During the Scorpio cycle of 1978, a mother stepped before a large crowd and gave her four-year-old child the first dose of Jim Jones’ infamous suicide potion. She then drank her death sentence. Four minutes later the two were dead from the cyanide laced Kool-Aid. Before that ominous November afternoon was over, 909 People’s Temple members participated in mass suicide, and one United States Congressman and four journalists were shot to death by Jones’ followers. We want to dismiss this dark and shocking incident as the unfortunate fate of those unwise enough to recognize and reject brainwashing, the tragic end for “cult members” under the hypnotic control of a madman. We tell ourselves that we are more sophisticated than them, smarter and stronger. Yet we silently endure the latest news of record setting executive bonuses (to the tune of $144 billion on Wall Street alone), while we watch the unemployment rate hold firmly at 9.6 percent and see home foreclosures surpass the 100,000 mark in one month. Instinctively, we know that something is terribly wrong, yet, like Jones’ followers, our conformity persists. With the personal planets, the Sun, Mercury, Mars and Venus, all transiting the sign of truth, destruction and creation during this Scorpio cycle, we are being asked two very important questions. One, are we drinking the Kool-Aid? If so, are we ready to trade our complicity in for a new paradigm?
On November 2nd the American public will weigh in via a national election. Though fiery Mars will have moved on to cheerful Sagittarius by that time, Venus will be the planet to watch in this election. That’s because Venus represents our possessions and our money. Many years ago a political science professor explained it this way. When it comes to elections, it all boils down to how that voter in the booth feels about what is in his or her wallet. If things are going well economically, the incumbents are likely to be reelected. But a thinning wallet generally results in pink slips for those in power. Louise Hay has famously said that she finds that talking to people about their sex lives to be easier than talking to them about money. A retrograding materialistic Venus in do or die Scorpio on Election Day, along with a retrograde Jupiter (the other money planet), will likely put the almighty dollar front and center in the minds of voters. With Mercury, our thinking, also filled with Scorpio’s life or death clarity, the public is unlikely to swallow the usual dose of lies and half truths from politicians either. For example, those shamelessly promoting themselves as heros of the working classes, applauding the triumph of Chilean minors, but who have effectively killed the bill to bring worker’s safety into the mines of West Virginia, where 29 American minors died in April, will likely be taken to task. Pluto ruled Scorpio after all has to destroy what is unsustainable, untenable and unacceptable. With Mercury, Venus and the Sun in the fixed water sign, Americans will vote what they feel the most fervently this election.
Out of the ashes, the phoenix rises. On the heels of the election, a new moon in Scorpio occurs on November 5th. This moon is notable not only for its birth in the sign of mystery and regeneration, but because of its wider cosmic context. At 14″19′, it falls next to the midpoint of the Galactic Center of our Milky Way and close to the astroid Vesta, associated with the Sacred Feminine. The North Node, transformative Pluto and Ceres, the astroid representing female reproduction, are conjoined in at 3 degrees Capricorn on the 5th. Within hours of all of this, healing astroid Chiron and spiritual Neptune station from their retrograde motion in visionary Aquarius. It’s as if the Cosmic forces are aligning with the Feminine Mysteries in Scorpio’s deep dark waters to support us in birthing a new path.
How it will all turn out will likely take another five months to determine. In part, that is because we have just begun a cycle of five full moons at 29 degrees of their respective signs. In astrology 29 degrees marks the final point, the end of a phase. That series of full moons coincides harmoniously with the Goddess cycles of death and rebirth. In the dark days of November we may step before the Great Cauldron to give all that is not supporting us to the wise and ancient Death Crone. Throughout the winter she vigilantly tends to our petitions until the Spring Maiden emerges with the form our paths are to take. Expansive Jupiter will also be assisting her and us with the expression of these energies when it moves into action oriented Aries on January 22, 2011. But we won’t have to wait until that final 29 degree full moon of February 18, 2011 to begin seeing the shapes of things to come. That’s because three planets begin direct motion during this Scorpio cycle, Neptune on November 6th, and Venus and Jupiter on the 18th. Instigating Mars and active Mercury will also make the transition from intense Scorpio to lighthearted Sagittarius, on Oct 28th and November 7th respectively, bringing a sense of optimistic movement to the atmosphere. So as this Scorpio cycle descends, we are being forced to look honestly and soberly at the corruption, greed and abuses of power in the forces that govern our lives. Concurrently, we are being given the opportunities and tools to replace those structures for good. See you at the cafe!