By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

MY SCREAM is more like a croak, a bleat, a kind of guttural explosion -- not that I can't produce a glass-shattering scream that my son tells me verges on brown noise and forbids me to perform, unannounced. I'd give my elective scream a 9 out of 10; the actual noise I make when startled into panic, a disappointing 3 or so. I noticed this, again, when I discovered the snake in my kitchen. Thank you, Uranus -- you're such a prankster!

The Labor Day weekend was influenced by both a Mercury/Pluto square and a Mars/Uranus opposition, so if you're looking back and wondering about that train that hit you, there it is, there. My own family, which can be rowdy but seldom scrappy with one another, had already gone through several rounds of unexpected purging of what seemed to me old (even ancient) unresolved grievances, punctuated by the reported death of one of our elders; various extended family members reported events such as a funeral, scratchy family gatherings gone to name calling, two EMT visits and a good deal of displayed temperament. "I'm as tense as a fat tick on a hound dog," reported one friend...a city boy, yet. And me? I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. The snake was the whipped cream -- I know there's a cherry with my name on it.

How do I know? I can feel it -- can't you? We're in the Unexpected Zone, all of us. The Sun and Moon will conjunct to oppose Uranus as part of the potent partial eclipse on September 11. That date is already a trigger for all of us, globally -- and since the Bush administration uses it like a five dollar whore to keep us all reminded of how scary the world is, that's the day they've scheduled the release of the Petraeus Report (which isn't being written by the general himself, but by the White House) on the progress, or lack thereof, of their "surge" in Iraq. Lives hang in the balance, of course; when government speaks, lives always do.

Part of the exhaustion we're all experiencing has to do with expectations -- the Bush years have provided us with the unexpected on a daily basis. It took several long years of disorienting deeds before the majority of us roused ourselves to notice that this administration was changing the face of our nation, and had, in fact, created moral, and sometimes constitutional, emergencies in most of the departments that handle the nuances of our daily affairs -- witness, for example, the problems in the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services and, newly minted for the 21st century, the Department of Homeland Security.

Bush's "War on Terror" seems to have capitalized on Alfred Hitchcock's comment that, "There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it." We've been left stewing in anticipation of external attack while suffering near-invisible assaults on the things we counted on always being there, so our sensibilities have been turned inside out for longer than we realize; the abnormal has become normal. That is a distortion of reality that has caused us a plethora of social anxieties and challenges.

These last few weeks have brought us even more unexpected events, all very high drama, as gifts from the last degrees of Saturn in Leo. We noted the end of Karl Rove as presidential advisor, the end of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, the resignation of a Republican senator due to bathroom high jinks, the announced retirement of Republican elder statesman John Warner, and the advent of uncommonly revealing books on both Bush and the Supreme Court. That final Leo roar came with reports from a government oversight entity that will directly oppose whatever the White House spins on progress in Iraq. It came with an exposГ© on the Bush (Cheney) plans to go after Iran in a move that some see as global suicide. It came with a nod toward climate change, as two hurricanes, Felix and Henriette, hit Latin America and the Baja Peninsula, respectively -- only the second Atlantic-Pacific double strike in the same 24-hour period since records began being kept in 1949.

And then, with an expected (remember: expect the unexpected) jolt, the universe presented us with Saturn at 0 degrees Virgo, which is akin to changing gears in the middle of a high-speed chase. Can you smell the scorched tires, see the tread marks on the asphalt in your mind's eye? Oh, the fun, dear hearts -- oh, the squeal of screaming brakes, the adrenaline rush, the loud, engaging and dramatic firecracker quality of daily life in a new century! 

What? Did you just frown, my thrill-seeking friend? Did you just question my cred as a visionary and spiritual wonk, apparently basking in the glory of all this mayhem? Blame no-nonsense Virgo, then, for my pragmatic commentary because it's clear to me that most of us actually like the chaos -- God/dess forbid that we be bored! Come on, admit it...you'd rather be watching the Wachowski Brothers than Disney -- The Matrix isn't actually that far out there, is it? It resonates and holds our attention because we're excitement junkies and we sense the element of truth of it. These times that define our challenges also titillate our senses and play to our passions. And it's so much easier to be against something than for it; the last seven years have been a lazy (citizen's) holiday -- we've been handed our disenchantment on a giant-sized Texas platter. Face it. If we actually WANTED peace -- if we were mindful consumers, held our elected officials accountable, involved ourselves in the process, practiced forgiveness and compassion and detachment, insisted on intelligent discourse, threw ourselves into alternatives to what we have today -- we'd HAVE peace. We don't.

It always comes back to us, doesn't it? We're prodded into change, kicking up a tantrum, a day late and a dollar short. That's the human condition. But there is hope afoot, possibilities brewing, minds changing and the corner back toward sanity is one I believe we've already turned -- we've come to the mighty pause in consciousness that has reconciled our own sense of responsibility in recreating our world. We've come to understand that the guru who is prodding us toward (r)evolution...whether it be Taliban theocracy or Iraq's as yet unformed government, America's White House or the British Parliament...will no longer contribute to the commonwealth in ways that will bring us a bright future, and we've turned our intention toward creating it for ourselves. While the old paradigm of governance awaits the stern face of Pluto in Capricorn to transform it, we have time to organize and a multitude of options awaiting our talent and dedication.

Here is a video clip you must watch if you need a bit of wind beneath your wings -- it's entitled Everything Is Waking Up.

That's not just an affirmation -- that's a reality. It's happening around the world, every day -- even in our own community, if we look for it. It's happening because it was the inevitable conclusion to all we've experienced in these last years of struggle. The change is here and it is us.

We are being helped along by the cosmos every minute of every day, encouraged not by the events of the day but by the promptings of our hearts. Uranus, blindsiding us with his energy, can bring both bad and good news when he directs a thunderbolt our way; we've been expecting bad for a long time now -- so, again, remember: expect the unexpected. My dear friend, numerologist Christine DeLorey, sent me a heads up on some dates you will want to mark in your Day Timer -- September 9, 18 and 27. You will find more information on her web page (listed at the top under 2007.)

These days offer us potential energy that can lead us forward into awareness. Add our upcoming eclipse and you have to admit we're being flooded with opportunities to listen to our Higher Angels -- nobody to blame if we sleep through this but ourselves.

Here's another Hitchcock quote, one the masterful director gave about the process of making suspense thrillers: "Give them pleasure -- the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare." Now that we've entertained ourselves with all that's been broken and bent in these last years, we stand at the threshold of fully awakening...and we must. There are some dangers too horrific to contemplate, and George Bush with his finger on the nuclear trigger is one of them. Now that we know all that we don't want, it's time to put some muscle into achieving what we do want. Don't worry -- it won't be boring. We aren't boring people, any of us -- and the pleasure of waking up with something so marvelous to accomplish will carry us through the hard times, the passion of turning our attention toward a higher level of understanding and working together toward our common well-being will fill our minds and heal our hearts.

As for the snake in my kitchen -- and the shoe to drop, the cherry on the cake -- I chased him into the pantry and slammed the door on him. When I'd called in the reserves (my son and his girlfriend) to help with his removal, he was no longer there; I found a tiny hole that only an anorexic ant could have crawled through.

Where is he, you ask? Damned fine question, and one that hasn't left my mind, given the discovery, some months back, of a highly poisonous copperhead in the seldom used bathtub in another wing of the house. I've decided that IF the snake comes back, I will greet it with my finest, most melodious and full-throated scream...the one that makes your eyes water. I will tap into enthusiasm I've kept at arm's length for a while now, as our collective light has been kept under a Bush...ummm...bushel. I'm expecting the unexpected, and it's time to pull out all the stops. Everything's waking up, here in the Unexpected Zone, and that will require all the energy and assistance I can -- we can -- offer it. And given the nightmare quality of these last years, let's expect that to be a longed for, and welcomed, pleasure.


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