Pisces 2018: USA’s Pisces Problems. Firearms. NRA. Drugs and Depression. Piscean Absorbency. Divine Rebel.

Pisces Keynote:
“I leave the Father’s home and turning back I save.”
(Pisces Solar Festival: March 2, 2018. 0:51 UT.)

A Personal Note: Apologist for the USA?
USA’s Pisces Problems: Emotional Sensitivity
USA’s Firearm Addiction and Obsession
Mars in Sagittarius Spurs Student Activism
Nikolas Cruz: Victim and Perpetrator
USA’s Mental Illness: Drugs and Depression
Callous Corporations and Big Pharma
NRA Revisited: Its Imminent Transformation?
Piscean Absorbency and Mass Media
The Nine-Year Cycle

A Personal Note: Apologist for the USA?
Recently a dear friend and co-worker suggested that I hated the USA because of my critical missives in various newsletters over the years. Nothing could be further from the truth. Through my esoteric studies of astrology and history, I know that the USA’s destiny as an Aquarian soul is to lead the world into the Aquarian Age; to serve as a bridge between the Fifth and Sixth Rootraces, and between the ages of Pisces and Aquarius.

Author’s first visit to the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC, 2006.

What I despise about USA’s situation are the selfish forces that have actively tried to subvert, pervert, hijack and undermine its true destiny. As an Australian, I have witnessed this from afar since the Vietnam war in the 1960’s, become more conscious of it in the 1980’s. That selfish culture has spawned a whirlpool into which many individuals and groups have been drawn – those with more integrity who have been forced to play the game foisted upon them by monopolising forces.

As a regular visitor to the USA and as world traveler/global citizen, I regard USA as one one of my homes and the source of some deep and binding friendships. I also might have a more objective perspective on the USA, being an outsider looking in and living there for months at a time. When one lives somewhere permanently as a native citizen, there is not necessarily a full comprehension of what is going on – because of lifetime immersion and conditioning by the culture. It is only when one departs for holidays or permanently, that more objective glimpses and perspectives may be gleaned.

These newsletters have offered over 70 different perspectives on the USA in the past decade or more, and the motive for doing has not been through a spirit of separative criticism or to continually find fault, that is quite easy to do; it has been out of concern for the great crisis of the USA which continues to deepen – and which affects the entire planet on so many levels. You could in fact call me an apologist for the soul of the USA, offering objective and constructive critique of its wayward personality, via the deepest astrological psychology and language we have at our disposal. Now that I have softened you up (I was going to use another slightly risqué word), let us proceed.

USA’s Pisces Problems
USA has an Aquarian soul and in the exoteric 1776 horoscope, the progressed Sun is in Pisces. The progressed sun and planets are very important subjective indicators of any entity’s life purpose unfolding. In the greater astronomical cycle, the world is leaving Pisces and moving into the next precession cycle of Aquarius for 2,160 years.

This nation emerged during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, at the beginning of the 500-year cuspal period between Pisces and Aquarius. Yet, despite being at the forefront of many Aquarian developments, it is still dealing with Piscean Age issues – where a large proportion of the population’s consciousness is not responding to the Aquarian frequency, still governed by old outmoded values. (This is universal of course, by varying degrees in all the nations.) The Democratic and Republican parties’ horoscopes have the Sun in Pisces – and both still blindly uphold the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) that was passed in the Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791.

On that date, transiting Mars was in Virgo conjunct Neptune, triggering the exact square to USA’s troublesome Mars in Gemini. Very broadly speaking, Neptune in the ninth house represents high idealism in ethics and principles, whilst Mars in the seventh house – aggressive relationships or taking the initiative in relations. The author has made much commentary on Mars in Gemini in past newsletters and publications – Mars is the thorn in the side of the USA, the main identifiable source of its immature and unintegrated Gemini personality. In the Aquarius newsletter for 2017, there was some commentary on the problem of the progressed Sun in Pisces and its ruler transiting Neptune:

“This tendency is particularly marked in USA’s horoscope (arguably the “propaganda capital” of the world), where transiting Neptune has been conjunct USA’s progressed sun in Pisces – and will be all the way through to 2020 … Hence the nation will be hard-pressed to develop discrimination, embodied by Pisces polar-opposite Virgo.

… the passage of Neptune through its own sign of Pisces. As God of the Waters, Neptune rules the feeling nature – in the watery sign of Pisces. Hence world psychic sensitivity has been heightened … encouraging a higher vision and purpose for humanity. But the downside of Neptune’s influence on the undeveloped or unredeemed astral bodies of humanity, has created much glamour, illusion and confusion; it reached a point during the election cycle with so much competing propaganda and “fake news”, that the general populace hardly knew what was real anymore.

The progressed Sun’s position reflects a phase of personality unfoldment determined by the sign of the zodiac to which the Sun has advanced. Pisces is a sign of great sensitivity and compassion, but its lower expression is being lost in the astral realm, addictions of all kinds and being easily duped.

Same theme, different book.

Chris Hedges version.

Similarly with Neptune, so when Neptune and Pisces collaborate with one another every 164 years, the stimulation can have twice the impact, higher and lower. Neptune is also the co-ruler of USA’s sixth ray personality, stimulating inherent glamours of fanaticism and mass delusion. In a recent article, “American Psychosis”, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges highlights perfectly the description of transiting Neptune conjunct the USA’s progressed Sun in Pisces:

“Reality is under assault. Verbal confusion reigns. Truth and illusion have merged. Mental chaos makes it hard to fathom what is happening. We feel trapped in a hall of mirrors. Exposed lies are answered with other lies. The rational is countered with the irrational. Cognitive dissonance prevails. We endure a disquieting shame and even guilt. Tens of millions of Americans, especially women, undocumented workers, Muslims and African-Americans, suffer the acute anxiety of being pursued by a predator. All this is by design. Demagogues always infect the governed with their own psychosis.”

This is in the nature of a mass Neptunian astral infection, to which many people are susceptible because of their astral polarisation.”1

The USA is currently lost in this astral miasma, in the worst sense of the lower Piscean maya and glamour; affirmed by its current opioid addiction/overdose crisis. In 2016, there were 64,000 deaths from opioid overdose – including heroin and prescription drugs – the latter by far the highest.

USA’s progressed Sun entered Pisces in 2005, thirteen years ago.

USA’s Firearm Addiction and Obsession
Pisces and addiction are synonymous terms – addiction to not only drugs, alcohol and other substances, but digital devices, sex, shopping, pornography etc. – and guns. The lower Pisces age influence still prevails for the masses – in a tug-o-war with the emerging Aquarian paradigm that is recognised and embraced by far fewer, but more conscious souls. USA is addicted to weapons and money made from their sales; this also applies to nuclear weapons, as discussed in a recent article. Every time a mass homicide occurs, it is simply a longer spike in the yearly graph of firearm deaths by homicide and suicide.

Approximate Yearly/Daily Firearm and Opioid Statistics2

In other words, every day around 30 people are individually murdered by firearms, making a sum total daily massacre in the USA. In Florida recently 17 innocent people were tragically murdered by firearm at a local school, yet on the same day across the USA, there were approximately another 30 homicides by firearm, 60 suicides by firearm, 65 injured by firearms, with opioid overdose deaths at 175. A total of 90 firearm fatalities daily, plus another 65 non-fatal injuries daily. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, these statistics will keep grimly recurring, unless …

World Statistics of Firearm Homicides

Mars in Sagittarius Spurs Student Activism
This pattern may be soon interrupted by students from Stoneman Douglas High School who have initiated a nationwide march. In fact, initiatives from students all over the country are multiplying by the week. The Parkland initiative occurred as transiting Mars in Sagittarius crossed USA’s ascendant a few days after USA’s second “Valentine’s Day Massacre” – the last one was in the gangster era of 1929. The students are taking aim at the gangsters who run Washington; their proposed March 24 march is great timing, just after the Sun enters Aries, joining three other planets in that sign – a new impulse by determined youth.

In the ensuing days after the shooting, transiting Mars also squared USA’s progressed Sun in Pisces and transiting Neptune in the same degree as the progressed Sun. This is an momentous opportunity for this nation with a sixth ray personality – a ray ruled by both Mars and Neptune.

USA Horosocope: Aquarius New Moon (Feb. 15, 2018.)

The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14 occurred on a “dark moon” or the very Plutonic, balsamic lunar phase, the day before the new moon in Aquarius – where the Sun, Moon and Mercury all fell right on the degree of USA’s moon in Aquarius. The moon represents the dweller or shadow in the horoscope, and USA’s personal firearm problem casts a long and dark shadow. Stephen Paddock also had the moon in Aquarius close to USA’s moon,  and it was his lunar return on that tragic day in Las Vegas. (See special astro-analysis of that event here.)

On March 24, revolutionary Uranus will be in harmonious sextile to USA’s Aquarian moon – and opposite solar arc moon in Libra (the law), pressuring politicians to no longer pander to the NRA firearm lobby, to bring about radical changes in the law. But will they do anything at all, these mostly impotent and overpaid/corporate-bribed representatives of the people, who appear to lack any moral courage?

This recent solar eclipse new moon also fell opposite Donald Trump’s Mars in Leo, pushing him to deal with the situation. Bear in mind also that Trump’s Sun in Gemini sits on USA’s Mars in Gemini! So what does he suggest? – that teachers be armed!; the leader of the Western world making such a lame suggestion that will only compound the problem.

A teacher is there to teach, not be drafted into some militarised high school swat team! Schools are not places where students have to endure daily paranoia about the possibility of attack. Now, because of a pitiful, overdue legislation on firearms, the USA has put itself under siege – it has developed a siege mentality not unlike some recalcitrant Middle Eastern countries.

Transiting Mars will make its two-yearly opposition to USA’s Mars in Gemini – right on the Pisces full moon period around March 1, bringing the entire firearm debate to a head. Already major sponsors are leaving the NRA and the trend looks to continue.

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Books by Phillip Lindsay

The Shamballa Impacts

Masters of the Seven Rays

Los Maestros De Los Siete Rayos

Soul Cycles Seven Rays I

Soul Cycles Seven Rays II

Soul Cycles Seven Rays III

Soul Cycles Seven Rays IV

Soul Cycles Seven Rays V

Destiny Races & Nations I

Destiny Races & Nations II

Destiny Races & Nations III

Destiny Races & Nations IV

Destiny Races & Nations V

Hidden History of Humanity I

Initiations of Krishnamurti

Songs to Varuna

Unveiling Genesis

TWO NEW VIDEOS

Esoteric Astrology

Hidden History of Humanity

Nikolas Cruz: Victim and Perpetrator
Nikolas Cruz had a difficult and damaged childhood, an adopted orphan who lost both his foster parents. Cruz belongs to the almost 1/5^th of the US population suffering from mental illness, suffering from depression as well as anger management issues. Cruz is apparently quite intelligent, receiving multiple awards for outstanding academic performance. Nevertheless his inner pain is intense, reflected by his moon in Scorpio, a sign that can harbour turbulent feelings of hatred and revenge. Before the high school massacre, Cruz expressed this rage through cruelly killing animals and had an obsession with guns and knives.

His birthtime is unknown, but the Scorpio moon squares Mars in Leo (I want to be noticed), representing the major psychological pattern that was triggered in his horoscope. If the time of birth is advanced to 11.30 pm, the Moon is in a much closer square to Mars – and the chart moves to a feasible Gemini ascendant. On the day of his rampage, transiting Jupiter in Scorpio was exactly squaring his Mars in Leo within 2’ of arc.

Nikolas Cruz (Midday chart, birthtime unknown.)

Scorpio’s ruler is Mars, and on the fateful day, transiting Mars in Sagittarius was exactly square his solar arc Mars. Also, his natal Venus in Virgo opposition to Jupiter in Pisces, T-squares USA’s troublesome Mars in Gemini, foreshadowing his despicable act as a catalyst for firearm law reform. And it looks promising so far, these young men and women have the opportunity to shame their elders and transform the old culture; they need adult support to really consolidate their position.

US Mental Illness: Drugs and Depression
The really silent statistic is firearm suicide – twice the firearm homicide rate and rarely considered as newsworthy. When non-firearm suicide is considered, the figure in the table above doubles to around 44,000/year or 120 suicides per day.3 Also, who knows how many opioid overdoses were actually suicides? The number one cause of suicide is untreated depression, generated by a variety of factors – being unable to deal with,

• 

  “The death by drowning or by water in Pisces releases man again into that great centre which we call Humanity, and there experience is gained. Herein lies the mystery of the fish-goddesses of this sign “who spawn their young again and yet again.”4

• The death of a loved one. A divorce, separation, or breakup of a relationship. Losing custody of children, or feeling that a child custody decision is not fair. A serious loss, such as a loss of a job, house, or money. A serious illness. A terminal illness. A serious accident. Chronic physical pain. Intense emotional pain. Loss of hope. Being victimized (domestic violence, rape, assault, etc).
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• A loved one being victimized (child murder, child molestation, kidnapping, murder, rape, assault, etc.). Physical abuse. Verbal abuse. Sexual abuse. Unresolved abuse (of any kind) from the past. Feeling “trapped” in a situation perceived as negative. Feeling that things will never “get better.”
  |
• Feeling helpless. Serious legal problems, such as criminal prosecution or incarceration. Feeling “taken advantage of.” Inability to deal with a perceived “humiliating” situation. Inability to deal with a perceived “failure.” Alcohol abuse. Drug abuse. A feeling of not being accepted by family, friends, or society. A horrible disappointment. Feeling like one has not lived up to his or her high expectations or those of another. Bullying. (Adults, as well as children, can be bullied.) Low self-esteem.

Given that Pisces is one of the most emotionally sensitive (or over-sensitive) signs, it can be certainly prone to depression, although it exists in all the signs, especially for instance, Capricorn and Scorpio. One must always consider the whole horoscope, with all the predisposing factors that can point to having a generally sunny outlook (i.e. Leo, Sagittarius) or one that might have a tendency to be a bit more bleak. Also, by progression and transit, a person not normally prone to depression may experience one or two cycles of this debilitating condition.

Depression is the result of internalising the above experiences whilst anger is the other side of the coin, externalising frustration. Can it be stated that homicide is driven by anger, whilst suicide is driven by depression? The key is finding the middle way between those extremes. In the USA, total suicides (44,000) are 2.5 times the total homicides (18,000) – not considering other forms of self-harm/destruction, “slow suicides” – such as alcholism or drug addiction as well as their associated diseases – liver, heart, lungs etc.

Sensitive Pisces people can have problems with boundaries and often absorb other people’s psychic baggage, compounding any pre-disposition to depression. Hence, it is quite probable that whilst a nation goes through a progressed Sun in Pisces period, it will be more susceptible to many of the Pisces traits of addiction and depression. However, those individual experiences can be a catalyst for tranformation, turning from an inward to outward focus that generates greater compassion, forgiveness, listening and caring – the higher Piscean attributes.

Euphoria of the dervish  …

Opiate drugs induce feelings of euphoria, relaxation and reduced anxiety. Hence the word heroin that takes its meaning from the Greek “heros” – feeling like a hero – invincible/immune to mental, emotional and physical pain – “Hey man, feelin’ no pain!” Opiates successfully filter out an often harsh and uncompassionate world. The “opium of the masses” can give  fleeting salve to human impoverishment – from the backwoods of Kentucky to an inner city ghetto in Washington DC.

Pisces ruler Neptune rules the solar plexus, the seat of desire and addiction, revealing why “Neptune rules drugs”; Neptune in its lower expression, the point of least resistance for the majority of humanity. Neptune in its higher register is the longing for union with god, the mystic and the visionary, spiritual aspiration and devotion, the creative imagination and true intuition, buddhi or “pure reasoning” – “Neptune is the God of reasoning.”5 Can we not then entertain the idea that addiction in all its forms is a “longing for union with the divine”?

Whilst on the subject of drugs, it is noteworthy that many US states have decriminalised marijuana and an enormous legal industry is emerging. If chronic opioid use is to diminish, then the far more harmless marijuana may provide a viable alternative that can be offered to addicts. But this is still a controversial area, as there are varying potencies of marijuana and it is open to abuse like anything else. A more heartening trend is the decreasing stigma around medical marijuana, the cannabinoids now becoming a “respectable” treatment for a host of ailments, including cancer.

The effects of drugs used to treat depression show how they provide only a temporary treatment that masks or modifies behaviour, addressing symptoms but not the deep-seated causes. These kind of drugs regularly induce psychotic episodes – widely documented for the majority of people who have instigated firearm massacres.

Medical experts note the traits of mass killers include depression and a fascination with violence. Many killers feel that they are nobody and see a way to become somebody. Others are like Andreas Lubitz who suicide-crashed a Germanwings aircraft full of passengers a few years ago, or the female author of the following article who was on five anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs!
Antidepressants can save lives but they made me want to kill. Now I wonder if some murderers may have suffered the same side-effects as me

Callous Corporations and Big Pharma
One in six adults in the USA (34 million) is on psychiatric drugs – of which the majority are anti-depressants. About the same amount (18%) of adults in America have a mental illness. As humanity becomes more mentally developed and must cope with balancing the pairs of opposites upon the mental plane, mental illnesses like schizophrenia will become more common. These trends are universal of course and the problem of mental and emotional healing has been compounded by Big Pharmacy taking shameless and outrageous advantage – the depth of their immorality and greed is truly stupefying.

As with the majority of large corporations that currently control the planet, their expression is the shadow of the Aquarian Age cycle into which Humanity is entering; many corporations prey like ravenous beasts on sleeping humanity, locking them into a cycle of consumerism and debt. Aquarius is about group work and co-operative community, selfishly motivated or altruistically directed. This selfish approach by corporations began in the last couple of centuries during the aforementioned cuspal period of Pisces and Aquarius. There is a famous quote allegedly by that great Aquarian initiate, Abraham Lincoln:

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” —U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864. (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)”6

This corporate expression is essentially Piscean in nature with a dash of Aquarius – though truly well motivated corporations are Aquarian. Many current corporations are Piscean because of their manipulation and deceit of the masses (Neptune/Pisces). The twelfth sign Pisces renders its meaning to the 12^th house area of life experience – and institutions are one expression. Institutions are large bodies of people who serve as various cogs in the smaller wheels that drive the bigger wheels; one’s individuality is subsumed by the prevailing culture.

Although the company has shifted its focus to abuse-deterrent formulations, Purdue continues to market and sell opioids, and continues to be involved in lawsuits around the opioid crisis.

Other 12^th house meanings touch upon all previously discussed themes – subconscious habit patterns, mental illness, karmic debts, self-deception, escapism, spiritual realization, limitations, frustration, hospitals, prisons, government offices etc.

With regard to the opioid crisis, Purdue Pharma in particular has been recently singled out for criticism – of consciously and callously perpetuating the addiction cycle for millions:

“There is one notable exception to this institutional honor code: the Sackler family. The Sacklers have made a fortune from OxyContin, the painkiller blamed for sparking the deadly opioid crisis. They are world renowned donors – despite also being world class drug pushers, responsible for almost as many deaths last year as the drug cartels in Mexico.

The Sackler name is emblazoned on, and disgraces, dozens of the world’s greatest museums, universities, and performing arts centers. So far, none has turned down their donations, none has returned their money already given. We agree to aggressively prohibit the sale of blood diamonds, but we allow the Sacklers’ clever use of blood money to cloak their drug shame under philanthropic fame.”7

Teens ravaged by oxycontin.

One can easily see the interlocking selfish interests of various corporations and their complex relationships to one another: Big Pharmacy, weapons manufacturers, lobby groups, cartels, political parties – an endless list that comprises the majority of how business is conducted on this planet. The following oft-quoted passage is a good reminder, bearing in mind that it was written over 70 years ago. Instead of advancing improvements from that period, the power of these groups has instead become more refined and potent:

“The responsibility for the widespread misery to be found today in every country in the world lies predominantly at the door of certain major interrelated groups of business-men, bankers, executives of international cartels, monopolies, trusts and organizations and directors of huge corporations who work for corporate or personal gain. They are not interested in benefiting the public except in so far that the public demand for better living conditions will enable them—under the Law of Supply and Demand—to provide the goods, the transportation, light and power which will in the long run bring in heavier financial returns. Exploitation of man-power, the manipulation of the major planetary resources and the promotion of war for private or business profit are characteristic of their methods.

In every nation, such men and organizations—responsible for the capitalistic system—are to be found. The ramifications of their businesses and their financial grasp upon humanity were, prior to the war [WWII], active in every land and though they went underground during the war, they still exist. They form an international group, closely interrelated, working in complete unity of idea and intention and knowing and understanding each other. These men belonged to both the Allied Nations and the Axis Powers; they have worked together before and through the entire period of the war through interlocking directorates, under false names and through deceptive organizations, aided by neutrals of their own way of thinking.

Today, in spite of the disaster which they have brought upon the world, they are again organized and renewing their methods; their goals remain unchanged; their international relationships remain unbroken; they constitute the greatest menace mankind faces today; they control politics; they buy prominent men in every nation; they insure silence through threat, cash and fear; they amass wealth and buy a spurious popularity through philanthropic enterprise; their families live soft and easy lives and seldom know the meaning of God-ordained work; they surround themselves with beauty, luxury and possessions and shut their eyes to the poverty, stark unhappiness, lack of warmth and decent clothing, the starvation and the ugliness of the lives of the millions by whom they are surrounded; they contribute to charities and church agencies as a salve to their consciences or to avoid income taxes; they provide work for countless thousands but see to it that these thousands receive so small a wage that real comfort, leisure, culture and travel are impossible.”8

NRA Revisited: Its Imminent Transformation?
The National Rifle Association is justly identified as a selfish lobby group that is preventing firearm reform in the USA – it is part of the mosaic described above. Originally founded to advance rifle marksmanship (Mercury in Sagittarius), firearm competency and safety – it has evolved into a group that promotes the outlandish sale of weapons to anyone, ruthlessly coercing politicians by large “donations” (bribes) to maintain their power base.

The NRA may have originally had some redeeming features, but is now an entity that contributes to the significant malaise within the body of the nation, part of the US culture, conditioned by the sixth ray and Mars. (See also past commentary on the NRA in the newsletter for the Sandy Hook School shooting in 2013.)

NRA’s Sun is in Mars-ruled Scorpio and opposes Scorpio co-ruler, Pluto in Taurus – now there’s a combination for power and influence! Also, the Moon is in Capricorn trine to Pluto, creating further formidability of power and the ability to generate/manipulate large sums of money:

“Since the 1970s, the NRA has undergone a series of political crises, focused on taking control of the organization and changing its focus away from hunting, conservation and marksmanship to one of Second Amendment advocacy and political mobilization.”9.

The National Rifle Association (From Wikipedia. Other sources give 17-11-1871)

The NRA’s argument is entirely false – it uses the Second Amendment as a cover to maintain its power and control economically, such as supporting the manufacture of highly profitable armaments. The NRA is typical of many other corporate entities, manipulating through fear and “technology seduction”, large swathes of the less discriminating population, to think that they need a high powered semi automatic rifle or handgun – driven by the illusion of fear to defend themselves against some existential threat. The NRA also regards itself as a “charitable” organisation, but mostly that which supports the purchase of firearms and perpetuates the lifestyle cycle – “down at the range”. Like the Sackler family, NRA’s “charity” is self-serving to create a veneer of respectability:

“Today’s NRA is a virtual subsidiary of the gun industry. While the NRA portrays itself as protecting the ‘freedom’ of individual gun owners, it’s actually working to protect the freedom of the gun industry to manufacture and sell virtually any weapon or accessory.”10.

Of course the NRA are just the tip of the iceberg – USA has 243 personal firearms manufacturers with a staggering output; that’s alot of employment and a significant part of the economy – those people are not going to be giving up that lifestyle too soon. See also the illuminating statistics, America’s Gun Business, By the Numbers.

CEO of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre (Born November 8, 1948) – like  his NRA mentor, has the Sun in Scorpio, at the point of a T-square – to Pluto in Leo and Moon in Aquarius! His salary is $972,000 a year and he is the perfect tor-mentor to lead a sociopathic and predatory organisation; he has an absurdly comic-book mantra which he repeated recently in the wake of the Florida massacre, “Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.”

It was such a deliberate dumbing-down statement to serve NRA’s agenda, yet he also made a worthy observation, “… the media’s celebration of violence and the glorification of killers act as silent enablers. Equally, video games allow players to simulate mass murder.” Pierre might be attempting some blame-shifting here, but he is right, the guns and violence culture that has been developed within USA’s Mars-ruled sixth ray personality, or as an errant sub-personality – is to blame. The NRA is both part of the cause and its symptoms. The next section on  “Piscean Absorbency” deals with the theme of media. Astrologer Paul Saunders comments upon this NRA chart:

“Saturn in Capricorn is very administrative and ambitious and Mars represent guns and violence. This is a very determined conjunction, being serious and tenacious in pursuing one’s objectives. The conjunction here is very dangerous, obsessive and ruthless in one’s aims, and that is how the NRA goes about promoting the use of guns to the US population. The square to Venus in Libra brings a social edge and one of equality too. In the view of the NRA, yes the use of guns should be everyone’s right, and if one person has one, to even the balance any potential victim should have one too.

The set of trines from the Jupiter Uranus conjunction to Mercury and the Sun is very high spirited, is ambitious, free of restrictions and wants to get the message and influence out as wide as possible and that’s how the NRA has infiltrated all parts of US society. Neptune on this chart is unaspected. The NRA will promote a vision of beauty and dreams to everyone, but behind this I think is a web of deception that is very materially based and self-interested.”11

The current transits and progressions during this Pisces full moon period for the NRA – are quite remarkable, even positively promising.

NRA transits and progressions.

1. Transiting Jupiter conjunct the Sun in Scorpio – the first of two hits through to October 2018. This is potentially as transformative as Jupiter’s transit over Hollywood’s sun in Scorpio. The natal oppostion of Sun to Pluto will be activated and could magnify the ruthlessness of Pluto to hang on to power.

2. Saturn return – this is the fifth Saturn return in the life of this entity. The Saturn-Mars square to Venus in Libra will be potently activated, forcing the NRA to scramble for right public relations.

3. Transiting Mars opposite north node in Gemini. The degree of the north node sits on USA’s Mars in Gemini and Trump’s sun in Gemini.

4. Transiting Pluto conjunct the Moon in Capricorn. Time of this chart is unknown, but the midday chart has the Moon at 19 degrees, hence Pluto will make several passes of this degree in the next year or two. Pluto to Moon transits are life-changing and can even bring about death. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, hence NRA’s Saturn return is related to this Pluto transit.

5. Progressed Sun in Aries conjunct Neptune – representing NRA’s idealism as well as its public deception.

6. Transiting Uranus conjunct progressed midheaven. Taken symbolically because the natal angles are unknown, this represents a radical change in career direction – thus far unfolded.

Are you an empath?

Piscean Absorbency and Mass Media
(The author has written extensively upon the subject of media – past commentaries can be found here.)

The quality of Pisces the Fishes is porous, a swimmer in water, an absorber of water. A good brand name for facial tissues might be Pisces! The emotional empathy of Pisces moves them easily to tears and this is the realm of watery Neptune.

Pisces is the ultimate empath – the capacity to understand or feel what an another person is experiencing from within in their frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.

The lesson for Pisces is to know how to absorb rightly, then transmute what has been absorbed. The great Piscean Avatar, the Christ, was an absorber and transmuter on behalf of Humanity – He is known as The Great Redeemer. Hence, the Pisces keynote: “I leave the Father’s home and turning back I save.” (The “father” here as the Monad or at a lower level the reincarnating soul.)

Hence Pisces must evolve from being a “rescuer” in a blindly motivated or self-serving way, to becoming a more conscious redeemer. Here can be seen the difference between the mystical and occult approaches. Eventually, all of humanity will become sufficiently soul conscious to be their own redeemers – that is the way of Discipleship. The Christ is known in the West by the esoteric name of Neptune:

“… Who rules the ocean, whose trident and astrological symbol signifies the Trinity in manifestation and Who is the ruler of the Piscean Age. The formula runs as follows, speaking esoterically: “… the fish goddesses who have leapt from earth (Virgo) to water (Pisces) unitedly give birth to the Fish God (Christ) who introduces the water of life into the ocean of substance and thus brings light to the world. Thus does Neptune work.””12

The Christ is that elevated exemplar of the second ray of Love-Wisdom that pours through Pisces, a ray ruled by Jupiter – that co-rules Pisces with Neptune. Empathy is a potent expression of this ray. Christ walked the talk of forgiveness and all-embracing compassion. The esoteric ruler of Pisces is Pluto the Destroyer – of duality, and all obstacles upon the spiritual path. An advanced Piscean can  utilise those Plutonic forces, transmuting what has been sacrificially absorbed – and subsequently regenerate themselves and others.

Yet most of humanity is still astrally polarised and have not learnt the laws of transmutation; they respond mainly to the influences of Neptune in its lower expression – hence addiction, glamour, blind devotion and belief, easily led and manipulated – but also high aspiration and caring. Therefore, through humanity’s undeveloped mental discrimination, it is a ripe target for modern media in the form of movies, video games, news propaganda and the internet; even many of us on the Path – we become passive absorbers of astral junk food that creates unhealthy emotional states, often precipitating into an equally unhealthy physical condition.

The absorption rate varies from one or two hours a day of television, mobile device, computer etc. – to vast extremes of 12 hours or more for video gamers. For most of the latter, the games are ultra violent, involving stalking and killing as many people as possible; and they are played by predominantly males who regularly absorb these  contaminates, starving out their capacity for compassion but increasing their skill for ruthlessness and domination. As the earlier observation states: “The media’s celebration of violence and the glorification of killers act as silent enablers.” The stupefying effects of the new human behavioural phenomenon – the digital zombie endlessly swiping, scrolling – is another issue!

USA’s film and media has influenced or infected the entire planet – the dream machine manufacturing takes place in Wholly-weird and great inspiration has emanated from there. USA has developed a great mythos around the armed cowboy, the heroic soldier or the renegade rebel.And we happen to live on a planet that is considered similarly:

“The great stream of living energy which is manifesting itself in our Earth scheme of evolution is conditioned by a temperament, an attitude and an orientation that is that of a “Divine Rebel.” It is only rebellion that produces pain and sorrow, but this rebellion is inherent and innate in the Deity of our planet Himself, the “One in Whom we live and move and have our being.” It is, therefore, a tendency greater than the individual unit.”13

When a nation has been immersed in these kind of myths for so long, it creates difficulty in accurately perceiving itself, even for the more intelligent and spiritually advanced; it is truly the “boiling frog” syndrome, a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to, or be aware of threats that arise gradually. These are USA’s own self-created veils of glamour in which it is now enmeshed, a tangled fishnet from which it must extricate itself.

Projection of the ideal macho man (cowboy, soldier, rebel) has caused millions of young men to fall into lockstep and emulate that ideal – not unusual for a nation’s Mars-Neptune ruled, sixth ray personality. Many of these young men see themselves as having failed to live up to that standard and slip into a state of self-loathing – festering into addictions of various kinds, or in a few cases, to project that sense of impotence by mass shooting. The phallic handgun in particular is a symbol of that potency and it is noteworthy that no women have committed massacres, being naturally for the preservation and protection of life.

Ongoing movie and media violence reflects the conflict of the warring pairs of opposites upon the mental and emotional planes – for the still maturing young nation of the USA – and the planet as a whole in varying degrees. (This was examined in depth in a recent newsletter.) Media violence is argued as “cathartic” on the one hand – for those who are marginalised or feel disempowered, yet it can also render a morbid influence, exemplified in the horror and gruesome ‘splatterday’ genres, a whole other lower subplane of suffering – the “hell realm”!

Other nations are equally exposed to the same media but do not have the same homicide statistics. However, the glorification and propaganda of violence, particularly the remote and very cold or gratuitous varieties, are disturbing ongoing problems that saturate the masses world-wide. All these medias, beautiful or appalling, are absorbed by an astrally polarised and passive humanity; those masses need to be offered better visions of beauty, of loftier ideals and possible worlds.

For humanity’s sake, a vision of beauty …
(Santana, Nicholas Roerich 1937)

The Nine-Year Cycle
This newsletter represents the end of another cycle of the astrological year – and also the end of nine consecutive years of monthly newsletters, arriving in a timely manner for each of the full moon festivals – and translated into several languages. Nine is a number of initiaton and completion and I must confess that at the end of each zodiacal year, I wonder if I am able to keep going, given my other projects that run on a very modest income and depend on donations. Nevertheless, it gives me great joy to disseminate my perspective of the Ageless Wisdom that benefits thousands of subscribers – so please take a moment to support this work.

Phillip Lindsay © 2018.
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1. https://esotericastrologer.org/newsletters/aquarius-2017/#usa [↩]
2. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm [↩]
3. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/causes_of_death [↩]
4. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.98. [↩]
5. The Secret Doctrine II,  H.P. Blavatsky. p.796. [↩]
6. https://ratical.org/corporations/Lincoln.html [↩]
7. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/16/sackler-family-blood-money-disgrace-museums [↩]
8. Problems of Humanity, Alice A. Bailey. pp.71-2. [↩]
9. Wikipedia [↩]
10. Wikipedia [↩]
11. https://paulsaundersastrology.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-astrology-of-national-rifle.html [↩]
12. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.220. [↩]
13. Esoteric Psychology II, Alice A. Bailey.pp.97-8. [↩]