THE SOOTHESAYER INTERNET NEWSLETTER

May 2011

·        Lunations this month:  New Moon May 3^rd at 12 degrees of Taurus; Full Moon on May 17th at 26 degrees Scorpio.

It’s All About the Economy

Last month, Ben Bernanke’s first public press conference ever for a Federal Reserve Chairman did not silence his critics.  Rep. Ron Paul made an announcement with regard to his running for President ( who wants to eliminate the Federal Reserve).  We witnessed the run-up of gold, silver, and oil to all time highs.  The dollar fell.  Economist Joseph Stieglitz pointed to the fact that no progress has been made with regard to creating jobs.  This all adds up to a resounding lack of confidence in the Fed as an institution.    The looming question is:  Has the Federal Reserve since it was founded in 1913, ever saved us from a serious recession or depression?

In actuality, we are between a rock and a hard place.  Raising interest rates to strengthen the falling dollar would likely hurt the stock market and destroy what little remains of a housing market in which almost no mortgage lending is taking place.  Quantitative easing, the practice of our buying our own Treasuries, will be ending in June.  There is a monumental fight in Congress with regard to raising the debt ceiling.  In truth, the crisis we have is a revenue problem.    The richest Americans, where most of the money lies, are paying few taxes as their money is “off-shored” or saved by income tax loop holes.  Last month, it was announced that General Electric paid zero income tax for 2010.  Oil companies and industrialized farming corporations are still getting “subsidies”.   The favorite occupation of the “banksters”, trading trillions of dollars in derivatives, goes on unchecked.  About 47% of our population pays no taxes because they make so little money.   This fact is pathetic in and of itself because it shows massive unemployment or people with jobs paying nearly nothing.  Close to half of the U.S. budget goes for military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other bases throughout the world.  Relentless cutting of government jobs, both at the federal and state levels, makes unemployment worse. 

Traditionally, political parties are defined as left (the government should control the economy) or right (private enterprise should control the economy).  The media has been busy “spinning” how we should be in the “center”; that is, where things are now.  The “center” is where the government is in bed with multinational corporations and giant banks.  There is little competition or balance of power that healthy capitalism and democracy promise and were put forth by our Founders.  There is only the “absolute power that corrupts absolutely”.  And “the people” come last.

This month, suggests some progress the first week with Jupiter trining and sextile the moon’s nodes, but between the 11^th and the 18^th, Mercury, Venus and Mars in Taurus   symbolizes a reversal in positions, unwelcome surprises, accidents, and weird weather conditions.  The New Moon chart for Washington, D.C. shows most planets bunched up in the second house of finance and Saturn retrograde in the 8^th house of jointly held resources is quincunx both the Sun and the Moon, a classic aspect of dis-function.  The “war” degree of Antares is on the Midheaven; thus, continued financing of the military in Afghanistan will come up as a big issue.  The Full Moon quincunx Jupiter would confirm a need to recognize the impossibility of past goals there and the need to find an acceptable pattern of withdrawal.  Pres. Obama’s recent shifting of appointments; i.e. Leon Panetta as Defense Secretary, Gen Patraeus as CIA Director, and Gen. John Allen as head of the forces in Afghanistan all suggest a switch in war tactics and point toward our actually beginning an exit there in July as the President suggested earlier in the year.  Spending enormous amounts of money on deployed troops, fancy and expensive weaponry, etc. may actually be beginning to end.  Targeted missions by “special forces” in areas surveyed by the CIA may be a more intelligent approach to ferreting out enemies and terrorists.  This may point to a first step in this direction.

Revolution or Evolution?

Libya (September 3, 1969, 6:30 AM, Tripoli, Libya) continues to fight for its independence from the Gaddafi regime with Uranus opposing their Uranus, sextile their Moon, both increasing the resolve of the rebels this month.  My take is that there is likely to be some kind of a settlement there in October when Saturn is trine their Solar Arc Saturn and sextile their Natal Mars.  Syria (Jan. 1, 1944, 12:00 AM, Damascus, Syria) points to a long, slow battle going on between protesters and Pres. Assad.  Pluto is slowly moving onto their Sun over the next two years.  Saturn is square Mercury and sextile Jupiter toward the end of this year.  Their only hope is that the army may decide to defect to the protesters and this will take time.  Egypt (March 15, 1922, 10:00 AM, Cairo, Egypt) will likely stabilize in September and October when elections will be held.  Interestingly, the chart of Palestine shows some hope in that Jupiter will sextile their Moon in June and cross their Sun in about a year from now.  Progress for an acceptable peace with Israel may actually be made there, at long last.  Zaire (July 1, 1960, 12:00 AM Kinshasa, Zaire) shows Saturn in the 7^th House, square Venus and Saturn with the July 1^st Solar eclipse opposite Pluto hitting their birth Sun.  This is very, very difficult for the people there engaged in upheaval and getting only resistance from other nations rather than help.  The questions raised by many are concerning whether these nations are overthrowing their present oppressive despotic governments only to replace them with something worse, or are they evolving in the direction of democracy and self-determination.

The Economy:

The unstable aspects connected with the lunations this month only reinforce that the present patterns and institutions support a handful of powerful plutocrats and nobody else.  Frenzy around digging for oil, fracking for gas, and putting up nuclear plants is all being revealed to be endangering life on our planet.  The predictions climatologists have been making for years are unfolding before our eyes.  Last month’s tornado devastation is added to massive flooding, fires, droughts that are occurring around the world with a frequency and intensity never seen before.  The grouping of planets in Aries is young, impatient, and ready for action.  Over the long term, investments in battery technology (energy storage), solar panels, wind power, energy conserving architecture, conversion of waste into energy, etc. is the way to go.  Oil companies, from a financial perspective, will be profitable as long as the energy crisis is with us.  Those of you who have been visiting this site on a regular basis know that I have been bullish on gold and silver for years.  The ratings and evaluations of the U.S. government have plummeted recently.  The dollar as the world’s reserve currency is coming into question.  Unless Congress is willing to recognize that we have a “revenue problem” and have the will to tax the wealthiest individuals, we will continue to slide downward.  Gold, as money, is a long and hallowed tradition and will simply be a safer place to be.  Other currencies such as the Swiss Franc and the Canadian dollar will be more likely to hold their value.  Between May 20^th an the 22^nd, Mercury, Venus and Mars are all trine Pluto in Capricorn.  This could promote a series of corporate mergers and acquisitions, increasing and consolidating plutonic power.  This could also point to increasing the debt ceiling.

Weather and Other Environmental Uncertainties

Many people have asked me why I did not predict last month’s tornados.  Weather is very difficult to predict because a particular aspect could be expressed in varying locations and systems are constantly moving.  Both Mars and Venus were square Pluto last month which are leading to next year’s Uranus/ Pluto square.  Ahead of us lie significant eclipses targeting the U.S.A. chart.  On June 1^st, The Lunar Eclipse is near the U.S.A. Uranus, the June 15^th Solar Eclipse is near the U.S.A. Mars, and the July 1^st Solar Eclipse is near the U.S.A. Jupiter and Sun and is opposite transiting Pluto.  I will elaborate more on these eclipses in next month’s newsletter, but I think we can expect more severe weather conditions and environmental disasters.   The June 2010 Lunar Eclipse conjunct Pluto I called the “Chernobyl eclipse” has played out as the Gulf Oil eruption and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami nuclear plant disaster.  This year’s July eclipse also hits the chart of Brazil.  They are currently erecting the biggest off-shore drilling operation in history, digging into the ocean for the largest oil deposit ever discovered under the sea.  Uranus is hitting their Pluto square their Neptune/Uranus conjunction.  Extreme care must be exercised in this operation.  The transiting Nodes of the Moon are square the U.S. Neptune between now and the middle of August.  This would suggest floods and some earthquake activity, along with an elevated possibility of more oil spills.

Final Thoughts

M. Gandhi said “We must be the change we wish to see in the world”. 

There are two tendencies that will defeat us as we move forward into the age of upheaval and enlightenment.  The first tendency is to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, paralyzed

      by the forces unleashed by nature and as a result of our own selfishness, greed, and misuse of power.  I have met so many good people who feel there is little or nothing they can do at this point and that is exactly what they are doing; little or nothing.  The second tendency is to deny all this exists by retreating into a kind of foggy cocoon.  The media promotes this kind of escape from problems and challenges through the imaginary world of products that, if you buy them, will solve all your problems.

There is a third way.  This pathway is a resolve to be informed.  Step up to the plate and do your research by reading intelligent analyses of the economy, the environment, science, spirituality and the future.  This is not easy, but will ultimately enable and empower you to make better decisions, both personally and politically.  Have debates with your friends and family.  Your differing opinions will help to inform you and shed light on issues that often get subsumed by fanaticism.  Then, take the time to be quiet and listen.  By opening yourself to a greater consciousness, insight may present itself to you in amazing ways and sometimes when you are looking the other way.  Finally, find your passion.  You may be able to make your contribution through your art, your music, your writings, your engineering and design talent, your invention, your talent for sustainable environmental change and organic gardening, your love of children and family.  The complete puzzle never gets put together without all the pieces.

Soon, you may find yourself participating in the greatest story, yet to be told, of how humanity saved itself and life on earth through an evolutionary leap into the light.  Which choice will you make?  

Linda

  Linda

Linda Schurman