OMG It Happened

If you have read this blog with any consistency over the past decade you are pretty much aware of my opinions on politics and politicians. It is rare for me to approve of and support any of them. The one exception to that has always been Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. I have always tried not to be an “I love Bernie” gusher about it and a Democratic Socialist flag waver. No one is perfect, but it is true that Bernie speaks the language of the most disenfranchised of Americans who have few voices that speak for them with any consistency. It has taken a lot to bring me to the point where I must speak out with a different tune, but…today is the day. 

I saw Bernie make a speech today regarding “Solar Power for All”. I was with him for the first few minutes, and then he began talking about the cost of going solar, and my own Virgo jumped out from behind Leo and Pisces and had to abandon ship from the Bernie bandwagon. As much as it pains me to go here, it must be done. For the good of the struggling homeowners in America and the good of the average struggling citizen who couldn’t take on another debt if they had to, begging to differ with Bernie today is totally unavoidable.

Before I get into the specifics of my dissent here, let me tell you how I see the situation regarding climate change. I never have been and never will be a climate change denier. I realize that there is much to be done in this country to try to undo all the damage that humans have done that brought us to the dire situation that we are now in.  Virtually all of us are guilty in one way or another when it comes to not being responsible citizens in taking care of our world, but the biggest slackers in this country when it comes to chronic and repeat offenders of destroying the planet are corporations. These are the ones who pollute the water, squander resources, produce products that are not recyclable or biodegradable, manufacture gigantic gas guzzling automobiles, and feel completely unaccountable regarding a change in behavior that might turn many of our problems around. Climate change fault is always thrown back at the average citizen to be dealt with while corporate capitalists pay a bit of lip service to fixing the problems. With all that said, I will now get to the issue that I have with Bernie’s plan to achieve solar power for all.

As far as installing solar panels on our homes, that would be a good thing if it were possible, but it isn’t. Why it isn’t has to do with two things. The first is the cost of doing it. He said that it would cost between 10 and 20 thousand dollars. Most of us couldn’t cough up 10 percent of that now. We can barely keep a roof over our heads and pay for food and other necessities if at all. He said that there would be grants and loans to cover the cost. I think few of us would qualify for a grant, even a partial one. Getting a loan which would add another burden to our cash strapped existence would only make things worse for us, and the piece de resistance of the entire plan was to tell us that it would save us from $50 - $100 per month on our electric bills. HA!  My electric bill is around $300 per month! And I don’t even have electric heat! That isn’t a drop in the bucket when you consider that I would be saddled with another bill to pay for the loan that solar panel installation would cost. The payment would most likely be much more than the savings on my electric bill. It cannot be done, Bernie. No way in heaven or hell. I agree that we are darn near beyond being able to combat the effects of climate change, but this proposed solution is not a solution for the majority of Americans now. The skyrocketing cost of just basic living has made putting anything else on our financial plate a complete impossibility. Even if the government gave us another Covid relief check of $1,200 per person it would not cover it, even for a family of ten!

I, like most people, cannot proffer a blanket solution for the climate change crisis, but if I had to come up with something to help the situation, I would strongly suggest two things. First, stop manufacturing products with single use plastics. Second, stop manufacturing large vehicles and stop buying them. Many families where I live have three or more trucks and SUV’s. Yes, some people will throw tantrums about it but they will throw even bigger tantrums when they cannot buy gasoline for them and find that they cannot tolerate the unbearable summer heat and the desperately cold winters to come. The first step in changing a bad situation must be calling a halt to the behavior that put you there in the first place and these two issues are monumentally guilt-ridden activities. There are drawbacks to going solar in our homes that tend to be glossed over much of the time and one of the biggest is the availability of sunlight on a daily basis. This could be an extreme problem in some parts of the US during the winter months. Heaven help us, Bernie, dependency upon solar energy is very risky when you could find yourself without power during severe weather. Solar energy sounds like a god send on the face of it, but truly what would help right now is to require responsible behavior from those who have acted completely irresponsible for a very long time. When the citizens of this country find themselves in a position that affords them some financial breathing room you might find us deciding that we are able to convert to solar energy on our own, but right now, there is no way. Those who have been the worst offenders in creating climate change are always putting the guilt and burden for fixing the problem on the average citizens, and everyone who loves the corporate fascists is complicit in pointing the finger and passing the buck, although it isn’t a literal buck because they aren’t about to give us any more money to live on.

I still love you, Bernie, and appreciate and admire your efforts for the people, but the ability to just keep ourselves alive is the highest-level priority that exists now. Without that, we could have solar panels installed to high heaven, but it would not matter if we are homeless and starving or dead.

Well, You Know, We’d All Love to See the Plan.

-from the 1968 song Revolution by The Beatles

The winds of change have been blowing for many decades here in America. They have managed to stir up a few tornados in the business of being a citizen here but since we entered the 21st century those winds have blown mostly a torrent of anger and violence that we either can’t or won’t address to bring us to a balanced center where we can sit down at the table and negotiate for a settlement of our deep differences. You can blame the right or you can blame the left but it all boils down to people who are too selfish and spoiled to do the hard work that peace requires.

I hear many people speak about all of the things that are wrong in this country every day. Politicians say this, religious leaders say this, economists say this, legal experts say this, and the common blowhard says this at the dinner table and on social media and in the faces of anyone not fast enough to get away from their speeches. So what is the answer to a society that has gone off the deep end and is drowning in hatred and resentment, poverty and a lack of empathy? To begin, we will have to find one common ground issue that we all can agree is affecting everyone. What is that issue? There doesn’t appear to be one unless you count the congressional anger about Tik Tok. One could assume that we all want to live our lives in the best way possible but the truth is that a lot of people don’t want all of us to.  Many of our citizens do not give one damn about the survival of anyone other than themselves. To have come to this point should be terrifying to all of us but it isn’t.

The town that I live in used to be a lot nicer than it is now. In the last few years, I have seen it turn into a dirty and dried up community of haves and have nots where the affluent have migrated to the outskirts of town and left the city center to rot. A few attempts at reviving the area within the city limits have been made but they mainly focus on tearing down condemned buildings and replacing them with restaurants and areas where one can walk through the city at night carrying a cocktail in a paper cup, or not replacing them at all. One end of the Main Street looks quaint and festive and the other end looks like total crap. Everything is a half-assed job here which serves only a small portion of the population now and the rest can be damned. So where would you find a common ground in a place that never even considers what the quality of life might be like at the other end of the street? You won’t. It does not exist in the minds of those who have the power and the resources to bring us toward a common ground. This is the situation everywhere, and too many people are fine with it.

So, for everyone that I hear pointing out all of the injustices in this country I have yet to see their plan for getting us all on the same page to correct this inequality. How do you change the people’s minds when they are fine with the minds that they have?

You tell me it’s the institution.

In the 1988 film The Last Temptation Of Christ, the character Pontius Pilate, played by David Bowie, tells Jesus “It simply doesn’t matter how you want to change things. We don’t want them changed.”  Socialism, Communism, or Marxism, any “ism” that you want other than Capitalism falls upon deaf ears too much of the time. The “haves” in America put up a mental block to them many decades ago. Too often our words do not penetrate through that block. Why would they want to give up the great position that they are in? Why should they be willing to have a little less on their plates so others can have more? When you must explain the why in this to people, you are dealing with closed minds and hard hearts. To make a dent in their point of view you would almost have to put them in a time machine and take them back to infancy. As an adult, you will not see what you don’t want to see. Even if your reasoning for changing the world is sound and logical they would see no legitimate argument. Allowing pain and misery is easy if you have already sown up your argument with “it is their own fault”. They won’t debate that point with you because they don’t have a leg to stand on in reality and they know it, but capitalism is an institution that in their mind is untouchable.  In the film, it had been prophesized that Rome would fall but they were too arrogant to believe it. It did fall, though. The predictions are here for the collapse of capitalism as well. If their own actions make this prophecy real, will we have sense enough to build up again with a better system? Armed with a sense of direction for that right now, we absolutely will.

You ask me for a contribution.

Bernie Sanders wrote in his latest book, It’s Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism that the average contribution that his campaign received during his 2020 run for the Presidency was $18.50 and the vast majority of the contributors were average citizens. If he were to run again in 2024, I could probably give that much in support this time but I might have to skip dinner for a couple of nights to do it. That’s how bad things are now. It should not be, but those who worship the god capitalism are not being told not to starve us out and take away our livelihood. Bernie is certainly a person worth donating two potential dinners to but the choice should not come down to that. That it would for many of us reflects a warped set of priorities put upon us to keep a warped system going.  Bernie has always remained steadfast in his message and ideals on what needs to be done in America and he proves it every time that he speaks. Support for him is a no-brainer even when the chips are really down and the fish is too.

A great many of our representatives in Washington were born in the 1940s and 50s. They were around during the time that the song Revolution was playing on the radio, and when there were many people protesting about civil rights, human rights, women’s rights, and the Vietnam War. Many of them participated in the protests, but except for a few, these people seem to have forgotten how to care about anything except profit and their position.

But if you want money for people with minds that hate…

There is a reason why we tend to hear more in this country from angry and resentful people. It is because a ton of money is being made from the internet and nowhere near as much is made from brick-and-mortar businesses. I have heard that many Amazon Go and Whole Foods stores are going to close.  Anger and hate words trigger algorithms lightning quick and peace, love, and solutions to problems are not conducive to making money. So, if you wonder why you hear more about the rude and reckless attitudes in the mainstream, this is why. It is more profitable. Does anybody care about that? Not if they are the ones reaping the benefits. Anger and hatred get attention faster than any other topic and it gets converted into chaos and criminality every single day. The profits are enormous and it doesn’t matter if these prompts are lies. Once the money is made who cares?

You say you’ll change The Constitution.

I have my doubts about this one because you don’t have to change it to get what you want. All you have to do is reinterpret it and it has been proven that they can take away any freedom that they want. If this doesn’t frighten you not much will, but so far it has been quite acceptable to do this as long as it is someone else’s freedom that is being lost. Yes, there are many who realize how wrong this is but so far, their voices are not loud enough to make a difference.

You tell me that it’s evolution.

Yes, I would tell you that. The troubles that we now have could very well evolve out of the culture after a time. We sometimes outgrow childishness and stupidity, but if we wait for an evolutionary change, I fear that the current generation would not live to see it. I also fear that the planet won’t survive the slow winds of evolution. De-evolution is another story.  It has the pedal to the metal. There has been a sharp decline in balanced human behavior that reminds me of barbarians. At first it reminded me of the Old West where there was lawlessness and a disregard for anything that got in the way of what a disconnected man saw as an easy road to success by virtue of having two guns strapped to his hips. When the citizens grew tired of living with people like this, laws were enacted to put a stop to it. We are now beyond that. Scammers are constantly calling us and sending deceptive texts to trick us out of our money.  Guns are everywhere and few attempts have been made to stop it. So now the rule of the gun and the rule of lies is used whenever we don’t like something. That is enough to intimidate a great many of us and keep us afraid and distracted enough to stay out of the other rule which is corporate greed is good. If you doubted it before try buying an affordable car or renting a house at an affordable price. How much more are you spending per month on groceries than you were last year?

You say you’ve got a real solution.

If after reading this you still have a plan for a workable revolution, please tell the rest of us. When John Lennon wrote the song change was a real possibility. But even back then it was going to require more cooperation than many of the people in this country were willing to offer. By the time the 1960s protesters reached their 40s most of them had abandoned the causes. The children that they had couldn’t relate to the struggles that their parents knew so the old problems came back and it truly shows that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Will future generations know about the problems that we have today? Will there be textbooks that tell the stories of our struggle for fairness and equality or will they all have been pulled from the school libraries and never be spoken about? Stock your personal library now and pass it along to the next generation because it may be the only record left of how we worked for their future at a time when too many of the people lived like there was no tomorrow. Your children are going to be the keepers of what we were and what we stood for. The meek (or the weak) are on track to inherit the earth by being beaten and starved into submission by love of profit. The affluent are already looking for a new home to ravage and plunder. What would John think of us now?

Know Your Candidate and Know Yourself

The US midterm elections are behind us now except for a few that were too close to call. Did the candidate that you supported win? I hope so. Have you ever voted for someone who was elected and discovered after a time that they were not what you expected them to be? Unfortunately, many people lie and cheat when they want something badly. Nowadays they feel little guilt or remorse for this because it is acceptable character in some circles and even expected by some others. Another problem that we have is that many voters will pick a candidate to support based on one ideal that the person has put out there which has little to do with whether or not the candidate is a sound and reasonable person who is capable of doing the job that he/she is running for and more to do with their promise to do away with an influence that people find personally objectionable. This is a selfish and lame reason to do anything, but it is an acceptable one for a person of one dimensional thought. Once you allow yourself to get caught up in a fear and hate based mentality you are not capable of making choices other than selfish ones. So, the rest of us carry the burden of trying to elect someone who is sincere and focused in their beliefs and has some sort of proven record to support the claims that they make regarding how to repair a broken society. But even if we think we know a person to be reasonable and true to form in their decisions it is still possible that they are lying through their teeth. Since you cannot be sure of anyone until they prove that they are what they say, you take an uneducated guess most of the time. Unless you know Astrology.

In two years, we will have another general election for the Presidency. God only knows who will be running for that office this time. Many will throw their hats into the ring and the BS will be flying for many months before we actually know who the final contenders will be. I actually expect to be disappointed in who will make it to the finals. This is not cynicism on my part. It is just facing the reality that my point of view is unique among Americans and what I see as someone who truly means to bring change to a fallen society has different aspects and criteria from the majority point of view. Since I became old enough to vote I have seen few people enter the White House that I had any faith in to make a real difference. The way that we conduct elections and politics here is not conducive to bringing in anyone that I could really believe in. The one exception to that is Bernie Sanders.

I truly believe that Bernie could have won in 2016 and in 2020. But he was sabotaged by his own party both times because reform is not what they want. Maintaining the status quo is. Bernie made an excellent showing in both primaries, and though I do not always agree with everything that he says and does (I usually do, though) I have studied his natal chart and it is evident from knowing what he was brought into this world with that he is true to himself. I have watched and listened to him since I first became aware of him politically and he has never wavered in what he presents to us as what is needed here. I cannot say that about any other career politician that I have ever seen.

I have heard people who actually like Bernie say things like, “He is just not everyone’s cup of tea.” and “He doesn’t show enough of himself personally. He only talks about the issues.” These people are showing the shallowest points of view regarding Bernie. It is not surprising that they can only skim the surface. If you don’t know his inborn nature you will likely misjudge him, as you will with anyone. In 2016 and in 2020 I wrote about Bernie on this blog. He is a Virgo. Do you know anything about Virgos? Probably not. So, I will tell you this as something to ponder upon.

In the 1960’s there was a tv series called “Dragnet” starring Jack Webb who played the character Sgt. Joe Friday. He was a no-nonsense police officer who was famous for saying the line, “Just the facts, ma’am.” That is pretty much how a Virgo operates. They are precise and have little time for or interest in side issues and telling the world about their personal lives. It has nothing to do with “the price of potatoes” or the fact that America is in the outhouse, so in Virgo’s view it has no bearing on “the facts, ma’am.” If being focused and direct is not something that you like or understand then you will never “get” someone like Bernie. To truly know a Virgo, you would have to make the effort to be their friend. They mostly do not have any burning desire to tell their story. If you prefer the more “stand out” types or the folksy “regular guy” types there is a reason for that and you are entitled to your opinion, but the problems that we have now will not be solved by anyone who craves attention and love, and needs a constant ego boost. Nor can they be solved by the phony “I’m just like you” types.  Anyone who cannot set aside ego and transcend the need for admiration cannot be effective when we are in such dire circumstances. I have heard people say many times that we need a president who will run this country like a business. We had that kind of leader for four years and we will be trying to untangle the mess that was made in those years for many more years to come. High profits, competition, and the need for worship from people are traits for the entertainment industry and private businesses. We aren’t making a movie here or trying to sell yachts. The entire world is in crisis and like in any family in crisis it will take an adult who can set aside their personal ego to get down to the real business of keeping the family together and disregarding what the neighbors think. I have seen a few politicians who could do that but they are in a minority.

I have considered writing a book or a series of posts here about the Presidents that we have had in the last 30 or so years by drawing up their natal charts and comparing what traits they were born with and what they actually accomplished when they were in office. It might be quite an eye opener of a read. I do think that it would be a troubling read. So many of us have no idea what we were meant to be like. Our world has evolved in ways that make knowing our true selves difficult in the extreme. Most people are doomed to fail in the endeavor because of capitalism. It takes an Aries-like determination on our parts to even make the attempt but it could be made a little less painful for us if we had parents and teachers who believe that this is an essential goal. If you have that in your life, count your blessings.

Before the next election, take some time to find out when the candidates were born. Look on the internet for an Astrology website that can calculate a chart on their birthdates. This is a very elementary way of doing it and I would not normally recommend it, but you will do far worse in trying to understand what a person is about if you rely on what they say or rely on news that cannot be trusted because it isn’t news, it is profit driven entertainment. You may be greatly surprised by what you learn. While you are there, take a look at your own birth information. The revelation of what you brought with you into this world can be felt on a soul level when you see it. It can also be vehemently denied if you have never been allowed to express it. But a staunch denial is extremely telling in itself. Take what you learn and use it to the best of your ability. It may change your life.

1000 Faces, 330 million Lives

Silent film star Lon Chaney was portrayed in the 1950’s film “The Man of 1000 Faces” by actor James Cagney.  It is a bittersweet movie about the life and rise to fame of Chaney as a character actor. I recommend it to anyone who has ever been touched in their life by the pain of being or loving someone who has a physical affliction or any kind of life challenge that often times makes us feel like the world would prefer that we were never born. Despite what ignorance and prejudice might tell us is truth, our place in the Universe and on this planet was preplanned and predestined to make a difference in sometimes small ways and sometimes very large ones. I don’t really know how the biography and films of Lon Chaney affected the people who were alive during his short but profoundly meaningful career but while he lived, he did more to capture the attention and give the world a glimpse into the sad and painful plight of people who were seen as different.

Lon Chaney knew all too well what it was like for people who were different having been a child of deaf-mute parents in the late 1800s. The movie reveals that Lon was constantly getting into fights with other children who thought they had a God-given superior right to ridicule and insult his parents for being “Dummies.” Later in the film when Lon is married and discovers that his wife Cleva is going to have a baby, he is so excited that he wants to go back to his parent’s home for Christmas so they can meet his wife and learn that they will soon be grandparents. Having not previously told his wife that his parents are deaf, he hopes that once she sees that they are a family like any other she will not be troubled by the fact that they cannot hear.  He was dreadfully wrong.  She is horrified when she learns the truth, and does not want to go through with the pregnancy.  She does relent and agrees to have the baby after a bitter argument with Lon, but their relationship never recovers from it, and Lon takes his young son after he is born and leaves Cleva, then telling his son when he is old enough to understand that his mother died.

After years of struggle to make a career for himself in cinema Lon finally breaks through to make many films that have at the center of them, a character who is different.  Many of the characters he portrays are grossly disfigured and treated cruelly and harshly because of their very existence. A 1930’s film called “Freaks” produced and directed by Tod Browning, had a role specifically handpicked by Browning for Lon to play, but Lon died of cancer before he could star in the film.

My father had a glass eye which I knew nothing about until I was about 10 years old.  No one ever talked about it, and my father wore thick lens glasses and had a very good quality glass eye so it was just something that I never could have known if someone hadn’t told me.  And they didn’t.  When I did learn about it my parents were going to take a day trip to Chicago and I was asked if I wanted to go with them.  I very much wanted to go but I was a bit intimidated by it because I had heard that Al Capone used to live there and he ran a criminal syndicate from there during Prohibition. I suppose it was ridiculous to be frightened of someone who had been dead for many years prior to our visit, but I remember seeing the incredibly tall high-rise buildings in the downtown area and wondering if any of Capone’s gang might still be there just waiting to shoot down anyone who might look at them wrong. On the way to Chicago, I still didn’t really know why we were going there except I did know that my father was going to see a doctor.  While my mother and I waited for my father when he was with the doctor my mother told me that my father was getting a new glass eye.  I was profoundly confused when she told me that.  It was all big news to me that he had an old one!  She told me not to say anything about it when he came out from seeing the doctor.  I don’t think that I could have anyway.  I was still processing the news when he did return.  He didn’t look any different to me. He was still “Dad”.  So, the drive back to Michigan was quiet in our car which was no different from the drive to Chicago had been. A few days later, I got up enough nerve to ask my mother how he had lost his eye. She told me a story that wasn’t true but I didn’t find that out until years later when I asked my father to make an audio tape for me and tell me what he knew about our family history. When I found out exactly how he had lost his eye I couldn’t believe that my mother had lied to me about it.  I do not know to this day if it was a deliberate lie or if she really didn’t know the truth herself. One thing that I did learn from my mother that was true was that my father was extremely sensitive about his eye and that more than once my father got into fist fights with other men in Louie’s Tavern after a few beers if any of them dared say anything about his glass eye. Why my parents took me with them to Chicago that day I will never know. They didn’t invite my older sister to go.  I can only assume that my father wanted me to know about it but didn’t want to talk about it.  Since I was the quiet and reserved child in the family, I guess he thought that I would learn the truth but wouldn’t ask any questions, and I didn’t.  I was always the observer and rarely the participant in family conversations so I must have been thought to be the only one who wouldn’t run out and tell every kid on the block about my dad’s glass eye.  He was right.  I never did.

So why am I telling these stories about how people have situations in their lives that can get them harassed, ridiculed, ostracized, beaten up and even killed for being different? Because things haven’t changed. Some things are better understood now.  There are wheelchair accessible buildings and many changes have been made to better serve the physically challenged.  But the challenges of the people who have a different point of view or a different lifestyle are targets for harassment and ridicule more now than ever.  The good news is that forums where we can express another opinion are available to us now but it does not follow that we will necessarily be safe from hatred and violence for making a statement.

As Lon Chaney was able to draw attention to the plight of the disabled, disfigured, and mentally challenged in that time period, there are people now who are tirelessly working to shed light on how people are being treated unfairly for just needing a job, affordable housing, healthcare, and earning a living wage.  I have seen all of my life how people are given little or no respect for trying to advocate for a better future for themselves and for others. The situation has been made much worse in the last few years by those who are so proud that they don’t have these struggles that they feel entitled to verbally and physically abuse those who have not been so fortunate. I have yet to discover how this kind of harassment can be stopped when the very people who should have our backs when abusers attack us are many times abusers themselves.  Communication with the Universal mind offers some guidance on this, but it is a problem of a species that has free will to choose right and balanced action or action that can only bring out the worst in people because their priorities and incentives come from a place of selfishness, jealousy, and a delight in cruel treatment of others. Our society cannot be bothered to intervene. And a people who will not take care of their own will not use the tools available to them to put a halt to the abuse.  People call on their god to stop what is happening to our world without understanding that we are given the knowledge to solve these problems ourselves, and as individuals we must apply the information that we are given on a daily basis.  There are people who advocate every day to show us what is wrong and how we might fix these problems, but not enough people are listening, and most of the people who are do not see that they have a place in bringing about the solution.

In the early part of the 20th century, we had Lon Chaney to show us what society needed to address in the culture to stop the needless cruelty toward those who are born or created by life circumstances different.  We have many people right now in this early part of the 21st century who are telling us what can be done to redirect ourselves to bring about change. Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, Bernie Sanders, Michael Moore, Robert Reich, and Richard Wolff {who by the way shares an April 1st, Aries birthday with Lon Chaney} are speaking to us every day in many different venues that are accessible to us free of charge on YouTube. But for whatever reason that we might cite as a reason for not trying to apply the insights that they provide we are truly not making an effective push for the change necessary to bring us out of these situations.

I would urge everyone to look within and find the unique strengths that you already possess by the mere fact that you are in this country and on this planet and apply them in whatever manner you believe to be appropriate for you.  Do not assume that it is always someone else who can do the job better.  The people that I listed above had to start somewhere, and many times it starts with the feeling that something is very wrong and you are fed up with the fact that nothing is being done about it.

Find your anger and find your voice and this time find them for the good of the many instead of the good of the few who decided that the voice of hate was the best catalyst for change.

Watching the Signs Along the Way

I watched a video of Bernie Sanders this morning and he was talking about how so many people feel that we are doomed and we have no hope of coming out of the peril that we find ourselves in right now.  Fortunately, Bernie was kind in responding to the fear that people are experiencing but he explained that we must not give up the hope of coming out of this.  I left a comment on a Democracy At Work video a few weeks ago expressing the dire situation that we find ourselves in and I was treated to a snotty reply from a fellow who said that I was someone who would never stop feeling sorry for herself.  Counting up the ways in which we might need to have a look at things to assess where we really stand now will always be misunderstood by people who refuse to count them. And they must be counted or they continue to grow and expand.  Where we are in the US right now is not being seen by many people because in their mind we have come to the place where they hoped we would be. We are at each other’s throats and picking off the people trying to tell us that we have let this dissent go on too long.  There are so many people in this country now who cannot and will not pay attention to the “death bells” that are ringing to warn us of what we are facing. What are “death bells”? I will explain.

When I was about 11 years old, I had a friend named Donna, who told me that in her family when someone was about to die, one or more of the family members would hear “death bells” which was the person hearing bells ringing mentally.  Any time one of them heard these it was always proven to be an accurate prophecy. I had never heard of such a thing, but even as a child I always paid attention to things like this.  I wasn’t sure why back then, but by the time I hit my 20’s it became apparent to me. As it turned out, I actually heard the bells the night before my husband died, and his father, my father-in-law, heard them the next morning. It was the soft sound of bells ringing in a way that you knew was not a joyous sound but it wasn’t exactly frightening, It was more like a mental hand placed on your shoulder that was saying to you, the time has come to understand that something is passing away.  My father-in-law did not have a clue as to why he was hearing the bells but I knew for sure what it was and I remembered immediately what Donna had told me.

How do we know when the Universe is speaking to us? We can’t always.  It is a leap of faith that we take because something or someone has gotten our attention in a way that seems out of the ordinary. It is often very subtle what we sense but sometimes it hits us like a ton of bricks, like the intense dream that wakes us up in the night or a name we keep seeing or a song that we get stuck in our head. These clues have been around for awhile regarding what has been happening in the world but they are incredibly easy to ignore sometimes.  We are distracted by work or relationships or egotistical pursuits.  The egotistical ones are an enormous block to understanding the larger pictures in life and they are much too prevalent now because for every person who has the capability of hearing a Universal call there are millions who never can hear because they don’t have to when they are much too preoccupied with how wonderful they are.

I began seeing and hearing the calls to pay attention to what was about to hit our world decades ago. Many of them had to do with politics and world events, which was not something that I paid much attention to before because I was so distracted by my own personal mountains that I was climbing.  They began with information - that I had to interpret by the way - regarding presidential election candidates, Middle Eastern situations that were about to affect this country in very unexpected ways, European conflicts, women’s rights issues, and racism.  It was a lot to hit me with at a time when I really didn’t want to give a crap about anything except how to manage my own troubles, but nonetheless, I was being hit with them and I knew that I had to start paying more attention if I was going to handle even my own issues.  How did I know that they were critical things for me to know? I didn’t, except that I could perceive that I couldn’t ignore them in that they kept coming.  This is the one thing that you need to recognize above all else when you begin to notice differences in the kinds of things that begin to get your attention. They are never there for no reason.  Fear of something new tends to prevent us from taking a step forward to take a closer look at what we are seeing or feeling, but while you may be thinking that this new road will take you in a direction that you don’t feel like traveling on, it is nearly always a road that will benefit you or give you some knowledge that you are very unlikely to gain if you dismiss it. We are so tired of everything that has changed our lives or hurt us in the past few years that we just want to crawl in a corner and hope that the thing goes away so we don’t have to deal with anything else, but ignoring the downward spiral in the human experience has put us in more peril that we ever could have imagined before. Just as the “death bells” give us the warning that we are about to lose a loved one, the signs that we are being given from the Universe in regard to where we must go or who we must make contact with or what we must stop doing are coming in hard and heavy, and while they may not be a portent of death right now, they are a hand on the shoulder to tell us that the Universe is here and speaking to you with information that you need to pay attention to.  If you do not pay attention, you may lose the only opportunity that you will have to set yourself upon the path that will help you get through these troubling times and dangerous situations.  There are many who will not make it through all the challenges that we are facing but I can assure you that there are just as many who will get through it if we are fluid enough to allow the changes that we are being told are important for us.  The higher intelligence speaks to us as individuals not as groups.  This is why our leaders are so impotent at making things any better.  They operate as a collective, divided as they are, and they are covered in their own special interest issues which will almost always color their decisions which should be for the betterment of the citizens of the country but it cannot happen when those who are supposed to represent us care more about their own betterment when it comes down to it.  So change has to come from each individual person making the effort to acknowledge that they have an individual part to play in a much larger picture.  What we have now is a portrait being painted in black and white when it takes many colors to paint a landscape that is realistic and true to the overall picture of what we must paint in the world in order to survive. It is easy to think that you are not very important in the overall scheme of things but it is completely untrue.  You may need others to travel with you toward your goal that you don’t even know at this moment.  Paying attention to the signs that you are being given can ensure that you take the necessary steps to guide you and hold your hand through what may come and what will come if you can learn to let go and believe.

It Has Everything To Do With What Will Work

Four years ago, I wrote a post here about Senator Bernie Sanders when I learned that he was going to run for President. (see my post for May 08, 2015) I used information based on his astrological chart to try to present a profile of how he most likely came to the decision to run for that office and why he was a very good choice for America. Bernie did not make it to the Democratic pick in 2016, but now that he is trying again for 2020, I would like to reiterate everything that I wrote previously and add to it as best I can, with some advice that comes from the heart and soul and the universe.  I hope that this will find its way to him if it is the will of the cosmos. 

There is a television show called The New Yankee Workshop starring Norm Abram, which can be seen on the PBS website and probably other venues, where Norm takes you through the steps of building beautiful pieces of furniture and other wood décor. Even if you know that you could never build as expertly as Norm can, you still love watching the show because you can appreciate the handiwork of someone who is creative and experienced, and seeing it all come together is a marvelous thing. If it is possible, I think that Bernie should consider producing a video which details step-by-step how he will build America in to a nation that will care for its people and promote the positive changes for us that we can only have if more of us understand the steps necessary to build that from the ground (Which we are sitting at.  I would really hate to believe that we can sink any lower.) up.

I live in a part of the country that is called a “Red State”, which means that the majority of our citizens vote Republican.  This is a real head-scratcher when you consider that a large portion of the people here live at or below what is considered to be “poverty level.” So many of the people here may have their smart phones and computers and even toddlers are tech savvy (How these people afford them is even more of a head-scratcher!) but when it comes to recognizing when they are being cheated and lied to by bureaucrats and the affluent, they have a gigantic mental block as big as the Great Wall Of China. Why this is so can possibly be explained by taking a look at a society in the television series Star Trek. 

There is a race of humanoid type beings in the Star Trek world called Ferengi, from the planet Ferenginar. They are racist, sexist, and practiced rampant capitalism for centuries. They did not recognize where this would eventually lead them until the entire society collapsed.  Their thinking was that monied interests and those who prospered in that were the highest level of beings.  It was never questioned as being wrong when they all aspired to be exactly like that. It is this same mentality that I think drives so many Americans to vote against their own best interests and follow the Pied Piper of wealth because they cannot believe that there is any reason for human existence other than to strive for the American Dream.  Those who have already achieved it are the gods that we worship. Life is hard. And it is damn hard when you live in the rural south. Those who have made it to wealth and recognition must be the only people capable of running the country.  Add in to this a belief in that “old time religion” which deplores anything that is not in the gospels, and a general fear of anything that you don’t understand (as in words like Socialism) and you have a society that will choose to hate change every time, because they are not learning not to. This is where we need to insert a YouTube or Netflix video called The New Yankee Socialist. 

I can only use the word Socialist here in this blog in my own home because it can get you into serious trouble if you say it publicly anywhere else.  The word has a long association with societies that will take away all of your freedoms and give a forum to all of those people who dare to believe in something different and difficult to understand.  So, I didn’t say it.  You didn’t read it here.  Only someone like Bernie Sanders can get away with it, sort of.

The thing that I find most troubling when Senator Sanders talks about the plan he has for making the United States a better place is that he hesitates when he is asked about how he will bring about the necessary changes that will give Americans a better standard of living and take us in to a new era of prosperity and more equality for all.  I can understand why he does this.  Just mention the words “new taxes” and people start freezing up and tuning out. Say the word “Socialism” and they think that you intend to send the military to their house and take away their belongings.  Mind closed, case closed. Reaching these people is a tough order because they can walk away and recover from the bad words by tuning in to the prophets of doom tv networks and internet social sites that are all too happy to keep supporting the myths that they are comfortable with.  It is difficult to show your blueprints for the future when you can only preach to the choir in short speeches made in a grueling schedule of touring quickly through many American cities. You will not reach enough of the Ferengi and the “Red State wonders” until you put your plans on paper and show the building process to them step by step.  

A video in a place like YouTube is more likely to capture the attention of these types because anyone that is capable of hearing will share it with others in a way that your speech in South Carolina will not reach.  This is nothing that you don’t already know, but there are many others who have taken your ideas and are promoting them as their own now.  I do not see any of them trying to reach out to those whom they believe are not going to listen in the first place. The only ones who are really listening are those who already believe in your philosophy.  Like on the New Yankee Workshop, show the finished product first, then show the blueprints for making it a reality.  You will have to explain that you join this piece with another piece and you glue this piece with taxes which you collect by exchanging money now being spent on something that you will not have to pay again once you put your program into place.  Senator Sanders, I have been a supporter of yours since the first time that I saw you speak about equality and inequality on MSNBC many years ago and even though I understand where you are coming from and how your vision for America would make an incredible difference, I do not see how these changes are truly possible in a country that doesn’t want to know about anything that might require them to get off their backsides and view the world differently.  

I am familiar with the philosophy of Marx, and Engels, and others who have tried to champion a more balanced world for everyone.  I want to see you succeed where so many others have failed but I have to tell you that unless and until you can give the ones who don’t really have a clue how it can benefit them from where they sit, the “Red State” voters will keep turning a blind eye. I believe that you need to reach those who cannot yet see but may be able to hear that you have a plan that truly is for all of us.  Right now, they are content to hear that no one other than they deserve to do well.  They cannot see that this mentality is what is causing them to pay higher prices for basic human necessities and keeps them in a constant state of fear about losing what they have. We need to see the video because too many will not read the book.  If their children and neighbors and co-workers see the film and share the experience online it may spark an interest in hearing for themselves. Even those of us who already believe would love to see how you will put everything together. I have seen staunch Republicans admit that they would gladly pay more taxes and give up something that they have so people that they care about can afford to buy food and medicines and see a doctor when they are sick.  In groups, you never hear this, but one on one it does happen.  Just like deciding to watch an episode of the New Yankee Workshop because you have nothing pressing to do, you are probably very sure that you could never make a china cabinet or a sideboard, you might tune in and watch an episode just to pass the time.  You might see or hear something from Norm that would make you believe that the project is possible. 

It is also likely that you, Senator Sanders, will show a step in the process that can make someone believe that your plan for the future can work. If I were a filmmaker, I would volunteer to do the work of getting this project out to the people.  Your ideas for building a better country are the best that I have seen.  I believe from preparing your birth chart that you have the ability to make a miracle in America, but you need to help us help you.  Once we see the blueprints and can visualize the finished product, it is possible that even the “Red State” people, fearful as they are, could believe in the project coming together. We just need to see someone else do it first, like Norm Abram shows us.  Independence Day is proof positive that change can happen when people decide that they have had enough of tyranny. I write on this blog and send it out there in hopes that it will inspire someone to discover their god given potential and make a difference through behavior true to what they were born to be.  You can show us what a society that aspires to be better and more inclusive looks like, and how you can lead us to that ultimate goal. 

And for the record, the Ferengi were able to put their society back together by implementing Socialist ideals.

When The Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Needs Of The Few. Or The Needs Of The One. Or The 1%.

They say in Astrology that Mercury ruled Virgo is only ruled by that planet as a foster ruler until their true ruling planet of Vulcan is discovered and charted.  It is said that once the discovery of this planet is made, we Virgos will come in to our own like never before and our lives will change dramatically. Until then, we are the step-children in Astrology and will always wonder where our true place in the cosmos lies. I have never doubted this theory for a moment. Certainly not all Virgos are alike, as there are a multitude of unique influences in everyone’s chart, but being a Virgo myself, I know for a fact that our fit in the world is a particularly individual one. A bit like the Vulcan, Sarek (in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) said regarding Klingon justice as being “a unique point of view”. Ours is a unique fit in the larger scheme of things. I was so sad to hear about the passing of Leonard Nimoy recently. His portrayal of the quintessential Vulcan, Spock, in television and film was one of my absolute favorite things about the entire Star Trek saga. He was half- human, half-Vulcan; the very nature of the sixth sign in the zodiac. Spock, Sarek, and just about every other Vulcan in the Star Trek series has Virgo looming large in their maybe fictional, but well defined, characters. It makes you wonder if Gene Roddenberry was in to Astrology!

With a presidential election coming up in November 2016 I have been working on the astrological chart of a Virgo who recently made the declaration that he is running for that office.   A critical look at his chart may tell us what a Virgo president would have to offer in these days of turmoil and uncertainly in America.

I have not researched the number of U.S. presidents we have had who were born in the sign of Virgo, but I would venture to guess that there have not been many. You are more likely to find most of them born in air signs and fire signs. Lots of ego is normally required to prompt an aspiration this high, but sometimes people can surprise you. Any time an unlikely hero appears it is probably because the system is greatly out of whack. We are experiencing a great many out-of-whack situations today and I am sure that this is the only reason that Bernie Sanders has tossed his hat in to the ring.

Bernie was born September 8, 1941. His sun sign is Virgo and his moon sign is Taurus. There were two different references for Bernie regarding his moon sign in the tables that I consulted to work his chart. One of them said that he had the  moon in Aries, not Taurus. As with any reference, it is only as good as the calculators who put it together. I would not say that the information is open to interpretation necessarily, but I will say that having researched the inherent qualities of an Aries influence verses a Taurus influence, there is nothing in the quality of an Aries moon that would explain Bernie’s lifelong interest in the welfare of others and the path that he has served on with regard to the problems of the poor and disenfranchised, and his excellence in economics as the influence of Taurus would. The place of birth (which for Bernie is Brooklyn, New York) is considered when doing the calculation, but one must also rule with what one knows intuitively in these cases. Without knowing the time that he was born, I cannot calculate precisely that Taurus is factually accurate, nor can I calculate his rising sign, but we can get a pretty accurate view of what he is without knowing this. It is possible that he has Taurus rising, which may strongly influence his true self. You may be the judge of whether or not you recognize Taurus traits, but I do not see the necessary Aries traits well enough to make the call for that to be his moon sign. Bernie was also born in the sign of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. Not your average person to seek a position as high as the presidency, but one that will not shrink from the position of making his voice known when he sees that others are not putting a voice of fairness and reason out there as they should be.

There is a scene in the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still where the residents of the boarding house where the spaceman Klaatu is staying (unbeknownst to them) are having a conversation at the breakfast table about how frightened and bewildered they are with a “spaceman” running loose in their city.  One of them asks “Why doesn’t the government do something?” Another says that the government probably doesn’t know what to do about the situation as they are just people.  There is a Bernie Sanders/Virgo/Taurus at the table who says “People my foot!  They’re Democrats!”  Spoken like a true earth sign!  I suspect that the character Klaatu in the film is also a Virgo, based on his impatience with the “stupidity” of the people of Earth. The actor, Michael Rennie, who portrayed Klaatu was also a Virgo. Bernie Sanders knows what to do because he has studied the matter and wrestled with its implications for a long time before he opens his mouth and proffers a solution. You can bet that he has one, just like the man at the table is sure that the Democrats do because they are the ones who are in the business of knowing. Don’t ever doubt it. Bernie is in the business of knowing because he probably doesn’t sleep nights until he has worked out the best and most balanced solution to whatever is wrong. As with Spock, it is only logical. It has nothing to do with whether or not he is liked or whether he makes a good impression on the people who fancy themselves to be important. It has everything to do with what will work to solve the problem.

The Virgo/Taurus combination is usually comfortably in the position where they feel that they can be most effective already by the time they reach Bernie’s age. I would say that he is feeling a discomfort with his current status, as in he no longer feels that his position in the Senate can adequately address the preponderance of troubles he sees in this country and he therefore sees the need to be in a position of making more of a difference than is possible in his senate post. There is also the possibility that he wants to be in the position of taking to task other presidential hopefuls by challenging them in a higher forum than his senate position allows. Taking the next step toward higher office was likely thought out long and hard before he decided to run for the Presidency. It is not in his nature at all to seek a grand position unless he truly believes that reason has been abandoned and logic is no longer being used. Virgo/Taurus is not the thought police. They normally are too busy with their own work and principles to step in and push their views onto people who aren’t of the same mind set,  but when others aren’t getting the job done you will most likely hear it from Virgo first. Others may have louder voices, but it is usually pretty easy to spot a dissenting voice that makes itself known by crowing or barking in ego from one that has done his research on the issue and speaks out with the authority of one who has studied why current thought is not effective. This is Bernie Sanders, pure and simple.

Bernie has Mercury and Venus in Libra which tells me that he is quick, inventive, and has advanced and open-minded views. This is evident in his position on gay rights. As I said before, Virgos are not the thought police, but they do know when there is an imbalance in prevailing views, and everything in Bernie’s chart tells me that he doesn’t have to be one of the disenfranchised to know a disenfranchising issue when he sees it. He was apparently out there rallying for causes even in his youth.

There is an aspect in Bernie’s chart that tends toward being more influenced by the views of one’s mother. It is possible that Bernie’s mother was someone who held strong beliefs and was able to influence him greatly toward what he would become as an adult.

Of all the people that I have done charts on, famous or not, I rarely see one where the public face of the person is as true to their inherent self as Bernie Sanders appears to be. There are traits in his chart that one cannot possibly see as truth without knowing him intimately, but in viewing what the universe sent him here with on the day he was born, I see no contradiction in what he says and what astrology says about him. He is unique in that he does not seem to want anything other than what would bring this country together for the betterment of all. Once a person has their own needs met in this life there are only two things left that one may strive for; they will either strive to see that others have the opportunity to create a life like that, or they will set about to create trouble for those that they deem not as good. There has to be something at their core that makes a person advocate on behalf of others. Not everyone has that in them. Our task is to discern in the available pool of those who wish to represent us who has that capability and who does not. We try to make the most informed choices based on what they say and the information that is available to us from the media, but we can be easily fooled when the inner person has been separated from that which they believe will get them love and accolades. So many people create a public face to hide their true self, like in the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. While it is a world where we are expected to meet the demands and expectations of others in order to attain employment or have a relationship, it is a problem that we will always find difficult to overcome if we do not find and embrace the trueness of what we are and are meant to be.  I do not know if Bernie has ever had a chart done before, but he is one of those rare people who appears to live and be just exactly what he was created to be. What an amazing thing to see in an age of narcissism and selfishness!  It may be that the planet Vulcan is closer than ever to being discovered. It would seem that its influence is already being felt by Bernie Sanders, who is taking the ultimate step forward into what he could truly be. We could all take a lesson.