Kennedy's Passion

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Late Tuesday night, just before midnight, Senator Ted Kennedy died from complications from brain cancer. This was no surprise, Senator Kennedy had been ailing for well over a year. But what he leaves behind is both a family legacy, as well as his own.

Senator Kennedy was not without a murky past filled with tragedy, loss, weakness and irresponsibility.. a past that seems to go much further back than even this one lifetime. On the night of his death Uranus (the planet of change, and radical reform) sat on his natal North Node while Saturn was moving towards the South Node. In the tradition of Jeff Greene and Steven Forrest's evolutionary astrology, the South Node is the doorway to our past lives, and the baggage we bring in with us.

Senator Kennedy's South Node sat in his 8th House, the house associated with death. He certainly had a lot to experience with tragic death in this lifetime... but apparently this is something that was brought forward from previous experiences as well. South Node in Virgo, the sign of health, illness and medicine leads us to imagine a few possibilities. One might imagine a doctor, one who had a position with great status (South Node trine Saturn), and who had the power to decide whether or not to treat and/or save individuals. Perhaps he chose to treat and save only those people who could afford to pay. Perhaps he was unable to treat and/or help all the people that he was capable of saving. Either due to inability or refusal (due to classicism, social status) to help those who needed the help the most, either way, the experiences of his past life, his responsibility for the deaths through negligence... weighed heavily on his conscience. He came into this life with a commitment to make amends. This commitment was reawakened with each tragedy in his life... the loss of his brothers, the illness of two of his children with cancer.

When his son lost a leg to cancer at the age of 12, he was struck by the fact that other families with similar ailments did not have the insurance that he had, because he was in Congress, and would have to sell their possessions, their homes in order to pay for life-saving treatments for their children. The spark of altruism, inclusion and desire to serve all of humanity was awakened in his soul... Now it's not a matter of only a chosen few being saved, but a right of everyone in the society. And so he has used his position and his power with that strong Saturn in Capricorn in his first house, to fight for the right of every individual to have adequate health care.

On the night of his death the North Node of the Moon was exactly conjunct his natal Saturn in the last degree of Capricorn. Saturn strong and angular, the statesman, who not only preached inclusiveness, he lived it, through his Pisces spirit, and path. Uranus had come back to his North Node to remind us of the brave liberal lion who governed in an age when true bipartisan politics existed. Through his legacy (Saturn in Capricorn), perhaps we can all take a page from his book, and help to take some personal responsibility (North Node in Capricorn) to promote the dream and goals that he was so very passionate about.

The Boston Globe wrote on Wednesday:

Ted Kennedy played a leading role in perhaps the greatest political drama of the 20th century - the dawning of the New Frontier and the soul-crushing assassinations that followed - but he will be remembered by history for his legislative achievements in health care, education, civil rights, and immigration.

The fact that his tangible accomplishments transcended his mythic role in the Kennedy drama attests to the vast extent of his legislative impact. In each of four areas, he dominated legislative politics for more than four decades, spanning ten presidencies, and played a large role in transforming the government’s relationship to the people.

Bill by bill, provision by provision, he expanded government health support to millions of children and the elderly, helped millions more go to college, opened the immigration doors to millions of new Americans from continents other than Europe, and protected the civil rights bulwark of the ’60s through a long period of conservative domination.

And by the time his life ended yesterday, surrounded by loved ones in a gentle scene that contrasted sharply with the violent deaths of his brothers, Ted Kennedy had built a nuts-and-bolts legacy to stand beside that of his presidential brother as a figure of hope and his senatorial brother as a figure of compassion.

What we have here is failure to communicate...

Summer 2009

In “Cool Hand Luke” Strother Martin whacks Paul Newman in the head and tosses him into a ditch extolling the famous line: “What we have here is failure to communicate...”

We can expect more communication failures as Mercury (the planet of communication, transportation and currently in the sign of health care) slows to its Retrograde station on September 7th, while under siege. Mars has been in Gemini (Mercury’s sign) since July 12th (angry words, shouting, screaming, angry discourse)... which found a venue in local town hall events this Summer. In August, Mars wandered into excitable territory as it stirred up the extant Saturn/Uranus opposition. Those who fear change, and are in denial of its necessity... are now seething, and have found support from Republican leaders desperate to regain control, organizations such as “Freedom Works” (responsible for organizing protesters at the town hall meetings) that have been tied to them, and right-wing media (Mars in Gemini) such as Fox News.

The Christian Science Monitor reported on Friday that right wing militia groups are on the rise after almost a decade of obscurity. Militia training events are growing, with sales of guns and ammunition spiraling. The Southern Poverty law Center reports an increase of militia activities including the murders of 6 law enforcement officials over the last several months, by people espousing anti-government, and racist rhetoric. The chance for intelligent debate on such life threatening issues as adequate health care for all is besieged by those small minds who fear that all that they know and have and believe is being destroyed. By progressive liberals.

Saturn constricts, and makes things small and limited. And Saturn with Mercury, as it is this week, believes that it is always right. It is authoritarian, and will not listen. This does not bode well with the possibility of debate. The 3rd of 5 oppositions between Saturn and Uranus will culminate in mid-September. The conversation and the media will be weighing in with the conservative factions who fear inclusion, what they perceive to be “big” government and “socialism”. The first Saturn/Uranus opposition occurred when President Obama was elected, the second around the time he was inaugurated. The third occurs when it becomes inevitable that some sort of decision needs to be made concerning health care reform. Uranus in Pisces is the enlightened leader. An enlightened leader who can help to sever the Saturnian chains that prevent and retard the inevitability of change and evolution.

As I’ve written before... the thing is with these Saturn/Uranus cycles, is that the more you resist them, the more likely the instability, the hard stuff, is going to transpire. It’s like a pressure cooker. If it doesn’t have an adequate valve, the pressure becomes overwhelming and will explode. Literally and figuratively.

There’s another situation brewing and emerging around this period of transition, a situation that wreaks of instability and danger the end of August. A situation that will need to be reined in and controlled. Obama receives as many as 30 death threats a day. Death threats have also been made towards representatives who are supporting health care reform. There is much turmoil and anger in the world. There are those who are so determined to succeed and have their way, that they will use any means of force and domination to achieve their ends. Aggression and violence, frustration and resentment are escalating as Summer winds down.

This energy can manifest through other outlets as well. Saturn/Uranus cycles have been associated with both periods of great destruction as well as movements for hope and change. The Spanish flu pandemic, volcanic eruptions, and major earthquakes have all occurred during Saturn/Uranus cycles. Economic upheaval. But you add fear of loss of control, misinformation, lies, hostility and deeply embedded prejudices... and you have the resulting impending danger on so many levels. This stuff is like a pressure cooker about to explode, and if it doesn’t have an adequate valve, it will do just that. It will take a great deal of enlightenment, and wisdom to be able to navigate these treacherous waters.