PRE-ELECTION SPECIAL  

by Maya del Mar

Sometimes GW Bush doesn’t lie. Very early on in his presidency, he said, “It would be a heck of lot easier being dictator.”

Today Bush signed a bill which gives him the power to capture anyone—citizen or not—anywhere, indefinitely detain them incommunicado, torture them, and refuse them a hearing. Speaking out against the war in Iraq, or against any aspect of the Administration, can now be considered reason for imprisonment and torture. You think that the courts will eventually challenge it? No, for judicial review is not allowed by this sweeping law.

Our judicial system has, with one stroke, been rendered impotent.

An irony is that no one is exempt, not even members of Congress. Any one of them could be “detained” as an “enemy combatant” for saying anything against the Administration. Only the dictator has the final say. Iran, here we come!

As Molly Ivins says, “Do not, please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation. And do not pretend to be shocked when the world starts comparing us to the Nazis.”

This is not a sudden situation. It has been gathering steam ever since GW Bush stepped into the arena of politics. Molly Ivins is a Texan. She knows.

For a look at the astrological influences at this time, reread the September Daykeeper, particularly General Influences, the two Eclipses, and the Equinox. The intense stimulation of the aggressive and catastrophic fixed stars is apparent. I myself was shocked by the prevalence of those malevolent influences when I first found them, but, although I briefly mentioned some of them, I tried to emphasize the positive. Bush’s natal Mars in Virgo conjoined with an energy-attracting and energy-draining Black Hole also speaks to his destructive pathway.

The importance of the coming election is major. The one possible way to change this course of events is to impeach Bush. This may be possible, if enough Democrats are elected to Congress, and if enough people-pressure is put on them to bring impeachment proceedings.

Three Daykeeper reprints follow, one on U.S. group mind, and two inspirational articles. During this election time, the crucial transiting Mercury in Scorpio will be in the U.S. chart sector which refers to Congress.

by Maya del Mar

There are signs that a civil war is brewing within the government, a struggle against the distorted thinking which has driven the current Administration into near wholesale destruction of the planet and its beings.

Armageddon fans may appreciate this fulfilling of biblical prophecy, but many of the rest of us (and most of the rest of the world) consider that this nation is involved in a huge national psychosis which is leading the world down a path which is counter to the highest values of America and of humankind.

Astrologically, any one of the three outer planets (Pluto, Neptune, Uranus) connected with Mercury can indicate the potential for mental derangement. Mercury in the U.S. chart has close connections with ALL THREE of those planets. Pluto opposes Mercury, Neptune sextiles Mercury, and Uranus semi-squares Mercury.

All of those planets affect the unconscious, which is very complex and over which we have very little conscious control, and yet that unconscious determines—willy-nilly it seems—much of our behavior.

Major negative effects of Pluto are power used for destruction; of Uranus, willfulness; and of Neptune, denial. Neptune is the most insidious, because it blinds us to reality, or puts us into a trance. (See my article on Neptune in The Mountain Astrologer, which will be on the newsstands soon.)

Pluto transiting in the U.S. first house (for the first time) is going down to the depths of our national psyche, and dredging up our shadows.

Pluto digs into the bottom of things. Pluto first conjoined the U.S. Ascendant when GW Bush was nominated for the Presidency. He became the one to begin exposing the U.S. shadows.

He was a natural, for his Mercury is also connected to the three outer planets with a pattern very similar to that in the U.S. chart. Pluto closely conjoins his Mercury, Uranus semi-squares his Mercury, and Neptune sextiles his Mercury.

Bush becomes the perfect projection of the unconscious mind of the U.S. Furthermore, his Mercury sits in his first house, where he personally expresses it.

When Pluto exposes our long-repressed shadows, we are shocked, frightened, terrified, and depressed. (Think 9-11.) The work then is to heal, to integrate the long-denied shadow into consciousness, to become whole. Then it can no longer inexplicably run our lives. This can be a long process, especially in a country such as ours which has denied its shadows from the beginning.

Many of us hope that we can now begin that healing process, which must begin with honesty and a desire for true reconciliation.

[Editor's Note: Katherine Lee Bates wrote her lovely poem in 1893. The years of 1891-93 were major years. Many inventions were set in motion then. Many movers and shakers were born then. The world changed drastically at that time.

Those were the years of the historic Pluto-Neptune conjunction, which began a new 500-year cycle of a watershed change in consciousness. The conjunction occurred on the U.S. Uranus at 9 Gemini, the sign of communication.

Katherine Lee Bates came in on the crest of that new consciousness. Her inspiring poem is a natural for the Libra season. At the same time, she speaks to the Gemini split personality of the U.S.

The first major turning point of this new consciousness, the square of Neptune to Pluto, will occur in 2060-65. —Maya]

In 1893, a 34-year-old English teacher from Massachusetts rode a mule to the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado. As she stood at he summit, she beheld the vista of the Great Plains spreading out to the east. Behind her the mountainous backbone of the North American continent reached to the north and south beyond her vision. It was the climactic moment in a trip around the United States, which also had included a visit to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Returning to her hotel room, Bates reflected upon her experiences and noted in a letter to friends that "countries such as England failed because, while they may have been 'great,'" they had not been "good." She declared, "Unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way."

And so, in a mixture of joy and concern, she began to write the words:

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain;
For purple mountains' majesty above the fruited plain...

The impression made by the Columbian Exposition was also to be found in her verse:

Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears...

Her belief that social justice ought to be the goal of her country was expressed repeatedly in the stanza:

...And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Katherine Lee Bates was the daughter of a Congregational minister, who died when she was less than a month old. Her brothers went to work to help support the family, and in spite of hardship, Bates attended college and received her B.A. degree in 1880. She earned money to supplement her modest teaching income by writing poems.

By the time Bates took her trip around the country and saw the view from Pike's Peak, she and her partner Katherine Coman had been together for eight years, but they were not able to publicly acknowledge that relationship. Coman was head of the Economics Department at Wellesley College, and the author of "The History of Contract Labor in the Hawaiian Islands" and "The Economic History of the Far West."

As Bates contemplated her country's destiny in that Colorado hotel room, the "robber barons" had emerged as a major political and economic force, the massacre at Wounded Knee had crushed Native American resistance to the conquest of the Plains, and the Ku Klux Klan ruled the states of the former Confederacy. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its infamous "separate but equal" doctrine, giving a stamp of approval to segregation and Jim Crow for another 60 years. The American labor movement was still reeling from the attacks upon it after the Haymarket events of 1886. And there was a growing cry in ruling circles and the monopoly press for America to "realize its manifest destiny," extending its empire to Asia and Latin America.

It was against this background that Bates recorded both her love for her country and her protest against the greed and exploitation of capitalism. Her greatest hope was that America would some day be governed more wisely, would become more faithful to the ideals of democracy and equality. Every verse of her poem began with an expression of love, but ended in a prayer that sought forgiveness for America's flaws:

America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

Her disdain for capitalism in the age of the "robber barons" is reflected in verse 3:

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

Her feelings about the country's elected leadership were plain in verse 4:

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

The poem Bates wrote, of course, was "America the Beautiful." It was later put to a tune written by the organist of Grace Episcopal church in Newark, N.J.

It is little known that America's best-loved song was written by a woman who was a feminist, a lesbian, a Christian socialist, and an ardent anti-imperialist. Katherine Lee Bates was a pioneer, and a progressive advocate of social justice. And she was a patriot in the best sense of the word. She loved the land and the people of her birth, but she was critical of its weaknesses, and fought to make it a better, more just place.

"America the Beautiful" commands its listeners to open their eyes and ears to the injustices and corruption of capitalism. It is a song of both love and criticism. And it makes a distinction between the country we live in, and the wealthy and corrupt elite that rules it.

So, as we approach Election Day 2004, sing "America the Beautiful" with your friends and families. Sing all the verses. Sing them clearly so everyone can hear them. It is not just another sentimental, empty expression of unthinking patriotism. It is a call to struggle. And it's ours.

[Editor's Note: This came to us via the Internet. We want to share it with you. Try it... and most importantly, please VOTE... it's even more important now than it was in 2004.]

If, in the world of quantum physics, all things are possible and reality is what we choose to focus on... Try this. It can't hurt. Spread the word.

If only 3 percent of the U.S. population takes 60 seconds to do this exercise every day, we can make a massive difference. This is how it works: for 60 seconds each day visualize your favored candidate elected as our next [Senator, Congressperson, etc.]. See the celebrations and excitement and sense of fulfillment across America. See yourself rejoicing with people in your home, neighborhood, and workplace. See people all over the world trusting and building real alliance with the US! See your candidate being sworn into office. Feel the hope, joy, and gratitude. Believe it is possible.

Now, imagine your candidates restoring greater wellbeing in America. See people streaming back to work. See young children getting the support they need. Visualize our teachers, police officers, single mothers, the mentally ill, and many others getting the help they deserve. See our soldiers coming home to their families. Imagine our leaders establishing greater trust and good will with other nations. See peace spreading across the world. See the Iraq conflict ending. Feel how good it will be for the environment to be protected and renewed. See hope rising across the world in the hearts and souls of all of us. See these pictures in your mind for 60 seconds every day between now and November. Be grateful that you have the gift of participating in shaping a greater country. Be grateful that you care. Believe that all this is possible—and more! And be sure to vote!