February  2016

“We’re not Indians and we’re not Native Americans. We’re older than both concepts. We’re the people…we’re human beings.”  

Native American poet and activist John Trudell from his talk: “what it means to be a human being.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-qO4pIK1Bg&list=PLC81D2DD85F211D97

“ Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong that will be imposed upon them.” Fredrick Douglas abolishionist

“ In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by everyone.” Abraham Lincoln Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment, August 18. 1864

This month we celebrate Aquarius, the sign specifically associated with humanity. While the zodiac is a healing mandala of all the developmental phases of consciousness that exist both within us and outside of us, the eleventh phase and sign describes a high level of development in which human beings have awakened to their fundamental equality, unity and higher consciousness.

Aquarius has come far indeed from the reptile brain of Scorpio, necessary to our survival, but an obstacle to be overcome while awakening to our fundamental unity with our fellow human beings. It is strange and paradoxical that much of Western civilization, which claims scientific and cultural advances, has presided over compulsive, genocidal and enslaving behaviors which are in fact the opposite of Aquarius and its promise to humanity.

In order to understand Aquarius, and the promise that this sign holds for the future of humanity, it is useful to explore the definition of what it means to be a human being. Here in the west we have somehow confused being human with technological advances. While technological invention is part of the Aquarian consciousness, Aquarius at its highest describes a state of friendship, cooperation, and expressed unity with our fellow humans.

When looking for people’s who embodied this principle in an extremely developed way, we can do no better than to explore the Aquarian principles embodied by many of the First Nations. The Lakota and Iroquois Nations to name only two, had developed very sophisticated societies in which all person’s were valued, not as commodities or walking status symbols, but as spiritual beings…human beings.

These cultures lived in extraordinary harmony with themselves, each other and the natural world. They had no prisons, no banking system, no neurosis, and little mental illness, which was treated with reverence. They left no pollution in their wake. They did not suffer from addiction, the western plague resulting from alienation and self rejection. They lived in an inclusive circle, spend a great deal of time in collective conversation in which democratic discussion was the means of arriving at group and individual decisions. The most striking Aquarian characteristic of most First Nations was and is their freedom. Individuals lived in remarkable freedom, aligned in friendly relationship with each other and the natural world. They were not compelled to fight, or forced to pray or much oppressed by external dogmas or constraints of any kind.

When exploring the idea of what it means to be a human being, listening to the words of Native American poet/activist John Trudell, is extremely helpful. His voice cuts through the brutal conditioning of the west founded on monarchy and its dehumanizing  class system and religious persecution, as well as the brutality of the industrial culture an its attendant spiritual sickness and alienation. Mr. Trudel reminds us that we are all tribal people, and that mental health and happiness come from living in the circle of affinity and inclusive connection to each other, the earth and all her creatures.

Here in the United States, our entire history has been an attempt to break free of the bondage of European imposed forms of government in order to embody the Aquarian principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights. From the moment we set foot on this continent, we were attempting to free ourselves from the terrible enslavements of european monarchy and political, state sponsored religions complete with hundreds of years of torture, inquisitions, feudalism and oppression. Here we met an excellent model of an egalitarian culture that the founding father’s, Franklin in particular, found inspiring in the founding of a new nation. The Iroquois nation, complete with human rights for women, was deeply inspiring to Ben Franklin and served as a model for what could be achieved by a free people.

Sadly the virus of conquest and subjugation came with us to these shores, and we began to exterminate the very people that some of the founding fathers had sought to emulate. The terrible spiritual virus of slavery was also brought to these shores right from the get go. The hideous paradox of the Land of the Free hosting four hundred years of some of the most brutal oppression that one people have ever inflicted on another is a blight on the soul of the nation that has yet to be properly atoned for, as is the trail of broken treaties and attempted genocide of The First Nations.

As Mr. Trudel so beautifully and compassionatly points out, the tribes of Europe were spiritually broken, to some extent by the time they reached these shores. Even the best of our ancestors with few exceptions were indoctrinated into the European race and class system. Yet the Aquarian consciousness finds a way to break through.

Before the Civil War began, Aquarian consciousness was awakening both in the abolitionist movement and among the victims of slavery. In the person of Fredrick Douglass we see a man born into slavery, beaten and oppressed in a way that would surely break the average person, who instead has an inner, then outer awakening, first to his innate freedom, then to his actual freedom, following his escape from bondage. An Aquarius, he went on to become a vocal anti slavery activist. In him, we see the Higher Aquarian Consciousness both in his brilliance and his repeated exhortations to agitate and actively oppose the brutality of slavery.  Aquarius, like Douglass is the enemy of quietism. He reminded is audience to “ Agitate, agitate, agitate ” explaining: “without struggle there is no progress.”

It took a hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, for cancer of slavery to reach an armed crises. As that cancer sought to spread through Kansas and Nebraska, another Aquarian, in the person of Abe Lincoln, took the helm and fought with every bit of statecraft he had to first contain it constitutionally and then, when it was in his lawful power, to wipe it out.

Lincoln knew what hung in the balance during the Civil War, for both America and the future of humanity. Europe at that time could never have produced a Lincoln. The shackles of the class system would have utterly prevented his rise to power. It is extraordinary that the South could have produced a Fredrick Douglass, yet had there been no North for him to escape to, the world would never have heard his voice. Lincoln knew that democracy was the only form of government worthy of humanity. His obsession was  “to nobly save or basely lose, the last best hope of humanity.” High stakes indeed.

At this writing democracy is at a crisis point once again. It could be argued that we have already lost much territory to the rise of multinational corporations, which have infiltrated and subverted democracy worldwide. In several studies, it has been firmly established that the United States no longer functions at all as a democracy, but entirely as a oligarchy. Over 99% of the wealth of our nation, has been claimed by less than one percent of the people. The question before the people right now, is do we allow this corrupt state of affairs to continue, or do we awaken to our fundamental equality and stand up for our human rights and the environmental survival of our planet.

In order to do this we must first face down our own greed and fear, and be willing to let go of a twisted economic system that has become the monetary equivalent of feudalism. This time the oppressor comes not as a king but as a CEO. In order to prevail we must reject the monetary oppression and class system at its core. In order to be free of it, we need to free ourselves of any idea that moral or human superiority is determined by fiscal wealth. There are many examples of cultures where money was not the measure of humanity.

What Lincoln could not see, and what no American President has yet seen, is that here on this very land was the spiritual and cultural Democracy we so yearned for, in the very persons who first greeted us when we landed on these shores.

The Aquarian question before us, is are we willing to let go of our internalized class system, and walk back into the Sacred Circle, Native to this land, were the Human Beings, The People, dwelled and still dwell.

May we meet there together.

Blessings of inner and outer Liberty and Awakening To All,

Demitra

THE PLANETARY REPORT: 

The Sun entered Aquarius on January 20th and will travel through the sign of liberty till February 19th when it enters visionary Pisces. This month group effort and organization is in the spotlight. Organize with like minded people in order to further your cherished humanitarian causes. Connect with friends. Feel the massive support that comes from weaving deep and nurturing connections to friends and to one’s local and global community. Know your rights and take action to secure them.

The Month begins with MERCURY, VENUS and PLUTO all conjunct in executive Capricorn, inspiring us to utterly transform our approach to business, government, currency and long term goals so that they are aligned with Venusian principles of Beauty, Justice and Fairness. It is as though both Kali and Aphrodite are weighing in on the way our world is governed. Kali, in the form of Pluto is revealing corporate and government malfeasance like the Flint water poisoning and So Cals terrible plutonian underground eruption, and Venus is inspiring us to take a different path that honors the earth and All our Relations.

 MERCURY will leave executive Capricorn and enter Aquarius on February 13th just in time for Valentines day. This year we are being asked to align our thinking with an active plan formulated during Mercury’s retrograde. VENUS, the Planet of Love, will be joining Mercury and the Sun in Aquarius on February 16th inspiring us to take our love and our thinking to a higher level that includes all of humanity.

From the 13th till the End of the month expect to see a great deal of activism in the news. It is a great month for business, personal and cause centered networking. Find your like minded people and connect with them.

MARS continues his alchemical journey through Scorpio till March 5th when he surfaces to enter Sagittarius. ( He will be back in Scorpio late May till early August, spending 4 months of this year in Scorpio, his own sign.) Mars in Scorpio inspires us to take the plunge into our deep subconscious and clean out the basement of personal and ancestral beliefs that keep us stuck. There could well be a great deal of covert battle going on behind the scenes of power. Calling all investigative reporters to keep your eyes out for malfeasance around all levers of power. Calling all alchemists to transmute the global consciousness using, shamanism, spiritual alchemy, meditation, forgiveness and vigilant presence.

JUPITER continues retrograde through Virgo, inspiring us reconsider and reflect on all matters of health, labor and the environment. Opportunities may be returning for reconsideration. It is a good month for healing and recuperation. For reflecting on the minutia and small skillful actions that must be taken in order to take big expansive leaps.

SATURN continues through Sagittarius, imposing limitations and consequences on irresponsible gambling behaviors. We are being asked to explore cross cultural philosophies and practices that can bring the world much needed wisdom at this time. It is a great month for disciplined work on the writing, teaching and speaking front. Define your philosophy and ideals, and try to live by them.

URANUS in Aries remains in square (tense yet creative relationship) to PLUTO in Capricorn. Expect to see continued and growing activism that opposes the increasingly revealed corporate and government malfeasance globally. Where in your own life must an outworn, destructive, unhealthy approach to some area of life give way to a new awakened healthy approach.

NEPTUNE in Pisces, continues to inspire us to awaken from addictive behaviors that keep us asleep or in fantasy, and dare to truly imagine and concrete a new world order based on spiritual awakening and reverence for all life.

ARIES: Your career and public persona are changing beautifully. The month begins with you still in a reconsideration of your career and approach to business. Your thinking and actions are transforming on this front. Lovely Venus is inspiring a beautiful new approach to your work. New partnerships may be forming. Explore and delight in new alliances as you restructure your thinking and approach to your work. The second half of the month looks especially good for business networking and your social life. The New Moon on the 8th brings new friendship and networking opportunities. Mars, your ruling planet, spends the month in your deepest sector. The big energy for you this month is transformational. There is much going on beneath the surface both financially and emotionally. You are known for being direct and action oriented, but this month explore the depths. Deal with your feelings, especially the uncomfortable ones. Explore issues of inheritance and intimacy. This year is one of deep transformation. The treasure you are seeking must be dug for.

TAURUS: There is a major planetary line up in your publishing and presentation sector this month. Now that Mercury is moving forward again it is time to begin implementing the philosophical and structural changes to your approach to business. It’s a great time for writing, teaching, speaking and publishing projects. Venus, your ruling planet spends the first 15 days of the month in your publishing sector, inspiring artful, beautiful words and presentations. Explore how the arts and new relationships can help you get your message out there. The Sun is shining in your career sector most of the month, giving you extra star power and charisma. Use this charisma to create and forge new social connections. Saturn, the planet of discipline and responsibility continues through the deep underbelly of your chart. Your closest relationships, both business and personal require your weighty focus. You may need to tighten your belt with partners on the fiscal front. You may have to set emotional boundaries. In business arrangements get very clear about the bottom line.

GEMINI: The Sun is shining in your sector of higher learning, philosophy and travel this month, making it a great time for philosophical or actual journeys with friends. You have been in a deep and transformational reflection regarding intimacy, business and shared wealth. Your life is truly changing on this front. Now that Mercury, your ruling planet, is moving direct, begin to move ahead with new arrangements on the business and fiscal fronts. Take action on the intuitions and revelations that occurred to you while Mercury was retrograde last month. Saturn is camped out in your partnership sector, inviting you to get serious about business and personal partnerships. Are you tying the knot or cutting it? Explore your long term commitment to relationships and partnerships. This is a great time to commit to those that are productive and let go of ones that are not working and are disrespectful. Mars in your work and health sector gives you plenty of fuel this month to deploy towards work and health goals. It’s a great month to get organized and help others to do the same.

CANCER: The sun is shedding light into your deepest darkest sector this month. The bright spotlight is on collectives. Explore entirely new ways of sharing, money, creativity, real estate and all resources. You are known for enjoying home and solitude, but this month there is much to be gained from exploring your social side and forging creative friendships and alliances. There is a major planetary line up in your house of partnership. Last month was a deep reflection regarding the best way to structure professional and personal partnerships. It is time to slowly implement the insights you arrived at on this front. Enjoy an experimental approach that seeks the most loving and egalitarian structure to partnerships. It’s a great month to seek funding for group projects. Mars, the planet of energy action and desire has pitched his tent in your creative and childrearing sector, giving you plenty if energy for both! The New Moon on the 8th begins a beautiful fertile cycle of friendship, intimacy and collaboration.

LEO: The Sun is shining in your partnership sector this month in egalitarian Aquarius, putting the planetary spotlight on personal and professional partnerships with maverick partners that make your heart beat with joy. This is a great month to explore networking groups and affiliations with groups that could advance your long term goals. Last month’s retrograde revealed much that needs restructuring when it comes to how your daily work is set up. Begin to implement changes to your communication and organization infrastructure that can streamline both your business and personal life. It is a great month for communication and writing. Continue to explore and review your approach to finance in order to become more profitable. Saturn continue to travel through your creative sector, requiring that you put some disciplined time and effort into your creativity, child rearing obligations or both. Mars has made camp in your home, giving you plenty of planetary fuel to transform your home environment. Take charge of your home this month. Take action to create order. This will lead to wonderful effects on the career front.

VIRGO: The Sun is shining in your work sector this month bringing light and joy to your work environment. This month you shine as both a leader and a coworker. Explore the harmony of group dynamics. It’s a great month to plan events and group projects. This is also a great month to cultivate and enjoy a group approach to health and fitness. Try, yoga, rowing, hiking or a dance class. Try group meditation. This month be the team player you want to see in the world. There is a major planetary line up in your creative sector this month. Last month was a deep reflection on your creative life and your approach to children. This month begin to move slowly forward on creative ideas for business and fun that occurred to you last month. Jupiter is moving backwards through your sign, inspiring you to reflect on ideas and attitudes that could lead to wealth, expansion and abundance. Explore your core sense of self. Do you believe that you deserve health, wealth and happiness to the fullest? If not why not? Mars in your sector of thinking and communication in alchemical Scorpio, will help you jettison self defeating thoughts and beliefs. Avoid fighting and impulsive communication this month.

LIBRA: The Sun is shining in your creative playful sector this month. Delight in your inner and outer children. Explore creative projects with your creative dream team. Be free creatively. Explore art that expresses your cherished ideals and principles. There is a major planetary line up in your home sector at the start of the month, inspiring you to take action on that front. Last month’s retrograde occurred at your root sector, inspiring reflection on how your home, family and ancestry impacted your career and the home you have made for yourself. Make the necessary changes on the home front to empower yourself. If you have been contemplating a move, now is a good time to explore that possibility. Venus on the home front brings beauty and harmony to home and family relationships. Mars, the planet of desire and action has moved into your fiscal sector, inspiring you to take action to build your financial reserves. Seek out fiscal collaborations and act on your deepest values. Mighty Jupiter is supporting you behind the scenes. Your spiritual life is the Source of a major expansion this year.

SCORPIO: The Month begins with Mars, your ruling planet in your sign all month, giving you plenty of fuel with which to explore your authentic self and your deepest desires. You are a sign known for your love of intimacy, but this month take the plunge of self exploration. Figure out who you truly are and what you truly want. Saturn has been in your house of money and values requiring that you define your values and build your reserves up in order to better pursue what you most value. The Sun is shining in your family and home sector this month, shedding joyful light on home and family relationships, while helping to liberate you from ancestral traps and prisons. The month begins with a major planetary focus in your communication sector which is helping you to utterly transform the way you think. Last month’s retrograde highlighted ways of thinking and communicating that need to change. It may also have reconnected you with projects, ideas and pursuits from the past. Begin to move ahead with insights gleaned during the retrograde. Mighty Jupiter retrograde in your friendship sector inspires reconnections on the friendship front.

SAGITTARIUS: The Sun is shining in your communication sector this month. It’s a great time to write, teach and speak. This is a month of mental liberation, when you can throw off the shackles of the past and think in a whole new way. There is a major planetary line up in your fiscal sector this month. Last month’s retrograde had you in a deep reconsideration around fiscal and professional matters. Mercury has begun to move forward in that sector and so can you. Explore what was revealed to you about finances and business deals. Take action to restructure and revisit financial matters. Mighty Jupiter your ruling planet is moving retrograde in your career sector, inspiring you to reflect on and revisit your long term career goals. It is a good time to review career matters with an eye to detail and course correction. Mars is camped out in your spiritual sector inspiring you to deploy your energy on devotional practices. Practice radical forgiveness this month. Begin with yourself.

CAPRICORN: The Sun is shining in your fiscal sector this month shedding light on  your bank account and fiscal collaborations. Explore forging alliances with groups and organizations for mutual profit. There is a major alignment in your sign including Mercury, Pluto and Venus as the month begins. Last month’s retrograde got you thinking about yourself in a whole new way. This month it is time to begin implementing a whole new level of beauty, self love and empowerment. Move ahead with your loveliest and most cherished goals. Make time for yourself. Pursue what you love. Saturn, your ruling planet is in your spiritual sector, inspiring a disciplined spiritual practice. Make daily contact with the source. It is enlarging your soul in preparation for a bigger level of authority and recognition. Mars is in your friendship sector, giving you plenty of energy to devote to friendship and networking.

AQUARIUS: Happy Birthday Aquarius! The Sun is shining in your sign this month giving you plenty of star power with which to shine on the world stage. It is a great month to take to that very stage, as Mars the planet of action has pitched his tent in your career sector for the month. He will back there again  from late May to early August, so the major energetic focus this year is on your career and networking. Get comfortable with power, you may be handed some on the professional front. Take action to achieve what you want in your career. Prioritize, strategize and organize. There is a major planetary alignment in your spiritual sector as the month begins. Last month was a vision quest of sorts, this month the year begins in earnest.  Act on revelations that came to you last month. On the 13th Mercury enters your sign and on the 16th, lovely Venus joins him to inspire beautiful communication and partnerships. Saturn, your ruling planet is in your networking sector, requiring disciplined work to build your team and audience. Uranus your other ruling planet is in your communication sector making you the voice of evolution and revolution. Your big expansion comes through joint finance and intimacy. Explore new ways of sharing on all levels.

PISCES: The Sun is shining in your spiritual sector this month, illuminating the needs of your soul for spiritual community. Enjoy people with whom you can connect on an unspoken level. Enjoy activities that allow you to simply be and go with the flow. It’s a wonderful month to enjoy nature and activities that bring you a feeling of oneness. There is a major line up in your social sector inspiring you to network both for business and pleasure. Delight in the company of others. Explore business collaboration. Last month’s retrograde took place in your friendship sector, where you may have had some insights or breakthroughs involving communication and long term networking goals. It is time to slowly begin moving forward on this front. Mighty Jupiter is moving retrograde in your partnership sector, inspiring you to reassess partnerships and explore how they could be more expansive. Mars is in your publishing, coaching, promotion sector, keeping  your pedal to the metal in getting your message out.