New Moon in Leo—see Calendar for August 18. This New Moon at 27 Leo marked another move in situations related to the Solar Eclipse of August 22, 1998, as well as to November 18, 2000. New Moon in Leo is about creating our authentic selves. The Pluto-Saturn opposition now in progress (until November 2002) will help us pare down our lives to those things which are essential to that process of authentication. A strong Uranus with this Moon helps us to let go of excess baggage. Vacations can also help us experience deeper needs and desires, as we let go of regular daily routines.

Personal

I began this Leo New Moon by spending an overnight with two old and dear friends, Nina and Betty. We began studying astrology together in 1971-72, and since then have shared the path of astrology, raising our families, and personal growth. We respect one another a great deal, we’re very supportive of each other, and we know one another. Sharing time is always a special treat. We see one another less as jobs and home changes move us apart. This overnight was a first, and we will take time out of our busy lives to do it again soon. This is Leo—supporting our heart places.

Immediately from Betty’s, I took a bus over the mountains to visit my daughter Penelope, where we planned to utilize the Pluto turning direct for a deep healing process. The bus ride is normally about 3-4 hours. Moon in Virgo was due to square Pluto and Saturn Sunday night, and I wondered how this repressive, plutonic influence would manifest.

Traffic was horrendous. We (and everyone on the road) crawled with it all the way. The Saturn slowdown. Busses, of course, were late. And overbooked. The driver who brought in a late emergency bus told us as we set off from San Francisco that he hoped somebody knew the route because he’d never driven it before. He negotiated fine through the cities until we came to San Jose, where he got hopelessly lost driving around dark residential streets. Finally he asked for help, and got it— fortunately, expert help to make the many turns necessary to get us back on track. We all clapped as we drove into the San Jose bus depot.

Finally we turned onto our last lap, Hwy. 17, the narrow, shoulderless highway which treacherously curves through the Santa Cruz Mts. Pluto guards this highway, and most people do not like the risks it offers under the best of conditions. Again the highway was packed, with traffic barely—or not—moving. We found out later that there had been an accident on the highway.

We arrived in Santa Cruz close to midnight, and I was grateful, not only for our safe arrival, but also that Pluto-Saturn brought me nothing worse than a slow bus trip, and my family nothing worse than a long wait.

I remind readers again that once a week we have moon in a mutable sign—Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, or Pisces—and that each time both Pluto and Saturn are activated. The squares, when moon is in Virgo or Pisces, are especially notable. They occur twice a month. These are often uncomfortable connections. With Pluto much can be accomplished, but with Saturn patience and discipline are required. Obstacles will face us, and we may need to figure out how to detour or delay. There was a big detour sign, for instance, posted for our mountain highway blockage.

Frustration can be a problem, and it is helpful to understand that these are just sometimes difficult aspects which are assisting our slow transformation. We can see them as growing pains. But growing towards what? Ask yourselves. With both Penelope and me, both of us with Saturn in Sagittarius, we are on a specific growth path towards wholeness.

The current Pluto-Saturn opposition (read about it, Parts I and II in the August and September issues of Daykeeper), in exact aspect from early August 2001 until May 2002, represents a process of deep structural change. It often feels difficult and repressive. It’s always ultimately inexorable. Saturn is destiny and Pluto is evolution. These weekly moon stimulations remind us of the longer process in which we are engaged.

The weekend, through the First Quarter Moon in Sag, continued to be filled with healing, expansive experiences as Penelope and I traveled about. It finished with a great healing meeting on Sunday, as Healer Chiron turned direct. Chiron conjoined Mars, male energy, and we met with our guardian healer, Fritz.

I would surmise that many of you are now involved in intense, transformative experiences. The Leo Moon is about taking charge of our lives, and Pluto now, then, is about assuming our own power. Saturn can show us where we need to work at it.

World

Much, much is happening in the world, as power shifts. Issues that have gained most press now include the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, world economic recession, the U.S. budget, and the moving ahead of Star Wars.

In August of 1998 there was also a world economic recession, as well as a big drop in the Dow. That was the month when Russia completely fell apart economically. In November 2000, oil and global warming were both big subjects in meetings around the world, Bush and Gore were still jockeying for winner position, Israeli-Palestinian violence worsened, and Dick Cheney had a heart attack.

The Israeli-Palestinian situation has greatly deteriorated. Prime Minister Sharon stated the Israeli policy of incursion into Palestinian territory and the assassination of key PLO militants, and has proceeded with it. Of course this does not quiet the Palestinian rage, and revenge and retaliation are building up. President Yasser Arafat, touring the rubble of Gaza City police posts flattened by Israeli fighter jets, said defiantly, "The mountain will not be shaken by the wind."

Neither Sharon, nor Arafat, nor Bush has a strategy for peace in the Holy Land. This leaves the possibility of war occurring by default.

U.S. Budget

In the U.S. we are experiencing a massive transfer of wealth from the people to corporations and financial services. It is pure greed. The process is so blatant that I can’t understand how we allow it to proceed. First we have a huge tax cut, with 43% of the benefits going to the top 1% of the income. Excuse: recession. Then we have a short list of Administration priorities, with "military reform" at the top, and Star Wars development in the works. Then because of the tax cut and the recession, we now, with this New Moon, supposedly don’t have enough money. One day Bush says he "likes the fading surplus." The next day he cautions Congress not to spend money, and the next day Bush urges an increase in spending for the military, and appoints a new Chief of Staff, Richard Myers, who served as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Space Command.

Now we see Bush planning to raid the Social Security surplus. Already the Treasury Dept. is borrowing money to cover the tax rebates. The Bush Administration is also engaged in changing accounting procedures to hide the shortfall.

Raiding Social Security and driving it into deficit will create an artificial funding crisis which will open the door to turning Social Security benefits over to Wall Street, at great cost to the people, from every standpoint.

Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, a managing trustee of the Social Security Trust Fund, recently told a meeting of corporate executives that the system, with $893 billion in its trust fund, has "no assets," and should be immediately privatized so that so that workers can "discover the magic of compound interest." (Paul O’Neill was CEO of Alcoa Aluminum until Bush tapped him for Treasury. He believes that business should not be taxed.)

Bush has laid the groundwork with his President’s Commission on Social Security to "advise" him—composed of people who want to give the Social Security system to Wall St. They are meeting in secret. The timing of publishing their report will surely be orchestrated with a financial "crisis."

Current projections are that the trust fund will be depleted in 2038, although 73% of current benefits would still be paid. Even then, the fund could still be made completely solvent with small tinkering. In addition, this estimate is based on a growth rate of 1.7%, far below historical averages or the 3.2% rate projected by the White House. At the 3.2% growth rate, which is average, the fund will be financially sound until 2075 and beyond, according to Social Security actuaries.

The propaganda about the Social Security system going broke is just that—propaganda designed to facilitate this massive transfer of the public’s money.

This formula is similar to the IMF formulas, which have broken the backs of so many countries. It’s a bit frightening to see Bush run the U.S. like it was his own business—especially when he failed in running his own businesses. He walked away with big profits, but his investors lost as the businesses went under. He also depleted the Texas treasury with large tax cuts.

Missile Plan

On August 21 Bush gives Moscow a deadline of November (next hit of Pluto opposing Saturn) to OK his missile plan, or he will quit the ABM Treaty, the foundation of weapons security for the world for the past 30 years. On August 24 he says, "We will withdraw from the ABM treaty on our timetable and at a time convenient to America."

In the midst of all this arrogance, we have the successful politician Gary Condit defiant and evasive on TV. Is there a parallel?

This new moon, then, laid the groundwork for a massive financial shift in the U.S., shifting the public’s fund, Social Security, to Wall Street—and at the same time putting the onus on the public to pay for a massive missile system—through taxes which are then paid to defense contractors.

Yes, Leo is about rulers. But we each have Leo somewhere. And it’s time to tune into our own Leo energy, our own ruling centers, and to cease giving away that Leo power to whoever makes a grab for it.

(GW Bush has a Leo Ascendant, with Pluto on it accompanied by Mercury and Venus. Pluto can be used to hypnotize and manipulate people, as well as to run over them. It can also be used to heal.)

Last Quarter Moon in Taurus (check Calendar for August 12). Taurus is indeed the sign of territory. Israel, a Taurus nation, expanded and further secured their territory. The Israelis took charge of all of Jerusalem, including the PLO headquarters and the Orient House, an Arab center. They sent tanks into Jenin in the West Bank, and took it over—the first retaking of a Palestinian town since the Oslo accords in 1994. The Palestinians, in turn, went on a general strike. The word is that Oslo is now dead.

U.S. territory was also on the agenda. Donald Rumsfeld flew to Moscow to further work on the Russians re the projected missile defense shield.

A peace agreement was signed in Macedonia.

In California, the new California Public Power Authority began. Taurus George Lucas signed his long-sought contract for using federal park land in San Francisco. (Federal parks now have to make a profit.) And the California State Supreme Court says that students can be detained and questioned without reason or provocation.

We’re still working on our stop-the-citadel campaign. We filed an appeal to last week’s decision, and collected the money to pay for it. We also had our first organizing meeting of a citizens’ association. We had a second one, too, and many people came, including some with the expertise which we need. Our campaign is moving along briskly, and I feel good about it.

Full Moon in Aquarius, August 3-4. "Active, high-powered" characterized the Full Moon in Aquarius on August 3-4, combined with the Saturn-Pluto opposition in Gemini-Sagittarius on August 5. (See Calendar for those days.) Together they created a magic rectangle of outgoing air and fire at 12-13 degrees. All of us were very highly stimulated, and especially sensitive to this high energy time are the middle areas of all the signs.

Most of my planets are in those middle areas, and indeed I’ve been thrust into a new activism. The village (7000 pop.) here has, like lightning, pushed through approval of a massive public safety building which will destroy a charming, historical small street of small shops, add to problems of traffic and parking, and physically split the town in two. They did not consult the people of the neighborhood, of which I’m one. This building was a fait accompli when first introduced to the public. A protesting petition of 500 signatures gathered in the neighborhood means nothing to the decision-makers. So here I am, working to prevent this building.

This has been an enormously active and significant time on the national and international levels.

GW’s decision to federally fund some stem cell research is perhaps most significant. A variety of tissues can grow from stem cells, but cloning is part of the process of directing this growth. On the one hand, great medical benefits are promised. On the other hand, we open wide the door to cloning for any desired purpose. At the same time, a medical group announced that they plan to clone humans in an Italian clinic.

Discussion of the ramifications and consequences of cloning of life has been obscured by technical discussion.

During this significant and dynamic period, the business section of the SF Chronicle ran a history of the personal computer, now celebrating its twentieth anniversary. IBM introduced its first PC on August 13, 1981, at the beginning of a new 20-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle. That cycle occurred in 1980 in Libra, an air sign, which favors communication.

Now, 20 years later, we are starting a Jupiter-Saturn cycle which occurred in 2000 in Taurus, an earth sign, which refers to tangible life.

Furthermore, events occurring now mark the midpoint of a cycle which began in 1982 with a Pluto-Saturn conjunction, also in Libra. IN 1982 COMPAC INTRODUCED THE FIRST PC CLONES. And in 1982, the first successful transplant of an artificial heart into a human being took place.

Now we take the next step, cloning body parts—our of which will evolve cloning humans. Pluto is associated with the masses, and with all kinds of replication. Robotics is plutonian. And Saturn is associated with science and with structure.

President Reagan in 1982 set the stage for a new level of business aggregation. During this past full moon, Citigroup, perhaps the biggest financial institution, took over Mexico’s Banamex. According to the SF Chronicle, this completes foreign takeover of Mexican money. At the same time, tens of thousands of poor Mexicans gather in Mexico City to protest President Fox’s economic policies.

Also in the business arena, Microsoft appeals the ruling that it is an illegal monopoly to the Supreme Court. And the Federal Reserve Report says that we have a "weakening economy," strong language for the Fed.

In 1982, Israeli armed forces invaded Lebanon to destroy the strongholds of the PLO. Now the Israelis have begun a campaign of destroying Palestine itself, and violence is escalating on both sides.

Other highlights of the news now are pushes from Washington against global warming, a new crossroads regarding peace in Ireland, many of California Governor Davis’ advisors on energy policy turning out to own stock in energy companies, such as Enron.

More: the Defense Dept. is developing face-ID systems which are now being tested in South Florida, a Cuban stronghold, and in Israel, where Israel is doing "targeted" killings.

All over the world there is growing furor over the G8 Summit beatings in Genoa, Italy. Thousands are marching in the big cities, and governments are protesting to the Italian government. The father of an American young woman still in jail says that the U.S. is conspicuous by its absence in the list of nations who are protesting.

This is a sampling of the top stories of this Leo-Aquarius Full Moon period, a time of social activism. I have heard many stories of people making major changes in their lives now. Whatever we’re doing now has great significance in our lives, whether or not we are aware of it. "Structural transformation" is the key phrase.

First Quarter Moon in Scorpio. See Calendar for July 27. This was a Neptune Moon, and indeed it’s been foggy, both nationally and in the Bay Area. The major news has been low profits, a falling stock market in the high tech sector, and thousands of workers laid off. Headlines on July 27 said that we are definitely in a recession. Neptune favors ideals rather than money.

The major public discussion has revolved around the coming conference in Durban, South Africa on Race, with the agenda now being worked out in Geneva. Again, the U.S. has threatened to boycott the conference if plans don’t go its way. Both Africa and African-Americans are associated with the sign of Cancer, the energy of the current moon cycle. So is the U.S.

I was involved in pushing for my ideals of a livable, sustainable community. I did research on municipal power districts, which I shared with local government. And I wrote, organized, and circulated a petition against a too-large building planned for our neighborhood.