Notes From London
Dear Friend and Reader:
All I can say is thank God for Roy Lichtenstein. When I finish this newsletter, I will get on the Tube and head to the Hayward Gallery to see a major retrospective of my very most favourite artist. I discovered the showing was in London on its last week. I plan to get there on each of the remaining three days; art (like a lot of things) takes a while to sink in.
The last time I saw Roy's work was in Switzerland in 1998, and it was beyond amazing. I went with another of my favourite artists, Maria Henzler, whose photographs have appeared many times on Planet Waves, and as "press" we got a camera into the show. I have never seen such colours in my life. In case you don't get an image right away, Roy is the guy who turned everything into a comic strip. Whereas his contemporary Andy Warhol (my other great love) would mass produce images (including stuff found in supermarkets and newspapers) as fine art, Roy would take mass production techniques, such as the pixels used in colour reproduction, and paint them one at a time: a different kind of parody.
But his stuff is really too subtle to be called parody. It's necessary to pause and wonder what he's making fun of half the time. He is always making fun of something, whether it's art, "art," you, himself, or something else, and yet he's always perfectly serious. He went through a phase of making paintings of mirrors, for example. A painting of a mirror? Well, yeah. For a while he did hundreds of studies of brush strokes, blown up to the size of refrigerators. He said they reminded him of bacon. There will probably be a room devoted to these bacon studies as people in other parts of the museum lean close to the great paintings of other artists and talk about... the brush strokes. Okay, the humour can be a little abstract, but it's still funny. Poke around --
http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/
One of the things Roy made many comments on was the absurdity of the Vietnam War, which he lived through at the height of his career. In this respect I am a bit envious. He could express himself very well in a way that was rather non-threatening but beautifully effective. I have been following the news of the Iraqi war day by day and sometimes hour by hour, and I don't feel I can respond adequately. Is it possible to?
Tracy recently helped me put together a collection of many of the comments in Planet Waves over the past three years, many of them predictions of exactly what would happen as the war unfolded. Reading them over is remarkably unsatisfying, and besides, I fell short of seeing this abuse atrocity scandal in advance -- however, it was clear that what was coming out would be coming out. It was clear that the whole thing would come unstuck. But here's an example, from the edition just as the war started:
"If I were the White House astrologer, I would have selected Friday afternoon for the launching of the war, unless I wanted to sabotage the plan, in which case I would have chosen the day they picked... The fact that the moon is making its last aspect, and at that, a separating trine to Saturn, does not bode well for anyone being able to control this situation. It starts off in control, then control disappears like it was never there."
I am the kind of fool who needs to look at an astrology chart to see that. But sabotage the plan? That's what it felt like at the time.
For many months, I have watched the broadsides to Bush's charts. Again and again, planets and major events would hit his rather nasty chart like torpedoes. They all said he was going down (and not on his wife, but for the count). And nothing would happen; he would go on smirking. Meantime, the aspects between Bush's and Cheney's charts have been downright terrifying, no matter how you look at them, for example, using the natal charts, transits and three kinds of progressions at once. Bad news. But you see, what is bad news for the Big Guy and his Big Chiefs and Big Bosses is ultimately bad news for the rest of us. And all we can really do is make our own good news, to the extent we can keep on living in the face of whatever adversity shows up.
And so now it's all coming out. The truth is out. We know, for example, that Bush stole the election; Florida was a major scam; the majority of the people selected Gore, who got more "popular" (read: actual) votes. Notice: you do not live in a democracy. We know they (Bush, Dick, Rummy, Condi) knew about all the dots they could have connected and seen Sept. 11 in advance, and did absolutely nothing to stop it. We know that the administration, faced with the attacks on New York (and Washington, but that was a missile, not an aeroplane), went gung ho on Iraq, a war which it had been planning since the first weeks of Bush's term. We know they lied about Iraq being behind the attacks and continue to make the association between the old Iraq and terrorism, which is not anywhere to be found amongst the facts. We know they lied about weapons of mass destruction, the non-existent yellowcake uranium, the zillion litres of anthrax, and so on. We know they lied about Saddam being any kind of threat. Shall I go on?
It is an awesome abuse of trust, because they know we have no recourse. This unfolding scene also reveals just how much power is vested in the White House, and it points to the fact that there really is just one branch of government in the United States, the executive branch. (The history of the rise of the executive branch is the history of TELEVISION, as told in The Powers that Be by David Halberstam.)
Now we know that Iraq quickly became what it purported to be stopping, a world of torture conducted at the hands of the American invaders. Actually, by the end of Saddam's regime, Iraq was a fairly calm, functional, and toothless society in terms of its ability to wage international and even domestic aggression. Most of the country consisted of no fly/no drive zones. There was enough food to eat. Because the Baath party rejected Islam (and was in fact arch enemies with bin Laden) women had it pretty good in Iraq by the standards of the Arab world; Israel is the only place in the Mid-East that was better for women. Now Iraq is basically a festering world of hot, bloody, zealous anarchy, proof that America is against the Islamic world, and the most fertile breeding ground for terrorism anywhere, ever: the best hopes of al Queda have come true. Bin Laden is obviously a better chess player than Bush.
And make a note: all the resources that should be going to make the world safer are going to make the world more dangerous. More than $1 billion a week is being spent on this disaster and there is no hope of turning back. Meanwhile, despite all the money spent, communities are still lacking basic equipment, supplies and personnel to respond to terrorism. To give one example, some 4,000 New York City cops have been laid off since Sept. 11, 2001.
I must add this. People who have been studying American "foreign policy" for the past, oh, three to five decades, know that these atrocities are nothing new. East Timor comes to mind. The Contras come to mind. Chile comes to mind. Cambodia comes to mind. The only difference is that now this is coming out in the media -- which is a big difference. I assure you the story is 10 times worse than we are being told, but we are getting enough to get a picture. The only other difference is how fragile the world is right now, given the rise of al Queda in the post-Cold War phase of history, given the need to deal with the global environmental crisis, and given how stressed out people are.
I am just finishing a book called Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism expert who served Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II. This is the book that was big news a couple of months ago and it's a very good book, easy to read and it has a couple of really funny moments -- Clarke has his lights on. What I am learning and am astonished by is the extent of this seemingly intentional fuckup. Once Bush II took office, resources and energy simply stopped being devoted to the terrorist threat, which was well understood in the years after the first attack on the World Trade Centre.
People like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz quite directly said it was bullshit in important meetings. Clinton's administration worked night and day on this and foiled many terrorist plots, including a massive four-part Millennium Plot the night of Y2K. (You also learn a lot about Bill Clinton's voracious reading habits: he would read a book a night, simultaneously watching C-Span. I know lawyers who can read like this, and I am not surprised.) Many of the people who were involved in the Clinton efforts carried over to the new administration; the knowledge was not lost, but it was dismissed. This is by account of a man who served three Republican presidents and eight years under Clinton. The top levels of the administration ignored the threat. Bush went on vacation for a month at the height of the Sept. 11 warnings. Symbolic maybe; we know the real triumvirate is Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. But they "didn't want to be bothered."
So the question I keep asking is: Now what?
What is going to happen?
I am looking for some response by society, by the folks. England is quiet. No protests. No political activity. No leaflets or rallies. I have very few conversations about any of this in public; I don't hear any unless I start them. As for the states: I'm glad I'm not there. But this seems mainly (per usual) to be a media event exclusively.
A few things come to mind. I think we need to recognise that the United States is going to be retaliated against. And I strongly suggest we take heed that this will very likely impact on, interfere with, or force the cancellation of, the presidential elections. Meantime, there are three massive events this summer: the Democratic convention, the Olympics, and the Republican convention. From what I have learned from Richard Clarke, these events are extremely difficult to secure.
In terms of the election, I propose that an administration that was not voted INTO office is not ever going to be voted OUT of office. And everyone knows the last time an election was stolen everyone just rolled over, and could not wait for the annoying news reports to stop. The astrology of October and November is very disturbing. Somebody check me on this: what do you do with two eclipses and seven planetary occultations in just ten weeks? Keep an eye on the second week of October and the second week of November.
One does not need to be a War College graduate, international astrology star or child chess genius to see that there is going to be retaliation. Both sides in this war have declared Jihad. Like the Pentagon lawyers who are recommending that the thousand new images of prisoner abuse not be distributed because they will only inflame the sentiments of the enemy, I am concerned at how deep the shame is these images will evoke in the Islamic world. Unfortunately for the American people, our country is guilty of an unprovoked attack on a country -- on people holding together a society, there was barely a country -- that our leaders scapegoated for private gain. (I speak of the 3 billion dollar Halliburton as in "Dick Cheney Co." contract to run the war, all the oil they will eventually sell, and many other examples.)
Bad juju. We barely protested. Very irresponsible. Going to antiwar protests -- which make a big difference if they persist -- will be seen as a minor inconvenience, a party in fact, compared to what comes in response to the events we are seeing unfold. And per usual, Bushco will use those events to its political advantage.
The big Big BIG question is: when do the people respond?
I have to say that what is more disturbing to me is the silence that I hear in response to these atrocities, even as they compound one on another. Everyone seems to "know" this is "wrong" but then, that's not a response. I acknowledge that even as someone who writes about this stuff regularly it was very difficult for me to start writing this morning, and the only thing that got me going was Roy, Roy, Roy I love you, because you could look and you would see:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/lichtenstein/lichtenstein_takka.html
Okay, I am now going to depart this Starbucks, eat breakfast, write the birthday report, and go visit those paintings and his eternal soul (oh, I forgot the surprise trip to the dentist). I will be back Monday with a look at how the recent Scorpio total lunar eclipse on the south node tells the story of the events of the past three weeks, and look more closely at the approaching transit or occultation of the Sun by Venus.
Meantime, may I make a suggestion? And I have suggested this before. Turn off your television. You are not getting news, you are getting noise, lies, vicious imagery and advertising. I strongly suggest you read http://Truthout.org. This is a daily compilation of the mainstream news, with several original commentaries. Each day there is a nightly audio which sums up the real news of the day in about ten minutes very clearly and effectively.
There is also our Political Waves list. It is free, and Jude, the moderator is fabulous, and you can sign up here:
http://yahoogroups.com/groups/political_waves/
I suggest reading because it gives you the opportunity to respond actively to actual information rather than getting hit by a brick and left unconscious. Reading will give you ideas and facts you can discuss with people. That's not a substitute for talking about how you feel, which is a lot more important, but if you know a few things you'll feel a lot more powerful because knowledge is power.
Catch you Monday.
Late Taurus Birthdays
I see those born in the last week of Taurus moving into position to make major changes in their relationships, changes that have been long anticipated and for which you have awaited your moment carefully. It has arrived.
It seems to have taken you this long to see the issue in spiritual terms, that is, in terms of growth, healing and seeking freedom from the constraints of what some schools of thought call ego-based relationships. It's time to live larger, to live more free, and to match up your highest vision with your actual experience of life -- at least more so than you are doing now, and perhaps with a measure of actual success.
Can you do this under your current situation? That depends on how you feel about who is in your life, because it is clear that you are putting out some high expectations that are based on nothing other than your realistic needs, and the sum total of all your growth so far. Growth combined with awareness is a force too powerful, too meaningful and too deep within us to ignore. And the whole issue of partnership has been tops on your list of what it means to live a life in integrity. I see you seeking nothing other than perfection, even if perfection means someone who you know, for sure, identifies with your highest potential, and whose vision matches your own.
I hope you have seen that your conservative tendencies in relationship have done little to expedite your own happiness; to the contrary, conservatism is based on fear, and happy relationships are based on love. Therefore the first steps in this process of liberation need to begin with yourself. May I be so bold as to say ease up on your demands, on your tendency to record history in ink, and to pursue only the most orthodox forms of human engagement?
Natural law exists, but it has very little to do with the dark designs of Congress, the Vatican or your mother. What you learned about relationships from your dominant parent was essentially an exercise in exploring neurosis through an exercise in futile control of other people. It did not work and it will not work.
But what is going to replace it? Ah well, at first, nothing. No ideas about relationship are better than what you were taught. The best way to have no ideas is to allow everyone else to have their ideas. Drop any and all agendas, for current partners or for prospective ones. Listen to what they have to say and allow them their experiences. They are valid! It does not matter whether you "agree" with them. To agree is to greet, and that moment of greeting, of hello, must be treated with enormous respect.
Then you can meet people for who they are, not who you would make them out to be. I promise you this: who people are is more interesting than who you would have them be. Then, after you practice that, you will make a shocking discovery: you are interesting! You are changing! Your old ideas will give way to the nothing from which they emerged.
There can be no doubt at all that you are heading for one of the most momentous years of your life. This is due in part to the transit of Venus to the Sun on June 8th in your succeedent sign, Gemini. With Gemini so powerfully placed in your solar chart, the vital importance of the relationship you have to yourself will become glaringly clear. Though you may take this fact for granted, the ways and methods by which you express your self-value will be among the most powerful revelations of your life. Over and over again you will see that you are your ideas about yourself.
And you are going to get a lot of those ideas from other people who, once allowed to be who they are, in all their grandeur, glory and freedom, will teach you precisely who you are, so clearly you will not be able to deny it -- nor would you want to.
Planet Waves Friday Horoscope
by Eric Francis
Friday May 14, 2004
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Choosing how you deal with emotional adversity will present you with numerous opportunities for growth over the next week or two. This is rather contrary to the past few weeks which have seen a focus on professional and mental matters. They work differently; we forget. What I suggest you do at this point is pay attention to the strategies and methods that work and remember what they are when you find yourself involved in methods that don't work. The difference will be akin to that between walking into a door and walking through a door. But people forget, and you are a people.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You may barely be able to discuss what you feel even though you feel an urgent need to do that. Is it the words that you're missing, or is it the fully formed concepts? I would bet on the second. You know you are in for changes of the most monumental order in the next two months, if only because I've been doing my best to sound the clarion in various horoscope columns and articles. Once Mercury finds its way back to your sign, you'll notice it's a lot easier to find words and ideas to describe what you're experiencing now. But forget about trying to sum up everything every day; way too much is happening for that.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Venus, now in your sign, is slowing to what's always a rare change to retrograde motion. This occurs on May 17 and goes through June 29. Yet certain other factors suggest that you hang loose with all your previous plans and expectations because they're unlikely to measure up to what the universe has in store for you. I propose you've been keeping a set of 'best case scenario' plans in the back of your closet and you might want to dust those off and see if they still hold any interest. They will be edited as the astrology of spring unfolds, but at least they're plans for something besides the usual ordinary.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Mars and Saturn in your sign may be landing you in situations that feel like hurry up and wait. But these two energies offer you two very different opportunities at the moment, and the best way to handle conjunctions is to take the energies one at a time first. The two planets actually make their meeting on the 24th of this month, so you have time to see what, for example, is a motivating factor and get in touch with it; and what is a conditioning, limiting or structural factor and get in touch with it. The two factors come together and represent a major development. Till then you will learn more than a few useful tricks.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
You may think you've got some decent goals you're working toward, and I don't doubt you. But if you focus on your highest ideal rather than some kind of traditional objective, you'll be doing yourself a huge favour. It may not be obvious now just how much you have going for you in the way of opportunity and advantage, because it may not seem real or tangible at the moment, and you seem to want to focus on what you can actually see as a possibility. Stick to the impossible. It's a lot more realistic than you think and in a little while the conditions of your life are going to shift and, with a dash of luck, put it right within reach.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
What you do with the secret or sensitive information you're in possession of is not a decision to rush. You are unlikely to see its real value under the current conditions, though in a short while you will. Then, soon enough, an opportunity will arise to make use of that information. One benefit to keeping mum will be that knowledge is power, and it inevitably attracts more of the same. Put your focus on listening, inquiring, studying and understanding and you will get some shocking results as the situation develops in a few days.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
The dividing line between success and failure is often the ability to push, and that requires the ability to believe in oneself. You need both now, though I would start with healthy ambition. Generally you are way too sweet to aspire to great things, and you invest most of your ambition into taking care of people. You've worked that way for a long time; you can afford to set that policy aside for a while and concentrate on something that calls for an unusual degree of striving. Remember, no matter what you do, everyone around you will benefit, so do something big while you can.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You need to understand the nature of the struggle that's taking shape, even though you may not have identified its existence yet. If you get caught off guard this will be an annoying situation and if you stay ahead of the game, you will make a lot of progress. The critical thing now is to separate your ideas about what must be from your actual experiences of relationship with another person. You are brewing some high and mighty plans, but if you focus on what is, and allow events to unfold, you will basically side-step the whole crisis.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
In the midst of a lot of other astrology, Jupiter stationed direct in your house of career and reputation. Doing the kind of reputation-building work you are involved in takes a lot of effort and what for you must feel like excruciating attention to detail. The phase you're at is calling for you to begin assembling the small pieces of your plan into something that begins to look whole and complete. As you do this you will see the genius of your strategy. Don't spend too much time being impressed with yourself because intelligence and success garner enough envy on their own. You need allies at this point because visionaries always do.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
If all your best assets are being used against you, stop sulking and take action. You should be perfectly familiar with the psychology and methods of any adversaries that happen to be around, though by the time you've finished analysing that situation you'll likely have made them friends. Much depends on how you look at things right now, and energy that's being used against you can just as easily be applied toward productive measures. You just need to take leadership, though it may be the from behind; that 'subtly make things happen' kind of leadership. You have considerable authority even if other people don't agree.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Work pressures may be all over your case. You need exercise, anything, really, beginning with walking around the block. You need to move your emotional as well as physical energy, which will get the overall flow of life moving, including facilitating matters of money and sex. Yes, there are certain forces resisting your efforts, but you will soon find that the delays and extra effort you had to put into the game paid off significantly, and you're likely to see a few surprising rewards before that point as well. Beware of frustration. If you are frustrated, do something -- anything -- else.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
There is a creative solution to everything. You seem determined to break through or push a daring agenda on the world. That's about how things should be, though what's clear is that the resisting forces are not as strong or as motivated as you are. Therefore, you can save quite a bit of energy by recognising this, and moving only where it's actually easy. Normally it's not considered good astrological advice to take the easy out, but the path of least resistance is the one that's going to work in this case. In sum, your best ideas will arise from a lazy approach to life. Therefore, chill.
