and sometimes (in modern spiritual terms) as the force of the soul coming through. Either archetype will work in this case, if we are looking for something more powerful than the obsessive power of self-accusation. Persistent thought patterns of the past getting dismantled or, for the bolder and more adventurous, celebrated out of existence with the awareness that we are alive now. The people whose bones we walk around on, rather than a source of reluctance, are generally cheering us on. Our real ancestors -- the dead ones -- know the mistakes they made, investing so much energy in negativity, fear and trying to hold back the next generation. Pluto in Capricorn is urging us to tap into this ancestral power source. It is the opportunity break down the preconceptions we've had installed in our minds and free up some energy.

Next is the conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius. Neptune in Aquarius, which we've lived with for a decade, is about the public going into the kind of haze as if there were Prozac in the water (there is) or as if we were all connected to the Internet Matrix in Red Pill fashion. We live in another reality; we have friends we don't know, who we recognize by their avatar; we take the BlackBerry or the iPhone to bed (it makes a good alarm clock and toasts our dreams with microwaves, meanwhile).

Chiron, a planet that is about raising awareness and going through a conscious healing process, has been slowly gaining on Neptune the past four years. This has served to wake us up, gradually; awake enough (at least) not to elect Sarah Palin president-to-be. And I would add, awake enough during these past four years to convert a lot of people who would normally be media consumers into Internet contributors (bloggers, YouTube filmmakers and so on) -- which is exactly, precisely what we need: active participation, the assertion of individuality and the authentic search for community and common ground.

Chiron and Neptune are very close to a long-anticipated (by me, anyway) conjunction. It only makes a very close near-miss this year (in late May, accurate to one degree) but the process is accelerated and magnified by Jupiter in Aquarius aligning with both Chiron and Neptune. What have we here? A magnificent opportunity to be yourself and find your true peers, which I suggest you get out of digital form and into physical form. Yes, do that very dangerous thing and use the Internet to meet people in real life. Try not to have them be only in Timbuktu. Try for within one-hour travel time, or even walking distance. Let's turn the world to Burning Man and manifest the Internet on the ground, in physical form. Read your blogs at the local coffee house open mic.

Last but not least, we have the continuing opposition of Saturn and Uranus, across the Virgo-Pisces axis. Uranus in Pisces is about sparking up the imagination and our sense of what is possible on the material plane. This has been going on for a while, but the more recent, and ongoing, opposition from Saturn in Virgo gives us something to push back against, like a swimmer propelling herself off the pool wall in a race. Yes, it represents a solid object, a kind of obstacle, but it's also something to work with: actual material with which to construct those Uranus in Pisces visions of what you could be and consequently, what the world could be. The next world: the one we are creating."

Pluto in Capricorn...

...Wednesday, November 26

The Lord of the Underworld, which tested Capricorn's rocky terrain from late January until mid-June, returns to this sign until 2023. The transformational power of Pluto will affect organizations and institutions that have grown rotten at the core. Destruction, though, will be followed by purification and, finally, transformation. We are not only recreating the shape of society, but are on the brink of redefining human potential.
(From Jonathan Cainer's site)

and...

On Jan 26th 2008, a new measure begins here with life on earth as Pluto, lord of the underworld returns to the sign of Capricorn for the first time since 1778. ...

Powerful, hidden forces are the gift of this unseen and distant planet, elected by some in modern astrology to be the true ruler of Scorpio though tradition still accords that role to Warrior Mars. Pluto rules obsessions, driven behaviour, the subconscious and our deepest urges and desires. He is a god of hidden forces, of the depths where they gather and of their ruthless, irresistible or uncontrollable eruptions. He works secretly or for reasons concealed or unknown, sometimes even to himself. It's important to remember our discovery of Pluto marked the rise of Fascism and the Third Reich, and oversaw the experiments that created The Bomb. As Pluto's looming presence was detected, we split the atom, releasing its hidden forces, but we also discovered something about the makers of the bomb – ourselves. We discovered a shadow force in our nature that aspired to wield an ungovernable power, thus risking extinction by our own hand. From Hiroshima to the Cold War to the threat of nuclear holocaust, Pluto forced us to face a bomb inside us, one waiting to explode and unleash our hidden feelings or desires as we stood at the brink of global catastrophe, wondering if we could survive the war that no one might win.

Pluto is remorseless in his search to know where the limits lie and what the inner forces will do. He will persist in this until he knows what can be overcome and what cannot. Such a drive is at the heart of sex, life and death from their highest expressions to their lowest violations. Pluto is a driving force using any means necessary to gain his ends or reveal the truth. Pluto's power will test any resistance, pulverizing or breaking down whatever it encounters into component parts to discover what they are and to release their inner force. With this ruthless investigator at work, there will always be a death of the old, a transformation and a rebirth for Pluto is the god of elimination and regeneration, teaching us that all things that live must die and all things that die will live again.

So what will the dark god do from his new realm in the sign of the Goat?
Capricorn: Structure
Capricorn the Goat rules structures, systems, status, authoritative bodies and those achievements made through career or in the public domain. Capricorn is the authority, as autocrat, bureaucrat, leader or administrator. He offers reward for effort and determines punishment for infringement, laziness, non-participation or rebellion. As well as ambition, drive, a need for success and the determination to earn it, there are cautious, depressive, materialistic, laborious and cynical aspects to the Capricorn dynamic. Capricorn rules social organization, vigour and enterprise, but also governs limitation, restriction, poor health, old age, solitude, despair and death. The Goat can be a master of timeliness and patience but also a victim of delay, pessimism and the failure of initiative.

Pluto in Capricorn will test the durability and regenerative resources of leaders and governments across the globe, as well as business and the corporate world. Old or staid structures will collapse or come apart at the seams if they cannot redefine their nature and cope with changing conditions and needs. The renewal or discarding of traditional practices or beliefs will play a part in this for Capricorn draws from inherited wisdom and practice. Those traditions that find new life will serve to guide modern leadership while those that are uprooted or outmoded will pass into oblivion. On the one hand, we will see the renewal of traditional power or thinking that can endure while on the other, we will see its displacement by the forces of the new, as leaders and systems find themselves under the pump. No doubt, Pluto in Capricorn will bring us a new breed of leaders and administrators, noted for determination, practicality and organizational ability. Some of these will offer useful service where others will be ruthlessly ambitious and materialistic.

The Lessons of History
The coming cycle of Pluto in Capricorn is the ninth since the beginning of the modern era and the years AD. The first of those came in 42 AD as the unlikely figure of Claudius came out of the shadows of a speech defect and a seeming intellectual handicap to transform from the least capable contender in the dynasty of the Caesars into the Emperor of Rome.
Proclaiming Claudius Emperor
Claudius proved an able administrator and ruler as he reformed the Senate, restored Roman social order, expanded the boundaries of the Empire, especially with the conquest of Britain, and embarked on a major program of public works. The hidden power in Claudius was revealed through this test of elevation to authority and so the Empire flourished under his guiding hand. In the years ahead of us now, those who've had to wait their turn may come to power late in life and find accomplishment, as the dark lord hovers in the sign of age, delays and time's measure.

An even clearer illustration comes with Pluto's next entry into Capricorn in 287 AD when Diocletian ruled in Rome. This vigorous, practical soldier rose through the ranks to become a general and was, on the assassination of his predecessor, elected by troops on the battlefield to take the office of Imperator. He fought his way across the empire, subduing rebellious tribes and reuniting a divided realm till there was a stability not known for fifty years. He re-established the tradition of divinity for the head of state and named himself Dominus et Deus.

He solved the dilemma of succession and, recognizing that the Empire was now too large to be governed by one man, divided it on the line of East and West, also dividing the rulership among the four members of a Tetrarchy, two senior emperors (of which he was one) and two junior emperors. This began what is now called the second phase of the Roman Empire and, by 395, on the foundation of these reforms, the Empire was permanently partitioned, writing a new chapter its history.

It may be that in the era that lies ahead, we will see, as Diocletian did, that the vast metropolis and the global sprawl are no longer governable or manageable in the way we have believed. Governments and organizing bodies will have to divide their regions into smaller working units, districts or boroughs. While this will raise efficiency and effectiveness in some areas, it will also be that this will leave some parts untended or ungoverned. The step from the 'ungoverned' to the 'ungovernable' will follow with dramatic speed and we will see the further rise of wild lands, wastelands and 'no go' zones, areas excised and excluded from the controlling systems or authorities, leaving us with a society where such divisions will be built into the organization of city, state or nation. Pluto in Capricorn will break down what we have till it can be made to work and, with classic practicality, shed the responsibility of what it cannot maintain, leaving smaller or isolated groups or communities to their fate.

As the underworld god enters Capricorn, he will test the structures, institutions and leaders in the search for transformation of the social order. Yet, in doing so, he will stir up strong feelings and ties of blood as family or tribe struggle to find a place in the social or institutional whole.

In the coming years we will see many present tensions or conflicts escalate as the inner family or tribal group resists the control of social and political mechanisms and authorities. Ancient loyalties of blood and belief will set one part against the rest. If an alliance can be negotiated then all will be well. If not, there will be departure, separation or violent struggle against the prevailing regime.

Conversely, the division may go in the opposite direction. Pluto in Capricorn will bid people to say 'goodbye' to family, tribe or race as they part from their parents or roots to find a new place in the world of power and organization. They will take new responsibilities and make a useful contribution to a social order that gives them a new identity and a new sense of belonging.

1762 brought Pluto to Capricorn for the dark lord's last journey there. It was then that a disparate band of colonists in the New World broke with the Mother Country, England, over issues of taxation, over-regulation and colonial control. The American Congress sat, fought a war against imperialism, issued a declaration of rights and laid the foundations for the birth of the American Republic. Now, more than ever as Pluto returns to its natal place in the chart of the USA, it will be timely to examine the path by which a revolutionary democracy became a global superpower that has left footprints and spent shells in so many foreign lands.
The Future

So, what can we expect of this new era as it unfolds? When one of the outer planets changes sign, there is a marked generational influence and a shift in the nature of our social experience. In time, we will all be touched by a destiny we cannot escape. As the destiny of Pluto in Capricorn takes hold, we will run the gamut of our control systems, from the humble administrator through to the megalomaniac as governments, organizations and key individuals encounter the testing pressures of Pluto and make their response. Will it be death, figurative or literal? Or will it be transformation?

When Pluto entered Sagittarius in 1995, he did so squaring Mars, retrograde in the sign of Virgo. Thus, we have experienced instability, clashes over custom, disputes over practice and outbreaks of extraordinary violence as the god of war has traded blows with his underworld counterpart. We find ourselves breathless and shaken at the doorway of a new era. What we also find is that Pluto is once again in aspect to retrograde Mars as he enters the sign of the Goat. Mars began a reverse motion cycle in Cancer in Nov 2007. On New Year's Eve, he moved to Gemini, which is where we find him on Jan 26th. Mars and Pluto's opposition is an 'out of sign' or dissociate one and somewhat wide, yet it will continue the cycle of disruption that has been the hallmark of the last years.

There will be powerful or dramatic events affecting travel, communication, transport and electric supply. Incidents with firearms and explosives will become increasingly prevalent. The volcano, the eruption, the fated event and the clash of arms and opposing ideas will walk with us until we can learn to communicate and function in such a way as to solve the problems of the abuse of power and refrain from the constant usage of abusive powers. With our 'dig it up', 'knock it down' and 'shoot it' mentality, we have treated every species, including ourselves and the Earth as an enemy to be beaten, an opponent to be overcome.

In such a pressure-cooker as this coming cycle, it may eventually occur to us as a species that we cannot continue trying to solve our problems with a bullying thrust of violent intervention. Just as we will have to look to alternative energy sources, we must also realize that we cannot keep building roads to the future by blowing up everything that gets in the way of our intended path. Obstacles to our desires are there to teach us, not frustrate us. It is time we learned that salutary lesson from Pluto. The sign of Capricorn teaches the proper sense of organization and responsibility required for effective social contribution. With Pluto in Capricorn in the coming era, the imperative is to learn how to make one, how to put aside the power-mongering and the drama and do something that works. The destiny that is written in the stars is also in our hands.

(From Neil Giles)

Seeking Travel Advice

Hey all - I'm starting the planning stages of my trip to Asia. I plan on leaving at the end of January and spending 4 or 5 weeks traveling to Thailand, Bali, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Beijing (at least that's the general plan for now). I would appreciate any pearls of wisdom, advice, tips, etc. on anything and everything, ranging from accommodations to airfare to must-see/must-do sites and activities. I also am seeking out a slightly more spiritual experience - this is not just some party vacation. Healing centers/experiences and exposure to new ways/methods are what I also seek.

So please regale me with your tales of experience!

A snapshot of life in a week in the life...

The whirlwind blurry haze of days that follow an eight day marathon of 12-14 hour workdays, having enlisted newbies into the sticky army, that has me losing my mind and throwing caution to the wind over the past weekend. Lost in a haymaze, mistakenly believing that my posse has abandoned me in Half Moon Bay, joining a new posse back to the city, enjoying bloody mary's in the W lounge (still in hillbilly garb, hay sticking out from every direction) whilst people stare, trekking over to Trader Joe's as they open and walking in through the out door (sans raspberry beret), stranger comes up to me and says, "I just love your look, and thank God that people like you exist in the world, it makes it a lot less mundane!", purchase our booze, pose outside the store for pics with our pineapple, lose an afternoon in good company and sunshine, wake up and sell more stickies while crazy newbie keeps leaving me insane messages about Vietnamese couples crouching behind her and stealing her cashbox (wtf??!!)...learning that my new trainee is psychic, and can hear the thoughts of the people in her audience...as she tells me, "I want to say (in her pitch, after demonstrating the wonder that is Mr. Sticky and all that he can do) to these people, after 'I'm not done yet...' You (to the couple who apparently had just had a fight), you know that she has low self-esteem, why can't you be nicer to her?; and YOU, over there, you know you don't have two nickels to rub together, so why the hell are you even standing here? You can't buy this!"; and then she proceeds to tell me about the work in the world that I must do, the name of the book that I'll write, and the path and course of action to take. Where does the reality end and the dream begin, and vice versa? I don't know but I'm game to find out. The weirder the better!

But life feels good, and there's no shaking the feeling which stems from election night that the world, while not close to becoming healed or perfect overnight, is nonetheless a whole lot brighter and more hopeful, and that the realization of all potential and destiny is now not only a wished for result, but is the inevitable outcome.

Follow the yellow brick road!

Propitious Planets

(This was taken from Jonathan Cainer's website - more cause for rejoice!)

"Officially, Barack Obama does not become president until his inauguration on January 20. Prominent planets then will include Jupiter (hope) and Mercury (commerce). Interestingly, when George Bush first took office, the sky was dominated by Mars (war). Or perhaps you think the deal was sealed the moment the polls closed. If so, you may care to know that in Bhutan, a 28-year-old prince has been waiting two years for his astrologers to deem it a propitious time for a new leader to take office. When they saw the outlook for this week, they finally gave their go-ahead. "

Hip, hip hooray!