Mercury opposite Jupiter

Get some water! My hair's on fire

Mercury in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter (Rx) in Gemini yesterday. This 180 degree aspect is known as hard, stressful and dynamic. Like squares (90 & 270 degree) they provoke us to act. Now, there’s tension in the air. Some sense of anticipation and excitement. Competition. Rivalry. Anxiety. Even hostility.

Perhaps the best way to approach these kinds of antagonistic dynamics is through yoga.

A stretch. A practice.

Both planets are in detriment ~ Mercury is in the home of Jupiter; Jupiter is in the home of Mercury ~ and yet they benefit from the mutual reception. Jupiter naturally sees the bigger picture, seeking understanding and meaning and learning. In Gemini, Jupiter’s wings are somewhat clipped. The vast horizons over which he presides are replaced with provincial places and local affairs. Mercury is more oriented towards data collection and analysis, reducing wholes to parts, working diligently on details. In Sagittarius, Mercury pans out to take in more and more data points, diversity, disparities. To be confronted with insoluble difficulties is a challenge for Mercury’s orientation towards problem-solving. In Sag, Mercury can be reduced to belief and opinion, which implies an absence of gnosis, knowledge, understanding and lived experience. In Gemini, Jupiter can be distracted into inefficacy as it becomes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of legitimate perspectives.

The tendency to opt out of such tensions (which can be uncomfortable) and take one position or the other, is marked. The likelihood that we then become identified with that position sees us quickly reduced to shadows that serve to limit and rigidify, defend and divide, “convert or condemn”

Dumb things down

Simplify when things are complex

Gaslight

Straw man

Attack ad hominem

An image I saw yesterday was of world leaders at G20 in Rio, gathering together for a photo opportunity with a banner that read Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. It struck my inner cynic (and my inner outraged Eris!) as the epitome of hypocrisy to see all these “suits” lined up, arm in arm in solidarity, before they break for a long lunch of lobster and rib-eye and caviar and champagne in some lush hotel. When I followed the thread down the rabbit hole, I found that the (UN sustainable development goals, Agenda 2030) multilateral treaty, drafted by Lula da Silva, along with the Leaders Declaration, were signed on Monday the 18^th of November. The intention of such an alliance appears above reproach ~ who could possibly argue against an end to hunger and poverty??? ~ but there exists beneath the thin veneer of such ostensibly just, righteous and charitable acts, something more sinister. Please humour me...

The foundational documents are “instruments that give mandate” and will be put into effect in each signatory nation (including Australia) immediately, through coordination by the WHO and the One Health approach, agricultural reform, bank loans and finance agreements, “fairer and more progressive tax systems” (whatever that means is open to interpretation!), “digital inclusion” and “equitable digital transformations” (cos if you’re starving or malnourished, at least you can scroll socials while you die quietly), “digital government solutions” (I shit you not!), legal frameworks that target mis- and disinformation, among other things. Many of these strategies will be implemented with the most impact in the developing world (like Africa which is earmarked for digital revolution by globalists), where people are too busy surviving to pay attention to the new digital colonisers encroaching on their turf.

There is no recognition in any of the documentation that the cost of living is being driven up by State-supported transnational corporate greed that only persists and proliferates post-pandemic while glossy docs are produced to deflect blame and feign concern, no mention made of local or grass-roots solutions, no support for farmers who resist Monsanto’s round-up-ready seed contracts, no acknowledgement that primary producers are under unprecedented pressures to maintain supply and profits (livelihoods) even as the demands upon them are increasingly impractical, unreasonable and stultifying, and the cost is passed onto we consumers rather than alleviated by supermarket giants, no appreciation for the (self-sabotaging) lengths people go to, to keep calm and carry on. Despite the collapse of civilisation as we know it, we (mal)adapt beyond reason and rationality.

And dare anyone suggest that clean water and mosquito nets are more important than vaccines??!! GAVI can vaccinate the world but we’re somehow unable to provide safe drinking water???

I don’t fucking buy it.

But when we are immersed in a world of information, a propaganda-saturated field that does not challenge such thinking, and only affirms and confirms the biases of stakeholders, holding at arms-length the dissenting voices that are increasingly marginalised and dehumanised, we cannot see clearly the peril we are in. In 2022, I wrote about the importance of being careful who we trust. As we enter Pluto in Aquarius (4realz) and the trail of destruction is revealed behind the Lunar Nodes’ dragon’s tail, it feels more pertinent and instructive than ever that we consult with our own inner sense of authority and agency, as well as but above all else.

In a C-Span interview from 1989 the linguist William Lutz describes “Doublespeak [as] language that pretends to communicate but it doesn’t… it avoids or shifts responsibility… is at variance with its real or purported meaning. Doublespeak is language that conceals or prevents thought; rather than extending thought, doublespeak limits it... Basic to doublespeak is incongruity, the incongruity between what is said or left unsaid, and what really is. It is the incongruity between the word and the referent, between seem and be, between the essential function of language — communication — and what doublespeak does — mislead, distort, deceive, inflate, circumvent, obfuscate... Doublespeak is not the product of carelessness or sloppy thinking. Indeed, most doublespeak is the product of clear thinking and is carefully designed and constructed to appear to communicate, when in fact it doesn’t.” Good food for thought.

We should know by now that top-down managerial bureaucracies bear little fruit for the people. And by their fruits, we will know them

The flipped scripts, inconsistencies, inversions, contradictions, incompatibilities, paradoxes, and enantiodromia in the world now provide invitation to speak and listen, then wait and see.

In our respective spheres of influence, the realms and relationships in which we seek change, growth, expansion, understanding or meaning, we might find the energy and impetus now to answer the call of duty and speak up. And likewise to shut up, and listen. And then, give generous space, time, room for movement and reflection. 

Iain McGilchrist frequently makes reference to the lyre and the bow to depict the relationship between the left and right brain hemispheres. As each side “pulls” in its own direction, the tension in created that makes possible both harmony and flight. We need both the left and right brain hemispheres if we are to access our potential, as individuals and a collective. Without the left brain, we are unable to function in the world. But without the right brain, its all function, no fun.

Without the maintenance of such posture, life is less. More comfortable perhaps. But is that desirable?

And as well, without tension

That is, opposing points of views

We can’t make music

There is no harmony without discord!

For years, I have used my platforms to bang the (war) drum and advocate for conflict. In part this is in response to the love and light crowd. But it is not only mere rebellion that urges me to persist with this good fight. Conflict is wholly necessary to life and creation. When we engage with it consciously, in good faith, it can yield many positive outcomes including understanding, healing, trust, reconciliation, and progress. If we deny the conflict when it emerges inside of us, and in the world, and seek to squash it, ignore it, reject it, gaslight it, demonise it, project it, or bypass it, we miss the opportunity to test ourselves, voice our opinions, fight for something, make improvements to our relationships and/or lot,... and in a bigger sense, we only delay or perhaps relocate the inevitable. The energy will only be temporarily diffused by any but an authentic resolution. Conflict is a natural and healthy part of life and it is only through our conflicts, which are ultimately always inner conflicts when we distil them down to their essence, that we grow and change and evolve.

Disagreements happen. Inevitably. Each of us is coming from a unique point of view. When we share that perspective with others, we have provided an opportunity for them to learn, to see more, to broaden horizons, to have a greater understanding of the situation, indeed life as a whole.

Ideally we conduct ourselves respectfully and with integrity in such inevitable disputes. As we aim high, for the most beneficial outcome for all involved, we’ll make use of our fullest capacities to advocate for our side. We will seek to remain open to others views and to listen, not merely to find fault and lay blame, but to gain greater understanding. 

Inevitably though,  passions run high and our emotions (complexes) can get the better of us. We are possessed by our sense of justification and righteousness. We act out in ways that are immature, underdeveloped, embarrassing. But often necessary. When we yield to the underlying message emotions bear, we are afforded richer understanding, more nuanced appreciation, compassionate comprehension of the complex nature of our novel place in time and space.

Mercury will station retrograde on the 26^th of November and maintain the tension with Jupiter into the new year. The first opposition was 18^th November, the second is the 4^th of December, the third will be December 27^th. We are provided with powerful opportunities over the festive season to engage with conflict in ways that are open and generous and of good faith.

Making music. Even if there’s a few bum notes.