by Leo Tallarico
We are in the middle of the current eclipse season, with one more eclipse, the most intense one of all, a Cardinal Grand Cross Solar Eclipse New Moon in Cancer coming on July 1.
While looking at the world scene and the news events during this eclipse season, a few issues struck me the most. First of all, on the exact day of the Solar Eclipse New Moon in Gemini the stock market dropped almost 300 points, touching off a real downturn. Then the next biggest drop during this eclipse season happened on the exact day of the 2nd eclipse, a Total Lunar Eclipse Full Moon in Gemini/Sagittarius. The economy is being transformed.
Secondly, events in the Middle East have been simmering, and in late June just before the last eclipse, the Solar Eclipse Grand Cross in Cancer, there will be a flotilla of ships heading with many activists aboard for the Gaza Strip. The last time this happened was last year in late May, when Israel boarded one of the ships in a flotilla going from Turkey to Gaza and killed 9 people on it. This boarding was illegal as it happened in international waters, not in Israeli territory. It broke relations between Turkey and Israel and raised the danger level in the Middle east appreciably.
So of course we need to be alerted for more crises in the economy and the Middle East in the coming weeks ahead.
Most notable has been the UN voting for Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. The UN did pass a resolution that “expresses grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity” and calls for a study by the end of the year to examine discrimination against the gay community. But unbelievably to me, the vote was close: 23 in favor, 19 against, and 3 abstained.
And more alarming is of those in favor of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the United Nations resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79):
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
This means in effect, that those countries believe that the LGBT population does not need protection from these arbitrary and extrajudicial executions as do other discriminated against groups.
“This vote is a dangerous and disturbing development,” said Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director of IGLHRC. “It essentially removes the important recognition of the particular vulnerability faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people – a recognition that is crucial at a time when 76 countries around the world criminalize homosexuality, five consider it a capital crime, and countries like Uganda are considering adding the death penalty to their laws criminalizing homosexuality.”
I cannot even imagine what it would be like to be a young woman or man in one of these countries where being gay means you are a criminal. It is bad enough that all over the world people show great disdain and hatred for gays, who have had to keep their orientation secret for centuries for that reason. But to fear prison or death also must be so horrible and frightening. And besides not feeling safe, how injurious it is for one’s self esteem and mental health to have this dark cloud of discrimination hovering over one’s psyche and life.
Having to come to grips with one’s identity of being LGBT as a young person in this world must be such a deeply painful experience.
And yet so much of this world continues to lack the knowledge and empathy for these members of our human family. So many of the hateful people claim to be religious and worshipping of God. Do they never stop and question why their God has created such people? Do they really believe gay and lesbian and transgendered people chose to be this way, chose to be hated and perhaps to be beaten and killed for their orientation?
We are moving into an Aquarian Age, an age where all are seen as created equal, where Diversity in Unity is the rule for living in human community on the Earth. The issue of acceptance of LGBT as equal members of our human family will get stronger. There is no stopping this train of equality. It is coming to a neighborhood near you, no matter where you live. And as you look as these recent votes, you know there must be much change coming as we are still far away from that ideal.
All our human family deserves to be liberated from the unfair judgments of our prevailing world culture. We all need to be free of the limitations that keep us from honoring our authentic selves and living our lives according to our souls’ natural orientation.
Also during this eclipse season Saudi Arabian women have been protesting the national law against women driving cars. Can you believe that in certain parts of this world women are still not allowed basic human rights?
As we move through these eclipses and through other big astrological events, important issues that need to be resolved come up in our faces in quite intense ways- both in our greater world and in our personal lives.
We are given the opportunity to work on these issues and to make greater progress in getting them resolved. The issues usually come up in ways that cannot be ignored. It is best not to merely cover your head and wait for the storm to pass. It is best instead to work on the issue.
If you pushed a relationship issue away from your conscious awareness at some time in the past, then during these intense astrological times the issue comes back. It was not fully resolved before.
If you knew before that your job was not right for you, perhaps you let go of that idea in order to maintain your security. Then when an intense astrological period as we are experiencing now comes along, things at work get shaken up and we have to deal with our unhappiness again. Or perhaps we quit or get fired.
We are given the opportunity during such times to liberate ourselves from situations and unhealthy patterns that keep us stuck and held back from more satisfying and purposeful lives.
Sure it gets intense during these eclipse seasons. But use the time wisely. Avoid your ego’s desire to see the intensity and difficult energies as something bad and to be avoided. It is instead a time for healing and transformation. You can make great progress during these times.
Our lives will be changing in even bigger ways as time goes by, as we are in transition between a Pisces and Aquarian Age.
As the storms blow in, do not be afraid. They are meant to clear away the dead branches of an old age’s tree of life. The new tree of life of an Aquarian Age is getting stronger and more full. Help nurture that growth inside your psyche and life and be part of the family of souls creating this new paradigm on the Earth.
THIS WEEK, we are on the road to this last eclipse, the most powerful of the three: a Solar Eclipse New Moon Cardinal Grand Cross at 9+ degrees of Cancer on July 1. We stop to celebrate the Summer Solstice 2011 this Tuesday June 21 at 1:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time. It will be a more profound solstice than usual as it is during the eclipse season. It will be a most important summer season with many important world events.
2012 is fast approaching. It is not the end of the world, as so many people fear. But it is an important milestone as we travel the path of the “end of the world as we know it”, ending a paradigm for living that is destroying our bodies and souls and the body and soul of our sacred Earth home.
Next Saturday I will be on vacation and not writing. I will write a short follow-up column, however, before the July 1 Cardinal Grand Cross Solar Eclipse. I hope to do that on Tuesday night June 28 when I return home.
Take care,
Leo
Please feel free to find more writings and my services on my website.You can get an astrological session with me during these changing times to help you on your path and with your life. Please write soulus@aol.com for more info. I will have a new radio show broadcast later this spring, closer to the eclipses. It will be on Saturday July 16 at 1 PM EDT. We will look at our lives and the world after the eclipses.
Leo Knighton Tallarico is a full time professional astrologer, spiritual guide, counselor, and writer for over 25 years.
He predicted the Iraq War of 2003- in early 2001 when Bush first took office; predicted the 9-11 attacks with an article “The Tower”, written in June 2001. He predicted Obama and McCain would get the presidential nominations in november 2007, when both were low in the polls; and correctly predicted the current economic downturn before it occurred.