The Chill Factor's High (not only via the weather)

Yesterday morning, with my first mug of coffee I read three articles at Common Dreams:

Tom Engelhardt:
Scared to Death in the USA

Chris Hedges:
Shielding a Flickering Flame

Paul Buchheit:
Unequal Beyond the Edge of Humanness

I then felt absolutely dispirited, generally depressed. There was nothing in the articles of which I was not already aware, but seeing it all put into words - again - by good and knowledgeable writers turns up the chill factor by many notches.

What's the best antidote to this kind of affliction? I took a quick look around the net for advice. There are such suggestions as replacing negative thoughts with positive ones; challenging the reasonableness of negative thoughts; escaping via listening to music, reading a novel, watching TV, taking a break from whatever work one does; sharing worries with a trusted companion.

Alright.

Replace negative with positive thoughts: "we're all going to Hell in a handbasket one way or another" / "No!. We can slow down the journey, there are ways".

Challenge reasonableness of negative thoughts: Messrs Engelhardt, Hedges and Buchheit write well, are well-meaning, but could tend to overstate problems in order to attract readers. There are problems, of course, serious ones, but spreading negativity will not solve them, it'll simply depress enthusiasm for doing so.

Escaping? Fine, for a time, for as long as it takes to achieve renewed enthusiasm to fight for better things - getting a "second wind".

Sharing worries - good idea, but trying not to also share negativity by doing so would be better. Sharing and seeking the positive from the negative - there always has to be a positive, to balance the negative - nature demands it!

I'm not sure whether that helped at all, so does anyone else have ideas on how to deal with what we have to deal with - apart from not reading articles at Common Dreams, sticking our heads in the sand and letting the rest of the world go by?

Accentuate the Positive

Pundits and many mundane astrologers have little to offer us but an ever-darkening road into the future. After some news and events of the past week another dose of audio-visual positive thinking has been needed to prevent me from slipping into the Slough of Despond, or becoming confrontational and obnoxious. Although the second option is tempting, neither would be wise. Like a star suddenly twinkling through the gloom of a cloudy night, there was one rather surprising but positive piece of news, in an article by Tom Hayden - "Northern Irish, South Africa Leaders in Secret Peace Discussion with Iraqi Parties"

Extract:
"Sunni and Shi'a leaders began a potential peace process at secret meetings with leaders of the new Northern Ireland and South Africa one month, signing draft set of principles which resemble the protocols that guided the peace settlements in those two countries.

Chairing the closed meetings near Helsinki were Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army commander, lead negotiator with the British, and now Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and Roelf Meyer, former leader of the pro-apartheid National Party in South Africa's peace negotiations. The Irish delegation also included former IRA hunger striker Leo Green, minister Jeffrey Donaldson, former Stormont speaker Lord Alderdice, and former loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Hutchison. South African participants included ANC leaders Mac Maharaj and Rashid Ismail, key participants in the military and political negotiations in South Africa.
The Iraq delegations' names have not been released but reportedly included six Sunni and nine Shi'a who signed a statement of principles."

Martin McGuinness was, as is mentioned later in the article, looked on as "evil incarnate" by Protestants and many other British folk during the Irish troubles. I remember it well! He was born on 23 May 1950 in Derry, Northern Ireland. An early Gemini Sun with a surprisingly well-balanced chart, whose second Saturn return will occur in a year's time - perhaps this new direction of his could bring yet another new career. At present transiting Mars in Cancer is about to conjoin his natal Uranus at 3 Cancer. Let's hope this is not a bad sign - even if so, it won't last too long.

This news story clearly shows that positive can come, eventually, from negative - albeit very slowly. There are no better advisors than these men. It may take longer than we can afford to arrive at any peaceful settlement, but there is at least hope, and willingness there. Perhaps, underneath the superficial gloom of these times, hidden brightness lies, just waiting to emerge.

This week's antidote to the negative comes via a composition of Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, sung by Buddy Rich (who is better known as a drummer). All are long-gone, of course, but their work lives on and is still widely and internationally appreciated. Following the advice of Johnny Mercer back in 1944, let's try, in 2007 to "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"

Positive Thinking about The Future

I received Bill Herbst's February newsletter yesterday, I've found that his work is always very informative and well worth reading. By the time I reached the end of this one, however, I felt depressed. Even more so, because Mr Herbst's conclusions about the coming years match, broadly, those of other astrologers such as E. Alan Meece in his book "Horoscope for the New Millennium", which I mentioned in a blog dated 21 November 2006. In addition, I instinctively feel that Pluto's transit through Capricorn will be stressful for Earth and its inhabitants, and am guilty myself of having said as much.

Is there no alternative to the gloomy forecasts and feelings, though? Mr. Herbst points out that these coming times, before and after 2010, will offer a long-needed chance for us to right our wrongs and clean up our messes. But isn't there something even more hopeful ? Isn't there another view of the whole scenario? Could it be like one of those optical illusion illustrations(above) which contain two quite different pictures, if you adjust your mind sufficiently to see them both? (In the above example you can see either the head of an old woman or that of a young, elegant woman.)

Maybe there are alternative interpretations of coming planetary configurations. We can't be sure that because similar configurations in the past resulted in dark outcomes, that comparable scenarios will happen again. Other elements have changed in the intervening period, external elements, unconnected with astrology, but connected with the way man lives, thinks, and deals with events. Any time Uranus is involved in a configuration, as in this case, can any astrologer be sure of his forecast? The future could have in store something as yet indescribable, and impossible for us to understand, let alone to foresee.

In any case, a little positive thinking can't hurt! If we accept without question that the years around 2010 are going to be terribly difficult and calamitous, ecologically and economically, maybe that's what WILL happen. Some say that the communal mind is a powerful entity. Some say , as in cosmic ordering, or creative visualisation, that we can attract towards us what we hold in our mind's eye. If there is any chance at all that this is true, ought we not to be holding a brighter vision of the coming years in our minds? I'm addressing myself here, too, I hasten to add!

I'm not naive enough to think that the communal mind could hold back the power of nature and the elements. It might, though, have strength enough to ensure the move into key positions of those individuals who would deal with challenging situations in the best possible way. Individuals with the insight and compassion to rescue from disaster the seeds of a new and better world. With the wrong people in places of power, should the worst happen, I can well imagine that current gloomy forecasts of astrologers would seem very mild compared to the reality !

A lot of positive thinking could do a temendous amount of good.