O C T O B E R    2 0 0 4   

by Maya del Mar

There are signs that a civil war is brewing within the government, a struggle against the distorted thinking which has driven the current Administration into near wholesale destruction of the planet and its beings.

Armageddon fans may appreciate this fulfilling of biblical prophecy, but many of the rest of us (and most of the rest of the world) consider that this nation is involved in a huge national psychosis which is leading the world down a path which is counter to the highest values of America and of humankind.

Astrologically, any one of the three outer planets (Pluto, Neptune, Uranus) connected with Mercury can indicate the potential for mental derangement. Mercury in the U.S. chart has close connections with ALL THREE of those planets. Pluto opposes Mercury, Neptune sextiles Mercury, and Uranus semi-squares Mercury.

All of those planets affect the unconscious, which is very complex and over which we have very little conscious control, and yet that unconscious determines—willy-nilly it seems—much of our behavior.

Major negative effects of Pluto are power used for destruction; of Uranus, willfulness; and of Neptune, denial. Neptune is the most insidious, because it blinds us to reality, or puts us into a trance. (See my article on Neptune in The Mountain Astrologer, which will be on the newsstands soon.)

Pluto transiting in the U.S. first house (for the first time) is going down to the depths of our national psyche, and dredging up our shadows.

Pluto digs into the bottom of things. Pluto first conjoined the U.S. Ascendant when GW Bush was nominated for the Presidency. He became the one to begin exposing the U.S. shadows.

He was a natural, for his Mercury is also connected to the three outer planets with a pattern very similar to that in the U.S. chart. Pluto closely conjoins his Mercury, Uranus semi-squares his Mercury, and Neptune sextiles his Mercury.

Bush becomes the perfect projection of the unconscious mind of the U.S. Furthermore, his Mercury sits in his first house, where he personally expresses it.

When Pluto exposes our long-repressed shadows, we are shocked, frightened, terrified, and depressed. (Think 9-11.) The work then is to heal, to integrate the long-denied shadow into consciousness, to become whole. Then it can no longer inexplicably run our lives. This can be a long process, especially in a country such as ours which has denied its shadows from the beginning.

Many of us hope that we can now begin that healing process, which must begin with honesty and a desire for true reconciliation.