A couple of nights ago, my wife and I snuggled
together in bed for the evening’s entertainment, mainly watching the president
give a speech to Congress. This is definitely not something we would’ve done in
the last administration, not unless we wanted nightmares.
And afterwards, we turned to each other and commented,
“He’s so normal!” “So sane!” This is still a novelty, a hundred days into Biden’s
presidency. We just can’t get over it.
Biden wasn’t my first choice, back in the days when we
had a whole roster of Democratic candidates to pick from. But I have to say I’m
happy with him now. It’s clear that he’s working on what he promised to do. He’s
gotten one constructive bill passed, and is putting forward others that are
good for workers and the environment. Just the fact that he’s working, of
course, is the most dramatic contrast between him and the previous occupant,
who spent his days playing golf, watching TV, and vigorously massaging his own
ego.
With Jupiter and Saturn now in Aquarius, social
progress continues. Derek Chauvin’s conviction on a murder charge was
ground-breaking, even though it left a lot of people exhausted and wondering
what it would really change. After all, it’s just one man going to jail, while there
are no doubt still a thousand white bullies out on the street, wearing guns and
acting out their fear of brown skin.
But I’ve seen a lot of changes happening in this long
life of mine. And even when there’s a definite victory, nothing changes right
away. A law that passes, a good person that’s elected, a verdict that’s fair – these things are celebrated and then
forgotten. And then change seeps through, years pass, and you wake up one
morning, and realize that it’s different. And it’s never different now. Now is
just now. What you realize is that it used to be different.
Of course, there are also cataclysmic moments, when
things take a sharp turn in an unexpected direction. These are the traumas
carried for generations, never forgotten, only healed by years of peace and security.
I think it’s easier to heal when you’re brought down by the elements, by fire
or flood or a shaking earth, and much harder when you’re betrayed by other
human beings. These cataclysmic moments
are often the impetus for the years of hard work that culminate in an election,
a law, or a trial.
Aquarius is an air sign, cerebral, idealistic, and systematic,
and its focus is on the wellbeing of the community. So this is an ideal time to
move forward, to make as much progress as we can. This doesn’t heal all the traumas
of the past, but it could help prevent some new ones from developing.
And yes, there continue to be blockages. Pluto is
still in Capricorn, and Uranus is moving through the fixed earth sign Taurus. Uranus’
job is to keep us off balance, and lately it mostly seems to be taking the form
of right-wing shock tactics. Uranus in Taurus is a contradiction, the rebel
planet in the most change-resistant sign.
Will we be able to keep up the momentum on social
reform, given these fierce pockets of resistance? Will we be able to make change that lasts,
change that heals? Will we be able to
create a new normal, in which people can wake up, stretch, and forget that it
was any other way?
Jupiter is moving very quickly these days, and halfway
through May, it enters a new sign, Pisces. It will only be here for a couple of
months before retrograding back to Aquarius in late July and staying there the
rest of the year. But it’s a little glimpse of the future, a look at what 2022
will be like.
I have two minds about Jupiter in Pisces, and that
figures, since this sign is represented by two fish swimming in different
directions. On the one hand, it’s the most spiritual and emotionally sensitive sign
in the zodiac, and it could be deeply healing. It could foster a spirit of
compassion that we haven’t seen in a while. It’s the nature of Pisces to dissolve
the walls between people, to blur the differences, to see through to the soul.
On the other hand, Pisces is also a sign that moves
quite easily into a wholly different reality. It’s a sign that gives a
particularly vivid imagination. Neptune has been there for the last decade, and
during this time, strange conspiracy theories have sprouted up like mutant
dandelions. Will this increase when Jupiter is in Pisces? Yes, probably.
What can we do about it? Well, it will help that Saturn is still in Aquarius
for another couple of years. Saturn gives a little bit more intellectual ballast.
It asks you to run your beliefs through a rigorous line of questioning, and some
people will be daunted by a few undeniable facts. But when people really,
really want to believe something, it doesn’t matter if it makes sense or not.
All that matters is that it makes them feel better or more important, or it
justifies something they grew up believing.
And remember, it’s not just on the right that Neptune’s
fantasies can proliferate. On the left too, we can be seduced by a patina of
holiness, a tendency to over-idealize singular charismatic figures. We have to
be careful not to turn into true believers.
We’ve got some wonderful, inspiring people on the left,
and we can appreciate the work done by all kinds of people, elected and
unelected. But no one person is going to
magically turn this thing around. Let’s
just hope for ordinary people who want to devote their energy to the common
good. Let’s just hope for continued sanity.
