2014 in L'Alpe di Siusi, fresh from the US and Australia.
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Current Moon Phase
Greetings Everyone!
If you are a cycling enthusiast you would have been graced with views of our beautiful state for the past days. We’re speaking here of the Giro d’Italia cycling event that started on May 8 and ended in Rome on May 28. Congrats to the British and Mark Cavendish. What a finish! Along with the views of the countryside and the cities, you’ve also been graced with the views of the weather here, especially here in northern Italy. It was an interesting race. Fifty-one riders (almost a third of the field) dropped out due to crashes, illness or COVID. There were heavy rainy periods, and there have been many accidents, crashes attendant with the weather. The race came through here on Tuesday, the 23rd, which is normally our market day, so the market day was pushed back to Monday. The forecast for Tuesday here was for rain but it cleared off for the race. If you tuned in you could see some of the sites around Rovereto, maybe including the largest lake in Italy, Lago di Garda.
A bit of weather: Attendant with the cycling and the rain we come to the big news from Italy this year, news about which most of you would have heard – the flooding in northern Italy. Just so you know, we were not affected in our fair city. We got some much-needed rain, but not nearly enough, while the region of Emilia-Romagna, where Bologna is the capital city, saw extreme weather and the flooding. We are just north of Emilia-Romagna here in the Trentino region. But the scenes from the flooding were heartbreaking. Damage to the area is estimated at least at €1 billion. That region is considered by many to be the breadbasket of Italy (the other being Puglia). Twenty-six rivers there overflowed their banks, flushing mud out to the Adriatic – all the dust and dried earth from lack of vegetation due to drought – and plastering cities and villages in the same as the mud wended its way out to sea. The flooding was caused by the lack of an anticyclone which would have been typical for this time of year and which brings heat up from Northern Africa. Those anticyclones are what gave us the extreme heat and drought last year. 36,000 people have been left homeless from the flooding, with 14 listed as dead thus far.
The weather here since the Wesak eclipse has been quite cold and variable, unusual for this time of year. Last year at this time it was already hot, and it stayed hot throughout the summer. This year the weather looks to be completely different, with cooler than average temperatures forecast for the whole of the summer. The weather at present seems to reflect the changing mood of the populace here in Europe, who are tired of the war, tired of inflation, want to see better leadership, etc., etc. The quote at the beginning of this letter was written just after the period of the 1st World War, after Europe had been decimated by that war along with the Spanish flu. We have heard the phrase, “History may not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme,” or some variation thereof. Carry on from COVID, the war in Ukraine and economic hard times in Europe would seem to be the current rhyme from past events. The post-Wesak period was also interesting regarding people’s reactions or responses to it.
I was interested to see how many cyclists actually made it here to Rovereto in the big race on Tuesday. It wasn’t a large field. One of the manifestations we have seen with the COVID pandemic and the illness itself is that it affects the lungs and impairs the breathing, among other things. We will not be going over old ground here regarding the pandemic, but the lack of breath and the cyclists, along with electrical disturbance bring in another dynamic, all of which are related to the topic of this present letter – Gemini. Gemini rules the lungs and all modes of transport and transport corridors in general, including bicycles, and with that we move into consideration of this, one of the most human of the signs, that of ‘the quarreling brothers’, the twins.
Gemini is an air sign, equated with the mental sphere in orthodox astrology. The sphere of influence is different in the esoteric interpretation, which is the buddhic plane. In its lowest expression Gemini is seen and known for its triviality and shallowness, with a broad knowledge of minutiae but little attempt to synthesize those little factoids into a coherent picture. However, such knowledge makes the Gemini type interesting in conversation, able to recall small details with facility and apparently possessing a large knowledge base, but with the appearance of the waves on the surface of the ocean rather than the profundity of its depths.
The average Gemini is a good communicator, with media savvy and adaptability to every situation. One often finds Gemini types (Sun and Ascendant) in the media, journalism, stage and screen and literature – any field where communication skills are at the forefront, combined with a broad knowledge of facts. It is difficult to find a ‘silent Gemini’ and they will always have something to say or to communicate. That brings us to the more esoteric side of the sign.
Esoteric Gemini: Of Gemini it is said the sign governs, “The fusion of the opposites; the intelligent work of at-one-ment; synthesis.”[2] In its lower aspect it governs, “Experience of the pairs of opposites. Pronounced and separative duality. The interplay between the Twins: Soul and form natures.”[3] Gemini transmits the 4th ray (harmony through conflict) via Mercury.[4] But Gemini also transmits the 5th ray of science and concrete knowledge via Venus.[5] The 5th ray, ruling the intellect, is known for its tendency for separation of factors and categorization in its lower expression (concrete knowledge). In its higher expression that ray gives us the scientific method and the ability to penetrate into the previously occult (hidden) realms.[6] The 5th ray in the latter mode gives us depth of understanding and consolidation of knowledge. Venus is an integrative factor in a horoscope, bringing diverse factors and people together and fusing them in cooperative effort of expression. It rules the constellation of Gemini in that regard.[7] The influence of Venus will wax as the Aquarian age advances, whereas the energy and influence of Mars will wane.[8] The inference should be clear enough regarding our current martial tendencies. That will also affect the militant sides of Christianity[9] and Islam[10], both religions being ruled by Mars, as well as being bridging religions.[11]
The main focus of Gemini in esoteric astrology refers to the relation between the lower and higher selves – the personality and the soul, respectively, regarding ‘the opposites’. But here is a thought: Are we really talking about ‘opposites’ when we are looking at soul and form? Is not all life, instead? When we consider human beings – ourselves – we are a continuum. Our sense of separateness is only due to our identification with the outer world rather than the realm of the soul. When seen in that light the sense of separateness and this idea of ‘opposites’ loses its meaning. Gemini is another sign associated with the antahkarana, the bridge of light between the personality and the soul/higher Self, which connects the twins in unison instead of conflict. The twins of Gemini are characterized as the ‘the quarrelling brothers’, whereas the effort in Gemini is always to establish communication between the two and produce a unified and brotherly expression. We have the following, expressed somewhat poetically, paraphrasing for our modern sensibilities:
“When the hour arrives wherein the light of the soul reveals the antahkarana, then shall people be known by their knowledge, be coloured by the despair of desire unappeased, be divided into those who recognise their dharma (meet all implied obligations and duties) and those who only see the working out of karma, and from the very nature of their need find light and peace at last.”[12]
However, we in the West and the Christian world in general are conditioned to think in terms of opposites: black and white (two shades), cold and hot (gradations in temperature), up and down (perception of direction), off and on (rest and activity by the same object), male and female (human beings), opposite signs of the zodiac (complementary and reflexive), yin and yang (each containing the other) and on and on. This idea of ‘opposites’ is different in the Eastern view. The idea of opposites and either-or can take on the meaning of ‘zero-sum’, in that one side must dominate, whereas the Eastern view is quite different, inferred in the following:
“…where the pairs of opposites are concerned they gain and profit from each other, for there is a direct line of force and of contact between the two. This is a fact which is seldom recognised.”[13]
In a final word in this section regarding the quote at the start, we can see the soul and personality as the falconer and the falcon. The falconer (soul) has certain purposes to fulfill in any human incarnation. In other words, our personal lives (the falcon) always are meant to express a ‘higher purpose’. The purpose is ‘the hunt’ (the fulfillment of one’s dharma), with the falconer determining the quest. If we err too far from the falconer, we lose the objective and our lives in some way fall apart. Each of us has our passion for living. So long as that passion fulfills a greater need and purpose we are always on track to fulfill ‘the hunt’. ‘The falconer’ is then always within earshot. The same is true with groups and nations. When our soul path is being fulfilled we find our peace and prosperity. When we stray from the path, ‘things fall apart’. The key thing with Gemini to remember, with this the last of the three great full moons of every year, is that Gemini is meant to bring people together in the spirit of goodwill. It is the combined actions of Mercury and Venus – to state it simply, to bring people together in order to have purposeful, meaningful and cooperative communications, with the aim being toward solving humanity’s challenges. With these thoughts on Gemini in mind we move on to our consideration of the full moon and then our world review, starting with a quote: “Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources.”[14]
The full moon takes place on 4 Jun 2023 at 03:42 UT (1:42 pm AEST for Australia, 11:42 pm EDT on the 3rd for the US). This chart is quite a change from the Wesak chart, in that it is a much milder outlook. The main feature of the full moon figure is the ‘hard opposition’ formed by the full moon axis with Pluto semisquare to the Moon. Lunation figures with Pluto in hard aspect to the Sun and Moon can manifest in several ways, the main one being that of precipitating internal conflict as a result of changing circumstances. The combination can also lead to ruptures or changes in relationships and to critical changes in circumstances, remembering Pluto governs major separations and the end of encumbering circumstances. Pluto governs death, in other words, but not necessarily physical death. Pluto’s action is kama-manasic (desire-mind). Regarding Pluto and death we have the following:
It is frequently the death or ending of old forms of civilisations which cyclically come and go; of religious teaching when it does not serve the need of the spiritual nature of the people (as is today the case); of educational processes which fail to educate the developing nature of man and serve only to delude and imprison.[15]
Post-eclipse events: Perhaps we can see where Pluto’s actions would be needed today. This ‘hard opposition’ follows on from the Wesak period, after which we have seen some significant developments occur, in order:
Gemini and meetings: There is more but this will suffice for this letter. Then there have been several meetings, some ongoing. Mercury rules meetings, you know? And the aftermath of these meetings will guide world events going forward, some to beneficial effect while others will cause more headaches, both for the attendees and the unfortunates who are affected by the policies decided upon by the attendees. We have the following:
The attendees at Bilderberg were all from Western countries, with the US, France and the UK making up almost half the field, the US comprising a quarter of the field of attendees. That is rather telling, given the present world situation. There were 30 CEOs of corporations, about a quarter of the field. Notable in the topics this year was the focus on AI, along with net-zero, India, China, ‘transnational threats’, changing economics (re: BRICS, bank collapses, etc.), NATO and US leadership (such as it is). We’ll have more on the latter as we go along here.
The Bilderberg meeting is the one that usually causes a lot of headaches after the fact for nations not ‘in the Big Club’ and who do not follow Club rules. Even within that club, ‘miscreants’ are usually identified and ousted in subsequent weeks and months. Italy is a case in point, and one has only to look at the attendees to see where trouble spots will be. When the Five Stars were in power under Conte in Italy and they signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China on BRI projects. That year the ex-PM Renzi was in attendance at Bilderberg. Renzi is an avowed liberal neoliberalist and Atlanticist, much like the current conservative PM, Meloni (neoliberalists exist across the political spectrum). About a year and a half after that meeting, the Conti government was ousted in a no-confidence vote, provoked by Renzi, and he was replaced by ‘Super Mario’ Draghi, who sat on the projects. Draghi is in Wall Street’s pockets. It took a while to oust Conte because of the COVID crisis. Now Meloni is set to ditch the BRI projects altogether, under considerable pressure from Washington. Conspiracy? You tell me.
The Bilderberg and the G7 meetings go hand-in-hand. Of the two, the former is the more nefarious and powerful, populated annually by mostly unelected officials, largely from G7 states. A look at the list at a previous link shows this clearly. The Bilderberg meetings shape policy in the attending states, while the leaders at the G7 meeting are beholden to those policies. Politicians are constantly campaigning, whereas policy is made behind the scenes, away from prying eyes. The Bilderberg meetings are held in secret, with the invited press being sworn to secrecy as well. As is now clear, leaders change periodically, but policy remains the same. In the current atmosphere, policy from the Bilderbergs and G7 is to ‘counter China’, defeat Russia and somehow maintain Western dominance. That policy was amplified at the G7 meeting, with the message being sent loud and clear to China. Their emphases were on ‘countering China’s debt diplomacy and economic coercion’. Both of those memes are lies, but routinely echoed in articles. The hypocrisy of such a policy was clearly evident to the so-called Global South. Debt trap diplomacy is routinely practiced by the IMF (based in Washington), with the economic coercion of sanctions being one of the primary tools used by the Western powers to ‘pull countries into line’ with the rules-based order.
Other meetings: There have been other meetings, too, but outside the Western sphere, open to scrutiny, but unreported in the West. Continuing with our meetings:
Gemini – for or against?: Having looked at these meetings, there is something worthy of note: The nations with Gemini influence (European and the US) are arrayed against the Asian nations. The G7 and the Bilderbergs represent those Gemini nations. The Gemini contingent in those meetings is also relatively small compared to the Asian nations. On that note we have the following look at a recent talk by Fiona Hill at the Lennart Meri Conference 2023, revealing as to the changes in thought process in the Western establishment mindset:
Emphases added. Fiona Hill is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, one of America’s premier and oldest think tanks. The article is worth reading to see both the evolution of and current ‘trans-Atlantic’ (Atlanticist) thought. But there are several items of note in the quote, as in implications and outright statements. The first bolded point obliquely notes what existed as Pax Americana for the 2nd half of last century, where the US and its European charges did basically run the world.[16] Those nations became the G7 eventually with Japan. Hill’s statement ‘framed by the United States alone’ is an outright statement of American exceptionalism and hubris, as if the US has always had the final say in how the world is run. That all changed with the turn of the century, and especially since 2015. The second bolded text points to how the US sees evolving international relations – as disorder, hence the title of her talk. The old order did exist as a type of human hierarchy, with Washington at the top of the heap. It is a delusion or fantasy from which they cannot seem to disabuse themselves (vid). But with the third bolded text we get to what is actually taking place, pointing to the evolution of the world order into blocs, broadly defined by culture, pragmatism and economic necessities. This is only now beginning to take shape. This was said to be a desirable outcome as a result of WWII:
“Blocs in themselves can be good and proper if they follow lines of natural cleavages, of language differences and of cultural distinctions. They can be essentially right if they are formed for economic, educational, religious and social aims and can therefore provide no true cause for alarm. Such blocs would be cultural and not militaristic, economic and not greedy, and they could provide a normal and progressive movement away from the separative nationalism of the past and towards the distant creation of the One World, and the One Humanity. This will someday be seen, but the time is not yet.”[17]
From the same pages of the preceding quote it was also stated the mixed motives of the United States (in Pax Americana) would eventually result in a very confused world, which is exactly what we have seen to transpire. Adding to the confusion is the oligarchic control of Western media, one which allows no dissent or discussion. Gone are the days of fairness in reporting.
Hill’s italicised text points to her audience, which was Atlanticist, which still sees itself as the vertical and hierarchically dominant factor. One has only to look at the mainstream news to see it, with statements to the effect that Ukraine must win or it means the end of the old order, or that somehow a ceasefire can be imposed. More than that, Russia must be seen to lose decisively. On that thread, we return to our quote at the start, on the falcon and falconer.
Are we falling apart?: Where do we see things falling apart, given the preceding thoughts? A prime example of such is the reporting on the Ukrainian conflict in the Western press. There has been a sharp and sour turn since the fall of Bakhmut. No longer is there talk of the possibility of Ukraine winning the war. The narrative has shifted. Now the best the neocons and Western elites can hope for is for the war to be dragged out, or somehow frozen so Ukraine can be re-armed. The Russians will have none of it. They will prosecute the war until the Ukrainian military is defeated and the regime in Kiev collapses. We won’t go into the war here, except to emphasize the point that we are being prepared for the loss of Ukraine. Take that as you will. Another area that is falling apart is Israel and the Anglo-American control of the oil resources of West Asia, provoked by the recent Arab rapprochements, Israeli internal politics, the IAEA disproving the notion that Iran is on the road to having the bomb and simple pragmatism on the part of the Arab leaders. In other words, it makes way more sense to them to make peace with their neighbors than to have constant bickering and tensions that weaken the region. As a bloc, they can be a powerful and prosperous force in world affairs. This is nascent Venusian influence at work – bringing nations together in shared culture and resources, and overcoming the false representation of religious divides.
Then, there is the other side of ‘falling apart’ – domestic troubles. Western economies are starting to slide toward recession, with the UK forecast to be in recession by the end of the year, having the worst economic outlook of all the G7 nations. Economic woes tend to bring down administrations in democracies. The backlash caused by sanctions against Russia has played a large role in that along with the carry-on effects of the pandemic. Neoliberalism has played a big part in that slide downward, too. With reduced manufacturing in the West there is little job security any longer. ‘Best business practice’ does not endear itself to workers. America has lost its best years. Financial capitalism (neoliberalism) promised us prosperity and endless growth. We see the opposite of that in the West now. Borrell’s European garden is being destroyed by a combination of EU policy, liberalism, values seen as degenerate by many nations outside the West and so on. Little comment is needed on the latter point. But those values, so-called, have elevated minorities above the majority population and set us against ourselves – lower Gemini divide-and-rule come back to bite.
Asian win-win: Returning to our meetings, the Asian meetings, on the other hand, stressed cooperation and mutual respect instead of holding a line against increasing multipolarity and against Russia and China in particular. The map of the Gemini influence among the nations shows this clearly, the main axis being the US, Brussels (the EU) and Great Britain. Poland imagines it has major influence, wishing to ‘Make Poland Great Again’, with revanchist claims on its old territories, but its main role at the moment is quite negative and belligerent. Poland plays the role of logistics hub in the Ukraine conflict and chief barking dog against Russia in Eastern Europe. It is also a major smuggling hub. It faces very significant problems with immigrants because of its neighbor to the east (Ukraine). The US faces only a relatively smaller immigration problem in comparison to Poland as a measure of per capita scale. There are over 1.6 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland, the latter a nation of 38 million people. Recent comment (translate from Polish) goes to the extent of saying Poland risks becoming ‘Ukropol’ instead of simply regaining Poland’s old Galician region.
Neoliberalism made its grand entrance into the Gemini societies in the 1980s. Prior to that, US debt remained fairly steady. Since the 1980s it has risen in what amounts to an exponential rise and stands now at over $30 trillion. Each successive administration just kicks the can full of debt down the road. Biden was no different. What we just saw in the US debt crisis debate was circus instead of fact. Everyone knew the crisis would be averted at the last minute, just like in Hollywood films. All told, the leaders and elites of the Gemini nations at present are ‘not listening to the falconer’ – the souls of each of those nations. The soul of a nation is represented in its people. Western leadership has lost touch with its people. We end this letter with one more example, again from a Gemini nation.
Speaking of narratives and narrative management, here is a little nugget, like a Golden Apple (a tale of revenge, temptation and passing the fiat buck), to brighten your day, or maybe not. Going back to the beginning of 2020 and the Saturn/Pluto conjunction with the eclipse – the one at which we have looked on several occasions – that coincided with the tale of woe we now know as the COVID pandemic. Claims and counterclaims have circled furiously since, as to who or what caused it, the efficacy (or not) of lockdowns and vaccines, the severity of the disease (or not, but people who have had it can testify as to its effects), and then the geopolitical angle of it all, with broken supply chains, anti-China rhetoric, the damage caused to world economies – especially in the West, as it turns out and our increasing and rapid distrust of any official narrative. So, here is the nugget: Recent testimony by one Dr. David Martin, patent expert, claims the US released the SARS-Covid19 virus in Wuhan for the purpose of pushing and monopolizing the resultant vaccines:
“The Covid-19 coronavirus was “intentionally released” by the United States in Wuhan, China, with the target to trigger a global pandemic to raise public acceptance of vaccines, a US businessman specializing in patent auditing said. David Martin, the founding chairman of M-Cam asset management company, said at an International Covid Summit organized by the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this month that the US was responsible for the making of both coronaviruses causing the outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome – or SARS – in 2003 and the Covid-19 pandemic in the past three years.”
Along with the Gemini ‘divide and rule’, there was also the role of Big Pharma in rolling out the pandemic with the compliant American media especially (which I witnessed in full form on my recent trip back to the US), the corruption scandal in the EU over Ursula von der Leyen’s connections with Pfizer and the EU silence over the matter (which also connects with the EU’s Gemini rulerships), the corruption in US politics elevated since the revolving door policy was allowed between US lawmakers and corporations, along with the fact Big Pharma are some of the main donors for US political campaigns, the damage done to the world economy because of the lockdowns as well as to people’s lives, the march toward war with China being accelerated by Washington (many figures therein who claim the virus originated in China and was carelessly leaked from a Wuhan lab, thus blaming China), and on and on. There was even a book on the lab leak, since called into question. And then there are the very large profits Big Pharma (Pfizer, Moderna, et al) and ‘the Bigs’ in many corporate sectors have made off vaccines and essential items, profits still ongoing.
Now, is what this Dr. Martin is saying true? One can go to the links herein and judge for yourself. Given what I have studied and lived about America – the good, the bad and the ugly – to me his statements are entirely plausible. We know the US has clandestine bio-labs across the world (336 in 30 countries run by the DoD by some accounts), ostensibly in the name of research and threat reduction. The growth in the number of such bio-labs is causing growing concern in the scientific community. Any information out of Russia about them is immediately dismissed as propaganda. Do a search on ‘clandestine labs’ and you will see what I mean. The public knows very little about those labs. As to whether or not Dr. Martin’s statements are true, I have only just seen the article mentioned and have not had time to verify his claims. But as a patent attorney, he would have seen the documents. In fact, he has compiled a dossier where he lists all the patents. And he would know corporate America.
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