The Gemini festival 2019

THE GOODWILL FESTIVAL 2019

GEMINI FESTIVAL 2019

17 Jun 2019

© Malvin Artley

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Our newest member World Invocation Day The nature of Goodwill Gemini The Earth in astrology Advisory notice Several eclipses The full moon Three important meetings China and world synthesis The disease of our times A needed Geminian effort Shangri-La The SPIEF Conspiracies, anyone? The direction of the West this year The Italians Brexit and the UK Yemen Two recent events Radicalized religion contrived? The concerns of Russia and China A humbling fact Change is to come quicker Why divisions between us? Walls

Greetings Everyone!

Summer has finally arrived here in northern Italy after a cold and wet spring. We needed the rain, though. And, it was a treat to see the snow on the mountains through the month of May. Then, just as spring was turning into summer, we had another treat, with unexpected guests here from the other side of the world, literally. It was good to have their perspective on what is going on in New Zealand, especially since recent events on the south island. We won’t go over those here. But as a result of the weather here, the vegetation has exploded, the rivers are up, but the farmers have suffered, with extreme weather throughout Italy. It has been the same in parts of the US, too. Mars out-of-bounds has produced its effects, with greater extremes, both physically and with international belligerence as we have seen. We look forward to calmer weather now, especially figuratively, now that Mars has gone back into our normal declinational confines.

Our newest member: It has also come to my attention that we have a new member to our astrological roster, in the form of a ‘new’ small planet, Gong-gong. This one was otherwise known as 2007OR₁₀. There is an article on it on the blog page with preliminary observations of its effects, so you can read about that at your leisure. The name is not official yet, but the voting for the name has already taken place and Gong-gong won out. And no, it has nothing to do with banging gongs, sea snails and such, although there is something there about head-banging. It looks to be quite a mental influence, and revelatory in its indications. It is currently located at the 5^th degree of Pisces, retrograde. But our recent guests here have brought with them much in the way of food for thought. They are world travelers, and coming as they did at the start of Gemini, there were more than a few stories to hear about their travels, not to mention that it was nice to be able to speak English with someone.

World Invocation Day: The full moon of the Gemini interval is one of the three most important full moons of the year, marking the ‘Festival of Humanity’, or the ‘Festival of Goodwill’. It is a day wherein there is a massed invocation of humanity to restore the divine plan for this world and to give us an idea of the steps ahead in that plan. Thus, the full moon for Gemini is also called World Invocation Day. Its main purpose at this time is to foster those subjective initiatives that promote goodwill throughout the world, regardless of affiliations. It is non-denominational and pan-spiritual. Everyone can contribute their thoughts, meditations and actions along that line and we are all encouraged to do so.

The nature of Goodwill: What exactly is goodwill, though? Is it simply some feel-good attitude we have toward our fellow sentient beings, some benign voluntary activity we undertake? Or is it something more? Does going to church on Sunday make us good people, or do we have to actually practise what we preach? Understanding this will take us into our considerations of Gemini, because this theme is central to the energies and expression of that sign. ‘Goodwill’ can also be understood as the will-to-good. Seen in that vein, goodwill is not passive in the least. It is a dynamic force that leads to breaking down the barriers between people and fostering understanding and cooperation – what is called ‘right human relations’. Willpower is that force that breaks down the barriers to enlightenment. True Christians know this as the Golden Rule. Buddhists call it practicing compassion. Every religion has its version, as does every spiritual path, because it leads to the recognition of the divine nature of every person and ourselves. Once we have that recognition of ourselves and other people it is difficult, if not impossible, to be antagonistic with one another. That brings us to Gemini.

Gemini is ruled by three planets – Mercury (orthodox), Venus (esoteric) and the Earth (Hierarchical).^[1] In these three planets we have the path of goodwill. In its lower aspect, Gemini has been called ‘the quarrelling brothers’, or ‘the forces in conflict’.^[2] This is the lower Mercurial expression of the sign, that revels in differences of opinion, discourse and argument for the sake of it, and polarization of view. If we want to see how this works out in nations, we need look no further than the United States, Belgium and Poland. Those three nations have Gemini as their personality expression, and all of them at this point in world history exhibit the more argumentative, polarized expression of Gemini. It is a sign that can express the most slippery, evasive sort of thought process. At the same time, it is the sign that signals the communicator of truth. It is one of the most changeable signs in the zodiac, and because it is an air sign, it tends to revel in the mental sphere and can literally tie people in knots when one tries to pin a Gemini down to a point of view. For this reason they can be seen as unreliable negotiators and partners, and untrustworthy, because they can change their minds at the slightest shift in the breeze if it suits them.

When the Gemini devotes themselves to study, though, and real understanding begins to shine through in their minds, then the higher type of Gemini emerges – the communicator of truth, the seeker of resolution to conflicts, the reliable negotiator, because then they come under the influence of Venus. Venus tends toward integration. We like to think of Venus as ‘the love planet’, but in truth it is the planet that leads one to a fuller expression of soul. It is the natural ruler of both the 2^nd and 7^th houses of the zodiac, relating to esteem, or a right sense of values, and justice, respectively. The ‘higher’, or more soul-centered Gemini is imbued with this sense of justice and a right sense of values, and seeks to integrate their actions with those of others, and to inform a larger view of the concerns of their communities and society. The influence of Venus with Gemini becomes or inspires the will-to-good, and becomes compassionate instead of antagonistic. The Venus-inspired Gemini is the exemplar of right human relations.

The Earth in astrology: The Earth, as an expression of Gemini, is not normally thought of in astrology. But in terms of one’s spiritual path, it is quite an important consideration. The Earth in any horoscope is always exactly opposite the Sun. It is said to represent a point of monadic (i.e., spiritual in distinction to soul) influence. It represents a quality to be inbuilt to balance the nature of the Sun sign. It represents a point wherein a test of one’s will comes into play, because it is in contrast to the energies of the Sun sign. It will be used in future zodiacal meditations. But this represents something different with Gemini. For Gemini, the Earth represents its ultimate field of service. This is true whether one’s Sun or rising sign is Gemini. In this regard, the Earth with Gemini is about making the spiritual values in one’s life a reality in the everyday affairs of life. Nothing is excluded. No thing is too small to consider. Everything has its place in the grand scheme of the divine plan for our world.

Advisory notice: Gemini should be the sign that best expresses universal brotherhood, between people, communities and nations. That it does not at this time is all too apparent. Before we move on to the full moon, we should be aware that the lower aspects of Gemini are being most potently expressed in our media these days. There are rumors of war, of nefarious influences, of threats to our security and so on. The issues that divide us are on full display, and our politicians seize upon them to advance their own agendas, apparently careless of their effects on the wider world. I am speaking here of certain nations in particular. Who those are is not difficult to discern, but we can probably find examples of such in virtually every nation. We need a clear vision of what is taking place, but unless we are willing to look at many diverse sources, that view will evade us. 2019 has already marked itself as one of great importance to the emerging divine Plan, one that will be more expressive of Aquarian values and of true Geminian brotherhood between nations. For that reason, this letter will focus on what has emerged in the past couple of weeks, really – since the Sun entered Gemini. Our news cycles are about to become more strident, more urgent in their calls for certain actions, more belligerent to certain nations. We all know who those are. In reality, it is a sign that needed changes are in fact taking place. But not everything is as our news pundits would have us believe. With that, we move on to the full moon.

Several eclipses: With this full moon we enter into the eclipse season for the summer. The new moon of Cancer, two weeks after this full moon, will be a total solar eclipse, the main path of which will track over Chile and Argentina for the most part. It will be visible over the greatest part of South America. I will cover that in a separate short article on the blog page. So, watch that space for the article. Two weeks later there will be a partial lunar eclipse, which will be the full moon for the Cancer interval this year, and that will be covered in the next letter.

One thing worth mentioning about those two eclipses is that the next full moon, which is also an eclipse, will be activated by yet another eclipse at the first of next year, at the full moon for the Capricorn interval. That follows on from the Festival Week of the New Group of World Servers, which also is accompanied by a solar annular eclipse, and the former will be conjunct the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, which is exact two days later and will be square to Eris. All that comes at the end of the Year of the Monastic Pig, and it will signal the end of the old financial order for the West. It will also, as a result, signal the end of certain power structures in the West. Those changes may or may not happen suddenly, but the conditions for the changes will certainly be in evidence at that point. They are being signaled now if we look at recent events, which we will get to shortly. Why it would signal the end of an old order is because Pluto in Capricorn is an indicator of it, and with Saturn there the conditions and timing for it are thus ripe. Mars will activate those two eclipses at the Aries solar ingress (spring equinox) for 2020. Let’s just say that will be quite an interesting period in world history. As to why will become apparent as we read on.

The full moon: To our present full moon, that takes place on 17 Jun 2019 at 8:31 UT (6:31 PM AEST), otherwise known as World Invocation Day. We will skip the analysis of this full moon. There is not much compelling in it anyway, except for one thing: There is an opposition of Mars to the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, which is also at the midpoint of the two outers. It is a combination that points toward ruthless behavior and possible violence. We also find Mercury conjunct Mars and opposite Saturn. Given what is happening in the Gulf of Oman at the moment, there is a prompt there to not let our fears get the better of us, but instead to meditate for peace in the region. But in that, we can see the possibility for ruthless behavior. Instead, it would be better to ruthlessly inspect the information that is being rolled out to us in the media. More on Iran in a bit.

Three important meetings: Since we are at the midyear mark, what follows will be a quick summary of the year-to-date. You know how my quick summaries go. It also follows upon what was outlined in the astrology of the full moon for Wesak this year, referring specifically to the end of old orders. Proceeding, then, there have been three important meetings in the past couple of weeks that have set the course of our financial order for the foreseeable future. We will cover those in more detail and why they have been so important. One of them was the Shangri-La Dialogue (the 18^th such, 31 May – 2 June), which was a regional meeting on Asian security concerns involving 50 nations. This was virtually unreported in the Western media, but was actually quite important for a number of reasons. The next was the SPIEF ‘19 in St. Petersburg, Russia, (6 – 8 June), an international economic forum at which there are typically attendees from over 120 nations and over 10,000 delegates from the business community worldwide and world leaders. This year Xi Jinping attended. It was the 23^rd such forum. The third meeting coincided with the Shangri-La Dialogue and is rather more well-known, for all the wrong reasons – the Bilderberg Meeting – a conspiratorial favorite on the internet.

China and world synthesis: Starting with the Orient, as a result of recent actions by the Trump administration, the real trade war between the US and China has started in earnest since the last full moon. China has begun a concerted effort to de-couple from the US due to Trump’s trade war. American companies are being pressured to leave China. They will not return to the US, and will instead seek other low-cost locations overseas for doing business. This is in response to Trump’s latest round of sanctions against China, the Trump administration’s demands for change within China, which the Chinese have naturally rejected, rising tensions in the South China Sea and so forth. The proverbial writing is on the wall for the Chinese and they are taking immediate steps to preserve their initiatives, and to accelerate their integration with the wider world, especially in Central Asia and Europe. China will not fold. It is a nation with a 1^st ray soul (endurance under pressure) and a 3^rd ray personality, making them very adaptable and resilient. What should be an emerging world synthesis and greater cultural and spiritual unity between the East and the West, with constructive exchanges between the two world poles, has instead devolved into polarization in the West against China and aims by the West at controlling the resources of Central Asia and Russia, with efforts toward derailing the China-Russia cooperative agreement. A quick read of the preceding link will show the US reaction to the agreement. However, consider the following, which speaks of the needed synthesis between the world’s nations in the emerging Age:

“If this new synthesis is to restore cultural and spiritual unity in mankind, the Occidental world will have to acquire humility when it turns to the Orient. The Oriental world will not, because of its inherent nature, generate the physical energy to go to the West. We Westerners went into the East in search of markets—outlets for the products of our mechanical power—and we must return to our own world, magnetized by the subjective energies of the East and conscious of it.”^[3]

Emphases added. There is much more to the preceding that has not been included here, but which is best summarized thus:

Our main hope of survival in this highly polarized world lies in a prodigious effort at synthesis of the two cultures while there is still time. Should the Orient deny us that time and decide to meet us merely on our own grounds, then this might write finis to the story for all of us, East and West.^[4]

The Trump administration has made a grave miscalculation regarding China, as have previous US administrations to a lesser degree, and has decided to try to force China to meet us on our terms, and is doing so with India as well, showing their ignorance of those cultures and playing to domestic politics. In that sphere, too, the latest round of sanctions will only serve to harm the most vulnerable in the US, which is Trump’s voter base, and really in the world at large. It will begin to hit hard in the next year – election year in the US. Wal-Mart shoppers will feel the pinch first.

The disease of our times: In the Chinese New Year letter for this year the emphasis was laid on economic issues, and the preceding paragraph gives a prime example of how that is working out. But overall, what we are seeing today, “…is the removal of undesirable conditions by their emergence into prominence and by the consequent removal of their originating sources…”^[5] If, for instance, a disease takes hold in the human system, there is a time to strike a cure and a time to wait things out. Most diseases, as are human social conditions, are the results of wrong actions and karma. There is always a time element involved in correction. A sort of ‘critical mass’ must be attained before actions will completely remove the causes for the condition. We see it in a certain fatigue or surrender that overtakes a person at a particular point in a disease process. Therein is the cue that the mental/emotional states are ripe for closure. Otherwise, the prevailing mental/emotional mindset behind the condition might persist and likely be re-engaged at a future date, being pushed below the surface if an attempt at a cure is approached too soon, or if only the symptoms are treated.

We saw an example of a palliative being applied to our present world economics in the 2008 financial crisis. The Greek debt crisis was another example. The root causes were not removed. Instead, the banks were bailed out, where in fact they were at the root of the problem. The populace bore the resulting bill instead of the guilty parties. People were either not well enough informed about what was taking place or they were too frightened to do what was really needed for a sufficient public uproar to force change. We also see this in elections, like in the recent Australian elections, where the people were too frightened to address the problems besetting the government and thus the society, opting instead for what they thought was security. People are afraid they will lose what they have if major changes rock their societies. That need not be the case. But more often than not, history being the guide, calamity has to strike before people embrace the needed changes. It is the same with human illnesses. Any type of illness marks a need for a change of attitudes and practices, which in the future will avoid a recurrence. This is a simplistic explanation, but perhaps the point is clear.

A needed Geminian effort: People who study history and who watch the cycles unfold and recur can see what is taking shape in our present world. Whether they see the forces behind such changes might be another matter, but we know that we are approaching a point of real crisis – we are not quite there yet – and that great and needed changes are around the corner, in a manner of speaking. If you want the indicators that a big change is coming, look to the media, to the level of despair in the society and to the levels of polarization. The media will fuel the polarization, will trumpet the establishment narratives, will have ‘experts’ of various kinds telling us what is needed and what or who is to be avoided, and so on. One of the first things that would be most helpful in the West is to either break up the media monopolies, especially the tech giants, or to nationalize them, then to publicly fund independent news sources, and many such, which in all would serve to encourage a vigorous and more informed public debate on the major issues facing us. It wouldn’t cost that much, either. That would be a good Geminian effort. It would also do much to foster goodwill, eventually, although in the interim it would cause a great deal of upset as people begin to realize how misinformed and uniformed they have been.

What we have instead, especially in the US, the UK and Australia, is deliberate misinformation and biased news services. These serve to keep the public ignorant, divided and the voting blocks in place that perpetuate the successive administrations that continue to dole out bad policy. Most of the polarization we have is contrived for that very purpose. We will get to more about that later. Before we do, though, we return to the important international meetings that took place in the last weeks. It will be helpful to look at those briefly to see where our society is going, and who is driving it.

Shangri-La: Starting with the Shangri-La Dialogue, China had been largely absent in recent years, but this year was different. The acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was there, and made veiled references to the malign behavior of ‘certain nations’, meaning China, and then made pointed references to China. Later in the session, General Wei Fenghe, State Councilor and Minister of National Defence, China, was there, and laid out China’s views of US behavior. The Chinese laid it on the line to the Americans, and everyone there. They will not be pushed around. However, both sides have their strengths and their faults. There is misunderstanding on both sides. But the current attitude toward China by Washington and the Chinese reaction to it can best be summarized as follows:

“…President Trump’s trade war with China has quickly metastasized into every other domain of Sino-American relations. Washington is now trying to dismantle China’s interdependence with the American economy, curb its role in global governance, counter its foreign investments, cripple its companies, block its technological advance, punish its many deviations from liberal ideology, contest its borders, map its defenses, and sustain the ability to penetrate those defenses at will. The message of hostility to China these efforts send is consistent and apparently comprehensive. Most Chinese believe it reflects an integrated U.S. view or strategy. It does not…”

The statement was made last month by former US Ambassador Chas Freeman, the full text at the previous link. He goes on to say that US policy toward China is based in domestic politics and plays to the more disadvantaged sectors of the US populace, the people who have suffered the most from US domestic policies in the past four decades. To understand what is taking place with China, and the best courses of action to bring peaceful coexistence, one would do well to read that full text. Keeping these points in mind as we go on, we move on to the SPIEF.

The SPIEF: If you really want to see where the world is headed in terms of economy and finance, then take some time and read through the keynote speeches of the leaders at that forum. These efforts are ongoing. But there was something that happened at the event that was far more important. At the conference Xi and Putin signed two joint statements, the upshot of which were “comprehensive partnership”, “strategic interaction” and “global strategic stability.” In essence, this has sealed the partnerships and cooperation between the two nations, giving them a united front that has not been wholly there until now. Due to Trump’s actions toward China, Russia is now China’s top strategic partner. This was unreported in the Western media, but it has caused quite a lot of anxiety amongst Atlanticist concerns. Western attitudes toward Russia in recent years had caused her to pivot toward China. Instead of seeking cooperation and positive economic competition with the two nations, the West has ensured that Russia and China can and will ‘go it alone’ and together accelerate the integration of Europe and Asia into probably the world’s most formidable economic bloc into the future. They have enthusiastic supporters in other nations, too. The other thing Xi and Putin agreed to was to totally do away with the US dollar in their cross-nation trade. Other nations will be quick to follow suit. That one little tidbit is what really has the Atlanticists on edge, which was reflected in the next meeting under consideration.

Conspiracies, anyone?: There was a meeting of the Bilderberg Group from 30 May to 2 June this year. It is a Gemini group (chart), which reflects the regular meetings they have, but it is more in the nature of the quarrelling brothers than it is of goodwill. And it will be of interest to readers that its Sun is conjunct the US Uranus in the US 6^th house – services, police, armed forces – and it serves to keep that sector of American life geared toward conflict and world instability. There has been quite a lot of nonsense written about this group, largely because of the secrecy surrounding its meetings. That nonsense serves the purpose of the group, however, working to keep people from discerning their real motives. We won’t go through it all, but the original main purpose of the group was to counter communism and to keep the post-WWII order intact and dominant. Essentially, the group is a meeting of NATO-aligned and corporate speakers from a variety of sectors – military, financial, social, media, tech, political.

Forget what you may have heard about the Bilderbergers and their so-called initiative toward some type of dystopic ‘New World Order’. The group is in place now to try to preserve the post-WWII order of US/European/dollar hegemony. Given the preceding points about Russia and China, we can begin to re-think its usefulness or prominence. It is old-school and waning in influence, but it will still cause trouble and instability worldwide for years to come. Its most iconic attendee for years – Henry Kissinger – gives an idea of what is passing. In reality, the Bilderberg Group is a NATO-centered (CIA, MI6) think tank whose focus now is neo-liberal globalism and free trade. Since the emergence of Russia and China as competitors, the Bilderbergers are now aimed at breaking the China/Russia association and preventing the spread of the multipolar emerging order throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. The reason the Bilderbergers are mentioned here is because of the aforementioned eclipses and associated astrology, and what generally happens after their meetings. Look for events from now through to the next meeting involving Russia, China, Iran, Europe, in social media and tech.

If we want to know what to expect in the Western nations in terms of geopolitics, and by extension in world geopolitics, one need only look at the invitees to the meeting this year. Notes from the group’s first meeting in 1954 are most revealing as to the character of their subsequent meetings. And there were some notable figures this year – Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner (think Israel and Iran), Henry Kissinger, Lilli Gruber (a long-time attendee), Matteo Renzi, Stefano Feltri, James Baker and Stacey Abrams, to name a few. All the attendees were solely from Europe, North America and Turkey. The names may not mean much to people, especially the Italian ones, but by and large these are people associated with the globalist US/UK-centered world order. There are no Russians or Chinese who attend those meetings, for instance. And if you want an interesting glimpse into world events that followed after such meetings, have a look at the years, past attendees and agendas for each meeting. And to drive the nail home, the Bilderberg Group has close associations with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council, the Trilateral Commission, Chatham House and the World Economic Forum. These meetings are thus the main geopolitical policy forum for the West each year.

The direction of the West this year: The topics of this year’s Bilderberg meeting were as follows: “A stable strategic order”, “What now for Europe?”, “Climate change and sustainability”, “China”, “Russia”, “The future of capitalism“, “Brexit”, “The ethics of artificial intelligence”, “Social media as a weapon“, “The importance of space”, and “Cyber ​​threats”. In that capsule of topics we see the events to come in the media, geopolitical strong-arming and the Western agenda. It has little to do with goodwill. It has everything to do with countering the emergence of Russia and China as the main pan-continental power in Europe and Asia and the alarm that is raising for the West. What they term a ‘stable strategic order’ amounts to keeping the Atlantic sphere of influence dominant. And one can already see from the preceding that as a group they are increasingly out of touch and growing more and more isolated. In fact, as this century progresses, meetings like those of the Bilderberg Group will become increasingly irrelevant. Probably the most revealing topic of conversation on their agenda this year was “The future of capitalism’, meaning our present form of capitalism. That has not appeared on their agenda in past meetings, referring to the theme for this year from the Chinese New Year letter. Regarding that topic and the future of Europe, there is a particular point to address here, and it goes to the Italian attendees, mentioned previously. It also ties in with Brexit.

The Italians: Matteo Renzi is the ex-PM of Italy, an analyst, a globalist, leader of the center-left Pd Party of Italy, who lost the recent election to Salvini and Di Maio. Two of his political idols are Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Why this is important for Europe is because the Italians are now opposing the central financial policy of the EU and are looking for the EU to relax its financial policy in order to escape the austerity measures that have been in place since 2008 and stagnated Europe’s economy, and which decimated Greece since their financial crisis. Renzi is opposed to the policies of the coalition. The Italians are facing a fine of 3 billion euros for their debt overrun of 3%, that percentage being against current EU regulations. What they are proposing instead are a system of mini-BOTs (a play on Buoni Ordinari del Tesoro) for overdue payment of debts to the government, which some people see as a form of parallel currency to the Euro. Therein lies the problem, because there are fears it would be a prelude to Italy leaving the EU if the measure were to go through and succeed. The coalition has denied such claims. They simply want to offset the debt for a while, but within Italy. The proposed system has the coalition government in crisis, because they are divided on the measure. If successful, the mini-BOTs would probably only be temporary, though. But, it has sent a shot across the bow of the Eurozone. That brings us back to Renzi and the other two Italians at the Bilderberg Meeting.

Matteo Renzi is in the same vein as Macron in France and Trudeau in Canada – a supposed fresh face, with new ideas about streamlining and reshaping government to make it more efficient. That usually means cutting government programs, freezing wages and scaling down bureaucracy. Some readers might think that is a good thing, and in particular cases it might be, but it usually causes cuts in areas where it is most needed, like health care, for instance (think the NHS for British readers). Renzi is a regular on Italian media and runs a narrative critical of Salvini and Di Maio. The same anti-coalition stance is also true of Feltri and Lilli Gruber. Gruber is an ex-politico and hosts a political talk show on Italian station La7, called Otto e Mezzo (8:30), which is the time of the evening the show airs. She has been a regular at Bilderberg meetings for several years now, mostly because she has her finger on the pulse of Italian politics and economics. She has had run-ins with Salvini and their relations on-air are tense. Feltri is also in media and runs a paper called Il Fatto Quotidiano, (The Daily Fact) focusing on politics and economics, also critical of the coalition.

Tying the preceding together, Salvini and Di Maio have been a thorn in the side of the EU central government. They run counter in some respects to the main policies that are in place now – largely open borders and the ‘need’ for austerity. They want to see Italy produce its way to prosperity and out of debt, which means keeping their assets and building the manufacturing base instead of selling them off to try to balance the budget. They have talked about nationalizing the gold reserves of Italy, taking those reserves out of the private banks and putting them under control of the government. That could also be used as a form of payment alternative to the Euro. They have talked about putting the shadier bankers in jail for endangering the Italian economy and populace. All this is bad enough in the eyes of the Atlanticists. It smacks of independence. But what else would one expect from a nation that has Leo and Sagittarius as its soul and personal expressions, respectively?

But to add to all that, and possibly the main thing that has raised the eyebrows of Bilderberg types is the recent sign-on of Italy to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), opening the ports of Trieste and Genoa to Chinese interests, and all of Europe by extension. All this threatens the financial and geopolitical order of the NATO. It would mean a more independent Europe (independent from Washington, Switzerland and London), a looser European union (not an end to it, as many pundits have forecast), but at the same time a more vibrant European economy over time – another large competitor to the US – if the measures of the coalition can be put into place and succeed. They will meet very heavy resistance, starting with media attacks, as we are already seeing. I’ll be writing more on this in the coming days, because it is an important development in the evolution of the EU. Italy’s destiny is to ‘carve the paths’, but that doesn’t come without effort. Salvini and Di Maio may or may not succeed. If they are deposed, which is a real possibility, and are replaced with a carbon copy of Renzi or Macron, then we can fully expect to see an Italian version of gilets jaunes. It is already bubbling under the surface. But this brings us to another point, which relates to China’s BRI, which we will address after a brief touch upon Brexit.

Brexit and the UK: There is not much to add to Brexit, as I have already treated it in a separate article. As it looks at the present moment, Boris Johnson will be the next Tory leader. There is nothing to celebrate there. And, there has been a vote in Parliament that has cleared the way for a no-deal Brexit, supposedly. It is still too early to tell how it will go, but next year looks to be a key one for the UK. Brexit is a real test for the British people, hopefully drawing out the Gemini soul of that nation, the Gemini soul always tending toward unity and brotherhood. It goes to the heart of the four countries that make up the UK itself – Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. If a no-deal Brexit goes through, the four may become the three and maybe even the two. So, let’s be clear about what Brexit has done for the UK: It has divided it. The Brexit vote showed Scotland and Ireland wanted to remain in the EU, with England and Wales voting to leave.

Sometimes more is said by omission than by statement. When talking about the destiny of the various nations, the UK is only mentioned three times in all of Alice Bailey’s books, whereas Great Britain is mentioned close to 200 times. The UK is mentioned twice in relation to the Commonwealth, which itself is in a slow process of dissolution, and once in relation to a lecture. Great Britain is the UK minus Ireland. Ireland is mentioned in discussions of the nations in Bailey’s works as a separate nation, not part of Great Britain. It is where the advanced esoteric school is to be located in the British Isles. There is nothing to say that the UK in its present form will survive. It has already split once. We have a tendency to assume that Great Britain means the same thing as the UK. But in fact, one of the main sticking points in the Brexit negotiations has been the ‘backstop’ in Ireland. It could well turn out in the long term that Brexit is more about the UK than it is about Europe. The British Isles will never really be able to separate themselves culturally or financially from the mainland. They are part of the European continent, after all.

We will have to wait and see what happens with the UK. More political strife is coming once the new leader is in place. My own sense of what is taking place is that the Ps in both parties are seeking to provoke a general election. That is possible in the context of the UK’s astrology, cited in the linked article. Something else to be clear about is that Brexit has been about finance all along, not about the British people, with factions among conservatives there seeking to push neoliberal (Thatcherite) economics even further than is currently being practised in the UK. A simple glance at their proposed policies makes that abundantly clear. Britain has serious problems to face at home, as do many Western nations. Their troubles have little or nothing to do with the EU. Those problems are what are driving the “immiseration of the British people”, according to a recent UN report. This sort of thing is causing people in many nations to question the efficacy of capitalism in its present form. That is a good thing. And to show how concerned the Atlanticists are about our present form of capitalism, the US, via Trump and Pompeo, are already sticking their noses into UK politics, fearing what would happen if a general election were to be held in the UK. Until the UK gets itself sorted, the main push for change within the EU will come from internal pressures on the continent itself, like the Italians and the gilet jaunes. The latter is still a going concern. This brings us back to the Mediterranean region.

Yemen: Have you ever wondered why we cannot seem to end the terrible war and humanitarian tragedy in Yemen? Do you wonder how Trump can get away with sending weapons on the sly to Saudi Arabia in contravention of Congressional and public sentiments? It partly has to do with his Iran policy. But overriding that and behind it is a larger picture, that Yemen sits on a choke point at the entrance to the Red Sea, which in turn leads to the Suez Canal, which in turn opens to the Mediterranean. It bears some pondering. The largest part of shipping from Asia to Europe passes by that point, which means Chinese and Japanese shipping. It is also the shipping route for Iranian oil to Europe. Iran is also a key future member of the Chinese BRI, as is Syria. Whoever controls that choke point can theoretically hold the whole of Europe to ransom and choke off the biggest part of Chinese shipments and oil to Europe. For these reasons and others we see why Trump’s first stop overseas as President was to Saudi Arabia, and part of the reason why he signed such large arms deals. Ending the war in Yemen and leaving the Houthis in place would be a major blow to the plans of whomever wants to control the entrance to the Red Sea. This is the real reason why the war in Yemen drags on. Conspiracy? It is really not difficult to see. And by the way, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, former Trump Secretary of Defense, was a 2015 Bilderberg attendee and supporter of the war in Yemen, which started just before that meeting.

Two recent events: Given the Bilderberg meeting, its topics and attendees, we come back to two other recent events, which have happened since that meeting. We refer to the shipping sabotage near the Strait of Hormuz, and the unrest and protests in Hong Kong. Yesterday there were reports of a second shipping sabotage near the Strait of Hormuz. There is a report on the first one, which was on the 12^th of May. The second one was referenced previously. It just so happened that one of the vessels was Japanese-owned, and Shinzo Abe was in Iran at the time to speak with the Iranian leadership. After the event, there was a rush to affix blame for the incident on Iran, with no evidence. Any time there is a rush to affix blame internationally, as stated with discussion of the full moon chart, a ruthless examination of the facts is in order. This will tie in with the next paragraphs. Given Washington’s belligerence toward Iran, Pompeo’s and Kushner’s presence at one of the world’s most notorious meetings, and Abe’s presence in Iran, it is completely against common sense for the Iranian government to be behind these events. One gets the sense instead of a false flag event, or of a third party seeking to derail any negotiations with Iran, or possibly someone sending a message or seeking to drive up oil prices, or as a ruse to seek further harsh measures against Iran.

Radicalized religion contrived?: Mention was made before of the divisive issues that drive domestic and international politics. Islam is one such. The sectarian violence in the Islamic world is in reality a contrived one, (machine translate) for instance, fomented largely after WWII, aimed at dividing the peoples of the Middle East, and at alienating the West toward Islam. The most extreme forms of Islamic fundamentalism have been promoted and exported, mostly Sunni and largely from Saudi Arabia, with the blessing of Western governments. Those extremists now live among us and are used to stir fear in our communities. It has served to radicalize certain factions within that religion and certain Christian groups (if one can rightly call them ‘Christian’) and those societies, seized upon by Western interests for the purpose of keeping entire regions destabilized, public opinion alienated toward certain nations, and thus easier to control. Oh, but that’s conspiracy talk, too, right? A simple glance over the list of sectarian conflicts in the Middle East will reveal the truth. The West – in particular France, the UK and the US – began to partition the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (ca. WWI), thereafter creating the state of Israel along with the current states of the Levant region, and thereupon setting in place the scene for the present sorry state of affairs in the region. It gave the West control over the world’s energy supply.

Iran has now been cast as the chief villain in the region – the convenient enemy of the moment – as was Iraq in the past, along with all the Shia groups. Prior to the last century, the various Islamic groups in the Middle East tended to live in relative peace, along with Middle Eastern Jews, Christians and various other faiths. The main conflicts that did take place did so within the various nation states, and again, largely because of and after the partitioning. Fortunately for all of us, strange as it may sound, the military strength of the Shia factions in recent years has grown to the extent that a wider war in the region is now deemed to be avoided by the Western powers. It is an uneasy balance of power, but sufficient to keep certain plans for the region at bay. Only the Saudis, the UAE and Israelis, along with radicals in the West, want to see a wider war. If there were to be one, it would mean the demise of Israel and the Saudis, much to the delight of many so-called Christians. It would also mean the collapse of the world economy, though, which is the biggest reason why cooler heads and common sense say there will be no major war there. We could go over all the reasons, but what would be the point? Suffice it to say, the prospects for a war with Iran are actually quite low, regardless of what we hear in the media, and breathlessly rolled out on the net.

The Middle East is probably not the biggest concern in terms of a large conflict erupting. The bigger concern is Taiwan and the push against China that we are seeing out of Washington. This might be seen as part and parcel of the unrest in Hong Kong, which has been fomented by the Hong Kong government bill, which calls for serious criminal offenders to be sent out of Hong Kong to the mainland. It has caused quite a stir there. The truth is probably not cut and dried, and appears to be a spat between the Hong Kong governor and the people of the island, who fear the gradual encroachment of China, even though Hong Kong is Chinese territory. Along with that I had originally included a piece in this letter about the 30^th anniversary of the June 4^th Incident, otherwise known as Tiananmen. Given the protests in Hong Kong and the tensions around Taiwan, I have decided to treat that in a separate piece on the blog page. The story of Tiananmen is actually quite different from what we are told, as recently revealed papers have shed light on what really happened. This is true of so many accounts of history. In particular, the June 4^th Incident – what we are told was the Tiananmen ‘massacre’ – was used this year in particular to reinforce the Washington line against China. The same goes for events around WWII and Russia.

The concerns of Russia and China: Because of the actual revisionist history we are taught in schools about WWII, there has been a prevailing public opinion, deliberately cultivated, about Russia and the East, but Russia especially, that has contributed to a very dangerous precedent, one that could mean our end. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the NATO nations have advanced onto Russia’s borders. We need to understand what that would mean to a Russian. They see it as an existential threat, especially after what happened to Russia in the last two centuries and recently in the 1990s. They have been invaded twice by European nations. WWII is seen by them as the Great Patriotic War and is solemnly celebrated every year, honoring their lives lost, which were over 20 million. The Russians were fighting for their very survival, and nearly succumbed. The same was true of the Chinese. The Chinese endured their ‘century of shame’ at the hands of European powers. To put WWII in perspective, it was the Russians who turned the tide of WWII in Europe, not the Western allies. Truman would have been quite happy to let the Germans finish the Russians off. Once we begin to realize such matters, then the policies set in Washington are seen to be the fools errands that they really are, and why they are potentially so dangerous. The Trump administration’s attitude toward Russia, as is theirs toward China, and we might add to Iran, is also a grave error in judgement. It is not to criticize our leadership, but instead to bring awareness to a pressing concern.

Truth can be very uncomfortable. We in the West need to stop seeing ourselves as somehow righteous and exceptional, to face our past and what we are taught to fear with reason instead, to see with a clear eye what has happened in history – unvarnished history from all sides – if we are to move into the coming decades with any true sense of goodwill, with any sense of common humanity. This is why in these letters in the past couple of years we have gone on about China, Russia and the West. To the Russians and the Chinese, their development is seen to them as to be respected in the world, and they are to be respected. We belittle, criticize, ostracize and reject them to our own detriment, and possibly at our peril, literally.

A humbling fact: What follows will also be uncomfortable to hear. If Washington and its closest allies (the British and the French in particular) continue with their threatening and confronting behavior as they are, the result could possibly be a conflict with Russia, China or both of those powers – probably both – which will result in our humiliation and defeat. We have been fed fairy tales about the superiority of the West. In a war on Russia’s or China’s borders, we would lose, badly. Our best military think tank has come to the same conclusion, the one that runs all the simulations for the Pentagon. But, maybe that is what is needed to draw out the Aquarian soul of the US, to break the Leo arrogance of the French leadership and to knock some sense into the stubborn Taurean attitude of many of the British leaders. I hope it doesn’t come to that, nor is it something to desire. But the course we are currently taking is leading us to a cul-de-sac and to a financial failure, not to mention the very real possibility of a war too terrible to imagine.

I still think the latter will be avoided, the reason being the very rapid developments taking place in Eurasia, the relative strength of Iran and its allies and the fact that many of our leaders seem to be as poorly educated and informed about the world as is much of the Western public. And the saddest part of the latter is that people simply see no need to look at such matters, show no interest in the world around them, see no need or desire to experience other cultures. Perhaps we are too stressed with day-to-day matters, but that in itself should be the catalyst to learn more. Perhaps we are too self-satisfied, or too distracted. I don’t like to think that we are that brainwashed, but perhaps we are, speaking in general.

Change is to come quicker: This cycle of Mars out-of-bounds has been very productive of results. Some have been tragic, Some have just been plain foolish, due to the brashness of Mars, plus the energies of Aries and Wesak. Now that Mars is back in bounds events will settle down a bit. But the geopolitical shifts in Asia and Europe will be coming much faster now, given what has taken place with Russia and China, with the resulting scramble in the old post-WWII alliances to retain control. We can expect all sorts of wild and negative propaganda pieces to appear about nations that seek to buck that old order. And we are coming up on elections in the US next year, referring back to ‘social media as a weapon’ and the concerns about the future of capitalism, from the Bilderberg meeting. However, we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the die has been cast now for the emergence of Eurasia as the next world dynamo and the receding of the West. Our financial systems will be going through accelerated changes now. There is opportunity there, the main concern being the resistance of the old order, in that the status quo now may do something drastic to try to stay in power.

Why divisions between us?: There are many issues that seem to divide us, and which are rolled out at every election cycle. We know them well – gender issues, gun violence, fears of terrorism, religious differences, immigration, fears of socialism, fears of instability – it’s a long list. The thing to realize is that all of those things are actually contrived issues, designed for domestic politics, to keep sectors of the populace divided against each other. There is no doubt that there are serious problems within those issues. They result in separatism and violence, playing upon people’s fears, antagonisms and hatreds. Those divisions are put in place precisely to cause us to feel insecure and afraid, in need of saving, grasping for straws. They are designed to keep ‘the system’ in place. But anyone who points that out now is labeled as conspiratorial, or is suppressed. We see that suppression and labeling all the time toward independent media. And just as I was about to send this, given the Bilderberg meeting and their topics on AI and social media as a weapon, a headline appears in the Washington Post about ‘deep fake’ videos and the danger they will pose to the next election. Watch for them in your social media feeds. More than that, read and investigate widely and use common sense and reasoning in relation to any piece of news.

Gemini’s field of service is the Earth upon which we live. Unity through diversity. Unless we allow ourselves to see contrasting points of view, to ‘put the shoe on the other foot’ once in a while, nothing much will change. Unless we make the effort to study more, to experience more, to travel, to ‘see how the other half lives’, our society will not progress.

Walls: There is a castle, a ruin, to which we like to treat our guests when they are here. We took our recent guests there. It is quite an enjoyable place, perched atop a mountain, and well restored. One can try on the armor, tour the various rooms where the tasks took place that kept the castle a viable concern, and get a feel for medieval life. As we were there I was musing to my guest how firearms quickly relegated armor to the dustbins. It was the same with castles. This particular one was abandoned at the end of the 18^th century and was a residence instead of a fortress. Defensive strategy is fast becoming the same with weapons systems like aircraft carriers, and even fighter aircraft. Soon, warfare will be seen to be a pointless and wasteful exercise, a no-win effort for all participants, too difficult and dangerous to involve any personnel on front lines.

Then, there is another side to castles, and they represent our present cycle of public opinion. Walls can keep ‘undesirables’ out and give a sense of safety, mostly a false sense. But at the same time they also confine people to a small area, which eventually leads to surrender to outside forces if engaged for too long, due to starvation and fatigue. An enemy can besiege a castle or walled fortress for an indeterminate time if well-supplied. Our battles these days instead are in the realm of public opinion, largely emotional, and social media has indeed become such a battlefield for those people or factions who think in that manner. Only an aerial approach can get past those walls of emotional polarization and mental fixation (mental walls). That approach means using common sense and pure reason. Therein lies our field of service in these years ahead. There are many people who have walled themselves in through their identification with those small sectors of society who share their same views. But it leads to emotional and mental isolation and starvation of public discourse. A healthy society relies on a wide range of contacts and interaction, the exchange of goods and ideas among cultures. It makes better sense to put effort into finding common ground and mutual respect with one’s neighbors than it does to constantly find fault and to quarrel. On the ground, that is the lesson of Gemini. It is also the promise of Gemini. Let universal brotherhood and peace prevail.

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1. Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Astrology, p. 69 ↑
2. Ibid, p. 56 ↑
3. Bailey, Education in the New Age, p. viii ↑
4. Op cit ↑
5. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 374 ↑