Friday, April 13, 2007

The Week That Was


As this week progressed, I jotted down a few brief notes of news events in the USA which caught my attention. Occasionally when I do this, I notice a symbolic theme common to a number of the events. I think I found a theme this week, and it could be a matter of "as above, so below".

Three celestial bodies, the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn in the signs of Aries, Sagittarius and Leo respectively, were forming what astrologers call a Grand Trine, in Fire signs. In the astrological chart of the sky these bodies aspected each other at angles of close to 120* making up a gigantic triangle. While planets remain in such a configuration astrologically, it's said that the properties of the planets and signs involved (in this case the dynamic, expansive, impulsive, energetic Fire signs) can harmoniously flow and work together. So, was it "as above, so below" this week ? With Jupiter, planet of extremes, and the Sun, giver of life itself involved in the free flowing Grand Trine, I'd guess that some forms of excess or of going too far might emerge. Saturn's sterner discipline would be involved too.

Before I move on to the news stories, I feel compelled to say that I may have "gone too far" myself on occasion, when writing about people in the news. Jeffrey Kishner at Lunar Tunes is talking about "The Ethics of Celebrity Profiles" today. His blog entry caused me to search my soul! I shall need to discipline my own writing a little more strictly in future, I think. I can't really blame the Grand Fire Trine for my sins, but the symbolism fits.

Let's see about this week's news and the theme:

News of an entrepreneur in Nevada who is trying to sell bits of land on the Moon. (Echoes of a book by Robert Heinlein, written in 1949!) See the news HERE. That IS going too far - much too far! The Earth does not belong to us, still less the Moon!

Don Imus, American radio host/presenter once again shot a crude and offensive remark across the airwaves. I don't feel inclined to post a link to reports of this. It's worrying that over the years he has kept a large audience, bearing in mind his reputation for being coarse and offensive on a regular basis. Why do people enjoy this? Saturn's discipline moved in when he was fired from his jobs in radio and TV this week after going too far, once too often.

Al Gore was refused permission for the American concert in the Live Earth series, planned for July to be staged in Washington. Opposing factions led by Senator James Inhofe forced him to look elsewhere. The concert will be staged in New Jersey. More interesting stuff about the series of concerts HERE . Was Al Gore going too far (purposely?) expecting that his concert would be welcome in Washington, and is Sen.Inhofe going too far with his extreme anti-global warming stance ? (The Grand Trine touched Al Gore's Pluto/Saturn/Mars conjunction in Leo, by the way.)

Blogger Tim O'Reilly put forward suggestions for a Code of Conduct for bloggers. It's a well meaning proposition, but seems a bit like going too far, in an attempt to stop others from going too far.

And

The late Johnny Cash's former home was destroyed by fire. Not a "Ring of Fire" as in the famous song he sang, but maybe the blaze flourished under that fiery astrological triangle

Lastly:
Famous American author Kurt Vonnegut died this week. His wisdom will be sorely missed. He frequently made it clear in his writings that he thought humans have gone, and are going too far, in war, in the way we treat the environment, and in our attitudes towards each other.
A sweet quote from his book "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater"
"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies - ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

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