USA: 236 Today, Still in Adolescence.

Here we are again, celebrating the birthday of the USA.....Independence Day, 4 July. How many candles this time? 236.....a lot of candles for a cake, but not many for a nation as vast as this one. The USA, by European and other standards, is still in its adolescence. What is almost always a difficult stage of development for humans has to be similarly difficult for countries, wouldn't you say? Adolescents shouldn't be allowed to get away with too much bad behaviour though, or be given too long a rope -they could do themselves a whole lot of damage. Adolescence is no excuse for wrong-doing. The nation's birthday is no time for a list of its wrongs though.

From my blog archives, brief extracts from two old posts. First is from 2008, after the ceremony in Oklahoma City which made me a real citizen of this land after four years as a legal resident. It was the culmination of a long, winding, and often very frustrating road from Yorkshire to Oklahoma!

At 11.30 applicants were told to take their seats, according to the number they'd been given (mine was 69 - no sly grins please!) By this time my husband had managed to slide into a seat towards the back of the Ceremonial Courtroom, now filling rapidly with families and friends of applicants.

At exactly noon, five judges filed in. Everyone rose as the judges took their places on the bench. The chief judge, a female, welcomed us, said a few words then handed over to a designated INS official to "present" the 140 applicants who came, we were told, from 42 different countries. The official spoke briefly then named, in alphapbetical order, the native countries of all the applicants, asking each to stand when their country was called. I was the only one of the 140 from the UK. Every continent was represented. This, of course, was just one of many similar ceremonies, held monthly in three areas of Oklahoma, and regularly in every one of the other 49 states. I find this a mind-boggling proposition!

Next, we, the applicants, were asked to stand, raise our right hands, and repeat after the Clerk of the Court the words of the Oath of Allegiance. Each of the five judges then spoke briefly, after which the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present. The judges then left and a video of President G.W. Bush, welcoming us as new citizens, was shown, followed by another video of scenes of American life.

I hadn't expected to feel as emotional as I did. I joked later that it was the sight of G.W. Bush on the screen that made my cry, but I lied. I had an overwhelming sense of the nobility of the original vision for the United States, as I sat there in the midst of 140 people, born in so many different countries. Many of my companions had experienced a far greater struggle than I'd had to reach this point. The thought passed through my mind then that the USA is truly an Aquarian country. Whatever chart is used by astrologers cannot change the fact that, in essence the vision was, and is, pure Aquarius. There have been broken dreams and wrong turnings, but beneath it all, I'm confident that vision remains intact.

Applicants were then asked to file out in seat number order to officially receive their Certificates of Naturalization, and some other paperwork, along with a small US flag - I can be seen waving mine in the photograph.

Second archive extract is from a piece by my husband's son-in-law from his regular column in a local newspaper. It was published in July 2009. I re-air this because its subject matter is something I rattle on about often: the divided nation, so well illustrated astrologically by the Armistead chart for the USA - not the usual 4th July one. This is set for 2 July 1776, the date when Congress adopted the resolution of independence. Astrodatabank explains it HERE.



Look at that heavy red line joining opposing planets Moon/Pluto in Capricorn and Mercury in Cancer - Cancer-Capricorn a cardinal opposition clearly seeming to divide the chart, with Moon (the people)and Pluto(power, passion)in staid business-oriented Capricorn versus Mercury (communication and mental processes) in gentle, intuitive sentimental, home-loving Cancer. A divide difficult to cross.

The article from which I'm quoting was headed "Sure We're Divided But It's Been Worse"

"..............political and social pundits keep hammering at us about this being a nation divided, and some even suggest we’re currently more sharply divided than at any time in American history.

Oh, puh-leez! What hyperbolic hogwash. Enough already!

Did these Big ‘n’ Loud Voices of Distress and myopic pundits never hear of something called the Civil War, when a half-million Americans were slaughtered because of our political and cultural differences?

And beyond that great cataclysm, can someone please point out an extended period of U.S. history in which we are all on the same page politically and culturally? If there was such a halcyon, blissful age, we need to identify it and figure out how we can return to it.

The population was politically and culturally split before we became a nation, and little seems to have changed since 1776. Even during World War II, when political and cultural debate seemed to be put on the back burner, our differences continued to simmer. Heck, I had one grandfather who thought Franklin D. Roosevelt was a god, while the other thought FDR was a devil.

Here in the 21st century, we may be more “evenly” divided than at anytime before, but so what? Disagreement and diversity are the life blood of liberty and democracy......."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!

Oil, USA, and the love affair with cars.

The chart for the "birth" of the USA which appeals to me most is that for 2 July 1776, shown below - the Armistead Chart. I prefer it over the popular 4 July charts for reasons of both history and symbolism. The sharp opposition (red line vertically crossing the circle) between Moon/Pluto (public/passion) and Mercury (communication, mental processes) symbolises, for me, the sharp, passionate divisions of opinion which have arisen in every important matter throughout this nation's relatively brief lifespan. In the US I, as an outsider, sense this as a far more bitter, all encompassing and absolute division than generally occurs in other countries.

The other very interesting alignment, given current circumstances, is a harmonious trine (the blue diagonal on left side of chart) between Neptune, representing oil, and Moon representing the public -& Pluto representing passion and potential threat.


Chart copied from Astrodatabank.

In the USA, more than any other nation, the people simply love their vehicles. Beloved cars, SUVs and trucks need gas/oil of course, and here's where that harmonious trine (oil/people) manifests. Vehicles represent that highly-valued sense of freedom craved by The American People. Vehicles are also a necessity in many areas. Much of this vast country isn't served by public transport. There is little or no access to sidewalks (footpaths), so use of "Shanks' Pony" is strictly limited - if one values one's life.

Motor vehicles then, outside of metropolitan areas, are the only means of transport. In some cases several cars are owned by a single family, to meet the the demands of differing job/school/college locations. From such necessities has arisen this love of Americans for their vehicles. As an extension of that, there is an insatiable need for gas (petrol). I ought to mention also that the US Military Industrial Complex - a truly gargantuan entity - uses gazillions more gas than the average Joe.....and the MIC is indeed insatiable.

The current tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico has to be bringing home to many (or should be bringing home to many) that halcyon days in the love affair of Americans for their vehicles are almost over. We are rapidly reaching a fresh state of affairs. Things must, somehow, change if we and the planet are to survive.




There's a must-read article on the topic by Johann Hari at Huffington Post: We Are All Trapped in a Global Oil Slick. The piece closes thus:

And so we are all left slithering in the global oil slick. Yet the anger of the sane citizenry -- those of us who don't want to engage in collective self-destruction -- has been weirdly muted. Most of us know instinctively that we can't carry on like this. Most of us know Big Oil is a swelling tumor. But it is still much more common to see protests for cheap oil than to see protests to build a world beyond it. We wait passively for a rational politician to emerge through the corruption, when we should be relentlessly pressuring them all.

The oilman John Paul Getty once joked: "The meek will inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights." If the sane proponents of a post-oil world stay so meek and mild, we may not inherit much worth having at all.

There are doom-laden articles and comments about the oil leak all over the internet at present. I avoid such writings for the most part, but occasionally feel a nagging responsibility to investigate these cries of "Wolf!" There is talk of methane gas deposits exploding and causing earthquakes or a tsunami. Talk of movement of tectonic plates. Talk of oily/poisonous rains falling when noxious fumes are carried up into the atmosphere; and of hurricanes still to come.

O joy!


By way of antidote - or not - I decided to pull 3 cards from my tarot deck. I asked "What do I need to know about the future in relation to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?"
Strength/7 Wands/7 Cups emerged after a good shuffle and cut.
Hmmm - definite cause for some slight feeling of relief? The Strength card is the most important one of the 3 as it comes from the Major Arcana. Its meaning is obvious, really needs no further interpretation.

7 of Wands = showing defiance and holding out against pressure, resisting authority, showing conviction. 7 Cups = procrastination, avoiding being pro-active, lacking focus, having a variety of options but being indecisive. Is this a picture of the current US administration?

7 Cups is the dangerously undermining card of these 3, otherwise hopeful, cards. Strength could and should overcome it with the stamina, courageous outlook and unshakeable resolve indicated by the card.

Looks like the tarot is casting a dividing line reminiscent of that in the US chart. In this case it's Strength v. procrastination and indecision.



(Illustration above is taken from Prop Art, by Gary Yanker, on my bookshelf. This poster and the one earlier in the piece were issued in 1970 and 1971 after an oil spill off California.

When will they ever learn?

DIVIDED WE STAND.....

I'm not a fan of astrological charts for nations, or for any inanimate entity, but respected astrologers seem to think there's value in 'em. Who am I to argue? What a chart for the establishment of a country, constitution, company, club, will show for sure is the astrological atmosphere which pertained at the moment of that entity's coming into existence. Whether that puts a stamp on the inanimate entity for ever and a day is another matter.

Putting those reservations aside, my favourite symbolic chart for the USA isn't the usual 4th July one, it's that known as the Armistead chart, set for 2 July 1776, the date when Congress adopted the resolution of independence. Astrodatabank explains it HERE.





This chart describes the USA to me best because of that very clear divide: Moon/Pluto to Mercury - the red line which virtually cuts the chart in two. The US is a divided country - I felt it from the moment I got here - after recovering from the culture shock. Not satisfied with simple division though, I've noticed it's an ongoing feature: divide, sub-divide - rather like the amoeba!

In mundane astrology the Moon represents the people - the public at large. Pluto symbolises power. Mercury, as always, represents communication and mental processes. I translate the opposition in this US chart as the people having power, but a power divided by mental attitudes....or something along those lines.

My husband's son-in-law, and our friend (known as TNPOTUS when he occasionally comments here) wrote in his regular column in a local newspaper recently, something which touches on my topic for today. He has agreed to my use any of his writings to illustrate points - so here goes (and thank you TNPOTUS!)

From an article headed "Sure We're Divided But It's Been Worse"

"..............political and social pundits keep hammering at us about this being a nation divided, and some even suggest we’re currently more sharply divided than at any time in American history.

Oh, puh-leez! What hyperbolic hogwash. Enough already!

Did these Big ‘n’ Loud Voices of Distress and myopic pundits never hear of something called the Civil War, when a half-million Americans were slaughtered because of our political and cultural differences?

And beyond that great cataclysm, can someone please point out an extended period of U.S. history in which we are all on the same page politically and culturally? If there was such a halcyon, blissful age, we need to identify it and figure out how we can return to it.

The population was politically and culturally split before we became a nation, and little seems to have changed since 1776. Even during World War II, when political and cultural debate seemed to be put on the back burner, our differences continued to simmer. Heck, I had one grandfather who thought Franklin D. Roosevelt was a god, while the other thought FDR was a devil.

Here in the 21st century, we may be more “evenly” divided than at anytime before, but so what? Disagreement and diversity are the life blood of liberty and democracy......."

For the moment, I rest my case on behalf of the Armistead chart.