On enemies and cowards.

where in the chart can we look to understand our duty to our community?

On enemies and cowards.

Something I’ve said glibly for a few years is, “all leaders have to be a little sociopathic”.

I like polemics, small ones probably more than big ones. I guess I’m saying I like a little bit of trolling, though I don’t like bullying or teasing… it needs to be good-faith, a gentle polemic. That’s how I mean that statement. A person must be a little sociopathic, or at least antisocial, if they seek out leadership. And I think your reaction to that statement tells you something important about how you see politicians. 

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this idea after reading this short piece by Hamilton Nolan yesterday. After my friend Kelsey sent it to me, I sent it to my mom, my sister, my group chat, and another friend. I needed reactions.

The crux of the article is that presidents especially are best sorted into two categories: enemies and cowards. The enemies actively work against the best interests of people (Bush, Trump) and the cowards will use just about anyone or anything as a bargaining chip to retain power (Obama, Kamala, Pelosi). This framework can help you look squarely at the frustrating dynamics in American politics and understand the choices you have. 

Nice guys finish last and principled leaders don’t get elected. 

That’s the idea, at least, and it mostly holds true. In Texas, we constantly deal with enemies. I don’t think I had a representative in office who wasn’t an enemy until I was an adult in Austin, by which point I had a few cowards representing me as well. Now in Philly I’m almost completely represented by cowards, as well as some more local electeds who haven’t disappointed me (yet). So I agree that it feels better to be represented by a coward than an enemy even if it still makes you want to do civil unrest and deface government property. Depending on who you are and whether you’re currently being used as a coward’s bargaining chip, coward hours can feel pretty okay, which is part of why they’re dangerous in their own right. You can be complacent when living under a coward’s leadership.

I don’t want to brush over the internal moral consequences and fallout of voting for the cowards whose “lesser evil” still entails the bombing of other countries and insufficient support of people in this country. It feels bad and it is bad and pretending it doesn’t leads to the situation we’re in now where you end up arguing with someone online about how Kamala is actually working tirelessly to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza despite all the evidence (including her own words) that she is not. The first step to quitting the delusion is to recognize that it feels bad to vote for her, and then the second step is to vote for her, and then the third step is to do the actual political work.

It’s tricky to say “it’s better to organize under a Democrat” because very few of us who will pinch our noses and vote for Kamala actually do any kind of organizing in our day-to-day lives. We might give some money to good causes and we probably talk about solutions to poverty and gun violence and reproductive justice with our other educated, morally upset, progressive friends. On occasion we might even do some work on our less progressive but open friends and family. That’s great, but that’s nowhere near enough.  

I’m thinking about a friend who is not planning to vote (she’s in Texas, this is less fraught and also idk I’m not interested in fighting with other normal people about things like this). The most compelling argument she made to me when we discussed our different opinions here was that we saw real passion for progressive options during Trump’s time in office, specifically during some of his worst times, like 2020. I wish I could have told her that was an empty argument, but I can’t! Because the truth is, when there’s a Democrat in office, even when they are clocking into the coward factory every single day, a lot of us just tune out. Unless we stop doing that, I am inclined to say that this friend and others from the “burn it down” camp have a point.

So, what do we do? A lot of things, I think, but the underlying task is to remain active, always. Probably not always marching or always rioting or always self-immolating or always anything specific. Exactly what you should be doing is not clear and simple (more on that in a moment). What is clear and simple is that not being involved in pushing your country toward humane and just policies is not an option. 

In 2020 there was an epidemic, one of people sharing “educational graphics” on Instagram. One of these that sticks in my head from this time was a graphic that suggested “all kinds are needed for organizing, just figure out where you fit in!”

The chart in question named roles like “politician” or “mutual aid” or “legal support” or “education”. Based on everyone’s behavior at that time, it seems that most people decided they fit into the part of the chart dedicated to sharing posts on social media, angrily and self-righteously. 

The problem with that chart and that approach is that it suggests there’s a way to have your cake and eat it too. So many people read that message as: yes, there’s a way to be you, as you are, with no changes, no discomfort, and you can change the world! 

But that is an empty promise and it does not work. For your impact to change, your actions have to change. It is likely there will be sacrifice of time and comfort and ease. I’m talking to myself as much as anyone else. We don’t get to pick “easy” and “better” at the same time.

There’s a reason that cowards disappoint us and a lot of it comes down to their commitment to getting elected. They often are making trades and giving up on causes in order to bow to what they believe the bulk of voters want. And, often, they are right! Cowards see that the bulk of voters, or at least the bulk of voters in certain swing states, don’t want a new progressive policy that might make things better. They don’t understand that policy or they’ve been told it’s bad and believed it or they don’t even care and really they just want to talk about something else. So the cowards adjust their stances and they betray what we thought were their values.

If we take as a given that the cowards will always fall in line with whoever has the power to remove them from leadership (swing state voters, donors, voting blocs) then we can start to see some of our options. We can keep telling the cowards what we want (it’s probably always worthwhile to clog up their inboxes), but we can also focus on these people and places that seem to have the most sway with the cowards. We can work on the voters, on the donors, and on the culture. 

This is the part where we make some little spiderweb connections to astrology. I wanted to look specifically at one part of the chart as a way to better understand how you might fit into your community (at the end of the day, that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about politics).

What’s the story of your Eleventh House?

The Eleventh House in the chart is called “the House of Good Spirit”. This is where we look to understand networks and communities of people. Planets located here are generally supported and reflect positive things for you. Astrologer Vettius Valens from 120 CE says that even Saturn and Mars in this place “can do no harm”. This is one of the areas of the chart that we look to understand a person’s relationship with their world of people. 

1. Like always, you’ll want to consider what sign is in your Eleventh House. What are its traits? What’s its element? What’s its modality? How do those qualities reflect the kind of community-making you do or would like to do?
   
   For example, as an Aries Rising, my Eleventh is Aquarius. I believe in the collective as a place that can be focused on the exterior and the borders. I believe in futurity and systems and can be over-focused on the human side of these things if I’m not careful. 
   

2. What planets are in the sign? Any? What do they suggest about the energies you bring to that place?
   
   My Eleventh has my Sun and my Mercury. This suggests some core part of my identity and my purpose (the Sun) plays out in community. It could also suggest a connection between any other “Sun things” like philosophy, leadership, or the parents and these Aquarian Eleventh House ideals.
   

3. Where is the planet that rules your Eleventh House? What’s its story and how might that connect with the work you can do in your community?
   
   With an Aquarius Eleventh House, I look to Saturn. In my chart, Saturn is in Pisces in the Twelfth House. At face value, I consider this an encouragement to spend time with the spiritual, with the artistic, and with the isolated. I could see in this a call to engage with the incarcerated (the Twelfth House reflects imprisonment) and with the ostracized. Based on what I see here, combining these things with the mutable, spiritual, artistic tones of Pisces could be a good place for me to do work in support of the collective. 
   

4. Continue getting to know your chart and reflecting on how your lived experience helps you understand it. As you take action you’ll learn things about what feels right and what doesn’t. These lessons help you figure out what the “natal promise” underlying the chart really is. 

I don’t think that astrology is going to be the technology that, by itself, transforms culture and transforms our politics into something humane. I don’t think that exploring your chart is revolutionary or somehow addresses the moral injury caused by voting for Kamala Harris. But I think if you’re stuck and you don’t know what actions you can take to make the world better, to actually “do politics” and help move your community toward a space that makes it harder for cowards to cause harm, this kind of chart work is a place to start. You just can’t let it stop there. You have to get offline and go be with people.

That’s something we all can learn from our Eleventh House. Where the people are is where the good spirit is. 

Always a lot of credit goes to the people who have been my teachers, both directly and through their freely shared knowledge, and so many books.