Greetings Space Cadets! Welcome to the November Starcast.

The Anima Mundi or world spirit it would seem is hungry for a change, or at the very least the need among the planet’s most “dominant” species (humans), in terms of being a force of nature unto its own is yearning for radical departures from current flight paths, evidenced by the crises we find ourselves in the confluence of. Whether it is the continuing Ebola outbreak which we are finally beginning to see evidence of abating, or it is the ongoing struggles for freedom and democracy as facilitated by modern communications technologies, which have become the ultimate civil rights battleground as major security forces duke it out with a new kind of electronic hacktivist reiterating the common David and Goliath story endemic to western civilization.

November certainly highlights this tendency with an aspect pattern that features some major contacts with tight turnarounds, which is to say a strange attractor frequency with contacts compounding within days of each other. Hold on to your hats, and keep your hearts open because the reprieve that was October is over and starships were meant to fly into hyper-space which is exactly what our little blue spaceship is off to do now. (At the very least, its human inhabitants are in for an interesting ride for this leg of the trip around the Sun).

The Internet as a potent theme for this month as it is dominated by a series of Mercury and Venus contacts, continuing the Venusian themes of the month prior, with both planets beginning in signs linked to computers and communications technologies. Adding to this witches brew is that fact that significant Pluto contacts are made with these deeply personal planets, lending them an air of intensity they would not normally have, and also converting them into change agents, activating the selective pressures which push evolution forward.

Mercury Rising:

Mercury stationed on October 26^th and went direct the following day and in the sign of the ultimate communications computer, the planet Earth itself (the sign by the way is Virgo). Virgo is symbolic of the interactive dynamic life support systems of the planet itself. If you can recall all those dry lectures in primary school about the hydraulic cycle, the phosphate cycle, and various other ones having to do with the massive and microscopic systems that keep this planet dynamically alive. This is in essence the Virgoan impulse, methodical, systematic, meticulous and attentive to every small detail right down to the atomic plan of a molecular body.

The eponymous Mercury will move quicksilver and quick through Virgo until entering the symbol of the ultimate social computer moving ever towards equilibrium (and never achieving it) Libra, which occurs on November 14th. Libra, the sign of civil society itself, the social contract and all the agreements we make amongst ourselves to facilitate pleasant and free society. Communications will take on the feel of diplomacy and collaboration symbolic of the Libran impulse. It means our words will have beauty and fairness to them and social justice, and fairness overall become primary issues in our communications and interactions, it is a Venus ruled sign so our words become beautiful and pleasing much like, Venus herself.

Quicksilver and swift, yet filled with an intense desire to connect and use words to build bridges. In the international arena the continuing battle over who “owns” the Internet will continue to heat up, and will be on its surface seemingly a diplomatic and fair fight but under the media hype (as is typical when scratching the surface) is a red in tooth and claw battle with major organizations from the National Security Agency to Marketing departments at Google jostling with private citizens for data access and the hacktivists attempting to protect privacy and data from prying eyes.

It goes much farer than this as Arab Spring made clear that the Internet can facilitate democracy and freedom by creating algorithmic workarounds to block censure by despotic regimes, and give activists and freedom fighters an anonymity that facilitates their dissent to liberation, by avoiding intimidation from totalitarian governments. Given Mercury is the ultimate symbol of communications it is no surprise that these issues continue to loom large seemingly looking diplomatic to all mainstream media accounts, but going deeper, it becomes apparent that it is a kind of electronic warfare appropriately leading up to the ingress into Scorpio.

Mercury will finish the month out by transiting into the murkier territory of Scorpio starting November 29^th. Scorpio is a region of the zodiac where collectively we confront the most existential of realities, the very issues that are present matters of life and death, survival and extinction, sex, death, and G-d and all the other “uncivilized” dinner conversation topics that act as powerful initiations and catalysts, as they cut down to evolutionary origins of our existence. Communications take on an air of intensity and fee like they contain life and death struggles, and a need to assert power and influence. Expect to see this continuing Internet war to escalate with each side amping up its arsenal in the ultimate battle to see who wins the rights to shape the very technology that unites our world in its global framework.

Infusing these intense ingresses are a trine to Neptune on the 11^th of November, which often makes communications take on a spiritual or inspirational and poetic feel expressing ideas using metaphor and word pictures which inspire mystical insight. The slippery slope is that it can also make deceptions more prone to being undetected until rude awakenings bring the corruption to the light of scrutiny. Following on November 16^th, is a Mercury sextile with Pluto. Communications take on an intensity and tenacity that predisposes us to using words to explain salient mysteries, and to penetrate deeply under the surface and communicate secrets. Internationally we will see corruption come to media outlets and become widely known. Underlying this is the Sun conjunct Saturn aspect on November 12^th, which brings the light of truth (Sun) into the collapsed state vector of reality (Saturn), simply stated it becomes effortless to bring social ideals into manifestation, and to concretize any social arrangements.

A string of Mercury contacts then completes the month and further infuses the planetary egress into the November signs. Starting November 21^st is a Mercury sextile to Mars, intense and active interaction  can mark this period, with an urgency felt under the surface, this is amplified by a Mercury square to Jupiter on November 22^nd. This aspect pattern can frustrate the sextile by magnifying breakdowns in communication, amplified by the sense of urgency, a perfect storm develops where communication deficits can turn into conflicts. All made more intense by the Sun’s ingress into Scorpio on the 23^rd and a Mercury conjunction with Saturn on the 25^th, bringing all these conflicts into the all to real level of events. Perhaps this will become most apparent in the on-going Internet wars?

Finishing up the month will be the final Mercury aspect on the 30^th when it trines Uranus. This incredibly harmonious aspect is much like watching a couple deeply in love with each other.

Uranus is symbolic of the higher octave of Mercury which is to say that Uranus represents the higher applications of intelligence, it takes the mercurial functions and converts them into higher order thought processes, technologies, and surprising, unsettling innovations in society. It is the aspect that possibly was occurring at the rise of the Internet or the dawn of the Computer Age. Given this frequency, it can lend itself to an ease in innovation, the area will mist likely be computers, and other higher order technologies. One particular possibility could be a perfecting of materials science so that graphene screens become a reality, revolutionizing the interfaces we use for communications, imagine being able to wrap a GPS map around your wrist!

Adding to this swirl of activity occurring is a Sun Square Neptune aspect, and all on the same day. Deception is the main warning sign to watch for. Words become vehicles to spin illusions that stand in for reality and seek to deceive our perceptions possibly at the behest of powerful interests vying for control. Like anything on the Internet take everything with a grain of salt especially as it pertains to what one hears or reads. At the global scale we could see massive disinformation and propaganda coming from both sides of the Internet wars.

International Diplomacy:

Venus has the power to link people indirectly and diffusely when working through the prism of Libra which she will transit until November 19th, and then deeply and meaningfully collectively and individually when orbiting through Scorpio, which she enters on November 20th, and then ultimately as it on-ramps to Ophiuchus in a catalytic and miraculous mode, creating collaborations as if by magical fiat.

Venus is given a dose of rocket fuel when she enters Ophiuchus on November 24^th. An already deeply alluring and feminine energy then enters a sign symbolized by the Medusa and the goddess Lilith both potent symbols of catalytic and creative feminine energy, but with a twist, an energy that works directly counter to established systems of Patriarchal power and always at the grass-roots level and using subtle processes with massive outcomes. Think of the Butterfly effect which states that a change in a complex systems initial conditions will have massive implications for the later development of that system or better poetically expressed, the subtle flapping in a butterfly’s wings in Taipei will work with air resistance and pressure to form a hurricane off the coast of Florida.

When Venus does her shimmy wearing the Tunic dress of the Medusa, her slithery hip gyrations will reverberate through every human heart and become a potent force for creation and change in the basic structure of society. On a global scale there may be a renewed interest in the issue of gender equality in media and social discourse and yet it will emerge in peculiar and under-the radar ways.

Infusing these ingresses are contacts made with Chiron currently in Aquarius, forming a trine with Venus on November 3^rd, creating an opening to address the collective wounds we have inflicted on each other, and ways to collaborate in healing them and finding ways to unite Humanity into a common framework. We become more predisposed to finding innovative ways to integrate the broken pieces of the collective psyche. It can also show weak spots in our diplomacy and also the areas where there are apparent clashes of civilizations occurring as cultural frictions are created by the inexorable pull of cultural globalism now shaping human affairs.

November 9^th signals the Venus square to Jupiter, a difficult aspect which often magnifies bifurcations in our social relations, both personal and intra and transpersonal, there is a focus on these fault-lines and the silver lining is that through this confrontation a movement towards balance and reciprocity becomes apparent by taking a diplomatic approach. On an international scale there could be a focus in the global media on the social conflicts erupting around the world, and through this focus solutions may emerge.

November 12^th marks the Saturn conjunction with Venus both in Libra. This is the sign of Saturn’s exaltation (which is to say Saturn gets all of his desires when in Libra) and Venus and Saturn have a very easy relationship with each other, Venus wants to connect and harmonize in Libra and Saturn wants to build a social matrix that organizes people into a society that is coherent, systematic and functional. Working in conjunction means that the two forces fuse into a singular frequency.

Putting these together means that it becomes much easier to build a social matrix that can unite humanity and its technologies into a system that eases the function of both and creates an environment of fairness and beauty, a truly civilized world.

This represents a wrinkle in time when we could facilitate this. To add firepower to this is a square between Mars and Uranus occurring on the same day. It adds a caveat, in that any unexpected conflicts could disrupt the diplomatic process and have far reaching consequences or technology could facilitate this process or also exacerbate existing conflicts.

The final Venus contact occurs on November 20^th and involves a square to Neptune. This can lend itself to being inspired by the higher ideals of Humanity, and on the other side falling into the slippery slope of unrealistic expectations about how smoothly the transition to a truly global civilization will be. There will be much stumbling along the way and there is no room for the error of becoming blind to these difficulties by glossing over them with illusory idealisms. It is a reminder that love certainly can conquer all, but it is not all that is needed.

Compressed Power:

Pluto is in the long slow burn through the sign Sagittarius, a sign that deals with foreign cultures, long-distance travels, and international destinations, in a word it touches on the legal, social, and socio-philosophical (cultural) foundations of international society. Given our world is becoming increasingly and inexorably global, an inevitable transition with strong Plutonian themes (Pluto of course being the energetic catalyst for irreversible evolutionary changes). When civil society itself has gone global and touches every conceivable international agreement, and the people on the ground it becomes unavoidable and with the two major Pluto contacts through out the month, apparent.

November 4^th is the clarion call for the Sun sextile Pluto transit. This is always a delicious contact and especially when in harmonious aspect it is likened to the light penetrating the darkness and illuminating what is hidden, or perhaps it is the darkness of space with a glittering star emerging from it. I would liken it to putting on a shiny, fitted leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses, it’s slick, glossy and beautiful. The sun in this aspect softens Pluto’s gritiness, it lends itself to being able to illuminate Self, and finessing one’s will in a hauty and seductive way so that those being persuaded don’t even know they are surrendering their will to another as it feels empowering to offer the help, and in every way possible it is. It bodes well for any international agreements that have a conflicted element to them and lubricates the process of blending identity with collective will.

The final Pluto contact of note occurs November 10^th, and involves a conjunction a conjunction with Mars. Astrologers historically look upon these planets in aspect with abject and reactive negativity without fully examining the aspect in any detail. Here is a sampling from the Astrology for Aquarius blog:

“it’s a very dangerous high-discord astrological event. The aspect marks for war, escalating violence, an extreme terror alert and an international Ebola emergency. Humanity is living with danger.”

I wont beleaguer the point about factual inaccuracies namely that any cursory look in the media whether mainstream or independent indicates the outbreak is beginning to resolve and that given the r-naught for the virus in question it is unlikely to turn into a major global pandemic as countries with good public health infrastructure would be likely to quickly contain it.

Further we don’t have any global situations currently that would pose a terror risk of any intensity. War and escalating violence is always present and danger is a part of the human experience every feature of life contains some degree of risk. I would say in response “what else is new, humanity has always lived with danger, use it as a chance to rise to the occasion.”

That actually sums up this aspect in a nutshell it provides an opportunity for personal will (Mars) to align with collective will (Pluto), a moment when we as individuals can effect global level changes by recognizing what our contribution is in the human evolutionary project. It could be a violent confrontation and it could also be using a computer algorithm to shut down an oppressive system or it could also be a peaceful act of civil disobedience, an activist speaking on an important issue, or the average Jane on the street volunteering for a project. In any case it can shake out in myriad ways and not all of them violent, but certainly intense and with a sense of urgency. Conjunctions also represent the fusion of the energies involved, and as such it is a merging of the collective and the individual, which will hopefully benefit both.

That concludes the November Report, be sure to listen live on Sunday November 9^th at 10:30 am, to hear this segment in radio version with my friend HiC Luttmers!

I can also be reached via Facebook at Prometheus the Astrologer , and have a column on the siderealist. Please feel free t contact me via Facebook for consultations and readings.

See you space travelers next month!

References:

BBC Horizons, Inside the Dark Web, aired: September 3^rd, 2014, produced by Mike Radford, narrated by Amanda Drew http://www.videoneat.com/documentaries/3727/inside-dark-web

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/10/31/360432813/how-liberia-is-starting-to-beat-ebola-with-fingers-crossed

Carbon Nano Australian Broadcasting Corporation Science series, Catalyst: Presented by Dr. Jonica Newby, aired Thursday August 11^th, 2011. http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3296794.htm

http://astrologyforaquarius.com/sky-watch-and-a-global-events-forecast/mars-conjunction-pluto-in-the-sky-november-10-2014/