Happy Wednesday! I’ve been resisting getting back into the hustle and bustle of usual work week…and my wreath and the decorations on my Christmas palm tree aren’t going away anytime soon. I’ve also been working on a workshop I’ll be presenting soon, but that’s another story. And you?
The Moon has been in Leo since early Tuesday morning, favoring drama kings and queens on a quest to shine, shine, shine. A Leo Moon can be so festive and fun so long as it’s not sulking in a corner over a perceived ego snub.
There are no exact aspects during business hours in the Americas. Get it off your desk before a Moon void kicks in at 12:04PM tomorrow, as you’re likely to feel like kicking back until 5:58PM ET and the Moon enters “clean up time” Virgo. Plus, efforts to move forward in a straight line during Moon voids are subject to a higher probability of twists, delays and flakes. They’re great for wandering and creative noodling….though do be advised that the void begins on a face-off between the regal Moon and warrior Mars in Aquarius, sign of “We, The People”. That’s a pattern with potential for an aforementioned “perceived ego snub”. Resist the urge to turn that molehill into a mountain.
And now, the news.
In the aftermath of last month’s sixth exact Uranus-Pluto square, Venus, Mercury Sun and an especially potent Full Moon have all made contact with this harbinger of change. Pluto refers to power and energy resources; Uranus is a disruptive force. I am thus fascinated by the continuing downward slide of oil prices and its disruption of the status quo. What timing!
Elsewhere in energy news, President Obama finally announced he would veto any bill passed by the Congress authorizing the construction of the notorious Keystone XL Pipeline. Showdown! Drama! Meanwhile, researchers concluded that a series of recent earthquakes in Ohio were caused by fracking. Science! Reality! Carrying on in the energy vein, Sunday’s NYT magazine included a cover story about a Shell Oil-owned drilling rig in the Arctic that had to be scrapped; this week Shell agreed to pay $84 million for damages caused by massive oil spills in Niger.
Meanwhile, some fallout from Sunday’s Cancer Full Moon. When calculated for New York City, this lunation fell on the angles of that horoscope, along with Uranus and Pluto. This suggested that New York might have more than its share of issues involving power plays and disruptions specifically related to emotional and homeland security. And in fact, one of the biggest local headlines involves a dramatic work slowdown by the police, which have virtually ceased issuing citations for various “quality of life” infractions. Are they really that angry with mayor Bill de Blasio? Has the security of the city been compromised? Certainly from an economic security standpoint, given the amount of revenue those citations generate. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who feel relieved by the reduced policing measures. What do you think?
In other news, I’m paying particular attention to sobering and/or restructuring (Saturn) stories about the media, higher education, religion and other collective belief and mass communication systems (Sagittarius), now that Saturn has just entered the sign of Righteous Opinions. This morning in Paris, there was a deadly attack on the offices of a satirical magazine presumably perpetrated by people who felt the satire offended their beliefs. Freedom of speech, religious beliefs, who controls the supply lines of information used by the collective…we’re likely to read more and more on this in the next couple of years.
Elsewhere, I’ll be interested to see the impact of documentary that will begin touring the festival circuit later this year. The Brainwashing of My Dad details the transformation of the filmmaker’s father after he started listening to certain talk radio shows. The timing is apt, given that the Fairness Doctrine, under which those shows (and “news” networks) arguably would not have existed, was abandoned in 1987, the last time Saturn (structure/regulations) and Uranus (freedom!) were conjunct in….Sagittarius. Now that Saturn is back in Sagittarius, we’ll have a chance to review the choices we made 28/29 years ago. Fascinating to see how events coincide with planetary cycles.
Finally, so we end on fun, festive, Moon in Leo note: a follow-up on an earlier “news from underground” story. The time capsule buried by Sam Adams over 200 years ago in Boston was opened this week. Here’s what was found.