©2001 Lisa Dale Miller
astrowisdom.com
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PERMISSION MUST BE GRANTED BY THE AUTHOR
FOR USE ON WEB SITES AND FOR OUTSIDE PUBLISHING

(originally posted in late Sept 2001)

I dedicate these words to all the people who died on September 11, 2001.
I pray their souls find rest, peace and return.

 

I was deeply distressed last night by President Bush's speech. Our government is leading us down a path that is inadvisable, unwinnable, and will only lead to more deaths and destruction around the globe and here at home. I feel it is my job today, as an astrologer to provide our leaders and my fellow citizens with some thoughts on bringing our goals more in line with America's destiny and its true role as a leader in the family of nations.

 

 

In America's birthchart we can see two very strong impulses to move in two very different directions. America has a clear mission as a nation. Be the salvation for peoples in every land who are in need of comfort and healing. This is so powerfully evident in the Stellium of planets in Cancer in the 7th and 8th houses. Sun (identity), Venus (ability to love), Jupiter (expansion in relationship), Mercury (communication skills, ideas) and the Part of Fortune (mission to achieve bliss) are all found in Cancer the sign of empathy, compassion and nurturance. This is America's true role in the world and is so beautifully portrayed by the words on the Statue of Liberty, "give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Send thee the helpless, tempest tossed to me......"

Concurrent with this strong impulse to nurture, and expressed through the placement of Pluto in Capricorn in the 2nd house, is an even stronger impulse toward gaining and maintaining our economic power by ensuring our security at any cost.

America also has a legacy of a deep desire for freedom, south node in Aquarius. Our nation was founded by people who craved freedom to worship as they pleased, to live a life based on what they considered equality. But the reality is, these freedoms were only extended to white, landowning males (Pluto in Capricorn) and were achieved through violence and genocide of native peoples who inhabited the land we now call America. For centuries America has lived under this delusion of being a free nation. As America has grown up over the last 100 years, we have seen these "freedoms" extended, ostensibly to all our citizens. But we do not have equal rights for women, or same sex partners under the laws of this nation. Our free society is viewed in the context of the many repressive regimes that exist in this world, and by that standard we are very lucky.

Last night, our President described what life is like in Afghanistan and he was correct. What he left out, was that in our effort to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan during the late 1970's and early 1980's, we trained and armed the men who became the Taliban. Mercury in Cancer, placed in the 8th house, is America's Achilles heal. Our government consistently manipulates the feelings of its people by lying and telling half-truths, in order to achieve it's goals. America's progressed Pluto has just passed over its natal Pluto. We are being challenged to carefully look at how our economic power has effected the rest of the world. A nation can only usurp 3/4 of the world's resources for so long, before the effects of this kind of greed come home to roost. In fact, though last week's attacks were abhorrent, the roots of terrorism lie in the hatred of a nation that has considered itself privileged beyond any other, and clung to it's addiction to consumption like a drug. America must now rise to the occasion and look at itself with honesty and clarity. This means truly embracing the Stellium of planets in the 7th house and acting from the level of the heart and not from our attachment to greed and power. This is the struggle America is currently engaged in.

Uranus the awakener, is moving through America's 2nd house, forcing us to wake up to the consequences of our greed and the horrible things we have done as a nation to ensure our economic superiority. America is addicted to the notion that wealth equals security. Pluto in Capricorn in the 2nd house.

The proper way for our government to deal with this current crisis is to be honest with its people. Tell our history as it has never been told before, with clarity and honesty. There was no talk last night of the breakdown in our own national security. Only threats to other nations to be with us or against us. Our armed forces are being sent all over the world to kill and destroy. And do not delude yourself, many more than 6000 innocent people will be killed as "collateral damage" in this war we are about to start. We need to look to our own soil and fix what is broken here at home. The solution is not abroad.

The Saturn/Pluto opposition is placed at the most critical point in America's natal chart: conjunct the Ascendant in Sagittarius/Gemini. This is our chance as a nation to use our power (Pluto) by rising above (Sagittarius) our desire for vengeance and retribution, and act from our higher will, by interjecting a new philosophy of power into the world structure. POWER-WITH, rather than POWER-OVER. If we want to root out terrorism, we need to admit our past support of repressive regimes in Arab nations, who ensured our open-channel to oil reserves, and empower the people living in those nations. We must become generous with the rest of the world. We can no longer achieve our high standard of living on the backs of so many poor and starving people around the world. Let the rest of the world be our teacher now, (Saturn in Gemini in the 7th house). We need to listen in order to lead, we need to love and be responsive to the needs of others in order to ensure our own security. Not destroy them through violence.

Our government is taking us down a path that will only lead to suffering and destruction. It is our job now to enlighten them, to force them to stop, to think, to connect with its people, who are scared and need healing, not war.

Call your representatives. Call the White House 202-456-1414. Tell them you do not support this war effort. DO NOT BE SILENT!

©2001 Lisa Dale Miller
astrowisdom.com
All rights reserved
PERMISSION MUST BE GRANTED BY THE AUTHOR FOR USE ON WEB SITES AND FOR OUTSIDE PUBLISHING