More News from Mars
There are those weeks that feel like the most interesting week in galactic history, and this was one of them if you ask me. It was the confluence of events that got my attention. First, there was Bush calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages (as queers line up for their nups amidst much fanfare). The battles over gay marriage went to the floors of state legislatures around the country, and vibed into every home by the miracle of television. Then, mosh ado over The Passion of the Christ. Then out it comes that some 4% of all Roman Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse, mostly of young boys, and nearly double that figure in Boston.
First a brief recap of the week's astrology, or one aspect of it. The set-up for what happened this week is that Neptune is currently square the lunar nodes. The nodes orbit the Earth every 18 years, and it takes Neptune about 165 years to go around the Sun. So aspects between them don't happen especially often. Neptune being square the nodes means that the nodes are at 14 degrees of Taurus and Scorpio, and Neptune is at 14 degrees of Aquarius.
People seem to have a lot of trouble getting a grip on the Nodes, how they feel and how they work. Maybe that's because they are so pervasive in our experience of life. They are not physical objects but rather directions in space where the Moon moves north or south of the ecliptic once a month. The Moon's orbit is not parallel to the equator. It's a little off-kilter. That means that the Moon runs uphill for a while, 'til it crosses the ecliptic, which is the north node. Then it peaks and runs downhill for a while and crosses south of the ecliptic and at that point it's crossing its south node.
These two points are meaningful all the time. They also represent the approximate part of the sky where the next eclipses are going to happen -- so there's a direct connection between eclipses and the nodes. The nodes are a little like visiting the County Fair Grounds in March. If you stand there long enough, something really big is going to happen. The thing with the nodes is that you can stand in the County Fair Grounds in March and be transported to any fair in any year, past or future.
The nodes are VERY strange and in many respects seem to pack more influence than even a major planet or Chiron. The south node tends to orient us toward the past. The north node tends to orient us toward what we need to be doing now to reach the future. Both points are difficult, one because we can get drawn into its vortex when we don't want to, and the other because we often need to struggle to get there when we really want to, and even then it can feel difficult.
Add Neptune to the equation, exactly square the nodes, in a long, slow aspect that lasts weeks. Anything square the nodes gives you the approximate equation, "do what this planet wants you to do or you don't get to receive the benefits of the nodes." With Neptune in this position, we get something about truth and lies. We live in a culture that is dominated by addiction and denial. We live in a kind of dream world (it's horrifying -- I'm staying in an apartment with a television and it's beyond belief what's on that thing). Neptune is the basic fuel for this delusional world.
From another vantage point, Neptune is one of the most dependable of the gods. If you follow the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien, he is Ulmo, Lord of Waters, the god who never forsook the human family, no matter what judgements the other gods were holding. He is associated with the signs Cancer and Pisces, which are known for (among other things) their lack of boundaries that allow a genuine sense of selfless compassion to come through.
So, Neptune square the nodes. Much hinging on truth and lies; questions of loving, caring, compassion; questions of addiction, substances, delusion, deception, and the evolutionary process (the nodes) directly involved. I would translate the aspect to: get clear or go nowhere.
Now, enter Mars.
Mars is in Taurus, and has just crossed the north node. That is a powerful pull in a specific direction -- toward true values (Taurus), physical needs (more Taurus) and in general arms the north node with a kind of warhead.
At the same time Mars squares Neptune. Two things happen simultaneously, as they often do in astrology. Mars square Neptune (if you ask most astrologers) is a bit treacherous. There can be wanton, aggressive disregard of truth. There can be Kamikaze tendencies. Mars can inflame all the worst attributes of Neptune. It would be difficult to say positive things about this aspect except that people born with it can be daring, they can be poetic and imaginative, and they do have a tendency to get themselves lost in darkness "without realising what they're doing." Of course, they do realise it; often there is an addiction to fear, and that, in turn, was born of their trust having been abused so often.
So, what happened the week that Mars crossed the north node and squared Neptune? Meanwhile, planets began lining up in Pisces -- Sun, Uranus, Mercury, to name three.
Well let's see.
The week begins with the theocratic government of the United States, in the person of Dubya, deciding to play dice with the universe and threaten a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage! I fell for this one a few times before realising it was a big dog and pony show to draw attention away from some of the more pressing matters at hand facing our great nation. Stuff like the Sept. 11 cover-up, around which the sharks seem to be circling ever-closer. (The fact that people think this isn't a big story and some media refuse to address the issue with any coherency does not matter in the least. The same was true of Watergate).
The midweek story was about a movie, very Neptunian if I do say so. The movie was about fanatical religion, more Neptune, and hey, it's a violent flick in which God gets the snot beat out of him ostensibly for the gratification of Christians everywhere. Being blessed by our Lord with a TV this week, I watched some of the theological commentary, and one dude was saying how this film was so important because it gave coverage of the most important event in all of Christianity, the crucifixion.
I sat there thinking hmm, I'm familiar with another point of view. There seem to be two kinds of Christians. I'll call one kind Good Friday Christians and the other kind Easter Sunday Christians. One kind is into God getting nailed to the cross and dying for our sins. The other is into the fact that God is resurrected and proves that there is eternal life. There do seem to be a few more Good Friday types than Easter Sunday types, but I'll save that for my Easter Sermon wherein I will make contact with my Roman Catholic roots for a moment.
Anyway -- during Mars square Neptune, we got to see a lot of images on TV of a bloody Jesus and lots of theological banter and hey, the film grossed $26 million the first day. Not too shabby.
What does not come out is the source material for the film. Gibson says he based the movie on the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) A lot of biblical scholars believe that the Gospels were written long after Jesus died, and there are definitely discrepancies between each telling of the story, the only consistent thing about the Bible being its inconsistency. So Gibson just mooshed parts of all of them together.
However, it was partly "inspired" by Anne Catherine Emmerich's book "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ." There's a split in perceptions of her, a lot of Christian web-sites called her Venerable, she also gets Mystic, Stigmatist, Visionary, and Prophet. But of course she gets the anti-Semitic label too.
Here are some good links (thank you Chelsea):
http://wquercus.com/passion.htm
http://www.primechoice.com/philosophy/shelp/negaspectschrist.htm
http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2004_02_22_kesher_archive.html#107765525313985900
Whatever one may think of Sister Anne's interpretation, or of Sister Anne, remember, it is an interpretation, not biblical "fact" in any way. With the film opening with Mars squaring Neptune, we might be wary.
We end the week with the Catholic priest sex abuse story. From this, we learn that according to one report, 4% of priests have been accused of sexual abuse over the past 52 years. Peaking with the class of 1970, in which one priest in 10 was accused of sexual abuse, one report said that 80% of abuse survivors were boys.
"The human toll amounted to 10,667 children allegedly victimised by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002," The New York Times wrote in Friday's edition, "but the studies caution that even these numbers represent an undercount. Totals depend on self-reporting by American bishops, the studies note, and many victims have never come forward out of fear or shame."
That Mars square Neptune can represent that fear and shame is an understatement. That the truth comes out in multiple reports under this astrology gives us a lot of insight into this aspect, particularly when you factor in the rather awesomely influential lunar nodes.
I am wondering how many people made the connection between the fundamentally Christian opposition to gay marriage (and sex in general), the obsession over the most violent aspects of Christianity, and the result, which is the sexual abuse of people not capable of defending themselves. The Church evidently is capable of such; it spent more than half a billion dollars on legal fees, therapy and settlements for victims, but apparently this number is an understatement. ++
New Paltz Dorm Results Are In
By ERIC FRANCIS
http://PlanetWaves.net
Two weeks ago I took samples from Capen and Gage residence halls at SUNY New Paltz, accompanied by the editors of The Oracle student newspaper and, locally, working for Chronogram magazine. I've worked on and off on this story for about 12 years. For reference, here are two background pieces. First a recent summary:
http://chronogram.com/chronogram/backbone/planetwaves.html
And the larger history of the issue, from Sierra magazine's issue in fall 1994:
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200103/conspiracy.as
The short version is that in 1991, there was a chain-reaction transformer explosion disaster on the state college campus in New Paltz, NY. The transformers were filled with PCB insulation fluid (polychlorinated biphenyls) which is extremely nasty in its own right, and which turns to dioxins and dibenzofurans when partially burned. Any scientist you ask would be hard pressed to name a more toxic chemical than a dioxin or a furan, and PCBs are right in league. These chemicals were banned from new equipment in the late 1970s but remained in use in most places they were installed.
Among the campus buildings affected were four dorms housing 990 students. Fortunately, all but 12 students were on winter vacation when the explosions happened. For years, my exposés revealed numerous problems with the cleanup, including inconsistent efforts to identify and solve problems from building to building (for example, air vents were checked in some buildings and not others; the same with heat systems). The PCB disaster began with a miracle -- most students were home. It became a synthetic disaster as every opportunity was lost to protect the students once they returned to their homes.
As late as last week, the administration was making published claims of the absolute safety of the campus. The most recent statement came from a college official, Arnold Bernadini, in response to an article published in the student newspaper, saying that 12,000 PCB tests had been done as part of the $50 million cleanup. Like all statements made by the college, this one never mentions that the potential consequences of PCB exposure include hormone system damage, immune system damage, genetic issues, birth defects and numerous cancer problems.
There is no mention that the real extent of the problem is not known; no mention that there were deficiencies with the original cleanup, despite its price tag.
There were four dorms involved, Bliss, Capen, Gage and Scudder halls. Of the four, it's considered a given by state officials that Capen and Gage had the least serious incidents, or rather, this is the story that was used to open the buildings just one month after the disaster. It is true that Bliss and Scudder tested highest for dioxins, and that there are some very serious problems with the cleanups in those structures, particularly where cleanup crews could not reach to clean. The four dorms have been occupied for more than a decade after the initial PCB explosions.
Early the morning of Feb. 12, I took seven new samples from Capen and Gage halls and sent them to a private lab myself, under my own contract. This eliminated the conflict of interest when the state samples state buildings and sends them to a state lab, or where a state contractor samples and tests with no community involvement or oversight.
Results for all seven samples, received today, show the presence of PCBs, including some at extraordinarily high levels. For example, a vent I tested ten years ago which, at that time, showed 100 parts per million in the dust and crud, showed 80 ppm two weeks ago. The earlier sample, taken from an air vent over a stove in a student lounge, resulted in a $100,000 secret partial cleaning of the vents in the summer of 1994, all of which were found by the state's investigation to have been contaminated. The levels have now returned to about the same degree of contamination as before -- PCBs are incredibly resilient.
I also found PCBs in Gage Hall at lower levels in a ceiling tile, in fill in a crawl space, and in dust in a radiator.
In Capen Residence Hall, supposedly the least contaminated building, I found surprisingly high levels, including 22.6 parts per million in dust taken from a vent over a clothes dryer, and 9.7 parts per million in dust taken from a radiator. A sample of an electrical utility area, taken with alcohol, gave a total weight of PCBs of about 1.4 micrograms, substantially over the state's theoretical safe levels for a wipe sample.
If you were to look at the state's results, you would see that anywhere they check, the building is clean. As it turns out, anywhere I sampled turned up a PCB hit. This casts the state's tests and the whole cleanup process in serious doubt.
Meantime, the notion that there is some safe or acceptable level of PCBs and dioxins (always present where PCBs burn) in a living environment is ridiculous, even offensive. As the years since the disaster have passed, more and more studies show that there is no "no effect" level of these chemicals. Someone in an exposed population will always have some effect. Someone will eventually get sick. The weaker students are at greatest risk. Background levels are already so high that the EPA is expecting as few as 1 in 10 to 1 in 100 people to become sick with cancer as a result of what we're exposed to in the everyday industrial world.
How much is dangerous? It is rare that two scientists will agree, and what they say often depends on who they work for. But we do have some clues. In the 1970s, Monsanto, the only U.S. manufacturer of PCB fluids, commissioned studies to determine the toxicity, studies which were later suppressed. The studies were only looking for cancer effects (non-cancer effects happen at much lower levels of exposure).
In a trial in Texas, Philip Smith, a former employee of Industrial Bio-Test Labs, testifies about the Monsanto studies. There seemed to be concern that the chemicals killed so many rats that the studies would somehow lack credibility. The examining attorney quotes from an IBT Labs report at this time which indicates that there was a survivability problem with rodents in the Aroclor 1254 (a type of PCB found in the dormitories) study. This report states that, "The tumor incidents in females with 1254 is bothersome, 82 percent at 10 parts per million and 100 percent at 100 parts per million."
[Scott v. Monsanto U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas, before a judge & jury, quoted at 2188, line 21.]
Hence, at 80 ppm (found in the Gage vent), we are eight times the level necessary to induce cancer in 82 percent of the female rats in a feeding study. While students are breathing this contamination rather than eating it (it was found in dust), air is an especially effective way to get PCBs into one's body.
Government officials seemed a bit reluctant to return my calls today; not one called back. I am sure this news is the last thing they want to hear, particularly after having made so many statements about how clean the buildings are. Yet due to my previous reporting, they cannot plead ignorance; there is clearly a problem.
To the contrary, it is easily arguable that any harm the students have suffered (about 10,000-plus students over the past 11 or so years) was intentionally inflicted upon them by administrators who knew better. These administrators and health officials are people we have entrusted with the lives of young students. We need to ask who is responsible for why things got so far, and who can take responsibility for fixing this situation. No doubt the state will plead that its budget is busted, after spending $50 million (which will work out to more like $150 million after interest is paid on construction bonds).
At the very least, students need to be warned, and their health needs to be tracked. The college told me this week that there is no information given to students who move into these dorms; the original incidents happened too long ago. And there has never been a health study to determine how students fare while they're living in the dorms, or once they move out.
People are asking me what my objective is. I want to see these buildings immediately evacuated and properly tested for toxins with community oversight and at least two independent labs doing the analysis, one of which I select. State tests again and again come up "non-detect." My tests show significant levels of toxins everywhere. Once the toxin level is established, which appears to be quite high, we need to learn the lessons of so many other PCB incidents: that the buildings can never be cleaned. The New Paltz dormitories buildings need to be retired from use, torn down and put in a toxic waste landfill, just like was speculated might happen back in 1991.
I'll be back with a more thorough account of next week's events on the Planet Waves homepage as the story develops; I am about to head to New Paltz to continue my work. Meantime, I've put my spin doctoring skills to work and am reaching out to my friends in the Big Media for takers on this story. If anybody reading happens to be an editor or television producer, feel free to call my cell at (206) 854-3931 and also call Chelsea at (206) 463-7827. You may also email tracy@planetwaves.net or respond to this post.
Here is The Oracle's editorial on the issue:
http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?a_id=1179
Thanks to Planet Waves subscribers who paid for the testing of these samples. If anyone would like to see the lab results or associated documents, please drop a note.
Planet Waves Horoscope
for the week of 27 Feb. 2004
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Now that a fog has cleared, you can see that what appeared to be a social situation contained a lot more intrigue, which may be a polite word for psychological chaos. All was not for naught, however, and you still have your instincts to guide you, if you're in the mood to listen. One lesson that's come out of the whole affair is the power of denial, and the importance of not letting it run your life. It's a great temptation in a world where everything always seems so amiss; we do need to cope, and we do seem to need friends, even if they're a little odd or disloyal sometimes. But then are they really friends?
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
It can take a long time to find your way to the truth about yourself, and it can also happen in a moment of clarity. The most important thing right now, as you well know, is for you to do what is right for you, and there has been quite the cloud around the facts that constitute that particular truth. But the clouds are clearing, and you have a measure of leverage at the moment that is allowing you to move certain obstacles out of the way and have enough admiration for yourself and what you've accomplished that your next step will be more than a flight of fancy.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
The moments of revelation keep coming and coming. There is no end to what a mind that's tapped into its own creative process can see, think and feel. Yet there are many brilliant creative types who go through life wishing they could do more. What holds people back? What is that paralysing agent? I think it has a lot to do with hiding who we are from or parents, which is typically a pattern that's established quite young. What if you could let it all hang loose, and let all those mamas and papas in the world get a real look at your unmitigated passion? Mmmmm.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
This is the moment where you suddenly come around the bend, or rather, make a right-angle turn in the direction of something very different than your previous long-term plan called for. This is a time in your life calling for flexibility, if nothing else. You have plenty of initiative, or at least you do when you're feeling in your prime. You just need to remind yourself that it's okay to change every day if you want to live every day. It's unlikely that anyone with any credibility is going to be reminding you, so you'll just need to trust yourself.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
The Sun in Pisces has been making some excellent aspects, and allowing you to open doors and make some unusual progress. Whatever happened recently involving a joint financial situation or business proposition taught you that you can have faith in your gifts and talents, and that you're a mutual resource for yourself and others. It is true that we live in a world of takers and shakers who do a good job of pawning themselves off as humanitarians. It's also true that you have sufficient faith in humanity to see past that, and to believe what you see.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Developments in your relationship life may be stunning you to your senses, and I really hope that's in the most positive way. There's really no reason why not, or none other than fear. To be sure, in order to embrace what's currently being offered to you, a brave heart and a free mind are what you need. And it appears that you've got these qualities if you'll let your mind go and trust your instincts to guide you. The thing about instincts is that they can and often do defy logic. What most people get as a result is a world of rational boredom. You're being offered irrational, spontaneous creative freedom.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
There are some people who equate "growth" with work. While that's true much of the time, you're hearing different music and seeing different colours these days. Life opening itself up through your senses may be reminding you how much you'd rather be doing something else, or how good the world could be if you could be your own boss. You can be if you want to. Running your own life requires commitment, creativity and a true sense of responsibility. Yet you also have to love yourself and love the world enough to have one meet the other on your own terms. You're free to ignore those who say this is impossible.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Whether recent developments constituted a blessing, a disaster or a foolhardy plunge into an emotionally risky situation is up for grabs. Please don't be too hard on yourself, though. It seems as if inevitable events compelled you to change your feelings, and we both know you don't like being told anything is mandatory. You also don't like being manipulated. It's clear that you're far more susceptible to being twisted around someone's finger when you either don't listen to what you're feeling, or would prefer something else to be true. One challenge is passed, but you still must maintain your objectivity.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
It's as if you're in a place where you can see the sky, but can't roam the surface of the planet. Feeding your imagination is not enough; you want real life, not the mental experience of one. Real feelings, not fantasy-induced desire. You can give yourself what you want if you remember that you're the only one who can. It's one thing to look up and it's quite another thing to look for the door. And another still to turn every knob you walk past, and to go down corridors and see where they lead. Some of these may be dark, and they may be a bit musty. Sneeze your way to freedom.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You need to be careful not to lose your patience in a relationship situation. That situation may or may not be right for you, but you need to make your choice from a space of feeling clear and aware, rather than frustrated and with your patience drawn out to the end of your rope. If you're utterly frustrated with orthodox methods of finding happiness, that would count for a good sign. Yet there are at least two ways to get past your frustration. One involves rebelling; the other involves inventing your way out of the structures that hold us to the past. You make a better inventor than rebel, but you have to be patient.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You know what's true for you, and you know you have to match your values with cash or the promise of support. Money is very much a secondary issue in the lives of most Aquarians, but it's a primary issue in the world. You are always free to resist, but the creative potential of this moment would make that a pretty big waste of both time and opportunity. If you're hesitating, you may want to question whether the heart of the matter is a deep issue of self-confidence. You might want to deal with that next item up. You've lived with it long enough.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You've come through the eye of the needle, and your life is a bit rearranged. On balance, I would say you trusted your faith a shade more than you trusted your doubt. While this was not a test, you did pass, and it's time to claim the reward. It may be in the form of an idea or an opportunity, and it may be a big perk of something really fun. Whatever the case, I suggest you keep your creative discernment at full throttle, that is, rather than ever treating life like a chocolate bonbon, remember that every decision counts, and every bit of information counts toward every decision. Trust me, this is more fun than slacking, even if it's more work.
Pisces Birthdays This Week
It would seem that you've recently resolved a long and challenging struggle of some kind, what I might describe as a crisis of reality. It's always interesting when so much hinges on so little, yet you have no idea what it might be. That might be a good description of the current condition of Neptune in Aquarius moving through the blind spot in your chart, the 12th house, but serving as the balancing point between the past and the future, between what is familiar and what is unknown, uncomfortable and yet clearly necessary, and right within reach.
I described birthdays at this time last year as looking around the corner through a series of mirrors. Remember the odd pressure that consumed your life last year approaching your birthday, the sense of apprehension. That was followed up by what for many Pisceans was an extremely difficult summer, as Mars passed retrograde through our birth sign. In the outer world this was associated with a most un-Piscean display of aggression, violence and the escalation of war that since seems to have calmed down somewhat.
On the individual level, the effect of Mars in Pisces, I think, was to push out the invisible feelings that so often dominate our lives. Pisces is the sign of world karma; it is the place where all the secrets wind up, where all the hidden feelings and desires come home to roost; it is the sign of all potential. Mars retrograde certainly clarified things, leaving no wiggle room or ambiguity. What you learned then, you must use now, and in fact, you are using now. The life you are living today is an expression of what it feels like to have come out of denial.
Is it fair to say that it's not easy, but it's worth it?
The story of Mars moving through your third solar house, and the north node in that house, is something of the ultimate "think globally, act locally" statement. Locally means your neighbourhood, your ideas, your siblings and most important, your body and how you think about it. This is not an airy-fairy time in your life. Everything you say to yourself, you need to state in clear, decisive terms. Hold yourself to this. Make declarative statements, and if they turn out to be wrong, then so be it. Adjust your ideas and move on.
This is a time of experiencing and expressing physical reality. Fantasy is nice. It is very nice, and the staff of life for many born under the sign Pisces. But what your charts and likely your heart crave is contact, connection, visceral, tangible, emotional, nutritional, carnal, biological, cellular contact. Not over there, but rather, over here. Not in potential, but in reality.
This is likely to lead you on a quest. It is true arm chair travellers go some interesting places, but you now get a chance to move with your feet on the ground. Take long strides, but walk gently. Let your imagination lead you, as ever, but always pay attention to what your senses are reporting in. If you can stick to your senses, you will sense the ever-important new level of intuition that's coming on strong these days.
Your solar chart has many planets in Pisces. Most notable is the recent entry of Mercury into Pisces, where it immediately made a conjunction to Uranus. This tells us something about the nature of your relationship to yourself, since the action happens in Pisces, and about the nature of your relationship to others. There is something stunning, liberating, and very different brewing in your relationship life. I see very little hope for the same old same old, and a genuine source of inspiration and awareness -- perhaps, coming Uranus style, in a whole new circle of friends.
This is a prolonged phase of your life where the unexpected and indeed the impossible will be commonplace. Never take it for granted. Never allow boredom to overtake you. Move on if you must; reinvent the world if you need; but always feel, and feel deeply, for such is freedom and nothing else. ++
