A bit on Pluto, a bit on Advent, a bit on Mary

some bits for you

Pluto’s first lengthier foray into Aquarius has coincided with several very Plutonian events! The killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, depositions and attempted coups, and, maybe most interestingly, a very different public response to these events.

It wasn’t that long ago that there was significantly more finger wagging when people did things like protest via vandalism or public nuisance-ing. I’ve seen a lot less of it with regard to the assassinated CEO. Jokes came quick, along with accompanying nervous giggles and then confident laughter. It seems that there is a widespread understanding that this wasn’t a murder of some innocent person, even among my less radical friends. This was a case of playing a stupid game (building wealth by denying healthcare) and winning stupid prizes (being shot and no one feeling all that bad). Sure, we can parse out the complicated ethical and spiritual implications of celebrating this death. I think we should, probably, eventually.

But, in the immediate, it’s more interesting to me to look at the way this shift reflects Pluto’s movement into Aquarius, the forward looking, cerebral, social Saturnian sign. Aquarius looks at things from the margins, loves to depose a king, and does not reflect the same hyper-practicality that we see in Capricorn (Saturn’s other home). Aquarius thrives on idealism, radicalism, and revolution. It’s a chaotic energy that can spin off in dangerous directions if we’re not careful. It can topple emperors if we are.

Today the news broke that they likely have found the guy who shot the CEO. I personally hope we do not lose this momentum and interest in standing up to power, even though he (allegedly) was caught. Also, fwiw, I can’t imagine they’ll find a jury who can be “neutral” about the death of a health insurance exec. We’ll have to see where else Pluto’s presence in Aquarius shows up in the coming weeks.

cernunnos, born to die, not unlike jesus

Some short thoughts on Advent and a preview of a little project.

I was really intending to put together an experimental Advent “prayer book” or poetry chapbook or just something that could be used as an alternative or accompaniment to the more traditional Advent wreath booklet that most Catholics have. I had a vision of interspersing different traditions and questions and reflection prompts, but then it was suddenly December 1 and it hadn’t made it farther into existence than its life as an idea in the back of my brain.

I have really good memories from childhood of lighting the Advent wreath with my family, listening to my mom or dad read the short reflection prompt, and feeling how the ritual of joining at the table around these purple and rose colored candles helped prepare us for the birth in the stable. Something about that cyclical process resonated with me, making the practice of Christianity mundane and human, just as we prepared to “meet” a god made into a little boy.

As I’ve read about the rebirth stories that are celebrated in modern Wicca and that have roots in most cultures around the time of the solstice, it’s been gratifying to consider how this Catholic ritual made an otherwise unwieldy religious concept something tactile and elemental. These are the kinds of ideas I’d been planning to distill into a physical resource.

I didn’t get my act together to make that resource. So, as a compromise, I’m going to ask if you have any emotional connection to Advent, whether you enjoyed that time and whether or not your family took it very seriously as you grew up. Please share any thoughts you have in the comments or as an email reply! I’ll use this conversation to help me prepare something for Advent for next year :)

And now a Mary of Nazarene, Mother of God, Our Lady of Guadalupe project preview…

I am probably always going to have warm feelings about Mary, especially as Our Lady of Guadalupe. She’s an image that I’ve known my whole life.

Little Mary statues being prominently displayed in their homes was probably one of the only things my grandmothers had in common, something I noticed and appreciated when spending time with either of them. I didn’t always understand what the people in my extended family had in common, how they’d overlapped in such a way that resulted in my existence, but at least their shared veneration of Mary made sense.