Our second new moon in Cancer occurred on July 20. The first one, on June 21, was a Solar Eclipse, and helped us to leave behind old security props. This one, on July 20, gives us the opportunity to put into place new or changed situations which relate to our security or home base.

I had two special experiences, both related to clients and to Italy. One was strengthening ties with Mauro, from Tuscany, who runs the magical neighborhood Caffe DiVino. It has become one of my security bases.

The other was a trade of a reading for a feng shui consultation with my friend Becky, who is breaking her ties here and is on her way to Italy, perhaps to live. Becky really inspired me to let go of my excess things and clarify my home energy. I’ve been wanting to do that, and it was a landmark for me.

I checked out my Astro*Carto*Graphy map for Italy. Sure enough, I have Sun IC line there, making it a good place for creating home, security, and foundations. (It also runs through Cape Town.)

The world, as well, was focused on Italy. Italy had the powerful Mars-Pluto lines running through it at this new moon. The G-8 Summit of leading industrial nations began on July 20. The major official outcomes were the widening of the gap between the U.S. and Europe, and the friendliness between GW and President Putin of Russia.

A major unofficial outcome was the hardening of the stances of the corporate rulers and those who protest the dictatorship of the corporate world. "What are we going to do about them in the future?" asks GW. That’s easy. Simply make planning, governance, and proceedings truly open and democratic. Will this happen? Hardly.

Police repression, particularly of the independent media, was brutal. On Saturday night over 100 media people were roused from their sleep and badly beaten. It took hours to carry them out on bloody stretchers. The reporters’ computers, tapes, etc., in another building, were smashed or confiscated.

On the other hand, the independent media center became a lively center for many of the regular media people, who were also shut out of the proceedings. Hopefully, a media bridge was created.

It’s significant that Italy was the scene of this heavy police action. Italy recently elected as president Silvio Berlusconi, who owns most of the media and many of the big industries in Italy. His corruption is well known. He has links with the Mafia, and has four criminal convictions and six criminal indictments pending. His Nationalist Alliance is made up of parties with Fascist roots and neo-Nazi connections.

The U.S. is becoming the rogue nation. What is being eclipsed is its stance and reputation as a world leader in cooperating to enhance security around the world. The national security now being developed rests on a foundation of open compulsive corporate greed, and the isolationism which allows it to flourish.

At the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva a landmark treaty to ban germ warfare was signed. The U.S rejected that treaty.

In Bonn the rest of the world went ahead developing and signing the Kyoto Protocol in a concerted action to cut toxic emissions. The U.S., which emits over 25% of air pollutants in the world, was merely an observer, and its representative was loudly booed by the other delegates.

The UN passed an accord outlawing certain small weapons. However, not until after it was fought against and gutted by the U.S.

And in Genoa, delegates were reported horrified by both the U.S. stance on global warming, and GW’s insistence on creating his missile shield. Regardless of threats to world peace, ground is to be broken in Alaska in August for the missile shield.

Ironically, at the same time the House of Representatives passed GW’s "faith-based" legislation.

Does our security as a nation truly lie in isolationism, stepped-up militarization and toxic emissions? If we don’t believe that, we need to speak up.

July 13, Last Quarter Moon in Aries. I let go of responsibilities and enjoyed myself with family, friends, and books. Those are the basics of my security.

On the other hand, in the world this has been a super busy month. The Bush Administration is laying the groundwork for missile defense in speeches, announced that ground would be broken in Alaska for it in August, and ran a semi-successful test, all at this quarter. Aries is the sign of the warrior.

Beijing was chosen as site of 2008 Olympics, and people can let go of the discussion of China's human rights record as a criterion.

India and Pakistan had their first summit meeting in years and, despite disagreement on Kashmir, where they are fighting one another, said that understanding between them was increased. This is reassuring, for they are both nuclear powers.

President Jiang Zemin of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia signed a historic 20-year treaty of cooperation as a counterbalance to the U.S. proceeding on unilaterally with Star Wars.

In all parts of the globe there is official criticism of the Star Wars program. It appears that the U.S. under Bush is isolating itself, and setting up a new arms race.

Protestors have been organizing in Europe at Bonn, Germany, where an international meeting on implementing the rules of the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming is being held. The protest is against the U.S., who is weakening the protocol by not participating in the rule-making. Protestors are also massing in Genoa, Italy against the financial policies of the G-8, the major industrial nations. The international financial picture is in fact shaky at this time.

The Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine is moving inexorably ahead.

There has been both national and California state movement in the energy supply field on a number of fronts. California at present has more energy than it can use.

A bill to legalize resident immigrants has been proposed and discussed. President Fox of Mexico considers some such action imperative.

On July 20 we have a second New Moon in Cancer, the security sign. In the U.S. the focus of both months is obviously the immediate gratification of the military-industrial complex, as President Eisenhower warned.

Full Moon in Capricorn. Refer to calendar for July 5. With the solar eclipse in Cancer, I enlarged my "family" connections in a number of ways, mostly through my work. Now, at the Full Moon Eclipse in Capricorn, Susan and I are working on finding new ways to help readers receive the Calendar in a print version easily. Family and business, both strongly intertwined.

In our California family, energy remains the major issue. Even though new exposures of price manipulation come out daily, and even though Governor Davis has been fighting for his Californians, the federal government refuses any price relief. In the meantime, the city of Vallejo, CA is making plans to produce its own energy.

In regard to the world and the nation, family squabbles are showing. The Israelis are building trenches, walls, and electric fences to create a strong boundary around the West Bank. The marching season is on, and Irish conflicts are renewed. In South Korea, there is a huge workers’ strike.

U.S. and Mexico are creating a border safety pact. In Klamath Falls, Oregon, drought-stricken farmers took things into their own hands and opened the headgates of a canal to get water. Pretty important for home and security.

On the other hand, there is also fence-mending. In Macedonia a cease-fire is signed, in Tel Aviv there is a Gay Pride parade for peace with both Israelis and Palestinians participating, and in Rio de Janeiro 100,000 guns are voluntarily turned in and destroyed. In Belgrade a Truth Commission is forming. China returns the U.S. spy plane in a huge Russian cargo plane. President Putin of Russia proposes an enormous cutback of nuclear weapons by both Russia and the U.S.

Economic security is decreasing. Job losses in the U.S. are the highest since 1991. Congress is passing a historic patients’ rights bill, while the Bush Administration is proposing health coverage for the fetuses of poor women (not the women) and rethinking the rule banning logging in roadless areas. They are also cutting the already-meager funding in the budget to help less developed nations combat global warming.

Our home in life on earth, and our home in the universe is part of our nest. Science commented on those family matters. They postponed cloning a bit by announcing the discovery of huge genetic defects in cloned mice. They also confirmed the expanding universe by discovering that there is indeed a fundamental asymmetry between matter and anti-matter.

Abuse of women by government-sanctioned men has been in the news. The frequent rape of Okinawan women by U.S. servicemen is coming to a head with one particular alleged incident. The U.S. has given Japan jurisdiction over the case. The May 1 disappearance of the secret mistress of a U.S. Congressman is now beginning to raise questions and suspicions.

The news around this lunar eclipse was full of significant stories. Events which impinge on our present and future security are moving quickly.

First Quarter Moon in Libra. Refer to Calendar for June 27. An eclipse Cancer New Moon means changes in security arrangements. Libra is the Moon sign now, and this first quarter "crisis in action" tells us that cooperative arrangements are the key to progress.

"PROGRAM BREAKS SILENCE ABOUT SEX" said a newspaper headline.

The big UN AIDS conference was the big news. UN Secretary Kofi Annan put himself on the line by calling the conference for the purpose of world cooperation, financially and strategically, in fighting the spreading AIDS epidemic.

No person, or nation, wants to admit that they have a problem with sexually-transmitted disease. Shame fosters ignorance and denial. There was much squabbling and holding back at first, but at the end of three days of compromise (Libra), a "Declaration of Commitment" was hammered out. Amazing. The battle plan put the status of women in the forefront, and emphasized prevention. $7-10 billion was the modest financial goal.

Prior to the conference, the U.S. had committed a paltry $200 million to fighting AIDS. After the conference, the U.S. Congress approved contributing more than $1 billion to the cause.

It was a personal triumph for Kofi Annan. It is doubtful if anyone else could have pulled this off.

The security of the world means nothing if AIDS continues its devastation unchecked.

My special event was doing a chart reading for a local Libran restaurant owner, and taking out my payment in trade. My security about the availability of good food for me is enhanced! More than that, there is a family feeling between us, and both of us feel that our personal family has been enlarged.