'Drama-Queen' Astrology

6.20.10


Lately, whenever I write about the current astrology, I feel like something of a drama queen.

In how many different ways can I describe these generation-defining interaspects—once again: Jupiter conjunct Uranus, both opposing Saturn, and all three squaring Pluto—in hopes of conveying their potent significance to casual planet-watchers? Without a doubt, it's the most spectacular astro-scene I've yet witnessed. Can't you taste it, too?

Living under this same planetary picture myself, I simultaneously feel (1) I barely have time to sit long enough to capture all the thoughts I want to share with you and (2) the complexities are so rich, it's hard to summarize them in essay form.

Dare I universalize the personal, let me suggest that therein resides important information about this very puzzle: (1) The sheer multitude of fast-motion developments is leaving us all in very short supply of spare time. If it's not one thing, it's another. (2) And due to the powerful interrelations between four major planetary players, developments in separate areas of our lives have uncanny links to each other. Job chaos interacts with domestic change. Relationships evolve hand-in-hand with family issues. The interconnections are more strikingly obvious than ever. For some, it's as if multiple elements of life are crumbling and shaking at once. For the bravest and most conscious among us, this is our invitation to integrate our different selves into the most coherent whole yet.

In the heat of the moment, alas, we aren't always able to identify the true profundity of what's happening. And while moments don't get much 'hotter' than this one, we might not be fully aware of how far-reaching the effects of our present actions will prove to be. To put mid-2010 into perspective, we now find ourselves cornered into responding to polarizing pressures which first began to noticeably impose themselves toward the tail end of 2008, when Saturn and Uranus first moved into opposition. These pressures intensified the next year, with Saturn forming its Pluto square by late-2009. Now, with Jupiter in the mix over these past couple months, the whole lid's being blown right off. We're at the 'pressure release valve' point. Something's got to give—willingly, by intent, or else by unplanned 'boom!'

Each of our reactions to this mid-'10 crunch, then, sets a precedent for how our personal revolutions will unfold over the next few years… and I don't use the term 'revolution' lightly. The final leg of this 'cardinal climax' astrology to reach exactitude is the Uranus-Pluto square, which doesn't even hit its first of seven peaks until June 2012 and remains within a 5-degree orb into 2017. Uranus-Pluto aspects are rather disruptive purges of whatever power dynamics have grown rotten, overthrowing any despotic decay that impinges upon liberatory innovation. The last major Uranus-Pluto aspect was the conjunction (1963-1968), during which the seeds of a new cycle of cultural advance were planted. Now, as we enter the first-quarter Uranus-Pluto square, we confront a climactic crisis in what was born then; further progress requires another newsworthy shake-down/bust-up. 1960s, meet the 2010s.

So even if we aren't personally witnessing blatant signs of our own revolutionary reinventions, they may still be happening… only, in seemingly unremarkable adjustments that won't reveal their sheer magnitude until much later. It's not altogether unwise, as a result, to presume this broader import to our present behavior, even when we lack the confirming evidence. Of course, favoring an overestimation of meaningfulness (over, say, a more casual stance toward our everyday choices) is where that 'drama queen' notion comes from: Am I making more of this than it needs to be? Is this moment any more charged with revolutionary energy than others? Is everything really such a big deal?

Naturally, we cannot know those answers in advance. But using astrology as our guide, I'd wager that, yes, this is that big a moment. I, for one, would rather err on the side of blowing the importance of this period way out of proportion—and, correspondingly, being that much more aware of the ramifications of my decisions, both great and small—than treat it all too lightly and forfeit my 'say' in how our collective future will be inscribed.

As I watch the headlines for examples of how this mid-'10 astro-drama is manifesting, my attention returns time and again to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. How 'big' a deal it will prove to be still remains to be seen, though as each day passes into the next, the potential effect greatens. The drama-queen voice in me wonders whether we even possess the capacity to plug this leak… whether marine life as we know it, not just in the Gulf but in the Caribbean and the Atlantic and elsewhere (for what better proves our interconnectedness than the globe's bodies of water?), will be irreparably damaged, maybe even cease to exist as we know… whether tropical storms and hurricanes will drop these poisonous pollutants ashore, upsetting terrestrial life-cycles too… and if this event will ultimately prove to be the wake-up call that snaps us out of our willfully-naïve addiction to a destructive, unsustainable energy source.

Or am I exaggerating?

The full extent of the oil spill's impact will only show itself over time, and yet it would behoove us to treat it as a worst-case scenario. As in so many other currently unfolding situations, we can observe the conflicting archetypes of this complicated astrological climate playing against each other. What's clearly most needed is a singular impromptu act of pioneering daring that will effect immediate results in the Gulf (Jupiter and Uranus), though such an act is hindered by the contrasting challenge of communicating and coordinating between various structures of authority (Saturn)… and all the while, we cannot miss the strikingly self-serving efforts by multinational-corporation BP to safeguard its own slice of power, in uncomfortably conspiratorial cahoots with world governments, rather than sinking everything into saving the environment (Pluto).

It begs the question: With all the brainpower on this planet, why haven't we yet come up with non-damaging, renewable methods for powering our incredible machines? The answer: Special interests (read: 'the Powerful Few') have actively obstructed technological progress, and governments' unholy marriage to corporate fat-cats reveal who they're really here to serve. My hope is for these revolutionary years ahead to blow apart these unholy alliances, so we may more effectively channel the inimitable human spirit into endeavors that suit a wider swath of the populace. That can't happen without a certain 'fuck you, I'm doing it anyway, like it or not!' attitude toward entrenched institutions.

On the personal level, too, we each have our own versions of the 'urgent matter' that desperately cries out for immediate attention… where we may not have the luxury of hatching plans and analyzing options before the circumstances intensify, though responsible notions of 'diligence' may still compel us to drag our heels… and where we might have to face the self-indulgent reasons why we might undermine our own efforts to act now, due to certain benefits we derive (whether proudly or ashamedly) from not evolving.

As I've framed it, this probably sounds like a tough road. Sure, maybe I'm being a touch more dramatic than is warranted. If, however, we don't consciously and courageously redirect the unmitigated flow of undesired energies, I believe they will overtake us. And if I later prove to have overexaggerated… well, the conscientious attentiveness won't have done us any harm.