A 14 Taurus Full Moon

'Die Heuernte' by Ford Madox Brown (1855)

 
The November Full Moon is about to grace Earth’s skies. The time of this event will be at 10:24 in the evening of November 6th (UT/+0 time), which means that for many of us this Full Moon will actually be occurring on the 7th.

But wherever we are, it’s at the same degree: 14 Taurus, a degree which in the most basic of terms is defined as being evocative, feeling and yet ever so simply practical and pragmatic by nature - sometimes positively, and sometimes not so joyously. Sometimes displaying loner tendencies and sometimes manifesting as gregarious, 14 Taurus seems to be much about our own sensibilities about where and how we’re going to be most comfortably secure - either in general or with respect to some situation or effort of the moment. Hardly known to be as stubborn as some degrees of Taurus, 14 Taurus generally displays the willingness to discuss things against a marked ability to own our own opinions as just that - our opinion (no more, no less), which is a very useful thing sometimes.

Further clues as to the point of this unusually flexible Taurean degree come from the Sabian symbol for 14 Taurus: ‘Head covered with a rakish silk hat, muffled against the cold, a man braves a storm.’  The obvious here being the man’s willingness to ‘brave’ this ‘storm,’ we should ask ourselves what kind of a storm this might be. Is it physical weather? Is he braving the wrack and ruin incurred after a run of bad luck? Is this about some ‘tide of time’ or some family, social, or societal period of upheaval?

Or is this just some inner conflict?

All are possible. In fact, all could be possible - singularly or collectively.

The 14 Taurus Full Moon (glyph chart)

November 6, 2014 - 22:22 (10:22) pm UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

The 14 Taurus Full Moon (text chart)

November 6, 2014 - 22:22 (10:22) pm UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

The ‘cold’ indicated here could also be physical. Then again, this may well be a reference to having to brave going against people who don’t think as you do - a fact made more likely than it might otherwise be by the fact that we are just in the wake of a solar eclipse in a moment when the Gemini eclipse of two-and-a-half years ago is having yet another moment of influence.

- link to post -

October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse

(Pt. 2: that ‘Other’ eclipse)

In his writing about this image, astrologer Marc Edmund Jones commented on how the man’s very willingness is the key here in that he is plainly willing to take on something which is unknown, implying a maturing of outlook (getting past reluctance in becoming willing to go out and brave that storm) which Jones thinks of as something which needs to happen before a higher or more productive consciousness/outlook can develop.

That’s an image which fits very well with this Full Moon, seeing as it opposes Taurus and Scorpio, which in greater terms is always about the ‘greater group’ or society or world - or maybe just you and your significant other.

The point is, Taurus is personal - and as its polarity,  Scorpio is where we work out where whatever our personal boundaries and values are against the personal boundaries and values of others (or things in this world). Thus the integrity of those boundaries - and the validity of the opinions or motivations which creates those boundaries - is tested.

Or to put it more simply...every polarity in the zodiac has its issues. But Taurus-Scorpio dynamics are  FAMOUS for pitting us not against others, but against a need to take our Self in hand.

And we don’t like that...(not at all)...from which arises all the digging in of Taurus heels and all that Scorpio snarling which can simmer into aggressiveness and even violence.

Fortunately, this is just a Full Moon. So it’s a moment, a day, a latter-part-of-the-week which highlights some facet, some factor in life which however emotional, however startling, however challenging is merely - as they say in parenting - a phase. It’s to enjoy if good, it’s to learn about and from probably no matter what - and after that, it’s time to move on.

Yet considering this Full Moon in particular... and considering how this Full Moon is the first step off the block in the wake of the October 23rd solar eclipse...and how, once we add in a couple of astrological ‘pictures’ included with the Full Moon chart...well, maybe we shouldn’t expect things to be less than intricately complicated.

Good or bad...they’re just likely to be complicated.

Why do I say that?

I say that because of the many and multiple relationships in the following diagram:

Complicated enough for you? And let’s remember - anything we see in a chart is BOTH what is going on around us and what is going on inside our ‘inner world,’ be that your home, family or mind.

That’s the way it works - and why though there are some things we will never control, why we actually have more control than we often think. As they say, life is not what happens to you, life is how you respond to what happens to you.

Yes, I know...it’s that effort thing. Life requires personally employed verbs.

So with regards to the above (that most convolutedly complicated diagram), let’s isolate a couple of facets - starting with one which focuses on Sun and Moon in a way most likely to be an active consideration during this time:

Yes, it’s a t-square - that adorably challenging notion which causes so much mental toe stubbing. T-squares speak to us (each of us as individuals AND the collective Us) asking whether we ‘get it’ that our concerns have greater applications. Whatever we come to a t-square with we are likely to be thinking of very individually...you might say almost possessively.

And that’s all before we get to the fact that in this particular t-square, the ‘t’ (the “hurdle” we have to get past in how we are approaching any given issue, contemplation, situation, effort or relationship)... that ‘t’ is being presented here in the sunny if sometimes sun-blind sign of Leo.

Leo is all about making something of our Self. It’s a natural sign of self-development - and thus pleasure in the achievement, be said accomplishment be athletic, social, financial, or anything else. Leo (and the associated 5th house of the chart) are where we look to see our spirit of fun - what we like and what we like to have fun doing - whether it’s fun for anyone else or not.

Leo is the birthing place of the individuality we need in its polarity sign, Aquarius, as to be part of the Aquarius whole (the group, the company, the society, etc.) requires that we are-or-have something individual which ‘fits’ into said functional process, business, social group, way of living, marketplace, system...OR the breaking apart of or breaking away from same (whatever group).

As for that ‘whether it’s fun for anyone else or not, that’s exactly the part of Leo which Leo depends on (individuality requires being willing to be yourself) as Leo’s engine... and yet too much Leo when in or applied to group doings can often go very wrong. Especially now as we’re starting into the Age of Aquarius there is a tendency - which may yet grow - to isolate or behave overly individual (separatist) manner, along with a tendency for some to believe in the anarchistic approach to changing how the system works.

(Again, this is a phase - it’s just that it’s a phase in a process...the astrological age of Aquarius...which is 2,160 years long and which is likely to be filled with a number of wild swings of various pendulums. To us things may seem like they’ll never end, but they will...they may just never end for us.)

So here we are with this Leo balance to master and the t-square issue of getting past thinking something is only about us - which is something akin to a double helping of the same thing framed slightly differently...and THEN we add in Juno, the emblem of management.

Not control, management. Juno is more about running an ongoing process and dealing with variables than designing how things are going to be done. It’s more about running the household than building the house or going out and slaying any dragons, if you take me.

As for 11 Leo, this is Leo in one of its more creative modes - not Leo at it’s most worldly and deft, suggesting that as this Full Moon comes into formation there will be some ‘managing’ of something which is otherwise not going to (as they say) get the job done.

With the origination point of this Full Moon being that comfort-prone 14 Taurus Moon, Juno’s presence in this Full Moon t-square may be exactly what causes us to take something which we know how to do and can do and cause us to do it. The ‘object’ of this t-square would be the Sun at 14 Scorpio, another degree which is uncharacteristic for its sign as 14 Scorpio isn’t known for much of Scorpio’s well-known (and well-documented - in blood, yet) steeliness.

Oh yes, there still is some of that Scorpio brooding energy quality in this degree...but there is also a recognition of the real and valuable resource which not just inherent in the ability to understand others (though that’s valid, too) but in the ability to use what we understand about others to create a tide of interaction through which resistance can be overcome in favor of actual give and take. Though this energy can seem brutal (it certainly carries strength) it’s honest; those who choose not to deal with it because it’s not ‘nice’ are only being asked to see their lack of realism as to what life is - a combination of light and shadow, good and bad, pain and joy, success and nullification.

And that may well mean that one important fact inherent in this lunar Full Moon tick of the cosmic clock is simply that it’s purpose is to move us or to time our moving from that which is comfortable into that which is less comfortable but more workable.

However: with all three points in this t-square (and both ends of this Full Moon figure) in fixed signs, there are going to be qualities of hesitation plus those ever-popular and always evocative ‘I don’t WANT to’ outcry humans all fall back on from time to time.

At which point, that may be what we have to manage. Maybe so...maybe not.

Plus we’re not done with Juno yet. Just to make things interesting (as if they weren’t already interesting enough), Juno is not only focal in this chart by being squatly positioned at the ‘t’ of the t-square, but it’s also involved in a grand trine of the thoroughly fiery kind.

Fire signifies a vision. The imagination. How things could be. In this case we have two well-known asteroids (Juno and Vesta) in trine with what is arguably our solar system’s most peculiar planet: Uranus. In keeping those peculiarities, the astrological Uranus speaks to ‘breaking with the status quo’ whether that’s breaking a habit, achieving a scientific breakthrough, the idea of a tunneling crew finishing breaking through a mountain.

Uranus indicates a reordering of things. So in trine to management-prone Juno and ‘the cost’ involved in keeping one’s Vesta promises (whether that’s a monetary cost or what it ‘costs’ you to hold yourself to some standard) this is an ongoing (grand trine) effort to change OR disrupt (depending on who you are) something...which either pertains to some ‘vision,’ or which provides the means by which something is changed/altered so that it can become the vision.

That seems like a lot to heap on one Full Moon, but there you are. With Uranus in Aries as there is a ‘weighting’ towards things First Person, whether that pertains to physicality or some need to wrestle decisions, indecision, conflicts, disruptions or conflicting/conflicted aims.

And the dream is still there. Whether or not we are pro or con something, we are still (Juno) managing to (Vesta) hold to some pre-determined notion (image, vision) whether real or imagined - all of which is being brought back to that very same managing (or) managerial Juno which is sitting at the ‘t’ of the Sun-Juno-Moon t-square.

The combination suggests two things. The first version would have the entire Uranus-Vesta-Juno grand trine as some sort of ongoing commitment to change (or change something). The second version would have us trying to manage at least two very different things, whether or not they have any direct connection or influence on each other.

All of which takes us back to that ridiculously complex initial diagram.

To have all these planets (green), fixed stars (blue) and asteroids (white) this closely aligned isn’t all that unusual. What is interesting is to see so many sextiles (green dotted lines on the left side of the diagram) basically linking Sun to Moon in one direction while the other half of the cycle is pretty much linked by semi-sextiles (dotted lines in purple).

Semi-sextiles are tough moments, clashing ideas and ego bruises (purple). Full sextiles (green) are opportunities. The path of opportunities leads through the global and worldly sector, telling us that this Full Moon - and to some extent everything which is on life’s table right now - is far more about how we relate to the world and in the world than about who we are or our more individualistic characteristics.

But it’s natural to be who we are - and the (blue arrow) trine from the 14 Taurus Moon to the North Node (and all its friends) in Libra speaks to an ongoing tendency we all have (and that we need to tap into at the moment) to relate to others in a manner which is consistent with our aims and our past (or cultural conditioning) whether or not we recognize that what we are putting ‘out there’ is what is coming back to us in some fashion, thus allowing us to hone what we do and thus achieve the desired result.

In other words, we don’t ‘change’ them - we change our Self so that they automatically respond to us.

And this is an interesting moment. Looking back to the fuller diagram of this Full Moon we see the Moon in conjunction with Europa and fixed star Menkar, a quantity which speaks to our ability to [Europa] ‘get carried away’ by our efforts to avoid our inner [Menkar] Self, most likely through ongoing or old ‘messages’ which are clouding our ability to know the difference between what we do for-with-to others and how that ends up affecting us.

-link to post-

Menkar: Soul, Searching

 
And on the Sun’s side? With the energetics described by Deucalion (fairness), Atropos (endings), and asteroid Maximov (maximums or maximal effects) all ‘fused’ with the Sun while conjunct   Kassandra (a truth we choose to deny) and Lumiere/Venus (the light of approval or acceptance) what we can do and what we will ask ourselves to follow through on may be two very distant and different thoughts.

Yet in the end this is just a moment in time - a Full Moon which asks and points out what’s important to us.

Will we heed that call?
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A Revisionist Aries Moon

 
There’s a New Moon which will occur on March 30th at 6:46 p.m. (UT/+0 time) at 9 Aries. As it occurs, instincts stir in keeping with this beginning of a last cycle of daily lunar doings before our life and planet shifts through an inexorable eclipsing of value.

Becoming who we are…the reason we would raise voice, or feel ourselves being motivated by a conviction finding voice within us, the making strides not out of the need to assert what we believe in but as a demonstration of our ability to believe in it –such will be the commonly held virtues of a New Moon moment in Aries which in its own vibrant way urges us to prove our point.

And yet…that point is often not as we think it is…which is a noteworthy concept found through many a doing now and moving forward. It’s as if this 9 Aries cycle is prompting us to ‘answer a call’ precisely so we will learn not to respond to emphasis or ‘volume’ alone, but rather the reality of need.

Aries is always personal and lunar cycles are the heart and celestial clockwork timing of daily life and doings. Given our current Mars in retrograde opposition effect (from Libra) many if not most of us will feel pre-occupations alternate with a thoughtful sort of longing which estimates the distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (or where we are and where we were or want to be) as not being what we want it would be.

And that means whether we wish we were closer to that whatever ‘it’ is would either just go away or stop standing there and fix things.

Either way, we’re not picky. We just want not to have to think about ‘that’ any more – and by ‘that’ we don’t mean the thing or person, we mean the feeling inside your soul which is motivating you to feel that something is so peculiarly important.

Something needs proving. We want to prove it – at least to ourselves.

That’s the crux of very issue: we’re all about us now. Whatever passes between us amounts to prompting, setting us up…or off…wherever we’re dissatisfied with ourselves. Yes, we may think it’s the other person (or ‘side’) which is at fault.

Those feelings though…the ones in our gut? They’re ours.

This is an Aries lunation: it’s a cycle having to do with understanding our very existing, our very flesh and blood human life.

And we feel alone. Even if surrounded by others or being ogled by millions, in our soul we will come to this time feeling an isolation which in some very unique and personal way affords us the opportunity to watch.

And watch we will, as if condemned to stand on principle – ours. We see the damage. We are passionate about how things should be and how they must be done.

We’re just missing the human part. That would start with breaking through either our reluctance or incapacity… and in some cases, the reluctance to deal with simple lack of capacity. With ‘blame’ easily exteriorized and assigned, fewer of us than might be useful will get past however they ‘see it’ to that place which in respecting truly universal parameters earns respect.

That would seem the path to eradicating ills of old and disunity within and without, but…we are so very human. It’s just so, so easy to blame someone else for the respect for Self we lack, finding in that projection sufficient justification to prevent any consideration of why someone else’s defeat will never salve our most painful, long-standing wounds.

And that would be our aim. Aries is always a personal sign, and with this lunation we are brought closer than ever to those things we’ve always feared were true not in terms of what we need to become, but what we need to correct in order to be the person we claim we are on the inside.

You know, to ourselves.

The above image – the t-square – is centered on the New Moon itself (Sun conjunct Moon) with Uranus and Juno, symbol of ‘managing the household,’ whether that would be our home, our life, our mentality, our accounts, a company or whatever else we’re currently involved with.

It’s about us and about our conscious, everyday life as a means by which that life experiences change – that which is astrologically so very Uranian. How this happens is individual…the measure of change you experience through realization may come to someone else through getting a new job. Or through letting go of some hope, some plan, some relationship or ideal. Maybe you’ll move physically.

Or maybe you’ll move off a position or decision held since half-past before you started forever.

It could happen. And if it does, providing we are giving something up which has held us back, then all begins falling in line.

Not instantly, but eventually. Give it a year…or three.

That’s how eclipses work.

Those who will not change – either in this moment or as a matter of stance or principle are the most likely to experience problems as this is not a lunation which deals well with rigidity. Even the most staunch of positions – or the person embodying such a stance – is likely now to meet up with unexpected considerations.

As with all things Uranian, flexibility is advised. Wherever a ‘vision’ or aim can be revised, updated or innovated, look there for facts and the sort of inspiration which cleaves a natural path through challenges while creating minimal disruptions.

Uranian moments either explode upon us, in our hands or through our mindsets, blowing out that which whether new or old, flimsy or time-honored, has outlived its functionality.

And no, we don’t get to control such things. We may or may not like the march of time. We may protest the passing of years and supplanting of ideas all we like and yet discover we haven’t changed a thing.

Except our outlook, that is.

And that…or something about how the world works is confusing. Or, as the weeks wind on and Mercury moves from Pisces into Aries, even daunting. Differences between perspectives will stand out now, and many of us will feel compelled, especially as the Lunar Eclipse of April 15th draws closer – to try to insist.

On what?

On something which means a great deal – even everything - to us.

Magic rectangles imply grace under any and every circumstance, even if the sort of ‘magical’ effect we associate with this image astrologically is only occasionally solely about ability, talent or resources. Here pictured as something of a societal setting or a ‘global’ sort of personal challenge, we move forward now through our determination and almost in spite of (Venus/Damocles trine Mars in Libra retrograde) difficulties. Such difficulties may well be (Eris/Pelion) huge and ‘expertise’ may be required to compensate where (Aries) individual incapacity is involved. ‘Damage’ and ‘damages’ requiring an enormous amount of effort may be experienced locally, universally and in the present…or they may now surface and be presented as legacies from some past, perceived or otherwise.

Not knowing what we know collectively and not wanting to believe what we know in our hearts instinctively as true (Pallas/Kassandra opposition Venus/Damocles) now vie against a reality which is only as dangerous or disappointing as our expectations and presumptions.

Which can be highly problematic, granted – which is the other side of this entire month’s dynamic. There are those who have lost or who are lost. There are those who feel threatened by the idea of something broken or broken down which they don’t know how to put back together.

Nobody said life was ever easy, even for those we suspect live a life of ease. No matter who we are, no matter where this lunation finds us, the difference between some long held idea(l) and an incontrovertible and bluntly realistic limit is forcing us to reconnoiter and rethink not for some future action, but for a future we will necessarily face.

In that arena, today’s theoretical advances go most readily to those revisionists willing to take on whatever abstractions have caused them to be so reluctant to be human – but to those willing to do so in public.

We are our own best …or worst tool now, depending on how we utilize not our opportunities, but our greater, most ethically human abilities.
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Uranus, Hidalgo, Nemesis: Parameters and Prerogatives

 The Wheel of Fortune

by Edward Burne-Jones (1863)

As this blog posts on March 11, Bali is on station and going retrograde. Our vision of what things should be (Bali as paradise) is under review. And yet, we probably believe in it all more strongly – as we often do when such idyllic concepts are believed in. Reality can disappoint us – the dream, the image, the fantasy of what things could (or should?) be never does.

Remember Alfred Hitchcock, the movie director? He knew this on an intrinsic level. It’s part of what makes his movies so tense, so artistic, so eerily suggestive. Our minds are far, far more capable of scaring or enchanting us than reality will ever be. So while we gain something irreplaceable when we go on vacation to somewhere beautiful or have experience some wonderful event, the place or the moment is what it is. The real elation comes from our emotional reaction…the how we ‘spin’ things in our emotional mind.

That’s Bali.

But as this ‘emotional exalting’ mechanism is at its ‘station balancing point,’ Uranus is pressing forward to the very last, nth degree of Pisces…wringing the last drop of emotionality out of the old cycle, the old way, the old life before exploding into the new Aries world which is as full of potential as it may be full of helplessness. Or innocence. Or courage.

Aries is the sign of the infant. Infants do what they do because they have no pre-conception of good or bad.

And this is the energy the Uranus clock is striking, tapping, accessing and liberating as it hits 0 (degrees) Aries 0 (minutes) at 53 minutes after midnight on March 12, 2011 (UT/+0).

But before that ‘breakthrough’ moment arrives – before the door opens on the colorful land of Oz, first comes the tornado which rips us out of a world which as Dorothy’s Kansas was in the famous story – wasn’t working for her.

I once dated a guy from Kansas. We met at work – at a magazine publishing company, to be exact. Upon learning where he was from, I glibly made the obligatory Wizard of Oz joke: oh! I thought Kansas was all black and white. 

We were both in our 20’s, so he evidently wasn’t as yet dead-tired of such, so I merely got a dignified sniff and somewhat lofty correction: actually…it’s mostly sepia tones. 

Years later I drove through Kansas – much of which is beautiful. And he’s right – a lot of it is sepia toned.

So your life may be dull. Or as people in the Middle East and elsewhere have been making so very plain, it may simply not be tolerable any more.

Even if you’re completely comfortable with and in your world, this is going to be a time when things don’t feel entirely ‘solid’ or secure. They may be fine…or they may be about to melt in your hands like ice in a tin bucket sitting on black asphalt on a hot summer day.

You don’t know yet…and you aren’t going to know yet for a while; though the Uranus clock with strike zero Aries o’clock within the next twenty-four hours, Neptune is sitting at the intensely societal, social and systemic degree of 29 Aquarius. Neptune moved into 29 Aquarius back on March 5th and will not slip-slide its big blue self into Pisces until April 4th. And until that happens, many a proverbial ball will be in the air. Or you may think that all is well – that your bullet has been dodged. Or that the status quo will hold. Or that there will be nothing new to contend with.

Or, or, or…

We just don’t know. And that’s the point: we’re in a period when one of our biggest bundles to grapple with is how to carry on without knowing.

We live in a very ‘what is it?’ world. We really like to nail things down. We like to think we know what will work.

Right now, we don’t. And if astrology’s metaphysical lessons mean anything, the more you try to ‘hold on’ or ‘nail down’ or define things, the less they are going to conform to your expectations.

 

Neptune Rule #1: 

Allow yourself not to know.

  

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Neptune Theory #1:

The thing you think ‘must be’

probably isn’t. The thing you think

least likely will probably prove true.

.

In this moment, as this blog posts there is also a point of Nemesis to contend with. Considering that Nemesis is a cosmic ‘warning’ which says just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should (and that there are consequences for many a thing you think won’t have any down side)…

Nemesis went retrograde in late January – about the time that people in the Middle East rose up in protest against their government, about the time that there was a distinct and disturbing uptick of violence in Mexico, about the time of the Arizona shooting which left six people dead, about the time natural confluences were wreaking havoc in Australia….

Nemesis went retrograde in early Libra, making its turn to retrograde a shift from ‘how can I do/get something done?’ to ‘how can anything get done?’ From all of us focusing on what others (Libra) were doing wrong, we began to think more in terms of how any of us can get what we need done considering what others are doing.

Do they know…can’t they see how what they’re doing isn’t, doesn’t, can’t work? Why do they think everyone else is there to exist at their beck and personal-financial-emotional-theoretical call?

Now, as Nemesis retrogrades back into Virgo, those questions become more systemic, more ‘realism’ oriented. From being more or less about ‘how can they THINK that?’ (think being a Libra/air sign conceptual world), now the question will be more about how we can do that. Or how others can do that to us. Or how they think we can do anything if our basic needs aren’t being met.

And yet, with Pluto in Capricorn, this also reminds us that this is a long-term (decade and a half) period which is all about becoming pragmatic. It’s about scaling back…focusing on what necessity really is.

That will now be what a lot of debate is really about.

It is also to remember that we are also in a Hidalgo station period. Hidalgo will go retrograde about sixteen hours after Uranus goes retrograde, suggesting that a lot of the push, the urgency, the pressure and stress(ed) points of this next day or so will best be dealt with more or less nobly.

 Das Paradies

by Jan Bruegel (c. 1620)

And yet there is that little danger here…that some will take the Hidalgo ‘nobility’ concept and turn it into ‘elitism.’ The same ‘class/caste’ system which populations are rebelling rather literally against in the Middle East have come to be more of a financial class/caste system – and (yea verily) a raison d’etre for many in many other parts of the world.

So….?

Hopefully you will take it on credit that there’s a reason why I would now ask you to gaze into the magical historical crystal ball….and to think about  how through the decades, centuries and millennia, when the divide between rich and poor gets too immense it always comes to a crunching, crashing end.

And one of the big problems in this epic opera is how those who are secure literally have no idea of what its like to do without. It’s not malicious – it just is. Marie Antoinette had no idea of how poor the poor among her French citizens were and for that (and a couple of other things) they cut her head off. On a little less drastic scale, I’ve had many a conversation with perfectly nice, sensible, well-educated, caring people here in LA who amaze me with how little they know about what life is for those who must do without. Try to talk to them about life on that scale and they get not vaguely uncomfortable, but really truly seriously uncomfortable.

And that’s probably what’s really most offensive in the split of fiscal classes. It’s not just what those who Have have and what those who Don’t Have don’t have – it’s that those who Have don’t even what to KNOW what those who Don’t Have go through in trying to survive.

  Morning Fantasy 

by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1904)

That’s enough to drive a person crazy. Or incite hate. Or get people with nothing into a real frenzy of you don’t know what it’s like? Well let me just burn your house down and reduce you to where I live so you can SEE and FEEL what it’s like! 

It will not take much ignoring to create the friction now. And I do mean friction (as in, lighting a fuse), not fiction – the thing I can ignore, should I wish to.

Privilege is an odd thing. I think one of the greatest privileges I have had in my own life is to spend time scratching by, counting pennies. And since where I came from was just financially solvent enough yet surely emotionally deprived enough to teach me that people really matter those two things have coalesced into a readiness to experience pain. Those who have never felt it are scared of it. Those who have been through a lot of pain – in the end – often realize how pain can be incredibly educational. It not only teaches you that you can survive, but that in the end, survival depends not just on the Self - but on those around us, and whether they're willing to deal with their Self.

Think I’m just getting into some sort of mushy moral proselytizing here? Surprise – I’m not! This is actually part of the grand amalgamation of the processes going on. We're all being made to feel more. Those who are used to it shrug more, grumble a bit and move on. Those who have been able to have a 'nice' life will find events more shocking.

In the end, this becomes a vast and global method of beginning to level the playing field or simply break it into two. That's pure Aquarian Age stuff - as we've been talking about in other posts. Bottom line, pretty much precisely to the degree and in areas of life where we think we have it ‘good’ where we are more than likely going to take our tumble.

But that’s the way of Uranus entering Aries - and yet another blog. Tomorrow’s, as a matter of fact…so not to worry...none of us have all that long to wait!

  

Mars/Mercury/Pallas: Are we Looking, Seeing or Seeking ?

 The eye of an Antarctic Krill 

photo credit: Gerd Alberti and Uwe Kils

Some moments are simply made for wonder. Some are simply made for wondering.

Then again, there are those moments, days and times which just make you wonder...why?

So let's start off by remembering that Venus and Jupiter have just gone direct as Polyhymnia went retrograde. Thus we're all primed to get going, and today may well feel like just that right day to head up and out and gain ground and get things going.

But it does pay to think things through.

And that's probably the message. REALLY, I mean - the message? Here?

Mercury is about the plan. The choice. The thought, the communicating, the making all those little details fit together.

Problem: Mercury is in Sagittarius. Mercury is never at its finest in Sagittarius. It either acts in haste, oversteps its bounds, opts for the flight of fancy which will never work or simply shoots its mouth off.

Well channeled, Mercury in Sagittarius can be seeing how things can work. Envisioning the really great solution. Getting where you could go if you (or everyone) was of a mind to get it right.

You can see the problem, right? One group is 'right here, right now' and the other is 'defer the gratification.' Given that Mercury in Sagittarius tends to opt for right now, it takes real effort, real thinking to keep ourselves in check and not overstep those bounds, insert the foot into the mouth (and beyond) or otherwise screw things up with trying to leap tall buildings in a single bound, forgetting we're not Superman.

No, you really aren't Superman...what, is that news?

So we have this instinct to leap buildings (or Grand Canyons). And there's just enough Mars in Sagittarius bravado, joie de vivre, raw enthusiasm (call it what you like) in today and tomorrow's Mix-de-Jour that our level of confidence, determination and/or impatience is really hard, hard, HARD to resist.

And should we?

That depends on how you feel about the greater concept of wisdom - here embodied by Pallas.

Clearly Pallas in any 3-way conjunction says there's an opportunity to think things through and do 'the wise thing.' But given the urgency of Mars 'wannas' and the restlessness so typical of Mercury in Sag...does Pallas  represent enough stabilizing energy to keep us on track?

Answer: if we are wise enough (Pallas) to understand the value of wisdom (Pallas) over urges and in urgent/urgent-feeling moments, probably yes.

Thus all (sigh...) comes down to a matter of how we consciously (wisely?) prioritize our internal workings. Will we think before we act? Will we say 'I don't have time for that now !' and live to say 'ooooh, maybe I should have thought about that?'

Sagittarius being known for fervency and conviction (for right or wrong) Pallas as companion to Mars/Mercury...IN an emotional degree....of a sign (Sagittarius) which is so much all about the process and 'doing' says we may blow others off now. Or we may blow off/cast aside our hesitancy or the misgivings which at other times would be keeping us stuck like a fly mired on superglue flypaper.

With all that in mind, we turn to the degree of this event: 17 Sagittarius. And what does tradition say about 17 Sag? It says this is a degree known for naive optimism, artistic and intuitive instinct plus a lovely dappling of sensitivity suggests we may just burst forth in creative flower.

Except for....

Except for what? Oh, what now...!

(stamping of impatient feet...oh, I so hear you!)

Trust me, I wouldn't bring it up if this wasn't an impressive little quartet of symbols: Kassandra, Ixion (shudder here, please) Lachesis and...Hybris.

We start with Kassandra, since this is the asteroid at the beginning of the chain. Sitting at 15 Sagittarius, Kassandra is a reference to something which had a spectacular beginning...but some insight which wasn't truly "believed." This goes back to who Kassandra was: a prophet of Delphi who offended her boss (god Apollo) by refusing to have sex with him, in return for which he cursed her to 'always being right and never being believed.'

(Sounds like a few marriages I know of, but that's besides the point...)

 Cassandra seeking the protection of Pallas (wisdom) to mitigate
the curse of Apollo (enlightenment which is never believed). 
This 1877 statue by Aime Millet is in the garden of France's
Tuilleries - an interesting comment on the time, seeing as its
creation was during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,
both of whom would find themselves not believed and
incarcerated in the Tuilleries not twenty years later.

Link to article on Marie Antoinette

 

There are at least two ways to look at this Kassandra-at-15, Pallas/Mars/Mercury-at-17 thing. One is to say that whatever Kassandra represents, it's been put behind you. 15 comes before 17? So if 17 is "now" then 15 was 'two somethings ago.'

In astrology we call this 'progression theory' - but let's not get technical. Lust say the measure is pretty fluid: the "two ago" thing could be hours, days, weeks, months, years....relationships, jobs...any "two ago" you would care to throw in the pot.

It also could be many things. This is a common mistake people (even astrologers!) make with astrology - the reference is not merely a reference to just one thing.

And hey, that goes really well with the Sagittarian theme, since Sag is always into 'more' and 'expanding' those horizons and theories and abilities and so on.

So - with Kassandra 'two' behind the moment, you may have recognized an error (the "truth of the lie") and have already dealt with it. Or you may be now facing repercussions from it. Or it may represent something you still don't believe.

(Ah yes, denial is such a wonderful tragedy.)

Moving on we come to Ixion at 16 Sagittarius: "one" past Kassandra and "one" before now.

If you don't know the whole story of Ixion, it's a point worth understanding. Of all the "new fangled" points in astrology, if someone asked for a vote on which three they'd name as 'most potent,' Ixion would definitely head my personal list.

Like as not, we all have an Ixion (like other things we all have one of) and we all act out the Ixion drama at lest once or twice (or a dozen times) in our lifetime. So if you haven't read it, here's the link to the article on Ixion.

Basically, Ixion symbolizes our ideas of grandiosity, entitlement and self-involvement...in ways which don't turn out so well for us. One of the handful of Neptune-controlled 'Plutino' gang, Ixion situations tap into our  (generally) 'baser' nature.

And again, we all have Ixion in our chart...and ignorance is no guarantee of bliss here - far from it!

Positioned in a degree which is about life's 'pleasures' and specifically about our ability to maintain and sustain ourselves properly in relationships, Ixion here is referred to as a 'psychological contamination' with emphasis on one's ability to breathe. And yes, this could just mean something "takes your breath away" in the nicest way ...except for that little...uh...IXION part.

But again, this degree is "one" behind the Pallas-Mars-Mercury conjunction. So....was there something you didn't believe or didn't understand when it was said to you? (And yes, don't you hate it how prophecies are sometimes so oblique?) Has that turned into some sort of 'breath taking' moment?

Or maybe you're moving past that breath-taking moment? With Ixion at 16 and today's triumvirate of symbols at 17, if you had some seriously wrenching (or "breath taking") moment one day, week, month, year (etc.) ago - now may be when you actually may do something (Mars/Mercury) to move past it. You may now know or understand (Pallas) 'why' that happened and what it means in/to your life and be ready to move on.

In fact, you may be much the wiser (Pallas) person for such events.

Continuing our little lesson in astrological conjugation, this could be you arriving at a moment (Lachesis) of opportunity (Mars/Mercury) which you know (Pallas) won't or can't last. Or a decision (Pallas/Mercury) of what to do (Mars). 

Or maybe...with Lachesis (the symbol of 'duration') being in exact conjunction with today's trio of symbols, maybe that means something you want to do or have been doing (Mars/Mercury) gets put on (Lachesis) hold.

Or maybe you just have to wait (Lachesis) for an answer to some question (Pallas)? Sometimes that's all we can do. So we sit there and subconciously (Pallas/Mercury)  listen to the tick...tock...tick...tock...of each minute's passage, knowing (Pallas) that we truly have to wait however long (Lachesis) until there comes that moment when what we need to move on with - be it permission or information or the car keys - until that finally arrives (Mars/Mercury).

 The face of Westinister's Big Ben,
one of the most famous tick-tock'ers around.

Yet even after all this, we still have to face Hybris.

Hybris is an interesting point in that there's so very little written about it. The name is thought to have been derived from the Greek 'hubris' meaning "arrogance." A little looking into the term reveals that it's related to 'hybrid' and thus a 'forced interlocking' which here (with Hybris pictured "one" ahead at 18 Sagittarius) means there's something about to be 'inserted' into our efforts, dynamics, considerations...whatever it is we're up to at the moment.

And considering the relationship between 'hybris' and 'hubris' we shouldn't count on it being totally pleasant. Or even our being pleasant, come to think about it. There's a whole little theme here about trying to 'mate'  the 'tame' with the 'wild' which at 18 Sagittarius has a tendency to 'go too far.' The degree itself has a reputation for 'imbalance' which can manifest simply or in a truly devastating way. This is an 'internalizing' degree, suggesting that it's what's going on inside us which is the possible source of trouble.

Like we needed more of that what with Mars/Mercury and Ixion...plus Kassandra?

Another of the thousands of main belt asteroids, at it's farthest, Hybris is pretty much at the center of the pack. It is thus native to our thinking and our operations - we all have to deal with (and accept) that we have not only a capacity for arrogance (if that's what we take the point to mean) but a tendency to manifest that.

Does that mean it's just 'there' and we don't have to do/care/take responsibility for it? Probably not, though by where Hybris falls in your chart we also can like-as-not tell whether you tend to be someone who 'deals' with these tendencies as part of your personal responsibility quotient - or whether you're one of those people who needs to get faced off and knocked down before you realize you're totally out of line.

Being one of the points on a list sent to me by astrologer Alex Miller during my 'new point' studies we have at least one vote (Alex') for Hybris as the psychological inability to grasp the consequences of our actions and/or the thought that you can 'get away' with something - even that some rule or law doesn't apply to you. In looking at Hybris in charts and considering that its perihelion point (the point at which it's closest to Earth: Hybris' "delivery") is - as it happens - just inside Kassandra's.

So when Hybris actions/choices/activities come 'to us' that which we 'didn't believe' (Kassandra) proves true.

And that lies ahead.

(Kind of makes you want to look up your Hybris, doesn't it? Well, check the sidebar - use the link to Serennu.com, which has an extensive asteroid ephemeris base, and yes, is accurate. Just remember to use a "list" format, a "360 sort" and dd/mm/yy date formats, not mm/dd/yy date formats).

But before you go dashing away, let's just close here. All and all, this seems to be a moment for collecting our recollections and moving on from there. What that entails, what we each need to consider and contend with - that obviously varies.

Waters have been rocky, yes. We've had to take shelter in safe harbors as we could.

Now the way opens before us. Where do we want to go? Do we actually want to go there? What will it take to get where we want to go in life, and who do we want to be along the way and when we get there?

 (November 2007) an English seascape just after sunset. 

photo credit: rnbc

CHART USA (Pt. 6): Solar return 2010/2011

Once a nation gets used to something it's a little hard to break the habit. The United States is used to celebrating it's national birthday on July 4th. But according to the USA(ppomattox) chart...

April 9, 1865 (3:53pm/LMT) - Appomattox Court House, VA

The Civil War ends, the United States is again united as one nation.

 ...the birthday or maybe re-birthing day for the US should fall on April 9th. And maybe that's just what US citizens should call it - Rebirthing Day, sticking with July 4th as Independence Day.

And if this is the chart for the modern US of A, then we should be able to see images of the yearly doings in every solar return which rolls around.

Don't know what a 'solar return' is? Well, basically it's the 'birthday' thing. Every year when the Sun returns to the degree and minute it was at when you were born - or in this case, where it was when Lee surrendered to Grant there in that farmhouse in Virginia - we cast another chart.

Your natal chart (the chart above for the US) doesn't 'go away' or anything - that natal chart is the metaphysical 'map' of time/space you are and which unfolds through your life, over the course of that life.

But the solar return chart gives us a picture of what will happen that "birthday" year - from one birthday to the next. In your story book life, each solar return tells the tale of one chapter.

So here's the 2010/2011 solar return for Chart USA....

Chart USA(ppomattox) Solar Return 2010  

As always, we start with the Sun - the will and 'life force' of it all. Remembering the 'interactive' qualities of the US Sun and that its native position in the 8th house is all about what the nation choose to risk/invest itself (and its values) in replete with the balance of power and exposure which goes with, to see this Sun now positioned with Eris (discord) just under the 7th house cusp is a very clear picture of the US causing discord and experiencing discord in this world.

Eris being a slow moving dwarf planet with an orbital period of 557.438 years, it's obviously been on this US Sun for some time.

How long? Well, laying aside the question of 'coming into aspect orbs' (meaning how long before it actually hits the US Sun does it begin to affect the US Sun), the date of exactitude to the Appomattox Sun was June 4, 2001. Considering this is Eris and that close works in the case of nuclear blasts and distant dwarf planets (and in some senses those two things being related), it's interesting to note that on June 5th, Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston, causing great damage and initiating what has been a string of troubles along the Gulf coast.

On the 7th of June, President GW Bush signed into law the now-famous 'Bush Tax Cuts' which in combination with the Iraq war not having been built into the US budget served to decrease federal income while vastly increasing outflow. The result is today's huge deficit, and it could even be argued that this destabilization of income/expenses at the governmental level contributed  to the entire borrow/invest rondo which come 2008 not only threw the American but the world economy into a tizzy, bankrupting entire nations.

Lastly, on June 11 of 2001, home-grown terrorist Timothy McVeigh was executed.

These things are emblematic of what has gone on since - discord financial/fiscal, issues with terrorists and terrorism and natural disasters, particularly along the US Gulf coast. Mind you, this is not saying that nobody else had any problems - the floods and famines elsewhere are terrible and painful reminders of how ill-managed human life is and how powerful the forces of nature really are. But in the United States, as Eris hit the US Appomattox Sun, these theme erupted.

And they are again with us in 2010. We have the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. From that has come an entire slew of economic woes specifically to the whole of the Gulf coast region given the fall-off in fishing and vacation dollars. The US has moved its core fighting efforts from Iraq to Afghanistan and things are deadly there - as at home the question of security has oozed back towards the immigration debate in all its many-headed hydra-like distressing glory.

The way solar returns work, what we do is track the movement of the Sun from house to house. So as the year began on April 9, the Sun hit the 7th house cusp on April 13th. From there until May 11th the Sun traversed the 7th house, a house colored by this Sun/Eris Aries Descendant in a 3rd decan degree.

This 3rd decan degree would indicate that the subject matter had to do with things which had been done and what came of that. Or maybe more pointedly in the sense of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, what flowed from that.

 Fire fighting vessels attempting to put out flames 

erupting from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout

April 20th, the date and time of said disaster had the Sun at 0 Taurus, directly opposite Kassandra - symbol of those truths which are never believed until it's just too late.

On May 1st, as the Sun stood at 11 Taurus conjunct solar return Venus, the Times Square Bombing attempt was made.

New York's Times Square on a normal busy evening

But wait, you say...isn't Venus supposed to be all good and then some?

Not necessarily. Venus can only bring us what we have earned; in the Appomattox USA chart it stands in a 3rd decan Taurus degree and the 9th house. The 9th is nothing if not  emblematic of foreigners. Thus this 3rd decan national Venus is very much about what others (foreigners especially) think of or 'see' as US (Taurus) values.

Given that this is the 9th house, a house well known for its dogmatic and education-versus-indoctrination (propagandist) nature, the US will always trumpet its moral and fiscal values. And others will react to same. It's just part of the national charm. And construct!

Also to remember here also when we look at something like this bombing attempt: this is a cosmic-karmic world stage we are looking at here, so we are not looking at individual people and their individual motives. We are looking at the broad sweep of themes as they rise and evolve throughout time.

That this bombing attempt failed (was only an attempt) is interestingly noted in this return chart by Polyhymnia (muse of happiness) and Phaethon (headstrong haste) standing with Venus.

And so we proceed. By the time eyes turned to the G-8 and G-20 Summits in Canada, the Sun was in the return's 9th house - of things foreign. So President Obama does that 9th house thing and travels abroad to get more (9th house) 'educated' on what others think and are doing in their own countries. The time span here being June 25 through 27, the Sun was at 3, 4 and 5 Cancer - conjuncting first Kalypso, then Atlantis/Sphinx. 

An informal shot of world leaders at the 

G-8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario (Canada)

As it conjuncted Kalypso it opposed Ceres, an interesting combination seeing that Ceres is the 'good steward' called upon to think long term, not just for the moment and Kalypso is the lesson that love has to be about the other person, not just yourself and that sometimes that means you have to make a sacrifice.

Apparently not in Obama's case, considering that the national chart shows him acting on the basis of Atlantis-Sphinx.

The Sphinx part is easy - we all know the Sphinx either as the passive 'wait all things out' symbol from the sands of Egypt or the riddling sphinx which queries Orpheus - a warning against many things, most of which Orpheus would end up doing.

 Oedipus and Sphinx by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)

And yet...the astrological Sphinx is an interesting symbol. On one hand it seems to be yet another one of the smattering of orbiting rocks which point out what we may be prone to...well, stumbling over. Or stubbing our toes on to be sure! Sometimes its to our undoing, and sometimes it's just a lesson in how blind we can surely be.

Fortunately, with the bruising side of this lesson comes also a suggestion that if we wait, if we persevere, we can stand the test of time. Yes, even if some army does blow our nose off (a whole other kind of blowing the nose, for sure!).

 Egypt's Sphinx of Giza

As a symbol, Atlantis is a bit more complicated - for many reasons. We all know the 'idyllic civilization' version of this tale, certainly. But our tendency is to linger on the ideal part and forget that in the end, that fabled land of Atlantis sinks away, never to be heard from (or apparently found) ever again.

For those who find this version of the 'Atlantis concept' a bit hard to grasp on a personal level, there is another version of the story. This one is told as a folktale and starts with a person on the fringe of a troubled town (society) being asked to 'give up all hope' that things will get better for them or anyone else given their resources and what they're doing - or even just seeing.

The answer presented is that they should risk all through an apparent sacrificing of their own life. Will this person leave the land they love and long to live happily ever after in and walk into the ocean - where of course no human can breathe?

This is a metaphor for those moments in life where we have to walk away from the thing known and loved and which we want to fix, but can't. In the story, the person does as asked, walked into the water and lo - is not only able to breathe but finds they fit right into this new world. And they are welcome. And their life in immeasurably bettered for not having held onto what didn't work. (here's a link to the folktale in question)

In Obama's case, the whole matter was made a little tougher by this Sphinx/Atlantis being positioned in the exact same degree as the US natal Cancer Mars. That's one feisty 10th house Mars, telling us the man was sitting on a hot seat with hands, feet and back held to separate fires. He had to represent US interests, despite those interests being under fractious fire at home. The President had to face a world which (let's face it) loves the US just a little less than it's irritated with it.

With all this standing in opposition to Charybdis in the vocal/idea-driven 3rd house there was nothing for Obama to do but keep talking, keep discussing and keep shaking hands. And - oh yes - get home to Washington. He had no answers for the G-8 and G-20 and even if he had some, they hadn't been approved back home. So what's a President to do?

Skipping forward to current date, the Sun stands today at 25 Leo - putting it in the 10th house of the solar chart and 12 house of the natal chart. Things are tough and getting touchier. US citizens - and the world are far more likely to hear bad than good, especially coming out of Washington.

There has been one recent point of note: when on August 8th, California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage was struck down by Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court for Northern California, the Sun conjoined Child (at 13 Leo) in the return chart. That said, asteroid Child is positioned atop a 13 Leo Kassandra in the natal chart speaks to the aura of disbelief about the whole matter as yet; everyone in the US expects this matter to eventually end up in front of the Supreme Court and they're probably right.

Cassandra by Evelyn de Morgan. Considering that

the Greek prophetess by this name (being she for whom the

asteroid Kassandra is also named)...that she knew the truth

but was never believed, this may be a portrait of her pulling

her hair out in exasperation!

With the national Sun/Eris ruling Leo at the Descendant, this is going to be an issue which is put out there and hotly debated. This year, the question of children (Child) is going to be part of that discussion - as is the sense of national immaturity being displayed on the national stage.

(Don't ask me, I just report on these things.)

All such issues plus those of social functionality and the economy come back into high focus once the Sun rolls into the solar 11th house come August 22nd.

By September 21st things calm but only on the surface. Serious things are going on in the background and with Saturn opposing Uranus pointing by sign rulership back towards May, matters concerning BP, the Gulf, oil in general and energy as an entire matter come back up for discussion. Expect 'costs' to be discussed across the board during the period between September 21st and October 29th, when issues shift back towards questions of national security and US presence/influence around the globe.

As of November 13 the nation is highly involved in its internal affairs and how to do what needs doing. This looks like a lot of factious discussion about budgets, in the US Congress and with regards to various programs and departments. Stand by with your pork barrels, waste collectors and budget-slashing knives.

Between December 14 and January 16 there is much talk but not much gets done. National welfare is on the table and some sort of charitable need appears which gains attention. This evolves into a health-system/system overhaul discussion and operational dissection beginning in January and extending on to about the 18 of February, replete with many ugly moments and societal gasps of disgust, dismay and disavowing of responsibility...which is probably the problem to begin with. Those who won't take responsibility to begin with (or along the way) are those who stand horrified by what results.

Granting that what horrifies one person seems like 'yeah, well, what did you expect?' to others, this may be a time for sensitive Americans go get on their standing shoes so they can be properly horrified and attempt to run away yet again. Which yes, they will - don't think otherwise. This solar return is not a chart about America fixing it's problems - America is at the moment still grappling with the idea of admitting serious problems actually exist. And that yes, it could be the cause of some of them either through its tolerance (but isn't tolerance good? Not always!) and position as a wealthy world power - which has bred sloth, indolence, crime, debt and greed to the umpteenth degree.

It's an amazing country America - so gallantly able to do wrong and yet so totally capable of turning itself around and putting things to right. The issue which divides this, as previously discussed, is motivation. The US cannot do what it does for its own good. It has to do the right thing because that is the right thing, regardless. Only then does the nation truly prosper.

A tricky business in a time when people have grown so used to measuring success by personal pleasures.

To finish up here...at February 18th the nation enters a period of work obligation typified by its own desire to get out of its own doghouse, said period lasting until the national re-birthday rolls around.

Then we get a whole new solar chart with a whole new set of parameters, challenges, achievements and 'takes' on ongoing problems.

In the meantime, considering that there's a native influence of Juno in the mix here, during this lengthy February-to-early-April stretch we are likely to see those who feel compelled and those who know how to lead both seeing problems.

And yes, a few will see those problems through their sticking points, while others will just complain and (Eris/Sun) disrupt. This isn't any cotton candy period, but we will see the US facing up to its dirty problems (and possibly a few dirty little secrets) not merely with gusto, but in many ways with a sense of national charity and national service.

But still...scrubbing the national cosmic floor with a fingernail brush is darn hard work. Maybe the nation can learn to whistle while it works?

One last note here: Eris will not complete its conjunction effect with regards to the USA(ppomattox) Sun until June of 2023. Those who yearn for easier times will have to hold on at least until then.

And yet, even then things aren't likely to be peaceful; the United States as pictured in the Appomattox chart is not ever going to be totally tranquil. Why? Because the nation as a whole is too dynamic. It's born to evolve!

So let's just look on the bright side here...as someone I once dated put it to me, you are many things - boring is not one of them. That's probably pretty close to what the United States is as a national entity, too.


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