Peace Now
This poster was designed by the artist Lorraine Scheider for Another Mother for Peace, an organisation started in San Francisco during the Vietnam War .
The unleashing of terrible rage along the barbed borders of the Gaza Strip fills us with dread, resounding like a doomsday knell from the heart of the world.
Astrologically, it’s easy to see how this and that add up to horror. The planet of rage and aggression Mars, transiting Israel’s ascendant, on the point of the coming eclipse, made a hard aspect to Pluto, the planet of incarceration, prisons, underground. Both are considered warriors. Remember how Pluto erupts out of the ground to abduct Persephone? Uranus, the planet of shock is currently on Israel’s Taurus Sun. And Venus, who went underground over the summer, was transiting Israel’s Mars on the very spot where she turned retrograde back in June. In short, dressed in her warrior garb also, she came into the light, roaring like a wounded lion.
But what is the use of seeing this? I confess I cannot watch or listen to the news. Snatches of gruesome details filter through though. I can’t keep the images out: a massacre of innocents. Terrible horrors, and the dread-filled days stretch ahead.
But what is the use of astrology? Every astrologer has their own point of view, their own history, culture and references — and their own philosophical or religious beliefs. And in the current crisis, it’s important to question one’s own moral standpoint and make sure it’s robust and honest and good.
Personally, and unequivocally, I know the answer to the Israel-Palestine problem is not violence, it is love. Which sounds mealy-mouthed at the best of times, and in this moment, it sounds like a ridiculous hippie platitude. However, it is my genuine belief.
In what we see unfolding in the Middle East, there is a stark warning for everyone on the planet: polarisation leads to war. That’s it. You polarise, you dehumanise. One side kills the other. The other side retaliates. You are in a forever loop.
In the future, the question is how can Israel and Palestine get out of the infinite loop of rage and hate, hate and rage?
Currently, the polarities of the North and South Nodes, the eclipse points, are in the signs of war (Aries), and peace (Libra). As the massacre began, Mars, ruler of Aries, was in Libra. These Nodes, and eclipses, will be in those signs until March 2025. The upcoming eclipse is in Libra, the sign of peace — peace wiped out by Mars transiting Libra. This could be an endless back and forth. However, astrology teaches us to look for the points of release: the planets making nice aspects — usually by trine and sextile — to both Nodes.
To stop polarisation, you need to find the third way, the thing in common. You need to triangulate.
On 10 April 1998, the Good Friday Agreement brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of bloodshed, including the deaths of many civilians. It acknowledged that both the desire of most residents to stay in the United Kingdom and the desire of a substantial minority to become part of a united Ireland were legitimate. Until then these two ideas had been opposed, but with both the UK and Ireland within the European Union this seemingly impossible compromise became possible. All eight Northern Irish political parties signed up, so did the UK and Irish governments. And the result really was actual peace; the killing stopped.
Peace is possible. It takes a triangulation, a change in viewpoint, and it takes a desire. Both sides in any argument have to really, really want peace; want it more than victory or vengeance. It takes a leap of imagination to see a different future, and leadership.
The person who may have done more than any other to get warring parties around the table in Northern Ireland, described as the catalyst for the process, was a politician called Mo Mowlam from Britain, who was undergoing treatment for a brain tumour at the time. When the debate got really heated around the table, she’d take her wig off and maybe swear a bit.
‘I don’t take to heart the very negative and I don’t take to heart the very positive. You’d go mad if you did. I go through the middle.’ — Mo Mowlam (RIP)
Don’t fall into the infinite polarisation loop. Find the third way.
Peace be with you.
Thank you
I will keep the symbol of the triangle in my mind
Strangely the Israeli Star of David is two triangles – one reversed and one upright
The Palestinian flag has the 3rd triangle in it strangely
Thank you for this thoughtful and wise article. I too cannot watch or listen to the news. The wisdom I take from you is this precious paragraph:
“Peace is possible. It takes a triangulation, a change in viewpoint, and it takes a desire. Both sides in any argument have to really, really want peace; want it more than victory or vengeance. It takes a leap of imagination to see a different future, and leadership.”
I think it also takes dropping the agenda of your ego, pride and replaying/reliving past insults and injuries.
Peace is a spiritual challenge and practice the human race has to relearn over and over.
Love is the answer, ridiculous hippie platitude or not. I, too, remember the 60’s, with my brother in the Viet Nam war.
Make Love, Not War. Let’s see, I think I can find my Peace symbol necklace somewhere in the back of my closet.
Peace out. Xo
thank you for this, Christina
Beautifully said. Sensitive and sensible. Thank you. As a practising astrologer I am grateful for astrology for helping me understand the deeper issues at work. Events unfolding now seem to reflect Pluto’s position in those last few degrees of Capricorn. Ruthless power plays surfacing. So very brutal with extremely sad consequences. Practising love each day in our everyday lives could have a ripple effect on the wider world. I, like you, cannot bear to watch the news or read about. Focusing on the war like behaviour just contributes to that destructive energy. At the risk of sounding like an old hippie – peace and love to all.
I’m with you! Helpful to better to understand the influence of the celestial spheres in this heartbreak.
And, I appreciate Amanda Lyddon’s comment below!