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In my piece of 11th Dec, I said that with Pluto Rising square to Saturn, the conference could achieve a lot, as this is a dynamic combination. I think I was probably being over-influenced by the hype around the start of the conference. On a personal level, Saturn square Pluto can be dynamic, if you are a bit aware. On a collective level, it is very hard to get a creative outcome with these challenging aspects. This is basic to mundane astrology as far as I am concerned, which is why it can be relatively easy to make astrological predictions about countries.
The chart ruler was Saturn in 9th House Libra. This expressed the aims of the conference: a treaty involving all countries that was fair and verifiable. But it was square to Angular Pluto in Capricorn, which is about as difficult and nasty as it gets. In this case, the aims were disempowered (square to Pluto) by the powerful countries (Pluto) protecting their own interests (Capricorn).
On a completely different note, in Indonesia they have a club to promote polygamy, which is legal but tightly controlled. Here is what the woman director, who found it hard when her husband took a second wife, has to say: "It was difficult for me in the beginning, but I knew it was because of my emotions, my desires. But polygamy is a way for us to find happiness and love in this world. There are a lot of advantages for women in polygamous marriages - we learn how to control our desires and jealousies, and this brings us closer to Allah."
And this is what her husband had to say: "I think polygamy is better than monogamy. There are so many advantages - for men, it teaches us leadership. If it difficult to manage one wife in a marriage - but four? It is much more difficult and it is a good educational practice."
Of course, I am just a westerner from a secularised culture and it would be arrogant of me to judge their value system. Or would it? I wouldn't outlaw it, though, it's a 'right to choose' issue. I wonder what Tiger Woods would have to say?
12 comments:
Regarding polygamy: I'm looking forward to all sorts of domestic unions finding their legal place in our culture. I think we are on the verge of it. Pluto in Capricorn is going to uproot and destroy all the parts of patriarchal society that don't work anymore, yahoo! I won't be sad to see traditional marriage get a solid kick in the pants.
couldn't agree more, kenna j.
dharmaruci, in your blog you mention that for indonesian women stuck in a polygamous marriage its a 'right to choose' issue. not for the women. their choices are very limited.
Most women aren't in polygamous marriages in Indonesia, which is why they have this society to promote it. So it would seem there is a degree of choice around it.
The religious traditions that shaped most western societies (the Judiac-Christian religions, based on the Bible) always seem to conveniently ignore the fact that most of the heroes of their old testament were polygamous -- sometime excessively so. Solomon had, like, 800 wives and concubines, beating out even his father, David. But at some point, it became religiously and culturally mandated and legally enforced that men only have one wife. I think that was due to overpopulation problems in early Christian Europe. In fact, I believe that humans have the bio-psychological flexibility to be either monogamous, polygamous, or polyandrous, and that cultures develop their laws and rules around whatever seems to be helping the species survive best at the time -- regardless of what religious or moral spin they decide to put on it. You can see this clearly in isolated primitive island tribes which prefer polyandry --one wife with several husbands. It decreases their birth rates and allows them to form family units that are productive within their labor-intensive lifestyle, without needing to have a bunch of kids to do that work. As a result, they never have so many children in any generation that they would begin to overwhelm the limited resources of their island.
Yes, like in Tibet where several brothers will share the same wife. It stops the land being divided up too much as it passes down the generations.
I agree that polygamy/monogamy etc is more of a practical issue than a moral one. Though you are bound to get women forced into polygamy in places, but you get that with monogamy as well.
Women AND men are all forced into whatever (usually narrow) definition of marriage is accepted in their particular society. Science has proven that some human males have more of what's been called the "monogamy hormone" than other males (the hormone makes it more likely that an individual male of a mammal species will adhere to monogamy). In western society, the male humans with very little of this hormone, who want more than one partner, are stuck with the choice of having just one or being considered an immoral perv. They're like an animal in the wrong sized cage.
The entire concept that the structure of domestic contracts could or should be determined by a governing power is patriarchal and outdated.
I can't imagine why any man would want more than one wife unless it's some sort of harem concept... One women is more than enough when the partners are equal and it's hard to get time to yourself with one partner, let alone many in a polygamous "marriage". As far as I can tell marriage is primarily a social construct that benefits women more than men in western society. It exists to create a contract around the relationship for the purpose of raising children. Most men I know are indifferent to the institution, which is one reason why you find the undisciplined men willing to break the contract for sexual gratification.
Women seem to play the dominant parent role more and more, as the concept of "family" becomes fuzzier. Women talk about "her' children not "our' children. Is that what men want in modern society? Is it desirable for children to see Daddy marginalized? bb
You are right that marriage does little for men these days. At the same time, it's the only social construct we have for taking care of pregnant and nursing women. It's a serious problem.
I'm so glad Pluto in Capricorn is here.
Hey, has anyone noticed that the Sun is entering Capricorn today under a void moon? Does this mean that whatever we each think we're heading for this quarter is inaccurate? This could make sense with Mars retrograde.
I live in Bahrain,a Muslim country and read today (Jan. 7,2010) in the local rag that the man promoting this polygamy club is a very radical Islamic nut-job who is trying to (yet again) promote his twisted version of Islam in Indonesia and the said club is being closely watched by the authorities as this man is trying to coax unsuspecting people back into his sect.Perhaps you should check your facts Darmo.
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