Astrology & The Culture Wars
Astrology & The Culture Wars
mumin_bey@yahoo.com
5:30 AM 05/14/2006 Sun
Last week on my way in to work, I heard something over the radio that made me wake up right out of my snooze. Here's the deal...
Guy meets gal; guy likes gal and vice-versa, and they're off to the chapel and gonna get married. After awhile, gal gets in the family way, and then there's three.
All's well for a minute; but one day, it dawns on guy that things aren't passing the smell test; gal is acting strange, and the baby, now that he/she's going on 3 years old, isn't looking anything like him or the missus. So, one day, he decides to take the kid to the DNA spot, just for his own peace of mind.
Well, don't you know, the test comes back, with all intents, a virtual 100% NEGATIVE that guy is the daddy. Gal didn't preggers until after they met, or so he thought...which only leaves one conclusion-
She was creepin'.
Well, since this is a clearcut case of adultery, guy can just call it a day and go about his business, right? WRONG - according to Pennsylvania state law, if dad sticks with the kid for two years or more, he's considered the dad, no matter what the DNA says, no matter if he was duped into believing that was his kid when in reality it wasn't. According to the "paternity rights" attorney sitting in the radio studio as a guest of the talkshow host, dad is dad, period, and this is to protect the rights and welfare of the child. Even though the host, himself an attorney by trade, pointed out that guy in the example above was clearly cheated on, it was all to no avail; the paternity rights expert insisted that the way PA law is is what's best for the child.
Just out of curiousity, I asked the fellas at the gig what they thought of such an example; now, keep in mind, there's about 30 guys in my shop. NONE of them thought that was fair in any way, to the fella, or should I say, SUCKER, in that example, and in fact, most of them openly voiced the fact that they felt the justice system was stacked against you if you were a male.
Two weeks earlier, I got an email from a good friend, in which he delivered what I considered to be very sad news: a young lady with whom he had some intimacies some months back, had conceived and decided to abort; the baby, had it lived, would have been born this month. My friend just found out two weeks ago, when she decided, finally, to tell him.
I have no idea how he feels about the issue, although my guess is that he had to have felt something about that, due to the fact that he would email a group of friends something so personal.
No matter how you feel about the two scenarios above, it's quite clear that the LAST person who is considered is the guy; the rights of the child is protected in the former case, the rights of the woman is protected in the latter. The guy's rights however, be damned.
These and other issues are a part of the "Culture Wars", a roiling debate that has spilled out into the public square, the courtroom floor, and into the voting booths accross this country. It is so-called because there is a fight to determine what kind of society we want to be - more God-fearing or less; more government dependent or less; more libertine or less; more radical or less. While Gay Marriage and to a lesser extent, at least for now, Abortion have taken centerstage, the two instances I cited above are right on the horizon and ready to burst.
As astrologers, we should be weighing in on all of this - afterall, we've all had to, at some point, deal with these issues. And while we all know that for the most part women tend to consult astrologers in our culture than men, I can say from personal experience, that I've had both types of men mentioned above consult with me, usually, because they have no other recourse, legally or otherwise.
Most of us are at best natal astrologers, and those of us who consider ourselves interested in mundane, for some reason never get around to delving into what's been mentioned above, or the subject line of this post. I have my own reasons for why that is, one of them being, that so many of us never come into contact with the guys talked about above, and/or, many of us see no problem with the continued massiave social and legal changes afoot.
Those of us who watch the Outer Planet transits know, that Saturn has moved out of Cancer and into Leo, both of which are Signs where Saturn is said not to be at his best; in a few months, he will oppose Neptune, a further debilitating period for the Ringed One, and all he represents, like fathers and men. Perhaps not without a sense of Celestial Irony, Mars, surely a representative of men, is currently transiting Cancer.
At the time of the radio show, which I heard as I was headed to work, Saturn was sitting right in the 4th House in Leo, quindecile Neptune in the 11th and ruling both the 9th Houses of law and courts, and the 10th House of fathers. The Sun, ruling the 5th House, children - was rising in Taurus in the Taurus Asc. And Mercury, also in Taurus, was sitting right on the Asc.
At the time I got word of my friend's email, Saturn was sitting right on the Leo Asc in the 12th House, square the Sun again in Taurus, this time with the Sun in the 10th; Mars in Cancer rules the 10th; and Saturn is once again quindecile Neptune, this time Neptune in the 7th and conjunct the Moon. Jupiter rules the 5th in Scorpio, sitting in the 4th and quindecile the Sun in the 10th; Pluto sits in the 5th.
With the first of the Baby Boomers beginng to retire (those born in 1946 - Pluto in Leo, Neptune in Libra, Uranus in Gemini, Saturn in Cancer), it's a good time to consider all they have brought to us, the good and the bad, and look forward to what Pluto's transit in Capricorn will bring for the Boomers' progeny - the Gen Xers and Generation Me's, both of whom are in their mid to late 30s and late teens and mid 30s respectively. There is no doubt that the Boomers have brought along sweeping cultural shifts, but the full impact of said shifts will be felt the most by their children.
The Outer Planet passages of Uranus and Pluto thru Virgo and then Libra, saw unpreceedented shifts on the social and marital fronts, so much so that they still have large impact today.
In the late 70s to early 80s, with the passage of Uranus into Scorpio, the paternity DNA test was born, an interesting and in my view, potentially devastating follow-up to Roe v. Wade and The Pill. Although intended at first to pinpoint fathers with absolute certainty so as to force them to pay up, the DNA test has the very strong potential to do more harm than good - if the guy isn't the daddy, he can usually go about his business - and then the child is left with no father at all. In times gone by, men never really knew for sure if a child was his or not - he had to take the woman's word for it, unless it was real obvious otherwise. Now, there are increasing incentives for men not to have children, settle down and marry - and we're talking marriagable men now, not louts.
My own sense of things is that once Pluto enters Capricorn in 2008, things will begin to finally go back to normal socially, etc., but not without a fight from the ideologues.
What say you?
Salaam,
Mu
mumin_bey@yahoo.com
5:30 AM 05/14/2006 Sun
Last week on my way in to work, I heard something over the radio that made me wake up right out of my snooze. Here's the deal...
Guy meets gal; guy likes gal and vice-versa, and they're off to the chapel and gonna get married. After awhile, gal gets in the family way, and then there's three.
All's well for a minute; but one day, it dawns on guy that things aren't passing the smell test; gal is acting strange, and the baby, now that he/she's going on 3 years old, isn't looking anything like him or the missus. So, one day, he decides to take the kid to the DNA spot, just for his own peace of mind.
Well, don't you know, the test comes back, with all intents, a virtual 100% NEGATIVE that guy is the daddy. Gal didn't preggers until after they met, or so he thought...which only leaves one conclusion-
She was creepin'.
Well, since this is a clearcut case of adultery, guy can just call it a day and go about his business, right? WRONG - according to Pennsylvania state law, if dad sticks with the kid for two years or more, he's considered the dad, no matter what the DNA says, no matter if he was duped into believing that was his kid when in reality it wasn't. According to the "paternity rights" attorney sitting in the radio studio as a guest of the talkshow host, dad is dad, period, and this is to protect the rights and welfare of the child. Even though the host, himself an attorney by trade, pointed out that guy in the example above was clearly cheated on, it was all to no avail; the paternity rights expert insisted that the way PA law is is what's best for the child.
Just out of curiousity, I asked the fellas at the gig what they thought of such an example; now, keep in mind, there's about 30 guys in my shop. NONE of them thought that was fair in any way, to the fella, or should I say, SUCKER, in that example, and in fact, most of them openly voiced the fact that they felt the justice system was stacked against you if you were a male.
Two weeks earlier, I got an email from a good friend, in which he delivered what I considered to be very sad news: a young lady with whom he had some intimacies some months back, had conceived and decided to abort; the baby, had it lived, would have been born this month. My friend just found out two weeks ago, when she decided, finally, to tell him.
I have no idea how he feels about the issue, although my guess is that he had to have felt something about that, due to the fact that he would email a group of friends something so personal.
No matter how you feel about the two scenarios above, it's quite clear that the LAST person who is considered is the guy; the rights of the child is protected in the former case, the rights of the woman is protected in the latter. The guy's rights however, be damned.
These and other issues are a part of the "Culture Wars", a roiling debate that has spilled out into the public square, the courtroom floor, and into the voting booths accross this country. It is so-called because there is a fight to determine what kind of society we want to be - more God-fearing or less; more government dependent or less; more libertine or less; more radical or less. While Gay Marriage and to a lesser extent, at least for now, Abortion have taken centerstage, the two instances I cited above are right on the horizon and ready to burst.
As astrologers, we should be weighing in on all of this - afterall, we've all had to, at some point, deal with these issues. And while we all know that for the most part women tend to consult astrologers in our culture than men, I can say from personal experience, that I've had both types of men mentioned above consult with me, usually, because they have no other recourse, legally or otherwise.
Most of us are at best natal astrologers, and those of us who consider ourselves interested in mundane, for some reason never get around to delving into what's been mentioned above, or the subject line of this post. I have my own reasons for why that is, one of them being, that so many of us never come into contact with the guys talked about above, and/or, many of us see no problem with the continued massiave social and legal changes afoot.
Those of us who watch the Outer Planet transits know, that Saturn has moved out of Cancer and into Leo, both of which are Signs where Saturn is said not to be at his best; in a few months, he will oppose Neptune, a further debilitating period for the Ringed One, and all he represents, like fathers and men. Perhaps not without a sense of Celestial Irony, Mars, surely a representative of men, is currently transiting Cancer.
At the time of the radio show, which I heard as I was headed to work, Saturn was sitting right in the 4th House in Leo, quindecile Neptune in the 11th and ruling both the 9th Houses of law and courts, and the 10th House of fathers. The Sun, ruling the 5th House, children - was rising in Taurus in the Taurus Asc. And Mercury, also in Taurus, was sitting right on the Asc.
At the time I got word of my friend's email, Saturn was sitting right on the Leo Asc in the 12th House, square the Sun again in Taurus, this time with the Sun in the 10th; Mars in Cancer rules the 10th; and Saturn is once again quindecile Neptune, this time Neptune in the 7th and conjunct the Moon. Jupiter rules the 5th in Scorpio, sitting in the 4th and quindecile the Sun in the 10th; Pluto sits in the 5th.
With the first of the Baby Boomers beginng to retire (those born in 1946 - Pluto in Leo, Neptune in Libra, Uranus in Gemini, Saturn in Cancer), it's a good time to consider all they have brought to us, the good and the bad, and look forward to what Pluto's transit in Capricorn will bring for the Boomers' progeny - the Gen Xers and Generation Me's, both of whom are in their mid to late 30s and late teens and mid 30s respectively. There is no doubt that the Boomers have brought along sweeping cultural shifts, but the full impact of said shifts will be felt the most by their children.
The Outer Planet passages of Uranus and Pluto thru Virgo and then Libra, saw unpreceedented shifts on the social and marital fronts, so much so that they still have large impact today.
In the late 70s to early 80s, with the passage of Uranus into Scorpio, the paternity DNA test was born, an interesting and in my view, potentially devastating follow-up to Roe v. Wade and The Pill. Although intended at first to pinpoint fathers with absolute certainty so as to force them to pay up, the DNA test has the very strong potential to do more harm than good - if the guy isn't the daddy, he can usually go about his business - and then the child is left with no father at all. In times gone by, men never really knew for sure if a child was his or not - he had to take the woman's word for it, unless it was real obvious otherwise. Now, there are increasing incentives for men not to have children, settle down and marry - and we're talking marriagable men now, not louts.
My own sense of things is that once Pluto enters Capricorn in 2008, things will begin to finally go back to normal socially, etc., but not without a fight from the ideologues.
What say you?
Salaam,
Mu
posted by Mu'Min M. Bey at
3:03 PM
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