This is a sorrowful time for the country,
in so many ways. 100,000 people have died from the corona virus, a mass exodus
of souls from our planet. But it’s a single death, the murder of George Floyd
by a police officer, that has triggered a particular outcry.
A virus doesn’t have a face, but Derek
Chauvin does, and so everyone has seen his cool, bland expression, as he cut
off George Floyd’s breath with a knee on his neck. Most of us have never seen a
person committing murder, except on TV shows. And now it’s clear that they aren’t
necessarily grimacing with rage. Probably more often than not, murderers just
don’t care, as long as their hair is combed.
I didn’t know George Floyd, but, looking
at his natal chart – even a rough version, without the time of birth – I can
get a sense of who he was. He was born on
December 21, 1960, a little over a month before my wife. In his chart, there were Sagittarius, Capricorn
and Aquarius elements, so I would describe him as a free spirit with a keen
interest in other people, but also someone with a strong sense of responsibility.
He had a Cancer/Capricorn opposition, showing tension between his sense of duty
and his emotional needs.
Capricorn is the most disciplined and responsible
sign in the zodiac, and its archetypal images are the Old Man, the Crone, and the Mountain. We are living in a
crusty time, and that’s largely because of the current confluence of planets in
Capricorn. This crust is made up of self-sufficiency, of toughness, of
endurance. It’s designed to protect, but what is it protecting?
Capricorn’s opposite sign, Cancer, is vulnerable
and emotional, and its archetypal image is the innocent child. This innocent child exists in all of us, and
we see it in each other. Unless this child is protected and nurtured, then that
toughness is just a hard shell, a calcified status quo that sacrifices
everything to the rules.
The US chart also has a Capricorn/Cancer
opposition. On the one hand, there’s the
basic conservatism, the emphasis on hierarchies, the flourishing businesses,
the hard work. That’s the Capricorn side.
On the other, there’s all the overflowing sentiment and tender feelings of
Cancer. Cancer gives strong sympathies, but when these interfere with business as
usual, there is always some repression.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, emotions
come flooding out. People are mourning
not just this death, but many other Black deaths, some of them children, going
back years. And that mourning comes on
top of centuries spent dealing with various levels of social abuse, going back
to the original trauma of kidnapping and slavery. It’s all encapsulated too well in that image
of Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s neck. (The knees, by the way,
are ruled by Capricorn.)
We’ve built a constrictive society here
in the US, starting with the genocide of the indigenous people. We’ve cut off the airways of too many people
on this land, so that others could move more freely through corridors of
power.
At the moment, we’re all feeling the
limitations of this pandemic. Nature makes
its own demands on us, and it bears down harder on non-white people, and all
those who are othered by society. It would seem that we white people – and all
those with privilege - could use this to understand how it feels to be hemmed
in, limited, unfree. But for that to
happen, we have to tear down some of those barriers and recognize the pain of other people.
And when it comes to the pandemic, rising
numbers are likely throughout June. Late in the month, Jupiter and Pluto come
together for the second time in Capricorn, and that could signal an important milestone.
And although we’re all weary of counting
the abuses of power coming from this administration, we may also see more of
this. Media and communication outlets are particular targets, since Jupiter/Pluto
is opposing Mercury in Cancer in the US chart.
We’re already seeing this in Twitter’s decision to flag some of Trump's false or
inflammatory posts, and his threatening response to this.
But whatever he does, communication will
become sharper, more acerbic, more truthful. More and more people are using well-pointed
words to take on powerful interests. Of course, there are a lot of ways to
communicate, and images of a police station in flames send a definite message
too.
At the same time, people are learning from history. Mercury in Cancer slows
down this month, and then goes retrograde about halfway through June, and that
focuses people’s attention on the past. Many folks will be spending extra time
with their ghosts, each one a whole vanished world, and these ghosts may have their
own messages to convey.
For us all to get through this, we will need
to nurture ourselves and each other. Some people will need to escape, and all
of you should do whatever you need to do. But be careful, since Mercury in Cancer,
especially retrograde and without any aspect activity, is a day-drinking kind
of influence. If you’re hurting, find a non-judgmental aunt, or an old
roommate, and reach out to her instead.
As a nation, this is a time when the
basic intellectual scaffolding is being torn down and redone, but this is a
slow process. What we believe, what we see, what we acknowledge – all that is
changing. People are telling their stories, and listening to the stories of
others. There is mourning in all these
memories, but we are also blessed by the love we share. Rest in peace, George
Floyd.
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