Engulfed in freedom

I've been talking a bit about Aquarius lately, and it struck me that the Sun is actually currently going through Aquarius. Naturally, this is when I decided to read a book called When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris. This oddly goes together with the Sun burning through Aquarius.

David Sedaris, the author, was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. I really don't know why everything has been converging in the Carolinas lately. Of course, they fit in with the theme of duality and opposition I've been discussing lately (more to come in a post about The Black Swan). Here we have the North/South opposition, which brings to mind the Twin Pillars and so on. I'll come back to this soon.

What else is going on astrologically? Well, we previously talked about how Uranus is in Pisces, which can be associated with the recent floods in Brazil and Australia. Uranus brings about changes and shocks, and Pisces is the mutable water sign. In addition, part of the Arab world is undergoing an upheaval: there have been revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. Pisces is also the sign of spirituality, so it's interesting that these heavily religious countries are going through these protests.

Furthermore, like I've mentioned before, the Sun is currently in Aquarius, thus intensifying its aspects. Aquarians are freedom-loving, and what do they demand in these Arab revolutions? More freedom.

As if that weren't enough, Neptune is currently moving from Capricorn to Aquarius. Neptune is Capricorn is associated with power and control, whereas Neptune in Aquarius is associated with freedom and independence. Would it be a stretch to say that Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen correspond to the three points of Neptune's trident?

Coming back to the Carolinas, a search for the meaning of the name is revealing: Carolina is a feminine form of Charles, or Carl, which means 'free man.' The Carolinas were named after King Charles I of England, who was the last true king of England, in the sense that all those who came after him were kings in a parliamentary monarchy.

The largest city in North Carolina is Charlotte, another name derived from Charles, while the largest city in South Carolina is Columbia, the same goddess depicted in the Statue of Liberty (and referenced in the District of Columbia, naturally). She is a representation of America in certain contexts, and you might know her as Lady Liberty. Or, you know, Lady Freedom.

Lady Liberty reminds me, not coincidentally I'm sure, of Lady Justice; they are probably one and the same. "With freedom and justice for all," right? They are represented by Astraea ("Star Maiden)", more commonly known as the Virgin of the constellation Virgo. Astraea is associated with the goddess of Justice, Dike, who supposedly left the Earth in disgust at human greed. The constellation of Libra represents her scales.

On the day of the revolutions in Egypt, January 25th, the Moon was in Virgo. This brings us back to the idea of freedom, as well as justice, which is what the protesters are after. Astraea can also be associated with Venus (Isis, Astarte, etc...), which happened to be in Libra in January.

What does this all mean? Well, beyond the old As Above, So Below, you tell me, I guess (:

Diamond's cruel fates

Ah, synchronicity. Today I saw an interesting bit of news. This is curious in light of my post on The Brothers Bloom. In a nutshell, there's a moment when I talk about Isaac Newton and his dog Diamond. Supposedly, the dog accidentally knocked over a candle, setting Newton's whole library on fire. And then...

A 65-year-old Pacolet Mills woman is accused of hanging and burning a 1-year-old pit bull after the animal chewed her Bible. 

Miriam Fowler Smith, of 410 John Worthy Road, Pacolet Mills, is charged with ill treatment of animals in general, torture, according to an arrest warrant. Smith's nephew told officers he left the animal at the home he shared with his aunt during the recent winter weather. After returning, he could not find the dog, named Diamond, and he assumed she had broken the chain that kept her on the home's front porch, according to a report filed by a Spartanburg County environmental enforcement officer.

The man later told officers his aunt admitted to killing the animal, calling it a “devil” dog, and authorities were called to investigate.

After officers responded to the home, the woman told them she killed the dog because it had chewed her Bible and she feared for the safety of neighborhood children.

Officers found the dog's body, which had been partially burned, lying in a pile of dried grass. An orange extension cord had been tied tightly around the dog's neck and in its mouth.

Via GoUpstate.com

Say what? An ignorant fundamentalist burns a dog named Diamond? You couldn't make these stories up...The best part of all: Pacolet Mills¹ is in SOUTH CAROLINA.

And I can't believe this just occurred to me, but I completely forgot about the Bowie album:

Diamond Dogs is controversial due to the original picture of the album, which included the dog's genitalia (this castration brings to mind the castration of Uranus, whom I talked about recently: Gaia is in sorrow because Ouranos [his Greek name] has imprisoned her children in Tartarus, so she sends her son Cronus [not to be confused with Chronos] to castrate Ouranos).

The first track in the album is the old classic "Rebel, Rebel:"

Is it just me or is it kind of creepy where the arrow of the "play" button is pointing there? From the lyrics:

Rebel, rebel, you've torn your dress.

Rebel, rebel, your face is a mess.

Rebel, rebel, how could they know? 

Hot tramp, I love you so!

Careful with that candle, Jock.

Needless to say, the rebel sign in the zodiac is probably Aquarius. Remember the Aquarius Knight and his disciple the Swan Knight? The Swan Knight's main attack was "Diamond Dust:"

I'm sure there are more hits coming.



¹ - Curiously, when I googled Pacolet Mills to see in which state it was (*shivers*), I came across this picture:

 The label on the shirt says 'Dawg.' Why not?

Water and ice

So I was reading about archetypal astrology (Jung, and so on), which got me thinking about Uranus (there's an interesting argument made by some that Uranus should be renamed Prometheus, partly to avoid bad cow puns). It's currently in the constellation of Pisces. I came across this:

Pisces is ruled by Neptune, and Uranus is ruled by Aquarius. Since they have swapped signs -- planetary trading spaces -- the two planets are said to be in "mutual reception." They are reinforcing each other at this time. With Uranus in Pisces, we can have shocking floods literally, but there are also waves of consciousness that change the psychic landscape. Neptune in the sign of the Waterbearer (Aquarius) brings on waves that run through the global mind, as triggers for revolutionary change. Are dreams of great floods about actual deluges, or are they symbolic for a wave of consciousness overtaking everyone? These two heavy hitting outer planets bring both kinds of waves, suddenly, to change our world.

And what's going on right now? Epic floods all over the southern hemisphere.

What's the connection with everything else? I don't know, really. I think it's a good sign that this could also imply a "wave of consciousness," but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

There's another curious angle. Aquarius is also known as an "iceman," because he tends to be colder in relation to people than most others, slightly aloof.

Meanwhile, this winter has been historically freezing in the northern hemisphere. In the anime series Knights of the Zodiac, each constellation is represented by a Knight, or Saint, who has powers related to that constellation. The Aquarius Saint Knight has ice powers (which his disciple eventually uses against him), since Aquarius is indeed the sign of ice, essentially.

Incidentally, the Knight, Camus, is named after the French-Algerian philosopher and novelist Albert Camus.

I mentioned the movie I Heart Huckabees recently. One of the influences on the movie was Camus:

In his essays Camus presented the reader with dualisms: happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc.

Once again we come back to dualisms. Speaking of which, I recently saw Black Swan, and I was astounded. I cannot say enough about it, and I've only seen it once. In the future I'm going to post about the Edgar Allan Poe overtones of the film, which are quite salient. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to.

Oh, and did I mention that Camus's disciple is the Saint Knight for the constellation of Swan?

I've seen lots of good movies lately, all of which I'd love to talk about. However, that's not really realistic. I do intend to make comments about a select few, though, including the aforementioned two. I don't intend to make any of them as extensive as the post about The Brothers Bloom.

Anyway, it's just that this was all very interesting given that I'm an Aquarius myself...

The Lady in Black pt. 1

So this is the Lady in Black. She seems to me a manifestation (an avatar, a simulacrum, whatever you want to call it) of Light (or the pleroma, or heaven, or Plato's world of ideas - I tend to think archetypally, names aren't important). She comes, not to save us, but rather to guide and comfort us. She does not act directly, but is more of a spirit guide or something. These are all just names, the idea here is what's important.

She comes to those lost in darkness. The black garment is simply a cloak, hiding the True light beneath. This is what happens in Brothers Bloom - remember Penelope's black poncho over her orange shirt?

I watched another movie recently, Ondine. I have to watch it again, obviously, but it seems to me Ondine is also a Lady in Black. I'll explore this in further detail in future posts.

I hope you understand my point here. We all try to give different names to the same things. This reminded me of a Death Cab for Cutie (propably a recurring band here) song, which seems to pretty much say the same thing as I thought.

Alone on a train aimless in wonder
An outdated map crumbled in my pocket
But I didn't care where I was going
'Cause they're all different names for the same place.

The coast disappeared when the sea drowned the sun *wink*
And I knew no words to share with anyone
The boundaries of language I quietly cursed
And all the different names for the same thing

There are different names for the same things
There are different names for the same things...

Ultimately, there are things that can't be thought in human thoughts, can't be expressed in human words or pictures or sounds. This is why concepts and symbols are important, and this is the vaguely the concept of the Lady in Black I'm trying to transmit.

She is opposed diametrically by the Lady in Red, the Whore of Babylon.

The Lady in Black is akin to Mary Magdalene (I recommend this article too) in the way that the Lady in Red is akin to the antichrist.

This idea of polar opposites is something that's been coming up to me a lot lately. It was expressed in I Heart Huckabees, a movie I saw recently and will explore here in the future.

Not a movie about hillbillies.

Anyway, I hope this elucidates a little some of the themes I will be dealing with here. In the meantime, I suggest you try to think of your life from a slightly more 'archetypal' angle, because I think you will see things there that are very revealing.