Facing Reality

There are 5 squares between planets in Capricorn and Mars in Aries beginning the week of January 4, 2021 through February 19, 2021.

JANUARY
8 – Mercury SQUARE Mars
12 – Mars SQUARE Saturn
23 – Mars SQUARE Jupiter
FEBRUARY
1 – Sun SQUARE Mars
19 -Venus SQUARE Mars

Mars SQUARE Jupiter between January 12 and January 23 is the timeframe I’m most concerned about, especially 13th and 14th and the 20th and 21st. Moon entering Capricorn and Aries respectively. I see two possible scenarios playing out.

First scenario is that forces of insurrection maximize the tools on hand to marshal their forces and bring their goal to completion. Mars SQUARE Saturn is much more taciturn and stern in terms of how much the two planet interact. Saturn is not with the BS. But, Jupiter?

Saturn in Capricorn sees the Fire of Mars in Aries and is unmoved. Jupiter on the other hand adds gasoline to the Fire. And the idea of a violent clash that leads to much death and harm is very very possible during those dates I mentioned.

Based on each planet’s unique relationship to Aries, Saturn is the planet that can stop this. How? Actual physical barricades, covid, death, imprisonment, hospitalizations. Venus in Capricorn actually can, too. But, that square isn’t until mid February. That’s when I see more military and police cooperation against rebellious forces. Sun and Jupiter, unfortunately, are friendly to Aries so there is some cooperation there.

The 2nd scenario I see a possibility for is that there’s a concerted effort to quench forces of insurrection, or covid deaths + fallout overtakes everything else. The only reason I see this as a possibility is because Saturn in Capricorn will be in charge of every planet in the sky (except Mars) come February 11. As a matter of fact, this is the case once Venus enters Capricorn January 27.

Either way, it ain’t over yet!

One last piece: These squares also correlate to other things going on like lockdowns, work stoppages, grounding of planes and travel, closing of restaurants and other businesses. Mars is movement, period. And so when it is participating in all of the squares, there are many forces at play that inhibit or block to stop Mars movement, or to narrow its path of possible movement.

As I have repeatedly said, Mars in Aries is about doing some thing because you possess the ability or will to do it. It does not take into consideration external factors that impact the outcome or lead to consequences, negative or positive.

I do not think we are going to go back to the kinds of sheltering in place we saw back in March and April 2020. At that time Mars was in Capricorn with the Jupiter and Saturn. And so Mars really could not move at all. With that being said, Once the Sun enters Capricorn (January 13) it will be building towards its square with Mars in Aries. We must keep an eye on leadership and how it uses its influence and power to quench forces of rebellion as well as stop the spread of c0vid.

On The False Binary of Masculine & Feminine in Astrology

The content of this post was originally published in a series of tweets in response to this post:

What I’m about to share here is actually something I’ve been thinking about for the past several months. It has to do with how each planet (save the Sun and Moon which are lights) rule two signs each.

In the past I have understood this as representing the binary of masculinity and femininity. But what I understand now is that the previously understood division of each planet into two natures described as masculine and feminine is actually a poor attempt at articulating that each planet contains a circular, rather than polar (read: binary) embodiment of a principle.

For example, Mars can be understood through the expressions of Aries and Scorpio. At first glance this appears to be articulating a binary, where Aries is masculine and Scorpio is feminine.

Here are two visuals which might help you understand what I am articulating.

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This also relates to the concept of an objective form or social construct where a pattern of form is observed and from that observed pattern is created a construct. The construct is now separate from the form from which it was inspired by. And now the forms which inspired the construct are forced to conform to (read: change their form and take the shape of) that construct.

You can understand this as relating to any noun used to describe or define a human. Every single one is a construct. From boy, girl, woman, man, family, teacher, preacher, doctor, teenager, woman, adult, elder, etc. Each began as an observation of form from which a construct was created.

So I think the issue here with the terms masculine and feminine, and how they are often used as euphemisms for gender has to do with the fact that it is difficult for us to think outside of binaries. Forms (which is what zodiac signs are) appear to “naturally” manifest as these binaries when in fact they only wear the clothes of the binaries.

Astrology can be helpful when we understand each planet in the ways that I’ve described before. In the case of mars, there isn’t a binary of masculine vs feminine correlating to Aries vs Scorpio. There is a circular spectrum with much overlap, Which brings me to my last point.

The binaries of gender and our obsession with classifying things in those terms has concealed some deep wisdom that astrology offers us. This is why I prefer to use the terms diurnal or yang for “masculine” and nocturnal or yin for “feminine.”

The wisdom that astrology has to offer us says that no planet, no sign, no house, and no aspect can ever be understood in isolation. All you will ever get from observing a single planet etc. is a glimpse of what it actually speaks to.

Elsewhere I have said that sidereal astrology is the study of relationships. There is no separate topic called ‘relationship astrology’. When we are examining the birth chart we are examining relationships between planets. And planets are people first, and zodiac signs point us to planets.

For example, this means that when you examine Mars in your birth chart, even if you have no Aries placements or Scorpio placements, Mars contains the forms of expression we understand as Aries or Scorpio. What does this really mean? Each expression of a planet that we observe in the forms of the zodiac signs are wholly contained in each planet.

Mars in a birth chart always contains both (Aries) personal boundaries + physical capacity for movement + the enforcing of the personal will AND (Scorpio) drive for biological self preservation as observed via the nervous system and its relationship with the rest of the body + other people’s bodies.

However, the form of how, in this example, Mars is expressed is where the social construct comes in. So in some ways the zodiac signs are the social construct, they are the form the planets take on via how they are socialized in relationships and community.

I want to add that the problem has never been with the social construct. Constructs are how we organize society. The problem is with how the constructs are used to create hierarchies of power. And how power redefines constructs as a means to its own self preservation.

For example, ‘mother’ is a social construct. I have no problem with ‘mother’. It is an accurate descriptor of the role I play in certain contexts. I have a problem with how identifying with and taking on this role situates me in terms of who and what I have access to in society.

Mars in Aries (December 23, 2020 through February 21, 2021 )

Mars moves through the sign sidereal Aries December 23, 2020 through February 21, 2021

Aries ram by The People's Orace
  • Acting in accordance with your abilities
  • Rooted in the power of your will
  • Fueled by your own strength
  • Resisting external attempts to control you
  • Choosing the direction and pace that you move in

Since Mars in Aries will be locked in squares with all the other planets which will be in Capricorn, the keywords here are :

  • Restraint
  • Self-discipline
  • Management

Mars in Aries is teaching me:

  • A healthy and flexible tolerance for difference
  • That I can in fact trust my power to control myself
  • I do know how to engage with my personal boundaries in a way that keeps me safe
  • I am powerful!

#QOTD What is Mars in Aries teaching you?

2021: The Will to Live

Free-will is the cornerstone upon which the Cult of Individualism is built. The core tenet of this cult’s doctrine is that each individual person is the master of their own fate—we are free because we have a will. With this will each individual person holds in their hands the power of their own life and death, wealth or poverty, sickness or health, love or loneliness, joy or grief. The power of force, self-discipline, and labor is all you need to conquer and subdue the will into manifesting whatever you desire.

This indoctrination into the myth of free-will has not illuminated the key to our liberation. Instead, it has created the most successful campaign of settler colonialism in human history.

Black circle on top of a black background with many shades of yellow and gold dots splattered about. Text reads: The People's Oracle Presents 2021: The Will to Live.

This campaign of settler colonialism has been wildly successful because it institutes a form of colonization that does not require the conquering of a people by taking their land and resources. It colonizes the mind-body, first, which makes the colonized surrender land, resources, and labor without much resistance. In fact, once colonized, they become willing evangelists for the cause of free-will, doing the missionary work of the colonizers for them.

Human survival is as much about the perpetuation of power hierarchies, as it is about the perpetuation of biological life. Those power hierarchies use the myth of free-will to possess and colonize the bodies of those who would otherwise seek to preserve their own lives. Instead power preserves itself at the expense of the life and bodies of those it disenfranchises.

Grind now, sleep later. Be sure that you’re at the top of the tower of oppression. Scratch and claw your way up there. We’re animals. Dog eat dog. Fight to survive. Where is the freedom in this?

If your will is truly free, if your complete fate is in your own hands, then how could you or would you hold accountable those who use the constructs of race, gender, sexuality, and class to maintain their power over you? Your fate is your fault, right? What does power have to do with it?

Is your will really free if its ultimate function, if the ultimate evidence of its success is that you have overpowered another person, or group of people? Is free will free if it is compelled to be as adjacent to whiteness as possible? Aligning yourself with the cause of men’s assumed authority over all, so that you can benefit from patriarchy? To make sure that your labor is worth more than everyone else’s labor? This is your freedom of will? This is what you chose with it?

2020 made it clear that the will is anything but free. Instead, the human will is the unwitting host to the force of life. Life is a consuming force that compels, controls, and devours its hosts. It is not contained in a singular being or mind, rather it is the sum total of all that breathes, and all exists in the mind, conscious, subconscious, and unconscious. Our refusal to accept the true nature of the will has stripped us of any bit of freedom we may have had. 

What is the evidence of a colonized mind-body? Lack of imagination. Not only unable to see what does not exist, but unable to actually see what is, free from the lens and gaze of your colonizers. The imagination is the beginning of freedom. First, seeing clearly what is, then daring to envision an alternate reality. The will is the life force that compels us to bring down an imagined reality from the fantasy and dream worlds into the material world. Free your mind-body, and the rest will follow.

But you must first realize the reality of your imprisonment. How can you do so when your very survival instinct has been colonized by the myth of free-will?

In 2021, dare to feel. Feeling is the beginning of resistance. Rebellion starts in the body. And dare to dream. Imagine your way to freedom. Survival requires an active imagination. Decolonize your survival instinct.