
2014 in L'Alpe di Siusi, fresh from the US and Australia.
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THE 1st ARIES FESTIVAL 2019
20/21 MAR 2019
© Malvin Artley
New life
Flowering ideas
Service and services
Aries, briefly
Courageous women
The problem of leadership
Goodwill and service
Aries, courage and challenges
The full moon
Decisions and moments
The UK and Brexit
Israel
Ukraine
India
The EU
The promise of the future
Greetings Everyone!
New life: And happy Ides of March! We were driving to the coast the other day and laid out before us were field after field of orchards, lit by white and pink blossoms, the heralds of spring. The air was clear and warm, and we conjectured about what types the trees might be. Some sort of fruit, obviously. Cherries are a big crop here, and they come into season during the Aries interval, as do strawberries. I always look forward to this time of year. The red fruits are some of my favorites and they certainly reflect the coloring of Aries – red, Mars and full of passion. Perhaps it is a balance to my more Venusian nature. And then, in the past week, at the front door of the apartment building there is a tulip tree that is coming into full bloom, itself full of pink blooms. The cold and dark of winter is quickly passing away, seemingly like it was only yesterday, and the tops of the mountains are quickly losing their powdery covering. But with a good pair of binoculars, you can still see the skiers on the distant slopes, their season quickly passing as well.
Flowering ideas: One can actually tell quite a bit about the sign that is present at any particular time by looking at the plant life, the flowers especially. While it is true that there are many colors of flowers present at the moment, the predominant colors we see here are red, yellow and white, and these reveal the planets involved. Mars colors the red flowers, Mercury the yellow and with the white flowers representing the purity of new beginnings, also the non-descript nature of Mercury.[1] Daffodils are some of the first flowers to pop up (speaking in terms of the northern hemisphere), and the yellow of Mercury speaks to the more esoteric side of Aries, which Mercury rules.[2] Red is also the color of desire, in this case the desire for new life, for a fresh start. “Thus new thoughts can be carried into the hearts of men. Thus new flowers of ideas bring beauty to the dusty plains of earth.”[3]
Service and services: Given that this year is very likely to be a big year in finances, the focus on service will also be on services, as in public services, which have seen a steady degradation in the past few decades, as reactionary elements in our Western societies seek to roll back any hint of social progress and public safety nets – all in the name of ‘freedom’, mind you. And Aries sounds a note for freedom, as it turns out, but with Aries that means true freedom – freedom for soul expression. With Aries the focus is more on individual effort and ‘finding the Christ within’, i.e., one’s higher Self. And as if we couldn’t get enough of Aries, we will have two Aries festivals this year, with the second one indicating the onset of Easter. This letter, then, can be seen as a transition letter, with the next Aries letter being more about the Easter festival. So, we will focus more on the esoteric qualities of Aries in the Easter letter, the 2nd Aries festival for 2019.
Aries is the pioneer, the avant garde, the firebrand who overturns old orders, who challenges the status quo. Aries is the pain in the neck, or other regions, to elitists and defenders of the old guard the world over. This is especially true of Aries men, as it is a masculine sign as well as the planets involved, but this in no way discounts the power of Aries women, who simply have a different approach to matters than the head-on approach of the Aries male. The symbol for Aries is the ram, after all, and no matter who is born under this sign, whether it be the Sun or Ascendant, there is always the tendency to butt in, to interrupt streams of conversation and habit, and often in a most forceful manner, whether in speech or in action. In one respect, this is the service that Aries represents – the challenge to our current modes of thinking and doing – something in which we are of sore need at the moment. A little digression is in order here.
The problem of leadership: Aries is one of the ‘leadership’ signs. We are told in Alice Bailey’s books that members of the New Group of World Servers should not criticize national leaders, instead seeking the ‘middle way’, i.e. common ground between people and factions within nations and looking to build consensus rather than division.[6] That is all right and good, but with a caveat, later. More devotional/idealistic people will adhere strictly to those words. But here is a question that needs to be asked: Who is actually leading our nations? Elected officials or special interest individuals and groups? If one scratches beneath the surface (and you don’t have to go very far), one finds that the leadership in many democracies – if one can call it leadership – actually is representative of those special interests, rather than of the general public good. The same holds true on the international stage. We won’t go into a discourse on the subject here, as we did that to a large extent last year in these letters. But here is the caveat: We are also told that evil needs to be firmly and decisively confronted and called out when it subverts the greater good of nations and populations. Pacifism is never desirable nor good in times of great crisis, as we have today. And humanity is facing great crises today in many spheres – military, environmental, political, economic, journalistic, educational. One of the main problems we have in addressing these things is that not enough people in places of power and influence recognize these crises, or instead use them for their own self-benefit.
Goodwill and service: The principles of goodwill are the primary guidelines of service in our everyday lives. All the world religions, in their pure form, teach this, as does simple common sense. But goodwill does not mean that one does not stand for what is right. Pacifism in the face of oppressive violence or regressive (re: evil) policy does more harm than good, and does not advance the common good. The Tibetan was quite clear on the matter:
“It is no doubt an undeniable spiritual truth that right thought can change and save the world, but it is also true that there are not enough people able to think [that is, to meditate with enough focus and to formulate thought clearly] to do this work. Also, there is not enough time in which to do it. The thoughts of peace are mainly founded upon a stubborn idealism that loves the ideal more than humanity. They are based also upon an unrecognised fear of war and upon an individual inertia which prefers the dream world of wishful thinking to the shouldering of responsibility for the security of humanity.”
This was written at the time of the World War, but still applies today. Further clarifying:
“All true and good people are pacifically minded and all hate war. This is a fact which the academic idealist and pacifist often forgets…They contend that thinking thoughts of peace and of love can put the world straight and end…war. Such people, fighting the existent fact of war, usually do little or nothing concrete to right the wrongs which are responsible for the war, and permit their [own] defense—personal, municipal, national and international—to be undertaken by others. The sincerity of these people cannot be questioned…it is motive that counts. War can be and is mass murder, where the motive is wrong. It can be sacrifice and right action, where the motive is right…”
Our corporate press is geared toward war and supplies us with misinformation on a daily basis. It is these sorts of things about which the public needs to be educated, and this is the point to be made. The publics of the US, UK and Australia are especially glamoured at the moment about war, about threats to security, much of which is unfounded. True goodwill between nations has yet to be realized, and will never be realized so long as the press keeps harping on about manufactured threats. Our national discourse needs a fundamental change. And that starts with people like Ilhan Omar. Goodwill intra-nationally is in very short supply these days, too. Our public discourse is riddled with separatism and divided opinions on a host of matters, issues which do nothing to truly advance the public good, and only serve to distract us from the real causes of our national and international problems.
Aries, courage and challenges: It would appear that we, as a collective, have learned nothing from the past. It is a thought that I often hear repeated. The preceding paragraphs are intended to make a point, and to return to Aries. If we step back and look at the rulers of Aries – hierarchical, esoteric and orthodox – we see a clear pattern, from the ‘top to the bottom’, if you will. Aries is a sign that introduces a new order (Uranus). It thus introduces an internal conflict (Mercury and the 4th ray) between possibilities for new paths and the existing orders, which hopefully encourages public discourse and the dissemination of the new ideas. This public discourse then challenges existing power structures and sometimes leads to open conflict (Mars). But it also incites destruction of outmoded habits and patterns of thought which are hindering the progress of humanity. Mars operates along the line of the Destroyer (being the alter ego of Pluto),[7] as does Aries in general,[8] in addition to transmitting the ray of devotion/fanaticism.[9] On the whole it is a very courageous expression and when rightly used, can lead to revolutionary developments along the line of the advancement of human and public welfare. That is the ultimate purpose of Aries, the seeding of those initiatives. With these thoughts in mind, and given that this full moon starts on the Aries point, which always signals shifts in the world view, we have a look at the full moon.
The full moon takes place east of Greenwich on the 21st of March, west of Greenwich on the 20th, taking place at 01:43 UT in the UK (12:43 PM AEDT). Uranus is linked with the Moon by quincunx, which signals changes coming. We won’t go into the dynamics of the figure here, as would be usual. Instead, we focus on the changes that are happening. There is a point which might be helpful to keep in mind as to change as we proceed into the coming years and decades, and it relates to the following:
“Life…is one long series of presented opportunities—opportunities to make decisions. …as experience proceeds, these decisions become increasingly drastic, constantly more frequent and more crucial in their general trend; they lead, when made, to more eventful results.”[10]
The UK and Brexit: To cover these very quickly, Brexit and the way it has been mishandled has cost the conservatives in the UK dearly. But it is also revealing much in the way that politics has operated in the UK for some time now, the realities of Europe, also the realities of the special interests within and without the UK who have their own more selfish interests in mind, and the undercurrents in British society that have held the nation back. Also, those who seek to move the nation forward. To reiterate here, the UK can never really separate itself from the Continent. It can achieve some level of autonomy, but this it has always had, in reality. There is a much larger picture and play that is evolving, with the UK as the centerpiece, the catalyst. This week has been especially important in the UK, and very important decisions are being made in the Parliament. A ‘No-deal Brexit’ is now off the table, as is a second referendum, at least for now. A no-deal Brexit is what the special interests had hoped to achieve. There is a possibility they may yet succeed in that, given secret meetings between Brexiteers and far-right leaders in Europe. So, we will see further political turmoil in the UK over the ensuing months, to reach a climaxing point early in 2020, if not before, when Saturn joins Pluto in Capricorn opposite the UK Moon. The latter represents the sitting government, ruling as it does the 10th house. I will be writing a piece about all
this in the coming days in the Blog space.
Israel: To Israel, and Bibi Netanyahu is in trouble in Israel and Israel’s support in the US is slipping. This is also an important election, because it could well decide the fate of the Israelis. This is a realistic possibility. Bibi may feel forced to do something drastic to stay in office. But then, he also may bow out, only to be replaced by someone more hawkish – or not. Israel is increasingly painting itself in a corner, as it were, and primarily due to its own errant policies rather than any outside influence. And if something drastic does take place, it is doubtful that the US will be able to guarantee Israeli security, given the military capabilities of its neighbors, which have grown significantly as a result of the war in Syria, also as a result of the rapprochement between Iran and Iraq. The US is quickly losing its grip on and influence in the Middle East.
Ukraine: Then, there is Ukraine and the EU. The neo-Nazis in Ukraine are actively protesting against their champion, Poroshenko, who had used them as muscle. The candidates likely to win are advocating talks with the leaders of the Donbass region and with Moscow. Wonders never cease.
The Atlanticist project in Ukraine may be seeing its dying days, as Germany in particular does not want to see Nazis on its doorstep, and Germany is already at odds with the US and NATO. Even the Atlantic Council, the mouthpiece of Atlanticist policy, have stated that Poroshenko does not deserve a second term. Washington had hoped to draw Ukraine into NATO, but given the current tensions in Ukraine, that looks to be a long way off, if it would ever happen at all. The violence that is on the rise in Ukraine is virtually unreported in corporate media. Yet the resolution of the ‘Ukraine problem’ is a key to the stability of the EU, among other factors. Completion of the Nordstream II gas pipeline to Germany will further elevate tensions within Ukraine due to a loss of revenue, leading to a crisis that will probably involve Russia yet again – this time hopefully with dialog and the sequestering on neo-Nazi elements in that nation instead of further threats and sanctions. Ukraine is a representation in miniature of the Russian Federation in a way, a fact little realized, as it, too, is a bridging nation and a stark example of what happens with Western-style economic shock therapy. Eastern Europe and the EU by extension has a great interest in stability there.
India: To India, and Modi faces a tight race and he has failed to stimulate the economy in the way he had promised. It is economics that usually decides elections. The recent tensions with Pakistan, which were particularly dangerous, were used as political fodder to boost his ratings. This at the expense of or ignoring the cause of world security (India and Pakistan have 220 nuclear weapons between them). Bill Clinton once called Kashmir “the most dangerous place in the world” for that very reason, along with the volatility there. In that region again, some of the most important
geopolitical shifts in the world are taking place, with Pakistan moving ever closer to China, the latter seeing Pakistan as one of the main arteries in its B&R Initiative and the two of them along with Russia and the US all seeking to resolve the problems in Afghanistan. India for its part still practices is non-aligned policy and enjoys good relations with both Washington, Russia and most of its neighbors. India’s main problems, though, are internal and will take time and strong leadership to work out. The promise of India is in the Light that it hides, and it is that Light, brought to bear, that can do much to solve tensions in that part of the world. India is one of the world’s biggest population centers, after all. If China is any example of what a large populace is capable, India deserves to be carefully watched and aided in its progress.
The EU: We will leave this piece for now with the EU and the challenges it is facing. We have looked at all this before. If the UK stays in the EU, even for a few years yet, the effects on Europe will be either to bring the needed changes to the Union, or to cause it to split. The UK is facing one of its biggest existential crises in recent memory, which should serve to further draw out its Gemini soul. If that crisis is not handled well – i.e., if decisions are made based solely on short-term political gain by the parties involved – then the UK faces inner divisions that will keep the nation from moving forward in any meaningful manner and will likely set it back a number of years. The reason for saying that is that decisions made for political gain are seldom for the public good, or the good of international relations.
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