PSYCHICBABBLE(sm)
by Marcy J. Gordon
New Moon in Aquarius 1996 Issue
More 1996 Predictions
Introduction
Greetings USED KARMA readers! This month I would like to follow up on some ideas explored in last month's column [click here for last month's column]. This month I will elaborate on those ideas, supplying additional examples and issuing predictions about how these ideas will manifest during the 1996 cycle.
Pluto in Sagittarius
As you will recall from last month's column, Pluto is now in Sagittarius. To review, Pluto in Sagittarius is about transforming the world through exposing the truth and opening people's minds to receive it, understand it, and transduce it out to the rest of the world.
We live in a world where information is power. Information that is manipulated and concealed is an abuse of power. Therefore many truths that were concealed when Pluto was in secretive, manipulative, power-hungry Scorpio are now being revealed. The revelation of these secrets is transforming consciousness on our planet. Several examples of this phenomenon were discussed in last month's column. Recent news items continue to illustrate and reinforce these insights.
Hillary Clinton's recent media troubles are a prime example. Suddenly Rose law firm records that were hidden during Pluto in Scorpio have mysteriously reappeared in the Clinton's personal living quarters. Only Clinton family members and their guests and a few white house staffers have access to this space. But lo and behold, in a box with gift trinkets appear the missing records, on a table in the Clinton's personal space only two days after the statute of limitations had run for bringing a civil suit in connection with the Whitewater mess. The White House Travel Office scandal received a blitz of media attention in 1993 (during Pluto in Scorpio), but it is only now that Pluto is in Sagittarius that certain memos appear describing some questionable events that took place in connection with the Travel Office fiasco as it was occurring. Try as she might, even the powerful First Lady cannot stem the tide of Pluto's journey through the mighty centaur's territory of truth and wisdom.
Recent revelations by a Chinese doctor accuse the Chinese government of deliberate mismanagement and neglect in orphanages, allowing thousands of Chinese children to die. Now the doctor's brother, who is a Communist party member and had no connection with her work at the orphanage, has been seized by the authorities in retaliation for the doctor's statements to the world press. It will be interesting to watch events in China during this cycle. The Tianamen Square movement is very much alive and well both inside and outside of China. In addition, watch for renewed social unrest in the areas where thousands of people have been relocated in connection with a large dam project that is way over budget and nowhere near completion. One large and old Wall Street firm, Lehman Brothers Inc., is currently enmeshed in over a quarter of a billion dollars worth of lawsuits in connection with Lehman's structuring of the financing for this project. There is a good chance that Lehman may go bankrupt within the next two years as a result of the great negative karma incurred through financing a project so profoundly harmful to China's people and their environmental resources. The legal process will uncover the truth about what went on behind the scenes when this deal was planned and executed (during Pluto in Scorpio!)
Uranus in Aquarius
Last month the planet Uranus went into Aquarius. As you will recall from my first column, about astrology and the chakras [click here for first column], Uranus rules Aquarius, and Aquarius rules the eleventh chakra. The eleventh chakra, you will recall, connects us to universal energy and consciousness. Uranus is the planet of eccentricity, individuality, flashes of insight and genius. As such, it rules electricity and computer and information technology. Aquarius is about social consciousness and humanitarianism. Last month I predicted that the 1996 cycle will see advances in information and communications technology that will dramatically restructure society. I gave some general examples of how this will manifest. This column rendered some general predictions about the convergence of television, telephone and computer technology, specifically with regard to interactive television technology. This month I will go into some specifics.
As of this writing, digital cameras for still photography exist in both professional and consumer electronics versions. Until recently, the alleged consumer electronics versions cost around $2,000. (The professional models cost between $9,000 and $20,000). I say alleged, because a $2,000 piece of electronics is not a mass market item. The market for a “consumer” electronic device priced at $2,000 is wealthy people. Remember when the first CD players came out? They were priced at over 1,000 early 1980s dollars, which were worth at least twice what our dollar buys today. These machines were bought by audiophiles and yuppies, not by your electrician and your mail carrier. Today a good CD player sells for less than $200 and your electrician and your mail carrier probably own one. Likewise the first VCRs were priced at around $2,000, but these products did not receive widespread distribution until they were priced considerably below that.
Recently the Eastman Kodak Company announced a digital still camera priced at less than $1,000. They also announced their planned introduction of a $300 digital still camera later this year. Obviously these devices are intended for use with a computer, making them an ideal tool for personal and business uses, such as presentations, family albums and importation of photographic images into the World Wide Web of the Internet. Now recall my prognostications last month about the evolution of interactive television. During the 1996 cycle new patents will be issued for digital video camera technology. These devices will be equipped with digital audio tape (DAT) drives and will record video images directly onto standard DAT tapes. DAT tapes are smaller and easier to transport than video cassettes, and are more durable. In addition, they are digital, making them much easier to edit and transmit.
Let's face it -- video editing equipment is expensive to buy and requires specialized expertise to use properly. Ergo, most ordinary consumers do not own this equipment, nor are they planning to acquire it. An increasingly large number of consumers do, however, own or plan to buy computer equipment. Computer software is always becoming increasingly more sophisticated and (theoretically, at least) easier to use. It was the computer and information industry, after all, that coined the term “user friendly.”
So once the digital video technology prototypes are working properly (and I predict they will be before the end of 1996) the first application will be for the professional market. Then the professional models will be cost-reduced to serve the consumer electronics market. As with the digital still cameras, it will only be a matter of time (probably less than a year, with increasingly swift technological development timeframes) before consumer electronics versions of these devices appear priced at (you guessed it!) between $500 and $1,000. People already spend that and more for analog video cameras. The digital video camera market will take off faster than anyone can imagine.
How will this technology be put to use to connect us to universal energy and consciousness? The two biggest initial user groups will be documentary/nonfiction filmmakers/videographers and freelance news producers. Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the sanitized, edited and propagandized commercial entertainment sound bytes currently passing for network news. Somehow journalism has vanished from the American electronic news media scene (with a few rare exceptions, such as Pacifica, Christian Science Monitor Radio and National Public Radio). Documentary/nonfiction filmmakers are always strapped for money and have difficulty getting their films distributed when they do finally get made. Cheap digital video camera technology will open up marketing and distribution channels for these people as never before. It will be possible to shoot and edit full-length films for a fraction of today's cost for such ventures.
In addition, ordinary people will start producing their own news videos and putting them up on the World Wide Web. They will show us what is really going on in their communities, and educate us about the things that really matter to them. Advances in wireless technology and the eventual cost-reduction attendant thereto will spawn the creation of hand-held digital video cameras capable of transmitting via computer network and/or satellite in real time from anywhere in the world. This will allow individuals to counteract the slanted reporting often found in the traditional news media establishment. Talk about connecting us to universal energy and consciousness -- go eleventh chakra!
Mercury in Retrograde
Since this column is written about a month in advance of publication, Mercury was retrograde as of this writing, but is direct now that you are reading it. So why I am bothering to mention it? You'll find out in a few paragraphs.
Because planets travel in elliptical orbits instead of circular ones, there are times when the planets' ellipses create an optical illusion whereby planets can appear to be traveling backwards in their cycles. When this occurs, a planet is said to be in retrograde. When a planet is retrograde, the attributes the planet normally asserts while direct are interfered with. This is not necessarily bad, just different. Retrograde planets highlight hidden potentials. Since Mercury is the planet that rules communications, Mercury retrograde interferes with communications. This affects all forms of communications, human, mechanical and electronic. People frequently misunderstand one another during Mercury retrograde. Computers and telephones experience difficulties. Mass transit experiences delays, traffic lights go out of order. Thus Mercury retrograde is a time to go internal, to experience inner communication, since external communication is all messed up.
Due to communications difficulties, major strikes and labor disputes often occur during or just before a Mercury retrograde and are resolved when Mercury goes direct. Last month Mercury went retrograde on January 10. (It went direct on January 30.) Tony Dickey, master astrologer and USED KARMA's illustrious publisher, takes a two to three week orb in either direction around a Mercury retrograde. Thus the effects of this transit can be felt for a few weeks before Mercury goes retrograde and for a few weeks after Mercury goes direct.
Here in New York city, Local 32B-32J, the maintenance workers union, went on strike January 3, one week before Mercury went retrograde. This union consists of janitors, handymen and other service employees who empty trash, clean bathrooms, hang pictures, shovel sidewalks, fix heating and plumbing, etc. These people maintain the city's major office buildings, of which there are many here in New York. As a former Wall Street corporate lawyer, I have worked in several New York office buildings and have had the opportunity to meet many of these people and befriend some of them.
Local 32B-32J is a union comprised of hard-working, low-paid, peaceful people. Many of these people have dirty, unpleasant jobs. The reason they went on strike is because the building owners want the right to hire inexperienced workers at 40% of what the experienced workers now make. The union realized that if they agree to this, building management will fire the experienced workers and replace them with young people and recent immigrants. Why would people want to work at nasty jobs for little pay? Because there are immigrants here from places like Latin America and the hills of Pakistan where they were earning $60 a month, so $9 an hour looks good to them. All the unions in this city have expressed solidarity with Local 32B-32J, because they realize that management's proposal is a blatant and ill-mannered attempt at union-busting.
On January 20 the union sat down with management for the first time since the strike began to negotiate a settlement. The meeting lasted for 13 hours, then the talks broke down completely -- hardly surprising in the midst of a Mercury retrograde. The strike ended on February 4, five days after Mercury went direct. In addition, the Moon was full in Leo. The full moon is a time of bringing things to completion. Leo is ruled by the Sun, so it is filled with loving warmth, yet desires to be the center of attention. With Mercury direct, communications were opening back up to their normal aperture. This opening was increased by the powerful light of the Sun shining through the communication pathways. The full moon's energies lent a powerful hand to the process of completion. Congratulations to both parties in achieving a resolution to an unpleasant but necessary situation.
Now let us examine these events in light of the current Aquarian influence. The Sun entered Aquarius on January 21, the Moon is in Aquarius, Uranus is in Aquarius, Mercury is retrograde in Aquarius and Mars is in Aquarius. Thus this strike has a heavy eleventh chakra component, connecting us to universal energy and consciousness. How? Because the members of Local 32B-32J are treated by most office workers as pieces of furniture. The jobs they do are seldom appreciated and are taken for granted. Most office workers don't even know the names of the people who empty their trash and clean their bathrooms every day.
Since the strike, office tenants are having to empty their own trash, vacuum their own offices and clean their own bathrooms. People have complained about having to deal with stinking, dripping garbage and smelly bathrooms with no toilet paper. Hopefully this experience will make alot of people appreciate the hard work that is done for them by Local 32B-32J, and make them realize how hard the people of this union work to support their families and survive the rigors of urban life in one of the world's largest and busiest cities. In this way office workers can become conscious that all people on this planet are dependent upon one another for survival.
Add Your Own Examples
Please write to me at mgordon@pipeline.com with your own examples of how the ideas discussed in this article and this column are affecting world events and your own life. I'll be happy to include and credit quality contributions in future editions of this column.
Copyright 1996 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For permission to reprint selected portions, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.