We may be well aware that we have our own fundamentalisms, but I think it can be hard to see that they can be just as extreme. But if you look at some of the American Christians with their “God hates gays” placards, it’s clear that fundamentalism is alive and kicking just as strongly in the west as it is amongst the Muslims.
For some light relief, here's a "Hot Muslim Chick"
We’re just finishing 12 years of Pluto in Sagittarius, with Jupiter having welcomed him in in 1995, and now ushering him out. During this time fundamentalism has proliferated in many forms: philosophically, there has been the very popular materialistic atheism of Richard Dawkins, who ridicules anyone who believes in God or anything like it;
environmentally, we have had the crisis reduced to one issue – CO2 – with the likes of Al Gore denouncing anyone who questions its role in global warming; politically, there has been a belief in democracy so absolute that it justified a war in Iraq, and its imposition on a country completely unsuited (at present) to democracy; and religiously, Christian fundamentalists in the US have risen to political power and waged war on Islam; they have also managed to get creationism on the school syllabus, and have even opened a spurious museum of creationism;
at the same time Islamic fundamentalists have used the Koran to justify attacks on the west, as well as brutal treatment of their own peoples if they don't follow their interpretation of the Koran.
Jupiter left Sag last Tuesday, and Pluto will leave Sag towards the end of January. Fundamentalism has reached its extremes, we have had our eyes opened to it as a potential within modern, technologically advanced humanity, but I reckon the tide is just starting to turn. So long fundamentalism, at least to some extent.
In the US, the political tide has turned against George Bush and the neo-cons; Tony Blair is no longer PM in the UK – he has been replaced by Gordon Brown, who does not share his taste for wars of ‘right’ against ‘wrong’; a bishop in the UK has just been warning against fundamentalist atheism; there is today an article on the BBC News Website entitled "Bible bashing dying out in Kansas", which the author claims is suggestive of a 'revolution in American Christendom'; and the war in Iraq, fuelled so much by Al Qaeda, has eased off considerably in the last few months. Perversely, the recent American refusal (yet again) to commit to CO2 reductions for all the wrong reasons may change the environmental debate, it may become more open, who knows.
Incidentally, Arnold Schwarzenegger, political opportunist that he is, is my current environmental hero for insisting on big emissions cuts in California, and taking the Federal Government to court for not ratifying the emissions laws that he has pushed through. Top Gun meets Terminator.
I’ve always thought with the environmental/energy issue that though America is the worst offender, they will be the ones who come up with the technological solutions, once the economic argument is there. America has a history of amazing resourcefulness. I was reading the other day, for example, about the cutting edge solar cell research that is going on in the US, that promises a step change in making solar energy more economically viable. Let’s hope the price of oil keeps rising.
So goodbye Fundamentalism, hello Big Brother. This is one of the meanings of Pluto in Capricorn: control of the individual by government and by the big corporations.
Positively, we are likely to see much less in the way of economic bubbles and government spin. Negatively, we may be entering a less adventurous, more insecure era. More ominously it will be one in which the government and the big corporations have all sorts of data on us, along with intrusive CCTV. One of the lessons here is that they can’t own our souls, however much information about us is out there. You are not your spending habits, your emails, your Google searches, your criminal record, your CV, your medical records, your earnings or your National Insurance Number. In the last analysis, you are what you know to be of worth within you, which the government can never reduce to data nor take away. I think there’s a lot of freedom in this sort of realisation.
As an aside, Tony Blair formally converted to Catholicism 2 days ago. I think, like his heroine Margaret Thatcher, he is likely to become increasingly rigid and irrelevant as time goes on.
From getreligion.org
Pluto's time in Sag has been life changing for him, but I don't think I want to go there. 3 days after Jupiter entered Cap, he converted to a traditional (Capricorn) religion (Jupiter), one with a not very pleasant history, and whose medieval crusades against Islam he has re-enacted.
11 comments:
Would you agree that Pluto also shows what the public is obsessed with? For example, during the last decade and a bit I think many people, especially young people have become obsessed with travel and seeing distant cultures. Yes that interest has always been there, but it seems to me to have grown massively. I think, in some sense, women are more receptive to the collective psyche than most men, and this obsession with travel is particularly evident in young women. When I look through online profiles on sites like Facebook or dating sites, the common theme amongst women my age is an obsession with travelling to distant countries. Oh, and extreme sports. Another sag/pluto theme.
Also, I although we have the feeling of our lives being fast, I think more changes per year were happening in the 1980s/early 90s than today, when pluto was (apparently) moving more quickly through Scorpio, and now has slown down. Also, the 80s was the height of mass culture, after that the bubble burst, and you no longer had such huge percentages of the population watching , for example, one thing on the TV. Everyone has gone their own way, surfing the net, watching one of the millions of satalitte channels etc. The only thing that surprised me about the 80s was that there wasn't more of an obsession with sex, although perhaps I was just too young to see it. I do remember there being goulish , halloween-esque heavy metal posters everywhere in the 80s, particularly in london, showing skulls and the like.
When Pluto moves through Cap, maybe young people are going to become more obsessed with starting their own businesses, or building their pensions? Maybe mountain climbing will become popular? It certainly feels to me that nostalgia is becomming a more popular trend.
(As for Blair, perhaps he should spend some of the millions hes making from his public speaking on a charity to help the thousands of people maimed by his war, or the families of those killed.)
Yes, pensions and Pluto in Capricorn. With everyone living longer, the pension system is having to be adapted. Like, in the UK, gradually increasing the retirement age to 68.
On reflection, I don't think young women are more *attuned* to the collective psyche, but are more influenced by it.
I remember going to Manchester conference, some years ago, (having a senior moment here, I think it was Donna Cunningham???) She was talking about the Capricorns who were going to come and save the planet. I guess these folk would be just about adults now. The odd thing, was when I looked at my log of families I was looking after at the time, it would be 1990 ish, there was more than the usual number of babies arriving - the Capricorn cohort ? Some of these children have 5 and 6 planets in Capricorn. Usually, there would not be that many babies being born in Jan/feb, so astrologically, I thought there was a connection. Being Capricorn ruled, they will be quite happy with Pluto in Capricorn.
Anyone out there belong to this cohort? Annabel.
The corporate Big brother culture has already commenced. Has anyone else noticed the big cinema chains videoing their audiences as they watch films; ostensibly to prevent any piracy taking place?
"You are not your spending habits, your emails, your Google searches, your criminal record, your CV, your medical records, your earnings or your National Insurance Number. In the last analysis, you are what you know to be of worth within you, which the government can never reduce to data nor take away."
Beautifully put, Dharmaruci.
On another subject, how could that amazingly lovely woman from Egypt be Muslim? We can see her hair, and her body is not covered from wrist to ankle (nor even from hip to hip).
Regarding Darren's question about Pluto's position's indicating what we are obsessed with:
Perhaps you are seeing instead the effects of one's Neptune in the natal chart--? When a particular Neptune generation reaches the target age of a strain of pop culture, the characteristics of the associated products reflect the predilections of that generation.
Take a look at the sexpots on the fronts of Cosmopolitan magazine back when the Neptune in Scorpio generation ruled the world. I hated it! I'm a part of the Neptune in Sagittarius generation, and, believe me, the shift in focus from highly gender-identified, dark, "naughty" sexuality to androgynous, self-confident, educated, physically-fit competence was a welcome relief. I think it happened because my generation became the target audience for the magazine. [I suppose more of us are now on the magazine's production staff, too!]
Hi Kenna. Yes Neptune is glamour, so that would definitely feed in to some mass trends. But the examples I gave do fit in with the symbolism of the signs that Pluto is/was in.
Also, I haven't tracked the style of the cover models of cosmo, but what I've seen in general in the last 15 years is an increasing revealing/sexualised style of dress.
I reckon Neptune in Aquarius refelects the sexless beanpoles we see on the catwalk. Roll on Neptune in Pisces and a bit more flesh - probably too much of it, fat will be the new thin.
Neptune in Pisces might see more glamour/fashion focused around the feet too.
Yes, models in flippers made of seal fur.
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