Welcome to the July 19, 2016 Full Moon in Capricorn, Cancer Solar Festival edition of the Satya Center Cosmic Weather Forecast.
Warm greetings from your co-Editors, Curtis Lang and Jane Sherry.
July’s Cosmic Weather patterns provide discernible evidence of celestial grace and some welcome relief from the worst effects of uber-warrior Mars in Scorpio inconjunct Uranus in combustible Aries, which, combined with a persistent Mutable Cross and T-square, have turned the last few months into a mutant merry-go-round of non-stop bad news.
So read on for an overview of current events shaping our world, and news of the celestial events that promise emotional balm for our individual and collective wounds.
Boca Raton Garden Report
Welcome to the long, hot summer of 2016.
Extreme heat and other extreme weather events have become the new normal. This is the hottest year on record in the United States so far, according to NOAA, the government’s weather agency.
This week a blistering heat wave is set to engulf middle America and the East Coast. Hot, dry conditions in the West have ignited a series of fires in California, including the Erskine fire, which scorched 48,000 acres. Over 16% of the United States is in drought conditions.
Here in South Florida, we’ve endured a stretch of steamy 100+° heat index days, which is quite rare, creating conditions not seen for nearly a decade.
This last winter, which is our dry season in Florida, we received as much rain as in a typical rainy season. This summer, which is our rainy season, rain has been pretty scarce.
Fortunately this week is starting off more “normal”, with highs around 90°, a little bit of an ocean breeze, and brief rains at night.
The last couple of nights we have been blessed with amazing full moon skies filled with psychedelic banks of puffy luminous clouds. The energy of this full moon is intense and yet soothing, filling us with hope and positive vibes, despite the insanity surrounding our little tropical oasis.
Despite the crazy weather Jane and I are installing our new permaculture garden this Thursday and Friday. We have decided not to wait until next spring, on the advice of our permaculture priestess, Erika Klopf, of Florida Edible Landscaping.
Wish us luck. It could be brutal for us working outside all day. Our landscapers say their seasoned crew has even been having trouble working through the day during the recent heat wave. No can do!
We’ll let you know how it goes next time.
The Wheel Turns: Echoes of 1967 in 2016
What do events of 1967 have to do with what’s going on in 2016 in America?
Well, as long-time readers of this newsletter know, we’ve just lived through seven long years of persistent Uranus-Pluto squares that morphed from time to time into the infamous Grand Cardinal Cross formation which has long dominated celestial weather patterns shaping the collective consciousness of humanity.
These Uranus-Pluto squares and the GCC coincided with the Global Financial Meltdown and the Long Recession that his gripped the entire world ever since.
The Long Recession has coincided with the rise of ultra-nationalist, right-wing political formations in many countries, beggar-thy-neighbor trade and monetary policies, the Arab Spring uprisings, continuous, unresolved conflicts across the Middle East, and record-setting levels of income inequality around the world.
It seems that political and financial institutions are crumbling in every corner of the globe, and incipient revolts against the status quo are occurring from the US to Europe to the Middle East and beyond.
Astrologically, this unrest is the latest chapter in a story written in the stars that began in 1966 and 1967, when Uranus and Pluto joined in what astrologers call a “conjunction” on three occasions.
Uranus was discovered by astronomers in the time between the French and American revolutions and is associated with cultural and political upheavals.
Pluto was discovered in 1930, and is associated with atomic fission at the micro level, and with the thorough and complete dissolution of existing political and financial institutions on the macro level of social relations.
Astrologers say that the extreme cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s were energized and fueled by the Uranus-Pluto conjunctions that marked the start of a 138 year Uranus-Pluto cycle.
We have now reached a point in time one quarter of the way through this Uranus-Pluto cycle, marked by the Uranus-Pluto squares we have discussed for so long in this newsletter.
As we all know, conjunctions between planets are usually benefic influences, while squares are often challenging and conflictual.
The cultural and political revolutions that began in 1967 are now about one-quarter of the way toward their ultimate conclusion. We are now set to experience a familiar set of issues that echo the events of the Sixties, but it is likely that these issues will trigger more conflict and disruption of existing institutions that we saw 48 years ago.
We’ve got all the racial antagonism, Imperial overstretch, extreme heat and political upheaval that characterized the long hot summer of 1967, but without the Summer of Love that introduced Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test to a bewildered and soon to be psychedelicized world.
Instead we’ve got Pokemon Go, Naked Dating, the Kardashian clan, Adele and Justin Bieber shaping the mass consciousness. Trust me, no one will tune in, turn on and drop out after consuming the homogenized corporate entertainment products on offer in our oh-so-ironic retro-70s culture of maximum TV viewing, smartphone apps and pop-40 music.
The most potent cultural revolution on offer in 2016 is a white supremacist retro movement epitomized by Donald Trump, who is a much more successful 21st century version of George Wallace. Trump is conducting a hostile takeover of the Republican party, and his tens of millions of followers are extremely energized.
Progressive movements are divided, unlike in the Sixties. The Black Lives Matter movement and the Bernie for Prez forces barely speak and seem to live on different planets. Neither is powerful enough to shape the political agenda or to threaten the hegemony of the neo-liberal corporatist and militaristic forces now in control of the Democratic Party and epitomized by Hillary Clinton.
So the only counter-culture today that’s heating up the collective consciousness is right-wing populism.
Race relations this year are also reminiscent of the long, hot summer of 1967, when 159 race riots exploded across the United States.
A few days after Independence Day, in Dallas, a sniper killed five policemen during a Black Lives Matter protest amid ongoing confrontations between police and African-American communities around the country, which have become virtually a daily occurrence.
The war on terror is going about as well as the Vietnam War in 1967, which is to say, not well at all.
The Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed more than 80 people, has underscored the fact that despite increasingly draconian emergency policing measures, no one is really safe in Europe anymore.
For over fifteen years, America has unleashed its historically unparalleled military might against a series of ragtag terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Syria and has destabilized the entire Middle East and portions of Africa, without attaining any significant lasting victories or stemming the rising tide of global terrorism. In fact, American military intervention coincided with a 500+% increase in global deaths from terrorist activity.
CBS Marketwatch reports that “More than 28,000 people died in about 11,700 international terror attacks in 2015, up from about 5,000 deaths world-wide in 2005, according to the U.S. State Department and the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, an annual report from the nonprofit organization Institute for Economics and Peace. Nearly half of the attacks in 2015 took place in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, according to the State Department.”
“Between 2001 and 2017, $1.778 trillion has been spent on, or budgeted for, the War on Terror,”according to the useeconomy website. “That's emergency funding added to the base budget for the Department of Defense.”
But more comprehensive estimates place the cost at $4 trillion or more.
For comparison, the Vietnam war cost $173 billion, which is around a trillion dollars in today’s money.
Nearly 2 million Vietnamese died during the Vietnam war, and more than 3 million Vietnamese were casualties of Agent Orange, according to the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign.
There are many more casualties on both sides of the War on Terror than Vietnam generated, and the cost of the Global War On Terror to the US is staggering.
“In their joint report— Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the 'War on Terror—Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Global Survival, and the Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War concluded that . . . at least 1.3 million lives [were] lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan alone since the onset of the war following September 11, 2001,” says Sarah Lazare in Common Dreams.
“However, the report notes, this is a conservative estimate, and the total number killed in the three countries ‘could also be in excess of 2 million, whereas a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely.’"
“Furthermore,” Lazare continues, “the researchers do not look at other countries targeted by U.S.-led war, including Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, and beyond.”
58,209 Americans were killed in Vietnam, with 153,000 wounded.
“Roughly 2 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan,” according to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobbying group. “1.2 million are now eligible for VA services.”
“600,000 veterans have already been treated at veterans medical facilities . . .Nearly 50% of returning troops are eligible for some level of disability payment,” the Quakers report.
“The Rand Corporation has estimated that approximately 320,000 service members may have experienced traumatic brain injury during their deployment,” according to the Quaker lobbying group.
“On average 18 veterans commit suicide every day,” say the Quakers.
If anyone had predicted back in the waning days of the 20th century, say around 1999, that America would be unable to win a long series of wars fought in numerous countries against opponents with no significant modern military weapons or armies, they would have been sent to a psych ward.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that in this Presidential election year there is no discussion of the failed war on terror and no peace movement whatsoever, not a single voice raised in the corridors of power demanding an explanation for this unprecedented failure or offering an alternative.
Definitely no summer of love happening here, now.
Just a summer of fear and loathing.
For comparison, in 1967 the peace movement was growing and strengthening. Young men burned draft cards, peace protestors filled the streets of America’s cities and President Johnson’s popularity was in the toilet. He would resign in 1968.
So we appear to have all the problems of 1967 in accentuated form, without any of the hope, love, strength, courage or political will necessary to create the fundamental changes needed in this society to grapple with the global environmental crisis, with runaway militarism, and with global political instability pitting race against race and religion against religion. In fact, identity politics now threatens to rip apart the social fabric in rich and poor countries, Muslim and Christian countries alike, and seems like a distraction from the class conflict pitting the now ascendant 1% against the rest of humanity.
80% of millennials want to see America convert to green energy sources in the next 15 years, and about half of Americans see climate change as a major problem that requires more government action. Neither Trump nor Hillary offers a plan to do that.
The vast majority of Americans also want their government to take a much more active role in reducing income equality and guaranteeing more equitable economic outcomes for all Americans.
No wonder! Fortune magazine reported in 2015 that the United States is the most wealthy country in the world (still) and also has the most unequal distribution of income in the world, according to many measures.
A Gallup poll conducted in April 2015 found that 63 percent of respondents believed that wealth in the United States should be distributed more evenly,” according to an article by Professor Lawrence Wittner at The Huffington Post. Similarly, a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in late May 2015 revealed that 66 percent of Americans favored the redistribution of ‘the money and wealth in this country’ along more egalitarian lines.”
A 2014 poll showed that 6 years after the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown, 66% of Americans describe themselves as still very angry at bankers who caused the debacle. 78% say that the big banks are to blame for the ongoing global financial crisis. 71% said the big banks have NOT made up for their role in creating this global financial turmoil.
“According to the Special Inspector General for TARP, the bailout commitment total for the US government is now up to $16.8 trillion with $4.6 trillion already paid out,” reports Peter Knight, at investor website SeekingAlpha.com. “Yes, it was trillions not billions, and the banks are now even larger and still too big to fail. $16.8 trillion bank bailout commitments equates to $116,525 per taxpayer, $52,688 per capita. $4.6 trillion that has already been paid out equates to $31,905 per taxpayer, $14,426 per capita (Sources:Inspector General and Forbes).”
“In 2008, the taxpayers of this country bailed out Wall Street because we were told they were ‘too big to fail,’” Bernie Sanders said, in an article by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet. “Yet, today, three out of the four largest financial institutions [JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo] are nearly 80 percent bigger than before we bailed them out. Incredibly, the six largest banks in this country issue more than two-thirds of all credit cards and more than 35 percent of all mortgages. They control more than 95 percent of all financial derivatives and hold more than 40 percent of all bank deposits. Their assets are equivalent to nearly 60 percent of our GDP. Enough is enough!”
Sanders concluded, “A handful of huge financial institutions simply have too much economic and political power over this country. If Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican trust-buster, were alive today, he would say, break ‘em up. And he would be right.”
Global environmental crisis. Global financial meltdown. Failed Global War on Terror. Crisis of economic inequality to rival the times of Marie Antoinette.
Is it any wonder there is a brewing crisis of confidence in this country’s failed leadership, in its financial and political institutions?
Perhaps the real problem is a crisis of democracy. The facts show that we have a critical democracy deficit in America. Historically, such democracy deficits lead to bad outcomes.
“A study published in the fall of 2014 by Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Professor Benjamin Page of Northwestern shows that big money has almost entirely disenfranchised Americans,” explains former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich in an article in Real Clear Politics. “Gilens and Page took a close look at 1,799 policy issues, determining the relative influence on them of economic elites, business groups, and average citizens.”
“Their conclusion: ‘The preferences of average Americans appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.’ Instead, lawmakers respond to the policy demands of wealthy individuals and big business,” Reich reports.
“The super wealthy account for a growing share of both parties’ funds. In the presidential election year 1980,” Reich continues. “. . .the richest 0.01 percent gave 10 percent of total campaign contributions. In 2012, the richest 0.01 percent accounted for an astounding 40 percent.”
The predictable result of the democracy deficit is a growing crisis of confidence in our leaders, reflected in the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders on our political stage.
How this will play out in the US Presidential election remains to be seen, but we have pointed out in the past that the Mutable T-square will be extremely active during the November election, so tensions will certainly peak at that time.
July 2016 Full Moon in Capricorn Cosmic Weather Forecast
July’s Cosmic Weather patterns provide further evidence of celestial grace and welcome relief from the worst effects of the uber-warrior energy signature of Mars in Scorpio inconjunct combustible Uranus in Aries, which, along with a persistent Mutable Cross and T-square, have turned the last few months into a mutant merry-go-round of non-stop bad news.
The July 19 Full Moon occurs at 27°40′ Capricorn, with the Sun at 27°40′ Cancer, at 6:57 pm Eastern time or 3:57 pm Pacific time.
The mutable T-square between Neptune in Pisces, Saturn in Sagittarius and North Node in Virgo remains in place until July 28th, dominating cosmic weather patterns throughout the month.
Both Sun and Moon are square Uranus in Aries, so we are presented with an unusual Full Moon festival, with both a Cardinal and Mutable T-square at the same time!
Tensions will be reaching the boiling point in every area of life.
The Cardinal T-square resurfaces issues connected to the Grand Cardinal Cross, so you can expect more financial and political volatility and a continuation of violent incidents involving terrorists and muckers.
In addition, since mid-June, we’ve suffered through a highly combustible combination of Mars in Scorpio and Uranus in Aries. War and rumors of war, civil conflicts that arise out of thin air and muckers who launch kamikaze attacks on innocents are all related to this uber-martial planetary configuration.
However there is a Grand Water Trine that contributes a note of grace to a challenging Full Moon Cancer Solar Festival. Throughout July, Venus, Mercury and then the Sun, all moving through Cancer, create positive aspects with Mars in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces. This Grand Water Trine climaxes on July 20. After that, the Sun moves on into the sign of Leo.
The soothing influence of the Grand Water Trine may help to mitigate the emotional turmoil that is inevitable this month, and also provides a supportive environment for the healing of our hidden wounds, which are associated with the wounded healer, Chiron.
This Full Moon week is therefore a time to look within and search our hearts, allowing the stuck energy signatures of repressed traumas and dramas to surface for recognition and healing.
Most of all, this Cancerian summertime is a season to open our hearts and allow ourselves to feel the negative emotions of sorrow, loss, fear, loathing, anger and perhaps even despair that are natural responses when confronted with today’s looming slow-motion global environmental, financial and military-political catastrophes.
Perhaps it’s time to reflect upon the wounded nature of our society, which casts itself as the lone superpower, set for a second century of global domination, for many of our collective wounds result from our society’s failures.
“Perhaps this is no longer really the American century at all, despite the continuing status of the U.S. as the planet’s sole superpower,” suggests geo-political analyst Tom Englehardt. “A recent U.N. report estimates that, in 2015, a record 65 million people were uprooted, mainly in the Greater Middle East. Tens of millions of them crossed borders and became refugees, including staggering numbers of children, many separated from their parents. So perhaps this really is the century of the lost child. What could be sadder?”
And what was the proximate cause of the refugee crisis? Civil wars and wars against ISIS and Al Qaeda within numerous failed regimes in the Middle East where the United States has been fighting failed wars against terrorism have spread sectarian blood-feuds from country to country, while destabilizing and decapitating governments throughout the region.
The US has failed to bring democracy to the region, and is failing in its self-avowed mission of “nation building”. There is a lot of collateral damage, as detailed above. And refugees are just part of the collateral damage. So each of us here in the United States is partly responsible for this damage.
Not to harsh anyone’s mellow, but perhaps this Cancer Solar Festival is the ideal time to reflect upon the tens of millions of innocents victimized by our business as usual approach to the affairs of the American Empire. Cancer is the sign of the Great Mother in her role of nurturing caregiver and provider of healing foods and herbs.
Of course, this can be overwhelming for the rational mind. Perhaps when we open our hearts we will understand what needs to be done. A hardened heart cannot hear the words of wisdom whispered by the Higher Mind, our own intuition. An open heart opens the channels to inner spiritual guidance, and from that guidance comes grace and power.
May you have a relaxing, abundant, loving, safe Full Moon moment this week, and may you receive all the grace and guidance you need to obtain healing for yourself, your friends and family and loved ones.
Much love and light to you from Curtis and Jane.
Meditation Moment: WAGE PEACE by Mary Oliver
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of
red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
Photo of Moon and Clouds in Boca by Jane Sherry.
Photo of Curtis and Jane at South Beach in Boca Raton, Florida, by Jane Sherry
Photo of Black Lives Matter protest sign: This image was originally posted to Flickr by Tony Webster athttps://flickr.com/photos/87296837@N00/27871783310. It was reviewed on 7 July 2016 by theFlickreviewRobot and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.
Photo of Jimi Hendrix Experience: This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice. Unless its author has been dead for several years, it is copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter termfor US works, such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Ma