Parties & Waiting For the Dawn

Last week I sent off my voter registration application to the State authority, and await the return of a Voter Identification Card for use when I cast my first ever vote in the USA at the General Election in November.

I registered myself as "No Party", unable to conscientiously relate to what I've seen from either party during past months. "No Party" satisfies my Aquarian hankering for freedom and innate obtuseness in any case. Until the primary elections kicked off I always assumed that when I became eligible to vote there was absolutely no question but that I'd join the Democrats. It came as a surprise to me that when the opportunity at last arose, I felt quite unable to do so.

Although I've been here nigh on 4 years, I'm still obviously not translating British political labels into American accurately, or perhaps there is no precise translation. Back in England when US elections were reported on TV and radio I could often be heard asking for a reminder as to which equated to Labour - Republican (symbol the elephant) or Democrat (symbol the donkey). I just couldn't get my head around it, to me Republican sounded more revolutionary and therefore more like Britain's Labour party, the party of "ordinary people", as against the aristocracy and wealthy land owning classes (and those who aspire to, or have delusions of belonging to those groups). The Democrats are the nearest thing to Labour, I guess, but they aren't extreme enough and I can't really tell "who they are". I'm not sure they know themselves exactly who they are at present, come to that.

I used to describe myself as a European style socialist, but the word socialist here in the USA is almost a dirty word. I think many people equate it with communism. I've learned to keep my mouth shut and my keyboard clamped on that score!

Astrologer C.E.O. Carter said in his "Enclyclopedia of Psychological Astrology" (first published 1924 in Britian) that "Socialism is one of the manifestations of the Uranian Age, it being an attempt - whether or not a happy one is, of course, beside the point - to realise fraternity and justice. In this it is distinct from the Pisces methods which had been in vogue before, i.e. private philanthropy in the form of foundations, institutions, and alms."

Dear Mr Carter lived in a different era, of course. I wonder what he'd make of the corporatism which we see taking over now ? Private philanthropy may still exist in isolated local areas, but on the whole, philanthropy has gone out of fashion, in favour of greed. Never has there been more need for "fraternity and justice" - but when will The Uranian Age begin again? I think Mr Carter was referring to the time when Uranus transited its own sign of Aquarius in the early 20th century, from around 1912 to 1920. Uranus has visited Aquarius again since, a fact which I have engraved on my heart because of what went on then in my life - 1995 to 2003. There was no great uprising of socialism as far as I recall - the opposite infact, in the USA !

We may have to wait for the real Age of Aquarius to dawn, before things really start to change. According to the experts it may not dawn in the lifetime of anyone alive now, nor even in the lifetimes of their grandchildren. The start of the new Age could be as late as 2600 AD, according to Dr. Shepherd Simpson (HERE). Other astrologers have come up with variations on this, some expect a start as soon as 2012(not very persuasive). Respected astrologer Rob Hand has estimated 2060. 2160 has been mentioned and I'm sure there are other guesses around. So many imponderables are involved, that it's surprising anybody has dared to hazard a guess at all.

In the absence of fraternity and justice until the New Dawning, it would be nice if we could have a bit of philanthropy back.