black & white

Today, the moon is in Libra, the sign of balance. It's a placement that is usually associated with a drive for emotional harmony. Consideration of the other is such a prime part of the Libran picture that it is often considered to be a fault - the sun, symbol of the sense of self, is in fall in Libra.

Yet as soon as the moon left Virgo last night, I felt the growing tension. There was no surprise, however, because since at least the eclipses this past summer, things have been very edgy every time the moon goes into a cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn).

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No wonder, when we consider that the moon's first order of business was to oppose Uranus in Aries, then Luna went on to square Pluto in Capricorn. Tomorrow, she's meet up with Saturn. The moon is reminding us, over and over again, of the cardinal t-square between those three heavy planets.

The sun's time in Libra this year was another powerful trigger to the square (the OWS movement really began to heat up when the sun was entered the cardinal sign in late September). I'm sure things will reach another peak when Sol goes into Capricorn. If you count all the triggers - including the upcoming eclipses - we'll be busy for the next several years.

I want to reflect a moment on the pace of change we have been feeling, and the rapid acceleration of change we are about to experience. The cardinal t-square has been working subtly for a long time, stoking up the engines of transformation. Since Pluto went into Capricorn, or at least since the economic collapse of 2008, tension has been growing. The riots in London this summer were perhaps the flagship moment of eruption, and it's been just one thing after another since then.

When Obama was elected in 2008, I remember many of my friends breathing a sigh of relief that change was on its way. Most of them were sorely disappointed very quickly. Although efforts to vilify Obama for economic conditions that developed over the decade before he was elected are childish, the truth is that his administration represents business as usual. From the hiring of a Monsanto executive to oversee aspects of agriculture to the
DEA's attack on medical marijuana in California, Obama has disappointed those who thought we were headed for real change.

But although Obama was not the catalyst for change many people had hoped for, change is on its way. The Tea Party began the process, and although much of the Tea Party is just a cardboard cutout of the Republican party, it is fueled by the same genuine discontent with the system that we see with Occupy Wall Street.

The demand for change is often not clearly thought out, and strategies for implementation are lacking in both cases. This is often used to dismiss the movements, but that is a grave mistake. The American - and French - revolutions got started without much more in the way of a mission. The American constitution wasn't wasn't written until about a decade after the Declaration of Independence. That's the way revolutions happen - make the change and develop an alternative plan later.

Yet we don't know where the next level of change will come from. The Tea Party seems to have been eclipsed by OWS. Although the Occupy movements are strong now, what will happen next is unclear. Just as it now seems quaint to think of the election of Barrack Obama as the turning point, so we may look back to the relative innocence of the Tea Party and OWS.

As the wheels of change spin, we come to see that even the most absolute, black and white distinctions fade to shades of grey. That's a reason for great hope, and considerable fear, when we consider that the Uranus-Pluto square is not exact until pretty deep into next year.