The Wesak/Taurus festival 2023

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Venus Taurus Shakyamuni Buddha The Dalai Lama video Esoteric Taurus Two new cycles The full moon The presented opportunity European Unity talks The nations with Taurus And after Ukraine? The real China Must-see videos Rome A book for the future? Closing notes on the US In closing

Greetings everyone!

It’s been taxing time in the US. The 15^th of April every year is the dreaded time where everyone must pay Caesar what is due Caesar. I just did my taxes and luckily I didn’t have to file a return this year. That said, I always like to follow my father’s example and do my taxes early. My father was always punctual and turned in his tax return before the deadline, usually about three minutes before midnight on the 15^th, along with many Elon residents, mostly men. The post office there stayed open until then especially on that date for all those punctual people. Americans will understand. The 15^th of April was always a fretful day at the house. My mother would warn us kids, “Stay clear of your father! He’s not in a good mood!” We didn’t understand why at the time, until we started doing tax returns for ourselves. This year we had a reprieve in the US due to holidays, and taxes were not due until the 18^th. Per my father’s example, I did my taxes early on the 18^th.

With taxes out of the way, it has also been a taxing time in the US (What a difference a simple letter can make in a sentence!), for a variety of reasons. I covered this somewhat in the Aries letter, what with inflation, the banking crisis, leaky intelligence services, the war in Ukraine not going so well for the neocons, and the general mood in the country not being all that good going into election season, which is already starting. Perhaps with this election we can finally move on some of our gerontocracy. Cue Robert F. Kennedy Jr., (Capricorn, Cancer Moon, Ascendant unknown) who just declared his candidacy for President. He has already gone for the jugular re: the Washington establishment. The primaries should be interesting. There is talk now (probably just talk) of a Trump/Kennedy ticket. Calm down. A week is a long time in politics. (Ooh…I feel an astrology post coming on!)

Closer to home, the 4^th stage of the Tour of the Alps bike race started from here in Rovereto on the 20^th, and on an eclipse at that. The day was a blessing for bikers, I would expect (or maybe not), with rain interspersed with drier periods, cool weather and very scenic views of clouds hanging over the mountains. I wasn’t in attendance. I had a letter to write. I’m not a sports fan anyway, though I do respect the ability of the athletes. With the rain here I don’t have to water our garden and the dogs don’t go out – they don’t like getting wet – so we are looking at quiet evenings at home. Bonus! The weather here has been quite cool and the rain is most welcome, given northern Italy is experiencing drought. There is a large communal yard a few houses down from us that had some magnificent Japanese maples – note the verb tense – but the heat last summer, the lack of rain and the negligence of the residents have rendered those poor trees to be a very sorry sight these days, along with half of the boundary shrubbery around the place. Brown shrubbery is not the best look for a residence.

The climate has noticeably changed here over the past few years, becoming a little hotter every summer. The political climate here in Europe is heating up, too. But Taurus is the growth season in Italy and the northern hemisphere in general, though one wouldn’t know it in parts of our fair city. However, since we mention Taurus, it’s that time of year again (No, not taxes), for the 2^nd of the three great spiritual festivals of the year – Easter, Wesak and the Goodwill festivals – the full moons of Aries, Taurus and Gemini, respectively. So, with that in mind we may as well get right into Taurus and what Wesak holds in store for us this period. As it turns out there is quite a lot to consider. Taurus transmits ‘the penetrating Light of the Path’,^[1] and the light on our collective path is starting to glow a little brighter this year.

Venus: Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet associated with beauty, women in general, aesthetics, relationships and attraction, love, money, alliances and diplomacy, and that is just a small sampling. Currently, Venus is in its Hesperus phase, seen as the jewel of the evening sky just after sunset, as it will remain for most of the summer. It is the brightest object in the evening sky after sunset these days, just over the western horizon. It turns retrograde on the 24^th of July this year. It joins the Sun at sunset (the conjunction) on the 13^th of August. That conjunction will not be a ‘Venusian eclipse’ of the Sun (a transit across the face of the Sun) as we saw in 2012, but it marks the end of the Hesperus phase of Venus, after which it enters its ‘Lucifer phase’, wherein it will rise before the Sun. The next Venusian eclipse will take place in 2117, which date is claimed by some esotericists to be the actual start of the Age of Aquarius. The date of the start of the age of Aquarius is disputed and is not important here, but the Hesperus phase is important for us this year. That phase represents the in-gathering of wisdom. Dane Rudhyar had this to say about it, parsed:

“Venus, as evening star, is a symbol of feeling after the act; that is, of the type of emotion which results from and is a judgment upon an action having been performed. This kind of judgment is usually a graded one; the action has been a “test” and the wiseman-within-the-soul sits in judgment and gives to the man-of-action a “grade” after studying the case…Venus Hesperus might be called theoretically an indication of greater emotional maturity or wisdom; but actually, this “maturity” may be that of the “change of life,” a time when an individual’s complexes catch up with him and induce a crucial psychological crisis…It is a tense, perhaps passionate and at times destructive kind of emotionality — because, when there is excess or violence of emotional activity, this excess or violence is the secondary result of frustrations and fears.”^[2]

We will cover this aspect of Venus after looking at the full moon, as it describes quite beautifully the state of affairs internationally these days. In addition, Venus is out-of-bounds at Wesak this year, intensifying its activity and marking its effects as being more unpredictable. But we are talking about Taurus here.

Taurus: In mundane astrology Taurus rules the throat, the voice, the banking sector, one’s finances, resources, currency, finance and financiers, possessions and possessiveness. All of these things are in focus at this full moon, especially the banking sector and financial matters, changes in international currencies, as well as we, the public seeking to make our voices heard amidst the din of spin and propaganda from mainstream media. Venus rules two signs in the orthodox rulership – Taurus and Libra. Both signs are associated with sex and money, though in differing expressions. The lower expression of Taurus is grossly materialistic, whereas the lower expression of Libra is more interested in whatever relationships can bring to material well-being and comfort. But the expression of Venus through Taurus has its higher expression too, as all the signs have their higher expressions.

In the case of Taurus, Venus brings in ‘the penetrating Light of the Path’, as mentioned. This penetrating light is what is sought in meditative practice and reveals the next steps forward. It is engaged when the esoteric ruler of Taurus, Vulcan,^[3] makes its presence and activity felt. The idea here is one of meditative momentum, that is, one’s meditative practice becomes stabilized and fully engaged, whereby the activity of Vulcan begins to forge a new instrument – that of fixed intention – an intention that leads to enlightenment instead of ‘downward’ into matter. This fixed intention and momentum is the very basis of any successful meditative practice. We call this momentum by the term ‘habit’, but it is more than that – much more. It is the real desire, like a compelling desire, to proceed with the practice. It is this compelling desire that at one and the same time represents the will of intention, which tames the ‘bull of fiery passion’. It could be said in this instance that the tamed, once wild bull (Taurus) begins the first steps toward the summit of the mountain (Capricorn), the latter representing the first experience of ‘the rising sun’, the transfiguring experience of initiation. What does this penetrating light of the path actually represent, though? That brings in the more esoteric side of Taurus, represented for us in the first turning of the wheel of the dharma, i.e. Buddhist practice.

Shakyamuni Buddha (Gautama) is said to have been a Taurean. He was born as a prince, a future king, but shunned materialism and the comfort of high office in search of enlightenment instead. So goes the legend. Whether he actually lived as recounted or not is unimportant. His message certainly was, though, which became codified into the Buddhist practices we have today. The story of his life reads like the classic Taurus journey – being born into a life of pampered luxury, protected from the material wants of life, leading to satiation and the realization those luxuries were insufficient unto his inner life (his ‘calling’), taking him thence onto a path of austerity and meditation (‘shutting out his worldly affairs’) until finally achieving his liberation and enlightenment. In other words, the Taurus journey starts with the desire for worldly comfort, which leads ultimately to an empty feeling of dissatisfaction, taking one then on the search for the true bliss of enlightenment. In the Mahayana tradition that ‘search’ is called the graded steps to enlightenment, as outlined in the works of Tsongkhapa, who was said to be an emanation of Manjushri and whose teachings led to the founding of the Gelugpa tradition in Tibet. At this point I must make a brief statement.

The Dalai Lama video: Speaking of the Gelugpa tradition in Tibet, the Dalai Lama is the head of that tradition. Most readers would have heard of or even seen the Dalai Lama with the Indian boy who had asked him for a hug in the context of a large gathering in India. It has caused a storm of controversy for many Westerners who have seen it, largely out of ignorance. It is basically an attempt to smear the Dalai Lama. Really, it is not worthy of comment given the context of the life of His Holiness. But since I have been asked for comment, I have posted a piece on it, separate from this letter. You can read it at this link. Since the incident in question is not central to the content of this letter I have chosen to comment on it separately. I almost didn’t comment at all. But the incident has brought up some valuable considerations across a wide area – international relations, Tibeto-Sino relations, Buddhism in general, monastic life, culture in distinction to practice, etc., all of which could fill many pages. I have touched on those areas in my comments at the linked post. With that said, we return to our present topic and then to more pressing international and spiritual matters.

Esoteric Taurus: What does it mean when we talk about ‘The Path’ in esoteric literature? To our Western minds the image ‘The Path’ conjures up is of a long winding, or perhaps linear construct. We Westerners do tend to think in linear terms. It is not so in the East, where the term actually originated, though it is universal. The Path, as we like to call it, is one’s spiritual journey to enlightenment. Yes, we all know that. But it is not something we do, as in ‘walking The Path’. Instead, it is a process of becoming. What we become, eventually, is fully enlightened, a so-called living buddha. That can mean anything according to one’s traditions. Christians would say it is ‘becoming one with God’, for instance, with the life of Jesus representing The Path in that context. But how to get there, that is the question. Well, we only ‘get there’ through the processes of meditation and service, which are many and varied. However, there is a ‘path of light’ that is actually constructed in one’s subtle bodies in the process, known esoterically as the antahkarana. What that actually is and how it is constructed is described at the link of that title. That path of light, though, does something: It connects us in our limited brain consciousness eventually with what Sri Aurobindo called the supramental, or ‘supermind’. In the Western esoteric literature we know that as the soul (the spiritual Triad), the intermediary between our spiritual essence and our little personal selves.

Venus and Vulcan work together in the Taurean on the path. Together they are the combined processes of integration (Venus) and construction of a new vehicle (Vulcan) of expression. Vulcan also represents the development (we could call it ‘building’) of the antahkarana. The latter process starts in Taurus, figuratively speaking. We could also call it ‘carving the path’, which brings up an interesting consideration with Italy, touched on a bit later here. Venus rules the ajna center (the wing-shaped chakra between the eyebrows),^[4] which is the integrating center in the etheric body (the subtle physical body). Its outer manifestation is the pituitary body (gland) that is the master gland, which has a role in governing most of the bodily functions via the endocrine system. The ajna center is not to be confused with the so-called ‘third eye’, though it is part of it. The ajna center registers or focuses the intention to create:^[5]

“The ajna centre is the organ of the integrated personality, the instrument of direction, and is closely related to the pituitary body and the two eyes, as well as to all the frontal areas of the head.”^[6]

Bolding added. What we have established in Taurus, symbolically speaking, is the coalescing of spiritual direction, meaning the fixation of one’s gaze solidly on the goal of spiritual enlightenment. The light of the path becomes an increasing preoccupation, to the point of exclusion of material concerns as the meditative process proceeds. With Taurus, then, we have the fixation (Taurus is a fixed sign) of intention, leading to momentum in one’s practice, resulting in increasing light (spiritual wisdom) and eventually to the experience via the succeeding signs to the mountain top in Capricorn (Taurus and Capricorn are both earth signs, as in the element earth), where the first real view of enlightenment takes place. This is a very important sign with regards to spiritual practice, for without a fixed intention and momentum in practice, spiritual attainment is spotty at best if not well-nigh impossible. In Taurus, the wild, impassioned ‘bull in the china shop’ becomes the harnessed draft ox, carving the path to enlightenment – the furrows of the fertile field that will enable the growth of spiritual nourishment which will reach toward the sun and yield the desired crop – full enlightenment.

Two new cycles: Since Taurus represents the fixation on desired goals it also marks the commencement of certain cycles in particular years, this year being one such. These are cycles of service that will bring light to humanity. This full moon at Wesak sees the commencement two cycles, both related to the New Group of World Servers (NGWS), one of three years duration and the other of nine years duration. This NGWS is composed of people whose primary motivation is that of service to humanity, who are also somewhat accomplished in concentration and meditation, just as a very basic description. They are found in all areas of life, with one of their primary characteristics being that of intense focus on their chosen work. We looked at the nine-year cycle first in the Aquarius letter this year (Topic: “Orcus and constellational astrology”). The first three-year cycle takes us into the first quarter of 2026. The three-year cycle is actually a sub-set of the nine-year cycle, and their divisions into three bear the same meaning. That 2026 date is of interest, though. On 20 Feb 2026 there will be a synodic conjunction of Saturn and Neptune at 0° of Aries, occurring at the solar ingress into Pisces. Synodic conjunctions on Aries points (0° of cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) are rare. That particular conjunction is related to ideals and the struggles attendant on their implementation.

Given the present world trajectory, especially in the contrasting struggles both within and between the East and the West, we can probably expect the ‘world playbook’ to be rewritten around that time (2026). That process is accelerating as we approach 2025. This will encompass the financial system worldwide, a reassessment of the ‘wokeism’, LGBTQ+ agenda and ideals, various of the many ‘isms’ and a renewed outlook on what life on this planet means and needs. The backlash against ‘wokeism’, LGBTQ+, fake liberalism and neoconservative ideologies is building by the day. This year marks both a crisis point and a consolidation of plans going forward, in accordance with the first year of the three and nine-year cycles. . There is a document that explains these two cycles one can read either as a web page or downloadable as a PDF. This, then, marks a critical year, for reasons to be explained as we go along here, starting with the full moon.

The full moon of Wesak this year takes place on 5 May 2023 at 17:23 UT (3:23 am AEST on the 6^th). As was mentioned previously, this full moon marks the commencement of two cycles. As such, this full moon chart can also be seen in a similar fashion to one for starting a business or beginning a project, and in that, the general dynamics of the chart show the conditions for the commencement of the cycles. This is quite an extraordinary chart. The Sun is at the 15^th degree of Taurus and likewise the Moon is the 15^th degree of Scorpio, the 15^th degree of fixed signs being very significant in terms of mundane astrology. The 15^th degrees of fixed signs are 45°, or a semisquare from the Aries points, or world view points. This figure is also an eclipse, a partial lunar eclipse, also known as a appulse/prenumbral lunar eclipse. Eclipses on the 15^th degree of fixed signs carry more weight than eclipses on the other degrees, except for the 0° cardinal, also called worldview points. This particular eclipse chart shows the sun conjunct Uranus at the 19^th degree of Taurus, and Mercury retrograde in Taurus. This is a south node eclipse, indicating old conditions are being addressed. Pluto has turned retrograde in Aquarius at the 1^st degree of Aquarius. Mars has finally just gone or just returned inbounds from being out of bounds for several months. Thereby, the more restive conditions across the planet will lessen somewhat.

As to the eclipse itself, this is the 24^th out of 73 lunar eclipses in the lunar Saros cycle 141. It will be completely visible over Asia and Australia and partially visible over eastern and central Europe and Africa. The culmination lines for the lunation are of interest. The Sun line runs through Canada down through the eastern seaboard of the US, then through the neck of Central America and touches the upper portion of Peru. The same is true of the Uranus line, showing the possibility of sudden or unexpected changes of outlook in those regions. The lunar culmination line runs through Siberia, Mongolia, Western China and Southeast Asia. The Sabian symbol for the degree of the Sun is as follows:

• Head covered with a rakish silk hat, muffled against the cold, a man braves a storm

Returning to Dane Rudhyar briefly, he had some revealing commentary on the Sabian symbols, and this particular one has pronounced relevance today. He had this to say about it:

“KEYNOTE: The courage needed to meet the crises precipitated by social ambition.

The man with the silk hat has seen some of his ambitious efforts bring him social success; but he learns that often “nothing fails like success.” The storm may be within him, or it may attack his social status. He is ready to face it daringly. This shows a willingness to accept crises and to go through them—and therefore great character, the soil upon which a higher kind of consciousness may develop.”^[7]

Bolding added. The Machiavellian nature of Washington shows its very nature is to double down in the face of failure, shown by the Sun/Saturn square in the national founding chart. The Sabian symbols have a distinctly American flavour. Elsie Wheeler, the medium who brought them through, was American, as was Marc Edmund Jones, the Theosophist and astrologer who commissioned them. This symbol speaks to the American establishment especially at this juncture, especially given the solar culmination line for the eclipse runs near Washington, DC. The ‘social ambitions’ of the United States in the past few decades have brought failure after failure in foreign policy, especially after having been the sole hegemon in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That collapse was seen as a success by the Washington establishment, as if they had won a great victory, when in effect the Soviet Union collapsed because of internal pressures. Hubris at imagining the US to be ‘the one indispensable nation’ has resulted in the collapsing American status in the world, which we will cover after a bit more about this Wesak eclipse. The lunar symbol is no less interesting than that of the solar Sabian symbol, read as follows:

• Children playing around five mounds of sand

Dane Rudhyar comments on this symbol as being representative of future-oriented growth.^[8] The eclipse will be covered more fully in a separate blog post. But in terms of future-oriented growth, the five BRICS nations come to mind, with China and Russia leading that development at the moment. It is a movement still in the very early stages of growth. India will eventually catch up. Brazil and South Africa are the weakest members so far due to previous entanglements with the West. But all of these considerations thus far about the full moon bring us to the larger, spiritual dimension it represents, which is where its real power lies.

The presented opportunity: The most important consideration with this eclipse and Wesak, aside from the outer events it will augur, is the inner, subjective work of people of goodwill everywhere, and not solely the NGWS. Just what that work is has been described as follows:

“The New Group of World Servers holds steadily to the “Noble Middle Way” (as the Buddha called it) and seeks the decent burial of old forms, the implementation of that which is new and the restoration of that which has, in the past, proved useful and good and which could form the living germ of the new creation.”^[9]

This can apply to all of us if we seek to make the effort. The planetary energies speak to what is to be done, and it goes something along these lines:

Old ideals and ideas will die out, icons will fall or be tarnished if they do not meet the immediate need, some nations will recede in power and others will step forward, new forms of creativity will emerge, old divisive factions will fade from significance (we can probably think of many) and resources will be reallocated to better use. The crystallization we see today in the vocal groups clamouring to be heard and vying for their place of power will be shattered, to give way to the immediate needs of the many. Those groups who refuse to respond to the incoming energies will meet their deserved end. Where do we see this, astrologically considered, and seeing this eclipse as one such starting point? There are several indicators:

• Pluto in Aquarius, dragging everything that hinders the intuition to the surface where it can be examined and discarded or reorganized
• Uranus finishing its transit through Taurus, continuing the process of reorganizing the world financial system and the distribution of resources
• Saturn in Pisces, bringing in a sense of reserve and resulting in deals and agreements reached behind the scenes. An example of such was the apparently sudden and unexpected Saudi-Iranian movement toward normalization reached in Beijing

The next few years are probably some of the most important we have seen in recent human history as we stand at the crossroads of the transitions between the Pisces/Aquarius ages and the shift in emphases in the 250-year cycle discussed in the Pisces and Aries letters. So, we can perhaps see that our work is cut out for us. The US and Europe are becoming more restive, with a diminishing sense of security and direction. We need truthful information across the West, facts as they can be found from across a broad spectrum of sources. We have looked at this many times in past letters. The West lacks good leadership and statesmanship. The tragedy in Ukraine cries out for healing and resolution, yet little seems to be forthcoming. The East is consolidating around spheres of interests, in distinction to spheres of influence – an important distinction. Where do we find our unity? What do we see as our defining aims and principles? And in terms of stability and movement forward, what do we see as being eminently practical in our personal spheres of interests? These questions and many more point us toward our opportunities, as in service to the immediate need. From here, then, we move on to the international scene and the nations with Taurus.

European Unity talks: I recently gave two talks on European unity, as mentioned in the last letter, where I briefly outlined the astrological connections between the European states and where those connections may be leading into the future. They were exploratory talks, and they are now up on the Aquarian Wisdom Centre site. My talks are on days 1 and 4 (go to the preceding hyperlink to see them). I have been advised they may not load up on phones and tablets, due to memory constraints and processor speeds, especially if one has an older phone or tablet. The talks are best viewed on a full computer screen anyway. One can view all the talks by many presenters across a spectrum of European viewpoints. Especially interesting are the contrasting views of the Russian and Ukrainian speakers, given today’s conflicts, but all of the presenters are good value. There is a ‘Donate’ button, which I would encourage, as it took a lot of work to get those videos posted, along with all the logistics of the conference. I was a guest presenter, so the donations go to the centre instead of to me. What follows regard Taurus and the nations follows on from my two conference talks. So, here we go:

The nations with Taurus listed in The Destiny of the Nations are a potent mix at this time. Five of the nations and capitals listed in that book have Taurus as the soul ruler – Canada, China, Poland, Rome and Moscow. Only one nation has Taurus as the personality ruler, and that is Great Britain (which does not include Northern Ireland). Europe is of particular interest at this time in that regard, as a map shows clearly. When it comes to the current conflict in Ukraine, these places are starkly opposed in blocs, with the Moscow-China Taureans strongly opposed by the Canada-Poland-Great Britain trio, and Rome falling somewhere in between. The current government in Rome sides with the Atlanticists, but as is always the case in Italy, that could change tomorrow. There are very interesting and revealing interactions between these Taurean nations and capitals, both for the present and into the future, keeping in mind the soul and personality esoteric mottos for Taurus:^[10]

• I see, and when the eye is opened, all is illumined. (soul)
• And the Word said: Let struggle be undismayed. (personality)

The soul mottos for any nation can be seen as being in process of emergence. For Taurean souls the result is vision on the path, or how to forge the way forward. We might concede there is no nation in the world today that fully expresses its soul. The personality expressions, on the other hand, have been fully in evidence at one time or another. This has been especially evident with Great Britain, with its Taurus personality, which is undergoing great struggles at the moment and is one of the main belligerents in the present proxy war with Russia, along with Poland, Canada and the US. In fact it is also revealing that the two most Russo-phobic nations in the proxy war both have Taurus and Gemini rulerships, but inverted between them – Poland and Great Britain. And all of the Gemini nations and capitals listed in Destiny of the Nations currently stand against the Russian Federation in this current struggle, which another map demonstrates. In fact those Gemini nations have sought to dismember Russia, as the lower aspect of Gemini is wont to do, in accordance with the Gemini divide-and-conquer mentality. The soul expression of any nation or person can be misappropriated by the personality. It is worth noting, too, the Gemini expressions listed in Destiny of the Nations are all Anglo-Atlanticist, headed by the United States.

The Taurean nations and capitals, though, bring in quite a different dynamic than those of Gemini, and they are connected with the economic struggle we see as the backdrop of the current world restiveness. Taurus as the soul ruler in any nation is visionary in its expression. The connection between China and Moscow is clear enough, with what amounts to an alliance and growing friendship between China and Russia. China is indicating a new direction in world economic affairs and Moscow is linking East and West. Moscow is the center of the emerging multipolar world, hosting nation after nation and conference after conference in that emerging order. The pace of these meetings in Moscow and the initiatives it hosts are difficult to keep up with. There was a recent Global Conference on Multipolarity, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Moscow, for example, a marathon session of 20 hours with contributors from over 60 countries (translated from Italian). Moscow and China are also the two drivers of the BRICS association, the SCO and so forth and they are uniting the Asian nations into the single most powerful economic bloc in the world, based in mutual win-win cooperation and via the magnetism that idea generates.

We keep in mind here as we go along that the mundane rulership of Taurus is over resources, banking and economic fundamentals. The soul expression of Taurus as it manifests on the outer planes (physical, emotional and lower mental) leads to one of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms – freedom from want. Freedom from want is the very basis of stability in any nation. The US and UK know this very well, though they ignore it currently in relation to their own citizens. They know it because one of the primary weapons they use for regime change against other nations is sanctions, which is an assault on freedom from want. Take away a nation’s finances and food security and revolution is usually the result. Russia, Iran and a growing list of nations have learned that lesson well and are now finding ways to counteract sanctions, including trading in their own currencies.

And after Ukraine?: Now, considering these ideas, what happens after the Ukrainian business is finished? How will the world readjust itself to economic fundamentals, as is happening? Again, the Taurean nations hold clues to what is evolving in the economic sphere and in terms of vision for the future. The trajectory and growing momentum of Russia and China is leading what we call the Third World or ‘emerging economies’ away from financial capitalism and toward the sharing of resources. The two nations are seen as the major obstacles to and enemies of Western hegemony by Washington and London and financial capitalism. The growing financial and resource independence of the RIC bloc (Russia, India and China) is rapidly leading to a situation where Western nations will have to choose in order to maintain their own sovereignty, and in which they will be left to struggle with their own ability to even feed themselves in some cases.

The UK has really painted itself into a corner in that regard to its sovereignty and independence and will have to rely on the United States to an increasing degree now that it has divorced itself from the European continent. Its belligerence toward Russia is no help to it at all. What is resulting from the present conflict is increasing isolation of the West from the remaining 85% of the world population, wherein the Western nations will have to come to terms with their lack of a manufacturing base, their wealth inequality, weak leadership and so forth. And the struggle between labor and capital will take on its critical phase in the West. There is a section well worth reading in Destiny of the Nations, which has been posted on-site as a PDF. The US and Great Britain are the prime places where that struggle is to be resolved. It is in those two nations, with the EU tied to them, where the more destructive power of unregulated capitalism is evident.^[11]

Regarding the other side of the Taurean bloc – Canada, Poland and Rome as soul rulers, what vision do they contribute to the emerging international interrelationships? At present, at least from outer appearances (something we are warned about engaging in Buddhism) the Taurean element of right use of resources and spiritual momentum would seem to have been misappropriated, at least temporarily. Poland, regarding its current and past behaviour, is called ‘the Hyena of Europe’, as it is now seeking to expand its borders by taking in the western oblasts of Ukraine. This is a negative aspect of Taurus – acquisitiveness. The Poles are seeking €1.3 trillion in reparations from Germany from WWII, an outrageous demand which Germany flatly rejects. The Poles also claim they will be going after Russia in the same manner after they have ‘settled the score’ with Germany. There had been similar claims against Germany by Italian courts for Nazi war crimes until last year, which have since been resolved by the Italian courts. Italy was occupied by the Nazis in WWII. The Poles are also aiming to become the strongest military power in Europe. Suffice it to say the Poles are not contributing the positive qualities of Taurus to Europe at the moment. Old antagonisms and the Capricornian ambitions of Warsaw are currently clouding the Polish vision of a peaceful way forward.

Canada, as far as Taurus goes, is so closely tied to the United States and the UK, geographically and politically, that it is unsurprising it sees Russia as a threat, especially considering Canada is seen as a safe haven for an increasing Ukrainian diaspora. The Ukrainians currently comprise nearly 4% of Canada’s population, and most of those are from Galician Ukraine, which is eastern Slavic, more pro-West and Russophobic. Chrystia Freeland’s grandfather was Galician Ukrainian and was a Nazi collaborator in WWII, for example. But Ukrainians are only a small part of Canada. Canada is a very young country and is multi-ethnic, hence its potential importance in world affairs into the future. It shares its astrology with that of China in both the soul and personality expressions. The Chinese diaspora in Canada is slightly larger than that of the Ukrainians. Compared to its size Canada has a small population, most of it concentrated on the borders with the US. It is a melting pot, which is in process of development still, revealed by the fact that neither its rays or soul motto have yet been revealed, also by the fact it is not viewed as a key nation in the immediate destiny of the world. Canada has vast resources, though, and it is perhaps there where the Taurean nature of Canada would begin to shine. Regarding Taurus and Libra and the China-Canada connection, there is a brief word to be said regarding China.

The real China: The Libra-Taurus combination is a good business combination. The Libra side gives skill in negotiations and contract law, as well as forming partnerships on a win-win basis. The Taurean side gives the economic and financial sense, as well as care of resources and the ability to manage money. Both Canada and China have that combination, and in the same places, soul and personality. With all the talk of conflict with China and war over Taiwan, it is worth considering the main aims of China – to conduct business and manage its resources. Xi Jinping has stated he sees China as a ‘moderately prosperous society’. The ultimate goal for China this century is, “of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.” It is this last phrase that strikes a strident chord with the world capitalists. It is why China is demonized in the West. Regardless of how we feel about China – and much of what I hear and read about China is negative in Western publications – they are on track to achieve their goals.

We hear China ‘is out to conquer the world’. That is an American trope and is simply psychological projection. That said, the Chinese can drive a hard bargain. Their rays speak to it, with the 1^st ray soul and their 3^rd ray personality. That 1^st ray soul, as any soul on that ray would demonstrate, aims toward synthesis instead of power. But the third ray personality warrants attention. There is always a tendency to manipulation in such a personality. In dealing with China I have heard it said there is no problem in working with the Chinese. It is just that one has to set clear boundaries and be ready to enforce them scrupulously and definitively. This is where Western nations run afoul of Chinese, allowing too much leeway in Chinese ownership and thus generating hard feelings toward them by the public. There is also clear racism in politics toward China. But to boil this down to the essence, the Chinese just want to do business. They are not out to conquer anyone. History bears that out. The 1^st ray of China makes them more insular anyway, but they have reason to be suspicious of the West.

The Libran side of China has been amply demonstrated recently in their handling of the Saudi-Iranian process of normalization. China is seen by much of the world as a neutral actor when it comes to hosting negotiations and doing business. Perhaps that is a manifestation of the Libran ability to sit on the fence in terms of competing interests. But it is quite in contrast with the Washington demands that nations must choose sides when it comes to American interests. When it comes to ‘American interests’ these days, however, China is by and large disinterested in American interests. Again, they will do business with anyone who wants to approach them with a reasonable offer and with a view toward cooperation. I realize these views are not generally accepted these days, but a study of China bears out these assertions.

Must-see videos: With that in mind, there are several videos, an hour or more in length that are well worth the time to watch, because they explain much of what is happening in the world now and why:

• Chas W. Freeman on The Duran: The Taiwan issue straight from the man who was instrumental in brokering the security agreement with the Chinese, the history of the Taiwan issue and his views on Europe and US foreign relations. Back when the US had statesmen and real ambassadors. He was the guy who went to China with Nixon back in the day when the US approached China for normalization of ties.
• John Pilger’s guide to propaganda: Not much to add in describing the video. The title tells it all.
• Alastair Crooke on the changing face of Europe: on neoliberalism, occupied Europe, neocons in Europe, and how Europe has lost its way.
• Glen Greenwald and Norman Finkelstein: Israel, Wars, Identity Politics, and Failures of US Liberalism
• Ray McGovern on The Duran: The Pentagon leaks, the US intelligence community and some fascinating insider info and history of US intel.

The first video is quite revealing about China and why we get it so wrong. It is worth realizing China has almost 19% of the world’s population. With that many people we might well imagine why they want to do business with so many other nations, why they are so interested in Russia’s vast resources and military tech, and with having so many mouths to feed and house. In fact the nations of India, China, Japan and Indonesia comprise over half of the world’s population. In terms of population, this is indeed to be ‘the Asian century’. It is in the world’s interest to have peaceful relations between all those nations. But instead the US would seek to have them at odds with each other, or to have three of them arrayed against China. Madness. Then there is Rome. If one traces the connections between nations in terms of their rays and astrology then a sort of road map into the future begins to emerge.

Rome is connected to China and Moscow astrologically. The 4^th ray of Italy’s personality connects it with the soul of the Orient and the personality of the West. In fact, Italy is one of the more interconnected of the nations via its rays and astrology. Four years ago the Conte government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China on the Belt and Road Initiative. That was in March. At the time they said the US had nothing to worry about, but that the move was meant to ensure more sovereignty for Italy. It was the wrong thing to say as far as the EU/US axis was concerned. The move alarmed the EU and especially Washington. I watched what happened after that: Two years later Conte and the Five Star alliance were ousted in what amounted to a soft coup. I won’t go into it here. Draghi, an avowed Atlanticist and Wall Street scion, was appointed as PM and scuttled the MoU and reversed course in the BRI project. Mishandling of the pandemic was blamed on Conte’s downfall, but that was only the cover story. Washington was appeased. And now we have another Atlanticist and neoliberalist as PM in Giorgia Meloni. The Sagittarian personalities of Washington and Italy are also linked. But there is history between China and Italy, as there is between Italy and Moscow, showing the Taurus connection. However, so long as there are over 100 US military installations on Italian soil the US will exert overt and covert control over the Italian government. Looking back, Rome was probably prescient in its decision to sign the MoU with China. There is always the future. Italy’s connection to the BRI would have ‘carved a path’ for connecting the BRI to Europe. Italy’s esoteric motto is, “I carve the Paths.” Rome was instrumental along with France and Germany, along with Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in setting up the economic core of the EU.

A book for the future?: In large part, Destiny of the Nations can be seen as a book that was written for the future, as the Aquarian age unfolds. The nations left out of that book are as revealing as the ones explored, the ones excluded being the current nations of Israel, Ukraine and much of East and Central Europe, all of Africa except for South Africa (interesting re: BRICS) and so on. The implication there is those nations omitted are not to be major factors in the emerging world, though that is not to say they cannot step up to the task and contribute. But because of their lack of resources, small populations, internal politics and so forth they are prevented from exerting any major influence in world affairs.

Closing notes on the US: It is probably worth briefly mentioning several items that have happened in the US recently, two of which generated wide attention and the others being relatively unreported. The first is the RFK, Jr. announcement of his candidacy for President in ’24. I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. There is quite a bit of goings-on behind the scenes at the moment, with factions in the Democrat establishment who do not want to see another Biden presidency, with Biden thus far seen as a disaster of a president by many people. RFK, Jr. could be a spoiler to Biden’s presidential run. But even there, negative comment is beginning to come out about RFK Jr, too, even in independent reporting. However, he is saying what the majority of Americas want to hear – an end to Empire and so forth – but we have heard that before, too. Do we really think that a military-industrial-corporate complex that is so embedded in US politics, especially in Congress, is going to allow a RFK, Jr. presidency, given what he is saying? He is also on the nose with Big Pharma, some of the major donors to Congressional seats. He will eventually be side-lined, would be my guess, once it is assured Biden is no longer viable, but he will rile the American public. His voice needs to be heard, though. It is the same with Marianne Williamson, who is saying many of the same things as RFK, Jr, but on the former there is almost a complete media blackout.

Then there is Tucker Carlson. There were allegedly celebrations in the streets in New York when he was ousted from Fox News. Those people who did celebrate don’t even realize that they were celebrating the censorship of the one voice in mainstream media that was bringing them the truth about the war in Ukraine. That said, Carlson is all in on ‘confronting China’. He is as much a propagandist as anyone else in mainstream news, but Carlson was telling some inconvenient truths about several matters on his show, much to the chagrin of the aforesaid military-industrial-corporate complex. There was also the little matter of the Dominion voting machine lawsuit, which cost Fox News a cool $787+ million in settlement, which happened just before Carlson was fired. Upon his termination, Fox lost upwards of a billion dollars in its stock price. Just to be clear, Carlson was not fired because of some racist tweet, much as the woke establishment would try to spin it. He was fired because he peeved-off a lot of very powerful people and cost Fox a lot of money.

The really serious news out of the US, though, is not the media and campaign circus to which Americans are constantly subjected. The ‘real stuff’ barely gets mentioned, or gets ignored by the public. For instance, there was another large bank failure, this time First Republic Bank in San Francisco was seized and its assets sold off to JP Morgan Chase. That is the third large bank failure in the US in two months, speaking of Taurus, banking and financial matters. The three banks are all regional banks on the West Coast, leading to speculation that the resulting monopolization of banks will lead eventually to the CBDC (central bank digital currency) in the US and the end of cash for transactions. The economic war in the US is heating up. What we see with monopolization is the end game of financial capitalism (neoliberal economics). The three bank collapses we just witnessed are officially bigger than the 2008 banking collapse. There is something to think about. The 2008 saw a lot of industry offshored from Australia. We are told the bank pain is just getting started, to end our news on a cheery Wesak note. But this is all part of the transit of Uranus through Taurus – reorganization of economics and resources. And along with that, our ideas and ideals about money, economics and finance will be changing as well as Pluto transits through Aquarius these next few years.

For the US this last preceding point is important, since the Aquarian soul of the US is activated by that transit. And the mistakes in the US trajectory made in the past decades are beginning to dawn on some of the leadership in the US, finally, as recently voiced by Jake Sullivan at a speech at the Brookings Institution: The industrial base is hollowed out, the processes of deregulation, trade liberalization and privatization have gutted the middle class, the assumption being that the markets were always more efficient and better at allocation of resources, the offshoring of industry has taken American jobs, promises were made but not kept, and on and on. It was extraordinary to hear him say those things. So, some light has begun to dawn in Washington, and there is talk of trade barriers (protectionism), especially regarding computer chips now. Not only is the economic struggle between the blocs on now, but so is the resource and manufacturing struggle. The East is rapidly building its capacity and restructuring, while the West lags behind and has to play catch-up. In true Taurean fashion, the struggle will go on undismayed, while at the same time, as the light in the world increases, those nations with higher Taurus qualities illuminate the possibilities before us.

In closing, this is an unusual and quite powerful Wesak period, more so than usual for all the reasons mentioned preceding. Struggle is leading to insight. Taureans are known for their ability to manifest their desires. It is one of the most fertile signs of the zodiac, after all. And the eclipse accompanying this Wesak festival will open windows for manifesting things and events outside of normal. We have a real opportunity now to think outside the box and to manifest those ideas that will put us in good stead as the years pass. This eclipse marks a tipping point in certain world affairs. It will be unsettling at first but it will also be quite clarifying as a result. Let us imagine with wide expanse, for the imagination is the soul seeking manifestation. Let us think with precision and with inclusiveness. Let our thoughts and imaginings lead to bold and daring actions. From the apparent chaos of the world right now a renewed world is emerging. Let us seize our part, in whatever our sphere of interest and influence, and move with confidence into the emerging era, where cooperation will slowly take the place of conflict, where competition will be replaced with encouragement, where old divisions are tossed aside and we see instead our common interests. These avenues are within our grasp. All we have to do is realize it, and in so doing, to see our way clear, to precipitate our visions into earthly realities.

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1. Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Astrology, (1951) NY, NY, Lucis Publishing, p. 329 ↑
2. Rudhyar, Dane, An astrological Study of Psychological Complexes, (1966) Servire / Wassenaar; First Edition ↑
3. Ibid, p. 68 ↑
4. Bailey, Esoteric Healing, p. 142 ↑
5. Ibid, p. 149 ↑
6. Ibid, p. 200 ↑
7. Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala, (1974) NY, NY, Vintage Books pubs., p. 80 ↑
8. Ibid, p. 200 ↑
9. Bailey, The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 90 ↑
10. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, pp. 653, 654 ↑
11. Bailey, Destiny of the Nations, p. 70 ↑